#THE BACKGROUND!!! It makes me think of a pop-up childrens book. i love it!

[marinerainbow]

THEM!

Omg omg omg I already know she's gonna say yes, but I feel like I'm holding my breath for Joe here! They both look so adorable here! 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

A redraw of their proposal. Not much to say other than at least my character design and perspective have improved. Can't say the same for my shading capabilities.

[cloudzoro]

Morning Dew | Portgas D. Ace ♡

masterlist | op masterlist

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genre: angst.

pairings: Ace x reader, Platonic!Marco x reader

wc: 1.1k

cw: greif, loss, an emotional breakdown, marineford mention, hallucinations, wano spoilers, gn!reader, reader is referred to as whitebeards son but so is whitey bay and she's a girl, that's just what he calls his children

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When you wake up in the morning, you roll over to see Ace perched on the edge of the bed, looking down at you with a soft smile on his face.

“Morning, Beautiful,” He says, warm eyes glittering with love. He's dressed, a small bag settled over his shoulder.

“You off adventuring, hot stuff?” you ask. He's always going off on his own; these types of goodbyes are frequent, but you know he'll be back in your arms soon. He nods cheerfully as he stands, encouraging you to get out of bed so you can say goodbye to him properly. It's not like you'll have nothing to do while he's gone; you're a great pirate in your own right, a section commander in Whitebeard's crew.

You listen as he rambles about wanting to see his little brother again. You pass a poster of said brother as you walk to your wardrobe. You get dressed as Ace hums a familiar tune in the background. Your heart aches when you think about the life you've built with Ace. It's hectic, but it's you. Ace leaves a trace of him everywhere he goes. He's left traces of himself all over you. Sometimes, it feels like every kiss he leaves on your skin sinks in and solidifies, blocking your arteries. You can't function normally around him, but you'd be screwed without him. Every time he touches you, he has your cheeks warming and your heart set alight brighter than his powers.

“Anyone ever tell you that you think too much?” He asks. He does; he tells you all the time that your cloudy mind is too loud. He reads you like a book. “Tell me what's up in that pretty head that's got you distracted.”

“I'm just thinking about how much I love you. I'm gonna miss you when you go,” you say, turning to your vanity.

“Oh baby, I'll miss you so much more.”

You look in the mirror to assess yourself, and your blood runs cold. You can't see his reflection. As you turn to look at him, you glance out the window and feel your stomach turn as you realise you're on land. You're not on the Moby Dick. You feel dizzy, you look around and realise Ace is gone. There's no trace of him besides his beads lying on his untouched pillow. It feels like your skull is caving in on itself, and you scream. It's the only thing you can do.

Two years worth of grief and pain rise through your skin, and you drop to the floor. The door to your bedroom swings open, and for a second, you think it's Ace and then you hear Marco's voice. You know he's speaking but can't make out the words in your state. You can barely feel him holding you, rocking you gently like a baby. It works. Just For a second, you calm down in the arms of your most trusted friend.

You're tired of losing people. Pops, Thatch, Izo, Ace.

Wanted posters and framed pictures of each of your fallen friends line your walls. Marco holds out his hand and Whitey Bay, who you didn't realise had walked in, hands him a framed wanted poster. It's Whitebeards. Your eyes water as you remember watching the only real parental figure you've ever had give his life for the next generation of pirates. He was hard on you, as he was all his sons, but you knew he loved you deeply. Whitey is holding a picture of Izo and Ace; Ace is asleep on Izo's lap, and Izo is looking deadpan at the camera in irritation at being used as a pillow. A few tears roll down your cheeks as you remember that feast. You remember every feast you've shared with your crew.

You spend the next ten minutes pouring over the framed pictures and posters, retelling the stories to your crewmates - who listen happily despite already knowing what happened as they were there. You avoid the frame sitting on your bedside table. Marco and Whitey know why and they are careful to avoid it too. It's a picture of you and Ace when he first asked you out. Ace had begged Thatch to follow him with a camera to capture the moment you agreed. It's an awkward picture; it's a little blurry, and part of Ace's face is cut off, but it means the world to you. It's been turned towards the wall since you moved to this island. When you're finished with your meltdown, you sit back down on the floor, quickly joined by Marco and Whitey.

“When will all this stop?” you ask, unable to look your friends in the eye. “It's been two years. When will the pain go away?” you ask. You know the answer, yet you dread it.

“Probably never”, he sighs, reaching to hold your hand. “But, it will get easier. We still have each other. The day that Ace left to go and find Blackbeard,” Marco utters his name with bitterness and disdain “ He told me to take care of you and threatened to turn me into a rotisserie chicken if I didn't”. You chuckle at his anecdote, squeezing his hand. He really has taken care of you; he's set you up with a house where you can live undisturbed, and he's helped you deal with the grief as best he can. He goes to stand, and in your mental state, you panic. You grab his arm.

“Please don't leave”

“I'm not, I promise. You're going to get a headache from all this crying. I'm just getting something to help the pain,” he says. His voice is soft, almost like he's addressing a toddler. You appreciate it, though. You're vulnerable.

“Ace had so much love in him, especially for you. He will always be with us.” Says Marco, rummaging through his bag. Whitey points to your wrist, where a messy spade symbol is tattooed. You'd come along with Ace, joined his pirate crew and stayed with him when he joined Whitebeard. “I know your heart hurts more than your head, but hopefully, this will ease up some of the pressure.”

You take the pill he hands you and wipe your eyes. You almost feel childish and ashamed by what happened, but their faces hold zero judgement. They lost people, the same people. They understand what you're going through.

“Will you guys stay for breakfast? I'm making pancakes,” you ask. Whitey and Marco immediately agree. You watch as they exit the room. You feel an oddly warm pressure against your cheek, an air of familiarity washes over you, and your stomach tightens. You take a deep breath and exit the room, hoping that you won't have to lose anyone else.

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tag list: @sexysapphicshopowner @beachaddict48 @lem-hhn @bloodfixnd

thank you for reading! hope you enjoyed :)

reblogs and comments are always appreciated ♡

taglist is always open!

[trippingontheescalator]

Curious about the direction the HP fandom has gone

Okay, so as an old HP fan from way back when the books were first coming out, and then getting hit with the nostalgia and decided to return after years and years of not interacting with the fandom at all, the changes are truly mindboggling and I'd love to get to the bottom of some things.

Like, the disappearance of Blaise Zabini. Blaise was a fan favorite way back when we only knew his name but now I barely hear a whisper of his name. Now, the obvious answer is racism, which I think is the #1 reason why Blaise-pairings have dropped of significantly. Back then we all thought Blaise was a hot Italian girl, and then we found out he's a black man and suddenly people stop writing about him? Hm, yeah, seems the obvious answer (especially considering the popularity of other characters who are just a name on a page *cough*regulusblack*cough*).

Or the rise in Snape-hate. Like, Snape used to be the fan favorite. Everyone loved Snape. The meaner he was, the more we liked him. Being mean to children was a plus, not a negative lol. And this was back when we all thought he was a pureblood who came from a wealthy family like the Malfoys. Now by the time the 7th book came out I had pretty much moved on and so I didn't really see the fallout of readers discovering his actual background, so I don't know if his drop in popularity is classism and learning that he isn't a palette-swapped Lucius Malfoy or not, but honestly I would figure his impoverished background would be a plus in these times. Like Snape is obviously one of JKR's least favorite characters, and considering how she-who-must-not-be-named has destroyed her reputation with her increasing radicalization you'd figure the poor, abused, author-hating character would become more beloved instead of the rich, white, heteronormative bullies who barely even show up in the books. Like with our increasing knowledge of social injustice, I just don't understand why the fandom would want to latch onto the Marauders? And I just can't believe Snape's handful of snippets with Lily is the cause of his downfall (like what's there is barely enough to fill up a few pages, and there are certainly more toxic relationships in the series that are still beloved), or the fact that he was a Death Eater or that he inadvertently caused the deaths of the Potters (we already knew that in GoF and HPB respectively and he was still beloved, and this was when we assumed he didn't give a shit about the Potters or if they died when he went snitching). Draco is still popular. DRACO who doesn't give two shits about slinging around the word "mudblood," as opposed to Snape who actually changed for the better.

Am I just too old to understand? Is this like 90s fashion coming back in style (no, I won't do it again, I don't care if it's cringy I'm sticking with my millennial styles, I did the platforms and the slip dresses and the cargo pants in high school and I'm not putting myself through that again lol you gen z's can pry my comfortable mom jeans from my cold, dead fingers, I don't care if it makes me look old, that's the point, I AM old). Like, in addition to 90s fashion, has the 90s obsession with luxury athletic fashion like Lacoste come back in style? All those fashion ads of rich white people on yachts with popped collar polos? Are people starting to obsess over the Marauders because nouveau riche conspicuous consumption is coming back in style? It can't all just be young kids who have only read AtYD and have never actually opened one of the books, can it?

There also seems to be a trend of treating characters as if they're real people. I mean, we've always done it (Snape Wives, I'm looking at you), but now it almost feels as if the crimes characters commit are treated as if they're real crimes and that liking them is somehow a moral failing on the reader's fault. If you were to say "I don't like Snape, his douchy actions anger me, I'd rather skip all the parts he shows up in" I'd say, cool, I get that. That's normal. But "Snape is an abuser, a racist, and an incel and if you like him you're probably those things too" is fucking weird. Like, Harry and Hermione are not real children. Snape is not a real person. The things that happen in this book have as much influence on the real world as me imagining ninjas breaking into my workplace on a slow day. And that "media does not exist in a vacuum" pisses me off because it's blatantly misused. The pieces of media that have had serious consequences? Jaws, The Birth of a Nation. One resulted in the culling of sharks, the other helped restart the KKK. Do you know what those two pieces of media have in common? They're not about fucking wizards and magic schools. They instead paint a target on real groups. After twenty years nobody has ever tried to hurt a marginalized group of people because of a harry potter book (except for JKR herself).

Anyway, these are just some random thoughts, feel free to chime in with your own.

[exhausted-think-bucket]

The Beatles and Leonard Bernstein

Daddy loved the Beatles, too, which made me particularly happy. In the swimming pool the following summer, he came up with a third part to “Love Me Do,” so that he, Alexander, and I could sing the song together in three-part harmony, right there in the corner of the deep end. On one of his Young People’s Concerts, Daddy explained the A-B-A structure of sonata form by singing a Beatles song. Oh, how the girls in the audience squirmed and squealed as he accompanied himself on piano, singing “And I Love Her” in his not-so-McCartneyesque voice! He must have known he was onto something, because he began regularly incorporating the Beatles, and other pop music, in his Young People’s Concerts, to illustrate his various points. It kept the kids in the audience interested, just as it had for Alexander and me. (We, and later Nina, were in effect the ongoing guinea pigs for Daddy’s Young People’s Concert ideas.) John Lennon was Daddy’s favorite Beatle, as he was mine. We were both enchanted by Lennon’s book of poetry, “In His Own Write,” and pored over it together. Daddy invented a singing game for Alexander and me to play with him while the three of us lay wedged into the hammock under the big maple tree after dinner. We would invent a round, à la “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” using Lennon’s poem “The Moldy Moldy Man.” Whoever started the round got to choose what kind of melody it would be: sad, perky, waltz, military. After the first line — “I’m a moldy moldy man…” — the second person had to come in, echoing person number one. Then the third person would come in. The fun of the game was, of course, that you couldn’t possibly repeat the line you’d just heard while simultaneously listening for the next one. It was deliciously hopeless, and a raucous shambles every time — always punctuated at the end by person number three dolefully singing the last line all alone after the other two had finished: “… I’m such a humble Joe.” Eventually, word got back to John Lennon — or to his manager or press agent or somebody — that Leonard Bernstein was thinking about possibly setting some of the “In His Own Write” poems to music. This led to Daddy being invited to meet Lennon backstage during a dress rehearsal for “The Ed Sullivan Show.” It was by now the summer of 1965, and the Beatles were returning to the U.S. to make their highly anticipated second Ed Sullivan appearance. Naturally, our father asked if he could bring his two older children with him to the rehearsal.

- "Famous Father Girl", Jamie Bernstein - 2018

Here is Leonard Bernstein being enchanted by The Beatles, in Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution, 1967.

Even though his viewpoint is understandably informed (and thus imo limited) by his classical background, he appreciated pop music a lot more than others his age at the time did.

I love everything about this, but honestly, to hear my favorite 20th century composer comparing Paul McCartney to Schumann is just...wild.

[sydneyofalltrades]

Okay here is my post about my Ride the Cyclone ✨animation/animatic✨ ideas I’ve been formulating but never really posted bc I cannot draw for the life of me 🥲

@gay-little-axolotl read at your own risk (you’ll be here a while, trust me)

Karnak’s Dream of Life

Basically the exact same as in the show, headless body singing eerily, finding a little doll and popping off the head

there’s a shot of Karnak’s machine at the end of the song which snaps into Welcome…, which is just talk so we don’t need to animate that shit

Fall Faire Suite/Uranium Suite

Since I love them both, I’m writing their ideas both in the same category

When the kids start singing at the beginning of the song, all six of them are in the bandshell, Penny included

However, every time we think we actually get a good look at Penny, something coincidentally blocks her face, whether it be Mischa’s figure, Ocean’s arm, a quick shot of Ricky playing the tambourine, shit like that

The world is in full color while the kids are alive (I’ll explain why that’s important in a sec)

As Karnak explains how the kids got into the accident, we see them get into the coaster*, Ricky needing help from Mischa and Noel, and we see the ride function as normal

In Uranium Suite, you can hear Jane vocalizing ominously in the background, and that little warning sign is present in the way the kids are all a little tense

Once Karnak says “hurtling the children to their deaths,” the color is gone. The kids are drawn in white outlines and all there is is a black screen

During Fall Faire Suite, each kid goes back in color as they speak, only for it to disappear once they’re done

During the “sailing through space” bit, they’re back on the coaster, in slow motion as it falls, then quickly cuts to them in purgatory

“Empty streets of empty shops” has Ocean taking apart little buildings and Constance scooping up the pieces to make a mall

“Smart ones all packed up and went” has Noel dragging out a bunch of suitcases and Mischa labeling the abandoned houses for sale

Very few visuals of Penny are shown, like she disappeared without a trace

“Did we finally leave our town?” has them all in color for a second, then back to white.

Meet Jane Doe

Ocean whispers her line, Karnak says his, and BAM! Spotlight from nowhere

Foreshadowing TBOJD, Jane floats as she’s introduced, and touches ground once she speaks

As she speaks, flashes of the aftermath of the incident show up

“They found my body/not my head” has professionals finding the kids’ bodies, and flashlights looking for Penny’s head

“No parents came” actually has a little boy with a black cape running to the headless girl, screaming a name no one hears

“My life, an unsolved mystery” has pictures of Penny with the choir, her face always strategically covered

What the World Needs

Here we go with the solos!! Ocean’s in color in her song, along with everything she interacts with, the others are in black and white

Ocean wears a varsity jacket with her name in the back, along with a blue shirt that says “Vote for Ocean!” with her hair in a ponytail with a bandana

The others are dressed in “Vote Ocean” propaganda, but whenever Ocean herself insults them, they become newspaper clippings of the people she’s calling them (sandwich artist, security guard, Wal-Mart greeter)

“The move” has Ocean dancing in a club

“The shake” has an earthquake that is covered by a statue of her

“The headline maker” has a newspaper thrown on screen with a headline saying “World’s Greatest Woman!” and a snazzy picture of Ocean

During the second verse, as Ocean is berating Mischa, Constance, and Ricky, there’s a story book-esque animation of each of her interpretations of their lives, under smaller, less important articles

“And as we move through life” is a sliding shot of Ocean standing on top of the world, with the others tiny and insignificant

As the “zeros” bit happens, a big fat 0 is written over everyone’s newspaper picture, and Ocean rips up the paper as she just shoves the thought aside

For the climax, the world spins as Ocean stands on top of it, with the others just barely catching up to admire her and her glory

Final shot is EXACTLY like the 2016 promo shot, her on top of everyone in a human pyramid

Noel’s Lament (TW: drinking, smoking, mu*der, s//h)

Now Noel’s Lament was more fluid for me to think of. Noel himself and his reality is grey, but when he sings about Monique or from her perspective, the world is bright and alive

Noel doesn’t do the quick change, it’s a transition shot from his iconic pose to Monique in a similar stance

The “good girls call me the town bicycle” is Constance and Jane in their costumes (beauteous dresses of the time) whispering while Monique walks past

Claude is Ocean. I will not elaborate (psst she’s in a suit with the cutest low ponytail)

“Ten! Times! In! His! Back!” shows the stabbing, but cuts to Monique holding a cigarette innocently

“Never ending carnival” is a revolving shot of Monique’s hand holding booze, a cigarette, and another man’s hand

The accordion (piano if you’re a 2016 bootleg fan) solo has the little nischa dance, i literally cannot take that away

“I think I am in love with you” cuts to a close up of Monique’s eyes widening a little, whether in fear or in recollection, I’ll leave that up to you

“I give in to the fantasy” is like a little spicy cut, that’s all im saying

“for i sing sONGs” has people passing Monique by as she trips on the road scrounging up some loose change, and she moves into an empty alleyway

Time passes a little, and there are deep lines in Monique’s face and her eyes are heavy with lack of sleep

“In some rat infested Chinese dive” is just Monique smoking alone in an alleyway, pressing the hot cigarette to her arm to try and get a reaction

“Eight months later” is Noel telling the story, then the little gasp is a quick shot of Monique’s eyes filling with tears

We see her forced out of the house and she desperately drags herself through an alley

She’s slumped against a wall when Ricky as the priest approaches her

During the first “for I sing songs,” we see through Monique’s hazy eyes as she spots a bottle of booze and drags herself towards it

We see her drink it, and then her hand goes limp and the bottle shatters

In the real world, Noel’s now in costume, standing on that chair

During the climax, Noel’s singing face is projected over flashes of Monique’s life, her tragedy shown in clips and hastily sewn together

And finally, the song ends with Noel draped against the chair, the others surrounding him

Every Story’s Got a Lesson

Short and simple, but Ocean snaps about Noel’s song and Karnak deadpans

As Ocean says “No.. every story has a lesson!” she finds a grad cape and cap and throws it on

As she sings, a blackboard appears with the words of the song written in chalk

The others, also in capes and caps, whistle and sing along

Somehow Karnak gets a hat on his head too

This Song is Awesome

Unlike Ocean and Noel, since being a rapper isn’t Mischa’s dream or desire, he’s black and white while the others are in full color, along with the contents of his music video

You read that right. Music. Video.

Specifically a music video shot by a seven year old with a short attention span and edited by a bunch of preschoolers

Not that it’s bad, it’s just got focus on things that are irrelevant, the editing goes insane, there’s a brief moment where Jane is literally photoshopped into the sky (TBOJD ref hehe)

Mischa wears a black and gold tracksuit but since it’s black and white you wouldn’t really tell

The others are Mischa’s background dancers, wearing blue and white

Basically every single time Mischa says “awesome,” the word is like edited onto the screen like a history teacher’s presentation

There are really good shots tho, like Mischa driving a convertible to the Hard Rock Cafe with Noel and Ricky

Surprisingly there is a Learjet in the video, no one really knows how that got there

The girls are all fawning over him in the club and then he sees a girl wearing punkish clothes and a white flowy skirt and the music video falls apart

Talia

The second Mischa lays eyes on Talia, the color slightly blooms into the video and he walks over to her

Instead of a photo of her, he genuinely talks to her, and you can see the love and care he has for her

When the others come back, they’re not in a club anymore, they’re out in a garden in a traditional Ukrainian wedding

While the girls escort “Talia,” who’s now been replaced with Jane, the boys help Mischa get prepared

When Mischa and Jane finally do interact, instead of Jane’s doll face, it’s Talia’s big brown eyes and warm smile that greets Mischa

They dance together, happily in love, with the others singing cheerfully in the background

Then Talia is suddenly ripped away from Mischa as he falls, falls, falls from the rollercoaster

As he does, his phone, also falling, flashes a picture of Talia on the lock screen

Mischa’s now in normal clothes, staring at the picture, while the others just dance around him, it’s a whole vibe

Then it cuts to Mischa and Talia in a grainy video, Mischa picks Talia up, spins her around, and she kisses him

Space Age Bachelor Man

I have SO MANY ideas for this song so this is gonna be LONG!

Song starts with Ricky alone, a single spotlight illuminating him in black and white.

“Others from outer space” has a peculiar spacecraft arriving in front of Ricky

Once those claps start, you know it’s gonna be wild

The spacecraft opens and spills a light that makes Ricky come into color, and the boys, in Zolarian couture, alert Ricky of their duty

When Ricky arrives on Zolar, the girls, now space aliens with tails and cat ears, practically throw themselves into his arms

“The naughty/holy daughters of the realm” has a shot of Ricky being crowdsurfed (for lack of a better term) through a sea of cat ladies

Um before the guitar solo, Ricky kisses Cat!Ocean. I don’t make the rules

Now the.. that scene is kept covered for a reason, so naturally I’d also just use shadows to convey wtf is happening then

“Now there is a new challenge” has the boys worried in front of holographic screens showing K-9’s enemy fleet

“For they’re at war with K-9!” had Ricky bursting out with the wildest, sexiest, most glittery costume you could EVER expect and it is everything to me

Suddenly everyone’s holding a laser gun and that makes Ricky freak out

So instead of announcing war, he goes to a podium and explains his desire of peace, which is broadcast to K-9’s fleet (idk how, i just think it’s funny)

“And they listened/and they heard my message” is Ricky breaking the fourth wall, pausing the action Emperor’s New Groove style before going back to the scheduled programming

The rest of the song is basically then partying in the spacecraft as it sends Ricky back home to Earth

The Ballad of Jane Doe

Jane, in a plain white dress, is alone. And everything is black and white. Not a single sliver of color anywhere

Everyone else is in funeral wear, however they pay no attention to Jane, like she was never human to begin with

We see Jane play with the decapitated doll and a rollercoaster toy, watching as it went up, then fall out of the seat

Every so often a flash of color and the faintest hint of a life beyond Jane is shown, but it’s so brief there’s no way to actually see it

As Jane begs St. Peter to let her into heaven(?), Jane tries to look for a helping hand but no one assists

“Wont you tell me at last who I am?” has Jane reaching out, not just to the sky, but to the funeral goers who can’t seem to notice her

Then we cut to Ja/enny (flashes between perspectives) in the rollercoaster, and how she lost her head

As Jane starts flying, her pleads become angry, more scornful since no one is giving her answers, but she’s still getting only tiny flashes. Not even a face, just a feeling or an emotion

“Time eats all his children” is Jane standing ominously, slowly pointing out into the non-existent crowd

“A melody floats through the air” has her flying through the funeral, the others ignoring her as she desperately tries to find herself. Her name

She flies through the graves, her desperation becoming more and more apparent

There’s a flash of a baby, a little boy, a monkey puppet, a thermos

Then Jane stops in front of a freshly dug grave, and she knows it’s her own. But its headstone is unmarked

And she just cries as the funeral goers surround the tomb of the empty girl

The New Birthday Song

Also short and sweet

Everyone wears a birthday outfit and Jane has the cape and hat

As she stands in the middle of the circle, holding the cupcake, the others dance around her

Then Constance gently nudged her arm and gestures to the cupcake

(Jane tries to eat it but Constance blows it out first)

Jawbreaker & Sugar Cloud

Lumping them both bc of the themes

We see the accident through Constance’s eyes. See the way it rose, then suddenly fell

“My heart just welled up” is a shot of Constance’s eyes widening, her terrified face morphing gently into a smile

As this happens, the flashbacks of the mundane things Constance learned to love are shown over it. We see her going back to bed, hanging upside down, her brother, her friends

And she starts to laugh as the coaster falls. And tears spill from her eyes as she does

In the present, Constance, in white outlining, wipes away her tears and collects herself for Sugar Cloud

As the song begins, we see a little flashback of Constance as a little girl given her first jawbreaker. She’s excited, then starts slowly sucking away the layers and gets visibly disappointed

“At first it seems so sweet” shows some clips of Constance growing up, and then she just loses the sparkle in her eye and spring in her step

Then the song starts to pick up and color arrives, everywhere as Constance just siblings merrily

Constance and the others aren’t in the warehouse anymore, they’re in the skies of blue, pink, gold, and purple

Constance jumps through a gold, pink, and blue cloud and emerges with her outfit, a pink jacket over a gold top and blue flats. A pink top hat attached to a headband is on her head

Twirling a cane, Constance genuinely sings happily with the others as they dance and jump through the multicolored clouds

The recorder solo is as memorable as always, with the others hyping Connie on by dancing and cheering excitedly

With no guilt in her heart, Constance happily shouts from the top of the sugary puffs her love for everything in her life, and the others happily back her up

It’s Not a Game/It’s Just a Ride

At this point in time, everyone’s back in their normal uniforms, drawn in their white outlines

The portal’s light gives Jane color, as she’s the one the others picked

Before Jane goes through the portal, she hugs Constance and Ricky, then steps through

A slideshow of clips appear showing of Penny’s life, before and after LEGOLAND, and the others all cuddle together to watch

As the slideshow goes by, the others are overlayed above it, so we can see their expressions now that Penny was brought back

As Penny grows older, she’s closer to her brother, she gets married, has children, is happy

When the slideshow starts showing clips of Penny growing much older, a clip is shown of children pointing at a picture

Older Penny takes a look at it and smiles. “They were my friends,” she seems to say, gently holding the picture of her and the choir

As she dies, Karnak says his final line as Virgil cuts the power cable

As sparks fly and the kids huddle close, they learn they’re not five. They’re six

Penny had come back to the afterlife after her death and the six of them were alone, in their white outlines

“But it’s not a game, it’s not a game” has Ocean picking up pieces of their outfits. A “Vote Ocean” pin, a feather boa, and black and gold cap, a cat ear headband, a doll with no head, a headband with a hat

“It’s just a ride!” has the kids in their outfits actually riding the Cyclone in full color, passing the loop that ended their lives and finishing the ride

*Now that they finished the ride in the afterlife, they all get out of the rollercoaster and reminisce about life together

“We’re all just sailing through space” is the kids as they revolve through all their outfits of the show, while talking about their lives, and their death

“It’s just a ride” has them all holding hands and spinning around, wearing the outfits for their individual songs

Then they fall to the floor and smile as they’re all together again

“And the world will keep on spinning/With no ending or beginning” has flashes of their songs, Ocean’s victory pose, Noel’s dramatic end, Mischa stopping his video, the couple’s fateful kiss, Ricky and his cat warriors, Penny taking Jane’s place on her named grave, and Constance in sugary clouds

Now in their uniforms, the Saint Cassian Chamber Choir is just a group of friends, who are all together and happy in the afterlife forever

“I know this dream of life is never ending” cuts to a girl with French braids waking up on the ground. She stands up and sees the light of the sun

“It goes around and ‘round and ‘round again” shows six friends, bonded by fate and together through time

THIS IS PROBABLY MY LONGEST EVER POST BUT I LOVE IT SO HAHA

[tetsunabouquet]

Thank you guys!

Alright, now that I hit 250 followers, I wanna throw this ask list out there! Thank all of you for being here, I couldn’t have made it this far without each and every single one of you!

1 What's your favorite movie? 2 Do you prefer pizza or a burger? 3 What inspires you? 4 Summer or winter? 5 What's your favorite color? 6 Favorite Hyperdimension Neptunia character? 7 What's the last thing you've eaten? 8 Do you have a favorite shampoo brand?  9 What do you think of Ruka X Akatsuki? (VK) 10 Ideal date? 11 How did your love for the horror genre start? 12 Which friendship dynamic from the Seirin basketball team do you think is underrated? 13 Would you ever want to get married? 14 What do you think is the most underrated ship in the Shadowhunter Chronicles? 15 Do you believe in true love?  16 What is an animal you dream of owning? 17 Do you get angry easily? 18 What is a phobia of yours? 19 Which KNB characters would you like to go to karaoke with? 20 What is your favorite fantasy creature? 21 Favorite 2nd gen K-POP group? 22 Which of your cats is the laziest? 23 Have you ever walked outside completely in the nude? 24 What's your favorite memory? 25 Favorite Japanese artist? 26 What's something you enjoy learning about? 27 Do you believe in aliens? 28 What's your favorite flower? 29 Favorite neon color? 30 Do you like lemon (as in the fruit flavor)? 31 Who was your first same-sex crush / the beginning of your bisexual experience? 32 If you could own a planet, which would you claim and why? 33 What animal do you look like the most? 34 Which events from Basic Instinct and what you have written of Can’t Stop Falling In Love With You so far, were inspired by your own background? 35 How do you think you'll die? 36 Do you consider yourself romantic? 37 Have you ever had a crush on a teacher? 38 Can you go in-depth about why you think Shaman King Superstar is inherently a poor sequel? 39 What’s one of your struggles (neurodivergent related)? 40 Who has the better soundtrack, Shaman King, Hyperdimension Neptunia or KNB? 41 What's your favorite non-animated show? 42 Do you have a dark side? 43 Which ElfQuest character is your favorite? 44 Do you enjoy going to the beach? 45 If you were stuck on an abandoned island, which character from the Shadowhunter Chronicles would you want to be your support buddy? 46 Can any of your cats do tricks? 47 Favorite Shaman King scene? 48 Which Shadowhunter Character would you date? 49 What's a pet peeve of yours? 50 What is a trend in pop lyrics you hate? 51 Your favorite Mukami brother? 52 Least favorite tea? 53 Aside from your haunted home, are there any other supernatural phenomena you’ve experienced? 54 You mentioned having 4 cats and that your mom has two, did you grow up with many pets? 55 What do you think is one of the most harmful books in children’s literature? 56 What’s an icky moment from elementary school you’ll never forget? 57 Which scene in the Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise never fails to make you cry? 58 Favorite Diabolik Lovers crackship? 59 Cringiest female protagonist in the Shadowhunterverse? 60 What’s a random funny fact about your household? 61 Could you tell us the name for TWP book 2? 62 If you were a character in Shaman King, what would your theme song be? 63 What’s your favorite KNB character theme song? 64 Which TVD character do you think doesn’t deserve the hate they get? 65 Least favorite AOT ship? 66 What is the Miraculous Ladybug episode you hate the most?⁰ 67 Which clubs did you join when you were in secondary school? 68 What is a book series you enjoy reading for satire purposes? 69 Underrated YA series? 70 Wild card (ask me any question)

[exhaslo]

question to ask ? how do you make your story? Like requests what do you do first ? Like do you the plot of the request or the smut then the plot ? or the thought of the reader then the characters ?

idk I want to know how you do it! like I love the way you write your story. And I really want to know how you start your story! 🤩🧐

I hope I explain this well 😭 and I hope you doing better !

So, for the requests, I go in order of who requested first to make it fair. Normally, I read the request whenever I get a chance to check my phone (I got 2 jobs). Most of the time the idea kind of just...pops into my head and I start writing the moment I get some free time.

As for the stories, those are a bit more day dreaming on my end. So for the Mafia!Miguel story, I was just working at one of my jobs and the day dreams hit me with different story lines of different versions of the 'reader'.

I try to make a small mental plan of how I want the story to go, but due to my hyper imagination, the moment I hop on the keyboard, I just start writing.

Like, most of the time, I would just read a request or start a story and I would just start writing without even thinking. For big projects like my book I'm writing on the side (which has been put on hold for smut haha) I do plan ahead.

For big stories like my book, I get my sketch book, design the characters and their personalities, then I do a vague story board of the big points I want covered in the book. But, those are for those big boy projects.

Small projects like requests and mini series or fanfiction just start spilling out of my mind when I touch the keyboard.

I know none of this probably helped, but if you are planning on writing a story, I highly suggest to start with a story board. Plan out the big plot points you want to happen, then go from there. Will the characters you make fit into those plot points and how? Will they be affected and will that change the course of your story?

Remember, your characters grow with you. I can't even begin to describe how much my characters are my children in my book. Also, I know this might be difficult for many...but try to feel what the characters feel to get the best emotion out of it.

If your character is going through a break up, try to see from their point of view on how that will make them feel. Play some music in the background to try and get a mental imagine of how the scene should play out.

Everything depends on the writer and how you want to write your story.

I hope this helps~

[excalibent]

Good Omens

I saw a post about Good Omens, so I’m making a post about Good Omens, and none of you can stop me.

Not that you would, I guess.

Spoilers for Good Omens, and slight spoilers Making Money, and Going Postal.

Searching out something in the text to have a say on is a bit difficult, given that it does an extremely good job of presenting complicated and important ideas in ways that are damn near impossible to miss when you come at it with a sledgehammer and a magnifying glass. I’m not overly familiar with the works of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, but I’ve read Making Money and Going Postal, and loved them both to bits.

The kind of symbolism that seems to hang about in the background of Good Omens is stuff like the part of Making Money where - beyond the explicit, direct, unapologetic claim that money is a representation of value rather than value itself - a character pulls a lever in a simulation of the economy, and literally makes a bunch of gold appear out of thin air. The statement is clear: money is fake, and value is fake, and the only reason valuable things exist is because we made up that value from literal nothing. We just looked at it, thought ‘hey, that’s valuable’, and so the inert, shiny chunk of rock became valued. Then, the part of Going Postal that actually planted this idea of value being linked to things with qualities beyond their material properties, that the letters themselves were indescribably valuable to the people that received them and some could have been traded for hundreds of dollars for the simple fact that they were so valued, and in this, the revelation that stories can and will impact the people that read them - not just in general, but especially if it’s a story that they were meant to hear.

Where can we find these moments of stark, important - yet, in some way, abstract - statements in Good Omens?

Frankly, they’re all over the place; there’s the idea that you don’t win if you don’t fight, and if you truly believe in your principles - healthy food, peace, a cleaner earth - you can fight, and even win. But winning doesn’t last forever, and you can’t fight forever. You’re only human. It’s a point that Death underlines, in the end; creation doesn’t mean anything without destruction. As much as we value things that are, we also need to reconcile that these things are also defined by everything that they are not. And, additionally, if you are going to ‘win’ in any meaningful way, it has to be because your children fight for that future, too. The point that, in the end, the anti-christ is human above all else, the idea that celestial beings - in the realm of human experience - are interchangeable, that fate is a book that was written centuries ago that doesn’t even end when the end of all time arrives, it’s all very interesting to think about, but it’s hard to really describe without stating what feels obvious. Again, Good Omens was very good at getting its ideas across.

The thing I’d like to look at with a more critical lens is probably a theme that does pop up explicitly, but sometimes only in the background: you reap what you sow.

For Crowley, this happens explicitly when the entire highway bursts into flame because it resembles the sigil of the great devourer of worlds. As per the text - “Crowley had built it, and now he was stuck in it.” This also hits Aziraphale; his bookshop burns down because of the candles that he lit. Obviously, he didn’t intend them to burn it all down, but the consequences of our actions are rarely apparent until you come back to see where the kindling was.

And what’s more interesting, above all, is Adam. He builds a circle of friends, and as he comes into his power, he starts trying to control them, to reshape them from the group he had lead into a group he could lead into Armageddon, but they don’t agree with any of it; regardless of the greater circumstance, Adam and his friends had assembled because of like minds, more or less, and that’s exactly what he got when his powers came to him - people that cared about health, peace, the world around them, that would really rather not burn it down - and when he rejects his powers, they return to him, because as he had chosen them, they had also chosen him. There wasn’t a greater hand moving pieces into place, it just kind of happened, and the friendship that they had was overwhelmingly more important than staying angry after Adam started going all funky in the head, when it turns out that he falls down and might be hurt.

They’re right to leave when he had taken away their freedoms, but the kindness they gave him when he needed it more than anything else was probably the most important part of the story; the people around you will support you when you treat them well.

(Obviously, Heaven and Hell had not treated Aziraphale and Crowley very well; sure, they only brought down punishment in the end, but all throughout, aside from being treated as menial workers poking about on Earth, their disagreements were entirely dismissed out of hand the moment they - Aziraphale, mainly, and repeatedly - meant to bring up whether what they were doing was what they should be doing, besides.)

[kaylee012]

Readerly Exploration #2 (due 01/23)

Tompkins Ch 2: Examining Students' Literacy Development

Take-away: Early elementary teachers help their students progress somewhat through the emergent stage and then through the beginning and fluent stages of both reading and writing.

Nugget: Although much of this chapter seemed irrelevant to me as a middle school teacher, I think a lot of it could be relevant to me as a future parent. I liked the concept of shared reading and especially the emphasis on predictable books with patterns like repetition, cumulative sequence, rhyme/rhythm, and sequential patterns. (pages 54-55)

Tompkins Ch 10: Scaffolding Students' Reading Development

Take-away: Teachers should use a combination of strategies like guided reading, basal reading programs, literature focus units, literature circles, and reading/writing workshops to promote reading and writing

Nugget: Because I should expect to have all levels and backgrounds of readers in my classroom, I should make sure that they are all comfortable with the reading process (prereading, reading, responding, exploring, and applying) before we dive into reading anything.

Readerly Exploration (Chapter 2)

I decided to look up some of the predictable books on page 304 (referenced on page 55). I didn't look up the ones I was already familiar with (Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Hop on Pop, Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, etc.) Since the library is closed right now, I watched Youtube videos of some of the books being read that I will link below. Reviewing and reading actual examples of pattern books in each category helped me to not only better understand each one, but to focus on it from a different perspective. I was intentional about observing the patterns and how they might help early readers when being read to. Children get to be exposed to books that would otherwise be too advanced for them, but are really easy to catch on to and enjoy. I can remember the books with repetitive sentences being fun for me as a child. As I caught on to the pattern, I loved to chime in. When I got the hang of it, my mom would pause every time we got to that sentence to let me "read" it. Eventually, I would recognize what the word looked like and what it said even though I would actually read or sound out the word.

So What's It Like to Be a Cat? - rhyming book by Karla Kuskin (until minute 6)

Hush! A Thai Lullaby - repetitive sentence book by Minfong Ho

Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin - sequential pattern book by Lloyd Moss

[independentartistbuzz]

Indie 5-0 with D Truth The Professional from Displace: Holiday Edition

The Tampa, Florida-based band Displace is a saxophone and electric violin-driven funk fusion ensemble known for their energetic performances, improvisational prowess, and wildly diverse sonic palette. The Floridian four-piece effectively utilizes their extensive training in a variety of musical backgrounds to produce a truly eclectic blend of infectious pop melodies, complex jazz progressions, and danceable funk grooves.

Their bassist, D Truth the Professional is the Chicago-born hip-hop music artist/producer who uses his wide variety of influences to create unique, true-to-self music. With experience playing music in jazz, funk, gospel and rock bands, singing in concert choirs, and freestyle rapping with friends around the Chicagoland area, D Truth delivers sincere, diverse music.

We got to speak with D Truth the Professional about his favorite holiday traditions, favorite holiday music, and upcoming projects.

So, let’s dive in:

What is your favorite holiday song and why?

Christmas Time Is Here, Instrumental Version Many Christmases as a young boy, I would go to my granny's house and watch A Charlie Brown Christmas on VHS. Such a short and sweet movie, really made me think about the reason for the season as a child. As an adult, Christmas does not hit the same; this song always brings me back to the time when I did get presents, when we did decorate the house, when it snowed in Chicago (I don't see much snow these days when I go back in visit). The vocal version is kinda meh because that children's choir is very, very out of tune; I still love that version though. But I'll take just the instrumental trio over it for sure.

What were the traditions around the holidays in your house growing up?

Eh, none really other than Christmas dinner where my Granny Doris would make mac and cheese that I devoured without fail.

If you could record your dream holiday duet with anyone dead or alive what would it be?

I would love to duet Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer with DMX. One of the best version of that song; I think it would be next level with some D Truth magic behind it. RIP DMX. What is the first holiday track you ever learned?

Pretty sure “Joy To The World” was in my intro piano book as a wee youngin. Alfred's Adult Piano, Book One, Lesson One. Learned it in 1st grade.

What are you currently working on? What can you tell us about it?

Our upcoming 4th album, Necessity, got a grunge inspired band I'm recording with, no name on it yet. And a Silk Sonic tribute band.

[papirouge]

Clicked the link for you from that other anon 👍🏾

It highlighted how in the US at least, the number of people who call themselves Christians on these polls are falling faster. Active church membership has fallen below 50% for the first time. By 2070, of this trend keeps up, the Christian majority will disappear.

It’s interesting to read because as someone who grew up Christian many people who call themselves Christian and go to church aren’t really Christian, I believe real number of people who are Christ-like right now is very small. USAmerican Christians often have their priorities set to be more about their ego and nationalism than actually follow Christ’s word. Right now, when Christians make up about 65% of the country already, many are outspoken about how Jesus is too liberal and his message is too weak. They want some overly muscular tattooed warlord Jesus who loves guns, hates socialism and stands for nationalism. When at least in my mind he was a brown Palestinian man who loves to laugh, enjoy the beauty of gods creations, and loved to share the word of God. He didn’t ignore or condemned anyone regardless of their background or profession, because Gods word is for everyone to hear. He is pure and comfort. He wouldn’t separate women from the group for being women, and he wouldn’t ignore children. He gave his word and it was up for the people to decide to follow because God have us free will and wants us to follow him willingly, not under threat of violence.

Anyway, yeah, I hope more americans study more about the history of the world back then, I hope more people maybe learn the languages and understand the Bible instead of using it to be hateful. Then the numbers of christians in these polls would be better reflected

Also happy Easter 🙌🏾

For context, that anon was a Zionist hater/troll that was pissy at me for calling out genocide.

So in a typical Zionist fashion she tried to used those articles to mock Christianity. She really thought she did something by popping up those articles but she only exposed how slow she is because it's a well documented fact that Christianity is losing influence in the western world, while it's growing in developing countries, such as Africa and Asia..

It's very embarrassing to see people like her think the USA is a relevant compass to grasp the dynamic of the Church. Most Christians on this planet aren't Americans, let alone White or Westerner. This anon stunt screams typical yankee main character syndrome.

I always said that USAmericans Christian were the most degenerate flock of Christians and that we global Christians didn't claim them. Just today I crossed sword with Christians on TikTok about OSAS, and the lot of them didn't even know about the story or Ananias and Saphira. They either thought it was the old testament, when it's in the new one (Ananias ans Saphira were Christian converts who lived in a Christian commune administered by Peter (see Acts 5:1-11) or that I was making this story up🤦🏾‍♀️ Many American Christian are absolutely uneducated about the Bible. They never read it back to back. They are just too lazy to do so and let their (most likely corrupted) pastor spoonfed them with cherry picked passage.

I'm not saying you have to remember the entire bibles, but reading it's entire content will greatly help you having ringing alarms whenever someone says stuff that has absolutely no place in that book. For example, there was a post floating around radblr mocking Christianity and quoting a book comparing women to dogs. And as someone who read the Bible back to back, I clocked that BS immediately bc I knew for a fact that 1) women were NEVER compared to dogs in the Bible 2) the only comparison that's made in the Bible between dogs and humans is in Matthew 15:26 in the mouth of Jesus who's speaking parabolically about Jews vs Gentiles [earning themselves a seat at the feast] - and btw Jesus used the word kunarion which means puppy/little (family) dog and not dog in a regular/lowkey derogatory sense that's rather translated from keleb. You'll also note that the kunarion dog is exclusively used in that scene of Jesus parabolically replying to Samaritan woman and not any other Bible passage that rather featured the keleb dog that has a derogatory nuance into it (unlike kunarion has an affectionate one which is why that word only came from the mouth of Jesus). Sorry for the MASSIVE tangent.

Anyway, it turns out that book was apocrypha (those dumb radfem though Ecclesiastes (in the Bible) and Ecclesiasticus (apocrypha) were the same book...🤦🏾‍♀️) so it was normal I had no recollection of reading in the Bible comparison women to dogs....

Thank you for your commitment by reading these articles though 🫡 i legit felt like it was laced with some malware crap lol And happy (belated) Easter to you too. I'm really showing how slow I am at replying asks now 😅

[sams-special-space]

2023 Reads: The Golden Hour by Niki Smith

Genre: Fiction: Contemporary 

Age Level: Middle grade 

Format: Graphic novel

Summary: Manuel Soto uses photography to ground himself when the world feels far away- something he’s had to learn to cope with after witnessing a traumatic event involving gun violence and getting diagnosed with PTSD. In a story of healing and letting people in, Manuel navigates new friendships through an assigned group project, and ultimately relearns how to feel safe after the possibility was ripped away.

Thoughts: Children experiencing gun violence is a trauma that’s been popping up more and more in books by American authors, for reasons I think are pretty obvious, but I think this is probably one of the best(if not THE best) handling of it I’ve seen so far. Manuel’s trauma was portrayed so vividly while also not feeling like it was trying to make a point, if that makes sense. His healing journey is super realistic, and I loved how he was written as someone who also has PTSD. I think all the characters were written really well actually; all of the side characters felt fully realized, and I enjoyed the ways they interacted with each other!

And the art is SO beautiful, like holy shit!! Niki Smith is AMAZING with backgrounds and never missed. ALSO COWS!!! ALSO it meant SO much to me as a fat transmasc that the boy Miguel had a crush on was fat, I think that was super sweet :) I saw some critique over the way their relationship was shown, some people saying it wasn’t explicit enough “almost like anyone who didn’t want to see it could pretend it wasn’t there”(fucking weird thing to say about a book written by a queer person btw. hot take), but I completely disagree. I don’t think they need to be loud about their crush for it to be obvious, and I think it was realistic to have neither have them be super explicit about it since they’re kids. So yeah read the book!! It’s very sweet :)

Rating: 5/5 

Trigger warnings: Gun violence(not directed towards a child, but a child does witness it), PTSD flashbacks, panic attacks, derealization + dissociation episodes, and a child having a near-death experience. 

Rep: POC + queer MC, MC with PTSD, queer SC, mlm crushing / romance, Black SC.

[brooklynislandgirl]

Shippy-memey-thing: Ron and Beth

Come Together || Accepting

RATE: NOTP | Ew | Nah | Alright | Cute | I LOVE them | They are perfect | OTP | THEY ARE MY BEAUTIFUL, SWEET CHILDREN AND I SHALL PROTECT THEM AS THEIR MOTHER

Who is the big spoon and who is the little spoon?

"Reg would never allow that," Frances says. More often than not there are multiple bodies in their bed, and honestly Beth cannot imagine what not having at least one of the great pups tucked in beside them, whether it's Claude or Noe, Duchess or Topper, or Mo, or Bruce and Marley and Juno. More often than not, some combination of all of them through the night make their rest in the bed. Which of course reminds her again to bring up to Ron that perhaps they should splurge and get their hands on an Alaska King size bed. But she does have to bite back a nasty comment about Reg, something along the lines of Frances getting better sleep kicking Reg to the curb and getting her own dog or cat or anything that has a chance of bonding with her. "Hones'ly? We bo'd sleep mo' beddah havin' da dogs wi' us. So sometimes we cuddle wi' dem, sometimes each oddah. Ron's very careful not to trap me. I tend to toss an' turn a lot." She doesn't speak about Ron's comfort in the privacy of his own bed, it's not her place to share that information and Beth guards his public face like the Sphinx. {Some nights, she will be Ron's big spoon. Some nights, he will be her spoon. The dogs more often than not end up if not spoons, than large portable heaters. They also perfectly understand and accept when the other requires being allowed to sleep {or in Beth's case…not} on their own.}

2. Adult!verse Heights

'Look'a th'size'a you 'n look'a th'size'a me.' It was the first, tenth, and twenty-third thing she's ever noticed about him. He's standing there barefoot, hands on his hips and legs slightly apart. He might not see it, but his muscles are well defined. Thick in the thighs, but he doesn't have what she's come to think of as chicken legs, where his calves barely look like they could support her, much less him. His feet tell her a story of a largely English background by the well formed toes and accompanying bridge. Lean through the hips, and the moment she crosses a certain threshold her cheeks bloom chery blossom pink before she moves on to his middle after so lingering a glance. That thick trunk gives way to shoulders that ought to come with maps for how broad they are and the only thing she hates is the inability to admire the ink she knows lurks beneath the shell of his clothes. "I mean, I might need f' use apple box t' reach dat handsome face, but…wor't it." 'You shouldn't mess abaht wiv boys what're biggah than yah..' He offers a devilish grin that also shows his mouth guard. Makes reading his lips ~criminal in the best ways~ a little harder but she catches almost all of it by virtue of long association. "Bu' if y'must, make sure i's one tha'll bite as 'ard as y'like it." The wink is murder. She pops her own mouth guard in, and squares up on the mat. "Jus' remembah dat when I'm chokin' you wi' my t'ighs." {Ron comes in around 5ft9, 5ft10. Which is still nearly a foot on Beth, and he definitely has her by nearly twice as many stone, thanks to muscle, good bone structure and those bricks she slipped into his pockets}

3. Who falls asleep while watching romcoms?

It's the twentieth time in all their years that he's been 'treated' to a viewing of the Princess Bride. Reg and the rest of them would mock him incessantly if they knew, or at least offer up their condolences but it's because they don't understand quite the way Ron does. It's a ritual; part self-soothing, part joy and comfort, part staving away those little things that signal a shift in her currents. In many ways the film and the book which she might prefer by slight margin is a many-faceted thing, alive and breathing where some grief isn't. It's not unlike listening to the same stirring Churchill speech or listening to a dozen documentaries about the same battle. Maybe more than that, he well knows her demons by name; the insomnia, the restlessness just under the skin, the nameless grief that won't spill from the eyes, the doubts, fears, and the simply Too Much that has no end or beginning but is far vaster than one person. And so, if she can rest her head in his lap and let that rest she's so desperate for wash over her because she feels safe with him? There is no greater symbol of love or trust. And in a pinch, if he can't be that rock as he promised, Duchess and Claude are always close at hand. {I think the fiction speaks for itself, and this is one of those soul-deep understandings of theirs, one they share even if the 'romcom' in question is anything else that might ease the spirit.}

4. Who suggests watching romcoms?

Beth practically vibrates when he walks in the door. Waves of excitement roll off of her the same way the smell of salt tang clings to the nose at the seaside. In her hands is a little battered looking dvd case with what appears to be a bland medley of white suburban teenagers. "Jus' came in da post from my hanai sistah! I got choke aloha for dis movie. But even mo' beddah?! IT'S REX MANNING DAY!" {It's less about watching specific romcoms but sharing things that she loved growing up. It could be Empire Records, it could be Disney's Little Mermaid, it could be a fifty-seven part documentary about Phoenician funerary rites, Beth just wants to share. Plus, she's willing to give Ron the same courtesy and share things he loves.}

5. Who makes all the decisions? Them Upstairs have the power in the relationship, but she certainly isn't about to let Reg in on that fact. He's grown up with Ron from the Womb and still his brother, his twin is sometimes a stranger. Reg doesn't ever seem to understand what drives Ron, and more to the point, doesn't have the patience required to be willing. The conversation started innocently enough when Reg asked if they had weekend plans, and Beth mentioned travelling to Wales. Something about the cider place that they'd been to before, a working holiday perhaps. But the more pointed the questions became, the more sour his cactus face, Beth realises he isn't making small talk. He's digging for dirt, somehow. Beth won't throw Ron under the bus. It is no business of his twin's how they come about making decisions, or how they plan their lives together. They do make room for their mental health. They have to, as it isn't going to be cured overnight, and they are of similar enough a bent that allowing those divergences to affect each other could potentially be disastrous. And it's just plain cruel. There is also something inherently toxic to the question itself, and once again Beth's heart breaks for Frances.

"We're an anarcho-syndicalist commune. We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week, but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs but by a two-thirds majority in the case of more major--"

And just like that Reginald Kray makes himself a dead king.

{In a system of checks and balances, decisions are made by both Ron and Beth in equal measure, with support from the other person. In some cases they have enough love, trust, and understanding of one another to generally have an idea what the other wishes, even if they aren't capable of expressing it at any given time.}

6. Who carries the other one to bed when they fall asleep on the couch?

She isn't asleep, but rather in that sullen sort of twilight where her eyes dart furtively beneath three-quarters closed lids. Where her mouth might open and close like a fish drowning on dry land but no real sound comes out. The shut-down comes in gradual stages, it's never the way it is portrayed in media. She is small and she is unable to connect to the world. Ron understands this. He saw it coming; A sword day…a Hat Day. And into his arms ~strong and sturdy and built just for this, never a violent whim when it comes to her~ she goes, carried deftly upstairs and into their bed. A few moments later there's a magickal cup of tea on the night stand ~she says water cures everything, after all~ and the slender nose of a wee Duchess nuzzling into her palm. He's never far, checking in on her at intervals that won't drive her further inward, while all of him aches. She has her own ritual in this way. She'll never be able to carry him in body, and even if she could he'd not be comfortable with it, but oft of a time she's brought him a cardigan or eaten bits of a meal before sharing. She doesn't flinch when his voice varies in volume, tempo, pitch. {Ron is clearly far larger and far stronger than Beth, and is the one more inclined to move her physically. Beth does her best to comfort him in a similar situation. They both can see the treacherous currents of emotional/mental rip-tides. }

7. Who Proposes?

{This will be written in real time as it happens..or doesn't, mwahahahahahahaha}

8. Will they have a big wedding?

They could have a wedding the likes that would outshine every Royal that ever existed, combined, and not feel one ounce of stress or poverty over it. However, Beth's circle of intimate people is limited, and despite his brother and their friends, she could say the same for Ron. But in the interest of fair play, she merely raises a brow, and tilts her head. But even before they've had a chance to make plans, speak to parents, or even brush the idea past one another, his mother has a question. There are different parts to her voice; joy for her son, fear for how things may turn out, uncertainty whether Beth knows what she'd be getting into ~the later more obvious than not~ and a host of other things that gives her tone something thin and papery to it. Beth sighs internally for an eternity. Outwardly, she smiles like the sun and pours his mother another cuppa. "Wha' did you have in mind, Miss Violet?"

{Likely Ron and Beth could not handle the emotional burden of a large affair.}

9. Who accidentally eats all the popcorn while sharing a box?

10. Who pays for dates?

The bill comes at the end of the evening. Beth watches Ron as he slips a few of those gorgeous notes into the black leather, not having bothered even looking at the tally for dinner, drinks, and coffee afterwards. He doesn't have to, because there isn't a cost to the sumptuous meal. That money is a gratuity for their server, a fluttery and nervous young man as star-struck by him as she is. She rises from her seat and he helps her on with her wrap before escorting her out the door. As they stroll through the West End, not exactly as comfortable as the East, but with its own charms, she spies a little coffee place. "Dessert's on me." He leans in and murmurs at her ear that it will be, soon as they get home. She could light up the London skyline with the heat from her blush but she giggles and doesn't deny it. {They have a shared account for basic household needs, and their individual ones. When it comes to joint purchases, they discuss and shop together. They equally attempt to spoil the other rotten. The only time Ron ever shepherds her spending habits is when she is at the full height of an Upswing, and decides she wants Costa Rican coffee….by virtue of booking thirty tickets for them and the dogs, or buying the plantation.}

11. Who is the most romantic?

"Define…romantic. Because I haf tell ya, Frankie, what I see mebbe not wha' you'd call it. He doesn't bring me dead flowers. He doesn't say I love you wi' words every minute of da day, but you know wha' he does do? He nevah make fun of me. He nevah minimise somet'ing dat upsets me for wha'evah reason, even if it make no sense. He respects my choices, offers advice if I aks him but more often, he supports. He nevah talk down when I no undahstan' some kine. He learned my language, pidgin an' American haole. An' he nevah, evah make me feel small as a person. She takes a breath. "I learn, an' I lissen t' him. I learn t' speak his language, even when words no part of it. What makes him feel seen an' heard, not jus' wha' make me look good. I accept dem kine about him dat even he no like, because it part of him an' good or bad, no can be changed. No need to be. He is da loveliest an' mos' gentle soul I know, and if ya only gonna lissen ya husband got to say about him…migh' wanna tell Reg he should move out his own glass house." {Ron's romanticism is as deep as the Marianas Trench, and maybe to others, just as unfathomable, but in every way it matters, Beth can see his love languages. She also isn't deluded as to his struggles and sometimes his inability to get across what he wants. But even these imperfections of self are loved for being a part of him}

Random Headcanon:

Beth will absolutely never let Ron watch Kitchen Nightmares/Hotel Hell or any of those 'rescue' shows that may or may not have Gordon Ramsey on there. Not because she'd be jealous of whether or not Ron would find Gordon handsome, but because she knows the things he sees will put him off eating. Same way Ron takes out the trash, walks the dog, and meets her at the Hospital once the sun is set so she doesn't traverse the dark alone, frittered away from nerves.

[juusasu4evagrrl]

Its later and i have thoughts on this post. So first of idk who told baby grrl that most people in fandom were children but i think they were wrong about that. When i was a young person in fandom a lot of the people i was interacting with were my peers sure but all my favorite blogs artist and authors were all way older then me.

Fandom is always gonna be a mixed bag of people and for the most part there are more pros then cons there. Seeing interpretations of my favorite media from people with all sorts of cultural backgrounds was like the coolest thing to me. So I’m not exactly sure why hearing from the older siblings in fandom bothered me so much but i have so ideas.

I was so jealous, like so jealous oh my god. When we create in fandom we draw from our own experience. So theres the obvious here right older people have more life to draw from. And then theres a personal side. I was an unusually sheltered and dumb kid and could not for the life of me fathom how these people were coming up with such cool ideas. At first really admired these people but as kept trying harder and harder to emulate them, I just felt inadequate like I would never be able to come up with cool ideas of my own. Instead see a bigger picture, I let jealousy fester and eventually ruined my own relationship with the community that I once really loved. Taking time away to evaluate my relationship to fandom after my enjoyment fizzled out, allowed me to turn that jealousy back into admiration. I still reread all my favorite fics and stalk my favorite blogs and i think engaging with the media i love in this way is just a part of me and I’m okay with that. Now its just about finding the healthiest way to do so. Im 20 now I’ve lived a little more and learned a lot more. I can write simply for the enjoyment of it now and I love what I write even when it is shitty cause its about enjoying being a fan and not competing with my faves.

And this one is more complex to me. Sex in fandoms like this just bothered me at that age. It feels so hypocritical of me to say this now though cause I was 15 writing smut in my school note books during class instead of taking notes. And they wondered why they lacked friends god that kid was so insufferable. Part of the problem was if I thought the smut was better then mine 100% of the time projected adulthood onto that author and automatically assumed their intentions were off. Looking back at though dumbass baby syndrome strikes again cause girlll a lot of ya’ll were my age huh. So heres the thing i had to learn in all this. Is grown people writing porn about naruto funny? To me, yes ma’am it always will be just off the premise yo some of its good absolutely it is I’m just saying. Is it automatically predatory in nature to write porn about Naruto cause kids that like Naruto and mights see it? Unless you are doing it specifically because you want it to be seen by a younger audience (and who is doing that like fr) No. So the other part of the problem that is a little more valid, is that it felt really weird as a kid to see people sexualizing characters that were my age. It was fun and explorative to do it myself with my peers but every once in a while you’d come across that one blog, (and if you don’t have a blog name that just popped into your head after reading that i envy you cause half my blocklist just popped into mine while writing it) that was just like way too old and way too into it. Honestly though this is a problem that I don’t know what to do with. I mean first of all it for the most part it’s a few bad apples, but that doesn’t mean its not a issue and we should just live and let these weirdos live. I feel like i can’t just block these fools anymore and personally I think in gonna start bullying but if your a kid encountering someone that makes you feel uncomfortable in that way SMASH DEMOLISH AND INCAPACITATE that block button ok <3.

Well thats all I feel like writing right now cause I gotta go make me some dinner yuhhh. I plan to write more later cause i wanna talk more about what it looks like to be a grown up in fandom. Im not set if my ways and if anything about this sounds off to you especially concerning part 2 (cause that is absolutely and rightfully a touchy topic and I wanna be as understanding about it as i possibly can) please tell me cause I wanna learn and grow, contribute and participate in these spaces in the most neutral way possible.

OH MY GOD THIS IS MY 100TH REBLOG CONGRATULATE ME RIGHT NOW!!!

Growing up online in fandoms was a wild experience. If I could go back and change it all I would in a heart beat in an instant and without hesitation.

Goodluck to the next generation of super fans, fanfiction authors, and chronically online kids. I hope your time in this space brings you what you need. Be creative, be kind, be critical. catch you later!

[thotsforvillainrights]

Hi!! Thanks for opening up your ask box again so quickly! I love reading all your posts and honestly it's been helping my own writers block a lot too (plz don't mind me lurking on your blog all the time liking all your old posts lol) Do you have any headcanons for what kind of dynamic Kai has with Pops growing up? I wanna write more about Kai myself but I gotta figure out what his family dynamic and background is (Ahhh how I wish we got more deets on Kai's childhood in the series!) Personally, I feel their adopted father-son relationship has always been rocky and that they're never really on the same page with each other, despite caring a lot for each other. I also feel like Kai "grew up quick" in his adolescence and was very mature and stoic for a kid (when he's not angry anyways), so I'm just curious thinking about how Pops influenced/shaped Kai as a person and where their relationship currently stands now (minus the whole putting the boss in a coma situation in canon) Lemme know what your thoughts or person HCs are! I'd like to see if we have similar ideas or if you have something completely different in mind!

(No need for apologies honestly! It makes me feel very validated as a writer and totally motivates me! As far as headcanons about their relationship, I think it might be a little short. Despite this, I think I summed up my opinion below. Hopefully it's not too OOC, but knowing me...it probably will be 😂)

~What about Little Kai and Pops~

headcanon|scenario|imagine|match-up

-I think he must've been a handful since the day Pops took him in, but the old man could handle it I'm sure. The man was already a father once to his own daughter. He was no stranger to it now. The thing with Chisaki is that the boy wasn't as childish as most kids his age, yet he was at the same time. He usually sported that same stoic face (sometimes replaced by annoyance or anger), but occasionally you can catch his eyes reflecting childlike wonder. I feel like an example of this is maybe they took a trip to an aquarium or something, and I'm sure Kai thought it was maybe pointless when he could just stare at the fish in the Koi pond at home for free. Yet I feel like once he laid eyes on the glow of the jellyfish tank or the sheer size of the Tuna fish he'd just be entranced by them. He doesn't want for much but you bet he wanted a stuffed animal just this once from the gift shop. Pops would be happy to get it for him since the kid rarely asked for things that fit his age.

-Speaking of rarely wanting things that fit his age, Pops probably wasn't the best at celebrating Christmas right away when it came to Kai. He's used to buying toys and various cute items for his daughter, but with Kai it was different. The boy was pretty literate for his age, and his writing was very good (but spelling was off track being that he's a child and all). Kai gave that man a list that consisted of so many books the kids shouldn't be reading. Pops folded and actually got him the Art of War too. Then proceeded to be shocked that Kai sat there and read the thing.

-He wasn't very affectionate. Pops adjusted to the germaphobia to a degree but back then it wasn't as bad as it is now. Still he enjoyed his time that Chisaki spent with him. This was often sitting on the back end of the covered porch playing Shogi in the summer evening. The cicadas played a nice song for them earlier that day; later on silence when the wind blew as the two of them focused. That boy was getting better each and every day. The first time Kai beat him without any help Pops rewarded him by gifting him the old Shogi board passed down from his father to him. Kai cherishes that thing even today.

-Being taken in by the leader of the Hassaikai would have an effect on most small children I think. He's influenced easily by what he's grown up around. He was filthy, alone on that street when Pops had taken him in. The old man housed him, fed him, put him in school, taken the utmost care of him. Chisaki cared more about the old man and the organization more than anything else. That's why he began to get in fights at school. How dare those ingrates talk so lowly of the Shie Hassaikai? Of the organization and the man that took me in when I had nothing left? He sometimes beat the other kids until his fist was sore and dirtied with blood. He got in a lot of trouble one particular day and it took Pops a long time to clear him out. Although Pops saw it as a learning experience, Kai was still determined to gain respect for the Hassaikai even if he had to take it by force.

-He only got worse the older he became. Watching the other organizations around him dwindle down to nothing was a sight to see. The Hassaikai would be next...he knew it, Pops knew it, hell everyone in the group did! Kai was determined to not only keep them out of the downswing but to somehow repay his old man for taking care of him. It's the idea that hit him like a truck when Eri came into the picture. This is where is takes a bitter turn. Pops trusted Kai (his only adopted son) to take care of his only granddaughter. Imagine the heartbreak when Kai kept bringing up his convoluted plan to the old man. On top of that, the boy was losing what little honor he held. The gang fights were aggressive and drug dealing became a thing. No issue for me right? I can wrangle this boy in. I did it once, I'll do it again. Maybe I'll just talk to him. Pops only wanted him to shape up. Kai only wanted to put the Hassaikai on top. Make Pops proud...by any means necessary right?

[tetsunabouquet]

Tetsuna's Followers Milentstone Event: The Q&A

Alright, I just checked my follower count and saw I achieved a 202! Thank you so much! I always do a q&a after I hit a certain number of followers so people can get to ask me questions about me if you're curious to get to know me better. I decided to update the list of questions from my previous events. Per usual, any questions asked previously have been replaced with other ones, and so are any questions I answered in other ask games/posts. On top of that usual shtick, I added 20 questions, including ones related to my fanfic projects! 

1 What's your favorite movie? 2 Do you prefer pizza or a burger? 3 What inspires you? 4 Summer or winter? 5 What's your favorite color? 6 Favorite Hyperdimension Neptunia character? 7 What's the last thing you've eaten? 8 Do you have a favorite shampoo brand?  9 Your first kiss? 10 Which popular musician do you find overrated? 11 Do you look more like your mom or your dad? 12 Which friendship dynamic from the Seirin basketball team do you think is underrated? 13 Would you ever want to get married? 14 What do you think is the most underrated ship in the Shadowhunter Chronicles? 15 Do you believe in true love?  16 What is an animal you dream of owning? 17 Do you get angry easily? 18 What are your fears? 19 Which KNB characters would you like to go to karaoke with? 20 What is your favorite fantasy creature? 21 Are you related to a celebrity? 22 Which of your cats is the laziest? 23 Have you ever walked outside completely in the nude? 24 What's your favorite memory? 25 Your number one Vampire Knight husbando? 26 What's something you enjoy learning about? 27 Do you believe in aliens? 28 What's your favorite flower? 29 Favorite neon color? 30 Do you like lemon (as in the fruit flavor)? 31 Who was your first same-sex crush and the beginning of your bisexual experience? 32 If you could own a planet, which would you claim and why? 33 What animal do you look like the most? 34 Which events from Basic Instinct and what you have written of Can’t Stop Falling In Love With You so far, were inspired by your own background? 35 How do you think you'll die? 36 Do you consider yourself romantic? 37 Have you ever had a crush on a teacher? 38 Do you smoke? 39 What’s one of your struggles (neurodivergent related)? 40 Who has the better soundtrack, Shaman King, Hyperdimension Neptunia or KNB? 41 What's your favorite non-animated show? 42 Do you have a dark side? 43 Which ElfQuest character is your favorite? 44 Do you enjoy going to the beach? 45 If you were stuck on an abandoned island, which character from the Shadowhunter Chronicles would you want to be your support buddy? 46 Can any of your cats do tricks? 47 Favorite Shaman King scene? 48 Which Dutch celebrity annoys you the most? 49 What's a pet peeve of yours? 50 What is a trend in pop lyrics you hate? 51 Your favorite Mukami brother? 52 Least favorite tea? 53 Aside from your haunted home, are there any other supernatural phenomena you’ve experienced? 54 You mentioned having 4 cats and that your mom has two, did you grow up with many pets? 55 What do you think is one of the most harmful books in children’s literature? 56 What’s an icky moment from elementary school you’ll never forget? 57 Which scene in the Hyperdimension Neptunia franchise never fails to make you cry? 58 Favorite Diabolik Lovers crackship? 59 Cringiest female protagonist in the Shadowhunterverse? 60 What’s a random funny fact about your household? 61 Could you tell us the name for TWP book 2? 62 If you were a character in Shaman King, what would your theme song be? 63 How long is your hair? 64 Which TVD character do you think doesn’t deserve the hate? 65 Least favorite AOT ship? 66 What is the Miraculous Ladybug episode you hate the most?⁰ 67 Which clubs did you join when you were in secondary school? 68 What is a book series you enjoy reading for satire purposes? 69 Underrated YA series? 70 Wild card (ask me any question)