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destellolunar · 3 years

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SABRINA'S MONTHLY OBSESSIONS:

MARCH 2021

Fics:

Heal by AzulRoma (@roma-northr)

Tomorrows that follow @little-miss-sunny-daisy

Quiet light by coveredinthecolors

White winds blow by @helpless-in-sleep

Waiting for you by @misssophiachase

Picturesque by @supernutellastuff

Edits:

The wolf posters by @recyclingss

Rebelion by @labime

She will never forget him by @klavscaroline

Big bad wolf by @lyannainsomnia

Magic of pegasus and tangled fusions by @klarolineagainnaturally

Blogs:

@parallel-outlines

@likemypulse

F i c s

HEAL — AzulRoma

Summary: Devotion told through the pain swallowing their hearts; a display of love through the act of cleaning each other's tears. [One shot]

Why am I obsessed?: The way of words this author has it's wonderful, it's truly something else. This is a very underrated story and most people should know about this beauty and this author. Her writing style is really deep and I absolutely adore the way she writes Klaroline, their scenes always get stuck in my mind, it's the perfect mix of intense emotions and sweetness. This is an emotional story, but it's precious.

WHITE WINDS BLOW — perfectpro

Summary: Caroline Forbes waits anxiously in the Riverlands to hear of the return of her betrothed, Elijah Mikaelson, from the uprising against the mad King Silas. Instead, a letter arrives from his younger brother, Lord Niklaus, telling her of Elijah's death and offering to uphold the joining of their houses himself. She will become the Lady of Winterfell, but Lord Niklaus, waiting at the heart tree, is a stranger. [One shot]

Why am I obsessed?: I'm trash for GOT au's, and the univese building in this one is exceptional. The narration it's so genuine, I honestly felt like I was watching a show and it was really magical. The way the KC relationship evolves is full of tender, how they slowly built up a bond despite the tragedy it has behind was such a joy to read.

QUIET LIGHT — coveredinthecolors

Summary: Caroline Forbes sets off to the Bahamas with her boyfriend, Elijah, where she'll finally meet his brother for the first time. But as it turns out... she knows Klaus Mikaelson a little too well.

Multi chapter: 1/10 (in progress)

Why am I obsessed?: This is a love triangle between our favorite originals and it's genuinely amazing! By the time I got to the end of the first chapter I was freaking out, and now, the anticipation is consuming me. Plus, Luiza's writing is the most glorious and poetic thing ever and adds so much climax into the story. It's filled with drama and I want all of it!

TOMORROWS THAT FOLLOW — sunnydaisy

Summary: How was she supposed to know that the cute guy she had seen on her morning run was a prince?

That’s what she gets for deleting her Instagram.

Multi chapter: 3/? (In progress)

Why am I obsessed?: Modern royalty fic with prince Klaus and actress Caroline it's everything to me! It's beautifully written and the story is so intriguing and charming. It's super fluffy and it's the perfect one to put a huge smile on your face. Besides, this was the story that made me obsessed with the modern royalty trope. It's so good and brings light to my life.

WAITING FOR YOU — misssophiachase

Summary: Detectives Klaus Mikaelson and Caroline Forbes are forced to work together on an organised crime case. Given their growing attraction and close proximity solving a murder is the least of their problems. [One shot]

Why am I obsessed?: The world building here is so good, it's an amazing story and although it's about detective KC it goes beyond that. The importance the author gives to all the chacarcters, how she lets them grow in so many aspects, the details, the dynamics, everything it's sensational. I love this one so much.

PICTURESQUE — supernutellastuff

Summary: She doesn’t talk to Klaus about feelings. Ever. Or at least when she’s sober. Sure, there are times when their friends pass out and the two of them lie on the rooftop, looking at the stars, and talk. Or times when they go to clubs and instead of trying to pick up people they find themselves in a corner spilling their guts amidst the pulsating lights. But alcohol or some other form of intoxication is definitely involved.

Klaroline (with a little Steroline) AU/AH where it's a miracle the gang still have working livers seeing that they spend more time than they should at the bar.

Multi chapter: 7/7 (completed)

Why am I obsessed?: This is a really engaging story and one of my favorites parts it's the dialogues. The pining was there but also some angst that show how an incredible way with words the author has. The chemistry between Klaus and Caroline is so real and it was delightful to get to read all their progress. It is fantastic!

E d i t s

THE WOLF POSTERS — recyclingss

Both in my heart and soul I believe The wolf by Yokan is canon, so these posters are everything I needed to complete that happiness. It's not only an amazing idea but the edits are fantastic! She captured the essence of the story so well and I can't stop staring at them. They are so stunning!

REBELION — labime

Is this one of the most stunning moodboards I have ever seen? Yes, is it. I adore the black and white aesthetic and the intensity of the pics. It's absolutely and perfectly gorgeous, it's so evocative and the overall atmosphere for the are it's inspired by it's unbelievable.

SHE WILL NEVER FORGET HIM — klavscaroline

This edit is stunning, I really love the inclusion of those pink roses and the overall aesthetic of it, but one of the reasons I'm obsessed with it it's because it's filled with so many deep emotions and feelings. It's beautiful and tragic, and I'm a mess everytime I read the little drabble it has. I adore it.

BIG BAD WOLF — lyannainsomnia

I could stare at this edit and everytime I will find something that I love. I consider dark aesthetics and color scheme a little bit tricky, but this one is perfection. The manip is so well done and the moodboard it's quite unique, I got goosebumps for how amazing it is.

MAGIC OF PEGASUS AND TANGLED FUSIONS by klarolineagainnaturally

We should be all thankful for having Lottie's talent and creativity on this fandom. I mean, KC x Barbie fusion? I never thought I needed that until I knew it was happening! This gif set it's stunning and has all the barbie vibes, and combining my younger self favorite story with my favorite couple it's a dream come true.

The tangled manip it's so realistic, like how? The color scheme just screams fairytale and I'm trash for it. I know everytime I'll watch Tangled I will only think about this beauty.

B l o g s

@parallel-outlines is the queen of klaroline gifs and no one can tell me otherwise. Her blog is art! Her gifs are everything to me, they are so realistic, so aesthetically pleasing, so cohesive and perfectly made. I could spend hours and hours in her blog and I will never get tired, there is so much art to look at and it's unbelievable how talented she is.

@likemypulse I recently found out this blog and I have spent so much time on it. Their edits are full of colors and they are super eye catching. The way they match the pictures and made such beautiful edits it's something that I really love and that I look up to. It's such a gorgeous blog!

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creaticare · 3 years

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I'm doing this just because of one thing and I like to share ideas so @creatoor

This one is a work on progress for a fic of mine:

But Flowers and Butterflies this is copy and pasted from the summary of the fic this goes with,

Flowers and Butterflies they don't know when it started, but all they know is their meaning changed about fifty years ago. You might be wondering why it's Flowers and Butterflies, well they don't know why they just know that one soulmate gets one of the two and the second soulmate gets the other. You may think do they have a meaning other than something to bring you to your soulmate, yes they do. For the soulmate with Flowers, they beautifully bloom from where your soulmate is injured. The Butterflies are pretty much the same except a certain kind of Butterfly is attracted to where your soulmate injured themselves. Usually, the kind of Flower and Butterflies have a certain meaning to either the relationship between the two soulmates or a similarity. Before you meet the Flowers and Butterflies will represent a similitary, once you meet they will represent your relationship. People always love to watch the different flowers change, or see that a new kind of butterfly starts to come to them when their soulmate gets injured.

The Wall a curse to some soulmates, and something that feels like a blessing to others. It can also be known as the scissors while the bond is known as the thread. The Wall is what blocks the bond between you and your soulmate, something that can be mentally exhausting for the blocker, and physically painful for the blocked. Some parts about this that are known to both side of a younger soulmate bond is that for the one with Butterflies the beautiful creatures surrounding them at that time will die and they will never be bothered by the creatures unless the bond is dropped. A wall is kind of something that wards away any kind of butterfly from the person who has put up the bond it isn't just their similarity kind. For the flower soulmate, the Flowers will slowly wilt and dull until they no longer are produced. The Butterfly usually is not super affected under then the mental exhaustion, while The Flowers lungs slowly fill with the beautiful bud's until they choke, since the buds can't escape from where their soulmate is injured.

This is my edit to the Heterochromia soulmate AU (again copy and pasted from fic):

How this AU works is, anytime once you turn 16 it could activate, most people's eyes have turned by the time they are 21. The AU is one of your eyes turns the color of your soulmate's eye.

One Soulmate: only one of your eyes turns the color of your soulmates

Two Soulmates: Both of your eyes turn, one being the color of a soulmate's eyes, the other eye matches the other soulmate's eye color.

Three Plus: The highest number of soulmates anyone has ever had in history books was three soulmates. One of their eyes was a solid color of the oldest soulmate, the other eye had two colors blending together that belong to the other soulmate's. If you have any more than that, well scientists have never seen that so they believe it will be kind of like if you have three soulmates but more colors blend into the solid eye.

Last one I kind of have and it's an Edit of the Tattoo appearing/Tattoo Interest Au:

A couple hours after you meet your soulmate the beginning of a Tattoo appears, over the years the tattoo blooms during significant events.

So meeting a significant person in your life both the tattoos get a color or something that represents that person.

(This specific one is a bit based around a certain fandom so it's hard for me to explain)

And thats all I have right now

#fanfiction #fanfic tropes #fanfic #fanfiction tropes #soulmate au #soulmate trope #soulmate alternate universe #soulmate #soulmarks

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buffyannesummrs · 3 years

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creator tag game!

tagged by the LOVELY: @thosefunkylittleguys

rules: it’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

maggie thank you for tagging me in this 🥺 honestly you and clare were such an inspiration to me to start making content of my own and sharing my thoughts on this silly little website! I literally only started creating content in the past week LOL I am slowly learning to open up and share myself, as silly as that sounds! so I think I literally only have like 5 things to share and all of them are just supernatural parallel edits akjhsjkdfhskl

1. Buffy “Lover’s Walk” monologue // Supernatural Deancas: this is not so nice to look at because I didn’t edit the screencaps at all and the text is too small LOL but I really love that monologue and I put a LOT of thought and effort into the images selected! ❤️ I feel like this quote really encapsulates like the behemoth of the deancas story: 12 years and such a journey! Plus it just has such fun Spike phrasing - what’s not to love! I liked the parallels I included in here (purgatory hugs, MWWBK + S15 divorce scenes, starting and ending blood sigils) and how they tied into the quote. I really enjoy the finished product hehe

2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Grave” // Supernatural, “Swan Song”: I mean it’s such a cliche, character breaks free out of mind control / evil / etc. for love of another character, but it does get me every time. I love this buffy speech so much, it’s really an example of buffy at its best, where a phrase like “crayon-breaking willow and scary-veiny willow” can actually encapsulate so much heart and meaning. I also love the exchange of like “I’ll kill you.” “It doesn’t matter, I’ll still love you.” I felt like it went beautifully with swan song, since that’s really the thesis of dean going to lucifer - no plan, no hope, but where else would he be? I liked this one!

3. The Haunting of Bly Manor, “The Beast in the Jungle” // Supernatural, “Lost and Found”: my first ever edit! I have not been able to stop thinking about the burial preparation scene since I first watched it, and one day in the shower the bly manor quote popped into my head and bowled me over. it’s very simple but I really like it!

4. Supernatural, “Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets” // Buffy + Giles: this is definitely my favorite in terms of aesthetics - I actually got photoshop for this one ladies <3 I am still figuring things out, but I do really like how this one turned out with the color grading etc. and this just made my heart SO warm to make. can’t express the amount of times I stopped to sigh with a hand pressed to my heart, “that’s his LITTLE girl!” it was so fun to get caps of baby buffy and giles from the early seasons. the quote is very simple, but I love how it ties to the pieta image of season 5 (will I make a post about buffy as the christ figure and giles as mary….who’s to say)

5. Buffy Season 6 // Famine’s speech to Dean : oh I do LOVE this parallel. rewatching supernatural with meg recently we watched that episode and as soon as Famine started talking I was just like “HELLO.” I really liked the caps I selected, put a lot of thought into them and really what each one meant for buffy. I have many more posts I want to make in terms of buffy and dean’s character similarities

oh also honorary mention - the cas confession speech // spike “touched” speech parallel meta I wrote right after the confession aired! it’s just sloppy stream of consciousness but the dots….I was connecting them…….

I have also created some fics but currently those are JUST for me have not been bold enough to put them into the world hahaha. I do love to write and I am pretty proud of them though

if anyone ever wants to send me buffy or supernatural questions / food for thought so i can continue to clown PLEASE feel free <3 always love to discuss

WAIT I FORGOT TO TAG PEOPLE: @lexaprodyke @lazarusr1sing @effyeffa @jenderossackles @fionaappletini if any of you want to share, please do! <3

#maggie thank you again this was so lovely!!

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houseofvans · 5 years

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ART SCHOOL | IN SESSION WITH ROB SATO

From vibrant rainbows to familiar yet alien landscapes occupied by strange beings, LA based artist Rob Sato’s works are filled with creative energy in a loose minimalistic style. From watercolor, digital medium to acrylics and oil, Rob’s artworks and illustrations have been shown in various galleries from Giant Robot 2 to the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, where recently his original paintings for a comic called 442 were exhibited. We’re excited to chat with Rob about his work, his various collaborations and what he’s got coming up for the rest of the year. Take the Leap!

Photographs courtesy of the artist.

Introduce yourself Hello, my name is Rob Sato. I’m an artist, illustrator, and writer. Something people might not know about me is that I was a kid I was so fanatical about the Oakland A’s that when they lost in the World Series I threw a tantrum so big that I destroyed my bedroom and after that I felt so stupid I quit following baseball. Also, I’m told I have maybe one of the great poop stories of the world. It can only be related in person, so ask me about it sometime if we ever meet.

How would you describe your work and style? Eclectic? Kaleidoscopic? I’ve never had a concise answer to this question. I tend not to pin myself down because I think if I did, I’d stop making things.

Art is my outlet for the cryptic and obscure as well as the gushing spillover of foolish idealism and wild fantasy. It’s the only place I’ve ever found where you can healthily play with unhealthy thoughts, where you can explore undefined emotions, things that lurk out in the corners of consciousness that may be embarrassing or uncontrollable.

I love to make entertainment and decorative work, things that tend to be obvious, that communicate very clearly and reveal all their cards, but I also love to make work that hides things, that actively resists easy understanding or recognition and risks being super personal or unrelatable and strange. This can make things difficult, especially in the ongoing deterioration of attention spans, but I can’t help but pursue things outside of a pop sensibility and logical thought. I have to be, much of the time, in mental wildernesses. It’s hard to get there, hard to be there, and hard to come back, but it keeps me going.

Tell us about how you really started getting into art, and how that turned into what you do now? Was it something you always intended to pursue? I’ve drawn every single day for as long as I can remember. I never really thought about it. It just seems to be what I do. It’s how I have fun, how I solve problems, how I think. I’ve wanted to pursue other things like make movies or write books, but I always find myself drawing. Before I know it, it’s time for bed again.

When you are working on a new piece or upcoming exhibition or show? What’s your process like? What themes do you find yourself taking on? I explode. I used to plan things in a very directed way, but lately I’ve just let my brains spill out everywhere. I make a ton of drawings and paintings, and try my best to be fearless and open. Most of it produces failure after failure, but it shows me what might be worth building on, plus many exciting surprises reveal themselves in the process. As a show nears I start seeing what things fit together, what needs to be edited out, and how it all might form a cohesive exhibition. Sometimes the subject matter is the glue that makes everything stick, other times it’s the aesthetics. Alongside the explosion I usually have 2 or 3 pieces going at any given time that I’ve had long term plans for. These pieces can take take months or even years.

Thematically I’m all over the place. War and peace, realism and surrealism, grim realities and escapism, sober observations and dumb jokes.

What are some of your go-to art making materials? Are there mediums you want to explore that you’ve yet to get your hands on? I feel pretty comfortable with anything you can use to make a mark on a piece of paper. I’ve mainly used watercolor and various drawing tools for the past several years. I’m been having fun with acrylics and oils again, and I’ve started to play around with photography a little. I’ve had ideas for sculpture and film for years that I’d really like to finally get to. What I really want to get my hands on is more time.

Where do you find inspiration? What kind of things or people inspire what you make? Watching someone pick their nose listening to headphones and singing softly to themselves in line at the grocery store. Just watching my cat live her weird life. Even though the final artwork may not really show it, these places are usually where my ideas originate. Art has also been a place where I can put memories that have some abstract need to be recorded.

I made this series of drawings called “Bad Hands”, which started out with me laughing at these dumb hands I was drawing with academically incorrect anatomy. Abandoning correctness felt so good. In the process it triggered a memory from High School. I had been forbidden from drawing in one of my classes, so I was contorting my hands into different shapes at my desk to amuse myself. There was a hysteria over gang activity in the school at the time and the teacher freaked out thinking I was throwing gang signs and I ended up getting sent to detention.

At detention I was talking with a friend and made fun of the teacher for her mistake. A kid who was in a gang overheard and then HE misunderstood and thought I was making fun of gangs or something. On my way home from school he and a couple dudes punched and kicked me for a bit while I tried and failed to explain. I think it’s funny.

So embedded in that piece is this tumbling series of misunderstandings, these multiple layers of hands being perceived as bad, speaking in an absurd language that communicates different things to different people. I know people aren’t going to see all those layers in the final piece, but that’s where it comes from and I hope it at least sparks some thoughts about talking with our hands, and where else can you follow this kind of train of thought except in art?

I get inspired by artists who seem to approach art as an intuitive discovery process rather than a pursuit of mastery, that play is one of the more important aspects of making things. My wife, Ako, has been a huge influence on me in this respect. She’s continuously playing with various materials around her at any given time and finding out what she can do with them. Everywhere she goes she abandons a nest made of fresh creations she’s manifested out of mud, string, packaging, plants, uneaten rice, her used drinking straw, lint and whatever else was within her reach

You’ve done a lot of collaborations with companies, museums and art galleries. Do you have a favorite collaboration, and what about the collaboration do you enjoy the most? I’ve recently been collaborating with Tiny Splendor, an indie publisher and printer who have studios in LA and Oakland. It’s been really great working with them, Cynthia Navarro in LA on risographs, and with Max Stadnik, who runs the print shop in Oakland.

Max has been returning to lithography, my favorite traditional printing medium, and he printed a piece of mine inspired by mushrooms called “Growerings". It’s a full 5 color print, which means it took five separate plates and each print had to go through the press 5 times. It turned out more beautifully than I could have hoped for. Litho is a super difficult but also very fun process and the results are so rich.

I think I particularly love this collaboration because the image fits the medium so well, and the combination of the two elevates the final piece of work, When it works, the artwork and the print become more than just an image on a piece of paper. It’s more alive in some undefinable way.

Since we’re called Art School, we always ask the artists to give us their favorite art tip? Never force the thing you think you want, you’ll probably miss out on the really interesting thing that’s happening. Also, don’t drink too much coffee. I have trouble taking both of these pieces of my own advice every day.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not making stuff? How do you chill out? I read and run. I love coffee and I love gossip and talking nonsense with friends. Also, I cannot stop watching Terrace House.

What is the last art show that you went to? What artists should folks keep an eye out for? I recently went to the Velveteria in LA’s Chinatown, which is one man’s collection of paintings on velvet. A very entertaining and very fucked up experience. I went to a life drawing session at Subliminal Projects and got to draw surrounded by Chad Kouri’s fun abstracts. I’m actually typing this interview inside an art show right now.

I’m here at my wife, Ako Castuera’s, show “Soil” at the Weingart Gallery at Occidental College. We’re here feeding worms. She sculpted this beautiful ceramic vermiculture composter for the show. It’s a grand temple for worms. The show is an act of gratitude for the exchange we have with the soil which provides the clay for ceramics, and for the worms who turn decay into healthy earth to grow new life in.

She sculpted a menagerie of creatures out of the worm poop that also populate the show. Super fun. Speaking of Ako and Subliminal, her show there with Hellen Jo and Kris Chau this past December was one of those once-in-a-lifetime powerhouse gathering of forces. That may have been the best show I’ve ever seen.

What advice would you give someone thinking about following in your footsteps? What’s something you learned that you want to pass along to art making newbies. Don’t listen to advice if it is extremely quotable. Pay no attention to it especially if it accompanies a photo of a famous artist and fits perfectly into an instagram post. If it’s easy to remember then it’s probably empty, crap inspiration. Those things are entertainments and not words to live by.

If you’re interested in making art you’ll keep making it. It takes day in, day out patience and exploration and mutation to discover how you really work, not some idea of how an artist works.

Sometimes it will be very hard, sometimes it will be so breathtakingly easy you think that your problems have been solved forever. Neither situation ever lasts, but cultivate and nurture your curiosity and what you love, and you’ll find ways to make it through the rough times and keep on making things one way or another.

Who are some of your favorite artists to follow and/or see in a show? Lately I’ve been really enjoying the work of Nathaniel Russell whose work makes this great space where funny, grounded matter-of-factness and sweet nothingness sit comfortably together. His drawing also reminds me of Ben Shahn, my all-time favorite drawer.

I really like Amy Bennet’s oils, these intimate studies of isolation in suburbia where mundanity overlaps with quiet drama and melancholy. Her work obliquely reminds me of Edwin Ushiro’s work, though his stuff is the opposite of melancholic. He captures almost incidental but haunted moments from growing up in Hawaii and infuses them with warmth, and it’s in a style influenced in a super personal way by animation. It reminds me of Satoshi Kon’s movies in its well observed, slice-of-life elements. Edwin’s sketchbooks are a treasure too. Esther Pearl Watson’s recent autobiographical paintings, Hellen Jo’s latest badass watercolors, Amber Wellman’s funny, playful oil paintings, and Matthew Palladino’s watercolors are also favorites.

Megan Whitmarsh’s work is some of my favorite to see in person. Her installation with Jade Gordon at the Hammer’s “Made In LA “ show was maybe the funnest work I’ve ever seen and interacted with. I went to see the Ai Wei Wei show at the Marciano Foundation, which I thought was impressive in scale and execution but still somehow lame, but I stumbled on a Mike Kelley installation/ video piece I’d never seen before in the upstairs collection and loved it so much, but I can’t remember the name of it at the moment.

It’s 2 videos shown side by side of the same guy wearing a cape singing almost the same song simultaneously, but each version has different words at different points. It’s a love song but one version is more bitter and mean and one is sickly sweet. Anyway, highly recommended!

What do you have coming up the rest of the year that you can share with us? For just a few more days there’s a show up at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center with a bunch of my original paintings for a comic I illustrated about the 442, the Japanese American Army unit of World War II. Plus it has some personal work about Japanese American Incarceration and images from my family’s experience in the concentration camps. My grandfather was incarcerated in the Arkansas camps, and he was a soldier in the 442.

Next up, I’m in a slew of group shows all happening within a few weeks of each other this month. Poor scheduling on my part as usual, but it’s nice to be invited to so many. I just sent off my piece to the “Seeing Red” show curated by Jeff Hamada of the BOOOOOOOM art and culture blog. That show will be at Thinkspace in LA. Giant Robot has been kind enough to host another solo show for me in September.

I’ve been busy experimenting with some more 3d stuff that pushes the more narrative side of my work which I hope to show there. We’ll see how the experiments turn out. I’ve also been working on a ton of prints and ideas for books. This year I want to focus on working in print, making zines and comics, and writing a lot more.

FOLLOW ROB | INSTAGRAM | WEBSITE | SHOP

#Art #Vans #Vans Art #Rob Sato #Art School #painting #interview

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staycatcher · 5 years

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Anguish 001- Anguish

“Out of genuine free will, I, Lee Minho, exercise the divine right to reject my sacredly designed soulmate.”

Member: Lee Minho / Lee Know x Femme Reader (she / her)

Au: Frat Boi! Minho + Rejected Soulmate AU

Genre: Angst (some comedy?,, this series is gonna be angsty because of the whole ‘rejected soulmate’ thing)

Rated T for a whole lotta swearing, a frat party, crowds, usage of alcohol and mentions of drugs, intensity, reader is a bit socially anxious (please lmk if any other warnings are needed!💞🥺)

Word Count: 4k & manually double spaced between words & paragraphs for ease of reading!!!!🥵🤠🥰

Note: this is dedicated to @trixareforlix, they’re the first-ever friend I made on here and they’re the one who sparked this frat au idea!! Ilysm always angel!!<33

Edited: 201015 (Original: 190813 )

Anguish series 1/?- ~001~, 002

The anticipated day where you’d become magnetized, the world around you becoming a blur, your heart falling into perfect sync with the one destined for you truly… was not like that at all, actually! No, the stars were cruel to you, perhaps you did something awful in your past life to deserve this, but maybe what is more likely is that your soulmate’s just an asshole. After all, one’s soulmate was the complete opposite of one’s self. Soulmates were the yin to one’s yang and vice versa and all that. To keep one balanced, or whatever.

Now, you aren’t the angel everyone may claim you to be. You weren’t angelic, not at all. Eating ice cream for breakfast was not above you. Your nail polish was perpetually chipped. You couldn’t stand to keep your hair in the same style for too long; chopping it all off or seeing how long it could grow, dying it as bright as you could, and everything in between. You adorned yourself with two or three more piercings than your parents could get behind, bless them, you’re beginning to have trouble hiding your new tattoo. Habitually, you were sensitive, soft, a bit emotional, and tended to be a bit of a smartass. You weren’t blessed with physical grace, ceaselessly tripping over yourself, spilling and knocking over anything in your path, and dancing out of beat to blasted songs.

More often than not, you would go to bed later than planned. Tonight was one of those nights, but it was not because of your natural preference. You were not too figuratively dragged into this by someone who held the title of your best friend, someone whom you were currently thinking of ways of revoking that title from.

“C’mon, dummy! We’re almost there!” Jamie elbowed you, her eyes crinkled in laughter, whacking you on the back a bit too hard.

“Jamie, I must’ve forgotten, but why’re you even dragging me to this frat party again? Why not just go to your sorority instead?” You groaned, your two left feet were dragging behind you on the aged sidewalk, your fake Doc Martens feeling like cinder blocks.

“‘Cause Chris invited me and he’s being a little bitch about it because I keep canceling on ‘im! He keeps saying that my soulmate might be there!” She reminded you for the umpteenth time, rolling her head and eyes back in frustration, sighing before continuing. “And now it’s like- I might as well try and see! I mean, come on!~ I’m starting to think he’s right!” And for the umpteenth time today, you question why she’s falling for this. She’s sharper than this. But for some reason, just this once, she found a way to shoehorn Chris’s dumbassery to logic.

In reality, you could meet your soulmate at any time or place, so to say that one's soulmate might be there is like saying it might rain. Sure, it might. But it also can rain in any season so you can’t be wrong with saying that it might. It doesn’t always rain every day, all the time, so it also isn’t that likely. Rain depends on a lot more factors. But right now, you’re a little buzzed, so it sounded pretty sound.

“So he knows your soulmate?”

“I’d hope so! If not, I’d rip his bleached hay-hair right out of his thick skull!” Now, this is the Jamie you knew and loved, you couldn't help the endeared smile on your face. “When we could’ve been eating takeout and watching a musical-“

“So which frat are we going to again?” You had to interrupt her for her sake. Takeout and a movie would always remain superior to parties in your mind and you already didn’t want to be accompanying her to a frat house.

“Hmm… It’s like- uh... Signal kite zing- wait no- hold on-“

You guys must be tipsier from the pregaming than you thought. “Sigma? ‘Signal’ isn’t greek, I think you mean sigma! And ‘kite’ isn-”

“Right, whatever! Anyways, the abbreviation is SKZ-“

“Ohhh! We’re friends with some of them- We’re like best friends with Chris!! Why didn’t you say it was Chris’s frat in the first place?” Your laugh projecting out of you unattractively with claps and swings of limbs which led to slapping a little too hard at Jamie's shoulder. This clarification did make you feel a bit better. This wasn’t a shitty fraternity you didn’t know, this was a shitty fraternity you inevitably tolerated since you knew and even approved of some of its members!

SKZ was home to a hodgepodge of eight brothers who were pretty individual as far as frat dudes go. Some of which you were genuinely fond of, like Chris, or simply acquainted with, like Jisung, whom you shared a major and program with. Others, you couldn’t even remember the names of or who they are in general. It’s also the smallest frat on campus, so they try to get as many people to come to events as possible, which is honestly exhausting as a concept to your introverted self. Thus, you’ve never actually attended one of theirs until now, now that Jamie is dragging you along with her.

“Ow! I don’t know!~ I thought you were smart enough to figure it out when I mentioned Chris!” She teased, making the two of you laugh harder, you couldn’t defend yourself on that one. The two of you just continued your idiotic banter the rest of the way to the Sigma Kappa Zeta house aka the SKZ frat.

The walk to SKZ’s lair was a bit much, more than you and Jamie bargained for. You were so kindly carrying her platforms for her until she’ll put them back on again, only for you to probably end up kindly carrying them again later tonight. The cool breeze of the September night helped with the humidity and sweat, and the sun beautifully set, leaving a delicate lilac color in its wake which was becoming darker and darker the further you walked. The hazy streetlights added to the whimsy atmosphere, yet to be ruined with the sound of an intolerable amount of bass and the overbearing smell of beer and weed when the two of you arrived on site.

“Okay, I’m pretty sure it’s this house!” Jamie halted her steps, turning towards you, her hair swaying along with the belled sleeves of her mesh turtleneck she had under her dress. The two of you really dolled yourselves up for the night, her hair was perfect, your hair was perfect, outside was perfect, and it brought you sobering back to the not-so-perfect earth. The idea of going inside a suffocating, putrid house majorly crowded with drunk and hormonal peers... was not appealing to you in the least.

“Yup, and now it’s time to turn back around!” You quipped, ensnaring her arm with your empty one, about to steer the two of you in a three-point-turn. This was your final chance at getting out of your predicament, and now that you’re here you regret playing along. Sadly, Jamie was just as stubborn as you, and your turn around was met with a roadblock.

“Oh my god, Y/n, you’re joking! We walked the whole ass way here!” She got out in between puffs of airy frustration, her socked heels digging into the ground as you attempted, gracelessly, to steer the two of you around.

“Okay, okay, fine. We did come all this way and now our drinks’ve worn off.” You acknowledged with an irritated huff. “Okay- how about we go in and get some drinks, and then we’ll leave?!” Your pitch going up with each word of your attempt to negotiate before forcing out a chuckle, your laugh did its best to hide the fact that your body was beginning to stick with sweat and anxiety.

“No, ‘and then’ we’ll find Chris to hook me up!” She playfully fought back but it was hard to take her seriously, or yourself, with how the two of you were laughing, hers genuine, yours not so much.

“Jesus Christ, you really are set on this ‘finding your soulmate’ thing.” You breathed. As much as you hated social gatherings, you loved your best friend much, much more, therefore you were willing to be won over in the name of friendship. Though, she would owe you for this! Fortunately for her, food and drink is fair trade in you and your wallet’s eyes.

“I’m lonely, okay! I’d prefer winning the lottery but this is the next best thing!” Jamie, as per usual, brought the two you back right to laughter instantly. She had her mind made up. Plus, with you giggling it made it all the easier for her to haul the both of you right up the steps of the SKZ Frat House stairs.

Once in, Jamie stuck close to your side, literally, but not that she had the natural choice or much of an alternative; this place was packed to the gills! Jumping up on her now platform clad feet, looking for anyone she recognized or any signs of Chris, while you led the two of you, hopefully, to a kitchen. You were practically kicking yourself each step of the way as you shoved your way through the crowd. The air was stuffy and possibly even toxic, to say the least. The scent is much more foul than last you remember, pungent with alcohol, sweat, cigarettes, weed, hints of puke, and dashes of all sorts of pheromones. Despite the few times you’ve smelled this scent, it never failed to make you wish you didn’t leave your safe, sanitary bed.

There’s jabbing elbows and flailing parts of strangers everywhere that had to be watched out and dodged for, sloshing cups, sometimes drunken flirtatious hands grabbing at you, not at all fazed by the pretty companion you had your elbow linked with. The sway of the hoards of people was beginning to get you motion sick, but you were determined to keep wading through, trying to hike through this high tide, but you couldn’t help but feel vulnerable. You were cursed with a soft, approachable face that just begged to be messed with. Even in times like these, where your thoughts are nothing short of bitchy, the message would never get across with a resting bitch face. Your love for dark attire didn’t matter. Your baby face and aura won every match. Not even the eyeliner and dark lipstick you preferred could save you. All you could do is hope that your best friend’s intimidation and delightfully loud presence was enough for the two of you as you keep planting one foot after the other.

“Fucking hell!” You barely gasped out, finally freed out of the main room, and now into the hallway. The seasick claustrophobia no longer had its poisonous grips on your soft, easy to bruise skin, though, you did need to catch your breath.

“Finally!” Jamie sighed loudly and melodically, patting you on the back and easily recovering. Before she headed straight into the kitchen to scope out the place, possibly for anyone she knew and, perhaps, her Special Someone.

“So did ya see anyone you knew, Jame?” You called after her upon entering what appeared to be a stereotypical scene of the kitchen during a college party. Cliche red solo cups scattered everywhere, filled at varying degrees. A beer keg or two, some cheap bottles of vodka splayed about, remnants of ash from blunts, a couple or two aggressively making out against the wall, and four or five random stragglers fidgeting with their phone or talking overly loudly to each other. You know, the usual.

“Ughh, no” She answered reluctantly. “They have to be somewhere else, maybe, like upstairs or downstairs, right?!”

Before you could reply, behind you, you heard an enthusiastic “Jamie!!” then a muffled, “you finally made it!!” The familiar voice had you jerking your head to see if your ears were failing you, evidently, they weren’t. Right away you see Chris tackling Jamie in a hug before he met your eyes with his comically wide ones.

“Aaaahhh!! Y/n’s here too?!”

“Yeah! Don’t we look cute?” Jamie fluffed up her cropped, newly dyed hair you helped her do, yours also in a similar state.

“Yeah, but Y/n looks better.” He teased, giggling and slapping her in the arm; unsurprising, as it’s their usual fashion.

“Oh my god! Why did I come here?! Okay, we’ll leave then, Chris.” Jamie joked right back at him, snatching at your hand like it was a prize to be won and taking you away with her. Unfortunately for you, this was just a well-meaning joke, you weren’t going to be set free from a party anytime soon.

“Nooo! Don’t go!!” He dramatized, grabbing onto at Jamie, halting her from leaving with you in tow. Giggling so hard, he had to throw his head back to project it all. You snorted a “thank you” a bit late, too busy laughing. He just gave you a brotherly slap on the arm, on his way to leave before Jamie stopped him.

“Wait! What about my soulmate? You said they'd be here, remember!”

“Oh?” Chris’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion, Jamie nodded with stern wide eyes which seemed to spark back his doubtful memory, “Ahhh… downstairs… maybe… I think- hangin’ out! There’s a game about to start- Oh, yeah! That’s why I’m here-” he giggled to himself, “to get this!” He then snatched a full bottle of vodka from a sneaky cabinet you didn’t know about before ushering you guys along to follow him. Honestly, Chris didn’t make it sound too promising that Jamie’s soulmate could be down there, but it’s the best lead you got.

Shyly, you followed behind the two as he led the way to the basement. With Chris as your guide, it was relatively smooth sailing, the crowd parting minimally to make way for the president of the frat. Before you know it, you’re walking down some nasty ass carpeted stairs, forcing your eyes from questionable stains to look for a rail instead to hold onto. Strangely enough, walking down the steps was comforting somehow, the feeling as if it were inviting you in. Like it assigned you a duty instead of the alienating fish out of water experience you had earlier on the main floor.

“I picked up some stragglers!” Chris cheered as he turned into the room.

“Yeah, but did you bring the alcohol?” A brazen voice you’ve never heard before shot straight through you. You could feel it run through you with tingles down your spine and goosebumps up your arms.

“Hell yeah I did, ya jackass!”

When the two of you turned the corner, the world slowed down and your muscles instantly seized up, halting you into place without consent. Your insides clench tight, wrapping itself into a knot. Suddenly you were sweating, but in contrast, your vision looked as though you were looking through a nice refreshing glass of pink lemonade. Normally steady hands were now shaky, your ears and cheeks beginning to glow beet red. You could feel yourself beginning to sweat at the nape of your neck and underarms; all this from the sudden voice of the stranger! -What? What’s going on?!-

Immediately, your gaze pans around the room before they landed on the source, long-lashed eyes holding a dark chocolate glaze and shivering you to the bone. Like a hooked fish, you couldn’t look away. The initial astonishment of just the sensations couldn‘t compare to exploring the face in front of you.

Chiseled cheeks, and angular brows. Pouty naturally downturned lips were discovered underneath an impossibly perfect, pointy nose. Everything about him was like the artwork, his slightly covered forehead was somehow artistic as if even the space between the brow and the hairline was something new that your narrow mind could never possibly understand. His hairline soon revealed a head of luscious black hair, unrealistically voluminous, shiny and soft. Honestly, his hair was screaming at you to test out if it could be possible, that someone who looked like this was real. His entire face and head on his shoulders didn’t make conceivable sense. Maybe it’s just you, but a person this perfect couldn’t exist and you have yet to venture south to see how perfect the rest of him could possibly be.

“Y/n? Are- are you okay?”

You vaguely felt or heard your best friend at your side, but it wasn’t decipherable. Everything but this guy in front of you was fuzzy, blurry to you. All the energy in your being focused on this human in front of you. His silky, messily parted locks, begging for you to test if it was as soft as it looked. His sharp features. His lips a natural coral-y color that began to shine and glimmer with saliva as his glossy tongue began to trail along those chapped lips. You shot your eyes back to his, reeling you back in like the prey you began to feel. Oh, sweet, sweet baby Jesus, is this really happening?!

“I-“ both of you started at the same time. Embarrassingly enough, it seems as though the blurry figures of everyone else in the corner of your eyes caught on to something the two of you were oblivious to. Everyone started jumping and screaming, whooping chaotically, and taking over your vision. The slow world disappeared in a blink, launching you right back to its now rapid, woozy speed. With everyone pushing and shoving around you in excitement it was not at all helping with your wibbly-wobbly state.

Suddenly, you felt many different arms coming at you, wrapping around you, constricting you, and jumping around with you in their arms in excitement. There was a deafening amount of rambunctious hooting and hollering it was almost as if the team they were rooting for won the SuperBowl.

“And here I thought Y/n was Jamie’s soulmate!” Chris guffawed and they all joined in, all besides you and this guy- WAIT- did Chris say- say ‘soulmate’?? No, he couldn’t have!

“Soulmate?” Equally, as soon as you internally questioned the word choice, you heard his earth-shattering voice speak again, despite the fact he merely whispered, softly wondering aloud. He spoke aloud what you were thinking, right when you thought it!

You couldn’t get enough of his voice, especially now when you can’t see him in the crowd. His voice was light, honey-colored, dreamy, just the perfect amount of deep, it made you want to taste his lips to see if he’s as sweet as he sounded. You, yourself, were still in the locked-in-place state, still too shell shocked to even make a step forward, your poor brain overworking itself to make sense of any of this.

“Really?” In elated shock you chirped, slowly giving in to the hugs and excited jumping with wide and confused eyes. Is this for real? This is really happening?!

“Holy fuck, Y/n!” Jamie managed to get you, pulling you a bit too crushingly in a hug. “I can’t believe it! You found your soulmate in this shitty basement and not me!” She playfully teased, there was no ill will behind it.

By now the situation was beginning to sink in a teeny bit and you were shocked, to say the least. Frankly, you were starting to think that this day would never come. You had a soulmate and your soulmate looked like that! You were over the moon, even if you felt a bit guilty that you found your soulmate at this party instead of Jamie. It was the plan of this whole night, after all. Now that it was you, you didn’t know how to react. You were completely and utterly unprepared.

“I’m so sorry, Jamie.” You pulled her back in closer, crushing her back into you, eyes watering, lip trembling. “Oh my god, I think I might- I think I might cry.” You hiccupped into her chic mesh turtleneck and dress combo. This is too much. Too too much.

“Heyy!~ Don’t feel bad for me! It’s okay!” Jamie simply chortled, patting your head deeper into her chest, her usual protocol if you were about to seriously cry.

Humiliatingly enough, you heard a few guys begin to chant “don’t cry!” in the background. Your small moment of sincerity and calm was soon interrupted by Chris.

“Well isn’t this fun! You know what this means!”~

“Minho’s soulmate’s a lil’ bitch?” You heard Jisung, the kid whom you shared your major and many classes with, taunt. His words forcing you forward, ready to fight the kid. He’s a child, literally a child! Why do I associate myself with him?! I swear to god-

“Hey, hey, hey! It was a joke!” He squeaked away from you. He was too speedy, no chance for you and your heavy ass boots stomping after him. Safely, he skidded behind the couch, behind whom you’re assuming is “Minho”, which had your boots screeching to a halt.

Though you were scrambling after Jisung, your eyes naturally met Minho’s as you halted. Once again, your body is preparing to either fight or flight. His face was glowing like he was some sort of ethereal being, wracked up in deep, attractive concentration. In contrast, your face was beginning to burn up an embarrassing amount, your body already turning into inoperable mush. You couldn’t say anything if you tried. Any sentence structure your brain tried to form didn’t make any grammatical or logical sense, your mind racing like a hamster on a wheel. Your neural pathways were glowing, steaming with this sudden overstimulation, leading you to the same frazzling answer each and every time:

This person right in front of you? Yeah, that’s your soulmate.

A hush was spread throughout the previously hype basement, all eyes immersed in the two of you speechlessly enraptured in each other. The longer you stood there, the more you could take him in and get used to him and the idea of him. You were warming up to him, he became more and more real with each millisecond. You've studied his eyes so passionately now that could see his dark chocolatey pupils when you closed your eyes. You were no longer overwhelmed but now enchanted by his features and general presence. His cheekbones are no longer an unfamiliar art piece. His aura was still intimidating as before, but now it appeared to the cheeky kind of way like you wanted to see what amount of scary he was capable of. It was a long, jittery, drawn-out pause before anything happened, not that you noticed.

“Out of genuine free will,” You just smiled, staring at his naturally downturned lips. Only by reading his lips did you pay attention to what he was saying- Wait, what?

“I, Lee-” Hold on a second.

“Minho-” No.

“Exercise the divine right to” This isn’t happening to me. This isn’t-

“Reject my sacredly designed-” happening. No. No. It can’t be. It’s not p-

“Soulmate.” -ossible.

The electric, exciting, high energy pause between us fell and wilted. Died just like that. The connected red strings that tied Minho and yourself were chopped off on his own accord, bringing icy cold into the room in its wake. A harsh blizzard overwhelming the space. Gasps of shocked air were being taken in from everyone in this basement, everyone, including Lee Minho.

You got a gasp of bitter cold in through your lungs before you were struck like lightning. Lightning of feverish torture took over your body, struck you directly in the heart and brain before it flashed through your veins carrying the harsh poison of rejection.

You heard a pathetic squawk tear its way out of your chapped lips, the anguish forcing you down to your knees as if you were directly stabbed in the heart. The electric, immediate painful reaction faded, bringing boiling throbs through all your cells, not leaving one out. It was unlike anything you could describe, no, imagine. It was as if the blood in your veins was replaced with boiling water and your heart was simultaneously squeezed and electrocuted in the grasps of electric hands. Maybe it was the hands of Satan dragging you down with him.

Blurrily, through fresh, hot tears, you swear you could see Minho physically flinch in response, immediately, sprinting out of the room as if he was escaping from a house on fire.

That was the last you saw before it all faded to black.

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psychicscavenger · 5 years

Text

Shining Pearl (shance)

For the Shance Mermay 2019 prompts that @justshance came up with! Also tagging @shancemermay.

Tags: Fluff, Flirting, Courting Rituals, Mermay, Fairy tale elements, AU, not gonna lie they don’t talk to each other...yet.

EDIT: Hey so, I wrote a sequel if anyone’s interested(yes I spiraled and ow this is a series, thanks brain) you can read it here or on ao3 here if thats easier.

Lance wanted legs.

Specifically he wanted human legs. For himself of course, not to eat. That would be gross.

He continued to watch from a safe distance, the handsome man that was currently walking along the shore, a palace in the distance on dry land where alas, Lance could not go because where humans usually had legs, Lance had a fishtail.

A very beautiful fishtail mind you, with its glimmering blue scales that looked silver where light flashed. His fins were translucent and delicate, some wispy fins trailing along the sides of his tail and up his spine. He was surely the pride and joy of his family since not even his siblings or any others mers in the shoal could compete with his beauty. He wasn't a prince, but his father was a noble making Lance a noble as well so he'd received many courting offers, including snooty Lotor a cecaelia species who just wanted a pretty mate to look at much to Lance's annoyance. Call him shellfish and naive, but he wanted to experience true love!

Plus, Lotor was creepy, who still lived in a cave in the dark abyss of the ocean these days? Fish hermits, thats who!

Lance sighed mind focusing back on the present, a little shy smile creeping up as he watched the man collect seashells, almost absentmindedly since he was picking out a bunch of broken ones that have lost their luster. Almost like a reflex, Lance quietly slipped back into the water, hurrying towards the bottom of the ocean floor and scanning around the murky water, hoping he'll find a shell that was still in tact and shiny enough for the beautiful man. A sparkle caught his eye and with inhuman speed, Lance dove towards it, snatching it up and scaring the shit out of a school of butterfly fish. Lance brushed the sand off the shell only to gasp excitedly as he realized it wasn't a shell but a clam, one that was starting to wither away from age, but what Lance was after, was their beautiful treasure inside.

Busting open the clam, saying a little prayer for the small creature, Lance nearly screeched with joy upon finding the tiny little pearl ball, now clutching it in his hands as he shot up to the surface, ready to show off his prize to the handsome man on the surface.

Carefully emerging above water so as not to alert the man of his presence, Lance carefully swam a little closer, to the point he was barely crawling on the ocean floor, tail dragging behind him as waves broke around his form. Lance was about five feet away from the man who was currently bent over inspecting a shell he had found when lance threw the pearl, watching it bounce off the back of the man's head before scattering into the ocean to hide. Quietly, Lance raised above the water again, nearly grunting with impatience as his bangs flopped into his eyes, he quickly shoved them back only to stare in awe as the prince was now inspecting the pearl, one hand massaging the back of his head with confusion plain as day on his face.

Lance watched with bated breath nearly jumping out of the water from happiness as the man smiled at the pearl, turning it over, probably watching the shiny object catch the light so beautifully. At least thats what Lance would do.

As he watched mesmerized, as the beautiful man turned the pearl this way and that, he was caught off guard when said beautiful man glanced up so suddenly, probably to see if he could find the source of who threw the pearl at him, Lance let out an undignified squawk as he submerged into the deep, swimming so fast below the surface there was no way the man could see him if he dived under to follow. With a relieved sigh at the undisturbed water above him, Lance sank into the sand, rolling in it to help exfoliate his scales a bit as he spread out angelfish style. Watching the light bounce across the waves, he soon drifted unto thoughts of that speculative, appreciative smile the man bore and how it sent tingles of happiness from his gills to his fins. He let another sigh, this one of appreciation, escape as thoughts of the man flitted through his mind. The man was either smiling gently, holding his hand out only for Lance to take a hold of it and be pulled into his warm embrace, standing on his own two legs as the two kissed each other passionately, the waves breaking behind them, soaking them in the sea mist.

Lance's eyes shot open as his thoughts turned very dirty, very quickly. A bright rosy blush bloomed, making Lance curl in on himself as he tried to fight it down but thoughts of the man looking so happy couldn't even fight off a giddy smile of his own from breaking.

****

Shiro stared back at the waves, wondering over and over again if what he really saw had just occurred.

He heard the stories, the legends, the myths of these creatures living under the seas by the kingdom. There were sightings dating back years ago when the kingdom was first settled and rumors popped up of beautiful half fish people who lived underwater. He had always wanted to see one secretly since he was a boy. He remembered the fond stories his Baba used to tell him before bedtime, stories of sailors spotting their brightly colored tails, hearing some of the most wonderful singing it could put the early morning birds to shame. He dreamed and hoped when he was little to meet one someday and now that day finally happened.

Glancing down at the pearl in his hand, he smiled as bright blue eyes popped up in his mind followed by dark brown hair pushed back and sticking up in such an adorable way that revealed skin of terra-cotta underneath. He remembered with awe the shimmering dark blue tail that launched a thousand rainbows when the sunlight hit it just right, almost blinding Shiro with its beauty until a second later, he was staring at open sea, no sight of the mysterious creature anywhere, not even a glimmer.

He pocketed the pearl, taking one glance around the area with slight hope of seeing the same blue eyes but like he predicted the person was no longer there. Maybe, he'd get another glimpse sometime soon if he was lucky enough to escape palace duties for a while but he didn't have high hopes for that, so he settled for this one moment, and knew he would cherish it forever.

After all, it's not everyday you see a mermaid.

#shance #shancemermay #justshance #shance mermay 2019 #fluff #cute #psychic writes

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callsignbaphomet · 4 years

Text

So I’m just gonna get right to the point. I love playing Skyrim, I love playing as my OCs in Skyrim. I especially love modding the living heck out of this game while playing as my OCs and pretty much living vicariously through them.

However, as much as I love this game IT IS SEVERELY LACKING IN LGBTQ+ CONTENT AND THE OPTION TO MARRY SOME CHARACTERS OF THE SAME GENDER AND ONE INSTANCE OF AN MLM COUPLE THROUGH A LETTER BECAUSE THEY’RE BOTH DEAD AF IN THE DRAGONBORN DLC IS NOT ENOUGH FOR MY QUEER ASS!

So what to do? Mods! It’s 2020 and a lot more people are openly accepting and open-minded, right? So finding LGBTQ+ mods should be a lot easier, right? Eh.........no. I’ve spent several days trying to find mods to make my Skyrim playthrough as queer as I possibly can make it, specifically for my High Elf OC who is trans (FtM), very effeminate, has a none muscular body and build and very gay. I think now, after several days of research, tutorials, testing and an endless amount of headaches I think I have the mods to make my play through true to how I imagine and have written this character as.

Bare with me for a few seconds, I promise I’ll get to the point and this is worth reading. I’m trying to get as much information in this as possible.

Disclaimer:

This mod list is only for the PC version of the game. Look, I’m super, super sorry but basically over 95% of all these mods are exclusively found online and even if they ARE on beth.net they aren’t used at full capacity from what I understand. Believe me, as a mainly console player, it breaks my heart that I can’t include the consoles for this list.

I won’t be linking to just Nexus. I’ve found a bunch of mods outside of the Nexus that are reliable.

I’ll only be working with the Special Edition version of the game. It’s the one I have and am playing on.

I will NOT be covering female body replacers. At freakin’ all. There are literal dozens of mods covering this. There will only be ONE and it is for very specific reasons only.

In my little venture into finding these mods I came across a lot of homophobic, transphobic and downright disgusting comments within the Nexus. I also found out a lot of queer mod authors were driven out of the Nexus because of said homophobic people. This is what happened to Vector and also why SavrenX refuses to upload anything other than weapon, item retextures to the Nexus. Nexus users and community overall is very homophobic and toxic so I’m very sorry if you see or read something upsetting. I advice you avoid the comments (known as posts on Nexus) tab as to avoid seeing some vile shit. Ignore them and don’t engage them ffs, they just want a reaction out of you. There’s no correcting these assholes much less educating them. They ain’t worth your time. Just report and move on.

The majority of the mods linked in this post have been tried by me, if I haven’t tried them out I’ll say so. Again, I’m learning as I go along and believe me this hasn’t been an easy task to find all of these working mods.

No, I won’t be searching or uploading any ports, texture, mesh or mod edits I myself have done. I ain’t confident in how well I may have or not have edited the mods and more importantly that’s as bad as uploading art that wasn’t done by you. Sadly, you’ll have to do these changes yourself. I’ll try my best to link tutorials. Also don’t go and harass the authors for a port or an update ffs.

I’ll most likely be editing this list as I learn more.

Yes, I will leave links from adult sites. A lot of these sites pretty much force you to sign up in order for you to download their content. It’s fine, just make some random account and you’ll instantly gain access to the mods. Just know there’ll be nsfw images, gifs and videos everywhere in these sites.

While I will be referring to male characters a lot of these if not all can also cater to non-binary characters too!

No, I will not be covering sex mods. I have no intention of adding them to any of my load orders and I really don’t care to. You’re on your own for that category. Try Lover’s Lab.

*Body Mods/Replacers/Races:

Schlongs of Skyrim (aka SOS). Not the only choice out there but the most current and fully working one. Pretty much mandatory for a bunch of mods so might as well have it, ya know?

Tempered Skins for Males. Was known as Better Males; pairs up beautifully with SOS. Super amazing work if you ask me.

Shape Atlas for Men (aka SAM). This is literally the god king of all male body replacers. Want a twunk? This mod will do it. Want a regular Joe? This can do it. Want a bear of a man running around in Skyrim? Yeah, girl, this can do it. Ever since I discovered it I have been obsessed with it! HOWEVER, the full working mod is only available for Old Skyrim, maybe for Legendary Edition but I’m not sure. Vector said he had plans to port the full working mod to Special Edition but confessed he was having issues with the scripts. Also afaik Vector’s last updates on working on the mod were back in late 2016 so I think it’s safe to say this beautiful mod will never be seen running on SSE. Sadly Vector just up and left the modding scene somewhere in 2018. It none of our business but from what I read he faced a lot of homophobic harassment from people not liking his body mod or giving him shit because he didn’t want to make a female body mod. He even faced harassment from our very own community.

Not all’s lost though. Some of the amazing modders in Vector’s site have made a working version for SSE.

SAM Light, SAM Morphs for RaceMenu, SAM SE Vanilla Armor Refit, SAM High Poly Conversion, SAM Light Texture Add-on, High Poly Head

The Ultra Femme. Title should be super self-explanatory. Super good if your character is really femme or non-binary or trans. I haven’t tried out this body myself and I’m not entirely sure whether this is compatible with SE or not. RefurbMadness has a lot of mods hosted in her site and still has some in Nexus that are being hosted by the site’s Care Taker. I’m actually gonna link a few later. I honestly suggest going through her site and reading up everything. She’s pretty clear when it comes to instructions, the only problem is she’s not exactly clear on whether her mods are compatible with SE or not. Maybe it’s written somewhere in there, I’m still new to modding and need very clear descriptions (you kinda gotta talk to me like I’m 5 when it comes to mods). I need to check more of her content and test a bunch of things. She also has armor and clothing mods.

Milkdrinker Male Texture and Slim Male Body for SoS (<3<3<3). Both by the same mod author. Sadly only available for Old Skyrim but the only reason why I linked it is because both mods are super easy to convert to use for SSE. Sweetie, if I managed to do it, you can do it too. Watch this, or this or this or try to Google it and see what comes up. Personally I tried the Slim Male Body and it was pretty good. Unfortunately you’d have to refit all the armors to fit either body yourself.

Transgender Race and NPCS SSE. Like I said before I wasn’t going to link or talk about any female body replacers except for one. This one! Look, there are a few out there but they’re extremely transmisogynistic and fetishistic and use a lot of outdated and transphobic language plus they’re mostly sex mods so I will abso-freaking-lutely NOT be linking them. Anyway, the people behind this port are back to working on this mod and have plans for adding transgender men. As of now the mod only has transgender women. They can’t add more genders due to the engine limitations and FYI they used “race” in the title because this isn’t a body mod, it’s actually a race. This is one of the few mods that won’t play well with SoS.

There IS one more body or better said, race, I tried but I really didn’t like it. Mod worked as it was advertised but--well, whatever, it’s for personal reasons that I didn’t like it and it depended way too much on a lot of more mods and it bloated up my LO something fierce so for that reason I ain’t gonna link it. Mod’s called Femboy if you wanna give it a try yourself.

*Extras (edits, armors, clothes and more):

Enhanced Character Edit SE. Tl;dr this is like RaceMenu but on steroids. It offers way more sliders and because of this it has fantastic potential to mold your character’s body to your personal liking. I used this instead of RM for my High Elf I mentioned earlier. He has a more “delicate” frame and is much thinner than my other OCs and this mod did exactly what I’ve been trying to achieve for a very long time now. Works like a charm.

SSE Luscious Locks for All - Unisex KS Hair. Makes it so that male characters can use all the hair options that comes with KS Hairdos SSE. Guys with long hair! Yummy! <3

Oooooooorrrrrrr you can just install ApachiiSkyHair SSE which has a bunch of long hair options for men to look fabulously yummy! This is the one I’m using.

Femfeet Redesigned SSE Port For Everyone. Look, it’s a foot texture mod, that’s it. Works with Better Males aka Tempered Skins and SoS, so yes, your guys will have pretty feet. Load this AFTER you body mod of choice.

Apachii Divine Elegance Store. This store has so much to offer. Really beautiful clothes and armors, exceptional jewelry, wonderful accessories aaaaaand your male character can also use the nails that are offered by the mod. So if you want your male character to have some stunning and colorful manicures done this mod offers it. They also offer actual claws that also comes in different colors so you can have both styles. Look, imo this is a must for femme male and enby characters. Your guys are going to look beautiful!

Immersive Jewelry - Earring for Male Characters. This enables Immersive Jewelry earrings to be wearable and visible on male characters.

Light Elven Armor for Men, Light Glass Armor for Men, Light Daedric Armor for Men. Tired of women being the only ones to get skimpy outfits? Ja, me too! Here’s some of the armor mods RefurbMadness ported to SSE before she left Nexus. There’s more available for Old Skyrim but you’ll need to convert them over to SSE yourself.

Slof’s Lair. Slof has a collection of skimpy armors, some accessories and even modern clothes (if that’s your thing). They have a link to their Nexus profile on their page but instead of adding all the links I just figured to leave the link to their site so you can check everything they have to offer. I haven’t tried any of Slof’s mods myself though I’m super interested in the Just For Men collection of mods and the Goth Shop (chill, it’s mostly Tera armors without the need to download that massive Tera mod).

Tera Armors Collection - Special Edition. And here’s that massive mod I previously mentioned but it’s actually a really good one. I’ve tested this out on both pc and Xbox One and it looks gorgeous on both!

The Well Dressed Mage. Not exactly skimpy but kind of revealing. Idk, these look lovely af and I wanna try them on my Altmer. Maybe someone else will want to try these too.

Modular Bandoliers and Pauldrons for Males. Pretty simple and to the point. Haven’t tried it since it wouldn’t go with my elf’s more refined bitchy tastes.

Bad Dog’s Skimpy Clothes SE. Some skimpy outfits for guys that were converted over to SE apparently not too long ago.

Bodyslide and Outfit Studio. So none of the stuff listed above is to your liking. That’s where this comes in. Thing is you actually CAN convert female armors and clothes for male use. So download the armors and clothes you wanna use and throw them and the body meshes you use into Outfit Studio. I myself am still learning how to go about doing this and the tutorials out there are kinda hard to come by. Try this video. I followed it and managed to convert a female outfit to fit on a male body I was using. Still need a lot of practice though but am working on it.

As far as makeup goes you can edit the colors of your character’s eyeshadow, eyeliner, cheeks and lips but with ECE or RaceMenu you can edit the colors further. May need to do some extra hard tweaking some choices though, not gonna lie. If I find a much better option I’ll post it.

I’m currently trying to find how the heck to get male characters to wear heels or if there’s a mod that has it. Like, that’s the last thing I need to make clothes complete. I’ll get back to this when I find it.

*Animations:

FNIS PCEA2 - Player Exclusive Animations (Dynamic) SE. So you got your character, you’ve dressed them and done up their hair and all that and to this point it’s all come together perfectly...until your femme male/enby character or your butch female/enby character starts walking and standing idly by and the poses and animations are completely and utterly wrong. Why is he walking like an angry gorilla? Why is she walking like a Victoria’s Secret model down the walkway? Can you switch their animations?

YES!!!

PCEA2--and yes, you will need FNIS to get this working--allows you to make animation changes to only your character. You can even add and/or remove which animation packs you want your character to use! I’ve just barely begun testing this mod as well as adding some specific packs for my Altmer and the pretty female idles works like a charm for him. I downloaded FNIS Sexy Move SE to try this out on him and see if it works but according to Fore it should work as long as you installed everything correctly and ticked the appropriate box to activate the animation pack you want. I’m not entirely sure if you can customize the choices given by each animation pack, probably something as simple as deleting the animations you don’t want and leaving the one you do want. I’ll have to test this further.

*Gameplay and Voices:

Simply Gay Letters. Simple and sweet little mod that adds some letters in certain places all over Skyrim tying certain NPCs to other NPCs. The hinted at couples are all the mod author’s headcanons so if that bothers you I suggest moving on.

Queering Skyrim - Blueflower Necklace. Basically it stops female NPCs from showing interest in your male character when wearing an amulet of Mara. Queering Skyrim - Lavender Menace Necklace does the exact same thing but for female characters.

Same Sex Perks - A Lover’s Insight - Agent of Dibella - Allure. Y’all remember Confirmed Bachelor from New Vegas? Remember how no Beth game has put it in their games again but are totally adding some lazy attempts to include us LGBTQ+ folks? The author has a pretty clear and easy to understand description of the mod in the page. There’s also Gay Insight - A Lover’s Insight Tweak which does the same as the other one but much simpler. I guess it’s up to you and your tastes when it comes to which one to use. I myself am using Same Sex Perks since it adds other perks.

Player Voicesets for SSE - Custom Voice Version. I downloaded this but I haven’t installed it yet. If I understood correctly this lets you change your character’s voice to any of the in game voices. My advice? Go into the page and read everything.

PC Head Tracking and Voice Type SE. The reason I haven’t installed the previous mod is because I have THIS one installed because of the head tracking but it also comes with an added voice feature so this might clash with the other one. I still need to test whether they do the same thing or not.

Skyrim - Player Re-Voiced Series. CaseyTheVA was kind enough to make a bunch of voices for your character. Just your character. I’ve tested these on Xbox and they are legit really freakin’ good! They seem to have added a lot more since the last time I checked. Unfortunately these are only available on beth.net or for Old Skyrim on the Nexus. You could just download them from the game’s mod page and remove the files and upload them back into the game using whatever mod manager you use. I did this with Cheat Room. Or you can port them yourself from Nexus. Honestly the quality alone is worth all the trouble.

#skyrim #skyrim mods #modded skyrim #queer mods

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wellesleyunderground · 4 years

Text

Wellesley Underground’s Holiday Guide to Wellesley-Owned Businesses: November 2019

The Good Supply / Image Credit: The Good Supply

Looking for your holiday gifts? Check out Wellesley Underground’s crowd-sourced list of Wellesley-owned businesses (updated for 2019)! Compiled by Hoi-Fei Mok ‘10, WU Managing Editor.

Pinterest Board of the Shops (incomplete)

Jewelry

Alumnati Jewelry by Stephanie Christie ‘00: Handmade Wellesley lamppost earrings

Ecru Collection by Kara Templeton '12: Jewelry, home decor, and stationery

Kindred Spirit Studios by Michelle Davis Petelinz '78: Jewelry, home decor

Lauren Wimmer Jewelry by Lauren Wimmer ‘98: Jewelry

Mala Shah Design by Mala Shah ‘98: Metalworks and Reiki-infused jewelry

Ready-Made by Jenn Meng ‘13: Materials-focused jewelry brand offering minimal, everyday pieces that are affordable, hypoallergenic, super strong, and tarnish-free.

Porcelain and Stone by Kimberly Huestis '05: Nautically inspired jewelry

Space Mermaid by Stephanie Carbone '93: Sky and sea inspired jewelry

Urban Witchcraft by Elena Gauvin ‘13: hand fabricated sterling silver gemstone jewelry with a gothic feel

Wellesley Voices For Disability: Wellesley earring and necklace set, scarf and hat set, fountain pen, bookmark, keyboard covers and more.

Art & Crafts

A Riot of Color by Susan Eiseman Levitin '85: Hand-dyed yarns

Achiaa Paper and Pen by Rebecca Amponsah ‘08: Handmade paper goods and lettering

Alyssa Sketch’d by Alyssa Torres ‘09: Original illustrations/art and jewelry

Art Without A Frame by Hoi-Fei Mok ‘10: Original illustrations/art from the Dragon Fruit Project, an oral history project of queer and trans Asian Pacific Islanders

Cardiology Cards by Tamar Zmora ‘11: Break up Cards

ChemKnits Creations by Rebecca Brown ‘06: Hand dyed yarns

Connie-Chen.com by Connie Chen ‘17: Calligraphy commissions, prints, bookish apparel, oblique holders, penmanship lessons

DisaporicArts by Jenny Jean ‘13: Modern digital art prints

Fran Decker by Fran Decker '80: Original paintings, prints, tiles and notecards

Genevieve Calligraphy by Genevieve Goldleaf ‘12: Botanical illustrations and custom calligraphy

The Grey Fox Studio by Katherine Grey '08: Printmaking, drawing & painting

KT Obermanns by KT Obermanns '07: Illustrations, portraits, pinups, and caricature

Leslie Ordal Fibre Arts by Leslie Ordal ‘04: Handspun yarns, handwoven scarves, and other fibre arts. Lessons and workshops in the Toronto, Ontario, area.

Map Attic by Alex Azzi ‘15: Block-printed holiday cards, resin jewelry, vintage map crafts, ceramics, and abstract fluid paintings.

Misc Midwest by Marie Clymer Sarnacki '13: Wooden coasters and fridge magnets with a Wellesley design

Miyun Makes by Gena Hong ‘12: handmade pottery inspired by Korean traditions.

Monica Starr Creations by Monica Starr Feldman ‘14: Leather luggage tags, metal flower bouquets, embossed stationary, scarves, mason jar cozies, metal & wood working

My Big Pink Crafty Box by Sophia Giordano '09: Feminist crafts

Pick Two Pottery by Dana Lamb ‘99: Pottery

Singing Whale Stained Glass by Amy Putnam ‘90: Handmade stained glass art and shattered glass pins, plus chainmaille bracelets and earrings, including Wellesley inspired pieces.

Stephanie Hessler by Stephanie Hessler ‘84: Wellesley inspired prints, apparel, homewares

Tiny Small Joys by Alyssa Kayser-Hirsh '14: handmade books, calendars, notebooks, and planners

Wear I’ve Been by Samaa Ahmed ‘13: Art designs on throw pillows, prints, mugs, tote bags and more.

Kacie Lyn Martinez by Kacie Lyn Martinez ‘09: fiber artist who weaves tapestries and other fiber art

Photography

Az Bulutlu by Eylul Dogruel ‘07: Skyscapes, travel and abstract photography, prints and merchandise.

JezRebelle by Jess Planos '10: Wellesley photos on prints, apparel, homewares

Meera Graham Photography by Meera Mohan ‘09: Nature Prints for Sale, Headshots & Candid Portraiture

Vero Kherian Photography by Veronique (Chau) Kherian ‘05: Professional Portraits and Headshot Photography in the SF Bay area

Health & Skincare

Beautycounter by Jen Askin Pollock ‘99: Safer, high-performing products for the whole family

Box Naturals by Irene Kim ‘99: Luxe towelettes with organic essential oils

Cocofloss by Chrystle Cu '05: Flavored dental floss

EmmGerri by Karen and Kristi Jordan: Skincare lotion

Eu’Genia Shea by Naa-Sakle Akuete ‘08: Shea butter

Just Botanicals by Sonya Funaro ‘00: Handcraft organic, ethically-sourced skincare

Hubba Hubba by Megan (MJ) Pullins `94: The oldest alternative adult store in New England, stocking everything from corsets, club clothes, lingerie, and all sorts of sex toys.

Lioness by Liz Klinger: Smart vibrator

Maum Goods Co. by Helen (Tak) Kingery ‘01: Handmade essential oil products for wellness and balance

TATCHA Beauty by Victoria Tsai ‘00: Japanese based skincare products

Fashion and Apparel

A Gifted Baby by Amelia Gray ‘03: Online boutique for babies and little people focussing on small and emerging designers, ethical production practices and women-owned labels. Alums are friends and family, use code “weloveyou20much” for the 20% f&f discount:).

Baby Blast Off by Emily Bennett: Baby clothes

Catie’s Natives by Jennifer Roesch ‘92: Shirts, hoodies, and accessories that show city pride. Developed and designed by Jennifer’s 10 year old daughter. Featured in Time Out NY. 10% of profits support Hartley House which provides social services to residents of Hell’s Kitchen, NY.

Charlotte and Asher by Laura Hahn ‘06: Fashionable diaper bags

Cliobags by Alejandra Zambrano: Handmade bags

Emma Finney by Kristin Bunce ‘00: Bags and clutches

Orange Soda Baby by Dorothy Hsiung '05: Whimsical children's clothing

The Outrage by Claire Schlemme ‘06: Feminist clothing and accessories with a portion of profits to women’s empowerment orgs.

Satya Twena by Satya Twena ‘05: Hats and millinery

Stoptiques by Olga Vidisheva '07: Apparel and accessories

Wellesley Class of 1990: Purple W capes! Made of durable material - great for wearing as a cape, using a picnic blanket, keeping your car seat clean, etc.

Wellesley Class of 2003: Wellesley lamp post shirts, baby apparel, and accessories

Wellesley Class of 2007: Wellesley apron (“We can stand the heat!”), baby and kids apparel

Wellesley Club of Columbus, OH: Wellesley insignia whistle

Swells Swag by Sarie Hale-Alper ‘04: Wellesley-themed designs on a variety of apparel and accessories.

Food & Care Packages

ChocolatesU by Amy Camargo ‘94: Chocolates

Ice Cream Jubilee by Victoria Lai ‘01: 6 ice cream pints, shipped nationwide

Montecarlos Estate by Carlota Batres ‘09: Coffee

Off The Beaten Path Food Tours by Lizzie Bell '03: Food tours in MA

Sky Vineyards by Skyla Olds ‘99: Wines

Sunny Exchange by Connie Su ‘09 and Jennifer Lim ‘06: Care packages

Takeout Kit by Rachael Blanchard Lake '07: Shelf-stable meal kit

Tranquil Tuesdays by Charlene Wang '03: Tea and teaware

Toys

My Muse Dolls by Torlisa Jeffery ‘06: Customizable dolls

Animal Care

Newbury Paws by Andrea Fowler '07: Harnesses for large dogs

Wellesley DC Club: Wellesley pet bowls

Domesticat: Rocío Garza Tisdell ‘07: modern-design cat furniture and accessories

Books & Zines

DefinitiveLeigh by Leigh Morrison '15: Feminist zines

Children’s photo books by Cristi Carlstead ‘01: Colors, alphabet and numbers from various countries around the world Romance Novels by Kate Broad ‘06, writing as Rebecca Brooks: sexy contemporary feminist romance

Jambo Book Club by Mijha Butcher Godfrey ‘98: Receive two-three age-appropriate children’s books each month that feature a child of color as the star. Jambo books show children of color in situations where children’s literature rarely places them - making friends, raising pets, loving grandparents and fighting dragons. The books arrive with a personalized letter in boxes beautifully decorated with art that celebrates the joy of childhood. We serve children aged 0-13.

General Home:

Domesticat by Rocío Garza Tisdell ‘07: posters, more products in development

TAIT Design Co. by Audrey Elkus ‘18: Toys + Homewares designed and assembled in Detroit and 100% made in USA. Minimalist, mid-century modern, built to last and make great gifts. Thanks for checking us out : )!

Professional Services

Abilities Dance: Boston-based physically-integrated dance company. Able to perform at holiday parties, fundraisers, and all types of events. Always willing to negotiate rates for W alums.

Grace Astrology by Elisabeth Grace ‘83: Professionally certified astrologer; life strategist. Astrology is a powerful tool for understanding why you are the way you are; what you need in order to feel fulfilled and why things happen when they do. Improve your timing and your relationships. Based in New York -- available for parties, fundraisers, speaking/teaching engagements.

Leslie Ordal: Writing and editing, with a specialty in medicine and science but other fields also welcome. Ad copy, journal manuscripts, etc.--my clients have ranged from Big Pharma to artisans to graduate students. Discount on my usual rate for W alums! Makefast Workshop (Maura Atwater ‘08): Prototyping consultancy; hardware, software, and musical instrument design.

#wellesley underground #hoi-fei mok #wellesley owned businesses #wellesley entrepreneurs #wellesley entrepreneur series

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oberlincollegelibraries · 5 years

Photo

Sunday Edition: Books with Photos

How do you take a break? With finals around the corner and stress mounting, it is important to take care of yourself. This week’s Sunday Edition brings you books from Oberlin College Library’s collection featuring photos. In these gripping books, photographs are central to narratives of history and culture. From science fiction movies to a small town in Upstate New York, photos provide a respite from text heavy readings. Check out these books and others on the New Books Shelf in Azariah’s Cafe!

Typeset in the Future: Typography and Design in Science Fiction Movies by Dave Addey

“In Typeset in the Future, blogger and designer Dave Addey invites sci-fi movie fans on a journey through seven genre-defining classics, discovering how they create compelling visions of the future through typography and design. The book delves deep into 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Alien, Blade Runner, Total Recall, WALL·E, and Moon, studying the design tricks and inspirations that make each film transcend mere celluloid and become a believable reality. These studies are illustrated by film stills, concept art, type specimens, and ephemera, plus original interviews with Mike Okuda (Star Trek), Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall), and Ralph Eggleston and Craig Foster (Pixar). Typeset in the Future is an obsessively geeky study of how classic sci-fi movies draw us in to their imagined worlds—and how they have come to represent “THE FUTURE” in popular culture.” -Provided by Publisher

The World Atlas of Street Fashion by Caroline Cox

“Since the early 20th century, city sidewalks have become runways where idiosyncratic modes of dressing are presented, consumed, and exported. Their messages include resistance, solidarity, subversion, social transformation, or musical affiliation, and a group of like-minded individuals can create a powerful sartorial force. Organized by continent and with 600 color images, The World Atlas of Street Fashion examines street style in all its global diversity. The book shows how Punk’s generic language of anarchy is redeployed in London, Berlin, Tokyo, or Jakarta and takes on the unique flavor of each. It also reveals how street style can be overtly political: the Sapeurs of Kinshasa use elegance to reframe themselves as gentlemen, and the cholo gangs of East Los Angeles took strength from the Chicano movement of the 1960s. Street style can also be obsessive, as seen here through the K-Pop enthusiasts of Seoul, who inhabit the lives of their music idols by re-creating publicity stills through elaborate cosplay. The author discusses how such scenes can develop cachet by being underground, fostering a look’s distinctiveness and integrity. Through its extensive research, striking photography, and handsome design, World Atlas of Street Fashion is the essential resource on world street style.” -Provided by Publisher

Upstate Girls: Unraveling Collar City by Brenda Kenneally

“Welcome to Troy, New York. The land where mastodon roamed, the Mohicans lived, and the Dutch settled in the seventeenth century. Troy grew from a small trading post into a jewel of the Industrial Revolution. Horseshoes, rail ties, and detachable shirt collars were made there and the middle class boomed, making Troy the fourth wealthiest city per capita in the country. Then, the factories closed, the middle class disappeared, and the downtown fell into disrepair. Troy is the home of Uncle Sam, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the Rensselaer County Jail, the photographer Brenda Ann Kenneally, and the small group of young women, their children, lovers, and families who Kenneally has been photographing for over a decade.

Before Kenneally left Troy, her life looked a lot like the lives of these girls. With passion and profound empathy she has chronicled three generations—their love and heartbreak; their births and deaths; their struggles with poverty, with education, and with each other; and their joy.

Brenda Ann Kenneally is the Dorothea Lange of our time—her work a bridge between the people she photographs, history, and us. What began as a brief assignment for The New York Times Magazine became an eye-opening portrait of the rise and fall of the American working class, and a shockingly intimate visual history of Troy that arcs over five hundred years. Kenneally beautifully layers archival images with her own photographs and collages to depict the transformations of this quintessentially American city. The result is a profound, powerful, and intimate look at America, at poverty, at the shrinking middle class, and of people as they grow, survive, and love.” -Provided by Publisher

Unseen: Unpublished Black History from The New York Times Photo Archives by Darcy Eveleigh, Dana Canedy, Damien Cave, and Rachel L. Swarns

“It all started with Times photo editor Darcy Eveleigh discovering dozens of these photographs. She and three colleagues, Dana Canedy, Damien Cave and Rachel L. Swarns, began exploring the history behind them, and subsequently chronicling them in a series entitled Unpublished Black History, that ran in print and online editions of The Times in February 2016. It garnered 1.7 million views on The Times website and thousands of comments from readers. This book includes those photographs and many more, among them: a 27-year-old Jesse Jackson leading an anti-discrimination rally of in Chicago, Rosa Parks arriving at a Montgomery Courthouse in Alabama a candid behind-the-scenes shot of Aretha Franklin backstage at the Apollo Theater, Ralph Ellison on the streets of his Manhattan neighborhood, the firebombed home of Malcolm X, Myrlie Evans and her children at the funeral of her slain husband , Medgar, a wheelchair-bound Roy Campanella at the razing of Ebbets Field.

Were the photos--or the people in them--not deemed newsworthy enough? Did the images not arrive in time for publication? Were they pushed aside by words at an institution long known as the Gray Lady? Eveleigh, Canedy, Cave, and Swarms explore all these questions and more in this one-of-a-kind book.

UNSEEN dives deep into The Times photo archives--known as the Morgue--to showcase this extraordinary collection of photographs and the stories behind them.” -Provided by Publisher

#sunday reading #oberlin college #oberlin college libraries

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theonyxpath · 5 years

Link

The above is Page 4 of the ongoing Trinity Continuum: Aberrant web comic You Are Not Alone that we started last week after a teasing build up of the cover. Long-time fans will recognize the character who comes together from vines and plant tendrils as Antaeus, who was one of the most powerful members of Team Tomorrow – at least in the first edition.

He may still be all that, or maybe not, but that’s why we’re doing the web comic as we are – to let everyone get acquainted with the world and characters of Trinity Continuum: Aberrant.

I have followed a few web comics these past few years (although right now I’m only following Stand Still, Stay Silent; a beautifully illustrated Scandinavian post-apocalyptic exploration epic – google it, it’s fantastic), and I think there’s a lot of value to them as a creator, so this very specific use as a lead-in to the new TC: Aberrant and its Kickstarter is really just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we could do with the format.

For now though, we’re really interested in hearing how merging the sequential story with a sequential release set-up that will start to run at the same time as the Kickstarter will work for folks. We think the web comic format is excellent (especially with veteran writer Paul Jenkins nailing the feeling of the setting, and with the multi-talented Doug Stambaugh doing the art), but most importantly, do you?

Tell us what you think as the story develops – it doesn’t matter if you never checked out Aberrant before, or if you already know who Dr. Duke Rollo is – please let us know here or in the comments of the web comic!

And who knows? If this Trinity Continuum: Aberrant web-comic works out, maybe we’ll use the format to create more sequential storytelling projects – a new Exalted 3rd comic series of short comics like from 2nd Edition, or new “Tribebook style” werewolf comics, or something for Scion or Pugmire like nothing we’ve ever done before.

There are a lot of possibilities to explore!

V5 Chicago By Night art by Felipe Gaona

Now, you might have noticed that buried up there was a mention of the Trinity Continuum: Aberrant Kickstarter. It’s true, it’s going to start next week!

Just like our latest Kickstarters, we have the text completed, our Storypath experts (yes, we actually have some now that our creators have been able to pore over the Scion, Trinity Continuum, Dystopia Rising: Evolution, and They Came From Beneath the Sea! core books!) have reviewed and revised the rules sections, and we have a smattering of the art ready.

We’ll have amazing Reward Tiers: some with just the TC: Aberrant book, some with the Trinity Continuum Core book as well, and definitely the sorts of upper level rewards our backers just can’t get enough of! Plus lots of PDF packages that include first edition projects, and Stretch Goals for a staggering array of different sorts of added rewards – all themed to reflect and enhance that specific Aberrant take on the super-hero genre.

Aberrant, first edition, was both a labor of love and a nightmare of frenzied creation for me, personally, and for both those reasons I’m hugely excited about this new edition. As a very long-time comic book fan (I started collecting Marvel comics just as the cover price changed to 25 cents an issue, if you can believe that!) and a guy who did a graphic novel as his Masters Degree thesis, I was filled with ideas for how to bring a new look to comic book TTRPGs.

Not all of those visual ideas panned-out, some because we reached too far out of the TTRPG comfort zone, but most because in order to make them work we needed the original developer, the graphic designer (who also had designed the look for the Aeon books), and myself to all work together to take the writing into the different kinds of layouts and visuals needed that worked with both the Trinity series and the specifics of the comic book genre.

Unfortunately, both those other gentlemen left the project (and at least one of them left WW entirely for a while) before the book was finished.

M20 Book of the Fallen art by Oliver Specht

Basically, I had a pile of text to sub-divide as best I could into the sorts of sections that worked with the visuals. In comic book terms, I had the script and the art, but needed to combine them, but without the writer or original artist around to help tweak the two elements so they’d work together for maximum impact.

So I’d handle my Art Director and department head duties through most of the day, and then settle in and do the book layout (and coloring, and lettering, and logos, etc) into the night so that we’d get the book out on time. While I’d have really liked to make some alterations to the text, I just didn’t have the time to change it so much as to take the chunks and rearrange them.

That’s why I’m in the credits page as Art Director, and Ron Thompson is there for Layout – Ron was my White Wolf alias, and I used him when having my name in the credits too many times just looked like a bit too much me. To me, at least.

I tell you all that, so that I can tell you that this edition, Trinity Continuum: Aberrant, was not created that way at all. Or I should say, the love and excitement is still there, and not just from myself, but the creation process has been a full-team press of very dedicated creators.

From the early “big picture” talks between Impish Ian Watson and myself, to the continued “how are we going to do this?” conferences with me, Ian, Eddy Webb as Storypath games overseer, and Steve Kenson (who is THE guru of super-heroic TTRPGs) where we set up the details and changes to the setting, all the way through the confabs I had with Mirthful Mike Chaney as we picked through possible artists, this has been a fantastic team effort.

And we didn’t need to rush through any of the parts to get us here!

Finally, and in a totally different direction, here’s a teaser ad for ANOTHER cool thing happening next week in July. Keep an eye out on the Slarecian Vault community content page for a titanic (see what I did there) series of inter-connected releases that work together as an epic campaign!

And that’s it. So, so…

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

Starting next week, on Tuesday July 2nd at 2pm EDT, the Trinity Continuum: Aberrant Kickstarter will blast its super-powered way into our lives!

ONYX PATH MEDIA

Onyx Pathcast art by Michael Gaydos

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast features an in-depth discussion with Dixie, Eddy, and Matthew taking a long look at harassment – a difficult subject that affects gamers and creators alike: what it is and how to deal with it!: https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

And Here’s More Media About Our Worlds:

The Onyx Path News returns tomorrow with a live edition on our YouTube channel at 15:00 BST! Be there for talk of new releases and project updates, as well as our next Kickstarter!

Matthew Dawkins has been uploading all the games of ours he’s been running lately, and is coming to the conclusion of the Scarred Lands actual play he ran for Red Moon Roleplaying! Here are links to the next two episodes: https://youtu.be/wKuyrVRB1EY and https://youtu.be/KxZzkpDmV-c

Travis Legge’s Scarred Lands actual play also continues apace here with Myths & Matchmakers: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmiXCaSrrCIjmCJQQ7oLwLNahmDbdn_2J There are few people who know Scarred Lands like him!

Not leaving the Scarred Lands, we also have Devil’s Luck Gaming who continue their costumed actual play: https://www.twitch.tv/DEVILSLUCKGAMING

And it must be a Scarred Lands kind of a month, because Caffeinated Conquests continue to blunder through the Gauntlet of Spiragos here: https://youtu.be/ygamfg9yBak

Now venturing into the Chronicles of Darkness, we present Occultists Anonymous‘ latest episode of the Mage: The Awakening 2E chronicle they’re running (and they’ve been very impressed with Signs of Sorcery): Episode 23: Giant Problems Songbird speaks with the Supernal being he has summoned, Wyrd makes an important phone call, and the cabal feels mighty defensive! https://youtu.be/vjarpxda1Po

Episode 24: Nosey Neighbors Following the phone call to the cabal’s new “friend”, Atratus and Wyrd discuss and plan defenses, while Songbird goes to the gym to blow off some steam. Splitting the party…https://youtu.be/WBTzpXoNQnw

And swooping over to the world of Exalted, the Story Told Podcast continue their Dragon-Blooded actual play here: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/fall-of-jiara-episode-8-a-journey-begins Eight episodes in and the adventure is really kicking off!

Roll the Role recently concluded their fantastic actual play of Trinity Continuum: Aeon, which is viewable on both their YouTube and Twitch channels, linked below:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvGGHFXrqTyBA2wSCCbJbRcm7XoZh_cVk www.twitch.tv/rolltherole Please do give them your support!

And the Keeper of the Archive (a more ominous name than the Gentleman Gamer) has just started their breakdown of Scion Second Edition over on their channel, so check out part one! https://youtu.be/q2qUE0pJID4

Lots of Onyx Path content for you today!

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

ELECTRONIC GAMING

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:

OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero are available to order!

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we have two new creatures for Exalted 3rd‘s Hundred Devils Night Parade, as well as Dragon-Blooded digital wallpaper at DriveThruRPG, and Exalted Chibi style stickers at our RedBubble store!

CONVENTIONS!

Gen Con: August 1st – 4th Save Against Fear: October 12th – 14th GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd We’ll also be back at PAX Unplugged later this year!

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Geist 2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon) Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Redlines

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Second Draft

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Development

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

Manuscript Approval

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Editing

Memento Mori: the GtSE 2e Companion (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Heroic Land Dwellers (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

DR:E Jumpstart (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Post-Editing Development

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

V5 Chicago By Night (Vampire: The Masquerade)V5 Chicago By Night Screen (Vampire: The Masquerade)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel (Cavaliers of Mars)

Distant Worlds (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Scion Ready-Made Characters (Scion 2nd Edition)

Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)

Indexing

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE!

In Art Direction

Contagion Chronicle

Dark Eras 2 – More finals in and going to WW for approval.

M20 Book of the Fallen

VtR Spilled Blood – Art from A and M in, waiting on the rest.

Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds – Sketches coming in.

Trinity Continuum Aberrant – KS Sketches and finals coming in.

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Ex3 Lunars

They Came From Beneath the Sea – Getting it going.

TCFBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

In Layout

V5: Chicago – Starting NPCs chapter…

Trinity Core

Trinity Aeon

CoM – Witch Queen of the Shadowed Citadel

Proofing

WtF Shunned by the Moon – 2nd proof.

DR: E – proof back from Eddy

Aeon Aexpansion

C20 Cup of Dreams – This week.

Ex 3 Monthlies – At WW for approval

At Press

Dragon Blooded – Deluxe shipping to Studio2.

Dragon-Blooded Cloth Map – Shipped to Studio2.

Dragon-Blooded Screen – Printing.

The Realm – PoD files uploaded.

Trinity Core Screen – Printing.

TC Aeon Screen – Printing.

C20 Player’s Guide �� PoD proofs ordered.

Geist 2e – Need to input Errata.

Book of Oblivion – Putting in errata.

Trinity: In Media Res – PoD proofs ordered.

Scion Jumpstart – Gathering errata from Backer PDFs.

Scion Ready-Made Characters – Gathering errata from Backer PDFs.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

OK- so when I don’t have something specific to put here, I go to Wikipedia and look up the date and see who is born/died or any great events on this date. Today there was this:

637 – The Battle of Moira is fought between the High King of Ireland and the Kings of Ulster and Dál Riata. It is claimed to be the largest battle in the history of Ireland.

Now as is, this might be interesting particularly for Neall and the Scion community. Except I read it as the Battle of Moria, and for a minute I wanted to know which one, and was that the battle where Thorin got his Oakenshield appellation?

#Onyx Path Publishing

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ibitchytimemachine · 6 years

Text

Real Men Don’t Make Sandwiches

anenglisheducation

How a well-constructed sandwich brings together two unlucky and unlikely souls: first Vegeta, the prince of a dead race who has bound himself to Earth for honor; the other Krillin, a lowly monk who just can't catch a break. A comedy. Sorta.

Read on Ao3 or on fanfiction.net.

As always, my thoughts below the cut, Spoilers!

Ok so I had just finished my submission for Smutfest, and I needed something refreshing to read. So I was looking through some recs (I can’t recall where I found this one) and I came across the idea of a VegetaXKrillin Buddy Cop-esque comedy. I honestly hadn't ever thought about this pairing, but it works. Krillin’s cautious and twitchy characterization works really well with Vegeta’s tsundere. I must say that this is in no way a romance. Ok so maybe a bromance, the true Bromance we need in fact.

The prologue did not pull me in. From the tags, I had this idea about the story being this ridiculous amalgam of situations and after reading the prologue I have to admit I almost stopped reading. But just like with anime, I had to give it the three episode swing and I pushed through. I have to admit after the prologue it gets much better.

So I just mentioned the tags. The Ao3 tags are a work of art

This really gives a sense of the dry humor that you will find in the story. It is simply hilarious. You have to have a dry wit with a touch of slapstick to really appreciate the beauty of the humor, which I must admit describes my humor perfectly. If you read the tags and think “WTF?!” and giggle a little, you will probably like this story.

This story really does revolve around sandwiches. Krillin just falls into the job of making tens of sandwiches a day for Vegeta. Krillin is living at CC, we find out later why, and one day Vegeta is hunting down a chef to create food and there is Krillin making a sandwich. So thats how it starts. Vegeta gets lots of sandwiches and Krillin tricks him into answering questions in exchange for said meals.

Vegeta wants to kill Krillin, because of course he does. When he thinks about Killing him though he remembers the delicious sandwiches and falters, thinking that if he does kill cueball, he won't get the delicious sandwichy goodness. SO this of course leads Vegeta to believe that pig, one of the meats on the sandwiches is some sort of poison that is supposed to calm him down.

Theres no action (until the end of the story but we will get there in a minute). Really the story takes place in the kitchen, Vegeta eating sandwiches, trying not to kill Krillin and then taking a bite and realizing how he doesn't want the sandwiches to stop so he decides to spare him. This internal monologue happens several times. Each time is funny because it sounds so much like Vegeta. This writer has pegged the characterizations of both of these characters. Krillin is timid, until he's not, he is even tempered, rational, kind. Vegeta is an asshole. Bulma makes a few appearances and her characterization is also spot on. She's demanding and overbearing, but not in a bitchy way (until she is a bitch, but that is also on point for the character), and she pegs issues the characters are having with little real input from them.

A few of my favorite jokes.

1. Vegeta starts to believe that Goku has adopted all of earth as pets. He then comes to the conclusion that since Vegeta doesn't want to kill Krillin that he has adopted Krillin as his own pet. (this leads to a fantastic moment in the second to last chapter if you wanna know about it, READ THIS STORY)

2. Theres this moment that Krillin is telling him about his fight with Bacterian. Krillin is talking up how bad this dude smells and is leading up to the no nose punchline, the best part of this whole interaction is when Krillin is talking about Some people who have some of their senses crosswired, (certain sounds you see colors etc) and Vegeta just blasts out “oh yeah synesthesia” Ok so I am not a great story teller, but trust me, in context this is gold.

3. Vegeta grants Krillin a favor and Krillin hugs Vegeta. This goes about as well as you can imagine.

Vegeta is suffering from major culture shock. Realistically he knows nothing about Earth except people are crazy. At one point he tries to teach Krillin to eat. There is a goldmine of this long build up of slightly ridiculous that ends with this burst of crazy that is leads to these one liners that are hilarious. I went back to find a few that would be funny to put in here for the favorite jokes parts, but without the build of the context they are super flat.

The driving force of the story lay in the sandwiches and the questions Krillin asks. Krillin asks a question and the Vegeta has this inner monologue that lasts an enormous amount of the chapter. Vegeta argues with himself in these monologues. He fills in some of the gaps about the PTO, and his life. The world building in this story is beautiful. I read a comment on FF that this reader considers the background canon, but honestly, its really good. My favorite bit of lore concerns the creation of the Saiyans. The creation myth is told in one of Vegeta’s inner monologues, and really it is fantastic. I could get behind this as a creation myth for the Sayians. I don't wanna spoil this because it is really phenomenal.

So the three things this author has done well is characterization, world building and humor.

I will say the last few chapters were not my favorite. There was this wonderful build to the end and with the revelation of why Krillin is around CC so much. This is a heavy moment. Krillin is not eating, he has withdrawn, he has been resurrected twice, which means he has died twice, he's a pity party of one. He's suffering from depression. Throughout the story you get the sense that something serious is wrong with Krillin, and it all comes to a head when he tells Vegeta to just get it over with and kill him. Of course Krillin doesn’t want to die but wow this was an emotionally charged moment of the chapter, and really for me the turning point of a chapter that up until then I thought was meh. This was a beautifully written moment because this writer really paints the perfect picture of someone who is depressed but is being forced to put on the airs of normalcy. Anyone who has ever felt with soul crushing depression, and has had to force themselves through it knows that eventually it all just blows up. You either end up in bed not moving, not eating, not sleeping (or sleeping too much) doing nothing, or you loose your shit and yell and scream and make an ass out of yourself. It was a slow burn to this point, but worth it. Event hough I said the first part of the chapter was not my favorite, I don't think you could really change it. You see this is the climax of the story (duh) and there is a mood shift. Krillins depression is coming to a head and he can't really handle the situation anymore. So the once odd couple, slightly light hearted banter is replaced by Krillin having an emotional meltdown. It is really wonderful writing.

The last update was a year ago on October 31, 2017. The story could very well be finished at this point, however the writer has set it up to have another two parts. The story on FF is complete (except for the continuations) and it is being moved over chapter by chapter to Ao3. As the chapters get moved over, they are being edited. The edits are for spelling and grammar only (as far as I can tell). The unedited chapters on FF.net are not bad, but there are some errors. None of these errors are bad enough to break the immersion of the story so if that is something you are worried about, don't, unless you are one of those people, then all I have to say is you shouldn't be reading MY reviews because I know how bad of a writer I am. There are 23 chapters on FF and I think as of this posting 13 on Ao3. The last chapter was uploaded to Ao3 about a month ago, so hopefully the writer is gonna begin writing again once they are all moved over.

Either way. I 100 percent recommend this story. Its funny if you have a certain kind of humor. It is smart. The world building is fantastic. Characters are on point. The build is fantastic, not only to the emotional climax, but also the build to the punchlines (and they just keep on giving). No really go read this story... Plus sandwiches.

If you liked this review, after you check out this fic, head over to my A03 and check my stuff out too!

#Vegeta #Krillin #bromance #ao3 #Fanfiction review #OMG ITS GREAT!#people are pets #mother bird #hugs are weird and awkward #go read it now #BTM Fic Review

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sethnakht · 6 years

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thoughts on aphra #25

spoilers beneath the cut.

[writing this with a bad headache and in prescription sunglasses (broke my glasses during the work-rush of the past few days). so this won’t be comprehensive or possibly even coherent.]

Thoughts in no particular order:

Tolvan literally sacrificing her mental integrity so Vader would think Aphra dead fit the dynamic of their relationship to a T - Tolvan had been doing precisely this all along. As Tolvan hates when things are “sloppy”, I could almost imagine the thought of wiping Aphra from her memory being a relief. Alas, she was dealing with Aphra. Aphra using the Bor to manipulate her memories such that her love for Aphra remained intact but the details of their parting turned bloody was so very Aphra - saving herself meant more than showing Tolvan some kindness, than giving her new memories she could live with. On the plus side, although Tolvan now thinks she murdered Aphra for breaking her heart, she was rescued by Sana. So she’s escaped interrogation and murder, escaped Vader - and renewed heartbreak in the form of Aphra. Better yet, Sana’s presence suggests she might recover her memories and be able to get a fresh start, since Sana also saw the Bor and knows how Aphra thinks, and since we know from Rogue One that memories can be returned through proper jostling. In that sense, things might finally be looking up for her.

Sana saved so many lives in this one issue alone - not just Tolvan, the Rebels on the planet as well. And of course she salvaged the Volt Cobra on the way. She’s amazing.

Lopset returning to put his proximity bomb in Triple-Zero and create the conditions for #26 had been set up several issues ago - those lines about being an “electrician” and “multidisciplinary”, his strangely specific knowledge of murderous bio-fauna, the way he kept carrying Dek-Nil/the hub-droid around as though planning blackmail, the fact that he had worked for Cornelius Evazan and yet emerged without any sort of visible bodily transformation - and it was sort of a relief to learn that he’d simply been Evazan all along. Not only does this contextualize the cover of #28, it means an end to the name-dropping - it’s been hinted since the beginning of Remastered that we would eventually run into the man himself, now we finally have - and an end to Tam Posla (thanks, Trip). [EDIT: the solicits for #28 suggest that Posla survives, bleh!] As for his disguise, it was fittingly disgusting - reminiscent of the Bor. Presumably it also explains why "Lopset”’s eyes always changed color - a detail that had been bothering me, since other shape-shifters don’t do that. The reveal also helped reframe some of the details on Posla’s ship. If you go back and look at Posla on his ship in #22, you’ll see a severed arm in a jar on prominent display, an arm that could only have been sliced from Evazan’s partner-in-crime during their encounter with Obi-Wan on Tatooine. While the arm-in-a-jar certainly works an Easter Egg, evoking the depths of Posla’s obsession, the way it’s drawn also suggested greater importance. Now we know why it was featured - so that Evazan can take the arm with him when he jumps ship with his arm-less partner-in-crime. (That entire page in 22 is also full of clues about the Evazan twist.)

EDIT: looking back at #20 is also pretty illuminating:

Evazan had some nice thoughts on monstrosity, art, and science. More on that when feeling less like bricks have been thrown at the brain.

Vader’s role in this comic had been telegraphed from miles away: it was clear from the covers that he was going to destroy Beetee, from Tolvan’s summons that he would question her, and from the nature of the spores themselves that he would interact with them. The interaction with the spores was possibly for that reason a tad disappointing - in the end, they were little more than a way to keep him distracted so Sana could rescue Tolvan. After having seen the spores project images of beloved dead people from the minds of its potential victims, one might have expected a Padmé-shaped variation on that trick - but nope, the spores unwisely tried to kill him, only to be repelled by his suit as one might expect, then destroyed with the Dark Side and a bunch of his characteristic burns, as one might also expect. His final line, “You bore it [it = the darkness]”, is kind of savage if he meant “you bore me” in the sense of “you are boring and not worth my time”, but I was left wondering whether he instead meant “you bore the darkness” in the sense of “to suffer, endure” or “to create, bring forth”. I do think it’s interesting that he spoke of the “darkness” as of himself, that he spoke so impersonally.

Vader’s interaction with the spores was also interesting in another sense - it gave him room to claim that the spores represented mere biological “urge” whereas he by implication represented control, control of the Force (life) with his “will” - that’s free will discourse right there. And it contrasts notably with the very first panel of the comic, where Aphra tells Tolvan that Vader “won’t stop. You have to understand that. He won’t tire. He won’t forgive. He won’t forget. He doesn’t know how.” That “he doesn’t know” suggests compulsion, determinism, at very least a lack. One could unpack that in cool ways.

EDIT: Vader’s decision not to murder Tolvan but have her sent to the Executor for further interrogation has been beautifully analyzed by @glompcat - I very much like the reading that it represents the very opposite of mercy, the best form of torture at his disposal - possibly also a form of paranoia, a desire to make certain that only Tolvan was ever told, that Aphra has no other lovers out there he should be tracking

Another notable Vader moment: while he considers it “likely” that Tolvan is telling the truth, that Aphra is dead, he isn’t convinced (because he knows her too well? because he senses her?), and thus sends the jail back onto its collision course with the planet. “Let it fall”, he says, which is very meta for him. Aphra being knocked out / unconscious when the collision takes place, he seems convinced that she dies in that moment, telling his RA-7 droid (I think?) to mark her as deceased - I don’t know if that’s what they’re called, but it’s the same sort of droid sent to Lyra Erso in the DV Annual, warning her that the Death Star would create a terrible world for her daughter.

Final minor detail: Vader wanted Tolvan sent to his “chambers” for interrogation, probably because she knows too much - still, I loved it as a character moment, because doesn’t it tell you everything about Vader that he would consider his personal rooms an appropriate location for an interrogation?

Triple-Zero and Aphra referred to as “lovebirds” may just reflect Evazan’s sick sense of humor - “you deserve each other” - but it also calls back to #19 in a striking way, where Trip tells Aphra that “love is murder”. The coming arc certainly seems to be shaping up into Evazan’s (lbr, Evazan is the stand-in for Spurrier) experiment to measure degrees of evil by twisting Lona’s mantra - “evil’s just a measure of how much your choices take away other people’s” - from something figurative, regulative, aimed towards guiding future actions to something literal, reductive, aimed at classifying the past. If Triple-Zero represents “programmed evil”, Aphra has yet to reveal whether her worst behavior is “intrinsic” (biological) or something she “picks up” (cultural). But Triple-Zero’s line about love confuses such neat categories, and I hope that what lies ahead is messy indeed.

#wednesday spoilers #star wars spoilers #chelli lona aphra #marvel doctor aphra #doctor aphra #si spurrier #tam posla #cornelius evazan #sana starros #magna tolvan #triple zero #darth vader #star wars comics #sw: comics #star wars comics spoilers

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fantroll-purgatory · 6 years

Text

Lalnah Dearth - Hopeless Romantic

@chaoticevilfantrolls

(Breaking the streak of Teals I had going, here’s my Main Boy)

I gotta say, you’ve hit another one out of the park. I really love this boy from the get-go.

Planet: Alternia. Same AU as Lycosa and Vapula (age of conscription is 10 sweeps, minor social changes, etc.)

Name:Lalnah Dearth

Lalnah: Comes from Lana or Svetlana, a name which typically means Light, or Gift to the World, depending on the source. Also, in a more blunt and lowbrow manner, it’s a pun on ‘lol, no’.

Dearth: Meaning ‘a lack of’. A lack of light, of prospects, and of hope. It primarily ties into his dreary nature, and the fact that he is meant to be a void player at his core.

I’m tempted not to use Dearth if only because it Is straight up a highly recognizable word. I like it a lot thematically, though. Hrm… Maybe if we just translate it? Duurte, meaning dearth, scarcity… Lalnah Duurte.

I do have to point out here that void isn’t about a lack of prospects or hope so much as an empty space… which I do really like for him. It’s the unexplored, the unknown, the blank canvas, the vastness, the beginning, that which isn’t but can become… Which can be really overwhelming and oppressing and lonely. But it’s not hopeless, even if it can feel that way in the beginning. Which I think ties beautifully into the title ideas you discussed, but we’ll get to that at the appropriate time.

Age:Typically 9-12 sweeps. He’s a little older than the rest of his friend group.

Strife Specibus: shotgunKind. It’s a reference to the original instance of Chekhov’s Gun, in which a shotgun over the mantle piece, mentioned off-hand in one of the earlier chapters of a story, was used as a murder weapon in the climax. It’s an important literary concept (not adding superfluous details unless they become relevant later), which ties into his writing theme as well as his plotline in the session he’s from.

I Love That Thanks. I was going to make a pen/sword joke here but I can’t when the Chekhov’s Gun reference is already perfect.

Fetch Modus:Hangman Modus. Lalnah needs to play hangman to retrieve the item from his sylladex. The phrase or word is always based on the item itself, becoming more complex the more powerful or important the item is. If he loses, the item is locked for a five hour period.

Blood color:Burgundy. His particular brand of down-trodden resignation fits really well in the lower castes, I believe. Plus, burgundy is the name of a kind of wine, which fits extra well with his alcoholic author theme.

I definitely think so. It puts him in a really vulnerable social position that amplifies that ease of manipulation you mention later. I think it’s also an interesting assignation for an author because of the rust leaning towards adventure. I like the idea of him exploring more internally, through his art.

Symbol and meaning:The Dele. It’s a symbol used to mark something for deletion in editing manuscripts. Primarily ties into his status as a void player, as well as his extensive writing theme. Also, when drawn a certain way, it resembles a bat.

Oh I just love this… I might have to adjust it a little to account for rust language, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Trolltag: transientTechnicality

Transient: Something or someone who is temporary. Can be used to describe someone who is homeless or nomadic.

Technicality: A small detail in a set of rules. In Lalnah’s mind, a technicality is something that is easily overlooked, but can be used to win major battles in both law and war.

Quirk:He starts all of his statements with an arrow pointing to his words, as if drawing attention he can to what he’s saying. (->)

He capitalizes his Os, and his v’s become >’s, but otherwise types entirely in lowercase. This is primarily to show his manner of speaking (very empty and almost monotonous, with a bit of a lisp around the sound of V). He uses punctuation within statements, but does not use apostrophes or periods as ending punctuation.

He has a tendency towards long, elaborate statements, spliced with commas and filled with florid and bloated prose. Expect a lot of ‘woe is me’ shit.

When he does use emoticons, he typically uses -w- for just about every emotion possible, using it to represent a bat’s face. Sometimes he’ll add carats before and after to represent perked ears (and curiosity), sometimes he’ll add an apostrophe as a sweat drop of exhaustion or weariness. (^-w-^ or -w-’)

“TT: -> cwm fjOrd bank glyphs >ext quiz” “TT: -> if yOu need a better translatiOn, the wOrds amOunt tO sOmething meaning, cOllOquially, symbOls car>ed On the mOuntain hOllOw irritate an eccentric” “TT: -> yOu, ah, wanted tO see every letter, thOugh… -w-”

I Adore All Of This. It’s interesting that you’ve given him the arrows drawing attention to his text when he’s themed around void/light. Maybe when he’s feeling particularly small and lacking in confidence and when he’s especially afraid of bringing attention to himself, he drops the arrows.

Special Abilities: Lalnah used to have a decent, if not exceptional, talent for photokinesis and photogenesis, which he could use to control and create light. Primarily he would use this for non-combat things like making reading lights and faerie lights or changing the intensity of light around him, although when pushed to it he would use the light to disorient foes so that he could escape. His drinking has severely dulled these powers, though, to the point he almost can’t use them at all.

Additionally, Lalnah hears the horrorterrors of the furthest ring, primarily manifesting as a dull mental static which he cannot pick out the meaning to. He hears them through his dreamself, which is sleepwalking in perpetuity, except while he himself sleeps. Because of this, he doesn’t necessarily have nightmares while he sleeps outside of sopor, and he’s more resistant to mind-control and telepathic psionics, if only for the barrier that makes it painful to dig too far into his pan. It doesn’t help much, because his timid nature makes it easy enough to control him in other, more mundane means.

Although not psychically based at all, Lalnah is also capable of using echolocation, thanks to his big ol’ sensitive batty ears.

I love all of this, too! I keep saying that but god I really do adore all the little clever details about him. He’s so well-crafted. His photogenesis would be so handy. He could cast light however he wanted while writing a scene to better figure out how to describe it… I wonder why he started hearing the horrorterrors, though? Do they just have a particular fondness for him? Something about his aspect bleeding before the bounds of sburb and into his consciousness?

Or did he dig a little too deep while doing some research for a book? Dip a little too much into the unknown and unlock something in himself he maybe shouldn’t have? The blankness of a page can be dangerous in that way.

Lusus: A fruit bat approximately the size of a house cat. Lalnah’s lusus is rather sickly and frail, and has been most of his life. In fact, by the time of the session, his lusus is typically dead of some illness. His lusus is a fruit bat primarily for the fact of Lalnah’s nearly vampiric appearance, the concept of being ‘blind as a bat’ (which Lalnah most certainly is), and an artifact reference to cannibalism (not nearly as relevant anymore, but Lalnah as a character is about 4 years old and I still haven’t weeded out all of the lingering teenage angst).

I do like the cannibalism reference objectively because he is, still, in some ways, self-cannibalizing. On a more emotional and identity level but still.

Personality: By all means, Lalnah is about as timid and self-pitying as a troll can get without it bordering on the obscenely pale-pornographic. He lets others speak over him, letting them form their opinions on him without so much as a whimper of protest. He has a(n earned) reputation as drunkard and a hopeless fool of a romantic, which he no longer attempts to protest. He’s been caught using his horns as a bottle opener. There’s no recovering your reputation after that.

In reality, Lalnah is incredibly talented, with strong skill in games of strategy and forethought, as well as proficiency with playing violin and piano. He avoids bringing attention to these things in fear that they will be used as a reason to manipulate him and take what little agency he has. This fear isn’t unfounded, but rather borne of his relationship with his ex-moirail, a blueblood who used his talents to make herself look more favorable, using recordings of him playing instruments as her own and forcing him to fit some visual ideal that she thought was fitting.

He has the tendency to fall in deep, profound love with trolls who show him the smallest scrap of kindness despite his failings, opening up to them and showing only them his real talent and potential, no matter how much he comes to regret it later.

He tends to wrestle with perfectionism in addition to his need for passive mediocrity. His drinking, unfortunately, is the only way he knows to bridge between the two. Using his drinking as an excuse for his failures soothes the savage beast of perfectionism without forcing him to give up his sense of safety in being unremarkable.

I like the idea of him kind of idolizing the people he’s in love with. And then true to Aries-aligned form experiencing these cycles of disappointment when they don’t meet these expectations. But he keeps on loving anyways, clinging because of his self-pity. Maybe having a fear that if he loses This person he’ll never find love again. Wants to have a perfect love but he can’t stand up for himself in relationships or dedicate himself to even trying to change people.

The drinking is also very fitting. We have seen pretty often that addiction is a very light/void phenomenon. Roxy’s and Rose’s own alcoholism, and Equius and Vriska’s addiction to breaking specific objects… An unfortunately realistic way that people attempt to cope with these internal conflicts.

Interests: Lalnah’s primary interest lies in writing. Be it prose or poetry, political essays or pining exposes, he writes whatever he happens to be in the mood for, and with great proficiency. Even in his trademark stupor (which he no-doubt exaggerates), he writes.

He has an interest in cooking as well, treating it as an art-form as high as any other. It’s one of the only things he’s willingly held on to since his moirailegence with the blueblood, besides perhaps his fashion sense. He absolutely has made a romantic dinner for his moirail out of instant noodles, and his habit of making the most of nothing really shines through in that.

Otherwise? He’s shoved aside most of his other interests. He doesn’t enjoy playing the piano or violin anymore, and his smaller hobbies that were discouraged or ignored fell to the wayside when he started hitting the bottle with some regularity.

)^: I want to save him.

Title: I’ve been struggling with this a little bit, but for a very specific reason.

Part of me is drawn to making Lalnah a Mage or Seer of Void, for his deep understanding of nothingness and mediocrity, his greater-than-average knowledge of the horrorterrors and the way they work (if marginal), as well as smaller things like his use of echolocation and the fact that he’s nearly blind thanks to his shitty eye sight.

Part of me is drawn to making him an Heir of Light, who spends most of the session in an unhealthy state of inversion, who then reverts to his proper classpect at a key moment, forcing himself to take on and handle the talent and relevance he’s been denying.

I do like the idea of him being an Heir of Light a lot. A Lot. He can easily start and spend a large part of the session inverted to Mage of Void. He hears the voices of the horror terrors and understands the unknown and the blank, or at least Believes he does. As he starts to come into himself and his role, he gets to learn to understand himself and information and the nature of infinity far better than he ever believed he did.

He takes on the relevance he’s been denying and that he has earned and would passively be able to manipulate and change information, the known, the present, as well as luck. And he would learn to actively comprehend the boundlessness of the void. He’d take all this passive change and this light inside himself and use it to understand that emptiness is not a dead end but instead a chance to fill it up with beautiful things.

Land: Land of Echoes and Haze

His land is a sprawling port town, worn down and rusting, the air thick with salt and haze. Think Innsmouth from the H.P. Lovecraft Mythos. His consorts are salamanders, dull grey in color, and are surprisingly hostile to him, although not aggressive. They speak endlessly about the things that hide in the mists, urging him to leave the land and never come back.

Consorts begin disappearing as he continues on his quest, and it’s eventually revealed that the things in the mists are actually mutated consorts, ruined by the whims of his denizen, Dagon. Lalnah must complete some tasks to drive back the mist before bargaining with Dagon to turn the consorts back into the form they are meant to be in.

I love that because it really does imply him needing to take on the spot light, pick up the hero role, make a change passively, by convincing the Dagon. He’d probably have to do something with a fun loophole to bring in your Technicality trolltag. Make a contract and screw that denizen over, Lalnah. Overcome your base acquiescent nature. I believe in you.

Dream Planet:Derse. He’s a voidy boy, and has a lot of horrorterror influence to him. It’d be a waste of a good plot point.

Oh Yep it’s definitely the most thematically fitting And he has So much internal conflict it’s impossible not to consider him a derse player.

Design stuff!:

Yeah I had pretty much almost nothing to add here. Like quite literally almost nothing.

Teeth: We’ve only seen one rust with visible teeth and even then they were nubby teeth, so I took the points off his fangs. I think it also works better for his submissive and dulled behavior.

Symbol: It needed to be symmetrical to meet the rust sign language, so I worked with the idea of it looking a bit like a bat and added two equally lengthed wing edges. I also wanted to use a lot of negative space because Themes.

Shoes: I changed the outline to a lighter one because the dark outline looked a bit awkward.

This is a really amazing and well-thought-out character! I hope I was able to provide even a little bit of useful help haha. Thank you for sharing!

-CD

#chaoticevilfantrolls #lalnah dearth #lalnah duurte #lalnah #dearth #duurte #rustblood #maroonblood #burgundyblood #review #redesign #?#not really. it's really not a redesign #cd review #submission

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Bookshelf Briefs 8/26/21

Captivated, By You | By Yama Wayama | Yen Press – A collection of short stories that originally ran in the magazine Comic Beam, they all take place around the same school and feature some of the same cast intermingling with each other, but each can also be read as a standalone. This is not a BL title, but I’d say it’s BL-adjacent, and there are several relationships that you could see going that way. My favorites included a social media relationship done via cut-out “kidnapper” letters, a man trying to reinvent himself in high school… as the creepy dude everyone avoids, and a bullied kid trying to get petty revenge on his bully but being unable to because he’s too decent a person at heart. The stories vary in quality, but the collection overall is very nice. – Sean Gaffney

Days on Fes, Vol. 2 | By Kanato Oka | Yen Press This continues to hit at what it does best, showing off how awesome it can be to go to a music festival. You can hear things you’d never even knew existed, and you might even run into the singer of your favorite band incognito inside the crowd. Will romantic sparks fly?? Well, probably not, because honestly our two girls seem to be really into each other—as with Captivated, By You, this is not yuri or BL but it is yuri and BL-adjacent, as each pair of leads makes an awesome couple but isn’t actually one. If there’s one complaint it’s that so far this is almost entirely on the fan side of things. There’s a suggestion that might change, as we do get a few pages of one band, but I’d like to see more actual music—and more struggles. -Sean Gaffney

Happy Kanako’s Killer Life, Vol. 1 | By Toshiya Wakabayashi | Seven Seas – This is a black, black comedy, and if you find the idea of a happy-go-lucky girl killing people appalling, best to skip it. That said, if you do like black comedy, it’s wonderful. Kanako is an OL who just quit her job and finds that the new one she answered the ad for… is a hit man. Her first target… is her old boss. And she’s really good at killing people. Plus, it’s got great pay, and you get to go out and have meat and alcohol afterwards. Oh yes, and the book is filled with weird animal puns—and the animals appear behind Kanako as she says them, so the translation must have been FUN. This isn’t for everyone, but it’s gleefully silly and dark as hell, as you watch Kanako sink further and further to the dark side. – Sean Gaffney

Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vol. 20 | By Aka Akasaka | Viz Media – It’s Valentine’s Day, and as you can imagine that means different things to different people in this book. We also find out that Maki is actually one of the most respected students on campus… it’s just we’ve only ever seen her reflected through her hilarious unrequited love, so we don’t get it (and neither do the main cast). Also, exam results are out, which means that Ishigami gets to show off the results of Kaguya’s tutoring… and Shirogane, who’s dropped to twelfth because he’s narrowing his focus to studying English for Stanford. Believe me, there’s still plenty of silliness, mostly from Fujiwara, but the characters are beginning to grow up and throw off the shackles of the past… or have it done for them. – Sean Gaffney

Komi Can’t Communicate, Vol. 14 | By Tomohito Oda | Viz Media – Sometimes this series has a long-running arc, and sometimes it just coasts along on pure cute. This volume is one of the latter, and it is very, very cute indeed, which is the main reason people are reading the title, but does make things a bit difficult to pick out to review. Komi and Tadano remain the best couple who aren’t one, and everyone can see it. Manbagi is also clearly very much in denial about her own crush on Tadano, and I anticipate the next arc will be dealing with that. Najimi remains obnoxious but fun, Yamai remains obnoxious and not fun. If you’ve enjoyed other volumes, this is an obvious one to get. And it sure is cute, isn’t it? – Sean Gaffney

Medalist, Vols. 1-2 | By Tsurumaikada | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Even if the story in this series weren’t great, I’d likely still be recommending it solely based on the art, which is frequently stunning, and has beautifully characterized expressions. Fortunately, the story is also excellent. A former ice dancer who was never quite able to go pro discovers a young girl who is trying desperately, despite her mother’s misgivings, to be an Olympic figure skater. Like a lot of lead girls in this sort of series, she’s not got a lot of knowledge but has a great deal of raw talent and iron will. Together, the two of them try to pull each other out of the depression they were in. The girl being eight years old means there’s a lack of mentor-mentee romance you might get if she were a teen. This is just sweet. – Sean Gaffney

Night Bus | By Zuo Ma | Drawn & Quarterly – Finding independent Chinese comics translated into English is something of a rarity, so I was very excited to see that Zuo Ma’s Night Bus was being released. I had previously encountered Zuo Ma’s work in the underground Chinese comic anthology Naked Body published by Paradise Systems. Drawn & Quarterly’s edition of Night Bus, translated and with ending notes by Orion Martin (founder of Paradise Systems), actually gathers stories from two of Zuo Ma’s books: Walk, a collection of ten short works, and an updated and expanded version of the long-form comic Night Bus. In these stories, Zuo Ma frequently incorporates semi-autobiography, fantastical dreamscapes, and the supernatural, working and reworking themes and ideas throughout the volume. Elements of reality and unreality are interwoven and fused in powerful, visceral ways, capturing intense emotions of anxiety and dread, but also evoking a sense of nostalgia. Night Bus is an unsettling, riveting, and compelling collection. – Ash Brown

Queen’s Quality, Vol. 12 | By Kyousuke Motomi | Viz Media – The series works best when it’s equating the stresses and paranoia of the inner mind with outer monsters to match. Sometimes, though, it’s just a bunch of fighting, and the monsters seem to be there just to be antagonists. Fortunately, there’s still our two leads, who remain the best thing about this series. Kyutaro is trying his best to retain his sense of self, and fortunately he has Fumi to help, who is happy to go all the way with him, although perhaps not with the snake inside him. They don’t, however, and Fumi ends up getting her best moments when she shows off what a vicious badass she’s become. That said, the danger of this series is it doesn’t come out often enough, so I forget the plot a lot. – Sean Gaffney

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, Vol. 13 | By Yu Tomofuji | Yen Press – The start of this volume is a lot of fun, as Sariphi ends up dealing with a tsundere female version of his highness, a woman who is said to have beast ancestry in her past and thus is accused of being evil. Given that this series tends to run on pure Fruits Basket, it’s no surprise that Sariphi is able to help with the pure power of shininess. All is not well back home, though, and it’s becoming pretty clear that endgame is going to be revealing the King’s other form as an excuse for executing him… and I would not be surprised if they blame Sariphi for it. This is still very good, and remains a wonderful reminder of the days when we always got piles of Hana to Yume manga like it. – Sean Gaffney

Sazan & Comet Girl | By Yuriko Akase | Seven Seas – Perhaps the most striking aspect of Sazan & Comet Girl is that the all of the artwork is in full color. Akase’s watercolor illustrations of planetary and interstellar backgrounds in particular are simply gorgeous. Story-wise, however, Sazan & Comet Girl isn’t particularly innovative, primarily revisiting and combining familiar tropes and character types of its genre. Even so, the volume is still great fun, coming across as a nostalgic, loving homage to older science fiction media. The entire series has been released as a single omnibus volume in English and doesn’t have obvious chapter breaks, so once the story gets going it just goes and keeps going, shifting from romantic comedy into action adventure before returning fully to its underlying love story. Sazan is goofball of a lead and Mina, the titular comet girl, is an endearing heroine—apart from the artwork, the manga is at its best when focusing on them. – Ash Brown

This Wonderful Season with You | By Atsuko Yusen | TOKYOPOP – Junpei Enoki is a bespectacled nerd who belongs to the electronic engineering club. Ryousuke Shirataki, a “normie” with a reputation for being cool and manly, is searching for something after an injury ruined his baseball prospects. After Shirataki joins the club, they get to know each other and, ultimately, fall in love. The tone is mostly comedic, with an art style that reminds me a bit of vintage shounen, and I really liked that some characters who seem like comic relief end up being important. I also loved how each boy has an unexpected side to him that the other sees immediately while others fail to notice. Shirataki appeared aloof, but he was actually suffering, and it’s so nice at the end to see him goofy and happy. I could’ve done without the final sex chapter, but aside from that, this was great. – Michelle Smith

By: Ash Brown

#Anime #News #Manga Bookshelf

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