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asterekmess · 4 years

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S3A - E2

Here we go, Episode 2 of the rewatch. Honestly, even if you guys really don’t care about these, I’m gonna write them anyway, cus I need to get my FEELINGS out.

Anyway. Read More as a symbol of my love.

Thoughts:

Your pen is dry, honey. Try a sharpie.

So Stiles has literally known Heather since he was born? Nursery school is from 0 months to 5 years old, apparently. And Scott doesn’t know who she is? How does that even happen? It’s not like Stiles hasn’t seen her in ages, she recognizes him Instantly from across the room and he recognizes her back. So, Scott just never met her or asked about her or anything? Stiles never told him?

If anyone was curious, apparently Heather’s friend is named Danielle (according to Amazon Prime’s “X-Ray” thingy). She’s the same girl from Lydia’s birthday party, I think. The one who woke Stiles up? OHmygod that would be so fucking interesting. If he invited her and Heather to Lydia’s party. Maybe Heather couldn’t go, but Danielle showed up.

Awww, was Heather Stiles’ first kiss? Did they play winery as kids? Hide and seek? did they break a stupidly expensive bottle of wine?

I have personal issues with Stiles supposed canon age. I refuse to believe he’s not 17 and a year older than the others, because of repeating a grade when he was really young. I just refuse to believe otherwise. XP

PLS STOP making fun of girls asking for guys’ consent. This show would be awesome for like ten whole seconds if they stopped RUINING the girl’s asking for consent by having the guys laugh at them or treat it like a joke.

Allison, Scott’s not gonna have a single fucking clue what you’re talking about when only you hold out your arm to show the bruise.

Also. I believe in Big Dick Stiles Stilinski, bc he’s too smart not to know that wearing too big a condom is like the worst possible idea and can render it basically useless, and he wouldn’t have grabbed one (which we see he did in the next episode or something) if it wouldn’t fit. Therefore. XXL for our boy. XP

Hold up. So no one heard Heather screaming? Was she hallucinating the wine bottles breaking? Maybe it was an illusion, cus there’s no mess when Stiles gets down there? But still, the screaming is real. Scott should’ve heard screams like that even from outside the building.

Also, I feel p fucking bad for Stiles. As far as he knows, she bailed on him. What if he thought it was a prank or a joke or something? Or, even worse actually, since he’s known her for so long and she left her shoes down there, I bet he’d be worried instantly.

*snort* I looked up Derek’s loft set for research. They had to do so much editing to make it look grudgy and out of the way. This building is in the middle of town and it’s Massive and Gleaming. It’s a place where you can rent office suites. XD

I love everything about Isaac’s little venting session over getting Peter’s help, except the part where where he mentions Scott. Fuck scott. (whoops, now I need the tag. Like you didn’t see that coming?)

I find it hilarious that Peter’s intro is Rock Music. Also. “Fair enough.” I do love this man. (took me a while though.) Like, he’s honestly pretty simple to understand most of the time. He just wants people to be honest to him, say what they wanna say to his face.

Look at Peter, giving us one of the very few hints at werewolf history. Presumably, the ability was meant to be used to share memories with pack, locations of dens or images or even scents of other packs. And though mostly Alphas do it, clearly not just Alphas do it. This is fucking Interesting, I want MORE.

Aannnd, we discover that Scott’s been lying to Allison this whole time and letting her think that Derek just randomly attacked her mother. Love it. Also, I’m still not over Allison’s behavior in the last season? Waiting on an apology, hun, and it better be good.

OH. OH NOW You can sense the werewolves, Scott? SERIOUSLY?

Why do they make every single scene with Finstock have something to do with Stiles’ sex life? Like....it’s awkward. Stop. Also, can you imagine Stiles getting a rep around school for having a big dick bc of this? Is that something that actually happens in high schools? I had no friends, I would not know.

“No play.” The first time Scott decides that neutrality is better than actually doing something useful. I’m salty. *nods* yup. I am. I know what this scene does later on, and I hate it.

Also, can I just say that I literally hate that EVERY SINGLE time Stiles is having a good time, they make it Horrible? Stiles makes a lil joke about Derek being a Sourwolf? Derek gets claws through his lungs and spits blood. Stiles gets to play on the team? Across town Erica and Boyd are being tortured. Stiles is about to have sex? The girl he’s supposed to have sex with is being traumatized downstairs. Stiles is about to play a stupid fucking game in class? He gets taken in for questioning because his friend since birth has been kidnapped. They literally refuse to ever let Stiles be happy without making him look like an idiot or an asshole for having a single good emotion. It makes me so MAD. You can literally measure the show! If Stiles is actually smiling, then someone’s about to die.

OH MY GOD. Really? Another moment we didn’t get to see? “Derek says it’s easier to turn teenagers” WHEN DID HE SAY THAT? I‘M SO CURIOUS. Also how does Stiles know what Peter and Derek tried to do to get Isaac’s memories back? Are they reporting to Stiles? Letting him know what’s up? STILES IS HALE PACK I WILL FIGHT YOU.

I’m getting really sick of Deaton somehow knowing more about werewolves than the two born werewolves. Like, it’s really fucking annoying? They know their own species, or at least they should? It was the same with Chris helping out on the hunt. He doesn’t know werewolves better than they know themselves and I’m fucking tired of it. Let Peter and Derek have their own fucking history and knowledge about their own fucking species.

*snort* i paused at just the right time and the water effect made Derek and scott’s foreheads Really big. XD

I enjoy Stiles getting distracted now that his job is done. I feel that in my soul. The only difference between us is that he has the confidence to just Grab the shit he wants to play with, and I never did so I just zone out staring at it.

I’m not stupid. I see them suddenly throwing in the work ‘risky’ everywhere. But I still appreciate Derek reminding Isaac that he doesn’t have to do the ice tub thing.

More reflections...what’s with the reflections in this season so far?

Also, is this how people sound when they’re hypnotized. I’m on Stiles’ side actually, giving this the side-eye with Isaac’s constant “They’re here” thing. It seems really weird and overdone.

God, this scene is such fucking bullshit. Derek would never put Isaac in danger like that. Isaac’s the only Beta he’s got at the moment. He wouldn’t do that and it’s fucking Stupid to make him be so vicious and scare the shit out of Isaac. I fucking hate it.

I think it’s sweet that Isaac looks to Stiles for answers when everyone’s acting weird.

Ten hours of research, and Stiles has a little pinboard on the floor, the prototype for his big one Awwwwww.

Papa Stilinski comes through ONce Again!

If they’re supposed to meet at 5 and get to work at dark. Why is it dark when they get to Dereks??? WORK WITH ME HERE.

WHY would they patch the wall (Which is stone, so wtf did they patch it with? Concrete?) if they closed the bank down right after the robbery???

IT”S THE SCENE *heavy breathing* “Big bad wolf, yeahhh, lookatdat” Peter looks SO DONE “I’ve been dealing with this for months, make it stop”

aaaand again. “Risk” Since when does Peter care about risk? I never understood this scene. We have evidence that Peter cares about family, and according to werewolves, pack is family. He flipped shit to find Derek when Derek was missing. This is exactly the kind of thing he would do. I just...I don’t get it. Don’t like it, either.

“Yeah, if you want me to come” “NOT you” I love this scene, because it shows not just that Stiles is fucking raring to go and help, but that he didn’t offer before only because he thought Derek wouldn’t let him. We know Derek doesn’t think Stiles is useless. He put Stiles in charge of researching this entire bank. Which means it’s not that he doesn’t think Stiles could help, it’s that he doesn’t want Stiles to get hurt. And apparently Stiles knows that Derek feels that way, and knows Derek is vehement enough about it that he didn’t even bother bringing it up in the first place. That’s some serious trust and understanding, and even respect right there that Stiles is showing. Understanding what Derek would feel before he did it, trusting that Derek knew better about what was too dangerous for Stiles to involve himself in, and respecting him enough not to bug him about it anyway.

personal preference, I hate how much time is wasted just showing people walk down halls with weird lighting effects, or showing Allison trip over debris and pull her coat closed. Like...it’s really not needed?

Sup, Morrell? 20 seconds to get hidden? Is that 20 sec before the alphas get in hearing range or 20 sec before they actually get there? And how did the Alphas know that Derek was coming tonight? As far as they knew they took Isaac’s memory away and killed Braeden.

KALI WEAR SOM EFUCKING SHOES YOU NASSTY.

Smart girl with the bleach. I mean, I don’t know why the sudden scent of bleach didn’t tick kali off, but sure, whatever works.

I’m not even kidding. When I saw this scene for the first time I fucking burst into tears. Just that little glimpse of Erica and I was a mess

I really love Stiles and Peter chatting though. Like, Stiles gives no fucks, and Peter sounds just so used to it. Also, Derek’s couch looks sooooo comfy. I wanna sit on it. And Peter halfway through calling Stiles annoying is just like “Shit. He’s right. Again.” and there’s no physical distance. Peter once dragged Stiles around by his neck all night and nearly killed Lydia. But Stiles has no qualms about walking right up into his space and helping him out. PLUS, when Peter realizes Stiles is right, there’s no insults. Not even frustrated ones. When STiles describes the walls of the loft, Peter doesn’t say, “No, you idiot, the bank vault.” or make a quip. He’s immediately looking to Stiles for the information and trusting that he has it and will know where it is.

Then we have Scott just...whatever the fuck he’s saying. I don’t wanna hear it.

Okay, that is way more space behind Derek and Scott than Stiles said. And how is the moonlight even getting in? They had to shimmy through a shaft in the walls, there’s no windows in the walls. AND HOW THE FUCK would the ALpHA PACK KNOW THEY EVen KNOW WHERE THE BANK IS???

Derek should be able to hear the phone call. Just. Yes. That’s how that works. Also, Peter, now is not the time for gladiator analogies.

And the tears are back. All it takes is one fucking word. “Cora?”

IT DOESN”T MAKE SENSE. HOW WOULD THE ALPHAS KNOW??? If Marin hired Braeden and told her to get a message to Derek about the bank they were being kept at, then that means that it was all this really dumb double-double cross. Her making it look like she double-crossed the Alphas by telling Braeden to give up their location, but actually doing for the Alphas to trap Derek and Scott. What the absolute fuck?

FINALLY Someone holds Scott accountable. THANK you Derek.

Also, hello Lydia, I’m so sorry honey but you’re about to enter a whole new nightmare.

Final thoughts: I’m very long winded, and very frustrated and very fucking sad. I am just so goddamn sad and the next episode’s gonna make me feel even worse so I’m taking a break.

#personal #TeenWolf-Rewatch #anti-scott mccall

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the-cookie-of-doom · 4 years

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Next I want to question would probably be the Angsty Band AU, because who doesn’t love an angsty band au. Who’s in the band? Playing what? Is this a non-supernatural au?

This is a totally human AU, where Mitch went to college and got a degree in music production, and after graduation Stiles convinced Mitch to start a band with him. I think they started out as just a typical garage band making videos for YouTube, until they got some songs written and started auditioning new members.

The band name is Sutures, because of course it is ; ) Stiles suggested it and Mitch thought it was cool so he agree, but a split second he Realized, but it was too late to take it all back because the rest of the band already agreed. Stiles is a smug little shit about it lol

Stiles is the singer and Mitch is the bassist/backup vocals. He’s also written a lot/most of the songs, and he’s left handed. Katrina later comes in on the middle of a tour to play keys for them when their keyboardist breaks their hand; her and Mitch dated in college and they haven’t spoken in a while, but he didn’t have anyone else to call, and she was happy to come along. She later (unknowingly) causes Angst and Discontent between Mitch and Stiles, and it’s about 95% Mitch’s fault. (That may actually be from the other angsty band AU....)

Also Stiles, being like 19/20 years old and high strung, suffering from the stress and pressure of his first tour, which is Really Big because they’ve garnered a large fanbase, fully succumbs to the sex drugs and rock and roll lifestyle. Mitch is pissed, because his one condition for doing this with Stiles, fully funding the band and making it actually happen, was that Stiles wouldn’t get into that shit.

I’m not sure who all would be included from TW, I never decided on who would be in the band or anything. But Lydia is their PR manager/agent? She’s a terrifying force to be reckoned with, for sure lol

heeere is a scene that’s lurking around tumblr, but I didn’t want to go find it xD

“Jesus fucking Christ, Stiles.” Mitch grabbed his brother by the wrist and hauled him into an equipment closet. He backed Stiles against a high stack of speakers, cutting him off from escape. “What did you take? What did you fucking take?”

Stiles refused to answer, shaking his head with a clenched jaw. There was a tremble in his limbs that he tried to hide. When Mitch grabbed him by the jaw and forcefully tilted his head into the light, his pupils didn’t contract, blown wide till the brown was only a thin ring around the black. Both were symptoms of stimulants.

Mitch shoved away from Stiles in disgust. Outside were thousands of fans waiting for them, and Stiles was busy getting high.

“This was your dream,” Mitch hissed. He raked a hand through his hair, didn’t know what to do. Angry, he turned back to Stiles and shoved him back into the speakers. “Your dream, not mine! And you’re just throwing it away. But you’re not the only one that’ll be affected, you selfish brat.”

“Mitch I’m sorry—I didn’t—it’s not like—“

“Shut the fuck up.” Mitch took out his phone to call Lydia, barking at her to come meet them. She arrived promptly, coming into the room with stern features and cold eyes, clearly unimpressed. “He’s strung out,” Mitch told her, gesturing to Stiles who couldn’t stop scratching himself, like he was jonesing for another fix. Like snorting all he had wasn’t enough. Mitch was seething, couldn’t stand to look at him. Because just like always, now Mitch had to go clean up his mess. “Don’t let him anywhere near the stage.”

“Who will sing.”

“I wrote the damn songs, I’ll do it.” Lydia looked at him flatly, clearly doubting him. Mitch didn’t care.

“You hate singing.”

“Yeah, I hate a lot of things.” Stiles flinched at the venom in his brother’s voice, knowing he was at the top of that list. It made him want to cry but he didn’t want to give Mitch the satisfaction. Not that he would care, as angry as he was. “Don’t let him out of your sight.”

“I’m sorry,” Stiles whispered, his eyes stinging.

“No you’re not. Fuck. Of all times to pull this shit, Stiles. I thought you were smarter than this.”

Stiles reeled back like he’d been slapped. But that was all the time Mitch was going to give him. He left the room, running out onto stage to tell their band mates Stiles wouldn’t be able to play, and apologizing to the fans while explaining the situation as best he could without telling them Stiles was getting fucked up in a back room.

After this, Mitch just about leaves the band. Lydia has to track him down and drag him back, because there’s no way they can just leaves the fans hanging like this, they still have to finish the tour.

Stiles is kicked off the tour though, and Mitch has to take over vocals. Surprisingly, the fans love him, even more than Stiles. Tabloids are reporting that their success is at an all time high now that their mysterious, reclusive bassist is stepping into the spotlight.

Seeing how much everyone loves Mitch, how much better their doing without him, sends Stiles into an awful depression spiral as he realizes they don’t need him.

God and there is so much more to this AU that I can’t remember. I need to find a way to download my Tumblr chat because I know it’s in there, but from like. Last February.

I remember that Mitch completely cuts off contact with Stiles after catching him getting high on the tour, and doesn’t seek him out even when it ends. when he finally tries, he can’t find Stiles, and has to ask Lydia if she knows where he is.

Stiles did end up going to rehab. He didn’t tell Mitch because he didn’t want Mitch thinking he was the only reason Stiles was doing it; he did it for himself. He knew he was messed up and needed to get help. And Mitch is proud of him for it, apologizes for the way things happened, etc.

After, the bands gets all back together. And later Stiles finds Mitch acting kind of secretive, clearly working on a new project. He keeps pestering but Mitch refuses to tell him what it is, doesn’t want to show him until it’s done.

When it is, the group all meets up at the studio (maybe he and Stiles have an apartment or something, and they converted one of the rooms to a recording studio? Maybe not, unimportant.) And Mitch plays the new song he’s been working on, which I’ve low key always imaged as Under Your Scars by Godsmack. It’s an emotional moment, but ends on a bitter sweet note because no one in the band knows just who Mitch wrote it for. They can’t. So the entire time Stiles is just standing there trying not to cry and give anything away.

Also if you want to know what I imagine Mitch sounding like, I think something like Adelitas Way, with a little bit of Ice Nine Kills, specifically the deeper parts of Stabbing In The Dark. I actually started keeping a list of songs that sounded like Mitch to me, but idk where it is rn. I keep meaning to make a playlist for it xD

I was actually going to do some vocal editing on a couple different songs to make an “album” of how I imagined Mitch sounding, but my software wasn’t cooperating with me >_> But like, I did a whole Thing, taking clips from American Assassin and doing some vocal analysis to separate out the different tones in Dylan’s voice, and then changing the vocals of the songs to match, because I am Extra. Except it was fucking with the instrumental and I gave up lol, but I would love to finish that project some day.

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thecursedhellblazer · 4 years

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{ @imthebatman }

(( Look at me actually managing to respect a deadline outside university ones...well, more or less ^^” In my defence, this turned out to be much more than I had planned for it to be, but well, it’s done xD Good thing you told me about the bday thing in advance, otherwise I would have never been able to put this together and I would have gone for something easier and less time consuming >.> ))

(( So, first of all have a shitty edit of a Beebo ready to party: ))

(( But the real present is under the cut. I was kind of tempted to post it elsewhere, like on Ao3, because it came out much longer than I thought and Tumblr posts kinda sucks, but I decided to shove it down here anyway. And yep, I did write you a song fic u.u ))

(( Happy b-day, Palps! ))

“Everyone of us hides a story made of scars and sometimes shelters in a corner„

Thick grey clouds cover the sky, heavy with a rainstorm they might never truly deliver, not a single crack of blue in sight. Then again, the sun has never been a common presence in the sky of Gotham. It would feel out of place in the gloomy atmosphere that surrounds the city and among its many, dark moods. There’s little space for light when the air is so heavy, even in the moments of apparent peace. They are, after all, nothing but an illusion, yet another calm before the tempest comes back raging again, just as the silence of that slowly dying afternoon is.

John Constantine lights up a cigarette, letting the flame linger on its as he inhales the first mouthful of smoke. In the descending darkness, his mind finds it easy to overlap the hostile skyline that stretches before his eyes with his memories of London. Another city known for her gloomy weather, for the fog that so often lingers over her buildings, soaking the people she shelters in her bosom with humidity and cold. If he closes his eyes and tries hard enough, he can still feel it, that wet sensation that dives deeper and deeper, until it settles in your bones with the silent promise of never leaving you, no matter how far from it life will take you.

He lets his head fall back slightly, slowly blowing out the smoke towards the sky, watching as it fades, confusing itself with the clouds. He misses London, hell, he misses England in general. The country was never been kind with him and most of his worst memories belongs there, together with all the unsatisfied and sometimes vengeful ghosts he has left behind, but whether he likes it or not, it still is and will always be home. Assuming that there is a single place, in this world and all the others, that he can call such. He can’t deny that it’s fitting, though. A land that has brought him mostly pain and regrets, just as the physical house he has grown up in has been his personal hell ever since he can remember.

The magician grits his teeth, mouth curling in a frown. That is a whole other set of memories that haunts him and he doesn’t even need to make an effort to recall them. Every sleepless night spent in terror. Every hit, every bruise, every insult. Every time those hands touched him, brutal, merciless, unrelenting. The images and the sensations can get vivid enough to make his stomach turn and his hands shake, even after so many years. That’s the reason why he doesn’t dwell on them, the reason why he never talks about it. Repressing is easier. It’s almost like forgetting, with the different that the phantom burden never goes away. However, the heaviness Is something he is almost used to, by now, since he is constantly carrying on his shoulders the weight if not of the world, at least of all his mistakes and bad choices. And damn, most of the times he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the two.

“So vulnerable, human heart’s an animal that doesn’t want to break cover„

It makes him wonder why he is still there. He has closed his case, the umpteenth clusterfuck that has brought him back to that city and to its lurking shadows. He has no reason to linger, especially not when that darkness calls his personal one out, causing it to resonate in tune with it. And yet there he is, perched on the railing of that balcony, skin and clothes stained with mud and blood. Not his own, for the most. It almost never is and, even when that’s the case, he always finds a way to be the last man standing, at the end of the day. The price for his life? Everything that can be taken from him and, especially, from the people who are unlucky enough to be around him, and then some more.

Constantine’s eyes slide close as he brings the cigarette back to his lips. The truth is that, despite what he tells himself, despite all the horrors and the losses he has faced, despite every lesson he has sworn to learn, he is weak. Selfishly so. He is so quick to deny others, and he is so harsh and unmovable in doing it, but with himself, oh, he has always been far too lenient. How that fits with his constant self-hatred, he isn’t completely sure. Perhaps it’s because he inevitably ends up losing everything he allows himself to have and keep, one way or the other. They have a cost, those indulgences, one that he cannot pay because he doesn’t have the means to do it. So Fate or Chance or whoever for them comes and snatches them away, sudden and violent, leaving yet another tear in his already far too broken core.

He bites back a scoff. The approaching night he’s watching now is nothing but yet another of indulgences. He knows where he wants it to lead him and he knows that he doesn’t deserve it. He should climb down the way he has climbed up, like the thief he is, and leave Gotham without looking back. He should and he would if he was enough of a decent person, but it’s been years since he has had any real shred of decency left in him. So, instead, he’ll stay and wait, as he always does. He’ll stay and take everything he can get his hands on, enjoying comforts and pleasures he has done nothing to earn. He’ll take and take and take, until the day when the tiny breach he has been using to crawl inside that small world where he doesn’t belong will be closed and he will find himself in the dark once again, alone and with yet another deep crack in his soul.

Blue eyes lock on the grey, threatening sky. It will happen, eventually, but not tonight. So, for now, he sits and soaks himself in the advancing shadows, his back to the lights that start to colour the windows of the manor. The symbolism isn’t lost to him, it never is, even if most of the times he pretends not to notice it, just to end up mulling over it later on. It’s a taste of what’s waiting ahead for him, once his time would have run out. It won’t be this quiet, though, and it won’t be this painless. The torment that fills his chest, however, that will be there, his eternal companion in death as it has been in life.

“If you want to back down I’ll try to understand but I just can’t help it I would, if I could give you a new innocence so, please don’t fear my caress„

The hand that descends on his shoulder is expected and by now very familiar, just as is the figure that presses up against his side. He has heard, or rather felt, the other man approaching him, even while lost in his thoughts, but he hasn’t turned around. He hasn’t needed to, not when he can easily imagine the whole scene in his mind without having to see it taking place in reality. Oh, his bloody imagination is just that good, but it’s a double-edged sword. His nightmares and lucid dreams are proof enough of what it can do, just as it is of how much it can wreck him when it chooses to.

Strong fingers travel down along the magician’s spine, taking in the tension that lingers in his muscles and the new tears that have been ripped in the worn material of his trench coat. However, in particular, they don’t miss how the exorcist initially reacts, stiffening even more under the touch, struggling until he manages to make himself accept it. It’s been months since they have agreed to let that thing between them officially exist, but the doubts and the reluctance are still almost as palpable as the bumps of his vertebrae.

Bruce bits back a sigh, deciding to pay no mind to it. He has almost resigned himself to the fact that there will always be a part of Constantine that will never accept his most gentle touches. The magician seems to instinctively recoil from them, as if they somehow hurt or as if he expected to get pain out of them. He has tried to bring the subject up, but John can be as stubborn as Batman himself when he chooses to and that has never led them anywhere, if not into an ugly fight. He is tempted to try again, but by now he knows the older man well enough and he can tell that, whatever he has faced that day, has been hard on him. A fact that inevitably destroys the already limited fertile ground there usually is for discussion. So, instead, the vigilante just keeps caressing, until the body under his palm has become as pliant as it’s capable of being.

“You’re a mess, Constantine,” he comments at that point, one eyebrow slightly raised and the lightest hint of amusement in his voice. What he doesn’t say is that he knows. He knows about the missing pieces and the darkness, about the stains and the scars. And he is fine with them, whether John likes to believe it or not, because he himself is far from being unblemished. He will be fine with them as long as the magician is aware that there’s no reason why he should fear Bruce and what he is willing to offer. He isn’t going to press, not even if he wishes he could, not even when he has all the rights to. And he isn’t going to ask for things that Constantine cannot give in exchange. What he demands, however, is to not be shut out and that’s something that it’s not up for discussion.

The exorcist finally turns to face the vigilante, an unimpressed look on his face. It’s a mask, a façade to hide all the thoughts that have been storming inside his mind, and they both know it. However, from Bruce’s indulgent expression, John can tell that, at least for that night, he will be allowed to keep his act up without having to try hard. It makes him feel both relieved and pained, because he has once again wrapped his hands around something he hasn’t earned and he will shamelessly drain that privilege until there will be nothing left to get out of it. Story of his life, really.

“Are we playin’ again that bloody game where we state the obvious? I know ‘m a mess, Wayne. But now, when am I not, hn?” He shoots back with an exaggerate eyeroll. He is hyperaware of the skilful hand that’s still working on the length of his spine. Bruce’s touch is always so warm and welcoming, despite the fact that he is always abusing the younger man’s time, his patience, his presence. That awareness is yet another torture for him, but at the same time he can’t help being greedy for it. “How did you know I was up ‘ere? Didn’t come in through the main door.”

The vigilante rolls his eyes, clearly making an effort to mimic exactly the gesture that has just been addressed to him. “Oh, you know. Alfred mentioned that he has seen someone in a dirty trench coat climbing along the front of the mansion,” he replies and his fingers dig in the magician’s side. It’s a playful gesture and he is pleased to see the obviously exaggerated reaction his lover offers, to play along with him. “I guessed that it had to be you.”

“Bullocks.” Constantine scoffs and turns his eyes back towards Gotham’s skyline, bringing the cigarette back to his lips. “The ol’ codger ‘s always in my bloody way. Damn him.”

“Everyone of us has to face more than once that feelings are just a delusion„

Bruce’s lips curl in the shadow of a rare grin at the comeback, but when the silence threatens to fall upon them, he doesn’t stop it. Instead, he removes his hand from the older man’s back in favour of leaning against the railing with his elbows, eyes locked on the slowly darkening horizon before them. He makes sure to keep touching, his side still pressed up against the magician’s, close enough to feel him twitching and shifting. Movements so subtle that would have been lost to him if he hadn’t made sure that they shared the same space.

He bows his head slightly, to be able to run a hand through his dark hair. It’s odd to be there, willing and somewhat content, with someone who’s so radically different from. John Constantine is a continuous, often rabid flood of energy, always moving, always changing, and he has, more often than not, felt like a rock in the middle of a turbulent river. Unmovable in its stillness, because that’s what he is compared to the other man, firm and steady where the exorcist is constantly shifting and fluctuating. However, even the sturdiest rock is fated to be affected by the constant, abrasive touch of the water and, to an extent, he has known it since the very first time their paths have crossed, among the smoke and the loud music of a London night not so different from many others. Of course, he didn’t realise it, back then, but it has taken him to meet John again, several years later, and be faced with a much darker version of him to understand how deeply under his skin the other had already crawled.

His mind flies back in time, to the years that have preceded that fateful meeting and to the ones that have followed it. He remembers the people who have touched his life, the women he has courted, mostly for fun and to keep his reputation up. Their names are mostly lost to him, aside from the two he’ll never forget, because, despite the bitter end those relationships have met, they have played an essential part in making him into whom he has become.

Selina was everything his younger self has never been allowed to have before her abrupt arrival in his life. Freedom and mischief, broken rules and total disregard for the conventions of the society he has grown up in. She was the adventure, the thrill of the forbidden. Her kisses used to taste like fresh air and carelessness. Her touches were sweet oblivion from the responsibilities. Taking her hand was stepping into new, unexplored worlds. In the end, she had slipped from his fingers while he was distracted by Gotham’s call, going where he couldn’t follow, just as the wild animal she has always been.

Rachel, on the other hand, was sweetness and stability. She was a bright light against Gotham’s endless gloominess, a gentle warmth capable of heating up the coldest night. Kissing her brought back, for the illusion of a moment, the innocence he lost at a far too young age. The way her hands moved on his body whispered promises of a home where he could have, if not forgotten, at least finally moved on from the pain and the losses. Holding her hands used to bring him comfort as nothing else in his life ever has. In the end, she had been a painful but necessary sacrifice, because the world she was promising him, as desirable and tempting, would have implied abandoning his cape and his duty to the city.

“So much wasted time making a fool of our pride just to come to the bitter conclusion„

Bruce slowly licks his lips. Now, both women are gone from his life. They linger, though, as ghosts from his past, reminding him of how fleeting feelings can be and what delusions they charm you with. Leaving them behind has been hard, it has taken a long time and, in the aftermath, it has pushed him to come to the conclusion that the only one he would always be faithful to, the only one he would never be able to resist would be Gotham.

Thinking about it now, he can tell that it has been easier than expected, to choose to wear the mask and the cape and to dedicate all of himself to the Night. She has always welcome him with open arms, with her secrets, her dangers, her battles. It has always felt right, like nothing else ever has. And so he has been fighting the madness that sprouts from her shadows ever since. Or, perhaps, the truth is that he has started his fight much before choosing to become Batman. Perhaps he has been sworn to the city and to its darkness since that night in that alley, when he has been left on his knees, between the lifeless bodies of his parents, screaming at the sky in agony for what had been so brutally stolen from him. Maybe it has been then that he signed his destiny, without even realising it.

A bitter, pained smile touches his lips at those thoughts. Even nowadays, despite everything he has gone through, he can tell without a doubt that he has found his calling and that the prices he has paid to follow it have been worth what he has got. It doesn’t make the sacrifices less painful, it doesn’t make the solitude less heavy to bear, but he is aware that, at the end of the day, the regrets won’t be burdening him enough to cause him to fall in the abyss he can see under his feet.

“I know, it hurts to mend all the shattered hopes but would you truly tell me that it isn’t worth pricking yourself with its thorns if it’s done to pick a rose?„

Bruce’s eyes leave the now dark sky and land on John once again. The man sitting next to him is the one variable he could have never predicted. He materialised on his path like a bolt from the blue, and definitely as dangerous as one. A walking bunch of cigarettes and arrogance, dressed in a trench coat that has seen much better days, incomprehensible but powerful words between his lips and nothing less than real magic on his fingertips. A ticking bomb shaped like a man, dragging the chains of a mysterious and yet obviously wrecked past and of his literally damned future. And yet, there he stood, still managing not to give a flying fuck about everything and everyone.

He remembers very clearly his own reaction, the first time they met after so many years. Batman was utterly annoyed by his flamboyant, caustic attitude and Bruce, from behind the mask, wondered where the messed up but still somehow hopeful young man he had found himself entangled with in London ended up. Constantine is not what he used to be, not even close, not even behind the parts of his act that are just for show. The sharpness and the cynicism in his eyes immediately made it clear, more than any rude word or flare of anger could ever have.

Peeling off all those crusted layers of smugnesss and exaggerated self-confidence hasn’t been easy, especially since the magician has fought him back at every step, but, all considered, it hasn’t taken too long for the self-loathing, the scars and the endless pit of regrets to emerge. John hasn’t lied, with his earlier answer. He always is a mess, a bunch of shattered pieces held together by a lot of bravado and willpower, and none of them is where it should be. He has seen the never healed wounds and the blood on the magician’s fingers, the only results of his vain attempts to get the shards back into a semblance of wholeness. And, before he could realise it, he was being overwhelmed by the urge to reach out and take his hands, mend the cuts, stop him from giving up on himself over and over again.

The truth is that he is still trying. Trying to make himself respect the limitations he has been given, trying to make it be enough, despite wanting so much more. However, Constantine has been adamant and he knows what it would mean breaking the rules he has willingly accepted. For all the contingency plans Batman has, Bruce himself tends to be defenceless, when his feelings are on the line. And he has seen how vengeful John can be, never above playing dirty, never above stomping over every single boundary, if it means achieving his goal. He would have found a way to get back at him, of course, eventually, but the irreparable damage would have been done anyway.

On good days, he tells himself that seeing the shock on the older man’s face that day, when he has chosen to put his heart in his callous hands, when he has chosen that “nasty piece of work” over everything else the world has to offer, has, on its own, almost made it worth the fights, the pain, the struggling. Then, there are the rare times when he has been allowed to see John blooming, with power, wits and a determination as bright as the light of his spells. In those moments, watching his shattered soul soaring, even if just through the hellish sky it is trapped in, aside from making him fall a bit more in love each time, vanishes every lingering doubt.

“I can’t promise you eternity but bare your soul for me Whatever it takes, you won’t regret having yourself let go once again„

“I’ll never bleedin’ get what you find so enticin’ ‘bout this soddin’ place.”

The exorcist’s voice breaks the silence and he turns to find Bruce staring at him. Oh, he has been aware of those eyes locked on him for some time now and that’s the reason why he has decided to speak up. There is something, in the younger man’s expression, that’s making him uneasy. He knows that look far too well by now and that’s the problem. His lover gets it every time he is thinking about something deep, something that involves him, or, rather, them. It doesn’t always lead to an attempt of conversation, thankfully, but it always gets too close to his sore spots for comfort.

His words gain him a raised eyebrow and he shakes his head because, despite what he has chosen to say, he doesn’t want to have that kind of conversation. Also because, among the other things, it would have forced him to admit that his statement is, for the most, a lie. He does understand the dark charm of Gotham far too well, not because he experiences it himself, hell no. As much in tune as that place can be with his own darkness, he is more than content to fuck off somewhere else whenever he has a chance to. No, the reason why he understands the strength of Bruce’s sense of duty, the reason why he knows exactly why the city will be, always and anyway, the younger man’s first priority is what John himself feels about magic. It’s not the same, and in his eyes Batman’s mission would always be, in spite of everything, much purer, less selfish, less corrupted. However, it’s the closest thing to a reflection of his own twisted existence that he has ever found in someone else’s life. And it’s why, perhaps, he shouldn’t be so surprised to see how willing the vigilante is to keep him around, to cherish him, despite all the deadly warning signs. They can be together while still prioritising their respective calling over everything else.

He chews the butt of his cigarette for a moment, and his eyes are looking lost once again. What they have couldn’t be further away from perfect, but, then again, it couldn’t be otherwise when people like them, all bruised and broken in different ways, are involved. It’s part of the reason why it works, even if all the odds are against it. And yet, he still feels bitter, now that he knows the stories behind Bruce’s past relationships. The way life has forced the younger man to choose or put a limit to the time he had to enjoy the bright sides of those bonds. John might have given up, at least for the most, on trying to push his lover to not choose him, but he cannot do the same with the time limit. There’s a clock ticking above his head, eating up, one by one, the seconds that separate him from that spot in Hell that has had his name for a long time now. And he will get himself damned again and again and again, endlessly, before he takes Bruce down with him. Denying the so often sung shared eternity of love is a gift, in their case.

He sucks in the last mouthful of smoke, hard enough that he can feel the burning down his throat and against his fingers, where his skin meets the burning hand of the now finished cigarette. There is no space for wistful poetry in what they share. Everything is harsh and desperate, ruled by the awareness of its limits, even in their quieter, warmer moments. Their shared passion always tastes like stolen time, and each kiss might as well be the last. It’s all just another story damned to end in tragedy, in flames, swallowed by the darkness. And yet, despite what he keeps saying, despite what he believes, there is still a part of him who wants to make it worth. For Bruce, mainly, but for himself too. He ascribes it to a streak of his selfishness, because that’s all it is…isn’t it?

But can it really be just selfishness, when you are fighting to make things better, even knowing that you won’t get to get an advantage for yourself out of it?

“Take me and make me as you want I’ll feed your dreams with my love„

Bruce feels the change in the mood even before John moves. There’s a sudden spike in the buzzing energy that constantly surrounds the magician and it usually indicates that he is about to do something either reckless or stupid. Or both, since when Constantine is involved the two things are, in most cases, the same. He isn’t sure what to expect, because his lover has the bad habit of being too hard to predict, and that’s one of the many things that Batman hates about him, because it makes the exorcist an incredibly volatile, untrustworthy ally. However, there is no cape or spell standing between them in that moment, and so, when the older man climbs off the railing, sets his feet down on the balcony and then lunges at him, he lets him, without a split moment of hesitation.

The kiss is bruising, hard, merciless. All teeth and tongue, no finesse, no patience, no softness. But it’s filled with scorching heat and the vigilante can’t stop himself from going weak, even if he would never admit it, because, when he can’t hold back the intensity that characterises all he is, John Constantine kisses both like a drowning man, lacing to the last gulp of oxygen he is being allowed, and like a starved demon, hellbent of devouring his soul.

Despite the force of the contact, though, he can feel the magician’s hands shaking, from where they are wrapped in the front of his jumper, pinning him against the railing. If it wasn’t so tragic, he could have appreciated the irony in seeing someone so arrogant and bold, a man who has gone as far as conning the Devil himself and mostly got away with it, so terrified of something as natural as love should be. If Bruce didn’t know exactly how it feels like, he would have been fascinated by how something human as emotional closeness can rip apart every barrier Constantine has so carefully built around himself, revealing the vulnerabilities, the fragility and the open wounds that are hidden under it.

He knows all of that, just as John is aware of it as well. It’s a struggle for the magician to keep himself there in those moments, because there is nothing he dreads more than feeling so exposed. It makes him want to fight and, if he can’t fight, then it makes him want to run. And he has, at first, denying the feelings he felt coming from Bruce, denying the ones that have been growing inside his own chest. Now, trying not to is part of the terms of their deal he has to respect, even when the instinct screams so loud inside his mind that he can’t hear his own thoughts.

And yet, here he is. And yet here he stays. It might be a selfish choice, it might be stealing what he doesn’t deserve, but there is more to it, for them both. There is a something new budding in the time and in the space they shared, stubborn as just the two of them can be. It’s a feeling, it’s a reality, it’s a dream. Its nature is hard to tell, so foreign and yet so familiar. One thing, though, seems certain: it might be doomed to meet a tragic ending, but that doesn’t stop it from fighting to survive everything that’s coming in its way.

“You’re trembling and I can see what you feel inside you a shy bud’s already blooming„

#(( true seeing stone ::ooc:: ))#theprinceof-gothamcity #* Let's fall in love for the Night and forget in the Morning * ::John&Bruce:: {theprinceofgothamcity}#(( let's say this is from John's part too ))#(( even if the wanker did nothing aside from ))#(( breathing over my neck and judging ))#(( please ignore whatever damn typo might be in it ))#(( I swear I check it but ))#(( can never find them all x.x ))

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acuaticamber06 · 6 years

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Thoughts on Bendy, Chapter 5

A bit obvious, but

*****SPOILERS AHEAD!*****

If you haven’t seen/played chapter five, this will ruin it for you. Avert your eyes! XD

Okay. So, I started typing this over in the comments on Seán’s video, but I realized things as I was typing, so I’m putting down here instead.

I keep seeing a lot of comments along the lines of “the ending is unclear” and “I don’t get it” and “the ending was so unsatisfying”, but I think you guys are looking at this in all the wrong ways. Take a minute to reflect back on everything that has happened, hear me out, and maybe you’ll think of it in a different light.

Joey orchestrated the whole ordeal. Joey wrote it. Well, he drew it, actually. We saw the pictures he drew on his desk in his apartment. He had the entire story of BATIM storyboarded out there. He knew what was going to happen, and even said he was expecting Henry at a specific time- an hour later than it actually took Henry to get back- knowing that Henry would arrive. (EDIT: This is why Henry doesn’t stay dead when Bendy or one of the other monsters kills him, because that isn’t the ending Joey wrote for Henry. Henry crawls back to life through the Fallopian tube of ink because Joey has written him as the winner.)

That means that Joey is the one who wrote all of the glowing text on the walls. Stay with me here:

Alice hands Henry a magic piece of glass after a couple of scenes that are broken up by sleep cycles. She calls it glass, but I don’t think that’s what it is. I think it’s acetate.

Acetate is a special plastic used by traditional animators to add layers on top of a scene. That way, the background could remain the same while the characters did their thing on a completely separate layer. It meant less work for the animators, too, as they didn’t have to redraw the background for every frame.

Did you catch that? Acetate was used to add layers. It makes sense that it would reveal the hidden messages in this cartoon-based world.

When Henry looks through the glass, what was the first glowing text Henry saw?

“She will leave you for dead.”

And what did Alice and Tom do? Leave him behind to escape Bendy. Predicted. Scripted. Predestined. Joey had it all right there on his desk at home.

And Henry discovers even more hidden messages inside his little “cell” (appropriate name for it, too, considering a frame of animation is literally called a Cel [short for cellulose acetate]). The glowing text complimented Henry’s drawings on the floor. Drawings that weren’t there when Henry arrived, inside an enclosed area that Henry had to literally break out of with a big old pipe. The only way to get in and out of there besides breaking the boards would be to walk through the walls. And what does Bendy do in phase one of the boss fight? Run through the walls.

But if Bendy is the only character who can phase through the walls, then how would Joey-?

Because Joey created Bendy. He made Bendy in his own image. The Jesus to his God, and Bendy can be influenced by his creator, but not controlled for long periods of time. It makes sense when you think about it.

In the flashback, Joey is standing in the kitchen. There’s a wheelchair very close by, and when he turns away from the sink to address Henry, he visibly limps to the opposite counter.

Bendy walks with a significant limp.

And haven’t we seen a wheelchair before in a previous chapter? I’m almost certain we have, although I can’t place exactly when or where in my mind.

Furthermore, there is an ink machine in Joey’s apartment in the final scene. And it’s running. We can hear it glugging along as we look at the picture on the wall. It’s active and in his apartment. It kind of reminds me of when older people need machines at home to keep them alive. Oxygen tanks, IV bags, etc. They are connected to them.

Joey and Bendy are actively linked through the ink and the ink machine.

SO- They are linked and Joey can influence Bendy to walk through walls and write the messages for Henry made out of ink...but it isn’t ink. It’s something more than ink, but it comes from the ink. Whenever Henry looked through the glass, there were glowing orbs rising from the ink streams.

And since the ink is linked to Bendy who is linked to Joey, the golden ink must come directly from Joey. Almost as if it is pure creativity, untainted by greed. Or looking back on a memory with different eyes. Older and wiser eyes. It indicates Alice as an angel, even though she claims she isn’t one.

So the final question is why? Why make Henry go through all of this? Why not face his demon (literally) and beat Bendy by himself?

He’s too old. Joey couldn’t physically haul his own body down into the depths, wading through ink and falling through the floors. It would kill him. That and his creations are pretty pissed at him all the time. They would attack him and he wouldn’t have been able to defend himself. He’s an old man at the end of his life.

Henry is a good friend of his. Why else would he ask him to come over? To go down there? Henry was the one who had written the message we see on the picture in the final cut scene.

He trusted Henry to do it, because Henry was strong enough to make his own happiness in life, rather than letting the business consume him and beat him down. Joey admits to letting the cartoons become his life.

Read that again: he says “I let them become my life.”

That gets to the core of this story.

It isn’t just that Joey created Bendy and the ink monsters. Not even that he created Bendy in his own image. They exist because Joey literally gave them life- part of his own. The people who worked there fuel their ink monster-personas with their own lives, too. They were too weak to escape the ink. To escape the failing business. But there are so many more monsters than there were employees.

Because each one of them has a piece of Joey’s actual life force in them.

The glowing text... the golden orbs that rose from the ink... that’s Joey.

It’s all linked back to him. And the hell that exists down in the old studio will not cease to be until Joey dies...which is not far off, from the look of him.

The only wrench in the machine was Bendy. Bendy has a mind of his own. As one of the other characters put it: an otherworldly quality. If Joey dies and Bendy is still alive, the cartoon world will continue on without him. So, Joey asking Henry to go down there to beat Bendy was Joey accepting that his time is short and he’s going to die. He’s at peace with that.

And Bendy’s death is no cop-out. He’s a cartoon. How do cartoons end? With a “The End!” endcard. As Porky Pig said: That’s all, Folks!

When an animation ends, the characters don’t come back and have more adventures until their creators draw them doing new things. Take the Animaniacs, for example- there was a final episode for them. (Yes, I realize the series is getting a reboot, but they aren’t back yet, so this example works.) They ceased to be when the final episode finished. Sure, we remember them and watch reruns, but nothing new was created. They effectively died with that episode.

Showing the endcard to Bendy was the most cartoon-logical way to end his existence. It followed the rules of the cartoon world in which he existed.

And my last little side note:

I think the girl’s voice we hear in the final cut scene is Henry’s daughter. She calls him “Uncle Joey”, which is definitely what some families have their children do to address extremely close family friends. (I had an Uncle Pete who wasn’t related to our family at all, but was one of my dad’s closest friends.) And when Joey says that Henry chose the path that gave him a wonderful family, he gestures to the left, to the living room, which is where we hear her voice coming from in the cut scene.

She says “Tell me another one, Uncle Joey.” Tell me another story. Maybe Joey was telling her the story that Henry was living out in the studio below. We may never know for sure.

Thoughts? Anything else to add? All in all, chapter five was a great way to wrap up the story. And I really freaking enjoyed it! All that’s left to see now is if there’s anything in the extras, any extra lore in the hidden messages that you’ll be able to see once unlocking the glass after chapter five, or if the version they released to everyone else is any different from the Jacksepticeye edition. Keep your eyes peeled, everybody!

#jacksepticeye #jse community #jacksepticeye community #bendy and the ink machine #batim #theory #bendy and the ink machine spoilers #batim spoilers #batim chapter 5 spoilers

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meimi-haneoka · 5 years

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Clear Card chapter 31 - comments

Here we go....here we go ~

SOOOOO FANDOM, HOW DID YOU LIKE CHAPTER 31??? EH? EH??

Want to scream some with me? Beware, this is going to be long because there’s SO MUCH TO SAY!! Below the cut for spoilers!!!

This cover is gorgeous!! Long time no see, Spinel Sun!! You never appeared in-story XD

Kaito’s smug assface

While CLAMP never lose their chance to show us what an arrogant, smartass kid he was, Kaito’s dream allows us to get closer to the moment in which Akiho and Kaito met for real for the first time (which isn’t this time, yet). Kaito saw her from afar when he was a kid and she was a toddler, in a crystal ball, and he was the one ascertaining that she did not have even a drop of magic. Things to note: the Association calls him Yuna D., almost like it was his code name. So the Squid Clan is reduced to basically 5 people including Akiho (EDIT, apparently I mistranslated a part), and they have lost a big part of their magical rituals/formulas. They’re basically a declining clan (and they could all disappear for all I care). We’re told again that Akiho’s parents were tremendously powerful, especially her mother. I wonder why Ohkawa needed to specify that. Hm.

LOOK AT HIM. Fucking Kaito. But also look at this nugget over here....I can’t get enough of baby Akiho...she’s the cutest

So now it’s confirmed: both the Association and the Squid Clan collaborated to do something about her lack of powers, they literally felt entitled to write over her, as if she was a blank book. I AM APPALLED.

Syaoran's confession

And here we are ladies and gentlemen, the moment people were waiting for since...since....since chapter 1 basically???

Man...this panel....jfc kids, you’re only 12 and you already look like on the verge of divorce LMAO so the kids are staying with me and I’ll leave the house to you I AM JOKING! OK? I NEED TO LIGHTEN THE MOOD AFTER THE LAST 2/3 DAYS IN THE FANDOM!

So...we start with most of the big confession already done, with Sakura getting confirmation that she’s actually the one originating all the events with the Clear Cards. Syaoran’s face is already sad and apologetic, but the peak has yet to come. Then, the question everyone had since we started seeing his shady faces: “Why you didn’t tell me?” That’s directly questioning him and the very core of all this mess, so Syaoran starts to falter. If he could, he wanted her to not realize it as long as possible, because in case a person who didn’t train to operate magic comes to realize that their magic is going crazy, the chances this chaos would increase are very high, because they’re too conscious about it.

Try to imagine what could happen from now on. Sakura would watch her thoughts, she would try to conceal her feelings, she would probably try to suppress bad emotions in fear those could cause something dangerous. But this is a snake biting its tail, as this frustration would only make her magic go even more rampant.

Syaoran wanted to delay that as much as possible, until they found a way to stabilize her magic. I’m sure there’s a stabilizing point out there. But Sakura isn’t stupid, and she realized. Syaoran knew this moment would come. And he didn’t lose time. He brought her directly to his home and started his confession, because LORD his burden was too much to bear and I’m sure he was thinking “ok, it’s time, just give me my punishment but let me unload this heavy burden cause I can’t take it anymore”. You think Syaoran had fun, all this time? You think Syaoran had fun, telling Sakura that he had to hide things from her? LIE to her when she asked him an opinion on the Clear Cards? Do you think he had fun, every day, thinking about what the love of his life was walking into?

Syaoran did something shady towards his girlfriend, and he doesn’t try to hide it. Even when it seems like Sakura could justify him because he already knew someone who suffered from strong magic, he jumps in saying “But this doesn’t change the fact that I’ve hidden things from you! One thing more too...” See, he’s not trying to bury his head in the sand, he’s not hiding it. He’s not presenting lame excuses. That’s Syaoran for you. He knows perfectly he’s done something wrong and he expects a punishment from Sakura. But, I’m sure all of you would do the same as him, if you knew your most important person incurred a life threat. Syaoran doesn’t need to mention exactly what that is to know that Sakura’s life would be screwed over. His face screams it enough for him.

Nonetheless, when Sakura says that she’s mad (at him too, soon after), he stands up immediately, as if he was called into question. I think it was a beautiful way to show that his attention was all on her. And when Sakura starts to cry....his hand reaching out to her was really a strong image, for me. He cannot bear the sight of her crying for something he caused. He can only hug her head muttering an apology. I applaude CLAMP for the choice of the position, for 2 reasons: in this way it almost seems like he’s also bowing in apology and...he doesn’t bring himself to hug her completely. He could’ve kneeled down and embraced her, but...knowing Syaoran, he’s probably thinking he doesn’t deserve it yet.

Sakura’s reaction

Sakura is the protagonist of this wonderful story, and yet she always seems to be the last one having character development. Syaoran is often helping that development. This is a very positive thing, because growth is one of the plus sides of having a romantic relationship with someone. You learn about them, yes, but you learn also about you. Today Sakura learned 2 things: that her boyfriend loves her so much that he would throw upside down his own being for her (= Syaoran is known for being honest and straightforward) and that she might have a lot to think about herself once she gets out of Syaoran’s house. But we’ll arrive to that. Sakura cannot look at Syaoran in the eyes, initially. You can feel that she’s got a turmoil going on. Realizing that she’s the cause behind the Clear Cards, there’s a surge of guilt going all over her. And that’s why her stare is well anchored to the ground.

But it’s when Syaoran confesses about the Sakura Cards going blank, and him returning the Bear, that Sakura’s face turns suddenly into fear and shock. Cause at the same time, she’s learning that Syaoran has got something to do with the problem of her Cards and she’s also fearing that something happened to them. After this, the scene with the Sakura Cards reuniting with her and trying to weigh in to make her understand that all of this was done just because they simply love her too much, was really emotional!! And how lively and WARM all of them are...so different from the Clear Cards. Light & Dark say out loud something that we probably realized before: only her own magic can cancel out her magic...because she’s become very strong. That’s why Syaoran had to resort to the Sakura Cards to counterattack the Clear Cards. And now you can also understand why in the anime his spells worked initially, but then it quickly reached a point where nothing worked anymore. Only the Sakura Cards did.

When Mirror asks her “Are you mad?”, Sakura’s eyes are depicted in a cloudy way. Again, bravo CLAMP. Cause in her eyes is reflected the storm that is going on in her heart at the moment. She’s mad, yes. Little Angel Sakura Kinomoto admits being mad. At herself, first. For not realizing anything while everyone else around her was worried this sick. Whether she will learn something from this or not, we will see it in the later part of the story. This is the final result of that scene in which Sakura said “I am the one who understands the least about myself”. And she’s mad at Syaoran, too. Cause realization after realization, she also arrived to think what would’ve happened if he put his own life in danger to protect her. And man, that mere thought ignited a “violent” reaction (violent in a Sakura-scale) from her, bringing her to be mad at him for even thinking of causing her that much pain. Cause she can’t live without him. Yes, her “I would cry forever” is her childish way to say that her happiness would be over if something like that happened. Sakura is still a kid, but she already seems to know the extent of her feelings.

Syaoran hugs her, but she doesn’t respond. I know this caused a bit of uproar in a part of the fandom. Aside from the fact that she could be responding after a while, I think that simply the spiral of painful thoughts is too much for her and got a hold of her completely, to even think about returning Syaoran’s hug. She is angry, after all. Leave her some time to process her emotions, and I’m sure these two will come out of this ordeal stronger and closer together. I look forward to see their relationship from now on, and how she will go about the problem with the Clear Cards too.

Bonus: The British family is back?!

Just a quick thought about the very final scene of the chapter, cause this rant has been going on for too long already, but let me just scream :

AT LAST, ERIOL?? DID YOU BRING YOUR ASS BACK IN JAPAN?

Gdi it was about time!!!! I’m so glad they’re back, so so glad. Will Eriol apologize to Sakura too? Can’t wait for next chapter!!!

#cardcaptor sakura #Card Captor Sakura #clear card arc #ccs spoilers #sakura card captor #ccsakura #clamp #chapter 31 #I promised a long ass rant and here it is #please make it worth it and give it a read #lmao

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tokupedia · 6 years

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Costume Ideas for Halloween 2018: Super Sentai

We did Power Rangers, now it is time to focus on the eastern progenitor of that franchise to seek ideas for Halloween costumes.

Yakuu Sentai V-Leaguer (MLB Team edition)

October isn’t just a time for tricks and treats, but it also signifies the end of baseball season here in the USA with the World Series games airing throughout the week leading to Halloween and sometimes goes until November. So my first choice for a costume idea goes out to you diehard sports fans.

In the 1980s, when Kagaku Sentai Dynaman was being planned out, it was originally going for a baseball theme and went by the name Yakuu Sentai V-Leaguer. Ultimately, this idea was scrapped by Toei as marketing dudes thought that totally gnarly and rad 1980s kids would think baseball was a lame concept and they needed something “cooler”. Remnants of this idea, such as the Dynaman having their helmets sculpted to look like they have baseball caps in them, are seen in the suit designs and the Dyna Rod sidearm looks somewhat like a baseball bat.

For this idea, there are many avenues to choose from. You can either do a full Dynaman suit with patches you bought online of your favorite team and emblems painted on the helmet, go for a budget “casual” approach and wear a team shirt, custom Dynaman helmet and baseball uniform pants and cleats. Or you can do a full custom V-Leaguer approach, with the team’s name proudly on your chest, adorned in the team’s colors and the number of one of your favorite players on the back (or make your own number with your name on it)!

I think the most amusing one would be for Texas baseball fans, as they would have literal Texas Rangers cheering on their team! XD Also, for more amusement if you are at a game, hold up a sign while in costume that says #DigitalWatches, fans will get the joke.

The Original Battle Fever J

This concept art drawn by Shuuhou Itahashi and Yuuji Kaida, was created to pitch the concept of Battle Fever to Marvel Comics. The two emulated the art style of John Byrne’s era of X-Men comics, and it shows despite being great Bronze Age-style designs. These feel more in line with America’s superheroes than Super Sentai and thus changes were made along the way to make the look more appealing to a Japanese audience.

Some of these even look a little familiar to those of Marvel Fandom, Battle Kenya is channeling a bit of Black Panther, Miss America’s leotard is modeled after Captain America’s costume and Battle Japan has a bit of X-Men’s Sunfire in his look.

Now sadly, this is the only image of the original concept on the web right now, so improvisation is needed a bit when going into the costume design. But that actually works to your advantage, with only a base template, you are free to tweak the look however you want! All you really need to keep in are the colors of the flags somewhere to keep the nationality theme. I imagine original Battle Kenya and Miss America will be the most popular of the bunch based on how popular their inspirations are thanks to the MCU.

Battle Cossack would have to be updated, since one, the Soviet Union no longer exists and thus dates it quite a bit and two, fur underpants mixed with spandex are a really weird combination (and probably very itchy).

Maskman (Orignal Fiveman Prototype Concept Designs)

Maskman was a game changer in terms of helmet and costume design as well as venturing outside the storytelling realm of sci-fi and incorporating new mystical ideas into its elements, heralding a sneak peek at what Super Sentai would be in the coming decades. But for a brief period, Maskman was on the verge of being a throwback in design when it was known conceptually as Fiveman, which of course became the name of another Sentai team.

The original suit designs incorporated what came before, most notably Battle Fever J. X1 Mask, the one-off sixth member of Maskman, is the only “living” remnant of what could have been.

You will need LED lights and circuitboards, cosplay costume material, a custom stencil for creating the black “5″ chest emblem out of the fabric and if you can, find 3D modeling software for aiding in creating the helmets. The female Ranger helmets have a bit of sculpted helmet “hair” kind of like AkibaYellow and Blue, though you can skip that part if you don’t want 100% accuracy to save time. You will also need material to create the costume belts and pouches.

Fake KyoryuRed

One of the pitfalls of being a Super Sentai fan is that a few members of the fandom are quick to gossip and sometimes resort to elaborate pranks to get attention, like most fandoms. One cruel tactic that was put up with is the fake designs of an upcoming Red Ranger. This has recently died down thanks to stronger connections to official sources, but still is a problem that persists as even Kyuranger got the Fake Red treatment last year. In 2013, a rumor spread that this image above was the Red Ranger of the then trademarked Kyoryuger.

Despite being immediately debunked as fake, it isn’t a bad design, harkening back to Zyuranger with the dino themed helmets that in clearer images had a jagged “teeth” like pattern on the red parts sculpted above the mouthpiece. It also had Dekaranger-like suit patterns with the represented dino covering a portion of the bodysuit in black silhouette with white outlines, “fossil teeth” shoulder pads and a metallic segmented belt with a gun holster and sword holster.

Commander Hilltop’s “Robocop” crazy outfit

In Episode 31 of LupPat, a Gangler tries to negotiate a plea deal with the police. In a comical attempt of Good Cop, Bad Cop the Patrangers make their boss wear....whatever this is, to make the Gangler uncomfortable (and reference Robocop). It is really bizarre and doesn’t work.

What you will need: a soup/spaghetti pot on your head, metal bowls on your shoulders, a black body suit, oven mitts, 2 grill spatulas, a toy gun, white and orange rain boots, large forks, a pot lid, grill grates or small baking cooling racks and a metal cookie sheet on your back. In other words, raid your kitchen for parts!

Devil Gun from JAKQ Dengekitai

A crook made out of guns, self explanatory. His head is a gun, his chest has 3 cannons, his arms have cannons and more guns are in his fingers, he is a gunstavaganza! You will need a lot of gunmetal gray paint and a lot of patience. If you examine closely, you can see where the eye holes are for the costume.

Ways to make it really impressive is to replicate the firing effects for the head gun with liquid fog juice, lights and sound effects. Just be careful though, in these troubling times we live in, seeing and hearing guns can make people jittery.

Zeek Jeanne from the GoGo V movie

In an alternate universe, when GoGoV was adapted into Lightspeed Rescue, I like to believe Ms. Angela Fairweather got into the fight wearing this suit instead of PLEX creating a new Ranger from scratch. (*nudges Boom! Studios*) Though the Titanium Ranger is awesome, so it balances out.

Demon Hunter Zeek bestowed his powers to GoGoV ally Kyoko Hase to become Zeek Jeanne before she ultimately lost them to give GoGoV the power to destroy the movie’s villain. One thing I never understood is why the protective face visor just vanished when the suit equipped onto a female hero.

So you have options of face visor on or face visor off. Unlike most Ranger cosplays, your field of vision will be a little better than wearing a Ranger helmet given the large face visor if you do some minor alterations.

GekiBlack

(an unnamed Livedoor artist’s photoshop render of “Super GekiBlack”)

Rio, the main baddie of Gekiranger, eventually learned he was being manipulated by Long and allied with the GekiRangers. Jan dubbed him “GekiBlack” and his partner Mele as “GekiGreen” if they became friends later on. Sadly, it was not meant to be as Long turned into his dragon form and made bite-sized snacks out of both Rio and Mele.

Many fans often wonder what would have happened if Rio had lived and instead of reusing old monster suits, PLEX and Rainbow Zoukei crafted a brand new Gekiranger outfit for him. Most fans know the rules of conceiving such a notion: he must be black in color with gold accents in the suit, and his helmet must be sculpted to resemble a lion’s mane or have lions in it.

What You Need: A GekiRed base template of some kind, black and gold paint and costume cloth, Gekiranger symbol, concept sketches to plan out an idea of what to tweak. Rio’s Kaijin form can also be used as a template. The most difficult part would be choosing a morpher, either make a custom one or make a stylized version of the GekiChangers. For the Super Version, just emulate the base Super Gekirangers but with black and gold added to the white in the bodysuit or just do the ‘shop image above.

If you have a special someone who wants to Ranger up too, you can be nice and make him/her a GekiGreen outfit and celebrate Halloween as two fated lovers!

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spacedimentio · 5 years

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Live Impressions of “Change Your Mind”

Neat, a bit of the credits music on the title card is fun and totally not ominous

Oh, this a dream. I was legit worried about Connie for a second there

That thing looks like one of those rainbow caterpillars that really little kids have that you can pull behind you with a string

!!?! I- That’s not worrisome at all, nope, no identity crisis here, oooh boy

Does that mean that Rose knew what the corruption light was? Or just that it was an attack of some kind. Cause if she knew exactly what it was then she should have probably seen it coming.

Déjà Blue is right, they’re using the exact recording/drawing I think

“No.” Damn right you’re not sorry!

Oh Blue, you really did love her, didn’t you… She looks nice with messy hair, it reflects how she feels on the inside.

That easy huh? Haha, look at her face she doesn’t know what eating is and is totally mystified and disgusted xD

Yellow time. Oh, are those…those are fusion experiments. A nice reminder of an awful thing that Yellow is responsible for.

Oh, oh shit! Blue looks absolutely mortified holy fuck

Hey, there’s the scene from the promo. “You’d hurt your fellow diamond?” “Didn’t we hurt Pink? She was suffering in silence for ages, just like our gems, just like me!” Oh man, she does know that they’re responsible for a lot of bad shit, was their behavior all just…fear?

That face Yellow just made stabbed me in the heart jesus No don’t you dumb banana what are you doing holy shit! Oh my god no she’s gonna cry and then I’m gonna cry and she really just doesn’t wanna do this

Did he really just Did he really just hit her with “If every porkchop were perfect, we wouldn’t have hotdogs” I can’t

Haha fuck yes! Yellow crying was my one wish for this ep :’D Let it all out Yellow, I’m sure Steven will give you hugs at some point Also kudos to the person that made the comic where the dialogue was almost exactly like this in regards to Yellow telling Blue to stop using her powers when she wasn’t doing anything

Oh! They’re calling him Steven now! They probably don’t get what he is still but that’s a good step

I’ve heard “You’re not going anywhere” in the commercial like 5 million times but it’s still creepy af

Oh hell no the ship did not need eyes no thank you

Ok I just thought he was trying to pull a “hey, what’s that” and run away while White looked to see what he was pointing at, but no it’s actually the two arm ships how the fuck did Bismuth fix them so fast (how long were the kids in prison jeeeeez). I like how it looks like there’s bandaids and duct tape on them lol But this might actually be a bad thing because why did you bring the arms, you’re going to make the mech stronger!

Dream: achieved! Ayyy, new designs! Nice glasses Peri, but they too big, so I like Lapis’s outfit more. I do love how you just have the lid to a garbage can, you could have found cooler things to surf on, but nope. Garbage can lid.

No don’t attach the arms that’s going to come back to bite you I just know it!

Man, the diamonds hopped on Team Steven quick, but I can’t be too upset with that because it is also what I wanted XD I guess they’ve been suffering a lot more than I thought.

That’s a nice sentiment Connie, and I’m surprised that the diamonds actually listened to what you said and considered it. Doubt it’ll work though.

Oh, they’ve still got control of their ships. I wonder how that particular bit of bullshit space magic works.

You got this Yellow! Don’t hold it in anymore! Oof, they don’t like the pressure they’re under, and they’re under a lot. The diamonds are responsible for a lot of awful things, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t conditioned and expected to fulfill their roles just as much as any other gem.

Aww, look at how Yellow is smiling, and I love how they’re holding hands! Bellow forever!

Oh that’s… Zero hesitation. Stone cold. I don’t like the way their heads flopped backwards, that’s really unsettling OK IT GOT WORSE STOP SMILING LIKE THAT D:

Steven I know you want them to reform but you should probably bubble them before…you…drop them, just like that.

I demand the BGM for this episode and will inevitably be sad when we don’t get it

Oh what, you can just do that? Fuse with a gem that’s not even formed?

o0o Rainbow 2.0! I had a guess that their weapon would be a parasol and it was even neater than I thought it would be Wow, they’re really, really British. That’s a British accent right, I’m not dumb? They’re just Mary Poppins, holy shit I love them! Jet umbrella leaves rainbow trail, ok yes thank you

Fire lady??? We fusing with everyone up in here today! Steven, in episode fucking 11: So, what’s today’s mission? I hope it’s fighting a giant foot! Today, in episode 157-160: a giant foot almost shatters everyone Well you sure got your wish buddy, are you happy?

Alright we got sunglasses mcgoo over here. Sunstone looks like a cereal box mascot I swear to god. So we’re going full “PSA mascot from the 90s”, are we. Man you are just…continually breaking the fourth wall aren’t you. Of course, Sardonyx also has the power to break the fourth wall so I guess it’s just a Future Vision+ thing. I like you Sunglasses McGoo, but I hope your weapon isn’t just suction cups or you’re never going to show up again in a fight xD

Fuckin rip Nice shades Garnet, I like what you did with your…idk what that piece of clothing is called but it’s the bit in the thin section of her body, I like the way the color goes onto her hips a little.

Oh OH SHIT IS IT REALLY TIME FOR THE LONG-THEORIZED TEMPLE FUSION That’s a lot of arms dude! Oh my god they are so cool I love them already!

Peri I love you, never don’t be ridiculous Oh geez I thought she wasn’t going to be able to catch her for a second because bismuth is a diamagnetic metal and *flashbacks of A Gem is Shattered being on the bingo card*

What’s this…staff thing? Ok that was extremely cool, your face is full of lava and you just made a sword from it. Goodbye hands I’m hearing Alexandrite’s percussion instrument in the music, that’s neat. Obsidian is also just roaring a lot, like Alexandrite.

Oh through the eyes, sure. Idk why she didn’t just close the eyelids to keep them out

With all the commotion and fusions, I totally forgot they got brainwashed, oof. It’s definitely not extremely unsettling to see them all talking at once with one voice, nope, not at all. Please stop talking, please stop talking, christ please stop talking

“But you’re a part of me” I-… Does that mean that the color theory where the other diamonds used to be part of White has more merit than I thought? Is that where they came from?

Nononono leave them alone! Oh god why

NONONONONONO STOP THAT DON’T DO THAT PLEASE DON’T DO THAT OH GOD I AM LEGIT CRYING RIGHT NOW THIS IS AWFUL

I don’t think that’s true, I’m pretty sure Pink was just a naturally social person who’s status forced her into loneliness. She just wanted some got dang friends

I DON’T THINK I’VE EVER BEEN SO CREEPED OUT IN MY LIFE. Why is this animation and these over-exaggerated faces reminding me of Cuphead. I’ve never played Cuphead but that’s what I’m thinking of.

DON’T YOU DARE GIVE THE CHILD AN EVEN WORSE IDENTITY CRISIS I AM VERY, VERY WORRIED SHE’S RIGHT

Wait, what are you doing WAIT A MINUTE NO DON’T YOU DARE DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE OH JESUS OH CHRIST THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING NONONO STOP

THEY DID IT THEY ACTUALLY FUCKING DID IT Is…is she…

(Edit from the future: Probably most of you didn’t have a commercial break after this moment, but I sure did, and I spent the entirety of those minutes with my hand covering my mouth in pure shock, tears trickling down my face. I was left to wonder…is Rose coming back? Is Steven dead? I was left with this image:

I was so astounded that I had to pause for a moment and just breathe. And christ, having to wait just a few minutes in utter shock and terror was An Experience. I feel bad for those who didn’t have a break there.)

*quickly realizes that having half the screen still black means that we’re gonna have double perspective* Oh No Oh Shit Oh No is it really gonna be her?!

Oh thank goodness. Congratulations, you now have two Steves, whatever that means

Ok Steven’s still alive, but it looks like it’s excruciating to be without his gem. I’m glad he didn’t just fall apart without the light holding his cells together. How long can he last without his…soul? Shit what do we call this, what even is this.

This is definitely not what she expected to happen. Oh jesus christ holy shit chill out dude, even White Diamond shook

It’s just…such a relief to finally know. I never believed that the show would abandon its themes of loss by having a miraculous return, but I still wanted to see her anyway. She’s gone.

So what is this guy, exactly? Does he have any conscious thought? Or is he just pure gem energy with the desire to return to his other half

“I only want you to be yourself!” Uh, White honey, you are literally doing the exact opposite thing. “I’ll do it for you!” That’s not how people work White, you are just not having a good time with this turn of events are you

That’s an…interesting shield. Who did Steven say that to, btw? Was he telling White to stop hurting them, or his other self to stop reflecting the attack? Cause White was also in the middle of being hurt, I think

Aww, they’re so happy! It’ll never not be creepy to see White’s voice coming out of Steven’s glass-eyed friends though.

Normally I don’t notice when something in a 2D cartoon is 3D animated, but that shot of White’s head was kind of jarring? I didn’t like it

Oh thank christ he’s alright! I wonder if the gemstone is gonna be turned the other way now? Wait no, it was still turned inside when we went through past reformations.

Oh wow, she’s actually just a 60 foot baby. Look at Steven and Connie laughing cause they’re getting bounced up into the air. Zing! Haha, she’s blushing so everyone’s blushing. …Ok did the ship really need to blush too, come on guys

Ok so whitewashing everyone is something you have to put some effort into controlling. She was literally putting parts of her mind into them.

Haha, good timing guys, you missed everything. Bismuth’s face tho, perfecto At least only Connie has to live with the trauma of seeing Steven get his gem ripped out.

Her face is still cracked? What…what are the cracks from if not from being mind-controlled mercilessly

Yes, congratulations, you are having an emotion. Oh, she’s actually a shade of pink now, what. There’s that color theory again. Guess whose turn it is to have an existential crisis? It’s you!

“I’m supposed to know better! I’m supposed to be better! I’m supposed to make everything better!” Wait, according to who? Theory that someone made her confirmed?

Oh hey, Beach City. It took me a good second to realize that Sadie was doing a remix of a Greg song. Cue a big-ass robot hitting the beach in three…two…one! BAM! A+ timing guys

Oh, White isn’t actually that much taller than the other two when they’re standing together like that. I could have sworn she was at least 100 feet tall, that’s a bit disappointing. Then again, it would be really hard to get her to fit in frame with everyone else. Does this mean that Pink actually might be undercooked after all? Cause when I thought White was 100 feet tall, Blue and Yellow were as proportionately small next to her as Pink was next to the two of them, but now I’m wondering again.

Me too, Ronaldo. Me too.

Uh, wow. Nice timing Lars. Those poor off-colors, it took them a million years to get to Earth and the first thing they see is all three diamonds staring at them. That sure is a mood, Rhodonite. Big mood.

Aww, Lion and Lars are gonna be bros. ‘You’re like me!’

Fucking hug each other you dumbs! God, you’re frustrating.

I demand to know how all three of them fit on the warp pad/inside Steven’s house! Tell me at once!

Oh, we’re doing this right now? I know there’s going to be a season 6, but what are we going to do in season 6? Sneeple? (Re)adjusting to earth shenanigans? Diamond family time?

Nephrites! Look at em all, I love ‘em! And Watermelon Tourmaline too! Ayy, it’s Biggs! I’ve always wondered what she looked like. Haha, if I wasn’t shipping Biggs/Bismuth before I sure am now.

Jasper! Wow that only took like two years for her to show up again. Also I just realized that everyone looks weird because they still have traces of corruption on them and not because they were Like That in the first place.

Oh boy Jasper, you’ve…you’ve missed a lot. I wanna know what Amethyst just told her that made her hide in the water in shame.

Boy that one in the middle with all the different colors is scaring me a little

It’s kind of funny how White Diamond went from Massively Threatening, Narcissistic Perfectionist to Completely Lost Almost Cute Child in a snap. I actually feel bad for killing her off in my fic now, whoops. Ah well, it’s an AU anyway so I’m not gonna retcon anything.

Alright who taught Yellow to make a peace sign

Alright who parked the legs on the cliff like that

All the songs in this arc have been named after the episode title they appear in, nice. I’m kind of disappointed that we didn’t get another diamond song but maybe that’s for later (a song about how everything is confusing now? or maybe about how they let Pink down and suffered themselves)

Welp, that’s a wrap. It is now once again time for hiatus. Yellow continues to be my favorite diamond after Pink; I really hope they all come visit Steven and learn stuff. I’m actually very surprised that they jumped ship so easily; it seems that they might understand that what they do is wrong but they do it anyway cause that’s what’s expected of them. Seems they were suffering a lot more than I thought, and I already thought they were hurting quite a bit.

And that brings me to the biggest question I have. Much like Blue and Yellow, White was acting as if someone told her to do this; it’s like she’s a rogue AI who’s original creators are long gone. I don’t know if I wanna see what White’s afraid of, cause up until the last 10 minutes or so of this ep she was the scariest thing I’d ever seen.

Who made White Diamond?

#steven universe #reaction #spoilers #su spoilers #change your mind

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sambart93 · 5 years

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2019.03.12 NakamaruKun no Tanoshii Jikan 3 [Report]

So of course I went to this, and of course it was great! Let’s get right to it!

If you don’t know what this is, this is basically a one man show with Nakamaru who produces and performances basically all of it. The first one was back in 2008, and then he did another in 2017 and finally this one in 2019. The main ‘plot’ is basically just Nakamaru showing us things that he thinks about or that he finds interesting. It’s really random, really funny, and a lot of fun!

☆ The show opens with him, of course, doing a beatbox performance to get us all in the mood. But shortly after that we get into the first part/corner of the show.

☆ The first part of the show is him waking up at home (in bed, IN pajamas!) and the theme is: Relatable things that happen at home. So we had things like ‘hitting the snooze button but getting up anyway... forgetting you’d hit the snooze button and getting angry when it goes off..... getting angry when it goes off for the third time.... splashing your face with water three times.... talking to your pet plant... watching the news and making a commentary as you watch.... negatively ridiculing the experts on tv....’ and then there were some Nakamaru only ones such as ‘washing your hands after you touch your phone every time,’ and ‘being able to change quickly because you’re an idol’. Also during this segment, his ringtone AND his alarm tone was him beatboxing which I think is hilarious xD

The main theme is that Nakamaru’s manager has gotten sick so Maru has to do his schedule alone for the day, so we go through his day.

☆ So his first plan of the day is to do a TV news recording called YuIchi (a parody of his actual show Shuichi). He is pre-warned that the host and the guest (which are both projection mappings of him in different outfits xD) can be a little odd so he goes in prepared. But what he gets is more ridiculous than he expected. They talk about nonsensical topics, such as the new auto-parking cars (but the VTR shows the car banging into the nearby cars), and a straw to suck up curry. The other two think these are amazing ideas, while Maru is sat there in disgust and tsukkomi-ing (negatively commenting and scolding) throughout the entire thing.

☆ Then the scene changes completely and it turns into a boxing arena-type setting and Maru walks through the audience area in his boxing shorts and dressing gown. And this is where his infamous bra hook undoing challenge comes in (in an interview for Tanoshii Jikan 3, he said that the staff actually suggested he do this segment because it had become so popular with the fans xD) so he had to unhook as many bras as he could in 60 seconds. His goal is 60, but unfortunately he only got 55 this show.

☆ So after that, his next schedule is to check on the new album and songs. The new album has 8 songs and they’re all remixs of KAT-TUN songs. They were absolutely hilarious! And you could tell a lot of it was influenced by West/Shige (who’s worked with Ueda on Setsuyaku Rock), because we had things like: Real Face West Japan Ver. which was Real Face sung in Kansai-ben/dialect. We had LIPS Eating Edition, which had the sound of someone eating crisps just after Kame’s opening line but before the guitar kicks in. We had Keep the Faith Fan Edition. which was Male Ouendan Chants (it was absolutely hilarious! Maru said ‘the fans would never cheer like this,’ but to be honest, if you asked us to, we would!). We also had (either) White X’Mas or One Drop that was sung in an old Enka/Opera style. The remixs were absolutely hilarious! And so much fun to listen to! Also the new album ‘covers’ were the old grey silhouette style when JE wouldn’t allow previews on the internet. And then the LE edition had the actual member photos but it was Maru as all three of them. Maru turned to his producer and said ‘there’s no way in hell Kame and Ueda would do this (dress up as each member). Ueda would punch you if you told him to,’ which was hilarious because it’s so true! Only Maru would be up for doing this!

☆ Then we had a Metal Gear Solid inspired segment (calling back to UNION and CAST when they did impersonations of this game’s voices) where Maru used the ‘!’ sound and image, and he was dressed up in a MGS-like outfit. Here he did the questioning segment. So here are the question he got that day:

Question One: Is there a role from the other two’s dramas/movies that you want to do? -- Yokai Ningen Bemu. Even though Bem wants to be human, it’d be fun for me to become a yokai every week. Also... OreOre, but that would be very tiring to film. Kame did 23- *audience member yells 33* -- ah sorry, he did 33 different characters. It would be interesting to film though.

Question Two: Do you have an idea about your next solo song? -- I haven’t decided anything yet. I always think of doing a ballad or something because of my age, but then when it comes to the concerts, I really want to dance! So I always do a dance song with a high tempo.

Question Three: What’s your favourite underwear for women? -- I’m an idol so I can’t answer that! If I answer, everything’ll get blown out of proportion. Next question please ^_^

Question Four: What’s your favourite Dialect (in Japan)? -- I love all dialects. I’m from Tokyo so hearing them just sounds so cute. I guess, Kyuushuu’s dialect is nice. Around Kumamoto and Fukuoka is good. They say stuff like ‘~to! ~to!’ (at the end so) it’s really cute.

I did have a question prepared just in case but luckily my seat number wasn’t pulled out! PHEW!

☆ The next section, Maru goes to a voice recording and he has 4 different clips to voice (all the voices in the clip) for. Me explaining it isn’t going to do any justice at all. But the first clip was of a man being pulled over by an officer, and Maru voiced it so that the two characters were talking about Point Cards xD then next clip was two men meeting and Maru made it into a ‘oh this is my first time meeting you. It’s great to see you again even though this is our first time hehe’ type of thing. The third clip had a couple in a bath and he made it into a ‘so you only like guys with brains? But I have no brains! Are you gunna leave me?! So you’re saying you should have brains too?!’ and unfortunately I don’t remember the fourth clip.

During the curtain call, he told us that he and the staff had actually spent a week going through about 130 or so videos, and buying copyrights to a bunch of them so they could use them for this segment. He said he was going crazy after that week xD

☆ Then we get to the climax corner where he goes back to his room after the day’s schedules are done. And he checks up on his manager who says ‘turns out it wasn’t the flu! I just feel like I have the flu! So I went out and bought hot lemon tea and the limited edition KaniBread! You should go back out and get the KaniBread before it sells out!’ to which Maru is like... ‘you’re too sick to come to work but you’re feeling well enough to go out and get limited edition stuff?’ and the manager was like ‘....yes’ which my fangirl feels totally understand. I will go out dogsick to get an LE of KAT-TUN’s stuff or to go to a limited time cafe or something, but am I f*ck going to work if I feel sick.

☆ So Maru goes to the bathroom but ends up slipping on a banana. When he wakes up, his shadow had detached himself from Maru so now the shadow is running rampant all over Maru’s house. So Maru attempts to catch him and this leads into THE climax of the show which is a long 10 - 20 minute long performance where he used special effects, projection mapping, smells (of biscuits and hot lemon tea), special flying and maneuvering devices, sparkly outfits, suspended dancing glowing balls/crystals etc. It’s just so visually pleasing and it visually enjoyable during this last segment! All of KT’s and Maru’s performance habits came out in this one! We had the classic green light beam performance, we had Maru beatboxing, the very JE sparkly, shiny outfits. I also really loved the space segment of this performance too. He was on a blacked out rodeo horse thing and it made him look like he was floating in space which was so cool! Also at one point, the entire room went black except for some ‘falling’ colourful balls that came down from the sky and then in the center Maru popped up! The entire audience freaked back it was in the center of the first floor audience area! The fans were SO close to him!!

Such an amazing finale!

☆ During the Curtain Call Maru mentioned that there’s still some stuff he can’t talk about and he mentioned ‘KAT-TUN Events’ to which I freaked out because usually he would say ‘Con/Live’ if it was going to be a concert but because he specifically said ‘EVENTS’ my brain was going ten to the dozen! What events?! Debut event?! New album?! New Drama?! New Concert?! Another Line Live?! All of them?! What is in store for us?! So excited!!

#kat-tun #Nakamaru Yuichi #中丸雄一 #中丸君の楽しい時間 #中丸君の楽しい時間3 #report #review #stage #stage play #舞台

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darkspellmaster · 5 years

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Anon Asks in my Inbox as of 10/29/18 –Afternoon edition

Updated link of the Master Guide: http://darkspellmaster.tumblr.com/post/179532344635/update-and-edit-and-master-post-to-the-fokker

1. i(.)imgur(.)com/2UHctWY(.)png this picture works if you paste it into your address bar and just remove the ( ) symbols around the dots. It's his left hand since you can see the overside. Wether you find it weird to hold someone at the waist when kissing them or not is irrelevant, the arm and hand does not vanish which is the main point. Add it to your post so people can see for themselves.

Thank you for the picture Anon, due to the blanket removals of BTISudio related things I’m holding off putting the image up and I’ll use something as a representation of the arm motion that you have up. Again apologies for not being able to put the picture up. But I see it, and you’re right the arm is there, but it’s a really weird way of placing it as the natural cure of a kiss like that would have it where one person would have their hand higher than the other. Like I said it’s a weird position.

I’ll link your said picture so others can look at it. It’s in the main one.

2. You say in 4 that the studio leak image is that of a cropped shot of the previous leak as they cut off the other mouse - but that's not true. You can clearly see the mouse on Pidge's shoulder.

Added the Edit to the post anon. Thank you. I explained why I missed it. It’s still a bit odd that the mouse has not moved at all.

3. The voiceline thing that one anon was talking about was, somebody took lines Lance’s VA said in other shows/games he worked on and they also picked some lines from the 1 voltron VR game and put it together in one clip. The person included some random lines from the other characters too. And claimed it was “leaked audio” they got. Never said how they got it. Clearly fake, and a whole bunch of K/L fans obsessed with it for a bit before they lost interest.

Okay so they claimed to have data mined. That’s interesting because normally you would only be able to do that with games, since there is a lot of dialogue that is recorded and then left in there when they choose not to use it. Actors will record hours of dialogue for a game and then studios may change plans on how they are going to use it.

For example, Yuri Lowenthal, who voiced Yosuke, for Persona 4 had lines that indicated that at one point in the game they were planning to have Yosuke be a love option for the MC, but then dropped that plan for whatever reason. This was later data mined by fans from the finished product. But I’ve never heard of a way to data mine for recordings via a tv show, since the extra tracts would be left off the final disk, and you would have to have access to the main audio recordings of the show, and I don’t think Andrea would just go leaving them out there.

I’m sorry that the fans had to deal with that. That’s also a low thing to do because it cuts into issues with the whole audio department and such. Also it sucks for the fans because it’s a cheap way to get attention and isn’t fair to the listeners nor the actors.

4. I didn't see this added yet, but there was a Plance fake "leak" that got a DMCA takedown here on Tumblr from DreamWorks 3 days ago. The artist admitted it was fake when posted, it was meant as a joke and to show how easy it was to make a "leak." This kind of takes validity away from "posts are getting taken down so it must be real!" Sounds to me Dreamworks just wants all of this to go away (since it's upsetting fans or whatnot.)

Yeah I got one too way back on the 24th, and realized that that was probably why my first post was taken down. I’m trying to be more cautious out of respect for the BTIstudio. But yes, using any form of intellectual property:

Name of studio, logo of studio, art, dialogue, written words, even plants and other items.

Can be subject to claims. So even if it’s something made to debunk, if it so much as has a whiff of anything that could be connected to the actual studio, then that stuff has to be taken down for copyright reasons, and I completely understand that.

Next time I go to my convention in May, there’s a lawyer group that shows up and I’m going to try to ask about leaks and fake leaks and blanket take downs and the rules of it all.

5. Honestly Shiro's sight lines in the first 2 pics make more sense if someone shorter was standing next to him. In the third, (I) it's a profile shot so it'd be easy to rotate or tilt the head up/down if this Fokker is a dummy stand-in for another character and (II) Shiro's hand is literally on Fokker's ass due to hand position and the dude's height which is A LOT for a Y-7 show. Now if it were a shorter character, Shiro's hand would be at his waist. 🤔

Interesting catch there. In the original art where the head shot seems to have come from, the eyes are pointed down and to the left away from where Roy is looking.

This would leave us with the question of who is shorter than Shiro right now, as the only ones I can point to are Pidge, Romelle, Allura I think, or one of the Aliens. Keith, Hunk and Lance are all about the same height to him, and since he is looking slightly sideways it makes me think he’s looking at someone who is not the person with him. It’s a weird line of sight that is for sure for the shot.

6. Apologies if I misread this, but I think you implied the crisscross watermarks were a function of VSI Chinkel software and therefore would only appear on their studio's work. However in the other Chinkel studio shots, that crisscross isn't there. Watermarking is done by the originator (I.e. Dreamworks) not by the recipient. Also the pause | | in the upper right hand of the wedding is from the program the leaker is watching it in (VLC media player, specifically)

Yeah I thought that it could be something that happened there. But you’re right that the other image clearly shows that it’s not happening on the main one. I’ll have to edit that factor. Still the actual dubbing equipment, according to their website is one of a kind.

The thing about the VLC is also right, since we use it at my college. However I don’t know of any dubbing studio that would use VLC when they have access to more expensive and better software to watch media on. Also most get it in some digital form that they could play on Adobe or other media player that is far more useful for pausing and doing scripting, and seeing where the audio track is and what it’s doing. So I find that someone using an Open source tool is strange, at least to me, when it comes to a professional workplace.

7. that dude isn't roy, i think, he has the same skin tone as adam.

Oh anon, bless your heart here. Your right in that it’s not Roy himself, because that would land them in real hot water. He’s a look alike or representation. I don’t know if the character has a name at this point, but I’m calling him Roy as it’s easier than calling him “The dude that’s clearly a homage of the guy from Macross that was an inspiration to Shiro himself as a character.” Because that would take way to long. As I said before, this could be what someone thinks Adam without glasses and longer hair would look like.

8. I also thought Roy's arm disappears through Shiro, but in another pic of that kiss that's in a google doc going around debunking the leaks, his arm is very much in that photo and around Shiro's waist like you'd expect. Ngl, that threw me off because I'm starting to think I imagined things and only saw flaws where there weren't actually any at all.

And this is kind of the purpose of leaks that are not clear, or are not right, or have bad resolution. They are there to cover up the mistakes or things that make people realize they are false.

It’s one reason art forgers will be very careful to not make mistakes, but the issue is that there are always tells. Some are very very tiny and you have to take them under a microscope and look at them with the eye of someone trained to find them out.

As for the situation, take a break from it Anon. Go outside, enjoy the fall weather, watch another show or find something else to do. As I keep telling people, relax. No one has a horse in this race, I certainly don’t and nether should you. Our focus should be more on the real image that came out from JDS and LM and figuring out what was up with the table and, hey, on the plus side we have a “The End” shot. XD

9. Saw an anon point out that the “missing arm” is there and they are right. It is mainly behind shiro’s new arm and the hand is on his waist. It is a very normal way to hold someone, just because you can see the majority of it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there at all.

As I said I edited the post to reflect that info. The arm may be there, but there’s still something off about the whole thing to me. And again, if I’m wrong, oh well, if I’m right, oh well. I have no horse in this race and honestly am not into the ships.

10. Lotor’s statue isn’t 3D.... it’s very clearly painted... I think you’re starting to reach a bit with some of your debunking.

Changed the statue to an actual screen shot that I have to reflect it better. The thing is to me it looks like what you would do with a matte painting over a 3D image to create a more statue like approach to things. Since we have the white light filter over it, it makes it harder to see if it has the same 3D like rendering as Aang’s statue. Also between the time that Korra came out and now, they may have made the program smoother so it’s harder to tell if it’s 3D or not.

While I agree that they do some statues in normal drawings, the other ones, like Lotor, seem to need details, and I feel like a 3D rendering would be a better way to do it than, a 2D drawing.

11. I so want to believe they’re fakes. So much points to it, but one thing bothers me: this is an awful lot of trouble that someone has gone to, for a cartoon!? I mean finding photos on I’m assuming private Instagram accounts or other social media to highly edit? No one can actually find the originals. Plus Chinkel do actually use the multiple watermarks thing. So? Maybe those ones with the cast in them are real. They seem like far too much trouble to fake unfortunately 1/2

2/2 and I’m gonna stab a guess here and say that DreamWorks and whatever other studio it was, aren’t taking any real action besides silently removing the images but not saying anything because they feel like the images don’t give away a huge plot spoiler? Just the supposed one year later thing? Like I said it’s far too much trouble to go to. Someone would’ve had to literally scour the ENTIRE French VAs’ personal social media to find that cast pic, because no one else can find the original.

To be honest Anon, you would think that right? But the thing is that there are people out there that do this for fun. Namely because they know that it upsets a fandom and they’ll try to stir up the fans and then sit back and laugh at them.

Given the incident with the actresses and the cloud leak, it can be done. Seriously you can hack anything that has some sort of connection to the net. There’s always a back door, and it’s something that the “White Hats” have been trying to deal with for years. Social media isn’t a safe place when it comes to keeping pictures and such because people can and will break in, all the time. Remember the Sony leak not that long ago?

The photo with the cast is real, I just think the image on the screen is not. BTIStudio was sending takedowns, I got one on the 24th of October from them from a Mr. Rachel in the IT department. So my guess is it was a blanket take down regarding the name being used, since BTIStudio is now owned by Investors Shamrock and Altor, who just got the studios recently so there may be business reasons, or intellectual reasons “name being used” to pull it down. As another anon pointed out a Fake debunking image got pulled too because of them showing how to do it.

It's work, but for someone who has the time and skills it’s not insanely hard to do. Because of digital media and how good Photoshop, illustrator, and several other programs are now, it makes it easier and easier to copy art and make forgeries. It’s something artists are dealing with right now because people are finding ways to copy and sell fakes of their digital paintings.

12. Something else I noticed about the fake leaks - Ezor's eyepatch. So far, none of the galra with missing eyes wear eyepatches. They all have some sort of cyber prosthetic. Like Sendak, Ranveig, Branko, and Janka. Why would Ezor have a normal eyepatch while the rest of them don't? Doesn't make sense

That’s an interesting point there too. Given what we’ve seen previously, it doesn’t make sense to change up how a character is shown to have a wound like that covered. Unless she couldn’t’ get it done, but that doesn’t make sense either since if she was working with the Blade they would have set her up with stuff on earth by now. And Ezor doesn’t strike me as the type to be all “No I won’t have something cyber put on me” that’s more Zethrid.

13. The photo with JDS and Lauren are from His official Twitter account.

Thanks Anon, I think I’m going to do some Theories about that when I have a moment. After I finish sewing my costume’s sleeves, and getting done with the prologue to my novel.

I did see it, and it’s interesting, especially with the Red ribbon of fate, the candles and the silver piece on the side. Though that could have been there from another event. XD

14. I saw that apparently the joke fake "pl/ance leak" was taken down by DW because of copyright as well? if so that proves that the leaks don't need to be real to be taken down.

Yup! As long as it has something that equates to “Intellectual Property” studios and copyright owners can take anything down. It’s a huge issue with Youtube and their review groups and such. That’s why the Essay’s have evolved so much to only put shorter clips in and other aspects.

Fan Art can be copyrighted if it’s too close to original works, or even fake fakes like the Plance art. Most studios just go “Anything that has our name on it, take it down” even if it’s not a real leak.

15. I think that the anon who mentioned the "fake Klance voicelines leak" is talking about the fake audio leaks that were taken from Jeremy's line from another show and claimed to be about Klance and also a fake picture of Keith with Lance's jacket on .

Well that’s different. As I said, data mining is a bit hard to do from a tv show since there would be no additional tracks. It’s why most people don’t do that when it comes to creating fake info about a show and typically stick to art, or altered scripts since it’s easier to do. Typically all tracks that are recorded are edited and the ones that are not used are stored on a server that’s not easy to access and isn’t even on the net, it’s in an in house server.

As for the picture, huh, I think I heard of that one but never saw it.

#voltron #vld #voltron legendary defender #fake voltron leaks #voltron leaks #ask darkspellmaster #anon asks #answered questions #hope this helps people

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missvalerietanner · 6 years

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Writer Tag

Tagged by @jmhwriterblog. Thanks, doll. :]

1. Has writing benefited you, brought relief, or improved your life in any way?

Suffering through bouts of depression through college and just hard days in general where I’ve felt so trapped and crushed because of work or family or whatever, writing’s always been there to pull me out of a slump. I remember, ‘bout 6 years ago, I was struggling a lot and hadn’t written anything real for a few years. I was exhausted and burnt out, and then I get a spark of inspiration from a simple image and cranked out 7,000+ words in one sitting like it was nothing. It felt good; it was like I was able to shake off all these burdens and just write.

I’ve always been a writer, and I’ve always identified myself as a writer. I made up stories and acted ‘em out with my toys when I was a kid, and I do the same thing now... ‘cept my toys are now props. ;p Writing is how I’ve always expressed myself, and I don’t know who I’d be without it.

2. If your novel was adapted, who would be your dream cast for your OC(s)?

I’d be here all night trying to find actors ‘cause I’m so damn picky. But I did pick out Diane Kruger as the ideal actress to play the blue-eyed, blonde-haired German seductress in my completed story. :] When I was fleshing out the character, I searched for German actresses and recognized her right away because of National Treasure. She’s the only “dream cast member” I’ve ever put any thought behind.

3. Who is an actor you like and consider good, but is always in bad movies?

Dude! Toni Collette. I love her, and most of her movies are only so-so, but damn it, I would watch anything if she’s in it. Zoë Saldana’s another one. Guardians of the Galaxy helped her get more attention, but I still gasp whenever I see her pop up in movies (Gonna watch I Kill Giants on Hulu just for her. ;p). I fell in love with her as a teenager watching Crossroads, and I never looked back. Oh, damn, and Laura Prepon’s another one. Any movie she’s in, and I’m watchin’ it ‘cause I grew up watching her fall in and out of love with Eric Foreman, and I’m hooked.

John Goodman too. I’ve always liked him, though he’s usually in good movies. :]

If I keep Googling, I’ll be here all night. XD

4. On the other hand, who is an actor you consider bad, but is always in great movies?

Ugh. Easy. George Clooney. I don’t get the attraction, and none of his movies are my thing.

5. What do you like the most about your OC(s)?

Character-wise,

Writing-wise, I love when they take charge of the story and act against my plans. Taking a scene from my mind to paper and watching it do a full 180 always surprises me. There’s a lot of moments I remembering stepping back from the computer and saying, “That did not turn out how I thought it would.” And that is probably one of my favorite things about being a writer.

6. What do you dislike the most about your OC(s)?

They’re very high-maintenance. XD

7. What do you consider your greatest weakness in writing? What about your greatest strength?

Greatest weakness: As much as I love my flowery prose, it gets in the way sometimes and causes me to write numerous paragraphs that read beautifully but add nothing to the story. Finding that perfect balance can be a struggle for me.

Greatest strength: The flowerly prose. XD It’s a double-edged sword, but damn, does it come in handy sometimes. Also, I write damn good action scenes.

8. What is your dream novel that you wish you could write?

Oh, dude! A HEIST STORY! I want to write a story about a gang of bastards and assholes who are evil for evil’s sake. They rob, they kill, they don’t give a fuck. They’re criminal masterminds and sarcastic pricks--with a few redeeming qualities, of course. They never do any good. They’re only out to help themselves, and I just want to revel in the chaos.

9. If you’ve been writing for a long time, do you keep everything you have ever written? Or have you dumped old works in the trash? Why?

I started writing (and illustrating) when I was in the second grade, and aside from a few dark periods in my life, I haven’t stopped. I still have all the “books” I wrote back in the second grade, and they are my personal treasures for no one but me.

But as far as new works, nawh. I used to save everything, but over the years, I’ve lost a lot of stuff (computers die, flashdrives get lost/corrupted). And what I haven’t lost through technology, I’ve consolidated or trashed on my own. There’s a few stories that loop in my head from years’ past that I think about often, and there’s always new ideas popping up. I keep ‘em all written down in some form, but after a few years, if said idea hasn’t progressed or grown, I trash it. The #1 reason why: I’ve outgrown it, or the idea’s no longer relevant to me or to the stories I want to tell and the worlds I want to create. And I’m O.K. with that.

10. What is your favourite thing you’ve ever written, even if it will never see the light of day?

I wish I could pick out one line or one description that fills me with joy, but there’s a lot of those. ;p Usually, I find them on re-reads while editing, and I’ll think, “Damn, that’s good writing.” XD A lot of those moments happened during the second edit of my now finished novel because that baby is packed with a lot of good emotional turmoil. And one line I think about a lot from that story is:

He convinced her to let down her walls, and then he shattered them from the inside.

So have that. :] I have so many more favorites, and here’s hoping they’ll one day be read by millions.

I tag no one ‘cause I took WAY too damn long doing this. XD

#little facts about me #writings

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rockmiyabideusexmachina · 6 years

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2018 Megaman Valentine’s Day Contest Results Thread!

Thank you all for your patience this year! I know this is a little later after the holiday than I would like, but one day is simply not enough to contain all this love! Once again, it’s always wonderful to have an assortment of both familiar faces participating, as well as many newcomers.

As always, this will be a rather massive thread, so bear with me. Most of it will be hidden after the break, so please do take a peek at all these wonderful entries!

Due to the size and sheer quantity of comic entries, there are plenty of images to view. For that reason, I’m sticking to thumbnails for now. Please click to view the entry in it’s full glory!

Also, my thanks to @jaybird-c for the help with judging this year. I’ll have some of his commentary with my own below.

The three raffle prize winners will be noted by their alias, as well.

For your reminder, there were two categories, broken down into Humor and Talent. There were 6 total Humor entries, and 14 Talent entries. So, to start off, we’ll begin with the category with the least entrants, and to fit with my tie-in promo art.

*EDIT* OK, now I think everything is good. So long thumbnails, to keep this shorter.

Once again, for an easy link to all the images in a single gallery, please go here: https://imgbox.com/g/uAbXkTDaot

Otherwise, I’ve tested it again on both mobile and desktop, and everything should link to a full image. It still does on my end.

*/EDIT*

For Humor, this year’s theme was “Beauty and the Beastman.EXE.” The goal was to illustrate a mismatched Megaman couple, one in a monsterous, beastly form, with another more beautiful character that falls for them. Any allusions to the popular tale of Beauty and the Beast were welcome, but not a requirement.

Here are your top 3, followed by the remaining entries in alphabetical order by alias:

1.) @prar-draws: (*Prar wins $100 USD or an item(s) up to that value.)

Jaybird wrote: Prar's comic has the absolute best execution of a joke, increasing the tension until the last panel when it masterfully throws the audience for a loop. Prar's style complements the story very well by making each individual moment easy to digest, and the last panel also just happens to be really funny to look at on its own. Just thinking about it makes me crack up.

Miyabi wrote: While this piece really contains more tension and drama until the final panel, I agree that the build is what helps bring the big laugh at the end. You can also see the temperature rising for Ciel, as her cheeks get redder and redder as the panels move along. I felt it tied in to the Beauty and the Beast storyline nicely, and your chosen characters fit well to pull off the connection. Very cute, and well constructed comic!

2.) @amiable-apparition: (*a-a wins $50 USD or an item(s) up to that value.)

Jaybird wrote: I don't remember this scene from the Star Force anime. Must've been cut from the final release. Clever use of trickery regarding who the real "monster" is; poor Damian appears to have misjudged the situation something fierce. Good idea and use of twist.

Miyabi wrote: I guess Sam was the one who was ‘Hungry Like the Wolf,’ after all! I too enjoyed the spin at the end, it was a funny deviation on how her character was portrayed in the anime. Subject choice was strong here too, connecting the theme with a couple characters who fit well with the concept. Nice work with the variety of panels you created to set things up.

3.) @frankenchio: (*frankenchio wins $25 USD or an item(s) up to that value.)

Jaybird wrote: Ah, the Princess and the Toad Man. Frankenchio's piece is a clever little reference to the classic fable, but most of the humor is in how Roll apparently didn't know what kind of prince was on the other end of that frog. Clever, pretty to look at.

Miyabi wrote: I like that you thought outside of the box with the theme, and used a totally different classic tale, but still connected it very well. Ice Man sure lucked out this time, after whoever cursed him into Toad form. While a simple few panels, your style is just adorable. Those jewels on the crown look really detailed!

Close, but not quite ~

Dark Dullahan:

Jaybird wrote: Dark Dullahan has the idea of recreating an actual Disney scene with Iris and (Zoanoroid?) Zero, which is very sweet. It took me a few repeat looks to digest what was going on here but it's amusing to see Zero protecting his wounds from the fierce and terrible Iris. Because she's obviously the worst thing that can happen to him. Cute, amusing scene.

Miyabi wrote: Sorry, I don’t know why this upload defaults to a side view, when I don’t even have it at that orientation. It automatically glitches that way, no matter how I upload it. :/ Anyhow, a clever spin using the EXE versions of Zero and Iris, living in a world where only reploids...no wait, they don’t exist here. This Beastly ZoanoZero will open up to her over time, I’m sure. But first, he needs to heal up. Again, good use of parodying the scene.

@drewblossom:

Jaybird wrote: The sheer concept of Rock-Belle made me wonder if they were going to throw in an FMA reference somewhere, but Drew's picture doesn't need it. They make good use of the Disney-classic-gone-wrong idea -- Oil Man and Time Man as Lumiere and Cogsworth are nearly inspired --though I think they didn't quite go far enough and should have rounded out the piece with a more feminine version of the suit; Rock-Belle changing into Mega *Man* raises questions about whether the main character's an actual girl or just a cross-dresser, which distracts from the joke.

Miyabi wrote: I guess Rock is both the beauty and the beast, for totally destroying those poor innocent talking inanimate object bots! While I had a good laugh at the quick-change blast, the character reactions, and the overall parody of the classic scene, sadly I did feel it just didn’t quite have the couple contrast/Valentine’s theme as well as others.

@erekisaiko: (*RAFFLE PRIZE WINNER* Captain N Height Chart)

Jaybird wrote: I feel like I'm missing a reference to something else. As amusing as the concept of JunkMan's and Meddy's unsanitary hospital sounds, the picture doesn't present us with enough information to make sense of what actually happened (i.e. why was JunkMan wearing a cardboard Falzer costume in the first place?), and [=ClockMan's=] joke lacks the punch it ought to have because the punchline has no set up. (Unless of course this is all just an incredibly obvious reference to something I've never been exposed to that would fill in all the missing context). Amusing concept in punchline, it's fun to think about how this situation could've arisen.

Miyabi wrote: Meddy’s not oblivious, she just has a big heart ready to heal any messy, junky slob! Cute and different idea having more of a ‘fake’ beast, although I think Junk still would count as a beastly character on his own, in some respects. Very well-drawn, and appreciate all the detail you put into your internet background.

For the talent category, the theme was “If You Like It, You Should Put a Ring Boomerang On It.” This category was all about proposal scenes. And I am shocked there was not a single Jewel Man! XD

Here are your top 3, followed by the remaining entries in alphabetical order by alias:

1.) @wintesm: (*wint wins $100 USD or an item(s) up to that value.)

Jaybird wrote: Jeez. Unrelenting Style. Your children's book painting is incredible as ever; your figures, your colors, your atmosphere, just about everything. I ran into a problem with your composition, though; the stark black page divider clashes with the predominantly horizontal-mirror structure and makes it hard to wrap your head around the story as its meant to be told. It was less of a problem once I trained myself to ignore it, and you use the divider very effectively in the second-to-last section, but it still made it harder to enjoy the work. Masterful technique, colors, perspective, expression.

Miyabi wrote: With your subjects, I felt this composition was a very clever way to tell the story, and kinda mirror their separate, but similar tales side-by side. As mentioned, you have such a fitting children’s storybook style, from colors to shapes, that shines once again! It’s a cute tale for such evil characters!

2.) @peach35: (*peach wins $50 USD or an item(s) up to that value.)

Jaybird wrote: Peach deserves a lot of credit for her mastery of figure-drawing and perspective. That's something a lot of people struggle with, and accomplishment in these matters should be recognized. Another good choice of simple background to highlight the main moment, and awesome use of colors and lighting to suggest 3D -- I'm far more fascinated by Gate's nose than I should be. Incredible faces, hands, colors, and general shading.

Miyabi wrote: The sense of confused shock on Alia’s face is a different reaction that most, as it’s apparent Gate is slipping that ring on in total surprise. Clean lines and soft lighting helped this piece stand out.

3.) @tianura: (*tianura wins $25 USD or an item(s) up to that value.)

Jaybird wrote: Tianura's style is difficult to read; the line quality can be inconsistent from panel to panel, some attempts to convey 3D positioning could use polish, and the panels never stray very far from simple torso and head shots. That said, the expressions are exceptionally clear (again, look to the eyes) and convey lots of emotion, and the page-by-page composition is very good. Very expressive faces, judicious use of colors for effect.

Miyabi wrote: I thought this was a creative parallel for life-long partners in using Netto and Enzan. You did a nice job keeping Netto’s goofy charm intact, with quite a few humorous lines. The ending was totally fitting for him, older or not. XD While I’m sure you would have liked to color the whole thing, I liked the differing use of screentone shading. And the watercolor look of the color pieces did give it some storybook charm as well.

Close, but not quite ~

@borockman:

Jaybird wrote: It's such a shame this isn't a humor category, because this deserves major points for funny (the Nana-Sigma romance anime that the fandom doesn't want, but nonetheless deserves). The linework itself is pretty good. Expressive, good use of background for mood. Also, Sigma, the ring goes on the ring finger.

Miyabi wrote: It’s a dream. It’s always a dream! Siggy puts the ring on her pinky because Nana’s his ‘lil pinky-poo... ;p With the tears running down her face, I really did like the emotional feel of the moment.

@digitallyfanged:

Jaybird wrote: In terms of sheer atmosphere, this is one of the best pieces. It looks like a still from some fairy tale picture-book. The forest scenery, the background, the flower-swing, the misting breath, the quality of the outfits and the details on the dress and sword all make this exquisite. Unfortunately the characters aren't quite as expressive as they ought to be -- this is very clearly a fairy-tale love scene of some kind, but what kind? Laika is clearly being emotional towards the princess, but what is he saying? "Who are you"? "You're beautiful"? "I love you"? "Be mine forever"? It's gorgeous, but it's a little too vague to tell whether it's on topic or not.

Miyabi wrote: Gorgeous scene that felt a bit like another Disney-ish tale, moreso of the Frozen variety. They may just be easy-to-use Clip Studio effects, but I really thought it was quite creative how you pulled off the swing design. The watercolor forest background is beautiful, as is Pride’s snow princess outfit. Pretty, pretty picture!

@drewblossom:

Jaybird wrote: I'm glad I saw Drew's title, because it took me a minute to figure out exactly what was going on -- for a moment I thought Geminiman was trying to propose to himself with that (fittingly) gaudy diamond. The linework is pretty good, and I like the lighting effects on Gemini's crystals and the translucence of his chest plate. I'll give them points for an ambitious concept, but the best mirror art looks at a scene from two different directions, and Gemini's reflection is simply a reverse of the main view. Good colors and lighting, elegantly simple background that does a good job of highlighting the main action.

Miyabi wrote: No better way to practice a proposal than to recite it in front of your self. Of course, if he is proposing to his clone, then I think with his nonchalant actions, he’s got this down already. XD Clever, and unique!

@hyperbole1729:

Jaybird wrote: This piece is another mix. It has some very nice things -- the colors are spot on, the composition is very nice (you take cues from the 18th century Romantic movement by having the whole world revolve around the subject), you clearly pay attention to character details, and your field of flowers is great.

Miyabi wrote: Another set of net-battling partners who seem like a great choice for being together forever. The background is a fitting place for Sal to do it, because I don’t quite see Miyu being the one to speak up and propose. That might be more of a frightening proposition. LOL Cute, traditional scene.

@iris-sempi:

Jaybird wrote: Iris-sempi's got style. The colors are interesting, the subject is clear, the linework pops out because it's -also- part of the colors, the cartoony elements fit in very nicely, and the presentation as a literature/manga cover is well-done. The technique is some of the best I've seen. That said, I have to ask, if you were going to go through all the trouble of creating such a cool cover, I think it's only fair to point out the title is blocked by the artwork, which defeats the purpose, especially on something's Volume 1.

Miyabi wrote: Just to clarify for everyone, the Japanese characters for this piece say "Let's Get Married" and "Sea Salt Honey." I thought it was a really clever mag cover format, where the characters really pop out against the pink background. With the waves, it really does feel like Splashy leapt out of the ocean to smack some salty sugar on Honey/Vesper Woman. Her vibrating antennae give some nice movement and comedic effect, too. Love it, but felt it just didn’t quite have the proposal feel as strongly as others.

@jb-artist: (*RAFFLE PRIZE WINNER* - Megaman 8 cel)

Jaybird wrote: JB's picture is very cute, and we don't have much actual oekaki here, so props. While you deserve even more props for how direct you are to get to the point, it's difficult to judge how we're supposed to interpret this -- is Alouette precociously misunderstanding the nature of a marriage proposal or is it an actual proposal to her older sister figure? The perspective rocks, the colors and lighting are good, and there are lots of little details that portray lots of love for the Zero series.

Miyabi wrote: Zero’s such the silent, brooding type, that he sends Alouette to do the proposal for him. I’m just not sure if that will help or hurt his rank in this stage! XD It is honestly really cute, especially when you see her doodles on the resistance base’s wall. I think that makes the piece more than anything, and was a clever callback to the game. I like how you set up the scene with the background, and those are some really nice mountains back there, too.

@lightlabs:

Jaybird wrote: Now this is pretty. Great composition to direct us through the piece (-nice touch- on giving the ring some bling) and rocking use of paint swatches for style. The art does a great job of directing us into the center, and the warm colors in the center do a lot to convey mood. Zero, you smug jerk, stop showing the rest of us poor schlubs up.

Miyabi wrote: Yes, this is happening. There is a reason for me to go on. What...what am I using this line foooorr? The warm colors and sparkles give it a unique glow, for what seems to be a night scene. The brush strokes give it a neat paint brush look, for your coloring, too. Nice work conveying their emotions with their expressions as well.

@pandapanic0:

Jaybird wrote: In terms of actual skill, the coloring is good and clear, the piece is composed well, the lighting effects are fairly elegant. If it were the actual humor category, the Ring Man's appropriately outlandish bid and Mega Man's exceptionally feminine reaction would gain the piece lots of laugh-out-loud points.

Miyabi wrote: Thank you for taking the title of this category literally and going for the humorous visual of a giant ring Ring Boomerang! Even if he says no, once he tries to get rid of that ring, it’ll just come right back. XD Rock’s blushing expression is cute. Nice crisp coloring and bold lines.

@shikai-the-storyteller: (*RAFFLE PRIZE WINNER* - Archie Worlds Unite Page)

Jaybird wrote: On a panel-by-panel basis, the art is very good: crisp lines; good color and lighting; good technique with hands and faces; great use of background and expression to convey mood -- you got more mileage out of your backgrounds than probably anyone else here.

Miyabi wrote: Another nice job of mixing humor into your piece, while still keeping it a tender, sweet moment. Nice way of showing that things don’t always go as planned for a proposal, but sometimes it’s the thought and effort that counts. As always, your lines, colors and penmanship are smooth and flawless.

Superbasket5:

Jaybird wrote: Aww. If I've got this right, it looks like X is so nervous about giving Alia a valentine that he doesn't realize Berkana is giving Alia encouragement as well. I think. I have to wonder what Marty is doing here -- research tells me she has a crush on X, which seems like it would get in the way, and if that's the case, this impending trainwreck will be something worth watching. That said, the piece is still in its rough stages, especially your setting and perspective; I can't really tell where the characters are (outside at a park?), and Alia's hip is in front of X's arm.

Miyabi wrote: Alia has her support group, but I don’t know if she’s going to be able to pop the question to X with a crowd around her, either. XD Cute expressions, showing her nerves, while X is probably not quite expecting what’s hiding behind her back. I kinda wish we would get that visual of what she’s hiding as a cutaway, much like how you gave X a thought bubble for what’s going on in his head.

@yugiohlesbian:

Jaybird wrote: Good job! I'd like to compliment you on how versatile your figures are and how you use that to make them very expressive; your use of perspective and individual panel compositions are both very versatile. While there isn't any color, the nighttime scenes do a good job with the lighting. Your style is pleasantly simple, but sometimes the panels seem to be oversimplified; more developed backgrounds would be welcome in several places.

Miyabi wrote: Totally different subject, but Zero, none of us understand taxes, either. I like how you illustrated the struggle of a reploid trying to understand human logic and traditions, and yet in the end, it still being something Zero didn’t truly need to grasp in that logical sense. While I know you wish you would have had more time to continue perfecting these panels, I agree that the night scenes stand out and give a good contrast between Zero’s computer research scenes.

Thanks once again to all who participated! I will be contacting the winners soon enough. Work will probably keep me from replying to everyone immediately, but if you don’t hear from me today, I will send a message about prizes hopefully within the next day.

For those awaiting the secret contest results...sorry, for another slight delay. Between finishing my promo art for this thread, and typing this, it took up too much time and I’ve gotta head to work. I will have those posted overnight, into Sunday morning, as it won’t be quite as intensive to write up. My apologies, but I hope you can all hang on for another 20 hours or less. ^^;

#Rockman #Megaman #Mega Man #Rock Miyabi's 2018 Megaman Valentine's Day Contest #Too many tags to list

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powerdragonmoon · 6 years

Text

Bright Lights and Lit Candles

With the holiday season fast approaching the last place Nathanael thought he would end up is out on a shopping spree with Chloe Bourgeois.

This is my @mlsecretsanta gift for the ever lovely and super sweet @vanilla107, when I got my assignment I jumped for joy and then days later I received such a wonderful message from you and was immediately suspicious because of the timing of it all...i was like, “SHE KNOWS!!!” XD but now I’m so happy to call you a friend! I hope you had an amazing, happy, and merry Christmas and are enjoying this lovely holiday season!!!

(ao3 link)

Nathanael peeked out from under the massive pile of boxes and bags he had cradled in his arms. Each one was tied up in elaborate ribbon and tastefully wrapped in various shades of gold. Barely able to keep his balance, he entered the boutique, not surprised to find under the soft lighting that it was just as glamorous as all the other stores they had already visited.

Its interior was decorated in subtle, yet chic touches of the holiday season. White and gold accented the window displays while black and white striped wallpaper lined the walls. Clothing racks showcasing the latest fashion, straight off the runway, filled the store and Nathanael immediately could tell that they would be here for awhile.

As he had for most of this odd journey, Nathanael felt completely out of his element…Chloe however, seemed to be in her natural habitat.

Albeit, the whole afternoon still seemed to be some sort of unfathomable daydream. In a whirlwind of determination and stubbornness, Nathanael had been dragged along into Chloe’s white limo and lead across Avenue Montaigne. With a manicured hand clawed around his wrist, he had been lead through stores where price tags weren’t even on the clothes or items, it was just accepted that you would need the most platinum and elite of credit cards to even think about purchasing such things and if you had to ask for a price, then you couldn’t afford it.

And so Nathanael stood at the entranceway, buried under a mountain of Chloe’s earlier acquisitions as she moved through the store with the power and authority fit for some sort of overseas duchess or a famous movie starlet…

Or a queen.

Perhaps it was the warm lights or the fact that his vision was half-obscured by the items in his arms, but for a short moment, a flash of yellow and black brought a very sudden and unexplainable redness to his cheeks.

Blinking away the image of black and gold, Nathanael glanced around, wondering for not the first time how he had got himself into this situation.

School had just ended and he had been stuck pondering the sprinkling rain from the school doorway when Chloe Bourgeois had walked by, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards her private, white limo that gleamed under the gloomy Parisian rain.

“I—wait what?! CHLOE!”

“We’re going shopping!” was the only reply he got until they settled into the backseat of the limo. “Plus,” she had added, “you don’t want the rain to ruin your hair right?”

Nathanael had been too stunned to offer an answer at the time, equally shocked at the fact that he was now sitting beside Chloe in her limo and by the almost considerate gesture of being saved from the rain. He had in fact been a little more than just concerned about his hair getting wet on his walk home.

But most of all, he was most surprised that she was still holding his hand.

They both seemed to realize it at the same moment, their clammy hands releasing their hold on each other as they moved as far apart as the leather limo seats allowed them.

“Kurtzberg,” she spoke harshly, her eyes not meeting his as her voice dropped into a uncharacteristic whisper, mummering a fast few words that Nathanael hadn’t been able to hear.

“I’m sorry?”

Chloe brought a hand to her mouth, muttering something so quiet that Nathanael had to lean in closer in an attempt to catch it.

“Uh…?” was all he could answer with.

With a glare and deep breath of exasperation, she finally spoke up, perhaps much louder than anticipated as Nathanael jumped back at the sound, “I need your help!”

“Oh!” he responded, still terribly caught off guard, as silence filled the space between them.

Chloe pursed her lips, her eyebrows raising as if waiting for more of a eloquent reply.

And if an eloquent reply was what she was after, Nathanael was not the person to deliver.

“Uh, I…OK?”

She grimaced and he flinched. “OK?” she repeated, and in a fit of nerves all Nathanael could muster was a frantic nod.

Chloe let out a sigh, one that bordered between frustrated and relief. And then, with a quick, yet surprisingly polite, call towards her driver they were off, driving through the streets of Paris.

After another moment of silence, Nathanael recovered some hidden courage to finally voice his curiosity. “So…what do you need my help for?

With a haughty flip of her ponytail Chloe turned to face him, her previous hesitancy molding back into her signature Chloe Bourgeois-esque…haughtiness? Arrogance? Charm? Whatever it was, it was entirely Chloe and something Nathanael just couldn’t name, it was just something he knew at this point.

“I need help Christmas shopping…Daddy gave me money to buy presents for myself and I need someone to hold my bags.”

Nathanael’s mouth fell open. That something he couldn’t quite name, suddenly flashing clear in his mind.

Selfishness™.

“Yes, and since Sabrina was sick, I just saw you, all sad and pathetic, looking at the rain…and I thought perhaps I would do you a favour…”

Nathanael glanced down at the limo door to his side, contemplating the harm of jumping from a moving vehicle, but at the sudden blares of car horns as they passed through a busy intersection, he decided against the idea.

“OW!”

He turned back at the shout, staring in surprise as Chloe rubbed her arm.

“Are you OK?” he asked.

“I’m fine.”

Still concerned, although a part of him wondered why, he continued, “W-what happened?”

“I umm..” Chloe bit her lip before replying glaring down at her bag, “I think I got stung by a bee or something.”

“Oh, ouch,” Nathanael replied awkwardly. “I’ve never been stung by a bee before…”

Chloe laughed dryly, “Well, then consider yourself lucky.”

“I’m usually not.” Nathanael smiled, shrugging slightly.

With a frown Chloe glanced his way, before pointing her chin up in the air. “Today you get to accompany me on a grand shopping extravaganza! I’d say you’re very lucky! Plus bee stings are the worst.” She glared down at her purse for a moment before meeting his eyes once more. “So you can count your lucky stars for that!”

Nathanael’s smile grew. He still wasn’t sure her definition of lucky quite fit his, but as he saw Chloe turn away, staring out her window with an expression he was completely caught off guard. Suddenly the need to jump out of the limo for freedom didn’t seem like the most logical answer.

Which is how he had found himself, hours later entering yet another posh store by Chloe’s side, when usually he would be home amd holed up in his room, sketching out comics on his tablet. He glanced out the windows to the darkening sky, the rain glistening off the streets and sighed.

But if anything Chloe’s Christmas Shopping Extravaganza had been quite the curious adventure. And as Nathanael reflected over the contents of her purchases, he couldn’t help but wonder see how clearly obvious it was that Chloe was not buying gifts for herself.

Thus far, Chloe had bought a pair of the latest noise-cancelling headphones, a special, limited edition Ladybug and Chat Noir figurine set, the most expensive pair of running shoes Nathanael had ever seen, a matching set of necklaces, each with its own jeweled flower pendant, and a pair of bright green rollerblades. He stared around the boutique and wondered if Chloe was going to be buying something bright, pink, and fashionable for a certain classmate of theirs.

“OK done!!”

“ARGH!” Nathanael jumped that the sudden sound, tripping over air and flailing as box after box fell from his hands.

“Oh wow, you are jumpy,” came Chloe’s reply as she bent over to collect some of the dropped bags, Nathanael reached out to help as well.

“Yeah, sorry,” he muttered, reaching to tuck his hair behind his hair reflexively. However with his hands full of bags, he instead settled for hiding behind his fringe with a shy smile.

Chloe glanced up at him with a frown. “Why are you sorry? I scared you…shouldn’t I be apologizing?”

“I—” Nathanael balked at the idea of her apologizing to him, “I’m…I don’t know…”

“Well, I’m sorry Nathanael,” she said.

“Oh,” was all he could offer as a reply.

Together, each laden with her many purchases, they walked out of the store, a store attendant running to open the door for them as they both had their hands full. The rain had stopped, and the late afternoon had morphed into early evening as the lights of the city lit up against the darkening sky.

This coupled with all the strings of Christmas lights across the buildings and the wet sheen left behind by the rain had the city aglow. Nathanael couldn’t help but notice the way it brought out the blue in Chloe’s eyes and he told himself it was the cold night air that had his cheeks burning.

He especially couldn’t help but notice it when she stopped and turned to face him head on. Almost tripping over himself, Nathanael came to a not-so-graceful stop, staring at her with wide eyes. She looked almost angry and Nathanael felt a rising fear build up within him to run lest he be victim to another one of her rampages.

But what he didn’t expect was her soft, almost self-conscious whisper.

“I mean it, you know. I am sorry.”

“Oh…I know…” Nathanael said back almost reflexively.

She shook her head, making him pause. “No, no, no, not about scaring you!” and she jumped at that as if surprising herself. “No, I mean yes about that…But…I mean…”

Nathanael’s eyes widened, not quite used to a stammering Chloe.

She met his eyes again and paused, so bright and blue, Nathanael wondered if he could ever capture such a colour on paper. Would it be better on his tablet? Perhaps paint on canvas, he supposed…the colour…it was something akin to fire in ice, something so cold, yet alive and burning.

It was all he could focus on as she took a deep breath before finally saying, “What I’m trying to say is that I’m sorry for being so mean to you.”

That caught his attention.

If it was possible Nathanael’s eyes may have widened even more.

“I’ve been really mean, and to you especially…well to like everyone really,” she shrugged, “…I have a lot of work to do, I think.” She glanced down to a puddle at their feet. “And I, well…thank you for helping me today…I didn’t really give you a choice, but I hope one day I can earn your forgiveness.”

Nathanael was in awe. They stood their for a few moments, him completely frozen in shock and Chloe shyly glancing back and forth between him and that random puddle.

Finally, with the Christmas lights around them glimmering off the soaked city and Chloe’s soft blonde hair, Nathanael’s limbs seemed to unthaw. With a shy hand he nudged Chloe softly with some of the bags in his hand. Her eyes locked back onto his immediately and he smiled.

“Merry Christmas, Chloe.”

She smiled, a wide and bright smile that lit up her face, her eyes crinkled and her cheeks flushed, surely from the cold weather as well. Nathanael couldn’t recall ever seeing her like this and together they shared twin, big smiles as the city bustle of shoppers walked past them and the lights twinkled off like stars above them.

“Happy Hanukkah, Nathanael.”

He blinked in surprise, once again caught off guard.

“Oh! I—thanks! How did you know?”

“What?” she offered back, mildly offended, “I know things!” It was a flash of the Chloe Nathanael was more familiar with. He laughed.

Blushing even more so, she continued, “Oh, well…I noticed you weren’t apart of the Secret Santa thing too…I asked Sabrina and she said it was because you didn’t celebrate Christmas?”

“Yeah, that’s right…you’re not apart of it either?”

She frowned, shoulders slumping. “No one asked me,” she said with a soft whisper.

“Oh…”

“I…I don’t,” she grimaced and Nathanael was taken aback by the slight sheen on her eyes. “I don’t think anyone likes me.”

“Ah…” Nathanael fumbled at words as he swore he saw a tear streak down her face. “I…”

“I’ve been so mean to you and everyone…and now even Sabrina doesn’t want to hang out with me!” she continued, not even trying to hold back the tears now.

On impulse Nathanael said the first thing to pop into his head, anything that would somehow help in this situation.

“I like you!”

“W-what?” Chloe glanced up, another tear falling and Nathanael wished his hands were free so he could at least offer her a tissue…or whip the tears away with his hand. She laughed, no sound of genuine humour filling the noise as she sniffled slightly. “No you don’t!”

“I…well…” Nathanael struggled, “I maybe…yeah.” Chloe let out a broken sob at that and he stepped forward, his hand bumping bags against her side, in what he hoped was a nice gesture. She glanced at him with watery eyes and he sputtered, “B-but, I…from what I’ve seen today…I can see y-you’ve grown Chloe!”

“Really?” she asked, her eyes wide with wonder. Nathanael blushed.

“Y-yeah, I mean…you kinda brought me here against my will,” she glared, and he couldn’t help but laugh. “But you’ve been nice…and I do appreciate your apology…and I know who these gifts are for…It’s a nice gesture. I think you’ll surprise a lot of people.”

“W-what?” she asked, suddenly indignant, “I…these—I told you! These are gifts for me!”

Nathanael smiled despite himself, lifting up and waving one of the many bags in his hand. “These rollerblades are for you?” he asked.

“I…I…” Chloe tried to answer. “Maybe I’ve suddenly taken up the sport! You don’t know me!”

He laughed at that, surprising himself and Chloe, who raised her eyebrows at him. “I guess you’re right…maybe I don’t” And she frowned at him. “But I think I would like to.”

Chloe stared at him, her mouth hanging open.

Nathanael smiled, not sure if he could ever remember seeing Chloe ever look so vulnerable. He remembered that mass text during Kim’s akumatization…when Sabrina had texted everyone a picture of Chloe covered in dirt and despair. But this was different. Rather than defensive and angry, she seemed open and in awe, frozen in shock.

But Nathanael had meant what he said, so he decided to take another step forward, both literally and figuratively. Walking down the street and glancing back at Chloe as he went.

“Do…do you have any plans for the break?” he asked, pausing and waiting for her.

Jolting forward, Chloe stumbled slightly as she caught up to him, the pair walking down the street side by side. She nodded.

Nathanael smiled waiting for her to further elaborate before deciding to fill the void between them, “I’m excited…I’m going to my dad in Johannesburg.”

A pause passed as they took their streets. “South Africa?” Chloe asked, her head tilting to the side causing her ponytail to swish in the evening breeze.

“Yeah, he moved there last year,” Nathanael nodded as they walked in no particular direction. “I got to visit him last year for Hanukkah…it was pretty great. It was warmer than I was used to…but with all the lights in the city at night, it still feels like the holidays.”

Nathanael paused, looking over at Chloe, who stared at him, her eyes, now dry, still glowed as overhead the sky darkened.

“Wow,” she whispered, and Nathanael couldn’t help but notice the smeared lip gloss on her lips.

“W-what?” he said, caught off guard once more.

She blinked, as if somehow brought out of a trance. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk this much,” Chloe said, still with that look of awe on her face.

Nathanael hesitated, another apology on the tip of his tongue before Chloe continued.

“You have a nice voice.”

“W-what!?” Nathanael shrieked slightly, flinching at the crack in his voice.

Chloe smiled, small, yet beautiful, and Nathanael couldn’t stop the blush from rising to his face. “What sort of things do you do for Hanukkah?” she asked, changing the subject, a relief for both of them.

“Oh, ah, well…My family usually comes over and we eat a lot of food and stuff.”

“Do you have lots of family?”

“Y-yeah, with my aunts…and all their kids, and my grandpa and my cousins and everyone…It’s a lot of people.”

Chloe smiled.

“We used to have a cabin in Switzerland.” She glanced up at the night sky. “We would go there a lot when I was younger, especially for Christmas. It was at this really nice ski resort…but none of us skied really…but my mom would make hot chocolate and we would watch movies or sit by the fire…”

Her smile fell and they both came to a stop.

“But now we stay here in Paris. Daddy has work so…” she shrugged, letting the sentence hang.

Nathanael tried to think of something to say, a little unsure of what he could offer, but before he could muster up the courage, Chloe looked past him, her eyes lighting up so suddenly that any words he had were fast forgotten, especially when she reached out to grab his hand and pulled him along towards another shop.

“Come on!” she called, her grip tight in his, ignoring the awkwardness of all the bags between them. “One more store and then I think we’re done!”

“Oh, alright,” Nathanael answered, “I guess I can handle one mo—”

He froze, looking up at the windows of the store as they made their way to the entrance. Paint, pens, easels, and canvases of all sizes were arranged in Christmas themed bunches of red and green along the storefront.

“Yeah, for a bit there, I kinda felt bad, thinking about how you probably don’t get Christmas presents? But then I read that you get eight days of presents?!?! So I stopped feeling so sad about it.” She shrugged as they entered the store. “But that just means, I need to get you eight times the presents!”

She waved at all the aisles, gesturing to the vast selection. Nathanael stood there frozen at the plethora of art supplies before him, thinking of his almost full sketchbook in his bag and slowly becoming overwhelmed at the possibilities before him.

“This…this is too much Chloe!” he gasped as she pushed him towards the first display.

“Nonsense,” she said, waving a hand in his direction. “Now come on! I have like five days of Hanukkah to catch up on!”

He followed her to the front counter where she quickly convinced the shop clerk to hold their bags for them. Once free of her earlier purchases, Chloe turned to Nathanael with an excited smile, one that was almost contagious and Nathanael felt himself smiling just as bright. She held out her hand to him and he didn’t hesitate to take it as she pulled him through the store, picking his brain about what sort of art supplies he liked and asking him all about his current and past projects.

Before they left the store, Nathanael insisted on buying Chloe a sketchbook of her own, with the promise of finding some time to sketch together in the future.

Five Years Later

“OK! I want to do it tonight!”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I think I go this,” she said, reaching for the lighter, to which he simply raised his eyebrows. “What?” she asked?

“I—nothing! Please, by all means! Go ahead!” he laughed waving for her to continue.

She glared, her mouth twisting into a rueful smile, before she bumped him with her hip as she walked up to the window. Outside, the evening sky darkened and while the lights of the city shone brightly. Inside their small apartment, Nathanael switched off the lights, the only source of light coming from the windows and their lamp on the other side of the room.

Standing by the coffee table they had set by the window, Chloe picked up the candles she had set out, placing 5 of them, one by one, into their proper place on the menorah. Once she was done she looked up to see Nathanael holding out another candle to her with a smile. She took it with a kiss.

Looking down at her hands, one holding the the shamash and the lighter, Chloe suddenly faced a predicament.

She didn’t want to ruin her manicure trying to light the lighter. And it was made even more difficult with just one hand.

“Uh…honey?” she asked, turning to Nathanael with an all too sweet smile.

“Yes, dear?” he answered back sarcastically, albeit with a smile of his own.

“Would you mind?” she said, passing him the lighter.

“Not at all.”

Nathanael took the lighter with a wink and Chloe held out the candle towards him. With another shared glance and a spark, Nathanael leaned forward, catching the wick with the flame of the lighter.

With the shamash lit, Chloe cradled the flame as she turned back to the unlit candles. Slowly and ever so gently, she brought the lit shamash towards the candle on the end of the menorah.

“Oh! Wait!” Nathanael said, a soft hand reached for hers, guiding her to the candle just off to the center of the menorah. “You start on this side…then move to the right.”

“Right,” Chloe repeated, tongue poking out of her mouth slighting as she focused on lighting each candle. Nathanael’s hand still held hers.

She could feel him move closer behind her as she lit the last candle, his other hand moving to her waist. He smelled like paint and coffee and she couldn’t help but lean back against him, smiling as he lightly squeezed her.

Once the last of the candles was lit, Nathanael helped her set the shamash into the center holder. Chloe worried for a moment as the candle wobbled in its spot, but Nathanael steadied it.

“Oh f—!” a car alarm outside went off, and Nathanael flinched, waving his hand in the air.

“What happened!” Chloe asked, turning to inspect his hand.

“Ahhhhh,” Nathanael ended off with a hiss, blowing air onto his hand. “Candle wax.”

“Are you OK?”

Nathanael smiled through his grimace. “Yeah it’s fine, a common Hanukkah hazard, I guess,” he laughed, bring his hand to his mouth.

Chloe reached for his wrist, bringing his hand towards her for further inspection. His fingers, already slightly calloused from his art classes, were long, his hand a bit bigger than her own, and on the tip of his pointer finger the skin was slightly red.

Licking her lips, Chloe glanced at Nathanael, bright blue eyes meeting bright blue eyes, eyes that shone brilliantly in the candlelight, twinkling almost green like the sea, a beautiful turquoise. Without hesitation, she brought his hand to her lips, kissing his slightly warm finger.

Nathanael’s eyes locked onto the motion, a flush rising to his cheeks and Chloe smirked before coyly swiping her tongue across his skin, finding victory in the bob of this Adam’s apple, the lights of the candles of the menorah sparkled against his red hair.

His hand returned to her waist, and she had no problem stepping forward until she was flush up against him, smiling despite herself.

“T-thanks,” he said, tripping over his words in a way that made her think back to years before, to first dates and holding hands for the first time.

“You’re welcome,” she whispered as their foreheads met, breaths mingling in the space between them. Her arms wrapped around his neck, while his other hand found her waist and they stood there in a silent dance.

“You know....” she finally spoke, grazing her nose against his, to which he hummed a happy reply. “Five years ago today was our first date.”

Nathanael leaned back, “What?”

“Yeah, exactly five years ago!”

With a crease in his forehead, Nathanael shook his head. “No…our first date was in the summer…four years ago…remember?”

She laughed, “But that’s cause it took you so long to finally ask me out! I think our first real date was that time I dragged you out to go Christmas shopping with me.”

Nathanael laughed, “I don’t think that counts, Chloe.”

Chloe leaned her head against his shoulder, smiling as he held her closer. “Well, regardless, I was an important day for me, I think.”

Her eyes fluttered shut as she felt Nathanael’s lips on her forehead. “For me too,” he replied. She felt his hand leave her waist and then this thumb on her chin. She smiled, tilting to his touch until her lips met his.

His hand cradled her cheek as if she were something fragile and delicate, and her hand reached up to tangle in his hair to yank him closer to prove him wrong. She hummed as he sighed, her tongue running over his lower lip as her hand continued to play with his hair.

With both their eyes closed, she felt his hand on her lower back guide her in a turn, bending her slightly backwards. Chloe gasped in surprise, arching in his touch, totally trusting him as he leaned her back, exposing her neck to his lips.

He was so warm, and her skin was on fire, one that was sparked anew at his touch. Her hand in his hair tightened and he growled nipping at her skin before running this tongue up to just below her ear. She moaned as his lips wrapped around her earlobe, her head clouding even as he went back to peppering his lips along her neck.

After leaving behind a trail of kisses across her skin, he pulled her back up, standing them both up straight as they stared lovingly into each other’s eyes.

Chloe giggled, not even shy about the redness of her cheeks, or her neck for that matter, as she reached up to tuck his hair behind her ear. He smiled as he did the same for her. They wobbled for a moment, slightly tipsy from one another’s presence.

Their moment was interrupted when their bodies knocked against the table…the table on which the menorah had been placed.

“Oh!” they both shouted, turning to face the wobbling candles in fright.

A long second passed as the silver menorah swayed, trembling at their momentum before after a seemingly endless held breath, coming to a stop, not a single candle had fallen, each one miraculously still aflame.

Together they let out a collective sigh of relief, both amazed at their luck.

“Oh!” Chloe jumped in realization after a moment of shared silence. “You know what?”

“Hmmmm?” Nathanael asked, voice slightly dreamy.

Chloe untangled her hand from his soft, red hair, stifling a giggle at how messy it was after her ministrations. She stared down at her hand before glancing back up at Nathanael with wide eyes.

“I think I might’ve burned my hand too,” she said, holding back a smile.

Nathanael narrowed his eyes at her.

“Oh no!” he answered dramatically, taking her hands in his and quickly catching on to her ploy. “Are you alright?”

“Oh well, I don’t know,” Chloe laughed. “But I think a kiss would make it all better.” She blinked at him, biting her lips innocently. “Don’t you think?”

Nathanael smiled before stepping away, leaning down over the burning candles of the menorah and blowing them all out with one breath. He turned back to Chloe, taking her hand gently in his before nodding. “A kiss? That’s all you need?”

She nodded, shrugging a bit as she mulled it over. “A kiss, a hug, I’ll take whatever you have!” And she hummed as he bent over, taking her hand as if she were a queen and pressing his lips to her fingertips.

“Whatever?” he asked.

“Anything,” she confirmed, gasping as he turned her hand in his and pressed a kiss to her wrist.

He wrapped her up in his arms once more, guiding her hands back to his shoulders as he kissed her temple. “You know you have all of me,” he whispered gently in her ear.

She shivered, both at the warm air on her skin and at the sentiment. “And you have all of me, Nathanael,” she answered with zero hesitation.

And as his lips recaptured hers, the unspoken words floated between them, words that hadn’t quite yet been said in full, but had been understood in different phrases and gesture of their own making. Each one translated into the same three words.

I love you.

#miraculous ladybug #mlsecretsanta2k17 #chlonath #chloe bourgeois #nathanael kurtzberg #vanilla107 #ml fanfic #!!!!!!!!!!#hope you enjoy dear!!!!#merry christmas and happy holidays to you!!!!!!#❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️#christmas fic #hanukkah fic #ahhhhhhhhh!!! finally get to post!!! yesssssss!!!!!#powder writes

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