#WHICH IS INSANE BY THE WAY BC THEY LITERALLY HAVE MATCHES FROM WAY EARLIER THAN THAT ON THEIR YOUTUBE CHANNEL SO THEY FUCKING HAVE

[fagcrisis]

i love physical media i wish it didnt cost money

[waddles-ex-machina]

hi please bear with me while i go insane about the colours in Hilda (aka I'm looking at the trio's season 3 designs and losing my mind)

SO in most visual media, quite a bit of thought goes into the colours they use and how those colours interact with one another - not in a "the curtains are blue bc [character] is sad" kind of way but in terms of which colours stand out and which are harmonious, and even if the viewer doesn't know any colour theory (like me, lol) and isn't paying attention to it, I think it still helps reinforce what we know about the characters, and influence what we take away from the show. visual design is a language and colour is one of the key aspects of it and if you want to hear about how Hilda uses colour in so many clever ways, to guide the viewer's eye or distinguish important characters, there's a really excellent video on that made by someone who actually does know what they're talking about, but one thing I wanna talk about based on my own limited knowledge is how it tells us about the characters -

FOR EXAMPLE Johanna - so you have Hilda, who is dressed in bright primary colours, especially her signature blue hair which makes her stand out as different even more - and then there's her mother, who has, by contrast, a much more toned down colour palette. she broadly shares the colour red with her daughter, but a less-saturated shade and her standard outfit consists of that, brown trousers and sometimes her yellow coat. Hilda's signature blue is completely absent from her design (and even if the creators didn't want to give Johanna the same hair colour as her daughter, they could have added some small blue accent of clothing if they'd wanted to, but chose not to), leaving her with purely warm, harmonious colours. she has an almost completely different palette to her daughter, but still just enough similarity (particularly with her yellow coat) to reinforce that the two are related in some way. (I'm not saying that Hilda is related to everyone who wears yellow in the show, just that the fact they share a colour helps tie them together on screen)

(yep, this is the screencap i'm choosing to illustrate this point it's fantastic)

most importantly (to me, anyway), Johanna's colours are warm. they're safe. to me, the dominance of warm colours and absence of Hilda's blue signify that Johanna is a safe person to Hilda, someone who is supposed to be a respite from her adventures rather than someone who dives into them with her (which, y'know, ties in quite nicely to Hilda's line in Stone Forest about preferring to adventure on her own and then come home to her mum, and how in the show she generally likes to keep her adventures and home life separate... (I could probably write an essay on how Hilda and Johanna's issues in season 2 were kind of a commentary on how Johanna has been coded as the safe stable bg character and how she is actively trying to go beyond that role but I shouldn't tbh)). the point is, they are connected, but Johanna doesn't have the same adventurous streak that Hilda does, so they have some of their warmer colours in common, but not Hilda's unusual, stand-out blue.

(I could also talk about Kaisa here and her copyright claim on the colour purple, but truthfully all I would be doing is paraphrasing the excellent video I linked earlier, so I won't. however I do think its fun to compare her to Johanna, in the sense that here are two adults who Hilda often comes to for guidance, and one is all warm gentle colours that match the home decor and the other all monochrome with two little hints of a colour we rarely see elsewhere in the show, suggesting that this is a character of particular interest.. it kind of hammers in how one is meant to embody the safety and comfort of Hilda's home life and the other is literally there to point hilda at things that might kill her lmao)

that was supposed to be a quick example and it got away from me so uh ANYWAY what I'm getting at here is that in Hilda's friend group, I believe their colour palettes were constructed in a similar way - they work together to tell you about the group

I feel like Hilda as a show is known for making excellent use of a limited colour palette - a lot of the characters have at least one black or brown item of clothing and just one or two stand-out colours, particularly the main trio. you can easily look at Hilda, David and Frida come away with one particular colour associated with them - blue or red for Hilda, orange for David, and...blue again for Frida, which doesn't sound great on paper but works well in the show because Hilda's palette also has a lot of red, so when the two characters are put together it doesn't seem like blue is dominating the colours. I also find Frida's colour palette (basically just her hoodie, lol) super interesting because it used to be different.

now, I haven't spoken to anyone who worked on the show about this, this is purely conjecture, but if you've ever googled the characters you've probably seen an official-looking turnaround page of Frida in a purple hoodie.

this is real pre-prod show art, and considering the purple hoodie made it all the way through the design pipeline to be included in the turnaround (generally the last stage of character design, as this is what would be given to the riggers to make the character rig)....and was even posted on twitter months before the show aired -

then I think it's safe to say that her hoodie was changed after the fact (2 or 3 episodes into production, by my vague guess looking at the date of this tweet) - not too hard to do, if your show is 2D rig animation, luckily - but if you're me and like reading into things way too hard, this begs the question of why. having purple as Frida's signature colour is perfectly serviceable and sets her apart from Hilda and David nicely. but what her new hoodie colour does is the opposite - it ties them all together

(the other possible explanation is that maybe Kaisa's design was finalised later in production than this turnaround was made (speaking purely from my own experience, secondary characters who appear in later episodes are often finalised later than the main characters, just ahead of the episode they're needed for, and Kaisa wasn't needed until halfway through the first season) and someone noticed that her and Frida sharing the colour purple made them look a little too similar...(I'm sure ppl who like the idea of Frida and Kaisa being witch sisters are yelling through the screen rn that this would've been a good thing and maybe lightly foreshadowed Frida becoming a witch, like Kaisa, but this was all set at the start of season 1, probably a bit too early to start hinting at the witch stuff :') we will come back to this tho)

anyway I love the trio's designs bc if you put Hilda and David next to eachother, they don't visually have much in common, but if you put Frida there then suddenly they're a unit. they got rid of her signature colour and gave her her friends' ones. she quite literally ties the group together so that they look cohesive as a whole

and this is absolutely me digging too deep in things here but her being the one to bring the group's colour palette together also lends itself thematically to their falling out at the end of season 1, and how Frida leaving also caused Hilda and David's friendship to struggle. they are a set and it doesn't work the same if they're not all there. Frida sharing Hilda's signature blue could also lend itself to the idea that Frida shares her love of adventures to a greater extent than David does (though maybe that's closer to 'blue curtains' territory tbh). anyway I love the design of this show so much

SO (if you actually made it this far down I'm so impressed) the thing that sparked all of this was...if this is what the trio's designs are doing in seasons 1-2.....what are the season 3 designs doing

no but this is super interesting to me, Hilda essentially just traded her skirt for leggings and left her colour palette intact, but David and Frida changed theirs entirely and I'm fascinated. both their signature colours are GONE. is it to imply that they've grown and changed in the duration of the time skip? is it David's turn on the 'having a colour in common with Hilda'?? but particularly I want to draw attention to Frida bc now that her hoodie is gone her original purple is BACK and (if there is any weight to my theory that she was changed bc she looked too similar to Kaisa) what's even more interesting is that they doubled down on the witch vibes. she literally has Kaisa's exact colour palette minus the dark purple cape lining. Kaisa's design reflected her personality as this unknowable person with a hint of mystery to her - all monochrome with that pop of an unusual colour - are we to expect the same of Frida? is this a sign that she's leaning further into witchcraft than before? does her contrast to Hilda and David signify that she's come more into her own and has a stronger sense of her own identity (something something closure for her issues in season 1)? or do we take things way too literally and assume that season 3 has her breaking off on her own from the group? or maybe it means absolutely nothing and someone on the design team just thought grey/purple was a neat combo. I know I've talked in this post as if I know things but here I truly don't and I'm obsessed w the possibilities. what does it mean what does it all mean

anyway that's all for this delusional fever dream post, hope you enjoyed and if you made it this far down you deserve some kind of prize

[cerealmonster15]

no wait talk 2 me abt rook&vil they're so silly (unless ur legitimately busy but I will listen if u ever want to talk abt sillies lol)

god i had to restrain myself from literally screenshotting every single convo vil and rook have ever had bc theres Simply Too Much, and even trying to contain myself i still went over the limit LOL god ok anyway love is real and i have to put in a readmore bc i love posting screenshots and talking FOREVER!!!!!

one of my earlier memories of them was back when i first got into twst in 2020 and reading random card stories. i remember the jade leech dorm story and i just got his card recently so i got to relive married couple vil and rook experiencing Jade Leech Behavior

"you're making me jealous~ is he as good as meeee~" and vils like well kinda LOL but also in the rook lab coat story

aka the one where rooks openly thirsting after leona and teases vil about being jealous about it. like hello. ?? ?!?!!?!?!?!

also TWO instances of vil casually dropping that leonas attractive

a pretty face. a good looking layabout. vil no one is making you say these things.

anyway i just love how openly loving rook is in general, but especially with vil 😭

^both from the jade dorm story.... vil shows up and hes like Oh My God Life Is Beautiful. ok well hes like that about everything but he does it More when vils around :')

god this whole second half of rooks lab story is soooooooo hshdhfhehheskefkjjdfjfgfdg yknow????? like the whole story is half rook being So Very Weird About Leona fkjefskljdf "if those sharp fangs of his pierced my windpipe, why, i'd be done for in an instant. the very notion makes my heart quiver" ROOK BE NORMAL CHALLENGE just kidding i love that hes a freak it's so fun. he says something kinda similar about vil??? i cant remember which instance it was - i wanna say maybe when vil got kidnapped in Halloween 2 or book 6 or something? where he said something like "oh no, i know vil doesnt need my protection. if i dared imply such a thing he'd kick me in the head with his six inch heels lol 🤗" like HELLO????

speaking of halloween 2, omg. i forgot to take screenshots but that whole bit makes me insane. he calls vil "my etolle/ my star" and is agonizing over his disappearance......... hes so overjoyed to see him again and rushes to his side when theyre reunited,, and omfg i also forgot the part in masquerade where hes getting ready to leave and hes like "here is a flower, im so sorry im leaving you alone vil, ill be back to you before this flower blooms ♥" like literally why was he so romantic about it. vils like dude you will be gone Three Days fjklsejklfjkls i cant get over it. it's so FUNNY and so,,, hfhdhhhghf. the way he and vil act like parents of pomefiore is so cute too. like when theyre leaving rooks like "dont worry vil ill be with epel to make sure things are going okay!!" and vils like "hmm. yea idk im still worried actually" bc he loves rook but he also knows rook better than anyone LOL

anyway i got distracted, back to the rook lab coat story

this part is so good. rook is going on and on about leona and vils like "ok so just join spelldrive club and bother him there" and rooks immediately like "no. im in science club so i can help you with special effects for your film work to support you " HE LITERALLY SAYS SUPPORT WITH HIS LOVE WAHHHH god they make me go bonkers actually. a lot of what rook does is out of love and support for vil and his pursuit of beauty wahhhh

he likes being close to vil

he knows vils exact measurements, he even says in vils lab story that the only person that looks at vil longer than vil is him lol

he was so enthusiastic about vil and his work that hed run up to him and just talk forever and ever until vil finally spoke back to him and they were just INSEPARABLE after. i think so often about that bit where they say they talked so much they GOT SICK IN THE SNOW!!!! HELLO HI CAN ANYONE HEAR ME- theyre so full of matched passion i love them so much no one understands them like they understand each other AUGHHHH

anyway back to rook mentioning he wants to be up close to vil and his pursuit of beauty,,, i ALSO cant stop thinking about how thats literally one of the reasons he TRANSFERRED DORMS TO POMEFIORE

it means everything to him to be at vils side as long as possible and the fact that he cant when theyre away on their internships in fourth year is devastating WAHHHH 😭😭😭

but also. beanfest.

LIKE. HSDFHDSLJ every time they interact in this entire event is So Charged. hey rook your body is bulked up, i know this because I Was Looking. vil i am so excited to brawl with you one on one ive been anticipating it for a month. back and forth banter with each other and then just

whatever this is. and epel standing there like 🧍‍♂️ I Will Avoid Them Actually. jfksdlfjdkslfjkj

hes So Fucking Excited when it's time to fight vil,,, he even brought evil face trey LOL

"btw you look hot-" thats nice rook

THEY ARE FLIRTING. and then rook literally Sent Trey Away because he was so excited for his 1v1 with his beloved husband skdjfdskl and trey was like "yea i dont wanna be involved Bye 🚶‍♂️" fjlkdsfj no one wants to get tangled up in their Strange Relationship

also this line vil says in the home screen

ive seen fanart about this too thats like "hmm. vil most of you is covered. you have no hard to reach parts. it's like, your hands and neck and face 🤨" and it's so tender, rook putting sunblock on vils hands.... but also WHY cant you do that YOURSELF, HMM?? 🤨🤨🤨

ok ok ok but then. book 5 finale. i remember some people were Rook Haters after that and i simply do not agree!! and apparently some people dont like book 5. cant relate!!!!!!! rook hunt dislikers do not interact book 5 is everything to me!!!!

i might have those out of order but sjdklfjelsjkfdjsklf DFHDLKSJFLDKF GODDDD I CANT TAKE ITTTT 😭 rook going on and on about how it doesnt matter what vil looks like but as long as hes confident like rook knows he is then he will always be beautiful!!! i didnt get screenshots of that part in book 6 where theyre flying back and vil Turned Old but i love how loving and supportive rook is while vils just having his breakdown 🥺

idk man i just really like their interaction about this whole think ;A; like yea vil practically fell over in BETRAYAL when he saw rook voted for their enemy LOL but then i like that hes like "please. i know you and i know you dont make biased decisions ever, you always tell what you truly believe in your heart," and and and god damn it tumblr wont let me post any more photos but vil SMILES and hands rook back his handkerchief to let him dry his own tears and it's just SWEET WAHHH listennnnNNNN. i think it's nice. vil couldve gone off and been super mad at rook but he wasn't 😭 like he wasnt happy lol, but he knows rook. he understands [as much as one can LOL] rook. and rook loves and supports vil with everything he has, but hes also true to his heart and i think thats something vil really values about rook and a big part of why he keeps him around. it can be a positive and a negative, sure- this isnt the only time rooks honest to a fault lol, but i love,, multifaceted characters with deep relationships....

point is i lay facedown on the floor and cry for hours when i think too hard about vil and rook bc theres just So Much Love..... i cant get really coherent points or analysis out i just love repeating parts that happen in the game and posting six million screenshots bc thats all thats happening in my brain constantly JKFLJDSKLDJS i love rookvil. one of the ships ever. theyre married your honor theyre MARRIED and also being in a toxic yaoi polycule with leona is very funny to me jfklejskljfe marriage + divorce love wins(?)

[s1utspeare]

hhhnnnnggggghhh im going feral about acting choices again

ok ok ok so like. i’m working on the Zhang Daddy Rishan Kinesthetics Masterpost but also I was watching Mystic Nine yesterday to Watch His Lines and I realized that??? Fo ye???? is a Chest Lead???? so then of course I dropped everything to determine what Leads everyone in m9 has (and I’ll be doing the rest of the dmbj characters later im sure) but I HAD to share because I’m literally insane about it. 

BIT OF BACKGROUND INFORMATION (asldighaldskfj y’all are really just going to get my entire theatre degree For Free): one of the easiest ways to Get Into Character and Embody Certain Traits is to decide how your character walks. They made us do this during movement workshops EVERY TIME (another thing we did during movement workshops was lie on the floor and scream. also there was an exercise where u just stared into each other’s eyes. anyway) because it’s like the best place to start, because even if u didn’t decide ANY physicality movements for your character except for what Lead they have, that’s still going to be a really good physical indicator of traits and characterization. And basically a Lead is just what body part Goes First when you’re walking (more on this in a bit). 

Anyway, there are four main Leads: 

Head: a head lead is someone who is known for being intelligent and logical. They do most of their character action inside themselves, and reveal it to the audience through lines and words. This is probably the most common lead because it’s the easiest to do. Wu Xie is 

Chest: a chest lead literally is following their heart. They’re guided by emotions, and are often fierce and very loyal to the people they care about. They tend to do most of their character action through expression.

Hips: a hips lead is confident in their body and the way they present themselves. They are usually very physical, though not necessarily active. Hips leads can also become stomach leads or crotch leads, depending on what the actor wants to emphasize in their character (stomach is grounded, sensible, and strong; crotch is a little bit sleazier/less trustworthy a first glance; think Pangzi vs Hei Xiazi). 

Feet: feet leads are the hardest to do, because they require an actor to have very good balance and poise. Feet leads are often people of action, and unlike physical characters who will use small bits of energy to keep continuously moving over time, they usually do bursts of energy at different times. 

Sometimes actors will mix and match Leads, or emphasize an even more specific body part (i.e. shoulders instead of chest, knees instead of feet, nose instead of head), but for our purposes, these four Leads will basically cover all of our stuff. 

Also! This works on people in real life, too! A fun exercise is to try and figure out which Lead you have (I say you, because it’s REALLY difficult to tell on other people, because while you do Lead with a certain body part, it’s entirely subconscious and thus very minimal). For example, I’m a Head Lead most of the time, except when I don’t want people to talk to me, or I want attention; then I switch to a Hips Lead. My roommate is a Feet Lead, and one of my best friends is a Chest Lead.

ANYWAY BACK TO MYSTIC NINE CHARACTERS! They are??? Super interesting??? 

Fo-ye: Like I said earlier, Fo-ye is a Chest Lead which BITCH??? I’M??? HELLO??? like you would think he’d be a Feet Lead or a Head Lead, but he’s a Chest Lead! It took me the longest to figure him out, I think, because I was looking for a Head Lead, but when he walks, it’s like there’s a string pulling him forward from his pectorals, which is SUPER INTERESTING. AND LIKE. IT MAKES SENSE? like fo-ye is smart and capable and active and yada yada yada, but he’s also super passionate? and often doesn’t think about things before he does them? He kind of just jumps in in the moment, doing whatever he thinks is best at the time, even if it comes back around to bite him. For a character with such a strong facade, that type of Lead is so revealing which puts him in very vulnerable positions, which is what it’s good that...

Ba-ye and Er-ye: are both Head Leads!! Like, ba-ye, obviously. He’s a stereotypical nerd, and they’re always Head Leads, but this bitch takes it to another level. Just look at him: 

Head Lead lookin-ass. Anyway. But Ba-ye and Er-ye balance Fo-ye’s Chest Lead out very well (it’s funny that it takes two of them though). Er-ye’s Head Lead is also interesting, because it comes out a LOT when he’s doing opera. This could partially be because of the headdresses and costuming, but also I think that he’s very precision-oriented, and is constantly calculating everything in his head before he ever moves at all. 

Zhang Rishan: babes is a Foot Lead. Like. He’s so funny. If you watch him run closely his feet come to a stop before everything else and it looks like wind’s blowing him backward. It makes sense though?? especially considering how tense he is all the time?? like sir please calm down, ur so tightly wound, it’s exhausting. Makes the Feet Lead make sense tho, cause like. he’s ready to GO. ready for action! also it makes his connection with Ba-ye even better cause like??? they’re Opposite Leads??? and i love that for them.

Chen Pi: Chen Pi is actually a natural Head Lead, which was super surprising to me, because he seems like he’d be a Chest, but I think he gets most of that from Er-ye and copying him and his methods of doing things. HOWEVER when he’s trying to intimidate people (and especially when he has to deal with Idiots like Officer Lu and Henry Cox, those bitches), he switches to a really heavy Hip Lead to make him seem sturdier than he actually is. 

Yue Xinyue: I haven’t quite puzzled Xinyue out yet, but I’m pretty sure she’s a Chest Lead. Like Chen Pi, when she’s in disguise, especially as a man, she switches to Hips, which is a good strategy, since men are more likely to be Hip Leads, as their center of gravity is lower. 

Yatou: my beautiful and perfect wife. Of course she’s a Chest Lead. Her heart is so big. I love her (also emphasizes her compatibility with Er-ye hehe).

My point that I’m getting at (besides characterization) is that almost NOTHING that you see onscreen is an accident. Not to like, put actors on a pedestal (bc the REAL magic is the tech people), but acting is hard when you really do it like, for real. Rehearsals for filmed shows often take anywhere between 1-3 months because you’ve got to get ALL OF THE CHARACTERIZATIONS and physicality and everything figured out so that when it’s in front of the camera you’re ready to go (and that’s not even TOUCHING ON fight choreo, which I also love). As much fun as acting is, and as easy as it looks, I can guarantee that there’s a million things going through each of their minds, including things as simple as which body part goes first (also it’s SUPER awkward to go against your natural lead lmao, so like. Props to everyone i love them). 

Anyway! That’s the m9 main cast (i didn’t do the antagonists cause most of the time they’re Hip Leads anyway and also i didn’t want to go watch clips of Cox walking around, that’s boring). I think that @cross-d-a​, @jockvillagersonly​, and @lacommunarde​ were specifically interested in more acting meta, but I hope you all enjoy it as well!!! 

[bisexualshrug]

Uh has anyone given you the OTP numbers either SUPERIOR SHIP Paige & AJ? Cause if not I’m giving it to you. 11. 14. & 17. The ultimate lesbians.

11. Do they get married? Who proposes and how?

Okay so Paige and AJ are JUST friends. I mean, technically, they are BARELY even friends. So they are absolutely NOT in love. That’s ridiculous. Actually, Paige just finds AJ really annoying, but AJ like...won’t leave her alone. So, they hang out or whatever. But not because Paige WANTS to. It’s like...forced on her, alright? Back off. 

So, anyways they’ve been kinda friends (NOT in love though) for years. And all of the sudden AJ is pestering her every day about how AJ is lonely and sad when she goes back home. And they should just move into together. Because Paige flies home with AJ more than she goes to her own home (Paige would argue this was not true...she could be wrong). And they are best friends so they would be great roommates. So, after weeks of constant badgering, Paige is like ugh okay fine whatever. Let’s live together. And AJ is happy and excited and kisses Paige on the cheek which is gross and DOESN’T feel nice.

And then AJ is like ok! Let’s pack your stuff and move into my place in Colorado. And Paige is like...don’t you live in New Jersey?? And AJ is like nope ! Moved to Colorado a month ago. Which is exactly when AJ started pestering Paige about moving into together. Which is weird. And makes Paige a little paranoid but whatever fine. Paige doesn’t really care where they live because they’ll be on the road most of the time anyway.

So they move in together in Colorado. And it’s kind of weird. I mean, Paige and AJ aren’t there often. But whenever they are, all the couples in the apartment complex wanna go out with them? And it’s very double date like but AJ assures Paige that everyone knows it’s not. But AJ always grabs Paige’s hand on the not double dates and clings to her and kisses her cheek again. Which is all gross and weird...but Paige just doesn’t push her off because hurting AJ is basically just kicking a puppy. And Paige doesn’t wanna look at her dumb completely NOT cute pouty face.

But everyone in the entire complex is ALSO really weird. They stop her in the hallways and are like “How are you and AJ doing? Still happy? Going strong?” And like...why are these people so intense about roommates?? Paige just lives with AJ. And travels with her. And works with her. And spends almost all of her time with her. But none of that involves sex so they clearly are not dating. And sex with AJ? Ew no no no. Paige is NOT attracted to her. She’s especially not attracted to AJ when she climbs into Paige’s bed at night in extremely tiny shorts and insists they need to cuddle and- whatever okay she doesn’t need to justify herself to you

But then she’s walking back to their apartment with food from AJ’s favorite takeout place one day and their neighbor stops Paige and tries to have a conversation with her. Which is mostly just annoying bc Paige is hungry and also AJ is waiting for her and this is supposed to be their last night at home before going back on the road. But anyways Paige is half listening to this lady when she suddenly asks “How is your wife doing?” And Paige is like great this woman doesn’t even know who she is. So Paige is like “Oh, you must be mistaking me for someone else. I’m Paige. I live in this apartment right here.” And the woman laughs “Oh yes. With your wife! Short one, quirky but very sweet.” Paige freezes and is like “excuse me a moment.”

And then rushes inside her apartment. AJ sees her and grabs the food and kisses her on the cheek. And Paige just stares at her in disbelief. And finally forces out “Why did our neighbor think we’re married?” And instantly AJ drops the food on the counter and freezes. Paige can already feel a migraine coming on. AJ slowly turns around and laughs “About that” and then makes a run for the door. But Paige grabs her by the waist before she can escape and wrestles her down to the couch.

And what follows is the most insane story Paige has ever heard in her entire life. AJ was...trying to common law marry Paige....behind her back. Without telling her!!! Without dating her!! AJ has been trying to MARRY her for MONTHS. She told Paige that she did research and in Colorado the requirements for common law marriage are cohabitation (check), a reputation of being married (check...thanks to AJ telling everyone in their apartment complex of their common law marriage), conduct which demonstrates intent (okay how the HELL did AJ file their taxes as joint MARRIED and Paige DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT IT), and the final one being consent. AJ said she had everything but the last one, which she was working on.

Paige sits on the couch in disbelief, frozen still for an entire 15 minutes. No movement. No speaking. Just staring at the wall. AJ is... she’s CRAZY. She’s INSANE. What the HELL is wrong with her??? Paige is just going to stand up, pack her things, and move the hell out of this apartment. Get the hell out of here while she still can...Wait why isn’t she standing?? GET UP. LEAVE. GET OUT OF HERE. FREE YOURSELF WOMAN.

But the only thing Paige can do is turn and look at AJ. Who is staring at her worriedly with tears in her eyes. Nervously playing with her hair, but eyes never wavering from Paige’s. 

Oh God. Why. Why Why Why

Paige kisses her.

14. Are there any love rivals?

Paige hates CM Punk with a burning fiery passion. Because AJ has this almost hero worship, mentor relationship with him going on. “Oh Punk is so funny. He’s so smart. Did you watch his match last night? Pipebomb pipebomb pipebomb.” If Paige hears “Punkie” one more time she’s gonna punch a hole through a wall.

AJ does not do all of this on purpose because Paige is hot when she’s jealous. And Punk is definitely not in on it (he is. They’re both evil shits).

17. Describe or write a really fluffy scene.

I’m going to save writing an entire Paige/AJ scene later. Although that day might very well come. But not today. Because my marriage description answer was already too god damn long sdlsd

Here’s a description of After Paige Finds Out about the common law marriage. After Paige composes herself, she gives AJ a long, emphatic lecture about how it’s wrong to marry people without their permission and shouldn’t you already be aware of this?? And AJ very seriously listens to her the entire time, looking like she’s absorbing information she’s never heard of before in her entire life. And at the end AJ is just like “Gotcha. No more marrying you behind your back. Makes sense.” And Paige is like how the hell do I wanna kiss this girl right now and not get a restraining order??

But she DOES just want to kiss AJ. And sitting here thinking about it? Okay she also probably wants to hold AJ’s hand more and go on (real) dates and buy AJ chocolate on Valentine’s Day and not ever move out. All the gross disgusting couple stuff. Oh and sex. Yeah absolutely she wants sex. 100%. 

So after finishing her lecture she asks AJ out on their first official date. And AJ squeals loudly and literally leaps in Paige’s arms, legs wrapped tightly around her waist. And Paige closes her eyes and tries to clear every single dirty thought out of her mind. Because they haven’t even been on a date yet, and Paige knows how to treat a woman.

So Paige plans out the date and they get ready in their separate rooms. And Paige snuck out earlier that day and bought AJ this comic series she knows AJ has been wanting for weeks. So she knocks on AJ’s room door and hands AJ the comics. And AJ geeks out and Paige is barely able to stop her from canceling the date to hide away in her room until she’s read the entire series. Then, AJ kisses her in thanks and Paige can feel herself grinning like an idiot. She schools her features back into place bc she’s not some schoolgirl with a crush here. 

Paige takes AJ to an arcade and AJ is like an excited kid. Literally, she spends part of the night actually playing an actual child at airhockey and losing (on purpose to make the kid smile). And Paige plays games with her too but watches her sometimes. And it’s fun. But God...AJ is so beautiful. The night is perfect. AJ has a blast. And she’s carrying around the biggest armful of tickets in the entire place. She’s passing by kids who are staring at her tickets in literal awe.

Then...before they get to the counter. A fan comes up. She’s a little girl. Maybe around 7. And her Mom says she’s AJ’s biggest fan. And AJ grins so wide and shoves all her tickets into Paige’s arms. She scoops the girl up into a hug and excitedly starts talking to her. Even though they were about to leave, AJ plays a few games with the girl and then takes a picture with her. Gives her one last hug. Then walks over to Paige. She takes her tickets back. But then she walks back over to the girl and gives the girl all of her tickets.

The Mom is beyond thankful and the little girl looks at AJ like she’s her superhero. And then AJ walks with her to the counter. The little girl happily gets one of the biggest prizes on the shelf and thanks AJ with the tiniest, cutest voice Paige thinks she’s ever heard. The Mom and daughter leave after that and AJ skips back over to Paige happily and kisses her on the cheek. She asks if Paige is still ready to go and Paige just stares at her and nods dumbly.

AJ smiles and grabs her hand, tugging her out of the arcade. On the way back, AJ mentions how cute the girl was but says nothing else about it. Instead she talks happily about how much fun the night was with Paige and how perfect of a first date it was. 

And Paige drives the car trying her best to listen. But the only thing she can think about is how kind AJ was to that little girl. And how she doesn’t think a single other person on the WWE roster (herself included) would have done all that. And AJ did it without a single hesitation. When she didnt have to. God help her.

This woman is absolutely crazy. But...maybe.. it wouldn’t be so bad to be married to her after all..

[hq-cuties-pls]

Tendou, Asahi, Bokuto, Lev and Kuroo while they are with their wife in labor? And the wives very angry, bc "hey, you put this child/these children into me, you jerk" (I love so much this situation. *_* x)) Pretty please? *little kitten eyes*

So I changed this up a little bit for variety and realism’s sake; I just had a class all about coping with labor and the stages of it, so a lot of this is from that. Also, every woman is different. This came out a touch softer than the anon anticipated, I think, so sorry about that??? Hope you enjoy regardless!!!~Admin Emma

Tendou

He remembered the suggestion in your labor class to walk, so he took you on a short lap around the maternity ward. You clung to his arm, and even if it hurt, he didn’t care. He couldn’t even imagine the pain you were in. You’d been extremely quiet so far, focused entirely on your labor. He wanted to try and distract you, maybe make you focus on something other than the pain, make you smile or laugh or just roll your eyes at him, but he couldn’t think of anything.

“____? Are you alright?”

Your grip tightened on his sleeve; your eyes squeezed closed, and you were drawing slow, careful breaths through pursed lips. He checked his watch–the contractions were getting closer together.

“Easy, babe,” he murmured, pulling you to a stop. “Come here. Just breathe… I’m here.”

He held you in what the nurse called the Slow Dance pose. He pressed in tightly on your hips, trying to match the intensity of your contractions, like the nurse told him. You put your hands around his shoulders and leaned heavily on him while he encouraged you to rock your hips. He would have to remind you later that you were a literal fucking rock star for taking a stab at natural childbirth. If it had been him, he’d have accepted all manner of experimental drugs if it meant he didn’t have to go through it.

“Satori,” you whimpered, your voice painfully small and broken. “It hurts so much, Satori. I can’t…”

“You can,” he assured. He couldn’t even try and joke, as much as he wanted to, if only to distract you. It broke his heart to hear you like this. “I know you can, ____. It won’t be much longer.”

Asahi

“Easy, ____,” he said softly, carefully helping you onto the birthing ball. He tapped on his phone a few times, setting an alarm for twenty minutes. “Alright, how’s this?”

“Better,” you groaned, carefully balancing on the ball. He watched you carefully, but you seemed fine as you gently rocked your hips. He put his hands on your shoulders, trying to be the support you so clearly needed but were too afraid to ask for, for some reason. Nearly a decade together and you were still so hesitant sometimes. “I’m sorry, Asahi.”

“What’re you sorry for, doll?” Asahi asked, digging his thumbs into that part of your neck that always made you melt.

“I’m being such a pain right now,” you said. “I feel useless.”

If it hadn’t been for the sincere regret in your eyes, he’d have laughed until he cried. Clearly, labor was making you a little insane; “Sweetheart, you’re having my baby. I couldn’t be happier right now!”

“But–”

“No buts,” he interjected. “You are doing amazing, and if anyone in this room is useless, it’s me. You’re doing all the hard work, and I will be here to support you, no matter what.”

You opened your mouth to respond, a small smile playing at the corner of your lips, before he felt the tension in your shoulders. All the air escaped your body in a hiss of pain and your hands curled into fists so tight, your knuckles turned white.

“Contraction?” he asked. You could only nod as you squeezed your eyes tight. “Alright, doll, easy. Breathe. Try and relax. Remember what the doctor said.”

You nodded as he pressed his hand against your coccyx, trying to apply counter pressure. He rested his forehead against the back of your neck, trying not to let his heart break at the soft sounds of pain you made. He wanted to fall apart–he was ready for the anxiety to overtake him any minute, but he couldn’t. He had to be your rock–your pillar–because you were doing to hard part.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity (though it probably felt longer to you) he felt you relax. He wrapped his arms around you, holding you tight, and whispering what a good job you were doing. It may have been nonsense and gibberish, but it seemed to comfort you a little.

“You can do it, ____. I have faith in you.”

Bokuto

You were having what the doctors called “precipitous labor.” He wasn’t 100% sure what all the technical jargon meant, but you’d come in for a labor evaluation less than an hour before and you were almost ready to push. The nurses said that fast labors like this were extremely uncomfortable and could be incredibly intense, and Bokuto hated that you had to go through it, even if it meant it would be over faster.

You were on constant monitoring, so you couldn’t wander too far from the labor and delivery room. At the moment, you were balanced on a birthing ball with your face buried into the bed. He sat behind you, pressing the spiky plastic ball they’d given you into the small of your back. It seemed to be helping a bit, but he’d never felt more useless than when you let out a tiny sob of pain into your pillow. You’d been crying softly since your contractions became regular, and he wished he knew what to do.

“Kou,” you whimpered, raising your tear-stained face from the sheets.

“What is it, babe?” he asked, ready to spring into action. “What do you need? You need to switch positions? Should I stop what I’m doing?”

“No, just…” You bit your lip, your eyes squeezed tight in intense pain. He hated this–the doctor couldn’t even give you anything for the pain. You were too far along in your labor. “Can I have a hug, please?”

He had to grin at that; “Sure thing, babe. Whatever you need.”

He wrapped his arms around you, careful to avoid touching your belly–you’d told him that any pressure on it was too uncomfortable. He held you as tight as he could while maintaining pressure on your lower back. He could feel the moment you were racked with another contraction, and he tried to encourage you to relax a little bit, otherwise he knew it would be worse.

“I hate this,” you cried, holding your pillow to your face again. “Why does it hurt so much?”

“It’ll be all over soon, babe,” he tried to reassure you. “Then we’ll be parents. We’ll get to hold little Akio soon. Just a little bit longer.”

Lev

You’d had a plan, damn it. Every book, every anecdote, every class had said that walking, changing position, and moving around were best for expedient labor. So you’d planned on waiting to go into labor naturally, putter around your house until the last possible second, and go into the hospital.

Sadly, babies tended to ruin any and all plans, and unforeseen complications came up which meant you had to be induced early. The procedure had left you bedridden on constant, internal monitoring (which was just the pits, and you could confirm that). So now there was nothing to do but wait out the inevitably long, painful labor.

Bless your husband. He was trying, but you were cranky and in pain and there was nothing you could do.

“Fuck you, Lev! This is your fault!”

“How is this my fault!?” Lev asked helplessly, trying (and mostly failing) to dodge the pillow you threw at his head.

“You put your mutant spawn in me!” you exclaimed. “You just had to be freakishly huge! You just had to laugh when your mother proudly proclaimed you weighed 5 kilograms when you came out! We just had to do this naturally!”

“You’re allergic to pain meds, babe,” Lev said. You scowled when you saw his eyebrow cocked at you.

“You’re a jerk, Lev,” you sniffled, burying your face in your pillow. The nurses had already told you in no uncertain terms that you shouldn’t be screaming.

“Hey,” he whispered, suddenly near your ear. You shrank away from him as you felt another contraction coming on. “I know this sucks, but it’s not going to last forever.”

“Yes it is,” you whimpered. “I’m going to be in labor for the rest of my life. I’m going to die in this fucking uncomfortable bed.”

“Hey, where’d your big pillow go? I thought we packed it.”

“It’s in my bag, Lev, where the fuck else would it be?”

With some effort, he got you rolled on your side with your big maternity pillow supporting your legs and your huge stomach. It was getting so late and you were so tired, and you still had such a long way to go. You wanted to hit him, but his long fingers in your hair stopped you. You hated him at the moment, but he was being so sweet.

“I’ll see if I can’t score you some ice chips or something,” he said, pressing a kiss to your forehead. “Try and get some sleep, babe. You’re a bit cranky.”

“A bit cranky?” you snapped. “If I was able to get out of this fucking bed, I’d knock you on your ass for that!”

You figured he realized his error, because even as fast as he was, you’d never seen him scurry like you did in that moment.

Kuroo

You’d learned early in the whole laboring process that the best way to go forward was to just stay calm. During your earliest contractions, you’d been ready to have a panic, because nothing was ready and you felt so grossly unprepared. But then, you’d sat on the couch, and Kuroo’s colossally fat and incredibly sweet geriatric black cat, Gumball, curled in your lap for a little nap, and something about it had calmed you. It had been the middle of the night, and you didn’t even feel the need to wake Kuroo up.

About six hours later, you’d decided to go to the hospital, you still had this odd serenity about you. Your doctor and nurses asked you if you needed anything for pain, and you just shrugged. You were fine, at the moment. You parked on the birthing ball, rocking back and forth, casually reading your book.

Kuroo, on the other hand, was a mess.

When he’d woken up to find you in labor, he had that panic you’d managed to not have earlier. He’d been ready to whisk you off to the hospital at that exact moment despite the fact that you were still very early and he was still wearing the bright pink Tokyo Disney pajamas you’d gotten him as a joke for his last birthday. Every contraction had him fluttering around you like a fussy mother hen, and his bed hair was even worse for the number of times he’d raked his hand through it.

You were dragged back to your present situation but a particularly intense contraction. You curled around yourself, whimpering quietly. The doctors said you’d passed pretty much passed straight through active labor and were heading into transition labor, so it would be more intense.

Poor Kuroo’s heart couldn’t take it anymore, it seemed.

“Babe!? You ok?!? You need anything? What can I do!?!”

“Tetsurou, please, it’s just a contraction,” you said once it passed. He rubbed soothing circles on your lower back, pressing his heel on your tailbone like he’d been taught. “Oh please never move your hand from my back, though. That feels amazing.”

“Whatever you need,” he replied. He was clearly exhausted and anxious–he looked like a stiff breeze might knock him over.

“What I need is my husband to survive long enough to meet his son,” you said sardonically, gently running your fingers over the back of his head. He practically purred as he leaned into your touch, leaning heavily on your shoulders. “You should sit and have a little rest, doll.”

“You’re the one in labor,” he sighed. “When did you get to be the supportive one, here?”

“You don’t have to sleep,” you said, ignoring his question. “I know you won’t be able to.”

“I just feel pretty useless.” He dropped his chin to rest on top of your head, gently caressing your rounded belly. You winced, but didn’t say anything. “I’m not used to being helpless in crises. I sort of thrive on action, you know.”

“Oh yes, my hero,” you shot back with a roll of your eyes. “Alright, action boy, if you want to make yourself useful, see if you can’t get the nurses to score me some ice chips or a drink of water, yeah? And fish my chapstick out of my bag for me.”

He smirked, shot you a mock salute, and returned to his full height; “You got it, babe.”

[holsthoughts]

t h r e e

this post, entirely about gabbie hanna. which is very fitting considering i associate the number three with her.

where to start? i suppose at the beginning. that being september 2016.

i don't remember exactly when but sometime before drop the mic tour i fell in love with her videos, and i mean i fell fuckin hard lol. i just connected to her on a way i didn't really understand as a just-turned-sixteen-year-old girl. anyway, the first video i remember being posted after i started stanning was ‘how social media ruins relationships’ a dance video, that gabbie rarely posts but has stuck with me as my first proper memory of her. and the beginning of something mad.

if anyone reading this doesn't know gabbie (hi, were have u been?) she's a youtuber. she's the gal in my icon <3 not only is she a youtuber she's also. musician (currently with six (technically 7) songs out and an album called ‘this time next year’ on the way), author (of adultolescence which reached number 3 (three, see?) on the New York times bestseller list, with book two on the way also), illustrator (of said ny times bestselling book and various other designs), tv host (for a while on the revamped TRL) and so much more but of course i'm biased and could go o forever so i'll leave it there.

after deciding to subscribe and do the general social media stalk of and internet personality of someone i’ve just found i was obsessed and over two years later, still am <3

i changed my twitter @ to a gabbie fan account, made friends (with some of the most amazing people) and just felt so at home. sounds crazy but it was like something clicked and not only did i fall in love with gabbie, i also fell in love with her community.

january 2017; something past 2am, i'm awake for some apparent reason and gabbie goes live on live.ly (i know, long ago) of course i join and this is where I got my first gabbie notice (which i know isn't everything but it was something so heartwarming knowing that after a couple months she saw me) she did this emoji game where she’d act out an emoji and the first person to correctly guess and send it in the chat would be ‘best friended’. in this stream she also announced that she’d be coming to london for summer in the city.

summer in the city is a video convention in the uk (obv) in august, this was suuucchhh a big deal as i was already planning to go and the fact that she’d be there was the BEST feeling ever. in the time between she announced and it finally came around i got my follow from her on twitter (which also has a cute story behind it - i made a deal with my step dad, if I got an A in any of my january exams (which i was getting the results for on March 3rd) he would buy me my ticket to sitc. so of course i was v nervous, went to bed - or at least tried to - the night before and work up on the third to gabbie’s follow, which probably doesn't sound like a big deal so literally everyone else ever but it just felt like a lil ‘good luck, u got this’ from her which meant frickin everything. so i got an A, therefore got my ticket and was so ready for august.

august 2017; the fourth of august, my mam, joel and i set off to london on the mega bus. me excited as anything as i was on my way to london after not having gone for about 6 years, getting ready to see three of my best pals (who i was meeting for the first time the next day because of gabbie) and also preparing myself to see gab irl for the first time ever. right as i saw about to try and sleep i got a message from a twitter mutual of a video of gabbie saying hi to me after they’d met her at their hotel lobby, i lost my mind and couldn't sleep after, naturally. the fifth of august, i got up in a shitty ibis budget hotel room in barking early af to get ready and make sure i looked presentable to go to the excel (which was an hour away on the tube, nightmare), went to breakfast and was too nervous to eat lmao (not like me AT ALL) and then we were off. i met chaz first, then eli then toni who where the best company that weekend and i'm so grateful for them. we waited two hours at main stage for the comedy panel to be able to get front row to see gabbie at her first sitc 2017 panel which was crazy emotional. i screamed, laughed, cried (yes, cried) and lost my fucking mind at gabbie literally jumping off the fucking stage and run over to chaz (who i was standing next to) and hugged her and then toni. frickin insane dude. we had such a good day and were all buzzing to se meeting gabbie the next day. the sixth of august, maybe my favourite day of my entire life <3 we ended up leaving the hotel late which wasn't fun considering gabbie had a panel at 12 and of course we wanted to get front row. chaz managed to get there first and toni and i joined her, the doors opened and we (along with the 15 others who also wanted front row ran to the queue, literally RAN and i do not run usually, sis made an exception for my fave <3 anyway we got front row and eli (who was late) sat behind us and we watched gab so sooo well. she kept looking over at us and making cute faces, looking right fuckin at us whilst mentioning her community and projects etc. and she done so fuckin well when hazel hayes (a knob) literally came for her for absolutely no reason, which tuned into a joke lol. next, another main stage panel which we got to second row for since we were late as the schedule didn't have that panel on it LOL (ty for that sitc) next, my fave part, getting legend herself<333 toni and eli went earlier than chaz and i because they had to leave early. chaz and i tried to wait until last but some bitchy af girls were doing the same and we heard that she might have to leave early so joined the queue. meeting her; my favourite moment ever. has went first and i stood recording until gabbie says to chaz “ya who’s the rest of the squad” making me lose me mind internally LOL, i knew she knew about us since chaz had dm’ed her saying and gab had said that she was looking out for us in the crowd of panels AWW. chaz said about how eli and toni had come earlier and then said “so its just me and holly left” and at that moment gabbie looked at me, right into my fucking soul and said “hi holly!” and opened her arms to me <333 OUCH IM SOFT. she was and still is the best. we had a cute AF lil convo where she told the security (because they were looking at us stupid bc of how excited we all were and also bc she spent so much longer with us than anyone else lmao) that chaz an i “are twitter icons” which i died at ouchie. she then complemented my hair (which i’d dyed purple and blue to match hers - cringe, yes - to then find out she dyed hers blonde a week before london LMAO of course. i told her how i also got my nose pierced bc of her and she told me “you gotta do all these now” showing me her ears that had SIX new piercings that she’d got for a vid that wasn't out at the time, saying “next time i see you, next year, you better have five” which of course i did literally five days after meeting her lol, love that for me, even though i didn't see her the next year (ouch)

skipping a lot but gabbie truly means so so much to me, and this for sure won't be the last time i do a post about her. she truly deserves the world <3

- h