#I absolutely love your art style and so seeing this pop up. oh my gosh I’m gonna scream /pos

[froggychair05]

OH MY GOODNESS AAAAAUUUUGGGHHH IT’S THEM THANK YOU 🥺

@froggychair05 's Sugarcoated fic is very cute and should in fact be read

[basketobread]

Hi! I've been wanting to say this to you for a while now, but you and your art bring me so much joy!! \(^o^)/ Every time you pop up on my dash I always have a good laugh, I absolutely LOVE your energy and the way you draw! You have one of the best and most unique art styles I've seen, you're definitely one of my fave artists ever!! 🥰

I first saw your "Thy Mother" art with Lotus and I was INSTANTLY hooked xD As a bard enthusiast myself and my beloved Tav being a bard, I just DIED of laughter when I saw that artwork IT'S TOO DAMN GOOD 😂

I also have a huge soft spot for Lunara! She's so cute and also, one of my fave things you do is when you draw that funny wrinkly face on Karlach. It ALWAYS cheers me up whenever I'm having a bad day, plus I keep coming back to that "White Girl Shadowheart" artwork of yours and it never gets old! 🤣

Thank you SO much for gracing us with your art and for being such an awesome hooman bean all the time!! 🙌❤️❤️❤️

oh my gosh... well, if this isn't just the sweetest message i've ever read then idk what is!! 😭😭❤❤ THANK YOU!!! SO VERY MUCH!!! FOR THESE KIND WORDS!!! seriously, you have NO idea how much this means to me. i started this blog just to have fun and post some fanart of my fav game ever and did NOT expect so many people to tune in on my bg3 adventure!!

i am FOREVER GRATEFUL!!! and you have absolutely no idea how ECSTATIC i feel to hear you talk about my characters in such a way too!! lotus and lunara are my pride and joy so seeing people enjoy them as much as i do has been a blast <33

seriously, i cannot express how happy i am to have received this ask. you're so sweet!! i'm going to be thinking about this all day now HAHA

[sleepsentry]

Hi hello I just popped by to tell you just how much I absolutely LOVE your art. The dynamic poses, the color, your shapes, you’re very much an inspiration to me for my own art. I was curious if you’d be willing to share your own inspirations/process in drawing? No need to if you don’t feel like it though. Again, thank you for sharing your art with the world.

Gosh, I'm not sure where I'd even start for that...

I don't think I can get into process atm because it changes so much in such tiny ways all the time. I have a basic skeleton of a process, but the rest is all over the place.

As for insperations:

I follow many many artists online and have picked up many small things just from looking at their work and trying to "reverse engineer" their process in my head.

I've noticed I tend to subconsciously "study" artists just by thinking "how do I draw this? Oh this artist drew it that way! Lemme try..." and I do that many many times while drawing.

Example: I look at the way an artist draws hands, then I look at my own hand and try and mimick the position in the artwork.

I study both and try to connect the dots between them. I feel the way my hand moves and the way the bones and muscles flex and relax.

I try and draw broad shapes, then the underlying mechanics of the hand, then I finish things by drawing what we actually end up seeing on the surface.

I dont draw the bones and muscles of a hand and then the skin just to be clear! I just try and keep them in mind as a draw the outlines.

Like a sculpture having a "skeleton" made of two bits or wire. I don't draw the skeleton, I draw the rough blueprint of where everything goes in quick simple lines. Then I build the "clay" on top.

I don't go that in depth every time but it helps to stop and "be more considered" if you have the time and energy.

Now that I think about it, watch sculpting videos!

It's a very similar process to drawing but 3d instead of 2D! I recommend clay sculpture but I'm sure 3d modeling has similar principles too, even if a very different approach overall.

Here are some channels I recommend:

For cute character dioramas with ridiculous fidelity while being very stylised

For impressive fake food that really shows just how much of an illusion art is

For amazing Dino statues with an eye for detail and convincing naturalism

For 2d artists I follow current professional and/or hobby artists, or even old masters who's work is archived in artbooks and social media accounts. All ranging a wide variety or styles, cute, horror, cartoon, realist, ect... and most importantly, the styles wich aren't as easily definable.

The variety of influences is great! As long as you figure out how to pick and dissect the elements that drew you to the work and how to apply your findings to your own work.

My biggest inspirations as a kid where animation (Disney, pixar, ghibli, ect...), manga, Belgian/French comics my dad had as a kid.

I didn't have the patience or means to learn to animate, but these comics had so much life and motion in their panels! I always found American comics really stiff and more difficult to read because of the detail and "realism". I know American comic art can be very expressive and fluid, but for my undiagnosed eye/brain issues...

This:

Was leagues more "readable" than:

They where literally easier to read.

That comic cover takes me a good few seconds to dissect and process, whereas the two examples above it are instant.

I'm terrible at studying from life due to my poor eyesight and spacial awareness issues, also I have ADHD so, not only is the information my eyes are giving to my brain suboptimal, but my brain is also terrible at processing and reconstructing that information.

Also tracing is a valid way of studying btw, that's how I learnt as a tot and it can be great to try and reverse engineer a finished peice and break it down to it's construction.

Obviously it's not the same as building something from scratch but we're talking within the realms of practice.

I also started trying to "re-learn" some art fundamentals in ways that work better for me, and it's been massively helpful.

I'm already working with fuzzy simplified abstractions of the world around me, so it's horrible trying to see accurately and THEN re-simplify it onto paper.

So something that has helped a lot and I mean A LOT with teaching my brain art basics in a digestible, step by step way, has been:

ART ACADEMY for the DS!

It's great for walking you through art fundamentals in a way that is digestible and no where near as overwhelming as just jumping straight in to a massive, complex, digital art programme.

It gets all the fuss of materials and subject and reference out of the way and let's you just focuse purely on the process of making art itself.

THIS:

WAS MADE WITH THIS:

This is the first drawing lesson:

This is the lesson after that:

This is all with the original DS version!

On a tiny screen with very primitive approximations of pressure sensitivity and no opacity or pen size options.

It mimics traditional art making in the sense that you make what you can with what you have and that limitation allows you to focuse on practice rather than get overwhelmed and over correct everything digitally.

These where tiny, crunchy, microcosmic, simplifications of digital art making back in 2009!!!

It's so refreshingly accessible and manageable.

I haven't even started the newer 3ds game that came out.

So if anyone reading is struggling with their art I highly recommend this little art exercise giver! It's helped me a lot.

OK hope that's readable and helpful. ^^

[lunathequeerscientist]

when you get this ask you have to answer with 5 of ur fav songs and then send this ask to 10 of ur favourite followers :) (no pressure <3)

Ooooooooooh YES an opportunity to open THE ABSOLUTE FLOODGATES of my music preferences! Hmmmmhmhmm heheheheee *rubs hands together maliciously

Okay, so:

1.

AAEERREEEEREEEEEREEE YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I LOVE SHELTER (by Porter Robinson & Madeon)

(I’m so sorry I don’t know who this picture’s original artist is, I just found it on google, who ever it was, you are AMAZING ✨)

THE MUSIC VIDEO is just BY GOSH SO GOOD! It’s literally better than most movies I’ve watched. The story, the art, the colours… and the story! DID I MENTION THE STORY!!! AEIIIAJDJFNSNJ okay I won’t spoil it but I’ll have to literally bite my nails clean off gooo shoooo before I explodeeeee… oh… Oh… HERE IT COMES TAKE COV-

2.

Anyways, moving on

My next favourite… ooooh see this ones interesting because there are a bunch of songs here, it’s kind of like, you know when you have multiple favourites and you can’t really choose except I already have a favourite but that’s only because that favourite is relatively more favourite than my other favourites thanks to it’s possession of a feature or features that favourites it out of my other favourites… ish? Yeah? Yeah… ? *hopeful stare

Oki let me try again: i likey many song :D

This spot gets awarded tooooo.... a nightcore remix of Wake me up when September ends, uploaded by Syrex (unfortunately I cant seem to find the original video I usually listen to, the cover art on this is sliiiiightly too graphic for my liking (dw its not explicit or anything) but the original was perfect!)

This was one of my first nightcore songs, and something about it just felt so… magical 🌈 and 🌟mystical🌟… like a sort of window into another dimension? I still come back to it as my comfort song, kind of like a sonical blorbo…. A blorbo song? A slorbo? Yeeeaaah!

In a similar position but possibly not to the same extent are other nightcore remix songs like Drivers License (also uploaded by Syrex) and Fly me to the moon(also Syrex) and some others

3.

Now I do indeed enjoy a spot of classical music (mainly rather popular songs though) and what else do I say than frikin Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

Oh ajsjdbdk do I love Tchaikovsky! “Canons are not instruments!” Tchaikovsky: *slow evil grin* “Your gonna love this” *starts 1812 Overture -need I say more

✨Tchaikovsky brain rot Tchaikovsky brain rot Tchaikovsky brain rot Tchaikovsky brain rot Tchaikovsky brain rot Tchaikovsky brain rot Tchaikov✨

Okay I lied actually I do enjoy more than a spot of it, I listen to it classical music sometimes obsessively, all the way from grand masterpieces while looking through my homework as a cunning super villain surveys their chaos to frilly piano pieces. Oooh speaking of, Un Sospiro by Franz Liszt, that is by far one of my favourite piano pieces… maybe close to Piano Conerto no 1 in terms of favouriteness? Maybeeee?

4.

I do also love some pop and dancey and songs. I think One Last Time by Ariana Grande definitely sticks on this list and is one of my all time favourites. The music video is amazing too! There also others like Solo Dance by Martin Jensen, Style by Taylor Swift (oooh another of my favourite artists btw) Don’t lose my number by Phil Collins and Heaven (DJ Sammy and Yanou)

5.

I (mostly) love my YouTube recommendations, and most of the time its cute (and very VERY impressive) animatics galore, and some of the music I’ve heard on them just sticks with me and lives rent free in my head. The one on this list has to be Sincerely, Me (from this animatic). Now I don’t know much about the song out of the context of this animatic, however rumour has it that it is rather twisted (again, I have actually no idea where it’s from, I never followed it up) but it’s so insanely catchy I find myself head-playing it on repeat and listen to it to scratch that very specific itch… the animation is absolutely 🌟amazing🌟 too in that video, and I keep coming back! Also I’d like to show you Think U Know by Ikson, found in this animatic by none other than cudlil :P I love her channel, and all the music she uses!

So there you go! Now I know it may seem a bit like a genre rank, but I assure you it’s not. It’s not, it’s not not ntotntotntotn noooooo

It’s just that I sort of categorise songs by the way they make me feel, and most of the time the ones listed from 2-5 can be interchanged (meaning I like them all equally)

Oooh oooh! And ofcourse, Thank you so much for the ask! 🌈🌟

[beachbeibi]

Just wanted to pop in and say: I adore your art!!! I love the way you draw backgrounds, the way you color, and your LINES it’s so pretty and smooth!! I’ve been trying to get more into drawing more BNHA (especially BkTd, it’s my guilty pleasure, they’re so funny and cute and I adore them), and I’ve been using a lot of your art as reference!! <333 (Also: OBSESSED with Tunaroki my beloved)

🥺❤❤ Aaaaa thank you so much! (OH GOSH I'M HONESTLY JUST LEARNING TO DRAW BACKGROUNDS so I appreciate it SO MUCH) and I absolutely encourage you to do as much art as your heart desires! I love drawing shouto and katsuki so much, they're for real my faves and I think their dynamic is just *cheff kiss* also they're great for putting into any kind of fun or dramatic situation. I'M SO HONORED THAT MY ART COULD INSPIRE YOU! I'd love to see what you come up with!

AND OH , TUNAROKI MY BABY, right now I'm revamping the comics so they have a prettier more legible style!

Thank you so much for your support and kind words! I hope you have a good day today and I send a hug ❤

[river-bottom-nightmare]

Nightwing 83 Review

guess who isn't weeks late this time. my opinion of the series is going up a little bit. it's still not great, but i'm not actively put off by it anymore the way i was after 81. not going to tag as spoilers, but be warned that they are under the cut

i’m sure you all are well aware of this but now, but dear god i love bruno redondo’s art. like, an unhealthy amount. the pink and blue is getting to be a theme with either him or just this run, but i am definitely enjoying it. the movement in this cover is clearly obvious, but well done. you recoznize right off the bat that the cover was drawn to drag your eyes down the page until you get to the bottom, but you enjoy the whole ride there. 

also, redondo’s way of drawing a character in stages of action so we can see just how much they’re doing in a split second of movement is quickly becoming something i like to see drawn with dick, and any other character that has that sort of ease of movement and body sense, like cass or sin or maybe a super. 

and he’s in action the entire time! there’s shot drawn just to show off a shirtless comic book character, the way nightwing is so often subjected to. he’s shirtless because he’s changing his clothes, and that’s all we see, no more and no less. very practical, very well done. i like it.

he looks so cute right here oh my god. the little squint, the hair curls. it’s adorable.

but also like. unless melinda has specifically outfitted the door spyhole so that the person on the other side can’t see dick looking through it (and in all honesty she might have) then everyone on the other side can see dick looking through that door. 

bringing your attention back to the “i can’t see melinda’s fbi file oh no!! it’s redacted!! whatever can we do!!” stupidity. redacted files are child’s play for oracle, and definitely doable for both dick and bruce. so that’s bullshit.

now, melinda apparently grew up with the maroni family, then took down part of the family from the inside. the maroni family is a large and notable presence in gotham, one that bruce pays a respectable amount of attention to. he definitely would have grown suspicious when two members of the maroni family were taken down, and with some investigation, he would have discovered melinda’s plan. and it should go without saying that the majority of things you see batman doing? dick can do it too.

it’s not so much that i don’t like how clever the villains/antiheroes are getting. i don’t like how dc heroes are increasingly written as less intelligent. they seem to be relying on pure fighting skills or luck, which may be the case for a couple heroes, but has never been the case for most of dc’s big name heroes, the bat family included. it’s irritating to me to see this sort of stuff pop up as a major plot point when i know that, if dick or bruce had been written with the amount of skill and power that they canonically possess, this entire mess would have been sorted out years ago.

unrelated but dick and melinda have the same hair

this may just be me, but i was always under the impression that dick doesn’t really have a “double life???”

yes, he’s talented enough to create enough differences between robin/nightwing and dick grayson’s mannerisms, way of movement, voices, and speech patterns so that it’s very difficult to put the two together.

but nightwing has never been separate from dick grayson, not the way bruce and batman is. he’s always leaned more towards clark in that aspect: his hero persona is an exaggerated, stately, larger-than-life version of who he really is. there’s no second persona, no real “dick grayson identity” and “nightwing identity.” they’re the same person with the same goals, ideas, and skills. one just pretends to abide by the law, and one gives up pretense of that.

oh good thank god. if he’d trusted her right off the bat (hehe. bat.) i would have slapped him upside the head. at least he’s still got instincts.

gosh the colouring on this is cool. the red has enough purple and pink tones to it that it doesn’t abruptly ruin the tone of the artwork. but it’s definitely glaring enough to take the reader outside of this personal moment they had slipped into between dick and melinda, to put them back in the present where they’re reminded that oh yea there are people hunting dick down. 

the next panel keeps this up too, in a less severe way. melinda’s bodyguard shows up (i forgot her name sorry :[ ) and subtly places us in the middle of an action scene rather than a private, personal scene.

laughing so fucking hard have our little vigilantes grown so accustomed to breaking into places that it doesn’t even register as a crime anymore??? tim coming in through the fire escape to pick bernard up for their date and being very much confused as to why bernard is freaking out.

i really like melinda’s shirt and now despite all the work i have to do and the fucking conference i have to host on monday i want to spend hours scrolling through clothing shops online trying to find this shirt. the mock neck/neckline is so cool i want it

so roland just assumes that a very dangerous vigilante who is highly talented in combat and a very dangerous bodyguard who is also highly talented in combat had a fight that ended with this very dangerous bodyguard being tied up and she looks completely fine? roland just assumes that her having no visible wounds or bruises means that they got into a fight and she lost that easily? uh. aight then

dick what are you doing. legitimately what the fuck are you doing. why are you posing oh my god. you are injured and tired and in absolutely no position to go hand to hand with one of main enemies. jesus christ run away or head to lower ground or something. don’t just stand around letting the floodlights show exactly where you are.

i don’t understand what he’s trying to do here??? blockbuster fully bought the story that dick fought them both, won, tried to get info out of them and failed, then hightailed it out of there. he didn’t have to draw roland out for a fight.

but it does look cool. the way the light just highlights his silhouette and the blue parts of his costume does look badass. he does get style points in my book for this.

w h a t  d i d  i  f u c k i n g  t e l l  y o u ,  d i c k ?

very classic superhero line and it does sound like something dick would say in a fit of righteous rage but also it makes me laugh so hard because all vigilantes think they’re so powerful that the law doesn’t apply to them. dick vigilantism is illegal. you’re acting above the law and pretending it doesn’t apply to you. hypocritical much?

it happens so often in superhero movies, tv shows, comics, whatever and it makes me giggle every damn time.

pretty decent comeback but before i start seeing people writing blockbuster as a thug i’m going to remind you that he made a deal with a demon for genius level intellect. if this turns into another bane situation i’m going to be a little miffed. he’s a smart man, which makes him a dangerous and infinitely more interesting enemy for nightwing.

this is so horribly in character i want to scream. (or. at least. it lines up with one of the versions of nightwing i have in my head.) he’s running right towards the bullets, miraculously doesn’t get shot, while making a sort-of pun. i hate this so much. i love him.

this is cool. this art is really really cool.

he leaped from a building right towards a helicopter that’s actively shooting at him, but none of the bullets are touching him. none of the corruption of the city can touch him no matter how hard it tries, because he’s too good to be corrupted. Comic Book Logic Can Be Good Sometimes Actually.

batman’s belt what??? swiss army knife who?? sorry, i only know nightwing’s bright blue escrima.

this is one of my favourite things about heroes with exceptional abilities, even more so if the hero is human. the things they can do are so far beyond the realm of normal human abilities that it’s equal parts terrifying and awe-inspiring every time they act.

he just used modified grappling wires to hook to the door of a moving helicopter, swung around the helicopter safely without hitting the blades, gained exactly the right momentum to swing upward again right through the opening of helicopter, then fought and tied up the men before they had any idea what was happening. that’s near impossible to do.

it’s stuff like this where i just sort of sigh in contentment. no matter how many times they leave out dick’s detective skills or conveniently forget that he’s actually a master planner and team leader and make him out to be this forgetful dude who makes everything up on the fly because of his “circus roots,” at least they won’t ever take away dick’s sheer physical ability honed to perfection. 

the art, too! in a few panels, dick’s drawn a little lightened or blurred. he’s moving so quickly and fighting so efficiently that he can barely be seen by the enemy. he’s got perfect form all the way through.

and THIS!

there was a helicopter that had five men shooting at him with what looks like machine guns. most people would be dead. some would run away, and be nimble enough to survive without fatal hits. there are very few people, even in fucking comic books, who can look at that hopeless situation and turn it around so quickly and thoroughly that he benefits from it instead.

i just. love nightwing.

it was funny the first time as a comic reader aware of the meme. it’s really not anymore. why the hell would you, in universe, be wearing a shirt that has a picture of your boyfriend being hit in the face by his father. 

okay that was funny. 

look at lil bitewing, so concerned for her human!!! love her sm. 

also a question as to the timeline of things. is nightwing happening before or after urban legends? 

i was so distracted by dick wearing a robe and briefs and nothing else that i didn’t register the second part until later. he slept for two days?? babs, baby, he recently had a very traumatic brain injury. why do you sound so nonchalant?

@TIM X COFFEE SHIPPERS GET FUCCCCKKKKEEDDDDD

ngl i totally forgot about that dude oops

this comic is giving so many reaction pictures. you know how you always use the worst possible picture of your friend for your friend’s contact picture? i’m just getting so many of these.

leslie!!! the titans!!! lucius!!! dick going to go see old friends!!!! the titans!!! this part made me so irrationally happy it really did. gar being the one to just. offer dick solutions with open arms. this was the best

i wish i could just copy and paste this entire scene, but that would take up way too much space, so i’m just going to talk about it instead. 

you gave me my name, nightwing, and you gave me some of the best advice i’ve received in my life: beautiful little throwback to nightwing’s origin. you’d be surprised at the amount of people who don’t know where the name came from, or who don’t know how much clark means to dick. and the fact that dick still looks up to clark as a hero, recognizes that clark isn’t always perfect and yet continues to hold him in such high esteem, and still looks back on advice that clark gave him fondly just warmed my heart so much.

for a man who has fearlessly stood up to darkseid, bruce will do a lot to avoid a conversation: “grrr. i’m the BATMAN. i’m so DARK and MYSTERIOUS. nobody knows the true me. no one ever will. i will be LONELY for the rest of my CURSED LIFE. such is the price of a hero. ignore my farmer himbo husband in the background”

but i don’t think there’s anything heroic about being a billionaire: another nod to how much dick follows clark’s example rather than bruce. yes, this was a very poignant and important criticism, and i think it’s wonderful that this was published in a pretty popular comic book. but the thing is, there is a way to be a heroic billionaire, but only in fictional universes. the way bruce, ollie, t’challa only ever use their wealth to help people. they donate massive amounts of money to charities that they themselves create so they know exactly how the money is being used. they hire people who aren’t likely to get jobs anywhere else and pay them much more than what a base living wage is. they use their power to help push progressive laws and social change. they are helping. 

dick doesn’t fully see it that way. he spent more than half his childhood the son of a billionaire, but still believes that one could be more heroic when one doesn’t have obscene amounts of wealth. whose example do you think he followed to come to that conclusion?

superman looked up to alfred pennyworth?: i mean yea alfred may have been a wildly irresponsible guardian and one hell of an enabler but goddamn if he didn’t love his kid.

you don’t need my input. you’ve thought it all through: ooooooh this line made me grin. for so long, dick’s treated clark as a mentor and a guiding figure. he’s still seen as a kid, an up and coming, snot-nosed titan with dreams of a better world. clark still thinks of him as a kid, despite watching him grow up. but this little line was something i think dick needed sorely to hear. he doesn’t need anyone’s guiding hand on his shoulder, he doesn’t need to ask for permission. he doesn’t need clark to support him the way he did when he was a teenager. he’s all grown up now, and he doesn’t need clark’s help. i imagine it was a bit of a surprise for dick to hear that. 

honestly, i couldn’t think of a better role model: ohhh but it doesn’t stop there. clark just straight up turns the tables on dick. imagine you’re dick, and you’ve looked up to this one hero your entire life, and then one day he turns to you and says that he thinks you’re so kind and smart and worthy of a person that he wants you to mentor his son!? goes to show just how much clark trusts dick.

i swear to god dick probably cries every time he hears clark compliment him because bruce is so rare and sparing with his praise that clark giving him the slightest hint of approval is just a dopamine rush.

also, now deathstroke and superman have both asked nightwing to mentor their kids. the juxtaposition is fuckin hysterical. imagine either of their reactions when they realize what kind of company they’re with

lets talk colours for a second, because i absolutely adore how classic colour tropes have been subverted in this comic, and in this general run really.

warm tones have usually (usually, not always) been associated with light and comfort and friendship and,,,,,well,,,warmth. whereas cool tones are usually used to unsettle, or make a scene seem colder and put the reader on edge. this varies if a comic only uses cool tones, or only uses warm tones, but if a comic uses both, this is generally well-used.

that isn’t the case in this run.

dark red, orange, and other warm tones have been used to symbolize danger, action, attacks. hot pink isn’t usually included in this colour group, but it’s definitely part of it in this case. in contrast, scenes that have cool colours give us the impression of slipping into a comfortable, calm scene with babs, tim, the titans, and other allies. even the beginning scene with superman has this blue, but then it transitions into something more golden coloured. dawn broke over dick, as his new idea came to light, and that was reflected in the art (and the sunrise setting.)

have there ever been times when dick’s longed for the comfort of his mask because he didn’t feel confident as dick grayson? i can’t think of any. i may be wrong, but this struck me as pretty ooc.

am i just??? gay and reading this all wrong??

cause i was under the impression that when someone says they are grateful for your friendship you don’t immediately kiss them. 

or is this like. normal straight mating rituals.

i mean he’s smiling afterward but still babs aren’t you supposed to at least make sure it’s okay first? you guys broke up a while back after you said something along the lines of “i want to be coworkers with you and nothing more because i don’t trust you or feel comfortable around you as a civilian anymore.” like lmao after you say something like that to someone i would assume that you don’t have the permission to just kiss them whenever you want.

show of hands who else got real sad when they realized dick was talking about himself in this.

sure, he could be referencing the things he’s seen blockbuster pull, and the children on the streets. but “i’ve seen money used for enforcement,” sounds a little too close to dick’s entire life being destroyed by one man threatening the circus to pay protection money for me to completely ignore. and “i’ve seen the poorest and most vulnerable blamed and punished rather than assisted” becomes a lot worse when you remember dick was thrown in juvie for a couple months until bruce was able to obtain legal guardianship, and in there, not a authority figure believed him when he told them his parents were murdered.

he’s lived this before.

a. mother. fucking. typo.

fucking why

i mean i’ve stated my distaste for the batfamily groupchat before but like. this is reaching new levels of ridiculousness. jason sounds like he was written by a fanfic writer. tim sounds like he was written by a fanfic writer. steph sounds like she was written by someone who doesn’t know the first thing about steph and wanted to include her for “family points!!!!!” damian’s supposed to be completely off the grid, and everyone’s searching for him. i do love the way cass texts tho.

well god fuck now i’m crying

dick got a phone call, a sorry, and a thank you out of bruce. i feel so much secondhand happiness for him, if that’s a thing. we’ll just ignore the way bruce looks ugly af and focus on the good parts okay?

and again with the colour symbolism here!

i’m either going to love this or hate this. who knows, we’ll see.

something something hearts something something pink is an evil colour something something. i need to know more about this guy but there’s definitely symbolism there. 

is it just me or does this dude look like the backstabbing traitorous absolutely motherfucking piece of shit villain that killed tadashi hamada in big hero 6?

~~

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[wanderingchocolateeclair]

New ask game! Tag three creator's names and tell them what you love most about their work and why you followed them then put this message in someone's inbox to pass the message.

Oh goodness only tag three??! Oh no!! Thank you though ooh!! My brain is still on a frazzled dizzy Merry-go-round from finishing and posting that pizza piece god that was so tiring- so many pro heroes in one piece....anyways sorry get ready for a paragraph each because I love you all!

@ohpleaseiwillendyou okay, so first of all, Camila I love you 🥰 your angst and writing is absolutely superb and never fails to put me in a better mood and give me motivation whenever I read it!!

I initially followed you because I saw you comment on one of my first posts that you also shipped edgejeanist and then I saw you writing about edgeshot and honestly I saw that one single headcanon post and decided that I’d follow you and that your content is amazing, and I was not disappointed at all, all of your posts fill me with pure happiness! Love you so so much my fellow angst loving edgejeanist and edgeshot appreciator ahaha ❤️

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@frelmidja oh goodness me I am absolutely physically in love with your art- all of your amazing details and beautiful everything is just fantastic and aaaaaaaa!!!! I don’t have words, I just love you and your art so much ahaha...

I started following you when I first got into the bnha fandom I think, because I was just thinking about how I really liked ectoplasm and power loader as characters and started thinking about shipping them....and then I saw your art and I was completely hooked into it as a ship! Then I saw all of the rest of your amazing art and wow I just was so happy seeing it all your art just brings me great joy whenever I see it and I cannot stress how much I smile whenever I see that you posted/reblogged something and seeing it come up on my dash! Ahhh I love you and your art and your amazing content!!! 🥰

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@palettepainter aaaaaaaaahhhh your fantastic art and your gorgeous and brilliantly thought out characters!!!!! It’s all amazing and beautiful and oh my goodness I love it so so much! You are fantastic and every time I see your art it makes me smile so so much!

I started following you because I saw that you shipped and drew ectoloader and I was drawn in and ever since then my dash just gets better and better every single time I see your posts. Your art is just so cute and I love love seeing these great characters in your style!!! Every single time I see one of your amazing ocs and your art and beautifully thought out backstories and family characters it just makes me so happy and aahhhh I’m so bad with words but I love you and your amazing art!!!!! ❤️

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Aaaahhhhh sorry I got carried away but gosh I love you all so so much!!!! Thank you anon for giving me this opportunity to ramble about how much I love my beautiful mutuals!! (If, perhaps, I got this in my inbox again, then I can ramble about some more because just three tags in one post is definitely not enough for how many of you I want to ramble about with how much I love and appreciate you- literally all of you ahah)

I guess I’ll pop this into you guys’ inbox to pass on this lil tag game and spread some nice messages and positivity wooh!!! (If you want, you don’t have to aha it’s just a nice lil thingy to do for fun I guess and yeah!)

This eclair is very happy, and appreciates you all!! I love you! And please, if you haven’t already, please go and check these guys out they are absolutely fantastic!!!

[koishua]

𝙂𝙀𝙏 𝙏𝙊 𝙆𝙉𝙊𝙒 𝙈𝙀 𝙏𝘼𝙂 !

tagged by: @luvvseong @yangyangify @spookybias @iuwon @floraljae (thank you, my loves <3)

tagging: @zhongwrld @moonbeamsung @rutosruru @lyjikyu @armysantiny @kopikokun @mochiable @envirae @channoticedmeuwu @radiorenjun @lebrookestore @whiteprincessofnohr + anyone who would like to do it!!

notes from vie: oml what the hell was this. honestly, this was so long, but i think it allowed me to reflect upon myself for a moment lmao.

𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙙𝙖𝙮

october twenty eighth! on winwin day, nonetheless!

𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩❜𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙧

i adore every single one smh. if it were palettes we were speaking about, then it would probably be greyish blue tones and beige to yellow ones!

𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩❜𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙮 𝙣𝙪𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧

my lucky number does not work, because my misfortune overpowers it way too much. i like the number eight, though!

𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙥𝙚𝙩𝙨

i used to have pet baby cobras, fishes, yellow and blue budgies, and aquatic turtles!

𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪

i am aspiring to reach 170 cm, but i am currently 159-160 cm! that would be 5'2"?? i think.

𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚

a pair of combat boots, white canvas shoes, and one sneakers for sports class... not many lmao i am not a shoe gal.

𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜

changes everyday. as i am typing, however, it would be lose it by oh wonder, rush hour by gaho and run by one republic!

𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙚

i have three: rise of the guardians, room (2015), and... any studio ghibli movie tbh. whoops.

𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙣𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚

i say that i do not have a type all of the time, but all of the people i have been attracted to and had a crush on were the wild, fun, and cute guys in my class. they also tend to be very kind and understanding as well. i am a sucker for people who smile often.

they would have to be accepting of all of my flaws and love me regardless, just like the way i would do the same for them if i love them as well. i am also extremely touch deprived haha, so i would honestly be over the moon if they don't mind hugs and physical affection.

𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣

only after i have a stable income and have things sorted out, because i don't want to struggle raising them because of financial and mental issues. no kid deserves parents that can't take care of them ig.

𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙬

the law from where i come from are terrible and something pretty bad has happened, but i'd rather that's kept in private haha. i swear i didn't commit any crimes lmao police are just incredible blind and unfair there.

𝙗𝙖𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧

shower. i am way too impatient for baths. also, i feel weird sitting in a tub filled water while naked lmfao it's so weird for me.

𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜

grey.

𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙮𝙥𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙘

k-r&b, indie, pop-rock hybrid ig, lo-fi.

𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙥𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙨 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝

only one below my head.

𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙞𝙣

it varies. i sleep like a rock even though i can’t sleep for long, so i wake up in the exact position i initially fall asleep in. either on my back or my right side, since my left side isn’t too good lmao.

𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣❜𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪❜𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜

buzzing mosquitos and damp, hot air (which is very rare, so i guess we are okay). i also hate being cold, so i sleep with two blankets even during summer haha. my limbs are ice-cold all the time smh

𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙛𝙖𝙨𝙩

oats mixed with chocolate chunks.

𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙮

i never went to a club or took lessons, but we had a backyard where my dad allowed me to shoot at stuff with a bow and the few arrows he made. i was pretty good at aiming, but my eyesight has deteriorated, so i left it at that lmao

𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙪𝙞𝙩

watermelons and mangoes... also rambutan and mangis, but we don’t have them in germany ;-; i missed them.

𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙

fuck. and i am sorry to say that i use it here quite a lot.

𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙨𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙨

tons.

𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙧

some have called me a psychopath before, but they just don’t understand that i was raised by very strict parents and learned how to lie lmao. i am pretty ashamed to say yes.

𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩❜𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙮𝙥𝙚

i have tested twice. once when i was fourteen, which showed that i was an infj-t, but then i took it again last year and it showed that i was an infp-t. i heard that 16Personalities was trash, though, so take it with a grain of salt.

𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩❜𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙮𝙥𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡

my best friend. she is a wild character, ngl, but she and i communicate extremely well. she is outgoing, courageous, hilarious, and has no qualms with being the odd one. she isn’t overly obnoxious, but she has a nice kind of self-confidence going on.

𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙚

i love yang jeongIN. definitely an innie, because i don’t even remember what the front of my house looks like haha. i don’t go out unless someone literally grabs my arms and physically drags me out and i am not even joking with this one. 

𝙡𝙚𝙛𝙩 𝙤𝙧 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙

i was originally right-handed, but then i got paranoid of breaking my right arm and having to study with my left arm all of a sudden and get bad grades, so i learned how to do stuff and write with my left hand as a kid.

𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙙

don’t have one. call me when we’re talking about dessert.

𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚��𝙜𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙙

don’t have one.

𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙮

my entire aesthetic is chaotic academia irl, so you tell me.

𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙥𝙝𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙚

oml, how tf, bahaha, bestie, no because-, hehe, lmao, i’m sobbing, i guess, toodles, etc etc.

𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮

i can techincally be ready in five, but procrastination is the sole thing i excel at, so yeah, definitely half an hour.

𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛

cnversations happen in my head, my the office-esque reactions happen out loud. i talk a lot and imitate phrases i hear from someone to myself and reenact scenes from my daydreams bahaha

𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛

i don’t shut up. someone save the people that live with me.

𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧

definitely not the most technically sound vocalist, but i can hold a tune or two. i was a soloist in my choir for a few years and was the vocalist for a band, but we disbanded smh i am still very sad about that :/ i loved them so much.

𝙗𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧

seeing my loved ones die before me.

𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖 𝙜𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙥

i don’t feel comfortable talking bad about people :/ just ignore and move on.

𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧

i have hair that reaches my knees, but dear god do i want to chop it all off in one motion and get a yeeun-style bob cut.

𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩

sports and art. to hell with everything else. i’m not bad at them at all, but oh gosh i want to burn them all.

𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙧 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙩

... idk. i hate speaking to strangers and feel so awkward during one on one conversations with friends. i don’t go out a lot and social events tire me out, but i also crave noise happening around me. so,,, ambivert? i do tend to be the life of the party often during the few times i go out, but then i just lug myself back home and crash for the week lmao

𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙣𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙤𝙪𝙨

anything related to school. i have regular panic attacks /gen. also, i have thalassaphobia and megalophobia, so things larger than life and the vast, empty ocean terrifies me and movies like that just make me nauseous. 

𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙨𝙝

my first real crush this one guy in my band. he was the other vocalist and was so pretty and fun. he always used to tease me smh. at least, that was something. but then we had to disband last year, because the older guys were moving away to study and us high schoolers were also moving to different cities ;-;

𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙛𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙪𝙣

i was in my middle school track team and used to compete a lot since i was pretty agile, but then i started to hate running, stopped, and now i am just a little above average bahaha.

𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙧 𝙞𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙞𝙧

black. i want to dye it with cotton candy colored highlights, tho!

𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙧𝙮

unnecessary comments, rude and obnoxious, self-entitled kids and people in general, people who tell you how to do your own job, hate comments, the basic dni criterias as well 

𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙚

kind of?

𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙖 𝙗𝙤𝙮 𝙤𝙧 𝙖 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙

i would want a girl.

𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙩𝙝𝙨

i have cold hands if you want to cool down. i can adapt to any kind of environment instantly, since i have moved twelve different times to fifferent schools and countries. bless my parents. i have gained the ability to conquer shifts in social environments at the cost of my mental health :’) i also consider myself to be nice and can get things down quickly, so i am a fast learner.

𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙨

kanemoto yoshinori, yoshi, eye smiles, and brownies. i am also very impatient, a perfectionist, a procrastinator, and have absolutely zero self-control over aggression against my own body. i have trouble reacting to other people's emotional outbursts, be it crying or anger and don't know what to do and how to comfort them. i also have trouble opening up and am never authentic around people, so i don't have... friends, if that makes sense? i don't feel comfortable being myself and feel like i have to be the person that they want me to be? idek.

i get bored extremely easily and nothing interests me that much ig

𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩❜𝙨 𝙩��𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙙𝙨𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙

blue.

𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙢

white and hints of blue.

[luvdsc]

sam is super talented!! i'm actually like one person away from him? like one of my mutuals is a close friend of his which threw me for a loop, but apparently he's super thrilled every time his art does well, and it's kinda funny because i cannot imagine his world where his art isn't known? like it's so good it's inevitable it'd go viral!!

and yeah, i was very lucky!! i think my parents don't really mind when i do as long as i don't break laws or rules and i'm healthy?? which i appreciate but i think it's nice to have ambitions set ? like where they encourage sports and everything, i never did clubs or extracurriculars

i do a mix! graphite, colored pencil, acrylic and oil paint, etc :) i started with traditional, it just takes a very long time so i do digital if i don't have a lot of free time!

picasso's bothers me too !!! i tend not to share that because it can be an unpopular opinion but it hurts my eyes and i don't like his composition because abstract pieces have never been my cup of tea. i feel like it can definitely be a genre that's just used to say.. oh yeah it's meant to be abstract i didn't mess up LMAOO

it is hyunjin, yeah!! i drew it during his hiatus when stay though stray kids was doing an underwater photoshoot, and i wanted to make sure he wouldn't be left out <//3 i had to use like four photos of his side profile and one reference of a random person underwater, but i'm really proud of it! and the sicheng and ten ones, i only sent you my favorites haha, there are quite a few portraits i finished i'm not that happy with!

i use the gaussian blur pretty frequently (like to mix the flat colors for hair or clothes) and a blur brush on 50% opacity to blend everything i need to in order to make my works softer! i use krita if that helps!! i think i have a skin tutorial i did a while ago on my blog, and my voice is kind of grating because i was sick but i think it displays my process... kind of well?

i think grainy works and sharpness can be really good though!! i tend to oversoften mine and make it look airbrushed, but i recently downloaded some pore brushes which should help with that!!

the first landscape was actually acrylic paint, one of my traditional works!! it was a graduation gift for someone, so she can have some art in her dorm room <3 and her room is sage green decor-wise, so it fits in really nicely!

and thank you for the compliments,, your art is really nice too!!

like this was a recent work of yeonjun i don't really like,, i have more works i'm not a fan of then ones i do enjoy haha! but i feel like it's good to share how the oversoftened stuff looks, and also just works i get lazy on towards the end of drawing them!

the felix one is older, and one of my "sharper" ones, as you can see i really got lazy on the hair, it's just scribbles at that point haha, but i still love it!

and that drawing of haechan has a pop art background, sort of, which i think is fun! my style is variable and they all are different qualities, but i think enjoying it is the most important part!

i know you don't like to dm minors, but if you want to,, for art things, like the brushes or techniques i use, or in general, my inbox and messages are always open! and i turned 17 on the 8th, so i'm not a super young minor djsfdkfj

also sorry for the lack of emojis <//3 i'm on desktop

hi, sweetpea, i'm so sorry for the late reply! the tumblr app is super wonky and it only shows the first ten asks i get ?? so i've been going by that, and my older messages are starting to appear 🤧 butt omg that's so cool that your friend is friends with him?? :o his art is absolutely amazing oh my gosh, of course it's a no brainer his art will always do well 🤩🤩

we love supportive parents 🥺💗 yeah, i agree, it's definitely important to have ambitions set though because you need to live your life and be able to support yourself. it's not good to solely rely on your parents or other people forever 🤧

oooo nice !!! i also do a mix of those, but i ultimately prefer painting since it's not as rigid (?) as traditional drawing - like things look completely off if i draw something out of proportion, but it somehow works with paint?? idk how to explain it, but for me personally, i think there's more room for creativity with paint 💓 how long does it take for you to complete a digital drawing on average? :o

ashldkfjahsl YES that's exactly how i feel about his art too 😭 i don't particularly care for most abstract art, but i really love jackson pollock's art! 💘 i like abstract art that doesn't have a still life subject or landscape or something if that makes sense? it's just so fun and therapeutic to toss some paint around :')

omg they're absolutely amazing 🤩 i love them all sm 💗 all your art is so beautiful!! do you print them out and hang them up in your room?

aaa thank you so much for telling me how to do it !! i love love love that art style with the blurring because it just looks so soft and dreamy 🤍✨✨ i'll have to try those techniques out when i start a second drawing :') and i'll check out your video! and omg i didn't even know they had pore brushes?? i need to do more digital art aksldhflajkds

omg that's so nice !!!! do you gift your art to your friends often? they're so lucky 💟

asukdhfalkshflaksd what the heck, wdym these are art pieces that you got lazy on???? THESE ARE STUNNING HOW DO YOU NOW LIKE THEM OMG I'M IN AWE 🤩🤩🤩 yeonjun's lips look so so pretty, and felix's freckles and his hair omg 💓💓 hyuck looks sooo good, too !!!! and i love sunflowers !!!!!! 🌻🌻🌻

and omg thank you, lovebug, i may have to take up that offer if i ever finish my first drawing and attempt the soft look for my second one :')

[fluffy-yoongi]

Across The Sea

You had been in Souel for about a month now. You had taken a promotion for work that required you to move abroad for a year to project plan a new division. When you took the job, you thought you’d be staying in NYC, but a month before you were set to start, you found out that the job was actually moving you to Souel. You were absolutely terrified, but you figured you were young and unattached, plus is was only for one year.

You were settling in okay. It was difficult adjusting to the time zone and trying to still talk to your friends and family at home, and you were starting to get homesick and lonely. You knew enough Korean to get by, but you definitely weren’t fluent by any means. For work, it wasn’t too bad. Most of what you were doing was graphic designed based, so it was just a mater of making sketches, and adjusting. It was going out and having a social life that was hard. You were the youngest on your team, by around 20 years, and hanging out with 40 and 50 year old men wasn’t really your idea of fun. So during the week you worked, and on the weekends, you silently explored the city.

You set off on Saturday morning to go get a coffee from the cafe down the street from your apartment and sit along the river with your sketch pad. It was about the only way you’d been able to find comfort while half a world away from home. So you woke up around 8, showered and called your mom to talk while you were getting ready. After talking to your mom for about an hour, you said goodbye, packed up a bag with your sketchbook and pencils, then headed to the cafe. You ordered your usual, americano and a blueberry muffin, then put your headphones in, and left the cafe.

As you were heading to one of your favorite spots along the river, your phone dinged. You mom was sending you a picture of your cat cuddling with her dog. They had been fighting since you moved, and this was the first time they were getting along since your mom started taking care of you cat. You felt the tears in your eyes start to well up, completely taking your mind off the fact you were walking down a sidewalk. Suddenly, you can to an abrupt crash, your coffee going all over the front of you and phone crashing to the sidewalk.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry. My mom just sent me a picture of my cat, and I’m sorry. Does you jacket need dry cleaned? Here, let me get some cash.”

The person in front of you began to laugh. “Are you okay?” A deep voice asked in the cutest accent.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. Did my coffee get on you?”

“No. I’m fine.”

The strangers face was hidden by a mask as he bent down to pick up your phone. “Uh, your screen.”

You looked at you phone, and the screen was shattered beyond use. “Great, guess there goes my off day.”

The stranger in front of you chucked again. “Let me get you a new phone. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.”

“No, I can’t accept that. I wasn’t even looking up. It’s fine, really. I should have been paying attention. I just live up the street, so I can run home and change and get a phone this afternoon. Really, it’s fine.”

“No, really. I wasn’t paying attention. I was daydreaming and lost in my own world. Now I insist. Let me get you a phone. Plus, now I know you live on this street, I can just sit out here and wait until you let me pay for it.”

“Are you sure? Because it’s really not that big of a deal. I can-“

“You can let me get you a new drink while you go change, then meet me back here so I can buy you a phone.”

“Okay, thank you, stranger.”

“Yoongi.” A hand extended out for a handshake.

“Thank you, Yoongi.” You retuned the handshake, and it lasted a few seconds longer than it needed to as your eyes locked.

“It’s no problem, stranger. Now what do you want to drink?”

“Y/N. My names Y/N. And an iced americano, please.”

“Y/N. I like that. And you’ve got good taste. Now go change, and I’ll meet you back here in a few minutes, coffee in hand.”

You thanked the stranger, who now had a name, once more as you turned to walk back to your apartment. “Yoongi. What a unique name. And his eyes are so deep.” You thought out loud as you frantically shuffled through your closet looking for an equally as comfortable sweater and leggings combo as the one you had changed into. Thankfully, your jacket seemed to avoid the coffee, so you threw it back on, then set off back to the cafe.

You didn’t know if would still be there, so you didn’t get your hopes up, but sure enough, there he was, sitting at the little bistro table outside the cafe.

“That was quick,” He smiled as he stood up to hand you your coffee.

“Thank you. And yeah, I have to wear my business clothes during the week, so the weekends are reserved for the comfiest thing in my closet.” You let out a little nervous laugh, feeling your cheeks flush with color.

“I like your style. I called for a car while you were changing, it should be here soon.” A warm smile broke across his face. The mask he was wearing when you first collided was now tucked under his chin so he could drink his coffee.

“Really, you don’t have to be so kind. I appreciate it, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t want you to feel like you owe me this or something for my clumsiness.”

He let out a deep, raspy laugh. “I can see the car coming, so it’s too late to change my mind now.” A few seconds later, a black town car pulled up to the curb, and Yoongi went out to open the door for you.

“Oh, thanks.” You were shocked at how nice this complete stranger was being to you. You’d been living here for nearly a month, and this was the first time you’d talked to someone outside of work for more than a casual greeting.

Yoongi got in the car on the other side and gave the driver the address of a store on the other side of the town. “So, you’re obviously not Korean. What brings you to the other side of the world.”

“I work for a large company doing project planning. There’s a new division opening, and I’m the designer for the new infographics and displays. It was supposed to be in New York, but got changed at the last minute. The project is only for a year, so my mom is keeping my cat, and I’m living in Souel now.”

You could feel yourself instantly regretting everything you just said. You couldn’t read Yoongi’s expression as you studied him for a response.

“So, you do art?”

“Yeah, not as much as I want to. My major in school was fine arts, but not as many companies are looking for painters.” You leg was shaking nervously. Not at anything the person next to you was saying or doing, you just felt weird talking about yourself.

“Let me know if I’m asking too much. I don’t want you to think I’m stalking you or something.” He let out a breathy laugh that made you smile.

“No! You’re fine! I’m promise. I just get nervous talking about myself. I don’t think what I do is that exciting, but it’s still doing art, it pays well and I get to travel a lot.”

“Having a job that allows you to travel is the best. I feel like I’m always going somewhere new for work.”

“What do you do?” He looked almost surprised at your question.

“Uh, well. I’m a musician.”

“That’s amazing. I love music. I always wanted to play an instrument, but that was never my artistic calling.” He laughed at your comment. “What kind of music do you make?”

“Well, a little bit of everything. I’m in a group, so technically pop music, but we definitely go for more of an R&B sound than traditional pop.”

“So you sing?”

“No way. I produce, write and rap. I wish I could sing, but that was not my destiny.”

“Well, next time you guys have a show, you’ll have to tell me.”      

“Well, if you want that, I guess you better give me you number.”

You felt you cheeks flush with color. That may have been the smoothest pickup line you’ve ever heard. “I..”

“Here.” The driver stopped outside of the phone storefront cutting your response short.          

“Hold that thought.” He quickly ran out of the car to open your door before you could even process everything that just happened.

“Thank you.” You climbed out of the car still flustered by the conversation that had just happened. You tried to relax and walk into the store, but your mind was racing.          

“Let’s get you new phone so you can read the next show flyer I send you.” Yoongi walked into the store, and you followed suit.

“Hi, how can I help you?”

“Hi, we need to get a new iPhone. Whatever the newest model is. And plenty of storage for art and music. Thanks.” Yoongi had answered everything before you could even open your mouth.

“Really, you don’t have to do this. I’m fine with just the same one I have. I’ve got my credit card. It’s fine.”

“No, I ran into you. I’m buying you a new phone. End of discussion.” He reached for his wallet out of his pocket, grabbing a black American Express card.

Who is this man? A black card?

“Did we need any cases or screen protectors today?” The sales representative set the phone on the counter.

“We should probably do the screen protector.”

“Yoongi, at least let me buy that.”

“No, my treat. Besides, you think $20 is going make a difference?” You smiled, still feeling guilty about the kindness of the man who you didn’t even know an hour ago.

“Well, I owe you.” You stepped up to the counter to finish setting up your phone. Once you were finished getting everything set up, the two of you walked back out to the car, and headed back to your apartment.

“So, now that your phone is fixed, how about you text me so I have your number. Then, we can call it even.” Yoongi reached over to grab your phone adding his name and number to your contacts. “Just send me your name so I can save it.”

“Are you sure? Really? Can I at least buy you lunch or something?” You began to send a message to him.

“Hmmm, I guess it is getting close to lunch time. Fine, your number and hot pot. Then, we’re even.” His phone buzzed with the message you sent him, and he saved your number as he asked the diver to take you to his favorite hotpot restaurant.

“I’ve been here a month, and I’ve basically been living off ramen, coffee and whatever is in stock at the 7/11 on the corner. I don’t know enough Korean to try anything else. I’m so scared of ordering something I can’t eat.”

“What?” His face was taken over by a completely shocked expression.

“I know. I know. I’m allergic to eggs, and I’m scared of getting sick. I don’t know what I would do if I got sick without my mom. I still make her come take care of me when I have a cold.”

He couldn’t help but laugh. “No eggs. I’ll keep that in mind.”  

The two of you arrived at the restaurant, and walked in for lunch. You had great conversations about family, pets and favorite artist. Before you knew it 2 hours had gone by. The two of you had finished eating about an hour ago, but you were just having a great time getting to know this new person.

“Oh, is it 1:30? Shoot. I have rehearsal in 30 minutes. Let’s get you home.”

“I can call a cab, it’s fine. Really. You’ve done enough.”

“You don’t even know where you are, I’m not leaving you alone. Besides, I have a car waiting outside.”

The two of you got up and left the restaurant, heading back out to the car.          

“Well, did you like it? Better than ramen?”

You nodded you head in a laugh.

“I’ve got to get you out and eating more Korean food. Are you off every weekend?”

“Yeah. I usually spend my Saturday’s drawing by the river, and my Sundays sleeping.”

“A whole day devoted to sleeping. That’s my idea of good time.”

You both laughed, and continued to just get to know each other on for the next few minutes as the car neared your apartment.

The car came to a stop just outside the door up to your apartment.

“Seriously, thank you for everything today. You really didn’t have to, but I truly appreciate it so much. This is the best day I’ve had since I moved.”

“The pleasure was mine. I’ll talk to you later?”

“Okay.” You smiled, got out of the car, and headed toward the door to your building, pausing just before entering to wave goodbye. A soft wave met yours, as the car pulled away.

You walked into your apartment, sat on the couch , turned on the tv and tried process what had just happened over the past few hours. The next thing you knew your phone was buzzing, waking you up.

“New Message from Yoongi 🤴🏻”

“Thanks for hanging out with me this morning. It was nice to step away from life for a few hours.”

“I mean, you didn’t give me much of a choice. You did break my phone. 😉”

“Oh, I see how it is. Much braver now that you’re not with me. 🤔”

“I’m kidding! I really appreciate it so much. Next time coffee is on me. Well... not literally. I don’t need that again.”

“😂 Okay, I’ll hold you to it.”

“Pinky Promise. As long as it’s during the weekend.”

“Well, I have to check my schedule, but I’m sure I’m free the same time next week. This time, we can make it to the river, not the phone store. I can’t afford a new phone ever weekend!”

“😞😖 I’ll try.”

“Hahaha. Listen kid, I’m about to pass out. But seriously, thank you for today. I don’t get my mind off work often, so it was truly refreshing.”

“Well, I’m glad neither of us know how to pay attention when we’re walking. Talk to you soon?”

“That’s not a question, that’s a given. I’ll let you know my schedule next for next weekend soon. Goodnight.”

“Night!”

For the next few weeks, the two of you started to form a genuine friendship. You were surprised at how much the two of you had in common despite growing up on completely opposite sides of the world. Every Saturday morning, you’d meet at the cafe, get coffee and walk along the river. It just felt so good to have someone to talk to that wasn’t the same age as your mom, but your age.  

“So,  do you have any plans tonight?” Yoongi walked up to you, arm extended with a coffee in his hand.

“Well, I did have some big plans of watching Netflix and making instant ramen.”

“Well, I don’t know if I can top that, but we have a show tonight. If you weren’t busy, I was going to see if you wanted to come. It’s just a small fan fest show. You can come hang out with me and the guys backstage. I know it’s not nearly as exciting as Netflix, but we always have instant noodles.”

“Hmmm. I don’t know. Netflix is pretty exciting, and I have been spending every Saturday night at home for the last 3 months I’ve lived here. I really hate to break that streak...” You let out a laugh as you finished the sentence.

“Well, If you can break up with your couch, I can have a car here at 7?”

“7? Let’s see, it’s 12:30 now. That gives me at least 4 hours to nap. I think I can do that.”

“Really? You’ll come?”

“Don’t act so shocked. We’re friends, or at least I think we are. And I’m getting a little bored with Netflix. I gotta tell you, there’s only so many sitcoms you can watch before they all start to seem the same.”

“I’m just excited for you to meet the guys. They all want to meet you. We usually go get food and drinks after the smaller shows like this, you can join us for that if you want, too.”

“That sounds great. I’m a little nervous about meeting everyone, but I think I need more than one friend.” You laughed as Yoongi rolled his eyes.

The two of you continued on with your Saturday morning walk for another half hour before you made it back to the entrance to your apartment.

“I’ll give the driver your number so he can message you when he’s here?” Yoongi looked at you with pure excitement in his eyes.

“Yeah! That works. 7, right?”

“Yep. And don’t worry, I’m the most intimating one, seriously. The other six are puppies.”

“Okay,” you could let help but giggle. “I’ll see you in a little bit then. Do I need to wear anything fancy?”

“You’re so cute. No, it’s just a small concert. Wear whatever you’re comfortable in.” He chucked at your question.

“I don’t know. You’re draped in mystery. Maybe.. I don’t know.” You laughed together for quick second before Yoongi pulled you in for a hug.

“I have to get to sound check, then get ready. The car will drop you off backstage.”

“Okay. I’ll see you then.” His driver was now staring at the two of you, clearly getting impatient.

“I think you better go, or he may not come pick me up later.”

“You’re probably right. See you later.” And with a soft laugh, he climbed into the car, and took off.

You walked into your apartment tried to process everything that just happened. In the time the two of you had spent together, that was the first time he’d called you cute or hugged you. I mean, it’s not like you mined it, but you also couldn’t help but overthink the situation. You figured a shower and quick nap would help calm you down, so you did just that.

You woke up around 4:30, giving you more than enough time to change. You threw on an oversized sweater and swapped your leggings for some skinny jeans, threw your hair up in a bun, did some soft and natural makeup and topped the outfit off with your favorite doc martens. You still had about 20 minutes to kill, so you walked down to the cafe for a coffee, then sat outside waiting for the car.

7 pm on the dot, a black town car turned the corner. You stood up to start walking down to where he was going to pick you up, but he stopped in-front of the cafe.

You slid into the back of the car, said thank you, and headed off to the venue. You never really talked to the driver much the few times you had met him, plus you didn’t even know if he spoke any english, so you sat in the back reading the book you kept in your bag. It wasn’t long until you were being escorted from the car to the backstage area. Everything was starting to feel like a blur and a rush. Was this really happening? A guy you had known for maybe two months was inviting you to his concert?

You walked in, and suddenly felt underdressed and incredibly nervous. There was a room full of people all just staring at you, and you didn’t know a single face looking back at you.

Suddenly you heard a familiar voice coming up beside you, “Hey, kid.” It was Yoongi, looking completely different than how he did when you last saw him, or really from how you ever saw him. You were used to him in sweats and oversized t-shirt’s, beanies and usually a mask tucked below his chin. This Yoongi was in a suit, hair and makeup done, looking like a casual model.

“Hi. I’m.. Uh.. Sorry I’m not dressed better. I’m used to just, like, small bands and house shows. Like 200-300 people. And you said small show, so I figured, and—“

He cut you off with a hug. You don’t know why he chose to pick up that habit today, but you were complaining. He laughed as he felt you take a deep break into his chest. “Come on, I want you to meet the guys before we have to go out.”

He grabbed your hand and drug you over to a side of the room you didn’t notice when you walked in. There, sitting across 3 separate couches, were 4 other guys, all dressed similar to Yoongi, and all looking like they, too, were part time models.

Before you could even introduce yourself, a warm voice greeted you, “So you must be the famous y/n our hyung won’t shut up about. I’m Jimin.” A sweet hand reached out to greet you.

“Uh, yeah, I guess that’s me.” You nervously smiled as you felt color rush to your face. What did he tell them about you? How clumsy you were? How he felt bad you didn’t have any friends?

You thought was cut short. “Come sit down, we have around a half hour before we need to go out. We’ll see if your all you’re cracked up to be.” The comment was immediately followed by a laugh and a slap on the knee.

Yoongi leaned in to whisper in your ear, “Please don’t take Jin seriously. He thinks he’s funny.” His warm breath and deep voice sent chills down your spine. You were still in shock, so you just smiled, nodded and sat down.

“I have to say, I’ve known Yoongi for 5 years now. I’ve never seen him want to bring someone around us other than his family. You must be pretty special.”

“And that’s Namjoon. You’d think with an IQ of 148, he’d be a little smarter.” You could tell Yoongi was nervous, and you kind of liked seeing this side of him. He always seems so cool and collected on your walks, it was nice to know he was still a human under his cool exterior.

“Hi, uh. I’m y/n.” You waved for some reason, and instantly regretted it. You must have looked so dumb, here you are, clearly out of place and from the other side of the world, waving to people in the same room as you introduced yourself. You could feel your cheeks start to turn red. Suddenly you felt a hand caress your back, and you looked over to see Yoongi raise his eyebrows and mouth “You good?” You nodded.

“Okay, guys. I didn’t bring her here for an interrogation.  She’s new to Korea, and if I weren’t such a klutz, she’d still be alone in Korea.” You could hear him hold back his laugh at the bad joke he just made. “Now, let’s show her an actual good time, and not make her more nervous?” His hand still resting on your back, not low enough to make you uncomfortable but not high enough to be just friendly. Maybe you were just over reading the situation. Maybe he was just trying to make you comfortable. You mind was racing trying to process everything that had happened over the course of the last 12 hours.

Thankfully, another voice broke your racing mind. “Well any friend of Suga-hyung is a friend of me.” You couldn’t help but smile at the sweet smile from the man sitting across from you, before turning to Yoongi for clarification on who the hell Suga was.

“Suga?”

“Wait, you didn’t tell her that?” The same sweet smiling face from earlier, no rounded in surprise.

“Yeah, I guess it never came up. I don’t really introduce myself as Suga when I’m alone. Not all of us have the same name on and off the stage.”

“I do. I’m Jungkook!”

You smiled and said hi, then realized there were still two people sitting in chairs getting their hair finished. “Wait, how many are in the band?”

“Seven. Tae and Hobi are still getting their hair done, so you may not meet  them until after. They only look intermediating, they’re actually big softies.”

“I think I’m noticing a trend.”

“Boys, it’s time to go.” Namjoon quickly gathered everyone up.

“If you go over there, the stylist will take you to the side stage. They’re all super sweet, and I told them you were coming. Don’t believe any of the stories they tell you.” Yoongi smiled before removing his hand from your back and standing up to go off with the group and get ready for stage.

You walked over to a group of 3 women, obviously nervous, but as Yoongi promised, they were all super sweet. You all introduced yourself before walking over to an area labeled “staff”. There you were giving a giant sticker that said “VISITOR” before being allowed into the area. What you were told was a small show, was actually a small theater of about 800 people. “This is a small show?” You turned to the stylist.

“Yeah, they usually do arenas.”

Your mind was back to that racing place, and this time you felt your stomach drop. Who was your new friend? Everything had been so casual and just fun. You never even fathomed that he was an actual celebrity. Was that why he always had on a mask and hat? Was that why he came over to the cafe on your side of town? Because it was mostly older people and business people? You tried not to panic, but your mind was racing. You wanted to get out your phone and google “Suga” but you also didn’t want to get caught by the stylist. You tried to enjoy the show, but you were visibly shaken.

“He didn’t tell you about any of this?” His stylist leaned over during a break in the show without music.

You shook your head no.

“That’s so typical of him.” She laughed, easing your worry slightly. “They’re a lot bigger here in Korea than they are over seas, so any of the guys have trouble meeting people who don’t gawk over them. When you came in, and I saw you were foreign, I figured you didn’t know.”

“Yeah, he told me a show, I figured like a small band. That’s what I’m used to seeing in New York. A couple hundred people, max.” You we’re still nervous, but somehow calmed by the stylist words.

“They tend to be pretty tight knit, Yoongi is probably the most closed off to the outside out of all of them. Honestly, he’s the last one I would have figured for a plus one. But you got to know Yoongi, not Suga, so don’t let all of this cloud that for you.”

“No, definitely not. I mean, it’s a shock for sure. But The man on that stage is like watching a different person from the one I’ve been spending time with over the last few weeks. It’s nice to know he’s a real person outside of all of this, and know that side of him first.”

“He really is one of the best people I know. All seven of them are, truly, but Yoongi just has this calming attitude about him. I’ve been with them since pretty much the beginning, before they even had a show or an album, and you’re one the first people outside of family or pre-fame friends they’ve let into this world. He must see something pretty special in you.”

Before you could respond, there was a loud base thump, and the show started back up. There were only a few more song, and you were relieved because your stomach was growling.          As the boys all lined up for the final bow, you followed the rest of the staff back to the backstage area and waited for the boys.

“Hey! Just let me shower off and change, then we’ll go get some food. Just go back over to the couches, I’m sure Hobi and Jimin will be over there soon. They always like they sit for minute and cool before that change.”

You nodded your head and went back over the the couches, still kind of shaken by everything that just happened. You sat down, and before you could get your book out of you back, a hand reached out to shake yours.

“Hi. I’m Hoseok, but Yoongi probably called me J Hope or Hobi.”

You reached out to shake the hand, and look up to see one of the nicest and sweetest smiles you had ever seen in your life. “Hi, I’m y/n”

“I know. Suga has been talking about you for the last few weeks now.”

“Oh, I—“

“Don’t worry! It’s all good. He said you make really good art and tell funny jokes without trying. And you bought him hot pot.”

“He... He talked about that? I figured it was all embarrassing things.”

“Suga? Never. The only people he ever makes fun of are Jin and Jimin.”

“Oh.” You felt a smile taking over your face, completely out of your control. “I’ve really had a great time getting to know him, so I’m glad to hear he hasn’t been spending time with me just because he feels sorry for me.”

Hobi laughed and the two of you had light conversation for the next few minutes until Yoongi emerged back in the typical uniform you were used to seeing him in.

“You ready?”

“Yeah. Do we need to wait for the rest of the guys?” You remembered he said they usually all would go out after shows like this.

“No, I think it’s just the two of us tonight. Unless you’re too tired, I can take you home.”

“No! Not at all I’m starving!”

“Good, me too. Let’s go. My car is on the other side.”

“You drive?” You we’re shocked, all this time you’d only seen him with a driver.

“Yeah, I don’t like to that often, but I gave Hank the night off”

“Wait Hank. Your drivers name is Hank? I feel so bad! I didn’t say anything earlier, I just read my book on the way here. I didn't know if he spoke english, and I just...”

Yoongi could tell you were worried you’d upset the driver, and couldn’t help but laugh. “Don’t worry. Hank doesn’t talk much. He was probably so relieved when you pulled out your book.”

“Okay. Are you sure?”

“Yes.” He couldn’t help but smile at you. “You’re so caring. It’s so cute.”

You felt a warm rush back to your cheeks again. There was that word again. I mean, this time he wasn’t directly calling you cute, but still. This was a whole different side than you’d been seeing. You didn’t mind it, it wasn’t like he wasn’t an attractive man, you just didn’t know if it was just how he talked or if you should read more into it. You tried to not let the thought consume you as you walked to his car with him. He opened the door for you before he walked over and got in the drivers seat.

“So, what sounds good?”

“I really liked the hotpot restaurant you took me when we first met. If you want that-“

“Say no more. I’m always in the mood for hotpot.”

You laughed at his eager response as he shifted the car into reverse to pull out of the parking garage.

“So, did you like the show?”

“Yeah, It was amazing. I guess I just wasn’t expecting something that big. You’re, like, really popular. And you’re all so talented.”

“Sorry I didn’t tell you about that sooner. I just didn’t want you to freak out and not come or something.”

“No! Don’t apologize. I had a really good talk with your stylist during the break.”

You could see his hand tighten on the gear shift, obviously nervous at what you may say next. “Hopefully all good?”

“Better than good.” You rested your hand on his on the gear shift. You figured you might as well shoot your shot. Try and figure out if he was flirting or just flirty. You tried not to smile when you saw him visibly gulp out of the corner of your eye.

“Since it’s Saturday night, they’re probably busy. Don’t worry, we can go in the back. I know the owner, and he always has a few private rooms ready upstairs.”

You nodded your head and he turned into an ally, pulling up to the back of what you assumed was a restaurant. “You’re lucky I trust you, or I would be a lot more suspicious about where we are right now.” Although it was dark, you could see his stoic face break into a warm smile.

“You don’t know, maybe I have a third name, and that one is a criminal.”

You both laughed out loud at the suggestion, and he shifted the car into park. You both got out of the car, and Yoongi draped an arm around your shoulders. “I would have opened your door, you know.”

“Maybe I wanted to get out and open yours this time.”

He smiled down at you before the two of you walked in through the back entrance of the restaurant into a storage room.

“Are you sure-“

Suddenly an older man greeted Yoongi with a warm embrace speaking only in Korean. The two of them exchanged a few words, of which you understood hello and table, then the two of you were lead upstairs to a much more intimate setting than the main dinning room you knew. You sat down in room clearly meant to seat no more than 7 or 8 people, as the older man bowed and left the room.

“That’s the owner. I’ve been coming here since I first moved to Souel. It’s the best hotpot in the city, seriously. I’ve tried them all.”

You smiled looking at the clean face you were more familiar with and smiled. You could tell he was nervous, but you weren’t sure what to say to make him relax.

“So that’s a small show, huh?” You instantly regretted it, but It was honestly just the first thing that came out of your mouth.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I just didn’t want you to get nervous or think something different of me. A lot of people who meet me, well any of us, tend to treat us different. I didn’t want you to look me up or not come after you found out what I really did. It was just...”

“It’s fine! Yoongi. I don’t care.” You reached out and grabbed his hand. This time, he took your hand between both of his, softly caressing the top of your hand with his thumb. “Your stylist explained a little bit, and after going to the show, I see  why you didn’t want to tell me. I probably wouldn’t have come if i knew Suga or BTS before. I would have been so terrified. I’m glad I know Yoongi.”

You could see his body relaxing as you talked. “You’re the first person I’ve met in the last two years who only knew me as Yoongi. It was just nice to have that again. No pressure to live up to a certain image.”He was still holding you hand, his eyes focused on his thumb making small circles on the top of it.

“Yoongi, the person I know, the person who I bumped into, the person who bought me a phone, the person who has talked about anything and everything with me, never been more than second late on Saturday mornings, that’s the person I’ve grown fond of. That’s the person I look forward to seeing every weekend, and that the person I came to support tonight.”

His eyes met yours with a soft gaze. “I have a confession.” You could feel your heart start to pound. What was he going to say? Was this Yoongi thing all an act? We he done spending time with me? “The guys all wanted to come tonight, but I told them the couldn’t.”

“Wh-what? Why?”

“I don’t... I haven’t... I...” You could tell he was struggling for the words, something you’d never see him do. He was usually so calm and collected. “I just needed to tell you something, and I didn’t think all the guys should be here. I mean they know, and they know why I wanted to bring you here. I just... I just haven’t done this since I was a kid.” He took a deep breath, and you could feel heart pounding so hard it felt like it was going to burst out of your chest. “I like you. Genuinely, 100%, haven’t felt this way about a person since I was kid type of feelings. After we started getting famous, I didn’t think I would ever be able to form just a genuine bond with someone like this again. And these last few weeks, between the coffee and the walks and the messages, I feel like I’m in school again. I just, I’m sorry to spring this all on you, I know it’s a lot. And if you don’t feel the same...”

You cut off his words by leaning over to give him a soft kiss on the cheek.

“How could I not share those feeling with you? In the short time we’ve known each other, you’ve treated me better than most of my friends, let alone any boyfriend I’ve ever had. I just didn’t want to say something, and have you think I was over reading your kindness. But the conversations we’ve had, we can talk about anything. It feels like I’ve known you for years.”

“Really?” His face lit up, leaning in for a more passionate peck this time. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

Your moment was cut short by the food coming in.

“You remembered I cant have eggs.” You smiled as everything was sat down and there wasn’t even a smaller dish with eggs for him.

“Of corse. I can’t have you sick on our first date.”

“D-Date?” The word ignited a warmth in your stomach.

“Sorry, was that too forward? I know it’s not a proper date, and a little weird, but I just though...”

“No. I like it. Our first date.” You couldn’t help but smile. The rest of the meal was just the same conversation you’d always had, hobbies, family, favorite tv shows, everything. Nothing ever felt forced in conversation, the two of you just genuinely liked learning more about the other.

You finished up dinner, the stood up to leave. Before you left, Yoongi looked down at you and smiled.

“Do I have something on my face?” You started to lift you hand up to wipe your face when he let out a soft laugh.

“No, I’m just happy I can finally just study every part of your face without you thinking I’m weird.”

Your cheeks filled with color, as he smiled, grabbed your hand and led you back out to his car. He went to open the door for you, stopped to steal on more kiss before he did. “Seriously, You have no idea how bad I’ve wanted to do that.” He smiled as his face lingered in front of yours for a minute before he finally opened the door for you. You’re whole body was taken over with a warm glow, and you stomach filled with butterflies. Everything was starting to feel like a movie.

Once you got back out to the road, he started to head back to your apartment. You laced your fingers with his, and he pulled you hand up for a kiss before placing your laced fingers gently to rest on you lap. You just stared at him, watching the way his eyes lowered as he drove, the way they slightly squinted when he read a road sign.

“Do I have something on my face?” He asked with a smile, his eyes not leaving the road.

“No, I’m just happy I can finally just study every part of your face without you thinking I’m weird.”

“Ah, stealing my line, huh?” He smiled as his eyes still focused on the road.

“Maybe.” You both let out a soft laugh as the car turned on the your street. “You, if you want to I mean, You can come up for a glass of wine.”

“I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.” He parked the car along the street, before turning it off and leaning in for one more soft kiss before you both got out of the car and walked up to your front door.

You entered you apartment and immediately felt the urge to apologize for its lack luster appearance. “Sorry, it’s small and kind of plain. I really just have some pictures of my mom and my cat.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s perfect.”

You felt you cheeks begin to flush with color again. “Um, you can go sit on the couch, I’ll get the wine. Red or white?”

“Red. Unless you want white.”

“Red it is.”

You watched Yoongi walk over to the couch, and nervously rub his hands up and down his thighs. It was cute and also comforting to know you both were nervous as hell about this night that was turning into your first date.

You walked over with a bottle of wine and two wine glasses, setting them in the coffee table. “I’m going to go take off my makeup real quick. You can put on a movie or something.”

He smiled and nodded at you as he reached for the wine bottle and began to pour wine in both glasses.

You came back out, and he looked at you, taking in every inch of you before you sat down on the couch. “You wear glasses?”

“Oh, yeah. I, uh, I usually wear contacts, but my eyes were hurting so I took them out.”

“I like the glasses. They’re cute.”

Your face once again flushed with color, Yoongi was good at making you blush. You sat down on the couch next to him, and he pulled you in closer with his arm wrapped over your shoulder.

“Oh, I forgot I was watching this earlier. We don’t have to watch it.” You we’re suddenly embarrassed at your favorite movie, Terminator 2, playing on the tv.

“Nope, I love this movie. I was shocked to see it paused when I turned in the TV. I didn’t take you for the action movie type.”

“Yeah, I pretty much only watch action and horror movies. This is my favorite movie.” You instantly regret the words you just said, feeling like a total nerd.

Yoongi smiled, placed a kissed on you head then rested his head on yours, softly combing his fingers through your hair. “I love it.”

You must have been more tired than you realized because suddenly you felt the sun peaking through your window onto your face. Your eyes fluttered open to realize that you and Yoongi had both fallen asleep watching the movie. You looked up and smiled at his sleeping face, then bushed his hair off his face, leading to a low hum from the chest you laying on.

“Good morning, beautiful.” His low and soft morning voice sounded so warm in your ears.

“Good morning, handsome. I hope you don’t get the wrong idea about me.” You let out small giggle as Yoongi’s hand rubbed you back softly. “I’ve never had a boy spend the night that wasn’t my boyfriend.”

“Hmmm. Boyfriend. Are you asking me to make things official” His sleep voice vibrated in his chest below your ear.

“I just mean... I’m not...” He cut you off with a laugh and a soft kiss on the top of your head.

“No, I like the sound of it. You being my girlfriend, no one else’s.” His hand still rubbing your back. “I know we haven’t known each other that long, but I really don’t want to loose you to someone else. So, do you want to make this official? Do you want to be my girlfriend?”

—————————

“I know we haven’t known each other that long, but I really don’t want to loose you to someone else. So, do you want to make this official? Do you want to be my girlfriend?”                

It’d been over five years since you said yes to that question, and you’d been happy you did everyday. By no means was it easy, and there were times you wanted to just give up, but Yoongi was the best thing that had ever happened to you.                

Over the last few years BTS had exploded, and they  couldn’t go anywhere without being noticed by people. Every year the comeback grew bigger, so the tours grew bigger and the time apart became longer and longer. You loved and respected your boyfriends work ethic, but it was also making it harder to spend time together.                

The two of you had certainly survived more than most relationships. When your contract in Seoul was over, you moved back to New York, and the long distance was so hard. long distance in the same country is hard enough, but you were on opposite sides of the world? Miserable. Trying to find time to talk between you both working constantly was hard, but you made it work. The boys also came to New York a few times for different events, and you took 2 trips to Korea during the year.                

Around a year and half after you started dating, while you were in Korea for the new year, Yoongi suggested you moved in with him while laying in bed.                

“I know it’s so far away for you, but I can’t keep doing this. It kills me not being able to kiss you or hold you when I want to. I love you so much, it’s killing me only seeing you for a week or two at a time.”                

“Yoongi, what about work? I don’t have a job lined up here. There’s nothing more I want than to spend the rest of my life with you, but it’s just so sudden.”                

“You don’t need a job, let me take care of you. You can stay home and do your art. Make the guest room into an art studio. Please, I don’t need anything from you other than you.” He was getting emotional at the idea of you leaving in two days back to New York.                

“Yoongi... I ca—“              

“Don’t say you can’t because you know I can support you and take care of you. Make art on your own terms and sell it on your own terms. You don’t need to depend on your art to survive, and you don’t need to make art you don’t love ever again. I love you. I love you more than I thought I could ever love someone. Please, just think about it. Please.”                

You pulled your boyfriend to your chest in a tight hug as he tried to hold back tears. It wouldn’t be hard to move to Korea, really. You’d lived away from your family since you were in college, only seeing them on holidays for the last 6 years. You had more friends in Korea at this point than in New York. But it wasn’t that idea that scared you. You’d love nothing more than spending everyday like this, melted into one person with your boyfriend. But the idea of not working and just becoming dependent on someone, regardless of how minor it was for him, it wasn’t something you were used to. You’d lived alone and supported yourself since you were 18. That was the last 8 years of your life. And now you have this man wanting to give you the world, and you were considering saying no?                

You must have contemplated the decision longer than you thought because you went to tell him you wanted to move, and he was asleep on your chest. In a weird way, you were happy he was asleep and you couldn’t tell him. This moment just confirmed that he was your person, and this was where you were supposed to be.                

The morning after he suggested you move to Korea, you woke up to an empty bed. You were slightly confused, you didn’t remember him saying he had to go to the studio, but you also wouldn’t be surprised if he forgot.                

You walked out to the kitchen to get a glass of water, and there he was, making you breakfast. He’d even gotten vegan eggs for you.                

“So, are you going to make me breakfast every morning when I move in, or is this just you trying to butter me up?                

He turned around to tell you good morning, but then he suddenly realized what you had just said. “Wait... are you serious?”                

“Yeah. I wanted to tell you last night, but you were already asleep. I hurts too much to leave, I can’t keep doing it. You’re my now and my future. It’s going to take some adjustments, but like you said, I can make art and sell it. That’s what I’ve want to do since i was a kid. So to not only have the love of my life want me to spend everyday with him, but to have him support me and encourage me to do what I love? You’re almost too good to be true sometimes.”                

He left the food on the oven, and wrapped you up in a tight embrace. “I just wanted to make you breakfast because it was your last morning with me. But if you want breakfast in bed every morning, I will make you breakfast until I can’t stand up anymore. What ever you want, for the rest of your life, I will give it to you.” He covered your face with soft kisses.                

“All I want forever is you.” You leaned into a kiss, this time feeling a little sweeter than usual. “I’ll start figuring everything out once I get back to New York.”                

“Are you sure? Because I know this is what I want. I would have asked you to move in before you even moved back to New York when we started dating if I didn’t think it would have freaked you out.”                

You laughed at the idea. “Yeah, you’re right. I definitely would have freaked out. But there’s nothing more I want in life now.”                

He continued to kiss you, your cheeks, your forehead, your neck, your fingers, you hands, just showering you in the sweetest and softest moments of pure joy. “I think I can move somethings around and come back with you to the city. Help you pack, get documents, tell your boss you quit. Whatever.”                

“I don’t think I can get this handled in just a week. The visa process alone can be like 90 days.”                

“Well, at least turn in your resignation when you get back. So you can start moving things until your visa gets approved. I’ll get you added on my bank account and credit cards before you leave. You can use them to pay for everything.”                

“Are you sure? I have money. I have enough in my saving to live for six months without working.”                

“Then keep it there. Or invest it. Please, this was my idea, you’re moving half way around the world for me. Let me take care of everything.” His face was so soft and sweet, you couldn’t believe this was the man that was in love with you. That wanted to be with you. That would do anything for you.                

It took 6 months to get everything finalized for the move. And man, did those six months feel like forever. By some weird twist of fate, the paper work came through and the everything was finished on your two year anniversary. Yoongi was in New York with you for a few days to celebrate.                

You’d spent weeks trying to find the perfect gift, and somehow, fate led to it falling into your lap. So that morning, you snuck out while he was still sleeping to go get a card and print off the email to put inside. When you got home, he was just starting to stir in bed.                

“Come back.” His morning voice always made you smile.                

“Give me 2 minutes. I’ve got something for you.”                

“Mmm. I don’t need anything but you. Come back, I’m cold.”                

“Trust me, you’ll want this.” You quickly folded up the printed email, signed the card and stuffed everything into the envelope, before crawling back into your boyfriends arms. “Here.”

He rubbed his eyes, before taking the card and giving you a nearly missed sleepy kiss. “What’s this?”                

“Just open it.”                

He shifted his weight to sit up a little more, and opened the card. He chuckled at the stupid little card you got him. The two of you had a history of getting the dumbest cards you could find, and this was no different. But it wasn’t about the card, it was about that piece of paper in the card. He unfolded it, and as he read it, his eyes tripled in size. “Wait, is this... Is this real? Everything is done? You can move?”                

You nodded your head as Yoongi buried his face into you neck and began to cry.                 “Why are you crying? I thought you would be happy?”

“These last six months have been the hardest. From all the struggles and the long distance, and just waiting for you to come be with me. And now it’s happening. This gets to be my everyday. Forever.”                

You felt the tears starting to swell in your eyes as you listened to his words. It had been hard being apart for so long, but to know it would soon be over, that was the best feeling in the world. You combed your fingers through your boyfriends hair, and the tears slowly turned to kisses.                

“So this is real? We’re really doing this?” You knew it’s would make Yoongi laugh, and he quickly flipped you over, pouncing like a cat pounces on its prey.                

“You’re stuck with me now, kid.” That morning quickly became afternoon, and you missed your dinner reservations that night.                

So, now, here you were. Dating a member of the most popular Boy Group in the world. You’d been living together for nearly 3 years now, and the bliss never seemed to end.                

Everyone told you the honeymoon phase would end, or how hard it would be dating someone with his job, but it just worked for the two of you. You had a mutual understanding of each other’s limits and needs, and he truly was your best friend and your boyfriend.                

You both were so comfortable with each other, you could just sit in the same room and say nothing, but be happy. And you did that a lot. He’d watch you paint, and you’d watch him mix music. You’d lay on the couch together and read books the other picked out. Even just laying in bed together, scrolling through your phones together, it was all just comfortable and felt right.                

So now, you laid in bed with your boyfriend of over 5 years, just paying with his hair as he lay asleep beside you. You loved these little moments with him more than anything. Life had become so hectic over the last few years, but moments like this reminded you why you feel in love with him. Whenever he started to stir awake, he would always pull you in closer to his body, and today was no acceptation.                

“Mmmmm.” Am arm reached out and wrapped around your waist, pulling you in closer to his chest.

You let out a soft giggle as you rested your head on his chest. “We can’t stay here forever, kid.”

“Shhhh. Just five more minutes.” He nestled his head on top of yours.

“But it’s Saturday. You know what that means.” Somehow, through all the chaos and the fame, the two of you always took a Saturday morning walk. No matter the city, no matter the schedule, even if it was walking to the hotel lobby to get a coffee and walk back to the room, the only time you’d missed a Saturday was when you lived apart.

“The side walk will still be there in fine minutes. I just want this for five more minutes.” His hands softly rubbing your back as you drew shapes on his stomach with you finger.

“Fine. But any longer, and you’re buying coffee this week.”

“I’ll buy the coffee shop if that means we can stay here forever.” He somehow hugged you even tighter, still sending that same rush through your body that you got the first time he kissed you.

Five minutes came and past, but you’d both managed to fall back asleep for another hour. This time, you were woken up by a cold nose pressing your face.

“Okay, the kids need to go out. It’s time to get up.” You sat up and gave the two dogs laying beside you good morning kisses. When you moved to Korea, you brought your cat, Yoongi already had Holly, and after months of torture, the two of you adopted a second dog. Of course, that led to a second cat about 6 months later because your cat couldn’t be without a friend, and your bed now being occupied by 4 pets you both referred to as your children.

“Fine, Fine. Let’s go. But walk, then coffee today? I’ll make it.” Yoongi sat up, hair a mess and eyes still closed, but still just as perfect as ever.

“Okay, I’ll get the kids ready for their walk, you get the water?” You leaned over to kiss his cheek, leading to a soft hum and eyes slightly opened.

“One more?” You kissed his other cheek, opening his eyes a little more. “Okay, now one more?” You gave him one more kiss as you laughed, then stood up.

“Okay, kid. Let’s go. We can stay right here, just go around the building a few times. Then you’re making coffee.” You walked out to then entry room to get harnesses and leashes on the dogs, put on your shoes and wait for your boyfriend to get his. “Yoongs? You moving?”

“I’m here, I’m here. I had to get water.” He shuffled into the entry, eyes still half closed and water bottles in both hands. You couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

“Slip on some shoes, or you're making coffee and cleaning up the accident.”

He let out a groan that made you laugh out loud, slipped on some sandals, and followed behind you as you led the dogs out the door.

You’re walks weren’t nearly as talkative as the used to be, but you still loved them just as much. It usually consisted of going to the dog park outside your building, you chasing the dogs for 30 minutes and him laughing and recording it. Today, even the dogs seems extra sleepy, so you just took a little longer of a walk, then all headed back home.

You walked back in, and while Yoongi made coffee and a light breakfast, you got breakfast ready for your babies.

“So you know what today is?” Yoongi sat down a coffee and bowl of oatmeal in front of you.

“Hmmmm. Saturday?” You pretended like you didn’t know what today way, but you were fully aware. It was 2000 days since he asked you out. You’d managed to hide a card in the front pocket of your hoodie, and had it waiting for him when he sat down.

“And here I thought you forgot. You always amaze me, kid.” He opened the card and laughed at the stupid joke the bear on the front made. Inside was a picture of a painting you’d been working on of the two of you. “How’d you keep this hidden from me?” He studied the image before leaning in to a deep kiss.

“I have my ways. And Kookie is also a hopeless romantic with a half empty apartment, so he let me steal a room for a few weeks. We can go over and get it when ever you want.”

He leaned in for one more sweet kiss, “It’s so beautiful. I know just the place for it in my studio. Thank you. You’re amazing.” He kissed you one more time before he stood up. “Now wait here. I have something for you.”

He walked down the hallway and turned into the guest room. You had no idea what he was hiding or planning. Suddenly, he reappeared, holding what looked like a dvd case in wrapping paper. “Here.”

“You took the gift and unwrapped it to reveal it was a Terminator Two dvd. You couldn’t help but laugh. “We don’t even have a dvd player, plus we have it downloaded to the tv.”

“Just open it.”

“What?”

“Open it.”

You looked at your boyfriend confused, but followed his instructions. There, inside the case in place of a dvd, was a ring. Not just any ring, it was an absolutely beautiful opal ring, set by two diamonds on either side.

“Well, kid? Let’s make it official.” You looked up from the ring to see your boyfriend now kneeling in front of you on one knee.

The tears were filling your eyes, and you couldn’t even get any words out. You just nodded your head. He then slipped the ring on you finger, stood up and pulled you into the tightest huh you’d ever shared. You could feel him start to cry on you shoulder as the two of you just stood there, holding each other so tight you may just become one person.

After a few minutes, you both got two a point of where you could talk same, and the first thing he did was ask you if you were sure.

“Are you sure? Because I don’t want you to feel any pressure or anything. I know we’ve both said were fine with not getting married, and this doe-“

You cut him off with a kiss that made him melt into you. “Have you ever known me to mix words?” You took his face in you hand, “Do you think I would move to the other side of the world, bring my child, adopt two more babies with you and put up with your schedule if I didn’t want this? If I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life with you? I always told you I just wanted you. That’s it, for the rest of my life. This is just the perfect reminder of that. But I want you. Everything could end tomorrow, we could go back to working 9-5 jobs, and I’d still want nothing but you.”

He grabbed you by the waist and pulled you in for a deep and long kiss. He then just studied your face for a minute before he said anything. “You know, I’ve spent 2000 studying this face, and Instill find things to love. I’ve spent 2000 days with your heart and your mind and your soul, and I never run out of things to love about you. From the freckles on your forehead, to the scar on your pinky. The mole on your shoulder, the way your knees turn in when you stand. The scar on your knee from falling in first grade, the way your left pinky is crooked from breaking it when you were 6. The way your hair curls when it rains, the color your eyes turn during golden hour. The way you know the constellations and drag me out of the city to see meteor showers. I even love when you crack you toes. The way you hum as you’re falling asleep, and you ears raise when you smile. How one dimple is deeper than the other, I know you think you only have one, but the second one just hides until you have a full body laugh. When you’re painting, you always forget you have paint on you hands and fix your hair, getting paint on your face and in your hair. I could fill encyclopedias about the things I love about you. I want to spend this life, and every other life with you.”

You’re eyes filled with tears again listening to everything he said. He truly knew you better than you knew yourself. “You’re so amazing and perfect. How’d I get so lucky?” You snuck in about her kiss before sitting back down to study your ring.

“Well, thankfully, you’re a pretty clumsy person.” He sat back down talking your left hand with both of his, studying the ring on our finger. “But I want to tell you about the ring. Because this has been a few months in the making.”

“What?” You looked up at him with rounded eyes, confused by the statement.

“Well, I wasn’t about to let you wear a ring someone else my have. Everything about this is custom. Even the stones. Remember when I took that trip to LA for recording?”

You nodded your head, still confused about what he was talking about.

“Well, I went to the US, but I didn’t go to California. I went to Ohio. The diamonds are from your  Grandma’s original wedding ring. And the chrysoprase, I know you’re not into diamond, so I wasn’t about to get you a big Diamond. But your mom said you loved it and she said it was your dad’s grandmothers necklace. That it was the only piece of jewelry she had when the immigrated during the war.”

Your eyes filled with tears all over again, you knew the ring and necklace he was talking about. Your mom had them in her safe at her house along with some other small things that had been passed down to you. “You really did all of this for me?”

“I know i could have bought you a ring, or even made some big fancy ring with a jeweler, but I know  that’s not you. I started talking to you mom about it a year ago, asking what she thought, and she told me there was some old family jewelry if I wanted to look thought it. I saw the necklace, and I knew it was perfect. She suggested the diamonds from your grandmas ring, that you loved that ring. She also told me if you were going to wear it everyday, it couldn’t be too big, or you’d go crazy. I wanted to do some big date, or some special vacation, but that’s not us. I’ve had the ring for a few months, just trying to figure out what to do and last night it hit me. I couldn’t just keep it forever. I watched you sleep, with all of the kids down at our feet, and this is the family and the life I want for the rest of my life. Then I thought I would do it at dinner tonight, or I could sneak out and get flowers, or I’d take you on some romantic moon lit walk, but watching you kiss the dogs. Then seeing that painting. I think if I waiting any longer, I would explode. Sorry it wasn’t some big grand gesture, but I didn’t want a box. And I knew the movie would throw you off.” You could tell he was getting emotional talking about everything, so you cut him off.

“I love you so much it should be illegal.” Your eyes still filled with tears, over flowing on to your cheeks. “Now let’s call my mom and tell her.”

“Hold on. One last thing.” He stood up and took your hand, leading you over to the couch. “Let’s just enjoy this one little moment, just us.” He sat down, pulling you on to his lap. He studied your face for a minute before saying anything again. “I just want to study the face of my fiancé.”

[biansella]

This December, Bergen County natives The Front Bottoms will be throwing their annual ‘Champagne Jam’ in Asbury Park’s historic Convention Hall for the fifth year in a row after a successful co-headlining tour with beloved indie band Manchester Orchestra. The Front Bottoms are a band that just won’t stop from their humble D.I.Y. beginning on Bar/None Records to their cult-icon status on Fueled By Ramen. Their last major release was the Ann EP, the second in their grandmother series, which sparked a tour where they would play both the EP and Going Greyfront-to-back.

 This tour, they’re taking things even looser with an entire bar setup on stage and more crowd interaction than thought possible for a band that signed to a major label. I got the chance to catch up with lead singer Brian Sella and talk about new beginnings, the artistic process and what home means to him.

How are you liking tour so far?

 So far, so good, you know? All the shows so far have been pretty fantastic, so it’s been a nice feeling…To be able to come out here and, you know, play the music, and it’s like, “Oh, wow, people are rockin’, rollin’ and having a good time.” So, it’s really incredible.

You guys are originally from New Jersey. I am too, so I know it must be nice to get away from it for a bit, right?

 [Laughs] Yeah you know it. Jersey is a nice place to come home to. A nice place to leave, a nice place to come home to.

Lots of great bands and musicians are from New Jersey, like Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Whitney Houston, My Chemical Romance and The Misfits. What do you think it is about New Jersey that inspires great art?

 Well, really, I’m not sure. I think it’s probably the tone or the atmosphere of it all. It’s just kind of, like, you could live close to Manhattan, but you don’t live in the city. You live close to Philadelphia, but you’re not from Pennsylvania. You could go to the beach, it’s on the coastline. You could also shoot up to Boston. I think the fact that there’s access to so many different styles makes its own style. I think that’s kind of why so many people from Jersey end up being total freakin’ nutjobs. [Laughs] Just kidding.

Your music seems to be heading towards a more polished, pop sound with each release. Was this the goal of your art from the beginning, but you now have the skills and label power to complete it?

 I think the goal from the beginning was to just play shows. My life for the past eight to 10 years has been going on tour and playing shows every single day for months at a time, going to a different city and playing in front of different people. And the recording process for me? That lasts, like, two weeks. That’s such a quick blip in terms of the artistic experience. So I would never say that that was a goal to make the recording sounds the way that they sound. It was just part of the discovery of the art. I was just trying my best, and when all of a sudden you’re in a room with amazing equipment, and your friends are there and all the time it’s like, “Let’s try to make this sound a little bit better.”

 But really the process for me is just one of discovery. It’s not like a projected path, I’m not thinking, “Oh, when I was playing a basement in New Jersey,” or “Oh, I wish this sounded like a Katy Perry song.” Each day happens and it unfolds and you roll with the punches. I think the most important thing is hindsight and looking back and saying, “Okay, that happened. So what did I like? What don’t I like? What do I want to change?” And really every single step and every single part of the process is you just figuring it out.

 So, I don’t know the next album in terms of the discovery of myself through the art. It might be a country album or a D.I.Y.-sorta basement style recording. I can just kind of discover [myself] through the music and everybody can listen to it.

 To answer your question, it definitely wasn’t a plan to have things turn out this way. I feel like that’s why things happened so positively; because it was never a plan. Everything was awesome and any little experience or accomplishment was the biggest thing that had ever happened to us, even if it was just a tiny, little thing. We just kinda roll with the punches all the way through. I think it would be unfair to give myself the credit of saying this was all a plan.

You kind of built your way up from the bottom — you played D.I.Y. shows and you and the audience were on a peer level where you could have a beer with all eight members of your early shows. Now, you’re selling out large venues and people are tattooing your face on their body. How does it feel like to have gained a cult following?

 [Laughs] It’s strange, it’s a strange world. I think that’s part of the whole thing that we were saying — there was no plan, you kinda let the audience decide the plan. That’s why I always take requests on stage, because I’m not up here for myself, I’m not up here for my plan. This is whatever people want.

 Like, back in the day, when there would be 10 people at the show, I could drink a beer with every single one of these people and a lot of these people got my face tattooed on them. It’s crazy, it’s a weird experience. I’m still so fucking lucky and I just try and stay naive about the whole thing and just excited about every little step.

I think that’s the best way to do it.

 I think so. You can’t plan anything, really, and it’s a bummer, but sometimes it works out. In this particular situation it worked out. It was years of time that I think people would consider it not working out. The six or seven years of time where there was only 10 people coming to the shows. And my family was like, “Okay, what are you doing? You’re still living in the van with Mat…” But for me, I was so happy and so pumped, this was amazing.

 So, I think that naiveté of it all was very important. If I had listened to anybody else talk, I wouldn’t be where I am now. You gotta stay positive and do what you want to do. I know it’s hard to be like, “Oh, just stay positive and everything will work out,” but really that’s kinda what happened. Me and Mat just stayed positive and remembered that we were having fun, and how lucky we were to not have to go work at a landscaping job or at a grocery store or something like that. That was the best feeling in the fucking world. You know, like with your writing it’s the same thing, you write articles and people read them. That’s a form of art. That’s incredible.

Thanks. Yeah, it’s nice for people to see what you produce.

 Exactly! One time this girl was like, “I want to go around the country and read my poetry to people.” And in a very negative way I was like, “That doesn’t exist, that’s not a real thing.” And she said, “That’s what you do.” And it really hit me like, “Oh my gosh, that is what I do.” And it was like this crazy awakening of, yeah, I shouldn’t be telling people, “That doesn’t exist, that doesn’t happen,” because that’s what everybody was saying to me when I was trying to “read my poetry” around the country.

Now that you’ve been signed to Fueled By Ramen, you guys have been able to add more touring members and build a more elaborate stage setup. You, Mat and Tom are familiar faces on tour, but Jennifer, Roshan and Eric are now a part of the ensemble. What made you choose them?

 Basically, Mat. First of all, the people in the band: Roshan, Eric and Jen, are unbelievable musicians. They’re fantastic. They are actual musicians. They are the reason it sounds incredible on stage.

Oh, I agree, it sounds great.

 Thank you very much, that means a lot. It’s an experiment, like I was sayin’, we’re trying to figure it out. It’s all over the place, everyone has their style and we’re just trying to put on a good performance.

 But basically, Rosh[an] is in a bunch of bands, he played keyboard in a band Mat was good friends with. Mat’s girlfriend was somehow involved. I met Ro[shan] at a bar one night, he was playing bass, and he had come highly recommended from Mat. And then Jen was in a band called River City Extension that we have quite a history with. We’ve known those guys a really long time, and I really wanted a violin player, I thought that would add a lot. And then Eric, we met at the studio. He was a studio rat, just always there, and I was making demos and stuff with him and it turns out he’s really incredible at bass. So we had him play bass and moved Tom over to electric guitar. And he loves to play electric guitar, so he was all about that.

 And that’s always how it all comes together. Same with how I met Tom. I met Tom through [former guitarist] Ciaran, eight years ago. He just showed up at my house and Ciaran was like, “This guy plays bass, he’s amazing,” and we heard him play bass and we told him, “Dude, you should be in the band!”. That’s always the way that it’s been. We always try to keep it loosey goosey like that.

Sounds like a good deal. By the way, ‘Champagne Jam’ is taking place where you live: Asbury Park, one of many coastal New Jersey beach towns [like where I’m from]. In your latest single “End of Summer,” and also “Vacation Town” off of Going Grey, you capture the melancholy that comes with the passing of another season. Was that inspired by Asbury [Park]?

 Absolutely inspired by Asbury Park. My girlfriend and I, we’re living there right now, so it’s definitely full circle. I wrote a lot of those songs when I was living there. That vibe of the summer time going into the winter time, it is definitely an energy that inspired those songs, absolutely.

Do you feel like that sort of parallels your life? Like you’re entering a new season, or new chapter?

 Everything is very personal with my art, even if it’s about somebody else. I’m always drawing from my little perspective in there, especially as a songwriter, I gotta do that. I do feel like maybe it is a new chapter. Like I was saying, I’ve been on tour for fuckin’ nine years. Not consistently, but I’ve been hustling for nine years and it’s been a fucking grind for sure. And we have this tour, we do the ‘Champagne Jam’ and then in the new year we’re planning to just write a lot. I’m going to try to write as much as I can.

 So I do think that it’s kind of like a chapter sort of ending and also sort of starting again. You need that refresher for art. You need to go get new inspiration. That’s where I’m at. I’m taking it year-to-year in Asbury, and you know, I like it. You’re always looking for the next thing and this is the first time in my life that I’m like, “Okay, I guess I can just chill”.

[2k18leo]

((This may get lost in all the finale talk but I wanted it finished in time for Leo Day, so without further ado, here is Rogue’s personality sheet))

Name: Rogue

Age: 16 (November 5th)

- Leo 16, Donnie 16, Mikey 15, Raph 17, April 17

Gender: Female

Species: Australian Water Dragon

List the most important things about your character.

- Was an actual lizard before her mutation

- Was shipped from Australia to be a pet of a gothic teenage girl

- Did not retain an Australian accent because she was too young to learn one when she was shipped from Australia

- Gets called multiple creative nicknames from Leo, including but not limited to:

-- Ro

-- Rogue-y babey

-- (to the tune of Row Row Your Boat) Ro-Ro-Rogue-y baby

-- Stripes (they both call each other this)

-- Tails

-- Hot Fry ( ??? don’t know where he thought of this)

-- Spade (because of the shape of the mark on her back, which resembles a spade)

-- Reggae ( ?? )

-- Babey Spade

-- Moulin Rogue (to which she always laughs and responds, “it’s Rouge, dumbass!”)

- She loves to paint and be artsy with Mikey

- Will patiently listen while Donnie explains the technicalities of his latest inventions, and is also eager to be a test subject for some of his newer creations

- Absolutely loves to pull pranks with Leo and will sometimes sneak out with him on the shellhogs to race around the city

- Lives with April because “living with all guys is just a little too much sometimes” (but will crash with Leo if she is over there too late) and helps take care of Mayhem when April is at school/work

- She will sometimes instigate the Disaster Twins and their tomfoolery because she finds it so amusing

- She is actually not much of a fighter (but is well aware how to weaponize her tail and claws) but Raph has offered to help train her in their downtime

Physical Details

- Slim waist

- Thick thighs

- Short torso with long legs

Height: 5’6” (with Leo 5’11”, Donnie 5’11”, Mikey 5’6”, Raph 6’4”, April 5’5”)

Weight: ~ 130lbs

Skin: All scales

- Creamy pale green in color over the majority of her body

- Has “glove” markings on forearms and shins

Hair: None

Eyes: Blue eyes, long eyelashes

Other defining features/extra anatomy:

- Long tail with 17 stripes

- Has horizontal stripes from her eyes to the back of her head

- Three fingers/toes on limbs

- Has a heart-shaped marking in middle of torso on ventral side

- Has a spade-shaped marking in middle of torso on dorsal side

Habits:

- Constantly laughing with Leo

- Picking at her scales

- Will tap her claws or tail if she is jittery

- Will subconsciously quote movies if it seems appropriate for the situation even if no one around her knows where the quote comes from

- Will flick her tail if irritated

- When she gets nervous, her tail will suddenly curl around an object close to her for support (more often than not this object is Leo and he thinks it’s precious)

- When she’s being flirty, the tip of her tail will caress under his chin *enter heart-eyes Leo*

- Her tail moves in the night, accidentally knocking stuff over while she sleeps

- Often has sarcastic quips escape her mouth

Gestures/Mannerisms: She likes to sweep her tail around to help her hips sway back and forth

Voice: I am still figuring out a voice actor that I feel would fit her well. I’ve thought about Elizabeth Gillies, Liana Liberato, Sabrina Carpenter, Peyton List, etc. If you have any suggestions, I’m always open to options ! :)

Style: Athletic but casual (a cropped sleeveless hoodie with a choker, and a bandana wrapped around her arm)

-Personality-

Loves/Favorites:

- Food (will eat anything as she is omnivorous)

- Sunny days (loves to bask in the sun)

- Keeping her nails long and sharp

- Music (almost any kind. She can dance to pop, rap along to hip-hop, belt out to the Hamilton soundtrack (where Donnie will join in sometimes), dance to country music while breaking out in a southern accent, and sway lovingly to some nice jazz)

- Spooky stuff (Horror movies, Halloween, ghost stories, etc.)

- Movies! (Disney, Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Adventure, Mystery)

- Watching/playing basketball (has somehow managed the ability to dribble with her tail)

- Playing Baseball (is not a bad short-stop)

- Swimming (she’s pretty fast underwater with the help of her long strong tail)

- Playing games (be it video games, card games, board games, etc.)

- Creating art (she loves to draw and paint, and also has a subtle love for photography)

- She has a huge ole’ crush on Leo <3

Hates:

- Cold weather (unless it’s snowing)

- Cloudy days (she loves the sun, duh)

- Rom-coms (too cheesy for her taste)

- Bad grammar (her previous owner (while Rogue was not fond of her) went to a college-prep school and she often overheard her speak with proper grammar)

- Burnt popcorn (a trAGEDY)

- A bad sense of humor (she’s thankful that pretty much all the turtles are able to laugh and not take anything super seriously because she often has some sarcastic quips that escape her mouth)

Hobbies: She draws, watches movies, will pick up a book occasionally

Talents/Skills:

- Dribbling a basketball with her tail

- Drawing/painting

- Memorizing movie quotes

Fears/Nightmares: Waking up one day back as a regular lizard

Best Quality: Sense of humor

Greatest Flaw:

- Not great at communication (gets cranky when she doesn’t have her alone time but is not good at expressing that)

- Sometimes gets jealous that she’s the “odd man out” and it wouldn’t matter if she wasn’t there because the boys already have April, but loves April all the same

- Perfectionist (likes things done a certain way) but only sometimes

Character Strengths:

- Playful

- Patient

- Good-natured

- A good sense of humor

- Laid back for most things

- A rationalist (very practical)

And the coinciding weaknesses: She’s not the best at opening up to anyone

What she wants and doesn’t want

- She wants to move towards having an actual family. Perhaps getting some training under her belt to know how to fight.

- She wants to stay away from her previous owner (and the snake that Evie always picked on her with, Calamity)

How does the character picture herself? Rogue: Oh gosh, what did everyone else say? This is kinda weird. Erm, I guess I’m a great swimmer. I like to laugh a lot so the boys never fail to make me. I’m not a neat freak, but not a crazy slob either? I like to think I’m fun to be around.

How do others see her?

- Leo: She’s beautiful, funny, short, has a great laugh, is always down to part-aaay. She laughs at my jokes! My jokes! You know that’s a quality girl!

- Donnie: Yeah, she’s… perfect for Leo, I guess. The two of them can get a bit riled up at times but she has a good heart. Plus, it keeps him busy and not a distraction for me when I’m trying to get work done.

- Mikey: Omigosh, I love her! She’s an awesome artist! She painted this piece on my shell right here, can you see it? Right here. Yeah, she’s great. Not a perfect chef, but I introduced Kondescending Kitchen to her and I think I’ve got her hooked.

- Raph: Shorty? She’s the best! She knows just when to bring Leo back down to Earth. Is always down for any athletic event. *whispers* she throws a mean spiral on Lace Face. I’ve been training with her a few nights a week, y’know to get her strength up. But it’ll be awhile before we take her on any type of mission.

- April: Oh, that’s my girl! Rogue is hilarious, and definitely great with Mayhem. She lives with me at my place, which isn’t bad. She isn’t a slob, so that’s great.

- Splinter: Is that the one with the tail?

Five adjectives that she would use to describe herself. Rogue: Oh, I guess… hmm… funny? Reasonable, happy, laid back, aaaand… artsy?

Five adjectives others would use to describe her.

- Leo: I’ll say it again. Beautiful, cute, funny, short, hilarious, pretty, smart, smokin’, (no, no, Leo, you’re only supposed to do 5. You’re good) … but I can keep going. (nah, I think we got it, thanks!)

- Donnie: Let’s see… Intelligent, humorous, independent yet social, and likeable

- Mikey: She’s tons of fun! Super friendly, a crazy good artist, awesome gamer, and very responsible when need be.

- Raph: The girl’s tough, athletic, smart, a jokester, and pretty trustworthy.

- April: She’s so funny, we laugh all the time. And we have inside jokes and secrets that I trust her with. Super sweet, but she also has a daring side that hypes me up. Aaand, she’s considerate. A good roommate and friend.

- Splinter: When did Blue get a girlfriend?

Most valued possession: Rogue: Oh, uh… probably the bandana that I have wrapped around my arm here. The boys gave it to me as sort of a family token. I didn’t like the look of it on my face since it hid my stripes but I always like to know where it is even if it’s not on me.

Darkest secret and/or treasured memory: Rogue: Wow, you guys ask a lot of questions. Ummm, I guess I shoplifted this hoodie. That’s not the worst thing in the world, but I’m not sure. Not many people know but I don’t think it’s a huge deal. A treasured memory I guess is when I met the boys for the first time. Also the day I escaped Evie.

Most proud accomplishment and or greatest failure: Rogue: I mean, I’m pretty proud of all the art I make. I guess the best thing I ever accomplished was escaping Evie, my previous owner. Everything kinda went uphill from there.

Current motivation: Rogue: Motivation for what exactly? To keep living? I guess my family. The turtles and April have really opened my eyes to what a happy life could actually be. It’s great. Everyday is an adventure with them and they make me feel so loved.

How does she view the future and/or the past? Rogue: I guess I regret not escaping Evie’s place sooner. That was just not a great time for me. But, hey, it’s all better now. I’m happier than I’ve ever been.

What is her philosophy on life and death? Rogue: Well, back before the mutation, when I was still at Evie’s place, I was just a lizard that didn’t really care one way or the other. Evie would constantly shove her other pet, a snake she named Calamity, super close to my cage. Us Aussie Water Dragons are common prey for snakes so it scared the shit out of me. It happened so much that it got to the point where I would just think ‘whatever. If the snake is going to eat me, go ahead. This isn’t a life to live anyway, being in this cage.’ It sucked and the best day of my life was when I escaped. Now I spend everyday with a smile on my face. I want to live life to the fullest! And the turtles really make that feeling come true.

What kind of energy level do they usually have? Rogue: I’m normally pretty calm and chill but I have been known to get riled up with Leo. Mikey and his bubbly side also hype me up sometimes.

How does she show and/or handle: love, affection, grief, pain, anger, sadness, conflict, change, loss? Rogue: I was conflicted with how to feel when the turtles first invited me to their home. Up until then all I had known were dead crickets and a glass box on all sides of me. So, it was definitely weird for me. I mean, Calamity didn’t like me so all I got were stupid threats from her. But loving the turtles came so easy to me. And ever since I met them I had felt a different feeling towards Leo, but the sensation was so foreign to me that I didn’t really understand. I liked him, all of them, but it was just a feeling of wanting to be around him more.

Does she have a temper? Rogue: I think I’m self-aware enough to admit that I have a small temper and I handle it with major passive aggression. I’m not great at confrontation and I’m used to letting things that really get to me sit inside. It’s not the healthiest practice, but…

How does she respond to the surrounding world, the ‘unfamiliar,’ and other people in general? Rogue: You mean everything outside my cage? It’s fantastic! I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to taste the fresh air when I first escaped. The only type of “friendship” I had was with a tarantula in Evie’s room. He and I weren’t close but I preferred him to Calamity anyday. So coming out into the world and seeing the turtles, I was super nervous. Everything was unfamiliar to me.

Polite or rude? Rogue: I like to think I’m polite? I mean, I was never really taught any manners from Evie.

Stingy or generous? Rogue: Umm… both? Neither? I don’t have much to share or hoard.

What kind of ‘public’ face does she display? Rogue: The turtles know I’m not crazy about Evie, so they accept that I don’t always want to talk about her. I’m pretty much an open book, though.

Leader or a follower? Rogue: Both? Neither? I have the reasoning to be a leader in some cases, but I will always do what Raph says if he’s giving orders… even though I don’t go on missions with them. He and April are the oldest and definitely know more about the world than I do. As far as I’m concerned, he’s the leader and I respect him too much to argue about that.

More happy by themselves or in a group? Rogue: I spent years alone in a cage. I love being around people. We don’t even have to be doing anything, but their presence makes me feel a bit safer.

Does he/she have any addictions/dependencies/fixations/fetishes/ or other strange behavior? Rogue: Is popcorn an addiction?

What is her sexual preference/experience/values? Rogue: I like Leo.

-History/Background- Rogue: I feel like I’ve talked enough for one day. I’ll let Taylor finish this off.

Setting: Present day in Rise universe

Occupation: Nah, she’s a mutant lizard, although she sometimes wishes she could help pay rent for April’s apartment because she spends so much time there. April doesn’t mind it since she’s already used to the boys raiding her fridge, but a job under Señor Hueso was mentioned at one point (and might possibly play a role in the future)

Educational background/other learning experiences: Her previous owner has good grammar, but she did not develop the ability to speak until after mutation

Intelligence Level: As smart as a pet of a prep-school kid can be. She also has learned plenty from the turtles and April.

Short Term Goals: Probably finishing a book or a video game.

Long Term Goals:

- Finding the perfect weapon for herself.

- Keeping the family she was so lucky to find

Family:

- Has no idea about her biological parents since she was shipped out so early in life. Doesn’t really bother her that much, though.

- Previous owner: Name is Evangelique (Evie) Flint, who named Rogue and took care of her fine, meaning she was fed adequately. However, Evie favored the other pets that she owned (her snakes and scorpions) and would sometimes get the snakes close to Rogue in order to freak her out (Australian Water Dragons are often prey for snakes). When Evie was moving houses with her family, Rogue was able to escape. She never looks back.

Friends:

- Leo: She and Leo are super close and became fast friends. He flirted with her for months before she actually caught on. Rogue always thought he was cute but was pretty clueless when it came to romance. April filled her in and helped them get together (the best wingman). He is always able to make her laugh and it’s not difficult for her to reciprocate. He enjoys playing with her tail. They’re young and in love but still best friends. The others refer to them together as “The Stripes.” He doesn’t really get seriously jealous because he trusts her with his brothers. He adores her laugh and the heart-shaped mark on her chest.

- Donnie: They’re cool friends. She looks up to him as if he is older than her because of how smart he is. He’s more calm with her than he is with the boys because he’s seen her rational side. She’ll stay out of his way when he’s busy, but won’t decline being a helpful assistant or test subject for an experiment.

- Mikey: She thought he was super funny, like Leo. He was fascinated by her splotches and patterns, and was overjoyed that she liked art as well. One of their first times bonding together was over video games.

- Raph: He approached her first when they first encountered her, mainly as a way to shield his brothers if she was a threat. She likes to play some type of sporty game with him even though she is not nearly as in-shape as the rest of them. It was his idea for her to start sparring. He appreciates how tough and level-headed she is. He thinks she’s a good fit for Leo.

- April: Rogue was fairly relieved to make friends with a girl. April loved her look and thought the choker and hoodie was awesome. She lets Rogue sleep on her couch whenever she pleases, and she thinks it’s great that Mayhem likes her.

- Splinter: They’re not close. She’s met him a couple times and only because she felt it weird that the rat had yet to introduce himself. It’s sort of a mutual respect that they have.

Backstory:

- Born in Australia and shipped to Poughkeepsie, where Evie lived. She was lonely and constantly tormented by her owner and the snake, Calamity, who lived just a single frame of glass away next to her cage.

- After years of living in Poughkeepsie, Evie’s family decided to move to Detroit because of her mother’s business demands.

- Early on in the move, Rogue was able to escape and out of the vehicle and off the Mid-Hudson Bridge into the Hudson River. The river carried her down to Manhattan where she consumed an Ooze-quito and became mutated.

- I’m still figuring out a story on how she met the turtles and the events leading up to the present because she’s currently been with them for nearly half a year (I’ll probably write some drabbles on it in the near future, so stay tuned)

-Combat-

Physical Strength:

- Her tail is the strongest part of her body

- She has enough strength to workout with the boys, but cannot do any of the heavy weights that they can.

Coordination/Reflexes: Not bad reflexes. She’s not clumsy, but her tail has been known to knock things over in an environment she is unfamiliar with.

Fighting Style: Is typically prone to striking with her claws and/or tail

Unusual Abilities/Powers: Nothing mystical about her besides the mutation

Weapons/Other Gear: Has yet to find a weapon that works for her

((couple things, Tumblr completely messed with the format of this but oh well, yes I referenced Leo’s pose from the episode Newsworthy, but I just adore his pose so much that I was super excited to draw it, they may or may not be holding hands, that’s up to your interpretation :D, but yeah. this personality ref sheet was super long but I really wanted to milk this character because I hope she sticks with me for a long time. If you read the whole thing, thank you so much, I appreciate you more than you realize :) )) 

[littlemisssquiggles]

miki-13 reblogged your photo and added:

Okay wow, they all look friggin’ amazing! Agh, I’ve already got so much I wanna draw and now you’ve added yet another picture I want to put on paper! @lythecreatorart’s looks so pretty in pink and it goes well with the black and white and brownish-orange, @che1sea-xiao-long’ looks so demure and lovely with the light green and orange and of course, @littlemisssquiggles‘ looks absolutely stunning in red.

I find it interesting you gave Ruby white as her main color scheme with some red on the side, as opposed to Rose who is in all red. It reminds me a bit of Utena, who used the white rose and was represented by white, as a color of purity. Which fits in with her being a simple soul and Blake’s description of her character (”Purity”)

It’s also interesting that you gave Ianthe a darker color scheme with this one. I’ve never pictured her in black or darker colors, but now I see she pulls it off quite well. (Oh my gosh, you made her so tiny and smol XD)

By the way, how did you figure out the dresses for everyone here? I’m curious of your thought process for them.

Squiggles Answers:

 @miki-13 Thank you so much Miki-chan!

My thought process into the dress designs? Oh gee, not sure I have much to say on that but I shall do my best *salutes*

Well if I must admit off the bat, I went into this squiggle sketch work already knowing the type of dresses I wanted the first three Roses: Rosaline ‘Rose’ Fox, Ruby Rose and Rosalind ‘Lindy’ Fox to wear. With Ianthe Regem and Rosaline ‘Hoody’ Hood, I sought out the almighty power of Pinterest to aid with inspiration for their gown designs.

 Let’s start with Ruby Rose: our leading Rose. Actually I’ll have to correct you, Ruby isn’t wearing white. Her dress is actually silver with just a pop of red. As I was telling Ly, I knew I wanted Ruby to wear silver instead of her more traditionally red outfits. Silver is another signature colour associated with Ruby that we don’t often get to see her rock so I figured why not give her a nice silvery lace dress made with a glittery material that made Ruby appear as if she’s dressed in starlight. I know you can’t really see here since these were more meant to be sketch concepts but you get the idea. Plus my main reason for having Ruby wear silver is based on a Rosegardening headcanon of mine where Oscar thinks Ruby looks more beautiful in silver since it matches her eyes. Again, red may be Ruby’s main colour however should she ever step out in a silver dress, I think she’ll turn heads. Especially Oscar’s. Buuuuut that’s just my idea XD

Next is my girl Rosaline Fox: As I mentioned in ‘Defining Rose Fox’, Rose is known for her beauty. Rose is a gorgeous and vivacious vixen who is fully confident in her looks. So I knew for a definite fact that I wanted her to rock a dress that shows off her splendour in a striking colour that would make her the apple of every man’s eyes. 

For Rose’s gown, I actually drew inspiration for the style from Jessica Rabbit from ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’. When I think memorable lovely characters, Jessica Rabbit was the first one that popped to my mind. 

So Rose’s gown is influenced by Jessica’s from the slit that’s supposed to be up the side (pardon my sketch for not illustrating that better) to the open back to the gloves even down to her dress having a kind of shine to it. As a matter of fact, this is a cohesive characteristic that I decided to share with all the other Roses. So technically each Rose has one part of their dress that is glittery. Each Rose also wears a rose detail to their outfits, be it an accessory or detail of their dress. Like in the case of Rose where the single strap of her dress in an array of roses along with the belt around her waist. Not to mention the frills of Rose’s dress as supposed to represent rose petals.

Rosalind Fox: For Lindy, I’m not sure what type of personality @che1sea-xiao-long has in mind for her Rose but for me, I pictured her being the very sweet and gentle-hearted type. So I gave a dress to reflect that appeal. With Lindy, her green hood was one of the most signature parts of her design so I gave her this sort of green shawl to mimic that detail from her huntress attire. Everything else about her dress just fell fittingly into place. I knew I wanted the end of her dress and shawl to be decorated with orange roses since I dubbed her the orange rose (will explain that later). If I’m being honest, I just rolled with the first ideas that popped into my head with the rest of Rosalind’s dress and the end result just turned into a cute gown that I think suits her. I think it even got the Chelsea seal of approval.

Ianthe Regem: Yes, this is where things got a bit tough for me. With Ianthe, I wanted something cute but somewhat regal for her; if that makes sense. However I wasn’t sure the style I wanted to go with for her. This is where I sought good old Pinterest and found this really nice art of an anime girl wearing a dress that I thought would look lovely on Ianthe. Artist is Tobi Kotetsu

So I based Ianthe’s outfit off of that design. I figured a style like that would look adorable on her and my assumptions seemed to be proven right with your reaction to the look. Mind you, this is only a sketch. I may change this design later to maintain my original ‘regal’ style for Ianthe’s gown. But we shall see.

Lastly we have Rosaline Hood: She was the other Rose I needed a little help designing for. Ironically the two roses I went in blind to design ended up being the ones to rock black as part of their attire. Not intentional but it works. With Hoody, I also drew inspiration from Pinterest for the style of her dress. I found this really nice design for a dress with same kind of frills that sort of drape down from the torso like rose petals. 

It reminded me of the way Ly designed Hoody’s huntsmen attire so I figured, why not add that detail to her ball gown. She certainly looks lovely with it. As for making her rock pink. Well as I told Ly, making Hoody the pink rose in the bouquet was a bold choice based on a whim. I understand that there were other rose colours that I could’ve used for her. I considered making her a peach rose. However the instance I slapped that hot pink on her dress, that was it. That won me. It looked absolutely gorgeous on her especially with the black. Not sure if Hoody is the type to wear pink but she looks lovely in it. Plus according to Ly, Hoody’s dress reminds her of her prom dress which makes my  choice even more perfect.

So yeah, that was pretty much my thought process behind all. As I was telling @lythecreatorart and let me tag @che1sea-xiao-long in here as well, these were mostly just rough sketches of dress designs for a potential project I’m considering of doing with all the Roses including Ruby when I get the time to spare.

I called it ‘Bouquet of Roses’ and the gist of it is, Oscar Pine is basically our handsome Yellow or more fittingly Gold Rose Prince with eyes as radiant as the sun and a kind and benevolent heart to match. Prince Oscar owns a bouquet comprised of an arrangement of roses of different colours. The key roses are red, lavender, orange and pink roses and it is those roses that are represented by our Garden of Roses.

Ruby Rose and Rose Fox are our two red roses locked in a rivalry for the Prince’s affection to be his one true red rose (although Ruby could arguably be more of a white rose with her silver dress which could be used to symbolize her purity of heart as you pointed out. Not to mention that it’s a way to connect her to her mother Summer who was the original white rose). Rosaline Hood is the pink rose. Rosalind Fox is the orange rose and lastly Ianthe Regem is the lavender rose.  

Seeing you and Ly create such great illustrations with the whole Garden squad has inspired me to do my own lil pet project to draw all the Roses together in my style. It’s also meant to be my shameless excuse to draw Oscar as a fairy-tale prince with Ruby featuring Team FRHR and everyone gets to wear dresses. That was the idea.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

[cy-fi-theansweris42]

The Good, the Bad, and the IDK How to Feel About That of: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) Part 2

Good: TURTLE TOTS

Good: Little Mikey is adorable

Bad: DID SPLINTER LEARN HOW TO READ JAPANESE TO READ THAT BOOK BECAUSE THE INTRUCTIONS ARE IN JAPANESE

Good: I love seeing the little turtles learning how to use their weapons

Good: Little Donnie is already modifying his bo and it’s adorable.

Good: So Raph knows how to carve wood as well??? Between his knitting and woodcarving, and Donnie’s computer skills, they could honestly bring in some money for their family, like set Raph up with an Etsy and Donnie could do IT or whitehat hacking, and they’d be good.

Good: Little Leo still learning how to use the katanas with the pizza bit

Good: Donnie, squinting because he can’t see a thing without his glasses, me too

IDK: Leo, did you really think that guardian spirits were real?

Bad: Mikey, did you ever even ASK April if she wanted to be your girlfriend???

IDK: I want to know how Splinter got the turtle pins and the turtle medallion. Amazon?

Good: I like how Donnie has a security system set up to let them know when people are getting close to their home, that’s some good thinking.

Good: Mikey when he’s fighting those soldiers, he’s hilarious and great

Bad: Raph, is this really time to be arguing leadership?

Bad: Why is it they’re only after the turtles and not Splinter as well? He was injected with the mutagen as well.

Good: I love the tech in Shredder’s armor, like magnetic blades that return on command? Awesome

Good: Donnie’s bo skills (I am jealous.)

Good: I love how Leo, Donnie, and Mikey are just absolutely desperate to get through the gate, like they’re watching their dad get hurt and they want so much to help him. It’s so emotional and I love it.

Good: I haven’t commented on Donnie’s tech pack yet. I love it and I want to know what it does.

Good: The scene where Leo, Donnie, and Mikey are being walked into the truck while being electrocuted with cattle prods makes me pissed at the Foot Clan because HOW DARE THEY HURT THESE TURTLES, so A+ on making me feel emotions.

Good: Raph being alive (I know they wouldn’t actually kill him but still)

Good: Splinter being alive (Him I’m afraid they would actually kill)

Bad: “…we will drain every last drop of their blood to get it [mutagen], even if it kills them” Um, draining every last drop of blood from somebody WILL kill them, wasn’t this guy a scientist at some point?

Good: The little ceramic turtle that Vern has on his kitchen counter

Good: Raph popping out of the back to end this awkward conversation and dramatically proving his existence.

Good: “How did he get in the back” He’s a ninja, Vern, they can do sneaky stuff like that

Good: “And we were going to use rabbits!” Teenage Mutant Ninja Rabbits…doesn’t have the same ring, lol

IDK: Rip random Foot Soldier #27

Good: The other scientists in the background looking at the dying Foot Soldier on the floor and being like “I DIDN’T SIGN UP FOR THIS, HE JUST STRAIGHT UP MURDERED THAT GUY”

Good: “The fourth cage is for you.” Proceeds to break out the huge freaking knives like he’s planning to murder someone

Good: “Four total turtles and one’s fighting a robot samurai…why not?” Lol, me too.

Bad: If Raph, who was able to build up momentum, was unable to break the glass, how were his brothers, who were starting from basically standing, able to break the glass?

Good: The entire adrenaline bit, from “I feel like cleaning!”, to tripping over the edge, to rambling at a million miles an hour, to Mikey spinning in circles, is amazing

Bad: Donnie’s “oh my gosh, they have guns” thing because they had guns before, now they have live ammo instead of tranq darts. (I’m sorry Donnie)

Bad: Raph’s slow-motion yelling as he launches the bullets back thing. Just no.

IDK: Leo just isn’t having a good day is he? He just keeps getting electrocuted

IDK: OK I WANT TO LOVE HOW DONNIE’S HYPED ABOUT THE WHOLE LAUNCHING THE CAR THING BECAUSE THAT’S ADORABLE, BUT AT THE SAME TIME IT’S THE STEREOTYPICAL NERD SNORT THING SO I REALLY DON’T KNOW HOW TO FEEL ABOUT IT

Bad: Vern staring at April’s butt as she leans out the car

Good: I really love the turtles using their shells as sleds thing, it’s pretty cool

Good: Them sliding around the sewers, it honestly looks awesome

Good: Instead of the elevator, it’s a bunch of Foot Soldiers

Good: “Not the elevator” “Nope” Lol

Good: I love the elevator bit, they’re teenagers who have had a really rough day nearly dying and still have to go fight a samurai in order to save the city, and are probably freaking exhausted, so they just start beat-boxing in the elevator while they wait because they need some form of stress relief before they go fight the main bad guy. It helps remind you that while they may have ninja training and all that, they’re still freaking teenagers.

Bad: If you watch the lights on the elevator buttons it says that they were only at the 34th floor when they get to the roof. Details, details.

Good: Mikey finally said cowabunga!

Bad: I thought Splinter said he saw April’s dad take her last breath and he never mentioned that Sacks straight up MURDERED APRIL’S FATHER, like I know it’s for shock value but come on

Good: Lol, it’s because Shredder’s got a bucket head

Bad: Ok, I get that Raph’s interrupting Donnie’s question was to signify how he’s respecting Leo’s role as leader, but honestly the whole “oh hey we’re fighting this guy but let’s play buck-buck” thing needs clarification, which is why Donnie was questioning what’s going on. Sometimes you just need some clarification.

Good: The slow-motion “using the game that we played as kids to defeat the bad guy” scene is awesome

Bad: …people still use Command Line interfaces, it’s what you use when you don’t have a GUI set up. (That’s my understanding at least, I’m still learning. We use a Command Line Interface in my programming class.)

Good: How hyped Donnie is that he managed to stop the toxin dispersal.

Bad: THERE’S BEEN DEBRIS FALLING FROM THIS TOWER FOR AT LEAST 5 MINUTES AND THERE WAS A COP ON SCENCE, WHY HAVEN’T PEOPLE BEEN CLEARED AWAY???

Bad: April SO fell farther than that, don’t lie to me like that

Good: I love Raph’s confession bit. It’s very heart-felt and I feel like a very valid set of reasons for why he always has that angry exterior. (also rip if Leo had anything he wanted to say, lol)

Good: The “heroes in a half-shell, turtle power” car horn,lol

Good: Donnie’s so proud of himself for how he tricked out the van

Bad: The end credits bit where Raph and Mikey hide on the Victoria’s Secret billboard. It’s so unnecessary and I hate it.

Good: I like the comic book style art they did for the end credits.

Alright, there was a lot of good, a lot of bad, and some IDKs in there. We got 73 goods, 35 bads, and 11 IDKs, giving us 61.34% Good, 29.41% Bad, and 9.24% IDK. All-in-all, I like this movie (even if there’s not enough Donnie in it, but I’m biased because he’s my favorite.), I wish they had not taken so long to show the turtles, but overall it’s a pretty decent origin story movie with lots of great little moments.

[monstergf-fr]

lair review for limanya/peacevine!!

@peacevine i’m sorry if this is bad, rip, it’s my first go at giving a review! i apologise for how long this took, i didn’t have a lot of energy so i did my best to ration and write in bursts. (i also checked bios for pronouns, but if i couldn’t find any i just referred to their lineart gender, so apologies if i’m using the wrong ones for any of your dragons!!) i hope things start lookin up for you <3

okay so first impressions: your lair is so colourful and bright? upon clicking on the first page i see so many lovely kiddos & it’s gonna be super hard for me to pick just a few hh also i spy an imp called haku, bless, he’s so handsome?

astraeus, mnemosyne, caide and peya are so dang gorgeous - maybe it’s my love for pastels, or the pink lemonade aesthetic, but they all caught my eye right away. caide’s accent is honestly the most perfect thing, it suits her so well? and i’ve never really found a tapir dragon i love but i can now say that i have, she just makes it work. her eyes are a really nice feature, too? i’m usually super big on matching eyes but i love how dark they are, they really stand out. nemo (or syne? both would b cute nicknames for her) is stunning, too - she just has such a gorgeous palette that’s really brought out by her apparel. she’s adorably frilly and pretty, she and her familiar are such a cute pair. peya is such a soft boy? and astraeus is literal sunshine, he’s so bright and shiny!! cherub looks absolutely darling on him and his tiny little tail bow is just the sweetest.

soltnar is also one of the ones who instantly caught my eye - her combination of muted grey and orange is really unusual but works so well!! and gosh do i love her apparel and accent combo, i could swear that accent was just made for her, she looks stunning!! reading her lore, i have to say your writing style is so so good, the second little paragraph’s phrasing is most excellent and just brings so much life to her character. and of course, reading her bio lead me to her sister who is suuupper pretty. (i love how they have art from the same artists, that’s adorable.) and just like her sister, i swear that accent was made just for her - along with her apparel, the toned-down brown is a lovely compliment to her brighter colour scheme.

ok wow, please allow me ten more hours to cry over fable, i think i’m in love. he’s honestly ethereal and if i could steal him i probably would. lorewise, please allow me once again to gush about your writing style, bc heck?? you give me so much inspiration for my own lore because your words are so smooth and flow so well and i hope you know that. ok i’m two setences in and i have a desperate need to hug this sweet noodle. 10/10 would protect. ok i’ve just finished and i swear you almost made me cry - i’m so glad he has bai but please someone just hug him already

speakING OF bai, i have seen so much art of this perfect little monstrosity on tumblr and i was super keen to jump into their lore!! (speaking of art every single piece is perfect and so dang sweet.) i love how it’s from fable’s perspective, that’s really clever and makes for such an interesting insight into both their characters? each entry is super intriguing and structured in such a way that i’m racing to read the next have i said i love your lore & writing already? no? let’s fix that. the piece written from their perspective is marvellous and sad and oh no i’m having so many feelings about this sweet lost child. bai is honestly one of the most creative character concepts i’ve come across on this site; the delicate balance between resting in canon lore and being a fully realised creation is astounding, and super clever. one final note: i freakin adore that their familiar is a hydra, that’s the cutest.

metal is a beauty - her apparel is a wonderful contrast to her colours and they really bring out the best in each other. the combination of all those different sets is real nice, too!! but oh man are you good at getting me attached to your lair of lost kids, i’m so glad metal found a home, but i hope she finds her family and lets them know she’s safe and well, too.

honorable mentions include:

deemo is a perfect piano noodle and his colours are just so so lovely with that accent. sing us a song, you’re the piano man. i also really love how the blue flowers in his bio also bring out the slight blue tint in his eyes c: 

it may be that i just have a huge soft spot for brown dergs, but allegro is another one of my favs in your lair. her apparel matching is to die for, and i love her arcane eyes, they really make her stand out! 

khorne is just, wow. i thought i went through and came out the other side of the xxy blood (or sanguine)/gold (or yellow-ish colour) craze but i was proven very wrong when this gorgeous gal popped up. she honestly doesn’t need any other apparel than her halo, because she’s a statement piece on her own.

[evenstevensranked]

#24: Season 3, Episode 10 - “Hutch Boy”

School bully Lloyd Offler targets Louis as his next victim. Meanwhile, Ren’s hair is accidentally dyed blonde!

First off, I just want to say that I'm dedicating this review to Brad Bufanda, the actor who played Lloyd. It was brought to my attention on Instagram that he just recently passed away on November 1st. He was 34. Very strange timing because this episode was next on my list already and I was working on the review as I found out. My heart kinda sank. I feel really weird segueing into my regular, light-hearted style now after the fact -- but I figure it's actually better to keep things light during darker times. So yeah. Let's do this!

This one opens with one of the most incredible things ever: a flying squirrel. Not an actual flying squirrel of course, but a mechanical one that Louis and Twitty rigged to scare Tom -- who happens to have an extremely specific and strange fear of flying squirrels. I wonder what instilled that fear? lol. How many squirrels have you seen flyin' around out there? 

This bit used to have me in stitches. Tom’s terrified scream is something you have to hear for yourself. 

Just then, some guy named Lloyd Offler approaches them and starts yelling at Louis for giving him "hard looks." Like, excuse me? I'll never understand how bullies pick their victims. Louis is the best, leave him alone. I know that Louis, Tawny, and Tom are supposed to be outcasts of sorts (leaving out Twitty because we’ve seen that he’s actually pretty popular)... But still. Louis is cool imo. Lloyd walks away, but not before letting Louis know that he’s on his radar now. Great. 

~Radar~

Cut to the subplot. Ren volunteers her hair to the “Future Beauticians” Club, and let me tell you... I had such an ah-ha moment when I was re-watching this episode. For whatever reason, I always thought the club was called the Future PETITIONS club. Ruby says the name so fast it’s hard to understand. I was always so confused, like... What the heck is that? What petitions? And what do they have to do with dyeing hair? And then it hit me. I kid you not, it was like the skies opened up! "Beauticians” obviously makes so much more sense, lol. 

To Ren’s horror, her hair turns out platinum blonde. Ruby has a flashback to the moment it all went wrong. We see that mid-gossip, she was distracted and poured soda into the dye mixture instead of whatever else she was supposed to use. I always felt personally responsible for this accident because she starts off the gossip with "So, I'm talkin' to Brittany..." Don't drag me into this, Ruby. 

At least it was “natural” soda. 

Ren is furious at first but soon notices that her hair is garnering attention. So she starts strutting down the hall to a "Walking on Sunshine" rip off. 

This is another situation like the "Staying Alive" rip off in Stevens Genes. From memory, I would've bet money that the actual "Walking on Sunshine" was used here!! But nope. I'm still fascinated by how the brain can be tricked like that. Girls are staring at Ren with jealousy now and guys are checking her out... including Louis -- who doesn’t recognize her at first. It’s highly disturbing. 

“hey, blondie... how u doin?” - Louis stop. Ignoring the fact that it’s Ren, it’s so weird to see Louis attempt to hit on someone. *shivers with disgust* I take back what I said about him being cool. 

At lunch, the gang is laughing about how Lloyd’s name is spelled with two L’s. “Maybe he pronounces it La-Loyd?” Tawny jokes. Louis dies of laughter and says “...And my name’s La-Louis” so sarcastically. IT GETS ME EVERY TIME. Shia is so full of joy here and the whole scene has such an organic feel to it. You get the sense that these are real friends at school having a laugh. It’s contagious and warms my heart. 

So pure.

Suddenly.......... this iMovie “suspense” sound effect plays twice as Lloyd appears hovering behind Louis asking “You having a good time, La-Louis?” Why are these double L jokes so funny to me?! Oh my god. Lloyd picks up Louis’ sandwich, licks it dramatically, and puts it back on his tray. Nice guy! Louis tries to reason with him, but Lloyd refuses and says “See you in shop class” ominously.

During shop class Louis is so afraid of what Lloyd might do, he’s quite literally shaking like a leaf. Twitty tries to reassure him by saying the teacher is nearby and won’t let anything happen to him. But then the teacher is all “I’m gonna step out of the room for a minute and I will take my time.” This is so good. Now that they’re alone, Lloyd snatches away Louis' “shelf” project and puts it in the hutch he's constructing. This is a great bit though because Louis decides to face Lloyd then and apologize (even though he did nothing wrong.) It’s really nice. Louis is so sincere and mature here. Lloyd seemingly accepts the apology... but then stuffs Louis into the hutch as well. (see cover photo)

Tom politely confronts Lloyd insisting he let Louis out of the hutch, before he says “I’m sorry it’s come to this...” and randomly goes completely black belt on Lloyd to everyone's shock. Then again, was it to everyone’s shock? Because their classmates emerged from their workstations, conveniently holding up wood for Tom to break lol. I love how the teacher walks back in while Tom is kickin’ around like he’s Jackie Chan, and has one of those “f this, I’m out” moments: 

This show’s humor was way ahead of its time. 

Louis is beyond shocked and it always cracks me up when Tom calmly helps Louis out of the hutch and whispers “Come on, buddy.” I don’t know what it is... but it’s just so freaking funny. There’s this hilarious ~zen~ music playing as well which is the icing on the cake. There’s a great line later that day when Louis starts evaluating the situation: “If Tom was the biggest wimp at school, and he saved MY butt? That means I’M THE BIGGEST WIMP AT SCHOOL.” ....true tho. Twitty mentions our good ol’ buddy Pete who everyone apparently prays to on this show when he says “Who would’ve known he was an honest to Pete, second degree black belt?!” lol. 

To wrap up Ren’s plot, because not too much else happens: She basically becomes an overtly stereotypical blonde overnight. Constantly saying “oh muh gosh!,” reading fashion magazines during class, and blowing off her commitments to roller skate in the house instead. 

Okay, is she curling her hair now? or did they honestly think we wouldn’t notice that Ren’s hair magically became curly after it was dyed blonde. Who picked this wig? 

She also went out and got a whole new wardrobe to go with her hair or something?! Because these clothes she’s wearing do not seem like stuff she already had in her closet. Ruby rounds up a bunch of blondes from LJH and holds a mini intervention for Ren -- telling her that she’s giving blondes a bad name. And that’s pretty much it! Ruby dyes her hair back to normal.

I love how Ruby left her “a little souvenir” of blonde! I’ve been dyeing one small section of my hair blonde for years now, so this always makes me happy lol. Look at how much body Ren’s “hair” has when she’s blonde and how flat it is when she’s back to normal lol.... seems legit. I also definitely owned that yellow and blue striped top that girl on the left is wearing.

Back to Louis’ drama. Tom is outside casually practicing his martial arts when Louis approaches him with some hot chocolate from Doris. Tom’s so ~in the zone~ that he almost roundhouse kicks Louis in the face. I needed to gif it:

Louis tells Tom that he wants to be just like him, he wants to learn how to fight. Tom agrees to teach Louis ~his ways~ and I swear this is one of my favorite bits EVERRRRRRR. There’s no way I’m typing all of this out. You have to feast your eyes on the greatness yourself:

“Louis... did I mention it takes 9 years to learn my ways?” - This show is absolute GOLD, I do not care what anyone says. 

Who knew Fred Meyers could actually do all of that, though?! So yeah, after telling Lloyd he’d fight him, even though he can’t fight -- Tom tells Louis his only option is to “find his inner strength and harness it.” And Louis, being the actual genius he is, takes that advice quite literally. I also love how Louis just says “meet me in the alley at 7″ .......which alley, bro? Ya also gotta love that “The Rock” reference. (”If you smell what Louis is cookin’!”) This show really did pick the BEST things to reference when it came to pop culture. It feels like Dwayne Johnson is everywhere these days!

The last big scene of the episode is the alley sequence, and I love it so much. Louis has Beans and Twitty secretly help him work a harness he rigged to fly around like some crazy martial arts master just to freak Lloyd out and avoid fighting altogether. It starts off pretty hilarious (Louis literally does the macarena as a “kung fu” move) but then it gets serious for a minute and it’s perfect. Of course, it all goes down in flames and Lloyd sees the wire. It feels so satisfying to reach the heart of a bully. It's great when you start to see Lloyd feel bad about how he’s treated Louis and I freaking love how Louis gives in, but at the same time -- stands up for himself. He tells Lloyd to beat him up, almost pressuring him to do so -- which obviously makes Lloyd NOT want to beat him up. It's great. 

“I’ve come to the realization that if I’m gonna get hit, I’m gonna get hit. You know what you’re gonna wanna do? Get some towels. ‘Cause I’m a bleeder.” - Yesss, Louis. 

This leads to one of my favorite little exchanges in the series. Lloyd immediately becomes a huge softie and wants to know how Louis pulled off the harness trick and they quickly start bonding over engineering. Lloyd is all "I didn't know you were into mechanical stuff!" And Louis says "Yeah, dude. I am. But you were too busy putting me in your hutch." - I'm sooo glad they actually had Louis say that engineering is something he's into! Because otherwise, his inventions come across as nothing but wacky things that only exist to support the gags he pulls with no further explanation. Idk. It's such a short moment, but it makes me so happy every time!!! Louis even gives Lloyd a quick rundown of the materials he used to rig the harness and idk man, it just makes me smile. I LOVE THIS CHARACTER SO MUCH. (I also just noticed that the flying squirrel gag was solid foreshadowing for this harness rig.)

I always get a little sad that Lloyd didn't become a bit of a recurring character for the rest of the season or something. This final scene between them has a ~beginning of a beautiful friendship~ sort of vibe. Lloyd invites Louis to check out his home workshop and ugh it’s so nice. We hardly ever see Louis with any friends outside of his core group, let alone someone else who shares his love of engineering, so maybe that’s why this scene always hits me.  

I really like this episode for some reason. Always have. Like, A LOT. I think it’s because of the big showdown in shop class. And Louis wanting to learn martial arts from Tom. And the flying squirrel. And Louis and Lloyd in the alley. It's all amazing. And Ren’s plot is pretty fun, too. This is just an awesome episode all around. 

Rest in Peace, Brad Bufanda. 

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