#really in the wild would be on other social media sites I guess
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saw one of my own posts on my dash three times today, and I'm having flashbacks of that time a girl at a party said I looked like I was from tumblr, and asked if I was "tumblr famous"
#felt my soul leave my body when she said that#I hope I'm not tumblr famous#but it is bizarre seeing my posts in the wild#well. the semi-wild#really in the wild would be on other social media sites I guess#god I can't even imagine. that would be weird as hell#personal#late night thoughts
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On Reddit and Truth Social, users have been trying to re-create the meme-stock magic for Trump Media and Technology Group—the company behind Truth Social—that boosted companies like GameStop in 2021. So far, they haven’t been too successful.
Truth Social, former president Donald Trump’s Twitter copycat, lacks two essential ingredients to the narrative of previous campaigns: underlying fundamentals and the foil of institutional investors. Large hedge funds had shorted GameStop, betting that the price would go down. This time, the stock is owned primarily by retail investors.
Unlike other social media companies, the Truth Social doesn’t disclose how many users it has, but has said previously that just 9 million people have signed up for the site, compared with over 3 billion monthly active users on Facebook. TruthSocial visitors have declined from 5.4 million in January to around 5 million in February, according to web analytics firm SimilarWeb. The site’s lack of users has contributed to poor financial performance.
On the r/wallstreetbets subreddit, home of meme-stock boosterism, most users aren’t buying what Truth Social is selling.
“If you invest in this on a long enough timeline you will lose everything. Thus is strictly a movement play,” wrote Reddit user Rich4718. “If you think Donald Trump is going to create an income positive social media platform you are an absolute fucking moron.”
The company started trading publicly on March 26 under the ticker symbol DJT and has already experienced wild swings in price. On Monday, the stock slid nearly 20 percent, erasing $2 billion in value.
In a filing on Monday, the company said it had just over $4 million in revenue and $58 million in net losses. This comes after the auditor for Trump Media and Technology Group made a startling admission: The company’s losses “raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue,” according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on March 25.
And yet the company is valued at around $7 billion, despite reporting these sizable losses. The valuation is propped up in part by Trump fans who see investing in the company as a way to support the former president. In some cases, these investors hold a genuine belief that Truth Social could become a major social media player.
Albert Choi, a professor of Law at the University of Michigan, says investors in Trump Media may be motivated by factors beyond traditional financial logic, like boosting the price through generating hype.
“If that’s your primary motivating factor, then you’re not going to care too much about whether the company is actually making money,” says Choi.
“I believe DJT is an investment in Donald Trump, not just Truth Social,” Reddit user autsauce, who declined to share their real name, tells WIRED. “If market participants start asking that question, which I am betting they will, they will likely arrive at a very different price valuing Truth Social in a silo.”
Choi noted that Trump winning the Presidential election could actually hurt the company’s stock, as investors' perceived need to support the former president financially by investing could fade.
“My guess is that the interest in the stock would largely disappear,” Choi said.
Some Truth Social fans have spun the company’s entry into the public market as a fresh start. The infusion of capital from people buying shares in the company will enable Truth Social to post an improved financial performance, they argue.
“With $300M to properly grow a company and Trump’s impending win in 2024, the entire situation has changed,” Chad Nedohin, who regularly livestreams about his support for the company while wearing a Jack Sparrow costume, wrote on Truth Social.
Still, Truth Social doesn’t really provide anything unique. The company’s defining feature is that it's the website where Trump is currently posting, and it is, unsurprisingly, home to many posts discussing conspiracy theories about QAnon, stolen elections, and deep state plots.
But Devin Nunes, Truth Social CEO and former Republican US representative, said in an interview last week with the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk that the company plans to combine features from other social networks.
“We’re trying to take the best of all platforms and put it into one,” Nunes said, “whether it be Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, et cetera.”
Truth Social still needs to comply with Apple’s and Google’s terms of service to remain in its respective app stores. Nunes claims, however, that Truth Social “doesn’t use any of the woke companies, referencing Parler, the social media company that was kicked off Apple’s and Google’s mobile app stores in the wake of the January 6 riot at the Capitol.
“It’s kind of an interesting investment, because you’re really investing in your constitutional rights,” Nunes said. “We’re the only company out there that can’t be shut down by woke companies.”
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So I'm thinking about doing Business
I'm going to experimentally pay for Tumblr's "Blaze" on one of my posts to see what the effect is, if any. I don't plan to use it often, but if I'm using this site as part of my silly little content creator job, maybe it makes sense to advertise some things?
I don't even know what it would make sense to use that feature on, either... posts with my official video releases? Stuff like that article I wrote about the experience of going viral? ... posts about my merch store? (oh god I don't want to advertise the merch store, I haven't added anything to it in ages).
Anyway, if you see one of my posts with a "promoted" tag on it, that's why. Just figuring out if that's something that should be part of my job on here. There are some extended personal reflections on using Tumblr for My Job™ below the cut.
On the other hand, Twitter was never that much of a Business Platform for me, either. That site and app is insanely bad at driving traffic anywhere else, which is part of why its ad revenue was so low depite the huge user base. Getting people to click away from Twitter to anywhere else is like pulling teeth, even for people with million dollar marketing budgets, and so I just... kinda never tried, really. Partly because it never seemed worth the work, partly because it was my personal Twitter before it accidentally became my Business Twitter.
Tumblr in that regard is different though. Four years ago, someone posted an outtake from a shitpost video I did laughing myself half to death over an article about how millennials are killing mayonnaise. That outtake went some degree viral on Tumblr, and that virality did prompt a lot of people to go find the full video on YouTube, making it briefly the most successful video on my whole channel.
So I dunno. Maybe it makes sense to use Tumblr for Business™ in that way. Not that I think I can manufacture a viral hit, of course, but maybe paying to have my work shown to more people on here could be worth it? I guess I'll find out once that Blaze goes through the moderation.
It sorta ties in with a broader pre-post-Twitter reflection I've been having about how I use social media, though.
I don't want to be my job
My personal twitter became my business twitter entirely by accident, and while it was fun at first to have thousands of followers on my personal shitposting, it wasn't fun at all in the long run. At a certain point, usually somewhere past the 10k follower boundary (or if you had the misfortune of having a pre-Elon checkmark), people stop treating you like a person or a fellow poster, and start treating you like a brand, a celebrity (however minor), like a Public Figure. And on the one hand that's good, kinda, because if you have a larger platform, you do deserve more scrutiny. On the other hand, it means you can't be a person on your own social media.
Dark humor, in-jokes, dumb shitposts with friends, dunking on some random hot take, all of that starts to come with the danger that some stranger, who is determined to misunderstand what you post in the absolute worst possible faith, will see it and start yelling about it.
And if, as a person who has a bigger platform, you yell back at them, or dunk on their bullshit... yeah, there's a real risk that you're the one being the bigger asshole, actually. When you have a big Twitter audience, you have some responsibilty for what happens to the things you put in front of that audience. And if you have fans, they might want to defend you, and if you have a lot of fans, some percentage of them aren't going to know how to act or where the line is, and go way the fuck too far.
It's the reality of having a public profile. People will come at you in absolutely wild ways, accusing you of saying absolutely insane things that they have derived from truly deranged (often willful) misinterpretations, and you can't respond to that like a person responds, or you run the risk of being the one who does more harm.
And so you can't be a person on your social media anymore. You now have to be a Public Figure, and if you don't figure that out you're gonna get in trouble. I should have made a private friends-only account on Twitter far, far earlier than I did, I should have made an official brand account far, far earlier than I did. But the only way to know that is in hindsight.
... which leads me back to Tumblr. I've been thinking about Doing Business™ on Tumblr - Blazing my posts, doing SEO, promoting my brand and all that other shit that technically comes with the job I ostensibly have.
I fled back here when I saw Twitter start to torch itself, because I need to post somewhere, but do I need to post for myself, as a person?
Or do I need to post because I am TBSkyen the YouTuber and posting is part of my job, my brand and my online personality which I crafted as a layer of separation between myself and the audience but which has at this point become so entangled with my real self that I don't know the boundaries between them anymore?
Am I going to look back on this and realize, as I did on Twitter, that I should have made a private, friends-only Tumblr account right from the start, and not mixed the personal with the professional and with Posting? I have around 2000 followers right now and this is still fun and casual, but what happens if I manage to luck myself into a real following again? When am I going to dunk on something I think is dumb and cause the person who posted it to receive actionable threats because someone who likes my videos doesn't know how the fuck to act?
Anyway, this is the kind of shit that gets powerblasted through my brain when I pay $10 to make some more people see one of my posts on a website - how's your morning going?
#tb blog#personal post#youtube#being a public figure is weird#there is no such thing as being an ethical youtuber if i'm being realistic#but i'm still going to agonize over attempting to be one#of course i'm only posting this to make myself look good and boost my brand awareness and parasocially manipulate my audience#and then monetize that parasocial connection and use my fans as a shield from reasonable criticism#my plan to enter bourgeoisie proceeds without hindrance#are these tags contrite self awareness or just another layer of manipulation??#seriously though don't invest youtubers with too much of your trust we will eventually let you down#listen to bo burnham: if i'm not entertaining you and giving you what you need then kick me to the curb
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Fuck it, here’s a piece of the chapter I’m editing.
"The more humorous flirting is, the better," he said. "When you try to be too serious about it, it just gets creepy."
"Unless you're really serious, and it just gets hot," Tanya said, still grinning.
"Oh, does it?" Danny said in a lascivious tone. She could tell he was grinning too.
"It can... but only if you're really good."
"Whoa," he giggled. "I feel like we're about to have phone sex."
In a more normal tone, she asked, "Have you ever had phone sex before?"
"No!" he declared, sounding scandalized.
"What? It's not a bad thing," she said, smiling. "I have."
"Like... a lot?" he asked.
"No, not a lot. Well..." she thought for a second. "That's a complicated question."
"Well, I definitely need to hear the full story now," Danny said. He sounded like he was still amused, which was good.
"OK," Tanya sighed, curling up in the doorway and putting her hand over her face. "Promise you won't judge?"
"No no, I'm sure I could tell you some embarrassing stories about my history too. It's fine. Just tell me."
"OK, yeah. Here goes. Ummmm..." She thought for a moment. "I guess it was 13 years ago now. So yeah, when I was 26. Anyway, I was on this website that was sort of a profile/message board type thing? Forerunner to social media. And it was very hetero in tone. At the time, of course, I was so deep in the closet, not only did other people not know I was a woman, I didn't know I was a woman. Anyway..." She began speaking even more quietly than she already had been. "I was one of the few 'gay boys' or whatever on the site. And of course, we all found each other and started IM-ing and shit like that. One of them really dug me, and he actually lived in Memphis, so at one point because I'm crazy, I saved up a bunch of money and drove out to spend a weekend with him."
"I've done that kind of thing," Danny said. "Flew out to spend some time with a girl in Florida that I'd met on a Facebook group. That was several years ago. Turned out to be a huge mistake. Had a miserable time. The less said about it, the better." He laughed. "But yeah, I understand."
"I'm glad," she said. "The whole thing was a big mistake for me, but I didn't find that out for a while. Anyway, back then I still had a land line, and so did he. We had to buy long distance cards at convenience stores to call each other. And like, I think it would have been super creepy if it had happened at first, but we used to spend so much time on the phone, especially late at night, and one night... well, he told me he was really horny, and he started doing stuff to himself, and I could tell it was real. I could tell he was... aroused. And I could tell when he got off."
"Oh my god," Danny said. "I'm not sure I'd be into that."
"I wasn't sure if I was!" Tanya said. "But that wasn't the only time it happened, and by like... the third time, it was starting to really turn me on. And he'd get me to talk to him about fantasy stuff, things we could do together, and then... I started to participate as well."
"Really?" Danny's mind was clearly blown. "That is wild."
"I dunno," Tanya said, feeling self-conscious. "Maybe it was dumb to tell you that story. That's the only relationship I ever had phone sex as part of. But we did it a whole bunch. We were together for about six months, and living six hours apart, so yeah... it happened on a regular basis by the end."
"So what happened to end that relationship?" Danny asked, then quickly added, "I mean, if you don't mind my asking."
"Nah, it's ancient history," Tanya said. "Actually, you'll probably find this funny -- I can never really enjoy sex if people are thinking of me as masculine, and he would say stuff... I just wasn't comfortable. And I tried to tell him that I wanted him to see me as more of a soft sweet delicate partner, not a rough and scratchy partner. Or something like that. He didn't get it. And it bugged him. He was all 'But you're a man, aren't you?' And I didn't really answer, and he got all uptight, and I finally told him that I had women's clothes I wore sometimes. He thought it meant I did drag, and he already didn't think much of that, but I was trying to explain that it was more of a private thing, more how I, um... I guess how I wanted to be perceived in intimate situations? God, does that make any sense?"
"A thousand percent," Danny said. "I've said similar things to partners pre-transition. From the masc side, obviously, but I know exactly what you mean. It's gone better with some partners than others."
"Yeah," Tanya said, and snorted. "Did not go well with this guy. At all. I mean, that wasn't the end of our relationship, but we never saw each other in person again after that, and things were awkward even on the phone for the next few weeks. After a while, it started to seem like... why am I spending $20 on another long-distance card to call this dude who just makes me feel weird and bad? So I just stopped. Wrote him a long email, and we agreed it wasn't working out." She barked a short laugh. "So much for talking all flirtatiously with you about phone sex. Now we're just having another serious conversation."
"That's OK," Danny said. "I like that you're serious. You're a thoughtful person with a lot of history and a lot of depth."
"So I'm old and uptight, is that what you're saying?" Tanya cracked, grinning.
"You know that's not what I mean!" Danny said. "You're definitely not old. To me, you're more like... sexy older lady with experience." He laughed in a muffled way. "Sorry, that didn't come out very well."
"No no, I know what you mean," she said. "Did you just laugh into your pillow?"
He chuckled again. "Yeah, I did. I'm amazed you can hear that."
"I pay attention when I'm on the phone with you," Tanya said. "So are you comfortable right now? Is your bed soft and warm?"
"It's a little too warm," Danny said. "I'm actually lying here in just my boxers, with just a sheet over me. But it's soft and comfortable. I have this really nice bed that I bought back when I was in my last serious relationship, which I thought... You know, I thought she was the one. But I was also figuring out the whole trans thing, and I was starting to use 'they' pronouns, and wearing a binder all the time... She finally lost it on me one night and started talking about how she didn't like seeing me turning into a man, and all this, and I was sitting there like, 'Is that what's going on? Am I turning into a man?' And I decided I was, and that's what I wanted, and she decided to leave. Aaaaand now here I am, four years later, still sleeping in this high-dollar bed we bought together back then. All by myself."
Tanya's mind whirled. She could go so many directions from this story and she wanted to go in all of them at once. She settled for saying, "I would be there with you if I could be."
#I've never posted any of this stuff in public before#only on my Patreon#being back on tumblr is doing things to me lol#oh btw yes both characters are trans
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guess what my homies after well over half a year i come back with a massive, 6k word chapter.
this was a bitch and a half to make. i mean last bit was posted pre-holiday, holidays came and wrecked my shit cause yknow, retail. then Lightfall launches but i get into a disgusting depressive episode that carries me thru april. all in all i did not spend most of the time writing.
ive got tons of ideas floating around, per use', and i've been working on them a lil bit all at once -- kinda like an adhd ridden squirrel as i described it. i mean, i did post that one fic about a new character i came up with, unrelated to these homies. i do that a lot. this brain just dont stop coming up with new things sometimes.
since this takes place in Dawn, and that was over three years ago, memory is spotty at best. Had to look up a video of a Sundial run to get the detes of the mission. and by that i mean excruciating detail. i wouldn't have it any other way tbh. i like my shit to be slow, giving you time to digest what you're reading. i hope it comes across right.
the lil post bit at the end was hard to come up with. imitating social media in fiction is tricker than expected! no wonder so many folk get it wrong. Honestly i wanted to include comments, show case the weird names i've come across while playing destiny, but in order for me to confidently do that I wanted to use a post as reference. unfortunately reddit, the site i was using as a basis since it's easiest to mimic in plaintext, doesn't want you to really look at older posts in a nice way. thats just how social media is now though, aint it. everythings all about the algo.
I was gonna setup a scene where the obelisks were setup in the beginning, but i scrapped it one way or the other. since that choice was made last year, i dont remember if i just didnt know how to do it, or couldnt find a good enough article to reference the questline cause its that too far back in my memory. I do remember needing to make sure pointe linked the tangled shore, while rin linked mars. Otherwise i would've given her steelfeather.
I've been playing the game since Shadowkeep when it went free to play, but somehow steelfeather repeater is still my most used weapon in pve content. 13k kills. my second highest would be gnawing hunger at a nice 9500, but thats still wild! I only was able to use the weapon for a few months before it got sunset, and i still havent used another gun as much as that. maybe i just dont play destiny as much compared to Shadowkeep..
Anyways, enough ranting. hopefully i'll get the next chapter out before next october lmao
#destiny 2#i still have a lot of other ideas#so even if this doesnt get an update#i might post something else in the time#ill give you tag readers some hinties#one involves tevis#another showcases that other warlock i posted about#theres something that'll show up later in rins story#and some non-canon funsies i just want to write#may or may not work on something shaxx related#i really want to#but i cant figure out a plot i want to do#honestly i should just try writing like pure fluff no plot#but like#i havent considered making a plotless story in almost ten years now#it feels#foreign to me
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“Hold Your Breath” – tst-movie Interview
Translation by me (niji-translated)
[If you wish to use any of my translations, please ask]
Link to original interview:
Hulu Original ‘Hold Your Breath’ Episode 3, Murakami Nijiro Interview
The one thing that cannot be missing when getting married.
Reporter A: Shinpei and yourself seem to be people very different from each other to me, but were you aware of any similarities?
Nijiro: I’ve known Director Nakagawa Ryutarou a long time, so he know a lot about me. I thought “you know me, and you’re making a parody”. Therefore, him and myself are not that different, I feel that just the world changed. Even if it’s like I’m playing myself, if it didn’t look like that, I feel that we succeeded.
Reporter A: Shinpei isn’t accepted by society, but aren’t you accepted by society?
Nijiro: I rarely think I’m accepted by society. I’ve always been a social misfit, everyday I live with this thinking. When I can have a normal conversation with you like this, I think I’m doing well, and yet when I get home I’ll think “I knew it, I'm still not doing this right" And I’ll go right back. (laughs). It’s a fleeting feeling.
Reporter A: That’s unexpected.
Nijiro: Is it really? When I’m home alone, I can’t help thinking ‘where are your social skills?’ I can have a conversation like this, but I’ll keep thinking ‘what was I doing then?’
Myson (main interviewer): I thought it was interesting that it was a short story this time. Do you have a different approach when you play a role that starts off with a lot of information compared to a role where you can let your imagination run wild?
Nijiro: Pain, suffering, crying and so on, of course there is always a lot of space, meaning to them and the amount of time you put in doesn’t change. I think it’s less difficult for me to show bigger emotions, that’s been with me from the start. I don’t think I’m very good at it now, but when I look at my early works, I think I’m more like myself when I say something like “Ahhhh!!”
(laughs). “Good morning” and “by the way”, and so on, those are the most difficult. Since this work is the latter, it was a challenge for me (laughs). Especially from where I was a few years ago, I couldn't have done this, I’m not changing my approach at all, but for me this kind of work has a higher level of difficulty.
Myson: Performing the everyday is more difficult, did you start with the "what is natural?" approach, then?
Nijiro: I think there is also that, because you’re depicting something the norm, I think performing something universal is difficult. Universal, I mean, by majority, which means it’s the majority that will be observing and judging, there’s a feeling that it’s more demanding. (laughs)
Myson: Certainly! (laughs). However, during the quarrel scene, when you’re very angry, it’s like there’s a half smile, I could see the excitement in your eyes. I thought it was very realistic
Nijiro: Is it? But, I also have a huge complex about the universal. I may be completely misunderstanding this, but when I’m talking to people, eating meals, when going out on site with new people, sometimes it’s like there’s some kind of tension and pressure points are very different, mostly they don’t match. This is my own experiences and feelings, I often feel that I enjoy things differently to everyone else, I have a huge complex about others (laughs). I don’t mean that in a bad way, you saying ‘ it was realistic’, that makes me happy.
Myson: This work is about people who live along the Tama-gawa, but if work and corona have nothing to do with it, what city or what kind of place would you want to live in?
Nijiro: I really like the city, but I want to live with animals. I was born in Tokyo, and I believe my roots are in Tokyo, but I grew up in the countryside, I was in the wilderness for a lot of my time, especially during my adolescence. At that time I lived with goats and birds, cats and so on, therefore there’s a feeling that living with animals is natural. It’s not like ‘Princess Mononoke’ but I love big animals, I want to live with something extreme, like bears or something.
Myson & Reporter A: Ehhh!???
Nijiro: Looking at social media, aren’t there a lot of animal videos? Overseas you can see men playing with bears, and I really like when fierce animals like tigers or something are cute when they’re babies. I also like squirrel monkeys and cats, birds and other small animals, they’re cute, I want to live with all of them. But, I love Tokyo and I love the city therefore, seeking the two extremes you’d definitely need a lot of money, right. I’m an actor who films away from home, so I’m not really suited to that kind of life. Desires and work don’t match, what can I do? (laughs). It’s not like I’d have a sitter raise them. If I’m not there, then there’s no point.
Myson: Certainly! (laughs)
Nijiro: Like learning asset management, I think it’s not that easy (laughs). This might be a bad way of putting it but, in my mind, I think of marriage as a contract that the partner will keep animals as well. It’s not a contract with a woman, it’s a ‘contract to raise animals together’.
Myson: Hahahaha!
Nijiro: If not that, then I won’t get married, or at least have a de-facto marriage.
Myson: That’s the most important thing in order to marry!
Nijiro: It is important, isn’t it. How did we get talking about this? (laughs)
Myson: We were talking about where you want to live. (laughs)
Nijiro: Where I want to live, well I'm not wrong then!
Everyone: Hahahaha!
As a child I felt a distance from the entertainment industry
Myson: As a small child I guess the entertainment industry felt close to home, but how did you become interested in actors and the job itself? Did it feel natural that you would become an actor?
Nijiro: Maybe it was the reverse. By my school and my parents I was banned from all media, so my intake of drama and movies, compared to people who grow up in a world with normal TV, it was about a tenth of that. I used to watch “Rookies” in secret, but I knew very little about it, so I couldn’t admire it. I did have manga and games though. So instead this world was rather far away. I have opportunities to meet various people close to my parents, but those kind of people are so over the top, there are a lot of people who look the opposite of celebrity (laughs). In that sense, my generation, and the generation below my parents is still fresh. Because I was born during my parents busiest time, I was raised by my grandmother, and even though I was small, I had a vague thought of “why ain’t ya around?”. In that sense, I vaguely didn’t like it. When I was still a small child I didn’t know how great my dads performance is, but before I realised it, I started to understand. Now that I’m an actor I think I understand it more.
Myson: I don’t know if this is the right way to ask, but, do you enjoy being an actor?
Nijiro: I don’t know anything else, in that way it’s painful because it’s the only thing I know. Makes me wonder if there’s something more fun than this, you know. Because we want what we don’t have. Therefore, I don’t know how fun it is as an average, but I think I’m still continuing because I’m still enjoying it.
Myson: How about acting overseas? Do you have any interest?
Nijiro: Not that it isn’t possible at all, but I don’t think it’s possible to speak slang like a native in a film. I’d be happy to have those kinds of opportunities, like voice acting in Wes Anderson’s films, like Nagase’s role in Jim Jarmunsch’s ‘Patterson’, of course I’m interested. But, if I was going to spend all that time on English, I think I’d sooner be reborn. Of course, I’d study more if I had if i get that kind of opportunity.
Myson: I see. How do you usually choose the films you watch?
Nijiro: What is it, huh, it has a shine, doesn’t it? All the information I want to get now.. That’s a bit of a sparkly statement. (laughs).
Myson: No, no, no, hahaha! Do you watch both Western and Japanese films?
Nijiro: That doesn’t matter at all, I’ll watch anything including dramas and documentaries.
Myson: It’s like buying the jacket visuals and watching it.
Nijiro: In other words, I’m very influenced by the visuals. No matter how good the cast is, if I’m not attracted to the poster I’ll put off watching it. The visuals are the most important. I think this is good and bad though. After I started acting, I always had a natural appetite to watch things, even if it wasn’t something I needed to know or feel right away, if it may or may not be useful right now, lately that’s changed little by little. That’s not a good part of it, since there’s no guarantees, and there’s a feeling that you can’t afford to spend too much time on something that you get nothing from. It’s right to get what you need most, but I haven’t surprised myself much recently, it’s like I’m not surprised at all anymore, I think the reason is because I don’t touch anything I’m not sure of. Right now it’s not easy to go for a drink but, for example, when I go out of a drink and I think ‘I’m 80% likely to not enjoy myself if I go there’, then I won’t go, but the remaining 20% is very important, isn’t it? There’s the possibility of that roughly 20% could make me think ‘that was really fun!” I think I need to do more with that small percent.
Myson: Thank you very much!
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Is it time to tear ANOTHER Dhar Mann video to shreds? YOU BET.
I've been sitting on this one for a bit because I wanted to make sure I talk about this tactfully. The subject of parents abandoning their disabled children is a very touchy one.
Parents abandoning their disabled children simply for being disabled is way too common. Like, I understand that not everyone has the resources to care for a disabled child (which is why you reach out for help, and why people like me, who work with disabled people, exist), but it doesn't mean you just walk out of their life. There are exceptions, like if you truly didn't want children or something like that, but just flat-out walking out of your kid's life BECAUSE they're disabled is fucked up.
I know someone personally whose biological mother abandoned her when she was born. Why? Because she's disabled. Physically, and mentally, to a point. I work with this woman on a daily basis. I don't really know WHY exactly her biological mother abandoned her, but I do know that her being disabled was part of it. It's sad. It doesn't affect her, thankfully. I'm happy that she's got her biological dad, her brother, and another maternal figure in her life, at least.
ANYWAYS. Before we get to the topic at hand, I need to put an obligatory trigger warning, like I do with EVERY Dhar Mann post:
This post will be talking about parents abandoning their disabled children simply for being disabled, treating disabilities like they're tragedies (in this case, we're talking about autism...again), divorce, and some SPICY ableist bullshit from an allistic (nonautistic) PIECE OF SHIT.
If any of this triggers you or makes you uncomfortable in any way, you don't have to read this post. This isn't worth putting yourself in a bad state mentally. I would never ask for any of you to put yourselves in that position all for a post. Put your mental health and well-being first. Consume media that sparks joy for you.
As far as my response goes, it's definitely more calm than normal. Funny....since this video is about autism spectrum disorder again. (Third time's the charm, huh, Dhar Mann? NOT.)
LET'S FUCKING GET IT.
The video starts off with these two parents (Gwen and Allen) in a psychologist's office. The psychologist tells the parents that their son (Chance) is autistic, and she tries to explain what autism is to the parents, but Allen cuts her off. Why? Because he teaches at a prestigious university, so he AUTOMATICALLY knows what autism is from that fact alone.
Um, excuse me? Just because you're a teacher at a prestigious university, it doesn't mean you're an expert in everything. It doesn't make you an expert in ASD or anything like that. Unless you SPECIALIZE in that area. Even then, shut the fuck up. The people who know about being autistic are AUTISTIC PEOPLE THEMSELVES! SHOCKER.
Hey, Dhar Mann! QUIT WITH THE VIDEOS ABOUT AUTISTIC LITTLE WHITE BOYS AND YOUNG WHITE AUTISTIC CISHET MEN! I'M SICK AND TIRED OF IT. It's annoying, ignorant, and it feels like you're doing this on purpose at this point to piss people off. If you're so uninformed about autism in women and girls, FUCKING ASK AUTISTIC WOMEN AND GIRLS! DO BETTER RESEARCH THAT DOESN'T INVOLVE AUTISM SPEAKS. The Autism Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) and the Autistic Women and Nonbinary People Network (AWN) are great organizations to go to for any kind of research on ASD in women and girls. STOP GOING OFF OF THE BRAINS OF AUTISTIC WHITE BOYS AND AUTISTIC WHITE MEN.
I don't feel I need to go too deep into the fact that autistic women, autistic girls, autistic nonbinary people, autistic BIPOC, autistic AAPI, autistic LGBT people, autistic teenagers, and autistic adults exist. Y'all already know.
Gwen asks the psychologist if that means Chance isn't healthy. (I understand not knowing about autism, but don't treat it like it's a terminal illness. Please.) The psychologist tells her that Chance is fine, but he just learns differently and might need more support compared to his peers.
Yeah, autism can affect how you learn about certain things (limited and repetitive patterns), but there are other disabilities that can affect learning as well. Like how dyslexia can affect your ability to read, dyspraxia can affect your ability to do math, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can affect your ability to focus or on impulse control. Autism affects how your brain is developed, it affects you socially, behaviorally, and how you communicate.
Allen is upset, says that he can't have a son "with a learning disability" (ASD is a neurological disability, not necessarily a learning disability), and treats Chance like he's stupid for being autistic. Gwen tells her husband that autism doesn't make you any less intelligent, WHICH IS SO FUCKING TRUE. ABSOLUTE FACTS. I was totally with her until she began that little monologue with "Just because a person HAS autism". SAY "JUST BECAUSE A PERSON'S AUTISTIC" INSTEAD! IT'S NOT HARD. PERSON FIRST LANGUAGE ISN'T WHAT EVERY DISABLED PERSON PREFERS. Allen says that "they could have another kid" and "put Chance up for adoption". Gwen obviously wasn't down with that. Allen gives his wife an ultimatum that it's either HIM or their son Chance. Gwen says that she can't choose between the two, but she will stand by her autistic son. Allen gets up and leaves the office, saying he wants a divorce.
Years pass by, Gwen is single and taking care of her autistic son Chance, and Allen has a new life with a ✨perfect son✨ (Samuel). He never mentions the son HE abandoned (Chance). He's completely forgotten about Gwen and Chance. (YOU OWE SO MUCH CHILD SUPPORT, ALLEN.)
Hey, Allen, how much do you wanna bet that your ✨perfect son✨ Samuel is autistic too?
There's the SATs, they're announcing a winner, and guess who it is? IT'S OBVIOUSLY CHANCE, OF COURSE. He's got the highest score in the country, with Samuel in second place. Allen is PISSED.
Chance gives a speech about how his mom really helped him, he struggled with autism, how Allen LITERALLY ABANDONED HIM, and THE CROWD GOES FUCKING WILD. Samuel, instead of being a sore loser, APPLAUDS FOR CHANCE. Stay humble, Sam.
My thoughts on the video? If you cannot tell by my tone throughout this post, IT WAS DOG SHIT. This video was insensitive to the true reality of parents abandoning their disabled children just because they're disabled. What do I expect from Dhar Mann at this point?
Here's my response to his video below. Don't worry, I will fully type out my response soon for anyone who cannot read the screenshots easily. It's a lot easier for me to do that on the desktop site than it is for me to do it on my phone.
For anyone who can’t read my response, I’m typing it out for you. Like I said, it’s easier for me to type it out on the desktop site than it is for me to type it out on my phone. It’s a real royal pain in the ass. But because I’m trying to make my posts easier to read for people, I’m doing this anyway. /lighthearted
First, second, and third screenshots (broken up into paragraphs):
Hey, listen, I appreciate the message you’re trying to go for, but can you please stop putting autistic people into a box? Can you stop treating being autistic like it’s a tragedy? Not every single autistic person is a little white boy in elementary school who’s considered “wild and unruly” or “super quiet and makes no friends”, nor are they a young white cishet man who’s a super genius or is how Chris Chan was before she came out as trans. (For anyone who doesn’t know about Chris Chan, there are many documentaries people have made on YouTube, and I highly recommend Geno Samuel’s docuseries, if you’re really interested in learning about Chris Chan.)
Autistic women, girls, nonbinary people, BIPOC, APPI, LGBT people, teenagers, and adults all exist too.
It’s very apparent now that you get your resources from Autism $peaks, a hate group that spends the vast majority of their money on funding eugenics instead of helping autistic people like they claim, claims that only little white boys and young white cishet men are autistic and ignores all other autistic people who don’t fit that description, have no autistic people on their leader board or on any board for that matter, have members who have actually fantasized about k1lling their autistic children, treat autism like it’s a tragedy or a disease someone can catch (completely false), act like autism should be cured (there is no cure, and ABA therapy is a total shit show in itself), and treats autistic people like they’re broken and need to be fixed. Also, not every autistic person is a Super Genius(tm). That’s so demeaning to autistic people who aren’t seen as intelligent in any way. I’m autistic and seen as smart; however, there are subjects I’m stronger in than others.
If you can’t handle the possibility of having autistic children, or just disabled children in general, DON’T HAVE CHILDREN. If you can’t handle working with or alongside disabled people, including autistic people, maybe find a different profession. Even if you do that, you’ll never get away from disabled people. Disabled people aren’t a disease. We’re human beings just like neurotypical and able-bodied people.
Fourth and fifth screenshots (broken up into paragraphs):
I would highly suggest getting resources from reputable organizations for ASD, such as the Autism Self Advocacy Network (ASAN) and the Autistic Women and Nonbinary People Network (AWN). Talk to any autistic person who isn’t a little white boy or a young white cishet man.
Instead of using the puzzle piece, which is a symbol that many autistic people, myself included, are offended by (because of Autism $peaks and other organizations before them using it, plus it symbolizes that only autistic children exist and that we’re “missing a piece” like we’re broken), use the rainbow infinity sign (for all neurodivergent people) or the red and gold infinity sign (just for autistic people). Instead of “lighting it up blue”, light it up red or gold. Do both if you want.
I’m actually really sick and tired of seeing just autistic little white boys and young autistic white cishet men being represented in the media, and y’all manage to fuck that up too.
Before anyone mentions Sia’s movie “Music”, that’s also very poor representation of autistic girls. Besides, the actress who played the autistic girl isn’t even autistic. She MOCKED autistic people. I know she’s a kid, but that’s still super fucked up. I hope she’s able to turn that around.
If anyone would like to discuss this topic with me or ask any questions, feel free to. I’ll answer as best as I can. Thank you and have a good night.
Before I get attacked for mentioning Chris Chan in my response, I bring up Chris Chan because allistic people think that every autistic person is like her (especially before she came out as trans). That person is part of why I wasn't open about being autistic or talking about my diagnosis until this year. I didn't want to be grouped up with Chris Chan because I do have very similar interests to her, I've been seen as cringey for having said interests, and just the way Chris treated autistic people who were formerly diagnosed with A$p3rg3r$ $yndr0m3 (like I was) really made me feel even more alienated.
Also, S1a supports A$ (Autism $p3aks). She's not a very good person to support. Some of her music is good, but her as a person....no. Her movie "Music" was gross, from what I've read about it and seen pictures of.
If you've read this far, thank you so much!
#mello speaks#dhar mann#dhar mann talk#dhar mann will live to regret his decision to make these fucked up cringe videos#dhar mann will live to regret his decision uwu#dhar mann is a piece of human garbage#please stop supporting dhar mann#autism isn't a tragedy#we need better representation for autistic people who aren't little white boys or young white cishet men#dhar mann is a cringe ass nae nae baby#tw abandonment#tw ableism#cw sia mention#cw chris chan mention#tw dhar mann
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Blushing in His Colours, Chapter 31 (Final Chapter)
TITLE: Blushing in His Colours
CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 31
AUTHOR: fanficshiddles
ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine Loki being a Daddy Dom, his adores and loves his little, worships the ground she walks on. She has vaginismus, but he couldn’t be more supportive with her.
RATING: M
Loki hadn’t failed to notice that since returning from their holiday over three months ago, Mia hadn’t been in little space quite as much.
Moving into her room and knocking through to the spare room next door did give them more privacy together, but it wasn’t quite the same. He had a feeling that was the issue, because they were, essentially, still living with a bunch of other people. It was almost always busy.
So Loki went to Tony and Fury one morning…
‘Are you seriously asking for your own house?’ Tony asked, folding his arms over his chest.
‘I am. When Mia and I were alone at the villa, we were both completely relaxed. Open with each other, enjoying it. Enjoying our privacy. But here, it’s just not quite the same. We need to get our own place.’ He said determinedly.
‘You knock holes in my walls, steal my furniture and now you’re saying you’re wanting to move out?!’ Tony shouted.
‘Well, yes.’ Loki said as if it was so obvious, shrugging.
Tony sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘I guess… We could get something arranged. Providing you give me back my furniture.’
‘Deal.’ Loki smirked.
‘I don’t think so.’ Said Fury.
Tony and Loki both looked at him, confused.
‘Are you both forgetting? The World Security Council’s conditions was that Loki remains here, under our watch.’
Loki clenched his jaw. He’d forgotten about that. But he needed to get his own place with Mia. Not just for her, but for him too. He was starting to feel like he needed somewhere quieter, too. But then he had an idea.
‘Well… what if we get our own place built, still on site but on the boundary?’ He suggested.
Tony’s eyebrows almost shot off the top of his head. ‘You want your own house built now?’
‘Yep.’
‘What if we say no?’ Fury asked.
Loki clasped his hands together on front of him and sighed as he shook his head. ‘Well, let’s just say I won’t be responsible for my actions. We need our own place, I know everyone else has their own private home. Off record. Is it really too much to ask for our own place, still on site?’
Tony and Fury admitted defeat. They knew Loki would likely make their lives hell otherwise. So they agreed. Tony got his machines to start building straight away.
But of course, Loki and Mia wanted to be involved with the plans.
When Mia asked for a swimming pool, Tony nearly fainted. Loki laughed and gave Tony a look. Telling him that Mia was to get whatever her heart desired in her new home.
With Tony’s advanced tech, they were able to get the house built and decorated within three months. Including the installation of the indoor pool, that Mia was incredibly giddy about.
Loki kept to the deal and gave Tony all the furniture he’d borrowed, as he and Mia picked out their own for their new place.
It was a good-sized house, the master bedroom had an en-suite and they had a guest room that was going to be more of an office than anything, somewhere for Mia to do her social media work. It also had book shelves lining the largest wall, that Loki filled to the brim. The living room and kitchen was huge and open planned, they had a nice sized patio and garden too. The Avengers base was just in view, but it didn’t loom over them so it was ideal.
When they moved in, they were both so excited. Loki chased Mia playfully all through the house before they even unpacked. Not like Loki couldn’t do that at the flick of a wrist, anyway. He finger fucked her in every single room, on almost every surface. And Mia knelt on the floor to suck him off in every single room, too.
They spent almost the whole day just fooling around together, making the most of their own space. Having far too much fun.
That night when they tumbled into their new bed together, they still couldn’t help themselves and their hands were all over one another.
Loki pinned her hands up above her. ‘Keep them there, little one.’ He growled firmly. Then he started his journey down her body, to between her thighs. He forced her legs apart and up, spreading her wide open for him.
He took his time, licking her clit slowly with broad strokes of his tongue. Driving her wild, really making her struggle to keep her hands up. Though she didn’t want to get into trouble so made sure she kept them in place, as difficult as it was.
After making her cum all over his face a few times, he fingered her for a while and also used one of her larger dildos on her. Making sure she was nice and open. As he had a feeling, she was ready.
Tonight was the night.
With the dildo still inside her, he crawled up over her body and kissed her on the lips, delving his tongue into her mouth.
‘It’s like a slip and slide down there.’ He teased, grinning against her, making her giggle and blush hard. ‘Which is wonderful for what I want to do to you.’
Mia was lost in his kissing again, she kept moaning into his mouth when his hand sneaked downwards between them. He pulled the dildo out of her, making her whine in disappointment at feeling empty.
Loki chuckled and stroked over her clit, then he took his cock and rubbed against her a few times, brushing over her clit. She felt jolts of pleasure each time shoot all through her body.
He pressed the tip of his cock against her and slowly started to push in, she was so wrapped up with his tongue invading her mouth she barely registered what was actually going on down there, just feeling pleasure.
But then she felt him breaching her, she gasped as his cock slid into her a little, there was a slight popping sensation as her body stretched around him. He paused when he was a few inches into her, letting her adjust as she was squeezing him so hard and panting.
‘Are you alright, sweetling? Will I continue?’ Loki asked softly, kissing the side of her lips.
It stung very slightly, but not enough to make it too sore to continue.
‘P… please… keep going.’ She whimpered, completely stunned and so damn aroused that this was actually happening. Finally.
Loki pushed a bit further into her, she was so tight it was unbelievable. And as Loki had been slightly worried about, he came embarrassingly quick within her. He groaned loudly and bit down on her neck as he spurted hotly into her.
That drove Mia crazy. She cried out in pleasure and tightened her legs around him, holding him close. Feeling him fill her like that, properly, she was in utter heaven. And it was so much better than the dildo.
He was much larger than anything before, so he kept going slow until he was nestled deep inside her. She was still clenching hard around him, squeezing him for all he had. Loki tried to focus, to last longer this time, he carefully started thrusting into her. Only pulling back a few inches before pushing in again.
They both wanted him to stay as deep as possible. And Mia couldn’t help herself as she burst into tears, her emotions all over the place. It didn’t hurt, at all. She just felt extremely full and like he was pressing on so many pleasure points, she couldn’t stop cumming. The size of him caused her clit to be flushed out from its hiding spot, making it rub against him.
‘Ohh, sweetling. You have no idea how incredible you feel around my cock.’ He purred, stroking her hair.
‘I… I can’t believe it…’ She said between panting. ‘Feels so good.’ She whimpered, squirming under him.
Loki chuckled and nuzzled her nose as he kept moving his hips against her, grinding deep into her. She ended up bringing her arms down and wrapping them around him, digging her nails into his back. Loki let it slide as he knew this was a big moment for her. He wanted her to enjoy it and be comfortable.
When Mia came, it was the best orgasm she’d ever had. It felt so fulfilling, having something for her body to clamp down on and squeeze, keeping her full and stimulated. She felt like the orgasm was all through her bones.
Loki came at the same time, feeling her squeezing him even more than she already was sent him flying over the edge yet again.
He was panting too as he pressed his forehead against hers and stilled himself, still inside her.
‘You’re incredible, Mia.’ Loki whispered, kissing her gently on the lips.
‘So are you.’ She whispered back at him, still trembling. ‘This is… even better than I ever imagined.’
‘For me too, sweetling. I told you we would get there in time.’ He smiled.
‘I uh… I definitely really really love the feeling of you cumming inside me.’ She blushed bright red.
Loki chuckled and kissed her cheek, then her forehead. ‘I really really love the feeling of cumming inside you, too.’
Mia could barely stop shaking the whole time Loki was inside her. Even when he started moving again, going for another round. In the end, when he eventually pulled out of her, reluctantly, she whimpered from the feeling of emptiness.
As he lay down at her side, she threw her arms around him and hugged him, her face buried into his neck.
‘I love you so much.’ She said slightly muffled against him.
‘I love you too, darling.’ Loki smiled as he rubbed her back.
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Best Birthday Wishes
Quick one shot. I rushed through at work. Nothing special. But I thought this was a decent idea.
It took less than a year for Lila to make due on her promise to turn the class against her. Most of her former friends would go out of their way to avoid her. Some took the cowards way out and just did nothing; Adrien and Rose. A few went out of their way to bully Marinette in a misguided idea of revenge; mostly Alix, Kim and Alya. The ice-out got even worse when Marinette resigned from being class president and no one (Lila) could managed to manage to do the job as successfully as she did. School field trips were with really bad or just cancelled altogether. School dances sucked. Fundraisers always fell short. No one would speak to Marinette because, as Alya said, if she just stopped being such a brat none of this would’ve happened.
Marinette shrugged it all off. She had decided if they could buy into Lila’s lies and turn against her so easily, they weren’t worth her time or effort. She made friends in other classes Aurore, Ondine, Claude and Marc quickly became her best friends. Once she did this, and the rest of the school saw she was out of the clutches of her class, the drama club quickly approached her and commissioned her for work for the school play. They were right to do so, as Marinette gave them a great deal, mostly because someone offered to pay her instead of just expecting her to do it. The art club practically got on their knees begging for help with funding their field trip. Comic Book club did the same but Marinette did one better and got them a tour of Marvel studios.
The funniest request was from the home economics class and cooking/baking club who just wanted a tour of her parents’ bakery. And maybe an internship or two, pretty please. Her mom and dad had been stunned when she asked. However, they were more than happy to lend a hand, and an internship, to the next generation of baker’s.
The best part was that no one expected her or left her to do the all work herself. The other students, her new friends, made sure that it was clear they were on a team. And if they asked her to make them something, they expected to have to pay for it. This allowed Marinette to have a lot more free time then she thought she’d get.
So much so that Marinette decided to create a website for custom designs by MDC. Once she spread the words about that, Jagged and Clara requested commission, naming her as the designer. This sparked a slew of celebrities reaching out for their own MDC design; from futball players, a few tv stars, singers, directors, a b-list movie star, were among them. Marinette got to meet them to do the designs.
Word quickly spread about the lovely young designer who didn’t bat an eye when she met them, and provided better quality then they could ever dream of. That brought in other celebrities. Celebrities who, when they publicists called Marinette, she fainted. She swore her heart stopped.
When one celebrity asked for a environmental fabric, Marinette was quick to show ones she had already created. It was a synthetic fabric that she created with the help from a local engineer and scientist who’s wedding dress she designed. It was cheap and easily replicated. The material was a hit; gaining the attention of Prince Ali who was always looking for new go-green projects to fund.
Marinette learned quickly just how tight-knit her class seemed to be. So close, other students don’t even try befriending them, after seeing many others fail. It was like there was a wall around Bustier’s class and no one could get in. And those inside never even bothered to really look outside it. It was suffocating to think about.
Marinette ended up joining the fashion club, gamers’ club, and got on the student council. Her popularity at school rose dramatically. Though, her classmates never realized.
When Marinette’s birthday rolled around, her classmates snickered when they realized that no one would be planning her birthday party. Alya guessed she spend the day with her parents but otherwise alone like she deserved. Alix vocally hoped even her parents forgot what day it was. Kim nodded along because Marinette was mean to Lila, and Lila was… Everything. A few were sad that Marinette would have such a bad birthday.
Bustier’s class were surprised when they received a text invitation to Marinette’s birthday party. Lila gets an idea and of course gets someone else to instigate it; Alya.
When Marinette arrives to class, Alya is quick to tell her that they can’t come to her birthday because they already have plans. She makes sure to add that Marinette wasn’t invited.
Marinette just shrugged, and said, “Okay, just trying to be nice.”
“Little late for that,” Alix snapped.
The class expects Marinette to announce that she cancelled her party but the news never comes. On the day of her birthday, they all threw a picnic to celebrate their new “Everyday Ladybug” Lila.
It wasn’t until Monday, did they learned just how bad of a decision that was. The moment they walked into school, it was clear that something was amiss.
“Jagged Stone was there!” A student said excitedly as she showed off the pictures of her phone. Alya tried to sneak a peek but couldn’t get close enough.
“I saw Chrissy Teigan.”
“Clara Nightingale,” Another said as Nino walked by. “I nearly died.”
A group of girls were giggling with each other. “Stranger things,” One hissed with a red face. “I got pictures with Finn from Stranger things.”
“Screw Stranger Things,” A girl taunted. “I got pics with the Stark sisters.”
“They have real names,” A girl tried to correct.
“Who cares?”
Nathanial overheard Marc saying something about a party, “Jagged Stone dedicated a song to her. And Clara brought her up on stage.” He wanted to ask his old comic book partner what he was talking about but after Lila convinced him to go solo, Nathanial couldn’t bring himself to.
Rose heard, “Prince Ali was there. They danced together. It was so sweet,” While walking through a crowded hall. And nearly had a fit trying to figure out who said it.
“Jonas brothers!”
“Gigi Hadid!”
“Selena Gomez!”
“Tony Stark!”
And the name drops went on and on until the entire class thought they were going crazy. Particularly Lila who was used to being the only ones dropping names.
When the warning bell rung, Sabrina, surprising was the first to ask the question on everyone’s mind, “Does anyone know what’s going on?”
Heads shook no. Alya stood up frustrated, on her phone, “No. But I’m going to find out.” Within seconds the determined expression on her face, shifted to surprise, then disbelief, then shocked. And when she looked up, the stunned look was still on her face. “Marinette’s party,” She said slowly as if she couldn’t believe what she was saying. “Everyone’s talking about her party.”
“No way,” Alix sneered as she pulled out her own phone. Others followed suit. Lila had her phone out before anyone could blinked.
Jaws dropped. Marinette’s birthday was a tag trended of Twitter, Instagram and nearly every social media site. Celebrities who couldn’t make it gave their best wishes to the young designer.
The pictures were everywhere. Marinette with one celebrity after another. Even Ladybug (Master Fu letting Trixx, Tikki, and the other Kwami giving their regards) wished her a happy birthday.)
They quickly recognized the faces of other students they knew at the party, some pictured with a celebrity or two, themselves.
“Luka was there,” Juleka whispered.
Mylene frowned, “He performed without us. Without kitty section.”
“Prince Ali,” Rose whispered. “Marinette danced with Prince Ali.”
Lila quietly seethed. How could this happen, she wondered. How come she never knew Marinette knew all those celebrities. The worst picture of them all didn’t even include a celebrity just the mountain of presents she got.
Adrien was supposed to be my way in, Lila thought with a frown.
Alya gasped, “You were there!” She hissed at Chloe. “You don’t even like her.”
“But I was invited,” Chloe smirked, “Of course I was. Dupain-Cheng throws the best parties.” She stated. “Like I’d be stupid enough to miss it. Even Mama went. But that was mostly because Miranda Priesley announced she was going. As did Wilhelmina Slater. It seems anyone and everyone in fashion wanted eyes of Marinette Dupain-Cheng, MDC, the up and coming designer for the stars. Including Gabriel Agreste,” She added with smug look.
This caused Adrien to frown. He didn’t know his father had been invited. Or that he’d actually gone. Why didn’t Marinette tell him?
The bell rang just as the bluenette in question walked into class. Only to once again see all eyes on her. She ignored them and went to her seat in the back. Marinette had a great weekend, and so was going to let anyone ruin her good vibe.
“So… Marinette,” Lila purred, in a way that reminded Marinette of the way she said Adrien’s name. “How was your birthday?”
Marinette eyed her suspiciously, “Good. More people than I thought came.” That was an under-exaggeration if that was possible. She didn’t know exactly how word spread but she blamed Jagger… And Clara… And Audrey Bourguis… Nadja.
“Girl, everyone was there,” Alya said excitedly. “Ladybug was there. I forgot you two knew each other.”
“Yeah,” Marinette raised an eyebrow. “I figured.”
Alya continued on like she never said anything, “I’d have killed to be there. Jagged Stone sang you a song.”
“Well I’ve known him for a few years now,” Marinette said, because, duh. “He’s like my uncle.” Her crazy, wild, decide to do an entire firework show, and nearly get everyone arrested uncle. “I went to his wedding. I design Penny, his wife’s dress. And his tux. And the bridemaids gowns. The tux for Fang,” Freaking Fang.
“Fang?” Ivan asked.
“His pet crocodile,” Marinette answered. “The same pet he’s had for twenty years. Anyone can find article about Fang, if they. Checked. Their. Resources.”
If Alya noticed the callout, it didn’t phase her as the girl didn’t even blink.
Nino looked confused, “I thought he had a cat?”
Lila’s eyes widened.
I thought you had a brain, Marinette nearly snapped. “Turns out a lot people were wrong.”
“Why didn’t you tell us who’d be there?” Adrien asked. “That my dad was invited. I would have gone. He hates parties.” (“He hates fun,” Chloe snorted.)
“Yeah,” Alix huffed. “Do you have any idea how awesome it would’ve been to meet a pro-skater.
“Or a Futball player,” Kim added.
“A director!” Nino went. “Or those actors.”
Marinette leaned back in her seat. “I didn’t know who all was coming,” She said. “You were invited. I just to invite Everyone I worked with as well. It was a party for a fourteen-year-old girl, I didn’t think they’d come.” At all, what’s so ever. Marinette had just did it to be polite.
“Worked with?” Rose’s mouth opened in awe.
“I designed for them,” Marinette offered. “But I didn’t think they show.”
“Nearly everyone in school was there,” Nino complained.
“No,” The bluenette was quick to correct. “I invited my friends; the ones I know from gamers club, design club, drama club, backing club, the students council. And I invited you, because I thought it was the polite thing to do.”
The clear distinction between the two was obvious.
“My friends came,” Marinette said. “Celebrity or otherwise; they all came. They wanted to wish me a happy birthday. Because they care.”
“Some of could’ve had our big breaks.” Alya snapped, anger in her eyes. “You invited us because you knew we wouldn’t show up!”
Marinette just stared at her before shaking her head, “I had guessed you wouldn’t,“ She admitted, and then smiled. But you were invited.”
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Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.
Interview with Chimerical
Chimerical’s stories aren’t at Gossamer, but you can now find them at AO3. If you have not read them, are you in for a treat! For instance, Regular People and Regular People Still are some of the X-Files fics I have read and re-read. You may also know Chimerical from her site Chimerical Publications, which was an extensive Mulder and David Duchovny fansite. Big thanks to Chimerical for doing this interview.
Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?
I’m not surprised at all that X-Files fandom is still popular, it was an amazing, creative show with iconic characters. Aside from just being entertaining, like all good Sci-Fi it asked deep, profound questions about the nature of relationships and humanity. It’s these things that people remember more than the MOWs.
However, I’m surprised to hear that my stories are still read, mostly because there is always something new, someone has a new take, and of course, we have the more recent episodes which provides all new fodder for writers, which is wonderful. But it’s super nice to hear that stories from the classic show still mean something. Also, I wasn’t a prolific writer, there are only 12 stories, but perhaps they struck a chord and people like to revisit them the way you like to re-watch a favorite episode or movie.
What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?
Fanfic is certainly not new, but The X-Files was absolutely at the right place, at the right time. The internet was just really taking off, and it enabled fans to connect instantly in ways that hadn’t before. I remember that Fox used to send out Cease & Desist letters in an ill-considered attempt to stem fanfic because the Suits just didn’t understand what it was. Nowadays, of course, they embrace much of it, encourage it, even. Supernatural wrote whole episodes about it. But in the early days they were really stupid about it.
But what I took away from it was that great community can exist with people you have never met in person. There is a great sharing of ideas and love of great characters.
Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?
It’s true, no Facebook, twitter, tiktok – it seems strange!
But I connected to fandom though the old Usenet message boards, you couldn’t wait until the episode was over until you could leap on and start discussing the episode. And it was painful if you were on the west coast as I was because you would get spoiled. In truth, it wasn’t must different than Twitter, just without the character limitation. But it was rather the wild, wild, west, no moderators and no terms of service. It could be a free-for-all, and some of the disagreements were legendary! For writing, certainly ATXC was the big dog for fic, and of course alt.tv.x-files for discussion. There were many different Yahoo Groups and AOL mailing lists, that catered to interests in fanfic (Friendship/Adult/Slash) or to the characters and/or actors.
But frankly, the main thing I remember was what a complete PITA it was to just get anything posted. There were all these size limitations and ASCII issues that don’t exist today, you had font and formatting limitations, which cause people to get weirdly creative with italics, bolding, quotes and so on. And you had to break your story up in weird way simply to jam it into the email because there were size limitations. And it never failed that no matter how many Beta Reads you had, you didn’t see that last damn typo until AFTER you hit the send button. There was no edit button, all you could do resend the whole damn thing. It was the fanfic version of the 20 mile walk to school through the snow……Kids today have it so easy! LOL….
What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?
Actors are, and always will be, the face of the show. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are amazing actors, and the nuance they brought each week was a wonder.
But one of the things that the X-Files also did was make people aware of the people behind the scenes, the showrunners, the writers, the directors. This was also something new. For most TV dramas, most people couldn’t tell you who wrote an episode if you had a gun to their head.
But people knew the writers like Vince Gilligan, James Wong, Darin Morgan, and of course Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz. And they knew the directors, Rob, Chris and the late great, Kim Manners.. It was like a repertory company. You could count on Morgan & Wong for the creepy, you could count of Vince Gilligan for the humor and relationship stuff, you could count on Darin Morgan for the “what the hell was that, but I loved it.”
So I guess what I took away was a deep appreciation for the craft, for the work. This carried over to other fandoms. I’m more aware of the creative team beyond the actors.
What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?
Believe it not, I didn’t watch at the beginning. I’ve always been a Sci-Fi fan but for some reason this wasn’t on my radar. I came in about the middle of Season 1. I was channel surfing and stopped the X-Files, it was the episode “Ice.” I won’t lie, I stopped because I saw David Duchovny in a henley and I’m never one to pass by an attractive man. But as I watched, I became intrigued by these two characters, and their conflicted relationship with each other, even though I didn’t really know what was really going on. But I had to know more. That’s good writing, where you can walk in half-way through an episode and be captured.
I immediately checked out the old AOL Service forums and found a group. Of course, back then, there was no streaming, there was no BitTorrent. So, you just had to wait until when and if the network decided to show a repeat, which meant you were screwed if you were trying to catch up. But someone on one of the boards offered to send me VHS tapes of the episodes of missed. That’s fandom as its best - I’m excited about this and I want to share it with you. So in about a week I was caught up and hooked. I had to see how these two people’s story turned out.
What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?
I’ve always written as a hobby, taken many writing classes, have always written short stories, worked on a novel or two. I’ve got friends who are writers by profession. But the closest I ever came to doing it professionally was co-writing a play that ran for a month off Broadway many years ago, so I’m a dabbler, at best. I’m a big reader, and good stories always make me think, “well, what if this happened….”
So, X-Files wasn’t my first fanfic rodeo. I had been involved in Quantum Leap fandom and Beauty and the Beast, some Star Trek. Once I good hooked on the show, I immediately began searching out fanfic. But it took me a long time before I wrote anything. I’m not sure why, perhaps I was waiting to see where the story went. But X-Files was different in that it blended one of my favorite genres with a truly compelling relationship story. And I don’t just mean romance, it was a melding of two entirely different ways of looking at the world that was captivating. Scully was so strong and Mulder so complex, how could you not love them.
So, I enjoy writing, I learn from it. I learn from the feedback, both good and bad. I’ve never understood fanfic writers who say “just sent me nice feedback.” No one loves criticism, and not all criticism is valid. But you learn from it. I’ve had people tell me they hadn’t looked at an episode from that point of view and they like it - and I’ve had people tell me that I didn’t know what I was doing, everyone knew that Scully would never cuss (to which I say, please, she grew up on military bases!) But it helps you improve.
What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom?
It was a period of my life I cherish because I met some friends who are still my friends to this day, all these years later because we found other things in common besides a show. It was great to share ideas and debate storylines. And it was a fun, creative, and exciting time. Each episode was must-see and then talking to my friends about it later was the best part.
I started to drift away when David Duchovny left the show. I thought then, and still think, they should have called it a day because the beating heart of that show was Mulder and Scully together. You can’t rip out half the heart and expect the patient to live. On an intellectual level, I got why Duchovny left, I got why Anderson stayed and I got that Fox was a fledging network back then and XF was a cash cow. But on an emotional level, it all turned upside down, especially when the much-promised “search for Mulder” never really happened.
Fans got angry. They were angry at David for leaving, they were angry at Gillian for staying, and they were angry at poor Robert Patrick, perfectly decent person, for merely existing. It got ugly and I got up caught up in that. Frankly, I was as much to blame as anyone in carrying on stupid arguments about crap that didn’t matter. And one day I just realized I’d let all the joy be sucked away, and this just wasn’t who I wanted to be, or how I wanted to spend my time. So, I took a break, I still watched the show as it limped on, but I disconnected from the fandom part of it. And by the time I’d had my break, the show was done!
Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?
I’m always a fan. There are many shows I’ve followed and liked, Supernatural, Fringe, Walking Dead, but I don’t get involved in the internet drama. So, I don’t get as invested.
Who are some of your favorite fictional characters? Why?
I assume you mean besides Mulder and Scully! In literature, My favorite writer is John Steinbeck and every character he created was indelible and singular. East of Eden is my favorite book and the characters of Adam & Caleb Trask, as well as Cathy Ames are so well drawn. Of Mice and Men, Cannery Row, they’re all perfect. Another favorite book and character is Alexandre’s Demas, The Count of Monte Cristo. The arc that Edmond Dantès’ life take is quite Mulder-esque. And of course, Harry Potter, I’m a sucker for a character fighting against overwhelming odds.
On TV, Sam Beckett from Quantum Leap. That was an amazingly well-crafted series, also featuring a female show runner, Deborah Pratt. I love the character of Raymond Reddington on The Blacklist, there is something about a completely unapologetic bad guy. I would have once said Dean and Sam Winchester, but sadly that turned into a case of staying too long at the fair and I stopped watching a couple seasons ago - But the early seasons rocked. Literally every single character in M*A*S*H was golden, and they knew when to call it quits. Thomas Magnum from the original Magnum PI. (People my age will still remember the “Did you see the Sun Rise, Ivan” episode!)
Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully?
Oddly enough, a few weeks before you reached out to me, I watched the X-Files movie again. I remembered the incredible excitement when it came out. Fox did this tour across the county; it was like a mini-con. But I remember they had the trailer on a loop and my friends and I sat through it so many times we could recite the entire thing by heart. TV shows, such as Star Trek, had made the leap to movie, but I don’t believe a TV show had ever made the leap to films while the show was still on TV. But damn, it was good.
I watched the two recent XF mini-series. They did much to revive the old feeling, especially the episodes by Darin Morgan, who is a national treasure. And it was wonderful to see David, Gillian and Mitch. I’m sorry there won’t be more.
Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom?
I haven’t in quite a while. Mostly because real life has interfered (work, personal stuff, Covid) over this last year and I have trouble concentrating. But I would certainly return to it, you need the escape of a good story.
Do you have any favorite X-Files fanfic stories or authors?
Oh yes! But they were all from the time I was writing. Lydia Bower, DashaK, BlueSwirl, XFBandit, Paula Graves, Taverl, Prufrock’s Love, and dozens of other are still on my PC.
What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?
Like children, they each have their virtues but some may be harder to love than others. While I love a good smutty MSR, I was also a big fan of conflict resolution. So, I’m going to cheat and split the baby here. Based on feedback, I’d have to day my most popular story was Regular People and its sequel. And I really enjoyed writing that. It’s simple, it’s sweet, it’s what I hope for Mulder and Scully. The chance to just BE, if only for a while.
I wanted to try a slash story, so Wind River. That story was inspired by the murder of Matthew Shepard. I have dear friends in the gay community and I was so angry that this could happen in this country, so that one was about the need to treat people compassionately and who better to do that than Mulder and Scully.
But in truth, my own favorite is one that didn’t get much attention, called Rock Bottom. I wanted to explore that the fact Mulder and Scully, were, on occasion, just truly awful to each other and yet still reason to come back together.
Do you think you'll ever write another X-Files story? Or dust off and post an oldie that for whatever reason never made it online?
I have a couple unfinished stories. There’s one from Quantum Leap, I want to finish first and when that’s done, I would like to finish the two X-Files that are half-baked.
Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?
I do legal writing as a profession now, so I write all day long, but analyzing a case or a legal matter is not the same creatively and I do miss that, so I see returning someday, you need to feed your soul.
Where do you get ideas for stories?
Well that’s all over the place, much like my mind! Often I was inspired by something I thought was unaddressed in the episodes. That’s where the Just One series came from. Or it’s a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern kind of thing -- That is, what’s happening off screen while the main action is going on. I find that intriguing, and that’s where Risking Everything came from. The incident in By Coincidence actually happened to a friend of a friend and I thought it would make good fodder. Pentimento came to me following a lecture I attended at a gallery, what happens when you peel back the layers you thought were true. You never know what’s going to connect.
What's the story behind your pen name?
“Chimerical” means existing as the product of unchecked imagination, given to unrealistic flights of fantasy- which seemed right for a fiction writer, especially for XF. In the early days, it became the phonetic “KiMeriKal” when I was on the old AOL service simply because Chimerical wasn’t available as a screen name! But I���m finally [email protected]!
Do your friends and family know about your fic and, if so, what have been their reactions?
Yes, my friends are aware, some of them have been my betas over the years. My brother knows I write, but I don’t think he’s ever read anything because he would find the smut elements uncomfortable coming from his little sister!
Is there a place online (Tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?
The most recent versions of my stories are at AO3. If I ever get around to anything new it will be posted there as well.
Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?
Thanks for reading, thanks for remembering me, and it was a great time in my life. Fandoms are great communities as long as we can always remember there’s a human being at the other end of the keyboard. Be kind, be compassionate, and never stop imagining the possibilities.
(Posted by Lilydale on February 23, 2021)
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a strange love | yuta (m)
title: a strange love
pairing: alien!yuta x black!reader
genre: sci-fi/fantasy, fluff, angst, smut
request: “I read a good chunk of your NCT work and really liked them. Would I be able to request a fic where a black female reader meets an alien (can be Yuta or Jungwoo) and they're both coming to terms that they're attracted to each other and have to come to terms with being attracted to someone of a different species? Can be smutty and don't be afraid to give the alien a less human biology if you don't mind.”
word count: 13.1k
warnings: alcohol use, cursing, near drowning experience, lots of mentions of water so this one might not mesh well with people w/ aquaphobia, non-human biology/body horror, extraterrestrial sex, lots of cum, oral sex (female receiving), tentacle dick, unprotected sex, creampie, please heed the warnings because this is an alien smutfic lmao
a/n: giving the shape of water teas. i’ve actually never seen that movie 😕 but i will at some point. forgive me in advance for the nerdy references in here.
It’s funny how things happen when you least expect it. You never would’ve thought you’d be sound asleep when your entire world changed.
The night the UFO crashes in your city, you’re awoken by the tremors of its landing. The vibrations feel akin to an earthquake, and they make picture frames and other trinkets fall off your shelves and hit the floor in a clatter of noise. You jump up from your pillow at the racket, your heart pounding. You glance at the things lying on your floor and quickly register that the room—your entire home—is trembling.
There’s not much you can do at this point but ride it out, so you huddle down in your covers and hope the roof doesn’t cave in on your head. To your knowledge, your particular area isn’t known for earthquakes, which makes all of this even stranger. What could be causing one now? Is the world finally ending?
Eventually, the tremors stop. By now, your shelves have been emptied of nearly all their contents, but you’re still alive, which you’re grateful for. You wait a few more minutes to see if the shakes will begin again, but they don’t, so you climb out from the warmth of your covers to clean up your floor.
Police and ambulance sirens start blaring through the city not long after you get out of bed. That’s nothing unusual; there are usually injuries and casualties with natural disasters like these, and you expect many poor souls will be needing rescue tonight. You sigh and look at your closed blinds, watching them be sporadically illuminated by the lights of the emergency vehicles rushing past.
Once you’ve cleaned up your room and gotten back in bed, you think about checking social media for what people have been saying about the quake. There’s no doubt that the city’s residents have taken to Twitter and Instagram to document it. However, your eyelids are already starting to droop, and you’d probably fall asleep in the middle of scrolling, so you decide to tuck in and wait until morning.
Waking up the next day almost seems like a normal Sunday until you look at your blinds again and are suddenly reminded of last night’s flashing lights. Right. The earthquake. Throwing the covers back, you stumble out of bed to turn on your TV. You flip through the channels until you find a news station for your local area. You go to open the blinds, keeping your ears open for reports on the earthquake.
“Last night, we experienced unprecedented seismic activity throughout the majority of the city, caused by what appears to be an unidentified flying object, otherwise known as a UFO—”
Huh?
You turn to the TV, thinking this must be some kind of ridiculous hoax. You get ready to reach for the remote, thinking you must have turned it to one of those parody news channels by accident, but you freeze at what you see. Video footage of the city center—or what used to be the city center—plays on the screen. In place of the large historical monument that used to stand there, there’s a huge...silver and black spaceship. Or at least you think it’s a ship. It apparently sustained major damage in the landing, and now it looks more like a hunk of melted metal. The area around it has been blasted clear in every direction. Instead of green grass and pavement, there’s nothing but dirt.
The area is blocked off with yellow tape, though hundreds of people have gathered at the location to check out the object and take pictures and videos of it.
“What the fuck…” you whisper to yourself.
“We’re currently unsure where this UFO originated from, though we can confirm that it is not affiliated with any aircraft fleets owned by the U.S. military. Researchers and scientists from top universities across the country are being called in to assist in identifying this craft…”
“There’s no just way,” you mutter, grabbing your shower cap and pulling clothes out of your closet for your morning shower. “A UFO...guess that alien invasion is coming sooner than we thought.” You would like to believe it’s all just someone playing a terrible prank, but pulling off this level of theatrics is impossible.
After you get out of the shower and start making breakfast for yourself, you get a text from one of your coworkers, Alex.
10:30 A.M.
Alex🍸
You seeing this shit on the news right now?
10:31 A.M.
Obviously! It’s fucking wild. Do you really think it’s true? OR some elaborate government hoax? Anything’s possible. I’m betting “true,” but...
10:33 A.M.
Alex🍸
I honestly don’t know. that’s why me and some of the others from work are about to head over there now. Wanna come?
10:34 A.M.
The hell! I’ll pass. There could be all types of radiation n shit, I’m not tryna turn into the Green Lantern or the Hulk or somebody.
10:35 A.M.
Alex🍸
lmFAO. Suit ypurself. If I gain superpowers don’t be surprised if I fly over to your house today.
10:35 A.M.
You’re a mess. 💀
You spend breakfast watching more news reports and scrolling through Twitter feeds for firsthand information. People who visited the site, including your coworkers, have uploaded pictures of the UFO from various angles, inciting a frenzy of conspiracy theories and warnings that the world is about to end.
You don’t know what to make of the situation, but it stays on your mind throughout the day as you leave the house and go about completing your usual errands. The city center has been blocked off to all vehicles other than those belonging to people who’ve been called in to help, which means that traffic is sky-high everywhere else—even for a Sunday.
Sitting in a mishmash of cars, you roll down your window and sigh, looking out at the red traffic lights, and beyond that to the horizon. Things are about to get very weird for the next few weeks. Maybe months. You can only hope you’re prepared for it.
You don’t know why, but the air seems strange tonight.
It’s been 2 days since the UFO crashed. There haven’t been many more answers apart from what everyone already knows due to the ship’s destroyed state. The city has professionals out for that sort of thing, but they’re taking their sweet time analyzing the ship—though you can’t really blame them. Jumping straight into unknown alien tech seems like a death wish.
Your life has been pretty much the same as usual, though you know a few people at work who have been more directly affected by the events. One girl, Sooyoung, who lives in the neighborhood near the crash site claims the officials are thinking about having that entire area evacuate, though you don’t know why they’re beating around the bush about it if it’s true. Whatever radiation or chemicals they’re worried about has probably already leached into all the surrounding homes, and now you’re just waiting for someone to walk into your workplace with antlers or purple skin.
Admittedly, you’re morbidly curious about the case and what all of this could mean for Earth’s future, but you keep your fascination lowkey. You don’t need any of your coworkers thinking you’re the next alien-obsessed Mulder from X-Files. But then again, you’re not curious enough to visit the actual scene, so maybe you’re not the crazy one here.
You feel fine when you get home from work that day, but as you get washed up and settle into your usual evening routine, you can’t shake the eeriness gripping your subconscious. It’s not necessarily a bad feeling, either, just...foreign. Like an emotion you’ve never felt before, though you didn’t know there were even still new emotions to discover. Shaking your head, you figure maybe you should lay off the alien stuff for the rest of the week.
Before you head to bed that night, you go around the house making sure all the doors and windows are locked as you normally do. You pause at the backdoor for a reason you can’t explain, and the strange feeling grows stronger. At this point, you’re a bit frightened about what this is all about, but you can’t go to sleep without knowing. Curiosity takes over as you open the blinds and stare into the darkness of your backyard.
You don’t see anything right away. There are trees, bushes, your potted plants, and lawn chairs...everything looks normal. It’s only when you lean closer to the glass to squint that you see a figure lying in the grass. You jump once you catch sight of it, terrified that some monster or murderer has found their way onto your property. There was nothing there earlier when you closed the blinds, so whoever or whatever it is must’ve recently showed up.
You’re about ready to dial 911 when you realize the figure is curled in the fetal position and unmoving...almost like they’re unconscious. Or dead.
This is ridiculous. You feel like one of those people who always dies first in the horror movies because they went into the room the killer was obviously hiding in, but you’re overcome with the strong impulse to step outside. You grip the doorknob tightly, debating whether you should unlock it or not.
“...Fuck. Don’t let me regret this.”
You open the door with your phone in hand, the device serving as your flashlight. There’s still the screen door to get through, which you pause at for a moment. The figure remains unmoving even with the sound of the door opening.
“Hello?!” You call out to the individual, but there’s no response. Your phone’s light can’t reach them from there, which forces you to open the screen door and step out onto the porch. They’re still feet away, but from this closer distance, it seems like they’re wearing a sort of armor or full-body suit...maybe like a cosplay?
“Hope this isn’t some weirdo weeb passed out on my lawn…” you mutter, cautiously stepping onto the grass. As you approach, you can see now that the figure is likely male, though their back is to you so you can’t be totally sure. “Um, hello there? Can you hear me?” No response.
By now, you are only a few feet away from them. The person looks to be an Asian guy, with long blonde hair haloing his face. His features are angular and smooth, and he is indeed wearing some kind of body armor, its color unlike anything you’ve seen. Instead of being all one hue or even a few, it reflects the light from your phone and glows with a rainbow-like phosphorescence. The material itself looks translucent, but you can’t see through it; it creates a mind-bending optical illusion.
Your stomach suddenly drops to your feet. Is this who was in that UFO in the city center? It seems too out-there to be true, but your intuition is telling you otherwise. This can’t be fucking real.
You kneel on the wet grass next to the man and try to look for signs of life. You can hear his breathing, so he’s thankfully not dead. But he doesn’t look to be in good shape, either. He definitely won’t be able to get up on his own; he probably used the last of his energy to drag himself into your yard.
“Damn.” You turn the flashlight off and slip your phone into your sweatpants pocket. It seems like there’s no other options right now. You could call the police, but they’d probably accuse you of being in cahoots with this weird dude and drag you off to jail. Or they could cart him off for government experimentation, which sounds equally terrible. So with those things in mind, you gently maneuver his upper body until you’re able to hook your arms under his armpits and drag him towards your house.
You just really hope none of your nosy neighbors are seeing this right now.
He’s surprisingly light, and you get him inside the house fairly quickly. Once you’ve locked the door again, you pull him over to the living room so he’s propped against your couch. He still isn’t fully conscious, but his head and lips move as if he’s dreaming about something.
“What was that…?” You lean closer, trying to read his lips for some sort of clue. Surprisingly, you can make out the word water, which he mouths over and over again. “Water…” You run into the kitchen to pour a glass and bring it back to him, making sure not to spill any on the way over.
You press it to his lips, unsure if he’ll be able to drink, but to your amazement his muscles respond and he drinks quickly as you tip the glass. Soon, the water is all gone. You set the glass to the side with your palms sweating and watch as his face flutters even more.
“Can you...hear me?”
His eyes open only slightly. This movement seems to cause him some pain, though you aren’t sure why. Maybe he has a headache since he was dehydrated? You scramble to turn the overhead light off, not wanting to make matters worse. He still doesn’t try to open his eyes any wider, though.
“Who are you? Were you...did you crash here?” You feel a little bad about asking so many questions, but you’re dying for answers as to what the hell is going on.
The man licks his lips, and his mouth parts like he’s going to answer. But his throat is still dry, and it hurts to talk.
“...Shit.” You get him another glass of water and let him drink until it’s gone again. He seems a little better after that.
“Th-this...” He clears his throat a couple times and tries again. “This is E-Earth, right?”
Now you’re the one lost for words. Although you already figured he couldn’t be from here, hearing it out loud makes your blood rush and your heart race. “Um, yes...this is Earth. Was...the UFO yours?”
He sighs, and his head falls back against the couch arm. “Yes.”
“It’s destroyed,” you say, and then feel silly about it. “But you already know that.”
He doesn’t answer that. He just slowly glances around your living room instead, looking as if he’s never seen a stranger setup. The quietness is awkward, and you almost feel like he must be judging your taste for interior design. “Do you have a name?”
More silence. You decide he probably won’t answer until he finally says, “You can call me Yuta.”
“Yuta.” You tell him your name too, and he just nods, almost imperceptibly. He doesn’t say much without prompting, which makes it hard for you to know how to approach the situation. You don’t want to overwhelm him with questions, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to speak unless you do. “How did you end up here? I mean, in my—uh, my yard?”
Yuta shakes his head and then winces. “I crashed, and then...I just ran. The ship was melting. I just ran. I hid...I went from place to place, hiding. Don’t know how I got here.”
You wonder how he made it all the way from the city center to your home without being spotted, especially with that armor. You can only conclude that he must be stealth at hiding. Or maybe someone did spot him and the feds are about to bust down your door any minute. You take a shaky breath and try to push that anxious thought to the back of your mind.
Suddenly Yuta fixes you with a suspicious glare. “Will you reveal that I’m here?”
You try not to get offended, because you’d honestly be thinking the same if you were a newly-landed alien in a foreign land. “No. I don’t have any reason to do that. I just want to help. I’m not looking to be on anyone’s 6 o’clock news or cheap tabloid. You probably don’t believe me, but you can have my word for it...if that means anything to you.”
He’s quiet again, though you can tell he’s still skeptical.
“Um, do you need anything? More water?”
He sits up straighter at the mention of that. “Water.” You reach for the glass again, but he frowns. “Not that. I need…something more than that.” He looks around again, but when he doesn't see what he’s searching for, he attempts to stand only to slump down again.
“Slow down there, I don’t think you’re gonna make it like that. Can I help?”
You end up slinging his arm across your shoulder and letting him lean his body against you while you lead him to the bathroom. That’s the biggest source of water in the house, and you assume he must be wanting a bath or shower or something. Even aliens have their hygiene needs, you guess.
You turn the bathroom light on and have Yuta sit on the toilet lid as you turn the bathtub faucet. “Is...this what you meant?” He nods, and you put the plug in and let the tub fill up.
“Just water. Nothing else. I need to recharge,” he says, and before you can ask what he means by that, he starts undressing in front of you.
At first, your reaction is delayed; you’re struck with surprise when you realize the armor isn’t actually a whole bodysuit, but more like...connected panels of material that can be taken off. You don’t understand the material at all, it doesn’t resemble anything on Earth you can think of—but of course, it’s alien tech. It conforms to his body as he’s wearing it but takes on a more rigid form once it’s peeled off, like actual armor.
Then, he gets ready to take the bottoms off and something finally clicks in your brain that oh my God he’s about to get naked in front of me.
“Whoa!” You spin around and cover your eyes for good measure, glad that your brown skin hides the way your face is burning right now. You step towards the open door. “Uh, I’ll just leave, sorry—”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Um, what?”
“Doesn’t really matter to me,” Yuta says, pulling the last of his suit off. He steps into the tub and sits down in it, putting his hands underneath the stream of water rushing out of the faucet. The skin on his hands seems to ripple, like it’s readjusting itself, and the hairs stand up on the back of your neck at that. You forget to be embarrassed at his unclothed state as you watch it happen.
“What’s going on with that? And why did you need the water?”
Yuta splashes his face before answering, and he turns to look at you, the droplets of water sliding off the ends of his hair. “I’m part of a Water Race. Water is my home. Our bodies have adapted to be built for living in water, and it’s dangerous to be without it for too long.”
“Adaptation? But you look like a regular human.”
“It’s just a skin.”
“A skin?” You echo in horror, a sudden flashback to Silence of the Lambs popping into your mind. “Someone else’s skin?”
Yuta gives you a look that seems to say he can’t believe you’re asking such a stupid question. “No, it’s my skin. It’s just not my natural form.” To prove his point, he holds his hand out, and right before your eyes his human skin pulls back and morphs into something much more scaly and green. His fingers are actually more like talons, with long black nails on the ends, and there’s translucent webbing between each one.
You gasp and step back, trying to catch your breath at the sight of something so very not human. The skin reforms around his hand—you assume he has to be willing it with his mind somehow, because he doesn’t even move—and his digits look just as human as ever.
“How the hell do you hide your nails under there? Isn’t it just like...wearing a bodysuit?”
Yuta shakes his head. “No. Once the skin is on, it becomes...part of me. My hand becomes a human hand. I’m not hiding anything, it just is. It’s hard to explain.”
“Have you been to Earth before? Is that why you have a human skin, because...adaptation or some shit? This is all so wild.”
“I can shift into different skins if I want, if I gather enough genetic information on certain species’ inhabitants...but there are limitations.” That doesn’t exactly answer your question, but you figure maybe it’s best if you didn’t know. You can at least assume he’s been in contact with humans before.
“I see…” You fidget for a few seconds before speaking what’s on your mind. “Okay, one last thing...you said there are limitations. Does that mean you can’t transform into, like...a dung beetle or something?”
Yuta gives you another are you serious look and you put your hands up. “Just wondering. It was worth a try.”
You feel awkward just standing there, and you feel like maybe you should give him some privacy even if he doesn’t care much, so you leave the bathroom to find something for him to wear.
You’re not sure if you’ll find anything that fits him, so you end up settling on a light pink bathrobe and decide he’ll have to work with that for now. You slip back into the bathroom to leave it on the sink, averting your eyes from his nude form in your bathtub. “Um, here’s something to wear...not sure if anything else will fit, this is all I have for now. Sorry.” You don’t wait for him to respond— he probably won’t anyway—before slipping back out.
It’s nearing 1 A.M. at this point, which is late considering you still have work tomorrow. You sigh and curl yourself up on the couch, hoping you won’t have to stay up for very much longer.
You’re not sure when you drifted off or how long you were out, but you wake up to the sound of footsteps and see Yuta coming out of the bathroom wearing the robe you’ve given him. You have to laugh a little at the sight of him in the light pink material, though you think it suits him in a way.
“Yeah, you’re gonna need some clothes.”
Yuta raises his eyebrow. “I still have my suit.”
“Yeah, but...don’t you want something else to wear? Your ship is pretty much gone, so you’ll probably be on Earth for a while...and if you don’t want anyone realizing you’re not from here, you’ll have to wear regular clothes.”
Yuta visibly upsets at the idea of his ship’s destroyed state, even though he knows there’s not much he can do about it. “I guess. I shared which planet I was heading to before I left, but...Earth is a very big place. And my trackers were destroyed with my ship, so…”
“I’m sorry,” you say, though you don’t know how much comfort that can be. “We can look for some clothes tomorrow. It’s probably better for you not to leave the house right now, but...that’s what online shopping is for.”
“Online shopping…?” Yuta seems puzzled by the concept, but he doesn’t ask any further. Then he looks around the room again. “Is there somewhere I can rest?”
“Oh, yeah, follow me.” You get up from the couch to head upstairs where the guest bedroom is. The house isn’t huge—it was your grandmother’s before she passed it on to you—but it’s more than enough for you alone, and it should fit one more just fine. You open the door and turn on the light, illuminating the small room. “It hasn’t been used in a while, so excuse any dust. I can fix that tomorrow, but it’s getting late...” you stifle a yawn, “...so we should probably go to sleep now.”
Yuta looks at you and nods.
“Um, well...goodnight.” You wave at him from the doorway before closing it.
As you make your way down the stairs, a sudden weariness and apprehension comes over you. An alien in your home? Escaped from a recently crashed UFO? Wearing one of your bathrobes? You’re almost positive you haven’t thought this through deeply enough, but you’re in it now. Might as well see where the rabbit hole leads to.
The next morning, you prepare yourself to go to work like you usually do. For a while, the house is so quiet that you almost forget Yuta is there until you see him standing in the kitchen entryway, still wearing his pink robe, and you almost jump through the ceiling.
“Jesus, you came out of nowhere,” you gasp, holding your heart.
“Where are you going?” Yuta asks. He steps into the kitchen and tentatively sits down in one of the dining table chairs.
“To work,” you say, and then pause. Maybe it isn’t such a good idea to leave a freshly-landed alien at home alone. “Will you be okay here by yourself? I could come over on my lunch break…”
“What am I supposed to do here the whole time?” Yuta asks, sounding displeased at the thought of being abandoned for hours.
“Well...you could watch TV? There’s the on-demand channel...the fridge is available for you too, just try not to clean out my—wait, do you even eat human food?”
Yuta shrugs, crossing his arms. “Not really. It’s not a big source of nutrients for us.”
You nod awkwardly. “Huh. Well, that’s...interesting.” The stress of the situation is already making your head pound and you haven’t even left for work yet. “Uh, yeah—I think I’ll just come over later and check in...come on, I’ll at least show you how to work the remote before I leave.”
You bid Yuta goodbye once you’re about to go, though you feel more than a little hesitant about leaving him there. There isn’t much other choice, though; you can’t afford to take a day off on such short notice.
The extraterrestrial sighs, sprawling across the couch and looking at the ceiling. The TV is already playing the channel you left it on, and Yuta turns to the screen and watches as a group of humans make weird food dishes he’s never seen before.
“This is stupid.”
The rest of the week with Yuta manages to be an adventure even though he never steps foot outside the house.
Yuta doesn’t take a liking to human food, which means he opts for spending most of his time in the guest bathtub instead, claiming that the water gives him more nourishment than meals can. You don’t know how true that is, but you’re not going to fight him on it. Less food you have to prepare, you reason...although you often end up making extra anyway and getting him to try a few bites. It feels odd to not see him eat.
Living with someone from outer space is not really as weird as you expected it might be, which surprises you. Yuta stays in his human skin whenever he’s around you, and you steer clear of the guest bathroom when it’s occupied lest you walk in on something crazy.
You’ve taught Yuta about new concepts he didn’t know before or wasn’t overly familiar with. He’s particularly intrigued with online shopping, and you ended up buying him a bunch of outfits that you both thought he’d look nice in. He doesn’t seem to be big on technology, which surprises you considering how advanced his UFO looked even its ruined state, but maybe human tech is more primitive than what he’s used to. He’s quite fascinated with the microwave, though, and how it can heat anything up in minutes.
With you uncovering new bits of information each day, you continually wonder how different his homeworld must be from the Earth. You can’t pull much out of him about it, for whatever reasons he has for keeping the information close, but you try to let him talk about it at his pace without pressuring him.
You could probably get used to living like this.
Maybe not your wallet, though. You’re definitely not loving how your water bill is going to look once it comes in the mail.
None of your coworkers or neighbors know—not that it’s any of their business anyway. You don’t know how long Yuta is going to stay, or what the hell you’re going to do when his people finally catch wind of his whereabouts and land a UFO in your backyard, but you figure you’ll get to that part when it comes.
On one Saturday morning, you wake up to the sound of tapping on your door. You try to ignore it, thinking it’s just some woodpecker setting up shop outside your window, but you’re proven wrong when the door swings open.
You pull the covers away from your face for a moment to see Yuta standing there looking at you. You stare at him for a few seconds before sighing.
“Why are you up so early? It’s the weekend,” you groan, pulling the covers back over your head.
“Why do you sleep so late?” Yuta retorts, still standing in your doorway. You don’t know whether he expects you to get up and do a trick, but it’s not happening. You peel the blanket away so it’s just below your eyes and look at him.
“What?”
“It’s not fun being here alone all day, you know,” he says, crossing his arms.
“So...what? Do you want me to play with you or something?” You can’t stop your sudden laugh, but you feel bad about once it’s out. He has just lost his ride home and has no foreseeable way back until someone notices his absence. Plus, needing to stay hidden and cooped up like a criminal can’t be enjoyable.
Yuta rolls his eyes at your response and starts down the hallway again, but you jump out of the bed and follow him. “Wait, Yuta, I’m sorry. That was stupid. I know it can’t be easy living like this. I’m not sure if I can make it better, but I’m willing to try.”
Yuta pauses in the hall and turns back to look at you. “I’m tired of being in here all the time....no offense. But there’s only so much I can take. I know I’m supposed to be in hiding, but it’s not like anyone can tell the difference. Even you couldn’t. Can’t we go out for one day?”
You think about it for a moment and figure he’s right. You both were trying to be overly cautious at first, but there’s no real way anyone would notice anything unless he shifted. “I guess we could...as long as we don’t go anywhere with a lot of water.”
“I have more self-control than that,” Yuta scoffs, though his words trail off as he’s already heading back to his room to get dressed.
You and Yuta walk around downtown for a little while, although you can’t shake the lingering nervousness you feel. You both decided not to head back to the city center any time soon; there’s not much left of the broken ship anyway, with scientists carting off pieces of it for research. Just as you thought. It’s too big to transport all at once, but you’re sure the remaining parts will be gone within the next couple weeks.
Yuta is continually surprised by how many new and unfamiliar things he spots along the way—things he actually gets to see up close and in detail. Kinda hard to focus when you’re running and hiding for your life.
Eventually, Yuta slows down as you walk past a small and colorful restaurant. “What’s that?” he asks, pointing up at the sign. You stop to turn around and see what he’s gesturing to.
“That’s just a hamburger joint...you won’t wanna go in there,” you say, raising your eyebrows. Because you don’t eat food. Despite that, Yuta still seems curious about the restaurant and he hesitates to walk away. Realizing that you aren’t going to get anywhere, you go to stand next to him and peer inside. There are a few people already inside, sitting at scattered tables and eating their food. “Do you want to go in, or…? ‘Cause you have to eat something if we do. This is your idea.”
“I’ll eat, let’s just go,” Yuta says, grasping your hand and pulling you into the restaurant.
You wave at the person behind the counter who greets you as you walk in, while Yuta is busy scanning every inch of the place. You let him look over the menu for a little while, but with so many options available he isn’t sure what to get—especially when he’s not sure if he’ll like any of them—so you end up picking for the both of you.
When you finally get your food, you take it to one of the tables. You watch attentively as Yuta takes the first bite of his hamburger, and you try to stifle your giggles as you watch his face go from nonchalance to bewilderment to shock.
“This is actually...good.”
“Wait, this is really the first meal you’ve liked? Are you saying my cooking is bad? Damn.” You chuckle, shaking your head.
“I’m not answering that.” Yuta laughs along with you, which is probably the first genuinely happy expression he’s shown since he’s been here.
Yuta has a very pretty smile, you realize. You’re a little taken aback by it. You haven’t seen much of it since you met him, but it’s here now and striking in its genuine quality. It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside...which you mainly attribute to the satisfaction of doing something nice for someone else. Of course. Who wouldn’t enjoy a nice meal they didn’t have to pay for?
Things go smoothly for a while as you both eat and pretend to make boring small talk since you can’t talk about him being an alien in public. However, you feel sweat on the back of your neck when you see your coworker Alex walk through the door with his boyfriend. This city is too small for its own good sometimes.
You try not to call attention to yourself and Yuta, keeping your gaze on your food, but he spots you anyway and waves enthusiastically. Alex gestures for his partner to go ahead and order while he comes over to your table.
“Hey, Y/N! It’s great to see you! Too bad we missed you at the UFO wreck today, though; we went out again one last time before they take the whole thing away,” he rushes out in one breath. Yuta’s eye twitches at the mention of his ship, and you’re suddenly on edge, hoping the situation doesn’t turn sour.
“Oh, uh, wow, that’s...cool!” you choke out, pinching your straw between your fingers. Before you can think of a way to divert the subject, Alex turns to Yuta.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Alex! Who’s this? Your boyfriend?” The last few words are directed at you. Alex gives you a playful grin, and you toss him an embarrassed smile back.
“Uh, no, he’s my friend! Yuta.”
“Nice to meet you,” Yuta says, though you can recognize his tone is a bit dry.
“Pleasure’s all mine!” Alex’s boyfriend calls him from the other side of the restaurant, and he turns to respond before taking his leave. “Ah well, looks like we’ll have to cut it short, but it was so great to see you guys. Enjoy your lunch!”
You let out the breath you were subconsciously holding once he leaves.
“Boyfriend…” Yuta murmurs.
“What?”
“That would be really weird. Wouldn’t it? We’re not even the same species,” he says, lowering his voice. It’s not like you don’t agree, but you admittedly don’t appreciate the way Yuta screws his face up at the thought. You prickle with embarrassment.
You scoff, taking a sip of your drink. “Well I’m not exactly eager to date an overgrown fish, so…” You almost expect Yuta to fall into another one of his moods at your words, but he actually chuckles a bit, which surprises you.
“Then it’s mutual!” Yuta sticks his tongue out and you roll your eyes.
The warm and fuzzy feeling, you soon find out, is not a one-time thing.
You don’t quite know what to make of that. You wouldn’t like for Yuta to go back to his initial broody state, of course, but you’re starting to believe this feeling can’t just be attributed to your charitable actions. You can’t stop thinking about the more playful side of Yuta you saw at the burger place that day, and the way he’s been gradually more open with you since then.
Yuta usually spends his nights splashing around in the guest bathtub, but one night he wanders into the living room and sees you putting your afro in plaits. He becomes weirdly fascinated with the process, watching you carefully and asking occasional questions. Amused by his interest, you answer all his questions and even offer to let him do one section.
“It’s probably not the same, but I used to braid my friend’s hair often…” he says wistfully as he settles in behind you. “We did a lot of things together.”
Your ears perk up. “Oh? You sound like you were very close,” you say, resting your chin on your knees.
“Really close,” he affirms. His hands are gentle in your hair, as testament to his words. You close your eyes and relax into the sensation, and before you know it, that warmth is spreading through your chest again. You even allow yourself to wonder what it’d be like for him to do this all the time, tending to your hair and telling you about his homeworld, before you open your eyes again and quickly pull yourself out of that reverie. You probably shouldn’t get too used to this, you reason with yourself. “I think she’s what you’d call a mermaid...except the look is a bit...different.”
“Different?” you echo, wondering if you’ll get an explanation.
“They don’t have human arms or anything like that...it’s more like tentacles.”
“Ah,” you try to imagine that, though it’s hard. “That’s certainly unique.”
“Maybe you’d like it...my planet, I mean.”
“You think I would? Why?”
“I dunno, just a feeling…”
“If only I could breathe underwater,” you laugh. “You’d take me back, though? Hypothetically, of course. I’m not too human for you?”
“Will you ever let that one go? It’s probably the least I could do after setting up residence here. Maybe we’ll get you an alien costume, though, so you’ll fit in.”
“How nice of you to think of me in all my humanness. God, the universe is something else…”
You start when Yuta’s hands leave your hair. “I think I’m done?” he says, sitting back on his feet. You grab the mirror from the coffee table and look at the braid you let him do.
“Oh wow, it looks good.” You purse your lips to hide the grin about to break across your face. “Do you wanna do the rest?”
“If you’ll let me.”
“Go ahead then, my hands needed a break anyway.”
You sit back and let Yuta finish the rest of your hair, listening quietly as he tells you more about his friend from his homeworld. Her name is unpronounceable to you, but it sounds pretty all the same. They grew up together, he says, and have been on lots of adventures over the years, though he still keeps that same vagueness he always has when describing his life. He ends up getting you to tell him more about your life, which you do; you figure he probably doesn’t know a whole lot about you, either.
Yuta hands you the mirror when he’s done, and his head pops up next to yours in the reflection. “Good?”
“It’s great!” you say, and you really mean it.
You discover that, strangely enough, Yuta has an affinity for sci-fi movies. Go figure. He especially seems to like the campiness of alien films; then again, everything is campy to him because of how different it is from how extraterrestrials actually live.
You are in the middle of watching The Fly when it comes to one of sex scenes, and you try not to sweat. It’s always a little awkward to watch sex scenes with other people, but doing it with an alien gives the whole thing an extra layer of weirdness.
“Human sex is so funny,” Yuta says out of nowhere. You just barely avoid choking on your drink.
“Uh, o-okay. Do I want to know what that means?”
Yuta only shrugs and leans farther back onto the couch, looking completely unbothered about what he’s just said. “It just is.”
“...I’m sure your people must procreate some kinda way?”
“Yeah, but it’s not quite this. But when I’m in this form, I can do it as humans do.”
That makes you pause, and you’re not sure what to do with that information. Actually, your mind has already decided for itself and is trying to go to a place you don’t want it to, and you’re mildly horrified by that revelation. There’s no real reason why you should be curious about it. And yet...
“Hummm...have you done it before? In this form?” You keep your eyes glued to the screen, which is now showing a shirtless Jeff Goldblum doing acrobatics—but that’s still less awkward than looking over at Yuta right now.
“There was one time.”
There is a twinge of something in your chest. Fascination? Sure. Revulsion? Maybe not that. Dare you call it anything close to jealousy? You immediately throw that one out the door, sink further into your seat, and try not to think about what your life has come to.
“Okay, since you still won’t tell me directly if you’ve been here before, at least tell me this; did it happen here on Earth? With a human?”
Yuta shakes his head. “Some other aliens have weird fetishes. I only did it because she asked and was really adamant about it.”
“Ooookay, you know what…” You get up from the couch and walk to the kitchen, laughing awkwardly all the way. You don’t have any particular reason to go in there, but you have to do something with the nervous energy that’s about to make you jump out of your skin. You pretend to shuffle around in the fridge for a minute so you don’t look too silly getting up for no reason.
After taking a moment to calm down, you turn back to Yuta. “Okay. Hypothetically, if you wanted, could you actually…? With a human? In your natural form? Or would the parts be incompatible, or...”
“Maybe...I’m not sure. It’s not like I’ve ever tried. Why?” Yuta gives you a look that’s partway between curiosity and incredulity, and you wave your hand in dismissal.
“It’s just a question.”
Yuta leans forward on the couch, barely concealing his own amusement at whatever he’s cooking up in his mind. “Are you saying you want to try it with me?”
“You’re not funny,” you sigh, trying to ignore the way your skin is burning at that suggestion. “Remind me not to ask you anything like that again.”
When you get home from work one weeknight, you roll your eyes at the mass text sitting in your inbox, forwarded to you from Alex. Another after-work party, which means another event where someone will run through the sprinklers naked and everyone will pretend like they don’t remember it the next workday.
You don’t know how you’re going to get out of this one, especially with Yuta, who will likely want to go if he finds out, so you decide to just come out and say it and see what happens.
“Hey Yuta…” You slide up behind him where he’s sitting on the couch. “I just wanted to let you know I won’t be at home for a few hours on Saturday. I’m going to a party this weekend. It’s a friend’s party, someone from work.”
Yuta looks at you forlornly. “The same person we met at the restaurant?”
“No, but he’s gonna be there too. Look, I know what you’re thinking, but I really don’t know if it’s safe for you to go…”
“That’s not fair, the last time at the restaurant went well,” Yuta argues.
“Yes, but this guy has a pool and he’s a dickhead who likes to push people in and what if you get caught off guard and change unexpectedly?”
Yuta’s response is as straightforward as you expected it to be. “Then I’ll punch him in the face.”
You laugh at that and shake your head, coming to sit beside him on the couch. “Ugh. As satisfying as that sounds, I don’t need the extra stress of dealing with the aftermath. I don’t know, Yuta...do you think you’ll be okay? God, I feel like an overprotective mom or some shit.”
“Y/N, it’ll be fine, stop worrying. I can take care of myself,” Yuta insists, putting his hand on your shoulder and looking into your eyes. He’s a little closer than you anticipated, which makes your heart rate increase a little. You chalk that reaction up to his invasion of your personal space and shift away, groaning.
“Fine, I’ll bring you. But if shit goes down, I can’t promise an easy way out. Let’s just keep things lowkey, alright?”
“Of course I can do that! I’ve been doing it so far haven’t I?” he says, but somehow you’re not entirely convinced.
The party is filled with people you know from work and a slew of unfamiliar faces, probably your coworkers’ friends. It’s mostly a backyard party, like you already knew, although there are some people mingling within the house.
There are already a few people lounging in the pool. In any other scenario, it might be inviting to you, but now you just look at all that water with a looming sense of anxiety. Yuta sticks close to your side, saying nothing but studying everyone around him.
“Y/N!” your coworker David shouts from the backdoor of his house. He holds up his beer in salutation and you wave back at him, mildly annoyed that he’s brought everyone’s attention to you both. He hustles over to you and claps you on the back strong enough to make your bones rattle, and you wince. “Hey dude!” He reaches across you to pull Yuta into a handshake, and Yuta also winces when he grips his hand a little too tight. “Make yourselves at home, I’ve got everything you could ever need—including the booze and babes!” You both nod awkwardly before David goes off to greet someone else who’s just pulled up. You roll your eyes once he’s gone.
Yuta’s eyebrows draw together. “That was…”
“Annoying,” you finish for him.
“You don’t seem to like him. Why did you decide to come?”
“Workplace politics, if you’re the only one who doesn’t come it’s awkward, ugh. It’s just bullshit. Let’s not get into it.” You walk towards the house and Yuta follows, and you nod at a few people you know along the way.
You find Alex in the kitchen, where he offers to make drinks for you and Yuta. You cast a glance at Yuta, wondering if he’ll take up the offer; you have no idea how he’ll react to alcohol, or if they drink any equivalent of it on his homeworld.
“Um, I think I’ll pass.”
“Oh okay, straight-edge guy! That’s cool too,” Alex grins, making just the one drink for you. As you and Alex talk, the girl from your department whose neighborhood was about to be evacuated sidles up to your little group.
“I’ve never seen you before. What’s your name?”
“Oh...it’s Yuta.”
“Yuta? How cool, I’m Sooyoung.”
Little did you know that that one introduction would expand into them having a half-hour long conversation right there in the kitchen. You really don’t know how Yuta is pulling this off without spilling the beans, but then again, you do; he’s good enough at manipulating the conversation to make it seem like he’s sharing personal info when he’s really not. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that he throws in things you taught him every so often.
Alex notices your changing demeanor and follows you as you walk into the living room, finally exhausted with playing third wheel. “Hm, someone seems a little spicy.”
You cough. “I’m fine, it’s just cramped in there, David should really invest in a bigger house..this place could use a remodel.” You throw a glance around the living room, not wanting to see the mischievous look in Alex’s eyes.
“Well, remodel aside, it’s not really my business, but you certainly seem to have a little green monster brewing here.”
You give Alex a long look. “Don’t. He’s my friend. He’s not even—” You have to stop yourself before you expose anything, and you shift nervously on your feet.
“Not even what? Your type? I don’t know, he’s handsome enough to me. You can’t go wrong with a pretty boy. Don’t tell Xavier I said that, though.”
“Lord, let me get the hell out of here…” You leave Alex to cackle to himself while you go out into the backyard again, holding your drink and mulling around the edges of the activity. Too busy wrestling with your own emotions, you don’t realize how close you’ve drifted towards the pool.
“Hey, Y/N?” David says from behind you.
“Yeah?” You go to turn towards him, but before you can, you feel a huge shove from behind and the next thing you know your feet are off the ground and you’re in the pool. It all happens so fast that you can barely catch your bearings, and for a terrifying moment you’re convinced you’re about to drown.
The seconds feel like minutes, and you can’t even open your eyes to tell up from down. The next thing you register is an arm around your waist, and somehow you’re being pulled up even though you’re too panicked to even control your limbs. Your head pops above the water and you cough and sputter loudly, trying to take in air. You try to blink the water out of your eyes, though it drips off your hair and makes it even harder to see.
You’re still not sure what the hell is going on until you’re hauled out of the water and sitting on the ground. Someone hands you a towel, and you hear a female voice saying you’re such an asshole, David.
You wipe the water off of your face and then you’re finally able to see; Yuta is crouching in front of you, just as soaked as you are and staring at you with a worried expression. You look back at him, disoriented and a little dumbfounded at his still-human state.
“You didn’t…”
Even though you’re still trembling with the fear of almost drowning, you’re unable to look anywhere but at Yuta for that moment—at the pure concern on his face.
“Nice going, David,” someone else says sarcastically.
“It was just a bit of a prank! No hard feelings guys, come on. Y/N?” You realize David is standing on your left, and he tries to come closer, his hands open in an apologetic gesture. You jerk away from him, holding the towel to your shaking form.
“Get the fuck away from me. You’re a fucking idiot!” you shout. “All you do is ‘play pranks’ and then you wonder why no one likes you!” That draws a few barely concealed laughs out of the people standing nearby, though you don’t think any of it is funny. David steps back, unsure how to respond and looking truly embarrassed for once in his life.
Filled with anger, you try to get to your feet but you’re still unsteady. Yuta puts his arm around you again, lifting you up and encouraging you to lean your weight on him.
“It’s okay, I’ve got you.”
You don’t have much to say on the way back home. You insist on leaving right away even though Yuta suggests you sit and wait until the tremors subside. He obviously can’t drive you back home, so it’s all he can offer, though it doesn’t make you feel much better.
The silence itself isn’t particularly awkward to Yuta, but he is uncomfortable anyway because he knows it stems from your own discomfort. At a red light, he turns to you.
“Are you okay?”
“Not really.”
He’s quiet for a few moments, and then he speaks again. “I know you’re mad about the pool, but...it seems like there’s more than that. Did...you not like me spending so much time with Sooyoung?”
You scoff. “You can’t be serious. I don’t care what you and that girl do.”
“You’re not a very good liar.” You’re too worn out to argue, so you merely give him a sidelong glance. Yuta sits back in his seat and watches a few cars zip past, their tail lights looking like clashing stars against the night. He’s not used to so much...manmade stuff. There was his ship and his trackers, of course, but he still has a hard time adjusting to be surrounded by so much iron and steel. His own planet is ruled by nature, by the vast oceans in all their unpolluted original essence, but Earth—or at least this portion of it—is much, much different.
He means to glance back at you, but his eyes linger for a while longer than intended. He’s not sure why. Maybe it’s because your outfit is a pretty color, or because the coils of your hair look shiny reflecting the light. He’s never put much thought into human beings before, and his limited experiences with them were mostly better left unremembered. Taking a human form was no huge deal for him; just a move that was necessary at the time.
But now, he’s seeing humanity—and most specifically, you—in a different light, and he’s uncertain what to do with this realization. People have feelings, thoughts, and dreams, like his own species, or like any other. He’s beginning to care what you think of him, how you react to him, even though he doesn’t know why this matters.
“You look pretty,” Yuta says. The compliment is the last thing you expected from him. It seems especially random after what happened at the party; here you are, soaking wet and incredibly uncomfortable. You’re a little late to put your foot on the gas pedal once the light turns green, and someone behind you honks.
“Pretty? I thought humans were weird to you.” Your mind goes back to The Fly and the subsequent conversation you had, and your hands tighten minutely around the steering wheel.
“You are. That hasn’t changed.”
“Good to know.” You don’t want to laugh, but this does make you crack a smile. “But...thanks. And...thanks for that, at the pool, you know. I should...probably trust you more.”
The rest of the ride is a little more talkative after that, and Yuta is happy that he could lighten your mood if even a little bit. Although he wouldn’t tell you, he’s becoming accustomed to your smile, and he’s more displeased than he thought he could be when it’s absent.
The thunder booms so loudly that it makes your window frames shake. It almost reminds you of the day Yuta’s ship fell out of the sky. You pull the covers tighter around yourself as if they alone could protect you from the storm’s fierceness. Storm clouds have been brewing all day, but the skies didn’t open until you and Yuta went to bed. Now, the rain and lightning is in full force. The rain pounds against your window, sounding more like hail or even bullets.
You’re startled for a second time when there’s a knock on your bedroom door.
“Come in?”
The door opens slightly and Yuta appears in the small sliver of space. “Sorry, but...can I sleep here? The storm...” He gestures to the window, where a crack of lightning strikes right after. He’s wearing a sleep shirt and loose pants, and his blonde hair is disheveled.
“Uh, sure.” You shuffle over to make room for him. “I guess this isn’t your type of water, is it?” He huddles underneath the covers with you, facing you with his arm tucked under the unoccupied pillow.
“Not when it’s so intense like this.”
You hum in acknowledgment. “It’s scary. Does rainy weather make you think of your homeworld often?”
“Often,” he repeats. “But...I think I’d be worse off if I weren’t here.”
“Here...on Earth?”
“I mean, here with you.”
“Oh,” is all you can think to say. It’s a surprisingly personal confession, though you are grateful you’ve become someone so important in his life already, even if it’s only because you’ve given him shelter. That familiar warmth spreads through you again.
Warm and fuzzies = gratefulness to a friend, the feeling you get when you pet a cute puppy. Right. It’s not the sensation you get when you think you might have feelings for your extraterrestrial friend, you try to convince yourself. “I’m...glad you’re here. Maybe not under these circumstances, but still.”
Yuta nods without speaking, but he doesn’t take his eyes away from you. You think he must be waiting on you to say something else.
“What?” you ask quietly when he keeps staring at you. “Take a picture, it will last longer.” Your joke does little to clear the air, and the tension keeps rising. You should probably be the first one to look away, to end whatever weird game this is and go to sleep, but you can’t. It’s unexplainable.
Yuta props himself up on his elbow, and you’re about to ask him where he’s going when he slips his hand onto your bare shoulder. You’re already covered by the blankets, but you suddenly feel even hotter with his hand on you, sliding up from your shoulder to the side of your face. “Y-Yuta…?”
You don’t know what to say or do, but you don’t object when he leans closer. Your faces are only inches apart now, like he’s hesitating and wondering if he should cross the line. The thunderstorm is intense, but this moment feels much more suspenseful than that could ever be. And then, it’s suddenly satisfying when his lips are on yours.
The kiss starts gentle. He’s careful as if he’s afraid to hurt you or make you feel uncomfortable. It’s soft and sweet. Things get more heated when his tongue prods against your lower lip and enters your mouth. You don’t know when his hand made it from your face to your side, but he pulls you close with his fingers pressing into the flesh just below your breasts, and you tremble at the proximity.
When you pull away, both of you are breathing harder and unable to look each other in the eye.
“Should we be doing this?” you whisper.
Yuta shakes his head. “I don’t know. But it feels good.”
At those words, you pause for a moment before moving to kiss him again. His lips respond deftly to yours, his body crowding you in and making you feel hot and enraptured with desire from where you still lie under the covers.
His hair is very soft when you slide your hands through it, though you can’t push away the thought that suddenly manifests in the back of your mind. This isn’t really his hair, or his lips, is it? It’s all a mask to cover whatever is underneath, which is something you still don’t entirely know, yet are increasingly curious about.
Yuta’s hand drifts up just high enough to caress the underside of your breast—all still over the cover of your clothes. Abruptly, that thought forces its way to the front of your mind, making itself unavoidable, and you have no idea how to reconcile it. This is all so...very unfamiliar. And undeniably scary.
You pull away from him, your face creased with conflict, and his hand stills on your body. “S-sorry, I…um...this is...”
Subsequently, he pulls his hand away from you, though some part of you doesn’t really want that to happen. “I-it’s fine.”
You both settle back into the sheets, the tense aura from before replaced with one that’s thick with unease. The storm continues on outside, unknowing and uncaring of anything else but its own nature.
Though you would like to pretend it isn’t so, things become strained after the night of the storm.
You and Yuta don’t talk about the kiss. You expected him to say something about it that morning after, but he didn’t acknowledge it, and so you figured you just forget about it, too. What are you thinking, anyway? You’re literally from two different worlds. You don’t have the first clue about what a connection would look like between you, whether it be just sex or a relationship.
Why couldn’t you just fall for a coworker and have a bit of office drama like everyone else? Even that would be simpler.
Why did you have to let your thoughts get the best of you? You don’t have any answer for that, except for maybe your own need to come to terms with your attraction. People have never been very skilled at accepting others different from themselves, you know that much. But that usually counts for people of different ethnicities or cultural backgrounds, not two entirely different species.
You spend the whole week afterwards tearing your mind up with this monologue and trying to figure out what you should do next, because you’re quickly growing weary of coming home to a tense atmosphere. Alex can only give so much advice—not that you’d really tell him the entire situation—without knowing just how complicated everything is.
Where he used to hang out with you and help you with your hair, Yuta spends more time up in the guest bathroom again. You wonder if he thinks you’re disgusted by him. You’d probably think the same if he reacted the way you did.
Unbeknownst to you, Yuta is facing the situation with a similar amount of inner turmoil as you, wondering if he’s gone too far. He’s done many silly things in his life, but he doesn’t know how to undo this mistake. The mistake of kissing you? The mistake of seeing you as more than just another human? The mistake of knowingly flying in a faulty ship? Maybe all of it.
He feels guilty about freezing you out and pretending as if nothing happened, especially with all you’ve done to make him safe and comfortable in your home. But, at the same time, he is equally frightened to face you and discover the real reasoning for why you pulled away that night. Because you’ll never see him as someone you could like? Or maybe even love?
If that’s your truth, he’d rather leave it unsaid.
There aren’t many choices left but to face it. Whether this idea is smart or not is yet to be seen, but you suppose you don’t have many solutions left. And you are sick of being cooped up in the house.
“You sure this is safe?” Yuta asks as he stares at the scenery whizzing past. “You were all freaked out about me being near water before...now you want to go to a lake?”
You glance over at him. “Yes, it’s my parents’ lake property. It’s private, Yuta. No one will be there but us. I think we could both use a mini vacation this weekend, yeah?”
“I guess, sure.” Yuta shrugs. His demeanor is more closed off than it was before that dreaded kiss, but you can still tell that he’s interested in the idea of getting access to a bigger body of water, even if he doesn’t outwardly express it.
The lake house is two hours out of your city. It hasn’t been used much in the past few years with both you and your parents being busy with work and life, but if there was ever a good time to use it, it’s probably now. You just hope there aren’t any squatters of the furry variety; the last thing you need is to be fighting raccoons or squirrels after stepping through the door.
Luckily, there’s really no one but you two once you reach your destination. The lake is big and pretty like you last remembered it, sparkling under the sun and throwing the rays back in your eyes. Yuta is automatically captivated by it.
“Here it is!” you say, walking along the sand and spreading your arms out towards the body of water. “It might not be much compared to your homeworld, but I hope it’s enough.” You carry your bag up the stairs to the house and turn back to Yuta, who’s still standing by the shore gazing across the water. “You can go in, you know? Get comfortable!”
That seems to snap him out of his trance, and he turns back to you, following you up the steps. “Not right now...I’ll go later.” You’re a little disappointed at that, but you simply nod and open the door to go in.
You spend the day getting increasingly more restless as you and Yuta hang out together. You go on the pier, walk around the entirety of the lake, and even take your dad’s boat out on the water, but he still doesn’t get in.
You eat dinner together later that night, although you’re the one doing most of the eating, and there isn’t much conversation to be had. You’ve both run out of things to say that don’t center around the kiss or why he refuses to get in the water.
Yuta spends a few more moments watching you push your food around your plate before leaning forward. “Why did you bring me here?” he asks.
You sigh heavily. “Do you not like it?”
“No, I do, but…” he hesitates. “Can you answer my question first?
You raise your eyebrows. “Okay, well. I brought you here because...I don’t know. I figure you deserve to have somewhere bigger to swim around in than my guest bathtub.” You laugh nervously.
He seems unconvinced. “Is that it?”
“I’d say so! Why won’t you even take one swim, is the better question? I want you to relax and be yourself.”
He furrows his eyebrows as if he doesn’t know how to reply. “You...aren’t you...repulsed by it? I just figured you wouldn’t want to see me in my natural form. Especially since…” He trails off at the end, and your palms sweat a little.
“No! I know I was weirded out at first, but...I-I guess that was the point of this whole trip, to show you that…” You grapple with your words for a moment, unsure if now is the time to fully confess what you’re feeling. “Look, I want to try, alright? I want to see it at least once. I want to accept you as a whole being, and that means, you know...all of you.”
Yuta smiles gradually at that, and you feel swept up with a sudden wave of affection you weren’t expecting. You are still a bit scared, but you don’t want to turn back now. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure,” you reply, clasping your shaking hands together.
Yuta nods and stands up from the dining table, gesturing for you to follow him. It’s late now, with the moon shining brightly and the last vestiges of dark blue sky giving way to black. The air outside is cool, but not uncomfortably so. You follow Yuta to the pier and watch timidly, your stomach flip-flopping, as he sheds his clothes, leaving them on the wooden deck. Then he slips into the water, disappearing underneath its still surface.
You crouch down, looking intently at the rippling water and anticipating whoever is going to resurface. The sounds of croaking frogs and crickets press in from every side, ringing in your ears so loudly that it’s hard to think straight.
You gasp when Yuta lifts from the water, his human skin gone and completely transformed into something that’s more...amphibian, if that’s any accurate way to describe his appearance. His skin is still scaly and green like you saw that first day, but in the moonlight it seems to glitter and reflect a spectrum of colors like his armor did. There are two fins on the either side of his face, translucent and shining a pale green. They slowly move back and forth as he treads on the water, as if they’re conveying an emotion to match whatever he’s thinking, and you watch them in fascination.
Yuta floats on his back in the water, the long gills on either of his sides catching the moonlight. You watch in fascination as they move with his breaths. Using the pier post to keep yourself stable, you reach out to touch them. They’re slick under your fingers, but not in a slimy or gross way. Your hand drifts to the rest of his skin, across his torso and along his sides, and every portion has a strikingly smooth texture. His alien eyes stare at you silently as you do, glittering big in the moonlight.
“What do you think?” his voice is quieter than you expected, as if he’s afraid of your reaction. He doesn’t break his gaze, though, studying your face carefully.
“You’re...amazing,” you say breathlessly. “Incredible.”
His lips, which are green like the rest of him, form a small smile, and then he dives underneath the water. He does a few laps as if he means to impress you, his lithe marine form sparkling just below the surface of the water. You keep your hand suspended over the pier as you watch him, your fingers sliding against his body every time he passes by. You smile at his display, a laugh coming out of you at his impromptu performance.
When he’s finished, Yuta climbs up onto the pier with you and kneels in front of you, much like he did that day he saved you from David’s swimming pool. His feet are webbed like his hands. Droplets of water slide off of them onto the wooden boardwalk while others linger on the clear webbing like tiny jewels. Your hand is magnetized to his face, drawing across the scaly skin and tracing over his lips, which are just as smooth as the rest of him.
Before you can think twice about it, you lean forward and capture his lips with yours. Did you expect it to be fishy? Maybe. But it’s not that at all. He still manages to taste distinctly like Yuta, even though you’re not sure what that taste is. It’s a flavor that makes you feel...held. Yuta is surprised for a moment, but he responds to your kiss, one of his webbed hands inching close to your face. He doesn’t touch you at first, a little reluctant and yet wanting to let you lead the pace so he doesn’t scare you off.
You welcome his touch, carefully brushing your fingertips across his hand and bringing it to make contact with your skin. His own skin is still a bit cold from the water’s temperature, but it doesn’t bother you much.
The kiss soon grows more intense, and a mounting desire makes itself known in you. You won’t pretend like you’re 100% confident about all of this, but you don’t want to shun it anymore, either.
Yuta’s hand drifts to your neck, his long nails pressing into your skin ever so slightly. You dare to explore his body more, sliding your hands across his chest and over his side gills, feeling the way they contract under your hands, and farther down still. You haven’t looked down there yet, and you’re nervous over what you’ll find. But you keep going until your fingers meet something slick and hot and throbbing, seeming vaguely like a regular penis, though you quickly realize it’s more of a tentacle.
Yuta shudders and draws away from the kiss, and you feel alarmed, wondering if you’ve gone too far without thinking.
“If we’re going to do this, I should...probably shift back—”
“Don’t,” you blurt out. Yuta looks at you questioningly. “I...you should if it makes you comfortable. But...I don’t mind.” He’s quiet for a few seconds—seconds that feel much longer than they really are. You’re apprehensive of what he’ll say, but you keep your eyes on his face.
“Okay,” he agrees. “If you’ll accept me like this...okay.”
Neither of you bother with moving to somewhere more comfortable like the lake house or even the sandy shore. Instead, Yuta peels your clothes away right there on the pier, covering every new bit of flesh with his strange and lovely mouth, his head fins ghosting across your collarbones and breasts like moths’ wings.
You tremble and grow wetter under his soft caresses, which are much gentler than you’d initially expect with his sharp black nails. His hands leave streaks of water across your body, which cools your burning hot skin.
Yuta carefully maneuvers your lower body at the same time as he bends his graceful head, bringing your sex close to his mouth and licking deeply into you. Your back presses hard against the pier, the wood scratching your skin as you cry out into the night air.
“Oh God, Yuta!” You soon realize that his tongue is much longer than any human one, and it reaches to a spot deep inside of you that makes you twist around in his grasp, your fingernails scrambling for purchase on the surface below you. He uses his tongue to pleasure that spot continuously, drawing moans and ever more wetness out of you as if he were controlling the waves in the ocean.
You find yourself coming apart on his extraordinarily long tongue, your legs shaking and then going limp with the pleasure flooding through your body. Your breaths come fast and hard. Yuta lifts his head from between your legs and pulls you carefully into his lap so his slick tentacle is pressing against you. It’s not hard like a dick would be, though it is clearly responsive to your body, and you momentarily wonder if it can even go inside you.
“Is this gonna work?” you ask, a tremor in your voice.
“It will work,” Yuta replies, and you’re not sure how, but you decide to trust him on it.
It does, to your surprise. With your legs crossed tightly over his lower back, Yuta presses into you, wet and warm and very unexpectedly soft. It doesn’t feel like anything you’ve ever experienced before. It’s not a bad sensation, though—far from it. His tentacle is similar to his tongue in how it flexes and throbs inside you, pressing tight against that spot again and making you shiver in his arms.
You both quickly find a rhythm that works, your bodies moving together in an otherworldly combination of two beings, two species, two souls.
Yuta’s long nails scrape gently against your skin as he holds your back, guiding you on his sex and pushing his hips up into you. You sigh into the juncture of his neck and shoulder, feeling the cool scales underneath your lips. You seek a firm grip on his slick skin, bringing your body as close to his as possible.
“Yuta…” You moan his name. His hand slides to the back of your neck so he can bring your face to his again, kissing you deeply. There’s a wet squelching sound as your bodies connect, Yuta’s tentacle slipping in and out of you and pleasurably stroking your walls.
“Y/N…” Yuta whispers into your soft hair, pushing into your spot repeatedly, his thighs tensing under you as his pace increases. You grip his arms as you feel your orgasm swelling up in your abdomen. You tip your head back and Yuta’s mouth goes to your neck and farther down, his heavy breaths warming your skin and making you overheat from the inside out.
You tighten and cum around him, your voice stuttering out of you in broken gasps as he keeps thrusting into you, drawing your climax out. He pulses inside of you, which sends little shockwaves up your spine; you know he’s probably close, too.
When Yuta comes, there’s a lot more of it than you expected. His cum overflows and drips out of you with a consistency like syrup and a transparent color like precum. It makes the inside of your thighs sticky and shiny.
Yuta pulls out, and more of his cum spills out of you, leaking onto his lap and staining the pier underneath you.
“That’s not gonna get me pregnant, is it?” you say quietly, half-jokingly.
“Probably not,” Yuta chuckles.
“Probably!?”
Yuta carefully gathers you in his arms and stands to his feet, walking you off the pier and back towards the lake house. Your clothes are still on the pier, but you’re quickly getting sleepy and aren’t very worried about it; you’ll get them in the morning.
“What happens now?” Yuta murmurs as he walks up the front steps. You already know he’s referring not just to your relationship in this present moment, but to every event that will make up your future. Does he need to continue hiding, or is it really safe? How long will this last?
You close your eyes, resting your head against his chest. “We stay together.”
Yuta’s arms tighten around you as a silent affirmation of your words.
#yuta smut#yuta scenarios#nct 127 scenarios#nct 127 imagines#nct 127 fic#nct 127 smut#nct smut#nct fic#nct scenarios#nct imagines#yuta#yuta imagines#yuta fic#ambw#ambw fic#ambw smut#ambw kpop#ambw scenarios#ambw imagines#nakamota yuta#nct ambw
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Whale Morphs Part 4: Dolphin Morphs
Time is weird. There is a part of me that is utterly convinced that Animorphs, at least the early books, must have come out before kids looking stuff up on the internet was a normal thing. I know the internet existed in the 90’s. But…it wasn’t the same. There wasn’t the whole “yeah, you have to check some source other than Wikipedia when doing research papers.” I used print encyclopedias. (And having to pick up an entirely different volume to track down the “see also’s” is an order of magnitude more inconvenient than clicking on a hyperlink.) I knew how to use card catalogues.
So, I looked it up (on the internet, obviously) and apparently Wikipedia started in 2001, which is consistent with my memories since I graduated high school in 2000. I have no idea what sites you’d get information from in the late 90’s. I don’t think I ever did.
A few years later I was using LiveJournal. A few years after that I’d found webcomics. But I don’t think I used the internet at all in the 90’s. My dad had email. I didn’t.
…did Applegate just introduce a dolphin as Rachel? Huh, usually writers bend over backwards to avoid using names twice.
Thank you Cassie for thinking of the ethical implications finally. Morphing is kinda similar to the yeerk thing. Maybe it’s not the same. But there’s something kind of funky going on that’s worth being explored.
Is morphing out of an animal shape murder? Morphs are described as having a human mind coexisting with an animal mind. So for the duration of the morph…there’s a mind that exists that didn’t exist before and won’t after.
(I’m actually vaguely surprised it’s coming up though. Seems like the kind of series where you just accept things going on without thinking about them too hard, if it passes the rule of cool it’s all good.)
Cassie’s emotional discomfort is very physical. A twisting in her stomach. Etc.
I wonder how the story would be different if the kids had texting and email rather than just phone calls to communicate. It’d probably be way harder for them to be careful about what they say. Texting feels a lot more like thinking than a phone call does.
And with social media…hard to keep secrets when everyone’s used to seeing your entire life all the time.
Cassie’s just assuming Tobias’s state is temporary even though they were told there’s a two-hour limit and Tobias is a few weeks past it by now.
“For some reason everyone has decided I am the best morphed. I think it’s mostly silly.” Cassie. Cassie.
You know it’s ok to be unusually good at something, right?
(She does not.)
(dolphin-Cassie wanting to play) Hmm.
That sounds really fun.
“Good grief. You’re like a bunch of five-year-olds.” Heh, poor Tobias. It’s like being the one sober person at a party.
Echolocation!
It’s wild how Cassie keeps referring to lethal threats as things she “doesn’t like”.
Apparently dolphins have two emotions.
I think feeling anger is probably good for Cassie. I have a feeling she doesn’t let herself feel anger very often.
Shark/Taxxon comparison.
(Marco’s tail injury) Eeeek!
Hmm. If he can’t swim, maybe he’s better off morphing back to human and more or less “riding” the others back to shore. Holding onto a dorsal fin or whatever.
Humans don’t even have tails, so presumably the injury wouldn’t translate even if they normally do, which I think they don’t. Like when Jake lost his lizard tail.
OH! yeah that should work too. Noice.
Awww. Ok, so we’ve got multiple life saves/gratitude and returned favor things going on here. The kids are rescuing Ax (I assume Ax) because Elfangor died fighting to keep the Yeerks away from Earth. And in the process they rescued a whale from sharks, and the whale is now rescuing Marco. Neat.
I love that the whale is completely unphased by Marco shapeshifting.
Oh, I take that back, he is startled by it. Wow. Whale elder.
They should all morph to human and re-morph to dolphins. Reset the clock.
…or they could not do that I guess.
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America - What is your favorite place to eat?
I mean...these days I obviously haven’t been eating out at all, but I used to always enjoy dining at either Yabu (for the food) or La Creperie (for the ambience).
Australia - Do you have any quirks when speaking?
I don’t think so; or at least I don’t think I’d be aware of them unless someone points them out to me.
Austria - What kind of person do you wish to be?
What do some (or most) of these questions have to do with the countries? Lmao. Anyway, I just want to be remembered as being kind, I guess. I’m not aiming for anything grand.
Belarus - Is there anyone you love?
I’d do anything for my friends, close or otherwise.
Belgium - What do you think of your siblings?
I like my sister; I care about her. I don’t really think much of my brother.
Botswana - Do you like to sing? Why or why not?
Yeah, but I only do it for myself. I never sing in front of others; I don’t think I’m that good.
Bulgaria - Who do you consider close to you?
My two best friends and everyone in my college friend group.
Cameroon - Describe your culture.
Folktales, hundreds of languages, more than just adobo and balut.
Canada - Favorite wintertime activity?
We don’t have winter.
China - What was the best moment of your life?
I don’t think I’ve had it yet; but so far the moments that are in the running for ‘best’ are my Paramore concert in 2018 and the day I found out I passed UP.
Cuba - What sort of grudges do you hold if any?
I haven’t talked to Marielle since the backstabbing incident in 5th grade, and I pretty much don’t talk to my uncle (unless we’re at a family gathering and I have to greet him for show) for all his past failures.
Cyprus - What hands-on activities do you like (drawing, carving, building, etc.)?
Embroidery! which I haven’t done in a long while but I’m definitely still into it.
Denmark - Do you wish for something of your past?
I wish I had more time with my relatives who died from Covid. Even a proper goodbye and a big, long hug from each of them would’ve sufficed.
Egypt - Do you stand up for what you believe in? How?
Sure. I speak up about it, educate others when I can, and raise awareness or reiterate my stance about certain issues by sharing posts on social media.
England - Are you controlling?
Depends on what context you’re talking about, because control can mean many different things. I’m a control freak when it comes to my work tasks and I know that can drive some people mad, especially those who prefer working independently.
Estonia - Do you think people often misunderstand you?
I think I’m pretty easy to read.
Finland - What do you prefer, kindness, sternness, or apathy?
In general, kindness; but I also don’t have any clue to what context these words pertain.
France - How do you show love for those you care for?
I like messaging them about things I see that remind me of them. I will also buy them small gifts from time to time, usually food that I know they like.
Germania - What is the hardest thing you have ever had to do?
Breaking up with Gabie, and accepting the said breakup. Both were equally difficult things to overcome and I’m just happy to be out of that part of my life.
Germany - Do you have a hard time forgiving yourself?
Yes. It takes me a while, if at all.
Ghana - What is our favorite sport?
You mean mine? I like pro wrestling, if that counts.
Greece - Do you let others help you when in need?
I do, but I have a hard time asking for help. < Yeah. I will accept help when I finally acknowledge that I need it; but getting to the acknowledgment part can take me a while.
Hungary - Who is the person you trust most?
Either of my best friends.
Hutt River - What is the most memorable dream or nightmare you have had?
Back when I was at a low point I used to have recurring dreams of my girlfriend at the time dying. It sucks for the fact that my most unforgettable dreams are nightmares and for the fact that they all involve her, lol.
Hong Kong - Do you fear death?
Not really. I fear dying in a way that I wouldn’t want to experience, but I don’t fear the actual concept of death.
Iceland - Do you hide your real personality? Why?
I hide some parts from people I don’t know all that well or I’m not that close with; like I obviously wouldn’t have crackhead vibes with my clients at work lol. But outside of that I pretty much act the same way around everyone.
India - How important is family to you?
Quite, but it’s not my be-all and end-all.
Japan - Tell us a secret about yourself.
I don’t really have any. I share everything on this blog, anyway.
Kenya - What is your favorite wild animal?
Elephants.
Korea - What is one thing you accomplished by yourself?
Shooting my shot and landing an internship, and eventually a permanent job, at a company I had no connections with, all while I was heavily depressed and wasn’t really doing anything else to take care of myself.
Kugelmugel - Is there anyone you have a love-hate relationship with?
My mom and I bicker all the time, but she is my mom.
Latvia - Do you believe you are brave?
I guess so.
Ladonia - What is the internet site you visit most often?
I’d say either Twitter or Facebook.
Liechtenstein - How do people underestimate you most often?
I don’t know if I can answer this; people usually don’t.
Lithuania - Do you desire power?
No. That implies being in the spotlight, which I don’t crave at all.
Macau - What is your favorite festival or celebration?
Christmas, only for the huge amount of food I get to freely eat.
Molossia - Do you consider yourself strong?
Emotionally, yeah. Also what is Molossia?
Monaco - Do you think you are a lucky person?
Not a big believer of luck.
New Zealand - Would you rather be an elf, dwarf, Hobbit, or wizard?
None of these.
North Italy - What is your least favorite part of your personality?
There are some parts to my sensitivity that I don’t really like, like my tendency to overthink remarks that were actually meant to be harmless.
Norway - What was the most disappointing time in your life?
All that time I spent being hung up on Gab and desperately talking to her post-breakup, mostly because of how much I neglected myself then. She was working a night shift then and I remember keeping on waking up at like 1 AM and the first thing on my mind always being to message her and UGH it’s just so embarassing to think about now.
Netherlands - Most generous thing someone has done for you?
That one time Andi half-walked and half-took a trike back to UP at 11 PM after already having gotten home, just to retrieve something I forgot to bring home and was having a breakdown about. It was really embarassing and they bring it up every once in a while to tease me, but we have a good laugh about it now.
Poland - Hardest thing you have gone through?
The breakup and deaths in the family.
Prussia - Would you prefer to live forever or die alone?
Live forever I guess, because I have serious FOMO HAHAHA
Roman Empire - How would you like to be remembered?
Like what I said at the start of this survey, just as someone who had been kind.
Romania - What is something you are very ashamed of?
I don’t think there is anything.
Russia - Have you ever suffered from low self esteem? Do you still?
I used to. Not really anymore. I’m liking myself more these days.
Sealand - Who is your best friend?
Angela and Andi.
Seborga - What is your favorite beverage?
Water or coffee.
Seychelles - How do you handle people being rude to you?
Be mean back, but in a passive-aggressive way.
South Italy - What is your favorite part of your personality?
I like that I’m generous and that I can remember a lot of different small details about everyone.
Spain - What would you tell to the person or people you hurt most if you had a second chance?
That she was right, I ended up being happier without her; and that I hope she can finally sleep well knowing she was right, considering our whole relationship was pretty much built on her wanting to be right about everything.
Sweden - Are you a leader, follower, or independent?
Follower.
Switzerland - Would you consider yourself evil, good, or neutral?
Chaotic neutral.
Thailand - How good is your poker face?
I don’t even understand poker.
Tibet - What do you value most?
Friendships, and my happiness.
Taiwan - What do you think of the people or person who raised you?
Grateful.
Turkey - Would you ever want children?
That would be nice, in a few years.
Uganda - How would you like others to see you?
I answered this question like twice already. It still applies hahaha.
Ukraine - What is one thing that has made you stronger in life?
The difficulties I was able to overcome.
Vietnam - What is something you are proud of about yourself?
^ Those.
Wy - What kind of art do you like?
Paintings and films.
Zimbabwe - Who is your favorite character from any folklore?
I don’t like folktales.
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Survey #479
“war sends our sons to slaughter / another failed attack; there is no turning back”
Have you ever boycotted something? Yes: Chick-fil-A. Homophobic, transphobic pieces of shit.
Has anyone ever borrowed something from you, and not returned it? Yes, a video game when I was little. I was so mad, lol.
Do you vent a lot on social media? No. I don't want people to get annoyed with me.
What was your first bill you started paying on your own? I haven't been responsible for any bills yet.
What is your favorite charitable cause to donate to or volunteer for? I can't/don't do either really, but if I could, I'd probably donate to uhhhh... suicide prevention organizations. As for volunteering, definitely something with animals.
Have you ever dated someone who wasn’t at all your usual type? No.
What is something you have no patience for? Waiting at the doctor's office.
Have you ever received a misdiagnosis? Yes.
What’s that you’re listening to? I'm watching Gab play The Evil Within 2.
What kind of relationship do you have with the last person you kissed? We're a couple.
What is your biggest accomplishment in life? Still being alive.
What is one thing that you really wish you could understand, but don’t? Political stuff. Economics.
Have you ever been tutored or tutored someone yourself? I had an Algebra tutor the last time I was in college, and I had to strangle an anxiety attack down because I wasn't understanding the material AT ALL and felt so dumb and annoying. I never did it again.
What was the last thing you said out loud (singing doesn’t count)? "It's really embarrassing," to Mom. It really is fucking humiliating that my ankles are swollen from walking/standing more and pushing my desk chair back against the resistance of the carpet. That's pathetic. I'm trying to focus on the fact it's good my body is even reacting to moving more, though.
Is everything you have on actually yours? Yep.
Do you ever just randomly drive around when you’re upset about something? I don't drive, but if I did, that would NOT be my method of de-stressing.
What was the last act of creativity you displayed? Writing an RP post.
What’s your favorite department in Wal-Mart? Uh, I guess where you can go see the plants and flowers.
Do you find kite flying boring? I LOVED it as a kid. I'd still probably find it kinda fun.
Do you have any interest in visiting Japan? Yes, but it's not a massive interest. I've heard the humidity can kill a bitch, and I am NOT into that.
Have you ever run a cash register? Yes. I sucked.
Have you ever worked as a server? No.
Have you ever done the Bratz challenge on YouTube? No, but I saw James Charles do it and it was v unnerving, holy shit.
Would you rather paint or carve a pumpkin? Carve.
What was your worst experience in high school? My depression as a whole.
How much did your senior prom dress cost you? I don't remember.
Have you ever been in a serious romantic relationship? Three, if you include my current one.
Which part of your body is the most muscular? Uh, nothing?
What is the first site you check when you get online, generally? KM.
Are you good at creative writing assignments? That's my forte. In elementary school, I actually won a I think county-wide creative writing short story assignment. Not to brag, but I've always been very proud of that, ha ha.
Or would you rather just do an informative essay? That's easy for me too, but I prefer writing creatively.
Are you more attracted to the badasses, or the goody-goody types? Definitely the goody-goodies. The "bad guys" have never appealed to me romantically.
Do you raise your hand or participate in class? I did if I really wanted to ask something or was confident in an answer.
What is something BIG you want to do with your life? Make a difference, somehow.
What do you think of people who own wild animals? Do NOT just casually take in animals from the wild. That's selfish and just generally disgusting. If you're going to keep an animal generally described as wild and undomesticated, you'd better have a license and deserve that license. Know what you're doing and be certain that keeping the animal in captivity is in the animal's best interest for its unique case.
Are you good at explaining things, in general? NOOOOOOOOO, I suck at that.
Do you like visiting the mall? Why or why not? Not our mall, no. Its stores suck/are extremely limited, and SO much crime has happened there.
Do you like window shopping? Why or why not? YESSSSSSS, mostly on Morph Market, a mostly reptile selling hub online. You can browse TONS of breeders and literally thousands of reptiles, especially ball pythons. They even have a tarantula section I like to look at sometimes.
If you lost your job/home/etc., who would likely help you? If I'm losing my home, I'm assuming my mom is gone, so my dad.
Why did you first kiss the last person you kissed? We were a couple and I felt like I was supposed to. At that time I didn't see him romantically, but I desperately wanted to. Funny how we're back together and I've no reservations against kissing him now. Feelings change, for sure.
Plans for tonight? Girt and I will probably play some WoW Classic together. We've started playing that together, and it's lots of fun with him. :')
Has anyone seen you kiss the last person you kissed? Actually, no.
Have you ever been kissed in a car? Yeah.
Do you think anyone has feelings for you? I know Girt does.
Is there anyone in your life that knows right away something’s wrong with you? My mom.
Who last made you smile? Girt, 'cuz he's a sweetheart.
Where is your mother? She's in bed in her room. She feels like shit. Like, you would think she WASN'T vaccinated, though her long-time doctor has said she'd probably be dead without it while having Covid.
Would you rather look at clouds or stars? Stars.
Think about your biggest mistake, would you go back and change it? I absolutely would.
Are you dating the person you last kissed? Yeup.
What is the most immature item you own and actually use? Um. Idk.
Do you always take a shower after you have sex? I... didn't know people did this? Like I know women are advised to pee after sex, but full-on showering? No.
Do you like chocolate popsicles? Oh hell yeah.
Are your parents proud of you? They claim to be. I don't see how.
Are you interested in the ocean? Yeah; it's inarguably so fascinating.
Hot dogs or hamburgers? I prefer burgers.
Have you ever been to a Chinatown in any of the cities you’ve been to? No.
Have you ever been to couple’s counseling? No.
Do you have any dietary restrictions? No.
Have you ever turned down a job offer? No.
What’s the largest animal you’ve ever had as a pet? A dog named Cali that was a boxer mix.
Do you ever pray, even if you don't believe in God? What exactly is the point if you don't believe in God...? Anyway, I don't.
Have you ever been to Mexico? No.
Have you ever gotten stuck in quicksand before? No.
What's the shortest or longest length you've ever had your hair grow? To around the small of my back.
The last nest you saw - was it a bird nest or a hornet's nest? I think a bird's?
Do you enjoy Jeff Dunham? I don't know if I'd like him as a person, but I do think he's a funny comedian.
Who is your favorite character from Frozen? I was never into the movies. I do think Elsa is kinda cool (no pun intended, lol), though. I like that she has her flaws.
Did you finish high school? If not, do you plan on doing so? I did.
Have you been in a simulator that mimicked a submarine or rollercoaster? A rollercoaster, yes.
How often do you go out to eat instead of cooking for yourself? Mom and I try to avoid fast food for our health. We do a pretty good job at it, but sometimes for convenience's sake, we do eat it.
What is the largest family of siblings that you know of? This is probably gonna come across as very judgmental, but... it really bothers me. I don't know how many kids she has now, but one of the dance moms from the studio has SO many children; I've completely lost count. Now if you want that many kids and can provide for them, that's cool. But that's not the case. She uses the "if God wants me to have a baby, then it will happen" mentality, and I'm just like... um, no hunny. Poor choices are leading to kids you're not adequately providing for. She uses no methods of protection and literally has twins whose room is a fucking closet. Ugh it just really bothers me.
What foreign languages were offered to you at school? A whole lot. Only Spanish and I believe French were offered as in-school courses, but there were lots of online classes.
If you were required to take a course right now, what would you choose? Photography.
Team Biden or Team Trump? Over my dead body would I have voted for Trump. My vote went with Biden.
What is an animal native to your country that may not exist in others? Bison are factually exclusive to North America. Note that bison and buffalo are different.
What are some of your favorite autumn activities? Taking pictures of fall scenery. <3
What are some of your favorite winter activities? Going out in the snow. :') Especially with a camera.
Do you eat a shit-ton the week before your period? uuugggghhHHHHHH yes
Wendy's, McDonalds, or Burger King? Wendy's.
What's the weirdest question you've ever asked Alexa? I've never asked Alexa anything.
Do you prefer your apple cider to be warm or cold? I've actually never had it.
Do you prefer your coffee hot or iced? Y'all know the story of me and coffee.
Can you sing the alphabet backwards? I can't.
Have you ever sent flowers or chocolates to yourself before? Ha ha, no.
Is there any meat that you won't eat? Yeah, fish and ANYTHING that comes from a wild animal.
Does your cat use anything other than it's scratching post as a scratcher? When we got him a scratcher WITH CATNIP, the lil butthead ignored it. -_- He scratches the carpet instead.
Did you go through a vampire craze before? Are you still going through it? Nah.
Have you ever forged your parents' signature on a poor test paper, etc? No.
Has a bird ever pooped on you before? Omg, no. I'd die.
Have you ever been sprayed by a skunk before? No.
Are black jellybeans delicious or disgusting? I HATE them.
Have you ever rolled down a grassy hill before? I have! I miss that.
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Still a few weeks out from issue 4 of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow and DC’s solicit schedule is exceedingly wonky so WHO KNOWS when those will drop...THUS. A tiny bit of art appreciation, to tide us (read: me) over. XD
Potentially (?) spoiler-y art tease below!
FIRST UP, issue 4 variant by Rose Besch! The September solicits had a bunch of variant covers listed without previews, so I think this only started showing up in the last few weeks? Regardless, check it ouuuuuttttt:
First of all: So sparkly. :D
Second, MMMMM, look at that CMY(sans K) color palette! I also think the artist’s style of coloring is just very neat--like, refracted light through a prism, if that makes sense? Very geometric. And of course, always dig a cool, shojo manga-esque look for Supergirl. I think, of the variants released thus far, this one and the Amy Reeder cover are my favorite.
The other little bit of art comes courtesy of Evely, who is back to posting in-progress snippets. As always, I recommend following her and colorist Mat Lopes on their various social media sites because 1.) they are both INCREDIBLY TALENTED and post that Good Good art and 2.) you get to see stuff LIKE THIS:
HNNNNNNGGGGG.
I will go through my usual happy art shouting: HAIR! FACE! BODY LANGUAGE!!!!!!
This is the potentially spoiler-y bit, though without text/additional panels for context, there’s not much it’s actually spoiling? Still. Just want to be extra careful.
I continue to be so completely, utterly thrilled to have eight--EIGHT--issues of Evely’s Supergirl. I mean. Just look at that. Beautiful.
Can’t wait to see the whole page, and Lopes’ colors. Aaaah. S’gonna be GOOD.
Another quick social media account recommendation: Evely’s represented by Felix Comic Art. Even if you aren’t an original art collector, the site usually has decent scans of the original black and white pages. (Watermarked, natch.) But it’s so neat getting to see the original art vs. the colored pages.
And, okay, on that subject of inks vs. colors, I had not originally planned on including this but HERE WE GO, MORE ART, BECAUSE I CAN ALWAYS RAMBLE ABOUT ART.
This time, from Lopes’ twitter; he shared the colors for this page from issue 3, and then later posted Evely’s initial inks:
It’s maybe a little hard to tell, scrolling, but when you check these out on Lopes’ twitter, and toggle back and forth, you can actually see that the colors ever so slightly soften Kara’s expression.
Which I find FASCINATING, because it really illustrates the wild game of telephone that is comics creation.
You’ve got the writer and the editor, who work sort of in tandem to figure out how best to tell the story that the writer has in mind. That then goes to the penciller, who puts their own spin on the script, then it goes to the inker who has to interpret the penciller’s lines and choose what lines to keep and how best to highlight them (though, in this case, Evely is inking her own stuff so there’s less chance for any drastic changes between these phases) and then FINALLY (at least on the art side of things) it goes to the colorist who adds a whole NEW layer (literally and figuratively) to the art by selecting palettes and color holds and so on and so forth.
In fact, I was just reading the coda in the most recent Fire Power issue, (a comic by Robert Kirkman--of The Walking Dead fame--Chris Samnee, and Matt Wilson) and Samnee said he’d imagined a particular scene taking place at night, but got the colors back from Wilson, who had set the action early in the morning. Samnee drew the pages for a night palette, but Wilson totally made the morning lighting work, and Samnee felt the storytelling was better that way, as it made the time-skip more apparent. (The previous scene also took place at night, which would’ve been confusing for readers, had they both been set at night.)
ALL OF THIS TO SAY! You have multiple storytellers working on any given book, and here, specifically, I think it’s very cool that Lopes choices enhanced the acting that Evely already put on the page.
(Though, disclaimer: it occurs to me that this is entirely subjective, and some folks might feel that there WASN’T any discernable change between inks and colors. *Shrug* ARRRTTT!!!!)
Caught a Felix Comic Art stream a few weeks back when he unboxed the art for these issues, and someone in the chat mentioned wanting an Artist Edition for Evely.
And may I just say: Yes.
Like. I don’t think it’ll happen, but I really wish this book would get the usual King trade treatment--a special edition hardcover with a bunch of backmatter, so that we can just DRINK IN THE ARTWORK.
(Would also love to see the script for any of the issues! They did that with Strange Adventures and much like seeing inks vs. colors, it’s always cool to see script to pencils.)
Actually, what I’d really love is an unlettered version of an issue, to highlight Lopes’ colors in particular.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Clayton Cowles is doing a great job on letters, but this is a very wordy book! And sometimes you just wanna push those caption boxes and word balloons aside and see the entire panel, free of text. XD
Sadly, as I said, this probably won’t get too many bells and whistles in the trade release. Maybe a little bit of Evely’s design work? Hopefully?
She actually posted her initial sketches of Kara, a while back! I think they should be on her IG somewhere?
Anyways. I would kill for a large format of ANYTHING by Evely. Seriously, just. Do it DC! Take my money! (Or, IDW? Who handles the oversized editions for DC? ...I think it’s IDW. Either way! Do it! Come on! XD)
(Again, someone in that same art unboxing chat mentioned they don’t really do large format editions for contemporary artists, BUT. They totally released a Samnee Daredevil book! That’s pretty contemporary! Or, it was. At the time of release.)
Okay, I will stop now. For real.
That’s it, I think, in terms of art teases and updates! Until solicits and/or preview art, I guess!
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