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peekbackstage · 3 years

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I noticed in one of your responses that you speculated that Xiao Zhan is currently the #1 star in china and his agent is probably not inclined to request talent buyers but rather command top pruce. Can you expand a bit on your thought process? I always feel like without the usual modes of exposure through various high end endorsements and appearances in shows and stage, he has lost a lot of influence and power. Granted he finally has The Wold air, and attended two live events, but rest of the year he has has no new endorsements, shows or appearances. Is it just the various ranking charts that would lend him his influence? How do talent buyers figure out the ‘pull’ any actor would have??

Disclaimer: The following response includes both facts and speculation that is informed by my 10+ year career in the music industry.

“Xiao Zhan is currently the #1 star in China” is probably not what many fans would expect to hear after the year Xiao Zhan has had. In fact, it wasn’t too long ago that I also did not believe this, but quite a number of factors have moved my assessment.

There are a few factors that determines how a talent buyer might assess an artist. These factors include:

HARD DATA

Social media following

Sales and streaming figures

Viewership

TV rankings

Awards rankings

Brand deals

Media reach

SOFT DATA

Internal projections

“Hype”

Overall marketability

Market sentiment

Media sentiment

All of this culminates in a general assessment that helps to determine how much an artist is “worth.” Essentially, you might as well call all of these key performance indicators (KPIs).

If you consider that artists are a brand, and all brands can either appreciate or depreciate in value depending on market sentiment, you might be able to get a better understanding of how artists are evaluated.

To provide a concrete example that might help everyone understand how this works a little better, think for a moment about how public companies increase in value and how stock prices rise and fall. If a company reports solid earnings (hard data) and announces that they will be releasing a new line of highly anticipated products (hype), this increases market sentiment, which then results in a direct increase in positive price action for their stock. Conversely, companies that have bad earnings reports and lackluster product offerings might see a sell-off that results in a drop in price (and therefore, in value) when information hits the news cycles.

Like companies, artists are evaluated much the same way. Consider that Xiao Zhan was, prior to the 227 Incident, at the very top of the game in China. He held a huge amount of brand deals and was highly sought after, especially after his popularity skyrocketed due to the international acclaim he received from The Untamed. All of this created an intrinsic “value” that translated to a specific guarantee price.

(Guarantee: the price a talent buyer guarantees an artist when they are booked for a performance.)

The 227 Incident for Xiao Zhan is what we would call a “Black Swan” event. Another Black Swan event is COVID-19, which decimated the stock market in March 2020. Over 90% of companies listed on the S&P 500 had “distributed large negative returns.” Did this catastrophic event mean that it was the end for all of these companies? Absolutely not. Was 227 the end for Xiao Zhan? Absolutely not.

These are basic fundamentals that talent buyers understand, especially if an artist hasn’t been blackballed or been subjected to a career death. Sometimes, artists have scandals. Some have a hard time coming back from them, but Xiao Zhan’s enduring popularity has not waned, even if he did lose brand deals and has not really been in the spotlight.

The following KPIs are what a talent agent would notice for Xiao Zhan:

#1 selling single in 2020 - 光点 (Spotlight) sold over 40.9 million copies with pretty much no promotion, which is actually insane. (This actually qualifies him for an RIAA diamond certification!!! There are only 44 other singles that have earned this ranking.)

The Wolf became the #1 streaming show in China the moment it was released, entirely because of Xiao Zhan’s popularity. It immediately led to a significant amount of positive media coverage, both domestically and worldwide.

TV viewership surged dramatically when Xiao Zhan appeared on December 5 as a surprise guest. (I forgot the exact figure, but I think I read it was 17 million? Please correct me if I am wrong.) This positive statistic is another solid green check mark for talent agents.

Xiao Zhan’s Red Sea was a top trending topic and had massive media coverage. This is essentially what agents are looking for when they book artists. It means HYPE HYPE HYPE, and HYPE means MONEY MONEY MONEY

Positive media coverage over Xiao Zhan’s fans cleaning up the entire arena

Massive award sweep - In 2020, Xiao Zhan won every single major award he was nominated for, and took #1 in pretty much all other smaller media award lists, except for 2. Here is the list: Jinri Toutiao Awards - Most Noticed Male Celebrity Weibo Awards - Hot Figure of the Year - The Untamed Weibo Awards - Weibo King China Literature Awards - Actor of the Year - The Untamed, Jade Dynasty China Literature Awards - Heartthrob Actor - Jade Dynasty China Screen Award - New Actor of the Year - Jade Dynasty 27th ERC Chinese Top Ten Awards - Top Ten Songs “Unrestrained” with Wang Yibo 27th ERC Chinese Top Ten Awards - Top Ten Songs “Remaining Years” Weibo TV Series Awards - Most Popular Actor - The Wolf Tencent Entertainment White Paper - Male Singer of the Year - “Spotlight” Tencent Entertainment White Paper - Star Power of the Year Tencent Video All Star Awards - VIP Star WeTV 2020 Awards - Best Wuxia Drama - The Untamed WeTV 2020 Awards - Best Male Lead TCC Asia The 100 Most Influential Faces of 2020 - #1 TCC Asia The Most Handsome Faces of Asia - #1 Weibo The Most Beautiful Charity Ambassador in 2020 - #1 Starmometer The 100 Sexiest Men in the World 2020 - #1 TCC Asia The 100 Most Handsome Face in Asia Pacific 2020 - #1 Top Beauty World The 100 Most Handsome Men in the World 2020 - #1 WeChat 2020’s Top 10 Handsome Idols - #3 TC Candler The 100 Most Handsome Faces in the World 2020 - #7 Yes, even despite everything that happened in 2020, Xiao Zhan still took home quite a lot of awards! Note that a number of these awards were won after the 227 Incident, notably, the Weibo TV Series Awards, the WeTV 2020 Awards, and Tencent Video All Star Awards.

Changing market sentiment - Overall market sentiment with Xiao Zhan is trending more positive than negative. Essentially, if Xiao Zhan were a company, they would describe this as a “bullish crossover” and a “bull trend.”

In general, all of the above helps to form a talent buyer’s assessment of the intrinsic value of an artist. And this is largely why I personally believe and would assess Xiao Zhan to be China’s #1 star that will provide any stakeholder with the #1 ROI, which has already been statistically proven by the strength of his sales and continued award wins.

Of course, I can’t say with absolutely certainty whether or not Chinese talent buyers absolutely, positively see it this way, but this is more or less how most talent buyers evaluate talent. If Xiao Zhan were to be evaluated as an asset at this very moment, he would essentially be rated as asset that is in the process of “mooning.” (I.e. Going [back up] to the moon. Breakout positive trend! It’s raining money again!)

I have a very hard time imagining that any talent buyer worth their salt would somehow miss the clear indicators that show the tides are changing and a trend crossover has occurred.

I have strong faith in a full comeback for Xiao Zhan. I believe that he will soar once more - not only in popularity, but also in success. While he will always have antis who will try to dim his shine, I fully believe that there is nothing that can stop the brightest star in the sky from ascending to new heights.

I only see blue skies above.

#xiao zhan #talent buyers #artist valuation #music industry #industry speculation #Anonymous #ask #peek answers

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alyblacklist · 3 years

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New interview from Vanity Fair (Italy) with James Spader (in Italian). Translation via Google translate below (corrections welcome):

Eight years after its debut, the TV series with Megan Boone and James Spader is back on FoxCrime. Already renewed for a ninth season, the show won't provide any representation of the Coronavirus or American politics. "We are an escape from reality and we want to remain so."

"In eight years, not a single episode has gone far and wide." The voice of James Spader, on the last Friday in the red zone, peeps out from a distant space, from an America in rebirth, whose present enthusiasm has not found any representation in the television series of which he is the protagonist. Spader, The Blacklist's Raymond Reddington, has strenuously opposed the possibility of contaminating one's fictional universe with the dross of the present. "Our show has always existed within a parallel world. Over the years, we have never bothered to plot a plot that had to do with real life, with newspaper headlines and news stories ». The Blacklist, whose eighth season is set to debut on FoxCrime on prime time on February 12, "has defined a universe of its own, to which it has remained faithful." Therefore, no Joe Biden, in the twenty-two new episodes of the television series. No pandemic.

The Blacklist, on air since 2013, will only find the characters who have made it a cult. Raymond Reddington, a repentant criminal whose decision to cooperate with the police is not the daughter, alone, of a sudden goodness of heart; Elizabeth Keen, special agent responsible for following his confessions; Donald Ressler, Harold Cooper, the set of FBI agents and gangsters whose "Red" is determined to secure a future behind bars.

Many television series usually set in fictional universes have, however, decided to make an exception and give their own representation of the pandemic. Why this categorical "no"?

“For a few, but effective reasons. I think one of the strengths of our show has always been its verisimilitude. The Blacklist is a parallel universe, in which credible characters live. This allowed the audience to find an escape from reality in the series. I think many viewers watch The Blacklist because it allows them to detach themselves from the problems related to everyday life, and this has led us to exclude the pandemic over everything ».

However, you will have had to face the restrictions that the Coronavirus has brought with it.

"Absolutely. We had to deal with many restrictions, we had to limit the number of people present in a given location. But, net of the difficulties and the productive effort that required us, I think I can say that a magnificent job has been done ».

Work that will continue: The Blacklist has already been confirmed for a ninth season. What still remains to be told?

"Much. It may seem absurd, but in eight years we have never found ourselves beating around the bush. No episode, in the eight seasons, was thought of as a filler. I remember one day talking to Jon Bokenkamp, the director. He had a twenty-minute longer bet on his hands. We tried to figure out how to cut it, which unnecessary scenes to eliminate. In the end, it was twenty minutes longer than it should have ”.

Aren't you bored playing the same character for eight years?

"No. On the set of The Blacklist, I've never had a mediocre or mundane day. The series has always been very exciting and the very idea of moving forward excites me. There are many surprises in this new season. There are more for the public than for me. The writers and I talked for a long time about what we were going to do, so nothing could surprise me once shooting started ».

And this would lead us to think of a certain repetitiveness ...

“It would induce, though. When I play the part of Red I'm not surprised by the story we're telling, but by the world we're making it in. '

Explain.

"One of the great entertainments of being an actor is being able to be surprised by your reactions: there is amazement in the physical and emotional responses that are given in certain situations. There is some wonder in seeing a location for the first time. There is growth in looking at a problem or a fact from a new perspective. The surprise, when you are an actor, is not about where you get to on the show, it's about the little things, the details, even personal, that we discover as we go on ».

So what has Raymond Reddington left you over these eight seasons?

"From the beginning, what I loved most about Red was his irreverence, his sense of humor. I discovered and learned to love his pervasive and profound longing for life ». His character is highly ambivalent.

Has he really never despised him?

“I don't usually make judgments about my characters. I have a deep understanding of everything Raymond stands for. Rather, I'd say there are things about Red that Red doesn't like: his brutality and the danger he poses to others, for example. But I think Red is aware of the qualities that make him strong and able to survive the worst circumstances in life. He saw the tremendous price of loss and witnessed it. He feels how bad death does. This led him to strongly desire sweetness, calm, love. He is a dichotomous character, and it is this ambivalence of him that has made him so interesting ».

He often talks about his collaboration with the writers. What exactly does it consist of?

«In a real collaboration. Let's talk about everything that has to do with the show. We talk before the writing of the scripts, during the shoot. Let's talk about the new entries and the possible suppression of some characters. We are talking about subplots that can last years, months or days. Let's talk about the tone of the show, the dialogues. We talk during the holidays. This series keeps me awake at night ».

And do you think it's a good thing?

“Let's just say I've always had trouble sleeping. When I wake up, my mind begins to travel fast. I tend to be an obsessive compulsive person, so I often stay up at night shaping ideas about The Blacklist. It happens that I waste hours trying to remember them, so as to put them on paper the following morning ».

Elizabeth Keen, the special agent played by Megan Boone, is one of the strongest female characters on television. How do you judge the change that Hollywood is aiming for, the progressive abandonment of gender roles?

«I find it fundamental. For me, as a man and actor, it always has been. I have always felt more comfortable in the company of women. I grew up with a female majority in the house, a terrific mother and two older sisters. I've always been attracted to strong female characters and the ones I've met in my films have been. I've always looked at the world from a female perspective, and I can't imagine doing otherwise. I understand, however, that it took the industry some time to get here. Today, I feel like saying that it is only a matter of time for the real and definitive change to be achieved ».

Digital has imposed a decidedly sustained production rate, even on linear television. Do you find such trouble to be good?

«I state that I, on the other hand, have never felt in competition with digital or Netflix. Netflix aired The Blacklist, creating added value for all of us. Streaming brought us audiences, and it was great. In general, I'm happy to have the huge amount of programs we have now. Competition is a good thing, it leads to excellence, it spurs commitment ".

Cinema, television, theater. In his career he has done everything. Which medium did you prefer?

“On television, I found a greater opportunity for further study. The Blacklist is the second TV show I work on, and has been running for over 150 episodes. My first character I played in The Practice, then in Boston Legal. Either way, I found it fascinating to see how it evolved, not in history, but over time. My TV characters have aged with me, and I with them. I think it's the best thing about working on television ».

Nothing bad then?

“You wake you up in the morning.When I started acting, I found myself working on the stage.It was a night job, and I've always been a night person, not a morning person.So when I found myself making films, I always tried to play characters who lived at night. What, this, that I managed, if you notice. It was television that forced me to turn. TV is a day job, which starts very early in the morning. It was a shock.I haven't gotten used to the sound of the alarm yet. '

#the blacklist #james spader #interview #raymond reddington

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onlymollygibson · 4 years

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Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Perils of a Too-Faithful Adaptation

“The book was better than the movie.” You and I have heard it a thousand times. Your favorite character’s arc was cut. The lead actor’s hair was the wrong color. HARRY DID YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN THE GOBLET OF FIRE??!?!?!

I get it. Some adaptations are downright terrible. Others are decent but have a few cringe-worthy moments.

As I’ve grown older, I’ve realized how important it is for adaptations to, well, adapt, whether to fit the demands of the medium they choose to use or adapt to a different audience than the original. The entertainment industry has churned out some absolutely amazing book-to-movie adaptations over the years. The Princess Bride. Freaking James Bond. The Lord of the Rings. The adaptations that have succeeded have done so when creators loved the original story and respected their audience, but weren’t afraid to change things.

Take Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs for example. It was based on a children’s book about a grandpa’s silly bedtime stories. The original book didn’t even have a protagonist. But the Lord and Miller wrote and directed a feature-length film full of hilarious characters and a satisfying plot. It also featured the best moments from the book and some truly terrible wonderful food puns. The took the whimsical feel of the book and turned it up to 11. The creators recognized that an audience has entirely different expectations for a movie vs a children’s book, and they adapted accordingly. And honestly, teenage me was pissed the first time I saw it. Mostly because I couldn’t get over their explanations of now the FLRSALPHABETSOUP worked on a molecular level. As my younger brothers forced me to watch it again and again, I got over my pretentious angst about incorrect biology and just enjoyed watching an animated version of Mr. T talk say things like, “My chest hairs are tingling.”

Often, the anger over book-to-movie adaptations comes when the creators can’t keep every beloved line, scene, or character from a well-loved book. Unless they’re doing a BBC miniseries and can bless the world with a certain six-hour version of Pride and Prejudice. Other times, they need to adapt to their storytelling medium of choice. Can you imagine if the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice kept every line from the book? They’d have to talk like auctioneers just to fit it all in. Besides, a completely faithful adaptation had already been done. To make a memorable, beloved movie in it’s own right, the creators had to adapt.

Of course, adaptational choices aren’t all good. Just ask anyone who had the misfortune of watching M Night Sh**m*l*n’s The Last Airbender movie. Or Eragon. The dragons had feathers. Feathers! Or Percy Jackson.

But not all change is bad. The Princess Bride book is hilarious. But also very wordy. And the running joke about it being an abridgment of a long, boring history book (Goldman says things like, “This scene was followed by fourteen pages on Florin’s trade and exports, but I cut that.”) was hilarious. BUT a joke like that doesn’t translate well to the big screen, so they didn’t really go into that when they made the movie. Instead, the beloved adaptation is famous for its snappy, witty dialogue.

Making a good adaptation comes down to recognizing the strengths and limitations of each medium.

Books: - Great for showing what a character is thinking - Plenty of time for exposition or extensive backstory - Action sequences can be hard to visualize - They don’t have a soundtrack Movies: - They can create a mood instantly with a combination of music and visual cues - There is something absurdly powerful about watching actors deliver really emotionally intense lines. Or funny lines if they have good comedic timing. -Action scenes! - The chance to watch characters kiss! - Introspection and exposition can be more difficult, especially with the pressure to make every second count in a movie.

TL:DR We like to complain about adaptations, but sometimes the adaptational choices are actually necessary and good.

This brings me to Avatar: The Last Airbender. The TV show was absolutely amazing! Which is why I’m so worried about this new adaptation. There’s a lot of pressure to live up to the original, and I’m worried the creators will play it safe. We fans have had, what? a decade? to watch and re-watch every single scene. Every character has been analysed to pieces and nearly every possible ship has been shipped. There’s no way a play-by-play adaptation will be as beloved as the original. If they try to make an exact adaptation, we’ll spend the entire time cataloging its flaws. Someone will complain that the actor playing Sokka wasn’t the right kind of goofy or Ty Lee isn’t as flexible, or Zuko’s scar doesn’t look right.

Here’s what Bryke should do instead: change something. Make this adaptation an AU. We’ve spent ten-ish years with canon. Give us a new canon to work with. The Season Two finale was so wonderful the first time because we legitimately didn’t know what decision Zuko would make. It’s still enjoyable to re-watch because we have that agony of what-if he made the right choice in the catacombs and it hurts every single time. But we’re going into the Netflix series knowing exactly what happened the first time. If they don’t make any major changes it will be like reading those fanfictions that are like, “What if Toph had an older brother? How would that change things?” and then they completely repeat the canon line-by-line with a few added snarky asides delivered by Toph’s older brother Rocky. (Sorry if fics like that are your thing. You do you, and don’t let my complaining about them make you feel bad.) Now imagine that the first episode of the Netflix adaptation introduces some minor changes that are sure to have rippling effects throughout the series: - What if Azula was the heir and Zuko was the spare? - What if Lu Ten survived the siege of Ba Sing Se and Iroh became Fire Lord? (Suddenly we have villains who aren’t as overtly evil as Zhao. The Fire Nation people going after the Gaang would be more like Jeong Jeong.) - What if Aang actually saw some of the Sozin’s comet airbender massacre? - What if Sokka was a bender? - What if Azula wasn’t? - What if the Fire Nation had conquered the North Pole before tried to get Ba Sing Se? Or what if the Northern Water Tribe allied themselves with the Fire Nation years ago? The point is, introduce a few permutations and see how they effect the story down the line. Keep the spirit of the series the same by giving us the same level of suspense and agony over the what-ifs and narrative parallels, but change the story so we are one the edge of our seats the entire time.

And, dare I say, change the ships. The shipping wars in ATLA were legendary, largely because of the chemistry fans saw between Katara and Zuko. And while there were negative aspects of the shipping wars, some absolutely amazing fics were written as a result. If the creators change enough that fans think anything is possible, it will create so much buzz and take the Netflix adapatation from, I’m-watching-this-because-I-loved-the-original-and-well-at-least-its-visually-stunning to Holy-Crap-you-have-to-watch-this-OMG!!! I’m not saying they have to do Zutara (even though 2020 is going to be the year of the reformed-villian/hero romance), but they should do something different. They have a chance to have us on the edge of our seats. Not taking that chance would be stupid.

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swanqueeneverafter · 4 years

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The Once & Future Queen Pt.11

Land Without Magic. Past. October 24th, 2011. 8:15 A.M. Phuket. (August is in bed with a girl, sound asleep. He suddenly wakes as if in pain, sits up and sees his leg turning into wood. He turns around.) August: (Speaking Thai to his bed-mate:) “Wake up. Wake up!” Isra: (Looks at the clock, then reluctantly at him:) “It's only 8:15, go back to bed...” August: (Pointing at his leg:) “Look at this. Right here. Isra, wake up! Help me!” Isra: (Gets up half way and looks at him:) “August, it's early. I'm sleeping.” August: (Reaching out and touching his knee:) “Look, don't you see it?” Isra: (Looking up:) “I see your leg! Now please, be quiet...” August: “I need to go to a hospital...” Isra: “What the hell is wrong with you?” August: (Speaking English:) “I'm turning into wood.” Storybrooke. Present. (Henry lays beneath the food truck covered in grease and engine oil.) Tiana: “Is there a person attached to those legs under there? (Henry slides out from under the truck:) Hmm. Writer boy. What the hell are you doing here?” Henry: “Operation Food Truck.” Tiana: “Am I supposed to know what that means?” Henry: “It means that as soon as I get the engine running, I'm gonna install the fryers, and then I'm gonna go in the back, and I'm gonna get the -” Tiana: “Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. Does this newfound industriousness have anything to do with a certain date you have with Ella later. Cause you know, she’s feeling pretty nervous about it too.” Henry: “No. I just thought that you two might appreciate an actual working vehicle.”

Tiana: “Oh. Hey, shouldn’t you be getting ready for that date? What time is it anyway? (Henry ignores this and climbs into the truck. Switching on the engine, the truck roars to life. Tiana chuckles in surprise as Henry also turns on the lights. Smiling:) Huh. You actually fixed it.” Henry: (Switching off the engine, climbs down to join her:) “Well, your confidence in me is astounding, Tiana.” Ella: (Entering:) “Wow! This is fantastic. Now I get why you stood me up. You must’ve lost track of time while you were doing all this?” Henry: “Yeah, it's, uh, good as new. And I didn’t forget our date.” Ella: “Then why-” Henry: “Consider it a parting gift. (At Ella’s blank stare:) Will told me what happened between you two. In Wonderland?” Tiana: “Uh, say what now?” Henry: (Grimaces:) “Ah, sorry Tiana. I didn’t mean to break it to you like this.” Ella: “Henry what are you talking about?” Henry: (To Tiana:) “It appears that Will and Ella didn’t quite spend all their time searching for answers, but rather finding other ways to entertain themselves in each other’s arms. (Tosses the keys to Ella who catches them:) It's all yours.” (Henry walks away dejectedly while Ella looks to Tiana in disbelief.)

Granny's Diner. (A small group has gathered while the Red Queen stands frozen like an ice sculpture in the middle of the diner.) Regina: "I just don't understand it. Even when she was the Red Queen, Anastasia was never known to be violent." Xena: (Dryly:) "Must be beginners luck." Regina: "I'm serious. By all accounts, the people of Wonderland were more afraid of the Queen of Hearts than Anastasia." Gabrielle: "Who's the Queen of Hearts?" Regina: (Coughs, then mutters:) "My mother." David: (While playing with his granddaughter's foot:) "Well, prior instances of violence or not, Anastasia was in the midst of terrorising the town before Elsa stopped her.” Regina: (To Xena and Gabrielle:) "Do either of you know why Anastasia might have been targeting you?" Xena: (Shakes her head:) "I've never met her before." Gabrielle: "She kept referring to herself as the Red Queen. In between using her magic against us I mean." Regina: "Well clearly there's something going on. Need I remind you that this is Ella's step-sister we're talking about here? That makes her family." Ruby: (Scoffs:) "Like that's a big deal. Everyone's related around here. (At Regina's look:) What? They are." David: "Family member or not, I think the best thing to do right now is keep the Red Queen on ice. At least until we find some answers." Ruby: "Will she be safe staying frozen like that?" Regina: "Ana's not the first person to have been frozen solid around here. (Circling the frozen woman:) I left Marian like this in my vault for weeks."

(Sitting at the counter, Lily tries to reassure Elsa.) Elsa: "I just feel so guilty freezing her that way." Lily: "Don't. You saw how out of control she was. If you ask me, Anastasia's lucky you were here to turn her into a block of ice." Elsa: "Really?" Lily: "Yeah, absolutely. I mean if it were down to me, I'd have turned her into a pile of ashes. Your way is much less messy." (Elsa smiles, then steals a french fry from Lily's plate.) Storybrooke. Past. The Final Battle. Main Street. (The family rushes to Emma’s side as she lays, unmoving, on the ground.) Henry: (Crying:) “I love you.” (Henry leans down and kisses Emma’s forehead, causing a pulse of magic from True Love’s Kiss.) Emma: (Opening her eyes, softly:) “I love you, too. (They hug:) I love you, too!” (David helps Emma to her feet and the family share a group hug. Catching a glimpse of something in the corner of her eye, Snow White looks over and spots the storybook laying in the road.) Snow White: (Picking it up:) “Henry! I think this belongs to you.” Henry: (Taking the book and reading the last chapter:) "When Good and Evil both did the right thing, faith was restored. The final battle was won. (Closes the book:) That’s it.” A Short Distance Away. (Running up the street towards the Sorcerer’s door, Emma chances a glance behind her to see her family all gathered together before pulling the door open and dashing through it.)

The Sorcerer's Mansion. (Arriving back at the mansion, Emma finds the Apprentice waiting for her with another storybook.) Emma: "So you're telling me that I'm the reason the storybook appeared at that exact moment?" Apprentice: (Smiles:) "That moment, and others. Come, we've still much to do." Storybrooke. Present. Main Street. (Ella catches up to Henry.) Ella: “Henry! Wait. (She blocks his path:) I don’t know what Will told you, but it was a lie.” Henry: “Yeah? Well he sounded pretty convincing.” Ella: “You really think I’m capable of such a thing?” Henry: “Well I don’t know, Ella, you tell me. You were pretty gung-ho about accusing my mother based on somebody’s word. So what am I supposed to think?” Ella: “I don't have feelings for Will. How could I? I love you!” Henry: “And I love you! It’s just... I don’t know what to believe anymore! Things haven’t been right between us for a long time.” Ella: “I know, we’ve both been so busy, we’ve hardly had time to be together. That’s why I asked you to come with me to Wonderland in the first place.” Henry: (Nods:) “Yeah, and I should have been there. I was just so wrapped up in making enough money so we could get our own place that I lost sight of what was really important. You and me, side by side facing things together, head on.” Ella: “That’s all I’ve ever wanted.” Henry: (Pulling her in for a hug:) “I’m so sorry, about everything.” Ella: (Wrapping her arms around him:) “Me too.” Elsewhere In Storybrooke... (Staggering towards the library, Will tries the doors but they are locked.) Tiana: "Opening hours till 10:00." Will: (Bows his head:) "Very generous. (Turns to face her:) Tiana, I can explain." Tiana: "I didn't ask." (Tiana punches Will square in the face, causing him to fall back against the library doors and slide, unconscious, onto the ground.)

Blanchard Loft. Past. (Emma, Mary Margaret, David and Regina are looking for Henry’s storybook. David and Regina search the bedroom, Mary Margaret and Emma the closet. Regina opens one suitcase and looks inside searching for the book. It’s empty. David opens a chest. Shoe boxes are stored inside.) David: (Picks one shoe box and sets it aside:) “Why do women keep their shoe boxes?” Mary Margaret: (Overhearing the remark:) “Because after true love there is no more powerful magic than footwear. It has to be protected.” Emma: “Any sign of the book?” David: (Shuts the chest:) “No. I don’t think it’s here.” Mary Margaret: “You don’t know that.” Emma: (Carrying another wooden chest, she joins David and Regina:) “Maybe it’s in this thing. (Places the chest on the bed and opens it. Clothes are stored inside:) Some winter coats. Some scarves. The book is not in here.” (Emma sighs and lays back on the bed. At that moment, a pair of hands reach up from under the bed and covertly place the storybook inside the chest.) Mary Margaret: (Exiting the closet:) “Hang on. Let me check.” (After a short search, Mary Margaret is able to find the storybook.) Emma: (Confused, sits up:) “I don’t understand.” (As all eyes turn to the book, Emma scurries out from under the bed and crawls quickly out of the room on all fours towards the door in the next room.) Regina: “Can I see that? (Mary Margaret gives the book to Regina:) I know there are chapters on Oz in here. I wanna know who’s heart Zelena crushed to enact this curse. Because if there’s something she loved, that’s her weakness. (Regina exits the room. David follows her. When they enter the living room, Regina catches a glimpse of something in the corner:) Did you see that?” David: “See what?” Regina: “I’m sure I saw something. (Shaking her head, she returns her attention to the storybook:) Never mind.”

Land Without Magic. Past, October 2011. Hong Kong. (August sits in a hospital in Hong Kong, waiting for his leg to be examined.) Orderly: “August W. Booth?” Exam Room. Doctor: (August shows his leg to the doctor. To the doctor's eyes his leg looks perfectly normal:) “I don't see anything.” August: “My leg is turning into wood.” Doctor: “I think you should go.” August: “Wait, wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I'll prove it to you.” (August puts his leg up on the table and stabs his leg with a scalpel.) Doctor: “No! Stop! Aah! (Speaking Cantonese:) Orderlies! Restrain him! Take him to psych! (The orderlies chase August through the hospital:) Wait! Get back here! Hey! Get back!” (Seemingly with no place left to run, August is grabbed from behind and taken into the stairwell. August spins around ready to fight then sees a woman standing before him.) August: “Who are you?” Mulan: “Someone who can help. I heard you yelling about your situation. And I work with a man who fixes those kinds of problems.” August: “What kind of problems?” Mulan: “The kind most people just dismiss. For the right price, he can cure anything.” August: “Who is he?” Mulan: “They call him the Dragon.”

#sq #swan queen #swanqueen

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divcs · 3 years

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⋮ 回 ♡ ━━ ❛ ℘𝙻𝙾𝚃 𝚆. 𝙳𝙸𝚅𝙸𝙽𝙰. ❜

HEY ! what’s up y’all ? since everyone is makin’ rounds for plots i guess it’s a good time to introduce myself and make my call so without further ado this is DIVINA THORNTON, known to most as just her first name. her prominence comes from being a members of a pop girl-group since 2010 but following their disbandment last year, she’s now a new member of CAPITOL RECORDS. falling under the modern southern belle trope, she has a sweet nature/feisty temper and is on the hunt for some connections. all basic connects are welcomed as well as collaborations ( literally anything/everything ) and i have some plots typed up as well. if interested, click the lil’ read more below and hit the lineee !!!

𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄. — divina priscilla thornton

𝐕𝐎𝐈𝐂𝐄. — normani

𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄. — july 31st, 1997. ( 23 )

𝐙𝐎𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐂. — leo.

𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐓𝐘𝐏𝐄. — the queen. the diva.

𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐓𝐒. — leader. outgoing. confident. expressive. stubborn. passionate. down to earth. spontaneous. bad tempered.

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘. — esfp.

𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓. — chaotic good.

𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓. — sanguine-choleric

𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐍. — savannah, georgia

𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄. — 2010-

𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒. — sashabelle. janet jackson. toni braxton. brandy. late 90′s/earlt 00s mariah carey. britney spears. paris hilton.

𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐋𝐒 — celia foote. jodie landon.

𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍. — despite her big and sometimes overwhelming personality, divina is trying her best to fit into the music industry that she’s always felt outcast in due to where she’s from and what she looks like. navigating through colorism in the industry, sabotage from some people she’s pissed off, shedding the girl group image and still trying to figure out where she wants to take her career in entertainment; divina has a lot on her plate. she’s grown discouraged in a music career after being overlooked in a group for years but is doing what is expected of her. all in all she wants what most of her peers do, fame, fortune and some real friends.

𝖑𝖔𝖛𝖊 𝖑𝖎𝖊𝖘

ROMANTIC X MALE

Muse A has been an aspiring musician for years. They have finally hit it big; their music quickly climbing the charts, labels scrambling to sign them, screaming fans waiting outside venues. Muse A meets DIVINA at an industry event, and the two hit it off immediately. Muse A invites DIVINA out after the event, and they end up going home together afterward. As they continue to bump into one another at industry events over the next few weeks, the pair decides to act on their chemistry and try dating. It isn’t long before they start to fall for each other, but Muse A’s rising fame sweeps them up, leaving DIVINA, (who’s still stuck in her girl group contract) behind while Muse A travels the world. DIVINA does their best to deal with the distance and the insecurities that come along with dating a musician but, they finally reach their limit when a photo surfaces of Muse A kissing a fan after a show. Muse A expresses regret about the incident, but can’t promise that they’ll be 100% faithful while on tour. After a difficult talk, the two agree that they shouldn’t be together right now, and they’ll just have to see what happens when the tour is over. Now, the tour is over and when it’s time for Muse A to write their sophomore album, nothing is more inspiring than their relationship with DIVINA. Their first single is released and it’s a break-up song that’s all about missing Muse B. This doesn’t sit well with DIVINA, who’s now signed as a solo artist and doesn’t want their relationship tainting her new path of a career.

𝖉𝖆𝖓𝖈𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖍 𝖆 𝖘𝖙𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖌𝖊𝖗

PLATONIC

DIVINA has recently signed her own solo deal and is on the cusp of breaking into the big time as a solo artist. She has her loyal following from the group that she loves dearly, but their lifelong dream has always been to be a major headliner and to see her name lit up on the marquis of the biggest venues. Muse B is a well-known artist who is also a talent manager, looking for a new artist to lend their skills and expertise to. Muse B attends one of DIVINA’s promotional shows one night and is absolutely blown away by their magnetism and raw talent. After the show, Muse B introduces themselves to DIVINA and makes it known that they are very interested in working with them. DIVINA isn’t sure at first. They don’t want to be constantly told what to do or play and Muse B doesn’t have the sharpest personal reputation. The pair spend time together, share a few stories, their dreams and aspirations and begin to hit it off really well. Muse B offers their services, but DIVINA is hesitant to accept, even though this may be what she really needs to establish herself outside of her girl group image. After a bit of persuading and a few more meetings, DIVINA finally agrees. Muse B utilizes every resource they have to propel DIVINA into stardom. As DIVINA gets closer and closer to achieving A-list status, Muse B steers her towards more questionable behaviors (alcohol, drugs, outbursts, etc.) in order to get additional publicity and headlines. When she refuses, she begins to see a more vile side of Muse B who threatens to completely derail her career if she doesn’t take their orders.

𝖜𝖆𝖛𝖊𝖘 / 𝖘𝖜𝖎𝖓𝖌

ROMANTIC X GROUP

Muse A and DIVINA are in a lowkey ‘situationship’. DIVINA is embarking on her first national tour as an opening act. Muse A has been close friends with DIVINA since she was seventeen and they’ve been one of her biggest supporters in the industry. The pair have decided to continue ‘talking’ despite DIVINA leaving to tour. Though they talk over video chat and text almost every day, it’s just not the same as them being in the same room together. After the first leg of apart, DIVINA’s chats are getting shorter and Muse A’s calls go to their voicemail more frequently. It makes Muse A curious, especially because of publicity showing DIVINA and MUSE C; another artist touring with DIVINA who has openly expressed being romantically interested in her, growing questionably closer. When one particular video of DIVINA and MUSE C cozied up together surfaces and Muse A can’t get in contact with with DIVINA for explanation; Muse A is deeply angered after assuming the worst. Enters Muse D, who is both DIVINA’s best friend and a collaborator of Muse A. When Muse D encounters Muse A, someone they’ve secretly cared for as more than friends, who is noticeably upset over DIVINA’s questionable behavior, Muse D takes the opportunity they’ve been waiting for. Muse D offers themselves as a confidant to Muse A, purposely fanning the flames of Muse A’s suspicion and hurt to encourage Muse A to forget about DIVINA and open their eyes to what’s right in front of them – a person who’d never do them how DIVINA was. Muse A gradually listens to Muse D and a relationship begins to blossom between the two of them. What happens when DIVINA has a break between tour dates and surprises Muse A back in L.A.?

𝖒𝖔𝖙𝖎𝖛𝖎𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓

ENEMY X FEMALE

DIVINA is offered a song by a prominent producer in the industry, the same song Muse A has already recorded and has prepared for their next release. DIVINA loves the song so much she decides to record it and prepare to release it as her lead. Once industry bugs begin getting to Muse A, they realize the song they had recorded is now about to pushed by a different artist. Of course, the producer does not disclose they offered DIVINA the song and Muse A believes DIVINA and her team made a shady business move and stole the song from under her. Muse A’s first instinct is to blast DIVINA on social media but she decides to simply record more music and put her lead out on the same date as DIVINA’s lead. The timing of the singles mean interviews, music videos and award show performances will all be align around the same team which ultimately turns into a social media feud assumption and a whole lot of comparisons as both songs compete for the higher Billboard position. When asked about this in an interview Muse A is noticeably passive-aggressive and shady towards DIVINA, who still isn’t aware of the issue. Things only boil swifter when DIVINA deliver’s a very shady acceptance speech when she wins an award over Muse A for the song.

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oliverpdaniel · 3 years

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Let’s talk about casual homophobia.

I wanted to share a transcript of a TikTok video by a minor celebrity (I won't do them the honour of identifying them, but suffice it to say that this individual thrives mostly on controversy and poor publicity), to demonstrate what day-to-day homophobic language looks like. Many of these questions have been asked to me, or tell of real things that I've experienced, due to a generally callous view of queer folks. The quoted parts are the actual video, the unquoted responses mine.

Note in advance that some of these questions are clearly oriented towards gay men, but I am responding from the perspective of a bisexual man. Anyway...

"Okay, these are my questions for the gays – sorry, I was on Straight TikTok for a minute; what?"

Or, as you might like to call it, TikTok. For those unfamiliar, "Gay TikTok" is a small subset of the TikTok community that makes videos primarily revolving around in-jokes and shared experiences of the queer community. Thus, "Straight TikTok" is only extant in contrast, a joking reference to certain, overwhelmingly heteronormative parts of the TikTok community. While I'm not a big fan of the idea of 'ownership' or deciding who's allowed to say what, this (obnoxiously straight, in every sense of the word 'obnoxious') celebrity is trying somewhat unceremoniously to insert themselves into a narrative not their own here. Not off to a great start.

(1) "Would you care if your partner was bisexual?"

Whelp, this is one I can't really answer, can I? But, this still does lean into the old "gold-star" ideology of homosexuality, which makes it off-putting from the jump. For those unfamiliar, a "gold star" gay/lesbian is one who has never had sex with the opposite gender. This is a completely silly distinction, that fails to take into account personal circumstances, as well as – y'know – the fluid nature of human sexuality. TL;DR, even if you're exclusively into one gender, you shouldn't care about your partner's sexual orientation (other than, y'know, making sure it includes your gender) because, leaving aside the absolutely rad underworld of polyamory, they're only going to be into you while they're with you.

(2) "Have you ever been with someone of the opposite gender?"

Ah, more gold-starring! A great way to start. "You're trans? What's your deadname?"

(3) "Do you take offence when a girl calls you her Gay Best Friend?"

The Gay Best Friend is an expendable, non-threatening fount of femininity in masculine form, someone to go clothes-shopping with and who will give you sassy advice on boys. God forbid, however, that the Gay Best Friend try to be vulnerable with you about the difficulties of LGBTQIA+ life; they're only there for sashaying and making out with at parties, right? The Gay Best Friend is an incredibly harmful notion to men on both sides of the sexuality spectrum. Gay (and ESPECIALLY bi/pan/poly) men already know to fear the label, because of the dismissive treatment and expectation of performative homosexuality that comes along with it. Straight men should fight against it, too, because it's a symptom of the present hegemony of heterosexual relationships, which revolves around sexual transactionalism and a healthy dose of gender-role-fuelled intimidation[1]. (If you've never heard any of those words, you're probably the target audience here.)

(4) "Be honest – how many times has a straight person tried to hook you up with a gay person based solely on the fact that they're gay and no other compatibility requirements?" (with a devilish smile, into full blown "oh guuuuuurl" laughter)

This is a real thing that happens to people, myself included, all too frequently. It tells us that when you look at me, you don't think "Oliver", you think "Gay", and next time you meet another gay guy, that's the word ringing through your head. It's not funny. It's hurtful. If you're going to recommend a partner to me, make sure you actually have faith in a connection forming. As someone who ended up in an abusive relationship as a result of overzealous matchmaking, it's not something to be taken lightly; relationships, especially gay relationships and all the societal friction they inevitably entail, are not here for your endearment.

(5) "Are you down to hook up with someone who's 'just curious'?"

MORE gold-starring! God, could you imagine the uproar if a lesbian approached a straight person and said that they "missed dick" and/or wanted to experiment!? Oh, wait, that's already common in straight porn to the point of cliché. Gag; and not the good kind of gag.

(6) "Do you proudly wear the rainbow flag, or are you kinda against it because it kinda segregates?"

...what? When I first found this video, it was being duetted (TikTok's side-by-side video response) by a queer person, and at this point they took the opportunity to say, "I don't like you." I echo the sentiment.

(7) "Are you a 'yaaaaaas kweeeeen' gay or are you, like, 'fuck that shit what the fuck?'"

WE ARE NOT HERE TO PERFORM QUEERNESS FOR YOU. Leaving aside the sociolinguistic aspects of queer language and its intersection with (read: theft from) African-American Vernacular English, if people want to act flamboyantly gay, THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. If people want to act "normal" (read: heteronormatively!!!), that's NONE OF YOUR GOD DAMN BUSINESS. Queer people are fucking people, they act differently in different scenarios, and it's not for you to fetishize or to find "too much sometimes". When you accept a queer person into your life, you're accepting every facet of them into your life, for them to live and love unapologetically – not just the parts you find entertaining.

(8) "This might be a dealbreaker for me: do you like musical theatre?"

Yes. But even if I didn't – if I liked drinking beer and watching Nascar (sorry dad), but wish I had a boyfriend to do that with, guess what? That's my own fucking business. And, again, if your idea of a "dealbreaker" when engaging with a gay person is whether or not they like musical theatre – probably one of the most tired stereotypes about gay folks – and not, I dunno, if they're fun to be around and respect your boundaries and opinions, then maybe you're not looking for a gay friend for the right reason.

(9) "Be honest – do you still go through the Chick-Fil-A drivethrough and get that spicy chicken sandwich or those nuggies?" (big, face-scrunching smile.)

This is the one that REALLY got me. This displays just how tone-deaf this person is and how deeply they've objectified the concept of homosexuality for themselves. Chick-Fil-A is a massively homophobic organization from the top down, and they donate millions to organizations that want to bring into question my very right to exist, morally and legally.

As a straight person not affected by these issues, it's easy to say "well, I know I /shouldn't/ go to Chick-Fil-A because of the 'gay stuff', but oh IT'S SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOD!". It's easy to momentarily forget one's morality because hey, it's not like you're directly hurting anyone, right? But, as a queer person who has to walk by the brand-new Chick-Fil-A at Yonge and Bloor every day on my walk to class, seeing the lines wrapping around the block lets me take direct measure of who, and how many, are willing to forget about me for just long enough to enjoy a fucking chicken sandwich. Go literally anywhere else. Eating at Chick-Fil-A is a choice, and it's a choice that informs me that you care less about my right to live than your own personal enjoyment.

(10) "Do you get upset when they have straight actors portray gay characters?"

This is a whole other debate, so I'm not going to get into the actual subject matter of this question. But hey – maybe, in an industry literally overrun with queer people, maybe we can stop converting a significant and pernicious problem in entertainment into a cutesy debate topic? Something really tells me that this person isn't going to start whipping out the intersectional feminist literature to explain their argument here. In all likelihood, it'll sound more along the lines of "but Eddie Redmayne looked so GOOD in that dress!"

(11) "And what's the GAYEST thing about you?'

Nope. Shut up and choke. I hate you.

Never tell me for a second that homophobia is "over" in Canada/the West/wherever. Never tell me that it's a distant issue, remaining only in far-off religious backwaters. This is what it can look like. Fetishization; dismissal; turning struggles for human dignity into pseudo-intellectual debates.

I'm not here to be your Gay Best Friend.

I'm not here to date your new gay acquaintance.

I'm not here to repeatedly explain to you my need to have rights.

I'm here for the same reasons you are.

I want to live and love, not to be treated like a toy.

Footnotes

[1] Okay, I'm obviously not saying that all straight relationships are built around sexual transactionalism and intimidation, nor am I saying that non-comphet relationships are not. But, in my experience as a reformed Gay Best Friend who has had to provide counsel to cishet friends over some INFURIATINGLY stupid relationship/courting issues, I would argue that a full ninety percent of them could be resolved if the experiencer simply viewed their partner/interlocutor/'tyng' as another human being, rather than being from the mysterious species that is The Opposite Gender.

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6dogs9cats · 4 years

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Few in the top ranks of media journalism, either at the networks or in the pages of The New York Times, have any stomach for inflicting damage on those that lie to the public. It is a transactional relationship in which propagandists get a nationwide audience, and those that report what they say get column space or air time filled, and with the required spice of conflict. Meet the Pressexists to broadcast the thoughts of the powerful, regardless of whether those thoughts are true or false and whether their notions are ethical or are horrific. Industry lobbyists are queried for talking points they formulate only upon receiving the necessary industry check; yesterday's advocate for state-sponsored torture can be tomorrow's valued expert on an assortment of other topics. The Sunday shows were issuing societal pardons for atrocities long before Trump set himself to the formal version.

So none of us, I think, has any faith that the networks will work in the interests of our nation here, even as the very foundation of democracy itself is unthreaded. Democracy cannot exist if a nation's leaders are free to simply invent whichever version of reality best suits their own priorities and ambitions. We are seeing it happen: Republicans became convinced that the economy was bad in 2016 and was tremendous in 2017 because it was repeated endlessly, and with false evidence. The chocolate rations were down; now they are up. Russia committed an attack on our very government in 2016—or perhaps our real enemy, the opposition party, manufactured the entire scheme from a Ukrainian basement.

This is an unraveling. It is historic, in the worst way: It is a national story with implications beyond those of any front page or Exclusive Special Report of the last four decades. It has the Chuck Todds of Washington wondering if, at long last, choreographed journalistic playdates with chummy falsehood-spewers have gone too far.

But media paychecks depend on finding a way to save the nation that will not damage ratings, and it is as simple as that. Will calling out the new American propagandist movement be as entertaining, as titillating, as reputation-boosting in Washington as hosting and amplifying the propagandists is now? If the networks and papers cannot find a way to make it so, we can be absolutely certain they will not try.

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utapri-headcanons-imagines · 5 years

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Yo can we get like an all 3 groups on how they’d deal with having a Male/S/O bc like S/O might get all worried about the bois rep

Side Note: So sorry to the anon who sent this (like a week ago)! It was entirely my fault for taking so long, I have no excuse. We hope you like this… huggee post - Mod Zozo

HEAVENS

Eiichi Otori

Eiichi is very open about his relationships. He came out a long time ago, he didn’t care about the backlash he received. So when he talked about his male s/o, people weren’t so surprised by it. Of course, there was that share of people who were very taken back

His reputation? Who cares about it, he’s in love and he wants to show it to people

The press is on it? Let them, he doesn’t mind all of the questions

Though if there are any witch hunts for his s/o, he will immediately do something about it

Anything in the press that says something bad about him, Eiichi would freak and address it right away. He’ll clear things up, he doesn’t want his s/o to have a bad name

Eiichi is actually very active for campaigning for LGBTQ+ rights in Japan. So he often uses his own experiences with his s/o and his friends to describe his life. He even discusses the homophobic remarks and actions he’s experienced to give a clear image of how it’s like to be LGBTQ+ in Japan

Eiichi all together is just a very open person, he doesn’t want to hide his true self from others. If he’s going to fans and jobs, then so be it.

Kira Sumeragi

It’s hard to pry into Kira’s private life. So when the press found out Kira had a male s/o they were on it, fast

To be honest, Kira didn’t address the matter. He thought it wasn’t a big deal.

He thought if he ignored all the gossip and stuff, it’ll go away. But when his s/o’s name got out that’s when he had to say something

Kira just wants his s/o’s life to be private, he doesn’t want his life to be plastered everywhere. Kira doesn’t really care about the stupid gossip about himself. But his s/o? He’s definitely going to do something about it

He knows it’s not good to get in drama, but his s/o’s name is out there. Kira knows for a fact that he would face a major backlash. It actually frightened Kira quite a lot

So when Kira decided to respond to these claims, he was indeed very serious. His fans and the press listened into his response and came to a single conclusion. The press eventually stops bothering him about it, due to his terrifying response.

Kira was happy that they weren’t asking him about his love life anymore, he felt safer. So did his s/o. They can finally go on semi-normal dates.

Nagi Mikado

Nagi couldn’t care less about the criticism he’s receiving

He constantly posts pictures of him and his boyfriend. With his boyfriend’s permission, of course

But wait! People started giving their own uneducated opinions on Nagi’s love life.

What does Nagi think about this?

“How does it affect you? You shouldn’t care about who I love.”

Nagi then proceeds to post more and more about his boyfriend to make the press angry

If some fans get angry, he doesn’t care. To him, they weren’t real fans in the first place

Interviews on the matter can be harsh, and borderline inappropriate. Especially for someone as young as Nagi, he’s just a 13-year-old kid after all. If the other HEAVENS members don’t shut down the conversation, Nagi will

“I love whom I love, so leave me be!”

Eiji Otori

Eiji doesn’t give out too much information on his private life. How people found out was because of Eiichi accidentally mentioned it in one of his interviews

Needless to say, Eiji was not happy, in fact, he was kind of scared. He didn’t want his boyfriend to face backlash or have anything crazy happen to him

Eiji would avoid conflict at all cost, he doesn’t want s/o to become hurt at all

All in all, Eiji and s/o have a very long discussion about this. After that talk, Eiji lets the cat out of the bag. He talks about it during an interview

Of course s/o was very much worried, however, they both did agree on making parts of their relationship public. Eiji only talked about the bits and pieces that he consented on

Eiji then became more and more open about his relationship in the public, but it took a while

Of course, whenever Eiji received some hate mail or anything that made him extremely uncomfortable, he made sure to tell s/o and the rest of HEAVENS

He wants his relationship to be kept mostly private, but small details here and there are not so bad

Shion Amakusa

Shion is extremely vague about everything. So most likely the paparazzi found out about his boyfriend

S/o became so worried, he picked up a tabloid magazine with both of them on it and showed it to Shion

Shion looked quite shocked, and he worried about s/o’s personal life. How would this affect him? Shion is just praying that he didn’t ruin his life

There were articles, tweets, and dumb discussions on the matter

Shion hated being confronted about all of this, he didn’t want s/o to be involved in the limelight

He tries to shield his boyfriend away from all of the hate

However, many positives did rise from this, Shion and his s/o did get a lot of support

So many of his fans stuck up for him and his s/o. Shion was so happy he cried about it to s/o

Yamato Hyuga

As soon as Yamato did get a boyfriend, he talked about him a lot (though never mentioned his name)

The press freaked the hell out, how could Yamato of all people have a lover? Especially a male one

Yamato rolled his eyes when he was met with homophobic remarks, he just ignored them altogether

But when they went after his s/o, he wanted to throw some fists. All of HEAVENS had to hold him back from punching someone

He was beyond angry, during an interview he dedicated a small portion of time on the issue. Yamato talked about how love shouldn’t be discriminated against. No matter what sex or gender the person is

“Why the Hell does it matter? If I had a girlfriend, I know everyone would still freak out. So what’s wrong if my lover is a guy? How does that change anything? It’s all dumb.”

Yamato makes sure to comfort his boyfriend after an interview. He also asks him what he could’ve done differently, or could have phrased something differently

All in all, Yamato sees this as dumb publicity, he knows that magazines are just trying to get more money. He soon stops commenting on the gossip so the press has nothing to talk about

Van Kiryuin

Van has always been open about his sexuality. So he didn’t have that much backlash when he relieved that he has a male boyfriend

Of course, he did receive some, though Van never let it get to him

S/o did worry about his rep, though Van did not care. He wouldn’t even care if he lost a job because of it, he just wants to express himself

Van just wants his s/o and himself to be happy, the paparazzi have nothing on him, neither does the press

He will talk about his s/o, but he doesn’t give out his name unless his s/o gives consent.

When he does face negative criticism during interviews, he quickly responds to them. However, Van just hates it and explains how idiotic it is to ask/say such nasty things

“You wouldn’t ask this stuff if I was with a woman, so why does it matter now?” - Van responding to the rude interviewer

Van knows that expressing his sexuality is a very controversial thing to do as an idol. But does he care? No, he’s happy to be with his s/o

QUARTET NIGHT

Reiji Kotobuki

Despite Reiji’s seemingly carefree and bubbly personality, he is deeply, deeply afraid of his relationship being found out by the media. It’s something that might occasionally keep him up at night

Taking the guise of a flirty straight-man is especially stressful when you have a male-partner

Reiji has had multiple internal “crises of faith” of sorts. He wants to be absolutely devoted to his s/o, constantly entertaining young women with flirts and praise makes him feel grimy

But it’s his job, and it’s a job he loves doing. At least the musical and entertaining aspects of it; so he doesn’t want to quit, he just wants to sort of “break character”

This is something he’s never mentioned to his s/o or anyone else for that matter. He doesn’t want anyone to worry, and most of all he doesn’t want his s/o to worry

Regardless of the internal strain

So instead of really doing anything about it, he just goes on as usual. Perhaps if his s/o is very perceptive he’d see some of Reiji’s stress, but that isn’t very likely since Reiji is just so good at hiding how he feels in general

Reiji would do absolutely anything and everything for his s/o. To him, dealing with that kind of mental stress is just another part of that

Reiji, we love you, please seek a professional for your mental health

Ranmaru Kurosaki

Ranmaru is most definitely already out of the closet, it’s just not largely acknowledged by the public

He didn’t even traditionally “come out” in his career life, his sexuality was just another theme in his music, particularly in his older songs

Punk rock and pop punk music has always been known to have controversial and/or political themes strewn within their lyrics, so this wasn’t really a surprise to anyone

That is, it wasn’t surprising to older fans of his music

With that all being said, however, Ranmaru is a pretty private person and wouldn’t talk about his s/o at all, even if he was a chick.

He knows that they’d receive backlash regardless

He understands that the industry and fans generally aren’t kind to the romantic partners of idols, and most other musicians for that matter. So he makes the effort to hide this part of his life

Ranmaru and his s/o certainly don’t enjoy doing this. Hiding from the public figuratively and sometimes even literally is emotionally draining, and tiring

In the end, however, it is worth it because he can be with his s/o in peace. Even if Ranmaru is frustrated with their circumstances

Camus

Camus isn’t the type of person to tell the world about his lover so the paparazzi might’ve found out about it

Needless to say, Camus was quite shocked by the backlash he received. He knows the idol business had the potential to be volatile, but he didn’t think this of all things could’ve happened to him

Camus went to his s/o right away, he wanted to know what he should do. He was afraid of messing up and receiving some more backlash

They had a long talk about it, after they both agreed that Camus was to address the issue. Which he did, but was still faced with ridiculous criticism.

There was still so much support that many of his idol friends and fans gave to him though! Camus couldn’t thank them enough

Camus would slap anybody that would talk rudely about his lover. He would not ever tolerate such things

Ever since then, Camus tried his best not to mention his lover in topics. But still found himself talking about his s/o quite a lot

S/o gets all embarrassed when he watches TV and just sees Camus talking about him. However, he still loves it nonetheless

Ai Mikaze

Ai brought it up very casual like, in fact, it was so casual that people thought it was a joke. But Ai continued to talk about his relationship with his s/o regardless then things sort of spiraled from there

The next day everything went wild, though Ai wasn’t really shocked by all of this. He was worried about his s/o thought, but he didn’t place too much thought into it. Ai knows for a fact that no one will try anything funny on them

Ai was met with a lot of, but he didn’t care. He accepted the fact that he would get reactions like this

So he moved on and addressed the topic only when he needed to

S/o, of course, worried about his rep. Though Ai didn’t really care, he loves singing and performing. But doesn’t want to be apart of a system that’s so homophobic

Ai has spoken out about LGBTQ+ issues in the idol community, and he addresses lots of topics within the community

He expressed his concerns and his frustrations towards the stigma of LGBTQ+ people in Japan

Ai explains how he thinks that if he expresses his love for his s/o that other people like him can feel safer in their own country

STARISH

Otoya Ittoki

Otoya is a very open and loving person, he is not afraid to be himself or share his ideas. He wants his s/o to be a close part of his life, despite the difficulties that may come with that

Otoya wants his boyfriend to be close to, or at the very least like his friends and family. Otoya wants his s/o to be able to feel comfortable in the private space, and wants him to know that they are supported

He also would feel pretty bad if his boyfriend didn’t get along with STARISH, or vice versa

In Otoya’s private life it is very obvious he’s in a relationship, he’s open about it. Sharing selfies with his boyfriend to his friends and family, going on and on about how amazing his s/o is, etc

Otoya and his s/o were unsure on as to how they should approach their relationship in the public eye. At first they decided that it would be best if they kept it a secret, but eventually decided otherwise

Otoya didn’t want to hide his sexuality, he’s not ashamed of it whatsoever. He feels like keeping his identity hidden is wrong. Coming out publicly could help not only himself but others who struggle with their sexuality as well

After lots and lots of discussion with his s/o they agreed that discussing their relationship publicly would a beneficial thing to do. His boyfriend was a tad worried, but Otoya was so earnest and confident his s/o couldn’t help but be as well

Syo Kusuru

Syo cared deeply for his reputation, but he doesn’t necessarily care if people dislike him for trivial reasons. Syo will apologize for something if he’s done genuinely wrong, but he has a pretty tough moral backbone and is very careful about what he says so that rarely happens

Things like people not liking his sexuality is something he couldn’t any care less about

Syo didn’t really even come out, the public sort of found out on accident. As for his friends and family, they’ve all known for a while now. It’s not really something Syo talks about a lot, but he’s comfortable other people knowing

So ya know, whatever. He doesn’t care

If Syo’s boyfriend was ever concerned for his reputation Syo would make certain to quickly to reassure them. His s/o shouldn’t have to worry for his sake, Syo can handle any problem (if they arise) on his own.

Other than all that sexuality controversy the relationship between Syo and his s/o was pretty normal. Syo makes sure that they’re both able to do the things they want to do without getting harassed or bothered, and he very much succeed

They both hang out with their friends and family a lot (this is particularly important to Syo), hopefully Syo’s boyfriend gets along with them all alright. STARISH especially can be a rowdy bunch

All in all everything is just plain good. They both are happy, and honestly that’s the only thing that really matters to Syo

Natsuki Shinomiya

Natsuki can be incredibly naïve and certainly was when he announced his relationship through the media

He was utterly baffled by the crude responses to his sexuality and to his relationship in general

Natsuki wasn’t really distressed, he was just confused. He isn’t ignorant, Natsuki was aware that there would be some backlash and disapproval, but he didn’t think there would be enough to at least bring his attention to it

“We’re in the 21st century, I didn’t expect that many people to get upset.”

However, we all know Natsuki, he doesn’t dwell on negatives for very long. Turning his attention away from the bitterness, he was actually more surprised on how much support he’s received

He didn’t expect so many of his fans to be so happy for him

Especially because he never formally came out, he just sorta put his relationship out for everyone to see

He and his s/o are absolutely delighted to be so supported, it makes them so much more comfortable being out together. Natsuki may have even started to vlog with them and post more about his s/o on Twitter in general

Overall, Natsuki and his s/o really don’t have any worries, they’re happy being together and they’re happy that the world knows

Ren Jinguji

Ren is an active advocate for all love, his views on sexuality are widely known and often supported by the public. He’s also not shy about talking about his own sexuality and is unfazed by any negative criticism.

So Ren was quite confident when speaking about his relationship to the media

Ren has practically no worries in terms of his work in the industry and is so confident in his reputation his s/o isn’t even all that concerned

All Ren wants is for his s/o to be able to get along with his friends and the rest of STARISH, harmony is very important to him

This isn’t too big of an issue though, since his s/o will most likely get along with them anyway

Despite all that, Ren still doesn’t want to introduce his boyfriend to his family. His relationship with his brother can be quite on-and-off, and he doesn’t want to put his s/o through that kind of trouble

Ren will forever and always be a loyal partner, he is flirtatious in nature but certainly not a cheat. His actions very much stem from some sort of attention-seeking desire, if that’s not the case he’s just charming fans

He’s not necessarily proud of that; hopefully he’ll be able to have a talk with his s/o about how he feels

Their relationship is just overall pretty smooth; there are some obstacles to overcome, especially in terms of Ren’s idolship, but they’re working on it and doing quite well

Cecil Aijima

Cecil never needed to come out of the closet, there was never any closet to begin with. If Cecil takes a fancying to you, he’ll let you know, he’ll let his friends know, he’ll let the universe know

Everyone knew about this boy’s sexuality from the start, and Cecil didn’t give a shit about what you thought of it

In Cecil’s home country, Agnapolis homosexual relationships were accepted, and often encouraged. It was deeply embedded into the roots of his country’s history and religion, so naturally Cecil just accepts it

When Cecil went to Japan and realized homophobia was a thing that existed he was like, “????”. “Excuse me, what? Get this shit out of my house, thank you very much.”

Cecil just doesn’t understand, so when his s/o was like, “Uhhh, maybe you want to keep this a secret, ya know for your rep.” He just responded with a slick, “Nah fam, it’s cool.”

Honestly, Cecil just gets so ridiculously frustrated at the thought of someone being ridiculed for their sexuality, he’d just go crazy. It’s almost comical on how upset he gets sometimes

“If you are please gay stand up and smack the government.”

On a serious note, however, he is very much saddened by the fact that people aren’t accepted just because of their sexuality. He is even more saddened by the fact that gay marriage is not even legal in Japan

Watch Cecil campaign for gay rights

In general, Cecil doesn’t treat his homosexual relationships any different from his heterosexual ones. His s/o may worry about that from time to time, but overall he’s just refreshed by Cecil’s positivity

Masato Hijirikawa

Being outed to the public is probably one of his worst fears literally ever, so if he did have a male s/o Masato would definitely keep it under wraps. He is extremely careful about where/how he and his s/o go out

Honestly, Masato would worry more about it than his s/o

His anxiety is from such a strong combination of how he was raised and what he does for work; Masato feels so much shame and bitterness about who he is, it’s almost pitiful

Masato thinks he’s just worked so hard and given up so much to be where he is now. He’s terrified of how his sexuality could affect his career. He doesn’t want to lose everything he’s gained

It’s such an unhealthy view of his sexuality, and he knows this, he just can’t shake this feeling of disgust

It takes such a terrible strain on his relationship with his s/o. It’s absolutely exhausting to be partners with a person who is so uncomfortable with their sexuality, even if you love them so much

Their stress is only magnified and made worse by Masato’s idolship

Masato eventually realizes he can’t keep doing this to his s/o; he can’t have the person he loves be the representation of his inner turmoil, so he decides to seek help professionally

Initially, Masato considered breaking things off with his s/o altogether but decided that would be unfair to his partner

And to Masato’s surprise, counseling is actually helping him. Little by little he’s improving. Anxieties are still there and will always be there, thanks partially to his career, but he’s getting better

The relationship with his s/o is even strengthened because of this

Tokiya Ichinose

Tokiya sort of always knew his sexuality, he wasn’t even necessarily uncomfortable with it. It’s just a part of who is is he is and he’s embraced it for a long time now

This is partially thanks to lots of experimentation, but honestly Tokiya knows who is and what he wants, so in general he’s pretty confident in himself

That being said, however, Tokiya hasn’t come out to the public or his friends or family. Not because he’s ashamed of himself, he’s just pessimistic and sorta believes everyone around him will react negatively

His relationship with his s/o is very much a secret. STARISH and Haruka don’t even know about it. Tokiya just goes out a lot without telling them where he’s going, he worries them

His boyfriend very much worries and cares for Tokiya’s reputation. He knows how much Tokiya loves his career, and despite the stress it puts them both through, he’s willing to deal with it because it is so important to Tokiya

Unfortunately they don’t get to see each other very often, their time together is mostly spent through calls and texts. This makes Tokiya feel pretty guilty, he doesn’t want his s/o to go through this kind of distant relationship

Tokiya may sometimes even feel as though his s/o would be better off without him

Even so, Tokiya’s biggest concern overall goes back to the issue of his friends not knowing. He wants them to be closer, he wants them to know, but is still unsure

Perhaps the more time that passes by, the more comfortable he’ll get with the idea

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petalsbloomed-a · 4 years

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VERY LONG CHARACTER SURVEY !! RULES. repost , don’t reblog ! tag 10 ! good luck ! TAGGED. stolen !!! TAGGING. anyone who wants to do this tbh cuz this is long as shit and i dont want anyone to do this who might not be able to aljdhfskjdhkj

BASICS. FULL NAME : galo thymos NICKNAME : himbo, idiot, rookie, newbie, #1 firefighting idiot AGE : 21 BIRTHDAY : june 30 ETHNIC GROUP : japanese (+ korean / western european) NATIONALITY : american LANGUAGE / S : english / japanese / studied french and spanish SEXUAL ORIENTATION : demisexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION : biromantic RELATIONSHIP STATUS : single HOME TOWN / AREA : promeopolis (i envision this being around nyc / tri-state area) CURRENT HOME : lives with older sister and niece PROFESSION : firefighter, undergraduate student

PHYSICAL. SKIN : pretty fair tan, but he sometimes appears a little darker than usual. his skin does a strange thing where it changes shade in different lighting. his skin is usually smooth, but right after getting finished with work, he sometimes is covered in dust and appears somewhat dried out. EYES : slightly upturned, deep-set, wide and somewhat of an almond shape. irises are usually very round, and are a bluish-cyan color. pupils often alight with mischief. in intense lighting, you can see a little red dot reflecting off his eyes. LIPS : pretty thin and nude, hard to notice. matches his skin tone very well. usually quite smooth. tends to get chapped after working. COMPLEXION : pretty fair, but in different lighting, he can look a lot tanner than what he really is. BLEMISHES : he has a few moles here and there, but overall his skin is fairly clear and clean. he doesn’t suffer from acne nearly as much as he did when he was in grade school. SCARS : he has some tiny, barely noticeable acne scars on his face, chin, and neck. the most noticeable ones are on his left arm from when he was practically set alight by a burnish flame. these are thick and quote coarse, and can cause some discomfort when touched. he also has a very small nick in his left ear, which was how his sister identified him when he found her after being separated from their family after the burnish incident when he was a kid. TATTOOS : an arrow that goes right below the nape of his neck to the middle of his back. the point is at about the small of his back, and there are a few decorations along the arrow. HEIGHT : 6′0, 183 cm WEIGHT : 165 lbs, ~75 kg BUILD : very muscular, quite athletic. very beefy arms, strong chest, well-built abdominals. however, his thighs and waist are pretty thin and trim. FEATURES : his most distinct features are his dramatic haircut and scars on his left arm, as well as the small white line on the outer helix of his left ear. his chest and shoulders are also quite broad in comparison to his rather thin waist. ALLERGIES : slight peanut allergy, dust, pollen. USUAL HAIR STYLE : undercut with a dramatic, spiky blue mohawk. USUAL FACE LOOK : mischievous smile or smirk; sometimes looks a bit wistful, like he’s thinking about something. USUAL CLOTHING : is normally shirtless, wearing thick red firefighter pants with a yellow “3.” most often wears black rubber boots, black gloves, ear lobe piercings, and an industrial piercing. sometimes wears a black tee-shirt.

PSYCHOLOGY. FEAR / S : spiders, bugs, needles, being in love (kind of), losing his sister or niece, finding out his parents are dead. ASPIRATION / S : to continue his firefighting career, to receive a masters in emergency medical technology / fire prevention & safety technology. POSITIVE TRAITS : brave, caring, friendly, modest. NEGATIVE TRAITS : daring, reckless, sensitive, over-attachment. MBTI : entertainer (ESFP-A) ZODIAC : cancer TEMPEREMENT : choleric / sanguine SOUL TYPE / S : performer ANIMALS : zebra VICE HABIT / S : twiddling thumbs, jiggling leg (usually the right), twirling & playing with hair, biting nails, chewing lips, swearing, sighing, pen clicking. FAITH : none; would consider himself agnostic. GHOSTS ? : yes. AFTERLIFE ? : not sure. REINCARNATION ? : not sure, but leaning towards no. ALIENS ? : yes. POLITICAL ALIGNMENT : independent, opinions slightly more left-leaning EDUCATION LEVEL : graduate student

FAMILY. FATHER : nikanor thymos MOTHER : agape thymos SIBLINGS : danai thymos (older sister) EXTENDED FAMILY : james (ex-brother-in-law), aria (niece) NAME MEANING / S : his first name is of an unknown meaning, but it could mean “from gaul” in greek. his last name comes from the greek word “thumos”, which means “spiritedness” or “the need of recognition.” HISTORICAL CONNECTION ? : not that we know of, i think ???

FAVORITES. BOOK : harry potter / hunger games MOVIE : the lion king 5 SONGS : rick astley - never gonna give you up, lady gaga - born this way, beyonce - countdown, ariana grande - god is a woman, pitbull - timber (feat. kesha) DEITY : zeus HOLIDAY : christmas MONTH : july SEASON : summer PLACE : his bedroom / the lounge at work WEATHER : partly cloudy SOUND : meditation sounds SCENT / S : coffee, flowers, fresh baked desserts, fresh pizza, light cologne TASTE / S : coffee, vanilla cake, milk chocolate, parmesan cheese, green tea anything tbh FEEL / S : soft blankets, comfy pillows, loose-fitting clothes ANIMAL / S : dogs NUMBER : 13 COLORS : teal blue / flame red

EXTRA. TALENTS : piano, singing, writing, linguistics, thinking quickly, firefighting BAD AT : drawing (sort of), getting himself organized, following orders (sometimes) TURN ONS : kindness, sensitivity, acceptance, openness, agreeableness TURN OFFS : irresponsibility, lack of free time, ignorance HOBBIES : piano, singing, writing (stories, poems, etc), karate TROPES : ambiguously gay, antiquated linguistics, broken tears, calling your attacks, the chosen one, firemen are hot, going commando, hunk, idiot hero, innocently insensitive, large ham, mr. fanservice, oblivious to love, the protagonist, rookie red ranger, scars are forever, shonen hair, you gotta have blue hair (found here, there’s a lot more actually) QUOTES : “medals are made to be awarded to and from people who deserve them.” / “you can’t just kill for no reason!” / “[i’m] the universe’s #1 firefighting idiot!”

MUN QUESTIONS. Q1 : if you could write your character your way in their own movie , what would it be called , what style would it be filmed in , and what would it be about ? A1 : honestly??? i think i would keep it the way it is, BUT i would like to have seen some more canonical information about galo’s family. as of right now, we know that kray saved him after his family was attacked by the burnish. if i were to direct a new movie about galo, i would focus it mainly on his family. Q2 : what would their soundtrack / score sound like ? A2 : i think it would be a mix of melancholic music as well as more upbeat stuff. on my blog’s main page there are links in the sidebar to both a soundtrack playlist as well as a pop music playlist; i definitely think it’s fair that a variety of genres would suit him and his experiences. Q3 : why did you start writing this character ? A3 : when i first watched promare, i was instantly drawn to this buffoon himbo. i’ve always had a thing for upbeat, energetic characters who are also quite caring and a bit dumb (which yes galo is very smart but he has his moments). while their personalities differ greatly (despite having the same personality type), he reminds me a lot of lance from vld, who i absolutely adore as well (and i also rp him too oops) Q4 : what first attracted you to this character ? A4 : again, probably his personality. while i’m not as energetic and upbeat as galo and i have a very, very different personality type than him, i feel like i definitely do understand him. i understand why he feels he needs to be overly confident, and i also have my moments where i just need to storm off and be alone. god i could write paragraphs and paragraphs about why i like galo but i wanna keep it short and sweet and just stick with those two points, which i consider to be the biggest points. Q5 : describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse. A5 : look, i know i said i liked confidence, but something about galo that annoys me is the fact that he can often seem too confident. like yeah he seemed pretty humble in that pizza scene at the beginning of the movie, but i can’t help but feel a twinge of annoyance towards people who put themselves right into the center of attention and be all like “yeah i know i’m great.” like my boy i love you but do u have to announce urself every time u appear on the scene??? and pls stop being so reckless u honestly might die too soon one of these days we want u to be around for us to enjoy u Q6 : what do you have in common with your muse ? A6 : i definitely feel like we both have our moments where we just need some peace and quiet. of course, everyone needs this, but when galo talked about running off when he was pissed reminded me of me; i tend to go and cool off and vent to myself if i’m annoyed about something. we’re both naturally people-oriented and love to be around others, even though galo likes being the center of attention a little bit more than myself. Q7 : how does your muse feel about you ? A7 : in the sense that if galo were real, i honestly think we would get along fairly well. we have different ways of dealing with things, but we have similar habits and personality traits. however when it comes to rp blogs, while i do like to headcanon things about my muses that mirror my own opinions and beliefs, i do consider the mun/muse relationship fairly symbiotic. we as real people can learn so much from fictional characters and in how we play them, and of course, the mun will determine some things about the muse that will deter from canon. Q8 : what characters does your muse have interesting interactions with ? A8 : i just started this blog and have had very minimal interactions, so it’s hard to say ! i’d say that an interaction with a kray muse would be the most interesting. part of me wants galo to forgive kray and to have a better relationship with him post-movie canon, but there’s still so much about galo and kray’s relationship pre-movie as well; what was their relationship like? was kray like a father to galo? how can i describe the psychological mindset that galo had after finding out that kray betrayed him? there’s so much about these two that i really want to discover and look at, while of course providing my own insight (cuz that’s what muns do, right?). Q9 : what gives you inspiration to write your muse ? A9 : i like to study galo’s actions in the movie, and try to find the underlying cause of the actions he takes. however, when it comes to headcanons, i will often think of a scene or an idea in my head and then internally apply it to galo and see if it works. this is usually what kindles my writing fire: the thoughts that often rush through my head. Q10 : how long did this take you to complete ? A10 : like two whole days lmao im so slow

#heart of fire and soul of passion. (headcanon)#noah rambles. (out of character)

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my-honourable-barbarian · 5 years

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I doubt nicknames will be necessary - Part 16

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / Part 13 / Part 14 / Part 15

AO3 Link

One week and two days ago, Nikandros had received an interesting call. It had consisted of thumping and shrieking and a grunted laugh Nikandros very much never wanted to hear again.

As it had clearly been an accident, he had tactfully hung up the phone and then sent Damen a series of very annoyed texts telling him to keep his butt away from anything that could be dialled while having surprisingly enthusiastic sex with who Nikandros assumed to be the acidic slash deceptive neighbour.

He had received an image in return, and as he had been tapped into the work WIFI at the time, it had downloaded without his say-so. It had shown a kitchen – not Damen’s, but with a similar outlay – utterly wrecked with explosions of what appeared to be flour, splatters of dripping red Nikandros very much hoped was not blood, and balls of dough(?) stuck to the cabinets.

Before he had been able to translate this perplexing image into anything that made sense, Damen had sent a second one, of what looked to be a flawless pie with a couple of pieces missing. It had been followed by many exclamation marks.

Nikandros had… not asked. It stood to reason it meant Damen’s neighbour, fiend that he was, was becoming a permanent fixture and Nikandros would just have to get used to it.

But now Damen was sitting in his office pouting.

“You know,” Nikandros said, after knocking and hearing a muffled, ‘Come in,’ and pointedly pulling the door shut behind him again, “I remember the days when you proclaimed your door would never be closed to anyone.”

As expected, Damen was frowning and still giving his best impression of impeccable professionalism. “It’s not locked,” he pointed out, very likely only to piss Nikandros off.

“You know what I mean.”

Damen himself had implemented a literal open-door policy for his office, and had kept it in place all the years the company had existed. It had even survived the move to a bigger building. Before this week, the only time he had ever closed his door had been when someone had asked for a word in private.

Damen remained silent, and – as it often happened whenever he jutted his chin just so – Nikandros was the one to cave. Taking a fortifying breath, he pulled one of the extra chairs to the front of Damen’s desk and settled in for a longer conversation.

“I realize I have not been very enthusiastic about your new relationship, but if something’s bothering you enough to affect your work ethic-…” Nikandros trailed off, unsure if he was supposed to approach this as Damen’s friend or his right-hand man at work. He settled on, “You can talk to me. I don’t have to like everything you say.”

Damen sank back in his chair and let out a long, frustrated groan.

While at the beginning of last week, he had shown up with a smile on his face that proclaimed he had definitely gotten laid after that food fight, his mood had gotten progressively worse the longer he had spent at work. Nikandros braced himself for the most logical explanation, which was a tale of unsatisfied libido.

Instead, Damen said, “I can’t look at Kastor right now without doing something I have been assured by at least two people and a snake I would come to regret.”

Perplexed, Nikandros took a piece of the pie on Damen’s desk and chewed on it while thinking things over.

Nikandros had, in fact, caught him glaring at Kastor on at least four different occasions. While the mutual avoidance was subtle enough to pass as coincidence, it was true that neither seemed particularly keen on talking to the other.

“Kastor, huh?” tried Nikandros between bites of (admittedly delicious if stress-baked) pie.

At least Kastor’s preference for submissive people (a role even Jokaste had often assumed in his presence, presumably to bait him) and Laurent’s supremely overwhelming personality (not to mention overall appearance of frigidity if not with Damen – yes, he had done a background check) did not add up to Damen once more getting cuckolded by his own brother.

“What did he do now?” Chewing.

“He’s plotting to ruin the company and then swoop in to save it from my incompetence.”

The last of the pie missed Nikandros’ mouth by a bit and smooshed against his cheek. Damen handed him a paper towel.

“And I’m not allowed to do anything. They won’t even tell me what they are planning because apparently I can’t be trusted to keep my cool.”

A fairly reasonable assessment if ever Nikandros had heard one. He asked, “And ‘they’ are?”

And Damen – as though unaware he was the sole reason Nikandros kept finding grey hairs in the mirror at the tender age of thirty – explained, “Laurent and Jokaste. And Berta, Jokaste’s snake.”

“Her what?” said Nikandros and massaged pie into his temples. Damen handed him another paper towel.

“Her snake. Laurent assured me she very much agrees.”

Nikandros rubbed the paper towel over his face and wondered if it could be justified for him to go on his honeymoon early.

“Uh huh. How exactly did your new boyfriend get involved in our company business?”

During the next paragraph, Damen seemed determined to cover a vast array of human emotion, beginning with fond pride, going on with genuine homicidal tendencies, and ending with determined contemplation.

“He discovered it, of course. And his uncle deserves to rot in jail for all eternity and then some. Possibly some dismemberment. We’re adopting a teenager, you know.”

Nikandros was not even going to poke at that with a ten-foot stick.

“What,” he said, “are Laurent,” he said, “and Jokaste,” he said and realized this was the most unholy of combinations he had ever allowed to share a sentence out of his own mouth, “doing right now?”

Damen had the belated, appropriate and not at all sufficient grace to look sheepish.

“Well, currently they are planning your wedding.”

Nikandros let out a very long and very complicated curse in Greek.

* * *

“They’ve assured me it’s not actually going to disrupt anything,” Damen said, meaning for it to come out a bit more convinced than it did.

Nikandros continued to look as though Damen had grown three heads, two of them belonging to people he really, really did not like, and the last quickly advancing to the same category.

“Whatever is supposed to go down to expose my brother’s intentions is meant to do so once you and Lykaios have already retreated.” As was their right. No newlyweds could be expected to entertain their families until even the last of them had passed out drunk. It was a two-day affair in a nice hotel for a reason.

“So all I will have to suffer is the fallout the next day?”

Most of what Laurent and Jokaste were discussing actually was about keeping the guests in good spirits, but that would probably not cheer Nikandros up. Understandable, really. While Jokaste might be trusted to at the very least display taste in her choices, Laurent’s mere presence would inevitably add an element of mischievous chaos that Damen knew for a fact no one in his family was prepared for.

“Nik,” he said, “you know our families. There hasn’t been a single gathering that didn’t end with at least one fistfight.” It was true. As dignified as they pretended to be while sober, between the inevitable havoc wreaked by a veritable mass of drunk Grecians and the usual sudden and intense feuds arising when spirits were elated, no one ever actually expected to get their security deposit back. “At least if we know which scandal is going to be exposed beforehand, we might be able to prevent anyone coming to blows.”

“I told you he was up to no good,” Nikandros said, with a deep sigh.

“Laurent?”

A scoff. “Him, too.”

Kastor, then. Damen had always assumed they simply did not like each other, but it would seem everyone around him had the decided advantage at not having been taught how to ride a bicycle by their very patient older brother.

“I know you did. You were right, my friend.” Come to think of it, Kastor could have held the lessons at another place than a steep hill which had thoroughly skinned Damen’s knees. “Though I wish you weren’t.”

At long last, the air seemed to go out of Nikandros.

“He isn’t even invited,” he muttered with the deep resignation Damen with no small measure of guilt recognized from other such conversations. It wasn’t right. Nikandros was his oldest and most faithful friend.

But, “Actually, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that since before I found out,” Damen said. “I am aware it’s your wedding, but it does not look very good to invite absolutely everyone working for us except for Kastor.”

“Jokaste isn’t invited either.”

Damen shut his mouth and tried not to look as though he was frowning. But he could feel his forehead creasing nonetheless. His hands wrapped around the stack of papers before him.

“I do know our families,” Nikandros said, “and I also know you.”

“You can have Ios,” said Damen and held out the manuscript.

Nikandros looked up sharply.

Delpha Ios was an author they had been courting for the last month or so. She had spent a long time deliberating offers from several publishers, which in their industry unfortunately not always meant someone was actually good. In her case, it was a well-deserved wooing. Damen had received the confirmation she was signing on with them the day before.

It had been Laurent’s idea to bribe Nikandros with something he really wanted. Damen had hoped he would not have to resort to it, but he was starting to feel bad enough about the job he was doing as both a best man and best friend to be more than willing to give Nik this, at least. Besides, he would do a phenomenal job with Delpha. It wasn’t simply good connections that had elevated Nikandros to the status of Damen’s right hand.

“Fine,” Nik said now, and Damen could tell Laurent had been absolutely right. He was clearly already itching to get into the manuscript. “Play it out at my wedding. But be advised I will be on my honeymoon for the duration of the fall-out.”

He stood up, and took the loose pages out of Damen’s hand.

“I also uploaded the file for you,” Damen said, because he sometimes liked to work on things digitally. Nikandros merely grunted.

On his way out of the office, Damen held him back for a moment.

“I know you’ve never liked Jokaste, but she’s on our side. This is not the first attempt at overthrowing me my brother has made.”

“A curse on both their houses,” Nikandros said, with feeling.

Without Damen bidding him to do so, he closed the door on his way out.

* * *

Damen, meanwhile, sank back down onto his desk and into what even he had to admit was more brooding than he was used to. He did not like the inertia of waiting, and he liked it even less now that he had been made thoroughly aware of all that was amiss not only in his company, but also in the life of the person he most wished to know happy and safe.

Having passed on the Ios manuscript, he was fresh out of work he actually enjoyed. There was ‘A Rose and Nothing But(t)’, but(t) he really, really did not feel like justifying why everything about it was unsuitable for publishing. And this tremendous pile of idiocy deserved more than a standard letter of rejection. It would have been the perfect work for Jokaste, if it didn’t mean she would also have to suffer through even one paragraph of it.

He eyed what was left of the pie, but he always enjoyed the baking more than the intake of sugar.

According to his clock, he couldn’t even make his rounds yet, since it would take another hour for the chances he might run into his brother to be diminished by Kastor’s rigid lunch schedule. And he didn’t much feel like putting on a fake smile and pretending everything was going well when truly, the brother he had loved and looked up his entire life did not even remotely feel the same for him.

But he never had been very good at sitting still for a longer period of time for no reason. What he needed was something to do. What he needed was-…

The phone rang.

“Akielos Publishing, Damianos speaking,” he answered, perking up.

“I have been thinking,” said Laurent in French, “that there is something I might enjoy doing to you. If you’re amenable.”

Perking up a bit more.

“I’m pretty sure I’m amenable,” Damen said, leaning forward onto his desk. “You are aware you’re calling me at work?”

“Don’t make promises,” chided Laurent mildly. “You might not like the idea. And I’m perfectly aware where you are, thank you. You’re sitting in your office pouting because you’re left out of our planning and aren’t allowed to confront your brother with all the crude honesty you have in you.”

Trying not to smile too audibly, Damen asked, “Why are we speaking French?”

Not that he particularly minded. Both the exercise of little-practiced skills and the even more pronounced lilt of Laurent’s voice were a most welcome addition to his day.

“Because, Damen. I’m standing in front of Erasmus pretending to have very important business with the CEO of Akielos Publishing.”

A grin tugged at the left corner of Damen’s mouth as he said, “Come up.”

“Not yet,” said Laurent, “I am here for a reason.” And Damen grinned a little harder, resting his chin on his hand and feeling at least as wooed as the heroine in the latest instalment of their best-selling historical romance series. If this neither pertained to things he was not supposed to know about nor about an actual visit, Laurent was calling simply to cheer him up. Which was… sweet. He had been oh so sweet in the last few days. Unguarded and – if Damen could dare make the assumption – a little less burdened as well. And Damen loved him so very much.

Laurent continued, with an enormous amount of non-chalance, “I wonder what you would be like spreading your legs for me.”

Damen’s elbow slipped off the desk.

* * *

It would have been quite simple to revive his role as Charls Merchant in the same outfit as before. It was fairly believable for a literature hipster to wear the same utterly pretentious combination of oversized sweater and tight blue jeans as a repeat offense.

However, there was more to get out of this role than one bad fashion statement. In fact, it was a shame he had not been continuing the ruse all along. The opportunity for casual mayhem, spying, and driving Damen mad with exasperation and lust was simply too good.

So he had acquired a sheer white shirt with the incredibly bold rhinestone print saying ‘Bedazzled’ and a plain jean jacket – again oversized.

Jokaste had braided his hair. A strange experience for both of them, as Laurent was not used to being touched (by anyone other than Damen) and Jokaste clearly wasn’t one for casual affection and playfulness. Nevertheless, she had offered and he had agreed her hairdo prowess likely surpassed his own and they had gotten through a rather stilted eight minutes of elaborate braiding and pretending the situation was not awkward at all.

In truth, he was having fun with her. In the way anyone could have with someone whose only reason for not carrying a switchblade was that her words were more cutting anyways. He liked the constant battle of wits and the combination of their cunning and the mere fact that no matter how brilliant she was, Damen had chosen him over her.

Point in fact…

“I would like to take you, I think. I’ve never done it that way with anyone,” he was telling Damen over the company phone, while innocently blinking at Erasmus.

Damen’s voice was gratifyingly hoarse. It was fairly easy to picture him. He would be sitting in his office, in that giant chair of his that was probably just normal-sized for him, and his eyes would have gone ever so slightly glassy by now. “I haven’t either,” he said.

“Interesting,” said Laurent. “Is the thought off-putting for you?”

“I’ve never seriously considered it,” said Damen. “I am now.”

Laurent casually put one hand onto the counter, then settled his weight onto it.

“Hm, good,” he said. “Tell me what position you’d like to be in.”

“I-…,” a rather charming sputter, “Laurent-… I can’t just-…”

Smiling his best innocent smile at a passing employee (an accountant, potentially interesting to follow later), Laurent decided to have mercy on Damen.

“Let us start with something easier then. I could describe to you, perhaps, what it would feel like for you. Have you ever used your fingers on yourself?”

The lobby emptied again. Erasmus was unnecessarily straightening the stack of business cards. Interestingly enough, his ears were rather red for someone who claimed not to understand French.

“Not that way,” Damen said, with a heavy breath Laurent was rather sorry not to be able to enjoy fully at the moment.

“Your fingers are rather large for it. Do you enjoy opening me to you?”

“I do. I do. Gods, you know I do.”

Kastor was late in his usual rounds. Laurent had only meant to tease Damen for a little bit before hanging up on him, but with the delay, he would have to improvise. Not that he minded.

“What moment do you like best? Never mind, I shall tell you what I like. It is difficult to choose.” He deliberated, glancing around the lobby at the same time. A group of chatting people had entered. One of them – blonde, female, relatively new to the company – had a milkshake. Laurent briefly wondered if this was due to having been on a date with Damen, then waved the thought of as both uncharitable and irrational.

“The beginning, perhaps, when I feel the impossibility of compatibility and yet know you will fit. When I am closed and panting with anticipation, and you don’t even begin to push in a single fingertip until you feel me wanting to open to you.”

On the other end of the line, there was a very gratifying choking sound. Laurent wondered if Damen’s open-door policy would proof to fuel the fun of the game or if his ridiculous inhibition about sex in public would be a hindrance.

“Or when I do open for you and the crook of your hand makes me feel the first two joints of your finger on my rim until you are knuckle-deep. It feels like a lot, when you are inside me like that. I always wonder how I can take more until I do. I like it when you stimulate me, but sometimes I prefer not to be distracted by it. Incidentally, have you closed your door yet?”

A beat.

“Huh?”

“The door to your office. Is it still open?” He added, belatedly and with a smile, “This is not a metaphor.”

“It’s closed. I haven’t wanted to see anyone all day. I want to see you. I very much want to see you, Laurent.”

Laurent, meanwhile, was rather tempted to temporarily abandon his mission and gently ride Damen until words and deeds combined drove both of them over the edge. But his current situation had its own charm.

“Hmm, yes, thank you for reminding me. I also quite like the way you look at me. You can never seem to decide what part of me you want to look at most. But this is beside the point.”

The words came almost without effort; the thoughts behind them as familiar as they felt natural; his current removal from their content nothing more than circumstantial. Damen was sitting in his office, in that absolute beautiful state where confusion enhanced arousal, and Laurent was the cause of it.

And while Laurent did not wish to make a habit out of playing power games in their sex life, whatever advantage he was gaining by being the one to remain unaffected while driving Damen out of his mind was nicely negated by the very personal information he had already offered. It felt like a fair exchange, particularly with the blush spreading from Erasmus’ ears to the back of his neck.

“I believe you would be different. I believe you would enjoy being overwhelmed by the pleasure. Perhaps that is how I would make you come, the first time. Two fingers inside you until it overtakes you entirely. You would be on your side, and I would be kneeling in front of you. I would reach between your legs. You would not even have to spread them much, merely lay one knee down next to my hip. I would see you. See if it was good for you. I could have my other hand in your hair. Fingertips trailing over your open mouth in the imitation of kisses to follow. You would require more care than I do, I think. It goes against your instinct. It feels strange. When the pleasure comes, you might reject it. No, I believe I would not fuck you, that first time, even if I found myself wanting you. I want you to have the time to understand whether you actually liked it.”

And perhaps Laurent had been thinking about it for a while now, between planning and studying and fucking and trusting. Perhaps he had been thinking about it a lot.

“Gods, Laurent,” Damen was groaning, “this is insanity. I’m at work.”

“Hm, yes I know. Erasmus is staring at me with an open mouth. I may have underestimated his dirty vocabulary in French.”

Erasmus actually twitched at that, looking up with the most wonderfully apologetic look that made Laurent feel almost sorry for him, but more importantly, Kastor was finally returning from his cigarette break.

“Laurent, I-…”

“Later, Damianos. I need to go now.”

* * *

Laurent did not introduce himself (or rather Charls) to Kastor so much as simply wander around after him wondering how long it would take for Kastor to notice a bedazzled hipster with fake glasses was trailing him. So far, he was astoundingly self-absorbed.

Who did notice him was Nikandros, who shot him a rather unamused look. Laurent wondered if Damen had spoken to him yet. Then Laurent wondered if perhaps he should try to make good with Damen’s best friend rather than gleefully antagonize him. Even if it was fun.

At the wedding, he decided. He would behave at the wedding. And Jokaste and he truly had come up with some good, wholesome elements to entertain Nikandros’ guests.

For now, Laurent would take full advantage of being unknown and unnoticed to one, and well known and unwelcome to the other.

Nikandros’ look actually turned even more done with everything as he turned away from Laurent lurking in the background and focused on Damen’s brother. Yes, Laurent decided, Damen had spoken to him.

“Ah, Kastor,” said Nikandros and Laurent observed with some fascination and no small amount of amusement how stilted he sounded, “You are coming to the wedding, are you not? I noticed we haven’t gotten an RSVP from you yet.”

“What wedding,” said Kastor.

“Uhm mine,” said Nikandros.

“Who are you marrying?” said Kastor, clearly bemused by this.

“My fiancé. Lykaios. You’ve met four times,” said Nikandros, clearly bemused by this.

“Ah,” said Kastor, and the awkward pause that followed was one Laurent would cherish for a very long time. That vein on Nikandros’ forehead was particularly active once again.

“I don’t think I’ve received an invitation,” Kastor finally said, and, “It must have gotten lost in the mail,” Nikandros replied, far too quickly.

It was incredible, truly, that even Damen was turning out to be a better liar.

After another very long and uncomfortable silence, Nikandros managed a, “I’ll send you another copy.”

“Please do,” said Kastor. Nikandros nodded and Kastor nodded and then they both very gladly and disgruntledly parted ways. Truly, if Laurent could paint, he would dedicate an entire series of canvases to capturing this.

After a moment, Laurent melted out of the shadows of the oversized office ficus. Without so much as a comment he changed direction to keep up with Nikandros, who with a curse had turned on his heels the second he saw Laurent emerge.

After a moment of steaming silence, Nikandros hissed what Laurent could only barely understand to mean, “I hope you’re happy now,” in very bad French.

Who had taught him this? It couldn’t have been Damen. Damen’s French was near flawless. An online translator maybe? Had this been what he had spent the last fifteen minutes looking up on his phone?

“Overflowingly so,” said Laurent, with a beatific smile.

To his further gratification Nikandros’ new vocabulary still did not seem to allow him any more understanding of what Laurent was saying.

* * *

Jokaste, it turned out, was not to escape her own cunning even for a day. Even having agreed to helping them both devise a plan to trap Kastor into falling on his own sword, she had underestimated just how much of her time would be taken up by Laurent’s sheer tenacity.

She had figured preparing Laurent for his day of oh-so-sneakily gathering information about Damen’s company at Damen’s company would relieve her of his presence for the rest of it.

He had, after all, never even met Kastor, and would hardly rely on information given to him by Jokaste (whom he rightfully so did not deem fully trustworthy) and Damen (whom he rightfully did not deem fully capable of understanding who his brother truly was).

But this, she should have considered as well.

Apparently having decided against spending his time in the presence of his over-eager and rather offensively in love boyfriend, taking a break from innocently stalking Kastor and having exhausted the last of Nikandros’ impatience, he had now chosen to spend his time following Jokaste around, chatting amicably in French about croutons and occasionally dropping laser sharp insight into the inner workings of the various employees in the exact same tone.

Jokaste was quite aware he was observing her as much as anyone, of course. He would have been stupid to dismiss her, no matter how effective their combined minds were proving or how many napkin swans (and snakes) they had folded together.

Well, there was nothing to do about it now except to sufficiently distract him.

The business that led her to Damen’s interestingly closed door was not a pretence, at least, though did raise his unfortunately perfect eyebrows at her.

Damen sprang up from behind his desk, hit his elbow on a shelf in the process, absolutely did not seem to notice that he had hit his elbow on a shelf, and exclaimed, “Laurent!” as though Jokaste were entirely invisible.

“Why Damen,” said Laurent as Jokaste discretely rolled her eyes and put the USB drive onto the desk which also housed half-eaten pie, all crammed conveniently onto the same side as the closed laptop “a closed door?”

Damen… blushed.

Good gods.

“As I am sure your pet snake cannot wait to tell you, Kastor has officially been invited to the wedding,” she said, mostly to hurry this particular interaction along as much as possible. “I have in the last few days established enough social pressure on him that he will not be able to decline.”

“Good,” said Damen, still looking rather exclusively at Laurent, whose eyes were… sparkling.

“Which brings me to a concern I have,” she went on, barely keeping from rolling her eyes. If she wished to observe a mating ritual, she’d introduce Berta to a nice snake of whatever gender she preferred.

“While there are enough contingency plans in place that it is not a necessity for him to take me as his date, we have established that we are all in agreement it leads to the most easily controlled outcome. I believe he might not even ask me.”

This, at last, seemed to sufficiently catch their attention.

“Why not?” asked Damen, frowning slightly, while Laurent’s eyes were already narrowing as though to precede Jokaste’s answer. She did not give him the chance.

“I doubt there is much incentive now. Our liaison was hardly about me; its sole purpose was to keep you distracted while his coup was to take place.”

With the kind of innocent deadliness that Jokaste had seen rather too much of in the last few days of scheming, Laurent insisted, “Oh, don’t undersell yourself. I’m sure taking you from Damen and being able to rub his nose in it also played its part.”

“Quite,” said Jokaste, who had opted for the more tactfully phrased version.

“I don’t see how this might not still apply,” Laurent went on. “Would he not proceed in the exact same vein if encouraged sufficiently? Stage a scene where it becomes clear Damen asked you to accompany him and you did not accept his invitation and Kastor should be all over trying to one-up Damen once again.”

In other circumstances – and ones that would rely entirely on Jokaste’s acting skills, while Damen would resume pouting in his office as he had been doing for days now – this would be a solid approach. But clearly, as clever as Laurent was, he was astoundingly oblivious to the effect he had on Damen.

Predictably, Damen merely frowned and shook his head. “No, provoking him like that won’t work. I told him to not hold back on dating Jokaste for my sake weeks ago. On account of my very happy relationship with you.”

Laurent… blinked rather fast.

“That does,” Laurent said and paused only slightly too long. Jokaste wondered if Damen noticed it as well. From the way his smile broadened, he did. “…put a damper on things,” Laurent finally finished. “I was rather counting on continued pettiness.”

Perhaps Jokaste should be insulted Damen had at no point insisted her womanly wiles would be enough to win over any man, otherwise motivated or not.

“Sorry,” said Damen and did not look it.

“No,” said Laurent, quite quickly, “we can use this. It’s better, actually.” He turned to Jokaste, flustered expression turning shrewd again quickly. “Let him take you to the wedding to prove that he is, in fact, not petty and never was. His affair with you has hardly endeared him to the people of this company, let alone to your family, I would assume. By bringing you after having received your blessing he will show that he was not motivated by being jealous of his younger brother’s shiny toy, but rather establish him as a man who simply and tragically fell in love with his brother’s girl. It will help him recover some much-needed ground.”

Jokaste also did not take offense to being called a shiny toy, nor the reminder that apparently neither brother had ever given much of a damn about her.

With an internal sigh, she conceded, “I’ll make it work,” which she would, and left them to their heart-eyes.

Perhaps, it turned out, she was rather uninterested in ever actually falling in love. How could she ever be taken seriously again?

* * *

As the door rather pointedly fell closed behind Jokaste, Laurent was already turning to Damen again. His eyes were exactly as dark as Laurent had pictured them, his look as intent, his physique as proud as he unceremoniously crowded Laurent against his own desk.

In a rather giddy way, Laurent realized he must have spent at least some time clearing it. The space empty on it was rather conspicuously large enough to make out on.

Unable to resist gaining the upper hand again, he smirked and very gently said against his own finger which he’d laid over Damen’s lips, “Sometimes when you fall asleep, I reach back into the gentle ache you have left behind, and I enjoy knowing you have had me. I wonder if you would be the same.”

This time, he allowed the sound Damen made at that to affect him.

#lamen #captive prince #YES I ACTUALLY MANAGED TO UPDATE #IN YOUR FACE WRITER'S BLOCK #no warnings for this one #it's angst-free #phone sex operator au

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dewbond-blog · 5 years

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The Summer of Love: The English Dub of High School DxD

We will be jumping into the second half of season one next week with a look at the “Raiser Arc” and all it brings to the table, but this week I wanted to steer the Summer of Love into a topic that many people don’t really discuss: The English Dub, and my overall thoughts and feelings on it. There is a good, a lot of good, and some slightly not so good. So join me after the cut as we jump into our next chapter of The Summer of Love, the dub! This is another long one, so be ready!

To discuss the English Dub of High School DxD, it is important to give some backstory about English dubbing of anime in general. If you grew up in my generation, (late 90s, early 2000s) then you are very familiar with the 4kids of era; a time in which the american company 4kids entertainment pretty much had a stranglehold on the western anime market. Simply put, they called the shots and every anime that was actually on television had to go through the 4kids “Americanizing process.” Needless to say, this was a bad thing.

Cardcaptor Sakura had it’s entire yuri/yaoi subtext removed and whole episodes removed. Dragon Ball censored and omitted world building, Yu-Gi-Oh became a “so bad it’s good” mess of a dub. Vision of Escaflowne became a shadow of it’s former self. Monster Rancher went from a 50+ episodes series to only a handful, and of course what they did to One Piece. The list just goes on and on. The 4kids era of anime was not a good time for the youthful medium, and frankly the wounds inflicted by this era are still fresh in many minds of my generation.

Things have gotten far better since then, with companies like Funimation, Sentai Filmworks and Aniplex taking over the dubbing market and delivering quality dubs of anime that are true to form and (sometimes) even superior to their Japanese counterparts. Yet despite this massive improvement there are still many who refuse to even give an English dub a chance, whether it is loyalty to the “authentic’ Japanese version, or trauma for the scars of the 4kids era.

Now how is this connected to High School DxD? Well not really that much, but I think it is important for readers to understand why people are somewhat hesitant on English dubs, despite a whole new generation growing up with them. There are old wounds that have yet to heal, and in this era where censorship is a hot button issue, I wanted to explain why.

Anyway, let’s get into the dub itself, and let’s start by talking about the cast.

The Cast

The English cast of DxD is frankly very strong, though it has been a cast that has had a few replacements. Akeno has been voiced by two different actress, as has Asia, and the while voice changes are noticeable, they thankfully don’t differ too much to make much of a difference. What I can say is that Asia and Akeno are both voiced excellently, with Asia being played with that cute innocent perfection, and Akeno with a level of sultry seductiveness that, while not on par with her Japanese seiyuu, gets the job done well.

The biggest voice change though has to be Issei himself, who was voiced by both Scott Freeman and later Josh Grelle, and while the change over in season 3 is a rather noticeable change (unlike Akeno’s voice change in the same season), with many people being initially put off by the sudden shift in voices. I can both say that they play an excellent Issei and bring a-

Wait..what’s this?

Fuck…do I have to do this? Do I really have to bring it up? REALLY?

ALRIGHT FINE…FINE..I’LL FUCKING ADDRESS IT.

In 2015. Scott Freeman, the voice actor of Issei and several other Funimation dub roles, was arrested, convicted and imprisoned for the possession of Child Pornography. Funimation rightfully and subsequently cut all ties with him and his roles current and future were replaced with new actors, hence the sudden change to Josh Grelle in season 3 and later 4.

Anyway, Issei’s work in the English dub marks the first, but not the most significant change in the DxD anime. While the script plays him true to form, Issei’s performance in the dub is markedly more “american” compared to his Japanese counterpart. While it is 100% loyal to the authentic story, there is a lot more ‘sex jokes’ and ‘western references’ that peek out from time to time. I’ll get into this when I discuss the script, but I did find it worked quite well for the story, and both voice actors are able to ‘get serious’ when the time comes, especially in season 4 when Josh Grelle gives his best performance as a harem lead, and this guy has MANY to his name.

However the biggest and frankly best change has to be Jad Saxton as Koneko Toujou, who completely re-invents the character for the English dub. In the Japanese version, Koneko is the quiet little kouhai who seems to only have one single emotion, very much in the veins of the Rei-clones that had a stranglehold the industry for years. The English dub however turns this completely on it’s head. Koneko becomes a motor-mouthed little girl who, while still holding true to the character’s spirit, adds far more to the plot and group chemistry than her Japanese counterpart. I just find Jad Saxton’s Koneko to be a far more interesting character, acting as a sort of the reality foil for Issei for many season, and still willing to call him out on his perverseness even after falling in love with him. Frankly, the difference between the two voices is astonishing, just watch this comparison clip.

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The rest of the cast do a find job. Jamie Marchi as Rias is an excellent casting choice, and while I prefer the Japanese voice, Marchi’s signature voice is able to play both sides of Rias’ personality well and she only gets better as the seasons roll on. Kiba, Gasper, Xenovia and Rossweise are all again done very well, but it is only really characters listed above who are the real stand outs.

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The Script

Remember how I brought up 4kids at the start of this post. Well I did also bring that up, because the English script of High School DxD does feel very much like a bit of a holdover from that era of anime dubs. There is more than a hint of the adapters putting in their own lines and having some fun with the dialogue than compared to other shows. It was clear to me that the writers were having some real fun trying to adapt this show for an English dub, and while some may grumble by only being a 90% authentic script, the show does give us some great memorable one-liners like:

“I’m gonna make you eat those words like a kid doing the tide-pod challenge!”

“Cunt-tuckey fried chicken over there is in love with you”

“Forgive dat ass, don’t spank it!”

“Her milk-shakes are all over my yard”

Those are just some of the examples of the fun bit of humor that is injected into the series via the English dub and yes, it is not for everyone and yes, it is going to turn some of the purists off. Yet the voice actors give it their all and when the time comes for the show to “get serious” like with the Akeno break down, Asia story-line, the Issei/Rias fight, and more, those actors absolutely step up to the table and deliver excellent performances. So I can forgive them for having just a bit more fun with a show that is, again, about busty big boobed girls fawning over a perverted idiot.

What I do NOT forgive though, is the “president gaffe,” which undermines a vital and important plot point.

See, there is a very clear reason that Issei calls Rias “president throughout most of the anime’s run.” It helps show the class and social difference between the two characters and how, despite Rias falling truly deeply in love with Issei, her social status and his role as a servant make him hesitant to step up. It is only when that issue comes to a head that does Issei finally start calling Rias by her full name, and it is a great moment to cap off four seasons of development.

The dub however ignored that completely for the first four seasons and admitted that they weren’t aware of just how important it is. While they do address it in the season 4 dub, making an offhand comment that “Issei has been calling her President a lot lately” it doesn’t really fix the problem and remains an annoying nitpick for me. Is it a deal breaker? No, but it is a pretty glaring problem when looking at the series as a whole.

Final Thoughts.

Overall, the English Dub of High School DxD is a great one, and I honestly love it to death. As i said in my primer, I would have watched the series dubbed to do this event, but I wanted to be faithful to the Japanese release. The dub is still my go-to way of watching DxD and I suggest anyone to give it a show after watching a bit of the OG Japanese version. It’s not perfect, but it’s made with love and affection and doesn’t stray too far from it’s routes, but when it does what 4kids never could do to anime. It adds something without taking anything away.

#Anime #High School DxD #The Summer of Love #Rias Gremory #English Dub #jamie marchi #Josh Grelle #Jad Saxton #issei hyoudou #Issei Hyodo #Funimation

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josephhealan-blog · 5 years

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Hello, my name is Joseph and I’m a rideshare driver

Like a scared, timid visitor to their first 12 step meeting, I stand here before you reader and declare in front of my higher power and the rest of you my inclusion in the growing population of drivers in the ride share era. I’m not embarrassed by my participation in this new modern phenomenon but you’ll see later in this initial post why I have framed it this way.

I don’t distinguish which company I drive for to protect them from any story I might share that could compromise their reputation. I have personally found them all to be mostly reputable and sometimes a challenge to work with. My journey is what it is and depends very little on which of the firms I am currently working for. I plan on encouraging questions but that’s one I will not answer.

Driving strangers, except for the time I picked up a former boss of mine, around my favorite city has been an amazing experience. If there is a color, gender, profession, age or any other type of human on the planet I’ve had at least one of them in my car. For 47 years I have lived in Atlanta or her suburbs and every shift I drive down a street I’ve never seen before and explore a neighborhood I’d never heard of.

What’s the blog for? Why the introduction that intones embarrassment or shame with this noble profession? I’ll get to that at the end of this inaugural post and I hope to take a deep dive into that very issue over time as well as share some of the odd ball characters and adventures I’ve been on with my riders. I’ve even had nights where I damn near feel like a superhero and plenty of rides I’d consider as some of my proudest performances as a human being.

As of the date of this post I have given 2,623 rides. There’s no count of actual butts in seats but that’s at least 3,000 men, women, children and a few dogs. We are required to carry service animals but a few good old fashioned pets have been along as well. To some that sounds like a lot but to veterans and the earliest drivers that started as soon as Uber came on the scene it’s a drop in the bucket. There are drivers out there now with over 30,000 rides and counting. I share my number not as a brag but as a reference point that I’ll update with future posts. I’ve learned a lot from those veterans at the airport lot, gas stations and the streets of Atlanta. We are everywhere. Pay attention if you never have the next time you stop for gas or visit a busy shopping center at the stickers in the front and back windows of cars.

Why the shame? The shame comes from many places. From society and otherwise wonderful people and from terrible human beings I’ve had the displeasure of driving in my car. I am a mid 40’s white male with a conservative haircut and I look like a typical dad or boss that would be cast on a tv sitcom. In a crowd of rideshare drivers I stand out a bit. I get second looks from riders in West End Atlanta that are not expecting me to show up and I get this question several times a shift, “what do you do for your real job?”. Real job. Driving strangers to new locations in one of our countries worst cities for traffic full of aggressive drivers is a job and one that requires focus, attention and customer service all while making sure you and your companions don’t die. I myself have been a victim of being embarrassed about my side gig, removing my window stickers while visiting someone or going on a job interview. I do not do that anymore.

My “real job” is in Finance and Accounting. I’ve been doing it for over 25 years and I’ll be doing it again as soon as I start a new contract assignment in a few weeks. I’m good at what I do and proud of my career and I’ve had the chance to work for and alongside many amazing people. But compared to my side gig, my “real job” is a piece of cake. Indoors all day, bathroom right there on demand, usually a fridge with food and coffee service. While I am on contract I sometimes drive 2 to 4 nights per week to help pay down bills and between assignments I drive long shifts up to 6 days per week. I can’t sit around at home and drive my wife crazy and I need the extra income to bridge assignments.

One night not long ago I picked up a young woman south of Atlanta in the wee hours of the morning and took her downtown to one of our large hotels. Conversation is not a given, I have a plan for a rider/driver etiquette post in the future, but this young lady was delightful and I appreciated her energy at the beginning of her day to help me get through the end of my day. As we pulled up I inquired about her job there in genuine curiosity, and based on her uniform with the hotel’s logo, I assumed it was a safe question. She very apologetically and quietly told me she was currently working in housekeeping but hoping for a better position soon. Not wanting to let the moment pass but not wanting to slow down her walk into work I said to her, “please don’t ever apologize to me or anyone else about having a hard job. You are up before dawn while others sleep and not only do you have a job with a great well known brand in the hotel industry, you also have ambition and a plan to expand and grow your career.” She smiled very gently, touched my shoulder and said “thanks man”. I’ll probably never see her again but I hope she’s doing well. I took my own advice and stopped apologizing for my job too.

Georgia State University is my alma mater and when school is in full swing the current students along with the other students in Atlanta area schools are heavy rideshare users. Students, from Clark, Spellman, Morehouse, State, Tech, Emory, Gwinnett and even as far north as Kennesaw have been some of my most interesting riders and have renewed my faith in the next generation with their amazing plans for their futures and the unbelievable things they are working on. I believe I’ve probably had a future scientist that will work for NASA and a doctor that will save a child’s life and a teacher that will pass that energy on to another generation of riders, but they’ll probably be in an auto piloted helicopter that will force me to find a new gig.

But not all students have been my favorite. At least one of them is one of my least favorite humans and I hope she will mature and have some life experience that will smooth out some of her sharper edges. It was an after work shift while I was on assignment so I was dressed like an accountant. I picked up two female GSU students for a fairly long ride from their dorm to a restaurant outside of the perimeter, 285 for any non-Atlantans that may one day stumble across this story. They weren’t particularly talkative at first but we started talking about their classes and their dinner plans. As they mentioned their career ambitions after school I shared that I had once in a previous millennia graduated from their school. One of the riders made one more unremarkable comment to close the loop on our polite small talk.

Her friend, however, was apparently unimpressed with me and said in a tone that might have been intended as a whisper but rang through the car like a church bell on a clear afternoon, “went to state and can’t even get a real job”. Her friend audibly gasped at the rudeness that had just been forced on hers and my ears and she reached up and touched my arm beside the seat. Her touch lasted a little too long but did very little to tone down the anger and disgust I was feeling. I had just left my six figure job to drive her to dinner and her absolute dismissal of my side gig of choice was so ignorant and short sighted that it shocked me. I hope she never knows some of the challenges and hurdles that my own choices and the random life changing tornadoes that happen no matter how well you plan that have landed me in a place where one job doesn’t quite make the ends meet. And even in great times I have found myself driving a few times a week to buy something special or extra or just to feel useful while my wife was busy and there weren’t any kids at home. My personal reasons for driving are of absolutely no consequence in relation to her comment and I gave the one and only rating of 1 star to a rider I’ve ever given that day. It means nothing to her and won’t keep her from getting rides in the future but it will keep her out of my car.

As a contract worker I am regularly interviewing for assignments and I am keenly aware of my online reputation. I toyed around with making this blog anonymous for the same reason that rude student was dissatisfied with my career path. But I decided to use my real name for two reasons. For one, if I come to your office for an interview I’ll be rocking my window stickers and I’ll probably be giving rides 5 minutes after I leave. And second, if you share the opinion of that rude student I don’t want to work with you. And I don’t have to. The good people of Atlanta that need a ride will carry me, just as I carry them, until I land a new gig and scale back my shifts.

Enough heavy stuff for now. With so many rides done I have funny stories, scary stories, gross stories and a few that might even be a little R rated. If anyone except my poor wife actually reads this blog, I hope you take away something positive and find it entertaining. If not then thank you tumblr for providing me a space to offload a lot of mental baggage in a way I might share with others one day.

Adios for now. See you in my rearview!

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cchmissions · 5 years

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Israel Day Nine: Tuesday 1/08/19

Waking up Tuesday morning was difficult, for many reasons; knowing we wouldn’t be returning to the hotel; the stress of packing, unpacking, and repacking your suitcase hoping to get everything to fit once again; trying to mentally prepare ourselves for our 36 hour day and all the travels that the day held; and most grim, knowing our time in Israel was running out. Yet we made the best of our situation and left the hotel with high hopes of what our last day might have in store for us. Our hotel was located in the Northeastern part of Israel and our airport, the final destination of the day, was located near the middle of the country on the western side along the coast of the Mediterranean.

Because we did have such a long day of driving, our tour guide planned a stop along the way at Caesarea. In 22 BC, King Herod had a dream that he wanted to build the largest port on the Mediterranean. Twelve years later, his dream came true. Caesarea, named after Augustus Caesar, used to be a very powerful city because of it’s location along the shore and the numerous entertainment options it provided. Before modern-day cruises became popular, ships would only sail shore-to-shore and dock every night so the fisherman or passengers could sleep on land. Caesarea offered its’ inhabitants and guests with plenty of leisure activities: chariot racing, gladiator games, and live theater at the large amphitheater that would have held 6,000 people. Unfortunately, a lot of this materialistic city was destroyed by conquest or overtaken by the waves of the Mediterranean. The amphitheater though is still functioning and used weekly for concerts. Most sites we stopped at had a gift shop, Caesarea being no exception. This shop was special though in that it had Bamba, our new favorite Israeli snack. More than half the group bought a bag to eat on the trip home.

Our next stop was Tel Aviv, or the New York of Israel. It is Israel’s second largest city and most populous city, oddly enough it is also one of the newest cities in Israel. Founded in 1909, Tel Aviv became a place where Jewish refugees would flood throughout the 20th century. Today it is a major tourist attraction, known for its’ nightlife, shopping, and fashion industry. It was very fitting that we spent the majority of our time in Tel Aviv at the Caramel Market, the largest market in Tel Aviv. Two city streets, parallel to each other, were full of vendors selling handmade crafts, produce, off-brand clothing, spices, sweets, electronics, wall décor, and so much more. The narrow streets were packed with other market goers all trying to get a look at the goods being offered; it really did feel like New York.

While at Caesarea, our guide Efrat received an exciting phone call saying that we would be able to tour Independence Hall, the building where Israel declared it was a nation, while in Tel Aviv. The Hall was supposed to be closed for visitors for the next few years, so our visit was truly an unexpected treat. Beginning as a house, then an art museum, and now a historical site the Independence Hall has had about as many changes as Israel has. During our tour, we sat where guests sat in 1948 during the meeting that would eventually declare Israel a nation. There is nothing particularly special about the house, which makes it a rather odd place to have such an important meeting. But because Israel was still not at peace, the founders needed somewhere safe where they could meet. The then art museum seemed like the perfect disguise, and the shelter walls and high windows of the basement didn’t hurt either.

After being educated about the creation of Israel as a nation, we got on the bus and took a short ride to Joffa/Joppa. This ancient port has many biblical stories attached to it: Solomon transported cedars here to build the First Temple (2 Chronicles 2:5-6), Jonah the prophet fled from God (Jonah 1:3), and where Peter brought Tabitha back to life and stayed with Simon the Tanner (Acts 9:36-43). Our first stop was an outlook of the shoreline and St. Peter’s church, built to commemorate the visit and miracles of Peter while in Joffa. Efrat shared that most churches face east, in Israel however, because sunlight and Jesus will eventually come from the east. St. Peter’s church is no exception, but because it faces east towards the Mediterranean Sea, it is meant to represent that the church is open to all people even those across the sea—even Gentiles. We then walked to the believed site of Simon the Tanner’s home, and Lance retold the story of Peter healing Tabitha Dorcus. Back on the bus it was time to go to the Closing Dinner.

The entire trip, Passages had provided five-star accommodations, but the Closing Dinner was the most luxurious of all. The conference hall where we ate was two stories tall, with one wall being glass windows from the ceiling to the floor. Before being served, our group along with Efrat and Michael, our body guard, met in a separate lounge to hold a debrief of the trip. Everyone shared their favorite part of the trip and something they learned/want to take back with them. It was interesting hearing the 38 different perspectives of the trip, and how some people’s highlights were others deleted scenes. It was very bittersweet, sitting all together one last time, knowing we wouldn’t ever be able to recreate this trip.

Since my return, many people have asked me “Would you want to go back?”. And the easy answer is yes, yes I would. But honestly, I feel that it would be a disservice if I went back outside of Passages. Having started only three years ago, it was amazing how developed, professional, and pristine Passages and the entire trip was. They provided us with so much extra information, viewpoints, and insights that made the trip all the more meaningful. The immense amount of detail and effort that is poured into our schedule really showcases Passages desire for the students to learn and be more than just mindless tourists. I also couldn’t imagine coming back and not having Efrat as my personal guide. Her knowledge of the bible, land, Jewish culture, and Israeli history was absolutely inspiring. She said that she started giving tours after college just trying to make some money before something better came along, 29 years later she has mastered the art of tour-giving and could probably do it in her sleep. I would say without any doubts, that every single person on our bus was positively affected by her presence and inspired to learn more about our own faith because of her.

For our last supper, pun 100% intended, we were served our choice of veal, chicken, or fish. A significant amount of sides and pita was also consumed. While dessert was being served, we acknowledged each of the 8 buses, the faculty, tour guides, and body guards that were represented in the room. Once we were done eating, we had to rush to the airport to have enough time to make it through customs before our flight departed. Many hugs were given to Efrat and Michael, before we finally had to go our separate ways. Both of our flights went smoothly without any issues. The one thing on most people’s minds after landing was when they could get fast food. It seemed that a week without a hamburger or pizza was more difficult than expected. Honestly though, does anything say America more than a McDonalds?