#I didn't originally plan on a background but it didn't look quite right without one

[umbracirrus]

So!!! I finished my drawing of my dragonborn Elyse and Balgruuf now that I'm (almost!) free from university stuff for the year!

Ah I love these two. Especially Balgruuf 💛

[poomphuripan]

Director Pepzi Banchorn Vorasataree - iQIYI Exclusive Interview Transcript

[What makes 'My Stand-In' special?]

Pepzi: The uniqueness of this series lies in my perspective of it being a youth drama. However, it's the kind of youth drama that's like... So typically youth dramas should be bright, simple and straightforward right? But this youth series has real drama and delves into the intricacies of life and emotions. It has these life stories that makes me feel like... Like about a painful youth which makes me think that having a series like this would be very interesting. Because the series not only portrays the mundane aspects of life but also adds a touch of fantasy, not in the sense of envisioning a futuristic fantasy, but rather, revolving around life's themes. I find these elements fascinating.

[What are some challenges you face as Thailand's first female Y Series (LGBTQIA+ series) director?]

Pepzi: Some refer to me as the "mother of LGBTQIA+ dramas," but not for any specific reason though but it's because I'm the only few [female directors]. Everyone else is typically called something like "father of...". With a BL series foundation, people often express delight in the fact that I make Y series, that I understand the NC scenes, and grasp the dynamics and critical scenes between same-sex characters. However, I'd like to emphasize that, my starting point/intention is that I always love to direct a love story, whether it involves same-sex or other relationships, the base of it has to be a love story. I believe that, once we have understood love, whether it's BL with men loving men or women loving women or men loving women, ultimately, they all share the same foundation being love stories [regardless of gender]. As long as we understand love enough, and perhaps it's also because of my age [re: personal experiences], I have seen been able to see various forms of love, which have evolved over different stages of my life. Therefore, to me, directing LGBTQ+ dramas is just like directing another form of love story. Each of my works revolves around love. Thus, I don't differentiate between whether it's a Y series or not.

[Why did you decide to direct "Stand-in"?]

Pepzi: The opportunity to direct "My Stand-In" arose when I met Ms. Yuan, (the CEO) of YYDS. YYDS wanted me... so they initially reached out to me, however, at that time, I was quite exhausted and looking forward to taking a break. Cause like your body/health after working on four, five series... Actually during the pandemic, I had been involved in numerous projects without any rest or travel. Until one day, I decided to take a break. I rested for several months without working, without taking on any new works. Then when Yuan contacted me again, I even told her I would only consider it after hearing the plot. I was planning to decline if it didn't pique my interest. Because I'm at that age where I should just rest. Later, I told her I wanted to meet and see the content. Ultimately, when we met and Yuan showed me the Chinese script translated in Thai, I realized it was a really interesting/fun story. The storyline was so compelling that it drew me, someone who was on a break, back to work. At that point, I had only read the plot. It wasn't until later that I found out it was based on a popular Chinese novel with millions of views. Honestly, while reading the novel, I found the storyline truly remarkable and felt compelled to direct it. It was only later that I learned about its background story and the powerful narrative it held.

[What gives you confidence in this series?]

Pepzi: First, upon receiving the plot, I thought the original Chinese version was so good. But I knew we would have to adapt storyline to make a Thai version (re:suit the Thai audience), and we had a conversation with the Chinese scriptwriters right at the beginning to ask for permission in order to make adjustments if they wanted me to make this. If they wanted me to direct, they had to trust my abilities, choices, and decisions. We had to localize the storyline to fit the Thai context. Eventually, after discussions with the original Chinese author (Shui Qian Cheng), who agreed to the adaptation adjustments, we moved forward. Every time we make a change, we would thoroughly discussed between both parties. I felt that the fact that everything proceeded smoothly from the outset was an excellent sign. Plus, being given the freedom to select the cast based on my aesthetic preferences or the vibes of the series was empowering. However, every decision I made was preceded by discussions with the team so it felt like this drama is good in all aspects. I believe that this is a BL or Y series where we really chose the main characters based on the storyline. Meaning, we looked for actors suitable for the roles according to the plot, and the result turned out great, just like it is now.

[What are the differences between the TV series and the novel?]

Pepzi: The structure is similar, but we made some changes to the context to make it more suitable for a Thai audience. It's not just about incorporating into Thai culture, but including the lifestyle or the way Thai people think and live. Because ultimately, this is a Thai series with the kind of plot geared towards a Thai audience so we believe that most of the viewers will be Thai. But we also trust that the Thai people perspectives can resonate globally. Changes can be made, but we aim to preserve the fundamental cultural aspects of Thailand.

[How is the director's job, and what's special about it?]

Pepzi: One aspect we paid particular attention to is the action scenes. While I can direct action scenes, some crucial segments required additional assistance to help me make those scenes look cool/badass. And the person who can make [those action scenes] look cool/badass is THE Kongkiat Komesiri, or P'Khom. I've known Kongkiat for a long time, over ten years. Kongkiat offered to help designing some action scenes or pivotal moments in the series. In this series, there's also a crew that many others may not know much about but it's the stunt crew team. For the stunt team of this series, Ja is responsible for/lead of the crew. P'Ja is Jeeja Yanin, I don't know if we're born in the same year (re: if we're the same age) or not. P'Ja came to help oversee our stunt, action and fight sequences and even the training of the actors. Since this series is related to stunt doubles, we aimed to gather the most talented individuals in every aspect within our capabilities. So I feel like everyone involved that we've been able to gather are people who are skilled in their respective fields. From my perspective, I've already done my best and everyone else also brings their best. So I feel like the entire team is... If it's someone in the production industry, they'd know that to be able to do that is pretty amazing.

[Why must it be Up and Poom?]

Pepzi: Why Up and Poom? Initially, we were looking for Ming and Joe. We had to find Ming and Joe. After an analysis, we found it quite challenging. So, we started with Joe. Joe's character is a stunt double, the top one in Thai martial arts dramas. He had to be handsome because he would be doubling for the hottest stars, and his acting skills needed to be top-notch. He also had to convey emotions well and be disciplined. We were searching very hard. In the end, nearly 400 actors wanted to play Joe. And I was the person who watched everyone who auditioned. We auditioned everyone, then matched and paired them up until we finally found that... we chose Up and we chose Poom. And I dare say here that on the day we made our decision, Poom wasn't necessarily the actor with best acting skill among the 400. But for me, Poom is the person who resembled Joe the most. After selecting Poom, I told him to put in more effort. I felt like I really hoped the audience would give him a chance. He wasn't someone with prior fame or popularity, but Poom is a talented actor. Because Poom had really stepped into the role/embodied his role as Joe and that Joe is the most perfect version of Joe for me.

As for Up, once we found our Joe... Actually we found our Ming first but Ming was even harder to find than Joe because he had to be born into wealth, things which we couldn't fabricate. Right? Moreover, he had to be a skilled actor because he needed to portray depth. As a top executive of a company, who had to be secretly in love with someone, someone his sister loves, and he had to back off. Then, he accidentally falls for someone else. That accidental entanglement turns out to the biggest true love of his life. We auditioned numerous people, including celebrities. Many, many people. Ultimately, it was a gut feeling, perhaps intuition? I really saw shades of Ming in Up. They resembled each other. And then Up actually came to audition. But I'm very grateful to Yuan because one day Yuan went to talk to Up saying that Pepzi's simple request was for Up to come for an audition because I wanted to see if Up was really (suitable for) that character. So Up really came to the audition. It was the first tape audition, then finally, we started looking for someone who could pair well with Up. And it took many steps before Up and Poom became our Ming and Joe.

[What do actors need to prepare to become their characters?]

Pepzi: Mostly, it was a LOT workshops but there's also many types of workshops and we have to differentiate between them. So especially for Poom, there were many workshops. We'd have a regular acting workshop, like an acting workshop between Up and Poom for them to work on their emotional scenes together. But Poom also has a separate workshop to handle stunt sequences due to his character's profession as a stunt double. Poom really had a lot of these action workshops and he worked diligently in all of them. His positions/stunt sequences he showed were really good. Shoutout to the instructors and the crew of P'Jeeja for this. Additionally, there's one last workshop and it's the intemacy workshop for the intimate scenes. Ultimately, despite containing mature content, the foundation of these scenes is love. Both actors trusted us, and we conducted rehearsals for intimate scenes beforehand. We're thankful for their cooperation and trust, and their compatibility was evident from the first shoot. This series is filled with love, not lust, but love. That's why there were those scenes. Yea, so much thanks to them.

[From day one to today, what have you seen in the actors?]

Pepzi: I've been able to witness their development as actors when they're playing these characters. Like I've said previously, we chose them because we saw Ming and Joe in them. But as they continued to portray the roles, I dare say that they are truly the actual Ming and Joe. They are the reason why I need to thank God even more for validating our decision that day. Because from what they've shown us, our decision that day was correct and it's becoming more apparent. And one more thing, I want to thank these two people for really embodying their characters and putting in immense effort to get into these roles. This is the transformation we've seen. They not only improved as actors but also became the characters themselves, like embodying their essence.

[Are you satisfied with the work after months of filming?]

Pepzi: To be honest, just like the audience, I'm eager to see it. However, we know the storyline because we're the ones arranging the plot's sequence, and I'm also responsible for editing in the post-production phase. Honestly, if I may say so without sounding conceited, I believe I gave it my all. Everyone worked diligently, and while it may not be 100% perfect for others, for us, bringing together everyone's strengths, we're not ashamed to say and we're always ready for others to see and critique.

[What were the difficulties in making this series?]

Pepzi: The difficulty was the action scenes and the drama. But both boys performed exceptionally well. I'm really thankful to them, especially with the blocking of scenes.

[What were the challenges of this script/story?]

Pepzi: The challenge of this series is making viewers believe in our protagonist's guiding storyline. This story with a male lead who I dare say that it's a character who the audience must curse at while watching. I believe some viewers will be upset, and there are certain plot points that some may not like. But like I've said, Ming is just human; he also has unlikable aspects (t/n: the exact term Pepzi used is that Ming has a few 'not so cute' aspect). However, Up's portrayal of Ming convinces us. When it airs, some people may criticize him because his character truly destestable and deserves all these the curses, but it's also important to emphasize that Up fearlessly played this role without fear of losing his image. And so I'm genuinely grateful and thankful if Up['s character] receives criticism afterward, because it's also a recognition that he plays Ming so accurately and well. Everyone please save Up.

[Most difficult and favorite scenes]

Pepzi: The NC scene when they first met. For me, it was difficult because of the blocking for that scene and I'm the person who did the blocking myself. Feeling of enjoyment from my own work. Because the starting point is this initial spark of love from the staircase, then to the room, and then we also incorporated the raining effect while the actors have to perform the NC scenes with multiple blockings. In order for an NC scene to be beautiful, not only does it require the actors' emotions but also the right blockings and the right camera work. It's a challenge for the actors and everyone involved, but I believe the results will be great, and indeed, they've been showcased exceptionally well. There may also be complaints. For my favorite scene... Actually my favorite scene is also an NC scene. However, it's an NC near the end of the series... Because as I've said before, and I have emphasized this repeatedly to the actors that these [NC] scenes aren't just for shock value (t/n: exact term Pepzi used is that these NC scenes do not exist "simply for the viewers to drive their ships"); the specific reason is to depict the love between the characters over time. The plot spans two lifetimes, from the previous one to the current, and it's necessary to complete this love story. For the last NC scene, since I'm the person who designed every action for it, I felt like there were lots of moments that make go... [squeals] There were some shy moments, but in the end, everything stems from love. The two actors also have great chemistry, and for me, and for me, it all turned into beautiful scenes. I thank them very much.

[Explain the name of title "My Stand-in"]

Pepzi: A stand-in is like a substitute. We used a particular person as a substitute for someone else. In the storyline, Joe substitutes for everything three times. The first time, he's a stunt double, a profession on its own. But being a stuntman means it's the profession where Joe willing becomes another star's stand-in. What does this mean? Even there's fame, it belongs to the star, not the substitute. That's the first time being a stand-in. Later on, the second stand-in occurs when he suddenly has a lover who only likes him from behind because his back looks like that of the star. So, Joe is a stand-in, a stand-in again for love. The third time, Joe himself dies and is reborn. Not reborn as a new person, but being transformed into someone else's body. Finally, he circles around until he returns back again to his old life. I think this kind of substitute is his own substitute. It's the third time being a stand-in. So, this series represents Joe being substituting for many aspects.

[Expectations for this drama]

Pepzi: I only hope the viewers watching the series will see the dedication of all the actors as well as the staff. Regarding ratings and... what do they call it?... ahh Twitter trends and things like that, honestly, as a person who works on the series, I can say it without being embarassment that we want it to be high too since it's normal that everyone hopes for that as it's one metric to gauge the quality of this series. But actually more importantly for me, the buzz on Twitter should come from a genuine liking of the series from the viewers' hearts. After watching it, if everyone genuinely falls in love with this series, as creators, we naturally anticipate feedback from the audience. Whether it's praise or criticism, we're happy. But as I've said, I've given my all to showcase our best work for everyone to see.

[Recommend "My Stand-In" to everyone]

Pepzi: Thank you all. Both the actors and the staff have put their best talents into this series. I want the audience to see this as well. I want the audience to see this as well. Please pay more attention to My Stand-In. You can watch it on IQIYI Original. I really hope everyone, as I said, to see that all the staff have put their best talents into this series. We're really eager for everyone to watch it. Whether you like it or not, everyone can comment. We're very proud to introduce this series as really good. You must watch it!

You can watch the original interview here with iQIYI VIP.

[chippedshake]

Ponyboy's narration

I think everyone in the fandom is well aware of the fact that Ponyboy is an incredibly unreliable narrator, but what I thought I would do is look at it a bit more in depth, seeing what particular methods Ponyboy uses to twist the reader's perspective. I was also originally going to say why I thought he was such an unreliable narrator, but then this snowballed into something much longer than I originally planned for so I'm making it another post

For simplicity's sake, we'll assume he's reliable when it comes to actual facts, because if we didn't, well that's a whole other can of worms I don't particularly feel like opening because analytically it's not very interesting (at least for me). So let's assume that it's only when it comes to people's personalities and thoughts that he diverges a bit.

Now, I started out with a very clear idea of how Ponyboy influenced the reader's ideas. There were two main ways: stating his opinion as fact, and placing information in convenient places that made the reader subconsciously change their opinion.

Then I started analysing and... well, things weren't quite as clear-cut.

A bit of background: I was going to use the Outsiders for a school project but then I wasn't allowed to, so all the analysis I've done is going to end up on here. The format, though, that's going to change, so rather than a clean, edited version that guides you through a clear version of my thoughts, here's my stream of consciousness.

Read it if you feel like it, don't if you don't.

Johnny Cade was last and least. If you can picture a little dark puppy that has been kicked too many times and is lost in a crowd of strangers, you'll have Johnny.

[Dally] liked to show that he didn't care whether there was a law or not. He went around trying to break laws.

Me and Darry just didn't dig each other. I never could please him. He would have hollered at me for carrying a blade if I had carried one.

These aren't facts, they're Ponyboy's perception of the world and, mainly, his friends. If you ask someone else what Johnny's like or why Dally breaks laws or what the problem between Pony and Darry is, they'll have different answers.

But Ponyboy presents them as an absolute truth. He doesn't say "I thought Dally just liked breaking laws" or "Johnny seemed like a dark puppy to me", he says these as if it's common knowledge, mainly because (I think) to him it is.

So these would be clear-cut examples of stating his entirely subjective opinion as a fact.

The problems started when I tried to analyse the following quote:

He stopped instantly. "I'm sorry." 

He wasn't really. Darry isn't ever sorry for anything he does. It seems funny to me that he should look just exactly like my father and act exactly the opposite from him. My father was only forty when he died and he looked twenty-five and a lot of people thought Darry and Dad were brothers instead of father and son. But they only looked alike — my father was never rough with anyone without meaning to be. 

Darry is six-feet-two, and broad-shouldered and muscular. He has dark-brown hair that kicks out in front and a slight cowlick in the back — just like Dad's — but Darry's eyes are his own. He's got eyes that are like two pieces of pale blue-green ice. They've got a determined set to them, like the rest of him. He looks older than twenty — tough, cool, and smart. He would be real handsome if his eyes weren't so cold. He doesn't understand anything that is not plain hard fact. But he uses his head. 

This is actually the quote that inspired me to say that he places things in convenient places so you agree with him. Because here, he dedicates two paragraphs to describing how Darry is rough and tough and cool and cold, right after Darry does something that, without Ponyboy's commentary, would be innocent and caring and a fairly mundane action: accidentally shaking someone too hard when you want them to come back to consciousness.

But there's not just that. There are about four explicit comparisons to Ponyboy's dad throughout his description, and the entire description is a constant comparison between Mr Curtis and Darry. This is practically the first we hear of Darry, mind you, and first impressions matter.

So, not only is Ponyboy demonising a perfectly normal action, but he's setting up these impossible expectations for Darry, not just as himself but also for the reader, because whether you like it or not, having the first description you read of a character be a comparison to someone else is going to affect the way you view them. Ponyboy views Darry as his guardian, not his brother, and he transmits that to the reader, changing the way we perceive him.

Remove the inner monologue, and this first scene is an interaction I could perfectly well see myself having with my little brother if I ever found him knocked out, much less beat up.

There's also the constant subjectivity and Ponyboy's opinions being stated as facts: "Darry isn't ever sorry for anything", "He would be real handsome if his eyes weren't so cold", "He's got eyes that are like two pieces of pale blue-green ice", etc.

(There's also the whole eyes thing that I absolutely adore and will go into with more depth at some point in my life)

"I didn't tell y'all something," Dally said, finishing his third hamburger. "The Socs and us are having all-out warfare all over the city. [...] We got hold of the president of one of their social clubs and had a war council. Yeah" — Dally sighed, and I knew he was remembering New York — "just like the good old days."

Without the internal monologue, the last sentence can be interpreted mostly one of two ways: sarcastic or genuine, and that vastly changes the way his character can be perceived. Does he enjoy wide-spread violence, does he find it to be an inconvenience, does he hate feeling unsafe in the streets? We don't know, not without the "I knew he was remembering New York".

Except who, exactly, is telling us they knew Dally was remembering New York?

Ponyboy, who thought Darry hated him because he was so worried about him being out late. Ponyboy, who thought Dally didn't love anyone in the world and only came to terms with the fact that he cared about Johnny when he died out of desperation at Johnny's own death. Ponyboy, who is writing this essay several weeks after everything happened.

I can't recount a conversation I had this morning word-for-word, much less one that happened weeks ago. Can we really trust the way Ponyboy remembers Dally intoning a fairly forgettable sentence weeks before he wrote it down, especially considering the entire plot hinges on him not understanding subtext?

I think not.

(I know I said that we would trust Ponyboy on factual stuff but we can't, not really, and tone is really toeing the line between objective and subjective)

I noticed this once, but I'm sure it's happened other times throughout the book, Ponyboy inserting his opinions at convenient times, telling us what a character is thinking went we can't know that he's right with any sort certainty.

Quick note: I just want to clarify something, which is that I am in no way trying to say that I dislike Ponyboy as a narrator. I absolutely love unreliable narrators and think that they're incredibly interesting and fun to analyse, as well as providing sort of ambiguity that really helps have each person make the story their own. I love them.

I do, however, also know that they are... well, unreliable. And part of what makes them so interesting is how you can spend hours and hours trying to dissect how much of what you just read was a lie (beyond the aspect of fiction and whatnot).

So yeah. Just thought that might need some clearing up considering the tone I used above.

[halfdead-halfskeleton]

Notes:

Lilia x You. Reader knows how to sew clothing(while author does not)

Based off Suitors suit vignette. Technically it's a continuation of the story, so make sure to read the vignette before this fic

A lot of background characters, but I'm not tagging all of them

A bit non-linear storytelling?

The suit was made of magic, meaning it will disappear after a certain amount of time. The fact that such a beautiful sight is not going to stay here for long made your heart ache. And yet, you continued to smile and tried your best to memorize every tiny detail of the tuxedo. You had a plan, after all.

"Feast your eyes while you still can!" said Lilia. The tuxedo Malleus created for him was just marvelous! You and Sebek competed in who's going to complement Lilia more while his face was shining with a smile. Your face did too, it even hurt a bit to smile so much.

The next couple of months casually went by in your room, as you hunched over your secret project. If only your school life wasn't so busy and sometimes downright chaotic, you might have finished it sooner... And if the cruel thing that is perfectionism wouldn't criticize your every move.

After a few not-so-successful, to put it lightly, attempts, you finally finished recreation the suit Malleus made for Lilia back when ghosts that invaded the school for a marriage ceremony left.

Your first attempt failed because you were so obsessed with the idea of recreating the outfit you forgot to take Lilia's measurements. While the final product turned out to be quite nice, it wouldn't fit Lilia at all. Also you didn't have some accessories the original outfit had, which you noticed only at the end.

And so, you began anew, but now without the fabric you intended to use. The end result turned out too different from the tuxedo you remembered. The shade of green? Too vibrant. The pattern on the ribbon? Wrong. The pants? Actually quite nice, but that's the only part of the outfit you liked. And after your sewing machine unexpectedly broke you lost all the crumbs of motivation there were left...

Thankfully, you became a good friends with some students at NRC. While you were earning money for a new sewing machine, Vil and Kalim searched for the fabric and accessories that matched Lilia's suitor suit. Vil didn't get to witness the tuxedo, so you and Kalim had to explain how it looked like. You even showed him all the sketches you made and the first attempt suit as an example.

"Wow, your skill is really shinning here!" Kalim carefully examined the suit from all angles together with Vil. "It's really unfortunate your sewing machine broke... Are you sure you don't want me to get you a new one? It's going to be way faster than working in Mostro Lounge for a whole month."

"That's right, but I'm already asking you for help, you know. It won't be so fair if you do everything for me!" you answered and looked at Vil, who's also visibly impressed by your skills.

"The stitching is quite nice, you clearly took your time to make it the best suit it could be. I'm glad to see you actually listened to the advice I gave you during previous projects. Alright, I'll lend you a hand as well. Just remember that my schedule is tight, so it will take a while to find everything you need."

"Thank you both so, so much!" As you said that, Kalim came closer to give you a big hug. He was super excited to see how it will turn out!

After mountains and mountains of work, you left out a sign. Not out of exhaustion or frustration, but out of relief. You did it. You DID it! Finally, even when it seemed like the whole universe itself didn't want you to complete the suit, you did it!

"Good job." A sudden pat on your back woke you up from all the thoughts. It was Vil who just entered the room. After a minute or so, Kalim came here too.

"Sorry for making you wait!" He panted and leaned on the closest wall. "Oh, I got so scared when I couldn't find the Albert chain I had to call Jamil and a couple of other Scarabia students for help. We found it! It's the same one I gave Lilia that night."

"Wait, if that's the same one... Is it really okay for me to take it? You could get something similar, but..."

"But? I thought you wanted to make 1:1 recreation. Why are you backing up now?" Vil asked with a frown on the face. You pulled him closer and whispered:

"Because it costs 10 million thaumarks!" Such shocking information left Vil speechless for a minute.

"Well, I thought the original one would suit him better! So here it is." As Kalim said that, he placed the Albert chain with a bat on the outfit. You looked at your creation, the exact copy of the tuxedo Malleus has created with magic. Even though some tears appeared on your eyes, your face radiated joy. You finally did it.

It was an after-school evening when you decide to gift Lilia the suit you've been working so hard on. As you roamed around Diasomnia dorm, something poked your back. Strangely, when you looked back there was nothing and no-one. So you turned your head forward and immediately got spooked by upside-down Lilia!

"Ehehe." He smiled mischievously, yet still helped you to get back up. "It's rare to see non-Diasomnia students here at such time. Could it be that you're looking for someone?" Lilia's eyes were set on the box you carried, it was wrapped nicely, like a birthday present.

When your heartbeat calmed down, you remembered the words you prepared in your head. "Yes, there is... But I'm not sure if they'll actually like the present I made. Could you take a look?"

"Oh? A skilled dressmaker like you wishes to hear my opinion? I would be more than glad to assist you." Your heart skipped a beat. Did someone tell him about your secret project? Who could that- oh, probably Kalim, since they're in the same club. And even if Kalim didn't tell it exactly to him, but Cater instead, Lilia would still find out. But maybe Lilia doesn't actually know and said it just because?.. You're kind of known for your great sewing skills. Or... "Let's do it in my room, I was right on my way there." You brushed off the haunting thoughts away and headed to Lilia's room, trying to calm down.

His face beamed with happiness when you let him unwrap the present. Although at first he wondered if it was really okay. "It would be rather troublesome to wrap it back up when you're going to gift it to that person."

"Don't worry, I won't have to do it." A surprised gasp echoed in the room. Lilia carefully picked up the tuxedo, examining every detail. He couldn't believe his eyes. "So, what do you think?"

After a minute of silence, he smiled. "I still remember this tuxedo. I'm really proud of Malleus for coming up with such an elaborate design. And I'm really proud of you for recreating it up to every single detail." As Lilia said that, his eyes began to tear up a bit. "That night I wore a tuxedo for the first time in my life. It's hard to believe I can re-experience that moment again."

"Do you wish to wear it right now?" While you did take Lilia's and some other students'(to make it less suspicious) measurements long time ago, anxiety kept telling you you might have made a mistake at some point.

"I'm eager to wear it!" You smiled unknowingly when Lilia's gentle laugh reached your ears. In a couple of minutes you re-entered the room to see him happily dancing in the suit you made. The moment he saw you he reached for your hand. "Would you mind to dance with me for a moment? Such a delightful gift deserves a special thank-you!"

Blush painted your cheeks red, and heart began to beat faster with joy and excitement. You happily accepted Lilia's offer, taking his hand in yours. And so, you danced around the room. At one point Lilia began to hum a sweet melody. You joined him, and you both hummed in unison while dancing across the room.

You knew this moment, no matter how joyous and bright, would end eventually. So you made sure to enjoy every last bit of it, engraving it in your memory for eternity. And so did he.

[hawkland]

Art Masterpost: Solitudes

Story by: ilovehowyouletmefall (@angelinthefire) Art by: sidewidner (@hawkland)

It's October and that means it's @deancasbigbang season once again! This year makes for my third time around for the event, although this year I only managed to participate as an artist (I'm still in a bit of writer's burnout since the summer). But, that meant I could put all of my focus and time into doing these four pieces for @angelinthefire's wonderful story "Solitudes." I'm gonna talk a little bit about my ideas and process and share some progress pictures behind the cut in a way that might be kind of spoilery, so if you want, just go read the story now! And then you come back here later to find out more if you wish. All works were completed in watercolor with some digital effects and filtering after completion.

I was really drawn to the imagery of the architectural elements of where the story takes place (an abandoned brutalist mansion) vs. nature and decay...plus the way light and shadow seemed to play such important roles in the visual descriptions. Dean and Cas spend so much of the story separated by supernatural forces even when they are in the same room I wanted to focus on that as well: being so near yet so far apart, not quite connecting or even able to look at each other without barriers.

I started on the banner art right away, thinking of Dean in despair (for reasons in the story) and Cas yearning/wishing he could reach him. Behind them both is the concrete wall covered in mold and moss (which was a LOT of fun to paint). The actual final watercolor painting came out as so:

(This is one of my favorite Deans that I've painted. His face can be SO hard to get right!)

Working with angelinthefire's suggestions I ran some different digital filters on the photo to desaturate/emphasize the light and dark for the final banner, and then with that in mind tried to keep the other pieces in a similar color scheme and tonal range.

The atrium painting was the biggest challenge. I knew I wanted to do a piece to capture the feeling of the house, the light coming in from an open skylight falling on brambles growing out of an old fountain spot. I was thinking of the Roman villa ruins I've visited combined with some actual Brutalist/modern homes I looked up. My original drawing plan was a bit more complicated and simplifying/taking out some elements definitely makes it more creepy/mysterious looking and less like a funky modern home.

You can see the vanishing/perspective point is right where Dean is looking at Cas.

The light falling down from above was partially painted with some interference/shimmer watercolors, but I amplified it (along with the shadows) with some digital effects at the end. This was before doing any digital magic:

Dean reaching for Cas: I made myself so sad working on that piece! It was also quite the challenge to get the likeness right at that angle and do the lighting the way I wanted, so again I used some digital effects at the end to really intensify it. Painting before filters:

I think my favorite part of that one is how I dry-brushed the ash wings in one shot and they came out just how I wanted! My main reference was, heh, that old classic shot of unconscious Cas being poked with a stick. I used my own hand for Dean's reaching out to what he sees through the harsh angled light.

The final piece is a direct companion to the one above it, and one I'd been thinking about for weeks, trying to map it out mentally before tackling it. Dean's face can be so much more challenging for me to try to capture well compared to Cas's and I really wanted to get his shock and horror in that moment while also being able to show (the real) Cas in the background/shadows...this was the third drawing pass before I finally started painting it. There's only a light bit of filtering over the final piece to push Cas back in the shadows (I didn't want to do with the paints for fear of muddying the colors...plus I was already painting Cas so small any wrong brush stroke could shift his likeness/expression.)

Overall I really like how unified these pieces all ended up feeling and I hope they manage to complement the story in a way that it deserves!

[liroutrozenberg]

Tremors and injuries

Trial part. I have an idea for a story, but I'm not sure whether to write it completely or not. All photos are taken from Pinterest, I am not their author and do not claim them as my own! Sketch 1

Ilona wasn't sure that flying to this godforsaken planet was a good idea. Karma, the universe, fate and all the higher powers in general clearly didn't like her. Learning a new culture and language was difficult, but she managed it, somehow overcoming herself, in order to finally end up on the "Second Earth" as some scientists called Pandora and they could actually be understood, albeit partially.

Despite this, the opportunity to learn something new attracted her strongly enough that she could close her eyes to many things, which she did, initially adapting to a new life on a separate research base somewhere deep in the jungle. It was calmer there than in Hell's Gate and it was possible to work without being distracted by the constant military, who wandered everywhere and sometimes stuck their noses into other people's business.

During their loading onto the helicopter that was supposed to ferry them from Hell's Gate to a safe research base, she crossed paths with Corporal for the first time. It turned out to be Lee, a fellow participant in the Pandora program, albeit with a different assignment and job profile than Ilona herself. In the end, during the first part of the flight they were able to find common ground, no matter how you look at it, and they still have a long time to work together and it would be worthwhile to establish a relationship right away.

"So, what brings you here? Wouldn't it be easier to stay with the rest of the military and earn promotions?" Ilona raises an eyebrow questioningly, watching as her interlocutor's ears perk up after the question was voiced.

"It's either here or be shot. Of two evils, I chose the lesser." Lee answers, her lips spreading into an extremely satisfied smile before she begins to laugh at Ilona's puzzled expression. "Just kidding. Don't take my words too literally. I'm just not a fan of the standing that happens there and I prefer silence."

"You scared me for a second." Ilona admitted honestly, feeling her heart pounding in her chest and it was unclear from what exactly. Either from the joke that was voiced, or from the pure laughter that sounded like a rumble in the helicopter. But she quickly threw this thought into the background.

"Okay, I didn't mean to." Lee raises her hands in a conciliatory manner, continuing to giggle quietly, before another member of our small group distracts her, drawing attention to herself and she talks to him, giving Ilona a short break.

The second part of the flight went smoothly, which made Ilona intuitively think that something bad was waiting for them in the end, but most were in a good mood, which was hard not to give in to, and soon Ilona calms down a little, feeling that everything is not so bad and she just needs to get used to the changed environment, which she had never thought about before.

At the center, two employees who had arrived a few days earlier were already waiting for them. Lee immediately went to reconnoiter the area and warned them not to wait for her until late in the evening, as this was her duty. In general, no one objected much, except that they made sure that she had enough combat ammunition just in case, even though Lee did not look like someone who was capable of starting shooting just because of some rustle of unknown origin.

Ilona occupied a small room near the laboratory, so that she could have quick access to it. The living spaces were small, designed mainly so that they did not spend too much time in them, but overall the place was quite pleasant, which was strange to think about the national center, but this was the last thought that could come to mind.

Having laid out a few things, Ilona headed to a small conference room to listen to the briefing and plans for the first time, which the first arrivals had already made. A little later, a few more goals were added to the list, as someone wanted to study the water bodies, and a few more needed to improve their level of speech in the Na'vi language.

Ilona's first day at the research center was slowly coming to an end, when the Sun began to give way to the Moon, symbolizing the end of a hard day. The white light of the lamps in the lab seemed completely familiar and calmed her down a little, although she still felt some nervousness from the new team and place, but now it was not felt so acutely and she thought that she was coping with her emotional state quite well.

"Hey, good evening. Are you planning on sitting here all night?" Melissa - one of the scientific leaders, passing by the lab, noticed her new partner and smiled good-naturedly, entering the room. "Everyone is planning to gather upstairs, you know… to chat and get to know each other better. Are you coming?"

Ilona thinks for a moment before setting down the tablet she had initially been giving her full attention to. Chatting with everyone sounded like a good idea and she certainly wasn't against the idea.

"Yeah, sure. That would be great." She smiles and gets up from her seat, immediately following Melissa as she strides up to the top floor, into the apartment complex where the others have already gathered.

+ + +

The conversations lasted so long that the stars were already shining in the sky, and through the darkness one could see the nearest planets, leisurely continuing their peaceful life, because for them absolutely nothing had changed, allowing their cycle to continue further, as if nothing had happened.

"Does anyone hope that we will have to work closely with the Navi representatives?" Grakber, sitting on the table and bending his legs under himself, goes over all the possible developments of events while they are here. Although, he was one of those who should raise his level of the native language, so his question made sense.

"Well, that would be great. Although, our job is not about that." Melisa retorts as if nothing happened. "Perhaps Li will encounter a few of them? Speaking of which…" She looked away and glanced at the time before furrowing her brows. "She still hasn't returned, and it's been almost seven hours since she went into the forest."

This thought was unexpected, because the Corporal had indeed not returned back yet, continuing to wander somewhere in the dense jungle. Was this something that should alert them, or could they continue to just sit here in safety? No one had an answer to that question, on the other hand… if something had happened, Lee would have let them know, right?

[viperwhispered]

*drops into your inbox with papers and a pencil* TELL ME EVERYTHING BEHIND YOUR THOUGHT PROCESS. I would write TWST fanfiction but I personally suck at capturing the characters correctly so I always love to hear other people's methods and how they managed it. Plus your writing is just like 100000/10 so I just wanna see what goes on in your brain too

(Referring to this fic.)

Hasffgfs you're being so nice I can't. Like, my writing? That good? You sure are warming my heart and once again I'm just so glad you liked it so much.

And giving me free reign to ramble? Buckle up this will probably get long because I definitely have thoughts.

It's probably obvious but this totally started as a pure thirst piece. Like Jamil just having his way with me the reader? Yes please, sign me up.

Jamil was having none of that, tho. Like, I was trying to get inside his head, just get the action going, but it just didn't seem to make sense like that. Like, just didn't happen.

I'm sure this is a totally unhelpful description of how I handle characterization, I'm afraid. But just like, I was trying to engage the "what would Jamil do?" part of my brain, and that just wouldn't budge without some buildup. And sure I could've left the background in my head but why would I? If it makes sense to me then it probably makes sense for the story and the reader, too. And I don't think I really would've succeeded in writing the smut in a satisfactory way if I didn't have the buildup written too.

On the other hand, I did also like the idea of having a scene of Jamil being all clever and stuff. Wanted to do some 'show, don't tell', you know? Otherwise we probably would've had reader's thoughts about what kind of a person Jamil is, but not really any concrete examples. And I did want to establish the vibe a bit more.

Like, I just absolutely love it when Jamil's being all sly, and confident about it, too. Hence this moodboard thing (I was looking at this a lot while writing, since that was the vibe I was wanting to emulate / build on). Like, Jamil in Beanfest? Amazing, one of my favorites. He gets to more freely be all clever stuff and have fun with it, too. And I wanted to bring some of that in here.

Plus I wanted to age Jamil up anyway (because fic this may also kinda be a self-insert in disguise and I wanted him to be closer to my age). And like I hope he doesn't canonically end up like he is here. But he definitely could.

Like, in my head this is a Jamil who didn't quite get the freedom he wanted. So he's stuck, but he's also become more ruthless and self-serving, taking what advantage he can of his position (and Kalim). Like, that talk Jamil and Leona had in book 6? It's like Jamil didn't quite take the right lessons from that, or at least he's applying them in less than ideal circumstances.

So we have a Jamil who has no quailms about going for what he wants, underhanded or not. He's still keeping it under wraps, but he's not holding back anymore if there's something that benefits him or suits what he wants. And he wants you.

Reader, meanwhile, in many aspects is basically a reflection (and perhaps also a magnification) of my Jamil thoughts. Which… might explain why they ended up so thirsty that the dubcon ended up milder than originally planned 😅

But when I wrote the reader wanting to know more about Jamil (because I wanted to establish just what kind of a Jamil we're dealing with here) I realized that Jamil absolutely would a) take note and b) become suspicious. We know he's paranoid. (Or perhaps just very careful for good reasons. Anyway.) Even if in some ways he's more confident here, that paranoia isn't going anywhere. So, that scene with him questioning reader's motives.

Now, this scene wasn't really something I planned, and I certainly tried to make my way around or skip it altogether. But it just felt like it had to be there, before we could get to the smut. Like, why would Jamil just disregard reader's behavior? But I also kinda struggled with it (like, lemme get to the smut already, why do these characters require so much plot of me here?).

And like, if I was a more prolific writer, I'm sure I could've written much more about that stage. About Jamil probing the reader while the reader thinks he's still just suspicious (rather than (also) interested). But I actually wanted to finish this so I figured I'll just briefly skim over this stage, since it was kinda extraneous to the original idea, anyway.

Though I'm sure there is some delicious potential there to write something where one could read between the lines to see what Jamil is actually thinking at that point - versus what reader character thinks his motivations are.

But hey, guess now you get to put your own spin on things when you read, which sure serves its own purposes.

And then, the smut. Jamil so kindly asks your hosts for you to get a quiet room since you're such a light sleeper (liar). He just happens to come in just as you're so vulnerable and barely dressed.

Yeah he definitely planned that whole thing and blocked out some time in his schedule. May have even kept tabs on you via your phone, if you're inclined to think so.

But also. He's so careful that he's the one in control all the way through that encounter. You don't get to touch, you don't get to undress him, even while plowing into you he could pull away and walk off at any moment if he needed to.

So when you're the one to wrap your arms around him and kiss him? Yeah that short-circuits him a bit.

If NRC Jamil is totally repressed, then so is this, just in a slightly different way. Because this Jamil isn't holding back getting what he wants, but he sure is keeping everyone and everything far far away. Which might come into play more if this thing does get a sequel.

And then Jamil using snake whisper on you at the end. I just had to.

I did contemplate having him do that as soon as the reader character starts getting loud, but that just felt a little too cruel. Didn't want to leave the folks reading this hanging, you know.

But what happened while you were under the spell… Well, that's something to think about, isn't it.

(I don't have the definite answer to this either, though I do have a few ideas.)

So, uh, I think that's the gist of it? I definitely spent a lot of time thinking about how to strike the right balance between things. Like, how could I make Jamil out to be ruthless and all without it being too unsavory or concerning? I definitely wrote several variations of that scene before I decided it was good enough, not too tame, not too violent.

Same with the smut: I wanted there to be some discomfort and dubcon elements, but I didn't want to go too far with it so that I could still keep it on the side of exciting rather than uncomfortable to read. Like, I certainly have written stuff more on the noncon side before, but like I said, this reader was pretty enthusiastic. So the only way to lean more into the dubcon would've been to make Jamil more into a selfish jerk, and that didn't seem accurate either. Plus combining Jamil's motivations with what I'd personally find hot was another balancing act.

But also: if you have thoughts about writing, then please write! Headcanons, oneshots, long ambitious stuff. The only way you get better is practice, after all.

I mean, I was definitely worried if I'd do Jamil justice here. But also I'm the sort of writer/creator who sometimes just has to get certain ideas out of their brain, so at a certain point you (hopefully) learn to accept that what you're doing is good enough to be finished / shared - no matter how close or not it is to some imagined ideal. (Besides, others can't compare your work to that ideal in your brain. They only see the end result, which I feel is quite freeing in a way.)

Besides, there's so many different ways to write, and so many things potential readers would enjoy. Interesting ideas, characterization, technically good writing, evocative prose, highlighting certain aspects of canon or bringing new elements to it…

And like, it's such a cliche, but no one's going to write the stories you think about like you would. So why not add another voice to the mix?

Also though: this is what I was thinking while writing. But I'd certainly love to hear how things came across / were interpreted while reading. I may be the writer, but how you read it is mostly out of my hands, and I'm definitely curious.

[ailendolin]

17, 18, and 19 for the Ghosts ask!

Thank you for the ask! 💙

17. If you were a ghost, where would you like to haunt the most? 

A natural history museum. I'm a palaeontologist so this would the perfect place for me. I'd get new visitors every day, guided tours I could follow along, hear about the latest findings, roam the collections, watch new exhibits being planned and built ... The afterlife doesn't get more exciting than that!

18. Dream show crossover? 

If we're talking crossover between the two Ghosts shows, I'd love for Alison to stumble upon Woodstone Manor online while looking for inspiration on how to turn Button House into a profitable business. Maybe she watches a livestream of Sam promoting the house or something, sees the ghosts in the background and notices Sam trying not to react to them. Even though Mike thinks it's weird Alison decides to send Sam a message along the lines of, "I know this sounds crazy but is there a chance you can see ghosts?" and it's the start of a wonderful friendship.

Apart from that, I think a crossover between Ghosts and Forever would be incredible given that Henry Morgan keeps dying and coming back to life and would most certainly be able to see ghosts. Also The X-Files and, of course, Ghost Files. I want Shane and Ryan to use all their fancy tech in Button House's basement and the Plague Ghosts to get all excited about it only to think it's not working when none of the little gadgets react.

19. Have you seen both Ghosts shows? If so, what are your thoughts?

I have seen both Ghosts shows and I like both of them for very different reasons. The thing is, BBC Ghosts came into my life at a time where I desperately needed it. It's special to me in ways words can't describe and CBS Ghosts can't possibly compete with that. I'm very much aware of that, so when I started watching CBS Ghosts I tried my best not to compare the two because CBS Ghosts wouldn't have stood a chance. The first few episodes didn't make that easy given how much they copied from the original. But I knew the show would eventually find its footing and become its own thing so I continued watching and was not disappointed.

I think the strengths of both shows actually lie in their differences. CBS Ghosts is a lot lighter and more simply structured than BBC Ghosts. The ghosts already feel like a family right from the start whereas that's something that needs to be fought for and earned in the original. Both approaches work for me and I quite enjoy the different dynamics that result as a consequence. But where every single episode of BBC Ghosts is one I treasure, CBS Ghosts' episodes and story lines are often a hit-or-miss with me. There are some I really like and others I probably won't ever force myself to watch again. The writing often feels a bit rushed and things tend to get neatly explained by the end of an episode which is seldom the case on BBC Ghosts.

Still, CBS Ghosts is not a bad show. It's just a different one and that's a good thing in my opinion. People obviously don't have to like both but I wish they would stop pitting them against each other. It's not a fight. One doesn't cancel out the other and I'd like to think if they actually gave CBS Ghosts a chance and watched the whole first season without actively comparing the two, they would perhaps find themselves enjoying some of the story lines and emotional moments as much as I did.

____

Ask game can be found here.

Next up 1, 4, 13 and 16 will be answered.

[iamthecomet]

Ok I like all of you quite a lot so I have decided to share an excerpt from my original Japan story with you:

“Aww look. It's the two weeby lesbos. Think if we ask nicely they will make out for us?” Rachel sneered. I flipped her off without looking up from my book as I felt my cheeks burn red.

“At least I can get a girlfriend. Guys won't even look at you.” Kennedy smirked. I head snapped to look at her with my eyebrow raised. She took my hand and kissed my knuckles, trying to hold back her laugh at the gagging and retreating footsteps in the background. It took everything in me not to yank my hand away in that moment.

“You ok there?” I snickered.

“Oh yeah. I’m great. Are you? You look a little flushed. ”

“I’m sorry. I knew you were going to get called a lesbian from hanging out with me.” I mumbled.

“Are you?” I nodded. “Does your dad know?” I nodded again. “Oh. Ok. Cool. I’m bi but I never had someone I trust enough to tell.” My heart fluttered and part of me screamed that I finally had a chance but I didn't want to give myself false hope.

“Well I’m happy you trust me enough to share that information.” I finally said softly. She beamed at me and I noticed she didn't let go of my hand but I didn't bring attention to it. She didn't let go of my hand for the rest of the day and by the end of the day everyone was whispering.

“Let them talk. Who cares?” Kennedy murmured. “It’s kinda funny anyway. Next year we are off to college in Japan and we will never see any of them ever again.”

“I am so ready. This is going to be exciting. I am more excited for the trip this summer right now. I still have so much to plan.”

“Can we go to the Studio Ghibli museum too?!” Kennedy begged.

“I didn't even think about that! I will definitely reserve our tickets.” I told her. “Now come on. One more class today and then you are spending the weekend with me.”

AHHHHH PLASMA YESSS.

I love this so much!!! ♥♥♥♥

[kaushalcharacterillustration]

Poster Feedback From Peers And Finishing The Project

Presentation

We needed to choose three poster sketches to turn into greyscale A3 posters to be presented along with our 100-word description of the character's backstory.

People in groups of three would offer positive criticism on a yellow Post-It Note and negative criticism on a pink one. The criticism could be about anything (composition, proportions, perspective, etc.)

My group was Katherine, Lindsay, and I. We did not provide criticism for posters made by people in our group.

Critique

People seemed to like all the compositions for different reasons but the one with the paint stroke covering Claudia's eye seemed like the most popular. People said the paint stroke imagery was a good idea and it was striking/interesting. One group also said it didn't show much narrative.

The top-down poster was praised for its perspective but once again, a lack of narrative. One team said the character could be bigger in the poster.

People liked how the final poster included Edwin and overall told the story/showed the conflict the best and most clearly. Someone said the house in the background looked quite high and asked if it was intentional.

Many of the criticisms were regarding the text, likely because I rushed that part in the A3 posters. Text placement, size, font, and clarity were among the notes.

In terms of general notes, there wasn't much. One group noted that the posters don't depict the wealth gap or reference money at all. One of the teams also was confused as to why the neighbourhood being bought by Edwin was a bad thing.

Reflection

Moving forward, I want to use the poster with paint covering the eye since that was the most popular one and it's the most unique as well. To include more narrative I might include Edwin in one of the negative spaces in a similar manner to the poster he already appeared in. I might also show them as children to show how they used to be friends but naturally grew apart and it would help the conflict in the story and the two sides of Claudia's face in the poster. I initially wanted to keep this design simple but adding more along the sides could really add interest and guide the eye through different parts of the poster.

For the text, I want to pick font(s) that fit, such as using a paintbrush-like font for "Strokes". I might not choose a bloody/drippy font for "Blood" since that probably won't look very good and won't help with clarity. I also want to move the text to the bottom to leave more room for additional visuals.

In general, I want to depict the importance of money/the wealth gap without literally including cash or a cheque. I could use the contrast between Edwin's high-up, pristine, secluded mansion, and Claudia's poor, run-down neighbourhood. I also want Claudia to look rough around the edges with messy hair and worn-down clothes. Early versions of the Edwin silhouette included a tie and collar which could be re-added if desired.

I need to rewrite my 100 words to emphasise the threat of gentrification which not all people know about or understand fully.

This week I want to focus on composition and colour. Because I plan to change the composition a lot by adding more elements, I want to focus on doing so in a way that is pleasing to the eye whilst including everything I want. I also want the colour to be a focus point since Claudia will primarily include red, so I want the left and right sides to have colour schemes that complement it and don't take away from Claudia in the middle.

Revision

I slightly changed the 100-word description to emphasise that the neighbourhood redevelopment is bad for those living there.

I started by creating a new sketch digitally, tracing over a scan of the original drawing (not the A3 version). I used the symmetry tool for most of it.

I changed the head proportions and added her sweater's details. I also roughly sketched out the background characters and details.

I added the values for Claudia and the prominent non-diegetic red parts of the image including the vital blood stroke. I used a Photoshop mixer brush for a more realistic paint stroke since it simulates how paint spreads, mixes, and the thickness of the paint. I also used this for the title and texturing silhouettes later on.

I settled on a triadic colour scheme with green on the left, red in the middle, and blue on the right. I filled in Claudia's colours based on the values and created a green palette for the houses and grass on the right. I decided I also wanted the children on the left to be silhouetted and used a lime colour to fill it using the mixer brush and for Edwin's silhouette. I added an atmospheric effect to the buildings in the distance by using a grey soft round brush at a very large size and low opacity. The sky is also lighter and duller on the left side. I used the smudge tool at a large size to smoothly transition it where the blood stroke reached the top.

Before I completed the mansion's colour, I took time to add the shading to Claudia. I used a dark red rather than a black to make it look less boring and have it fit better. I also added the title and removed the shadow on the houses on the left since I thought the background had a bit too much contrast. When I added the grass on the right side, it was a bit more on the blue side to fit the colour scheme and provide more contrast with the opposing side.

Finally, I coloured in the mansion using a blue palette and added a slight atmospheric effect to match the left side. I gave the title a backdrop using the mixer brush again to add more readability and contrast to that part of the image. I added highlights using the screen layer mode once again. Finally, I selected each half of the background and adjusted the colours so they matched a bit better and to help the background stay in the background since there was still some contrast I wanted to remove.

[kumiko-desu]

ChroNoiR | A Day Out With ChroNoiR

Request:

Hello! I saw you're opening request and i want to submit one!

Can you make general headcannons (or imagines, whichever you prefer it's ok) with a streamer Reader that have a three man unit with ChroNoiR going on outings like shopping or eating at a restaurant, and the three starts talking abt it at an off collab stream after the outings?

Thank you!╰(*´︶`*)╯

Pairings: Kuzuha & Kanae & Streamer!Reader

Tags: reader insert, pov second person, fluff, platonic relationships, an attempt at comedy, reader is a streamer, kuzuha was abused (in a friendly manner)

Notes: Thank you for being my first request ! Since you didn't specify much I will have it as a platonic relationship between the three. There are a few curse words here and there. This idea was very fun to think and write about. Enjoy ! (Banner might change again in the future, I don't really like this design.)

“ChroNoiR went out yesterday, right? Yea! It was quite sudden actually, all three of us didn’t have plans and I was bored. It was really funny yesterday, especially Kuzuha-kun.” You saw a comment asking in the comment section on TwitCast. ChroNoiR, a three-man unit between you, Kanae, and Kuzuha, is hosting a TwitCast the week after successfully debuting a new original song.

You can hear Kanae’s snickering in the background, “Yesterday was fun~, we should go out more often.”

Sounds of clothes shuffling can be heard and Kuzuha’s voice spoke up, “No! I ain’t letting you two rob me again!”

It was an interesting day. You suddenly becoming hungry and wanting to go out to eat, but doesn’t want to go alone led you to texting your two teammates, Kuzuha and Kanae, for a day out.

This time, all three of you didn’t have any plans for the rest of the day when you asked them around noon. So, being the great friend and teammate you are, you called in an impromptu outing with the two and made Kuzuha pay for everything considering that he’s loaded from the superchats.

The first destination was the local mall, since you were hungry and Kanae wanted to grab a snack as well. You both visited a cafe, each getting a dish stacked with fluffy pancakes and Kuzuha getting a strawberry milkshake (of course Kuzuha paid). Before you three ate, you posted a picture of your dishes and Kuzuha’s milkshake on Twitter with the caption “いただきましょう” (itadakimashou; let’s eat).

“The pancakes were so fluffy and so good! It melted in my mouth.”

“You know your eating spots (Name)-chan.”

“I was forced to watch them eat, they ate a lot.”

You and Kanae finish your pancakes and you three leave the cafe to your next stop, the cosmetic store. Kanae mentioned that he needed to buy some face masks and you needed to get a new lip gloss. You two entered the store without a thought while Kuzuha trailed behind, still sipping on his strawberry milkshake from earlier.

Kanae had two packs of face masks on either hand, switching gazes between the two, “Nee (Name)-chan, do you think I should get the brightening one or the anti-aging one?”

“I think you should stick with your usual hydrating one, your skin is still plump and white like a baby’s.” You reached your hands out to pinch Kanae’s soft cheeks.

“Heh, that’s why I’m always babu-babu you know?” He smirked but then yelped in pain as you pinched his cheeks harder.

The two of you were discussing various products, giving suggestions on what brands and types you should use. You were so deep into the conversation that you didn’t notice Kuzuha walking to you two, face messily caked with black lipstick, thick layer of mascara and dark eye shadow. If you didn’t know him, you would’ve thought he was an e-boy.

“Pfft- Kuzuha! What the heck are you doing?!”

“You two were taking so long so I tried the testing products. I look good right? Probably can pick up a few girls on the way out. Do they have trial make-up removers? I’m very tempted to lick my lips right now.”

Kanae went to the general area for make-up removers and quickly returned to you and Kuzuha with a hand barely hiding his grin, “There’s no open bottles.”

You three had to ask the staff for some and watch Kuzuha disgruntledly wipe the make-up off his face.

“I should’ve taken a picture of it! He looked so hideous that it was funny!”

“I’ll teach you how to do makeup next time Zuha-kun, so that if there’s a girl you want to impress you’ll know what to do.”

“I don’t need your fucking help!”

You three left the cosmetic store and wandered around the mall for a bit, not having a specific location to go in mind yet. Your eyes widened and sparked when they spotted an arcade. Your hands grabbed the other two boys' arms and dragged them there.

Kanae used Kuzuha’s money and bought a total of 100 coins. You three spent it on various games like racing games, basketball, fishing, and rhythm games. There was a competition between everyone, you won the sports related games, Kanae won the rhythm games and Kuzuha somehow won the ones that makes you seem like you can win but is actually a scam (you and Kanae blame it on pure luck while Kuzuha boasts its all skills).

But in between, you would nudge the two to distract from their games. Either successfully make them lose their streak or make them go off track. In return, Kuzuha will try to wave his arms in front of your eyes to block the screen or Kanae covering your eyes.

The highlight in the arcade was when you three were at the air hockey table. Kanae and Kuzuha were playing against each other and you were spectating in the middle. The two were tied in points and rapidly hitting the puck back and forth. They were hitting it so quick and strong that Kuzuha hit the puck to Kanae and he was doing the same motion at the same time, causing the puck to fly off the table, nearly hitting Kuzuha’s face if not for his quick reflexes.

“Oi! That was fucking dangerous!” Kuzuha screamed and looked back at where the puck went while you and Kanae were laughing your asses off.

“Zuha-kun was sweating the whole time afterwards, he didn’t really expect Kanakana to be that strong. Kanakana has been working out recently, getting muscles and shit.”

“You don’t have to say that (Name)-chan.”

“Despite that, the boys really suck at crane games. Like they’re really trash at it, despite their aims being so good in Apex and Valorant.”

“Your aim’s trash (Name), it’s always us carrying you in Apex.”

“Then keep carrying me, slaves!”

Before you three left the arcade you still had a lot of leftover coins. So to spend them quickly, Kuzuha and Kanae made a bet on who could get a prize from the claw machine first and they got to keep the prize. They went to a figurine claw machine that had the box balancing on two strings and started their challenge. Coins were spent and the box in the middle moved bit by bit but it wasn’t enough to make it fall. It was until the last coin and both started to fight over who’s going to use it.

“Let your hands go noob, you always make the box move back to its original spot.”

“Hah! Talk about yourself! It’s my turn anyway so give me the coin.”

The banter was entertaining in the beginning but you got bored quickly. You snatched the coin from their hands and started the machine. Moving the joystick back and forth a bit, trying to aim the claw correctly and you pressed the button. The claw descended down around the box, closed its claw and started its ascent. Three pairs of eyes watched closely to the claw as it loosened slightly and moved the box. Though it wasn’t tight enough to grab the box, it nudged the box enough to lose its balance and fall down the machine. You bent down to grab the prize and leave the place with the boys’ pairs of eyes following you and mouths agape.

You nonchalantly turned to the two, “I won so let’s go eat. I wanna eat steak today.”

Like you said earlier, your group went to a steakhouse that had opened recently and got good reviews. As a foodie, you had to go there. You three went into the restaurant, it had dim lights and soothing jazz music playing in the background, creating an ambient atmosphere. The host led the group to a private room which Kanae requested.

“Nice place, where did you find this restaurant?” Kanae asked while looking around the restaurant.

“Shacho (Kagami Hayato’s nickname meaning ‘president’) suggested the place to me.” Your eyes were also wandering around the spacious room.

Kuzuha audibly took a deep breath in which you and Kanae cringe at, “Smells nice too, shacho eats good food all the time, he really knows his restaurants.”

The place serves a wide range of beef from Kobe as a specialty. Kanae ordered a lean steak and water as drinks, you got yourself a whole T-bone steak and also water, while Kuzuha got a beef bowl (gyudon) and his second drink of the day, a hot cocoa.

“Kuzuha has really boring tastes. I should bring him along to my taste-testing outings.”

“Don’t feed me your unhealthy human food.”

“The other day you asked me where to get good beef bowls, Kuzu.”

A waiter arrived in the room and poured your and Kanae’s cups with water from this large glass bottle and another waiter brought Kuzuha’s hot cocoa.

The water you sipped tasted different, it had a more mineral taste than the filtered water you usually have at home. You dismissed it and continued drinking the complimentary water.

It didn’t take too long until the main course arrived and you three gave your thanks for the meals and dug in. The steak was juicy, spiced and cooked to perfection. Everyone was enjoying their meal and chatting about various things, about your plans as VTubers and as an individual.

Towards the end when the bill came, all three pairs of eyes couldn’t help but almost bulge out of their eye sockets. The most surprising thing didn’t come from the price of the main dishes, but from the water you and Kanae drinked. You two drank a lot of water (drink water and stay hydrated!) and drank four 1-liter bottles, each costing 1,500 yen (~15 USD), meaning water bottles alone were 6,000 yen (~60 USD).

“YOU TWO ARE TRYING TO ROB MY WALLET FOR SOMETHING, GREEDY PIGS?!” Kuzuha shrieked loudly inside the private room.

You turned to Kuzuha in disbelief, “I THOUGHT THE WATER WAS COMPLIMENTARY, SO I JUST KEPT DRINKING! I WAS THIRSTY TOO!”

Kanae was sitting calmly between you and Kuzuha bickering across the table. He waited until you two were calm and asked Kuzuha for his card so that they could pay the bills and leave the place.

“Thanks for the meal~”

“Don’t act like you’re innocent!”

“I swear I’m not going out with you two anymore.” Kuzuha grumbled under his breath.

Kanae ignored it and cooed at him, “Thanks Kuzu~, I’ll go buy more things next time.”

“It was a really fun day with those two, I would trade it over the world hehe.” You said to the listeners and moved onto the next comment.

The story about the expensive water is based on a true story.

[sunshinereddie]

37 needing comfort "You don't know how much I appreciate you." Can I request it as Eddie saying it to Richie tho? ;__; </3

richie and eddie have been dating for four months now. it's been four months since they defeated IT, since eddie left his wife, since eddie left behind everything in his life that was making him miserable and ran right into the comforting arms of the man he's always loved.

it's a quiet night in their apartment, and richie and eddie are in their living room, holding each other close and slow dancing to soft music playing in the background. they do this quite often, they find it rather comforting to just hold each other and sway to the music, occasionally exchanging quiet whispers of love and giggling with each other.

in the middle of their dance, when eddie pulls his head off of richie's shoulder to look up at him- and when he looks into those warm, inviting eyes, eddie can't control the flood of love that rushes into his entire body. "richie, you have no idea how much i appreciate you," he says quietly.

richie chuckles, raising an eyebrow. "what do you mean?"

"you...you've done so much for me," he explains. " you've always been my best friend. when we were kids, you were always trying to protect me when i couldn't do it myself. growing up, i knew you would always be there for me when i needed it, and sometimes you were there to help me when i didn't even know i needed it. and then, back at the fight... you saved my life, carrying me out of that house. you helped me realize who i am, you helped me through the divorce, you supported me every single step of the way, and i... i can't thank you enough, for everything you've done for me."

richie smiles, pressing a kiss to eddie's forehead. "you don't have to thank me," he says. "that's... that's just what love is all about. and i love you, eds. more than anything."

that flood is starting to build up inside of eddie. "i love you too," he says, and when richie leans down to kiss him, the dam that was restraining that flood breaks, and now all eddie can think about is his love for richie tozier. richie pulls away, smiling, and eddie feels warm. "i love you," he says again. "i love you."

and maybe it's the two glasses of wine or just the high of a drug called love, but when eddie becomes aware of the small weight in the pocket of his pants, he decides, fuck it.

he takes a step back from richie, stopping their dance. "you know, i was planning on doing this... somewhere else," he says, his words starting to speed up in the way they always did when he gets nervous. "i haven't actually planned it all out yet, but... that doesn't matter anymore. because i don't want to wait."

richie's eyebrows furrow in confusion. "what are you talking about?" he asks.

eddie takes a deep breath. he's only been waiting for his moment for, well, his entire life. he takes another step back, reaching into his pocket, and as he pulls out a small box, he lowers himself down onto one knee. "richie," he starts, trying his best not to cry. "i love you, and i appreciate you so much. you mean the absolute world to me, and i can't imagine my life without you in it. so, richie, will you-"

eddie can't even finish his question before richie is throwing his arms around him, knocking them both down onto the carpet as he holds eddie tight, crying into his shoulder yes, yes, of course i will marry you, holy fuck, i love you.

eddie lets out a combined laugh and sob as he hugs richie back. it wasn't exactly the fancy, organized proposal he had originally had in mind, but eddie wouldn't trade it for anything.

[jengarie]

#showyourprocess !

From planning to posting, share your process for making creative content!

To continue supporting content makers, this tag game is meant to show the entire process of making creative content: this can be for any creation.

RULES — When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag up to 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours!

Thank you, @rinielle for tagging me! She chose the piece above (original post), and oh boy this one was a whole ass rollercoaster ride! Unfortunately, I hadn't turned on the timelapse feature for this but I'll try to go through each part of the process as best as I can!

The photos I'm gonna upload are gonna be a mix of screenshots and literal photos of my screen, because I'm taking some of them from my updates to friends, since a lot of the steps got lost in my painting process.

But before that, let me tag some other amazing creators!

@dragonji: this gif art!

@candicewright: this yibo painting!

@wendashanren: this gifset!

@mylastbraincql: this gif!

I haven't been able to keep track of who's been tagged so apologies if you've already done this! Also, no pressure to do it at all if you would rather not! <3

Planning

Sometimes, I get an idea first and find reference photos to go with that idea. But for this one, I sought out a reference photo first, and built an idea on top of it!

After that, I roughly sketch out the base pose. Usually, this looks very messy, but it doesn't really matter as long as I understand which part goes where!

The idea for the background didn't really come until the creation process because I don't think I really planned this to be a full piece.

Creation

Sketching

Honestly, from this point on, it's more of trial and error.

So, I redid the the initial base pose—made it cleaner and a little bit more detailed. See: the added definition in their arm muscles, the rearrangement of Wei Wuxian's legs, and Lan Wangji's hand on Wei Wuxian's back. If you look at the second photo, I also changed the pose a bit midway—I tend to edit as I go sometimes when I change my mind. (For this, I thought, given the Lan arm strength, it would be better to make Lan Wangji look more at ease carrying Wei Wuxian. This gets covered by the robes anyway though, so it didn't matter much in the end.)

I also started adding details to the base! I usually start with the face and then the hair! I usually go for the clothes next, but I dreaded the robes in this piece so I guess that's why I ended up with a basic idea of what I wanted for the background instead LOL I also figured out how I want the final crop to look like, so I blocked out all the other areas with an extra layer!

Okay, onto the part that killed me like ten times: the robes. There are a lot of interactions between their robes here given their pose, and not to mention they also have layers upon layers on each of them! So, to maintain my sanity and to keep track of which part is which, I color coded them into the most colorful sketch I've ever made.

Another reason why I filled in each layer of robe with a solid block of color, is so that all the lines underneath gets covered. Without all of the colors, the actual outline actually looks like the one on the right. What a nightmare!

I also ignored the crop again for this part, because it's always better to draw past your borders, in case you decide to rotate or tilt or whatever your piece later on. I didn't do the feet anymore though, because that I was sure wouldn't show in the final piece anymore.

After that, I did the sketch one more time and then started adding the base colors. (I didn't have a screenshot of just the base colors, and the final CSP file is a nightmare so I copy pasted the layers into a new canvas to show you guys :') )

By the way, I drew their robes flowing this way, because I wanted it to frame the lower arch of the moon behind them for the composition. It was a little frustrating that I couldn't get Lan Wangji's robes a little higher because of Wei Wuxian's legs but I later filled in the empty space with his forehead ribbon anyway, so it all worked out in the end!

Painting

Because apparently, I was a masochist back then, I merged the base colors all into one layer and started adding shadows to the robes. (These days, I add shadows first and then, merge. It's much easier this way.)

And then, I started painting! Again, I did the face first and then the hair, before finally the robes. This was my first time painting side profiles and honestly it was quite a pain to figure out LOL but !!! I think I did a good job and I'm proud of how it turned out. I again used reference photos for this one but I can't link any because they were just several random Pinterest photos that I didn't save.

Another thing to note is that I use the mesh transform tool a lot, especially on faces. That's largely why Lan Wangji's face looks so different in the latter two!

And then I went with the robes. Somewhere along the way, I realized I didn't like how I planned to do Lan Wangji's sleeves and the flowy part of Wei Wuxian's robes and I... decided, with much dread, to do them over. So I sketched on top of the painted layers and redid the robes, again.

It was at this point that I decided to take a break from this piece because it was honestly very draining! I think it took about three weeks before I decided to open the file again and continue it.

When I did, I just finished painting the rest of the robes and their hands. The blue details on Lan Wangji's outer robes were painted on a separate layer that I put on Multiply. I probably did more adjustments to the face and hair and stuff, because my painting process is honestly a mess :')

Final Adjustments

I added some correction layers on certain areas to fix some of the colors. See: Lan Wangji's sleeve becoming much brighter and paler; Wei Wuxian's legs having less contrast. And then I merged all of the layers (excluding the background) and added a bit of blur. See: Wei Wuxian's ponytail; the entire lower part; the flowing forehead ribbon. My reasoning for this is so that most of the detail (and therefore the flow of the eye) goes to their faces and expressions!

And then, I put a blue Overlay layer on low opacity to make Wangxian blend better with the background, added a bit of shadow on the inside and the lower sections and added the glowing details for the added flair. I initially wanted sparkles and/or stars but they didn't turn out as well as this did. I also upped the contrast by a little for the entire piece!

Aaaand, that's it! In truth, I did a bit more color adjustments to the whole piece, but I was a dummy who forgot to turn them back on before posting so ... oh well.

Posting

Before posting, I upload it either on my spare private Twitter account or on a drafted Tumblr post so I can check the colors on my phone. This is because the colors on different devices can look very different, and I would at the very least want all my pieces to look nice on both of my devices!

And then, once I deem it satisfactory, I just try to think of a caption and post! Some artists wait for a certain time where most of their followers are active, but I didn't have a lot of MDZS followers at this point so it didn't really matter to me.

It still doesn't really; I haven't actually been able to figure out when my MDZS followers are awake even now.

[mlbpotter]

Sole Crusher and why I hated it.

Ahh, one of the most prodigious episode for Zoe-fans.

You see, we see Zoe in a car touring Paris as she came from New York. She entered a bakery to get something for her family (A.K.A Audrey) Marinette entered, and slipped on the floor, but Zoe being who she is, clever perfectionist, nimble, quick blah blah blah, whatever the directors want to show us, caught Marinette in a blink of an eye.

In irl, I think if somebody did slip, in front of me, I’d be too shocked to react in seconds. I’d be gaping, mouth open, too shocked to catch anyone.

Ahh, well, Marinette then talked to her a little, learnt how she only had one friend, made some of us feel pity for her (eh, Thomas). So, NOW THE NEXT PART REALLY GETS ME! Marinette didn’t know who this unknown Zoe girl was (could be a thief, murderer, kidnapper idk) yet she gave away her phone number, free pastries, and invited her to HER FRIEND’S CONCERT! OMG you dumass, you don’t just give away these things to unknown people!

Well, still, moving on, zoe went back to the car, and to the bourgeois hotel. She gave away the pastries to the driver saying her family preferred sour from sweet, meaning they were not exactly caring. Just showing what a bad mother Audrey is, Zoe, like Chloe tried to act all snobbish and mean to get her mother’s attention.

To keep it short, Zoe met Chloe and they had a very meaningful conversation. But the thing that bugged me the most was that what Chloe said. 'Your father exists only to do whatever you want, whenever you want.'

Huh? Forgot this, in origins pt.2? This shows that chloe actually loves her father.

Also, Chloe was shown locking Sabrina in a locker, and forcing her to do her homework.

......

So how do u explain this?☝️

Chloe cares about Sabrina. Thomas really ruined Chloe's character her smh, in sole crusher.

Anyways, Chloe took Zoe to the school in a limousine, with Sabrina running behind them!

BrUh, thomas? R u serious? This is a kids show, no? You are supposed to show how to be considerate, not treating ur friend as slaves!

After some more uneccessary chloe-being-cruel moment, Chloe introduces everyone to Zoe.

She says, that Zoe needs a guy to pamper, who is preferably rich....wow, Thomas you already destroyed Adrien's friendship with Chloe, what more do u want?

When Zoe pretended to hate Marinette's macaroons, Sabrina started idiolizing her immediately. SABRINA ALSO NEEDS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!!!!!

Obviously, Chloe 'tried' to teach Zoe some mean habits, and Marinette was confused about the way she acted so differently at school.

Being Marinette, she texted Zoe about the the confusion, and obviously blamed Chloe. When Chloe found out that her sister was texting her arch-enemy Marinette, she became furious.

Zoe lied and said that she was planning to humiliate Marinette. One of the worst things about Zoe is that she tries to change her nature just to meet up the needs for others. Chloe only does that to impress her mother.

Zoe went up the blacony, and was met by Andre, Chloe's father, who tried to console her, by telling her his own dream. Ok, listen up, how come Andre is only nice to his step-daughter, in a fatherly way??? And treats Chloe like a spoilt queen?? What kind of a father u r, even though u know that's wrong? Ugh

Anyways, the part where Andre wanted to be a film director was pretty cool. Again, we get some background history about the character. And yes, he listened to Audrey, about being rich, not a film director, blah blah blah, showing again how bad of a wife Audrey is.

Then, we discovered that Zoe wanted to be an actress for no good reason, and yest, admittedly she is pretty good a hiding her emotions and 'acting'.

This is how Andre tried to cheer up Zoe, but obviously made the situation worse, as she only thought about the way Chloe, treated her, and not her mother. So yeah, She only has a grudge against Chloe, again showing how horrible and cruel Chloe could be, right?

Just because Chloe said, 'You either step on other people, or I step on you!' This is so out-of-character for, Chloe. She would never say that, I reckon this much.

And there we go, Zoe reluctantly wears the diamond shoes, and becomes akumatized by shadow moth.

So, her power was touching other people with her shoes, and she became bigger.

Sole crusher, found Chloe in her room taking selfies of herself, to shoe how vain she was and how much she admired herself. Ummm..when did Chloe have an obsession with taking her photos? Except maybe in the episode where Marc was akumatized.

Chloe caught a glimpse of Sole Crusher, on her mobile's photo.

She said, 'How come you are using my image without my authorization?' Old Chloe loved to be idolized, so out-of-character.

So, when Chole discovered that it was Zoe, she began running like she was in a marathon, which was again out of character, as she wouldn't run, it'd be too much of work for her.

I think the running was just to show how bad of a character Chloe was, as she pushed Marinette's parents and Marinette herself towards Zoe, to show how cruel, evil and selfish she really is.

Another thing, I think that the kwamis shouldn't be allowed outside the box very long, as someone might catch them, like Chloe almost did.

So, the reason Sole crusher didn't step on Marinette, was because Marinette is the main character of the show, and she just can't be in a dangerous situation (Thomas logic). It'd made a great plot if Marinette was crushed by sole crusher. It would keep the viewers on their toes.

Eh, well, To make look Chloe worse, they made her run further, and order Zoe to literally step on the 'losers'. AKA rest of Marinette's classmates. (Do students really meet each other like this irl?)

So Marinette discovered that Zoe was Sole crusher, and gave some advice.

Marinette: That's not true, you don't need to crush on anyone. The 'winner' and 'loser' thing doesn't exist. It's just people, each one with your differences and unique features. (after Chat Noir interrupted) Zoe, no one will judge you here. You can be yourself! You can trip, you can fall, there's always going to be someone to help you stand up. I will always support you!

Shadow moth manipulated Zoe again, So Chat Noir tripped sole crusher giving Marinette the chance to run away and transform in a place that no one can see (totally). Since Tikki followed Marinette, and Kaalki alerted Adrien about the akuma, they both were able to transform.

Since I am no good at writing battle scenes, I'll tell the main points. Ladybug used her lucky charm, and got a shoe horn. So basically, Chat Noir and ladybug both destroyed the heels of Zoe's shoes, but the akuma didn't come out. Chloe insulted sole crusher, and got crushed.

Chloe : Look at how you're treating ur very expensive shoes! Go back to wearing you hideous and plain sneakers.

So ladybug figured out that the Akuma must be in those sneakers Chloe mentioned.

So the team tried to find out those sneakers in Chloe's house. Ladybug saw Sabrina in the closet, yet asked her about the sneakers, and ignored her. Wow, shoe some empathy ladybug, or even Chat Noir!

They saw Andre, and he told them where the Akuma went. So basically Andre showed them the box, and was so scared of Audrey, that her had hid those directories a secret from her. Since that box was not opening, ladybug used her shoehorn to open that box thingy. Long story short, ladybug repaired everything, and gave Zoe the lucky charm, and left.

Skip to the noon, where Zoe went to the concert she was invited in, and Chloe still believed Zoe's lame story about humiliating Marinette, and was super pissed off when Zoe ate the macaroons.

So yeah, Zoe apologized about her akumatizatidon, and told her 'tragic' backstory. She didn't want to disappoint her family's expectation, so she pretended to be mean.

In her boarding school, she was being bullied, and pretended to be someone she was not.

And since er...the miraculous fandom characters are so 'different' and tried to be nice to her, which was pretty cool of them....

Chloe demanded that Zoe leave for New York, but Andre was pretty cool about it, and made a lame yet nice excuse for her, to be enrolled in anther boarding school. So she had a different room. Obviously, the creators showed how err..awesome Zoe is as she said to Andre, 'Promise me that you are not going to give up on your dreams for too long.' But Andre's dream was very irrelevant, as nothing of that sort was mentioned after that.

Zoe's new found friends helped her become a better person, and there were some ending pics of her.

Zoe's message to Marinette was pretty cheesy ngl. But if only Zoe was introduced as a character who didn't out smart her sister, I would honestly love her so much!

(If my dumb shit post doesn't get famous, I will quit. I literally worked so hard for this post, and also had to rewrite it multiple times)

[justleaf]

Summary

Roche and Iorveth go on a date with Geralt as their chaperone (not the hat).

Content Background

This one is especially painful to yeet because it was already completed, together with 50% of the next chapter that was the smutty bits. It was finished right about the time I posted Chapter 5 and would have fit in as Chapter 11, but it just didn't make sense with all the additional plot points I'd shoved in.

I've redacted the parts that could potentially get my tumblr banned btw please donut laugh when you see it.

Original Fic

It Took Years

Length

2,300 words

_____________

“Geralt, remember when I released you from prison and saved you from the Nilfgaardians a year ago?”

The white wolf raised his eyebrows in surprise. Roche had never called in a favour for him, and he could tell that Geralt knew it was going to be quite significant. He had thought about it too many times and despite the embarrassment and possibly never being able to look the witcher in the eye, he simply had no other choice.

“Look, I just need you to help Iorveth and I create an alibi.”

“... Uh-huh?”

“We have a meeting with Dijkstra in Novigrad in a week's time, and I plan to…” he swallowed hard when the words became momentarily stuck in his throat. It took another second for him to gather his courage to speak, and the slight tremble in his voice was immediately noticeable.

“I plan to spend the night with Iorveth in one of the inns the night before. But we need someone to cover us.”

The white wolf seemed to grow even paler and his lips pressed together in contemplation.

“You know that I have enhanced senses.”

“I know, but I need to make sure that no one catches us. Not the Scoia'tael, Blue Stripes, Dijkstra’s spies, Redanian spies, any Nilfgaardian-”

“Alright, alright, I get it. You just need to make sure that everyone thinks that I invited you two for a drink and make sure that no one is listening in.”

“I know I’m asking a lot of you, but you’re the only one I can trust in this situation. I haven’t… Iorveth and I don’t have any other opportunities. I can’t even hold his hand without worrying that someone is watching.”

Geralt stared blankly at him and Roche’s heart began to pump harder. His worry must have shown on his face, for the witcher immediately sighed and shook his head.

“Come to the Chameleon. I’ll get you guys a suite. With a wall to separate the living area and the bedroom.”

Roche looked up at him and down a few times, wondering first if Geralt had misspoke, and then if he had misheard. When the witcher said nothing and shrugged, Roche finally accepted it with a nod.

“Thanks, Geralt. Drinks are on me,” he muttered and hung his head a little. Embarrassment was beginning to burn his cheeks.

“Don’t mention it. I’ll see you soon.”

<center>_________________________</center>

“Why are we here so early when Geralt only wanted to see us after sundown,” Iorveth whispered as they passed the guards that almost ripped their papers in half. Roche had smooth-talked his way in and Iorveth was impressed, even though he didn't let it show.

They had set aside their armour and entered the city dressed as merchants: Roche in a nondescript outfit that let him blend in with the rest of the nobles, and Iorveth draped in a cloak that obscured his elven features.

The sun was nowhere near setting when they arrived in the city. Roche had intended to take him on a date around the city, but didn’t want to admit it.

“I didn’t want to disappoint Geralt by being late.”

“Gwynbleidd would have understood.”

“Well, since we’re already here, we might as well explore the city. I heard of a tavern along the docks with an elven cook. Would you like to go there?”

The mention of food changed Iorveth’s expression immediately and Roche suppressed his laughter.

They dined at the Golden Sturgeon, where Iorveth immediately received preferential treatment from a redhead with freckles (it's Bea btw). She made sure to seat them in a relatively hidden corner and Roche could see the elf progressively relax as his shoulders began to sag. He even spotted the hints of a smile dancing on his lips when she put some strange fish dish in front of him.

Just when Roche thought that Iorveth was incapable of enjoying himself even more, he became increasingly pliant when they sat down at the Chameleon for a pint while a band played in the background. Roche didn't understand the first thing about music, but his two mugs of ale were enough to get him to keep his reservations.

Besides, he had something really cute to look at.

The elf's cloak was finally down and he could see the tips of his pointed ears twitch with every beat of the drum. He thought about how nice it would have been to pin him down to the bed and toy with his ears. His eyes trailed across the elf’s neck. If they didn’t have anywhere to be tomorrow, he would have left bite marks across that smooth skin.

<em>Mine,</em> he thought, and he wanted the world to know once all this was over.

“You play the recorder don’t you,” Roche asked out of the blue. Their eyes met and Iorveth was slightly startled by the intensity of his gaze, but he didn’t back down.

“Yeah. There’s been too much going on recently and I haven’t had the chance to though.”

“You can practice with mine tonight.”

“Vernon,” Iorveth warned with a glare, and then quickly glanced around the room to see if anyone was within earshot. There wasn’t, but the tension in his body didn’t leave.

“I could polish yours all night too, you know.”

The elf flinched and could see the pink develop along the tops of Iorveth’s high cheekbones and the tips of his ear. Past his flustered expression however, there was a particular heat blossoming in his eyes. Roche didn’t let up, his curiosity driving him to see just how much he could take it.

“My carrying case is a bit small, but I’m sure yours will fit in with a bit of a shove."

This time, Iorveth couldn't resist the urge to push back. Dandelion's tavern was filled with his regulars who were deep in their own conversations, and they were just talking about music, right?

"So you admit that my instrument is bigger."

"Well the quality of the instrument doesn't matter if the musician has no idea how to handle it."

"I think we've proven that I'm the better player though."

"Our last few encounters haven't exactly been skewed in my favour and I still managed."

"There is no fairness in music and in battle. You should know this, <em>Commander</em>."

The way Iorveth said the word made his mouth go dry.

Now <em>that</em> was truly unfair, and his [banana] agreed. He was seconds away from tugging Iorveth upstairs when the doors swung open and in stepped the white wolf.

"Geralt!" he called out and waved a hand.

"Nice to see you both. I hope you didn't wait long."

The witcher took a few steps towards them, sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose. He had this resigned look about him and Roche immediately knew that he could smell their arousal.

"Let's drink in my room," Geralt suggested and grabbed four mugs of ale from a passing waitress. She protested at first, but nodded and flashed him a huge smile when she saw who he was.

They headed up the stairs and Roche had to try very hard not to openly stare at Iorveth's ass. It [eggplant] and he had no choice but to stare ruefully at the ground.

As soon as he saw that the second floor was empty, he reached out and pinched the elf's behind. Iorveth jumped at the touch and almost spilled his own mug of ale, and Roche was treated to one of those embarrassed glares. They quietly ascended another flight of stairs and neared the room, and Roche could feel his heart race and his breathing grow ragged.

Finally, after two weeks of planning and trying to fit all the pieces together, it was happening. It had been a year since Dol Blathanna and months since they started seeing each other, and Roche was raring to go.

Geralt opened the door to a suite on the top floor that was exactly as he described: a small living area with a table for four and a few sparse furnishings, though it was far more comfortable than the arrangements he was used to. Partitioned off by a wall and door was a bedroom mostly occupied by a sizable bed and more pillows than he could count. A decision made by the bard, no doubt.

As soon as the door closed behind them and they set down their mugs, Roche grabbed Iorveth’s collar and shoved him towards the bedroom. The elf looked mortified and nearly lost his footing, but he recovered within the span of a few steps. He grabbed Roche’s arms and plucked them off him, then tried to shove him backwards but Roche held his ground.

“What the fuck, Roche?!”

Roche took a step back and considered Iorveth’s anger. The elf's gaze had grown sharp and alert, but he was mostly just shocked at the audacity of his actions. He just flashed him a devious smile and was returned a twitch of confusion.

“What? Didn’t you always like roughhousing me on the forest floor?”

“Not in front of Gwyn-”

Roche barely gave Iorveth a chance to answer. He charged forward, wrapped an arm around the elf’s waist, and threw him straight into bed. Iorveth went flying into the mattress with a groan and Roche climbed straight into his lap. Heavy footsteps thudded behind them and stopped by the door.

“Oil’s on the nightstand. Don’t get the sheets dirty and take your shoes off before you get in bed dammit. I can’t afford to pay for new sheets too.”

“Gwynbleidd, what is the meaning of this.”

“Just a little gift from me to the both of you. Have fun, Iorveth. Just try not to make too much noise.”

The door behind them closed and Iorveth just stared blankly at Roche, who was already taking off his top. No words came out of the elf’s gaping mouth, so Roche blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“Enjoying the date so far?”

“Explain yourself Roche, I’m not-”

The elf had to pause when Roche began grinding in his lap. It worked until it didn't, and Iorveth grabbed onto his hips to still them. Roche just wanted to get to the fucking already, but the elf refused to be distracted no matter how much he tried.

“Did you plan all this? Coming to my camp to pick me up. Picking flowers for me along the path. Bringing me to the tavern for dinner. Having drinks. This fake meeting with Gwynbleidd.”

“Of course. When else was I going to get the opportunity to take you out on a date?”

Something in Iorveth cracked visibly and Roche went dead still with nervousness. The other lowered his gaze and Roche cupped his face in his hands, desperate for his elf to be okay. He stroked his cheek gently and tilted his head up to try and get a better look at that unreadable expression. This was the opposite of what he hoped would happen and worry began to pool in his stomach.

“Hey, hey. What’s wrong. Talk to me,” he urged and placed a peck on the scarred cheek. There was no answer, so he continued fluttering kisses along his jawline. He felt like his world might come crashing down at any moment and resisted the urge to salvage the situation before he knew what was going on.

It felt like Iorveth was cycling through a thousand and one emotions. He cupped the elf's face in his hands and pulled back, where he was greeted by a vulnerability he had never seen before. The other had this dazed and awed look in his eyes, and if Roche wasn't so flustered by the sudden change of pace, he might he caught his surrender.

“Vernon…”

“I’m here. What is it? You can tell me.”

“It’s just...overwhelming.”

“In a good way or bad way?”

“Good way.”

Roche released the breath he didn’t realise he had been holding. It was nice that the reaction was somewhat positive, but Roche’s poor heart couldn’t take the anticipation. Surprising Iorveth was turning out to be quite bad for his health.

“Well. Have you enjoyed yourself?”

“Mmn.”

“It's okay. We'll take it at your pace.”

“I just... need some time to process this. I’ve never been treated like this before. It's overwhelming.”

“Well you deserve it. Take the time you need, it’s okay,” Roche encouraged again and placed another peck on his nose as he undid the bandanna that obscured half his face.

This really wasn’t how he thought the evening would go, but he had to admit that it was nice. At the core of it, all he really wanted was to be able to kiss and hold Iorveth intimately without fear of someone catching them. Now they were in bed and there was someone trustworthy to watch their backs, he supposed he had achieved his goal. Maybe they could just hold off the fucking for a while more.

“Do you want to take a nap with me,” Roche offered after they'd sat in silence for a while.

“Yeah… I would like that very much.”

Iorveth tried to take off his cloak, but Roche shushed him and pushed his hands aside. The elf had a blank look on his face and hurt momentarily flashed across his eye.

"Let me," Roche rushed to salvage as he pulled loose the strings on his cloak.

“I can undress myself you know.”

“I know you can, but just let me pamper you a bit more.”

The tips of Iorveth's ears were bright red and Roche suppressed the urge to tease him about it. Slowly, he helped the elf strip down to his underwear and slipped him beneath the sheets. Then he took off his own garments and joined him, snuggling up to that warm and slender body that seemed to fit so perfectly with his.

Yeah, he could wait.

[watching-pictures-move]

Put On Your Raincoats #17 | The Erotic Reveries of Rinse Dream

Cafe Flesh opens with a title card orienting us to its post-apocalyptic setting. After a calamitous apocalyptic event known as the "Nuclear Kiss", the world is made up of 99% "Sex Negatives", and 1% "Sex Positives". The Sex Negatives can't have sex and can only watch. The Sex Positives escaped such a fate, but are instead forced to perform for an audience of Positives for their vicarious enjoyment. There are many such venues but the one we spend the movie in is the Cafe Flesh of the title, a nightclub where the decor and patronage evoke a cross between punk rock and retro-futurist aesthetics and a hint of Rat Pack era cool. A smarmy comedian in a white tuxedo introduces the sex acts, which are elaborately staged performances that play almost as genre parody with their tongue-in-cheek choreography (plenty of costumed grinding, as with a performer in a rat costume early on, and mimed thrusting, as with another performer in a pencil costume in a later scene) until the turn into the real thing with the requisite close-ups. Futuristic jazz reminiscent of Angelo Badalamenti's music plays over the proceedings.

This serves as the background to a story about a woman who may or may not secretly be a Positive (played by scream queen Michelle Bauer and, in certain scenes, a body double) and the impending arrival of a legendary Positive performer known for his virility (a towering, square-jawed Kevin James, introduced in black sunglasses and an oversized blue suit). We also get a sense of the tensions in this nightclub ecosystem, particularly between the heroine and her boyfriend, a new performer, the comedian, the owner (who puts the comedian in his place in one scene by having him cruelly recite "the rhyme"). (The comedian is played by Andy Nichols and the owner by Tantala Ray, both of whom played interview subjects in Gregory Dark's Devil in Miss Jones two-parter, which leads me to believe the latter was influenced by this movie, as Nichols in particular doesn't have many screen credits.)

This movie apparently was a bit of a success in the midnight movie circuit, and it's not hard to see why, based on the strength of the mise en scene and the performances. The cool, smoky backgrounds of the reaction shots provide a nice counterpoint to the avant garde looking performances and give the highly stylized setting a nice evocative quality. There's also a level of genre commentary here, as the story ultimately is about the heroine's agency over her pleasure and the roles sex performers are forced into by greater society, ultimately imprisoned by their own abilities. Truth be told I found the performances got a little less enjoyable when they got down to business with the penetration and whatnot (it gets harder to pull off inspired choreography when one of your appendages is stuck in another person, or vice versa), but I also think it's necessary for those themes to resonate.

Cafe Flesh was directed by Stephen Sayadian, credited as Rinse Dream, and he'd previously used that pseudonym on Nightdreams, for which he co-wrote the screenplay. (The director was Francis Delia, who went on to a career of directing mostly music videos and television, while the other writer was Jerry Stahl, known for his memoir Permanent Midnight, as well as writing for shows such as ALF and movies such as Bad Boys II.) This movie similarly concerns agency over female pleasure and is about two doctors (Andy Nichols and Jennifer West) conducting experiments on a mentally ill young woman by inducing erotic dreams and monitoring her brainwaves. There's a dream involving a giant, monstrous jack-in-the-box. There's one with a pair of cowgirls and something other than a gun stored in a holster, with the cowgirls spouting stilted dialogues in robotic monotones, a Sayadian trademark of sorts. Wall of Voodoo's cover of "Ring of Fire" plays over the action (I'm not sure if they paid for the rights, but Delia and Sayadian did direct videos for the band). There's one with a group of bedouins sharing a hookah and then her. There's a giallo-esque scene involving a masked assailant, but this happens after an aborted nightmare about a shrieking man with a hollow chest from his pants emerges a shrivelled up, monstrous baby. Did David Lynch jack off to this? I wouldn't rule it out, folks.

There's a scene where she blows an anthropomorphic box of Cream of Wheat, while a jaunty cover of "Old Man River" plays on the soundtrack and a man dressed as giant piece of toast dances and plays saxopohone. An IMDb user review cites this scene for its cutting racial commentary, but I found this tonally jarring with the rest of the movie. After this, there's a trip to hell where a demon and his minions subject her to such horrific tortures as prodding her with a giant claw and then an even more fearsome double-pronged contraption. The scientists argue over fears that they gave her too much stimulation. ("This woman's on the brink of an orgasm. Let her enjoy it. She doesn't need interruption from a man." "You call it orgasm. I call it breakdown.") The movie then makes way to its final set piece, involving fog, a background of blue sky and pillars and soft piano music. The cinematography in this scene is in stark contrast to the mostly shadowy, intimate imagery of the previous scenes, with the camera pulled up to admire both their bodies and the scene continuing for some time after the climax. It almost brings to mind a certain scene in Jerry Lewis' The Ladies Man that I found disarming in its stylistic and tonal break from the rest of the movie. Without revealing too much, the film's coda sets the record straight.

It probably doesn't say anything flattering about me that I found most of this pretty hot. The movie has a tinge of horror running through it, giving many of the sex scenes (especially the one in hell) a real tension, while the scientific framing device gives it a cold, calculating quality reminiscent of David Cronenberg. (Alas, this doesn't predate some of his most influential films, but for all we know, David Cronenberg jacked off to it as well.) A few of the character names (Mrs. Van Houten, Mrs. Chalmers) make me suspect that Matt Groening might have seen (and jacked off to) it as well. This is pure speculation on my part, but as far as I'm aware, none of them have denied it either. The movie's distinct tone is grounded in an impressive lead performance by Dorothy LeMay. I wasn't all too impressed with her work in Taboo II, but here I think she skillfully evokes the heroine's derangement and "erotic trauma", in the words of the scientists.

Sayadian and Stahl collaborated again for Dr. Caligari, a relatively mainstream effort that also found some success as a midnight movie. I say "relatively" because it's still pretty fucking weird. The movie positions itself as a loose sequel to Robert Wiene's classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, this time about the granddaughter of the original Caligari conducting illegal experiments in an insane asylum. From the earlier film it pulls a German expressionist influence, but combines it with a campy, MTV-inflected style to present the asylum as a warped funhouse. The dimensions of the architecture are distorted and full of odd angles, decorated in a mixture of pitch black and gaudy day-glo colours (lots of yellow and pink costumes). This is not a pornographic movie, yet it's hardly less obsessed with sex, as the villain's plan concerns the weaponization of female pleasure. There's also the occasional grotesque sexually-charged image to spice things up, like the sight of a woman with giant, phallic-shaped breasts. Some of the imagery also gives it potency as horror, like an oozing sore or a cake full of intestines. There's a lot of strange, stilted dialogue, as in this exchange:

"Describe your life in three words or less."

"Un-ending torment."

"Elaborate, please."

"Blankety blank blank."

"Thank you for being specific."

This is matched by the angular body language of the villain, played by Madeline Reynal in a deadpan yet very physical performance. This movie also brings into focus a voyeuristic theme, which was present in those earlier movies but didn't seem quite as confrontational in its presentation. A character utters, basically to the audience: "I know you're watching me. I feel your eyes like wet fingers touching me in special places." (This is a line of dialogue that appeared in the next few films I'll talk about.) Truth be told, I was a little exhausted by the sensory overload of Sayadian's style here, and in retrospect appreciate the way the sex scenes act as a counterpoint to his more aggressive tendencies in his more explicit films. But at the same time, this is full of memorable imagery and has a weirdly compelling lead performance. I don't know if there's much else quite like it (or at least operating at this force), so it gets a recommendation.

Sayadian followed up Nightdreams with a few shot-on-video sequels. I skipped Nightdreams 2 as I could only find it in a heavily degraded transfer, but I did make time for Nightdreams 3, which has a self contained story that's essentially a more explicit if relaxed version of Dr. Caligari, once again concerning a doctor conducting sinister experiments at an insane asylum. (This time her experiments mostly involve just fucking her patients and other staff.) There's more of the stilted dialogue, even closer to non sequiturs than they were in the earlier film, with the music by Double Vision providing an off-kilter soundscape to match the weirdness of the dialogue. (Highlights include "My pussy's like an erotic assassin" and "I happen to know she has a thing for longshoremen. Just mention On the Waterfront and she gets randy pants.") The video imagery quite frankly is pretty ugly, with the green carpet and purple drapes that decorate the set looking especially ungainly, yet Sayadian seems aware of this, as when he uses video's flattening effect to create a crude facsimile of a split diopter shot. The video collage style he adopts meshes uneasily with the plot, as if to call out its meaninglessness, giving the whole thing a slight MST3K vibe, especially as characters speak directly to the camera.

Some of these tendencies are honed to a more pleasing form in the two-part Party Doll A Go-Go!, where we spend time with a number of attractive, shapely women in bright coloured lingerie as they spout '60s-inspired dialogue at the viewer in between scenes of copulation. (Not all the dialogue is '60s-tinged, however: "They're overcome with retro wordplay...Us modern girls prefer synthetic future".) Like many pornographic films, this is a collection of loosely related sex scenes, but Sayadian's construction turns those genre requirements into parody, having his characters offer colour commentary (albeit channeled through his campy prose) on their own scenes and even getting interrupted by the stars of subsequent and preceding scenes. The number of quotable lines is even greater than those earlier films, and I admit I was scrambling to write down the choicest ones as there were so many. The best lines go to Jeanna Fine, who also has the huskiest voice and the most penetrating stare, so she was easily my favourite. I certainly was not unmoved when she insisted that she's "never run around buck naked and bubbling for man-winky" or "never wrapped[her] lips around a throbbing johnny". (She does not, however, deny having ever interacted with beef bologna.) Or when she asked the audience "Was I a bad girl?" (said three times in rapid succession) or if we've "ever seen a double orgasm on videotape?" (She adds "Watch, pornhound" and "Calling all porndogs, watch me work, uh-huh.") And I definitely wasn't unmoved when she demonstrated her talents on a dildo dangled in front of her (which she refers to as an "artificial man-thing", a "chubby rubber fella" and a "flying princeton"). No, definitely not unmoved.

There isn't much of plot here, except in the latter half when one of the girls can't stop "the wiggle" and needs to be rescued with an emergency injection of "boy jerky". Sayadian, once again bringing voyeuristic concerns into focus (the characters all talk to the camera), seems to be satirizing the very idea of porn having premises and certain their lazy execution. Even the production design is transparent in its chintz (the movie is shot entirely on the same set, with the bare minimum in alterations to the set dressing to make it look even slightly different), while the video images, which feature lots of Dutch angles, zooms and whip pans, match the campiness of the whole affair. This is probably a little long at a combined 2+ hours, but at the same time, it settles into a nice groove and is full of really attractive and reasonably charismatic actresses delivering amusing dialogue and indulging in "girl homo" (sometimes "big time girl homo") or getting "boy jerky". I don't have much interest in delving into '90s pornography and shot-on-video productions strain the dignity one can feel while trying to watch pornographic films as actual movies, but I'm not gonna pretend I didn't have a good time with this.