#but honestly really funny that people have this whimsical idea of what living in the countryside is like | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

agentnico · 1 year

Text

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022) Review

I will never look at a tennis ball the same way again.

Plot: Marcel, a 1-inch-tall shell, lives with his grandmother, Connie, the only residents of their town after their neighbours' sudden, mysterious disappearance. When discovered by a guest amongst the clutter of his Airbnb, the short film he posts online brings Marcel millions of passionate fans and a new hope of reuniting with his long-lost family.

What we have ourselves here, my dear ladies and gentlemen, is a rare movie that proves that social media and the internet can actually be used for good. I know right, baffling that is. We constantly hear tales of cyber-bullying and people using the online as a space to take advantage of something or mislead or in one or other way cause a negative impact. In comes Marcel the very male mollusc shell, voiced by a very female Jenny Slate, to bring us all together as a community of online users and help find his family that he had lost. I am going to straight up go and say it - Marcel is fricking cute! This tiny little shell with very bright pink shoes and one singular googly eye has such an innocent yet overly positive outlook on anything and all, and very much is a character that exists solely to appreciate the good in the little things.

This comes to us from A24, a production company notably known for it’s horror movies, however recently they’ve been branching out more with exploring the multiverse earlier this year in Everything Everywhere All at Once, and now offering their most kid-friendly outing yet with Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, that originated from a couple of short films that came out on YouTube in the early 2010s, and were an online sensation with the first short hitting 33 million views. Look, as someone who probably only has about two or three actual readers on this blog, I can say that 33M is a pretty impressive number. What does a shell have that I don’t? I have a positive outlook on everything. I mean, yep, I critique films and knit-pick them, but I do it with a happy tone! Just don’t read my reviews for Thor: Love & Thunder and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Anyway, setting my jealousy of Marcel’s online viewership aside, this feature length reimagining of those short film is whimsical, bittersweet, hilarious and surprisingly heartfelt. As my fiancée put it “how can this film be so deep yet shallow at the same time?”. For yes, what we’re watching is a stop-motion animated mollusc going about it’s day and showing us it’s life and hobbies, yet somehow this movie manages to touch upon some very deeply emotional subjects, ones that may really pull on one’s heartstrings.

This film is extremely funny yet utterly delightful. Seeing Marcel use everyday human objects in very creative ways is a cause for some very amusing slapstick comedy, but also Marcel himself is a cause of humour due to his naïve awkward outlook on things. Also Isabella Rossellini plays Marcel’s grandmother, and she brings that loving motherly energy that makes for their family dynamic to be very sweet. Sweet until that is the movie turns deep all of a sudden, and then you’re just there balling your eyes out wondering how in the hell these molluscs have managed to give you the feels. Honestly, this movie goes to some dark places, but also it never hides away from it’s true narrative purpose, and that is the idea of family and coming together as a community for a common cause. It’s powerful stuff. Yes, very powerful stuff in this little stop-motion comedy animation about a shell with shoes on. What can I say, these days anything can be turned into a movie. Only here it works adorable wonders. This movie is like a big cinematic hug. As Marcel puts it “Guess why I smile a lot? Uh, cause it’s worth it.” Touché Marcel, touché.

Overall score: 8/10

1 note · View note

kinetic-elaboration · 3 years

Text

August 15: 2x03 The Paradise Syndrome

I have seen this episode once before and I remember it being pretty awful... but tbh, I didn’t think it was so bad this time around. Maybe that’s just because my expectations were, like, Spock’s-Brain low. It definitely had issues but there was stuff I liked too!

Hmmm, that’s not the bridge. It appears to be... California?

Wondering what people might be so “blessed by this environment”--what a manly he-man action/adventure guy thing to say, amirite?

How does Spock know the significant markers of all the Native American tribes at a distance, off the top of his head?

(Answer: he doesn’t; all of this information is wrong and also one of those tribes is completely made up lmao.)

Honestly, who’s to say these people aren’t advanced? How do YOU know?

“Just so peaceful... no command decisions.” Oh no, Jim’s feeling Romantic again.

Honestly, imagine this characterization in AOS: overworked starship captain think he wants a break (but is wrong). Beyond made a vague attempt but missed what it is that Kirk finds stressful about command--it’s not that it’s boring, it’s the weight of the responsibility and the inability to find love.

Although funnily enough, even on his Native American Vacation, he still finds himself in a command position. He just can’t be stopped. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Oh no, the obelisk ate him.

Maybe these people specifically built the obelisk so that they could return to this idyllic ““primitive”“ state, hmm? Maybe they like their lives this way. Maybe they experienced "progress" and then decided that whatever era of their development looked like indigenous American peoples had it right. (This is not correct but it roughly is the plot of Errand of Mercy so I’m not without precedent.)

Spock’s using simple tools to explain his point to Bones lol. “Here, let me dumb it down for you, lesser man of science.”

“Who am I? What are these?” Cpine morning voice: “This must be a dream!”

Kirk looks so confused. The god from the obelisk.

“The engines are showing signs of stress.” Seems to me like SCOTTY’S showing signs of stress.

And yet the music is so whimsical.

Honestly Kirk’s expression here = Denny Crane’s when in a meeting

White man brings CPR, is hailed as god. (I wish I were making this up.)

Damn, Salish has been demoted. How embarrassing for him.

This is a VERY interesting Spock. He does all his calculations, but the he takes all the risks. He’s very certain and single-minded, almost obsessed, not afraid of anything. I think it’s IC but I also think you can see some Kirk influence, perhaps... You can see how Spock has grown in his command abilities since The Galileo Seven.

The wise ones = the aliens.

“He died before he could tell Salish the secret” to opening the Obelisk and stopping the asteroid. That IS unfortunate.

“How does this shirt open?” Lol.

“Your name is Kirok?” “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

“I’ve never been this happy and peaceful.” Funny how he looks neither happy nor peaceful. Maybe it’s something like “I’ve never been this happy and peaceful...and I don’t like it.” Or “I’ve never been this happy and peaceful... there must be something wrong.”

“Here there is much time. For everything.” No there isn’t, there’s an asteroid coming.

Kirk’s cottage core fantasy.

Poor Scotty, so stressed out. Maybe he needs some time with the indigenous aliens.

The Joining Day? Lol okay.

Kirk has no chill, at all. “Oh, you want to get married? Tomorrow? Okay!!” Is this how Gary was able to successfully distract with him the blonde lab technician?

The “stardrive.”

“Estimated repair time?” “FOREVER.”

“And you lost Jim.” Cool it Bones, there’s no need to be cruel. Spock’s already in his thinking pose so you know he’s taking this seriously.

Love Spock’s chair. That’s not Starfleet regulation.

“I have found paradise.” Is he high??

Requisite highly choreographed fight scene.

“You’ve barely eaten or slept for weeks.” That’s because he’s worried about Jim. And the giant asteroid. This is a great Spock and McCoy scene though.

I can’t believe this. Spock lies down (barely!) and McCoy just leaves like he actually thinks he’s won, and then Spock immediately gets up again to go back to work.This guy is even easier to fool than Sarek.

You know Spock spent his whole adolescence going "Sure, I'll do the thing" and then just not doing it.

“A strange lodge that moves through the sky...” Well okay.

Okay I’m sorry, is he sensing the enterprise or is he sensing SPOCK? Because most of this dialogue might just imply he’s generically remembering his old life... but he also specifically says that the “flying lodge” was farther away and now it’s closer again, and how he could he know that otherwise?

She’s pregnant? That’s not good lol. AWKWARD.

Also the closest that TOS will ever come to acknowledging people have sex.

Omg he made a lamp. He made a lamp on his first day there. Does this imply that Captain Kirk had an arts and crafts phase?? Like CPR I understand him knowing--I’m sure everyone in Starfleet does. But hand-carving a lamp? That’s a whole other skill.

Various cultures including “certain Vulcan offshoots” use music notes as words omgggggg I love this information PLEASE tell me more.

“The Preservers” is a good concept imo. Nifty sci fi innovation: taking aliens from endangered places and giving them a new place, then setting it up nicely for them.

Stop throwing things guys! It’s not helping!

“I need Nurse Chapel.” Damn right you do.

Spock really doesn’t like that “wife.” He sounds like “Wife?? How dare??”

Then he suggests it’s a hallucination even though there’s a woman right there.

"Naturally, since he did not come from there. He's my man, get your paws off him."

Vulcan mind fusion? What the heck is that? How is it season 3 and they still don’t know what to call it?

“He is an extremely dynamic individual.” Spock was really taken for a ride in that brain.

“The landing party is expendable.” There’s the Captain.

“I have an excellent eye for musical notes.” Brag.

“Just press the right button.”

Looks like Spock was the god they wanted all along.

Okay, that was an uncool ending though. I know they basically had to kill Miramanee as soon as she was pregnant but like, there was also no reason for her to be pregnant??? I would have preferred if (1) Miramanee hadn't been pregnant, (2) Jim got over her as soon as he regained his memory and (3) she lived and they just parted awkwardly.

Also I think it would have been nice if they had ended with the Enterprise explaining to Salish how the obelisk works, and then maybe even a hint that he and Miramanee will get back together. Like, maybe not that, since I’m not a fan of women just being used to, like, make men feel better--though I’m also not a fan of them being fridged because of Inconvenient Baby--but he should have at least gotten his position back and, more importantly, the knowledge he was always entitled to. Also, the very existence of an asteroid deflector, along with the people’s extensive knowledge of what weather signifies Oncoming Asteroid, implies this happens to them with some frequency. So in other words, the threat will return.

Plus Salish never got enough credit for being right, which he was! The whole time!

Oh and also I would have liked some acknowledgement that Jim does like being Captain. If you watch the whole show, you know that he occasionally bemoans the stress and his inability to maintain a romantic relationship, despite his love of long walks on the beach, but that he’s also ambitious, he loves exploration and adventure, he gets bored if left in one place too long, and he believes in the necessity of progress and discovery to keep not just individuals but societies from stagnation. But if you just watched this episode, you’d think he’d never been happy in his entire life, and that returning to command makes him miserable.

Aside from the Native American stuff--which was awkward and rather unnecessary and has aged, as you might imagine, very very poorly--I actually didn’t hate the episode. It had some VERY interesting Spock stuff, which I think is within a reasonable Spock characterization, and some great Spock and Bones moments. Kirk’s story line was surprisingly engaging for him being completely separate from the crew, and the general theme that he sometimes needs, or thinks he desires, a break from command, is definitely in keeping with other episodes. I liked the asteroid as the Big Danger, which was surprisingly dynamic--by which I mean, it did a good job of connecting the very disparate story lines on the Enterprise and on the planet. I also liked the Sci Fi Concept of the week in the Protectors. And it was interesting to see an ep take place over a longer period of time.

None of this is to downplay how awkward the Native American elements are--incredibly fetishistic, and also lazy--like, “I want to show something Simple and Idyllic...I know! Indians!” There was no reason they should look like American Indians. In fact, it makes no sense that they do: the Protectors take peoples from planets that are about to be destroyed and (somehow) discreetly move them somewhere else, but Native American peoples still.... very much exist? And so does Earth as a whole. So obviously these aliens weren’t transplanted from Earth. So why should their culture resemble some awkward mishmash of Native American cultures?

So overall I’d say, the ideas of the episode, the structure, the characterizations (mostly), and the overall ideas were good, but it was just very awkward and unfortunate that it chose the... aesthetic that it did--especially because it was very much an aesthetic choice and not a well-thought-out, culturally sensitive one. Gonna be honest and just chalk that up to it being 1968 though.

Next is And the Children Shall Lead, which I actually think was one of the first TOS eps I ever saw... But I don’t remember it at all. So we’ll see!

#the year 2021 #2021: star trek #star trek tos #2021: fandom thoughts

3 notes · View notes

traumagician · 4 years

Note

When you get back from watching cats, tell us your thoughts!

Cats was, tragically, nowhere near as surreal and bizarre as the reviews led me to believe. I was expecting every second to be full of what-the-fuck fever dream nonsense, to be befuddled at every new occurrence, and this was just not the case. At least, not after the first twenty or so minutes. The first twenty to thirty minutes of the movie are, in fact, every bit as mindfuckingly strange as everybody says.

The sheer oddity of the CGI costumes—seriously, who the hell thought those were a good idea?—hit you like a cement truck during these early scenes. And that uncanniness is made even more jarring by the fact that pretty much all the horrific happenings you’ve read about in the other reviews occur in these same early scenes.

Yes, Cat Rebel Wilson eats a diminutive cockroach person—two of them, in fact—and scratches her ginger-furred cat crotch in awkward silence. Yes, there are horrifying dancing mice with the faces of vapid schoolchildren. Yes, the massively obese tuxedo cat who follows Wilson’s act comes dangerously close to sucking another cat’s toes onscreen. Yes, there are cringey cat puns and a neutering joke. And yes, Cat Idris Elba simply Thanos-snaps Cat Rebel Wilson off the screen, and we are all very glad to see her go, because she is fundamentally un-funny, and almost all of the aforementioned horrors are ENTIRELY HER FAULT.

But the thing is, almost all of this occurs in the first thirty minutes of the film. After that, it becomes a much more normal movie musical. The CG costumes are, of course, horrifying, and they continue to be horrifying throughout the film. But after those first thirty minutes, you become pretty inured to the horror of it all and begin to accept that that’s just how the unfortunate creatures in this world look. You eventually stop noticing it in the same way you eventually stop noticing the hairy mole on your Auntie Edna’s neck. You start to pay more attention to TS Eliot’s nimble poetry and to the dancing, which would honestly be pretty cool if they didn’t slap so many unnecessary CG effects over absolutely everything. You start to see that if they had only done REGULAR NON-DIGITAL COSTUMES and not hired Rebel fucking Wilson, this may have actually been a fun and whimsical movie.

Your mercifully-acquired blindness all goes away, of course, the instant Cat Idris Elba sheds his overcoat, revealing that the CG people did not bother to give him fur, instead opting to simply oil him up for maximum glister, give him a tail that sprouts unnaturally from his gleaming muscular buttocks, and edit out his genitalia. Somehow, this is even more horrifying than if they had left his genitals ON. Everything awful about this movie—and there is an awful lot of awful about it—comes from one of two things (three if you count Rebel Wilson): the CGI, or their ill-fated attempt to surgically insert a plot into something that was never meant to be anything more than a collection of poems about cat personalities. (Or Rebel Wilson. Dear lord, Rebel Wilson.)

If this had been a simple anthology of TS Eliot poems performed to song and dance, that would have been fine. But the writers’ futile attempts to arrange it into an actual STORY, doomed it. This may well be the fault of the original musical writers rather than the movie writers—I’ve never seen the stage musical, so I can’t confirm this. But even so, it’s so glaring it needs to be addressed.

To answer a much-asked question, Cats does indeed have a plot, and it would be infinitely better off if it did not. The “plot”, such at is is, is this. All the singing cats want to die and be reincarnated into a new life—why do they want to die? They’ve just sung about how lovely and whimsical their current lives are, after all! This is never answered! But they do, for some reason, and they can’t do this unless Cat Judi Dench gives them permission. Crime lord Macavity, a.k.a. Cat Idris Elba inexplicably wants to die most of all, even though he is Idris Elba and a bitchin’ criminal mastermind and can Thanos-snap anyone he wants right out of his life. He is so determined to be chosen for reincarnation that he teleports every other cat who wants to die to a barge in the middle of the Thames. And when Cat Judi Dench refuses to let him die even though he is the last uncanny cat-man standing, he throws a fit and Thanos-snaps Cat Judi Dench into the Thames too.

The other cats are distraught at the loss of Cat Judi Dench and bully a magician cat, through a painfully-drawn out musical number wherein the chorus is sung about a thousand times, into literally waving a magic wand to bring her back—the laziest “plot” resolution ever. Upon her rescue, Cat Judi Dench then gives a very depressed cat (who has been ostracized from the start of the show for the grave crime of daring to briefly date Cat Idris Elba) permission to die, and the depressed fallen-woman cat ascends to the heavens in a bejeweled hot air balloon before evaporating, thus creating unfortunate implications that if you’ve been dumped by an ausive partner there’s nothing left for you to do except to die and hope that your next life is better, which is just a huge steaming pile of bullshit.

But despite the ill-advised CGI and the even more ill-advised plot (which is barely there and serves only to create a very bad taste in the mouth), it is still, at its heart, just a collection of rather delightful TS Eliot poems set to music, and if you ignore the abhorrent machinations of the writers and the effects department, you will be left with the poetry and the music and the dancing. And really, poetry and music and dancing are not such horrible things to be left with. 3/10, neither as bad nor as interesting as it could have been.

#cats #trau answers #life updates

39 notes · View notes

onestowatch · 4 years

Text

Boy Willows Drops Dreamy Music Video for "Fila" [Q&A]

Boy Willows, aka Landon Fleischman, makes music that offers a deep amalgamation of incandescent alt-pop, jubilant jazz, and psychedelic-tinged folk. Impeccably paired with sensory lyricism and passionate vocals, he delivers a hypnotic and singular resonance.

The LA-via-Maryland artist recently shared his new single "Fila" with Dylan Minnette of Wallows. On "Fila," Boy Willows stretches out to embrace relatable themes of vulnerability and healing both inwardly and outwardly without feeling overbearingly serious. "Fila" serves as a therapy session between two friends as they cope with being alone in different ways. Nestled in a warm and gentle soundscape, the sonic components are woven with nostalgia, charm, and a bit of whimsy. We caught up with Willows for a quick Q&A about the track and the equally nostalgic and whimsical music video directed by Boy Willows, shot by Seannie Bryan (Madeline Kenney, Skullcrusher) and edited by Jordan Pories.

Ones to Watch: This song, although short and sweet, seems to have a lot of complexity to it. It sounds like throughout the single, the main characters are grappling with feelings of loneliness and figuring out how to cope. What is this song about to you, and how did this song come to be?

Boy Willows: I think both verses deal with the thoughts that bubble up when you feel useless, small, or alone, but what I love about the song is there's a twinge of hope. My goal with Fila was to spur myself into believing that I could create my own reality of acceptance and momentum. I had been feeling isolated a while before the pandemic hit - on the perimeter looking in on other people's social circles or relationships or success. My hope was that by acknowledging these truths in a song, I could start to take up my own space, make my own club of acceptance per se.

What was the creative process like for the single? What made you want to go for this very ethereal sound, and were you inspired by anything in particular?

I worked on this super grand, minute-long glitchy harmony thing and pitched it down an octave (oooo). It was so soothing and slow and big, I started producing around it, and I felt like I was in a dream where I could say anything I wanted, no matter how heavy or light.

What are your thoughts on girls that wear Fila?

Haha, in short, they're cool. This song is truly a peek into all the thoughts that were swirling around my brain, making me feel alone - and one of those thoughts was about aging. I wish this wasn't the truth, but I was feeling fear about getting older. I wrote that line about Filas and didn't think much of it or even really understand why I wrote it until a couple nights ago. It's definitely a light-hearted observation about youth culture, but I think I wanted to poke fun at it cuz I felt like I wasn't a part of it for the first time - and that frightened me. It's insane that even that line was born out of the fear of being left out, but I'm pretty sure that's the true true.

I loved not only the sonic atmosphere you created, but also the story of you told through the lyrics. Do you have a favorite verse from this track or one that speaks to you? What is your approach when it comes to songwriting?

I just love how much the endings of each verse stick out - "I just feel like I don't deserve this life." It's a line you could interpret so many different ways, and each way would be true. When I'm working on a song, it starts with the music. I picture where it takes me, how fast I'm moving, if I feel cool or angry or defeated, and if I'm lucky, a phrase will fall out of my mouth that feels true, even if it doesn't make sense at first.

I think the music video does a great job of visualizing the lightheartedness of "Fila." What was the creative process like, and what was it like working with your team on the video?

There's this fucking incredible animated video called Satiemania from 1978 made by this Croatian animator, Zdenko Gašparović. In it, there's a delectable section where it's just different shoes walking in an impossibly groovy way. I wanted that tone of animation mixed with the camaraderie and fuckit-energy of The Pharcyde's "Drop" music video. I brought those ideas to my genius creative friend/ shaman, Jordan Pories, and we got to work, exploring the world of the song, trying to amplify and showcase everything in a dreamy, slow way. Seannie Bryan is a recent friend of mine and a killer DP. She captured the dreamy light perfectly. We rolled up to the spot at 6am. It was 90 degrees, and we knocked it out in an hour and a half, only stopping once because I was going to throw up from spinning.

Dylan Minette's voice perfectly compliments the laid back yet introspective vibe of the song, and it looked like y'all had a lot of fun doing the music video. What was working with him like, and how did he get involved with this single?

He and I go way back. We used to be in rival boy scout gangs. No, I do lighting for Wallows, and we met through that. One day on the tour bus, I was showing him some new tunes, one of which was "Fila." It was 35 seconds, and he said it needed to be longer, so I said, "hop on in." He added his verse, and we were OFF TO THE RACES. He's got a really strong creative compass and just knows what he likes. We finished the song in a couple days - fucking painless, dare I say, very enjoyable bordering on a lot of fun.

Tell me about Desert Mike. I feel like although rattlesnakes do deserve some love and I agree that the war between them and human beings is senseless, I'm not exactly in a rush to give them a pat on the head...Ok, but for real, tell me about this clip at the end. Is it an easter egg for a future single? In your last single, "i love it when you talk," you intercut the clips of you with film footage from the 80s and 90s. Is Desert Mike a Boy Willows creation or a relic from the past?

SHEESH, am I paying you?? because if not, then I SHOULD. The Boy Willows canon is a long, meandering labyrinth of characters that doesn't conform to traditional standards of "time" or "being funny" or "good. Desert Mike exists in all Boy Willows worlds, though, this much I can say. In the ILIWYT video, Desert Mike easily could have made a feature, and now I want to know who you've been talking to...your ability to connect the dots is...suspicious.

Has the pandemic effected you or inspired you as an artist? If so, how?

Really hot take comin at ya, I think the pandemic is not good. Bad even! I lost my job, so financially, I've been very inspired to survive haha. This isn't the sexiest answer, but the truth for me is, I put everything into my music but am also looking for a job - sometimes balancing those two things is really fucking hard. Instead of feeling inspired to write about my difficulties, I just want to solve them. So I'm really looking forward to landing a part-time gig as a call representative for Spirit Airlines, so I can get back to making my music.

Once the world comes to a state of a new normal, what's the first thing you want to do?

I'd love to travel somewhere new with my friends. A friend of mine is living in New Zealand working on an alpaca farm. You bet your ass I'm flying there at the first chance.

Alternate fun idea: Get a table at a restaurant, deep in the back, as far inside as possible. Order one appetizer every 30 minutes and stay there for a minimum of nine hours, just being so loungey and just snacking hard, mozzarella sticks flying every which way, napping in marinara sauce.

When shows and concerts are back, who do you want to see, and who do you want to tour or play with?

When touring comes back, I would LOVE to tour with Jadu Heart, Far Caspian, Sure Sure, to name a few. I just want to crowd surf for a month straight honestly. Give a ton of sweaty hugs. I want to see Toro y Moi, Thumpasaurus, Squirrel Flower.

Who have you been listening to throughout the pandemic? Are there any Ones To Watch?

A lot of Tribe Called Quest for long drives. I'll put "Check The Rhime" on repeat. I just discovered this dude named Shuttle his song "Boy" is fucking groooovy. I'm an OG KT Tunstall stan too - I've been bumping her 2013 album "Invisible Empire" like a mad man. Kevin Morby for the campy vibes, Rufus for the stank, Lomelda for the love, Van Morrison because if I get married, my first dance will be to "Crazy Love," and I like to daydream about that when I drive. Last but most important, The Prince of Egypt soundtrack.

Oh also, I've been listening to a lot of Anna Burch, Far Caspian, Bea1991, a compilation of geese wearing hats, Mei, Shuttle and this new artist you HAVE to listen to - he's a little out there but give him a try, Drake.

youtube

#Boy Willows #Fila #Dylan Minette

1 note · View note

comicteaparty · 4 years

Text

March 16th-March 22nd, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from March 16th, 2020 to March 22nd, 2020. The chat focused on The Phoenix by Bri de Danann.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on The Phoenix by Bri de Danann~! (https://www.bridedanann.com/thephoenix)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace until March 22nd, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Discussions are freeform, but we do offer discussion prompts in the pins for those who’d like to have them. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic!

Whether you finish the comic or can only read a few pages, everyone is welcome to join and chat with us!

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 1

1. What did you like about the beginning of the comic?

2. What has been your favorite moment in the comic (so far)?

3. Who is your favorite character?

4. Which characters do like seeing interact the most?

5. What is something you like about the art? If you have a favorite illustration, please share it!

6. What is a theme you like that the comic explores?

7. What do you like about the comic’s story or overall related content?

8. Overall, what do you think the comic’s strengths are?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I'm really loving Cassidy so far - her confidence is infectious! One thing I'm interested in learning more about - the worldbuilding exposition we're given during the intermission. Like, it paints the Alliance in a REALLY positive light... which makes sense, because contextually this is an Alliance-produced ad/propaganda piece. So, I'm curious to find out what the actual story of Marketplace is.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Just started reading from the beginning..."You need a blue cat in every scifi creation" is making me feel very called-out right now, heh.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Aaaand the cat-guy runs up stairs on all four feet, that's a good touch

I wish a lot of these pages were bigger, or at least had the action spread out a bit more! Like, on this page https://www.bridedanann.com/pg-13-chapter-1 the "And...associate" is a very funny beat, but there's not enough space to put the speech bubbles one-after-the-other, so they read out-of-order and you lose the rhythm of the joke

That overhead shot of the city streets, too -- it's great, cool evocative setting, neat glowy future architecture, solid anatomy and a good feeling of motion with the figure -- so I wish the whole thing had more room to breathe.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I will second that criticism about the bubble order

Also on the topic of criticism, I don't know if the author already knows this or not, but the formatting is a bit messed up on mobile and you have to scroll a lot to reach the page(edited)

BriDanann

Thanks for the layout critique! It's something I've noticed and have tried to fix in my writing and bubble placement in subsequent chapters! I am still learning but I'm glad you like the setting and action! Also, for the mobile viewing on the site I am aware that it is messed up. Squarespace is honestly trash at setting up for mobile viewing, I've tried to finagle it but it won't stack neatly... this is why I put it on tapas and Webtoon, they are set up for mobile and it makes it much easier. Sorry for that inconvenience! I am looking into getting a better site for the home of my comic

RebelVampire

Something I like about the beginning of the comic was it just kind of defied my expectations. Like from the cover I was expecting something a bit more light-hearted, maybe even philosophical. And then nope, it's a space adventure. Yet at the same time I still get some of those beautiful more whimsical shots in the art, and it's an interesting combination. As for favorite scene, definitely https://www.bridedanann.com/pg-15-chapter-1 A very light comedic moment that takes the normal graceful leap of faith and turns it into what it would actually be like in real life for most people. Gotta love that subversion. Favorite character right now is Arerio. As the newcomer to the crew, I just connect with Arerio the most right now, plus I'm invested in Arerio's sort of bodyguard defense roll for the crew. Means Arerio is gonna get them spicy action scenes. So far, I've enjoyed seeing Cassidy and Arerio interact the most. I like that Cassidy is both frank with Arerio while also pushing Arerio to do crazy things like jump off random buildings. I kind of feel too that, again, as the newcomer, their lack of established relationship makes what will develop for it have higher stakes, vs. the people Cassidy has clearly known for a long time.

What I liked about the art most is the spacescapes. Beautiful color choices and blending, such as https://www.bridedanann.com/pg-1-chp-2 And like, if you're gonna have a space adventure, having great spacescapes like this is fantastic! Insofar, I like that the comic seems to be exploring authority and trust and what people do when they no longer trust the people in charge. While I don't have a favorite moment yet, I do feel this is a very important topic these days to talk about, as more and more young people are growing up unsure if they can trust authority figures. As for the story content, I've really enjoyed the world-building. Like that Intermission part was really right up my alley, and I enjoyed how expansive the world is yet balanced to not bring up the world at every turn in the main story. It makes for a good setting for space adventures. For the comic's strengths, I'm gonna say a combo of the world-building, the creativity in the world-building, and the effort put into the spacescapes. All together, these just make the space part of the space adventures seem more interesting, which surprisingly not every story nails in that regard.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

How much control does Squarespace give you over your CSS? If you can edit that, it would be really easy to do things like make the little spaceship-graphics disappear completely in mobile view, so readers don't have to scroll past them. (A host with a Wordpress installation would give you total control over the CSS. Switching would take some effort, the benefits might or might not be worth it for you, but it's probably worth looking into it and seeing what you think.)

Back to the comic itself -- just got through chapter 1, and, aha, this is an Oppressing AIs Who Want To Be Free kind of Space Empire? Plus, this narration about a planet being "discovered" and happily "added" to the Alliance -- even though it already had native residents, and the Alliance apparently decided to rename it without their input -- is...chirpily ominous.

Chapter 2 cover: oooh, is that a plant-person I see?

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 2

9. Given the comic describes itself partially as a “found family” story, how do you think events in the comic will bond the characters into a family? What obstacles will the characters go through that challenges their relationships, and what is the overall message about family?

10. Why is The Phoenix’s AI being hunted by the Alliance? Further, why are Cassidy and crew seemingly risking themselves to protect the AI from the Alliance? Which side is right in this situation?

11. Why and/or how do you think Cassidy wound up on the Alliance’s bad side? What about Arerio – why doesn’t Arerio trust the Alliance either? Overall, do you think we as the audience should trust the Alliance?

12. What aspect of the world-building so far do you think will become relevant to the events of the story – especially in regards to Cassidy’s crew’s activities? How will the addition of Arerio change how the group operates from what has been revealed so far about their activities?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Well, the Alliance is definitely evil, and Cassidy said AI Rights. Remains to be seen whether it's a general "the AI wants to have free will and not be controlled by authoritarian programming" issue, or something specific like "the AI refused to carry out a specific mission." I thought it was the ship's AI, given that it's not described as an android/robot/etc -- but now we've seen it enter the scene in a humanoid body, so I wonder if the issue is "it experienced mechanical dysphoria while ship-shaped, and the oppressive space empire wouldn't allow it to switch to a new body."

RebelVampire

From initial impressions, I get the feeling all the main cast are outcasts in some ways, at least as far as the Alliance goes. And I think that along is will what bond the characters, since regardless of events, it can always come back to "at least were outcasts together." As for obstacles though, I kind of feel like there's bound to be personality conflicts and while they might all agree the Alliance sucks, at the end I feel each choice Cassidy makes is gonna divide the crew in some way. As for overall message, though, I think it's that family can be anyone and you're not just stuck with the family or even birthplace you were given. Go to where the people who care about you is. As for why the AI is being hunted, not entire sure, but I'm sure a lot of it is just its an AI. People tend to be extremely fearful of the idea of AI or AI that isn't under control. I mean, there's a reason this is a common theme in sci-fi. So for all intents and purposes, I think a large part is just AI = danger to the Alliance. As for why Cassidy and crew are risking their lives, it's probably just they see the AI as a person, not some hardened criminal threat. As for whose side is right, probably neither in my personal opinion. XD They're two extremes that fail to consider the other point of view.

I get the feeling that Cassidy was probably a bit too free-spirited and rebellious for the Alliance's liking, so they outcasted her and snowballed the whole thing. In regards to Arerio, I feel like he witnessed something horrible and just noped outta the situation. I don't think we should trust the Alliance as an organization. Maybe individual people in it, but the whole organization is surely corrupt. I've talked a bit about the world-building I think, but I want to mention again I actually enjoy the Intermission the most. Really gave some context to the story. I kind of feel Arerio is gonna cause Cassidy to take more risks. Cause there is less of a need to be careful if you've got muscle. And while this may increase good deeds, it will inevitably put them in more dangerous as they become more infamous.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

The Intermission was hosted by an AI with some kind of official role, so it's definitely specific to AI that don't "follow the rules" in some way. Details to be revealed, I'm sure. And if one extreme is "I am definitely a person" while the other extreme is "You are definitely not a person", that's not a situation where you should try to consider each other's views and find a truth somewhere in the middle! You gotta stand up for the person, insist that they deserve the same human rights (...sapient rights?) as everyone else.

RebelVampire

I don't really view this as an argument of definitely a person vs. not a person for this story personally. I mean I'm sure that's in there. But I think this is more about "AIs are safe" vs. "AIs are dangerous"

Calliope Ψ ^,^

AIs will absolutely be deserving of rights. Their danger notwithstanding, it would be unethical to withhold inalienable rights from a sentient being simply based on their being digital instead of electrochemical.

RebelVampire

Just in case anyone thinks otherwise, I 100% think AIs are deserving of the same rights as people. However, I do think talking about safety is still important and to blanket say AIs are auto safe or auto dangerous are two extremes, neither of which is entirely correct. But obviously I'm basing this off my interpretation of the comic. It could shift to the people vs. not people debate, which would be a different matter to me.

Calliope Ψ ^,^

Humans are just as dangerous as AIs, that much is true, especially given how much we appropriate low-level proto-AIs to do our bidding. Though, I definitely understand where you're coming from ^^

RebelVampire

Yeah. Like i mean humans are the exact same, which is why we take precautions and have laws and enforcement to stop dangerous people. AIs should be treated in a similar respected but cautionary fashion. Just enforcement for AIs will obviously have to be different cause you can't exactly throw an AI in jail and hope for the same results.

Comic Tea Party

DISCUSSION PROMPTS – PART 3

13. What are you most looking forward to seeing in regards to the comic?

14. Any final words of encouragement for the comic?

Don’t feel inspired by the prompts? Feel free to discuss anything else that interested you!

mathtans

Found a little time today. So quickly running through the prompts:

1. Liked the setup of meeting someone who doesn't know the plot to act as our window into things... with the twist that Cassidy and crew are actually known by reputation at least.

2. The cloaked ship angle was a good one, I didn't think of that (I was envisioning that moment in Back to the Future II when Marty steps off the roof) and wow leap of faith by Arerio.

I think that kinda shows how the Alliance is bad news. Arerio was practically willing to die instead of be captured (though presumably he figured there was an ace up a sleeve somewhere).

3. Honestly, I like Sequoia. Cassidy's a bit reckless for my tastes, Arerio didn't really ping for whatever reason, and the others we're still learning about... and here's a character who seemingly drinks water by holding hair in a cup. I gather s/he's a type of tree. Seems to hang back and observe. Liking that. Of course, I'm weird.

4. The Cassidy/Tiko felt a little annoying at first but the interaction on the bridge later helped me to realize this is just a thing they do, and I like that they can be so casual with each other. (When it's not some life and death thing!)

5. Each character's distinctly different, though maybe that's more about the background than the art. I also liked the trip up the stairs and the fall off the tower. The visuals conveyed the scale/scope to me.

6. I'm bad with themes. I suppose the idea of coming together (when faced with a problematic Alliance)?

7. The AI thing has set up a good mystery. And maybe I'm watching too much "Picard" lately, but there's different places they can go with that that others have pointed out too... seems to have been a bit of a topic so far.

(I'm fading, I'll hit a bit more tomorrow.)

(Oh, I like the little comments at the bottom of the panels. So maybe that's a strength too.)

RebelVampire

What I'm most looking forward to seeing in the comic right now is just this first mission so we can get a feel as to what the characters are involved in. That will really set a lot of the tone for the rest of the story, so it'll definitely be a positive step forward. Overall, though, I really enjoy the effort put into the comic so far, and it'll be nice to see where it is in a few months~!

mathtans

Just to hit the highlights of the last questions, continuing from last night... there's probably the idea that family is the people who stick by you more than the people you're related to. In fact it might be interesting to see who some of their parents are (assuming they're alive) and whether they approve versus got into similar trouble.

The AI is being hunted because it's mostly armless. Eh heh... I'm wondering if maybe it's obsolete and refused upgrades or something? But maybe Cassidy and team are able to prevent any viral takeovers, the Alliance simply isn't listening? (That got a bit random but I don't think it's been pitched already.) And "right" is probably somewhere in the middle.

Alliance, as others have said, is probably shady (not the least of which because of the art portrayal?). But I guess there's some reason they're still in charge. ("Firefly" comes to mind, not because I was ever one who watched it, but because I think they were in a similar situation? I could be way off base.)

I liked the thought (I think it was Rebel) of the crew getting riskier now that Arerio is there. Though they seem a bit free spirited anyway, so it might be more a case of not raising their guard as much as they have before.

Anyway, I'd be looking forward to a bit more of the secondary characters (like Sequoia) as the twist of their mission (isn't there always a twist?) becomes apparent. Best with it!

Comic Tea Party

BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about The Phoenix this week! Please also give a special thank you to Bri de Danann for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked The Phoenix, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://www.bridedanann.com/thephoenix

Bri’s Redbubble Shop: https://www.redbubble.com/people/bridanann/shop?asc=u

Bri’s Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/bridedanann

Bri’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/BriDanann

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #webcomic book club #webcomic bookclub #comic tea party #ctp #the phoenix #bri de danann

1 note · View note

pilferingapples · 5 years

Text

Beeble Mis 4.2b: At Least Enjolras Doesn’t Go To A Brothel

Part One, focusing on Cosette’s side of the story, Here

Part Two(a) , focusing on the first bit of the Marius line in this story, Here

Again, this is not gonna be a Happy or especially Orderly Recap; I’ve seen this once and this is as much for my own processing/sorting as anything. Episode Four starts with Cosette as a teenager in the convent, and ends pretty much right after the Gorbeau raid. So that’s our …framing set of events, here, because I have no idea what year it is or how much time any of this is supposed to be taking?

This section covers the Marius-focused path of events.

ANYWAY HERE WE GO, under the cut for abuse, domestic abuse, child abuse, sexual abuse, weird incest vibes, discussions of lots of things and me probably cursing a lot! There is a LOT going on in this one! So much that I’m actually gonna try cutting it into two parts, a Cosette Recap/Reaction post and a Marius Recap/Reaction post! here’s …well, here’s some things that sure did happen with Marius.

Back at the Gorbeau house, Eponine calls Marius over to the peephole between their apartments and does a Sexy Keyhole Striptease for him. Marius licks his lips. That part is not, as far as I can tell, any sort of dream. That happened. Even if I could believe it was meant to be a dream, it happened in the show. The show just made a starving desperate abused teenager ~~sexy for the presumed enjoyment of the viewer, and made sure we knew Marius was enjoying it. sarcasm/ How Modern and Universal. What a way to fix that flimsy character, you show ‘em, Davies./sarcasm (It’s been hours and I’m still horrified.)

Over the course of the next few-- days? weeks? anyway those two times we see Cosette in the park-- Marius falls in love with Cosette--as “detailed” in the Cosette half of this recap (hahah it’s funny because it’s not detailed, not to compare adaptations but it’s about as fast as the damn musical and if nothing else this show had more time, wtf).

Marius loses track of Cosette after Valjean drags her out of the Luxembourg, mopes, and takes his lonely soul to the Not!Amis, where Not!Grantaire makes an appalling comment about how after the Revolution they can find this Nice Girl and all have a go at her, Marius rightly tries to kill him a bit, and then Courfeyrac and Grantaire (as far as I could tell, Bossuet was gone for this scene) insist on going to Sceaux. Enjolras, keeping at least this much of his characterization and a little bit of narrative awareness, says he has better things to do, and warns Marius that Marius should find better things too.

And then they take Marius whoring!

Seriously, they take him to a brothel. A pretty tacky brothel at that, with people just gettin’ it onwards in a single room. Eponine is there! The camera work is wonky! Maybe Marius has been roofied! GRANTAIRE AND COURFEYRAC TAKE MARIUS TO A BROTHEL.

This scene? in the book? They take him to “the ball at Sceaux” , which was a nice outdoor party where debutantes went to socialize and maybe meet with potential suitors. So you know, the kind of women Cosette might be expected to hang out with, instead of barely-dressed aggressive prostitutes, what the hell , show.

And then it’s time for the Pontmercy Wet Dream! He imagines Cosette slowly undressing, then Eponine comes and grabs him and shoves his head into her cleavage and tells him to “kiss it” , over and over. It just. Goes on. Then he wakes up horrified.

Gosh I’m SO glad we got all this instead of , say, Bossuet saving Marius from expulsion, or Marius living with Courfeyrac, or Marius fighting to get through college poverty and learn new languages, or any more time with Mabeuf, or more focus on Gavroche, or THE ACTUAL BALL AT SCEAUX! sarcasm/What a GREAT use of time! What MARVELOUS pacing! What a Modern and Universal take on this story, that is definitely not wildly alienating at all! /sarcasm

Marius and Eponine meet (the next day? A week later?? I have no idea! Time is so wacky and whimsical in this!) and she gives him the letter from her dad; he asks if she’s really starving, which is a hell of a thing to ask a woman who is blatantly really poor. She says they don’t eat much. He gives her money. She talks about her crappy life some , makes it very clear that she is indeed a cheap (as in, available low-cost) prostitute, calls him a gent, then FORCIBLY KISSES HIM, because we can’t have even one Nice Thing anymore. Then she takes his stale bread and leaves. (Importantly, she never talks about knowing how to read, and does NOT leave her note about the cops coming.)

Through The Peephole of Providence and Girls Gone Wild, Marius watches Eponine return to her family. Let me say the exchanges and dynamics here are good; as I said before, this show believes in hate and anger and pain, and that’s what the Thenardiers are. Mme T has wonderfully captured the level of beaten-down resignation she has in the book, where she still manages to actually care about her daughters in a threadbare way but doesn’t have the energy or richness of feeling left to either care about or argue with her husband.

The next bit--gad it comes SO CLOSE to being book accurate and thus MAKING A LICK OF SENSE. Eponine gives JVJ the note, JVJ ....knowingly brings Cosette to the home of her abusers.... but then Thenardier immediately recognizes Valjean and pretty well tell him so ....

and then the Thenardiers just...let him go. And Cosette. And make the arrangements to meet later. Why?? Why give Valjean that clue? Why...any of this? (Also, it’s unclear if Eponine recognizes Cosette in any of this, but boy howdy it’s very clear that Cosette recognizes Eponine and is horribly triggered by it , not that anyone, including Valjean, gives a damn about Cosette’s mental or emotional health. s/She’s so flimsy and stupid, she probably has it coming, right, Davies? /s)

And then...

okay listen. I wish I cared more about this Gorbeau Raid. I wish it had held my attention. This is, in the novel, one of the most tense, dramatic gatherings of characters, with so much thematic and narrative drama all OVER. I love the Gorbeau raid! ...in the book. And in a lot of adaptations!

But this...this was just Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing. Marius and Javert at the police station are almost great! But they take away all the little touches of characterization and flourishes of dialogue that make the scene so fun (if there’s one theme besides Degrading Sex in this series, it’s that there is NO FUN ALLOWED), and further ruin Marius’ character by having him tell Javert he’s scared (Marius is an Awkward Very Young Adult, all spilling over with touchy pride and desperation to be a hero to the woman he’s smitten over! He would NEVER. Especially since this police station is full of witnesses!) Javert doesn’t burn his coattails, he doesn’t have his little musings on “the artists” , he doesn’t have his deep authoritarian reverence of Order to talk about in the first place this time, he’s just got his Valjean sense tingling.

The actual kidnapping and raid are a confused jumble; the jumbly jumpcuts, presumably meant to give a sense of Chaos, are in overdrive, here, and Chaos they sure do deliver. Some isolated images that still stood out: Montparnasse, here instead of with Eponine, HORRENDOUSLY dressed,and threatening to kill Valjean and his little dog too; the burning brand happening in like five seconds; Thenardier announcing his whole backstory; Marius ACTUALLY FIRING THE GUNS, because Eponine can’t matter any at all, even as a note; Eponine and Azelma rushing back in to the room because Azelma wants to protect her mother, even though Eponine tries to stop her and protect Azelma( the first Real Feeling I got off this episode, honestly. That was Good.) There’s no Hat Moment with Javert; he just charges in with everyone else (absolutely ALL the building menace and dramatic reversals that SHOULD be in this scene are gone, cut or emotionally destroyed by pacing). Valjean scarpers out the window and then like...just hangs out on a ledge for a while...while Javert looks for him ominously..and then gets called back into the room JUST BEFORE SEEING VALJEAN, LE GASP. It’s ...busy, and sadly, not much else.

After everything is over, Marius goes into the Thenardier’s room for...some reason, and we get to see Gavroche (who’s been at the corner of view in a few other scenes). Who proudly introduces himself as A THIEF, AND THENARDIER’S SON AND HEIR, and just like that, my last hope for a solidly represented character is gone. He banters with Marius a bit, and then we cut back to Valjean falling across the floor at his house and into Cosette’s arms. Aaand that’s it!

So that all sure happened. Why? When? I don’t know. But I’ll still be watching it next week, because I WILL SEE IT DONE, it will not defeat me! But gad...if this were anything BUT Les Mis, I’d have walltossed it two episodes ago, and doubly so now.

#Beeble Mis 4: There Are Dreams That Should Not Be #Beeble Mis #long post #I am So Tired #but I AM DONE

80 notes · View notes

jesuschristlivedinamotelroom · 5 years

Text

angel; do you have a nickname? yea

awe; how old are you? 20

baby; favorite color? blue

bloop; spirit animal? cat

blossom; favorite book/movie/song?

blush; what was your stuffed animal as a child?

breeze; most precious childhood memory? i think my parents teaching me how to ride a bike.

bright; mermaids or fairies? fairies

bubbles; do you have a best friend? no

buttercup; showers or baths? baths!

butterfly; dream destination? idk what that means

buttons; are you religious or spiritual? no

calm; favorite scent? laundry and also honeysuckle

candlelight; what did you dream about last night? i was in charge of some event and i kept stressing over it? also my roommate kept coming into my room and i kept getting mad kxkddkkd

charming; have you ever been in love? no

cozy; eye/hair color? black black

cuddly; what’s your favorite time period? like. ever? honestly now is fine. although if i lived in like the 1800s would my brain be this smart if i felt less fear ghen like that era

cupcake; favorite flower/plant? jasmine is nice too

cute; what did you get on your last birthday? i bought myself perfume

cutie pie; most precious item you own? my guitar&desk&bed

cutsie; what makes you happy? sleep.

daisies; describe a moment when you felt free. every time i go to a concert? although when they shove cameras in my face i still have to perform.

daydream; how do you want to be remembered? bubbly, funny, but also wise? not vapid.

daylight; favorite album of all time? no idea

dear; zodiac sign? virgo

delightful; concerts or museums? concerts

dimples; have you ever written a letter? yes

dobby; dream job? i don’t know any more

doll; how do you like to dress? i kind of wear whatever i want. lately i have been dressing to match weather and to not have my nips out. although i shouldn’t care i do. also one of my group mates seems to be looking at my chest a lot when we speak so i can’t tell if it’s like That bad or if he is just weird.

dovey; any paranormal/magical experiences? no i mean. psychotic maybe

dreams; do you want or have any tattoos? yes

drizzle; do you believe in aliens? yes

euphoric; talk about someone you love. im sure i love my siblings. i want to provide for them both financially and emotionally but i can only stay detatched. they are the only people who have dealt with all of my years until now and one has told me she didn’t really know who i was when i was in middle school, which is kind of an interesting point of view. i am usually a bit more open to my siblings than i am my parents even though they were usually who just got the butt of my anger and angst lol. huh. interesting. basically i want to die quietly but it is impossible with family and i don’t want them to be affected as heavily as it would but honestly it’s just inevitable

fairy; do you have a pet? no

fluffy; ocean or mountain? mountain

forever; where do you feel time stop? my room

froglet; are you a good plant owner? no...

garden; how many languages do you know? 4?

gem; who are your favorite tumblrs?

giggles; what is your aesthetic of choice? ?

glittery; do you like anons? why/why not? sure

glow; list the top 5 things you like about yourself. i think a lot. i am considerate. i am able to be alone. i am funny. i am amiable.

heart; silk or lace? lace

honey; coffee or tea? how do you take it? both and it depends

hugsy; do you enjoy people watching or bird watching more? why? bird watching. people watching makes me uncomfortable

hunnybunch; what sounds help you sleep? anything really, mostly people speaking in a low voice

jewel; what’s your favorite kind of weather? sunny breezy

jiggly; what do you usually like to do on weekends? sleep and drink

joy; do you laugh loudly or giggle more? i cackle

kinky; do you blush easily? i think so

kisses; what romantic cliché do you wish for most? fwb to lovers

kitty; what’s your favorite time of the day? morning

ladybug; what’s your favorite artist to listen to when you’re sad? the 1975 yeah i know

love; what is your favorite season and why? summer bc its not real

lovey; what is your favorite flavor of macaron and ice cream? ummmm idk

magic; what are five flaws you have? i let my flaws affect my relationships. i let my flaws affect my work .. everything. i think too much. i give up too easily. i don’t know how to express myself.

moonlight; do you prefer soft pastels, warm neutrals, or cool darks? cool dark

munchkin; what do you look for in your significant other? funny and cute

paddywack; how would you describe a perfect date? idk

pebbles; how do you spend free time by yourself? lay around.

precious; what is something valuable that you learned in your life? your appearance, being beautiful, being skinny does not matter. it is impossible to achieve that arbitrary standard and it does not matter.

pretty; do you like to cook or bake more? bake

prince; how would you describe your handwriting? a mix of print and cursive

princess; do you play any instruments? if not, are there any you wish you could play? guitar

prinky; how do you relieve stress? jack off. drink.. sleep

pumpkin; what is your favourite kind of fruit/vegetable? ones that smell nice

rainbow; what was the last line of the last book you read?

roses; what is the most significant event in your life so far? probably entering college or my summers spent abroad

smile; what is one thing that has greatly affected you? rape, feminism, nihilism

shine; art or music? music

shimmer; do animals tend to like you? i think so?

smitten; do you collect anything? bracelets and socks

smoochies; how many pillows do you sleep with? right now 2

snuggle; what is your favourite candy? i don’t like candy

snuggly; do you have a camera? if so, what kind? no

sparkle; do you wear jewelry? no

spooky; sunrise or sunset? sunset

sprinkles; do you like to listen to music with headphones or no headphones? both

starlight; what was your favourite show as a child? idk

soft; describe your favourite spot in your house. my bed

soothe; digital or vinyl? digital

squeezed; who do you miss right now? my friends from last semester

sugary; what traits do you value most in friends? if i am only looking for people to hang out with and i do not care about them much as people, then they need to be able to have a (fun) conversation with me and want to hang out and do whatever i/we want. if it is a real friend then similar political alignment is sadly pretty important to me. we need to be similar in general probably, you need to understand my background.

sunshine; do you prefer for things to be practical or aesthetically pleasing? practical

sweet; do you find it easy to open up? no

sweetie; do you like kids? if so, do you ever want to have any? sure but no

thimble; is there somebody you look up to? who are they? no

toot; what is something you find unique about yourself? my chart . just kidding i think i have a philosophy that will cause a... bad revolution but i am also probably a narcissist

tootsie; what kind of friend are you? go with the flow kinda person, if you want to talk about something serious i can try. i usually match the vibe of the other person

treasure; what was something that made you smile today? videos

velvet; are you an early bird or a night owl? night owl

whiffle; if you could have a magical power, what would it be? i would be able to get any resource necessary Or i would be able to slow down time

whimsical; do you prefer doing stuff at home or going out? both

whiskers; do you usually wear makeup? halfhalf

wiggly; are you a messy or tidy person? mssy

wispy; do you like the place where you grew up? do you think you will live there when you get older?no

wobbly; have you ever wished upon a star? probably

1 note · View note

logan-exe · 5 years

Text

Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for a lot of things. I won’t say everything but this will get that you call “mooshy”.

I am thankful to have met such amazing people. I can’t list them all but I will list a few- if you aren’t listed that doesn’t mean I’m not thankful for you. I am thankful to have met.

@princelogical: You have lifted my lips into a smile. Your graphics that you post motivate me to keep posting and I don’t think you know that- now you do. I am grateful to have talked to you and still be talking to you.

@sandy-sides: Fuck you, you know what I have to say. Please bring yourself, your laptop, and your amazing humor to my house and let’s have an editing party again.

@royallyanxious: Hell ANGST on a cracker. I love your passion and angst and drive for character you love. You always make me smile and are there for me when you are online. God, I enjoy our conversations whether it be in depth or not. I am glad you’re in my life.

The Manor Group: @teninofoxxe @shatteredartda @nuttytheorizer @mizukikuramoto @chaoticnico @darkledmind: You amazing group of friends. All of you- really. You are all very talented roleplayers, you make me laugh and smile when I need it. I want nothing more but to be thankful you guys all wanted to be apart of my whimsical idea.

@let-the-dragon-drag-on:

You made my experience worth it in KickCult. 1000%. I never left that server because I always wanted to interact with you. You keep me smiling even if our conversations now consist of us screaming at each other in PM’s. I am thankful I ran into you (more like you running into me).

@cattonsanders: Respective (and designated) Morality. Always has my back and I hope I can continue doing the same for you. You make me smile when I need it. You assist me through my ridiculous questions and you talk sanders Sides with me time to time.

@dorklyevil: Always a spot in my heart for you. Best friend and amazing artist. I love out chats. I am thankful I am still able to see you post. I’m really fucking thankful you are alive.

@apologieslogan: FAHM DON’T GET ME STARTED. I deeply adore you, I do. You are pretty heckin’ cool and I enjoy the conversations we do have. I don’t care what you think. I like when we talk.

@fischyplier: Shit. I love just... wow. I am so glad we are friends, that we are able to talk, that we are able to chat about how amazing Damien is. How hot Dark is as well. I am enjoying every piece of content you push out onto your blog. I am thankful that we are chatting.

@we-all-need-a-seagull: I need to text you, see if you’re busy. We’ve been friends for a long time so. I know you don’t use Tumblr much at all. Why am I tagging you?

@abstractrea1ist: I am really thankful to have befriended you. It really makes me happy. I thank you for being open to talking to me when I attempted to make conversation about- honestly I forget.

My amazing Kids: @milomeepit and @paradoxicalpatton. I- you guys make me the luckiest father figure. I know it’s not my area and i’m more of the teacher type but you guys make this role easy. Natural. I love hearing about your lives and what makes you happy. I love that you guys are able to come talk to me about anything you need or want. I am deeply grateful for you both being in my life and vice versa.

@sirasanders: YOU! Amazing. I am sorry that I do not talk to you as much as I want to. I am thankful you were as open as you were towards me when I messaged you. It’s always nice being able to randomly send someone something and them respond back with something equally amazing and random.

@snortingwasabi: Hey, hey, you, you I’m supper ecstatic that we’re friends for two years? Is it? Man!! Go us! I am thankful for have been able to meet you in person.

@quinintheclouds: Ravenclaw friend, my psychological buddy. Amazing and funny as well as intelligent friend. I admire you and I am thankful everyday to be able to call you my friend.

@sandersstudies: Yes. Thank you. I am thankful for many things. A person to share interests and engage in well minded conversations where we meet an understanding.

@logically-asexual: Science, mutual understanding, amazing person. Thank you for being my friend. You are nice to talk to when talking about almost anything. We should talk more and I do hope we get the opportunities.

@romanssippycup: Wow. I love everything. Amazing friend. I enjoy the content you have made and the conversations we do hold. You manage to make me smile and I hope I am able to do the same. I really do. Thank you for being apart of my life. I hope this lasts.

@rptheturk: I love talking to you when I have the time to.. I should continue to message you more because I do wish to talk to you more. I find our interactions worth while. Thank you for being my friend and for being you.

@ts-sideblog: Your amazing and unconditional supportive reblogs. That’s not the only thing I am thankful for. I am more thankful for our late night conversations. It be about food, Sanders sides or about how your weekend went. I am so thankful to have met you-talked to you, and befriended you.

@ironwoman359: You are amazing. We really don’t talk often enough but I do want you to be aware that you are amazing.

@elbiestatic: This isn’t really a “thankful for” comment. I just love your icon. 10/10.

@romanasanders: I would never not. You have helped me and I hope I have been able to do the same if not more for you. Your amazing art blesses my dash as well as your theories and well written content. I should message you more again because I do miss our talks. Thank you for being in my life as who you are- as a neato burrito.

@introverted-happiness: Friend that I’m glad became my friend. Keep up the amazing work. You have a lot going for you, and you’re doing great at doing your best.

@itsme98z: Supportive and you area always in my notifications. Thank you once more for sending me that empty jar of Logan’s Berry. I should talk to you more and hope to become friends. :D

This is getting super lengthy so I should close up. I added these stupendous people at the end because they know I know they are amazing as FUCK. I also don’t want anyone to feel bad for being put last.

My partners:

@septicart-appreciation: I have known you for nearly two years. Been your QPP for almost one year. I am so grateful you are alive, decently happy, my partner and a bunch of other things. I am greatly happy that I decided to take that leap from queer platonic partnership to partnership. You make me smile every time, you boil the water to perfect temperature when serving me tea, and you always make me love life when I am able to talk to you, hear your voice- your laugh. You have been there for me now as I have for you previously and I know we will get through life together for as long as we both show live. Salty, gay and in love.

@onceuponaprincey: I decided to message some random person with a Roman profile photos [link]. I decided to ask you to join a small group and befriend me. Eventually we became partners. I was so scared to say yes let along consider I had fallen for an actual prince. I had been whisked away by prince charming. I love spending any time I get with you, talking about anything and everything or not even talking at all, just being in your presence. You make me smile like a fool. I can’t imagine my life without having said yes to your proposal “[...]I wanna be your knight in shining armor, I wanna be your rock. Your Prince Charming.” You are everything you said you wanted to be and so much more. Here is to these amazing moths and amazing months to come.

To everyone I didn’t tag. You are just as amazing and equally great. I am thank for for you all- all my followers for supporting me, talking to me, sending me asks, being cool and being yourselves. Mainly for doing your best in life when it keeps beating you down, keeps making your life shit but you do your best to push forward. I am proud of you all and I am humbly thank for for all of you. Thank you for being in this fandom and thank you for being a close acquaintance if not an acquaintance. Have a lovely thanks giving and if not that a lovely day. Thank you so much. I couldn’t be more grateful for the experiences I was able to live.

#Thanksgiving #√ Prattle #I tried my best to include everyone but then i'd be repeating myself too much #I did and I adore you all

112 notes · View notes

coffeeandcalligraphy · 6 years

Text

Lots of writing! | Writing Update #1

Hey People of Earth!

I have many a things to update. mwahaha

The first of which is this bad boy!

FISHBOWL was a one shot-ish thing I worked on in mid August because I didn't want to write the scene I had to write, but also didn't want to write outside of my universe. Soooo, of *course* your girl wrote herself some more fanfiction because? I mean? Why not!

It’s not unheard of on this blog that I ship (and then, subsequently cannoned) my boyz Lonan and Harrison. I’d written the first chunk of this story on mobile, just in a note, because I’d gotten an idea for some dialogue. (I had the whole story written besides the beginning and end.) The struggle was figuring out how to start the story. I toyed with a couple ideas, writing a million different first sentences. Frustrated that I wasn’t feeling any of ‘em, I shelved the project for the night and went to bed.

The next day, I came back to FISHBOWL, and I looked over the random first sentences I’d jotted down. One caught my eye, and so aha, I found my sentence. (I struggle with writing openings, so once the first sentence is nailed down, I usually am able to get a good flow rather quickly). I wrote the entire thing in one sitting, and while it’s disjointed and weird, I had a lot of fun.

EXCERPTS:

The story itself is basically plot-less since it was only meant to entertain myself, but I think I wrote some cool stuff, and explored a setting (Lonan’s room) with a lot more diligence than I have before.

This excerpt’s first line inspired me to write the rest of this story (lol my only motivation). It’s not even a favourite line, it just helped me wrap my head around the language a bit/gave me the idea to have a fishbowl-lens look on the story.

The bottle is crystal edged. Half drained. A kaleidoscope through his eye.

He passes it over with ease. Harrison can’t tell if he’s done it because he’s drunk, or because he doesn’t want questions.

“My mom likes this shit,” Harrison says, fingering the bottle, like he’s holding a memory and not jade-tinted glass. Careful, so he won’t shatter it. It’s almost like he’s a child again.

I also lluuuurve this next paragraph, just because loppy IS SUCH A NICE WORD. loppyloppyloppy. I just like the personality of the objects in Lonan’s bedroom (because he’s got none). Like his poor depressed lonely fishbowl, poor slothy aloe, poor upset betta.

Harrison watches the fishbowl on the nightstand. He should change the water. It’s aglae’d and forgotten, almost, like the loppy potted aloe on his desk. The blue betta hardly slashes through the water. Ris reaches over and unscrews the pot of pet store bloodworms, sprinkles in a pinch of the pellets. The fish cuts around its browning bamboo stake, and vacuums two into its mouth. Its fins wiggle like ink drops.

This is the last paragraph of FISHBOWL, and I mean, I like her tho?

The betta fish glugs through the water in a flowery whoosh. Bottom feeds the last of the bloodworms. The takeout containers are empty, and rolled onto their backs. Stained rusted orange with dried chili. The aloe plant is still curved instead of straight. Harrison makes a note to water it in the morning. The digital clock bleeds 6:22 in neon cherry light. When it bounces off Lonan’s eyes, they look purple.

So that’s it for FISHBOWL! I had a lot of fun writing this lol. Maybe too much. I must be stopped.

CHICKEN NOODLE is chapter 14 of REWIRED, and to be frank, it was a bit of a pain to write. I’d churned it out after writing a really intense scene previously, and couldn’t really feel into the flow of the words as easily as I’d done before. The first scene took a chunk of time to write, because I wasn’t sure where I was taking it. After finally nailing a concept, I did complete it, and I’m rather happy with how that section of the chapter turned out.

However, lol, scene two is a mess?? In my opinion at least, I did read this chapter to @sarahkelsiwrites last night, and she rather enjoyed it! Because it was SUCHHH a mess, and I had no motivation to write it, I, toward the beginning of the month, adapted the scene to screen.

Stripping back the scene really allowed me to figure out how I wanted it to end (which was exciting!). Obviously, it isn’t a very good screenplay, but it was exciting to have a different take on the scene/focus on a new form to learn instead of self deprecating!

The following excerpt is from the beginning-ish of the chapter and sets up the concept:

Maybe this is how it feels. To be a child, or a fetus, or a cell, or a human, stuck in the womb of a mother. Sloshing in amniotic fluid. Doing little fetal summer saults. Eating what she eats. Drinking what she drinks. That last serving of apple crumble. The remnant touches of cognac stuck to her lips. A dog and a bone, a human and its lung, a plant and its gardener, a mother and her child. Can’t live without her, even when you want to. Bitter dependency.

my favourite parts of this are ‘fetal summersaults’ and ‘human and its lung’ like ooooh. I’m like not 100 on it but I don’t mind it!

PEACH is chapter 15 of REWIRED, and oh boy is she a CHAPTER. I drafted this one as well as 16 over three days (they’re both super short), and I’m shook??

Chapter 14 ends with Reeve saying some *very* horrible things about another character (Emily), and her relationship with our boy Harrison. Because of this, she’s finally decided to check out Emily for herself, and see if she’s really as horrible as Reeve (who’s assumed her to be a Lolita figure), has anticipated.

Here’s an excerpt:

Emily and I sit on her pull out. My mother would haphazardly call it tacky—blue gingham, red quilt—but I almost like it. With its coffee stains, and holes that vomit polyester. Second-hand charm. Maybe Harrison toted it off some suburb’s curb for her.

So this is the final chapter I’ll be updating you guys on (because it’s the most recent one that I’ve written lol).

LOLITA, LOLITA, takes place in short succession after PEACH, and deals with a familiar theme--romanticizing/glorifying a female figure (sorta similarly to Lolita, which contributed to--of course--the title). This chapter is sort of the tail end of the ‘whimsical’ adventure Reeve has had entering Emily’s world, and has a lotttt of French inspiration.

Emily, as a character, does study the French language/culture a bit, and Reeve really clings to this particular detail. I think in a lot of ways, she does this because this is a detail she previously ridiculed (in the line: The kind of girl who learns French in her spare time and smokes essential oils, from chapter 10).

Here’s the first one (I think it’s kind of clunky honestly but I like the idea so when I revisit, hopefully with some editing I can clean it up):

We split a brownie over a glass of Pinot Noir. She says it’s a French thing, and I imagine the bottle emptying on the veranda of a politician’s off coast villa. My lipstick stains the rim of the glass in a ruby porthole. It tastes like fruity hand sanitizer to me.

I also really like the next one, particularly the end. Like with before, I think it’s kinda clunky but I ain’t all that mad:

She’s pulled her hair into a bun. The gold ridge of a bobby pin peaks out from behind a twist. Hiding between the white of her scalp. My nails have dried, now, and she’s gifted me her peach lip gloss, which I wear gracefully on my lips like it isn’t second-hand, but a lavish salve made in Europe. Tested on the eyelids of a fetid rabbit. Warm and licked at on the mouth of a rich young woman. An off brand perfume clings to her throat. The plastic breath of amber and ylang-ylang. I’ve tried to mimic her up-do, but my hair falls, even when I pump it with hairspray. Je suis amoureuse. I should tell her. I am in love.

^^ the perfume in question in my head is like a bootleg version of Chanel No. 5, hence some of the perfume’s classic notes!

The second half of this update deals with Reeve *attempting* to talk to her brother (@Lonan @Lonan). They’ve now migrated to his room, which she notes, is vastly different to Emily’s.

The first excerpt is a line I find kind of funny because a) food b) relatable c) lol Lonan’s ideas for gifts tho d) SAME e) grapefruits ?? f) it’s kind of adorable

He’s brought me half a grapefruit and a spoon. A surrender, or a lost attempt at a gift. The flesh wet, and pink.

like tbhhh grapefruits as presents sounds litttt

The next is actually sort of stolen from FISHBOWL, ha. FISHBOWL takes place in Lonan’s room, so I *very much* stole all the description from there and shoved it into this chapter. oops lol.

His room feels smaller, somehow. I think he’s moved the bed. Or it might be the new coat of paint. The addition of small things, like houseplants, candles, miniature replicas of American landmarks. A wilted aloe plant. A fish bowl. The blue betta inking the water in bored compliance. I think to ask him if he’s made the space more claustrophobic on purpose, but don’t at the last second. Lonan’s never been one to collect clutter.

And lastly! Not my favourite but eh:

I say, “I like what you’ve done with the place,” even though I don’t. “What kind of plant is that? This one?” I get up from my spot on the floor next to him. Touch at the pot next to the watering can. Finger the waxy leaves. Anthurium, peace lily, ficus? Probably a ficus. “I think Mom would like these. You should take a picture to show her later.”

I like the tone of this scene a lot because it’s so dissociative. Almost underwater. It’s kind of a very thin version of my usual style, but I think it works for what I was going for for sure (I hope lol).

So that’s about it for this update! I know it was a lil different, but I hope you guys enjoyed regardless! As always, thanks for reading! :)

--Rachel

#writing #writerblr #amwriting #writingupdates

16 notes · View notes

ardenttheories · 6 years

Note

not sure about these, but Jaye seems like a Rogue of Breath, Dane could be a Bard of Void, and Drew a Knight of Rage?

I think I can see Rogue of Breath for Jaye, but I do have some hesitations, too.

The fact that he does a lot of what he does to make other people happy, regardless of his own happiness, definitely aligns with the Rogue dealio. They struggle with their aspect at first because they think they need its inverse for any number of reasons, and for Jaye, he thinks he needs to do what people find funny rather than do what he wants to do to ensure that a few random assholes online are happy - completely neglecting his own happiness in the process as well as his own creativity. He doesn’t really see any other option; sure, his actions are a bit mean, but people love them! People laugh over them! He’s obviously doing something right! Of course, his whole growth arc is realising he doesn’t actually need to do any of that. He can do whatever he wants, and people will actually enjoy that more. He can be free with himself and his own desires and people will actually probably like him more because of it. I think in that sense, Rogue of Breath works because what Jaye’s been doing the whole time is stealing the joy of some people to give to others - and a big part of Breath does seem to be the concept of Fun.

But at the same time, Breath seems too… distant for Jaye? He needs to learn to do what he wants and not to rely on the words of others, not to become totally free from the people around him. He needs to believe in himself and in what he thinks is fun and what he thinks is too far, and he needs to stick with it in order to find his own happiness - and the happiness of others! He needs to realise that, yes, maybe some people laughed at his pranks, but a lot more people were upset by them, and if he just does what he wants pretty much everyone will be happy. He’s got to learn that he can’t fall under the words of other people just because he wants to make them happy. It’s more moderation that’s his focus, not the all-encompassing distance that Breath seems to usually represent.

But that could also be the point? To be Realised he’d have to figure out the difference between doing what he wants and completely disconnecting from his friends and the people around him. His main goal in life is to make people happy - he wants to do all his magic, comedy, and acting just to make people smile - but I don’t know how much this translates to his friends? I’d almost say, in a way, he cares more about what people he doesn’t know think of him than what his friends think of him. He still tries to do what’ll make them happy, but not quite to the same degree.

This is one of the most annoying parts of Jaye!! I really struggle to think about what he’d actually do for his friends, because he almost treats them by a different set of rules. He’s as soft and sweet online as he is IRL, but he’s severely misguided in what he thinks he has to do. He thinks he needs to rely on the opinions of anonymous people online to actually be funny, because those are his biggest critics - but his friends get the Jaye who’s always kind and compassionate and attentive, if a bit naive. So I can definitely see Rogue as his classpect, but maybe not Breath.

The irony of Dane’s Classpect is that I originally had him as a Knight of Light, so classpecting him as a Bard of Void - almost the complete opposite - is stupidly funny to me. The irony, though, is that I can completely see this working. Dane is a fucking hoarder of secrets - he just seems to know everything, and he doesn’t even try to hide the fact that he knows them. He’s not sure why he knows because he doesn’t remember his dreams, and so he can’t say “yeah the horrorterrors are wordy assholes, they like to tell me shit”. But his whole thing ™ is that he is pretty upfront about the things he knows to such a degree that it seems completely improbable. He is convinced Mothman is real and will fight that to the grave, but Bigfoot? Nah man he’s fake. Never seen anything to suggest that one’s real.

His deal as a blogger also fits pretty well with it all; he’s always talking to people who hold importance online, in various communities, and he’s always finding new information and new leads that he maybe shouldn’t - especially in places you definitely wouldn’t expect it. Dane just honest breaks through every barrier Void could bring up without even trying, which perfectly aligns with the Bard of Void sort of accidentally figuring everything out in some way.

On the point of importance, too, the horrorterrors talking to him personally in his sleep? Pretty important. Colossally important. He’s got that aspect of it down pat.

The bit I’m stumbling over is the Bard’s whimsical nature and the eventual Bard split. Dane’ll have to reach a point where he stops ghosting Light and starts to show through as an actual Void player, and really I can exactly see that happening when he realises that he has no idea about the game at all. That sudden moment when he sees that everything he’s been told and understood comes from just one source, that there are secrets he never found out because of the nature of their session, that everything he knows essentially amounts to nothing and that he, essentially, achieved nothing… that his whole point of importance was pretty much a sham and he’s been living on the edge of popularity without really figuring anything out… oooh fuck I really like that. Especially since the point of a Bard’s progression is to control the whimsical nature being a Bard entails. Dane having to realise that yeah, a lot of the things he knew no longer matter, and some of the things he knew just mean nothing because of how their session works, and yeah maybe he’s not as important as he used to be, but he can still find the important things and the secrets that they need and he can still be important to his session and his friends. He might have to scale back a little bit, and in their version of the Scratch he definitely loses some of his initial importance, but in the end he really is one of the most important and valued players going (especially since, he later realises, his death is one of the things that leads to a Doomed session).

So yup that’s settled! Dane’s a Bard of Void! Makes his specibi and modii a little ironic, and I like that.

And holy crap why didn’t I think of Drew being a Knight of Rage before. It makes so much sense. He is constantly thriving off of fear, adrenaline, paranoia, and the negative emotions he stews himself in as a little exploit to cheat himself out of death (can’t die if you can’t sleep). He utilises everything he knows will keep those negative emotions going as a way to protect himself from the negative emotions of others, too, but also ends up - in a paradoxical way - using those very same negative emotions to protect his friends from himself (blocking them immediately when he’s frightened, for instance, so they don’t get the brunt of his Rage).

Even his later actions in trying to take control of the sessions works under this. He very secretly doesn’t think he’s ready for the session, and projects this onto his friends by thinking they’re not ready for it, either; it’s his own doubt in himself that makes him try to take all the responsibility, depriving the others of their growth. Which is a very negative thing and causes a lot of issues, yes, but that’s the part he has to grow from; to accept that he’s got to face his own negativity and figure out just where it is that his actual faults lie.

He’s also amazing at exploiting Rage. It’s something I always intended to be a thing, but for some reason associated with a more Heart-aligned class. This gives me a lot more room for character growth within him, as well as more of a reasoning behind who he is and what he does (and why, for instance, his abusive dad is the reason he changes). It also gives me a nice little tie-in to Homestuck with the fact that he was going to be one of the only characters to get a moirail - I’m pretty sure we’ve never seen a Rage player who hasn’t had a moirail at some point who ends up being the reason for their growth.

So, heck yes to the Knight of Rage for Drew!!

Holy crap, that’s three of these Classpects down already. That’s genuinely exciting. I am very excited by the fact that we’ve got Drew and Dane done, too, because these two are my babies and honestly my favourite of the bunch!!

#long post//#ardenttheories out of theory #Anonymous #ectostuck posts

6 notes · View notes

kitlcuis · 6 years

Text

[ mitch grassi, demiboy, flexible pronouns, 20 ] SEDATED by HOZIER? whenever i hear that song, it reminds me of CHRISTOPHER 'KIT' LOUIS. maybe because they’re ETHEREAL but also ABSTRACTED. they’ve been living at mulberry apartments since SEPTEMBER of 2018 in APARTMENT 203 and have 1 ROOMMATE.

tws – substance use/abuse, toxic relationships, & v brief mention of homophobia

here is darling kit. he’s slightly more of a mess than his sweet little face may give off and i hope you accept a bit of chaos here because… kit does not come quietly! anyways!! also this is a lot longer than i intended so skip to the bottom if you’d like a SUMMARY

hails from one of the northern states on the west coast. he grew up in a strict religious household which felt stifling and limiting from as early as age 4 when he had to wear a bowtie to easter mass when he wanted to wear one of the cute flowery bonnets the girls got to wear

christopher had a very rigid childhood for this reason. his family lived comfortably but it was only perfect on the surface. underneath the glamour of the picturesque family unit there were cracks – splintering shards that would eventually drive a wedge between the louis parents and their only child

kit knew pretty early on that he wasn’t straight – ironically enough, getting the idea from all the anti-gay rhetoric from the church. it gave him the keywords he needed to uncover things like homosexuality and genderfluidity. he also knew to keep it quiet and kept himself securely closeted

figured it was meant to be a secret – kind of like the secret affair his father was having! or the secret gambling problem his mother was so desperate to hide and blamed on faulty record keeping!

basically, the crux of kit’s childhood is that it sucked and he never felt like he got to be a kid. he was smothered.

kit’s first breaking point came at a young age. he had a childhood friend from church who he had gotten super close to. this friend was very whimsical and sweet – flamboyant some would say but hey! they were children!!! kit was very amazed by this friend’s ability to just BE HIMSELF!

his parents, however, were less amazed and especially as the two grew to be preteens and stayed just as close (maybe even sharing an innocent kiss as friends), they got more and more concerned. so concerned, in fact, that eventually, they insisted kit end the friendship. it was devastating, especially since this friend had been teaching kit so much about self expression and confidence and just :’(

but he listened and buried his anger, saving it for only a few short years later when it would all come to a head.

kit had his first “real” romantic kiss at age 14. the boy was older and cooler and kit knew he couldn’t go back into the closet after that. he brought that boy home a few more times, half hoping to get caught just so he wouldn’t have to come out. eventually things fizzled out but kit had had a taste and now he wanted MORE

more boys made their rounds through the louis residence and it wasn’t until kit was doing a little more than kissing that he was finally caught. it was as bad as he’d expected, the shouting match. what he HADN’T expected, though, was the ultimatum. stop this ‘gay business’ or move out. he was only a teen still? couldn’t they even do that, legally?

luckily – or unluckily as it would be – kit had met someone older who had a place of his own in california and he offered to let kit come and stay with him. they’d start dating and kit would even say this was his first love.

it wasn’t some fairytale though – it never was. showing his love for his new beau became sexual extremely fast and would start including doing favors for his friends and coworkers too. kit let it happen because at least he was free of his parents and living with someone who loved him

he put up with three years of increasingly toxic conditions in his relationship with his boyfriend essentially capitalizing on his willingness to please, not knowing that would soon run out.

if you stifle kit too completely, he breaks and that’s what happened.

one day, he snapped, he took his things and left. he was completely homeless and streetbound but he was living life according to his own choices for once and it came with a kind of thrill that kept kit motivated!

he turned to sex work of his own volition, finding it as a stable way of making money, despite the dangers involved. it was all he felt he was qualified for and he was good at it. without need of any authority over him, he made decent money at it and started skulking around seedy bars in the outer LA area for men who would take him home for a good time

that’s where he met his now-boyfriend, julian. before julian, kit would’ve sworn he’d never find someone, never get a crush, never fall in love. one night and kit was questioning everything. a few more and he was hooked harder than any drug could ever get him.

eventually, though, him and julian did fall in love and they’ve been dating ever since. he stopped his sex work entirely & the drugs julian enjoyed slowly became a part of their time together and that’s still very true today. they’re kind of as dependent on it as they are on each other.

kit knows most things about julian’s past and julian knows most things about kit’s past. they’re kindred spirits, both getting their starts way too young and both finding hardships along the way. kit has never smiled as much, laughed as much or loved as much as he has since finding julian so while jules will swear up and down that he’s ruined kit forever by getting him hooked on all kinds of substances, kit thinks julian’s saved his life

they were following one of kit’s elated impulses and taking a road trip from coast to coast and back again on all the money they had left in this run down little jeep station wagon thing when it broke down in north carolina

they got it up and running enough to make their way up to baltimore but then the jeep gave up completely. they sold it for parts and that + julian’s drug money was enough to pay a deposit on an apartment of their own

so now they’re here!!

they’re living on the bare minimum / mattress on the floor type of struggling but they are in love and that’s what matters right?

SUMMARY – a rough childhood and an even rougher teendom eventually led to one toxic ex boyfriend and a life on the streets. kit found renewed purpose with his now-boyfriend julian who also happened to turn him into a gleeful little druggie along the way. living with no money but a whole lot of love. okay now

PERSONALITY – enigmatic might be a good way to describe kit. he’s fidgety and easily startled, a very frail little thing. he’s off in his own head a lot of the time and he genuinely has a hard time focusing on things. VERY guarded in that you won’t get a peep out of him and his personal life unless you want to talk about his boyfriend who he’ll wax poetic about for hours if you let him. otherwise, he’s social and chatty but about nothing of substance, flirty but with no intention of following through and impulsive to a fault. he’ll make you think you’re his best friend for the evening but not remember you in the morning. only those super close to him get to see a sweet vulnerable side to kit, the rest see this feigned alluring aura and nothing more

PLOTS

party friends – a MUST

some loose circle of friends in general for him and julian!

a good influence ( gonna be a song connection eventually )

protective friends ( though misguided bc he won’t really listen )

smoking buddies

honestly i think it’d be funny if someone didn’t like him bc he flirted with their boyfriend

and alternatively, the boyfriend he flirted with

someone with an instant crush / love at first sight bond with the very taken kit

someone who can develop into his best friend

aaaaaand people him nd julian kinda corrupt. they’re a chaotic force as a duo so rip

oh ig eventually he’s gonna try to make cash the only way he knows how so thats… a possibility

if YOU have any ideas, lemme know!

#soundintro #soundooc #this is a reposted mess #so if anything is off lemme know

7 notes · View notes

illuminction-blog · 6 years

Text

* mitch grassi, age 21, he/they | oh, them? that’s christopher ‘kit’ louis. they’ve lived in carina bay for, like, one week. last time i spoke to them they were unemployed, and if i remember correctly, they’re a gemini. seeing them around always makes me think of tattered sleeves pulled down over shaking hands, a coquettish cheshire cat’s grin, a mattress on the floor of an empty room with constellations of fairy lights strung overhead.

tws -- substance use/abuse, toxic relationships, & v brief mention of homophobia

four muses... what am i doin’ falling a little too in love with carina + writing intros, i guess?? but here is darling kit. he’s slightly more of a mess than his sweet little face may give off and i hope you accept a bit of chaos here in the sleepy town of carina bay because... kit does not come quietly! anyways!! also this is a lot longer than i intended so skip to the bottom if you’d like a SUMMARY

christopher had a very rigid childhood for this reason. his family lived comfortably but it was only perfect on the surface. underneath the glamour of the picturesque family unit there were cracks -- splintering shards that would eventually drive a wedge between the louis parents and their only child

kit knew pretty early on that he wasn’t straight -- ironically enough, getting the idea from all the anti-gay rhetoric from the church. it gave him the keywords he needed to uncover things like homosexuality and genderfluidity. he also knew to keep it quiet and kept himself securely closeted

figured it was meant to be a secret -- kind of like the secret affair his father was having! or the secret gambling problem his mother was so desperate to hide and blamed on faulty record keeping!

basically, the crux of kit’s childhood is that it sucked and he never felt like he got to be a kid. he was smothered.

kit’s first breaking point came at a young age. he had a childhood friend from church who he had gotten super close to. this friend was very whimsical and sweet -- flamboyant some would say but hey! they were children!!! kit was very amazed by this friend’s ability to just BE HIMSELF!

his parents, however, were less amazed and especially as the two grew to be preteens and stayed just as close, they got more and more concerned. so concerned, in fact, that eventually, they insisted kit end the friendship. it was devastating, especially since this friend had been teaching kit so much about self expression and confidence and just :’(

but he listened and buried his anger, saving it for only a few short years later when it would all come to a head.

kit had his first kiss at age 14. the boy was older and cooler and kit knew he couldn’t go back into the closet after that. he brought that boy home a few more times, half hoping to get caught just so he wouldn’t have to come out. eventually things fizzled out but kit had had a taste and now he wanted MORE

luckily -- or unluckily as it would be -- kit had met someone older who had a place of his own in california and he offered to let kit come and stay with him. they’d start dating and kit would even say this was his first love.

it wasn’t some fairytale though -- it never was. showing his love for his new beau became sexual extremely fast and would start including doing favors for his friends and coworkers too. kit let it happen because at least he was free of his parents and living with someone who loved him

he put up with three years of increasingly toxic conditions in his relationship with his boyfriend essentially capitalizing on his willingness to please, not knowing that would soon run out.

if you stifle kit too completely, he breaks and that’s what happened.

eventually, though, him and julian did fall in love and they’ve been dating ever since. he stopped his sex work entirely & drugs slowly became a part of their time together and that’s still very true today. they’re kind of as dependent on it as they are on each other.

kit knows about julian’s past and julian knows about kit’s past. their kindred spirits, both getting their starts way too young and both finding hardships along the way. kit has never smiled as much, laughed as much or loved as much as he has since finding julian so while jules will swear up and down that he’s ruined kit forever by getting him hooked on all kinds of substances, kit thinks julian’s saved his life

so now they’re here!!

SUMMARY -- a rough childhood and an even rougher teendom eventually led to one toxic ex boyfriend and a life on the streets. kit found renewed purpose with his now-boyfriend julian who also happened to turn him into a gleeful little druggie along the way. living with no money but a whole lot of love. okay now

PERSONALITY -- enigmatic might be a good way to describe kit. he’s fidgety and easily startled, a very frail little thing. he’s off in his own head a lot of the time but not in a cutesy daydreamy way (like pip) and more he genuinely has a hard time focusing on things. VERY guarded in that you won’t get a peep out of him and his personal life unless you want to talk about his boyfriend who he’ll wax poetic about for hours if you let him. otherwise, he’s social and chatty but about nothing of substance, flirty but with no intention of following through and impulsive to a fault. he’ll make you think you’re his best friend for the evening but not remember you in the morning. only those super close to him get to see a sweet vulnerable side to kit, the rest see this feigned alluring aura and nothing more

PLOTS

obviously he’s only been here a week so past plots depend on your muses time on the west coast BUT:

party friends -- a MUST

some loose circle of friends in general for him and julian!

a good influence

protective friends ( though misguided bc he won’t really listen )

smoking buddies

honestly i think it’d be funny if someone didn’t like him bc he flirted with their boyfriend

and alternatively, the boyfriend he flirted with

someone with an instant crush / love at first sight bond with the very taken kit

someone who can develop into his best friend

wait help them find a crummy apartment someone

aaaaaand people him nd julian kinda corrupt. they’re a chaotic force as a duo so rip

oh ig eventually he’s gonna try to make cash the only way he knows how so thats... a possibility

if YOU have any ideas, lemme know!

#homophobia tw #drugs tw #carinaintro #°☆.。intro ( kit )

10 notes · View notes

queerdilf · 6 years

Note

top 5 musicals

Oooookay I freaking love musicals, thank you so much for this Helga, okay!!!1. Les Misérables- Duh. This used to be a Les Mis blog and I still reblog Les Mis bc it's so important to me. Literally I can listen to the songs for any occasion, if I'm sad, if I'm angry, if I need to pump myself up, or if I just need a good belt of On My Own, which, as cliche as it is, is my comfort song. Eponine is very important to me, along with the Barricade Boys and Valjean and Javert and Cosette and Marius and everyone but the Thenardiers who can fucking choke, they literally abandoned their children and used the others for crime and abuse. I've read the book eight times and annotated it seven time over, finding something new every time. Whenever someone thinks of me, they think Les Mis, my name is synonymous with it at this point, and that really hypes me up!2. Natasha, Pierre, and The Great Comet of 1812- A new entry into my list, but not any less important! I saw this show in August and instantly fell in love. The costume and set design were absolutely marvelous, I cannot believe they gutted the whole Imperial Theatre to make that stage, and with the stairs going all the way up to the balcony and the chandeliers like oh my god it was beautiful. I need to go see Carousel so I can see what they did with the stage. Anyway, Natasha Pierre also had such a diverse cast, it was so cool to see POC in roles that didn't need to be cast as such, like it wasn't a requirement to have POC, but they were all in leads, it was such a nice change. Along with that, the music was not only incredible sounding, but it was original too. I never quite expected how the next song was going to sound. And the special effects and the snow and the fact that people were onstage and the humor and the high notes, like shit I could go on about this one forever!3. A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder- This odd little show is the last in my theme I have going of "period pieces that aren't exactly period pieces". I don't know why Gentleman's Guide stands out to me. I didn't get to see it on Broadway, but I recently saw it on tour coming around and I watched the bootleg six times. It's honestly just such a good, funny show! Like it's suspenseful, you love to root for Monty, even though he's literally murdering his whole family for power, you can tell he genuinely feels for both Phoebe and Sibella, which is why the ending is so satisfying when they somewhat agree to share him. The music is whimsical and floaty and older sounding and I'd literally kill to play Sibella. The humor is so blunt in a good way, like I really enjoy this show far more than I can explain because I can't quite put into words what attracts me to it. Like it's just so genuinely good and it makes me so happy to just hear songs from it and see pictures from it.4. Godspell- A new entry into my top five, but not at all new to me. This show was introduced to me when I was in it in 5th grade. I had the Day By Day solo on the Thursday night show and to this day it remains one of my favorite shows I've ever been on. Because it was a rec show, it had a big cast, but if I were to cast it, I'd have a cast of 13, Jesus, Judas and the other disciples. I've fallen in love with this show again recently because of Jesus Christ Superstar live and how much I didn't enjoy it. It reminded me how much I love Godspell and I went back and watched the 1973 movie for shits and giggles and just remembered how much fun it was to be on that show. It was so clowny and abstract and colorful and creative and all I want to do now is direct this show. I'll listen to the music and just play out choreography and set design because I think it's so cool. Also, it sets itself up for so much fun and symbolism. The music is phenomenal and sometimes it's just fun to have fun in a show!!5. Wicked- My first ever Broadway musical. This is musical is close to my heart, and I remember sitting in my friend's basement and hearing it for the first time and only singing the Fiyero bits because I wanted to be him so bad. Since then I've kind of outgrown that, though I'd be lying if I said I still didn't jam to Dancing Through Life and imagine myself in the Fiyero pants. This show provided me with my very first dream role of Elphaba, and was my first show I actually got the chance to see on Broadway when I was eleven. This show inspired me to do the stuff I do now, and as much as I've grown, this musical will always have meaning to me and my best friend, who sang songs from this show at our middle school talent shows. This show means so much to me, honestly, plus great music, incredible effects, it's just the Broadway Show :)These should have been counting down the shows from 5-1 I just realized, whatever, you get the idea!!

2 notes · View notes

loveump3 · 6 years

Text

jams meme: best of 2017

@blotthis tagged me in a jams meme!! thank you :D since it’s the new year, i thought i’d do a little retrospective of some of my favorite songs to come out of 2017! so here we goooo

“i wish” by wjsn

this song came out literally 3 days into the new year, but as soon as i heard it i knew it would be one of my top tracks of 2017. and i was right!! i loved “happy” too, and “happy moment” was one of my favorite albums this year, but i’ll always be especially weak for wjsn’s spacey concepts. this song is so pretty and light and pink, and the mv is a lisa frank dream, and the choreography is so whimsical and charming… great on all fronts. all hail the rookie pop princesses.

“wanted! wanted!” by mrs. green apple

mga have become one of my top favorite bands after i discovered them earlier in the year. i love how sweet and fizzy and fun their music is, and i love their lead singer motoki’s voice (i’m not sure what it is about it, but it makes me so happy). i feel like this song is a great example of their particular super-hyper brand of pop. this is a good one to blast in the car :o)

“vanilla” by fickle friends

another band that’s shot to the top of my list of favorites after finding them this year! their sparkly-pool-water 80s vibe is sooo up my alley. i love the percussion and the bright guitars in this song, and i have such a crush on natassja’s voice. (i’d also highly recommend “swim,” which has been one of my top jams this year and is also my favorite fickle friends song, and which i would have included, but it it came out in 2016, lol.)

“the song” by zion.t

i loved this song the moment i heard it. zion.t has one of my favorite voices not just in kpop but in general, and it sounds sooo nice and smooth here. and the simplicity of the song is so good?? it’s nothing frilly or explosive, it’s just a pleasant little tune. i like that the lyrics reflect that too—i love the “i’m not trying to write a hit song, i just want to write you something sweet” attitude. also for whatever reason i think the line “let’s stick together all day like alley cats” is so cute? and the mv is so wonderfully bizarre (the colors are sooo good). the rest of the album is great too; got me through a lot of shifts at work.

“when you love someone” by day6

i really thought “dance dance” was gonna hold tight to the title of Emma’s Favorite Every DAY6 song, but then “when you love someone” came out and immediately took its place. this song like the aural equivalent of a warm hug and a hot drink and it makes my heart feel so at peace every time i hear it :( also the lyrics are a complete K-O. those first few every day6 releases were SO ANGSTY, and even though i loved them i was like “will poor youngk ever write a happy relationship song???” but then he started releasing shit like this and it killed me and i immediately regretted ever asking. (also not to be a bitter betty but i’m still cheesed that we never got resolution on sungjin and wonpil’s story!!!!!!!! @ jyp i still have questions)

“we find love” by daniel caesar

“freudian” has become one of my new favorite albums. it’s so perfect for the winter—daniel caesar’s woozy gospel sound is so warm and cozy. there’s not a song on the album that i don’t love, but this one is particularly soothing and comfy. with the harmonized background vocals and the gentle piano, it sounds like something you’d hear on the radio late at night when you’re tucked into bed trying to fall asleep while the snow is drifting down outside. and daniel’s voice has this… i don’t know how to explain it. he sounds so assured and smooth when he sings, like he’s been doing this forever. i can’t get enough.

“cut to the feeling” by carly rae jepsen

2017 was the year that i remedied my worst mistake of never having listened to the power-pop gem that is carly rae jepsen’s 2015 album “e•mo•tion,” and is it too hyperbolic to say that that changed me as a person?? her brand of fizzy fluttery 80s-inspired sugar is everything i didn’t realize i needed. i’m dying for a new crj album, but in the meantime, “cut to the feeling” has done a good job of holding me over—it’s all the shout-about-your-crush-from-the-rooftops euphoria that miss carly does so well. extremely good for car rides, especially when the bridge kicks in.

“praying” by kesha

kesha has been my other pop queen this year. i liked her before, but then i listened to “rainbow” and cried like three different times while doing so, and i fell in love. every single song off of “rainbow” is great (the range of style is amazing, she goes from acoustic to pop to rock to country and back, and each one is just as great as the last), but “praying” is so raw and special; it doesn’t matter how many times i hear it, it hits me just as hard every time. i love how it builds—from the simmering power of the first chorus, to the stomp of the second (those pounding piano chords really get me), to the fireworks of the last (that fucking whistle note!!!!!!!!! also the way she sings “some say in life you gonna get what you give, but some things only god can forgive” with those horns behind her in the bridge…….i get shivers every time)… every second of it hurts so good. you can feel all that anger and pain, and also the euphoria and the healing. i’m so glad that kesha is finding herself again; she deserves the best.

“mic drop” by bts

i thought “baepsae” was my favorite “kiss my ass” bts banger, but then “her” came out and “mic drop” fuckin beat “baepsae” to a bloody pulp. the original and the desiigner/steve aoki remix are both sooo good: i love the dark grungy slink of the original, which sounds like it could play during the trailer for a movie about a scrappy gang of crime syndicate underlings who are sick and tired of being underestimated just because they’re all so young, so they’re ready to go off the books and pull a heist so big, no one will ever underestimate them again; but i also love the extra shot of adrenaline in the remix—desiigner’s verse is like whiplash (seriously, how does he manage to rap that fast???), and minimizing that bouncy little riff in the verses to focus on the vocals and the beat makes the chorus hits so much harder (also the “hella thick”/“hella sick” echoes are so much FUN to sing along to (and of course yoongi’s “baby watch your mouth” is…great, to say the least)). i really couldn’t pick between the two versions; although they share a teeth-bared-knuckles-bruised attitude, they’ve got unique vibes to me and i love them differently. that said, i’m linking to a performance of the original version because 1) yoongi and hoseok’s undone bow ties are really fucking me up; 2) apparently the reason why yoongi doesn’t do the last line of his verse is to prove to people accusing them of lip-syncing that they don’t use a track when they perform, which cracks me up because that’s such a yoongi thing to do; and 3) whoever wrote the captions added some little personal notes of their own and they’re so CUTE and funny.

“beautiful” by monsta x

idek what to say about this song anymore; it’s been 9 months and those opening bars still make my heart race. “beautiful” has become not only one of my favorite songs of 2017 but one of my favorite songs period. i’m a mess for mx and i love everything they do, but this song is really something else—rap line are in top fucking form, vocal line kill it (minhyuk’s lines are a Blessing), and the choreography is still one of my favorites from this year. i’ve listened to this song so many times i really thought i was gonna get sick of it, but i haven’t yet, and i don’t think i will.

“baby” by astro

i’m surprised my teeth haven’t rotted out of my skull after how many times i’ve listened to “baby” this year, because this song is like pure sugar. i love the snappy percussion and the bouncy bass and the bright melody, and astro have such sweet vocals to boot (especially mj, oh man ;___;). and the choreography is so!! good!!! it’s got this old-fashioned swing to it that i love. ugh. it’s all perfect. i remember a few months ago i was having a bad day for whatever reason, but after i watched a few live stages of this i instantly felt better.

“new fears” by lights

“skin&earth” was hands-down one of my top favorite releases of 2017—it’s the gritty post-apocalyptic cyberpunk album of my dreams. i’ve loved lights since like middle school, and it’s so amazing to see how her music has grown and changed; this is my favorite work from her so far. “skin&earth” has SO many good tracks, but “new fears” is probably my favorite. i love the eerie beginning, and the heavy beat in the chorus, and the lyrics!!!!!! they nail that feeling of “i would give myself up to keep you safe” in such a raw and heart-wrenching and beautiful way. just reading them gives me chills. the idea of getting new fears when you start really caring about someone……i never would’ve thought of it that way but it’s so true. UGH! lights if ur reading this i love u

“do it” by masc

god am i glad i stumbled across this one night when i was catching up on mvs, because masc have become one of my new favorite groups. i love the retro vibe, their vocals are so good (heejae’s voice…i’m weak), the choreography is SO freakin cute (i’m still not over the superman move in the chorus), and the mv is so colorful and goofy (two of my favorite things!)… truly a dream. the fan service dance practice and honestly any of the live stages are also a delight.

so there’s some of my faves! happy new year everyone!!! 2017 you kinda sucked sometimes but thanks for at least bringing some sweet jams. i’ll tag @anyhao @shinwhoohoo and @onlyoongi if you’d like to share some of what you’ve been listening to lately!

#tagged in #there are so many honorable mentions but if i listed all of those we'd be here all day lol #these are the ones that stuck out to me though #also i'm sorry if this somehow tagged anyone twice slkdfj the links didn't work the first time so i'm trying to repost #pls work this time

5 notes · View notes

sicklylittlesnowflake · 7 years

Note

hello! you're blog is so cute i love it!!! tbh you're such a good writer it makes me cry. could you please do a fic describing keith's emotions (or lack thereof) when allura fell in his arms vs his emotions when lance literally just touched his shoulder?

(Hey sweetpea, you’re honestly the kindest person ever?? I hope you don’t mind that I added elements of whump into this prompt because I wanted to stick to my sickfic/whump theme, but I couldn’t turn this prompt down because I loved it!! It’s still more focused on Keith’s thoughts than the actual whump!)

Keith’s idea of love had always been through a screen. Never real, processed and filtered through a Hollywood lens.

He’d had a taste of love when his classmate Lucy gave him a card cut out like a heart for Valentine’s Day in kindergarten, but he didn’t feel anything at all. But Keith couldn’t quite help but feel a little warm and fuzzy when his classmate James let him help him build his sandcastle.

But for the most part, Keith never really understood what it was. Teachers at school always explained it was what mommy and daddy felt for each other, but he didn’t have that. How could he know what he didn’t have? Keith told himself that maybe he just wasn’t wired to have it, that not all boys get to have it, and that was okay. You can’t miss what you never had.

But Keith was curious. He wondered what it would feel like. He wondered what all his classmates were crazy about, why all the girls would squeal over their crushes picking petals off flowers and why all the boys tried and competed to find ways to get the girl. It was something Keith just didn’t get, something that wasn’t on his radar.

He would watch romance films on the TV, watch as a boy and girl fell in love in a whimsical journey. He watched as boys burst into song about how happy they felt, how in love they were in the rain. He’d watch girls sing quietly to themselves about how smitten and complete they would feel, the devotion they felt to another human being. To Keith, it didn’t didn’t feel real at all. He could only shrug and move on. It just wasn’t for him.

Then there was Lance.

Lance came swooping in one day, a complete surprise that he had said he didn’t need and certainly didn’t want, but now, more than anything, needed, and desperately wanted. It was funny how time changed things.

He’d seen him before, he’d simply been in the background of his life. Lance was just there, sitting around with his class at the Garrison. Just fading in to the background in Keith’s eyes. But now Lance was all he could see.

No Hollywood movie could ever explain how Keith felt about Lance.

It had all happened too fast. Keith didn’t even know where the transition from you are the most annoying person I’ve ever met to you’ve given me something to believe in was. There is something about Lance’s very essence that makes him feel at home. Something about Lance that grounds him back to earth when he feels like he is floating away, out of reach for good.

There was nothing like Lance’s smile, subtle, perfect and real.

Now Lance is in front of him and he isn’t smiling, he’s fevered and sick and just not his Lance. Not his sweet, lively Lance who walked around lightly leaving traces of twinkling stardust behind him. He looks vulnerable, weak, sick. Someone like him who burst with sunlight didn’t deserve this.

And Lance is here, fevered and sick because of him. Keith had insisted on going on a dangerous mission, and Lance would not let him go alone. He had brushed it off and said he only went because he thought Keith was incompetent, but as he prepared himself he overheard him gently telling Hunk that he was coming because he believed in him.

Lance hadn’t been feeling well, something that wasn’t to Keith’s knowledge, and yet he went with Keith, fiercely protecting him like the sharpshooter he was, pushing aside everything else for Keith.

Lance had succeeded, Keith finished the mission safe and sound, but ended up worsening his own physical state. On their way back to the Black Lion, Keith was beaming about how well they were worked together, how great Lance was, and Lance was smiling, smiling so bright then he was collapsed on the floor. Needless to say Keith was beyond freaked out.

His whole life Keith told himself that he and love were incompatible. Love was not for him. No one could ever love him, he wasn’t built for it, it was in his very molecules that was chemically unresponsive to it. It was written in his DNA, wired so that he couldn’t.

And then Lance comes barging in and breaking down his closed walls and turns everything around.

Keith frantically cradled Lance in his arms, scooping him off the ground and holding him so close in fear that if he loosened his grip for one second, he’d lose Lance forever. He couldn’t lose anyone else.

Worry flooded him, as panic raced about his body and his heart beat furiously, adrenaline pumping because he couldn’t lose Lance. He incoherently spat out about how stupid Lance was for doing this, that he shouldn’t have come with him if he was sick, how none of this was worth Lance’s health as he drove Black home frantically

Then Lance let out a husky chuckle, looking at Keith with that stupid flirty, slick expression that rendered him so jealous he could barely function when it was used with other aliens.

But what came out of Lance’s mouth was said so differently, so purely and genuinely from how he spoke to those alien girls.

“You don’t get it, do you, Keith? You don’t get that I love you,” Lance said feverishly, but said in a tone so soft and loving that for a few moments Keith’s blood ran cold, all concept of time and space halting as his heart melted, a feeling that was the perfect culmination of flowers blooming and a warm fire starting in the fireplace.

Black suddenly tipped slightly as Keith lost control, of both the lion and his emotions. He let out a small gasp, his hands beginning to tremble lightly as his breath became short and shallow. Lance had just turned the world he once knew upside down.

And Keith has lost control.

Keith doesn’t remember what happens after that, but he knows that he lands back on the Castle and carries Lance’s fevered, sickly body out of the Lion as Coran and Hunk rush towards them in concern and shock, carrying Lance away to medbay.

His concept of time went whack as he tried to collect his thoughts. He disassociated from his own body, detached from his reality and walking aimlessly, like walking in a dream. His reality warped and fading, all he could hear was he loud thumping of his heart, and the word love echoing in his head like a mantra.

He doesn’t remember how he got here but he’s sitting by Lance’s side, watching him breathe in and out steadily, looking drained and exhausted. He looks so peaceful like this, and its one of the only times he’s been able to just look at Lance like this. He’s handsome despite the sickly features. He has clear skin, the cutest upturn to his nose and the lightest of freckles dotting it. So perfectly Lance.

He ponders for what seems to be hours about what Lance had said to him, what this was supposed to make him feel. Keith doesn’t know how to react, how to feel, he’s not good with people, he’s not Lance. He is so confused, out of his element and thrown out of the controlled mindset he had adapted for himself. Keith has effectively lost it. He’s been alone for so long he’s forgotten he’s real.

He tries to rationalize, trying process everything so he his brain can finally shut up and end the endless rollercoaster it’s on. There’s so much going on in his brain that he needs to just take a moment and think way back, try and analyze the situation and understand how he’s feeling. Keith closes his eyes and thinks back to the past, searching for answers.

When Allura falls into his arms he is hit by a sense of deja vu, like he had been here in this situation before. But he hadn’t–Keith feels as if he hasn’t quite lived yet, he’d all watched it on a TV screen in yet another Hollywood romance. He’d seen it all before hundreds of times, it’s lost any sense of magical wonder. He wondered if he’d feel that rush or thrill of holding a girl in his arms like that, but he felt nothing at all.

Keith tries to feel something in that moment, forces himself to feel magical and like he could burst into song in the rain, feel butterflies dancing in his stomach, because the TV screen told him to, but he can’t. He wonders where the moment where he realises he wants to spend his whole life with her went, because it’s not here. All he feels is catching his friend, and he’s happy that he caught her, because he cares about Allura and wouldn’t want her hurt, but he thought he would feel more. Because that’s what he was told to do.

But Lance’s hand on his shoulder is like when the bus finally arrives after waiting so long in the freezing cold, that relief of the heated vehicle and the reassurance that yes, I am finally going home. He feels that wonderful heat rising to his cheeks, that firm whisper that keeps him together when he is sure he is going to fall apart. The way Lance looks at him melts Keith in the insides, and he just does not know what to do in the slightest. The TV screen never told him about this, never prepared him for it. He’s lost in Lance’s soft blue eyes, spotting this kindness and softness that cradles him gently, soothing his weary heart. Keith wonders why the TV screen never showed him this because this beat every single thing it had showed him.

Keith thinks about this as he watches Lance sleep, breathing heavily from a fever and curled up, looking so much softer and vulnerable. It was a new side to him he never knew was there, a side to him that was just as scared as he was, a side that didn’t feel the need to keep up a cheery facade constantly. A side to Lance Keith never would’ve thought would go on a mission with him despite how awful he felt, just to make sure Keith wasn’t alone, and to tell Keith that he believed in him.

It forced Keith to reevaluate everything he ever knew, because Keith was so convinced that he would always be alone, that no one could ever love someone who could not be understood, but here Lance was making a sacrifice for him. Keith didn’t think anyone could do such a thing. But Lance was here. Here Lance was, who didn’t quite understand every single little thing about Keith, but loved every single little thing about Keith and somehow saw past all of his crap and believed in him. It was too hard to believe. That perhaps he wasn’t so unlovable after all. It couldn’t be real. But Lance loved him.

Keith is suddenly hit with an epiphany.

A revelation that leaves his body cold and frozen, then a surge of warmth and he’s breathing heavily as his heart swells and wants to escape his chest and he’s shaking, because he’s in love with Lance. He’s in love with Lance too.

‘I love Lance,’ Keith thinks over and over again, hoping that somehow it can finally sink in and he could suddenly have his eureka moment and know exactly what to do. He is so confused and scared and excited and filled with a plethora of mixed, conflicting emotions but it feels so good and so right. Keith hates being wrong but right now he was wrong and he is so happy that he is. Keith is not unlovable, and he didn’t realise how much he needed to know that.

Keith wants to cry because he’s so happy, he’s shaking and tears are spilling from his eyes and he can’t help but reach out for Lance’s hand. He flinches just a little as his skin comes into contact with Lance’s, and a feeling of doubt begins to build slowly but he looks back at Lance and the mantra starts again. ‘I love Lance,’ The voice repeats over and over again but never quite loses its magic. He is assured again. He eases into it, intertwining his fingers with Lance’s and he feels so connected, it feels so right.

Lance stirs, and his eyes are fluttering open and they sparkle with delight when they see Keith’s form.

“I love you too,” Keith chokes, smothered with his own happy tears, a shaky smile playing on his lips. Shaky, but still so sure. So certain. He’s so confident in it he could yell it to the world at the top of his lungs or burst into song and dance until the sun rises.

and when Lance smiles at him the magical technicolor romance he saw on screen leaps out and becomes real. Very real, vivid and dancing and twirling and sparkling in all its rich colours as it comes to life and Keith can’t help but join in and bask in it.

#klance #keith kogane #lance mcclain #langst #klangst #voltron #voltron legendary defender #vld #whump #fever #sickfic #prompts #wow the most sappy thing i've ever written #but also lowkey like..lmao #im a sap shh #voltron lance #voltron keith

265 notes · View notes