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stellocchia · 3 years

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This is part 6 of the Comprehensive Analysis of c!Tommy and c!Dream’s relationship during the Exile Arc

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

Here we go again. So, just to clarify: I honestly think that for the Mexican Dream stream almost only the parts where Dream is Dream and not Mamacita are canon, but I will check those other ones out as well for anything interesting. Drista’s stream however is like as vaguely canon as possible, so I will mostly give a general outline of it more so then analizing it bit by bit.

That said, a reminder that from here on out I will be only talking about the characters unless stated otherwise and that we will be talking about sensitive topics, so keep that in mind.

First stream we will be looking at is the infamous Mexican Dream stream: Tommy Speaks to Mexican Dream in Exile

Once again Tommy wakes up drowning, again just slightly further away from the coast in the opposite direction from L’Manburg. He also immediately takes off his armour.

“Wait, no, we don’t have enough friends to afford being angry at people” (by now even Tommy himself doesn’t value much his own feelings)

“So at the end of our last Dream smp stream, uh, we died [non canonically], but it’s okay because I got some of our things-” *Dream joins the game* *distressed noises* (I’m never not gonna point out Tommy’s reactions at Dream appearing)

Dream appears and immediately digs the hole for the armour. Tommy immediately gives it up actually apologizing for not doing it even before. Also right after this Dream investigates on wether or not someone visited Tommy while he was gone and he finds out about Ranboo.

“I’ve just been trying to keep you company” “Yeah, yeah, no, it’s been pretty nice” “We’ve became better friends” “Yeah, yeah, we have” (Dream and his ‘friendship’ agenda)

This is when they meet Mexican Dream who was just outside Tommy’s Nether portal. An interesting thing I want to point out is Dream immediately moving directly in front of Tommy when he notices him (probably got used by now to assuming a defensive position).

“We’ll make this place like home man...” (MD already making everything better)

“What did you [Dream] do to him man?” “No but he is my friend now, apparently- I think. You are my-?” (immediately starts questioning things with MD presence there challenging Dream’s)

“I’m your new friend man” “Oh, do you need me to put my items in a pit for you?” (...) “This is what Dream always makes me do, is this right?” (looking once again at Dream for approval in the last bit)

“Hey, wait, so now that you’re here do I even need to follow this man?” (talking about Dream here)

“Okay, wait, how do I know that this isn’t a Dream? Because I keep having Dream’s and shit. I’m like a hallucinator” (so we can add recurrent hallucinations to his ever increasing list of symptoms)

"Even though he may be naked and homeless- are you homeless? Do you need a home?” “I’m homeless man” (And this is why MD was a problem to Dream, he was more then willing to stay with Tommy)

“Oh no that guy [a squid] has committed suicide just at the sound of it! Oh that’s... I envy him” (he is now openly suicidal)

“I don’t like Mexican Dream, Mexican Dream is weird” (sure it’s not just because he admitted to wanting to move to Logstedshire permanently there Dream?)

“Alright, Thomas, come over here, come over here” *Dream starts following as well* “NO! NO! You stay the fuck away!” (this is why we love MD)

“You know actually, he is sort of actually borderline my owner” (I hate that there was a time were both Tommy and Dream thought this)

After this Dream swaps for Mamacita, so I’m really not sure how canon things are here... there is a scene where MD comforts Tommy while he’s looking at pictures of Tubbo and then Mamacita destroys all but one of them.

“I really miss my family man” “Oh I miss my- I miss my family too” (would his family be Tubbo for Tommy?)

Dream does swap back to being Dream for the last 25 minutes. And he proceeds to immediately takes one of MD’s lives. It’s technically his second life because the first one was from a creeper exploding.

“No no shoot me not them, [the pictures of MD’s friends(?)] actually shoot them. I definitely don’t have my confidence back” (Dream immediately setting him back on his progress)

Right after the kill Tommy asks if he can bodyguard Dream in hopes of keeping him and MD from fighting so that MD would be safe. It doesn’t work. Also pretty sure that Dream canonically decapitated somebody.

“Mexican Dream, I-I’ve had enough of you” (Dream immediately ging back to be terrifying right there)

Dream then takes MD’s third canon life. Of course, in true Dream style, he immediately ignores all the distress Tommy is in and moves on like nothing happened.

“You just killed my last friend” (I hate that he’s not even angry)

“So Dream, do I not have any friends left?” “What do you mean ‘you don’t have any friends left’? You have me!” (Dream is the only friend that Dream is willing to allow Tommy to have)

Also I want to point out how Dream keeps ignoring any and all accusations of having killed MD, despite having done so right in front of Tommy. And then he proceeds to try and convince Tommy that he died of a drug overdose (which is just yet another example of gaslighting there from Dream). He then proceeds to make Tommy burn his remains, despite Tommy opposing this quite a bit.

“I know I haven’t really delved into my health with you ever, because I know you don’t really care, but I don’t think I have really long left” (at least he is somewhat aware about Dream not caring)

“I thought maybe we could have someone move in with us today, no. No He doesn’t allow that. Which is fine! Which is fine because, you know, it’s his- his uh- his rules now”

Once again I want to point out that this truly is just a glorified kidnapping. Tommy not only is confined to a very small area and not allowed to keep many items, he also doesn’t get to have anyone move in his area. Dream doesn’t want him to have any company that isn’t him, going as far as to literally kill someone to insure it (not too different from what he was planning to do in the season 2 finale). Either way the stream ends on a very pessimistic note about Tommy not having the will to go on for much longer at this point.

Now let’s move on to the Drista stream: TommyInnit Speaks To Dream's Sister AGAIN

As I said I’ll just give a general outline for this one since it’s honestly barely canon as is, so here we go:

Tommy doesn’t start off drowning this time. Drista arrives and starts immediately being chaotic as usual. They mess around for a while in the Nether, start building a tower (Dream at one point tries to convince Drista that it was Tommy to have killed MD), get bored and mess around some more. Also Drista gives Tommy a bedrock block and writes “Drista” out of bedrock near Logstedshire. Then Drista convinces Dream to let them go back to the main Smp for a while (though we do see Punz trying to kill him for breaking the rules before finding out Dream had given his permission). Once in Dream Smp they meet up with Quackity for a little bit.

Also, Tommy, king of always being in character, constantly asks very uncertainly: “Are you sure that I’m allowed here? This feels wrong...”

They then spawn in a bunch of dogs and wonder around in the smp. After a while Techno gets added to the call and Tubbo starts kinda following them around (though Tommy thinks he has a hallucination). I honestly don’t think any of this is canon. Anyway after a while Techno gets a bedrock block as well and he almost manages to give a stolen Pigstep to Tommy, but it gets intercepted. After a while their time is up and he has to go back by Dream’s order.

“If you don’t see me again in this, you know, in this shape, I’m sorry. (...) Yeah, in this alive form on this server... you might see me you knoa a bit- a bit- I don’t know... maybe a bit ghostly” (foreshadowing to his death that never actually happened during the Exile Arc thankfully)

The stream ends with a promise from Dream that he’ll be there the day after.

Moving on to the last one for today, we have Quackity’s visit: Quackity Visits TommyInnit in Exile

So, Quackity decides to go visit Tommy to try (and miserably failing) to lift his mood by giving him gifts supposedly from everyone in L’Manburg (which are pictures).

“I’ve got no reason to live” (and we start off immediately in the most depressing way possible)

Also, while we’re talking about this stream I have to point out that Tommy has a lot of self-harming behaviours, mostly drowning himself and shooting himself with arrows. Which is rather worrying to say the least.

“Big Q I have very little will to live right now” (again he's very open about his suicidal thoughts by now)

“Forget about Tubbo! Listen, listen Tommy, there are so many things you can turn to when you’re depressed, alright?” “I’m not depressed... I’ve got Dream, I’ve got Dream, I’ve got Dream” “Dream?! (...) Who escorted you out of L’Manburg? Who escorted you out of L’Manburg? Who gave you 30 minutes to go to L’manburg? [In the Drista visit]” “I want Dream”

This is Quackity trying albeit clumsily, to break Tommy out of Dream’s conditioning, though by this point it was far too ingrained for anything to be effective. Also we can see Tommy asking for Dream when he is distressed, which is something that keeps happening during the Bedrock Boys Arc as well.

After a little bit they decide to build a church and a “gambling place”. Techno also joins them after a while. (Also, according to Quackity, c!Dream is canonically racist for killing MD, do with that what you will). Also why does Quackity have a flight or flirt instinct with Techno?

Tommy, sarcastically: “I’m fine, I’m okay, it’s not like I have canonical depression”. That is a fair objection in any and all conversations.

The stream end a while later with nothing else of note. It is very funny though, so do give it a watch if you feel like it.

#tommyinnit #dreamwastaken #quackity #dream smp #exile arc #tw abuse #tw self harm #tw suicidal thoughts #long post #my post #relationship analysis #character analysis #this is basically the lightest post in the exile arc series #mostly because they all have questionable canonicity #though we do know now that md was entirely canon #so there's that #anyway next one will be the last one and then I'm free #also md says 'man' as frequently as dream says 'tommy'#I don't know what to do with that information

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fandom-imagination-ss · 4 years

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author note: hey all! I did not expect to be making a part 2 of a imagine I did a while ago but. someone requested it ( and gave me the nicest compliment I have ever received on this platform ) and since I've been quite with putting new content out lately so I decided too write a quick part two.! I hope you enjoy!

part one: you confess too Hailey that your in love with Elijah unaware that hes listening in.

Did I proofread?: you would think I would since this was requested but I'm now being teacher too a six year old. do to the Q. soo..No

word count: 900ish

rating?: PG. ( it was almost R. but I stopped myself lol)

requested by: @fandoms-ruined-my-life

Imagine

Part 2 of Elijah over hearing you confess your love for him late one night while you were watching Hope

Thankfully Hailey realized Elijah could hear the conversation she sneaked out of the room too check. You were horrified at the possibility of him hearing you. The moment you mentioned you were in love with Elijah you instantly remembered that he could hear you from the basement. If he wanted too. Hailey popped inside looking at you . she rubbed her neck. “good news Elijah didn’t hear you…”

Your eyes stretched wide staring at her.

“who? Who heard me?”

“Klaus.”

You groaned instantly. Klaus is the second worst person too learn about this!! He will torment and make jabs about your crush on his brother. Klaus will be smug about this knowledge. Why couldn’t Rebecca be home! That was all you thought if a Mikeaelsons had too learn about your crush. She would be mildly grossed out but she wouldn’t mock you like Klaus would.

Unfortunately you were right, Klaus for days tormented you and teased your crush on his big brother while Hailey snapped at him too shut up. you were in your room surrounded by books and papers and your computer. You are the only one in collage and you were studying the great depression. Thankfully three people living with you who were alive during that time.. or who had great knowledge about it.

Elijah walked passed your room. Wearing a typical suit as he walked in smiling seeing you.

Secretly he loved seeing you in study mood. Your hair was always up in a messy bun. You wear a big loose sweater that was your dad’s that had his collage logo on it. With shorts , and your pink slipper socks that are wool. Most of the time you take your contacts out too wear your glasses for comfort and practical uses. Studying makes you sleep. You rather fall asleep with your glasses on vs contacts still in.

You had a pen behind your ear while you watched “the birds” on your tv. Mainly for noise. Elijah was silent . watching you. Since meeting you Elijah has been surprised at how optimistic you were. Meeting in mystic falls. Elijah meet you outside in the park.

You sat reading war and peace waiting for Stefan. He was suppose too help you study. Elijah beat him too it. Elijah knew of you. From Klaus research on everything Elena. You were the first too learn about vampires. But you were also the only one out of your group who wasn’t targeted by the vampires or werewolves. Klaus couldn’t bring himself too attack you- you were so innocent and the purest light Klaus ever saw.

Elijah was stunned seeing you that day sitting on the bench legs crossed holding the book in both hands while you tuned out the entire world. Elijah was mesmerized by you for years. Seeing you now so focused sitting on your bed.

“you know its rude too stare.”

Elijah chuckled softly. You glanced up looking at him. “hey- you think I would of survived the great t depression?”

Elijah nodded his head, “you have a uncommon compatibility of survive the darkest things thrust upon you.” Elijah Walked inside sitting at the foot of your bed away from the books.

Smiling at his response you pushed the books away. You were done studying. Elijah was a perfect excuse too stop studying. Elijah grabbed a book as he spoke. “ need help?”

“perfect excuse brother.” You both turned seeing Klaus at your door grinning brightly seeing you both. You rolled your eyes. Klaus flexed his arms crossing them over staring at the scene. Klaus chuckled as he spoke, “what or what would you both be doing on miss y/L/N bed?”

Elijah got up fast fixing his suit. Annoyed at his brother. “I was about too offer my service too help Y/N.”

Klaus chuckled as you spat out.

“go away Klaus!” he chucked as he made kissing noise as he walked off. Elijah turned too you stunned. You groaned softly. Rubbing your face as you spoke, “Klaus is so immature.!”

Elijah chuckled softly fixing his cuffs. “ his greatest flaw he never grew up.” Agree Elijah headed towards the door as you scrambled too your feet.

“Klaus- overheard me last week. Telling Hailey something and he has been a annoying idiot since. He made me wash he’s car too pay for silence. I mean since its Klaus it could be worst. I its childish chores. But.. he’s so annoying! If I just tell you.. he won’t be able too hold it over me anymore.”

Elijah nodded his head. “what could be so bad that you tell me?”

Touching your stomach. This is the moment you always feared. Emotions. Expression your deepest feelings. Wasn’t your strong suit. It never was. Your skin got hot and you stumbled with your thoughts. Your mouth started going off before you could think.

“I said I was.. in love with you- Hailey asked how getting over you was coming .. and I said I was at 99% . she asked over and I said no in love.. it’s a work in progress- I.. I’m sorry.”

Elijah stepped over too you grabbing your face pulling you into a kiss. It stunned you as he pulled back pressing his forehead To yours softly. “I’m 100% in love with you. Don’t try too get over me.”

Smiling brightly you reached up cupping his face as you pulled him into another kiss.

#fandom imagine #imagine #imagine request #elijah mikaelson imagine #elijah mikealson imagine #elijah mikaelson #hailey marshall imagine #hailey marshall #klaus #klaus mikaelson imagine #klaus mikaelson #tvd #tvd imagine #the vampire diaries imagine #the vampire diaries #the orginals imagine #the orginal #TO #TO imagine

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licenselesswriter · 3 years

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Ten Duel Commandments CH8

Your last chance to negotiate

Monday, May 11, 2020

Farkle looks at his phone one last time before throwing it away. He was incredible annoyed by the reaction everyone was having to Lucas and Maya. He wasn't able to process why people wanted them as an item so bad when on the other side of the coin was her best 'friend' feeling like crap because of all the mess Lucas put them on, and nobody but him gives a crap about that.

Farkle takes a deep breath, sits on his bed, and looks at the floor. No, this wasn't Lucas's fault, he thought to himself. Even when he didn't want to admit it, Zay has been right from the beginning. It wasn't Lucas's fault. He was not in the wrong for falling in love with Maya. Hell, if he was honest with himself, he also falls for the blonde beauty when they were kids, but as soon as Riley enters his line of vision, he knew that there was no coming back from him.

That thought makes him realize one of the truths of the world, not everything revolves around the people you love and the fact that he made a circle around what he considers the truth and fairness makes him lose the argument because as soon as he did that, he denies every other point of view. Even if he thought he was right, deep inside, he knew he wasn't.

Now everything was fucked up, really fucked up. Riley took the first step, making her own grown phase away from everyone, maybe even forgetting Maya and Lucas for being deceptive with her.

Maya and Lucas were thriving on their relationship, a happy couple, enjoying the free world now that everything was in the open and with no one to judge them. And by the looks on their Instagram accounts, nor Shawn or Mary were remotely mad about them hiding everything from everyone.

Isadora probably had the grown spurt that most hurt him. Yes, he understands that he never was the perfect boyfriend, but not even a few months to mourn him? He has been feeling like a complete piece of shit for two months, and she was moving at alarming speed from him, and honestly, making him worry about her new friendship with Billy Ross.

Farkle gets up from his bed and walks to his bathroom. He looks at himself in the mirror, and it terrifies him that he couldn't recognize himself.

For some reason, he finally was able to see the effects of all this mess on him, the dark circles under his eyes, the clear signs of dehydration, how opaque his hair was now.

He even lost some weight that doesn't help his already thin physique.

He looks at his reflection one more time, and this time the questions were others.

What happened to the gentle genius that always did all in his reach to protect his friends? At what moment he turned into this bitter young man who lied to himself, thinking that he was doing all of these things only to see her best friend happy?

His face was there, on the mirror, but his essence was gone.

"You might need help this time Farkle," he says to his reflection on the mirror.

But before that, a shower, that he clearly needs it.

And a round of well-deserved apologies.

"I'm gonna say I'm surprised, but I'm not," Isadora says before sitting in front of Farkle, taking a good detail on his looks, his faces, his eyes, and his expression, evident signs of depression, but that was something that she would keep to herself unless asked for.

"I'm surprised you wanted to see me. After all, we didn't part ways in the best terms," Farkle replies.

"Farkle, please," Isadora says, sitting in front of him, "You know I loved you, even now, I love you, not as a romantic partner, but as a person, for what you give and the experiences you share with me" she adds.

"So, not even as a friend?" Farkle asks.

"Farkle, we broke up less than three months ago," Isadora answers, "You need some time to heal, I need some time to heal, it's a process, not because we have a higher IQ means we are gonna be back to normal, to being friends," she explains.

Farkle looks down, "I know, I know, it's just, my brain hasn't been working like it used to do," he justifies himself.

"I know," Isadora replies, "You still have troubles handling emotions, not like I used to had, but your moral compass is making it really hard for you," she explains.

"Should I guess that you know why I ask you to meet me?" Farkle asks.

"I know why you ask me to meet you, and the answer is no," Isadora replies before turning to the waitress, "Please, one Iced Coffee to go," she says to the waitress.

"Can I ask why?" Farkle asks.

"Because Iced Coffee it's delicious?" Isadora asks back, avoiding his question.

"So it's like this now?" Farkle asks this time.

"Farkle, why I, someone who has nothing to do with your problem, do something to help?" she asks, "I get it, we used to be friends, we used to be partners, and we used to be boyfriend and girlfriend," she adds, "But let's not forget that we broke up because it was too obvious to me that you never stopped loving Riley, and that to you, Riley's happiness is the most important thing in the world," she continues, "But you're in this mess because you refused to listen to anything that is not involved with Riley's happiness, and you need to learn how to take responsibility about your own decisions," Isadora adds.

"I took you for granted for so damn long," Farkle says, defeated.

"You did, but I also thought that I would be able to beat Riley in your mind and in your heart, and I failed miserably," she argues back, "The secret of life, Farkle," Isadora says, getting her Iced Coffee before giving Farkle a five-dollar bill, "You will never conquer a heart that already has been conquered," she says, getting up, only to put a soft kiss on Farkle's cheek.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Lucas was nervous.

For the first time in seven months, Farkle was the one reaching to him to talk, and he knew exactly about what he wanted to talk about. He wasn't sure he wanted to talk about his relationship with Maya. After all, he was the first one to oppose to him having an interest in any other girl besides Riley, and even when he wanted his friend back, for no reason he could give, he would change anything he's been experiencing today.

"I honestly didn't believe you would want to meet with me after 7 months of radio silence," Farkle says from Lucas back.

"That's because you did the radio silence. I never wanted to stop talking to you," Lucas replies.

"I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I think I'm ready to hear your side if you don't mind," Farkle says, walking around the bench and sitting next to the Texan.

"Are you sure about that?" Lucas asks, "Because if I tell you my side, you might not like it," he adds.

"How can you know that?" Farkle asks.

"Because Riley has always been your priority," Lucas answers with a short laugh, "And that clearly gives you a biased mindset," he adds.

Farkle laughs, "So, everything comes to me being able to handle the truth?" he asks, "What if I promise to not be biased?" he asks.

Lucas chuckles again, "If you can promise that, then I don't have a leg to stand about denying you my side," he says.

Farkle looks at Lucas for a few seconds and chuckles, "You know I can't have my opinion biased. After all, everyone seems to think I'm in love with Riley, and how a man in love can't have his opinion biased?" he teased him, "But for the benefit of this conversation, I will try my best," he adds.

"Good enough for me," Lucas replies, "So, I should start with the beginning, and that was, probably, when I sneak into Riley's room, looking for Maya to inform everyone of my decision," he says.

"You can skip to the meat of the story. This relationship between you and Maya made clear to me that you picked her that day, and Riley just urn into your pitty case," Farkle says in a snarky tone.

"Can we do the Q&A at the end?" Lucas asks, "Also, lose the tone, not necessary, and not wanted at all," he states before taking a deep breath, "For me, it all started around two and half years ago, almost a year from Riley and me breaking up," he says.

Farkle covers his ears, "God, you were right, I don't want to hear this," he says, fastly getting up from the bench.

Lucas chuckles and gets up with him and gently sits him back, "If you want the truth, I'm gonna tell you, but if you go now, you will never know my side, and maybe we might not rekindle," he threats Farkle.

"You're threatening me?" Farkle asks.

"I'm giving you a spoiler, Farkle," Lucas replies, making sure his friend understands how serious he was.

"Fine, fine, let's do it your way," Farkle agrees, desperately rubbing his hands on his thighs.

"Calm down, I'm gonna tell you a love story, not a Stephen King story," Lucas says, trying to calm Farkle, "As I was saying, Riley was on her discovery period, and if I was honest, me too," he says, remembering those days, "And I discover that my feelings for Riley had been gone for months before us breaking up because as soon as she started going out with other guys, I honestly didn't care," he adds.

"Wow, and I thought I was an awful boyfriend," Farkle comments.

"Big difference, I never lied to any of my partners, Farkle, never lied," Lucas defends himself, "So, Riley started going out with guys, you started going out with Isadora more often, and well, Zay and I start going out a lot. Like full 'the boys are back in town' style, and, I'm sorry if this stings, but you two kinda abandon Maya," he states.

"We would never abandon Maya," Farkle tries to justify himself.

"No, you did, and I'm not blaming you for something. It's just that you didn't have enough time for Maya, and that where Zay and I get into the scene. You two were M.I.A., so she started going out with us a lot," he explains, "And once Vanessa came here to New York for winter break, that gave me the opportunity because I didn't see anything wrong with that, I mean, you were with Isadora, Riley was with what's-his-face, Zay was with Vanessa, and Maya wasn't with Josh anymore," he explains.

"So this is a 'La ocasión hace al ladrón' situation?" Farkle asks, feeling a bit annoyed by the story.

"First of all, I'm not a thief. Second, maybe," Lucas replies, "Anyways, we start to spend a lot of time together, going out as friends, because let's remember that before anything, we are friends," Lucas states, "And honestly, all that time I spend with Maya, made my feelings resurface into a more clear me," he continues, "and one day, I just simply kiss her. And against all odds, she kissed me back," he says, remembering that night.

"That can't be all the story," Farkle says in a sordid tone, doubting his friend's words.

"What you want me to say, Farkle?" Lucas asks his friend, a bit tired of him.

"Come on, you're telling that she got you only with a kiss?" Farkle asks back, implying something far from PG-13.

"Careful with your words, Farkle," Lucas warns him.

"Come on, you're seventeen, Maya's sixteen, and you're telling me she only kissed you? Tell me the truth, did she spread her legs for you, pretty boy?" Farkle questions him with the same tone he had before.

In complete shock, Lucas gets up from the bench, and in a flash, he slaps Farkle as hard as he was able, "I warned you, Farkle," he says, glaring at him, doing his best to keep his Texas-self buried.

"Why I'm not surprised that your underdeveloped brain's first resource is violence?" Farkle says, keep pushing Lucas buttons.

"That the card you want to play?" Lucas asks him, not believing what he was hearing.

"What you gonna do? Slap me again?" Farkle says, looking at Lucas with anger in his eyes.

"Your funeral," Lucas says, getting closer to him, making Farkle cover his face, "Why I'm not surprised that you are already defeated?" Lucas asks, "I might be a thief, or a liar, or whatever you want to call me, but at least I have balls," he says, grabbing his own bulge, "Never show your face in front of me again, Farkle, unless you want to apologize," he adds before walking away from him.

Once Lucas was not visible to him, Farkle spends a few minutes trying to control his emotions, only to fail and start crying, "You stupid imbecile, why you had to talk," he says to himself, hiding his face in his knees.

Lucas was getting closer to the Starbucks Isadora ask him to be, only to see her and Zay running towards him, "Hey, hey, calm down, I'm just a little late," Lucas jokes before watching them look at him, worried, "Ok, I'm getting worried, what's going on?" he asks.

"What happened with Farkle?" Zay asks him.

"What?" Lucas says, faking ignorance.

"Don't play dumb, something happened, we know," Isadora intervenes.

"Nothing happened, we talk, he didn't understand my point of view, that's all," Lucas lies to them.

"And?" Zay asks.

"And I left, that's all," Lucas lie again.

"Please, don't insult our intelligence. What happened? The truth now," Isadora asks.

Knowing that they would not stop pestering him until he confesses, he agreed to do it, "Fine, I slapped him, but he deserves it," he justifies himself.

"God, what he say?" Zay asks.

"Please, we came here to have a chat because Isadora asks us, can we please leave it?" Lucas begs them to drop the subject.

"I kissed Sarah, and I'm probably bisexual, but I can be on other specters too, done, tell us what you did, the whole story," Isadora says, surprising both boys.

"You what?" Zay asks Isadora this time.

"I think she said that she kissed Sarah," Lucas says to Zay.

"I'm not done with you, so don't push it," Zay replies to Lucas, "Are you for real?" he then asks Isadora.

Isadora, knowing that Zay wouldn't let her continue her interrogatory to Lucas until she tells him the whole story, sits on the steps of the house where they intercept Lucas, "I mean, it was for science," she says.

"Please tell me you didn't tell her that," Lucas says before Zay.

"What? No, of course, I didn't say that to her," Isadora defends herself.

"So?" Zay asks.

"It was nice," Isadora says, blushing a tiny bit, "But, if I'm honest, it's not like I'm not attracted to men. I mean, Lucas still looks incredibly appealing to me," Isadora answers.

"Bullshit, Lucas is hot to everyone," Zay jokes.

"Dude," Lucas says, judging his best friend.

"He's not wrong. Didn't Alex mention how most of your teammates ship you with Brandon?" Isadora asks Lucas.

Lucas just stays silent.

"Don't answer that," Zay says to Lucas, "It's been more than proved that if Lucas was gay, I would be his baby daddy," Zay answers in a severe tone, "And don't you dare to Chandler me," Zay warns Lucas.

"Dude, you keep giving me material to do it," Lucas replies, "Also, not the point of this conversation," Lucas says before looking at Isadora, "So, how you feel about that?" he asks her.

Isadora shows a tiny smile, "Honestly, I feel kinda happy?" she says in doubt, "I mean, the more I know about me, the better," she adds.

Lucas looks at Zay, "True," he says.

Both Lucas and Isadora look at Zay, who was a bit troubled, "Are you ok?" Isadora asks.

Lucas just chuckles, "Just let him be. He's on his universe giving you and Sarah a ship name, nobody asks," he says.

"Ship names are important, Lukey," Zay replies, "So, what are you gonna do about it?" he asks.

"Honestly?" Isadora says in doubt, "No idea," she adds, "For the first time in years, I don't know what to do," she continues.

"Don't worry, it's ok," Lucas says, sitting next to Isadora, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Whatever happens, you know you have us," Zay comments with a warm smile.

"Thank you," Isadora says, feeling happy.

"We are your friends. We have your back," Lucas says.

"Celebratory donuts?" Zay asks Isadora.

"That would be good," she replies.

"Let's go. We're buying," Lucas says, walking away from them.

"We still want to know the whole Farkle thing," Isadora says.

"Dammit," Lucas curses.

I don’t even feel bad for making Farkle the bad guy on this.

#Lucaya #Lucas x Maya #Lucaya Fanfic #GMW Fanfic #Ten Duel Commandments

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givemequeen · 5 years

Text

below the cut is everything that is currently in my inbox:

the first one (at the top) is the one i am currently working on, thanks for your patience.

also, things that are crossed out are my words

Roger Taylor x reader x john lennon threesome smut

imagine each beatle reacting to their girlfriend licking an ice cream cone with out realizing how suggestive it looks

PLEASE do more devil john lennon! (p≧w≦q)

Hi! Could you do me a favour and write me some Brian May fluff? I'm on my period and it's rough! Thank you, love your blog :)

fluff 19,29,38 smut 7,23,38 george being dominant in the studio with his girlfriend (sorry i couldn't pick you can choose what ever ones you want

Let me just say the writing in 'I want to see you' was so good like it was genuninley too much for my little heart to handle. I was wondering (if you're comfortable with it) if you could do a smutty part two, it's fine if not I know you get a lot of requests but you're soooooo good at writing and I hope you doing well with life in general x

perhaps a smut one shot about the reader and shy, kinda sub george doing it for the first time in a hotel after prom?

really going through it right now and need some comfort. could i request a fluffy thing with john or george about the reader being insecure about her bisexuality cause her parents don’t support her about it and one of them comforting her through it? 🥺

Love I'm sick, well I'm lactose intolerant and my stomach is really upset so how about Geo helping reader out and making them feel better and maybe Geo then makes the decision to not have any dairy in tho flat even tho that's hard for him to say because we know he loves his food🦙🖤

hewwo! how are you? could you please write about beatle!reader in 1965 being with the boys while filming help! especially the scene where they sing another girl and they goof around and then like paul and reader accidentally kiss each other but then they kiss more which means they love each other💖💖

Hi I absolutely love your fics!!! 💛💛 May I request one where john and reader have been flirting for so long which climaxes during the shea stadium tour and reader gets really flustered seeing john all sweaty and enjoying himself while john gets really horny seeing reader enjoying their show and they just go at it right after the concert ;))

could i please request a george oneshot where the reader is a photographer and she goes to take photos of the beatles and george is just immediately taken by her and spends the whole day trying to get her attention and she very much likes him too (very much paul/linda kind of scenario). perhaps including prompt 14 “I don’t think I’ve ever been this…happy. It’s an odd feeling.” :)))

um hi, I broke up with my boyfriend because i'm really not feeling the most mentally stable and he really didn't take it well. I was just wondering if you could cheer me up with anything. Thanks.

Okay but like a John x teen!reader where she's like a little sis to him and he notices how she has bruise's on her and he naturally asks her where it's from and she doesn't say anything and then her remembered that her dad is an asshole and he puts 2 and 2 together and makes her move in with him and mimi🌺 sorry that was a lot

hii idk if you're comfortable with it but could u write something about 80s george?

first time with teddy boy george ?

write reader riding teddy boy george 😳😳

I just read the accent kink anon and now I need something like that in my life, because all I can think about is George groaning while you whisper something to him in Spanish and he just can’t control himself 😉 Whenever you have the chance could you whip something like that up?

Hey!! been following you for a while! Can i request an imagine about you dating paul and being with him through the breakup of the band, and him being very sad and depressed and you barely talk, barely have sex, barely laugh until he realises how you must have been feeling and he apologises ;) wink wink thank you so much! love your blog!

Hey love! When u have time, could you write maybe a John Lennon x fem! reader headcanon what would John be like in bed? I love ur posts!

do ya think, you could maybe do a george x reader where the reader and george babysit baby julian since john wasn't always there for him? lots of fluff, george is good with kids and the reader's heart explodes

Could you do hc for george when fem!reader comes out as bi or LBGTQ+ ?

Could i request a fluffy shot of beatle!reader coming out as bi-sexual and she’s super nervous because be LBGTQ+ can get you in jail at the time and the guys are like, “we know”

Okay but imagine the reader is a model and she is a love interest for george and george questions bruises on her wrists. She tell him that it’s her boyfriend and later she is a love interest for george in a film. She had just broken up with her boyfriend so baby boy george shoots his shot. (Probably angst and maybe smut ;) )

After the Shea Stadium concert Paul, who is all sweaty hugs you from behind, you protest and tell him to take a shower, but he start kissing your neck and running his hands under your dress. You can't resist anymore and let Paul fuck you in the dressing room.

Can you write something smutty for George?

Hi, I love your blog❤️❤️also can I have a smutty Ringo where where at his house and admits his feelings to the reader and then dirty things start happening. Hope you have a great day❤️🌹

can you do a one shot of the reader and george just before the beatles get famous in like 1962 and he’s telling her he’ll never leave her even if they do get big, please? love ur writing!

Can you do a short fic about the reader having short curly hair and the react of the boys about it?

Hi can you do a imagine where 1961 Paul takes your virginity? Plz

idk why but I’ve been crazy about the idea of Ringo like bending you over and fucking you with his drumsticks idk, I need it plzzz

Hi could you do a imagine where you going to Disney with the Beatles and Ringo is all happy and excited and you start singing songs with him like Once Upon A Dream plz!

i know you have a lot of requests, but maybe some ringo fluff because there's not much of it? maybe ringo and reader go ice skating? you're my favorite writer on tumblr 👀

Can I request a ringo x fem reader smut? how bout one where they’re staying at Ringo’s childhood home with his family and they’re staying in his room and come night time, they get it on but try to stay relatively low key (cos they’re in his tiny childhood room in his parents house lmao) and then next day his family makes a cheeky comment, leaving them blushing and wondering if they heard everything 😝😳

Teddy Paul x square reader

Could i request a fic where Paul and the reader are listening Elvis records and he ask her to dance with him?

can you do an imagine about george and his wife/girlfriend being new parents and being all sweet with their baby just fluffy stuff :) btw love your blog, you’re so dedicated!!

could you do an imagine where the readers basically paul’s side chick behind janes back? and maybe in the end they both leave paul to be together ((sorry i’m a sucker for wlw))

Ok so your concept and writting for the Harry Potter Beatles au was amazing! Could I request of fic of that same scenario? Like the boys all have to take polyjuice potion to look like George and reader’s helping them with their plan but also being really blushy because they all look like Geo (whom she has a small crush on) and maybe the other lads use this as an opportunity to bring the two closer together. Thanks :)

idea (you can pick any beatle boy you want) you're in a conference room with your boyfriend and there's about to be a meeting and you notice how hard he is and you're not wearing panties so literal seconds before the others come into the room you just sit down on him and he has to keep his composure while he's deep inside you

Could you please write one where the reader is Paul’s love interest in Help and George has a major crush on her. Paul and Reader have to kiss in the movie and George is upset and ignored reader until the after party of the premier where she confronts him and they have sex. Thank you

Could you do beatles headcannons for the boys dating a model?

Could you do a smut fic with Teddy Paul where is the reader's birthday?

Reader and teddy boy John are best friends (could be in a relationship if you want) and the reader is fed up with how things are at home so she walks out after an argument or something and goes to see John and he’s basically just there for her and cheers her up and they have a good ol’ time jammin to records or he shows her a new song he’s learnt on guitar

Modern day teaching the Beatles how to do the renegade

I loved your modern George x reader could you do one with Paul too?

Can i request a imagine with the Beatles and Brian Epstein? I think Brian deserve some love.

Hi can you do an imagine with teddy boy Paul based on Summer Nights from Grease? Thanks.

heyy!! i've only just joined tumblr and ive found your account and i love it :)) do you think that you could do a ringo smut please i would be so grateful

Hi! um, Can you please do a POC! reader with Paul?..

Could I request a modern teddy boy!beatles were the reader has a soft grunge aesthetic and is a sweetheart and she ends up dating George cause he is a year older and the boys tease them? Maybe smut 😳

Could you do a Paul fic where is the reader's birthday and they go out for a romantic dinner ?

I don't usually ask but may I have a John x McCartney reader? And The reader is scared of John ,but deep down she has a crush on her, and John teases her about her beening scared of him.(Alsoifitisokaycanthereaderhaveglassesand beshort?)-Admin.

Could you maybe do something with dom!paul x reader?

Can I get some Ringo fluff?? Like something to do with kids, having them or taking care of them etc.?

Can I request a ringo imagine where he takes her out to a fancy tea place and treats her to a sweet girly time having cakes and sandwiches and tea and stuff and she is just so in love with him and how sweet he is and then can later that night ringo wants to be intimate (they have been before) but he’s shy about it and they get it on :’)

Can I request an angsty ringo imagine where ringo and reader have been friends and they both liked each other a lot but never have been able to admit they’re feelings for eachother and so reader dates around, and none of them are good, and ringo sees her out with some guy and he gets so upset seeing her with another man and so ringo sort of fake flirts with other girls at the club and reader gets upset n so they get together in the end and make love lol

Could you please please please do a Paul and virgin reader fic?

A cute imagine with Beatle!Assistant with dyslexia and she’s working on some files and a beatle (preferably George) helps her with the grammer and he’s making her feel not embarrassed about it and is like kissing her on the cheek (basically them being all cute and stuff) ps I LOVE your writing ❤️

Could you do a John x reader (maybe a late 70s john) were he as conflicted feelings for the reader but he is with Yoko but one day he sees her and tells her how he feels and they end up together and it ends all fluffy and stuff

can i request a reader (preferably male but gender neutral if you’re uncomfortable with writing a mlm fic)gushing over how cute honey pie (the song is) to paul and then he starts calling paul his honey pie and paul attacks his face w kisses?? very fluffy becuz.... well... it’s fluff... thank you!!

'65-66 ish soulmate au with john?? he hasn't had his turn at one yet I don't think--

omg could u do a highschool john x reader where the reader is like such a goody goody and they never rlly cross paths until one day john gets in trouble for smthg he didnt do and like idk the reader knows it wasnt him cuz she saw who acc did it and so she defends him and the teacher believes her cuz shes a good kid and then john just never leaves her alone cuz she saved him and hes like obsessed w her and she doesnt fall for it at first cuz hes a teddy boy but hes just so sweet she caves in🥰

Could you do smut with teddy boy!george and maybe Paul your older brother walks in a causes a scene cause he’s a drama queen👀😳😳😳

umm can I please uh request a John and reader smut? Just filth where the reader is really submissive and they like fuck over a desk or she’s on the kitchen counter and it’s rough but v hot??

hii can i request a teddy boy georgie x reader where theyre neighbours or smthg and they grew up tg like they were always close but since george joined the quarrymen a few years ago they havent been hanging out as much (only see eachother at school) but then one day george goes full teddy boy mode and the reader thinks hes changing and tryna be a badboy like john or smthg but rlly hes still the sweet george she knows and loves but now he has the confidence to tell her how he feels heehee :)))

early 1970s john deacon smut/fluff please heh, sub john oop

could you do a oneshot of teddy!george fucking you whilst his parents are home?? btw love your writing and dedication :)

Can you do a reeeeeally dirty and hard smut? With 70's John and a younger reader. Please :) But like, REALLY rough John

HI! i know youre probably busy, but can you please make a oneshot about respected POC! reader and her mini band singing "in spite of all the danger" in the cavern, and teddy boy ringo with his cute lil beard catching the eyes of the reader?? thank you so much!!!

#requests #what im working on #the beatles x reader

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nandalorian · 5 years

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So. I wasn’t going to post about Roswell, but now I am, so buckle up because this is going to be a long one.

A lot of people on Tumblr, Twitter, and the wider internet have, over the last few days, very intelligently posed criticisms of Roswell’s representation of POCs and queer characters in the context of Malex. While I have to be upfront about the fact that the problematic writing has made me apprehensive of seeing the show through to its next season, I’ve been pretty quiet on that front as I gather my thoughts and figure out what I need to say. As a white woman, I am upset and dismayed by the token and tone-deaf representation, but I feel like that’s not mine to speak to when there are a lot of people of colour in this fandom who can and should take this opportunity to explain, criticize, and educate the rest of us on how the show has failed and how it must do better. In that regard the most worthwhile contribution I can make is to listen and amplify those voices and their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and insights about the negative and at best lazy representation of people of colour on the show.

But as a bisexual woman and a professional writer and editor, I am in a position to criticize the queer representation from a political and social standpoint, but also a creative one. I am going to break this post up into two parts because there’s a lot I want to address about two separate issues, and I think the waters will get muddied if I try to combine it into one post. So let’s talk about Malex first, which is the subject about which, oddly enough, I feel the most calm. Depressed af, but mostly calm.

More under the cut.

A lot of people have already written about Malex or Tweeted Carina and the production team far more eloquently than I can manage, but the thing is, while I do have issues I’ll get into in a sec, I... actually think they have done a good job of writing Michael as a bisexual man and Alex as a gay one. That isn’t a popular opinion at the moment, but hear me out, because I have a lot more to say on the subject of bisexuality that doesn’t concern Michael Guerin. The show’s struggle isn’t entirely that their politics are bad. I do think the intentions are mostly good--mostly--but what I want to speak to is the breakdown between intentions and how those intentions translate to the screen through the medium of writing, direction, and the actors’ performances.

I don’t want to dismiss or disregard anyone who feels differently since that view is also totally valid and a lot of people have raised very fine points to that end. This is just my interpretation, so take it with a grain of salt and feel free to disregard or not. But my take is we can’t boil down the show’s issues to saying oh it’s biphobic or homophobic where Michael and Alex are concerned. I don’t think it is, not inherently.

The show’s struggle is that the writing is often so sloppy, rushed, and disjointed that it’s impossible to tell whether they don’t fully understand what positive queer representation is and what it isn’t, or if they just don’t know how to do it justice on TV. Perhaps it’s a combination of both, and right now I’m not writing off either possibility.

But I’m inclined to think it’s the latter. To be clear: the Malex/Maria triangle is shitty writing because love triangles frequently are, and they’re really, really difficult, if not impossible, to get right. The reason I think so many of us are up in arms about it is because the show rushed and stumbled its way through a 30-second supercut of Alex and Michael’s relationship from the word go, just enough to get us hooked before abandoning it for something else.

We’re pissed because it’s like they got us addicted to black tar heroin and then took away our fix just as the night sweats and shaky hands started to kick in, and at this point my life since episode 1x11 has been like a bad Trainspotting withdrawal montage. I don’t think they have intentionally baited us, although that is what it feels like. It’s taken a lot of angst and going back and forth on my part to arrive at this conclusion, and I will say I still waffle about it some days. But bad writing is bad because it pulls unintentionally negative reactions from people due to being misunderstood, or from creating all these wild implications the writers didn’t necessarily intend or realize were present in the final product.

The fact that Carina has to take to Twitter to explain each episode to viewers shows the quality of the writing or lack thereof. If it were stronger, she wouldn’t have to do that, but the show suffers from chronic exposition, incredibly bad pacing, and an overreliance on plot devices to advance the story rather than gradual and necessary character development. Sorry if that’s harsh, but the editor part of my brain sometimes wants to weep during episodes of Roswell. Oftentimes a bunch of shit will happen in an episode that doesn’t even progress the story, leaving us or the characters at exactly the same place they started off.

In short, everything happens too much. The characters feel like they have no agency because they are always reacting to one thing after another every episode, not even a second for them to breathe and be and let us see who they really are when the world isn’t on fire. And that’s all the characters, not just Alex and Michael, although arguably we have a bit more insight into the primary characters like the Pod Squad and Liz. But really, everything suffers as a result. The characters seem thin or underdeveloped and the sense of urgency, tension, and risk disappears even from theoretically high-stakes scenes like a live shooter at a hospital because we don’t get to see who the characters are in their normal lives. We don’t fully know what’s important to them before the next explosion happens.

Adversity is a helpful writing tool because it can show us who characters are under a certain set of high-pressure circumstances, but boredom and normalcy is just as important for character development. You can’t tear down what we don’t know exists. Star Wars: A New Hope wouldn’t have been half as effective if we hadn’t seen Luke Skywalker in his day-to-day life before that simple life was upended and he got the call to adventure. The first stage of the hero’s journey is necessarily the boring part because we can’t cross from the known to the unknown world without seeing what the known world is.

We never really… get that with Roswell. Not even for a second. So of course we feel cheated of bisexual or gay representation in the show because we never actually get to see Michael and Alex in any kind of sustained relationship, healthy or not. It’s just conflict conflict conflict with a bit of sex and longing gazes thrown in, followed by more conflict and then the relationship ending in favour for a new one. All hat, no cattle. (Literally.)

With Michael we get to see some of his routine and him being himself with his family, etc., and a lot of that has to do with the incredible performances Michael Vlamis delivers week after week, although even then, that suffers. Rather than start us off slow and building relationships from the ground up, the season begins in conflict, so that it has the effect of it seeming like the town of Roswell has been vacant for 10 years and everyone moved back in the same day and started catching up on each other’s lives after a decade apart. You don’t get the sense that anyone really talks to each other, even though most of them have been living in the same place their whole lives. Every single relationship, from Isobel and Michael, Max and Michael, Max and Isobel, even Maria and Michael, could have been strengthened if they’d taken more time to lay that groundwork ahead of the conflict. Especially Maria and Michael! Imagine how much better this season would have worked if they’d had an existing relationship, friendship, or flirtation before Alex got back. By this point we’d be nodding and probably going, “Okay, I get it. I might not like it, but I get it.”

Alex by comparison is a total cypher where his background and his day-to-day life is concerned. We know almost nothing about him outside of his history of abuse, his tragic backstory with Michael, and his role in helping to uncover the mystery about the fourth alien. Yes, we’ve gotten to see that he is blunt and fiercely loyal to his friends, and he has serious issues with needing to be in control, which are all valid from a character development standpoint. I have come to desperately crave any and all scenes with him and Kyle because that seems to be when we get the most significant moments of character insight like that wonderful “I’m talking about a conversation, not a war” moment. But how much else do we know or understand about him that is canon, not fans’ headcanon?

Furthermore, the lack of context and representation around Alex’s disability as a veteran, amputee, and potentially as a PTSD-sufferer is really dangerous and feels like tokenism. The way they’ve written the existence of his injury feels inconsistent, and while showing his residual limb during a love scene was significant, they ruined any goodwill we might have developed toward them for that by simply never engaging with his disability again. Same with the fact that he is of Indigenous heritage, which we know FROM A TWEET but which the show has never actually engaged with explicitly, in a move taken straight from the J.K. Rowling Book of Bogus Representation. We don’t quite have enough information to know yet whether this is tokenism or bad writing, in Alex’s case, although I sincerely hope it isn’t the former. Based on everything I’ve seen so far, though, my hopes aren’t high, because it kind of feels like the writers want credit for representation when they haven’t actually done the legwork (yet?).

Maria suffers a similar lack of character development, and what started off promising when we got great scenes with her, Liz, and Alex and then met Mimi has quickly deteriorated to her being nothing more than Michael’s new love interest. As a woman of colour, that is lazy and shitty on multiple levels, and I just about hit the ceiling in 1x11 when they not only showed a black woman being drugged and her body used against her will--could you be more tone-deaf to those implications?!--but had two white women (Jenna and Isobel) accusing Maria of being a murderer to another WOC (Liz). Maria’s very thin character development in the latter half of the season has had the dual effect of making us feel like we’ve been cheated out of a relationship we have gotten attached to but haven’t been given time to fully appreciate or understand (Malex) and thrust into a new one that feels weak, arbitrary, and rote by comparison.

I actually don’t object to the idea of Michael and Maria as a couple. They have great chemistry. But I do object to the lack of development they’ve given us on either front, either Michael/Maria or doing serious justice to Malex as a ship. To think all of that could’ve been solved if the writers had slowed down the show’s pacing and actually given themselves and the characters time to breathe and get to know each other, and us them.

What I feel a lot of straight/white/cis/able-bodied writers don’t seem to understand is that representation takes care. It’s great to say you’re going to write a diverse show and have lots of representation, but it’s for naught if you don’t also understand that you can’t write diversity in the same way you’d write a character coming from a place of privilege, be it racial, socioeconomic, gender, sexuality, ability, etc. Part of that privilege is having a lot of generally positive understanding and assumptions about those characters already built in, especially from your viewers who share that privilege. Writing diversity takes WORK, a lot of attention to detail, sensitivity, and most of all the ability to listen. It takes a lot of consultation with people who have those experiences and know what they’re talking about, because the experiences, assumptions, and biases of nondiverse writers just can’t fully capture what minorities know and live every day of their lives. To do otherwise is how we arrive at whitesplaining, mansplaining, straightsplaining, etc. If you’re a white/straight/cis/able-bodied person and think you’ve done enough to positively represent your diverse characters, that probably means you need to do more. It’s not for you to judge how much is “enough.” That’s for your consultants and, most importantly, your viewers. And if those people are telling you you’ve missed the mark, the next best thing you can do is stfu and listen to them and try to learn how to do better, not get defensive or start patting yourself on the back for everything else you’ve done.

I think those principles can be applied to all the representation on the show, including that of POCs, the differently abled, and the queer characters. I think the writers have done enough with Michael and Alex as queer characters on their own, but they’ve missed the mark on doing enough with them together. Because--and I know this will come as a shock--part of writing queer characters is also giving us well fleshed-out queer relationships. They started off down that road, but at some point the road abruptly ended and left us as viewers feeling stranded in the middle of a desert. That’s uneven writing that results in a feeling of uneven representation, and as far as viewers are concerned, it amounts to the same thing.

Carina’s attempts to explain why they’ve done nothing wrong to viewers via Twitter and social media is sheer intentional fallacy. And while we’re at it, I’ve spent a lot of this season wanting to take Twitter away from her and throw a copy of “The Death of the Author” at her head instead. It’s not enough, Carina. What you intended isn’t enough if it’s not there on the page or visible to us on the show. As a writer she should understand that, but instead she is getting defensive of her abilities as a screenwriter and showrunner when fans pipe up to say whatever she intended isn’t translating properly. We aren’t seeing that representation, which means the writers need to do more than what they think is “enough.”

Add into that a rushed, arbitrary love triangle with an underdeveloped black female character and an underdeveloped gay POC with a disability, especially when those two characters are also best friends whose relationship is severely threatened as a result, and there’s no wonder why viewers are up in arms about this. I don’t think the love triangle makes Michael seem like an indecisive or promiscuous bisexual--and anyway, since when is being promiscuous a bad thing. It just makes him and Maria seem careless of Alex’s feelings and like Alex is the victim, which they could have avoided by taking their time with the characters/relationships, especially the vulnerable ones, or by avoiding such a lazy and unnecessarily dramatic trope in the first place, or at the very least establishing the characters and their relationships enough that our current situation felt more organic.

So really this kind of leaves us at an impasse, I think, as fans. I think people ought to keep speaking up to Carina if they think that will help, but I think it’s also important for us to be able to separate bad politics from bad writing, or at least be able to engage with them as separate things that occasionally (or frequently) overlap with disastrous consequences. I’m sure there are a lot of people who will disagree with this utterly, and that’s fine. Could be I’m totally wrong, and I am aware that I’m probably giving the writers too much credit about what they may or may not have intended.

But with regards to Alex and Michael, maybe it will help to understand what’s happening from this standpoint and tailor our approach accordingly. We really can’t take it upon ourselves to make demands upon the show in terms of what story they want to tell, but we can certainly complain when they aren’t telling that story effectively or when it alienates viewers, especially on points of diversity and representation.

But I don’t know. It could be the only way to make ourselves heard, to tell the writers when they are and aren’t doing “enough,” is to vote with our time, attention, and viewership, whether that means continuing to watch the show or stopping altogether. And that’s kind of a bummer, because there was a lot of potential. But if the quality of the storytelling is unable to make heard the voices and experiences it ought to, especially with such a receptive, enthusiastic audience, then maybe it’s time we start looking for other shows that do a better job, or better yet, continue to keep telling and creating our own.

Those are just my thoughts. Please feel free to discuss with me in the comments or via DM, because I’m still talking through this stuff and welcome the conversation and any alternate or opposing viewpoints.

I’ll be back in a bit to share a second post with my far less forgiving thoughts about Roswell’s representation of queer female sexuality, because that one’s a doozy and the gloves come off. Sorry not sorry in advance.

#roswell new mexico #malex #alex manes #michael guerin #meta #biphobia #representation

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fydk-translations · 5 years

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Cine21, Jan ‘19 issue: Kyungsoo interview

[mild spoilers for swing kids]

Q. Let’s start from Swing Kids (2018), your latest. Ro Kisoo goes about ruffling feathers, and his flashiness stands out from the rest of your filmography. I had a lot of discussions with the director on what was best for Kisoo. There was [a boy in] an old reference picture almost exactly like Kisoo’s character. He was in an old school uniform and wore his army cap tilted; even his pants were wide and baggy. He seemed trendy for the time and I drew a lot of direction from the picture.

Q. Ro Kisoo expresses himself through dance. What sort of experience was it for you, as his actor? When I stand on stage as an EXO member, our choreography and formations are already determined. It was harder as Kisoo because there needed to be emotion in every one of his movements and expressions. I was especially worried about conveying the scene where he dances to David Bowie’s Modern Love in a way that the viewers would find refreshing and freeing. It reminded me of my first time trying to dance - frustration because my body wouldn’t listen to me, how good it felt to get each move down. Also, I could dance as I pleased because the director would capture the whole routine and the big emotions. Big movements for happiness, fast ones for frustration. To be honest, I was surprised by the final cut of that sequence. I didn’t realize how brightly I had been smiling. That dancing is something happy and to be enjoyed is what I’d felt as a musician too, but I had felt this so strongly that the smile came naturally.

Q. It wasn’t something you planned to act out, but constant dancing is of course tiring, and that starts to show on your face. I’ve seen other actors say that actors who also know how to dance are better at filming action scenes, so it seems that your music career helps your acting one. All that happens when you try to put emotion into motions you aren’t comfortable making is that you ruin the movements and expressions. So for scenes where they’re both important, like the Modern Love one, I made myself familiar. When my body can move without my input, it’s possible to be expressive. All I could do was practice. Action scenes and dancing do have a lot in common, so I did have a little know-how from applying what I had already learned.

Q. The first and second halves of Swing Kids have totally different tones. As its leading actor, you must have put a lot of thought into handling the clash well. There was a part that I worried over for a while, without straying too far from how Kisoo would feel. The film’s tone shifts after the arrival of a supposed friend, Kwang-guk, to the prison camp. Kisoo’s mood worsens, but a sour face would have thrown off the intended tone. Kisoo wasn’t supposed to get too caught up in the atmosphere of that scene, and I kept his expression flat.

Q. It also seems like acting dryly ties in with your own disposition. I wonder all the time why, in acting, anger has to be obvious, why there needs to be yelling. Because I’ve never expressed my anger that way. I usually try not to let my emotions complicate issues. Of course, I have to adjust because characters have their own personalities, but I went with what felt natural to me for Kisoo.

Q. Swing Kids features both snappy cuts and long takes. Did you worry about how the editing room would preserve the rhythm of the scenes? I found it interesting rather than worrying. I liked the long takes because those let me get immersed in a location. I had so much fun with the scenes like the one where Kisoo keeps thinking about tap-dancing even in his sleep, and it would cut away each time with a tak-tak-tak! I really wondered how the end result would turn out. The Modern Love scene in particular, because (Park) Hyesoo and I had practiced and filmed for it separately. I was curious about what kind of picture that would make after editing, and I’m very happy with how it turned out. (laughs)

Q. There were a lot of iconic lines from the tvN drama 100 Days My Prince (2018). Bad delivery for the funny ones like “am I the only one uncomfortable?” and “the feeling you feel” would have weakened a sageuk, but you did really well with them. I don’t really dwell over how my lines should be said. The lines with the potential to become popular might have been funnier if their deliveries were lighter. But that wouldn’t make sense for a crown prince who had just lost his memory. To be honest, I did have some concern over making them more palatable. In the end, the answer was that I should just speak as the character would speak. That’s how I decided on the delivery.

Q. Conventional wisdom says that, for TV dramas, one must act in a way that the viewer will know what your character is feeling even if they’re not paying full attention. It seems your acting in 100 Days My Prince ran contrary to that. In the first half, you didn’t look at Hong Shim like you were in love. I think I just did what felt right. It would have been more romantic to look at each other like honey could fall from our eyes, as the saying goes, but that was unrealistic and wouldn’t have felt natural.

Q. Actor Sung Dongil said in an interview once that when he acts, he thinks of meeting the number 100 when acting with another. If the other is acting at a 70, he acts at 30. I think you make a good case for this with My Annoying Brother (2016) and Room No. 7 (2017) - in Room No. 7, actor Shin Hakyun made much larger actions than you, and in Brother, actor Jo Jungseok put much more flare into his character. I totally get what you’re saying. If there’s a character who brings the energy up, it’s good for watchability and tone and manner to have another who brings the energy down. I also learned how to lend realism to characters from Hakyun sunbae and about Jungseok hyung’s acting style.

Q. You’re the type of person who works diligently outside of the spotlight. I found that, in Room No. 7, you were constantly moving about in the background of some scenes, without distracting the viewer. Some of those parts came from talking with the director, but I wanted to fill up the space too. I found it fun to find things to do as my character that wouldn’t get in the way of the other actors. Even if the camera angle would barely catch a finger and I could honestly relax, I’d rather be doing something.

Q. The two most disparate pieces in your filmography are director Lee Byunghun’s Be Positive (2017) and the movie series Along with the Gods. Your acting as the problem soldier Private Won was especially convincing in Along with the Gods: Two Worlds (2017). I thought there was nothing smooth about acting as Won Dongyeon, and that was reflected in-universe with the film. I have yet to serve in the military, and I’d never put a noose around my neck over the guilt of causing another’s death. The director helped me a lot. We talked about his personal experiences, as well as the characters. Much of my base [for Private Won] were films and other indirect experiences.

Q. In a previous interview, you said that Private Won was the most saddening of your characters and that you probably wouldn’t act as someone that pitiable again. I found it amusing how he was introduced as a problem soldier who kills an innocent and thus might get hate. Right, that’s not wrong... (with a seeking gaze) but doesn’t he make you feel sorry for him? He made a mistake that killed someone, wasn’t able to defend himself to anyone - I felt so bad for how much he suffered from circumstance. I understand why some would hate him, but I still think of him as the most saddening of my roles.

Q. To be honest, while your acting as Private Won can be commended, the character himself is not admirable at all. People might misunderstand the actor because of the character. Many of your previous roles were of troubled, depressed youths let down by society. Did you not worry as an actor? Not at all. It’s not like all my roles have been dark, and I try to express a part of myself with each character anyway. I think, as long as I keep trying new things, the people who think that way will stop misunderstanding me.

Q. Then in that regard, Swing Kids’ Ro Kisoo is an important point for you. Very. He’s a very dear figure to me. I wonder what will come next? What do I have left to show? It’s exciting to think about.

Q. I can’t help but wish to see you a character with a lot of aegyo, maybe because you dislike it so much that even variety programs comment on it. (laughs) I think it’d be a fun role. I don’t hate the thought. (laughs)

Q. When you appeared on Naver’s Actor Chatter, you mentioned that if you could film a drama with actress Kim Hyesoo, you’d like it to be an introspective office drama where you’re a new recruit to her team. Then Park Kyunglim said, “And not a rom com? Kim Hyesoo might have a word with you!” To which you said, “With me? How could I (dare)...” Why do you think it’s so impossible? How would that even happen! I’d be incredibly honored, but there’s no chance of it happening.

Q. Maybe if your character was like Jung Haein’s in JTBC’s Something in the Rain (2018), where noonas dote on his cuteness... That’d be really nice. I’d like to try being in a drama like Secret Affair (2014) too. I look forward to melodramas in the future, and trying out thrillers...

Q. Yeah, you were good in I Remember You (2015). Really? (laughs) Someone like him is good too, but I’d like to try acting as a completely average person. I’d rather embrace a variety of characters, not just one type.

Q. It’s Okay, It’s Love (2014) and Cart (2014) were your first and second released projects, respectively. You had to act as a victim of ALS; I wonder how you prepared for it when you’d never even gotten acting lessons before that point. For that, I had watched documentaries for indirect experience that I could use with my imagination to make [it seem believable].

Q. I heard that writer No Heekyung helped you a lot as you were starting out? It’s a given that she taught me skills, like how recounting things in staccato will help me with my pronunciation, but she talked with me about the characters too. I absolutely want to work with her again. I really enjoyed Live (2018) and its focus on daily life; my favorite of her projects is the film The Most Beautiful Goodbye (2011). I related to it a lot.

Q. I’m curious about how you figure out characters when aspects of them don’t overlap with you. Right now, are you more the type to conduct deep research, or the type to think it out? I look inside a lot. Of course I do my research too, but I leave the next step to my imagination. Sometimes seeing the actual props on set help, but the more I think through my character’s personality and mentality and how he would act or speak, the more the set seems to build itself. That’s what I’ve been doing so far.

Q. There are actors who write diaries in-character, or go through the day performing their character’s routines, or make exhaustive notes on their role. Mm, I don’t write anything down. My favorite scripts are clean and light, and I just keep it all in my head. My memory isn’t great, so I think trying to be exact would make acting too complicated for me. It’s easier for me to play things out mentally and then concentrate hard on set.

Q. Didn’t you say that yelling at your mom in Cart was very hard for you, because it’s something you’d never done? How did you resolve it back then, and what do you do with similar impasses now? I played everything out in my head then, too. I just did it on set. How would I get angry when I’m by myself? I’m too shy to practice being angry in my room all alone or with the EXO members helping. (laughs)

Q. So you’re the type who just needs to be on set. I’m still not good at yelling. During Cart, I just said to myself (makes a sad face) “I’ll just do it when I get there,” but acting it out was actually thrilling. It was a huge thrill to feel what I’d never felt and to do what I hadn’t done.

Q. When I view your filmography, I get the sense that directors love your eyes. You get unique close-ups that show off the fleeting emotions in your gaze. Is there anything in particular you do to act with your eyes? Uh... (thinks for a long time) I don’t do anything except stay in-character. My eyes are a bit weak. Whenever my immune system drops or I get too much sun, they dry out quickly and turn bloodshot. It would bother the viewer if I blink too much during a touching moment, so I put a lot of focus on my health. My eyesight is honestly really bad. I can’t monitor well on set, so watching the fully produced release, when I can have glasses on, will be my first time properly viewing myself. I can’t wear contact lenses either. I’m told it’s because the surface of my corneas aren’t curved like normal. When I put in lenses, my eyelids will push them down. So I wear glasses.

Q. There must be a certain comfort to live with the other EXO members, who also have their own acting projects. It’s closer to gratitude from their support than comfort. We don’t talk about our acting. Like I mentioned earlier, I get too embarrassed to practice acting with them.

Q. Have you ever given advice they took? I don’t. They’ve pointed out to me when I was slouching or hanging my head before, but we’ve never given each other acting advice. It’s not like I have any seniority. So how could I, when we’re all in the same boat? (laughs)

Q. There are people who police what it means to be a man - including in terms of physical build - and like to suggest actors who fit their mold for certain genres [over other actors who don’t]. It was very gratifying for me to watch you find success in 100 Days My Prince, maybe because you defy those definitions. I don’t think much of their advice either. The admiration you feel from someone’s abilities, personality, or mentality is what matters. And I act for myself - I just want to figure out my own path, and to give my best in order to show my best.

Q. Every time, without fail, you seem unsure whenever someone compliments on your ability or charm. Yet, no matter how I look at it, you have high self-esteem. How would you reconcile this? When someone keeps complimenting me, I feel embarrassed. Like I’m seriously going crazy (laughs). Even by my own judgment, I think I have a pretty high self-esteem; it’s important to have self-esteem. Except it might not be connected to my abilities, but with my well-being instead. I have to stay firm so that I’m not ruined by stress, so that I can keep going.

Q. During last year’s appearance on Knowing Brothers, I saw you say you hoped to be a farmer one day. You like cooking too, so I was wondering if you wanted a life like you’d see in Little Forest (2018)? (laughs) The Little Forest series (2014) from Japan is a big influence for me. I’d like to cook with what I grow, and to live in good health in a small, quiet home. I don’t know when it’ll happen, but I hope it’s possible by my late thirties or early forties.

source: @wallnuut | translation: fydk

#translation #t:interview #2019 #d.o.#kyungsoo #exo #fydk

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stargazing-enby · 5 years

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For the fanfic asks (it's a lot sorry 😅): F ; G ; I ; K ; O ; P ; Q ; R ; S ; T ; U ; X ; Y ; Z

Hahaha oh god, this is a perfect excuse for me to procrastinate! Thanks!

F: share a snippet from one of your favourite dialogue scenes you’ve written and say why you’re proud of it.

Oh my god, did you know dialogues are my favourite part of my own fics? I have so many dialogues that I love. Right now I’m obsessed with some of my wireless dialogues. But that’s supposed to be anon, so… here’s one that I particularly adore instead. It’s from my fic Reaching Out:

“So…”

“So,” Draco agreed. “Why were you crying?”

“I don’t think I’m done crying yet,” Potter muttered. Draco just raised his eyebrows at him, which made Potter scowl and look away. “Okay, okay. It’s just…it’s not important.”

Draco had seen Potter’s dead body lying at the Dark Lord’s feet, and yet, somehow, Potter looked more vulnerable at that moment that he had at the time.

Maybe it was because it was Draco. There had always been something between them, after all. Something shrewd and irresistible; something dangerous and crude that stripped them of their walls and exposed their deepest fears and urges.

And now he was imagining Potter stripping himself naked. Thanks for the analogy, brain, he thought grumpily as he felt his cheeks heat up. “It must have been important if it made you cry like that,” he said, in an attempt to prevent Potter from noticing.

“But it wasn’t,” Potter insisted. “Nothing happened. It’s all in my head. I keep thinking–no, these thoughts keep popping up in my head and I… I don’t want to hear them anymore.”

“What do they say?” Draco asked.

“That… that I’m unimportant. That I might just as well disappear, because it wouldn’t make a difference.”

Ah, thought Draco. That was certainly something he could relate to.

“Potter, we’re all unimportant. Every single one of us is no more than the product of an infinite series of coincidences. But you, unlike the majority of us, have already made a change in this world. Maybe… maybe that’s why you feel like there’s nothing linking you to it anymore.”

Potter shivered and curled his legs against his chest to hide his face. And Draco did the least sensible thing there was to do. He searched blindly for Potter’s hand and held on to it.

It’s not that amazing, but I was really inspired when I wrote it, and I really think Harry would feel like this after the war - that’s why I love it XD

G: Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write scenes out of order?

I write short one-shots from start to finish (except when I base them off a random scene that popped up in my head and I jotted down in my phone notes). But with longer fics?? Oh boi. I’m that writer that has planned out 6 different scenes even before they’ve started actually writing. My idea dumpster docs are full of completed scenes that won’t take place in another 20k XD

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

Draco. And. Harry. Cuddling. Please. And. Thank you.

K: What’s the angstiest idea you’ve ever come up with?

Probably half the plot for my unwritten unpublished wip, La Profecía. And also my horrorfest fic, which I recommend not reading, tbh XD

O: How do you begin a story - with the plot, or the characters?

I mostly write fic, so… the characters are always the same. But for my original stuff, it depends. Sometimes I write stuff based on my girlfriend’s drawings, in which case it’s the character that sets off the story. Most times I just start my stories off of feelings, and the characters sort of form themselves out of thin air. I’m known for mostly ignoring plots and concentrating on feelings XD

P: Are you what Geroge R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story fold as you go?)

I think I’m right in between. I plan scenes ahead (as I already said) and I do like to plan out what’s gonna happen during long fics, but for drabbles and half the scenes in my long fics I just let my fingers loose and allow them to do whatever they want to do. Sometimes I don’t even know what the heck I’m writing.

Q: How do you feel about collaborations?

They’re rad! I’m participating on this collab fic by @rose-grangerweasleyisbae , @jeldenil , @quicksilvermaid , @smittenwithdaydreams and I and it’s so much fun! Also, I love round-robins and the Drarryland owlery exchange :D

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

@fleetofshippyships , P.C Cast (author of the House of Night saga) and… idk who else, tbh XD

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

Eighth! Year!

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

MPreg XD I can’t think of anything else. Wait, yeah - shipping Snape XD I just… no thanks, not for me

U: Share three of your favourite fic writers and why you love them so much

Just three?!?!!?!?

Okay, unf.

@fleetofshippyships . She’s amazing. She got me into Drarry because I found a fic of hers by chance and I’M SO HAPPY THAT HAPPENED. I just love her fics so much I’ve gotten into other ships and fandoms just so I could keep reading her stuff. I read her stuff when I go to bed and have the best sleep. I’ve created fanarts for her fics. I just love her style, her character interpretations, her angst, her smut - and her, too XD yeah, Zoe, you read that right, I love you!!

@tepre . Listen, randomly offering to cheerlead this beautiful person with her fic was like, the best decision I’ve made in a while. Her way of writing is the most original, funny, witty thing I’ve ever seen - it just makes you laugh, and then cry, and then shake - it’s just so unexpected, unheard of, perfect. And her Draco????? I will sell my soul for her Draco. And for her. She’s such a nice person. Seriously. I just want to meet her and hug her like, yesterday. jfdisdsfnds.

@rose-grangerweasleyisbae . There’s something about her stories that calls me. I just can’t get over Drarry working through their mental health problems, and Drarry being hella queer and gender non conforming, and Drarry dealing with depression, PTSD, anxiety… and cuddles. And Donna writes all of that. U N F. I fall in love with every single stuff of hers I read. ;-;

If I could hug any of these amazing people I would be happy forever. Also, I deeply admire them ;-;

X: A character you enjoy making suffer.

Draco and Harry. I’m a bitch like that. But I always give them their happy ending, without exception.

Also, about 75% of my OCs end up dead or losing the person they love.

Y: A character you want to protect.

Draco and Harry. Again. Oh, and also Sirius. They deserved better.

Z: Major character death- do you ever write/read it? Is there any character whose death you can’t tolerate?

I write about how Sirius’s death affects Harry frequently, and I also kill many of my OCs and have killed Alice Longbottom in my horrorfest fic (linked above). BUT. I don’t read MCD. I’m not strong enough. And I cannot tolerate Harry or Draco’s death. At all.

Oof, that was long!!! Thank you for the ask XD And sorry everyone who got tagged and had to surf through this whole thing!

#fanfic asks #fanfic ask game #ask game #ask #drarry #anti snape #harry potter #anti mpreg #ptsd #trauma #anxiety #depression

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strangeland-jewel · 5 years

Text

Q&A with Tom

SO, it all started with this

And here I gather all questions and answers from today with our favourite singer. Hope you enjoy!

*Note* Question with ‘ ******* ‘ in front is question that came with picture. If I have a permission from the owner, I’ll edit the post then. Now I’m just going to put *Note* behind it and describe what the photo is like.

**Do not repost any pictures here in this post (except the one with Tom’s dog which belongs to Tom). They are all from personal accounts on Twitter and I asked for a permission to post them only here. If you want to use the pictures in your post, contact the owners. I leave all the details for that below each pictures posted.**

Q: Will “It’s Over” ever get released? Love that song

A: Must find a home for it. One of my absolute favourites. So yes, I hope so!

Q: Any reading recommendations? :)

A: Stoner. Fabulous, if depressing.

Q: What kind of in ears do you wear? They look amazing

A: They’re made by ACS. Very good. I’d be more or less deaf by now if it wasn’t for in-ear technology!

Q: Thanks for your solo album! Great stuff. When do you think that the next Keane album will be released?

A: Can’t really say yet but it’s coming.

Q: Will there be any more solo stuff or will it be back to Keane?

A: I’m writing all the time. But let’s see what happens.

Q: What is your input on the new Keane album?

A: Singing as best I can.

Q: Do you think you’d have any plans to do a 15 year anniversary tour of hopes and fears?

A: Interesting idea but feels to soon for a retrospective move like that. Maybe the 25th anniversary. Or the 50th...if we’re not pushing up daisies by that point.

*******Q: In honor of Somewhere Only We Know being our family’s song *Note* A picture of tattoo saying ‘simple thing’ on the side of a body.

A: Nice! I reckon 90% of people think it’s “sympathy”. Well done for getting the lyric correct...cos I’m not paying for laser removal.

Q: Absoluted loved "time" being played at Hastings last summer... have you been writing anything else along that style of music? Or was it a one off?

A: Yep.

Q: Does the new keane album include any songs written by you?

A: Err no, I ran out the way of the Tim Rice-Oxley songwriting juggernaut.

Q: Do you have a regular ritual before you go on stage ?

A: Just pacing around feeling panicked.

Q: Favorite place in the world?

A: Family cuddle. (Sorry for the sentimentality there).

Q: Any advice for new musicians?

A: Write what you feel, don’t be afraid to enter the swamp of shame inside you and lay it all out there. That’s what people will connect with.

Q: What do you miss most about being on tour with Keane?

A: Banter that only we can understand with a darkness that should only be shared amongst friends.

Q: What would you say to a bundle of 11/12 years old who ended up loving your music after singing Under A Million Lights? If you sent me a message, I could show them in class and I can tell they would collapse (in thankfulness and awe!) They love you.

A: You are the greatest class of all time and you will save the world...

Q: Can you give me a birthday shout out?! It was yesterday!

A: Happy Birthday legend.

Q: Any plans on visiting Dublin for a concert soon

A: Be feckin’ rude not to.

Q: Are they any tickets left for your Harrogate show? #asktom

A: Probably!

Q: Do you feel as comfortable as usual working with keane? Has anything changed?

A: It’s like a mad old family which, as most of us know, brings its heady cocktail of love and pain.

A: For those of you asking about the dog. She’s a total pain in the arse...but very lovely too.

Q: Did you see the Michael Jackson documentary and what was your conclusion?

A: I can’t bear to watch it. It doesn’t sound so good for Jacko. Mind you, I’d say he’s got bigger problems right now.

Q: Is it a hard task to write a song (music+words)? For instance... "Quicksand"?

A: The hardest but most rewarding part. Lyrics are like a puzzle that has to be figured out.

Q: What would you say to the younger Tom Chaplin?

A: Go and see a therapist Tom. It’s ok, you’re ok, it’s gonna be alright.

Q: Best thing about Hastings /Battle?

A: Battle is all sweet, nostalgic memories for me. Hastings Old Town is lovely. St Leonard’s is a funky place these days.

Q: Which would you rather be attacked by? 1 horse sized duck or a dozen duck sized horses?

A: Definitely the horse sized duck. I nearly wrote dick then. Thank you autocorrect...for once.

Q: What do you feel when you listen "Fly to Me" by Keane?

A: We played it at my Grandfather’s funeral, so I think of him.

Q: What is "Closer Now" about?

A: Unrequited love. Long time ago!

Q: Would love to just get a hello!! I've been a longtime fan of yours, and listen to your music everyday. One of the people I support at work is 60 years old and completely blind. They love playing the Keane classics on the piano! They would love to know you said hello!

A: Hello!!

Q: In what way(s) has therapy helped you?

A: It’s helped in every corner of my life...particularly the corners I didn’t know about.

Q: Do you get fed up with me taking your photo at gigs ?

A: Most definitely not! You’re bloody wonderful Mark.

Q: Are you watching any tv show or movie you can recommend?

A: I’m just watching Fleabag series 2. Just got to the haircut scene...nearly spat my tea out!

Q: Do you like my username? *Note* this guy’s username is @tomchaplin

A: Huh?? That’s both clever and a bit worrying....

Q: Your opinion about LGBT community?

A: We’re all on this journey together, let’s accept all of our fellow travellers!

Q: What is Black Burning Heart about? One of my favourites

A: God only knows...and Tim. Tim knows too.

Q: Not a question more of a request. My son James has just started chemotherapy. He’s 16 and a big fan. Could you send a hello please

A: Hello James. Whatever happens, keep wearing that mile wide smile.

Q: My teacher just said if you reply to this tweet we wouldn’t have homework so if you have a soul please help us poor children out.

A: Pens down. Also, don’t worry about school tomorrow, take a long weekend.

Q: Do you like this photo I took of you

(Taken by Olivia from @xplodinglemon on Twitter. Here is the LINK direct to her tweet.)

A: Anyone who says life is boring without drugs hasn’t seen this photo.

Q: Matchy matchy. Mine are a pain in the area too. Must be a doodle thing...

(Taken by Lainey Farrant from @Lainey_Farrant on Twitter. Here is the LINK direct to her tweet.)

A: oh my, that is quite the collection. 4 of them??? You must be utterly bonkers.

Q: Last question, why Ipswich why not Man Utd???

A: Clearly I’m not a glory seeker.

Q: Can you remember how any of the old songs go? Asking for a friend. (*Note* Our drummer Richard came asking this himself lol)

A: Great question Richard! I think nearly all of them have a beginning and an ending and maybe some stuff that happens in the middle. Hope that helps!

Q: How does it feel knowing people feel so strongly about your music and have such close connections to moments of their own life? For me ‘Hardened Heart’, ‘Hamburg Song’ and ‘Eveybodys Changing’ have such close links to things that happened to me and always will #asktom

A: We’re nothing if we’re not connected to each other in this life. I like to think that I would be ok stranded on a desert island...but two days in I’d be a quivering wreck.

And that’s it for today! Did you send him your questions? Got his answer? I send mind several times but they are just not so interesting haha. Let’s hope we’ll have some fun like this again and all of us will be a little luckier than today!

#Tom Chaplin #Twitter #richard hughes #Q&A

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sitonmyhot-seatoflove · 5 years

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howdy love bug! would you answer 2, 8, 10, 16, 20, 23 for the music aesthetic asks?

I freak tf out whenever you call me love bug. it’s really precious. I’m never answering that last ask you sent me cause I wanna keep the “love bug” there forever. anyways

2. A song that gives you hope

songs that remind the that I’m not terminally unique in my struggles tend to give me hope. therefore:

My Body’s Made of Crushed Little Stars by Mitski is a millennial anthem and we should all listen to it - my body’s made of crushed little stars and I’m not doing anything/I don’t know how I’m gonna pay rent, I wanna see the whole world/I better ace that interview, I should tell them I’m not afraid to die. iconic and relatable

Good Morning by Two Door Cinema Club is a depressive episode ™ anthem and we should also all listen to it - I’m a sinner, I’m the victim. I’m an alien when I’m myself. I’m a healer, I’m a fixer, I’m a present danger to my health/why did I let it go? why did I leave myself no explanation as to why I’m here and not somewhere else? it’s reaping what I sew, I think I need some help

Class of 2013 by Mitski is my current early 20’s crisis anthem - mom, I’m tired, is it okay if I sleep in your house tonight? mom, is it alright if I stay for a year or two?/mom, am I still young? can I dream for a few months more?

8. Favorite holiday song that makes you feel cozy

Ho Ho Hopefully by The Maine is probably my all time favorite christmas song (tied with Last Christmas) and it’s definitely the coziest. just hearing the first chords at the beginning makes me feel all homey and christmasy

10. Song that represents the kind of role you’d have in a romantic relationship

Sunlight by Hozier - know that I would gladly be the Icarus to your certainty, my sunlight. strap the wing to me. death trap clad happily. with wax melted, I’d meet the sea under sunlight.

aka I’m a scorpio sun cancer moon

16. Song with a domestic vibe in your mind

Long Away by Queen has a soft/mildly uplifting domestic vibe, Drowse by Queen has a super depressing domestic vibe, Cigarette Daydreams by Cage the Elephant has neutral domestic vibes.

20. Song that feels like a dystopian future scene

Yellow Flicker Beat by Lorde and Meltdown by Stromae feat. Lorde, Pusha T, Q-Tip and Haim. both were written for the Hunger Games soundtrack Lorde curated which I guess is kinda cheating but they’re both just so fitting and Lorde did such a good job with that entire soundtrack. I love her and I love Stromae and I love Hunger Games

23. First song you would teach to your children

this one’s hard!! I feel like I’d probably sing Hozier and Mitski to my kids as lullabies. Work Song by Hozier and Nobody (live acapella version) by Mitski

thanks for the asks, qt!!!! sorry I turned a couple of them into essays!!!

#check out that acapella nobody version tho forreals #she goes off

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saferincages · 5 years

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rules: answer the soft Q&A’s and tag 5 of your most recent followers and 3 of your biggest fans, fave blog/users. I was tagged by the lovely @witchshour! thank you!!! ♥

what’s the smell of your shampoo?: I rotate my shampoos because I find it helps with the fragility of my hair, so I have a couple of different ones, but they’re vanilla, coconut, and honey respectively!

what’s your aesthetic?: (this tag, even more specifically this post! 💕) dusty pinks, delicate lace, flowing sleeves, fairy lights, wishing wells, masquerade masks, flower crowns, the twinkle of starlight, delicate notes from a piano, the chimes of a music box, anything that glitters or sparkles, painted watercolor florals, art of ladies holding roses, cute seasonal decor, the flutter of wings, hodgepodge collectibles that bring happy memories, soft blankets on a cold day, gentle kindness, sunbeams cutting through cloud-rack, the rustle of autumn leaves, the warm comfort of my dog at my side.

what is your favourite time of the day?: the time just before dawn (morning twilight? the wee small hours of the morning) when it is very still and peaceful, and the stars are still out but the sun is just about to greet them.

what do you like the most about the beach?: I haven’t been to the beach in over 20 years, so I barely remember it, but from afar, of course I have to say the ocean and its waves.

what do you worry about constantly?: Angel’s health, money (the fact that we don’t have any to speak of or enough coming in to keep making ends meet, and the fact that what we do have is rapidly running out), my mom’s health, my health, surviving one week to the next...

what is a song you’ve cried to before?: a shorter question for me would be, “what song haven’t you cried to before?” because crying to music on a regular basis is my most consistent hobby/only talent. (not even always because it makes me sad per se, or brings up tearful emotions, though of course music does do that for me on occasion, but often it happens because I’m so moved by/passionate about music that sometimes it becomes overwhelming and tends to make me spontaneously cry)! nothing on earth speaks to my soul as profoundly or in quite the same way as music does.

what are some relaxing tips for your followers?: stop finding a reason to hate literally every piece of media you watch/read, despite what tumblr says you should do, and just let yourself enjoy something purely and simply <- this is such good and necessary advice that I’m keeping it! remember that you are allowed to love and enjoy things wholeheartedly! also, please take time for yourselves when it’s quiet and you can set everything aside and do something that relaxes you (whatever that may be; listening to soft music, reading, taking a warm bath, communing with nature, anything that eases your body/mind). being gentle towards yourself is as important as being gentle to others, you need those moments of rest and care.

what are some things that make you tear up?: like the question about the songs, again, what doesn’t? stories, music, characters I love, the transcendent power of theatre/fiction/art, precious animals, but also pieces on the news (good and bad ones, and unfortunately a lot of tears have been shed over the latter), thinking about things I’ve lost and desperately long for and that I can never have, yearning in my heart for creative passion, expressions of romance and Romanticism, sweet cards and messages from friends...I’m such a weeper and always have been.

what is your favourite from each of the five senses?: sight: the brightness of a rainbow after a rainstorm, decorative lights twinkling everywhere in December | smell: vanilla, cinnamon, anything warm and good baking | touch: Angel’s oh-so-soft and fluffy coat | taste: sweet-yet-tart cherry, deep dark chocolate, freshly brewed favorite teas | sound: beautiful melodies, the sound of Angel’s paws padding on the tile

what is one alternate reality you’d want to be in?: if we’re talking hazy, half-dreamed realities, then I want to live in the one where I have a pretty, cozy little tea and bookshop (where we also sell baked goods and adorable pet accessories, and people can bring their furbabies in with them), decorated with plush, comfortable chairs and floral lace curtains, with dreamy music playing over the speaker system. alternatively, I used to really want to be an Elf in Rivendell, but now I think I’d probably be more suited to live in a Hobbit Hole in the Shire, which has a similar energy to the aforementioned imaginary shop, really.

what are some troubles you face on a day to day basis?: the unpleasant and difficult realities of my chronic illnesses and chronic pain, which lead to the fact that I can’t do anything on a normal, reliable schedule; exhaustion; anxiety/depression; the constant crush of grief at all that unlived unrealized existence lost to illness mixed with horror at our dwindling finances and how much we’re having to struggle to make it from one month to the next; the ever-present specter of death (I wish this was a darkly humorous hyperbole but it’s...not. it has become a consistent companion in its way. I lean on I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory for a reason). honestly, things are really tough and I try not to bring that on here too much (except for when it’s concerned Angel, especially in the last year), but it weighs so heavily.

what is one scene of a book that’s made you really sad?: this is such an obvious, almost trite, answer but I’ll never be over losing Sirius in OOTP. I’d like to be able to put something erudite and literate and unexpected here, but that was a formative fictional loss.

say something to all your followers: you’re wonderful. thank you for being here with me, I am always grateful for it and sending any love that I can out across the miles to you!

tagging (only if you want to do this, of course!) @songofthesstars, @featheredgrace, @christinedaae, @whereforewoof (I know you tagged me in a q&a meme not too long ago and now I cannot seem to find it, I’m sorry! please consider this one an alternate, okay? <333), @desireearmfeldt, @aelfenpath, @aselkiemaiden, @kidmannicole, @theimpossiblescheme 💖✨🌼

#none of you are actually new followers but you've all been in my activity list lately and also ilu #this is 9 people instead of 8 because i like nine as a number #(that makes perfect sense in my own head)#i'm sorry some of these answers are a bit sad in their frankness but :|#memes for ts #bubble wrap around my heart #about me

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hardwired-to-self-destruct · 5 years

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I was tagged by @cmft-jr-winchester , thank you!!

Rules: Answer the soft q&a’s and tag 5 of your most recent followers and 3 of your biggest fans, fave blog/users.

1.What’s the smell of your shampoo?

Macadamia nut.

2. What’s your aesthetic?

Leather jackets, studs, band shirts and patches, CDs and vinyls, anything black and gothy, skeletons, books, journals, coffee, autumn, typography, old typewriters, pillows, cacti, forests, black and red roses, planets, constellations, the sea / coast, watercolours and probably some other things that I can’t think of right now.

3. What is your favorite time of the day?

8 pm – midnight.

4. What do you like the most about the beach?

The feeling of freedom you get when you look at / listen to the waves of the vast blue sea. And seagulls. I love seagulls.

5. What do you worry about constantly?

Not being good enough for anything, failing, being unwanted.

6. What is a song you’ve cried to before?

Countless Metallica songs I listened to when I was sad.

7. What are some relaxing tips for your followers?

I try to leave my room as much as I can and take a walk or do something with my friends or family that involves leaving my home. I’ll go crazy if I stay in for days.

8. What are some things that make you tear up?

Seeing my loved ones and animals suffer. And by seeing animals suffer, I don’t mean eating them, but treating them like shit.

9. What is your favourite from each of the five senses?

Sight: Looking at the night sky, sunsets at the coast, certain people’s faces.

Hearing: My favourite songs, certain people’s voices.

Touch: Anything fluffy or soft (especially fur and book covers), feathers, a certain person’s skin.

Taste: Crispy or creamy food (not gonna name one in particular because there are too many), dark chocolate, passion fruit.

Smell: Freshly brewed coffee, phlox (a certain type of flower), certain people.

10. What is one alternate reality you’d want to be in?

A perfect world without cruelty, stress and pressure.

11. What are some troubles you face on a day to day basis?

Social anxiety / speaking anxiety, feeling depressed, getting out of bed in the morning.

12. What is one scene of a book that’s made you really sad?

When some really awesome characters in Harry Potter books died (Sirius, Hedwig, Dumbledore, etc.). And when Hazel (”The Fault in Our Stars”) met her favourite author in Amsterdam and he was drunk and behaved like a piece of shit. Felt really sorry for her.

13. Say smth to all your followers:

Hey everyone, I’m really shy and awkward and don’t know what to say, but thank you all so much for following me! Feel free to talk to me anytime. I’m happy to hear about your day, answer your questions, cheer you up when you’re sad, talk about shared interests, etc. I’m grateful for having you. Take care and stay metal!! \m/

My five most recent followers: @smellslikedavegrohl @devampake2011 @diamondog66 @grungnr @lauratheriotgrrrl

My three biggest fans according to Tumblr: @devampake2011 @cmft-jr-winchester @metalliocalypse

Feel free to do this, but of course you don’t have to!

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n-sniccersatp · 6 years

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Q&A Tag <3

I was tagged by @hyunjinsmoon <3 your blog theme is so cute btw uwu.

Rules: Answer the soft Q+A’s and tag 5 of your most recent followers and 3 of your biggest fans

What’s the smell of your shampoo?

Rosemary. It doesn’t really smell like that but that’s what it says lol.

What is your aesthetic?

I guess I have a couple of simple ones. Night time, like stars and stuff. Soft pink and soft browns like coffee and stuff like that. What’s your favorite time of day and why?

Night because I have a brother who is 4 years old, I have to babysit him often, and if I’m not he’s always in my room during the day so like night time is the time I just kinda have to myself. What do you like most about the beach?

I don’t really know, I don’t really tend to enjoy the beach often. I don’t like very warm weather, the san is annoying and usually, beaches can get crowded and I am not a very people person in public I guess. I have like really bad social anxiety too so like going to the beach and having to be around too many people is stressful for me. What do you worry about constantly?

Anything there is to worry about lol. I’m usually worrying about anything, even the smallest things. What is a song you’ve cried to before?

A lot lol. I’m a very emotional person with literally anything. I cried the first time I listened to Shinin and watched the music video to it. Before our spring is also a song that can make me cry anytime. Uhm, she’s in the rain by The Rose for sure, and probably a lot more I just can’t think of rn.

What are some relaxing tips for your followers?

Uhm I’m not very good at this but what usually helps me to relax is of course, listening to nice happy songs, washing my face with like really warm but not like rly hot water is also relaxing, defusing essential oils like lavender, peppermint, orange, and some more is also helpful. Meditation, watching your favorite show, playing video games, editing photos or videos. Studying something you love to learn about and again, probably more I can’t think of right now.

What’s are some things that make you tear up?

Anything lol. Like I mentioned I’m a very emotional person eek. But Movies, literally the smallest sad thing can make me cry. Abuse, whether it’s people or animals. The right song can make me tear up. Bad things with the LGBTQ because there shouldn’t be issues, i wish people just loved people for who they are. When someone I know or look up to gets hurt in some way etc. What is your favorite from each of the five senses?

Sight: Being able to see things and take them as they are. I haven’t really been many places before but it’s so nice to be able to see what the world has to offer whether it’s outside my window or if I’m seeing it from a screen.

Smell: I don’t really know anything specific because I have like a horrible sense of smell.

Touch: Petting animals. It’s just so comforting uwu.

Taste: Being able to taste coffee and lemonade, my two favorite drinks lol.

Sound: Music is the biggest reason I like the sense of sound because idk how I would live without music. Hell, I’m listening to music right now.

What is one alternate reality you’d like to be in?

Just a world without like hate and bad things? I think that’s what most people would say too I hope. No hate for anything and a reality where people actually listened without judging or forcing opinions or beliefs at you. This answer is ‘basic’ but it would be great if the world was actually just not hateful and stuff. What are some troubles you face on a day to day basis?

I would say just depression and stress, I know it sounds like really simple or basic because I see this kind of answer a lot with questions like this, but at times it’s really hard and I often feel so alone even though I have friends and family. My family never understood where my head was at and I just don’t and never want to like other people like my friends with my own issues, if that makes sense.

What is one scene of a book that’s made you really sad?

Uhm I read this one book, it’s not a storybook though. But the very first like the introduction of So much I want to tell you: Letters to my Little Sister by Anna Akana really made me sad because her sister died at a young age and in an unfortunate way, which was suicide. But thankfully Anna Akana is a big inspiration for me and actually helped me a lot at times I was feeling low myself.

Say something to your followers

I don’t have many followers and I’m not very good at talking to people lol so I just don’t reach out much to people cause I’m way too shy but if you’re following me and enjoy what I post or reblog, thank you for sticking along even though I probably seem like a really boring person. I’m sorry lol. Even if I don’t talk to you ily. <3 TAGS: You don’t have to do that tag if you don't want to. 5 most recent followers: @dead--shadow @starry-pcy @hyunjinsmoon @woo-jingles @stray-kids-stuff Hello sorry if I’m boring :( 3 biggest fans: @jjisungg @never-look-back-that-way @ari-hoshi-666 I’m glad u guys like my posts <3 ty

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kylydian · 6 years

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Nier Automata: Using Vocals in New and Innovative Ways

If I said that Breath of the Wild was the best OST of 2017, I would say that Nier: Automata’s held the most weight. The concept of weight is something we’re going to be talking a lot about. There’s no other way to describe the music other than depressing, dystopian, and hopeless. If you’ve played the game, you know that these are all themes you encounter on your multiple runthroughs. Strictly composition wise, I think Nier doesn’t break too much new ground. It knows what it wants to do, and it does it well. It does it fucking well. Something can be said for a soundtrack that knows so well what it needs to do and executes that better than it honestly should. Doing something so well that it’s genre defining is definitely a trait that we’re going to talk about in the future, but today’s topic is what makes this soundtrack shine: The human voice.

Instrument choice. When you’re selecting an instrument, how do you go about it? Picking randomly? Off the sound you want? Genre maybe? Most composers would agree that instrument choice is crucial, and it can set the tone for the entire soundtrack if you feature one instrument over others. The voice is the oldest instrument known to humankind, but how often is it featured in video game music? Pretty often! It’s used at climatic moments of the story, for intros, credits, main themes, backing orchestras, music performed by characters…the list goes on and on! But how often do you hear it in an individual soundtrack? Not too often. Voice is a really powerful instrument, and without a doubt is it the instrument that holds the most weight in the context of media, which is why it’s generally saved for special moments.

How often do you hear voice in Nier: Automata?

Constantly.

Ocarina of Time has the Ocarina. The Elder Scrolls have strings. Cuphead has the big band. Doom 2016 has the Doom Instrument. Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire has trumpets (Okay..okay…I’m only partially kidding.)

Nier: Automata has voice. The game has a huge soundtrack, and though much of the music is different, one thing is pretty consistent throughout, voice is the featured instrument. Instead of being saved for epic or emotional scenes, voice is featured just as much as any string, wind or percussion instrument would be in other games. This is huge. The amount of emotional range delivered by the voice is incredible, and absolutely cannot be understated when talking about this soundtrack.

If you know the plot of Nier, the use of what is arguably the most expressive instrument compliments the plot perfectly. It’s used to accentuate instruments, in place of instruments, for percussion, for story, for characters, for literally everything.

Why is voice so effective for Nier though? What does it do differently?

Think about what language the lyrics are usually in. English? Japanese? French? You do hear all of these languages in the soundtrack, but none of the languages are featured too prominently. Doing some quick research shows that the language is a fictional language made for the universe. In addition, the lyrics were sometimes improvised on the spot at the time of recording. It’s kind of a mashup of English, Japanese and French, but no words of any of the languages are actually used.

This is vital to begin to understand how vocals were used.

Using a fictional language does a few things for this soundtrack.

· It allows the tone to be easily molded without worrying about word choice

· It removes the literary implications of language

· It removes direct attention from voice

· It allows the voice to be presented as an instrument

When you add vocals to something, you have lyrics. Unless you’re singing only on vowels, there’s not really a way around that. However, while Nier has lyrics, they aren’t associated with meaning. There is no context, meaning that the singer can transition to vowels when wanted, presenting a very natural vocal sound without having to worry about choice of words.

When you assign words to music, you begin to pull attention to the vocals. And in video game music, while you want music to be noticed and loved, you want it to be in the background. Adding lyrics implies a story of some kind, which adds a focal point for the player. In general, this will distract from the most important element of the game: Gameplay. Making the lyrics unattached to literary meaning will probably get people thinking “What language is this?” But that’s the only focal point they’ll have, and it’ll quickly drop to the back of their mind. This removes any direct attention on the voice. Most importantly, removing the language barrier allows the voice to be presented in an instrumental context.

The voice is an instrument. But while the voice is an instrument, vocal music is not equivalent to instrumental music. I’m not saying that instrumental music is better, just that the mindset behind the two forms is different. This separation has existed all throughout music history and continues to exist today. One of the most important lessons on this I’ve encountered was when I was at a master class with the late band composer, Francis McBeth. He has an extensive library of wind band literature for all grade levels. During a Q&A, someone asked him “How many songs have you written?” And he responded very flatly with “Two.” It’s no surprise that the person asking wasn’t expecting this, so he clarified, “If you mean ‘pieces,’ I’ve written several hundred. A song features voice, a piece is instrumental.”

Now this could be taken as a condescending answer, but it does hold a lot of truth. In writing a song, there are many differences when compared to writing for an instrumental ensemble. You can’t approach it the same way.

Removing the meaning behind lyrics allows this association of vocals to song to be altered and approach a more instrumental format. This is where the soundtrack shines, and this is how the voice in the soundtrack is so haunting and appropriate.

For the overwhelming majority of the soundtrack, you’re going to find primarily instrumental forms and writing techniques, but the voice is presented as the main melody instrument within this context. This would not be nearly as possible if the lyrics were in a set language, even if it wasn’t our native one. We aren’t used to hearing the voice in a musical context away from the song format, even if it’s in a language we don’t understand. This makes the voice in this case very haunting, because we aren’t familiar with it.

If you think about where “songs” are used in game music, they’re usually used for openings, cinematics, climatic scenes, or credits. They’re used sparingly, and this is because the literary association holds a ton of weight in the context of media. Anime is a great example of this. When an opening theme is presented at the very end in the actual episode, that’s always the most uplifting moment, the most climatic moment, or the fuck yeah moment. This is because you take material that everyone already associates with and present it in a new way. Using song format for climaxes is so effective because it’s different from what we’ve come to expect from the rest of the game and OST, which literally accompanies the definition of climax.

So. How many “songs” are there in Nier: Automata? There’s a few, but in the service of gameplay there’s one: The Weight of the World. What’s the primary difference about this though? Well, there’s three different versions…

English, Japanese and the fictional language.

Weight of the World is also written differently too, it’s written in a very vocal form, with verses, choruses, bridges and literary meaning. There’s a couple of other songs in the soundtrack too, but they don’t hold the …weight that this song does. Sorry………bad pun.

This cements the fact to me that the voice used for the majority of Nier removes the association with being voice, and instead features voice to be a part of the soundtrack, part of the world, part of the lore.

When it clicked for me how simple everything involving voice in Nier seemed, my mind was absolutely blown. Making a language? Removing meaning? Allowing the voice to function as an instrument? All so that they can get the exact feeling that they want in a soundtrack?

That is literally the coolest thing.

Another quick note, after researching, I found that sometimes the tracks in the game were rewritten or altered to better fit the vocals. That’s how important the use of voice as the primary instrument was to this team.

There’s more than just this though. God there’s more.

One track I hear talked about all the time is the one that plays when the robot cult is committing mass suicide. Before the track starts to play, the cult begins a menacing chant, “Become as gods. Become as gods.” This chant has a very rhythmic quality to it but is somewhat displaced to simulate a crowd chant. Overtime as you regain control of 2B, instruments begin to enter, and music comes full swing. You begin your escape, but the chanting never stops. It’s quickly melded into the piece of music in the background. If you listen to the OST, the chanting isn’t part of the track, meaning that it was added in as a rhythmic chant. This is a direct musical reference to what’s happening in the game and the story. And the crazy thing is that spoken language is used for the chant! Granted the robots speak English or Japanese, but finally your focus is drawn to “Become as gods. Become as gods.” However, after enough time the vocals fade to the back of your mind because it’s simply so repetitive. But on they chant. The game will not let you forget what’s happening in the scene. Robots are killing themselves, chanting their belief that if they die, they become gods. The vocal lines, the driving rhythmic strings and percussion, it’s all written to add to the insanity of the chant. This is remembered not only for the content, but the way that music and story are put together. It’s a very surreal and impactful scene, but without the chant of the suiciding robots, the piece used would in no way be so haunting.

This soundtrack does so much good for video game music. These are pretty advanced techniques and conceptual ideas within music and composition, so how might we be able to apply this to our own writing and games? It’s definitely true that we can do something similar in our own music, we can find nonsense syllables, write music off of them, and present the voice in a similar way. Ideas are stolen all the time. I would be willing to bet that this has been done before multiple times. Nier probably stole the idea from someone else! Even I hope to do something like this someday! But I think the biggest take away from today’s topic is something I’m going to coin as “Impactful choice.”

Our choices in design, plot, art and music hold weight. If we want to make a statement with our music, we need to make sure that our choices have impact and carry weight. Writing an original language for a game? That’s an impactful choice. Presenting voice in an instrumental context? That’s an impactful choice. Without a question in my mind, voice is the most expressive instrument, but it easily overpowers in the context of video game music. Removing the strength that voice holds through language, and writing tracks so that voice is featured, but not overpowering? That’s an impactful choice.

Every time we write music, we make choices. Finding new ways to present music through our choices that people haven’t heard is how we get music like in Nier: Automata. Understanding instrument choice and how to alter instruments to get the exact sound we want is an important first step. But it doesn’t stop there. See how far you can take an idea. The farther you go, the farther you can take people with you.

Making a choice that can influence the entire project can be daunting, and it can kill the project if the intuition is off. It’s a scary path to take.

But most success stories start with a risk.

Here’s some takeaways:

General

· Nier: Automata removes implied literacy to help present the voice in an instrumental format.

· Story and gameplay can be blended with music to create unique tracks.

· Songs have words, pieces don’t.

Developers

· Your game carries weight. Capitalizing on the arts to add more meaningful weight is essential.

· Find ways to innovate outside and inside the box.

· Success comes from risk.

Composers

· Think about ways to use the expressiveness of the voice as a primary instrument without over powering the game.

· Write songs for specific reasons in the game, not for the overall soundtrack.

· When possible, find ways to integrate gameplay into music.

There’s a lot that can be taken away from this soundtrack, and it’s very possible that I’m going to revisit it in the future! The dystopian sound, the robot armies, the faction of androids that don’t know what they’re fighting for anymore. It’s definitely one of my top games from 2017.

Music adds weight. In games, make it your world’s weight.

#nier automata #Nier #2b #9S #Video Games #Video Game Music #Indie music #music #voice #composer #composition #cinematic music #Yoko taro #Kylydian

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yusukesmomjeans · 3 years

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I posted 26,966 times in 2021

108 posts created (0%)

26858 posts reblogged (100%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 248.7 posts.

I added 254 tags in 2021

#0 - 31 posts

#q - 36 posts

#reblog - 30 posts

#gin speaks - 30 posts

#txt - 28 posts

#inuyasha - 23 posts

#february - 23 posts

#sally face - 21 posts

#homestuck - 16 posts

#art - 16 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#does anyone know if this would also help with the insane allergies everyone’s been having? i don’t know much about plants so it would be coo

My Top Posts in 2021

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Knock knock. It’s a digger, excavating under the bow.

21 notes • Posted 2021-03-26 22:42:44 GMT

Edalyn Clawthorne is not just a milf but THE milf. Send tweet.

22 notes • Posted 2021-08-29 16:01:24 GMT

Ok, so as a 90s kid, I have some headcanons on the music that Sal and co. listen to:

- Before Sal moved to Knockfell, he listed to radio alt primarily. Some grunge that got airplay, some angsty one hit wonders like Dustin Sheik, a lot of Green Day. If you look up a 90s alt playlist on Spotify, the ones that have all the songs everyone knew, that was what Sal listened to. Henry thought that music was too heavy and dark and depressing, and absolutely panicked when Sal started adding a ton of metal to the rotation. Henry is like weirdly into Jewel, so Sal knows her music and pretends he doesn't like it.

- Ash listens to everything, and I mean everything. It annoys the hell out of everyone else, because if she makes you a mixtape you're basically playing Russian roulette. Is the next track going to be Opeth or opera? Tonic or tonal dissonance? She definitely doesn't think any of the guys listen to enough women, and does her damnedest to broaden their horizons. She likes Skunk Anansie, Bikini Kill, Garbage, The Raincoats, Liz Phair, Meredith Brooks, and above all Courtney Love. She and Sal both love Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger, and sing it really loudly in the car, much to poor Larry's chagrin. (He secretly thinks it's cute and it makes him happy, but he has to put up a fuss because God, Harvey Danger? Really?)

- Todd likes Dream Theater entirely too much. He's also into math rock (stereotyping, sorry), particularly Ent. He also really enjoys a lot of radio alt like Sal. He doesn't have to like a song to memorize it, because his memory is excellent, so he generally chimes in on the Flagpole Sitta car jam just because he can and it's there. He knows a lot of older music because his parents like to put their dusty old records on and dance when they get high, which is why he adores David Bowie. Also unrelated but years down the road I can see Todd coding everyone's MySpaces and making them look incredible because he's the only one who actually knows how to code.

- Neil is a lot like Ash but he likes pretty much everything, which is a big difference that basically cuts out all the truly weird stuff and any country not written by Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, or Reba McEntire. He really likes listening to things Maple recommends because it's really emotional and he's a sweet feelings baby.

- Sweet angel baby Chug loves anything heavy. For being such a scaredy cat, he really does like bands with terrifying cover art and vaguely scary looking musicians. Ash thinks this is hilarious, but doesn't say anything because she doesn't want to hurt Chug's feelings. His favorite band is Sepultura.

- Maple thinks liking the Cocteau Twins is a personality trait. She also really likes Gene Loves Jezebel. She has a venomous hate for NIN and complains loudly any time anyone even brings them up.

- I feel like a poseur even trying to take a stab at what Larry listens to. Definitely Master's Hammer, because Ritual is super atmospheric and still suitably heavy. And everybody likes Mayhem, right? But mostly Sanity's Fall. He knows his shit but sticks to what he likes, and prefers smaller bands and local bands, very "support your local scene and punch your local nazi."

32 notes • Posted 2021-08-02 17:16:52 GMT

The REAL reason Travis punched Sal is because every time he asks what "Sal" is short for he gets an increasingly ridiculous response. "Salivary gland" was the last straw.

37 notes • Posted 2021-02-08 22:32:54 GMT

@natalieironside @sabertoothwalrus

Sometimes my dash just knows things

109 notes • Posted 2021-08-11 13:31:33 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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caltropspress · 3 years

Text

Notes on AKAI SOLO’s Eleventh Wind

Rhythm in poetry need not be “smooth” or “musical” (since that word has a questionable meaning). Be cautious of these descriptions as a so-called “good ear.”

—“Manifesto” from Russell Atkins’ Juxtapositions

I try to become really liquid with the shit—not even liquid. I try to become formless.

—AKAI SOLO

Always the same thing. A drop of hope glimmers, then a sea of despair begins to rage, and always the pain, always the pain, always the anguish, always one and the same thing.

—Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich

I've been robbing motherfuckers since the slave ships.

—The Notorious B.I.G., “Gimme the Loot”

There’s an “unfinished” aesthetic (I mean it gently, fondly) to AKAI SOLO’s work. His rhymes often start in medias res. The listener needs to become oriented to what he’s spewing, but he barely allows you to catch your breath. For anyone who’s ever been thrown [au]topsy-turvy by an ocean’s wave, you can respect the power of the primordial soup flow. Each verse is a wipeout. It’s Ron Wilson’s relentless drums on the Surfaris’ 1963 “Wipe Out” and the Fat Boys’ rollicking 1987 version all at once—joy pulled from despair.

2. “…a sunken system”

What is flow? In AKAI’s case, it’s something abrupt—both a step-up and a step-to. Is it free-form? Is it automatic writing gone horribly wrong? Is it asemic writing? Is it a Ouija-like push of the pen across the page? A flower doodled on scrap paper? Is it AKAI’s language acquisition happening in real time—a babbling? It’s not an infantile flow, though. Mannish boy? Man-child? It sometimes sounds like lips smacking of Mississippi mud. Think of AKAI on Shrine’s “Parables” (which begins with the lapping of waves—not the babbling brook): he takes “a deep sea soak in plasma.” The structure and borders of AKAI’s bars are liquid (formless); his words wash over.

3. “Pondering of the painter in between strokes.” (An Unknown Infinite, “Concrete Slides”)

Who’s out of pocket? Geochemistry tells us small pockets of water pulsate deep below the Earth’s surface. I find AKAI to be offbeat in both senses of the word. He’s both outré and outer space. Antediluvian and FEMA flood recovery plan. His bars rupture the very notion of time, of meter. To rap along with AKAI is to have an out-of-body experience—our neuroscience skitters and we gain an astral perspective on what the physical mouth is doing. Sheldon Pearce has called AKAI’s verses “impressionistic.” Plugging into AKAI’s music is to induce the Stendhal syndrome—beholding the sublimity of Claude Monet’s Impression, Sunrise, but—more accurately—Calida Garcia Rawles’ Singularity, seeing as how AKAI keeps it hyper-real. He “signs” nearly all his songs—another painterly touch.

4. The Earth is a great place to visit, but I ain't stayin’. (J-Ro, The Alkaholiks)

AKAI SOLO is for the antisocial kid who quotes Bruce Lee under their yearbook photo: Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless—like water. Water is everywhere on Eleventh Wind, even if the album title suggests other elemental forces. AKAI sometimes slurs, but not drunkenly—this isn’t some stumbling and staggering likwidation: it’s a reflection of your own grogginess, your own inertia from sleeping on his flow. There are oceans between J.M.W. Turner’s The Slave Ship and the “Big Pimpin’” of Jay-Z, but AKAI’s poetics bridge the two. He comes at us, off-kilter, aslant, like the uneasy and queasy cover art for O.G.C.’s Da Storm.

5. “…a ship came, seeking harbour, fleeing from torture & swords” (from Kamau Brathwaite’s “Noom”)

The content often defies logical reasoning. He spits non-sequiturs in a literal sense, in that he does not follow. He machetes his own path (cutlass, more likely). AKAI is Cappadonna with his words—his slang is editorial, and it floods similarly. Zilla Rocca has called Cappadonna’s work “a waterfall of energy and creativity.” The same, seriously, could be applied to AKAI SOLO. I’ll call it logorrhea—and I don’t mean that pejoratively. It’s the seasickness you stomach so you can see the sunset from hundreds of miles off land.

The songs on Eleventh Wind are essentially single verses. There’s no middle eight, only an interminable Middle Passage. And water is everywhere.

AKAI’s lineage traces to the same cove you’d find Mr. Complex and Saafir washed ashore. Like those predecessors, his un-rhymes and rhythm-driven bars beat against the rocks, ebbing just when you think he’s flowing. He’s an H2O proof MC. He’s Black hydropower, and, like the ancestors, AKAI continues to speak of rivers, of swerve of shore to bend of bay.

On “An Ode to the Isolated,” argov’s production sounds submerged, certifiably Cousteau. We’re immediately in the deep, and the beat platforms AKAI’s aqua-lung breath control. He’s “in a den of dissonance dissolving,” which puts language to what’s happening sonically here better than a critic ever could. AKAI is “overwhelmed by your deep blueness”—the vast blue sea. These are pandemic blues. The Covid-minded lyric, “Masks donned as requested,” doubles as the masculine trap to swallow pain, smothering emotion in gritty sand, while still forward-facing a street persona. AKAI has acknowledged Eleventh Wind was, in part, generated from a depressive state.

[Testimony of John Cranston, a sailor upon the Polly, describing a slave woman hoisted down to sea from the mainmast in a chair after being isolated for small pox, June 15, 1791]

Q: Did you not hear her speak or make any Noises when she was thrown over—or see her struggle? A: No—a Mask was ty’d round her mouth & Eyes that she could not, & it was done to prevent her making any Noise that the other Slaves might not hear, least they should rise. Q: Do you recollect to hear the Capt. say any thing after the scene was ended? A: All he said was he was sorry he had lost so good a Chair. Q: Did any person endeavour to prevent him throwing her [over]board? A: No.

“Tetsuo” draws on Tsukamoto’s trilogy of cyberpunk perversity. How AKAI could feel “washed before the water touch the skin” is beyond me, as the skin crawls with maggots. The penetration of metal rods, but no tetanus—no lockjaw. Only body horror flow. He’s sketching futures—and all of them are nightmarish: “Surrounded by a blanket of ashes, / We all fall down like that one song said we would.” AKAI vaguely alludes to a plague rhyme of yore. And the uncertainties we’re living with come through even in his drafts, as the liner notes on PTP’s cassette release of the album provide a set of lyric options: “Surrounded by a sea/bed/blanket…” Choose your own misadventure.

9. From at least the sixteenth century onward, a major part of the ocean engineering of ships has been to...minimize the wake. But the effect of trauma is the opposite. It is to make maximal the wake. (Christina Sharpe, In the Wake: On Blackness and Being)

On “Tainted,” AKAI—young as he may be—identifies the foolishness of some of his peers: “N----s wanna toast on a slave ship / …sinking with the drink.” AKAI suggests they’re still on the slave ship, ignorant of the fact. When he goes off on a paranoid tangent full of what seem to be elementary internal rhymes, it’s anything but: “hitting a lark / in the dark / in the park / skill a shark / or a narc / ill a mark on his job every time.” This litany of monosyllabic rhymes sounds an alarm.

10. “Even though the vessels differ, we’re all still sailing. / …navigation through suffering.”

“Still Sailing” acts as a centerpiece for the water imagery on Eleventh Wind. It’s also a self-assessment of his style. The “wavelength irregular” puns on wave and owns the irregular flow; “my groove goofy,” he admits. His vulnerability is stunning, refreshing: “I was ensuring my work was worth something.” Such vulnerability is liquid, is flux, reflects reality:

In a dirt sea, all I am is a seed Reaching for what I mean to Rooted in what it is, galvanized by what can be.

Even AKAI’s other nature metaphors—like earth (be it rare-earth or “Real Earth,” no matter), seeds, and roots—are built on water ones (“dirt sea”). This is Wallace Stevens-level abstraction. “Flowing like katanas of grass / Landscaping through with blazing sound waves” does it again (“flowing”/��grass”). And, of course, the mention of flowing katanas invites a Liquid Swords comparison. With the even cuts of AKAI’s sharp lyrics, it’s warranted.

I want to feel like Vast Aire, “like Moses with a staff that parts the Red Sea,” but it’s not so simple. Meaning is slippery on the album—hard to get your footing, your sea legs. Listeners are pulled into rip-tides and torn asunder, repeatedly. AKAI’s songs are raw—not in a hardcore way—in a work-in-progress sense, the way some of the most sincere songs humans have recorded are at times unfinished ones. Like Dylan’s “Santa Fe,” for instance, where the words converge into a slurry.

11. “Your water heavier than it’s supposed to be and they know that.”

On “Candor,” AKAI speaks on the burden of family discord, a “dilemma with me and mines.” In venting, he channels and subverts LL Cool J: “Don’t call it a comeback / These are just preliminary steps / On your back like structural racism is.” Where LL foregrounded his pugnacious masculinity, masking his insecurities (all the while calling for his “Mama”), AKAI is more likely to allow his tears to rain down like a monsoon. Candor has its origins in kand, meaning “to shine.” AKAI’s words offer glimmers of clarity, of openness.

12. “Depression stirs me before the morning chirps.”

Eleventh Wind closes with “Nebula”—gases flow, dust is bathed in glowing starlight. Again, we’re persevering: “Sound like nil singing / Feeling like nebula unraveling / Feeling like infinity expanding.” The consecutive gerunds emphasize AKAI’s desperation. He’s nihilistic here, nonexistent (“nil”) and grasping for meaning. In that way, he’s not so different from us approaching his music. Whether people are hot or cold, irate or aloof, he turns to water for comfort: “When I want to feel the heat I don’t get from people, I resort to water. / When I want to feel the cold I know people for, I resort to water.” AKAI SOLO doesn’t just bless us, he christens us.

Images:

The Fat Boys & The Beach Boys, “Wipeout” music video (screen shot) | The Surfaris, “Wipe Out” 12” (Decca, 1963) | Fat Boys, “Wipeout!” 12” (Tin Pan Apple, 1987) | Jay-Z, “Big Pimpin’” music video (screen shot) | J.M.W. Turner, The Slave Ship (1840) | Originoo Gunn Clappaz, Da Storm cassette cover (Duck Down/Priority Records, 1996) | Claudia Garcia Rawles, Singularity (2018) | The Alkaholiks, Likwidation album cover (Loud, 1997) | James Neagle, Frontispiece for the Dying Negro (1793) | Screen shot from Tetsuo II: Body Hammer (Shinya Tsukamoto, 1992) | Hokusai, Feminine Wave (1845) | Carina Nebula, NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team | Claude Monet, Impression, Sunrise (1872)

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