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rainecreatesstuff · 3 years

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I saw a PJO/dsmp au over on Instagram and I was inspired to make my own so

Here’s the SBI + Bee duo to start :)

(btw all the characters here are mostly based off of their dsmp characters, not the actual ccs)

Tommy- Apollo kid. Can do that loud whistle thingy, and can sing very well. He can play a few instruments really well as well. His weapon of choice is a sword bc he thought it looked cool when he was ten and never looked back. He’s also fairly good with a bow tho bc Apollo. Didn’t really inherent any of the prophecy or healing stuff from his dad. Was orphaned at a super young age and juggled between foster homes for a while before he ran away at around nine years old. Lived on the streets with Tubbo for a while before being picked up by Wilbur and introduced to Phil, and taken into Camp Half-Blood (He took one look at Camp Jupiter and immediately went No <3)

Tubbo- Hephaestus kid. Obviously a great tinkerer, he‘ll spend a lot of time making cool little bots and contraptions. Has made an entire army of robees that help him when he’s working on bigger projects. Can’t control fire, but he does have an immunity to it. Makes him really good for working in the forges. He’s also stupid strong because he works in the forges so often. His weapon of choice is an axe. It was the first weapon he made after arriving at CHB and he’s become very well practiced in fighting with it. Also orphaned, Tubbo’s mom was from New Rome, but died during a monster attack while outside of the city. He was about ten when it happened, and took to the streets in a panic. He was presumed dead by New Rome. Ran around with Tommy for about a year before being found by Wilbur, then followed Tommy to CHB.

Wilbur- Also an Apollo kid, with an affinity for music and prophecy. Technically head counsellor of the Apollo cabin, but lives in the big house as a senior counsellor that oversees all the cabins and handles events and whatnot. His weapon of choice is a bow. His mother was pretty much out of the picture from a fairly young age, she dropped him off at CHB and he hasn’t heard from her since. He met Phil while on a field trip to New Rome, and Phil took Wil under his wing almost immediately. Phil would call him at least twice a week via Iris message, and they would exchange letters often as well. Phil also introduced him to Techno, who became a lot like a brother to Wil, and was soon added to the Iris messages and letters.

Phil- Second generation descendant of Zephyrus, Phil was born and grew up in New Rome. He went to Camp Jupiter when he was old enough, and then travelled for a while before settling down again with Kristin in New Rome. He works closely with Camp Jupiter, patrolling borders and helping with field trips between the camps as a chaperone. Though he doesn’t have wings like his grandfather, he still loves being in the air and has become really good with Pegasi and other flying monsters. He also inherited his grandfather’s generally chill personality, as well as his ability to suddenly become very threatening. While he is looked up to by many, he is also a fairly scary force when you’ve pissed him off. His weapon of choice is a sword, but he is also very good with a bow. He met both Techno and Wilbur while chaperoning events, and while Techno treated him more like a mentor, he fully regarded Wil as his son, and eventually legally adopted him.

Techno- A Mars kid. An incredibly skilled fighter with a terrifying aura. He is definitely capable of leading legions, but has turned down the role many a time because he hates the social responsibility that comes with it. His weapon of favour is a sword, but he is also very skilled with an axe and a crossbow. Stumbled upon Camp Jupiter when running from monsters, and was welcomed in. Met Phil at a sparring tournament when he was eleven, and decided he liked him, promptly challenging him to a duel. Phil defeated him, but was impressed, and became something of a mentor to Techno, though Techno was also always welcome to come by Phil’s house whenever he wanted or needed to. He was introduced to Wilbur when he visited one time, and the kid promptly adopted him as a brother and never looked back. He went to university in New Rome as an English major, dropped out, and started working with Camp Jupiter beside Phil, more as a strategist and patroller than a chaperone though.

Ranboo- An Aphrodite kid. Yes, I said it. Don’t shoot the messenger. While he doesn’t enjoy it, he can charmspeak, very well actually, and had to learn how to hold it back in certain situations. Wears a mask most of the time, simply because he can and it makes him feel safe and cool. After being severely injured by a monster when he was younger, Ranboo experiences memory problems, and cannot remember his past beyond being brought to CHB. This did however convince him to learn how to fight, and while he’s not the best fighter, he is still a very respected fighter at CBH. His weapon of choice is a sword. He has ridiculous luck, alternating between incredibly good and horribly bad; he once went on a quest and came back victorious, almost completely unscathed, and then promptly fell ill for a week with the flu. He arrived at CHB when he was thirteen after being found by a wandering satyr, horribly injured with no memories of his past or how he got injured. He became friends with Tubbo fairly quickly, and by extension, Tommy as well. Met Phil and became part of the unofficial family, and joins in on their weekly iris messages.

I’ll probably do a few posts like this bc they’re fun, and I really enjoy writing them :) I’m not sure which characters I’ll do next, feel free to recommend any tho! :)

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recurring-polynya · 3 years

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Do you have any more RenRuki fanfics with the same angst vibes as the one you recently recommended? Just curious!

I assume you mean Recall, the Renji-amnesia fic I was talking about this weekend. The angst vibes of this story are not necessarily unique, but they are of a certain flavor that you don’t see a lot of in Renruki fic, which is a Damn Shame because I, for one, would like more of it (a ton more, please and thank u).

Renruki angst fanfic is often just reflections on their canon angst moments, or there’s a lot of Renji-gazes-wistfully-on-what-he-cannot-have. There are a few sad Academy times fics, which are blessed, but not exactly what we want here. I’ve read a few Rukia-gets-jealous fics, which could potentially have this kind of angst, but I can’t think of an example that really does.

The Fade to Black movie has the potential for this, except that it’s so waffley, it can’t decide what it wants to be. I’m still mad that it utterly blew the opportunity to add in some heretofore-unseen Inuzuri gang stories. It has a couple of heart-stopping moments, (1) the part where Rukia remembers Renji instantly and he stands there like a doofus going “who is this?” and (2) the big where they go to see Byakuya and he’s...like... real melancholy and says “My wife was born in Inuzuri” (I think this line is just a mistake since we know Hisana died, but it’s weirdly compelling??) and you can see how Byakuya is just... incomplete without Rukia. Anyway, I think about re-writing Fade to Black all the time, except that a) it would be a ton of work and b) I think it would make a Certain Subset of People mad at me and I do not need that.

There are lots and lots of fics where Renji gets injured because that’s a thing that he does habitually in canon, and maybe that’s why they fail to be all that angsty. A lot of times, this is just slapped onto the end of a fic, and Rukia feels briefly sad, and then they get together. Alternatively, there’s less angsting, and more of Rukia just yelling at Renji for getting hurt. I dunno.

Anyway, this is a long-winded way of saying that I don’t have any that perfectly fit the bill, but here is what I could think of. I beg you readers, if you know of one I missed, please reblog or chime in via the comments.

The author of Recall, meglee06 has another one that’s pretty good, Shadows Surround Us that has a lot of the same vibe, except that it’s reversed, in the sense that Rukia is in danger and Renji is Very Worried about her. There’s a lot of the same hanging around at the Coordinated Relief Station and giving the medics grief. It’s very long and Renji wears a shirt for almost none of it.

Noble Hearts is an AU where Ichigo and Rukia get put in an arranged marriage, but Ichigo secretly has a disease that makes him Hollowify. Renji is Rukia’s guard and he ends up getting the Hollow disease, too. Even tho Ichigo and Rukia are engaged, this is very much an IchiHime and Renruki story. It’s incomplete, but the ff.net version that I’ve linked to has a lot more than the ao3 version.

Roots of Heaven fits a few of criteria-- it’s an amnesia story, and there’s definitely angst, but it never really leans into the amnesia angst in the way that I hoped it would. In part, that’s because it’s an adventure story and the characters got stuff to do. Also, it’s IchiRenRuki, and it never goes too hard toward any two out of the three characters because of the gravity of the third one. I am not criticizing the lack of amnesia angst, it’s because it’s a well-written story and not the thirsty soap opera that I crave. It is incredibly good tho, and if you haven’t read it, and you can tolerated the OT3, you should.

Speaking of soap operas, By the Sword doesn’t really have an angst-y vibe, per se, but it does have that theme of Rukia feeling like she’s losing Renji. It starts off after the Winter War, and Renji has some Renji-specific angst in that he got demoted for deserting and also Izuru and Momo died in the War. The Great Families are trying to do a bunch of Soul Society reconstruction and Rukia foresees getting stuck in an arranged marriage, so she’s trying to wrangle a way she can end up with Renji (she does not bother to tell him this). Meanwhile, it seems that Renji is the secret son of one of the other noble houses?? All of this is revealed through some A+++ Byakuya flashbacks??? It sounds bonkers and it is, but it’s great. What it is not, is finished, I am sorry to say, and once again, there is more of it on ff.net than ao3, once again.

That’s all I got, I wish I knew more. Like I said, if the hivemind knows of anymore, send ‘em along.

#renruki #fanfic recs #alternatively if anyone's got any angsty scenarios feel free to send 'em to me #i'll give you my opinions on 'em #or if any of 'em hit me just right you might get a fic out of it #no promises

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sageblogsthings · 4 years

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Do you have any tips on how to write characters with scoliosis in a respectful/accurate way?

Thank you so much for asking! I smiled like an idiot when I saw this ask. :) Let me preface this by saying that scoliosis can vary a lot from person to person depending on the severity of curvature, location of curvature, treatment methods, etc. So I think that, as with anything really, getting a wide range of viewpoints and voices on the issue will make it easier to write! Honestly just scrolling through the scoliosis tag on tumblr will give you a good sense of what it’s like for some people too. With that being said, I’ll talk a bit about my experience, and how I wish that characters with scoliosis were portrayed. Just know that my answer is far from universal amongst those with scoliosis. Also, medical treatment where I live is pretty shitty so I may have some other undiagnosed stuff that I’m attributing to scoliosis who knows lol. And I’m still learning a lot about it myself! Ok, with that caveat out of the way, here we go!

I’m gonna put a tw here for discussions of scoliosis, chronic pain, anxiety, and depression

Also, for those who don’t wanna read about my experiences with scoliosis, if you scroll down there’s 13 tips on how to write characters with scoliosis (a lot of these tips apply to chronic pain in general tho). :)

To talk about my own experience a bit, I was first diagnosed with scoliosis when I was about 10 or so. When I was first diagnosed they told me it was minor and just to watch my posture. Scoliosis runs in my family but for most of my family members it’s pretty mild so I didn’t worry about it and went on my merry way. In hindsight, not the best way to deal with that but ah well.

Flash-forward to college. I had been having back pain and headaches for awhile, but I just figured it was studying for prolonged periods of time, carrying a heavy backpack frequently, and not watching my posture when I studied. I never connected it to scoliosis because I hadn’t had a check-up since that first diagnosis. Again, not the best idea but life happens.

I just finished my junior year in college, and I have had almost non-stop doctors appointments all year. It started after I had some sharp pain in my lower back, and got x-rays to see what was going on. Several doctors appointments and an ER visit later I find out that my scoliosis has gotten significantly worse, and that I have a fractured L5 as well. One thing I don’t see mentioned a lot with scoliosis is that it significantly weakens your spine (usually lower) because your weight distribution is thrown off. I had a job that involved some pretty heavy lifting, and voila fractured L5. 13/10 would not recommend btw.

My curvature (I can’t get consistent answers from doctors) is somewhere in the 20′s in my lumbar region and in the upper 20′s/lower 30′s in my thoracic region. At least with the neurosurgeons I’ve spoken to, they don’t consider you a candidate for surgery until the upper thirties or forties, unless you have significant neurophysiological symptoms. Treatment options vary widely depending on where you live, what you can afford, and what your doctor will give you a referral for, but most doctors will recommend physical therapy off the bat. To my knowledge, most doctors do not recommend bracing anymore, though I think in children that might be different (not so sure on that). So currently, I am waiting on an appointment with a pain management specialist and will go from there.

Even though the curvature in my spine is relatively minor, I still experience significant symptoms. Some of these symptoms include sciatica, pinched nerves in my arms, legs, and back, muscle spasms in my upper back and neck, swelling of my hands and feet, and numbness or pain in my hands and wrists. Also, because my spine curves more in the upper portion of my back, my left lung cannot expand as much as my right lung. This isn’t always a problem, but I get shortness of breath pretty easily, and any respiratory infections make it super hard to breathe properly (pneumonia sucks a butt). There’s also the obvious bit of scoliosis where I stand a little crooked. Another thing I think that not a lot of people know is that how “lopsided” you are can vary from day to day. This doesn’t mean that the curvature is changing day-to-day, but the muscles may be more relaxed or tightened on some days.

So that’s my experience pretty much (bless you if you read all that!). But, to show an example on the opposite end of the spectrum, my friend had (I think) a 30 degree curvature in the thoracic region and 50 degree curvature in the lumbar. He had immediate corrective surgery (I’m not sure exactly what kind) and now aside from the scar on his back and that he looks like a table when he bends over (his words lol i’m not being mean) you would never know. And even weirder, he had no significant symptoms before his surgery aside from occasional sciatica. So your symptoms don’t necessarily depend on the degree of curvature, where the curve is located has a lot to do with it. Typically, more curvature in the upper spine is more painful but that’s by no means always the case.

Ok, so how in the heck does this all apply to writing characters? I promise it does, I’m not just rambling (well, maybe haha).

13 Things to Consider When Writing Characters With Scoliosis:

Their symptoms may vary from day to day. This may mean that some days they can do activities like running or baseball, and other days they can barely type or walk without pain.

They may have no, mild, or severe symptoms, depending on the location and severity of curvature, and other factors.

What is medical care like where they live? Dealing with doctors, neurosurgeons, physical therapists, etc. is just a part of having scoliosis, and very often an incredibly draining aspect. This is especially true if you have anxiety or other factors that make going to the doctor even more unpleasant.

Were they misinformed about scoliosis? Unless you go to someone who specializes in scoliosis treatment, you’re probably gonna get inaccurate information about something. For example, I was told constantly as a kid to watch my posture. Yes, this can have an impact, but more and more research is showing that scoliosis in many cases is influenced more by hormones (especially in teenage years) than posture. There’s also more egregious examples of this, such as a neurosurgery PA who recently told me not to ever use CBD to alleviate pain because it’s a “gateway drug.” This is literally impossible. So for writing, this could translate into frustration or even anger for your character. But it could also make for some funny situations later! I wrote down everything that crazy PA told me and it still makes me laugh from time to time.

Don’t give them a back-breaking job. It will literally break their back lol. I’m not saying they can’t be active, but if someone is impacted by scoliosis on a daily basis they probably aren’t working as a professional wrestler. Or maybe they are, and your story is trying to explain how that works lol

What do they do to manage the pain (if they have it)? For me, the symptoms are typically inflammatory in nature so things like ice, heat, turmeric tea, and anti-inflammatory medications help relieve the symptoms. This is one of those things where getting other viewpoints is good though too!

Is their spine visibly crooked? If so, are they self-conscious about it? This varies a loooot, and may even vary with symptoms. For example, maybe some days when the pain isn’t bad they wear a cute dress that shows their shoulder-blades. But then when the pain is bad, they just want to look like a hobo. I say this from experience lol.

Have people treated them differently because of it (positively or negatively)? Some people may experience bullying if their scoliosis is more visible, especially as a child. They may also be treated differently by adults, who are trying to look out for them, but nevertheless it still makes them stand out from other kids.

Do they make jokes about it? For example, I can be found frequently saying “my spine said yeet!” or “straight spine? idk her” or my personal favorite “my spine is about as straight as I am.” Scoliosis sucks, but living with it you learn to find humor in it too.

Are they going to get surgery for it? I can’t speak on this part since I haven’t had surgery, but I would imagine that there is a psychological aspect to this that you would want to mention for your character, as well as any logistical aspects like finances, dealing with trash insurance companies, etc.

How does scoliosis impact their mental health? This is one of my pet peeves, and it’s entirely founded in a lack of resources and education, so I’m not aiming this at anyone specifically. But scoliosis does impact your mental health, especially if you have pre-existing conditions like anxiety or depression already. It can be incredibly depressing to want to do something as simple as going for a walk, but you’re in too much pain. It can also really impact anxiety. For example, when I found out about my curvature change in college I had one of the biggest anxiety attacks I’ve ever had. There is also the added issue of not being able to breathe properly at times, which can make a panic/anxiety attack much worse (in intensity or duration). Of course, mental health issues can also be exacerbated by the environment you’re in, so that is definitely something to consider for your character.

What was their diagnosis like? What factors impacted their ability to get a diagnosis? Lack of adequate medical care or having crappy insurance is a huge problem, and it makes it really hard or even impossible for some people to get a diagnosis. And for most neurosurgeons or specialized treatment facilities you have to have that diagnosis and referral for them to be able to do anything. There may also be aspects of your character’s home life that prevents them from getting a diagnosis. Do their parents think they’re faking it, or that they just need to sit up straight? Is your character trans, and/or wears baggy clothing? I’ve heard several stories of undiagnosed cases because of this, so it’s something to consider.

Ok, I think this is the last thing (huge huge thank you to anyone still reading this!!). But please, if you’re writing a character with scoliosis, or any chronic issue/disability for that matter, avoid the trope of you’re still beautiful to me/you’re beautiful anyways/I don’t see your disability. Some people might not get what I’m saying here, so let me explain a little. If you have a character with significant scoliosis, to the point it impacts their daily life, and they meet another character (potential friend, love interest, whatever) and this new person grows to love them in spite of their scoliosis/disability, that is a huge red flag. It implies that they are seeing them through a lens of not having the disability, and they love that version of your character. But that is not your character in reality, because your character in reality has a very real disability. In general, just try to avoid the “I don’t see __,” in writing and real life. That could be applied to a disability, or the character’s race, sexuality, etc. In all cases, it dismisses a fundamental part of who that character is, and what experiences have shaped them into who they are. If your character has scoliosis and it has shaped who they are, it is important for other characters to recognize that as well, otherwise they aren’t really seeing that character in their “full glory,” if that makes sense. I’m rambling a bit at this point and I’m sure there’s other posts that make this point better than I have, but the takeaway is just please don’t write scoliosis as “you’re beautiful anyways.” Scoliosis or no scoliosis, it’s just “you’re beautiful.” Full stop. But part of how your character may come to recognize that beauty within themselves, or how others see it within them, may be influenced by their experiences with scoliosis.

Phew, I did not expect that to get so long but it’s a topic I’m passionate about and I haven’t seen information on scoliosis geared towards writers before, so hopefully this will help! Again, a lot of this is based on my own experiences so please do not take any of this as a universal guide to scoliosis, it definitely isn’t. And if I’ve said anything that people disagree with (or even agree with!) or have questions about, I am always open to polite discourse and discussion. :)

I hope that this answered your question some, and if not feel free to let me know! Thank you so much for asking this!

#ask #scoliosis #writing characters with scoliosis #kit chats #am i oversharing? probably #am i gonna share this anyways? yes #chronic pain #writeblr #representation #kit answers

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thelighthousemp3 · 5 years

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Hey girrrl! First of all, I wanted to thank u for posting your fics. I've been struggling with anxiety and reading dianetti fics helps a lot! Second, can you write a fic settled after episode 18 of the second season, where Gina and Rosa go together to the Beyonce concert they won tickets for, and there they start to realize their feelings towards each other?

hi!! thank you for this prompt!! read on ao3 or below

Gina snatches the Beyonce tickets and waves them ecstatically in front of Rosa’s face, exclaiming something about how they’re her god-given right to own. Rosa simply smiles; she’s happy that the tickets landed with Gina. Gina’s the most enthusiastic person about Beyonce that Rosa has ever known.

To be fair, Rosa doesn’t know many Beyonce enthusiasts. She does her best to not get out much. But judging from Gina’s twitter feed (yes, she’s seen Gina’s twitter), Gina’s the most enthusiastic about Beyonce.

So yeah, Rosa Diaz has some thoughts on Gina Linetti and some on Beyonce. Who’s to judge her?? Everyone has quite a few thoughts on Gina Linetti (and Beyonce). Yeah, so Rosa’ll (never) admit that she’s listened to a few Beyonce songs upon Gina’s recommendation, even though Rosa never takes recommendations from anyone. But that doesn’t say anything.

Oh, it totally does say something. It screams that “Rosa Diaz is super gay for Gina Linetti!!”

It’s not something Rosa’s proud of. She could have decided to subtly crush on anyone, but her damn heart chose Gina freaking Linetti. The human form of the 100 emoji. The most dangerous person (next to Rosa) in the precinct. And Rosa knows that if Gina likes her back, they’d have the ability to take over the world (all while holding hands).

“Hey. Hey. Hey,” Gina says, waving her drink in front of Rosa’s face. “Snap out of it, Diaz. What’re you thinking about that’s more important than me, anyways?”

Rosa blinks a few times before taking a gulp of beer. “Hmm?” she mumbles, redirecting her focus to Gina’s face.

“Hey, sorry that you didn’t win the tickets. You know, because your boyfriend likes Beyonce so much.” Gina pulls a face of (fake) sympathy towards Rosa, who shrugs.

“No problem. They’re your god-given right,” she says. Truth be told, Rosa’s boyfriend doesn’t exist. When Captain Holt had pitched the riddle, Rosa had thought of Gina immediately upon seeing the Beyonce tickets. And that was why she had wanted to win the tickets so badly. She had wanted to take Gina to the concert, not some fake made-up boyfriend.

(Rosa had a whole story planned out. She would have invited Gina to the concert and made up some lie about her boyfriend cancelling. Then they’d go to the concert, and at the end, Rosa would tell Gina that she had dumped her boyfriend over text.)

“Rosa! Rosa!” Gina snaps her fingers in front of Rosa’s face, interrupting the detective’s thoughts once again. “Seriously, girl! Is there something really more important on your mind than me?”

Rosa rolls her eyes; she’s not going to admit that she was just thinking about Gina. “I mean, if the tickets mean so much to you… nah, I don’t like your boyfriend,” Gina says, pursing her lips.

Rosa squints at Gina. “Really? You haven’t even met him!” she says. The boyfriend may be fake, but Rosa’s still offended. She whisks a shot of tequila away from Jake and downs it.

“Well, I do know him well enough to know that he’s fake,” Gina mumbles.

Rosa’s eyes widen. “What? How do you know that, huh?” she demands, satisfied to see Gina grow a little bit smaller under intimidation.

“I just know, Rosie,” Gina says, squaring her shoulders with confidence. “I’m a better detective than all of you.”

“You don’t know that,” Rosa accuses.

Gina ignores this and just asks, “Why’d you want the Beyonce tickets, anyways?”

“If you’re such a good detective, then why don’t you just figure it out?” Rosa snaps.

Gina seems to ponder over this statement for a few moments. She takes a sip of her drink before looking Rosa in the eye. “Huh, Rosie, I don’t know,” she smiles. “But why don’t you take the extra ticket and come to the Beyonce concert with me on Sunday, hmmm?”

Rosa clenches her fists, bewildered. She blinks a few times. “Um, yeah, sure,” she stammers.

Gina grins widely. “That’s what I thought,” she says, snatching Rosa’s beer and taking a gulp. “See, I’m a really great detective. Don’t ask, okay, boo? I’ll pick you up on Sunday.”

“But―”

“I know where you live,” Gina says.

“Stalker,” Rosa mumbles under her breath. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Amy dancing. Rosa quickly swipes the drink that Hank the bartender passes towards Amy, hoping to save everyone from the embarrassment of four drink Amy.

“Not a stalker,” Gina corrects. “Just very informed about everyone’s lives.”

Rosa rolls her eyes and grabs her beer back from Gina. She puts the bottle to her lips and takes a long draught, finishing the bottle off. “Gotta go,” Rosa gasps as she slides off of the bar stool and heads towards the exit to grab a cab.

“M'kay!” Gina calls after her. “Wear something nice!”

Rosa tries to avoid thinking about the heat rising to her cheeks as she quickly gets into a taxi, intending to crash as soon as she gets home.

The next day goes by uneventfully. Rosa stays boarded up in her apartment, ignoring seventeen memes from Jake, fifty-six texts from Charles, one email from Amy, and (unfortunately) nothing from Gina. She idly flips through the channels on the TV, sighing every so often and checking her phone to see if Gina’s texted her anything.

Nothing.

Rosa pulls her laptop closer and opens Spotify. She quickly logs in with Gina’s password (Gina has premium, okay? No ads. Don’t judge Rosa for having access to Gina’s Spotify) and within a few minutes, Beyonce’s newest album is blaring through Rosa’s apartment.

She doesn’t know when exactly she falls asleep, but she wakes up a few hours later with her phone blown up with notifications. Ten new memes from Jake, twenty-seven new texts from Jake, one new email from Amy, and… three new texts from Gina Linetti. Rosa ignores everything else on her phone and quickly opens the texts from Gina.

Gina: bitch stop using my spotify

Gina: i know ur listening to beyonce and while its a very sweet gesture i’d like to use my spotify now

Gina: u can listen to beyonce at the concert with me tomorrow

Rosa rolls her eyes and presses the home button on her phone, leaving Gina’s texts on read. She logs out of Gina’s Spotify and pushes her laptop away.

The day seems to pass incredibly slowly. Rosa can’t wait for the sky to go black so that she can collapse in bed after a day of absolutely no productivity.

Sleep comes to her sooner than she had expected. Shortly after sunset, Rosa falls asleep on her couch, resulting in several uncomfortable positions and stiff muscles. Oh, and also waking up at the literal crack of dawn the next day.

She still has many hours before Gina’s supposed to come and pick her up. Rosa decides to go for a ride on her motorcycle, hoping that it’ll take her mind off of Gina Linetti.

For a few hours, it seems to work. It’s just Rosa, the road, her bike, and the wind.

And then she decides to grab a coffee. She runs into Charles, and the first thing that he says is, “heard you’re going to the Beyonce concert with Gina!”

Rosa squints her eyes at him. “How’d you know that?” she asks.

Charles puffs his chest out. “I’m a detective, of course,” he says, taking a sip of coffee. Rosa stares him down for a few seconds before he deflates. “Okay, okay! Gina told Jake and Jake told five-drink Amy and five-drink Amy told me! And I may have accidentally slipped it into the Boyle weekly newsletter! Sorry, Rosa, but you and Gina would just be so cute together!”

Rosa sighs heavily. She grabs her coffee from the counter and drops a few crumpled bills in its place, swiftly turning around and heading out of the coffee place.

As soon as Rosa gets home, she decides to text Gina.

Rosa: u told jake we were going to the concert?? and he told amy who told charles who told everyone??

Gina: chill rosie

Gina: not my fault charles is a blabbermouth

Rosa: but u told jake?? who told amy who told charles??

Gina: i can tell jake bc he’s my best friend

Gina: can’t blame him for having a big crush on that amy girl he’ll tell her anything

Gina: and when that girl gets drunk she can literally do anything

Gina: can’t wait for the concert tho

Rosa: it’s not a date!! why is everyone saying it’s a date???

Gina: literally did not say that in any of my texts but okay

Rosa: no!! charles thinks it’s a date!!! so now everyone does!!!!!!!

Gina: ur using way too many exclamation points n it’s scaring me

Gina: if u don’t want it to be a date then it doesn’t have to be

Rosa: oh my god all i wanna do is see beyonce

Gina: yeah with me i know

Rosa: no!!!! who said that!!!! stop listening to charles!!!!

Gina: okay okay rosa chill okay?? ur really scaring me with the exclamation points

Gina: don’t murder anyone okay

Rosa: fine whatever but i’m THIS close

Gina: so ur still coming to the concert with me tho right

Rosa: fine

Rosa’s phone dings with a new notification. With irritation, Rosa reads it to see a new email from Amy. And then without knowing why, Rosa taps on it and opens Amy’s email.

And then she’s hurling a knife at the wall because Amy’s forwarded her an article that Charles has written on Rosa and Gina’s relationship. There is a whole paragraph about “unseen sexual tension” and then another on “what their babies would look like.” The email is signed off with a long apology from Amy.

Evening doesn’t come soon enough. Rosa’s already slightly tipsy by the time Gina comes to pick her up.

“This is my nice leather jacket,” Rosa mumbles as she opens the door, remembering Gina’s comment about wearing something nice.

“Are you drunk?”

“Did you read Charles’s article?”

“I don’t read those. I’m too dignified.”

Rosa lets out a strangling noise from her throat. “Yeah? Well, so am I, but that article is a ton of bullshit! Why is everyone all up in our business?”

“Oh, Rosie.” Gina pats Rosa’s arm a few times. “Drink this.” She thrusts a water bottle into Rosa’s hand. “You gotta sober up, girl! Or else you won’t remember the truly thrilling experience of going to a Beyonce concert with Gina freaking Linetti!”

Rosa chugs down about a fourth of the water bottle before looking hesitantly at Gina. “Why am I doing this?” she mumbles.

“Seeing Beyonce? Because it’s an experience, Rosa. And it’s the best thing ever, okay? You can’t back out now, so let’s go!” And with that, Gina tugs Rosa out of the apartment.

The car ride goes by quickly. Rosa ends up finishing the rest of the water, and by the time they get to the concert, she can feel her senses coming back to her.

Gina drags her through the line at the entrance, flashing the concert tickets at the security guard. “I’m also a celebrity, so I get in anyways,” she preens.

“That’s not true,” Rosa mutters under her breath. She tries not to think about Gina’s fingers digging into her wrist as they walk into the filled concert venue.

Somehow, Gina manages to get them to the front (It has a lot to do with Rosa’s intimidating aura, but Gina will claim that it’s because of her celebrity status).

And then Beyonce Knowles gets on stage and everyone goes completely wild. Maybe it’s the blinding lights or the wind that rushes through the room from the big fans or because of the alcohol still in her system, but Rosa’s feeling the ecstasy in the place as well.

Beyonce’s singing some song that Rosa knows she’s definitely heard but Rosa’s attention isn’t fully on Beyonce. Her gaze is fixed to Gina Linetti, the other popstar in the room. And she’s watching how happy Gina looks when her own lips turn upwards and a smile blossoms to her face.

Gina’s eyes dart to Rosa for a moment before returning to Beyonce. And then she notices that Rosa’s not watching Beyonce, and she turns back to Rosa. “What are you doing!” Gina says loudly. “You should be watching Beyonce!”

“Mhmm,” Rosa mumbles under the music. She halfheartedly looks to the stage. When Rosa’s sure that Gina’s attention is transfixed to Beyonce, Rosa sneaks a look at Gina again. Gina’s mouthing the words to Beyonce’s song now.

And then someone pushes next to Gina and Gina momentarily loses her balance, stumbling right into Rosa’s arms. Rosa’s eyes widen in response as Gina looks up at her, breathless. “Good catch, Rosie,” Gina says and returns her gaze to Beyonce.

But Rosa’s eyes never leave Gina. Not when she stops Gina from attempting to join Beyonce on stage and not when Beyonce dives into the crowd and everything seems to go loud and fluorescent. Not until the very end of the concert, when she loses Gina in the crowd for a minute when Gina scurries after Beyonce to get a selfie.

And then she can’t find Gina, even though people are making way for Rosa (because she’s scary, you know) and she’s calling Gina’s name in desperation.

Rosa finally gives up and somehow heads out of the venue, towards where Gina’s car is parked. She leans on the hood for a minute before her legs get tired and she jumps up to sit on the hood of the car.

“Rosa!”

She looks up to the sound of her name being called and sees Gina trying to run/limp towards the car with a single heel in her hand. Rosa slides off of the hood of the car and rushes over to help Gina to the car.

Instead of getting in the car, Gina sits on top of the hood and pats the empty area next to her. “Sit,” she says, so Rosa joins her. Gina starts unstrapping her other shoe, so Rosa idly stares out to the night.

“How was the concert?” Gina asks a beat later. Both of her shoes dangle from one hand.

“Huh? Yeah, it was good,” Rosa says.

Gina frowns. “You’re a liar,” she decides.

Rosa stares at Gina. “What?” she asks with disbelief in her voice. “It was Beyonce. Of course it was good.”

“It was Beyonce! It was fucking fantastic! Amazing! Unbelievable! Not just good,” Gina says. “And you weren’t even watching half the time. Yeah, Diaz. When you stare at me and think I don’t notice, I do notice. Ugh, wait till we go see Rihanna.”

“I don’t wanna make this a whole thing,” Rosa says hurriedly, preparing to get off of the car. Gina’s arm flies out in front of Rosa’s chest, abruptly stopping her.

“You don’t, but I do.”

Rosa looks at Gina with a bewildered expression on her face. “What?” she asks carefully.

“C'mon, Rosa! We both know that if we joined forces, we could take over the world! While holding hands and locking lips!” Gina says, rolling her eyes at Rosa’s expression.

“What?”

“You are an actual idiot. I thought you were a detective. Yet, here I, Gina Linetti, sit, trying to explain the most basic concept to an allegedly smart detective,” Gina sighs. “You like me. I like you. Wanna make out?”

“What about everyone at the precinct―”

“Blackmail files? Uh, duh! And my naturally beautiful and intimidating aura combined with your terrifying presence is sure to make them all shut up,” Gina reasons. “What do you say, Rosie?”

“I don’t know? Kiss me?” Rosa says.

So Gina does, and it turns out to be a great night.

#ask #lady-shipper #dianetti #lina writes #my fic #b99 fic #dianetti prompts #brooklyn nine-nine #b99 #rosa diaz #gina linetti #chelsea peretti #stephanie beatriz #rosa x gina

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the-design-life · 2 years

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cdyssey · 7 years

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Saw Great Comet yesterday (7-30-17), and I just wanted to share some of my experience with you guys! I was sitting in the rear mezz, which I highly recommend!

*I'mma skip over a lot of the main details just because they’ve already been covered, but I’ll try to include things that were particular to this show/not often talked about.

“Prologue”

• There’s a little vignette right before the show starts where Andrey is leaving for war, and it begins with Natasha screaming the most heartbreaking no you’ve ever heard in ur life. • When Oak came out, there was thunderous applause. Like, it went on for at least a full minute. I was so happy. • Also, hearing that first accordion note reduced me to tears bc I’m sensitive™.

“Pierre”

• So lemme talk about Oak’s voice real quick. Someone noted that it’s this perfect blend between Groban’s smoothness and Malloy’s roughness, and I have to wholeheartedly agree. It’s absolutely beautiful. He’s a beautiful Pierre. • Also, he plays Pierre with a lot of melancholy. It’s almost as though he’s always on the verge of tears. • “He’s charming; he has no sex.” While the ladies are skipping around him, Hélène is conducting them, and it’s hilarious. • “I pity you. I pity me. I pity you.” — Oak sings these lines so gutturally. His agony echoes off the very walls of the Imperial. • “Pierre” received a long applause as well.

“Moscow”

• GRACE MCLEAN DESERVED TO BE NOMINATED FOR A TONY AWARD!1! HOLY CRAP. HER VOCALS BRING THE HOUSE DOWN!!!!!!! • The moment she belts her first lines, you know exactly what kind of personality Marya D. has, and that’s a tribute to her actress. Srsly. • During the song, Marya will sometimes act maternally to Sonya, but the moment Natasha comes back into sight, she’ll roughly push Sonya away, and it’s hilarious. • Natasha’s humming is absolutely heartbreaking. It’s one of the many moments in the musical when you realize how young she is.

“The Private and Intimate Life of the House”

• There were understudies for both Mary and Bolkonsky/Andrey, Courtney Bassett and Ken Clark respectively. They were wonderful. Ken’s performance especially stood out to me. • “People enjoy me, though…” Before he sang these lines, he held eye contact with a person across from him for, like, five seconds, and it was incredibly funny. (Same goes for him patting his wig and powder flying into the air.) • “BRING ME MY SLIPPERS! YES, FATHER. YES, FATHER. BRING ME MY WIIIIIIIIIIIIINE.” • The audience interaction in this one is A+. Mary’s suitor and Bolkonsky’s cheap French thing draw huge laughs from the crowd. • “They are there upon his head.” I’ve seen a few posts where people lament that the audience laughs at this line, but I truly think it’s supposed to be laughed at. Mary is kind of coy when she says it, like she’s laughing at it herself. After that, though, her mood dips, slowly sinking into this utterly palpable reproach. • The audience was completely silent. • While she’s singing her final lines, Bolkonsky is slowly making his way back to his chair, and your heart shatters as you watch. He’s clutching his back and using the railing for support. When he finally collapses in his chair, he kinda puts his head in his hands.

“Natasha and the Bolkonskys”

• Towards the beginning of the song, Natasha and Mary hoist chairs over their heads and join a table of people on stage. It’s hilarious. They really milk the awkwardness of the moment. • “Constrained and strained” is so frickin’ good. When Courtney and Denée sing it, it’s really low and creepy. • “Says the mean, old man in his underthings” drew huge laughs, especially bc of Bolkonsky’s hand movements. He kept gesturing towards his entire body.

“No One Else”

• Honest to God, I could write essays on how perfect Denée Benton and her performance of this song is. She emotes so beautifully. Her voice, her movements, her facial expressions all come together to create Natasha, a young, lost girl who wants nothing more than to see Andrey again. • I cried (obviously). • The blue light is absolutely gorgeous in this song. (The blue light is meant to be the moon.) • At one point, Andrey shows up, and snow begins to lightly fall on him. He reads one of Natasha’s letters, brings it to his lips tenderly before walking away, and just behind him, almost able to reach him, is Natasha, her face the perfect picture of despair. • Denée Benton. • The applause after this song was long and well-deserved.

“The Opera”

• Just for the record, songs like this one, “The Duel”, and “The Abduction"—where all of the cast members are out—are absolutely electric. The energy is incredible. • “The opera, the opera…” Marya D. belts these lines so loudly, lololol. • On one side, you can spot Heath Saunders as one of the opera goers, and lemme just tell you guys, that long, black coat suits him. • “Hélène and Dolokhov arm-in-arm…” They aren’t so much arm-in-arm as they are passionately making out on stage. Omg. I love them. • “Noooo, I’m enjoying myself this evening.” Pierre pumps his fist and smiles this absolutely giddy smile. • When Marya sees that Natasha is talking to Hèlène, she runs up and pushes Nat behind her. • To indicate that the “curtain rises,” some of the light bulbs retract. It’s a cool effect. • I know the literal opera part of the song sounds incredibly weird on the recording, but in person, it’s more hilarious than you’d think. The actors are doing ridiculous things and making animalistic noises, lol. • When it’s over, the spotlight turns to Natasha and Sonya. Sonya’s asleep, lolololololol. • Right before Anatole comes in and around the time Natasha begins to “pass into a state of intoxication”, she hallucinates Andrey being injured during the war. The two circle each other around Pierre’s salon, simply gazing into each other’s eyes, and it’s intense. • Anatole’s entrance is frickin’ ridiculous and amazing all at once. • You know those measured beats at the beginning of his introduction? During each of those, he sharply turns his head in a new direction, ostensibly to show off his head. • Also, his walk is literally a swagger. • Either in this scene or during “Natasha and Anatole”, he caught a lady unaware and kissed her on the cheek. She jumped so badly, lolololol.

“Natasha and Anatole”

• During the intro of the song, Anatole checks himself out in a mirror before posing himself perfectly for the moment Natasha turns around to see him. • Also, let’s talk about Lucas Steele for a hot minute. He is Anatole Kuragin, from his almost exotic voice to the way he walks. Out of the cast, I’d say that Steele is the one who plays the crowd the best. • Throughout this number, Anatole and Natasha play the roles of pursuer and the pursued. Natasha tries so hard not to be wrapped under his spell. :( • When he takes the flower off her head, Natasha makes a perfect :O face. I love Denée Benton. • “And kiss me on the neck.” He does manage to get this kiss, and it’s really rough-looking. • “How do you like Moscow?” Lolololololololol. • For the most part, the two are roving around the stage (mostly bc Natasha is running away from Anatole), but at the end, they sit down next to each other, and it’s played as a really significant moment.

“The Duel”

• “The Duel” is epic live. Holy freakin’ crap. • The moment Dolokhov, Pierre, and Anatole clink their glasses together, the strobe lights come on and the real party begins. There’s intensely sexual dancing, half-naked people, and glow sticks everywhere. • Y'all, I saw Marya D., in a skin tight, black costume no less, whip several people with a riding crop with my own two eyes. • Also, in the very back of the rear mezz, there was, like, a threesome going on. • The energy during this song was absolutely nuts. • Sonya’s party outfit is so cute. It’s an almost innocent looking dress, and she’s wearing bright sunglasses. • The ensemble echoing back “corpulence” is really frickin’ funny. • Nick Choksi really highlights the psychopathic part of Dolokhov, especially in the “Here’s to the health of married women” sequence. His movements are jubilant but also shark-like. He and Hélène make out for a loooooong time.

“Dust and Ashes”

• Oak’s “Dust and Ashes” is an absolute privilege to hear, and if you have the chance, I would go and listen to it while you can. His voice could have shaken the entire foundation of the theater. • While he’s singing, the entire cast lines up in the rear mezz to provide backup vocals, and it’s incredibly poignant. (Also, tho, Lucas Steele stood in front of me, and I died.) • “Don’t let me die while I’m like this…” During these lines, Oak starts crying, and it guts you. • There was a two minute applause for “Dust and Ashes”, and I was on the verge of crying just bc he was getting such a huge applause. • Oak is perfect, okay?

“Sunday Morning” / “Charming”

• “Everyone sees a man!” Ingrid delivers this line so well. It got a huge laugh. • AHHHHHHHHH, now here’s a symbolic moment for you. When Natasha says that she can see a shape in the darkness as she’s looking into the mirror, Pierre is standing up right behind her. Pierre is her future. • (The moment Nat leaves, he sits back down.) • Amber Gray can slay me, tbh. “Charming” is everything I could have ever asked for. • When she walks in, the lights are bright behind her, and her hood is over her head, effectively masking her identity. It’s a really neat moment. • The lights dim when she takes off her hood. • Natasha is in her undergarments throughout the song until Hélène gives her her cloak. (Btw, Natasha looks gr8 in said cloak.) • At some point, Natasha starts mimicking Hélène’s movements, and it’s adorable but also a really nice character touch. Same goes for Hélène snatching Andrey’s necklace off of Nat’s neck and exchanging it for her own pearls.

“The Ball”

• This number was enchanting. I had a hard time focusing on the main stage bc the dancers in the rear mezz. were so mesmerizing in their movements. • Also, tho, the ensemble dancers mimicked what Anatole and Natasha were dancing at times. • When Natasha tries to run away from Anatole, he pursues her up the steps and forces their first kisses. She’s surprised at first, but gives into it with abandon a few seconds later. The kiss lasts a very long time. • At the end of “The Ball”, Natasha and Anatole run through the doors together and then turn to face the audience. They’re holding hands. The lights are bright behind them.

“Letters”

• “Letters” is such a frickin’ jam, y'all. • When it starts, the cast members spill out of the double doors singing. • At the beginning of “Letters”, just as Pierre is addressing Andrey, Andrey appears at the top of the stairs. Pierre faces him. • “I see nothing but the candles in the mirror.” For one of the very few times in the play, Natasha and Pierre face each other. • The geometric symmetry in the choreography is really wonderful all around. For instance, at one point, Mary, Natasha, and Pierre are all positioned in a triangle, taking turns facing one another. • Anatole’s love letter was an absolute showstopper. People were whistling, clapping, and screaming when he started holding those really long notes. Holy crap @ Lucas Steele!!!!!

“Sonya and Natasha” / “Sonya Alone”

• “Sonya and Natasha” is intense. I was on the edge of my seat for their fighting. • “I’m soooooooooooooo happy, and sooooooooooo frightened.” Kill it, Denée!!!! (When she’s singing about her happiness, her arms are extended widely, and when she’s singing about being frightened, she withdraws into herself.) • “I have no will. My life is his.” During these lines, Natasha is wrapped around an increasingly agonized Sonya. • “Sonya Alone” is one of the most powerful numbers in the show, and you really don’t recognize it until you see it live. • The theater is almost completely dark with the exception of a spotlight on Sonya. Throughout the entirety of the song, Natasha is ambling about, tightly clutching Anatole’s letter. • Sonya never takes her eyes off of Natasha, and your heart can’t help but ache for both of them. • Ingrid Michaelson is truly a wonderful Sonya—maybe not as sure as Brittain but she definitely doesn’t lack heart. • On the first “I will protect your name and your heart”, Natasha stumbles on a stair, staggered by the weight of her friend’s words. Then, she walks to the opposite side of the stage, only to be completely stopped by Sonya’s, “I know you’ve forgotten me.” • For the rest of the song, Natasha is still, her head inclined towards Sonya.

“Preparations” / “Balaga”

• When Pierre greets Anatole at the beginning of this number, it’s almost as though he’s caught Anatole out. Anatole had been trying to sneak past unnoticed. • Anatole shaves in front of a mirror during “Preparations”, lol. At one point, he turns to the crowd with shaving cream still on his face. • Dolokhov sings his arguments at Anatole very fiercely during this song, even more so than he does in the recording. • I looooooooooooove “Balaga”. It’s such a wild performance. Paul Pinto moves with such agility and manic energy. The ensemble hands out the egg shakers during this one.

“The Abduction”

• “THE ABDUCTION” IS SO GOOOD. HOLY CRAPPP. • Anatole singing “WHOOOOA” while swinging his green jacket cleared my skin, watered my crops, and cured my depression. • The whole theater is absolutely alive with commotion. There’s a dance off between a guy in the rear mezz and a guy on stage that’s frickin’ amazing. • People are doing backflips. • Natasha smashes a painting on Balaga’s head. • Marya and Hélène are making out. • Pierre is doing a cute jig. • It’s beautiful, beautiful chaos. • When Pierre screams his “WHOA” part, everyone collapses on the floor, absolutely exhausted, and then, then, the most wonderful thing happens. • Pierre giggles. • “Hee-hee-hee.” • God, I love Oak. • “Wait, wait. First we have to sit down.” Anatole made room for himself next to a girl, which was hecking funny, but what was even funnier was that the girl leaned her head on Anatole’s shoulder. The whole theater dissolved in laughter. Anatole held the quiet for a comedically long period before getting up, and when he did, he kissed the girl on the cheek. It was really cute. • When Marya entered at the end of the song, surrounded by this harsh, red light, there were audible gasps in the audience. People weren’t expecting her, lol.

“In My House”

• GRACE MCLEAN DESERVED A TONY NOMINATION: PART TWO. • She acted her butt out through this entire song. I’m serious. • Her voice is dangerously quiet until, “YOU LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU. YOU LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU.” • The tension in the room was palpable. • Also, all of the yelling you hear on the recording? It’s so much more intense live. It’s fierce enough to make you flinch. • “Don’t touch me!” At one point when Natasha screamed this, she physically pushed Marya away, and Marya wasn’t angry so much as she was stunned. • “Natasha’s whole body shook with noiseless, convulsive sobs.” She was literally bent over, grasping the railing like she couldn’t breathe. • “And she threw herself down on the sofa.” Natasha stands erect with her arms crossed and her head buried in them. The spotlights focus on her, and that’s when Marya softens. • You can see the fight leave Grace McLean’s body. Her voice is incredibly tender.

“A Call to Pierre” / “Find Anatole”

• GRACE MCLEAN DESERVED A TONY NOMINATION: PART THREE. • Her face is absolutely devastated as she’s talking to Pierre. Like, I still have chills thinking about it. • Also, Pierre is waking up from a nap at the beginning of this number, lol. • “I have been… studying.” He glances quickly at the place he had been napping. • The sheer power in Oak’s voice really comes out in these next songs. Anger and fear simmers behind the way he sings. A+++ • At the beginning of “Find Anatole”, he truly sounds out of breath. His body is fully bent over for a couple of seconds. • “He can’t be married!” The absolute horror in Denée’s voice nearly slaughters you, tbh. • When Pierre discovers Anatole and Hélène and gets mad, they start to run away. • Pierre is livid when he finds Anatole and Hélène. I mean, livid.

“Pierre and Anatole” / “Natasha Very Ill”

• Pierre nearly throttling Anatole is a sight™. • “Amuse yourself with women like my wife!” The spotlight shines on Hélène as she stands up and bristles indignantly. What an amazing character touch. • During that long pause before Pierre apologizes to Anatole, Natasha walks right between the two and drinks the arsenic. A few moments later, it begins taking effect, and she starts screaming. It’s a terrible, convincing sound. She runs off stage. Marya and Sonya follow her. • “FOR PETERSBUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURG!” :’))) • There was a pause between “Pierre and Anatole” and “Natasha Very Ill” while we all wildly applauded that C#. Holy crap @ Lucas Steele!!!!!!!!!!!! • “Natasha Very Ill” is sad. Everyone is devastated, especially Sonya and Marya.

“Pierre and Andrey”

• Ken Clark is an amazing Andrey. He has a v. human approach to the prince. • When Pierre and Andrey are trading insults, there’s a lot of affection between them. It’s really as though the two haven’t seen each other in quite awhile. • Andrey’s somewhat tender tone continues until he asks Pierre to confirm whether the rumors he had heard were true, and when Pierre replies in the affirmative, that is the very moment when Andrey assumes his colder exterior. • It frickin’ breaks your heart. • #PoorAndrey • “If you wish to be my friend, never speak of that again.” During “If you wish to be my friend,” Andrey’s voice breaks seemingly on the edge of tears, and then it hardens at the end as he jabs a finger in Pierre’s chest. The moment he does so, though, he immediately looks horrified. Did I really just threaten my friend? • “Well, goodbye” is soft. • #PoorAndrey • CRAP. I FORGOT THE WORST PART OF THIS SONG. Behind Andrey and Pierre, Natasha and Sonya are standing in a darkened corner. Whenever Andrey refers to Natasha, she flinches and buries herself into Sonya. • :(

“Pierre and Natasha” / “The Great Comet of 1812”

• “Pierre and Natasha” broke me. • At the beginning of the song, Natasha slowly makes her way down the staircase, entirely dependent on the railing to get down. It tears at your heart. You can’t help but remember how lovely and vibrant she had been at the beginning of the play. • The nightgown she’s in makes her look so small, and with her braided hair, she looks just like a little girl. • Oak emotes his lyrics so tenderly, so gently in this one. His voice is always on the verge of breaking. • “She began to cry…” Yeah, no. She sobbed, and you sobbed with her. Her whole body was shaking. She had to hold on to the rail. • An interesting tidbit: Hélène is sitting right behind Natasha, and she has her head in her hands like she’s reacting to the sadness of this scene, too. • “All over…” At this point, Natasha is walking back up the staircase, and the theater is absolutely silent. You could have heard a pin drop. Oak says the written line to her back. • I’ll never forget the way Oak delivered it, and I will never want to either. • His voice simply broke on “if I were free”. • Pierre turns away from her, and then she turns towards him, slowly making her way back to him. • During her last lines, Natasha touches his cheek, and it is sincerely one of the most beautiful moments of this very beautiful play. • “The Great Comet of 1812” was moving, too. • The theater very much looked like a beautiful night sky. The comet prop was stunning, too. • Pierre sat down at the end of the song and gazed reverentially up at the comet.

This play was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life, and I recommend it with all of my heart and soul. Please, please support it if you can.

#natasha pierre and the great comet of 1812 #npatgco1812 #the great comet #reginianwrites #p: natasha pierre and the great comet of 1812

839 notes · View notes

akemilena · 7 years

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SolidS Unit Song “Omoteura” Series - Omote track 1

Take 1, action

Translation index || Track 2

Tsubasa: Dai-chan, is the camera on?

Dai: Uh… probably.

Rikka: Ah! The red light turned on just now.

Shiki: Looks like it’ll be fine. Then, shall we start?

Tsubasa: Got it!

Hello, everyone! I’m Okui Tsubasa from SolidS!

Shiki: I’m Takamura Shiki.

Rikka: I’m Sera Rikka. Ah, Dai, pass me the camera.

Dai: Here.

Rikka: We need to film you too. Here, go ahead!

Dai: Ah… um…

Tsubasa: Dai-chan, the main camera is there!

Dai: Er… Hello. I’m Murase Dai.

Tsubasa: Hehe, so cute!

Dai: Shut up.

Rikka: *laughs* Today we came all together to Yokohama.

Tsubasa: Yep, yep! And so, today’s theme is: you, who is watching the program, having a Yokohama date with us, SolidS!

Shiki: That’s the intent of this program. Hope you enjoy it.

Tsubasa: Wait, wait, Shiki! The way you said it! What does “intent” mean?? This is not a conference.

Shiki: It’s not wrong, is it?

Tsubasa: Well, it is not wrong, but you know… It’s not that, it’s a date, so let’s give some importance to the mood! So we can feel we’re having a real date!

Rikka: A real date, huh… That’s right. Shiki, let’s do our best?

Shiki: Yeah. I’ll work on that.

Tsubasa: I’m telling you!!! The way you’re saying it!!!

Rikka: *laughs* Um, today, while being filmed by the camera, we’ll also use this handy camera and advance while filming each other. I’d be happy if you can share our line of sight.

Shiki: Today’s course is a special course we planned together. Yeah. Please have fun.

Tsubasa: There were so many places we wanted to go it took a long time to decide, right?

Dai: Mostly you. It’s because you kept changing the places we had already decided.

Tsubasa: But you know, since it’s a date, it’s obvious I’ll be lost in doubt! It’s worth it to go all-out seriously, yeah? Today I made a bit adult-y selection so look forward to it~ Next time, let’s come the two of us alone, okay?

Dai: Uwah…

Tsubasa: What do you mean “uwah”, Dai-chan!!!

Rikka: It’s not like he said it to me, but just from listening, it makes me kind of embarrassed…

Shiki: Ahh, good grief. You’re in perfect form.

Tsubasa: You two, too?!

Shiki: I gave you my best praise.

Tsubasa: Liar!

Rikka: Um… Then, should we get going?

Dai: Rikka, camera change.

Rikka: Eh, already? Are you sure?

Dai: We finished the greetings.

Rikka: Okay, got it. Then, please.

And so, we’re going to walk around Yokohama with our own pace.

Tsubasa: Well then, without delay! We’re off~!

Shiki: Rikka, do you often come to Yokohama?

Dai: Now that you mention it, when we were talking about the course, I think you knew quite a lot.

Rikka: I think I come a few times a year? I came a lot of times when I was a model too, and Yokohama has many landscapes and buildings that are perfect for pictures.

Tsubasa: I see, I can agree with that. And, while we were talking, we arrived to our destination! The first spot is this: recommended by Rikka, Motomachi Street!

Rikka: I really like townscape, so I chose it because I wanted to walk around at ease.

Tsubasa: The retro stone paving is so fashionable~

Shiki: It’s not flashy, but it’s cosy and has a nice atmosphere.

Tsubasa: Umm… if I remember right, like twice a year, they had a pretty big-scale sale…

Rikka: Yep! They hold it in a different period to the general bargains, and it’s quite full of people every time.

Tsubasa: Ohh, that looks fun!!

Dai: But, going on a sale during a date is a bit…

Shiki: Right. If it’s too crowded, I can’t calm down.

Tsubasa: Eehh~ isn’t it nice to choose clothes for each other or something?

Rikka: Oh! That would be fun!

Tsubasa: Right? If you wore what I chose for you, I would be really happy…

Shiki: You’re really lively today, Tsubasa. Still, you choosing clothes…

Tsubasa: What?

Shiki: I’m scared you would force on me something incredibly flashy.

Tsubasa: Boo, you’re harming my reputation! I only recommend clothes that would suit the person! It’s true that I like flashy clothes with energetic primary colours for me, but I wouldn’t think of making you wear them. The clothes would totally feel out of place.

Shiki: The fact you stated it is also shocking, though.

Dai: Which one?

Rikka: *bitter laugh* Ah, if you go to the back street, you’ll find an old bakery and a shop of western confectionary, and there’s a lot of cafés with a nice atmosphere, too! While you’re walking around and talking, I’m sure you’ll find something you can enjoy together!

Shiki: That’s our Rikka. You summarized it perfectly, like always.

Rikka: That’s the proof you’re going off the rails too much.

Shiki: I’m sorry.

Dai: Ah… the road is splitting. Rikka, where do we go next?

Rikka: Straight this one, I think?

Tsubasa: Ah, Shiki, where’s the map I gave you earlier?

Shiki: If Rikka says it, I’m sure it’s not wrong. We can just check it if he hesitates.

Tsubasa: Come on, check it! If by any chance you got lost in the middle of a date, that’d be lame!

Shiki: Hm? Now, you’re the type that goes for a preliminary inspection before a date, right?

Tsubasa: Eh? Isn’t that normal?

Dai: You do…?

Rikka: So you do…

Tsubasa: Ehh, no way, you don’t? I’m the only one? Eh, really?

Shiki: Tsubasa… in that aspect, you’re really a child…

Dai: And on the appointed day, I bet you make a face that says “this is the first time I come here”, right?

Tsubasa: Could you not reveal that?!

Rikka: Tsubasa is fundamentally a very attentive person, isn’t he?

Dai: I think he just hates failing.

Shiki: A vote for Dai.

Tsubasa: Ahhhh, ahhhhh!! Ahhh, come on!! Next, we’re going to the next!!!

Translation index || Track 2

TL note:

Hello hello! Yokohama date start! And since it’s a date, they start throwing cheesy lines to the camera every now and then, I’m marking them in italics because they can feel a bit weird with text-only. Tho the distinction is really clear if you’re listening (I hope all of you read while listening or you’re missing out 100% of it), if you see any italics they’re talking to you, the listener!

Like with the last soliradi, I’m linking images to the spots they visit so you can get a visual reference and see what they’re seeing. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

#solids #tsukipro #tsukino production #solids translations

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kitto-toberu-sa · 7 years

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Naruto Spectacular

Seating/Glasses

Second back row, almost right at the wall. Awful seating, but I could still see things clearly. Some people had binoculars ;; This year I decided not to go with the translator glasses – I’m sure they have a proper name, but they’re these cool glasses you wear when watching the performance and as the characters speak, subtitles come up. I believe they’re available in English and Chinese. Something like Naruto is easy for me to understand without subtitles, and last year I felt like only the main points were being subbed, instead of everything (maybe a fear people couldn’t read fast enough?) so I’d probably only recommend them if your Japanese is lacking. I’m not sure if they’d work properly sitting so far away either – maybe they’d overlap on the actors too much? I think they’re better if you use them up close tbh.

The Show I apologise for skipping between musical, spectacular, play, spectacle and show ;;; We start off with Konohamaru fighting bad guys. Personally I don’t care for him, and it was really an excuse to put an actor in the audience and for Naruto to look cool when he saved Konohamaru. Unnecessary scene, and from my spot, hard to see.

Essentially everything up to the ‘find Sasuke’ arc is ignored. So if you’re hoping for Sakura screen time, you’d best go back to the source material. In saying that, Sakura’s fight with Sasori is mentioned a few times, and she explains Sasori’s mannerisms to Yamato when they do the whole ‘Kabuto is Sasori’s spy’ scene. I can understand why they skipped it, as while it was hella cool to watch her kick ass, it’d be difficult to do in a stage play and you’d need to get the Suna Three back for such small scenes etc etc. Maybe if they do this play again next year, they can add that in. Tsunade gets a song as she kinda explains the mission, but honestly, you could give her lines to literally any other character. She’s not that influential. I think she looks like Tsunade, but her speaking voice feels too harsh to me.

Sai is golden. He looks fine, he looks like Sai, sounds like Sai. Like, y’all, I realise that’s what acting is, but not everyone can do it well. After the show, and in the break, numerous people went and bought Sai goods. (Also Itachi goods) He was a perfect Sai. When they’re finding Sasuke in Orochimaru’s lair, Naruto and Sai have a song and it’s pretty touching… until Sai tries to sing about Naruto’s dick. Naruto has the most perfect ‘dude, for real?’ look and I can’t wait to see it on dvd.

Speaking of new team 7 – Yamato’s scary face is done so so well! They end up putting it on a large screen behind him. It looks mostly like someone with a torch on their face, so it’s a little cheesy, but it works really well in the scenes it’s done in (two or three times?). Sakura also did her ‘meeting Sai’ scene, when she hits both Naruto and Sai, incredibly well. Not only is she insanely cute, she’s the perfect Sakura. Enough cool and enough cute. If they continue to do musicals until the completion of the show, I’m a little worried how Sasuke-obsessed they’ll make her, but so far it’s been toned down, which I appreciate.

Unfortunately Sai doesn’t try to capture Sasuke in his sleep. I can understand why (unnecessary stage props and all), but Sasuke being such a moody bitch when he wakes up that he blows up the base will forever be one of my favourite things. The whole meeting Naruto and co scene is kind of a let down too. It was nice, but considering how that’s how Shippuden opened and the build up to get there, the play didn’t have the same feel. This play was rushed a little, and this scene suffered for it.

Sasuke killing Orochimaru was great tho. Orochimaru’s voice will always be amazing, speaking or singing, so I’ll probably never say an Orochimaru scene is bad lol It was sufficiently creepy (though again, a little too fast) and gave Sasuke and Orochimaru equal voices.

Another scene that suffered was collecting Taka. This one I mostly grumble at due to my Taka-bias tho. Obviously they can’t spend episodes gathering the three of them, and to be fair, they did get a song. Karin was a little overly sexual, but considering they only showed her being ott twice? I won’t complain (especially in that outfit – she can honestly do what she wants and I’ll agree ;;;) Sometimes it was actually kind of cute. Another scene cut was finding Zabuza’s sword. Considering the time it took in the anime, and all the scene changes, it makes sense, but I enjoyed seeing Sasuke actually test his team – here, we have him just believing they’ll be suitable instead of confirming it. Juugo’s whole ‘male female’ scene was good too, and Karin egging Juugo on in his fight against Suigetsu was a good touch too.

In between scenes we often have Akatsuki stuff – Itachi generally barges in on Sasuke’s songs to tell him he’s weak af, and wherever Itachi goes, Kisame goes too. Naruto and Taka sometimes join as well, same for Deidara.

I really liked Deidara. Unfortunately his character was greatly reduced, but considering he isn’t insanely plot relevant, I guess it doesn’t make much of a difference… (Un?)fortunately, when he creates the giant Deidara, it’s a blow up. I was trying really hard not to cackle. It’s ridiculous. I lowkey hate it, lowkey love it’s cheesiness. Also, from where I was sitting, the tongue that is in his chest looks a little like something else. It just kinda… sprung free and I couldn’t take it seriously at all =.= I guess this scene was gold for all the wrong reasons lol

The search team is sent out for Sasuke and them running looks so stupid. I understand how hard it is to run around, since the space is so limited, but maybe instead of such a long running scene, have some of it just be talking? Maybe it looked good from the centre of the audience, but from my spot, it looked really lame. Kurenai’s team makes an appearance, but get a line or two each. Karin still gets Juugo to help her scatter Sasuke’s stuff, but I don’t believe it’s explicitly said what her plan is, so unless you’ve seen the show/read the manga (safe to say most audience members would – but sometimes people come to these things just because (shout out to the 80 year old couple at the Digimon play), or are accompanying a friend), you wouldn’t know what her plan was.

Next is the Itachi vs Sasuke scene and it was so good. Like, idk how to explain it. They had doubles for clones, it was spot on with lines and emotions. The audience got really involved in it, and it sucks that you know what’s coming because it hurts that much more… I’d say this is probably the highlight of the play. Obviously they’re two popular characters and their actions, since even before their introductions, have been the driving force of some plot incidents (Itachi killing the clan motivates Sasuke to be strong, goes to Orochimaru) and other character’s motivation (Sasuke’s abscence motivates Team 7), not to mention how emotional this scene is, so I think a lot of time and effort was placed into this scene. It worked really well and I wish I could explain it better ;;;

Taka becomes Hebi, and Tobi is done really well. Tobi interacts with Pein and Konan as well, but mostly with the Uchiha brothers. I’m biased toward Tobi as he ran up to us in the finale and I could high five him, but shush. Those gloves are real nice but in this heat I can’t imagine they’d be super comfortable… The ending song is the same (and I really hope we get a cast version soon – honestly last year’s Gaara/Oro duet part was ICONIC). Naruto also had some hella cool rad sticks and when he spun them, it made a Naruto face and stuff. Rad af.

In the comments, Sasuke just kept cackling, while Yamato and Sai were minor low key throwing shade at Deidara and Tobi who were actually speaking. They were dorks so there was plenty of time to laugh at them lol This team works together so well and you can see they’re good friends – sometimes you don’t feel that but in a series that is based on, partly at least, the power of friendship and love, that’s super important.

Honestly, while this year lacked the jumping around action of last year’s, I think it kinda showed how they characters matured? As soon as it ended I wanted to see it again! While I wanted to see last years again too, I was more serious about seeing this years again, but this late in the season makes it way too difficult Guess I just have to wait for next year!

How does it compare to last year? I saw last year’s performance as well. Personally, I liked this year’s better. I am hugely Taka-biased tho. Even though my seats weren’t as good this year (were as bad as you could get tbh – last year I was in the second block, if I had been one row closer I could have high touched the actors), I feel more touched by this year’s performance – partly because it was more emotional to a lot of characters I guess? More interesting scenes too – the Lee/Naruto wake up scene last year was cute (and everything with InoShikaCho was amazing, and this musical didn’t have anything on that type of team bond/audience interaction feel, which was kinda sad), but this year had things like Orochimaru dying, so I guess it had less time for ‘filler’. Also, while I don’t hate Naruto, he’s not even in the top five of my fave Naruto characters ;; If anything, I felt like he was unnecessarily added in some scenes in this performance.

Also, while I didn’t talk to the fans (lots of people come by themselves, don’t want to talk to others and that’s ok! And I’m sure some of them are confused by the foreigner and worry about their English/my level of Japanese so don’t strike up a conversation and I’m too shy to do start one), when I was trying to organise the stupid amount of merch I bought, one girl offered to hold my coffee and someone else helped me when I dropped something. Also, the girls really brought their a-game this year and were splendidly dressed. I… wore a Naruto shirt and was underdressed in comparison ;;;

I felt like the girls around me were more emotional as well. Maybe some of the crowd last year had already seen the previous year’s performance and therefore knew what was coming, but more people were crying this year. This year felt a lot more fast paced, so everything happened faster and there were more intense moments, and I guess it was more than likely mostly Uchiha fans in the audience, which probably had something to do with it, but still, I think this audience was more involved than last year’s was.

There were some people waiting for the actors to leave (so they could wave them off in their taxis) but security practically pushed me out. Considering they weren’t doing the same to anyone else, I do feel it was race motivated – maybe they thought I wouldn’t fight back due to lacking Japanese, or something? Either way it was hella rude as I was getting my phone, train pass etc out of my bag and everyone was pretty far from where the taxis were going to be driving anyway. If someone spends 7000 yen on a ticket and then more than that on goods and preorders the bluray, while I don’t necessarily want respect, I think the least I deserve, the least type of customer service I should receive, is not being shoved.

I’d recommend the stage performances regardless. Seeing them live is so much more fun than watching them on a dvd! Obviously it isn’t realistic for everyone to do that, but try to at least support the official release in some way.

#Naruto #Naruto Live Stage #Naruto Live Spectacular #Naruto Stage Play

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todokori-kun · 7 years

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TYSM <3

Oh, no, he’s not that bad. He just gets horny when fighting someone who’s actually strong enough to beat him up (even if said someone is a 12 year old boy) and makes such…interesting…sounds while doing so that you’d have a hard time explaining to your parents that no, you’re not watching anything explicit (at least not in that way), honestly doesn’t care whether you live or die if you aren’t entertaining, might murder you just for the lulz if he’s bored, is best friends with a cold blooded assassin with a lot of issues, would kill a child if the child was powerful enough to put up a fight, has a TYPE when it comes to his murderous creepy crushes (Machi: the cold, focused lady with incredible talent who hates him, Chrollo: the extremely powerful thief with unique abilities who doesn’t particularly care for him as far as I know, (possibly)Illumi: the talented assassin who tolerates him as long as he doesn’t lay a finger on Illumi’s beloved little brother Killua (and if Hisoka ever dares to joke about killing Killua then, well, too bad for him)…yeah, Hisoka really has a type)…

yep, he’s really not THAT bad, people are just too hard on him, don’t you think? Poor guy.

You’re welcome :) I still have the crying Saiko pic tho. I might send it to you someday (lol jk jk I messed up her lips on that pic and I am too ashamed to ever show it to anyone. I might still redraw it and send it though because what else could you expect from the Dwarf in the Flask?)

Ah, that’s true. No nose + No mouth + ‘Squad leader is disappointed' look = Urie’s default face…

Watercolors really are so pretty. I love how you can make them look delicate even when using super bold, bright colors. They’re also perfect for painting angsty stuff.

TYSM, Queen Luna is so nice *hugs*

I guess I’m careful on the internet partly because it really IS dangerous, and partly because I just feel uncomfortable doing anything I know my parents wouldn’t approve of without talking it through with them? Idk, see, I can lie to people I don’t like/don’t know very well and not feel guilty about it as long as I have a good reason to, but when I care about someone I’ll feel terrible about hiding something from them even if it’s honestly not a big deal ^^;;

Luckily though I asked my parents and they don’t have a problem with Steam as long as I’m sure the games I play on there are PG-13 :) so I’ll be trying CP when I have the time! Tysm for the help and the rec <3

OH really? Wow! And yeah, Ascension glitches sometimes for me too…but usually if I try again after a while it works again. The ending is pretty awesome, so I do recommend that you try again sometime ^^

(Ishida is trolling auto-correct as well)

I’m going to college soon and I hope Ishida’s tweet won’t be summing that up too LOL (jk, jk)

I WILL FIND A WAY TO ESCAPE. I WILL CREATE THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS AND DESTROY THIS WORLD AS REVENGE, JUST YOU WAIT

Oh sure, I don’t think I’d have trouble getting along with Riza! I meant Roy taking you to meet Riza and you taking Roy to meet me XD

Imagine Evans and Riza teaming up on the Roy/Luna couple though.

Riza: “Are you going out on a date? Colonel, please button up your shirt.”

Roy: Riza u trying to ruin my swag “but-”

Riza: “No buts, it looks much too sloppy.”

Evans: “Luna, I found your phone. Take it with you, ok? Call me if something happens and don’t stay out too late, you need your sleep-”

Luna: “You do realize I’m older than you?”

Evans: “…”

Luna: “…nothing, of course I’ll take my phone!”

Evans: ^^

Riza: *sigh* Kids these days.

Evans: Yeah…

Scar and Evans are both in denial so they’ll keep going round and round in circles until Queen Luna decides to be her awesome self and fix it all up.

(‘Great, because I’m not! Have fun’ seriously you are QUEEN)

I’m sure the queen is absolutely gorgeous <3

I’m sorta like that too- with most people physical contact is a huge NO I hate it, but with people I’m REALLY close with (my mom, my little sister) I love to cuddle. Idk, I’m weird lol

I ship it too. Ugh why do I ship everything except the canon ships

I’m gonna forget it later if I don’t write it now: I’ve watched Zankyou no Terror and I’m pretty sure you’d like it! It’s about terrorists and has plenty of suffering and ridiculous english. Right down your alley XD

…wow. Just. I have no idea what to say other than ‘this is why I always wear headphones when watching anime’. I mean. Nope, I’ll be quiet. The pic’s still really good, tho!

Yeah, poor guy, I wonder why people give him shit. It’s a mystery.

Aw, I wanted to see it… well, if you’re not comfortable sharing it, then it’s no problem ^^ If you ever do redraw it though…. I actually want to get my feels destroyed for once.

I literally clicked on a random chapter. He has his nose and lips tho. Speaking of Urie, oh god the new chapter. I cry.

One time in elementary school, we did this thing with watercolours that I really loved, even though my art turned out like shit: You draw a tree trunk with brown colours normally, then take pink colours (or whichever you want), dip in a toothbrush or normal brush and try to like… spray the paper? Splatter the paint? I honestly don’t know how to describe it in english XD But it looks pretty cool when done ^^

Well, as long as you don’t give out personal info and go to weird sites that could give viruses, it’s not that bad. You can never be carful enough, tho, so it’s nice that you’re cautious ^^ And it’s nice that you tell your parents. Mine don’t even know I have a tumblr XD I don’t think they care, though. Mostly because they trust me not to do stupid shit on the internet.

Oh, sweet! I’m pretty sure that CP is pg-13, There’s no cussing as far as I remember and no gore either ^^ Just a bucketful of angst. Tell me when you start playing! And which route you choose as your first one :D My recommendation is either Karma or Rod. Well, Fritz and Waltz are locked until you’ve done 2 routes, but Rumpel (the 3rd unlocked character) has quite a few spoilers in his route, so I’d recommend doing him 3rd.

It’s been at least a year since I’ve played Ascension. It still glitches RIP. It seems the game hates me XD

Ishida is the troll king. We need to make him a crown or something.

I’LL JUST FILL THE FLASK UP WITH EVEN MORE CONTENT YOU LIKE!!! I’LL BRIBE YOU WITH A NEVER ENDING SUPPLY OF FANWORKS AND ANGSTY BOOKS!

I think I’d get along with Riza just fine XD We’d sigh over Roy and paperwork together :P What do you think you’d be like if you’d meet Mustang?

Riza always ruins his fun XD I think there was that theatre video in which she’s like ‘don’t forget to brush your teeth and floss, sleep at least 8 hours a day’ etc. She’s really his mom (and yet I ship them like titanic (minus the catastrophic sinking))

Yes mom, thanks for remembering my phone, I would’ve forgotten it myself XD I’ll call you if I need someone to pick me up :P

At first it’s cute how you two are shy about it, but then at one point I get fed up and just set you up so you can finally hold hands and be happy. I don’t even try to be subtle anymore. I’ve had enough of that XD

Nah, that’s not weird at all. It makes perfect sense ^^ A lot of people I know are like that! One of my friends doesn’t accept hugs/touching from anyone, including family and very close friends.

It’s a rule of the universe. If you ship it, it’s not gonna be canon.

THE NEW CHAP. DAMN THE NEW CHAP. I’m mostly (only) emotional over Urie, though. I’ve stopped caring about the others a long time ago ^^;;;

Whoah, that’s pretty interesting! I’ve never played the game or seen any playthroughs, but still. The Oggai are not to blame for what they’re doing. If I was abducted when I was that young, I’d probably be an obedient puppet as well..,

One thing I can say about the designs: they’re suffering. Other than that, the sketches are a tiny bit messy, but they do seem to fit their personalities well ^^

And thank you <3 I change my icon quite often, so don’t be surprised if you find a new one often :P

#evans #submission

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dragimalsdaydreams · 7 years

Photo

here it is, the payoff of a year’s worth of work! or an on-off year, at least– this was hardly a constant project. also, sorry this is so big! I’d recommend right click>view image to see this better

also this desc is super freakin long, so for anyone interested, the rest of my commentary is under the cut

it kills me that I wasn’t able to finish this for last year’s 4/13– I wanted so badly to dedicate this to Homestuck’s finale, but I grossly underestimated how much time I needed (just a couple weeks before the anniversary, Ashley? really??). despite this, I’m glad I was able to finish this piece without having to worry abt a time crunch

I’ve EASILY devoted more time and effort into this piece than ANY other piece of art in my life (and that includes full muscle/skeletal diagrams I’ve drawn for past Eclypse refs). it’s funny, I actually “started” this piece in 2012, when I first drew the rough sketch of my idea (obviously Alpha kids and Beforan trolls didn’t exist then, so I was planning to do a kinda “pre-game/post-game” symmetry haha LITTLE DID I KNOW). even at that time, I wanted to contribute something special to the HS fandom– something I’d never attempted for any other fandom then or since. however, I could tell my skill wasn’t developed enough to produce a decent piece (nor did I have the motivation to start a monster like this..), so I tucked that sketch away, hoping I’d return to it someday. I still don’t think I’m at a high enough skill level to give this tribute what it truly deserves (colors... are my death...), but I admit I’m oddly proud of this final product? it’s more than I could have accomplished in the past, that’s for sure (it’s so weird to see how much I’ve improved even comparing the basal sketch stages)

(and, as is tradition for me apparently, here are the other tributes I’ve done for past anniversaries: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016)

sorry for sounding a lil’ sappy here (tho I’m sappy every 4/13 lmao), but Homestuck is so incredibly important to me. no other fandom has come CLOSE to what Homestuck has given me in terms of absurd (often sometimes embarrassing) shenanigans, close-knit fan communities, incredible fanworks, and countless other fandom elements. not to say that other media/fandoms haven’t contributed to my life in significant ways, or that other fandoms aren’t as good, but the HS fandom experience was (and is) so…. unique. there are certain events and situations that could only be experienced within Homestuck’s format, and would be difficult– if not impossible– to replicate in other types of media (or even other webcomics). and beyond that, I’ve dedicated such a significant amount of love and attention to this comic that no other fandoms in my life can rly compare

most fandoms fade over time and slip away from interest, but there are those golden few that clamp onto your heart and don’t let go. Homestuck is one of the few fandoms I can say with reasonable confidence I’ll always cherish, and I just want to thank Hussie and all the incredible artists, animators, musicians, programmers, etc. that have directly contributed to the experience. I think I speak for most when I say my feelings abt the end of HS were…. mixed, at best. but even the negative aspects do little to dampen my love for Homestuck as a whole– this story is just too MASSIVE to let one little ending ruin it! not to say the ending (or any of the comic) is beyond criticism, but the criticism doesn’t ruin the last several years of this fandom experience for me. if anything, that finale left me with a sense that this story isn’t truly over– that there are more loose ends to be tied and further plots unraveled. I’m not sure if that should be considered a good thing (once again, mixed feelings), but at least it works in the context of the upcoming game, haha. either way, reading-- and watching and playing-- Homestuck has been an incredible journey thus far, and I eagerly await the future Hiveswap will bring~

past all that SAPPY COMMENTARY, my main goal w/ this piece was to represent every single Homestuck character (as well as a few significant symbols/references in the comic). considering the nature of Homestuck’s ridiculous timeline, however, this is kind of impossible. thus, I gave myself a few rules for who was and wasn’t included:

- no duplicates. considering there are at least 8 versions of everyone, I absolutely needed this rule. there are obviously a few exceptions (such as Calliope/Callie Ohpeee, Caliborn/Lord English, etc.), though I felt I was justified in including their doubles. this rule honestly kills me a little because I REALLY wanted to include certain duplicates like Bro, Mom, and the Ancestors, but I couldn’t b/c of the next rule–

- if I include some of a group, I must include ALL of the group; IE- “symmetric” representation of all characters. if I were to include the Alternian Ancestors, I would feel obligated to include the Beforan Ancestors too, but there aren’t any canon designs for them, so that would be impossible. similarly, if I were to include the Beta (human, non-Dad) guardians, I’d feel the need to include the Alpha guardians too, who honestly felt less like “unique” characters to me than the Beta guardians did compared to their Alpha kid counterparts (though this could just be due to the fact that we were introduced to the Alphas as adults before the Alpha kids themselves). and even if I were to draw all the kid’s duplicate guardians, that would make me feel obligated to do all the troll’s Ancestors which, again, just wouldn’t work. this is also the reason why none of the Denizens were included, b/c we’ve only got a few of their canon designs (tho I’m considering including their underlings in the future, but I’m not 100% sold on the idea b/c, again, not all underlings are known)

- no “poly-characters”. essentially, no sprites. this prolly falls under “no duplicates”, though I personally consider characters like Davepetasprite^2, Jaspersprite, and even Davesprite unique characters in their own right. it’s just that sprites open up a whole new world of 100+ character possibilities, and I had to draw the line somewhere

- represent each character as their “essential” self. I tried to go for versions of each character that gave the "truest” impression of that character, if that makes sense? for example, I drew Terezi blind and Vriska w/ her robo-arm and blind eye b/c I feel these aspects are essential elements of their characters. Aradia, on the other hand, I drew pre-death, even though this doesn’t necessarily match the “timeline” for Terezi and Vriska’s injuries, b/c I feel that pre-death Aradia represents the “essential Aradia”

- keep overall “character themes” similar across the board. this could also be described by a few sub-points such as: “no god tiers,” “no dream selves,” and, “no alchemized outfits,” among others. I thought it would look oddly off-balance if, say, only some trolls were god-tier, or only one set of kids was wearing alchemized outfits rather than their original outfits. ~in general~ this resulted in drawing most characters as they first appeared in the comic, though there were obviously some exceptions. to return to Aradia’s example, I honestly think that godtier Aradia is the MOST “essential” Aradia of all of them, but the need to adhere to the “pre-game” theme of the rest of the beta trolls overrode that rule, so pre-death Aradia works just as well

#homestuck #4/13 #413 #homestuck 413 #homestuck 4/13 #I WAS LEGIT STILL MAKING LITTLE EDITS TO THIS UP 'TIL LAST NIGHT #TAKE THIS DAMN THING AWAY FROM ME

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berrysbestbloggityblog · 7 years

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13th February 2017- All for the Game series

Author: Nora Sakavic Genre: Thriller, sports, relationship Rating: This is the only series ever to challenge Harry Potter as my favourite. It is incredible Favourite Quote(s): (You should be lucky I narrowed it down to five) ‘Fight because you don’t know how to die quietly. Win because you don’t know how to lose.’ David Wymack, The King’s Men ‘Is your learning curve a horizontal line?’- Andrew Minyard, The King’s Men ‘I’ve been a problem for nineteen years. I’m too tired to be one tonight.’- Neil Josten, The King’s Men ‘Don’t look at me like that. I am not your answer, and you sure as fuck aren’t mine.’- Andrew Minyard, The King’s Men ‘I won’t be like them. I won’t let you let me be.’- Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, The King’s Men

I’m going to warn you now, this is going to be long, and spoiler-y, and probably make little structural sense.

So I hate sports. Any kind of sport. I just about tolerate swimming, and never just doing lanes.

I would also probably sell a kidney to be able to play Exy.

This series, quite honestly, has changed my life (and not just about sport). It features; diversity, therapy, alcohol, abuse survivors of all kinds, not enough playing the actual sport, torture, the MobTM, extreme character development, my OTP and too many chess references.

I will start, quite appropriately, with Neil Abram Josten, the many named man. I will not lie and pretend that one of the main reasons I love this series is not because Neil is the first canon demisexual character I have ever read. As a demisexual, this representation was something I didn’t even know I had been craving until I got it. His character made me more secure in my identity; he meant that I wasn’t making it up, that I was real and valid and there wasn’t anything wrong with me. I wasn’t picky or just ‘hadn’t had enough alcohol yet’ (thanks mum); what I felt was different but it wasn’t bad. For all the demisexuals out there, Neil was a godsend.

(For clarification on Neil’s sexuality I recommend reading SpangleBangle’s one-shot ‘Swinging Along the Z Axis’ on Ao3.)

More than that, Neil’s character just broke my heart. He’s haunted and hunted and desperate not to let anyone else get caught in the crosshairs. He doesn’t always do the smart thing, but he does generally do the right thing, and never takes the easy way out. He’s scarred and easily triggered and in some ways damaged, at least when he first arrives at Palmetto, but never, ever broken. Not even Baltimore or Evermore could break Neil Josten and while he’s sometimes regarded in the fandom as the soft to Andrew’s sharp, you’ll never find the Foxes thinking that because Neil is sly and underhand and play’s dirty when someone he cares about is on the line. If Andrew had to be the one to cut the deal with Ichirou, he would never have gotten out of that car alive.

He asked Andrew TO HIS FACE why his ex thought Andrew was tying him up, and didn’t clock for a single second until Andrew literally told him he’d blow him. He asked Nicky if they were friends because he’d never had any before. He is about as quick to get a social cue as I am running. He is so respectful of Andrew’s boundaries even before he found out why, even before their deal. He left Andrew, a person whom nobody had ever admired, whom no-one had ever been grateful for despite Andrew giving up EVERYTHING for them, with “thank you, you were amazing” and figured that would be enough to cover the destruction his death would bring. He chose being tortured by Riko on the off-chance it might spare Andrew some pain, and he chose to be taken to quite literally his worst nightmare, giving up his life and his freedom and everything he’d managed to accomplish that year to keep his Foxes safe.

For the first canon demisexual, he’s certainly setting the bar high.

I’ll save Andrew for last, so let’s get on to the rest of the Foxes.

I’m quite sure I could write an essay on each of them (except maybe Seth. Sorry. I just. Hated that guy). For your sake I’m going to keep it short, but feel free to ask me for a full character eval I’ll be happy to do it.

Matt Boyd- Literal sunshine, saw actual homeless child Neil Josten and decided immediately he would die for him, half of the brOTP of the century, you just KNOW he’s so sweet and attentive and respectful of Dan because she’d never go out with him otherwise. He canonically has a white and orange themed wedding… I actually can’t. He didn’t blame the Monsters for forcing him to go full cold turkey even though he knew Andrew didn’t do it for him and he was ready to fight to keep Neil after Baltimore.

Dan Wilds- Absolute BAMF, can and will kick your ass, the only female captain in Class I Exy and she’s had an uphill battle on her shoulders for years before Neil or even Matt arrives at Palmetto. She has short hair and probably wear gym shorts 90% of the time but she’s still allowed to dress up without everyone being like ‘omg wow dan in a dress’ like it would be in any other book. She was a stripper and she owns it because it’s what she did to survive and it was selflessness not ignorance or anything else that’s stereotypically attributed to strippers, that drew her to it.

Renee Walker- Basically a flower, if it was a flower that could also slit you from neck to gut and plaster on a serene smile a second later, she’s an accepting Christian who isn’t gay herself (*cough* EXTREME RENISON SUBTEXT THO *cough*), she’s working her way through her trauma in a way that is healthy, she wants to put her past behind her but she’ll bring it out to protect/help her friends. She’s the only person that stays with Andrew without some kind of deal between them and she doesn’t do it out of pity.

Allison Reynolds- will slay anybody with her look, refuses to let her grief break her, came through being cut off by her family for not being picture perfect and an eating disorder with confidence and grace and sass. She’s brutally honest in a refreshing way and I think that post King’s Men, with all the secrets out of the way, her and Neil can become much closer.

Aaron Minyard- oh he’s an asshat but he still wheedles his way into your heart. He loves Katelyn more than he probably thought possible, and he’s so snarky I love it. He also killed Drake despite training to be a doctor which I think is something everyone always forgets. I think the thing that annoys me the most about him is not that he’s mean to everybody but that he doesn’t even try to understand Andrew; he just immediately blames him and hates him but not enough to let Andrew go.

Nicky Hemmick- ‘let’s get this straight: I’m not’, nobody really talks about how horrific his childhood being raised in such a homophobic household did to him. They sent him to CONVERSION CAMP and only falling in love with Erik managed to save him from that dark place. His parents refuse to love him on account of his sexuality and then they manipulate him in order to set up Andrew for rape. Obviously it’s Andrew who gets hurt the most here (well I mean Drake dies but like that’s a good thing) but Nicky, like Neil, has to live with that guilt for the rest of his life. He’s a constant ray of positivity despite everything, despite his cousins never thanking him for doing this long-distance mess from his home just to be there for them.

Kevin Day- oh Kevin, Kevin, Kevin. Kevin comes perhaps the farthest of all the foxes over the course of the series and it makes me feel so proud. I screamed in delight and had to put the book down to do a little victory dance when he got his Queen tattoo. I worry sincerely about his liver. He’s a sad little history nerd who has made Exy his LifeTM and an actual asshat on the court. Probably about as good as Neil at knowing how to make friends and he shows he cares through Exy references only but I still love my toll bean.

Ok. Deep breaths. We’re onto Andrew.

Sometimes I think about his character and it just makes me tear up slightly? He’s an apathetic shitty midget who hates Neil and sits on tall buildings because he’s scared of heights for the AestheticTM. Basically everyone on this Exy team is some shade of LGBT+ and yet there’s no similarities between how they express their sexualities. Andrew is gay and a sexual abuse survivor and a foster kid and ex-juvie, but he’s not stereotyped into any of the boxes any other series would put him in.

I know too many people who have been sexually abused. Any other time that I’ve read a book where someone was sexually abused it was either liberally ignored/easily overcome or the person was driven to committing suicide. Neither is particularly helpful to survivors in my opinion, not that I am any kind of expert, and therefore Andrew’s story blew my mind. Andrew is never going to ‘go back to normal’. He is always going to have boundaries and yes or nos and triggers. He is never going to smile often or take Neil off on romantic dates or care about more than his minimum. And that, that is ok. There is no checklist for trauma survivors that they have to work through to be counted as better. Even more brilliant than Nora allowing Andrew to be changed permanently by his trauma, is the way he has an active and encouraged approach to his own recovery. His relationship with Bee is something I truly treasure. I am lucky enough to have not ever gone through something similar to Andrew, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be extremely happy that other people have that representation. Recovery is a slow process, with setbacks and bad days, which is also shown in this series, but it’s possible.

I like that Andrew didn’t always somehow magically know to go and get therapy. He survived Drake through self-harm and while he doesn’t encourage it, which is good, he also doesn’t completely demonise it like some people do. I will be the last person to condone harming yourself, but wanting to be able to make choices in an otherwise choice-less situation is completely understandable.

Proust trying to ruin his scars makes me want to vomit.

He was put on meds after he attacked some men for attacking his cousin and everyone thinks he’s dangerous? And manic? And out of control? Neil is perhaps the first person Andrew lets in enough to understand that everything Andrew does has a reason, and while it’s not always a good one it is also never a selfish one. Their relationship was a trust-build for two and a half books and it makes it so much more powerful. By the time they progress to anything physical, they’re already tied by something unbreakable, not that Andrew’s likely to admit it any time soon.

This is already like five pages long oops so I’m going to round off now.

This series made me laugh, and cry, and I quite literally screamed into my pillow when Andrew finally kissed Neil but I think most importantly it opened my eyes to lots of previously not-thought-about topics and I’m a better person for having read it.

z��_�

#the foxhole court #all for the game #the raven king #the king's men #books #my review #nora sakavic

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boxyladies · 6 years

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Instead of a weekly/monthly/whatever date favorites… I’m just going to bring y’all a “Current Favorites” whenever I feel like it. That way, there’s no pressure to come up with favorites during the week/month and I can just take note of the things I’m using and loving the most. Tho I do like alliteration and I had planned on posting this on a Friday for a Friday Favorites but Jill bumped me for the Book of the Month blog so… good job, Jill.

The Newsette Daily Newsletter: I know in the past, I’ve told y’all about The Skimm – a daily newsletter about current events. I still love it. But I’m also now in love with The Newsette, which is a daily newsletter about fashion/beauty/lifestyle/career/tech things. They also have regular interviews from awesome, successful women which are really interesting and fun to read. I’m trying to become a Newsette ambassador, so if you are going to subscribe, definitely sign up with my link!

Urban Decay x Kristen Leanne Kaleidoscope Palette (No longer available): I feel so extremely lucky that I was able to get this palette when it went on sale for $20! The full-price of the palette was over $40, but it wasn’t even full-price for very long so I am glad I held out for the sale. Though after using the palette for awhile, I would have gladly paid over $40 for it! I used it a lot on the cruise recently, as I had the opportunity to do more adventurous looks on a regular basis versus my normal every day life. But I created the below look recently and I love it so, so much. I’s for sure the best makeup look I’ve ever done, hands down.

I haven’t always been the biggest fan of Urban Decay shadows but these are just so gorgeous so I’m hopeful that they’ve maybe changed their formula a bit to make them more creamy, pigmented and buttery. I’m really impressed!

Dose of Colors Blushing Berries Eyeshadow Palette ($32): Can you believe I paid $20 for 11 shades and then $32 for five shades? I feel like it balances out somehow. You know I love red eyeshadow, and this group of shadows has surprising versatility – you can do a super smoky berry eye look or you can keep it to the coral-y side and keep it more neutral. These shadows are extremely delicate and pigmented but we aren’t at a Subculture situation – they are still really easy to use and blendable. Just use a light hand. Mine actually came with one of the shades slightly broken but I decided to keep it anyway since most of the shadow was intact.

Colourpop All I See Is Magic Holiday 2017 Palette (No longer available): I’m sorry that I am obsessed with two limited edition palettes right now that are no longer available but these are the ones I am using the most! I received the Colourpop All I See Is Magic palette for Christmas and it’s one of the most versatile palettes I own! I keep it in my gym makeup bag because I can really do an infinite amount of looks with it. The Colourpop shadow formula is unreal, and the new Shayla x Colourpop Perception palette ($23) is incredible as well, and still available!

Morphe E1 Deluxe Powder Brush ($23): I got this brush awhile back when I still had my MorpheMe Brush Club subscription and never really picked it up until recently. I thought it was too big and I wasn’t really sure what to use it for. I recently was going through my brush collection so I could make a backup/gym brush bag so I wouldn’t have to pack up my everyday brushes, well, every day, when I came across it again. I decided to start using it with my Hourglass Lighting Palette, and I LOVE it. I basically just mix all three colors together and pat it all over my face. I wish I had started using this sooner!

Maybelline Super Stay Matte Lip Ink Colors in Lover (pink), Huntress (grey) and Protector (oxblood) ($7.09/each): The liquid lipstick trend is on its way out but there are times that call for a long-wearing lipstick, and for those times, I am pretty much going to turn to this formula. It’s incredibly comfortable – not dry AT ALL. It’s slightly tacky but that doesn’t bother me at all if my lips aren’t going to crack and break off. And the formula just does not budge all day – you can eat all sorts of things and aside from a slight wearing off on the inside of your lips, it stays PUT. This is especially important when you are wearing a dark lip color because you don’t want it transferring all over the place. I also really love the applicator, as it’s really pointy at the tip, which lets you get a really precise line without the need for a lip liner, which is really nice. And the best part? These babies are $7 each!

You can really collect them all, which is why I ended up with Huntress – I had always wanted to try a grey lipstick but I didn’t want to pay Kat Von D prices for something I wasn’t going to wear very often. But I really, really love it and want to experiment by wearing it more often!

UnReal on Lifetime: I really only started watching The Bachelor a few years ago, unlike some of my friends who started watching in college. But I’ve come to really enjoy it, which is why I fell in love with Unreal, which is about a fictional version of The Bachelor called Everlasting. It’s about the behind-the-scenes production of the show, and while it’s obviously extremely dramatized, it makes me understand a bit more about how The Bachelor. I tend to love strong, imperfect female characters, and this show focuses on two of them. Can this show be a little ridiculous and cheesy at times? Of course. It’s on Lifetime. But for the most part, I really enjoy this show and def recommend it to Bachelor fans and beyond!

Girls’ Night In Weekly Newsletter: Girls’ Night In is yet ANOTHER newsletter I’m into, except this one is only sent once a week on Fridays. It’s definitely more of a compilation of lifestyles stories, book recommendations and interesting interviews. Girls’ Night In has great recommendations and I definitely look forward to reading it every Friday! (Click here to subscribe with my referral link!)

Purchased; All opinions are my own Post contains referral and affiliate links

Lauren’s Current Favorites – May 2018 Instead of a weekly/monthly/whatever date favorites... I'm just going to bring y'all a "Current Favorites" whenever I feel like it.

#colourpop #Dose of Colors #friday favorites #Girls&039; Night In #kristen leanne #maybelline #maybelline huntress #Morphe #the newsette #Unreal on Lifetime #urban decay

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