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lackablazeical · 10 months

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Apologies for the repeat ask, I just think mine got lost in all the others and now that you're answering asks I just wanted to try again so please ignore the first one if you manage to find it (again, really sorry if this bothers you and thanks for taking the time to read all of this). First off, I absolutely adore this AU!!!! I love how dark and angst-filled it is and the toxic relationships and the characterizations as a whole are so brilliantly well-done. You manage to draw me deeper and deeper into this twisted fiction with you and your co-writters masterful ideas and art. Not to mention how refreshing and relieving it is to be able to enjoy all of this angst without having to worry about if the individual(s) behind this truly feel that those kinds of relationships work that way (ie. romanticises/normalises it). All in all, thank you so much for all the time and effort you and your co-writors have put into this, it's greatly appreciated and I can't wait to see more!!!

P.S. I feel like Hateful Ever After by Ellise as well as a bunch of her other songs plus Paparazzi by Lady Gaga work really well in encompassing the vibes Addams Leosagi gives off. Maybe some of Upsahl, Will Wood and Confetti (especially Rob a Bank) songs for Addams Mikey too?

Thank you gain for taking the time to read this huge text dump and I hope you have a wonderful day(s)/week(s)/month(s)/year(s) because you deserve it and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise!!

No worries!!!!! I see every ask I get, I just have like. The lowest social battery ever, and for some reason asks are included in that (yeah, idk either) so I don't answer often. Your words are so, completely, absolutely screamed and fawned over.

We love dark themes and it's nice to see that you agree!!!!! All the dynamics and stuff are always so fun to work on and flesh out, how toxic relationships manifest in loads of different ways and how to portray that correctly. Labor of love, for sure!!!! Sad that some people do romanticize or normalize it, but all there is to do is be better then they are, yk?

Thank you for your kind words!!!!!! They are so so appreciated, you don't even know!!! We have lots of stuff in the works, which is so exciting (and nerve-racking, lol).

Now, song reccs!!!! Hell yeah >:]]]]]

For Hateful Ever After, I think the tone is really Leo, but the lyrics hit me over the head with Usagi. Like, Spot on!!!

Don't tell my brother, please // I know he worries about me // Seen I've been losing sleep

The ones who told me all I need to know // But, I can't go back even if I want

Four eyes to watch each other cry // Three lies, you whispered to me that night // Two arms to hold my broken trust // One heart for the both of us

AS FOR PAPARAZZI?????? THE FACT ITS SO LEO *AND* ITS GAGA????? LEO WOULD LOVE GAGA OH MY GOD. LOVED THESE LINES.

I'm your biggest fan, I'll follow you until you love me

But I won't stop until that boy is mine // Baby, you'll be famous, chase you down until you love me

Look at the past blast, I'ma make you fall on your ass // Suck it up and pacify, but it's irrelevant

As for Mikey, I do love those!!!! ESPECIALLY Rob A Bank (hell, I put it on my OWN playlist, it fucking slaps). I also really like Ghost by Confetti for him too!!!! Confetti just seems to be really good overall LOL

I didn't listen to too many songs by each artist, just some of the first that popped up, but I really loved both Drugs and People I Don't Like by UPSAHL for him too! That's really how Mikey approaches his fame and the people he has to interact with because of it. He's there for the drugs and the party, not for the people. And he's aware they aren't there for HIM, but the connections he can give them.

As for Will Wood, Main Character is SOOOO Mikey. Bro really would call people NPCs LMAOOOO. I loved the line "God forbid I'm seen just as an average human being." That alone definitely made it an insta-add to his playlist :]

GOOD LUCK READING MY TEXT DUMP RIGHT BACK!!!!! HAVE AN AWESOME DAY TOO <333 THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR ASK!!!

#addams! tmnt au #addams! leo #addams! usagi #addams! mikey #addams! song recs #nice people :]

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feelbokkie · 7 months

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The way I knew hana was going to pull a dispatch yet she exceeded my expectation with basically exposing yns location and even her family’s location

Like how mad insane, desperate mean and a backstabbing fucking bitch do you need to be???????????

The sad part is that if an idol was dating a non-celeb they would actually have to deal with this hate and the death threats and all that just because they are dating a person whose job happens to be able to appear on TV where their paycheck profit, and earnings is fuelled by how much his work/Art is loved by people worldwide it’s really sad that even though they are normal people they can’t have that life and anyone who enters it is also deprived of it

Even when idols date each other they still receive it just because it’s not the ship people wanted it’s just less if it’s another idol and not a normal person

The way people are willing to hurt a person and their family just because of a dumb reason it’s crazy to me they are innocent people who literally have done no harm to anyone when there are criminals who are able to walk around freely waving their hands and people preach that love is love and people have the freedom when in reality it’s a huge contradiction and there are limits and boundaries that are completely out of reason unfortunately

It’s actually saddens me that especially in the K-pop industry idols are silenced because of how toxic fans can get, and that’s literally the reason why Chan’s room was taken away from us because some went out of their way to talk accuse and make speculations which ended up hurting chan as well as backfiring at them and that’s why idols can’t talk freely it’s because of “us” the fans (not all but most unfortunately as their impact is huge)

Sorry for the long rant I just had to get it off my chest because these things are real, even though this story is a work of fiction and honestly they need to be stopped and shouldn’t be so normalised, but rather looked down upon when they do happen

-🐰

fun fact, when hana was on her phone when chan left, home girl was already making the fake account and everything. she was plotting the whole dinner.

i have nothing to add to your rant, bun bun. i think you said it all well. i totally agree with you!

#feelbokkie answers #sorry right number spoilers #sorry right number press tour #🐰 anon

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rainbow-0bsidian · 7 months

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Inkvater Day 12 • Car

#remembered #trc fanart #the raven cycle #my stuff #my art #noah czerny #normalise making art because it’s fun #not just because you’re good at it #inktober #inkvater #inkvater2023 #cabeswater #dream things #ronan lynch

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rainbow-obsidian-myposts · 7 months

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Inkvater Day 14 • Castle

I136 Monmouth was a hungry-looking brick factory, gutted and black-eyed, growing out of an overgrown lot that took up nearly all of a block. A clue to the building's original identity was painted on the eastern side of the building: MONMOUTH MANUFACTURING… Two of the walls were made up of old windows, dozens of tiny, warped panes, except for a few clear ones Gansey had replaced.

~The Raven Boys

#normalise making art because it’s fun #not just because you’re good at it #my stuff #my art #trc fanart #monmouth manufacturing #1136 monmouth manufacturing #richard campbell gansey iii #gansey #inkvater2023 #inkvater #inktober

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researchdocumentationdump · 1 year

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Further Attempt at Defining Aim

Angle

• How are you going to approach your topic and chosen media format?

I am going to Approach my Topic through an empathic lens with the understanding that Coeliac Disease can be a difficult subject for some people to talk about.

I want to take a creative informative angle at bringing awareness to the realities of what living with coeliac is and can be like. I want to bring awareness into a university space in a light and fun way while still being able to achieve raising general awareness. I am going to approach this topic as someone who hasn't yet been diagnosed with coeliac but has a strong family history of it and as someone who has grown up in a house with people who have it. I'm going to take it as an opportunity for me to learn more about an autoimmunity disorder that is hereditary and comes with the highest chances of me developing it.

• Based on your research did you find any interesting aspects of your topic that can be explored?

What I found interesting about my topic is the lack of creative awareness campaigns there are on coeliac, like no photography and barely any art related projects beside the short film Glutened . This has encouraged me to explore deeper down the road to see if it's even possible to produce a creative output like that. I also found it interesting the amount of mentioning of peoples misunderstandings that can just get very annoying very fast for anyone with coeliac or any dietary requirement no matter the reason.

• Define your angle.

... work in progress for the time being ...

taking an Awareness angle through providing information and a way my consumers can empathicly relate

in resent discussion with my Lecturer Inadvertently I simplify my overall aim and purpose to raise awareness in an informative way so that people are be equiped to respect and understand. hopefully;ly meaning the elimination of the stigma and silly comments made. and so that coeliac disease and any diety requirement is just normalised.

clearing up misconceptions.

Tone

Because I'm leaning definitely towards a podcast I think I want to keep the sound/tone casual and cheerful to add to the lighthearted discussion. the podcast I will aim to make it 10 minutes or a few short episodes to cater to the short attention span of us humans. a discussion element to my podcast will help make the topic feel more real and relatable. hearing others talk about there struggles and experiences allows the listener to empathise.

Depending on what my photography will be aimed at, incorporating visual hierarchy with the use of symbols, signs, icons, negative space, a main point of focus, consistent branding and colours, and clear but fun typography, will all add effectively. my next steps from here is clarifying what I want to depict, finding images and brainstorming visual elements that could represent coeliac and then deciding on layout and what will be the most effective.

in terms of colour palette coeliac is associated with the colour green. I also like the peachy earthy tones as well as this ties into the shades commonly associated with body organs like like pick and intestines. also a soft pink is gentle and can be associated with calm and warmth. this can help ease the intense energy that often surrounds campaigns and will be more digestible

Health Related Photos

They are usually animated and cheerful like such:

or they are dark and serious like such:

I want to combine the two.

Rhetoric

throughout my media outputs, I am aiming to combine two types of Rhetoric to present my argument, which are:

Logos: Comes from a logical perspective based on data and factual information. This will be to help cater to those who understand a situation better on factual evidence or logical explanations of things. I want to remember to link and justify my reasons for my choices with facts and research to make for a more compelling Campaign.

Pathos: Appealling to the audience’s emotions to try to elicit a response from them to win them over. given the coeliac is a health related topic, it will be good to try and use Pathos Rhetoric to get people feeling and understanding some of the ailments that Coeliac can cause.

Clearing up misconceptions

Using the video Glutened to influence how I approach my Photography project. what I liked about it was the artistically way. they displayed coeliac and getting diagnosed in a nutshell, summarised the experiences. also the narrative structure created a empathetic standpoint through relatability.

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sambinnie · 2 years

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I enjoy it when something is simmering in my head, and I’m struggling to think precisely how to word it, then I stumble upon something already published that just what I need, and often worded far better.

1. On comedy and its importance, David Mitchell on an old episode of Rob Brydon’s podcast (around 40 mins) says: ‘In our culture, there is a notion that acting something [not comic] is more significant and more important than comedy, comedy is trivial… I will die on the hill that something with jokes is better than something without jokes. You say things more powerfully, and more entertainingly, through comedy... Sitcoms: every other art form is about things changing, about moments of change and transformation, which is incredibly self-important, because… the general experience of human existence for millennia has been unchanging drudgery and a sense that that spark in our soul, that thing that makes us different, is being frittered away having a boring or dissatisfying lifestyle. There is only one art form that addresses that human experience, and it is the sitcom. Films are about change, novels are about change; sitcoms are about continuity.’ It reminds me too of the famous Ursula Le Guin quote, about the ‘bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid’.

2. Speaking of unremitting drudgery, I do also ponder constantly the same handful of questions over and over again (apologies for the large handful):

Has social media made us genuinely more connected to people? Why do digital natives have off-the-charts poor mental health and self-harm? If sexuality has been liberated from all those tired old confines, why do women and girls suffer — physically, emotionally, sexually — from pornography being one of the most consumed forms of media, and normalised enough that otherwise-inclusive, teen-friendly sitcoms like Brooklyn 99 joke about it in every episode? Why hasn’t identity politics widened the sense of ‘what is acceptable’ to create a beautiful unicorn world, but instead done a wonderful job of putting up unscalable walls between social groups and between individuals? Why hasn’t our constantly connected society built stronger bonds between the people with whom we spend our physical and communal space, with the result of improved support for the most vulnerable in that space? Have computerised and contactless payments improved our personal debt levels or spending habits, or just invited us to walk into a world of financial controls that benefit only the few? Why do we accept that technology has failed to liberate us from work, and that most people you know check their work emails for many more hours than those companies pay them? How does capitalism work when we have no more resources and no money to buy the things we don’t need? What is the government plan for when we’ve run out of nurses and doctors? With all the information at our fingertips, are we more engaged with local, immediate politics, or have media owners and politicians convinced us that it’s all too much, they’re all as bad as each other, there’s no point, voting is a triviality and haven’t you got something more fun/enraging/colourful/terrifying to look at?

(Some of these I have my own answers to, others I have no idea.)

When we need, viscerally, a better world, one in which we can breathe and live and co-exist, are we treating our brains well enough to engage with discussion, debate, changing our mind, admitting our errors, finding a compromise, abandoning our ideas of moral purity and opening ourselves up through community contact, crafts and culture, fearlessness and vulnerability, being outdoors and feeling the balance of nature that exists beyond the world of our tiny screens?

Three things addressed all these perfectly: firstly, and perhaps most bleakly, this twitter thread someone sent me about terrorist and murderer Ted Kaczynski. Didn’t we all have that phase as teenagers of thinking, ‘I mean, apart from the monstrousness of the unnecessary deaths he caused… has he… got a point?’ Turns out middle age takes me back there. Secondly, and more hopefully, this extract in the Atlantic about Russian troll farms deliberately tearing apart US society, and the signs that these same tools can stitch it back together. Thirdly, this fantastic book, out early next year, which not only continues the story of why we are all so fractured, but also what we can do about it, and the simple mental vaccines we can self-administer and encourage schools and groups to share, to inoculate us against the horseshit and idiocy that turns much of the internet into a cesspit. It’s OK! We can do it! But we probably need to make better choices about how we spend each moment of the day! And also maybe a global revolution of some sort! But I’ll leave that to the better planners!

3. One day, one day, I will stop fixating on why I dislike Promising Young Woman. One day. In the meantime, and after watching Don’t Worry Darling with a film-fan housemate, I think I have a little more of it: that PYW is everything I loathe about modern life.

She’s damaged, so inflicts that pain on others; she’s hurt, so her pain is the greatest; her nightly plan of — what, revenge? — will essentially radicalise even more dudes into hating women and believing we are all liars and manipulators; she abuses other women; her suffering is somehow heroic, rather than boring and self-indulgent; she deprioritises the feelings of others (her parents, her friend’s mother, her colleague) because ‘trauma’ is fine to have as your sole personality trait and honestly fuck everyone else; and more than anything, I loathe that her plan is to hate as hard as she can before actually, men carry on doing what they were doing and there are zero consequences. Compare PYW to Don’t Worry Darling (criminally underrated and almost deliberately misunderstood by reviewers), or Fresh, or Men, or Melancholia, or Shirkers, or Shiva Baby, or, of course, Under the Skin, and its flatness, its disconnection, its cynicism, start not to seem like thoughtful reflections of the protagonist’s injured mental state, but an early 21st-century glossy belief in those choices as the only ones to convey importance. Christ, I fucking hate social media.

4. This rice pudding recipe is mind-blowing, if you don’t mind the increased faff compared to Nigel Slater’s (I can’t find that one online, but drop me a line and I’ll send it to you). Also, I assume there’s a typo in the Olive recipe; I’ve made it twice and taken the 450g of butter down to 200g, and even that’s too much. Go for 180g and give your arteries a high five if they make it through.

Take care, gang x

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panthera-tigris-venenata · 2 years

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So, I'm learning for my history exam, and reading about "normalisation" in Czechoslovakia. Basically, the communist party decided to get back their power and everyone was miserable.

Anyway, my brain is still in Descendants!! Mode, so I'm gonna make a list, featuring the stuff communists used to achieve their goal and see if Auradon did it! Fun, right?

Anyway, I'm doing both post-1948 and -1968, to get more comprehensive list. And hopefully give Auradon some positive points.

Create an atmosphere of fear. Yep. Definitely. They freaked everyone out with pretending the villains were a threat still and probably also threatened to send any offenders to the Isle. I mean, why wouldn't they? It would be effective. ✔️

Political processes, like getting sentenced without proper trial. Almost definitely, but I can't really blame them with some of the more awful villains. Still, another check it is. ✔️

Install wide variety of annual celebrations and festivals, so people would be distracted. Ehm, Sea Side Festival in the Rise? All the corresponding festivals in other kingdoms? And I'd eat my boots if they don't have celebrations of Uniting Auradon and Creating the Isle. You know, Panem et Circenses style. So: ✔️

Prefabricated trials for your own. (Is it how Yen Sid got on the Isle? Is it?!) Like, hopefully not, so: ✖️

Trials with death sentence, prefabricated trials, of course. Again, hopefully not. That's why they have the Isle. On the other hand, one could argue that dragging dead Villains back into the land of living so they can suffer more equals that. Anyway: ✖️

Censorship of knowledge. „The gates to knowledge are never closed, but library is open from XX to XX." Does that count? Probably not. Anyway, the books in library probably are censored. (I mean, the US of America does do that, right?) And Ben's books are totally edited ad usum delphini and I'll fight you on that. Actually, the VKs probably have better knowledge of what happened/is happening because the Villains can't keep their mouths shut and accidentally reaveal the stuff the other one wants to keep hidden in an argument. Or very purposefully. That depends. Also, the people didn't know how bad the Iske really was! Ben didn't! Which further supports my ad usum delphini argument, btw. One way or the other, here we go: ✔️

Replacing the church of *god* with worshiping the regime. I mean have you seen the church with vitrages of the heroes? Definitely ✔️

Trying to isolate people not agreeing with the regime and basically anyone with their own opinion. This is literally the Isle. I doubt all of the inhabitants of the Isle were major villains, so: ✔️

State-owned and state-controled TV programs. We know that exists on the Isle, so why not include it as one of the many channels in Auradon? Plus, the tales of major heroes are definitely spoon fed to the audience at least once a year. The Beauty And The Beast the most, in a display of irony. Still, I'm giving them benefit of doubt. ❓

These freaking five years plans for economy. I mean, we know nothing of Auradon economy, but I doubt even Beast would be that stupid. ✖️

Closing borders. Are there other countries besides Auradon? And it's allies? No idea, but Auradon definitely gives closed borders vibes. Again, benefit of doubt. ❓

Restricting children's opportunities in life by what their parents did. Excuse my poor wording, but this is precisely what Auradon did. ✔️

Create breathtaking displays of art, architecture, etc, so people would be distracted by how awesome the regime that can built that is & have job. Ehm, like the statue that turns from King to Beast and back? ✔️

Family friendly policy, so people would be too distracted by raising kids to question wtf is going on & future economy would grow. I can't say nothing for sure, but there really is a suspicious amount of heirs and heiresses in that class, isn't there?❓

No elections, or elections with predetermined winners. Since Auradon is a monarchy, I'm gonna count that. ✔️

Also, bonus points for Auradon only: Ensuring all the country's heirs go to one school, so they wouldn't get any ideas. ✔️

And baning magic would be on this list, if we had any. Unfair. Like, magic is creating differences between social classes!! We gotta ban that, immediately!!

Did anyone ask to see this? No.

Did it help me learn for the history exam? ...Actually, yes.

And now it's your problem, too.

#please don't take this seriously #disney descendants #isle of the lost #auradon #the united states of auradon is not perfect #actually take it as seriously as you want #just don't fight with me please

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disaster-j · 3 years

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Sorry for randomly crashing your inbox but just wanted to shout somewhere that Theory of Love is one of the best Thai BLs and I don’t understand why it doesn’t get more love and attention. It’s a near PERFECT execution of the classic friends to lovers romance narrative. Delicious angst, believable conflict and redemption, strong chemistry and characterization, great actors, solid production and an actually coherent script. But it gets less praise than demonstrably worse shows. I don’t get it!

First of all! Don't you ever apologise for giving me an opportunity to talk about my faves that's like the best thing ever 😤

Secondly, you are so right about this. It's something I've noted before, both wrt TOL and other queer romances, but they just don't get as much recognition for their quality and/or rep compared to shows and movies in other genres. It's the romcom effect. Something a lot of people have been pointing out for a long time, but most people don't want to acknowledge, is the fact that romcoms and any works that fall under the romance genre in general are constantly considered inferior to other more "serious" genres by both fandom and academic critics. There's this belief that pain and misery is intellectual and happiness just isn't. Which is the stupidest thing ever.

For as long as romance has existed it has been looked down upon as a genre and, like most things, this stems from misogyny. Because women writing about being loved and cared for the way they want to be in reality is apparently something to belittle. Women getting brutalised, violated, murdered in unnecessarily graphic scenes? It's intellectual, it's realism, it's art! Women being loved and cared for and having their sexual and romantic desires fulfilled? Oh please, read some real books 🙄

And as mediums of storytelling evolve to represent other minority groups, the same sentiments bleed into criticism of those media as well. Representing queer misery is art. Having queer people exist in a world where their main problem is unrequited love? It's fun but there's no "substance." As if representation can only be good if it focuses on the bad things done to us by society at large. I, personally, am sick and tired of this narrative. I don't want more artsy "intellectual" stories that are just 95% suffering with a bittersweet or ambiguous ending. I just want to see queer people be able to enjoy their queerness. It shouldn't be too much to ask for.

This is why Theory of Love is, and will likely always be, one of my favourite shows of all time. Not just because the story is really well written and executed, but also because they go out of their way to normalise queerness. By which I mean that every single character's sexuality is seen as just another fact about them. The narrative very pointedly never questions their sexuality, and depicts how it can be fluid in a very light, wholesome, enjoyable manner. Every single character truly enjoys their queerness and is accepting not only of themselves but those around them too. These people are queer, they accept themselves, their friends and family accept them, there's no pain related to coming out. It's freeing and it makes all of their lives so much better. And sure, it may not be the most realistic portrayal of coming out ever but gods isn't it so fucking hopeful? Don't you just watch it and think, damn the world could really be like this one day. I hope I find myself surrounded by people just like this one day. It's aspirational.

So yeah, TOL is one of the most well-written and well-executed thai show I've ever come across, and I could write a whole essay on how amazing the writing and execution is if prompted, but even if it wasn't isn't it enough that it gives us a kind of queer rep that is just completely enjoyable? Shouldn't it be enough to just have a silly story about same sex relationships? Why isn't that alone enough for it to be considered good, especially when it's a story that has touched so many of our hearts?

#anon ask #answered ask #theory of love the series #theory of love #tol #khaithird #analysis stuff #clearly i have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this #also im not kidding about having an essay in me about the writing in tol #there's just so much to unpack there #especially the way that tol explores the different kinds of love through each of the main five characters and their relationships with eo #and their love interests #but i cant fit that in this ask im afraid #also yes this is okay to rb

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detectiveconnor · 3 years

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What makes you ship RK1K? No hate, I'm just curious.

no read more we die like men

Hello! The long and short of my answer to this is that the relationship is a very on purpose one that almost seems ... just genuinely healthy for each of them? They are both very real people who have to live and breathe and exist in this complex environment where literally thousands of people have these preconceived notions of who they are and why they do what they do, and they don’t unite over that shared “everyone thinks they know us” but rather over.. ”I want to know you”, they unite over there you are. Hello.

They treat each other as very equal and real and Connor loves to know that Markus is the sort to misplace his keys (and to smile like that, and that he survived what could have killed him, and that Alive Alive Alive is something that runs all the way through him, not just the surface)... and Markus loves to know that Connor blushes in his shoulders if he blushes at all (and that Connor has had his coin for a Long time, and that when Connor’s body posture tenses he Has Something To Say, and that they can meet eyes across the room because Connor has a joke and Markus knows he has one). They make a point of noticing each other and making eye contact and saying Hello, when they can, even if it is in passing. The first time Connor went out of his way to say, “Markus,” after a meeting finished - Markus had some next task to hurry away to (they both did) - and Connor stopped him like that to say, “Good morning.” That sort of noticing. The ‘we are doing important work, we are, but I see you, and hello’.

Dotpoints:

Their shared tenacity for Showing Up. Connor and Markus each have this inherent inclination to get things done, to affect change, to do what they can hands-on to achieve the things that they want to achieve: they are both very extremely capable people with their own agency. They don’t accept someone telling them You Have No Agency Here. They don’t lie down and let things happen. The fact that they’re together .. they set out to make that happen and they both know it, it was a very audible ‘I liked you and I chose you’ in their being-together.

The way they seek the Real in each other, and normalise it, and look for ways to know it better. Yes of course Connor is real and sometimes forgets to turn on the light before he checks the peephole at literally midnight, yes of course Markus is real and sometimes stubs his toe on his way across the living room, yes of course they are real and disagree about the legitimacy of rolling socks as a laundry technique (Connor rolls a pair - a single pair, the rest are normal - sometimes to see Markus wrinkle his nose when he finds them). Yes of course they are real and able to entertain themselves by poking at each other. Connor loves knowing these mundane things about this man who lives and breathes his Alive, and Markus loves that white-blue flash of Connor’s LED when he looks away and pretends he’s being innocent. “What are these?” because they’re rolled, what are those, Connor? (”They... look like socks,” that same false innocence, and tiny nod, and he hums laughter when Markus throws them.)

Connor brings Markus something lilting and light-hearted and insistently so. You may have noticed Detective Connor Connor is a VERY very funny person - he does it on purpose. He is a homicide detective who teases and smiles and makes fun in a very dry way (”You seem so human!” / “... Thank you,” smooth, “You seem so Android.”) which nonetheless communicates his point. He loves his work and he insists on having fun with it, it’s a personality trait he has to have because of where he works on the edge of suffering, and that ... Markus worked through the entire revolution surrounded by friends and yes he loves them and they love him, and Simon especially has some moments, but Connor - once he knows he likes someone (and that happens quickly, when Markus first notices one of his jokes and his eyes Sparkle that way) - brings humour into their work, and their meetings with people who could have made it a much worse meeting if Connor did not disarm them with a smile first. Markus deserves to smile/laugh more, the way he drops his head when Carl tells him he’s not a good liar. Connor being Connor gives Markus something More.

Markus brings Connor a warmth and lightness and a You Belong Here which Connor has always found it hard to turn away from. There’s the way Connor relaxes forward, in Markus’ direction, in the church, and the way Markus recommends Connor when someone needs police advice (even when Connor isn’t there), and the way he turns for Connor’s opinion when he’s caught that Connor tensed, or has something to say (and that - noticing - happens more often than he doesn’t, Markus learnt very rapidly, because he was Paying Attention). Markus respects Connor’s capability and his presence and the fact he belongs there just as much as anyone else, Connor has never felt he was being Tested or asked to be something he is not (”You are a detective,” Markus said to him, once, and even once asked him why with a curiosity that was I want to know more about This Part Of You rather than I want to change it, and Connor... gosh. He loves him.) Connor could have survived without Belonging at New Jericho and being offered a place there and taking up space in that particular location. He still would have done good work, but the extent of your place is with your people could have been ‘I will not actively kill you, but... you know, you’re you’, and he would have accepted his life with grace and kept going. But Markus is warm and light and always has been, always has counted Connor that way. Connor looked at Markus and saw Equal, and Alive; Markus looked at Connor and saw Equal, and Deserve. Markus being Markus gives Connor something More.

They are not less without each other and do not have to be for the relationship to work, they just take up space in each other’s lives and it is warmer and better and lighter and nicer and good to find each other there. They are kind and they reach because they like to, not because they have to. They are Them, the plural, because they could do it alone but Do Not Have To and so they won’t.

They trust each other deeply, and that is built on solid foundations. Their trust is what it was at its starting point and it has been built on not in building-blocks but in actions, in tangible events, in Countable Nouns. They did not live through the revolution together the way Markus, North, Josh, Simon did -- but they lived through the aftermath, and the surviving. The healing. The rebuilding. Their trust is earned, and solid, and real. Good lord, Connor loves being with someone who makes Real so loud. He has only ever wanted to live in the Real world, to live the Truth, with his eyes open. there is so much that is tangible about Markus. Connor feels it in breathing around him.

This won’t ever come up, but for the record: yes, their hearts are compatible. Each being RKs, it is possible they’re even a better match than usual. Their regulators are each their own - they are Their Own - but in a pinch, they could share, back and forth, shivering cold and Trying to Stay Alive, together.

this isn't even mentioning ... that they enjoy art (not just visual art: art), and looking for the truth out of people's intentions and words, and reaching for people, and sunlight, and music, and slowdancing to no music, and trading opinions about topics where there is no Right Answer there is just their own opinion and They Want To Know each other in that way, and playing chess together one piece at a time whenever they get a chance to move it, and Connor once explained to Markus the way the first Android astronaut was probably murdered in space, actually, but "That's outside my jurisdiction," and also it happened six years before the revolution, and ... my point is that is not even to mention that they have interests in common and they like spending time together, it is easy to do it, it is not a chore. This is not even to mention that they're comfortable in each other's space, and love each other Like That, and even where their interests do not naturally overlap Connor will taste Markus' paint and talk to him about watercolours and Markus will listen to Connor theorise about a public-domain case he found for himself to solve simply because he felt like it. their interests overlap and when they don't their interest in each other bridges the gap (if that counts as a gap at all; they have that healthy Distinction, and I don't know about Markus, but Connor really does love that about him, at least.)

i could go on / shall i compare markus to a summer's day, he is more lovely and more temperate (and I'm not sure either of them actually enjoys Shakespeare), but ... yeah. Yeah I just love them, you know?

#otp: in love like air #rk1k #ingrid talks #thank you for asking!#long post for ts #long post

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magicman111 · 3 years

Text

A Moth to a Flame - Chapter One

Marcy watched the sun slowly set on Newtopia as she’d done many an evening before. The sharp squawks of the gulls rang through the orange sky. She looked quite the forlorn figure standing by the hotel entrance, the gentle evening breeze that ruffled her cloak underscoring her solitude.

Her eyes remained fixated in the same direction her friend had taken off, maybe in some fleeting fool’s hope she’d change her mind and come sprinting back right into her arms.

Not a chance, Marbles.

Anne was long gone by now. Hopefully, she’d caught up with the Plantars’ fwagon before they reached the city gate. Judging by how quickly she booked it, the odds were in her favor. That girl didn’t make varsity back home for nothing.

Marcy only hoped those sweet, simple frogs knew just how lucky they were to have someone like Anne in their lives.

Sighing, her head lowered, she licked her wounds slowly.

Really? That easy, huh?

Could Anne have made it any more obvious that she wanted to get out of there faster than she did? After they’d been apart for so long, and for a family of farmer frogs whom she’d known for what? Months?

No, don’t do that, she pulled herself up. It wasn’t right for her to be mad at the Plantars. This wasn’t their fault. Sprig and Polly were a barrel of fun at the slumber party, providing you disregarded their life-threatening encounter with the jelly-fish ghosts. Hop Pop, meanwhile, reminded her so much of her own grandpa it was uncanny. They were sweet, decent folk who’d taken Anne in and kept her safe all this time. It was just...

Her lips twisted into a bitter frown. How else was she supposed to feel but a little rejected?

However, was she really allowed to complain when holding her tongue was so normalised for her by this point? Marcy was a people pleaser, she understood that much about herself. Anytime Anne and Sasha got into an argument, she was there to keep the peace and everyone happy. So if Anna-Banana wanted to spend more time with her bumpkin frog family than her literal best friend since preschool, who was she to say no?

The story with her folks wasn’t all that different either. When they pressured her to keep up her studies, up to and including PSAT prep despite it being years away, she did as she was told like a good girl to make them proud, and they were. She hoped they were.

Goodness knows what they must be thinking right now—

Nope nope nope! Don’t go there, don’t go there.

She’d already lost too much sleep at night ruminating over the unspeakable pain she’d most surely put them through, it was the last thing she needed right now. She tried to do the logical thing and focus on the positives instead. That usually worked.

Anne wouldn’t be away for too long. They’d be together again as soon as Hop Pop’s contacts returned the Box to Wartwood and then it was off to the first of the three temples to get those gems recharged. Once that side quest was done and dusted, it was a simple matter of finding Sasha and making their way home.

Looking down, she caught herself wringing her hands.

Home.

That sure was the plan.

I mean... what else are we supposed to do?

“Always sad to see someone go, isn’t it?”

Marcy quickly wiped her eyes and glanced over her shoulder to greet the towering form of King Andrias.

Almost instantly, her mood perked up a notch. He was the one person whom she trusted, more than anyone else in all of Amphibia. Ever since she first landed outside the city walls, he took her under his wings and ensured her smooth transition into this brave new world.

Andrias was without doubt one of the kindest and wisest people Marcy could have ever hoped to meet. He was a true listener, and there were very few you could say that about, her parents included. How often had he been there to lend both an understanding ear and sage advice over games of flipwart?

Games she won more often than not, she wasn’t humble enough not to brag.

It was also he who sent Marcy on the daring missions that would eventually make her the hero of Newtopian society she was today. All because he recognised the value of her talents beyond passing an exam or helping her friends with their homework. No other 13-year-old had their own solid gold statue adorning a city bridge.

She owed this king a debt she couldn’t possibly repay, but one he was far too altruistic in nature to demand.

Then, why did he look so... solemn?

“Come along, Marcy. We need to talk.”

Maybe it was his serious tone of voice or those specific choice of words, but they made the hair on the back of Marcy’s neck stand on end. In an almost pavlovian manner, she corrected her posture and she held her chin erect.

Shoving whatever remaining conflicted thoughts aside, she silently followed Andrias back to the castle like a pilot fish tailing its great white. She was so puny next to this tremendous salamander, he could crush her with a single blow of his fist if he so chose. Not that a gentle, goofy giant like Andrias would even dream of doing such a thing.

So when he was dead serious, Marcy knew better to zip it, listen, and do as instructed.

Their quiet journey took them all the way back to the castle and into the royal throne room, a place she was all too familiar with by now. To enter this hallowed hall was a privilege bestowed only to a select few. For Marcy, it was where she had her morning debriefs over bugachinos.

Instead of going straight up to the throne for their pow wow as she anticipated, Andrias guided her down a small passageway to their left.

When they made their way up to the statue of what Marcy recognised as one of his ancestors, one of the great rulers of Amphibia, they came to a stop. Andrias then gazed down at her with the most serious look she’d seen him give anyone.

“Marcy, before we go any further,” he spoke sternly, “I need to be absolutely crystal clear about something. Okay?”

“Y-Yes, Andrias?” Marcy asked, shivering a little. She did not like being pulled out of her comfort zone, not like this.

“You’re about to enter the most secret place in all of Newtopia,” he continued, now down on one knee and his hand hovering over her shoulder, as close as they could be to eye level. “What I’m going to show you... I need you to swear you won’t share with another living soul. Not to Anne, not to Lady Olivia, no one. Do you understand? I can’t emphasise this enough, Marcy.”

“Of course,” she answered earnestly, trying to sound more confident. “You know you can always trust me, Andrias.”

A ghost of that warm, fatherly smile returned to his big blue countenance.

“Trust is a hard thing to come by, kid, and you’ve gone above and beyond to earn mine. It’s just that I’m not exaggerating here when I say this is a big one.”

Marcy simply placed one hand over his huge index, the other over her heart.

She smiled back at him sweetly, genuinely, “I promise.”

“Very well.”

Nodding in approval, Adrias rose. He reached out, pushing a luminous coral torch upwards.

It didn’t take an encyclopedic knowledge of ‘Creatures & Caverns’ for Marcy to predict that the statue was going to shift to the left next, revealing the spiralling staircase leading to Frog knows where. She probably should’ve been more surprised, but come on, it wasn’t exactly the first secret passage she’d come across in this castle lately.

“Follow me,” was all Andrias said, before he pulled off the same coral torch, then proceeded down the stairs without another word. Marcy followed obediently, unable to ignore the unnerving chill that was now travelling up her spine.

Was it... always this cold around here?

Something about all this just felt so unsettling compared to last time. She couldn’t really explain why; she knew she was safe with Andrias and that he wouldn’t do anything to intentionally put her in harm’s way. It was a gut feeling and that sort of thing bugged a rational person like her to no end.

She tried to take her mind off it by hazarding her best guess as to precisely what he was going to show her. Either she did that or started getting all worked up dwelling on Anne again, which she’d rather not at the moment.

Another secret library, perhaps? Probably not, though she wouldn’t be at all disappointed if it was. Maybe there were forbidden texts about the dark arts hidden away down there. Magic users were incredibly rare in Amphibia these days—Marcy had already searched far and wide—so might this be her chance?

Oh, how the very idea of being able to cast actual magic excited her. Being Chief Ranger of the Knight Guard was a great honor and nothing to sneeze at, but to be a powerful sorceress, one who could communicate with spirits, raise the dead, shuffle the orifices on her enemy’s faces—

Okay, rein those snails in, Mar-Mar.

Her musings were interrupted by a strange noise emanating from below. At first she figured it was just her imagination, but the further they continued their descent, the clearer it became.

It sounded an awful lot like beeping. Yes, that was it. A progressively growing cacophony of bleeps, bloops and chirps, the kind she’d expect to hear from a high-tech supercomputer. Something absolutely alien in a world like Amphibia, she and her friends excluded.

Before Marcy could ask Andrias if he heard it too, she was distracted by the emergence of an orange glow chasing away the darkness below. It was a warm, almost heavenly light that conjured the mental image of a crackling fireplace on Christmas morning, protecting you from the snowstorm outside.

The chill in her spine had by now spread to the crown of her head and the tips of her toes. Her throat tightened up. Beads of cold sweat dripped down her forehead.

What the... Marcy could not say a word, only think.

There was something down there. Something greater than any library, however inconceivable that sounded. Whether it was good or bad was irrelevant to her at that moment.

It called her.

The duo finally reached the foot of the staircase and entered the sacred sanctum.

Marcy’s jaw dropped.

“Woah.”

There were no shelves of books. No ancient Amphibian artifacts. There weren’t even any walls that she could make out from where she stood. Just an apparently endless sea of darkness encompassing a large round platform from which both the enticing glow and the lowkey din of beeps originated.

Marcy resumed taking Andrias’ lead as they stepped out onto the platform, the clink-clank of their boots confirming her assumption it was made of metal. The whole thing appeared more at home on an alien spaceship than in the dungeons of a castle.

Upon arriving at its centre, Andrias knelt down on both knees and, much to Marcy’s curiosity, removed his crown and set it down on the floor. She took the hint by following suit.

Any lingering fears melted away the more she basked herself in the radiance. It was as if the beams were steadily pouring into her body, clearing up her headspace, reducing any tension in her body. She recalled a favored memory from when she was five-years-old, when she and Anne spent a whole summer afternoon by the beach. How the tides would come in and out without fail, washing away the ruins of their sandcastles, the seaweed, one of Anne’s sandles and the teeny tiny baby seahorse they rescued.

Like a nice blank canvas.

Was this a private place of worship? Not according to her expansive studies of Amphibian anthropology. Or maybe it was a place for Andrias to meditate away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the castle. Seemed a skosh excessive if that was the case.

“Truly captivating, I know.”

Andrais’ baritone brought Marcy back down to earth. She straightened up and tried to refocus herself. They were down here for an important reason, at least she believed they were.

“One can spend hours down here,” Andrias boomed ominously. “Adrift in their own thoughts and... dreams.” The light cast his face in a rather unnerving shadow as he stared ahead into the void. “But I’m sure you know I haven’t brought you here to show off my retreat from the world.” He took a long, deep breath, like he was mentally steeling himself for what he said next, “As much as it pains me to say it, I’m afraid I haven’t been entirely truthful with you, Marcy.”

He produced from his sleeve what appeared at first glance to be two giant pieces of parchment and unfolded them neatly on the metal surface. A closer inspection told Marcy they were in fact pages torn from an exceptionally large book. Judging not only by the size, but the font and format as well, she easily pieced together its origin.

“Are these...?”

“From the book we “found” in the wing?” Andrias chuckled mirthlessly. “Yes. Still kinda surprised you didn’t pick up there were pages missing, but that's not important right now. Please, read.”

The platform provided ideal reading light. Marcy’s ability to read at a 12th Grade level meant she cruised through the text and finished within minutes.

She read it once, then twice. A third and fourth time just to make sure her eyes weren’t deceiving her.

Her bottom began to tremble.

No... Nononono, this... this can’t be right. I-It’s impossible! How in the world can it...?!

No amount of curative rays could unfreeze the blood in her veins. The metaphorical pistons in her brain were firing on full cylinders in a vain attempt to digest this earth-shattering information. For a split second, she thought she was going to pass out.

Desperate, she turned to the stone-faced Andrias to plead for some kind of answer, but she found no words with which to speak. All the personal growth and development that made her Newtopia’s champion had been stripped of her and she was reduced to nothing more than a helpless lost toddler.

A comforting set of giant digits placed themselves under her chin, the same way a father would do for his daughter.

“All this time, I’ve been testing you,” Andrias told her, his voice full of pride. “The games of flipwart, the missions, the “secret library”, even the barbari-ant colony I had lured to the city. I was watching you, studying your every action. With each challenge I issued, you excelled my expectations. You’re an exceptionally talented human being, Marcy, truly worthy of the name ‘Wu’.”

Even if these words were meant to serve as comfort or encouragement, they had only the opposite effect for Marcy. Tears were leaking out the corners of her eyes.

She mustered only a pitiful whimper, “I-I don’t understand.”

“Don’t worry, kiddo,” he promised, “you will soon enough. He’s so excited to meet you.”

“... He?”

Lifting his mighty hand in the air, he thrusted it into the nothingness facing them. Marcy instinctively followed its direction.

“Marcy Wu,” Andrias’ thundering voice resonated throughout the sanctuary, “allow me to introduce you... to my master.”

No sooner had he finished, the whole world started to tremble at Marcy’s knees, throwing her off her balance. A rumbling, mechanical ROAR struck her ears so loud she had to cover them to protect the drums from rupture. Yet despite this sensory assault, she somehow forced her eyes to stay wide open. She needed to face whatever was coming.

Marcy gazed into the abyss.

And the abyss gazed back with all thirteen of its eyes.

Terror. Pure mounting terror overwhelmed every cell of her being. Her pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks. If her mouth stretched any wider, her jaw risked snapping clean off its hinges.

Everything around her faded into black. Andrias, the platform and its glow, the beeping, all vanished into the ether. All now that existed were herself and those colossal demonic eyes plucked from the deepest recesses of her nightmares, their leer burrowing into her very soul.

Marcy wanted to scream until she coughed up her lungs. Moreso, she just wanted to wake up. This was all a dream, it had to be. A lucid dream that had gone on for far too long. She and her friends weren’t in another dimension inhabited by talking frogs, such a notion was a scientific absurdity. She sure as heck wasn’t a ranger in some anthropomorphic newt army.

Any moment now, her wizard kitty alarm would ring and she’d wake up in her soft, cozy bed. Dad would have left for work by now, planting a goodbye kiss on her sleeping forehead as he did every morning since she was little. Mom would be already making her her favorite congee rice and youtiao for breakfast. Then she would begin the process of packing up her room for the big move to Oregon like a good girl.

Yes, she would even happily do that. Anything to bring an end to this ordeal!

Shhhh

Her train of thought screeched to a sudden halt.

Marcy

It’s gonna be okay

And just like that, as if those were the five magic words required, everything was fine again. No more panic, no more existential terror. Her heart rate lowered to a steady, non-life threatening level.

The tide had risen up and washed Marcy’s mind clean.

Like a nice blank canvas.

What quickly followed was an epiphany of sorts.

There was nothing for her to fear. Once she accepted that fact, the warm sensation from before returned greater than ever, engulfing her in what could only be described as a spiritual hug. She could feel the pair of hands, tender as her own mother’s, caressing her face and flicking away her tears. They even ruffled her raven hair in the same playful manner.

Come to me, daughter of Wu

Let me get a good look at you

Marcy obeyed. Getting down on all fours, she crawled across the nonexistent ground—the laws of physics evidently had no place here—until her face and the eyes’ chief pupil were within inches of each other.

Fresh tears, now ones of ecstasy, trickled down her cheeks and evaporated in the pulsating heat.

“You’re beautiful.”

I know

We’ve gotta lot to talk about, Marcy

And I have a feeling...

You and I are gonna become the best of friends

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