#I’ve drawn him a lot for this month anyways hahaha

[deadbaguette]

Day 6: Steampunk ft. Patrochilles!

(Everything for this month will be very quick and not rendered most likely! So please take my doodles <3 )

Steampunk AU:

Not many thoughts for this one.. I love steampunk-esque stuff but I have no idea what the lore would be in this kinda Au😭 I might draw some other characters eventually like for my high fantasy AU because it’s an excuse to mess around with some designs.

[shijiujun]

Okay I’ve decided to do a single rec after I finish one novel hahaha because if I wait to get around to it all it’ll never happen! Anyway because @sarah-yyy​​ has been reading it and I’ve gotten a lot of asks/replies on this, I’m just going to do one huge list for one of my faves so everyone knows what’s going on and where to find things XD

- Part of Min’s ‘Why You Should Read’ Series -

Summary: 

This is set in a historical setting where men can marry other men, but it’s usually reserved for sons who were not borne by the official main first wife of the patriarch of the family, i.e. a son born by a concubine in a family may be forced to marry a man to keep him from being able to become the next family’s patriarch for example. This is because any family’s next leader needs to be able to have children with a wife who married in as a zheng shi (lawful wife), and not a ce shi (second wife) or any other concubines/mistresses etc. Most of these men who marry other men have to take them as their zheng shi and lawful spouse in a sense, and the same goes for the royal family.

The story starts with third prince Jing Shao, who was forced to marry Mu Han Zhang, a Marquis’ second son, by the Empress and Emperor, thereby officially and effectively cutting him out of the race for the throne. He’s mocked by the public as everyone knows what this means, and for the next 10 years, he neglects Mu Han Zhang, blaming him for his predicament, and deliberately showers his three other concubines with affection in front of him, but 10 years later, when Jing Shao is accused of treason, everyone leaves him except for Mu Han Zhang. They are chased to the edge of the cliff by soldiers, and Mu Han Zhang dies in his arms having taken an arrow meant for him earlier, and Jing Shao jumps off the cliff with his dead body, and promises that if there’s a next life, he will do everything Han Zhang says, and love him.

He wakes up immediately on the night of his marriage with Han Zhang, and realizes that he’s been given a second chance to make everything right. Han Zhang is definitely afraid of him, humiliated and angry when he first wakes up after how rough Jing Shao was with him earlier on their wedding night, and he has no memories of their past life. Jing Shao then sets to SHOWER HAN ZHANG with affection, love and basically everything, because he realized that this is the only person who stayed by his side until the end, and then he falls in love with Han Zhang properly this time, and also deals with every single person who maligned and schemed against him in his previous life, with Han Zhang by his side.

Read: 

Novel (Online) | Novel (Print) - Not Available | Novel Translations | Manhua (You’ll have to download the KuaiKan app, the chapters are currently all free)

Characters:

1. 景韶 Jing Shao - 3rd Prince and is the first out of his three other brothers to be given a title 成王 (cheng wang). He’s referred to as 王爷, and also 小勺 (xiao shao) by Han Zhang. Went out on his first war when he was 14, and was thus given a title before any of his brothers. He’s known for being a merciless, cold and fierce army general/commander, but this was before his second life with Han Zhang, where he puts on like his doting mode and is basically a dumbass XD who listens to Han Zhang with a lot of trust, which is cool and all.

He marries Han Zhang when he’s 19, and in his first life he was very reluctant and resistant, and neglected Han Zhang for 10 years, until he was charged with treason and hunted down. 

In his first life he wanted to snatch the throne, even from his blood-related brother Jing Chen, but more out of spite than anything else because he felt he was dealt an unfair hand by having to marry Han Zhang. Not only that, but Jing Shao is not his father’s favourite son, and he always felt that the emperor was biased against him. Anyway, a huge accumulation of daddy and anger issues, which is fair.

When he realizes that Han Zhang died for him, he decides he will be good to Han Zhang if they are reborn in their next life.

2. 慕含章 Mu Han Zhang - The 2nd son of Marquis Bei Hou’s, born to a concubine. He’s called by his 表字 which is 君清 (jun qing) by Jing Shao. Official First Wife Bei Wei Hou-furen and her son (who is in line to inherit the Marquis title from his father) has bullied him all his life, and wanted to push him into greater desperation by marrying him to Jing Shao, knowing he will suffer at the hands of the supposed merciless/heartless wangye. He has a weak body because of an accident when he was younger, and in his first life he was really sick after being neglected for 10 years, and knowing this in their second life, Jing Shao does everything he can to take care of him.

He is incredibly smart, has a brain for business and sales, and is also very good at handling people, especially scheming ones. He aids Jing Shao in the beginning of their second life, and then Jing Chen later as well, as both brothers begin to fight to put Jing Chen on the throne, against the 1st and 4th Princes. Is an incredibly good tactician in war as well.

3. 景琛 Jing Chen - 2nd Prince, Jing Shao’s blood related older brother who is handsome af too. His title, given later in the novel, is 睿王 (rui wang). He was misunderstood by Jing Shao in the first life as Jing Shao thought it was his brother who led to him marrying Han Zhang, and because he’s not very good at expressing himself and shows his concern to Jing Shao by nagging at him, Jing Shao always thought he hated him. In their second life, Jing Shao already knows that Jing Chen loves him and did a lot for him in his first life, and so trusts his brother and supports him right off the bat, because Jing Chen is indeed the most suited person for the throne.

He has a wife and a concubine, 3 sons and 2 daughters at this point. He ends up helping Jing Shao a lot, and when he realizes that Han Zhang is way more adept at politics and the whole scheming thing than Jing Shao is, he begins trusting Han Zhang a lot more as well! There’s a surprise with Jing Chen hahaha which I loveee and could see, but wasn’t sure until they confirmed it in the last few chapters AHAHAHAHA.

Other Notable Characters:

1. Song Ling Xin (Second Wife) on the left, and two other concubines on the right

They’re pretty much vying for Jing Shao’s attention, but at this point apparently he hasn’t slept with any of them before. Song Ling Xin is the daughter of the Military Department’s Head Song An, and Jing Shao married her initially out of interest. The right most concubine (I forgot her name oops) was a gift given to him by his oldest brother, the 1st Prince. The two of them played a huge role in Jing Shao’s downfall back in his first life, and so in his second life, he especially detests Song Ling Xin. Plus the three of them keep bullying Han Zhang in the beginning, but thankfully Jing Shao is like: “Anything my Jun Qing wants”. They don’t stay around for long either, watch as Jing Shao gets rid of them like he’s swatting flies.

2. Xiao Yuan & Zhou Da-Ge

This is another male couple who’s been married for 7-8 years if I recall. Xiao Yuan is one of Jing Shao’s important allies and friends in the second life, because in Jing Shao’s first life, this was one of the only young officials in court who spoke up for him when the accusations of treason came about. Zhou Da-Ge is his husband, who is a cook running a restaurant in the city. Whenever Zhou Da-Ge bullies Xiao Yuan in bed a little too much, Xiao Yuan punishes him by making him wear colourful clothes out (pink, bright yellow, purple, etc.) and thus he has a reputation for being eccentric and a weirdo, but oh well, all for love.

3. Gu Huai Qing

One of Jing Shao and Jing Chen’s most powerful allies, and he becomes blood-sworn brothers with Jing Shao without realizing who he is. Later he takes a liking to Jing Chen.

(Will update with photos when they come out, but they’re a bit further into the story so we won’t have them for a few months yet ahahaha)

Amazing Scenes:

Jing Shao & Han Zhang first looks in the manhua

Jing Shao being THAT clingy husband and helping Han Zhang to wear his clothes properly so cute!!!!!

Han Zhang and Jing Shao in their first lives (10 years later), about to die, sad and then Jing Shao jumps down the cliff with Han Zhang’s corpse, regretful cuz he a dumb bij

Jing Shao unable to resist kissing Han Zhang’s cheek, realizes what he’s doing, and gets embarrassed LMAOOOO 没出息!!!!!!! (This is different from the novel, because in the novel Jing Shao just kisses and is done with that, the embarrassment part is drawn in only in the manhua hahaha)

Other Things I Like in the Novel:

Jing Shao is like, he does a 180 entirely and he is very cognisant of all his faults and what he did wrong previously, and how badly he treated Han Zhang, so he legit forces his brain to go “I will listen to Jun Qing from now on” and he really sticks to it!

Loves kissing and teasing Han Zhang, but doesn’t force him into bed after their wedding night, and instead goes to Xiao Yuan and asks for tips on how to make his partner feel less scared about sex

The both of them end up with a pet tiger?!! That’s called Xiao Huang (little yellow) LMAO

They nap together a lot which I love <3333

Jing Shao knows he’s bullied at home, so when they go back to the Marquis Bei Hou manor, he holds Han Zhang’s hand in front of everyone to let them know Han Zhang has someone to back him up

Brings Han Zhang to war because he “cannot concentrate if Jun Qing isn’t with me at all times” - and asks for special permission to do so

Han Zhang notes that since he married Jing Shao, as the ‘wife’ he is supposed to serve Jing Shao, but it’s always Jing Shao serving him - Getting water for him, bringing him to baths, putting clothes on for him, putting food in his plate if it tastes nice, massaging his back and waist etc. - and best is he doesn’t have to deal with any in-laws?!! HAHAHA

Jing Shao gets revenge on those who hurt Han Zhang when he was younger for him, and the outcome is pretty hilarious but well-deserved

EPILOGUES are cute af!!!!

[lewis-winters]

i’d die to hear your thoughts on Speirs/Grant and their love language (or dynamic in general). i saw an anon ask about them a while ago and couldn’t stop thinking about it: one of the only times the audience truly sees Speirs act with compassion, with mercy, and with remorse is when Grant is shot, is it not?

what’re your thoughts on their relationship? the hand-holding moment and otherwise?

I'll answer these under the cut.

First of all: I don't mind at all! I rarely have NOTPs, tbh. Being a multishipper is fun. It just might take me a little longer because I need time to Think about them.

Honestly, I never gave these two too much consideration-- I don't write Ron a lot. So I had to do the equivalent of sitting down in the Thinking Chair ala-Blue's Clues to figure this out. For like... two months HAHAHA. I'm sorry it took too long. Life happened.

Second of all: I think Speirs acts with compassion, mercy, and remorse a lot of times in the series, it's just highlighted the most with the replacement in ep10 for two reasons, the first being: the reason why we think he doesn't act with compassion, mercy, or remorse in the first half of the series is because we don't see him outside of the glimpses Easy company gets or the stories they exchange. But after episode 7, he's suddenly with us all the time, and we see that his advice to Blithe was more of a... miscommunication, in a way.

Act with no compassion, no mercy, and no remorse toward the people you want to protect your men from. That's reason two. He's protecting his men from this replacement-- except, Grant is going to live. Ah, a conundrum.

Out of everyone in that room, Ron is the only one who knows that Chuck is actually going to live. So now I think his internal struggle isn't so much as "oh I should act with no compassion, mercy, or remorse-- but easy company has ~changed~ me." In my opinion, his internal struggle in this moment is: "ah, if I shoot him, that's not me protecting my men, that's me taking revenge." Which isn't in his moral code.

Ron acts with no compassion, no mercy, and no remorse, yes, but there's a certain level-headedness to him that keeps him in line. Sure, he's prone to bouts of petty anger sometimes (see: More and his photo album), but he never lets that get in the way of his judgement (see: More didn't back down, but neither did he do so in a disrespectful way and Ron recognized that, therefore he conceded his own defeat and didn't punish More). He does what is necessary in the moment and never takes it beyond that.

And I think that's where the core of SpeirsGrant lies.

Chuck's shooting drives him to the point of wanting to take revenge. He enters that room, gun drawn, with all the intention of shooting this motherfucker in the face. The only thing that stops him, I think, is everybody else in that room. They move away. And tho, cinematically, it never shows him acknowledging that they've moved away, I think that catches his attention and rattles him back to the present enough to assess whether or not he's doing the right thing.

The damage is done but has been remedied to the best of their abilities. Chuck is going to make it. Why the hell is he wasting his time on this lowlife?

The answer, of course, is: because it's Chuck.

He hurt Chuck and Chuck is important enough to Ron to want to go against his own moral code in order to avenge him.

That's why I think their relationship might flourish more after the war than during. It isn't that Ron is clueless about his own feelings, I just think it took him a bit longer to figure it out because 1) it was such a slow burn, and; 2) so much has been going on, he hasn't had time to figure it out for himself. It took one catastrophic situation for him to have that Oh moment. He loves Chuck. Or at least feels strongly enough about him that his first instinct was to throw all his cultivated composure out the window and nearly kill a man for him.

Anyway, I think Ron would be an excellent caretaker.

I mean, I've touched on this before, but Chuck hates acts of service. He hates having people take care of him because he's had it in his head that he is the caretaker. He's the strong one. And god knows those types make the worst patients. That's the only time he loses patience and gets angry, I think.

Ron has infinite patience, though. He's actually pretty slow to anger-- mostly because he understands it. He understands emotion quite well, actually, and it's why I think he can regulate it and control them so easily. He understands that Chuck is struggling to adjust and, really, it isn't Ron or Ron's care he's losing patience over, it's himself. He's frustrated that he can't do things that, just over a year ago, he'd been able to do with ease. Ron sees that and is careful to acknowledge it, but is also careful in making sure that he never enables it. Ron is gentle, but he's also unerring.

I think Chuck'll have a bit of a field day learning Ron, though. As I've said before, Chuck is adaptable when it comes to giving love languages. And with the amount Ron hovers, I think his receiving love language of quality time is rightly fulfilled. But Ron is so guarded, and also used to being the giver that receiving it foreign to him, so he isn't as quick to catch on that the things Chuck's doing (like getting him gifts, or touching him all the time, or complimenting him, or doing stuff for him) are actually Chuck trying to sus out whether or not he's into this kind of love language. It takes a lot to get Ron to show his hand of cards, too. So it's a long long game of cards. But it's ok, they have time to learn and relearn each other in peace time.

[franeridart]

Anon said: Are you still into krbk? I noticed you haven't draw them a lot recently (I don't mean to pressure you, I was just wondering)

I still very much am!!! but a convergence of unrelated happenings (my focus being unusually scattered, lack of general motivation, them not having interacted much in the manga lately, my having pulled out of the fandom a little for a bunch of reasons, having gotten into a lot of new things I want to make a lot of stuff for ??) had my output of stuff for them/inspiration related to them die down a lot ): I miss them though, I should fill a page with doodles of them one of these days... well, I haven’t drawn much in genereal lately, so maybe let’s start first with fixing that haha

Anon said: Fun Fact : In smash bros ultimate there are spirits with octopath traveler and they're in pairs and guess what ? Alfyn and Therion are together :3

I KNOW!!!!!! It makes me so emo I’m a bundle of feelings they’re soulmates I tell youuuuuuuuuuu ;;A;; (little inconsequential things making me a mess, what’s new xD) - another fun fact is that h’aanit and ophilia share one too!! and I ship them too!! and cyrus and tressa share one as well, and they’re my brother’s mains in his save! A series of delightful little coincidences haha

Anon said: Will you be drawing more Jujutsu Kaisen? I love your art sm and I would love to see more!!!!

Right now I feel like I want to spend the next ten years drawing these kids, so I sure hope so! But as I said my focus has been very scattered for the past three or so months, so I can’t promise anything ): let’s both enjoy it while it lasts haha

Anon said: You are my emotional support artist. I check back every once and a while and BOOM. Serotonin.

You’re too kind!!!! But thank you, I’m glad I can make you feel better! :D

Anon said: i'm super new to your art (and mha) and i just wanted to say your krbk stuff is just !!!!!!! it makes me so happy and makes my poor jaded heart feel something and it's just all around incredible!!!

Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!! I’m glad you like my way of portraying the kids!!!!

Anon said: I’m about to cry I’ve spent an hour looking though your bnha tag for that lil comic where Kiri hugs Baku and. It. Sent. Me. Back. To. The. Top. I didn’t even get to finish reading it. I’m so upset. So. So. So. Upset.

(same) Anon said: OH MY GOSH IT KEEPS SENDING ME TO THE TOO I HATE MOBILE AND LOVE YOU I LVOE YOU BUT THIS WEBSITE IS K I L L I N G ME I JIST WANNA SEE WHAT HAPPENS AS KIRI ATTEMPTS TO HUG BAKUGOU BUT NOOOO, AN HOUR OF MY TIME ISNT ENOUGH SAYS THE TIME STEALER

(samesame) Anon said: I. Found the hug thing. On Pinterest. In. Five. Seconds. I hate life but also it was really cute. Thank you but seriously I hate this website

The saga hahaha sorry anon I couldn’t get to you before you went out of your mind trying to find it, I got the asks in the middle of the night! Glad you could find it, though I’m kinda sad you had to look on pinterest for it (...sad it is on pinterest at all tbh) here it is anyway, if this is the one you were talking about! you really went back in the years for this one huh

Anon said: So for that thing that you made a w h i l e ago where Bakugou ruffles Kirishima’s hair, right? So I imagine Kiri is like w h a t and calls over Mina or Denki or Sero or all of them or something like that and tells them and is freaking out and they’re like “he wasn’t in the right mindset, you know he sleeps at 8:32” and make a joke out of it as Kiri is freaking out. And Kiri is freaking out soooo much as they are crying laughing on the floor at Bakugou’s sleeping schedule.

hahaha I’m sure he must have freaked out on them at some point after that, and bakugou must have done the same (probably with jirou, less likely but more hilarious with todoroki or tokoyami haha) - though, the original idea came from a bigger one where the scene in the comic didn’t bring them anywhere closer to getting together (or figuring out they’re into each other, for the matter lmao idiots) maybe one day I’ll get back on that >:]

Anon said: In your comments, you said “at this point my hands will never forget” and I had a nozaki-kun memory float into my head, imagining him sick and trying to make his deadline xD yes muscle memory

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! anon you have no idea how often I think about that hahaha yes, I say my hands won’t forget but we all know that’s exactly how it’ll end at some point lol

Anon said: dang this happens all the time like I follow someone for their bnha content and then like two months after following them I find out they used to make yowapeda content and im just sitting their like dang thats wild because bnha and yowapeda are like the only two animes I watch

ANON!!!! HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Always so nice to find other ywpd fans!!!!!!!! Sorry I’m not making art for it anymore (for now) but despite my sister insisting I read the manga already I’ve been putting it off......for years lol but it’s on my reading list!! So maybe I’ll get back on it at some point!

Anon said: FRAN!!!!!! i love ur art so much and im trying to buy ur products on redbubble and i geniunely cant decide what to get!!!!! i tired asking my friend but she doesnt know which one either hahahahhahah ig i just wanted to send this because i really appreciate u and u are very talented. im sending u lots of high vibrations and love❤️🧡

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!! It means so much to me that you guys are still buying my stuff (TTATT) I should...........seriously update it..........gomen m(._.)m

Anon said:YES YES YEEES MORE ALFYON ON THE WAYYYYYY 💖💖💖💖💖 They're both the cutest really their ship is the beeest  Try reading some the alfyon fanfics if you have some time, they're really good ! The one i really recommend you is Crismonberries, blackberries by court_court on Ao3 !Your art is the best ever can't wait to see more octopath !!💖💖💖

Anon thank you SO MUCH for suggesting that fic to me I!!!!!!!!!!!! loved it so much I deep-dived into it and spent two straight days reading it it’s such a gem!!!!! ;;; bless you

Anon said: Have you watched Fullmetal Alchemist?

Hell yeah! Only Brotherhood though. I read the manga too tho!!

Anon said: Have you read Noragami? It’s one of my favourite manga, and the anime isn’t half bad either (still waiting for s3 tho lol) anyway it’s really good, concept-wise it’s similar to Soul Eater, I totally recommend

I watched the first season back when it aired! It’s not really my thing though ): feels a bit sad in that very specific way that always ends up just making me miserable as I keep reading............................... sorry

Anon said: I will never not be in love with your art. Everytime I'm feeling down and/or missing the boys I scroll through your krbk tag and it reminds me exactly of why I love them so much and I'm so thankful for that. Your brand of krbks is the one I love the most and honestly thank you so much for all your marvelous art of them and of other things as well because you art is just so pretty and I love seeing your ocs and other fandom art 💕💕💕

Anon I love you......................... ;;;;; thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me (oTT^TT)o<3

[onlyhereforangst]

WWR

The Talk™️

lololol just kidding sorry Laura I love you here’s the real thing just in time 😘😘

We start with Ellie being veeeeery sus 👀 checking out Eastern Europe and the various countries, I mean yes there are plenty of nice, beautiful places there but this is a procedural aka obviously that area can only be shady. I also love that Nick came up silently and waited, watched what she was doing very intently, before announcing his presence. Almost like he’s been suspecting something is up with her for a little while now and seized on this perfect opportunity to do a little digging. But at the same time he doesn’t let it go on too long, and he almost gives her an out- he doesn’t accuse her of being shady AF, instead he’s like oh clearly she’s planning a trip because she’s always talked about loving Eastern Europe not the Bahamas like we’d just gotten jealous over a year ago…right, Ellie? A trip? And then her response ooo girl. She starts to get uber defensive and then realizes that oh wait, he handed me an out on a silver platter so yeah let me take it real quick. AND HE DOESN’T CALL HER ON IT. That’s the real good stuff in this scene- he’s a trained federal agent with years of undercover work, he can tell when someone is outright lying *especially* when that someone is Ellie. So he takes her defensive hesitation and than blatant lie and rolls with it. Beeeecause he trusts her. He trusts her to tell him when she’s ready. He saw how hurt she got when he kept bothering her after the kidnapping, and also saw her tell him once she was ready to. So yeah, he gets it now. He may be seriously concerned for her underneath that joking exterior, but he trusts her to tell him when the time is right, and also likely feels she wouldn’t keep anything huge huge from him. *cue getting ready for heartbreak in the finale it’s fine everything is fine*

Of course we move on to the flirty stuff because we avoid serious talk here 🙄 Ellie still sus though don’t get it wrong, shutting that laptop real quick when he rounds the corner taking no further chances. And her crossing her arms while he offends her choice of “vacation” hahaha she’s so obvious, honey you got the hots for him it’s ok. Little middle school flirting like oh yeah you can do better? Prove it jerk. And Niiiiiick 🥵 I wish you could see the screenshot I’m paused on right now after he says it depends on who he’s going with before he asks her who she’s going with because DAMN that look. He can think of one (1) person and one person only who he’d go on a trip with. Her little smirk back before she decides to throw all pretense to the wayside and says fuck it I don’t care that we’re in the bullpen out in the open lemme flirt with you ~*Agent Torres*~ AND HE’S LIKE TWO CAN PLAY AGENT BISHOP PLEASE INVITE ME ON YOUR TRIP THAT I KNOW DOESN’T EXIST BUT I’D LIKE TO KNOW I’D BE INVITED IF IT DID. And please her giddy smile afterwards and then she goes from leaning back in her chair to leaning forward towards him because these two are absolutely drawn to each other bitches and I can’t get enough of them and their little playful smiles and body language. AND NEITHER CAN JIMMY. 

Jimmy is the ellick fandom. Because yes, keep going this is ✨just delightful✨ and I never want it to stop unless you’re kissing. Thank you. And pleeeeease them stumbling over their words when they realized they’ve been caught I CANT. They both look *so* uncomfortable and it’s hilarious, and then Ellie can’t help but laugh at Nick’s dumb joke making fun of Jimmy because it’s her man and he’s so *funny*. 

Bring us to Jimmy redeeming himself. But also yes this just confirms to me that he told Nick what he needed to hear back when he said zero chemistry. And now Jimmy’s observed silently, see where Nick has come in the last year and everything the two have been through and knows he ready to hear it for real. Well Jimmy was ready a while ago for them to move it along so yeah he’s like where’s my spoon I’m gonna STIR THIS POT. And then it is born, the slogan of the episode, the point of the WWR (please don’t have PTSD Laura), The Talk™️. Nick’s face oooo man, he initially tries to deflect like no we aren’t talking about that cozy scene nuh uh and then it turns into his worst nightmare- being called out by James Palmer of all people with Ellie literally five feet away. (ALSO MCGEE IS LITERALLY A FOOT BEHIND THEM. He 1000% heard this entire conversation if Ellie heard it. Bro better not try to deny a single thing later I’m watching you sir 👀) Nick’s expression is screaming what the fuck shut UP Jimmy this can’t possibly be happening so let me try to joke and deflect again (small smile because it was still a little funny) and then back to what the fuck he’s undeterred shit shit shit oh thank god McGee has started talking yes we have a goddamn huge problem autopsy gremlin won’t take the damn hint. 

And woooooow the first time I’ve seen Nick at his desk in a while 👀👀 he said shit people are on to me let me put ✨space✨ in between us for like five seconds while we still shoot each other cute smiles. 

Oooooooh now we here for the evisceration. The Here Lies James Palmer moment of the episode. Catch me dYING in the club, not crying. Because holy shit Ellie this was not only brutal and Brian absolutely killed it during this scene with his reactions to Ellie ripping him apart. His “oh…Oh…oooh.” Had me cackling. And Ellie you are the poster child of defensive, pulling out all the stops. Let me deny everything, let me then be a slight hypocrite because people shouldn’t be talking about me (because I’m terrified about considering broaching that topic too) but I can talk about Gibbs and Sloane previously, and then also like sort of admitting to it by asking Jimmy what people think is going on because that’s the question she would *love* to know the answer to but hasn’t gotten yet. All the while cue me laughing hysterically at jimmy, top tier scene right here lets be honest. Because then Kasie comes in and it’s just perfect 🤣🤣🤣 this was his sister, Painful. Couldn’t have said it better myself Kasie 😭💀

Lol at McGee telling Ellie not to tell Nick he was right about it being a coincidence 😂

HOW CLOSE DO WE NEED TO STAND TOGETHER Y’ALL. HOW CLOSE. THERE’S A WHOLE GODDAMN BULLPEN. Remember when I said Nick wanted space for 5 whole seconds, yeah this is why. They’re straight magnets - drawn together indubitably 👀

Quick detour for the continued storyline of sus!Ellie and it makes me even more and more excited for the finaleeeeee. Because honey why do you know it takes 10 pounds of pressure to rip a trachea out and yes we all know it’s Odette and I can’t wait for the aaaaaangst. Also Kasie always coming in clutch with the humor, I live for it. “No you right I got nothing” 🤣🤣

Once again, Nick forgot about his desk, it was short-lived wasn’t it? 😅 

Now to another fun scene, and I feel like there’s a little double meaning to when Nick talks to Ellie about Phineas going through a lot this year, “more than most of us, which is saying a lot this year” - obviously covid but also maybe a callback to the kidnapping/jail cell stuff they dealt with?? Maybe?? Anyways, them being so awkward cute together because there’s a slight lull in the case so they revert back to their middle school selves, “so” “so…” I can’t with them omg. And then, and THEN of the two to bring it up, it’s Nick!!!! Yes!!! The GROWTH. This man used to be so emotionally closed off and now he, HE is bringing up The Talk™️ and he almost chickens out, he almost says haha you’re right we don’t have to have The Talk™️ after Ellie has a minor freakout because good god this girl is on *edge*. Her mind has probably been going a mile a minute the second she heard Jimmy call them out at the crime scene because she’s been living in blissful ignorance the past months/year whatever and now everything is smacking her in the face. But Nick, ugh I love the growth. He brushes it off and then has a moment where his face is like, no, no I’m not a wuss and he admits that yes he’s thought about it (the way he pauses when he says “not that it hasn’t been on my mind…us…” and I’m like yeah you two as a couple has been on your mind hasn’t it Nick 👀) and yes I want to have The Talk™️ with you Ellie Bishop. And not only does he admit this he’s also the one that’s like ok yeah cool BUT WHEN. Let’s nail this down please, I need it in my planner asap. And then she gets all giggly again “I don’t know when do *you* think?” Like omg I’m literally in middle school again. They’re so fucking cute and awkward it’s precious. Especially when they have to end their conversation and suddenly act normal when talking to McGee 😅😍 then they go separate ways and the look Ellie shoots Nick ahhhhhhh it’s almost like a let’s table this but also shit we really did half open that can of worms in the middle of a work day. Nick sighs and looks briefly to the sky like shit what did I do in a good way and bad way haha. 

Back to Kasie with the ✨iconic✨ lines I love herrrr. Ellie being sus again with being resistant to change. I can’t decide if she’s not only talking about the possibility of dating Nick (once again defensive because Kasie about came for her throat hahahah) but also maybe about whatever is going to go down with Odette 👀👀

HERE WE ARE. THE MOMENT WE’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR. Back to being cute little awkward idiots in love that need to have The Talk™️. I mean come on they’re trying so hard to avoid the actual talk and just dancing around it “so” “so” “talk a roo” “talk a reeno” excuse me what the fuck are you saying just SAY IT. And Nick is still ready and rearing to go but also wants to respect Ellie and give her space if needed so he offers to just agree The Talk™️ needs to be had. And of course she counters with “need is a strong word” because damn this girl is spiraling. She’s so terrified of the outcome of this talk she wants to deny it needs to exist but still she can’t help it at the end of the day. And Nick is still like ok BUT WHEN. I WANT TO TELL YOU I LOVE YOU AFTER YOU TELL ME YOU LOVE ME. SO LIKE WHEN ELLIE WHEN. And he once again plays off her deflection (a theme of this episode) with yeah yeah they’re super tired not at all wired just thinking about this talk that is at the tip of his tongue. At least Ellie is finally seeing the light and realizes that they should promise to have The Talk™️ but as she sits there staring at the elevator in front of her she’s like oh fuck, it can’t be soon can it. Fuck fuck fuck I can’t hold this in longer, we can’t keep dancing around it. fuck. So when Nick once again tries to press her to nail down a time she’s like well fuck it let’s do this shit now. Then she can’t realized that shit I actually said it, I actually said that. I said we should have The Talk™️ now. And Nick’s genuine surprise mirrors hers because she’s been the one half-denying The Talk™️ all day and now she wants to do this right here right now??? But at the same time he’s got a little smile to his face because he loves the idea of her being on board and finally getting this done. Finally getting to hear how she feels. 

So they walk into the elevator with a MUCH better vibe than the last time they walked in all serious at night (looking at you dumb Nick with Elena) but I guess the Elena Elevator Talk walked so the Ellie Elevator Talk could run 👀

And Nick while yes he’s ready for this shit to finally happen he’s still vulnerable, still terrified of opening himself up because he’s seen his dad (recently) and how commitment and relationships run in the family 🙄 plus this is all very new to him outside of Sofia and this is definitely not new to Ellie (Jake, qasim). He needs to hear she’s all-in too, needs to know he hasn’t built something up in his head for something serious when she views it as just a flirtation between friends. So he nervously says ladies first and while Ellie gives him a look of protest and wtf man, I think deep down she knows this is all so difficult for him despite how much he’s pushed it over the course of the day plus SHE is ready to get this out in the open. The moment she decided to stop denying and spiraling she went full force head on let’s talk about us. She hedges for a second and Nick continues to be nervous as she’s clearly building up her own nerve. Then she says probably the exact same moment he’s thinking of- or at least one of them- the jail cell. The defining, triggering moment that set this thing at full speed. He can’t believe she’s really saying the words, about to hear what he hopes is his feeling of that jail cell reciprocated in her words and his head turns quickly to look at her, unable to believe his ears that what he’s been dying for all along is going to happen. The Talk™️ is happening and damn it seems like it’s happening in the right direction. 

Of course we have no damn clue what was said and I’m jaded and don’t think they’ll ever tell us- RIP the note. BUT I’m so glad it actually happened (and the cinematographic parallels of course), a STEP towards canon!Ellick I’m fine. 

Now to see where they take this from here in the last two episodes and I can only hope an angst filled canon!Ellick because duh. 

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression Ep 38 - Discovery of new geoglyph in the Nazca lines.

K: Hi, this is Dir en grey's Kaoru with this week's episode of The Freedom of Expression. Joe san, Tasai san, welcome....

J: Ask me about it..haha

K: Wha..?

J: Ask me about it.

K: .....Today..

J: Haha, no no no. Hellooo? *points at  Tokyo Sports hoodie that he is wearing* Look, look, look, everyone. Tokyo Sports have...actually, where are you selling this again?

T: Don Quijote.

J: Its a collaboration with Don Quijote.

T: Yeah.

J: Have a look. *Shows off hoodie* 'UFO caught in power lines'. I don't know why this scene has been chosen for it though. I've put it on straight away.

K: I've got one too. Its cute, right?

J: It is cute!

T: Oh, that makes me happy.

J: Anyone can get this if they go to Don Quijote?

T: Yep.

J: By the way, how much is it?

T: Its about ¥2000.

J: This is..

K: Its good.

J: Yeah it is.

K: Its good for this time of year.

J: This is great for just going to the convenience store.

Kami: Its cheap. 

K: But isn't ¥2000 a bit expensive for Kami?

T: haha

Kami: Well, its cheap.

J: Honestly, its a bit loose in the body.

K: You don't have to say that.

J: Hahaha

T: No matter when it gets dirty..

J: Its okay? kinda thing?

K: On the otherhand, its easy to wear.

J: Easy to wear! Thats it. Easy to wear.

K: Yeh yeh.

J: Ah, its thin so its easy to wear, haha.

K: Great for when its just a bit chilly outside.

J: Just right for that.

T: Exactly.

J: So by all means, everyone, this is currently on sale at Don Quijote.

T: Thank you very much.

J: This is a super hot item.

T: Thank you.

K: Speaking of Tokyo Sports news, this week's story is..

T: Yeah. A new geoglyph in the Nazca lines has been discovered.

J: I've been waiting for this!

T: Another mystery to unfold.

J: Yeh, a mystery.

T: On the 16th of this month, Peru's Ministry of Culture announced that a group of archaeologists doing maintenance work in an area of the Nazca lines discovered a new geoglyph measuring at 37 meters. Its from an earlier era than any of the other geoglyphs that we know of. It hasn't been visible up to now because it was drawn on the side of a steep slope. But it has become possibe to get footage of it using drones etc, which means more discoveries like this might also be made from now on.

J: Its amazing, isn't it?

T: Did you see it?

J, K: Yeh yeh.

J: It looks like a cat.

K: The moment I saw it, I thought it was a fake.

J: Hahaha. Out of all the topics so far, your enthusiasm for this one is kinda different, right?

T: Its crazy, right? A cat...

J: It looks like that giraffe that Tasai drew recently.

K: haha, yeh.

J: I wondered if Tasai had drawn it.

T: Yeh, like presenting my own work.

J: Yeh yeh yeh. But then you probably didn't have time to go to Peru and do a 37 meter drawing.

T: Well, yeah. Looking at the design of the cat, Im not sure whether ancient people drew this.

J: What do you think, Kaoru?

K: Well, when I first saw it, I thought it was fake news.

J, T: Hahaha

J: It looks like it, doesn't it? It looks like a joke.

T: For sure.

K: It makes you think, 'Eh? Really??'

J: Yeah. Maybe they left it there as a joke.

T: The other designs in the Nazca lines, the birds and things, are drawn very precisely, aren't they? This one has a different touch to it.

K: This one is older than those though, isn't it?

T: Yeah, its older.

K: Maybe it all started from there.

J: Yeah. Its like the very beginning of the Nazca lines. It could've been like a practice attempt.

T: So like, it started from there, and became many different designs?

J: Yeah, that kind of thing, maybe?

T: I wonder.

J: But its said the Nazca lines have loads of mysteries about them. These days, in terms of technicalties, you would draw a small image first, and while looking at that, like when making a map, go equally to various places and leave stakes in the ground. And then gradually make it bigger. If you increase the size by the same amount, no matter what the angle, it eventually turns into that kind of shape, right? But to make that kinda of image back then, with all the obstacles that they faced, there is the theory that it could have been aliens. Its quite a deep rooted theory. What is Tokyo Sports' theory on this?

T: Well, there is the aliens theory, but also former AKB member, Kojima Haruna....Kojiharu, right? She drew a picture of a cat at some event back in 2015, or was it a tiger? It was a tiger. It looks exactly the same as this.

J: Hahaha

K: *looks at pic on Tasai's phone* Well...

Kami: You're talking about Kojiharu's drawing?

T: Yeah, like did she draw this? 

Kami: Oh right. Um, I also..A long time ago, I drew a picture at Tottori sand dunes with a friend.

J, K, T: Ehh?

Kami: It was like a male symbol..I competed with my friend over the size.

J: Kami, how did you draw it, this male symbol?

Kami: Well, I got a tree, and trees are kind of thick, right. I found a really thick one, and went back and forward with it many times. We were saying to each other, like 'Mine is bigger'. Stupid, right? Haha.

T: Kami's type of fun is interesting.

Kami: Yeah, we went to Tottori sand dunes, it was fun though. I wouldn't be allowed to draw it now though, that type of thing.

J: Ah, is it banned there?

Kami: Well, these days its all about public decency. Maybe that was my fault.

K: Definitely.

J: Yeah. Its due to your excesses, Kami, now it has become like this.

Kami: Yes.

J: Stop it!

Kami: Its like as a god, I was the creator of these new rules.

J: Haha

T: I see.

J: Yeh, I see.

Kami: Yes.

K: He puts it very well.

J: He does. So, what do you think about this Kojiharu theory?

T: Well, we got a good response from her. She said something like 'Tokyo Sports, stop being stupid', haha.

K: Tokyo Sports gets about doesn't it?

J: Its great isn't it? haha. Imagine Kojiharu speaking out to them about the Nazca lines.

T: Also, the Major League player, the pitcher Maeda Kenta (Maeken), there has been talk that it looks like it was drawn by him.

K: Basically, the picture is not very good then.

J: Haha. So, Tokyo Sport's conclusion is that this geoglyph is old, but in terms of skill, its not that good?

T: Yeah. Well, because aliens did it to help them relax.

K: Ahh, I see.

J: Like, a drunk alien drew it or something?

T: Yeh yeh. 

J: Ah, there are many possibilities.

K: Its great that there are still others that havn't been discovered yet.

J: Yeah.

Kami: Um, will it be said that I drew it if they find a vulgar drawing?

K, J, T: Hahaha

J: Hang on, you're  a god, so it wouldn't be strange to say you were alive when the Nazca lines were made, right?

Kami: Right.

T: It wouldn't be that odd to find one or two vulgar ones would it?

J: Well, as I said earlier, they could start with a small drawing, and then gradually extend it, but the question is what did they make these for? I can understand that kind of big bird being related to a religious custom or something, but I'm interested in what this funny cat was made for.

T: Yeah

K: Well, I don't mean big ones, but they are a lot of small ones like this, done by people a long time ago, right?

T: Ah yeh.

J: Ah, I see. Yeh yeh.

T: It wasn't that unusual for ancient peope to draw random doodles, like symbols or religious images and stuff.

J: Ah, yeh. Its interesting.

Kami: Joe, I really understand what you said about expanding the drawing equally bit by bit.

J: Oh really?

Kami: Yeh, at Tottori sand dunes, the picture I drew was only circles and a line, but i made it bigger in the same way.

J: Oh right, yeh.

Kami: Yeah, I did.

J: So does that mean you really knew how to draw?

Kami: No, I didn't know how to at all. It just came naturally.

J: Naturally?

Kami: Yes.

T: Incredible.

J: Of couse, you are a god. I somehow wish you'd drawn something more decent. Haha

Kami: Well, I have a knack for that type of thing.

J: Haha, do you? Like, this is you?

Kami: Yes. Im just a vulgar guy.

J: Ah, you're vulgar? A vulgar god.

Kami: Yes.

K: Well, anyway, it will be interesting if they find any more of these.

J: Yeh, im looking forward to that.

T: I wonder if there are any more?

J: Oh, there will be more.

T: Hmm, yeh.

J: Well, I don't remember exactly, but in the place where the Nazca lines are, there is a characteristic type if soil quality, like if it rains, or is windy, the geoglyphs don't disappear.

K: Well, yeah.

J: If you drew a picture in regular ground, it would disappear when it rained, right? So, did these ancient people knew about the soil quality in this area, and draw them there deliberately to preserve them, or did they draw them in lots of different places, and only these ones have survived? Im not an expert, so I don't know, but it makes you imagine things when you see them.

K: Yeah.

J: Isn't it great?

T: There must be more..

J: Yeah.

T: Mysteries in this world.

J: Yes, I think so.

Kami: Isn't there any theory about them drawing graffiti with friends?

J: Well, there may be that kind of theory.

T: Yeah.

Kami: Is there?

K: We just don't know what happened.

J: Right, we don't know. Yeh.

T: That cat does just look like a prank.

J: Yeah.

T: There is no message in it.

J: No, there isn't. Haha.

K: How did they draw it though?

J: As for that Tokyo Sports Tshirt, I wonder if anyone holds copyright for the Nazca lines images?

K: I don't know, haha.

T: How about that? Hmm.

K: I don't know.

J: If its a press photo though, you can use it anywhere as long as you credit it, right?

K: Well, in that case, Tasai's drawing is better..

J: Oh, that?!

T: Hahaha

J: Lets make it!

K: Hahaha

J: How about that with 'The Freedom of Expression'.

T: That sounds good.

J: Kaoru did not seem to agree, haha.

K: No, lets just think about it a little more.

J: Yes, ok.

K: Ok, well lets finish here. Please subscribe. Thank you very much.

[mreview]

Halloween Week: Day 3 Movie Review: The Mummy (1999)

Death is only the beginning. (Imhotep)

A fun and wild ride is what I’ve chosen for today’s review. Another one of my favorites, it’s absolutely the best ride for anyone who wants an adventure tale mixed with history and romance.

Now, I’m going on the premise that some have not watched this, so here we go!

It begins with the High Priest Imhotep and the Pharaoh’s mistress falling in love and through their love, kill the Pharaoh. As punishment, Anck-su-namun kills herself believing he will resurrect her. Unfortunately, he is stopped by the Pharaoh’s body guards and mummified alive. Centuries later, he is resurrected, so to speak, by Evelyn Carnahan, a librarian. Because of his resurrection, he brings with him the 10 plagues of Egypt. Now, it is up to Evie, her brother Jonathan, Rick O’Connell, and the head Medjai, Ardeth Bay to find the Book of Ra to send Imhotep back to the Underworld.

There is a lot going on in this movie, but, unlike the 2017 movie, this one was so much better. (You can find my review of that movie on a past post.)

Stephen Sommers did an amazing job bringing this story to life and stayed somewhat true to the original Mummy. (From what I remember of that film.) The special effects are a bit outdated, in some respect, but what can you expect, it was the 90s.

The adventure is well paced and the characters are perfectly in sync. For me, as I’ve said in previous posts, it’s rare to find a movie with characters in perfect chemistry. The thing that really gets me is the chemistry. If the actors don’t have it, I can’t fully enjoy the movie. It may sound strange, but chemistry is everything for me. Not to mention the portrayal of the characters by the actors. If I see or get the hint the actors are having a good time with their characters, I enjoy the film even more. That’s what this movie has for me. The actors enjoyed themselves and the chemistry between them, even the villains' and the good guys had amazing chemistry.

One of the aspects of this movie, is the romance. There are two love stories unfolding in this flick. One between Imhotep and Anck-su-namun. The other between Rick and Evie. Now both have amazing chemistry, and beautiful love stories. I think what got me was the passion and drive Imhotep had to reunite with his love. You couldn’t really fault him for trying to resurrect his love, but the path to getting her back was on the dark side.

Rick and Evie’s story is charming and funny. I love how they meet.

Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz had such amazing chemistry that they quickly became one of my favorite onscreen pairings. There are several videos dedicated to them on YouTube, if you want to check them out, btw.

Anyway, the comedy in this movie is what sells it. It’s subtle and evenly balanced with the rest of the film. I loved it, personally. They didn’t focus on the romance. They didn’t make the biggest story. They didn’t focus on the mission or the horror. They focused on everything in an even pace and with each minute you are drawn into the story.

I will say the first time it came out, it terrified me. (Hey, I was only 9! There I dated myself...hahaha.) This scene is only one of many that had me running! Check it out on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKpNfOR9vF4

Only by a request from a dear friend did I re-watch and give it another try, a few years later. By that time, I fell in love with it. It quickly became one of my top 10 favorite flicks. I try to watch it at least once a month. That should tell you something.

Overall, the story is what drags you in and if you enjoy adventure, not over the top romance, a bit of horror, like literal jumping out of your seat kind, then this movie is perfect for you!

“You must not read from the book!”

��What do you mean bugs?! I hate bugs!”

“I am proud of what I am...I am a Librarian!”

“You better think of something fast, because if he turns me into a mummy, you’re the first one I’m coming after.”

Overall Rating: A+ (Because it’s a classic!)

Recommended: HECK YES!!

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

[that explosion was beautiful]

Day 30: Endings #twdgdrabblechallenge

Note: I’m finally finished with this damn challenge! Three months late! I don’t even care, I finished it, and I’m proud and now I can move all of my focus into my one shot that I’m hoping to have published on Jan 31. Fingers crossed.

Next time I do one of these challenges [because yeah, spoiler alert, I’m doing one next month] it’s going to be much shorter hahaha. Anyway, we’re ending this with a quick look at the aftermath of the delta’s ship exploding since I’ve gotten asks in the past about Mitch’s role at that point. 

AO3

---

The word “beautiful” isn’t one that Mitch throws around a lot. Hell, he can’t remember the last time he of the word or even spoke it aloud.

But that explosion was beautiful.

The earth shook and it rained bits of wood and metal. The river sent waves of water crashing against the pier and the shore, and the world had a sunset glow to it made only uncanny knowing the sun actually set hours ago.

The whole sight was one Mitch would’ve enjoyed if not for the walkers roaming around, riled up from the commotion, drawn to the flaming, sinking ship enough to swim through the river. That topped with the fact that he lost Clementine and AJ after the broiler finally went off ruined the moment the explosion blew the boat into nonexistence. He managed to find Tenn, sending him in the direction of Aasim and Omar. 

Mitch tried not to be rough with the kid, even if he was still annoyed at him for breaking his cover to try and sneak onto the boat, getting them both caught when Mitch went after him. 

His cheek throbs painfully, bruised by the hand that was Lilly’s. 

“You’re tough, I’ll give you that. You’d make a nice addition to our community, a strong soldier... But you’re stupid. We’ll have to work on that.” 

Mitch scoffs. 

Joke’s on her- he’s not the one with a bullet in the face right now. Bitch. 

He stabs another walker through the head, shoving the limp body aside as he frantically searches the area, senses overwhelmed and on high alert. He takes out two more walkers before he sees someone through the thick fog of smoke.

Clementine’s lying face-first on the ground, AJ right beside her. They’re not unconscious from what he can tell, both shifting but obviously disoriented.

Walkers take notice of them, especially when Clementine sits up to grasp her thigh, grunting and wincing in pain. Mitch is running without a second thought.

“Shit!” he hears her curse, realizing that one of the walkers is stumbling towards them.

He makes it in time, kicking the back of the walker’s knee before directing his knife through its skull. It falls forward, limp against the dirt. 

“Mitch!” AJ cries, jumping to his feet. “You made it!”

“Yeah,” Mitch huffs, wiping at his brow with a grin and offering Clementine a hand. “’Course I did.”

Clementine’s arms are around him in seconds, hugging his waist and saying, “You have no idea how happy I am to see you!”

While Mitch isn’t a huggy person in the slightest, he tosses that aside to hug her back. They nearly died on that fucking thing, he can make an exception this time.

“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbles, awkwardly patting her back. “Don’t get your snot all over my shirt.”

That makes her laugh. 

“Sorry.” 

“Shit,” Mitch watches blood soak through Clementine the pants of her thigh where a wound cuts deep, “you okay? Can you walk?” 

“Yeah, it’s not bad-”

The relief of their reunion is short-lived when a cry echoes out from the shore.

It’s Louis with his arms around Violet’s waist, a walker clutching onto her boot, groaning and gurgling water. Louis kicks at it, but slips, causing both of them to fall into the mud, slipping further into the water. 

Violet doesn’t move. 

“Louis! Vi!” Clementine calls for them but steps back when she attracts the attention of nearby walkers.

“They’re hurt!” AJ gasps. 

“Get the fuck off-!” Louis shouts at the fucker, giving a final, hard kick to its skull, caving it in and sending the walker back into the water.

Clementine, injuries forgotten, snatches her bow from the ground and plants herself firmly. She shoots the walker with ease, as well as a few more taking an interest in Louis as he struggles to get Violet out of the water. 

She lunges forward, ready to dart towards them but stumbles, grasping at her bleeding thigh with a sharp intake.

“Clem!” AJ’s by her side in an instant, grabbing her arm and staring wide-eyed at the gaping wound. 

Fuck, more walkers are approaching. 

“Clem, can you get to them?” he asks.

“Yeah, yeah, can you-”

“Go!” Mitch readies his knife with a firm nod. “I got it! Go get them!” 

Clementine returns his nod before dashing towards the river where Louis drags Violet fully out of the water.

The fuckers are everywhere, but they’re not hard to take out thanks to the little knee trick that Clementine taught him. How the hell did he not think of that before? Now it just seems so obvious. He’d have to remind himself to thank her if they all made it back to the school in one piece.

Gunshots ring through the woods, a chorus of walker cries and infuriated shouts follow suit. The remaining delta fuckers group together, shooting walkers and arguing with each other. 

Mitch watches one of them get grabbed, a walker sinking its teeth into her throat and tearing the flesh apart. 

It’s a strange feeling to watch someone get bit and feel zero remorse.

Fuck ‘em, they’re getting what they had coming.

“Mitch! Get over here! They’re hurt!”

"Fuck,” Mitch hisses, knuckles white around the handle of his blade. He dashes towards them to find Louis pressing on Violet’s chest, counting to himself before pausing to breathe into her mouth. AJ’s by Violet’s head, mouth pouting sadly.

Panic settles in his stomach as Mitch turns to stare wide-eyed at Clementine, asking, “Fuck, is she...?”

“No!” Louis exclaims, blood smeared along his jaw and dripping down his quivering chin, looking as though he may cry. “She’s fine, I just- we- fuck, c’mon Vi!”

“What happened?” AJ asks. 

Louis doesn’t seem to hear the boy’s question, leaning over to breathe more air into Violet’s lungs until her body convulses, water spewing from Violet’s mouth as she begins to choke.

“Oh, thank God!” Clementine falls beside Louis, helping him roll Violet onto her side so she can cough up the remaining water. 

“Violet!” Louis is crying now, tears falling down his face as he pulls her to him, cradling her in his arms. “Fuck, I thought- I’m so sorry, Vi. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry.” His voice falls quiet as he murmurs his apologies over and over again. 

“We have to move her,” Clementine says. “It’s not safe here.”

“Aasim and Omar are waiting for us,” Mitch agrees. “They’re over there.”

“I can carry her,” Louis sniffles. When he tries to curl her up into a position which he could lift her, Violet struggles, though it’s pointless. She’s far too enervated from the explosion, her injuries, and nearly drowning. All she can do is pound pathetically at Louis’ chest.

“You-” Violet manages, “-you bastard-”

“C’mon, Vi,” Louis says, “we gotta get up. I got you.”

She barely fights him, letting him pull her up on trembling legs. She leans into him for support, cheek pressed into his chest.

“God, what the fuck happened to you guys?” Mitch asks.

“Minnie-” Violet whispers, nearly collapsing until Louis leans down to place his arm behind her knees, lifting her up and turning to gaze back at the nearly sunken boat. 

The flames hide the despair behind his dark eyes, as for what that despair was about, Mitch didn’t know. He didn’t know what happened in that boat, only on top of it. 

Together, they make it over to Aasim and Omar with no trouble, crouching down beside them- well, Louis collapses, huffing with his back against the rocks, still cradling Violet who looks ready to pass out. 

“Oh, thank god,” Aasim exclaims. “You guys okay?”

“Violet?” Omar asks, still clutching his wounded leg. 

Louis shakes his head at him, saying, “She’s okay... we’re okay.”

“Willy and Ruby brought a cart around to get us the hell outta here,” Mitch nods over the rocks. “We just gotta get everyone over there.”

“We can do that,” Clementine nods, raising her bow. “You guys go ahead. I’ll stay back and cover you.”

“You sure?” Mitch asks. “You’re leg’s still fucked up.”

“Yeah, I-”

“Wait,” AJ grabs onto Clementine’s sleeve, eyes narrowed as he stares off into the distance. “Tenn..? Tenn! And- and James! Look!”

Fuck. 

Fuck, he’s right! 

Tenn stands close behind James across the beach. From what Mitch can tell, James has two knives that he’s using to take down every walker coming near them, bodies beginning to pile up. 

Holy shit...

It’s Tenn who spots them first, waving over at them with a pleading expression.

Mitch sighs, frustrated. He told Tenn to meet up with Aasim and Omar! He pointed him in the right direction, so what the hell is he doing over there? And with James? 

Well, shit, he shouldn’t be mad about that. The guy is protecting Tenn from being completely devoured so Mitch can set aside any annoyance for the moment. 

“We have to help them," says Louis, helplessly looking around and down at Violet, who’s fully unconscious now and deadweight in his arms. 

“I got it,” Mitch says, turning back to Clementine before she can speak. “Get everyone across to the cart. I’ll grab Tenn.”

“You can’t go alone,” Aasim objects. “There are way too many walkers! It’s too dangerous!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t be alone,” Mitch jerks his thumb back towards Tenn and James. “Our little walker friend will be there to keep me company.”

Aasim narrows his eyes, clearly confused. “What? What walker friend?”

“James,” AJ answers. “He wears walker skin.”

“Wait, the one Clem said she’d marry? He’s here?” 

"Yes, Aasim, that James,” Clementine scowls. “He helped us break into the boat. He’s a friend. We can trust him.”

Aasim looks ready to ask another million questions but shuts up when another gunshot goes off, followed by a scream and ripping flesh. 

“Oh my god...” Omar’s eyes widen as he watches the rest of the raiders go down. 

More and more walkers are approaching the beach, finishing off the rest of the raiders and if they don’t hurry their asses up, they’ll be next.

“No time to argue,” Mitch insists, gripping his knife tight. “I’ll grab Tenn and meet you guys back at the school. Get everyone into the cart and ride like hell!” 

Before anyone else can protest, Mitch is running from cover and across the beach, dodging and kicking and stabbing his way to Tenn and James. 

[purplesurveys]

820

what venue was the last real concert you went to at?: It was in a local arena and seeing as it’s the only big and also the most modern arena that we have in the city, all foreign acts usually hold their shows there because other venues are too small. 

does your best friend and their mom have the same last name?: Not fully. Their moms hyphenated their surnames.

when was the last time you watched a horror movie? what was it?: Sometime in June-ish. It was Midsommar, and we watched the last full show so it was very late at night :c Loved the movie but hated the ride home as I could barely look at flowers or the color white after.

does your mom think robert pattinson (twilight) is attractive?: I’m not sure actually. I think she found Taylor Lautner to be a bit more attractive.

what color is your cell phone?: Answered this on a recent survey, but while Apple calls it space grey it’s really just fancy talk for black.

are you currently waiting for a phone call? from who?: Gab and I are gonna video call later tonight.

do you have any drugs in your bedroom?: I think I have a couple of Biogesic pills left. I remember taking a whole pack of it from my parents’ room because I had a phase not too long ago where I had a headache almost every night.

is there a feature on your face that people compliment you on?: My eyelashes and single dimple get the most compliments. I also never really had acne problems so I get a lot of comments on that too.

what are your plans for the rest of the week?: Professors are starting to put our grades on our student portal thingy so I’m just spending the week waiting for my record to be complete so I can start really feeling like I’m graduating. I’m also thinking of trying to make a Monte Cristo sandwich hahaha but I’m just not sure if we have all the ingredients needed for it. Safe to say that my plans are all over the place.

have you taken your license test yet?: Yes, four years ago. I’ve already told the story on old surveys but I’ll never forgive the LTO for giving me a car I was completely unfamiliar with to use for my driving exam, since it affected my performance and made me nearly fail the test altogether.

are you annoyed with the side-bang phase?: I don’t remember being annoyed with it. It was a big trend and honestly it looked okay on a lot of people lmao, I never felt like I wanted to complain about it.

what kind of perfume do you mainly use?: I haven’t used perfume in a whiiiiiile because I haven’t gone anywhere anyway, but I’d normally put on Beyoncé’s Heat Rush.

how many studded belts do you own?: Exactly zero.

has your boyfriend/girlfriend ever had braces?: Yes. We had braces put o around the same time, but she was permitted to have them removed much later than me. I only had braces for a year and a half, whereas she needed them throughout high school so that’s four years.

if you could get one piercing and one tattoo, where would you want them?: I’d get either a nose ring or nose stud for piercing; as for tattoo, I’d get Kimi’s pawprint on my wrist.

what have you eaten today?: I had garlic rice, scrambled eggs, and two hotdogs for breakfast; milk tea in the afternoon c/o my dad; and afritada for dinner.

what was the last thing you dissected in a science class?: If my memory serves me right, it was some sort of fish. We didn’t dissect often, just three times: an earthworm, a frog, and then that fish.

have you ever experienced being in love?: Yes.

what’s your favorite thing to do?: I don’t have a top 1 favorite thing to do but one of my favorites is to lift my dog up and carry him around like a baby until he gets annoyed and starts squirming around as if to say “put me down” lol.

have you ever drawn a portrait of somebody? who?: No thanks.

did you wear a jacket today?: No, I don’t wear jackets at home.

where did you buy the last album you purchased?: I have no clue, it was such a long time ago – 2013 to be exact. My best guess would be Mega since their CD shops are always the most updated.

what is your best class in school?: In college, I fell in love with my international relations class right from the first lecture. So easy to appreciate a class when you see your prof’s passion bleed through the readings, lectures, Powerpoints, etc. Back in high school, I loved all the specializations of history that we covered: Philippine history for freshman year, Asian history for second year, and world history for third year.

what was the last kind of vitamin water you consumed?: I don’t drink vitamin water but I do take a vitamin C pill everyday.

how many times a week are you told that you’re beautiful?: Uhhh lately, not that much since we haven’t seen each other and we don’t really do video calls that often. Gab usually calls me beautiful when I send her a selfie, but I don’t do that a lot either.

how many years apart are you and your boyfriend/girlfriend?: A month and a half.

have you kissed more than two people of the same sex?: Mmm just one. I kissed Andi on the cheek once and looking back I now acknowledge the fact that I had meant to do it romantically, but I don’t really count it cause it’s just a cheek kiss.

how many times have you had sex in one day?: Such a personal question lmao but I think my record was 3 or 4 times in a day.

did you exercise at all today?: I don’t exercise.

what color of hair did you have the beginning of this school year?: It’s always just been brown. It’s never changed. < Same sentiments, except change brown to black in my case.

who are you planning to hang out with this weekend?: Just my family, as has been the case for three months now.

when are you getting a new phone?: Idk, maybe a few months into my job once I get one.

have you ever seen a transvestite in person?: That’s a politically incorrect term that pisses me off greatly. < Oooooh. Honestly, genuinely did not know this, so thanks for teaching me something new. I’ve since looked it up and apparently the more appropriate term is cross-dresser, and yeah I know several. My university welcomes all forms of expression, so anyone can dress and project themselves in however way they desire.

what was the last show that you almost went to but didn’t?: This doesn’t count as a show but there was supposed to be a wrestling boot camp in Manila as part of a publicity campaign for a brand new wrestling promotion, and Andrew and I had plans on cutting class so we can attend the boot camp and learn basic wrestling moves. It was gonna be the coolest thing ever since WWE legend Rikishi was gonna be the one teaching at the boot camp, but unfortunately and shittily enough, the whole thing had been scheduled right around the time panic over Covid was at its peak. Lockdown started at the same week the boot camp was supposed to happen, so yeah I never got my chance to step into a ring.

what did you wear today?: I wore a UP shirt and a pair of shorts, but I’ll be showering after this.

what book are you currently reading?: Nothing at the moment. I can’t decide which wrestler’s autobiography to read next.

[deepdaleducks]

Time - Writing Prompt

Thank you to my love @incorrectpremquotes for sending in this prompt (like an age ago hahaha) from this post.

114. “Don’t you think you’re a bit old to be using cheesy pickup lines?”

Author’s Note - This one took me forever to write (mainly down to my own writer’s block) but I think I’m pretty proud of it. I would really appreciate your feedback! I posted a sneak preview of this the other day but it wasn’t finished or titled then. I feel like I could maybe write a second part to this so if you want that let me know?? Enjoy x 

Ps. I proof read the first bits whilst I was writing it a lot but the last part isn’t proof read so is probs crap.

Pps. Its probably all crap, but read it anyway?

It was Thursday night and your friend had decided that now after three months it was time for an intervention. It wasn’t like you were still sad about your break up, you’d just been busy with work and so ‘getting back on the horse’ had taken longer than expected. You and her had talked it all over. The busy schedules, the missed calls, the cancelled dates. The split had been amicable. For the first two years your relationship had been wonderful. You’d support him at games, and he’d cook your dinner for when you got home from work. There was weekly dates and trips out to your parents’ house on Sundays. Then you got promoted at work and he was being played more in games and there was no time. Only fleeting kisses and ‘I’ll call you later’s. The final six months were lonely and tiring and you both decided that maybe it would be better if you stopped trying to force it. You moved out and into your friends place and he stayed in the house you had once shared.

A week later it had come out in the press that he was already seeing some Instagram model and you were fine. You broke up because you couldn’t give each other 100% what the other wanted. The headlines were saying that they’d been together in secret for months and now your relationship was over they could finally be out in the open. You hadn’t broken up over cheating or scandals and you were fine. That’s what you told yourself for the first few weeks. But then there were paparazzi at your work, and you were being asked to comment on the break up and on his new girlfriend and it all got too much. When you called him one night after a bottle of wine, you had thanked your lucky stars that he hadn’t answered, and it had gone to voicemail. And when he texted you the next morning asking if you were okay, you didn’t respond, and never called back.

Drinks with your friend had been successful. There wasn’t any wild partying as you both had work in the morning, but she had been right; getting out of the house and doing something that wasn’t your job was good. The breakup had been briefly mentioned but as you’d dissected every moment of it over endless pints of Ben & Jerry’s the conversation had been mainly focussed on work and her new engagement.

You weren’t angry when her phone rang and she had to leave in emergency, knowing she’d done the same thing to help your emergencies plenty of times in the past. You only had a few sips of your drink left anyway, so you were planning to just finish it and head home. You felt a body in the space next to you at the bar that alarmed you a little.

“Do I know you?” an all too familiar voice says next to you, “because you look a lot like my next girlfriend.” You don’t even need to turn to confirm who the voice belonged to. You could tell it was him just by his voice and the smell of his cologne. The smell of your favourite cologne.

“Funny.” You reply, briefly turning to look at him before turning back to the bar and finishing your drink in one swig, “because you look at lot like my ex-boyfriend.” Before you can even attempt to leave, he’s already called over to the bar tender and order two gin and tonics.

“Oh, look at that we’re drinking the same thing. It’s like we’re meant to be together.” He says, pushing a glass in your direction with a wink.

“Don’t you think you’re a bit old to be using cheesy pickup lines?” You retort, still sipping from the glass anyway.

“Don’t you think you’re a bit young to be drinking alone in a bar on a Thursday night, Bridget?” he jokes, referencing your favourite character, Bridget Jones. When you first met, you’d made a joke about how you were convinced you’d soon be singing Celine Dion’s ‘All by Myself’ over a bottle of wine alone in your apartment and he’s promised that he could change that. And he did for a while.

“I’m not drinking alone.” You protest.

“Well not anymore, but you were.”

“No, I wasn’t, Chloe was here. She just left.” You continue, adamant to not let him know how alone you’ve been these last three months.

“I’m only teasing you, babe.” The words roll of his tongue so easily and it feels like it used to be, just for a second. He notices how you tense up a little at the word. How your fingers stop moving around the rim of your glass. How your lips purse together slightly. You weren’t his to call babe anymore, he knew that. “You, erm… You look good. You look well.” He finishes after clearing his throat to dissipate the newly rising tension.

You mumble a thank you under your breath, slowly turning in his direction. He’s still standing in the space beside you, his eyes asking for permission to sit when they finally meet yours. You’ve seen him in the weeks and months since you broke up, but you haven’t looked him the eyes like this since the day it ended. “Why are you here?” You ask, refusing to let him in easily. This bar wasn’t on his side of town and he never spent much time outside of his local neighbourhood, so this was no coincidence.

“I was in the area. Fancied a drink. It was weird. I was just wandering around and then I turned onto this street and I see the sign hanging outside. It’s like I was drawn here. Then I realised this was the bar you always talked about. You always said you were gonna bring me here, but you never did.” He replies, looking you dead in the eyes honestly.

“I did,” You reply quickly, his eyes search yours, encouraging you go continue, “bring you here. Once. The night of Ella's birthday. We’d been dating what like five weeks at the time? We were in the neighbourhood for a meal, and then after everyone left, I brought you here.”

“Oh. I don’t think I remember that.” He says, sliding in to the chair next to you, trying not to let you notice. You turn your head to the other side of the room and his eyes follow yours.

“We sat in that booth over there.” you say, pointing over at the dimly lit booth. “That was when you told me you thought you were falling in love with me. Don’t you remember that?” his eyes meet yours once more, his face painted with disbelief.

“I’d completely forgotten that.” He pauses briefly. “I’m sorry.”

“No, no. It’s okay. It was a long time ago.” You weren’t lying. It was a very long time ago. But it still hurt to know he didn’t remember those moments. The moments that you had been thinking about all the time.

��I’m sorry about everything. About forgetting. About not having enough time for you. About not giving you the world when it was what you deserved.” he declares, reaching for your hand as he does so. His fingers brush yours sending electric sparks up your arm. It had been so long since you’d touched, and you were almost certain that he’d be able to feel your heart beat pulsing through your fingers. You let yourself indulge in it for a moment before pulling away again. He may have forgotten but you hadn’t. You broke up because you didn’t have time, but he sure had time to slip into someone else’s bed as soon as your stuff was out of his house.

“We’ve already done this before. I don’t want to do it again.” You utter quietly, hopelessly. Picking up your glass and sipping from it again, you try your best to collect your thoughts, to keep him out of your head. Just like he used to he’s able to read your mind.

“I never slept with her, you know. She came to some games and we went to dinner once or twice, but I never slept with her. I never even kissed her for fuck’s sake. It was just some ploy the guys had set up to get me back on the horse or whatever. I didn’t want it, I didn’t want her. I just wanted you.” He defends. His words sound exactly like what you want to hear. Confirming everything you’d told yourself on the good days. On the bad days you’d tell yourself that he’s getting over you completely, that she’s your complete opposite and it must mean he’s moving on.

“How’d you know I was thinking about her?” You question, aiming to make him fault his abilities to read your mind.

“You’re not looking up like you do when you’re lying and you’re thumbing your glass like you do when you’re thinking. You said we’ve already done this. But we never spoke about her. So of course, you were thinking about her. We were together two years, baby, you think I don’t know how you tick?” He pauses to make you look at him. Your eyes locking for a moment before you look away again. “You know I’ve done nothing these last three months but miss you.”

“That’s a lie. You got completely hammered by my boys the other week. That’s not nothing.” You joke, a small smiling cracking on your lips. He’d always said that you supporting a team that wasn’t the one he played for would some day end your relationship. He was joking obviously, but it caused endless amount of banter between the two of you and his teammates. He laughs at your joke, glad you’ve began to warm up to him.

“Yeah we should have beat them easily,” he jests in return, “but I guess I just didn’t have my good luck charm with me.” When he says it you know he means you. From the moment he scored in the first game you saw him play he’d claimed that you were his good luck charm. And on your one-year anniversary when he gifted you a pendant necklace with his shirt number engraved on it, he said that he was your good luck charm too. The necklace that you still hadn’t taken off. The necklace that was currently hidden under your shirt, unseen by him.  You falter at the thought of it. All this casual conversation had to lead somewhere, and it still wasn’t clear where it was going.

“I, erm, I think we should talk.” You mumble, briefly pausing. You continue when you realise, he’s about to crack a joke. “And yes, I know we are talking right now, but I think we should talk talk.” A small smile forms on his lips at your statement.

“I’m down to talk talk. Do you wanna go get a coffee somewhere quieter?” The music in this bar wasn’t too loud, and it wasn’t busy, but the dark lighting and thick air made it feel cramped and confined. This wasn’t a lay all your cards out on the table kind of place and something in your mind was making you want to just that. You nod in response, and he settles the bill. The two of you head out together, close enough to touch but both wary of the others space.

You walk side by side down the centre of the deserted side street. It wasn’t late but this area of town wasn’t highly populated at this particular time of the evening. His hand brushes yours slightly and it sends a shock to your brain, making you breathless. Your mind begins running but your feet stop dead in their tracks. Every thought you’ve had about him in the last few weeks goes flowing towards your mouth before you can stop it. Every come back, I miss you, I never should have let you leave.

“I miss you. I missed you. Every single day. And I never should have believed any of what I read about you and her. I knew it wasn’t true but believing it made it easier to hate you. I wanted to hate you so badly. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t hate you then and I can’t hate you now. I love you. I love you so much that it’s making me miserable.” Pausing for a breath, you look up at him. He’s standing there across from you, not making a sound. He moves closer and places a hand on your cheek. Instinctively you lean into it, his touch erasing any cold the night air had created. “I’m not saying that I want back together right now. Or that I’m ready to get back together right now. Maybe, I still need a little time.”

“For you? I have all the time in the world.” He replies simply with a smile.

“Yeah but I don’t want us to rush into anything. We broke up for a reason and I don’t want us to just completely throw ourselves into this again. I don’t want to force you in to making a massive commitment that you can’t make…” He cuts off your rambling with one simple sentence.

“Baby, just shut up and kiss me.” And with that, he pulls you closer and your lips touch for the very first time in three months. In that moment, you both know that no amount of time could ever keep you apart.

[jungblue]

My God, FH gives me conflicting emotions and I really have no clue who I want her to end up with. On one hand, there's Jimin who is an absolute sweetheart and would a hell of a lot for her and on the other hand, there's JK who feels so strongly for her (not that Jimin doesn't) and wants her back. I think I'm leaning toward JK but then Jimin pops back up and- ugh. I love this series so much, it's giving me a dilemma, but I still really love how it's written and everything. You're a great writer x

thank you so much! i’m glad you’re liking it and that it feels conflicting bc that was my goal for this series. to make a love triangle that was legitimately conflciting and not just ‘’’this is the clear choice’’’ as i had done in the past. but again thank you for the kind words!

Anonymous said: All these jimin stans makes me so sad as a jungkook stan for FH 😭😭😭 like the poor boy just wanted to go after his career he didn't do anything terribly wrong I mean okay hear me out cause imo oc is the one love he will probably ever have in his life like even if she chooses jimin he will always always always choose her b/c their history is just so 😭 I go so soft for it but she brought the real him out that wasn't a fuck boy and she turned him around for the better 😭😭 agh but jimin is ❤️❤️

i would say it’s actually pretty even tbh! i should do a poll just to find out how even it actually is just bc i’m really interested to know. but yes i’ve said this a lot but i agree that he did nothing wrong by choosing to move to seoul. as for jungkook’s history with the oc i do agree. he had never experiences those types of feelings before, so when he met the oc it did take him by surprise, and it did change him in many ways

Anonymous said: I wouldn't be surprised if the OC goes off to live in the wilderness with a pet cow to sort her Jimin / JK thoughts out. To be honest though, you've drawn out the characters so well that irrespective of whom she ends up with, I'll be both happy and sad anyway... I love both the characters to be able to pick one. Just don't go Lord Voldemort on the spare, please :'D

lolol honestly that’s what i would do bc making that decision would be way too hard ahaa. but thank you so much for saying that about the characters it means a lot!!

Anonymous said: I'm Team idk-who-the-fuck-to-ship in FH lmao like I'm leaning more towards Jungkook, but at the same time I'd feel more bad for Jimin than I would for Jungkook if he doesn't get the girl... I just feel so bad for Jimin for getting tangled up in this mess so I just want him to be happy in the end and Jungkook seems like he's hiding something but then at the same time I get the whole "she's meant to be with Jungkook" feeling too... AHHHHHHHHH I'LL JUST SCREAM UNTIL WE FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS

ahaaa yeah it’s definitely a messy situation. but when it comes to jimin he is an adult and he’s choosing to stay in the situation due to his ever-growing feelings towards the oc. there are lots of reasons to like both jungkook and jimin, so i think your personal perspective / experiences with life are what really decides who you prefer in the story 

Anonymous said: I know FH is loosely based off the series 'NANA' (one of my all-time fave anime/manga). . . even with your own spin on the story, I really lowkey am scared that Jimin might get himself in a similar hurtful situation like Nobu did & idk if I can handle him going thorough that. The character you've created/build up for him with such a big heart despite also being somewhat closed-off, like please protect him at all costs.

i love nobu ;;;;;;;;;;;;; literally my heart still breaks for that kid bc of everything that happened. they were so close to being happy together //sobs// but as for jimin’s similarities with him they’re definitely there so i can see where you’re coming from. but don’t worry about jimin he’s a strong headed person and he’s got more things coming in the series!

Anonymous said: tbh im a HUGE fan of jungkook for FH!! i dont think he did anything wrong leaving her for his dreams. i think thats really realistic and he technically didnt cheat on her because they werent quite together then! i love your writings :)

thank you! but yeah i don’t think leaving was the wrong thing to do. that was a once in a lifetime opportunity so not taking it would’ve been dumb on his part imo

Anonymous said: for me, I think oc could end on her own? Idk I really like jimins character but the same I didnt think she could give him the "love'" he deserves and that would let her wonder if its not better for him to find someone who gives it to him. and jeongguk really hurt her and has this secret that maybe she can not accept. my ultimate bias is taehyung so maybe oc and he... hahaha Im kidding // sorry for my bad English.

your english is great don’t worry! but that is definitely a possibility! she might need to take a step back from these two guys bc she knows that being unsure of her feelings is really going to end up hurting someone in the end, so it might be better for her to take some time by herself. ahaa yeah tae isn’t too big in this story, i need to give him some lines lmaooo

Anonymous said: asgklhas im not gonna lie LOL i completely forgot about future hearts. I know it takes a while to update a long scenario, but idk.. it just slipped my mind after 3 months. When i saw that anon i wsa like ?? tf are thry talking about whats future hearts. and then i saw ur name and thought of Hidden stars at first and again was like ??? its already finished tf why is that anon talking about it now? O_O and only now i remembered the story and that its still on going LOL but yeah im excited n scared

ahaa yeah it takes me forever to update i know ;;;;;;; but that’s only bc i don’t want to force myself to write when i’m not feeling it bc i don’t think it’s fair to anyone to rush something out that won’t give the proper development that it deserves you knoww

Anonymous said: girl everytime i reread FH i die inside bc i relate to so many parts like dating a band dude, him leaving, a few years later me getting with another band dude and joining him on tour only to see the first guy being in the band thats also on the tour (-: i hope FH has a happier ending than my scenario did bc yikes

wow that is wildly similar ahaaa. but i’m glad that it’s relatable!

Anonymous said: TEAM JUNG-JIMI-FUCK 🙃

SAME IT’D BE SO EASY THAT WAY ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

[twobeardgaming]

UK LINK / US LINK

  Being active on Twitter means you come across lots of creative and talented people. Recently my eye was drawn towards Chimo (@chimo55jimbo) who creates retro inspired shadowboxes in his spare time. We think they look stunning and would look great in anyone’s gaming area. Here we have a chat all about the man himself and what inspires him to create the work he does.

Hi Chimo, thanks for joining me today to chat about your work. For starter why don’t you tell our readers a little about yourself?

Hello! My name is Chimo and I have been a video game fan since I was a little kid and I played for the very first time in my hands a NES. The first game I played was Super Mario Bros 1, and for this reason it will always be my favourite video game ever.

Nowadays I still love to play several consoles and of course to keep informed about gaming and retro gaming news and articles.

  How long have you been creating your art?

First of all, I don’t like referring myself as an artist, because I think the true artists here are the designers who created the original video games 30/20 years ago. I’d rather to be considered an artisan who enjoys cutting pixels and mounting shadowboxes in his spare time, translating to the “real-life” the scenes and characters which form part of my past as a player.

I started cutting silhouettes in 2015, and as I loved them so much , I took pictures of them and shared them with my Instagram friends. Soon after that, I thought it could be a great idea to put these sprites in shadowboxes, recreating moments and scenes of the games. My Instagram followers started to grow and they encouraged me to open an Etsy shop, which I didn’t do until six months ago (I took my time hahaha).

  Where do you draw your inspiration from to create your pieces? I can see you are into gaming but are there any specific genres that inspire you to draw or is it a case of recreating iconic or memorable pieces?

My major inspiration are my favourite video games, which are obviously the Nintendo ones, because I’ve spent my whole life collecting its consoles and games. Sometimes I recreate iconic scenes, but other times I like to reinterpret a moment, adding characters which aren’t really there, for example. I also appreciate when my followers and friends give me their opinions and thoughts about any game in particular, which I try to do for them, because I don’t want to do only what I love, but what the other people want to see.

    Your style really stands out and is quite unique, where has this style come from and why do you choose to use this for your art?

Oh, thank you so much Stephen for these words. Well, as I’ve told you I’m a bit embarrassed when someone call me an “artist”, but there is something I’m really proud of, and it’s that I always pay extreme attention and care of all the details, although it means that I may spend hours in a single shadowbox. But it has to be perfect in every tiny aspect. I’m aware that my shadowboxes are a bit different than others in the market because I work with a material so very different than paper. It is a rigid plastic material which is so hard to cut, but I love the final result because the colours are so vivid and the material is long-lasting and resists humidity so well.

I’m very much a perfeccionist in every part of the process of creating the shadowboxes: I even package the item the best I can to assure that it will travel safely overseas or whatever they go, because one of my top goals is that my customers receive the shadowboxes in their best shape, and feel 100% satisfied about their purchase.

  Would you mind telling me how long it takes to create a piece and a rough outline of how you do it?

Well, I think I’ve revealed a bit in the previous answer, hahaha. Basically there are 3 big steps in the work: first, I use the computer to emulate the videogames and I use photoshop to design the scene. The second part is to print all the material into the rigid plastic, which is easy for me because I own a print shop. The third part is the most complicated of all, because it includes cutting out every single pixel of the sprite manually with a cutter and a scalpel (I couldn’t sell an item if the borders weren’t perfectly cut), to paint carefully the borders, to screw every sprite to the vinyl printed backgrounds, and to mount all of it into the deep frame.

It’s a slow process, and that’s why I only put a single shadowbox at a time in my Etsy shop, it’s not a serial production but a handcrafted process. I want my customers to know that what they have in their hands is a unique piece, manually made and only for them. There aren’t a hundred or more copies of my shadowboxes around the world, but only a few of each design.

  Nintendo features heavily in what you create, is this something that inspires you from your gaming background or is it because of the bright and bold worlds that they create?

I am a proud Nintendo fan since I was a kid. Nintendo has provided me with hours and hours of entertainment and joy, and I’m so fond to this company. 95% of my video games are Nintendo’s, for example. Anyway, I try not to focus exclusively in the��NES and SNES games because the other companies have also many great titles in their catalogues which I’m trying to put in my shadowboxes.

  What systems/games did you grow up playing and does this play a part in deciding what to create next?

Although NES and SNES has had a big influence in me, I try to give some space for other systems, so I read old magazines, I follow Twitter accounts focused on retro gaming, and I also have periodical meetings with retro gamers to play their old consoles. All of that inspires me every day.

  What games and console do you play today?

Nowadays I’m hooked on Zelda Wind Waker HD (Wii U), and I always carry with me a GameBoy Color to play a quick game in the short moments. I also enjoyed playing Red Dead Redemption and I’m looking forward to finishing the sequel.

Your art is heavily retro based, why is that?

I think the nostalgia is a deep feeling, at least it is for me, and I love to pay tribute to those games of our pasts. It has also to do with my way of working, because it is impossible for me to to cut polygonal designs in my material.

  Is there anything you haven’t made that you would like to create? Are there any modern genres/titles that you would like to recreate?

I’m constatly thinking of new shadowboxes. I’m focused right now in retro gaming, for example I’m going to make an Alien one and a Super Contra one, among others. Regarding the modern titles, I pay so much attention to those which are retro-based.

  What do you do day to day (i.e. the day job)

Leaving aside the printing work and focusing on the chimo55jimbo shop, first thing in the morning is to check Etsy and to answer the comments in all my social media. My girlfriend, who is the best Donkey Kong player in the world, does this job. I basically spend the time making the shadowboxes which have been ordered, and creating new designs in the computer (the best part of that is that I have to play the games to get to the right scene :D).

What are your aspirations for your art? Where would you like to see yourself a few years down the line in terms of creating art?

I am a very simple person, without big aspirations. I only want to be happy and have a quiet life with my girlfriend, to see our favourite movies and tv shows, to read a book while sunbathing, and to play videogames. Making these shadowboxes started as a hobby and now I’m combining it with my main job, which is the print shop. I don’t have any hurry, I like to go step by step, and just see where the life leads me.

    Thanks for joining us Chimo and giving us an insight into your work, all the best for the future! Heres a link to Chimo’s twitter and his Etsy site as well as more examples of his work. Make sure you check him out!!

Twitter: @chimo55jimbo Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/chimo55jimbo

             Creators Corner: An interview with Chimo UK LINK / US LINK Being active on Twitter means you come across lots of creative and talented people.

[franeridart]

Anon said: Opinions on Ochamina?

Cute soft and pink! Would be my main ship for those two if I didn’t ship seromina and ochadeku as hard as I do

Anon said: Hi there i was just wondering if its okay to ask you some questions about your art tools i work on paper a lot but i want to switch to digital art and want to know what to buy to get started you know?? if its not okay to ask thats fine, have a nice day!

I use Easy Pain Tool SAI and a wacom tablet so old I’m pretty sure they don’t even make them anymore haha if you’re just starting then anything is fine, really! The first thing you’ll need to do will be to get used to the feel of it, you won’t need anything fancy for that imho

Anon said: Yet again, I’m sleepy and feeling sappy so I luv youwu~

Awwww thank you so much!!! <3<3

Anon said: well guess who now has A LOT OF FEELINGS about Seromina after your reply? This anon. Holy, now I need like all the content about them. *goes of in search* Thank you for sharing your headcanon because it made me feel a lot of fluffy feelings!! Which yay!! I need more fluffly feelings in my life!! Also love love love your art. All of it original content and everything else (with a very soft sport for kiribaku and the bakusquad)

Ah heck thank you!!! And I’m very very glad to see I could make you see why I like them!!! :D

Anon said: how do you draw hair? i keep trying digitally, but it just seems so difficult! i tend to have so much trouble because i keep comparing myself to artists like you and the way you draw/shade/highlight hair is such a mystery to me!

Hmmmmm this is a hard question because I honestly mostly just go by gut feeling - I try to keep in mind gravity when it’s applicable (aka when it’s not gravity-defying hairstyles like kiri and baku’s)? But that’s the most conscious thought I put in it by this point. This might be an annoying advice to get but as always my only proper one is to look at real life people and study the way hair naturally falls on them, studying from real life is always the fastest way to learn how to draw something as far as my experience goes... and this one is gonna be hard but try not to compare yourself too much to others? Doing things your own way at your own pace will make the learning process a lot more fun!

Anon said: opinon on the lack of kiribaku interactions in the show recently? they have been interacting less and less since the provisional exam arc :( and even lesser in the manga. i miss my bois but bless you for the content omg😭💞

The truth is that they haven’t been the protagonists of an arc at the same time for so long that they’ve had little to no reason to interact with each other, and also that when Hori has characters interacting with them in the background it’s usually to have them reprimend them or tell them to shut up and at first they covered that role for each other but now they’re such good friends that all their interactions end up being them being nice to each other and Horikoshi needs his silly sketches thrown in the background at any possible moment so now Kaminari is the one you’ll see interacting with them the most, because he’s silly and doesn’t mind being a dick to either of them whenever given the chance. Or at least that’s the conclusion I came to after rereading the manga a couple months back. On the bright side they HAVE started interacting more again! We’ve been seeing them often just chilling together in the background, so cute, I love them best friends ;;;

Anon said: User kawaiiastar has reposted some of ur art just wanna let u know :)

Thank you for letting me know, I’ll look into it and see if I can get it removed orz

Anon said: ur drawings are so warm but like?? i just realized how much u talk in the tags and so ive been reading them and they actually add alot to ur art and its entertaining. idk just a little thing :) never stop doing krbk aus if you enjoy them!! would love to see stucky and soul eater if you can !! and i hear u about the reposters. they are all over instagram and its honestly quite upsetting. ive heard of artists that left the fandom because of it which is unfortunate. hope you are having a great day!

Hahaha I’m glad you like my talking too much in the tags since sometimes I just can’t avoid it lmao I have many things to say about my stuff most time than not..... anyway, I hope you’ll have a wonderful day too!

Anon said: i fight instagramers every day for you 💞

Thank you ;;;;;;;;

Anon said:  I love you so please stay safe!!

Thank you!!! I hope you’ll stay safe too, anon!!!

Anon said: During quarantine all I have to look forward to is your posts, it’s always great to check tumblr for the 14th time and see a new post by you.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; heck, I’m so glad I can make this tiring time a little more pleasant to you, anon!! <3

Anon said: I have class (online) at 8am and it’s currently 3:42am yet I couldn’t stop scrolling on your page!!! I’ve been going through the tags for like 30 minutes omg. I came to look at your seromina stuff and now I’m looking at EVERYTHING. I’ve been following you for so long and I love your art so much I’m screaming! I’m literally accidentally unliking then liking everything again cuz I’ve seen it all and keep forgetting I already liked it! Your account is like food for my soul ily!!!!! Thank you sm!!!

Ahhhhh anon thank you so so much!!!! You’re so kind I’m gonna tear up TTATT please do try to sleep next time you have to wake up early!!

Anon said: I read a headcanon saying Bakugo smoked. That would never happen because Kirishima would kill him.

To be fair that would never happen because he straight up said so in the first chapter of the manga lmao but I’m of the opinion that if people want to ignore canon in their headcanons to have fun they have all the power to do so!

Anon said: Idk if you’ve been asked this before, but how do you feel about Momo x Jirou? :D and I love your art!

One of my top Jirou ships! I’ve drawn stuff for them in the past actually, they’re in my momojirou tag!

Anon said: I love you way more than it’s healthy.

Thank you ;;;;;;;;; I love you a whole damn lot too, anon <3<3

[garden-ghoul]

fellowship of the bloggening part 2

“I am out of my mind impatient to get to rohan and it’s probably going to take MONTHS I hate this”

Chapter THREE IS COMPANY

Frodo has been dragging his feet, but what’s a couple months after seventeen years? He’s trying to figure out how to leave non-suspiciously, how to not leave at all, where to go, he is all over the place. He’s REALLY excited to go to Rivendell. So he buys a house in Buckland and sells Bag End to the Sackville-Bagginses (ugh!). Everyone thinks he’s downgrading to save money, even Merry, who helped him buy the new house. I think it’s very sweet that in his internal monologue he considers Merry & Pippin & co “his young friends.” Because honestly they are probably about half his age.

‘Whatever happens to the rest of my stuff, when the S.-B.s get their claws on it, at any rate I have found a good home for this!’ said Frodo, as he drained his glass. It was the last drop of Old Winyards. ...

‘Our last meal at Bag End!’ said Frodo, pushing back his chair. They left the washing up for Lobelia.

Sorry I love Frodo being petty to the Sackville-Bagginses (ugh!). So Frodo, Sam, and Pippin set out at sunset, because they like walking in the dark. Cute? As they leave they hear Some Creep asking where Frodo has gone. Secretly a Nazgul, I’m sure. They sleep under a tree and immediately upon waking Pippin starts loudly telling Sam to get water ready for a bath?? Okay is he just your servant, Mr Took? Don’t be an asshole. Anyway the next day the Nazgul passes them on the road; everyone is stirred up. Here we get a lot of loving description of the English Shire countryside and a travelling song Bilbo made up. It’s the one Pippin sings for Denethor in the movies, but it’s rather less serious, I think, than they made it seem by picking the most serious bits.

Then world behind and home ahead, We’ll wander back to home and bed. Mist and twilight, cloud and shade, Away shall fade! Away shall fade! Fire and lamp, and meat and bread, And then to bed! And then to bed!

ALSO he always pluralizes hoof as hoofs, not hooves. argh. So the Nazgul comes back, but is almost immediately chased away by a bunch of elves singing about Elbereth Gilthoniel (presumably it is Song, in the magic sense, because the hobbits can all understand them; I think it’s funny that they’re using Song to amuse themselves while travelling). From this Frodo concludes that they are high elves... but isn’t that Eldar? Elbereth is her Sindarin name, and like... literally all the elves speak Sindarin now...

In any case, he happens to be right, because the leader of the elves is Gildor ben Finrod (hahaha that naming convention sounds dumb with elf names). I didn’t even know Finrod had kids... as I recall his heir was his nephew, Orodreth. Yes I’m just here to pick apart continuity snarls that Tolkien didn’t manage to fix. ANYWAY the elves are kind of jerks, they think hobbits are too dull to associate with... until Pippin asks them who the black riders are, at which point they get scared and invite our heroes to stay the night with them. Only after the hobbits have started to fall asleep do the elves eat. Frodo tries to soak up as much Sindarin as possible (the elves think he’s adorably precocious, I don’t like them); Sam afterward remembers it as “one of the chief events of his life,” despite the fact that he is going to save the world later. Sorry what

A SHORTCUT TO MUSHROOMS

The perfect title for a chapter that starts right after Gildor gives Frodo some truly scary and cryptic warnings!

‘Did you ask about the sniffing?’ said Pippin.

‘We didn’t discuss it,’ said Frodo with his mouth full.

‘You should have. I am sure it is very important.’

‘In that case I am sure Gildor would have refused to explain it,’ said Frodo sharply.

Good old Gildor! I think Pippin’s right, though. Probably the fact that Nazgul can smell the Ring bodes p ill. We also get a bit of a glimpse at why the elf party is one of the main events in Sam’s life; it has totally changed his views on elves, and on the world, in a way he can’t quite put into words yet. It’s so jarring, the way Tolkien treats Sam like a dog one moment and the next “It did not sound like the voice of the old Sam Gamgee that he thought he knew. But it looked like the old Sam Gamgee sitting there, except that his face was unusually thoughtful.” Make up your mind, Johnald. Are servants people, or not?

Our heroes decide (after much arguing) to go overland to Bucklebury rather than by the road, to be harder for the Nazgul to find. Amusingly, one finds them almost immediately but is, I guess, unwilling to get off its horse to follow them down the bank. Maybe the horses evaporate if you get off them, it would be so inconvenient. He’d have to call Mordor for another one, and Sauron gets so mad if you ask him for a new horse.

Our heroes have a talk and some dinner with Pippin’s old friend, Mr Maggot, who unintentionally terrorized Frodo as a lad for stealing his mushrooms. It turns out the Nazgul have been asking around here, too, but Maggot saw them off. He graciously drives our heroes to the ferry, where they find Merry waiting for them, and gives them a parting gift, a large basket of mushrooms. And so the shortcut to mushrooms was being polite and friendly! A shame they cut that from the movie, it’s a nice morel.

A CONSPIRACY UNMASKED

Our heroes make it to Frodo’s house at Crickhollow, where Merry and their other friend Fredegar ‘Fatty’ Bolger have drawn three baths! And they have dinner, including the enormous amount of mushrooms they received as a gift. As an aside, Tolkien notes that hobbits love mushrooms more than anything else. Puts me in mind of badgers or pigs or some other woodland creature that loves to snuffle.

Merry reveals the fact that they all knew all along that Frodo was leaving the Shire, because he’s really not a very good actor. Unexpectedly, they all want to come with! Well, they are young, and they seem to thirst for adventure. Unlike Frodo, who is terrified, they seem to think it’s pretty fun. And yet...

‘But it does not seem that I can trust anyone,’ said Frodo. Sam looked at him unhappily. 

‘It all depends on what you want,’ put in Merry. ‘You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin - to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours - closer than you keep it yourself. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo.’

Aww.

So they plan to be away into the Old Forest by first light. Fredegar is afraid, but Merry assures him it’s pretty safe during the day “when the trees are sleepy and fairly quiet.” Woo! Ominous! Are there ents in the Shire? Fredegar promises to wait for Gandalf, while our heroes go into

THE OLD FOREST

I wasn’t gonna do another chapter but this transition was too good to pass up. Merry tells our heroes a little of the history of the Old Forest: at one point it tried to attack the Hedge that marks the border of the Shire, but hobbits made war on it and cut down and burned a great many trees. Since then it has been even less friendly, but during daylight Brandybucks, at least, are pretty safe there. Frodo tries to sing a song, and the forest gets mad at him. Merry is apparently still cheerful, or a good actor.

They gradually realize that the forest is shunting them toward the Withywindle, the “center of all queerness.” Every time they try to veer north toward the road, they encounter great difficulty. Eventually they are forced to go right down into the river valley and walk along the river. But they begin to get very sleepy. I LOVE how Faerie this is. Sam is the only one who realizes something fishy is up, and has to rescue Frodo from being drowned by the tree. They realize it’s eating Merry and Pippin, and when they try to scare it by lighting a fire it threatens to kill them. Hostages! Frodo runs along the path, crying for help, and hears my favorite song in the entire entire:

Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo! Ring a dong! hop along! fal lal the willow! Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!

Sorry these are just such merry sounds, I love them. I’ve heard some very strange things about Tom Bombadil, though. He sings to the willow tree and it releases Merry and Pippin, and then offers to let them eat at his house as thanks. Y’ALL DON’T DO IT. NOTHING GOOD COMES OF EATING FAERIE FOOD.

[comicteaparty]

November 26th-December 2nd, 2018 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from November 26th, 2018 to December 2nd, 2018.  The chat focused on Super Galaxy Knights Deluxe R by snuffysam.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Super Galaxy Knights Deluxe R by snuffysam~! (http://sgkdr.thecomicseries.com/comics/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PST), so keep checking back for more! You have until December 2nd to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

QUESTION 1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?

QUESTION 2. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 3. Since the comic utilizes a wide variety of comedy, what have been some of your favorite jokes to appear in the comic so far? What about the joke worked for you? Name as many as you would like for this question.

QUESTION 4. Do you believe that Mizuki will eventually discover her own magical talent, or will she be stuck stealing others’ abilities forever? What might her magical talent be? Also, regardless of your answer, how might this issue change Mizuki?

DA-POW! (Yayao Yuying Studio)

Okay, so I haven't actually gotten to reading this comic yet-- just started like... right now. But OMG. XDDDDDD I'm loving how they're breaking the fourth wall and poking fun at stuff. My favorite scene so far is this one:

And of course the follow up:

I really like the guard so far, though I have absolutely no idea if he'll ever appear again seeing as I'm still in the first chapter. ;v;

The fact that he makes fourth wall breaking remarks is what sort of sold me. If he doesn't appear again, hopefully someone else along with the main character will make better jokes that will sell me good.

BUT OMG!!! This one really caught me off guard:

XDDDDDDD

The comedy here is really up my alley man. ;W;

O v O

Just found my new favorite character.

Mr Holy Tree:

AH! Btw, I love how the siblings who are governers of the Sikode plain's clothes sort of match up with the work hours they took. <333

Just finished Chapter 3. 8^U!!!! If I have more time tonight, Imma try to read a few more chapters yo! But this comic is really snatching me with dem scripts.

snuffysam

glad you like it so far!

DA-POW! (Yayao Yuying Studio)

Of course! >W< Thank you for creating this silly hidden gem!!! <33333

ShaRose49

I love that it’s not perfect, and this is not an insult. My favourite character so far is the guy who sliced that squid in half he seems like a boss

It’s also amazing to see how far the author has come in their art, I looked at the original pages a bit.

snuffysam

Cahe Is A Good Boy

Kabocha

Cahe is good, but I do wonder about the magic of how quickly they had their baby... Maybe it's one of their magic love powers.

snuffysam

also yeah, I've changed a lot over these past three-ish years lol

there's been exactly one hint as to why that happened, and it's in probably the most obscure place imaginable

the game where you can play as everyone's favorite archery ace

ShaRose49

I obviously didn’t get to any baby yet whups

snuffysam

oh no that's not for a while

ShaRose49

Snuffy is pretty good at lighting and shading too. I still have plenty to learn about that

snuffysam

the baby doesn't happen for another like 350 pages from where you are

ShaRose49

Oh hi snuffy!

My bad lol

snuffysam

hi lol

i'm in blue this week

ShaRose49

Hey how do you know where I am?

snuffysam

oh i just assumed given your comments

ShaRose49

Yeah I know

Oh okay

I’m in the middle of chapter 2 I think

snuffysam

yup so i was right lol

Kabocha

Daaaaaang. That's some good accuracy. I'm lucky if I can remember my own name some days

snuffysam

i did have to look up the page numbers lol. it was just a matter of guessing that sharose hadn't started chapter 3 yet

ShaRose49

Hahaha

snuffysam

anyway yeah i wrote a shader script for blender to do the lighting properly. took me a couple years to figure it out but i got there eventually lol

ShaRose49

Oh my word I can barely use blender yet

So it IS CGI! I couldn’t tell for sure I thought maybe it was supposed to mimic CG

snuffysam

a lot of stuff is drawn in with photoshop. and i think i just recently passed the point where more than half the comic is CG as opposed to being drawn.

but ye

ShaRose49

Wow. I don’t think I’ll be doing my comics with CG but I do wanna be an animator one day. Good for you!

snuffysam

thanks!

ShaRose49

No prob. I just got to more doodley pages

snuffysam

yeah haven't updated chapters 3 onward yet

ShaRose49

Oh okay. I can relate lol. I’m glad to see this up here, you’re a brave artist

snuffysam

thanks ha ha

ShaRose49

They are so innocent ohmiword

“I thought for sure 1+1=2!”

snuffysam

mizuki may not have gotten an A in all her math classes, but she at least knows that much

RebelVampire

QUESTION 5. Who exactly are/were the Galaxy Knights? How did they come to be, and what goals did they have? Do you think we’ll see more former or current members? Also, what are your theories about their involvement in the story given they’re in the title?

RebelVampire

1) it's still the end fight of book 1. which i wont go into too much detail cause i dont want to spoil for those just starting up. but i still love the entire choreography of that fight. seeing mizuki solve everything in the most unconvenentional ways possible is so immensely fulfilling. 2) cahe's mustache. i cant wait till it gets fed up with cahe, rips itself off his face, and joins mizuki to fight the good fight. (but also probably electric zebra because he believes in the power of love) 3) there's too many jokes to name. theres a lot of great ones. although one of my favorite more recent ones has actually been a callback to the fact that cahe never names his village. and lo and behold his village is revealed to be unnamed village. i was slain by the joke. 4) i think eventually mizuki will discover her own thing. but at the same time i dont think thatll stop her from using others' abilities cause i think she turns what others view as a weakness into a strength. so basically mizuki will just have more ammo for her mind magic arsenal. 5) i mean the obvious answer is that they were protectors of ppl and that mizuki is gonna join them. but idk. i def think were gonna see more former and current members though given the title. and mizuki will thrash them all with the power of stealing their abilities and stubbornness. in the end, there is only one super galaxy knight deluxe and that person is mizuki. lets not ask what the r stands for.

shim

I haven’t even finished chapter one yet but I love this guard guy.

snuffysam

lodu is best boy. i'm actually planning on having him show up again for real in the next chapter. and by book 3 he may even have enough screentime to jump up to major character status.

snuffysam

also rebel you really have a knack for asking questions that will be straight-up answered within a month or two.

like in the weekly chat back in may one of the questions was "what is the plot of book 2"

not saying which of the questions you asked will be answered in a month but just overall, it's an impressive skill lol

snuffysam

and yeah chapter 8 is my favorite arc in hindsight. i'm not sure i'll actually manage to out-do the 1v1 fight choreography there for a while.

Kabocha

I have to admit, I'm really enjoying the current fight scene. The banter's top notch. >:3 Dramatic text meets no-nonsense. Now give Mizuki that damn generator so she can win the talent show!

snuffysam

talent show > crimebusting

Kabocha

he can get it back after the crimes are solved... But the bigger crime really is that the King--- wait the King gets to make the laws doesn't he

Kabocha

....wait, what I just said doesn't make sense. Oh well. He can get it back after the talent show is done -- it's a crime Mizuki can't win it!

snuffysam

the two of them should bring criminals to the talent show and bust them on-stage

RebelVampire

mizuki should get back to the talent show if only because i bet the old man is still on stage trying to tell horrible jokes

Kabocha

get that man a google assistant... or sub him to r/dadjokes

https://www.blog.google/products/assistant/ok-google-tell-me-a-joke/ I'm sorry, I can't get over how bad some of these jokes are.

snuffysam

it's been well over 12 hours, and it's the middle of the night now. do you really think he's still on stage?!

(the answer is yes)

Kabocha

Of course! He's waiting for Mizuki

RebelVampire

of course he is, he is an angel. and everyone is too polite to tell him to get off the stage and go home

snuffysam

well they're waiting for mizuki too

snuffysam

interested to hear what the caught-up folks' reactions to today's page will be...

shim

don't say that, now I want to throw all my homework out the window and catch up all the way

snuffysam

lmao

as much as i want to tell you to go for it... put your homework first lol

shim

I am definitely planning to catch up once I have homework and finals out of the way. Unfortunately…that will also be after this week's bookclub will be over and we'll be discussing someone else's comic by then.

snuffysam

aww oh well

shim

I hope to read more before, then, though, so I can discuss some things. I just won't be fully caught up, hehe.

snuffysam

and of course, no reason you can't keep reading after your finals are done and just comment in the comic itself

(though this is a much better place for people to get theories out there)

shim

-procrastinates from homework-

Okay this restaurant owner

"Everyone does horrible things sometimes. So really, I was completely justified."

I love this so much

THEY JUST COVER EACH OTHER'S FACES THIS IS GREAT

snuffysam

Protection from indecency!

RebelVampire

QUESTION 6. Why do you think Mizuki drifted apart from Cahe and Pejiba so much between Books 1 & 2? Why did the couple not invite Mizuki to their own wedding? Will Cahe and Pejiba make a comeback, or are they settled down into domesticity forever?

RebelVampire

im gonna be optimistic and say her letter just got lost in the mail

because cahe asked someone terrible to deliver it

maybe the anecestral tree

and cahe walked away before the ancestral tree could remind him that hes rooted to the ground

or the ancestral tree was pissed he wasnt invited

Kabocha

I think Cahe and Pejiba were just so in love they forgot! Or ultimately, they just didn't like Mizuki so much. Granted, it's been ... a very short duration

RebelVampire

maybe its gonna be an it was all a dream thing somehow

mizuki has been having trouble sleeping

snuffysam

there is a misunderstanding involved, but it’s less about “why didn’t they invite mizuki” and more “why would they invite zebra over mizuki”

RebelVampire

thats easy: zebra is the best

Kabocha

Zebra also is much better at music, so

ShaRose49

I don’t mean to be rude but I wish Mizuki would wear more clothes

shim

Actually, me too…

ShaRose49

And IMO the boobs are too exaggerated. But I like how she eats the food lol

snuffysam

y'all are on chapters 3-4?

shim

Yeah I'm on 3

ShaRose49

I guess she actually doesn’t know what a shirt is? Whoa there are cool animations!! And the lady’s power is cool. @snuffysam I’m not sure hang on I’ll check

shim

No wait I'm on 4, oops.

ShaRose49

I’m on chapter 4

snuffysam

she buttons the jacket in chapter 5, and her proportions get fixed when i switch to 3d

ShaRose49

Yeah she’s less exaggerated in 3D for sure, and I’m glad she buttons up the shirt

snuffysam

the outfit in chapter 4 is a reference to how in the original short film i made that this comic is based off, her actor decided to wear the jacket with no shirt (which is not something i, like, wanted or expected)

ShaRose49

Huh okay

snuffysam

but i changed it because i didn't think it made sense to draw her like that

ShaRose49

How did you get gifs in the comic?

snuffysam

(though the in-universe explanation is that it just got windier)

i use photoshop to animate, if that's what you're asking

ShaRose49

Oh awesome, I didn’t know photoshop could animate

shim

Oh cool! I've dabbled with PS animations before.

snuffysam

most things are frame by frame, with motion & opacity (like the lights fading in and out, cahe flying around the room) being done with photoshop's tweening

shim

Ahhh.

Ow hot sword.

ShaRose49

You are a better animator than me so far lol

Or you have more experience

I love how they’re like “Oh no prob!” After the whole fight

I think that whole fight was a test to see if the two main characters were fit to be the new Galaxy knights or something

And that’s a nice sunset drawing in chapter 4. I love sunsets

shim

"What, are you going to throw your sword at people now?" HAHA!

ShaRose49

So so,done just got shot in the face

Someone

Yikes that!s a mean lady

snuffysam

and a magic mean lady at that

ShaRose49

Yeah I can’t believe he’s not dead

snuffysam

captains are very resilient

RebelVampire

QUESTION 7. Do you think we’ll see Gynu and Suzigu in Book 2? If so, do you think they have one of the power gems Mizuki needs? Will they give it to her? Alternatively, what other places or characters might reappear do you think, and how will things have changed?

mathtans

"Maybe we DO want them to get the wrong idea."

Using this as an excuse to finally get caught up with SGK. Should have a remark or two by weekend.

snuffysam

looking forward to it!

RebelVampire

(the archive for last week's chat on The Angel with Black Wings is now up! @Mharz https://comicteaparty.com/post/180645388940/november-19th-25th-2018-ctp-archive)

QUESTION 8. Why do you think King Zebugu closed the magic portal? Is he up to something evil, or did he actually turn over a new leaf and is trying to do something helpful that he just won’t explain? Will he succeed or will Mizuki defeat him do you think?

snuffysam

king zebugu turns over new leaves all the time

birch, pine, oak

it's the highlight of the month

shim

what about old leaves?

-is still in chapter five and has no idea who this king is-

snuffysam

if my leaf of the month club sent me an old leaf, i'd probably cancel my membership tbh

unless it was like... historical in some way

shim

haha

RebelVampire

this is too plausible not to be true

7) I think we'll see Gynu and Suzigu probably. Although I feel Mizuki might be at a disadvantage since they already lost to her. so now they know what he game is or something like that. and i dont think theyre gonna just give her the gem given the whole food fiasco and i kind of get this sense they want to test her? as for other characters, i hope we get to see our favorite immortal captain again. and electric zebra. electric zebra needs to come and sing about the power of love and all that. or at least be on tour and give mizuki a signed cd. 8) i feel hes not doing the evil, but i feel whatever the king is up to probably is dumb at least. maybe this is an elaborate prank from the wizard guy who is mad about having to put all the food back. he gave the king the wrong prophecy and now the king is trying to undoom the world. at the end mizuki will win, but winning might not matter. i think shell lose the talent competition tho. shell make it back in time but get disqualified over something trivial. like misspelling something on the contest form.

snuffysam

something worth pointing out about both those answers - in book 1, nobody knew what zebugu was up to except for the people in the castle (and the ancestral tree, cause of the omniscience). people like gynu and suzigu wouldn't have agreed with zebugu if they had known what he was doing. in book 2, zebugu has roped other people into his plan by giving them a gem to protect. zaxaty knew what her brother did, and so did the ancestral tree (being specifically instructed by the king to guard the gem and not tell mizuki the reason why). even taci ramino knew that the portal had been turned off, and zebugu didn't even give him a gem! so if gynu and suzigu do have a gem, what did king zebugu say to them to get them on board? and was he truthful to them, or is this all an elaborate ruse?

RebelVampire

the fact hes roped other ppl into it makes me believe that it is for the greater good. but on the otherhand blackmail and bribery are also options. maybe zebugu has an embarrassing photo of gynu from their last xmas party.

snuffysam

*life day

RebelVampire

QUESTION 9. Do you think Mizuki will be able to win against Sword Warrior? Do you think Sword Warrior could be a potential ally, or is he just a one-off villain? What are Sword Warriors actual goals?

snuffysam

keeping in mind that sword warrior now has twice as many swords as before

RebelVampire

i feel like thats a hint

he must want the worlds largest sword collection

snuffysam

that was a hint as to whether or not mizuki can win

but sure

also, interesting how you seemed to describe "ally" and "one-off villain" as the only two choices...

RebelVampire

mostly cause i dont want the questions to be immensely long

snuffysam

lol

that's fair

RebelVampire

i believe in mizuki to be able to win. shes just gotta punch the swords hard enough to shatter them. and then sword warrior will have to change his name to just warrior

snuffysam

she already shattered a sword though. was sword warrior just "warrior" for that two-page period? are names all but an illusion giving us some sense of identity? is that identity earned?

RebelVampire

yes to all that, with a semi yes on the third one. you cant call yourself sword warrior without a sword. thats false advertising otherwise

mathtans

Okay, so, obviously the baby isn't theirs, unless gestational periods are really short or there was time travel hijinks. My money is on them looking after Zebra's kid, in exchange for him performing at the wedding. That's why they got him on short notice, for free. Though adoption's also possible.

snuffysam

I mean y’all can’t just skip over short gestational periods and time travel hijinks in a world where trees talk and sailors just forget that they’re mortal

But that’s a solid possibility

mathtans

I mean, there's magic, and then there's magic!

Clever plot twist in the most recent pages. I did not see that coming. I actually thought Taci had lied about getting one of the gems because he was embarrassed that the Swordsman had already stolen it.

Also, magic can be used to change dialogue into cursive, or something.

mathtans

I'll get to the questions later.

mathtans

-Scene-wise is tough, I don't even recall what I said last time. ^_^; The fight against the king was pretty epic though. Character-wise, I like Pejiba. Just something about her I guess, helpful, first major magic user, that kind of thing.

-Like Rebel, I'm not sure about grabbing any particular comedic moments. The stuff with the tree is pretty good though. Even more recently with the 'I am a jerk but that's not the reason' sort of thing. Also, used firewood...? O.o

-I dunno, stealing the powers of others can be a power itself, see Rogue from X-Men. Plus I think Mizuki'd be worried that once she finds her own, she'll lose the ability to copy everyone else.

-The Galaxy Knights are actually a bunch of mathematicians, that's why the King's advisor is one (if memory serves). Seriously though, I like how they were just randomly brought up recently. It's kind of like they're their own story running in parallel somewhere else. (Which isn't too far off, Gynu and them were in a guest comic series elsewhere, I think.)

Actually, it's impressive the number of guest comics and literary tie-ins that exist.

-Since only, like, a week passed between Books, idk. Maybe Cahe was given bad information, or their messages were cut off. Though the whole wedding seems like a rush job because honeymoon in an all female hotel what now? I feel like they'll still have cameos.

-Hoping we'll see Zaxaty again. That blush had to mean something. (Also, back to comedy, "Get out of my house", hah.)

-The King's probably doing this as some sort of test, like to see if Mizuki can be a new governor or something. After all, he seemed okay with how she spared him. Alternatively, the Galaxy Knights wanted him to do this, so that they could test for new recruits.

-Related to that answer is the possible answer to snuffy asking about what Gynu might have been told if he has a gem. All in a day's work. (Though a photo would be amusing.)

-Sword Warrior will be useful in terms of giving Mizuki many more magic ideas to steal. (Also, since he can make his own swords, I don't think Mizuki will win that way. Maybe she can get him to zip off the edge of a building.) I think Taci just has a thing for vigilantes.

snuffysam

math, are you completely caught up now? including wednesday and friday's pages?

mathtans

Yis.

I'm trying not to be too spoilery though. (I may be failing at that.)

snuffysam

na it's all good lol

also i don't remember gynu being in a guest comic series somewhere else? so if someone did that without letting me know

uh

whoops

actually i guess there were the crossover things on comicfury. but that was ages ago

if that's what you're referring to

mathtans

Yeah, the crossover things. I'd read those for the original Discord chat.

I haven't kept up on the latest literary stuff from StArt Faire though.

snuffysam

to respond to some of your things specifically - - the advisor is a statistician, which... i guess is a mathematician? usually when i think "mathematician" i think of people who write proofs for really difficult problems and not, like, nate silver. also, the wizard is a magic researcher, so he does a lot of math for his work. i guess the active galaxy knights are pretty math-y, except for that third as-of-yet-unnamed active galaxy knight that's shown up. -yeah the wedding was very much a rush job. zuzu was already a member of the family by the time cahe and pejiba were on their honeymoon. -we'll see zaxaty again sooner than you expect. and yeah, there's something there. blushes don't lie. (fun fact: the fight against zaxaty was originally going to be the first time in the comic it's implied that mizuki is into women. when drawing book 1 chapter 6, i changed my mind and worked a love triangle plot into the story. that's the main reason why mizuki never says anything to pejiba about being interested - because it's not in the script. that's also part of the reason why zaxaty's island is "lesbos 2: sappho harder". the timeline for making the comic gay got moved way up, so zaxaty had to be a bit over the top) -won't say much else here, but i like that people's impressions seem to be that zebugu's plot might be morally dubious, but maybe not exactly evil. we'll see how that pans out. -if he had the chance, taci would absolutely start dating sword warrior. he's totally into the tall, slender, vigilante crime-fighter type. (which may lead to some butting of heads down the line...)(edited)

mathtans

That's very cool... both about having Zaxaty in mind so early on, and for managing to foreshadow Mizuki's interests. Also, I don't know that Zaxaty was necessarily over the top (I didn't see a harem), though she does seem to like putting her interests (frustrations?) into her artwork.

As to Zebugu's plot not being evil, it allows for a scene where Mizuki goes off on him and him having some sort of retort. Even if it is to defer to the wizard or something. (Hey, maybe the wizard wanted all magic off so that no one would know that he was on sabbatical.)

snuffysam

you don't see a harem NOW because zaxaty went into seclusion.

it would be nice if zebugu gave his wizard a vacation, considering that he was kind of a jerk to the guy in the first book

mathtans

Ahh, right, I vaguely recall that. Missed the free love vibes what with all the tripping out.

To be fair, he was kind of a jerk to everyone.

snuffysam

true. maybe this is part of his new leaf that he's turning over?

mathtans

I wonder who convinced him to collect new leaves. His other sister, Pokemon? ^.^

snuffysam

he's a big animal crossing fan

he thinks he's stealing people's furniture

Kabocha

I guess his wizard better tell him he's moving to another town soon, so Zebugu can try to give him leaves and present boxes to get him to stay.

snuffysam

wizards love to scam people out of presents like that

Kabocha

... T_T Same with half of my animal crossing townies

shim

ahhhh animal crossing

RebelVampire

QUESTION 10. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

snuffysam

one thing i'm really looking forward to as the author is creating book 3. i think it'll answer a lot of your questions about the series, and there will be a bunch of character interactions that I know people will want to see

DA-POW! (Yayao Yuying Studio)

What I'm looking forward to is seeing the creator update all the pages into the 3d model style! <333 Although, I gotta say I really do enjoy seeing the hand drawn pages too. ;V; I'm still behind in reading, but hopefully when I have time, Imma try to get through more pages. But what I've seen, I've liked and enjoyed immensely!

But can I just say, I love how crazy and silly everything has been so far? XDDD Thanks to this discussion, I found this gem and ended up sharing it with a friend of mine. And they loved the golden comedy too! (Not to mention they're favorite scene was the tree saying they were a jerk as well. O v Obbb)

And I'd also like to commend the fact that the creator has been able to power through and draw so much content (not to mention reworking those pages into new ones. OMG!) OAO!!! As an artist myself, I know how much work it is to get to the number of pages I am now. Thank you so much for signing up for the discussion (because if you hadn't-- I probably would have never discovered yer work) and hope you continue to update the awesome sauce of a story Super Galaxy Knights Deluxe is! <333333(edited)

mathtans

More hints of Galaxy Knights is always fun. Wonder if they're all human, given there's a tree as a character.

snuffysam

@DA-POW! (Yayao Yuying Studio) glad you and your friend liked the comic! I hope you both continue reading after the week ends! and yeah, getting this far has taken a bit of time. I've spent over 1000 hours total on the art aspect alone!

@mathtans i originally planned on one of the galaxy knights being a giant cyclops (in a future book), but i ended up writing him out.

mathtans

I could see lack of depth perception being a problem.

The big twist is probably that Cahe's kid is a Galaxy Knight. Explains everything.

snuffysam

...i'm trying to remember if zuzu actually does grow up to be a galaxy knight or not...

"marries a killer cyborg" is definitely in there for one of the zuzus, but i'm not sure about being a galaxy knight

RebelVampire

im looking forward to finding out if that old man really will just continue on with the talent show until mizuki comes back. and then ironically winning because ppl decided they liked his talent of talking for billions of hours

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Super Galaxy Knights Deluxe R this week! Please also give a special thank you to snuffysam for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Super Galaxy Knights Deluxe R, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: http://sgkdr.thecomicseries.com/comics/

The Super Galaxy Knights Deluxe R Twitter: https://twitter.com/Galaxy_Knights

[lifeofnes]

Wk 3

I finally got into a kitchen this week! Two different ones! On Monday I got to work in my niece’s restaurant, Conrado’s. I’ve talked about it before, but it’s this quiet, cute, 25 seater diner right above their family’s nail salon, in the middle of the busy market. None of the hustle and bustle seeps into the place. There’s wood floors, light-weight metal patio furniture for tables & seating, potted succulents, dangling light fixtures, framed portraits of our family members, and gaudy but cute melted glass decorations hung up. It has a bunch of chalkboard quotes that you’d probably see on a 17-year-olds pinterest homepage. Matter fact, most of this is rather pinterest-y. But that’s not a knock, it’s cute, and most importantly: it’s clean and air conditioned. Both rarities here, believe me, and to have both? 5 stars. Kristel has an acoustic Filipino folk-song playlist on repeat. Think, Bahay Kubo and the like, played on a soothing Spanish guitar. She serves all day breakfast and these gigantic pandesal sandwiches the size of a child’s head. And while it’s not the culinary work that I thought I’d get into, work is work. I’m gonna make this french toast. Yaherd? Things move slow mostly in the morning, a few orders of pancakes and pandesal french toast. A few ‘silogs are slung, and a maniac orders alfredo at 10am. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad alfredo, but it is 10am. Anyway 1:30 rolls around and orders come to a dead stop. We don’t get anyone in the door for an hour. I ask Kristel if this is normal for them and she says yeah she usually watches a movie or plays with the little baby that belongs to one of the workers downstairs. We get maybe 2 sandwich orders in the next 3 hours but for the most part, a pinoy movie is in the que. So we watch a flick on YouTube. Some rom-com with Sharon Cuneta falling back in love in her 50’s or whatever. It’s funny I guess. Kristel asks me about my love life and I tell her I don’t have one right now lol. She presses me for details and as I’m about to give in and tell her, she cuts me off and says “Your dad told us everything! Hahaha! He was crying and telling us to take care of you! Hahaha!” I’m laughing but taken aback to one thing in particular. “He was crying?...like crying, crying?” I ask. She says yeah, “One day he called us, I guess it was after you made up your mind to come over here and was saying that you’re so hurt and that you don’t know what you’re doing with your life.” Naturally defensive, I fire back that i’m good, that I haven’t felt like that in a while, that we’re friends now/she isn’t to blame as to why I’m here, and that I do kinda know what I’m doing with my life sorta, but I’m really kinda shocked still that my dad...cared. Through tears, called my relatives to take care of me in an emotional capacity that he believed he could not. I’m sure he would’ve done fine if he tried. I felt hope and disappointment kinda all in one. I wanna do better. I tell her some half-drawn sparknotes version of my romantic life and she does hers. It’s a nice bonding moment. By this time it's 3:30-4 and no one is eating in the restaurant. So Kristel send me and her only other employee, CJ, out to the palengke to grab groceries for the store. Out the door with list in hand and 500 pesos in her pocket. Time to make magic happen. CJ was so quick on her feet it was hard to keep up. Weaving through stands of vegetables, dodging hanging clothing items, correctly predicting every direction people were walking while looking at their cells, she was masterful. Everything she did was efficient, but charming still. She was like a studio Ghibli character come to life. Tastes a grape, squeezes a mangosteen, makes a face at a baby, takes a sharp left, selects the vegetables, haggles the grocer, pets the cat that's always sleeping at the light bulb stand, it was fun to witness. We get back to Conrado’s in no more than 30 minutes and unpack. Just in time too, after a few games of cards we get a last minute rush and are on our feet until close at 7pm. Everyone loves Kristel’s sandwiches, I think it’s the size and quality of the pandesal. It’s sweet but not overly so, and chewy but not heavy. Also did I say that it was the size of a child’s head? For like 200 pesos (4 dollars) what a bargain. That was the template and timeline of pretty much every day I spent there, (which was only 3 this week but I’m expecting to be there a lot more this month haha) Ate Oya (Oyo’s older sister, convenient, I know) finally took me to her new restaurant, Casa Carmen Cafe. They soft opened in June and are planning a grand opening in November. It’s a gutted out traditional bahay kubo house with original elevated skeleton, the exposed wood beams, and refurbished exterior; complete with the sliding capiz windows. It’s a little more upscale and twice as big as Conrado’s, but simple and elegant nonetheless. She Introduced me to the staff and the other co-owners. They’re five cooks in the back, five servers, and six owners. All really friendly people and excited to have a free set of hands. Casa also does food to order, but they do Filipino food instead of breakfast and pasta. They make some of the best regional dishes I have ever had in my life. Dishes like Kansi, which is a Iloilo regional beef and jackfruit soup. It’s made sour with the batwan fruit -- which is native only to western Visayas -- instead of tamarind, sampalok, or vinegar. It’s tart like sinigang but has a deeper savoriness and more dimension due to lemongrass and asuete. Suman sa Gata at Manok which according to one of the cooks, says is a super specific Cavite specialty; a sticky rice cake cooked in coconut milk and then steamed with a sliver of chicken on top. They also put spins on classics without losing the heart of the dish. Things like crispy dinuguan and fried halo-halo. They had me finishing and plating dishes first day. Finishing final grill items, wiping edges, garnishing plates, my hands felt alive, useful in a way that I can only compare to making art. It was surreal to be in a kitchen like that, and to be cooking and serving food that I've worked my whole life around. It really brought a prestige to Pinoy cuisine that I've only ever seen in Instagram photos. To see very humble stews and barbecued meats elevated to this level, at this capacity really brought me hope that I could do something like this someday myself. What was surprising was while all this gorgeous food was around them, the most excited the kitchen got was when Kim; the heaviest of the line cooks bought really crappy pizza with the promise of drinking beer later on that night. Which was so hilarious, and comforting to me. They tell me next week, i’m prepping pata and learning their dinuguan recipe. Word. On Friday my birthday happened, I shared it with my cousin Lou! He however was turning 50 lol. And before you think this is gonna be all island boy vibes and noodles, think again. It starts with a cat. 5 hurricane and ends with a very unpleasant argument with my mom. There are noodles still. So that’s good. As the day was happening I was angs- y from the two different super storms planning to DDT my whole life and not being able to gather all the family I wanted to see because of them. I ended up a touch frumpy most of they day. For some context, with Oyo now gone I didn’t really have a mode of transportation the whole past week. Mom didn’t believe I could drive by myself here. She didn’t know I drove his sisters car last week and was thriving in this type of balls out driving culture. Yeesh, and God forbid I take a tricycle by myself and get kidnapped?...I don’t know, I’m a clear half foot taller than most of the people here, in the best-ish shape of my life, and I don’t want to brag, but can throw a decent punch. I don’t know. So this whole past week I was at the mercy of my mom taking me places. Dropping me off to either of my nieces that owned restaurants, which was clearly awesome. But when I wasn’t working and being checked on constantly I was stuck by her side running errands or fixing the up the apartment in San Carlos. I felt like a preteen again. On top of that, there were things I wasn't giddy to do like: being drug to 6am mass, (rough) she then told me to order then cancel catering, (twice??¿?) and the city had erratic brownouts for 15 hours. All of which making me feel a bit—powerless. So after mass (which I mostly slept though) I was stuck at the house with nothing to do on my birthday, and no one was coming over hahaha. It’s a peculiar kind of “kick-in-the-groin” paradox when you’re not trying to make a day all about you because it makes you feel cringey and childish, but in doing so you end up trying to please yourself anyway by not feeling those things. After some alone time filming ants and laughing at myself I decided to interact with people. Tatay and I feed chickens and I tried having a comprehensive conversation with him to no avail, oh well. He end up telling me he had to get me goats. Like a switch flipped in his mind and he wouldn’t rest until is original programming was complete type of vibe. I didn’t want to fight him on it, and so about an hour later he comes back with two goats, a mom and a kid. He made me name them, THEN told me we were gonna kill them later. Cool. That’s cool. Couldn’t really sway him, being stubborn is his worst and best trait. My mom ended up taking them down the street to some relatives to take care of them and told tatay that they were too small to kill and eat anyway. Good going mom. I went inside and started looking at old photos with inay. She had stories for almost every person and photo we looked at. That was beautiful. All of my mom siblings are really brave, but especially my mom. Hearing first hand accounts of her young adult years was assuring. A few hours later I got wind that everyone at home was a-ok. What a relief. I took a step back from the lack of command I had going into the day and laughed at the parallel it had with my whole past year. I can toil and strive and work with what I got, the best that I can, but at the end of the day, things are gonna keep on turning beyond my control. I get gratification of autonomy with what I do yet the assurance of things moving forward without me. What a rad gift. Power got back on about 6pm -ish and we decided to head out to kuya Lou’s house to celebrate together because they also had power back on. We ended up having pancit and spaghetti. Noodles for long life or whatever. We ended up hobo drinking beer and a handle of jack. I had some pretty good conversations about dreams and goals with some of my cousins and got to know each other better. My one nephew JR is an aspiring historian and we talked about Philippine history for a pretty long time. That was really exciting for me, he knew so much and I don’t usually have anyone to gab about that kinda stuff or even ask questions from. At around 9 when it was dark two of my pamangkin shut off the all the lights to fake a brownout. They ended up walking out with 2 lit birthday cupcakes. It was really sweet of them, too bad I didn’t take any pictures. Live in the moment and what not right? I ended up having to go home early that night because my mom’s foot was acting up and after a few sharp looks shot my way I could tell she wasn’t feeling comfortable. I told her to go home by herself and that I’d get a ride back to the bukid somehow. She sternly said no and  I resigned my pride to argue in front of family,  I could tell she was more uncomfortable seeing me drink that much with my cousins than the pain in her foot. On the drive back home I argued about the lack of freedom I was feeling with her and the juxtaposition of her own life around my age. I think I nailed my talking points. She ended up seeing my side of things and we apologized to each other. I think the pressure is getting to her from both sides, of being a child again living with her folk and remembering to be a mom. I doubt it’ll be the last time I talk about this dynamic. I do hope it gets better soon.