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themattress · 1 year

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Re-evaluating Diamond/Pearl?

With Ash’s time as the protagonist of the Pokeani behind us, I wanted to look back at my least favorite (and only straight-up disliked) series in the anime: Diamond/Pearl. Is it really as bad as I’ve always felt it was? Weeeell....no and yes. See, what I’ve come to understand more and more is that it was never really what’s in Diamond/Pearl that bothered me, it’s how they were used and, perhaps more importantly, how they were paced. Diamond/Pearl’s sense of pacing is abysmal, and that’s what really drags its elements down for me. I think that if I was a kid, I wouldn’t mind, so I don’t begrudge fans of Diamond/Pearl who grew up on it; more power to you. But I grew up on the Original Series, and while I kind of fell out of touch with the anime thanks to Johto, Advanced Generation was paced well enough that I had no problem checking back in from time to time and enjoying its better elements like May’s arc. Diamond/Pearl was just too exhausting for me, and IMO it’s pay-offs never made up for that.

Let’s run down the show’s main recurring components, shall we?

Ash's badge quest: Ash getting his first badge took from episodes 15-18, which immediately showcases a pacing problem. One episode to watch Paul get the badge, then an episode for Ash to try and fail, then a breather episode, and then a second attempt where Ash succeeds. Why drag it out that long? You could’ve had him get it on his first try; or if you wanted him to fail and try again, don’t waste time with Paul beforehand! It then takes 19 episodes until Ash gets his second badge in episode 37. And if you think that’s long, it takes 29 episodes before he even reaches the next city in episode 66, the kind of length that brings back bad “between Fuchsia and Cinnabar Gyms” from Kanto memories, and he doesn’t win his badge until two episodes later in episode 68. After this, things abruptly settle back to the way it was paced before: his next badge comes 15 episodes later in episode 83, then his next badge 19 episodes later in episode 102. But then, it takes just 6 episodes for his next badge in episode 108, only to then have another 19 episodes before his penultimate badge in episode 127. Last but not least, the infamous stretch where it took a whopping 48 episodes (that’s an entire year’s worth!) before he reaches the final Gym in episode 165...only for a complication in the following episode causing him to have to wait 13 more episodes before finally earning his last badge in episode 179! This was the biggest slog of a badge quest EVER, bar none.

Paul: At first, Paul isn’t paced well in his appearances and clashes with Ash, starting up in episode 3, then showing up again just 3 episodes later in episode 6, then 9 episodes later in episode 15....only to disappear for 24 whole episodes until he resurfaces in episode 40. It’s like the show just forgot about him for a while there. But he’s never forgotten about ever again, appearing in episodes 46, 50-53, 64, 66, 69, 74, 81, 100, 118, 127-133, 155, 163, and 182-188, and that’s not including silent cameos, flashbacks and mentions from time to time. So Paul’s issues were resolved pacing-wise; the problem now lay solely in his content, which was a repetitive, go-nowhere exercise in bothersome creator’s favoritism and asinine moral equivalency to the point of abuse apologism, meaning that unlike Silver whom he was based on, Paul wouldn’t get a real redemption arc because as far as Atsuhiro Tomioka and the characters he warped (even Cynthia!) were concerned he barely did anything wrong. The end result is me greatly disliking Paul......and not for the reasons I should be disliking him for.

Dawn's contest arc: The pace for this one once it gets going is episodes 11-12, 26-27, 49, 61, 77-79, 95, 114, 146, 161-162, 167, and 171-177. In this case, the problems are the 22 episode gap between her second and third contests and the 42 episode gap between her seventh and eighth contests (and she doesn’t even win said eighth contest, meaning we waited nearly a year just for her to see her lose to a cross-dressing James!) It’s not quite as bad as Ash’s badge quest, but it’s also nowhere near as good as May’s two contest arcs from the previous series. But Dawn has a much bigger problem than her contest arc, and that’s...

Dawn's self-confidence issues: So when Dawn fails to make it past the Appeals Round in her third contest, she has a crisis of self-confidence, which should be interesting....except then it’s immediately dropped, only to start up all over again 12 episodes later in her next contest where the same goddamn thing happens! Why do that? Why start an arc, then stop it a minute later, then start it up again after some time passes? You could argue that Dawn could’ve just written the first failure off as a fluke so she needed another one to really depress her, but given that she lost her first contest and only barely won her second, I think she was on shaky enough ground as it is. But anyway, this arc of hers progresses for 18 episodes until it just abruptly resolves itself through her unconvincing victory over May in the Wallace Cup in episode 79. Afterward, Dawn has no personal struggles to overcome, just random issues with Pokemon such as Mamoswine or Plusle and Minun. In a 191-episode series, her character stopped growing 79 episodes in, which again reflects this show’s complete failure of pacing.

Brock: He gets nothing. Moving on.

Chimchar: Once Paul abandons him in episode 51, Ash picks him up in episode 52, and then his personal issues get resolved in episode 53. Or at least it seems that way. Episode 81 rather randomly re-opens his personal obstacles relating to Paul’s past abuse of him, and this leads to a very predictable outcome where he evolves in episode 132 to defeat Paul but fails, evolves again in episode 163, then defeats Paul at the last possible minute in episode 188. Honestly, they should’ve just had him utterly own Paul in that battle. It’d be more cathartic.

Buizel and Aipom: This is one of the weirdest continuing plot threads. Zoey first brings up that Ash oughta trade his Aipom to Dawn in episode 11, since Aipom does better in Contests than in battles. Later, in episode 34, Dawn catches a Buizel that’s clearly more adept at battles than Contests, leading for Zoey to make the trading suggestion again. After 20 episodes have passed, Ash and Dawn randomly decide to finally go ahead and make that trade in episode 55. But while Buizel does well enough for Ash, Aipom (now Ambipom) ends up suddenly developing a love and talent for Ping Pong of all things in episode 123, leading to Dawn releasing it in the following episode so that it can go pursue its newfound dream of becoming a Ping Pong Champion. So in the end poor Dawn got a raw deal with this trade!

Mamoswine: So Dawn’s Swinub evolves into Piloswine, becomes surly and disobedient toward her, then quickly evolves into Mamoswine and is more powerful but has the same rotten personality. But eventually, Dawn healing a grave injury it suffers makes it care about her again and become obedient and reliable. Aside from costing Dawn an important match, this is literally the exact same arc as Ash’s Charizard, dragged across 35 episodes and doing nothing unique. I wouldn’t mind so much except that Ash is still right there on the show, so there’s no valid reason for recycling this arc. In fact, it’s not the only time this happened - Pikachu’s evolution dilemma from Ash’s battle with Lt. Surge was recycled with Piplup in episode 122...which was after it had already been recycled with Ash and Pikachu themselves in episode 74! Again, pacing isn’t this series’ only problem: the lackluster content is too.

Hippopostas: Basically a rehash of Spoink from the previous series, it shows up in one episode (episode 44) as a set-up, then reappears later (episode 65) for pay-off. Like Snubbull from Johto, it seems like the writers were trying to recapture the success of Jigglypuff without running the joke into the ground the way Jigglypuff was, but none of these attempts worked.

Zoey: Zoey’s appearances were paced out relatively well (appearing in episodes 11-12, 34, 41, 49, 55, 77-79, 93, 126-128, 155, 174-177 plus the occasional silent cameo, flashback or mention), but like Paul she suffered in content. Whereas Paul was a character who just went nowhere because as far as Tomioka was concerned he was near-perfect as is, Zoey clearly was going somewhere at first, having a distinct dislike of people pursuing badges from Gyms and doing Contests at the same time. However, possibly due to reaction from fans who didn’t like her having a character flaw to overcome, it was just suddenly given up on when she shows up in episode 77, now being totally cool with people doing both. The explanation we’re later given into episode 126 as to why she had a problem with it to begin with is pretty underwhelming and it just doesn’t really feel like it was the original plan with her character.

Kenny: Dawn’s childhood friend and rival appears in episodes 26-27, then reappears 33 episodes later in 60-61, then 60 episodes later in episodes 122-123, then 51 episodes later for the first round of the Grand Festival in episode 174, which he loses, causing him to leave and then randomly re-appear 6 episodes later for a send-off. If not for a few silent cameos here and there, you’d be forgiven for forgetting that he was even a character on the show. Another thing Kenny has going against him is that in his debut he teases Dawn by calling her “Dee Dee”, and we don’t learn what that even means until 135 episodes later, where we learn that as a young child...a Plusle and Minun caused Dawn’s hair to sparkle and the other kids laughed at this and called her “Diamond Dandruff”. That was it. Oh, and in the episode this is revealed we’re now suddenly expected to take this seriously, like Dawn has a legit phobia of Plusle and Minun over this experience that she has to overcome. It’s so STUPID.

Nando: Kenny’s got nothing on this guy though. Debuting in just episode 4 and set up as a rival for both Ash and Dawn since he’s pursuing both Gyms and Contests, but only shows up again 32 episodes later in episode 36, in a non-competitive usage no less! He then shows up to win a Contest 13 episodes later in episode 49, then barring some silent cameos makes his return at the Grand Festival in episodes 174-177...125 episodes later! A few episodes later he appears at the Sinnoh League in episode 182...then loses in the following episode and is never seen nor heard from ever again. What an absolute waste of a perfectly good character.

Ursula: Appearing to just be a one-off in episode 114, Ursula returned almost a year’s worth of episodes later in episodes 161-162, then returned for the Grand Festival in episodes 174-177. It feels like she was an attempt to recapture the success of Harley from the previous series as well as give Dawn an “asshole rival”, but it ended up being done too late in the game to make an impact. For what it’s worth, I like Ursula, and she deserved so much more.

Barry: It’s the second half of the series and suddenly the rival from the games said series is primarily marketing appears! Barry appears in episodes 101-103, 110-111, 122-124, 140-141, 157, 163, and 182-189, so his appearances are paced out just fine. The problem with him is threefold: he’s thrown in late in the game, is treated as a Jobber who always loses to Ash, and is insultingly used to prop up Paul, both in being a comic relief foil as a rival and by literally singing Paul’s praises every chance he gets (again a case of characterization being butchered for Paul’s sake). Barry’s a funny and enjoyable character, but he was poorly used.

Conway: A one-off from episodes 50-52, until he reappears as a Flanderized, more comical version of himself in episodes 88-91, and then out of nowhere at the Sinnoh League in episodes 182-185 where we’re suddenly expected to consider him a major rival to Ash! Nothing about how Conway is used is particularly offensive, mind you, just...confusing.

Cynthia and the Elite Four: Lucian appears in episode 35 and establishes the presence of the Champion and Elite Four in the Sinnoh Region. 5 episodes later the Champion herself, Cynthia, appears. She reappears 57 episodes later in episodes 96-97, then in just the space of 2 episodes we get Aaron, who goes on to challenge Cynthia for her title and fail in just the next episode. 50 episodes later Cynthia shows up to hep defeat Team Galactic, then 15 episodes after that we are introduced to Flint. Bertha appears 5 episodes after this, then 10 episodes after this Flint reappears and says he’s going to challenge Cynthia next. Cynthia is at the Sinnoh League in episodes182-189, and then in episode 191, the final episode of the series, we see that Flint lost his battle with her. So my question is what was the point in any of this? Many back in the day thought it was setting Ash up to win the Sinnoh League and get to challenge the Elite Four and Cynthia, but as we know that didn’t happen. I’m fine with the Elite Four and Cynthia showing up; it’s to be expected. But why give the sense of a building plotline surrounding them and Cynthia’s status as Champion only for nothing to happen?

Team Galactic: I’ve railed enough about this one in the past. To sum it up, the pacing is horrible (episodes 36, 60, 69, 96-97, 110-111, 130, 136, 150-152), the content even worse, and it does no justice to the characters and plotline of Team Galactic, especially with Cyrus.

The Lake Trio: This might be the worst case of build-up and pay-off in the whole damn series, which is saying something. Dawn sees Mesprit’s shadow in episode 1, then Ash sees Azelf’s in episode 78 (77 episodes later), and finally Brock sees Uxie’s in episode 133 (55 episodes later). The pay-off in episodes 150-152 is that Dawn, Ash and Brock are psychically bonded to the Lake Trio and use this bond resolve the conflict by....praying to them. Really. And why were they bonded to them? Because of how they represent Emotion, Willpower and Knowledge respectively? Nope! Just because “they care so much about Pokemon”. As if that’s something unique and special to them. Also, why even build something up in episode 1 and then pay it off with 39 whole episodes still left to go in the series? Shouldn’t the pay-off be near the end? There’s no excuse for this, no real life interference...it’s just bad writing.

Hunter J: Another case of there being no excuse. Hunter J debuts in episode 20, reappears 25 episodes later in episode 45, then around another 25 episodes later in episodes 71-72, then 57 episodes later in episode 129, and finally 21 episodes later in episodes 150-151, during the Team Galactic climax, where she is suddenly killed off. Hunter J is an OC, created for the anime! The writers had no limitations on how much they could have used her, and yet they barely did use her. Maybe they were concerned about the series being too dark if she was used too frequently, but in that case they could’ve just toned her down and kept her extra evil-ness reserved for special occasions. Also, why kill her off as part of a different storyline, and with no climactic face-off with Ash, Dawn and Brock given that she was being build up as their personal enemy? This was a fantastic villain, but the writers screwed the pooch with her.

Team Rocket: They appear in every single episode, and yet this is the one series where it feels like the writers are desperately trying to justify their continued existence from start to finish. Whether it be Jessie suddenly being treated as a credible Coordinator as “Jessalina” (in essence giving Dawn yet another rival when she’s already swamped with them), James’ whole backstory with Jessiebelle suddenly being brought up again, Meowth constantly being tempted to leave Team Rocket for what he perceives as greener pastures, or their feuds with Hunter J and Team Galactic so that those super dark villains have comical foils to compete with and thus brighten the mood a little, Team Rocket’s time in Sinnoh was a never-ending exercise in grasping at straws. Giovanni didn’t even remember they existed anymore, that’s how bad it was and how irrelevant yet shoved down our throats they felt. DP!TR sucks.

Angie: An character who shows up in the Summer Camp arc of episodes 88-91 as a Distaff Counterpart / shipping bait to Ash. 7 episodes later, she reappears and we learn a little more about her, so you’d be forgiven for thinking she’ll be recurring from here on out. Nope! Never seen again. Why even have that one reappearance at all? She’dve been fine as a one-off!

Lyra and Khoury: These two actually were one-offs, appearing in a mini-arc that lasted episodes 143-147, then never appearing again afterward. They were fine; I didn’t mind them.

Cheryl: Also a one-off, early in for episodes 30-32. Again, perfectly fine for what she was.

May: She had her obligatory return appearance in the Wallace Cup (episodes 75-79) sporting her Emerald design. Beyond me not buying her losing to Dawn, her presence was welcome and a helpful distraction from the fact that we’re only just now getting Wallace in the anime.

Gary: Gary Motherfucking Oak is the reason Ash went to Sinnoh to start with at the end of the previous series, but he only shows up in episodes 45, 85, and 150-152. It felt like a waste back then, and it’s worse now after Journeys used him in a recurring capacity much better.

To sum it up, I reiterate that my problem with Diamond/Pearl remains that it fails so badly in execution. Hypothetically, there is a series where every single one of these elements, or at least most of them (I don’t think there’s any salvaging the “Diamond Dandruff” thing), were used almost perfectly and created an engaging experience that was truly worth the series being four years long and spent in a single region. But sadly, that’s not the series we have.

If you like it, cool. I just...can’t.

#Pokemon #Diamond/Pearl #Opinion #Analysis #Comparison

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ilargikat · 1 year

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This is a wip of a Fantasy Au that I will probably never write, but have planned in my head completely. LoL

The Elf Wars

Remy rested his back on the tree, the only oak in the forest and the oldest one in the place. It was his favorite. He could rest on the branches; above all, it was the tallest, allowing him to see the whole woods.

Autumn covered in brown the floor of the beech forest. It was a dry fall, it had hardly rained, so the leaves crunched under his feet. Anyone else wouldn't notice it, but Remy did, which was annoying. He moved quickly over the trees, but his two companions didn't. So to hell with being stealthy.

His partners insisted that there was no one in the woods and there would be no trouble. Their target would appear along the Towpath, and the trees were merely a shelter to wait for the opportune moment.

Things in the west were different; people were more carefree here. His people especially, and he didn't like it at all. But as the old folks used to say, "In someone else's house, you eat with their forks."

Remy jumped to the ground, waking his two partners, who were dozing in the shade.

They, too, were part of the rare elves; it was already difficult to live in that world being an elf, way more being one of those who couldnt pass for human just by hiding their pointed ears.

"Time to go," he said, dripping the sole of the guy's shoe with the yellowish skin and long tongue.

The short man stood up abruptly, waking up his companion, who was a blob of fat but surprisingly agile.

Without adding a word, they moved toward the road, making too much noise for his liking. Again no one but him seemed to care.

Remy heard the carriage before saw it; when it appeared in their sight, he knew straight away that it was their target. It was made of gold-plated wood, drawn by two white horses, dressed with ornaments and rich fabrics. The charioteer was a woman with long black hair, young and with a rugged look.

They waited for the carriage to pass before them and leaped into the attack. The big guy grabbed the carriage with his hands, stopping it on the spot. The other one detained the charoteer at sword point, covering her mouth with his hand to silence her.

Remy moved to the door and, flashing his best smile, opened it. Inside, were three women dressed in elegant yet simple and comfortable dresses for traveling. Her green silk and pearl dress spoke of her; the hood that covered her head kept him from seeing her face. But that dress gave away her position loudly. His informant had told him that this trip would be undercover without a royal entourage or guard, but even so, he was surprised that no warrior was guarding that treasure.

"If you do as I say, no one will get hurt," Remy said without wiping the smile off his face. "My boss wants to share a few words with the princess."

"No way," said one of the women, a cute little girl with curly hair and big brown eyes. "We'll fight."

"No point, little girl," he emphasized, leaning against the door, making it glow with a fuchsia light. "If I don't stop this in a few minutes, your carriage will blow up, and my friends and I will have to get serious, and we wouldn't want to hurt such delicate ladies."

"I'll go with you," said the woman in the green dress. "Leave them alone."

"NO! your Grace!" cried the little girl again. "They are rare elves; they are dangerous."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," she repeated; her voice sounded calm, though her accent sounded odd, not entirely western. He didn't know the city or its customs. But it would be some court fashion he was unaware of.

She rested her gloved hand on the door, he offered to help her down, which she refused.

"Princess," said the other woman inside; her dress was the simplest; she could be a maid or a lady-in-waiting, her well-groomed purple hair contradicted her position; besides, she was charming, with delicate and soft features. "My boots will be more comfortable for walking in the forest."

The woman handed The princess a pair of tanned leather boots; good boots, flexible, and comfortable for long walks.

The princess rolled up her dress, revealing her long, shapely and beautiful legs. She took off a pair of delicate silk shoes, baked and refined, and put on the boots.

She shook off her dress and, with her back very straight, stood next to him; he couldn't see her face, making him curious about how the most beloved princess of the kingdom would be.

"Come on, princess, we have a long way to go," Remy said, trying to sound friendly. He had strict orders to make sure the princess was not harmed in any way.

She said nothing, he indicated to his partners to put the carriage in motion, and when it disappeared from their sight, they went into the forest.

"See, it was too easy, I told you," said the shortest of his companions.

"Too easy, Mortimer, too easy," he muttered grumpily. His eyes were fixed on the princess moving skillfully through the trees. Fred was walking beside her trying to start a conversation that she was deliberately ignoring.

"Come on, Lebeau, don't be so paranoid; we're just good at our jobs," insisted Mortimer. " Best of all, tonight we'll sleep with our pockets full."

He smacked him for revealing his name, but the princess made no movement or sign of having heard anything. He looked at her again; her steps were resolute, and if she was afraid, she certainly didn't show any signs of it.

"Are you hungry, Your Grace?" asked Fred rummaging in his bag, "The bread from my people is very delicious. Have you ever tried it?" he said, offering her a bun.

She didn't move, didn't say anything, and his partner looked disappointed. Fred was a nice guy. He didn't know why he got into jobs like this, or maybe he did. Guys like them had no choice.

" Don't bother Fred; her majesty is too important to eat elf bread. I'm sure she thinks it's made with worms," he said with contempt.

"Oh no, Your Grace, it's delicious, Remy made it, and he's the best cook I've ever met in my life, and I know a lot about eating," Fred said, slapping his big belly and laughing. " It's like a little piece of heaven."

There he goes, his name too, these two were idiots, good people, but in the south, they would be long dead.

"No worms," Fred insisted, taking a bite of the bun, speaking full mouth. "Elf's word."

As if that was going to convince a human and even more from the royalty that he was trustworthy.

She let out a soft chuckle and extended her hand toward him.

That puzzled him, but before saying anything, he saw Mortimer stop in his tracks tossing his hand to his sword.

" Is something wrong?" Remy asked, alerted.

"There's someone in the trees," Morty whispered.

Damn, he was so distracted. Before attacking back, he saw Fred move the princess out of the attackers' reach.

Mortimer jumped to stop one of the attackers, and they began to fight. Remy counted at least six men woring black clothing and masks that hid their faces. They didn't look like normal road robber. Nor did offer an easy battle. Yet, he enjoyed the fight, he wasn't going to make it easy, in the end those men were no match for him. Too soft for someone raised in the south.

Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he punched, jumped, and kicked those guys. Remy was enjoying himself. He felt alive and full of energy. He didn't even have to use his special skills. Just pure fight, hand to hand combat.

Mortimer ran after one of the assailants.

"Help him," Remy yelled, pointing towards the little guy running away through the woods, and Fred obeyed right away.

Suddenly Remy realized that he had forgotten about the princess. Losing her would be a problem. A big mess. He couldn't be that stupid no matter how much fun the fight was. Remy knocked out the last of his opponents.

"This has got to be a joke," a female voice with a softened southern accent sounded behind him.

Turning, he saw the princess with a body at her feet, the hood no longer covering her head, and finally, he could see her face; it wasn't a bad sight at all. A long wavy, abundant auburn hair, marked by some white locks. And what a face, with full lips that made him smile imagining them in a specific part of him. She looked at him, with green eyes that would make a madman swear eternal love, even if it was for one night.

" You're not the princess," Remy said when all the little details connected in his head.

"And you're the smartest boy in your village," she replied, rolling her eyes as she pulled her abundant mane back into a bun, revealing pointed ears.

"Are you an elf? He asked puzzled.

" As I said, a smart boy," she said, blowing the white locks out of her bangs.

And without another word, she flung toward him. He dodged her first punch with ease; Remy moved to the right to avoid another punch, without taking his eyes off her pretty face displaying a focused expression. The woman moved nimbly despite the dress. She couldn't kick, so she tried her best to hit him with her fists.

He dodged her every lunge and reached for his staff to carry on the fight. He struck her legs to knock her off balance. But he failed.

"I love a woman who can kick my ass," he said when not-the-princess stopped the staff with both hands. She snorted and tapped the cane against his chest.

"Do you always talk that much?" she asked, taking a step back.

"Only when I'm with a pretty lady," he replied, smiling. The girl snorted again and lunged at him again.

She managed to hit his arm and knock his cane down. And she smiled for the first time, a genuine smile.

"If you're going to smile like that, I'll let you hit me," Remy said.

"You think that's funny? You're a... an imbecile" she said, hitting him again.

"At least I'm not a traitor to my people," Remy said angrily. Who was she to judge him? She who worked for royalty?

And it was the spark that really ignited her anger. He could read it in her eyes. She gripped the staff tightly and shoved it against a tree trapping him.

"How dare you? You? You think kidnapping the King's beloved daughter will help anyone? The elves? Peace?" She slammed the staff against his chest. "This is not the south."

"It's easy for you, pretty face."

"You have no idea. No idea how fragile this peace is," she looked him in the eye, " Nor of the people who are eager for it all to collapse."

"Maybe you are delusional and you think this is peace, I have seen thing that..."

"You're not the only Southerner around here, asshole," The lady cut him, anger shining in her eyes.

Despite having her pinned against the tree, she moved quickly, resting her lips on his. He didn't have time to be surprised before everything went black.

#gambit #rogue #wip #fantasy au #fanfic

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its-just-boo · 3 months

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1. What were your summers like as a kid?

9. What CD did you play to death as a kid?

23. What’s your dream date?

38. What’s your favorite flower?

55. What’s the best prank you’ve been witness to?

68. What are you craving right now?

75. What top three cities do you want to travel to?

95. Worst tinder or date experience?

1. What were your summers like as a kid?

My folks used to send me to a summer day camp, which was definitely more for... Like active kids. So I sat with the other 5 nerds around a buried tree stump that we tried to dig up and played magic the gathering

9. What CD did you play to death as a kid?

Meteora by Linkin Park was the first CD I actually owned. But I think I probably listened to Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge by MCR or Siren Song of Counter Culture by Rise Against more

23. What’s your dream date?

If I'm feeling active, then it would look like a nice meal at a restaurant we were both interested in, followed by an activity (like an escape room or a boardgame Cafe) and end with grabbing a desert and walking around a park. Now if I'm not quite up for being so active, it'd be a yummy home cooked thing, followed by several boardgames, and end with lots of cuddling and a movie.

38. What’s your favorite flower? Fuchsias (I definitely had to look up what they were actually called). My folks used to always have them and I always thought they were pretty.

55. What’s the best prank you’ve been witness to?

Once upon a time me and three of my friends were staying in my parents basement. In order to get to the bathroom down there you had to walk through a hallway and the game room, both of which were pitch black since we were supposedly going to bed. So when one of my buddies went to the bathroom, me and the other two filled the hallway with what I can only describe as the yarn spiderweb from hell. Once he got out of the bathroom, in order to distract him from turning on the lights a different friend said "hey Nate, can you explain the plot of Yu-Gi-Oh?" Cue sounds of a incredibly disortented explanation punctuated by crashes and several "what the fuck am I tangled in!"

68. What are you craving right now?

I really want some BBQ chips actually, but I ate all I had

75. What top three cities do you want to travel to?

Seattle, Dublin, and probably Rome

95. Worst tinder or date experience?

I haven't really had a ton of bad dates to be totally honest, usually they didn't go bad until welllll after the fact

#ask thingy #thanks! this was fun!#Always happy to tell stories #lovely mutuals

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moregraceful · 1 year

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*taps chin* kreidbanejad if you’re into that, laf/key if you’re not, word: fuchsia

featuring: a made up arboretum, my favorite young gun dumb dumbs and my five millionth reference to "be sure to wear some flowers in your hair" this year

;;

Troubs organizes a trip to a botanical garden during an off-day in California, which is frankly the kind of thing only Jake would ever think to do, and doubly the kind of thing only Jake would ever want to do, but because the team loved him, they went along with it.

Chris and Mika agreed to babysit the kids and make sure they wouldn’t wander off and get eaten by a carnivorous plant. Troubs made prayer hands at them in gratitude – he was already having hell trying to convince the older guys that they should go see a plant that smelled bad.

Chris and Mika followed them at a distance through an arboretum of plants of Central and South America. Laf, Key, and Kaapo stopped to stare at a very large, very sleepy bee, talking in hushed voices so they didn’t wake it. Chris took a picture of them and sent it to the groupchat with him, Mika, and Troubs.

Mika watched him do it and felt very fond of his team. This was a very stupid outing and he was ready to go eat dinner but it was funny to watch the kids stare at the bee and whisper to each other.

Chris knocked his shoulder against Mika’s. “It’s what happens when you take city kids to the jungle,” he said.

“We should take them to the real jungle,” said Mika. “And leave them there.”

Chris snorted. “I think Jake would be very sad if we did that.”

Mika laughed. “Hey!” he called out to the kids. “Stop harassing that bee!”

All three kids leapt back as the bee woke up and started buzzing around angrily. They yelped and ran down the wooden walkway, all three of them yelling at Mika. Chris burst out laughing.

Mika and Chris followed them down the walkway, neatly stepping around the bee that was settling down to go back to sleep on the bright flowers that dotted the path.

The kids were waiting for them by the door. “Can we go?” Kaapo asked. “I’m bored.”

“You want me to send more bees after you?” Mika asked. He felt like he was talking to real children. “Come on, don’t make the captain sad by leaving early.”

Laf rolled his eyes. “Come on,” he said to Kaapo. “Let’s go look at cactuses.”

“Cacti,” corrected Chris.

“I don’t want to be hot, we’re already in California—”

“Quit it,” said Key, bopping him on the head. “You’ll wish you were hot when we get back to the snow in New York.”

“I am already hot—”

Laf and Key dragged him through the door.

Chris and Mika followed them. Chris held out a hand. “Hold up.” He reached up and took a flower out of Mika’s hair.

It was a small purple flower – fuchsia and white. Chris grinned. “Wonderful. You’re in San Francisco and you have a flower in your hair.” He handed it to Mika.

Mika turned it in his fingers and then sniffed it. It smelled kind of citrusy but he didn’t think he should take a bite out of flowers getting caught in his hair in an arboretum. It was probably illegal. Or dangerous. “That’s a song, right.”

“Yeah,” said Chris. “Like, a folk song from the sixties or something.”

“Not my genre and before my time,” said Mika. He held the flower up to the light. “I probably shouldn’t take this?”

Chris watched him, smiling. He didn’t say anything but he had a joke on his face, Mika could see it coming together.

Mika sniffed it one more time and then dropped it over the railing. “Don’t call me pretty,” he warned Chris. “I’m not your girlfriend. You’re single for a reason.”

Chris kissed him very quickly on the lips. Mika froze. Then he grinned. “One flower in my hair and you become a romantic fool,” he said.

“For you,” said Chris. “Come on, Kaapo probably fell into a cactus plant by now.”

He went through the door, his hand clenching and unclenching. He wasn’t planning that, Mika thought. That was a spur of the moment thing he just came up with right now. But maybe he’d been thinking about it for a while too.

Mika followed him through the door. Chris hadn’t gone far. “Sorry about that,” he said. His face was red.

Mika flicked him in the forehead. “Don’t run away next time,” he chided. “If you’re going to be romantic, don’t leave me alone.”

“Next time,” said Chris. He grinned too. “Okay, yeah.”

“Kreids,” yelled Laf. “Kaapo touched a nettle and now his finger is red”

#this is SILLY lmao #someday i'm going to figure out how to write chris and mika and then it'll be all over for all of us #unfortunate birdcage fanfictions

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goldenrodcafe · 2 years

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This and Fuchsia City were my favorite towns in the original games. I think the more asymmetrical layout left an impression on me.

#Pokemon #Cerulean City #Flareon #Jolteon #Vaporeon #Seaking #Lapras #Starmie #Mewtwo

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flightlessribbons · 11 months

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Well now that I've finished all the short character blurbs (with the exception of Paldea's crew) I just wanted to make a rambling little post about some of my reasons for certain headcanons in this AU. There's a lot of nonsense that I imagined and reached for as I played through the games!

- Starting off strong with a few about one of my favorite families with the BYG cousins first: why I made Elio, Gloria, Hilda, and Nate all related. It's all because of the player characters mom designs for each of them- especially the Alolan mom having such similar hair to Hilda and the Unovan mom- so I thought it would be fun to have them interconnect!

- Touya and Leaf being related to Bill- Bill canonically has a lot of siblings, so fitting Leaf into his family as his youngest sister was easy. And he has a sister in Fuchsia city with her son in game, so I liked to think that the little boy was Touya who eventually moved to Unova. Bonus points for being able to draw them all with the same bangs as Bill.

- Kris and Solana from pokemon rangers being related- purely aesthetic reasons and very self indulgent. The Ranger games are very dear to my heart and I wanna get around to them sometime!

- Hilda and Nate being forgettable: Hilda bc she's absent in the sequel so I felt like she would be more like an important presence with no real face to the name, and for Nate I feel like he's not as remembered for BW2 in comparison to Rosa (while that just may be my perception of it) so I gave him that same energy as well.

- Kris is in a similar, but different, predicament as them. Kris as a character only appeared in one game before Masters, so by the initial time of the Invitation Comics, she's sort of used to being overshadowed or forgotten in both her research and champ title. She's also been my FAVORITE PROTAG since I was a REALLY young kid, and her and Hilda are still tied for first in my favs!! So I really wanted to give her a personal arc about making her own name for herself.

- Jana's entire existence: I played pokemon Moon first, and when I played Ultra Moon after, the Selene from Moon, and the Selene from UM acted out like different characters in my head, so I made Jana to embody some of those points I imagined for that Moon protag.

- Making Calem a contest coordinator is the randomest HC that may not fit at first with his character, but I imagine there being different types of contests. Ones that are flashier or musical ones that Shauna might participate in (EDIT: changing Calem's side hobbies to fencing in lieu of the contest participation)

- Another reason why I refer to Shauna as an idol as she does different kinds of shows professionally, and Calem as just a coordinator, is because he does limited shows for fun.

- Selene is based on the little girl in the house of Professor Rowan's assistant in game, who talks about pokemon trivia when talked to. I wanted to tie the faller story components to her personally, and an encounter with the distortion world was the perfect opportunity! SM and USUM was the first time I wrote my headcanons down when playing, so technically it's the first organized piece of the POKEVERSE I made back in 2016-17 👍

- It's been a default to ship the player characters together, and will most likely continue being the case- save for one brain rot exception to that rule: postwickshipping. Hop and Gloria were the first and only ship I've deviated from that just because of their interactions through the game. Florian x Juliana brings me back to the protag ships though, and I have some plans for how the Paldea timeline plays out differently in this world!

- The whole Interpol relation to Hilda's family comes solely from Looker's appearance in the BW postgame. I'll probably make a whole post about how Hilda's mom and dad are relevant in other things in Unova, so I won't talk about it too much here.

- Making Johanna be Akari: I wanted to take a present day character to be Akari that wasn't Dawn. No one else fit the bill other than Johanna, and I really enjoyed making it work in this AU!

That's all the ones I could think of today. If you did go through these, thanks for reading! This POKEVERSE is just a culmination of self indulgence of how I pictured the games as I played, and I do plan on replaying through the games to reconstruct what I keep and change through the stories! Until next post 👍

#pokeverse_m #byg family #unova #galar #alola #sinnoh #hisui #leaf #touya #kris #solana #hilda #nate #elio #jana #gloria #johto #calem #shauna #selene #looker #akari #pokeverse headcanons

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red-hot-temper · 1 year

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tag 10 people you want to get to know better

Thanks to @ladyausten for tag me (´ ∀ ` *)

I tried to post it before but so far I succeeded xD

1. Relationship status: Waiting to steal a Callisto Regulus from the loop time Single (:

2. Favorite color: Magenta, fuchsia, deep pink and red

3. Last song I listened to: Royal Blood - how did we get so dark

4. 3 Favorite foods: Any food can become my favorite if it includes French fries lol

5. Last thing googled: meme templates xD

6. Dream trip: Visit some European cities like Hamelin

7. Anything I want now: a real Callisto Regulus... and evade taxes money

Don't feel pressured:

@jeding-png, @eloise175, @saneijeijei, @the-black-sheep-in-the-dark, or someone who also wants to participate and I didn't tag

#red hot temper post #tag game

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cerenemuxse · 1 year

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| Master List |

| favorites |

Absolute Favorite Characters:

Edward (T&F)

Tigress (KFP)

Stolas (Helluva Boss)

Top Favorite Characters:

James (T&F)

Emily (T&F)

Rebecca (T&F)

Current Hyperfixations:

Thomas & Friends

Kung Fu Panda

Helluva Boss 🔞

Ships:

Edward x James (T&F) - #a dozen years | reblogs

Gordon x Rebecca (T&F) - #opposite cardinals | reblogs

Po x Tigress (KFP) - #china teapots | reblogs

Stolas x Blitzø (HB) - #mixed low signals | reblogs

Poppy x Branch (Trolls) - #blossoming branch | reblogs

Asmodeus x Fizzarolli (HB) - #circus showstoppers | reblogs

Flying Scotsman x Esmeralda (EoSR) - #northern records | reblogs

Flying Scotsman x City of Truro (T&F) - #stolen records | reblogs

Thomas x Ryan x Ashima (T&F) - #vibrant skies | reblogs

Thomas x Ryan (T&F) - #indigo lines | reblogs

Thomas x Ashima (T&F) - #tracks to you | reblogs

Ryan x Ashima (T&F) - #lovely fuchsia | reblogs

Henry x Hiro (T&F) - #light hearts | reblogs

Molly x Duck (T&F) - #feathered dolls | reblogs

Chelsea x Phoebe (EoSR) - #???

Chelsea x Temeraire (EoSR) - #???

| important tags |

#my fanart - my fanart

#my art - my art

#my models - my 3D models, most of which are made in Blender

#my concepts - my concept art and any written concepts

#my memes - my memes of all sorts

#my edits - all of my edits from pictures to videos (videos are YouTube links)

#my writing - all of my writing such as stories on Ao3 and the snippets on here

#my mailbox - answers to anything in my ask box

#reblog - reblogs

#self reblog - reblogs of my own stuff

#just sharing - just sharing content from outside of Tumblr

#she's on her shit again - just random thoughts in general

#her train of thoughts - specifically for T&F thoughts

#favorite railway engines - for that one post i keep reblogging to add the engines i like

| Engines of Sudrian Rails & more |

#engines of sudrian rails by muxse - My alternative universe which is a rewrite of Thomas & Friends and the Railway Series, containing original stories by yours truly. :3

#engines of sudrian rails (shipverse) by muxse - Engines of Sudrian Rails but with shipping. Because of course there is.

#eosr but monster engines - EoSR but turn them into monster engines.

#eosr but humans - EoSR but humanized.

| fandoms |

#thomas and friends - content from the Thomas and Friends franchise

#super mario - content from the Mario franchise

#sonic the hedgehog - content from the Sonic franchise

#mcyt - general Minecraft YouTuber content

#hermitcraft - Hermitcraft SMP content

#life series - content from all seasons of the Life SMP series

#mcc - content of the Minecraft Championships (MCC)

#kfp - content from the Kung Fu Panda franchise

#helluva boss - Helluva Boss content

| pinned posts |

Engines of Sudrian Rails

| gaming content |

Available on YouTube. Search "CereneMuxse" or check out my carrd.co! Link is at the top of this post.

Adopt Me! Speedbuilds - A playlist of sped-up time lapses of me decorating the houses in "Adopt Me!" "Adopt Me!" is a very popular adoption roleplay game on Roblox with a home feature that allows you to customize your home.

Bloxburg Speedbuilds - Same as the Adopt Me! Speedbuilds playlist but it's within the game "Welcome to Bloxburg!" "Welcome to Bloxburg!" is a roleplay game that takes the concepts of the Sims franchise and translates it into Roblox. Unlike most games, this one can only be accessed by paying 15 Robux, which is the currency used on the Roblox platform.

#pinned post

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lostwithoutyouherewriter · 2 years

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The Princess and Pauline: A Short Romance

Happy pride month, everyone! 🏳️‍🌈

I hope you enjoy this remixed one-shot of one of my favorite ships, Princess Peach and Mayor Pauline. 😊💞

Pauline felt like she was on top of the world.

The wooden plaque on her desk looked awfully nice, proclaiming that this scrappy young girl from the inner city was now a powerful councilwoman. And when she stepped in front of the mirror, she had to admit that her pantsuit looked very fine indeed. The bold fuchsia color made a statement, letting everyone and their plumber know that Pauline had ambition to spare, and she was bound to intimidate a few men while wearing these sharp, blue heels.

Her new office even came with a view. Granted, all she could see was another skyscraper under renovation, complete with builders shouting at one another and hoisting barrels up the side, but it was definitely a step up from a secretary's cubicle.

It was hard to fathom how things could get any better... unless, that is, she ran for the only position above her: the office of mayor.

Pauline leaned away from the mirror, closing her makeup palette and giving her voluminous red hair a swift brushing. “Now where did that idea come from?” she asked herself, an amused smile flickering at the corner of her lips. “Mayor of New Donk City, eh? You’re really getting ahead of yourself, girl.”

There was a knock at the door. She stood upright, taking a moment to examine her reflection and straighten her shoulder pads. “Yes?”

The door opened partway and a young man leaned into her office, chewing his gum in a cavalier manner. He certainly was a handsome specimen—wavy brown hair, chiseled chin, and a choice bod decked out in a three piece suit. She had forgotten how charming her boyfriend Kevin could be when he put in the effort, and Mr. Keene was pulling out all the stops today.

“Hey there, beautiful,” said Kevin, letting his eyes drift up and down her figure. “Just thought you should know the ambassador’s on her way up. A legit queen, by the looks of her.”

Pauline's mood soured almost instantly. “She’s a princess, Kevin,” she said, turning back to her reflection and buttoning up her suit jacket. “Try to get it right, would ya? We don’t need to screw up our relations with the other kingdoms just because you failed to do your homework.”

“Please, you think I got a seat on the council without putting in the effort?” he asked, flashing that irresistible smile her way. Playing fair was never his style, and Pauline knew it. She knew the man very well indeed.

“I think you dazzle everyone with your looks and win them over with your charm,” she said, not even trying to hide the snark in her tone. “As to whether or not you actually read the memos, I seriously doubt it.”

“Whatever works, right? You don’t seem to mind the way I look.”

The councilwoman glanced at her peer, unable to suppress a smile as she thought back on their night of passion. They had just received word of their promotions, and it seemed like a good time to celebrate. And boy, did they celebrate. Once they had popped the champagne, they made quick work of one another’s clothing, stripping naked and making sweet love on her new desk.

She had only just finished putting everything back in order when Kevin decided to interrupt her morning routine.

Pauline stood there for a moment, undressing Mr. Keene with her mind’s eye. She idly wondered if he was wearing another pair of those sexy, leopard print speedos underneath. “I never said it was a bad thing,” she confessed, “but let’s not forget who ran the errands and worked her tail off to get this promotion, shall we?”

Kevin snapped his fingers. “That’s right. Before I forget, the mayor wants somebody to give the ambassador... Excuse me, princess... a tour of city hall this afternoon. I told him I’d toss the ball in your court. You’re free, right?”

Pauline groaned, loudly. “Kevin, you know I’m swamped with permits to review. They’re breaking ground on the new power plant next week, remember?”

“Come on, babe, I wouldn’t ask if you weren’t the perfect woman for the job. You said it yourself—I’m no good with foreign dignitaries, and you know how cranky the mayor gets around women in power.”

“Yes, I’m well aware,” she said, the look on her face speaking to her long and storied history with that cantankerous ape.

“Besides, you’ve been on that power plant project for weeks now,” said Kevin. “I’m sure you’ve got all your ducks in a row, all ready to hunt. You’re always on top of that stuff.”

“Yes, I have to be. I’m a woman, after all. I can’t just jump to the top with the rest of the boys.” She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and repeating her mantras. “Fine. I’ll be out in a minute, but you owe me big, ya hear?”

“No problem. I can do big,” he said with a wink, stepping away from the door.

“Oh, and Kevin?” She waited for him to lean back in. “Don’t go around calling me ‘beautiful’ or ‘babe’ in city hall. As fellow council members, we need to treat one another with respect. Capeesh?”

“You got it, ma’am. We still on for dinner tonight?”

Such arrogance, but it did make her smile. “I’ll be sure to wear something nice.”

“And something exciting underneath, I hope.”

“Get out of my office, you cad.”

She may have found him amusing, but the councilwoman could not deny how good it felt to say it. This was her office, her little piece of the kingdom, so to speak, and even if she had to pick up the slack and cater to the whims of a spoiled princess, Pauline still felt a shiver of satisfaction every time she laid claim to the power she had earned.

With one final look in the mirror, she knew in her heart of hearts that she couldn’t stop now. First, she would stop dyeing her hair red to impress the men in her life. She would be a natural brunette with a natural talent for leadership. And the next time they told her to jump, she would defy their expectations and smash through the blocks in her way.

“Mayor Pauline,” she declared, and somehow, saying it aloud gave the dream substance. “It does have a nice ring to it.”

Guided by her ambitions, she left her office behind and marched out into the wider kingdom. Business meetings and matters of state swirled about her, punctuated by the endless chatter of landline phones and the buzzing rhythm of fax machines. But no matter how preoccupied the inhabitants of city hall appeared to be, they were never too busy to spare a moment for a rising star like Pauline.

True, she had become something of a legend in these halls of white and gold—the first woman to ever be appointed to city council, and under someone like Kong, no less. There was a great deal of respect evident in the faces around her, but perhaps it also had something to do with the way she looked at them in return. Rather than holding her eyes aloft, ignoring the secretaries and mailroom clerks like so many of her peers, Pauline repaid their admiration with a winning smile and a nod of recognition. These were her people, after all, and she would never forget how she had once toiled away as one of them, all in the name of New Donk City.

With several strides down the paneled halls, she soon found herself standing in a grand foyer. A beam of summer sun poured down from the skylight, giving a lustrous shine to the brass elevators and the flattened globe on the atrium floor. There were already Security Toads posted on either side of the elevator, serious as can be in their black suits and shades. In spite of their small stature, Pauline had no doubt these little guys would stop at nothing to protect their dear princess. All the more reason to pull herself together. She nodded to the guards, reassuring them that there would be no international incidents on her watch.

The councilwoman stepped forward with purpose, planting her feet next to the globe and straightening the corners of her suit jacket. She breathed in, calmly watching the fancy arrow rise above the elevator. She was ready to make an impression.

When the elevator chimed and the brass doors parted, however, Pauline Verducci knew that any impression she hoped to make would only be eclipsed by the beautiful woman standing before her.

A stunning white dress drifted downward, and the councilwoman found herself falling through curvaceous clouds of fabric and ruffles. Her gaze finally landed in a brilliant field of candy red, the color sweeping around the hem for eternity. Pauline couldn’t resist the urge to climb through the clouds once more, admiring full hips and a trim waist, feeling her mouth grow dry at the sight of the royal bosom. She almost forgot to climb higher when she saw the woman's cleavage, two half moons of perfect skin rising from the top of a white bodice. It was a good thing she remembered herself, however. Looking back on this moment, she would not have missed the view above for anything in the world.

At first, it was difficult to make out the facial features of this lovely woman, seeing as the bronzed surface of her tiara had so perfectly captured the summer sun. Pauline could only hold her breath, waiting for the light to dissipate, waiting to see beyond this castle in the sky. And when the princess stepped forward, she finally gasped.

Wow. Kevin didn’t say you were gorgeous.

Even as the thought crossed her mind, she knew the term gorgeous didn’t even begin to describe the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, not in the slightest. How could a mere word describe this sensational beauty, whose strawberry blonde hair tumbled over her shoulders in a sweet, whimsical way? And that face. Damn, that face was doing a number on Pauline’s emotions. Those baby blue eyes made everything seem new. The soft pink hue in her cheeks left a feeling of a summer in the air, and those lips, those cherry red lips smiling so innocently in her direction... I would give anything to kiss those lips right now.

“Stop it,” she mumbled to herself, doing her best to hide such strange desires. “What are you even thinking? You like men. You have a boyfriend, and just because a beautiful princess happens to walk into your life for one day—Holy tanooki, she’s coming this way.”

Pauline snapped out of it, stepping forward and extending her hand as any good ambassador should. “Welcome to our fair city, Princess Toadstool. I hope you are enjoying your visit.”

Offering a delicate curtsy that would melt a heart of steel, the princess offered her right hand to Pauline in greeting. “Very much so, Miss...?”

It was obvious from the angle of her hand that a certain gesture was expected of the councilwoman, and it was only now that Pauline realized the princess was not wearing any fancy gloves. Her smooth fingers were exposed to the sunlight, inviting a response so wonderful that Pauline could hardly believe her luck.

While it seemed unusual to approach another woman in this manner, she ultimately decided that this was neither the time nor the place to question another’s customs. Pauline could only hope that she did not appear too eager as she grasped the royal hand, gently and ever so slowly pressing her lips to the royal fingers.

“Pauline Verducci, your highness. On behalf of the New Donk City Council, it would be my honor to show you city hall and anything your heart desires.”

As the princess did not immediately lower her hand, Pauline could not hold back from kissing it once more. A tiny spark traveled through her as she did so. For some reason, she imagined sharing this energy with the princess, who raised her eyes to Pauline and smiled warmly as she accepted this promise of something wonderful, something that would only grow with time.

“You are too kind, Miss Pauline. I am at your disposal. Please, lead the way.”

With a final curtsy to her host, the princess revealed candy red heels underneath her dress, along with a marvelous view of her perfect ankles. Pauline was not sure if the revelation meant anything, but it did nothing to dispel this feeling that fluttered inside her chest, trembling at the prospect of new life. There was no escape from the feeling as she led the princess and her entourage through the halls of white and gold. With every word that passed between them and every introduction to the history of her beloved city, Pauline found herself falling under the spell of this delightful woman.

She could not explain it. She didn’t want to explain it. She just never wanted it to end.

As Pauline guided her guest to the top floor, carefully steering the group away from the mayor's office, she felt a sudden urge to share something beautiful in return.

“Princess, you must be tired of people leading you around the city. Would you like to take a break? I know the perfect spot, and it comes with a great view.”

The princess glanced at the councilwoman, and for the first time, Pauline could see a hint of exhaustion on the woman’s face. Now that she thought about it, those were some seriously high heels she had seen under the woman's skirt. The poor thing must be wiped out, putting on a show of elegance for everyone around her. It made Pauline feel somewhat special that the princess would appear vulnerable to someone like her.

“That would be lovely,” said Princess Toadstool. “Where did you have in mind?”

“It’s right this way. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.”

While they waited on her entourage and the guards to take position, Pauline turned her attention to a red door nearby, completely unadorned save for a small keypad. She went to work on punching in the code, moving her fingers up twice, down twice, and a couple of times to either side. Once she entered the last two digits, the door swung open automatically, revealing a paradise on the other side.

“Oh my stars,” said the princess, gazing in awe at the tropical scenery all around them. Pauline loved the look of wonder on the woman’s face, her blue eyes exploring every detail of this lush greenhouse. Although she seemed timid at first, the princess soon felt at home in this astonishing landscape that was somehow contained at the top of a skyscraper. Without a moment’s hesitation, she leaned over the tropical flowers along their path. She took in the sweet fragrance of an orchid, and Pauline simply stood by her side, marveling at the beauty of Princess Toadstool.

When she found her gaze drifting recklessly down the woman’s bodice, Pauline coughed gently and turned on her heels. “Ah, can I get you anything, princess? Coffee? Tea?” Me?

Of course, she caught herself before saying that last part aloud. What was she even thinking? What would the princess think? Such a ridiculous notion!

Princess Toadstool turned her attention away from the orchid and smiled. “You mean, there are refreshments in this wonderful place, as well?”

“Of course. Mayor Kong had this greenhouse built so he would feel more at home, but it can also serve as a decent party room in a pinch. The kitchenette is top of the line. I was thinking about making a cup of cappuccino, myself.”

“Oh dear,” said the princess, her cheeks turning bright pink. “I honestly don’t know. A cappuccino does sound delicious. Would you mind making one for both of us?”

“It would be my pleasure, your highness,” said Pauline, placing her hand gently on the princess’s arm and guiding her into the room. “Besides, I promised you a magnificent view. We might as well relax and enjoy it.”

Even as she spoke, the room gradually opened up before them, revealing a glass window that stretched from floor to ceiling. Tropical trees framed this majestic panorama, a vision of New Donk City in the waning light of day. The skyline was positively breathtaking from the top floor, a silver city rising in the sun, banners and billboards and neon lights telling stories of great success and even greater passions.

“Sweet mushrooms,” said Princess Toadstool. “It’s... it’s...”

“I know,” said Pauline. “There’s something magical about the place.”

“Truly. I’ve never seen anything like it, Pauline. I can see why you’re so devoted. The city must hold a special place in your heart.”

The councilwoman felt a blush rising in her cheeks. She stepped forward, hoping the princess had not seen, but when she stood before the window and stared out at the city she loved, she knew it would be impossible to hide.

“There’s just something about it,” she said, placing her hand on the glass. “The city means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Some find it stressful, a rat race of sorts, but they miss out on the magic. Some businessmen just see a bunch of dollar signs, as if there could ever be a strong, lasting industry without caring for the people. You know what I see?”

Pauline turned from the glass and smiled at her guest, completely unaware that she was glowing in the light of this glorious skyline. “I see a place where anything can happen, where the great and small may stand on a star and blaze a trail of their own desire. I see a place that gave me a chance to be something more, and now, I want to help make this place more beautiful than anyone ever dreamed possible.”

Silence hung in the air, and the women stared at one another for what felt like an eternity. Pauline suddenly felt embarrassed. She didn’t mean to babble on, revealing her heart and all its inner workings to someone she had only just met. She hadn’t even told Kevin her true feelings about New Donk City, afraid that her peer and lover may no longer see her as a serious politician. So why on earth did she feel the need to lay her cards on the table now?

Before she could apologize for that sappy speech, Pauline found herself stepping aside to let the princess join her in front of the window. Princess Toadstool reached out, touching the glass just like Pauline, resting her palm on the handprint left behind.

She looked out at the skyline for a moment, and then she looked back at Pauline with a warm smile, filled with such wonderful promise.

“I think I see it now,” said the princess in all sincerity, “and it is magical, because I got to see it through your eyes.”

There was something else hanging in the air now, a force that tugged at Pauline, drawing her closer to this woman, and her inner voice wasn't helping. Go on. Kiss the girl.

“Princess?” The scratchy voice of a Security Toad surprised them, dissolving any sense of this newfound energy. They looked down to find the little guy holding a giant brick of a phone, with an antenna nearly as tall as he was. “We just got word. Negotiations are breaking down in the Sand Kingdom. I’m afraid you’re needed in another castle.”

A great sigh escaped from the young woman, and Pauline immediately recognized the weight of responsibility that must be hanging over someone in her position. Princess Toadstool reached out and touched the councilwoman on the arm. “I do apologize. I was hoping it could wait for a few days, and you’ve been such a lovely host.”

“Please, no need to explain. Believe me, I know what it’s like to be interrupted. We have a job to do, and there’s no way around it.”

“Yes, that is true, although I do wish...” The princess trailed off. There was something else, something important she wanted to say. Pauline could see it in her eyes. “I do hope we will meet again, Pauline Verducci. Perhaps then we can have a nice talk over a cappuccino.”

Again, there was the urge to be closer to her, to tell this woman how she felt. It would be so nice to schedule a meeting now, and if the meeting suddenly turned into a night on the town, so be it. Pauline vetoed the idea before it could flourish. Honestly, this was their first meeting, and she needed some time to grapple with all of these new feelings.

Pauline shook her head. “No worries, princess. Drop by anytime.”

Her heart did a somersault as the woman took her hand. “Please. Call me Peach.”

As Pauline watched this beautiful woman walk out of her life, perhaps forever, she still found it within herself to smile. Peach. It was sweet, somewhat whimsical, and yet it suited her guest perfectly. She had always been a dreamer, aiming for the highest position and devoting herself to the Metro Kingdom way, but now this one girl, this lovely Peach, had given her a new dream to while away the hours.

When the last Security Toad had filed out of the room, shutting the red door behind the entourage, Pauline stood before the window, gazing at the horizon and the setting sun. “Come back soon,” she whispered, but in her heart of hearts, she knew the truth.

She would not see the princess again for many, many years.

Pauline turned back to the window, preparing herself for matters of state. She would not walk out of this room like some lovesick teenager. She would face the world as a councilwoman, blazing her own trail to the top.

A final look at the skyline would do the trick. The view always made her feel powerful, and then she would turn on her heels with ambition as her guiding star.

And perhaps the next time a princess walked into her life, she would truly be on top. She would be the mayor of New Donk City.

Until we meet again... Peach.

You can read more of Pauline and Peach's ongoing romance in the AO3 series Super Lesbian Odyssey, which features a remixed version of this story.

**Warning: Series contains explicit sexual content

#peachline #princess peach #mayor pauline #pauline #fanfiction #fanfic #ao3 #archive of our own #super mario odyssey #oneshot #romance #lgbtlove #lgbt pride #lgbt fiction #lgbtq

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herrmannhalsteadproduction · 2 years

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Tagged by @sorry-i-spaced! Thanks for the fun! :D

Favorite color: If it's bright, I'm going to love it, but fuchsia has a permanent place in my heart.

Currently reading: The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling

Last song: Okay, so I was visiting my niece and we were having a singalong so the answer to this is Dinosaurs in Love. I regret nothing.

Last movie: I've been mostly watching TV lately because my attention span is horrible right now...I think the last one might have been The Lost City?

Sweet/spicy/savory: Sweet (all the cookies!!!)

Currently working on: On the fic front, I'm currently working on the next chapter for A Herrmann/Halstead Production and on the real life job front, I'm still working to meet my deadline. Going to use the fic as a carrot - let myself work on it every time I make progress on the other thing!

I'm going to tag: I feel like I'm still getting to know people so I'm just going to say if you see this and you want to participate, consider yourself tagged!

#this was fun #tag game #thanks for the tag

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campgender · 8 days

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Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley on Miss Marsha P. Johnson, transmisogynoir, and Black femme ornamentation & excess

from The Color Pynk: Black Femme Art for Survival (2022). image description below the cut.

image description: three screenshots of an ebook section titled “Star Pynk” in pink text. the excerpt reads:

Triangles, double moons, handkerchiefs, pansies, roses while we’re still here: of course, of course, so many shades of pink sing queerness without saying a word. Writing this book, I spent uncounted hours gazing at very, very queer pink pantsuits, pink eye makeup, pink ribbons, pink altars, pink survival gear, even pink HuCows. But the sources of femme pinkness that drew me in deepest... that I returned to again and again like a river... were the gowns, flowers, and aura of Stonewall veteran, activist, artist, model, and performer Marsha P. Johnson. I fell into rose-colored time warps watching her on Tourmaline’s Vimeo, Randolfe Wicker’s YouTube, and Michael Kasino’s love letter of a documentary, Pay It No Mind.

On February 14, 2019, I brought art supplies to my Femme Theory class at Harvard so students could make valentines for Miss Marsha and leave them in public places. I entreated my amazing Harvard colleague Robert Reid-Pharr, who knew Marsha in the 1980s, to tell me stories. Gifted with a chance to moderate a conversation with CeCe McDonald and Elle Moxley in February 2021, I asked these brilliant women to talk about their love for the Queen Mother. Marsha P(ay It No Mind) Johnson is the color pynk to me—the femmebodiment of all its queer nuances, loving generosity, and improbable joys.

One of Mother Marsha’s most circulated images— the header on the Marsha P. Johnson Institute website and the model for murals in Dallas, Denver, Portland, and Jersey City—shows her smiling radiantly in an off-the-shoulder fuchsia taffeta dress, haloed by a crown of roses, carnations, daisies, peonies, and baby’s breath. In one of my favorite images she poses at Gay Pride in a shimmering, rose-gold gown, crowned with a wide-open wreath of pink and red flowers and adorned with a lav- ender sash embossed stonewall. In these and other images that live on my screen, Miss Marsha is always fabulously, fantastically ornamented to the hilt in ways that look like love.

Let me be more specific, though: Mother Marsha is gorgeously or- namented in ways that look like Black love. Everyone knows Black people love shiny things, right? That “aesthetical Negroes [are] content to waste money on extravagance, ornament, and shine.” That “things that bling, shine, or shimmer, that emit light are especially privileged” in the “everyday aspirational practices of black urban communities, who make do and more with what they have, creating prestige through the resources at hand,” as art historian Krista Thompson elucidates.

In his influential, unabashedly racist 1908 treatise “Ornament and Crime,” Viennese archi- tect Adolf Loos was indulgent of so-called Kaffirs’ love of the ornamental since, unlike “modern man,” they “have no other way of attaining the high points of their existence.” Twenty-first-century racists are less tolerant of African American accumulation of “bling, shine, and shimmer.” Noting derision of Hurricane Katrina survivors’ jewelry, Humvees, Louis Vuitton bags, and flat-screen TVs, Lisa Marie Cacho observes, “Poor African Americans are not only represented as unentitled to ‘luxuries’; they are also denied the power to decide what constitutes a ‘luxury’ and the power to define what they need and what they can live without.”

Not (only) luxuries, ornaments can be lifesaving shields more resistant than levees. “The ostentatious display of things might be interpreted as a protective means. We might understand the use of material goods and the production of blinding light as a shield or apotropaic, simultaneously reflecting and deflecting the deidealizing gaze on black subjects,” Thompson offers. “The beauty of black ordinary, the beauty that resides in and animates the determination to live free, the beauty that propels the experiments in living otherwise,” Hartman states in no uncertain terms, “is not a luxury; rather it is a way of creating possibility in the space of enclosure, a radical art of subsistence, an embrace of our terribleness, a transfiguration of the given. It is a will to adorn, a proclivity for the baroque, and the love of too much.”

For Black trans women, transfeminist scholar Eve Lorane Brown describes, the beauty of black ordinary—the “extravagance, ornament, and shine” of hormone therapy, hair extensions, contouring kits, or other everyday accessories of black femme-ininity—saves lives in more immediate ways. White trans women forgo makeup, breasts, or shaved legs and walk through her majority-Black Oakland neighborhood unharassed, she notices, benefitting from residents’ knowledge that interfering with any white person risks police intervention. The same isn’t true for Black trans women.

“No matter how unclockable” a trans femme of color might be, “no matter how well she could blend in, she still carried that seed of fear about being found out . . . fetishized, ridiculed, rejected, or attacked,” Janet Mock writes. “We don’t have to search for too long to watch footage of a girl being attacked on public transit or in the restroom, or read a story about the killing of yet another black or Latina woman.” Femme tech— manicures, wigs, foundation makeup, dresses, waist trainers, handbags, hormone therapies, plastic surgeries—are “‘luxuries’ [that] may be regarded as meeting basic physiological and safety needs for African American trans women,” Brown concludes. Diving into ornament as a daily practice of beauty and safety, Treva Ellison remarks, Black trans femmes engage “the sartorial, the expressive, and the performed” with a view to “reworking and repurposing the signs, symbols, and accoutrements of Western modernity” in ways that guard against “Black femme subjection, abuse, and premature death.”

But Marsha’s pink, shiny, frilly, plastic, floral femme tech wasn’t curated to blend seamlessly with—well, anything. She stood out, always. Queen Mother wasn’t shy to walk through town half en déshabillé: “She’d be coming up Christopher Street with the rolled-down stockings, fuzzy slippers, her wig in beer-can rollers: ‘Hello, everybody! What a wo-o-onderful morning!’” Sasha McCaffrey laughs. When fully dressed— gloriously “over the top with the jewelry, flowers in her hair, very creative looking, very commanding of attention,” performer Ron Jones recalls— Marsha embodied the Black aesthetic Hartman lyricizes as the “tendency to excess, the too much, the love of the baroque; the double descriptive: down-low, Negro-brown, more great and more better; the frenzy and passion; the shine and fabulousness of ghetto girls.”

Like her spiritual daughter Tourmaline, Marsha dressed as her “fullest and freest self in the most public of places”: “I remember seeing Marsha walk down the street in a miniskirt that she had made with nothing on underneath and it was clearly see-through. Clearly!” Rick Shupper emphasizes. “She wasn’t the kind of queen you questioned her drag,” Martin Boyce explains thoughtfully. “Because she had very little. And, you know, she wasn’t a well-dressed, coordinated kind of queen. She put on what was available and what, you know, fulfilled her idea of being a woman to some extent. It was a very, very natural look—and all her own.”

end image description.

#femme #marsha p johnson #Black femme #queer femme #trans femme #queer history #Black history #transfeminism #transfem femme #Omise’eke Natasha Tinsley #the color pynk #quotes #mac’s bookshelf #racism #antiblackness #transmisogynoir #everything goes back to femme

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