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zorrasucia · 4 months

Text

Teach Me Tonight - Part 5

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Deleted Scene] [Part 4] Part 5: [Part 6] [Part 7] [Deleted Scene] [Part 8]

Reader x Carmy Berzatto (The Bear FX)

Rating: Explicit (4k)

Tags: Smut, Set sometime after the opening of The Bear, Porn with a little plot, Virgin!Carmy, Fluff, P in V sex, Rough Sex (consensual at reader's request), Facesitting, Both Carmy and Reader have a bit of a praise kink

Summary:

It was Friday, a little past nine at night and you were home alone. You had said goodbye to Carmy back at the restaurant, the frantic energy inside the kitchen a clear indicator that you wouldn't see him until the next day.

You huffed and rolled over on the mattress. You were antsy, and a little horny; thinking about what Carmy would do to you if he was there wasn't helping in the slightest. After a while of being just restless you decided to watch some porn and masturbate to get sleepy.

You started teasing over your underwear, vaguely following the vapid introduction of the video. When the couple began fucking in earnest, you touched yourself following the rhythm of their moans. You were getting wet and squirming between the sheets when you heard the front door unlock and open.

"Shit," you cursed. "Carmy?"

"Hey," he called from the hallway.

"You're back early."

"Uncle Jimmy bought out the restaurant for the evening. Forgot to tell you. We set up everything and he sent us home," he explained, then peeked inside the room. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Dunno," he got close to the bed, "you look flushed," he placed a hand over your forehead, that little wrinkle between his eyebrows showing up immediately.

You sighed; you couldn't let him worry over nothing just because you were embarrassed.

"Uh- I was watching porn and touching myself," you confessed. You handed him your phone - the screen showed a man and a woman, tastefully lit, fucking over a bed doggy style.

"Ah," he arched his eyebrows.

"I didn't know you would be home early, or I would have definitely waited for you," you bit your lip. He stayed silent for a little while. "Are you mad?"

It wouldn't be the first time that a guy felt a certain way about you watching porn - the argument was mostly about the fact that they were allowed to do it and you weren't.

"No, it's just-" he sat by you. "You never said you liked this," he gestured vaguely at the position.

"Um, I didn't think you'd be into it. When we fucked the first time you said you liked eye contact. This is sort of the opposite," you shrugged helplessly.

"Yeah, but I also fucked you from behind on the kitchen table that one time and it was fun," he reasoned.

"I thought you were only doing it for me," you realized you sounded a little silly but it was the truth. For all your willingness to try new things it had mostly involved positions where you could face each other. And you liked it. Still some secret part of you wondered what it would be like with Carmy.

"I mean, yeah, it started that way but in the end I enjoyed it too," Carmy said earnestly. "Really. I don't- I don't want you to feel like you can't tell me these things."

You blushed.

"Okay," you nodded. "Okay. Uh. I like being fucked from behind sometimes. Not always but uh- it feels good, you can get a little rough," your already wet underwear got soaked at the thought of Carmy using those strong arms of his to manhandle you a little.

Without a word, he untied his shoes and got rid of his shirt. Then, he leant over.

"Tell me what to do."

You shivered.

"Kiss me," you asked and a second later he was all over you, shoving his tongue in your mouth, getting the idea of 'a little rough' and running with it.

You started unbuttoning his trousers, shoving them and his boxers out of the way and he followed suit, tugging at fabric blindly until you were completely bare. Your hand was touching his cock idly, getting him hard.

"Put me face down on the bed," you said against his lips.

He grabbed you by the waist and maneuvered you into position, a little too gently for your taste but it was a start. You got on all fours while he rummaged the bedside table for a condom.

"Tease me," you pleaded.

He obliged. His hard cock traced figures over the lips of your pussy, almost pushing in but not quite. He lined up his cock with your entrance.

"Slow at first, slow." He took his time to fill you up. "Fuuuuuck," you keened.

There was a sharp inhale behind you and Carmy ran his fingers down your spine, to your hips and moved the last inch in a hard thrust.

"Shit, just like that," you praised.

It took him a little bit to get the hang of the position, his thrusts cautious and slow. You focused on the feeling of being full of him. You swayed your hips with his cock buried deep inside you, a challenge of sorts.

"Jesus," he panted, falling into rhythm.

It was still careful and you thrust back into him, desperate, needy.

"Harder, Carm," you whined.

He growled, getting a good grip on your waist. You moaned, your jaw dropped at the head of his cock grazing your G spot everytime.

"Right there, right there," you reached back for his thigh, giving him a reassuring squeeze that turned into you leaving scratch marks on his pale flesh.

"Do you- shit-" he stuttered, overcome with pleasure. "Do you like to have your hair pulled?"

And you would have caressed his face gently and kissed him sweetly in that moment - he had taken a glimpse at the video and he was devoted to making it real for you.

Except, well, you were on all fours being fucked senseless and absolutely wild with lust. So instead you grinded into his cock and begged:

"Yes, please, fuck, please!"

He gathered your hair in the nape of your neck and gave a tug that electrified you all the way down to your pussy. A breathy laugh escaped your lips.

"Good?" he asked.

"So fucking good, keep going," you praised and he thrust harder, every movement pushing you over the edge. "It's so good."

He grabbed your hair harder than before, pulling you until you were on your knees, flush against his chest. You moaned in surprise and bliss. His free hand immediately found your clit and teased it mercilessly until your pussy was fluttering on his cock.

"Keep going, keep going," you pleaded through your orgasm.

He held you through it, kissing your neck and shoulders with a tenderness that didn't match the wanton moans and gasps that tickled the side of your face. In your daze, you realized he was holding back for you. Carmy was thoughtful and shy and caring, but he could also be angry and mean and explosive. You knew, you had seen glimpses of him in the kitchen at rush hour.

"Carm... It's okay."

"Hmm?" It was a desperate sound - his grip on your hips was so tight that you suspected you would wake up with bruises.

"You can go as fast as you want, as hard as you need, baby," you intertwined your fingers with his. "I'll tell you if you hurt me, just-"

He dragged his teeth down the side of your neck, from your ear to your shoulder.

"You sure?" he exhaled into your skin.

"Pretty fucking sure," you touched his hair and kissed the side of his face blindly. You went back on all fours and looked back at him seductively. "You've been so good, Carmy, you deserve it."

You knew you were overselling it, but you meant it. Carmy chuckled a little, his fingers softened their grip and caressed the curve of your spine, settling back on your waist.

With barely any warning, he thrust into you, hard, knocking the wind out of you.

"Oh my God," you moaned, squeezing your eyes shut as he made you see stars with every forceful movement. He kept going, his skin clapping on yours, hitting perfectly with each stroke. "Yes, fuck!"

You felt your second orgasm approaching quickly, the punishing pace Carmy set had you gasping for air. You felt your arms give out and suddenly your face was on the comforter, your ass up, and the mattress swaying under the two of you. You squirmed and moaned, and he kept on fucking mercilessly, prolonging your orgasm until it was almost too much to bear, until your pussy was straining from squeezing around his cock. You bit on the comforter to stop yourself from screaming.

Carmy bent over on top of you, his cock still drilling into your pussy. He twisted around to kiss you - it was all teeth and tongue and desperation. Your right hand reached underneath to touch your clit. The pleasure and pain had blurred and you were pretty sure your last orgasm was turning into a third one.

"So good, so fucking good, Carm," you mumbled into his mouth, squirming, feeling his sweat mix with yours.

"Fuck, I'm gonna-" he started and you nodded eagerly.

"Yes, please, come with me," you panted, rolling your eyes when his hips started moving even faster than before. The sounds he uttered would have been enough to have you coming but there was also his hand on your throat, and his cock inside your pussy...

You came at the same time with a series of grunts and a long, high-pitched moan. His hips kept rutting into yours, making you tremble with pleasure for a while longer, not a drop of that delicious electricity gone to waste.

"You okay?" he asked, his breathing labored and his lips kissing your shoulders and spine.

"Yeah," you sighed and chuckled, satisfied. You reached out behind you to caress the nape of his neck, wet with sweat. "You?"

"Yeah." He nodded and, after a quick kiss on your shoulder, he rolled over, leaving your pussy empty and wrecked. He threw the condom to the trash and laid back, looking at you. You whined a little as you untangled from your position, thighs cramping, to lie by his side.

"You sure I wasn't too rough?" he tilted his head, cupping your face.

"It was amazing, Carm," you gave him a gentle kiss. "I think I got a little carried away, though," you added softly.

"It's fine - I liked it," he covered his face to hide a grin.

You smiled relieved and got closer to him, claiming your place between his arms.

"Thank you," you said against his collarbone. He hummed into your hair, tugging on the comforter to cover you both with it. "Carmy? Do you have one?"

"Hmm?"

"A fantasy you haven't told me about because you thought I wouldn't be into it?" you asked.

He stayed silent for a while and you looked up in search of his eyes.

"I- uh- I've been wanting you to sit on my face for months," he gulped, avoiding your gaze and the shocked face you were doing. "I didn't say anything 'cause you get all nervous and start apologizing when you squeeze me with your thighs..."

"Well, I don't want to hurt you!" you replied defensively.

"I don't mind," he blushed. "I'm kind of into it."

"Shit, Carmy," you giggled, settling back in his embrace. He held you closer. "We're definitely doing it, don't worry."

"Not now though," he said, completely exhausted.

You laughed. "No, not now," you repeated, falling asleep to the beat of his heart.

"Come on, Carmy! Come out!" you urged him from outside the changing room.

"The pants are too long," he complained. "I look fucking stupid."

He opened the curtain and walked out, wearing the vintage tuxedo you had chosen for him - midnight blue with satin accents.

"You look very handsome," you beamed, straightening the lapels of his blazer. He allowed himself a small smile.

"Just- the pants," he insisted. There were about three inches of extra fabric pooling at his feet.

"Baby, you do know that clothes can be tailored," it wasn't a question - his slacks and his favorite coat had all been professionally shortened to fit him, you knew.

"Yeah," he said, defeated.

"C'mere," you guided him to stand on a stool. You knelt by him, folding the fabric by his ankles and pinning it carefully. "What's this about?"

"I'm going to fuck it up," he said, looking at the ceiling. "I can't do that to Sydney. Let her down again," his eyes had turned a little glassy.

"Hey," you gave his calf a gentle caress. "It's gonna be okay. You're just introducing her. She's very excited about this."

He cleared his throat. "I know." That's the problem.

"Imagine if a friend had given you your award," you prompted. "Someone you looked up to, someone as excited as you were to get it."

He hummed, biting on his lip nervously.

"The only way you'd let her down would be to not show up," you said softly, then stood up to meet his gaze. "And you are showing up, right?" you cupped his face lovingly.

He nodded. He was too tall to reach standing on the stool, so you tugged on the lapels of his suit to kiss him.

"Good," you said against his lips. "I don't want to miss it - I already chose a dress for it."

"Can I see?" he asked.

"No. It's a surprise."

"You're going to be the death of me, you know that?" he said in mock annoyance.

You smiled, walking to the counter and returning with two options of bow ties and placing them near his face.

Just then, Richie walked in.

"Hi!" you greeted him. "Help us pick."

"Right one," he pointed at the wider tie.

"I agree," you said.

"Looking like a real boy, cousin!" he teased.

"Fuck you," Carmy replied without bite.

"Chef Sydney asked me to pick up her dress," Richie said. "Ever since she got that James Beard invite thing she's become such a diva."

"She kind of deserves it, though," you said. "Here you go," you handed him the gown, a seventies number with a plunging back, inside a suit bag.

"Is he gonna be ready on time?" Richie asked you.

"Count on it," you reassured him.

“Alright!” Richie hollered from the door. "See you tonight, kids!"

The drive back to Carmy's apartment had been quiet, with him only breaking the silence to lend you his coat. His hand was on your thigh, and you felt calm and safe.

"So, was it like this when you got your award?" you asked.

"Dunno, didn't go to the ceremony," he said blankly.

"Why?"

"You know me - talking in public and shit," he shrugged.

"You were scared," you realized.

He hummed, not admitting to it but not denying it either.

"You were good tonight," you squeezed his hand. "Syd looked very happy."

He smiled. "She did."

Carmy let go of your hand for a minute to park the car, his arm around your headrest.

"You look very hot when you do that," you flirted as he turned off the engine.

"Shut up," he laughed and got out of the car, racing to open the door for you.

You walked to the apartment hand in hand, enjoying the quiet of the night. You returned his coat once you were inside, helping him turn the lights on.

"You look very pretty," he said.

You leaned into his space and kissed him, the many petticoats of your fifties dress rustling as he brought you closer.

"Thank you," you whispered against Carmy's lips. You tugged on the ends of his bowtie, undone from hours ago, making him look disheveled and beautiful. You kissed a while longer, his mouth gentle against yours, and his hair going back to that familiar mess. His hands roamed your body, squeezing your waist and lifting your skirt a little.

"Wha- what's this?" he asked, his palm landing on your upper thigh.

You smiled and turned around instead of responding. "Help me with the zip."

He did. Opening the dress carefully, caressing your sides and shoulders as he helped you get out of it. Under the dress, you were wearing a lacy bra, panties, tights and garters.

"Holy shit," Carmy said, covering his mouth.

"They're vintage. You like them?" you asked, your hands brushing over the clasps on the garters, a little self-conscious with how he was staring.

"Do I-? Fuck."

He lunged forward and kissed you hungrily, holding onto the back of your thighs until your legs were around his waist and he could carry you to the bedroom. He placed you on the bed and he cupped your face, a pleading look in his blue eyes.

"Can I- Can we do it tonight, baby? Will you- Jesus- Will you fuck my face?"

It sounded like a confession, the words getting stuck in his tongue like it was something shameful. You placed your hands over his and nodded, feeling a familiar heat pool in your belly and your chest.

"Yes."

He beamed. You dragged him by the bowtie to lie on the pillows, while you straddled his hips. After he had told you about his fantasy, you looked for some videos to see what he was talking about, what he wanted and what you'd be willing to do.

"I don't want to hurt you, Carm," you said gently, caressing his chest and unbuttoning his shirt. "Is it okay- Would it be okay if we don't do it too rough?"

You felt a little guilty, since he had been so open to fuck you hard when you had asked him to.

"It’s okay. You can do as much as you want," he said, his hands caressing your thighs, tracing the edge of your garters. "I don't want you to, like, break my nose or anything," you laughed together.

"Good, I like your nose," you said softly. He sat up to kiss you and you helped him get undressed, throwing his clothes somewhere across the room. After a while of making out and grinding on your clothed pussy, he guided you upwards, to the headboard, while he kissed down your body - your chest, your belly, your hip, until he was right underneath you.

"Hi," he said, dissipating some of the tension. You grinned.

Carmy's face between your legs was a sight you couldn't get enough of, and the change of perspective was really doing it for you. His eyes were half-lidded as he kissed the inside of your thighs. His tattooed fingers moved your panties to the side; he had insisted you kept everything on.

"I'll tap your thigh three times if I want out," he said; his breath on your pussy made you shiver.

"Okay," you swayed your hips a little, already worked up from just thinking about it. "Fuck. I don't know how to do this," you said, holding on to the headboard, your knees by the sides of his face. "Promise you'll tell me if something's wrong," you said, locking eyes with Carmy.

"Promise," he said.

He pulled on your hips until your pussy was just over his mouth. He took a deep inhale and started lapping at your wetness, small licks at your clit and long strokes up and down. You rolled your eyes and let out a long moan. As he grew more confident, he held on tighter to your thighs, pulling you downwards, keeping you close.

He sucked on your entrance, which felt nice, but it would drive you insane if it was on your clit. Gently, you grinded backwards, until his mouth was right where you wanted it.

"Holy fuck," you mumbled, staying there, back arched, while his hands caressed every inch of your legs, his touch over the tights making you hum with pleasure. "That feels so nice, Carm, so nice."

He kept sucking diligently until you were on the edge of your release and then let go. You sighed, frustrated.

Carmy went back to licking gently and kissing over your pussy, almost making out with you down there. You ran one of your hands through his hair, caressing, trying to return even a fraction of the pleasure he was giving you. He tugged on one of your garters and let go, spanking your thigh. You chuckled, loving the feeling. He went faster, humming into your pussy. You squirmed and held on tighter to the headboard, still determined to not lose control. Suddenly, he stopped sucking on you, gently biting on your thighs instead.

"Use me," he said, and then went back to sucking on your entrance.

When you tilted your hips backwards, he froze, making you grind again and again. A glance behind let you know he was touching his cock and groaning. He liked it.

You shifted a little, finding a comfortable position and started riding his face in earnest, the tip of his nose grazing your clit and his tongue fully out, caressing every fold and nerve. It was so good.

"Oh, fuck," you let out desperate noises, the beginnings of a delicious orgasm building in your belly. "Caaarmyyy," you dragged the vowels of his name into a high pitched sound.

He hummed again, vibrating into you. You could feel his right arm picking up speed on his cock.

When he went back to sucking, you grabbed his face with both hands and kept him there, on your clit until you came with a scream, too caught up in ecstasy to worry that you were squeezing the sides of his head with your thighs. Everything was white, hot, and electric.

"Fuck," he mumbled, neglecting his cock to squeeze your ass and hips, licking every drop of arousal you gave him.

"You okay?" you asked from above, panting heavily.

"Yes, perfect," he replied, his eyes wide with lust. He was still kissing and touching greedily. "Turn around."

You did. His hands guided you back above his mouth, only now your clit was on his chin and you had a clear view of his erection. You leaned forward to touch his cock, give it a couple of pumps. Underneath you, Carmy squirmed with pleasure but pulled you back on his face, away from his cock. You didn't have time to argue - his mouth was devouring you, worshiping you. The wet noises he was making were driving you insane.

His right hand gave your pussy a gentle caress, taking your arousal to use it as lube to pump on his cock.

"Holy shit, Carm," you gasped - watching him, listening to him, feeling him. It was all too much and before you realized it you were coming again all over his chin. "Fuck."

The orgasm was short, leaving you more frustrated than anything else, especially compared to the one you had before. When Carmy stopped licking, you pleaded:

"One more, can I have one more, please?"

"Yes," he sighed, warm air hitting your pussy and lighting you up again.

You leaned forward, bracing on his chest while he made you lose control once more. You used the position to play with his nipples, enjoying the feeling of him moaning into you. He snapped your garters once again in retaliation, and it made you shiver. Your grinding was becoming frantic, the hand on his cock echoed your rhythm. You moved backward until his tongue was right on your clit and his nose poked lightly at your entrance. You were so close to your release it hurt.

"Right th- right there, baby," you said, one of your hands caressing his chest and the other playing with your own breasts, staring at Carmy's weeping cock.

It built up beautifully - his moans with yours, your nails teasing over lace, his fingers holding tight to the flesh of your hips. And his mouth, fuck, his mouth.

You came with a scream, thighs shaking around Carmy's head, watching him come too while still feeling the aftershocks yourself, still grinding lightly on his nose and chin.

Slowly, you dismounted, feeling like you were made of jello, weightless and giggly. Once you got face to face with Carmy you found he was smiling too. Gently, you fixed his hair and wiped his face with a tissue. You handed him another for the mess on his stomach and chest.

After, you kissed his chin, his nose and his lips multiple times, getting the tangy taste of your arousal on your tongue too.

"Thank you," you said, feeling giddy and satisfied.

He ran his fingers down your side, until they landed on your tights.

"Thank you," Carmy said, arching an eyebrow that seemed to say 'This was my fantasy, remember?'

You smiled wide and kissed him one last time.

"Shower?" you proposed.

He nodded and followed you.

[Part 6]

@th3h0nkz

#yes i need to find jesus thanks for your concern :)#carmy x reader #carmen berzatto x reader #carmy berzatto x reader #carmen berzatto fanfiction #carmen berzatto x you #carmy berzatto x you #carmy x you #replies

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dailycass-cain · 1 year

Text

Have I gotten over Batgirls ending? No, I haven't. But there are a few things that give me peace when it comes to Cass still remaining as Batgirl for the future.

This does feel different than say 2006, 2009, and 2011. I feel okay here and not this overwhelming fear of dread or concern like in either of those years. The reasons being--

#1 Spirit World has her in it and as Batgirl. Six months (so far) of Cass as Batgirl in it. I'm square with that. Do I want the series to last longer than six issues? YES! I love Alyssa Wong writing Cass and gimme more of Haining drawn-Cass, please!

Also, it looks like we're getting Dustin Nguyen variants for each issue. Took DC long enough to do more of this and if you aren't getting this series for all of the above-mentioned which is mystical antics with Cass teaming with Xanthe and Constantine-- then COME ON?!

#2 DC and more importantly WB is pushing the character. We have a variation of Cass coming next week with Batman: The Doom that Came to Gotham and of course Bat Wheels has her too!

While neither is embracing the comic version, I'm actually okay with both interpretations. Um... cute my spoilerish thoughts on that.

I really want a sequel short with an older Ka Li Cain suiting up as a Bat to combat a new mystical threat that ends up with BATman helping her. There are so many seeds throughout that showcase Kai Li is just as resourceful like Bruce was in the animated movie.

GIMME THAT FAN ART PLEASE ARTISTS!!

Then there's the James Gunn factor. The tease a month ago with him saying four characters Bleeding Cool listed should be in his universe. Cass does have good odds and the comic market might be agreeing.

Literally, searching now for Cass on eBay, the market is speccing HARD that she'll be showing up. They do get some things wrong, but my gut says this might happen. We have Cass in various things above and if is next-gen it makes sense for her to be Batgirl in Brave & the Bold.

Really my one fear is the latest teaser had Babs as Batgirl (no Cass or Steph). Literally, this was my third clue something bad was happening to Batgirls...

It also feels so wrong that each hero has a generational link save well Babs in this teaser (save to Bruce). Literally, you could've easily put Cass in there and it ease some more minds.

But that leads me to one thing. I feel like Stephanie Brown is getting the short straw. I love the character, and I feel like if someone is getting shorted it's her sadly.

Cass has so much going still, but Steph? *cricket chirps* Literally, she should be involved in a comic too and I guess all we have is her helping Jason in the Joker ongoing.

Again, I feel like DC Comics fumbled the ball with Batgirls, particularly with Babs in those early issues, and because of that it never caught on until the later ones.

I don't mind Babs in Nightwing as Batgirl or Oracle. I've more at peace of her balancing BOTH identities. Just that when she becomes Batgirl it SHOULD be a "business has about to have picked up" moment.

Babs as Batgirl shouldn't job (and if she is it's something she shouldn't have a chance against aka what Batman vs. Robin did last month. I can’t believe I’m saying something positive on this comic).

It should be treated as a MOMENT. Really #13 gave us just that. A moment where Bruce/Babs/Zee helped out Cass/Steph. Also the tease in this week's issue is also good (more on that another day).

The biggest problem Batgirls had in those early issues was Babs stealing the spotlight from Cass/Steph and Seer in #5-8). If you had Cass/Steph beating the Saints, Tutor, and Spellbinder. Add depth to Seer in #7-8?

We might have talked differently about this comic. But I'm not gonna fault the writers. They were given things beyond their control and did the best they could.

Clearly, #9 to now shows they can deliver some good stuff. The problem is... a good chunk bailed prior. I just wish DC gave Batgirls a better chance. I think all three characters are OWED that. After all the shenanigans done to them in the last TWENTY YEARS.

But the stuff I said earlier does make me feel at least comfortable that Cass can boomerang back. Because as I said numerous times over.

I'll cherish these next issues more so now. If this truly is the end of this comic. Because this comic for all its faults was a GIFT. May not have been a flawless one it still was a gift. I'll keep treasuring it. #Batgirls4life.

#dc comics #BATGIRLS4EVER #cassandra cain #stephanie brown #barbara gordon

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ackalice · 7 months

Note

Hiiiiiii how are ya?? :D Been a while, sorry I've been sucked into another fandom lol Anyways I found this and thought: why not ask my fren! :3 Here's an ask thing

1. who's your favorite oc?

2. who was your first oc?

3. how many ocs do you have?

4. have you kept all of your

ocs since the beginning?

5. are any of your ocs based

off of a show/book you like?

if so, who?

6. what is the species of the

majority of your ocs?

7. are any of your ocs an

original species? if so,

what's the species and who?

8. if you can, draw (oc name)!

9. write a few sentences as

(oc name)!

10. are any of your ocs part

of a story? if so, what is it

about and who's in it?

11. do you have any twin ocs?

12. are any of your ocs

siblings?

13. what is the gender of the

majority of your ocs?

14. make up a new oc right now

based on (concept/show/color/

etc.)!

15. would you ever give up any

of your ocs?

16. who is your oldest oc

(age-wise)?

17. have you ever roleplayed

as your ocs?

18. how many of your ocs were

adopted from someone else?

19. who is your least favorite

oc?

20. which oc do you think has

changed the most since you

made them?

21. who is your newest oc?

22. have you ever cosplayed

your own ocs? if so, who?

23. which oc do you think has

affected you the most as youve

grown with them?

24. have you gotten cosplayers

of your ocs? if so, of whom?

25. do you have any ocs that

you havent drawn/written as/

talked about in a long time?

if so, who?

(Please ignore this if you either don't want to answer or have had this sent to you already)

OH MY GAWD THE QUESTIONS

Hi meelu!! I’ve been alright, just very inactive because of busy busy life stuff- but I saw this pop up and I wanna answer dis cuz I luv u my moot!

Alrighty anyway OC QUESTIONS MY FAVORITE!!

1. Favorite oc: my favorite oc out of all of them? Uhhhh good god- I’m gonna say my favorite is my very first oc, C.J., because she was a very big part of my early art journey. And also she was very cringy and I love her for it.

2. First oc: whoops I answered this- it was C.J.! She was a generic fox girl I made when I was a very itty bitty kid.

3. How many ocs: don’t judge me here- from what I counted just now it’s 56. There could be more that I’m forgetting, so it’s pretty iffy. But I do remember that the number got up to 60 at some point.

4. Have you kept all your ocs since the beginning: Despite how many I have, it’ll be a surprise to hear that I have actually retired a bunch. And by a punch I mean probably over 15. This does include C.J. And her band but only because I felt like I wasn’t using her enough and she had done her part for me.

5. Are any of your ocs based on a show or book: HELL YEAH! God, dude there’s a lot. Well- I say a lot but it’s not 56 a lot- anyway-

I made warrior cat ocs, like anyone, but those were retired. I based a series I have, Remnant, off of magic girl shows but it’s too far from any of them to be directly from those media. There’s The Owl House, which was several ocs I never continued using (and I’m sad I never did), there was a Brand New Animal oc I scrapped, and of course there are more that didn’t leave the sketch phase.

I guess you could count fnaf, but that’s a given.

I also had some Helluva Boss ocs that I have sketches for and even started a comic for- but when I say a comic I mean half a page was finished and I lost motivation.

Good lord I just remembered I had a whole mlp next gen. So I made a crap ton of mlp ocs- anyway-

But then you delve into two of my favorite shows and you go down a rabbit hole of history I’m not going into- which is My Hero Academia and Tmnt. I’m saying Tmnt in general because I’ve put my ocs into several shows in the franchise. Tmnt has ocs I’ve mentioned before on this blog and MHA has seven ocs of mine, that’s Jejeru, Kami, Kai, Kianami, Marikaida, and Chinatsu. I’ve fallen out of the fandom but I might use them in future, who knows!

6. What is the species of a majority of your ocs: Okay. So. This question is very hard to explain because I delve into some WACK species genetics with my ocs- Remnant is literally based on splicing genetics. But if we are being honest, most of them either started out or were, at the beginning of their story, human. So I’m gonna go with human. The second place runner is definitely an animal crossed with a human though because those are just fun.

7. Are any of your ocs an original species: Yes, actually! I’ve got several. Not that they have names or official species types or backstories or anything, but they sure are there. I’m gonna describe random characters I’ve put together with no specific species in mind.

Lufoa, an oc I did a ramble on a while ago, is not crossed with any known animal. That’s actually part of her story, but I haven’t worked it in yet. Another I could count is Artemis, but I don’t know exactly what she is- I haven’t explained it yet. There’s also my oc Alice, (NOT A SELF INSERT) who’s some kind of demon. I dunno what kind but she’s also there.

!INTERJECTION!

I’m gonna be skipping 8 and 9 because I’m running very low on the creative juice and haven’t drawn or written for fun in a WHILE and just don’t have any motivation for it- I’m so sorry abt it but I’ll answer the rest gladly!

10. Are any of your ocs part of a story: Quite a few of them are, actually! The one’s based on tv shows and books are obviously apart of one, but I’ve got a few I’ve made up on my own. There’s Remnant, the big magical girl-ish show series about teens participating in a high grade school and also accepting genetics testing to be apart of the military (main character is not aware of this second part in the slightest, woOooOoo plot~). I’ve got Midnight Misteps, which is a similar concept but it’s the apocalypse and new species and monsters and cryptdids roam around while our main cast tries to rebuild society again. I have Vivian and Fin, the two characters I don’t have a series name for yet where Viv meets a demon through accidental circumstances but turns out it’s not accidental and she’s been kidnapped by literal Hell but she doesn’t know for a majority of her time down there. And then you’ve got Camila, the rich pink and proper girl who meets secret agent Thomas under the impression he’s just a grouchy guy and then gets roped into a big gang conspiracy in her town and has to avoid these dangers with her new cop buddy all while in heels.

So yeah I’m doing great with work in progress projects

11. Do you have any twin ocs: yes! I’ve got one set, and they’re fnaf ocs, if you can imagine it. I reworked a sister location oc around a few months ago and doubled her into two people! That’s Frankie and Danny, the sweetheart engineers! One of them isn’t a sweetheart, but yadda yadda, plot and story stuff- I’m movin’ on!

12. Are any of your ocs siblings: oh. My. God. Yes. It would be very hard for me to pick them all out and name them, but let’s just say yes. Yes, there are many. I’ve got one set of sextuplets in there somewhere-

13. What is the gender of most of your ocs: Female. It’s so female it’s unfair. I’ve been getting better at this, but I still prefer drawing women over men and I have no idea why?? It’s nothing negative or anything- I just think I started drawing girls and just kept drawing girls and completely missed the boat I had to jump onto to draw guys anatomy correctly. But I’m getting better!

14. Skipped again because creative juices….aughhhhhhh….I’m tired of not having energy to draw ;-;

15. Would you ever give up any of your ocs: Okay I’m gonna assume this is talking about giving up an oc to another person- like an adopt situation- and uh no. I don’t think I would be able to do that just because I have emotional connections to literally all of them. I love them too much to just hand over their birth certificate, y’know?

16. Who is your oldest oc (age wise): oh hah. Okay, so I’m inclined to say C.J., because I ended her story with a cute little story of her growing old with her partner in a little cottage in the countryside- but! I’m gonna give this one to Paula Fidreas, a Remnant oc, because she is quite literally in her 50’s as of the start of the story. In the simplest terms, she’s a PE teacher.

17. Have you ever roleplayed as your ocs: Yes! C.J. Was actually made from a role play! And I think I’ve role played as Camila before, but that memory is a bit fuzzy.

18. How many of your ocs were adopted from someone else: None of em’! They’re mah babies, tried and true.

19. Who is your least favorite oc: I don’t count her in my oc count but Adelaide’s adoptive mom is definitely my least favorite. As a character she has a purpose in the story but I would never use her again or draw her in detail. I don’t know, she’s just there for character development at the moment.

20. Which oc has changed the most since you made them: Vivian. Definitely Vivian. Not just because she’s the oldest of I still use, but she’s also went from a brown haired girl with zero personality and a boyfriend to a troubled teenager who is too weird and different to have friends so she seeks out companionship in the land of the dead.

21. Who is your newest oc: I mentioned them earlier and this totally breaks the abruptness of me mentioning them once out of nowhere, but the sextuplets are my newest ocs. Out of all of them, Orion is the newest because I came up with his concept first.

22. Have you ever cosplayed your own ocs: Alas, I’ve never had the determination nor the money nor the confidence to do such a thing, BUT I ALMOST DID. When I was little I almost cosplayed C.J. Because I had no other ideas for a halloween costume. I didn’t end up doing it because I chickened out. Kinda wish I did though..

23. Which oc has effected you the most as you’ve grown with them: I’m gonna give this one to Alice, actually. She’s the basis of my online persona and username, if you couldn’t tell- and she was with me through quarantine. That was a joke, but no really, she consumed my art that last year.

24. Have you gotten cosplayers of your ocs: No, lol- I don’t know near enough people or anyone who would do it. And if anyone did do it, I would be dead upon seeing or hearing it because OH MY GOD?? You thought my art was good enough to put time and money into a COSPLAY?? THANK YOU???? We’re getting married. Put on the ring.

25. Do you have any ocs you haven’t used in a long time: y e a h… I haven’t ever mentioned Pepper here. She’s uh…okay- imagine Entrapta from She-ra but ten times worse and no moral code. Evil scientist. That’s all I have to say here.

MEELU THANK YOU I NEEDED SOMETHING TO DO LOL

I’ve been off tumblr for a while bro thank you for bringing me these! They were so fun <3

#mutuals #mutual shenanigans #ask #ask game #insta thought #oc

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lichfucker · 6 months

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Twenty questions for fic writers

tagged by @bisexualshakespeare !! ty archer 🫀

guess I'll tag @jaynovz @asterofthevoid and @grasslandgirl

this is gonna get long so I am just putting it under a readmore from the jump lmao

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

ten if you include music. eight if you don't

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

103,601

3. What fandoms do you write for?

black sails, community, the fetch phillips archives, and ted lasso. I used to have a cr fic too but I orphaned it bc uhh fuck that noise. on my old account in high school I wrote for community, homestuck, dangan ronpa, and hp :/ but we don't talk abt that account lmao

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Sanguine - Ted Lasso, Trent/Ted, M - my vampire!trent au! g-d I still adore this fic in my bones. not surprised at all that it's my most popular by a wide margin; this is the biggest fandom I've written for, and I wrote it at the peak of the show's popularity. I'd like to believe it's worth the hype lmao

Five Girls Annie Almost Kissed and One She Did - Community, Annie/Annie Kim, T - canon-compliant lesbian!annie thesis. an exploration of annie's romantic life from adolescence through season three with a LOT of autobiographical projection lmao. I looked back at my own life and thought, "yeah, that happened to annie too" dflsdf this fic will always be precious to me

Crawl 'Til Dawn - Community, Annie/Britta, M - oh, look, another vampire au! well. this one came first. this is the oldest fic on my account-- I wrote the first seven chapters in the fall of 2016, posted them in early 2017, and then stalled out finishing it until fall of 2021. it's the fic that got me back into writing. the five-year gap is palpable, I think. I'd write it very differently now than I did then. there's something really charming in that, I think

Ner Tamid - Black Sails, Silver/Muldoon implied but it's mostly gen, M - I'm at the jewish!silver character study. I'm at the doldrums cannibalism fic. I'm at the combination jewish!silver character study doldrums cannibalism fic. I had An Episode the night before my mom's birthday, went into A State, and wrote this in one ten-hour sitting. I think it is perfect. wouldn't change a single word

Through His Stomach - Black Sails, FlintHam and SilverFlint and SilverFlintHam in a weird proxy way, E - my magnum fucking opus. dark fairytale hag au. we are two weeks out from this fic's first birthday. at this rate it'll be another four years before I finish it. I learned how to write smut for this fic. the pride I have in this fic is obscene. this is the quintessence of me

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

yes! I do! I respond to every single comment! because I like getting comments and I appreciate the people who take the time to leave comments and I want to show them my appreciation by thanking them for their comments! and also because I can't shut up and I will take any excuse to talk about my own work! if you mention one thing offhandedly in a comment I am replying with an entire paragraph about that thing

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

ooh, this is a tricky one. the obvious answer is Cold, Dark, Depraved, but that one's SO angsty all the way through that the ending is rather... cold and dispassionate by comparison. the other answer is Ner Tamid but I suppose that depends on your definition of angst. there's an air of resoluteness to the ending; it isn't particularly fraught, it's just horrific

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

hmm. Sanguine, Five Girls, and Crawl 'Til Dawn all end with a getting-together (well, in CTD it happens a bit before the ending, but still). Five Girls has the element of self-acceptance and the confidence to live the rest of your life open and free and unburdened, but Crawl 'Til Dawn has the element of murdering your evil ex and then riding off into the sunset. guess it depends on which makes you happier lmao

8. Do you get hate on fics?

no? I write niche enough stuff that nobody's gonna read it if they're not into it

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

as of this year I do! I've been writing fic for over half my life at this point and I was so certain for so long that I would never be comfortable writing smut. and then I came to a scene in hagfic that I knew would hit so much harder if the characters were having sex. so I resigned myself to my fate and I fought through the embarrassment and now look at me. I'm a certified pervert

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

no and I don't like reading them, either

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that I know of

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

one of the homestuck fics I wrote in high school got translated into russian but, again, we don't talk about that account

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

nope

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

how the fuck am I supposed to answer this. how can I possibly choose. obviously the answer is jeff/britta but how do you expect me to pick

15. What’s a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I am still holding onto the belief that someday I will write To Cross Running Water, my sprawling black sails canon retelling where everything is the same except flint is a vampire. I refuse to let myself think I will die not having written it.

the actual answer is Say It Out Loud, my other trent/ted vampire au where ted is the vampire this time. I started writing it at the same time I started Sanguine-- literally the exact same moment. I had two word documents open in split screen. then I went all-in on Sanguine for a month (still insane to me that I finished it in a month) and I swore Say It Out Loud was gonna be shorter and faster and sillier, but then. I moved so slowly. and it got bigger and bigger. I got 30k into it-- thirty thousand words into it-- before season three came out. then s3 aired and it was so bad it killed all my enthusiasm for the show, and I really do not know if I'll ever bring myself to finish the fic now. I think it would have ended up being another 15k or so. I'd like to hold out hope that I'll go back to it but the hope diminishes every day

16. What are your writing strengths?

MOOD. mood. tone and mood. florid description. the rhythmic flow of the language-- cadence and meter are so ingrained in my mind; if it SOUNDS wrong, it IS wrong. I have a strong command of language and I can set a lush and vivid scene. and I need to do very little editing. it just springs out from my brain fully-formed like athena from the skull of zeus

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

plot. concision. speed

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

it's neat when other people do it but I don't know any other languages and I'm not gonna embarrass myself by relying on google translate or w/e

19. First fandom you wrote for?

hp unfortunately 😔

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

hagfic. Through His Stomach. it's not even a question. like. are you joking. it's hagfic. except for when it's Ner Tamid

#I gotta rewatch community and write some weird stilted toxic jb smut 😔😔#there's a bit of jb in ctd but that doesn't count. I haven't written true jb in a decade #bluh bluh #thanks archer #through his stomach tag #sanguine tag #say it out loud tag #cdd tag

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rebelwhodoesntknow · 10 months

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Tbh it sucks because Friends is so special to me but it tanked, actually got canceled unlike the other gens, the arcade game and merch sales weren't doing it so they tried to rework the series for the next gen

Aikatsu on Parade and all it's merchandise was partly an attempt to scrape up more money for Planet's release but??? I don't think it worked??? the first couple episodes mention all these really cool ideas about their idol world and then nothing came of it, it was a cute concept but I really think they just fell reaaally under budget and tried to skate by hoping nobody noticed

ever since Stars things have just been kind of mismanaged 😭 like why is the majority of their merch acrylic character stands?? you are a trading card rhythm game for 8 year olds 😭

I LOVE how diverse the music is!!!!! all the "standard idol stuff" really stands out too imo. Signalize was one of my favorites from the start, it just hits so different, most idol anime start with that extra sparkly guitar happy type of song but the instrumental for signalize was so unique, I always thought it was a bold choice for a show like that their rock music is so good. like so so gooddddd

I swear out of the like 700 songs of this series there are maybe 6 I don't enjoy?? ALSO WOW THATS A LOT

Same about the animation, OG s2-onward & Friends was great!!! I also love in the movie when Ichigo performs Kagayaki no Etude, there's a slow spinning scene when she's talking on stage about what the song means to her and every couple seconds it switches from 2d to cg angles and it's so seamless, I love it 😭💗

I think Planet's cg was also beautiful, I don't have much of an attatchment to the season but the character designs look really nice, good fluffy hair physics, and they've TOTALLY perfected the in-the-dark glowy look by then!!

another thing most of the fandom agreed on, Stars feeling kind of uncanny.. and the auras kept covering idols art certain parts so that's why they changed all the arches early on, they ACTUALLY got written complaints from kids 😭😂

I always wanted to see an idol with no type or a couple!!! Before Kaguya was introduced there was a huge theory going around that she was actually a Sexy/Cool type and since pairs were the point of Friends, we thought we were finally getting double type girls

I also wished the concept of my coords was used in more than that one ichigo gen ep, where you mix up brandless pieces, one of my favorite things to do is mix and match outfits in the ds games so I was hoping to see like idk maybe soleil could split their PR coords together one time or something??? idk would have been cool though!!

Ugh I do agree with you on the merchandise. Like I can’t play any of the card-based games because America so the cards would basically be glorified trading cards. This might be my doll collector brain talking, but why didn’t they make fashion dolls? I know they did for Friends but they didn’t expand on the concept at all, they just made two dolls. I want to see the girls in their basic coords and then fashion packs for each brand, like a set of multiple Futuring Girl rares or just one PR. I would have gone absolutely apeshit for that. It would also allow for mixing and matching, so maybe it could have tied into the show a lot more like with the concept of PR mixing you brought up! I feel like most PRs in units work pretty well together so I’d like to see the mix ups.

Yeah, I really do not care for planet. I think it really didn’t work, and was an awful lot like PriPara when it didn’t need to be! While the cg is admittedly gorgeous, I also feel like it tried to be so ✨aesthetic✨ all of a sudden instead of being bright and colorful like it’s always been! But maybe I just hate change.

I’ve heard that a lot of people find Raki to be a Mary Sue and hate the way she copied the designs of others. I don’t know enough about her to form an opinion, really, but what do you think?

I love the fact that the kids complained during Stars. They may be kids, but they have standards!!

I think double type idols would be super cool and really flesh out the world. Tbh I think there could be a few idols that could be double typed with only a few minor tweaks (I always thought Mikuru was a pop/sexy idol tbh). One thing I think would be interesting is to see how brands would react to it. Brands appreciate dedication, so would dual type idols have a hard time getting PRs because the pure-type brands would worry about being thrown aside? Cool conflict imo.

Now I have to ask, are the ds games any good? Are they able to be played as someone who speaks absolutely no Japanese? I’ve never really thought about getting one of the games before because I have no clue how they work

#aikatsu #this is so fun I love talking about this

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anyways-wonderwall · 6 months

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Album of the Week #67

Hot Pink

(2019)

by Doja Cat

Overall Rating: 7/10

TL;DR: The album shows a lot of promise that hides itself in boring sound-a-like songs, but the ones that are good are incredible.

(The cover matches the name and the sexiness of the album. It's not sleek but its fun 8/10)

Overall Thoughts

For the first time in my life, I agree with Robert Christgau. While I don’t agree with the fact that he gave this album an A- (its not that good), he said that “she doesn’t write love songs, she writes sex songs” which i think is a really good way of describing this album. Once again there is noticeably more rap in this album than previous ones, and she’s starting to actually become good at it. I mean there is definitely room for her to be better (something that applies to the stuff she puts out now) but for the first time in her music I am nodding my head when she raps, actually wanting to listen to what she is saying.

Funnily enough her rapping is one of the main things in this album I have to critique. To this day I find her rapping voice a tinsy bit grating, but not enough that it takes away from the music (especially if she’s being sincere, its the insincere voice that annoys me). In this album it doesn’t seem like she’s fully figured it how to transition between these two modes of herself yet, and you’re left with angelic singing then rapping so abrasive it feels like it must be a joke. The lyrics of these songs sometimes aren’t though, which kind of leaves you confused.

This album has some pretty good highs though. I still think that “Say So” is one of her best songs, a perfect pop creation that does the neo-disco thing so well. If it comes on I legally have to dance, and that’s how you know you have a good song right there. I also ended up LOVING “Rules” and have had it on repeat. The guitar and bass working together in the backing track just glides out of your speakers and she is able to rap over it so well. If I recommend any song out of this album its this one because it matches the vibe of the album much more than “Say So” does.

Honestly those two songs kind of doom the rest of the album because they’re just so much better. “Rules” shows you what she’s actually capable of vocally and in mixing, so when a song like “Bottom Bitch” follows it with a weird sample of “What’s My Age Again” that made me feel like I was listening to a Gen-Z remix of Weezer with horrific autotune. The album gives its hits early then kind of putters out, ending with “Juicy” which was a single put on the previous album. None of these songs are particularly egregious, they’re just boring and make you want to stop listening, because you know you’ve already heard the best she has to offer.

Final Thoughts

It is pretty obvious reviewing this that this is the pivot moment in her career. The album shows a lot of promise that hides itself in boring sound-a-like songs, but the ones that are good are incredible. I’m being a jerk and grading this like that teacher who says “I know you can do better.”

Next week's review: Planet Her (2021) by Doja Cat

#album of the week #album review #music review #album recommendation #music recommendation #album 67 #doja cat #hot pink

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whirlwindsworld · 1 year

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I posted 11,925 times in 2022

23 posts created (0%)

11,902 posts reblogged (100%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@phoenixfire-thewizardgoddess

@ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2

@morganzephyr

@the-dork-web

@in-an-ecotone

I tagged 305 of my posts in 2022

#ml spoilers - 47 posts

#dndads spoilers - 21 posts

#woe.begone - 20 posts

#wbg - 16 posts

#my art - 11 posts

#the owl house - 9 posts

#unreality - 8 posts

#tdp s4 spoilers - 7 posts

#dndads - 6 posts

#mike walters - 6 posts

Longest Tag: 138 characters

#jesse we need to go get some food for the first day of the park tomorrow at the church center for the first church in church and then park

My Top Posts in 2022:

Dndads s2 spoilers

I am thinking again. Gen 4 dads with newborn infants or toddlers. The idea that their kids will have to grow up under the doodler…. They won’t even have good early childhood memories to fall back on like their parents did. It would be all they would ever know. Their is some real Adult Fear there.

I do get why they condemned the people of Faerun. Then the sunk cost fallacy kicks in. Who would you condemn to protect your children? Another realm, full of demons? But its your friend, your brother’s home. Him as well then? Well okay, you’ve betrayed your own, but he also forced your hand right? And you’ll look out for his kid maybe.

Now the enemy is back. Everything and everyone you have destroyed to save your children threatens to be for nothing. Do you do it all again? Delaying it, and passing it down like it was passed down to you? Or do you end it? You can’t undo the damage done. But you can stop the casualties from becoming exponential.

It will end here. Your children will not inherit it as you once did. They will given what you never truly received. Time to heal.

16 notes - Posted October 5, 2022

We all thought Ron was alone. That when Willy tried to drown him, Ron was alone and no one protected him.

And while it doesn’t change how Ron felt as a child, or the original narrative arc from season one…

I think its still important that the Doodler was there. That it wanted to protect Ron. That even a supposedly eldritch horror could see that a child should be protected.

The Doodler could see what Willy never could.

20 notes - Posted December 1, 2022

So I’ve been on Doctor Who hiatus while the current show runner does his thing. It just hasn’t been for me and that’s fine.

But I was invited to watch Eve of the Daleks last night and uh, might have to start actually caring again because holy this got gay and I was not expecting it!

22 notes - Posted January 2, 2022

I wasn’t an autistic!Link truther until this episode’s dad facts.

37 notes - Posted September 6, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Wednesday Spoilers!

Yeah they better give Tyler some space and respect and let him grow into his own person next season or I will be rioting.

He was failed by his father and taken advantage of so severally by a woman who only saw him as a tool, a weapon, a slave.

She targeted him, drugged him, chained him up, and tortured him. I don’t think his monologue and violent talk to Wednesday was in an any way indicative of this just being who he is now.

I think its part of the super weird and creepy bond that Laurel forced on him. The loyalty and all that.

I want to see him get better. I really hope he’s not just “the monster” now.

And you know, I get that he wasn’t a great love interest. I don’t particularly want Wednesday and Tyler to get back together in the event of a recovery arc. But!

I’m a sucker for stories that show the fact that boys and men can be victims of abuse too. He deserves some good screen time to just be his person again.

88 notes - Posted November 26, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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mynameischalie · 2 years

Text

Pup with Sheer Mag and Pink Shift @ The Electric Factory 5/6/22

Before I dive right into my review I like to reflect on some thoughts about the band PUP. They have made huge strides as a band and have garner lots of attention. PUP has made a knack for turning their depression, self loathing ways into a lively party. Obviously from what I saw last night they have connected with a certain type of listener. Their music clicks for someone going through some shit is what I’m trying to say. I think back to the bands before them that connected with peoples’ emotional struggles (Alkaline Trio... one of my favorite bands and a band where you can almost guess that someone has their heart logo tattoed on their body, Bright Eyes, more recently the Wonder Years, and Joyce Manor) It sounds corny but a lot of these bands I mentioned gives people a shared experience and if you combine that with the early to mid 20s blues, you have a band in PUP that is taking the scene by storm by sticking to that winning formula.

My night began by waiting patiently for this show to even start. Doors were at 7:30 but it took till 8:30 to finally get the first band on stage. That first band was Baltimore’s Pink Shift. Pink Shift is led by lead singer Ashrita Kumar who has a quiet confidence of controlling the crowd on stage. She asked us several times if we were angry tonight and well my rebuttal is if you aren’t angry are you really paying attention? She might be tiny but she’s firey!! If you’re wondering about their sound it’s another one of those pop punk bands where My Chemical Romance is the culprit of their influences. Also in play is the continued grunge revival that seems to be trendy with a lot of the newer bands going right now. Personally, the grunge thing needs to stay in the 90s but that’s just one man’s opinion. I have to give Pink Shift credit as their guitarist could shred and their drummer was exceptional! I could watch that guy drum all night. There was your usual go to topics that come up in punk for example “Getting out of my face” and a song entitled “I’m gonna tell my therapist about you”. Seeing that I currently work with high school students this defintely radiates the energy of Gen Z people. They are super senstive but I will say they are EXTREMELY self aware. I appreciated Pink Shift. They are a young band, and will continue to grow but I wish them the best.

Philadelphia’s Sheer Mag took the stage next. Sheer Mag wasn’t really my thing. I don’t have much love for 80s butt rock and that’s pretty much their whole shtick. Their members rock 70s mustaches and look like they came straight out of your hipster Fishtown bar! That’s not a knock it’s just my observation being in the crowd. The singing after awhile from vocalist Tina Halladay kinda wore on me as a listener. It’s that same screeching raspy “rock n roll” voice but it’s for every song. Also at least live I was left rather bored by them. I wanted PUP to come on which they did.

PUP came out to the “The NBA on NBC” theme which just got their set off to the right start. Instantly the room was alive and people started losing their shit. PUP rocked this bitch, that’s basically the exact thought that came to my mind. It’s a wonderful thing seeing a band absolutely crushing it live and that’s what I got to experience. Like I mentioned before, PUP has taken their self loathing ways and turned it into a party. The band was mindful to look out for the crowd often reminding people to help others if they fall. I always appreciated that mindset because this punk community should have those ethos where we try to help others. As for the setlist PUP played a little bit of everything from their four albums. The crowd was loud and into it the entire time they were on stage. I swear to you the hour they were on stage flew by and they reminded the crowd their philsophy of encores being lame so they just carried on with a “fake encore” that worked out well. If this band comes to your city you have to go see them because they are easily one of the more exciting live acts going now. I thought this set by PUP was incredible and one of the best I watched in 2022.

Four Chords

Totally Fine

My Life Is Over and I Couldn't Be Happier

Guilt Trip

Free at Last

Sleep in the Heat

Robot Writes a Love Song

Reservoir

Edmonton

Matilda

If This Tour Doesn't Kill You, I Will

DVP

Scorpion Hill

See You at Your Funeral

Waiting

Familiar Patterns

PUPTHEBAND Inc. Is Filing for Bankruptcy

Morbid Stuff

Kids

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absolutebl · 3 years

Text

Top 10 BLs without an HEA still worth watching & the 3 that will wreck you

I came to BL via the Thai oeuvre and as such I initially thought one of BL’s defining features was a guaranteed “happy ever after,” like modern day romance novels. It remains one of the things I personally look for and rate highly in BL. But it actually isn’t a requirement of the genre.

There are a few offerings out there that even HEA obsessed self, still thinks are satisfying and worth watching, even though they don’t include a strictly happy ending.

Top 10 Non HEA BLs

1. Ingredients the series (Thailand) - the characters end up a couple but apart, since one of them is going away to pursue his dreams, it’s understood (but not depicted) that they will eventually be reunited.

2. Addicted Heroin (China) - the show was censored mid run so it remains unfinished. If you stop watching after the main sex scene in the final episode it makes for a pretty solid HFN ending. If you don’t stop, it just sets up the next plot point that never happened.

3. 2 Moons 2 (Thailand) - is kind of a must watch for Thai BL because the original source material is one of the most popular BL novels in Thailand and is responsible for many Thai BL tropes (like pink milk and sharing an umbrella). The main couple PhaYo is the least interesting. They get together, only to then end on a cliff hanger, which is why 2M2 is on this list. However, no one watches for PhaYo. We all watch for ForthBeam and MingKit and both of these side couples get HEAs.

4. Gen Y the series (Thailand) - a bloated drunken mess of a show but the main couple MarkKit is wonderful, full of super saccharine cheese while simultaneously poking fun at Thai BL tropes. It’s the opposite of 2 Moons 2 in that the main couple ends up HEA but all the side couples are left up in the air.

5. HIStory 3: Trapped (Taiwan) - is a great mafia action romance, and while the main couple ends up together, they’re anticipating forced separation, so it’s HFN. The fantastic side couple ends up HEA, though.

6. Silhouette of Your Voice AKA Hidamari ga Kikoeru (Japan) - a beautiful sweet slow burn romance between a grumpy seme who is going deaf and the loud sunshine uke who is one of the only people he can still hear. The ending is amorphous, we aren’t sure if they will get together or not.

7. My Tee AKA Cause You’re My Boy (Thailand) - such a confusing show told partly in flashbacks but without distinguishing those flashbacks so you’re never sure exactly what's going on. The story and directing are bonkers but the characters are awkwardly endearing. The main couple ends up HFN but at medical risk. This is probably only worth watching if you are a fan of the early Thai BL high school shows (Love Sick, Make it Right) and the pulps that followed them. What’s good is that these two were given a follow up Our Skyy with an HEA.

8. My Dear Loser: Edge of 17 (Thailand) - the BL arc is for a side couple but they are a GREAT side couple. If you slogged through Puppy Honey for OffGun or Kiss Me Again for TayNew then you can do MDL17 for PluemChimon. This is one of the better high school offerings. The main couple (het) ends up HEA but our boys end up HFN. However, these characters were also given a follow up Our Skyy that solved everything.

9. HIStory: Stay Away from Me (Taiwan) - technically speaking this one is HEA, it’s just that they don’t really end on a kiss, but more platonically together and since this is a stepbrother trope that make the whole thing a bit amorphous. Of all the HIStory series, many of which could have done with second seasons, I really wish this one was the one that got one.

10. Advance Bravely (China) - the second major victim of censoring after Addicted, if you love WoH you owe it to yourself to watch Gong Jun playing the spoiled rich kid sunshine uke role against an utra buff hot bodyguard grumpy seme. If it helps, GJ still has his fuck-off fan. The ending is straight up WEIRD but basically HFN?

New 2023 addition:

I Feel You Linger in the Air (Thai ) - I truly loved this time travel romance. IFYLITA is an exquisite BL, from filming techniques to narrative framework (much like Until We Meet Again). Steeped in history and family drama it edges into lakorn (but no as much as To Sir With Love and with way less scenery chewing). This is an elegant and classy BL... from Thailand which normally doesn't even try for classy. The main couple (both as a pair and individuals) were excellent, particularly Bright (Yai) whose eye-work acting style is a personal favorite of mine. Pity about the ending. Oh it wasn’t that sad but it wasn’t good either. This show should easily have earned a 10 from me except that it fumbled the… erm… balls. Argh. Whatever. More here.

(I do not include shows like Love Sick or Make it Right where the second season solved the non HEA of the first.)

3 BLs That Will Destroy You

These are fantastic BLs that have extremely tragic endings. Each one starts out so perfectly gloriously BL that if you end up watching them to their conclusion they might actually wreck your psyche.

1. HIStory 3: Make Our Day’s Count (Taiwan) - of course this is number one on my list. Basically it’s a pitch perfect BL with all the best tropes, high heat, and great chemistry between two sets of couples.

But the main couple!

The main couple features BL’s premier hot himbo jock who falls so gloriously ridiculously goofy in love with the quiet timid broken nerd he once bullied, that it almost hurts to watch him yearn that earnestly. The couple battles the demands of school, family, and society, rising above it all and moving in together into domestic bliss and then... the nerd is killed in a car accident.

AND THEN H3 graces us with two additional episodes of watching our beloved himbo SUFFER FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE. I can hardly bare to type about it.

2. Forbidden Love (Japan) - gah it’s so pretty. It’s the servant who grew up in the sinister mafia-esk family trope, which I love. It’s a killer pairing of spoiled, rich, loose-cannon seme madly in love with the older, somber, moral-compass uke. It’s a second chance at love since the uke has been abroad and the seme has been waiting and spiraling and pining.

It goes right up to the edge of “yes they’re going make it!” and it’s hot. And then... it dives deep into murder and incest.

MUST YOU JAPAN!?

3. The Effect (Thailand) - betcha thought Thailand wouldn’t make this section, but once upon a time even they dabbled in the darker side of BL. The Effect is Thailand’s commentary on the dark BL that forms its yaoi heritage. It’s also kind of an acknowledgment as to why Thai BL is so different from its roots.

Adorable uke is in love with the hottest most popular guy on campus. That guy is a typical ultra-controlling seme, and once he decides to love the uke back, he wants full ownership. The uke’s reticence with regards to sex and the seme’s internalized homophobia and terror about coming out combine into the worst possible outcome: physical violence, rape, self harm, and eventual suicide.

Basically it’s Thailand saying: look if we depict the type of possessive unhealthy relationship almost always shown in BL in a realistic light, this is the real world result. It’s almost worth watching because of that. It’s fighting the tropes we love with the reality of obsessive love, and it hurts but at least it’s honest.

HEA in BL

“HEA is guaranteed” is an audience contract that comes to romantic cinema out of Western romance literary traditions. Basically the cinematographic version of a “happily ever after” is to end the narrative arc by visually depicting a kiss/hug, an engagement, a wedding, sex, or domestic bliss for the main couple (AKA Acts of Unity).

A guaranteed HEA is actually not a defining feature of BL on the whole. Although Thai and Korean stuff tends to lean that way.

Yaoi actually has more in common with the Western erotica genre than with traditional Western romances. That’s because in origin yaoi manga, the objective was the physical relationship of the main characters, not necessarily an emotional/romantic connection. Since BL comes out of yaoi, a great deal of it, especially the early stuff from Japan and China, is high heat but does not end happily.

Up until about 2017 when Thailand started to dominate the market, fully half of all BL (and prior to that even higher percentages) did not end happily.

Types of Endings - TERMS

HEA - happy ever after (as in “they all lived happily every after”) characters end up together and happy in the Disney fairytale romance sense of the concept

HFN - happy for now, characters end up together but there’s still tension or looming threat to their unity

amorphous - things are left up in the air either intentionally (common in indie and art films) or unintentionally, because the show did not get a second season/installment, was censored, or lost funding/cast

tragic - one or both characters die by suicide, murder, or accidental death (AKA kill the gay)

This is an extra to my series on top 10 BLs from each country coupled with a history of BL.

Japanese BL

Chinese BL

Taiwanese BL

Korean BL

Thai BL

(source)

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farlynthordens · 3 years

Text

random thoughts about gen (mostly his clothes) that I can’t stop thinking about

warning: LONG, gendered language in reference to clothes. no story spoilers

UPDATED 8/10/21

In what little we’ve seen of modern day gen, he’s always wearing a suit (the flashbacks at the start of the series, 2nd light novel’s cover). And whenever the crew gets to wear modern clothes, he’s still always in a suit (2nd light novel, the poker game). Whether he actually likes suits or just wears them as part of being an entertainer is kinda ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ In Japan, it’s still pretty common for stage performers like comedians and stuff to wear suits at live shows.

Because of that, it’s odd that his original stone world outfit (rest in peace) is so drastically different. Yeah I know, most other characters don’t wear clothes that are similar to their modern day looks either, but they’re less layered and more generic-looking things that just exist to have something covering them. Gen’s are instantly recognizable as traditionally japanese clothes in comparison. It’s clearly a kimono with an obi, and a haori on top. He does have the added pants/turtleneck underneath, but the main thing about his outfit in my opinion is that he seems to be wearing a women’s style obi.

(Above) Just gen! (Below) Women’s and men’s style obis, respectively. Women’s obis cover the entire stomach area, and have a decorative tie. Men’s obis are more sash-like and worn lower around the waist, and do not have a decorative tie.

This wide obi definitely gives off a “feminine” vibe, but then it’s contrasted by the fact he has pants on for no reason. You don’t wear pants under a kimono, though his is very short. I think that having the short kimono with pants underneath gave the outfit more of a modern/gender neutral kind of feel. It just seems strange to have this one guy wear something that the audience would recognize as gender-specific when plenty of other male characters wear dresses, skirts, etc without them being pointedly “feminine”.

UPDATED: His new outfit has a skirt with a sash tied around it, but it seems to be a men’s-style obi tied in a [rounin knot]. Also worth nothing that his points up to the left, when male asymmetric bow knots seem to always point right like the one linked above. [Female] asymmetric bow knots are generally tied on the back, but they point to the left. A Japanese fan said it reminded them of a proprietress though, and I’m guessing they were thinking of [this kind of outfit] lol

(Above) Gen’s new outfit

UPDATED: This outfit is more “masculine” due to the smaller obi and the tie+open collar. The high collar with wide tie looks like a style of men’s fashion from the late 1800′s. [This print from 1899] and [this one of 1890′s styles] show men wearing the same high collar and ascots/ties.

To me, it’s a transitionary outfit that’s moving away from traditional dress to more modern clothes. Maybe it’s symbolic of where the KoS is in terms of scientific advancement? I feel like there’s also some sort of point to make about the switch from female->male obi or the mixing of masculinity/femininity but y’all can think on that yourselves.

Anyway, the last thing I wanted to talk about was how gen was barefoot initially? Even in the early part of the series practically every character we see has shoes, so it was very much a conscious design choice. I wasn’t the only person to think of the manga [Barefoot Gen] just based on the name alone, as seen in [this Japanese blog post]. It also helps that both Gens’ names are written the same way (ゲン)! It’s possible that this design choice was meant to be a subtle reference to Barefoot Gen, implying gen’s desire to avoid fighting, as that manga is about the horrors of war.

read part 2 (about his speech patterns) here!

#dr stone #dcst #asagiri gen #v posts #anyway shoutout to gen. gotta be one of my favorite genders #gen related rambling

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pilmik · 3 years

Text

No better way to start a writing blog than by writing something completely self indulgent lmao college students this might hit too close to home but in my defense the new sem started and I'm. Mess

Gen: angst ig???some fluff? hurt/comfort? Quite literally just me writing what I want to hear

CW: insecurities, negative thoughts

Wakatoshi loves volleyball

Everyone knows this

Ever since he was little, he's lived and breathed for the sport

There's nothing better to him than the feeling of the ball hitting his hand, the adrenaline rush of a scored point, the satisfaction of a game well won

He didn't get this far on enjoyment alone though

As his s/o, you know this better than anyone, save for his coaches and teammates of course

You know the effort he's put in, you know that for every second he shines on the court in front he's spent hours practicing alone or with his teammates

And he shines on the court

Watching him play will never fail to make your heart stutter and your lungs feel like they're not getting enough air

After being with him as long as you have, you know enough about volleyball to know that Wakatoshi is something special

His speed, his strength, his reliability

No matter how many times you see that spike, the sound of the ball hitting the floor stays deafening

Wakatoshi was made to play Volleyball. It's an objective fact. Sometimes you think that the sport loves him just as much as he loves it

Sometimes, you get so jealous you could scream

one of the perks of being the volleyball captain's s/o is that you always get the best seats

You watch front row as your boyfriend leads his team to victory, and he always leads them to victory.

You watch, time and time again, as he scores the match point, that sharp wham of the ball hitting the court that sings triumph

Wakatoshi isn't the most expressive person. When his team wins a game, most people would write off his impassive face as nonchalance or as vanity, thinking maybe he's won so many times it doesn't feel like anything for him anymore

But you know him. You know that if you look hard enough at the end of a game, you can see a gleam in his eyes. A gleam that somehow means both satisfaction and hunger

Because while at the end of every game means victory, the end of every game also means the start of a new one, a new challenge, a new opportunity to be on the court. He loves every second of it

You know you're probably the worst person on the world for feeling this way about someone you love, but every time you see that gleam in his eyes, any pride and happiness you feel on his behalf is stained with resentment and an envy so bitter it stays on your tongue for days

You've never had that gleam in your eyes. You've never loved something so entirely, so completely as Wakatoshi loves volleyball

You honestly doubt you ever will

It's not like you're talentless or you don't have hobbies, you have the things you're good at and you have the things you like to do but it's not the same

You want so desperately to know what he feels like, to be doing something and to think, I could do this for the rest of my life and die happy

on your worst days, you wonder why he stays by your side at all

You watch him play, surrounded by his court and his team (no the court or the team, his.) And you wonder what he could get from you that he couldn't get from the sting of the ball on his palm, or the squeak of his shoes on hardwood

He's brilliant, wherever he goes be burns so brightly you swear he leaves scorch marks. What could a forest fire possibly want from a candle?

You watch them play a game against some college team, they win straight sets and Wakatoshi dominated the court, scoring a majority of the points. you're quiet on your way home, and he asks if you were bored by the game

You immediately tell him no, because on most days you love seeing him play, and you try and explain how you feel

He doesn't understand what you're talking about, obviously

Contrary to what most people think, your boyfriend isn't stupid or dense. He has trouble understanding different social cues and conceptualizing some of the more complicated emotions other people feel, but he's not an idiot

But these specific insecurities are something he's never had to face. For him, it's been volleyball since the start. His earliest memories are of his father in the yard, tossing a blue and yellow ball into the air while he sits on the engawa, chubby hands holding tight to a pink vabo-chan plush

It doesn't make sense to him, if you don't have anything like that, then all you need to do is find something you're good at, correct? Then you'll be happy

He tells you this, in his usual matter-of-fact way. (you can imagine how that went)

He doesn't understand why your eyes go glassy, or why you tell him you'll be fine walking by yourself for the rest of the way

But he does understand that he's made you upset, and he knows that he never wants to look into your eyes and see tears that he's put there

As he walks back to his dorm, he's wracking his brain trying to make sense of how you told him you felt, and what he said in response

He's still thinking as he enters the doorway, ignoring Tendou's greeting as he neatly removes his runners and puts them away

This, of course, alerts his redheaded friend, knowing Wakatoshi was taught to mind his manners

He leaves whatever he was doing to see him at the entrance, taking in his pinched expression. He knows that Wakatoshi walks you home after every game, and it doesn't take a genius to connect the dots

He quickly presses the pad of his thumb between Wakatoshi's furrowed eyebrows, smoothing the lines there

"trouble in paradise, Wakatoshi-kun? You can't keep frowning like that you know, you'll get wrinkles! Everyone already thinks you're an old man"

Wakatoshi trusts his best friend, even if he teases him constantly. Besides you, Tendou is his main confidant

He explains what happened much like someone would explain a mission report, in perfect unbiased detail. He tell him what you said, how he thought and responded and your reaction. Tendou is always patient with him, giving him his full attention.

After he finishes his story, his friend sits on his haunches in the middle of the hallway for a few minutes, pointer finger to his chin, head cocked and eyes to the ceiling, hmmmmmming thoughtfully

Wakatoshi waits at the entrance of their dorm room until Tendou snaps his eyes away from the ceiling and onto him

"Wakatoshi kun, I'm going to need you to imagine something for me"

His eyebrows pinch together again, but he nods

"Imagine you never played volleyball, you're exactly the same in every way, except your dad never showed you so you never learned how to play. Try and imagine who you'd be"

Wakatoshi tries his best to imagine, he replaces the blue and yellow ball in his memory with a red one, the bouncy kind they sell in bins at the grocery store. He replaces vabo-chan with some kind of stuffed animal wearing a bow

He thinks about school, about going straight home after class is over, and going to the gym only on weekends

He finds he's skipping parts of his life in large gaps, empty spaces he doesn't know what to do with, his future completely blank. It's terrifying.

Tendou must see the dawning horror on his face because he jumps up quickly with a flourish, clapping his hands together once to draw Wakatoshi out of his daydream

Tendou looks at him, smiling and says "y/n-chan doesn't have their volleyball. Most people aren't as lucky as you, finding your volleyball so early Wakatoshi-kun. Some people never find their's at all"

He stands at the entrance quietly for awhile after Tendou returns to his room, thinking about how scary it felt to imagine, even for a few minutes, his life full of the blanks that his sport filled

He wonders how it would be like to have those blanks empty all the time, with not even a clue how to complete them

Swallowing his pride, Wakatoshi realizes he wouldn't be able to live like that. Wouldn't be able to go forward into such unknowable territory, under such impossible odds

He thinks about you waking up every day, seeing your life full of blanks, and still pushing forwards despite it

He doesn't get much sleep that night.

You wake up in the morning to Wakatoshi's text ringtone

7:10am Toshi <3: Call in sick for first period.

7:10am Toshi <3: I am going to pick you up at 8.

7:13am Toshi <3: I will bring you breakfast.

7:27am Toshi <3: Wear a light jacket, it's chilly.

The half of you that's still hurt over yesterday wants to tell him to shove breakfast up his ass, but then you realise something

You stare at your phone, deeply confused

Doesn't he have volleyball practice before school?

You get ready quickly, and sure enough, when you walk out of your door at exactly 8:00, Wakatoshi is there.

He's wearing his tracksuit and runners, and he hands you a paper bag from the conbini. There's an apple, a bag of grapes and onigiri. In his other hand he's holding a warm drink, written on the lid is your favourite, exactly how you like it

"I am taking you to the park."

You tilt your head up at him, confused

"don't you have volleyball practice?"

"I'm skipping. We are going to feed the ducks."

The idea of Ushijima Wakatoshi skipping volleyball practice stuns you into silence, and you simply follow his lead to the direction of the park, you walking and him doing some sort of ridiculous exercise thing that looks like it'd make you puke

When you get there, you're happy to find that your usual bench is empty.

Wakatoshi pulls a water bottle out of his ridiculously-deep men's tracksuit pockets while you take the bunch of grapes out of the bag, neatly dividing it in half. You decide to take the big half of the grape bunch for once, because he was being a jerk yesterday and you deserve to feed the ducks more than he does. You give him his half and you both start feeding the ducks in silence

After awhile, he decides to speak

"Tendou made me imagine something yesterday"

You turn to face him, but he's still looking at the ducks

"he told me to imagine my life if I'd never played volleyball"

He frowns

"he said to imagine everything about me was the same, except I never started playing. I found that it was difficult"

"there were many things I found I couldn't fill in, both in my life and in myself"

"but the worst part was imagining the future. I couldn't imagine a single thing to put in it"

"I wouldn't be able to live like that. To live every day and see blank spaces and uncertainties. It sounds terrible"

He pauses for a moment and you're like :/ wow king thanks for the pep talk

But he takes a deep breath and he continues

"I think, for a person to face that uncertainty and keep pushing forward, they would have to be exceptional"

Your head snaps to look at him so fast you almost get whiplash

Exceptional

There's a word that you've never used to describe yourself

"I think, that if I knew someone like that, I would tell them that they are strong in a way that I doubt I will ever be"

He finally turns to look at you, and you try your best to see him through the tears distorting your vision

"after awhile of thinking, I finally thought of something that I could put in that blank future. Would you like to know what it was?"

You just nod, not trusting your words. His big hands gently engulf your own and for a moment you're absolutely certain Ushijima Wakatoshi will be the death of you

"if I didn't have Volleyball, if I didn't have a single clue of what I could do with my future, if I still had you by my side, I think I would be alright"

One hit K.O.

He keeps going though, as if he didn't just kill you

"if you would have me, I'd like to be in your blank future. For as long as it takes for you to find your volleyball, I'll be there. If it's months or years or decades,"

"if decades pass and you never find your volleyball, I would still like to stay by your side. Maybe your volleyball is looking for volleyball?"

His face contorts in consideration of the idea, and you can't help but laugh wetly, your tears soaking into his jacket as you bury your face into his arm

He presses a soft kiss to your head

"I apologize for what I said last night. I didn't understand"

You only shake your head

You two sit in companionable silence for a little longer so you can eat your breakfast, then you both walk to second period hand in hand

It's only in the boredom of your math class that you realize the gravity of what your boyfriend had said to you in the park

11:08 you: Tendou

11:08 you: was I tripping

11:08 you: or did Wakatoshi /propose/ to me in the park today

Tendou is typing......

A/N: I've never posted this kind of stuff before so comments would really be appreciated! Like if there's something I could do to make my stuff easier to read or whatever I wanna hear it! Even if it's mean I promise I'll only cry a little

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bronyinabottle · 3 years

Text

MY LITTLE PONY: A NEW GENERATION (G5 Movie) THOUGHTS

It’s finally here. The beginning of Generation 5. Though before I get into the movie in some detail I’m going to reiterate one more time what G5 means for my content and a non-spoilery summary of the movie.

Again, I will say that the movie nor will the G5 series coming later have much of an effect at all on any of my blogs. The revelation in Secrets of the Dragon’s Tear that life itself is also magic means that a world that implied to have no magic for years would mean the extinction of all life (Perhaps resulting in the wasteland we saw in the Season 5 finale). There may be something I’ll probably do at some point on a certain different blog. But even then, that may likely be a one-time thing and probably come around the time the series is starting to air.

That said, just because I’m continuing with mainly G4 content doesn’t mean I disapprove of G5. In fact, my non-spoilers thoughts on the movie is I think it is a good start for this new generation. There are questions I have that I’m not sure will be answered (Though many of those questions are the same ones I had in my Trailer/Preliminary thoughts) quickly enough. But the movie is structured well enough, in fact it’s probably a better movie as a whole compared to any of the movies G4 had (The 2017 movie, Rainbow Roadtrip, and all 4 Equestria Girls movies). As the 2017 movie was fun, but it jumped around a lot, sometimes scenes transitioning too fast. And while Rainbow Roadtrip may have been this on purpose, the entirely slice-of-life story taking up a long length… made it something of a less interesting plot to follow. It feels like some of that special could of been cut to at least a two-parter length and keep the same beats they hit. And while i have a soft spot for the 3rd and 4th Equestria Girls movies, I’ll always say a full-length pony adventure feels better suited for what I want to see out of MLP then spin-off movies with high school movie cliches and weird pony/human world shenanigans.

So movie-wise I’m not a G4 purist. It’ll take some time to see how Gen 5 compares to Friendship is Magic when we get to the series. As I feel it’d take a lot for it to surpass G4 in my mind. But I’m going to try to be as fair as possible and judge on it’s own merits. The implied connection to G4 by referring to G4 being ancient Equestria is going to naturally get the staff and hasbro pressured by fans to tell us what happened in-between the generations. Because that’s the trap they put the writers in when they made it so they want to try to say it’s in the same universe. That’s the double-edged sword Hasbro chose to have, trying to appease the G4 fanbase and keep at least some of them around. But at the cost of questions both nitpicky (Such as character design being inconsistent) or actual honest questions that need to be known (Why did magic disappear, and what happened to the Alicorns) for some of us to truly see this as the same Equestria.

After the break, I’ll have more spoilery thoughts

Even for a brief moment, it was nice seeing the Mane 6 and 2D animation. The former because of course those are the ponies many of us that saw all of G4 loved. And the latter, because while the animation wasn’t bad in this movie. I’m one of those who’d prefer to have 2D animation in an animated film. As in most cases aside from Pixar, it’s just a strong preference of mine. If this had the animation of the 2017 MLP movie but otherwise everything else was generally the same here, I feel that would of have been great.

I wish they didn’t have to have Sunny’s dad die off-screen, as he seems like he could of been a compelling character. And not to mention if perhaps he has any connection the “ancient” days in any fashion. But *sigh* I get it, it’s an old trope where part of the character’s offscreen growth is not having their parent(/s) around.

On a side note there’s quite a few times during the beginning of the movie that somewhat foreshadow what happens to Sunny later. 3 times where she had a fake horn and wings on her. Once in the flashback, then 2 separate times when she’s doing her protest where she has her own costumed wings and horn. As well as the helmet and mechanical wings.

Also, there’s no way around it. Some of the discussions this movie are going to get quite political. (Namely one part of Sunny’s song that could be seen as having a double meaning of a jab at Trumpsts regarding “Building your wall”) From the very premise in the early times, we know that the inspiration for the story was last year’s Black Lives Matter protests. Which honestly, I do support the message they’re going for. Having an anti-racism message to tell kids from the very beginning and making a focus on it is important when in G4 it only got briefly touched upon in Bridle Gossip and the Heath’s Warming Eve play. Although it certainly rose up to some form of prominence with Season 8 and onward. Still, while you can argue if G4 executed the anti-racism message well. it does come with something of a problem that the series finale left Equestria in the least divided it’s ever been.

And personally, I feel it’s a terrible interpretation of time to say “Well, it’s a realistic take. Racism has existed for years in our world. Same should go for the ponies” and while yes, racism is still rampant in today’s world. That said, that ignores that if we went from The Last Problem to the start of G5. There’s a huge difference between our world and Equestria. There is no ancient civilization that we look at like “Yeah, those were the golden days of world peace” when normally the “Golden age” was reserved for the high classes of Ancient Greece or Rome. It was most decidedly not perfect, with slavery rampant and wars for the sake of expanding an empire. While if you look at The Last Problem’s Equestria, you not only have peace between the three main types of ponies. But you literally have non-pony citizens in Equestria. You can see a dragon handing off a flower to a pony which can imply cross-species romantic relations. With the Friendship school still going strong, and was the reason that the world was saved in The Ending of the End. While perhaps it may be too glowing to say that future is perfect for everyone even in-universe. It’s certainly a hell of a lot better outlook then comparing to how we view even the so called Golden age of ancient civilizations. The Last Problem’s Equestria implies it looks to ally with every country outside of Equestria, not conquer them.

So it should still be a valid question on just how this world collapses to the point it gets to where G5 is at the start. I at least assume that it’s not the fault at all of any of the Mane 6 nor Twilight. Or at least I hope it isn’t, as I’d rather the MLP fanbase not have to deal with a The Last Jedi Luke Skywalker situation. (Where after the joyful end of the original trilogy, things go wrong as Luke almost murders the son of one of his best friends and his sister despite trying to hard and succeeding at redeeming his father who at that point in the canon was a galaxy-wide known ruthless mass-murderer.) I assume we’re at a point where everyone of the Mane 6 sans maybe Twilight are presumed dead. And even in Twilight’s case, there’s a chance that G5 decides to say that G4 overestimated the whole Alicorn immortality thing. Though I wouldn’t put it past Hasbro to have some event where the Mane 5 of G5 meet the Mane 6 in some special event whether that’s a a Season finale or a sequel movie/special. Where either the Mane 6 return in a limbo situation similar to the Pillars at the end of Season 7 or Time travel gets involved. They may even string us along on answering just what in the heck happened until they involve a meet-up with the Mane 6 in that way. Though I hope they don’t, I’d really like the beginning of the series (Or I guess this supposed special coming up in Spring supposedly?) starts to answer some questions. G5 should get a chance to stand on it’s own, but I hope the writers are actually well aware there will be so many questions people have and address them in the show. A cynical part of me feels like they’re likely to string us along until at least the Season 1 finale.

Onto the characters for a bit. I think Izzy Moonbow was absolutely the most stand-out character in the whole movie. She was energetic, funny, and aside from “The pegasi are bad news” she along with Zipp and Sunny were the most averse to the way the world was. She was already the most popular due to the tennis ball memes. But now it feels like she legit stands on her own and most certainly deserves to be the most popular character of G5 thus far. Behind her in a bit of a surprise to me was Zipp, who I thought would be mainly a Rainbow Dash-expy. Though she really helps out Izzy and Sunny in Zephyr Heights. Despite having Twilight be my favorite pony from the very beginning of G4 all the way to the end, I didn’t feel as strongly about Sunny for some reason. So she’s in the middle of the pack, she could grow on me later. I just don’t know if I click with her as much as I did with Twilight. As for the last two, while I don’t hate either of them. Either one could be the lowest of the 5 for one reason or another. Pipp (Although I will say she's probably my favorite character design out of the 5) feels like she doesn’t do a whole lot in the movie and it takes until she’s forced to be an outlaw because the other choice was to get imprisoned like her mother was. So she may come off as quite pretentious, though it’s arguable Rarity was the same way early in G4. But she definitely grew later. Could be the same case for Pipp. And as for Hitch, he has shining moments in the film. But what might hurt him is the fact he was such a bad friend to Sunny up until the campfire scene. “I’m the last real friend you have. You really want to lose me too?” is not a healthy friendship. Hitch may have been Sunny’s friend the longest, but it definitely feels like Izzy connected immediately. I don’t know if this show will get into shipping any of the main characters between each other mid-show, but if they do. I hope it’s between Izzy and Sunny currently, cause Hitch and Sunny just gives bad vibes even with Hitch getting better later.

None of the songs I felt were particularly too special. Though I think the closest was Sprout’s “Danger, Danger” song that has similarities to Smells Like Teen Spirit in some parts of the song since I tend towards more rock/metal-esque music.

I touched upon it earlier, but there’s perhaps a stand-out reason for why the G5 movie outdid the 2017 MLP Movie. They have the typical “Our heroic group splits after a sad moment before coming together again for the climatic good end” in Sunny seeing that that the two crystals don’t instantly bring magic back, and when Twilight left the group after an argument that happened with Twilight trying to take a pearl. They perform the same purpose in the movie. But the crystals not working, crushing Sunny’s hope for a little while works better into the story. Where as Twilight’s part frustratingly brought the sea pony scene to an end too quickly and/or doesn’t feel right of Twilight to have done that. It felt forced in the 2017 movie, but works out in the G5 movie. Especially since a part of it is that it’s not the crystals themselves capable of bringing magic back. But it’s the journey going after the crystals that brings the ponies themselves their magic back.

Just a small note on dictator Sprout, he tries to cause a war. Though admittedly the film seems to treat him as a joke the entire time despite his seriously evil ambitions. With the only repercussions is he gets a wishy-washy answer on if he was a good sheriff from his mom. I don’t quite know how I feel about that yet, but I wonder what they’ll have in mind for Sprout given his actions. He and his mom are the only ones that feel like a true antagonist. Though they seem to be ok with things fast when the magic comes back.

But anyway on to the ending, we see that Sunny becomes an Alicorn. Which I guess with no other real Alicorns around, I guess it makes sense to alicornify her since she’s the real leader behind what united the leaders of each type of pony again. Though there is of course this weird thing where her horn and wings don’t seem like as much a part of her body compared to very obvious connected wings on Twilight when she got hers. Sunny keeps her horn and wings to the end of the movie, and has colored streaks in her hair. Though I do wonder if that;s truly permanent. If it is permanent, I suppose at least they got to have a headstart and have it established at the end of the introductory movie rather then have it shock people at the end of a shortened 3rd season. I still feel like Twilight had well earned her alicornhood considering that besides what she did in the series. She has a whole childhood and time as a teenager learning under Celestia. Which had to mean something, and I’m not sure Celestia just leaving her to live the rest of her days with her friends in ponyville was that. Sunny has no doubt been trying countless time to try to spread friendship throughout her life even after the tragedy of her father’s passing. So there’s no doubt she’s been through a lot, and may indeed be worthy of being an Alicorn at this point. Though in terms of screentime before Alicornhood it's definitely a lot less then Twilight had. And it is at least nice to see that it is possible for non-unicorns to become one. (The only case of that we sort of got was a children's book that may or may not be canon that implied Cadence was a pegasus before she ascended)

Though you have to wonder if the visual differences such as Sunny’s alicorn horn and wings, the cutie mark only on one side (Yes I know that’s how it was normally in the MLP generations before G4. But a distinct visual difference between shows is still noticeable even if the context of G4’s cutie marks on both sides of the flank was about it being easier on the puppets for Flash), and how animals can have wings or weird round shapes such as those bunnies when G4 has normal looking animals. There’s enough striking visual differences for any nitpicky G4 to say “This isn’t the same Equestria”. And if someone tries to say maybe some sort of evolution happened. That’s still trying to put a little too much real world logic on this fantasy world. And evolution tends to take millions of years to have such dramatic changes. Not 1000 years or so, there should still be normal looking animals at this point and time. And these small details are probably going to be the things most ignored but nonetheless can build a case that this isn’t the same Equestria. Even if they touch on the important questions like how magic disappeared and what happened to the Mane 6, there will be details they make different that will add to the case that this is it’s own universe if it doesn’t quite matchup with what was remembered about G4. There will be fans who will be that nitpicky to call G5 out of continuity for small details like that. That is again the trap they put themselves in when they decided to try to say it’s the same Equestria.

All-in-all though, I think that’s at least a good enough chunk about my thoughts on the movie to end off here. If there’s something I missed or something from the movie you’d like me to give a particular opinion about or elaborate on something feel free to ask me here. G5 is indeed off to a good start, just I will be along the many hoping some questions get answered sooner then later. And I’m not sure I’m confident in getting anywhere until a Season finale or a 2nd movie. And it’ll be a year before the series starts proper (Though again I guess there’s a 44 minute special coming in Spring to try to hold us over). But I could definitely see G5 finding it's own following, now there's just the inevitable clashes between some of the more vocal fans of each generation bickering at eachother. But hoping there will be enough that take the movie's lessons on divisiveness to heart and be able to enjoy both even if there may be preferences.

#mlp #my little pony #g5 #mlp g5 #netflix #my little pony the next generation #my little pony movie #generation 5

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some-stars · 3 years

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Fic writer questionnaire! Tagged by @deputychairman, thank you!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

65....just waiting for 69 so i can celebrate

2) What's your total AO3 word count?

288,609

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

okay, so, there's a lot so we're gonna collapse some. So, 16: The Witcher (games and show), Supernatural, Dark Angel, Glee, Stargate (both SG1 and SGA), MCU, Vampire Diaries, Teen Wolf, due South, DC (comics and movies), House of Leaves, Sense8, Harry Potter, Les Miserables (book), Doctor Who, and X-Men movies. Oh, and I wrote a lot of NSYNC RPF back in the day but you will never see it. (Unless you literally read it back then and remember one and want to reread it, I’m not ashamed of them if you were also in the pit with me. If that is the case feel free to ask.)

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

all some children do is work: this one surprised me, i did NOT think there was this kind of appetite for almost-gen turned-into-a-kid fic, but i do really like the fic itself so i'm contented with its acclaim

method: i mean, it's fake dating, written back when there wasn't much non-modern-AU fake dating in witcher fandom (possibly there still isn't?) so, not surprised

Emergency Pants: this is the one that the Claw chose back in 2012 bc i had written very pornographic tony/bruce about a month after Avengers came out so there was a big appetite for it. i don't much care for it these days except i do still think the tony voice is good

warm you like the sunshine: deeply unsurprised this one is popular (and it's one of my own fics that i reread a lot), it's extremely tender BDSM with a juggernaut pairing, that gets the readers

As often as from thee I go: honestly kinda surprised about this one, which is just a 2500 word confection i wrote for my own satisfaction, but it does have explicit sex and jaskier crying about his feelings so maybe it makes sense

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I almost always do, but usually just with "Thanks!" unless it's a detailed or lengthy comment.

6) What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

"Long black night, morning frost" (Les Miserables) for absolute certain. One of the very few fics I've written with an outright unhappy and pessimistic ending (although I found it very cathartic to write). For Witcher fics, "Kind" and "go ask alice" are about as sad as I get.

7) What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

Almost all of them, honestly. There's a point in happiness of endings where you really can't distinguish degrees. Probably the most--not saccharine, but distinctly Happy Ending-ish is either "Water like a stone" or "Darling, if you only knew," which to my eternal shame are both Glee fics. In terms of Witcher fics...it's still hard to pick! I think the kidfic trilogy ended very, very happily; I think "If you live through this with me" ended TOO happily.

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you've written?

I do not, and I don't read them, at least not since the days of the late 90s/early 2000s when I once read a really good Highlander/X-Files crossover (oh, and Martha's cosmic horror fic where Stargate and Angel and I think something else all cross over but it feels quite natural and right). I don't like fusions, either, most of the time.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Never! In 20 years! I've been extremely lucky.

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

ahahahahahahahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

yes...yes you could say i write smut. on occasion. you know, when the urge comes on me. i write mostly kink or at least kink-adjacent fic, but i've done some vanilla scenes too, and i write m/m and m/f and (occasionally) f/f. fun fact, my only rimming scene to date was in a f/f/f threesome!

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

I think so? I can't remember, honestly, which sounds dreadful but like...I don't READ the translation, because I am sadly monolingual, but I get a burst of delight when someone asks to do it (or to make a podfic).

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have tried--me and a friend once got like 12k deep into a co-written Tiger and Bunny fic--but it doesn't really work out for me. I am a massive control freak when it comes to writing and absolutely miserable to work with. (Although I wasn't so bad back when we wrote the T&B fic, we just sort of never got around to finishing it. Which is sad, because it was GREAT.)

14) What's your all time favorite ship?

Max/Alec from Dark Angel. I shipped it when I only started watching DA for Jensen's episodes, I shipped it when I fell in love with Max, I shipped it when I frantically hand-wrote notes about the fic I wanted to write, I ship it right now as I'm typing, I will ship it in my grave. Also it's not a het ship bc neither of them are heterosexual, thank you very much.

15) What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I only post finished fics, but in terms of things I haven't posted, I still think my "For A Good Time Call" fem!jaskier/yennefer(/geralt) AU would have been truly incredible. If you haven't watched that movie go watch it immediately so you can share this beautiful idea with me.

16) What are your writing strengths?

Ohhh, this and the next one are hard, because I truly don't know. Well, besides "porn." I am genuinely good at porn, which is HILARIOUS considering how many more sex scenes I've written than participated in. But overall, I have so much angst and neurosis and tenuous self-worth tied up in writing, I'm a very bad judge of my own skills. Also, it depends on the fandom! In some fandoms I'm good at dialogue, in others not so much. In some fandoms I'm good at pastiching the tone of the source and in others...Not So Much.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

If I had to pick a weakness, though, I'd say concrete imagery/detail. Like, the things that characters are physically doing either out of emotional reaction or just, they're doing something in that scene. Dialogue is usually easier (not sure if it comes out better, but it's easier).

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I used to be mildly annoyed at it but! Now! On AO3! You can put a footnote by the French or whatever, so the reader can jump down to read a translation and then jump right back up. I now feel that if you choose to include dialogue (or any words) in another language from the rest of the story, this is the only acceptable method.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I remember vaguely in 1996 or so writing a couple pages of Kit whump for the Young Wizards books. I wrote some execrable nonsense in X-Files, but in my defense I had just turned 13. I don't THINK I wrote anything for Star Trek, which was my first fandom. Oh, and I attempted to write fic for Homicide, which I watched in 7th and 8th grade and lied about my age to get onto the good mailing lists (they were actually the bad, racist mailing lists, I would later realize, but again I was 13).

20) What's your favorite fic you've written?

Sorry to disappoint anyone who follows me for Witcher content, but it's either "The absolute absurdity of end-series items" (House of Leaves) or "A quite unlosable game" (Dark Angel). They are both Big Idea fics, and I feel like in both of them I got the Idea across brilliantly, and I'm truly proud of them and think they're the best things I've ever made. (In terms of Witcher fic, it's the kidfic trilogy for sure.)

I am not going to tag anyone because that always makes me mildly anxious, but if you read this and you want to do it you can say you were tagged by me! :D? :D?

#meme

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romanceboys · 4 years

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(interview) vogue korea april issue 2020 - perfect taemin

1. superm was another chance for taemin’s ever-evolving performance to be showcased. i thought a lot about how to create synergy with these exceptional performers. to put it simply, i wanted us to come off as energetic. but these days i’ve had a change of heart. our identity is definitely important. rather than just working hard, for superm to show off their colours well we need to show our personalities; we should be seen as one team. to be able to formulate a solid and clear colour is our homework. that’s why it’s regrettable. we couldn’t come up with a novel choreography to carry our new identity. we tried a lot in the practice room. superm seems to have found its musical identity but hasn’t gotten a hold of its performance character yet. the stages are too vague. 2. now that you are finally promoting with your best friend kai in one group, you two must’ve shared your concerns. since this friend is someone who has a lot of passion and ambition, he talks about various things. for instance, this style is pretty good, this choreography is quite trendy. thanks to him i’ve learned a lot. he is also very knowledgeable about the latest ‘hottest’ genres. we talk about these things often and even watch videos together. kai gives off ‘popular’ vibes. compared to him, my interests are quite unusual. nowadays kai is interested in music while i am into science. 3. is it science fiction? these days we’ve been watching videos on the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics together. 4. what aspect of it interested you? originally i was very curious, after seeing a recommended video on youtube i learned about quantum mechanics for the first time. i couldn’t understand the explanation, even those who were explaining it said it was a difficult concept. that was very fascinating to me. kind of like magic. 5. are you reading books on the subject too? the subjects of the books i read are different (laughs). there’s a book that was published long ago called ‘regarding the pain of others.’ it is a pessimistic book that gathers contradictory opinions of people for instance ‘people find joy in the pain of others, it is instinctual.’ as a celebrity, there are times when you are criticized but there are also times when you receive comfort from people. rather than blaming others, while reading this book, i began to think ‘people are like that, at most i shouldn’t behave like them.’ my interests are all over the place. 6. what makes you and kai click? we converse well. our opinions almost never clash and we respect each other. moreover, we fully understand our own roles in superm. 7. what position do you hold in superm? since i can’t ask if it’s the main dancer. in pictures and interviews, i’m the center. baekhyun hyung is the leader (laughs). 8. when the conversation wasn’t flowing well during the talkshow interview, i saw you neatly concluding it. that does happen. nct and wayv are still in the learning phase. that’s why i first listen to all of their thoughts during interviews then flesh it out with details later. 9. compared to when you set out abroad as shinee then promoting overseas as superm now, the status of k-pop has changed. looking at how superm was able to start off with an arena tour in the us and europe made me feel that k-pop is a ‘hot’ topic. in the past, we’d use venues of this scale for smtown concerts. even if you promote mainly in asia, seeing the audience section will make you realise the perception of k-pop has changed. 10. though k-pop’s scope has expanded and diversified, its definition has become simple. what are your concerns? my first concern is language. after i was able to communicate via language during my japanese activities, there were so many advantages. though each country overseas has its own language, i felt that i needed to learn english first. there are many international fans who want to experience the chemistry between our members, they’d feel much closer to us if we communicated using (a common) language. k-pop isn’t one dimensional. it’s not only about the music, there is music video, style, etc. included. people would make dance covers in the past, now they even emulate the styling. all of this is korean pop culture. 11. superm were on the ellen degeneres show and jimmy kimmel live. before we went on the ellen show we really rehearsed the interview a lot. america’s atmosphere is different so you receive questions that are never asked in korea. they don’t disclose the questions in advance either. we were also worried because the emcee could ad-lib. we came up with the most probable questions and practiced, we also received lessons from american comedians. compared to that, we went on jimmy kimmel live without any prep. 12. what went according to plan and what didn’t? the questions were not as intense as expected, ellen was well aware about k-pop culture so it went smoothly. 13. is there a dance genre you’re into these days? contemporary, lyrical hiphop, in the future as superm i think i’ll be able to show more, not the kind of dancing that you do after learning a given choreography but the kind that is full of emotions. it’s about giving meaning to your gestures. it isn’t out yet but my concert vcr features lyrical hiphop. in it i think i’m dancing alone with a giant full moon as my backdrop but get confused when there are two of us, either it’s another person or a shadow. a choreographer with a body type similar to mine had to dress in all black to come across as my shadow. i wore an oriental outfit with smokey makeup. 14. how do you usually come up with your ideas? i get inspired by the choreographers and creative directors. i imagine it as we converse then the idea develops. 15. was there a time you were inspired by fashion? of course. art begins with the five senses. what you see with your eyes, the things you can feel, clothes, food, perfume, music that you listen to are all sources of inspiration. i create private accounts to follow fashion brands. 16. having debuted at the age of 16, you are still young but your work experience has been long. i was in certain situations because of this. it doesn’t happen as often now but even in my early 20s, i completely belonged to the senior category at broadcasting stations. they are my juniors but many of them are also hyungs, i’m their senior but i’m also the youngest. now there are even staff members who are younger than me. they’re too formal with me (laughs). 17. are there juniors that ask you for advice or help? the superm members! especially ten, he is very curious. when we come out of a company meeting, he’ll get surprised and say “wow, hyung everything you said was right.” i even hear things like ‘veteran’ and ‘seer.’ apparently my predictions come true. but i try not to advise them as much. taking the initiative to say something feels overwhelming. 18. born in 1993 between millennials and gen z, do you share any characteristics with those in your age bracket? we’ve picked out a few of their traits. the first one is ‘they don’t eat fast food.’ me too! i took care of my health well ever since i started out with shinee. i was brainwashed from home to avoid foods that harmed the body. not even ramyeon, snacks were also banned. and just like that in my 20s i started carrying out the regime on my own. it’s become a habit to look after my health ever since i moved out. i always eat things that are good for my body, if the hyungs are taking vitamins, i’d ask for one too. 19. i suddenly recall a variety show where you were the only one who skipped the sauce and ate the meat on its own! one should not eat irritable foods. my mother’s words. 20. how about ‘they watch videos on youtube rather than tv. even the ads don’t particularly bother them.’ that’s right. i watch youtube more often than tv, while watching the ads i'd even marvel at their production quality. i’ve signed up for the premium package now so i don’t see the ads anymore. 21. ‘marrying or wanting to buy their own house.’ i currently live alone and i have no interest in decking out my house. at first, i didn’t think like that but a month later my interest dissipated. i’m lazy. it’s not like my house is for others to see, i’m fine with the incomplete feeling for now. 22. and finally ‘they avoid investing in financial companies.’ i don’t do that. my parents manage that, if there’s a good tip i’ll just let them know. 23. hiphop musicians tend to express their success through music. as an idol musician how have you been using the wealth you accumulated all these years? i invest in food instead of saving up (laughs). honestly, i don’t spend much. i don’t have anything i want. though i do spend on others a lot. 24. what kind of household did you grow up in? what gifts did you inherit from your family as a musician? i inherited my body type. all of my cousins have model-like physiques, they’re taller and slimmer than me. my mother sings well. my father plays instruments as a hobby. oh, and my paternal aunt used to be a ballerina. so perhaps i inherited such genes? 25. you’ve been doing the same thing for more than 10 years. what is the purpose behind creating music and showcasing it? in the past, i would think i should do well, i need to be number one, these days i’ve become ambitious for other aspects. i take pride in the fact that my work supplies others with positive energy. i feel a sense of accomplishment when fans like my music, i want to make them as happy as i am. everyone’s profession is different but i hope this synergy gained from mutual dependence leaves a good impression. 26. are you still composing songs? i used to but now i only participate in lyric writing. it differs with each song, at times the lyrics are emotional or talk about abstract love. it seems like my next solo album will include a song i wrote the lyrics to. sometimes songs composed by overseas composers might prove too difficult for the general public to understand. so i participate a lot in the arrangement or mixing phase. i point out the parts that should be added to the composition and those that are unneeded. teacher lee soo man does give advice but it often feels like i do the producing of my own solo album. 27. taemin’s originality is the clearest when he promotes as a solo artist. which song has best represented your identity? i worked hard on all of them but there was a turning point. at first there was ‘danger’ then ‘press your number’ was a conceptual performance, the transition to ‘move’ turned out well. i wanted to break out from the typical choreography routine and create my own identity, the resulting performances were ‘move’ and ‘want.’ my next solo album is again different. i’ve been making a lot of changes these days. 28. you seem to have high standards when it comes to composing music. was there ever an occasion where you absolutely refused to compromise and gave others a hard time? everyone is used to it (laughs). it’s something i learned from the head manager hyung who’s been with me since debut. the belief that ‘there is nothing that can’t be done. there is no such thing as impossible.’ another team manager hyung would tell me ‘you remind me of our head’ (laughs). honestly, the staff around me work beyond their given roles and with affection. normally work timings are from 9 to 7, they stay back till 10-11 pm for me. they don’t hold it against me, and when things do well, they too feel a sense of fulfillment together with me. 29. the new unreleased song must be quite different from the original then. there are already 12 versions of the song. when i thought we were somewhat done, we recently started arranging it again (laughs). 30. you hold your body to specific standards for the best performance outcome. i don’t ‘bulk up.’ previously, i used to work out when i ate a lot but my body would feel weighed down, it wasn’t what i wanted. if i gain a lot of muscles or become thick, it hampers my dancing form. that’s why i don’t put on weight. i train my stamina and strength and avoid bulking up my shoulders and arms. 31. by the way, do you do neck exercises as well? i was touched looking at your long neck in the vogue photoshoot. i had been noticing this too, now i know the reason! i think it’s because i dance. a lot of resistance goes into the neck when you dance. our head is the heaviest and it’s the neck that supports it. it goes away when i rest for a few days. we’re shooting amidst the superm tour maybe that’s why it looks thicker now. 32. an editor who has been watching you closely for a long time said that you’ve become extroverted. could it be that experience and relationships have made you comfortable and secure? i’ve lowered my guard. i couldn’t reveal my current self to others before. as a child i used to be so introverted that i’d hide behind my mother when strangers would get into the elevator. i changed with time. 33. is your ever-present smile a product of your personality or just business decorum? i’m always smiling. i even laugh at things other people don’t find funny (laughs). 34. shinee members are currently serving in the army. when they’re on break what kind of advice or nagging do they subject you to? i wish they would do that. we have a group chat on kakaotalk and i always revive it by asking “what’s up” “happy new year.” but as soon as the conversation picks up they only talk about the army. when i inform them about an issue at the company they say “really?” then it’s military talk again. when i feel left out and tell them to stop, they reply with “you’ll understand when you get here.” 35. in your career as a musician, when do you feel the best? when it’s time to reveal all that i’ve been preparing for so long! it feels different from finishing it. the first stage after debuting, shinee’s first concert, performing at tokyo dome, receiving the award... these are the moments that come to mind. 36. watching taemin grow for the past decade has been a huge source of strength. what are your dreams now? there are many. first of all, once shinee comes back again, i want the entire group to give off a feeling of revival. usually after getting discharged, it’s hard to keep up with the next generation, i want to avoid that. i’ve imagined it all when the shinee members return. second, i want to perform a lot on various stages as a solo artist. superm topped the billboard 200 album chart, it’d be nice to enter the top 10 on the hot 100 digital chart as well. 37. you are really talented at setting goals. i’ve gotten greedier. it’s just not for myself but i want to do it for the fans and members, even the staff. they become my driving force. i really am lucky. everybody works hard but i even get the recognition for it. come to think of it, i was given many opportunities and i worked hard to make the most of them, i’m really happy my efforts paid off in the end. i’m surrounded by good people. shinee, superm, many people fill in the gaps for me that i can’t solve on my own. 38. superm’s concert title is ‘we are the future.’ when you hear the word ‘future’ what are you reminded of? first, it’s h.o.t. (laughs). future-oriented things come to mind like artificial intelligence, drones, 3d hologram concerts. then again, in the future, though people might be able to watch concerts through holograms, i think humans will not give up on the tasks they themselves can do. my work will still be the same in the future. 39. the reason you don’t write anything on instagram. i don’t have anything to say yet (laughs). i don’t know if i should make my instagram cool or approachable. when fretting between writing a caption or using an emoticon, i just end up leaving it blank. actually i signed up after my manager hyung suggested that instagram would be good. so i’ve made one but i still don’t know what to upload. i get teased by the people around me for putting up selfies. i even took lots of pictures especially for instagram but... 40. did you not post the pictures? the point of instagram is real-time communication. is that so! i didn’t know (laughs).

translated by romanceboys — take out with full credit (source)

#shinee #taemin #p:taemin #vogue korea april issue 2020 #interview #translations #e:superm #enjoy!

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purplehairedwonder · 3 years

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Hearts With(out) Chains Chapter 13

Fandom: One Piece Rating: PG-13 Pairings: Gen (eventual Lawlu) Words: 4261 Characters: Trafalgar Law, Monkey D. Luffy, Robin, Sanji, Nami, Chopper, Usopp, Nami, Franky, Smoker, Tashigi, Sengoku, Sengoku’s goat ;) Notes: I’m taking my turn at the Corazon!Law AU because my brain won’t leave me alone until this is written down. Tags will be updated as the chapters come out.

Summary: Law is reclaimed by the Family when he's 17 and, with Doflamingo holding the lives of his crew as collateral for his good behavior, eventually becomes the third Corazon. Years later, trapped by his impossible situation, Law finds a strange connection to Monkey D. Luffy, which offers a glimpse of something he's repeatedly had ripped away from him: hope.

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