#a real stellar of a meet cute

[scribbledquillz]

WIP Wednesday

I was tagged by the lovely @melisusthewee and @jellydishes to share a peak at my current draft, which I am always glad for the excuse to do. Thank you both for thinking of me! 😊

I'll tag back - with the usual caveat of no pressure - @jinakadaisy , @rakshadow , @heniareth , @wild-houseplant , @shivunin and @siriskulksnerding as well as anyone else who wants in. Tag me, loves!

“Oh? Have we come to this already?” Zevran asked as Sten strode away. Fresh blood welled from the tear in his lips, bright crimson staining his mouth as he gave a throaty chuckle. “I thought we would eventually of course, it was only inevitable. But I must admit I did not expect you to wish to have me alone quite so soon. I’m flattered, but you do not seem to be the sort to enjoy an audience. Not that I mind, if that is what-”

Revka spun on her heel, a flash of metal whipped with the hand at her belt up to the man’s throat. She pressed the flat side of the throwing knife flush to his skin, its bite bringing a welcome end to the chatter. For a heartbeat’s time she saw real surprise in Zevran’s face, brows leaping over amber eyes as they gave a wide, slow blink. But it vanished as quickly as it came, fading back beneath a cooler, harder gaze he cast down on her along with a smirk. He kept silent at least, and Revka forced herself to be content with the quiet, glowering back up at him while she staved off the urge to punch him in the jaw a second time.

“Only going to say this once,” she growled, fist tightening around the knife as it pressed a needle’s width further into his throat. “Won’t be any second chances. One wrong move, one hint you’re up to some shit meant to see us dead, I swear on my Mam’s pyre I’ll cut your throat myself. Clear?”

His mouth twitched, faint lines pulling at the corners of his eyes. 

“Is that a promise?” A single bead of blood slipped along the edge of Revka’s knife. “Yes, yes,” he said with a dry sigh, “we are well understood, I assure you.”

“Good.” 

[tblsomedoodles]

Here's an art/info dump about this stupidly cute idea that's been rotating in my brain for three day.

(the first comic here is just how they first met. they ended up in the same alley, pestering the same cat without noticing. Then the cat left and they notice they're not alone lol)

(Second is Donnie 'talking' with Mikey for the first time. He only uses Mind Mend to communicate and is just as surprised as Mikey to find it worked on him. (it has only worked with Leo before this))

I'll put the rest under a break b/c i will be going off about this and i don't want it to take up your entire feed.

I'm jokingly calling this "Mikey's Imaginary Friends" though that might change if i continue this.

Basically it's this, the twins grew up with Draxum while Raph and Mikey grew up with Splinter. Neither set knew about the other (b/c splinter though they were dead and didn't want his two remaining kids to worry about it, and Draxum was too focused on fixing his lab to pay much attention to the twins.) So, imagine Mikey's shock when, at age 8, he's out exploring topside (having snuck out) and runs into two more mutant turtles (who also snuck out and are exploring.) Thus begins an ongoing sneaking out to meet up thing between the three b/c Mikey's excited to have new friends and the twins are just as fascinated with Mikey as he is with them.

And before you ask, "hey, why doesn't Mikey tell his family about the two other turtles?" he does. Raph thinks he just made up some imaginary friends so he plays along but doesn't believe they're real. Splinter, on the other hand, thinks he's talking to Hamato ancestors due to some very big miscommunications (that i'll probably draw out at some point b/c it's silly)

Twins background wise, i'm still thinking through a lot of it, but i'll put my thoughts down anyways.

Draxum knew that training the twins at a young age would be counterproductive, so he doesn't train them beyond some basics a few times a week. Other than those sessions, he leaves them alone with their less-than-stellar caretaker, in favor of rebuilding his lab. The caretaker doesn't do much for them beyond give them food and very basic school like lessons. Beyond that the twins are left on their own.

they come to the conclusion that the only people that will care for them is themselves. They discover Mind Meld very early as a result of this and will not talk verbally b/c they found out early on with their caretaker, that if they tried to talk, they were just ignored anyways, so what's the point.

(I'm also thinking Donnie might be deaf or hard of hearing in this, with the pair of them using Mind Meld as a way for him to temporarily hear through Leo and thus keep Drax from finding out. but i'll have to do some more research before i decide for sure/figure out the specifics)

as for Meeting Mikey

That's why they became so fascinated with mikey. B/c mikey was the first person that treated them like a person and not a job or an incomplete experiment. (He's also so happy and bright, they can't avoid getting drawn to him lol)

Mikey's probably the only one they verbally start talking to, even after they teach him mind meld. (though Leo's the one to pick up on that more than Donnie. Donnie doesn't do much talking at all outside mind meld).

They also come out of their shells (hehe) a lot as they interact more with Mikey. Before they met him, they acted more like automatons, even when alone. The more they socialize with Mikey, the sillier these two get. Leo learns about puns and starts going mad with them, Donnie starts happy stimming about thing (which he has either been suppressing or just never had the urge to do before.) Basically they stop acting like little creepy statues and start acting like kids.

Honestly, it's just a cute idea with the kiddos meeting each other and Mikey inadvertently socializing his not-well-socialized brothers.

(also, the twins wear masks b/c Donnie doesn't like the smell of the city and he's worried about germs. Not for any ninja reasons, what so ever.)

Alright, that's it for my info dump. maybe more later? Maybe not? Depends on how much longer these kids keep my attentions (though right now, they're doing a pretty good job at it lol)

[lieutenantfloyd]

So I know it’s just a joke….but I’m kinda living for the Alonso/Taylor thing that’s happening right now. How hilarious would it be for Taylor(YN) to lean into it??? We know that Lewis is kinda a Swiftie or a least would run in similar circles; she reaches out and is like can I send flowers to congratulate him for P3 in Aus, since they’re “dating” just as an unhinged joke. And then it turns into Alonso jokingly inviting her to a race (we know he’s been on a SM run lately) and it just turns from a joke into a not joke. And Fans have no clue when that is b/c they still think it’s just a bit😂

⁑ So It Goes — Fernando Alonso ⁑

Celebrity AU (social media AU + oneshot)

Pairing: Fernando Alonso x famous!reader (Taylor Swift face claim)

Summary: A pop singer's world tour, a month-long break in the f1 season, and two fanbase's engaging in some harmless trolling lead to one of the most unexpected meet-cutes the internet has ever seen.

notes: i don’t know what’s been wilder; watching F1 fans breach containment in real time or getting the notification for this ask while thinking about this exact concept. Either way, thank you anon for this ask! Please enjoy the most unhinged thing I’ve ever had the pleasure of creating.

popgossip's story

Of all the things to be trending for today, this was by far the strangest. In your line of work, rumors spread like wildfire. However: Rumors, especially of the dating variety, were typically between yourself and someone who you were photographed or with who mentioned you in an interview. Being rumored to date a man who you barely even knew existed? Well that was new. Luckily, after being in the same social circles for years, you were able to call a rival driver of your alleged BF one of your closest friends.

Two days after your conversation with Lewis, you sat at your dining room table filing out the card. Writing a short message filled with congratulations and well wishes before signing your initials and setting the card aside. Before your judgement got the best of you, you opened the card again and scrawl your phone number in small letters across the bottom. You knew the chances of him contacting you personally were slim to none, but you wanted to extend the invitation.

Fernandoalo_oficial's story

Tonight was yet another performance in yet another city. Your driver dropped you off at your hotel and you made your way up to your suite. Still buzzing from the energy of a stadium full of fans, you weren't particularly sleepy but your body was exhausted. Somehow you willed yourself to take a quick shower before collapsing into bed. Wet hair and all. You pulled out your phone and clicked on the messaging app. Selecting the all messages tab, you began responding to the slew of messages congratulating you on another stellar performance. After 20 or so threads, you made it to the messages you had received earlier in your very busy week. Humming softly, you opened another one and automatically clicked on the keyboard before glancing back up towards the top of the screen.

It was kind and simple, but you couldn't help but smile as your eyes scanned over his words. Because most nights you were either traveling or performing, the outlandish rumor only made its way into your mind when you checked your mentions and saw that you were still being tagged in a fair share of related memes. You paused and mulled over your response. Typing and deleting over and over until you sent back a similar pleasantry to his. Closing the app, you locked your phone and let it drop down onto the bed beside you. Even if your conversation stayed like this, you were still a bit excited to get a response from him. You didn't know where Fernando currently was in the world, but you could only assume you were in different timezones.

As the next weeks came and went, your correspondence with Fernando had shifted from mostly uninvolved to warm and friendly. You learned that not only did you both find your situation absolutely hilarious, but you had a surprising amount of commonality. Including your sense of humor and a shared love of cats.

You and him had began to talk more and more. In between tour rehearsals one day, Fernando messaged you inviting you to the next race. You thanked him before joking about people's reaction if you were able to attend. Making a mental note to inquire about your schedule with your team.

Aside from the low drone coming from the drivers walkie talkie, the car was silent. Leaning your head against the window, you watched the clouds pass by from behind your tinted sunglasses. It not only a warm and sunny Sunday, but it was a rare day off for you. Soon, the car had slowed to a stop. Only moments later the door opened. Revealing your smiling agent, standing next to what you assumed was some kind of F1 press officer. You let the pair lead you towards the Aston Martin garage, followed distantly by your usual security guards. Stopping on occasional to take a selfie with your adoring fans. The further you walked, the more you felt the countless eyes on you. The one aspect of fame you could never quite accept: the near constant stares. Thankfully, as you entered the emerald green marked garage, you felt the stares fall away. Celebrities were no oddity in these areas.

yourusername

liked by Fernandoalo_oficial and 3,3194,031 others

yourusername: A day to remember 💚

tagged: @ astonmartinf1 & @ fernandoalo_oficial

view 24,693 comments

betty31: HELP

user13: There's simply no way😭

forsainz4: THE RUMORS ??? ARE TRUE???

After the Grand Prix and a celebratory dinner with your new 2nd favorite driver, you once again set off to finish your tour. Despite almost always being on opposite sides of the world, you and Fernando never lost contact. In fact, you grew closer and closer. Your fanbase’s both catching on to your unusual friendship. By the time your tour was over, it was time to start writing and recording your next album. An album which, whether directly or indirectly, Fernando had plenty of influence on. Always busy, and endlessly tiring. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world, you both concurred dramatically over facetime. Late one night for him, mid day for you. It was on another one of those facetime calls that you finally spoke the thoughts that were beginning to weight heavy on both of your chests. An unspoken comradere, among many other things, had formed between you. It wasn’t long before you were mapping out what little spare time you had so you could spend it together in person. Neither one of you wanted to force anything, instead just letting whatever felt right to happen. Following the surprise release of your now completed album, you joined Fernando for a much needed period of rest and relaxation. And maybe it was the sun, the sand, or the fact you were a little wine drunk, but you were in the mood to cause a bit of drama.

yourusername

liked by fernandoalo_oficial and 14,996,831 others

yourusername i'm starting to think it might not be a joke anymore

view 46,002 comments

yktsunoda: HOLY SHIT??

user64: IM LOSING MY MIND

fernandoalo_oficial El Plan ✅😎

lavender11: y/n please come get your man😭

user98: this is the most ambitious crossover event in history

[wordy-little-witch]

•°♤°• Ghost Roger and Rouge are just so cute especially with their grand babies!

What about Rayleigh tho?

Im sure Rayleigh would, at one point meet the seraphim. One time would be accidently because he was visiting Karai Bari to go see Buggy but then runs into two little seraphim. Then all chaos descends when he hears the words "Ma/Pa". Bet Ghost Roger is laughing his ass off.

Tbh, I love the the pairing of Rogue/Roger, but really love the pairing of Rogue/Rayleigh/Roger (What are your thoughts on it? I won't attack you if you say you do not ship it, I just want to know your personal opinion on it 👀)

So honestly?? Depends. I have... mixed feelings on Rayleigh? I love him and also kinda don't at the same time. I think it's a ME issue though and not a character issue lmao ((He reminds me of my sister for some reason and that's.. a can of worms I'm not gonna open rn))

As for Roger/Rouge/Rayleigh - I think that's!! So!! Cute!!!!!! For the ghost AU the general idea is that Rouge never met the cabin boys initially before death, but I also like the idea of the polycule and Rouge being a staple of their lives. I dunno really. Cute ship!!!!!

As for grandpa Rayleigh-

I think him visiting Karai Bari would be really mixed by way of responses. On the one hand, That's One Of Buggy's Dads. On the other.... that's one of the people that abandoned Buggy when he needed them most. I think the initial meet would probably be ripe with tears, screaming, demands for him to get lost, while Rayleigh is trying so hard to damage control with a lackadaisical smile and flippant ease.

And that would of course be prime real estate for Birdie, Angel and Atlas to inject themselves into the exchange. Mama Bug cries a lot but these are Bad Tears and Nobody Makes Mama Bug Sad Like That.

While Angel and Birdie are sort of the front line of cutting in, Atlas I think would kind of glue himself to Buggy - both to comfort him and to get comfort due to the echoes of genetic memory. And when the older seraphim realize Buggy AND Atlas are upset, ooooh it's on like Donkey Kong.

The initial meeting is.... less than stellar lmao.

I think once tempers cool, discussions are had and boundaries are established, Rayleigh would be a pretty good grandpa. He's like the Cool Jiji, sneaking snacks and spoiling the kids but also letting them explore the world. It's rocky since Rayleigh's pretty lenient on rules, but once the structure is given, it's overall pretty good.

((Bonus points, Roger and Rouge spend the whole time with Rayleigh when he's with the kids - initially bc they're nervous about it, then bc it's just.... it's bittersweet. This could have been them. It's as close as they'll get now.))

((Extra bonus, Rayleigh often forgets how Strange Buggy's Haki is - Atlas reminds him frequently. And when the other boys respond to the same things, he's curious. He asks. He's.... oh. Oh man. What????

Perona brings out the board. Croc and Hawk take the kids. Buggy sits across from Rayleigh, and Roger and Rouge sit on either side of their living lover.

Rayleigh cries.))

((I think all in all, Buggy would really struggle with it. Rayleigh has changed so much, and he's good with the kids, he really is! But he wasn't always good with kids in general. He's a better grandfather than he ever was a dad, and it hurts. He confesses this to Mihawk and Crocodile one night, or maybe to Shanks over a denden, and he sort of breaks. If Rayleigh was always capable of change, then that just means that Buggy was never a big enough priority for him TO change. And that's the crux of it all, isn't it? Buggy's never as important to others as they are to him. He's a side character in the bigger picture and it aches, it throbs, it burns. He's so happy their kids are happy and loved and safe, because Buggy wants to give them the world and make sure they never hurt like this, but he's almost jealous and he hates himself for it.

It takes some time for him to heal, for him to forgive himself for it. He loves so much, too much, and sometimes the love sits there and rots within, infects his lungs and veins. He's not perfect, he not even okay, but he does his best and he's not alone anymore. He's making improvements, slowly but surely, and accepting the past, while agonizing, is possible. He's got support now in places he never anticipated having it. And he's got people who need him to be there, who need him to be better, who just... need him. It's jarring. It's dizzying. It's overwhelming. It's empowering.

Buggy may be broken, but he'll turn his jagged shards into knives, his chips into jewels to wear proudly to defend the ones he loves. He's a coward but he's a fighter - he's a god damned pirate, and he'll force the world to remember that.))

[aethersocietyofficial]

♡ HELLO WORLD! ♡

I am SO SO SOSO pumped to FIIIINALLY officially introduce the ~AETHER SOCIETY~! (^O^)/

We're a RAD, SMART, and ♡TOOOOOTALLY ADORBS♡ group that is SUPER DUPER DEDICATED to preserving the REAL goal of Lady Lusamine and the REAL Aether Foundation!! We felt the way it's been going is so totally NOT KEWL <(｀^´)> so we decided to TAKE A STAND and put the world on the RIGHT TRACK!!! (*^.^*) We made this account for a *fewwwwww* awesomesauce reasons- to SPREAD THE WOOOOORD ＼(^o^)／, to *sometimes* posting supercute mems of supercute Pokémon because they're *supercute*!!!,,, and to get the universe PUMPED! RIGHT! UP! for our STELLAR REVIVAAAAL!!!! ♡♡ヽ(´ー`)人(´∇｀)人(` v´)ノ ♡♡

SPEAKING OOOOOOOOF here's the SUPER COOL LINK to our SUPER COOL MISSION STATEMENT by the SUPER FABULOUS DR. ZENO!!! MAKE SURE TO GIVE IT A REEEAD ~♡

Please also see posts tagged with "mission statements" for updates regarding this document. We are always learning and expanding more as a society.

(Other post links since I forgot to reblog these off of this post when I made them oops.)

OOC post

OOC character rundown

*BUT ENOUGH OF ALL THAT BOOOOOOOORING STUFF,,,, DONTCHA WANNA MEET US????*

♡♡ I'LL GO FIRST!!! ♡♡ ehehe~ (`･ω･´)

My name is Hydie! ♡♡ Soo cute right?? ♡♡

I go by she/her, I'm originally from Kanto (ugh.. (；一_一)) but I'm an Alolan girl at heart~♡. I'm super stylish at 19 FOREVER!! I'm also this awesome blogs CREATOR AAAAAAND I run it and the rest of the Aether Society as its leader!! So you'll be hearing a lot from Lil ol meeeee~ (^_-)-☆ I've got a big team of ♡♡ADORBS LITTLE CUTIE BABIES♡♡ and I CANT WAIT to show them all to you!!!

This is my FAAAAAV picture of me, in case you REALLY wanted to know how cute I was ;)

Ignore the weird guy behind me! He doesn't matter.

Hello. I am Dr. Zeno, the leading and only scientist of the Aether Society. I am also the goal coordinator. I am the one you will speak to if you have any questions regarding our mission statement (which will be posted soon) or any other scientific inquiry. Enclosed is a photo of me in my former uniform. I am told I will need to update it soon. I go by they/them and am an adult. (I do not feel the need to disclose my age).

I have since ranked up from an entry-level scientist.

WHATS UP GANG ITS THE BOY COMIN AT YA!

You already know what fuckin TIME IT IS- YATT TIME BABY! My full name is Wyatt but that's such a dork-ass name so I go by Yatt- AND DONT NONE OF YOU BITCHES CALL ME WYATT OR I SWEAR I WILL FUCK YOU UP!

(Hydie says I'm not allowed to swear, but we'll fuckin see about that huh?)

As a former Pokémon Ranger, Team Plasma agent, AND Team Skull agent (Guzma is a weak-ass shithead by the way) I've kinda been around the block a few times- which is why I do the dirty work when these two softies don't wanna do it lmaooooo. I got a Team of absolute fuckin killers and I'm not afraid to use them or my fists- that shit is up to how much you piss me off, YA FEEL?

Oh and yea I go by he/him and I'm 21- and I'll TOTALLY buy you fireworks and shit too hmu. Here's my picture so you can find me ahaha

I look like a TOTAL DORK I know but I swear to fuckin arceus I'll update it soon alright

♡♡*AAAAND THATS ALL OF US!!* HOPE TO SEE YOU GUYS AROUND SOON- WE'RE SOOOO EXCITED TO MEET YOU!!! ♡♡

(^^)/~~~

[xiyouyanyi]

Modern Era At Last: Spider Queen Special

My original idea for this AU starts with "Filling up the Celestial Realm", so we'll just say that S1 works more or less the same unless otherwise specified, and let the real diverging point start at the Spider Queen Special.

-Hell no, the trigram furnace isn't kept in the throne room, it is where it is in Tusita Heaven, Lao Tzu's place. And the place is quite empty and quiet when they aren't refining elixirs and the flames have been extinguished.

-Which means MK and Pigsy/Tang wouldn't be going to two different buildings, just two wings of the same building.

-It's also Lunar New Year, during which all the Kitchen Gods went back to submit their reports to the Celestial Host, so most of the officials and guards are gathered around the administrative halls.

-To celestials, it's more of a daily meeting, though. A.k.a. "Those last few hours where you are stuck in the office, desperately wishing you are somewhere else."

-Red Son has access to the place because PIF, as the former Grand Mistress of the Wind Bureau, keeps a backdoor key. The spider minions sneaked in by turning themselves tiny and latching onto the jet's wing before the formation activated.

-The gang landed in the Wind Bureau sky-harbor, right next to Lao Tzu's place, and immediately ran into Lady Hanzhi, known to Red Son as "Auntie Wind"——which, coincidentally, was not too far off from her most well-known title nowadays, Feng Po. 

"Please, that name makes me sound so old! Why not Sister Wind?"

-She acted like she always does: your overly helpful, enthusiastic, pushy aunt who seems to delight in embarrassing the youngsters, and immediately jumped to conclusions, asking Red Son if he was taking his cute dragon girlfriend on a date.

-Upon being met with an unambiguous "NO!" and some desperate attempts at backtracking ("We are just…not hating each other at the moment!") she chuckled, but was perceptive enough to understand they were in a bind, and immediately agreed to help out before Red Son even got the full story out.

-Naturally, that left Mei a little suspicious. "Uh, we are like, stealing your stuff? Ya' really don't have a problem with that?” 

-Hanzhi just laughed and was like, "You think I care about my job? Or want to be here? Even though Little Red's mother left me quite the mess to sort out, I'll take an old friend's kid over The Reasons We Are Here at any time of the year!"

-Which, to her surprise, failed to be assuring when she opened her Wind Sack and told Red Son and Mei to get inside.

"Okay, not to be mean or anything, but that's just…sus." "As suspicious as a bunch of mortals sneaking around in funny modern day robes? My, whenever I thought your fashion standards could not get any worse than these awful queues and melon hats…but ah, I'm rambling." "The point is, your friends are going into Tusita Heaven while the furnace is unlit. No one will be there, except for the new furnace-fanning boy and…That Lady." Hanzhi wrinkled her nose. "Ugh, the old witch with a broom. Pretty easy to fool, but remember, stay at least five Chi away from her, or your entire mission is a bust." "You two, however, are going into the Peach Garden. With actual guards and visitors, and one of my junior brothers as its new warden. You are not getting in, or out, without someone leading the way."

-Kui Mulang is still working as a furnace-fanning boy——he could have been done with it long ago, had he not intentionally fucked up during the Three Rhino Kings fight out of spite and got his sentence prolonged. When the place is not in use, he's put in a cangue and chained to a pillar in the storage room.

-When Pigsy and Tang entered the lab sector in search of the golden pill, he took the latter hostage through a combination of deception and the space-warping magic of stellar gods. 

"Now, hog, pick that vial of liquid off the shelf, and pour it on these chains," The Wood Wolf Star exposed his teeth in a feral grin, as he poked at Tang's back with the ethereal dagger,"very, very carefully. If you spill a single drop on me, my hand may just slip."

-Jiang Ziya's dead and deified ex-wife, Ma The Broom Star, makes an appearance as the cleaning lady on duty.

-She can passively curse people AND immortals with bad luck: not kill-your-entire-family, ruin-your-life level of bad luck like what the Taisui Star or the Dipper Mansion deities are capable of, but things like making people slip and fall on their butts, sneeze/burp at the most embarrassing time, arrive late to urgent meetings, etc.

(Also, firing comets out of her broomstick like a true witch.)

-MK, affected by her Aura of Inconveniences, fell right into the (unlit!) furnace while trying to sneak past her using the building's support beams. She heard the scream, but thought he was one of those bratty immortal acolytes and responded to his cries for help like the bitter old lady she was. 

"Serve you right for horsin' around, boy! Now sit in there and think about what you've done, till I'm done cleaning this place! Goodness gracious, I'm never so glad to have a daughter, not that my good-for-nothing ex-husband didn't try turning her against me, yeah, some Grand Master of Strategists you are, Jiang Ziya…"

-MK then committed the grave error of asking "Huh? Jiang Ziya? Who?" and was subjected to a long, incensed, caustic rant, most of which he tuned out for the sake of his own sanity.

-Meanwhile, at the Peach Garden: Hanzhi walked in without much of a problem, using the excuse that she is bringing her junior some tea right after getting dismissed from the meeting. Said junior is one of the 28 Lunar Mansions: Bi Yuewu of the White Tiger Mansion, a.k.a the Moon Crow Star.

-In ancient Chinese astrology, the Bi Star was seen as having power over rain, and the section of the sky it was in charge of housed the Tianyuan constellation, or "Heavenly Orchard". His Stellar Beast form, a one-legged crow, is based on Shang Yang: a mythical bird that would dance before every huge storm like a goofy weather forecast guy.

-He excels at controlling cloud formations, to the point he got "borrowed" by the Wind and Thunder Bureau more than some of the Water-aligned stars after deification. That did not translate to battle prowess, though, and he mostly relies on his formations to misdirect, trap and stall enemies for the rest of his team to handle.

-After Kui Mulang's sentencing, Star Lord Mao had taken over as the substitute leader of the White Tiger Mansion stars. As a fellow bird star and the anxious secretary to Zi Huohou's shy intern, Bi looked up to him, a lot. 

-Today happened to be his shift——one of the 28 Lunar Mansions is exempt from the daily meetings, to watch over their sector of the sky. Like most celestials, he was used to Hanzhi just walking around, finding people to chat the moment she was off-work, and wasn't surprised when she came out of the treasure storage room without her Wind Sack.

"Little Red, you've actually been here before, I trust you know where the kitchen is? Go there, grab a peach, get out, and please please please don't try to go into the garden proper if you can't find one. Just return to this room and wait, Auntie Hanzhi will handle it." As the shrill screech of a defensive formation triggering echoed through the pavilion, and Bi leaped out of his chair, Hanzhi could not help but sigh and thought, Of course these kids tried to go into the garden, why wouldn't they.

-Except they didn't try to go into the garden. It was the spiders, and a tiny immortal girl with an embroidered ball.

-Yep, it's Li Zhenying, Nezha's little sister, only mentioned once in JTTW! Here, she's a bit older and the holder of one of Nezha's magical weapons, the embroidered ball.

-In Zaju plays, this ball contains a shit ton of demons and evil spirits, subdued by Nezha and now working under his command, but that's not safe for kids so it just has a mouse inside now.

-Specifically, Lady Diyong, who's serving her prison sentence in there after her second capture and acts as Zhenying's unwitting hamster-slash-playmate. 

-The way the ball works: it can keep beings captive and enable the holder to use their powers, like a magical Pokeball. Once something is inside, it can only be released by the one who initially captures it.

-So Li Zhenying used Diyong's power to get under and past the defensive formation undetected, because…she's bored and wanted to practice some Cuju, and just happened to run into two very lost and frustrated spider demons.

-They decided to stalk Red Son and Mei together, in their mini-spider forms——it was the former who had the backdoor key, after all, and without that, they wouldn't be able to get back to the mortal realm safely after snatching up the three items.

-So they crawled into the Peach Garden and lay in wait. And waited. And waited. And no one came. Then, when they tried to leave, they couldn't, and kept circling back to the same place until a 12 year old popped out of the ground and yelled "Stop right there, bug people!"

-They laughed. They stopped laughing when one of them got sucked into the embroidered ball like a Pokemon. The sight of a huge, muscular spider guy desperately running away from a little girl was still pretty comedic, though.

-He didn't last for long. Diyong started screeching inside the ball because ewwwww, spider people, gross! She's not into that and she doesn't want them as her future neighbors! Get them out of here, at once! 

-Zhenying found her terror quite amusing, but ended up doing so because all the screaming was getting annoying. And that was what Hanzhi and Bi saw when they charged into the depth of the formation: Li Jing's youngest kid, swinging her toy around in a circle and sending two black dots flying into the sky.

-Hanzhi let out a silent Oh no at the sight. Bi let out a loud "You WHAT?!" as Li Zhenying explained her encounter with the spider people, and commented that pest control must be quite hard if all the bugs in here could grow into people. 

-Bi proceeded to have a nervous breakdown because I let a spider demon infestation happen right under my nose and trapped Devaraja Li's daughter inside my formations, oh fuck, oh fuck, I'm so dead.

-He was too busy curling up in a ball and rocking back and forth to notice Hanzhi slipping away, an immortal peach hidden in her sleeves, to retrieve Red Son and Mei. Back at Tusita Heaven, however, the rest of the gang weren't having a good time. 

-Ma had finished rambling about Jiang Ziya's great-great-however-many-times-great-grandson, the "Biggest Shame of Qi", and was about to narrate the start of their lineage's miserable downfall with a spiteful glee in her voice.

-MK asked her why she was so angry, which just made her more angry.

"Why am I so angry? Oh, I have no idea! Maybe it is because my bastard ex-husband wrote my name onto his oh-so-mystical-scroll and made sure I can't even DIE PROPERLY, boy! I raised his daughter after he divorced me and ran off to fight a war with his sorcerer friends, and this is how he repaid me——" "No, I mean, why are you so angry at people you've never met before? They are your kids and grandkids too, right?" "Exactly! I never got to meet them, and that's why they are a bunch of pathetic, dull-headed degenerates who got played like a fiddle by their own noble clans!" MK severely doubted that. "I never got to set them on the right path, grab them by 'em ears and scold them properly, match them up with good wives that weren't their own half-sister——for heaven's sake, that Duke Xiang, what was he even thinking?!" She paused. When she started speaking again, the indignance had drained away. "I never got to see any of them with me own two eyes, or speak to them, because I wasn't in their ancestral temple. I never got to meet any of them, and now they have been dead for thousands of years, and I…I couldn't even blame all of that on Jiang Ziya."

-For the first time since MK met her, the old woman fell silent. He was about to return to his own crisis of self-confidence when the entire furnace shook and violently toppled over, spilling him out onto the floor with a yelp.

"Go." She said, the tip of her broom still smoking, without sparing a single backward glance. "Scram back to your quarters, boy, before more of the Broom Star's bad luck rubbed off on you——"

-Then the lab's other wing exploded.

-Let's rewind back to the moment before this, when Kui Mulang was holding Tang hostage and threatening Pigsy into destroying his chains with a vial of corrosive chemicals. 

-With no other choice, he complied, and the moment the last chain came apart with a sizzle, Kui Mulang shattered the cangue via his Stellar Beast transformation——but not before trying to stick the dagger into Tang anyways and failing, due to his golden barrier triggering in a panic.

-Turns out, it was these magical chains that truly shackled him and his powers, and the cangue was just additional humiliation. 

"Ah, a thousand thanks to you," the beast's eyes narrowed into a slit, as it turned towards Tang, who was desperately trying to scramble away inside the golden bubble, "Golden Cicada. Now that you are a Bodhisattva, I bet your Body of Manifestation would taste even more divine."

-What ensued was a pure horror movie chase sequence, as the pair ran for their lives, toppling over shelves, throwing anything they could get their hands on at the Stellar Beast in the hope of slowing it down.

-The explosive reaction between two reagents did end up accomplishing that. Not hurting it permanently, but the big bang managed to draw Ma and MK's attention and stopped the former from asking too many questions.

-Turns out, being one of the 28 Lunar Mansions didn't actually protect you from the Broom Star's field of mundane bad luck.

-It wasn't enough to defeat Kui Mulang, and her comet attacks were doing no lasting damage, but he kept missing his targets by a tiny margin, or tripping and falling like a Looney Tunes character, or MK's staff just happened to knock a chunk of the ceiling loose and pin him down briefly…

-The problem was, her bad luck field worked on her allies too, and there were a lot of mutual misses and wacky fails, and the consequences were worse for MK than for their opponent.

-Red Son and Mei were on their way back with Hanzhi when they saw the commotion from afar; they basically dashed right into that one Community meme. 

-Hanzhi assessed the situation briefly, told them she'd deal with Kui Mulang, while they went and grabbed their mortal friends, as well as whatever they needed from the lab, fast. Then she stepped back and unleashed the full might of the Wind Sack.

-The giant AOE attack caught all three combatants, lifted them off the ground, and firmly slammed them into the nearest standing wall, allowing Red Son to grab a very disoriented MK and rush away in the chaos.

-The fight was still ongoing when the gang hurriedly dragged the furnace into their drone, activated Red Son's backdoor key, and blasted off into the mortal realm. It didn't last much longer after the Thunder Bureau reinforcements arrived, led by Heavenly Lord of the Nine Thunders, Wen Zhong.

-Wen Zhong was a loyal man of principle in life, even more so after his deification, when he was basically made the head of the Celestial Justice Department (Thunder Bureau isn't just in charge of weather, but also divine retribution and punishment.)

-He's what a lot of people think Erlang should act like: grim, serious, utterly dedicated to maintaining order and justice, and an absolute powerhouse (he also has a third eye, btw).

-Hanzhi knew she wouldn't be getting any leniency from her senior brother this time, so she didn't even try to argue when he ordered his Thunder Generals to detain everyone involved and take them away for questioning.

-Bi Yuewu was interrupted from his mental breakdown by Star Lord Mao, who, like the majority of officials, had just been released from their end-of-day meeting when the Thunder Bureau received an emergency message from Tusita Heaven and flew off in a hurry.

-Putting two and two together, he quickly guessed that their old squad leader had broken free, and went to gather the rest of the White Tiger Mansion stars for their own emergency meeting. Bi was the first person he seeked out, and the situation…didn't look all that great.

-But Rooster Man, being the good bro he was, listened patiently to Bi's story, and told him it wouldn't be a problem. He'd take Li Zhenying home to her brothers, let them come up with a cover story, while the spider problem…well, that was what his Stellar Beast form was for, wasn't it?

-A few miles below, two tiny spiders, still falling towards the mortal realm, suddenly heard a rooster's crowing and were struck by the worst headache they ever experienced.

[echoalyssa]

Omg I’m so sorry for some reason I automatically assume people know who I’m talking about 🤦🏼‍♀️ How about Marcus Baker x reader where she lives in another state and they met on like Instagram and one day she comes to see him?

ORRR (just to be safe😉😂)

Where her personality is like sunshine and rainbows so people are shocked that they’re together

Request 3 | Marcus Baker

You're gripping the steering wheel all too tight considering the road is empty and you've been driving for seven hours already.

Your comfort playlist plays through the speakers in an attempt to eradicate some of the nerves. You'd known him for a year, face-timed him every night for the past six months. He was real, you knew that much.

Though all those horror crime documentary's meant that somewhere deep down you were worried he might brutally murder you.

The two of you had met through a Instagram group chat for artists around the United States and had connected immediately. Your lives differed in every way possible.

You were from one of those small towns that barely made it onto the map with three siblings, and he was living in a million dollar house with his twin sister.

Your phone buzzes in your lap and its him.

'Hope the drive is going well! I'm excited to see you!'

You smile.

You're meeting him at a coffee shop in Wellsbury. It would be in broad daylight in a public place so not much could go wrong.

The navigation chimes, telling you to take the next exit.

Just like that, you're ten minutes away.

~~~ You take a breath outside of the door, using the slight reflection to check that your hair doesn't look insane. Your palms are sweating profusely so you have no choice but to wipe them on the front of your jeans.

You push the door open and the bell on top jingles softly.

The place is cute, with low ambience lighting and lounge chairs in the corner. There's plants just about everywhere and a mural has been painted on the far wall.

He spots you first, and he almost drops the two drinks he's holding. Marcus can't cross the small shop fast enough. He didn't even need a second to realize that it was you, he just knew immediately.

You shoot him a tiny shy smile and he returns it.

"Y/N!"

He wraps you in an awkward hug because he's still holding both drinks. Even though he's hugging you with his arms straight because of the drinks you can't help but think about how nicely you fit into his arms.

He smells good, like fresh linen.

His hair keeps falling into his face, and you keep wanting to push it out of the way for him.

"I got you a mocha frappe! I could have sworn that's what you told me you order but if that's wrong I can get you something else."

You're flattered by the fact that he bought you a drink and even more so that he remembered your order. That conversation must have taken place almost a year ago.

"That is perfect, thank you."

"Want to take a walk? You must be tired of sitting from the drive."

You nod, the weather in Massachusetts was stellar today.

He guides you out the door by placing a hand on the small of your back which sends sparks up your spine.

"I can't believe that you're here."

"I can't believe you're real."

He chuckles. "Are you cold?"

You're not really but he shrugs off his jacket anyway and drapes it over your shoulders.

His fingertips brush your neck and you shiver.

The town is cute but is very obviously a place where money is plentiful. Marcus tells you about his motorcycle and his plan to restore it.

You listen intently, your arm bumps against his as you walk.

He stops abruptly and turns to you.

"I feel like I know you already."

"You do! Now you're just putting a voice to the face,"

"I don't want you to ever go back home."

You can feel your face heat up, hopefully he wouldn't notice and would just think it was from the wind.

"You're just so far away." He continues, "And now that you're here I can't imagine you not being here."

Just the way that he looks at you makes you want to pack up all your belongings and move into this town, almost eight hours away.

His fingertips touch the side of your face, and he tilts your head so that you are looking up at him.

"It's a good thing I'm here for a week then." You whisper.

"We should make the most of it."

"Yes." You choke out because he's getting closer to you and you're barely breathing.

"You're beautiful you know."

You nod, scared to break this trance like interaction.

And then he leans the last few inches and his lips brush against yours, hesitant at first but they slowly grow more confident.

You tilt your head up for a better angle because there is no way that you're kissing Marcus Baker right now.

The butterflies in your stomach are doing somersaults.

It's slow and gentle. He pulls you close to him, his body radiates heat and warms you.

You could stay like this forever you think. This was perfect. All the anticipation and build up from the past year and finally, finally the two of you were together.

[another-lost-mc]

Which romantic tropes do you think suit your ocs?? :3

Oh, there are SO MANY. I love tropes and AUs. 🤭 The demon OCs all work well for anything involving hurt/comfort or angst. Some of the angels are better-suited for lighter-hearted fluff or feel-good tropes. I also like the remixed version of these tropes where MC/Reader is the adversary/antagonist for a change of pace.

Desperate kiss/love confession in the height of conflict/battle because they think you (or they) are going to die

Drunken or overheard/unintended confessions (in person or texting), bonus points for miscommunication angst and making up later

Sick or injured hurt & comfort

Gruff/mean characters being soft or protective towards their crush

"Forbidden" love or secret relationships (business/political rivals, detective and suspect, boss/employee or other power imbalances that complicate things)

Friends-with-benefits or sugar daddy arrangements/sex workers and clients where one of them catches feels

Age gaps (ageing bachelor meet-cute)

Enemies-to-lovers (academic or competitive rivals, bad first impressions leads to sexual/romantic tension, etc.)

Love triangles, with happy or angsty potential depending on whether some sort of polyship is negotiated or if someone ends up heartbroken. :(

Childhood friends that reunite as adults (angst with a happy ending potential if they originally parted on bad terms, or if they meet again in less than stellar circumstances)

Fairytale AUs: true love's kiss (including one of them being stuck in an alternate form/body), strangers-to-lovers meeting on an adventure, hero and villain that somehow fall in love

Monster AUs: vampires/werewolves/fairies/other mythological creatures. Remixes of this might include things like, "I accidentally summoned a ghost/demon and now they won't leave me alone" or the skeptic that doesn't believe the monster-character is real

Soulmate AUs: red string of fate/name or matching birth mark

Omegaverse AUs: mistaken identity (the friend I thought that was a beta is actually an alpha or omega!), surprise rut/heat cycles triggered by the other person (fuck or die with a twist)

There's literally so many potential options for each OC, it'd take forever to list everything that comes to mind. 😂 (If any of the specific tropes catch your eye, I can elaborate on how I might write a story with various OCs using that trope.)

[erisenyo]

got any bottom/subby sokka fic recs?

Hi anon! This was much harder than it should be, we definitely need more bottom/subby Sokka out there!

I'm going to assume you've read my own stuff, which is largely this dynamic, though if you haven't, Part-Time Plumber, Full Time Problem and Lessons In Proper Asset Management are good places to start.

The Hot Fire Lord Summer series by sulkybender is all around great fun, hilarious premise, and features Sokka being thoroughly overwhelmed in the best kind of way by a very confident Zuko

Light in the Dark by Lady_of_the_Flowers features some stellar world-building, a gut-wrenching premise, a bottom Sokka, and if you haven't read Epistles by them and you like long-fic you absolutely should

Not Supposed to Scratch by Mysticetacean has a really fun dynamic of Sokka wanting and being embarrassed by how much he wants Zuko to hold him down, and Zuko clocking it in about half a second and fully delivering.

Real Slow by surveycorpsjean is a great post-canon fic from get-together to staying together to living their lives together, that also features some fun sex scenes

The Predictably As series by HisMomoness is all-around stellar and features a bottom Sokka. Truly a delightful modern AU meet cute.

In The Crease by beersforqueers is a really fun modern hockey AU where Sokka and Zuko are both in the NHL, just a whole lot of PWP in a fun setting

Anything agni_kai writes is great, and work from home has a fun subby Sokka experimenting with sex toys and with semi-publicly torturing Zuko with lust

nights also has banger after banger, and i put a spell on you is a whole lot of fun, with dirty talk, greater banter, and Sokka discovering that maybe he's more into switching than he thought

And I just found it while I was compiling this least, but To Love a Loathed Enemy by hereforthefic_onlythefic has me looking. Finding yourself falling for someone you were determined to hate? Some illicit office place shenanigans? Sounds great haha

And outside of Zukka...

Down to Pluck by QueenDollopHead has a great antagonistic Sokka-Jet dynamic, with Sokka doing some goading to get what he wants out of Jet.

a hole is a hole (is a hole) by scrunklyzucchini has a stellar, needy Sokka who is very into whatever Chit Sang will give him.

agni_kai is at it again with some Suki pegging action in worth it

Suki has a strap on and is never afraid to use it in the three's a crowd series by overcomewithlongingfora_girl, with both Sokka and Zuko on the receiving end of it

There's also been some recent Piandao/Sokka content that I bet hits the mark, and I haven't had a chance to go diving through the tag yet but purely based on vibes I think your Jet/Sokka content probably has quite a few fics in this category too haha

[oddygaul]

Spiritfarer

This game was a weird experience for me. I wanna say that a story like this is more about the journey than the destination - and that’s copacetic narratively, as the unfolding stories of each of the passengers are far stronger than the capital p Plot the game builds towards - but from a gameplay standpoint, the journey itself largely felt like a tedious timesuck, and I kept finding myself wishing we could get straight to the point.

Let’s do a compliment sandwich here.

The overall vibes are immaculate, and the world of Spiritfarer is incredibly cozy. The dialogue is delightful - and not only with the main characters! Even the random villagers always have something charming going on. I think the last time I was actually this enthused to talk to minor NPCs was A Short Hike.

They’re not always cheery, either; the game has a lot of that old-school Animal Crossing edge that got sanded away over the years, where characters are actually allowed to be abrasive or even straight up dislike you. Spiritfarer has multiple passengers that, upon meeting you, are anything from fully disinterested to straight-up jerks. Some of them will warm to you over time, as in the OG Animal Crossing, but some will just never really like Stella all that much… and they will loudly, vocally share that fact with you. Even some of the friendliest, most open characters sometimes need their space. This wider spectrum of interactions goes a long way toward making the characters feel real and engaging, and it’s something I’ve missed in this space for a while.

The art and especially the animation work is absolutely stellar, too. Each of the characters have strong silhouettes, and the animators really make the most of each design’s unique attributes: Stella’s big wide-brimmed hat puffing up when you use it to glide, the Everlight’s infinite transformations into whatever’s handy for the current situation, Bruce and Mickey’s big guy little guy dynamic*, Gustav mightily leaping from floor to floor. A 3D game with this concept would likely stick to a handful of rigs for the characters and keep their movement simple, so I give a lot of credit to the Spiritfarer team for going the extra mile and putting such care into making the passenger animations lively and creative.

*Well, this one is only fun until you find out the why behind the dynamic

Daffodil is the cutest fucking name for a cat btw

Unfortunately, despite how fun they’ve made the basic movement, the actual gameplay bits get pretty tiresome. It turns out that much of the moment-to-moment gameplay is actually doing chores on your boat, and they start to feel like chores remarkably quickly; while running, jumping and ziplining all feel great, most of the production minigames, like watering plants or smelting, are tedious and time-consuming. 

For the first third of the game or so, you’re unlocking new building minigames regularly, so they all feel somewhat novel. Plus, the density of the early game lends itself to a constant multitasking that feels satisfying. You’ll set your boat’s navigation system off to a location, then decide what form of crafting or farming will be the best use of your time; the result is a great “just one more turn�� loop that's pretty engaging. The thing is, due to the length of the game, the pacing simply doesn’t stay that tightly engineered. You’ll run out of new buildings and minigames to unlock, start to get tired of the ones you’ve done dozens of times, and have to return to the same islands to farm materials over and over again. 

I will say, I quite liked the cooking system. There was something satisfying about guessing what different ingredients would pop out a new dish, and the illustrations for all of them are cute enough to make the experimentation feel worthwhile.

And unfortunately, this pacing inconsistency applies to the story as well. At first, you’re running into new faces constantly, and at any given moment will have half a dozen passengers on your ship, making it feel like a lively community. The rate of new passengers slows down dramatically, though, and for much of the back half of the game I had only 2 or 3 passengers aboard, leaving the game feeling empty and rote. 

This is not an easy problem to solve - it’s gotta be near impossible to keep the pacing curated if your game is this long - but maybe Spiritfarer didn’t need to be this long? 30 hours is fuckin HEFTY for this kind of game. I dunno, it’s certainly possible other people found the management sim side of things engaging and equally as worthwhile as the character interaction, but to me it mostly felt like busywork keeping me from the story bits, so my patience for it grew thinner and thinner.

For the first half of the game or so, I had a running theory that Stella didn’t actually know any of the passengers, and these people were being enchanted by some sort of Spiritfarer glamour that presents you as someone they’re comfortable / familiar with. The game makes the truth clear as it goes, but a part of me really likes that idea of the ferryman taking the form of someone that can put the departed’s minds at ease. I think that’s how the reapers in Dead Like Me work..?

Now, the reason my frustration with those elements was intense was because boy I got invested in these characters. A few missed the mark for me (I’m sure everyone who plays this game has a different group of passengers that really pushed their buttons and those that didn’t), but so many of them were memorable and heartbreaking.

Gustav, with his desperate hope that the transcendence of art can outlive any individual, really speaks to some existential crises I’ve gone through myself

Alice, who in her old age finally has the means to travel and go on the adventures she always wanted to, only to be betrayed by her failing body... I literally watched this happen to someone close to me weeks before playing this, so the moment was a gut punch. And then that development is tied into the gameplay, by making you move Alice's house to the ground floor because she can't use the ladders anymore, and you have to walk her out to the deck and back every day... inspired, and soul-crushing.

The reveal that the reason Bruce does all the talking and initiates all the pair's movements is because Mickey's been in a coma the whole time... broke me. And then Bruce decides to end his own life because he can't bear to go on alone anymore? Jesus, man.

Okay, I get that I'm a mark for any story touching on Alzheimer's, but Beverly's depiction of the disease was particularly brutal. The Alzheimer's I've dealt with was a very language-based version, so Beverly getting halfway through a sentence and realizing it wasn't right, saying things like "Just give me a moment" or "Let me just take a little break and I'll finish" then giving up in resignation... fucking hell. Too real.

In general, the amount of spirits whose arcs aren’t resolved when they go out is rough. Despite being a work that’s clearly focused on death from the start, Spiritfarer initially feels like it’s going to be a somewhat sanitized look at the topic. You’re going to take these spirits to the door of oblivion, sure, but we’re going to get complete character arcs, we’re going to work through trauma, and people are going to go through the door when they’re good and ready. And for the first few passengers, that’s true… but things get dark quick. Bruce’s tale, as previously mentioned, ends with him killing himself. Atul, one of your most easygoing, dependable passengers, simply disappears one night, never to be seen again. Jackie, who embarks rather late to start a journey of self-improvement, gives up halfway and straight-up tells you he can’t find anything about himself worth living for and suicide is all he deserves. Spiritfarer even twists the knife by letting us read some of his journals afterwards, showing he feels a deep regret and self-loathing for his past actions… he just can’t find any way to live with them.

This is what I respect the most about Spiritfarer’s musings on death, I think. Rather than dressing everything up in neat metaphors and giving you emotional catharsis, it’s not afraid to show death as sudden, as unsatisfying, as desolate, as lonely. By presenting itself so whimsically, it gets the audience to let their guard down so the hard moments hit them with full force. I wish they could’ve had the confidence to lean on those moments without feeling the need to pad the time in between with monotonous crafting systems.

[aladybetween2majors]

The Sign Episode 2 Thoughts.

We're back again with the sign. The only Thai BL I'm watching right now. I am really wishing I waited to binge this show because it's really good and I don't like having to wait. There's obviously a lot building up and I don't know if I can wait. I can't stop watching though.

Last week we had Phaya overhearing the (cute) Captain's conversation which confirmed his suspicion that Lt. Tam's death was no accident. He and Tharn have now broken into the office and gotten pictures of the autopsy report. I can't help but wonder why the office doesn't have a CCTV camera though.

Our boys are in bed 🤭 I really love the flirting this two have going on I had a wide smile on my face anytime they interact.

Not Yai thinking he was dreaming when he saw Phaya and Tharn in bed, and he's so happy about it 😂 he's the best wingman/shipper

All five of them are working together to solve the case. Although I am really not into the whole mystery right now. I don't really care about this dead guy and the investigation isn't all that fun.

I'm glad that Captain is smart because our boys aren't. Talking in front of a CCTV camera, really?

Khem and Thongthai continue to fascinate me. What are Thongthai's feelings about Khem who cheated on him, after all they seem to be on good terms even though Khem wants him back. I want to know more 🤤

Hey there Freen! I think what Phaya is seeing when he sees Wansarat are simply memories from his past life, not something happening in real time. Because Tharn is already a reincarnation of Wansarat so we can't be seeing her spirit, can we? Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. I don't totally understand reincarnation in Asian cultures.

I'm so glad they were caught and that investigation was put behind them. If there'll be more mysteries in the show I hope they'll be well done. At least now our boys can focus on their training.

They passed!🥳🥳

Phaya and Tharns interactions are the best parts of this show that already has good things. The cap scene had me smiling. Tharn using Phaya's moves on him🤭🤭 Phaya putting his number in Tharn's phone and Tharn being like 'i didn't ask' 😂😂

I like how their flirting comes off as natural. There hasn't been any confession of feelings but they're just developing this fondness for each other that I love. I really like it when characters are this natural with each other and go with the flow. Where you can feel like they like each other and getting together will be organic not because they're in a romance story and the narrative demands it. It's very believable

Yai remains the best boy. I can't wait to meet his wife.

The entire bar scene wasn't really for me. The points were gotten across though. Phaya is already possessive of Tharn, he hasn't made a direct move even though he hasn't been hiding his feelings.

I skipped the singing.

Not Tharn throwing up before Phaya could finish talking 😂😂 baby boy couldn't handle the tension.

The bathroom scene was cute. That fore head kid though😋

Oh! Tharn gave Phaya that amulet as children. I can't wait to dig into their pasts. And not just in this life.

Finally! Chalathorn is here🥳

I liked the episode. The Sign continues to hit me in that sweet spot 🥺 I don't love it yet. I'm not crazy for it as I was for I Feel You Linger in the Air but I think it has to do with the weekly watch, I binged IFYLITA so I could enjoy all it's goodness at once. Still I know I could love this one, it just has to hit it's stride, there's still do much set up.

Overall the first two episodes have been stellar. See y'all next week 😊

[strawberrysatellite]

i did one thing right

inspired by taylor swift’s call it what you want

word count: 2.9k

Y/N and Harry met in October.

It was one of those super cliche Halloween meet cutes. But it was that Halloween party that brought them together, so they supposed the cliches weren’t all that eye roll worthy.

Truthfully, they already knew of each other; Y/N was what she likes to call a semi-influencer (she had a few hundred thousand followers- enough to make a living off of- but never really liked grouping herself with other influencers considering most of the ones she had met always looked down on her for not having millions of followers, and were known to be less than stellar people) and Harry was a tattoo artist. They followed each other because of some mutual friends who mentioned Harry to Y/N in passing after she had spoken about wanting to get a tattoo at some point.

So the two knew of each other’s existence, liked a few of the other’s posts, but had never actually met before that night.

Y/N was so glad to be going to a party that wasn’t brand funded or overflowing with other influencers. Don’t get her wrong, she was eternally grateful that she was in the position she was; being an influencer meant she was able to work whenever, wherever, and didn’t have half of the stresses as people with more conventional jobs. All she had to do was post her little youtube videos talking about her favourite books or the clothes she’s been wearing recently, share pictures on her perfectly curated Instagram, and make TikToks with trending songs in the background.

But it got so exhausting sometimes.

She felt like she was constantly performing, putting on a face for people to judge and critique. People seemed to forget that there was a real person behind the virtual image she portrayed; the amount of hate comments she received were nowhere near what she assumed other content creators got, but there were enough daily to where it got to her sometimes. Just because she chooses to put out content for people, doesn’t mean that she’s giving them permission to give opinions on every detail of her life.

It’s like she’s constantly just floating in this liminal space, trying to bend over backwards to please her followers whilst also trying to stay true to herself.

That’s one of the things most important to Y/N- being as true to herself as possible. After meeting more than her fair share of other influencers, she knows that most of the time the kind and polite image they project online is completely contradictory to their actual personalities.

The last thing she would ever want is someone thinking she was rude. It gives her nightmares just thinking about it. Especially considering she worked in hospitality through university before she gained an online platform, so she’s had more than enough rude encounters with the general public (and she also understands how important it is to be kind to people. And to always tip waiters.).

So really, Y/N was just happy to shed her ‘online’ persona for a couple of hours and be around her friends without feeling the need to perform for anyone or please them.

Also, she really really loved Halloween and was super excited to dress up as Juliet from the movie with Leo DiCaprio, complete with silky white dress and clip on angel wings. It was casual enough to where she didn’t feel like she was going overboard, but dressy enough to where she still felt in the Halloween spirit.

When she actually got to the little pub where Sarah had told her the group was meeting, she was met with the sight of Sarah and her long time boyfriend Mitch sat in a corner booth and dressed as Velma and Shaggy from Scooby Doo, complete with bright orange turtleneck and coke bottle glasses.

“Look at you guys! Cutest couple I ever did see!” Y/N manages to get her words out through laughs- she doesn’t think she’s ever seen Mitch in anything but black, nevermind puke green.

“Yeah, laugh it up.” Mitch’s eyes roll but he gives her a slight smile and a warm hug. That’s a secret between him and Y/N- Mitch is secretly a huge hugger. He just has to be either high or slightly tipsy to come anywhere close.

“Look at you, honey! Real life angel.” Sarah’s warm tone interrupts Mitch’s grumbling, her eyes crinkling with a smile behind her fake glasses and full fringe.

“Thank you, thank you. I do try.” Y/N curtsies and nearly falls about in giggles. “I’m gonna go get a drink and mingle, think I saw Niall on the way in.”

She sets off through the packed pub after a wave to the couple at the booth, trying to avoid knocking into people with her slightly inconvenient wings.

She likes this. Likes not being immediately recognised. Likes not being considered an internet celebrity. Likes being treated like a normal person. Loves being around people she can be herself with.

When she does eventually get to the bar, she finds another figure already talking with the bartender. From what she guesses, it’s a guy. An attractive guy.

Well, from the back of his head he seems attractive.

She guesses over 6 foot, with long hair down to his shoulders and a sheer black almost blousey shirt loosely buttoned. And the skinny jeans make him look like something straight out of a tumblr post.

Through the chiffon fabric of his shirt she’s able to see the masterpiece that is his back. There must be well over a hundred tattoos collated across it, spreading down his arms and wrapping around his neck. Most- if not all- are monochrome, and only serve to make him look even more intimidating.

Kinda turns her on, if she’s being completely transparent.

Making her way next to him to wait for the bartender to be free, she somehow manages to bump him with her new temporary appendages, startling him enough to make him twist to see who it was.

When he does turn around, she’s greeted with his actual costume: a skull painted on one half of his face and only serving to accentuate the impossibly perfect structure of his face. He has model-worthy cheekbones and brows so furrowed he seems to have been born with a frown.

Upon seeing Y/N in her angelic fluster though, he softens up and a look of recognition flashes through his eyes.

“Oh, hi. Y/N, right?” He asks, as if he hasn’t looked at her Instagram more times than can be considered healthy. Like he doesn’t view her stories daily just to see what she’s interested in and which books she’s reading at that moment. Like he doesn’t get hot and blushy when he gets the little notification to say she liked one of his posts.

It takes her a minute to place him, having been slightly caught up in the aura he radiates, “Hi! Harry…right? God, I hope you are, otherwise I’ll look like such a massive bitch. Okay, even if you aren’t Harry, please just go along with it.”

Her world stops turning when she hears the chuckle he lets out at her anxious word vomit. Like, literally stops on its axis. She’s pretty sure she hears the screech of it skidding to a halt, the elevator music that plays in her ears after her brain turns to mush.

“No, love. I’m Harry, don’t worry.” An amused smile covers his face, endeared with her rambling that he’s familiar with after watching her videos where she rants about book characters and their “stupid, unrealistic actions” and why Gus Everett was actually the best book boyfriend ever (he had no idea who that was- just took her word for it) and why her favourite Starbucks drink is the best ever and how she’s so upset that it’s being taken off the menu because it’s seasonal.

A relieved breath whooshes out of her pouted lips, face now covered in a slight flush, “Oh, thank fucking god. How embarrassing would that have been? I’ve probably made it so much worse now, huh? Nice one, Y/N. Fucking idiot.” Her eyes roll at her own actions, words coming out as barely a mumble, and Harry’s smile just grows even more.

She’s cute when she rambles, he thinks.

“Honestly, don’t worry ‘bout it. Won’t mention it. Never happened.” His hand comes up to graze her shoulder comfortingly and a tangible spark passes between them, “D’ya want me to get you a drink? We can go sit with Mitch and them lot?” Harry secretly crosses in fingers in the hopes that she takes him up on his offer.

Her smile is wide and relaxed, looking up at him like he’d just gifted her a litter of kittens, “That would be so nice, thanks Harry. Listen, don’t judge me but my favourite drink is..”

As long as she keeps smiling at him like that, Harry doesn’t think it possible to ever judge her.

Their first date is kept casual and relaxed- which you wouldn’t be able to tell by the sweat Harry is currently working up just thinking about meeting up with her for an official date- and Harry decides to take her to the shop, named Satellite Studios, after a walk around Hyde Park and a stop in Pret to get chai lattes. She had been asking him for a while now to show her his tattoo shop and some of his sketches (yes, she had seen them on his Instagram, but she was on the pull and this was the one talking point she could think of at the time- also, she truly did want a tattoo, so this worked perfectly).

Harry didn’t expect that the date would end with him actually giving Y/N a tattoo, but here he was, perched over her and inking the skin of her collarbone. She had decided on a quote she lived by- ‘treat people with kindness’.

A month or so later, and the two are freshly into couple status, still just getting comfortable referring to the other as their significant other.

It’s late November by this point, and Die Hard (the first one, obviously) is playing on Harry’s TV while the two sit on his black velvet couch, Harry sprawled on one end whilst Y/N lays horizontally and props her feet up on his lap underneath a fuzzy blanket. Neither of them are that into the film, only putting it on to fill the silence, and so Y/N decides to scroll through Instagram to check the comments on her recent post.

She had actually really liked it; the picture was one Harry had taken of her when they went to Waterstones, a puffer jacket wrapped around her while she carries a stack of books and looks back at the camera, smiling wide and mid-laugh (she recalls his joke- something about being replaced by fictional men- and a tiny smile breaks on her face when she remembers how proud he looked at having made her laugh).

Only, that smile quickly disappears when she begins to read the comments.

Of course, there’s so many from her fans and other influencer friends being so sweet and love;y, complementing her and talking about how relatable the caption was (something along the lines of “a book for every situation”). But there were more rude ones than normal. Of course she was more than used to people being rude by this point, she had been a content creator for long enough now that she knew how to compartmentalise and ignore hate. But it was nearing her time of the month and she was feeling extra sensitive and seeing people talk about how annoying she seemed, or how she looked to be gaining weight, or how they just in general disliked her, really wasn’t what she needed.

A small sniffle makes Harry’s ears perk up and his head shoots towards his girlfriend- she wasn’t ill the last time he checked, why was she sniffl-.

His face completely drops when he sees the face of his sweet girl covered in tears, cheeks glistening and flushed, lips pouted and more pink than usual, eyes watery and glassy. “Hey, pretty girl, what’s up? Come on, talk to me.” He immediately leaps up and kneels beside her, hand cradling her cheek and thumb wiping under her reddened eyes.

She just shakes her head and frustratedly wipes her face, “Nothing, I’m just being stupid.”

Harry tuts at her and reaches up with his other hand, gripping her face gently but with enough strength to force her to look at him, “It’s not stupid if it’s making you cry like this, honey. Tell me what happened, babe, let me help, hm?” He doesn’t want to force her to talk if she truly doesn’t want to, but he can’t bear to see her so distraught and dishevelled.

Her face collapses at his gentle words, “I just- people are so mean. I don’t know what I did to deserve it. They’re so- it’s just,” A heavy breath is released from her cry-swollen lips and her head leans into his palm.

“I know, lovely girl. You didn’t do anything. Don’t listen to them, they’re just bitter and projecting onto anyone they can.” He feels anger flare in the bottom of his chest. How could anyone be anything but sweet to his lovely girl? The last thing he would ever want to do would be to make her feel as though he’s angry with her, so he reigns it in for her sake, but knows that he may have to go to the gym for an extra hour to let it out.

“I just wish I could get away from it all for a bit. Like I love my job- you know I do. But it just would be nice to run away for a bit.” The words come out sad, unenthusiastic- nothing like his girlfriend normally sounds- and it haunts him. He has to do something.

That’s how the two find themselves in Scotland for a month. Just them, their rented cottage in the Highlands, and Harry’s tiny black kitten, Pumpkin. Harry had booked them a train from Paddington Station to Edinburgh that same night when Y/N finished crying, wrapped up next to him in his black silk sheets with tear tracks still staining her face.

Harry figures he can trust Mitch to look after the shop whilst he’s gone, having saved enough days up to take off for a bit (and being the owner of the shop meaning he’s his own boss and can afford to) and he tells Y/N not to even open Instagram or YouTube or TikTok until they get back home, going so far as to delete them from her phone.

“Out of sight, out of mind, my petal.” He tells her with a kiss on the tip of her nose upon seeing her slight frown.

The couple spend every waking moment together, making breakfast together in the morning (or really, afternoon considering neither of them bothers with an alarm upon having nowhere to be) and eating it lazing on the couch with an old movie on in the background- Y/N has rediscovered how much she truly loves The Sound of Music after watching it nearly daily for a month. They take walks around the lake near their cottage, skimming stones and having competitions on who can throw one the farthest; usually Harry wins, but Y/N calls it unfair everytime because of the wingspan advantage and how strong his hands are after years of tattooing. Their favourite part is how they spend the week of Christmas: they take a train into Edinburgh city centre, go window shopping and wander around the markets, marvelling at the displays and thousands of twinkling fairy lights, Harry calls his mum from the cottage on Christmas Eve and lets her know he’ll be round in a couple weeks to drop presents off, and the two exchange gifts whilst sat next to the giant log burner fireplace.

Neither went too crazy on the other after having only been official for a little over two months, but Harry gifts Y/N a new Kindle (she had been complaining for months how hers was out of storage and “soooooooo” slow) and a delicate necklace with a silver ‘H’ pendant dangling from it.

“Not because I’m like claiming you, or some shit.” He hastily explains when he sees the furrow of her brows.”But I just- I know you, sweet girl, and I want you to have a little piece of me wherever you are.” Y/N’s lip trembles at his words and she nearly mauls him with how fast she tackles him with a hug.

“I love it, H. Thank you.”

Y/N in turn gifts him a vintage Fleetwood Mac vinyl that she had scoured every London flea market for and a new sketchpad with some pencils he had been eyeing for weeks but couldn’t justify buying himself.

When the two do eventually return home, Y/N’s phone is hit with an influx of comments from fans wondering where she had disappeared to and, instead of doing the (technically) right thing and answering their questions, she decides her next post will be a picture of the chain around her neck and Harry’s tattooed hand lazily draped over her shoulder and her tattoo on display. Unexplained, but enough to reintroduce herself onto the internet after people not having heard from her for months.

She tags him in the picture, leading to his already substantial following increasing rapidly, his page (‘satellitestudios’) being mostly pictures of his work and sketches, the occasional black and white filtered selfie or picture with a celebrity client (the one he brags about most being Dave Grohl), with the most recent post being a black and white picture of the bottom half of his face, bunny teeth on full show with Y/N kissing his cheek and captioned ‘kissy.’.

Of course her fans go wild, flooding her comments with questions and labels, rumours and timeline theories. She decides they can call it what they like, but she’s happy. So very happy.

[katsukikitten]

@gixxie Thank you for using our services, your date is excited to meet you!

Izuku was so shy with his answers it was almost impossible to pair him with the perfect match until we saw your profile! So when we showed him pictures of you in stellar green outfits he was in love at first sight!

We suggested he take you out on a sunset picnic where the two of you can share a little wine and pizza on an checkered blanket and watch the sun float lazily under the horizon (we even encouraged Izuku to kiss you under the stars if the chemistry was there! Which of course it is duh we are experts in love here!)

Izuku picks you up at the time agreed right to the second. Guiding you to the car and being a gentleman trying not to eat you alive with his eyes as you wear the sexiest green outfit that he's ever seen. Matching his eyes was a smart move because now he's obsessed and more determined than ever to make this the best date of your life.

The spot he picks out is perfect, the weather is perfect, the food is perfect and even the sunset is cooperating and painting you both in such a sweet ethereal glow he thinks he isn't going to be able to wait to kiss you!

With everything from the pizza, the glasses of wine and strawberry lemonade he's made and cutely called love potion, to the cake he picked up from the bakery, everything was perfect. So he takes the chance! Leaning in with a rapid heart beat to kiss you until suddenly a fuzzy black body jumps between the two of you and the another!

Two stray dogs crash your date! Oh no! Gobbling up the two pizzas and their dirty paws trample all over the heart shaped cake. Izuku is quick to shoo them away but by the time it's all said and done there isn't a crumb left that's salvageable.

Izuku could cry!

Looking at as he's about to apologize he sees your shocked face and how your lips turn up into a smile as you comment “Well at least someone got to enjoy that pizza! Glad we could feed some strays.”

He can't help himself when he grabs your face and kisses you! Fireworks erupt behind your eyes and suddenly in real life as the both of you forgot about the summer festival. He asks you on a second date right there and then if you'd like to get some festival food and this time he promises he won't let any strays steal your meal.

See everything worked out just fine!

[tanglesoup]

so i kept saying that i was going to post my oc and now i am after finding all of the art i still have saved on my phone (i have more of them i just haven’t got pictures of it all since they’re on the board that’ll be ordering back). before i give an introduction under the cut i’d just like to give the context that this was for part of my higher art project focusing on design (it wasn’t solely about them it was about a whole game) and the design was for a brand new sonic riders game that also happened to be a crossover with sonic prime which at the time had just released its first season. i’ll give more context in another post featuring other art i had to do for it but this post is about my oc!

everybody meet everett! they use they/them pronouns and they’re a snow leopard!

they live in the caves at the mountain tops of the stellar mountain range protecting their world’s prism shard known as “The Atlas Star” (protecting it similarly to how knuckles protects the master emerald of how thorn rose protects the great green). most days are spent on guard protecting the prism from the only others that they know, those others being the babylon rogues who would love more than anything to get their hands on the shard. they aren’t always alone however as they have a chao companion who often keeps them company while they’re guarding the shard and helping chase away the rogues whenever they get too close. when the day’s hard work is done however everett will sit and stare out at the stars reading them and hoping and wishing on them for good fortune to come.

it just so happens that one of these nights while hoping for good fortune that something peculiar happens to the snow leopard as they watch a blue blur crash into the evergreen forests below the mountain. i wonder what that could be…

i chose the name everett because i saw from multiple sources that it meant “brave” and felt that fit them well having to fight for their shard constantly and put the shard before themself a lot. i’ve also always associated snow leopard with being very brave animals living in the snowy and mountainous conditions that they live in naturally. the name also kind of sounded like mount everest which was also fitting.

when it came to making their design i knew i wasn’t going to go for typical snow leopard colours because this is a sonic oc we’re talking about and hedgehogs aren’t exactly blue in real life. i was either going to go with dark blue or purple spots and i, obviously ended up going for the purple to match the purple present on the atlas star. the blue colour however wasn’t completely lost as that then became their eye colour! their markings were surprisingly hard to figure out and keep consistent throughout their design but i ended up figuring something i felt was good eventually. the star marking on their forehead is really something i should’ve included from the start since everett is really closely connected with the stars (wether that be the atlas star, the stars on their gear or the stars they watch every night) but it didn’t click until later when i needed to fill a blank void on their head. the hair tuft was also another later edition, so late in fact that it wasn’t present in any of the pencil drawings of them. i added the hair tuft purely because they looks strange without having anything on their head and it turned out very cute!

their extreme gear was very simple to come up with as i just wanted to have fun and mess around with the colour scheme for their board since i was stuck without a very varied pallet for sonic and jet. their goggles are the original blue that i mixed for the sonic art i made for the front cover of the box art along with a lighter and darker shade. their gloves have textured grips on their fingers and palms to aid in climbing slopes and rocks easier and it isn’t seen here but their snow boots have paw print markings on the bottoms of them. i gave them scuffed knee pads because i liked the idea that they weren’t a very experienced flier on their extreme gear which has lead to a lot of falls on their knees during their practice attempts. even if they aren’t a good flier though they’re a very good snowboarder.

i loved designing everett and they’re probably the best thing that came out of that art class. i’d like to sincerely thank everett for getting me that B in higher art thank you. even though i don’t take art anymore i’m still going to draw everett because why the heck not, right?

[squideo]

The Magic Behind Disney’s The Little Duck Advert

In this series, Squideo has examined the best ways to turn advertising content into gold. Now that we’ve broken down the eight key ingredients, it’s time to dive deep into some examples of stellar advertising. This week, the advert in question was picked by Squideo’s Creative Director Hannah Bales.

When asked why this particular advert had become her favourite of all time, Hannah said: “I feel that all Disney Park ads are really impactful and meaningful. When I was growing up I remember the advert were the kid loses a balloon and chases it all over the park until he finds Mickey Mouse holding it. The duckling one is the same, it really gives me goosebumps. It’s just so cute!”

Disnetasia 1992

Disney hardly needs an introduction but let’s look into the history of Disneyland Paris. When The Little Duck was released in 2018, the amusement park had just celebrated its 25th anniversary. The European version of Disneyland had its ups and downs since it opened in 1992, with speculation in the early 2000s that it would go bankrupt. By 2022, its 30th anniversary, Disneyland Paris was the most-visited theme park in Europe – yet it has still faced financial uncertainty. In 2014, the Walt Disney Company had to issue a €1 billion bailout as the park faced mounting debts. The park needs at least 15 million visitors every year to make it sustainable, yet in some years it fell short of this goal and in others it barely scraped by.

Part of the park’s initial failure was its uncertain branding. Was it an American theme park in Europe? Would it emulate European or French culture? Before it opened, a notable theatre director, Ariane Mnouchkine, warned that EuroDisney would be akin to a “cultural Chernobyl” and the official opening was marred by protests. In the first nine weeks, almost 10 percent of staff quit. In its first year, the park recorded a $300 million loss and a $920 million loss in 1993. It didn’t turn a profit, small as it was, until 1995. To some, the park seemed doomed.

The Wise Little Disney

From this rocky start, the situation slowly improved for Disneyland Paris but its branding remained an issue. Within the first seventeen years of operation, the park changed its name five times; originally it was called the Euro Disney Resort.

Every expectation the Walt Disney Company had for the park was proved wrong, from the demand for hotel rooms, European cuisine and alcohol, to the duration of guests’ stay at the park. The name was another example of this. For American customers, Euro sounded exotic but in Europe the word was associated with currency and business.

Attendance increased after changing the park’s name and altering some aspects of the experience, but its finances remained shaky. It wasn’t until 2019, that Disneyland Paris recorded its first annual profit in eleven years. Incidentally, the year before, it ran a new advert promoting the park.

Produced by BETC, The Little Duck notably launched a new slogan for the park: Where Magic Gets Real. Described as a short film rather than an advert its accompanying press release stated:

"This film represents an evolution of the brand's communication, moving towards the sort of universal storytelling that the Disney brand embodies. The epic saga, blending together love, humour and courage, is aimed at all of those—big and small—who grew up with a Disney idol whom they still wish to meet one day. Because at Disneyland Paris, magic is for real." 

Duck, Duck, Disney, Goosebumps

The Little Duck received over 4.1 million views on YouTube and was broadcast across Europe in 2018. The following year was the first that Disneyland Paris turned a profit in eleven years. 2018 was also the first year Disneyland Paris exceeded 15 million visitors in several years, although this boom was inspired by 25th Anniversary celebrations.

The impact of The Little Duck cannot be understated, however, and greatly contributed to the park’s present branding. But why did The Little Duck become such a big hit?

Natural Nostalgia

The advert’s main character bears striking resemblance to The Ugly Duckling, which Disney had adapted as a short, animated film in 1939 for its Silly Symphonies series (The Ugly Duckling was the last in the series). The duckling in The Little Duck is white, unlike the typical pale yellow of a real duckling – just like the character in The Ugly Duckling. Even for audiences unfamiliar with the Disney adaptation, the fairy-tale is well known in European culture as it was originally created by Hans Christian Anderson.

Included in the video is the character mascot of Donald Duck from the park, which visitors to any Walt Disney theme park will be familiar with hugging, as well as several pages from Walt Disney's Comics and Stories. The magazine ran from 1940 and had a significant readership as one of the best-selling comic books of all time.

Nostalgia might seem like an odd trait to factor into a theme park advert, since the primary demographic targeted is children. However, when you consider the age of their parents these nostalgic tributes are a perfect way to tap into their childhood memories and encourage a trip to the place that made them: a Disney theme park.

Colourful Character

Mickey Mouse, as the principal Disney character, usually takes the lead in Disney adverts. The Little Duck, however, keeps the spotlight on another classic Disney character: Donald Duck. By breaking away from the expectation that Mickey Mouse will appear in the advert, The Little Duck became more memorable.

It also creates a distinction between the Mickey Mouse adverts that promote the American Disney theme parks, and this advert for Disneyland Paris. One of the park’s biggest issues in its early branding was how the European version differed from its American counterparts. The park replicated many successful aspects of Disneyland California and Disneyworld Florida, but failed to carve out a European image for itself. Common practices in America, like prohibiting the sale of alcohol within the park, proved unpopular in Europe. The food options were primarily American, which meant non-European visitors couldn’t sample different cuisine styles.

The brand needed to put a border between itself and American Disney; ideas could be exchanged but they should have a separate identity. Something The Little Duck accomplished when it chose Donald Duck over Mickey Mouse.

Enduring Emotion

Like Donald Duck, the duckling in the advert is anthropomorphised to create an emotional connection between the character and audience. While the duckling doesn’t talk (barring the odd quack and chirp) or wear clothes like Donald Duck, music and expressions are used to convey its hope, its sadness and its joy. The lack of a talking character or narration, of course, also makes it easier for the advert to be shown across multiple European countries; the continent was the focus for this marketing campaign despite the popularity of the park amongst North American and Asian tourists.

Before the advert was released, the character was promoted on Disneyland Paris’ Twitter account through a series of missing-style posters. That got people keeping an eye out for their adorable main character even before it graced TV screens.

Content Worth Gold

What do you think? What made The Little Duck so successful? Watch the full advert below and let us know in the comments.

Get in touch with the Squideo team today to find out how we can improve your advertising strategy with video production, motion graphics, social media management and much more!

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

Your anthro Ingo where he's all thin and pale and ghostly and he looks almost feral, is. SO. FUCKING. COOL. Dude, dude. He looks so fucked up, I love him, I love him so much. I love all of the rest of them too, trust me, but oh my god. Just, the contrast between him in Hisui and him before he fell is stellar. Fantastic even. And his EARS. His haunted eyes, his canon posture that has new connotations, the way you can see his spine through his coat. The cute aggression is real, I want to shake him around like a dog with a toy and then wrap him in a blanket and cuddle him close.

Wait, no, okay, I'm going a little bit crazy over this. I haven't drawn anything in like two years because of art block, but this. You have ignited a fire with this. So. That is a thing that is currently happening. I hope you don't mind? Who knows if I'll actually finish it, but I've made quite a lot of headway.

But anyway.

I mean, I don't how many more there'd be or if it's just Adaman and Mai in the clan right now that are reptiles, but I do think that historically they produce much, much more than the Pearl Clan, and I don't think Galaxy Team is too likely to have many either. Their populations are just so sparse you probably don't get most than a handful of any given type of animal.

Actually, I wonder if Adaman or Mai would be the one to approach Ingo about it first. Adaman if Irida decided that it was worth asking for help from the Diamond Clan if it meant her friend and warden was able to function better (which I figure she would, if she realized they might know something he could benefit from), or Mai if she just noticed at a warden's meeting that Ingo was struggling, put together why, and felt compelled to offer him some advice. Not sure if Mai would be the type to offer unsolicited help, but she seems like the responsible type and might be inclined to if only because he's a fellow warden.

Oh shit, you're absolutely right. Even though it probably isn't super safe for an arctic animal to visit the mirelands or coastlands during the summer, she and the others still could pass through safely as long as they weren't like vigorously exercising and kept hydrated, and at pretty much all times of the year they'd be okay in three of the five regions. Ingo can only go to like, two safely, and even then it's probably hard for him to go up towards Snowpeak for too long. Good thing it was Melli who got Moonview Arena and not him. Even if that doesn't really feel like a punishment to Ingo, I do think you're right that it'd hurt Irida. It'd probably help that he can still go to Jubilife once he starts wanting to, since at the very least he's able to go do something he has fun doing. I bet that'd actually mean a lot to her, to know that she hasn't basically shackled him to the highlands for his own safety (the irony being what she does in OoP lmao).

Very true, a lot of it could be! That's part of what makes it so fun to think about for me lol

>:3c tysm!! i'm really happy with how that art turned out too, it was actually the last ingo i drew after doing the other sketches (& a bunch of hare studies) and i was like "hmm. this isn't weird and concerning enough. let me make it worse" and there was a point in drawing one of the faces, i don't remember which which, but i like went. ohh yeah i love this man but there is some kind of primal monkey-brain instinct to get very far away before he sees me

MIND?? DO I MIND?? of COURSE not!! i love knowing ive inspired other people! ty!

and yeah, for sure out of all the groups in hisui they would probably have the most reptiles. whereas the galaxy team has the most diverse array of species, and the pearl clan has a bias towards fluffy mammals. the ginkgo guild is probably also a pretty random assortment. (maybe ginter's another goat, though?) so adaman might not necessarily agree that reptiles in general are unlucky, but when he hears about that particular pearl clan tradition there's probably still a "hah, yeah" moment anyway.

awwww the idea of irida approaching adaman to ask for help for ingo... especially if you assume that they're still on kind of shaky ground at that point. and she doesn't necessarily like him, but she's worried enough about ingo that she's just like "screw it" anyway and sets that aside for his sake. mai might care enough to offer her help, but the other question is, would ingo even listen? i feel like it'd require hearing it from someone he really cares about/trusts, like irida, for him to even notice/acknowledge that anything's wrong. before that he'd just be like "well that's good advice to keep in mind for the future or for anyone else i come across, fortunately i'm in perfect operating condition and don't need it. thank you though" and mai's just ... :/

YEAH... i do feel like in this au, irida and ingo are considerably closer than they are in ounce of prevention (not to say they AREN'T close in OoP, just that it's Very Complicated and in this au there seems to be less clan stuff getting between them.) i feel like there's probably also something in this au that means the clan in general is a lot warmer (ha) towards ingo... in my head i've been thinking that maybe lady sneasler was unevolved/young when he arrived and he happened to find and bring her back from having run off into the snow, which is a thing i think i've seen one or two other people do and i enjoy the social implications of lol. it also means that irida and others might be more inclined to see him, maybe not literally but metaphorically, as someone who was sent to help them during this troubled time, since he literally saved one of the noble lines from destruction before they'd even met him. which would just make the fact that hisui is so Objectively Bad for him hurt even worse!

yeah lol, it's like canon-a-bit-to-the-left right now which is really fun to play with? seeing what gets exposed to investigate if that makes sense. also reminding me that i WOULD like to write more cc stuff to do character/lore exploration... hmmm