#i'm doing a separate highlights thing for just them but i think there were enough mentions here to warrant the tag
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Lizzie the musical at Southwark Playhouse Elephant - some little moments that I love, part 2/?
Previously: [Part 1]
We left off with Bridget announcing that it was time for Mrs Borden’s tea :)
Shattercane and Velvetgrass:
THIS IS MY JAM
Bridget brings in a tray with a teapot and associated accoutrements and starts singing about making tea while Lizzie reads aloud from a book on household poisons and forms a bright idea
Their voices are so gorgeous together
The last(?) time they do the chorus, Lizzie brings down the teapot dramatically and it hits the beat just right and it’s super satisfying
Bridget gives it her ALL in the last verse. FIRE BURN and TOIL.
A fun thing I notice on the final night in London sitting in the right-hand balcony: while Bridget and Lizzie perform this educational masterpiece about poisons and teas, a shadowy figure stands in the aisle separating the middle section of the audience from the left section and leaves after a little bit. It’s Emma! There is no spotlight on her so I only realise it is her because she lets in a little light when she opens the door to enter and leave the theatre.
(Tbh my initial interpretation was that Bridget was cheerfully planting the idea of poisoning the Bordens in Lizzie’s head of her own volition, but I’m not mad about this revelation)
2. ‘To...clean a stain?’
Lizzie x Lying is a close second to Lizzie x Alice for me.
Quick break for me to gush about Lauren Drew’s performance as Lizzie because this feels as good a time as any! I just love the physical ways in which she conveys how deeply awkward Lizzie is – her posture is terrible and she blinks a lot when she’s nervous. It’s in her manner of speech as well and I just find it so compelling. At the same time, we obviously get these powerhouse vocals when she’s singing about her feelings – the contrast is fascinating.
3. Alice makes good on the invitation from this morning and comes over to hang out! Lizzie says she’s sorry but she must go to Benson’s Pharmacy.
‘Why?’ – Alice sounds so unguardedly baffled and offended and I personally find this hilarious.
4. ‘Are you well?’ is Alice’s first reaction to Lizzie freaking out about Alice calling Mrs Borden Lizzie’s mother
She cares about her so much, I wail
5. Lizzie in Kronk mode is one of my favourite things. The milk, the milk that comes in a can, the milk that leaves behind an empty can. The canned milk.
6. That awkward moment when the girl next door – in a kindhearted attempt to ease your mind! because she loves you! – casually pokes holes in your plot to poison your stepmother and you have to pivot and talk about your struggles with sleeping at night.
7. Will You Stay:
So! Much! Anticipation!
How does one sing these suggestive lyrics about gathering ripening pears in skirts and biting through skin to the sweet flesh within while smiling (and sounding) like an angel? How?!
Alice sings, ‘let me bring back your smile’ and it does actually bring a tiny smile to Lizzie’s face :)
Lizzie says she has to go and things escalate rapidly
IT’S JEALOUS PEAR TIME
Maiya’s delivery of ‘she’s always eaten ingreathaste’!!!
And also the vocal acrobatics in ‘will you bite through the skiiiiiiiiiiiin’
Alice literally guides Lizzie’s hands down her neck and her torso and the whole time I panic while gay.
(NOT to be mistaken for the strategy of legal defence where a straight person argues that they found a purported same-sex advance so horrifying that they reflexively reacted violently!)
Alice promises to keep Lizzie safe while she sleeps. She has this cute smile when she ducks her head and says she’ll keep one eye open half the time
8. AND THEN THEY ARE CONSUMED WITH PASSION AND KISS FOR SEVERAL SECONDS AND THEN BREAK APART AND KISS AGAIN
I have Notes from watching this from multiple angles
Hands-down the funniest view was when I was in the front row in the central block but at the last seat from the right and so could not see the actual kissing and just admired the braids in Alice’s hair the entire time
I have seen some clips from other productions on Youtube where it kind of looks like Alice is pushing Lizzie into the kiss? Happy to report that this is not the case here! They both lean in. Maybe Alice leans in a tiny bit more / first but Lizzie is definitely enthusiastic and wraps her arms around Alice. HA.
9. Alas, Bridget comes in bearing bad news and a bagful of dead pigeons.
10. Why Are All These Heads Off:
Somehow, another banger!
‘Wait, wait, wait! Everything is fine Lizzie, we will find a better way’ – there is audible laughter from the audience at this on the last night and, well, I get it.
A fleeting moment of peace as Alice presses her forehead to Lizzie’s
A tug-of-war between Alice and Bridget before Lizzie strides forward in the middle and makes her choice
‘I'm standing looking forward in the dark / A feeling brushes past me / And I know the wind has changed’ – it’s like Lizzie's carving these words into stone. CHILLS.
11. Mercury Rising: the lyrics are so archaic and poetic. More chills.
12. Somebody Will Do Something:
!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bridget whips out her microphone to announce that Mrs Borden is ‘ALL…BY…HERSELF’
‘AXE FALL RIVER RUNS RED’ is amazing to witness up close (the upshot of missing the kiss!)
‘My eyes they never saw it / But my hands they found the axe’ – BRIDGET is the one to hand Lizzie the axe – I don’t know if this is how they do it in all productions, but I love how integral she is to everything here.
There’s also something about the practised way in which Bridget shifts her grip on the axe just a little bit when giving it to Lizzie that has stuck with me!
Lizzie darts offstage to look for her stepmother
(A quick note on the staging: there’s a doorway with sliding…doors at the centre of the stage. For this scene, the doors are open and there are PVC strip curtains hanging from the doorway. You can see this in the eighth picture in thegirl20’s lovely collection of production photos here: [link])
Lizzie attacks Mrs Borden with her axe behind the PVC strip curtains while the 40 whacks rhyme is projected onto the wall
Another fun thing I notice while sitting upstairs: Shekinah and Maiya pop up in the balcony and sing about being afraid somebody will do something and that somebody will dieeeeeee! Such rockstars!
‘OOH Miss Lizzie you startled me’ is Bridget’s v chill response to Lizzie when she emerges from the murder curtains with blood all over her. Bridget’s reactions and harmonies are always top-notch.
Lizzie sounds so exhausted and on the edge when she says she might go out too. I know she's just violently killed her stepmother, but I do also want someone to wrap her in a blanket and give her some cookies (maybe no coffee).
Anyway, one final push! ‘HE’LL WISH HE’D HAD THAT SON,’ Lizzie declares to the balcony while holding aloft her axe.
Lizzie murders her father as well and immediately asks Bridget to summon Miss Russell because she does not want to be alone.
13. Lauren Drew looks really, really good covered in fake blood.
It’s time for the interval!
#i really love this show#point 13 is deeply important to me personally#alice x lizzie#i'm doing a separate highlights thing for just them but i think there were enough mentions here to warrant the tag#lizzie the musical#lizzie the musical uk 2023#lizzie the musical southwark playhouse#lauren drew#maiya quansah-breed#shekinah mcfarlane#mairi barclay#lauren lizzie#maiya alice#shekinah emma#mairi bridget
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I'm just going to say it.
I love how unbalanced the first half of the final battle turned out to be simply because it highlights how important a tool failure is to becoming a full person able to contribute meaningfully to the team.
The Rat Grinders have level twenty abilities but no practical experience using them because they haven't failed in any of their adventuring. Jace or Porter has taken the danger away from the onset of every encounter and just given them the experience and so they don't know how to work the battlefield.
It isn't even about the number of times the Bad Kids have died and come back or tripped over their own feet. Fabian and Fig both got separated from group and had really bad things happen to them during Sophomore Year that resulted in encounters where they were out of spells, abilities, strength, you name it, and had to problem solve creatively until they could get out of really dangerous situations.
I'm not going to list the miracles of Saint Kristen Chilis Applebees because this post would just never end but her miracles were always the result of something failing and her seeking a creative solution.
Riz might not get caught swiping student files now but he was caught sneaking around Hell and compromised a Celestial Undercover Op by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Gorgug has been told he'll never be smart enough his entire life. How many times did he fail with his tech checks in Freshman and Sophomore year before he got to reroll his intelligence stat block?
Adaine, who became elven oracle at fourteen, who had panic attacks all through Freshman year until someone told her she wasn't her anxiety and had a mental illness that could be medicated.
Failure is important because it teaches us how to solve problems and to take that away from children--teenagers especially--who are in the cusp of adulthood, will have consequences.
And in a world where teenagers are the ones going on adventures and saving the world--those consequences are terrifying.
So much of this season (inside and out) has been about fair, unfair, and what exactly do children owe the world that takes advantage of them and at what point do teenagers become complicit in the harm they are perpetuating. I don't think there is a perfect, nuanced answer that will satisfy everyone.
But I do think, we need to let our teenagers fail, and that somewhere, between the Bad Kids and the Rat Grinders, there is a way to do it so the world doesn't end because Arthur Auegfort decided not to return on the second day of school.
#fantasy high junior year#fhjy spoilers#dimension 20#dimension 20 spoilers#this is how i meta#also i care more about the bad kids then i do about the rat grinders#i will always care more about player characters#then i do about npcs#especially when it is clear that the rat grinders#are a narrative foil#they were set up that way from the word go#and to think they are anything else#is for fanfiction#extra tag essay#for you tag readers out there
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Caught Up In You
summary: jason manages to corner you at a party. you’re saved by a knight in shining leather jacket who does very well at playing boyfriend. maybe too well. fem!reader
quote from the vampire diaries: "you seem nervous" / "i'm not nervous, i just don't like you"
word count: 2k
title from caught up in you by 38 special
It was a rookie move - separating from the pack.
It’s gross to think of yourself as prey that needs to stick together, but when the basketball team insists on acting like predators - stalking around the room for some poor, unsuspecting girl to push their affections on - then it was all too easy to recognise yourself as prey.
Especially when one of them has you cornered in the empty back room.
“You look exceptionally pretty tonight.”
It’s a compliment, but something about its delivery gives you the ick. Maybe it’s because you know he’s only saying it as a means to an end, maybe it’s because you know he probably would’ve used the exact same line on any other girl were she in your place.
Maybe it’s just because Jason himself gives you the ick.
“Thanks, Jason,” you say, boredom practically dripping from your tone. You’re too polite to not thank him, but rude enough to make it clear you don’t want to talk to him.
He doesn’t take the hint. Somehow, you’d thought he wouldn’t.
“Noticed you’ve been hanging around Harrington a lot lately,” he starts, clearly expecting you to speak up and continue the conversation.
You’re sorely tempted to snap back so? or why the fuck do you care? but you stop yourself in time. You won’t give him the satisfaction of an answer.
The silence stretches about three beats too long past comfortable but you power through, picking up various bottles as if in indecision just to avoid looking at him. He clears his throat awkwardly before stepping even closer and almost leaning into you.
Neither of you notice the quiet creak of a door or the figure making its way into the room.
This close you can smell his expensive cologne - it’s nice, in the way most expensive things are, but to you all it stinks of is desperation.
You want to tell him that but before you can he places a hand over yours on the bottle of soda you’re feigning an interest in and speaks, smarm oozing from every word.
“You seem nervous.”
Your hand slips out from under his as you finally turn to look at him over your shoulder, all polite pretence thrown out at his presumptuous touch.
“I’m not nervous, I just don’t like you.”
Jason lets out a choked sound of shock and, feeling a little like you’re living in surround sound you hear a choke behind you as well. It’s Eddie Munson, frozen in position at the back door, glee lighting up his chocolate-brown eyes when they lock yours in a gaze.
He’s clearly attempting to temper the smile stretching at his lips but all that does is highlight the lines of his dimples. Your eyes remain locked with his for what was probably a moment too long before you twist back to see Jason’s face speckled with embarrassed red splotches.
He’s glaring straight over your shoulder at Eddie and you take his momentary distraction to slip a few steps backwards.
Away from Jason; towards Eddie.
Two sets of eyes flick to you and track the movement. It’s eerie how different two gazes can be in a mirror image. One humiliated and angry, the other amused and kind.
You know which one you prefer.
Especially when Jason spits out a venomous “What the fuck are you doing here, Munson? I know you weren’t invited. You never are.”
There’s a look that crosses Eddie’s face - something hard but so softly sad at the same time - for barely even half a second before he’s shooting Jason a grin so clearly intended to wind him up. You’d almost think you’d imagined it if you hadn’t been staring so intently.
He’s pretty in a way you’d never really taken the time to notice before.
Huh.
“Well, actually, Carver, I was just—”
“Looking for me,” you cut him off in what has to be an act of madness. You send Eddie a slightly pleading look as you continue, “right? Babe?”
The term of endearment comes just a moment too late to be believable but Jason’s too in shock to notice.
So is Eddie, based on the wide-eyed look he shoots at you before he schools his expression.
You don’t know this, but he’s a sucker for the puppy-dog eyes - especially when they’re coming from a pretty girl (or Steve Harrington, apparently, but that’s a different story) - so he’s immediately on board, stepping forward to slip one hand onto your shoulder.
There’s a moment where he panics. He’d gone for the most neutral touch he could think of, and you’d certainly wanted him to play along, but maybe he’s overstepped anyway? It’s a very strange and new situation to be in - the role of boyfriend, real or not - he’s not entirely sure how to play it up as realistic without knowing your boundaries in this situation.
Then you bring up a hand to tangle with his, resting them against your collarbone, and he’s filled with relief even as his heart ratchets up its pace at the contact.
You’ve never really interacted but he’s not going to pretend he hasn’t noticed you before. He might be The Freak but he’s also a man - one who can admit to himself that pretty girls twist up his insides in an uncomfortable yet somehow pleasant way.
And good god are you a pretty girl.
“This has to be a joke.” Jason sounds torn between disbelieving and disgusted. His expression tells a similar story.
Jason’s response isn’t that shocking to Eddie, having been on the receiving end of his and his friends’ scorn for more than a few years now, but you seem genuinely angry when you hurl back your rebuttal.
“Y’know, I think I heard that one: jock asshole can’t tell when he’s clearly not wanted.”
You glare over at Jason before turning away from him once more to face Eddie. Your hands are still tangled as you gently place your other palm against his chest and he tries to calm his swirling thoughts.
“Pretty sure I did too,” he murmurs, not even sparing Jason a glance.
“Yeah, right.” Malice practically drips from the words as Jason continues, apparently ignoring both the subtle and blatant dismissals. “We all know Munson couldn’t get a girl like you without kidnapping her. Or even a girl at all, right, Freak?”
Odd choice of words from the guy cornering girls in the back room, prick.
“Hey,” you murmur, quietly enough that he knows it’s just for him.
Eddie refocuses on you. He finds your gaze darts between his eyes in question and, not really sure what you’re asking but certain he’d do almost anything for you right now, he nods gently in assent.
Almost immediately your hand starts to trail upwards, brushing over his collarbone to his throat in a way that sends a shiver up his spine. It’s not until your hand lands at its destination, cupping his jaw gently, as your gaze dips to his lips, that he realises what he’d agreed to.
Oh.
Nervously excited, Eddie’s breath hitches as you lean close to him, eyelashes brushing your cheeks as they flutter closed. Eddie leaves his open for as long as possible, desperate to store this memory away in the most detail he can, but instinct takes over and they close right as your lips ghost over his.
The gentle pressure is there one moment and gone the next. Eddie doesn’t have time to mourn the loss as you press back almost immediately, lips moulding against his for a moment longer this time before retreating again.
Driven entirely by impulse, Eddie chases after you, lips following yours as his free hand comes up to cradle the back of your head. He’s not pulling you back towards him, but the press of his hand encourages you not to pull back any further as his lips meet yours once more.
Both of you now oblivious to Jason’s cursing as he storms out of the room, you press closer to him, your still clasped hands pressed between your chests as you do.
Your tongues meet and he tastes almost overwhelmingly of cigarettes. It’s not something you’d normally appreciate but something about Eddie has you chasing the flavour with vigour, unwilling to pull back even to breathe as you slip your hand from his jaw to grasp at his waist under his jacket.
Eddie appears to be just as entranced based on the way he’s pressing back into you, mouth open and eagerly following your lead.
A barely-there noise escapes him and is immediately muted in your mouth when your fingers grasp at his waist just a little tighter. He’s clearly receptive to this attention as his own hand slips to the nape of your neck and presses - just enough pressure to pull you towards him. As if there was any room left.
Eventually, the need to take a breath deeper than a quick gasp overcomes you both and the kiss slows to a halt, mouths parting slowly, reluctantly, and eyes fluttering open to meet in a gaze.
You’re both panting gently, still wrapped up in each others’ personal space as the sounds of the next room seep back into your consciousnesses. Loud laughter, louder music - the house party essentials.
There’s a thump against the door and you both practically leap apart, twin gazes set on the doorway where no figure appears. Not someone coming in, then, just an unruly dancer.
The awkwardness sets in all at once.
Apparently years of being barely acquaintances doesn’t lend itself to post-kiss congeniality.
“So–” you begin, speaking directly over his “Do you–”
“Oh, sorry,” you both stumble, hurriedly apologising over each other.
There’s a moment of silence where neither of you seem to be able to bring yourselves to look the other in the eye. It’s uncomfortable. Almost as uncomfortable as your purposefully engineered silence with Jason earlier.
Why was it easier with my tongue in his mouth?
The thought makes your eyes flicker over to him, more specifically to his lips, flushed and pink and still a little wet as they are.
“Um, thanks,” you start, clearly surprising him based on his wide-eyed expression. “For, y’know… With Jason.”
You’re starting to think maybe the reason it was easier earlier was because your tongue was too busy trying to lick the taste out of his mouth to spew out awkward sentences like that.
“Yeah, I… I mean, of course, he’s - Jason’s a dick, I…” He trails off, cheeks flushing as he bounces between looking at you and somewhere vaguely over your shoulder. “Of course.”
“He is a dick.”
You aren’t sure if it’s the statement or the conviction behind it but something about it makes him smile. The overall effect of his pink cheeks, abused lips, and awkwardly adorable smile is very charming and a warm affection blooms somewhere in your chest as you smile back at him.
The uncomfortable air isn’t completely gone, but the tension is cracked at least.
Interruption finally comes in the form of three giggling, drunk girls as they stumble into the room. They each spare you one odd glance before deciding that the refilling of their cups is more important.
Their chatter fills the room and Eddie does this odd little swing of his torso, left, then right, like he has too much energy and isn’t sure what else to do with it. It’s kind of endearing.
You’re gearing up to speak but Eddie beats you to the punch.
“So, uh, you wanna head back to the party?”
He gestures over to the door as the three girls walk back through it, greeted by shouts of excitement. His nervousness is evident on his face as he’s clearly offering to go back with you.
You have a better idea.
“Y’know what? I think I’d rather go home.” Eddie’s expression falls, shoulders dropping ever so slightly.
“Yeah, sure, I–”
“Drive me?” You request, rather presumptuously, if you think about it, but the grin that lights up his entire face reassures you even as it turns your insides to goo.
“Yeah,” he breathes, nodding enthusiastically. “Yeah, absolutely.”
requests are open but no promises i just go where the inspo takes me
huge thanks to @gathered-moss for being my cheerleader and pointing out my insane pov switches
#don't ask me when this is supposed to be set bc somehow reader is steve's friend but doesn't know eddie who is also steve's friend#i don't know okay#eddie munson x reader#eddie munson#eddie munson imagine#eddie munson fanfic#eddie munson fluff#eddie munson x reader imagine#eddie munson fanfiction#eddie munson headcanons#stranger things imagine#stranger things headcanons#stranger things fanfiction#stranger things fic#eddie munson x female reader#eddie munson x you#eddie munson drabble#eddie munson oneshot
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.𖥔 ݁ ˖MEETING JOHN B
an: i'm enjoying these moodboard/fic type things. lemme know if you'd like more. enjoy!
DNI IF YOU DO NOT HAVE AN AGE IN YOUR BIO. THIS BLOCK BUTTON GOES BRAZY
"Oh shit-" John B laughed as he narrowly missed the reached out hands of the truancy officer, jumping over the gate while the man panted, hands on his knees. "Sorry, Officer Berkley! I'll get you a doughnut and coffee tomorrow, promise!" he yelled over his shoulder.
Berkley rolled his eyes, and waved a passive-aggressive hand at John B, grunting as he put a hand on his back to ease his sciatic somewhat as he stood up. He grumbled under his breath about those 'damn kids' as he walked back to the school.
Unfortunately now, he was split up from the Pogues since three truancy officers had been chasing them through the school. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to their groupchat as he walked through the forest that separated the school from the main road.
"Shh, it's okay," a voice cooed.
John B stopped, leaning forward and looking around in confusion. "Uh, hello?" he called out. "He- fucking ow," John B sucked in a sharp breath as something small smacked against his forehead and looked up. An acorn?
There was a girl straddling the thick branch of a tree, not even looking down at him as she scooted forward, hands outstretched. "C'mere," she leaned forward, huffing.
"Hey, are you good up there? You, uh, should probably get down from the-"
"Shhh!" she looked down, eyes narrowed at him. "You're gonna scare it."
He followed where her finger was pointing to a small bundle of fur trembling at the end of the branch. He mouthed out 'oh' and even though his phone was now buzzing with texts from his friends probably asking where he was... there was a pretty girl who was in distress.
"Do you need help?" he asked, cupping his hands around his mouth.
Still scooting forward, she responded without missing a beat. "Do you know what it means when someone shushes you?"
He couldn't stop himself from grinning and pushed his tongue against his cheek, bowing his head until he heard a crack. His smile dropped along with his heart when she gasped, the branch tilting down and the kitten yowling as it curled up tighter.
He ran his hands through his hair. "Shit- just, just hold on!" he looked around for something to help get both this animal and her down. "Don't move, alright?"
But whoever this girl was, she was obviously stubborn because she lunged forward and grabbed the kitten just as the branch snapped off. She screamed, cradling the animal to her chest as she fell a few feet down... on top of him.
John B groaned, face twisted in pain as he cracked his eyes open to look into yours. "Hi," he groaned. "Name's John B... nice to meet you. I think something is broken."
You gave him a weary smile and lifted off of him, revealing the little furball you did all this for. "If it makes you feel any better-" you looked at his body- "nothing looks broken." He laughed again and you did too this time before realizing you were still on top of him. "Fuck, my bad."
You were up on your feet soon enough and John B was too, groaning a bit. He looked at the little furball in your hands and smiled, petting the kitten which pushed its tiny head into his hand. "It's cute, good thing you saved it."
"Yeah, good thing. I guess I owe you now, for breaking my fall and stuff," you laughed slightly.
John B nodded before his brows drew together. He's never seen you before on the island. "Hey, are you new around here or somethin'?"
You looked up at him through your lashes and his breath caught in his throat making him choke slightly on his saliva. The sun filtered between the gaps of the leaves, hitting your pretty brown eyes just right, leaving them honeyed in the light. Not to mention how it reflected off of your brown skin, highlighting you in a golden aura.
"I just moved here with my family. We live on Figure Eight technically, but not too far in. Above the new flower shop that opened up on Main Street," you said.
"Oh, really?" John B wiped some of the mud on his hands on leaves nearby, clearing his throat as his phone kept buzzing in his pocket. His friends were calling him now. "I'll have to swing by then, get to know a fellow Pogue."
Your brows drew inward. "The hell is a Pogue?"
He smirked. "Stick with us and you'll find out."
"Us?"
"Yeah, I can tell you're not snooty or anything like the people on Figure Eight are, so I'm officially declaring you a Pogue," he shrugged.
You smiled at him and nodded just as the bushes nearby shook, JJ stumbling out of them before straightening. "Dude, we've been looking for you, c'mon!" he yelled, jumping on John B's back.
Well, from what you could tell so far, these Pogues were more fun than the kids you've met on Figure Eight. Nicer. "Maybe another day, John B," you said before walking away. "Oh, and you also just cleaned your hands on poison ivy. Get some bentonite clay and mix it with water to make a paste and there's my favor fulfilled."
John B looked down at his hands and then the vines on the tree he just touched, cursing as JJ made a noise of disgust and pulled away from him. "Yuck, dude, did you touch me with that shit?"
But John B didn't care about his hands. He... fuck, he never got your name. "Hey, what's your na-" he exhaled when he saw you were gone. "Never mind then."
"Who was she?" JJ asked, biting the end of a toothpick.
John B glared at him. "Did you not, like- literally just hear me ask what her name was?" he said in a flat voice as JJ shrugged, the corners of his lips tilting downward, "C'mere, lemme hug you man."
JJ yelled as he ran from John B. "Don't you fuckin'- do it!"
"Lemme just get a little sugar, Jayj!"
Yeah, this was what being part of the Pogues meant.
an: i appreciate any comments and reblogs!
#john b routledge#john b x reader#john b x fem!reader#x black reader#x black!reader#john b x black reader#john b x black!reader#obx john b
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I just found this blog and I noticed that a lot of your stuff seems, well, oddly 3D. I don't mean like in a bad way but it feels like rendered but untextured 3D models? I kinda want to ask what your art process is (sorry for mini-rant)
thanks for checking out my blog! and no need to apologize for anything.
hmm, my art process. honestly i have no idea what to say, i dont know how people normally answer this question so i cant base it off anything either. i'm still kinda new to this whole art thing but i'll try and answer, super sorry if i get this completely wrong and this was all a waste of time.
i guess i'll just talk about how i draw things step by step? for the high effort pieces at least.
ok, so for starters like step 0. when it's a high effort piece, i can already see the image in my mind. i see the pose, i see the general lighting, the layout of stuff, but it's a bit blurry. if i cant see this mental image, the drawing usually comes out extremely poorly.
this is kind of an example of what i see in my head? this might be all useless info idk, but this is i guess where i start.
well step 1 is just the sketch and line. i start with just sketching the general shapes, then slowly refining it until it fits close enough to the image in my head. then in the line layer i'll fix any mistakes the sketch had and add more details to it. oh and for brush, it's just a round brush, like default. i dont know how much of a difference using a drawing tablet does, but i dont use one so... yeah.
i should've put more effort into the sketch for this drawing, but i did not.
next i do flat colors. pretty simple, i just select the smart select the outside of the line layer, invert the selection and now i can't paint outside the lines. i dont really think about what colors i use, i just use whatever the characters normal colors are.
next i do the shading, but first. i duplicate flat layer and recolor it to like a cream color
like so. for high effort pieces, i was told online to shade in pretty much black and white. now actually onto shading. there's 2 kinda shading i do, 1 from the proper light source, and 1 that's kinda just a shadow because things are close together (like corners and stuff). and i'll shade them on separate layers so i can adjust them individually however i want. oh right, i'll either use a very dark color, pretty much black and the the layer blending mode set to multiply. or i'll use a light kind of gray, tinted slightly yellow or something and set the layer blend mode to difference. then i just use a soft air brush and shade in the ways i described above. shading from regular light source, and the corner stuff thing.
normal lightsource - - - - - corner thing
then toggle both layers on and mess with the opacity of each layer until you get what you want.
then you can toggle the normal flats layer, the one that has color and it should apply the shading decently. you can mess with the opacity again on the shadows.
next i do lighting. i just grab a very light color, usually pretty close to white and set the layer blend mode to overlay. then i use a soft airbrush and "light" it? idk i just do like the opposite of the normal shadows, lighter the closer it is to the light source
mess around with the opacity as usual. then i do pretty much the same thing if there's another light source. in this case there was a blue light kinda coming from underneath, so i did that.
now from here i would go back to the flats layer, make a copy, and mess around with different layer styles and properties and settings. sometimes just messing around is useful. in this case, i felt it was too bright and colorful, so i decreased the brightness and saturation of it.
i think it helped a little bit but who knows.
now i do some kinda highlights and details. i grabbed the colors that were in the background and used those. it was a weird pale blue. i had 2 layers for this, 1 of them was specifically for his antenna things at the top, and one was just for his "skin". anyway, the antenna layer was normal, just kinda gave it an outline with the random reflective circles you see normally in pictures, no thoughts behind them. the skin tho had the layer blend mode set to soft light, i thought it looked best this way. it was just more random things to imply it was slightly reflective.
together the layers looked like this. i think it makes him look glossier which is what i was aiming for.
next, and it pretty much the end for pebbles, i got someone to look at it and let me know if they think anything was missing. they said it looked a little unsaturated. which it does. so i made a new layer, set the blend mode to saturation, grabbed the airbrush and made it pretty inline with the lighting layer.
that's kinda it. the background i didnt really care about, just drew and colored it. blurred it a bunch and added a bunch of shadows. i did add some like, "overshadows" is what i call it, i just draw some big shadows down the screen as the top layer.
but yeah thats literally everything i did to draw this. i would like to apologize if this was not at all what you wanted to know, i'm certain i've screwed this up bigtime. super sorry for wasting your time. if there's anything i can do to help, please ask. i owe you a proper answer to your question, i'm just really dumb. sorry for rambling. sorry. and sorry if the drawing i used for example didnt showcase what you wanted to know.
also, i really like your art! please keep up the great work!
#i think i did this all wrong#i'm so sorry#i feel incredibly stupid#:I#rambling :I#now everyone get's to see how little i know about drawing
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CHICON 2008 Request (and a tiny sample!)
This is a shot in the dark, but I thought I’d ask. Does anyone have a video of any quality, good or bad, that covers the below portions of the CHICON 2008 panels? I have videos for the vast majority of it, but there are a few small gaps annoying me and I'd love to fill them in. If you have something you’d be willing to let me use in my next set of enhanced con videos, please let me know. I would of course give you credit if I use them! Or anonymity if that's what you prefer. Even an audio file could be useful.
If you don't have anything but you're willing to reblog to increase visibility, that would be awesome too. I haven't had any success the few times I've tried to directly contact fans who were posting content back in these early days, so I don't think many are still out there, but I figure it doesn't hurt to ask.
Gap #1: The beginning of Jared’s solo panel, before he starts telling the story about his dogs sleeping with Jensen. I managed to find a very low-quality 30-second video near the beginning where he talks about the fan video that played, but it cuts off. The better-quality videos start just before Jared tells the dog story.
Gap #2: After the J2 panel, immediately after Jared finishes signing the posters and leaves the stage. The videos show Jensen clapping for Jared as he exits, but they cut off mid-clap. The next video picks up post-clap with Jensen saying, “Maybe we should wait ‘til he’s out of the room.” I think there are only a few seconds missing, not really enough to be annoyed by, but... 🤷♀️
Gap #3: At the very end of Jensen’s solo panel, as he’s getting ready to leave, he thanks the fans and talks about how many more viewers they've had that season. The last video cuts off before he finishes talking.
Other than that, I have a complete span of content for all three of their panels. It adds up to about 1.5 hours that will be split into 3 videos. I think the gaps are all short. I read through some fan reports and I didn’t see anything mentioned that wasn’t covered in the videos I have, so we're probably not missing anything big.
I'm only just starting the editing process on this set. so it will be a while before I have a new video to release. In case you missed it, I did publish the CHICON 2008 breakfast video earlier this week. Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with this tiny sample of one of the things I’ve wanted to do so many times while watching con videos.
I always go slightly bonkers when Jared and Jensen go off in separate directions on stage, because the camera can’t possibly follow both of them. I usually end up pulling up all the videos and trying to find one that follows each of them so I can flip back and forth between them. 🤣 Now I have the power to take two separate videos and show them simultaneously. This silly thing makes me very happy.
Context: this was at the end of the J2 panel. Jensen made a show of removing Jared's chair, and then Jared took Jensen's chair and replaced it with a smaller chair. It will be more coherent when you see the full video; I mainly wanted to highlight the split screen parts for this post.
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Caminus is a disabled Titan and I love him
His physical body has been completely separated into parts and fully utilised to the maximum possible degree for the sake of his Citizens
He was never going to be able to be fully repaired in the first place, and instead of even trying, he decided to put all of his remaining energy and resources into entering a permanent physical dormancy so his people would have somewhere to live and thrive
The effort it takes him to keep himself operational enough to provide the basics for his Citizens means that the strain severely impacts his remaining cognitive capacity and communicative ability
The Camiens realise the extent of Caminus' love for them, the extent of his devotion to his people being so great that he has given them every physical and mental part of himself to build upon and thrive
Even if those parts were already damaged upon arrival, it doesn't matter-- Caminus fulfils his duty into perpetuity
The most important thing the Camiens derive from Caminus himself is not fuel or power or infrastructure, but his eternal love
He has imbued his people with his creativity, curiosity, a more spiritual approach to philosophy, a cultural emphasis on friendship and mutual aid borne out of a need for resource conservation-- Thus providing environmental and resource awareness via his very state of being
We don't know much about Caminus as a person, aside from his heartbreak at the betrayal of Life Maximo and how the fallout from that was enough to send him away from Cybertron and leave Metroplex behind
But I think we can take some reasonable guesses from what we know of him through the optics of his Citizens and from what we know of his actions in general, and say that Caminus is--at his very core--devoted, loving, creative, sensitive, strong
And he is very much a disabled character. The fact that he is physically and mentally disabled is a critical part of why the Camien culture is the way it is, informed how this society developed, and even lent quite a bit to the creation/revival of Cityspeaking as an art form, which allowed him by proxy to help Metroplex from afar even while largely dormant himself
I don't see Caminus himself discussed very often, but he is absolutely one of my favourite characters
A Titan who brought an entire people and civilisation into existence, while also being physically and cognitively disabled.
He is never repaired. He cannot be repaired.
And that is fine; His love for his people is undying. His spark continues to spin, hidden far below the surface, for as long as love itself can live-- Far beyond any physical or metal tolerances, Caminus loves his people.
Forever.
And even without repairs, that is enough for the spark of a Titan.
(This isn't to romanticise the state of his health and his difficulties, but rather, is to highlight that his personal motivation is primarily his love for his people.)
Being disabled does not stop anyone from loving.
And we actually get to see that with Caminus!
In a lot of media, disabled characters are often highlighted for what they don't have, rather than what they do have and who they actually are as people.
The way Caminus is portrayed, his disabilities are critical to not just his own story but to the stories of all Camien people in one way or another. His influence and the impact of his state of health is massive.
But we also get to know who Caminus is, as a person. He values connections with others, he is loyal, creative, caring, and so on. He has significant compassion and dedication towards smaller beings, and values life. He had close relationships with his respective Prime and his "brother" (Metroplex).
I just really like Caminus a lot, idk I'm at work so this is probably not as coherent as I'd like lmao
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Chenford - Lucy Chen / Tim Bradford - The Rookie - Season 5 - Ep 20
"S.T.R." AKA "Breakin' My Heart"
After a three week break, we were treated to a Season 6 renewal, the spoiling of Family Feud. And, to my great excitement, some bloody hi-res Chenford photos for the press!
All in all.. yesterday was a good day. But, was tonight a good night?
SPOILER ALERT: I'm the girl who literally wandered through every site on a Star Trek webring to find the Michael Jonas page full of Star Trek: Voyager spoilers. So, if you're wondering if I like spoilers, the answer is yes. I will spoil everything, so reader beware.
All clear on how this works? Golden. Because, I'm ready to dive in.
"This is ready." "That looks good." "Mm, thank you." "Mmhmm." "Hey!
Domesticity is just so cute on them. We've all been holding our breaths about the return of Isabel and what wrench it might throw in Chenford's way (or highlight, like Lucy's UC work), but golly this first scene of seeing them savoring the sweet simplicity of early love? Hell, yeah!
I'm also a huge fan of Tim cooking for Lucy. We've seen him cook for Kojo, of course, but I love that Lucy and Tim split the duties when it comes to cooking.
When Matthew and I first married, I asked what he could cook. He said, "eggs". Spoiler Alert: He could not cook eggs. At all.
So, there's a special place in my heart for men who cook for their women. And, yes, Matthew has learned to cook a lot since we wed.
Getting back to the main event—these two have been intertwined all night. You can't convince me otherwise! Neither of them is in a rush. Tim has taken some time off, and Lucy has been there for him the best she can.
And he. is. hungry. for. more. They both are! They wear the aura of, "I just saw you naked and I need to do it, again".
And insert the roommate who physically separates Chenford in a move that reminds me of the "Make Room for Jesus" moms who walk the floor at the Mormon dances. Yes, I attended one as a teenager. It was an experience.
Tim snaps into "well, that's annoying" mode, complete with the trademark raise of his hand. Lucy dutifully stays on her side of the kitchen until Tamara is cleared, and then that Lucy magnet kicks in, and it's right back to Tim's side.
"There are other rooms in the apartment for that."
Sugar, you weren't here for their first time, but you were here for their first kiss. Do you really believe they can keep their hands off of each other in any room of this apartment?
"I thought you were sleeping in today. No classes."
Okay, in that case, Lucy, maybe no hanky panky on top of the yummy yummy pancakes if Tamara is one wall away. Like, Tim pushing Lucy up against Tamara's door while she is in the room is not sexy. Right? Right.
"You want some? One or two?" "Uh, three please."
First off, love that Tim immediately jumps in to feeding his daughter. I'm Ukrainian Jew on one side and Spanish Catholic on the other. We feed people. It's what we do.
So, I love that Tim is right there for her. I also love that we've gone from, "How is that gonna work? You, me, and Tim?" to seeing it working. Yeah, she's got the typical daughter, "ewwww, don't kiss in front of me!" thing going on, but it's working. It's fitting.
And that's making my stomach hurt.
Because when things are really working in television, that's when they pull the rug out from under you. Drama, angst, instability, and misunderstandings litter our television experience.
So, I'm waiting for the bottom to drop out, as it were.
"No wait, um, shoot. Totally forgot. Uh, Isabel texted me. She's in town and needed to talk. So I just told her to come here. I hope that's okay."
Tim. This is Lucy's home and you invited your ex to her home and forgot to tell her!? Look, I think Lucy would have said yes if he'd asked, and I love that he's confident and comfortable enough to want to do this visit in front of Lucy.
But, Dude, we gotta work on your communication skills. Sex doesn't solve every problem.
"I'm sorry. I meant to tell you after you got out of the shower but, you know, I got in the shower."
I stand corrected. One mention of Shower Sex and Lucy's a little less thrown by the sudden arrival of her husband's ex and reliving that glorious ten... no... it's Tim we're talking about... twenty minutes.
Tamara, on the other hand, is rolling her eyes. But, look, girly, you're the one who encouraged your mom and dad to start shagging. So, really, if you think about it, this is on you.
"It's nice to see you again, Lucy. Thanks for letting me crash your breakfast." "No. Not at all. Um... Can I get you something?" "I wouldn't say no to some coffee."
So, Isabel's quick to read the situation, and she's actually being affable, so that's good. And Lucy's playing good host by offering her something.
And I know we're all a little peeved at Tim for parading the ex in front of his new-ish girlfriend, but I think it says a lot that they all snapped into their roles immediately.
This is Lucy's turf, and Isabel clearly understands she is a guest and not a part of this dynamic. Lucy is the wife. Tim is the husband. Isabel is the ex who we don't hate. (Ashley... now Ashley I hated)
"Tim invited her here. That's weird, right?" "No, I mean, it's totally fine. It's... It's a little weird."
Lucy can let her guard down with her daughter, and Tamara is clued into Lucy in a way Tim isn't quite yet.
Or maybe he just doesn't understand social niceties. I mean, did we ever see him host people at his house besides offering Lucy a place to crash when her best friend died?
Also, we know that he was Military before he was a Rookie, and we know he came up in the Training Academy with Isabel. So, maybe he never had a serious girlfriend before her?
Am I giving him too much leeway because I like him? Or does he need to get his ass in gear and stop flaunting the ex in front of his wifey? Maybe both.
"They're big time in Sylmar."
The power dynamic is interesting, because Tim is cluing Lucy in on this, and clearly taking that to her so she's an equal in the information.
Isabel holds the phone toward Lucy, too. So, she understands the power dynamic. And, damnit, that makes me respect her even more.
"We'll find her."
I love the immediate inclusive language. Sure, it could have been, "We, the Force, will find her", which is reading a little Star Wars coded for my liking, but you understand where I'm going, right?
I tend to think he means, "Lucy and I" because we all know he's going to pull her in.
Now, I'm still wondering how Mr. Metro got pulled into this from an assignments point-of-view (who is running Metro-Patrol liaison while he's chasing a missing girl with his ex?). Is it essential to this Meta? No. But it does give me pause, even as I've got 15 minutes left in the episode.
"Welcome back? Were you on vacation?" "I was on leave for a shooting. "I just got cleared." "You okay?" "Yeah, mostly. Lucy thinks I should start meditating... I know, right?"
First off, after three weeks I legitimately forgot that there was any shooting. Because the phrasing of this line is completely vague. If I didn't know, was he shot? Did he do the shooting? Both? Who knows!?
Second, we can see the chemistry these two had back in the day. I don't know that I'd have this kind of flirty banter with my exes, but I never dated a guy longer than a year and a half before Matthew.
"The famous Isabel."
Nyla clues in on what's going on right away. She really has this amazing ability to zero in on what's going on with Lucy, and it reminds me of her chat with Lucy when she caught her sneaking into the UC Conference.
She sort of talks Lucy through figuring things out for herself. And, yes, we've seen her do that before, too.
"You okay with that?" "Why wouldn't I be? ... It's not a big deal. I mean, he's... he's over her." "I know that. I just making sure you do." "Totally. Stop it!"
First off, girlfriends!! I remember a time when Lucy wanted so badly to be friends with Nyla and Angela. They took her out to a speed dating situation that scared the shit out of her.
Second, it's interesting seeing Lucy's insecurity manifest in a new way... that feeling that something about her is inherently wrong.
It's the programming of a lifetime of being unable to live up to her parents' expectations, and it's one of those things you spend the rest of your life working through. Over and over, again. I should know.
"He did say she looked good." "Why then would she agree to meet at his new girlfriend's apartment?"
Boom! There's my girl's confidence returning. Home base, right? Home turf advantage, right?
Also, how is Tamara allowed in here right now? I don't see her Visitor badge, she's not here on a case, and Lucy didn't walk her in. Does the Front Desk just let her in as "Roommate Privilege"?
"Chen! Let's move."
Now, we all know that Tim is more professional with Lucy inside the Station. But in light of the previous conversation, it did grate a little to hear him address her as "Chen". As though we'd lost some of that home-field advantage.
"So, how long you been dating Lucy?" "A few months. Are you seeing anyone?" ... "They were nice, but you set the bar really high."
Girl, STEP OFF my bestie's man. He is taken. You missed your chance, and now you can wallow in it away from him.
Also, I'm glad you're clean. I'm glad you can finally see that you had a good man. Perfect? Hell, no. Tim's got his issues. But he did love you and care about you.
"I get it, 'cause I held my breath every time you left on a long term assignment. Then you'd come home, and-" "And I'd still be gone in my head, no matter how much I wanted to be with you."
Ouch. So, clearly there were some communication issues, here. I get that there's a lot she couldn't discuss with Tim. But I also feel like there were some choices for her to close him off as a way to protect herself.
"You're gonna need back-up ... So Lucy's on her way here." "I can't believe after everything I put you through you're dating another UC." "I know. But Lucy's different." "She's not another junkie-in-waiting." "You know that is not what I meant." "I know, I just... seeing you again brings it all back up, you know? " "I do."
First off, I love that Tim called Lucy in. He trusts her, he knows she can get the job done, and we're a long way from him trying to shield her from UC work because of his hangups.
Now, I think he might be overcompensating a bit on that, but I'll get to that later.
I also am saddened to see Isabel's insecurities on full display, but I think it shows how far she has come. She was in full denial about being a "junkie" before, but now she's come to terms with her addiction, to a point.
It's something she'll have to live with the rest of her life, as every addict knows. And I'm grateful Tim is being so lovely with her, here. It says a lot about him and how supportive he can be, when allowed.
I think the one problem with Tim being attracted to such independent, strong women is that he doesn't want to get in their way. And that diminishing of himself is going to catch up to him, at some point.
To be clear, I'm not saying these amazing, strong women should hold back in any fashion. But, I do think that Tim needs to be upfront and honest about how he feels to help him process not only his trauma, but help him (and his partner) navigate their future.
"Be careful out there. It's been a minute since you've done this." "You wired?"
I wanted to call the juxtaposition of how Tim addresses both women as they prepare to go into this situation.
I think in some ways, Tim's still seeing the broken, frail version of Isabel he knew at the end of their relationship. But in Lucy, instead of warning her as he might have when she was a Rookie, he has full confidence in her.
For goodness sake, he called her in for this op. Tim knows that Lucy is capable, and so long as he's serving as backup, he knows he has a connection to the case and can be there for her if needed.
But next time she goes deep, again, like she did in Season 3, I have a feeling it's going to be bad for Tim.
Tim will be completely removed from the situation, back to holding his breath, as he did for Isabel. And all the old anxiety and pain is going to resurface because we all know that avoidance is Tim's method for processing trauma.
Also, Isabel's "Always the protector" rubbed me wrong for a while and I couldn't ascertain why. Something about that word, "Protector".
Someone on Twitter pointed out that Rosalind was the one to call Tim Lucy's "fierce protector" and that squared it away for me. I knew it was pinging something in my brain, but it's been a really tough evening, and I just couldn't connect the dots.
So, thank you, Twitter person, whose name I couldn't catch because the bloody feed refreshed too quickly!
"I was hoping to pick your brain a bit." "You wanna know my cheat codes for dating Tim?" "No. I've got him all figured out..."
She has for a very long time. Like, she had his number the moment she stole his wallet and made him wash dishes for dinner.
And I have to remember that Isabel doesn't know their history, here. She was absent or zoned-out on drugs for the entirety of the build up that the rest of us have witnessed.
So, it's borderline adorable in a "Bless her heart" way that she thinks Lucy needs tips, but it also shows that though she's hinted at missing Tim, she knows that's not her place, anymore.
"No, I wanted to ask you about your time under cover. You were a legend." ... "You want to know if it was worth it?"
Yes, I'm about to write all this out. We can see it as a potential preview of Tim and Lucy, as a cautionary tale of the worst way it could go, or simply a bit of wisdom for Lucy to carry with her to reflect on as she moves forward.
"Honestly, I can't answer that. Being undercover derailed my entire life. I lost my husband, my job, my self respect, almost lost my life. But I can't put all that on being a UC. Plenty of people make it out without becoming a full blown addict.... from what Tim tells me you have much healthier coping mechanisms."
So the joking about meditation comes back around to a compliment. Again, I never hated Isabel. I don't think she's the one for Tim, obviously, but she's not an inherently evil person (*cough* Ashley *cough*).
"You're always in fight or flight. that wears on your relationsh9ps no matter what.. but if you go in with your eyes open and you're prepared to make those sacrifices your experience might be different with mine. I hope it is."
That. That right there is why I don't hate this woman. Yes, she misses Tim and that possibility they had once upon a time. But, she knows that Lucy is here to stay, and the knowledge she imparts is filled with wisdom.
"Hey, you get the issue with the wire sorted out? "Yeah, we're good. it got disconnected somehow." ... "Babe, we gotta go."
Don't. Like. Her. Lying. To. Him. I'm sorry, but I keep going back to the "We don't keep secrets from one another", and that just burns me. Lucy, if you're going to do UC, you've gotta keelop some secrets. I get it. But this was a choice to lie to him when you know you're deep in UC with his UC Ex.
Maybe you both need communication lessons.
Hell, we all do, right? That's why we love these characters. They're as flawed as we are, and if they were perfect at everything every time, there'd be nowhere for their stories to grow.
But, that said, I feel like we're just building up for lies to bite Lucy in the ass when it comes to Tim. And my trust of TPTB with ships is hanging by a thread, so I'm choking down the anxiety with coke minis and edamame.
"Who's Tim?"
Love of Lucy's Life. Best Sex She's Ever Had. Hard Ass with a Tight Ass Winner Mid-Wilshire 2010-2023.
"That's not bad. Lucy?"
There it is. Him calling his girl by name.
"It's not like you'd come home and talk to me about it. This girl was clearly important to you and I'd never heard of her until this morning."
Again, we see the utter lack of communication. And we can sit here and assign blame and point fingers. That gets us nowhere. But we're seeing a blueprint for how not to do this.
If one of y'all is gonna be UC, you've got to have your communication down. Not just on favorite surfaces and positions, but on what matters to you as a unit so you can survive the stress and strain as a couple.
"I saw how alone you were at a moment I felt alone myself. So I looked out for you and took care of myself in the process."
From everything we've heard, tonight, I get the impression that Isabel self-isolates. And I get that. A lot of us do that.
And, yes, we can argue that she was undercover at this moment, but I think it's more than that. I think that something she mentioned in her past leads her to internalize rather than share.
But Tim would never draw it out of her. He's not the type. And so she squirreled deeper and deeper into herself while he spiraled, looking for what he was doing wrong.
Remember, he initially thought she was having an affair. Because he wasn't enough. Because he was doing something wrong. Because he had failed her, somehow.
There is the potential for the past to repeat itself if Tim and Lucy aren't careful.
"Do you want a beer?" "Yeah. Sounds great."
Tim and Lucy walk in, both beat from the day. He places his backpack in its usual place—beside the liquor. Lucy immediately goes for the fridge. They have a rhythm.
"She seems good. Happy." "Isabel?" "Mm." "Yeah. Yeah she deserves it." "Hmmm."
There's a little unease, there. I don't think Lucy feels threatened by Isabel anymore, but she's building up to something. Tim, on the other hand, knows there's something she's holding back.
They really do have each other's numbers. But they don't quite have the connection nailed, yet.
And we are back with these two on the couch. But this time we're not looking at the beer hand off from a birds-eye view, as though we're sneaking a peek into a potentially intimate moment.
No, this time the camera is in on the intimacy in a two-shot, and we're not voyeurs so much as a fern on the windowsill—belonging if not interacting.
"It was nice to get to know the actual person behind all your stories." "Is that what you were doing when you turned your mic off?" "No. We were talking trash about you, of course." "Funny"
I am very proud of him for calling her on it. It reminds me of the hotel scene where he was the one to bring up the blossoming attraction between them.
It's consistent that every now and then Tim will be the one to initiate the uncomfortable conversation, especially where Lucy is concerned.
"Can I share something vulnerable with you?" "Yeah, of course." I love working undercover. I love it, but I've never gone as deep as Isabel did." ... "You're worried you won't be able to handle it."
Okay, Tim is not trying to discourage her, here. On the contrary, he is prepared to build her up and tell her how wonderful she is.
We all know that Tim didn't want Lucy to go anywhere near UC. But we've also proven many times that he is fully aware of her capabilities, and even willing to help her study to reach her goals.
So, he wasn't planning on enforcing her doubts, here. He was ready to build her up, encourage her, and help her reach her goal.
Because Tim doesn't want to ever stand between someone he loves and what they truly want—because he never believes it will be him.
Tim has major issues with inadequacy and not feeling deserving of the good in his life. He had his weakness beaten into his head from a young age, and he still defaults back to it—I'm not good enough.
So, he is not going to deter Lucy from what she wants... but he should be honest. And I worry that in his quest to be most supportive boyfriend ever he is skipping honesty.
And those little lies these two have been planting will only grow and multiply, like the vines choking my carport.
"No. I'm worried that you won't."
Lucy places her hand on his shoulder, a natural place I notice that hand goes now that they're dating. He places his hand over hers, and I'm having Episode 1 of Season 5 flashbacks, except this time his hair isn't greased back and she's not wearing a nose ring.
"Pretend" my ass. These two were clearly already a thing. Right? Right.
"I'll be fine. Okay? I will."
He's trying to convince both of them, but she's unsure.
"Come here."
Lucy snuggles up against him easily, the two adopting a pose that previously was only seen by them. He wraps an arm around her, the other finding her knee as she drapes her leg over top of him. Her head rests on the crook of his arm as her hand hovers above his heart.
Tim does this little closed-eyed head shake, the same one he did when Lucy got him to admit he couldn't be objective where she was concerned.
This is not fine.
Because Lucy is terrified he'll bail as much as he's frightened he'll fail.
Think about it. Lucy has had everyone bail on her. Heck, Chris might've been the first guy she straight up broke up with. Nolan easily walked away from her, the firefighter texted his regards, and the guy before all them married her best friend who he was banging while Lucy lived with him.
Not to mention her parents. They were willing to love her as long as she stayed within the lines of her expectations. But once she pursued life as a cop, they turned their backs on her.
Her one supportive friend—her best friend—left her unwillingly. But he's still gone.
And here's Tim. She loves him. She loves them. But she also loves UnderCover. And she's terrified that if she chooses it, he's eventually going to bail because he can't handle it.
And that's really fucking unfair of her, but I also totally get it with her history.
And how she perceives his. From the outside point-of-view, she sees that Isabel was this total rock star at her job and things degraded with her and Tim to the point that she got addicted.
But there's so much more to the story than that. And Lucy's not asking Tim for that because she "knows Tim" and knows he doesn't like to talk things out. But, damnit, they need to talk things out if this is going to work.
Because Tim wanted to be a supportive husband to Isabel. Yes, he was terrified for her, but I think he thought she'd talk to him when she was ready. She never did. She never opened up.
And, again, not putting the blame for what happened in Tim's last marriage on his ex. They both bear blame for it, truly.
Lucy is different from Isabel in that she has a psych degree and understands that working through things and talking through them is essential to relationships.
However, in practice, she's one of those people who can diagnose others but not herself. We saw it when she was trying to convince herself her trauma was behind her when she returned to the Force after her abduction.
Lucy is missing a major component, here, and while she was trying to reach out to Tim, she actually pushed him away. Because he feels like he's holding her back, in some way... that he's in the way of her dreams.
And now his insecurities are on full blast. He's been doing his best to shove them down and enjoy the ride, as it were. But Isabel's presence didn't just bring up the marriage that failed, but also his feelings of inadequacy as a husband.
He likes to sit there and talk about all the things he should have done, how he failed her, how he got it wrong. Because it's so easy for him to see himself as the issue.
But he has no idea how to process because he refuses to communicate. And not communicating with Lucy is going to hurt them. It just is. Because relationships are nothing without communication.
Gosh, this reads like a major downer on an episode that had multiple kisses and lots of meaty Chenford domesticity. But, the hammer has to drop. And we, my friends, are often the nails. Yeah, my head hurts after that final scene.
Thank you so much for reading. I hope you had some fun! And I hope we end the season on a positive note for these two. They have a lot of learning to do. But if they learn to start communicating, I have high hopes for these lovebirds.
And, do me a favor and give the people you love a hug tonight. A friend of mine who's been battling terminal cancer on and off for years just got the news tonight that there's nothing more than can be done.
She is 38 and has had unfair thing after unfair thing in this life, and it bloody breaks my heart. In a few weeks, one of my few constant friends since childhood may be gone.
And I'm trying desperately to get back to Wilmington to see her before then, because sickness and treatments on both sides have kept us apart the last year.
So, hug the ones you love. Cherish them. Give someone a call. And take photos. So. Many. Photos. It's good to remember the good times when times are tough.
Goodnight, my lovelies.
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Happy birthday, my dearest @singsweetmelodies ❤️ knowing you through this fandom has been one of the highlights of my life, and I am quite glad to call you my friend, to borrow feom your British tradition of utilising understatements of the century. You are magnificent, and kind, and wonderful, and I love you. I haven't written anything new in ages, so I'm cheating a bit here. Here is the first THEN scene from the pirate au sequel, just for you. All my love and well wishes go to you, friend.
THEN
Pierre kisses him once, then twice, and then Charles cannot count the kisses anymore because all of them melt into one very long one, which for Charles seems to last an eternity. He doesn't mind in the least. He's never been kissed like this, and he knows he never again will be, all the while he hopes that he will be kissed just like this for the rest of his life. By the way Pierre holds onto him, tightly, languidly, but with a certain possessiveness and immovability, he thinks his hope may not be in vain.
They kiss for a long time on the deck of the Prometheus. The boat moves, and the water droplets splash over them, carried by the wind and the movement of the ship, but they aren't bothersome; on the contrary, they affirm to Charles that all of this is real, and that he is really held in Pierre's arms whenever the drops lash gently at his skin, leaving behind salt and making him shiver. Or perhaps it's Pierre's kisses that make him shiver. Most likely, it is both.
Around them, the crew moves occasionally, although there aren't that many people on the boat in general. Charles thinks he may hear Sebastian at one point, but he gets distracted by the gentle press of Pierre's lips against his and the clutching hand at his hip, and then he is swept away anew into the micro-cosmos which consists of Pierre's lips and Pierre's scent and Pierre's touch and PierrePierrePierre.
"Okay, I've had enough of you two," a voice interrupts their little bubble, coming from too close to be as easily ignored as the rest of them were. They separate slowly, and Charles feels a pang of satisfaction when he sees that Pierre looks at least as dazed as he himself feels. "Take it inside, Gasly, you have your own cabin, and some of us are too painfully single to be able to watch you two and not cry. Which is really, really bad for the tough pirate image I’m trying to project."
Pierre rolls his eyes, and turns to look at - Daniel? Charles thinks the man's name is Daniel, the one who got shot at that little skirmish Sebastian mentioned when they were – ah. Leaving the church in a rush.
"Nobody is forcing you to look, Danny," Pierre throws back. His hand is holding Charles', and his thumb is making little circles on Charles' skin. It makes him shiver a bit, unused as he is to the tenderness of casual touches. Of Pierre’s touches.
I'll have time to get used to them, he thinks. I'll have time to get used to him touching me like this all the time, and yet somehow, I don't think I ever will become immune to him, for it is simply impossible not to crave more, now that I have him. He smiles, and squeezes Pierre's hand.
"Ah, but I had to check your technique, mon ami," Daniel says. He has a crooked nose, and a really wide smile. His accent is atrocious.
"Your accent is atrocious, mon ami, please never speak French again," Pierre says, and Charles can't help but giggle, because Pierre is still the same. He still says the things Charles thinks, but would never dare voice. We still know each other somewhere deep within, Charles thinks. I don't think we've ever stopped.
"You think so too, don't you, mon coeur?" Pierre turns to him, and Charles marvels at how easily the loving words fall from his lips. Like he's waited his whole life to say them, Charles thinks, then smiles. He probably has, just like I have.
"Ah, mon amour, I do not know your friend well enough to feel comfortable criticising him in any way," Charles says, basking in the happiness on Pierre's face at the French term of endearment. "Plus, he is injured. I am sure he has more important things to worry about than his French pronunciation."
Daniel - Danny? laughs a full laugh at that, and immediately groans and doubles over because his wound gets aggravated. Pierre twitches, but before he can move to his friend, the man straightens up. There are still traces of pain around his wide smile.
"I like you, Principe," he says, and his Italian is much better than his French. "You talk a lot, but then again, so do I. But you talk like someone who knows just how much every word weighs, and I like that. I like that a lot, Principe."
Charles scrunches his face at being called a prince, because he is not, not really. Daniel grins at Charles' expression, and there is blatant mischief in his eyes. Charles thinks he may like this man, provided the mischief is not aimed at him. Right now, he thinks he is out of luck on that account.
Pierre, as always, comes to his rescue.
"Do you need me on deck?"
Daniel snorts.
"As if you would be of any use, distracted as you are with your prince here. Go rest, or, you know. Don't."
Charles can feel himself blushing at the leer Daniel sends his way and the implication in those words. Pierre only rolls his eyes again and pulls Charles by the hand.
"Fuck off, Danny. You know where to find me if you need me."
Charles lets himself be dragged away by Pierre, turning back slightly to wave at Daniel, who wiggles his eyebrows exaggeratedly. Charles giggles through his blush, and Pierre's hand tightens in his. He feels lighthearted, and young, and silly. He feels like he's finally free.
They pass some other people who offer them greetings and smiles and leers sometimes, but Charles barely notices any of them. His eyes are fixed firmly on the broad expanse of Pierre's back and on the feel of Pierre's skin on his where they are holding hands.
They go around, and down, and Charles doesn't really care to learn the route, because he has Pierre to show him. They come to a wooden door, and Pierre opens them, and then they are in the cabin. Charles spots two beds, and a protection charm over the closer one, and smiles.
"You share with Alex?"
Pierre only nods and pulls Charles to the far bed, a small window above it. They sit down, and suddenly the atmosphere is terribly awkward. The sounds from the deck are muted due to the closed space, but the sound of the ocean is louder here, waves breaking on the boat's sides. There is a certain anticipation in the air, and even though they are still holding hands, they are avoiding each other's eyes.
"Do you want to –"
"We should maybe –"
They stop simultaneously, and they look at each other, and then Pierre grins and Charles giggles and they're both laughing. Charles throws himself back and pulls Pierre with him to lay down on his side too. It's reminiscent of how they used to lie when they were kids, bodies curving towards each other, except the beds used to be bigger then, or they were smaller.
Charles pulls his legs up, kicking his shoes off and making himself comfortable. He frowns, letting go of Pierre's hand and shrugging his overcoat, throwing it carelessly by the bed. He lays back down and catches Pierre's hand again, and then they are just staring at each other.
"I missed you."
Pierre blinks.
"I missed you too, Charlito. Every single day."
They are both whispering for some reason, unwilling to break the calm intimacy of the atmosphere with raised voices.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do now," Charles admits. "I've never done anything like this. I've never not done what was expected of me."
"Do you regret it?" Pierre asks, like he can't help himself. Charles looks at him incredulously.
"Are you a fucking idiot? I am - I could never regret it." Charles insists, scooting closer. "I have never been happier to stand up for myself, I just don't know what I'm supposed to do –"
He huffs in frustration. Pierre puts his hand on Charles' cheek, caressing it gently, grounding him in the moment. Charles closes his eyes and rubs against Pierre's palm.
"There is nothing you need to do now," Pierre says gently. "We have five days on the sea before we rendezvous with the Veran. I'm sure Lewis has some plan already, but that can all wait." He scowls suddenly. "We will have to deal with the Bulls' betrayal, to figure out where it came from and what the fuck they were thinking, breaking the Code so out of the blue." His eyes are far away as he speaks. "I'm sure this has something to do with the latest information we were chasing, but we'll have to check with our informants." He huffs. "Someone betrayed us, but I don't even know where to start looking for a traitor. There will probably be a meeting tomorrow, so I guess that can wait for now." Charles squeezes his hand, and it breaks Pierre out of his contemplation and makes him smile softly at Charles.
They lay in silence for some minutes, just breathing together, their fingers tangled in each other. Charles has a million questions pounding around in his head, and he doesn't even know where to start. He runs through them, and decides to keep it simple.
"Who are the Bulls?" Charles asks. It's obviously the exactly wrong thing to ask, because Pierre freezes. His expression changes from contemplative to – to ashamed.
"Charles, I –" he starts to say, swallowing heavily as he does, "I've been a pirate for - ever since I left." He swallows, and Charles can't look away from how his Adam's apple bobs as he does. Charles kind of wants to lick it.
"And I haven't always been part of Lewis' crew. And I've done some things," he says, and his voice is so full of self-hatred, it hurts Charles' heart to hear it. "I've done some things I'm really not proud of, and some pretty unforgivable things, and I think you –"
Charles leans in and kisses him. He pulls away, blushing, but he holds fast and doesn't look away. Pierre looks stunned. He is definitely rendered speechless, so Charles takes the opportunity to go on.
"I don't care," Charels says, then leans in again. "You did whatever you had to do, and whatever you needed to do, and you survived," he says against Pierre's lips, letting them touch with the movement of his own lips as he speaks. "You're still alive, and you're here, and I don't care."
"Charles," Pierre whispers. "I'm not - I'm not a good man." He's almost kissing Charles back, leaving shallow pecks on his lips as they speak against each other. His hand tangles in Charles' hair, gentle but firm.
"Oh, shut up, calamar," Charles says. "Why are you always so dramatic," he says, and kisses Pierre properly, catching his top lip between his and enjoying how it makes Pierre's hand in his hair spasm a little. "Whatever you did, I do not care. I know you," he whispers. "I've known you ever since I knew myself, even before, and I know what kind of man you are, Pierre Gasly."
Pierre's hand in his hair tightens, and his kisses linger longer. "We've been apart for years," he whispers, and his teeth press into Charles' lower lip. "How do you know I'm not a bad, bad man?"
Pierre's hands are holding him, and his lips are on Charles', and his body is so close, Charles can feel the heat of it against his own. He whimpers when Pierre's tongue licks at his lips. "How do you know I'm not a scoundrel?"
Charles grabs at Pierre's wrists and opens his eyes just as Pierre opens his. A moment passes; Charles lunges, turning them around so that he's sitting on Pierre's hips and looming over him.
"You were always a scoundrel, Pear," he whispers sweetly, staring into Pierre's dazed eyes. "You used to steal sweets from the kitchen and oranges from the field when you were, what? Five? Six? Scoundrel," he says with a laugh, which cuts off when Pierre puts his hands on Charles' hips. Their touch burns through Charles' shirt, and Pierre's eyes burn too.
"I stole them for you," he says fiercely. Before Charles can respond in any way, Pierre's grip on him tightens, and he switches them around, tumbling them like they used to do when they were younger.
Except it's nothing like it was when they were younger, really. Not like those couple of times when they were fifteen or so, and they wrestled, and Charles made sure to keep his body away from Pierre's anywhere where it could betray him. He thinks Pierre may have done that too then, now that he knows that Pierre has always felt just like Charles did.
This time, Pierre is a solid weight on him, pressing his whole body against Charles' and pressing Charles into the bed. Charles' mouth falls open, unable to form a coherent thought, because there is such reverence in Pierre's expression, it humbles him.
"I didn't even like oranges," Pierre whispers, leaning over Charles, his lips a breath apart. His eyes are sapphire-blue, and his cross necklace touches Charles' throat from where it's hanging around his neck; a sharp point of contact that makes him shiver. "I just loved you."
Charles surges up, smashing their lips together desperately. Pierre catches him, tries to soothe him, to slow down, but Charles feels too much, he's waited too long, and he kisses Pierre with everything he has. He lets his legs fall apart around Pierre, pulling him closer. He grabs at Pierre's shoulders and his hair, and kisses him desperately, clumsily, until Pierre gives up his tries to soothe Charles and gives in, kissing Charles with all that he has.
He always does, Charles thinks as he takes and takes and takes. He always gave in to me, and he still does, even after all this time. The thought makes him shiver, makes him feel more powerful than being named the successor to the Governor of the Port - - did.
His legs are wrapped around Pierre's waist, and as he moves his body, he can feel how affected Pierre is. It makes him feel everything all at once, knowing he is the reason for Pierre's arousal. It also makes him suddenly self conscious. He breaks off the kiss, but holds Pierre close against his lips.
"I've never done anything," he whispers, and Pierre freezes. Charles swallows around the lump in his throat and keeps his eyes closed, so as not to see Pierre's face, and speaks into the dark behind his eyelids. "I've only ever kissed some girls, and a boy once," he says, and then there is a hand on his jaw and he opens his eyes instinctively.
Pierre's eyes are burning fires, too many emotions in them for Charles to be able to parse through.
"I don't care," Pierre says. Charles thinks he may be lying a bit, that he may be a bit jealous still, and that makes him satisfied in a way he should probably be ashamed of. Except this is Pierre. He's never been unnecessarily ashamed in front of Pierre, and he definitely isn't going to start now, when he finally has Pierre where he's always wanted him. "I don't care what you've done, or haven't done," Pierre goes on, but his eyes flash, and Charles thinks it may be the most arousing thing ever, Pierre's jealousy. Definitely something to explore, his mind supplies, making him shiver a bit. But not right now.
"I want to," Charles whispers the interruption. "I want to do everything with you - to you, everything, please." Pierre's eyes widen and he kisses Charles quickly, like he cant help himself.
"You never need to beg." Pierre's voice is gentle, and Charles grabs onto his neck, holding on desperately. "You will never need to beg, chèri, ever, I will give you everything you want, everything you need -"
"You," Charles interrupts again. "You, just you, all of you, all I've ever wanted," he says through kisses he keeps leaving on Pierre's lips and cheeks and face, wanting it all, unable to help himself. "All I've ever needed was you, calamar."
Pierre kisses the way he does everything; determined and competent, and it's slowly driving Charles wild. "You have me," he repeats over and over again. "You have me, and you never need to beg, I'll gladly give you everything."
#the pirate au sequel#f1 rpf#piarles#katie tag ♡#hope you like it beloved#<333333333#effervescentdragonwrites#tbh its not even the whole scene but i need to leave something for the future
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If you don't mind me asking, can I ask your top favorite fics that you've written (feel free how much that you want to list)? Why they're special to you? Is there a specific inspiration when you wrote them?
Oh this is such a fun question, no one's ever asked me this before! Okay ummm... in no particular order because these are special to me in different ways ー
A Fangirl's Dream (still in-progress, I'm just slow TAT)
Ivy has it rough. She's no anime fan or FMA fan. But when she somehow crosses the gate, she finds herself in the worst possible position: a protagonist of an Another World fic trope. And between the alchemy, automail, lack of plot knowledge, and struggling with her attraction to a pretty blonde mechanic, Ivy reluctantly teams up with the main characters in her journey to get home.
This is a fic years in the making and I'm not talking about how the little hiatus it is in. This was a fic I started working on in about middle school as a pair of sister stories that I deleted on an old FFN account. It was going to be some sister stories about two friends that end up in FMA at different times before their stories coincided with one another and they crossed paths in their separate adventures in Amestris.
One friend was an established fan of FMA and the other wasn't an anime fan at all. AFD covers the journey of the friend who isn't a fan of anime in general, having only watched a handful (NANA, Naruto, DBZ). FMA, is not one of them.
In middle school these fics were going to be EdOC for AFD and for Swept Away (SwAy) it was going to be LingOC because at the time, those were the characters I was most obsessed with.
A handful of years back I decided 'you know what, I'm going to rewrite AFD and SwAy and finish them no matter how long it freaking takes!!!!' And in the process, new ships evolved and different journeys for the OCs, Ivy (AFD) and Akasha (SwAy) were developed. Ivy and Winry had such good chemistry, imo, that I decided to shift the story to be about them whereas I had more of a darker descent planned for Akasha who couldn't distinguish that while these were characters she knew and loved, they are real living people in front of that won't act according to the scripts she's crafted in fanfiction's passed.
I'm hoping to get back to writing some chapters for this soon so I can finish AFD and finally starting working on SwAy and make past me proud to have finished them.
The Different Rules of Summer
‘Okay so you think ghosts are fake but totally think that bigfoot and mothman are real?’ Lance scribbled furiously on the piece of paper in total disbelief.
‘Ghosts are total BS, man’ Keith look disinterested.
‘This is why you’re single'
Lance didn’t expect that his summer vacation would be spent at a library arguing with his deaf co-worker about why cryptids totally aren’t real.
Keith volunteers at a library to keep himself out of trouble while his brother works. The worst part of his day? Explaining to some moron why Mothman is definitely a real entity and why the first moon landing was fake.
Funny enough, this is the highlight of both of their summers.
This was such a fever dream of a time to write but in the best way possible. VLD was still ongoing and thing going on in my mind was that I wanted to write a multi-chaptered fic and finish it. So I decided to make a personal challenge for myself that I was going to write a fic with 40 chapters for 40 days.
1 chapter everyday, it didn't matter how long each chapter was as long as I wrote one.
Beginning, middle, end. And I did it. Some days I was cutting it close and it felt like a chore to push the chapter out but I did it. I wrote 40 chapters in 40 days, 1 chapter a day and I'm really proud of myself for doing that. I honestly lwk recommend other people try out this sort of challenge themselves if they're ever up to it and have the time!
So I drafted up 40 chapters to write in the draft, some dumb but memorable titles for said chapters and got to writing and wow did this story unexpected blow up? I was not expecting this story to become as popular as it did but it was so fun to write and talk to the people reading it. Especially the Deafies who found the fic and thought I was accurately portraying Keith's experience as being Deaf.
It's not perfect, there's a lot of mistakes and clumsy writing but I fucking did that and no one can take this away from me.
Man is the Breast, Heaven is the Playground + A Blazing Star Sought Refuge in my Chest
(csm manga spoilers ahead)
You might be the only one in your division not utterly smitten with your partner, Makima. Call it disinterest, call it being observant that her smiles never reach her eyes. Either way, you have no interest in bridging the gap between you both. But one day, an attempt is made, and it isn’t by you.
+
Your contract was simpleー the Control Devil would not use her powers on you, you just needed to stay with her forever.
My beloved Makima duology that someone on twt deadass tried stealing and passing off as theirs. That shit aside though, wow did I love writing these.
At the time, I was really frustrated by the state of the Makima x Reader tag. Because it was usually just Dom Makima smut. Which, there's nothing wrong with that but because what I wanted to read was something that explored the depth of Makima's character, the goals that motivated her terrible actions in the manga and the loneliness that wracked her sense of self..... I decided that I wanted to read that story, I would have to write it myself.
So I did. And because people loved HBHP so much, I felt inspired to write a sequel that included Nayuta.
A lot of love and care when into writing these stories and it makes me happy when I still see people reading them if they find them in the tag. I didn't expect to like writing for Makima as much as I did, I honestly want to write more concerning her if I'm being honest. I do have a WIP on that right now, it's just taking forever to get my vision just right...
The Summer Moon Was Born to be Loved pt 1 + The Summer Moon Was Born to be Loved pt 2
You got pregnant and the ghost of university days past finds out five years later.
Months in the making as there was a lengthy hiatus between both chapters but this was something I had a lot of fun writing. I wanted to write my own spin on a trope I've seen established and simply wanted to write it well. I had been talking with a friend of mine about it and we discussed how we thought the events would go with different characters from Mitsuya and Hanma from TokRev to Nanami and Gojou from JJK. I thought as far JJK went, Gojou had the potential for most mess and decided to write a story involving him.
And in that, I ended up including a lot of one of my favorite things in the world: the ocean. Utilizing oceanography terminology to showcase the emotional states of the characters, the events happening between chapters, I had a lot of fun doing that.
And I think that I had a pretty clear and concise ending as well. So yes, another personal favorite for sure!
Lost Girl (in progress)
Believing your father’s concerns as the last black family living in the secluded mountains of Wall Maria to be simple paranoia, a you naively set out on YOUR own to discover the world and what it truly holds. Yet after encountering another family secluded in the mountains, the Ackermans, you realize that maybe his concerns weren’t so unfounded in the terrifying yet beautiful reality you live in. Befriending their daughter, a fellow survivor in what it means to be the last of their kind, you find your path leading to the horrors of the Fall of Maria and the 103rd Cadet Corps.
Not my most popular series but one I'm updating slowly nonetheless.
This story has had multiple incarnations. UtSD ver 1 was an OC fic before I turned it into a reader-insert. But version 3 came as LG, another reader-insert but one I think is more polished.
My inspiration for making this was simple. I wanted more Mikasa fic content out there and I wanted to read a fanfiction story where the OC/reader in question were black like me. It's something that's permeated through my brain since high school back when we knew little of where SNK was heading as a story.
What would it be like if you were living in the Walls and black? How would your treatment fair, the beliefs bloomed about you and your kind? Especially if you're decidedly the last of your kind within the Walls. And the comfort that may possibly come from having some sort of like you except not quite.
I don't care if people who aren't black also read this story and partake in the adventure. All I care about is writing something everyone can enjoy, especially if they're someone like me or if they want to read something different.
I hope to one day see more unapologetically POC OC and reader-inserts scattered about the tags alongside ethnically ambiguous ones. I personally usually write ethnically ambiguous characters so everyone can enjoy my fics by not specifying hair texture, saying that your cheeks warmed instead of blushing and things like that. But sometimes, I wanna write something that's really just for me.
Se réjouir, se réjouir
The sun; Neuvillette is the sun. And Furina? She’s not fit to even be the moon. There is a surprising loneliness to freedom.
Wrote this some days after after the 4.2 patch update and finishing the Fontaine AQ. This was a ship I fell quite head over heels with and I had a lot of thoughts in my head about them that I decided to get out of my head by writing something up for them.
I talked about the dynamics that I liked between Neuvillette and Furina already and all the coinciding NeuviFuri material Mihoyoverse was shilling out with their commissions wasn't helping my brainrot either.
For something I pretty much shot out not too long after the update when live, I think I did a pretty damn good job. I had fun with the dynamics and trying to dig into the brain of the characters.
A Little Pain (still in progress even more slowly than AFD)
At the age of 7, there were a few things Hinata Hyuga was sure of. One, her father, Hiashi Hyuga, was the strongest shinobi she knew. Second, just the thought of her having to one day make decisions for her entire clan terrified her beyond belief. Third, her younger sister Hanabi, at the age of 2, was very easy to impress.
Hinata Hyuga never wanted to lead her Clan and when she is stripped of her title and essentially an outcast in her home, she finds solace in the brief comforts of a pink-haired girl named Sakura. Though little did Hinata know that losing her heiress title would send her life spiraling down a path of self discovery, bravery, and the realization that changing yourself is a possibility is the most powerful jutsu of all. But... perhaps stopping yourself from fainting whenever you happen to be around your crush is a start. And convincing the entirety of Konoha that it's first all-kunoichi team won't be a complete and total failure should be prioritized before any of that.
Another one of my 'I started this in high school' stories that has been through a rewrite and I'm trying to finish little by little. SakuHina is one of my favorite Naruto ships, has been for years and as someone who has been reading over a decade of Naruto fanfic tropes, I've seen my fair share of 'what if A was on Team 7' fics.
(Here's a post I have on that lmao from my old blog before it got accidentally axed)
So I decided to write my own version of that but the new team in question is Konoha's very first all-kunoichi team. Also, Hinata has a crush on Sakura this time around instead of Naruto. And boy do I have a lot planned for this story, I'm excited every time I get back to my google docs and get to typing little by little.
#look she's answering#anon#fma#vld#klance#csm x reader#makima x reader#jjk x reader#gojou x reader#gojo x reader#snk x reader#aot x reader#mikasa x reader#genshin impact#neuvifuri#focallette#naruto#sakuhina
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This is technically a continuation of this post!!
-x-x-x-
prohero!bakugou who's been gone on an overseas mission for months with no contact to those who he left in Japan
any down time he's got he's at least reading through the texts he gets
a few from his mom, a couple from his dad, maybe a handful from his friends about all sorts of random shit he may or may not care about
then he's reading all of yours. He'll read all the new ones, then if he's really feeling his Emotions(TM) he'll start rereading everything
he'll also catch up on his voicemails, even if he doesn't have very many because most people know he won't listen to them or he'll go into his mailbox and just start mass deleting
but he does listen and keep all of yours
i mean, why wouldn't he? he asked you to do exactly what you've been doin everyday since he left
highlight of his days honestly
he's convinced that its the daily messages from you that help keep him off the next flight home- it sort of eases the urge to just go back home
but he does the mission from start to finish and when his date back is finally set he's itching to get back to familiar sights, soil, smells and the place where you are
but even when he knows when he'll be home, he still has no jurisdiction to tell you that
he'd have to wait until he's on the plane back home or even landed before he could whip out his phone and speed dial your phone
when he's packing his bag for his return trip, he's never been so disorganized in his life
when he packs for trips, he always prefers to separate everything. all his shirts are folded, his pants are rolled for optimum space, boxers are neat with his socks, toiletries are sealed in a waterproof bag and placed as flat as can be
now?
he's thrown all his shit inside the case and made it fit by force. squishing it all down and pinching the zipper together
he did not care if the zipper busted- he was ready to go the hell home
the entire flight home he was jittery. leg bouncing, finger tapping, arms crossed
he tried sleeping to pass the time, but he couldn't seem to calm down
most of the returning heroes who were coming home with him didn't even try and strike up conversation to make the flight go by quicker in fear of him snapping at them out of sheer impatience
when the plane finally lands, he's first off the plane and first to bag claim and first out the door onto the familiar streets of japan
"holy fuckin' shit," he's mutter, finally feeling relaxed before whipping out his phone and texting you
-wake up-
it was the middle of the afternoon and he didn't know if you were even home or asleep, but it was the only thing he could think to say strangely enough
-you can text!!-
he chuckles as he pulls his suitcase along with him against a wall. standing in the shade, he's attention is solely focused on his phone
he's glad you responded so quickly
it's been so long he couldn't remember your schedule anymore or if it had changed since he left
-i can do a lot more than that-
without much more prodding, your contact was flashing over his screen and he waits maybe a second (if we're being generous) to answer and push his phone to his ear
visibly exhaling when you start talking
"katsuki!"
"you don't need to shout, stupid"
"i'm excited, don't shout shame me. where are you? it's pretty loud over there. meeting? are you supposed to be on the phone right now"
he chuckles at your skeptical nature- like he'd break rules on a big time job in the first place
he's not that stupid
"i'm at the airport, i'm not gonna get my ass railed for being on my own damn phone"
despite his cursing, you laugh
then you register 'airport'
"you're coming home?!"
"nah, babe, i'm already here. come get me."
"what?!"
he barks at the sounds of your rushing around the house, probably scrambling to slip on the easiest pair of shoes you have and a jacket
"i'll be there in like 10 minutes. 20 is traffic is bad!"
"the traffic is always bad"
"i'm hanging up!"
he could hear your excitement before the line cuts and he's grinning before he's sending small texts to his friends signaling his return
when he sees your car pull up to the curb, he's pushing off the wall he's been resting against and you're jumping out of the car
he nearly has a heart attack since you didn't look at the road before rushing out and car were just whipping behind you
"moron! watch where you're going!" he's shouting at you as you run up to him
his grip abandons his suitcase handle to grab you as you ran straight into his chest, clinging to him as he took steps backwards from your crashing impact
his eyes almost rolled into his skull at the feel of you in his arms again after so long
he was positive he'd finally be able to have a good nights rest tonight, he can feel it in his exhausted bones
you pull away from him just enough to look into his eyes and he can see the shine of tears in yours, his hands resting on your hips just enough to sway you back and forth
"welcome home," you greet him
"yeah," he kisses your head "i'm home"
and he wasn't going anywhere else anytime fuckin' soon
#katsuki bakugou#bakugou#bakugou fluff#bakugou scenarios#bakugou headcanons#bnha scenarios#bnha bakugou#bakugou katsuki#mha bakugou#katsuki fluff#mha scnearios
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Digimon Frontier - Episode 50 (Finale!)
Yay, it's over! (lol). I'm sorry, but this ending didn't do much for me. We barely got to see the real world at all and the epilogue amounted to a boring slide show (aside from Koji reuniting with his birth mom, that was sweet). In the end, these characters just didn't feel as fleshed out as those in previous seasons and the digimon connection was lackluster too (it's hard to see the spirits as separate characters). Oh well, I don't mind watching some bland anime now and then...
Notes:
Seriously, compared to previous seasons, this goodbye was so blah. They just get yeeted back to the human world immediately after the final battle and miss their chance to say goodbye to the digimon. Bokomon gets the longest goodbye monologue, but I never liked him so...yeah. (Remember when Adventure gave us sentimental goodbyes between each human-digimon pairing that were indicative of their distinct, defined personalities? Yeah...I miss that).
The spirits showing up and even striking the final blow was...okay I guess. The "bad guy" spirits were just silent and in the background again. There's just no emotional connection because we haven't seen the main spirits as characters before (aside from silently nodding from the digivice from time to time).
Neemon snapping his own pants was a funny gag. The slapstick between Bokomon and Neemon did grow on me. (Funny how Neemon never served a single purpose...)
The Susanoomon thing was weird. In the previous episode Susanoomon was created by combining all 10 spirits but only Takuya and Koji were "inside" him, but in this episode all the kids go "inside." Either way it's still 10 spirits. They should have just made him be a combo of all the kids from the start! So clunky...
Lucemon Satan Mode gave major Millenniumon vibes in his lil grubby form. I'm not sure if "fall down mode" or "Satan mode" is a dumber name.
Seeing the digicode flow out of Lucemon/the digivices and reform the digital world was nice. (Hopefully the moons came back too lol). I wonder if everyone's going to start from zero as a digiegg?
Lol sure, they just let a bunch of kids barge into an emergency room. Hospital security apparently sucks in Japan! I was a little confused what exactly revived Koichi. Was it Koji's love or something from the digivices? Well, either way it was pretty silly.
I don't know why I didn't even think about the human/digital world time difference. I thought when Takuya returned to the human world in that previous episode that everyone would be worried about him, but they have the nice "no time has passed actually" loop hole.
Now that I think about it, it kind of feels like they all had the same arc. The epilogue was all about the kids having learned how to get along better with others (except maybe Tomoki who learned to "not be weak," but even that had to do with how he treats others!) Instead of just seeing them hang out with their one-dimensional families and classmates, I think I would have just preferred an epilogue of them hanging out in the human world and getting pizza or something. Or maybe they could be supporting Junpei at a magic show! (Maybe what I really need is fanfic lol).
Bring back parents!! The kids' parents in Adventure and Tamers were a big presence and it made them feel more like real, relatable people. Here they're mostly just in the background. Also, maybe if I got to know Koji's dad more I wouldn't think he was such a weirdo for lying to his son! >:/ I wanted to hear his side!!
Digimon Frontier was...my least favorite season so far for sure. It's not like it was a total loss, there were some cool digimon designs and I liked the digivolution sequences. The characters were charming enough, but not super memorable. I think this series' shortcomings really highlight what made previous seasons work better. IDK much about how it was received back in the day, but hopefully they learned from these mistakes. Onto the next! (After a brief gaming interlude).
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I know the season isn't even out yet but just looking I'm already breaking out in hives. It feels like its overcompensating: "Step right up, ladies and gentlemen we got talking animals, magical cats, a land of candy and absolutely no concern for the main plot! Is this distracting enough for you? Do you like all these bright colours and shiny new things? You've heard of a filler episode, right? Well, get ready for a filler season! Welcome to the next season of rwby, everyone!"
For me personally, the frustrating thing is that I like all these ideas on their own, but I don’t think they’re working for RWBY, especially right now. You want to do an Alice in Wonderland inspired arc? It should be bright and colorful and weird! But that all severely undermines the horror of our previous Volume, so maybe don't do that after the Everything of last season. You want your characters to have the time and opportunity to develop, focusing on introspective questions instead of the action-packed main plot? Sure, go for it, but maybe not at the height of the series' conflict, nine years into the story. I want to shove a basic plot diagram at the writers and point out that they’re interrupting a steady climb towards the climax with... this. There’s a reason why they’re filler episodes, singular, separated events that provide a needed break from the action without derailing it completely. A whole season---especially one that’s shorter than is now average and coming late---is a serious problem for RWBY's pacing and, frankly, makes it look like the writers are stalling while they figure out how the heroes can win when the story has done nothing to prepare them for that monumental challenge. Either that, or we're stretching RT's flagship story out as long as possible. Insert the plea not to pirate here.
And I know, I know, the Volume isn’t out yet and trailers can be misleading, but I’m honestly concerned that there’s nothing here about the main conflict. I have no doubt that the characters will come out of this experience having #LearnedSomething (whether we end up agreeing with their development is another matter entirely), but the trailer makes it seem like it will be a generic confidence boost (Ruby reasserts her desire to help people as the hero), rather than a concrete step towards defeating Salem. There’s no mention of the Relics, the Gods, magic they can use as a weapon, no hint that she’ll improve her silver eyes, or that what’s happening in Vacuo will be anything more than a pre-Volume 10 cliffhanger. What questions does the trailer/the events of Volume 8 imply that Volume 9 will tackle?
Will Ruby regain her confidence after this tragedy?
Will they find Jaune?
Will they regain/reforge their lost weapons?
Will they make it home?
What does all this equal? A reset. The trailer presents this as a Volume where the girls work to get back to exactly where they were at the end of Volume 8: back in Remnant, back with their weapons, back together, back fighting Salem, back to their confident selves. If the only goal is to get home, then yeah, this is literally filler. This entire Volume may exist not to forward the story proper, but to provide a lot of fluff content (like the humor) until what little plot there is gets them back to where they were 2+ years ago. Now, the writer in me DOES expect them to come away with something that will forward the plot, simply because I can’t imagine crafting a whole Volume that doesn’t, but the lack of insight into what that might be---do they meet the Gods? Get new powers? Learn a secret about Salem??---is one of the reasons why I think this is a badly constructed trailer.
And as I mentioned in a separate post, I really do find the lack of action to be odd. Someone responded that RWBY is more than its action sequences and yes, of course, but RWBY is, first and foremost, a combat show. I already laid out the ways previous trailers highlighted the girls’ battles that Volume (even if it’s only those in the first few episodes) and if you look at ANY ‘Best Of’ list, you’ll find nothing but the fights. When you think "RWBY" do you really picture the silly humor in between the fights...or do you think Nevermore, Apathy, Qrow vs. Tyrian, RWBY vs. Paladin, Ironwood vs. Watts, the White Fang, the Hound, etc. Beyond the combat being the most memorable of all RWBY's content, RWBY simply doesn’t exist without its fights. I don’t mean that in a “Monty originally created it to choreograph cool battles, but it’s grown so much since then” way, I mean it in a plot-focused “Our story is about a group of girls going to school to learn how to fight, and they fight grimm, and they fight an extremist group, and then they fight an immortal witch, and they fight her goons, and sometimes they fight each other, and the strongest fighters fight with magic, and when they’re not fighting they’re doing adjacent fighting things like training, taking care of weapons, traveling to the next fight, engaging in politics avoid fights but oops, that failed so now they're fighting again” way. Remove the combat from RWBY and all you’ve got is a disconnected collection of domestic moments/jokes more suitable to a drabble collection than a professional story. RWBY might have a non-combat framework that helps hold it together, but that doesn't mean that combat isn't still 99% of the story's focus and the draw for the audience.
All of which is just to emphasize that if our trailer is a) not giving us any conflict beyond “Get back to where we were in Volume 8” and b) not highlighting the combat that RWBY is built on, then it really does feel like filler in a literal sense. I know we made jokes about this a year back, but right now Volume 9 feels like RWBY’s beach episode. No, not because of Jaune landing on an island with a bunch of girls, but because, like the classic beach episode, our trailer presents this as an interlude where the primary plot remains fairly static and the characters engage in activities that contrast their normal routine. Here’s Haruhi and her friends leaving the host club behind to hang in a water park until they go home. Here’s Team RWBY leaving Remnant to explore a Wonderland until they go home. I know we need to wait to see what the tone of the whole Volume actually is, but even the humor of the trailer feels filler-y to me. In that---as you say, anon---it seeks to distract the audience all on its own, rather than occurring naturally among more plot-focused moments. (Like, for example, Weiss bemoaning the fact that she's never going to sleep again while they try to figure out how to help Mantle). Filler episodes often ignore the plot (and its accompanying worries) to make space for the lighthearted character interactions. Now here come the butt jokes, arm tug-of-wars, and purple raccoons.
Clearly the Volume will at least be tackling Ruby’s doubts---something I SO want to go well---but if the tone skews too lighthearted... yeah. Filler. Honestly, if the Volume does fail to sufficiently engage with Volume 8’s tragedies, I fully expect the fandom to start talking about how the girls deserved a fun, wacky Wonderland trip after everything they've been through, the same way we got a strong cry that they needed to rest in the mansion with tea while the rest of the Kingdom was falling to grimm. Potential filler will likely be seen as something earned by the protagonists (as if they were real people with real needs), rather than a writing mistake.
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Percy Jackson Episode 6 Spoiler!!!!
Percy Jackson episode 6 highlights:
- In Percys' dream, the way Kronos has embodied Percy's old headmaster has so much messaging behind it! It shows that he does not necessarily has more power than Percy, but due to fear of wronging him, he is more powerful.
- The breaking of the fourth wall...shudders!
- Annabeth you're so clever with that prism look at you go! But where tf did u get that from?!?!
- SEAWEED BRAIN
- The first Iris Message!! The way Luke's demeanour immediately changes from hopeful to slightly scared before he covers it again when they say they know who the thief is.
- LUKE HOW DARE YOU BLAME CLARISSE!!!!
- Their argument about what was when is so accurate and shows just how much stress and how abnormal this situation is for everyone.
- "Monday you died in the river." Luke must be so confused...
- "When did you turn into an old married couple?" Annabeth's look is so 'my brother needs to stop meddling with my love life' its actually funny. Luke knows, he's going to go tell Silena. Percabeth was the true bargaining tactic. (Iykyk)
- Ooooh they've already started to mention May?!??!
- Awww Grover helping the animals escape! I always forget about that.
- "this seems dangerous" "they'll be fine..." "I meant the people."
- Annabeth's sass about the Lotus flower! He really isn't observant.
- " You were like 2 seconds ahead of me" sure
- LEVITATING?!?!? Perfect song! It bridges the gap between the older and younger generation. I could imagine this playing in an arcade and a casino separately let alone together.
- "Did you read the Odyssey?" "The graphic Novel. It counts" Yes!!! This is a PSA that Audiobooks and Graphic novels are books and don't let anyone tell you otherwise! (I'm looking at you, year 5 teacher, who told me they didn't count)
- WISE GIRL
- The way Walker said WiseGirl endearingly? Sir knows what he did!
- Don't believe him Grover!
- "if I tell you something do you promise not to make fun of me" "Dude..." it's Giving 'I am never going to make things easy for you, Seaweed brain'
- I was unsure about Lin as Hermes bit I'm not now I think it actually makes sense. I know a lot of people said he's not slutty enough to play Hermes who has the most or second most amount of kid at camp but Hermes doesn't need to be slutty. He's a charmer because he's funny. It's like Joey Tribiani's sister Gina said "you'd like him, he's real funny". And like Joey every child of Hermes to their parent would just be screaming "If you like him you laugh!!!"
- Lin how dare you remind them of their trauma!!!
- HE DID THE DISNEY VILLAIN EYEBROWS
- "Then I feel a lot better about stealing his keys" "exactly...wait what?!?!" I cackled this is brilliant!
- "You picked Hermes' picket???" "I'm multitalente." YES YOU ARE QUEEN!!!
- The Lotus flowers as thing you breathe in is so sinister! The more I think about it the more funked up it is.
- The whole pumping the Lotus flowers thing through the air is so smart! But I find it so ironic that Disney, who are known for putting different smells around restaurants to make you buy their food, are portraying this as evil.
- "Man, Grover got really old."
- FUCKING RUGBY TACKLES GOAT MAN
- Grover in Vr gear is the strangest thing to see
- All those cars from different decade puts things into perspective Jesus.
- "Are we late because of me?" "It's okay, we're going to be okay." Percy stop telling people things are okay when they aren't!!
- Hermes left them a note !!!!!
- PERCY CANT DRIVE OH MY GOD. I know he's 12 but this is still so funny. Truly what it's like to drive a car for the first time with no experience.
- ROAD RAGE PERCY OH MY GOD!
- The way he's looking at Annabeth so accidentally scrapes the car up the wall. He was doing so well until that!
- Oh my god that car scared me I was like, no way are they going to kill Annabeth off before the end of season 1.
- "it's easy to forget what's important when you're alone." Foreshadowing for a certain person on a certain island??
- That nymph (Nereid? Nyad? I get them confused.) Is so scary...more scared of her than I am of Kronos can't lie. Shes beautiful but I'm scared.
- Four Pearls woooh
- I didn't think before that the episode are too short but now I'm starting to. There was so much crammed into this one that there wasn't much time to digest anything before the next thing happened. I'd say there was roughly the same amount that happened in this episode and the last but the last felt more cohesive because it was all about Ares and what Ares needed them to do. I don't know. This probably isn't my favourite episode, but it's still really good.
Spoilers for the snippet at the end of the first credits.
- How is Percy staying behind if they have the right amount of pearls?? This will probably be answered, but I'm just worried that it won't completely make sense.
#percy jackson#percy jackon and the olympians#percy jackson and the olympians#percy jackson episode 6#pjo#annabeth chase#percabeth#pjo series#pjo tv show#grover underwood#walker scobell#leah sava jeffries#aryan simhadri
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Conquest of Paradise - Impressions
I usually write impressions about entire ice shows, but special attention needs to be paid to the collaboration between the Winter GOAT (Yuzuru Hanyu) and the Summer GOAT (Kohei Uchimura) at Notte Stellata 2023.
Conquest of Paradise is a program designed to blend figure skating and gymnastics, something that hasn't been attempted before. The mastermind behind this idea, no one other than Yuzuru Hanyu.
When the teasers came out about the collaboration being in the works, I was highly skeptical about what could come out of it. How can skating and gymnastic be put together in a cohesive manner and allow people to enjoy both? I had my own ideas of what the final result would look like - however, my ideas didn't come close at all to what was shown at Notte Stellata.
When I was watching Notte Stellata's day 1 show live, I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the Yuzu x Kohei collaboration to start. Nothing could've prepared me for the moment when the music began playing and the beam of light appeared at Yuzu's feet. I remember exclaiming excitedly when seeing the costume in its full glory and getting lost in watching Yuzu move across the ice so much so that I didn't focus at all on what kind of jumps he did.
The music - Conquest of Paradise - fitting, in my opinion. I didn't expect an epic music score (I've been dreaming of seeing Yuzu skate to epic music), but there it was. When Kohei's turn to perform came, I was curious what he'd do. I don't even have basic gymnastics knowledge, although I have watched a few competitions some years ago, but what Kohei showed, definitely met my expectations. It was a good performance on his part, even though the first day he seemed a bit insecure (I suppose performing in front of an audience at an ice show it's not something Kohei could've gotten used to in just a few minutes).
The highlight of the entire performance was, obviously, the simultaneous spins - Yuzu doing his own spin adding a couple of positions that seemed to be new, and Kohei doing his pommel horse spin. It was well-matched, it was entertaining, it was never done before.
Further on, Yuzu and Kohei continued to perform simultaneously and they ended the program on a high note. It was something for the history books, for sure.
Although the entire program was well-executed for something that was new for everyone, there are some discrepancies. The program was shaky (although well-executed) during the first day. Yuzu and Kohei each seemed to focus a lot on their own thing without bringing forth unity. I partly blame the camera angles that did not exactly pan properly. The program got better during day 2 and, I think, that's the best performance Yuzu and Kohei put on - right on the day it mattered the most. Kohei was definitely more comfortable being out there and, this time, the two GOATs seemed to find a balance and perform together instead of together, but separately. The camera angles were better this time, too, in showing the unity. I admit the third day program I cannot properly recollect - I blame this on Yuzu dancing to Dynamite during the finale because that's been on my mind for days now. What I do remember is that Kohei finally grew comfortable enough as both gymnast AND performer.
Overall, I'm pleased and happy with how Conquest of Paradise turned out to be. And I also managed to pay proper attention to Yuzu's jumps on the 2nd and 3rd day (3F, 3A and 4T). Yuzu wrote history alongside Kohei and I'm looking forward to seeing them work together in the future, if the chance occurs.
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Twin Stars Far Apart Commentary
Due to image limit this is mostly text
To summarise, this event is good, but felt too short and didn't focus enough on the twins, which is sad since they're supposedly the main stars of this event, it felt like Archie's story instead (i like it but i gotta be fair) the problem also got resolved too quickly, making the story fall a bit flat.
I'd prefer if they let us stew in the conflict a bit. Maybe make them explore other options before turning to jirachi to make the situation more dire. After all, twins being separated into different worlds should hold as much gravitas as Lusamine losing her husband or submas being separated (the freaking. Similarity to submas is so obvious, but liza and tate had it much easier 🥲). Maybe also explore Tate and Liza's personalities, let them do/speak and think more or have them learn things throughout the story, or make them more distressed as time goes on, they would be more compelling. After all, they are the characters dena is selling 😅
Also kinda sad that Nanu did not comment on the girls coming back? He should've been welcoming anabel and liza, iirc he lost a coworker once, i feel he should have a stronger reaction towards anabel being spirited away and making it back home.
But as i said, I am biased and this event is very catered to me so here are some highlights of things i like (warning: mostly archie)
Let's start from beginning:
Archie has shown time and again he's gentle with kids so fatherly 🥰 , he asked the twins to keep jirachi a secret.. he explained to them so they understand its importance, he respects their intelligence.
I feel his message got through easily because they're kids, they don't have lofty ambitions like some adults (imagine if gio/others found out about jirachi). As a villain himself he knew what some people would do to achieve their selfish goals. Yet he still has hope and appreciates truly kind-hearted people.
After that Nanu and Anabel appeared and explained they have to guard the twins. Apparently the area becomes more dangerous because ultra wormholes keep appearing recently? I wonder if this is just something that happened for this event or there's something that caused this 🤔 my brain really suspects there's a connection with how Adaman and Irida got sent to Pasio through space time rift... But that and ultra wormhole are different things. Side note I'm glad they explained why Looker isn't available, it's not necessary (imo) but it gives more context about the status of the interpol.
After that, of course the worst thing happened. Liza and Anabel are sucked into the wormhole, leaving their pkmns behind. I would've liked if they showed more signs of distress rather than just standing there 😅 Archie found out, and again i like how he used his knowledge as a villain to think of why the girls could've gone missing. It's also so sweet to see him reassure Tate, and promising to help him 🥹🫶 I think Archie could've been offering help earlier before Nanu suggested the ask for Lusamine's help, it could help integrate him more into the story imo.
After that Nanu correctly guessed they might have been sucked into a wormhole, and they asked Lusamine for help. Sure enough, she confirmed it. Her description about them going missing so suddenly, and without their pokemon too, really reminds me of Ingo 😭 I feel this also pains Lusamine to tell them, because she lost her husband to the wormhole too before...
Luckily for Liza and Tate, they were transported into Pasio, still the same place although a different one unlike some poor sod who got yeeted hundreds of years back miles away from his home Apparently in this world there are no people in Pasio, only ultra beasts. This matter is not elaborated because they were attacked by some UB, but saved by a kind Celesteela. I can't help but wonder more about this universe, where are the people? Did they fail to contain UB outbreak? What happened to the Lear of this world?
Anabel makes a great observation that the UBs are the same as them, they're taken away from their homes. I love this moment of sympathy.
And then we turn back to Archie and Tate. Archie helpfully explained how to awaken Jirachi (Tate needs to sing and make a wish). Despite wanting to protect Jirachi he let Tate take his chance because he genuinely cares!
Just. Look at this scene, Archie is so supportive of Tate I can't y'all 😭😭💖💖🫶🫶 the way archie looks at tate so gently 🥺🥺 and how he's so excited when jirachi wakes up, and nudges Tate to make a wish!! he's so sweet, he's like a dad to Tate, I love him so much 😭💖
Ok and so Tate sang and Jirachi woke up! And he made his wish. And then they get reunited. Now this part is a bit funny because Jirachi apparently didn't do anything?? 🤣 Because earlier Anabel remarked that the UBs must have come from somewhere, ie a wormhole, and Liza heard Tate singing, so the wormhole must've existed before Jirachi even woke up. So convenient that it's located nearby 😂 afterwards it decided to make Tate its partner, solely because of his pure heart i guess? He managed to awaken it after all
Anyway, the twins are reunited!! And they got new friends ^^
I was so surprised when i saw this scene I didn't think they'd bring Matt too, I'm so glad they did 🥹💖💖 festival n and steven also appeared! It's a lively scene!
This is such a good shot Archie is so happy for the kids 🥹
THE REAL SHOCKER THOUGH IS THIS SCNEE
I was not expecting Shelly to appear, much less having interaction with Archie, at this point I'm pretty sure the writers read my mind because i love Archie and Shelly so much!! 😭😭💖💖 I've always loved their relationship, they're childhood friends united by the same goal, they understand each other so well 😭😭
The way they know what each other is thinking 😭😭 that's the proof of their bond!! After all this time they're still best friends, they know what each other is thinking 😭😭💖💖 It's so sweet and awe inspiring to me!!!
This is the highlight of the event for me, Archie really has come a long way from his villainy, he acknowledged the importance of people and pokemon, and wants to see the future generation live happily... it reminds me of this line from Alpa Sapphire's Delta episode:
I can't help but notice that this event is like a really condensed parallels to AS Archie's experience (i treat game archie and pokemas archie as different people), both initially motivated by meeting Jirachi, and then him having doubts on humanity, but things happened that led to a kid changing his mind. The difference is Pokemas Archie has the luck to see Jirachi again (although different than his friend) meet truly kind-hearted people (Tate), resulting in his change of heart, while in ORAS he never met Jirachi again, it was just a memory, and his change of heart happened because he made mistakes (which are. Much bigger than what Pokemas Archie has done).
From a meta perspective, I love that Archie's obscure/forgotten Jirachi lore from 2014 is picked up in Pokemas, crafting a story that led to Pokemas archie turning over a new leaf, similar to his game counterpart. Considering neither AS nor Pokemas Archie could ever meet their jirachi again (because it likely went to sleep for another 900ish years), Pokemas is logically the only place where this little story can be touched again, and I'm SO happy for it. Jirachi is the motivation for Archie in the beginning, and it continues being that in this event, but with new, deeper understanding and optimism, with hopes for the future of humans alongside pokemon 💖✨
Im sorry for writing this long Like oh my God you guys i love Archie so much!!!! 😭😭😭💖💖💖💖 I love this event so much !!! I'm so happy!!
#pokemon#pokemas#aqua leader archie#twin stars far apart#tate and liza#chipsays#like i always wanted archie to have jirachi but im willing to let it slide this time because i like the story
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