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#1. professional artists who do this shit for a living anyways
intotheelliwoods · 20 days
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Gonna ask this to a few people that inspire me, but how do you take inspiration from things without feeling like whatever you make is just bad in comparison? Or like a downgraded version of the thing(s) that inspired you?
(If this is too negative feel free to delete/ignore, I'm sorry)
Oh gosh this is such an interesting question since, I dont think I really have feelings of thinking my version is bad? Or that I am just a copy?
I am honestly just grateful my work became as popular as it is in the first place haha- low expectations going in to begin with. That and, I am very aware my art style isnt as defined and polished as other peoples styles, but I have come to terms with this! And hey the improvement in my own artwork over the past year is a massive trip if you go back through some of my older stuff- I am improving, slowly.
I mean, 2AL started by complete accident, and was "inspired" from me wishing the Leos from OMO or MNMC would hug it out already- but if you were to compare 2AL to one of those, they are very different. Hell even comparing OMO and MNMC, same starting point, but still very different.
I think my only advice to other people trying to make an AU is to try and find some core theme/idea and work around that, rather than gather a bunch of little things from other sources you like into a big pile. Find some key message to start up a base with.
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buckyismybicycle · 2 years
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CHAPTER 1
Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Steve Rogers Rating: Explicit (later) Tags/Warnings: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Insecurities, Body Image Issues, References to Depression/Anxiety/Eating Disorders/Alcohol Abuse, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Alternate Universe - No Powers/Hockey, Team Bonding, Slow Burn (sexy tags include Service Top Bucky Barnes, Hair-pulling and who knows what else)  Summary:  Boston Bruins trade notorious party animal/human disaster Bucky Barnes to the Dallas Stars, and captain Steve Rogers is not impressed when Fury puts him on babysitting duties. But, as he gets to know Bucky - really gets to know Bucky - he wonders if maybe the media has got it all wrong - very, very wrong. [Read on AO3 here] A/N: I’ve been posting this to AO3 but honestly it’s beloved so it’s coming here too. This is the second of my two fics for WIP Big Bang, so updates will be heavy until September 22, 2022! My lovely artist, kingstoken made me cover art, which can be seen below the cut and in my masterlist! 
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Steve
When Steve hears that they’ve traded for James “Bucky” Barnes, he can’t believe it’s true. He has to bite back the spike of frustration towards management — so instead of calling Fury, he calls his James – Rhodey – instead, telling him how garbage the move is.
“It’s all good, Cap,” Rhodey chuckles all too cheerfully. “I only got a year left on my contract and the wife’s been buggin’ me. I didn’t think I was going to get much longer anyway.”
“Aw, come on Rhodes, that’s horse shit. Your age ain’t ever held you back.”
“Well it sure as shit makes things harder, don’t it?” Rhodey fires back. “Look… Wife’s expecting again.”
“Shit,” Steve blurts out before he saves himself. “Congrats man, that’s amazing.”
“Yeah! Yeah, it is. She’s just a few weeks so we haven’t told anyone. Anyway, I want to experience it this time. Not always on the road… I’ve got a fair share of diapers to change to catch up.”
“You’re retiring,” Steve states blankly.
“Yeah, I’m probably gonna make it my last year,” Rhodey confirms.
It’s a lot for Steve, to hear that not only is he losing his alternate captain to another team, but that he’ll soon be out of the sport entirely.
“I’m happy for you,” Steve settles on, trying to summon the enthusiasm for his friend. It’s the truth; he is happy for Rhodey, it’s just not the life he ever saw for himself. He loves the sport too much to leave it. “We should get together before you go.”
“Yeah, for sure.”
The phone call had put him in an even worse mood.
When he gets a call two hours later from the GM, he picks it up with gritted teeth.
“This is Rogers.”
“I know you’ve heard the news.”
“I have.”
“Good,” Fury says with a breeze, either not sensing or simply not caring about Steve’s inner turmoil. “Then you know I have a special assignment for you.”
“Are you serious?” Steve doesn’t bother to try and hide the disdain.
“He needs a role model, Rogers.”
“He needs his parents,” Steve retorts.
“Yeah, we’ll he doesn’t have any, so, you’re going to have to do. I’m not asking.”
That’s the kind of finality that makes Steve take a breath. He’s a professional, he’s a team captain, he can handle a rowdy kid.
“Right.”
“We’re putting him up in the same building, he’s 514. His flight lands this weekend. I’ll send you the details. Just show him the ropes, move the kid in, and make sure he gets his ass to the intro meeting on Monday morning.”
“Right,” he repeats.
He spends the next two days cleaning and re-cleaning even though his apartment is pretty tidy already, a perk of living alone. He doesn’t even know why he does it, it’s not like he needs to show off to some wild child that he’s babysitting.
James B. Barnes was notorious for his partying — hell, it’s probably why he’s being booted out of Boston. Steve remembers a tiny feeling of resentment when Bucky had been drafted first overall to Boston Bruins, Steve’s hometown.
And while Steve played for Dallas, a part of him will always be the ten-year-old scrawny kid in his Boston Bruins bedsheets, with posters of Bobby Orr and Raymond Bourque on his walls and the Stanley Cup in his dreams.
So yes, he had been bitter about not winning the cup, like he is every year. But he had watched Boston go on, living the playoffs through them vicariously. He had watched the team push into the finals, and battle it out, keeping an eye on all the players. Barnes was good — fast, and a hard shot to boot, even as he danced around the ice. His skating was beautiful, and Steve would never admit it, but he envied it.
And then they won the Stanley cup, and Steve watched a baby-faced, nineteen-year-old Barnes lift the Stanley Cup in his fucking rookie year.
Then, he had watched Barnes absolutely tank his second year in Boston. How the internet blew up with pictures of Barnes dancing on table tops shirtless, his smile drunk and dopey and headlines that read “out of control”. After that, all Steve could think about was what an idiot this kid was, drinking his opportunity away when he’d only just gotten into the league. A dream for most, and he was throwing it away.
Seriously, why is he cleaning his place?
He stops himself, forces himself to send a captain-ly message to the phone number attached to introduce him and welcome him to the team. It sounds like a cookie cutter message even to him, but then again, so is the reply.
“Thanks, looking forward to meeting you and the rest of the team.”
True to his word, he reads the email that’s forwarded to him with Barnes’ itinerary. The greeting email he’s copied on from management, though? That one, Steve skips. He’s not in the mood to read the fake, sugary welcome.
On Saturday morning, he hops in his truck, and leaves for the airport, fifteen minutes early, in a simple pair of jeans and a light grey shirt to combat the Dallas heat. The windows are rolled down, the radio playing softly, and when it’s time for the flight to land, he hops out of the truck and leans against it to wait.
He sends a message to the number he was given, with a description of his truck and what he’s wearing. It’s another twenty minutes of Steve dicking around on his phone until a tall brunette, wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, walks towards him with a duffel bag.
Steve has to resist the urge to roll his eyes at the obnoxious display incoming – black skinny jeans and a shirt that’s too tight on top of the cap and sunglasses? Yeah, Steve can already tell he’s not going to like this kid.
Bucky
It’s a new start for him, that’s what Bucky keeps telling himself because it’s all he can do to make it feel better, make it feel less like rejection. Less like he’s being thrown out like last week's trash. It hurts — it cuts deep in a way that he never expected, the words burrowing into his heart and making its rotten nest there.
“You’re going to Dallas.”
He understands that it’s hockey, that trades will happen and it feels like only 1% of the entire league will stay playing for the same team their whole careers, but he hadn’t expected to be picked first overall, to win the Stanley Cup in his first year, and have it mean nothing. Every drill he’s ever run and every 5am workout seem like a slap in the face now. Why had he so desperately pushed himself to be the perfect star, if they were just going to give him away? And that’s the thing – they traded him for James Rhodey, who’s near the end of his career, and 4th round pick, which means shit all.
Because that’s what Bucky’s worth. Shit all.
He’s staring at the suitcase that he’s packing, sees the white, black and yellow jersey that he had kept as a momento and he simultaneously wants to cry and set it on fire.
Pierce comes in then, it’s just the two of them since his wife is at work, and gives him a look, one that screams disappointment. Bucky can feel his eyes sting.
“We’ll have to get you to the airport first thing in the morning,” Pierce says. “So make sure you don’t leave anything.”
Maybe it’s meant in a way to gently remind Bucky not to forget anything he needs, but what Bucky hears is “don’t leave a single trace of you in my house.”
He nods.
“I’m sorry, James, but it was merely business.”
Bucky didn’t expect any favouritism, of course, but he had hoped that his billet family would have considered him more than just another player. But Pierce, who had been his coach, his father-figure, his keeper, didn’t even look back. Bucky packs up the last few things that were his and closes the suitcase, laying back down on the bed that he would sleep in for the last time.
The thing about airports is that there’s always an ocean of people — something that Bucky is still nervous about. He doesn’t mind flying with the team for away games, he doesn’t mind flying with his friends, but now he’s on a commercial flight all by himself, after his face has been plastered on every sports magazine and online article possible. He is very much aware that he had been trending on Twitter, even though he was instructed by PR not to look at anything. But Bucky’s curious by nature, how could he not look?
He hadn’t gotten out of bed at all that day.
Bucky shoves a baseball cap on, low and right over his eyes, even though he put sunglasses on as an extra safety measure. Hoping that his clothes were pretty nondescript, he spent the whole flight with his head down and his headphones in, praying that the next few hours pass without any recognition.
At least the flight is smooth, with no delays, and he finds himself looking out the window at a whole lot of land. He’s played Dallas and watched their footage at practice, so he knows they’re a decent team, they just don’t have the same energy as the Bruins. The welcome text he had received from the captain seemed pretty standard, so he had replied in kind because he was raised with manners, and now the same phone number texted him again.
“I’ll be waiting with a blue Ford truck. F150. Jeans and a grey T-shirt.”
As if Bucky wouldn’t remember what the captain of the Dallas stars looked like, the goddamn brickhouse that he is, with a wicked slapshot and baby blue eyes.
There weren’t a lot of people on the flight, which tells Bucky a whole lot about Dallas as a vacation spot, so he’s able to get through bag check quickly. He regrets the hoodie, because even inside the airport – with air-conditioning – he can already tell that it’ll be a hot mess outside. Tying the hoodie around his waist instead, he follows the signs with his duffle slung over his shoulder and his suitcase rolling behind him, trying to find salvation.
When he does get outside, he’s thankful for his thin white shirt because it is balls hot. He doesn’t even need to scan for that long before he finds a giant pick up truck with a giant man leaning against it.
Something about the way that Steve Rogers stands commands a certain respect. It reminds Bucky of Rumlow, who stands at 6’1” with his arms crossed at all times and a stance that suggests you were in trouble. So even though Steve is leaning against his truck, it’s almost like Bucky is about to get scolded already. Steve looks up at him as he approaches and Bucky can’t read his face, but it looks annoyed. Hell, Bucky supposes he’d be annoyed too if his Saturday morning was spent picking up baggage. The anxiety makes Bucky heat up even worse than the Texas sun.
“Hi, Steve,” Bucky greets as best he can, keeping the tremor out of his voice and offering his hand.
“James.” Steve takes the other hand with a firm grip. “If nothing’s going to melt in there, feel free to throw them in the back.”
Steve
James nods, then chucks his duffle into the bed of the truck with a little effort and then picks up his suitcase and does the same. Steve looks away from where the white shirt has risen up, because he doesn’t need to know that James Barnes wears Calvin Klein and can’t afford to get distracted by the beautiful, intricate lines of his tattoo running up Bucky’s arm.
Steve doesn’t say all the things in his head like “do you know how hard some people have to work to be here” or “you’re wasting your talent” because he’s not even that much older than James, and also: it’s none of his damn business. When James hops in the car, he closes the door surprisingly gently, which earns some points from Steve, he supposes. Even with both their windows rolled down, Steve can make out some sort of rich cologne underneath a fresh spring smell and it… It‘s nice. James takes his sunglasses off and Steve’s caught off guard for a moment when the most brilliant sapphire eyes turn to look at him.
“Thanks again for this,” James says. His voice is softer than Steve remembers.
“S’not a problem,” Steve replies cordially, looking over. The moment their eyes meet, James turns to look out the front and something doesn’t sit quite right in Steve. James is — because Steve had done his research immediately — 6’1” and 200 pounds. It’s only an inch shorter and fifteen pounds less than Steve, but at their height it's a nearly indiscernible difference, and yet James looks small. His head practically rests on his chest, looking down at his hands, which are empty, but fidgety. The lines in his shoulders are tense, since they’re up to his damn ears which makes Steve take a step back in his head.
And immediately makes him feel like a dick.
James had just packed up his life and moved a good six hours a way with no friends and no family. Steve remembers that feeling, of starting in a new place. Granted, he didn’t have any family and had stayed with the owner of the team, Tony Stark, who spared no expense. James had just won a Stanley Cup and then been traded. And Twitter (and SportsNet and TSN and Instagram and —) had put him through the wringer.
The more Steve thinks about all the things that he’s sure makes James hunch in on himself, the guiltier he feels. He clears his throat.
“You hungry?”
James’ head snaps to him, like he’d been lost in thought, and opens his mouth to speak. It takes a moment, as if he were trying to think of the words carefully.
“Um, I was planning on exploring, after, maybe,” he fumbles anyway.
“There’s a great diner on the way,” Steve offers, watching James weigh his options. After a beat, he adds, “I could use it too.”
“If you’re sure,” James replies, like he’s still not convinced what the right answer is.
“I’m sure.” At that, he watches James’ shoulders drop, just a fraction, and maybe, just maybe, his face loses some of its tension too. Steve’s distracted by the way the soft strands of James’ hair whip around him as they drive, when he leans on his elbow, resting half outside the window.
And the road. He’s obviously watching the road.
Bucky
When Steve pulls into the diner, the sign is a neon red and reads “Maximumoff Effort” with a soft glow of fluorescent lighting. There’s other cars in the parking lots – mostly trucks and a shiny blood red Jeep Wrangler that Bucky admires. The outside looks quirky, with a deer head hanging over the door and the wooden exterior reminds Bucky of a cabin.
He can smell the food before they even enter the doors – like fried goodness and an artery clog. Still, he follows Steve diligently into the restaurant and the inside is, for lack of a better word, whacky. Honestly, Bucky kind of falls in love. The diner’s filled with red seats and silver barstools, and there’s more of that neon lighting inside, such as a huge “BAR” sign with an arrow pointing to the back in a matching red as the sign outside. There’s one for “DINING” and “WELCOME”, some exit signs and one that simply says “JACKASS”. Bucky likes the Jackass one a lot, because it’s green and white, the Dallas Stars colours, and it’s hanging over a jukebox. There is a jukebox.
Aside from that, the restaurant is actually dimly lit, and there are people seated all over the place. A man, who has his back turned to Bucky, mans the bar and he can spot a woman with long, red hair bustling from table to table.
Bucky takes a look at all the decorations, misplaced but artfully so, rugged and homey in a kick your shoes off anywhere sort of way. It’s already so different from Boston, and Bucky doesn’t want to jinx himself, but he already likes it here. Steve nods at the redheaded waitress, and goes to take a seat at a booth, closer to the back, and Bucky follows his lead. It seems like Steve comes here frequently enough, especially when a server comes by with a “the usual?”
“Actually, I think I might take a look at the menu today,” Steve responds, clearly surprising the server. His name tag says Pietro, and his light hair is tousled atop his head, his facial hair trimmed.
“Well, well, aren’t we full of surprises!” Pietro dutifully grabs them two menus, and asks if they want to start with something to drink. So it’s water to start, and Bucky finally opens his menu. They’ve hit lunch time so the lighter breakfast options are off the table, much to his dismay. The burgers though – the burgers look amazing, and he knows that’s what he can smell in the air, and shit, it’s been so long since he’s had a burger. He’s practically salivating at the thought, what is wrong with him?
He forcibly tears his eyes away to the salads and other entrees, but every few lines, his eyes jump back to the Stars Burger. It’s funny, and even if their hockey team wasn’t the Dallas Stars, Bucky would still be drawn to it, because barbecue sauce on a double patty? It sounds like heaven.
“See anything?” Steve asks, interrupting Bucky’s internal dilemma.
“Um –” Bucky pauses, because he doesn’t want to make a bad impression in front of his new captain. “Uh, everything kinda looks good?”
“Hm.”
Bucky squirms inside, because it’s a flat-sounding hum, and Bucky feels like he hadn’t given the right answer. “The, uh, the Stars Burger, they didn’t name that after you, did they?”
That, apparently, is a better answer because Steve throws his head back in a laugh. “No, otherwise it’d be the Rogers Burger.”
Oh, alright, so Rogers can joke now, huh?
The smile stays on Steve’s face when he continues, “but it is named after the team, yes. It’s actually my usual.”
Bucky’s eyebrows raise in surprise, but before he can say anything, Steve closes his menu and says, “try it.”
Don’t tempt me.
“Er – I –” Bucky stops, then thinks about his past week. Had he had a cheat day? Not that he can recall… So maybe the burger wouldn’t be so bad? He looks up to Steve, who’s looking back expectantly. “Yeah, okay.”
Steve offers him a small smile, and a warm feeling of something akin to acceptance bubbles in his chest.
When Pietro comes back, Steve sheepishly orders. “The usual,” he admits, and Pietro rolls his eyes.
“How did I know we would come back to this, hm?” He hasn’t bothered to take his notepad out.
“Same for you?” Pietro asks Bucky, not realizing that Bucky has no idea what The Usual even entails.
“Ah, my usual is the burger with a side of fries and a vanilla milkshake.”
“Oh my god,” Bucky blurts out, the sheer amount of calories shocking the words out of his mouth. “Um, I mean – just the burger for me.”
“You sure? We got the best fries on this side of town,” Pietro waggles his eyebrows.
“It’s true,” Steve confirms. “Trust me.”
“Okay, the fries too, then,” Bucky caves, secretly thrilled. “But water’s fine, thanks.”
“Comin’ right up,” Pietro promises, and floats away to the other tables. Even though the restaurant is pretty full, the two of them don’t seem to need any help at all.
“That’s his sister, Wanda,” Steve explains, watching Bucky’s eyes. “The restaurant’s been in their family a while.”
Bucky nods, because it makes sense why they’re so comfortable. “It’s nice.”
“It’s a team favourite, you’ll be back a few times.”
It’s something in the way he says it, with a certainty — you will be back, not you might be back. The smallest grain of something settles in Bucky.
“Lookin’ forward to it,” he says, smiling genuinely for the first time since he landed in this sweltering place.
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dzpenumbra · 1 year
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12/10/22
I'm still eating food, I've been grazing for like 2-3 hours now. I guess. I have such little perception of time, I swear. Hard to gauge because cooking took a long time. I made buffalo chicken crunchwraps, and good lord was it worth the effort!
Today was a much better day. Super productive, high energy. I got the meds for my cat sorted, we have them now, she gets them with her food at 11PM tomorrow. I am putting a notification in my phone now. I did it! I did the normal adult thing! Yay.
I decided to get groceries while I was out. I had to piss real bad the whole time, so it was pretty stressful, but I got it done. $200 for 3 bags of groceries. Like... what the fuck. Like... I'm not even buying meat anymore and this shit is just ridiculously expensive. Please tell me I'm not the only one noticing this. In my "I am barely functioning mid-20's" I was living off of like... frozen meals, energy drinks and gatorade and shit, and I could get like 3-4 bags full of that for like... less than $150. The shit I'm getting now is way cheaper, cooking it all myself, and it's more expensive. Dark times, man.
Anyway, I got home, threw some laundry in - it's super easy and the laundry is like... right below my place, so really conveniently located too. I had like an almost 3 hour conversation with my mom. A really good one. I legit had no idea how long the conversation went on for, I was planning a short one just to check in. We talked Christmas gifts, catching her up on the vet drama, and... my impostor syndrome. My struggle with accepting that I have ADHD. Which, coincidentally, happened to come at the same exact time as my struggle to accept that it's possible for me to be a successful professional artist. And that I even have artistic talent. What a fucking coincidence, huh? Probably just random chance, I'd bet. XD
She helped reassure me, and we talked through the implications, pros and cons of all outcomes. It really helped, I mean that. Just having another perspective on it, and one that has logged a ton of hours around my brain is just... invaluable, honestly. I'm sure any artist reading this could relate, when you work on a super detailed piece for like 30+ hours and even after stepping away and coming back... you still see every little mistake and it doesn't... awe you. Not the way someone else's piece would. But when you see the genuine reaction of someone seeing it for the first time and their jaw hits the floor... Yeah, dude. That can help pull those jaded blinders down a bit. Now take that experience and apply it to... your personality, the way you think, the way you experience life. That's a really tough one to like... get perspective on, especially when you've dedicated a big chunk of your life to trying to "play the game" and fit in. To not draw attention. To be "normal". To function by standards expected of you.
There are a few reasons I've been pushing back against this ADHD thing.
1) I have been misdiagnosed before - with epilepsy. I took it very seriously. I went through tons of med trials. I joined the Epilepsy Foundation. I wore a medical alert necklace every day. I did a 48 hour EEG with an electrode cap that I wore the whole time. Like, I remember vividly standing on my porch smoking cigarettes with gauze wrapped around my head, must've freaked out the neighbors. It was very shameful, very embarrassing, humiliating. And I still feel, even though it was completely naïve and not even my fault, like my actions were like... offensive to people who actually have epilepsy. Even in my ignorance. Yeah, I'm hard on myself, but like 5 years later I still feel that way. And I don't want to do that again.
2) I don't want to feel like I'm looking for an excuse to get me out of responsibilities in life. I have been treated this way constantly. Like I'm lazy or "not motivated" or slow, or dumb, or something. Mostly lazy though. Like "what the fuck, clean your dishes", "just clean your house, you'll feel much better". "Get a job." "Successful people make their bed in the morning." Shit like that. I'm adopting the suspicion of bitter people who hate their lives, people I haven't spoken to in years, and weaponizing that suspicion against myself as a way of talking myself out of a diagnosis I have confirmed at least 3 times. At different stages of my life, too. For fuck's sake, I even got a brain scan that confirmed this. But nope, enough people drilled this into my head at extremely vulnerable times... so... I must be actually lazy. And I must be so desperate to stay lazy and to cheat at life that I'm going to dig up a 20 year old diagnosis and point at it and go "look, look, this means it's okay for dishes to be difficult for me". Again, this overlaps with the impostor thing, because I am saying that. I am saying that dishes are significantly harder for me than neurotypical people, especially consistently doing dishes and staying ahead of them. The only catch here is whether the reason is because of ADHD, and for some reason... I feel like I need a more concrete or more recent diagnosis to really claim that.
I'm sure there are more reasons, but I feel like I'm just ranting and bitching and I'm actually getting bored of hearing myself complain about this. XD
I have been waiting all day to fire up a game of Rimworld, since like 2 days ago, actually. Because I've had so much going on that I haven't had any time to like... chill and unwind until after midnight. Guess what? It's after midnight. -_- Do I unwind with a game for a bit? (which will likely turn into 4AM really quick) Or do I start getting ready for bed?
Gonna say fuck it and roll the dice tonight, see what chance has in store for me.
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hoebaring · 2 years
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Diamond Heart (4) | Park Jimin
Su-Jin POV
Beep, bee-
My hand immediately went up to the alarm, and shut it off. It was a habit of mine to turn off the alarm before it starts ringing. Today, I was a little late, but it's alright.
I pulled the covers off of my body and went to freshen up. After a good fifteen minutes, I came out to get dressed. I rummaged through my closet and found something comfortable to wear. I quickly got into my clothes and went to the kitchen, to have my cup of coffee for today. I need my daily dose of caffeine to function properly throughout the day.
I sat down on the couch with the coffee mug in my hand, and decided to go through my phone, for any unread messages. I scrolled through all my contacts and saw no new ones. After I finished my coffee, I put the mug in the sink and walked towards my laptop.
'I don't have much to do anyways.'
You may be thinking why. Well, it's not because I don't have a job. I do; I'm an assistant makeup artist for my friend's sister, Areum eunnie. She works as a professional for many advertisements and TV shows. I assist her, working beside her and learning some new techniques. However, today her schedule was empty. If hers was empty, it meant that mine was also empty.
I opened my laptop, and started scrolling through my emails. I rarely check my inbox, because I know the only mails I'll get are the spam ones. I opened my laptop, and started deleting all the mails I didn't need.
'Delete. Delete. Delete. Delete. Delete. Delete. Dele-wait what's this?'
It looked sort of important, so I opened it. As I started reading it, I realized that this was a job offer. However, my question was, is this real? I mean, is it a spam mail just to attract me? I wasn't sure, thus, I called the number at the end of the mail. A few seconds later, I heard a female voice on the other end of the conversation.
"Hello, This is BigHit Entertainment. Who's speaking?" asked the person on the other end of the line.
"Hello, This is Lee Su-Jin. I have been sent an email regarding a job offer about being a makeup artist." I replied.
"Yes Ms. Lee. Have you come to a decision yet?"
'Oh shit. I can't say I called to make sure if they are real or not. Ok wait, how do I phrase this?'
"No, not yet. I just called to know more information about this particular job. Like, how do you guys know me? Do we know each other?" I asked, trying to say it as formally as I could.
"Unfortunately, I don't have the answers you require. Shall I give you a number, whom you could ask these questions to?"
"Yeah, that will be okay."
"Shall I send it over via mail?"
"Yes, you can do that. May I call anytime?"
"I don't know about that. He'll be pretty busy, but you can try calling; if he doesn't answer, it's probably because he's busy."
"Okay, thank you so much!"
"You're welcome and have a great day!" She said, as she cut the call.
Within a few minutes, the mail arrived with the number. I pondered if I should call right away or call them tomorrow. I decided to call them after an hour or so, and started my preparations for lunch. It's not everyday that I get to cook for myself and eat homemade food. Exactly an hour later, the food was prepared and I sat down on the couch. It was a long time ago that I last cooked food, and I forgot that it would be tiring.
I glanced at the clock in the living room, and saw that the time was 1:15. I couldn't call right now, they'll probably be on their lunch break. I decided to call them after I ate, so I sat down at the dining table and started eating. I can cook pretty well; in college, all my roommates loved my cooking. They said it was tasty, and now tasting it after a couple of years, really made me believe that I am a good cook.
After I finished eating, I put all the dishes in the dishwasher and turned it on. Then, I cleaned the kitchen counters, which weren't very dirty. I sat down on the bar stools near the kitchen, after wiping my wet hands with a towel. I checked the time on the phone. 2:30.
'I'm pretty sure lunch breaks are over by now. At least for me, it would've been over. But, let's just wait another half an hour.'
So, BigHit Entertainment, huh? I know that name, it's all over the news because of the popular bands it's home to: BTS & TXT are just two that I've heard of. Everyone my age are fans of those bands, wait, what do they call their fandoms? Oh right, ARMY and MOA. However, BigHit Entertainment seems familiar to me, in another way. I just can't pinpoint exactly what it is.
I don't follow any bands. I just listen to their music and enjoy it at the moment. Listening to all their discography, doing research on them, dying whenever they post something, just doesn't suit my personality.
However, my best friend, Kang Soo-Yun would love it. I think she follows only BTS, but whenever we meet up in our favorite cafe, the only thing she talks about is them posting something on Instagram, Twitter, and that other website, I think it's something called Weverse. If she figures out I got this offer, she would jump up and down, and downright be jealous.
'Oh wait, it's already 2:55. I think lunch breaks are over by now. Let me call him.'
I moved myself to the couch and quickly dialed the number, waiting for it to ring. It rang for quite a long time, so I concluded that whoever that person was, was probably busy at the moment.
I was about to hang up, when I heard a voice from the other end of the line, saying, "Hello, This is Bang Si-Hyuk. Who's speaking?"
I put the phone next to my ear, and said, "Good morning Mr. Bang. This is Lee Su-Jin. I am calling about the job offer regarding the post of makeup artist that was sent to me through an email."
"Oh yes, Ms. Lee. Yes, yes, Ms. Choi had informed me that you would be calling. It seems that you had some queries about the job?"
"Yes, Mr. Bang. I actually called to ask you some questions. Are you free right now, sir?"
"Yes, I'm free right now. And please, feel free to call me Bang PD-nim."
"Oh okay. Firstly, may I know how you know me? I don't remember filling out a job application for BigHit Entertainment, sir."
"Yes, I'm pretty sure you haven't filled out an application. I actually know you from the IBI Awards that you take part in every year. One of my friends works there and informed me about your achievements. I was interested in your résumé, and hence, decided to contact you."
"Oh, alright. However, I've heard that your company is prominent in the music field. You would probably have sufficient makeup artists to support your musicians. Why are you considering hiring me?"
"Well, about that, there was a sudden problem regarding one of our makeup artists and she had to resign. We need an immediate replacement, and I thought you would be the perfect choice."
"Hmm, okay, sir. Thank you so much for your time and answers."
"You're welcome Ms. Lee. Have you made a decision yet?"
"No, not yet sir. I decided I would take it when I have all the information."
"Okay. However, remember that we are in immediate need of this job to be filled, would it be possible for you to tell us no later than tomorrow morning so we can plan according to that."
"Sure sir, that won't be a problem. I'll make sure to inform you by tomorrow."
"Okay Ms. Lee. Thank you for calling and have a great day!"
"Yes sir, you too!"
I hung up, and took a big breath. Even if I was in this field for around three years, it still was tiring to talk professionally. I fell straight back onto the couch and put my hand on my forehead. I can't believe I was exhausted after socializing for fifteen minutes. Well, it has been a long time since I talked to anyone for that matter.
'That reminds me, it's been a long time since I talked to Soo-Yun. Let me see if she's free today.'
"Hey, are you free today? Wanna meet up?" - Sent at 3:16
I don't expect her to reply immediately; she's a fashion designer, working as a stylist. She'll probably be busy right now; shoots don't end this early, do they?
"No bro, I'm pretty busy today. How about tomorrow?" - Soo-Yun ❤️ Sent at 3:18
I quickly checked my calendar. Looks like work ends tomorrow at 5. I think I can make it work.
"Yeah sure. Usual cafe, same time?" - Sent at 3:19
"Yeah sure, see you tomorrow!" - Soo-Yun ❤️ Sent at 3:19
"Yeah okay, byeeeeeee~~" - Sent at 3:20
Now that plan is also canceled. I never thought my day would be this boring without work. I looked around my apartment, to see if I needed to clean it, but it was spotless. I decided to make some popcorn and binge-watch my favorite K-dramas. I looked around the kitchen; I had enough leftovers for dinner.
I opened Netflix on my TV and started watching. Before I knew it, the time was 8:30 and my stomach was rumbling, like an earthquake was occurring. I walked towards the kitchen and sat on one of the bar stools, to start eating. After I finished my dinner, I washed my hands and made my way to the bedroom.
I laid down on my bed and started thinking about what I should do regarding the job. It was a good offer; I mean, compared to being an assistant, it was good progress. The pay was also pretty good, better than the job I currently have. Areum eunnie is also kind towards me, she would love it if I took up this offer.
However, the only doubt that lingered on my mind was, if I could handle the responsibilities that would come with being a full-time, professional makeup artist. Like they say, as the pay raises, so will the responsibilities.
While I listed the pros and cons, I decided the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. I would be able to become the makeup artist that I've always dreamed of becoming. All my hard work and effort would finally be getting the result they deserved.
Therefore, without hesitation, I got off the bed and opened my laptop to write my acceptance mail. As I made my way to the send button, I realized I should send it tomorrow morning.
'Who sends mails in the middle of the night?'
I saved the draft and scheduled it to be sent at exactly 7 AM tomorrow. Locking my laptop, I closed it and walked towards the bed and got into my cozy covers. Tomorrow would be the same old work, helping eunnie around by handing her the tools and giving her ideas. Sighing heavily, I closed my eyes, resting for a hectic day tomorrow.
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Text
How To Court A Cryptid: 101 Chapter 3
PREVIOUS CHAPTER or NEXT CHAPTER
Content warning: Cursing, threats of violence, minor violence, transphobia and homophobia, leftist/anarchist views (Not really a warning, but for those who don’t agree with those views), smoking
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“Hello chat! How are we doing today!?” Tommy yelled into his mic, talking to chat as he started his stream. 
I sat on the side watching him talk to the chat, I couldn’t see chat but I could tell they were questioning why the lights were off, since Tommy kept smiling and trying not to giggle. 
“Why are the lights off?” Tommy asked squinting at chat, I then rolled into the camera’s view.
“Well, typically cryptids like dark places where they can’t be seen” I said rolling in and leaning so I could see chat.
Chat then went 1 million miles per second they were all spamming cryptid and being amazed that I was real. I started to laugh really hard because some of the chats messages.
“Well, chat this is the Dream SMP discord cryptid; also known as- Can I say your name?” Tommy asked looking over at me. I smiled,
“Uh, I prefer Bas or bastard here on the innerwebs, but if you want sure you can say my name. Just don’t give like my home address or whatever” I said looking at chat smiling. 
“what? Why would I- never mind. Okay chat this is Bastard.” Tommy said smiling looking over chats messages “Hey, can we turn on the lights?”
“UGGGHHHH, I guess” I said getting up and walking over to the light switch. I turned it on and saw Tommy walk over to see and stand next to me. I gave him a confused facial expression.
“Chat wants to see the height difference, you goblin” He said smiling looking down at me. I quickly stood my tippy toes, easy with the boots
“Okay, fit check, as you can see I have the superiors fashion sense chat. Tommy here has none, write that down” I said walking back to my chair.
“I do not! I have a great fashion sense!” Tommy said looking at me offended I started to cackle like a hyena
“Yeah, to be fair though, you are a teenager who live that streamer life style so I understand” I said after catching my breathe from laughing, Tommy rolled his eyes.
“Yeah yeah” He said crossing his arms, I looked over at chat
‘Gamer Bf and Alt s/o goals’
‘Are you a boy or a girl? I really can’t tell’
“Ew, I will punt you straight into the sun you heathens” I said with a face
“HEY! Don’t threaten my chat!” Tommy yelled at me
“They were shipping us. Ew, he is like my little brother. This isn’t sweet home Alabama people” I replied
“Okay fair enough, also chat they use they/them pronouns, respect that please” Tommy said looking at the monitor
“Thank you, so what are we gonna do?” I asked leaning back on my chair and grabbing the container of brownies.
“We could go on the SMP and mess with people” Tommy said grabbing a brownie and popping it into his mouth.
“Cool, give me the grand tour” I said popping a brownie into my mouth
Tommy then booted up Minecraft and got onto the SMP server, he made sure to show on stream
“Okay, lets show the cryptid how to be cool” Tommy said moving his character around
I looked over at the camera unamused, I looked at the stream and saw my face. I started to get uncomfortable and looked down.
“I am being perceived and I don’t think I like it...” I said picking at my nails
“You okay?” Tommy said looking over at me, I smiled and shook my head yes
“It’s okay, I’m just use to being blurry not in 4k resolution” I said chuckling
“Oh hey Dream is on” Tommy said looking on the list,
“He’s the sever owner right?” I asked looking on scream
“yes” Tommy said
“So, he’s like a goverment?” I asked smirking
“what are you thinkin?” Tommy asked looking over at me
I smiled before shrugging and setting down the container
“Well, as an anarchist, I don’t really like the government. So, maybe I could attack him while screaming ‘ACAB’ or ‘Down with the government bitches’ idk. Wait- will that get you in trouble. My bad” I said cutting myself off worried I said something that will get Tommy in trouble. He started laughing, more wheezing
“Omg, yes! Let’s do it!!” He yelled moving towards Dream and others of the server. I smiled,
‘Cryptid says ACAB?’
‘Anarchist? Technoblade might like this!’
Some of the chat said amazed I said something like that,
“Yes, chat ACAB all the way, demolish the government! Consume the rich people!!” I yelled excitedly
“Okay, how do you wanna do this?” Tommy asked
“Okay, I’ll attack while you get us into VC and you scream then I yell ‘ACAB bitches’“ I said scooting him over so I can take control of his character
“Okay good” Tommy said getting into the VC “Here we go!”
“By the way, I’m bad at Minecraft” I yelled before we joined and attacked Dream.
“AHHHHH” Tommy yelled
“ACAB BITCHES” I yelled after him attacking Dream
“Huh? Tommy! What the Fuck?” Dream yelled before he pulled out his own sword and started swinging
“Oh fuck!!” I yelled trying to get away
“Move!!” Tommy yelled before he died
“Uhhh, my bad” I said smiling at him, Tommy rolled his eyes
“Tommy what the hell man? Why did you attack me?” Dream asked
We both looked at each other before I smirked and leaned into the mic
“Tommy is no longer with us” I said deepening my voice
“What!? Tommy did you get hacked? I’ll open your stream” Sapnap said with Dream and George agreeing.
Tommy muted himself, turned off the music, then got up and moved the camera zooming in my face and then ran and turned off the lights. My face was only illuminated my the screen light, Tommy then hid, I was confused before he looked at me and winked. I turned and stared into the camera with a dead look.
“AHHHHHH!? WHAT THE FUCK!???” Was all we heard from the others, as we both started laughing
“The cryptid is real!?” George yelled 
“Y’all have Discord Admin energy bitches” I said before we quit the VC and started wheezing. I started coughing and grabbed out my drink from my bag. I opened my Monster and chugged. Tommy kept wheezing so hard,
“Omg, did you guys hear them!? Omg that was so funny!” Tommy yelled, I chuckled
‘Dream: What the fuck!?’
‘Sapnap: GOT EM!’
“Dream is actually our Discord admin” Tommy said between laughing
“Ah, cool. He doesn’t have it actually, but now knowing. HMMMM” I said looking at the camera smirking
“Yeah, and Gogy is his discord kitten” Tommy said putting everything back to normal
“An I oop- Wait, that’s georgenotfound right?” I asked
Tommy leaned back into his chair giggling “yup, he’s the bestest man ever” he said smiling
“I thought that was Philza Minecraft?” I asked having a confused face
“Wait! Phil is on! Do you wanna meet the biggest man? Philza Minecraft” Tommy asked
“I thought you were the biggest man?” I asked smirking
“I am, well- we share the title anyways” Tommy said as he joined the VC
“Tommy, we just had your stream open!” we were met with,
Tommy started wheezing again, I smiled ‘Brothers’ I thought
“You’re going to get banned” A voice said; ‘Technoblade’ I thought remembering his voice from some of Tommy’s streams.
“Chaotic little shit” Philza said laughing
“The cryptid is real! Oh my god I have to tell Quackity, he thought you were using photoshop or whatever!” Wilbur yelled laughing
“God has let me live another day, so, I’m gonna make it everyone's problem” I said snickering, while I felt my face heat up. ‘God I feel like a zoo animal’ I thought smiling awkwardly
I don’t know any of Tommy’s friends really, and they don’t know much about me. Only that I’m Tommy’s scary friend and what they’ve seen from pictures and probably dumb stories he told them.
Tommy took control of the game, making sure the stream was entertained. He answered with giggles.
“Did you really bite a kid in school for picking on Tommy?” 
‘FUCK’ I thought, making a surprised face
“Well you see there! Uhh-” I tried to say
“They also threatened a dude with a Selenite knife once!” Tommy chimed in
“Yeah, that’s true, but both fuckers deserved it okay!” I said as I felt my face get hotter from embarrassment
“God your both equally feral” Phil said laughing, Wilbur giggled and Techno stayed mostly silent besides a small laugh. Tommy explained he was ‘awkward around new people’. ‘Social anxiety. MOOD’ I thought smiling.
“I personally prefer ‘unhinged’ but pop off I guess” I said shrugging
“Feral cryptid! Feral Cryptid” Wilbur chanted, soon the chat also spammed it
“So, this is THE Philza Minecraft” Tommy said as if he didn’t just say I bit a person and threatened another with a knife. “An honor right?”
“Hello, pleasure to meet you” I said smiling awkwardly
Phil laughed, Tommy looked offended “This is Philza Minecraft! Creator of Minecraft! Show some respect!” Tommy yelled
“Didn’t that other dude make the game?” I asked confused
“Yeah, but he was a wrongen. So, we joke that Philza made it instead” Wilbur explained
“Oh, yeah he was a fucking bigot right?” I asked, everyone went quiet “Should I have not said that? My ba-” 
“no, no” Wilbur said giggling “No, that was perfect. I wouldn’t have said it but you hit the nail on the head”
“Ah okay” I said with a small smile
“They are very radical” Tommy said smiling, I laughed awkwardly
“We heard” Techno said when amusement
I ended up taking off my jacket, revealing all my tattoos on my arms
‘WOAH!’
‘Are those real?’
“Yes, chat they are real, some are done professionally, others are stick and pokes. Don’t do it unless you know what your doing” I said raising my arms to show off my art
“Yeah, they piercing their own nose though!” Tommy yelled
“Oh, my god, that is dangerous.” Phil said worried
“Yeah, most I did myself or my sister did. She wanted to be a tattoo artist at one point so I just let her do whatever on me. Don’t worry they were done safely, mostly” I said laughing
“what does the skull say?” Techno piped up, I smiled, showing the camera my tattoo on my right fore arm. It was a leopard skull with grapes running out of the left eye socket dripping liquid. Under was a chalice, the piece was surrounded by a diamond. 
“It’s a piece dedicated to the god Dionysus. One of the first I ever got done professionally. And yes chat it hurt like a bitch” I said showing the tattoo
“Hello!” two voices popped into the call
“TUBBO!” Tommy yelled, I snapped my head towards the screen
“Tubbo? Isn’t that the guy you were calling when you broke your wrist?” I asked, Tommy wheezed
“Oh is that (y/n)?” Tubbo asked, I smiled
“Hey bubbs, how are you?” I asked
“Wait you both know each other?” Ranboo piped in
“Yes, you see some time ago, we were at the skate park. I was skate boarding and Tommy was on the phone with Tubbo. Tommy then wanted to do a trick. So, I take the phone and Tommy then fails miserly and breaks his fucking wrist! We were on call the whole time to and at the hospital” I said laughing
“Ah, sounds about right” Ranboo said
“What does that mean!?” Tommy yelled, Tubbo was laughing
“I’m good (y/n), thank you for reminding me of that” Tubbo said between laughs
“wait your name is (y/n)?” Wilbur pipes in, Tommy looked scared for a second
“Yeah, that is my name. I go by Bas or Bastard on social media though” I said shrugging. 
“Bastard?” Phil asked confused
“Can I promote myself?” I asked looking over at Tommy, he nodded smiling
“Yeah, I go by Cryptid_Bastard. I post art or whatever” I said relaxed
“That fits you” Tubbo said, I smiled
“Thanks bubbs” I said smiling
After a few hours we ended the stream and said goodbye to everyone. Me and Tommy leaned back in our chairs and sighed.
“Well, that was fun. I like your friends” I said smiling,
“Yeah, you can come on another stream another time if you want” Tommy said smiling, I nodded my head
“Yeah, well I need a break. I’m gonna go on a walk if you don’t mind. You wanna come?” I asked as I stood up and stretched
“Nah, I’m gonna chat with Tubbo for a bit” He said, I nodded before grabbing my bag and leaving the room. I walked out and said hi to his parents and informed them I was going on a walk. I walked out the door and towards the street. After getting to the sidewalk I grabbed out a cigarette and my lighter. I lit up, and took a deep draw. I ended walking towards the park while smoking,
*VRR VRR* I heard as my phone started vibrating in my bag. I dug around a pulled it out, it was notifications from twitter. I unlocked my phone and opened twitter, I had a whole wave of people following me and commenting on my art. I smiled before getting ready to tweet. I opened the camera and angled it to show me, I had my cigarette in my other hand making sure not to show it. I smiled taking the picture before typing and posting.
Cryptid_Bastard
*insert picture of you*
Welcome everyone, welcome to my corner of the internet! (:
I turned off my phone before walking towards the park.
‘Chaos isn’t so bad’
A/N: I hope y’all liked this. I’ve introduced SOME of the romantic interests! LET’S GO!! I’m gonna go hibernate for like a million years now. Stay hydrated! :P
TAGLIST: 
@teenage0jealousy
@smolbox-png
@yourimaginaryfriiendd
@venusliily-blog
@mega-trash-cringe​
@jaciahbabes
@ponyboytoddandthebatgreasers
@ahmya-4
If you would like to be added please comment here:  Taglist for HTCAC:101 (How to Court A Cryptid: 101)
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bts-teaspoonff · 3 years
Text
Fangirl pt. 1
Genre: Romance, Slow Burn, Idol A/U
Pairing: BTS OT7 x reader
Rating: PG
Summary: Y/N, being a huge fangirl, finally got her chance to work alongside her favorite idol group as a backup dancer. She gets to know each member personally and realizes that her feelings may be more than fangirl-idol attraction.
Word Count: 3K
PARTS: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | .... masterlist
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“It’s finally here!” I shouted as I bolted from my room towards the front door to greet the delivery man carrying my package. Even without looking at the mirror, I could feel my smile going up to my ears and my heartbeat furiously echoing through my chest. The delivery man handed me a medium sized box and stared at me as I reach out for the box with a huge smile plastered on my face. I signed the delivery form, closed the door and ran back inside my unit.
I ran to the living room and placed the box on the floor. I turned to my left and hurriedly rummaged for my cutter inside the drawer beside the sofa. I also took my phone on top of the said drawer and placed it on my lap. I swiftly sat down on the floor in front of my package with the cutter ready in my hand when I remembered something. I unlocked my phone and proceeded to video call my brother who’s at work. My brother’s name and his photo appeared on the screen as I wait for him to answer the call.
“Hey Y/N…” His face popped up on my screen. I silently giggled at the angle of his front camera when he answered the call. Not really flattering despite him being good looking. He must have placed the phone on a table directly below his face. “You know I’m at work right? Why did you call? Emergency?” I could hear keyboard sounds in the background. He must be busy typing on the computer as he didn’t bat an eye on his phone while talking to me.
“Yeah I know. I just wanted to share some good news” My camera is facing towards me with just my eyes peeking through screen. I was worried that maybe he’s with some people at work that might see me when he answers the video call and I’m not decent looking right now. “My package has arrived!” I low-key squealed as I pressed the ‘rotate camera’ button on the screen and directed the camera at the package. I could see my brother looking now at the phone. He placed his phone in front of him and leaned it on a stable surface for him to see me properly. He continued to type slowly on his keyboard as he steal glances on his phone screen.
“Don’t tell me…. You bought another merch?” He giggled as he looked at his phone screen and continued to type on his keyboard. He looked back at his computer screen after a second, with a smile on his face. I opened the package with my cutter on one hand and my phone on the other. Tearing through the tape, I can’t contain my excitement as i shrieked when my cutter got through the end of the tape. I released the cutter from my hand and pushed it aside.
“BTS Merch! Oh my god, I have been waiting for these for weeks. I got the latest album, more Tiny Tan figurines, and some concert goods from last tour.” I proceeded to open the box and showed my brother the contents. I felt accomplishment as I look at all the merchandise that has just arrived at home. My ARMY heart couldn’t contain the joy that I have right now. I shot my eyes back on the phone screen and saw my brother smiling as he looked at me through the phone screen.
“Hey, I’m happy you are happy but you know I work in Big Hit right? I work for them?” He stopped typing, took the phone back in his hands and brought the phone close to his face. “I could just easily buy these things for you with my employee discount.” And now his whole face is occupying my phone screen. 
“Jiyong, I know but where’s the fun in that? I want to buy these items using my own money. Well, an employee discount is nice but I don’t want to abuse your privilege as I buy too much of their merchandise.” I snorted at the fact that I really do buy too much of their merchandise. Besides, when I use his employee discount, the items are delivered directly to him as he works inside the Big Hit Building. With the amount of merchandise that I buy, I don’t want to embarrass him and label him as a big fanboy especially with him working so close to the boys.
“If you weren’t my twin sister, I would totally laugh at you. Not that I think you’re crazy but you’re…. loyal” He puts emphasis on the last word. He respects my deep profound respect for the 7 boys but he thinks that maybe I have gone too far with the purchases. He placed his phone back in front of him, leaning on a surface. “Oh before I forget, did you read my email?” I was taken aback with topic change but I’m used to it as he does this all the time. I pressed the ‘rotate camera’ button once again for him to see my face. 
“No, I haven’t opened my email yet. I went home so late last night. My last client in the gym arrived late so we finished late as well. A bummer.” I scoffed as I remembered the fatigue that enveloped my body yesterday. I work as a gym trainer/physical therapist full time and a dance teacher/choreographer as my sideline. I work at my friend’s gym located in the heart of Seoul as a gym trainer. I currently handle 7 clients, some who I have worked with for a few years already. I also teach dance classes at a small dance studio just a few blocks from where I live. Mainly, I handle BTS dance classes because duh, I am a full-blooded ARMY. I really tried to make my passion as a source of income and it warms my heart to see people having fun when I teach them those dances.
“Check it. Anyways, I gotta go. I still have a lot to do. As you know, the company is busy since BTS will be releasing another album sometime this year.” My brother currently works as a Recording Engineer in Big Hit. He used to brag to me that he’ll spend hours with BTS and TXT. I was jealous of course but I am so proud he’s working for them. Whenever I listen to songs from Big Hit artists, I try to think that he has contributed to a lot of songs despite not knowing what exact songs he has worked on. Another reason why I listen and support them.
We both said our farewells and dropped the call. As I took out all the contents of the package unto the floor, I used my phone on the other hand. I opened my mail and saw few unread emails. Some of them were from my subscriptions on Netflix and Spotify, which I barely read. On top of the list was my brother’s mail. I saw the subject “READ THIS FANGIRL!” and I laughed. Here I thought he sent me something urgent or important that needs my utmost attention. Must be another event or merchandise that they’ve yet to announce to the public.
I opened the mail and my eyes were glued to the first line of the message body.
“Big Hit is hiring backup dancers. See the forwarded email below, sis. I think they’re meaning to assign whoever they’ll hire as part of BTS dance team.” Did I just receive this email? It came from my brother so it must be true. He won’t prank me like that. If I apply, there’s no guarantee that I’ll be hired right? That’s too bad if I won’t be hired but there’s nothing to lose if I try to apply.
I left my package scattered throughout my floor and ran towards my laptop lying on my bed. I sat down on the floor beside my bed and opened my laptop. I felt like a kid but here I am, rushing to find my resume to apply for a new job that might eventually change my life.
….
It’s been a week since I applied as a backup dancer for Big Hit. I sent in my resume and a few videos of me dancing to some of their artists’ songs. I’m lucky to have known a lot of BTS’ songs and choreographies by heart and I might have tried to study some of their label mates’ songs as well. I haven’t received a reply back from them and I’m worried that I may not receive any response ever.
Apparently, BTS is known for having only male backup dancers as far as I know so it’s news to me that they’re hiring female backup dancers now. It got me thinking that this might also attract fellow fangirls like me to apply but knowing Big Hit, they wouldn’t want anything scandalous to happen just because they hired female backup dancers. I’m not saying that female dancers lack professionalism but how the boys are the top rank boy group in the country, female fans would be green with jealousy if they see female dancers dancing with them. Some Armies are really protective when it comes to the boys so it’s really shocking to hear that the company is finally considering this.
The day that I got the mail from my brother, I spent half of my day planning what dances to shoot and submit. I chose BTS’ Idol and Singularity, TXT’s Crown and a freestyle dance to Beyonce’s Yonce. I wanted to showcase my range in dancing by carefully choosing a variety of songs. I admit that the reason I may have applied to this job is partly because I’m a fangirl but nonetheless, my passion for dancing is bigger. I have been dancing since I was a kid but I was not this confident at the start. It’s hard to convince me to perform in front of a bigger audience, let alone a stadium full of fans. I slowly got over my fear little by little when I started teaching dance classes at the dance studio. The fear is still there and you may wonder why I am applying for this job when I’m scared shit in performing for a large audience. BTS taught me to love myself and I am really trying my best to go out of my comfort zone. I figured that this may be my best chance in doing so. Also, I get the benefit of working alongside them which is a big plus.
I couldn’t really focus on my job for the whole week. I find myself regularly checking my mail in the hopes of getting a response from Big Hit. 5 days and there’s still no mail. Maybe my email just went to their spam folder or maybe I typed in the wrong mail. On the 7th day while I was pulling out my clothes in the dryer, I heard a ping from my phone from across the hall. I left my phone on my bed and the laundry room is right beside my room. I noticed that the ping was my assigned tone for mails. I hurriedly took out all my warm dry clothes and unto the basket, closed the door of the dryer and turned the lights off in the laundry room.
“New Mail. Subject: Dance Team Application” I saw the notification banner and my heart just jumped out of my chest. I felt my forehead sweating profusely, fingers shaking and my throat closing up as I try to open my phone and check my mail. I silently and swiftly read the contents of the mail. After two seconds, I shrieked at the top of my lungs and threw my phone across my bed. I ran out of my room and in circles around the living room. Good thing I live alone so that I could just celebrate and make loud noises like this. I jumped up and down on the sofa while etching the image of the mail into my head. I buried my head on my pillows and shouted once more, emptying all the air out of my lungs.
I ran back into my room and read the mail again.
“Good day, Miss Y/N.
We have received your application and we are glad to say that we are impressed with your resume and skillset. We would like you to come in our office tomorrow so we can meet and talk personally with our dance team. We are glad to have you join our current dance team. Details of our meeting are expressed below.
Time: 10 am
Address: 42 Teheran-ro 108-gil, Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Attire: Comfortable Casual
Please look for Mina at the front desk to escort you. Thank you.”
I still can’t believe what I’m seeing. Did I just got accepted? As a backup dancer? For Big Hit? Maybe for BTS? I’m such a lucky fangirl. I can’t wait for tomorrow.
….
It’s a good thing that my schedule is free today. I don’t have any clients in the gym scheduled for today and the dance studio is closed for today. I was so nervous and excited at the same time. I woke up at 6 am as I feel my jitters bothering my sleep. I tried to go back to sleep but I trashed the bed and rolled side to side for about 30 mins so I decided to go for a run. I turned on my Spotify and played my ‘Intense Run Playlist’ which mostly consists of high bpm BTS songs. There’s a jogging path near where I live and the scenery is filled with trees. Very calming, which I really need right now.
I arrived in front of the Big Hit Building around 8:30 am. I made sure to arrive early as I don’t want to be late for the meeting. I’m so anxious right now if I’m allowed to go up as early as 9 am or should I just arrived on time. I lingered outside and paced back and forth at a nearby shade. I wondered if I could visit my brother and stay with him for the mean time.
“Is she a stalker?” I heard whispers coming from my right as I slumped back at the pole where I’m taking shade just across the building. “That’s scary.” Three schoolgirls were standing a few meters away from me. They were staring and smirking at me. I wondered why they would think of me as such then I realized that I wore my hoodie up to cover half of my face.
“I’m not…”
“Good luck stalker-nim. You won’t get a glimpse of the boys.” They giggled and ogled me with judgmental looks with their arms across the chests. “Can you get away from the boys? We don’t want stalker armies like you.”
“As I said, I’m not a stalker and I’m older than you. Why are you talking to me in an informal tone?” I pull my hoodie off my head and slowly tread towards them. They laughed and ran away at the sight of me making my way to them. Sheesh, do I really look like a stalker?
I looked at my watch and it’s still 9:10 am. I guess I could try and visit my brother. The fresh morning air blew gently in my face, as if to welcome me, and be my merry playmate, and the sun looked at me with a warm and tender smile. What a nice start to my day, I thought. I put up my hoodie again and I was comfortable once more with the warmth my mere hoodie gave me.
“I have a meeting in your building today. Do you want to meet up? I’m not due until 10 am. – your adorable look alike” I texted my brother and inserted my phone back in my pocket. I breathed in the fresh breeze and not a second later, my phone pinged. I pulled out my phone to see my brother’s name on the screen.
“Lucky, I’m on a coffee break. I’ll be down in a sec.” he replied. A grin was present on my face as I stood up from where I was leaning. I skipped from across the street towards the building. I looked above at the sky and towards the top of the Big Hit Building and when I returned my gaze back in front of me, I was met by a dark haired man in his mid-twenties. I bumped into him and was knocked down at the side of the street. I exclaimed in pain as I rub my backside.
“Hey look where you’re go…” I looked up and immediately recognized the face. The man was wearing a grey Fear of God shirt paired with black baggy pants. His face was half covered by a black mask and his hair was kept away from his face with a black headband almost occupying his whole forehead.
“You should be the one watching you’re going. Crossing the street while prancing around like that.” He scoffed and continued to make his way towards the building. He didn’t even help me up. I sneered back.
“I’m sorry. I assure you that he’s not usually like this. He’s in a bad mood.” Two hands were suddenly around my elbows, propping me up from the ground. I turned my head and saw a woman around mid-twenties as well. She was carrying an opened big black bag propped on her right shoulder with filled with piles of unruly papers stuck inside. When I finally was able to stand up properly, she took off her hands from me and bowed in apology. She swiftly followed the man and shouted, “Yoongi, wait. I can explain.”
So I was right. It was Suga. All the images of a funny and loving Min Yoongi ran through my mind. Just like a scary movie, it was replaced by a disgusted look he shot at me a while ago. Did he…. Maybe he thought I was a stalker or something? I guess if I really looked like one then I don’t blame him for shooting those looks at me. However, a decent person would help anyone up in that situation.
I beat the dust off my hoodie and slowly treaded towards the building’s entrance. Not a really good way to start my first interaction with anyone from BTS, I thought.
Next part: 2
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interact-if · 3 years
Note
Umm hi 👉👈 I realized that most of the asks you guys get are about games and rec lists. You guys deserve so much recognition for the work you put in this blog, so I wanted to ask if I can do a little get-to-know-the-mods thing? If that's okay!
1. Besides writing, what are your hobbies?
2. Do you have a niche interest right now?
3. Any fave songs/artists/bands?
4. Any fave movies/tv shows?
5. On a scale of 1-10, how likely would you survive in your wip's world?
You can totally ignore this if you guys want, no pressure. Anyway, much love to all the interact-if mods! You guys are incredible! ❤
We saw this ask and we went 👀 👀 👀 so we’re happy to answer! Thank you so much for the fun ask!
 We also rated our survivability in all of our collective games, since Mars isn't an author! Fun stuff! Spoilers, though: it’s really not looking so great for me (Dani) but that’s fine!!!  😌
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1. I’m a photographer as well as a graphic artist (but not like. A painter/drawer kind of artist!) and, on a general level, a maker and a tinkerer!
2. Fountain pens! I only write with ink, and only with fountain pens, and I use bottled inks/converters!
3. I’m pretty eclectic with music, but my top genres are alt rock, indie, indie pop, etc, as well as top 40s and some rap.
4. I feel like this is the hardest one for me to answer? Favorite movies/shows? Avatar: the Last Airbender has been a favorite show of mine since I was a little kid, but I have a harder time thinking of shows I would call a favorite in recent years. There are shows I’ve liked, and a lot of shows I’ve watched. But I’m picky! And demanding! It takes a lot to earn a place in Dani’s Trophy Case of Favorites. 😌 I would say I quite liked A Quite Place (movie), and I liked Us (movie). When it comes to TV shows, I have a hard time being pleased with them if they don’t end well. As a result, I have a penchant for a good limited series/miniseries (because they’re stories that have an end in mind and the plot reflects that, dagnabbit).
5. Heh. Okay.
In The Goodfellows? I think I stand I chance. I can exercise my sparkling wit and lovable personality to the best effect. I’m gonna give myself an 8/10 survivability rating. Even if I don’t have the right skills, I can go crying to the person who does and they’ll save me. Maybe.
In Creatures’ Cradle? I’m super $**!%d. 😌 1/10 survivability rating. And that 1 is me being nice to myself. The day the apocalypse breaks out I would probably be patient 0. I am self-aware. I would not do well in an apocalypse. Zombies care not for aforementioned sparkling wit and lovable personality, and I have all the muscle of a boiled spaghetti noodle. So it’s a no go.
Greater Than Gods (Cruz): Well. I’m going to be optimistic. And say that I have the wisdom not to do things I shouldn’t do and not to rock boats I shouldn’t rock. I’m going to give myself a 7/10 based on insider information, but also based on reckless optimism!
Vardir (Cruz): Cruz says this is a lighthearted game, so 10/10 LOL.
When it Hungers (Roast): I’m giving myself a nice, mediocre 5/10. I think I could put my mind to work here; I joke that I’m the village idiot, but I’m actually pretty smart! Unfortunately, I’m also curious, and maybe a little bad with authorities who won’t answer my questions. So I knocked off a lot of points due to the fact that I’d probably poke the metaphorical bear. So it’s a real coin flip as to whether I’d really make it or not.
Orthall Bay (Nines): Considering the genre is “horror” and the game intro includes the words “monster” and “maim,” I’m giving myself a whooping, enthusiastic 3/10. Yes, folks, I am that confident in myself! Once again, I can’t charm the socks off a monster (or can I?), so one of my greatest weapons is snatched from beneath my feet. Alas!
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1. Beloved I’m a college student in the middle of a pandemic... i can hardly even write LOL i do draw at times which u can see in my personal blog (nothing too good really) and i used to do karate before things went to shit <3
2. Nothing niche I believe? All I do is leave Netflix as bg noise every day n play popular videgames (genshin)
3. Porter Robinson <3 I love Bea Miller a lot as well but lately I’ve been feeling Porter a lot
4. The Good Place <3
5. My WIPs:
Greater than Gods: Highly situational, the world GtG is set in is as broad as the real world LOL so I don’t have an universal answer. But keeping it vague, and knowing my own personality, I feel like 5/10. depends on my luck.
Vardir: 10/10 no one dies in Vikgade, unless you’re a hunter but I wouldn’t be a hunter <3
Others’ WIPs
I'm gonna give myself a solid 5/10 in all other WIPs because y'all aren't writing lighthearted stories either. I feel like as long as I avoid the role of the MC I will be mostly fine. I hope. But as Dani said I'm also prone to fight the wrong person and dig my own grave so 😌
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1. Well, writing is a very, very, very, distant hobby since Words Hard, but I like to crochet and sculpt a little! Anything to do with fiddling with my hands and I’m good to go. And like, debatable but graphic design is my passion [insert clown emoji here since Tumblr said No]
2. Oh yeah a bunch! DnD yelling at people, thinking of arson, crocheting, rock climbing and simply vibing. I got into podcasts a few years ago and I’m always looking for more recs, so if you have some, hmu 😤
3. Pls,,,,my music taste is,,,so weird do not let me expose myself with lack of consistency but uhh. Current songs that are stuck in my head include; Cult of Dionysus , Achilles Come Down and The Last Shanty  
4. If you’ve ever spoken to me before, I probably yelled about Pacific Rim to you or at you. Plus I love all The Mummy films and really enjoyed Castlevania (s3 excluded, we do not perceive that) as well! 
5. Ah, mod survival simulator pt. 3
Alright, let’s go!  I don’t have a WIP because again, words hard, but like, considering how feral I am when not tryna seem professional hm... 
The Goodfellows: I wanna say a solid 7/10 because I’d hardcore vibe with the Traveler and probably instigate so much nonsense. I can also bribe with blueberry cake so maybe. 
Creature’s Cradle: maybe a 4/10 and only because of pure spite keeping me alive long enough to smack someone. I’ve prepared for hypothetical  zombie apolcapyses and I won’t hesitate to bap, but will be bapped back because I’m weak as hell. 
Greater Than Gods: a toss up between 2/10 and 7/10! I can vibe and be chill but I also have terrible impulse control so... 
Vardir: hm....I think pretty good survival rates all around? If you ask me to fight then like, okay sure, your knees are mine. So maybe a 8/10? 
When it Hungers: .......8/10 just because I’d refuse to die if I can be a cool creature. Living for the aesthetic can and will drag me outta hell. But I’m also clumsy as hell so I’d probably crash as a porcelain or hold a rooster and perish (aka, real rating is a good 3/10) 
Orthall Bay: 2/10, nope. Nope I’d be taken out in a heartbeat. Monsters can go pspsps and I’d head straight into the dark creepy forest like a fool if someone comes @ me. Half the time I’ll just assume it’s sfx makeup and vibe until it’s too late. 
god, never put me in a universe where I cannot squawk like a bird and throw pebbles from a window. Oof
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Anon, you're so sweet! I give you a forehead smoomch <333 As for your questions...
1. If I'm not writing, I'm usually watching video essays on Youtube. My go-to channels as of right now is Disrupt and Aperture! I just really like their videos. Aside from that, I recently got into podcasts. Currently going through Hello From The Hallowoods and Shelter and Warning, which are made by queer creators!
2. Oh oof, there's quite a bit so I'm just gonna put down one thing. For some reason, I really got into collecting tiny astronaut things? I recently bought this astronaut desk light, and I've got a package coming in for the miniatures I ordered. No purpose for them other than I think they're neat <3
3. I'm a bit private with my music taste (even tho I have Spotify connected on Discord lmao), but there's 5 songs that I'm currently obsessed with. I keep replaying them over and over again. Just squeezing all the serotonin I could get outta them.
4. I can't really say I have a fave TV show or movie because I can't really just pick one, but my current fave is 9-1-1 and Resident Alien. 9-1-1 because I just really love the found-family dynamics and how the show tackles sensitive topics, and Resident Alien because it's lighthearted comedy. My all-time fave movie is Flipped! I have the book too and I like rereading from time to time <3
5. You're in for a doozy, anon, because we're rating each other's games <333
The Goodfellows: 7/10
Listen. Shenanigans with the Traveler. I would get up to so many of them and that is what'll get me possibly bodied, not the actual environment itself <3
Greater than Gods: 7/10
I like to think I have enough common sense to uhhh not recklessly flip stones that should not be flipped <3 I'm a cautious and skeptic person irl so I think I'll hold up well? Then again, it's a vast environment change and while I can adapt pretty quick, I wouldn't like the lack of control in the unknown.
Vardir: 10/10
Going off what Cruz said, Vardir is lighthearted and focused on personal growth so I think I'll be okay! Self-growth here I come, babey!
Creatures' Cradle: 8/10
Maybe I'm overestimating myself, but I think I'll be able to survive in a supernatural post-apocalyptic world! Ah, but it depends on the motivation though. I like the idea of rebuilding communities and eventually societies, but the survival turmoil would be a constant battle I'd have to overcome. If we're talking survival itself though, I think I'll do well.
When it Hungers: 8/10
That's probably my wishful thinking but I think I'll be fine. Maybe. Possibly. Don't like the idea of being regulated by an organization so if I was a non-human creature that could pose a problem but I can roll with it <3
Orthall Bay: 6/10
Assuming I'm not playing as MC, my chances of survival uhhh changes quite drastically. Not enough to guarantee an untimely demise, but certainly enough that it would constantly keep me on my toes. I think that's the safest answer I can get without spoiling anything lmao
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Thank you so much for asking! It's super sweet of you <3
1. Too many :'D I knit, I sew, I do carpentry (well, learning), I bake, I'm hammering away at HTML and CSS, my job kind of encourages learning new things and I take that to picking up new hobbies!
2. My time is kind of consumed with school work and work work and WIP work so not a lot of time to pursue niche interests right now. I've been watching a lot of horror game playthroughs, true crime youtubers, and an adorable show on Netflix called the Repair Shop <3
3. My taste in music is "what am I vibing with atm?" I've been listening to a lot of 80's music atm (don't @ me), but also Lo Fang and Kaleo, and whatever spotify recommends me on my discover weekly which is usually complete chaos.
4. I love the Mummy even though it hasn't aged 100% well (I'm a librarian, of course it's one of my gotos LOL), Legally Blonde, Leverage, Jumanji (the original), I'm....very bad at having recent tastes... and very bad at remembering my favorites when asked.
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5.
The Goodfellows: I'm a creature of comfort, 5/10 if I can just luxuriate in town and not actually interact with the story sfjkdbsdkf
Creature’s Cradle: I'd like to think I have a 50/50 shot XD 5/10, I want to think I'd be decent at a zombie apocalypse but ultimately would suffer an early fate.
Greater Than Gods: 10/10 if I'm just vibing, less so if I'm involved in the actual story XD
Vardir: I'd still suffer without technology but I can also knit for a living in this world so I'm down 8/10
When it Hungers: I feel like I could vibe here, there's tech if dated, hot showers, telephones are around by now... might still get bored. 7/10 though it'd be cool to be another creature....I should make a 'what creature of snv are you' quiz!
Orthall Bay: 7/10 idk I feel like after the first monster of the week I'd just skip town XDDDD I'm the worst protagonist, I see danger I just leave.
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princessnijireiki · 2 years
Text
okay I'm in cycle 21 of my ANTM watchthrough and it is so fascinating to see this edit that they've given Chantelle/Winnie Harlow, because I have heard that she's kind of bitchy irl, but I'm also aware that 1) people are running up on her being fake familiar because they've seen her on tv, and that's not respectful, 2) she's at her job, and 3) it's a career she took on with full awareness that she is in no small part capitalizing on a highly visible disability she has had to contend with (including people being cruel, disparaging, dehumanizing, and clearly fetishistic about it) for her entire life... and it is of course a disability she will continue to have & which people will feel very entitled to remark on for the rest of her life going forward.
on top of the realities of being a racial minority as well, because, let's face it, the complaints about her redoing her hair & makeup are bullshit because that is in fact the living day to day reality of being a working Black model, let alone one for whom, again, obviously, makeup matching is going to be something even other Black models can't necessarily help her with + is going to be something that lbr most white professional makeup artists will not be remotely equipped for given her vitiligo. like most celebrity models don't talk about it, but working Black models & a LOT of Black actresses do as a baseline, because the default qualifications to become a hair & makeup professional specifically exclude competence in Black hair & makeup.
and so like... is she standoffish on the show, is she at times rude, at times a bit unprofessional? sure. so is everyone else. they're all literally like 20 & on a pretty cruel game show. but she comes across to me as someone who is a bit brittle at times because she can't let the entire experience & commentary on her appearance become personal. she's been through that before, and at the end of the day, it's a gig. but I think she defaults to footage that lends itself to a "fake" "ice princess" edit because she's also trying not to be the angry Black girl who keeps shit too real for the cutesy reality tv gimmick (you can't tell Tyra Banks to her face this is just an opportunity you're capitalizing on lol, you have to be good tv, same as how the pre-selected front runners are very obvious at home... I'm sure that's the case for them, too), or let herself be turned into a victim OR a bully by a false narrative.
I didn't watch this cycle through when it first aired, though I was aware of it, but historically ANTM losers tend to do wayyyy better than the winners in general, and she's very much one of the most successful contestants that show has ever had. but it's funny to see those intersecting themes behind how her footage was presented, like they wanted a "snobby girl" but don't acknowledge the racial tensions in that, or how uncomfortable it is to see how people talk about Chantelle's skin & her body, but the way the show also wanted to scold her for having a thick skin about it, when the reality is, if people are gonna talk crazy to you anyway, you might as well find your own beauty in it AND make some money + a name for yourself off of it, you know?
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Text
Paint My Spirit Gold
Dukeceit Week Day 2: Green/Yellow
Fans of the YouTubers "Deceit" and Remus "The Duke" Sanders start to suspect that maybe, just maybe, the two of them are more than simple internet pals.
AO3 Link: [here]
Word Count: 2187
Warnings: n/a
@dukeceitweek <3
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[ID: A screenshot of a Twitter post by user @CallMeDukie. It features a watercolor-style painting of a snake. The snake appears to be made of melting chocolate, and there is a large bite taken out of its tail. Cherries and jam are leaking out of the snake at the bite wound. The snake's expression of horror is overly-exaggerated to the point of comedy. The caption reads: "liked your snake boi, @SerpenThyme. thanks for the inspo." /end ID]
A notification ding cut Janus off mid-sentence. 
“Wow, someone left their cell phone on, so professional,” he said, giving the camera a dramatic eye roll. That someone was him, of course, because he was the only one in the apartment- just him and the running livestream- but that was no excuse not to be a drama queen about it. He finished wiping flour off his hands and grabbed his phone to silence it; but the notification made him pause. He flicked his eyes up toward the camera and gave a slight smirk.
“My goodness, I’m famous,” he drawled. “The Duke himself has graced little old me with some fan art.”
Most of the comments in the chat wanted him to show it, so Janus opened up Twitter to see the full post he’d been tagged in. It was a watercolor painting of the coiled-snake chocolate sculpture- lovingly named Jake by his viewers- he’d made for his YouTube video last week; it was wearing an expression of such comedic horror that Janus had to stifle a laugh. He flicked his phone screen toward the close-up camera on his counter so his viewers could see.
“How kind of you, Remus,” he said. “All of you should go scold him for what he’s done to poor Jake here.”
Most of his viewers would know he was joking- after all, they were the ones to nickname him Deceit when he provided neither a real or fake name for his online persona. They knew full well what he was like by now.
The oven timer dinged. Janus silenced his phone and set it aside.
“And our first batch of cookies is done. You know, why don’t we show the Duke some appreciation?”
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[ID: An Instagram post by user @SerpenThyme. The photo is an artistically-framed shot of a stack of sugar cookies with green, yellow, and pink icing. Propped up against the stack is another cookie, with an intricate icing-drawing of an octopus. The photo appears to have been color corrected to have high contrast, low saturation, and a dark vignette at the edges. The Instagram user @OctoDukie is tagged. No caption. /end ID]
“You know, I have often been accused of actually being a little old lady, what with my fondness for knitted jumpers, rocking chairs, and incredibly fucked up murder mystery books. Today I am doing nothing to dispel this accusation, by making soup.”
The studio was dark and empty aside from Remus' workspace. Everyone else had left long ago, even his own brother, which meant that it was officially ass-o'clock in the morning (or, as most people called it, somewhere between 1 and 2 a.m.) But Remus was stuck in hyperfocus, honed in on putting the last touches on a commission that he'd been putting off for weeks. It's not that it was a tough painting- once he'd gotten started, it was actually a very creatively satisfying piece- but man, executive dysfunction could go suck a dick
“French onion soup, specifically. Because while I do like to pretend I am a classy bitch, I am also, regrettably, a lazy bitch with a distaste for anything that takes longer than one bottle of wine to make.”
Remus hated working in silence. It was stifling, almost suffocating. His brain needed noise like his lungs needed air. So when the studio had grown still and silent, Remus had flipped open his laptop and queued up some YouTube videos. 
“So we have here three pounds of onions that we need to slice up, pole to pole. You’re going to cry no matter what, so if you have any memories you’ve been repressing since middle school, now is an excellent time to dredge those up.” 
And if it happened to be 90% SerpenThyme videos, well. Sue him. 
“Now the first rule of caramelizing onions: fast and sloppy is always better than slow and thorough… at least, that’s what every man I’ve ever slept with tells me.”
Remus choked and glanced over to his laptop screen just in time to catch Deceit's trademark smirk directed at the audience just for a moment. It was the deadpan delivery that always got him. Remus could barely hold onto a joke long enough to get through it without cackling mid-punchline, but this fucker could say the funniest shit like an off-hand comment. 
He wiped his hands off on his jeans (what use were clothes if you couldn't use them as paint rags?) and pulled his laptop across the table.  He typed out a quick comment, citing the timestamp of the joke, and after it was posted, he shut his laptop. 
'Cause ass-o'clock was short for "get-your-ass-home-or-I’ll-kick-it" o'clock. 
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[ID: A screenshot of a YouTube comments section. The first comment is by user TheDuke, and reads: "10:42 wow, rude." The second comment is a reply by user SerpenThyme, and simply reads ";)" /end ID]
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Janus plopped down on the couch with a slight groan. He didn’t need to stream today, but he really hated missing days. Besides… he was fine. Really. 
He adjusted the camera until he was happy with the framing, and then checked the settings on his streaming software. Satisfied, he started the stream, and watched as his usual viewers rolled in. 
“What do you mean I’m not in my kitchen?” Janus drawled, addressing the chat. He glanced around with an expression of faux-shock on his face. “My goodness, when did that happen?”
He chuckled, and then gestured to his surroundings. “Yes, we are in my living room today. If you must know, my closest and most trusted friend tried to murder me today- yes, Virgil, it was attempted murder and nothing less- and I survived with nary a scratch… and a broken foot, but that is beside the point. Anyway, I’m not allowed to stand for long periods of time, and I may or may not be somewhat inebriated by pain pills and couldn’t stand even if I wanted to. So we are cooking from my couch today.”
Janus paused for a few moments to read the chat messages as they popped up. A few get well soon’s, a few theories about the “attempted murder,” Virgil- who moderated his chat for him- vehemently denying the “attempted murder” but otherwise refusing to clarify the event, and a large volume of wtf why are you streaming today, take care of yourself comments, which made him smile. But one particular comment caught his eye, almost lost amid the torrent of an active chat: wait this kinda looks like the Duke’s living room?
“Oh, VampSuga,” he said, addressing that commenter in particular with a slight smirk. “I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about. Anyway, since I can’t reach my oven from here, I thought some no-bake cookies were in order. For these you will need-”
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[ID: A screenshot of a Discord conversation. The text reads:
“VampSuga: Ok ok hear me out. Dukeceit. 
Starstruck96: who?
IneffableSnek: lmao
FeralBeauYasha: lol
VampSuga: Deceit and Remus Sanders! They’re totally dating. I will die on this hill. 
FeralBeauYasha: Isn’t the duke w/ PatPat?
IneffableSnek: no thats his brothers bf
FeralBeauYasha: ohh
VampSuga: Did anyone see Deceit’s stream today? I swear that’s the Duke’s livingroom. 
StarStruck96: idk that seems like a stretch
IneffableSnek: no wait i kno what u mean
IneffableSnek: im watching the duke’s old videos and that one where he shows off all his old weapons he’s in a living room kinda like deceit’s 
FeralBeauYasha: They were acting all cute on twitter too
VampSuga: DUKECEIT”  /end ID]
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"Hey guys, been a while since you've seen my face and not just whatever my hands are busy with, when it's within YouTube's terms and conditions I mean. They used to be way more lenient…" Remus trailed off for a moment, then shook his head sharply and plastered on a grin. 
"Anyway! In June me and a few other creators did a fundraiser for the Trevor Project, and y'all smashed the goal, so I let you decide what video I'd make this month." He paused, and gestured to the mountain of clothes piled behind him on the bed. "And you had so many juicy ideas to choose from, but you decided to dress me up like a Barbie instead."
Remus paused to scroll through his phone for a few moments. "Ah, ok, here we go. Twitter user YoonIsMyCat- oh, BTS, nice- sent in this first outfit. Uh… future Remus, put up the post here somewhere." He gestured vaguely to his right. "Y'all went with either a fuckton more clothes or a fuckton less clothes, which I respect. Apparently this outfit is called…” He squinted at his phone. “Amish chic? I take it back, no respect at all.”
Remus cycled through the outfits his viewers sent in, which ranged from the aforementioned “Amish chic” to “2008 rave attire” to “ok now you guys are just fucking with me” (which consisted of one of those big puffy snow coats, lime green in color; booty shorts with the shrug text emoji across the ass; fuzzy pink boots; and a yellow cowboy hat to top off the whole thing. It was awful. Remus loved it.) The mountain of clothes on the bed gradually became a mess of clothes spread across the floor instead, until there was just one outfit left. 
“Ok so Twitter user VampSuga sent me this outfit that I’m gonna call ‘sexy librarian.’ I couldn’t find this exact sweater online, but-” he paused for dramatic effect, before brandishing a sweater toward the camera like a bullfighter. “My boyfriend had something that was close enough.”
Remus hopped up from the bed and switched off the camera so he could change.
“They’re going to lose their minds,” a voice drawled from the doorway. Remus threw his shirt at him.
“Shoo, I’m getting naked.”
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[ID: A Twitter post by user @CallMeDukie. It features a selfie of YouTuber Remus “The Duke” Sanders, a Hispanic man with his hair dyed green and styled into a spiked mohawk. He is wearing a yellow knitted cardigan over a black button-up shirt. He is grinning widely at the camera. The caption reads: “my viewers pick my outfits! now live on youtube. go see what i look like as a sexy librarian!” /end ID]
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DukeceitStan
first and only dukeceit shipper ig
DukeceitStan
wow there’s so many of you now! Hi!!
DukeceitStan
i want this to be canon so bad omg
DukeceitStan
i mean just look
[image]
how 
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cute
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[ID: A series of three gifs featuring Youtubers SerpenThyme, aka Deceit, and TheDuke, aka Remus Sanders. Deceit is a black man with long, dreadlocked hair, and vitiligo patches along the left side of his face. Remus is a Hispanic man with green-dyed hair styled into a mohawk, many ear and facial piercings, and tattoos covering both arms. Each gif is edited so that the highlights are tinged yellow when Deceit is seen, and tinged green when Remus is seen.
The first gif depicts a close-up shot of Deceit’s hands as he carefully decorates a cookie with green and yellow icing. The cookie art he is working on appears to be a half-finished octopus. The gif then fades into a mid-shot of Remus, with his back to the camera, facing a canvas. The canvas is blank, and Remus appears to be laying out paints on a table to his left. 
The second gif depicts Deceit seated at his couch, facing the camera. He has many ingredients spread across his coffee table (including oats, cocoa powder, and butter) and appears to be in the process of laying out several more. The gif fades to show Remus seated at a similar couch with a similar coffee table in front of him. The camera is angled slightly downward to better show the myriad of knives spread out across the table. Remus is gesturing wildly with a morning star held in his hand. 
The third gif depicts Deceit in his kitchen. He is pulling on a bright, yellow knitted cardigan, and smirking toward the camera. The gif fades to show Remus in his bedroom, seated on his bed. He is holding up a similar-looking cardigan toward the camera and grinning. /end ID]
“Remus, it’s almost two in the morning. Come to bed.”
“I’m coming, sorry. Twitter distracted me.”
“Mm. I can’t believe the bird app is more distracting than I am.”
“You should try harder.”
“Come to bed and maybe I will.”
“Ok, ok, I’m coming. Hang on though, is it cool if I post this?”
“Sure. They figured it out anyway.”
“Sweet. Ok, Jannie, I’m coming.”
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[ID: A screenshot of a Twitter post by user @CallMeDukie. It reads: “Dukeceit is canon.” /end ID] 
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your-turn-to-role · 4 years
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Feralness of the NPCs? If you like.
this one took me a bit longer, because as critrolestats calculated a couple months ago, across both campaigns, matt has over a thousand npcs, and we'd be here all year if i had to rank all of them 😂
but in my attempt to brainstorm all significant npcs from both campaigns (though i'm sure i'm forgetting someone i'm gonna immediately remember as soon as i post this), i've got gilmore, allura, kima, jarett, kaylie, cassandra, kynan, artagan, kiri, essek, dairon, orly, yeza, and pumat sol, so i can do those guys!
(not including villains, figures we don't know much personal about like the bright queen, or guest pcs, because they're still technically pcs. also not splitting by campaign because allura and artagan appear in both)
1 - kaylie motherfucking shorthalt. i adore her so much, and she is feral as fuck. granted, she's highly competent feral, she's good enough at the flute to challenge scanlan, and good enough at the violin to be a professional fiddler (which, i reiterate, takes so much dedication to learn), and aes adan/the meat man definitely didn't become as powerful as he did all because of scanlan. but also, is a thief and a conman and will 100% get in a bar fight with just about anyone, absolutely unafraid to speak her mind, and her approach to meeting her father for the first time was to work out all her grudges by trying to kill him with a knife. see also - her epilogue was deciding to finish the schooling she dropped out of, but at a really fancy academy so she could prove she's better than all the rich kids, just really rub it in their faces. i so wish i could have seen it.
2 - kima will fight you. kima will fight anyone. i don't know why all the short girls in cr are so feral, but like literally all of them are just pure feral condensed into three feet of girl, i love them. kima is no different, except she has a dragon god on her side and also is very gay and she's great
3 - artagan. now, feral in large part constitutes an unwillingness or inability to play by the rules of a functioning society, and that's all artagan's about. show him a rule and he will run the other direction until he feels safe and then come back invisibly and use that rule to fuck with people. he has the chaos part down too, and i was almost gonna put him in first place. however, feral also implies something of a willingness for violence, and artagan doesn't really have that? like he does to an extent, but in the words of mr matthew mercer, "even the nicest of fey are weird and have their dark sides". and as far as fey go, artagan has been shown to care about people a lot more than he's ever wished them harm. like he's still feral, because he's an archfey and the entire feywild is feral. but like... relatively tame feral. give the boy a pen and some paper and he'll leave you alone.
4 - kiri. she's adorable, and is baby, but is also a bird with a knife whose catchphrase has more or less become "go fuck yourself!". i love her.
5 - orly's pretty chill. but also, let's be real, there's a limit to how non-feral a tortle sailor and tattoo artist with bagpipes fused into his shell can be. also is just generally down for whatever illegal antics the m9 feel like getting up to
6 - cassandra. i debated for a while about putting her higher, because there's definitely an argument to be made for that, but you do have to take into consideration how well put together and fancy she is at nearly all times. however. cassandra at no more than maybe 13 was the only person to not get caught in the briarwood attack, rescued her brother from the dungeon where they were torturing him and keeping the bodies of her other siblings, guided him out, got nearly murdered, and lived in a whitestone full of zombies and villains and vampire mind control for five years. she's feral under the surface, she's had to be
7 - jarett. god i love jarett, i forgot about him last time someone asked me my fave c1 npcs but he's the best. anyway, captain of their guard, good at fighting, terrible liar, Definitely Has Never Dealt Drugs Before, will go kill a dragon with you. but like, as long as you're paying him. he's doing this for money, not just out of base feral instinct. Probably Needs A Break.
8 - dairon taught beau and earned her respect somehow, so you know they're at least a little feral. but also, widely respected expositor of the cobalt soul, competent spy, and at least moderately capable of keeping beau in line, so that knocks down their feralness level a fair bit
9 - essek is a fancy boy, and definitely is beholden to a lot of rules. the whole floating thing shows that, like, he's pretty damn far from feral for most of the time he's in rosohna. but i debated who was higher between all the wizards for a while, and i think just because essek is (or at least was) neutral evil and is so driven by his hunger for knowledge and to explore the darker parts of dunamancy, that does push him up the feral scale a little bit. there's very little essek wouldn't do when it comes to discovering secrets. (also, you know, his entire job as the shadowhand, we've seen involves some fucked up stuff, so he's far from squeamish or naive in that sense)
10 - allura is a wizard and a politician and a fancy person and generally rather chill. but as far as the wizards go, wins second most feral because she's been an adventurer. she took down thordak the first time. casually reminisces about how weird all adventuring groups are when vox machina are like licking the weird powder they found in the necromancer dungeon and mentions she was like that too. girl's seen some shit
11 - pumat is not an adventurer, and has no wish to be, and on the whole, is not feral at all. but also, pumat swole.
12 - kynan, wants to be feral? and then was, kinda, for a bit, and then severely regretted it. has had his moments, but on the whole is a Soft Boy
13 - gilmore. we're definitely getting to the definitively Not Feral end of the scale now. i mean, points for crushing a man to death with his mind, also points for "if you could find a way for me to become a dragon, that would be sexy". but gilmore is extremely concerned at all times with putting on that charming and excited mask, he puts a lot of value on his image and practically nothing will get him to tarnish it (even when thordak nearly killed him and he was still barely hanging on, he tried to use prestidigitation to make himself look better, like... those walls run deep). is also just a really genuinely nice person, cares a lot about people, is very empathetic, and again, refuses to show negative emotion if it will hurt someone else in any way. it's hard to imagine shaun gilmore as feral in any way, and if he did get close to that, it wouldn't be in front of other people
14 - yeza. now, points for the slightly mad scientist vibe yeza's got going on, it seems to be veth's type. but also, veth has 100% of the feral in this relationship and they both know it
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i’ve been aching to commentate spirit phone’s commentary for ages. glad i finally got around to it, this was an ejoyable experience. liveblog below the cut
-i'm like half certain i've heard this commentary before. maybe not the whole way through & it was probably actual years ago
-nice hearing stuff like this. in-depth personal view of the album-making process. makes it seem like more of a real thing i could do myself someday
-neil cicierega real person momence
-i could probably go real in depth about neil cicierega/tally hall parallels specifically concerning like. the arc of their musical careers. but i won't, here
-wild how i legitimately don't care much about micheal jackson
-didnt we get a bunch of spirit phone stems from the needlejuice release/his patreon? we could probably hear the funny track he speaks of here in that
-i love hearing musical artists, especially neil cicierega, talking about the meanings of their songs. like, not only has this song been claimed to hell & back by the tumblr gays, but with later ones i just can't see where he gets these ideas from. also, claiming there's any one meaning or plot to a song just seems silly to me
-shoutout to neil reusing a midi from like, 1998, that he made at 12 years old, whose entire melody was reused for the main verses of everybody loves raymond. loved finding that out on my own 2 years ago. now it's common trivia in this fandom. not bad times
-it'd be neat if neil did individual trans tracks here like he did with view monstel, those things are half of why i consider it my favorite album
-it's a lot easier to ignore the creator's intended meaning behind a song when he can't even remember it. thanks neil
-seesaw effect
-and there's my joke all but 1 of my followers wont get. moving on
-what kinds of movie theater lobbies has neil been to where there are arcade machines. i mean im not one to talk but that does sound rather strange
-why do songs' titles even need to be taken from the lyrics. ive never seen that as any sort of requisite. it's like titling any form of prose you can just give it whatever name ya like
-"this part sounds pretty cool right"
-is neil's vocal range only mildly better than mine? with training i could change that
-oh i haven't processed any of the last 25 seconds hold on
-god. a shit ton of vocal modification in this song. it's like neil returned to his roots but with quality this time
-i, as an ace/aro, have never related more to an allohet guy in my life. what is the point of eyes!
-professional humming/whistling takes skill. it's different from the recreational or casual stuff. i'd know
-there's a name for the way sound (especially music) gets distorted when moving past you and i can't remember it but it's probably what neil's referring to here in the way he recorded the intro
(- update: it's the doppler effect no need to tell me cas already did)
-as someone who hasnt seen the rugrats or take me there by blackstreet i'll just say it sounded like a bouncy music box melody. nice to hear a song that messes with the typical scales though. lydian & diatonic.
-that's a rather specific thing to be glad about, but given what he talked about in his last full audio commentary about the jew harp i suppose i'm not surprised
-i know that tmbg song now. listened to it & saw the music video too. yep they're different alright
-where the hell does neil get all these instrumence from anyway
-huh. hadnt heard this part of the commentary before making my oc concerning this song but i like to hear neil's approval concerning part of my interpretation
-i love how ive heard a billion different tellings of this mellified man story from lem dem fans talking about this song and neil's is by far the wildest
-good god that does only make it worse neil
-i love making liveblogs of lemon demon albums. with the fullerenes or tally hall i cant name a specific dude to take out my woes on generally but with lemon demon i can just say neil all the time. i like being on a casual first name basis with this dude ive never interacted with once ever
-is sweet bod the one other than cabinet man with a demo in the bonus tracks? i forget
-holy shit the boston molasses disaster someone call up soapy if it doesnt already know, it'd love this
-two thousand nine. god i miss the fiddle solo. the ver with it is truly the best one
-he pronounces it jeff? i've always read it as gef with a hard g. that's what i get for knowing words that are never spoken aloud
-that's a fun meta interpretation of this ghost story that's over a century old. i like that
-i've noticed neil generally does the same synths across a whole album. it's especially more clear in the earlier ones, and does mean i occasionally mix up songs between clown circus & live from the haunted candle shop
-ah! ancient aliens! my least favorite track on this album. i cant even claim to have the least interest in a popular one i've just generally not liked this one much from the beginning. so im curious to see what neil's got to say, i think ive been in ~new commentary zone for a while now
-anyway. newest update on the loolin not realizing a song's funky time signature front: i think this one's in 6/4. or at least switches a lot between time signatures. granted i dont listen to it very often for the reasons stated above
-see the way neil describes it. eldritch horror upon being visited by the unknown at a time when humanity'd hadn't even yet had a chance to imagine such a thing occurring. should be right up my alley. but the sound itself & many of the lyrics simply turn me away.
-must i specify i don't dislike it? spirit phone is neil's best album it not being my favorite doesn't mean i think it's bad yadda yadda nobody should be surprised by this it's not like anyone in these fandoms reads my liveblogs <3
-granted i think this is. the first bit of spirit phone content i've made on my blog ever. so who knows things can change <3
-the transitions in spirit phone are much less view-monster transition tracks & more extended outros. view-monster's were a bit more intro than outro sure but they also seemed directed upon making a 2-way rather than 1-way bridge between tracks. or something like that
-.............soft fuzzy man is an incredible nickname for a cat. i'd steal that if i werent afraid of introducing my relatives to lemon demon
-jirls
-an underlying metaphor is good enough. the literal side of the lyrics are fun. nothing but agreement here neil my good man
-the transition into as your father i expressly forbid it from soft fuzzy man is the best one in this album
-buddy you ask if a musical idea has been used before odds are the answer is yes in this day & age the question is has it been used in the way you're using it. like sure this soul jazz record from the 60s that was sold out in kansas stores for a week used this bassline that youve found yourself copying. but seeing as youre using it in some angsty garage rock ballad type tune does anybody actually care
-doesn't everybody like to say things in an unhinged manner from time to time
-imagine having a guitar dad, i say, with my dad being a folk accordion/fiddle dad, which is infinitely worse in every way
-i think he was in an actual folk band at some point. idk the 90s were weird
-iron my life?
-m-more intimate? there are a lot of ways i'd describe this song but intimate isn't one of them. granted as your father is negatively intimate so from there i guess you've got nowhere to go but up
-...still glad to see his interpretation kinda supports my oc at least
-the way he says characters in songs shouldn't worry about death really strongly makes me think this is some sort of. thematic continuation of stuck from dinosaurchestra, even if there's no real death in there. interesting. would also mean that the dad from these past 2 songs is named carlos betty (no last name)
-i literally never assumed this was a flute solo. piccolo at best. it's pretty clearly a recorder
-my mom plays the recorder. i wonder if she can play recorder better than neil cicierega
-we can throw a party in honor of the crushing weight of responsibility! i simply won't be the one throwing it because i have enough on my plate already <3
-what the hell does "a sense of intent" mean
-i've never heard rush before however i disagree with neil's understanding of 6/4. 6/4 is meant to have emphasis (onbeat or another term i can't remember) on the 1st & 4th beat of every measure, which is greatly different from a measure of 4/4 then a measure of 2/4. it's why his 5/4 always sounds weird, because while it's recognizable in sequences of 10/4, it's more 2 measures of 4/4 with one of 2/4 tacked on the end. that's also how it's different from 3/4. i don't know much music theory but what i do understand i will fight to the death about
-"canonized" that's. a very interesting term to use when referring to a former president
-from now on i will interpret every love song directed at some unseen "you" to be inviting me to marry them for tax purposes. thanks neil for being an aromantic icon
-ah hell yes hell yes man-made object is my favorite goddam song on this album
-short & sweet & good damn vibes. neil's thoughts on it all are only making it better
-wild how he uses very few vocal effects for a song that he clearly is straining his vocal range for. go off neil
-the qualifier of man-made is a wonderful thing. oldest or biggest thing? oldest or biggest man-made thing? what a incredibly important specification. a world of possibilities lie between the two. oh i love it
-just gets me thinking yknow! what we consider weird/impressive in another species, in our own species- what kind of equivalent to that would there be from an outsider looking in? are there alien versions of the significances we place upon things, that we could never imagine? the limits of the human imagination mean we could never conceive of something else in the world that isn't, in some way great or small, just like us- and are we wrong for thinking that? such a juicy topic i wish there were a name for it because it's kinda hard to explain concisely
-spiral of ants. my second favorite song from this album, in fact. a good one to experience
-the vocals are just another instrument. they really truly are. i wasn't going into this commentary expecting to feel solidarity for neil cicierega in this chili's tonight on more than one occasion but here i am.
-like, his whole stance on interpreting songs is something i agree with almost entirely. you can take it at face value, you can dig to their very depths, you can listen to songs without caring what the lyrics mean whatsoever, and those are all fun. & yeah while any of these people can be annoying as one of the types who enjoys gliding on the surface more than anything i find those who dedicate themselves to figuring out the whole meaning of a song over anything else to be both slightly scary & slightly annoying <3 keep up the good work
-i want to make songs for my siblings the way neil makes songs for his sibling(s)
-spinch
-neil really shouldn't be allowed to be this funny like this whole album youre thinking golly! he's just a normal man this neil cicierega! and then he starts listing the cat hacks jokes & you remember he's had ridiculously consistent viral success with all his humorous endeavors and holy shit it's neil cicierega in action talking about his music. god bless you neil
-you're welcome, no problem, my pleasure. good eveternoon, radio audience!
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misterbitches · 3 years
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i keep thinking about this and coming to more conclusions like both as an artist and me. 
we always think first about the aggressor and not the victim. so, for example, with history 4 and yong jie what will their relationship look like now given the trauma? if they have no interest in fleshing this dude out and having him just be an annoying clingy little ugly bitch then acknowledge that pain and how it will affect them. it’s so easy for xing si to get over being raped? what about xing si’s relationship with his mother? what about the fracturing this does to the family when there’s an intense violation that was aided and abetted by the mother?
that would be far more fascinating trying to figure out and they could still have them be together if they so desperately need it but they can’t ignore everything. that means the trauma will permeate through every part of your life. it’s hilarious that so many fans say the portrayals are realistic because they are not. these shows do not have the time and many of the writers or producers do not have the care or prowess—or will have to cut things to please the state—to execute this. they expedite the healing process but we are left reeling. 
in film school one of my teachers was always like, “what happens in the world when the film ends?” and this is something to ask. are we approaching it from: a man falls in love with his brother who raped him and the mother encouraged it and the shock and taboo of that or are we approaching it from a man is forced and trapped into a rship and stockholm syndrome and how that plays out. even if they stayed together even so it would give us more reason and understanding and then we see and know the foundation is built on nothing but darkness and may never recover. after this chapter ends  there may be destruction; it’s possible because that’s how it all started.
but after this story ends, in the way it is presented, what will happen? it’s not just entertainment and that doesn’t mean it’s as big of a deal as i think it is even as i write these things. these are just things to keep in mind and things i think the younger viewers absolutely need to see. for themselves like as creative people and enjoying the media they consume and seeing what works and what doesn’t especially when a work serves a purpose. nothing is made for no reason so don’t expect it to be. to me i’m like: why was this made and what could have been better? 
there is NO improvement which is why we run around in the same circles. the way to untangle that is being clear about the message and its faults. the audience can’t be clear about it if the show isn’t doing its job for a team of professional fucking writers trying to entice people by poorly approaching topics and leaving them empty handed. life is not as hollow as these things make it and yet we eat it up hook line and fucking sinker. 
time and time again we see what these things must establish and how far they can push themselves. it isn’t until the material world gets better that we see a turn in the media but time isn’t linear. sometimes things are worse in years, sometimes things are better. these tropes last because they are a direct reflection of life and the failures in society. so of course it’s about the perpetrator and how they can get their prize but not how we can manage these things when there is a clear victim and we pretend like it isnt there under some sense of potential reform. 1. people do not need to be reformed in a story and that isn’t what this needs 2. is that compelling? 3. yes morally grey things exist but this is not morally grey when it is a violation adn that person’s action was not morally grey. there was a victim and he neeeds to be away from that victim. if he is going to stay we need to see the affects of him being there as real things and there is nothing realistic about that. in no fucking world would someone like xing si a grown adult fucking man be able to temper things that quickly as in the show. NONE. that shit lasts forever but we are supposed to see them kiss and be liek “aw wow morally grey” like what about him is morally grey in relation to xing si? specifically. whihc is the personhe will be with forever.
no it’s how do we get ourselves to see him and engage with him. you can engage with him or be enraptured sure but that doesn’t mean anything and it doesn’t mean the writers are even doing anything with it! i’m glad eveyrone can garner there own idk ideas or get what they want out of a work but what about the victims? what about the relationships? what happens when the story ends? what are dinners like? cos their lives don’t stop when it’s not being recorded (as in these worlds we are shown are always going to exist so they continue on even without us seeing it. so the characters don’t have a stop point we just usually see their happy ending and many times with shitty relationships it’s like why are we here now?) at this point it’s comical and it’s boring. 
there’s a film i like with cameron diaz where she falls in love with someone who kidnapped her for a job. there’s no perosnal connection which really helps as well. he did it for a job, doesn’t know her, they fall in love. they get together at the end. that still affects her but it’s also way less psychological trauma then somoene stalking and grooming you and violating you and trapping you by direct action and constant manipulation. there’s no way to turn that around and it’s even worse when you try to with literally no other explanations. like who are these fucking characters and why should we even want them to continue to be here? yong jie could have even been a vehicle to help xing si like idk unpack everything in his brain in a helpful way even through his violation. they chose none of that lmao i could write a better fucking script and im a moron
why should we believe in their love? why should we believe in yong jie? why should we believe in any of these people when they don’t prove shit to us. they just exist. why is that interesting? why do we root for them? that’s certainly not something they even asked themselves cause they sure as shit don’t know. the writing here cannot make up its mind on its own morality and i think the idea of morally grey only works if you have a fucking idea of what you want to do not just throwing shit at a wall. and we feel something for these “morally grey” characters—frankly this term is also a mistake because it’s so much about good/bad and ignores history and peoples lives and what leads to events and it is a super WASP-y concept in its current iteration anyway with a belief that punity is justice when it is not. that is why i say get the fuck away from this dude instead of going to jail. we could see yong jie grow but FUCKING OUTSIDE OF XING SI.
aey from lovely writer is one where im like wow i feel so bad 4 u i think ur gonna like kill urself someone get this messy ass bitch some help. people hate this kid and they totally can! i feel bad for him! dont love him and maybe i wont even want the best for him but rn im like “omg i dont want u 2 die sir.”
i dont feel that way in many other shows. i feel fucking nothing for these men. not yong jie and not even the old guy from modc im just like ok you exist and i’m going to ignore you. there is nothing in my chest lmao. i look at them and feel cold, couldnt be drier, cos it’s stale and boring and trite and nothing new at all. it’s not realisitc and it’s not even entertaining. it’s just...there. 
i mean it’s there with the reminder of “oh man i am not interested in your love story also isn’t your boyfriend like 40 and you’re 17? why do you like each other again? does this kid have parents? Wait, what’s happening? uhhhh am i supposed to like this? where are his parents? what’s gonna happen when he turns 23 and realizes how fucked up that shit is? can we see that?” and before u know it the sex on screen is over so that was just unpleasant all around.
and i cannot give u a single reason for so many couples why they like each other. like literally what on earth is there for the two of these people to be attracted to. at least one is being swayed by power but what’s the other one doing? oh nothing he just sucks? ok got it.
if we don’t approach it from a “how do we get people to like a shitty person or a person who does things that harms others” it continues on like this. questioning questioning questioning the comfortableness and never thinking about what the fuck the victim can do, what the fuck is even going on in their heads. and if they can’t do that then we go back to the question: what is the purpose of it? if the answr is “just because” then you have a failure on your hands and a lot of annoyed people. sorry not sorry 
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zkfanworkweek · 4 years
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ZFAW Content Creator Interviews: GrapefruitTwostep
Hey everyone! We hope you’re all excited for ZFAW, and to honor (ha!) ZFAW’s commitment to supporting and celebrating fan content creators in the Zutara fandom, we’re going to be rolling out a series of interviews with well-known and widely-beloved content creators over the next few weeks. We’ve got artists and fanfiction authors, some names you recognize as well as a few phenomenal up-and-coming talents, and we can’t wait for you to meet them all!
For the fifth interview, I’m highlighting a full-fledged fandom legend: @grapefruittwostep! Author of such works as “Modern Love” and “Moonlight and Sunshadow,” you can find GrapefruitTwostep’s works HERE: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrapefruitTwostep/pseuds/GrapefruitTwostep
1. Tell us about how you came to ship Zutara. What does this ship mean to you? The first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender came out when I was about fourteen, so my preferences were already pretty set when it came to the fictional couples I liked (for reference, I was a really big Star Wars fan so Han and Leia were pretty formative to my life). It sounds kind of weird to say, but Zutara really just slotted right into the spot already waiting to accept it, right in the "literal opposites attract, enemies-to-lovers, oh no they bicker all the time please kiss" spot, but that's exactly what happened. A few measly years later, I rewatched the show in college, just after it had ended, and as an adult, I found myself more drawn to the dramatic parallels, the play between two characters who are so old before their time in a way that other characters in the show aren’t. I’ve always loved constructed family tropes, and the “mom friend/dad friend” thing is a real draw to me. So I guess the short answer is because I’m enemies-to-lovers trash. 2. What inspires you to create Zutara fanworks?
As a semi-professional writer, I’ve learned to get my inspiration from media I enjoy in a non-work context: so far, that’s been punk rock, Norwegian folktales, 80’s teen comedies, and Jane Austen novels. I love lots of other stuff too (like Dungeons & Dragons and urban fantasy and superhero comics) so I don’t think I’m ever going to run out of stuff to take inspiration from! 3. Be selfish - if you could request one fanwork based on your own art/fanfic, what would it be? What would you absolutely love to see someone create? I’ve had people send me some pieces of fanart and every time it is a joy and a delight. If I could ask for anything, it would probably be more Suki and Toph. I know! Weird choice! But writing those two is pretty much what I live for — Zutara is almost an afterthought, oops. I like to think “Jock Best Friend Suki” is one of my greatest contributions to this world/fandom and that’s the fanart that would just make my life. 4. Any words for people who are new to the fandom and/or nervous about sharing their work for the first time? I didn’t write my first fanfic until I was twenty-six. I came into this fandom so late and I did so with an incredibly self-indulgent work that I wrote entirely for me. And it went over so much better than I’d ever expected! Zutara fans are super nice. I think we get a crummy reputation from the old days of the shipping wars, but I’ve never actually experienced anything terrible. Everyone I’ve ever interacted with has been incredibly nice and really understanding about my bullshit and the support is amazing. They’re good people and they were super nice to an old lady like me who had no idea what she was doing. 5. What is your favorite Zutara-related thing you’ve made and why is it special to you? I wish I could say I love all my children the same, but Twist Me to the Left is my favorite. My father has this saying about music: “You have your whole life to make your first album, and then you have six months to make the second.” Twist Me to the Left was the reason I got into writing fic and so there’s something special about it for me that none of the other things I’ve written quite have. I feel especially bad saying that because it's not the thing that’s gotten me the most notice, but it’s the thing that’s closest to my heart and includes the most elements that were a personal influence on my life. Also, it’s got metalhead Toph which I find both generally awesome and a great joke. 6. What’s an idea for a fanwork that you have but haven’t gotten around to making?
Well, I just started my Jane Austen influenced fic, which is difficult to write and I think difficult to read (sorry), so that’s taking up my fandom brain right now. But I do really want to do a Much Ado About Noting fic so maybe when I burn myself out trying to sound like my girl Jane, I’ll do that instead. I’ve also been planning a cyberpunk AU but it has a mask aspect that, in the current climate of the world, feels … a little too soon.
7. Are you participating in ZFAW? If so, want to give us a hint as to your plans?
I would like to participate, certainly! (It’s right at the end of NaNoWriMo so I may not be at my best, but I’d really like to participate anyway, let’s see if I can do it without burning myself out.) However! I actually don’t read nearly as much fic as one would expect and so what I would really love are some recommendations! If anyone has art or writing they want me to look at, send that shit right on over to me so I can get some inspiration! I like very slow burns and AUs, but seriously, people, hook me up with whatever you’ve got.
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Text
First chapter of Fanfic.
I’m reposting this in case people haven’t read it. This is the first chapter of the fanfic I’ve been working on for years. It started off as just a conversation in my head. What would Mephisto be like in a job interview? If a person met him for the first time, how strange would it be? He’s cunning, manipulative, and of course obviously a demon. Bits and pieces of me are evident in this chapter, i have a background in contemporary arts as does my OC character. (I started off writing what I know.) I thought back to that time when I finished grad school, was completely broke and couch surfing. What time a job would I have done for basic groceries? Pretty much anything.
Anyway...here it is. Feel free to pick apart the writing style. I’m trying to improve and get better at it. ;)
CHAPTER 1
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Well, I hope today's interview will go well.  
My student loan papers sat on my kitchen table with ominous foreboding. It was time to pay up.
I won't allow this new job to define my life, and it would be good enough, just for now. Plus, I'd get a chance to spend more time in my studio making art. I just had to impress the academy director during today's interview, and I'd be able to afford some decent groceries in two weeks. That's right, Evie, think positive!
So, what should I wear to this silly thing?
It's a private religious school; that means I should dress as professionally as possible.
I have two suits to my name, so I guess I'll wear a black jacket and a red blouse. Or is the red shirt too much? Yeah, I look like a cocktail waitress.
Back to the closet I go.
Okay, how about the wine-coloured blouse and black jacket? Sensible pants and a pair of heels. Fine.
My hair is a bit harder to work with; it's pinkish-brown. I'm an artist, so I tend to be riskier in my appearance. Today though, I have to clean up—no wild eye-makeup. I need to look like an ordinary boring temp worker that can file paperwork. I pull my hair back into a severe bun, like a schoolmarm or a librarian. Yep, now I look like a vodka aunt in a cheap suit. Effective.
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I drove along the busy narrow streets through True Cross Acadamy town. The school was a place for the well-to-do, and I'm almost embarrassed to park my junky car on the grounds.
Much to my mortification, the car backfired, drawing numerous stares from the crowds of uniform-clad students, practically bursting from every building.
Poor-ass artist alert! Here I am!
I slunk down into the seat, hoping the sun's reflection on the windshield washed out the crimson stain quickly spreading across my pale, freckled face.
After speaking with a guard at the main gate (located at the far end of an ancient drawbridge), he instructed me to drive up a long winding road to the highest point. This so-called town was, in reality, a walled city, consisting of tightly layered buildings in an array of architectural styles, all flawlessly intermixed. It was the oddest urban planning I'd ever seen, either designed by a crazy man or an absolute genius. From my own experience, I find the line between the two decidedly thin in most circumstances.
People from the mainland would often joke that True Cross City would never be completed but renovated in an endless loop. The rumours stated that the school's wealthy director never allowed the construction cranes to cease because it was merely bad luck to stay idle.
I continued my drive through the school campus to the mountain's apex—my job interview scheduled at the golden manor house of Sir Johann Faust on the 5th. The director himself would see me in his private office.
I swallowed back a slight wave of apprehension. I hope this guy isn't some sort of pervert. He most assuredly was eccentric. That I could handle.
I pulled up in front of Faust Palace, and just like the rest of the town, it's unusual. As I parked and exited my car, I'm in the shadow of tall golden spires shining like twin suns. The rest of the building reminds me of a cross between an ancient Greek temple, an art deco apartment and a mythical Arabian kingdom. I wiped my sweaty palms on the sides of my black dress pants, my demeanour full of apprehension.
Yeah, I don't belong here. I've got a bad feeling about this.
At that point, I decided to leave. Yet, I watched with foreboding as a pair of security guards materialized from the shadows and closed the elaborate golden gate, trapping me within the compound. Shit!
I made my way over the interlocking marble slabs to the ornately carved wooden front door with a heavy sigh. Before I'm able to raise my hand to knock, it quickly opens. A short older gentleman greeted me with a nod.
"Miss Evelynn Smith?" He inquired.
"Uh...yes. I'm here for the interview?"
"I am Belial, the keeper of the house. Please follow me; Director Faust will meet with you shortly."
The butler escorted me up a seemingly endless hallway. It was odd that an inconsequential temp worker, like myself, was being given the grand tour.
White marble pillars accented the grand structure, with furniture from various periods arranged throughout the abode in mini tableaus. It seemed more like a museum than someone's house. How very strange!
There were many rooms with identical doors; this place was more like a goddamn labyrinth than a manor house! I hope I can find my way out of here after this interview was over!
I tried to get a feel for my potential boss. Being an artist, I, of course, took in the paintings that hung salon-style from every square inch of walls. There seemed to be an abundance of demons and death themes. How morbid.
Stefan Lochner, The Last Judgment, Vincent Van Gogh, Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigarette. But wait? Aren't these all part of museum collections? I'm confused. Are they copies?
Just as the creepy dark artworks start to grate on my nerves, I round the corner into the next hallway and find myself engrossed within a pop art nightmare; wall-to-wall pink Takashi Murakami paintings hung in tandem with Jeff Koons, Made in Heaven.
Jesus! Who the hell was this guy? He's adorned his house in pink flowers and porn stars! Surely the students didn't walk into this hall?
As if on cue, the butler regarded me sheepishly. "Pupils are not permitted in Director Faust's residence. He only grants top members of the Vatican access to his private quarters."
I attempted to hold back my laughter. "So, this is a private religious school ran by the Vatican no-less, and we have trashy kink splashed all over the walls. I gotta say, I'm intrigued."
"The master has a dark sense of humour."
"Understatement of the century."
"This is the master's office," The butler ushered me quickly into a large room. "Please, take a seat. He is running a bit late from a previous meeting."
I turned back toward Belial, but he's long gone. I'm all alone in an empty room.
The office is quite different from the hall and decorated in deep mahogany wood, decidedly masculine. The desk is large and ominous; that is, it would have been if it weren't for the strange little collection of toys and knick-knacks carefully arranged next to the computer. I picked up a pink porcelain rabbit in the palm of my hand and raised an amused eyebrow.
"I'd ask that you do not touch the things on my desk."
Crap!
I hastily placed the toy back on the wooden tabletop and jumped to my feet. A tall, impossibly slender man strolled confidently into the room to greet me. He wore a crisp white suit and a long heavy cape. I shook his purple-gloved hand firmly. As I stared up into his face, I furrowed my brows in confusion.
What the actual fuck?
"Please, take a seat, Ms. Evelynn Smith." He bit his lip and snickered. "Or do you prefer...Eve..."
"Uh...Eve's fine." I replied with hesitation as I slowly eased into the yellow and blue jacquard chair.
I should look away, but I can't. Mr. Faust's hair is an impossible shade of violet purple with platinum highlights that shimmer just at the crown, he has pointed ears, and his teeth are small sharp fangs. He's dressed up like he just got back from Comicon.
Also, what's with that curly plume at the top of his head? Is it some sort of fascinator? Is it a feathered hair ornament? I don't get it.
"Okay, Eve, spill it. What's on your mind?" He rested his chin on his gloved hand and smiled knowingly. "Do I have horns growing out of my head or something?"
"It's just....uh...a great costume." I stammered. " Those ears look so real."
He seemed taken aback for a brief second. "Oh, yes! I'm an Otaku. I've had quite a few physical modifications, and it will all make sense in time."
I nodded slowly. What the hell does that even mean?
"Getting back to your resume...Eve." He finally pulled out my paperwork from a nearby folder. "So, you possess a minor in classics, a minor in philosophy and a master's degree in contemporary art. How intriguing."
"Pardon?"
"This job is for an assistant to the Vatican. Your degree is all about a personal quest for knowledge, not exactly chock-full of practical skills." He crossed his long legs and leaned back in his chair. "Your parents must have been completely disappointed, wasting all of that money. An arts degree instead of a doctor? If there was a wizard school, would you have signed up for that?"
"I paid for my education through scholarships."
He smiled smugly and read a few more pages. "So contemporary art, hmmm? Tell me how you make your artwork. What's the methodology behind it?"
"Well...I tend to work under the idea that the world is in a state of flux. Time isn't static, and we live in a non-linear narrative. I open my mind to thoughts of the impossible, the idea that they might indeed be probable under different subjective conditions. I try to allow play, chance, and chaos into the things that I build. Often by allowing more variables into a composition, we can get closer to the truth of our existence and find a deeper meaning."
He tapped his fingers thoughtfully on his desktop.
"I will be candid with you, Eve. I saw some of your work in a gallery in Northern Cross a few months ago. I greatly enjoyed it. You have a very open mind, which is the biggest necessity for this particular position."
"I just noticed your art collection." I countered. "It's not every day that one walks into a room of wall to wall vintage Cicconlina."
"You know your porn stars, I see?" He laughed with a merry twinkle.
"I know my art history."
"Oh...." He razzed. "Distinction made!"
"Director Faust, about this job....."
"Please. Call me, Mephisto." He gushed. "Faust is an old legal family name."
"Mephisto? Really?" I stare at him in confusion. "Your last name is Faust, and you call yourself Mephisto? Am I...?" I stammered. "... Am I walking into Dante's Inferno here?"
"You dare mock my name." He challenged. "Yet, your parents named you after Eve. The woman who was the downfall of man."
Who the hell does he think he is; Literally, devil's advocate?
"Eve decided that knowledge was more important than a paradise of ignorance. I firmly believe that a woman needs to know what she's getting herself into, Mephisto."
"I wholeheartedly agree." His large green eyes narrowed. Mephisto's attention now seemed quite dangerous, almost transfixed to my face. "Knowledge is so critical. It's the most important thing to you. Isn't it?"
"I would say so," I answer slowly. "Without knowledge, life is a waste."
"Eve, do you believe in the paranormal?" He changed the subject abruptly.
"I honestly haven't got the answer to that question."
"Oh, I think you do." He pressed. "You can see quite a few unexplainable things. Am I correct?"
How did he know?
It was like he could see right through me. I've seen weird shit my entire life, but you just don't talk about that sort of awkward nonsense. People would think I was crazy. My experiences had been terrifying, and I suffered alone in silence.
"Eve, what if I told you this job would answer all of your deepest questions? Questions that you cannot answer through traditional science and reason."
"I'd say you were full of shit."
"So says the artist!"
"Touche."
"Getting back to the idea of wizard school, I wasn't ribbing you entirely for fun. This academy is a training facility for exorcists. We use very non-traditional methods for ridding the world of darkness. If you choose to take this job, you will need to suspend your current notions of reality for a modified one."
"You mean I will believe in ghosts, goblins and demonic possession?"
"That's a fundamental understanding, yes. This job will explain the workings of the universe to you. Give you access to the vast knowledge that no other humans are privy to. There is one caveat; however, once you sign a very aggressive contract. You cannot tell anyone about the true nature of our work. Not family or friends, the Vatican takes security extremely seriously."
I started to get cold feet; this is a lot to consider. Am I cut out for the responsibility? This entire meeting was getting stranger by the minute.  The job sounded downright ludicrous; the premise piqued my interest, but how could I believe in such nonsense? Plus, the more time I spent with Mephisto, the less human he appeared. Did his pupils just dilate like a cat!?
"You know what's funny?" He stated coyly, his fingers toying with an ornament on his desk. "You voyage into my office and instantly take note of my strange appearance. Most people don't possess the ability to see me for what I truly am. I tell you my legal name is Faust, and my current name is Mephisto. I have artwork depicting demons throughout my lavish abode. Eve, you're intelligent enough to connect all of these dots, and your mind has already solved the puzzle. Yet, your human conditioning tells you to disbelieve the apparent truth sitting directly in front of you."
"The truth?" I stammered.
"I'm a demon, my dear."
I take in his admission with a shocked and irritated face. This guy is a bonafide nutjob.
"I think I've heard just about enough of this Mephisto; this degree of wackiness is far beyond me. I think I'm the wrong person for this position." I stood and prepared to take my leave; only I can't. I'm unable to move a muscle. What the hell is happening? My eyes grow wide with panic.
Mephisto slowly removes his gloves and rests his chin on a black-clawed hand.
"I see. I'll have to prove it to you then. Fair enough, let's give you a little taste, shall we?"
He snapped his fingers, and I'm suddenly surrounded by a hoard of disgusting gremlins, clawing at my ankles with oozing toothy gullets. I saw the same terrifying creatures as a child, invading my daydreams, hiding in the dark shadows when I was alone. I'm so frightened; I can hear the sound of my heartbeat pounding in my ears. It was my worst nightmare brought back to life, these creatures as real and substantial as the floor under my feet. As the horror of the reality became almost too much to bear, suddenly, he was there. Mephisto expelled the creatures one by one into poofs of purple smoke with a simple flick of a finger. I fall back, no longer able to stand, and he catches me quickly. I'm still shaking from the shock as he carefully sits me back into my chair.
"Those creatures have followed you your entire life. As you have gotten older, you've noticed them less, but they were still slowly feeding off your energy. They are quite volatile." He sat demurely on the edge of his desk, swinging his legs playfully. "They won't bother you now though, I've exorcized them from your presence. You see, this is what we do here. We help humans battle the unsavoury monsters from Gehenna."
I sit dumbfounded, rendered speechless with bewilderment. Mephisto continues with our one-sided conversation, unconcerned like this was completely normal. "...The pay for this position is quite handsome for an artist. It's also part-time, which will allow you to continue to work in your studio. You will report here five days a week, from 9 am-2 pm. You will receive correspondence from the Vatican, and you will keep me informed of all inbound information. You will also book and coordinate exorcists for special ops and daily assignments. My butler Belial will train you appropriately."
"Mephisto...I'm..."
"Terrified and disconcerted?" He grinned. "Happens every time I make a new hire."
"I don't think I can't handle all of this."
"Do you think I pick my employees out of thin air? You wouldn't be here if I didn't find you entirely capable. I've researched you extensively. You long for knowledge, and I will provide all of the deepest desires in your quest. All you simply need to do now is agree." He presented me with a contract.
"I don't know," I whispered nervously. "Can I think it over?"
"I haven't the time." He responded with a hint of a smile. "I am a very busy person, you see.  It's now or never, my dear."
My rational mind screams for me to jump out of that chair and run from the building. Yet, my desires kept me staring in a trance at the contract. Mephisto presented me with an old-fashioned quill pen. I grasped it with my shaking hand and stared at the bottom line.
"Oh...we need some ink to seal the deal. How silly of me to forget something so important." He took out a silver hatpin from a glass decanter and poked the end of his finger. A river of blood ran along his impossibly pale skin and dripped from the end of his glistening black claw. As it flowed freely into a bronze dish on his desk, I stared in dismay. I can't believe what I'm seeing! Mephisto then gently took my hand and poked the end of my finger. A tiny drop of my blood intermixes with his.
"What the fuck," I whispered hoarsely. "No...I'm not signing this. No way!"
"You will sign." His eyes bore into mine, and I'm once again drawn physically to the contract. I dipped the quill as if hypnotized and slowly write my name.
"Excellent!" He seemed pleased with himself. Meanwhile, I'm totally in a daze and fall back into my chair, suffering from strange exhaustion. Did I just sign a contract in blood?
I stood shakily, preparing to leave.
"Eve, I will see you back here tomorrow morning, bright and early." Mephisto rambled on with a sing-song voice. "Here is some research about me. It will teach you the basics of demons and how to work with them."
Belial is now instantly at the office door, he handed me a stack of books, and I find myself escorted from the building.
I jumped into my car and locked the doors. As I put the car into drive, the transmission lurches forward. The books flutter open on the car seat; the top hardcover was a book about Ancient Demon Classification, followed by a copy of Faust and  Dr. Seus, Green Eggs and Ham.
What the hell have I gotten myself into?
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Here’s the link to the rest. ;)
https://www.wattpad.com/711456559-the-interview-a-blue-exorcist-fanfic-the-interview
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themadchemist · 3 years
Note
I'm curious about your headcanons on the Ascians and the Scions! Of any kind! 😄
Almost all of those are silly and some of them are probably ooc (if you were expecting anything serious, then you've asked the wrong person XD)
Anyway, I had lot fun thinking of those 💙💙💙💙💙
Ascians
Lahabrea:
He's a professor and surprisingly all of his students really enjoy his class since he's so passionate about his subject and goes out of his way to ensure that everyone understands what he's teaching, even though it's extremely hard to actually pass his class.
Sometimes, some other members of the Convocation attend his classes (because they can piss him off and he won't do anything about it during the actual class). The only one who's actually welcomed is Elidibus who pays the utmost attention. On the other hand, Nabriales isn't welcomed at all after a certain stunt he pulled with his time manipulation abilities. (at least it helped him dodge a fire ball aimed at his face).
He's really good at drawing but he doesn't really draw anything "artistic", he only uses this talent to design his creations' appearances. He also has a very nice singing voice but no one's ever heard him sing (except for Anais).
He doesn't have a problem with waking up early or not getting enough sleep because of work but he'd get grumpier than usual if someone wakes him up early on his rare days off.
Emet Selch:
He sometimes locks himself up in his office, claiming that he has so much work and that he's not to be interrupted. He actually either sleeps or reads some play during that time.
He's pretty good at dancing but good luck getting his lazy ass to actually dance.
Sometimes he has insomnia so he attends one of Lahabrea's classes to cure it because he falls asleep instantly when the speaker starts talking. Laha used to yell at him because of it at first but suddenly stopped at some point. (Hythlodaeus told him why). Another place that helps him sleep is Mitron's aquarium.
He used to tell Varis stories about a traveler, their friends and their battles against a grumpy fire obsessed old man.
Elidibus:
He has a very bad case of sweet tooth but he tries so hard to hide it. (he failed and that's how Azem convinced him to help them with that volcano issue.)
He has chess matches with Lahabrea twice a month. He wins 75% of them.
Despite trying to put up a professional front, he's prone to joining Azem and Hyth in their less than serious shenanigans. He either get caught or feels so bad about it that he admits his involvement and apologizes.
Even after spending a long time in Amaurot, he's never memorized the directions to certain places. (it's hard to do so from his low point of view.)
Bonus #1 Hythlodaeus:
While he's normally very relaxed and lenient, he's actually really strict when he decides to work seriously (it happens once every month or two when he needs to catch up on all the work that he's piled up).
Bonus #2 Halmarut:
He's one of the few people who are capable of reigning Lahabrea in and serves as his anger control 95% of the time. He's really tired and he needs a break.
Scions:
Alphinaud and Alisaie:
When they were younger, Alisaie was taller than Alphi but he somehow caught up to her over the years. She hates it and Alphi still has nightmares about Ali out growing him again.
Alphi once asked Alisaie to help him with physical training and she asked him to teach her how to draw. They're still trying to forget these events.
Alisaie is actually good at the "Alphinaud things" she just finds them extremely boring.
Alisaie definitely got into trouble in school for beating up whoever tried to bully Alphinaud and Alphi got into trouble for completely roasting who ever bothered Alisaie.
(Idk how Alphi's carbuncle works but) Alisaie was crushed when the carbuncle chose Alphi instead of her.
Thancred:
Idk why I even have this idea, but I like to think that Thancred grew up on a ship before having to live in Limsa for some reason.
His first friend in Sharlyan? (I don't remember) was Urianger, who was tasked with helping him catch up on the basics. He didn't really understand most of what Urianger said (he still doesn't understand certain things even now) but he didn't ask for someone else because he found Urianger adorable and his manner of speech "absolutely fucking hilarious".
He had a huge crush on Y'shtola when he first met her but it faded after he saw what he calls "Y'shtola's evil twin" when he had to accompany her for shoe shopping once.
He started reading plays and poetry to try to understand Urianger's vocabulary and picked up some lines that he used to impress the ladies. It was so bad at first that even Papalymo noticed it and started making fun of him for it.
Urianger
He's really good with kids and he was absolutely thrilled when he first met Ryne, even more so when she showed an interest in reading and magic.
Thancred would sometimes leave her in Urianger's care for a couple of days.
He taught her all she knows about magic. And cooking and baking some things. They made Thancred a birthday cake once.
Sometimes he pretends that he's reading magic tomes when in reality, he's reading some fantasy novel. The only ones who noticed it were Moenbryda and Thancred.
He definitely taught Ryne about astronomy. He tried to teach Thancred too but he kept falling asleep or disappearing whenever Urianger turned him back.
Bonus #1 Y'shtola:
Idk why but I can imagine her doing embroidery.
Bonus #2 Papalymo and Lyse:
Papalymo is everyone's big bro and he's tired of their shit.
He tried to teach Lyse some magic spells but he quit after the first session. All that Lyse learned that day was that being hit with Papalymo's staff hurt and bruised more than punches.
This is all I can think of for now, sorry for not having many ideas about certain characters.
Hope this wasn't too ooc 😁
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violasmirabiles · 3 years
Text
Rules: Answer 30 questions and tag 20 blogs you want to know better.
i got tagged by @ruskatuska which i somehow forgot to mention first jesus christ why am i like this
1. Name/Nicknames: ali
2. Gender: who tf knows
3. Star Sign: aries
4. Height: 160cm
5. Time: gonna be 1pm in a bit
6. Birthday: march 26 so yall still have time to get me presents 
7. Favourite Band: pink floyd and wigwam are my go to bands to put here but really there are So Many
8. Favourite Solo Artist: also So Many but bowie and kate bush are safe choices
9. Song Stuck in My Head: rufus wainwright - cigarettes and chocolate milk
10. Last Movie: it chapter two
11. Last Show: uhh. god i dont know. 
12. When I Created This Blog: late 2011. like late november, early december. i know it was before i saw paul mccartney in helsinki and that was on dec 12 2011
13. What I Post: whatever fandom shit im into at any given time, bands/artists/music i like, whatever pretty and or interesting and or funny catches my eye. just posted a selfie, i do some of those. some text posts. i do use this blog to vent and i do have a shit brain so yeah
14. Last Thing I Googled: the model of my vacuum cleaner so i could find the right kind of filters i need for it lol
15. Other Blogs: @ihmekukkavesi for my photography, @shineondoc for university hell with some stephen king peppered in there. but it like. its relevant
16. Do I get asks?: sometimes. not super often. but like, i dont reblog those ask memes very often and the one good update this piece of shit website ever did is the chat system so thats good
17. Why I Chose My URL: i mean i wanted something related to my name (it is, trust me), coulda been another species but this one can also be a sneaky reference to a character from a thing im into so . yeah lol. also aesthetic. i mean it looks cool. pretty.
18. Following: a lot of people, many of whom arent active anymore but i keep following them anyway because what if they come back one day
19. Followers: a little under 2300
20. Average Hours of Sleep: eight-ish so thats good
21. Lucky Number: dont really have one of those but if a number is even OR divisible by 5 its a good number. i like 12 more than 10
22. Instruments: i have a 20-year-old shitty electric piano my dad gave me when he needed room for a newer, better electric piano. only in my current place i dont really have enough room for it even though i need it to practice choir stuff independently and just like having it because sometimes i just like to fuck around with it yknow? not calling myself good cos im not im super out of practice cos ive never been diligent abt that sorta thing but i can accompany myself and thats enough. so i keep it under my bed, not the best place, and practice on the fucking floor. cant even use pedals that way and that sucks ass. one day i will move to a bigger apartment and set it up again. i also have a baby blue ukulele with a picture of jack nicholson as jack torrance doing his heres johnny face taped on it. i got it in 2019 from my brother and his girlfriend as a christmas gift and was doing my ba thesis at the time, which i think a lot of the people who follow me know was about the shining. also also i can play guitar and bass but am not excellent at either because i never practice either of those and have neither in my apartment. and i never practice the ukulele either so even though i know a few chords i fucking suck. maybe someday.
23. What I Am Wearing: black leggings. black shirt. one black sock and one white one
24. Dream Job: i want to be able to write in some capacity and get paid for it but thats all i know and if i think too hard on it ill work myself up and wont be able to sleep so im gonna leave it at that  
25. Dream Trip: right now i just want to be able to visit my True Home Town which is not this piece of this place where i live and study and also happened to be born in
26. Favourite Food: yeah. not olives
27. Nationality: finnish
28. Favourite Song: feel like this woulda been more appropriate with the other music/art questions but hey whatever. also how the fuck am i supposed to have a favorite song when so many different gems exist. go listen to the musical box by genesis though it fucks me up every time i dont care what it does to you
29. Last Book I Read: still working on white noise by don delillo im fuckin slow i didnt use to be this slow
30. Top 3 fictional universes I would love to live in: the one where i can fucking FUNCTION, the one where i can Fucking Function and am also some sort of professional™ writer™ , and uhh. yeah idk
im gonna tag @panwriter, @appelssiini, @stokoetopia, @slip-sliding-away and @kukkahattumursu but no pressure or anything no ones gotta do this if they dont feel like it
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