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thecousinsdangereux · 3 years

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the land of race car ya yas

A short little ficlet for @corvophobia who has drawn a bunch of art for the bees racer au of my dreams. This is ALL based on her drawings, so make sure you check out her stuff. Happy birthday, Amber! You are one of my two favorite British children. <3

(Please note that I know nothing about street racing. I've only watched the Fast and the Furious movies. Forgive me....)

“How’d you do that?”

Blake’s used to the question or some version of it, and maybe that’s why she takes in the words before she notices the tone, imagines a scowl (a lowered brow, hands curled into fists, the flash of teeth as the scowl turns into a snarl) with the same instinct that has her shoulders tensing. It’s only mid-turn that she realizes the question is laced with wonder rather than anger, but even this awareness doesn’t prepare her for the sight that meets her. It’s a woman, her smile wide and unrestrained by pesky things like self-consciousness or insecurity, and her eyes are nearly glowing in the low light, purple and bright and full of open admiration. Her black leather jacket, classic in cut, has the sleeves rolled up mid-forearm, revealing a prosthetic of black and yellow, and her grey jeans are tight, showing off a body that Blake has to work to avoid following the curves of. Her hair is long, blonde, curling around her shoulders and down her back, artful in its disorder, down to the single, stubborn cowlick at the top of her head.

In short, she’s beautiful, and Blake stares for longer than she should, feeling heat in her veins.

“Do what?”

She manages a response, but it’s absent minded. She’s just noticed the light dusting of pink on the woman’s cheeks, coloring the spaces in between her freckles, and it has her re-evaluating, pulling her thoughts to the effort she’s put into her own outfit that evening: a cropped and sleeveless hoodie with blocked colors of white and purple, tight leather shorts, and clunky boots that hit just under the knee. Blake looks good and this woman knows it, which makes them even on this particular front, and that's a settling sort of feeling.

“Win,” the woman says simply, her smile growing. “And don’t just say NOS.”

“NOS,” Blake drawls, just because she can, and she’s rewarded by the woman’s laugh, rewarded even more when she steps closer.

“No, but what’s your delivery method? Direct port, obviously, but you had to have used a custom kit, right? I’ve been telling you, Yang, I need to recalibrate yours. Can I look at your car? Would you mind if I just took a tiny peak just to see what you’ve done with your injection site? We really need to upgrade, Yang. A nozzle with less back pressure will give you a better squeeze. I’ve been telling you!”

She hadn’t noticed the other woman, but blinks at her now, a red blur waving her arms about, hoping from one foot to the other, firing out words faster than Blake — an aficionado of all things fast — can keep up with. The woman (Yang?) seems to find the act familiar and reacts with affection tinged with a false exasperation (put upon for Blake’s benefit or maybe as a means of gentle chiding), sighing and placing a hand on the smaller girl’s shoulder.

“And I’ve been telling you, you can’t just ask people to look at their shit!” She turns to Blake now, and this time her eye roll is definitely for Blake. “Sorry about that, I swear we’re not trying to steal any of your trade secrets. Ruby just… really likes cars.”

“It’s so pretty too,” Ruby coos, batting away Yang’s hand and taking a step towards the vehicle Blake had used to push past Yang at the last moment, a fact neither of these women seem to hold against her. “The purple stripes. But I bet the engine is prettier.”

It’s unprecedented, really. Blake’s been on the scene for a while — longer than she would admit to anyone here — first as a tagalong and now as a driver, but she’s never had an encounter quite like this. The unexpectedness of it all has her feeling off-balance, has her reacting without any of her customary cool anger as Ruby stares at her hood (as though if she focuses hard enough, she’ll be able to see through the metal to the parts underneath). Maybe that’s why Blake responds in a way that’s decidedly unwise, without any further thought at all.

“You can take a look. I don’t mind.”

“Really?” Ruby squeals, but doesn’t wait for Blake to confirm, darting around her and flipping open the hood in the span of three seconds.

“Really?” Yang asks, and the word sounds wildly different coming from her, sliding out from behind her crooked lips like thanks or maybe a challenge (or maybe both). “Not worried about my mechanic figuring you out before the next race?”

Blake should be, of course. But.

“Can’t say I am.”

“Maybe not the smartest move.” Yang crosses her arms; the chrome of her right glints under one of the flickering street lights. For the first time, she looks away from Blake’s gaze, eyes darting over to check on Ruby (who’s leaning so far into the front of Blake’s car that her feet nearly lift off the ground) and then to another group of drivers, a good distance behind them, but clearly watching in curiosity. It’s never wise to gather after a race, but everyone always does when it goes well, and for the first time, Blake’s glad for it. “She’s pretty vicious about giving me an edge. I wish I could say it was familial loyalty, but really, she just wants to make the fastest car in the city.” Yang pauses, tilting her head in thought. “Or country. Or world. Not sure when she’ll be satisfied, to be honest.”

“Sisters?” Blake asks. She can’t really see the resemblance, but then again, she hasn’t spent as much time looking at the younger of the pair, even though she should probably be less focused on the elder (the one not pouring over her engine. Sun and Ilia were going to kill her).

“Yeah.” Yang probably doesn’t realize how much her smile grows in the confirmation, saturated with pride and love. “Scary brilliant too. Give her five minutes with a car and she’ll take it apart, put it back together, and it’ll run better than it ever has. But all that means she always thinks it’s the car that puts a driver ahead.”

Blake arches a brow. “And you think she’s… wrong?”

“Well, yeah.” Yang’s closer than Blake remembers her being, maybe because her legs are long, her strides somehow longer, and it only takes a step before she’s close enough for Blake to feel the heat radiating off her body. “I know it’s only the driver that puts a driver ahead. That’s why I’m here talking to you instead of looking at your car.” Her lips twitch and she amends her statement quickly. “Part of the reason, at least.”

The other part of her reasoning is made pretty obvious when Yang’s eyes trace up Blake’s form once more. It should probably bother Blake, but it doesn’t, maybe because she’s done the same to Yang during this conversation (more than once). Still, there are things better avoided, and Blake knows this better than anyone. She does her best to get back on track.

“It wasn’t me,” she says (almost blurts), and then feels her neck warm when Yang looks at her quizzically. “Before, you asked how I won. But it wasn’t me, not really. You could have had it if you hadn’t fired your nitrous early. You were impatient.”

It’s too blunt, Blake knows this as soon as the words leave her lips. She’s backtracked too much, retreated into aloofness as she was wont to do, but Yang only laughs, and the sound cracks through Blake’s go-to defense, a corner of her lips curling before she can stop it.

“You’re right. I used to be way worse, back when I started out, but I’m a lot better now. Usually.”

“So what happened today?” It’s the question Yang wants her to ask, of this Blake is sure, but it hardly feels like a chore.

“Ah, bad luck, I guess. I took one look at the driver next to me and all that impatience came rushing back. All I wanted to do was finish the race and meet her properly.” She winks. Combined with the cheesy line, it shouldn’t work as well as it does (but it does). “I’m Yang.”

“Blake.”

They don’t shake hands, and Blake’s glad for it. There’s something buzzing between them, a tingling sensation at the tips of her fingers, the build up right before a lightning strike, and Blake’s not entirely sure what the contact — however brief and friendly — might do to her.

“Next time, maybe I’ll be a little more prepared.” Yang’s eyes roam across her face, settling once more on gold. “But probably not.”

“Immersion therapy,” Blake quips. “Give it time.”

Yang whistles sharply, and it takes Blake a moment to realize that she’s called her sister back over. (Blake had forgotten about her entirely, though the grease on her hands and face leads her to believe that Ruby had done a thorough dive under her hood, the sort Blake ought to be worried about.)

“Time is exactly what I plan on giving it. A lot of time, if you’ll let me.” Yang nudges her sister back in the direction they’d come from. Ruby waves, offers a wide grin of thanks, but Blake’s stuck on purple.

“Well. Let’s see how you do in the next race,” she murmurs.

“Looking forward to it.”

And Blake, who started racing to get away, who started racing to run, who started racing so she never had to stay in one place for long, finds that she is too.

—

“What the hell is your problem?”

Blake’s used to this question too, or some form of it, and this time, the tone is exactly what she expects. The small, white-haired woman in a vest and tie, however, is not.

“Listen, I’m sorry I hurt your boyfriend’s feelings by being a better driver than him, but you’re only embarrassing yourself now.” Blake takes another look at the woman’s attire; her sleeves are rolled up to her elbows and — despite the country club hairstyle and the heels — the hint of a tattoo on her pale skin, just under the fabric makes up Blake’s mind for her. “Or… Girlfriend?”

“Not quite,” says a familiar voice.

Today, Yang has decided to show off her abs (and she most certainly does have abs) with a cropped jacket of black and gold checks, and Blake can’t quite bring herself to look beyond that for too long, though she catches the black driving gloves, the oversized and gold sunglasses, the oversized cargo pants. In the seconds it takes for Blake to wind her brain back up, Yang grins, cocksure, and continues.

“Though you were right about the gay thing. I mean, look at her.”

“Look at you,” the other woman sniffs, actually physically turning up her nose. “Could you be any gayer?”

“Yeah, I could be wearing a vest and tie,” Yang fires back, but it’s clear the banter is familiar, it’s obvious these two know each other well enough for their back and forth to not contain any real barbs.

“I wouldn’t mind that,” Blake drawls, before she’s able to stop herself, and Yang turns back to her with an arched brow. “Good to see you again, Yang.”

“Oh, is it? Could have fooled me!” The other woman’s ire has been refocused, and it’s seemingly stronger than before, the pitch of her words higher, more dire. “Given you nearly killed her just now.”

“Weiss,” Yang sighs, but Blake winces, feeling the sting of the words despite Yang’s quick glance of reassurance sent her way.

“I didn’t realize you’d pull off when I drifted. I thought you’d… lean in.”

It’s not an excuse. They’d been neck and neck towards the end of the race (again), and when she’d nudged the side of Yang’s car — far gentler than she would against anyone else — she’d assumed the woman would give as good as she got, like most every other racer she’d gone against. But Yang hadn’t taken any chances, and it’d cost her the race.

“We don’t do that here,” the woman — Weiss — says, lips pursed to the point of contortion, but Yang only laughs.

“We do that here all the time. I did way worse to Mercury last week.”

“Yes, but Mercury is a creep.” Weiss pauses, considering. “We only do that to creeps here.”

Blake’s hands lift, a show of peace. “Hey, no one handed me the Beacon Street Racing Etiquette Guide when I joined up the other week. Maybe you could loan me your copy.”

This doesn’t exactly smooth things over with the woman, especially not when Yang snickers, but Weiss can clearly see the writing on the wall, and tosses her hair over her shoulder with a huff.

“Whatever. I’m telling Ruby about this,” she warns Yang (or maybe Blake, or maybe both of them), before stalking away, her last words called over her shoulder. “She’s not going to be happy.”

There’s no concern on Yang’s face as she watches her go, if anything she looks amused. “Sorry about that. She’s… protective.”

“I can see that. I guess that’s what happens when you’ve been friends with someone for a while.” It’s a guess (and a probe), but Yang doesn’t correct any of her phrasing, so it must be close enough to the truth.

“Yeah, but I didn’t mean protective of me.” Yang’s grin shows a flash of white teeth. “Weiss bet on me tonight. You lost her money. And that’s the real sin.”

Blake’s surprised at how easily her laugh comes (more surprised how easily the fondness slips through the cracks in her chest). “Oh, I see. So I can kick your ass up and down the streets as long as I convince her to bet on me in the future? Good to know.”

“I’m not sure that’s the message I want you to be taking from this,” Yang drawls, but still smiles, flicking her glasses up to her forehead. “Besides, like she said, Ruby’s the one to look out for. She seemed all sweet and innocent yesterday, but gods help the person she turns her disapproving stare on. I’ve seen people break into tears on the spot.”

From what Blake had seen yesterday, Ruby isn’t the sort that loses her chipper bounce very easily, so despite Yang’s teasing tone, she files the information away as useful. If she were being a little more self-searching, she might question the action, given her tendency to not stick around in any one place for long. (Surely Beacon isn’t any different. Surely she couldn’t know now if it were.)

“Lucky she missed the race today, then.” Her lips curve, a sharp corner that would require a drift. “What, she couldn’t bear to see you lose again?”

“Oh, ha ha. No, she had class. And she knows there’s no skipping for racing; that’s the only hard and fast rule for our household.” It’s not what she expects, the straight answer backed with genuinity, but it strikes Blake as endearing, somehow, especially when Yang continues. “I started racing here so we could pay for those classes, so I think it’s only fair.”

“That’s — ” Kind. Authentic. Surprising. Blake’s not sure which word to use so she disgards them all. “I wouldn’t have pegged you as the type who was racing for the money. Not that… there’s anything wrong with that. Especially in your case.”

Yang laughs. “Hey, don’t mistake me. I started racing here for the money, but it’s not why I race in general.”

“So why do you?” Blake asks, even though she suspects she knows the answer. (It’s not wise to take your eyes off the road, but she’s done it in both of her races with Yang, eyes darting to the side to find the woman speeding alongside her: eyes wild, grin wide, the fervor of the moment all over her face. There’s freedom there, more than there is anywhere else, and Blake thinks she sees that in Yang as much as she does in herself.)

“Same as you, I think,” Yang murmurs, closer now, sliding in when Blake’s distracted once again.

“I’m not sure you know me well enough to say that.”

A bluff, of course, but it gets the intended result.

“Not yet.” From this close, Yang looks taller, and Blake has to tilt her chin to look into her eyes. “But I’m still looking to fix that.”

Blake wets her lips. It’s too much, and she’s not sure she can tack on ‘too soon’ to quantify the thought, make it less tame. If she had to guess, Yang will always be too much, like sunlight after coming out of a room. Blake’s not sure she’ll ever adjust to the rays, or if she wants to.

“Let’s see how you do in the next race,” she says again, and Yang laughs again, totally unabashed.

“Okay, I’m sensing a trend here. What, you’re not going to let me take you out unless I win a race again you?”

“If I say ‘yes’, what are you going to do?”

It’s not cockiness that overtakes Yang’s face then, not exactly. It’s confidence or want or determination or maybe just the flush that comes from the thrill of a challenge. Blake’s setting herself up for something here, she knows, failure or disappointment or something like it, but right then, she doesn’t care. There’s a freedom in this sort of race too, and that she’s come to love.

“Oh, that’s easy, Blake.” Yang leans in a little more, and Blake knows it’s audible, the way her breath is cut short. “I’m going to win.”

#bumbleby #writing #rwby #bees racer au #for #corvophobia #<33333 #just a little something for a birthday treat

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antiloreolympus · 3 years

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6 Anti LO Asks

1. RS really is into modern purity, because in ancient Greek, the corpses of the dead would be wrapped in white and it was more of a mourning color. Brides back then would wear yellow veils.

Orphism also associated Apollo and Aphrodite with white, though usually Aphrodite was accompanied with pearls or diamonds instead of pure white, and even Zeus was considered associated as white poplar was burned in sacrifice to him.

There's also mentions of Leuce, a nymph who Hades fell in love with and who ended up becoming the white poplar. So it would make a lot more sense for Hades to be dressed in white than Persephone. Which once again shows just how little effort Rachel puts into LO.

2. that other ask is right bc the way rachel made sure persephone couldnt even look at another guy or have experience outside of her future husband is so unintentionally reinforcing conservative control over womens' bodies and that they can only have/enjoy sex with their husbands and thats it. I think she was trying to have it that persephone just happened to marry the "perfect" man right away, but it ends up having the opposite effect by making the couple look rather unhealthy.

3. white isnt even a partocularly good color on current persephone's harsh, neon pink shade. the discover/canvas version of her as pastel pink fit much better with the white, IMHO. current neon persephone looked much better in greens, yet for some reason that was used only for a few episodes before going back to white or making her all pink. the alll neon pink especially doesnt look good with the red eyes and all black outfits her "queen" look is supposed to be.

4. maybe it's just me but i feel like part of the reason lo seems lesser than it could be is bc its too grounded in reality. like its just now trying to pull high fantasy with magic fruit or w/e but like olympus and the underworld are businesses, they have cars and cell phones and it all looks like modern NYC, why would they still adhere to mystical stuff like that? if it embraced how weird myth could be from the start that would have helped, but its too late now to be added for it to mesh well TBH

5. i know its beating a dead horse at this point but the height difference isnt really that big of a deal to me?? its combination of it with how young she is and how childish/immature shes drawn and depicted as that it becomes an issue. tbh if she was 400+ year old firecracker with a loud mouth who stood up for herself and was confident w/ adult features i think the small height would actually be beneficial, but bc shes depicted as a child instead it becomes an issue. maybe thats just me though.

-----FP Spoilers/Mention-----

6. In fastpass Hades was kinda mean to hermes and questioned everything he said, even though putting persephone in good light, so he should be happy. He was probably jeolus that he and perephone were good friends spent a lot time together and that he said that he really cares about her. Even after he said that what perephone wanted from him want books but friendship and that they have beautiful friendship, hades interruped him and said that it has nothing to do with case, even though it was context

#anti lo #anti lore olympus #lo critical #lore olympus critical

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onebizarrekai · 3 years

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v3′s art is comically terrible for a professionally distributed game in a series: a compilation

in this not-essay I will list all of the mistakes and problems I have spotted in v3′s art. don’t worry, it’s entirely for fun and I’m doing this on a whim, so please feel free to not take this seriously but also it’s hilarious and embarrassing how ridiculous this is like what happened did they speedrun the whole production or what

see, there are some things you can take as meta like “they made it bad on purpose to allude to the downfall of tv shows that have been on air for much too long” but I have a very strong feeling this is not the case due to the nature of some of these errors

disclaimer, the more I study this art, the more I fear that the artists were underpaid and underslept, so if this is in fact the case, I am so sorry to all of them but also I’m going to make fun of the art anyway

anyway let’s get started!

if you study this image for longer than 5 seconds, you will see that kaede is the only one fully shaded and keebo is literally just his normal sprite pasted into the image. every other character is just an ordinary ref, hence most of them facing the exact same direction with neutral expressions on their faces. it looks like a bad edit, and is probably one of the worst pieces of art in the game. it kind of gets better from here on, but my roasting will not.

with that out of the way, here’s the problem that officially bothers me the most and clarifies my viewpoint of “this is not meta and an actual lack of company communication”

this freaking cg, which seems normal at a glance, but some wiseass was like “oh, kaede is a girl, so obviously she’s going to be shorter than the Male Protagonist™” ah, that’s funny. because if you look at the character bios, kaede is, in fact, one inch taller than shuichi and not like 6 inches shorter as she is shown here.

also shuichi’s shoulder is disproportionate and horrendous and he looks vaguely like a jojo character, but I wasn’t even thinking about that until right now.

thanks guys, 50% of the fandom who has never bothered to check these bios thinks that kaede is like 5′3 (did the developers really put so little thought into her to the point where drawing her correctly in the game didn’t even matter??)

also I would like to point out that, even though this isn’t related to the art itself, yes, a character kaede’s size being only 117 lbs is unfeasible, but this applies to literally every character in danganronpa ever and it’s not new news that it’s unrealistic

update: someone in the tags informed me that in versions of the game that use centimeters, like the japanese version, kaede is actually shorter than shuichi, which just adds another thing to the list of weird decisions the localization team made for no reason. that said, after confirming this, kaede is 167 cm in the original, while shuichi is 171 cm, which are approximately 5′6 and 5′7 respectively, but one inch is still nowhere near as drastic as it is depicted above. (in spite of this, I would rather depict kaede as slightly taller, so I’m probably going to keep doing that.)

the journey continues!

bro if you want kaede to have shoulder length hair then stick to it to begin with

you can pretend this is at an angle all you want but they definitely committed the shorter kaede sin a second time

wait a goddamn second.

DO YOU SEE THIS

no………… it wasn’t kaede who shrank. it was shuichi who got taller

speaking of which, can we talk about how shady the perspective is in this elevator pic? look at shuichi and kokichi in comparison to kaede. kokichi, who is canonically 7 inches (edit: or 5, if you’re loyal to the original) shorter than kaede, looks taller than kaede. he’s growing too. what steroids are these gays taking

running into the room, electric boogaloo: I don’t think tsumugi is supposed to be the same height as kokichi

gonta… gonta you’re lookin a bit like a jojo character there

I love how kaito’s head looks kind of like it was pasted onto his body. why is he the same size as shuichi? shouldn’t he be high school bully size or something? his torso is teensy

ah yes, white angie.

I love this cg but why is shuichi’s right hand so much bigger than his left hand

I also love how this cg looks like they literally took pictures of trees and pasted them into the background, especially on the left. the shadows are so weird, especially closer to the ceiling, it’s difficult for me to believe they didn’t do exactly that.

return of Enlarged shuichi

puberty update: kokichi is now taller than shuichi in spite of shuichi never missing leg day. what crimes will he commit

I have to mention it, guys. this has to be one of the worst danganronpa cgs. kokichi’s facial proportions look atrocious. look at the way his face sticks out like his jaw is in the wrong place. his scarf is a pasted texture. that’s it. this moment was so iconic but the cg just looks so… so… off. like something is terribly wrong, but you can’t put your finger on it.

you know what? let’s get into that ‘pasted texture’ thing.

let’s imagine you’re an artist working on a professional game. you’re assigned to draw cgs of kokichi ouma, who has a checkered scarf from hell. sure, it will be terrible to draw, but you only have to draw it once at a time! plus, perspective is pretty important, right? can you be bothered? nah, actually. let’s just copy paste a checkered pattern into the cg, because I’m sure nobody will notice. it’ll blend right in with the other cgs that someone actually put effort into drawing his scarf in, right?

no. the answer is no and I very much noticed. this genuinely looks terrible and I would understand taking a shortcut like that in fanart or even an indie game but this is a full price pc and console distributed game

(an addition: look at kokichi’s TINY HANDS in that last one)

meanwhile, they straight up forgot to color in kokichi’s scarf in this cg.

dude. I forgot about whatever the hell this cg was. anyway look at keebo please just look at him

lovin kaito’s baby arms

real talk, maybe you could argue that he’s missing muscle because he’s deathly sick, but most of his cgs don’t line up with this, and his arms just look disproportionate to his torso size (granted this is a consistent problem across all danganronpa games and a lot of characters have this weird problem, like hajime, but also kaito is bigger than hajime so I kind of have higher expectations of him) maybe it’s his stupid goatee and the way he reminds me of yasuhiro?? it creates this illusion that he’s older than he is and so I keep expecting him to look more like an adult

oh, also rantaro is missing some of his accessories in that video he made–you know the one–but I don’t wanna go back and screenshot it

also you may have noticed that I’m skipping all of the monokub cgs because I literally do not care about them and I’m not even bothering to check and see if they have artistic mistakes in them

JIMMY NEUTRON???

hey um uh kaito you seem to be missing your neck

hey guys do you like my pregame fanart

so, that done, the sprites are also pretty terrible at times. they’re not as interesting to go through, however, and downloading the full sprite sets for every character and studying every single one of them will drive me insane, so I’ll just sum some of the ones I noticed up. I made things for kaede and shuichi before deciding I wasn’t going to get into it, so here are these.

that said, other mistakes include kokichi missing his purple highlights in all of the sprites encompassing a specific pose, stray pixels all over the place on everyone, and everyone also has heavily inconsistent shading, but literally all I think about is how pregame shuichi is unshaded and two of kaede’s pregame sprites have glaring outfit change mistakes in them

anyway, thank you for taking the time to read my ridiculous ramble. in all seriousness, there’s this looming presence of some lack of communication in the development team, like with all the art and design inconsistencies, pieces and sprites that look rushed, stray pixels, and missing basic proportional stuff. these are the kinds of things that you supposedly have to pretty much have in the bag in order to get jobs in professional businesses, so it’s really weird to me that this game suffers from so many of these problems. it’s like they tried to make the art so much more crisp than the other games, but it fell on its face as they realized it was going to take longer to draw everything and they started to rush. it’s weird, because the coloring itself looks normal–it’s just sloppily drawn, and the proportions are a mess once put into the context of perspective. many of the cgs look like they were drawn by different people, and I’m still not over the fact that half of kokichi’s cgs have his scarf pasted in as a texture.

the moral of the story is that if you’re selling a game at full price that also happens to be in a series that has had 3 very good games in it already the stakes should probably be higher than this. v3 has been out for more than 3 years and it’s still $40 (did it cost more than that before? I sure hope not), and the overarching quality of the game is just not as high as the other games. I’m not saying that the other games don’t have any problems with their art at all, they’re just not as glaringly obvious and every artistic choice in those games feels intentional.

regardless, I had a blast roasting the art at 2am, so maybe you got a kick out of all this chaos.

#god I keep telling myself I'm gonna stop rambling about v3 #v3 spoilers #drv3 spoilers #ndrv3 #random stuff #but making this… it sounded so fun #danganronpa

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wwilloww · 4 years

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backstage | myg

Pairing: Idol!Yoongi x Reader

Genre: Smut.

Rating: Explicit.

WC: 4.2k

Summary: With the sounds of the stadium still ringing in his ears, Yoongi just needs to get away — just for a moment. And you have exactly the right idea about how to distract him.

Warnings: bathroom sex. oral (m receiving). implicit themes of powerplay. dirty talk. mild hair pulling. throat fucking. super duper like barely visible breathplay. penetrative sex. unprotected sex (don’t be a silly goose!! wrap it before ya tap it!). themes of exhibitionism. creampie. cumplay. mentions of group sex.

AN: What was supposed to be a simple 1k of smut turned into 4k of… more smut. What originally started as a challenge to write a bj in a way I enjoyed turned into 4k of a bj that I really enjoyed. I have to give 1 million baskets of thanks to Renae @mygsii and Lil @hesperantha for being the most incredible beta readers out there. They put so much time and energy into this and helped me sculpt this into its final version. And of course, thank you to the crew at BTS Smut Hub for their eternal thirst and support. Ya keep me going.

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©️wwilloww Do not repost, translate, or use my stories without my permission.

Backstage

Yoongi sighs, letting his eyes fall shut as he leans back against the door. The sound of the screaming crowd still rings in his ears, muffling the sounds of the world around him. He can still feel the rhythm and vibration of tonight’s music reverberating through his bones. If anything, the combination of exhaustion and overstimulation should have left him dead to the world. But instead every nerve in his body is alight, singing in sensitivity.

He’d needed air away from the post-concert bustle. The smallest details were grating on his nerves, even when they should have been insignificant, unnoticeable. He’d been so busy lately, no time for the things that actually brought him pleasure. He needed to get away, just for a moment.

With one hand tangled in your hair, the other gripping the doorknob, he looks down at you. All he can think is that he’d never seen anything quite so angelic. Your eyes turned devotedly up to him, lashes fluttering so sweetly — you could be sucking on a lollipop.

“God, you look so fucking cute sucking my dick.”

The timbre of his voice resonates through you, going straight to your cunt. The tight pout you have around him turns up as you try not to smile, mouth full of cock.

“You couldn’t fucking wait until we got home before you needed cock? Are you that desperate?”

You answer with your eyes, a mischievous glint sparking through them.

He had been stealing glances at you the whole night, searching the darkness of the wings for your familiar figure. Every swell and curve of your body was so familiar to him now that he swore he could have spotted you even if you were lost in the masses of the audience. What would it have been like for you to be out there, your eyes locking together? Hunting through a sea of searching hands to find your undeniable steadiness and gleaming presence. There’s a part of him that thinks that even with the lights blinding him and the unending wave of faces that he would know you were out there, would be able to feel your company.

Still, he chased your gaze in the crowd of stage hands and stylists and technicians. You were hidden away, watching him perform from a small break in the stage. The whole night you had watched, aptly glancing between the performance screen and the small crack, just waiting for Yoongi to pop into view on your small sliver of sight. And everytime he did, you couldn’t help but glow, a smile pouring across your face and lighting up your entire being.

You’d seen him rehearse, of course. You’d seen him perform in front of cameras and studio audiences and at awards shows. But this was different. There was an extra sharpness to his movements, a force behind his voice. The energy of the audience was undeniable and you knew it pushed him forward to perform the best you’d ever seen him perform.

You grabbed his hand almost immediately after he had stepped off stage, wrapping him in a tight hug.

“I’m so proud of you,” you mumbled into his chest. You held him there in silence, heart full of awe and admiration. It was a moment before you looked up to see a stylist just standing there, still holding a towel to his face. You quickly apologized to her, as she continued to try to pat the sweat off of his face. Technicians and staff and members bustled around, everyone jostling into one another. Even as you held his hand, he looked lost. As you watched, you noticed frustration flit across his face, saw his slip into stubbornness as she continued to do her job. You’d seen this look before and knew it well: overload.

In a snap decision, you tugged him away without explanation to the woman still dabbing his forehead or any of the members busting around him, mumbling “Come with me.” You left the poor stylist stuttering and flustered behind you as you dragged him— much to his protest— to the closest single bathroom.

Slamming the door shut, you turned him around so he was leaning against the frame.

“Are you okay?” you asked softly.

He nodded, leaning into your touch as you reached up to hold his face between your hands. You let your thumbs run over the pink of his cheeks until you saw the frustration dissipate from his features. You knew he was tired. Knew he was riding the high of the concert. Knew he was stuck somewhere between excitement and overwhelm. As soon as the crease in his brow softened, you pressed a kiss to his lips. Light, fluttering. Just enough to ground the both of you.

“What did you think?” he asked when you pulled back, searching your eyes.

“You’re amazing.”

“Everyone did so well tonight, I was—”

“No. You’re amazing.” you repeated. “You.”

He began to reach for your lips again, that heavy-lidded look that you loved so much taking over his features. But instead of taking him into your embrace, you pushed him back against the door, his back hitting the solid wood with a slight thud.

“Let me,” you said, swatting away his wandering hands. “Hands off.” You stepped back, letting your hand wander up the warm skin of your arm until you reached the strap of your dress, teasing it between your fingers. “You’re frustrated. And you’ve been working so hard. Don’t you think you’ve earned something for all of your efforts?”

You watched him swallow, his adam’s apple bobbing. Ever-so-slowly, you began to slide the soft fabric down your body, taking your sweet time as you did so. Even as your attentions were focused on dragging out this moment as long as possible — making him wait for you — your gaze was focused on his features. His every movement. The way his eyes darkened, his head tilting down to better gaze upon you, his jaw dropping ever so slightly as he watched on. As the dress came down to your hips, you let go and it pooled around your ankles.

Delicately, you stepped over it and towards the dazed man in front of you.

“No bra?” he gulped. You shook your head as he swallowed and righted himself, his voice dropping as he spoke. “You walked around all night with nothing on, but that tiny piece of fabric underneath that dress?”

“Mhmm,” you hummed, walking towards him. “Just for you.”

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Would you really have been able to focus on stage — thinking about me, like this, just waiting for you?”

He reached for you then, rather than answering you, but you pushed his hands away and slid to your knees before him. You made quick work of unbuckling his belt, not bothering to pull his pants down before you pulled his already-hard cock out of his boxers.

“How long have you been hard?” you asked, slowly stroking him, watching the way his cock twitched in your hand.

“For the past hour.”

“Good.” You smirked up at him before opening your mouth just enough that he could see your pink tongue. “Then use me.” He sucked a harsh breath in. With one hand still wrapped around his length, you leaned closer and let the head rest heavy on your tongue.

Seeing you like this, so perfectly laid out for him, feeling the cushiony softness of your tongue against the base of his cock, Yoongi couldn’t help but groan, his hips thrusting involuntarily towards you.

You’d had enough teasing. You had wrapped your lips around him and took him into your mouth.

He fell apart beneath your touch.

And now you slowly slide down his length, taking as much of him into the wet warmth of your mouth as possible. He watches as your lips wrap even tighter around him, the perfect mix of pout and absolute devastation. You swirl your tongue against the bottom of his cock to the best of your ability as you bob up and down on him.

He groans. Loudly. Loud enough that you hear a muffled “What the fuck was that?” on the other side of the door.

Your sharp inhale of breath, still wrapped around him, catches his attention.

“You like knowing that someone out there knows I’ve got my cock down your throat, don’t you?”

The sharpness of his words sends a shock straight through your body. You nod to the best of your ability. Other than the hand he has in your hair, you hadn’t let him touch you all night — and because of that you are left overly sensitive to his every word, his every touch.

“Good girl.”

Cunt clenching involuntarily at the words, you’re thankful you left your panties on, knowing you’d be dripping down your thighs by now if you had opted to take them off.

Usually, you would take it slow. Torture his orgasm out of him like it was something to be built towards, drawn out. But tonight you are chasing his pleasure, watching every little fold in his brow, noticing every moment his grip in your hair tightened, feeling every time his clothed thighs tensed beneath your grasp.

He’s still dressed in his last outfit of the concert. His brow glistens with sweat. The flush on his face is a mixture of the remnants of his performance and the pleasure you were currently coaxing from him.

“Fuck my mouth, baby,” you say, pulling off of his cock long enough to let the words slip out. A trail of saliva connects your swollen lips to the head of his dick, red and darkened with his near-painful arousal.

“How can you be so adorable and say such filthy things?”

It was more of a muse than an actual question. He loved your duality. Your ability to flirt and play so innocently out in public, and then flip a switch as soon as the door was closed. And not just the bedroom door, he thinks. Any door, apparently.

He is quick to press his hand to the back of your neck to pull you back to his crotch, the head of his cock bumping up against your cheek. He quickly wraps a hand around the base, teasing your searching lips with the bulbous head. You chase him, whining when he chuckles. It isn’t until you look up to him, a serious pout falling across your lips that he finally feeds it to you.

You take him in one go, the tip of his cock bumping against the back of your throat. It hits just hard enough that you gag. He tries to slow his motions—to pull back— but you blink away your tears and glance up at him, before pushing down further, knowing you could take it, knowing you want to take it.

A choked moan slips out of him as you ease him into your throat, the tightness of your pulsing walls sending stars through his body. Hands gripping his thighs like they were the only things in the world, you begin to pulse back and forth. When you look up at him, he is gazing down at you, that mix of power and desire that you so love dancing in his eyes.

You release him from your throat, gasping hoarsely.

“Is that all you can take?” He slips both of his hands into your hair where they tangle with your thick locks. The hardness of his many rings presses against your scalp, offered a startling contrast to the strength of his hands and the gentle tug of your hair. He waits for a moment, gauging your unyielding eye contact to make sure you could. As soon as he recognizes that spark in your eyes and feels your hands squeeze twice around him—your signal of consent—he’s moving again, easing his thick cock back into you.

He pushes fully into your mouth, a deep graveled groan ripping through his chest as the tightness of your throat wraps around him. Beginning to thrust, he tightens his grip in your hair, bobbing your head to his own pace. You do your best to relax the muscles in your neck and throat, to erase everything but the sensation of the man you love fucking in and out of your mouth.

His pace is perfect, not too fast, not too slow. You feel the head of his cock push past your uvula and into your throat. With one hand, you reach up, your hand coming to wrap around your own throat.

Beneath the sensitive skin of your hand, you feel his tip bulging through the delicate skin with each thrust and you groan at the sensation. He shudders at the reverberations of your voice, pulsing through him. There’s something wild, indescribably dirty, to the feeling of his cock through your skin, to feeling him chasing his orgasm from inside and outside you at the same time. His nails scrape deliciously against your scalp as you continue to moan around him, the vibrations of your pleasure coursing through his cock and straight up his spine.

“Take all of it, baby,” he grunts, and you know he’s close to his release. Your hand tightens around your throat, tears springing to your eyes, drool dripping down your chin.

As Yoongi looks down on you—mascara running and mouth sloppy with a mix of your drool and his precum—arousal sears through his body. The absolute devotion in your eyes pushes him further towards the edge.

Tonight was supposed to be about you, too. Even though you had been around the other guys for months now, this was your first stadium concert, your chance to really step into his world— and yet here you are on your knees in a backstage bathroom with a very thin door, just for him.

What had he ever done to deserve someone like you?

He thrusts his hips forward into your waiting mouth, earning a delighted moan from you. He is so close— so close to his release, so close to pouring himself out down your warm, waiting throat. That unmistakable warmth sears through his abdomen, pulling him closer, drawing him nearer to— he feels your hand tap gently twice against his thigh, your tell for him to release you.

He stops immediately, gripping his cock as he pulls out of the confines of your throat and untangles his grip from your hair. He drops to his knees before you, reaching for you. His thumb brushes over the streams of mascara off of your cheeks.

“You alright, love?” The dominating tone is gone now, concern in its place.

You smile at him, coming to place your hand over the one that cupped your cheek. It’s a sweet, loving gesture — and you sigh into it — but all sense of sweetness is broken by your next words.

“I need you to fuck me.”

“I— uh, what? Are you sure?”

“I need you to fuck me,” you repeat, seriously. “I can’t believe you would think I could go without your cock all night — that I could walk out of here without your cum dripping down my legs.” You pout.

Just like that, he’s pulling you to your feet and spinning you around so that your waist hits the cold marble of the sink. With absolute control, he runs his hand up your spine until it reaches the middle and he pushes, adding a delicious arch to your back.

He is quick to line himself up with your sopping entrance, pulling the fabric of your panties to the side so he can slide the head of his cock through your dripping folds.

“Did sucking my cock make you this wet?” You whine, pushing back on him, desperate to feel him fill you. He clucks his tongue. “You’re so eager to please, maybe I should just shove my cock right back down your throat and take my own pleasure.”

“Noo,” you whine wantonly. “Need you.” You look up at the pair of you in the mirror. Your eyes are dark and filled with lust, face stained with mascara and remnants of his fucking. You are bare naked, minus the thin straps of your panties. Behind you, Yoongi stands fully clothed, his belt unbuckled just enough for him to grip his cock and hold it against you. The top button of his shirt has come undone, revealing a sheen of sweat. But it’s his face, the look he wears, that captures you.

Pure, unadulterated adoration dresses his features as he meets your gaze in the mirror.

He hooks a finger under your panties, pulling them to the side, and runs a thumb over your entrance. Your back arches at the touch, having denied yourself for so long.

Without warning, he presses the head of his cock to your entrance and begins to slide in.

Getting him off had always been a practice in edging yourself. You’d learned this over the months you’d spent with the beautiful man behind you. The more you saw his pleasure unravel before you, the more pleasure you felt. It didn’t matter if you weren’t particularly interested in whatever it was you were doing — you were interested in him. So as his thick girth begins to fill you, the new sensation bursts through your senses, searing your cunt with pleasure.

You let loose a whine, one that feels like it was pulled from the depths of your abdomen. Primal. Wanting. “Yoongi,” you gasp.

“What the fuck is going on in there?!” You hear someone call from the other side of the door, but you choose to ignore them, instead turning your attention to pushing back on Yoongi’s cock.

“Did you lock the door?” you pant.

“No — did you?”

“No.” He turns to lock it, but you stop him, reaching behind you to grab his arm.

“Leave it. Just fuck me, please.”

He grins at you in the mirror. “Fuck,” he hisses. “You like the idea of someone walking in on you?” You groan, your cunt clenching around him at his words. “To see you split open on my cock, moaning my name like only I can make you?”

“Yes,” you choke out as he rams into you especially hard. “Wan’ them to know.”

“To know what?”

“That you’re mine.”

Yoongi swivels his hips against yours, drawing a particularly loud moan from you.

“Fuck.”

“Touch yourself,” he growls. “Make yourself come on my cock.”

You whimper, your body shaken by his relentless thrusts. Still, you reach down, fingers drifting over the sensitive bundle of nerves.

Yoongi continues to rail into you, his hips grinding in a slight circle each time he bottoms out. Even as your breath hitches in your throat as you begin your ministrations on your clit — slow circles, building in strength and speed — all you can think about iss the way he bit his lip as he looked down on you. The way his brow furrowed in delicious concentration like you were the only thing worth paying attention to in the world.

He adjusts his grip on your hips, his long fingers pressing into your abdomen. You know there will be bruises there tomorrow.

The new grip allows him to thrust up into you with a new viciousness.

“Fuck, princess, you’re so tight around me.”

The glaze in his eyes tells you he is close to his release and so you increase your pace, the sensation of his cock pounding into you and the calculated swirl of your fingers building the perfect tension.

“Ah, fuck, gonna cum,” Yoongi hisses.

“Cum inside,” you beg.

He groans at your words. You want him as deep within you as you could possibly get him. Want him on you, in you, surrounding you.

With one final thrust, he wraps his arms around you, pressing his clothed torso to your bare back. He thrusts shallowly a couple times before a thin groan resonates through his chest and you can feel his cock twitch within you, painting your walls with his cum.

With a cry, you feel the watery band of pleasure snap inside of you. You fall forward, catching yourself on your elbows as you feel Yoongi’s hand drift down to your clit, circling you through your pleasure.

His breath is heavy, shakey against your back. The two of you stay like that for a while, just breathing together.

Yoongi pulls out, tucking himself back into his pants. He begins to reach for one of the hand towels in the stack but you hold your hand out.

“Keep it in,” you whisper. His eyes shoot up to yours. With a slight grin, he pulls your panties back over your cunt, sealing his cum inside you. With a playful tap to your still-sensitive mound, he stands, hands pressed into your hips.

“You’re gonna keep that inside for me, hm?” he murmurs into your ear, the brush of his words raising goosebumps on your skin. “You’re gonna walk around all night with my cum still inside of you. You’re gonna leave it in until we get back to the hotel and I can fuck it out of you again.”

Your eyes widen as you looked at Yoongi.

If he keeps talking like that, you’d be ready to go again in a minute. And judging by the semi he was sporting, he would be too.

You giggle to yourself as you pull your dress back on. Yoongi has finished dressing and now stands, facing the mirror, picking through his hair as he continues to steal glances at you. You are glad you brought your purse into the bathroom. You reach in to pull out a pack of makeup removers. Just as you are about to dab away the mix of tears and mascara from your cheeks, you feel Yoongi’s fingers wrap around your wrist.

“Here,” he says softly. “Let me.”

You smile at the man, a pink flush still painting his cheeks. Ever so gently he wipes away the black makeup from your face, taking his time to make sure he doesn’t pull at your skin or miss a spot.

“All done,” he says, tossing the wipe into the trash can. “Good as new.”

You turn back to the mirror. Makeupless, fuck evident, but good enough.

“Thanks babe,” you say, pulling him tight against you and kissing him lightly. Your tongue skates over the pink swell of his lower lip, but the kiss remains light and playful. He sighs into you, his hand running up your back.

“I love you,” he mumbles against your lips before stepping back. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

Yoongi reaches for the doorknob.

“Oh!” You can feel your mixed cum beginning to leak out of your cunt and run down your leg. You snap your legs together, impulsively reaching out to Yoongi to grasp onto his arm as a nervous laugh bursts out of you.

“What—” His eyes flicker downwards to where a rivulet of white shines on the skin of your inner thigh. The dress you wore tonight is short, and leaves little to the imagination. But the image of his, his cum running down your inner thigh has him swallowing hard, his hand coming into a fist as his heart jumps into his throat.

Your eyes are large, blinking up at him as his hand comes down to rest on your waist. Ever-so-slowly, he kneels before you, eyes level with your hips. Gently, he pushes your leg aside so your thighs are no longer clenched together and rolls the hem of your dress up.

“Wha—”

“Shh,” he hushes you.

Looking up at you, he leans in. His pink tongue darts out between swollen lips and he presses it to the inside of your leg. You gasp at the warmth. In the afterglow of your orgasm, your whole body sings with sensitivity.

Slowly, deliberately, he licks up the trail of his own come, collecting the white substance into his mouth. You nearly groan at the sight. When he reaches your panties, he closes his mouth and swallows, pressing a kiss to your inner thigh before rising to his feet. You run a hand through his hair, tugging him to you. As he kisses you, you can taste the mix of both of your juices on his tongue and you press deeper into the salty taste.

“We should go back,” Yoongi murmurs against you. “Before anyone thinks we’ve gone missing.” He chuckles in your hair, finally unlocking the door.

Jimin stands there, his mouth agape.

“Why do you always have to be so fucking loud?” he asks with a scowl, shaking the shock out of his eyes. “Like great, we all know you have a killer sex life, do you have to rub it in our faces too?” he grumbles.

You chuckle, pulling your friend into a side hug.

“Maybe next time you should join us, and we can do something about that bruised ego of yours.” You wink at Yoongi, feeling his hand settle heavy on your lower back as you rejoin the sway of the crowd.

“Maybe,” he growls into your ear. He pulls you tight against him as he smirks at Jimin.

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bnhavibes · 4 years

Text

Dark Paradise

Chapter 3: Disquiet

Ao3

Mafia AU!

“I want,” Shigaraki leaned in, all fingers but one curling around Kai’s bicep, “the girl.” His minatory gaze was trained on Kai’s, daring him to step out of line. Kai took a shaky inhale, eyes flicking over to the young woman on the couch.

“Will you do that for me, Kai?” Shigaraki’s four fingers gripped tighter around Kai’s tense arm; a stern reminder that he didn’t have a choice. “If you don’t, I trust it’s not necessary to say what will happen to you.”

Art from this post, FOLLOW THEM THEIR ART IS AMAZING!!

Word Count: ~4k

Your sparkly princess shoe kicked the rock playfully and watched as it rolled along the sidewalk, giggling to yourself all the while. Dainty fingers trailed along the bottom of well-trimmed hedges. Through the green, you saw the off-white bleached brick of your house come into view and skipped the rest of the way there. You couldn’t wait to show the picture you had drawn at school today.

You kicked the welcome mat up to find the key to the towering red front door and you quickly replaced it before eagerly shuffling inside, ready for the delicious smell of homemade chocolate chip cookies to grace your nose. It was Wednesday, and every week your mom made cookies to celebrate a week half over. They were always ready for when you got home from school. Your older sister would help make them because her middle school got out earlier.

But it didn’t smell like cookies. You felt the bright hopefulness that adorned your face earlier sink, a pouty frown replacing it. Clumsily, you kicked off your shoes and socks, padding over to the couch to toss your backpack down.

“Mommy? Skye?” There was no answer. Maybe they were playing in the backyard? Yeah, they were probably playing and going to make cookies later. Your mom always kept saying that one of these days you were going to have to start helping them bake. With great effort, you pulled the sliding door open to the expansive backyard, and your head tilted as you tried to process what was in front of you.

“Mommy?” She was lying prone on the ground, her neck was turned towards the door so you could see her face. It was blank, vacant. Her jaw was slack, and her arms were twisted strangely at her sides. You had dropped to your knees on the soft grass at the sight, so you crawled over to your mom and shook her arm. You were sad to feel she wasn’t as warm as usual; her embrace was the most comforting thing in the world. You kept calling out to her and telling her this game wasn’t funny. Why would she play a game like this? You wondered. You took in the sight of her. Maybe she is sleeping? Your small arms wrapped around her shoulders to pull her up. Her neck made a dull thunk! as her head hung in the air and lolled around. You shook her again, horrified at how her head rolled lifelessly.

“Mommy? Mommy!”

Water clogged up your vision so that when you looked around the yard, you could just barely make out your sister several meters away. She lay there, limbs askew and back bent unnaturally.

“Mommy, whats wrong with Skye?” You couldn’t take your eyes off the way your sister’s body lay uncomfortably. A deep cracking noise turned your attention back to your mother. Your eyes widened impossibly as you listened to the horrifying snaps and crunching of bone as your mom’s neck wrenched back around to face you. You couldn’t stare at anything except her completely vacant eyes.

“You weren’t here. We died alone.” Her arms started twisting in ways they shouldn’t, shattering the bones as she crawled towards you, dragging her bottom half behind her. Her strained gasps rang out in the yard. You stumbled backwards and a broken scream erupted from your throat.

Your eyes shot open. There was a loud noise in your somber bedroom, and you realized with horror that it was your own forceful breathing and heart pounding dangerously fast against its confines. Your throat felt raw and dry. You must have been actually screaming. Bringing one trembling hand to your face as tears dropped from your eyes, you tried to control your breathing. Panic enveloped your entire being, those ever-present tons of rocks making their home on your ribcage, crushing your chest. Is this what Giles Corey felt like? You couldn’t get a full breath in no matter how hungrily, greedily you sucked in air.

You sat up and pushed your back firmly against the headboard. Shoving your hand over your mouth again, you covered your nostrils to stop your hyperventilation. Dry lips and fingers went numb, pinprick pains raining under your skin, and your body felt heavy. Unable to do anything else, you stared emptily at the blank walls of your room. You had lived here for four years, and still hadn’t ever bothered to make it look like a home. The excuse you always used was that you didn’t value material possessions. Honestly, it was because decorating was commitment, and it would make this broken down place a more permanent thing in your life, which you didn’t want to think about.

By now you knew how to deal with the panic attacks that your recurring nightmare brought about. It had happened when you were in fifth grade. Your childhood house’s neighbour was a reckless young hero. He had been trying to show off his wind-based quirk for a news camera, not thinking of the consequences of using it in a residential area, and accidentally sent a strong gust of wind whipping towards your mother and sister.

It snapped your mother’s neck, and the autopsy showed that your sister had died from a subarachnoid hemorrhage from the trauma of the hit. Even after so many years it still occasionally came back to haunt you in your dreams, but with a new horrifying twist each time. This one was especially bad. Sero had suggested therapy many times, but therapy wasn’t meant for people like you. What wisdom could a complete stranger give you? If you opened up to a therapist about your past you would have to leave it all out in the open, including your killing people. You supposed you could omit that part, but what good would that do? The thought of baring yourself completely to anyone, much less a random person, terrified you. Talking about emotions had never been your strong suit.

You leaned over and grabbed your phone to see the time. Squinting your eyes violently as your face was bathed in wretched artificial light, you barely made out the numbers. 4:27am. You sighed and lay back. Thoughts of the League of Villains filled your head. Could they really change the world so things like that wouldn’t happen?

After you absently tossed and turned for a while, you drifted back to sleep, chest feeling so sorrowfully hollow.

You woke to the sound of your alarm. You had 15 minutes to get ready before Sero came to pick you up. Sliding out of bed, you put on a sufficiently decent outfit for walking. The exercise pants accentuated your thighs and calves nicely. You glanced disapprovingly at the bags under your eyes that were considerably darker this morning. Skin blanched, you looked sickly, and it seemed like you could do with a few hundred years more sleep. You could already see Sero’s face contorting in that way it does when he’s worried about you. Though you detested the idea of a person who cared about you seeing you like this, you needed to talk things through to process. Also, it was just so crazy that you could still barely wrap your head around it. You could work for the League of Villains!

When Sero’s inked knuckles rapped on your front door, you opened it and took your time drinking in his appearance. Admiring the way his fitted white T-shirt stretched across the subtle muscles of his chest. His tattoos peeked out the top of his shirt, traveling up his neck and cascading down both arms. His dark ripped jeans complimented his shirt perfectly. His black plugs were paired with two silver cartilage piercings on his left ear, and a barbell in his right eyebrow. His short black hair was a bit longer than usual. Finally, your eyes landed on his left shoulder where a...sloth was clinging to him. You felt a rush of affection for Sero, and you pulled him into a long hug, carefully avoiding the sloth. You could already feel yourself healing.

“So the sloth is… different. Any other new tattoos I should know about?” Your voice was muffled against his chest. He pulled back before responding.

“Nah, but here! I didn’t forget.” You watched as the tattoo on his left forearm of a cat with shiny stygian fur stretched and yawned before it hopped off his arm and became a real cat.

“Hey Biscuit! Good to see you buddy.” You definitely needed some kitty therapy. You cooed at the small cat and bent over to scoop him up into your arms. After a few scratches behind the ears, he started purring and nuzzled into your neck.

Your mother and father had had cats when you were little, but they were long gone and you hadn’t been able to afford a pet while living in this house. Of course, you could have afforded cats if you agreed to take more money from the Deku gang or the Shie Hassaikai, like they kept pressuring you to do. You speculated this is why Sero had gotten the tattoo in the first place, but he had never admitted that to you. Certainly he wanted companionship like anyone else, but Sero was more of a dog person, considering he was pretty much the human version of a puppy.

With one last check to ensure the back porch light was off, the two of you went off on your way to the restaurant where you were planning to stuff your face with hopefully a somewhat nutritious meal. Better than the crap you’ve been daring to call nourishment.

Locking the door behind you, the two of you stepped out into the breezy summer air. If you closed your eyes you could imagine yourself on a beach. Anywhere but here.

Before you got into all of your problems you couldn’t get off your mind, you asked Sero how his work was going. He owned his own small tattoo parlor in the next part of town that was significantly less ramshackle than your zip code. It was no rich people haven by any means, but still nicer.

“Work is...good! Hey, when are you going to come to my shop and get a tattoo? I’ll make sure to give you the best-person-in-the-world discount!” His silly lopsided grin made giggles erupt from your throat, no matter how you tried to hold them in. The breakfast place he suggested was suspiciously close to said tattoo shop, and you had laughed when he first sent you the address. Always a businessman first.

“Sorry ink-man, no tattoos for me today.”

“Alright, alright, fine. It has been busier than usual, I think sending my card to those gangs like you suggested really paid off! They’re a little terrifying, but hey, they pay me. Oh and you wouldn’t believe what happened the other day.” He launched into a story about how a client had come into his shop for a consultation on a tattoo, whipped out a picture of her boyfriend completely naked and demanded he tattoo the entire thing across her back.

“What? No way.” You let your head fall back as you laughed at the ridiculousness of some people. It was nice to hear about something screwed up, but not heavy. A story that made you laugh and forget about the betrayal you felt.

“Well, anyway, and most importantly, how are you?” He smiled at you expectantly. Your heart sank a bit as you were again forced back into your thoughts.

“Uh, pretty good I guess.” He raised his eyebrows in disbelief so you continued. “Okay not really. I’ve gotten a surge of trauma patients recently and I lost one last night.” Though it was never easy, Sero knew losing a patient was nothing new for you, so that couldn’t be why you had called. He nodded sympathetically and put a hand on your shoulder.

After a moment he offered you a bright smile, “at least you’ve got me!”

You smiled back, “yeah, I do.”

The sunlight beamed in through the tree branches and leaves above you, casting spots of golden light onto Sero’s form. The wind whipped through your hair and you enjoyed the smell of summer coming in as you heard the birds chirping blithely around you. As if to keep you from truly enjoying any distraction, the image of your mother’s head twisting around flooded into your head and made you flinch, and you wrenched your eyes shut as if to lessen the impact. But there was no running away from the image plastered on the back of your eyelids.

“I had the nightmare again.” You couldn’t bring yourself to meet Sero’s eyes as you said it, electing to stare at the dirt-caked sidewalk instead.

“Oh. I’m sorry. It was a bad one this time, huh?” A tattooed arm wrapped around your shoulders, and you snuggled closer, tugging your arm around his back, curling your fingers into his side. He let that fact hang in the air for a bit, leaving room for you to share more if you wanted. You both walked in comfortable silence for a bit, and you breathed in his scent. Soaking up his warmth and support, you tried not to cry as you felt your throat closing up.

After a moment, Sero startled you by yelling and pointing his finger. He had felt the need to point out two birds in a tree “going at it” and you broke into a relieved laugh.

From that point on, you chatted idly about everything and nothing while on your way to the restaurant. His laugh was the funniest part of any dumb joke he told. Though, you thought he was funny without even trying.

The steaming food was set down in front of you, and Sero decided it was time to forgo the small talk.

“So. What’s really going on? I know you love seeing me, of course, but I can tell when something else is on your mind.” His playful grin reminded you that no matter what you said he wouldn’t judge you. So you decided to cut right to the issue, as he bent to take a sip of his iced caramel coffee.

“The League of Villains wants me to be their on-call nurse.” Sero started choking on his drink, and his sloth placed a few gentle pats on his back. He was still able to breathe, so you continued.

“I have to live with them, but they’ll pay me for my time. And I don’t have to pay rent.” You paused for a bit, and your tone must have lacked finality because Sero stayed silent, sensing there was more you wanted to say. But he was also still in the middle of his coughing fit.

“They have made a big difference in the world, for the better, and it would be nice to be part of something bigger. I won’t go on missions with them or anything so my safety shouldn’t be compromised.” You sighed, staring pensively at your food and absently picking at it with your fork. There was another detail that was still bothering you.

“They somehow know about my mom and sister. They’ve done their research and think I would fit in well there.” You warmed at the thought of finally fitting in somewhere. It had been so hard to be somewhat morally grey as a nurse and always walk that line of never fully agreeing with the heroes or villains. Sero had recovered from inhaling his coffee, so he finally spoke.

“What, that’s crazy! Honestly, if it gets you out of that crappy neighborhood, I’ll be glad. I know you’re not happy there, and it sounds like you want to join them. So what’s stopping you?” You were thoughtful for a moment.

“I don’t know. It’s sort of a big change. I just need time to think it over. It seems like the perfect way to safely get out of those deals with the gangs. I wanted to talk it out with you first. You’re my go-to for advice,” you chuckled. He gave you a wide grin.

“Of course I am! I give only the best advice for the best of people. Look, it sounds like this could be really good for you. I mean, we both know your clinic was a lot more stressful than you expected and there’s no opportunities there. I want to see you happy. And maybe you’ll meet a hot villain guy to fu-“

“Ugh, Sero you always have to go there don’t you?” Dabi’s face played in your mind, and you felt the blush creeping up your neck, flicking your eyes to the sidewalk at the base of the outdoor table.

“There’s already a hot villain guy, isn’t there? Isn’t there?!” You blushed more and choked out an embarrassed laugh. Sero’s Cheshire grin went ear-to-ear as he continued.

“Oh there definitely is,” he waggled his eyebrows, “tell me about him. I was wondering how you heard from the League.” You sighed in defeat.

“There was this guy, Dabi, that came to my house and told me they’ve been watching me, whatever the hell that means. He said they could use someone like me.” Sero looked at you expectantly and flailed his arms.

“And?” You sighed again.

“And he has lots of piercings, blue eyes, and he’s kind of an asshole,” you begrudgingly admitted.

“Just your type, then.”

“I guess.” Dabi did check all your boxes. Somehow.

Sero had been your best friend through all of your tumultuous relationships and your complete weakness for “bad boys” that never treated you right. Dabi definitely fit this category, especially with him being a villain. If you had to psychoanalyze yourself and guess, it must be some self-destructive tendency as a result of your dad’s abuse being the only kind of love you had known after the fifth grade. Therapy might be good. Or maybe you really had embraced your dark side like Midoriya had said. The cliché was almost laughable, but you certainly weren’t going to resist your interest in the scarred man.

“But he also told me that I should watch my back, and he basically admitted that he got information about me from one of the mobs I make deals with. I mean, what else could he mean by that?” Sero hummed and his face twisted slightly with concern.

He didn’t say it, what you both knew, and what you had been trying to avoid thinking about. The possibility that your Uncle could be the one selling information about you to the League. What could be worth it? More money than they already had? Protection? Supplies? What was worth selling you out for after you had saved so many of their men’s lives? You were blood.

As much as you could tell yourself it was another gang who did it, the one detail remained inconsistent: how Dabi knew about your family. You were certain you hadn’t told a soul who didn’t already know because they were directly involved. The city had to cover up the story, sweep it under the rug and not give details about it to keep your story confidential. It would have looked bad for the well-known hero agency of which he was a member. Of course, the hero had gotten off on some bullshit jail time that wasn’t long enough for the murder (though accidental, it was still murder) he committed. So it wasn’t like anyone could look you up and figure out your entire life story. Or certainly not about that incident.

You had done years of intensive, paranoid searching to find the story buried somewhere. You never found it. No one was interested in telling the stories of people like you. They would much prefer you stay unknown and unheard.

The only way to figure it out was an inside perspective. You supposed there were the gangsters close to your uncle that could possibly know. Certainly Chisaki, but would Tommy really have told his underlings? No, that seemed unlikely. So, the only people who realistically knew about it were Sero, Tommy, and Chisaki. You thought to the other gangs. In your numerous calculated conversations with Izuku, you were certain you had never slipped up and betrayed any details of your personal life, much less of your childhood trauma. That was a hard line you never crossed with the crime lord, even when he tried to poke around.

It certainly couldn’t be Keigo. He didn’t seem to care enough about you, or any other than himself, to send people to spy on you. Even if a gangster was spying on you, it still didn’t explain how they knew. Maybe you had talked about it out in the open with Sero? You shook your head, beginning to feel a pounding at the base of your skull from overthinking. You needed a distraction.

“What’s his name?” You gestured your fork at the sloth that was now languidly picking through Sero’s hair. Maybe that’s why it looked more frizzy than usual.

“Frank. Maybe.” You looked at him incredulously and laughed. It was a funny name, but he had to have thought of something better. “Oh what are you laughing about?”

“Frank is an absolutely unacceptable name for a sloth. It would have to be something like….Morgan. Yeah, I can see that.”

“I can’t! How is Morgan any better than Frank? They’re both people names. And what else do you name sloths? Fluffy?”

The rest of the meal was spent arguing over names from his new companion. Except when you occasionally interjected with new realizations about your predicament. Sero played along whenever you derailed the conversation with blurting your thoughts out loud, and gave you reassurance when you needed it. Thank the Gods for his endless patience.

After you both were done eating and paid for the food—the pink-skinned waitress with black pits for eyes was smitten and gave Sero a fuck me please discount—you both started walking back to your house, since Sero had to start up his tattoo shop for the day. You plotted activities for the next time you would come over to his apartment.

Once you returned to your doorstep, Sero pulled you into his arms.

“Just know that whatever you choose, I’m here to support you. I love you, okay? Get some more rest then call them and negotiate. They’re only getting you on your terms.” He gazed at you with fondness and a rare seriousness that differed from his normally felicitous demeanor. “And feel around to see who could possibly be telling the League that stuff. Whoever it is, it’ll be okay.”

“I will, and yeah I still need to think about it more, but you’re right. It’s on my terms,” you punched him on the shoulder, “love you too, weirdo.” You reached up to hesitantly stroke the sloth’s head, unsure if that’s what you did with pet sloths. “Bye, Frank.”

It was a cute name, and you didn’t actually have a problem with it, you just liked messing with Sero. As you watched him walk away you wondered how you lucked out to have someone as great as Sero in your life. He made you laugh with his near-constant levity, but was still serious when you needed it. He had been your rock since high school, and you didn’t want to imagine how your life would be without him.

You sighed. Now it was time to sit down and do some research.

#brit #bnha #mha #sero hanta #dabi #chisaki kai #bnha reader insert #mafia au #eventual smut #dabi x reader #midoriya izuku x reader #Todoroki shouto x reader #I know only two people are actually reading this and that's okay

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letsbenditlikebennett · 4 years

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The Killer in Me || Ariana & Athena

TIMING: Evening of July 12th SUMMARY: Ariana and Athena go to Red Dragon for dinner. Some very truthful conversations happen and incorrect conclusions are drawn. PARTIES: @athenaquinn & @letsbenditlikebennett

Initially, Ariana had been worried she freaked Athena out with all the werewolf and hunter stuff. If it had been too much for her, Ari could hardly fault her. She was born into this and lately some of it was starting to feel like too much for her. Most mornings, it was easier to get up and face the day again, but every so often, a dream of Celeste would slip in and just make her want to cling to her blanket for the remainder of the day. Athena had become somewhat of a bright spot in the midst of the grief that kept trying to creep up from below the surface. The kids at camp were great and so filled with energy, but seeing Athena every day brought a certain amount of excitement. She was positive they’d been flirting, even when chatting online, but getting to see Athena with the kids often left her speechless with admiration. They all seemed to look up to her and how could they not? It was enchanting to watch and it only made her more eager for their night out together. She was pretty positive it was a date which only made her more excited. She’d even put some extra effort into curling her hair and even shot Blanche a photo of her outfit to make sure she wasn’t totally clashing. Normally, she didn’t mind too much, she could always attribute mismatching clothing to being colorblind, but she wanted to look nice tonight. This would be their first actual date and she wanted to impress. With confirmation from Blanche that her outfit was in fact worthy of a few fire emojis, she made her way to the Red Dragon to meet Athena. She spotted her from across the dining room and of course her hair was perfectly in place. She smiled and waved as she approached, taking the seat across from her. “Hey,” she said, smile beaming, “You look amazing. If you ever decide to share your hair care secrets, I’m 100% calling first dibs.”

She’d liked the time she spent with Ariana and she’d liked getting to know her. There was rarely a time when Athena felt as though she’d been equally matched in her soccer playing, and she thought that she’d found that with Ariana. So of course she had to go and be a werewolf. The reveal had been like a punch in the gut, and the fact that Athena didn’t want to kill her left her feeling the need to put even more hours into training and into solo runs. Ariana had told her so much all at once and had it only been everything other than the fact that she was a werewolf, Athena would have managed. If she allowed herself to think about it for more than a few seconds, she would have acknowledged that Ariana was pretty attractive too, and that her admission of liking Athena wasn’t as alarming as she knew her parents would have wished for it to be. Then Orion had gotten on her case about everything and that made Athena’s blood boil. Which meant that she was absolutely going to tell Ariana that they were both hunters. She didn’t know why she felt like she owed the girl honesty, but she did - and she was angry at her brother, which meant that if she had to lose a friend, she would mess things up for him as well. After all, she was a warden and he was a beast hunter. Ariana deserved to know that. Even if her brother wouldn’t even hurt a fly. So she’d dressed up nicely for the dinner - pulled her hair into a half ponytail, thrown on a purple dress and a nice pair of flats. She arrived early and grabbed a table, and was just paging through the menu when she spotted Ariana arriving and grinned. “Hey! You look great too.” I should just get this over with. Either version of this. “Thought I’d wear a dress that matched your hair, since not all of us can pull off the colored hair look.” She motioned for Ariana to sit down. “So, what are you thinking of ordering?”

There was no hiding the beaming look on Ariana’s face as Athena told her she looked great. Then Athena’s dress intentionally matched her hair which only somehow made her smile even wider. She wasn’t even sure how that was possible, but it left her with a floating feeling. A certain lightness she hadn’t ever remembered feeling before. It was a huge contrast to how the heaviness of loss that seemed to paint her day to day life since she’d lost Celeste. She quickly shook the thought. Tonight wasn’t about that. It was about spending time with a girl she admired and getting to know her better. She took the seat across from Athena and responded, “Thank you. I have to say, I did the whole hair and dress matching thing. It’s totally a look.” One that made them look cute… together. She could totally get behind that. At the mention of food, she realized she didn’t do her usual glance at the menu online before arriving, but she usually went for something with red meat no matter the establishment. Unless it was Veggie Tables or she was sharing with Layla. She glanced down at her menu and asked, “What do you recommend? I usually go for some sort of beef stir fry, but I’d love to hear what your favorites are.” She’d take note of them for the future. Maybe one of these days she could surprise her with a nice lunch or something. She worked so hard and did so much for others, it only seemed right someone should look out for her every once and awhile, too. She took in the atmosphere and appetizing smells of the restaurant. “It smells great in here. I can see why it’s one of your favorite spots. Definitely good for scheduled relaxation.” She said the last part somewhat teasingly before adding, “I’m really glad we’re doing this though. We haven’t really gotten the chance to hang out one on one since our run and I know everything I told you was a lot to unpack. I’m happy I didn’t totally scare you off or anything.”

If Ariana had only told her that she like-liked her, all of this would have been far easier. However, she’d told Athena that she was a werewolf and now Athena had to deal with that. Which was hard - admittedly even harder than when her parents had asked her to kill a former teacher. She could see the teacher’s body on the floor, feel her blood against her lips when her father had stepped in instead. She could see Ariana there, if she closed her eyes. Some twisted combination of that night and her and Rio’s eighteenth birthday. Athena shook her head, forcing herself out of the thoughts as she flashed Ariana another smile. “I dig it too, it’s a good look.” Maybe it was a mistake, but she didn’t want Ariana to go running before she had the chance to tell her everything. In a little while. At the other girl’s question Athena gave pause. “Well, the potstickers are famous for a reason. We could do chicken for that. My Little and I share them sometimes on study nights.” She thumbed through the menu, “any lo mein is good, but if you want a good stir fry I do know some folks who like the beef. I have to admit, they make a killer spicy green beans as far as sides go. Feel free to order anything you want, I’m paying, and it’s worth trying a few things. I sometimes do the sesame chicken. That is excellent, especially when I mix the spicy green beans in.” Despite everything, she had to grin at Ariana’s comment, “what better place, right?” She flipped her menu shut. “You know, I should probably start expecting things like this more often, given that I’m from this town. I am truly sorry about your sister - we don’t have to talk about it, but if - well, if there’s anything I can do to help honor her, let me know.” Not that you’ll want that after what I’m going to tell you, probably. It was the polite thing to offer, though. Fit very well with her ‘tutorial-perfect hair’ and practiced smile. “Don’t worry, takes a lot more than that to scare me off.” The waiter appeared by their table just then and Athena glanced over to Ariana. “Ready to order?”

As far as Ariana was concerned, it was a good sign that Athena liked matching with her. It gave her hope that maybe she found someone that she liked and was actually able to accept what she was. Not that she had really told any past crushes about what she was. Athena was different. For one, she somehow already knew about the supernatural. Not the most shocking thing for someone growing up in White Crest. Before moving here, there was no one she could have possibly told she was a werewolf without thinking she was insane. It was kind of freeing to like someone she could actually be herself around. She just smiled and agreed the look really did work for both of them. She listened closely as Athena told her all her favorites on the menu. Everything sounded delicious. “We could totally share the postickers. I like chicken, too,” she suggested and added, “Maybe some of those spicy green beans, too?” She found she was pretty hungry and everything Athena mentioned sounded delicious. The atmosphere was relaxing, too. Despite the hint of nerves that came with a first proper date, she found she was feeling more and more at ease. She rested her arms on the table and grinned, “No better place and no better company.” When the server came over, she asked for a Thai iced tea and some potstickers and green beans to share to start. Once he walked away, her full attention returned to Athena. “I don’t think anyone could ever expect half the stuff White Crest throws at them. Like even being in the know my whole life, there are some truly crazy things here… like the mimes. I still don’t get the mimes.” Her tone was a bit joking, trying to keep things light. Plus, the mimes were pretty ridiculous even if they were dangerous. The mention of Celeste caused her to look down at her hands momentarily. While it was easier to get through each day, it still felt like a huge piece of her was missing and she doubted that would ever truly go away. “Maybe one day we can do that. I have a little memorial tree for her-- I go and talk to her sometimes. Can’t really do anything to properly honor her since I can’t really tell everyone about it. I don’t know, I just… I keep trying to be someone she’d be proud of to honor her. Keep her alive in a way, I guess.” She stopped herself from going on about it too much. She didn’t quite feel like crying when they were supposed to be having a nice time together, “I do appreciate the offer. It’s incredibly sweet of you.” She contemplated reaching out to touch Athena’s hand, but she didn’t want to push or make her uncomfortable in any way.

I should have invited her to another run, just made this over and done with. The thoughts wouldn’t stop racing through Athena’s head. Coupled with the thoughts of what her parents would do if they knew that she was out to dinner with a werewolf. That she’d likely flirted online - halfway, but she hadn’t pulled away, and that would have perhaps been the worst part of it all. “I find chicken to be highly versatile when it comes to cooking. Yes, we can share both of those.” She wasn’t entirely sure how much she’d be eating anyhow - or when it was best to tell Ariana about her and her brother. He didn’t care about her anyhow, no matter how much she loved him. No matter what she did to keep him safe. She was born to help better the world and she was supposed to help keep her brother safe. He didn’t want that though, and she squeezed one of her hands into a fist, doing her best to regulate her breathing. If he didn’t want her to protect him, then she wouldn’t claim anything after she told Ariana what they were. Even if under most normal circumstances she would have thrown out a comment about how her brother shouldn’t have even counted as a hunter. “No better of anything.” Lips curved into a smile. With the server’s arrival she ordered a Thai iced tea as well - why not, after all? It’d give her something else to focus on, and she had to appreciate the fusion of cuisines that the Red Dragon had. “Nobody gets the mimes. Trust me. Lived here my whole life and I don’t get it.” Maybe bringing up the whole dead sister wasn’t the best way to go, but Athena had rarely been good at true sympathy, even if she did feel sick at the idea of another hunter dying. Even though she’d known other hunters who had died, it never felt any easier. “I think working to keep her alive in your own way is well worth it. The tree idea is nice - gives back to the world too, in a way,” just as she did, even if she adopted you - adopted a werewolf. She looked over to Ariana. “Thank you. I just figured it was the good thing to do.” I could even take some droplets of silver and put them in your food. You still could just deal with this without telling her. So why did Athena feel some sort of obligation to out herself? Luckily, the waiter arrived back with their teas just then and Athena grabbed hers and took a quick sip of it before placing it on the table. The waiter asked if they were ready to order and Athena gave a small shrug, before asking for the sesame chicken before she let Ariana order and sat back in her chair. “I’m super sorry if I’ve asked you this before - but do you think you’re in White Crest for the long haul? I know you’ve moved around some before now - but do you think you’ll stick around here?”

Ariana found that things with Athena just felt natural. As different as they were as people, they shared a lot of hobbies. It was a balance that she found made being with Athena so easy. It had taken the other girl a bit to process everything Ariana had told her, but she could hardly fault her for that. It was a lot. Most days, it still felt like too much for her to truly wrap her head around. Now that they’d both had some time and talked some more, everything just felt right. “I get that,” she answered truthfully, “Chicken pretty much tastes like how you season it. Makes it easy to pair with well.. Anything.” She smiled, thinking over a few different chicken dishes she could make for Athena. She made really good Tennessee Hot Chicken and it was something that made her still feel somewhat connected to where she came from. She couldn’t help the playful smirk on her lips as Athena agreed there was indeed no better company or anything else. It quickly delved into head shaking when they spoke mimes. Stupid croissant tasting jerks. “I hate mimes,” she stated plainly. “I thought they were cool and mysterious at first. Quickly learned otherwise when my mime twin tried to kill me.” And turned into a werewolf… but that was a bit too crazy of a story. Athena had seemed to be warming up to the whole werewolf thing. Didn’t need to make it even crazier. She nodded along. Keeping Celeste alive in the same small ways she tried to keep her parents alive. “I think so, too. Carrying her close to me even when she can’t be here just feels…as right as her being gone can feel.” When Athena asked if she intended in town, she nodded her head yes. Celeste had stayed her with her and fought on her behalf so they could finally have a longstanding home. Plus, her ashes were spread here. She couldn’t imagine leaving now. Between Celeste’s resting place and the pack she’d made, she couldn’t leave now. “Yeah, definitely here for the long haul. I’ve always wanted to be able to settle somewhere.” She just wished it was with Celeste. She sipped at her iced tea and asked, “What about you? Planning on going away for med school or staying local?”

“Yep. Plus, it’s in so many different cuisines. Chicken Tikka Masala is a favorite of mine.” Athena gave another small shrug. Let her gaze fall on Ariana’s lips for a moment and she bit her own before she grabbed her tea and took a small sip. If it had only been that Ariana thought she was hot, Athena would have been more than happy to deal with that. Heck, she’d flirted online, even if unintentionally at first. “You had one of those too? Gee, I’m super lucky I didn’t. I think that was when I literally lost my voice though.” She made a face. “Yeah, I mean, one of them also might have flirted with me, which, weird, but I’m not a fan. Of the mimes.” For all of everything else, there was at least one thing - besides soccer - that the two could connect on. Clearly caring deeply for a sibling, albeit in different ways. “That makes sense. I am glad you are able to keep her close by.” Here for the long haul unless something happens to you. She pushed the thought out of her mind for now. Whatever was going to happen tonight, she had to be level-headed and level-minded. “Settling is nice, but so’s travel. I mean, I’ve never even been outside of Maine.” She fiddled with the cross on her necklace. “Hm?” She blinked a few times. “I’m not sure. I mean, I’d like to do Harvard or Johns Hopkins but I’ll see.” See what my parents want, what is best for the greater good. “Sometimes I think I might have a good reason to stay here.” She let her lips curve into a conspiratorial smile. “I’ve still got another year until I’d be going, so I guess we’ll see! Are you excited to start your trade school program?”

It was hard for Ariana to ignore the small flutter in her chest when she realized Athena was staring at her lips. That was supposed to be a good sign, right? All of this was still pretty foreign to Ariana. She’d never really gotten a chance to stay somewhere long enough to develop an actual relationship with anyone with all the moving around. She decided not to dwell too much on it. Athena knew how she felt, if she wanted to act on that, she could. Ariana didn’t want to do anything to make her uncomfortable, especially considering what Orion had told her about their parents. At the mention of a mime flirting with her, Ariana cocked an eyebrow and smirked. “Do I need to fight another mime? Because I’ll totally fight another mime,” she joked, “You’re way too cool to date a mime.” Not really wanting to talk more about Celeste, she nodded and glossed over the statement. It wasn’t that she wanted to forget Celeste, but right now, it still stung too much. Instead she focused on Athena’s own musings about staying and traveling. At the mention of never leaving Maine, Ariana gasped and said, “You haven’t been outside of Maine? You definitely have to do some traveling then.” She smiled and went one, “As a permanent way of life, it can get exhausting-- not having roots or somewhere to really call home, but it’s awesome to see the world.” She paused briefly, wondering if she should really extend the invitation on such a personal trip, but it’d be nice to have her there. “I was actually planning on doing a little road trip to Tennessee toward the end of the summer. Smoky Mountain area. It’s where Celeste and I were originally from.” She’d save the sniffing out other wolves and potentially finding some living family parts. “Harvard or Johns Hopkins? Both awesome medical programs, right? I’m sure you have the GPA for it. You should do a tour of them both or something. See which one feels right,” she encouraged even if it meant she’d be further away for medical school. Following her dreams seemed much more important than proximity. “Is that so,” she asked, not quite sure what to make of Athena’s grin even if she was mirroring it herself. “I’m pretty excited about the trade school program. I’ve actually been helping build the cabin I’ll be living in every day after camp. It’ll be cool to learn new techniques and get creative with it though. There’s no shortage of property damage in White Crest so I think I’ll be set job wise.”

“Gee, no. Not worth it.” Athena gave a half-hearted shrug. “She’s mostly left me alone and fighting mimes? So not worth it. There are far better ways to spend one’s time.” She let out a light giggle at Ariana’s next remark. “Thanks, same goes for you. The whole being way too cool to date a mime. Besides, talk about boring. Personally, I like to be able to have some level of verbal conversation with anyone who I go on a date with.” She gave a small shrug at Ariana’s query about never having been outside of Maine. “I mean, it is a big state. My family’s here, so no - I’ve never been anywhere else. I guess sometimes I’m curious, but I’m so used to where I’ve grown up, so it’s not so bad. Someday maybe I’ll go somewhere else.” I should just tell her and get it over with, she thought to herself, but then Ariana was telling her even more about her past and a vacation she had planned for later this summer, if my parents don’t find out about you first, “oh yeah? That seems like a nice sort of thing to have planned. Have you ever been back before now, or will this be the first time?” Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear she nodded. “I’ll see about touring them - and yes! They are two of the best in the entire country. Not that the one here is bad, but I don’t know, it’d be nice to go somewhere with a name attached to it.” Convincing her parents would be a whole other thing. Being away in medical school meant not being in town to do what she was born to do. The very reason she’d invited Ariana out, anyhow. “It is so.” She grinned, nodding along, “oh, absolutely. This town does seem to invite not only property damage but creative property damage.” The waiter arrived with their appetizers just then and Athena spooned a few of the green beans onto her plate before grabbing a potsticker. “Try it,” she motioned toward Ariana with a chopstick. “Tell me what you think.”

Fighting mimes was actually kind of fun, but Ariana wasn’t going to touch on that. Definitely wasn’t going to say they tasted like croissants. “You’re probably right,” she agreed. Outside of Ulfric, she wasn’t sure many would actually appreciate the anecdotal tale of turning a mime into a late night snack. “It is a lot more fun when you can talk to your date,” she added with a wink and smirk curling up on her lips. “Maine is a big state. Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally ready to stay put for a long time, but there are some truly beautiful places throughout the country and I’m sure beyond.” Her own planned road trip was a bit hard to explain, but she answered, “Yeah, I’m excited for it. It’ll be nice to see where I came from. You’re welcome to come along if you’d like. I was probably going to camp though. Not sure if that’s your thing.” As the food arrived, she took a moment to appreciate the different aromas. A comforting savory smell with spice and herbs peeking through. She reached her chopsticks out for a potsticker. She blew on it before taking a bite. She let out a small “mmm” to indicate it was in fact delicious. After trying the green beans, she replied, “Yes, this is definitely all delicious. I can see why you enjoy this place so much.”

She did her best to not focus on the wink or the smirk that covered Ariana’s face. Athena wasn’t quite ready to process whatever those might mean; not right now, at least. Or acknowledge and process. “Yes, talking is quite essential in order for me to enjoy my time out with someone.” She gave a small nod, “Oh, I bet. I mean, I was and am a bit of a whiz at some geography, so I’m aware of the extraordinary world out there.” Then Ariana was inviting her on this road trip and Athena raised her eyebrows, doing her best to remain calm. “You’re really nice to offer! However, my parents can be…” particular. Not willing to let me go anywhere with a werewolf. Not letting me go out of town with a girl, either, possibly. Picky. “Strict,” she answered. “I’m actually pretty handy in the outdoors, even if camping’s not super my thing.” She didn’t know when she was going to tell her. Maybe once the rest of the food came. She could feel the pressure of her silver rings against her fingers. Could feel them calling to her, could almost hear her mother at their most recent training. “Can’t go wrong with this kinda thing, I think. Plus, they’re good at knowing my allergies and since I don’t have the peanut one going for me, it’s easier to avoid in this sort of food.” She took another small bite of the potsticker and flashed Ariana a smile.

Ariana nodded in agreement. The whole silent thing with mimes was weird. Yeah, it was supposed to be a performance, but the mimes in town… well, she didn’t think it was a performance for them. It’s just what they were. She took a few more bites from the green beans on her plate. The spice on them was nice and balanced-- it wasn’t overbearing by any means. She found she quite enjoyed them even though she was eager for her beef lo mein. After making a vegan lunch for herself and Layla, she found she was missing the meat. It was nice enjoying one of Athena’s favorites though and she found things were flowing easily. They always seemed to talk without much difficulty. Well, aside from that one time she told her about being a werewolf and her sister being a dead hunter. Given, that was a lot. She frowned slightly, but respected the thing with her parents. She’d gotten as much from Rio. “I totally get that. I’ll get some awesome Smoky Mountain view pictures to send your way then,” she responded calmly. It was probably for the better. If anyone were going to join her, it should probably be another wolf. She joked, “Of course you’re handy in the outdoors. Is there anything you’re not good at?” Having lots of allergy friendly options was always a plus. Ariana was personally always looking for places that had good meat and vegan options. “I get you, it’s good to have a place where you have good options that won’t you know… set off an allergic reaction.” As the waiter brought the food over, Ariana took in a deep inhale. That smelled delicious and looked so as well. She was ready to ravenously dig in, but refrained from letting her wolf-like appetite totally take over. She took her first bite and gave an approving nod. “Okay, definitely taking any future restaurant recommendations you have because this is fire.”

“You’d better.” Athena raised an eyebrow. “I know my Little’s planning to study abroad next year and she says she’ll send me postcards. If I can’t go somewhere, a photo or a postcard’s the next best thing!” She was being overly enthusiastic. Somehow, it felt different than usual. “I don’t know, maybe? I’m not the best at art. But I still help with my sorority’s banners for Rush and we do have the best ones on the row, so…” she shrugged. “When my brother and I were little, I used to figure out some of his Boy Scout activities and show him how to do them, so….” She trailed off, cutting into another green bean and taking a careful bite. “Always a plus in my book. I’d like to, you know, not die.” Especially not from some allergies. Completely avoidable so long as she took proper care of herself. Glancing up, she saw the food arriving. Giving a nod of thanks to the waiter she served herself a bit of chicken and some rice - and couldn’t help but smile at Ariana’s reaction. “Well, I do know my way around town.” Rio’s going to mess this up for me anyhow so I might as well do this. Besides, I shouldn’t care, I shouldn’t feel remorse for telling a werewolf that I am a hunter. “By the way,” her lips curved up into only half a smile. “Did my brother ever happen to mention that he’s a beast hunter?” She dropped her fork onto her plate, raising an eyebrow. “Only he got those genes. I’m not,” even though I’ve killed more wolves, different shapeshifters, and other beings then he has, “I’m a warden.” She stabbed her piece of chicken with her fork, taking a small bite. “Figured you should know, given,” she nodded between the two of them, “all of this.”

“I’ll for sure be taking a lot of photos so I can manage that,” Ariana replied excitedly. She couldn’t wait to be camping in the mountains she was born in. Connecting to a part of her past that was once too dangerous to explore. It all made her giddy and it showed. At the mention of not being the best at art, she laughed. “Being not the best at art and terrible at art are two totally different things.” She was decent enough at sketching, but being colorblind didn’t lend much help to other forms of art. Then again, Ulf specialized in blank ink work and his art was dope as fuck. She listened to Athena talk about her outdoors experience and the like as she shovelled lo mein into her mouth. She’d been about to respond when Athena asked her next question. Did she know Rio was a beast hunter? What? Her fork dropped, clanking against her plate. Her face went pale and she struggled to find her words. Then Athena said she was a warden. Slightly better for her current predicament, but Rio was a beast hunter? He killed werewolves and she thought they were for real friends? She suddenly felt very sick. “I--,” she started. What the fuck she was supposed to say? “He, You’re-- What? He never said anything. We’ve talked about all this stuff and he never even--” She swallowed back a lump in her throat and placed clenched fists in her lap. “So you hate werewolves then,” she said plainly. Either they did or they didn’t. She needed to know.

“Good. That’s good.” Athena replied. “Well, hey, you know, I call it like I see it. I wasn’t lying about you rocking your hair the way you do, or the fact of how I matched my dress to your hair.” She heard Ariana’s fork clink against her plate and something in her - small, miniscule, hardly noticeable - felt tight. Like maybe she shouldn’t have done this. Not because of her brother. He’d made her mad enough - but for Ariana. She had considered the other girl a friend, and she hadn’t stopped the flirting or whatever had been going on. “He doesn’t exactly advertise it. He’s interested in it.” None of that was false, but she didn’t have the heart right now to outwardly deny any of this. It wasn’t like Rio wouldn’t have painted her in the worst light possible. Even if some of what he said held certain truths to it. “I don’t hate you.” Athena pushed her plate to the side. “It’s complicated.” Fiddled with her rings, a couple on each hand. Rings that would easily burn Ariana if she so chose. She held her hands back, dropped them into her lap. “Fae? Not a fan of those.” Though she’d been raised to find all supernatural beings abhorrent, fae would always be top of the list. At least no other being made her feel physically uncomfortable. She was grateful for her abilities - always would be, but it did make fae even less appealing than they already were. She could hear her mother’s voice again - ask her to come outside, just get it over with Athena. No pet names. All formal. “I just figured I should be honest with you. I’m sorry my brother hasn’t been.” Glad he didn’t get to you first.

It was hard to feel that same joy over matching each other when her head was spinning too fast for her to come to terms with. Ariana could feel her heart beating faster yet somehow her chest felt tight. The air in the restaurant suddenly seemed thick. She had unknowingly befriended someone who wanted to hunt her and had let herself have a crush on someone who would hurt Deirdre without second thought. At least with Kaden, she had known where they stood from the moment they met and Celeste had somehow mended the gap there. She wanted to have that same ability-- to bridge the hunter world and supernatural world so there was less death all around, but she felt blindsided. She’d trusted both of them and she felt so stupid for it. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, unable to really hide her emotions. “He’s interested in it…” She trailed off, her voice had still been quiet but she imagined Athena could hear her. Did that mean he planned on hunting her? Oh god, he knew Layla. Did he plan on hurting Layla? The thought made her fists instinctively want to punch anything, but they were still at their table. God, was this over yet? She wanted more than anything to leave. Athena was still being nice enough to her, but the mention of hating fae still made her stomach do summersaults. While she had some potentially fae related concerns, she doubted they were all bad. She loved Deirdre and Kaden was dating a fae? They didn’t deserve to die on that basis alone. “I’m glad you don’t hate me.” It rang hollow. At least that meant one of them didn’t want to kill her. “Not a fan of fae, got it.” She’d have to make sure she and Deirdre never met. It was good Athena had been honest with her, but it still left her feeling sick and wanting to run out of the restaurant. Run to anywhere but here. Her voice was monotonous as she replied, “Thank you for telling me.” I can’t believe he didn’t. I can’t believe I stayed with them and he never even mentioned it. Oh no, what if he’s the one who picked up our bounty? It would have been so easy. I told him everything.

“I mean, he reads a ton, so I figure?” Athena shrugged. “He’s big into research.” She pushed a piece of chicken around on her plate. No longer hungry. No longer certain exactly what she was feeling. The girl in front of her was not human. She was precisely the sort of person - the sort of being - who Athena killed. Yet she’d never tried to hurt her. It still wasn’t right, though. “I won’t - I do not hate you.” Even if you are everything I am supposed to hate. “I have had far too much trouble with fae.” This wasn’t the point right now. “I figured I should.” The chicken was getting cold. She didn’t care. She could feel her mother’s gaze on her - impossible, because they weren’t near Harris Island. Yet somehow, her mother was there - or her thoughts were; every word she’d spoken about werewolves running through Athena’s mind. They are all vermin. We kill them, Athena, you know this. She knew over a dozen ways to do it, too. She looked over to Ariana - felt her throat go dry. “I suppose I can answer a question or two if you want.” She grabbed her fork, turning it in and between her fingers. She needed to hold onto something. To quell her gut instinct. The very fact that Ariana knew what she was was dangerous. Even if she seemed far less of a threat than Deirdre. She might know someone else. This wasn’t like Winston. They were human. Ariana was not, even if she looked it sometimes.

“Right, yeah, he does have all those books,” Ariana nodded. The plate in front of her still had entirely too much food and she felt sick. She’d given a beast hunter everything he needed to know to pick up her bounty. If it was him, all of it was her fault. But he’d been surprised. Then she remembered he also acted surprised when she told him she was a werewolf. It wouldn’t have been a surprise. He could have sensed her just like Celeste and Kaden had. Her stomach lurched again. Rio was supposed to be her friend and here she was being completely blindsided. She contemplated picking up her fork again to try and keep up the illusion of dinner, but even the smell was becoming too much. The air was starting to feel too thick. She longed to be back out in the fresh air with the trail home flying beneath her feet. “I don’t hate you either.” She just wasn’t who Ariana thought she was, but at least she was honest. Her attitude on fae wasn’t all that comforting, though. She loved Deirdre. Though remembering her last encounter with Lydia. No, she thought, you don’t even know what she is. You just need to see Ace again. At the mention of questions, she somehow blanked. She usually had a million questions, but right now, Ariana was sure she didn’t want to know the answers. Her mind was already reeling. “Could that be a standing offer? I’m kind of drawing a blank right now.”

“Well, he’s a nerd.” Athena shrugged. Somehow speaking ill of her brother even if she was mad at him felt wrong. Even if she hadn’t said anything other than the truth. Ariana was permitted to make her own conclusions. If her brother had gotten to Ariana first he would have painted her in a far crueler light. She was being honest - and wasn’t that just what her brother always asked of her? She found that she wasn’t hungry anymore. Apparently inviting people to The Red Dragon spelled disaster on some level. First with Winston and now with Ariana - though at least the latter- at least the present situation was one she’d brought on herself. “Good. You - you do still look good. Your hair, I mean.” I’m going to have to shower and throw out whatever I’m wearing - like before, after the run. In case mom somehow can pick up that I’ve been spending too much time around a werewolf. Willingly. “Yeah.” She bit her lip. “Besides, there’s some things that should be discussed in private.” Part of her thoughts crossed to how easy it still might be to get the other girl alone. “Or, you know, at least not in the middle of a restaurant.” You shouldn’t offer this to anyone, much less a wolf. “I mean, it’s not like we’re not going to not see one another. I’d like it if you didn’t drop out of that. Plus, not really sure how we’d explain that, since we’ve been having a great time and the kids love you.” She raised an eyebrow - a small smile beginning on her lips though not present as it had been in the beginning of their dinner.

The comment on Rio being a nerd didn’t bring Ariana any comfort. She knew he was estranged from his family, which could mean a good many things, but it didn’t sit well that he’d kept so much from her. Clearly, she knew nothing about either of them and she just laid her own story out bare for them. At least Athena had been honest. She didn’t like what she did, but some degree of trust had been maintained. “Right,” she said hoarsely. Her hand slowly rose to touch the ends of her own hair. Athena still thought she looked good and she wasn’t sure what to say. She couldn’t see it anymore. Not knowing she was an active hunter. They could be friendly, but she couldn’t see herself with someone who believed in killing others she cared for. “Yeah,” she choked out, “Yours too.” The air only seemed to get thicker and thicker and her palms were sweaty in her lap now. She just couldn’t shake away the anger that Rio hadn’t told her about all of this. She’d been open with him from the get go and something didn’t feel right. “That’s true.” Ariana, you have to use your words. None seemed to come. As she spoke of camp, she assured, “Oh yeah, I love the kids-- I wouldn’t quit camp just because of this. You were honest with me-- that’s…” More than she could say about Rio. The thought that maybe she’d just given out the information that was needed to kill her and Celeste wouldn’t go away. “Rio not telling me isn’t sitting right with me. He’s--” She swallowed back the sob in her throat. “I should go. I’m sorry, I’m just not feeling so good now. It’s not-- It’s not you, okay? Thank you for telling me, really.” She gathered up her bag and tried to remember to take deep breaths like Celeste had always reminded her.

It would have figured that the first time she found someone who seemed to truly care for her - well, outside of Winston, that was - that person had to go and be not human. Athena brushed her own hair to the side just as Ariana did. Why did this feel weird? She wasn’t supposed to feel remorse for anyone other than human beings or human beings with extra abilities - who were still technically human. “Thank you.” She’d known that there would be a shift, but instead of being afraid of her she was nearly silent and Athena felt a new sort of weird feeling. “The kids love you too.” She said. That much was completely honest. Ariana had a certain sort of magnetism with the. Even Sasha had grown incredibly fond of her. “I think honesty is good to attempt when possible.” When useful. “That makes sense. He just doesn’t like to talk about it, so I guess that’s why. Though he should’ve, if you two are hanging out so much.” Ariana stood up and Athena bit her lip. Why do I want to comfort her? Her hand found the knife again and she held it tight. This would be better to use. “You’re welcome.” She watched Ariana leaving. Called the waiter over and asked for the check. Spun the dull knife around in between her fingers before stabbing it into the chicken. She wasn’t hungry for leftovers anyways.

#the killer in me #athena #wickedswriting #everything is fine #nothing to see here

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sleepless-in-starbucks · 5 years

Text

Time-crossed Lovers

Today was the day William Shakespeare was going to die. And it was all because of the actor with amethysts in their hair. Time-travel AU, nonbinary Virgil, prinxiety. Warnings: Technically swearing, very minor mentions of violence, one kinda dirty joke, bad vine/meme references Today was the day William Shakespeare was going to die.

William Shakespeare was quite sure of it. He had written enough death scenes to understand the general way it went; you lose everything important to you, watch your world crumble into pieces, and then pass away painfully, often to build drama.

The only problem here was no drama was going to get built. In fact, Shakespeare was quite sure no drama would ever be built again upon his stage. Not after the actor with hair the colour of amethysts was done, anyways.

~~~~~~~~~~

The day had started normal as always. Today the Globe was putting on Romeo and Juliet, and the people, as always, flocked to the stands. They did love a good tragedy.

As he was wandering backstage, however, the first problem presented itself. Romeo’s actor was nowhere to be found. Further inquiries around the man revealed that he had gotten into a drunken brawl the other night, and was either dead or lying in some pile of manure.

Shakespeare couldn’t believe it. Not only was his actor unavailable, his backup (Shakespeare himself) had developed an aching throat, one that allowed him to speak but not loudly, and was unable to take over.

And there were a few hundred people outside, waiting for a performance.

Great.

Before Shakespeare could start checking with all the backup actors to see if any of them could make their way through Romeo’s part, a newcomer stumbled into him.

“Oh, shxt, I’m so sorry!” They practically yelled as they regained their balance and helped Shakespeare with his as well. Before he could say anything on their vulgar language, his attention was caught by how odd they looked.

His eyes were first drawn to their hair. What he first took as some headdress covered in jewels he quickly realized was simply their hair. By some means, they had made it glimmer in the light as though it were made of the amethysts hidden deep within the earth.

As unusual as that was, it went hand in hand with their pants of a thick, blandly coloured material and their raggy purple top, despite the stranger looking nothing of the royalty who wore that colour. Their shoes were bright purple- though a different shade from their hair- with red ropes laced over them.

“Who are thee?” Shakespeare asked, still stuck on their shoes. He looked up when they started speaking.

“Oh, uh, I am Virgil.” They- Virgil- frowned. “Wait, is Virgil a common name here?” They asked, though it seemed they were talking more to themself than Shakespeare.

“Virgil, are thee hapily an actor?”

Virgil itched the back of their neck. “Uh, yes? In a way? Not sure I’m super good at it, though.”

“Are thee well acquainted with the tale of Romeo and Juliet? Most the part of Romeo?”

“Well, I did a course in high school on it.”

Shakespeare wasn’t sure what high school was but he pressed on anyways, encouraged by Virgil’s recognition of the play. “Are thee male?”

“No. But I’m not a girl, either!” They rushed to assure him. “I’m, well, that’s complicated, see, I just go by ‘they’ and ‘them’ and not gender, so, eh,”

Shakespeare didn’t understand half of what Virgil was saying. What he did catch, however, was that Virgil was not a girl, and that was good enough for him. “Aye, aye,” He grabbed their arm and pulled them towards Romeo’s room, “if thee is truly an actor, then thee shalt be wanting for a part of equal grandeur to yourself. Come, come, make haste; the curtains rise quickly now!”

“What the fxck what the fxck what the fxxxxxck.” Virgil was muttering as Shakespeare pulled Romeo’s outfit off the stool it had been draped on. Ignoring them, he pushed the cloth into their hands.

“Hie! The curtain rises anon!” Shakespeare yelled as Virgil untangled the costume.

“You, uh, want me to put this on?”

Shakespeare frowned, not completely sure what they were saying, and repeated, “Hie!” Before leaving to check that the chorus was prepared. By the time he had returned, Virgil was struggling on the second sleeve, their own ridiculous outfit stacked on top of the stool.

“Listen, I didn’t exactly catch what all this is for-” Virgil was in the middle of saying, their words still a mix of well-known yet foreign words to Shakespeare’s ears as he tugged them back behind the stage. He crammed a script into their hands.

“‘Tis mine hope that thy memory serves thee well this day, but when thou hath a moment thou should not squander it.” He instructed quickly, glancing back to where Benvolio had just entered scene.

“Thy hour approaches. Hie, hie!”

Virgil just barely had a moment to flip the script open and catch the first few lines before Shakespeare shoved them onto the stage, making sure to pull the script back as well. Moving to the side, he prepared himself to watch.

He had not expected to begin his viewing of the worst version of Romeo and Juliet to ever plague his stage.

Stumbling, Virgil did not look the part of a downhearted, heartsick Romeo. And while they managed to choke out, “Is the day so young?”, none of their other lines were right. In fact, Shakespeare wasn’t even quite sure what they were.

As Benvolio continued to talk of love, Virgil went wildly off tangent. Much to his praise, Benvolio held character and continued his lines as Virgil blurted out, “Cupid sucks” instead of Romeo’s fourteen lined wrath at Cupid, and, “It’s not Juan” instead of, “This is not Romeo.”

By the time the party scene was near its closing, Shakespeare was ready to defy his affliction and take the stage. Scene after scene had been butchered, the first two kisses between Romeo and Juliet being so far the worse- Virgil had made not one illusion to pilgrims nor saints, instead seemingly finding immense joys in giving lines such as:

“Dare I look upon thine tiddies, with barbeque sauce upon them?”

“And palm to palm is holy kiss, but cheek to cheek is dance so thrilling it doth not equal climbing any mountain peak.”

“Sin from thy lips? Yeet it back to me.”

Shakespeare was just about at his wit’s end. So when the three men in dark, who everyone knew were debtors, wandered into his line of vision, Shakespeare was quite sure today was the day of his dying.

The men of debt and poor mistakes made haste in grabbing Mercutio’s actor by his arms and dragging him half-screaming out one of the hallways. Shakespeare sighed, a sigh he thought must have been deeper than the oceans and heavier than the riches of her Majesty. Now, he needed a new Mercutio, a role so small and an actor so dependable they had never assigned him a secondary player.

Then, as though the Fates had answered his troubles with another demon, a disheveled stranger dressed in the same strange manner as Virgil- same pants, similar shoes with inverted colours, and a red shirt with a portrait Shakespeare could have sworn was his own bearing darkened glasses- rushed in through the same hall Mercutio had just forcefully exited.

“Hey, uh, you! Have you see a Virgil around here?” They asked, coming up directly to Shakespeare, the only person not in the act of bustling around. “They’re wearing, well, really torn up clothing, and-”

Shakespeare pushed himself up, shaking his head. “Aye, aye, Virgil is at moment occupied with the ruination of mine efforts!” He shouted. The stranger blinked.

“So… that’s a yes?”

Shakespeare restrained himself from slapping the stranger. “Hath thine decent knowledge of the character Mercutio from mine play Romeo and Juliet?”

“Oh, Mercutio? He’s a cool character. Don’t know his Queen Mab speech too well, though.”

“‘Tis well enough that scene is played.” Shakespeare responded, reacting to ‘Queen Mab,’ the only part he really understood of the sentence. He took his general impression that this stranger knew Mercutio, however, and for the second time that day began to drag a stranger to the back rooms.

“Pray not say thine is a woman.” He said as he shoved the stranger into the room, this one holding all the spare costumes.

“No, I’m a man. Name’s Roman.” Roman extended his hand to shake, but Shakespeare was too busy pulling off Mercutio’s spare costume off the rack.

“Hie to put this on, the play hath been delayed already too badly.” Shakespeare urged, stepping out to see that the chorus was preparing to give his opening speech. Only one act in and already I fear the crowd shall anon fling their ripe and rotten fruits at us.

Behind him, Roman stumbled out of the room, straightening his hat. “Do you just like having people in costumes, or…?”

Shakespeare pulled him to just behind the curtains, beside Benvolio. “Thine scene begins.”

Moving back to his watching place, Shakespeare was eternally relieved to find that Roman actually knew his part. Though he missed a few words, and at one moment skipped an entire line, he stayed to the script and made it work.

As he exited stage, however, and Virgil once more held the unlucky crowd’s attention, Shakespeare sagged against the nearest wall, already disappointed in what was to come. And with such winning lines as:

“Juliet, so pretty, willingly I’d let thee stab me.”

“O, speak again! For while I, Jared of but nineteen years, cannot read, I can listen.”

“If the risk of seeing you is the risk of sweet death, than what risk is there really?”

“Love does not simply go towards love.”

Shakespeare just knew the Fates were taunting him.

“Oh, aren’t they doing great?” Shakespeare glanced over. Roman had come to join him in his watching. Unlike Shakespeare, however, he had found a way to enjoy the monstrosity occurring upon his stage, if his smile told anything.

Shakespeare simply sighed again and slumped to the floor, refusing to watch anymore. The one line that he dared to hear seemed to come from the right-before-the-wedding scene. That didn’t make the line any less un-understandable:

“Juliet, before we wed, there is something thee must know: I’m an a-dult vir-gin.”

The second he took to glance up, he found that now even Roman was failing to do the simplest of scenes. Instead of dying, he was standing up, clutching his chest, and wandering backstage, yelling out to the audience, “‘Tis but a flesh wound, good Benvolio and Romeo. I shalt but walk it off.”

Uncertain laughter came from the crowd as Virgil pulled out their sword and demanded of Tybalt, “Pay me back, in time, what you own! For I hath but sixty-nine cents, and cannot afford even a chicken nugget!”

That line alone, of words Shakespeare, master of words, could not understand, was enough to convince him the final nail had really, truly, been slammed into his coffin. He was quite sure that this play alone would destroy his entire career. He slumped to the ground again, wondering if by ignoring them they might disappear as quickly and violently they had come to screw up his world.

He wasn’t sure exactly how much time had passed when there was yet another scuffle backstage. Shakespeare glanced up, towards where Roman was steering Balthasar’s character away from the curtains and entering himself.

“What…?” Shakespeare forced himself back up once more and watched the scene that played, set with Virgil doing some odd dance that consisted of them throwing their arm forward and then back and over again. Roman ran on stage, and a buzz instantly rose from the crowd, wondering why Mercutio was back.

Virgil stopped dancing to turn and face him. “Oh, Ro- uh, Mercutio! How are you?”

“Good.”

“Hmm. How’s, eh, Juliet?”

“Well, I mean, she could be better.”

“That sounds bad.”

“She’s slightly dead.”

“Only slightly?”

“Well, maybe a bit more than just slightly.”

“Oh, drat, oh no, oh foul fates; what am I to do about the death of that girl I think I loved?”

Shakespeare felt as though his heart might leap out of his chest. Though Virgil’s words, as always, were odd to him, he was no fool. He got the general impression they had basically just said they didn’t care about Juliet. Romeo not caring with all his soul for the death of Juliet was like Caesar not saying, “Et tu, Brute?” or Ophelia not accidentally drowning herself in a mad fervor. The play was nothing without it.

Roman, on the other hand, seemed completely and utterly unworried as he continued on, “Do you, like, want to pay her homage or something?”

“I guess I probably should. How should I get there?”

“Ride me.”

Virgil and Roman instantly blurted out a laugh at that, though Shakespeare couldn’t fathom why. After a moment, Roman continued,

“I mean, ride me horse.” He gestured offstage. “I have big horse. It hath strength to bring us both to Juliet's tomb.”

“Uh, yeah, sure. Shall we…?”

Before Virgil and Roman could exit stage, however, a hurried apothecary rushed on with just enough time to blurt out, “Death to thee who utters them!” and shove the vial of poison into Virgil’s hands.

Virgil shrugged. “Death. Cool.” And wandered off stage with Roman.

While the friars went out to do their bit, Shakespeare hurried over to where Roman and Virgil had fallen into conversation.

“...well it’s definitely more fun than double death duty.” Virgil was in the middle of saying when Shakespeare reached them.

“Alack, alack! What horrid day hath thine brought upon me? My stage a sin, my play disgraced; hath thou more dishonors to bring forth?!” He demanded of them.

For a minute, they didn’t respond. Virgil tilted their head in confusion while Roman tugged at a small red jewel embedded in his earlobe. Shakespeare continued,

“Were it not my players forfeit to fortune, I myself wouldst cast thee from the stage! Anon, too anon, thou shalt once more take the stage, and with thine final words, cast mine name to the wolves!”

Roman patted Shakespeare shoulder. “Don’t worry, dude, we got this in the bag.”

Shakespeare blinked, unsure what he said, decided it was not good for him, and went back to his lone watching post. Roman turned to shrug at Virgil before they were called back on stage.

Shakespeare watched Virgil stumble their way through the epic fight scene between Paris, with Roman casually observing as Virgil threw their swords at Paris instead of fighting. Paris, to his credit, grasped the area the first sword hit and did a well enough faint, even if Virgil poked his side and moved on instead of carrying his body inside the tomb.

Paris taken care of, Virgil and Roman headed inside the tomb, walking over to Juliet's prone figure.

“She looks so… not dead.” Roman marveled.

“Surely that cannot be natural?” Virgil asked.

“It cannot. And I’m going to be honest, it’s freaking me out a little bit.”

Virgil pulled the vial of poison out of the hidden pocket within their coat. “Perhaps this… whatever it is will decrease the shimmer from her lips?”

“Worth a shot.”

And then Shakespeare got to watch Romeo pour poison down his Juliet's throat, thus guaranteeing her death and destroying the final strains of romantic drama in the play. A low grumble began among the crowd, many already knowing how this play should end and what Romeo had just done.

“So… now what?” Virgil asked, discarding the vial with a lazy throw to the side.

“I suppose we must get you back to, uh, Mantua. I’d hate to see the prince behead thee.”

“And you? What shall you do?”

“See you off, I suppose, and come back to Verona. My absence wouldst be noted.”

“Oh, must thou go?” Virgil took Roman’s hand. “Mercutio, I hath loved and lost to much. Come away with me.”

“I hath duties to be attended.”

“Hath you no duty to thine heart?” Virgil moved their other hand to Roman’s face to caress their cheek. “Mercutio, Mercutio, thou art more lovely than two free tacos.”

“Oh, Romeo, thou art too sweet.” Roman answered, moving his hand to Virgil’s face as well, forming perfect symmetry as they both leaned in for a kiss.

Despite the awful acting that had thus far preceded it, Shakespeare was startled by how tender and rich and real their kiss was. They seemed to melt into each other, pulling closer, and Shakespeare realized that no man nor woman nor any other could kiss so sweetly, so passionately were they not already sweet and passionate together.

Finally after a moment too long and yet too short, the two lovers pulled back and, arm looped in arm, promptly left the stage. They wandered directly into their rooms, leaving Shakespeare to watch as a confused chorus wandered out, stood before the angry crowd, and say naught more than, “Never was there a tale of more woe, than that of… Mercutio and his Romeo?”

Within a second, tomatoes appeared in the crowd’s hands and were flung directly at the poor chorus, who was forced to rush off the stage. The backstage was thrown in chaos as actors rushed to leave before the crowd, already climbing onto the stage, could reach them.

Shakespeare himself joined the hoard, knowing that if he was found to have been watching the entire act, he himself would lose any hope of ever even slightly being favored ever again by the people. As he hurried off, however, he was forced to stop a moment as a slightly bewildered Virgil and Roman exited their rooms, changed back into their unusual yet oddly striking clothes.

“Are thee truly lovers?” He asked them. Though they did not reply, their expressions and the trusting way Virgil leaned their head upon Roman’s shoulder told all. He nodded once.

“Thou are despicable actors, but shouldst thee ever learn a half wit of line, thee are the romance of Romeo and Juliet.” He told them before grabbing Virgil’s arm once again. “Make haste, now, or thee wilt surely be trampled.”

Even as he looked away to navigate their way threw the crowd, Shakespeare knew the two lovers tightened their hold upon each other as to guarantee they would not be separated. He smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Well he was nice.”

Roman laughed. “He was, though I wish I actually knew old-timey english. I could barely understand him!”

Virgil laughed as well. “Me neither. But I get the feeling he did not appreciate our changes to the script.”

“Definitely not. I do think he approved of us, however.”

“Oh, who wouldn't?” Virgil teased, pulling Roman closer to them once more. “We’re adorable.”

“You got that right.” Roman said, kissing Virgil. “Though,” he began, pulling away for a moment, “quite awful at being time travelers.”

“Do shut up.” Virgil said and pulled him back into the kiss.

“Happily.” He whispered against their lips.

#sanders sides #virgil sanders #roman sanders #prinxiety #non-binary Virgil #Shakespearean times #romeo and juliet #time travel

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cooper-draws · 6 years

Photo

I had this idea to draw Cooper in a different outfit for the Spring/Summer so i made a Sun Bun! :3

This outfit (in this case a white tank top w/ a loose blue shirt w/ black capris pants) was heavily inspired by an outfit worn by Anna in “When Marine Was There”, I’m sure if you’ve seen that movie you can see the resemblance.

I thought he would look cute in an outfit like that so I drew him in it & decided this is his outfit for when a long-sleeved shirt under a short-sleeved shirt with long black jeans isn’t weather appropriate.

ANYWAY this drawing took forever but thanks for your patience! This will probably be the last drawing I do just digitally, I find if I sketch out my drawings on paper first things go a lot quicker so I’ll probably be doing that from now on until I get a new tablet.

Mod Commentary under the break!

for the record i’ve never actually seen “When Marine Was There” BUT I PLAN TO but anyway the straps may have been a bra in that movie? here they’re from a tanktop, i just couldn’t find a way to comfortably show it other than the straps without it looking weird (i tried to have the bottom of it sticking out from under the shirt but it just didn’t look right so i just stuck with the straps). i don’t particularly care if it looks like a bra i just thought the outfit in general was cute and the straps were a part of that but for the record cooper doesn’t have boobs so it’s a tanktop and not a bra js (in retrospect i probably should’ve added more to the upper exposed chest area but i think that would’ve just made it look more like a bra so it’s whatever, the important part was the straps).

THIS TOOK AN ETERNITY cuz yea this was another one i drew 100% digitally while the last thing i drew (cooper saying good morning to cristabelle) was a drawing that i drew in my sketchbook first and i finished it that night (although it didn’t have color that was a stylistic choice because the art it was in response to wasn’t colored either) but i definitely could’ve colored it if i’d felt like it, that’s usually the easiest part

there were definitely some issues regarding cooper’s white fur parts, especially on his hands ;w; but i never like to get stuck on those things, all i really want to do/tell myself is to do better next time.

i did make an effort to make his paw beans more 3d this time around instead of just circles and i think they’re good for the most part! i changed the shape of his palm bean to something more like i’ve been meaning to draw instead of what i’ve been drawing which was more of a compromise since i didn’t actually know how to draw the palm bean that well yet

it only occurred to me in this drawing that i can move his whiskers wherever so while the whisker on your left isn’t perfectly aligned with the whiskers on the right, i feel like that’s okay because whiskers are things that you can move so he has his right (your left) ones up a little bit because before the top whisker lined up right with the tips of his fingers and it looked really weird, and the 2nd one intersected the lines of a bean (the thumb bean i think?) so moving them also fixed that

i also had the idea to make his shirt a little more loose at the bottom, like have it flowing in the wind or something but i decided against it because i wanted this to be more of a static pose and also because it looks more like his shirt actually fits him, if i wanted to i probably could’ve made it hang a little bit but ultimately i think it just would’ve looked strange so i didn’t do it at all

WHILE THESE DO HAVE AN UNCANNY RESEMBLANCE TO MY AVATARS I PROMISE I DIDN’T TRACE ANYTHING I’VE JUST GOT THIS SHIT DOWN TO A SCIENCE AT THIS POINT or just muscle memory i guess, i just draw & put things where i feel they fit correctly and it all ends up looking the same so i guess that’s just how it is, i’ll try to experiment with more varied head shapes and stuff in my sketchbook probably

there was also a point where his left shoulder looked too skinny and that’s because i had no sense of how shirts worked (how the fabric hangs when you have your arm out like that) so i did actually end up fixing that and it looks a lot better now so that’s cool

i like this one mainly because i got to draw cooper without so much stuff covering his arms & legs, and i got to show off a little bit of his chest which has a white pattern that goes all the way down to the bottom of his tummy (we don’t see that here but i’m js that’s what it looks like)

i like this pose too much lol even tho i’ve only drawn it twice (once with sofia & once right here) but idk just every time i think about drawing a character i imagine them in this pose, especially his left hand, i keep doing that cuz idk i think it’s cute and i’m tryna keep my characters’ hands out from behind their back so that’s just kinda what i default to (also so it doesn’t cover any of their clothing which i like to show off)

i made the sunglasses version last-minute because i got the idea for it when i drew the “sun bun” with sunglasses i was like hm... we can’t NOT have cooper also wearing sunglasses just like the bun on his shirt so i did a quick one of that too, please ignore how the sunglasses have no temples just assume they fit on his face perfectly, no more questions, i’m really bad at perspective atm so i think they’d look really weird also his ears aren’t down there so what would they even be holding on to there’s no point

ALSO HAVING THIS SHIRT SAY “SUN BUN” INSTEAD OF “FUN BUN” BECAUSE IT’S HIS SPRING/SUMMER SHIRT WAS LITERALLY LIKE THE ONLY THING I WAS THINKING ABOUT THE WHOLE TIME I WAS DRAWING THIS BESIDES THE BUN ALSO WEARING SUNGLASSES ASLDKFJLASJOISEJKL

at some point i was debating on whether or not to make the tank top gray like the cuffs of his pants in this case, but it felt like not only was he wearing overalls or something but also that there was too much of that one color on him so i decided to keep it white just to mix things up and not have it blend in so much with the rest of his colors, especially since with color it looked like something i didn’t want it to (overalls)

i think this took so long because i hadn’t drawn a full-body of cooper with the new method i use to draw legs yet so i kept trying to get his butt to form into his legs correctly without making him look too skinny and eventually i got it right (this is why i want to sketch things out before i digitize them so i have more control over my lines, it took so long because it had to be one perfect stroke otherwise it would look bad, drawing that out on paper first would fix that because on paper i have 100% control over where my lines go unlike in SAI where they often like to flip all over the fuckken place)

but yea i definitely don’t have drawing paws down, especially not at angles, but y’know small steps, like i said i try not to get stuck on stuff like that, if it looks good enough i just move on and do better next time

TO THAT END I SHOULD PROBABLY GIVE MY CHARACTERS KNEES/KNEECAPS AT SOME POINT I JUST GOTTA FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE IT NOT LOOK WEIRD SLADKJFLSDJFOISDJFLKSEJFOISJEKL

i drew his other foot behind the foreground foot because i didn’t know what else to do with it, but i didn’t want it in the exact same pose so i made it look like he has a little kick in his step which i thought was cute c:

I HAD TO LOOK UP CAPRIS BECAUSE IDK THE MEASUREMENTS THEY’RE LIKE ALL OVER THE FUCKKEN PLACE so basically the length i went for was “not quite shorts, not quite pants” and it looks like capris so they’re good enough lol, at some point they basically looked like rolled up jeans which isn’t what capris are so i made the ends look more like cuffs instead of rolled-up pant legs

ALSO at some point i had his shirt fold over his shoulders a lot like moria’s shirt, and while it looked okay i didn’t want to do that twice and i also wanted it to look more like Anna’s outfit from the movie so i looked back at the gif i had saved and redrew that to look closer to Anna’s outfit like i wanted

the background used to be a blue gradient and i was going to put the sun there but all-in-all it just looked bad so i kept the blue gradient and shoved the “hue” slider all the way to the right and it gave me this cool like sunset/summer tea color so i added some translucent circles to that and i thought it looked like a summer drink in the background so i liked that and kept it

his sleeves look kinda uneven but i assume it’s just the different angles they’re at so i didn’t really bother trying to fix those, also i didn’t know any way to draw the paw beans on his left hand without them looking weird so i didn’t draw them there either, just assume they’re too flat & don’t stick out that much so that you’d be able to see them from that perspective, same with his feet kinda except they’re facing more away so it makes a little more sense for them

anyway i think that’s it for now, i hope you enjoyed this drawing and hopefully the next one will be quicker! thanks for reading & see y’all next time!<3

#furry #furry oc #rabbit oc #bunny oc #wheatley draws #Cooper Graham McWheaton

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odanurr87 · 6 years

Text

Let’s talk... TRON, Part 1: Legacy

Let me preface by saying I have not watched the original 1982 TRON movie. I was introduced to the world of TRON in 2010 with the release of TRON: Legacy, a sequel that tried to reboot, or rather re-energize, the franchise, starring Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, Garrett Hedlund as his son, Sam, and the mesmerizing Olivia Wilde as Quorra (admit it, she’s gorgeous!). Neither the critics nor the public were too thrilled by it at the time, arguing it was more spectacle than substance. To this day, the movie stands at a 51% critic score and a 63% audience score on RT. IMDb puts it slightly higher at a 68% audience score. I recently re-watched it on Netflix so I decided to share my thoughts on it. You may have noticed this blog post isn’t titled, “My thoughts on...” as I usually do for reviews. That’s because I’m not just going to talk about TRON: Legacy but also its, arguably superior, animated spin-off, TRON: Uprising, released between 2012 and 2013, starring an amazing voice cast that I will mention in due course. It remains one of my favourite animated series after Avatar: The Last Airbender. But let’s get to it, shall we?

Spoilers for TRON: Legacy naturally follow. You’ve been warned.

Legacy follows the character of Sam Flynn, the son of Kevin Flynn, an employee and eventually CEO of ENCOM corporation, who has been missing for the past 20 years (the father, not the son, obviously). The opening of the movie showcases that Sam has apparently inherited some of his father’s programming genius (even though he never gets to use it again afterwards) but he also has trouble accepting his father’s disappearance and moving on, pulling off reckless stunts for the sake of it. We’re also briefly introduced to Bruce Boxleitner, reprising his role as Adam Bradley, Kevin’s friend and business partner, a return I have no doubt fans of the original appreciated but he’s sadly underused, either as Bradley or in his much juicier role as Tron (for reasons that will become apparent soon). ENCOM is portrayed in a bad light because... they want to sell their products? I know what they’re trying to do here, and certainly parallels can be drawn to corporations like Microsoft or EA (”This year we put a 12 on the box”), even to this day, but it’s rather flimsy. No matter, since it isn’t long before Sam, having received a strange message, goes back to his father’s arcade shop and finds and activates a curious machine that transports him to the Grid.

The Sirens outfit Sam for the games. It doesn’t hurt these women are gorgeous to boot.

The Grid is a vast digital sandbox populated by programs who take on the shape of human beings. From the start, I loved the look and feel of it, with its mixture of black, blue, cyan, and white colours, and the incredible technology on display, from light cycles to light jets, all of these rendered from a baton that is most certainly not used as a sword. The outfits used by programs are also really cool to look at and while I’m partial to black myself, those sirens wearing white almost convinced me otherwise. TRON: Legacy takes advantage of the outfits to distinguish friend from foe: programs with red lights are on the side of the bad guys while programs with cyan or white lights are, mostly, free and can go either way. That’s the short version anyway. The long version is that all programs on the Grid should wear black (or white) outfits with cyan/white lights and stripes. However, those programs that have been repurposed by the enemy change their lights and stripes to red. In any case, it’s a simple way for the audience to tell who the bad guys are. Last but not least, every program on the Grid is equipped with an identity disc that serves both as a storage device, containing a program’s code and its “memories,” and a melee/ranged weapon for combat, as Sam soon finds out.

As you might have guessed,TRON: Legacy is, indeed, a beautiful movie to look at, something that shouldn’t come as a surprise considering it was directed by Joseph Kosinski, who who would later direct Oblivion, a movie with outstanding cinematography and, incidentally, a great soundtrack. Because, let’s face it, as visually stunning as this movie is, it wouldn’t be half as good were it not for its amazing soundtrack, composed by none other than Daft Punk, who curiously make an appearance and feel right at home on the Grid, and arranged and orchestrated by Joseph Trapanese (keep his name in mind ‘cause you’ll see it again). The combination of orchestral and electronic music imbue the world of TRON with a sense of wonder and strangeness, of having been transported to a world that works under a different set of rules. I can safely say without a shred of doubt that this movie’s soundtrack is excellent from beginning to end, with some of my favourite pieces being, “The Son of Flynn,” “Outlands,” “Solar Sailer,” “Disc Wars,” and, of course, “Flynn Lives.” Hey, I did say this soundtrack was awesome all the way through! It is definitely one of the best movie soundtracks I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to and it’s definitely worth a purchase.

Just knocking on the sky and listening to the sound, man.

What about the story? It starts out as a tragedy. A long time ago, when Flynn created the Grid, he brought over Bradley’s creation, Tron, to protect it, and also created a new program in his image named Clu. Together they were going to create the perfect system, whatever that was supposed to mean. Over time, and with their discovery of ISOs or isomorphic algorithms, programs that spontaneously came into existence, Kevin’s outlook on perfection was radically altered, but Clu’s remained the same and he regarded ISOs as a threat to his goal of creating the perfect system. This eventually devolved into insurrection as Clu turned on Flynn and Tron, killing the latter and forcing the former into exile. Fast forward 20 years to Sam’s arrival and Clu reigns supreme as dictator, repurposing programs to either fight in the Arena for entertainment or join his massive army. Having achieved the perfect system in his eyes, Clu has now turned his attention to Earth and has thus engineered Sam’s arrival on the Grid to force his father, Kevin (whom I’ll simply call Flynn from this point onwards), out of hiding and claim his disc, the key to the portal that links both worlds.

The movie initially plays around with Clu’s likeness to Flynn in order to trick Sam into trusting him, but it quickly dashes any and all potential it might’ve had by revealing the truth. It really is a shame as had Clu actually put some effort into recruiting Sam it would’ve made for a much more interesting movie, maybe echoing some of Jack’s conflict in Robin Williams’ Hook. Instead, the movie elects to follow up with a light cycle confrontation between Clu and Sam and the latter’s subsequent rescue by another program named Quorra. It’s a cool sequence to be sure and a badass way to introduce Wilde’s Quorra, not to mention it was supposedly part of Clu’s plan to ensure Flynn would know he had his son. Unfortunately, it turns out it’s mostly by coincidence that Flynn learns of this as he’s practically a recluse. Had it not been for Quorra’s curiosity and timely intervention, Clu’s plan would’ve ended almost as soon as it began.

An awkward reunion between father and son with Quorra caught in the middle.

Father and son are soon reunited but it’s a rather uncomfortable reunion. After all, how do you explain to your son why you’ve been absent for a large chunk of his life? It’s true Flynn tried to go back repeatedly and failed but it’s still a difficult thing to take in, more so when his father stubbornly refuses to play into Clu’s game and make a run for the portal. Quorra is also placed in a tough spot, immediately picking up on the tension between the two. As Flynn’s protégé sle clearly looks up to him for guidance and would give her life to protect him but she’s also persuaded by Sam’s argument, which is why she helps him get in touch with Zeus, comically played by Michael Sheen, a program who can allegedly arrange for safe passage to the portal. These three, together with Clu, are the core of the movie. How do they fare?

Jeff Bridges delivers the best performance all around, even if it sometimes lacks the emotional outbursts you’d expect from being reunited with his son after all these years. Even so, he pours a lot of enthusiasm into some of his scenes, such as when he’s describing the ISOs, and he’s a little bit of a matchmaker if you pay close attention to the solar sailer scene. To my mind, Olivia Wilde comes second in the acting department, playing the somewhat naïve but totally badass Quorra. To be fair though, her best moments occur when she interacts with Garrett Hedlund’s character, Sam, so maybe they’re something of a packaged deal. I feel like Hedlund delivered a mostly solid performance across the board but probably not one that will turn any heads. Save for Quorra, the two Flynns appear quite stoic for a good chunk of the movie, or at least that’s how they came across to me. Things change a little when Flynn decides to play Clu’s game and rescue Sam from Zeus’ trap, losing his disc in the process, giving all three some time to bond during the beautiful solar sailer scene. It is then that we learn that Quorra is the last of the ISOs, and that Flynn has been protecting her for all these years.

Sam and Quorra share a moment aboard the solar sailer.

Of course, all good things must come to an end so it isn’t long before Clu’s top lieutenant, Rinzler, catches up to our heroes and captures Quorra. I have somehow managed to avoid talking about him for a while now and it’s decidedly unfair seeing as he’s probably more of a menace than Clu. Rinzler speaks very little in this movie but his mere presence is imposing, backed up by his incredible combat prowess as he proves to Sam during their fight in the Arena. With good reason, as it turns out Rinzler is none other than Tron, reprogrammed by Clu to become his loyal servant. In hindsight, it’s surprising I didn’t pick up on this sooner considering his outfit practically screams this. On the other hand, since I knew nothing about him before this movie, let alone his symbol, it would’ve been nothing short of a miracle had I done so (although the movie sets this up during the flashback sequence of Tron buying Flynn time to escape Clu). It is such a shame then that we don’t see Tron make a comeback, even though the movie hints that he was able to overcome Clu’s programming when he fell into the Sea of Simulation. If a sequel to Legacy is still in the works, it must include Bruce Boxleitner’s return as Tron. If not for his role in this, then most assuredly for his role in TRON: Uprising.

Rinzler is to Clu what Darth Vader is to Palpatine, except he doesn’t even need to speak.

Events now converge. As Clu prepares to lead his army through the portal to conquer Earth, Sam cooks up an intrepid plan to rescue Quorra and retrieve his father’s disc. It’s a great scene made more awesome by Daft Punk’s “Disc Wars” playing in the background. Don’t ask me why but it reminded me of the movie Flash Gordon, with Flash making his triumphant return, or at the very least a most daring entrance (ah, now I know why, it’s because I’m reminded of the drones in Flash Gordon!). I’m in two minds about this scene as it does speak volumes to see Jarvis’ reaction to the ensuing fight rather than the fight itself (it’s certainly more foreboding that way), but it’s still a pity that we don’t get a chance to see how Sam’s disc skills have improved since entering the Grid (probably not a lot going by his performance at the night club). And that moment when Sam takes the disc and alerts Clu to what’s going on... Damn, this song’s good!

Not one to give up easily, Clu follows our intrepid trio of heroes in a light jet chase to the portal for the inevitable showdown with his creator. Props to Jeff Bridges here again, as one does feel for Clu, to some extent, when he argues he was only doing what Flynn programmed him to do, trying to bring about the perfect system they had both dreamed about. Clu is a staunch proponent of order over chaos, he’s the Yin to Flynn’s Yang (Wenli!), something that is referenced several times in the movie through Clu’s baoding balls and Flynn’s Bits (that sounded better in my head). Perhaps if Flynn had spent some time explaining the Second Law of Thermodynamics to Clu all of this could’ve been avoided. Alas, Clu’s not looking for a reconciliation and is tricked by Flynn into letting Quorra and Sam go, or at least ignore them, thinking Flynn has the portal key. As Quorra struggles to push Sam into the portal, Clu realizes the truth and tries to get to them, forcing Flynn to make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the pair’s escape. It’s a beautiful scene all in all, again greatly enhanced by Daft Punk’s music, that recreates the poster of the original movie. The movie ends with Sam back in the real world, ready to take over his father’s company and change the world, aided by Bradley and the incomparable beauty that is Quorra.

Kiss her, you fool! I mean, I’m half-glad they didn’t kiss but this is Olivia Wilde we’re talking about! Allowances must be made.

From a technical standpoint, TRON: Legacy is a great movie in my book, combining amazing visuals with an outstanding soundtrack, though the use of CGI to rejuvenise Clu and a young Flynn is indeed noticeable and may be somewhat bothersome (though it didn’t bother me at the time). This technology has however, come a long way as we were able to see in Disney’s Rogue One or even in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, so it’s not unlikely that a possible sequel could make use of the same, updated, technology, to bring back, say, a young Bruce Boxleitner as Tron (that would be awesome!). The story is perhaps more by the numbers (it certainly doesn’t tread new ground but why should it?) and it’s certainly not a character piece but I found it to be entertaining with a measured pace, carefully balancing the action with the more quiet scenes and executing both rather well. Nevertheless, if I had to come down hard on this movie for one thing and one thing only, it would have to be how underdeveloped the world feels. Beyond the Arena and Zeus’ night club, we don’t see a whole lot of how programs live on the Grid. Do they work? Do they have friends? Do they hang out? Are there (more) cities out there? The movie also hints at the possibility of some rebel movement forming against Clu but it’s pretty short-lived. These are all aspects that a sequel should definitely try to explore and, indeed, one eventually did.

Unfortunately, the year is 2018 and there’s currently no light at the end of the tunnel for a future TRON 3. It’s possible Disney dismissed its attempt to reboot the franchise as a failure considering the movie was only able to gross $400 million worldwide with a production budget of $170 million, and that’s not counting marketing expenses. Of course, if one considers Legacy was a sequel to a rather niche 1982 movie, maybe it didn’t do half as bad. Not having watched the original, I do believe Legacy managed to bring back some of the old cast of characters and do them justice, unlike a certain other franchise that shall not be named. It saddens me that Disney has apparently abandoned this property, and that the likelihood of seeing Olivia Wilde, Garrett Hedlund, Bruce Boxleitner, and why not Cillian Murphy as well (he was seriously underused in this movie), return for one last chapter seems like a pipe dream right now. Yet two years after the release of TRON: Legacy, Disney would give the franchise another chance to prove its worth with the release of the animated series, TRON: Uprising. Did it succeed at this? Stay tuned for Part 2 to find out. Why not watch TRON: Legacy in the meantime?

#tron #tron legacy #sam flynn #kevin flynn #quorra #clu #olivia wilde #jeff bridges #garrett hedlund #bruce boxleitner #daft punk #joseph kosinski #movies #movie reviews #rinzler

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greetingsfromeboncreek · 3 years

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In my defense, I was literally asked.

So, I have actually been asked about my LGBTQ+ headcanons for Suppression. I shall now recite from my massive, ancient textb- ok no, I’m kidding, Iggy was my most detailed one, but here’s some others I’ve been kicking around under the cut:

So first and foremost, I want to be clear: There doesn’t have to be a REASON to make someone gay or transgender of asexual or whatever. There is no reason for these things in real life after all, people just are. You can be a rocket scientist or a wrestler or a pigeon breeder and just happen to be someone who was assigned a different gender at birth as well. It happens. That’s not to say that there isn’t a culture and some common trends that go along with it, but the point I’m trying to make is that just because I’m noting my favorite characters to think these sorts of things about here, you could literally make ANYONE LGBT. There’s no checkboxes you have to tick before you get your lesbian license.

...but if there was, Sam would have like 3 of them.

ANYWAY so yeah that’s the first one: 1. Everyone is gay and transgender. All of them. All at the same time. Figure it out.

Also, even if any of these WERE canon, I wouldn’t expect it to come up very often either? Suppression is a very action based comic, I don’t think there’s a lot of downtime for characters to be like “ANYWAY, I’m going on a date with ANOTHER GUY this Wednesday because that’s HOW I ROLL.” Because that would be. Weird. Still, sometimes an offhand mention can go a long way.

To organize this a little bit better though, I’m going to split it into “Characters who I think could or should be X, Y, and/or Z” and “Characters where I wouldn’t do that unless a lot of effort was put into pulling it off well.” Personal dos and don’ts, pretty much.

For characters who I think are or could be LGBT, well, like I said, it’s fun to imagine just about anyone, and I think making a character some type of LGBT can add a really fun element to someone that ordinarily would be a little bit boring. In this case though, I’m expressing only my thoughts on the ones that either have some sort of written element that could be taken as supporting my headcanon, or ones where I think it would play well with their pre-established traits and desires. So, without further ado:

1. Samantha Wight is a lesbian, in both continuities but ESPECIALLY the reboot, god. I think this one is most obvious when you compare the version of her that existed in the preboot timeline in comparison to the reboot. And for that, I’ve got to talk about the Wights a bit, or at least as how they were in the preboot.

They come off to me as… well, deeply repressed, unhappy, and (let’s be honest, most likely) very conservative people. They all want something out of life and want to be proud of themselves and their family, but are so deadlocked in trying to “maintain the family tradition and honor” and whatnot that they end up dragging each other back down into that depressive pit. There’s plenty of examples of this; Alaster is very proud of being a Wight and their traditions of burning and pillaging, but hates what his family has become and how they treat each other. He tries very hard to be a good role model for his younger relatives even though he’s unable to get out from under his father’s thumb himself. Meredith is incredibly enthusiastic (and gifted!) about her family’s magic traditions and history but is constantly facing snotty, belittling remarks about how airheaded she is from Samantha. In addition, it’s clear her dad and uncle don’t understand her in the slightest, let alone have a shred of respect for her (or if they do, it's for her use as a resource or tool and not as a person with her own merits). Jericho thinks the Wights are already great, but is increasingly frustrated with the fact that his beliefs mean absolutely nothing in the wider world and he doesn’t actually have the power to do anything about it. Heck, even Arthur had a line that implied a LOT about how he and Max were raised- how he didn’t really want to be a necromancer, but picked it so he could “get out of what Dad had (Max) doing”. It gives off the impression that no matter how powerful a Wight you are, your life gets set in stone at birth and you aren’t changing it, no matter how hard you try, and those traditional roles are HARSH. I wouldn’t be surprised if Alaster wasn’t the only Wight that got quietly offed when they stepped out of line, that’s for sure.

Needless to say, I would imagine it would be pretty much impossible to come out as anything in that sort of environment… provided that you managed to get out enough to learn about that stuff to start with. And Sam definitely appears to be one of the worst victims of this. She died really young. While Meredith and Alaster might have gotten to go to a public school or at least hit the mall every once in a while, she probably spent every second since the day she died locked up in the mansion because… well, zombies aren’t supposed to exist. Unable to go anywhere, do anything of value, make any friends… it’s really no wonder her nihilism cranked up to 11 in just a decade or so. Not to mention (especially in comparison to the reboot), there’s no way she can buy her own clothes, so she’s literally just a Wight themed dress up doll. She has the Wight family logos literally all over her- bones in her dress, the skull on her head and shoes, a Wight crest on her necklace, most of them oversized for her stature. Literally weighing her down in a poofy dress that makes her look adorable instead of practical. Heck, she’s even drawn in a way depicts how she’s had her agency removed. She’s a Wight, so she definitely HAS the sharp pointy teeth, and yet unlike everyone else in her family you barely ever see them. (If at all- I’m pretty sure you don’t, but I’m not going to go through every page she appears to check.) She’s literally defanged and weighed down by family expectations. It’s no wonder she lashes out at Meredith, who is capable of actually expressing herself to a degree.

(Also, a smaller side headcanon- I’ve noticed that while the red eyed fangy icon is the Wight family crest, those simplified skulls on Samantha and Meredith’s heads appear a lot as well. I like to think that those were the family crest of Nora’s now extinct bloodline from when she married into the Adigard family. Even though they aren’t the official Wight crest, they’re now considered a sort of secondary crest that’s still carried around out of respect to the maternal lineage, which is why you see it more prominently on the women of the family as well. Is there any textual support for this? No, none, but it’s still fun to think about.)

SO YEAH, Sam in the reboot, wow. Goes by a (notably more gender neutral) nickname instead of the longer and more formal “Samantha”, with her clothing following. Jeans and a t-shirt. Square glasses. Very short hair. The family symbols are now not dragging her down, but smaller accents that she wears to go with her outfit instead of defining it. She’s finally free! She has a job she likes. She takes pride in her skills. She has a favorite sandwich spot and a college education and friends. ...And like, maybe a girlfriend? It would be nice. This is admittedly because her style of hair and dress is… well. Kinda butch. But like I’ve mentioned before, physical appearance is one of the last indicators I like to go for with this. Instead, I prefer to look at it in terms of her personality- outside of the deathgrip of outdated family tradition, Sam can afford to be herself more, and yeah, maybe that involves dating folks with the same gender and wearing blue jeans. This is also kinda supported to a degree by how her siblings haven’t changed that much since the old timeline. Merry’s outfit is pretty much the exact same. Jericho doesn’t have the biohazard suit, but his new outfit still kinda evokes it in the hat, long coat, and boots. He still seems to prefer the same styles, at least. Alaster is pretty different, but that’s more because he’s wearing a uniform more than anything, and with the bandages it’s clear he’s still putting his own personal spin on it. Sam is COMPLETELY different, and it’s a change for the better and happier. So yeah. It would be really fitting if part of that new access to personal freedom was in getting to explore her sexuality as well, and eventually settling down into being a lesbian. It would be a happy ending to Samantha’s story, even Sam’s is only getting started.

2. Arrie is bisexual! What? Who do you think it is that Sam’s dating? But yeah, I ship them pretty hard. Like Sam, Arrie has some pretty big personality differences between her preboot self and current self, Parrios vs. Tinderbolt. Old Arrie seemed to be well versed in politics, able to negotiate and take charge easily even if she was a bit overly formal and her interpersonal skills weren’t QUITE up to snuff. That’s not to say that she couldn’t have been bi, but I also didn’t read her as vibing with anyone all that well.

Not to turn this into a massive shipping discussion (as that’s not really the topic I’m trying to cover here), but I saw her most interesting potential romantic foils as Trevor and Sally… but neither of them were very likely in practice. She and Trevor were good friends but the last time they spoke in the comic he stuck his own foot in his mouth with her and they never got the opportunity to work things out after that (and even then, there was no sort of… spark implying that they would make each other better as a couple. Seriously, just friends.), which leaves that ship on a particularly sour note. And while she and Sally were FANTASTIC counterparts to each other (rough and tumble demon girl and overly formal and technical elf princess? Sally getting her to slowly loosen up and have fun with it a bit while also reminding her how much her one liners suck? Arrie coming to impress her and earn her respect with fancy spellwork? Hell yeah.), but they only spent maybe an hour tops with each other and didn’t have any opportunity for deeper conversation. Also, that would mean that Sally and Bael wouldn’t be a thing and I refuse to break that couple up.

But Arrie in the reboot? Oh man. Her social awkwardness and getting stuck on details have really been dialed up now that she’s essentially been raised in a classroom and in private study instead of being trained as a politician and dignitary. She’s no longer a princess, but a magic computer programmer. She’s anxious, stubborn, and definitely has a lot of room to grow. But, that’s where Sam comes in. They’ve known each other since they were little- they definitely know each other’s baggage and have accepted it. They know each other’s hopes and dreams. They spend a ton of time with each other. And yeah, they bring out the best in each other. Sam gets Arrie to leave her room once in a while, and Arrie’s attention to detail means she no doubt always listens to Sam complain long after anyone else would have tuned it out. And yes, you could easily interpret this as mere best friend territory, but wouldn’t it be interesting if it was something more? After all, Sam is really touchy-feely with Arrie even though she’s normally standoffish. She drapes herself all over Arrie in the early pages of the comic, and Arrie barely blinks. Sam threatens to drag her and Arrie is suddenly done with her work, but they’re both smiling about it. Similarly, when Arrie finally pries Sam off of her with magic, Sam just lets Arrie toss her around midair even though they both know she could use it offensively (which Arrie does when tussling with Sally later.). But they both know Arrie would never do that- they trust each other implicitly. Again, could just be friendship, but it’s not difficult to read into it and see a bit more intimacy than that. Additionally, it would really be neat to see them together just from an angle of “Their families used to be bitter enemies, but… well, not for these two, I guess.”

Also, it’s really funny to imagine a copy of that first scene but Sam’s in fancy clothing trying to drag Arrie to their anniversary dinner. For god’s sake Arrie, you’re already in the dress. The runes look FINE. You’re going to miss your reservation, get UP.

(And on another headcanon side-note- If I was going to cosplay as anyone in the comic, it would 100% be Arrie, if just because I have blonde hair and blue eyes and none of her outfits look too crazy to sew and it's not that hard to find elf ears online. With current circumstances though, I don’t think I’ll be doing anything like that any time soon.)

3. Charlie is agender or genderfluid, at least in the preboot timeline. This is less “it just feels right” and more “this is probably the inevitable conclusion of having hundreds of souls with conflicting gender identities stuffed into one body.” He is made up of boys, girls, and people who never got to have enough of a personal identity to make a decision about that sort of thing. Just a big bag of angry ghosts. Considering what happens in the approximate… like… what, six to nine months or so? That he gets to exist, I don’t think he really thought about what gender he was all that hard and probably only went with “he” because that’s what everyone who met him assumed he was. Which, let’s be honest, he’s canonically very emaciated, has long, probably matted hair, and probably has heavily stunted growth due to his upbringing- I think it would actually be pretty hard to figure him out on first glance. I’ve just noticed that people tend to default to “this is a dude” if they don’t know right away. If he had time to think about it though, I think he either a. Honestly would not give a crap, or b. Would just switch his pronouns around depending on how he was feeling that day. Heck, while “Charles” is definitely a guy’s name, I’ve definitely seen “Charlie” used for both. So he wouldn’t even have to change anything there. Still, if you asked him what he identifies as, his answer would probably something like “An Avatar Of Vengeance”, which, while accurate, isn’t the answer most people are looking for. (He knows this. He does it on purpose.) That being said though, I still have no clue what reboot Charlie’s deal is or how many souls he’s got stuffed up in there, but hey! Like I said, anyone can be anything so who’s to say Charlie ISN’T still genderfluid in the current timeline? Could have just been a “dude” day when we met him the first time around.

4. Junior is genderfluid! Or, well, would have been in the future. This just feels like a logical progression of the worldview Junior had going. He seemed very into transhumanism and just changing yourself to who you want to be instead of sitting there and waiting for it. I certainly can’t imagine him going “Hm yes. I have all these options, but I think I’m just going to stick with being a Regular Dude until the day I die.” when he was so gung-ho about getting his hands chopped off and replaced with giant claws. Therefore I could see a “I think, therefore I am.” sort of philosophy with regards to his gender developing as he gets older. “I think I want to be a girl today, so I am a girl! That’s all there is to it!” Unfortunately, considering he was being raised to be a weapon (or at least a lab rat) of some sort, I don’t know how much his identity would be respected, but I’d imagine there’s at least one or two people in his life that would nod and swap over to what he was feeling that day.

5. Lexi as a nonbinary woman. To explain a little bit, most people who imagine nonbinary genders for the first time think of gender as a slider with “dude” on the left side and “lady” on the right side with nonbinary genders somewhere in the middle. And for some people, that’s how they feel… but for others, its not that simple, with their gender being somewhere “off the grid” so to speak, or aligning themselves with one gender but… not.. QUITE all the way with it, or picking and choosing the parts of it they like, etc. So a girl or a guy, but… a nonbinary girl or guy. I could see Lexi as this, using she/her pronouns or they/them pronouns, just kind of being blase about it.

I talked about the Wight’s general culture a little bit and how it came off to me, but not Thal’nasia’s. To put it simply, I don’t think Thal’nasia is NEARLY as bad as the Wights, but I do think it has its own troubles. Between Trevor’s comments about how the humans shouldn’t trust anyone (which is probably in reference to the politicians, but it also implies a “the walls have ears” sort of vibe for the kingdom in general) and the fact that the elves are several years behind human culture in general, I could imagine being different in this way wouldn’t be… necessarily frowned upon, but there would certainly be a lot of gossip. Not to mention, it’s not like anyone who lives there can just move away if coming out doesn’t go so well. So I’d imagine things would be a little awkward for anyone who’s off the beaten track in terms of gender identity or sexuality, getting a lot of gritted teeth smiles and hesitant “Uh-huhs”. And then getting a lot of whispers and giggles as soon as their back is turned.

With that in mind, I think Lexi would have some trouble getting people to take her seriously, but in some ways I think this meshes well with what we saw of her in the preboot setting. She’s already a pretty counterculture person, working in a store that explicitly sells things that are edgy or in poor taste. And she’s already used to secluding herself to a degree, considering that she had been able to hide her plague markings for a while by the time we saw her for the first time. So for people she doesn’t know too well, I could see her introducing her gender in a half-joking manner similar to how she runs her shop in general, and gauging their reaction to see if they’re cool about it or not, at which point she’d either double down on the edgy performance or relax a bit.

6. Cerene is polyamorous! This one’s mostly for fun, and mostly because it was implied that Cerene had to pick either Morris or Charlie, and… why not both? Neither Morris nor Charlie seemed to dislike each other, and neither seem like the jealous type. Morris is super chill and reasonable, and as I already mentioned up in #3 I really don’t think Charlie’s the kind to care about traditional relationships. And who’s to say they wouldn’t like each other as well? Not to mention Cerene’s certainly capable of splitting her attention and dedicating the time needed to maintain a relationship that’s… bigger than most peoples’. I’m just saying, if anyone could make a polycule work, it’s probably Cerene with her insane networking skills. Bael’s downplaying her skills by just assuming she sleeps around a lot. Oh no- she’s asking multiple people about their day, keeping notes of their personal preferences and wants for birthday gift reasons, and plotting out multiple sweet date ideas to take place simultaneously. She has this shit ORGANIZED. There is a day planner. Also she gets to bang a lot but that’s, like, secondary.

7. James Narron is gay? Perhaps? Granted we only barely know him, but still. He seems like a nice guy with a tendency to scoop up and mentor outcast children. Perhaps due to a history of being a bit of an outcast himself? Not enough to damage his career- he’s still head of the scholar’s society after all- but something that makes him feel a little different in the crowd. I just think it would be neat!

8. Mara is a trans girl. This one’s a bit harder to explain, and considering I have no idea how she’s translated over to the reboot timeline (if at all, seeing as the circumstances of her backstory and personality have been completely erased.) Buuut I think this meshes well with her once you take into account her various motivations. She’s determined to be taken seriously. People try to brush her off due to being very young and not mentally fit for the position due to the whole “child soldier” thing. So she’s used to people not taking her seriously at best and at worst finding the fact that she’s in her hard-earned position at all to be disgusting. Not to mention that folks don’t exactly trust the red army to start with. This… surprisingly parallels a lot of what transwomen have to go through, both being taken seriously as real women and as not being seen as a “threat”. This is probably even harder for younger trans girls who no doubt constantly get the “Okay, but can you really be SURE at your age?” treatment.

You could also link this, surprisingly, into her hairstyle. Mara has boxy cut bangs in the front, but has a long twist braid in the back, far longer than most other characters in the comic. You could argue its a sense of personal style, but there’s a reason people in the military cut their hair so short (and even women in the military keep theirs in tight buns.). So you could handwave it as “it helps differentiate the character and looks like a vine, which is her whole shtick.”, which is a completely valid reading! But it’s known that a lot of trans women grow their hair out as a point of pride in transitioning, and its heartbreaking if they have to get it cut off again. So while it might be more convenient and strategic for Mara to cut her hair, she could also have a very good reason for keeping it as long as possible,

9. Dr. Grenner is bisexual. Or just questioning? Something like that? This has zero textual support and is just kind of fun to think about in terms of the personal conflict it would bring up for him. First and foremost- not everyone figures out that they’re LGBT right away. It’s not a “kids these days” sort of thing, anyone can learn something new about themselves at any time. It would be nice to see a character that has this experience, just for fun and interest! That being said, Grenner as we know him would be an interesting choice for this, considering that until very recently in the preboot’s storyline, he was likely happily married to a woman. (I mean. Iggy had to come from SOMEWHERE, and I doubt he was plucked out of a cabbage patch.) And it ended… badly.

As a result, I could see him being really conflicted due to his grief and the fact that he’s now single for the first time in decades. And, well. Santris is the only guy who really seems to stop and have any in depth conversations with him who isn’t a coworker or a patient. (Also, he’s kinda pretty. And Grenner finds that he can’t really stop looking at his eyes? That’s. Weird. Hm.) This leads into mental conflict between “It’s fine! Plenty of people figure this out at your age, and let’s be honest, there WERE some signs for it back when you were in college.” and “This isn’t anything, you’re still heavily grieving and you have a monster living in the back of your head and you’re heavily projecting onto the one person that actually treats you like a person. Get ahold of yourself.” Which one is it? Well, that’s what storytelling is for, you figure it out. But I could easily imagine himself just sitting there and psychoanalyzing himself endlessly to try and keep the issue at arms length, treating himself like a patient to avoid having to confront the emotional reality of his grief, guilt, and weird crush.

Not sure how Santris would feel about all of this because who even knows what that guy thinks, but I’m pretty sure he would definitely notice. And maybe milk it just a little bit so he doesn’t have to stretch and grab things on tall shelves anymore. Or pull out his own chair. Or make his own coffee. It’s a nice change of pace.

Is this piling too much on poor Grenner when he’s already such a guilt driven person? Yeah, probably. But what is fiction but a chance to torment fictional people with weird crises about their sexuality.

10. The old Wights? Are probably a lot of things? I’m not necessarily referring to the old Wights we’ve seen already, just the culture and atmosphere for the old clan in general. I definitely noticed how the old Wights and Adigards definitely don’t have the same culture as the new ones. There’s no need to prove themselves to be great- they ARE the greatness that the modern Wights are trying to live up to. So there’s not as much of an issue with trying to “fit in”. They’re the ones setting the standard to start with. Not to mention the old Wights are so far modified from their original human bodies already, does it really matter what they identify as after a certain point? That guy has 50 arms with flesh ripping claws and you’re saying he’s not a guy because there’s also a set of boobs involved? How do you know he didn’t put those on himself anyway? Let’s be honest, most people are going to refer to you as “OH GOD, WHY WON’T IT DIE!” anyway. Might as well call yourself whatever you want.

There’s also at least a little bit of historical support to this as well. The old Wights are vikings, or at least rather viking-inspired. In comparison to a lot of peoples that were living at the same time, vikings were surprisingly chill? It’s pretty well known that viking women could own property and demand divorces, etc. Who’s to say the Adigard family couldn’t take that an extra step further?

And then there’s the characters I WOULDN’T make a particular thing, whether it REALLY doesn’t make sense for them story-wise, or would just be stumbling into a bad stereotype for a particular group. I don’t think it’s impossible, but you’d definitely need to have more members OF that group in the story to make it clear that that’s just what that particular CHARACTER is like, and not an assumption of what that group of PEOPLE is like.

1. It could look bad if Sally was a transwoman. Don’t get me wrong- I love Sally a LOT. Like, SO much. Her personality is so much fun and I just love big, kinda dumb brawler characters. She has interesting twists to her personality (like how she loves being strong and having cool powers but is also aware that she didn’t use to be quite this aggressive and violent and finds it difficult to know where the line is and know when to stop.) and makes an excellent foil to the characters that have a tendency to ramble on. But… let’s be honest, having the explicitly beefy, aggressive female character be the only transgender woman would be a really bad look. Trans women are very frequently under a large amount of scrutiny for how they present themselves, and overly muscled and aggressive individuals are one of the negative stereotypes for that group. Does that mean I think Sally is a bad character? No, absolutely not! I’m aware she has depth, and for a cisgender woman I think her power set is a breath of fresh air. God knows I’d love to have the ability to throw someone across a city block when a guy’s been following me for a little too long when I’m walking home at 2 am. But I do think that, in the absence of other trans women, making her transgender would be choice made in poor taste as it hews too close to stereotypes that have been made to insult and belittle these women.

2. Max and Arthur as… well, anything. This is in regards to the preboot setting. We have known Arthur for literally one page in the reboot and he’s already clearly pretty different from the old version of him so I’m withholding all judgement there. Still, this one’s a little harder to explain.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of a young Maxwell feeling absolutely nothing for all of the girls dragged in front of him as potential suitors and eventually picking one for no reason other than “Dad liked her”. Max assuming its normal to feel this way because being asexual isn’t an option when it’s your literal job to carry on the family bloodline. I like the idea of Arthur waking up from an accidental nap in front of the TV to find that it’s moved on to some sort of documentary about trans women and how relieved they felt to be able to reflect on the outside how they felt on the inside and sits there watching it blithely for a little bit too long before he identifies that feeling in his chest as something close to pain and scrambles for the remote a little too fast while grumbling something about kids these days ruining their bodies for shits and giggles. (Hey remember how I mentioned that those skull motifs are usually only worn by girls? I say usually because Arthur is the only dude who wears them. Funny, that.)

It could definitely be interesting to interpret them as something else, but… I think it would have to be in an AU or timeline just to the left where they’re. Mmmmore tolerable as people. Look let’s be honest, in the original Suppression timeline, Max and Arthur are some of the biggest… well, evil people we see. The younger Wights have their sympathetic traits (or are just hilariously outmatched such that they aren’t really a threat. Sorry Jericho.). Grenner wasn’t even trying to be a villain. Kolt is creepy as hell and I try to forget he exists. William… isn’t really traditionally sapient, it’s hard to hate an evil Siri. We don’t know much about Santris, and we were really only getting started on Maggie and Bartleby. But Max and Arthur kill innocent people, kill their kids, kill each other because they’re canonically selfish, miserable people. If you wanted to redeem either, they’d have to be… well, not those people. So like I said, you’d need a different version of canon.

This is because, well. While I’m sure there are evil people that are… let’s pick one and say gay. 1. Gay-coding villains is a well known negative stereotype. And 2. Saying that people who are against LGBT rights in real life are totally just repressed gay people is both harmful and… idk, annoying. For point one, there’s plenty of villains where they’re presented with traits associated with LGBT individuals. Think how Ursula in The Little Mermaid was based on a drag queen, Scar in The Lion King is a sort of effeminate gay stereotype, Raoul Silva in Skyfall and his… weird homoeroticism. Don’t ask me why those were the first three examples that came to mind. In and of itself, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Everyone loves Disney villains, they’re the most fun characters! But in settings where they’re the ONLY characters that are LGBT, it suddenly creates the stereotype that… all LGBT people are inherently evil, deviant, or corrupt in some way. Which is a nasty thing to say. For a lot of the other villains, it could be fun! But these two are just so unavoidably (if amusingly) awful that it feels… weird to pin this stuff on them.

Which leads me into the second point. It’s fun to poke fun at say… a pastor saying all gay people are going to hell by going “Man, he has sure been talking about gay guys and their gay sex for a really long time huh? Makes you wonder, huh?” Because unfortunately at the end of the day… statistically, they aren’t. They just want to hurt those people (or “help” them in their own minds but again, let’s be real here.) And even if they ARE, they’re doing so much damage that it’s hard to feel sorry for them. It feels similar to my own experiences where I’d be bullied by a guy at school and the adults around me would be like “Oh don’t worry, he just has a crush on you!” Great! Awesome! That helps me out a LOT and makes me feel so much better. Really unrips up the homework he stole from me. That’s definitely a behavior we should be encouraging in guys too. Just fantastic. Yeah, I don’t think that mindset really helps anyone, and frankly feels like it would be a shallow addition to these guys.

And let’s be honest, with these two it feels like part of the fun that they’re so irredeemably awful because when they lose it feels just that much better. It was so, SO funny watching Max get squished by a demon falling several stories, or watching Sally deck Arthur in the face and Arrie blind him temporarily. It was fitting watching Arthur drink Max’s phylactery, wrapping up both of their character arcs as selfish people who inevitably only had each other but couldn’t even trust each other- and shouldn’t have. And then Sin Arthur got thrown around like a ragdoll by King Law like five minutes later. It was GREAT. If it turns out that deep down they felt differently but didn’t feel like they could say or do anything about it, it would make them more sympathetic and thus make me feel… well, worse about watching them get beat down on. Which would inevitably make those moments I mentioned fall a little flat.

So, uhm. Yeah. I think that’s everything? Just about everything? Holy crap, I was NOT expecting to write this much. Maybe a few notes for each character, but nothing huge. And it did get huge, that’s. That’s a LOT of words. I’d apologize, but I’m not THAT sorry about it- it was really nice to get the opportunity to put to words some of the feelings I’ve been having on this stuff for a while.

#text post #uhhhh #holy shit yeah i dont have much else to say lol #commentary #headcanons

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easilyaddicted · 7 years

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Interview with Tachikawa Yuzuru (director) and Kameda Yoshimichi (character designer) of Mob Psycho 100 anime

from PASH! Illustration File 2017

-----Even after ending, Mob Psycho 100's popularity has yet to fade out. Please tell us about the charm of this work.

Tachikawa: Mob Psycho 100 is a story that's filled to the brim with all kinds of elements, with a focus on psychic powers, but its biggest charm point to me is definitely how each of its characters are so unique.

Kameda: There's a lot of characters that leave a big impression on you, even when they don't do much.

T: I was reminded of how easy it was for me to write the characters interacting when I was making scripts for the recent event ("Mob Psycho 100 - Assembly of the Psycho Helmet Cult - Special Event") held on January 29. The script for the anime directly follows the lines in ONE-san's manga, but the script for the event was a completely original product, so I ended up being the one to write for it. Even when writing the story from scratch, I found it easy to imagine how each character would reply to one another.

K: In my case, since none of the main characters are very flashy in how they dress, I spent a lot of time worrying about what poses would best express their personalities. But as I continued to draw official material for the series, I somehow developed a sense of how each character should be.

T: Do you think you've got a good grasp on the characters' charms now?

K: Yes. Now that all the episodes have aired, I finally feel like I could express everything about them that I wanted to express.

-----Tell us your thoughts about this amusement park piece that was drawn specifically for this magazine.

T: I've always entertained the scenario of having Mob Psycho 100 characters go to an amusement park, so I'm quite fond of this piece. They look like they're having fun.

K: There wasn't much room for a peaceful scene like this in the anime, after all.

T: We would've liked to put an episode like in the anime if we had the chance to.

K: But Reigen and Ritsu-kun aren't on very good terms, so if we did something like this in the anime, I feel like the air around them would be really tense (laughs).

T: (Laughing) Would it? But after the 7th Branch arc, Ritsu should be seeing Reigen in a bit of a different light, so I don't think it'd be as bad as it was in the beginning.

-----We're quite pleased to hear that so much detail and thought went into this!

K: Turning the horses on the merry-go-round into evil spirits was the idea of our art director, Kouno [Ryou]-san. When I first saw them, I wondered, "Do Matsuo and the other Claw members manage this park?" (Laughs)

T: (Laughs). There's that mechanical cat in the corner of the image, too - is that the same cat that Tsubomi has a charm of on her bag?

K: That's right. Sitting on top of it are Mezato and Tome-san -- our key animator Yoshihara [Takuya]-kun added them in as a bonus (laughs).

-----We thought it was rare to see the female characters in an official piece like this. Out of all the pieces that have been published in PASH!, is there one that left a deep impression on you?

T: Probably the one published in the August 2016 edition with Mob, Reigen, and Ritsu in the alleyway. It took us a long time to figure out what colors should go on each of their suits.

K: That piece was made before we started airing, so I didn't have a strong grasp on the characters yet, and had a hard time figuring out what would work best on them. I think this was the first "eccentric" type of material that we officially put out -- "eccentric" in that Mob-kun and the others weren't wearing their usual outfits.

T: Maybe that's why it left such a deep impression? The three of them look like they belong to the mafia (laughs). I'm also personally fond of the piece in the December 2016 issue, with the ramen shop. We didn't get many opportunities to show Mob and Reigen eating ramen together, so I was pretty happy with this.

K: The only time we got to do that was with the vase story in episode 7, where they went to eat tsukemen. Between this amusement park piece and the piece from the February 2017 issue of PASH!, I feel like security guard Ekubo's been getting a lot of spotlight (laughs).

T: Lately, we've been getting more orders* for security guard Ekubo than his regular green version (laughs). Even before his introduction in episode 9, we knew he was fairly popular among fans, so we had an idea that this would happen, but...

K: After episode 9 aired, I was really surprised that "security guard Ekubo" made its way into Twitter's trends. But either way, I'm glad that we're still receiving requests from all kinds of media outlets for official material, even after the broadcast finished.

T: We're very thankful.

-----When you were working on producing the anime, did you receive any specific requests from ONE-sensei?

K: At first, we talked about bringing the show in a "cool direction." At the time, ONE-sensei's other work, One-Punch Man, was also in the middle of production. I wondered if he wanted to bring some of the coolness of One-Punch Man's flavorful art style and flashy action scenes into Mob Psycho 100, too.

T: But he was also willing to listen to what the people involved with the production wanted to do with the project. ONE-san is the kind of person that'd get happy when we'd say, "We want to make the work look cool in this way," or "We want to keep it close to the original." In the end, since the entire anime staff wanted to make the most of the manga's original charm, we made sure to have ONE-san check over all our character designs and make slight changes to them.

K: Most of those changes was me making the jawlines a little rounder. Also, I'm glad that we made Reigen's tie be pink. It's black in the manga, but I wanted to bring out some of Reigen's shadiness. So we narrowed down our tie color choices to pink, blue, and purple with the anime staff members, and consulted ONE-sensei about them.

-----And in the end, his tie became pink.

K: Right. I think the first thing I consulted ONE-sensei about was the color of Reigen's tie. I talked with him about that, and the exact type of blue that should go on the girls' uniforms. I wanted to make them a bright blue like Usagi's uniform in Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, but that blue didn't really suit Tome-san well (laughs).

T: It worked fine on Mezato and Tsubomi, but it didn't look good on Tome at all (laughs).

K: It looked really good on Mezato, since her hair is a bright color, too! So to make it fit on Tome, we adjusted the blue to be a little darker, and went to get ONE-sensei's opinion in it...

T: Right, right. And he said, "Isn't it a little too blue?"

K: So we toned the blues back a little bit.

-----Are there any other conversations you had with ONE-sensei that stood out to you?

T: This doesn't have much to do with the anime production, but I bumped into ONE-san at last year's end-of-the-year party, and we started talking about what we start with when making a new story. For me, I make the story after I decide on exactly what themes I want to depict, and insert characters into that world afterwards. But ONE-san is the complete opposite. He starts off by making the characters.

K: Apparently, the first character he made for Mob Psycho 100 was Reigen.

T: Reigen used to be the protagonist. After he made the "self-proclaimed psychic" character, he made "a boy that's a real esper, but doesn't really want to use his powers" to serve as a contrast to that character.

K: So it's like Mob-kun was made to bring out the best of Reigen's personality.

T: Since the first thing he thinks about are the qualities of each character, it makes sense that there are so many charming characters in ONE-san's works. According to ONE-san, once he has a really charming character in place, the story naturally builds itself around that character. Also, I asked him if he based any of the characters of Mob Psycho 100 on people he knew, but he said not in particular.

-----Then, tell us about the things you had to pay attention to or found difficult working with in both the character designs and the actual animation.

K: I based the character designs off of the art in volumes 9 and 10 of the manga, but when using those designs to tell stories from the first volume of the manga, I wanted to bring each character's facial expressions and general atmosphere closer to how they were in volume 1. I felt like we wouldn't be able to bring out this work's unique atmosphere if we didn't try to preserve the atmosphere of the first two volumes. So I put a lot of my efforts into bringing as much of the manga's charm as I could onto the screen.

T: With the character designs, the only ones that we kept asking ONE-san about were Mob and Reigen's, weren't they?

K: Tsubomi-chan too, I think.

-----Regarding the two mains, Mob and Reigen - exactly what about them did you talk to ONE-sensei about?

K: We talked about the color of Reigen's tie, as I mentioned earlier, and about how much "cooler" we could make Mob and Reigen. The looks of all the other characters depend on how Mob-kun and Reigen feel. I can get a good grasp of how much cooler I can make those characters based on them. For instance, Ritsu shares a lot of facial features with Mob-kun, but he still has to look cooler than him. So when drawing Mob-kun, I had to be careful not to make him stand out too much.

T: By the way, Kameda-san, when you draw characters, what part of the character do you start from? ONE-san said that he usually starts from the nose...

K: I've heard that, too. I don't think I could start from the nose... I usually sketch out the shape of the face first. But once when I saw ONE-sensei drawing on an autograph board, he started with the hand!! When I saw that, I figured that he must immediately have an image of what he's about to draw in his head. What do you start from, Tachikawa-san?

T: I start with the shape of the face first, too.

K: On the topic of faces, in Mob Psycho 100, the characters' faces are a lot rounder than ones from other works. Most other characters are drawn with large foreheads or sharper chins, but Mob-kun and the others don't have as much variety in the shape of their faces. I try to pay attention to that when drawing them.

-----They do seem to be fairly round-looking.

K: Another thing that I personally paid close attention to were the ears. The antitragus (part of ear above the earlobe) on the ears that ONE-sensei draws stand out more than in your average design. I didn't specifically tell the other animators to do this, but I myself made sure to imitate the way ONE-sensei draws ears. I've gotten so used to it that now I want to draw that shape in all my other works (laugh).

-----We've asked you two a lot about the characters so far. Which characters would you call your favorite?

T: Reigen for me. I like how human he is. My favorite Reigen is in volume 9 of the manga, so I'm a little sad that we couldn't get that far in this season of the anime...

K: Some of Reigen's best moments come after what we could put into season 1, after all. My favorite is Mezato. In my opinion, she's way cuter than Tsubomi-chan!

-----By February 22nd, all of the Blu-rays and DVDs for the series will have been released. Out of all twelve episodes, which episodes would you like viewers to pay special attention to?

K: I would say episode 8. That episode marked off a chapter in Mob-kun and Ritsu-kun's relationship, so we put a lot of focus into the expressions in that episode. Also, we put a lot of effort into episode 1 of the series, because that was where we had to show off what Mob Psycho 100 is all about. Between the normal everyday scenes and the comedic scenes, Mob-kun's facial expression doesn't change a lot, so we warped Reigen's face a lot to make up for it. In the end, that made Reigen look like he was carrying a comedy routine all on his own (laughs). He became a lot more animated than his manga counterpart.

T: I mean, Mob's not that expressive, so he had to be. I think I'd have to go with episode 11. There's the part where Mob's emotions begin to steer out of control and Reigen slaps him on the cheeks, saying, "When things go south, it's okay to run away!" After that, we enter a scene showing Mob and Reigen's first meeting. I actually planned to put this scene in from the very beginning. One of the reasons behind that was because I wanted to focus on developing the story with Mob and Reigen at its center. But the chief reason was because I felt that without it, we wouldn't be able to properly show that Mob decided it was "okay to run away" because Reigen told him that he'd "show [him] how to use [his] powers." I'm glad that it worked so well in the episode. In the manga, that entire scene takes place in a long windowless corridor, but for the sake of dramatization, we destroyed the building in the anime and turned it into an open space where you could see the sky and the moon.

-----There were several other scenes in the anime besides the one about Mob and Reigen's meeting that came from later volumes.

T: The meeting scene comes from volume 9. We wanted to do the "Fake Vase" omake story from volume 2, too, so we added that to episode 7.

K: There was also the "Terrifying Haunted Spot" omake manga from volume 1 that we put into the second half of episode 1, and the all-girls school infiltration chapter from volume 7 that we brought into episode 2.

T: We wanted each episode to have its own little incident to wrap up, and we also wanted to fit some exorcism stories in because they were fun.

K: But starting from episode 3, Ekubo showed up...

T: And in episode 4, Teru gets introduced, so the story kept moving along on its own...

K: In the end, we could only give the first two episodes their own little stories to wrap up. But since they both dealt with exorcisms, I think they did a good job in showing Mob-kun and Reigen's relations to each other and their strength as a combo.

-----Finally, please leave a message for our readers.

K: I'm extremely happy that this work is still receiving this much support, even after the broadcast ended. Personally, I believe Mob Psycho 100 has so much more to offer beyond the 7th Branch arc that we could show in this season. With your continued support, I think we'd be able do a second season, so we would greatly appreciate your help.

T: Mob Psycho 100 is a work that anyone can enjoy over and over again, so I encourage you to rewatch it. I'd also be happy if you enjoyed the specials in the Blu-ray and DVDs, along with the drama CD. I would be glad to continue the story past season 1 as well, so please take good care of us.

-------------------------------------------------------------

*: "Orders" refers to magazine orders. Whenever a series gets a piece of official art featured in a magazine, the studio usually receives a direct order from the magazine outlining exactly what characters they'd like in the piece, along with the situation they should be in.

~~~~~~

Translator: Kaga Scanalated by: Clay source

#mob psycho 100 #mp100 #mp100 spoilers

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rockmiyabideusexmachina · 7 years

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2017 Megaman Valentine’s Day Contest: Talent Category Winners and Art (*Image Overload!*)

Sorry for the delay on this again, but you guys definitely made judging this a challenge, with all the awesome entries! And my internet connection cut out last night, so I had a little retyping to do today. ^^;

There were so many Talent submissions, 25, that it alone was pretty much bigger than any amount of total entries I’ve ever received for a whole year’s contest! Thanks for overwhelming me!! ;D

For this category, entitled “Step into this Capsule X...And Receive This Fashionable Formalwear!”, entrants were required to draw at least one couple in their best formal attire, enjoying time together for an anniversary/party/date.

So both for simplicity, and the fact that it wouldn’t be fair or even remotely easy to rank each one, I will just be listing the Top 3 prize winning entries, and follow that with the remaining entries in alphabetical order. Even if you did not place, I am humbled and wowed by the effort you all put into your artwork. Believe me, I enjoyed them all, and so many were deserving of placing! But unfortunately, even with all I’m giving away this year, I can’t give you all something in return, other than my sincere appreciation. And I’m sure you all will love them, too!

This year, judging was done by @annamariacoppi and myself. With her experience as an illustrator/package designer, AnnaMaria brings some different insight from my own, as I always try to have some added perspective, besides just mine. Commentary from at least one of us on your art will also be seen below.

Each artist’s name will link to a (hopefully) larger version I’ve uploaded, that will work until you guys upload your art on your own pages, followed by their tumblr handle or deviantArt page, if applicable. If a link is broken or I screwed up somewhere, let me know. This was a lot to verify!

Without further ado, here are your winners (who I will contact soon) and the rest of spectacular, snazzily-dressed contest entries:

1.) Kaitlin.EXE (@kaitlinexe) - Zero x Iris, X x Alia, Axl x Pallette:

AnnaMaria said: Love all the outfits you designed! So much detail went into this! I like how "classic" looking everyone is dressed. It's so different compared to the other entries. Even their hair styles look great. I like how their hair is more shiny than their clothes. You can tell it's a different material quality. Would have liked to see a proper background. Right now I can't really tell where they are.

Miyabi said: In many ways, this piece feels like an X meets Disney sort-of-tale, with the elegant Victorian-era fashion flair. Both the overall intricacies of their clothing, like Zero’s braided booblight tassels (I don’t care if you disagree, that’s what they are!! LOL), to their glammed-up hair, I felt your piece overall had the strongest detail and creativity concerning the theme, which involved formalwear and the celebration of love. And still a touch of humor involved, with Pallette’s clumsiness, most likely as she’s getting used to dancing in heels.

2.) Tabby (@digitallyfanged) - Maverick Party Limo:

AnnaMaria said: I like the lighting you have going on. Feels very glowy, and I can tell it's in the evening. Their outfits are nice. Very elegant looking! I like the movement in the champagne glass in the back a lot! Helps make the scene feel alive. I would have liked to see more detail in the clothing. Since this is a very shadow heavy scene, textures should show up more. That being said, the pattern texture on Sigma's outfit is really nice looking. The other outfits look a bit plain in comparison. Would have loved to see that feather boa fleshed out more. A softer edge around it will help make it look "fluffier". Some more color would help. It's very heavy in the purple and black as it is.

Miyabi said: Those Maverick bosses always have to glow in the dark, don’t they? The fancy digital limo ceiling is fitting for evil robots, while the deep pinks and purples fit the common color theme that links most of them together, besides their penchant for inflicting pain on those Maverick Hunters. The gentlemen look dapper, although paperboy Lumine seems just as uncomfortable in his clothing as he is partying with the squad. I liked how you still kept Ferham and Berkana’s armor motif tied into their dresses. As funny as the bonus Vile image is, I have to imagine he’d rather be popping out the sunroof, with shoulder cannon ready, in his fancy new stretch ride armor! ;p

3.) Iris-Sempi (@iris-sempi) - Zero x Iris, X x Layer, Axl x Marino:

AnnaMaria said: I really like how this looks it could be strait out of an animation scene. It's got all the right framing for it! The emotion with the colors are really nice. The outfits are nicely done, and I like the perspective in Iris dress. It feel like it's moving! I can clearly tell what's going on, and the story is very strait forward. I think if there was a spotlight above Zero and Iris, that would help put the focus even more on them. I would also move them over a tad more to the left. It would make for a even better composition.

Miyabi said: With all the warm colors towards the upper half of this pic, my eye was definitely drawn to the cooler hues of Iris’ dress. Her shocked look, along with the way it flows, definitely gives me the feeling that Zero has some pretty outstanding SA-class Foxtrot Paso Doble skills. I love the looks of excitement and pride on the faces of the other couples, as the lovebirds hit center stage. Truly, a wonderful scene!

And to keep this from extending too long on your dash, the remaining 22 entries for this category are after the cut...

Continuing with the rest of these fantastic pieces, alphabetically by alias:

- Archer-Poyochu (@archer-poyochu) - Subaru x Misora:

Miyabi said: While the bright city lights would probably cancel out viewing of the beautiful shooting stars in the sky, it looks like Subaru is showing Misora the more earthly light show on that romantic balcony overlook. Nice touch with her clef hair clip.

- Artistic Sunny (Artistic Sunny) - Enzan x Meiru:

Miyabi said: Cute details on Meiru’s dress, tying in the floral hair clip and pearls with it. Going with the nighttime scene, obviously it should be darker, but the heavier shading on Enzan makes it a little harder to see the details in his outfit. But with arms intertwined, it’s obvious they are both enjoying the night out on the town.

- Bassrocks (@bassrocks) - Prom Dance:

AnnaMaria said: Really cute! I like the feel of this one! Color choices are nice. The pinks and purples feel very "Valentines". The punch bowl and cup stack are a nice touch. I like the effort that was put into the background, but it could use some perspective work. Anatomy is bit off in some places, but if you work on the perspective a bit, that would help correct it a bit. Would have liked to see more detail in their outfits. I like the accessories you added, but the girl's dresses seem a bit plain. Some clothing construction seams could help.

- Borockman (@borockman) - Zero x Iris (w/ Sigma x Nana):

Miyabi said: What’s this? Why aren’t Sigma and Nana the stars of this red carpet gala?! It’s probably because of that Willy Wonka outfit. Didn’t rate high with the fashion police. Love trying to make out faces in the crowd, and how they are all enjoying their eyecandy. Both couples look quite elegant!

- Chocoorchid (@chocoorchid) - Zero x Layer:

Miyabi said: A cute closeup, and with the border design, almost reminiscent of a camera’s frame. Pinstripes are a sharp look for Zero, and in fact, I think you’re the only one to try that design in this contest. Just would have liked to see a little more of them in the image!

- CptRedder (cptredder) - Aeolus, Thetis, Atlas and Siarnaq:

Miyabi said: Aeolus isn’t sure if he needs to blow out Atlas’ flame with that rose offering! At the very least, he’s getting a little hot under the collar. I really like the sketchy, splotchy white border around them, it’s a different look. And keeping the pink hues to the shading bounces off the background pretty good.

Creator of Worlds (@thecreatorofworlds) - Anniversary Dance, Complete With Rock and Roll Clothing Changing Capsule .gifs, and Instagram party post:

AnnaMaria said: I appreciate the fake Instagram comments! They were fantastic! I like how the outfits feel, like I could actually go out and sew these myself if I wanted. Shows you know how clothing construction works. The outfit designs are very nice. Not too upper classy, but a good fit for them. The slight glow in the eyes is a nice touch. Would have loved to see a proper background. Right now the characters feel a bit disconnected from the background you have right now. Either the character tones/color should be a bit darker, or the background a bit lighter, so they feel more apart of that world.

Miyabi said: I think it’s awesome that you took the time to create the animated .gifs that had both Rock and Roll changing in the capsule, perfectly echoing the title of this category! Creatively, one of my faves, due to all the little extras that come with your submission. Clean lines and colors, where simple is better and still stands strong. Skull Man is adorable in his bowtie!

- Cuddlesnowy (@cuddlesnowy) - X x Zero:

Miyabi said: Blushin’ buds captured in a moment frozen in time. Cute innocent pic, and the photo frame helps show it was a special pic for both of them. Or that there’s still a Sears portrait studio near Maverick Hunter HQ...LOL

- DarlinHope (@darlinhope) - X x Merti:

Miyabi said: I really dig your painterly style, as it creates a really unique look that stands out. The starry sky seen through the large window behind them is gorgeous! The grey vest/pants combo is a nice muted contrast on the dapper X, compared to the bright yellows and gold of Merti.

- DreamingandGaming (@dreamingandgaming) - Ice Man x Roll, Kalinka x Rock, + Blues:

AnnaMaria said: Very cute. I like how the outfits are simplified to match the very cartoony style. Would have liked to see some center pieces on the tables, or other decorations to make it feel more like a party.

Miyabi said: Blues is too cool for your dances! I really thought Roll’s heart-shaped dress and all of Kalinka’s frills were unique touches to their dresses. Kalinka’s reminds me of a delicious multi-tier cake with black frosting trim, actually. LOL The Valentine’s fireworks cap off a fun, adorable scene.

- Gingler (gingler) - Swanky Couple Anniversary Dinner Party:

AnnaMaria said: I like how many characters are in this piece. You've managed to make it look not too cluttered, and I can easily tell what's going on. Each table and dancing couple is telling a different story, and I love that! Some constructive criticism would be to add some proper lighting. There's a light coming from above, yet there aren't any shadows. It makes it feel a little off. However, this is great example of storytelling!

Miyabi said: I really hope a bolo tie impresses Akane...a ninja wearing a western tie, what is this?! ;p I love the doctors just soaking in the evening while their humanized robo-children all intermingle. Enjoy having a few waiters and musical entertainment in the scene, too. You have a unique take on all the RMs, yet they are all pretty recognizable. Also, pimp Wily is pimpin’!

- IrisClou (@iris-clou) - Storm Eagle x Axl:

Miyabi said: Eagle looks so casual suave with his open-buttoned shirt and martini. Both he and Axl can leave the penguin suits for...well, Chill Penguin! Your rainbow hues for the warm background and cool couch are an awesome looking contrast. The colors on this are pretty unique.

- Jewel Maiden (@jewelmaiden) - Dynamo x Layer (w/Zero x Iris):

Miyabi said: Dat Iris grin! Seems like she had a plan to keep Layer away from Zero. LOL The floral lace pattern of Layer’s dress is gorgeous, and ties in to the mechanical forest background. Dynamo’s space-y tie is pretty neat, too!

- LightLabs (@lightlabs) - Sigma x Sigma’s Reflection (w/Zero x Iris):

AnnaMaria said: Very funny, but still serious... Nice! This has a nice feel to it. I like your choice of colors a lot. The background looks nice. Would have loved to see more detail in the outfits. I can see a lot in the mirror, but a good chunk is hiding behind the rose.

Miyabi said: I like the dimly lit restaurant scene, and the little details like the heart-shaped chair and Green Biker Dude host. Hilarious giving Sigma those narcissistic qualities, loving himself more than anything else in the world.

- Metakit (@metakit) - Freeze Man x Star Man:

Miyabi said: The background pattern here is pretty unique, and I like how you were able to tie their main colors into it, while still not blending in too much that it takes away from the duo. Freeze in particular gives me a James Bond character vibe in his fancy getup. LOL

- Myan - Gemini Man x Gemini (Wo?)Man:

Miyabi said: Love the movement of Gemini Man taking a dip back! The bottom trim of his shirt coming out also sort of ties into looking like his crystal headpiece, too! Never one to shy from the spotlight, his twin proves that a Gemini can look good in a dress as well.

- Nat-Grim (Nat-grim) - Atlas x Aeolus:

Miyabi said: Rolling out the red carpet, Atlas rocks the V-Day red pantsuit well, while I like the extended tail on Aeolus’ suit, along with his heart-shaped tie. Definitely feels like a gala event photo op!

- Paranoid King Cepheus (@paranoidkingcepheus) - The largest entry ever known to mankind that I can’t even begin to thumbnail on tumblr...so I’ll just crop out this image of Akane dancing with Shadowman.EXE while Top Man spins to the beat:

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4.

Miyabi said: You are insane for once again adding in all the characters that you have! And I love the massive effort! An adorable tale of Jack getting to the dance and so many hijinks and easter eggs in-between, with a very cute ending.

- Prosaic Wonder (@vava-fett) - Anniversary Dance:

AnnaMaria said: I really like all the characters packed into here! Each one is telling a different story, and a lot of them are actually pretty funny. I especially love the random leg with the high heel sticking out. I also appreciate you trying to match the original art style somewhat. The cell shading is really nice here! Ok, I'm gonna get super picky here. If those are Roll's hands holding up the cellphone taking a picture... They look more like adult hands. Child hands should be a bit more dainty and rounder looking. The style of her nail polish is also a bit "adult/older looking", even a bit out of fashion in style. I would have expected her to wear some glitter polish, perhaps even some fake rhinestones. Yes, this is silly comment, but since this category is focusing on the attires, I felt I had to address it. That being said, I really wish I could see more of their outfits. You did a great job designing so many of them, but all we really see are their heads a bit of their torso.

Miyabi said: I don’t know which I’ll be able get out of my head first: Gemini Man in a feather boa and thong or Top Man’s sexy stocking leg... A lot of fun and amusing interactions between the characters/couples here; I agree that it’s a little unfortunate for most that we can only see their heads, but there is so much to enjoy about your style and all that’s going on in the scene! It’d work as an awesome cover image, for sure!

Soulivium (@su5anlee) - Dark Kirisaki x Iris.EXE:

AnnaMaria said: I really like the costume design. It's very formal and modern looking! I especially like the lace around the dress, and how they are both wearing purple and red to match each other. Would have loved to see a background.

Miyabi said: Very fancy attire on both. I love the dueling abstract lacy sides to both Iris’ dress and necklace. It’s really gorgeous. The heart-shaped Killer Eye with scythes on top of Kirisaki’s top hat is fun and unique for a character like him to wear.

- Wimzik (@wimzik) - Netto x Food (and also Meiru + Jasmine) + Laika x Pride:

Miyabi said: Typical oblivious Netto, stuffing his face rather than mingling with the ladies! Great job telling a story, showing Meiru’s jealousy over Jasmine’s flirtation, and Laika’s nerves keeping him from leaving Netto’s side. The girls’ dresses are all unique and tailored to their personalities, and I’m amused that Netto felt like a striped tie would double as a fancy headband to make him feel dressed up!

- Wintesm (@wintesm) - Prom Photo Memories Bulletin Board:

Miyabi said: I love the continuity from last year’s prom entry continuing here, with a photo memory board. And there are still Search Snakes running amok! A lot of cute scenes, although I think I lean heavily towards the 3 on the far right as my favorite ones.

Thanks to all once again! Be proud of what you submitted!

Still working on typing the Humor Category results. They are coming soon, too! *faints from organizing this*

#Rockman #Megaman #Rock Miyabi's 2017 Valentine's Day Contest #Too many tags to list #Thank you!#Other people's art

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