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plushie-sentai · 2 months

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“Um… Mr. Jeramie?” Yuto asked sheepishly. Jeramie turned and knelt down next to him. “Well now, what can I do for you little Yuto?” He asked gently. Yuto smiled, still a little shy but clearly excited, and held out a folded, dark piece of paper to Jeramie. As soon as he took it, Yuto whispered a quick “Goodnight!” and ran up the stairs to follow the others. As he stood up, Jeramie unfolded the paper to see a white crayon drawing of God Tarantula seated next to God Kuwagata, both wearing matching bright yellow crowns. Jeramie looked for a bit at the drawing, holding it tightly in both hands. “They really care for you, Jeramie,” Gira said softly, looking at the drawing over the other man’s shoulder. “The master artist Yuto doesn’t give his drawings to just anyone.” “Well now. I’ll just have to cherish this art piece forever then. It's quite special to have a Yuto original.” Jeramie smiled and folded the drawing back up, placing it in his breast pocket over his heart. Gira took a breath, watching Jeramie carefully slide the drawing away, so close and quiet he could almost hear the half-Bugnarok’s heart beating. “Thank you, Jeramie. Really. I had no idea you were here talking with the kids. How long have you been visiting them now?” “I’d say I’ve been here about every day since you first brought me to meet them. You told me yourself these people were your home. I felt it was important to find a way to reach them, and though I may not be great with the young ones, stories are great for everyone, and I’m certainly good at those.” “Not good with- Jeramie, did you see how those kids were watching you? They loved spending time with you. You’re… wonderful with them. Thank you.”As he spoke, Gira held Jeramie’s right hand in his, showing his gratitude absentmindedly. Jeramie’s face flushed a bit. “Of course,” He replied, swiping his smooth, scaled thumb over Gira’s knuckles soothingly. The two stood in the quiet for a moment, the golden light of sunset barely lighting the room, their faces beginning to gravitate toward one another almost naturally.

for the fic explanation?

Thanks so much for the ask! Here we go :3

Not much to say here, but in general I think this little bit is a good example of how I view my writing as storyboards more than plot beats. When I'm writing even a little action like this, I see the camera angles, the characters, the movements and whatnot in my head and end up cutting down a lot of what I write to keep the flow going and avoid being super long winded as I'm verbally describing how I would storyboard this lol

As he stood up, Jeramie unfolded the paper to see a white crayon drawing of God Tarantula seated next to God Kuwagata, both wearing matching bright yellow crowns. Jeramie looked for a bit at the drawing, holding it tightly in both hands.

Little kid drawings truly are just so precious ;u; I imagine Gira has quite a few he keeps somewhere in the castle with him from the kids, and Jeramie has probably seen them quite a few times, but this is his first time receiving one himself. Also, little Yuto (random orphan I made up) ships Giramie too obvs

“They really care for you, Jeramie,” Gira said softly, looking at the drawing over the other man’s shoulder. “The master artist Yuto doesn’t give his drawings to just anyone.” “Well now. I’ll just have to cherish this art piece forever then. It's quite special to have a Yuto original.” Jeramie smiled and folded the drawing back up, placing it in his breast pocket over his heart. Gira took a breath, watching Jeramie carefully slide the drawing away, so close and quiet he could almost hear the half-Bugnarok’s heart beating.

I like them teasing each other a bit, Jeramie and Gira are both very playful, but they're also very gentle with each other in particular, so there's a careful balance to be struck there in dialogue between the two. I also really liked establishing this mood of softness falling on the orphanage here, the two of them alone in a cozy wooden house as the sun sets outside. I think I have a habit of bringing up the sound of a heartbeat often in my writing as well, it's just so calming and sweet in these bits

“Thank you, Jeramie. Really. I had no idea you were here talking with the kids. How long have you been visiting them now?” “I’d say I’ve been here about every day since you first brought me to meet them. You told me yourself these people were your home. I felt it was important to find a way to reach them, and though I may not be great with the young ones, stories are great for everyone, and I’m certainly good at those.”

I think Jeramie during the timeskip starts coming to terms with this idea of being really behind socially, and it's something he kinda deals with in the show from time to time post timeskip. Pre timeskip Jer is used to being outcast, comfortable with his weirdness, and somewhere in the middle he realizes he still wants to be himself but now is more afraid of being unaccepted with a whole kingdom's acceptance riding on his shoulders as well. Jeramie is a lot more personable than he'll give himself credit for, like he does here. And in this next bit I add that Gira is a big source of confidence for him in that department as Jeramie is for him in others.

“Not good with- Jeramie, did you see how those kids were watching you? They loved spending time with you. You’re… wonderful with them. Thank you.”As he spoke, Gira held Jeramie’s right hand in his, showing his gratitude absentmindedly. Jeramie’s face flushed a bit. “Of course,” He replied, swiping his smooth, scaled thumb over Gira’s knuckles soothingly. The two stood in the quiet for a moment, the golden light of sunset barely lighting the room, their faces beginning to gravitate toward one another almost naturally.

Gira is also a bit clumsy with his words at times. He wears his heart on his sleeve and it causes a lot of mishaps in the show, but it also gives him a strength behind his words being so heartfelt and truthful, like here where he's reassuring Jeramie. Gira isn't a smoothtalker by any means, but when he's expressing himself, its genuine and beautiful, and I tried to convey that here. The end bit is another good example of me seeing things as a storyboard. I picture the wide shot of the two in front of the orphanage window, rim-lit by the glowing sunset, holding hands gently less than a foot apart from each other, the camera zooming in as their faces get closer. I love storytelling through animating, but i'm also impatient and low on time, so most of the time when i have an animation idea that isn't a music video it turns into a little fic like this lol. Hope you enjoyed!

#tiny warbles #super sentai #king ohger #giramie

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badwasabi · 1 year

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WRITING ADVICE: Feel Feeling Feels

Pop quiz, rhetorical substitute for the reader; why do you think feelings are called "feelings"? I dunno. Why? Because you feel them. Yeah, I kinda figured. No - I mean you physically feel them. How did you feel the last time you were upset? Upset. Ha-ha. You know what I mean. ...Sick? Like I ate bad food, or something. Good. How about angry. Hot. I wanted to break something. Someone. Where was the heat? Mostly in my neck and face. Ever hear about someone going red when they got angry? Or seen a picture or drawing of it? Yeah, of course I have-wait, that's what the hot feeling is? Yep. Blame it on a rush of blood to the head. Now, the next time you write an angry character, are you just going to write "he felt angry"? No. I'm going to write about the physical sensations. But what if the person getting emotional isn't the POV character? There are still external signs. Someone who's angry might get red, narrow their eyes, make fists, or flex their fingers, trying not to make fists. Someone who's scared might be jumpy. Their eyes might darting around the area, they flinch at the slightest sound.

Someone surprised might narrow their eyes (yes, again), let their mouth hang open, tilt their head, raise their eyebrows. Someone who's upset might let their shoulders slump, like all the energy just got sucked out of them. They might go to the bathroom more than usual, but you probably won't want to write that. Speaking from experience? Absolutely. Which brings me to my next point; use your experience. Chuck Palahniuk said that when most people get sick, they take medicine, but when writers get sick, we take notes. When you're really emotional, take notes. In fact, you might want to start writing down how the books and stories you read describe people's physical reactions. Or pay attention to the various TV shows and movies you watch. So, steal. Basically. It's not like there's a copyright on emotions, and they're surprisingly universal across cultures. Just...don't try to apply them to pets. Dogs and cats, for example, have a very different set of reactions to humans. Unless I want to anthropomorphize them. Make them feel more 'human'. So, cheating. Basically. You have learned well, grasshopper. PS: You're going to be tempted to say things like "her lip quivered with sadness" or "his brow furrowed in anger". Resist the urge.

That's the bad sort of cheating. It sucks the interest out of the reaction. You might as well write "that made her sad" or "He was angry". Which can be useful, under certain circumstances, like when you want "distance" from the emotional person. Such as watching them on camera. Or when the POV character or narrator doesn't care about them, or wants to downplay the other person's feelings. But most of the time? Try to avoid it.

#writing #writing advice #nanowrimo

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felikatze · 3 years

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give me the a brainworms i am deeply invested in this man

(0) (2) (3) (4)

okay first of all you asked for this. second of all if i am a little off track from the game that is explained by me just building thoughts like building blocks without looking back. third i was supposed to be studying for an exam but this counts as practice right? it's character analysis anyway lmao.

buckle the fuck up, my dearest anon, because I have sub headings.

1. A as the Player Character

Let me begin with why I am obsessed with this horrid little guy in the first place: he's a silent protagonist. I am always obsessed with protagonists. It's a law of nature. I love taking hollow characters and dissecting them for scraps. It's a long standing practice of mine.

Being a silent protagonist, A, as X, does not have a set personality. However, there are patterns. Firstly, as any semi-silent protagonist, A is a reactive character. He does not start incidents, he only responds to situations, presented by the Sephirah, as they arise. He does not actively seek out new information, merely going about the routine of expanding departments, but expresses curiosity when information is presented to him.

I'm aware fandom likes to characterize X and A differently, likely because they are initially presented as different characters. I, on the other hand, would like to pose the theory that they are more similar than expected.

I believe that A is also a reactive character, rather than active. Despite the fandom wiki describing him as stubborn, the goal A pursues with such fervor, the completion of the Seed of Light, is not actually a goal he set for himself. Carmen is the one who set this goal for him by leaving him her legacy.

Throughout the backstory we get relating to the Cogito Project, A is Carmen's assistant, whereas Carmen is the driving researcher. This is how many of the City's inhabitants seem to be; going with the flow of goals set for them by superiors. Yes I will get into his attachment to Carmen later.

The above is not to say A isn't stubborn. Once he has accepted a goal as his own, he will pursue it at all costs, as is obvious from any and all flashbacks leading to horrible deaths. But the point isn't his pursuit of the goal, but where that goal comes from. Even Lobcorp itself supports this, despite what Hokma may say; A as X follows the "simple" task of managing the Corp's day to day activities, and executes any mission given to him by the Sephirah. He outranks them, and doesn't actually need to do their missions, but does so anyway. Players are driven by the reward offered by those missions, of course, and A might be the same in that regard. Nonetheless, at no point in gameplay do you do anything somebody else hasn't told you to.

The overarching narrative of the Script would be the most obvious example. Every single person in the game follows the script, whether they know it or not.

Lastly on this note, a phrase we hear attributed to A, "Machines must behave as machines." Now, Angela may be attached to this phrase because it bears significance to herself as a machine, and informs most of A's unjust treatmeant of her. However, what if it doesn't just apply to machines? The phrase reads as such, "Everyone must act according to their own role."

2. A, Carmen, and the disease of the mind

So, A will at any cost pursue goals Carmen set for him. Question is, why? The obvious answer would be saying he's in love with her, which like, true. But also, how did Carmen come to be so precious to him?

Let us return to the comparison, "This is how many of the City's inhabitants seem to be." We don't really know why exactly most characters joined Carmen, excluding mainly Daniel and Benjamin. But this does not mean we can't have theories.

Carmen's ideal was curing the "disease of the mind." What is the disease? Complete hopelessness. The inability to form aspirations and dreams, to think of a better future. A is a very reactive character who does not set goals for himself. Therefore, I personally conclude, that initially, Carmen's ideology resonated with him because he could identify with the disease.

This is the point where I start rewatching Lobcorp story clips. Dear god.

So, by briefly binging day 27 onward, I've come up with lines that very much support this lil theory of mine:

First, from Carmen, a description of the disease, "People lock away their own potential."

Second, a line from Angela, after the memory synchronization, "You've locked yourself in this prison without bars."

Carmen describes A as humble, and Benjamin thinks he is warm. If I suppose A was one of the diseased initially, Carmen would be the catalyst for this change. Carmen was someone with big aspirations, with plans to heal what is wrong with the City, and it gave him hope. He was one of the diseased, but through time with Carmen, with that relentless optimistic spirit, he may have been cured, for a time. It's not a stretch to say that she was his light.

But lor shows us what happens when the seed of light sprouts wrong, doesn't it? It distorts. A grasped hope for the first time and then it is ruthlessly crushed. Carmen was everything. Yes, A is described as a jack-of-all-trades, as a genius in all pursuits he puts his mind to, but what does that matter in the face of someone who can unite people? Who can give them hope of a better world? Who can inspire them to actually use the talents they have?

And what kind of pressure is it to put the legacy of a messiah in the hands of the diseased?

3. A and the Perception Filter: A is weak to White damage

No, I am serious about that. He's extremely weak mentally. Obviously death of a loved one is a changing experience for absolutely anybody, but Carmen's death destroyed him.

Not only did he refuse to confide this grief to anyone and bottled it up, now everybody looked to him to lead the project, but he just isn't Carmen. He isn't an ambitious person, he doesn't have the same optimism, he can't bring people together, but people expected him to, and he failed. Hard.

While he was without a doubt talented in science, he was also just an average guy.

After her death, A grew to hate humans. He lost trust in them. He refused to confide in anyone, and be confided in by anyone. Thus, the team fell apart.

In both lobcorp and lor, we get interesting tidbits about precations taken to protect the manager.

Firstly, Lobcorp's perception filter. The cartoony art-style of the game is a result of the game being in first person. Through the eyes of the manager, everything is cartoony!

This is a measure undertaken to specifically protect the manager's psyche. Angela tells us that, before it was deployed, the manager would frequently go insane, one notable incident including the manager trying to hang himself. When we first hear this, the previous managers and X are still separate in our minds. However, they're all A! A went insane multiple times without it.

This is understandable, considering that employees also frequently go insane and try to kill both themselves and others. But they're there in action, confronting the Abnormalities directly. Just watching them made the manager go mad. They could not handle the responsibility for the employees' deaths.

In lor, Angela explains why she picked the Rabbit Team from R Corp as their main contractor instead of any other team. One team was simply too big for L Corp's narrow hallways, and the other team... dealt in psychic damage. It was simply too big of a risk for the manager. But the manager is always secure behind the cameras. Would that teams methods just be that brutal visually, or would their attacks have reached the manager?

Combined with his immense grief at all of his friends and coworkers dying in part because of him, A cannot bear to look at death.

4. A's greatest flaw: Avoidance

A common thread during Core Meltdown flashbacks: A refuses to look at suffering. He just can't. Whether it be looking away from Elijah writhing on the floor or hanging up on Daniel's panicked report of death.

This is actually the thing Angela takes the biggest issue with, and what hurt her most. A would never look at her, acknowledge her, and she did not understand why. But I think A did not refuse to look at her out of maliciousness. Rather, it was out of grief over Carmen. He could not look at her without being reminded of what he lost.

Angela's creation came about because A wanted someone to guide him, someone like Carmen. He threw himself into the project to the point it made Benjamin happy that A was passionate about anything again. But as soon as the project he distracted himself with is complete, he is filled with regret. Carmen cannot be replicated, and he breaks again.

Furthermore, tying this back to my first point about A being a reactive person, we see Angela take charge over A. She's the one recruiting employees and leading the business. It was likely a relief for him to be able to step down from the leading position.

But avoiding it made everything worse. He did not act when he saw Elijah's unchecked ambition, he did not act beyond a simple check at Gabriel's decay, he gave Giovanni the same hope he clung to to no avail, et cetera et cetera.

Avoiding his problems is making them worse and sending everything down the drain (including his psyche), so he deals with it the only way he knows how, avoiding them more!

Biggest example of A's big avoidance problem as his psyche crumbles: the memory wipe. A, in perhaps his one singular moment of acknowledging his emotions, recognizes that he is incapable of fulfilling the Script in his current state. His grief is just too much.

By erasing his own memory, he could start fresh without his grief, because he might've really killed himself otherwise. His suffering became bigger and bigger, and he coped by avoiding it.

The memory wipe allowed him to distangle his problems. Through his interactions with the Sephirah (which I will not individually detail for the sake of my sanity and because I dumped all this on a friend on discord already), he can deal with and actually process his issues one at a time.

As the motto describes, only by facing the fear can he build the future. Only by finally facing his grief and acknowleding it, seeing that the past cannot be changed and he has no choice to move forward, can he actually do so.

5. The Sephirah as ghosts

Lobotomy Corporation feels like a ghost story. I've touched upon this in my previous A post.

As you reach the Corp's lower levels, there are less Sephirah. First there are four. They act like normal employees, and do not breach into the story's underbelly until you reach their core supressions and the facade breaks. Second, counting Tiphereth as one, there are three. They still go about their duties, but they know what they are. Third, there are two, and the facade is gone. They know what they are, and they will tell you about the sins of the past.

And finally, you reach Keter, and there is only one.

This gradual decay of the facade is what really gets to me. I said that by interacting with the Sephirah, A deals with his issues one by one, but that's what the Sephirah are, in this case. Representations.

The people the Sephirah used to be are dead, and the Sephirah are their ghosts. The core supression involve putting these ghosts to rest. Doesn't it match the progression of a typical ghost story? Find the ghost, find what they used to be, and help them move on.

So, if everyone is a ghost, then A is alone.

But, behind the scenes, the Sephirah are still there. They are still people, and they have changed for the better, too. As always, A simply does not look.

(Does he even see the good others see in him? Does he look away from praise, too? Did he even realize Benjamin's admiration for him? Will we ever know?)

6. A's end.

A's progression of moving on would be fine and dandy if it did not end as thus: A does kill himself.

A sees himself beyond the point of no return. Everyone is dead. He is alone. Carmen is never coming back. He can't call it quits now, or else everything has been in vain. (Even if the last days show us a part of him wants to just quit, so badly.)

So, there's only one thing left to do: follow the Script to its ending. Fulfill Carmen's legacy at all costs. Death as the ultimate release.

This is the point where I admit I do not like the death as release trope. But the game does a good enough job as presenting it as the only option A had, or the only option he saw himself as having.

However, I've mentioned it before, I'll mention it again: A was not alone. Death was his release, but he left wreckage. In order to end his own suffering, he inflicted the same pain he went through on others.

Throughout the game, he moves on and pushes through. The ending shows that in reality... he didn't.

At least in lor the characters stick together and help each other heal.

This has been most of my thoughts on A, amounting to my longest analysis post ever, having taken me approximately two and a half hours to complete, and clocking in at 2337 words including up to this paragraph.

Thank you anon for giving me the incentive to verbalize all of this, so I can finally be at ease having inflicted my thoughts on everybody else.

#Feli gets asked #lobotomy corporation #ayin #library of ruina #also i saw apparently another fandom besides lc uses the ayin tag which is just fun to watch honestly #many characters could rival this word vomit probably but as i said i already inflicted most of my thoughts abt netz on my good pal borgor #thank you borgor for dragging me back into projmoon stuff. also curse you terribly #long post #Feli speaks

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turkisherlockian · 3 years

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The Hat - Request [Benedict Cumberbatch x Reader AU]

Summary: Y/N is a young director who worked with and has a crush on Benedict Cumberbatch. He finds out that she used to write fanfictons about Sherlock and decides to give her a gift.

Word count: 1941

A/N: Happy birthday @shackleschains 🎂🎉❤️ I hope you like it! 😸

-----

''You never worked with Y/N before, have you?''

Benedict smiled and turned to Y/N. They developed a great friendship while working together, Y/N got on well with everyone and they all had so much fun.

''Yeah,'' Benedict said, ''I wish I met her earlier, though. She's a great director, she's energetic, magnetic, amazing...''

''Tell them something they don't know, Ben!'' Y/N nudged him and they all laughed, ''I'm just kidding...''

''No, seriously, that's what everyone thinks about you.'' He smiled.

''Aww... Thank you.''

''Alright, love birds...'' This made them both chuckle, ''So, Benedict, what was it like working with Y/N?''

''I had so much fun, it was great. She was great. She might be young,'' He grinned, teasing Y/N, ''But she has a brilliant mind and she's going to prove that in the film. Not that she needs to.''

The interviewer smiled as Y/N blushed, he turned to her, ''What was it like to work with Benedict?''

''You know, I'm known for my short films and this is my very first time directing a film, so I was really anxious because... Well, he is Benedict Cumberbatch!'' Benedict smiled as she continued, ''He's been very helpful, understanding... He's very clever! Just amazing. It was an honour to work with him, and I hope we can work together in the future, as well.''

''I hope that too, young lady.''

''I'm not that young!''

Benedict grinned, ''Yes you are, and that's great. You're a genius.'' He hugged her with his left arm, pulling her closer as she blushed.

''Well, turned into a complienting competition...'' Y/N grinned, ''Thank you so much. You're so kind.''

Benedict nodded with a smile, then turned to the interviewer who asked a question to Y/N again. ''We've been told that you're a Sherlock Holmes fan and you used to write fanfictions... Is that true?''

Y/N facepalmed as Benedict turned to her with a frown, ''Why didn't I know this?''

She pulled back, her cheeks burning. ''It's embarrassing!''

''No it's not!'' Benedict chuckled, ''It's adorable.''

Y/N rolled her eyes playfully, ''Alright... I was a huge fan. I wrote and read a lot, just like any teenager would do.''

''That's why it's not embarrassing, darling.''

''So...'' The interviewer interrupted them with a smile, ''You started filming things at a very young age, didn't you?''

''Yeah... I started with small things, really. I filmed my toys, my pets, making short clips, you know. Then I started filming nature and went to courses as I couldn't get accepted to a film academy. However, my short films got thousands of views overnight - which was crazy, and now here I am. And I'm so happy to be here.'' She smiled and turned to Benedict, which he replied with a comforting touch on her back.

The interviewer turned to Benedict, ''How would you describe your character, Benedict?''

Y/N couldn't focus on what he said as she watched him, he was beautiful. She could study his features as they were still so close to each other. His lips, eyes, eyelashes, beautiful skin and every single detail on it. She wanted touch him terribly.

''Y/N?''

''Huh? Sorry, I got distracted...''

''You must have been tired... Thank you for the interview, Y/N, Benedict, it's been fun!''

They shook hands as they got escorted outside, a car waiting for them.

Benedict got into the car after her and sighed, ''You're exhausted, aren't you?'' he asked with a smile.

''I am... How about you?''

''I'm shattered... As I'm old...''

Y/N chuckled, ''You're not old!''

Benedict shook his head with a grin, then turned to her. ''You'll get used to it. Interviews, fame, fans... Papparazzi and their cameras that follow you anywhere you go. But I need you to know that, Y/N, you're really good at your job. I didn't get the chance to say it properly earlier, but I really enjoyed working with you. I hope we do it again.''

She teared up quickly, feeling honoured. ''Thank you so much,'' she smiled, ''I feel the same way.''

Benedict nodded and smiled, squeezing her hand gently, ''I didn't say it to make you cry...''

''I know,'' She nodded and wiped her tears with her shirt's sleeves as the car got closer to the hotel. ''So... Are you free tomorrow?''

''Yeah. What for? I mean, doesn't matter why you asked, I just...''

He chuckled as the car stopped and he opened the door before getting out and giving her his hand. She took it with a smile as she sniffled, then got out of the car as well. ''Would you like to... Have dinner with me? In my room?'' He blushed, ''I mean, I have something to show you...''

Y/N nodded and smiled, ''I'd love that...''

They walked into the hotel together and got into the elevator. ''What time should I come?'' Y/N asked.

''I'll be back at around seven. How about seven thirty?''

''Sounds good...''

Silence filled the cabin as Y/N bit her lip, then it stopped and Benedict followed her outside. ''I'll see you tomorrow, then.'' He said with a smile.

''See you... Sleep well.'' Y/N smiled too and nodded, unlocking her room's door.

Y/N couldn't sleep, not at all. She kept thinking of what he was going to show her, what could it be? Also, she tried to avoid the embarrassment of the fact that she did write fanfictions and smut. People still knew even though she deactivated her account. And Benedict found out. He found out!

She was just a teenager, she had no idea that she could meet him one day, let alone work with him!

However, her eyes were aching and she was really tired, so she drifted off to sleel quickly.

-----

Y/N woke up to the sound of her phone, it was vibrating violently.

She sat up in horror and took it, unlocking it quickly. Y/N checked WhatsApp first to see what's going on.

Her friends texted her asking if Benedict and her were dating, the interview was posted on YouTube - that was surprisingly fast, and a photo of her looking at Benedict in love, was everywhere.

Y/N took a deep breath, everyone thought they were dating! Did Benedict know about it? If he did, how did he react? Would he be angry at her? No - she's done nothing wrong. Except for having a crush on him and looking at him like that...

She bit her lip and replied to her friends' messages, but didn't post anything online. She didn't know what to do, she didn't even have an agent or someone she could ask what to do. Maybe I could ask Benedict, she thought, but she was too embarrassed by the way she looked at him. What would he think? Did she ruin his reputation? Did he have a partner already? Y/N sighed and got out of the bed.

She put her phone away and turned it off.

Y/N had the whole day for herself until dinner if Benedict wasn't going to cancel it. She knew he wouldn't do such rude thing, but... She felt exposed. It was embarrassing. However, she wanted to look nice for him, so she spent an hour deciding on what she was going to wear. Y/N did her best to spend time, but there were still a few hours until dinner, so she turned her phone on and started reading what people think.

''I'll kill myself if they're not dating!!!''

''He's too good for her.''

''She looks so in love! I mean, who wouldn't?''

There were a few memes too, she was grinning and sending them to her friends before an unknown number called her. With hesitation, she picked up.

It was Benedict's PR team, asking her to not make a comment about the situation yet.

If his team knew, Benedict would know it too.

Thankfully, it was 6 PM and she could start getting ready. Y/N chose a white, puff sleeve and square neck summer dress and combined it with a chain necklace. She put on some makeup after getting her hair done, then checked her phone to see what time it was.

7 PM.

Time passed quickly as she tidied her room, and she put on her perfume before leaving her room right at 7:30.

Taking a deep breath, Y/N knocked on his door and smiled when he opened it.

Benedict couldn't take his eyes off her for a while, ''Hi, umm... Come in...''

''You look lovely...'' He said as he gestured her to take a seat.

''Thank you... So do you... Handsome, I mean. You look handsome. Not just right now, you always do, Oh God, please never compliment me again...'' Y/N blushed and covered her face with her hands as she sat down. Benedict chuckled, ''Thank you darling.'' He sat down in front of her, ''What would you like for dinner?''

Y/N hummed and shrugged, ''I don't know... You decide.''

''How about pizza? You love pizza.''

This made her smile. ''Sounds great.''

He got up to call for room service, then ordered her favourite. Y/N was fiddling with her fingers as Benedict came back, ''What's wrong?''

''Nothing... I mean, you heard about the rumors, didn't you?''

Benedict smiled, ''Do you really care about them? People always make assumptions.''

Y/N smiled too, Assumptions, she thought, but I do like you.

She sighed as he offered his hand. Y/N looked up at him in confusion. ''I'll show you something.'' Benedict said with a smile, then led her to the bedroom when she held his hand.

Y/N's heart was beating fast as she saw a gift box on the bed. Benedict picked it up and turned to her, ''This is for you.''

She was surprised, ''I... Why? I mean, it's not my birthday...'' Y/N chuckled mervously. ''You receive gifts only on your birthday? What a shame. Well, it'll change, darling. Now, open it.'' He said excitedly.

Y/N smiled and bit her lip, opening it. She looked up at him in shock, ''No.''

''Yes.''

She chuckled, can't believe her eyes. It was a deerstalker. The deerstalker that Benedict used, actually.

Tears welled up in Y/N's eyes as she put the box on the bed and took the famous hat out of it, touching it. She couldn't help but smiled as he spoke, ''I wanted to keep it after filming the last season.''

''This is the best gift I have ever received! Thank you!'' Y/N exclaimed as she hugged his neck on tiptoes, earning a chuckle from him and a warm hug back. ''You're welcome, sweetheart. I'm glad you liked it.''

Y/N pulled back but her arms were still on his shoulders, and she felt her cheeks burn as he looked into her eyes and then, at her lips. Y/N closed her eyes as she felt his soft lips on hers, feeling like she ran out of oxygen in a second. Benedict pulled back quickly for her liking, so she kissed him lovingly. ''I like you.'' she whispered, and then regretted it immediately. What if he told her he did not? It would break her heart.

However, Benedict grinned. ''I like you too.''

They kissed again and Y/N pulled back as someone knocked on the door. He let out a low groan, which made her wet, and then pecked her lips. ''It must be room service.''

Y/N nodded with a smile and followed him, the hat still in her hands. Benedict turned around with the tray to see her wearing it with a grin.

-----

After dinner, Y/N posted a selfie of them, her wearing the hat. Then they started reading comments together.

"He made her wear the hat!'' Someone commented, making a reference to Janine's words in the newspaper.

And in the end of the night, he did make her wear the hat.

---

Feedbacks are always appreciated! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. ❤️😸 And you can turn on notifications if you want to know when I post a fic!

#benedict cumberbatch #benedict cumberbatch fanfiction #benedict cumberbatch x reader #benedict cucumber #marvel #sherlock #dr strange #fanfiction

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empiredesimparte · 3 years

Text

Foreword: After a few weeks I finally took the time to reach your request dear Anon, I hope it will be useful to you. I advise you to read (or come back to) the tutorial of our famous De Villiers which is quite complete! Here are my personal priorities, what goes through my head when I take / prepare a screenshot.

My computer equipment is : - Intel® Core™ i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz - RAM : 32 Go (16 at the beginning, I added some more) - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti This allows me to play in "Ultra" graphics + some reshades... which helps for the quality of the rendering.

- My tips for screenshots -

> "WRITING LIKE A FILM"

When I go into camera mode, I project myself into the shoes of a cameraman on a film set. Or a photographer in terms of portraits, etc.

It's all about intention, and the choice of your angle of view is the means to achieve your intention.

Here (Image A), it's a point of view with its back to the characters. It is an intention:

From the camera's perspective ("zoom out", image B), we can see that the first screen (A) was from the point of view of the approaching curious princess.

Notes :

There is a play of depth in the shot (a little badly done I admit) : the over-framing of the door, the princess, the sofa where we are talking and finally the background (4).

Ideally, you should have at least 3 levels of depth to give a realistic impression. More if you want to show the grandeur of a setting like a castle.

In my opinion, we must strive to find intentions in the screens. You have to see it as a kind of writing of the image.

Sometimes I don't necessarily have a clear idea when I shoot a scene, so I take the scene from absolutely every angle. Then comes a big sorting moment lasting several dozen minutes, where I observe the screens meticulously.

Don't hesitate to multiply the angles of view with different poses. This will give you more storytelling possibilities! Bring your camera closer to yours characters, for example, by positioning yourself over his/her shoulder.

> THE SETTING

The thing that takes me the longest to prepare for a shot is the placement of the objects/architecture. This is what creates the depth of field. I would advise you to take references to furnish your rooms, and take the time to test the screenshots during construction if you have TwistedMexi's Buildmod Freecam.

In the Tuileries Palace (Image C), I'm trying to create a more or less parallel setting with my Sims in the centre to give it a "French style" in reference to our dear Louis XIV.

For a nature holiday, nature and scenery invade the Sims, with a slight asymmetry (Image D).

Notes :

Present the screenshots from the most general shot, which sets the scene (e.g. a building), to the most specific (e.g. with a close-up on your sims). Or vice versa! This sets the mood for your scene.

I try to use as much natural light from outside as possible, even through the windows. But some people do completely artificial lighting :)

Avoid showing the white ceilings of the base game and unworked scenery... This disturbs the immersion, especially during a BTS. In movies or IRL, especially during a conversation, it is rare to see the ceiling or the floor.

Sometimes "show" is enough to describe a mood, a relationship or an action. In this case, the setting or close-ups can be very important without the characters speaking. For example, in image D, this screenshot can sum up the atmosphere of a whole weekend's holiday, without adding to it.

> YOUR COMPUTER SCREEN AND POST-PROCESSING

For Tumblr, consider the size of your computer screen when decorating. Because your screenshots will take the shape of your screen. As you can see, I have two computer screens: one more square (Images A & B) and one very horizontal (Images C & D).

My sims are naturally more discreet in my horizontal format, which is a landscape format. Whereas the square screen displays the sims better as it is closer to the portrait / small screen format.

You can adjust the format of your screens by cropping your shots with a software (some use Photoshop... I only use the Windows image gallery for my part, or the Pixelr site which is free).

For my last portrait (Image E), I had to crop to portrait size (Image F below). Otherwise my emperor is too much crushed by the background.

Further down, I took a closer screen, zoomed in (Image G). Result: considerable gain in sharpness. Cropping can cause a loss of sharpness, you have to be careful not to abuse it.

> CURIOSITY IS WELCOME EVEN FOR SCREENSHOTS

My main advice is to look with interest at the work of simblr that you like, but also at official films or portraits etc. Understand the intentions and the means used to achieve them. Informed work always makes a difference in terms of quality of rendering. When I like a post, I always take several readings and re-readings of the means used. There is a lot of creativity! There's no shame in taking inspiration from other creators (in Tumblr or outside Tumblr), it's the best way to forge your own style.

Mind you, I'm not talking about comparing yourself to others. Inspiration is an element of curiosity, not comparison, it shouldn't make you feel bad. Nor should it lead you to plagiarize.

> COLOURS IN THE SCREENSHOT

When I set up a set and dress my sims, I pay attention to the colours given to each of them. The colours are also a way to emphasize an intention (colour symbolism), or/and to bring balance to your screenshot.

It's a soft and bright family picture with green/blue/beige colours (Image H). A bright colour would have brought a certain imbalance, either on the sims or the decor.

Bad editing to illustrate! (Image I) It seems a bit obvious when we talk about it here like this, but colour harmony is subtle and sometimes a bit forgotten. Breaking the harmony can be an intention of course, but it's still a dosage!

#tips #simparte #ts4 #screenshots #ts4 screenies

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we-are-the-amb · 3 years

Text

Oh my goodness, I have things to say about the TLB script.

- First of all, I don’t know quite how to explain, but the vibe of the script is different to the vibe of the film itself. I’m not sure why, or how, it just somehow feels darker, more grounded and unambiguous.

- I think the reason it feels less ambiguous, is because of all the details and connecting scenes that were cut. It feels more, I suppose, whole than the final film. For example, the kids that Lucy gives money to at the beginning of the film, Maria and some Santa Carla locals, are all shown to be ready to take the Lost Boys’ place at the end. There is a mural in the vampire hotel, which shows an average day in Santa Carla, in 1900. The camera zooms in on a portrait of Max in a straw hat. This gives you an idea of how long he has lived there.

- Some of the symptoms of vampirism were cut as well. There is the salt sticking to the soles of Michael’s feet, of course, but there is also the detail of him burning under running water, when he takes a shower. Possibly the most interesting detail, is that of memory loss. In the script, we get a more in-depth look at Star and Laddie, and get a better idea of why they don’t want to make the full change, besides the aversion to murder.

Laddie tells Star that he has a reoccurring dream about sitting on a sunlit lawn, with two parents and a dog, and he is happy. Star tells him that this is not a dream, but a memory. One he will lose when he turns. This would imply that Laddie was stolen from his home, rather than abandoned, or lost. Or, perhaps, it is a happy memory of parents he once had, but will no longer remember if he feeds. Not only that, but it tells us that when you turn, you lose all the memories and emotional connections from your human life. This raises the stakes for Michael’s recovery even higher.

- Michael’s first stab of hunger is a lot more surreal than in the final film, and I love it. When he goes to fetch a mop to clean up the milk he spilled, the walls of the pantry begin to breath, as do the cans of food. The floor ripples. Micheal’s veins begin to bulge and his fangs cut through his bleeding gums. When he goes up the stairs to the bathroom, his monstrous qualities are absent, but a horrifying calm has passed over him, as though he is in a trance. It’s a lot more visceral and creepy.

- To my memory, we do not see Star’s vamp face, but we do see a vampiric power of her’s. During the battle, as the house begins to burn, the AMB cannot descend the stairs to help Michael kill David. Instead, Star goes to the burning doorway and passes through it, unharmed.

- Hilariously, The Frogs do not seem too afraid of Paul (they actually kill him, themselves, by tripping him into the tub). However, Laddie overhears them plotting to kill him and Star, still not trusting them, and he bursts through the mattress they’re sitting on in a fit of rage, absolutely terrifying them. At that point, Star rushes in and calms him down.

- It shows what each of the actors brought to their characters, because as well as the atmosphere feeling different, so do the characters. Not hugely, but you don’t quite picture the same faces you saw onscreen, when you read their lines.

- A big difference is that none of the Boys are killed, pre-battle. They simply catch the AMB in their cave and vow to come after them. So, Marko was originally killed during the battle. This gives the final battle a more playful, “Cat-And-Mouse” feeling, than the revenge attack in the final cut. The fights are also more humorous, with Michael tossing David up, through the bedroom floor while the AMB have their ears pressed to it.

- Sam is aged eleven here, which is funny. And Laddie is fourteen, his braces even snap off when his fangs poke through. The Frogs are teenagers, but no specific age is given. They are just described as being small and cold eyed.

- Speaking of my boys, the Frogs. The comic store they are running is a second hand store, which somehow feels way more fitting than what we see in the film. Alan seems a little more talkative, and they finish each other’s thoughts more frequently. Their parents are not mentioned as part of any scene, but there is one notable difference in dialogue which explains it. Instead of describing the store as belonging to their “folks”, in the script it just belonged to their “Dad”. This implies a good deal about what their family situation originally was.

As I said, their parents are not described, or present in any scene. This implies they are absent from the home. As only their Dad is mentioned, it is possible that the mother is dead, or simply not around. What is more, the fact that the Frogs repeatedly refer to themselves as “marines”, could imply that their father is a military man, and if so, could be away with the army. So, are the Frogs living alone, trying to emulate their absent, military Dad?

- Possibly the funniest scene that was cut, was the AMB being tailed by the police, while driving back from the caves. Trying to avoid being arrested, they basically have to climb all over the car, dragging a dopey Michael into the driver’s seat, while the car is still in motion. Edgar is fretting that the cops will see the vampires in the car, as if they would know that was what they were. And as the cop car approaches, Alan tells everyone to “look older”, earning him a look from Sam. Sam actually defuses the situation, successfully, by telling the cops that they are the opening act for the local punk-rock festival.

- The scene in which Sam first tells the Frogs about Max, they are sitting on the beach reading comics. I just thought that was nice.

- Lucy is a lot more fleshed out in this version. We learn of her desire to work with kids and teens, we see that she is not impressed by Max’s wealth, due to her past relationship with her yuppie husband. We learn that Grandpa was once a yuppie type himself, and hated young Lucy’s hippie style. As they have aged, their styles have reversed.

There is probably more, but I’m burnt out. Anyway, my eyes are open and I’m in love with this script.

#the lost boys #lost boys

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jocia92 · 3 years

Link

(Google translated)

Dan Stevens, who grew up in Wales and south-east England, spent his summer holidays at the National Youth Theater at the age of 15, and he was drawn to the stage while studying English in Cambridge. Since his big breakthrough as Matthew Crawley in the hit series “Downton Abbey”, he has also repeatedly appeared in films such as “Inside Wikileaks - The Fifth Force”, “At Night in the Museum: The Secret Tomb” or “Beauty and the Beast” . Most recently, Stevens played the Russian Schnösel singer Lemtov in the Oscar-nominated comedy “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” from Netflix. At the beginning of June, the German film “Ich bin dein Mensch” by Maria Schrader celebrated at the Summer Berlinale Premiere, which starts on 1.7. comes to German cinemas regularly. Stevens plays the role of a love robot in it. Unlike on the screen, however, the 38-year-old prefers to speak English in the zoom-conducted interview. He chose a brick wall with a lion motif as the digital background. No allusion to the song “Lion of Love” from “Eurovision Song Contest”, but a photo of the famous Ishtar Gate in Berlin’s Pergamon Museum, where “I am your human” was filmed last summer.

Mr. Stevens, in your new film “I am your human” you play a humanoid robot that is entirely geared towards fulfilling the romantic needs of a skeptical scientist. You yourself recently described the film as “delightfully German”. How did you mean that?

I wanted to say that here pretty big questions - such as what actually makes a person or how much perfection love can take - are negotiated in a very light-footed, elegant and sometimes humorous way. In my experience that is a very German quality. At least I have often seen with many of my German colleagues and friends that they are very good at not discussing difficult issues exclusively deadly serious and melancholy.

Where does your personal connection to Germany and the German language come from?

My parents had friends who lived in Bielefeld and we used to visit them in North Rhine-Westphalia during the school holidays. Traveled from England by car! That’s how I learned a little German as a child, and later I learned it as a subject at school. I even did a short internship there through our friends in Bielefeld. I really love the language. Funnily enough, I was later able to use my knowledge of German professionally, because my first film was “Hilde”, in which I was next to Heike Makatsch played the British actor and director David Cameron, who was married to Hildegard Knef. After that, I always hoped that there might be another chance to speak German in front of the camera, because playing in a foreign language is an exciting challenge. When the chance arose to shoot “I am your person”, I could hardly believe my luck.

Did you know the director Maria Schrader who gave you this chance?

Funnily enough, when the script for the film landed on my table, I had just watched the Netflix series “Unorthodox”, which she directed. I had also watched a few episodes of “Deutschland 89”. In general, I knew that she was a great German actress, not least because friends who knew their way around the German theater scene often raved about her. Working with her was a joy now. Her understanding of actors is quite instinctive and brilliant. I have seldom seen someone who can help an actor who is having difficulties with a scene with such simple means.

The fact that you had already seen “Unorthodox” shows, of course, how quickly “I am your person” must have been implemented in the past year …

Oh yes, that was really quick. In March I was still in New York and was about to premiere a new play on Broadway. But then the pandemic came, everything was canceled and I flew back to my family in Los Angeles. A few weeks later, Maria and I met each other via Zoom - and shortly afterwards I was sitting outside in a café in the Berlin June sun for the first time in months to discuss the upcoming shoot with her. That was pretty surreal because I hadn’t actually left the house since March.

Is it correct that you oriented yourself to Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart to portray the romantically programmed robot Tom?

In any case, these were role models that Maria and I spoke about. When you think of the game between the two of them, you always see an enormous clarity and directness. Cary Grant, for example, was always quite funny, especially in his romantic roles, but also flawless in an almost artificial way from today’s perspective. I found that very suitable for a robot. Apart from the fact that the ideas that Tom and his algorithm have of romance and love are certainly also shaped by the classic romantic comedies from Hollywood. Oh, the woman is sad, so I’ll bring her flowers! Such automatisms from the stories from back then were very appropriate for Tom now.

Keyword role models: Who shaped you in your career as an actor?

There were of course many. Jimmy Stewart was certainly something of a role model. My mom and I watched a lot of his films when I was little and I was always impressed by the kind of sweet tragedy that went into all of his roles. But maybe Robin Williams’ work influenced me even more. I always found the incredible variety of his films remarkable. He could make his audience laugh hysterically like no other, but also move them to tears in other roles. I always wanted to emulate this range.

In fact, the range of your roles is enormous and ranges from the Disney blockbuster “Beauty and the Beast” to a comic adaptation in series format such as “Legion” to bulky independent films such as “Her Smell” or the horror thriller “The Rental “, Which we just released on DVD. Is there a method behind this diversity?

Not in principle. I like variety, but I’m not just looking for roles that are as different as possible from one another. Rather, there are always similar factors that I use to select my projects. Sometimes there is a certain director that I really want to work with. Or the role itself is irresistible because it presents me with acting challenges. And sometimes a script is just fantastically written and I am interested in the topics it is about. With “I am your person” it was definitely the latter, especially since the timing was just right. In 2020 there were so many societal questions that ultimately touched the core of human existence. Such a script, which deals with something very similar in a light-footed way, was just fitting.

A few years ago you said in a questionnaire from the British Guardians that your greatest weakness was not being able to make up your mind. So every time you are offered a role, do you ponder whether you should accept?

No, no, when a script appeals to me, it actually does it very quickly. It’s such a gut feeling. If I’m unsure and skeptical, that’s a good indicator that this is not the right thing for me. That with the difficulty in making decisions related rather to something else. For example, it takes me forever to order in a restaurant because I can never decide what on the menu appeals to me the most.

You became famous with the role of Matthew Crawley in the series "Downton Abbey”. Did you immediately suspect at the time that something big was going on?

At first we were all pretty clueless. There are really many British history series, and we were one of them. When the first season aired in the US and was a huge success there, it was pretty unexpected. I never expected the impact the series would have on my career.

Barely ten years later, are you still being asked about the role?

Oh yes, regularly. Probably nothing will change about that either. I got out after three seasons!

In the meantime, however, the flamboyant Russian singer Alexander Lemtov from “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” should also be a character with whom you will be immediately associated, right?

Right, it has been mentioned more and more recently when people recognize me on the street. This charming, silly film obviously had a nerve with the audience last year in the middle of the corona pandemic. Especially since the real Eurovision Song Contest had been canceled.

The film was the number one topic of conversation on the Internet for a while - and Lemtov GIFs and memes were everywhere. Did you follow that?

It was really hard to avoid it. I wasn’t looking specifically for what people were posting. But of course my friends passed a lot on to me, and there were already some very funny Lemtov things. But he’s also a figure made for GIFs.

Another question every British actor under 40 has to put up with these days: Would you like to become the next James Bond?

Oh, of course, everyone gets to hear this question again and again who meets certain criteria. But it is completely hypothetical. Although a few years ago I read in an audio book by Ian Fleming’s “Casino Royale”.

You mentioned earlier that you and your family have lived in the United States for a long time. How big is your homesickness?

I actually feel very comfortable in Los Angeles. But every now and then I miss the sidewalk culture of European cities. People on foot, street cafes, things like that. Last year the longing for it was particularly great, although it was of course clear to me that there was a state of emergency in Europe too. In any case, I found myself reading books that were set in Europe and made me homesick. Which is why the unexpected trip to Berlin was really a boon.

You are also an avid cricketer. That’s certainly difficult in Los Angeles, isn’t it?

There are quite a few cricket clubs here. The only problem is that the few people who do the sport here are so good at it that I have problems keeping up. That’s why I always lose sight of the matter here a little. Even as a pure TV viewer, it is not easy to stay on the ball, because of course there is no cricket broadcast here at prime time. But as soon as I’m home in England in the summer, I really want to play again!

#ich bin dein mensch #i'm your man #dan stevens #maria schrader #faz.net #interview #long post

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bi-bard · 3 years

Text

Do You Ever Stop to Think About Me?- Emily Prentiss Imagine (Criminal Minds)

Title: Do You Ever Stop to Think About Me?

Pairing: Emily Prentiss X Reader

Song Drawn: Dorothea

Word Count: 1,687 words

Warning(s): Mentions of feeling abandoned, broken promises

Summary: Memories were strange things. Some feel like they’re forgotten in seconds, others seem to last a lifetime. When the source of (Y/n)’s longest lasting memories rolls back into their small town, how will they react?

Author’s Note: I got halfway through this and realized that I basically wrote some very weird version of the first season of You... oh well. Please consider supporting my Ko-fi account. It would mean a lot to me. If I know there are people interested in it, I’ll get the monthly donation part set up.

Buy me a coffee? https://ko-fi.com/khoward0

If you want to know more about my Taylor Swift writing challenge, click here!

--------------------------------------------------

“It appears that the FBI has just arrived on the scene of the latest crime-”

I popped my head into the living room when I heard the news. I had been trying to keep up with the latest string of murders in my town. Not only had they been a strange occurrence in a town as small as ours, but they were also incredibly graphic... at least that’s what the news was saying.

My heart felt like it stopped when I saw who got out of the car. Emily Prentiss. I’d be damned. I hadn’t seen her in years. Some of us moved from city to city... or country to country while others stayed in the same town their whole life. She threw a quick “no comment” at the reporter’s question and walked into the house with some of her coworkers.

“Wow,” I mumbled before checking the time. “Oh, shit.”

I had work that day. A librarian in a small town wasn’t the best gig in the world but it paid fine and I got to be surrounded by things I loved.

I was sitting at the front desk, checking on which books were overdue and which ones had just been checked back in.

“Excuse me,” I looked up to see Emily and two men standing there.

“Emily,” I said, furrowing my eyebrows. “Emily Prentiss... I don’t know if you remember me. I’m (Y/n) (Y/l/n).”

“(Y/n),” she repeated, smiling at me. “I remember you, I promise.”

I stood up, walking around the desk and hugging her.

“This is Agent Morgan and Dr. Reid,” she introduced. I shook Morgan’s hand and waved back at Dr. Reid.

“What can I help you guys with,” I asked.

“We were wondering if you’d seen anything odd here recently,” Agent Morgan explained. “Maybe a man coming here a lot suddenly. Maybe you’ve talked to him. Probably close to your age, awkward, most likely white.”

“I can’t think of anything,” I said, biting my lip as I tried to think. “We don’t have many regulars and when we do they tend to stick to themselves.”

“Did you know any of the victims,” Dr. Reid asked.

I shook my head, “Not personally. Some of them would come in here every now and then but I tend to be a bit of a fly on the wall when no one needs my help.”

“Here,” Emily handed me a card with her number on it. “Keep your eyes open, call me- I mean- us if you see anything.”

“Do you have security cameras,” I looked back over at Reid and nodded. “Can we take a look at them?”

I nodded, stepping back behind my desk so I could hand him a key, “This will get you into the room. It’s in the back right corner. Door says ‘Security,’ you can’t miss it. We have backlogs for a week so I don’t know how much you can get off of it.”

“Thank you,” Reid and Morgan walked off.

“Emily,” I said, touching her arm. “Am I in danger?”

“I... I don’t know.”

“Emily...”

“The other victims look like you, the library is the center of the hunting ground. Yes, I’m worried about you. Keep your eyes open. Don’t go somewhere private with someone you don’t know. Just... please be safe.”

“I’ll try,” I nodded. Emily was about to walk away. “Hey... I don’t know how long you’re going to be in town after this but... if you’re able... do you want to go out for drinks? Catch up?”

She grinned at me, “That sounds really nice.”

“Okay,” I chuckled awkwardly before grabbing a spare piece of paper, quickly scribbling my number down before handing it to her. “If I can help you guys anymore, let me know.”

“Okay,” she nodded. “I’ll see you later.”

I nodded. She walked back towards where her coworkers had gone earlier. I sat down at my desk, trying to stop blushing before going back to work. I spent about twenty more minutes working before I saw Dr. Reid walk out quickly while talking on the phone.

Agent Morgan walked over and handed me the key, “Thank you for your help.”

“You’re welcome,” I replied. Emily waved at me as she and Agent Morgan left.

I had stood up to go put some books on the desks. It was slower today than usual but it gave me more time to get my work done. I only left the desk because the library was empty. I popped my head out from behind a shelf when I heard the door open and close. I saw a man standing by the desk.

“Can I help you,” I asked, walking over to the desk.

“Hey,” he said, waving at me.

“Hi,” I chuckled. “Can I help you?”

I was caught off guard by the man jumping at me and holding a knife to my neck. I stuttered over some words, scared out of my mind.

“Come on,” he pulled me closer. “We have a date tonight.”

--Time Skip--

“Listen, just let me go, and we can talk about this,” I said, trying to not cry in front of him.

“This is the only way,” he replied as he finished tying me to the chair. “This is the only way for us to be together. All those girls. The ones who wanted to take your place.”

“I...I...”

“Don’t you remember,” he asked. “You always were so kind to me. Whenever I came in, Mondays and Fridays-”

“The Fantasy section,” I mumbled.

Agent Morgan said that he would awkward but this man was as casual and confident as a man his age. I saw him each week. I gave him a wave as I did with everyone. How did that turn into him think I loved him?

“I’m so happy that you remember,” he cupped the side of my face. I noticed the knife in his other hand. “I love you.”

I knew very well that it would’ve been very bad for me to reject him. Knives were scary.

“I love you too,” I replied shakily. He smiled, tilting his head at me.

I was terrified. I didn’t know how long I was going to have to do this or if I was going to be able to. I tried to force a smile at him.

I shouted when the door was kicked open. Agent Morgan and Emily walked in with their guns drawn. The man stood behind me, knife by my throat.

“Hey, hey, put the knife,” Emily said. “You love (Y/n), right?”

“Yes and you won’t come between us,” he shouted.

“But killing them would,” she reasoned.

“Please,” I begged quietly. “If you love me, you’ll listen to them.”

“But-but-”

“I’ll never get to see you again if I’m dead,” I continued. “Please. For me.”

I let out a sigh as he moved the knife away from me. Agent Morgan stepped forward, handcuffing him after the knife clattered on the ground. The man watched me with a smile as he was led out. Emily walked over and started untying me.

“So... how about that drink,” I tried to joke.

“You’re being funny,” she asked. “You just had a knife to your throat.”

“I must be trying to avoid it by using humor as a coping mechanism,” I said, rubbing, now untied, wrists. “That’s a thing, right?”

“I don’t know about immediately after,” she replied, finishing untying my ankle. “Can you stand up?”

“Yeah,” I nodded, standing up. Emily supported me even though I was standing. “So... that drink?”

“My god,” she laughed as we walked. “Get cleared by the medics and I’ll go for that drink tonight... if I can clear it with my boss.”

“Deal,” I said.

Emily passed me over to the medics with a grin before walking over to talk to some man in a suit and scowl that looked like it hadn’t moved in years. The medics checked on me quickly. I wasn’t too concerned. I hadn’t actually been hit but I could see why they needed to check on me. Emily walked back over just as they were wrapping up.

“Good news,” she said. “My boss has encouraged me to go. Is (Y/n) going to be alright to go?”

“Should be alright, everything looks normal and they aren’t describing any pain,” the EMT nodded. I stood up and thanked them.

“I know this lovely restaurant,” I started rambling. Emily just smiled and nodded.

--Time Skip--

We both thanked the waitress as we handed back the menus. I looked at her and grinned.

“I should thank you for saving me,” I said, trying to break the awkward silence between us.

“It’s my job,” she shrugged. I raised an eyebrow at her. “You’re welcome.”

I chuckled at her, shaking my head for a moment. Another moment of silence took over the conversation. I looked down at the table.

“Can I ask you something,” I tilted my head at her. She nodded. “Did you ever think about me after you left?”

“Of course I did,” she replied. “You were one of my best friends ever. You made yourself very hard to forget.”

“Oh,” I chuckled. “I never forgot you either... you were... gosh... a little more than a best friend.”

“What?”

“Emily, we made out, you were my first kiss, you took me out on a date,” I said. “You don’t remember?”

“I do but I didn’t think about how much you’d hold onto that... we never really talked about it.”

“I haven’t left this town in years, not much else to think about,” I chuckled. “I guess I was scared that you had gone off, found cooler friends, forgotten about me... and I was just here. Stuck. Waiting for someone to make me feel the same way you did.”

“I didn’t forget about you,” she replied. “You have my number now... maybe we could keep in touch when I leave. I’d love to show you around D.C.”

“I’d like that,” I grinned, blushing a bit.

Emily waltzing back into my life may have been one of the best things to ever happen to me.

--------------------------------------------------

Masterlist

What I Write For

Request Guidelines

Musical Prompts

Small Moments With…

When Worlds Collide (Doctor Who Crossover Series) Masterlist

Some Original Characters

folklore/evermore Writing Challenge (and Masterlist)

#emily prentiss imagine #emily prentiss fanfiction #imagine #fanfiction #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds fanfiction

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algernoninwonderland · 3 years

Text

“Porter sur toi un nouveau regard”: basic outlines and preparatory notes

What better way to celebrate a fic being completed than me releasing some of the basic notes I took while planning it? Here they are, with a few additions.

It all started as a prompt I got on Discord, the very simple “love at first sight” and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it at first, but the idea of sight stuck with me. Are your first impressions the right ones? Can you learn to see someone a certain way or another? It’s ultimately a story about learning to see other people and yourself, isn’t it?

Which meant I had to take a certain point of view, because an omniscient floating eye is emotionally detached. Character POV may have a limited scope, but that may help empathise with them. This is a story about Kagami, so it was only fair for Kagami to be the centre of it.

Chapter 1:

“How does Kagami truly feel about Marinette before Ikari Gozen”?

While Marinette sees the two of them as rivals, that rivalry is one-sided, and Kagami wouldn’t take that girl seriously. She’s simply annoying.

Kagami is a lonely character, who genuinely wants to make friends, still, and she’s anything but cool or smooth. She doesn’t know the other characters the way the audience does, at all.

Tomoe Tsurugi sucks.

Switching from “Dupain-Cheng” to “Marinette Dupain-Cheng” to “Marinette” would be a nice way to keep the reader hooked. Lots of tiny details that’ll come back later on!

Comphet.

Lots of comphet already. What you “should” like, a calculated, conscious choice.

A few jabs at the show because why not.

Chapter 2:

Filling gaps in characterisation and timeline to make sure that everything hurts later on! Including pre-Adrigami. People thought the paperwork between Tomoe and Gabriel was a marriage contract, not quite, but an arranged relationship? Definitely from Tomoe’s side.

Are Kagami and Marinette already going on dates when they visit the city together all on their own? Isn’t that the true sapphic experience.

Also, the promise of them going to the terrace rooftop on sunny days! It’ll come back later on.

The Bike Motive. Marinette driving her forward.

“Your hair is beautiful” but make it much gayer.

I hate the André scene in the finale, it sucks and it’s awful for everyone. It should be awful for both Marinette and Kagami. Comphet. So much comphet.

Kagami’s impression of brokenness is something we’ll come back to over and over again.

Adrien doesn’t notice because he’s Adrien. The kiss. Nothing.

“K-Kagami!” End with a cliffhanger for more suffering.

As a side note, I made myself cry writing this chapter.

Chapter 3:

Everything hurts. Everything. Hurts.

Identity reveals don’t solve anything, they still fail, and Marinette still isn’t willing to show herself to Kagami, still hiding behind a facade.

Just because Marinette understands things a little better doesn’t mean it hurts any less

They are both lying to each other and themselves and they don’t even realise it.

“Fixing the brokenness” through comphet.

Nothing is solved at all.

Falling asleep on a chaise longue plus blanket

Chapter 4:

Life as a socialite in Paris, concerts and restaurants, wearing clothes she hasn’t chosen

The Adrien routine, pulling chairs and flowers

It’s all miserable still, lots of “shoulds”

Fencing competition, fencing competition ahead. Tomoe is a terrible parent and a terrible coach.

Text conversations with Marinette, overdoes joy with emojis

The Bike Motive Returns, with more feelings, Marinette’s almost desperate gestures

(Kagami as the only person she can fully confide in, but still won’t)

An early birthday present… But Kagami is born in November, Marinette is a mess and so is her room.

Hug and first hint of reciprocated Marigami? Just the happiness of having someone like Kagami who admires her work as Marinette.

Falling asleep on a chaise longue plus blanket, part deux.

KAGAMI IN A SUIT!!!

Kisses on the cheek are really common in France, not Japan. A heavy kiss.

Dress or suit?

Marinette is a mess, texts at night. Difference between Adrien and Marinette’s texts, Adrien’s more self-centred.

No sense of space in Tokyo, jet lag and closed house. Closed spaces.

Chapter 5:

I’m going to write a full chapter about sabre fencing and people will love it

Lots of sneaky (or not so sneaky) GL and Yuri manga/anime references. Make Juri Arisugawa part of the Jury.

All the locations are real

Marinette overdoes it again, Kagami can’t tell.

Kagami’s technique dissecting her opponents. She is a champion already.

Teach the readers about fencing whilst describing it. Have opponents be challenging in specific, understandable ways.

She chooses the suit. What even is subtlety.

As a side note: it was a really fun one to write.

Chapter 6:

Marinette internship phone call, Nathalie’s plan. No way Gabriel would accept to work with a kid. Flirting, Kagami as a muse?

The Foucault chapter. Everything is a prison. Restaurant, vertical stripes on wall as prison bars, the relationship, the self-locking car. This is no Utena car.

Everything is wrong, including the food

Adrigami friendship, much better than Adrigami romance. Rose/Chair. She doesn’t hate him at all, she just doesn’t love him… It wouldn’t work, she’s gay and he’s a liar.

Self-imposed gestures of affection.

Do not describe the kisses, they’re just a thing she has to do

Marinette is a mess, Ladybug is a mess, hell imagery, falling down a hole, almost dying. We are in the car with Kagami and we want to do something, anything, and we can’t.

Chapter 7:

The first step to things being alright again is to admit that they aren’t alright now

Nighttime conversation, Kagami letting Ladybug in

Marinette finally showing herself bare to Kagami but still tries not to until the dam breaks. Being a hero is miserable. Being the Guardian when you are a child with no guidance or support is miserable. Kagami as the only person she can trust.

Botched Lukanette date?

“I’m just so tired.”

“You are not a failure, you are so courageous, a genius fashion designer and my best friend”

(Additional note: I cried writing that passage)

Sharing the burden: help in more than just words.

“I hate that you have to see me like that.”

But showing your vulnerability and still being accepted as true love

Kagami truly sees Marinette now.

“Tutorship” and Tomoe being awful but excuse works. Help is material, homework, tidying up the room together.

“Stop feeling guilty about letting other people help you.”

Flirting hidden behind jokes, Kagami lying to herself. Way to ruin the mood.

Marigami baking.

Harlem 88, postal workers, acab

Watching television on the same couch, or rather watching Marinette watch television.

Umbrella scene with polka dots.

Kagami fully aware of her feeling and afraid of them, afraid that Marinette might feel the same

Chapter 8:

more fencing, Kagami absolutely rules

Worrying about Marinette alone with Gabriel, rightfully so, but can’t say that out loud

Stereotypical outdated Japanese-ness, Kagami can’t conform, doesn’t know how to put on her houmongi on her own. Tomoe and paradoxes, her daughter is both weak and “too muscular” at the same time.

The Palais Royal. The Buren columns are very climbable.

Gabriel, “quite miraculous”. Testing the waters, Kagami doesn’t notice.

Jealousy when Adrien speaks of Marinette?

Ratatouille reference! Tatou.

Tomoe playing the role of the exotic Japanese to be accepted.

Drunk parents, drunk on power and self-satisfaction.

Adrien’s kiss, forced to return it.

Fear that Adrien might become Marinette’s muse

The bike motive once more

Barkk’s power is tracking magical signatures, each is different from the other

Marinette taking control over her own life, making plans to stop Hawk Moth instead of passively waiting for each attack,

“She was never broken. She is in love with another girl.”

Marinette is in love with her too, but is ready to wait.

Chapter 9:

Adrien IS Chat Noir, up to the entitlement and his way of being physically affectionate. Stay true to canon and canon implications.

Adrigami/DJWifi double date, Alya means well but doesn’t know everything

Wordbuilding: of course the Ladyblog isn’t the only website ever, bad rival, Daily Bugle pun.

Not hating someone doesn’t mean you should be with them.

Hints of Adrigami friendship again, relief at avoiding romance.

Food at Kagami’s, cooker, formally perfect but not personal

Marinette and Barkk, closer to their goal

The Turtle Pearl bracelet: a shield, a great way to show feeling of danger, symbol of love

Kagami is the one to kiss Marinette on the cheek this time

Chapter 10:

Tomoe is a bad instructor episode 100

In which Adrien proves himself to truly be also Chat Noir, i.e. unable to understand personal barriers and entitlement. Still Kagami’s POV. He doesn’t think he’s doing anything wrong, insistence≠playfulness. certainly won’t apologise

The bike motive again. Scenic road and conversation

Going to Orsay, definitely a date!

Chat Noir was moody during akuma crisis because of course he was.

Chapter 11:

Adrigami “break”, Adrien sucks at admitting that he’s anything but perfect and being confronted with that.

Kagami bluntness.

Adrigami isn’t about Adrigami, it’s about the Tsurugi family’s status and Tomoe terrified of consequences. Attacking the room instead of Kagami herself.

The Turtle Pearl glows when wearer feels endangered or imminent danger

The museum pictures, the two of them together

Aquarium date?

“Voice of reason” isn’t the voice of reason at all.

Barkk is in the bag, smells everything

Chapter 12:

Kagami as Tomoe’s messenger

Agreste mansion as a mausoleum, setting up the geography, security cameras, cold. Painting of Émilie, goal is near

Nathalie being extremely good at pretending she didn’t just knock that kid unconscious months ago, she’s awful and it’s great.

Marinette internship, Gabriel wears a bowtie… Resembles a butterfly.

Barkk in the bag, smells everything.

Stressful phone call, feels feverish, it’s him and that’s undeniable.

Marinette the detective.

“Thanks for being there for me”

“Thank you for trusting me so much”

Having dinner with Hawk Moth, it’s awful and stressful

No more chair/rose

Adrien is miserable but not aggressive. Building up to final fight

Chapter 13:

Meet the Dupain-Chengs, short, awkward, sweet moment

Marinette’s room, perfectly clean

From creepy stalker to detective, without downplaying the former or overplaying the latter

The two are complementary, very concrete things,

The plan: catch Hawk Moth red-handed, take it outside and expose him to the world

How the Kwami Pearls work: just like the Miraculouses themselves, feeding off the host, only more brutal. Marinette trying to reassure Kagami

Re-explain Turtle Pearl and other powers, illusion, thunder, time-rewind and portal

Gabriel owns original Degas painting since they are both assholes

Adrien/Chat still not great at all

Ice-cream but no biphobia/lesbophobia this time, just a regular shop suggested by Juleka.

The Pont des Arts, no more locks, just like in real life.

The confession, the kiss: consent and everything is right, but also desperate. Marinette really wants to do it well.

Longg is back, also, hype

Side note: I cried writing this one.

Chapters 14-15

Ryuko infiltrating the mansion, all in the details

I hate that Hawk Moth’s lair is an actual real physical space in the show, but if this needs to be material, then so be it. He was allowed to turn his house into that because he got help from the Mayor/Audrey.

Chat Noir can’t fight, near breakdown.

Nathalie knew. Remake of first fight, only Ryuko has clear upper hand.

Having missiles in your house isn’t a good idea.

The Turtle Pearl serves its purpose at last,

Gabriel mostly defeats himself on his own, hubris, the whole extent of his power dynamic with Nathalie

Going back to the Champ de Mars,

Teamwork, taking the butterfly down. Chat Noir rejects his father entirely, cataclysm-ed akuma.

The mansion again, entirely destroyed, paintings of Émilie burning. Spell book and tablet recovered.

Chapter 16:

Taking the big bad down is useless if you don’t take down the power structures that allowed him to strive in the first place. Killing Voldemort only solves that much.

Discovering it all on a phone screen, shut-in

ACAB no matter your gender

They are just following orders and happy to do so, and Gabriel still has some power over them

Tomoe plays by the rules, even though these rules are awful

Kagami’s anger

Chapter 17:

Aquarium date, aquarium date! Fish facts

Kagami’s anger still, doesn’t die out, render it through environment and senses

Water as a healing motive, fish facts

Hot outside - cold inside, ice-cream

Kagami nearly blows out because of kids after being slightly soothed

The power of love is strong but it can’t solve everything.

Additional note: someone in the comments asked me if Kagami had ASD, and the answer is, I don’t know, you tell me! If you think she is on the spectrum, then she is!

Addressing Kagami being closeted, because there’s simply no other way. This isn’t good. Having to live hidden out of fear isn’t good..

The bike motive, + ice cream

Kagami uses the word “lesbian” for the first time to describe her own experience.

Chapter 18:

Tomoe has feelings and these feelings suck. Under the guise of rules, abuse.

Kagami fighting back.

Power is material, through connections and money, nothing that can’t be bought

Kagami’s first demonstration, don’t make it too violent but still ACAB

Nino and Alya as reporters, Julerose and Luka seasoned protestors

The Palais de Justice’s gilded gates are closed vs the crowd

Marinette using her powers for something other than Hawk Moth, strong stance but also still a 15 yo kid’s understanding of the situation

Chapters 19-20:

No tanabata because Tomoe is terrible

The rooftop terrace at last, more Marigami wholesomeness

Dupain-Cheng house vs Tsurugi house, the furniture and dishes, the meal, more Tom and Sabine

Marinette has been cut from her Chinese heritage, exploring that (callback to Mandarin app, chapter 1) and bitterness of it

Adrien moving on in England, still Plagg with him, he’ll become a rich prep boy

Marinette as a Guardians, her own spell book

Duusuu is devouring Émilie’s soul and neither Marinette nor Kagami knows

Françoise Dupont at night, fencing classes, Marinette moves like Ladybug

The future: it is bright but bittersweet, let’s talk about it together

And there was only one bed

Oh, to cuddle with your girlfriend in her bed for the first time

Watching the sun rise together, calm breakfast

Side note: I also cried writing this one.

Chapter 21, epilogue

A new beginning

Kagami turning her back on her mother almost entirely

The bike motive, but Kagami no longer needs Marinette to show her the way now

New school, familiar faces but not only

An ordinary bracelet for Marinette, but proof of love despite everything

End on their hands.

#miraculous #ml #marigami #kagaminette #ao3fic #mine

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thexfridax · 4 years

Photo

Translated interview

Interview with Adèle Haenel about ‘The Unknown Girl’

der-andere-film.ch, 2016

// Additions or clarifications for translating purposes are denoted as [T: …]. //

Interviewer: How did you perceive the Dardenne brothers prior to filming ‘The Unknown Girl’ with them?

Adèle Haenel: They are inextricably linked with the history and imagery of contemporary films. I hadn’t seen all of their films before meeting them - which I have done since then! - but I knew a couple of them, ‘The Promise’ and ‘Two Days, One Night’ among others. I did auteur films from the beginning. Considering the importance that the Dardenne have for auteur films, I was of course quite excited, when they asked me to work with them. I didn’t think this would happen to me one day.

I: What was your reaction regarding the screenplay?

AH: I was amazed by the simplicity and depth of the story. The work of the brothers is very precise. They pursue their path until the end and don’t bother with embellishments or any [T: unnecessary] layers. This precision and rigour were already evident in the screenplay.

I: How would you describe your character?

AH: She is not an extraordinary heroine and I like that. We don’t really know much about her private life. I think the film tells the story of how Jenny finds her way back to life and ultimately to herself through encountering other people [T: Portrait vibes, also see here]. Jenny is the kind of person who listens and never shows an air of superiority, no matter who she deals with.

I: How did the Dardenne direct you to embody this heroine?

AH: If you get along with a director, then you don’t have to talk too much. I was on the same wavelength as the brothers. The Dardenne don’t bother too much with psychology: For them it’s mainly about the body, about listening and what the characters do. I had to pay attention to things that you could dismiss as details, but that’s not the case: How do I put on my medical glove, how do I inject someone. I was so busy with the ‘doing’ that I didn’t have time to dwell on Jenny’s feelings. You had to avoid interpreting the role or emphasising your intentions. That would have been wrong.

I: As always with the Dardenne, the social environment is very important in ‘The Unknown Girl’.

AH: I like it when cinema is dealing with the present. The social status and living conditions of the characters are fundamental parts of their lives. These determine [T: the characters’] development in life, their trust in themselves and others, their health. In contemporary cinema, there are big gaps when it comes to certain social classes. It is extremely important that certain directors, with the Dardenne front and centre, deal with these questions.

I: The Dardenne like to rehearse extensively with their actors/actresses. How did you experience this period of preparation and the shooting?

AH: Their reputation of driving the actors/actresses to exhaustion by endlessly repeating one shot is a myth. For them, it’s never about performance. I always had the impression that all went very fast. The month of preparation before shooting is quite important. All actors/actresses are gathering then, so that those with only a few scenes immediately feel integrated when it comes to shooting.

I: What else is happening?

AH: During rehearsal the brothers like to work a lot on the movements of the actors/actresses, on the situations that characters have to deal with, on the camera movements etc. In short, directing essentially starts here. If they encounter a problem, then they can set it aside to find a solution, and don’t have to deal with this obstacle during the shooting. This month of work really freed me from my fears, even though not all the pressure was taken off me.

I: To play a doctor, you had to have certain technical skills.

AH: I had a medical coach for the whole time of preparation: Martine, a real doctor. She taught me how to do certain movements, and told me how to behave towards patients, although there is no magic formula in that area.

I: What was your takeaway from this adventure?

AH: The Dardenne nurtured my development on a ‘counter-intuitive’ level. They recognised a side of me, which was beyond my rage and anger. The latter are also part of my personality, but they are not everything.

I: You will be presenting ‘The Unknown Girl’ as the lead actress at the Cannes Festival.

AH: The Cannes Festival brings attention to a certain kind of cinema. For these films it is quite important to be shown there. But I’m not most proud of myself. I’m first and foremost proud of the film. If it were not running in Cannes, I wouldn’t be less proud.

youtube

—

📷 [1], [2-5], [6]

#der-andere-film.ch #Adèle Haenel #The Unknown Girl #La fille inconnue #2016 #Swiss interview #Her acting was so subtle in this film #Although I didn't quite appreciate it #while watching #My translation #long post

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precuredaily · 4 years

Text

Precure Bonus Day: YPC5GG Op/Ed

The start of a new show naturally means new theme music to go with it, and once again I’m going to avoid cluttering up an episode review by discussing the opening and ending separately. Here’s the gallery I threw together and my thoughts are below: https://imgur.com/a/wnX3871

Yes! Precure 5 Go Go! Opening: “Precure 5, Full Throttle GO GO!” by Kudou Mayu

vimeo

Similar to its predecessor, this is an action song, but it’s a bit more whimsical and fantastical than the Yes 5 theme. It’s not lighter, but it evokes a different mood. As @sailorzombiestar described it, it screams “WE’RE BACK!” The instrumental composition is an electric guitar, violins, bass, a drum kit, piano, and brass. The full version of the song has some short one or two measure solos by each of the voice actresses for the main 5 and some instruments, like a trumpet and a guitar solo. The lyrics talk about the power of working together and how you can overcome any problem if you believe in yourself. The chorus says “I’m waiting for everyone’s help, so let’s move forward and shout together that we’re Precure 5 and our feelings are one!” which is nice and inspiring.

The visuals are overall better than in the first series intro. There’s more unique and animated footage and less reused art from the series. While the Yes 5 intro had a build up to the title drop in the song, and therefore displaying the name of the show, in this one they sing and show it right away while the five main girls fade in from silhouettes in the background. After that, they do an interesting thing where they have all of the characters run past the camera, while the Precures are naturally first, Dream comes at the very end after Syrup, Coco, Nuts, Milk, and Kurumi/Milky Rose have been shown in order to transition to the next sequence. There’s not as much to show off each girl’s personality like there was in the Y5 intro, so they really are assuming you watched the last show. Following this, there’s some nice visual exposition by showing Flora crying, and in one of her tears is the Rose Pact. Later, there’s a scene of the cures raiding Eternal Headquarters, and a mysterious hooded figure representing the boss of Eternal is seen holding four orbs, each of which has the image of one of the four monarchs in it that the girls have to rescue over the course of the series.

Also there’s a really cool sequence where they flash between a bunch of still shots of the Precures appearing in the media, implying their existence is more widely known in this series. The first scene is a shot of Bunbee holding a newspaper, making him the only villain from this series to appear in the intro (the hooded figure above does not count). Another shot is from the journalism club, with the very strong implication that it’s Mika writing a piece on the cures, so it’s nice that she made it into the intro.

I don’t like it quite as much as the first series opening, but it’s another fun song and it’ll be good to experience for the next few months while I dig through this series.

Yes! Precure 5 Go Go! Ending 1: “Holding Hands Also Links our Hearts!!” by Kanako Miyamoto

vimeo

Following in the grand tradition of Precure ending themes, this is another nonsense song. The lyrics are about holding hands to transmit energy and positivity and make each other laugh. The visuals align closely with this, and sometimes the girls lip-sync with what’s being said. They’re pretty much always acting out what’s being said. There’s some fun sight gags, like Karen coming in early on the first count-up (she’s supposed to be 5 but she comes in on 4 and both Urara and Komachi turn to look at her.) There’s a lot of floating heads in bubbles, and other times there’s a thick, colorful border surrounding the characters as they stand in front of generic backgrounds.

I caught a couple moments of particular closeness between Karen and Kurumi, as if the staff are really leaning into that pairing.

Instrumentally, it’s very heavy on the drum kit and electric guitar, with prominent brass cutting in again. There’s also a rubber piano providing harmony in the quiet parts. Other percussion like maracas can be heard at various points. At one point in the full version, there’s even a saxophone solo! The style is a very feel-good pop with lots of audience interaction.

It’s a catchy song, but I find it distinctly, maybe purposefully, non-memorable. Some Precure songs stick with me (Wonder Winter Yatta and H@ppy Together come to mind) while others are instantly forgotten when the show is over. It’s not a condemnation of the song or the work that went into it, but it doesn’t stick with me for very long at all. That being said, I think I prefer it over GoGo’s rendition of Ganbalance de Dance.

There are two things I find particularly interesting about the animation in both the opening and ending: first, Kurumi/Milky Rose is included here despite not appearing in the show until episode 11. They probably just didn’t want to re-animate these segments later to include her, lord knows all the Precure shows that have done this only half-ass it. The second thing is that they don’t reveal that Kurumi is actually Milk’s alter ego, which is definitely a big secret and I believe that isn’t properly revealed in the series until episode 14. (sorry for 12 year-old spoilers) They even go as far as to show Milk and Milky Rose together in that splash cards at the end of both songs, despite not showing off Coco, Nuts, and Syrup’s human forms at the same time as their fairy forms.

Next time on Precure Daily, Nozomi receives a mysterious letter, meets a mysterious boy, and the team gets their powers back! Look forward to it!

#Precure #Pretty Cure #Yes! Precure 5 Go Go!#YPC5GG #PCD Bonus

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gaynoctgar · 4 years

Text

Prompto’s Brotherhood Arc is Fatphobic 2, Electric Boogaloo: Haley’s Back and She is Pissed

This essay is going to be an even deeper dive into the fatphobia that permeates Prompto’s character arc, and is going to handle the issue with more grace and nuance than I did the first time. This is also going to explore the effects the arc had on me as a player, and on other players who share my experiences. It is going to be very organized, long, and methodical (word count: ~5300). It’s a bit of a doozy, but it is something I feel it is very important. I have been wanting to elaborate on my previous Prompto essay for a long time, and for reasons I will detail below, I feel that I am ready to do this now.

Consider this a sequel to my earlier essay, and I will be referencing it throughout.

Stand back everyone; Haley’s about to get mean and personal.

Under the cut for safety and length, please avoid if the subject is triggering to you! Take care of yourselves!

Thank you all so, so much for hearing what I have to say.

TW: fatphobia, eating disorders (both in terms of Prompto and of the author)

Intro

All right everyone, buckle in. Last time I think I was a little bit too nice about this. Last time I think I let a little too much go. But I’m a full three years older now and I’ve seen a few more things. And now I think it’s time that I really just let loose and criticize the fuck out of Square for something they have consistently done wrong, and that is the way they have handled issues with weight in regards to one Prompto Argentum.

Many of you may know that Prompto is one of my favorite characters in anything ever. This very sideblog, in fact, used to be named for him (old url was promptoisbi). It’s because of this that I hate that he’s so consistently shit on by the narrative, but right now we are talking about the out-of-universe insidiousness of the fatphobia that completely permeates this story.

The first essay is right here but the TL;DR version of that is essentially “the way that Prompto’s weight loss in Brotherhood is portrayed as a moral and positive good and in fact necessary for him to be a protagonist is immensely fatphobic. Because the game refuses to problematize this, I am going to, and I’m going to contextualize that with my own experiences to help explain why this is so fucked.” At that time, I was recovering from long-term anorexia, and I think that permeated a lot of what I wrote. I don’t regret this, and I still think the essay is pretty solid. But I’m not a woman who won’t admit her own limitations, and one of mine at the time was that a lot of my fatphobia was internalized. Now that I am healing, now that I have talked to other people with experiences that mirror my own (notably @chubbyargentum), I think I am in a better place to articulate what upsets me.

The rest of the essay will be divided into six parts, themed as follows:

A redux of my central criticism in the first essay, that the narrative treats Prompto’s weight loss as a positive, moral good. In fact, it’s necessary for him to be seen as a protagonist.

Detailing that Prompto’s weight loss was directly motivated by another character, and this other character does not apologize to Prompto at all for his previous behavior. We are in fact supposed to believe that him saying what he said was a good thing.

Evidence that Prompto still legitimately has an eating disorder from his trauma. This goes unexamined by the story, and in fact seems to be actively encouraged by other characters, notably Ignis and Noct. This isn’t to bash the characters, but the way they are written.

Points 1 and 3 combined produce a genuinely triggering experience for players like me; this is where I detail some of my own history with weight and eating problems.

Anticipating pushback, I propose two alternative scenarios that avoid the problems outlined in parts 1-4: one where Prompto doesn’t lose weight, and one where he does but it’s handled a lot more sensitively.

A personal look at what (and who) actually motivated me to do a Part 2 to my essay.

Followed by a TL;DR conclusion if you want to jump right to the heart of things. I know this is a long essay, and I don’t apologize, but I do want to make it accessible to those who might have a harder time reading something so long.

Time to knock down these points, one by one:

Part 1: Equating Weight Loss to Morality

Prompto’s episode in Brotherhood, “Dogged Runner,” serves as our introduction both to Prompto as a character, and pulls double-duty to show us how he becomes involved in the life of a prince. Gladio and Ignis’ episodes did not have to do this double work because they are in Noct’s life by occupation, but Prompto, being a commoner, needs this introduction. Unfortunately, this episode is not twice as long to handle the double workload it gave itself, and the plot clearly suffers for it. For those who don’t remember, Prompto seems to be a child who more or less raises himself--a shy boy who is in the same grade as Noctis. He is quite obviously overweight, and the episode in fact chooses to focus the bulk of its attention on that rather than how he met Noctis (this will be explored in Part 2, below). This is what I take issue with.

Due to....an encounter, we’ll call it, with his royal classmate, Prompto becomes motivated to “improve himself to become someone worthy of a prince,” as described in Episode Prompto. Right off the bat, this description is implying that in order to be worthy of Noctis’ companionship--even independently of Noctis’ own actions, which will be problematized in the next section--he must be different than the way he is.

This...doesn’t make sense. We already saw that Prompto was a kind and generous soul, if rather shy. He took in “Tiny” of his own accord; he fixed her up and fed her and made sure she was healthy, solely out of the goodness of his heart. What else could this literal child need to “improve” about himself to make friends with Noctis? Well...the episode focuses on this in a way I would almost argue is objectifying. We see in excruciating detail how this literal child (I feel the need to mention again that Prompto is 12 years old and doesn’t seem to have consistent parents) approaches the world with a black-and-white mentality….that is, he seems to focus exclusively on eating salads and running an excessive amount (we’ll get to this more in Part 3). Further objectification occurs when we are shown repeatedly that a minor is taking “progress shots” of himself in his underwear.

A bit of a tangent, but the way that last one is drawn...y’all did remember Prompto was 14/15 at that time, right? Extra H points for Square, right there.

So yeah, once all of this happens, Prompto is finally deemed by the narrative to be acceptable enough to enter the life of a prince. Basically, if you’re fat, get a goddamn eating disorder and you can be a protagonist!

And I’m actually gonna take a second right now to address the more common, and generous, interpretation/criticism I am anticipating. I know what SE was trying to do here. They were trying to show us that Prompto’s “self-esteem” was the problem. That he needed to gain more confidence, and losing the weight didn’t actually solve that problem. I know this is the intent because the hotel scene exists. But...answer me this. Why is losing weight treated as an analogue for Prompto’s internal character growth? Why is losing weight an analogue for literally anything? If the issue was Prompto’s insecurity and shyness, there are a dozen other ways to show that. I can think of one right now: maybe have Noctis try to make friends and Prompto runs away because he gets nervous and tongue-tied and that’s the source of their lingering awkwardness. There you go, much better episode.

Part 2: Noctis is a dick

And I say this as a Noct stan. Y’all know I love him. With all my heart, I do. But...I don’t think he starts the game as a good person, in this respect at least. I do think he becomes one. And I think that his growth and maturation over the course of the game is absolutely a treat to watch.

I’m gonna immediately qualify this by saying I do not think Noct is a dick on purpose. Noctis is, in fact, unfailingly kind in most situations and this is one of his greater strengths. I just think he is just as much a victim of internalized fatphobia as Prompto is, despite not having the experience of being fat. I think two things contribute to this: biases that went unchecked by any of his caretakers, and genuine social difficulty brought about by his upbringing.

But now it’s time to get to….the incident. The reason these two know each other. After Prompto takes care of Pryna, she runs to deliver her letter to Noctis and eventually returns to Luna, as was her original mission. Luna, noticing Prompto’s name on a bandana tied around Pryna’s leg, tasks Gentiana to help her find this kind soul so she can thank him. Luna does, and Prompto receives a letter that soon becomes his prized possession. The princess operated on the assumption that Prompto and Noctis were friends, seeing as Prompto encountered Pryna, and asked that he remain “ever at [Noctis’] side.” Prompto takes these words to heart, and resolves to introduce himself to his royal classmate.

Here’s where the problems begin. We know that Prompto is shy because we have seen him before. He kinda kept to himself, away from the other kids, content to take his pictures. To Square’s credit, I was really expecting Prompto to be a target of bullying because of his weight and he wasn’t….yet. This actually makes his interaction with Noctis a lot worse, however. We all know what happens next: Prompto does try to introduce himself to the loner prince (who, by his own admission later, was also kinda shy), and he happens to trip. Noct goes to help him out because he’s kind at heart, and a confused Prompto thinks that Noctis means that he wants to see the camera. Noct is baffled and says something along the lines of “I meant you, dummy!” and goes to help Prompto up.

Honestly, end the scene here. They become friends because Noct is unexpectedly kind to someone he didn’t even know, and that sticks with Prompto, and they’re childhood best friends. Right? RIGHT?

If Square had had a modicum of decency, yes, this would have been how the scene closed. But then Noct had to open his fucking mouth. When trying to help Prompto up, he remarks that the poor boy is “heavy,” something that quickly and immediately impacts Prompto. Noct, also being 12, seems none the wiser and jovially heads off to meet Ignis. But Prompto? Prompto is….affected by this. He decides then and there that he has to not be heavy anymore if he wants to be Noct’s friend.

“But Haley!” I can hear y’all saying, “Isn’t it Prompto’s fault for internalizing a harmless comment in such a way? Why are you so angry at Noct because Prompto took it too seriously?” Or alternatively “Noctis was also a child, he didn’t mean it!!”

Well, it’s all about how the narrative treats the situation. I mentioned this before in Part 1, but the reason I’m mad at both Noctis and Square is because the narrative treats him as though he is in the right at all times. If the issue really was with Prompto as a character, then we wouldn’t have been shown his journey in such excruciating detail. We wouldn’t have been subjected to the downright harmful avenues he goes down in pursuit of this goal (see Part 3 for elaboration). We would have just seen Prompto trying to work on becoming more outgoing--maybe talking to his neighbors more often, for example.

One small scene in particular gets me here: we do see Noct return to the place where they met and he seems to be baffled by the fact that Prompto will not talk to him. We in fact know this to be the case because in the hotel scene, Noct explicitly says Prompto “should have said something sooner” in terms of starting their friendship. Now, this pisses me off for two reasons:

That this wasn’t addressed in Brotherhood itself. We see that Noct kinda wants to approach Prom again but doesn’t seem to know how. If we are assuming he messed up on accident, this would have been a great time for Ignis to tell him so, maybe motivate Noct to apologize.

That Prompto doesn’t immediately call Noct out for this line, or say something along the lines of “Well you kinda straight up insulted me when we first met.”

So, because neither of these scenarios is the case, I have to assume that Square wants us to think that Noct was correct to insult Prompto, and that him losing the weight is a good thing, in a narrative sense.

Finally, it’s straight up out-of-character for Noct to be this way. Not the misspeaking part, that is perfectly in-character. It’s the fact that this bias of his goes unchecked by Ignis or Gladio, and he is never made to apologize for hurting another person’s feelings. Part of growing up is realizing that sometimes your actions can hurt other people, even if you don’t intend for them to. The fact that the intent wasn’t there doesn’t mean the hurt wasn’t real. Since Square is so convinced that Noct needed to “mature” in this story...I am immensely disappointed that the opportunity wasn’t taken here for him to learn. And even more disappointed because I am pretty sure this is intentional. Every single one of Square’s fat characters is used as a side character or comic relief. In order for Prompto to be a protagonist, he had to lose weight, and to have Noctis--the central protagonist--be the character to directly motivate that is a slap in the face.

Part 3: Don’t Recover, Buddy!/ It’s actually good that you have “obesophobia”

So I know I put the trigger warning at the top of this, but I’m doing it again, because now I’m gonna talk about eating disorders. So this is your last chance to back out if that stuff is legitimately triggering, which I understand.

I’m gonna say it right now: Prompto has anorexia

[several people are typing…. .jpg]

I don’t think this is subtle, and I do think this is intentional, so let me break it down. Prompto exhibits a lot of the symptoms, and yes I am speaking from personal experience. He’s exhibited all of these from the moment Noct made that comment when they were kids, and, notably, only from that point on (hence why I wrote Part 2 the way that I did):

Prompto has an obsession with fixing meals. He’ll be the one that helps Ignis the most often. In Prompto’s case, this is a sign that he loves preparing the food, not so much partaking: classic hiding of symptoms. There is also the fact that most of the salads are his favorite meals, which yes, is a deliberate callback, but I don’t think it’s a good one.

Prompto runs a genuinely stupid amount. I think that exercise is well and good--I’m something of an exercise buff myself--but it’s the way that Prompto does it, to the point of exhaustion, that is a problem.

Despite being borderline underweight, Prompto legitimately still seems to think that he is still fat. This is supported by his reactions to multiple dialogues, which I’ll get to in a second, and the “obesophobia” thing on his character profile which….yeah I shouldn’t even have to explain that one. Prompto is legitimately afraid that he will gain weight--specifically, that he will be fat again.

The fact that according to that same profile, Prompto’s photography habit started when he took progress photos of himself!! So he’s also got some legit body dysmorphia going on.

These are the ones that are most obvious to me, anyway.

“Now okay, Haley,” y’all are furiously typing, “so what that Prompto has anorexia? That’s a relatable character flaw!”

Well….one, no it isn’t. A disorder of any kind is not a character flaw. I’d be willing to let that slide if the following were not also true: other characters seem to reinforce these behaviors of Prompto’s, and I am looking directly at Ignis and Noct. Let’s start with Ignis. I’m sure we have all gotten the random dialogue of

Prompto: All right, let’s hit up the Crow’s Nest! Ignis, for no fucking reason: If you wish to put on weight? Certainly. Prompto, defeated: Yeah, I know…

Every time I get this dialogue I want to yell and also want the option to kick Ignis out of the party. Also the fact that no one steps up on Prompto’s behalf (notably, you know, his goddamn best friend!!) is a bit of an Issue too. Another one involves Ignis, but I have only gotten it once, so I can’t remember it exactly, but Ignis says something to the effect that he can make “whatever [Prompto] wants” for dinner and Prompto says “Yeah, it’s the wanting that’s the problem.” That’s...that’s horrifying and y’all should be concerned for your friend.

To turn my attention back to Noct, objectively the most important person to Prompto, we need go no further than “Why is your face so fat?” in selfies.

This one legitimately made me mad. Prompto panics and retaliates with “What?? I’m not fat!!” (notably, he said “I” and not “my face,” which is a bit of a slip), and Noctis is supposed to be his best friend. I was somewhat okay with Noct being passive in the earlier incidents, because maybe he wanted to spare Prompto the group drama that would ensue, but Noct directly engaging in it actively pissed me off. I also want to say this isn’t me bashing on the characters in the slightest, I am simply calling attention to the way they are written. Because they are not called out by anyone else, because this behavior is treated as acceptable, I have to assume the narrative wants me to agree with them.

The only conclusion I can gather from this is that not only are the bros aware of Prompto’s disorder, but they actively encourage it. Which would only further Prompto’s assumption that they only will love and accept him if he looks a certain way. No wonder the poor kid was so freaked out about his barcode!

Part 4: This shit is triggering to players

The subtitle for this section should be “Haley talks about how deeply “Dogged Runner” affected her in a PTSD kind of way” because that’s what I’m going to be doing. Second trigger warning for eating disorders and weight talk, because that’s what this is gonna be. This also is not going to be nice. I have strong language for Square:

Here’s where I come clean about why this issue matters so fucking much to me, and why I am now freely and openly saying “fuck you” to Square every chance I get. When I first saw Brotherhood, I was at a stage in my life where I was not coping well with my body image. I had my first brush with anorexia in high school, but it was coming back because I was in a new place, and I felt like that was the only thing in my life that I could control. So I had been eating less and falling back into the habit, except...this time I had my support system. So I thought. I went into the anime wanting to learn more about the characters I had come to love, and I walked out of it thoroughly triggered and horrified that Square would stoop to such shoddy, lazy, and harmful storytelling.

I had...a moment, here. I won’t detail the breakdown too much but I was genuinely not okay. To see behaviors that I had ferociously clawed my way out of, and was violently resisting once more, portrayed not only as not unhealthy, but as desirable for people like me...it genuinely felt personal. And, I imagine I wasn’t the only player who felt that way. In fact, because I have talked to other people like me, I know this is the case.

Let me take you on a trip, for a moment. Humor me. Imagine you’re in your early 20s, and you’ve put a lot of ugly, horrible coping methods behind you. Imagine your best friend in the entire world, @nonbinary-recipehs, recommends this game they are playing, and you play it together and start to consume its media. Imagine the horror and dread that settles on the both of you watching this episode, which rings so similarly to the times you passed out from lack of food, from over-exercising, from over-straining yourself to be this idealized version of thinness. Imagine seeing that the outcome of this episode isn’t Prompto getting the support he needs from his friends, but that the narrative legitimizes his suffering. In fact, this brutal suffering and rapid loss of weight was necessary to justify this character’s relevance to the narrative! Imagine how that must make you feel. Maybe those coping methods that were so horrible actually weren’t. It worked for Prompto, maybe it’ll work for you!!

Perhaps that little thought experiment will help you understand what this whole situation can feel like to players like me, to people who have struggled with internalized fatphobia and with eating disorders, who have been called heavy, who have been made to feel as though their worth is in their thinness. Fuck you, Square. Fuck you for not having an ounce of consideration for how this might possibly look. Fuck you for not considering people like me as complete people. Fuck you for making me watch a character I love suffer, not to tragedy, but to an illness that could have been avoided if anyone had shown him even an ounce of respect or care or decency or decorum--

…

I did warn y’all I was angry, this time.

Part 5: Two Alternative Scenarios that would Avoid All This

“So Haley,” you’re saying, somehow having read past the rant in the previous section, “if Square did it so horribly, how would you have done it?”

That, my dear reader, is an excellent question. In fact, I’ve got two solutions, which I will explain and elaborate upon below:

The first is rather simple: Prompto doesn’t actually lose the weight and becomes a canonical fat character. Absolutely nothing else would change about the story or Prompto’s character except for the following:

Noctis would become curious as to why this new friend of his was avoiding him. He then has the opportunity to open up to Ignis or Gladio and reflect on what he said, and realize that he actually hurt Prompto’s feelings. This motivates him to apologize, and the two become Actual Childhood Friends.

Prompto just Has This Body Type Now and nobody says dick about it, that’s just the Way He Looks

You could explore internalized fatphobia I suppose but I don’t actually trust Square to do this sensitively. You know who I do trust? Liam ( @chubbyargentum ), who writes the Nighttime Sunshine AU and fic.

All of the previously mentioned fatphobic comments are completely removed because all the bros love and support him.

Prompto isn’t the comic relief because of his size, he just happens to be both. Yes, there is a difference, and no, I am not going to derail the essay by explaining that.

Prompto would still absolutely kick ass, take names, shoot people, love chocobos...all the shit he does in canon. But now, you have a character who didn’t have to be completely humiliated to get to this point. Now you just...have a guy who happens to be friends with the prince, because he is kind and caring.

But okay, let’s take another approach. Let’s say Prompto does still lose weight. How, then, do we accomplish this without being fatphobic or debasing Prompto’s character like canon did?

That leads me to solution 2: Prompto does lose weight, but it’s incidental. Let me explain what I mean here:

Let’s have a situation in which the apology does still happen as I outlined in the first solution. Childhood friends is a thing.

As such, Prompto becomes...increasingly curious at all the cool training Noct does.

Noct is….embarrassed about this, I think. Because Prompto doesn’t like Understand What It All Means...and they’re still pretty young. Noct doesn’t want him to understand.

But Prompto? He wants to be able to Do Cool Shit, especially if it means defending his best bro who also happens to be the prince. And he doesn’t want Noct to do any of this alone. He asks to train with Noct, no special treatment (except for like the fact that he legit can’t do magic).

Gladio...allows this, begrudgingly. Then, permanently, when he notices Noct tries harder as a result of showing off.

Prompto starts to learn how to take care of himself from Gladio, and from Ignis, who has...gathered that Prompto doesn’t exactly have parents, and becomes invested in helping him learn how to cook healthy meals for himself. Who knows? Maybe the healthy eating will rub off on Noct!

The result is that, over time, Prompto does lose some weight...and starts to bulk up as Puberty Happens. However. This is all incidental. Prompto never set out to lose weight because he hated himself or felt unworthy, like in canon. He set out to become strong and train with his best bro. This is absolutely critical.

With this solution, Prompto does lose weight, but doesn’t become the borderline underweight young man with an eating disorder we all know and love. Instead, he’s been brought up around healthier traditions, which makes him immensely more suited for the role of Crownsguard when that time comes. In fact, he might have entered it at age 18 just like Gladio and Ignis did, despite Noct’s protests. Another thing I like about this solution is that it shows how Prompto is friends with Ignis and Gladio; how those relationships developed independently of Noctis, and why these four really are the family unit the game wants me to think they are.

And with these two solutions, I believe I have laid out some much stronger backstories for our beloved boy that avoid all of the...unfortunate implications of his canon backstory. I only wish that Square had thought about their implications just a little bit more, and done Prompto some true justice.

Part 6: What motivated this essay, and the power of shared experience

This isn’t really a proper conclusion, that’ll be in TL;DR, but I would be remiss to not include what actually motivated me to write this massive essay, and also share it with all of you. The sharing part, I think, is super critical. When you inhabit marginalized identities, and in this case I specifically mean having a fat body, it can be...difficult to share and discuss your experiences. Harder, still, to be public about them, and to criticize media that perpetuates these harmful ideas. But here I am, doing that. Here’s why that is.

About a month ago, I met @chubbyargentum, who is called Liam. I was cruising through the promptis tag, as you do, and found his Nighttime Sunshine AU, and his blog is filled with excellent art for it as well. The premise of this AU, on its face, is very simple: it’s a story where Prompto and Noctis did not actually become friends in high school, and two very important things are different: Prompto is still fat, and Noctis is a closeted trans man. While I can’t speak to the trans experience, I can indeed speak to the experience of inhabiting a fat body. And this AU….spoke to me. I don’t want to spoil too much but there is a rather emotional scene that just...confronts everything I wanted Square to confront about this that they never did. He approaches the topic with so much sensitivity and nuance, something that is so rarely seen in fandom.

I’ve talked with Liam every day since, and my brain has consistently been enlarged. A lot of things I let slide before...felt so egregious to me that I had to say them. I’ve been confronting my own internalized prejudices towards certain kinds of bodies all the time, and I am learning every day. He’s become a very dear friend of mine, and I care deeply about him.

This also came at I guess you could say the “first climax” of my journey with weight loss, which I had never had success with despite the trauma I described in Part 4. I’ve lost...a significant amount of weight since March, and I think the reason I’ve had so much success is 1) the support of my friends (notably @nonbinary-recipehs, @pocket-prompto, and @chubbyargentum), and 2) not feeling like I hated myself anymore. I approached it as a journey to become more strong, not less fat. As I outlined in Part 4...Prompto’s Brotherhood episode and character backstory were and are legitimately triggering to me, and, I imagine, to many others. Liam had the confidence to put the content in the world that he wished to see, and this essay is helping me do the same.

Having other people who share your marginalized experiences and validate them...well, I’m sure many of you know. It’s a feeling like no other. And I’ve never really had this feeling explicitly about the experience of being fat until now. Now, I understand that my anger is in fact, righteous. And I am not afraid to say so. The power of shared experience motivated this essay and, in fact, everything that I do on this blog. I have come away from this AU with the bravery to say aloud what I have always known to be true.

So thank you, Liam. Thank you, big brain group. And thank you, readers, for listening to an experience that may or may not mirror your own, and for opening up your heart enough to hear the roughly 5000 words before this point. Thank you for making the effort to understand, and the effort to learn and grow.

TL;DR

I did promise to provide an easily digestible version of the…(checks word count) ~5000 words before this point, so here we go. The central thesis of this essay is something like “the way Prompto’s weight loss arc was portrayed in Brotherhood is horrendously fatphobic for a number of reasons.” I then broke it down into six major pieces: the first four being the fact that weight loss is treated as moral by the narrative, the uncharacteristically dickish actions of Noctis, the fact that Prompto’s disorder is encouraged by other characters, and the out-of-universe triggering effects the story has. In the fifth piece, I outlined two alternative scenarios: one where Prompto doesn’t lose weight at all and remains fat, and one where he does lose weight but healthily so and fleshes out his character. In the final piece, I explained the motivation behind writing this essay, namely interacting with other fat fans like @chubbyargentum. I explained all of these points in great detail, being careful to stress that my issue with this isn’t any of the individual characters, but the bias that motivates the writing.

So...what now? Well, I’m not really sure. But this was something I really had to put into the world. I think it is important and necessary to speak up and criticize media that harms you. And you know what? Final Fantasy XV is still my favorite game. It is because I love it so much that I was motivated to write this, and by sharing it, I hope to contribute to a greater discussion about fatphobia in gaming, and in life.

#final fantasy xv #ffxv #tw fatphobia #tw eating disorders #prompto argentum #please be respectful with this one #i feel like this is an unpopular opinion #but it is incredibly necessary that i say this #because it is something i believe #and because I don't want square to continue to get away with it #thank you for read #haley.exe #haley writes ffxv #haley has opinions #i'm preparing for so much hate

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curestardust · 3 years

Text

if you want: Slice-of-Life / Romance / cute amd kind of cheesy but also with some serious undertone? / KyoAni’s signature animation and art style

“Tamako Love Story” is basically what I expected the original anime “Tamako Market” to be and even though it’s not a genre I would usually watch I was quite satisfied with this movie.

With the exception of an about 30 second seen showing Dera, the fat talking bird from the source anime, the fantastical is completely removed from the story and it becomes a very normal, down to earth Slice-of-Life. Ironically, my dissatisfaction with “Tamako Market” actually boosted my enjoyment of this movie as they got rid of many of the stuff I didn’t like and focused on things I wished the original anime did. The movie can be watched very easily without having any prior knowledge of the source anime (which I’d describe as “in terms of development, we’ve no development”).

The movie focuses on the relationship between Tamako and Mochizou; the son and daughter of 2 “rival” mochi shops situated right in front of each other. Mochizou’s love for Tamako gets addressed in the original anime but in a very comical way and it doesn’t go anywhere.

I truly loved that Tamako is a very oblivious person who constantly daydreams and gets distracted, and has a hard time taking in serious matters and that very “cute female protagonist” personality of hers isn’t thrown out the window but tries to show what it’d be like for someone like her to have to face reality.

With High School ending, Mochizou will be leaving for Tokyo for University and finally decides to confess his feelings to Tamako. This takes up about 1/3 of the movie and the rest is Tamako’s internal struggle of trying to process both the more serious prospect of love and that the future is going to bring big changes which she needs to accept. Watching Tamako taking the tiniest steps towards trying to figure out how to face reality could be frustrating; it would’ve been for me as well usually but it was fascinating to me as her personality type in anime doesn’t really get taken seriously or given character development.

The rest of the cast don’t play much of a role besides Midori (who is also a very interesting character and it’s a shame her character isn’t explored more but it wouldn’t have fit into this movie). Their actions and words nudge Tamako forward in her story. The ending was quite nice and sweet.

Of course, KyoAni’s signature style of animation brings a lot to the enjoyment of the movie as well. The colours could’ve used more variety but the more muted pallette does fit this genre more and the more colourful scenes do feel more impactful as they’re usually used for more emotional scenes. The switching between still frames and that KyoAni “handheld camera recorder shakiness” are used well to keep the attention and create a more alive looking world.

To wrap up, it was very nice and I’d definitely recommend this to people who like cheesy and cute SoL romance. Avoid the source anime though. It sucks.

[8/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

#dusty reviews #Tamako Love Story #tamako market

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tbr-agency · 4 years

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close to me.

“You’re here with me, so everything is going to be okay. I promise you.”

⤷ Yeonji showed up in front of Youngjae’s apartment with plasters on her face ; with an obvious state that she was injured.

timeline ⟶ April 2020

characters : Kim Yeonji (𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐘 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐒), Choi Youngjae (Got7), mention of Park Jowoon of 𝐂𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐌

warning ⟶ mention of violence, physical violence

“What!?! Why didn’t you call any of us?! And where the hell are you!?!”

Yeonji knew that she would be yelled at as soon as she called Eunhee.

As soon as she tried to frown, she winced due to the pain on her eyebrows.

“I’m driving to Youngjae’s apartment.”

“WHAT!? You’re talking and driving!?!”

“Eunhee! Can you not... yell at me?” Yeonji’s word that came out as a yell turned soft as she was about to cry but she decided to hold it since she was driving.

There was silence on the other side of the phone for about 2 minutes, as it follows by a deep sigh.

“I’m sorry. I’m just worried. But seriously, Yeonji. How bad did you hurt yourself and how is your mother and siblings?”

“I’m fine. I took my mother and my siblings to my apartment that was just located behind the MMG building.” answered Yeonji, her eyes were focused on the road as bit her inner lip - forcing herself not to cry.

“How did he even get out of jail? Did someone bail him out?”

“I don’t know, Eunhee. But all I know is that he is coming for my siblings.” answered Yeonji bluntly.

Knowing how Eunhee is, Yeonji could predict that the older one was on her laptop and of course on her other phone that was meant for work, typing on what Yeonji had told her.

Apparently, Yeonji received a call from her mother and siblings which is very rare. Yeonji had told her mother that she could only call her - with a specific phone number, when there is an emergency.

As soon as she answered the phone call, she could hear her mother’s loud sobbing and what is more disturbing is that there were screaming and yelling coming from a deep voice.

Yeonji knew who it was and she immediately dropped whatever work she was doing and she drove to her mother’s house, to see the whole place being messed up.

She was worried for her mother and siblings and thank god that they were fine since they were trapped themselves in a room.

Yeonji wasn’t surprised by who the man was, it was indeed her father.

After 5 years being locked up in prison for ‘accidentally’ killing someone - which is obviously a ridiculous lie, he was somehow released.

It was just a day after he was released and he decided to show up, unwelcome.

Yeonji was clever enough to call for back-up, which is calling one of the Code M members since they work closely with the police and NIS.

“You do know that it is a crime to barge into someone’s house, right?”

“What are you talking about? This is my house,”

“Not anymore. This house is under my mother's name.”

“Whatever. I want to take back my son and daughter.”

“Sadly, they are under mother’s care too.”

With that, Yeonji was being tackled down but somehow she managed to hold herself back knowing the rules.

She can’t touch the suspect in order to prove herself that she is not guilty.

She admits that the punches that her father gave her hurt a little, but what hurts her the most for her is that her own father didn’t hesitate to physically attack her.It took a while for Code M members to come and as soon as they arrived at the scene.

Yeonji’s mind was only focused on her mother and her siblings - to see them hiding in the corner and as soon as she saw them, Yeonji immediately hugged them.

She could tell that they were traumatized.

Yeonji wanted to leave immediately.

“Yeonji! Where are you-

One of the Code M members, Park Joowon, grabbed her wrist as she was about to leave since she had made statements to the investigators and officers.

“I need to get my mother and siblings somewhere safe. I have to-

“Yeonji. You should get your wounds—

“I don’t care, Joowon! Let me go already and just help me settle with the crime scene, please.”

He could tell that Yeonji was on the verge to just let it all out, seeing how devastated she is but knowing how Yeonji is, she decided to keep a strong wall.Joowon raised an eyebrow.

“I won’t let you go unless you treat your wounds first, then I will allow you to leave.”

Yeonji as well as her mother and her siblings were being treated before they could leave.

Words cannot describe how thankful she is to Joowon and his team.

“Woah.. He came and rescued you? I’m hurt, you didn’t even call us.”

There was a hint of tease coming from Eunhee’s voice, knowing she was trying to cheer Yeonji. With a slight chuckle coming from Yeonji, she noticed a familiar apartment building.

“I got to go. I’ll do the reports tomorrow.”

“I’ll help you, Yeonji. Don’t worry. You just need to drop by MMG to sign the documents and you can go home. Take care of yourself.”

“Thank you. I’ll call you tomorrow,”

With that, Yeonji ended the call as her gaze fell towards the apartment building.

“Coco, it’s past midnight. Why aren’t you asleep?” Youngjae stared towards the Maltese who was wagging its tail near his bedroom.

Youngjae was peacefully looking through his phone since he can’t sleep.

Well, not just that. He was worried for his girlfriend that was known to be his bodyguard.

Knowing her line of work very well - since Yeonji tells him everything, Youngjae was aware of her schedules.

But what made Youngjae sometimes worry sick is how Yeonji updates him.

She does update him on her every move - not everything, but there were days she wouldn’t even give him a heads up.

It’s been a day and he didn’t receive any text or calls from her - though they promised to update each other no matter how busy they were.

Youngjae turned towards the clock, letting out a soft sigh as he finally stood up, walking towards Coco.

As he was about to lift her up, the doorbell rang causing Youngjae to jump slightly.

Youngjae’s eyes turned towards Coco as she was already looking at him, as if they shared the same mind.

Coco ran towards the door, sniffing the door as she began wagging her tail 2 times as fast as previously, indicating that she was really happy.

Coco kept looking towards Youngjae then towards the door.

Seeing her owner didn’t even budge due to the fact that he was scared and he was overthinking, Coco started to bark causing Youngjae to be on his feet - running towards Coco.

“Yah! Shh! Coco! Stop barking—

Youngjae’s words were cut off as he decided to look at the camera that could be seen who was standing outside the door to reveal the one he had been expecting to call him.

He immediately ran towards the door to personally open the door.

“Yeonji! Why didn’t- What...” Youngjae’s words trailed off as soon as he saw Yeonji’s condition.

As his eyes moved towards her eyes, he could see that there were clouds of tears on her eyes.

“Can I crash at your place tonight?”

Youngjae’s eyes slightly turned towards the living room, to see Yeonji playing with Coco.

But somehow, Coco was laying on her lap - it was as if Coco was sad seeing - her head was laying on Yeonji’s lap.

As soon as Youngjae escorted Yeonji into his apartment, he could sense that something went wrong - seeing Yeonji avoiding his gaze, which was weird.

“What happened? Is it about your recent case?” Youngjae questioned softly, handing her a cup of water since Yeonji specifically asks him for it.

Youngjae could see both of her knuckles were deeply bruised that he could describe the color perfectly as Yeonji’s hand was shaking.

Seeing her state, Youngjae supported her hand, causing her to look towards him.

“Thank you,” muttered Yeonji softly, earning a sad smile from Youngjae as he helped her raise the cup as she drinks.

Yeonji’s eyes moved towards him then towards Coco who was quietly watching her and with just an eye contact - the tears that Yeonji was holding suddenly came out which made Youngjae to feel flustered, same goes to Coco as the Maltese were already on her 4 feet.

Youngjae scooted nearer towards her, him slightly hugging her - and it made Yeonji to start sobbing as she threw herself towards him, tightly hugging him.

She didn’t want him to see her in this state - her worse and unprofessional state.

Youngjae could feel his heart broken into pieces, feeling her body shaking knowing that it was due to fear.

His hand automatically landed on her head, gently caressing her hair.

For about 15 minutes, they were in the same position with Youngjae calming her down with words 'It's okay, I’m here’ ‘Let it all out, baby’ - and after he managed to calm her down, feeling her body starting to relax, Youngjae slowly let go of her.

His eyes turned towards hers, seeing Yeonji trying to avoid his eye contact - making Youngjae to frown slightly.

Did something happen?

Did JYP say something to her?

“I’m sorry for coming here in the middle of the night. It’s too far for me to go back to the shared house.” Yeonji voiced out as she was wiping her tears away, followed by a slight chuckle from her.

“I feel like a loser - crying in front of you.” added Yeonji as she finally looked towards Youngjae who was shaking his head.

“No, you’re not. I’m happy that you cried in front of me - I mean, I’ve never seen you cry before and you look... pretty.. for someone who is crying...” Youngjae muttered the last part but Yeonji heard him clearly - her hands immediately went towards his body tickling him down.

“Are you trying to cheer me up with a lie!?”

“No! It’s- Yah! How did you know- Stop!” Youngjae was laughing out loud, feeling Yeonji tickling his ticklish body parts - causing Yeonji to giggle.

“Okay, I’ll stop.” Yeonji calmed down, seeing Youngjae suffering as he tried to regain his posture back.

“Well, you cheered me up alright.” said Yeonji with a smile, turning towards Youngjae.

He could only ruffle her hair but there were so many questions he wanted to ask her.

“It’s unfair for you if I didn’t tell you what happened so hear me out first okay?” Yeonji scooted nearer towards him, while holding his hands for comfort because she knew she was going to shake in fear.

“I received a call from my mother and I knew what happened as soon as I answered the call. I could hear my siblings crying in the background and the sound of glass shattering here and there. My father - I don’t know if he was released or bailed out from jail, he barged into the house, unwelcome and he wants my siblings.” explained Yeonji slowly, she could hear her own voice shaking - even Youngjae could hear it and that made him tighten the grip on her hand.

“The good thing is that my mother remembered what I told her if the worst case scenario happened - which is this. They lock themselves in the room. Moving on to how I got bruises on my hands and face when my father attacked me.” added Yeonji, her eyes fell towards Youngjae’s - seeing his eyes turned wide.

“What!?” Youngjae exclaimed.

He couldn’t describe his own feelings.

There was a mixture of anger and confusion.

Why would a father attack his own daughter?

At the same time he was worried for her well-being.

He knows a man’s physical strength.

“I can’t fight him back, knowing the rules if you want to prove yourself not guilty.” added Yeonji as she said softly.

“How’s your mother and your siblings?” questioned Youngjae with a worrying tone.

“They are fine, I brought them to my apartment that has high security since I owned the apartment,” answered Yeonji with a slight smirk.

Youngjae smiled a little, his hands caressing her hair.

“Those the other noonas know about this?”

“I called Eunhee but by now, I think all of them would know. I told her that I would be staying the night here.”

Youngjae nodded - agreeing that she should stay here since his older brother and his sister-in-law were aware of Yeonji being his bodyguard and his girlfriend.

“Come here,” Youngjae muttered shyly as his hands landed onto the back of hers, gently pushing her towards his chest as Youngjae somehow made her into a cuddling position.

“I’m honestly worried for you, Yeonji-ah. I really do. The whole day - I was waiting for you, worrying why didn’t you give me a call or a text, and to see you here in this state breaks my heart. It even shattered my heart after hearing your situation. I’m sorry for not being there with you.”

Though Yeonji couldn’t see Youngjae’s expression since her head was laying on his chest - facing to the front, she could imagine his face looking sad and just down, also by hearing his voice in disappointment and just pure sadness.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to apologize. It was no one’s fault anyway - and what do you mean you’re sorry for not being there with me!? Do you want to get punched by my father!? Are you crazy?! I don’t even want to be there with him but.. my mother and my siblings are in danger so..” Yeonji trailed off in the end, her face turning towards him.

Youngjae looked down towards her, pecking a kiss on her forehead with a soft smile.

“You’re here with me, so everything is going to be okay. I promise you.” added Youngjae, holding onto her tightly as he placed his chin on top of his head.

masterlist : Got7 Bodyguard Au

#got7 scenarios #got7 imagines #got7 youngjae scenarios #got7 youngjae imagines #got7 #choi youngjae

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allaboutjoongi · 4 years

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(ENG) LEE JOON GI - THE STAR MAGAZINE INTERVIEW 2020 July

Romantic trip to an unfamiliar place with actor Lee Joongi. True story.

He’s back. Lee Joongi is right here in front of us after a 2-year hiatus, with drama <Flower of Evil>. He whispers like a midsummer’s ‘love rain,’ sounding brighter and more cheerful than ever.

Q. It has been 6 months since our trip to Macau last January for the photoshoot. How have you been?

JG – After I got back to Korea following the wrap of the photoshoot, I started filming my drama <Flower of Evil> in March and have been focusing on it since. Once I get started on a new project, I usually concentrate fully and only on the filming, so I have not done any other particular activity. Also, due to COVID-19 that has caused so many people pain and sadness around the world, I also lived a limited life early this year, avoiding outdoor activities as much as possible. I hope everyone can get back to the enriching and free life we used to live as soon as possible. Everyone, please cheer up and protect your health!

Q. What was your most memorable moment during the Macau photoshoot trip?

JG – The shoots we did at tourist attractions in Macau are the most memorable. The gorgeous landscapes and pieces of architecture in Macau, and the moments I had with my staff at those famous tourist attractions have now become precious memories; it is as if I had been on a vacation trip. On the last day of the trip, in particular, the night view of Macau I saw while driving around was so beautiful. I was disappointed that my camera could not capture the beautiful view just as I saw with the naked eye, though. If I have the opportunity to go back next time, I would like to feel and experience more various sides to Macau. Once again, I thank the production staff for presenting me with such a happy trip.

Q. As soon as you got back from the photoshoot trip, you started focusing on drama <Flower of Evil>. Now it is soon to premiere in July. How do you feel about it?

JG – Last year, for the first time ever, I failed to meet my goal that I would do at least one project a year. Since this is the project I am presenting to viewers and my fans after a two-year hiatus, I feel excited more than anything. Of course, I’m feeling pressure as well. So nowadays, I feel immensely excited and satisfied that I get to do my job as an actor; take on new challenges; and create a harmonious workplace on set as I’m at the center [of the workplace] while enjoying myself thoroughly on set. Of course, I cannot guarantee what the result might be, but I try not to worry too much about the result. Instead, I try to enjoy the process thoroughly as it is now, and turn it into a new, nourishing experience. I will keep running that way and finish the race beautifully. After that, I will start preparing for something new. Please show big support and I hope you enjoy the drama.

Q. Can you give us a brief description of the drama and the character you’re playing?

JG – As the tagline ‘Cruel truth that shakes perfect trust’ suggests, this is a story of love and truth about a married couple who have loved each other for 14 years. Its genre is defined as ‘suspense melodrama,’ and I think the continuity and originality of unpredictable situations in the story are among this drama’s strengths. ‘Baek Heesung’ is a man who even fakes love, and ‘Cha Jiwon’ faces the truth she wants to avoid as she begins to doubt who her husband really is, even though she still loves him. I think it will be quite fun to feel those intense, dense emotions between these two people. I play Baek Heesung, who could not be a more devoted and loving husband and father to my wife Cha Jiwon and daughter ‘Eunha,’ but lives with the secrets of his cruel past.

Q. We looked up the net and found the synopsis of drama <Flower of Evil> that describes it as an intense emotional chase thriller about two people (Lee Joongi, Moon Chaewon). We are very curious about what actor Lee Joongi will show us that we have not seen before in this original genre, ‘emotional chase thriller.’

JG – When I first read the script, I also found the complex and nuanced emotions created by the situations [in the story] to be very interesting. But I also honestly felt a great deal of pressure, thinking, as an actor, the process of expressing and portraying those emotions would be extremely difficult. In fact, the more I read the script, the more I worried and kept asking myself, ‘Can I really do a good job of expressing [those emotions] in this drama?’ It definitely was not an easy decision to make to do this project. Still, what’s so appealing about it is that I get to take on another, different challenge as an actor. As an actor, I did not want to miss the fun of building this character in the drama with depth and delicacy. So now, I am continuously thinking hard and creating so that viewers can find the drama interesting and enjoy the drama as much as possible.

Q. This is your second time working with Moon Chaewon since <Criminal Minds>. What is it like to perform opposite her?

JG – I was happy to reunite with Chaewon in this project after so long. In fact, during the filming of <Criminal Minds>, we talked about it several times, “It’s a bummer we cannot show people melodrama. I really wonder what kind of chemistry we could create if we play people who love each other in a project.” I am happy those wishes came true so soon. Also, we met again in a unique genre, ‘suspense melodrama,’ not an ordinary melodrama. So we are focusing on how the story of these two people will be told. Chaewon is quiet, calm, and very focused when she acts. On the other hand, I’m cheerful and full of energy even when I act. That’s why I think there has been a lot that we can smooth over and complement and help each other out with when we act together. We are having a lot of talk and working together on creating a great drama.

Q. We also noticed you made changes to your appearance for this drama, such as the long bangs. Is there anything you’ve paid extra attention to?

JG – Because this is a man who has lived his life hiding his emotions, I am paying particular attention to details in my facial expressions, movements, and breathing. For instance, I’m deliberately keeping my bangs long at the beginning of the drama so I can hide my facial expressions as much as possible. In this drama, I am making as many various attempts as possible, carefully calculating my reactions to different characters, ways of expression, and emotions. Because I think those kind of things can help create a three-dimensional portrayal of Baek Heesung in both past and present versions of him.

Q. We were impressed by Lee Joongi overflowing with energy on set in the production behind-the-scenes of <Flower of Evil>. In his commentary, director Kim Chul-gyu pointed out that one of the things to look out for in this drama is Lee Joongi playing the exact opposite of his cheerful self in real life. We found that quite funny.

JG – As an actor, that kind of thing is a huge pleasure and fun. There are many different types of actors, but for me, I think of the set as both a cheerful playground and a sacred stage and derive energy from being in there. At the same time, I try to share the positive energy I have with the people I work with, and present them with happy memories. That’s why once my work gets released, people find it really interesting how I created a character that is completely different from Lee Joongi on set. I am also so thrilled by how such a difference can be so charming. (Laughs) As a viewer myself, I am also very excited and can’t wait to see what I look like in this new project.

Q. What are the things that Lee Joongi thinks we should look out for in this drama?

JG – I think the things to look out for in this drama are the diverse emotions that this married couple—who have so loved each other—feel as they face the cruel truth together they want to avoid, and the amplitude of those emotions. The psychological depictions of those individual characters are also an important part of the drama. I think it will be a very appealing drama, where viewers find fun in getting immersed and following the story.

Q. What is your biggest concern during the filming nowadays?

JG – My biggest concern is how I can best convey the strengths of this drama and my character’s emotional flow to viewers. For each project I work on, these are the kind of things I find difficult. In this drama, particularly, I have to express the difficult and unfamiliar emotions I feel in this loving relationship as well as hiding those emotions. So I am working very hard to find those details.

Q. The weather has turned so hot all of a sudden. Do you have any special tips for getting through a heatwave on set?

JG – Throughout the various works I have done, I have experienced everything, from very difficult action scenes in extreme heat, to wearing all sorts of costumes, and to a whole package of hardships like running through mountains and fields. So now, I feel even happy just to be able to work in the middle of the city. (Laughs) I believe that, no matter what I do, it is ultimately the mind that dominates the body. So I practice self-control and will myself to create a fun and happy workplace on set. When I do that, I can create positive energy no matter what environment I am in. And I think that energy is spread like a “happy virus” to all members of the crew around me. Of course, I also make sure to take red ginseng regularly to stay healthy. (Laughs)

Q. You look happy working so hard on such a great project. We checked back and found out that it’s been a year and a half since you last appeared on the small screen. Are you happy nowadays?

JG – It is an extremely thrilling and valuable experience that I get to work with so many members of the crew on set through this new project and stick together throughout the creative process. I know I could not bring back these times ever again. That is exactly why I am always having fun and happy on set. Of course, I have this huge sense of responsibility that my work should receive positive reviews and I should produce a great result. So it may not be fun all the time, but I am happily accepting all of that. Until the very end, I will do the best I can, have fun, and finish this race happily. Please show your support and pray that this will turn out to be another great work.

Q. Many younger (hubae; junior) actors have singled Lee Joongi out as their role model. Is there any advice you would like to give them?

JG – I think my greatest strength as actor Lee Joongi is ‘energy.’ Nowadays, we do not communicate as much during the drama-making process, I see lots of actors stressing over personal responsibilities. However, I think your sense of pride and sincerity as an actor can only be built when everyone works together within the community. I hope [hubae actors] share their worries and what stresses them out with other members of the community on set, while enjoying the sense of responsibility that comes with it. I think an actor is an agent who carries really positive energy, and that such energy can have a much more positive influence than you think.

Q. We know it is too early to ask, but what are your plans once you have finished this great race of <Flower of Evil> you’ve been running so far?

JG – I spent the past year thinking too much about choosing a project based on a strict set of standards, so I felt frustrated idling away that valuable time. Certainly, I somehow filled some of that time by having rest, but now, I want to stay connected to my fans through various, great projects. Also, when I do take a break in between projects, I want to try some various, new kinds of content in order to interact with the fans. This year, it is not just me but so many people are suffering because of COVID-19. So I hope I can somehow offer those people some fun and happiness by making a great drama.

Q. What brings Lee Joongi joy nowadays?

JG – Of course, it is the set where I get to try and create a variety of things and work with so many people. Drinking a delicious glass of beer also makes me really happy when I get back home after doing my best on set. (Laughs)

Q. Do you have tips for enjoying a summer night you can share? Or do you have any recommendations to your fans?

JG – I don’t have that many tips. I love horror movies, so I love watching chilling movies very much while drinking a glass of cold beer. Recently, I learned to enjoy drinking alone, so that’s how I enjoy my summer nights. I know it sounds a bit cliché, though. (Laughs)

Q. Do you still practice jiu jitsu? What do you think makes jiu jitsu so attractive?

JG – Nowadays, I have drama filming to do and there have been a lot of restrictions, so it is frustrating that I cannot go to the gym as often as I did before. The charm of jiu jitsu lies in the fact that I get to train and evolve alongside people who lead such diverse lives. Also, another great thing about it is that you learn to be courteous and considerate to your opponents and learn their movements and reactions during exercises. It has already been over two years and a half since I first started practicing jiu jitsu. I still practice hard and always stay focused during practice. (Laughs)

Q. Is there anything you definitely want to do before this year ends?

JG – I want to meet my fans, laugh, scream, and have fun together. But we are now in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis, so we should be a bit more patient and wait for the sake of everyone’s safety. I hope we all come together to overcome this crisis wisely as soon as possible, so we can get back to the happy days we once enjoyed. I hope my wish to meet with my fans comes true as soon as possible.

Q. Lastly, is there anything you want to say to your fans and the readers of <The Star>?

JG – Thank you for always sending me unwavering and generous support and love. I will always do the best I can to be a great actor who presents you with happiness through great projects. I pray that you always take care of your health and your home is filled with blessings. Until the day we meet again, please stay healthy and happy. Thank you!

#lee joon gi #lee jun ki #이준기 #the star magazine

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