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teamjacobthot · 3 years

Note

Dee did you know the Wolfpack actors knew Taylor wasn’t Native American

Here’s the interview from the web archives

https://web.archive.org/web/20100619091323/http://movies.about.com/od/newmoon/a/wolfpack-interview_3.htm

i’m dead as fuck @ this interview

In the movie, you all have tattoos. Do you have real tattoos or would you like to have one?

Chaske Spencer: "We all have real tattoos."

Alex Meraz: "Which take about three hours getting covered up. One thing we have been talking about is maybe, depending on where this goes, by the end of the films, we're thinking about getting the wolfpack tattoo."

Chaske Spencer: "Yeah, it's been a real experience for all of us."

Alex Meraz: "It's a milestone."

Chaske Spencer: "It's a milestone. It's changed our lives."

Is Taylor going to have the tattoo, too?

Chaske Spencer: [Laughing] "Oh, I can't speak for him."

Alex Meraz: "Maybe if he's 18 by the time we do it!"

What was your first reaction whenever you first saw your wolf in the finished film?

Bronson Pelletier: "When Paul changed, I honestly…"

Alex Meraz: "He had to change his underwear!"

Bronson Pelletier: "I literally got goosebumps. I was like, 'Wow, that's awesome!' It looks amazing. Chris Weitz does an amazing, amazing job, and the special effects team."

Alex Meraz: "Yeah, Phil Tippett. He did an amazing job with the special effects. For me, I'd always wanted to be in a film where it's not so much driven with CG, but I could be something bigger than life, I could have some kind of superpower. So for me to be able to transform into a wolf and have a fight and all that, I was like a kid in a candy store. I couldn't ask for anything more."

Did the wolves all suit you?

Everybody: "Oh, yeah!"

Alex Meraz: "There were mannerisms that Phil Tippett and his team actually did to make them all stand as individuals. You can tell the difference between one wolf and the other, and also suited it to what our characters were and what we brought to the table."

Chaske Spencer: "And our eyes. Our eyes stay the same."

Bronson Pelletier: "Our real eyes are actually on our wolves, so it's pretty cool."

Taylor is not Native American, so can you talk about teaching what Native American means to you?

Chaske Spencer: "He was very open about that. He understands. We did the best we could with him, and he's the right guy for the part. He's the right guy for the part, and I'm very protective of him."

Kiowa Gordon: "He's like our brother."

Chaske Spencer: "He's like our brother. Nothing but mad love for him."

What did you talk about teaching him?

Chaske Spencer: "We asked a lot of stuff about the tribes and stuff like that, and we would talk to him and tell him. There are certain things that I do in my culture that I told him about, and he was really open to it."

Alex Meraz: "That's the thing. We're not even Quileute. The tribes we are is not Quileute. So for us to represent that tribe, it's as if we weren't even Native. It wouldn't really matter, because they have different customs than all of us do. It wasn't like we had to teach him how to be a Quileute Native, because we don't know how to be that either. All we had was our culture to bring into the filmmaking. We just knew how to respect the mythology of the tribe, and Taylor definitely is receptive to it."

Chaske Spencer: "He has his own culture, and he could draw from that."

How did you learn about the Quileutes and what do you know now about them?

Alex Meraz: "During the process of auditioning, I did as much research as I could about the Quileutes, knowing that they're whalers. They inspired the shape of their canoes to be pretty much clipper ships. They were really fast, and they were able to go from the Washington area all the way down to San Diego hunting whales. I learned about the mythology, really, the creation story. The Quileute came from wolves and transformed into people, but they don't go back. That's the thing, they don't go back. That's the aspect that Stephenie changed and took some things and put it in this fantasy realm."

Chaske Spencer: "I was amazed by the storytelling, which you were talking about. I was really attracted to that."

Was it awkward to spend so much time with your shirt off in the movie, or did you get comfortable with it?

Chaske Spencer: [Laughing] "Whatever puts the ladies in seats for the tickets!"

Alex Meraz: "That's what we've been telling guys. 'Guys, watch the film, because your girlfriends will be watching it.'"

Chaske Spencer: "The thing is though, there's action in New Moon. So bring the boyfriends, I think they'll really like it."

Alex Meraz: "They don't have a choice. Their girlfriends are going to be there."

Chaske Spencer: "They don't have a choice."

Alex Meraz: "But it wasn't awkward. By the time we got to start filming, we had already been working out shirtless. You know, it's like a costume. It really is. You wear it, you don it and you own it. You can't be intimidated about your body. That's not the time to be doing that, when that little red light's blinking and you're being filmed."

Chaske Spencer: "It also helps us get into character as well."

Bronson Pelletier: "Exactly. As soon as I got out there with my shorts and no shirt on, I felt the part, you know?"

Alex Meraz: "As soon as I got the bronzing on, I felt it."

Bronson Pelletier: "Good old bronzing. That always ended up on my socks."

Chaske Spencer: "That stuff is hard to wash off, too."

Alex Meraz: "I think they put motor oil on us."

Have any of you had any offers to be in magazine or on a cover shirtless?

Chaske Spencer: "Yeah. You know, this franchise, you're going to see us with our shirts off a lot. No more taking the shirts off. It's going to be up there, immortal, on film."

Alex Meraz: "It was in the contract. 'Beware, you're going to be objectified.'"

Chaske Spencer: "Oh yeah. We are the pieces of meat."

Alex Meraz: "But I did something for People magazine shirtless. But at this point, it's all in respect to the film. So it's fine for this particular franchise. If I was doing something else and I had a suit on, I'm sure they'd want me in a suit for publicity or for other things. So, it's for a project."

How cold did it get?

Alex Meraz: "About 30 degrees, raining. Pretty cold. Very cold."

Chaske Spencer: "Like he said, we could cut glass with our nipples."

Alex Meraz: "We had a glass-cutting company: Wolfpack & Friends."

#twilight cast #alex meraz #chaske spencer #bronson pelletier #kiowa gordon

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notbang · 3 years

Text

thoughts of you subside, then i get another letter

[Facebook Messenger window: Nathaniel

THUR 12:07

hey!

are you there?

12:13

the little green light is on next to your name that supposedly means you’re online so I kind of feel like gatsby right now jsyk

…that may have been a little dramatic

definitely feeling like this is some kind of glitch because I know you think social media is a productivity suck and it’s the middle of the work day so the chances of you not being knee deep in the environmental law equivalent of guatemalan jungle mud right now are slim to none

but I’m bored and restless and kind of having a shitty day (phone call with the mother this morning… ugh… enough said) so if it’s all the same to you I’m just going to continue to send my thoughts out into the internet ether where you’ll probably never see them

12:32

https://www.buzzfeed.com/25-times-red-pandas-were-relatable-af

what are your thoughts on red pandas? I love their bushy tails and how they’re kind of like little red raccoons??

okay so I just googled guatemalan wildlife and here are some animals I think you should consider wrestling when you get bored of your monkeys:

a quetzal - national bird of guatemala, could possibly get you thrown in jail? also endangered. maybe don’t wrestle so much as gently tussle

an armadillo - they’re armoured and weird and cartoons lead me to believe they roll up into balls? please confirm

VAMPIRE BATS - self explanatory

an ocelot - looks like a house cat but will rip you to shreds. a comical misdirect

a toucan - why are their beaks so big? just feel like it would be funny idk

a FREAKING BASILISK - oh my god BASILISKS ARE REAL???? I don’t know what to do with this information. fuck.

12:48

still reeling about the basilisk agenda

anyway I’m supposed to be writing but I just keep scrolling and I know I should just close my browser but I CAN’T because writing is the worst it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done

remember when I told you breaking up with you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done? WRONG that was a walk in the park my friend

(sorry to rehash old wounds)

12:59

I know I owe you a letter btw but in case I haven’t made it clear writing is currently my mortal enemy and I am currently only capable of charming streams of consciousness

wonder if I could harness that somehow. I could be, like, the virginia woolf of songwriting.

morbid thought: your little icon thing-y at the top of the window kind of makes me feel like I’m having a one sided conversation with your portrait at your wake

I don’t know why I said that wow that’s such a weird creepy thing to say??

but also I stand by it

nathaniel plimpton iii: mauled by monkeys. may he rest in peace

(I know we’ve covered this but please don’t die)

you’d think I would have learned my lesson joking about that since the last time but turns out I decidedly have Not

13:07

I love how I don’t even need you here for this conversation, really, because I already know exactly what you’d say. something about my pervasive inability to focus on work, probably

you’d be wrong, though - the reason I felt so free to focus on other things was that practicing law was easy. I could argue municipal code in my sleep! but writing songs? god, you have no idea. you’re lucky you don’t have a creative bone in your objectively aesthetically pleasing body because being creative is the fucking worst

it’s just occurred to me that perhaps you’re ignoring me because of the aforementioned letter-owing

and in response to that I’d say: who’s keeping tabs, really? should friendship be about keeping score?

so I just checked and it has been literal months since you wrote me and since the last time we went this long without corresponding it turned out you’d been in hospital recovering from a monkey mauling, I want to make it clear that I’m not in hospital, I’m just terrible

I’ve been working hard at being a more reliable friend lately but turns out that’s easier when it mostly consists of responding to impromptu facetimes with your friends that have moved to different law firms and cities and states and not so much the physical act of handwriting to words to your ex boss slash boyfriend that moved to a different country.

we draw the line at political borders, apparently!

this electronic word vomit DOES have me considering the merits of switching to email, but I’m also really attached to how romantic the act of letter writing is?? Who needs immediacy, really

to be clear, I mean romantic in the byronesque, whimsical idealism sense of the word. I’m not, like, coming on to you via Facebook messenger.

hahahahaha because that would be so wired right

*weird

yeah.

13:22

anyway speaking of weird I’ve had my notebook open on the table next to me for well over an hour now and yet somehow this song hasn’t written itself which is basically a hate crime at this point

do you think in the future they’ll have some kind of technology that can extract images from your mind and adequately express them on the page for you? elon musk and his waifish canadian baby mama should get onto that

because these songs are always so clear in my head - we’re talking costumes, set pieces, montages - and the second the pen is in my hand it’s like crickets chirping

🦗🦗🦗

what would you say is the natural soundscape of guatemala btw? are there bug noises? I always imagine it with bug noises

13:39

do you need bug spray? I could send you bug spray

13:52

it has since occurred to me they probably have bug spray in guatemala which is probably for the best because they’re always weird about mailing aerosols since they might explode or something

hey. if your sabbatical had a theme song, what do you think it would be? right now I’m picturing a duran duran - hungry like the wolf kind of deal but you’re like… hungry for new opportunities or something

how do you feel about dressing like indiana jones?

idk I’ll workshop it and get back to you

anyway time to actually focus on my song writing so… sayonara I guess. or, as one might say in guatemala:

nos vemos 💩

16:37

ok ok ok so I maaaay have just googled 'elon musk mind reading’ instead of song writing and that maaaay have lead me down a terrifying two hour long rabbit hole where I learned way more about the future of technology than I care for bUT BUT

https://www.thecorset.com/article/4372-elon-musk-grimes-rococo-basilisk

thanks, baader meinhof phenomenon. basilisk agenda CONFIRMED.

okay, actually signing off now but for realz. I’ve abandoned any delusion of you ever actually reading this which is probably for the best at this point but thanks for inadvertently keeping me company in my procrastination 💕 - strongly slash apologetically worded letter to follow.

maybe. hopefully. if I ever actually remember how to write.

bunch out!

💩]

#crazy ex girlfriend #rebecca x nathaniel #thoughts of you subside then i get another letter #my fic #shows up 6 months later with starbucks and a format change

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bgn846 · 3 years

Text

Marshal’s Creed FFXV Fanfic

Summary:

Cor dresses up for the annual Halloween gala in hopes to win a bet. Can he beat out everyone else at the party with the best costume?

Notes:

I had a fun prompt from my friend @ragewerthers for Cor Leonis getting invited to a Halloween party.... but what in the HELL is he supposed to go as?! Do Regis and Clarus help him? Do the boys help him? Does he decide to go scary? Funny? Mythical?

I hope you all enjoy, I had fun writing this! :)

Work Text:

“What is he wearing?” Regis asked under his breath from where they were standing near the steps to the throne.

“Not so sure, but it seems pretty popular with the ladies,” Clarus admitted as he craned his neck to see better.

“Dear six, he looks half-naked!” spluttered Regis after a moment.

“Sorta, he’s got pants and maybe something someone would consider a shirt on.” Though Clarus was still clueless as to what Cor had dressed up as. The annual Halloween gala was always a fun event. However, the marshal never dressed up.

Ever.

It was only the quick thinking of Regis with the tempting draw of a bet that enticed their friend into wearing anything special this year. A hefty amount of 500gil sat waiting for Cor if he dressed up and won one of the sundry costume awards to be gifted that night. The prizes given out were little awards trinkets, and the bragging rights until the next party. Of course, Cor could care less about any of that, the only reason he’d even agreed, was to prove Regis wrong and maybe relieve him of some decent spending cash.

The king had figured Cor wasn’t creative enough to even stand a chance. Regis had merely snorted and waved him off when the marshal assured them he’d win something. Now, as Clarus watched their friend navigate through the crowd he was beginning to think Regis might have to pay up at the end of the night.

The squeals of impressed party goers only got louder as Cor approached, as did the flash of lights from photos being snapped. The crowds dispersed once he’d reached the king. Cor yawned once seemingly bored with the whole affair already. “You might as well give me the money now, Regis.”

“Never!” the king hissed, “You aren’t going to win, look at you! What is that, it looks like a pile of rags!”

Before Cor could answer a young staffer passing by interrupted them with a shout, “Awesome costume!” They left just as quickly as Clarus began to examine the outfit in more detail.

“I’m afraid I’m lost as to what you are, care to enlighten us?”

“Eh, this? I have no idea, Noct helped me pick it out. Said it was the best costume to wear and had Ignis go online and order me one before I could say no.”

“You asked my son to help you?”

“Nope, he found out I was going to dress up and he nearly flipped. How could I say no, he begged me to let him help.”

“Still what the hell are you?” Regis asked in exasperation.

“An assassin I think?” Cor supplied with a furrowed brow. “Honestly, the kid was talking too fast for me to catch the exact name, but he said it was from a game.”

“Why in the heck would an assassin wear that? Your entire right side is exposed, seems like a defensive nightmare.”

“I’ll admit it’s not exactly realistic but it’s comfy at least.” Cor offered with a shrug.

“I don’t know why you let my son talk you into this, you look ridiculous.” Regis was about to add more when another party-goer/staffer wandered by and started staring. They were of course after a picture of Cor. The staffer was young and blushing like mad but still managed to ask for a selfie.

“I’m sorry what were you saying majesty? I got pulled away to have my picture taken because I’m going to win.”

Regis sneered and turned around to walk away. Clarus couldn’t help but snicker at the sight. Regis was a sore loser so a part of him hoped Cor wouldn’t win, but he probably would. The marshal, though not a youthful twenty-year-old anymore, could hold his own in the looks department. He was only in his forties now but still trained just as hard. His well-defined six-pack was evidence of that. Clarus suspected that most of the girls wandering over were trying to get a better look at what he’d been hiding under his guard uniform.

Cor for once didn’t mind the attention and even smiled for a few shots. It was nice to see his friend out of his element for once. “Have you seen his highness?” Clarus asked, figuring Noct would have at least had to help Cor get ready. Otherwise, the man wouldn’t have known how to wear the costume.

“Yeah, he’s coming soon, he was getting picky about his nails.”

“What?”

“You’ll see, he’ll match grumpy pants over there,” Cor announced with a chuckle. “Regis thinks sporting little tiny fake fangs makes him a good vampire. He’s so wrong.”

“Oh dear,” Clarus could only guess what Noct had conjured up. Ignis would have been key in gathering his needed elements, but the idea was most likely the princes. “What are the others dressing up as?”

Cor barked out a laugh, “I only saw Ignis and Prompto but it appeared they were wearing matching black suits.”

“That’s it?”

“Almost, if you don’t count the wolf tail they both had clipped to their belts and the wolf ear headbands.”

“I’m so confused,” he sighed. However, right as he was about to ask for more details a sudden hush overtook the room. Looking up he noticed what had caused the reaction. Ignis, Prompto, and his son were stalking over towards them. They all matched and looked quite formidable. However, Noct seemed to be missing. The black suits had matching black shirts and ties to go with. One might take them all for security guards aside from the addition of the animal ears atop their heads. One thing Cor hadn’t mentioned was their eye color. Each had donned a pair of contacts that made their eyes look golden and cat-like.

As they neared, Clarus realized there was a fourth pair of legs hiding behind Ignis. This must be the prince. Waiting patiently as the group finally came to a rest in front of them, Clarus was treated to the reveal. A pale hand with amusingly long pointy black nails slowly crept out from behind Ignis arm. It reached out and pointed straight at him. Then in a move that had Clarus snorting with laughter, Noct curled his fingers and beckoned him closer.

“You’re nuts if you think I’m letting you near me with those daggers,” he laughed.

Noct merely shook his finger and carefully leaned to the side to show his face. The prince’s hair was slicked back and someone had drawn in an exaggerated widow’s peak.

“I see you’re taking your role far more seriously than your father.”

“I shall win,” was all Noct uttered before he hissed and retreated behind his bodyguards again.

With a quick bow, Ignis led the way back out into the party. The advisor was playing his part very well and looked like he’d snap a person in two if they even tried to talk to the prince. Prompto was fighting to hide a smile as they turned to leave. Gladio offered Clarus and eyebrow waggle and a wink before he left. They were having fun it seemed.

“So forgive me for being a little behind on my fantasy lore, why are they all wearing animal ears and tails?” Clarus asked kindly.

“He’s a vampire and he needs his werewolf pack to protect him.”

“Ah, I see. Noct basically thought up the perfect costume, ensuring he doesn’t have to talk with anyone.”

“Pretty much, he’s clever in that way, unlike his old man!” Cor teased as Regis joined them again.

Ignoring Cor’s comment, Regis stared at Noct’s retreating party and tilted his head, “Was that my son?”

“Yep you missed the reveal; he’s a vampire with a coven of werewolves.”

Regis simply smiled and straightened his shoulders slightly, “He takes after me in so many ways.”

Cor groaned loudly and rolled his eyes, “You wish, look it I’m gonna go mingle and get some more votes in my favor. I’m winning this contest tonight, be ready to pay up.”

Regis tried to whack Cor in the shin with his cane, but the marshal was quicker and leaped out of the way. He laughed and casually wandered away, complete with a smug look of satisfaction.

“He’s such a brat sometimes,” Regis huffed.

“He’s only five years younger than you.”

“Shut it; let’s go see if we can convince the judges to ban him or something.”

Cor did not get banned.

Clarus had the joy of watching his friend claim a very special award, the citadels’ sexiest costume. Apparently, the panel of judges was also distracted by Cor’s exposed right side and six-pack. The few other contestants in that category didn’t stand a chance. No manner of makeup could fake muscles or a square jawline.

Regis didn’t have to pout for long though when his son won the night's overall best costume design. The king was proud of his son and his friends. They’d banded together to create a memorable look. Noct stayed in character when he accepted his award and tried to bite one of the presenters. Gladio sprang into action and held him back. The room erupted in laughter and cheers.

Suddenly thankful they could all enjoy moments like this together; Clarus smiled and looked over to his friend and King. Regis must have had a similar reaction as he returned a warm smile of his own and a small nod.

The rest of the night was a blur; Cor had come playfully demanding his money. Regis denied him, but Clarus knew he’d pay up in the morning. His liege kept trying to accuse Cor of cheating since he was only wearing half a costume. The marshal would then wiggle his award in front of Regis’ face as a rebuttal.

The music soon turned up loud enough that they couldn’t talk anymore. Opting to retreat to the far corner of the room the three friends sat and relaxed. They spend the remainder of the evening commenting on the costumes and the terrible music.

The End.

AO3 link is posted in the comments.

#ffxv #fanfic #cor leonis #the immortal #the marshal

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Future State is the Next Evolution for DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains spoilers for Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1

Never let it be said that Brian Michael Bendis doesn’t know how to keep busy. The prolific writer has had his hands full since coming to DC in 2018. Arriving with much fanfare on both Superman and Action Comics, Bendis also relaunched Young Justice, co-created a new DC mainstay in Naomi, wrote the excellent Batman: Universe, shepherded the Event Leviathan mini, and more. All of these books introduced new characters, re-tooled existing ones (such as aging up young Jonathan Kent to his mid-teens), and set various wheels in motion throughout the DC Universe.

And in the midst of that he also rebooted the team with the largest roster in all of comics, the one that brings with it the most complex web of continuity, the one that requires the most amount of worldbuilding by virtue of its 31st century setting. I am, of course, talking about the Legion of Super-Heroes.

It’s been a little over a year since the launch of Bendis and Ryan Sook’s ongoing Legion of Super-Heroes book, which kicked off in the Superman titles, brought the now Legion-aged Jon Kent along (any good Legion needs a Superboy…it’s the law), showcased some truly spectacular new character designs in Sook’s art (new costumes and regular redesigns for Legionnaires may as well be the law, too) and established what the 31st century of the current DC Universe looks like these days. In true Legion fashion…well, it’s a lot.

The book seemed to reach a stopping point with its twelfth issue, taking a brief hiatus. But not too brief, because as part of DC’s Future State initiative, which offers tantalizing glimpses of the DC Universe to come across the entire line, Bendis returns to the 31st century with the two-part Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes, this time aided and abetted by Riley Rossmo on art. And like Sook before him, Rossmo followed one of those unspoken Legion laws and gave a bunch of the Legionnaires new looks. Great new looks.

But…isn’t Legion of Super-Heroes by its very nature ALREADY a Future State book? Not exactly, and fans of the recent series will find plenty of surprises even as it picks up on story threads from the main series. Oh, and if the roster wasn’t big enough already, there are some Legionnaires you haven’t seen yet, and some fan favorites everyone has been waiting for. Bendis told us all about it…

(This interview has been edited for length)

Den of Geek: Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1 kicks off with a time jump from where we last saw the team in Legion of Super-Heroes #12. What can you tell us about that time jump?

Brian Michael Bendis: We were going to do a time jump after the first 12 issues, regardless. That was the plan because it’s in the DNA of Legion where you don’t have to, if you don’t want to, there’s no reason to stay [in one time period]. You don’t have to do monthly, to monthly, to monthly, like you would on Superman or Batman because it’s a shared universe and anything that happens in one book affects all the other books.

Whereas Legion, because it’s a thousand years in the future, you can do five years later. You can jump and bounce around and show the story from different perspectives. So the jump was always on the list of things to do with Legion. And then DC called and said, “Hey, Future State!” And I’m like, “Oh, great. Already in my notes.” It was all already planned. It’s the future, of the future. I liked that, so I leaned into it hard.

The issue isn’t clear about how much of a time jump it is, though.

No. The hint I will give is that it’s not as big of a time jump as people might think, considering the dramatic changes that have happened around them.

Is that time jump, and whatever it is that happened, tied to the “Great Darkness” that was being teased in the latter part of the main run? Or is this a separate event?

It is a separate event, but it doesn’t stop the momentum where they’re headed. They’re concerned that this is The Great Darkness. They’re like, “Oh, this is The Great Darkness. We can deal with it.” And then they go, “Oh, shit. This wasn’t The Great Darkness. This was just a mild case of darkness.” As bad as the event was, there’s something else coming. They live in almost…not fear, but in dread of what this Great Darkness is, how it may manifest itself, and whether they’ll be ready for it when it comes.

It’s funny, when I spoke to you before the launch of the book, I had asked you about the potential to touch on existing Legion stories. At the time, you were like, “No, we don’t want to do that,” and you specifically mentioned The Great Darkness Saga as one where “people know what’s going to happen.” And clearly you’ve found a way around that.

I think when we brought back Secret War or other things at Marvel, you want to find something that fits the label, but elevates. You don’t want to just repeat the beats of something people have already seen. I personally like it when, if you don’t know anything about the history of the Legion, it completely works. But if you know everything about Legion, we’ve got something for you. That’s been my goal from the get go.

You had said that the time jump was already probably going to be baked into the book anyway.

It was. It was like my third note when I was making my notes for Legion. It was like, “oh, and we don’t have to follow a linear timeframe.” We can tell stories from anywhere in this period, even going to prequel stories and then stories that go before they were all gathered as well.

How much of the specifics of that were in place before it became Future State? Was Riley Rossmo on art already on the table? Or did that happen later?

No. I’m very happy to report that Riley was the first name requested, and he immediately said yes. I had worked with Riley on a couple of things. There’s something about his work that very deeply speaks to me. I just was like, I would like to see more Legion with him.

I said, “This is a grand opportunity. Just go nuts.” That’s what you want for someone like Riley, to give him an excuse just to use all his tools and all his imagination. He took it from there.

And the script was really like… sometimes you write scripts, and they’re emotional, and sometimes they almost take on a list of drawing prompts. I was just prompting him to go as crazy as he wanted to go, and I would then take the ideas from there.

How did you settle on which Legionnaires would be part of this? Did Riley have input into that as well?

I 100% said to Riley, “Who do you want to draw?” I do this with anybody I can. If there’s any space in which we can meet. I’m like, “What would you like to draw?” I’ve learned through many years and many collaborations that just asking brings a level of craft and quality to the finished product that everyone gets excited about. When an artist points to something and says, “I want to draw that,” they’re telling you, “I’m going to draw the hell out of it and this is going to be amazing.” So I always try to make it work.

He had a list of characters, some of which I already knew he was going to pick from our past work together. I was able to use most of them. Also, I told him what the hook of the story was, so it was easy to cast. There were some character needs we had, like Saturn Girl, but he had already picked them.

One of my favorite things about the Legion in general, and then particularly about this run of it, it’s always about how the characters evolve and how the costumes get redesigned on a regular basis. This was the first opportunity since Ryan Sook did the designs in the main run for that to happen. Did you discuss any of Riley’s designs beforehand?

I told him “Here’s what’s happened to them, here’s who did it, here’s why, and make your choices. Here’s what’s motivating the character.” And then sometimes he came to me with designs where I went, “Oh, I can write a whole of stuff about that.” So, yeah, it was a nice mix.

It’s nice to see the Duo Damsel change happen.

See, I agree with you and I hated it at the same time. One of my favorite storylines of all time is the Duo Damsel thing. But it’s also like the biggest tragedy in comics to me. It’s like a haunting thing. It’s losing a limb but it’s a whole person. So, I was excited to write it and dreading it at the same time. I knew I would feel it and I knew that Riley would bring a lot to it too.

You’re able to encompass that whole thing in just a couple of panels too. It was really powerful.

Well, if I remember correctly, that’s how they did it back in the day too.

Yeah. It was like, she came back and they’re like, “Wait, you’re alive.” It’s like, “well, kind of…”

Yeah, and no one knows what to say. It’s just so unique, the tragedy.

There’s a lot of characters who appear in this issue. Shadow Lass, Ultra Boy, Brainiac 7, Saturn Girl, Colossal Boy, Chameleon Boy, Cosmic Boy, Timber Wolf, Blok, Duo Damsel, Bouncing Boy, and Element Lad. I rattled off the people that I know for sure because they’re throughout most of the book. And then page eight and nine, there’s this spread and there’s a few Legionnaires that I can’t quite identify. Is that Shrinking Violent and Polar Boy? Who are some of these others?

That’s the Substitute Heroes. Time jumping was number three on my list of Legion notes, but I think the Substitutes was number eight. May I say, hilariously at the announcement of this relaunch of a Legion of Super-Heroes, the first comment was, “Substitute Heroes.” I was like, bring them. We don’t want the Legion, we want the Substitutes. I was excited to bring them in here, and it seemed like a good place. And also, Riley was the right person to infuse them with new energy.

Who’s the guy wearing the Superman crest and the hood?

You will find out next issue. A payoff’s coming.

On page 23, you give Bouncing Boy possibly his most badass moment ever. How long have you been planning that Bouncing Boy moment in your head?

Riley made it the most badass moment ever, I will say. If you really do some pseudo-super-Legion science, he really does add up to be the most powerful Legionnaire. I just thought it was a great way to celebrate that character, which I love.

That panel’s great. I almost want to see it in 3D.

Everyone gets their moment and then every once in a while, just something really special happens in the collaboration and you’re like, yeah, good. I absolutely wanted Bouncing Boy to have that kickass of a moment.

I have one more question about one of the mystery Legionnaires. There’s another great shot, another great spread at the end of the book. There’s a guy who is carrying a laser sword of some kind. I don’t recognize this character.

That’s Ferro Lad and his sword. He has a sword now. I love that design.

There’s one more issue of Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes out in February, but there’s no Legion in DC’s solicitations for March and April.

But there are Legion plans coming. Legion is a hard book to make. There’s 34 lead characters, and we try to shove as many of them on panel as often as possible because that’s one of the best parts of the Legion is the scope of it.

I think you can kind of tell from the jam issues and the fill-ins and the level of quality, attempting to keep it at the highest quality possible, yet still delivering that very special Legion feeling…instead of fill-ins that may not be up to the quality that we were doing, we’ll stop, get a story ready to go, and solicit it when it’s time. There’s more to come.

I know that’s frustrating for some people and some people just want it monthly. I get that, but not all books are created in the same way. It’s art. Even though it’s commercial art, it is art. The pandemic also takes a lot out of the schedule. When we’re ready, we’ll put out more. We’re planning stuff that connects to what’s going on in Justice League as well. Not to connect the two, but that is 100% within what’s happening.

Do you already have your artistic collaborators lined up for the next arc of the book?

Yes.

You’re not going to tell me, are you?

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

No. It’s very, very good news. I’m absolutely delighted, but honestly, I don’t want the person stolen. Sometimes that has happened to me. I don’t mean to be vague, but right now, I don’t want to oversell something that is down the line.

One of the cool things you did in the main run of the book was introduce legacy characters that fans don’t usually associate with the Legion, like Dr. Fate and particularly Gold Lantern. I want to know what kind of feedback you got from fans on those.

Well, I was actually quite delighted. I thought the purists were really going to hit us hard on any additive stuff, but most Legion fans know that almost every run of Legion has had the added characters to the roster.

It gets frustrating only because when there’s been a lot of time in between Legion books, so some of these fan-favorite characters from past runs don’t get as much face time because you’ve introduced Gold Lantern and “oh, Gold Lantern is standing in front of Ferro Lad. We want more Ferro Lad!” Which I understand, so you better make sure Gold Lantern is interesting enough that no one feels slighted because it’s not Shadow Lass. I must say the additions, particularly of Gold Lantern and Dr. Fate and Monster Boy, all seem to go over very well and I was grateful for that.

Our biggest pushback was on redesigning the costumes. That comes with every Legion redo as well. So I pointed that out. But part of it is that some of the biggest fans in the world have already dedicated cosplay, and we messed up their cosplay. This happened in the X-Men too when we redid Magneto’s costume. People were screaming at us. We’re like “Oh, because you bought the helmet. Okay. I’m sorry. I get it.”

But I just don’t think they take away from each other. I just know from Legion past and other franchises I’ve worked on that anything you’re earnestly adding to it is good, even if it’s got pushback in the moment. I live in a world with the things I’ve gotten pushed back on the hardest ended up being huge movie moments that everybody applauded 10 years later. “Good job on creating Ronin!” I’m like, “Really? Where were you when it debuted? Because people were ripping my face off.”

So compared to stuff like that, I think the Legion fans have been just really, really generous and cool about where we’re going. I think they can tell we’re real Legion fans and we’re not messing around, and we’re taking it seriously. Even though you may not agree with every choice we’re making, you see we’re making loving choices.

Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1 is on sale now. We’ll have more from Brian Michael Bendis about his upcoming run on Justice League very soon!

The post Future State is the Next Evolution for DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes appeared first on Den of Geek.

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tessatechaitea · 4 years

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Cerebus #16 (1980)

Cerebus is going up the stairs while Lord Julius is going down them. In the same direction.

Cerebus is often touted as the greatest independent comic book of all time (for various reasons) but I'd like to point out that Elfquest told an incredible story with beautiful art in just 20 issues as opposed to 300. Plus it had an elf orgy. Also, I know it continued on after the first 20 issue story arc but we can ignore the rest of the story because there was never another elf orgy and also the rest of the series concentrated too much on Skywise's fear of dying which was totally valid but was often used as a foil to make Cutter seem braver and more loyal to his wolf roots but really just showed he was stubborn and dumb and totally didn't fuck as many elf maidens as Skywise did. Cerebus does have some sex in his comic book but since the first sex he has is when he rapes Astoria, I don't think anybody was really clamoring for any more of that. I mean, sure, some people were! I didn't mean to erase the sickos and perverts out there. Sorry, jerks! I'm sure the "A Note from the Publisher" bit by Deni seemed like a good idea when starting out on a harrowing self-publishing journey like that of Cerebus. But it quickly became a space where Deni just says, "Self-publishing is fraught with hardships and also this is a really good issue! I won't spoil it! Goodbye!" I won't be sad to see the divorce happen! That's an okay thing to say because it already happened, right? It's not like my wishing for the end of their marriage in 2020 somehow brought about the end of their marriage in the early 80s. Is it? I never took a college course on cause and effect so who the fuck knows? Unless that Critical Literary Theory class was about that?! Oh my God! I think I understand it now! Dave's finale to the "Swords of Cerebus" essay that has been broken up over the last three issues describes how he was consciously drawing the Eye of the Pyramid cult leader's gigantic penis while drawing the snake. Sorry to report, though, that he's being sarcastic. Apparently Dave is above using phallic imagery to make a point about patriarchal themes. Only fucking hacks do shit like that! Take that, whoever wrote fucking Beowulf!

Even if Sim can't see the humor in everybody assuming he made a giant snake dick joke on purpose, he can still be extraordinarily funny with the least of materials.

This issue takes Cerebus to his first fancy dress party (that's a costume party for all of you people who aren't British (which is also me but only because I was born a citizen of the United States of America who didn't have a choice but knew it was a huge mistake as I was learning about Monty Python's Flying Circus and Dave Allen at Large in elementary school and The Young Ones in junior high and Red Dwarf in college)). Cerebus changes out of his vest and puts on his costume: a furry black jumper (that's sweater for all of you people who aren't British (which is also me but only because I was forced to watch mostly American popular entertainment until the advent of YouTube and now I mostly just watch Taskmaster over and over (by the way, is Taskmaster as good for people who don't know all of the "contestants" or do I enjoy it more because I recognize and like almost all of the people on the show?)). Lord Julius is dressed as an, um, a, uh, Estarcion matador? I have no context in which to guess what he is.

Certain people like Cerebus because he says what's on his mind. I purposefully used the passive voice here so you can't prove one of those people is me.

Lord Julius has a follow-up joke that leaves the reader thinking, "I guess all Pavrovians are fat?" That's Dave Sim continuing his work on Estarcion continuity! Remember how Pavrovians are the, um, you knows of Estarcion! You know the nationality I'm thinking of! The ones that are all the things people usually find insulting! Come on, you know who I'm talking about. The dumb fat arrogant stupid naive gullible ones! Yes, that's it! Americans! Try to remember Dave is Canadian. You have to think of Americans through Canadian eyes (which are the equivalent of smart, cynical Americans)! E'lass and Turg have gotten tickets to The Festival of Petunias so they can steal the Wyndmel Diamond. They're the duo composed of a giant muscular man and a little bitty shrimpy guy who last encountered (and were beaten by) Cerebus in Issue #6. E'lass is dressed like some kind of small dirt dwelling creature so I hope Cerebus gets offended by his costume and stabs him in the throat. There isn't enough random slaughter in this book about barbarians.

I haven't wanted to fuck a fish this badly since The Littler Mermaid.

I suppose I could have said "since Splash" in that last caption to seem more normal and less perverted but then you'd know I was lying. The assassins make a move on Lord Julius but Cerebus comes up with a plan to stop them that involves inducing the Palnu elite to throw herring-and-onion dip at them. Is that a parodied scene from Duck Soup or Conan the Barbarian? In the confusion, the lead assassin slips out through a secret door and E'lass, having just stolen the diamond and becoming increasingly paranoid that somebody saw him, slips through it as well. Cerebus and Lord Julius follow, having noticed the assassin but not E'lass. Most of the pursuit's tension comes from E'lass believing Cerebus remembers him and is now going to use the excuse of this new crime to murder him. It's more tense than I've even described because I really need Cerebus to murder somebody in this Swords & Sorcery book already. Reading this book waiting for a murder is like firing up a porn video on your laptop with your dick in your hands and realizing after five minutes that the video is almost over and was just a teaser for a pay porn site. Cerebus threatens to quit his job just before battling the assassin so he can negotiate a term of 8 bags of gold and a horse in exchange for killing the assassin as a pension before he goes. Julius agrees and Cerebus takes out the assassin with a rock to the head. I mean, I guess it's a murder so yay? But I was really hoping for some stabbing. Meanwhile E'lass lives through the cliché of the criminal whose paranoia gets the better of him and he tosses the diamond into a huge pit so he doesn't get caught only to discover that they never knew he took it anyway. Everything is wrapped up quickly and thoroughly with Cerebus given money and motivation to move on from Palnu. Dave complained about his heavy use of cliché in this Palnu trilogy and I have to say I agree with Dave. But I only agree with Dave on this point! Don't take that out of context and start raving on Twitter that Grunion Guy agrees with Dave's Issue #186 rant about girlfriends being illogical which is also secretly a rant about a guy who needs to get laid so badly he puts up with partners he probably wouldn't even be friends with and then finally just decides orgasms are evil and religion is super awesome but only if you smash all three People of The Book religions into one bland mash paste of ancient dogma. In the epilogue, Lord Julius receives a letter from his niece Jaka in which she expresses delight in possibly seeing Cerebus again. I guess Dave learned from Howard the Duck that comic book nerds really love for their anthropomorphic heroes to be fucking statuesque women. Perhaps every guy develops a fetish of being with a woman whose breasts are at head level due to being hugged constantly by their female relatives when they're ten years old. Deni's brother Michael's first installment of the "Aardvarkian Age" essays appears in this issue. It gives more details to the various nations of Estarcion and their inhabitants' culture, ruling styles, and brutality of their armies. I thought I'd be more interested in this than I actually wound up being. Maybe I thought it would be funnier? Instead, it's just a bunch of facts about made-up kingdoms to make them sound more believable by making them more like European countries in the Middle Ages. If this entire bit were just lifted from a history of Europe with the names of actual countries replaced by Estarcion countries, I wouldn't even notice. Mostly because I know nothing about European history. As I've always said, "Those who know about European history are doomed to repeat it, boring every single other person at the cocktail party." Dave apologizes for the quarter price increase of the comic book in the Aardvark Comments pages. Why, I hadn't even noticed! Probably because this is the Biweekly reprint issue and I purchased it as a collection off of eBay. Some people write in and discuss how Cerebus is a very fine and funny comic book. I nodded along in agreement as I read the letters. I only touched my private area twice while reading and neither time was for pleasure. The most surprising thing about "The Single Page" is that it clearly states who the comic was authored by: Kent Featherly. I don't know why so many of these single page comics aren't more clearly labeled. Isn't part of the reason for having them exposure for the artists drawing and writing them?! Not putting an effort to let a large audience know who you are and how they can read more of your work just sounds like something I would do. By the way, you should play this game I wrote, Starship Troopers: The Game. You can find it on the hard drive of my laptop. Cerebus #16 Rating: B. Look, it was funny and well drawn and all that. But even Dave said it relied too heavily on cliché plot devices. I've got to lower the grade when even the author points out some of the story's flaws! And I'd probably have come to the same conclusion without having been influenced by Dave Sim because I'm like the best Internet comic book critic who isn't a critic and isn't actually reviewing comic books. Also I almost forgot this evidence: I'm a Grandmaster Comic Book Reviewer! Nobody else can make that claim and if they do, they're plagiarizing me and I'd like you to point them out to me so I can send them a threatening email in which I pretend to be my own lawyer who is really good at suing dumb-dumbs.

#Cerebus #Dave Sim

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grace13star · 5 years

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Better Get Superstitious (Chapter 1)

Logan Dennison is a firm believer in science, and the facts are that no one can come back from the dead. Witches and magic could never exist, he's known this since he was a kid. But after a sudden move to Salem, Massachusetts, suddenly everything he's ever believed is challenged by a talking cat, a cute believer, and a trio of undead witches from the 17th century. What's a skeptic to do?

Character(s):Logan Sanders, Virgil Sanders, Patton Sanders, Roman Sanders, Remy, Mitchell (Cartoon Therapy), Toby (October, Sanders Shorts)

Relationship(s): Analogical (Virgil/Logan)

AO3 Prologue Here Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

“And no one ever found out what happened to Roman Binks,” Mrs Kelley said, flicking on the lights. She’d turned them off for atmosphere or something. “It is said that to this day, a black cat guards the black flame candle, the same candle that, if lit, would bring back the Sanders brothers from the dead.”

Logan scoffed before he could stop himself.

“Oh, do you have something to say, Mr Dennison?” Mrs Kelley asked.

The class turned to look at him, giggling at his being called out.

“I am well aware of the belief you all have here in Salem. Black cats, witches, whatnot. It’s just that there is no scientific proof for any of this.” The class broke into whispers.

“That’s ‘cuz science isn’t looking,” a new voice said, stopping the whispers.

Logan looked over to see a kid who was, for some reason, wearing sunglasses inside and sipping a Starbucks frappuccino that was still cold despite it being last hour.

“Halloween was based on an old pagan ritual called All Hallows Eve,” sunglasses kid said. “It’s a time when our world and the spirit world are closest. It used to be a huge deal. Then candy companies took over and turned it into a childish holiday.” He took a long slurping sip of his frappuccino then shrugged. “It’s a conspiracy.”

The class laughed but they applauded as well, wolf whistling and being generally unruly. The boy sitting behind sunglasses kid rolled his eyes, but there was a smile on his face. Mrs Kelley joined in the applause, nodding at the kid.

“Well said, Remy,” She said. “Alright then, I know you’re all excited for Halloween, but we still need to get through English.”

The class groaned good-naturedly and started pulling out their stuff.

The girl behind Logan- Mary? Marie?- tapped his shoulder. When he turned, she handed him a folded up piece of paper.

There was a little doodle of a brain on the front, with a small ‘V’ under it.

Logan unfolded the note and was greeted with a phone number written in glittery purple gel pen.

hey babe! hmu any time u want. xoxo remy

He physically cringed at the abbreviations and lowercase.

He turned to Remy who waved at him cheekily, then blew him a kiss. The boy behind him swatted his shoulder, then mouthed ‘sorry’ at Logan.

Wow, he was really cute.

No, stop it, Logan. No random crushes. How are you supposed to get into Harvard if you’re caught up in a relationship?

English passed pretty easily, even though it wasn’t his best subject, and before he knew it, he was unlocking his bike to head home.

A loud laugh caught his attention. He looked over and there was Remy and the cute boy. Cute boy was laughing into his hand, a stark contrast to Remy who was all but bellowing with glee.

“Hey, Remy, right?” He called, jogging over.

“Ah, it’s the skeptic!” Remy exclaimed, peering over his sunglasses. “What’s up, babe.”

“I just wanted to make sure there weren’t any hard feelings over our little debate in class.”

“Nah, girl, you’re all good. Besides, they weren’t even my arguments.”

Logan frowned. “No? Then who-”

“That was all V here,” Remy said, lightly punching cute boy’s arm. “He didn’t feel like talking in class, so he wrote it down and I said it.”

Logan turned to cute boy- V- and tried to maintain eye contact without blushing. “Well, I enjoyed your arguments very much. This school doesn’t have a debate team, so I feared I would get out of practice.”

“Don’t mention it,” V said, shuffling his feet. His cheeks were bright pink, probably from the brisk wind whipping across the courtyard.

“Okay, hate to break up whatever sexual tension that’s happening here,” Remy cut in, “but I gotta know. You don’t believe in any supernatural thing?”

“No.”

“The Sanders Brothers?”

“I believe they were people that lived here once, but I don’t believe they were witches.”

“Not even on Halloween?” Remy asked incredulously.

“Especially not on Halloween,” Logan said stubbornly.

“Okay, Remy, let’s not scare the new guy off too soon,” V said.

“It’s fine, I should get going anyways,” Logan said. He handed V a scrap of paper. “Trick or treat.”

He hopped on his bike, waved, and then left before either of them could stop him.

He’d had a few days to get used to the town, and in that time he’d found a shortcut through the cemetery. It was a bit of a bumpy ride, and there were a few hills, but he could handle it.

Logan was so focused on riding that he almost missed when two people stepped in front of him. He slammed the brakes in just enough time to not hit the blond one.

“Halt!” One of the said. “Who are you?”

“Logan Dennison,” he answered.

“Where ya from?” blond guy said. “Haven’t seen ya anywhere before.”

“Los Angeles.” At their blank stares, he sighed. “LA.”

“Oh, wow,” the other one said. “Tubular.”

“I’m Toby,” blond kid said. “This is Mitchell.”

Mitchell grabbed Toby by his shirt collar. “How many times I gotta tell you, man? It’s not Mitchell, it’s Ice. Ice!” He let go and Jay turned back to Logan.

“Uh, this is Ice.”

Mitchell- Ice- turned around so Logan could see his hair- on the back of his head, the word Ice was shaved into his hair.

“So let’s have a butt,” Toby said, practically leering at Logan.

“I don’t smoke,” Logan said, leaning away from him.

“They’re very health conscious in Hollywood,” Ice laughed.

“LA is not-”

“You got any cash...Hollywood?” Toby asked, ignoring him.

“No.”

“You don’t got any cash, you don’t got any smoke...what am I supposed to do with my afternoon?” Toby asked, as if everything was Logan’s fault.

“Maybe you could learn to breathe through your nose,” Logan said, getting fed up. He just wanted to go home, was that too much to ask? Also, his grammar was heinous. Would it kill him to use the proper tense?

Toby laughed until Ice stopped him. “Woah, look at those cross trainers.” He looked up at Logan. “Let me try ‘em on.”

Logan went to push past Toby, but he wasn’t exactly one for physical confrontation.

He was left with a bad attitude riding home in his socks.

He opened the door a bit forcefully and breezed past his parents in the kitchen.

“Hey, Logan! How was school?” His mom called from where she was unwrapping their plates.

“It was fine,” He replied, not stopping.

Before he was fully up the stairs, he heard his father ask, “Was he not wearing shoes?”

“Must be some form of protest,” his mom answered.

Logan pulled the door to his room closed and leaned against it, sighing.

Once he’d collected himself, he pushed off the door and started feeding his fish. “Hey, guys,” he greeted.

He flopped on his bed and groaned loudly. He grabbed a pillow and pressed it against his face and screamed into it. He had homework, but that could wait until he was done with his current crisis.

He was just starting to relax when something burst out of his closet.

“Boo!”

He barely kept himself from screaming. “Patton!”

Patton, his younger brother giggled. “I scared you, I scared you!”

“Mom and dad told you to stay out of my room!” Logan exclaimed.

Patton stuck out his tongue. “Don’t be such a crab.” He scrambled on top of Logan’s bed and started jumping. “Guess what? You’re gonna take me trick or treating!”

Logan sighed. “Not this year, Pat.”

“Mom said you have to.”

“Well, she can take you herself.”

“She and dad are going to a party at the Town Hall.”

“Well, you’re eight. Go by yourself.” Logan pulled out his desk chair and his notebook to start on his math homework.

Patton jumped off the bed and came over to the desk. “No way! This is my first time! I’ll get lost. Besides, it’s the full moon. The weirdos are out!” He hugged Logan’s arm causing him to draw an unnecessary line on the page. “Could you forget about being a teenager for once? C’mon, we used to have such a spooktacular time trick or treating! Remember? It’ll be like old times!”

“The old days are dead,” Logan said, deadpan.

“It doesn’t matter, you’re taking me anyways,” Patton said triumphantly.

“Wanna bet?” Logan muttered, erasing the line.

Patton just smirked at him.

Patton ran down the stairs to meet their parents, Logan following at a much slower pace.

“Let’s go, hurry up. The witching hour’s about to begin.” Their dad grinned. He applauded Patton’s costume. “Wow, you look boo-tiful!” Patton giggled. He was wearing a black and orange dress with a matching hat in the stereotypical witch style. Then dad turned towards Logan. “And, what are you supposed to be?”

Logan was wearing jeans and a sweater and looked like he wanted to be anywhere else. “I’m a rapper,” he deadpanned.

“You gotta have a hat on sideways, then,” their mom said, coming out of nowhere with a baseball cap. She plopped it on his head. “There we go.”

“Okay, smile!” dad said, holding up his camera. “Say...Halloween!”

“Halloween!” Patton chorused.

Logan didn’t smile.

If anyone doubted that Salem, Massachusetts loved Halloween, seeing it now would make a believer out of them.

Practically every house had gone all out on the decorations. Everyone you looked, there were spiderwebs, lights, blow-up witches, you name it. Hundreds of kids ran in the streets- which had been blocked off just for the trick or treating- yelling and shouting to their friends. At every house, someone waited just inside the door, eager to give out free sugar.

“C’mon, Lo-Lo, lighten up!” Patton said, practically skipping through the streets.

“Can we just get this over with?” Logan muttered. He didn’t want to ruin this for his brother, but he also didn’t want to be there.

Patton continued on, hopefully not hearing him. “Let’s go this way!”

Logan looked in the way his brother was pointing and froze. “No, not that way, Pat.”

Of course, he was ignored. Logan had no choice but to follow his brother towards Ice, Toby, and a group of their friends.

Ice spotted Patton and cut him off. “Ding, ding!” he said. “Sorry, kid, everyone’s gotta pay the toll.”

“Ten chocolate bars, no licorice,” Toby grinned.

“You’re not being very nice,” Patton said.

“Whatever. Cough up the candy, kid.”

“No!” Patton stamped his foot. “Logan, tell them to go away.”

The teens turned their attention to Logan, and twin grins of glee spread across Ice’s and Toby’s faces.

“Hey, Hollywood!” Toby said.

“You’re trick or treating?” Ice asked.

“I’m taking my brother around,” Logan said, very uncomfortable with this situation.

“That’s nice. Woah, I love the costume. What are you, a New Kid on the Block?” Ice grinned.

Patton tried to keep walking, but Toby stopped him.

“Dude, just pay the toll.”

Logan had had enough. “You know what, here.” He shoved his own candy bag, half full, into Ice’s chest. “Pig out. Let’s go, Patton.”

He grabbed Patton’s hand and started in the other direction.

“Hey, Hollywood!” Ice called to their retreating backs. “The shoes fit great!”

“Are you okay, Pat?” Logan asked.

“Yeah,” Patton said quietly. “I kind of want to go home now.”

“Hey, come on.” Logan said. He kind of hated those kids for ruining his brother’s night. “How about we go to one more house. Then we can leave, okay?”

Patton thought for a minute, then nodded.

They looked around and saw a huge house.

“Woah!” They both said.

“Rich people always have the best candy,” Patton said matter-of-factly.

“Well, guess we’re going there, then.”

The door was wide open and there were people coming in and out, some in costumes, so Logan assumed it was okay to just walk in.

The entryway itself was huge, but that didn’t compare to the huge front hall they stepped into.

There was a huge chandelier hanging over them, and a carved staircase that probably cost more than the Dennison house. The only thing that ruined the whole rich mansion vibe was the Halloween decorations covering everything.

Patton spotted a huge plastic cauldron and ran over to it. “Jackpot!” He gasped, reaching in and pulling out multiple full-size candy bars.

“Logan Dennison?”

Logan looked up at the sound of his name and met eyes with V. He was standing at the top of the stairs, wearing some old-timey Victorian costume.

“Oh, hey!” He said. “V, right?” He tried not to blush when he noticed his hair was pulled into a ponytail.

V started down the stairs. “Virgil, actually. V’s a nickname.” He looked Logan up and down. “I thought you weren’t into Halloween?”

“I’m not, just taking my brother around.”

Virgil waved at Patton. “Hi. I’m Virgil, I’m one of your brother’s friends.”

Logan flushed.

“Hi!” Patton exclaimed. He waved.

“You guys want any cider?” Virgil asked, crossing his arms.

“Yes!” Patton exclaimed. Logan nodded.

Virgil went into the next room and came back holding three cups of cider. He handed them out.

“Thanks.” Logan’s mind raced for some kind of conversation. “Um, how’s the party?”

“Boring,” Virgil said, rolling his eyes. “It’s just a bunch of my parent’s friends. They do this every year. I’m on candy duty. Speaking of.” He turned to Patton. “I love your costume!”

“Thanks!” Patton beamed. “I really like witches. We just learned about those brothers in class.”

“Oh, yeah, the Sanders Brothers,” Virgil smiled. “Yeah, I know all about them.”

“Really?” Logan asked.

Virgil shrugged. “My mom used to run the museum. It’s closed down now, though.”

“Well, why don’t we go?” Logan said before his brain caught up with his mouth.

“What?” Virgil and Patton said at the same time.

Well, no going back now. “Teach us about the Sanders Brothers. Make a believer out of me.”

Virgil’s eyes darted between Logan, Patton, and the candy bowl. After a minute of thought, he sighed. “Yeah, okay. Let me get changed real quick.”

He disappeared up the stairs, leaving Logan and Patton alone.

“Ooh!” Patton exclaimed. “You liiiike him!”

Logan flushed. “What? No, I don’t.”

“You do! You like, like, like, like, like, like, like-”

“Okay, that’s enough!” Logan grabbed his brother and covered his mouth with his hand. A split second later, he dropped the younger boy. “Did you just lick me?

Virgil led the way up the path to the old cottage.

It wasn’t as far from town as Logan had expected. They’d been able to walk there in under twenty minutes. But even though it wasn’t that far away, being in the woods made it feel a lot more isolated than it should have. The yelling of trick-or-treating children had disappeared, and the only sounds were their footsteps and leaves rustling.

“Legend says,” Virgil said in a spooky voice, “that the bones of a hundred children are buried within these walls.” He unlocked the door and ushered everyone in.

“I can’t see,” Patton announced.

“There should be a light switch somewhere,” Virgil said, feeling along the wall.

Logan found a display of lighters and flicked one on. This must have been a gift shop at one point. He held out the small flame to the wall and helped Virgil find the switch.

The lights flickered on, revealing the cottage in all of it’s dusty glory.

“Wow,” Patton said, drawing the word out in awe.

“This is the original cauldron,” Virgil said, motioning towards it. “They would have slept upstairs. Ooh!” He moved over to a display case. “This is the spell book of Damien Sanders. It was given to him by the Devil himself.” His voice was quiet, but the pitch rose and fell in a way that made it almost hypnotic to listen to. “It’s bound in human skin and contains all the recipes for his most powerful and evil spells.”

“Gross,” Patton whispered.

Logan spotted something interesting. “What’s that?” He asked, pointing at it.

Virgil looked up. “Oh! That’s the Black Flame Candle.”

Logan noticed a placard near the candle and moved over to read it. “The Black Flame Candle. Legend says that on a full moon it will raise the spirits of the dead when lit by a virgin on Halloween night.” He raised the lighter, a weird compulsion coursing through him. “Want to light it?”

“What? No!” Virgil said, alarmed.

“Logan, it’s a full moon tonight!” Patton added.

Logan’s hand moved to light the candle, but before he could do anything, a pitch dark shape pounced on his head.

Patton screamed and Virgil shouted. Logan fought with the thing on his head, eventually managing to throw it off of him.

“Stupid cat!” He exclaimed. There was a strange sense of rage filling him that made it hard to think.

“Okay, Logan, you’ve had your fun.” Virgil sounded scared. “Let’s go, now.”

“Logan, he’s right, let’s go.” Patton said.

“Oh, come on,” Logan said angrily. “It’s just a bunch of hocus pocus.”

“Logan, I’m not kidding!” Patton exclaimed. “It’s time to go!”

Before anyone, including himself, could stop him, Logan lit the candle.

Virgil’s intake of breath could be heard across the room.

For a second, nothing happened. The flame flickered normally, a bright orange color. Then Logan blinked and it was black.

Around the room, the fake electric candles popped one by one, plunging the room into darkness for a second. The floorboards started to move under their feet, bucking up and down. Green light shone from underneath them.

Then, just as soon as everything started, it was done.

“What happened?” Logan asked.

“A virgin lit the candle,” Patton said dryly.

All the actual candles suddenly flared with light. Flames roared from under the cauldron, and they heard footsteps outside.

The small group ducked behind things as the door swung open, revealing three men wearing cloaks of different colors.

“We’re home!” The leader announced.

#sanders sides #logan sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #hocus pocus #better get superstitious au #grace writes stuff #halloween #tw: death #analogical

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henry-stein-art · 5 years

Text

The Ink Demonth [by Halfusek] Day 14: Theories

SPOILER TIME!

\Also, you will get some violence (but no blood), sad and mature things/

I drew, do costume, animated a cutscene, I think it’s the good day for Writing! I never go watch, read or know theories because I’m not a fan of, I just wanted play the game, appreciate it, and try to understand myself the story, without any influence of others. Of course, it’s like I have do myself a theory, because I headcanon some details about some element in game (like the reason of the visible name of Frank Fontaine in the administration room) and write a pre-story for explain the game. Sorry for mistakes, english is not my main langage! Now, time for the (very long) reading and I hope you will like it!

One day, while Joey Drew, Wally Franks and Henry Stein share a dinner, they talk about this project to create an animation studio. Joey wanted to be between Warner Animation studios and Walt Disney studios, Henry was an artist, daydreaming and love drawing - and how beautiful was his draws - and Wally was a devoted man who help so much the both. In this era, making cartoon was a good thing, and has really a public for, because people needed sweet and happy thing to watch for forgot the society problems. Joey Drew and Henry Stein was two brother of a modest family, living in a rural area. Henry work with their father, and Joey choose general study. He couldn’t work like his brother because he was born with a bad leg, make him limp and can’t support heavy charge. The both mutually supportive but Henry keep a certain distance, seems being more independant and less talkative than his bro. Wally was their neighbour and becoming a friend. He come from rich family and studying at the city highschool. Before he meets Joey and Henry, he wanted become a pilot, but Mr. Drew has completely changed his view of the future, and now he want that people smile and laugh with some silly cartoons. And today, Joey Drew studios is a place for Bendy cartoon, a character born under the pen of Henry, on his desk. He had created a first version, but finally leave him because Joey told him that this Bendy look likes Felix the cat and he doesn’t want deal with Mr. Messmer for “copy” his work. Also, Henry rework on it, and finally found the final design. Shaped head round with two sort of horns on the top, black circle pie eyes, and a gentle smile of eight teeth. Dressed with a big bowtie and white gloves, for see the hands even if they are on his black body. In the corner of the hall, where the desk of Henry was, the cartoonist work on story-board and do some keyframes. Because the studio has no windows, there is few lights for keep his eyes safe.

Few days later, Wally bring to Joey and Henry a new guy. The name is Norman Polk, he told to Mr. Drew that he can give him some old projectors who belonged to his sister. The man was a little shy, no really talkative, and leave them quickly. Henry turn his head for see the eyes of Joey. A genious spark was in. With a little irony, he says:

“I know what you think, but you can’t take his life for our cheap studio.

— Don’t be so rude, Henry. It’s cheap for now, but it will becoming a big empire!

— What’s that mean, uh? Big empire? With only me for make cartoons? You want kill me!

— You’re alone for now, and it will be hard to found someone who is talented as you in drawing, but this dream will come true. Trust me.”

Henry sight and smile. Weak body but strong will. And a little stubborn too.

Days and months passed and as Joey told, it was only the begining. Now, there is a woman for story-boarding and the sound. At first, Henry didn’t notice her, doing his work hard and stay at his desk. He don’t see the time, when the sun leave his place for the moon, and just leave his keyframes for basics vital thing, like eating or drinking. And there is this guy who bring them the projectors, Norman is a calm man, and do the work without say any words. The studio become a little more bigger, with some new room. Henry choose to stay in this corner of the entrance hall. As he said: “A cartoonist take some habit for a long time. And when he has it, he never change!”

Because this woman was a story-boarder, she leave the plan to Henry, but she never see him directly. Joey talk about him, and sometime she can hear the two man talk. But when she cross the hall, he’s never at his desk. The lady think this strange, and feel like he avoids her. She wants know why, so, in this morning, she come to the studio in a really early hour and wait at Henry’s desk.

“Hello? Miss? It’s my desk here.

The lady turn his head, surprised by Henry soft voice. When she see his face, his heart miss a beat.

— Uhm... Oh, uh... Sorry mister “the strange guy who is hiding of me”. Mr. Drew was not lying. You draw beautifully, she respond, trying to stay professional. — Thank you. But now, I need to sit here and continue my work. — You are so rude with a sweet lady! So, you win! I will not move!

Henry get distraught. That’s right, it was cold response. Fault to the fact that he works so much that he doesn’t take the time for friendship or even talk with others. He pick up a keyframes lying down on the floor and arrange his messy desk. The woman still not move, as she tolds. Embarrassed, Henry scratches his neck and respond:

— Yeah. It was rude. You will forgive me if I offer you a coffee? — I drink tea with honey in and two lump of milk. Coffee is for rude man as you, mister.”

She crosses her arms on his chest and close his eyes. Henry understand this little game of her and go buy what she wants.

When he comes back with the tea, he sees Joey, talking to a tall guy, with a rude face. He hold a paper in his hands. The cartoonist see only the word “Money”. When Joey see him with the cup of tea in hands, he gives him a grin smile.

“I see you finally see Mrs. Weddersburg. So? Isn’t a beautiful lady? — Oh, please, keep your eyes right off of my personal life. she's keeping my office hostage for this tea. It’s only this. — It’s not only this, Henry. I know you. We are brothers. — Not when we work, Mr. Drew.”

Henry leave and give the tea to the woman. She thanks him and say:

“I think you should put this keyframe after this one. And clean up a little your desk. See! A real mess! How you do for not lost yourelf? — It’s an organized mess. — So, Mr. Drew is your brother?

Henry raises an eyebrow, surprised of the question.

— Yes. But... We was always not really close. I consider him as a friend more than my brother. — You are the less loved child of the both. Because is the younger one and his limping leg. That’s why you are independant, calm and rude with others.

A embarrassed silence echoing between them. Also, the lady stand up and smile.

— Sorry for that. I... — No, its okay, don’t worry. — Maybe we can talk about this in my home, this evening? — Uh... Wha... I mean, yes. Seems a good idea. — I will buy coffee for this rude man who hide a sweet heart. — My name is Henry. — Yeah, of course, mister “I have an organized mess”.

The both laugh. Before leaving, the lady says:

— My name is Linda Weddersburg. I will come after your work for go home.”

One year later, Henry and Linda share their life together. Henry and Joey arguing more last time. The cartoonist feel tired of work, but Joey promise him that will becoming better in next week.

And the next week, while Henry working on a new cartoon, with a new character named Boris, a friendly wolf who love eating, he feel a little dizzy. So, he leaves his desk a little for walking around the studio. He falls on something, in the corridor where the desk of Linda is. A big pipe cross the floor. A sign advertise “watch your step” but it’s too late. Linda come out of his desk and help Henry to stand up, ask him if he’s okay. When the both follow the pipe, they found a new room, with Joey and this same tall man that the last time. Joey notice Henry and Linda and show the imposing machine in the middle of the room.

“ I present you the Ink Machine! With this thing, we can create more easier the cartoons! — Thanks for that. It was nice if I didn’t fall on this pipe in the middle of the corridor. — Are you ok? — It’s late for the question but yeah, thanks for worry about my bones. So this thing can do my work? A machine? — It’s more complicated. Just keep drawing. I will come later for show you how it’s work.”

The evening, the machine is started. Henry’s heart miss a beat and fall of his chair when he hears the machine start. He mutters to himself, a little frustrated because his ink fall on the floor, and ruined his keyframes. When he recovers and try to clean his work, the ink on his hands suddlendly moving by itself. Surprised, Henry scream, and go back from his desk. The ink cover his skin on his hands and soon his arms. When he look for someone can help him, his eyes cross something more horryfing. A creature, melted in the ink, stand beside the desk. Henry freezes, feel scary. His eyes are rolling back and he hears his own body fall on the floor. When Henry wake up, he sees the walls of his bedroom. He’s lying down on his bed. Linda is sit beside him. She look him with big eyes.

“Oh! You come back in the world of the living! How you feel? — My head hurt like hell. What’s happened? — When we found you, your desk was covered of ink, and you too. You had screamed, seems like you had see a ghost. — It was not a ghost. It was... uh... An inky thing. — Yeah, your eyes was covered by ink. How have you done this? It was like you take a bath in ink pool! — Bendy. — What are you saying? — It was Bendy. It’s... It’s standing in front of me... The... the ink moving by... — Shht, it’s okay. It’s okay. Calm down. You’re safe now. It was just overworking. You need sleep. I keep an eye on you, okey?”

When Henry goes back to sleep, Linda look him, worried. It’s more than overworking. It’s seems that his mind slowly break.

A week later, Henry finally come back to his work. He’s more quiet than usual and he losts his smile. His eyes are dull. Linda talk about it with Joey but the man seems doesn’t realize the mental state of his own brother, more worried for the future of the studio. Henry hears Linda arguing with Joey, saying: “You have no future if you kill your only one cartoonist!“ And Joey response scare Henry. His response echoing in his mind: “So, if I risk to kill him, I keep him alive myself!” Keep him alive? What’s that’s mean? Henry notice that he lost a reference drawing. The one for Bendy. He search in all his papers, and look on the floor. There is nothing. When he’s recovering, he sees a black four-fingered hand on the surface of his desk. This time, the cartoonist cover his mouth and nose. Maybe this ink creature can feel him only if it hear him. Suddendly, the creature grab Henry by the neck. He tries to scream for help, but the inky thing force on his neck. With his right hand, he cover the face of Henry. The man cry, despite him. He wants call for help, but no sound come out of his mouth. He chokes because of the ink dripping in his mouth and cough violently. The move save him, the creature lets him fall on the floor.

Henry stay lying down on the floor, he throws up some ink. He feels like his heart will explode, and try to calm down. But he fails. If it’s a hallucination causing by overworking, that’s mean he need to stop the job. He hears Linda run at him and cries: “Oh my god! Henry!” Linda shake him but he can’t move. He feels something wet fall on his face. Linda take his hand. “Henry! Please! Stay with me!” Henry found a little strenght for move his finger, but it’s the only thing that he can does.

In an far echo, Henry hear Joey’s voice, arguing with someone else.

“It was an accident! I don’t even know what’s happened!”

And there is Wally’s voice.

“The pipe burst often...”

After a moment, Henry try to open his eyes. He hears Joey again.

“It was really an accident, Wally. I found the room open, this grinning thing wandering around. I can’t understand why it’s attacked Henry!”

Linda’s voice intterupt Joey and Wally.

“Because this thing wanted his soul. If it wanted kill him, Henry would be dead.”

And an unknow voice.

“About death, what will you tell to others? You will fake his death and replace it?”

28 years later, in a little city, Henry come out for take the letters from the mailbox. He lives with Linda and has a beautiful child. He leaves finally Joey Drew with his studio, and found another job, far away from animation. His wife has a new job too, and the child go to the school. She sees sometime his uncle Joey, when he’s home or come here. Back to the living room, Henry sit on the sofa and take his cup of tea, prepared by his wife, and read the newspaper.

“See, honney? Local artist pushed himself too hard, found dead at desk. Heh! It’s my face! — Joey could has doing better. It’s not your best profile. — And black clothes doesn’t look good on me. It’s make me rude. — Talking about the old things, give me your arm. It’s time to take your medicine. — Great. — Don’t give me that face, sweetheart. It’s for your good sake. It keeps you human.

Henry sight. He’ cleenching his teeth when the needle go throught his skin. When it’s done, Henry rub his arm and says:

— You mean it’s keep me alive. With this body stuck between an ink thing and a human. — It’s okey, sweetheart. You have the same face that before. Your body is stable with this thing, even if it’s not pleasant. — Thanks Joey, you have ruined my young life. That’s why I don’t want let our child alone with him. Joey is a specialist for take others’s life for his “empire”. — It’s your turn to go wake her up, by the way.”

Henry kisses his wife softly and go in the child’s bedroom. Since the “accident” where Henry drown in ink, he’s not a normal human anymore. So, with the help of some others worker of the studio, they found a medicine for keep him human, the more as possible. Of course, because his ink part, he can does strange thing with his body, like the physics of the cartoons that he’s drew before. Linda comfort him by saying some joke, like is usefull for take too higher or far stuff that’s she needs for cooking. Or for keep an eye on their child when she sleeping, without disturb her. Also, he dreams almost all night the same thing, about him alone in the studio, wandering for get out and encounter ink monsters. Alison Pendle send them a letter for say that its normal, she get the same dreams where she meet Henry and try to explain that all of this never exist, just tought. Henry is right, his life was ruined and now, even if he lives, it’s changed. He can’t come back to the old town, because the newspaper announce his death. Linda sigh and see a letter from Joey Drew. She take the envelope and says: “You even cheat the death itself, Joey.”

#The Ink Demonth #Bendy and the Ink Machine #fiction #fanon #theory #pre-story #Long Reads #joey drew studios #joey drew #Henry #linda #wally franks #norman polk #the projectionist #thomas connor #gent #ink machine

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agirlinjapan · 5 years

Text

Red Data Girl: My Wish on the Night of the Shooting Stars (Week 23)

Red Data Girl: My Wish on the Night of the Shooting Stars By Noriko Ogiwara A Translation

Miss the last piece? Read it here!

Check out the RDG Translation twitter!

Help me pay for my next translation project on Ko-fi.

It’s nearly summer! There’s another twenty or so days left of school and then we’re done! I think we’re all ready for the vacation (students and teachers), but we still have some fun things to do before we say goodbye including a major class trip and the musical. It should be a good last few days!

RDG will be going back to a weekly posting schedule starting on June 23 and going through the end of August.

We will be finishing RDG early in September!

Last year, Noriko Ogiwara, the author, published a book of RDG short stories titled Ice Shoes, Glass Shoes. I bought this while I was in Japan last summer, and I do plan to translate it like I have the rest of the series. However, I’d like to start a new project after RDG 6 ends and then speckle those short stories in here and there as I go.

I’ll have more information on what that next project will be as we get closer to the end of RDG. I tend to post more detailed information about my translation on my RDG translation twitter. Click the link above and follow if you’d like to hear more.

Finally, happy 5 year anniversary to the RDG translation! I can’t believe it’s been this long!

Translation notes:

This is what a Heian era nobleman would wear.

This is an ascetic monk/mountain monk outfit.

Red Data Girl: My Wish on the Night of the Shooting Stars By Noriko Ogiwara Chapter 3: Winter Solstice Part 3 (1 of 2)

With Mayura’s help, Izumiko quickly decided on what she would wear to Saturday’s party.

Coming to the conclusion that buying something that could only be worn to a party would be a waste, they had decided to buy outfits they could wear on a normal day out and then accented them with corsages and jewelry. During the holiday season, any accessory shop was full to the brim with cute items. Izumiko and Mayura had gone from one to another, enjoying themselves, and buying things here and there.

But then, two days before the party, it was time to carry the decorations over to the space where the party would occur. Hoshino, the planning chief, declared their new outfits unnecessary.

“We placed a rental order with the same group we used for the festival, so we have professionals to help us set up and break down. Plus, we get ten costume rentals included in the price. We have the teachers’ permission to use those rentals, and we’re planning to have the student government wear them. Claus has dibs on the Santa Claus costume, but we have costumes for the rest of the members, too. This is my decision as planning chief.”

The only people looking at each other in surprise were the first years. The second years appeared to somehow already be aware of this decision. They all looked calm.

Angelica was also at the meeting that day. “I always planned to go to the party in costume, so I’ll be attending in my own outfit,” she said brightly. “My highly esteemed father brought me one.”

The first year student government members looked at each other again. It was becoming clearer that Angelica’s showy Warring States era costume from the festival had been a product of her father’s interest in anime. They were sure her next costume would be something amazing, too.

“Will we be able to… choose the costume we like?” Shimamoto asked the chief nervously.

“You can choose from what’s being ordered,” Hoshino replied sternly. “Choice number one is the Cinderella series. Choice two, the Little Red Riding Hood series. Choice three, animal costumes. That’s it.”

“What? Just those three?”

“During the school festival, we could only dress as kuroko, right? This time instead of just that, we’re all going to work at this party in the showiest costumes possible. It’s important that we make our guests feel welcome.”

Once Hoshino was finished speaking, Honoka spoke up, her voice serious as well. “Right. Obviously, Ichijo Takayanagi will be planning to talk himself up in one way or another while Izumiko does her best to not draw attention to herself. I think it would be good for Izumiko to choose an animal costume so that she can hide her braids. Everyone else will choose whatever showy costume they want, and do their best to make it hard for Takayanagi to stand out. President Murakami can’t make it on Saturday, but those are the instructions he’s left for us.”

Mayura appeared to automatically agree with the plan. “I get it. So that’s how we’re going to do it,” she murmured enthusiastically.

Manatsu raised a hand quickly. “I’ll choose an animal costume, too. I’ve always wanted to try one on.

“What costume are you going to choose, President Kisaragi?”

Once asked, Honoka puffed out her chest, and answered. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to be the prince from Cinderella. I wouldn’t give up that costume to anyone else.”

Knowing that she would have never chosen a princess costume, all eyes turned to Hayakawa who was looking visibly upset over this development. Clearly, he had been hoping for this costume as well.

On the day of the party, once everyone was changed into the costumes they had rented and got a chance to see what everyone else was wearing, it was plain to see that Honoka’s prince costume was far more impressive than anyone had expected. The whole Cinderella series had an early eighteenth century Rococo look to it. The prince costume was comprised of a tailcoat embroidered in gold and silver thread, a frilly shirt, shoes complete with ribbons, and a curly, white wig. No one had ever seen such a formally dressed prince costume before this.

The second-year bespectacled duo had chosen to dress as the prince’s attendants and were wearing something similar to Honoka with black hats tilted far back on their heads. They would walk around carrying a glass shoe, looking for a girl who might be able to fit into it.

It had been decided that Izumiko would wear a reindeer costume. It would go well with Claus’s Santa suit, thus keeping the spotlight off of her.

In a spare room, Izumiko slowly tried to pull the brown costume on over a t-shirt and light pants. Seeing as she was so petite, the pants attached to the bodysuit were far too long, but not so oversized that she wouldn’t be able to walk in it.

“This is the first time I’ve worn an animal costume…”

“Generally, I’d say there aren’t many people who have.” Mayura laughed as she closed the fastener at the back of Izumiko’s costume. She was wearing a kerchief over her hair with a patched blouse that matched a well-worn skirt and apron. There was soot on her face as well. For the second half of the party though, she would change into a Rococo princess dress, which would make her the flashiest person in the room.

“The chairman will probably be on the party floor today, so Sagara and I will make contact with him and try to figure out what the adults here have planned,” Mayura informed Izumiko. “You, on the other hand, should stay as far away from the chairman and the other adults as possible.”

“Right.”

The reindeer head was overly large, and looked as silly on Izumiko as it would have on a child. As a result, there was something charming about the way the antlers and muzzle rested over her head and face. Unfortunately, however, the mask’s big, round eyes were at the height of her forehead, and the only way she could see out was through the mask’s mouth. The opening there had netting stretched across it, creating a small window. That made Izumiko’s line of sight narrow, and when the head shifted even slightly, Izumiko lost her view. All in all, it was difficult for her to see the world beyond the inside of the reindeer head.

The polyurethane crafted head might have been a pain to wear, but at least it wasn’t heavy. Still, it was difficult to move in seeing as she couldn’t see her feet very well. What was more, as she didn’t know how tall she was in the reindeer head and kept bumping into this and that as she made her way out of the empty room. The whole getup was much harder to manage than she had thought it would be. Mayura held her hand all the way to the auditorium where the party was being held.

And so, when they arrived in the hall, they were surprised to see someone in a wolf costume, not unlike Izumiko’s, jumping around excitedly. Obviously, it was Manatsu, but Izumiko still couldn’t believe he could move around like that.

Mayura was also amazed by her brother.

“What’s up with you bouncing around like that? Is it really that fun to wear an animal costume?”

“Nah. That’s not why I’m so happy,” the wolf with its tongue sticking out said in Manatsu’s voice. He pointed towards something with a gloved hand. “If you look at Little Red Riding Hood, you’ll know why the wolf is so excited.”

They turned their heads to see a cute girl wearing a bright red cloak and holding a basket. She was standing nearby, surrounded by second year students. It was Wataru Shimamoto, grinning from ear to ear from all the praise he was getting.

Staring at the very cute Red Riding hood, it sounded very much as if Mayura muttered under her breath, “Oh no. He’s going to get way more attention than me.”

There was someone dressed as an old witch in a black cloak standing next to Shimamoto. It was Rena Akinokawa in the outfit, which only made Shimamoto seem that much more innocent in his own costume.

“The student government went all the way with this. Do you think it’ll be enough that Takayanagi will give up on standing out?”

Manatsu answered his sister’s question, his voice uninterested. “You don’t need to worry about that. Look over there.”

Izumiko reached up and moved the reindeer head with her hand so that she could look in the direction he had indicated. Ichijo Takayanagi had just walked through the entrance to the hall. Indeed, she could see why there was no need for them to worry about him tonight. Takayanagi’s costume was a Heian era noble’s outfit. The overshirt he wore with hakama pants was dark blue and the shirt underneath was red and white. To complete the look, he wore a tall, black, narrow hat on his head. The whole ensemble made Takayanagi’s small frame larger than it normally appeared.

…He went way too far…

Izumiko and Mayura were left speechless as they watched Takayanagi approach. The costume didn’t make any sense in the context of a Christmas party, but it certainly matched the wearer.

“Thank you for dropping your barrier today,” Takayanagi said in his Heian attire. He stared straight at Izumiko in her reindeer costume. “I knew as soon as it disappeared this morning. I made a new shikigami. Isn’t that great?”

“…Ah, sure.” Izumiko emphasized her words with a careful nod of the reindeer head. First thing that morning, she had recited the charm Miyuki had taught her. However, as she hadn’t sensed anything change, this was the first time since then that she knew for sure that it had worked.

Right… There are going to be shikigami around today, and I’m going to have to deal with them.

“Don’t use your shikigami for anything so big that you make trouble for the people around you,” Izumiko said, intending to sound firm, but Takayanagi was unfazed.

“I can’t really guarantee that. No matter what you might tell me, I’m the one in charge today.”

Mayura, standing there in her housekeeper’s costume complete with a long broom, scowled. “If Izumiko says to do something, you do it,” she broke in. “You’re just a diviner who uses minions to do your bidding. If you do what you want to do, we’ll kick you out of here.”

Takayanagi ignored Mayura. He turned back to Izumiko and continued on in the same tone as before. “Izumiko, you should be more receptive towards shikigami. We diviners are well versed in using spirits. You should know more about what we do just in case you ever want to join us. True cooperation cannot be achieved where there is no understanding, wouldn’t you agree?”

“I’m guessing you want me to say that from here on out, I’ll let you use shikigami anytime you want on campus?” Izumiko responded cautiously.

“I’m acting as the top of the school’s public face because of your own strategies, aren’t I? Being who I am, I want to know a little more about you seeing as you’ve hidden yourself away from the public eye all this time. That way, I can be useful to you on my own terms even when you do not lift the seal on my abilities. While you might have sworn that you will not release the bonds you have placed on me, might it be correct that we’ll never fully come to a true understanding of each other as long as we are held within this arrangement?”

What he’s saying is true… Izumiko thought.

No one wanted to be controlled, Izumiko considered vaguely to herself. With that said though, she seemed to be fine being the one controlling someone else. She hadn’t thought about it that way until now, and it made her inwardly cringe.

“That’s true, but… Takayanagi, is there any way that I can convince you to stop using shikigami for good?”

“Using shikigami is the foundation of diviner’s magic. That’s something you’re unwilling to accept, isn’t it? However, like the Soudas, you can’t say that you feel uncomfortable dealing with the spirits of the dead. You’re working with one right now, aren’t you?”

Again, Izumiko couldn’t help but think over the words Takayanagi had said so confidently.

“Izumiko, don’t listen to him,” Mayura said sharply. She had not been tempted to rethink her opinions. “He was born talking garbage.”

Miyuki’s voice was suddenly audible from the side of their small gathering. “That’s so true. Save all those fancy words you’re trying to confuse Izumiko with for after this party. You should know that whatever you say, it’s not going to work anyway.”

Izumiko hadn’t seen Miyuki in the auditorium before now, but it seemed as if he had been close enough to hear the conversation that was going on. She turned the reindeer head to look at him and her eyes instantly went wide.

“Sagara… that costume…”

“It’s just a costume.”

“But it’s…”

“I said, it’s just a costume.”

Miyuki’s appearance was shocking enough to rival Takayanagi’s Heian outfit. He was dressed in full ascetic monk garb, complete with a wide shouldered traditional vest adorned with soft, pom pom looking decorations worn over hakama pants. There were cloth wrist coverings on his arms and straw sandals on his feet. He was wearing a stiff looking hat on his head and a braided cord wrapped around his waist held a small leather pelt in place against his back that would have been useful if he had needed to sit down on wet or dirty ground. And of course, he was holding a staff in his hands.

This was the first time even Izumiko had seen Miyuki dressed in full ascetic monk attire. However, she had absolutely no clue why he had gone to such lengths.

“But that’s not the costume the student government rented,” Izumiko said.

Miyuki answered in a strained voice. “One of the other students grabbed mine before I could get to it and the only costume left was Cinderella’s sister. I wasn’t crazy about either of them, but between the two, this seemed like the better choice.”

“Those are some interesting choices…”

Mayura looked as if she were about to say something, but she held her tongue with Takayanagi there with them.

Shimamoto, standing a bit apart from them, had something to say though.

“Oh man, too bad, Sagara!” he called over. “So I’m really the only guy dressed as a girl here?”

“Shut up. You can’t complain about something while everyone’s complimenting you on it,” Miyuki retorted.

He looked towards Takayanagi next. “I don’t think Izumiko’s power and your magic really have much in common, but if you’re saying you want to work together, we can probably come up with some sort of compromise or agreement. From here on, we need focus on figuring out more about how the goddess works.”

Tayakanagagi took in Miyuki’s outfit with interest, just like everyone else.

“Are you saying that as the ascetic monk’s representative, Sagara?”

“Probably not. Who are the people who are coming to see the World Heritage Candidate student today? Are they parents of exchange students?”

Takayanagi’s tone relaxed at Miyuki’s question. “It’s not necessarily going to be all foreigners. There could be some Japanese inspectors too. Either way, they’ll be people who know a lot about World Heritage.”

“Can they see shikigami?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. People’s understanding of shikigami most likely varies from place to place. A Japanese inspector would be more likely to know the same things we do because they’re Japanese.” Takayanagi readjusted his hat with a hand and then continued. “That’s the case with anything based in history. I don’t believe most average people in the world today can distinguish between diviners and ascetic monks. Therefore, I see nothing wrong with what I said before. It would be possible for Izumiko to join the diviners.”

Keep reading!

#rdg #red data girl #rdg 6 #rdg my wish on the night of the shooting stars #rdg 6 week 23 #translation

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jcmorrigan · 6 years

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I am currently sailing the vast and wide oceans aboard a fairly big ship known as the “Jumba/Pleakley.” I know not how long I am going to be in the obsession phase over these two. I actually got hooked on it a while ago, but I think what kicked it all off was me FINALLY watching Stitch Has a Glitch for the first time and seeing how perfect they were in that. So I wanted to take a little time to tell you why I think this ship is amazing and also why I feel like it’s pretty much canon at this point. Because I seriously do think that at some point, the writers of the Lilo & Stitch extended universe realized what they were doing and barely bothered to hold back.

When they first meet in the original Lilo & Stitch, Dr. Jumba Jookiba and Agent Pleakley (who we wouldn’t find out had the first name “Wendy” until extended canon kicked in) are complete and total opposites who hate each other’s guts. I personally love ships that start out with some rivalry. This is partly due to personal reasons (i.e. when I was immature in high school, my method of flirting with others was to act like a jerk) and partly because watching a relationship evolve gives it extra strength. If you’re going to go from enemies to friends to pretty much lovers, you’ve got to bond over a lot and come to thoroughly understand each other.

But let’s stop for a moment and break down the archetypes at play here. You have Jumba, who starts the film as a criminal and has a dark past, ultimately doing the right thing but with his own brand of cheekiness and a little disregard for morality where he sees fit. On the other hand is Pleakley, a naïve cinnamon roll who’s just trying to do the right thing. Does this dynamic remind you of anything? Because it should.

The “bad boy/femme fatale” and the “sweet summer child” are a duo that Disney actually LOVES to use in its canon romances. Sometimes they get along from the get-go, but in some cases, like Rapunzel and Eugene, they actually don’t, and once again, their journey is about coming to understand each other and see the beauty in each other.

Back to Jumba and Pleakley. They remain in pretty constant rivalry throughout the original film; some moments between them could be interpreted…problematically. However, their adventure in attempting to catch Stitch gives this duo kind of a fire-forged quality. You never see one without the other from the moment they’re introduced to each other, and the audience comes to appreciate their opposing personalities as well-played comedy. Even if their chemistry is “We have nothing in common,” there’s still a chemistry there.

That isn’t to say they don’t have their moments. For one, the disguises they choose to look human after Pleakley insists they need to blend in to avoid panicking the locals are probably meant to evoke the look of a couple. For another, there’s the scene where they observe Stitch’s first night in Lilo’s room. Their fight over who gets to wear the wig is playful, and Jumba posing the question to Pleakley of what it’s like to have nothing, not even memories to look back on, is perhaps the first instance of dialogue they have that isn’t vitriolic. Of course, Pleakley doesn’t actually say much in return, given the fact that he’s just survived a mosquito attack of epic proportions and is in no state to talk…

By the way, do we REALLY think he put all those bandages on by himself? Just food for thought.

When Jumba and Pleakley finally decide to change gears and help Stitch and Nani rescue Lilo as opposed to bringing Stitch to task, they still aren’t really getting along, but the fire-forged aspect of their alliance stands out a lot more. There’s one more scene I really want to draw attention to here. During the spaceship chase, at one point, a blast from Gantu hits the ship in such a way that it nearly misses completely obliterating Pleakley. This is played for laughs, but the way it goes down, he freaks out about almost getting shot…

Then Jumba looks back over his shoulder at him after hearing the scream…

Then the shot cuts back out to the ships in pursuit.

The way this is framed stands out to me. They could have just done the shot of Pleakley’s reading being interrupted by him ALMOST GETTING INCINERATED for the joke, then cut back to the ships. Or they could have gone with Jumba looking back at him, then turning back forward to make some comment to Nani about the structure of the ship being compromised by the gunfire. But what comes across by this shot sequence is that Jumba looks back at Pleakley just because he heard him scream: just because he wanted to visually confirm that Pleakley was okay. I’m not sure if that’s what was intended, but that’s how it reads to me, and I think that shows just how far their bond has come. They started out as enemies forced to work together, but at the very least, they’re used enough to each other’s presence that if one of them cries out in fear, the other is going to check up on him.

By the end, they both move into the same house, which is a little surprising given the friction between them for the bulk of the film. Again, it speaks to the idea that a bond has grown between them due to all the time they spent together on their mission.

That brings us to the extended canon, where their relationship after the adventure that brought them together is actually ironed out and explored. There are a couple directions to go here. “Stitch Has a Glitch” is generally seen as taking place before “Stitch! The Movie” and the animated series, at least according to how the Disney Wiki seems to frame it and TVTropes refers to it. Disney itself views the animated series canon and “Stitch Has a Glitch” as alternate universes, but I like to put them under the same umbrella. In truth, I actually think “Stitch Has a Glitch” has to come LAST, after “Leroy and Stitch,” for characterization reasons that I will discuss when we arrive at that point. I won’t be going into anything regarding the “Stitch!” anime or “Stitch and Ai,” as I have little interest in either of those series and don’t consider them part of my personal canon. If you prefer them, then more power to you; I’m sure there’s a lot of subtext to dig up there for Jumba/Pleakley as well.

To go in the chronology I’ve specified, we’ll begin with an assessment of their relationship in “Stitch! The Movie.” When we start out, they’re roommates, but they obviously still have their differences. When Gantu comes calling, they have an argument over whether or not Pleakley should take and hide the other experiments; Jumba wants Pleakley to take his creations and hide in a box, obviously caring more about the safety of his creations than Pleakley’s well-being. Pleakley, on the other hand, doesn’t consider how much trouble Jumba is in because of the experiments, simply pushing them back because they’re “something evil.”

This is also the film that further’s Jumba’s personal character arc. It’s not done in any complex manner, but at the beginning, he claims to still be a lone wolf, and is surprised by the end to figure out that he actually is part of a family now, and one that is working hard to secure his safety, to boot. That falls right in line with how he and Pleakley interact at the beginning; we have proof positive that Jumba is thinking only of himself because he doesn’t think he could have a caring relationship with anyone at this point. Pleakley’s stance is more ambiguous, but it probably still carries some bad blood from how they used to be at odds. (Though we do hear Jumba use the term “little one-eyed one” on Pleakley after the argument, which sounds strangely like a term of endearment.)

When Jumba actually is taken, however, we see Pleakley more distressed. He begins his comical quest of phoning every single planet in existence to see if Jumba is on any of them (“Oh, I get it! Detention CELL PHONE!”). When he and Jumba finally do connect via phone, they’re visibly pleased to be talking to each other again. By the time Gantu and Hämsterviel interrupt the call, they’re completely off topic of the subject of Jumba’s capture; Jumba is in the midst of telling a stupid joke. Hämsterviel commandeers the call, and we’re given that side of the call from Pleakley’s perspective as he hears the demands Hämsterviel lays down. He relates the demands to Nani, and as he gets to “…or we’ll never see Jumba again,” he actually breaks down. While no tears are visible, it’s evident from his tone and body language that he’s either close to crying or he’s actually there.

Then, of course, when Jumba does return to Earth, he undergoes the revelation that yes, he is part of a family. During the hostage negotiations, we also see Pleakley there to bargain for his life, trying to talk Gantu out of shooting him because “He’s allergic to plasma blasts.” So, no, at this point, while the two of them are shippable, they still aren’t at a place where the subtext can be considered romantic. It does, however, speak to a friendship having developed. We clearly see Pleakley show legitimate concern for Jumba’s well-being since his capture. It’s not as obvious from Jumba’s end, but he does come to terms with the fact that he has people who care about him and, by assumption, people he cares about, and Pleakley falls within this group. And again, we’ve now seen him visibly brighten when Pleakley calls the Detention Cell Phone (I’m still not over that pun).

As we move into Lilo & Stitch: The Animated Series, their relationship becomes a good deal more filled with subtext. They still pick on each other; that element never goes away, but it’s much more light-hearted. (And, once again, speaking from personal experience, that can mean flirting.) I won’t touch upon every episode (pretty much just the ones I used for my fanfic), but I’ll try to hit the high points.

“Spooky” has Pleakley outfitting the pair in what are very obviously couples’ costumes for Halloween: once as Cleopatra and Julius Caesar:

and once as Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler:

(I find it difficult to imagine Pleakley actually LIKING “Gone With the Wind,” but he obviously digs the aesthetic.) This is relationship coding.

Then comes the infamous episode “Fibber.” This episode’s plot revolves around Pleakley’s family pressuring him to get married to a woman of their choosing. Pleakley tries to escape the obligation by pretending to be engaged to Nani, prompting his family to arrive on Earth to witness the wedding. When Pleakley’s mother arranges for an actual minister to make the wedding legally binding, Nani backs out of the scheme. Of all people, it’s Jumba who fills in as a replacement bride, dressing as a woman and showing up for the actual marriage ceremony. Keep in mind that Nani left because this marriage would have been legally binding. Jumba has no problem with this little catch.

This episode also demonstrates some of how much more physically comfortable Jumba and Pleakley have become around each other. There’s a gag in which Pleakley forces a human-sized wedding ring onto Jumba’s finger, which is obviously very painful. Immediately after that, we get this shot:

Which could be read as “I’m touching the person I’m supposed to be marrying in a convincing way to make it look like I can’t keep my hands off ‘her’,” but, given the timing, I actually see more as “I’m sorry I did that to your hand and this is the best comfort I can offer right now.” Later, when Gantu crashes the wedding to make chaos, as Gantu is wont to do, Pleakley’s first reaction is to leap into Jumba’s arms:

And Jumba’s instinct is to catch him.

The end of the episode also evokes a coming-out narrative, with Pleakley admitting to his family that he doesn’t want to get married (fit a heteronormative mold) and his family chewing him out before admitting that they accept him the way he is. Having this narrative play out juxtaposed with a sham marriage to a male character puts a little extra context around the fact that Pleakley and Jumba were very nearly married.

“Nosy” has what becomes the usual of Jumba and Pleakley acting like a married couple in public. In order to keep up their charade, or because they actually are that close at this point? But interestingly enough, when Nosy, an experiment obsessed with airing out embarrassing secrets, reveals the dirt he got on Jumba to experiment 625 (who is not yet named “Reuben”), he happens to mention that Jumba has a drawer full of love letters. He never specifies who the letters are to or from, but there are at this point only so many people, and one of the options is super obvious.

I have nothing to say about “Hunkahunka” because Jumba/Pleakley was pretty much the one pairing that DIDN’T occur and I will be forever bitter about this missed opportunity. (Just as bitter as I will be about there being no Huntsman+Gantu alliance in “Morpholomew.”)

“Skip” explores an alternate future caused by Lilo messing with time travel (for the second time in the series). Hämsterviel has conquered the galaxy, and Jumba is living alone in the repossessed and broken-down Pelekai house. As Jumba lists off all the woes of the world, he does mention that Pleakley has landed a job as a television fashion critic, and names this as the one bit of “good news” he has. It’s small, but significant in that he has actively seen Pleakley’s life turn out better than his own and calls it good news. He’s not jealous at all. He’s just happy because his other half is happy.

“Snafu” features an interesting B-plot in which Jumba and Pleakley admit that they do not fully understand the concept of “love” (which has interesting implications as to society in the Galactic Alliance outside of Earth) and set out to research it together. From the get-go, that’s already a ship trope: the duo who is always together sets out to find the true scientific meaning of love. What gets me is when Pleakley first proposes his study. He actually suggests the idea to Jumba while doing this:

Again, these two are very physically comfortable with each other at this point, and I can’t say I know many people who are “just friends” who would get into this position casually, especially while talking about the meaning of love. Anyway, Jumba shoves him off and rejects the proposal, but is brought back around to it when he realizes the power of love could potentially be used for evil. Somehow. Pleakley goes along with him on this. For most of the series, whenever Jumba brings up doing anything for evil, Pleakley uses that as a point of criticism; he still has a strong moral compass, while Jumba insists, even after three years of heroic deeds, that he is a villain (NOBODY BELIEVES YOU ANYMORE, JUMBA, SO JUST DROP IT ALREADY). However, even when evil experimentation is on the table, Pleakley is willing to drop the argument just so he and Jumba can work on the project together.

This culminates in the pair mixing several comical ingredients (stale Valentine’s Day chocolate, sand from a romantic beach, puppy saliva) into what they believe to be the distilled essence of love. Jumba then hands it to Pleakley, and Pleakley drinks it. I’m going to reiterate this; Jumba gives what he believes to be the DISTILLED ESSENCE OF LOVE to Pleakley, who DRINKS IT IN FRONT OF HIM. You have to wonder what they really EXPECTED to happen, knowing that love is a bond between two people. Of course, it does nothing. (Please do not try drinking melted chocolate, sand, and dog spit at home.) But if your first instinct upon holding the essence of love is to hand it over to your close friend to have him drink it, I think you already have a slight idea of what love is, and it has something to do with that friend.

For my final exhibit pre-Leroy, I want to talk about something that did not happen in the show proper, but, if sources are correct, almost did. It was by a very happy accident that I stumbled upon this original deleted storyboard for “Ace,” dubbed here by Ron “Keeper1st” O’Dell (who does a VERY accurate job of capturing each character’s verbal tics): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4QWt8Hbl4g

First of all, wow.

Second of all, WOW.

I’m still reeling from the very fact that the original plan was for Jumba not only to get kicked out of E.G.O. because he PERSONALLY went in to save Pleakley from drowning, meaning that he valued Pleakley above his reputation as an “evil genius” after all, but to say along the way about Pleakley, “His existence is meaningful to me.” That right there feels like a coded “I love him.” Do you know what I would personally give to have somebody say that about me?

Then there’s what comes after: the expressions they trade after Jumba states that family is more important. The toast Pleakley tries to make to Jumba to call out how kind of a person he actually is. And then, of course, because Jumba is a rascal who can’t just let someone call him kind and get away with it, he arranges for an entire strawberry pie to get smacked in Pleakley’s face. Some things never change. But the scene in total is very full of heart, and it’s also very in line with how we’ve seen the relationship develop over the series. Jumba and Pleakley obviously ARE very important to each other. They’re roommates, they almost got married, and even though they argue all the time, they always do try to come to each other’s rescue (Pleakley bargaining for Jumba’s life in “Stitch! The Movie” and Jumba chasing down and confronting Gantu to rescue Pleakley in “Poxy”). By now, their interactions are very sweet.

What really propels them into OTP water for me during this phase of the canon is just how much time they have to interact with each other. Even the big promoted heterosexual power couple, Nani and David, don’t show up in all that many episodes together, but Jumba and Pleakley are in pretty much EVERY EPISODE with something to say about each other, either good or bad. There’s always a new interaction to incite feelings, whether they’re relatably picking on each other or becoming closer in a heartwarming way.

But “Leroy and Stitch” is a whole other ball game. The conclusion of the series, canonizing it as having taken place over three years, it begins with the alien members of the Pelekai household becoming recognized as heroes by the Galactic Council and going their separate ways to realize new destinies. Jumba is reintroduced to his old laboratory, where he begins creating a brand-new experiment. Pleakley is given a supervising professor job at a university, which disappoints him because he thought he would be working with students, but that is not the case. And Stitch becomes a captain, piloting his beloved Big Red Battleship. One of the themes of the film is that while it is important for Lilo to learn to let her loved ones go, when they’re all apart from each other, they become miserable; the people they care about are more important than titles and honors.

With Jumba, however, this is realized in a rather telling way. Once he makes progress on his new experiment, take one guess who the first person is he calls out for to come see what he did. Yes: it’s Pleakley. Jumba specifically calls out for Pleakley to come look at his work before realizing that Pleakley isn’t there. Oh, wait, did I say Pleakley was the “first” person he calls out to? Make that the “only” person he calls out to. Because he doesn’t mention “626” or “little girl” at all. He calls for Pleakley, realizes he’s alone, and immediately pops in a record of “So Lonesome I Could Cry.”

Hämsterviel then takes him hostage, because it’s seemingly Jumba’s destiny to become Hämsterviel’s hostage at least once every three years. During this time, Pleakley is also coming to terms with the fact that he misses Jumba. He deliberates between whether or not to call Jumba by looking back and forth between a phone and…oh, what’s this?

A picture of Jumba and nobody else that has a permanent home on Pleakley’s desk!

When he makes the call, Jumba tries to get him to stay away without giving away Hämsterviel’s presence. This prompts Pleakley to try a line on him that has become INFAMOUS in the L&S fandom: “Are you sure you don’t want to talk to your Aunt Pleakley? I’m wearing the wig!” Okay, at this point, the writers aren’t even trying to hide the relationship coding. This is pretty much canon.

Hämsterviel forces Jumba’s hand, and Jumba tells Pleakley that he never wants to see him again. This results in a display on both ends of how much they care about each other. Pleakley fires off his own barrage of insults before the call ends, at which point he just lays his head down on his desk and cries. This angst lasts for all of five minutes, but I think you just can’t help but feel for him at this point. The other half of his dynamic duo just told him he never wants to see him again, and he’s reduced to an emotional breakdown. I personally think that Pleakley in general is in need of as many hugs as he can be given, but ESPECIALLY at this moment.

Jumba, on the other hand, says one of the most poignant lines in the entire L&S canon when it comes to their relationship: he tells Hämsterviel that making him be mean to Pleakley was the most evil deed of all.

I just want you to sit back and think about that for a minute when compared to how Jumba treated Pleakley in the first film. They were a fire-forged alliance, but Jumba also regarded him as a nuisance and wanted to be rid of him. We’ve now come so far that Jumba thinks Hämsterviel making him be mean to Pleakley is THE WORST EVIL OF ALL. He has to know that at the other end of the galaxy, Pleakley is having a breakdown. He knows Pleakley too well to NOT realize this is happening. And that has to be giving him his own version of turmoil.

But of course, saying “I never want to see you again” does NOT ACTUALLY STOP PLEAKLEY, who shows up at the laboratory not five minutes later, just in time to get captured by Hämsterviel as well. And then you have this exchange:

“I just wanted to make up!”

“Next time, send flowers.”

Don’t you tell me this isn’t canon at this point.

Anyway, let’s fast-forward to after the great Leroy vs. experiments battle until the very end. Once again, our heroes are presented before the Council for saving the galaxy. As the Councilwoman tries to present them with their honors, Jumba, Pleakley, and Stitch all decide to go back home to Earth instead. But Jumba and Pleakley’s body language as they say it is worth noticing here. Jumba tells the Councilwoman, much like in the “Ace” storyboard, that his ohana is more important than his evil genius status. But as he says this, he reaches out and…

He doesn’t make physical contact with Lilo or Stitch. JUST Pleakley. And it’s the timing of these things that makes a very important link. When he touches Pleakley while talking about how family is more important, he immediately associates the two concepts. Pleakley is his definition of family.

And Pleakley turns this right back around. He gets out of Jumba’s grip for a moment, telling the Councilwoman he quits his “non-teaching teaching job.” She asks him to clarify, and he yells, “Crazyhead! I wanna go home!” And as he says that, he does this:

Again, making the same association: he considers Jumba his definition of home.

Also, while I haven’t tracked every single instance in the series, you’ll notice that while the pair is very physically affectionate, Pleakley is generally the one who initiates it. This time around, it was all Jumba’s idea. This signifies to me that a sort of barrier is breaking down around Jumba; he’s always been okay with Pleakley touching him casually, but he hasn’t ever felt motivated to initiate the contact himself. Now, he feels the need to display his affection a little more outright, and that ends up carrying over into “Stitch Has a Glitch.”

Now, the reason I place “Stitch Has a Glitch” after “Leroy and Stitch” is because of the great stride made in the relationship. In the animated series, Jumba and Pleakley are dancing around each other. “Leroy” has their affection for each other become much more blatant. In “Stitch Has a Glitch,” they’re flat-out dating and you have no evidence to disprove this. And I have to say that “Stitch Has a Glitch” actually offers up the icing on the relationship cake that moves them from just a really cute ship with squee-worthy interactions to one of my incredibly valuable OTPs.

The premise of “Stitch Has a Glitch” is that, due to Stitch having faulty energizing at his birth, he is breaking down, having fits of physical violence that herald his eventual death. It’s sort of a metaphor for illness, physical or mental, and how it can change a person, in my eyes. During all of this, Jumba is the first one to know what’s going on, since it has to do with his work. And he was going to hide that fact away from the rest of the family. Because Poor Communication Kills and we needed a plot device? That’s the argument I see brought out a lot of places, but really, I think Jumba trying to keep it a secret is an important revelation about his character. He’s afraid of Stitch dying because of his failures, and he’s ashamed to admit that he’s the source. He wants to quietly solve this problem without it coming to light that he indirectly put Stitch in so much danger. This is new ground for Jumba, who we have so far seen as swaggeringly confident. We hardly ever see him at a loss emotionally, and seeing his armor be pierced is armor-piercing for the audience, at least where I was concerned.

As I said, he tries to keep it a secret. But Pleakley knows right away that something’s off, and when Jumba tries to slink away to the lab aboard the red spaceship, Pleakley follows him, begging, “Include me! Include me!” And after some light pestering, Jumba does. Yes, Pleakley did annoy him into it, but if Jumba REALLY wanted to shut him out, I think we all know he could have found a way. Instead, he opens up to Pleakley and Pleakley alone about his secret. He and Pleakley put their heads together to try and create the fusion chamber that will give Stitch back his life force, resulting in some comedy around them trying to hijack the necessary technology such as the toaster.

But the first version of the fusion chamber fails, and Jumba loses confidence that he can build one, as he admits the first one he ever used on Stitch was not even of his own creation. We finally see Jumba at his lowest, having lost all faith in himself. And here’s where it gets amazing. Pleakley is the one to talk him up, reminding him that he was the one to create Stitch in the first place, asserting Jumba that he not only can create the life-saving machine but is the only one who can do so. And this works.

When Jumba recreates the fusion chamber, he steps forward to turn it on, and falters. “What if it does not work?” he asks.

Pleakley responds by gently touching his arm and saying…

“It will.”

Pleakley has absolute and utter faith in Jumba, and actually succeeds in restoring Jumba’s own self-confidence, which he has never truly lost before, at least that we have seen. (Another reason why I think this film fits best in the canon going LAST, Nani’s job notwithstanding.) That’s what makes this relationship go from adorable to beautiful. These two aren’t just infatuated with each other. They’re just THERE for each other. They’ve left behind all the vitriol and hatred that they used to harbor for each other, and they’re ready to support each other emotionally. This is something that can get me to fall for any ship instantly: if the involved parties build each other’s confidence up.

And you wanna know the best part? The fact that it’s PLEAKLEY acting as the emotional rock for JUMBA. Because if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll recall that Pleakley is usually NOT emotionally stable. HE’S usually the one who breaks down at the first sign of trouble. HE’S the one more likely to cry, to lose his cool, to worry that the worst is about to happen. But when Jumba needs him to be strong, he steps right up to the plate.

We’ll just cover a few more interactions that all but canonize the ship in the final moments. As Lilo races toward Stitch in the spaceship, the others are scrambling to climb a cliff face to reach them in time, and let’s just say…did I mention that Jumba and Pleakley are VERY physically comfortable with each other?

And to a less in-your-face degree, after Stitch is revived by Lilo’s love, Pleakley asks how that’s possible, and Jumba informs him it isn’t:

And once again, this is Jumba initiating contact with Pleakley, showing how much his barriers have come down.

Finally, during the closing scene, we have the entire Pelekai family dancing together, especially Jumba and Pleakley:

Juxtaposed, I might add, with Nani/David, who are the overt “canon” couple showing PDA:

So, in conclusion, Jumba/Pleakley is a ship with a lot of development over the course of its universe. It starts out as a rivalry, develops into a fire-forged alliance, becomes a close friendship, and settles into an obviously coded relationship. These two have perfected the art of pretending they wouldn’t drop everything to protect each other when in reality, they totally would, and whenever one of them is in true distress, the other is right there, whether it’s the threat of Gantu and Hämsterviel or the loss of faith in oneself. We can’t objectively call it the greatest Disney romance (we’re all agreed that one’s Belle/Beast, right?), but it’s up there among the greats.

#jumba jookiba #wendy pleakley #jumba #pleakley #lilo and stitch

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clonerightsagenda · 6 years

Text

I was looking at old tj posts trying to decide which to move to ao3 (a project I will deal with later) and like, the old ones had multiple scenes and some gesture at a narrative arc. Then the semester showed up and started kicking my ass. However, I tried to put a little more effort into this one with some type of character movement, but I ran out of time to really make that *work*. Obviously Aradia was perfect for Halloween.

tuesjade prompt: Halloween

You've been exploring for a few weeks, and when you come back, the house's decor has changed. The leaves of the trees nearby have turned vivid colors. There are bright orange gourds set out on the front porch which, after you sample one, don't taste particularly good. There's also a cartoonish skeleton dangling from a hook on the front door. You give it a friendly nod as you walk inside.

Jade is the only one in the living room. "You're back!" she says. "Did you find anything interesting out there?"

"It's all interesting," you say. "Not as interesting as here right now, though. What's going on? Are we displaying one of our kills to intimidate the neighborhood? I thought we were taking a more conciliatory stance."

"Oh no." Jade frowns and sniffs the air. "Did Jaspers leave something dead outside again?"

"No, I meant the skeleton."

"Oh." She laughs. "It's for Halloween. That isn't until the end of the month, but we've started early. There was a lot of debate over that addition, actually. Some people thought it might be tasteless. But since it's the first time a lot of us have celebrated, we're going all out. You should see all the tacky shirts we've found at the store.” She taps her chest, which is currently emblazoned with the slogan, “Witch, please.”

Now you remember. Halloween is one of those seasonal human holidays. You've heard it mentioned before, but either it hadn't come up again or you'd been out in space when it had. If it involves decorating things with skeletons, you're all for it, although the gourds you could live without. "What is this tradition about, anyway?"

"I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask. I've never celebrated it myself. It's hard to trick or treat when you're living alone. But in general... it's a chance to get spooky!" She giggles. "And more importantly to dress up and eat yourself sick."

"A lot of your holidays seem to involve eating yourself sick," you observe.

"America is a culture of excess," she says, deadpan. "That is Rose's official position on the matter."

"What's yours?"

She purses her lips for a moment and then nods. "I'm new here, but I think it's kind of fun. I'm going to be Marie Curie. Roxy is going as Ada Lovelace, we will be classy and educational."

You frown, left behind. "Wait, you're going to *be* someone?"

"That's part of the point! Well, you don't actually "be" them." These clarifications are important. You've learned, in your attempts to communicate cross-species, never to assume understanding. "But you dress up and pretend to be someone else! That's part of Halloween, being in disguise. I think it goes back to trying to scare ghosts away by being scarier? But now it's just for fun. Younger kids go around asking for candy, it's called trick or treating."

Scaring away ghosts is a strategy you'd never considered. You'd tried to help, although as a young troll your abilities had been limited. Instead, you'd practiced being polite and understanding. The few times you could make things right (putting a warning sign up by a patch of crumbling cliff, retrieving a favorite token for a grieving moirail) even more spirits had crowded around you, desperate for aid or just someone to talk to. Had humans felt similar pressure, to make a whole tradition off frightening the dead away?

"We have something a little similar," you explain. "Normally it's a cullable offense to disguise yourself as another caste, but we have one day when it's encouraged. You can try to move up a few rungs and claim special privileges for a while. Of course, if your disguise isn't good enough and a highblood notices, they’ll still punish you, probably fatally. I guess that's our version of tricks or treats."

"It's not that high stakes here." Jade frowns. "Is every holiday from your planet that messed up?"

"More or less. At least then the disguises had a point.” You settle onto the back of the couch. Maybe you’re weightless off-planet, but it’s nice to sit down. “You do something similar, when you're younger. I'm not sure I understand why you'd keep doing it. Is the purpose to get away from yourself?”

Jade shrugs. “I guess some people might want to escape being them for a while. But I just like science, and Marie Curie made some important discoveries, even though I'm glad I won't get radiation poisoning. Looking back it's probably a good thing I went God Tier, otherwise all that uranium wouldn't have been good for me."

"I would be dead young myself," you say cheerfully. Jade's eyebrows draw together, and you guess you've misjudged your response, or your tone. That happens a lot. "Thanks for explaining this to me," you say, to move the conversation along. "It sounds interesting."

"Sure. Do you have anything you'd like to dress up as? I bet Alternia must have had some neat intellectuals, although most people would say that's a boring idea." Jade plucks at the fabric of her sleeve. "Mostly I just think it'll be easy to get a lab coat."

You touch your own shirt protectively. "I'm not so sure about that part. I'm happy as myself."

“Whatever suits you.” She picks up her phone. “I’ll let everyone know you’re here. Welcome back!”

Apparently you didn't miss *all* the Halloween prep, because a few days later everyone makes a trip to the Halloween store. (Almost everyone. Calliope and Kanaya insist on making their outfits by hand and split off to the fabric store instead.) The building is noisy and filled with distractions, plastic skulls that laugh when you press a button, enormous coffins that swing open and closed. It seems like humans save up all their gruesome and grisly impulses and unleash them at once. No wonder the holiday has begun slipping outside its proper temporal bounds. One day isn’t nearly enough.

Everywhere, of course, are costumes. Jade is trying on a pair of fake wolf ears as a joke when Hal shows up with a silvery outfit in a package. You're nearby examining a bust with curled horns a lot like yours, so you overhear. "Check it out," he says. "Sexy robot. Do you think this would make Dirk regret we were born?"

"Halloween is an opportunity to dress up as something you want." Jade returns the ears to the shelf. "Do you want to waste that chance annoying Dirk?"

Hal scowls. He'll give you two the time of day as honorary members of the once prototyped club, but Jade has a tendency to not put up with his excesses. It's hard for him to carry on when she starts using the reproving voice. "I admit I'm not feeling the robo-tits," he says. "But the skirt ain't bad. Not like I can wear an outfit with pants."

"As someone who was a sexy robot for a while out of necessity, I'd vote against it," you say.

"Hmmm." He turns the package over in his hands. "I've got it, what about a Minion?"

Jade brightens. "Oh, those cute yellow guys from Despicable Me? I only ever saw the ads, the world ended before the movie came out. They looked nice, though."

Hal tosses the package back onto a nearby shelf. "That's right, you were spared before their reign of marketing terror. Only Dirk and Roxy would comprehend the full scale of horror. Maybe I'll split the difference, go as a sexy minion."

Jade rolls her eyes. "How about you go tell Dave the animatronic raven over there isn’t alive and he should stop trying to intimidate it.”

He retreats, and Jade wanders off. Before you move on, you reach out and slide the sexy robot costume far back on the shelf, where no one will see it.

"I'm surprised you didn't come back with three bags of junk from that Halloween store," Sollux says. You've brought some food up for him, since he didn't come down for group dinner again, involved in some sort of project or Internet discussion. He’s accumulated a cult following online, even if he hasn’t made as many inroads as you here. That's not so different than before - back on Alternia he told you and the rest of his long-distance friends that most of his neighbors wanted to kill him. "It's stupid, but it sounds like the kind of intercultural thing you'd be into. No offense. It's even got your aesthetic."

"None taken. I do appreciate the more relaxed attitude toward the morbid. I think hangups like those are counterproductive. That part doesn't bother me." You bite into one of the rolls you brought up for him, and he grumbles and snatches the plate away. "It's the costumes I'm not sure about."

"Hell, you ran around dressed as Troll Indiana Jones half the time anyway," he says, through a mouthful of crumbs. "I don't think it's any different."

"I don't know. Maybe." You're not sure why it feels different now. Only that there's an aversion in you bone deep to pretending you're something you're not. "I'll think about it."

And you do.

Here is what it is to be a Maid: you are made. Grown in a society where you are told what you are and who to be, propaganda pushed from every angle. Reduced to a shade by a vengeful former friend with whatever feelings that were yours buried under the demands of the summoned dead. Game knowledge pumped into your mind accompanied by the reminders that you are meant to play a role and do what the game asks of you. All else is secondary. Even you. Your soul bound in circuitry with programming trying to guide your affections until you tore yourself apart. You'd betrayed friends and doomed timelines and watched thousands of copies of yourself get destroyed by a vengeful demon because you had to, and because so many forces beyond your control had set you on that path. So when you rose, transcendent, from a cracked disc of stone, you were done. No one else would tell you who to be. Especially not some human tradition fixated on hiding what you’ve worked so long to bring to the surface.

The next time you pass through the common room, Calliope has taken it over with a sewing machine and newspaper patterns spread all over the floor. "Hello!" she says when she sees you, narrowly avoiding swallowing a pin. "Would you mind holding this flat for me?"

You hold two pieces of fabric steady while she guides them through the sewing machine. Several other brightly colored pieces have already been stitched together and piled up. "What are you making?"

"Jake and I are going as superheroes. I suppose we already are that, in a manner of speaking, but we're dressing as our characters from that comic we've made. If this silly hood will sew up right," she adds, as the sewing machine jams.

"Do you think they're better than you?" you ask as she wrestles with it.

She frowns, spitting out a pin onto the table. "What?"

"I don't understand why everyone is excited to pretend to be something else. Aren't you happy with being you?"

"Oh, I see where you're coming from." She pops open the top of the sewing machine and starts extricating a tangled mess of thread. "You know, I used to dress up all the time because I hated the way I looked. I wished I could be a troll, because I thought you were lovely, and I envied you the lives you led."

"You envied us?"

"I had a romanticized notion, to be sure, but anything was better than being chained to a wall." She yanks, and the thread snaps out. "I envied that you weren't alone."

"And you're not anymore."

"I'm not! And everyone has seen my face, and it no longer seems quite so monstrous. I'm not hiding it. That's not what this is all about. It's about... well, I guess it's almost about showing yourself off."

You glance at the sketch she's working from. "That neckline does look a little low."

"Oh, there's going to be a fabric insert, not that I have anything to flaunt. What I meant is, it's a chance to highlight something about yourself. What you like, what you care about. Something you created. It's not self-deprecation, it's self-expression." She flicks the machine on again. "Luckily in my case the skills are transferrable. Now, mind helping me with this last seam?"

You do, and she adds the component to the pile. It’s hard to tell how they’ll go together to form the outfit she’s sketched as a guide. It’s clear she’s put a lot of care into it, though. "I appreciate you trying to explain.”

"Happy to be of help. We're all learning about this world together." She smiles, an expression full of teeth, and you don’t know why she ever would’ve wanted to hide it.

You never participated in the one day on Alternia when lowbloods went in disguise. It didn't seem worth the risk, and you had no desire to take your turn at bossing people around. You remember the atmosphere though, shot through with dread, people pretending to grasp at what they could never have. The wanting gave them away more than sloppy costuming. Those born into higher castes took it as their due.

The mood here is different. People mill around laughing and talking, running down the halls adjusting wigs or asking someone to zip them up. The doorbell rings over and over, and Jane's father has stationed himself there with a bowl of candy and an obligatory pair of disguise spectacles. Everyone is... happy. Even Sollux has emerged, dressed in what looks like formal wear and still using his husktop, which he's balanced atop a platter. "What are you doing?" you ask.

"I'm a web server," he says drily. "This is what happens when you don't volunteer any ideas."

"I thought you thought this was stupid."

"It is, but everyone else is doing it, and I got bored." He snickers. "You should see what KK got talked into. Bet it itches."

You take a look around, but you don't see Karkat. You do see Calliope in her finished outfit, beaming as Kanaya compliments her on her stitching.

"You're the odd one out, AA," Sollux says.

You roll your eyes and dash off.

Jade is already in her lab coat costume. "Hey," she says when you approach. "How a-"

"I know it's last minute," you interrupt, "but can you find me a hat?"

"A hat?"

"The kind troll Indiana Jones wears." You shape the outline of its brim on your head. "A fedora, I think it's called."

"I don't think we have any in the house." She bites her lip and then snaps her fingers. "It's too late to go out and buy one. We'll borrow one for the night, but try not to damage it, ok?"

The hat appears in a flash of green, and you grab it out of the air. It'll sit awkwardly over your horns, but that's ok.

"So you've decided to do a costume after all, huh?"

"I used to do this one all the time." You have a jacket that'll work, and of course your whip is always on hand. "I misunderstood before. I thought it was about hiding yourself, but I get it now. You're expressing yourself even more than usual. It’s a day when you can put things in plain sight."

“That’s a nice way of putting it.” She reaches out and settles the hat evenly on your head, businesslike. “We’re going to see if anyone’s willing to give a bunch of teenagers free handouts. See you downstairs in five?”

“I’ll be there,” you say, and race upstairs.

#tuesjade #i only have three characters left!#however i'm.... not sure the blog is still active?#we'll see if i can complete my quest I guess

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wnnbdarklord · 6 years

Text

Chocolate Box 2018 letter

Dear Chocolatier, I'm glad we matched! This is my first Chocolate Box exchange, but I'm sure it'll be a great one :D For ease of access, I've provided a table of contents. Don't stress about it and feel free to pick and choose or combine bits of my prompts. Happy writing/arting!

AO3 username: wnnbdarklord

edit: I totally forgot to put Hela & Loki in the table of contents, but the prompt itself is there, not to worry!

General Likes

Art Likes

Smut Likes

Do Not Wants

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Bruce Banner & Loki || Bruce/Loki

En Dwi Gast | Grandmaster/Loki & Thor

Fenrir/Loki

Frigga & Loki

Gamora & Nebula & Loki & Thor

Heimdall & Loki || Heimdall/Loki

Hulk/Loki || Hulk & Loki

Korg of Krona/Loki

Loki/Pepper Potts/Tony Stark

Nick Fury/Loki

Loki/Bruce Banner/Brunnhilde | Valkyie

Loki & Yondu Udonta

Crossover Fandom

Dirk Gently (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) & Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who)

Dirk Gently (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) & Loki (MCU)

Farah Black (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) & Samuel Vimes (Discworld novels)

Granny Weatherwax (Discworld novels) & Loki (MCU)

Groot (MCU) & Treebeard (LOTR)

Loki (MCU) & Donna Noble (Doctor Who)

Loki (MCU) & Ned Stark (ASoIaF)

Loki (MCU)/Theon Stark (ASoIaF)

Loki (MCU) & Franklin "Foggy" Nelson (Daredevil (TV))

Loki (MCU) & Q (Star Trek)

Phryne Fisher (Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (TV))/Jack Harkness (Doctor Who)

Phryne Fisher (Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries)/Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: TNG)

Samuel Vimes (Discworld novels) & the One Ring (LOTR)

Tauriel (Hobbit movies) & Boromir (LOTR)

Tony Stark (MCU) & Ned Stark (Game of Thrones)

Wonder Woman (DCU) & Loki (MCU)

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Farah Black/Todd Brotzman/Dirk Gently || Farah Black & Todd Brotzman & Dirk Gently

General Likes:

Polyamory, gen, het, slash, femslash, families of choice, competence, BAMF female characters, angst, hurt/comfort, teamfic, pretty much all the tropes especially if there is a twist, worldbuilding, humor, redemption, for want of a nail AUs, time travel, werewolves, dragons, crossovers, non fantasy/SF canons encountering the supernatural/aliens, fix it fics

Also, I'm fine with mpreg as long as there's some worldbuilding involved beyond 'assbabies are totally normal and unquestioned'. Is it magic? Science? Shapeshifting? Whatever? As long as it's not just a thing that happens normally on Earth (reactions of humans to someplace it's common is a+). Even a/b/o mpreg is iffy for me because it's usually a feature of the world.

For any pairings, as long as they don't clash with my DNWs (first and foremost the incest DNW), I'm fine with either gen or romance no matter what the actual match is. Also, don't consider the length of a prompt as an indication of my enthusiasm for it. Some pairings I just have more ideas for, but others I have no idea what to prompt, but my brain just went !!! when I saw it.

I'm fairly certain it's obvious from my sign up that MCU Loki is a favorite character of mine. In general, I prefer Loki to be morally grey or conflicted or redeemable and not outright villainous. Think more pre-Thor or Ragnarok Loki rather than chaotic evil Loki. Anything with jotun!Loki, genderfluid Loki and bi/pan Loki would be amazing!

My previous letters for Trick or Treat (http://wnnbdarklord.tumblr.com/post/165264151230/dear-trick-or-treak-2017-creator) and Crossovering (http://wnnbdarklord.tumblr.com/post/163153222375/dear-crossovering-2017-creator) if you'd like to get more info!

Art Likes:

I’m pretty sure I’d love any art! I love sketchy styles with maybe just a splash of color to draw the eye. Black and white images with only one color to highlight Important Things is A+. That said, any art in any style would be amazing! As for subject matter, I’d love to see any scenes from the prompts or stuff from my likes. Characters being affectionate, gentle touches, characters as werewolves, characters in fancy dress/costumes, characters doing magic, characters getting it on are also all welcome.

Smut Likes:

Frottage, coming untouched, size kink, transformation kink, pregnancy kink, breeding kink, a/b/o, mild dom/sub stuff, sex pollen, tentacles, telepathy, first times, routine sex in the missionary position, weird biology, xeno kink, sounding, lactation kink, consensual body modification (bonus points if it's magical), public sex...I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting, but since this is the first time I'm even expounding on smut I'd like, let's leave it at this.

Do Not Wants:

permanent character death, rape, dubcon, torture porn, underage stuff, infidelity, humiliation, character bashing, ship bashing, no powers AUs, love triangles, fake married/dating, incest, power imbalances in relationships, hate sex, scat/watersports, necrophilia, abuse, fusions, zombies, 1st person POV, issue fic, themes of cynicism and futility, nihilism that isn't of the optimistic kind, animal abuse, unrequested ships, slavery, genderswap of the always an x kind, unrequested AUs, jealousy

Generally speaking, a specific prompt is going to come before any stated DNWs.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Bruce Banner/Loki || Bruce Banner & Loki

One of my favorite pairings that there is a sad lack of fic for. I'd be happy with pretty much anything involving these two interacting, but I'd love something centered on their mutual realization of the similarity of their issues; their perceptions of themselves as monsters and realizing that 'hey, you understand!' and then being awkward friends (or more).

Maybe Loki's glamour fails at the end of Ragnarok, with Odin dead and Asgard gone. He might have put on plays revealing his origins, but that is way different than facing the reality. Bruce helps him cope.

Or maybe they talk about what's been going on on Earth. Does Bruce decide not to return there and goes off exploring the universe with Loki?

If you go the shippy route, I am a sucker for these two falling for each other very hard and very fast, like 'oh no, he's hot and kind and such an asshole?!' with a bit of pining and possessiveness.

En Dwi Gast | Grandmaster/Loki & Thor

Grandmaster/Loki is such a great ship that I somehow ended up shipping before I even saw the movie. This is one ship I am fine with a bit of dubcon and power imbalance. Loki's position on Sakaar canonically did not seem very stable and I can't imagine Loki would not be very aware of the power imbalance there and might end up doing things he normally wouldn't to keep being in the Grandmaster's favor. Especially considering the events prior to his arrival. That said, I would also not mind a fluffy and cracky version of them hooking up either, especially if Thor is watching the whole thing like ????

Actually, I would love something where Loki and the Grandmaster troll the everloving hell out of Thor. Maybe playing the strangest sounds coming from their bedroom when they know Thor can hear, but actually they're cuddling in bed and feeding each other grapes.

Or Thor's reaction if the Grandmaster comes find them on the ship looking for Loki. With Loki being oddly touched that someone went looking for him, even if he does still think the Grandmaster is insane.

Fenrir/Loki

Anything with this would have to involve a more intelligent Fenrir for my own sanity. Maybe even a shapeshifting Fenrir? That said, size kink ahoy. Also would not mind wolf babies.

Maybe Loki finds an...um interesting way to distract Fenrir during the battle? Would like Loki being utterly wrecked, but oddly satisfied by the end.

Frigga & Loki

A fascinating relationship that did not get explored nearly enough in the movies. I'd love a slightly darker take than fandom usually goes for. Frigga still stands by Odin, even after all the shit he's pulled and not once does she validate Loki's complicated feelings about him. Instead, it's all about trying to pull Loki back into the family fold without admitting Odin might have done anything wrong. And with Ragnarok's revelations, whole other facets can be explored. Is she Hela's mother? Does she know what happened and did that color her response to Loki? Was she part of the conquering? Was she the reason Odin changed?

I'd love an AU where she didn't die. How would have things turned out then?

Gamora & Nebula & Loki & Thor

Oh, all the parallels for the space siblings! Maybe Gamora and Nebula come across the Asgardian refugee ship? Maybe Thor and Loki go after Thanos and meet Gamora and Nebula who are doing the same and they decide to join forces?

As much as I would like to see Nebula & Loki and Gamora and Thor interacting, I would love to see Nebula & Thor and Gamora & Loki interacting instead (or as well). Maybe Thor gets along surprisingly (or not so surprisingly if we consider Loki) with Nebula and Loki is amazingly good at getting under Gamora's skin in a way she only thought Nebula could. Hell, maybe one set of siblings provides some therapy for the other. Seeing other people's problems is easier than reflecting on your own, after all.

Heimdall & Loki || Heimdall/Loki

These two have an interesting dynamic and I'd love to see it explored more! They go from kinda hating each other in the first movie to almost amused bantering in the third. How did that happen? Heimdall was obviously aware something was up with Odin, but he didn't really do anything about it beyond hide. And Loki didn't seem to keen on trying to catch him. Was he going to do something until he saw Loki was just taking a break from the shitshow his life had become? Or maybe Loki actually impressed him a little bit with how he ran Asgard and loosened the leash on the other realms?

Or, for an AU, Loki gets Heimdall on his side as he rules Asgard and feelings develop? And it's all very complicated due to the deception Loki pulls posing as Odin so they have to hide because imagine the scandal of the Allfather moving on from his beloved queen so quickly.

Maybe just something with the two of them interacting on the ship after everything. There's one theory that Heimdall is/has the Soul stone - does Heimdall know Loki has the Tesseract because of it?

Or maybe all that hate in the first movie was just UST that went unresolved because the Gatekeeper couldn't consort with a Prince and they finally let it all out after on the ship.

Hela & Loki

Far too little interaction between these two in the movie. I'd be happy with anything. Obviously, there are so many parallels between them. Do they commiserate? Does Hela view Loki with contempt?

Maybe Hela is the reason Odin reacted badly anytime Loki shapeshifted into a woman. How would the revelation about Hela play into Loki's perception of that?

I would also love an AU where Hela wasn't forgotten and trapped, but still a member of the family. What would their lives be like as siblings? Would she (still bitter about Odin's change of heart) reveal Loki's origins to him, trying to get him to hate her? I'd imagine that could backfire spectacularly, since she'd be the only one to tell him the truth. With Hela still there, would Odin even take Loki from Jotunheim? Maybe Hela is the one to pick him up, viewing him more like her beloved Fenrir than a son or brother.

Hulk/Loki || Hulk & Loki

All of the size kink, please. Also, I love stuff where Loki's jotun instincts kick him in the head and make him pay attention to the Hulk because yes, this one can beat the tar out of me without breaking a sweat. And the Hulk being a bit confused, but up for it. Loki is a puny god and puny giant, but it's not like he'll break. Green babies welcome (maybe Loki's instincts get kickstarted by the fact his world is gone now and well someone needs to repopulate the planet).

For stuff not quite so in the gutter, I'd love something that elaborated on their relationship (platonic or otherwise) on the ship. Maybe Loki is put in charge of making sure the Hulk doesn't tear the ship apart? It could go from Loki forcibly putting him to sleep or trying to bring Bruce back to telling him stories or maybe even the Hulk turns out to be great at flyting.

Maybe Loki finds out who the Grandmaster's champion is before Thor arrives and works on befriending him. Could start out as Loki wanting to use the Hulk for his own purposes, but growing to care for him on his own terms. Maybe the Hulk reminds him of Thor too much and heartsick at the thought that Thor is dead, Loki just clings a lot.

Korg of Krona/Loki

I literally have no idea how to make this pairing happen, but I'm totally open to it! Not sure what Korg would get out of it either, seeing how he's made of rock. But I believe in you, chocolatier! I know you can make this work :D

Maybe Loki ends up too electrocuted to be coherent enough to direct Korg and the other gladiators to go to Asgard and it ends up destroyed? Cue comforting.

Or maybe Loki just really likes debating with Korg about his revolutionary pamphlets and it goes from there.

Maybe Korg wins a particularly impressive fight and the Grandmaster lends him Loki for the day. Loki is game for it. I'd be deeply amused if this prompt just ended with them playing like chess or something because Korg misreads the situation.

Loki/Pepper Potts/Tony Stark

My OT3 for this fandom! I'd love anything! To see how it happens, to see a scene when they're already established, negotiating it, or defending it, anything! How does Loki deal with his longevity vs Pepper and Tony? Does he try to fix it? Does it happen without his intervention? Or does he decide to become mortal for them?

Perhaps an AU where a jotun Loki comes to Earth and gets involved with them (bonus for worldbuilding that jotnar relationships are polyamorous far more often than on Earth). Or maybe he has a fling with them (separately or together) when he was younger and then feelings when he meets them again?

Maybe after Civil War, Pepper manages to outmaneuver Loki into joining her and Tony, bagging them a powerful ally for Infinity War?

Nick Fury/Loki

Despite everyone teasing them about daddy issues, Loki and Fury were fucking long before Fury lost his eye.

Or maybe Loki approaches Fury after the Dark World with an offer of cooperation and things happen. Or Loki wrangles an offer of amnesty after the Avengers with the reveal that Hydra has infiltrated SHIELD after pulling the info from the mind of one of his minions (and things happen).

I'd love anything with the two power coupling all over the place. Or Loki baiting Fury into having his way with him everywhere.

Both of them pretended to be dead for a while, maybe they shared tips and commiserated?

Loki/Bruce Banner/Brunnhilde | Valkyie

I'd love something where, for all their individual dysfunctions, they all work together pretty well. Bruce doesn't have to worry about hurting them, even if he accidentally Hulks out, but also provides a stabilizing influence for them. Loki might be twisty and a drama queen, but he is fiercely loyal once he decides that he wants this. Brunnhilde gets a friend and sparring partner in Bruce and someone she can show her darker side to in Loki. Somehow, they make it all work.

Or for something more cracky, maybe they all just got together during one of the Grandmaster's orgies and never fell apart after.

Loki & Yondu Udonta

They're both blue aliens with issues! I can just see them being weird friends (that they would never ever admit to being) :D

Maybe after Loki falls off the Bifrost, he lands on Yondu's ship? He doesn't want to return to Asgard and can't think of anything better to do, so he sticks around. Yondu keeps him because a magic shapeshifting alien with Aesir strength is great to have around for ravaging.

Or maybe Loki uses Yondu to escape Thanos. Maybe he even drags Gamora and Nebula for the ride?

Or does Yondu visit Asgard, hoping to pull a con there and gets caught by Loki? Instead of handing him over to Odin, Loki takes him out for a drink and they swap ever more ridiculous stories.

Crossover Fandom

Dirk Gently (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) & Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who)

Dirk Gently gets people where they need to go, which makes him a perfect companion for the Doctor. It lets the TARDIS have a break from doing the same. Or they join forces and make the Doctor's life even more chaotic.

Or perhaps the TARDIS takes the Doctor to Blackwing and he takes Dirk away from there. Or does Dirk accidentally get on the TARDIS, perception filter or no? Does the Doctor try to get rid of him or is he delighted by such unexpected company?

Dirk Gently (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) & Loki (MCU)

Is Loki a Blackwing subject and that's how they meet? Does he break Dirk out, planning to use him for some purpose?

Or the man who gets people where they need to go meets the god who has no idea where he is supposed to be. How does Dirk help Loki in that case?

For a crack prompt, perhaps Loki mindcontrols Dirk and tries to use him for taking over, but the universe makes things go improbably wrong for Loki's plans, but pretty great for everything else for him.

Dirk ends up on Sakaar, the planet of the lost. Does the universe implode or is he just there to get a certain trickster god to where he needs to be?

Farah Black (Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency) & Samuel Vimes (Discworld novels)

Farah apprentices under Sam Vimes. He's impressed by her encyclopedic knowledge of criminal law (even Ankh Morpork's labyrinthine one), but less so with her attempts to blindly follow it. Especially considering some of them contradict each other twice.

Or maybe they team up to bring down a criminal. Maybe Vimes is the apprentice when he appears on Earth and wants to be a cop again.

Granny Weatherwax (Discworld novels) & Loki (MCU)

During my first Yuletide, I received a few amazing fics with this pairing and I'm hankering to see more of this scenario.

Loki falls to the Discworld in Lancre and Granny decides to knock some sense into him through hard work and headology.

Or maybe a young Loki gets sick of being called a witch all the time and decides to really learn how to be one. Granny has no idea what to do with an actual god trying to be her apprentice so of course she acts like she knows exactly what she's doing and takes him on. It ends up surprisingly well.

Groot (MCU) & Treebeard (LOTR)

Flora Colossi are either a subspecies or an offshoot of Ents. Does Groot come across Treebeard and Middle-earth in his travels? Did the Entwives disappear to Planet X?

Does Groot help the Fellowship out? Or does he invite Treebeard to go see the universe with him?

Loki (MCU) & Donna Noble (Doctor Who)

Loki falls from the bifrost and crashes into the TARDIS. Donna, experienced with dealing with skinny angsty godlike aliens, knows how to handle him.

Or maybe Loki and Donna keep meeting through the years as she travels with the Doctor and he is intrigued by this mortal that never seems to age. Maybe he helps her deal with the Doctor's memories - perhaps what science cannot fix, magic can.

Loki (MCU) & Ned Stark (ASoIaF)

Because reasons, Loki swears fealty to Stark and helps out with the politics part of the GOT causing Ned to survive.

Maybe he'd been shapeshifted into the direwolf they find at the beginning of the book? Maybe he comes to Westeros during Robert's Rebellion and helps out, even when injured or something?

Loki (MCU)/Theon Stark (ASoIaF)

Loki discovers Westeros during the time of Theon Stark the Hungry Wolf and is super into him. Together, they go into bloodsoaked wars and emerge victorious. Does Loki decide this is a place he wants to rule? Is he content with just Theon?

Loki (MCU) & Franklin "Foggy" Nelson (Daredevil (TV))

So Avengers Academy had a Defenders event where Loki and Foggy had a beautiful friendship. Which just made me want the same for the movie and tv versions of them. I just want them bro'ing around together.

For a more serious prompt: Loki is kept for trial on Earth. No one but Nelson & Murdock want to represent him. Or the Hoggarth firm kicks it down to Foggy once complications arise. Anyway, there's something off about this case (I'm not a lawyer, but international/interplanetary jurisdiction, extradition,human rights etc etc) and Foggy is going to get to the bottom of it. This would be a variation where there were extenuating circumstances for the Incident.

Loki (MCU) & Q (Star Trek)

Tricksters in spaaaaace. Anything with Loki and Q being BFFs across the universe.

Phryne Fisher (Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (TV))/Jack Harkness (Doctor Who)

They met, they banged, she solved his murder.

Phryne Fisher (Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries)/Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: TNG)

This strikes me as a fascinating dynamic. Phryne would draw out some of Picard's mischievousness while he'd be a stabilizing influence. Does Picard time travel to the twenties? Does Phryne end up in the future somehow? Imagine her on the Enterprise!

Samuel Vimes (Discworld novels) & the One Ring (LOTR)

Anything inspired by this post http://emoinspace.tumblr.com/post/168728003648 where Vimes arrests the One Ring for being an accessory to murder.

Either that, or Vimes is the only Man who can resist the Ring for a long time out of sheer bloody mindedness.

Tauriel (Hobbit movies) & Boromir (LOTR)

Do they meet before the events of LOTR? Does she come across him on the road and accompany him to Rivendell? Or does she come across him on Amon Hen in time to save him?

I'd just be fascinated by them meeting. Tauriel who wants to go out in the world and do more to fight back and Boromir who has been fighting his entire life. I expect Boromir would be a little more at ease meeting a Silvan elf than the Noldor he first encountered.

Or maybe after the Battle of the Five Armies, Tauriel makes her way to Ithilien and spends her years there fighting. The soldiers of Gondor think she's a myth until Boromir meets her.

Tony Stark (MCU) & Ned Stark (Game of Thrones)

Tony Stark as a Stark of Winterfell would be great! How is he related to them? Does he just want to stay in his holdfast building stuff? How do events go (for his family especially) with him in the picture?

Or maybe Tony just finds himself in Westeros and gets in with the Starks due to his name. Does he hang with Ned? Does he try to upgrade Winterfell?

Wonder Woman (DCU) & Loki (MCU)

I want one thing from this interaction and that's Lasso of Truth angst. Does she tie him with it while fighting him? What does he say? How panicked does he get? When Diana realizes, how does she react? No one's ever really truly panicked before when she used it, after all. Do they become friends after? Or at least not enemies?

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Farah Black/Todd Brotzman/Dirk Gently || Farah Black & Todd Brotzman & Dirk Gently

These three just make my heart happy, ok? They're such great friends, I love them. Farah and Todd spent months trying to look for Dirk! Dirk kept thinking they would come for him! I love it.

This can be either shippy or no, but I would love something that deals with Dirk's time in Blackwing. He was such a mess in season 2, I would love for something where Todd and Farah take care of Dirk and help him be less high strung.

Or maybe something with the three solving a case in their newly acquired offices? Dirk and Todd helping Farah train and study (not that she needs to) for a PI license?

#chocolate box 2018 #exchange letter

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angstmongertina · 7 years

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17. Jubilant (Inktober 2017)

And now for emotional whiplash day 3... :P

The whole thing with Monster of the Opera is from one of Zen’s spaceship thoughts, and also because he would totally sing All I Ask Of You to MC to be romantic, let's be real. (If anyone wants to listen to the music while reading, be my guest. I personally recommend the 25 anniversary recording because I love Ramin Karimloo but feel free to pick your favorite Phantom!)

Carina belongs to @cherieofthedragons and Eunbyeol is mine. :D

For anyone who is interested in a proposal featuring my personal MysMes OTP though honestly, it might just be me lol, it’ll come at some point after Inktober is over so I can write as much as I want to about it (I say, in spite of the fact that this current ficlet is about 2k words).

....if anyone is going to point out the time, I'm just going to point at the word length. :P

AO3 Link || Masterpost

Zen has been a bit too fidgety all day.

Sure, as a musical actor, he’s got near boundless energy, but this is another level entirely; Carina would almost suspect it to be nerves if it isn’t already the closing night for the Monster of the Opera and if Zen hasn’t already brought the house down in every single performance in the past two weeks.

Thanks to Jumin’s finagling, the RFA has the best seats in the entire hall, front and center. When she tried to protest the placement, he only cut her off with his usual cool detachment, though she still suspects she saw something—amusement?—lurking deep in his normally unfathomable gaze.

Beside her, Eunbyeol is nearly vibrating with excitement, clutching the program listing Zen as the titular monster so tightly that she’s not sure whether the paper will even be legible by the time the musical starts.

She leans around her cousin to grin at Jihyun, on Eunbyeol’s other side. “Someone’s eager today. When did she start preparing for this?”

He smirks. “Maybe two hours ago. Maybe earlier? I think she was pestering Hyun about what to wear and what she was and wasn’t allowed to bring at least two days ago.”

“Hey!” She stifles a laugh as Eunbyeol elbows him in the ribs. “Don’t encourage her. I don’t need my cousin and my boyfriend teaming up against me. And I’ll have you know that you can never be too prepared for an exciting night at the theater, especially when it’s The Monster of the Opera.”

Carina’s grin widens. “Yes, yes. We both know it’s the musical you’re excited about and not just because you have a major crush on the Monster.”

“I—What are you talking about? He just has a nice voice…”

Jihyun’s eyes fairly dance with amusement as Eunbyeol’s voice cracks. “Oh, is that why you’ve been counting down the hours for nearly a week? Should I learn to sing and play the organ as well, now?”

“Better start lurking under opera houses as well,” she quips.

“Don’t forget rowing boats across mysterious underground lakes to a secret lair.”

“Writing operas with extremely unsubtle metaphors about sex.”

“Dropping chandeliers on party-goers’ heads.”

“Are you two done?” Eunbyeol’s glaring at both of them now, but is also failing miserably at hiding the way the corners of her mouth twitch, threatening to ruin her look of annoyance.

She opens her mouth to reply in the negative just as the lights dim in the room and Eunbyeol offers her a prim, almost arch, look, sitting up and folding her hands in her lap.

That doesn’t stop her from leaning back across with a stage whisper. “Strangling and hanging people by lasso?”

The sound of Jihyun’s hastily choked back laughter is totally worth the sharp elbow that’s jabbed into her side.

Nonetheless, as the overture begins to sound, she sits back herself, content to enjoy the show and her boyfriend’s performance once more.

It’s always been one of his dreams to play the monster, she knows, and he leapt at the chance to audition for the musical as soon as he heard about it. As she watches the young Kristey and listens for his first appearance, she can definitely appreciate the effort he put in, so much that she had to drag him out at times before he could push himself too hard once more. But in the end, it’s worth it.

“Insolent boy, this slave of fashion, basking in your glory!” His voice rings out, strong and clear and true, and without thinking, she grabs Eunbyeol’s hand, squeezing tightly as he appears in a haze of white mist, dressed all in black and bedecked in the famous white mask.

Even with half of his face covered and the thick caking of stage makeup, he is absolutely stunning, and she can hardly look away as he leads his soprano through the mirror and down to the aforementioned lake, singing all the while, strong and commanding and undeniably irresistible.

The music changes as the pair alight their boat, turning soft and slow, and she can’t help but close her eyes, remembering the tenderness in his voice and the warm arms that wrapped around her whenever he sang that particular song at home, at once alluring and comforting. Just like he himself.

God, but she loves him.

She shakes herself as the tale continues: the first unmasking, the notes that she and Eunbyeol never fail to laugh at, the absurdity of Scarlotta. The comforts and promises between Kristey and her young suitor Rolf. The perceived betrayal at the top of the opera house and very real anguish that roughens Zen’s voice, that screams out of his every motion and is nearly enough to draw tears to her eyes, even as the chandelier falls and the first half comes to a close.

Intermission passes in a blur. As the lights brighten, she vaguely notices Eunbyeol dart out of the auditorium, coat on and hands shoved into her pockets, but Jaehee turns to her with a comment on the intensity of Zen’s acting and, in the ensuing discussion, she forgets all about her cousin’s curious behavior.

She does notice when Eunbyeol returns, dropping into her seat with a sigh of relief just as the lights dim once more. “Where were you?” she hisses, but Eunbyeol only shakes her head, tilting her head towards the curtains with a small, almost mysterious, smile.

When Zen returns to stage during the masquerade ball, there’s something different in his acting now, as though he is throwing himself even more into each note and gesture. As though he is determined to fully embody the Monster, pouring his soul into the role, and win over the girl. As though something is building, sizzling in him, contained only through force of will.

She’s pretty certain that his performance of Point of No Return, even as carnal as it usually is, has never been so electrifying, so utterly seductive. She’s spellbound, cannot look away from the push and pull, the constant friction. The intoxicating chemistry.

Until suddenly, he freezes, his hood gone.

It’s a part of the story and she knows this, but even so, her heart nearly stops in her throat at the raw vulnerability in his gaze, at how he stands, frozen. The pause stretches, each second strangely feeling like an eternity, until, suddenly, Zen’s eyes stray, shifting from his co-star out to the audience. To her.

“Say you’ll share with me one love, one lifetime. Lead me, save me from my solitude. Say you want me with you, here beside you.” At last, he looks away, back to the woman standing across from him, but she can still feel his gaze lingering, impossibly gentle. “Anywhere you go, let me go too…”

She sits, unable to move, hardly noticing as the story moves on, the tension bubbling over. The scream of agony and the descent. The mob and the fight and the kiss. She vaguely senses when Eunbyeol turns away to Jihyun, and wonders briefly whether the sniffling she hears is from him or her or both. But the musical’s end doesn’t sink in until the stage is suddenly dark, light illuminating the single white mask, the audience is on its feet, and an elbow nudges her side, though gently this time.

Almost mechanically, she stands, clapping and watching as the cast files on, one-by-one, to cheers and wild applause. Rolf and Kristey enter, meeting in center stage for an embrace that is met with screams and wolf whistles. And then…

For a moment, she thinks she’s going to go deaf from the sheer amount of noise that heralds Zen’s return to the stage, and she stares in surprise. Unlike all the other curtain calls she’s seen, he’s changed into a suit, his wig and costume, other than the mask that Mel still carries, nowhere to be seen. He takes his bow with perfect elegance, a grin of absolute triumph on his face as he gestures to the rest of the cast and the crew and the pit orchestra, and then he simply stands, hands by his side, while the rest of the cast files silently off stage.

Beside her, Eunbyeol is nearly dancing on the spot, clutching at both her and Jihyun so tightly that it’s a wonder that her arm is still getting blood.

Finally, the room quiets enough for Zen to step forward, his eyes roaming across the audience, taking in the crowd.

“I know you’ve all been here for quite a while and I hope none of you are in any rush but just in case, I’ll try to keep this short. As I’m sure at least everyone who has read their programs tonight knows, I’m Zen, and I played the Monster in tonight’s performance. I—”

Before he can continue, the crowd bursts into applause once more, and from her position, she can see the faint blush it brings to his face, the pleasure and confidence that straighten his spine as he waits once more for calm.

“I know it’s unusual for anyone, even the leading role, to stop and give a speech after a performance, but there are a few people I’d like to thank for helping me be where I am today. To all of my fans who have supported me through everything. To my friends, who have in the past few years become like my family, giving advice and telling jokes and sometimes even making things an absolute mess. And…” Slowly, his eyes shift along the row, coming to rest on her, bright and warm and oh so loving. “And to one person in particular.”

He takes a deep breath. “I don’t talk about my past very much, and it’s for a reason that isn’t entirely relevant so I won’t get into here. Suffice it to say that I spent much of my first years as a musical actor living alone, struggling to survive and accepting whatever roles I could get. Acting was, and still is, my entire life. All of my time outside of rehearsals was spent practicing, and I had no social life to speak of. I couldn’t risk my career.

“But then I met someone who could see beyond my exterior, who loves me for who I am and who I was. Who has never wavered in her support, even in the face of scandal, and who stayed even when I couldn’t find myself. And who has been waiting, never complaining when she has to stay in the background. And I don’t want her to wait any longer.”

Suddenly, he gives a little laugh, sharp and nervous. “I know this is the part where I should say something beautifully romantic and moving and bring everyone to tears, but everything I can think of is from some musical or another, and this should be a time of my own words. So I’ll just say that I love you, Carina, for now and forever. I know you’ve said that you’re willing to wait however long it takes, but I’m an impatient man.”

She draws a shaking breath as he lowers himself to one knee on stage, pulling small box out of his jacket pocket. “Carina Lee, will you marry me?”

“Oh my god.” The words barely escape her lips, choking around the sudden lump in her throat, and so quietly that she thinks only Eunbyeol can hear. Before she can try again to speak, a shove on her shoulder sends her moving on numb legs, and the crowds part as she stumbles her way to the stage, to where Zen is still waiting, endlessly patient.

She comes to a stop before him with his face upturned towards her, shining with adoration so clear that her eyes sting with tears and the rest of the room simply melts away. “Carina?”

“Yes. Zen, yes!” Again, the words catch in her throat, but even so, pure bliss crosses his face as he rises to his feet in the still-silent room, taking her hand and sliding the ring onto her finger before lifting her off of her feet entirely, laughing as cheers erupt.

In the uproar, he sets her back on her feet, though his arms remain around her waist, almost as if he never wants to let her go, and she looks up, catching his gaze. “I love you, Zen.”

Her words are not nearly as poetic as everything he said, but as he leans down to capture her lips, she knows that that’s really all they need.

#zen (mystic messenger)#Hyun Ryu #Mystic Messenger #MysMes #Zen/MC #Tina writes stuff.#Tina plays MysMes.#otp: the princess and her knight #Carina Lee #marriage proposal #Tina's Writer Inktober

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recentanimenews · 5 years

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Cowboy Bebop Designer Toshihiro Kawamoto Talks Art Styles and Live-Action Adaptations

A few weeks back I had the pleasure of working with character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto at FanimeCon 2019 in San Jose, CA. The con had brought me in to moderate two of his events (including a live drawing session that has been uploaded to YouTube), and before getting on stage I had a chance to sit down for a one-on-one interview with Mr. Kawamoto.

Toshihiro Kawamoto is most well-known as a character designer thanks to his sleek, angular designs on series like Cowboy Bebop, Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team, and Wolf’s Rain. But like many designers, he began his career as an animator. He worked his way up the ranks at Sunrise and eventually got a chance to design the characters for Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory. After the critically acclaimed Cowboy Bebop, Kawamoto joined forces with a number of key Sunrise staff, including producer Masahiko Minami (who I interviewed nearly 10 years ago!) and animator Hiroshi Osaka, to split off and create their own studio: BONES.

20 years later, Kawamoto serves as an executive at BONES, though it seems that much of his time is still spent working away at his drawings, whether they’re character designs for Blood Blockade Battlefront or key animation and animation directing for Fullmetal Alchemist and Eureka Seven.

My conversation with Mr. Kawamoto covers a range of topics: his design process, his early years as an animator at Sunrise, his consultation on an ill-advised live-action Gundam movie, and yes, his thoughts on the upcoming Cowboy Bebop Netflix adaptation. A huge thank you goes out to Fanime guest staff Jinni and Isabel, interpreter Momo, and of course, Mr. Kawamoto for taking the time to speak with me. Enjoy!

Early in your career you were mentored by animator Sachiko Kamimura. How did you first start working with her?

I first met Ms. Kamimura when I was a key animator for ZZ Gundam. While I was on the project with her, I got to know her. I learned a lot and got some inspiration from Ms. Kamimura.

What kinds of things do you think you learned from her?

I talked to her recently and got the sense that she believes if you allow people to properly learn and train and grow they will be able to blossom into whatever talent they want to get into, and become a full professional in their field. Ms. Kamimura expressed that when I was the only young animator on the ZZ Gundam team. Working together while I was still pretty young and fresh, I think that was a big influence.

Back then and even now I'm not really sure why she was so taken with me and thought I had such great potential. In those days, we had no time to really focus on certain kinds of things. All we could do was sit down and draw as fast as possible. So I really don't understand what Ms. Kamimura saw in me. Even today I think about it.

Ms. Kamimura had this idea that as long as you properly train and teach these young professionals, they would blossom into their full potential. For the past 30 years I’ve really taken that to heart.

Could you walk me through your process when designing a character?

There are two different kinds of processes, depending on whether the anime is original or an adaptation.

For adaptations, I personally feel like I don't want to change the art. I don't want to change the original style of the manga it's adapting from. So I often work with the director, going back and forth and doing a kind of tag team thing to make sure that we accurately portray the original work.

When it comes to original animation, I often meet with the director and talk over what their vision is for the characters. I'll take their descriptions and interpret them into art. Generally I’ll create three to five variations of those characters in order to pinpoint what the director is aiming for.

When trying to understand the director’s taste and what they’re aiming for, we often play “catch.” We go back and forth in order to find out how the characters should be portrayed. That was the process for Cowboy Bebop.

I know some directors contribute their own designs to that process. Is that common for you?

Yes, it does happen for directors that have artistic skills. But in terms of my own work, I often pair up with directors with no art skills. So the director might do a really rough sketch of what they're imagining, but I generally draw it myself and provide that imagery so the director can decide what they want to do with it.

In terms of anime storyboards, generally directors will draw those out, and just by seeing the storyboards it's easy to tell if the director has any artistic skill. For Cowboy Bebop, the director was Shinichiro Watanabe, who later worked on Space Dandy. When I compared the storyboards from the Cowboy Bebop days and the Space Dandy days, I noticed “oh, he’s improved his art skills a little bit.” And before Cowboy Bebop, Mr. Watanabe was an episode director and drew storyboards on Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory. If you look at the storyboards from then, well... I don’t want to say too much because it'll sound like I’m complaining or bad-mouthing, but ... yeah. He’s come a long way.

Storyboards for Cowboy Bebop and Space Dandy, respectively.

Something that I admire about your work is that you have a distinctive character design style that’s very much your own, but your adapted works are a little more subtle and complement the original designer’s work. How do you decide where to add the Kawamoto touch and where to hold back a little bit?

Even though other people may think I have a distinct Kawamoto style, when I’m working on adaptations I really want to erase my own unique style. As a character designer, I aim to ensure that the character design techniques and the technical aspects are similar. But in terms of what I want to accomplish, I want to express the original work.

After working on Gundam 0083, I worked on character designs for different kinds of media like Leiji Matsumoto, Tatsuya Egawa, and Masamune Shirow’s works. For those I really tried to deemphasize my own style. But now that I’m thinking about it, I wonder if I didn’t do a good enough job. If I do have a distinct style, maybe I’m not erasing my own uniqueness enough.

While I was working on Golden Boy, I also worked on a Sega Saturn game for Gundam. Even though I worked on both Golden Boy and the Gundam project together, I was trying to make sure that they don’t cross over.

Actually, on the subject of Gundam, I have a question about a very weird Gundam project. You’re credited for conceptual design on G-Saviour.

G-Saviour?!

I’m curious what you actually did on that project.

If I look back on my memories, the G-Saviour project was made in collaboration with Studio Sunrise. I had never worked on a Hollywood adaptation ever in my life, so even though I had no experience and was very unsure of myself, through working on G-Saviour I tried to learn a lot and make sure the project went smoothly. In terms of what I did for G-Saviour, if something wasn’t going well or there were some hiccups during the production, then I would submit art for the character’s costumes or certain ideas for what the characters would do. I would express that in a storyboard and then submit the storyboards to help them move things along.

And that would get sent directly to the production team in Canada?

Oh right, it was probably too expensive to do it in Hollywood so they did it in Canada. So I would submit the artwork to Canada.

In fact, the reaction to the storyboards that I submitted to them was so positive, they were like, “Wow, I’ve never seen such beautiful and clean storyboards!” They were really happy to work with me and get those kinds of visuals. Even though they were really happy about it, it made me think, “If they’re so happy with this, where are their skill levels at? What are they used to?” It made me really uneasy to think, “What have they been doing so far?”

Speaking of live-action, I’m sure you’re aware of the live-action Cowboy Bebop series. Have you been consulted on it at all?

I haven’t touched the project at all. I’ve had zero participation in it.

I think it's actually good that I haven’t had any part in making the adaptation. I think that if they asked for my opinion I would influence it too much in a certain direction, so I really want to see what they will make of it on their own.

But there are some things that I am a little bit surprised about. Like Spike Spiegel being played by an Asian actor. (EDITOR’S NOTE: He’s talking about Star Trek and Harold & Kumar’s John Cho.) “Spike Spiegel” is a German name, so I would have expected someone with German ancestry. I find these choices interesting but I don’t want to influence too much or say too much.

Are there any other projects of yours that you’d love to see adapted into a live-action Hollywood version?

I have a lot of challenges in drawing animals in animation. They’re really hard to draw for me. So I’m really interested in seeing a live-action adaptation of Wolf’s Rain. I think that with today’s CG technology it would be very possible.

Cowboy Bebop Designer Toshihiro Kawamoto Talks Art Styles and Live-Action Adaptations originally appeared on Ani-Gamers on May 30, 2019 at 9:55 PM.

By: Evan Minto

#Anime #News #Ani-Gamers

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wonderfulchaos69-blog · 7 years

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tagged!

@mikoe24 - this looked interesting, so I stayed up a bit later than intended working on it xD Thanks for the tag, love, and I’ll be having some Mikuni and Misono headcanons for you after my hiatus is up! (which will be a week ahead of time, woohoo!)

Rules: Always post the rules. Answer the questions asked, then write eleven new ones. Tag eleven people to answer your questions as well as the person who tagged you.

Pokki’s Questions

1. Do you have any OCs? If so, what are their name(s)?

I have quite a few, yes. I have an entire next gen cast for Natsume's Book of Friends, for a story I have been working on for two years. It recently hit 100k and I am still dead sure this will never see the light of day, lol. It's so self indulgent. For right now it has the working title of Elegy for the Lost One and it takes place in a future where Natsume disappeared under strange circumstances. Thrillers are what I like writing the most - suspense, the build-up to it, and then the inevitable fall as you start putting the pieces together.

Now to give you the run-down on the OCS, haha. So first up is Shiori, who I decided would be a daughter to Natori and Hiiragi. I am always curious about youkai/human relations and how they work in the Book of Friends universe, and I chose to play around with that using Shiori. She takes after her father a lot - flashy, bold, a real show stopper. But she has her mother's sensibility and loyalty. And since I'm mentioning Natori, I might as well bring up Matoba. I ended up giving him a son that develops an unparalleled obsession with the Book of Friends. Then there's Takahiro, Hiromi and Haruki who are the main cast and the ones that the story focuses on the most. They're the ones trying to solve the mystery. Meanwhile, there's Makoto, who is the would-be inherited of the Book of Friends. She is a relative to Natsume, distantly, through Natsume's cousin (Yuuto, if the drama cds are to be believed~).

Then, for an original story I'm working on, I have a few solid characters so far. Annabel, a steadfast young woman who is independant to a fault and doesn't know to ask others for help. She's thrown into a situation where she has no choice but to lean on others - or in this case, on one person in particular. A mentor, a friend, a guiding hand in a world that seems so foreign even though she's been living in it for years. Suddenly, things fail to make sense. What she thought she knew turns out to be different from the underlying reality. The Lore Keeper, her mentor, is the one to help her through it. For his own reasons, but who doesn't have an ulterior motive or two? His is simply ensuring that the future Keeper is an upstanding one. As you can see, he doesn't have a name yet. But that's both intentional and my own laziness lol. So yeah, choosing names is always the last step for me. Developing their personalities is what I tend to focus on the most when creating an OC. The name always comes last to me.

2. What’s your favorite eye color?

I love blue eyes! They're so pretty. Especially light blue.

3. How would you name your kids? Or, if you don’t want kids, what are your favorite names?

Fun fact: I was actually terrified of having children for a long time. I met someone who changed that for me, but eh. I have not given it much thought. I think naming children should be the act of both parents, something I'd want to talk over with my partner, but as for some of my favorite names ... I like short and sweet, so: Iris and Jay.

4. What’s your favorite quote?

I tend to go with Dr. Seuss a lot, heh, so I'll go with Roald Dahl this time: "A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest of men."

5. What’s the last anime you watched?

... it's been a while, uhhh. Dragon Maid probably. :3

6. Do you like cosplays?

I never personally wore any, but I deeply admire those who do. They put a lot of work into every costume and that takes skill, dedication, and sacrificing their own personal time to make it. They have my respect.

7. Do you have a crush on someone? (A real person or a fictional character, it doesn’t matter~)

Well then, just delve right into my deep, dark secrets why don't you? Hmmm, I guess if I'm being honest: I do. It was sort of an "oh shit" moment for me, but identifying the problem is the first step to finding a solution. In this case, getting my heart to agree with my mind that this is Not Allowed.

Fictional-wise ... idk, man. It's hard enough on me having real life crushes. I suppose Lily and Natori would be my type, though.

8. How many siblings do you have?

I have - had - two older half-brothers. It's complicated, too, so nope. I will not be explaining.

9. What would your ideal date be like?

Probably either a candlelit dinner and snuggling on the couch or doing something we both loved together. With my ex, that used to be hiking at the Cliffs, putting our feet in the water and play fighting with said water, and then collapsing together in the sand. It was sweet while it lasted.

10. Do you like your handwriting? Why?

I do, because why not? It's not perfect, but I've been learning that striving for perfection is a fruitless endeavor. It's also the coward's way out.

11. Now, say something positive about yourself!~ c:

Hmmm. Something positive ... my mind always goes blank when asked this sort of question. I guess, it's my persistence? Even when I play the role my own worst critic, I still keep going because sitting idle has never suited me. I have to constantly be doing something. Whether it's writing, reading, etc. If my mind is happy, so am I.

Avi’s Questions

1: What is you’re favorite series and why? (Could be anything from TV shows, books, anime, ect..)

For books, probably ... the Artemis Fowl series? That writing style is one of my favs :'D

For manga, definitely Natsume's Book of Friends. Gorgeous short stories on their own and a sprinkling of plot that's not too much, so it doesn’t take away from each story and they can all stand on their own. I admire that, since I'm primarily a short story writer more often than not.

2: What is your favorite weather and time of day?

My favorite type of weather is rain, no doubt about it. And for time of day ... night. Definitely night. I am a night owl, ha.

3: Favorite Fictional character? Why?

Why must you do this to me?! At the moment, it's Mikuni. Save me.

4: Favorite video game? Why?

The World Ends With You. Lots of reasons, and since they are personal ... I will instead just gush about how much I loved the storyline and the characters, and how I can proudly proclaim that this is one of the few games I have ever completed 100%.

5: What are your hobbies?

Writing, reading, watching anime, video games, fishing, hiking, cooking/baking, and learning new things.

6: If you could pick one fictional world to live in, what world would you pick and why?

Oh gosh, I think the Hunter x Hunter world would be cool, too, but I'd die so quickly ... I'm going to go the safer route and say Tales of the Abyss. Make me one of those NPCs chilling in the background. Just, you know, not in the town that gets completely destroyed (gdi Luke).

7: Favorite animal?

CATS. I have always been a cat person and I will definitely continue to be one looooong into the future.

8: Do you have any pets? If so, what are their names and what are they?

Snow White, my eskimo doggie. And Goldie, my orange and white tabby cat.

9: Do you have any original stories? Tell me something about them!

Since I already talked about my current story alongside the OC question, I'll instead gush about a collab story with a good friend of mine. We've been working on this story for close to ... god, eight years now? It's one of those self indulgent things. It's fun to come home to and work on. It has a super hero setting, wherein she writes the heroes and I write the villains. My alliance is called, wait for it - SASSI. Super Assholes Seeking Suitable Income. They're real particular about the destruction they cause, let me tell ya. It's sort of a goofy series that we put together to hash out why people do the things they do and put a satire spin on it. (The villains are not the only ones we poke fun at, just saying.)

10: If you have any ocs, who was your first? If you don’t have any, who was your first favorite character and why?

Oh wow, that's so long ago. My first OC was a nameless young lady from a story about black cats bringing good omens. I wrote it for English class, because I was interested in myths and old legends in regards to cats. It was around the time I discovered what a Cat Sith is.

11: You have three wishes, what would you wish for?

Is this like one of those genies that twists what we want and we have to be reaaaally careful? You know, Monkey Paw style? If so, then I would hand off the wishes to someone else. They can have them; I'mma strive for what I want with my own dedication and patience. If this is a no strings attached sort of deal, then: 1. for good things to happen to my friends and family, 2. to live by the ocean, and 3. to be able to speak more than one language. As I said, all things I can work towards on my own.

Mikoe's Questions

1. Do you draw? If yes, how many years has it been since you’ve started?

Oh gods, no. I used to be big into drawing animals, but I can't draw people and shit for the life of me. I have a few wolf pictures, still, I think. My spirit animal <3

2. Do you write? If yes, could you copy paste a line from your latest work?

Since I was 11~ And sure, I'll use fanfic: "Do I have to go?" The cat's sleepy yawn gave away its apathy to the whole thing. "Can't I just stay here and nap? You'll be fine on your own."

"Well, they did send us two tickets. It'd be rude if you didn't use it, Kuro. Not to mention," and here Mahiru flicked the cat on the forehead, "I'd kind of die if you didn't come along, you lazy cat. Or did you forget we have a contract?"

3. What is/are your nickname(s)? If you don’t have any, can I give you one?

I joke about having nicknames, because kids call me Apple (or god help me, Cabbage, from A FRIEND UGH), but nah. Not really. You can't really make a nickname out of April, lol. As for receiving a nickname, go for it. Good luck, pffft.

4. When is your birthday? If you’re not comfortable with it, then what is your favorite day of the whole year and why?

August 27th

5. What are the 5 things that never fail to brighten up your day or put a smile on your face?

My pets!!! My friends and family. Really cute pics of animal in general. Reading something sweet. Being out in the fresh air.

6. Why did you join Tumblr?

To reconnect with old friends, mainly. Then I fell into the Servamp fandom, enough said.

7. IOS or Android?

Android.

8. In the scale of 1 to 10, how much do you love yourself?

5, it's half and half.

9. Are you the type who pours the cereal before the milk or the milk before the cereal?

Cereal before the milk xD I don't want to get splashed.

10. How is 2017 treating you so far?

Hmm, to sum up: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

My internal thoughts are just incoherent screaming atm.

11. Do you like pigeons? XD

Depends. I like the pretty ones that are small and colorful and land on your fingertips.

My Questions~

1. Where do you see yourself in five years?

2. If you draw and/or write, what programs are your favorite to use?

3. Do you have any phobias?

4. Have you ever traveled? If so, where?

5. Do you have someone you admire or strive to be like?

6. What is your ideal vacation?

7. Do you have a favorite candle scent?

8. What genre is your favorite? (For movies, books, anime/manga, games, etc.)

9. Do you have something you use as a crutch/safety net? Something you couldn't live without?

10. What is a series you used to enjoy as a child? Do you still enjoy it?

11. List five things you want to improve in and make a little time for those things every day.

I tag: @crazyanime3, @stirlingphoenix, @choc0bunnyqueen, @pleasantdreamsart, @saltykarkat, @mikunialicein .... man, it’s hard to pick 11. Anyone else who wishes to do so! And of course, if you’re tagged and do not want to do it, that’s cool too.

#tag game #personal #long post #and now i must sleep

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