#what do you mean i just found out that a member of a bg i dislike PLAGIARIZED one of the biggest 3rd gen bgs like a year or two ago ?????? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thornfield13713 · 7 months

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6, 13, 15 (I was thinking for Rosie bc she's the bg oc I've seen most about, but feel free to go with someone else if you have more interesting answers for them!)

What companion are you platonically close with?

I have...a lot of trouble not befriending everyone all the time, in this game, but there are a few people Rosie is closer to than others.

The most notable example is Astarion, because they got close enough in this runthrough that I actually got his proposition at the tiefling party, and was planning to accept (with the intention of doing the 'you need a friend more than a lover' break-up later) if Karlach hadn't already made her move in the Underdark. Even without having briefly been lovers first, though, Astarion is probably Rosie's best friend in the party, in the same way that Wyll and Karlach are undeniably each other's. She was good friends with the rest of the party in various ways, but Astarion cemented his place as the closest to her by being the one who understood her situation with Bhaal most. They also shared a very dark sense of gallows humour that was often a bit unsettling for other members of the party.

She's probably second-closest to Wyll, though this doesn't emerge until after he's one of the only members of the group not to be (understandably) furious at her after her role in starting the Absolute plot comes out, despite the fact that, of the group, he's probably the member with the highest moral standards. The fact that they're both fundamentally dreamers who wanted to be like the heroes of the storybooks they grew up with helped a lot - Rosie, like Wyll, constructs a lot of who she is from half-remembered stories. She's doing it differently to him, but there's a certain amount of looking at each other and recognising the same coping mechanisms and the same careful construction of outward identity.

Minsc and Jaheira also very quickly became very close to Rosie indeed, once they joined the group as full-time companions. Those relationships are more familial than anything, given both of them make statements to the effect of 'you're family' over the course of the game, whether it's the 'cub' nickname or Minsc announcing that being Bhaalspawn makes him your uncle. And Rosie, who hasn't had a family since she was forced to murder her foster-family as a young child, likes having that to fall back on.

What are their thoughts on killing? Is it a necessary evil or do they enjoy it?

I mean. Rosie is a Dark Urge, which means that she automatically enjoys killing far more than she is comfortable with. Even early in the game, when she was just under the impression that she had a really bad case of the intrusive thoughts, she was very unsettled by how satisfying she found it to kill things, how much she enjoyed it. Which is a big part of why she did her best to avoid killing wherever she possibly could, lest it feed that part of her. This was...not an ideal strategy, as the Urge only got worse for not being placated, but thankfully for a while there were at least enough legitimate instances of no-other-option-but-violence to keep her mostly on top of her urges without random murder sprees.

That said, even killing in battle had a bit of a tendency to leave her guiltily torn between the part of her that loved every second of it, and the part of her that felt that killing ought to be a necessary evil and enjoying it was a slippery slope to whatever it was that led her to vivisect people in her former life (falling down to the Underdark early and getting her hands on noblestalk was enough to give her a relatively early insight into just how bad her past actually was, even if not the fact that she had greater ambitions than just back-alley serial killing) or kill people she wanted to be friends with in their sleep.

After losing her connection to Bhaal, this changed a bit, and Rosie had to come to terms with the fact that she still enjoyed fighting, she found satisfaction in it, and even the moment of the kill had something exhilarating in it still. She'd sort of been hoping her love of violence was purely Bhaal's influence, and it took a few conversations with Minsc and Karlach and other members of the party who enjoy violence, and whom Rosie feels, justifiably, have better grasps on the whole 'morality' thing than she does, to start getting past that sense of shame she feels about her enjoyment of fighting and killing.

What NPC's do they like? Which ones do they dislike?

I'm not sure her complicated feelings re: Gortash, Orin and Ketheric come under this one, but here's a quickfire of some of the major ones:

Depressingly, Rosie liked Alfira from the moment she first met her, and it was probably this immediate liking that led to Bhaal wanting Alfira dead right off the bat. That and Rosie having offered to help with her songwriting, which the Urge does not like at all. Unfortunately, Rosie being in some denial about how serious her urges are at this point, just assumes it's the same as thinking about Astarion's corpse the moment she meets him and lets Alfira come along with her, and- Well. You know the rest. She liked Alfira's hopefulness in the face of everything, she thought her song was beautiful, and was charmed and delighted by her eagerness to see the world - there was the beginning of a real friendship there, which just made what followed even worse.

She's also got a whole mess of feelings about Zevlor. At first, she admires and appreciates his protectiveness of his people, but then...well, then she finds him at Moonrise Towers after hearing everyone talking about how he broke, and there's a moment of absolute, agonising connection when he talks about how much he wanted to be a paladin again, and his guilt for what he was enthralled into doing. Sadly, that was the last she saw of him until the final battle, but there's something going on with those two and their relationships with their oaths and with the idea of being a paladin in general, and I sort of regret that, if Zevlor is anywhere in act 3 before the endgame, I haven't found him yet.

After they start talking, she and Dame Aylin also end up getting on surprisingly well, and I do slightly regret that there's no chance in-game to talk to her about the 'both children of the gods' thing, because it would be an interesting dynamic. Aylin is a bit more bombastic than Rosie, but she's also- in many ways, the sort of paladin Rosie wanted to be, but never quite lived up to. Which means that Rosie likes her a lot, admires her, but is...also somewhat envious of her.

Despite the above, Isobel is...uncomfortable...for Rosie, in that there's a certain...immediate, instinctive dislike there, exacerbated by the Urge screaming at Rosie to kill her even before Sceleritas turns up to make it an ultimatum. The Urge thing does just make Rosie dig her heels in, but that does just mean that she's quiet and awkward around Isobel, has a lot of trouble not rolling her eyes, and just does her best to avoid her at camp, despite getting on quite well with Aylin. Rosie herself can't even justify her dislike, it just...sort of happened?

Someone she is much firmer in her dislike for, however, is Wulbren Bongle. Yes, I know, if not the least controversial opinion in the game, it's up there. It's just- he has someone who cares about him enough to walk into danger and death for the chance of saving Wulbren. And Wulbren spits on it at every turn, treats the person who has gone to such lengths to rescue him like shit, and Rosie, who has...strong and complicated feelings about how people relate to one another, and about the idea of having people who cared enough to look- She wanted to throw Wulbren out into the shadow curse long before things came to a head, but that is the way it goes.

And then there's Sceleritas Fel, who scares her. Not because she fears him personally - even without her memories, she is quite confident in her ability to deal with him - but for what he means. She's as terrified to learn that she used to murder him on the regular (from the noblestalk thing) as she is by his delivering demands to kill her lover, because every word out of his mouth seems to confirm that she was an even worse person than she thought until he started talking, and she's genuinely terrified of just how deep and dark that pit truly is. All the same, seeing him killed to summon Bhaal hurt, in a way she has trouble explaining even to herself.

There are probably others I'll remember later, and kick myself for not including, but those are the ones that came to mind while I was writing this one.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 spoilers #rosie fatrabbit

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denimini · 8 months

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Part 1)

You know initially i was quite okay with not getting much content from jkk cause i know they don't have to share with us all of the things they do together and all so i know it's normal but then after long time i was like nahhh this is not usual cause what do you mean the two members who were attached to the hips all these years are nowhere to be found together? Even the duos who did not seem to hangout together before were also getting spotted together so how come not Only jkk?

Many times jkkrs said that k-jkkrs don't share things with us this that whicj is okay but like for this long? Something wasn't adding up. Then i thought like forget about k-jkkrs is there no army who spotted them together? Cause if they did you know armys post it on twitter so i know no one was spotting them together because they were actually not hanging out together.

Another thing is they could be hanging out at eachothers' place but for how many times they were going to do that? Jm said during FACE's promotions that his fav vacation place is his sofa and he prefers staying at home. I'm not saying jkk Never hangout only them two but i knew for sure it was definitely very very less.

Then jungkook kept inviting jimin over his house in his lives and jm be like "I'll meet you after my/your promotion ends" but next you ask him if he met jk his answer would be "Not yet". So yeah the meetings were very very less compared to their previous yrs and other members too.

Thing with many jkkrs is that they simply don't wanna accept that things between jkk could change too Cause at the end they're humans.

About jk not mentioning jm in his first lives i actually don't mind it much cause jungkook actually never used to talk about any member at all. Mind you he only recently talked about jin like he never ever answered a single question about jin when he's in military. Even tho he later started mentioning jm he never mentioned jin once. I think he mentioned it way later like right before hobi joining MS.

Jungkook only used to talk about members while reading comments and when jm used to comment on his lives. He hardly ever used to mention any member without reading a comment. Jm used to comment on all of jm's live till FACE's promotions once the promotions stopped he for some time never commented on his live. Then later he again started.

It's a bits and pieces of behaviour like i wanna believe they weren't doing well together but then my mind is like "why would jm include jungkook on his album then?" Ngl jk's involvement in Letter i never understood cause he's there for only few seconds only doing some bg vocals for literally few seconds. Jimin is lead vocalist he's doing bg vocals for years he could have simply done it by himself. He even said he didn't want to have any collab cause it was the personal album so why is jungkook there in the first place? In a hidden track? Literally for no reason that's why i find that sus...

There was no business for jk to learn letter's guitar tune but he did learn it as his first guitar lesson. I'm very sure the person who played guitar in jm's letter is the same person who's jk's guitar teacher cause you simply won't get a tune even before the song release.

The first time jm commented on jk's live their convo was kind of formal i know jkk play like that alot but it didn't sit right with me cause he literally aksed how are you both doing (jm nd hobia cause hoba also commented). Then like take care. I know many will say he's just telling him to take care but nope when you're bf nd are in contact with each other all the time you won't say that. Also in that same live or it was diff i don't remember (it mostly has to be the same) taehyung commented and jungkook was like "what is he doing here?" And tae commented "you said you're going to sleep what are you doing live now" I felt like tae nd jk were more in contact with e/o than jm nd jk from their conversations.

To me at that time it definitely felt like they're keeping with e/o through those online comments. Like more than phones they talked to e/o over those comments lol.

Idk what to take of the initial jk lives cause jm used to comment on literally every jk live till his album was out once his promotions got over jm himself became inactive so did his comments on jk's lives.

Part 2)

Another thing I'll say as one anon said when he played vibe on his live it felt like he didn't want to so I'll say that if there's one thing i learned about jk over these few months is that he never does anything that he didn't want to so if he's doing something even if not 100% still somewhat part of him wanted to do it and hence he did it.

He started this watching memebrs song, content with jm only before that he didn't do it for anyone else. Even after jm's album release when yg released his album jungkook didn't even play a single song despite him going live during that time too. He literally used to play jimin's song which then released after yg's album but he still never Played yg's songs at that time. I thought he would atleast play people pt2 since iu is in there nd he loves her vocals but nope. He only played yg's song recently cause he thought he messed up at yg's concert and he kept saying sorry and feeling bad and in that he played yg's album (i think he got album that day).

When he watched vibe he knew jimin's Verse that means he's already heard it enough times to know the lyrics so idt he's got any problem with playing vibe live.

See even if he did it for us fans he still showed jm some online support that i won't deny. He kept with every content that was coming from jm.

He only watched suchwita because of jm nd that was his literally first episode of watching suchwita when the show was going on for long before that. The person he admired alot RM even for RM he didn't watch but did for jm. He was sleepy but he still kept watching it. He even told suga that he didn't watch all the episodes during his own ep when yg thought jk is a regular viewer, I'm sure he still hasn't watched all members' eps. The way after that jinhobi suchwita evryone wanted jk to react to that but he didn't.

There's another time armys aksed him to sing his song he literally made a face and said NO and immediately after that played jm's song. He knows each nd every jm song. Even tho he never acknowledged "with you" anywhere it's still was in his car playlist and he knows lyrics to that as well nd he was singing it while closing his yes sweet (this is from his vlog).

He himself played letter on his live after that army made song. You can simply see his reaction on his face while playing jimin's songs and other members' songs. The easy example i can give is in the same live he played letter he also played winter bear ig and you can see his reaction difference. watched "BTS teasing jimin" with us.

So from all that i can say is he does things the way he wants it and no one can talk over him.

......

My answer:

"what do you mean the two members who were attached to the hips all these years are nowhere to be found together? Even the duos who did not seem to hangout together before were also getting spotted together so how come not Only jkk?" Exactly what made me suspicious of there being some sort of change and distance with Jikook.

"So yeah the meetings were very very less compared to their previous yrs and other members too." - That to me is a fact. No speculations there.

"Ngl jk's involvement in Letter i never understood cause he's there for only few seconds only doing some bg vocals for literally few seconds." - I think despite Jikook not meeting as much as before (when they used to be more than friends, maybe) , they never really fell apart. They remained fond of each other , just not as close so them working together doesn't faze me. Since Letter is fan song maybe Jimin wanted to include another member, because he knows the fans would love it. Plus him and JK have always sounded great together and their voices compliment each other perfectly, so there is that. Despite everything going on then, JK was still special to Jm I think, so maybe Jimin still felt gratitude and love for him, just like the lyrics in the song say.

"To me at that time it definitely felt like they're keeping with e/o through those online comments. Like more than phones they talked to e/o over those comments lol." - I agree. I think they didnt meet much and I believe the reason for it was Jimin's own unwillingness and maybe some residual awkwardness between them if there are alone. JK obviously missed Jm and wanted to meet up, but JM was hesitant. Perhaps he was very busy , but maybe there was more to it.

"jm used to comment on literally every jk live till his album was out once his promotions got over jm himself became inactive so did his comments on jk's lives." -Maybe he simply wasn't online much at that time.

"i learned about jk over these few months is that he never does anything that he didn't want to" - No doubt about that. Jungkook doesn't do things he doesn't want to do /in his own words/

"He kept with every content that was coming from jm."- That is true. And he didn't do this for any other member. Yeah, he was pretty busy later when Tae`s album dropped out , but as we said, when Jk really wants to do something, he will find a way. He clearly showed to us that Jimin is more special than the other members, and even Taekookers felt it and became mad. Or maybe he was actually trying to show to Jimin how special he was and we were never the target audience for these lives. In fact, so often it looked like he didn't even care about us during them lol. This whole thing reminded me of when he played "Lie" in his hotel room years ago in an effort to summon Jimin. Even now, that Jungkook is pretty busy, he still keeps up with what Jimin is doing and posting, evident by the fact that he saw very quickly Jimin dancing to "Face" , even though he doesn't even have an IG account (that we know of).

In conclusion, Jungkook is an assertive man. He does what he wants and doesn't like being told otherwise. There was a reason he paid so much attention to Jimin's release and continues to do it even now, amid his own promotions. Whatever happened between them in the early months of this year, Jimin remained special to him and Jungkook made sure we (and Jimin) don't forget it.

#jikook #kookmin #jimin #jungkook #bts

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elektroblues · 2 years

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hello!! Idk if you've already done sth like this, but your three favorite DM songs (or anything between 3 and 10 :^)) and whhyy?

HELLO!! <3 i'll do top three bc i love talking on here and i have such a hard time articulating how much these songs mean to me so i end up rambling but then i also hate talking so much ahah so

1. Stripped

- i mean this so sincerely but this is one of the best songs ever in any genre i literally never get tired of it. STORY TIME. i was 15 and my most most most fave band at the time was rammstein and on one of my trips to wikipedia i read that the only time till sang full english on a song was for a song called "stripped. then i found out it was a cover (but at this point i knew a few dm songs, didn't think much of them though), but i also could't listen to it then and there bc i was in class lol soooo i just looked up the lyrics and my jaw dropped. at that point i didn't care much abt my music taste but when i read mart's lyrics oughhbgbghg he's just like me fr. and i guess i gotta say it reminded me of "to you" by walt whitman (and i was in my walt whitman phase i fear) so that was a bonus. then on the jeepney ride home i got to listen to it and my jaw fucking dropped. the synths just blew me away!

for a while i just listened to the og and rammstein's cover back-to-back and didn't think to delve much into dm. then about a month after i turned 16, "more than this" by roxy music was my fave song (ALSO A RLLY GOOD SONG) and i found this yt playlist with it and 'stripped" and some other 80s songs. i used to binge those vids every night so that also started my love for 80s music ig. anyway i watched he mv for "stripped" and i went that one guy's kinda cute i guess 🧍‍♀️ AND THEN THE FUCKING. SYNTH PART WITH ALAN'S HUGEASS FACE BEHIND DAVE HAPPENED and i was like ah fuck. anyway that same month i saved my first picture of a dm member, which was alan, and then i hadn't been normal abt them since sjfmsbdjhdej so stripped is the song that started it all! :D

idk i just love it so much ☹ when i go a few months not going insane over dm then come back to this song and the video, i still get butterflies in my stomach it's sick (ok that's probably mostly bc of alan but still shbfjjdhd). but it's also so comforting. i think it's one of those songs where no matter how i'll grow i'll fall in love with it again and again. it's just this song just has so many nice memories attached to it <3 wouldn't know who i'd be if i hadn't heard it

2. The Sun and The Rainfall

- this one just make me really happy i never get tired of it too <3 i listen to it on repeat literally whenever i feel extreme happiness or sadness and no in between. idk idk it's just such a cute little song??#,=,#?' i have a soft spot for it esp since ppl (the very wrong ppl on dm reddit for example SMH) usually dismiss it and abf bc alan wasn't involved but like, it's a great testament to dm's early potential and charm and anyone who dislikes tsar is WRONG AND DOESNT KNOW WHAT LOVE IS. and im gonna be so basic for this but, "you're the one i like best, you retain my interest" is my fave dm lyric 🚶‍♀️ don't tell anyone except the ppl who happen to click read more on this HDNBDNJSKHDDJ

3. The Things You Said

- first time i heard this was also the first time i watched 101. i was sitting outside our house and when i heard the melody i cried PLSDNDBSMDBMDHSJD it was nothing like i've ever heard before fr synth music was making me Emotional those days (me when i lie, it still makes me cry lol) bc before dm i mostly liked listening to rock and whatnot. it rlly was just a nice night, me listening to dm by myself outside. pretty uneventful experiece but i still look back at it fondly. plus the 101 performance —mart's DIVINE vocals, alan on the synth and bg vocals making me insane, THE BISEXUAL LIGHTING— is just UGH. CHEF'S KISS.

i didn't proofread this so 😭😭 also p sure i cried to all of these at one point lmaooooo

#again im so sorry i said i was gonna answer it the same day you sent it but then it started raining here #and rainy weather always makes me not wanna use my phone and just?????????#but i like answering asks this was fun tysm for sending!!#sashayork #💌

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silvermuffins · 2 years

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Pokemon Scarlet Liveblog! Part 4

We left off at "running around in a field"

ftr we are at caught 78, battled 103

they really did bring back headbutting trees tho. i am trying SO HARD to find another Toedcool, mgiht need to give up.

is Saul the waiter....hitting on me? sir im twelve.

anyway, Cowch the Mareanie. This Magikarp knows tackle??? Marrgh. Wow they nerfed Magikarp, dex says it never jumps more than seven feet. Come on, dex, that was all Magikarp had! !!! ACTUAL DOLPHINS??? FINIZEN! Oh I think I see a Mareanie terrorizing a Shellder under the waves in the bg but. DOLPHIN. name of Dip.

Jupe is evolving....they haven't done an evolving Pikaclone in six generations.....also Jupe is just kind of. Mostly underwater? Buddy u ok is this the best place to do this? welp, Pawmo. Oh, found a Crabrawler, you can be Monch. Chomper is evolving! ...Into Grafaiai? Did...did my mouse just turn into a monkey? Swapping her out for Pebbles. Anyway here's slowpoke, you will be Ruffle. I could use more balls... Ooh, Wattrel. Leep. Shellos? Bungee. AAA SANDYGAST. You're Pierrot!

I think Jupe my be my second permanent party member I'm loving this dude.

has a picnic and washes all my pokemon right outside the base....is naptime for the team. Pinkle decided to sleep on my chest, because is about chest height on his feet....when im standing....

dammit im so bad at making sandwiches. but man this one sounds like it'd be interesting but also tasty.... Butter, lettuce, ham, banana, and strawberry.

anyway time to fuck team star up, i have a duck

"self defense" bitch you better get a defense lawyer

feel like we're getting to the stage where more trainers should have multiple pokemon

Fani low key like "hey if i take out the leader of a team star squad then i should be the new leader, and if i consolidate all five under my own leadership, then i could found an empire!"

have just been told they made a game where you can tackle goals in any order but didn't bother scaling the difficulty.....seriously???? what the FUCK. it's like they released a nonlinear game but 100% expect you to play it in a 100% linear way. they want to railroad you so bad.

i am having a pretty good time, my gripes are largely ignorable, but...man I was really hoping I wouldn't have to just accept steamrolling literally everything

anyway we are heading into the base with Daya, Pinkle, and Sotero. that wasn't hard. i will steamroll everything.

hi, mela! prepare to meet your doom!

can't deny she's got style tho like goddamn. i AM rocking to the music and team star is, i will admit it, kind of cool.

SO THE CAR IS A POKEMON

honestly i did expect Mela to be less....subdued.... She seems so apathetic and bored, which is fine, but she was getting built up as an ugly screaming mess and i was SO eager to see that

like "what a hassle" that's???? all????? unless like they're going for a rep built up when she's no longer matching it, we ARE entering a flashback

oh. oh there were bullies...

ohhh dear....but i knew it there's a man behind the big five isn't there

......and we ARE going with her being Tired and no longer being the fiery, furious girl she used to be, aren't we?

stop making me sad

rtdyguik the way she walks though oh my gofd

why does the photo look like that

haha tsun away defeat means friendship

oh no it's about to get feelsy again ain't it

oh no now i'm invested

OKAY current take on things: there is love and charm woven into these characters, pokemon, stories, and the region. i am intrigued by everything. I want to see more. Yes, there are some brokey bits, but so far they seem to me to be structural, rather than foundational. We will keep going, with love in our hearts and sympathy for developers rushed by corporate greed.

tl;dr the game is flawed but this is a place to focus on the things we enjoy, and i see a lot to love here

supply unit??? who the hell are you cassiopeiaaaaAAAAA PENNY IT'S PENNY ALL FEELINGS ARE GOOD

"i'm good with machines and hacking and stuff" *starry eyed* are you cassiopeia?

honestly the vibe i'm getting with team star at this point is "you live long enough to see yourself become the villain"

looking at pokedex, realized Pinkle isn't gonna evolve, think i'll swap out for something else....

raiding the base for items and dialogue after, getting the sense Mela just....disappeared. But her squad really cared about her. And one is saying the other crews will get revenge.... I wonder fi they would? How close were the five leaders, and how close are they now?

i am just gonna copypaste in some nattering from a DM so you can see how absolutely hopeless I am

"i guess i should probably go do early things in western paldea now huh....get at least a LITTLE balance...." .... "also. i meant early things in EASTERN. paldea. i am in western paldea." .... "okay im gonna hit the next pokemon center up the road, then head back to Mesagoza so i can head east" ... "...west?" ... "WAIT NO I AM IN THE EAST I NEED TO GO WEST"

SOMEDAY I WILL FIGURE OUT WHERE ON THE PLANET I FUCKING AM AND THEN YOU'LL ALL BE SORRY

...?

...!

SHINY BUIZEL!!!!!

CRIT CAPTURE?!

AAAAAAAAAAA

Goldilocks

also we are swapping Pinkle for Teeny

oh there's new dialogue at school

oky not as much as i thought

oh hey while I'm in Mesagoza I should maybe accessorize? i'll take a peek

i honestly kind of really like Fani's current look tho....eh, some new shoes, maybe some gloves...ooh, picnic customization stuff....and some new sammich ingredients....picks up new recipes.....

Okay! Westward! Yes, it's westward!

picnic time to set up my new stuff....and make a sweeeeet sammich....best stacked one I've made yet

scoots took a nap on the table and then kicked the ball off a cliff......

Anyway time to explore and catch pokemon!!! Misty the Mareep! PUPPY. Dervish the Maschiff! Coppel the Rockruff! OH fancy scyther with a normal tera... You can be Mozart. Meditite is now Karov. Eckles the Mudbray. Flittle? What's that? You're gonna be Flan now. IF it will stay in the goddamned ball. Riolu! You're gonna be Joot. Once again, if it stays in the goddamn ball. !!! There's Swablu here, get in the ball Bula. Ooh, Phanpy friend, you're Wikae. Toxel is Niv.

I am starting to feel the.....three hours of sleep I got. Anyway, Bramaram the Gastly. Moosley the Starly. Back toward the low level area.... Tyse the Smoliv.

Ten Sights of Paldea, that sounds fun! Got to the Pokemon center and the watchtower, I think I am done for the night. Did I really accomplish only one thing....?

#letty plays shit #letty plays pokemon scarlet #livebloggin #hey guys sleep for more than three hours whenever possible it's good for you

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hijirikaww · 2 years

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ok bgs- nct, atz, enha, blank2y, &team, txt, oneus, cravity, bts, treasure, tnx, seventeen, exo, wei, victon, e’last, xdheroes, skz, onlyoneof, ab6ix and p1h

ggs- g-idle, aespa, twice, itzy, nmixx, ive, lessrafim, newjeans, kepler, pixy, purple kiss, red velvet, snsd and lapillus

phew 😭😮‍💨

Oooooo awesome!!! Alright alright let's see here~

I am more of a bg fan in general so probably know more of those..

NCT? Hell yeah. Don't know enough of the subgroups though tbh. Resonate? Badass. Kick it? Whoo! Make a wish? This is actually how I first found them!! so coooooooollllll. Boss? Rocking. Regular and love talk?? English AND korean versions??? Oh my lord. Also more sexy than they are allowed to be. Baby don't stop is where I first saw Ten whom became my bias! Nct Dream is the only subgroup I happened to follow more closely because I got so hooked on the hello future album. But 127 and U are probably my favourites overall. You could say I just love their badass vibes and how they drop beats. Definitely some of my favourite songs 💯👌🏻

ATEEZ?! I MEAN HELL YEAH 😆 definitely my ult group- found them through Hala Hala and have been hooked ever since. Best bois. Amazing music. Love it.

Enha - does that stand for enhypen? In which case hell yea! I followed then since debut, probably like most people atm since they are so new, and think they are so cute! But so young! Babies! I wish them all the best :) Sunoo is the cutest ray of sunshine though.

Blank2y and &Team - no clue! Lemme listen to some... blank2y sounds cool, I know a lot of people who happen to be into &Team, now I know what they mean :)

Txt - I know they have a lot of hype about them but I'm not THAT deeply into them. Some nice music though, Kai is adorable. Am currently learning good boy gone bad choreo :)

Oneus - back in college a friend introduced me into them through Valkyrie and that song still lives in my mind!!!

Cravity- again I know people who love them but I don't know them all that well, but I love cloud 9.

Bts - well everyone knows them by now!

Treasure - ooooohhh! So I love the versatility of my three fave songs of them! I found them first through treasure, lovely and happy! Then Jikjin - ma gawd can I rave to that. And I love hello because it is such a happy choreo to dance! Wheey!

TNX - never heard of them, but I dig the way they drop beats! I'll listen to them more :)

Seventeen - great! Love the members, great music, always great albums and themes and looks!

Exo - such a legend. So many good songs. Love them.

Wei - also not known, but it sounds well made!

Viction - yet another group I hear a lot about, but don't know much of. As I'm listening - I didn't know Mayday was theirs, nice!

E`last - dangerous is very cool!

Xdheroes - is a bit of a hit or miss for me, I dig their songs but some take such funky twists that they kind of lose me halfway through.

Skz - badass, they write great songs, 3racha is badass, they really have awesome rappers. Bang chan is such a cute leader, the Aussies are adorable with their accents and Felix's low voice is legendary. All great guys 💯 arguably the group I know second best after ATEEZ.

OnlyOneOf- libido is one of my guilty pleasures to listen to for sure. I love their daringness and energy and performance. My first reaction tho was 'omg they look so young, are they even consenting adults. Is is okay for me to look at them?' Only to find out they are all a minimum of three years older than me lol. They look like babies :) as long as they feel comfortable doing wat they are doing and not pressured - I'll support them!

Ab6ix is awesome, they deserve more love! Love their rapping skills and vibes. Their music always makes me happy and groovy!

P1h - Keeho LOL legend. Great music too though, very badass vibes. Makes you feel cool hehe.

//I'm gonna split it here cuz lord this is getting long sorry aksjdjs

#ask!#yayy #lola-lala #melli #can't say I'm not answering elaborately XD

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ectonurites · 3 years

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can anybody please explain the appeal of tim drake because ive been into the batfamily for a while now and tbh im really confused on why people like his character so much compared to the other robins. like they all have their own thing going on and he just... doesnt?

Have you read his Robin solo? Because if not and you want to try to like him but just don’t understand why people do, that’s what I’d recommend. That and like, Young Justice 1998.

Because Tim definitely... does have his own thing going on. Maybe not in the same way as the others, but like, there’s a reason he has a 183 issue long solo comic that ran for like 16 years: he was fun to read about!

But I will give some more specific thoughts on the subject as a Tim Drake Appreciator™ (this got long im sorry)

The appeal of Tim (especially early on Tim) is kinda the fact that he’s this more normal kid. For a while that is his ‘thing’. He was basically designed to be a self-insert (he definitely became more than that along the way, but from the start he was meant to be relatable) in a different way than how Dick and Jason had been before him.

Like the role of Robin from the start was this way to create a character young readers could identify with more, could see themselves in more. And Dick and Jason did that, but they still had this element to their lives and stories that was more... unattainable for the average reader. Dick was a circus prodigy, Jason was either also a circus prodigy if we remember pre-crisis or if we go with his post-crisis story he’s this street-wise orphaned kid who had a really tough life but still went on to be a hero anyways. Obviously those lives are relatable for some people, but those’re definitely not as broadly recognized as common upbringings especially not by DC trying to market to the ‘average’ kid/young teen.

But the creation of Tim changed the game a bit. Dick and Jason were these aspirations a kid could look to like ‘wow I want to be cool like that!’ but Tim was a Robin designed for kids to look at and go ‘wow, his problems and civilian life are just like mine AND he’s a hero, I want to be cool like that!’, ya know? Tim was... just a clever kid with an average life who managed to connect some dots and had enough drive to want to fix things he saw were a problem, he didn’t have the same kind of heightened drama backstory the others did. The Robins that came after Tim definitely didn’t have this idea of relatability in mind the same way either. Unfortunately Steph’s time as Robin was much more of a marketing ploy than an actual like... decision to make her Robin, so it’s hard to really fit her into this conversation. But Damian from the start was first of all initially created not to be Robin but just as the son of Talia and Bruce back in the 80’s, but when he was later reimagined into the character that would become Robin he had the whole ‘raised by and is the heir to the league of assassins and is the son of batman’ thing going on still. He just was not supposed to be relatable that same way, he was a character designed with different things in mind.

I really think it was more just DC’s 90′s era younger-audience comics in general that tried to push that relatability thing (like in YJ how Cissie even after quitting the team stays a major character as a civilian throughout, and the civilian aspect that’s super present in Bart’s 90s solo too, etc), but later in the 2000’s that idea was definitely pushed to the side in favor of... putting in even more dramatic superhero-y stuff.

And the other thing that’s... such a more normal thing but it actually made him unique here, was that Tim’s dad was still alive until like 2004 (so 15 years into Tim being around as a character). This gave Tim a lot more typical ‘family school girlfriends normal life etc’ problems on top of/in contrast with his superhero problems. These just manifested in very different ways than they could with the other Robins because of that unique situation with a living civilian parent who doesn’t know about hero stuff (until he did find out which lead to that whole Unmasked thing, but there was only the brief time around War Games & Identity Crisis where Jack knew Tim was actively Robin and he was... still alive) Tim also had his life at school expanded way more than most other Robins, like, he had such an extended supporting cast of civilian friends which is a really interesting thing to read about (and the fact that he hasn’t had that stuff since the New 52 I think really hurts his character)

And then related to that loss of his dad... Personally another thing about Tim that really interests me is how a lot of things were more... his choice. if that makes sense. A lot of characters in the Batfamily were struck with tragedy/extreme trauma before they became heroes and that’s what spurred them into this life of becoming heroes. Tim’s situation wasn’t like that at all! When he first got involved in everything during Lonely Place of Dying, the only tragedy he’d experienced was watching Dick’s tragedy happen. Which sure yes traumatic obviously, but that’s not the same as how pretty much all the other Bats had gone through these very personal losses or other sorts of very first-hand personal traumas that served as motivators. Tim didn’t start to experience those things until after he got involved in the hero life, and aside from his Mom’s death which was more of just an unrelated incident (that technically happened before he was officially Robin but it was during his time training to become Robin), pretty much all these other tragedies and things... would not have happened or been experienced by him had he not become Robin.

That’s not me placing blame on him or anything like that, because god no that’s not how that works, but it’s very interesting because from his point of view he definitely feels that guilt because he knows him being Robin played a role in a lot of it (Thinking specifically about in Adventure Comics #3 when Kon even says “I know what guilt does to you” to him like it’s... it’s a thing with him!). His dad was murdered because he was Robin. He only met Steph and started dating her through being Robin, and thus he would not have experienced the loss of his girlfriend dying like that had he not been Robin. Tim met both Conner and Bart through being Robin, and would not have had a personal connection to them when they died otherwise. The whole Bruce’s death thing after Final Crisis, like. I could go on honestly, that was only talking about losses not even his own experiences nearly getting killed, but yeah, all these personal tragedies were experienced by him specifically because he chose to bring himself into this life, which I think in turn plays into how throughout his comics you see him go from having this really optimistic view on things and being really hopeful to seeing him at that low point he reaches by the time of Red Robin. (thinking about that one post that points out how Tim started out in the 90′s as an optimist and Steph a cynic and by the time they were Red Robin and Batgirl in 2009 they had switched outlooks...)

I also think that him having had such a great team book with the original Young Justice can help contribute to people liking him. His friendships with the rest of the core four and that team in general are really compelling. (and that’s something like again when looking at the other Robins, while Dick had the Titans ofc, Jason never really found footing with a team outside of like one mission with the Titans and then We All Know How Damian’s Teen Titans Stuff Went. Steph also only ever really worked with a team outside the batfam on very brief occasions) and even though I’m not as big of a fan of the 2003 Teen Titans run that came after YJ, people who read Young Justice and also that could follow and be attached to those same characters over a pretty decently long period of time.

Idk man, I don’t really have an ultimate point here i’m just rambling. I can definitely understand not seeing the appeal to him right away (honestly i’ve been into Batfam since like 2013/2014 and Tim did not become one of my faves until 2020) especially if like... idk when you say ‘into the batfamily’ that can mean a lot of different things. If you’re reading more like the bigger events with the batfam sure Tim can kinda fade into the bg a bit, if you’re more talking about fanon the fanon version of him is prettyyyyy uhhhhh not really the same as how he was in pre New 52 canon, if you’re mainly reading New 52 era Batfam stuff then that Tim I also don’t understand the appeal of bc thats Not My Boy, if you’re interested in a different member primarily and only familiar with Tim when he shows up in things focused on that other character then it’s easy to not really understand the appeal right away bc he’s more there to support that character rather than shine in his own right.

I think it’s also worth mentioning he’s just not everybody’s cup of tea, and that’s totally fine. Like, these are fictional characters and sometimes you just will vibe with a character and sometimes you won’t! idk if this helped at all or even made sense. but yeah. I just think he’s neat 😌

#Anonymous

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yukipri · 4 years

Text

On the Baratie, Part 5 Epilogue - a One Piece Mermaid AU Text Story

Here’s the final part of the Baratie series!

Includes my personal headcanons for Thatch’s backstory in this AU (and possibly canon, as I doubt we’ll learn much more about him sigh).

WARNINGS (actual warnings this time):

＊Trigger warnings for non-graphic violence, gore, unwilling self-harm, mention of thoughts of suicide, and body horror. Canon-typical dark backstory.

Slight ship warnings for: minor Sanji x Luffy, Thatch x Luffy, hint of bg Sabo x Luffy, but not ship-focused.

Continues off of past parts!

👒🐟On the Baratie, Part 1

👒🐟On the Baratie, Prologue

👒🐟On the Baratie, Part 2

👒🐟On the Baratie, Part 3

👒🐟On the Baratie, Part 4

They've been traveling together for a while now. With more additions to the crew, Sanji's no longer the newest member. They leave East Blue, crossing over to the Grand Line. Their voyage continues onward.

Fitting into his role as the second cook of the ASL Pirates was easier than Sanji could have ever hoped, and he knows it's largely due to Thatch. Thatch, who, for all his incredible skill and titles and history, turns out to be...a remarkably normal person. It takes less than an hour for Sanji's awe over Thatch being his childhood idol to turn into pure indignation when the other cook professes his love for Luffy, and now their daily proposals to Luffy with food are just part of routine on the Merry.

(Sanji still knows his cooking is amateur in comparison to Thatch's, but none of their crew seems to realize, and Luffy eats all their food with equal gusto. Even Thatch himself only ever compliments Sanji, often with ridiculous faux outrage that Sanji's cooking looks better, which is absolutely false, Sanji would know. But even so, the man sounds so genuinely offended that Sanji can't help but appreciate the lengths the older man will go to in order to keep Sanji from feeling inferior.)

It's during a rare moment of calm, when the skies are clear and Deuce and Nami seem relaxed about their progress, when Sanji decides there's never going to be a better time to ask. He finishes washing the last of the pastry plates from the desserts the crew had just finished devouring (his hands momentarily pause on a plate that Ace had to pull out of Luffy's throat when she swallowed it whole along with the pastry, and Sanji allows himself a moment of imagining that the plate with her slobber is somewhat like an indirect kiss...), before he exits the kitchen to go to his locker.

From the locker, buried beneath gravure magazines of buxom ladies whose beauty will never compare to Luffy's, he pulls out a magazine far more valuable to him, the only one of its kind that he'd brought with him from the Baratie.

Back up on the main deck, Sanji finds Thatch sitting by the mast while watching Luffy and Usopp play with some new contraption the latter made. He looks up when he senses Sanji's approach, grimacing when the movement makes the wind blow his now loose hair into his mouth.

"I need a hair tie if Marco's not going to send me my damn hair wax," Thatch complains, even as he pats the ground next to him for Sanji to sit.

"You could always ask our lovely navigator," Sanji grunts as he drops down, careful not to fold the magazine, which Thatch has yet to notice.

"Ah, beautiful Miss Nami might have one, but her hair's pretty short...honestly more likely Deuce'll have one." Thatch sulks, because he'd really rather get a hair tie from a pretty lady, but as it is, Thatch probably has the longest hair on the crew at the moment, followed by their first mate. "If only our ladies had longer hair...ah, my darling Seastar with long hair..."

Sanji lets himself get drawn into imagining their most dazzling Lady Captain leaning against the rail of the Merry, sunlight sparkling off the waves in the background paling in comparison to her radiance. Her face is shadowed by her trademark straw hat, before she raises her head, causing long, silky strands to ripple around her like dark angel wings, glittering threads of black diamond dancing across her cheeks before she tucks them behind her ear with a small smile--

Both cooks sigh dreamily in perfect unison.

"Hey Luffy, they're thinking somethin' pervy about you again!" Usopp shouts in the background.

Both cooks ignore him, likewise in perfect synch.

Thatch regretfully pulls out of his Luffy Vision first. "So, you got something to talk to me about?" He knows it can't be about dinner, because they'd already started prepping for that.

Sanji blinks, and oh, there's Luffy, with her short hair, still just as lovely, probably doing something incredibly stupid and dangerous, but that's okay because Sabo's stepping in, and the Revolutionary may be batshit crazy but he won't let Luffy hurt herself--and right, he wanted to talk to Thatch.

He carefully brings the magazine out in front of him, and Thatch leans over curiously. The pages easily fall open to the column, remembering the page Sanji poured over countless times. Sanji hears Thatch's breath hitch.

"This you?" Sanji asks, looking at the faded photo of the smiling boy, before his eyes flick to Thatch.

The older man's eyes are wide, glued to the page. Sanji wordlessly offers him the magazine, and Thatch slowly takes it, his hands handling the paper carefully as though worried it'll crack.

"Yeah, that's me alright," Thatch murmurs, eyes scanning the column before his lips twist into a wry smile. "How the hell did you get your hands on this fossil?"

"Found it while we were looking for stuff for the Baratie's collection, some old second hand shop," Sanji says, and it's not a lie, but it's not like he can admit he was obsessed with them and actually hunted for them after obtaining the first ones.

Thatch makes a low sound of understanding, before he starts flipping through the rest of the magazine, pages that Sanji honestly doesn't even remember. "I wonder if this magazine's still even going..."

"It is," Sanji informs him. "It's changed a lot, but we still get it delivered."

Thatch laughs then, shaking his head as he closes the magazine and hands it back to Sanji with the same care. "I'm sure it has changed, after what happened, oh man..."

Sanji frowns. So something did happen.

"So how did the kid in this end up a Whitebeard pirate?" he asks, but he means, How did the boy's adventure end?

"Mm, you sure you wanna know? It's not a particularly nice story, though I suppose it has a happy end." Thatch leans back heavily against the mast, his hand subconsciously reaching up to brush hair away from his face, lingering on the deep, if old scar around his left eye. Sanji wonders if it's related.

"If it's something you don't mind sharing. I'm sure I can handle it."

They're interrupted by a crash, and look up to see Sabo heaving Luffy up back over the rail by the end of her tail. She'd clearly almost fallen overboard, again, but is laughing as carefree as ever, even as Usopp wrings his hands apologetically behind them. Sabo doesn't look mad though, and is stroking Luffy's hair now that she's safely back on deck and in his arms, his face disgustingly besotted.

Deuce and Nami come out of the cabin at the noise, and Ace and Zoro startle awake from their respective naps as well. Deuce takes one look at what's going on, and launches into a full blown scolding session for all three of the members involved, clearly dissatisfied with the way Sabo handled it. It had only taken the first mate a few days in his company before Deuce had determined that no matter how sensible Sabo may seem at times, he's still Another Stupid Brother, and therefore gets the same treatment.

The rest of the crew listening in winces when Deuce hurls a, "Luffy being stupid is one thing, but you're WAY too lenient with her, you foolish Revolutionary!" Nami and Koala cheer him on in the background.

("Told you," Ace mouths, before hastily looking away when Deuce's gaze snaps to him.)

Usopp looks thoroughly chastised and sincerely sorry, Sabo looks weirdly pleased as though being told he's lenient is a compliment, and Luffy looks bored and is searching for an escape when her gaze lands on the two cooks.

"Thatch! Story time?!" is all the warning they get, before Luffy's arms grab onto the mast behind them and the mermaid torpedoes head-first into Thatch's chest. It's a testament to the Whitebeard Commander's sturdiness that all he does is grunt at the considerable impact, even as Sanji winces in sympathy. That'll definitely bruise.

"Alright, yeah story time, if anyone wants to hear my boring old past," Thatch agrees, and Luffy cheers, turning herself sideways and flopping down on Thatch's crossed legs to look up at him with eyes sparkling with expectation. Sanji isn't even jealous, because in her new position, Luffy's thrown her tail across Sanji's lap, and he begins reverently rubbing circles into her soft scales, heat creeping up his cheeks when her flukes flick with pleasure.

Deuce sighs, giving up on his scolding as everyone gathers around the cooks. But he doesn't seem too disappointed, and pulls out his notebook as he joins them, as though he intends on recording whatever Thatch's going to say. Ace plops himself down on Thatch's other side, ruffling Luffy's hair distractedly and hiding his curiosity poorly. Sanji gets the feeling that despite knowing him for much longer, Ace hasn't heard much about Thatch's past either.

"Well, so..."

Thatch was born to a middle class family in a relatively active port town on the Grand Line. His parents ran a modest diner, certainly nothing high class, but popular enough among the locals to almost always have full seats.

Thatch was what they called a "child prodigy." He'd started helping in the kitchen simply because he wanted to do the same things as his parents, but by the time he was seven, he'd already surpassed both of them in skill. His parents decided to leave the kitchen to him, while they focussed on management.

With Thatch behind the menu, the restaurant's popularity grew, drawing more traffic. Among their visitors were occasional food critics, who spread their business's reputation and made it something of a cult tourist spot.

When Thatch was nine, his father came up with the idea that it might be good publicity, for people to know that a literal child was behind their now famous restaurant's food. And in the name of said publicity, he also decided to have the restaurant officially under Thatch's name, although is parents still managed it.

"Child prodigy chef owns his own restaurant," was definitely a headline that journalists latched onto. The berries were rolling in.

Thatch himself, he didn't really care about that. He rarely ever left the kitchen now, constantly cooking, constantly coming up with new menu items, constantly training new chefs as their once small family diner expanded into a chain. He didn't really mind it, he loved cooking after all, but he often wished he still had time to talk to patrons, or explore town. While there weren't any child labor laws in their country, he couldn't go to school or make friends or do anything a normal child might otherwise enjoy.

So when the largest, most prominent cooking magazine sent a representative to talk about a potential column centered around him, Thatch was hopeful. He'd always dreamed of leaving the island, and it'd never seemed like an achievable dream. He wanted to exposure to new things to expand his cooking repertoire, and he wanted to be able to challenge himself as a cook--but more than anything, he also just wanted go and see what might be out there, outside of his diner's kitchen.

His parents reluctantly agreed. At this point, Thatch had trained enough experienced cooks, and their reputation was established enough that Thatch's temporary absence wouldn't damage them. And Thatch knew his parents were drawn by the potential for greater publicity from the column, and Thatch (and their restaurant) possibly becoming a household name not just on the Grand Line, but across the world.

(Thatch never thought his parents were bad people, or even bad parents. He hadn't wanted for anything, and they let him pursue and nurture his passion. That they were business-minded, and had also come to see Thatch as an asset and publicity tool was something he understood. They still loved him, in their own way.)

His parents' only condition was that Thatch return in a few years, before he was fifteen. A "child prodigy" becomes less interesting with age, and eventually becomes "a normal adult." They wanted Thatch back before that, to reestablish his connection to their diner, before he inevitably faded out of public interest, or had to re-establish his identity as an adult cook.

And so at eleven years old, what seemed like the entire town saw off Thatch, who set sail on a small ship manned by experienced sailors, and chaperoned by the journalist who would be documenting his voyage.

For the first two years, the journey was everything Thatch had ever wanted. They would go to new islands, information provided to him by the journalist, and then he would be given free reign to do whatever he wanted, so long as it included food and cooking, which is what Thatch would have been drawn to do anyway. That there were always a handful of adults a few paces behind him, documenting everything he did and forcing him to voice his thoughts out loud, all eventually faded into the background. Thatch got used to voicing his inner thoughts for their benefit. It was hardly a chore, and Thatch was having the time of his life.

But all things eventually change. Due to the success of the column, Thatch's journalist was given a promotion, and the last stretch of his journey before Thatch was to return to his home island was assigned to a new journalist. Thatch had always known that their relationship was strictly professional, and was used to changing traveling companions at this point. It felt a bit lonely that the first journalist, the only person who had remained a constant, was leaving...but he understood.

It's just business, after all.

The new journalist replaced the old one, and their journey continued--or at least, it was supposed to.

Child!Thatch, adult Thatch would later think, was remarkably naive and sheltered for all that he was a veteran cook. He was used to having things being laid out in front of him on a neat platter, for the adults in his life to control all aspects of his life, conveniently convincing himself that it's what he wanted anyway. He was used to the adults taking care of all the details, because all Thatch had to do to make everyone happy was cook. He not once doubted those responsible for his life, and blindly trusted that they would keep everything smooth and safe for him.

Because when one day, thirteen-year old Thatch woke up to see red staining the walls of the cabin, and then looked around to find the corpses of everyone else on the ship strewn around him, it took a remarkably long time for him to process that this definitely wasn't what was supposed to happen.

He was disoriented, too numb to even feel panic or put up a fight when the new journalist came in and tied him up to pass him to the pirates who had decimated the crew.

Pirates. It wasn't the Golden Age of Piracy yet, and although the Roger Pirates and other famous names were often whispered about, most sailors didn't expect to personally run into pirates. Thatch had been warned of their existence, but hadn't really thought much on them, as they had seemed irrelevant to his own peaceful civilian adventures.

The pirates and the journalist had a deal, he gathered. The pirates had wanted to get their hands on the famous child prodigy cook, and were willing to pay good money. The journalist had agreed, and had summoned the pirates to their location. Everyone but Thatch and the journalist had been killed to erase witnesses.

Before handing Thatch off to them, the journalist demanded payment first. Thatch remembers wondering why the journalist hadn't demanded anything before agreeing to the deal--it seemed a bad business tactic.

Thatch was standing right next to the journalist when the pirate captain drew his sword. Thatch wasn't scared, because he knew he wouldn't be hurt. He was an asset. And he probably knew what would happen before the journalist did.

He still remembers feeling the whoosh of air as the sword came, the sound of it hitting flesh, the dull thunk, the loosening of the arms gripping the rope that held Thatch bound.

Thatch thought ah, so human heads can be severed just as easily as fish heads.

Thatch didn't put up a fuss, going with the pirates. It was clear he couldn't have stayed on the ransacked ship, because even if he did, he had no way of manning the ship alone, even if he even knew how. And so he wordlessly followed, and continued to do what he'd done his whole life: obey adults.

And at first it wasn't bad. A kitchen was a kitchen, no matter how dirty, and Thatch knew how to please people with food. The pirates seemed overjoyed with Thatch's skill.

But some part of Thatch really wondered if that's all they wanted from him, and that bad feeling manifested itself as reality soon.

Hey brat, the captain said one day, and dumped a sack of ingredients Thatch had never used before into the kitchen. Turn this into something good. We need to get rid of an entire rival crew, and they're gluttons.

Thatch may never have used them before, but he recognized the things in the bag. They were all things he knew to avoid.

The pirate captain was asking him to make poison.

Thatch was a cook. No matter the reasons why people wanted him to cook, no matter who benefited and what money was passed around, and no matter how terrible the conditions--Thatch was alright so long as he could cook. Thatch cooked so that he could make delicious things that would in the end, contribute to nourishing people. He polished his skills to make that experience better, to make his patrons happier, to make himself feel more accomplished as a result.

Poison...that wasn't something that a cook could make.

Thatch, for the first time, spoke back to an adult. He felt that numb feeling again, over any fear.

I'm a cook, I can't make anything that can harm people. Please let me start preparing dinner. Thatch stated it as fact, and to him, it was.

The pirate struck Thatch. It was the first time he'd ever been hit, because as a child prodigy, as an asset, he'd always been too valuable to damage. But now...

You'll make it, or we have no need for you.

Bars were added to the kitchen, making it Thatch's cell. All edible ingredients were confiscated. And every day, the pirates came in with more ingredients, more demands.

Make an aphrodisiac. Make a date rape drug. Make something that'll make someone lose feeling in their limbs. Make something that'll cause loss of senses. Make something that'll cause crazy hallucinations. Make something deadly, but undetectable in water. Make something that can dissolve guts from the inside out. Make something that won't kill, but cause excruciating pain. Make something that WILL kill, but only after several days.

The pirates didn't want a cook. They wanted a master poisons brewer. Which, Thatch was not.

Every time Thatch refused, they beat him. They threatened to cut off his legs, because why would he need them, when all he needed were his hands? They threatened to carve out his eyes, and the captain stabbed a knife close to his left eye to show how serious he was. They left Thatch with running water, but didn't give him anything to eat, other than the deadly, horrible ingredients they'd left inside the kitchen for him to turn into even worse poisons.

Thatch sorted the ingredients by those least harmful, and kept himself alive by reluctantly eating those first, but knew that the longer this continued, the more permanent and fatal the damage those ingredients would cause.

(He tried to come up with ways to use what he had to nullify effects, but he was just a kid, and it was his first time trying to make actual medicine. His experiments were risky, and often failed.)

Thatch didn't know how long he was in there, his sense of time and self muddled as he survived off of numbing agents and aphrodisiacs and hallucinogens. They barely kept him alive, and made him feel horrible. He tried to remember why it was so important he kept eating them, and rationing them like they were valuable.

In the corner of the kitchen was an ever growing pile of bright, beautiful fruits that he knew would cause immediate agonizing death...but they looked so lusciously juicy and ripe, and it was getting harder to remember why he couldn't eat them.

Perhaps it was the hallucinogens, perhaps it was everything wrong with his body that Thatch had unwillingly caused himself by eating, but one day, Thatch realized he was going through the movements of peeling those fruits, chopping them, squeezing the juices and watching with fascination as they sizzled into the bubbling pot he was brewing. He was too entranced by the concoction to even notice that his hands were burning and blistering, or perhaps they were just too numb.

He added spices, adjusted heat, and hummed. It had been too long, since he had cooked.

Except he wasn't cooking, because this wasn't food.

It smelled quite delicious, Thatch thought, mildly impressed with himself. Something tropical and fruity, mellowed by mushrooms and a great many other herbs. And it looked aesthetically pleasing, with its dancing, hypnotic colors. If he hadn't known what had gone into it, he'd consider it presentable to critics as his next seasonal special.

But now that it was done, and ready to be served, Thatch had no clue what to do with it.

He hadn't thought that far (he wasn't thinking at all), and didn't know how to think about the thing he made, when it wasn't edible.

He supposed he could possibly see if it could melt through the bars of his cell, though he wasn't sure where he'd even go if he could escape. The cell didn't have any windows, and Thatch wasn't even sure they were at an island, they could still be on open water. Thatch might be able to throw it on a pirate, as a weapon. But there were dozens of pirates on board, and not nearly enough for all of them.

He could drink it himself. It would be an escape of sorts, he supposed.

It never crossed Thatch's mind to offer the concoction to the pirates, as a creation to be used.

He stood in the kitchen for hours, aimlessly stirring the pot, watching the brew get darker and darker, its magical colors turning into murky brown. Eventually, it became a thick, black tar-like substance that reflected no light, that looked like a void as Thatch stared into it.

A thin gray haze gradually began filling the room, and Thatch was well aware of it. He was already starting to feel noticeably worse than before. He supposed that was one way of giving himself a time limit: he'd either decide what to do with the brew, or succumb to the fumes first.

He distantly heard muted sounds overhead, and he realized the pirates may be fighting someone. It happened once in a while. But it was usually with other pirates, and he doubted it was the marines, and no civilian vessel would dare get close to such an obvious pirate ship. And well, if it was pirates...that's just more of the same, wasn't it?

Thatch eventually heard footsteps approaching the room, and someone coughing as they inhaled the fumes, now dense enough to be a dark smog that made it hard to see his own hands (or maybe that was the effect of the poison in him).

A creak--the cell doors were opening.

Thatch could barely think anymore, but made a split second decision. He didn't know what the consequences would be, but had a hunch he wouldn't survive long enough to find out anyway, so what did it matter.

He picked up the pot, and hurled all of its contents at the approaching figure.

There was a FUCK! and then--

Thatch won't ever forget what happened when that brew hit a human body.

But as he fell, the last of his strength gone, wondering if he should feel horrible or proud that he killed someone on his way out, Thatch saw the room light up, the black haze vanishing into searing, brilliant turquoise flames.

"And so that's how I met Marco!" Thatch says, voice surprisingly chipper, even though Sanji feels like retching.

"You melted him," Ace says flatly, voice a mix of horror and awe.

"Sure did, if he had been anyone else they probably woulda been a puddle of human goo, and even he got halfway there," Thatch agrees, his hands stroking Luffy's hair harder, as they'd been doing all throughout his story telling. "Though lucky me, to have thrown poison at possibly one of the only people in the world with instant self-regeneration and possibly immortality."

"Was he mad? Pineapple bird-man. Melting doesn't sound very fun," Luffy frowns. She'd admittedly fallen asleep for most of the story, but woke up again when Thatch's hands in her hair got more tense, more urgent. She contentedly nuzzles into his thigh, more interested in making sure that Thatch's alright than in his answer, and she purrs when he crooks his fingers to scritch her reassuringly.

"Oh sure, he was mad for a little bit, but he's a nice guy and was a worry-wort even back then, so he brought me to Pops. And well, it took a while, but we're best buddies now and have been for years! Fancy that."

Deuce was shaking his head. "I still can't believe that stupid crew wanted to take down Pops with poison of all things, and were stupid enough to enter his territory without it even being ready."

"Well, it's not like they could have won in direct combat, and to be fair, back then the Four Emperors weren't that established, and territories in the New World were a lot looser than they are now." Thatch shrugged. "If nothing else, it was a creative angle, if a poorly thought out one, unlike some people's way of challenging Pops." Ace fidgets uncomfortably here, and Deuce snorts.

"You..." Sanji's finally recovering from his queasiness, because fuck Thatch's tale really wasn't pretty, especially from a cook's perspective. "You don't mind fighting, and killing people now?" He glances at the swords strapped to Thatch's belt, and thinks about his own insistence to never use his hands in combat.

"Well, I'd prefer not to do it, same as anyone else. But I don't mind fighting in general, and once Pops adopted me, I wanted to be able to defend myself." Thatch laughs here, and it sounds bitter, making Luffy look up. "Haruta actually suggested I use poison, if I knew how to make one that could almost take down the Phoenix, and, well...that's a no. May have thrown him overboard for that, but he deserved it. I told them I was good with knives, and Vista helped me develop my own style."

The conversation moves on then, the other crew members chipping in with questions, but Sanji sort of tunes it all out. He thought he was over his queasiness, but it's back again. Being forced to brew poison, and being offered nothing but harmful things to eat...fuck. Even Judge hadn't done that...

He feels something wrap around him then, and Sanji looks down, and realizes that Luffy's looped her tail so that her flukes curl behind his back, securely holding him, even as she continues to nuzzle Thatch's leg for attention.

How weak he must be, Sanji thinks, to need his captain's comfort now. But it helps, and he gradually relaxes.

Eventually the others realize that the story's over, and disperse back to their usual tasks, leaving Thatch and Sanji and a snoozing Luffy curled around both of their laps.

"Well, I guess that explains how the boy prodigy's journey ended," Sanji says, reaching over to Thatch's side to run his hand through Luffy's hair, smiling when she hums happily.

Thatch makes a soft sound, that sounds like possibly disagreement. "Well, sure, I ended up joining the Whitebeard pirates, and never ended up going back to my hometown. Everyone thought I was dead anyway, and being on the Moby was better than any restaurant for me, because I got to feed my brothers and travel, at least wherever the Moby goes, and that's still a fine adventure in its own way. But I guess you're right in that with a territory and a literal army backing me up...it's not quite the same kind of adventure, without the trill of the unknown."

Thatch looks up then, and when his eyes sweep across their little ship, and the small crew strewn about it, he looks fond. "But I guess in a way, that's what I'm doing now, isn't it? I may no longer be a 'boy prodigy,' but me traveling with you guys, going back up the Grand Line...it's sorta like that journey again."

Sanji blinks.

"The end of that journey...maybe you're on it with me, right now." Thatch winks.

Sanji snorts. "That's so cheesy," he says, but he doesn't meant it, not really, because he can't deny the giddiness that begins welling up in him at the thought.

Because what adult doesn't still have a child inside them, buried underneath layers of years, still craving those wishful dreams from long ago?

There's a moment of silence, before both cooks break out into laughter, carefree and boyish.

And so their journey continues onward.

Aaand that's a wrap! For this lil story series within this ever growing AU at least!

It may be a cheesy ending, but it still feels like an ending of sorts? which, is something I usually never actually manage to write to, everything I write is usually either short or abandoned....so I Feel Accomplished ^ ^;;

If you managed to get through it all, thanks so much for reading and sticking with this!!!! ;A; I’m definitely extremely curious to know if you have any thoughts regarding my take on Thatch's past, or anything else, because as always any comments are HUGELY appreciated!

Thanks again!

❀ ❀ Send YukiPri an Ask! ❀ ❀

~This ask has been added to the Mermaid AU Text Headcanons Compilation post~

#OnePieceMermaidAU #One Piece Mermaid AU #Thatch #One Piece #Vinsmoke Sanji #text headcanons #longpost #long post #ThatchLu #SanLu #genderbend

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sweetiejunie · 4 years

Text

TxT reaction to having a younger s/o

Genre: fluff

💕 Request: can i request? txt dating someone younger than them? like uhh, 6 years younger than them KXNAKNXJA. BUT LETS JUST IMAGINE THEIR GIRLFRIEND ARE LEGAL ALRIGHT OK OK NO PANIC >:"))

A/n: thanks for the requests anonie! Mmm not sure to go with 6 years younger or legal (so for the most part ill go with legal just in case). For yg, sb and bg i assumed the reader to be ‘01 liner and for th and hk ‘03 liner (not legal but everything i wrote is SFW)!

=====================================

Young

Your boyfriend never really thought much about your age. It wasn’t really a big factor he thought much about when he started dating you. If anyone ever judged him for it, he would just shake it off and ignore then. What mattered to him the most was well, you. He loved you for you and that was all he could ask for.

—.*•—

Yeonjun

Yeonjun would get along with you just fine

To be honest, despite being the oldest, he’s pretty childish and playful himself. So having a s/o thats younger than him would just give him a partner in crime

He would literally think that everything you did was adorable

Might tease you every now and then, asking you to speak to him respectfully

But all that’s just in good fun. In actual fact, when it comes to you, he doesn’t care

He’ll be protective over you, watches over you like a hawk. To him, being young equals being innocent.

“You shouldn’t do that y/n. It’s dangerous, you could get hurt.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Just let me help you.”

Also, he wanted to be the only one that could corrupt you

As long as you are able to tolerate his nonsense and give him your heart, he’ll give you his

He cares about your personality more. Your age wouldnt matter much to him

Since half the time he would be goofy and playful around you, it makes people wonder if he’s the older one or you

—.*•—

Soobin

Would baby you

Even if you were only a year younger than him, you were still his baby

Soobin is naturally inclined to care for people, i mean look at how he is with kai

But for you, he was even more caring

And the fact that you were shorter than him wasn’t helping either. It only made you cuter in his eyes and made him want to care for you even more

When he saw you trying to reach something on a high shelf, he would immediately get up and go help you

Would mentally beat himself up if he ever let anything harm you

When you were sharing snacks, he would feed you. Like taking a chip out of the bag and holding it in front of tour face until you ate it

“Here baby. Ah.”

“Soobin, you dont have to feed me.”

“Come on, i want to. Just humour me.”

Would treat you like a kid sometimes, but nonetheless it would be so cute

Loves to hug and cuddle with you

Pinches your cheeks randomly when you’re talking and just smiles at your reaction lovingly when you pout at him

—.*•—

Beomgyu

This brat would be such a tease

You were only a few months younger than him but he would use those few months when you two are different ages to his advantage

He constantly reminds you that he’s older and would never let you forget it

He just likes the fact that he can tease you over something you can’t control

When you went to do something he would say “are you sure you’re old enough for something like this?”

Or even ask you to do stuff for him and be extremely dramatic about it if you said no

“Y/n, could you help me go get something from the room?”

“Why dont you do it?”

“Excuse me, did you just talk back to an elder????”

Sometimes he could get overly cocky and confident about it

“I’m older, dont worry, ill protect you, y/n.”

Absolutely loved the fact that he was older and would disregard the fact that its only a few months when you tried to remind him

No matter what he would absolutely spoil you with gifts

Basically, if you can keep up with his shenanigans, you’re good to go

—.*•—

Taehyun

He’s a pretty mature person, so typically he might go for someone older but if you could be mature when you had to be, he wouldn’t really care

But that being said, you also brought out the childish side in him

Days when you were alone together, it seemed like taehyun could became a whole different person

In front of others he would seem so mature, not a big fan of pda but likes to have his arm around you

Most of the time he would seem like a parent, watching over you while you played around with the other members, getting yourself into all sorts of trouble that he would have to get you out of

Would probably make some snarky comment or grumble about it, but he’ll still helped you anyway

But alone, he would want cuddles and had a hard time letting go of you

“Taehyun, let go i want to get a glass of water,” you laughed, trying to pry his arms off you

“No, just get it later.”

“Someone’s being whinny, aren’t they?”

He would reply, he would just hug you tighter. And you would pretty much be stuck there for the next few hours

—.*•—

Huening Kai

He’s quite young himself, so at first he might be a bit shocked that you were younger than him

You always fooled around with him, pranking the others or randomly messing around at children’s playgrounds

But since you always helped to care for him and the other, like helping around their dorm, he always assumed you were to same age or older

But honestly, even after he found out, it wouldn’t make that much of a difference to him

You were still you and that’s all that mattered to him

But he might be a bit more wary of you, wanting to baby or take care of you more often

Checking up on you more or just the basic things like making sure you were safe

“Huening, I’m going out to get something, I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Wait, let me go with you, it’s not safe for you to be out by yourself.”

His top priority would be making sure his little baby was always safe

And the others would find it so cute cause now their baby maknae had someone else to care for and protect

=====================================

Hope you liked this!! Ive been busy with some schl projects lately but finally (for now) everything is submitted and over!!!!

Masterlist

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mc-critical · 3 years

Note

hey, welcome back! hope your exams and stuff went well, and that you're doing fine now.

i wanted to hear your opinion on nigar hatun. i remember seeing one post of yours in which you said that she wasn't a favourite of yours like you favoured other characters and honestly, same. i didn't really much understand the fascination with her. she was an interesting character, but i can't imagine having her as a favourite when there are so many more characters who are far more interesting. i wish they gave her an alternate arc. idk what it could be, i'd like to hear your opinion on it. one alternative ending i came up for her is that she was extremely angry at ibrahim for toying with her and hatice for keeping her sweet little esmanur from her so she joins hurrem to defeat them? which hurrem did try but it didn't really go anywhere and nigar was against hurrem for killing ibrahim which just was kinda frustrating. they literally give hurrem no ally in the harem [except mihrimah later on but mihri is overall varying in terms of power] so it would be good for her to have some support in the harem from people who actually hated her enemies like her. she had actual political support from iskender celebi, rustem, and ayaz pasha and all, sure, but she didn't have much support in the harem, like all powerful women of the harem were against her. nigar obviously wasn't powerful like a sultan but she was an old member of the harem, was respected and even though she kinda lost her dignity with the scandal, she could've regained it with hurrem's help. sumbul was there later on but he was just a very faithful servant and didn't really have any real motive to harm any of hurrem's enemies except for out of his loyalty whilst nigar could've cultivated a hatred for hatice and ibrahim. this is a basic plot but i would've kinda liked seeing it. there can be many more ways her character could've ended but it would be good seeing a woman who didn't bow to her feelings all the time. the sultanas couldn't really control their feelings when it came to love because they were princesses who were used to getting what they wanted most of the time but nigar was a servant who also suffered the hardships of slavery and it obviously would've made her tougher as a person so she could control her feelings better; idk, i feel like this is an aspect of women they could've explored [or if they did explore it, i don't remember it lol my memory lapses a lot so i don't remember the show 100%] anyway, would like to hear your thoughts on nigar. thank you. welcome back again <3

Thank you! <33 Yup, I'm fine and the exams went well. Happy Pride month to you, too! 🏳️‍🌈

Hehe, I wrote that post years ago and while Nigar still isn't one of my absolute favourite characters, I've warmed up to her quite a bit. And honestly, now with the wider experience in the fandom, I can say that she isn't all that loved as it looks like. I then was under the limited wrong impression that the BG Mamma forum was a metric of all the popular opinions and yes, they loved Nigar a lot and I was sometimes confused as to why, but really, that and the Russian fanbase are the only places I have encountered that appreciate her all that much. There are characters I find more interesting than her, that's for sure, but she has her charm and I'm firmly against people reducing her to "evil" or "manipulative" or "weak after she fell in love with Ibrahim", so forth.

The thing she sets her first impression with is her intelligence caused by her relatively high experience in the harem. The advice she gave to Hürrem opened the path to her whole goal (as she herself acknowledged in E41) and that makes for quite an impact for a more recurring character. Despite of this, I never viewed early Nigar as someone taking an open side, hence I didn't find her supposed betrayal to Hürrem surprising in the slightest: she is also trying to survive in this environment in any way she knows how and she can't really find a fully comfortable position, because she is well aware that everyone is thinking for their own gain in the end. Including her. So the only choice she has left is to direct herself to where the wind is blowing and get advantages for herself once she gets the chance. Because all the experience has taught her to repress her feelings (E10 to Hürrem: "In this castle you can't show weakness."), opt to be the more level-headed person and seek for the more pragmatic solutions.

And yet she is very sensitive and perceptive to people that are different than the others or that are in need and is willing to lend them her hand. She adviced and helped Hürrem because she found potential in her, because she wanted to see her succeed, but not through endangering her own self or other people in the process (she told Hürrem that her game had gone too far again in E41), but through negotiation, compromise and adaption, to know when to start and when to stop and be respectful to those above her, no matter how hard or limiting that may look in Hürrem's eyes. Hürrem had the tendency in viewing every sign of support that came to her as granted, she still had that naive part of innocence in her in S01 and early on was in a desparate need of someone to lean on and unconditionally follow her path, that's why when Nigar diverted from that path, it hurt and took her a while to start trusting her again. But I didn't see Nigar as all that attached to Hürrem as Hürrem herself thought she was, especially with how Nigar became stuck between two sultanas later in S01 and that rendered her lost and more insecure than usual.

That's also why I don't view her as a two-faced or hypocritical double-crosser. Because for the longest time, Nigar was the one character in the series before Rüstem appeared that was clearly thinking about her own benefit and survival first and foremost from the beginning when darting between the powerful people in the harem and was the one well aware that she simply can't cling to a single side in her own position. Positions aren't permanent and can always change in such circumstances, so why can't she take advantage of this? Because who cares as much about the feelings for a Kalfa they can still order around after all? She has faced disregard from Mahidevran, Hürrem, Ibrahim and even Hatice. It is pretty understandable that she's going to seek the best opportunity for herself.

That whole facade breaks when she falls in love with Ibrahim. During rewatch, I found myself to have a soft spot for this character deconstruction, especially in S02. I know that it came to pass because of her falling in love with a man that doesn't share the same feelings and there were moments where it looked like she overdid it, even in S02, but for me, the whole thing nicely added a new layer of depth, while still feeling true to Nigar's character. Her future relationship with Ibrahim had been building up back in S01, when Ibrahim (both inadvertently and not I fully believe) played a part in helping her solve the first internal conflict she had (that is the struggle between the two sultanas). Maybe this didn't mean that much to Ibrahim, maybe he was simply trying to be helpful, but it meant a lot to Nigar - that was probably the first time someone seemed to take her feelings into account and actually listen when she couldn't help, but crack under the pressure. So it is only natural that she would search for this source of comfort once again, being ready to face every risk in the process. When she is appointed to Hatice and Ibrahim's castle, when she's practically left alone with Ibrahim, she decides to take that chance, to taste the forbidden fruit. He gave her something she never received and due to her not allowing herself to show weakness and having to cave to everyone else's demands before that, every ounce of affection Ibrahim shows her, it means the world to her. Thus she begins to idealize what she has with him, to the point of denial and delusion, and centers her loyalty completely on him. But that loyalty never seems to falter. She began to resent and/or hate everyone who could possibly stand in Ibrahim's way, something she wouldn't have ever done before. She keeps her level-headed self and intelligence (I don't think that this plot line reduced it in any way, not even when she was at her worst.) and she's ready to take any opportunity for herself (case in point: her marriage with Rüstem.), but now her softer sides and her wish for affection are showing all the more.

The problem I have with Nigar's character, writing-wise, and now that I think about it, the main subject of why I didn't get the deal with her back then (along with considering her S01 self bland.. somehow?), is her S03B characterization. While her falling in love with Ibrahim plot-line became an important part of S02 Nigar's storyline, I don't think it overshadowed or dominated over her other characteristics, making for a neat balance of traits and an interesting, nuanced character. In an attempt to keep her for longest time possible in the story, S03B flanderized her in every possible way and overexaggerated her biggest strengths and flaws until they became stale and unbelievable. Her love for Ibrahim read as а near obsession narratively and her opportunism coupled with her will for revenge, which put her into many repetitive intrigues. At one point I even felt she was reduced to a plot-device (the moment Şah Sultan appointed her as a spy) and she felt a little too purposeless and to have totally outstayed her welcome until her last moment in the series.

The root of this problem is again, that they just didn't know when to stop with Nigar. To be brutally honest, she had no long-term role left to play after Ibrahim's death and it was time for the writers to let her go and maintain her generally strong characterization. The ending I would've chosen for her is to simply have Matrakcı give her Esmanur's location and for her to live with her daughter in piece. I know that because of the tonal shift, the show seemed to be already inclined that everyone had to have a tragic ending of sorts, to underline the growing ruthlessness and cruelty of the themes, but I fully believe that Nigar was one of the only characters that were terribly forced through their tragic endings. She didn't need, nor deserve a tragic ending and I doubt it would've been such a problem for the half-season if she didn't get one. I find a happier ending to be perfectly fine for Nigar and I would've loved to see it, if only for a freshness in ideas for character endings. I loved her Esmanur storyline and to witness her finding happiness with her, the only solace she had left, would have been a great wrap up of her S03 plots and an amazing send-off to Nigar's character.

I appreciate the thought you have put into your ending for her and to be fair, your proposal would be much better than anything S03B gave us. It would nearly correspond with the revenge plot of hers they were going for and it would be something more original at the same time. Hürrem's principal lack of allies doesn't bother me as a fact alone, because all her enemies have understandable reasons to be against her, but what bothers me however, is when the writers try using it to dumb her enemies down and make them doom themselves through their own failings or outright use it to put forced (often soapy) conflicts to make the audience sympathize with Hürrem. Or to make everyone "mistitle" her (is that a word? probably not.) or disrespect her on purpose again for sympathy points (that go beyond the part of her motivation that wants to feel respected and does stuff out of fear not to fall under a less favorable position once again.), without changing the status-quo until say, S04.

It is so deliberate it becomes annoying and seeing something else for a change... honestly, gimme! While I personally prefer a happy ending for Nigar, I would live for Nigar and Hürrem to work together again, while keeping what's become her central motivation intact. It may seem a little OOC for Nigar to work for Hürrem by that point, because she's channeled her loss of the most precious people into rage on those that have taken them away, but it would be a decent shifting of gears and a reverence to her opportunism to work to eradicate those she hates for good, even if it means doing so with one of your bigger enemies. After all, after the mission is fulfilled, she could still work against Hürrem in some way, right?

[Tell me if I got what you meant wrongly, but there is an example of a dynasty sultana putting her love feelings behind and by that I mean Şah Sultan. Her love is in the past by the point she arrived in the castle and her love for Ibrahim is only used as a conflict between her and Hatice, which they get over relatively quick. Sisterly love and ambition are a much bigger priority of Şah's: she cared about Hatice past any resentment she may have harbored over the years and agreed to share her life with Lütfi for the advantage this may bring, even though she didn't love him at all. She divorced him only when he offended the pride of a woman and her own personal pride. Other than that, we indeed didn't have a female character in MC that puts her feelings behind in design as far as I recall, only ones that end up clinging to them completely like Nigar here or ones that let go of them eventually like Mahidevran. Characters that have this design by default are more present in MCK like Safiye, or Turhan, or especially Gülbahar, but as I've said many times, MCK is more ruthless, while MC is more about the personal feelings of the characters, hence every motivation they have is somehow tied to them.]

#magnificent century #muhteşem yüzyıl #muhtesem yuzyil #nigar kalfa #nigar hatun #ask #mihrimah-sultan-can-rail-me

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dany36 · 3 years

Text

officially done with tales of zestiria!! overall, i really enjoyed the game and i'm glad i finally sat down and played it. more junk thoughts below.

so it's definitely not as bad as i had heard people say it was. i was really surprised when i saw just how much of a bad rep this game gets, but...i can definitely see some things as to why people don't like it... one of the things i had heard was that there was barely any character development in the game, and i agree with that. i was 35ish hours in when suddenly people were already talking about going into the final battle and i was like...what?! no sub-story about rose or eizen or lilah that goes more into their past/characters like sheena in tos or something?? i guess we did get more into edna with that sidequest about eizen (it was nice seeing her show emotions for once!), but other than that, i really didn't feel like the game focused on ANYONE else at any point in the story. they just sort of get introduced into your party and are there to help sorey in his quest.

speaking of sorey, i REALLY didn't care for his character at all. i think he's the only one where i was super apathetic towards in terms of character and personality. even zaveid, who i thought i was going to dislike because of how annoying i found him in berseria, grew on me and learned to like him. i don't know, i guess when i compare him to other protagonists in the tales of games i've played, he really is the most forgettable of them all. like, when he "sacrifices" himself and goes in a sleep slumber, i felt no emotion whatsoever. as soon as i got rose in my party, i switched to using her as my main (which never happens lol i'm boring and usually stick to main characters as my Player 1--emil, lloyd, luke, velvet, dude with the purple hair in vesperia for the amount i played in the game) cus i was just like wow give me someone more interesting PLEASE. so, sorry to sorey fans (if there are any) but to me he's one of the most boring aspects of the game...and he's the damn shepherd!

and continuing on that point, i think the plot in this tales game is also probably the weakest one out of the ones i've played (weak main character, weak plot). the game starts off with the simple premise that sorey is the shepherd and he must get rid of the Lord of Calamity, and...that's pretty much it. in other tales games, you start off thinking your objective is A, but then as you journey along, a plot twist occurs and you realize now that objective A really was just a small task in what is your true objective. Something like this never happens in the game, so the pace just pretty much stays the same throughout the entirety of the game. sure, there are some cool moments (rose's introduction and her learning to armatize will forever be my favorite), but they are scattered out and about and honestly in this game i can't really remember something as impacting as luke sinking that one city (haven't played tota in a while lol) or palmacosta being destroyed in tos or velvet finding out the truth about her brother.

but anyway, the rest of the cast, i absolutely loved, so it's truly a shame that they were stuck in a sort of forgettable plot. i already talked about edna and rose being my favorites, but lilah (that scene with the oregami...OOF...OOF!!!!) and zaveid are cool too. alisha is barely in the main game, but it was great seeing more of her in the DLC and showing her struggle of what she wants to do (her combat also seems cool for the couple of fights but i had to stick with rose...sorry!). i only wish we could have had more skits showing the party interacting with one other. i don't know if it's just me but i really felt like there were barely any skits in this game, which is sad because most of the cast is enjoyable and it's a shame we didn't get to see them talk with each other in skits more!

i had seen people say that it's best to play zestiria and then berseria so you can catch all the references in berseria, but...to be honest, i don't think i would have enjoyed zestiria as much if i had played it first! prime examples are the eizen sidequest and the sidequest where you FREAKING FIND MAGILOU'S TOMB. like...hello??? when i got to the eizen sidequest, i 100% would not have given as much of a shit on killing that dragon if i hadn't played berseria beforehand. it really made me sad knowing the tragic ending that eizen wound up having. and finding magilou's grave being guarded by her friend also broke my heart. like...seriously!!! that was something that i also would not have given another thought if i didn't know who magilou was. so yeah i don't regret playing berseria first since i actually think it enhanced the experience a bit more.

gameplay-wise, i really enjoyed it! took me a while to get the hang of the equipment system, but once i did, chaining combos with Rose was a blast. i also really enjoyed how easily you could change party members (unlike in tob where it costs 1 BG!) in the middle of a fight. and MAN i never get tired of seeing those sweet, sweet mystic artes animations. <3 <3 <3 it increases any character's coolness factor three-fold.

my main gripe in berseria was the terrible dungeon design. at the beginning, zestiria did a better job at putting in puzzles in dungeons so as to not make the same mistake that berseria did, but then...towards the second half of the game...it was pretty much all berseria-like dungeons of endless same-looking rooms with endless enemies (the DLC dungeon being a prime example of this). which is honestly just terrible and boring, but at least the gameplay makes the fights seem not AS tedious...

i also felt like zestiria did a better job with the music than berseria did. i can hardly recall any song i liked in berseria (there's like two or three i'd put in my vgm collection), but for zestiria, i'm gonna need to hunt down quite a few. also, i could actually remember the names of the towns/locations and what they looked like. in berseria, i felt like i was going town after town but for the life of me i couldn't remember at ALL what we did there in the first place. i really just felt like i was passing through each town not learning much about the place, but in zestiria i really got a feel of each town, so that was nice!

oh, and the ending i felt was...kind of weak lol especially cus...no one talked at all??? it was so weird haha in tos, tota, dotnw, and tob we have the characters at least saying SOMETHING in the ending but in toz it was just...animations and that's it lol. so glad we got a DLC cus i would have been PISSED seeing just rose leave off like that without saying a word and then...they show us her GRAVE??? i always think "wow i wish they would show us how the future of (insert favorite characters here) are like!! :)" but seeing rose's grave made me so sad (as well as eizen's and magilou's) like nononono you do NOT show my favorite characters just DEAD!! >:'v but anyway, yeah i mean it was an ok ending but nothing that made me feel with a great gap in my heart like tob's or tos's did. like mikleo seeing sorey again at the end? cool. did it make me feel something like when tear sees luke again at the end of tota? sadly, no. :(

and last but not least, the DLC. i mean, i absolutely LOVED seeing the girls in the team going out on their own little adventure and just interacting and talking with each other!!! lailah + edna + alisha + rose...who doesn't love that?? we got to see more of rose being the badass that she is and uh yeah her and alisha? totally gay for each other...like that last scene before they kill the final boss?? just A+++ material (except that terrible last dungeon AND the HORRID design of the last bosses??? dragons with purple bright titties so that the player will know they're FEMALE dragons??? LMAO)

oh wow i wrote more than i thought i would but uh yeah. all in all: DEFINITELY NOT a bad game, has a great cast of interesting and fun characters (except sorey) but sadly the game doesn't delve too deep into them as in other tales game, DLC was a fun addition to see more of who i thought was going to be a greater protagonist in the main story, but overall when compared to other tales of games, the weak plot puts it second-to-last in my list of tales games i've played. would i play it again? definitely :)

WHEW, ok, now off to watch the anime!! <3

#junk #tales of zestiria #toz #wellp that was a lot haha #forgot to say that i really don't like the intro song to this game!!#tos's orchestrated intro still the best hands down no i will not take criticisms on that thank you

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bciwasinlove · 3 years

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Hi. I have not been on twitter or even in the fandom long enough so i came here to ask you about something. What's with the song claiming thing? Suddenly ziams are claiming songs that have been claimed as larry song. No I'm not gate keeping. Pardon my word choice.I'm not English. But I'm just curious. As long as i have been in this fandom, no control was a larry song the moment it came out and everyone was ok with it and even ziams never claimed it before.now suddenly they are like oh liam also wrote it? Home has always been larry song considering the timeline, him leaking and all, ziams never claimed it before, now suddenly home is a ziam song too? 18 was taken as a larry song from the moment ed said it was written from 1D perspective and everyone was ok with it considering how Louis used to literally serenade Harry like turning his whole body,changing pronouns etc. No one had a problem untill now. Suddenly in 2020/21 ziams are claiming it. Why didn’t they do it before? Why now? I'm just curious.

Warning selfies have been a thing with Louis for years. Now suddenly it is linked with liam too? How? Did he do it before or something? I genuinely don't know. So let me know plz.

The whole devlin thing, devlin album came out in 2017 i guess and they comparing Louis tweet with zayn tweeting that is from 2016. How does that make sense?

Also some people say larry closeting didn’t work but ziam did...awful thing to say. If it didn’t work then there wouldn’t be so many antis and they are still going through so much. People wouldn’t believe Harry dates every woman that breaths around him. And they claim there are two bbg in ziam relationship right? Why did they need two bbg if it worked? I mean if the closeting worked? Bbg has nothing to do with relationships.

Idk if ziam was real or not but I'm sure gigi was pregnant, she had that symptoms, pregnancy glow,tired face and all. Now whoever the father may be..idk.

I'm not convinced about ziam and how does that make me hypocrite? Also there are some "if this counts(larry),this counts too(ziam)" thread. what's with the comparison?

Sorry about the rant.

Hello anon wow this is long a lot to unpack so I'll start with your song questions.

Idk why ziammies are suddenly trying to claim songs that have ALWAYS been larry related. Especially when Liam said in an interview that Louis and him were a song writing duo for 1D BUT that he wrote the melodies and it was Louis who wrote the song lyrics. Last I checked melodies don't equal meaning of a song so how are these songs about ziam?

Some examples of this....

They are trying to claim Home but Liam said the song was personal to Louis and how when he read the lyrics he didn't want to change them. Home is also a direct response to If I Could Fly with ONLY Harry on the credits. Home was leaked by Louis the night of Belfest when Larry found out BG was being taken pasted the birth of a kid and it pissed off Louis so he leaked Home as payback bc it was clearly a loud song management didn't want on the album.

They are trying to claim 18 but the song was written by Ed who said [compared to other 1D songs he wrote for them] he wrote 18 with a 1D member in mind. [That is why we claim the song at all.] Ed was closeted in the band to Harry next being Louis and Niall he was the least closeted to Zayn and Liam. Side note Ed has a song called Friends that he said was about 2 friends of his who fell in love and when a fan yelled L&H he laughed/smirked and said init so it makes the most sense 18 was written with Harry in mind. Plus 18 is about meeting/loving someone sense they were 18 and it was only Louis who was 18 when they all met and it was Harry who would scream NO 16 when singing the song. Also larry changed the lyrics to HIM and would stare directly at each other when singing 18 livem According to ziam MPs ziam weren't a couple until at least 2 years into the band so why would 18 make sense for them also given they were both 17 when they met & none ever went NO 17 when singing it.

They are trying to claim No Control but that song as we know is about the morning after sex and the second round they end up having. Like stated before Louis wrote the lyrics to 1D songs and Niall plus Larry always made it DAMN CLEAR what that song was about. Also remember when Harry would always jam out hard core when Louis would sing his part in No Control aka majority of the song. Yeah that song is Louis song no doubt.

They try to claim Alive which makes no sense bc Zayn nor Liam is on the credits at all only Louis. They say it's bc Liam said he related to the song ok I see that but still he didn't write it and still how does this song equate to ziam? Alive is more a song used as proof Louis isn't straight bc it's about self exceptance of who you are even tho others around you for along time made u feel there is something wrong with you. It's about Louis who is more confident part way through the story being told and then helping his lover [who seems to be a bit insecure about themselves] except and love who they are. Since Liam didn't write on it the relationship aspect couldn't be about him and Zayn. Since he said he just relates to Alive at BEST it could mean he might not be straight but it can't be used as proof of who his partner is when he didn't write on it.

There's others but I think you get the point they have always been larry or hinting at Louis sexuality songs so I don't get why or how they are suddenly saying their ziam songs? Myself @lovemylarents and @fearlessmoon09 think bored people in quarantine is what happened to change the landscape.

To your next question warning selfies...

So warning selfies was something Louis did everytime something BG stunt related was going to happen. He started it and did it a ton back in 2016/17 when BG stunting was massive for him. Liam never had anything to do with warning selfies and Louis warning selfies were ALWAYS like I said BG related so suddenly ziammies going Liam does warning selfies for things involving Maya or Gigi makes no sense. It was ALWAYS a Louis thing.

For the Devlin thing...

You hit the nail on the coffin with that one the album with the song Cold Blooded that had the lyrics "so is it true XXXX fathered a baby? I don't really think so, if you ask me he don't like ladies. Could have been HARRY, yeah, I bet it was HARRY" [emphasis on Harry bc I saw a ziammie change the lyrics to Liam] came out in 2017 while Zayns tweet was done in 2016. Unlike Louis tweet which was specifically about this album not just the artist and tweeted during the height of BG stunting. So not the best comparison. They really should fact check before making these "larries are hypocrites" threads bc veteran larries know and fact check everything.

Next thing you mentioned what I call their slogan "larries closeting didn't work but ziams did that is why less talk about/believe in ziam then larry" piss me off so much and what you said it right. If larry's closeting didn't work then we wouldn't be here complaing about how the GP sees Harry as a queerbaiting womanizer, how solo henries who want to have sex and suck Harry's dick exist and how some locals don't want to join Louis fandom bc they think Louis and his fans are homophobic or that twarries exist thinking Louis is a deadbeat dad. Tell me again ziammies how their closeting didn't work? It is so invalidating to everything larry has been put through. Also if larry's closeting didn't work but ziams did then why did they need 2 BGs for Ziam and only one for Larry? Myself @kaybutlarry @babyhoney-28 and @onlythebravestan are still waiting on an answer to that question haven't gotten one.

As you said about Gigi yes she definitely looked more pregnant then Briana ever did. The reason I don't believe in their BG with Gigi is bc their story is inconsistenent. Side note back when Liam had a kid no one besides a few on tumblr ever said it was BG 2.0 they didn't start saying BG 2&3 until Gigi happened. Back to inconsistenences so their original story when we first learned Gigi was pregnant was it's fake just like Briana there's no kid, then when Gigi did the livesteam showing she had a bump and a round face you get when pregnant the story changed to she's pregnant the kid is just not Zayn's.

Then I recently saw some who [after the kid was born] went back to the story the kid is fake there is no kid OR they are using a child actor. Unlike Louis BG they don't have a consistent story that makes sense. Also the kids are never shown unlike with Louis kid F gets posted every damn day with creepy and bad photoshop, and a million articles about how he is Louis twin to shove it down our throats the kid is Louis. The situations have NEVER been the same with Louis vs even just Liam kid.

To your last point ziammies keep calling and making threads about how larries are hypocrites bc we don't believe what they do which is damn annoying bc they constantly say just leave us alone why do you care we exist but then constantly make threads like that getting mad we aren't all ziammies. If your going to make threads against us then yeah were going to say something and respond to your threads the way we would to a debunking larry anti thread. Their threads like that are either using funny coincidences of larry that we don't use as concrete proof to compare to ziam OR their ziam version of our proof has been debunked already like the Ziam Levine Stylinson sticker on the bears. [If you want more info on that ask @lovemylarents.]

They constantly take what is a larry proof and say it's also about ziam [Example the songs] or have a ziam proof that mirrors a larry proof. [Example the devlin thing or selfies] In their threads they always compare miniscule larry things that aren't our MAIN proof. See the miniscule proofs are the house and the big proofs are the concrete foundation that without it those miniscule things would not be able to really count as proof of larry and the larry house would fall. Ziammies ONLY have miniscule proof not a very solid foundation so I'm unsure how long their house will last.

I have been in this fandom for 10 years I have seen MANY ships come and go [Examples: Ziam, Ziall and Narry] but the one ship that has always been here was Larry. Larries have been here for 10 years, Larries are the ones who are talked about in the media, Larries are the ones constsntly gaslighted, Larry is the one ship that needs to be denied a bunch [poorly might I add] there's NEVER been any other ship or ship group people have hated, gone against or talked about this much besides Larries/Larry.

Funny [not for us] but funny that Liam goes through all the trouble of gaslighting Larries and talking about EVERY Louis stunt but he never mentioned Ziam which is a ship that actually involves him or the Ziammies who say Bear isn't his kid. Why did he talk about US and not THEM which involve him? Also funny Liam can easily say the word Ziam but Louis can't pronounce an EASY @ just bc it has the word Eroda in it.

My mutrals and I all agreed we didn't give af that ziammies existed until they kept talking shit about how we aren't ziams to and then go why are larries acting like antis hating us. First off it was NEVER larries hating on them it was toxic solo Zsquad and solo Liam stans who were. We didn't get involved until the entire tl was LARRIES ARE HATING US AND BEING HYPOCRITES. Second off and my last thought it's easy if you don't want us in your replies then don't make threads about us being hypocrites and use easily debunked ziam proof or miniscule larry proof to mirror bc we will point it out bc you think were hypocrites thank you.

#twitter ziammies #ziammies think larries are hypocrites #stop stealing larry songs #stop stealing larry proof #larries

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surveysonfleek · 3 years

Text

1584.

What’s the latest youtube channel you’ve discovered and binge-watched? hmm during work i found this girl who does true crime style videos. it’s like a visual podcast. so i listened to a couple of those in the bg

What’s one thing that makes your shoulders hurt? getting a massage and they apply too much pressure but my introvert ass is too shy to say anything lol

Does it snow where you live? no. it snows about 2 hours away but tbh there wasnt much news about it this year

Do you think your hair looks better long or short? long

Do you look best with or without bangs? i kinda prefer no bangs but side bangs are ok too

What stereotype would you say you fit the most? none

Do you enjoy editing photos on your phone? haha i cant say i enjoy it but sometimes its needed

What’s your favorite thing to do on your phone? insta, tiktok, fb. social media i guess

Which season do you wish would last longer? autumn! love autumn, perfect weather all around

Do you like the name Eliana? its cute

Do you know anyone named Claire? Veronica? Cescily? Marcella? Miranda? i have a cousin named veronica

Haw many outdoor birthday parties have you had? i dont remember having an outdoor bday ever!

How much taller or shorter are you than your mom? taller by a few inches

Who is your favorite sibling? i only have one sibling, so her!

Do you have neat handwriting? its not neat but its def not messy

Do you enjoy journaling? haha no. i havent journaled since 2017 maybe

What is your most recent new favorite food you’ve discovered? not super new but i do love poke bowls now

Do you like sushi? yes! love it

Have you ever tried seaweed? yup :)

How often do you wash your hair? around three times a week

Do you have an actual pig-shaped piggy bank? nope

Would you rather hike a mountain or dive into the sea? omg none. dive into the sea if i really had to but only to snorkel Would you rather grow wings or a tail? lmao wings i guess

Which Barbie doll was your favorite? i had a lot as a kid and its so sad i dont remember any in particular!

Do you prefer cheetah or zebra print? chevron or polka dots? paisleys or plaid? stripes or stars? cheetah, polka dots, paisleys and stripes

Do you like your natural hair color? yeah its fine

What is your natural hair color? dark brown

Did you dream of becoming famous as a kid? yes. that was like my life goal. howeverrrr, i had no creative talent. i couldnt sing, act, dance etc lmao. but i always wanted to be famous. this was way before social media was introduced though

What show did you want to be on? the saddle club lol

Have you ever been to a gynecologist? no but technically my doctor is one. they’re a gp but certified gyno if that makes sense

Do you use the Bitmoji app on your phone? i used to

Do you get on facebook every day? yeah but nowhere near as often as i used to

What is your Instagram screenname? totally not sharing that here lol

Do you remember the very first episode of Spongebob when it first came out? nope

Did you watch the Kids Choice Awards when you were a kid? no because i didnt have cable tv lol

What was your favorite girl group when you were growing up? spice girls, duh!

Would you ever consider naming a child after a family member? nah, im starting fresh

List three names that sound similar to your name. no List three spelling of your name that you are glad you don’t have. lol haha no

What were you almost named? erica, so weird

Do you like your name? yes :)

What are your top three favorite girl’s names? boy names? i dont know. i feel like this question comes up alot but i can never think of an answer. i need to start a note of it on my phone lol

What is something you always wanted to do that your parents never let you? get me a tickle me elmo

Do you have any symptoms of COVID-19 right now? nah, double vaxxed baby!

Have you made your own mask to help prevent the spread of the virus? no but i wear them anyways

Do you know anyone who has the virus? not personally. actually i had a friend that got it but he lives in cali

What was the last grocery store you shopped at? coles

What does your name mean? goddess of something

What countries have you visited? plenty. just too lazy to list them

Do you have any regrets? i do but i dont dwell on it

Do you ever wish you had someone to hug? haha no, i can hug my fiance whenever

Do you ever sleep on your bedroom floor? no

#survey #surveys #quiz #bored #questions

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not-majestic-bluenicorn · 4 years

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The Practice Room Ghost || TXT One-shot

Fandom(s): Tomorrow x Together

AU: Pre-debut

Prompt: Ghosts

Genre: Horror

Relationship: None

Language: English

Status: Finished

WC: 2,474 words

Warnings: Ghosts, nightmares, possession, paranoia

Summary:

Soobin is certain that his nightmares and the rumor of the ghost that lives in their practice room have nothing in common. To prove it, they decide to spend the night there and figure it out.

AO3

Soobin walked into the company’s building, earbuds plugged in as he greeted the few staff he saw with a simple bow of his head. He was tired and a little grumpy for the lack of sleep, so he avoided looking at people’s faces so as to not catch their attention. The music in his earbuds was loud, muting everything around him and providing him some peace. He walked without hesitation towards the dance practice room, hoping to get away from everyone.

The room was empty. He was probably the first of the trainees to arrive that day, and he preferred it that way. Soobin approached the lockers placed right by the entrance and put his backpack inside, only keeping his phone outside to play music while he did some stretching. He began with his head and went down slowly, making sure to stretch properly. He was standing in front of the mirror with his eyes closed, so he heard Yeonjun arrive more than saw him.

“Oh Soobin-ah, you arrived early!” Yeonjun exclaimed as he too put his stuff in his locker.

“Mhm,” Soobin hummed, turning his arms around, “I had some free time and decided to come here earlier.”

“Oh really?” When Yeonjun asked, Soobin felt his breath right on his face.

He opened his eyes and took a couple of steps back, surprised. Yeonjun chuckled and moved away. Soobin frowned, a little annoyed at Yeonjun’s playfulness, but decided to let it go. He was too tired to get into an argument.

“You look exhausted, what were you doing before this?” Yeonjun asked again, back to the mirror. Soobin looked at his back before turning to look at his own reflection. He did look exhausted. But what had he been doing before coming to the practice room? He couldn’t remember.

“Well, I-” Soobin scrambled for a response, but in that moment Yeonjunt turned around and the words died in his lips as his heart stopped for a second.

Yeonjun’s face in the reflection was gone.

It was blurry, like it had been heavily edited. He could see it moved as Yeonjun told him something else, but Soobin wasn’t paying attention anymore. His eyes and mouth were black, outstretched cavities that seemed to be caught in the middle of a scream no matter what Yeongjun said. Soobin quickly turned around to look at Yeonjun’s face, but it looked normal as the eldest babbled away.

He turned around, intentionally avoiding Yeonjun’s reflection to look at his own, but his was normal. Soobin turned back to the reflection and swallowed a scream as Yeonjun’s reflection lost its form more and more. He turned back to Yeonjun, who was now facing the mirror, but he didn’t seem to realize what was going on. Finally he looked at his reflection again, and this time, it did look off.

It looked exactly like him, but it felt… off. Soobin approached it against his better judgement, lost in a sort of trance. He reached his hand up to the surface of the mirror, but when he touched it, all he felt was the warmth of human skin.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Soobin opened his eyes with a start. His room was still, interrupted only by the sound of the alarm. His heart was racing a mile per hour as he sat up and stared at his hand, which tingled from the warmth he had felt in his dream. Right, it was just a dream. He took a deep breath and turned the alarm off, trying to push all the memories of his dream to the back of his mind. He was stressed out as the debut date approached, so it made sense that he had a couple of nightmares here and there.

He found himself looking at his hand again and shuddered. It had felt so real, like human skin. Soobin had never experienced feeling something in his dreams before, but now the sensation wouldn’t disappear. He shook his head harshly and threw the thoughts away. He couldn’t freeze like that because of a stupid, albeit scary, nightmare. He had to get to the company and practice to perfection.

A shower and a bowl of rice later (he wasn’t very hungry), Soobin found himself walking to the subway. He paid his fare and walked into the train almost mindlessly, used to travelling that route every single day. He sat down on one of the empty seats and hugged his backpack close. The music helped him relax and he closed his eyes, but as soon as he did, he saw Yeonjun’s reflection staring back at him, all black holes and screaming smiles.

His phone vibrated and startled him awake. An older woman sitting next to him frowned with disapproval and Soobin was quick to apologize as he took his cell phone out and opened Kakao up. It was the group chat he had with the rest of his members. He opened the chat up and read the messages, feeling his chest getting heavy as he did.

YJ: i heard a very cool story from some seniors YJ: apparently there’s a ghost that lives in our new practice room

TH: That’s dumb and you know it…

HK: ahhh ㅠㅠ why would u say that? HK: that’s scary

BG: a ghost?

YJ: yeah YJ: heard it was like a past trainee or something? ㅋㅋ YJ: it likes to annoy current trainees YJ: and makes weird thing happen around the room

SB: That reminds me of a dream I had last night.

TH: Huh?

BG: ???

SB: Ah, nevermind. SB: I don’t remember it all that well. SB: Just said it because it happened in the practice room.

TH: Either way TH: Ghosts aren’t real TH: Stop scaring Kai

YJ: you’re no fun

Soobin put his phone away. It was a lie that he didn’t remember his dream. He remembered it so vividly that he could still feel a bit of tingling on his right hand, which had touched the ‘mirror’. However, he didn’t want to make a big deal out of it or scare Kai more. He was stressed and had probably heard the same story as Yeonjun from one of the seniors and just didn’t remember it.

He got off five stations later and walked a few streets over to the company. He greeted everyone and pushed the feeling of dejavu away as he made his way to the practice room. There was no one there, so he put his backpack in the locker and, instead of starting with the stretching, he walked over to the mirror and stood in front of it. Soobin examined his reflection carefully, taking note of every detail.

“It was just a dream.” He told himself.

His eyes fixed on the hand of his reflection, and the hole in his chest grew, something akin to fear spreading in him. Soobin raised his hand slowly. He knew it was just a dream, so there was no reason to be afraid; in fact, there was no reason to even check at all. But maybe, just maybe, if he touched the cold surface of the mirror it would help his mind settle and let him work in peace.

“Ohh Soobin-ah, you arrived early!” Yeonjun’s voice snapped him out of his trance and Soobin quickly put his hand down, swallowing a scream of surprise.

He quickly turned around, taking his earphones off and greeting Yeonjun with a nod of his head. Soobin didn’t think he could speak without his voice revealing how much Yeonjun had startled him, so he settled for not speaking at all. Yeonjun finished putting his things away and joined him in front of the mirror, offering to help with the stretches. Soobin accepted and they began to work on them.

Soobin didn’t realize how much he was avoiding looking at the mirror until he had to turn and his heart stuttered in his chest as he encountered Yeonjun’s reflection and the empty holes greeted him for a fraction of a second. Yeonjun looked entirely normal. And that wasn’t strange, because after, it had all just been a dream, and Soobin couldn’t understand why it was affecting him so much.

Kai, Beomgyu and Taehyun arrived shortly after, followed by their dance instructor. The training was hard and lasted for hours, and by the end of the day they were all sweaty and exhausted. Soobin approached the table where they had the sound equipment and went to grab his water bottle. His hand grabbed at air instead, because it wasn’t there.

“Huh?” He looked at the table and around it, but the bottle wasn’t there. “Has anyone seen my water bottle?” Soobin turned around and asked the rest.

Beomgyu was sitting with his back against the wall, and Taehyun was next to him. Yeonjun was stretching gently in front of them while Kai continued to practice one of the moves he couldn’t finish getting down. They all looked at him and Soobin felt oddly uncomfortable for a second. Kai turned around and pointed towards the mirror. Soobin swallowed. His bottle, a dark blue thermos, was resting next to the mirror, but he hadn’t put it there.

“By the way,” Yeonjun began as Soobin approached the mirror to pick his bottle. “I asked the staff if we could, and they give me permission, so I was thinking-”

“If we could what?” Taehyun asked. His tone gave it away that he didn’t like where it was going.

“If you could just let me finish, you’d know.” Yeonjun scoffed. “I was thinking, since our debut is just around the corner, we should do a bravery test, for bonding purposes.”

“You mean…?” Beomgyu asked, tilting his head.

“Staying the night here at the practice room,” Taehyun supplied, not even waiting for Yeonjun.

“No!” Kai immediately yelled. “Why would we purposefully pass the night with a ghost?”

“Ghosts aren’t real, Kai.” Taehyun chuckled. “But I still don’t want to spend the night here.”

“I think it would be fun.” Beomgyu said, standing up and wiping the back of his pants.”

“That’s two against two,” Yeonjun crossed his arms. “Soobin-ah, what do you think?”

Soobin had been staring at his thermos the whole time, not drinking from it. He was pretty certain he had left it at the table, so he couldn’t understand how it had made its way next to the mirror. Maybe the dance instructor or one of his members had moved it? Maybe he had actually put it there and had just forgotten? He wasn’t sure, but it creeped him out.

“Soobin-ah?” Yeonjun insisted, catching his attention.

“Ah- Yeah…” Soobin swallowed, looking up from his thermos. “Hm, I think it could be a good way to bond, yeah.”

Yeonjun clapped his hands together, content. Taehyun groaned in exasperation and patted Kai’s shoulder, whose face had gone a little bit pale. In the end, they agreed that they would go home to pick some stuff and meet back at the company to sleep at the practice room. To be fair, Soobin didn’t care much about bonding with the rest of the members -and he didn’t think Yeonjun cared much either- since they were already pretty close. But he wanted to get rid of his silly idea about the mirror, which had been bothering him the whole day since waking up.

He went home, took a shower, and grabbed a change of clothes to sleep and the sleeping bag he used when he went camping with his parents. Soobin let them know about the “bonding activity” they were doing, and his parents easily agreed to it, letting him go without asking many questions.

Soobin was the last one to arrive at the practice room. Everyone else had already settled down with blankets, pillows and sleeping bags. Beomgyu and Yeonjun had even bought snacks for everyone, and they were playing games. Soobin joined them with ease, his back facing the mirror as he tried to ignore it as much as possible.

The hours went by quickly as they played games and chatted, until eventually they were all yawning and sleepy. Yeonjun gave them some time to arrange themselves before turning off the light and rushing to his own sleeping bag. Everyone knew he too was a bit scared and they let him know with a laugh. Soobin closed his eyes and fell asleep, comforted by the presence of his members.

Help me.

Soobin opened his eyes and sat down. He looked around to find his members perfectly asleep, which was strange, because he had been certain that someone had asked for help. Maybe one of them talked in their sleep? That would be a problem once they moved in together. For now though, there was nothing he could do about it, so he turned around and put his head on the pillow.

He couldn’t close his eyes, though, as he froze in place and his heartbeat picked up.

In front of him, in the mirror, he could see his reflection and standing and looking at him. It was perfectly still. Soobin immediately sat up and looked around, but the members were still peacefully asleep, and he felt bad about waking them up. So instead he stood up and approached the mirror. His reflection moved as well, following his steps like it was supposed to.

Soobin extended his hand and touched the mirror again, and by the time he realized the rest of his members weren’t even in the reflection, the hand had already wrapped around his hand and pulled him inside.

He woke up and immediately faced the mirror. His reflection was sitting just like him, and the bundles of the sleeping members were around him, like they were supposed to. A few minutes went by before Kai woke up, trying to rub the sleep off his eyes as he looked at him with curiosity.

“Hyung, are you okay?” Kai asked, his voice a rough whisper.

“Hyung?” He turned to look at Kai, a bit confused, but then nodded. “Ah yes, I am your hyung now, that’s true.” Kai gave him a weird look, but he just shrugged.

“Is everything okay?” Kai asked, a bit worried.

“Yeah, I was just thinking of a friend of mine, don’t worry Kai, just go to sleep.” He smiled, still looking at the mirror. Kai turned to go back to sleep, but he stopped.

Save me.

“Hyung, did you say something?” Kai asked, turning around again, a bit alarmed.

“Hm? No.” He shook his head. “Must be the practice room ghost.” Kai swallowed thickly and he laughed, patting Kai’s back. “I’m just kidding, just go back to sleep. Ghosts aren’t real.”

Kai returned to his bundle of covers and pillows and he turned to look back at the mirror, where Soobin was desperately hitting it, screaming for someone to save him.

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virtchandmoir · 4 years

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TESSA VIRTUE ON LIFE IN A NEW ARENA + HER MAC MAKER LIPSTICK

One of the most decorated Olympic figure skaters of all time chats with Beautygeeks about adjusting to a less structured life, finding a new "safe space," and navigating her beauty journey.

April 28, 2020

Tessa Virtue is one of only two best-ever ice-dancing athletes on the planet. Scott Moir, her on-ice partner of 22 years, is the other one. Together the duo shattered multiple world records and racked up an unprecedented number of awards, national and world championships, and five Olympic medals, including gold in 2010 and again in 2018, after which ESPN called Tessa one of the most famous female athletes in the world. Since retiring from competition, Tessa's been busy with a number of projects and contracts with brands including Mattel, Nivea Canada, Colgate, Sick Kids Hospital, Adidas and more. Last month, she celebrated the launch of her first lipstick with MAC Cosmetics, which gave us an excuse to have a good chat about how her life has changed since stepping away from the ice...

BEAUTYGEEKS Makeup and skincare must have started early for you; you've been skating since you were quite small. (Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir became ice-dancing partners in 1997, when she was seven and he was nine.) TESSA I remember having conversations at a really young age with coaches and advisors, trying to figure out what was age-appropriate for a Latin-style program and how we do makeup and costuming and everything that works for 10-year-olds. One of my coaches, Rebecca Babb, used to do my makeup for competitions. That was always something that I really looked forward to. I think there was an awareness early on about how I presented myself in the skating world, simply because it's judged and it's such an aesthetic sport. It's part of the entire package of telling a story. As I evolved and grew as both an athlete and a performer, I really came to enjoy and appreciate that element of it because it's really what sets figure skating apart from most, especially winter, sports. That balance between art and athleticism – and part of that was the costuming, the hair, the makeup, the ability to take the ice and get into character, and make someone feel something. The makeup routine became part of my mental preparation, too – meditative. I would get into the zone as I was applying makeup, and also have fun expressing myself in different ways.

Tessa Virtue in Barbie form; at Toys R Us

BG Now that you're into another life chapter, what's your beauty routine? TESSA You know, it's funny, I'm at both extremes, and I used to say this about my wardrobe. I was fully athletic wear or black tie. There was very little in between. Friends would ask me to go for coffee and I would rock a power suit or something because I just didn't have that sort of casual in-between mode. Maybe that's part of being an athlete: you compartmentalize and you're a bit of an extremist. And now with makeup, I'm either working with some of Canada's best glam teams or I'm wearing nothing as I travel or do my own. Mascara, blush and lipstick is sort of my go-to every day. Stepping away from skating and having fun in the beauty industry and in fashion world in a different way has been really liberating because I've tried to take some risks, explore different looks and aesthetics. I think like most of us, when I'm doing my own makeup, I'm so tempted do the same routine. Picking up tips and tricks from others along the way has been really great. I've also learned that the getting-ready process is actually the most fun part of any event.

BG When you're sitting down for hair and makeup, do you have photos to say "let's try this" or do you consult with your team? Has the process changed now that you're in a different arena? TESSA Often I'm getting ready to do something work related. In some way I'm always focusing on what my task is and what I have to offer in the upcoming event, strategizing on how I can maximize that for whoever has hired me or whatever I'm representing, whatever charity I'm trying to help. I use that time to talk with my team about that. So when I sit down in the chair, I completely put my trust in the people around me. I've worked so closely with those artists, and I've realized that they become your family; they're some of my closest friends. I value their expertise. And I think there's fun for them with that too, because they're empowered to try anything and everything.

BG Those are good friends to have. And your time with them is so intimate. TESSA I feel so lucky. Sometimes we're on set and there'll be a hundred people who all have an agenda of their own, who all have someone to answer to and are all trying to accomplish something in their own right. It's nice to have the security of a glam team or a stylist or someone to come back to – that's your safe place, where you can sort of recharge, get energy and then put yourself out there again. There's a vulnerability that comes with stepping into a spotlight, so to speak. I think that's taken on greater meaning as I put myself in different work positions too.

BG So in some respects, members of your beauty team are touchstones as well. TESSA Exactly, yes exactly.

BG I love that. Let's hit skincare: has yours evolved since leaving the ice or was it particularly involved beforehand? TESSA I realize now just what harsh conditions I put my skin under when I was training. And that was partly because of the cold and the dry arenas, but also the sweat and, in my case at least at competition, having to sweat with makeup on. I'm still conscious of hydrating, but I find less and less need for that. Although I suppose I'm on airplanes and traveling quite a bit, so that sort of replaced the arena. I've always been of the less-is-more mindset when it comes to skincare. That's thanks to my mom. She always told me to touch my face as little as possible. So I'm pretty simple with micellar water and moisturizer. I make sure that I get all my makeup off at night so my skin can breathe, and if I'm traveling, I don't really put anything on my face.

BG It's also a good thing that your skin was at its peak when you were training and performing – you had so much natural hyaluronic acid, collagen and resilience because you were so young. You're still really young. (Tessa turns 31 in May.) TESSA Well, thank you. But you know, there's also stress, hormonal changes and everything that goes along with competing and performing. That's not easy. Sometimes when you're battling stress, hormones, not feeling confident, and then to continue to put yourself out there... But yes, thank you. I do feel pretty fortunate. I know a lot comes down to genes, so I can thank my parents for that.

BG How important is sleep to you? Do you need a specific number of hours? TESSA I'm still stuck in that athlete mindset of needing eight hours a night, at least. What I miss are those mandatory naps that were part of our daily disciplined routine! I'm probably sleeping much less now because I'm on the go – and every day is different. That more than anything has contributed to a sense of, depending on the day, either unease or complete liberation. There was a time when I was training that I could have told you that eight years from now, on March 1st at 2:30 PM, this is what I'll be doing. That sense of structure is so incredibly important as an athlete. And now every day is different, and I'm really trying to embrace that. I think it makes it a little bit harder. Things like sleep, fitness, easy nutrition – it's harder to find a routine in that realm. But I do feel pretty lucky that every time I leave the house I get to do something I love to do.

BG You've had 22 years of an incredibly goal-oriented lifestyle. How have things changed for you now that that goal has been not only met, but surpassed? TESSA That was a hard transition. But I found it was harder to go from being a competitive athlete to a performer. I was so focused for decades, saw everything through the lens of "how can this make me a champion?" Whether that was a meal, an event, a sponsor, a friend – everything was filtered through this very simple mandate of "how can I be my best?" and "will this assist or prohibit me from becoming my best?" That was a singular focus, and then suddenly I was thrust into this place where I was wearing a hundred different hats, and I felt like maybe I wasn't doing anything all that well. At the same time, that support network – the sports psychologists, the trainers, the therapists, everything, this whole safety net that we had built – on February 21st, 2018 was gone. And I felt so alone. At a time when everyone expected me to feel a certain way, I just really struggled. There's an inherent low that comes after any kind of high. Whether it's a competition, a wedding, a degree, any monumental occasion is often followed by a bit of a crash, and so I just had to live that at a time when everyone thought I was living out this fairytale. It was an interesting thing to reconcile. You started the question with something about goals. I think that's been a saving grace for me: I've set new goals. If you give me a task, I can figure out a way to work towards it. That's when I feel confident and competent and more settled.

BG So you can recognize yourself again in that particular mini structure. TESSA Exactly, yes.

BG I can't imagine the change. I mean it's 900% more complex than transitioning from working in an office for several years to going freelance, for instance. TESSA I think a transition of any kind is difficult. I was feeling a little bit ostracized, so on my own for a little bit. And then I realized that no, everyone is going through that in some capacity. I mean even Kaylee [MAC's PR director in Canada] coming back from having a baby and getting back to work, like any kind of life transition, takes its toll and, and it's all relative. Right? So don't diminish that change for yourself, that would've been huge.

BG You mentioned it's harder to slot regular fitness into your schedule these days, but do you manage any kind of routine somehow? TESSA I don't have a routine, which is kind of strange, but also necessary at the moment and I'm learning to exercise when I can, because I do need that dopamine hit. I need to sweat, I need to move my body. But I'm also learning to be kind to myself. So if that means taking a day or two off, or having an extended period of time when I'm focusing my energy elsewhere, I try to be gentle and not get too caught up in that. And when I'm working out, it's so interesting. There was a very specific cycling class I did last year and I felt – I'm pretty sure I wrote a note in my phone about the feeling – a tangible weight being lifted off my shoulders. I realized I'm just doing this for me. I'm not trying to be a better ice dancer, I'm not trying to do this so that I can represent Canada. This isn't functional. It's really just so that I feel good, and suddenly I felt a hundred pounds lighter because that mindset had shifted. And I think right now as I explore boxing and spar classes and spinning and peloton and yoga, I'm just trying to figure out what makes my body feel good in the moment, and take the pressure out of needing to do something. Instead it feels like it's a privilege to be able to work out.

BG It sounds like you're having an adventure there, too. TESSA Yeah, I am and I think that's just the nature of my lifestyle at the moment when I'm traveling so much. And also I have to admit that I'm still not in that place where I just go to a hotel gym and motivate myself. For someone whose job for two decades was to work out, I would wander around quite aimlessly. So it's been fun to explore different avenues and try new things that I wouldn't have been able to do when everything needed to be, as I say, so functional.

BG Do you actually have any more leisure time than you did before? Because it sounds like you're incredibly busy. TESSA I'm trying to build that into my schedule now and I think I'm doing that somewhat successfully. But the difference is that being an athlete and having downtime, I mean that's part of the job, that recovery and it was also part of our job to sort of block out the rest of the world and really insulate ourselves in this bubble. And I was very cognizant at the time that there would be no other opportunity, so I really had to do that. But now, I'm planning on getting my MBA starting next Fall, and I know I won't be able to isolate myself fully and immerse myself into that world because that's just not life. People rely on you, people depend on you. You have to carry on. And yet as an athlete, it's quite a selfish pursuit and endeavour. That's been the biggest change as far as downtime. I'm trying to work it in now – self-care is just such a buzz phrase. But we're also in the midst of this busy culture where everyone is busy and that seems like a status thing, or it seems like somehow we're more important if we're busy. I think I got wrapped up in that a little bit and ended up wanting to work, work, work, feeling like it was a kind of validation. Now instead I'm trying to focus more on the things that matter to me work-wise, and also fit in time to be fully present with friends and family. I haven't really had the tendency to do that over the years; they've had to accommodate me so much.

tessa virtue's mac maker lipstick

BG Let's talk about your new MAC lipstick. How did you decide on the shade? TESSA Well, I started with a mood board, unsurprisingly, and just kind of curated this aesthetic, which ended up being actually really beautiful. Just a bunch of different kind of pink tones and shades that I was drawn to. I have to be totally honest: there are three or four lipsticks that have been on my rotation for many, many years and they're all MAC shades. There's Syrup and Mehr, Soar and Brave, and they're all sort of in that shade family.

Next the MAC chemists took my inspiration and did their thing. They came back with about three different testers and from there we made some tweaks and some adjustments. But it was pretty clear from the moment I saw this particular one, which I affectionately nicknamed Tutu, that it's exactly what I wanted in a lipstick. I'm not lying when I say that I've worn it every single day since. It's been a struggle because people ask me what shade it is and I've not been able to tell them! It was important for me to have it be an everyday lipstick, one that works for a coffee run and also for an event, and a shade everyone can wear. That's very MAC too, to be inclusive and welcoming and accessible to as many people as possible. I wanted it to be hydrating, as well, so we chose a satin finish for extra comfort as opposed to matte.

BG Where did the inspiration for the packaging itself come from? TESSA I had instantly thought pale pink – it's my favourite colour – and polka dots. And I'm hesitant to even say this because it seems like an incredibly egotistical thing, but I kind of loved that the polka dots were reminiscent of medals. It just came about really, really, really organically. And it just felt right as soon as I saw the final draft.

BG Good move – if there hadn't been a nod to gold medals, I bet we'd all want to know why not. Do you think you might get involved in more beauty collaborations in the future? TESSA I don't know. I feel, so fortunate. This is something that I never thought that I would have the chance to explore and I'm been able to really dive in and learn about the company and the industry in a different way. And that's been really refreshing. I think what MAC has done, with both the Canadian Originals campaign and with this MAC Makers, has been really inspiring. It's getting back to the roots of an originally Canadian brand and our values that we can all be proud of. It's such a privilege and a joy to participate.

Tessa Virtue's MAC Maker Lipstick is a limited edition; find it at maccosmetics.com.

—beautygeeks

#tessa #off ice #ambassadorship #mac cosmetics #interview: beautygeeks #the polka dots

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