Tumgik
#i feel like switching media types might not be the best idea? but writing them as fic would be a lot quicker than drawing them out
buggachat · 2 years
Note
Absolutely no pressure to answer this, but I’ve been getting curious what with what’s currently going down in the Bakery Enemies AU! Do you intend to end it shortly after the reveal, or do you have plans to continue the plot re getting the kwamis back and finding/taking down the real peacock holder?
Basically, the "end" of the comic that I have in mind still has some loose ends. I was kind of planning on doing some epilogue comics to tie them up, or even like little short snippet comics of little jokes or cute moments or what have you.
I can't completely guarantee that I'll do them, because when the comic is done I will probably need to go back to doing the other things I've been busy with, but it was sort of the plan.
2K notes · View notes
cryptidafter · 11 days
Note
do u remember some time ago when we where talking about woh and its potential for a horroredit??? im gathering inspiration and ill probably ask u at some point to lend me ur expertise in that area but for now i just want to ask what u like abt horror, as a viewer! what do u enjoy? what would u like to see explored more, what have movies (or books!?) done before that excites u and that u could talk abt for hours? if u want pls do go deep into the technical aspects if u have any thoughts from a storyteller's perspective! youve shared your thoughts with me a bit before so view this as the extended cut!
Oooh yes, of course I remember (and am still incredibly excited about the idea)!
You asked for the extended cut so this is probably going to be another long one (get comfortable lol).
If we're specifically talking about film, what I like about horror as a genre is its ability to personify and often contextualize the complicated and uncomfortable emotions most of us have a difficult time unpacking. Grief, trauma, rage, anger, fear - they're all given a name and/or a face and by taking those abstract concepts and re-imagining them as something tangible and real, it provides me with a sense of catharsis that few other genres can.
More below the cut <3
I enjoy having that control. I'm choosing to sit down and watch a piece of media that will force me to confront those abstract unknowns in a way that's not as overwhelming as IRL. I've been drawn to darker themes from a young age (I think because death was something I had to grapple with when I was too young to really understand it) and I've always been fascinated by the parts of life people shy away from or outright refuse to acknowledge. I grew up on Goosebumps, Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark, and whatever vampire books I could get my hands on. Horror just hooked me.
Something I'd like to see explored more in horror is race but not in the way it's usually done. I don't want the story to be tailored for a non-black/non-poc audience. I want horror that focuses on all those nasty bits of racism that fester beneath the surface. The microaggressions and the respectability politics and the ever-looming discomfort that comes from trying to fit yourself into spaces that were never made for you in the first place. Get Out touches on some of this (hence why it's such a cultural touchstone) but even it doesn't get down into the weeds like I want. Give me the specter of racism! Make it a silent, sneaking embodiment of minstrelsy that waits in the shadows to mock you. Give me two versions of the same person: code-switching taken to its extreme. Idk, I just think there are so many terrifying but subtle ways that racism presents itself that could be personified in a way that might be hugely impactful for non-white audiences. Most people understand that slavery is bad and that you shouldn't call people slurs. Now, lets go deeper.
I've made posts about some of my favorite horror media but, like you said, I can talk about this stuff for hours and I don't think I've discussed unique types of filmmaking/writing execution before.
I'm a huge fan of psychological horror. Yes, I can get down with a good gory slasher, I LOVE zombie everything, but psychological horror is my true love. I'm a sucker for horror where something isn't quite right even if you can't put your finger on it. Something that seems ordinary and should be a safe space (like your home) suddenly becoming unfamiliar. That lingering sense of dread that comes from feeling like your surroundings are off but not knowing why or how. Seeing something that should not be possible and trying to apply logic and reason to what can never be explained. That will always fuck me up in the best ways lol. Taking the mundane and twisting it beyond recognition *chef's kiss*, I love it.
Junji Ito is one of my favorite manga writers for this reason. Not only is his art style PHENOMENAL but a lot of his stories revolve around the ordinary turned monstrous (Uzumaki, Tomie). A town that's doomed to always be consumed by spirals for reasons unknown. A girl who dies only to suddenly turn back up but something about her isn't the same. So great!
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Another fantastic example of this is House of Leaves, which genuinely unnerved me so much so that I still haven't finished reading it.
The way House of Leaves has the text itself morph and change, becoming entirely nonsensical at times, really heightens the anxiety and discomfort I feel. I never know what's going to happen next, both in the actual narrative and on the page. Books have always frightened me more than visual media because my mind will always conjure up the most terrifying images imaginable lol. It's difficult to make something look as scary on screen as it does in my head (not impossible, of course, just tough).
Tumblr media
Skinamarink is another fantastic exploration of this theme. Your home - the place where you rest, make memories, get to fully be yourself - has become a hostile environment. I won't get into how the movie is (imo) an incredibly well-done metaphor for childhood trauma (your house becomes a prison that you can't escape and your parents are demonic entities that frighten and harm you; though I can also get behind the other theory I've seen where normal things can seem more confusing and scary as a child because you have no frame of reference for what's happening). But wow this movie stuck with me. I know you're not into horror but I have to share the short film that was the inspiration behind the full-length movie to really get the message across (headphones are best because there's a lot of audio distortion).
youtube
Visually, my favorite types of horror do a lot with a little. You don't need jumpscares and buckets of fake blood to get the job done (though those are fun lol). Playing around with lighting, depth of field, focus, etc. can do a lot to make you disoriented or nervous. Take liminal spaces for instance (which I love).
Tumblr media Tumblr media
There's nothing inherently strange about these images but they're unnerving. You get the sense that something could be lurking, that you might turn a corner and encounter danger. Something about being utterly alone does weird things to your brain sometimes which is really the core of what I'm getting at: good horror asks the viewer to sit with discomfort, get familiar with it.
Okay, I have rambled long enough lol. You know my DMs are always open for more discussion of this topic (especially as it pertains to WOH) <3
7 notes · View notes
verycharismaticdragon · 11 months
Note
25
[ common fandom complaint that you’re sick of hearing ]
You didn't pick a fandom so I've decided that the perfectly hinged option is to talk about fandoms in general; so here goes.
I'm deeply tired of complaints about abundances. "Why is there so much of ship X", "Why are there so many fics about Y"... And I get the frustration, I really do - it's so often I wish some concept that looks so interesting in my head was more explored, instead of everyone just repeating the popular fanon. But!
This specific way of complaining about it is just... THE most counterproductive. Because there's an obvious answer to that "why?" and it's "because people find it interesting". And saying that something a person is interested in is bad and annoying is, unsurprisingly, NOT going to make them abandon something they like and switch to whatever the complainer wants to see. At best, they'll just think the complainer is kind of an ass and keep on doing whatever they were doing; at worst, it can over time chip at their willingness to engage with that particular fandom at all. And then there's just less fancontent overall, and still no things the complainer wanted in the first place.
(As an aside, there's a similar phenomenon I see when people engage with queer media, where basically a silly indie game with queer rep will be picked the fuck apart for what it does not have, instead of, you know, being celebrated for what it did portray well. Because tearing into every queer game that comes out absolutely does not lead to more queer games with other types of rep! It's ridiculous that ppl do not seem to see that!)
And the thing is, it's very easy to take the sentiment behind such complaint, and then do positive things with it - things which, I dare say, will benefit the fandom as a whole. And it all starts with rewording that complaint. Instead of saying "there's too much of concept A", say "I would love to see concept B explored", or, "I love it when people explore concept B". Someone who had not thought of B before might consider it and become interested. Someone who thought of it but was worried it wouldn't be well-received will feel validated. Someone who did explore it will be happy - and might even pop into comments with a rec! Seriously: just channeling that frustration into a call for more content, instead of saying there's too much content, makes it more pleasant to see and more likely to actually net the reaction the complainer wants.
(It's like... reverse 'two cakes' almost. Instead of complaining you hate chocolate cake, say you wish there was a vanilla one too. Maybe someone who was afraid their vanilla cake wouldn't be well received will be running to you with it.)
After that, there's of course the option of uplifting the fanworks that do [whatever it is] right - hyping them up, spreading the word, writing the author a long-ass comment. And one can always cook their own meals too! Yes, even if one isn't a creative; sometimes a screenshot of canon material with a short comment is all it takes to make the gears in someone else's head turn. (Spoken as someone who definitely did get ideas from exactly such posts.)
Anyway, tl;dr: I wish ppl would stop complaining there's too much of [some fandom content], and started to channel that energy into hyping up the content they would like to see. This would be more productive, and just plain more pleasant for everyone involved.
25 notes · View notes
Note
The big question: what did you think about the Futurama Comedy Central revival? 😬
So, I'll be 100% honest: I think the hate for the Comedy Central revival is overblown. Everyone's opinions are valid, of course, but I do really like it. I'm glad it got brought back.
I tend to be very patient when it comes to pieces of media I love. I don't always have the highest standards for media either. I'm a massive fan of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and that franchise has very low moments. When Detective Pikachu came out, I saw it three times while it was in theaters. When I was in middle school, I was so obsessed with Naruto that I watched all the unnecessary filler episodes. I should mention that I absolutely love Beast With a Billion Backs despite its faults, it's my second favorite Futurama movie. Once my brain hyperfixates on a piece of fiction, I'll be more forgiving of its faults.
That being said, I think that the Comedy Central era of Futurama has the worst episodes by far. To the point where I have a list of episodes that I will never ever watch again. I also pretend that they aren't canon and don't exist. It doesn't help that the Comedy Central era's season 6 fumbles so hard at the beginning. Imagine my disappointment to find out that the "shut up and take my money" meme comes from the absolute worst episode in the entire show (tied with "The Butterjunk Effect"). These earlier episodes didn't leave a very good impression on me, so it my opinion was very shaky at first.
And then it drops some of the best the series has to offer with "Lethal Inspection" and "The Late Philip J Fry." "Prisoner of Benda" has a moment where Zoidberg switches bodies with Fry, and he blows up Fry and Bender's apartment. That made me laugh harder than anything I've ever seen on TV. And those episodes are far from being the only good episodes in the Comedy Central era. Some of the Comedy Central era episodes are the best the series has to offer. And that alone makes this part of the series worth watching for anyone who's a fan of this show. What I've noticed for seasons 6 and 7, is that the first half seems to have problems with finding its footing, and then the second half does a really good job.
I have an idea about why the later episodes are like this. For one, Comedy Central was way looser on its restrictions than Fox. This meant that the Futurama writing team could do whatever they wanted. Unfortunately, there are instances where limitations can help improve writing quality because it forces the writers to get more creative. They lost some writers due to a lower budget, so I imagine that was an issue as well. Kristen Gore, who wrote "Leela's Homeworld," didn't return to the CC era (yup, she's Al Gore's daughter). I have some issues with the way Leela is handled in certain episodes, and I think this might be one of the reasons why. The writers apparently didn't feel pressured to make all the jokes perfect this time, which I imagine could really wear on them at a point. I can tell that some of the lines they wrote probably needed to be workshopped and rewritten.
There are character consistency problems as well, but this is bound to happen in episodic shows that go on for 100+ episodes. In the Comedy Central era, there are some moments I would consider character assassination, but as I said earlier, I pretend those episodes aren't canon. For the most part, they still capture the spirit of the characters just fine. There was also likely some strife in the writer's room regarding certain elements. If I had to guess, they were likely writing under the pressure that they weren't sure if this show was going to end or not, so they had to make everything open-ended enough.
The original Futurama has some of the tightest writing I've ever seen on TV. That type of near-perfection is nearly impossible to recapture under different circumstances a decade later. But they still made a good amount of impressive episodes. They tried to make up for some of the older episodes that haven't aged well, even if their attempts were a bit clunky. They have a ton of super cool sci-fi concepts they get to explore. And some of these episodes are just batshit unhinged in a way that really appeals to me. So yeah, I think CC era has the worst the series has to offer, but it also has the best the series has to offer. *Also, I think that some of the criticism I've seen for the CC episodes is too nit-picky and pretentious, but that's just my take.*
If you watch the CC era, do yourself a favor and skip these episodes: "In-A-Gadda-De-Leela," "Attack of the Killer App" (fuck this episode), "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular," "The Butterjunk Effect" (fuck this episode too), and "Naturama." Honestly, I thought everything else was fine, some being more mediocre than others.
"Yo Leela Leela" and "Neutopia" really aren't great, but they aren't bad enough to nearly ruin my enjoyment of this show, unlike the above episodes.
Here are my favorite episodes in the CC era: "Lethal Inspection," "The Late Philip J. Fry," "The Prisoner of Benda," "The Silence of the Clamps," (Zoidberg vs Clamps, a fight between god tier characters), "Mobius Dick," "Benderama," "The Tip of the Zoidberg," "Ghost in the Machines" (more like gays in the machines, hahaha), "All the Presidents Heads," "Cold Warriors," Reincarnation," "Overclockwise," "The Bots and the Bees," "Decision 3012," "The Six Million Dollar Mon" (yes, I'm adding it for the Robit Brain song alone), "Forty Percent Leadbelly," “Freewill Hunting,” "2-D Blacktop," "The Inhuman Torch," "Saturday Morning Fun Pit," "Leela and the Genestalk," "Game of Tones," "Murder on the Planet Express," "Stench and Stenchibility," and finally, "Meanwhile."
All of the above are my personal favorites. I found everything else enjoyable and I would still rewatch them. Shoutout to the Bender robot fox episode that parodies "The Most Dangerous Game." It's one of the weirdest episode concepts I've ever seen. I have no idea what possessed them to write that episode, but I got a kick out of it.
14 notes · View notes
Note
Hi I have a question
Recently I've been have a bad case of writers block. It been preventing me from writing my stories Blood rose Games and Her Eyes along with genshin fanfics I have started. What would you do about the writers block?
Thank you so much and stay safe!!
hiya, sorry to hear about your writers block. It’s the wooorst thing to feel that way. I have tried a bunch of different things to get through it but it took some trial and error to figure out how -- 
take a break: like a real break. no consuming the media you are writing for / about / beside -- go and do something completely different for a day, a few days, anything but don’t look or think about your topic at all 
consume media: watch your favorite show, a new show. watch a movie, read a book, read fanfiction, read manga, listen to music -- anything that’s going to spark ideas or pocket them for later. No matter your creative craft, consuming media and art will help you more than you could imagine! 
hang out with people: if that’s your thing - go and be with them, play games with them! just chat it up and don’t beat yourself up for doing it (this is my hardest part) 
write when you get motivated: as SOON as you get an idea or a partial one, whip out your writing tools and go to town -- it doesn’t matter if it’s a short or long burst, but you should follow that flow as soon as it appears
write something 
switch up your writing tool: usually write on a computer? get you a notebook and carry it around like your best friend! As soon as the spark hits you, pull that baby out and GO. Write in a notebook? Try your phone or computer (you can buy cheap bluetooth keyboards (i have seven). Write on your phone? switch it up! (I personally thing writing in a notebook when I have writers block shakes me out of it because I always type on a keyboard or on my phone, so it’s a ‘change in scenery’ and can help your brain)
read one of the fics you love the most: it’ll remind you how good you are, or how far you’ve come 
daydream: if you can’t get the words to come out, let your imagination run wild and build it without the pressure of finding the right words or phrases. see it in your imagination and come back to it later; it’ll still be there 
free form practice: write or create something that you are reallllllly good at, that you feel the most confident in, and just let your mind go. Don’t worry about if it makes sense, don’t worry if it’s accurate or clear. just let your brain create what it wants! (this also helps with character dialogue: if you can’t hear their voice in your head, don’t trap yourself in that hole. Instead, write out what you generally want them to say or get across, keep going then come back during the edit process and smile at how good your brain says, “oh that’s what they should say here” (works like a charm)
these are just a few things to try! they might not all work for you, but they could be good to try and, the most important thing to know is, you are not broken - you haven’t run out of creativity or skill - you’re brain is just tired, your body might be stressed, you might need food or water. The best thing to do about writers block is allow yourself to rest and then slowly give yourself something to work on. 
The first work I usually make after writers block is teeeerrible, but i’m just working out the kinks, after that -- smooth sailing baby 
43 notes · View notes
palmviperlover · 6 months
Text
The Late Night "Tino’s Bawdy Show"
The explanation
Pamela:
The inspiration for this track appeared while I was looking at this girl in my class. I was also talking to this girl called Marie and she gave me some motivation to keep striving. So when I got home, I thought about these two girls and just wrote the chorus and the verses. I then changed some of the lyrics to "What the fuck is this? Party Malibu the bliss!" and this gave me my inspiration behind the saying "Ready-to-go package to the Malibu Club and the City of Vice". Around that time me and my brother were also playing Vice City which gave me inspiration for the whole project. I then end the song by saying "All I gotta say you do you, I do me and I’m.." pretty self explanatory but in the end I’ll be chilling, we good.
Choker:
This is a very special track to me because I still remember the feeling of getting my flows right and coming up with the main idea of the song.
The first verse is me talking to emilie and second one is her answering me.
I remember her just echoing through my walls only problem, I was vacant and couldn’t be with her in the present moment, which eventually led to regretting my decision.
She then answered by saying she couldn’t leave me, that she would be nothing without my presence. She needed to hold me, but I left. I remember her showing me the pills she had in her cabinet, to this day I don’t know what happened with them.
All of this to conclude that I just don’t want to die now over this, I got more to see, but she’s playing with me, taunting me into an unending cycle of karma for what I did to her.
In the end, I will try to let it go by creating all this music and eventually flying from state to state.
The instrumental then switches and we enter the dark second half of the cover.
I found this voice message on youtube and I swear this is literally just like her voice, which she did call me once like this but on a more happier tone.
The instrumental then loops back around.
Vanity:
What I will say about vanity is that I wonder how people will fuxk with it
I think it’s a very original track in terms of the instrumental, far from my best work but very catchy.
If you go back on to my tumblr you can see a post where the feeling of vanity is mentioned. I was seeing it in my mirrors. This gave me inspiration to write on some more "I got it and you don’t" type of feeling. Even though I was pretty much going crazy.
The cover for it is from october 2021
My brother got a mansion!
Party up and in the hills!
Palm trees cover me like Vercetti from Vice City
Mk Ultra they be hiding oh oh
And then I think my ex is near
her answer: Fuck You!
The news clip at the end is basically in correlation with the cover. In 2021 I was very fucking deep into fucked up crimes and lost media so the Boca Raton Mall Murders were on my radar. Thus why I found the cover.
Luv Me "The Violent $truck":
So first off Slippy Toad’s voice is kinda like my conscience and it plays throughout the song.
I then found the Kanye clip and it blew my fucking mind, everything he was saying was the same exact feeling I was having towards emilie.
I listened to Flashing Lights the first time with her, and lost her.
Thus why the first verse
I want to let her go but I just can’t
Ending with her probably feeling bliss with someone else and me just having to deal with it.
So runaway,
but don’t forget me.
While working on these 4 tracks me and my brother watched scarface in his basement, and the next week we flew to Miami which gave me even more inspiration when I came back for exemple, the cover to Choker and many more tracks that will soon be released.
We then came back and I worked on Zone
Zone "Take To The Bottle":
This song might deserve its own post from how much it means to me but I’ll try to explain it as clearly as possible.
So first off, the cover is also from october 2021.
While working on the instrumental I wanted to make this as an homage almost to SpaceGhostPurrp and what he did for me. Thus why the mix has this 90s vibe to it, kinda like you just picked up a cassette and this is the track that plays on it.
I was listening to Pheel tha phonk with emilie and it changed a lot for me, so I wanted to recreate that feel.
Now, every single lyric I could explain but I’ll pick from the most important
So I wrote this song 3 times and ended up with what you have.
It starts with me going to her house and ending up in her sheets, just like what happens, she was my cleopatra with her black hair.
I now enter the Zone
And my personality switches, I can control her because she loves me.
I’m feeling so confident that no matter who talks to me I’ll take it.
I then decide to break up with her and even though she told me multiple times she would kill me if I left her, I’m flourishing and I’m aite!
So fuck it throw a party to this good news.
"Didn’t you say I were to die if I left you off behind me I ______ "
This here can be interpreted as "me I’m aite" or "me I might". This double entendre plays off with the lyrics before and after it.
But come on ride it with your jeans cause I’ll be having 30 000 bands chilling next to me soon enough.
To cope, she’ll be dealing with all sorts of drugs.
And then a switch in my voice appears,
I break character, I realize I can’t play this card forever.
I loved her and fucked her up, it’s all on me.
But I said all of this just to finally push her away from me because I can’t live with this on my conscience.
Did it work?
No, but let’s go celebrate because I now have the phonk because of this song.
I made Purrp proud and fucked my relationship with her even more.
I got the phonk,
but she’s in my mind telling me,
"I need you".
1 note · View note
seasteading · 3 years
Text
so you're missing a plot
over the course of my 3+ years on writeblr and some time on writing twitter, i’ve noticed that a lot of people can come up with characters and worldbuilding, but then get stuck on creating a compelling plot around those characters. so, here are a few tips that have helped me, and that i hope will help you too!
note: this will apply mostly to fantasy and sci fi, since that's what i write and what tends to have more plot-heavy storylines. 
these are also all my opinions! you don’t have to listen to any of this—all of these are tips that i’ve used in my own experience, and what works for me won’t necessarily work for you.
tone
this is one of the first things you want to decide. even within the same genre, you’re going to have a lot of variety in tone and atmosphere. the kind of plot that works for a fun fantasy adventure romp might feel odd and out of place for a darker fantasy with an emphasis on political intrigue. to figure out what kind of tone works best for your wip in particular, you want to look back at your characters. writing is a massive investment of time and energy, so you want to go in a direction that’s actually interesting to you. this is the very first step, and will help you decide what direction you end up going, and will most importantly give you a hint towards what ending will best suit the story you’re trying to tell. if you go with a more lighthearted tone, then suddenly having a tragic ending won’t make any sense since it’s the equivalent of a bait-and-switch. the same applies for having a darker tone—a happily ever after where everyone lives and gets therapy won’t necessarily fit. 
worldbuilding
worldbuilding is important of course, but it doesn’t need to be completely developed before you start coming up with a plot. in fact, you should try to avoid dumping all of your time into worldbuilding, and instead get the basics down before moving onto the plot. i’m sorry to say it, but you’re not tolkien. you will never be tolkien, and you don’t have to aspire to be like him either. you don’t want to write yourself into a plothole because something in your worldbuilding ends up conflicting with the story, so generally it’s good to have a little bit of wiggle room. sometimes you also run into a situation where the plot itself inspires an important piece of worldbuilding that makes the story richer and more interesting. your worldbuilding is there to enrich your plot and inform your character motivations, not the other way around. however, you do want to establish any rules your world has before getting into the plot, since breaking them can itself become a driving factor in characters and their arcs. this is especially common in fantasy, where a frequent premise lies in the fact that everybody can’t use magic while the protagonist can, or the other way around. this isn’t a plot quite yet, but it can be a good starting point.
character driven vs. plot driven
you will also need to decide the main focus of your story. character-driven writing is common in literary fiction and shorter works, and it’s focused specifically on the internal conflict within characters, as well as their thoughts and personal arcs. few external events are going to happen in character-driven stories, which tend towards more towards slice-of-life where not much really happens but you’re still invested due to the characters. plot-driven writing puts emphasis on (you guessed it!) the plot, and this is a lot more common for longer works. the two can and do certainly overlap, but most works tend to lean a bit more one way or the other, and you can determine this by asking whether you’re more interested in the characters as people or in what happens to them. 
motivation
so now that you have an idea of the direction you want to go, how do you actually come up with your plot? no matter if your story is character driven or plot driven, you still need compelling characters, and one way to find your plot is to look at their motivations. every one of your characters should have something they want to achieve or to obtain. your character’s want is going to be their main driving motivation. something is wrong in their life—if it wasn’t, then you wouldn’t be writing this story—and they think that obtaining what they want will fix it. this can be a macguffin-style quest for an object/place/person, the desire to climb the social ladder, solving the mystery behind a disappearance, etc. at this point, i would recommend taking a look at media with similar character motivations to yours and dissecting them to see what works and what doesn’t. you want to be genre-savvy and know what tropes are common to the type of story you’re telling.
gay is not a plot
repeat after me. gay is not a plot. gay is not a plot. gay is not a plot. there should be something to your wip’s plot other than “they’re gay, what more do you need?” (see this post). a romance isn’t going to be interesting if the characters aren’t interesting on their own, and that requires them to actually have their own motivations which (see motivation) themselves create the basis for a plot! in that same vein, having representation shouldn’t function as your plot or your primary selling point. representation should be a given, and making that the only descriptor for your work essentially boils down your characters to just their marginalization.
retellings
i know retellings of fairytales, myths, and shakespeare’s plays have gotten really popular, especially as of late. retellings are a great starting point since they already give you a base off which to work with, and instead of having to come up with all of your concepts from scratch, it becomes a question of putting your own spin on them. these tend to require some knowledge of the genre and common tropes, which you should have regardless of whether you’re writing a retelling or not. here, instead of having characters and a world first and a plot second, you’re working backwards from an existing work to reinterpret the characters and world surrounding a common plot. the important thing to note is that just because you have a starting point doesn’t mean that your work is done—i’d recommend researching other variations of the story you’re retelling and cataloguing similarities and differences, what works and what doesn’t, and moving things around/restructuring them depending on the changes you yourself want to make in your retelling.
prompts
i actually wouldn’t recommend relying on generators and prompt lists for your plots, since they tend to be extremely vague and difficult to get invested in, since you weren’t the one to come up with them. prompts can be really good for sparking inspiration, though, and once you get an idea for a few scenes, you can build off of them to figure out what circumstances lead to each one and what the pivot points are. prompts are a useful tool, but shouldn’t be used as the basis for your entire story.
final thoughts
if you’re here that means you’ve made it to the end of this behemoth of a post, and hopefully something here was helpful! at this point you should be able to find a premise, but it’s important to note that a premise is not a plot. here is where the real work begins—interweaving your characters and worldbuilding with your storyline, figuring out if there are any holes in your cast or if there are a few darlings you need to cryogenically freeze for now. you don’t need to fill in all of your plotholes; that’s a problem for when you actually have a draft down and more material to work with. for now, focus on creating a storyline that’s interesting to you. most importantly, don’t try to force it. you don’t want to treat a plot as a trope checklist, but instead let it come naturally so it actually fits the story your characters are made to tell.
300 notes · View notes
blu-joons · 3 years
Text
When You Struggle To Write Your Essay ~ Seventeen Reaction
S.Coups:
You could feel Seungcheol’s presence beside you as you typed away at your computer, glancing across at him, noticing the warm smile that he wore. “I just watched you switch tabs, you’re terrible at playing this game.”
“The essay is stupid,” you stated, slamming your hands on the desk, “Instagram is much better.”
“It’s also an unproductive way to spend your time,” he reminded you, lifting you out of the chair so that you could sit in his lap. “You’ve worked so hard on this essay, don’t let a bump in the road put you off now.”
You sighed back at him, “first of all, Instagram is a very productive way to spend my time and see what everyone else is up to. Secondly, I’ve spent well over an hour on this essay and haven’t got a damn word to show for it.”
“Like I said, you’ve just hit a bump,” Seungcheol tried to assure you, “but you can’t be so hard on yourself about it. Why don’t you take a break for a while, a proper break, at least get away from your computer?”
“Do you really think that’ll make life easier?” You questioned, smiling as he nodded back at you.
His arms tightened around your waist, “let’s do something to distract your mind, whatever you want to do. I’m sure when you come back to your work, you’ll find your flow once again.”
“Although I’ve just spent an hour on social media, I deserve a break, right?”
Jeonghan:
A gasp escaped from you as Jeonghan pulled away just as you leaned forwards to press a kiss against his lips. “I told you, no kiss until you get that section of your essay complete,” he teased, moving back away from you.
“Do you really want to play this game with me?” You sighed, sinking down in your chair.
“I told you how this was going to work, you can’t try and cheat your way out of doing your work by trying to kiss me when I’m not paying attention,” Jeonghan reminded you, taking a seat opposite your desk.
Your eyes stared helplessly back across at him, “why are you doing this to me? I thought it was just going to be a joke, I didn’t think you’d actually stop kissing me. How am I supposed to work without a kiss from you?”
“That’s for you to figure out,” he continued to joke, “I know that you can get this done, you’re just beating yourself up about it right now. The section is nearly complete, and then I promise that I am all yours.”
“Are you going to sit there and tease me whilst I write?” You asked, unsurprised to see his head nod.
He settled himself back against the desk chair, “I’m not going to tease, I’m just going to sit here and remind you of the reward that you’ll get once you finally get that part of the essay done.”
“That’s definitely teasing Jeonghan, no way is it a reward.”
Joshua:
The smell of food caught your attention before Joshua even managed to walk into your apartment. “Don’t be getting any ideas,” he warned you, “this is for you only if you’ve finished writing that paragraph, I left you on.”
“It’s all written, I promise, you can come and see for yourself,” you spoke, pointing it out to him.
“See, I told you that you’d be able to do it,” he proudly smiled, relieved to see you’d finally completed the paragraph you’d been stuck on for most of the afternoon. “It’s a good job I went out and got your favourite too.”
Your eyes lit up, silently cursing at yourself for not recognising the smell of the food straight away. “You’re the best, thank you so much. Let me just save what I’ve done and then I’ll be through to join you for dinner.”
“I wouldn’t move too quickly,” Joshua called out to you, “I went out and got dessert too, but you can only have that if you write another paragraph. And don’t even try and argue with me because I know you’re capable.”
“Are you really using food as a weapon to try and bribe me right now?” You asked of him.
With a smug smile, his head nodded back at you, “it’s working, isn’t it? I know the way to your heart, and it’s by nothing else but food, that’s how you’re going to get this essay done.”
“As bad as it is, I definitely think your right on that one.”
Jun:
When Junhui first began to ask you questions about your essay, you failed to understand what the point was, until slowly answers started to come together. “Write that down, you can use it in section three, can’t you?”
“I think so,” you hummed, writing it down anyway, noticing how big your document was getting.
“What else is there that you need to talk about?” He asked, peering over your shoulder to have a look at the essay brief. “It looks like we’ve managed to get quite a few ideas down for you to write there my love.”
Your head shook at how much was written, “I don’t know who taught you such an incredible skill but thank you for helping me to write almost my entire essay. I really have no idea what I’d do without you Jun.”
“It’s all on you, all I did was ask the questions, and you gave me the answers,” he reminded you, sitting back down on the bed behind you. “Do you want me to stick around whilst you write that into something resembling an essay.”
“It’s up to you, but don’t feel like you have to, you’ve done enough for me,” you assured him.
He shrugged back at you, making himself comfortable. “It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do. I could read over it too if you want when it’s done, make sure that it all makes sense?”
“That would be amazing, you really are the best Junhui.”
Hoshi:
Your smile grew as Soonyoung walked over to you, taking a seat at your desk, staring back at you. “I promise I’m not going to do anything; I’m just going to sit here as moral support whilst you carry on with your writing.”
“Do you know how distracting it is just to have your face there?” You laughed, gently pressing a kiss to the tip of his nose.
“Well, when you hit a brick wall or you’re struggling to think about what to write next, you can just look over at me and I can be your inspiration to try and figure out what it is that you want to write,” he assured you.
Your head shook back at him, “I don’t want to look back at my laptop now I get to look at you. I need to find a lot of inspiration for now, so I might just have to stare at you for a little while, as long as you don’t mind?”
“If it helps with your work, then there’s no complaints from me,” Soonyoung chuckled, resting his head into his hand. “Just don’t stare too long, because you might get lost in my eyes or something and forget about your work.”
“That doesn’t sound like such a bad idea,” you teased, moving a little closer towards him.
Soonyoung quickly moved you back, keeping a distance between the two of you. “You’ve got work to do, don’t be getting any ideas. You can have plenty of what you want when your work is done.”
“You’re a horrendous tease, I can’t believe you’d do that to me.”
Wonwoo:
The moment Wonwoo suggested giving you a helping hand with your essay, you knew it was going to do anything but help you out with your essay. “What even is this thing on? Surely even I can understand what it means.”
“It looks at patterns of migration in variations of native African animals,” you informed him, noticing how quickly his expression dropped.
“Alright, well, with a bit of research I’m sure I can contribute something,” he muttered underneath his breath, quickly doubting how effective his plan seemed to initially be. “Do you have a book or something on it?”
Your head shook, tapping the top of your head. “All the information is stored up here for me to remember, but because you said you’d be such a big help, I’m sure you don’t need a book to research anything, right?”
“Okay, so maybe I underestimated just how difficult your essay would be,” he admitted, sighing across at you, “I know it’s difficult, but you’ve just got to stick at it, I won’t have you give up on all of this now.”
“You’re meant to be the smart one between the two of us, and even you’re confused,” you sighed.
Wonwoo’s head shook, pressing a kiss against the top of your own. “You’re definitely the smart one, there’s no way I could ever do the work that your doing, it’s incredible, really.”
“The offer is still there if you want to write it for me.”
Woozi:
He failed to remember the last time he’d seen you move as he came out from his studio and noticed you still sat in front of your laptop. “Y/N?” He called out, only to be met by silence, walking across to you.
“Sorry,” you muttered as his hand waved in front of your face to try and wake you up. “When did you get out of the studio?”
“I don’t think that matters right now, what matters is waking you up a bit, you’re driving yourself crazy with this essay,” he frowned, pulling your chair away from your desk to give you a bit of room to stretch out.
Your head shook, reaching out to pull yourself back, only for Jihoon to get in the way. “I know that you care Jihoon, but I was only daydreaming for five minutes, we’ve both got work to do, so let’s get on with it, shall we?”
“If you think I’m going to let you go back to doing some work in your current state then you are very much mistaken Y/N.” He established continuing to stare down at you, “I can tell you’ve been daydreaming for a lot longer too.”
“Alright, so maybe I was out of it for a while, but that’s time I need to make up for,” you groaned.
Jihoon continued to shake his head back at you, “when I told you I wasn’t moving, I meant it. For once, I’m not messing around, I’m going to make sure that you look after yourself.”
“I’m too tired to even bother arguing anymore with you.”
DK:
As yet another yawn left you, it was the final straw for Seokmin, walking around to your desk and standing in between you and your laptop. “You’ve got two choices, nap with me, or go and have a nap by yourself.”
“Can’t I just decline both of them?” You questioned, trying to peer around his waist so that you could look back at your essay.
“I’m not budging, and these hips are wide,” he smiled, stepping each time you moved. “Y/N, you’re exhausted, and don’t even try to deny it. At least close your eyes for half an hour and then come back to your work.”
Your head tried to shake, but as it did, another yawn escaped, rendering your argument pointless. “I can sleep for days once this essay is submitted Min, but until then, a trip to bed will just have to wait for me.”
“You’re not going to win,” he joked, staring down at you in front of him. “We can either do this the easy way or the hard way, and I’m happy to do either. So, I’ll leave it up to you to decide what you want to do.”
“That depends, what’s the easy way and what’s the hard way?” You challenged back to him.
His head nodded, “I’m guessing you’ve chosen the hard way,” he announced, bending down and wrapping his arms around you before scooping you off of your chair with ease.
“I would’ve still chosen the easy way I’ll have you know.”
Mingyu:
A strong pair of arms wrapped around you, instantly drawing you out of the daydream that you found yourself in, staring at your half-written essay. “You’re coming with me for a while before you drive yourself crazy.”
“Mingyu, I need to get this done,” you huffed, trying to pull his arms away from your waist, but he was far too strong to budge.
“What you need to do, is forget about your essay for a while, and then you can go back to it with a clearer head in a bit,” he assured you, pulling you down on top of him as he fell onto the sofa, keeping a hold of you.
Despite your protests, it didn’t take long before you made yourself comfortable cuddled into his side. “I’ve still got plenty of work to do, no matter how much you want to use a break as an excuse to cuddle me.”
“I mean it was part of the reason, but also because I’m worried about you too. Everyone needs to take breaks, even if you think it’s wrong. You’ll go back to your essay and ace it,” he assured you, pressing a kiss to your cheek.
“You sound confident for someone that makes it very hard to leave a cuddle,” you joked.
Mingyu’s eyes rolled back at you, “to say you were reluctant to cuddle me, you’ve very quickly changed your tune. I guess cuddling me is never as bad as you think it is.”
“There’s nothing bad ever about cuddling with you.”
The8:
Minghao had watched you shut yourself away for far too long when it came to writing your essay, sensing just how unproductive you were getting. “Talk to me about it,” he announced when you stopped writing again.
“What are you on about?” You questioned, jumping slightly at the sound of his voice. “What are we supposed to talk about?”
“Your essay,” he smiled, placing his phone down beside him so that you had his full attention. “It’s supposed to help talking about things, so why don’t you give me some of your ideas and see what you think about them aloud?”
You stared questionably across at him, “are you really telling me that you want to sit here and listen to me talk to you about a subject you have no idea about? Did you even study psychology at school to know things?”
“I haven’t got a clue, but that might help. Explain it to me, and if it’s simple enough for me to understand, then it’s simple enough to go in your essay too, right?” He suggested, noticing the way in which your eyes lit up.
“Do you know, that might not be such a bad idea, I need the practice right now,” you grinned.
His head nodded, moving himself a little closer towards you, “why don’t you go from the beginning in that case, and make sure to write it down. I’m all ears whenever you’re ready.”
“Alright, I hope you’re prepared to pay close attention to me.”
Seungkwan:
As another sigh echoed out around the room, Seungkwan stood up from his own desk, walking around to you, resting his hands against your shoulders. “How’s it going?” He asked, staring at your empty page.
“Terribly,” you frowned, leaning back to rest against his chest, “do you fancy swapping and writing this for me Kwan?”
“I love you, but not enough to write a three-thousand-word essay,” he smiled, leaning down to press a kiss against the top of your head, “you’ve just got to keep working at it, and eventually it’ll all come together into something beautiful.”
His words were kind, but you were far from convinced. “I’ve stared at this screen for three hours, written one sentence, and then deleted it. It’s like I’m destined to just fail this essay and mess up my grades at the last minute.”
“Well, you won’t get very far with a negative attitude like that,” Seungkwan pointed out to you, “as hard as it is, you’ve just got to remain positive for now and trust in that brain of yours that the work will write itself.”
“My brain feels like it’s never been so useless as it is right now,” you continued to vent.
Seungkwan’s lips pressed against the top of your head, “you’re being too hard on yourself, just relax, and I promise that the work will come to you and you’ll get a great essay written.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without your positivity sometimes.”
Vernon:
Your brows furrowed as soon as you looked around to see your phone no longer on your desk, failing to remember where you’d last put it. “Looking for something?” A voice questioned, as the pieces very quickly came together.
“That’s unfair,” you cried out, unsurprised when you looked around to see Vernon holding onto your phone in his hands.
“You keep getting distracted, but you’re almost at the end, all you’ve got left to write is your conclusion. Let me keep a hold of this,” he propositioned, “and I bet in an hour you can have that essay completed to word count.”
Your eyes rolled, however good of an idea of his it seemed to be. “I was doing just fine with this work before you came over and stole my belongings. I’ve barely even been on my phone that much today you know.”
“Y/N, every time I look up, you’re typing away on your phone,” he chuckled, shaking his head at your protests. “You’ll thank me for doing this in a little while once your essay is complete and you’re not worrying anymore.”
“I’m not just typing, I’m doing research as well,” you tried to protest.
Vernon scoffed back at you, “Twitter is not research, however hard you want to try and convince yourself otherwise. Now, get it written, and then you can scroll through your feeds.”
“You really can be evil sometimes; do you know that?”
Dino:
It was obvious to Chan that you were beginning to struggle with your essay, you’d barely focused on it for quite some time, finding every distraction possible. “I’ve got a suggestion,” he called out as you picked up your phone again.
“What’s that?” You questioned, looking away from your computer to his figure that was sat across the room.
“I’ll order us takeout for dinner, my treat, if you get two hundred words done in the next hour,” Chan proposed, noticing how quickly your eyes lit up at the mention of food. “But only if you get your work done.”
A loud groan came from you, “I just knew that food would come at a price, it always does with you. Can’t we agree on one hundred, do you know how much effort two hundred words is going to take?”
“I do, but I also know how much better you’ll feel once you get it done,” he proudly smirked, knowing that he was right. “Just get your head done, if food isn’t a good enough goal for you to reach, I don’t know what is.”
“You promise that two hundred is all I need for takeout?” You quizzed.
Chan’s head nodded back at you with a laugh, “I promise, as soon as you add two hundred words to that essay, a menu of your choosing will be ordered for dinner, and all paid for by me.”
“Alright, I guess I better get my head down then.”
---
Masterlist
208 notes · View notes
shotorozu · 3 years
Note
Hello! May I request for Todoroki, Shinsou, and Tamaki who stalk their female crush, in which she likes them back? How would they stalk her and would their crush figure it out eventually or would it be a forever mystery/ secret she wouldn’t have known? And how would she or the stalkers ask each other out? Thank you!
stalk
character(s) : todoroki shouto, shinsou hitoshi, amajiki tamaki (bnha)
legend : [Y/N = your name] female! reader at the request of anon, quirk’s not specific
headcanon type : fluff, if you squint— crack
note(s) : this isn’t really a yandere type of ‘stalker’ but rather accidental stalking i guess? so yeah— it depends if you find it ‘creepy’ but it’s rather unintentional
. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .
Tumblr media
todoroki shouto
man, i think he already has a habit of accidentally following/eavesdropping on people 💀
but i’d supposed it’s because he’s unaware of how much he does it— and how blantly obvious it is. so, it’s not really a shocker that he starts following around his crush.
he doesn’t really have a specific routine, because again— he’s not really aware that he’s actually stalking someone
you guys started off as good friends (like any other pre-existing relationship) and you’ve hung out with him plenty of times
so it would be normal for him to want to be around you more, right?
he’ll start off by coincidentally being at the same places you’re at, he’ll pretend he’s doing his own thing— and oh! he’ll just bump into you
shouto doesn’t realize how WEIRD it is to follow around people— let alone a woman, just for the sake of it. he’ll say it’s because he wants to ensure your safety but really? it’s more than that.
he’ll eventually get caught, but it’s not in the most embarrassing way. so, you’re talking to him like normal (ignoring the raging butterflies in your stomach)
“you’re always at the same places at the same time as me, i might just believe that you’re following me!”
because every single time you felt like someone was following you, it would always be shouto— the person that made you feel safe at all times.
and surprisingly, he’ll be quick to admit. “i.. maybe.” and you’re appalled because wow my crush has been following me
it would’ve been weird for sure, if it weren’t for the fact that shouto said it with the purest of intentions, a faint blush dusting against his cheeks
“it’s because,, i’d like to be with you more.” and from that point, the rest is history!
he’ll mention this experience to midoriya at some point, and midoriya will just 👁👄👁 ➖👄➖ “todoroki, do you know what stalking is?”
Tumblr media
shinsou hitoshi
i think he also has a weird habit of eavesdropping, or following people. but it’s a lot less than shouto—
because people were already quite wary of him (even since his middle school days) so, he’s learned how to tone it down
but wow, does he love being around you more. sure, he has his fair share of aqquaintances and friendly individuals, but the vibe is totally different around you
in a different, and positive way.
a part of me thinks he’d take a part of cyber stalking. like,, hitoshi will take a look at your social medias for a certain amount of time
hitoshi will look at every single recent picture, he’ll observe the background, the place, and he’ll probably think of the context
he’ll also take the chance to look at old pictures, birthday photos, etc. but lowkey, i feel like everyone has done this once
oh, but he’ll never do that thing where he accidentally likes a post from 3 years back— nope. he’s careful and cautious.
and speaking of careful and cautious, you’ll never catch him actually ‘stalking’ you. like,, he’ll actually call out to you first in person, if he thinks he’s close enough
but everytime you turn around, you wouldn’t be able to find anyone you know— and even in a crowded area (which is,, hm.)
so that’s when shinsou finally decides to confess— instead of beating around the bush and stalking you like a weirdo, and when you accept, he’s over the moon
because it would’ve been hella awkward if he was stalking you online, and you just.. rejected him. which is fine, he could take the hint
people will have their suspicions though, even when you guys are together already. the fact that your account is always in his search history, and also the fact that he remembers oddly specific places (that he hasn’t been to in a while.)
you won’t talk about it though, but there are things you do say— that makes him think that you knew of his weird habits.
Tumblr media
amajiki tamaki
poor, poor tamaki.
he probably has an idea that what he’s doing is creepy in itself. he’ll scold himself— what are you doing?! you’re apart of the big three, and you’re doing this to your crush!
but he’s not doing anything creepy, like stealing your clothes and valuable items. no— he wouldn’t actually go there, he’d never live, knowing he did something like that!
tamaki’s case is quite similar to todoroki’s case. he’ll follow you in an attempt to try to talk to you, and so he knows that you’re safe and in the best condition
but, it never really works out?? he’ll be a few feet away, sending glances towards your way, just to see if you’ll move closer (or farther, really.)
but ugh‼️ he hates that he’s like this, and he’d probably be teased to death if mirio or nejire found out.
it first starts out as subtle following, he’ll keep himself at as safe distance, knowing you won’t find him from that distance.
then, he’ll subconsciously get closer and closer— and he’s rather silent during the entire thing, admiring you from such distance
he’ll feel horrible every single time. he’d cry if he could, but he knows that he shouldn’t pity himself like that :,)
somehow— mirio and nejire catch on, and they tease him here and there, saying how cute he is. “tamaki, i don’t know why you’re worrying so much! she like you as much as you like her! so, just go for it!”
luckily, that’s the final push for tamaki, and he goes out to confess everything. first, the fact that he’s been following you, and then his feelings
tamaki’s apologizing profusely, and he’s sure that you don’t want to be around him, because of his odd habit— but you immediately offer him reassurance, wrapping your arms around him.
“it’s okay, tamaki! you don’t need to be sorry. you didn’t mean any harm, and besides! it’s kind of cute.” in reality, you found out because he wasn’t being all slick about it—
is this the afterlife? you don’t,, actually hate him? thank goodness
he’ll hug you, muttering a small apology once more— as he relishes in the feeling of you being his, finally.
don’t tease him about this, please. he’ll whine in embarrassment, hiding his red cheeks away from your eyes— begging for you to switch the conversation
. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .
likes and reblogs are appreciated, thanks for reading!
i do not own bnha/mha and it’s characters. boku no hero academia/my hero academia belongs to horikoshi kohei, i only own the writing and i do not profit off of my hobby
do not plagiarize, reupload, translate, or use my works in audio readings without my permission :))
437 notes · View notes
Text
Super-Rockin’ Wedding of the Century
AYO! Day 2 of MGI Trope Tussle! Team Enemies-to-Lovers for the win. I bring you another oneshot. but this time i used 3 prompts like a dumbass.
Fics Masterlist
Daminette Oneshot 4.3K words (no warnings except slight cursing)
Summary:
“Marinette is invited to the Super-Rockin' Wedding of the Century and she needs a date. Alya is both her best and worst wingman.”
Day 2 of MGI Trope Tussle, I used 3 prompts to make this thing: 1. "You don't have to like me, you just need to pretend you do." 2. "I like your costume. You look very cute." "Are you making fun of me?" 3. 'Write about a very unusual wedding proposal.' this is the culmination of all my efforts.
without further ado:
It was the biggest news on the internet. Global sensation, international rockstar, Jagged Stone, was officially engaged to childhood friend turned manager, Penny Rolling. Memes and fan theories stormed every corner of the web. Trending topics including #rockstar_wedding and #RollingStone permeated every social media platform. Guest lists were speculated, dress designers were tagged in every post that even mentioned the words ‘wedding’ or ‘bride’. It was total mayhem but none felt it worse than up-and-coming Parisian designer, M. D. Cheng, privately known as Marinette Dupain-Cheng.
The young adult was up to her neck in design templates, and was drowning in half-baked ideas and sketches. While the internet has only heard about the proposal for a solid two weeks at this point, Marinette was in the know for six months. Jagged Stone had contacted her in advance because he needed her help with the proposal itself.
And what a proposal it was.  
Jagged had outlined his idea in simple terms but it was still so mind-boggling that Marinette needed him to draw some visual aids to completely convey his idea. Initially it sounded simple enough but the more the man spoke, the more Marinette felt her brain fry at the mental picture. It first involved recreating a scene from Penny’s favourite movie. Which sounded rather romantic, if you ignored the fact that her favourite movie was Bride of Chucky. Then it involved Jagged dressed as the Tinman from Wizard of Oz. Oh, and the proposal had to happen on Halloween because that was the anniversary of their first date apparently, and based on everything else this plan entailed it might as well have been. Marinette’s role in all of this was to simply re-make the white wedding dress Chucky’s bride, Tiffany, wore because Penny already had the leather jacket to match. Of course she did. She didn’t even want to know how Jagged acquired the Tinman suit. Not her barrel of monkeys.
While many thought Jagged was the eccentric one of the pair, due to his loud personality and being an actual rockstar, the more Marinette worked for the two of them over the years, the more she learned how absolutely wrong they all were. It turned out it was Penny’s idea for Jagged to dye his hair purple, and she was the one to ask him out on Halloween all those faithful years ago. Her calm and collected demeanor was an impressive cover for the absolute weirdo she actually was. And Jagged had planned a proposal that was undoubtedly perfect for her. Regardless of how abso-fucking-lutely bizarre it was.
To each their own and let’s move on.
The set-up for the proposal started with Jagged, dressed as the Tinman, playing the part of Chucky, who begins the body-switching chant from the movie. Everything from that point on was resting on Penny’s love for the movie. Without hesitating, Penny, dressed as Tiffany, and playing her part, knew the lines by heart and immediately began reenacting the scene with Jagged. Her lines involved telling ‘Chucky’ to kiss her while she reaches for a knife that’s supposed to be in his pocket. Instead, as Jagged was still dressed as the Tinman, Penny pulled out a slip of paper. On said paper, the words ‘All the Tinman wanted was a heart’ were written in Jagged’s almost illegible chicken scratch. When Penny was distracted with the piece of paper, Jagged had gotten down on one knee and pulled out the engagement ring. The actual words of his proposal were never actually said because, upon seeing the ring, Penny flung herself into the man, clipping her chin into his metal-plated shoulder, but she wasn’t complaining.  
So that was how the proposal went.
Wedding planning started almost immediately since the newly engaged had already picked a theme. And this is where Marinette began to regret every life choice she has made since she was thirteen; starting with opening the mysterious box she found on her desk and ending with agreeing to being the main designer for the Rockin’ Wedding of the Century. One thing that wasn’t well-known but not a secret about Jagged was that he was a superhero fan. He grew up enjoying the fictional ones in his childhood comic books and he adored the real ones he witnessed in his adult life. His song that he dedicated to the teenage Ladybug was only one part of his… appreciation. His hero-worship went so far as to beieve that a hero-themed wedding was appropriate. Or he didn’t, but also didn’t care about adhering to societal propriety and went with that theme anyways. So the Rockin’ Wedding of the Century was now the Super-Rockin’ Wedding of the Century. And twenty-three year old Marinette was incharge of the entire wedding party’s outfits.
Perfect.
As a small mercy from some god, both the bride and groom to-be had a rather short list of people in their parties. Marinette was also able to design appropriate hero-themed outfits for all of them and scheduled them for fittings in the coming weeks. That, surprisingly, was the easy part as there were plenty of heroes to draw inspiration from. However, that wasn’t the cause of her current crisis right now.
No. Marinette was up to her neck in unnecessary designs and ideas because she’s been avoiding one particular contingency in her acceptance of the wedding invitation.
She needed a date.
She needed a date because she had promised Penny that she wasn’t overworking herself and to prove it, she would bring a date to the wedding. Rather than call any of the people who expressed interest in her at some point in time, she designated herself to wallow in her situation and distract herself with designs. In the midst of her one person pity party, her phone rang under the sea of ripped out pages. She scoured for the device and hastily answered before she could accidently send the caller to voicemail.
“Hello?” She didn’t check the caller ID and was delighted at the sound of her best friend answering her.
“Marinette! How’s it going over there?” Alya’s voice was mixed in with the busy street life of Metropolis. She had moved there immediately after high school, snatching an internship with the Daily Planet and attending the local community college. She and Marinette don’t call often due to time differences, but when they do it’s like they’ve never parted. She always looked forward to her calls.
“It’s going great, Als,” if she ignored her current dilemma, then yeah, everything was perfect. “But you wouldn’t happen to have an available bachelor willing to be my date to the ‘Super-Rockin’ Wedding of the Century’ in your back pocket, would you?”  
Alya’s answering laugh was both comforting and teasing and Marinette felt herself missing her even more. What she said next, however, took Marinette by surprise.
“Actually I do.”
“Pardon?”
“Well,” she took a pause to build suspense. “I know a guy who knows a guy. But it’s nothing shady, I swear.”
“That’s not comforting.” Oh god. What has she unintentionally signed herself up for?
“You know my coworker, Jon? The guy who does the photography for all my field work?” Alya had met Jon as soon as she had started her internship. Both of his parents were top journalists at the Daily Planet so he volunteered to act as tour guide for all the new interns. He and Alya, from the exasperated stories Marinette has heard from Nino, got along like a house on fire. If he was involved, Marinette was starting to doubt even further that this was going to end well for her.
“Yes, I know Jon. How is he by the way?”
“He’s fine, but I remember him telling me how he tried to set up his best friend on several dates over the years and how they all ended poorly. He’s as approachable as a brick wall; not just a prick but the whole damn cactus. Or so Jon says.” How does that sound like someone Marinette wanted to bring along with her to the wedding? “But he’s totally your type so I could ask Jon to wrap him up in bubblewrap and send him your way whenever you want.”
“How,” and Marinette said this with a lot of feeling, “is he my type exactly?”
“Green eyes with daddy issues.”
“ALYA!” Marinette was absolutely floored at her bluntness. She wasn’t even sorry about shouting into the receiver.
“Am I wrong? You have a type and he fits that type. Jon mentioned how this guy and his dad hit several roadblocks when they first met. And I’ve seen pictures of him so ‘green eyes’ checks too.”
“That is not my type of guy.” She can’t believe this was how this conversation was going.
“Adrien.”
“I didn’t even know who his father was at the time, Alya.”
“Felix.”
“His dad is dead! That doesn’t count as ‘daddy issues.’” She can feel her cheeks flaming as the call went on. Any hotter and she was going to set her sketchbooks on fire. “Besides, I dated Luka so he doesn’t fit the criteria.”
“He’s an outlier and that’s only because his eyes are blue.” Okay, fine she had a type. “And besides, you don’t even have to date the guy. You only need him to accompany you to the wedding and you both go your separate ways after. No harm, no foul.”
Right. That was true. No strings attached. She could do that.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this but,” she held her breath and let it out loudly, ignoring Alya’s chuckle at her dramatics.” Give Jon my number to give this guy. And send his number to me.”
“Wahoo! Look at you, girl,” Alya was hooting and hollering over the speaker and Marinette found herself going along with the theatrics. “Okay, I will. But I gotta go, my cab is here. Bye!”
“Bye! Stay safe. Oh before you go, what’s Jon’s friend’s name anyways?”
“Uh, Damian, I think.” The call ended before Marinette could respond, but it was okay she mused. Tossing her phone onto her couch, she flopped down onto her floor and stared at her ceiling contemplatively.
What could go wrong?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Alya had described this Damian guy as ‘not just a prick but the whole damn cactus,’ she was right. Marinette had been texting back and forth with Damian for a month, and the guy was making this idea seem less and less worth it by the day. Whenever Marinette tried to learn more about the guy, he would ghost her for days on end before replying with a half-assed response at best. She knew nothing about him other than that his first name was Damian and that he was from Gotham. She had no idea how the ball of life that was Jon was even friends with someone like Damian. She asked as much to Alya in their most recent call.
“How did they even meet?” She was pacing the floor plan of her apartment, ready to tear her hair out. “Did Damian bully him in school or something?”
“Apparently their dads knew each other and introduced them,” Alya sounded half awake, stifling a yawn; probably because Marinette had called her at 1 am, Metropolis’s time. “Their brothers being friends also forced them to get along.”
“And that’s another thing!” Marinette had paused in her pacing and was now staring intently at a potted plant in the corner of her living room. Any more rage in her glare and the plant would have wilted and died. “He doesn’t tell me anything about him. I don’t need to know all his personal information, but if he’s going to be flying out to Paris on my behalf, I think I at least deserve to know his last name.”
“Hey, M,” another yawn echoed through the speaker, “I love you, truly, but maybe this could wait for holier day time hours?”
“I guess,” a vindictive part of Marinette felt like this was payback for all those inopportune calls when Marinette was busy with clients. “Sorry for interrupting your sleep.”
“It’s no big deal. But have you tried talking to him about it? If he’s ghosting your texts, try calling him. If he ignores you then too then maybe you should try finding another person to be your plus one.”
“The wedding is in two weeks, Alya!” Marinette partially regrets waiting so long to vent her frustration about the situation but she had tried to tough it out. “I would have much preferred if you were my plus one. You sure there’s no way to convince your parents to skip out on the family trip?”
“Sorry, M. Once the news about the proposal hit the internet, I tried everything. I even tried to use work, saying that I could cover the ceremony for the newspaper. My folks won’t budge though. My dad’s aunt is important to him and he wants us all at the funeral.”
“Right, right, I forgot about that.” Now she felt like an ass. “Send you dad my condolences when you see him again.”
“Will do. Good morning, Marinette. And don’t worry too much about the guy. Everything will turn up great. I can feel it.”
“Thanks, Alya. Good night, get some sleep.”
The line went dead and Marinette let out a rather weary exhale. She had no idea how this was going to work. She pulled up her contacts and searched for what she had Damian saved as.
‘Douche’ flashed on her screen and she hit the call button without remorse. She didn’t care that it was also currently 1 am in Gotham. He didn’t deserve that much consideration from her.
“What?” His voice was gravely and deep. And also really pissed if his clipped tone was anything to go by.
“Damian? Hi, this is Marinette, the girl you’re accompanying to the wedding in two weeks?” Her voice was pitched as if she was dealing with an irritating customer. Fake and polite.
“I know who you are. Why are you calling me at this unreasonable hour?” Fair, but Marinette was still aggravated at him so she wouldn’t concede.
“I’m calling because we need to talk.” She heard him scoff over the line and she felt her blood boil even hotter. She took several calming breaths to reign her temper in. “Don’t hang up.”
“Look,” She didn’t give him a chance to refuse and kept talking, getting everything off her chest. “This wedding is important to me and I promised the bride I would bring a date. After that you can delete my number and we never have to speak to each other ever. You don’t have to like me, you just need to pretend you do.”
“Whatever,” he sounded less annoyed from when he first answered the phone. “I will act as cordial as the situation requires, and nothing more. I also have my attire secured for the wedding and accommodations in Paris already prepared. I will see you at the wedding.”
“Than—” The sound of the call ending interrupted her and her frustration was back tenfold. With a cry in anguish she flung her phone onto her couch and stomped into her kitchen to channel her rage into baking.
Three loaves of bread and a dozen eclairs later, Marinette felt calm enough to finish the final touches on her outfit for the wedding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was the day of the Super-Rockin’ Wedding of the Century. The Rolling-Stone’s, as they were asking to be called, had kept the ceremony small. Relatively. Only two hundred invited guests, few of which were asked to bring a plus one. Marinette was over the moon at the array of outfits people were sporting. Some chose full-on cosplay while others, like herself, went for more subtle nods to the heroes. In honour of a previous Ladybug, Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, Marinette based her outfit off of Wonder Woman’s uniform, Hippolyta’s daughter. A navy blue sequined halter top bodice that flows into a blood red A-line skirt. She paired it with a thick silver belt, silver gladiator heels rather than boots and broad silver arm cuffs. It was simple but effective. Besides, all attention should be on the bride and groom today.
A tap on her shoulder caught her attention and she turned only to come face first with red with black spots. Ladybug. Someone chose her as inspiration. How flattering. Looking up to see who was wearing the Ladybug-themed suit jacket, she stared at a pair of deep forest green eyes and a sneer to ruin that ridiculously handsome face. She recognized him from the photo Alya had sent some time ago. Damian.
“Hi, Damian,” at least one of them had to be civil and Marinette knew it was going to be her. But the idea that of all the heroes for him to choose from he chose her sent her into poorly stifled fits of giggling. Images of him going ‘Lucky Charm’ and ‘Miraculous Ladybug’ were almost too much to bear.
“I don’t know what’s so amusing about my choice of attire,” his face was starting to flush in similar shades to his jacket and that made Marinette laugh harder. “Ladybug is a well respected heroine and I thought it appropriate to pay homage while in her home city.”
“No. No no. There is nothing wrong with it. I like your costume, you look very cute.”
“Are you making fun of me?” His irritation was rather cathartic for the still giggling woman.
“No, I just didn’t think you would have put that much thought into your outfit for today. You always gave me the impression that you were ready to back out at any time.”
“I made a commitment and I had all intentions to see it through the end.”
“Could have fooled me.” And her snark was back. Now was not the time to pick a fight with the guy, he did fly all the way to Paris on her behalf after all.
“I’ve been meaning to ask,” and Marinette wanted to know how he managed to sound so condescending with that statement. “How did you even get an invitation to this wedding anyways? You’re not a celebrity and you don’t look like family either.”
“Actually,” she said it with more force than what was probably necessary but his slightly accusatory tone was just so irritating. “I am the lead designer for the wedding party,” her chest was swimming with confidence at the chance to talk about her job. “I’ve worked with the bride and groom for years; M. D. Cheng, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”
Marinette will deny to her grave the rush of satisfaction at the absolute gobsmacked look on Damian’s face. A real fish out of water. Mouth open wide ready to catch flies. She wished she could capture this moment forever.
The moment was over too soon because Damian was regaining his composure and slipping into his default stoic expression. He cleared his throat and fixed a look at Marinette. It was rather intense.
“I believe I owe you an apology then.” He looked put-out at admitting something so menial. “I believed you were nothing more than a socialite chain climber.”
“A what?”
“When Jon reached out to me saying that a friend of one of his coworkers needed a date for an event, and when that event turned out to be the wedding of someone of such popularity, I figured you were only trying to increase your own social status by showing up with me on your arm.”
“And you said ‘yes’ anyways?” Marinette was confused but pieces of the mystery that is Damian were starting to fit in place. But something else stuck out as odd to her. “Also, how would you being my date increase my social status anyhow?”
He scoffs before answering. Bitch.
“What? It wouldn’t be the first time one of Jon’s set-ups ended that way. Besides, we’ve had an agreement that I can’t turn down an offer until meeting the person face to face.” Weird deal but some friendships are just like, Marinette supposes. “And being seen with me is enough to make anyone more popular.”
“...And you are?”
“Damian… Wayne…” He spoke as if he was talking to a small child. As if it should be obvious who he was like he was some celeb— Oh shit.
A name had flashed into her mind. On the finalised guest list, Marinette had only seen it once in passing, there was a name that belonged to someone Jagged was rather excited to see. He said the friend was an old college buddy. She remembered that much. She had completely forgotten that ‘a billionaire playboy’ was also attached to the name. Damian was the son of Bruce Wayne. Suddenly everything in the past few months made perfect sense. The cold shoulder, the ghosting, and his prickly disposition. He was overly guarded because he had justified reasons to be. Now she felt like an ass.
“Oh.” Real intelligent, Marinette.
“Oh? What, you didn’t know?” He sounded incredulous at the notion and he had every right to be. Marinette could only shake her head. Words were failing her now, her brain trying to rewrite the memories of every interaction the two ever had.
She was saved from further mortification by a call for everyone to find their seats. The wedding was about to begin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The ceremony was beautiful. Penny’s dress was a silver grey, tied back with a golden belt. Instead of a long train, Marinette had attached a black cape that shimmered in the right lighting. Penny wore a tiara with two peaks to imitate the ‘bat-ears.’ A Batman-themed wedding dress was not something she ever saw herself making, but she was proud at how beautiful and confident Penny looked in it. Jagged was adorn in a royal blue suit with bold red lapels. He also had a matching red cape. His hair was styled in the familiar sleek way Superman wears it. The two made quite the pair.  
The reception was a lively affair. Jagged had dedicated several songs to his new wife and they dazzled the crowd on the dance floor. Marinette didn’t pay much attention to the speeches beyond a quick glance at Damian when his own father stepped up to the podium. He had buried his head in his hands, looking like he wanted the floor to swallow him whole. A courtesy pat on the back was all Marinette gave to him.
The two hadn’t really spoken much since the revelation that they had completely misjudged each other. The awkward tension was almost palpable. As Marinette was gathering the courage to speak to him, to try and officially clear the air, she was being dragged by one of the bridesmaids onto the dancefloor. It was time for the bride to throw the bouquet. All the unmarried women were being corralled into a tight cluster and Marinette got swept up in the tide.
Marinette wasn’t focusing on the actual game, trying her hardest not to get trampled, when she saw something move in her periphery. Years of being Ladybug had left her with finely honed instincts so she could not be blamed when she immediately jumped and caught the incoming object. The bouquet. She had caught the bouquet. Oh that was just her luck. Deafening squeals of delight brought her out of her own head and she was suddenly being embraced in Penny’s arms. She returned the hug, sharing in her delight, before breaking away to sit down.
“Nice catch.” His voice had surprised her, she hadn’t expected him to speak to her for the rest of the night.
“Uh, thank you. Just lucky, I guess.” Damian didn’t get the chance to respond because he was being dragged by his own father to join all the bachelors in catching the garter. Marinette was equally uninterested in this spectacle and had let her mind wander to other things.
A loud uproar caught her attention again and her eyes zeroed in on Damian holding the tossed garter. He made his way back over to her, dropping himself into his seat gracelessly. The two sat in silence, contemplating the implications of them both catching the garter and bouquet. The games were done purely for tradition’s sake, with total disregard of what it was supposed to symbolise. Still. One’s mind couldn’t help but wander. Minutes ticked passed and Marinette was beginning to wonder if someone was going to talk about the elephant in the room.
“So,” Damian’s voice was slightly strained, like he wasn’t used to being this flustered. It was kind of endearing. Wait what?
“So.”
“While marriage seems far out of reach for right now,” Oh god. He was going to talk about it. “How does dinner sound, next Friday?”
“Wait,” he wanted to spend more time with her? After their disastrous first impressions? “Really?”
“Really. I believe we started off on the wrong foot,” he let out a soft chuckle, almost self-deprecating. “Which isn’t really new for me, but it’s not everyday I meet someone who doesn’t recognise me at first glance. I think you’re someone who I would like to get to know better. If that is something you are also interested in.”
“Yeah,” Marinette knows all about wanting to get acquainted with someone who she’s had a bad first impression of. Just look at her past relationships. Wow, she really does have a type. Damning thoughts for later. “Friday works for me. Seven pm?”
“Perfect. I’ll text you the details then.”
“Wonderful, I can’t wait.”
The rest of the evening was spent in companionable silence with small bouts of conversation in between. They shared a couple dances on the floor and parted ways at the end of the night with budding anticipation for Friday.
As Marinette was preparing for bed that night in the comfort of her apartment, she sent a text to Alya that her friend would see later in the day.
You were right, I do have a type :(
233 notes · View notes
tobiosmilktea · 3 years
Text
umpah umpah! smau
↪︎ bokuto x f!reader x iwaizumi
[033] — epilogue!
masterlist | prev. | next
a/n: this is definitely not my best writing cause my brain was going brr the entire time i was writing this, but i honestly can’t believed i have finished yet another smau! 🥳 ✨if i’m being completely honest this smau took a complete turn to what i was initially planning,, but it ended up not being that bad. i certainly feel like this smau would’ve been a lot better if i didn’t have school preoccupying me 24/7, but i’m still really proud of this. thank you guys for reading and dealing with this messy, messy smau!! ☺️
Tumblr media Tumblr media
a year flew by faster than you had hoped. Two weeks turned into a month, a month turned into six, and six months turned into a year. A lot of things can happen within a year. Hell, a shit ton of things can happen within six months, yet here you were, all glammed up in your best dress at the move premiere of love cemetery.
you hadn’t felt this nervous in ages. the quickening of your pulse, the rapidly beating heart, to your pals that perspired as the seconds ticked on by. akaashi stood by you this whole time as your gaze keeps looking over to the guest list as if it were to magically change if you were too look away for one second. akaashi had been by your side, your moral support and the absolute backbone of your sanity the moment you and the team landed in los angeles a year ago. he noticed everything about you. he was one of your best friends, how could he not notice the way you were suddenly quiet and not excited right now?
he laid a careful hand on the small of your back to comfort you, leaning over to the same list of guests you were worrying about. “are you worried about who i invited again?”
“i’m more worried they’re not coming.” you confess without a single beat missed.
“oh, they will,” he assured you confidently. there was even a rising smirk in his expression when he let go of you, “have a little bit of faith in me will you? i was the one who got you back in touch with them.”
you huff playfully, rolling your eyes as you recalled the strange feeling of isolation over six months ago when you landed in la. it was in no doubt the longest flight of your life, lasting a good fifteen hours if you counted the two hour layover in hawaii due to reckless turbulence (it was one of the scariest flights in your life too). you had read their texts then, drowning in the sudden downpour of emotions when you read their words, i love you.
it almost didn’t seem real. you swore it had to have been the fatigue playing games on you as you couldn’t sleep for the life of you on the plane. yeah, maybe that was it, you excused. you were so desperate for their messages to be a figment of your imagination, you literally tried everything—turning your phone on and off, asking sugawara for eye droplets, and even ignored it until you were back on the plane and landed in los angeles. it had to be fake, please be fake. yet, in the back of your head you knew damn well it wasn’t.
there was a plaguing thought within you, one that’s so destructive and degenerative that you hated the fact you thought this way. but it wasn’t like you could help it. insecurity was a troublesome venom that coursed through your veins everyday and there didn’t seem to be an antidote to your own self-destruction. 
you loved them both, but you weren’t entirely sure if you had enough love to give for the both of them, let alone one. iwaizumi and bokuto’s feelings confused you to the core. you broke their hearts, yet how could they still love you so dearly?
you didn’t know the answer nor did you have time to even find it.
the film crew stayed in los angeles for two weeks and filmed over the course of that time period. days were filled with twelve hour shoots and a tight film schedule. being the author of the work itself, you were a major part of the production alongside the director. he trusted your vision and you’d often find yourself staying on set the entire day while kaori and the rest of the ddd team felt like they were on vacation. your only free time during that time was the ten minute holy grails in between takes that you were able to check social media.
you simply didn’t have the time to think about them. and yet they were like haunting ghosts that followed you relentlessly. every time you checked twitter or instagram, you would see every post, every tweet, every story. all of which would send your heart spiraling and tugging.
you missed them. but it wasn’t like you could do anything about it. you couldn’t possibly strike up conversation with any of them after completely ignoring their calls and texts for weeks. you had to have an odd amount of audacity to do that, and you simply didn’t have the guts to do so. if anything, the only lasting form of communication between you and the boys was the ringing notification that you liked each other’s posts.
it was quite the sad reality.
the film set then transferred to new york city, where the next two weeks would be filled with yet another plethora of twelve hour work days. fortunately for you, the rest of the ddd team were pulling a bit more of their weight, helping you on the creative side of things, yet still having the time to do all the fun touristy things whilst in the city.
you could remember the way your heart lit up seeing iwaizumi and bokuto’s names beneath who saw your story. it was a video of you and your team at the lady liberty statue. in it, kaori and yuko were chomping down on gigantic $2 street hot dogs, sugawara was yelling at semi for getting in the way of his film camera, while akaashi was complaining that the wind kept knocking down his green lady liberty hat.
it was strange thinking how fast things can change. within the first week, you were always up for an adventure in the city when the days were filled with work, but as the week progressed, your social meter decreased more and more. 
loneliness hit you then. it was a peculiar type of loneliness, the type that you felt alone despite being surrounded by your closest friends and working on your dream project. you figured you were just homesick the way everyone else was getting all ready for a night out going bar hopping while you sat in the living room of your hotel room in your pajamas.
“are you sure you don’t want to come with us, (y/n)?” kaori asked you, concern washing over her slightly as you flickered her a tired look. 
you shook your head, a small smile of gratitude melting upon your lips. “no, you guys go on ahead and have fun.”
your friends could only give you a look. they knew why you were being like this and they knew damn well it wasn’t homesickness. semi specifically threw you a look that’s meant to be teasing and oddly persuasive. “it’s been over a month, this can be a chance for you to finally meet someone new!” he exclaimed optimistically.
what was stopping you, anyway? it was clear nothing was, yet you still held yourself back. homesickness couldn’t possibly be to reason for it either. why are am i being like this?
“it’s okay, i’m with akaashi,” you decline once more, “he’ll keep me company.”
“alright then, join us once you feel like moving on.” says yuko with a hint of venom in her tone. you couldn’t blame her for saying that though as it was the harsh reality of it all.
your friends filed out the door, closing it in a thud and once again you felt alone. isolated as if you were in a void of your own silent thoughts that even the loud murmurs coming from the television wasn’t enough to drown out your shallow inhibitions. 
the night continued on like this for a few hours. eating snacks in the dark living room with the remote in your hand, flipping channels every five minutes as your running thoughts couldn’t keep your attention span still. it felt like you were missing something, a part of yourself that you couldn’t exactly pinpoint. you thought of all of the possibilities why you felt like there was a void in your heart, yet the only thing you could properly convince yourself on was that you just missed home. but was that really all that you had missed?
you thoughts are interrupted by steps approaching you. akaashi walks into the living room, flicking on the switches and causing you to grimace at the bright lights. your eyes stung slightly as they adjusted from being in the dark for too long.
“where are you going?” you ask akaashi as you noticed his dressed up attire.
“i got done with all the paperwork and emails,” he answers while he fixes the collar of his dress shirt, “i’m deciding to have some fun tonight with the rest of the group. are you still up for it? i’ll wait for you to get ready if you want.”
the thought occurred within you that you should agree. that the possibility of this unexplainable feeling of isolation you were feeling would disappear if you were to just say yes and go. but as self-destructive as you were on yourself, you continued to hold yourself back—hesitant and always second guessing your actions.
you open your mouth slightly, but you ultimately just shook your head no.
akaashi lets out a sigh. he was genuinely hoping you would come around sooner or later. granted, it had been over a month since you guys left japan and he figured you would be over everything by now, but that obviously wasn’t the case. “you might be receiving a call soon... i suggest you should answer it.”
confusion flushed over your expression, giving him a strange look. but before you could even utter a single question to him, akaashi was already up and out the door.
he left you in a wake of curiosity for the rest of the night. it was nearing one in the morning and you still hadn’t yet received a phone call. it honestly sounded incredibly ominous that you grew a tad bit nervous. there were only so many possibilities on who would call, but it would actually infuriate you if akaashi was just joking around. but then again, akaashi isn’t the type to play something childish like that unless it was kaori or semi’s idea. regardless, the thought kept you awake as you eyes practically weighed like cinder blocks at this point.
you couldn’t believe you wait for two hours for a phone call that might not even happ—it shocked you at first, the ringing of your obnoxious ring tone and the buzzing of the vibrations on the table.
furrowing your brows as you reached over, a gasp left you the moment you read the contact name. your slapped a hand over your mouth to muffle your shock. your hand shook from the growing bundle of nerves in your gut as you hesitate.
the name ‘kou’ shined brightly against your face, coaxing you to answer as if your thumb wasn’t frozen the accept button. out of all the possibilities on who would be calling you tonight, it just had to be him. it wasn’t like you opposed talking to bokuto. if anything, you had spent countless of sleepless nights wondering if you should finally answer that text of his. yet no matter how many different messages you have typed, none of them ever saw the light of day. a hurricane of stupid conversation starters and ice breakers swarmed in your head, all messy and disorganized that if you didn’t just suck it up and answered, you would’ve probably missed a chance to reconnect with him.
fuck it, you thought as you accepted the call.
“(y/n)!” bokuto called out to you, sending your heart running thousands of miles an hour. it had been ages since you heard your name come out of his mouth, “how’ve you been? a little birdy told me you needed a little company.”
you had to hold yourself back from smiling too much as you could already feel your cheeks ache. you wanted to scoff and perhaps groan at the sudden embarrassment of what akaashi could’ve told him. “bo—” you started, but is immediately cut off.
yet another familiar voice emitted from bokuto’s line, almost as if they were shouting, “you’re supposed to say that i’m here too, idiot!”
the volleyball player chuckles, “oh sorry, iwa-chan! here.” muffles and cups clanking against each other travel through to line to what you assume is bokuto handing his phone over to iwaizumi.
“uh... hi.” his voice sounded deeper than usual.
“hi iwa, how have you been?” you chuckle, finding his sudden shyness absolutely adorable.
“good, good. i’ve uhh... missed you.”
“i do too.”
“yeah, yeah, you miss me most though right?” bokuto’s loud voice thunders through the call.
the juxtaposition of how daftly different they were was something you could never get enough of. perhaps it was at that moment you finally understood your loneliness through their bickering. you were in fact homesick, but the home that you were thinking of wasn’t what you were missing the most. you suppose the home you missed was them. they were your home.
you let out an amused laugh, “right.”
“that’s good because iwaizumi and i should be mad at you for ghosting us for the past month, but we understand since akaashi explained to us already.”
your eyes suddenly widen into saucers, panicking what he could have possibly said. “what did he tell you?”
“everything,” bo sings.
you audibly groan in embarrassment, throwing your head back onto the couch in retaliation. you were glad they couldn’t see how flushed and red your cheeks were right now as they even extended out to the tips of your ears.
“you know it would’ve been easier to say that you love the both of us and didn’t want to choose right?” iwaizumi points out in between your panic.
“exactly!” cuts in bokuto, “besides we don’t sharing you, you know. who knew you were such a prude, (y/n).” you could practically hear the smirk in his voice as you couldn’t stop the heat from spreading any further from your face.
now you were really glad they weren’t able to see you at that moment. if they did, you would’ve died from the embarrassment then and there. “give me a break, i was too embarrassed to ask,” you mutter, fearing that they could hear how fast your heart was beating through the call.
“ask what?” iwaizumi teases, “ask if you could date the both of us?”
you were internally screaming at this point. everything that you didn’t think was going to happen, happened all within five minutes and you honestly couldn’t believe it. you were pinching yourself as if you were in a dream, yet no matter how hard you squeezed, this was actually happening. “shut up!” was all you could say.
“even if you did ask... it’s not like we could ever say no to you, (y/n).” says bokuto, his words so enticing that you weren’t sure if you’re heart can handle any more of this.
his words left you absolutely speechless. you honestly didn’t know what to say at this point.
"i’m fine with it and bokuto’s fine with it.” iwaizumi says, “it’s just a matter if you’re willing.” 
bokuto then leans forward towards his phone, “so what do you say, (y/n)?”
you swallowed the lump of nerves forming into your throat as the one question you never thought you would ever be asked was right in front of you. and yet you still hesitated despite everything that had just happened. you loved them both, so why weren’t you answering?
a few beats of silence passed before your gained the courage to push out the the very words, “... i’ll think about it.”
“boo! that’s lame!” bokuto shouts.
“i’ll give you guys an answer when i get back home.” you add, hoping to ease the disappointment they were probably feeling at that very moment.
“that won’t be for another few months, though.” iwaizumi deadpans that you could practically see the pout on both of their faces. “but we’ll promise to wait for you, (y/n).”
and so they waited for you to come back home, but you never did. schedules misaligned even when you were finally back home in tokyo. bokuto was getting progressively more busy now that the olympics were coming up and iwaizumi was just as busy, if not busier with the amount of athletes he had to take care of. there was even a constant flying back and forth from tokyo to los angeles for the film, all of which lasted for a few weeks at a time and you swear your couldn’t catch a break.
this went on for months with the only contact between you and the boys were from texting and phone calls that ended up shorter than you anticipated. and now a year had past since you left and this very movie premiere would be the first time you have seen iwaizumi and bokuto for the first time in a year.
this was so ironic how this all played out. you haven’t even realized you already reached the end of the red carpet when an interviewer calls out your name, microphone in hand and a camera pointed directly at your face.
“ms. (y/l/n)!” the woman shouts over the ruckus of snapping photos and other interviewers asking questions to the actors behind you. “there has been rumors going around about your dating life. are you dating msby’s bokuto koutarou or their athletic trainer iwaizumi hajime, who has been getting a lot of attention from stan twitter just recently! could you share some insight on your live life as love cemetery’s creator?”
“um,” you start, not sure how to answer the question as you nervous chuckled, “that’s a secret i’m afraid i can’t tell.”
before the woman could ask you any other questions, you walked away from the carpet and rushed towards the banquet hall. thankfully, akaashi and kaori was nearby and gratefully took your place in the interview without a second thought.
you let out a relieved sigh as much of the noise from the premiere died down as the only people inside the banquet hall were movie critics, the film crew, and other celebrities who were invited. by now, no one in this room would have the audacity to ask you such a personal question which caused weights to fall off your shoulder. you honestly should be used to those types of questions right now as a webtoon author that literally writes romance, but it always catches you off guard when you least expect it. honestly, you were just glad you didn’t slip up.
as a small little reward for yourself, you grab a flute of champagne from the refreshment table, decorated all fancy that you even hesitated to mess up the display. you turn around to face the growing crowd of mingling individuals, talking and laughing amongst each other as you sipped your drink gently. but as you watch you feel a presence on either side of you, both of which sent your heart soaring and a smile to appeared on your cherry colored lips. you didn’t even have to look them up and down to see how handsome they both looked. to think they were all yours.
“so what did you tell that interviewer?” bokuto asks nonchalantly as if he could just get away from a proper greeting. you were surprised he didn’t just engulfed you into his arms then and there.
instead, you opted to play along, “about what?” you tested with a smirk.
“the question about who you’re dating,” iwaizumi adds in from your other side.
you shrug, taking a sip of your champagne, “you guys probably wouldn’t like the answer i gave her.” you could feel the brazen stares bokuto and iwaizumi were giving each other—competitive and oddly provoking.
“she probably said she was dating me,” bokuto hums in response, confidence radiating off him that it caused you to scoff.
“i doubt it,” debates iwaizumi, giving him the same energy. “she probably said she was dating me.”
“actually,” you cut in before the two could possibly start bickering with each other, “i remember specifically saying that i’d thinking about it.” 
the boys give you a look, downing their drinks as if they were like the shots they swallowed many nights ago at that bar. it was as if they were trying to win your over again like your feelings had changed since then. 
“oh yeah?” bokuto starts, inching closer towards you while iwaizumi rested his arm on the table behind you.
“so what do you think, (y/n)?” says iwaizumi.
they both towered over you, just inches away from your body, but you didn’t cower or back away. if anything there was a playful smirk inevitably resting upon your lips.
now this, was going to be fun.
fun facts! —
sugawara has five rolls of film he had to get developed once they wrapped filming in osaka, each roll is from each city they went to for filming
iwaizumi and bokuto became really close friends when y/n left for la as they bonded over getting ghosted
bc of this,, bokuto posted a pic of him and iwa on his instagram and it got lots of attention that iwa went viral on stan twitter
taglist: (closed!)
@moonlightaangel @elianetsantana @k4tiepie @memorableminds @wheeshllumi @suhkusa @kitsunetea @airybby @noeminemi @truly-a-snitch @keichan @cosmicmermaid25 @bap-kingdom @saturnfarie @kwdflash @ennos-baby @dinablossom @chrisrue15 @seikamuzu @nestlevanilla @chasekudo @yammmers @pixcldust @iwaizluv @h0ngh0ngh0ng @emogrils @tiredandkindaoverworked @tsumue @underratedmage @bokutosuwus @kellesvt @unstableye @oh-tapeworm @scrappyfka @alittlebitofrain @mxngy @tpwkatsumu @atsumuwoah @macchiatoast @dicerawr @kageyamasbabygorl @some-random-stranger-007 @vhskenma @wntrmn @little-plants @stargirlara @kissungjae @je11yfishwriter @sbaepsae @apollochjld
446 notes · View notes
flufffysocks · 3 years
Text
let's talk about andi mack's worldbuilding
sorry this took forever to make! i've been pretty busy with school stuff and i kind of lost my inspiration for a bit, but i ultimately really enjoyed writing it! i wish i could've included more pics (tumblr has a max of 10 per post), and it kinda turned from less of a mini analysis to more of an extremely long rant... but i hope it's still a fun read!
i've been rewatching the show over the past few weeks (thanks again to @disneymack for the link!), and i’ve been noticing a lot that i never did the first time around. this is really the first time i’ve watched the show from start to finish since it aired, and it honestly feels so different this time - probably a combination of the fact that i’m not as focused on plot and can appreciate the show as a whole, and also that the fandom is much, much smaller now, so there’s a lot less noise. so the way i’m consuming this show feels super different than it did the first time, but the show itself doesn’t - it’s just as warm and comforting to me as it was the first time around, if not more so.
i think a lot of that can be attributed to andi mack’s “worldbuilding”. i’m not quite sure that this is the right word in this context, to be honest, because i mostly see it used in reference to fantasy and sci-fi universes, but it just sort of feels right to me for andi mack, because you can really tell how much love and care went into constructing this universe. for clarity, worldbuilding is “the process of creating an imaginary world” in its simplest sense. there’s two main types: hard worldbuilding, which involves inventing entire universes, languages, people, cultures, places, foods, etc. from scratch (think “lord of the rings” or “dune”), and soft worldbuilding, in which the creators don’t explicitly state or explain much about the fictional universe, but rather let it’s nature reveal itself as the story progresses (think studio ghibli films). andi mack to me falls in the soft worldbuilding category. even though it takes place in a realistic fiction universe, there’s a lot of aspects to it that are inexplicably novel in really subtle ways.
so watching the show now, i’ve noticed that the worldbuilding comes primarily from two things - setting and props, and oftentimes the both of them in tandem (because a big part of setting in filmmaking does depend on the props placed in it!).
one of the most obvious examples is the spoon. it really is a sort of quintessential, tropic setting in that it's the main gang's "spot", which automatically gives it a warm and homey feel to it. and its set design only amplifies this:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
the choice to make it a very traditional 50s-style diner creates a very nostalgic, retro feel to it, which is something that's really consistent throughout the show, as you'll see. from the round stools at the bar, to the booths, to the staff uniforms, this is very obvious. the thing that i found especially interesting about it though is the choice of color. the typical 50s diner is outfitted with metallic surfaces and red accented furnishings, but the spoon is very distinctly not this.
instead, it's dressed in vibrant teal and orange, giving it a very fresh and modern take on a classic look. so it still maintains that feeling of being funky and retro, but that doesn't retract from the fact that the show is set distinctly in modern times.
of course, this could just be a one-off quirky set piece, but this idea of modernizing and novelizing "retro" things is a really common motif throughout the show. take red rooster records. i mean, it's a record shop - need i say more? it's obviously a very prominent store in shadyside, at least for the main characters, but there's no apparent reason why it is (until season 2 when bowie starts working there, and jonah starts performing there). a lot of the time, though, it functions solely as a record shop. vinyl obviously isn't the most practical or convenient way of listening to music, but it's had its resurgence in pop culture even in the real world, mostly due to its aesthetic value, so it's safe to say that it serves the same purpose in the andi mack universe.
Tumblr media
the fringe seems to be nostalgic of a different era, specifically the Y2K/early 2000s period (because it's meant to be bex's territory and symbolic of who she used to be, and its later transformation into cloud 10 is representative of her character arc, but that's beside the point). to be honest, exactly what this store was supposed to be always confused me. it was kind of a combination party store/clothing store/makeup store/beauty parlor? i think that's sort of the point of it though, it's supposed to feel very grunge-y and chaotic (within the confines of a relatively mellow-toned show, of course), and it's supposed to act as a sort of treasure chest of little curios that both make the place interesting and allow the characters to interact with it.
Tumblr media
and, of course, there's andi shack. this is really the cherry on top of all of andi mack's sets, just because it's so distinctly andi. it serves such amazing narrative purpose for her (ex. the storyline where cece and ham were going to move - i really loved this because it highlights its place in the andi mack universe so well, and i'm a sucker for the paper cranes shot + i'm still salty that sadie's cranes didn't make it into the finale) and it's the perfect reflection of andi's character development because of how dynamic it is (the crafts and art supplies can get moved around or switched out, and there's always new creations visible).
Tumblr media
going back to the nostalgia motif though, the "shack" aspect of it always struck me as very treehouse-like. personally, whenever i think of treehouses, there's this very golden sheen of childhood about it, if that makes sense. i've always seen treehouses in media as a sort of shelter for characters' youthful innocence and idealistic memories. for example, the episode "up a tree" from good luck charlie, the episode "treehouse" from modern family, and "to all the boys 2" all use a treehouse setting as a device to explore the character's desire to hold onto their perfect image of their childhood (side note: this exact theme is actually explored in andi mack in the episode "perfect day 2.0"!). andi shack is no exception to this, but it harnesses this childhood idealism in the same way that it captures the nostalgia of the 50s in the spoon, or the early 2000s in the fringe. it's not some image of a distant past being reflected through that setting; it's very present, and very alive, because it reflects andi as she is in the given moment.
some honorable mentions of more one-off settings include the ferris wheel (from "the snorpion"), the alley art gallery (from "a walker to remember"), SAVA, the color factory (from "it's a dilemna"), and my personal favorite, the cake shop (from "that syncing feeling").
Tumblr media
[every time i watch this episode i want to eat those cakes so bad]
these settings have less of a distinctly nostalgic feel (especially the color factory, which is a very late 2010s, instagram era setting), but they all definitely have an aura of perfection about them. andi mack is all about bright, colorful visuals, and these settings really play to that, making the andi mack universe seem really fun and inviting, and frankly very instagrammable (literally so, when it comes to the color factory!).
props, on the other hand, are probably a much less obvious tool of worldbuilding. they definitely take up less space in the frame and are generally not as noticeable (i'm sure i'll have missed a bunch that will be great examples, but i'm kind of coming up with all of this off the top of my head), but they really tie everything together.
for example, bex's box, bex's polaroid, and the old tv at the mack apartment (the tv is usually only visible in the periphery of some shots, so you might not catch it at first glance) all complement that very retro aesthetic established through the settings (especially the polaroid and the tv, because there's really no good reason that the characters would otherwise be using these).
Tumblr media
besides this, andi's artistic nature provides the perfect excuse for plenty of colorful, crafty props to amplify the visuals and the tone. obviously, as i discussed before, andi shack is the best example of this because it's filled with interesting props. but you also see bits of andi's (and other people's) crafts popping up throughout the show (ex. the tape on the fridge in the mack apartment, andi's and libby's headbands in "the new girls", walker's shoes, andi's phone case, and of course, the bracelet). not only does doing this really solidify this talent as an essential tenet of andi's character, but it also just makes the entirety of shadyside feel like an extension of andi shack. the whole town is a canvas for her crafts (or art, depending on how you want to look at it. i say it's both), and it immensely adds to shadyside's idealism. because who wouldn't want to live in a world made of andi mack's creations?
Tumblr media
and, while it's not exactly a prop, the characters' wardrobe is undoubtedly a major influence on the show's worldbuilding. true to it's nature as a disney channel show, all of the characters are always dressed in exceptionally curated outfits of whatever the current trends are, making the show that much more visually appealing. i won't elaborate too much on this, because i could honestly write a whole other analysis on andi mack's fashion (my favorites are andi's and bex's outfits! and kudos to the costume designer(s) for creating such wonderful and in-character wardrobes!). but, i think it's a really really important aspect of how the show's universe is perceived, so it had to be touched upon.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
[^ some of my favorite outfits from the show! i am so obsessed with andi's jacket in the finale, and i aspire to be at bex's level of being a leather jacket bisexual]
and lastly, phones. this is a bit of an interesting case (pun intended), because the way they're used fluctuates a bit throughout the show, but i definitely noticed that at least in the first season terri minsky tried to avoid using them altogether. these efforts at distancing from modern tech really grounds the show in it's idealist, nostalgia-heavy roots, so even when the characters start using their phones more later in the show, they don't alter the viewer's impression of the andi mack universe very much.
so, what does all of this have to do with worldbuilding? in andi mack's case, because it's set in a realistic universe and not a fantasy one, a lot of what sets it apart from the real world comes down to tone. because, as much as this world is based on our own, it really does feel separate from it, like an alternate reality that's just slightly more perfect than ours, which makes all the difference. it's the idealism in color and composition in andi mack's settings that makes it so unmistakably andi mack. even the weather is always sunny and perfect (which is incredibly ironic because the town is called shadyside - yes, i am very proud of that observation).
the andi mack universe resides somewhere in this perfect medium that makes it feel like a small town in the middle of nowhere (almost like hill valley in 1955 from "back to the future"), but at the same time like an enclave within a big city (because of its proximity to so many modern, unique, and honestly very classy looking establishments). it is, essentially, an unattainable dream land that tricks you into believing it is attainable because it's just real enough.
all this to say, andi mack does an amazing job of creating of polished, perfect world for its characters. this is pretty common among disney channel and nickelodeon shows, but because most other shows tend to be filmed in a studio with three-wall sets, andi mack is really set apart from them in that it automatically feels more real and tangible. it has its quintessential recurring locations, but it has far more of them (most disney/nick shows usually only have 3-4 recurring settings), and it has a lot more one-off locations. it's also a lot more considerate when it comes to its props, so rather than the show just looking garish and aggressively trendy, it has a distinctive style that's actually appropriate to the characters and the story. overall this creates the effect of expanding the universe, making shadyside feel like it really is a part of a wider world, rather than an artificial bubble. it's idealism is, first and foremost, grounded in reality, and that provides a basis for its brilliant, creative, and relatable storytelling.
tl;dr: andi mack's sets and props give it a very retro and nostalgic tone which makes its whole universe seem super perfect and i want to live there so bad!!
94 notes · View notes
autist-tips · 4 years
Text
Autistic Tip #5
Executive dysfunction can make it feel impossible to be productive, even when you need to be. Especially during the pandemic, when we’re stuck at home without our usual routine, this is a big issue. Here’s some things that help me work through my executive dysfunction:
Note: These tips might not work for you! If you don’t feel comfortable doing some of these things, don’t feel pressured to! I have memory issues along with my autism so I need a highly structured life to be productive. You may not need as much structure as me!
Write down events and to dos.
Having everything you need to do written down takes a lot of burden off you mind and helps you feel less stressed. It also helps with memory issues if you have them.
Checking tasks and events off of lists and calendars help with a passive sense of accomplishment, which can make it easier to be productive.
Always looks at the amount of things you did throughout the day. You do much more than you think you do!
Suggested methods:
1) Write events down on a calendar.
Write everything you need to do on a calendar. Meetings, classes, family events, work, etc. You want to have this information in multiple places. For example, I use my phone’s calendar, which is synced to my laptop’s calendar. I also have a sticker on my wall that’s a weekly calendar, so I can focus on the things I need to do for the week!
Check off events as they pass and look at all the functions you attended! Be proud of yourself for not missing things!
2) Have a daily and weekly to do list.
These are lists of things you have to do every day and every week. This will mostly consist of chores, self care, pet care, and meals. It’s your choice what is a daily thing and what is a weekly thing. Put absolutely everything down, no matter how small!
It’s a good idea to hang these lists somewhere you can easily see them. As you do the tasks on the lists, you can check them off (I use sticky notes so I don’t ruin the list, since mine is paper.) You can use a whiteboard for this if you want!
As you check things off, you’ll notice just how much you actually get done and how fast you do it! That alone can make it easier to keep doing tasks so you can see that list filled up with checks! You can even reward yourself once your daily to do is done!
3) Make another daily to do list.
Alright, this one is different from #2. This list is a list of electives to do in a day.
I use this mostly for my college assignments. I pick 3-5 assignments (usually small ones) to do that day, but are not due that day. (I try to stay ahead so I can keep my lists as electives, since close due dates can make executive function worse.) Make sure to make this list the day that you’ll be doing the tasks. Planning in advance can make it harder to actually do them. You want to catch your own brain off guard here!
Again, as you complete things, check them off! The point of this list is to feel super good! You’re doing things ahead of time! Look at how productive that is!
Alternate between work and fun
Moving between something fun and something not so fun can help you get things done without getting bored or side tracked!
Doing something you enjoy right after doing work is rewarding!
Suggested methods:
1) Listen to/Watch a video while you work.
This is best for when you’re doing tasks that don’t require too much thinking, like chores or cooking. You can watch a YouTube video, watch TV, listen to a podcast, or something else while you do the things you need to get done.
This makes it 100x easier for me to do chores! Yeah, I might be folding laundry, which is long and boring, but I’m also watching an episode of my favorite show! Or a video on my current special interest! As far as my brain is concerned, I’m relaxing, not working.
2) Work, Relax, Repeat.
For things that require more thought, you can use this method. Pick an item on your to do list and do it. Or, if it’s too long for you to bring yourself to do, do a part of it. Need to type a paper but you can’t even get out of bed? Just move to your desk or grab your laptop and move on to the next step.
Now, pick something you enjoy doing, but be conscious of what it is. Don’t pick something you can easily get stuck on, like reading or social media. Pick something that has clear start and end points, like one battle in pokemon, or one episode of a show.
Then, go and do another task. After that, do something else you enjoy. And repeat again and again until you’re done for the day! This switching can get time consuming, but it’s so much better than not being able to do anything at all!
Know when to take a break
Take as many breaks during the day as you need to! Take an entire day off to relax if you feel you need it! Don’t burn yourself out by trying to brute force through everything. In the long run, this will make it harder for you to be productive.
Be mindful of health conditions
This section may seem counter productive, but these tips are meant to help long term.
If you have a condition that makes you feel unwell or causes you pain, addressing that condition will make it easier to be productive.
Suggestions:
1) If you feel unwell, lower your work load
Regardless of how busy you are, if you feel sick, don’t push yourself! Listen to your body. If it’s telling you you’re done for the day, you’re done. It’s not the end of the world if you miss something for your health. And don’t feel guilty about it either. Your well being is more important than a chore or assignment.
2) If you’re physically incapable of something, don’t try to do it
I’ll use myself as an example for this one. I have double-jointed wrists that get strained easily, so I can’t type a lot despite being a college student. So, I can only spend so much time on assignments in a day.
The first week of quarantine, I worked on my laptop twice as much as usual (among other things) and I got an overuse injury. I couldn’t even use my phone, much less my laptop for four (4) days. That was a lot of missed time.
TLDR: you might think you’re being more productive short term by pushing your limits, but in a few days there’ll be consequences. Please don’t hurt yourself.
Anyone with executive dysfunction can reblog!
2K notes · View notes
mandoalorian · 3 years
Note
Hi 👋 hope your staying safe! Can I request something with Santi, please? Could you write something where Santi and reader used to be friends as kids, Santi having looked out for reader when she was picked on or if she fell over at school, but then after he graduated they lost contact until years later reader reaches out to him randomly and they reunite, maybe fall in love??
Sorry if it's strange, I'm going through something similar but I'm trying to get the guts to reach out to the guy, it's nerve wracking!! 😳😨 Maybe reading something will give me a boost 😂
Tinder [Santiago Garcia x F!Reader]
Word count: 1,700
Rating: 18+ I guess? I don’t know. Nothing explicit, it’s just Tinder is an 18+ app.
Warnings: food mention, tinder mention, allusions to sex
Masterlist
Tinder. It was so tedious. An app that had gained it’s reputation for being nothing more than a “hookup app” or even a “sex app”. It was associated with superficiality and laced with sexual innuendos. It was the app that had been accused of igniting modern day hookup culture. It was the app that Santiago Garcia frequented every damn day. The man even paid a premium! It was a quick and easy way for him to meet girls for drinks and a quick fuck. It’s all a man like Santiago had time for. Falling in love wasn’t an option for him. It was something he’d never considered until Games Night last week. 
Once upon a time, Will’s small living room was just filled with him, Santiago, Frankie, Benny and Tom, but the head count had grown extensively over the past few years. Tom had reconciled with Molly, Yovanna and Benny had something going on, and now even Frankie was engaged to the blonde haired, blue eyed girl who sat quietly in the corner sipping tea and doodling in her sketchbook. 
Santiago didn’t mind the girls. In fact, he actually enjoyed their company, but their presence only had him yearn for something more. He’d never been one to think about settling down or starting a family of his own, but he felt an indirect pressure. Maybe trying out one long term relationship wouldn’t be so bad after all? But he was so used to his flings. How was he ever going to grow out of his commitment issues and find someone he could really connect with.
Truthfully, he’d already found her, about fifteen years ago.
You and Santiago Garcia were the best of friends. You used to do everything together; walking home from school hand in hand, singing and dancing when you thought no one was around, playing LEGO and building up jigsaw’s. He was your soulmate, in every sense of the word. But you can’t stay young forever and eventually Santiago left your small neighbourly town to join the military. And you never saw him again.
Which is why it was a surprise when you, half asleep at 2 am, and drooling on your pillow, lazily swiped right on his profile. You weren’t even paying attention. Just another tanned skin man with dark brown hair and chocolate eyes. It was a haze, and your desperation to move on from your ex boyfriend had you yearning to meet someone new. You groaned tiredly, deciding you were never going to find someone as good as your ex, switched your phone off and shoved it under your pillow before finally getting some sleep.
At around 3 am, Santiago still wasn’t asleep, thanks to his roommate Frankie and his fiancée keeping probably the whole apartment complex awake. He pulled out his phone from his nightstand and checked Tinder. That’s when he saw you. Before even checking your name, he could tell it was you by that familiar sparkle in your eyes, and the way your perfect lips curled into a smile. It might have been fifteen years since he’d last seen you, but just looking at your photo made it feel like yesterday. He couldn’t contain his wide grin as he flicked through your photos. You looked just as beautiful as ever, and Santiago recalled the crush he had on you when you were both kids. He wondered how come you hadn't settled down already. He knew you always dreamed of getting married and having kids, with a big house and a big dog. So why were you on Tinder?
In a simple spur of the moment, Santiago swiped right.
‘It’s a match!’ the words blew up on Santiago’s screen and illuminated the dark bedroom. Streamers and confetti exploded around your photo; the typical thing that always happened when he matched with women on Tinder, only now it actually felt like celebrating. This meant that you must’ve swiped right on him too. 
You spent the morning the same way you always did, laying in bed and checking the notifications on your different social media. Just before you were about to get up, you remembered how you’d impulsively installed Tinder the night before and, on a whim, you opened the app to see if you had matched with anyone.
You scrolled through the eight matches you’d gained through the night, frowning and twisting your face in disgust at some of the profiles. You really hadn’t been paying attention to who you were swiping.
Your eyes went comically wide when you read the name at the end of the list.
‘You have matched with: Santiago Garcia! Say hi!’
It was like time had frozen and you read the words over and over again. Santiago Garcia. Santiago Garcia. Santiago Garcia. You wondered how many Santiago Garcia’s lived in New York City - or more specifically, only three miles away?!
You hammered your thumb into your screen to view his profile and you were blown away as you went through his photos. That was definitely him. That was definitely your childhood best friend. Although his hair was once dark and curly, it was now short and slightly salt and peppered. He had a slight graze of facial hair in all of his photos, and in most of them, he was seen to be hanging out with a bunch of other guys. Wait- was that Francisco Morales too? They were still friends?
You were so nervous to say something. Truthfully, if you had come across his profile at any other moment where you weren’t half asleep, and hopelessly desperate for love, your fear would’ve stopped you from swiping right. You’d been in love with Santiago since pre-school. It had been over a decade but you still thought about him every single day and cherished those long lost moments you spent together. 
But the reality was, that he’d swiped right on you too. He was interested in you as well! Which had to count for something. You took a deep breath and typed out the words “Hello :)” before quickly turning your phone off and throwing it across your bedroom. 
You sat bolt upright in your bed for a few moments, contemplating what you had done. You told yourself it would be okay and asked yourself what was the worst that could happen. You sighed and forced yourself out of bed to get ready for the day ahead.
Turning off your phone was a good idea because you’d actually forgotten about messaging Santiago until about lunch time. You flicked through the television channels, holding a lazily put together sandwich in your free hand, and landed on a dating game show. You considered applying, thinking about how fun it might be, when you remembered you might already have a shot with someone else. Santiago. You dropped your sandwich on the coffee table in a frenzy, ran to your bedroom and turned on your phone. The painful minute it took to completely boot up sent butterflies rampant in the pit of your stomach.
Santiago: Hey! How you doing? I gotta say I was really surprised to see that we matched last night. It’s been a long time!
Oh my god. He’d replied. He’d replied three hours ago and you hadn’t said anything back. Shit. You wondered if you had already blown your chances, but little did you know, Santiago had been holding out for a message from you for a long time.
You: Right...almost fifteen years, I think! I’m okay. How are you?
You pressed send and took a deep breath. It was okay. Just casual small talk. It would be okay. You slid your phone into your pocket and went back to eat your sandwich. No matter how hard you tried to focus on the game show, you just couldn’t stop thinking about Santiago.
“Santi! You got a new message!” Frankie called from the other room, taking a huge, messy bite out of a candy bar and picking up his phone.
“Frankie! I’m literally on the toilet… can it wait?” Santiago cried, face palming and chuckling incredulously. Living with his best friend for five long years meant that Santiago had become accustomed to interactions like this.
“No, I don’t think so,” Frankie mumbled, knotting his eyebrows together as he read the notification that had popped up on the screen. “Hey, are you talking to Y/N L/N from high school?”
“Wh- what?” Santiago asked, feeling his cheeks flush.
“Oh my God you are!” Frankie gasped excitedly, typing in his friend’s passcode for his phone and getting inside. “On Tinder!”
Santiago finished up washing his hands and walked out the bathroom, an unamused scowl drawn upon his lips. Frankie swallowed at his best friend’s expression.
“This has to stop,” Santiago warned, taking his phone from Frankie’s hand. “I love you buddy, I really do. But you’re getting married next Summer. You can’t keep trying to talk to me while I’m on the toilet!” 
Frankie laughed and rolled his eyes before getting back to his video game. 
Santiago was shocked to be reminded that you had remembered exactly how long it had been since you last saw each other. He began to compose his next message. You practically screamed when you felt your phone vibrate at the notification.
Santiago: I’m well, thanks for asking. Would you be interested in meeting up sometime for a few drinks? I’d love to catch up.
Drinks. A catch up. It sounded perfect. You already found your mind racing as you wondered what to wear.
You: That sounds great!
Santiago’s reply came fleetingly.
Santiago: Are you free tonight? X
Tonight was so soon… but you were free, and it felt like you’d been waiting forever to reunite with your childhood crush. And he felt the same way. It was so exciting for both of you.
You: Tonight sounds great. See you then :) x 
You and Santiago spent the rest of the day in anticipation to see one another. You didn’t know then, but the accidental Tinder encounter turned out to be the long lasting and perfect relationship both you and Santiago craved. The soulmates were reunited at last.
Taglists - let me know if you wish to be added!
Permanent: @supernaturalgirl @phoenixhalliwell @ah-callie @luvzoria @stardust-galaxies @wickedfrsgrl @goth-topic @nerdypinupcrystal @wonderfulfluffer @kiwi-the-first @pedroepascal @castiel-barnes @honeymandos @rocketqueen @ladycumberbatchofcamelot @dybalalover10 @girl-obsessed-with-things @elena-myth @moth-guillotine @pedro-pascal-love @hayley-the-comet @pinkninja190 @maxiarapamaya @autumnleaves1991-blog @artsymaddie @harrys-stan @kennedywxlsh @cripplingmoon @cheekygeek05 @mrschiltoncat
110 notes · View notes
alatismeni-theitsa · 3 years
Note
Hi! Hope you're doing well <3 I been reading some of your posts about LO and Greek culture in general! And as a non-greek I think your culture is amazing and it should be respected as any other culture, so, I had this question a little while ago
I made a couple of characters based on greek myth creatures, and I kinda had a story for them in an ancient greek inspired world (highly inspired tbh, I think it might take place in an ancient greek ambience as well), but now I think that might be insensitive (?) I don't know how to express it, but I just want to know, would it be ok if I continue with that idea or should I scratch it?
TIIIME TO FINALLY ANSWER THIS
I am really sorry for the long wait! I was trying to think how to answer this properly and also mustering the energy for it xD I will pin it so you can find it more easily, if you come back to the blog.
For starters, you can write whatever you wish. I am hesitant to say to people “you can't write this and that” because it might make people feel estranged and uncomfortable and I believe that distance serves no real purpose. Yes, it’s likely that a xenos won’t be making the story VERY culturally accurate but if the story is 30% culturally accurate as opposed to barely 5% which we see in the popular media today, then it’s still a win. Not to mention that Greeks themselves are not 100% culturally accurate most of the time in their Greek mythology stories. This happens because 1) Americanization has hit us hard 2) They write them just for fun without bothering to research much. We are also lucky if we have a 30% accuracy in our texts most of the time.
(I love percentages if you can’t tell 😂)
You might have figured out I have the tag #writing (and perhaps also #writing advice ??) where I answer these type of questions, so visiting it might help! I'm not gonna tell you if you can write it or not - you can write whatever you like - but I would advise you to treat the Greek culture like any other real or fictional culture. Do a proper “worldbuilding”, let’s say.
THE CREATURES
As you know, some are more serious and some are more playful. They don’t easily “switch” from their behaviors so it’s best to keep a serious creature serious and a playful creature playful throughout most of the story. Some reading is needed, to figure out how the ancient Greeks saw those creatures. Because assumptions are usually not helpful. If we have no clues about their behavior, that’s free real estate I guess 😂
Now, if you are going for the “almost like Greek culture but not quite” thing, that still needs similar studying. You need to know where you are basing those creatures and how they see their world - or how the world sees them. And what elements make sense to change.
You can still not base the characters nowhere and just have a gal with snakes in her head. You can do that xD However, if you like to be more in touch with the culture you need to use some context and the “ambience” you talked about. It’s another thing to say “this gal has snakes on her head“ and another to say “this is THE Medusa“.
Some Greek culture needs to shine through. I mean, it would be great if it could shine though in general, so your references and basis to Greek mythology are better. It would be safe to assume the ancient folklore creatures have some Greek culture in them since they have Greek names, they have been written in Greek stories behaving according to the Greek societal rules and ethics, and generally being symbols in Greece until our days. And your story is about Greek mythology, so you want to emphasize the Greek aspects of your heroes and world.
THE ANCIENT GREEK INSPIRED WORLD
I don't know what research you’ve done so far but I will begin from the basics anyways. Ancient Greek ambience, as you can probably guess, is not “chitons, wine, vines and white pillars” 😂 The ambience specifically doesn’t come from the aesthetics but from the feel of it - the food, the customs, the symbols, the dances, the language interjections, the behaviors and values. Parts of the culture are also how is reverence and modesty are expressed, what makes someone present “manly“ or “feminine”. So, it’s gonna take some research.
People usually write some of the aesthetic and think they are covered, even though their worldbuilding is bad, precisely because they have only presented the very top of the iceberg. No food, no dances, no certain behaviors, nothing. You could say they are “soulless Disney remakes”. 😂 You can also do that, but you need to know how it will come out. It might be quite bland and, if I am not mistaken, you said you want to avoid that. (And I think most of Greeks would tell you that they don’t mind a Greek “soulless” remake but it would be super extra great if you put cultural elements in).
Ok, I don’t mean make it like an encyclopedia, but presenting some stuff from the culture is how you get the ambience. You might as well take a writing advice list for worlbuilding stuff you must have and see which ones you can find irl from the Greek culture.
Important! Remember that nearby cultures affect each other, so if you change one element from the Greek culture it’s likely it has to be changed in other cultures next to your area. If wearing green makes you manly in Imaginary Greece, it will also make you manly in Imaginary Turkey and Imaginary Bulgaria, let’s say. (there is no “ancient Turkey” or “ancient Bulgaria” as countries - and depending on the era, “ancient Greece” is also not a thing - but you get my point xD)
For the interpersonal relationships/interactions, you can read some ancient translated texts presenting daily life situations of the ancient Greeks (start from Googling stuff, I really don’t have sources for that xD). It’s very likely that the ancient sources won’t give you a very defined feel (try it anyways, if you like). Therefore, I suggest you see interactions of modern Greek people.
Worry not! YouTube - through me xD - has you covered! Searching the tags #greek tv #greek youtuber #greek podcast and #video. On youtube you can even find vlogs of people visiting Greece and see interactions with the locals. (If you have trouble finding them, you can send me another ask).
Similarly, it might take months to find all the Greek language interjections so you can go for modern ones. Besides, many interjections like “popoo“ are ancient. Besides, if you are not making a very “serious” story, the modern touches might help it feel more in touch with the present.
Surely, people are people everywhere and humans between countries share cultural traits, but there are some slightly more predominant stuff depending on the culture. Cultures close to each other share more traits, so, if you can’t find any Greeks around, you might be able to find our neighbors. Middle Eastern, north African, or south European people (and Hispanic/Latino Americans!) around might help to understand the dynamics between friends and family members. If you already belong to some of those cultures, congrats, you have most of the formula figured out!
I gave so much space to the interpersonal relationships because that’s gonna give you an idea where the line of “respect” is. Surely, the ancient interpersonal relationships won’t be like the modern American ones  😂 There is no way a student goes to Chiron being like “hey, man, how you doin?” Knowing how Greek teachers were, as late as the 20th century, that’s gonna earn him a slap 😂
Another thing: saying “Good morning” and “good afternoon / goodnight” when you first and last see people in the day is VERY important and the best social practice! You won’t be considered rude if you don’t say them but in a slightly formal and especially professional environment, better use them. (Other modern Europeans also consider this a good practice.)
The most ancient greeting of Greeks is “be happy” (χάιρε / χαίρετε) but health is also very important and is another old greeting. Xάιρετε is more formal in our days and Γεια/Γεια σας ("have good health”) is the most used formal and informal one. Seeing how people wish health in the middle east, it might be that the Health thing has been here for centuries. Also, if you break something or something bad happens to you, we say “health” because having your health is more important than anything else.
Fun fact, “Charon“ (Χάρων) probably means “the happy one” :P It has the same root with (χάιρε / χαίρετε).
Many other social cues can be found in the tags I mentioned, but you can send me an ask if you need to know something more specific!
As for the food, you can find ancient recipes and even use modern ones (which are usually with the same ingredients). Same goes for dances and symbols. You can google stuff about them, go on Google Scholar and search there, as well. (Also, google pages where you can download those papers for free ;) ) Please do some cross examination to make sure that this element indeed exists and it’s not just one person pulling it our of their a**. 😂
If you can’t find info, you can lean on modern symbols and dances. The dances are similar through the centuries anyways. No one is going to come for you if you say you based an element on a modern Greek thing bc the ancient one was impossible to find with the resources available to you.
I don’t have many more things to add on these cultural elements because I already have tags for the modern ones. #greek cuisine #melomakarona #greek dance #greek custom #greek tradition  etc.
And, last but not least, research the weather!! I can't stress this enough 😩 We are not a desert and we are not the Tropics. If your weather is similar to the Greek one, then your creatures most likely will need some serious covering in Autumn and Winter 😂
All in all, it’s certainly not a piece of cake to write about other countries and cultures but, if they are open to let you in, you can learn stuff and do your best depicting them. It might not be perfect (and no work is actually perfect) but it would be a step to the right direction and might encourage more writers to do the same - instead of throwing some chitons in and calling it a day xD
If you have any other questions feel free to send me another message (dm or ask). You - or anyone else - REALLY WON’T BOTHER ME if you ask me many questions on my DMs or here.
26 notes · View notes
yurimother · 4 years
Text
Interview: Shilin Huang, Creator of Amongst Us and Carciphona
Shilin Huang ( @okolnir​​ )is a Canadian freelance artist and comic creator, known for her long-running series Carciphona. She has a Bachelor of Music in Performance from the University of Western Ontario. Carciphona is a long-form fantasy story set in a world where demon-magic is forbidden. The series follows a young sorceress named Veloce, and the mythical assassin assigned to kill her, Blackbird.
Tumblr media
Shilin’s newest book, Amongst Us, based on the webcomic of the same name, is an alternate universe comic that reimagines Veloce and Blackbird as musicians and girlfriends in the modern world. You can support the physical release for Amongst Us book 1 on Kickstarter today.
Tumblr media
The first book of Amongst Us is coming soon. How do you feel about the release?
Eager and relieved!! I had worked for so long to make the web format viable for print format, as well doing all the extra drawings that were necessary--like covers--that I had to keep under wraps, it felt great to know that that part is finally done and I can release my child into the wild. I was very worried too before the launch of the Kickstarter, because though I am the one who made this story, I am not quite a slice-of-life type of person myself, and it was hard for me to see value in this mundane, not-plot-driven kind of story as a printed book. But I was very lucky to have that worry dispelled!
Tumblr media
What drew you towards creating comics and artwork? Was it a dream of yours?
I’ve been drawing since before elementary school because I enjoyed it, and somewhere along the way, I wanted to create my own characters, and then I wanted stories for them. It was always just me doing what I felt like doing, more so than something that I aspired towards achieving consciously. If I had to analyze the allure myself, maybe it was because people and the world are so interesting, I’ve always loved thinking about their nature and circumstances, and art/storytelling was the best way for me to explore and share those thoughts.
Tumblr media
Could you briefly walk us through your creative process for making a page of Carciphona or an episode of Amongst Us?
Carciphona is a long, plot-driven story, and so the scale of preparation required before the page eclipses the actual drawing of the page itself. [A] small moment has some larger impact in the plot, character development, and accuracy of world-building. So I usually spend about half a year or more writing out an entire volume, read it over many times over the course of the years, before I do the same thing with sketching the entire volume on the computer, rearranging pages and panels and entire scenes for best delivery, before I finally commit to drawing out each page in detail on the computer. 
Where Carciphona is like an elaborate set course where I chop up and measure ingredients and time their cooking with a careful game plan so everything can be served as they should, Amongst Us is more like an omelette that I’m making to taste. There is still planning and writing ahead of time, but each episode is much more self-contained, and I do more of the planning of the episode within the episode itself, adding and taking away details as I see fit before I feel like it reads naturally enough for me to fine line, colour, and paint.
Tumblr media
You talk about being a self-taught artist, how did you learn to create artwork? What are some of your favorite educational resources?
While I did come across many tutorials, they were mostly short ones here and there made by my peers, so I don’t have any favourites in my mind that I can share ): . I learned by just looking at the art of my peers at the time and drawing a lot myself, thinking about what I could learn from each time I see something great, and what I could try next time to make the next drawing look better to me. When I had just started drawing digitally, the internet was quite new, drawing tablets expensive and uncommon, with no social media to share art or find resources. Over time, I did try to learn more properly by doing studies and seeking out professional tutorials, but I found that I hated it and decided that I’d rather learn and make mistakes at my own pace and be happy than to commit to effective and efficient learning and make myself dislike drawing.
Tumblr media
Amongst Us is, of course, an Alternate Universe comic featuring characters from Carciphona. What inspired you to put your characters into a GL slice of life work?
Back in 2006, when I started drawing Carciphona, I had no plans of this frenemies dynamic for the two main characters, Blackbird and Veloce, and when the thought had occurred to me as I continue to tweak the story, canon GL relationships were still rare and rarely accepted. I was even told on many occasions by readers that they hope the two do not end up with some couples dynamic, or they will no longer be interested in the story. Ultimately, Carciphona was a fantasy story about an entire world, and I wasn’t going to risk the story’s reception over a small detail like whether or not Blackbird and Veloce sleep together, so I just played with the ideas of their relationship on the side, in paintings of many different AUs. Eventually, all that did was make me become so attached to the idea that I decided to say, screw it, I need someplace where they could be together, and I’m drawing an AU for real.
Tumblr media
Where do you draw inspiration from for your work? Both Amongst Us and Carciphona.
I love a lot of things, feelings, aesthetics, and I eat up all of that and take it back out in the form of my stories. The inspiration is everywhere, from beautiful imagery I witness in pictures and in real life, to [the] lives of people that I hear about or experience firsthand, to the ethics and structures of professions from mechanics to medicine… In feelings, knowledge, and perspective, there’s an infinite amount of things that makes me think, and that thinking is what creates AU and Carciphona, whether or not that line of inspiration can be clearly drawn back to the root of the thought.
Tumblr media
What are some of your biggest challenges or fears creating Amongst Us? Was there any realization or advice that helped you overcome those difficulties?
My biggest fear is always in relatability because it’s a difference between me and the reader that I do not and cannot have a solution for because it involves another person. In such a relatable genre as slice of life/comedy/romance, where the readers have more experience and therefore more varied but stronger expectations of a version of life that is relatable to them, I know that even if somehow I become a master writer, I still would not be able [to] say whether I could story that others would get or would be interested in, especially because I am aware I am an oddball when it comes to how I think, how I live, and what I value. What helped me the most was simply seeing that there were readers who did enjoy the stories for what it was, and reminding myself that I’m telling the stories to find those who might enjoy it, not to avoid those who might not. It’s a different perspective, rather than a solution, so the worry constantly resurfaces, but I hope it becomes easier over time as I am proven wrong more often!
Tumblr media
Amongst Us readers have gotten to see Veloce and Blackbird as an established couple, and now we are witnessing flashbacks to how they first met. Where do you hope to take the series in the future?
I intend to tell both of these timelines concurrently, so as the couple timeline ended at episode 20, I intend to end the flashback at around episode 40, and then switch again at episode 60, and so on. While this kills the momentum for each arc, I made AU so that I can have the cake and eat it too--I want both their back story and a happy ending at the same time without having to wait 10-20 years for it, like I do with Carciphona’s plot haha!
Tumblr media
What is one dream or aspiration you would like to accomplish? Even if it is unrealistic.
My only dream right now is just to finish both Carciphona and AU before my time’s up! Funny how unrealistic is specified, it made me realize that I rarely consider unrealistic dreams/aspirations as worth thinking about as they are unlikely to happen when there are so many other things I want to do that are actually possible. Most of my unrealistic dreams actually revolve around music, a profession I had left behind with an aching heart. I dream to play a concerto with an orchestra someday, or even learn to conduct, but for now, drawing my dreams out feels enjoyable and fulfilling enough a compromise!
Tumblr media
What advice do you have for people wanting to create artwork and comics?
The true challenge these days I feel like is rarely in the work itself; there are so many readily available free resources that anyone who is capable of working hard and thinking critically will sooner or later be able to master skills they acquire to some degree. What is truly challenging is finding, and then accepting, what paths work for you. Someone might find great joy in working in a studio with a group on something big, while someone else might only enjoy drawing what they feel. Both, in this current climate, will be compelled to adhere to the standards of drawing what others want to see in order to gain recognition and financial stability, one will thrive, one will not. 
I think the most important thing to keep in mind is understanding what you want out of drawing/creating, and why. Understanding yourself is often not as straight-forward as it may seem, everyone has different circumstances that subtly motivates them to sometimes misdirect energy and misinterpret what it is they truly want. Some people need to be understood, some people want an excuse to execute, and some people want fame, money, recognition, validation. Whatever it is, and all valid, understanding and accepting your own motivations to create can tremendously help you find the path forward that is suitable for you, not anyone else, even if it might mean following an impractical path that no one else recommends.
Tumblr media
Finally, after the release of the first Amongst Us book, what is next for you? Anything special your fans can look forward to?
My game plan through the decades has always been to just keep going. I did choose long-form projects such as the comics that I draw, and the best thing I can do is to just keep it up and reach those exciting points of the story that I’ve always worked towards, no matter how uneventful that may make my work routine sound. However, I do have a little side thing with a(nother) recurring theme that I’ve been doing here and there for fun whenever I had time, people who keep up with my social media art posts may have noticed. If I ever accumulate enough material, maybe there will be some bonus snacks for my readers on the horizon!
Tumblr media
Read Carciphona and Amongst Us online now and be sure to support the physical release on Amongst Us book 1 on Kickstarter today. Also, be sure to follow Shilin on Twitter @Okolnir.
1K notes · View notes