#also his outfit in this scene is very flamboyant in a kinda way

[eyesthatshinelikestars]

So I’ve recently started a sort of half-rewatch of tteotm (basically skipping scenes that don’t include either of the two leads) and last night I watched episode 7 and it’s got me thinking about how that last scene of Tantai Jin villain monologuing at Ye Xiwu/Li Susu in the boat reads so much differently after having seen the drama as a whole.

The first time I watched it, it’s like I fell for TTJ’s trick. I was like “oh wow, he really is a master manipulator! and I thought he was just a pathetic loserboy!” but upon rewatch you realize that his manipulations were actually just him playing it by ear and trying his best to survive. He hasn’t been planning some big picture scheme - in fact up until Lanan & Nian Baiyu showed up, Ye Xiwu’s acts of kindness were actually getting through to him.

But the incident with Pian Ran activates his biggest insecurity - that everyone will betray him because they all think he’s inherently evil - and turns his resentment back toward Ye Xiwu. So he does what he will do again later on the drama (particularly after the death of the Sheng Emperor) - he lashes out and makes himself out to be The Worst Bad Guy, to be Feared and Hated. But it’s clearer on rewatch that he’s really just a guy who’s been alone all his life, doesn’t really know what he’s doing, and doesn’t understand why everyone fears and hates him.

And idk that makes the scene so much the more endearing to me - like a baby tiger trying desperately to claw his way out of the mess he’s in.

[selarina]

The Ken to whose Barbie?

-> Nanami Kento x Fem!Reader

Summary: He's supposed to be Ken this Halloween, as in Barbie's Ken, but he doesn't think he looks the part. But you insist that he does. He's blonde, he’s literally named Ken, and he's just oh so very handsome.

Tags: halloween party, established relationship, fluff, smut, jealously, alcohol use, spit kink, oral sex (f!receiving), implied (m!receiving) oral sex, kisses on the feet, bath scene, aftercare, she/her pronouns used for reader, unedited

Word Count: 2.5k words

Author's Note: wanted to release this on Friday the 13th but I couldn't :/ Also, sorry the smut was quick. I was horny and then I got un-horny

Read on AO3

"Wow, don't you look... flamboyant."

Shoko walked towards him as Nanami barely smiled. He greets her with a small nod. In truth, he feels absolutely fucking ridiculous in this outfit of his. He's supposed to be Ken, as in Barbie's Ken, but he doesn't think he exactly looks the part.

But you argued he does. He's blonde, he's named Kento, and he's oh so very handsome. Your words, not his. And so, of course, he agreed, albeit his reluctance.

“How have you been, Shoko-san?” Nanami inquires, hoping to divert her attention from his incongruous appearance.

"I've been good," she says, Shoko extinguishes her cigarette against the stone wall with an insouciant flick, her gaze sweeping from his exposed chest to the opulent fur draping him. "Did you lose a bet or something?"

"I do not engage in wagers," he says. "It's imprudent," he remarks.

Shoko smiles, ever so slightly. It's been years and yet some things don't change. She may not have an intimate understanding of him, not really, but she did know he would never show up in such an outfit, or in fact, any halloween outfit.

"It’s because of her, isn’t it?" Shoko probes.

He feels another of wave of chill wind hit chest, noticing the lack of a cigarette in her hand. Maybe she threw it in the bin while he was looking away. He doesn't say anything.

Shoko's expression changes now, and she smiles. He can't think of the last time he's seen her smile. She brings a hand up, placing it on his shoulder. “She’s a nice girl.”

“She is,” is all he says before Shoko pulls out another cigarette, as she vanishes back into the door.

There’s so many words to describe you, Nanami thinks. Nice is one that stands true, but it only really scratches the surface.

There’s so many words to describe you. So, so many but he can barely think of any as you walk towards him.

You're adorned in a tiny pink and white dress, the edges of your skirt just about hitting your upper thighs. And you're walking towards him with a sweet sweet smile. You look pretty.

"You look beautiful," he manages to utter as you draw near.

You leave a soft peck against his cheeks, "Thank you. You look beautiful as well," you move back to give his outfit a look.

"So, now you're taunting me. All after begging me to wear this shitty costume," he says.

"I didn't beg," you frown with a squint. You didn't beg. All you did was call him handsome, and he conceded.

"I can't believe you talked me into this," he says, as he holds out his hand for you, you stretch your hand out to loop yours into his.

Your free hand reaches for your phone, opening a QR code up, so the security could scan it.

"But you look handsome," you say as your hands shift from his forearms to his hand, as you pull him into the crux of the party. And so, he stops grumbling because as he's mentioned before — it's really all it takes from you.

The party scene is not quite what he expected, he was expecting chaos and sticky floor, but it's a bit lax and he can actually hear his thoughts out loud, even though he wishes nothing more than to turn them off now. Because you looks so fucking cute in your outfit, and every time you sit, your skirt rides up — just a little — to reveal your thighs, and he finds himself wishing he could just take you back home. He wants to leave.

No, he needs to leave.

Self restraint has always been one of Nanami's strong suits. But with you, it's always faded to dust.

His first kiss with you happened on a whim, it wasn't planned or anything. He saw you sitting outside on a park bench, on a normal forgettable park bench, and he thought you looked pretty. And so, he leaned in for a kiss.

He then met you days later for your third date, but he could barely let you get past your front door. The dinner reservation had gone to waste, but he just couldn't help himself, you looked too good in your dress.

"Let's leave," he says, bending down to whisper in your ears as you take a sip from your glass.

"What? No," you protest, a soft frown marring your features. "We just got here."

Mirroring your frown, he presses, "But I want to leave now."

He can't help but think about how unlike himself he sounds, he sounds like a child begging for a treat. You could sternly tell him you want to stay, and he'd listen, none too alike to a child.

"Hey," he hears a gruff voice from beside you.

It's a man, dressed in a military outfit, but neither of you know him, at least to his knowledge. He turns to look at you and he confirms the same because you're looking back at him with a similar expression.

"Can we help you?" you ask.

"I know you're dressed as Barbie," the man says. "But I think you're missing wings because you look like an angel."

Apart from the fact that the compliment is just too wordy. Nanami thinks he's pissed because this man has no etiquette, Nanami's hand had been clinging to your waist all night, so what made him think he could come over and hit on you?

But most of all, what pisses him off is that he's not wrong.

"Well, I'm Barbie and Barbie has a Ken so," you say, turning to him and he could swear your eyes twinkled just then.

The stranger persisted, with a chuckle, "Some Barbies have G.I. Joe boyfriends. You should ask my little sister."

Before you can respond, arms encircle your waist, pulling you close to Nanami. "Not this one." His words are curt and final, "Now, leave."

At that the G.I Joe guy's eyes widens, before he wordlessly takes his leave.

And that's all it takes from Nanami to take your glass from your hand before he leaves it on an unoccupied table with a loud clink. He guides your hand into his.

"We're leaving," he says plainly as you nod.

—

Your hands slide to Nanami's neck, and you pull. Your jaw flex as your mouths move. You're so used to his languid movements, that his quick movements leave you reeling.

His torso is completely flush against yours as he lifts you off the ground, still kissing you as he walks to close the front door shut.

Your ankles hook around his back, his hands slide down to grip the undersides of your bare thighs.

It doesn't take too long for him to drop you onto your bed, he quickly takes fur coat off, as he's coming back down to kiss you.

You taste like mint cranberry with a tinge of alcohol remnants around your lips, he thinks.

You cart your fingers through his undercut, before tugging on the roots of the hair above. 

He parts away from you now, and this time he slows down. Not because he needs it, but because he doesn't always act this way, he's not always this harsh with his movements, he loves treating you with soft caresses and gentle grips, but there are times like this where you just bring out a different, more untamed side of him.

You take his headband off, as your hands stay on his hair, but this time you play with it, carding through. You know he's thinking, and you know what he's thinking about.

"Kento," you say, soft as a whisper.

He hums. "Are you jealous of the little G.I Joe man?"

Little.

"Why would I be jealous of him?" he asks, as though you've insulted him by implying so. He admits it pissed him off, he admits there is a strange, more concerning side of him that wishes he could keep you all to himself, that he could keep you away from eyes that could see your beauty, but truly, he doesn't worry about other people much. He has all his faith in you.

"It did annoy me," he says. He bends down, leaving a soft kiss forehead.

And that's the last of his softness for you today, he comes back up. "Open," he says, his thumb grazing over your chewed up bottom lip.

And you do, as you often do, your mouth opens, and your eyes stare up at him, wide and waiting with devotion he can only think of deserving at times like this.

Nanami purses his lips and hocks a glob of spit directly into your mouth, as you swallow.

He pushes your legs apart. He bends down, placing the softest kisses all around your neck, "You're so good to me," he says as you groan in tandem.

His hands move up and down, tracing inconsequential patterns before they go up to tug at the straps of your underwear before he pulls them down your legs.

Nanami moves back from your body, your skirt is bunched up to your waist, and you sit upright as you stare down at him in all of your half-naked glory. It takes merely one look at your face— your lips ajar, your hair mussed, your stare hazy — for him to decide he should be on his knees for you.

His knees hit the ground, and his hands come to hold your oustered foot.

His lips come down to press a steady kiss to the arch of your foot as he maintains a painstakingly unwavering eye contact with your eyes.

Slowly, his kisses move higher. He presses the second one just past your ankles, his lips touching the flexing muscles of your calves. With his kiss, your muscles relax.

And then he moves even more higher to the sensitive skin behind your knees, it's ticklish almost so your toes curl to suppress the sensation. And then finally, he settles, he dedicates some time, stopping to leave more than a few kisses to your inner thighs.

Now as his face remains near your inner thighs, Nanami can’t resist, and he sucks twin hickeys onto each side of your thighs. His thumb coming to trace his work of art, as his eyes come back to find your eyes. His brown eyes entrapping you in place.

For a solid minute, Nanami can't do nothing but stare at your pretty cunt. You refuse to squirm but every time he does this, it makes you feel squeamish and seen, you feel the need to kick off and run away. His warm breath dances over the sensitive skin, and you squirm — just a little, begging for the return of his mouth.

He smears his mouth against your cunt with open mouth kisses. Wet trails of his spit glister in the wake of his lips. He uses his fingers to pinch at your hood until your clit peeks out for him.

“You're so good to me Kento baby,” you whisper.

“Yeah?” Nanami asks. He likes hearing it every time, he asks you over and over and over again, until it's all you can seems to say.

You nod eagerly, "Yeah," you say with a soft gulp.

His hand continued to toy with your clit, your hips bucking greedily against the anchor of his hands at your hips, begging for more pressure, more, more, more. And it's just like him to give you more and beyond.

He moves in again — his tongue to his nose both buried in between your legs, as he laps and sucks on until finally your thighs start to show its very first quiver.

With that he moves, focusing his attention on your clit, he is persistent and needy in the way he moves, like he's a starved and depraved little thing. It's so unlike his usual self, so you commit it to memory every chance you get.

The foot that was once laying limp on his shoulder, now clenches, drawing him closer and closer by the neck with every move he continues to make. He can tell you are going cum soon.

It's the part he commits to memory— the way your hips arc, humping to get what you need to fly over the edge, as your eyes are shut with pleasure.

And you come into his mouth at one consequential contact, he relishes that familiar tang as he laps it all up.

He wipes his mouth with one hand and he looks up to you, you look at him and a quiet moment passes by, he can hear a vehicle outside, making it's way across the road.

And then you break out into soft chuckles, it comes out restrained because you're just so out of breath.

You move to the ground, your hand hitting the ground beside him, you're still breathing heavily as you force him to take your place on the bed.

Your hands settle on his thighs, as you caress it his high from over his pants. You look up, as you reach for his belt. "Your turn now, Kento baby."

—

“Tell me why it annoyed you,” you murmur, punctuating your sentence with a small yawn.

The warmth of the bath makes him feel even more drowsy than he’s been feeling, but this feels too nice to wake up and make or even order dinner.

Nanami lies with his back propped in the bath, his knees are spread, sitting against the bathtub to fit your body. Your back lays warm and wet against his chest, and the crown of your head just below his chin. His hands hold your breasts in each palm, slowly caressing your nipples.

Maybe it's because he's feeling drowsy. Maybe it's because you've drained him of his all his energy tonight, but he speaks up. “I guess, I just want you all to myself sometimes."

"Of course, you do. I'm a catch," you say with a giggle.

Nanami tweaks your nipple, and you squeal. The water around him sloshes over the edge of the bathtub, drenching the mat as you move in his hold.

“You can be cocky sometimes,” Nanami says mournfully.

You laugh, and the vibration of your chest shifts your breasts in his hands. "I am yours though," you say. Sweet as you are, he feels like you have to say this to him, you have to reassure him constantly. He doesn’t think he could just know this, as blind faith or by the look in your eyes.

Nanami may look a man confident of his abilities and status, but with you, he thinks you could do so much better. You deserve more than half-truths, and repressed staggering feelings, and so he needs to hear it

"You are," he says. "I guess it's just odd then."

"It's not," your response is immediate. "I understand."

"You do?" he asks.

"Yeah, did you see the number of women looking at you today?" you say, and there's a hint of agitation there, and Nanami hates to admit it but it does something to him. To have this knowledge that you could even care that much for him.

"I didn't see them," he says moments later when you’re both in bed. You nestle in deeper against his chest, barely awake at all. I only see you.

"I know," you smile, and he feels it against his chest.

[staticseasons]

I finished Oswald's character sheet! He has so many small details on his outfit, it's insane. His coat is supposed to mimic icicles and he has tons of snowflake motifs in his designs. Hey this character sheet also gave me the idea to maybe gave him a ponytail in one of his alternate outfits. Why do I feel like some of the girls on the team would braid his hair? Mmm, food for thought when writing for scenes. So many ideas.

I really wanted his design in particular to scream " Ice Prince " I think I accomplished that. You probably won't see his earnings or the snowflakes on his heels half of the time... I'm sure you're asking " hey Karoline why is he so feminine? " to that I say well he's a prince, he should be kind of flamboyant. Ironically enough, he's probably one of the more masculine characters given his personality. Anyways I had lots of fun designing him, I hope you enjoy.

In my opinion his hair is the most prettiest, though it was very hard to get it not to clip in itself. I hope it was worth it. (ノ-_-)ノ~┻━┻

Man's going to be the prettiest girl in the party.

[drheartstealer]

How about Bartolomeo (or Doflamingo if you'd prefer him) for the "send me a character"-post :)

Thanks for the ask, Anon!!! I'll answer both because I have nothing better to do like both characters. I've cut out bits that don't really apply to the characters.

Bartolomeo

Why I like them

He has an interesting character design, and he's really hilarious. Every time he appears on screen, I know I'm in for a good time.

Why I don’t

I don't really dislike this part about him (because it's funny as hell), but how on earth does he survive at sea?!

Favorite episode (scene if movie)

I can't really remember the specific episodes that he's in, but I like the part where he refuses to let Cavendish into the barrier. He's the kind of dick who's like "if it has nothing to do with Mugiwara-senpai, then it's not my business".

Favorite line

"Granny said it's a bad idea to interfere with nature". xD Dumb man

OTP

I kinda like him and Cavendish.

Brotp

Him and Straw Hat would be pretty good Bros.

Head Canon

He likes meat because it gives his fangs something to sink into, and also because Luffy likes it.

A wish

I hope he appears again in the future and becomes somewhat important in the plot as one of Luffy's fleet members.

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen

Don't die!

5 words to best describe them

Dumbest Best Biggest Fan Boy

My nickname for them

Barty

Doflamingo

Why I like them

God... He has such a deep characterization. It seems like he's more than a regular sociopath/psychopathic character, he does have feelings for his family, and it seems to run deep. The way he thinks is very interesting to figure out, and maybe even a bit alluring (?).

Why I don’t

I also like this part about him, but what really made me think he deserved to be defeated is that... He's ...evil. Every lesson that he has taken should have given him empathy, but instead he just somehow gets a twisted world view from it.

Favorite episode (scene if movie)

I have so many. I'll just go with the part where he cuts off Law's arm and then proceeds to torture Law. Mostly because I like to see Law suffer, and I like to see Doffy being a sadistic asshole.

Favorite season/movie

Dressrosa!!!

Favorite line

"You want to be a pirate, but I want to destroy the world!"

Favorite outfit

I think he looks best in that flashback where he's wearing a suit. His sense of fashion otherwise is a bit.... ..... flamboyant.

OTP

Doffy x Law

Brotp

Doffy & Vergo

Head Canon

He's into daddy kink. xD

Unpopular opinion

I WANT DOFFY TO BE HAPPY!!!! (Real talk, probably my ship Doflaw is the real unpopular opinion there xD)

A wish

For Doffy to break out of Impel Down and take Straw Hat's side in fighting for justice, somehow.

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen

He dies, or sacrifices himself, game over ;-;

5 words to best describe them

Sexy Charismatic Well-built Evil ...and Leghair

My nickname for them

Doffy

[lordeasriel]

fashion recap: his dark materials

hello there! once again i am procrastinating instead of doing things i should be doing, but nonetheless, i’m here today to rant about the fashion choices we’ve seen in the trailers so far. i am, by no means, a fashion expert, i’m more like an aesthetic enthusiast (and as a former literature major, i over analyse everything), and i’m just here to say some of my thoughts on the outfits in general.

i apologise for any definitions of outfits i may have gotten wrong, but writing in english about clothes is tough lol special thanks to @parslow and @cozcat for their help when getting some of the clothings names because my english knowledge does not fare that well.

also, a side note (two, in fact), i talk a lot about colour in here, but something i’ve noticed is that some of the editing makes the same outfit look differently in different scenes, so i’m just pointing out how i see the colours, so it can be divergent in some places and although i did some editing in the photos, i didn’t mess with saturation or vibrancy, only brightness and contrast. another thing, i did my best to make sure the detail were visible, but in some cases the quality of the images were reduced drastically, so sorry for that too. there’s also a chance the read more is broken on mobile, i did all that i could to avoid that, but it keeps on happening and i don’t know what else to do, i’m sorry. here we go:

LYRA’S FASHION JOURNEY

There has been this subtle similarity between the outfits Lyra wears in the show and the ones she wore in the movie, and I think that’s nice, especially how they drained away what they didn’t like about the movie outfits and stayed with what they liked, toning down so it matched their ambiance. The show is, by no means, pale, in fact, it is quite vibrant when we actually look at it, but Lyra stands out beautifully in her colours, be it blue, grey or red.

On Jordan, we see a casual and carefree Lyra, a child used to running around the campus and playing on the roofs, but a kid that was raised in a somewhat backwards society. In Lyra’s world, women do not wear pants under most circumstances, for example, and despite her extremely feral behaviour, Lyra’s fashion abides closely to the social rules.

She wears a red pinafore dress (very similar in tone, perhaps a bit less bright than movie!Lyra) that keeps her feminine label on, visually. Underneath, however, there’s this blouse in a very light sea-green, almost a neutral tone, with a very simple yet delicate print on it.

It’s almost like a coarse fabric, simple, we can see the folds it has and it’s a very large piece of clothing, if we consider it’s very loose on her arms and on her neck. She’s not portrayed as tomboyish (thankfully! the term in itself is very odd) and it’s clear she dresses to be able to play and to run wildly through Jordan in a way that’s comfortable.

We can’t see much, but she also wears white socks and boots or boot-like shoes. Her entire outfit feels as if her clothes were donated to her, such as the boots that don’t seem to be for children, the over-the-top large socks and the blouse; the only thing that seems to fit “correctly” in Lyra is the pinafore dress. Her whole look, even the short, messy hair, screams “neglected child raised by servants when they have time to look after her.” That’s a very Lyra-y mood.

We only see this outfit once, but I’m mentioning it here because it really made an impression on me. This is a dress she wears, apparently, for her dinner with the scholars and Mrs. Coulter. I’m guessing it’s a dress because they wouldn’t dress her any other way for a dinner of such importance. It’s a simple, very worn-out dress, in the most unflattering colour they could possibly find and it also feels like she got it from one of the servants, who got from one of their cousins, who got it from one of their siblings. Her hair is brushed and she looks tidy, in an unflattering dress that is buttoned up to her neck, which I think suits the whole thing (her mother is with the Church and is a fashionable woman, so they wouldn’t dress her in a way Mrs. Coulter could point out as disappointing or inappropriate, although the outfit wouldn’t be to her taste). It’s often pointed out how difficult it was to keep Lyra clean and tidy, and how much effort it was put to keep her good looking for Mrs. Coulter and I love what they’ve done here. Mrs. Coulter died a little when she saw her child in that outfit.

I love Lyra’s dress for the Arctic institute lunch, the patterns are beautiful and colorful, in pastel tones, but still inside the palette. It’s a looser dress, with shorter sleeves, and her hair still hasn’t been done in a more fashionista way, so this is a point of transition, where we still see Jordan’s Lyra while she slowly is falling into Mrs. Coulter’s Lyra and the way their outfits relate is just… it’s just so beautiful. I particularly like the collar, and I did some quick research, apparently it’s a peter pan collar but I can’t be a hundred percent sure of that. We see blues and light yellows/browns, dirty pale pinks but no reds, as if Mrs. Coulter is washing Lyra with bleach hoping to not make the girl a sinner (as in being a worldly woman, if that makes sense, not the fact that Mrs. Coulter wanted Lyra to kidnap children with her - that’s not sinful, that’s entrepreneurship lol).

For all that is worth, Lyra’s outfits tell great things about her as her story progresses. In London, she is slowly being shaped by Mrs. Coulter, turned into a doll and manipulated into her little pet project, and we see it on many levels, but mostly and more importantly, in the way she dresses. The blue satin dress is by far the most glamorous of Lyra’s outfits and it echoes Mrs. Coulter in many ways, from the colour to its cut. The fabric is similar to shot silk, producing a fierce iridescent aspect to it and much like Mrs. Coulter’s, her dress goes a few centimeters below her knee. It’s a high neck collar, and the sleeves go up to her elbows, it’s a demure look, almost church-like if it wasn’t for the flamboyant fabric. It’s like seeing Mrs. Coulter’s imprint all over her, twisting and tainting her child. Lyra never loses her childish appearance though; although the dress feels a bit mature, her shoes bring back a boarding school innocent-like aspect to her, the white socks that are up to her ankles adds to her looking young. She never seems to wear any sort of jewelry too, when compared to Mrs. Coulter who relies on extravagant rings and earrings, or delicate necklaces.

At this point, Lyra is already tired and worn-out, probably because of her confinement to a London apartment. Her hair is done in a tidy, classic way, in a style similar to Nicole Kidman’s Mrs. Coulter (and I did some quick research, it’s inspired on 20s/30s hairstyles), which gives her a certain air of… aristocracy? Maybe a certain flair? One way or the other, when we see her in the mirror, beside a reasonably dressed Mrs. Coulter, it’s easy to notice how she is being manipulated and moulded into her “employer’s” image. Because she is young, her hair is shorter than Mrs. Coulter’s (or the other women) and her dress is longer and definitely less revealing. She evokes the image of children who are forced to behave like tiny adults, you know? These traits in her outfit are opposites for Marisa’s green dress.

When she finally runs away, the dress has some tweakings, around the neck and her waist. They’re frilly, childish and girly embellishments (?), further visual proof of Marisa puppeteering Lyra to shape into her model daughter, washing away any sights of common folk/servant clothings or less feminine pieces.

She is in the distance here, so we can’t sort out many details, but it’s a simple, navy blue/deep dark blue, with a spread collar. It looks very angular, we can almost see the folds with precision, and she wears the same shoes as in the gala dress, with the same white socks, so I’m guessing this happens after she tries on the gala dress (or they’re just using the same shoes, which further scenes seem to back up). Her hair, plus the rest of the outfit, make her look so tiny and childish, with its short sleeves showing what’s left of her carefree mindset, which is so pleasant because that way she fits so well in the large apartment, trapped there whether she knows it or not, slowly becoming something she is not, yet. The white bag contrasts nicely against her dark dress, it stands out. I loved how they mirrored Lyra and Marisa, how their colours echo each other, especially when they live together. It’s creepy. @parslow pointed out the same mirror pattern in her post about Lyra’s fashion in the movie, and it’s honestly the best thing they could do, not only because it makes sense that Mrs. Coulter and Lyra dress similarly due to Mrs. Coulter’s meddling, but also because it shows how they are similar in general. Even as Lyra leaves her mother, their colours and outfits still relate to each other.

The cut on the purple dress is, wow. Look at how we can see the wrinkles (?), how angular and super straight it is. That horrid peter pan collar is a monstrosity on Lyra, when we think of that wild girl running through Jordan, in loose and second-hand clothes, this outfit is a cage on itself. Now she looks like she frequents a Catholic school and it unnerves me. The collar is delicate and chaste, and quite a contrast with the dark purple of the dress. It’s possible to see she wears the same shoes with the purple dress, and there is also a white detail on her sleeves, that also go up to her elbows.

We’re working with partial imagery here, but there’s a lot to say about Lyra’s gyptian clothes. This is after Lyra leaves Mrs. Coulter and once she is with the gyptians, she returns to her original behaviour: proud, careless, picking comfort over glamour. The blouse makes a comeback in a nice pattern, and the red colour from the beginning. Note that she never wears red when she is with Mrs. Coulter, a colour that is often associated with sin and hell, but once she is away from her controlling proxy parent (lol James McAvoy), the red makes a comeback on this shirt and later on her hat/cap/hood.

She wears a blue, denim overall, but I’m guessing it’s another pinafore dress since she doesn’t wear pants or so we assume (I’m not revising all of this, but recent behind-the-scene photos showed us Lyra in very loose pants, so maybe she moves on from her conservative world in season 2, but it’s also possible she wears pants here). So this is a mix of her original look, in darker colours, with a deeper red in a more simplistic pattern. Her outfit comes from the gyptians themselves, who suffer a lot under the tyrannical gaze and influence of the Magisterium, so their fabrics are of lesser quality, their colours are darker but less saturated, their clothing is focused on practicality over extreme quality. Her hair is back to loose and messy, as it was before. Her shirt is just as loose on her neck as the green/neutral one was too, as if it’s borrowed from someone larger than she is (maybe it’s from Billy or Tony, or even some gyptian girl - it’s a tough guess).

I accidentally forgot about this outfit lol but there isn’t much left to say about it. This is Lyra’s uniform from Bolvangar, and this is likely the cabin scene because of the lighting (it’s the same as Asriel’s shots with the blue lighting and the evil talk). Once again, Lyra makes a change of outfits, and once she is back to her actual journey, she has another pinafore dress/overall. This is thinner and is clearly worn-out, but considering she left Bolvangar and got stranded n Svalbard, it’s interesting that they made the choice of giving her another set of overalls. This one matches in colour the blouse underneath, except it’s darker, and the cold tones maker her stand out in the warm lighting of the room.

LORD ASRIEL’S “LESS IS MORE”

I was joking recently about Lord Asriel and his one and only sweater, but truth be told, this isn’t a man who either can afford to or would like to have a varied wardrobe. Asriel is a man that worries about theories and philosophy, he couldn’t care less about what shirt he is wearing and the show seems to get that nicely, and he also doesn’t have much money. As far as we can understand, this is his arrival at Jordan, he has a large bag and an aviator-like jacket, that doesn’t look very formal or indicative of his title. His sweater and shirt are in dark tones, along with the jacket, but he wears warmer tones than the other scholars, who wear dark (if not black) but colder tones. (Except the master and his burgundy gown and that dude with the red stripe (?) like, please sir, I am trying to make a point!). Compare him to Boreal, for example, who is another Lord and the discrepancy is loud and clear, through fabric, cut and style.

He dresses more stoically and more adequately, but we can still see his entire outfit is a bit rough and messy, like Lyra’s. It’s possible to perceive how he stands out amongst the scholars, especially because in the books, he even says to Stelmaria, “There’s probably some ancient etiquette that allows them to fine me a dozen bottles for coming in here dressed improperly”. So although he still is well-dressed, he doesn’t fit in as he should.

Despite mocking his only sweater, he does change his shirt after what I’d say is post-meeting with the Master. He is agitated, eager to leave, and he now wears a light-blue shirt with a darker red tie; he either took a bath or it’s a continuity problem, either way he still has a sweater lmao but this time it’s grey and not a desaturated navy-blue (and closer to the one in his shots in the cabin). Something I noticed about the navy blue sweater scene is that the greys in his hair also seems blueish, so I’m willing to bet he doesn’t necessarily change his sweater and the colour difference is happening because of colour correction on that particular scene. I noticed that the sweater doesn’t look blue anywhere else, so it’s a possibility, but I’m still rolling as if he has two sweaters.

I’m not joking lmao I swear he has like two outfits, three if we take the winter gear into account, which is just him probably wearing a coat over - guess what! - his second (or his first, I don’t know anymore) sweater. He looks messier here, this is the grey sweater, but it looks darker than his second one, but also less blue. My theory is that he lost his clothes during the flood lol He does seem to be wearing a jacket over his sweater, but that seems to be made of the same fabric or something similar, and its collar is larger than the original sweater. It makes sense, though, since he is the middle of Svalbard.

MRS. COULTER’S FASHION ODYSSEY (I mean it)

If there’s a person who needs to be dressed appropriately, that person is Mrs. Coulter. From what we have seen, she arrives at Jordan during daylight in a silky trench coat-style, but there is also a darker scene where she is dressed the same way (from my point of view, I can’t really be sure it is the same outfit) and we can see the Master blurred when she is rising from her chair (I had to cut him out of the photo because of the zoom in, but he is there). I mean, we’re talking about a woman who would NOT wear the same outfit two days in a row, it’s why I’m guessing these happen in the same day, she probably intimidates the Master before having dinner with him and Lyra, because by the end of the dinner he is already aware she wants Lyra. We can see she wears a small, delicate gold necklace, in both these scenes, and I find her coat to be very slick and it has that silky glow to it that fits her so well. It’s flamboyant and nonchalant at the same time, if that is possible.

She comes in a very formal (I’m tempted to even call it frilly) and demure outfit, her heels look simple and humble, black (@cozcat pointed out they could also be navy) and basic, if there was ever anyone brave enough to call Mrs. Coulter basic. She wears a velvet/suede jacket over her silky dress and in the earlier teasers it was hard to notice it, but here we can see it. Then we have Marisa walking down the hall, and a much closer shot where we can see how ABSURDLY detailed the jacket is. There is a very, very flamboyant embroidery with tiny gems all over, in colours that vary from light-blue, turquoise, yellow/golden, and there is some hint of pink and purple, if not red and @cozcat also pointed out there is some beading in it. It’s a very detailed pattern, one that we can see from a distance and that screams “Extra” and “wealthy” from a woman who tries to dress in a very demure manner. It’s beautiful and classy.

The golden necklace, however, is gone or at least we cannot see it, but she wears the same jacket (it’s possible to see the embroidery slightly blurred) on the scene she is speaking to Lyra for what it looks like it’s the first time. There’s something so charming about the way the collar is set, the entire look is very Church-like in my opinion, and I think the colour is just so beautiful and it suits Ruth’s complexion perfectly. (There is also a divergency in colours here, in some scenes the outfits are closer to aqua blue/light teal and in other it’s closer to a deep, dark and saturated blue, but I’m guessing this has more to with lighting other than colour correction).

Here is likely moments before Lyra and Mrs. Coulter leave Jordan College, their creepy dialogue is about Roger, probably. Mrs. Coulter wears an actual trench coat, over her light-blue dress, and she is more earthy toned this time. It’s a very simple outfit, probably a change of colours to make her more relatable to Lyra before London. She still wears her wedding ring, apparently, we can see the gold band in that scene here and when she touches Lyra’s face. After some research, @cozcat found out widows tend to wear their ring on the opposite hand to indicate their status, so maybe that’s what they tried to achieve here, after all she still uses her married name, so it would make sense for her to wear her ring as a widow.

We can see the blue dress underneath the trench coat when Lyra and Mrs. Coulter arrive at her apartment (I tried zooming in, but I basically destroyed the image, so no pictures here). By what I could see, this is the same dress from the scene where she attacks Lyra, or it shares the same colours at the other one at the very least. It seems Mrs. Coulter is carrying a bag on this scene, perhaps they went shopping and this is their arrival, since Lyra wears the same outfit as she did in Jordan and we know a least a day passed between the dinner and their voyage to London.

This is a beautiful, simplistic and classy dress, with a low cut v-neck. Mrs. Coulter entire wardrobe has been toned down quite nicely as opposed her version in the film - hell, even her version on stage. This is a darker, slightly more down to Earth Mrs. Coulter (I’ve stated this multiple times, but it doesn’t hurt to say it again). She doesn’t need to exhale glamour here because her apartment does it for her; hence the softer fabrics, the lighter, pastelish colour, the modest pattern and the minimalist accessories.

Most of her dresses have been below-the-knee length, and I did some research, this is recurrent on 1940s fashion. I like how simple and straight this dress is, her delicate goldish watch (it looks like a watch, anyway) and the subtle necklace are beautiful additions to it all. She also seems to be wearing earrings, but it’s hard to say if they are also golden. Her shoes are also very simplistic, a high heel in snake skin in the most neutral colour she has worn so far. I like the pendant on her necklace, it’s delicate and it resembles a compass rose (or windrose or whatever it is called, I found multiple terms) which makes me quite happy. It’s an ode to her scholarly aspect, and despite her entirely demure and subtle outfit, her jewelry is made of gold. That alone speaks volumes.

I’d like to just make a remark on Mrs. Coulter’s dress in here, because we don’t see it again in the trailer: it’s about the same length as the others, with a slightly similar cut, her v-neck remains and so do the accessories. It’s so minimalist I find it insulting lol but it’s beautiful and very classy. Her sleeves are shorter here and with frilly details, though, and she has a thin belt in snake skin or something similar, that helps make the dress more shape-defining. Storywise, I believe this is the point where Lyra begins to distrust Mrs. Coulter, so they don’t have to conceal much of her nature. She seems less virtuous and demure, she shows more skin, even if she is just with Lyra and two random women. Actually, there seems to be an exponential situation when it comes to showing more skin as the story progresses: the closer we get to Mrs. Coulter’s reveal as “the villain”, the less demure she looks, the more skin we see, concerning her London appearances. (She can’t show her shoulders in the North because, you know, it’s cold).

The amount of thirst generated by the green dress is beyond human understanding lmao It’s honestly the most beautiful outfit Mrs. Coulter wore this far in the trailer, but I’m guessing this is the most Extra she is going for this season. A great deal of her outfits, as far as we’ve seen have a more classy, stoic and chaste approach, even though is all just a ruse to deflect people’s attention from Mrs. Coulter’s nature, be it her shameless seductive behaviour or her nasty temper. This dress has us all fucked up beyond all reason, says @cozcat, and I wish sometimes I could disagree lmao It’s a beautiful cut, the fabric in itself is gorgeous, it’s lustrous and reminds me of satin. The colour is beautiful, it really makes her pop, but I honestly think they should have made it copper or gold, it would really make her stand-out and as Ruth is a brunette, warm tones are just a beautiful match. But the green and gold are classic complementaries of each other, and the embroidery on her collar (?) is just one of my favourite things. It’s pretty yet very simple, and very similar in patterns to her blue jacket from the beginning.

We can’t see its length, but I’m betting on below-the-knee length, as the others, and while talking to @parslow we thought that dress seems to be open in the back. This is the most revealing outfit so far, and if it really is open in the back, even if just slightly, there’s a nice contrast to the long and loose sleeves; it’s a way of her compressing her true intentions and nature. This Mrs. Coulter conceals herself in her wardrobe, plain and simple. Her hair is just as it was before, and there is no necklace here. Instead, she trades her gold watch and necklace for a very big middle finger ring (which I love, by the way, it’s one of my favourite ways to wear rings) and it’s dark gold, similar in saturation and brightness to the embroidery on her dress, and so it’s her earring. For all her simplicity before this moment (this is likely the scene where Lyra runs away), this entire outfit is a change of personality in how Mrs. Coulter is translated to the audience. At this point, Lyra knows she is no saint, in fact she is quite the opposite, so she dresses in a more flamboyant way (also for the party), with lustrous fabrics and exuberant jewelry, honestly, Iorek Byrnison saw that earring from where he was, I can tell you that. Her colours are darker, more vibrant, including the nail polish that becomes a rich dark red as opposed to her vibrant red one when she tells Lyra children just disappear. (They don’t, Marisa, mind your business.)

Now for the red sweater, I have to say, I’m eager to know what kind of pants she is going to wear, because I doubt that outfit is a dress and I doubt they are going to make her wear a skirt in the snow. In the movie she wears a long dress and boots, but they favoured fashion over realism, and the show seems to be going the other way around. It’s why it makes sense for her to wear pants, in my opinion. Mrs. Coulter in red is just sinful, literally and metaphorically; it just suits her to wear red. I love the turtleneck style, and it looks like the sleeves are up to her elbows too. There’s just something beautiful in portraying overly sensual women in demure outfits, because it shuns away that idea that someone needs to be revealing to be sexy and that’s nonsense. And adding to Mrs. Coulter being an agent of the Church, it just fits her character to dress in a more chaste way and still fuck around like she does. Her entire persona is a façade and it can be read through her fashion. We can see the gold ring on her finger again, and she also wears golden earrings, I couldn’t identify if they’re the same as the other ones she wear, but it’s possible. (Except for the green dress one, since that one is bigger).

Lastly, it’s the Royal Arctic Institute outfit, I see it as either a two piece suit or a dress and a matching jacket (would that classify as a two piece? I don’t know, I did some research but found nothing conclusive). This whole scene is beautiful, the colours all harmonise with each other, and Marisa’s light blue, almost teal, it’s breathtaking, I really love that colour on its own, but on her it just… glows. There’s a slight shimmer to the fabric and the fluffy collar gives her an air of quirkiness and sweetness it feels uncanny for someone who knows her entire arc, but translates beautifully how she is seen by most people.

PAJAMA PARTY

Here’s one of my favourite things so far: from all the teasers and trailers, we get to see Mrs. Coulter twice in pajamas, different ones at that. The first one is the white, silky pajamas that she wears in the teaser. It has a strip/ribbon around the waist, tied in a similar way to the blue one, but this one feels more angular, as we can notice on her shoulders and how her arms feel like straight lines from the cut of it. She mirrors Lyra’s pearl pajamas when it comes to fabric, but her outfit seem more like a nightgown, as opposed to Lyra, who wears a two-piece pajamas, with buttons and a spread collar. Her pajamas also feels like a robe, I like how slicky it is.

The second pajamas Mrs. Coulter wears is the dark blue one, in the same fabric or similar to the white one, slightly lustrous. This scene is probably after Lyra left, so her colour palette is consistently getting darker and with more vibrant colours. She seems to fit better in this one, which is a simpler piece of clothing than the white nightgown and it’s just visibly more comfortable, and more suitable to her personality. It’s as if she is finally allowed to be herself at her own home because Lyra is no longer there.

THE WINTER GEAR

We can see almost Lyra’s entire outfit from all of the scenes and it is bulkier than the movie version, clearly intent on keeping her warm in the North, which is, you know, the point. The red colour goes to her hat and gloves, in deeper tones, but not as saturated, yet quite visible and these two items are what make her stand out in Trollesund’s white ambiance. She wears a yellow scarf, in a very mustardy tone, and her coat is similar to Mrs. Coulter’s, as in the same details and the same colour, I dare say even the same cut. Asriel’s seems a bit darker, but it’s probably also the same beige, neutral colour. But Lyra’s coat resembles John Faa’s coat more, especially the clasps (?) in front, while Mrs. Coulter’s coats relies on buttons and a thick belt, which is a more feminine choice.

As Lyra goes to the North, saturation is left behind, traded for darker colours and neutral ones, as if to blend in with the landscape, but the colorful items really make her pop and it’s a nice way to identify your main character without trying too hard. She wears a very robust pair of boots, and we can see she has very thick socks (?); her pants are also very thick and of second-hand fabric, but it looks warm. Her red gloves have nice, colorful patterns, and underneath her coat we can see she wears some sort of blue sweater or maybe a cardigan (we can the tip of her sleeve in the square).

There’s nothing special about Asriel’s or Marisa’s winter gear, they both seem to wear similar coats, Asriel’s is a bit more rustic, but probably because it’s tailored for a man or because he got it in the North instead of Brytain. He also has goggles, which is honestly too cool for me.

A REMARK ON HAIRSTYLES

Taking into consideration what we’ve seen so far, Marisa’s hair stays the same throughout the first season. It’s a beautiful hairstyle, very classy and demure, but it’s the same. Asriel’s hair changes in length but I wouldn’t say it changes much in style. Lyra is the only one who suffers from a change during her time with Mrs. Coulter, then she returns to her old Jordan style. They seemed to have gone opposite to the movie: while Mrs. Coulter had shorter hair there, indicating maturity and she also had a constant 20s/30s hairstyle of a glamorous woman of that time, and Lyra had longer hair, curly and loose all the time, the show goes the other way around. Mrs. Coulter has longer, more voluptuous hair, that takes longer time to get done and it’s always done in an impeccable hairdo, while her daughter has a shorter, playful and childish hairstyle, that it’s easier to wash, brush and to keep tidy for her uncle’s visits, whenever necessary, because it is a necessity.

BOLVANGAR’S COLOUR PALETTE

This is just a quick note; the nurses all wear aquamarine blue and white caps, while the children wear light-teal pajamas, in soft and thin fabric. Lighter tones, especially blues, tend to mean innocence and purity, which is why all of Bolvangar’s victims wear variations of blues and light colours (light teal for the actual victims which is the children, darker blues for the brainwashed nurses who are also victims, in a sense). We can’t see the doctors, but I’m guessing they wear grey or black, which is a neutral position, underneath the white coat (that means purity, in this case a false purity to cover their darker, shady intentions), while Mrs. Coulter wears a deep red outfit, which is a colour associated with sin, wrath and hell, as I mentioned before, but also fierceness, passion and lust. A quick reminder that Mrs. Coulter also only wears red after Lyra is gone, and she also wears red in a Magisterium building, like, come on, that had to be intentional. They put a sinner dressed in red in the middle of a religious building where everyone is dressed in black (she is also besides a priest lol).

I also wanted to talk about Mrs. Coulter and her red outfit, but because it’s so distant, we can’t see much, so I’d rather wait for better footage than just ramble about her red hat now lmao.

And this is it. I only focused on the main trio because they have more footage and I’d rather have more on Lee and the gyptians to have more to talk about. Sorry for the long ramble lmao give Lord Asriel a new sweater 2k20 (please make him wear a linen shirt with rolled up sleeves, i never asked for any fucking thing).

[comicteaparty]

January 13th-January 19th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from January 13th, 2020 to January 19th, 2020.  The chat focused on Verse by Sam Beck.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Verse by Sam Beck~! (http://versecomic.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PDT), so keep checking back for more! You have until January 19th to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

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

QUESTION 2. What do you think caused the past civilizations and magic to all but disappear from the world? Do you think magic’s return is really in the world’s best interest, or will it lead to more harm than good?

Comic Tea Party

QUESTION 3. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 4. How do you think Fife will change throughout the story, and do you think he will find the strength to protect the people he cares about? In what ways will his own story continue to affect Neitya and her goals?

Comic Tea Party

QUESTION 5. What has been your favorite illustration in the comic so far? What specifically about it do you like?

QUESTION 6. Given the themes of trauma, which character’s depiction of dealing with their own past trauma stuck out to you the most and why? Do you think as a whole each character will learn to better manage their trauma, and how can seeing this help us?

Tired Programmer

I'm sorry for a stupid question, because I'm a newbie here. Are we supposed to discuss these questions here or they are just an ideas for commenting the comics above?(edited)

RebelVampire

They're just ideas. Most people tend to follow the questions, but if you have anything else you'd like to discuss regarding the book club comic for the week, you're more than welcome to. @Tired Programmer

RebelVampire

1) My favorite scene is probably the one where they have Neitya open the gate. There's a lot to like about the scene. First, the art and the composition. The way its composed and paced has a real sense of intensity, so you can really place yourself in the other characters' shoes as they watch this unfold with anxiety. Plus, the glowy bits of magic used add a real mystical element as well. In terms of story, though, I love that this scene simultaneously answers a lot of questions while not answering them at all (and opening more). It's a real interesting blend of baiting the reader in with answers but keep them wanting more. Since in this case, I have a good idea of what happened, but want more elaboration that I know will come in due time. 2) I feel like the past civilizations loss of magic is because of them. Just as were seeing people in the current time want more and more from magic, to the point of challenging what is ethical for the sake of progress, I feel the past civilizations were the same. And that someone did something so grievous it caused magic to just go out of control to the point it dried up from the world. As for magic's return to the world being more good or bad, probably more bad if the current characters are any indication. Like magic isn't inherently bad at all. But you'll always have people like Branca who wants to push the limits and has a "never enough" attitude about it. So as people view magic in the world currently, I feel they can only go down the same path unless they learn some hardcore lessons about that.

3) My favorite character is probably Fife. I like how hard Fife tries and how hard it is for him to actually improve. And while I feel in a lot of stories his slow character growth might be tedious, I actually find it works a lot. Cause the traumas Fife has are very real, and everything we've been shown makes the pace of progress make sense. So I kind of enjoy seeing a character who is so close but just keeps missing the mark cause growth and change are hard. Also, Fife is adorable. So there's that too. 3) I think eventually Fife will find a better way to manage his fears and traumas, because insofar, Fife strikes me as the type to at least try to push himself into situations that make him uncomfortable. So I think eventually he'll find the strength of skill and character he's looking for. It's just gonna be a long journey and not anytime soon, but I think the current situation will kind of demand the change from him. As for his affect on Neitya, I actually think he'll serve an important role of grounding her. Neitya seems like she has a big chosen one destiny ahead of her, and between magic training and looking for answers, I think she'll often forget to take a step back and remember there are others around her who care about her and are affected by her choices. And I think Fife will help serve as the main figure that pulls her back and helps her through things emotionally speaking in certain regards.

RebelVampire

5) There's a lot in my favorite scene to choose from, but I'm gonna go for this page's middle panel http://www.versecomic.com/comic/197 I love love love that slow crawl of the text glowing. Like, I can picture it in my head. And I love that not only was it thought to be done like this, but just that simple choice adds so much to the mysticism of the moment as well as to the feeling of movement for the whole scene. <3 6) For me, it's Fife's trauma that stuck out to me the most. This ties into an earlier answer about how Fife tries. His trauma isn't something he wants, nor is it something he's purposely trying to let affect him. But then theres moments like this http://www.versecomic.com/comic/99 where is just springs up and he freezes. And then he's mad that he let that happen. And I feel like this is a really good characterization of trauma in general. Most people don't want to have trauma or deal with their trauma. It just happens, and it takes a long time to be okay either with the trauma or the fact that the trauma can have negative affects. As a whole, though, I think the characters will all definitely come to better terms with their current traumas (partly because they'll probably have new traumas). But I feel like dealing with the consequences of the gateway is gonna teach everyone stuff about themselves and force them to step up and learn to bite the trauma down to do what needs to be done.

Eightfish

1/5. I liked this page:http://www.versecomic.com/comic/29 I think it does a great job of making the world feel big The cityscapes look amazing as well: http://www.versecomic.com/comic/81 http://www.versecomic.com/comic/64 They have so much personality to them. They feel like unique, lived in places I can feel that the artist has such a love of landscapes

Comic Tea Party

QUESTION 7. Which characters do you enjoy seeing interact the most? What about their dynamic interests you?

QUESTION 8. What do you think the Vel really are, and how do they tie into the gates? Do you think the Vel can be stopped for good, or is it something that will plague the world no matter what the characters do?

DaemonDan (The Demon Archives)

(finished reading Verse, will try to add some answers today/tomorrow!)

SAWHAND

(Same! Verse is a HUGE fav of mine! I just need to do a quick flip through to refresh, but this week has been ultra busy so far)

Comic Tea Party

QUESTION 9. What sorts of art or story details have you noticed in the way the comic is crafted that you think deserves attention?

QUESTION 10. What is your opinion on Magdalena’s change of heart to legitimately help Branca open a gate with Neitya? Do you think her actions justified or foolish? Also, how will the dire events affect her given her role in it?

RebelVampire

7) I probably enjoy seeing Fife and Azar interact the most. I enjoy the kind of mentorish bond they have despite them kind of being opposite sorts of people. And I also like just in general how understanding Azar is of Fife and doesn't really ridicule him that much for his screwups. And I think of the relationships in the story, its the one I find to be the healthiest in its own way. 8) Given how much the entire thing Branca did felt like necromancy, I'm gonna go with theyre defiled souls. Potentially, they could be the old civilization at large. I know it was mentioned that the Vel existed back then, and maybe the more they messed with magic, the more Vel came about until that's all that was left. Until someone armageddoned them out of the world or something. As for whether they can be stopped for good, probably not. Granted I'm sure they can learn to deal with them better and quell their levels to non end of the world levels. But I think in the end they're just part of the world as corruption is part of the world.

9) I really love a lot of the details on the clothes. Like you've got patterns, you've tassle-like things, fur, etc. There's a lot of effort put into some of the smaller details of the clothing that I really think makes a lot of the outfits feel really unique. I also like how each outfit kind of expresses the character's personality such as Branca's dark wardrobe compared to Azar's more flamboyant wardrobe. So there's just a lot of consideration and effort that was put into making the clothing feel impatctful. 10) My opinion of Magdalena is wtf. XD 100% foolish. She did not consider at all the potential consequences at all and grasped way too hard at the hope straw that maybe it'd make things better. That, and curiosity. I can't justify anything she did from an outsider's perspective cause there were just too many what ifs she willfully ignored. Not that I dislike her or anything of course. But she dun goofed. I feel like Magdalena knows this though, and the events are gonna mire her with grief and guilt as she accepts more and more the hand she had in causing this. And she'll be that much more motivated to make it right, probably to the point of recklessness.

Comic Tea Party

QUESTION 11. What do you think are this particular comic’s strengths? What do you think makes this comic unique? Please elaborate.

QUESTION 12. What do you think happened to Branca after the city was overrun? Do you think Branca will continue to be a threat to the world, or might have the events changed how Branca intends to achieve the cult’s original goals?

Comic Tea Party

QUESTION 13. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

QUESTION 14. Do you think Neitya will learn to control her magic? If so, how might she be able to fix the current situation with the gate and the Vel? Also, what do you think will happen when she meets Fife and the others again?

RebelVampire

11) I think this comic's strengths are in its designs, both visually and story-wise. There's an interesting world with its own unique problems that different from our own. The visual presence of the world is stunning, from forests to full-blown cities. The characters have a great sense of visual style and everyone looks really unique and identifiable. Just overall, everything is really designed well for a nice, overall high quality experience. 12) I think Branca probably escaped and is still gonna pursue her ends of bringing magic everywhere. I imagine, though, that she's gonna lay low and figure out wtf Neitya did in the first place and how she can use everything to her advantage. I kind of...doubt Branca will change. She seems too power hungry that even a bunch of Vel aren't gonna deter her methinks.

13) I am looking forward to learning more about the past civilization's downfall and how that still has strong ramifications in the present story's world. I feel there is gonna be some sort of epic reveal at some point that will change every character's perspective on why the world it is the way it is and their relationship with magic. 14) I think Neitya will learn to control her magic. I think even without the voices helping her, she's probably a natural and will pick it up quickly. Though probably there'll be a few things that give her endless frustration. As for fixing the current situation, the most obvious solution would be to close the gate thing opened. But I feel they're gonna go for the harder solution of learning to deal with the Vel instead. I kind of feel like Fife and Neitya will be happy to see each other, but everyone else, not so much. I think there's gonna be lots of trust issues on both side that need to be resolved, so I'm expecting tension.

twothirty

wanted to pop in and thank @RebelVampire for hosting the bookclub and providing such wonderful questions (and answers!)

Comic Tea Party

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

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

Read and Comment: http://versecomic.com/

Sam’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=722594

Verse’s Merchandise: https://hivemill.com/collections/verse

Sam’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/_twothirty

[emperor-uncarnate]

My Personal Take on a Sonic Movie

Somehow I knew I’d eventually end up doing something like this. With mixed feelings on the new trailer I had to ask myself what I would do if faced with the task of putting together a Sonic movie myself. Grab a chili dog because this might be a long read:

Before I get started, know that I’d make it fully animated. I am of the belief that some things just cannot translate to live action without losing too much of what makes them cool. Sonic with his weird little outfit, chunky cones of quills, and single giant eyeball can’t not be cartoonish. No two ways about it.

The film opens with some small animals hanging out in Green Hill Zone just doing what they do. Seems peaceful enough until a large Badnik swoops in and swallows up some of the unsuspecting critters. The menacing robot is about to haul its animal prisoners away when a blue blur rushes to their rescue. Sonic triumphantly chases the Badnik down, wrecks it, and frees the captured animals trapped inside. After showcasing what his great speed is capable of, the chase/fight scene leaves Sonic at a vantage point from which he can see where the animals were being taken: Robotropolis... aaand... title screen. 

Cut to a bustling urban area styled to look like 90′s San Francisco. People are out and about living their lives under a summer sun. No trace of animal life in sight besides pigeons and pets. This is where we’re introduced to our human lead who we’re going to call Chris (because I don’t care to put thought into it and he can be named after Sonic X’s Chris or Christian Whitehead) who is spending his morning getting ready for work. He can still be played by James Marsden, that’s fine. Anyway Chris meticulously puts himself together for the day in a suit and tie, indicating he’s a real clean-cut, straight-laced guy. The news on his television playing in the background is going on and on about one Doctor Ivo Robotnik and the rapid expanse of his empire. Robotnik is established by the broadcast as a genius inventor of artificial intelligence and advanced robotics who defected from the human civilization to begin his own fully-mechanical one.

Chris heads off to work where we learn he is an agent of the Guardian Unit of Nations (G.U.N.) and is being briefed for a mission with his covert team. With Robotnik’s growing forces posing a threat to the human population, G.U.N. intends to infiltrate one of Robotnik’s island settlements and figure out what he’s up to. Disguised as a team of nature photographers, Chris and his fellow agents travel to the series of islands Robotnik controls and begins their search for one of his secret laboratories. 

It isn’t long before Chris’ team is ambushed by a squad of Robotnik’s mechanical soldiers. The agents are easily subdued and captured by the more heavily-armed robots but Sonic arrives in time to save Chris. Though the rest of his team is captured, Chris is rescued and passes out from exhaustion or getting hit in the head or whatever.

He wakes up some time later to discover a small two-tailed fox watching over him. Initially startled to discover an anthropomorphic creature speaking English, Chris explains he did know about talking animals existing outside of the human civilization but he’d just never met one before. So yeah, this isn’t a story about Sonic traveling to the real human world or of a real human traveling to Sonic’s world; this is a place where animal people and people-people already exist together but almost never cross paths mostly due to geography. Humans have their cities while the hedgehogs and foxes and whatever else live in the wilderness or in small communities. 

Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles “Tails” Prower introduce themselves. Although Sonic was the one to actually rescue Chris it was Tails who got Sonic to stick around and wait to make sure Chris woke up alright. Sonic’s attitude comes across as impatient, not really caring much about Chris and instead desiring to speed off and continue his mission. Tails, however, is curious and compassionate to Chris who turns out to be banged up but well enough to walk. 

Chris is given the chance to introduce himself too but chooses not to reveal he’s actually a G.U.N. agent. He keeps up the charade that he’s just a simple photographer and it turns out to be a safe call: As it happens, Sonic and Tails are not crazy about G.U.N. and its methods. The two accuse G.U.N. of polluting the environment and stealing land from their animal friends. This gives us the sense that while G.U.N. isn’t villainous like Robotnik, it is in no way an ally of nature. Chris feels guilty as he’d never considered what the humans were doing that negatively affected the animal folk around the world. 

When Chris learns Sonic and Tails mean to go after Robotnik he offers to join them on their journey. Sonic resists, not wanting to be slowed down by a human, but Chris convinces them he needs to find out what Robotnik is up to so he can warn his fellow humans. Tails uses his little brother ability to guilt trip his honor-bound big brother Sonic into accepting Chris and the three set off together. Since Chris can’t move like a supersonic hedgehog or a flying fox they head towards Sonic and Tails’ home where another mode of transportation awaits them.

Meanwhile, Robotnik makes his grand entrance and introduces himself to the squad of undercover G.U.N. agents his foot soldiers captured earlier. The agents assure Robotnik holding them for ransom will be fruitless but the scheming villain states he has more significant plans for them. The scene ends with an attendant of the flamboyant doctor informing him “another one has been located.” You might be thinking that’s referring to a Chaos Emerald and to that I say ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Back to Sonic and company as they encounter some lesser Badniks... this is where your Crabmeats and your Buzz Bombers come in. Sonic and Tails bust them up (though Tails lags behind a little and is upset he needed Sonic to pick up the slack) and free the animals sealed within, getting Chris to ask why Robotnik would create such machines. The duo expresses that it is because Robotnik (who Sonic mockingly refers to as “Eggman”) must be looking for something and that sending Badniks out into the world is his way to find it. This is when we learn of Robotnik’s roboticization technology that changes animals into robot animals. This scene also serves to show a little more of how Sonic and Chris’ personalities clash; Sonic is carefree, hasty, and won’t hesitate to poke fun at Chris as he struggles to keep up. Sonic’s teasing Chris to speed up while Chris is advising Sonic to slow down now and again.

Eventually the trio makes it to the small hanger that houses the Tornado. They intend to use the rocket-boosted biplane to make way to Robotnik’s hidden lab (though Sonic reiterates he’d prefer running) but they are cut off by an obnoxious intruder. Knuckles the Echidna causes a ruckus outside that prompts a quick tussle with Sonic. The blue hedgehog’s speed clashes with the almost comically formidable strength of the red echidna while they argue. Apparently Sonic’s conflict with the Badnik at the very beginning of the movie drew Knuckles’ attention away from the Master Emerald, a hulking jewel of immeasurable importance he was supposed to be protecting, and it is stolen by an unknown thief as a result. Sonic insists it was Knuckles’ own fault for not keeping a closer eye on the Master Emerald but the thick-skulled echidna won’t listen. While they both believe Robotnik to be the culprit it doesn’t stop them from trading blows.

They slug it out until a new Badnik arrives and interrupts them with whirring chainsaws and blazing flamethrowers. This destructive robot clearly made for deforestation puts up a good fight but is ultimately taken down by Team Sonic thanks to Tails’ engineering prowess coming through in the clutch. Between that and getting a closer look at the Tornado, Chris is impressed that such a young fox could have such an impressive intellect. He notes that it is not common knowledge among humans that the animal folk could be so smart. Apparently the humans see the animal people as more animal than people, but this isn’t news to Team Sonic. It seems they’d always been disregarded by humankind or otherwise seen as uncivilized. What racists.

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Chris talk things out and piece together some information to get an idea of what Robotnik’s after: the Chaos Emeralds. According to Knuckles there are six Chaos Emeralds that are linked to the Master Emerald and they contain mysterious powers even Knuckles himself isn’t aware of. Chris notes that Robotnik’s recent increase in military fortitude may be due to his possession of one or more of these Chaos Emeralds as power sources. 

When Knuckles says he might know the location of a Chaos Emerald, the gang decides to split up. The Tornado was conveniently damaged in the fight against the last Badnik so Tails and Chris stay behind to repair it. Sonic and Knuckles volunteer to head into the mountains with the hopes of recovering a Chaos Emerald from a temple there.  Elsewhere, Doctor Robotnik gazes down at the five Chaos Emeralds it turns out he’s already collected. He sends a group of Badniks to the mountains to recover the sixth Chaos Emerald he’s located (not knowing Sonic and Knuckles are already on their way there) while he gathers his G.U.N. prisoners for an experiment. Here he reveals his roboticization machine had previously only worked on animals but its latest iteration could also affect humans. Robotnik activates the machine and the G.U.N. agents are painfully converted into subservient robots one by one.

Tails and Chris have some downtime they spend venting. Tails is discouraged because he’s not as good a fighter and still needs Sonic to protect him. Chris reminds Tails that one, he’s still a child and will become stronger as he grows up more, and two, that his brains are a much more valuable asset anyway. Then Chris himself gripes about Sonic being right about him needing to loosen up, and Tails tells him it’s not so bad to wing it and take risks sometimes. It’d be cool if this was also where Tails got to telling Chris about how he first met Sonic. You know, for exposition. 

Cut to the mountains where we get an opportunity to see the fun ways Sonic and Knuckles travel up the steep cliffs using their powers. They’ll also have a chance to fight the big ass flying Badnik Robotnik sent before they do indeed find a Chaos Emerald, perhaps one that’s not green. I want Sonic to ask something like “if it’s an Emerald, why isn’t it green?” so Knuckles can say “not all sapphires are blue” or something to that effect. I imagine Knuckles to be a little dense but not unintelligent, if that makes any sense.

Sonic and Knuckles return to find Robotnik himself patiently waiting for them. Having already ensnared Tails and Chris, Robotnik offers their freedom in exchange for the last Chaos Emerald. Knuckles accuses Robotnik of stealing the Master Emerald, which he scoffs at and denies. Robotnik also announces that he knows Chris is really a G.U.N. agent, much to the surprise of Team Sonic. I think this scene should also briefly address Sonic and Robotnik’s dealings in the past: Sonic’s destroyed some of Robotnik’s machines before this moment but he’s never gotten the chance to battle Robotnik himself. As it stands, Sonic’s barely on the mad doctor’s radar and he’s presently seen only as a minimal threat.

After agreeing to the exchange and getting Tails and Chris back, Sonic makes a reckless move to go after the Chaos Emerald and runs straight into a trap. Robotnik captures Sonic and ferries him and the last Chaos Emerald back to Robotropolis while Tails and Knuckles are left with Chris. Tails feels hopeless without Sonic around and Knuckles won’t trust Chris since he was outed as a secret G.U.N. agent. All seems lost until Chris admits his guilt and apologizes in an emotional rant. He promises that if they can beat Robotnik he’ll do whatever it takes to get humankind to be more environmentally not shitty to the animal folk. The genuine nature of his speech sways both Tails and Knuckles who fire up the Tornado and get ready for action. The three of them are dead set on getting Sonic back and keeping Robotnik from using the Chaos Emeralds. The forests and jungles slowly turn to wastelands which in turn become rusted industrial parks as far as the eye can see. The Tornado zooms into the polluted skies of Robotnik’s manmade nation using some stealth modifications Chris was able to put in place. The spy tech begins to fail as they get close, however, and Robotnik scrambles a pack of fighters to shoot them down upon noticing them. Tails and Knuckles hold them off in some aerial combat while Chris crash lands the Tornado into the heart of Robotnik’s lair. 

Sonic is in locked in some kind of sciencey tube (which is busy scanning his DNA and designing Metal Sonic... but we’ll save that for the sequel) until he’s broken out and the four heroes are reunited. Robotnik defends the six Chaos Emeralds he’s collected and villain-monologues his plans to use them with his roboticization machine to turn everyone on the planet into robots. Perhaps Robotnik will rant a little about the shortcomings of organic existence and why he believes machines will be the superior form of life on the planet, yadda yadda.

Getting Sonic free is a small victory but now the quartet of protagonists is cornered by Robotnik and the roboticized G.U.N. agents. Chris reminds Sonic he can’t destroy the robot agents if there’s any chance they can be transformed back into flesh and blood, causing Sonic to have to learn his lesson and not rush without thinking into scrapping them. He takes some of Chris’ advice from earlier in the movie and coordinates rounding the agents up in a slower, safer fashion... somehow. Doesn’t matter, the point is that Sonic learns something over the course of the movie. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles start fighting Robotnik as he pilots a giant mech suit resembling a modernized Death Egg Robot. Tails tinkers with something (insert ‘tiny character with giant guns gag’ here), Knuckles smashes shit, and Sonic literally runs circles around the thing but they can’t fend off such an imposing boss for long. This is where Chris takes Sonic’s advice and attempts to do something uncharacteristically heedless and batshit crazy to win. I’m thinking he gets hold of the contraption containing the Chaos Emeralds and flings it at the Death Egg Robot, causing them to become unstable and explode. The six Chaos Emeralds scatter to the winds in a big rainbow burst that starts causing the whole place to go down in flames. Actually, wait, make it so Knuckles catches one Chaos Emerald (for later).

The roboticized agents regain their free will with the core of Robotropolis failing and board a transport being hotwired by Tails. Chris falls down an opening in the floor into an abyss but Sonic swipes the Chaos Emerald from Knuckles and takes off at full speed to catch him. The Chaos Emerald glows and Sonic’s speed increases to the point where he looks like he’s boosting. He manages to be fast enough to reach Chris and save him from falling to his demise but they both wind up being trapped by the remainder of the building’s collapse. Sonic and Chris close their eyes as they’re about to be crushed but open them to find they’ve been magically transported to safety. They look down to see the Chaos Emerald’s glow fade and can only assume its power was what saved their lives. 

In the aftermath of the battle, Tails is using the Chaos Emerald in Team Sonic’s inventory to track the other ones. Sonic, Knuckles, and Chris are rebuilding the Tornado’s hangar. Sonic is glad to know the roboticized agents are underway to be returned to normal. Knuckles laments the Master Emerald was nowhere to be found in the ruins of Robotropolis. Chris is explaining what action he’ll take upon his return to G.U.N. headquarters that will improve relations between human and animal kind. Team Sonic is cool with that gesture and they thank Chris as their new (and respected) ally. 

Chili dogs is what’s for dinner and everything seems swell until Tails suddenly draws everyone’s attention to his tracking device. According to its data, there aren’t five Chaos Emeralds left to find but six. There were seven Chaos Emeralds total all along but neither Knuckles nor Robotnik knew that (this is our hint at Super Sonic’s appearance in the sequel and a reference to the fact that there were only six Chaos Emeralds in the first game).

Speaking of sequel, the last scene before the credits will be Doctor Robotnik miraculously aboard a space station hidden in shadow. The station is under construction and resembles a Death Egg in progress. Very Revenge of the Sith. His assistant will say something something and with a crazed look in his eye he’ll be like “No, from now on... call me Eggman” and embrace Sonic’s name for him. This will mark a shift in his motivation moving forward: the only thing he wants next to world domination itself is defeating that pesky blue hedgehog.

But yeah, there’s got to be an after credits scene, right? Cut to the Master Emerald being carted away by none other than Nack the Weasel (Fang the Sniper if you’re nasty). 

I imagine the sequel will have Team Sonic reuniting with Chris and a newly introduced Amy Rose (the classic design) to storm the Death Egg and take on Eggman once again. Sonic will have a high-speed duel with Metal Sonic while Tails and Knuckles square off against Nack, who has been hired by Eggman. Metal Sonic uses the Master Emerald to become a raging monster but Sonic uses the seven Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic and whoop Metal’s ass. I guess during all this Chris will tango with Eggman himself in some kind of human versus human fight (which somehow seems blasphemous in Sonic media). Amy’s there for comic relief. I’m gonna stop myself here before I do a whole ‘nother one of these hypothetical story posts. And then a third one following the events of Sonic Adventure. And a fourth one following Sonic Adventure 2. 

THE END

[lin-hamuel]

The first is the stage, and the second is from where we were sitting. 

I saw Hamilton in London on 16/12/17 with the original West End cast and god damn was it phenomenal. Obviously it was a dream come true to see something I’ve hardcore listened to since 2015 come to life in front of me, but the whole show is bloody fantastic as a production in itself. I can guarantee you that you could go to see it having never heard of it before and you would still have been blown away.

noteworthy stuff that lifted my soul: 

~ Hamilton was bLOODY tall. (Jamael Westman is 6′4″ damn) It actually suited him really well, especially during Aaron Burr, Sir/My Shot when he was jittery and slightly awkward and restrained but clearly excited. As the show went on there was this major contrast as his movements became more fluid and loose and extravagant as Alexander rose to prominence man even the body language was great

~ also: his voice was so smoooooth. Most of the cast had smoother voices/singing styles than the OBC - like, nearing Philippa Soo quality - and it made the listening experience so flipping pleasurable

~ another surprisingly smooth singing voice: Rachel John as Angelica!!! I love Renée but Rachel blew me away with how damn clear and incredible and almost polished her voice was. she could have been Eliza imo (her acting and portrayal of her frustration and pain in Satisfied was STELLAR) but she was a fantastic Angelica and I am in awe of her talent

~ I was never super into Laurens from the soundtrack alone but my GOD he is MARVELLOUS live. singing? perfect. acting? amazing. 

~ Lauren’s death was PHENOMENAL. Cleve’s voice was beautiful and he stood illuminated in the right hand corner of the stage as Eliza read the letter to him. Alexander looked broken. The pause between Eliza and Ham speaking stretched on for a little bit and in that silence you could hear a pin drop. 

~ Mulligan was perfect and everything you could possibly want 

~ King George III was great. doing a smug lil dance with his cane / reading the pamphlet in the Reynolds Pamphlet. in What Comes Next? he sang “i’m so blue” and stamped his foot and the lighting went blue. everyone laughed like they were hearing the jokes for the first time

~ Yorktown was fucking cool

~ Burr’s ACTING. EXPRESSION. MOVEMENT. AMAZING. His voice was higher pitched than Leslie’s and it worked really well for the emotional/humorous scenes. His portrayal of Burr is certainly quite different to the OBC (It’s far more frantic and emotional if that makes sense?) but it’s still fantastic and really interesting and refreshing to watch 

~ it took me a while to warm to Eliza but boy did I. I think Rachelle has a pretty tough job as people’s expectations are v fixed around the earth-shattering job Phillippa Soo did (mine included tbh) but she was so good. Helpless was adorable and stylish and perfectly lighthearted and she carried that through the show UNTIL Burn (midnight blue lighting, her face angry and betrayed and so powerfully hurt being illuminated by the light of the burning letters was lovely) and Philip’s death (see below). 

~ she was also very different to her OBC counterpart in her portrayal but it was cool tbh! the various interpretations of the characters we’re so familiar with actually work very well and they bring something new to the show and add different spins to something we know so well by now

~ Peggy and Maria were really good. Christine Allado is vv talented 

~ the revolving platform thing is really well used. excellent in the Schuyler Sisters obviously (if you’ve seen even the 10sec youtube clips you know what i mean) but even in Hurricane, where Ham is in the middle and the cast/ensemble are frozen in various positions around it as it rotates. maria rotates to the front at precisely the right times. burr is sent round as he starts singing ‘wait for it’. fan bloody tastic

~ the choreography was fucking enthralling

~ on the soundtrack you can hear and appreciate the backing vocals but they are as loud and prominent as the main voice live and that adds a whole new dimension to the musical. it heightens the experience in ways that I can’t really describe. because of the acoustics and the sheer volume of incredible incredible sound it makes watching it almost an out-of-body experience. and no, i’m not exaggerating. out. of. body. also they’re obviously going to be talented to be in Hamilton but my god they would all be spellbinding as individuals. they make a phenomenal ensemble.

~ they’re all pretty damn attractive tbh

~ Washington was less Diplomatic Dad and more Super Grizzled War Veteran but his voice was just as bloody powerful and fantastic. god One Last Time was twice as good as I expected. I’d buy tickets again for One Last Time (i’d buy tickets again for the whole thing who am I kidding) 

~ 9yo Philip was perfect. unbelievably cute w his lil outfit and bobbing body language and lil stammer and voice. i thought it might be a little weird/unconvincing seeing a man who was just playing a man play a child but it wasn’t at all

~ Lafayette was small and skinny and super athletic

~ Jefferson was rly flamboyant and funny and kept busting out lil funky dance moves here and there. when he was introduced in What’d I Miss? he came out and ofc everyone cheered and he waved his hand like omg no, stahp, guyssss okay keep going

~ Madison just sorta trailed behind him looking exhausted and it was great. after It’s Quiet Uptown and Jefferson was like “can we get back to politics” Madison came out behind him drying his hands on a big ol handkerchief like “pLEASE”

~ I was never particularly affected by Philip’s death so I was NOT ready for it being as moving as it was. He was in a lot of pain - something that doesn’t come through on the soundtrack - plus him being even more lovely and likable live meant his death was a lot harder to swallow. Eliza and Ham are distraught in the reprise and the counting is really intense. it all climaxes when he dies and Eliza just screams, this long, single, agonised scream before breaking down into sobs. Alex tries to touch her but she shrugs him off so he just stands there looking absolutely heartbroken while she cries over Philip.

~ you hear the ‘someday, someday’ part from Dear Theodosia here. this gets its own point because it was so unexpected and possibly the saddest part of the whole show.

~ they stay like that and the platform revolves so they rotate towards the back of the stage while Angelica starts singing It’s Quiet Uptown. It’s Quiet Uptown is so amazing that I haven’t listened to it on the soundtrack since (it is now May) as I don’t want to overwrite my memory of it in any way. 

~ the lighting deserves all of the awards it gets

~ in The World Was Wide Enough, ensemble members stand in a line between Burr and Hamilton and their movement represents the bullet travelling 

~ the victoria palace theatre is stunning

~ the acapella ending of Who Lives, Who Dies was made 50x better (already fantastic ik) by the vocal power/talent of the ensemble. the cast stand in their black outfits in a row and Eliza’s come forward to the front of the stage. as the last note ended she gasped and reached out as though she could see him 

all in all, it was almost supernaturally good. i'd barely seen any visual representation of it beforehand so i had no idea what to expect when seeing it unfold in front of me and when i say it was good enough to be an out-of-body experience for me i am 100% serious. even if you have seen it before, the nuances and the talent of this cast are phenomenal in themselves.

@linmanuel i hope you’re proud of what you’ve created. i always knew it was an absolute gift but seeing it live has made me understand what a genuine masterpiece looks like. 

[greetingsfromeboncreek]

BEHOLD the rest of the commentaries. They’re pretty short in comparison to the others, and I wrote them pretty stream of consciousness, so I can’t guarantee how much sense they make, but it’s done, dammit. 

BTW, my overall favorite characters (in no particular order): Arthur, Charlie, Meredith, Alaster, Iggy, Bael, Mara, Junior, Solstice

My thoughts on 33 different characters below the cut:

The New Friends:

Kirk: Like Nick, probably could have been written out and not much would be changed. However, he gets a pass because he was never really meant to be in the main storyline to start with, being born of a short lived prompt based adventure on the MSPA forums, who got phased into the main storyline. However, unlike Nick he has a genuinely interesting motivation (evil goon gone good, determined to avenge his mistreated coworkers). I also love his overall cheery and easygoing personality, he seems like a very nice guy. Interesting backstory- he was apparently in the army reserves, but got hired by a private company, if I’m remembering correctly? That means that he might not have had any family in Ebon Creek- which means there may well be people still out there looking for him and worried about him, orrr they’ve just been told he’s dead, which is a sad thought. Also has an adorable dynamic with Morty- I could easily imagine him with that one gif along the lines of “I’ve only known Morty for 15 minutes, but if anything happened to him I would kill everyone in the room and then myself.” I also liked how he’s the only human member of the “good guys” to have any actual combat training- in an AU where nobody has demon powers or magic, he could probably wipe the floor with everyone else. Overall, very nice dude, love his abilities (cool weapons and shouting out power names is really fun), REALLY liked his aegis design, love his dynamic with Morty, grade A character.

Arrie- Another really cool lady! I really liked how she slowly went from confused but not incompetent, to really taking responsibility for the situation in Ebon Creek later in the storyline. It’s awesome to hear she’s going to get a more prominent role in the reboot, I ADORE her new design, and I’m quietly guessing her treasure chest motif pockets have bag of holding style portals in them. Would have loved to have seen her reunion with Azgrut, but ehn, we can’t have everything. Also love her clever use of portals- I think it works really well with her intelligent personality. I also really enjoyed her dynamic with Sally while they were teemed up- rough and tumble lady with a prim, proper and intelligent young woman, both happily beating up their opponents. Wonderful.

Victus- I’ve always had a soft spot for dry, logical characters, and Victus is no exception. I think as a fellow military dude, him and Kirk would have gotten along quite well if they had had more time to talk to each other. However, above all else I love his relationship with Bael- from how he initially turned Bael’s parasitism around on him, to how he, (in my opinion at least) ended up in a near-father figure position. It doesn’t matter how edgy Bael acts, Victus is there to pat him on the head in a patronizing fashion. Sure kid. You’re real cool. (While also taking into account his mental state and showing sympathy.) And frankly, if anyone needs that kind of support, it’s Bael.

Trevor- Always liked this guy! A very useful font of exposition, and a genuinely nice guy. I also really appreciate the fact that he’s not used to the chaos of Ebon Creek, and of horrible situations in general. His moments of vulnerability/near breakdowns (and Eric’s for that matter) remind the audience that everything that’s happening… isn’t normal. He’s the closest thing we have to an ‘audience insert’ in the Asylum arc. Loved his gadgetry based fighting style, would have been interesting to see what sort of demon powers he would have developed, but overall not too bummed about it. Really REALLY happy he got to rebuild his friendship with Azgrut, that was one of the things I was most pleased about with the ending.

Eric- Very similar to Trevor in terms of ‘audience insert’ and ‘nice guy’ and ‘hadn’t been completely traumatized by the start of the comic leading to mental breakdowns’, but rode along with the villains instead of the heroes. Poor thing ultimately ends up suffering more than Trevor though, for obvious reasons. It would have been cool to see someone actually learn how to be a zombie though; Sam and Jericho have been like that for years, and we missed Alaster’s adjustment period, but it would have been amusing to watch Eric slowly get used to it.

Also, he committed the biggest instance of ‘Nice job breaking it, hero’ in the whole comic. Way to revive King Law, Eric. Real smooth. Also very, very interesting in that he was one of the few that SIGVALDI found interesting. Eric’s likely up there on the list of cleverest characters, and I hope he’s doing ok after the end of Suppression.

Assorted Goons:

Grenner- I love this man. I draw him looking perpetually exhausted for a reason. He’s a very good man who blames himself for some very bad things, and while he outwardly holds himself together, is grasping at straws to figure out how to make things better. Is a man that’s plagued with guilt and also the actual plague, but has an INCREDIBLE mental fortitude- it’s been explained that perceiving one’s demonic infection as a separate entity is what kills you, but Dr.Grenner did that… and won. I also love his relationship with Iggy- once pretty good, now strained with Grenner trying very hard to put it back together. I’d really like to see them make up someday. (Iggy takes after his dad a lot tbh, loathe as he is to admit it.) ...Id also like to see Grenner show everyone Iggy’s baby pics. You know he’s got em somewhere.

Kolt- Noooooooo. Probably...my least favorite of the villains. Certainly the one I find the creepiest, for reasons I went over in my commentary with Sally, but also the one I found the least interesting in terms of characterization and backstory. Was really pleased to see his “death” and how he got repurposed into a different character, buuuut it’s less encouraging knowing he was going to come back. Please, you creepy bastard….just stay dead…..

Santris- Changing directions, one of my favorite villains. Unlike Nick, his small number of appearances works in his favor, considering he usually shows up during plot important moments, prodding things in one direction or another. This is a man who KNOWS things, and I love it. What is he up to? What’s his motivation? That’s all part of the intrigue. His power set links into this perfectly, which is to say he doesn’t really have one- he’s the only character that fights without magic or plague powers, leaving his real powers- if he has any- a mystery. There’s only one thing I feel fit to speculate on with this guy, and that’s the fact that he’s PROBABLY an elf, going by his eyes. Even that can’t be confirmed though, and makes things even more strange due to the fact that he seems to mostly work with humans, with little to no contact with Thal’nasia.

Azgrut- Another ‘not technically evil, just a victim of tragic circumstances’ character. Being murdered as a child, brought back as a zombie, and forced to build weapons or else be killed again doesn’t leave a guy with a lot of options. However, the weapons he’s building are his life’s work, and probably the only thing that brings him any real happiness or, failing that, satisfaction. It’s probably why he’s so protective of his work, and why he’s so pissy when anyone comes and bothers him. His magitech based fighting style is cool as heck to look at (And to compare/contrast with Trevor’s), and he has an EXCELLENT general aesthetic to him. Tron line zombie, hell yeah. Overall, his situation was even more miserable and ultimately hopeless than Sam’s, and I’m REALLY glad he got a happy ending. Though it’s a shame that because Arthur raised him, that means he’s still ultimately under control of the Wights, which was his whole goal with the phylactery thing. Wait. Azgrut’s still alive at the end. Which m…..FUCK. ARTHUR’S NOT DEAD, THE CAVE IN DIDN’T KILL HIM. I JUST FIGURED THAT OUT. FUCK

Maggie- Okokokok I’m cool, it’s cool. It’s cool. Arthur’s not dead, fine. I’ll just pretend he’s stuck under a rock somewhere, it’s fine. Ok, Maggie. She’s so. Fucking cool. So goddamn cool, I love her so much. I love her ease and sense of confidence, and the implication that she’s the one wearing the pants in her business relationship with Bartleby, even if the people they work with get the initial impression otherwise. She also probably wears the pants in their romantic relationship too. Which like, might not be a thing, not confirmed for canon, but it’s fun to think about. Also has a bitchin outfit, and the coolest ‘element’ out of everyone in the comic, I think. Gravity powers? There is so much room for shenanigans and cool fight scenes out of that. I’m really looking forward to seeing her in the new comic- judging from the number of stripes on her shoulder, she seems to be the boss in the reboot as well. Keep on rockin, girl.

Bartleby- Look. In almost every piece of media with a lot of villains, there’s always one brightly colored, egotistical and flamboyant one. I think for Suppression, Bartleby is that dude. I’m not even kidding- if you look at the big reference sheet of Suppression characters on Degulus’s Deviantart, there’s only 3 patches of bright color and those are Overload Charlie, Azgrut, and Bartleby. However, unlike other villains of that type, where their biggest flaw is their sense of pride, Bartleby’s motive is that Thal’nasia isn’t proud ENOUGH. He believes that elves are genuinely better than humans, but aren’t acting like it, and that needs to be fixed immediately, by way of violent take over of the government. That is a DELIGHTFUL motivation to have. I’m aware that a lot of Suppression’s villains match up with the seven deadly sins (though it’s not too strictly enforced), and envy is a hard one to pull off. However, Bartleby does it and does it well! (Side note: love this dude’s outfit, and double love the fact that he’s the only character who’s teeth you see on a regular basis… where those teeth aren’t sharp. That’s wonderfully unnerving. A+. )

Tyburn- This dude’s more of an honorable mention because he never actually shows up. You only hear about him in passing, so there’s not a LOT for me to say. It’s some hilarious irony that Azgrut doesn’t know what happened after he died (and neither does Iggy for that matter) so he just lists the completely wrong generals and Iggy just essentially nods and goes “Sounds legit.”. I feel like there’s a lot of mysteries around Tyburn though… like I said, we never see him, so who WAS this guy? Why did he defect? (Is he secretly still alive…?) However, the Blood Red Rebellion seems like it was pretty much a feature exclusive to the original comic, so we’re not likely to get anymore info. I’m fine with that tbh- not everything has to be explained to death. Sometimes a dude is just a dude.

Lexi- First of all. Love this girl’s aesthetic. The cropped haircut? The >:3c face? The goggles? The outfit? Yes, yes, and yes. She’s also the only character in the comic that has a very… ‘big sister’ sort of feel to her. Really she’s just an overworked babysitter who got handed a kid that she is in no way equipped to handle, but she’s doing her best to not mess him up too bad regardless. I get the feeling that she’s a dumb kid who was asked “Hey you wanna do some Villainy (™) “ and she was totally down for it before realizing much too late that. Villainy is not as fun as you’d think and ESPECIALLY not when you’re the replaceable mook.

Junior- Hhhh I love this boy. Look, I love art and drawing. I also love robots n stuff in media. I also have Aspergers, and so I have a tendencies towards anxiety, seeming ‘odd’ to other people, being baffled in situations that others would find normal, and obsessing over certain topics. As a result, those who have seen Junior can see why I love this child so so much. It can be kind of embarrassing to admit it, but I see a lot of myself in this character. I’m glad that he has someone that “gets” him and is looking out for his best interests (you rock, Alaster). We don’t really find out what happened to him, Lexi, Alaster and Maggie after the comic, but I like to think that they all got out ok and are just chilling out there somewhere.

Wight Family

Maxwell- Stern, serious, imposing heads of families are relatively common villains, and it’s pretty easy for it to become a boring, flat stereotype; for a character to become nothing more than, essentially, a villainous rock. Max is not this. Max is trying very hard to be this, but doesn’t always measure up, and that is infinitely more interesting than the evil boulder archetype. His character profile straight up says that he’s only trying to be cool and collected. In reality, he’s surrounded by (what he considers) idiots and is trying very hard to keep this show on the road, and his facade of dignity isn’t nearly as impregnable as he thinks. I love the idea of a cold, collected villain going from complex swordplay to an undignified bar brawl the moment he thinks no one’s looking. Just “Fuck it, fine, I’ll do this the easy way. This idiot doesn’t deserve me at my best anyway.” Unfortunately, while his character is very fun to read, the downfall of having a character that doesn’t go into villainous monologues...means that he never explains his evil plans. Which means I’m STILL not really sure… what it was he was trying to DO. Most of my ideas come from Degulus’s explanations in the comments, which is uhhh probably not the best way to communicate that to one’s audience. I’m pretty sure he was planning on altering the course of the leyline to change the laws of nature, and then controlling the world as an immortal zombie but… trusting Arthur to manage that? Yikes. Maybe not the best plan buddy, but you tried your best.

Arthur- Ohhh this bastard. Who is apparently still alive/undead. This bastard… is actually one of my most favorite characters. Like, irrevocably top 5 (I could never pick a #1, but he’s up there). He is an absolutely terrible person. Lazy and cowardly, but in a way that is loathable and malicious instead of sympathetic. Doesn’t seem to think highly of himself, but...doesn’t seem to have a high opinion of anyone else either. Killed his own kids. Killed his brother (s...sort of. It wasn’t very clear.). And today I figured out he didn’t even get comeuppance for it. (Unless, of course, he’s just trapped under a rock in a caved in cave for all eternity with his phylactery sitting on a desk somewhere. That’s kind of hilarious.) However… despite all that, he is an incredibly fun character to hate. His dialogue and reactions were always funny to read, and there’s something about his desire to just lie down and do nothing that appeals to everyone, I think. In a way, he’s similar to an audience insert or ‘straight man’- the one that says “You realize this plan is stupid and never going to work, right.” and is promptly ignored. In summary, terrible person, HORRENDOUS father, but a GREAT character.  

William- Ok technically not a person, but will still be giving commentary. A golem made of souls is an amazingly clever concept, though probably my most favorite part of William is getting to describe him as a “sack of angry ghosts” to my friends. It’s interesting how William appears to be at least partially sentient though- either that collection of souls does have some hivemind sort of consciousness, or that’s some faaaancy spell coding on Sigvaldi’s part. However, due to the fact that he’s a juggernaut superweapon of necromancy, he’s less a character and more a...almost environmental hazard that the characters have to work around. A unique and interesting superweapon that was a blast to read about how they worked around him, but… doesn’t leave me a lot to talk about in terms of character commentary.

Jericho- Ah, the poor narratively-proclaimed D-list villain. Nobody really likes him. Got waylaid by the events of the story, and as a result never did anything of much significance, but it was lampshaded and he later got a huge upgrade. I feel like that matches his personality quite well though. He takes after his dad a lot more than he’d like to admit; he has pride in being undead, and as a member of the Wight family, expects everyone to cower before him… and it’s really funny to watch how frustrated he gets when people don’t immediately do that. I think the combo with Kolt was a good idea; it gave him a much needed power boost and source of intrigue, being a possessed zombie. I was also really interested in seeing where his relationship with Iggy and Azgrut was gonna go! On an unrelated note though...I found out the other day that he’s only 2 years older than Samantha. However, Samantha’s backstory showed that she died as a little girl, and I thought it was implied by the “go get your brother” comment that Jericho died shortly after… but that would make Jericho have the body of a young teen/preteen at most. Sooo I guess that either wasn’t the day Jericho died and Arthur wanted him for something else, or acid zombies can age. Hmmm.

(PS. If Alastair calls Samantha Sam and Meredith Merry, does that mean he calls Jericho Jerry? Because if so, that’s hilarious.)

Samantha- The undying voice of nihilism, in a travel sized package. Sam didn’t get a huge role or a ton of appearances, but she’s one of the few who got what I considered a complete character arc. She had a problem, finally admitted that problem, got assistance with the problem and got her comeuppance. Her story was sad, but god if that didn’t make it all the more satisfying watching Arthur get thrown around like a toy by King Law. You could almost hear the squeaky toy sounds.

Alaster- I have a lot of respect for this guy. In the beginning of the story, he comes off as one of those mysterious, unhinged villains that gives a dramatic speech and then vanishes. However, the course of the story revealed layers of personality and backstory that made me genuinely feel for this guy. He’s proud to be a Wight, but somewhat paradoxically hates his family- this later turns out to be because his dad and uncle are terrible people, even to their own children, and he’s trying to actually create something resembling a “family” instead of...well, a soul-drowning pit of misery. He’s trying to make the Wight family a better place for the members of his generation. He’s trying to be a good brother, a good role model, and is friendly to Sam even though she doesn’t seem to want his kindness. He doesn’t mind though, he gets it. It’s so nice to see the younger members of “villain” half of the cast have someone in their corner willing to throw down for them no matter what. Alaster is an A+ older brother, A+ babysitter, and honestly probably would have made a good dad if he ever got the chance. Well, except for the ‘teaching kids how to murder’ part. But that’s just a traditional part of Wight education, I can give that the slip.

Meredith- My first thought upon seeing Meredith was “Oh my god she’s adorable.” Since then, my opinion has not changed in the slightest. She’s like Sabrina the Teenage Witch but evil. She wants to make a team of US presidents with chainsaw arms. I want to SEE her make a team of US presidents with chainsaw arms. Honestly, she’s a breath of fresh air in the Wight team. She’s good at her job, but young and enthusiastic. After so many dreary, depressed, gothass villains, it’s nice to see one that’s a straight up ray of bubbly sunshine who also wants to rip out your soul and use you as her cute lil familiar. I bet she can ride that scythe like a broomstick. She’s got the wind powers, it could work. The sad part is though is that...while the old Wights might have survived the cave in, and Arthur definitely survived, Meredith was the only one in the room who wasn’t undead or a lich which means she’s probably. Permadead by the end of the comi- AW FUCK THAT MEANS ALASTER’S DEAD TOO. AUUUGH. Oh fffuck I hope Alaster managed to get Junior back home before he just. Dropped dead next to him.

King Law- Unlike Max, this guy is a lot closer to the “villainous rock” stereotype; he even has an elemental affinity to Earth! While I find him a little more boring than Max though, I’m still drawn to him by his bitchin character design, and intriguing sense of ethics; he honestly has some good points on the nature of goodness and the fact that having a sense of right and wrong is worthless if “right” isn’t being defended. He seems to be the concept of “lawful evil” taken to a reasonable endpoint, whereas Sigvaldi would be the “chaotic” end of the scale.

Nora- Ohhh yes that’s the ticket. This is exactly what I wanted. It’s implied that...terrible things happened to the Wight kids’ mothers. (Ok they’re not really kids but you get what I mean.) However, that leaves a very obvious dearth of Wight ladies, leaving me with a hankering for more. Nora hits that spot so well. She’s elegant, refined, but also has a giant, badass fuckin’ sword (ok well she is the sword but still), and will happily kick the crap out of everyone that messes with her family, despite the drama. Is there a ton of depth and backstory? Nah, she was there for like...10 pages and died (thanks, Charlie), but her very existence is a much needed breath of fresh air. Also I need to draw her in a bunch of fancy outfits starting, like. Now.

Sigvaldi- So, I got one of my friends to read the reboot with me entirely on the off chance that Sigvaldi shows up in it based on the few snippets of the old comic that I showed him, so that certainly speaks wonders for Sigvaldi’s character. Granted, it’s mostly because he’s a lich and this friend loves those, but my point stands. Sigvaldi is great. I love characters with a unique worldview and sense of morality, and Sigvaldi is no exception. He is well aware that he creates monsters and commits sins against the laws of nature, and accepts this...what he truly loathes is those who do monstrous things and try to make it look like justice. Now THATS interesting. I also just generally enjoy his omniscient observer role in the story, popping up to give warnings and make predictions. I should also talk about the end of Suppression, while I’m talking about him, specifically those mysterious voices who’s ranks he joined at the end of the story… I’m not sure who they are, but I sure as hell cant wait to find out! I have a few guesses, but 0 evidence, so I’m gonna hold those cards close to my chest for now.

Other Characters

These guys diiiidn’t get a lot of screentime and also I’m feeling really crappy and sick right now so I might not have a lot to say, sorry.

Figaro- An elf with a BEARD. So good. I like how self aware he is about the nature of his job, and how light hearted he stays about it all. Sometimes, your coworkers are incredibly powerful mages that can control the very forces of nature themselves. And sometimes they’re idiots. And sometimes they’re both at the same time and you just kinda gotta roll with it.

Coin- Had pretty much just one conversation so I don’t have a lot to say about this guy. I like his near-naive dedication to heroics and justice though. That can be interesting in done right, especially if it’s from a character who isn’t actually naive and is instead willing to fight for that ideal. I actually find his family more interesting- he has a last name that’s been mentioned a couple times in different contexts. His family certainly gets around, huh?

Mara- Probably my favorite of the elves. I can understand both sides of peoples opinions of her. On one hand, she’s absolutely a child soldier. There’s definite negative effects to this that she straight up doesn’t have the experience or maturity to understand completely, and even though this frustrates her, the people claiming it are absolutely right. However, I can also understand her desire to be taken seriously as a person, the difficulty in repairing the good name of the Red part of the army, and the massive pressure on her as the last remaining heiress of the Kuin family. She’s got a lot of weight on her, and while I want to see her do well… I also wish she had the opportunity to. Well, be a dumb teenager. Very interesting character, but also very specific to the pre-reboot continuity, so I’m not sure what’s going to happen to her now.

Phylo- This is also a reaaaally good one. I love how much care was taken to write his disabilities- he’s competent and well respected, but his missing arm and blindness are taken into account and addressed reasonably. I especially loved how he has to take his arm off during the winter because of the chill that creeps up it- that shows a lot of thought put in, that not a lot of other comics would. A+ writing on that front. Normally I don’t think I’d like his grumpy, but still managing to brag sort of personality, but in this case I think it works because the other characters mentioned that he was the grumpy one; his behavior isn’t treated by the narrative as being a good thing.

Kevin- Admittedly not a huge fan of this guy. I mean he’s ok, I liked the kamen rider leystone power suit, that’s cool. And granted, we might not have gotten the best introduction to him, considering he was exhausted and it was the middle of the night when we met him. But overall, he seemed to me to be a guy where people kept saying that “he was a nice guy, really” despite being whiny and aggressive the whole time. He kept acting really distrustful, but none of his protestations really affected the plot, so I just spent most of the time waiting to move on from this guy. I get the feeling I also would like him more if I watched any episodes of Kamen Rider, as there’s supposed to be a lot of similarities buuuut I haven’t, so. Still, he’s supposed to be getting a lot of focus in the reboot, so hopefully he’ll be able to stand up on his own virtues.

Roni- Noooot a lot to say about this one. I’m interested in seeing what animal-based life magic looks like in practice though. Plant life magic is easy enough, it’s just plants, but is animal husbandry magic like...being able to control/talk to animals? Or is it kind of horrifying fleshcrafting. I also didn’t think she and Cerene were that similar, but I’m still looking forward to the sister relationship they’ll have! (I’ve also always wondered if that promised hang session with her and Cerene was going to lead up to a meeting and confrontation with Lexi… that would have been interesting.)

Torblad and Esra- Wasn’t a huge fan of these two either. I’m not sure if Torblad was just pretending to have gone crazy, or if he was supposed to actually have some sort of illness from his time travel shenanigans, but overall it just felt weird to me. The tone of his ‘prophecies’ was so different from the rest of the comic that I thought he was a one off joke character or a cameo of some other thing (like how Kirk was a character who was originally from a MSPA fanventure, I thought Torblad was a character from the original RP a lot of the elf characters came from that was going to be a tip of the hat one-off, tonally inconsistent cameo and then we’d more on.). Imagine my surprise when he ended up being responsible for the end of the comic! With Cerene’s help, of course. Overall, he just seems...out of place to me. With the rest of the cast being written well enough in terms of physical disabilities, the effects of trauma, and mental illness, Torblad’s sort of… lolrandom sort of craziness feels cut from a different cloth. I don’t even really have anything to say about Esra- she seems to be there pretty much entirely to interpret for Torblad, soooo I got nothing. Sorry, Esra.

Solstice- Aw yeah, there’s the good stuff. Take this with a grain of salt though; I’m not entirely sure if I’m interpreting her backstory correctly, as we only got bits and pieces of it. She was an excellent introduction to how much things were going to change for our “heroes” when they walked into Thal’nasia- instead of snarky comments and scuffles, they got someone that was spooked, shy, and wondering why the hell they were there in the middle of the night. She’s a bit awkward, but seems friendly and genuine; a much needed change of pace and a breath of fresh air. However, the story is quick to give her more depth than that. She used to be a lot sadder, a lot angrier, a lot more aggressive, and it’s taken time and effort to recover from that. She has a useful, unique worldview due to her golden aura color, but is estranged from society due to her differences and her odd personality as a result. And yet… she’s still become a kind person, with a helpful personality, and I have a lot of respect for that. It’s one thing to become a snarling badass in the face of adversity. That’s cool, and I like that too. Hell yeah, punch those who hurt you. But something we don’t get to see a lot is people recovering, getting better, realizing that while that aggression helped them at the time, it can become self destructive. It’s really nice to see a character that shows that stronger isn’t the be all, end all solution to one’s problems. (Though she could probably still kick your ass if she wanted to. Just sayin.)

[fernysbasement]

THE THREE EPISODES THROWDOWN Where we sing and dance to Luis Miguel’s AMVs.

Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight

Yes it’s a Revue review, which isn’t quite a pun, since revue is indeed the origin of the word and both mean simply “see again”. Which would be a wise step before writing an analysis, especially for this series. TOO BAD.

 Now, the other meanings of revue are that of “magazine”, perhaps because that’s what they were for initially, and in English, revue theatre consists of shows with several acts or a combination of several skills in an act, which is what most concerns the Japanese variety and thus, this series. The main inspiration for this work, in every sense, was the Takarazuka Revue company, the first all-female group focused on western stories, born at the beginning of the 20th century in contrast to the classic all-male Kabuki theatre, as a touristic incentive produced by the Hankyu Railways. Though not the original intention, this has obviously become iconic for many a women looking for empowerment and a sense of personal expression. Funnily enough, this line of theater developed in a much more cabaret-like fashion in South America, where the “teatro de revista” (magazine theatre) is usually a mix of lousy comedians and voluptuous women in skimpy, yet flamboyant outfits.

So this is what “dressed to kill” means.  

Anyway, Revue Starlight is about a bunch of performer girls in training at a prestigious academy, where the usual Japanese intensity and group effort is compounded with the theatre’s competitive nature, all towards the Zero Position, the place in stage for the number one star… which is apparently still one who plays male roles. Japan. In particular we focus on Karen and her estranged childhood friend Hikari, who, as kids, swore they would become stars, then got separated for years while Hikari went to study at the best British academy, and now they reunite to fulfill or utterly mess up said promise.

I come to kick ass. From England. 

Well, I’m the queen of bland, so there. 

Production-wise… it’s spectacular. Design, animation, music, singing, it’s all top notch. There’s theatre imagery everywhere, there are creative uses of forced perspective, lighting, shadows, props… you name it. And it’s quite consistent so far, all the more so during the audition-fights, which are as dynamic and detailed as the best.

Truly a cut-throat industry. 

But then there’s the most interesting, confusing, bombastic and fantastic element of the story, the underground revue. This are casting auditions, but also a rather dangerous tournament. They sing and dance, but also actually fight. This is the way the roles are determined, but it’s also a secret. This has every sign of being metaphoric, but the series makes it all too clear it’s absolutely happening for real. Everything else in the series is pretty much a realistic depiction of the struggles of theater training, except for this. I have to assume the idea here is that it works as representation of the feeling of theater itself, a land of contradictions. You compete with the people you share the stage with, you delve deep into the fiction of the stories presented, you confuse reality and fantasy at times, maybe? I should point out I know very little about any of this and I’m so very much NOT the intended audience for this. Also there’s a giraffe overseeing the audition tournament, because… yeah. I guess it’s a stand-in for a Kirin, which is a sort of good-luck fantasy creature. Or because the staff really like beer, dunno.

 The other thing I should point out is that the director, Tomohiro Furukawa is a protégé of Kunihiro Ikuhara and worked extensively in Mawaru Penguindrum and Yuri Kuma Arashi. This is immediately apparent in the somewhat surreal nature of the audition tournament, very reminiscent of Ikuhara’s debut, Revolutionary Girl Utena, which itself was deeply influenced by the revue theatre, so you could say what goes around, comes around. The shocking use of color, music and a “transformation” scene full of mechanical action, all feel very much like the work of Ikuhara indeed. However, these elements and the place of this fantasy within reality are what worries the most about the future of the series. Even more than the fact that there’s not a single man in the series because it’s a Bushiroad idol production, so any interaction makes the fans combust. (I’M NOT KIDDING, LOOK IT UP)

As for the writer, it’s Tatsuto Higushi. Let’s say he makes very compelling ecchi. Have you heard of Cross Ange?

Why make it so very clear that the deadly auditions are happening, if there’s no way they are real? And why not show a level of reaction to this reality that corresponds to its fantastic nature? Why not show this world isn’t as normal as it seems in any other way than that? It’s a unique kind of uneasiness that also stems from the fact that both the realistic and fantastic sides of the story don’t just aim towards the same goal, stardom; but also involve almost the same skills, with the glaring exception of combat. And sure, in the end, the winner simply has to take out a button holding a cape, but it sure looks like they are trying to kill each other for the most part. Usually, fantastic elements work by either making sense in the context of the series or having an uncertain nature that makes it clear they are metaphors. None of those options quite apply. Also, I’m concerned that there’s very little symbolism in the “transformation” sequence, and it’s mostly just an spectacular depiction of the making of clothes and putting on makeup.

 So, I guess I hope the series manages to become more compelling in both fronts, particularly in the interpersonal conflicts, since all the characters still feel rather stereotypical and the yuri overtones (probably not his fault, but hey, another Ikuhara staple) will probably amount to nothing relevant. The most interesting aspect, in the context of revues, is that Karen, the protagonist, wants to become number one to share the spotlight with… everyone. Or at least with Hikari. That would be a drastic change from the current and real system, and at least that’s a theme that seems like it will be explored in depth.

[discofreaks]

Disco Freaks meets... Leee John

There is, quite simply no-one else like Leee John. And I don't think there ever will be. He is an absolute dream. A few of my friends have a dedicated WhatsApp group to the 80s icon after they fell in love with his social media output. Which is obviously a little odd, but you get the point.

We met on two afternoons, once at The Union in Soho, a members club in the middle of Greek Street, Soho. The second was at the incredibly regal setting of the Landmark Hotel, Marylebone. Believe it or not, both venues were chosen by Leee. We didn't feel Cafe 338 on Bethnal Green Road was appropriate. The two occasions we met he left quite an impact on us. Born in Hackney and raised in New York he has a few stories to tell and in his own words he can “talk for Christmas.”

There are facts about his life he could drop into conversation that are quite unbelievable. The kind of tales you'd hear from an eccentric chap in a bar, that you’d dismiss but humour anyway. Like the time he was a young lad and the first major person in the music industry he performed to was Marvin Gaye, or that he has recorded a track with MC Skibadee. It sounds too good to be true, but there you have the wonder of Leee John and Imagination, it is all a bit out of this world.

With all the stories and flamboyance he is also a successful and well-respected artist. His iconic and sultry vocals fronted Imagination; a band who both musically and visually were so influential to 1980s pop culture. Matching outrageous outfits inspired by Funkadelic with sensual performances, they produced some of the most loved disco-flavoured hits the UK ever had.

Hollywood movies and struggles

What I loved about Leee the most during our two meetings in 2017 is he would talk with the same authority about classic Hollywood and what he described as schmaltzy movies, in the same way he would discuss the struggles black artists have in the UK. And he would switch between such topics seamlessly. Leee was then, and is still now, working on a film about the history of British black musicians called Flashback. He’s currently working through hundreds of interviews with black artists who also happen to be some of the most successful people in music this country has to offer. So he knows what he is talking about.

Leee arrived to meet me appropriately dressed; black leather jacket, burgundy skinnies, a paisley cravate and a ring on each finger, holding a copy of his new album Retropia. The highlight of his set was a huge purple gem stone that he told me removed any stresses he has in his life. The clothing ensemble was accompanied with his iconic beret. It’s a look.

An added quirk of our second chat was Eric Cantona making a guest appearance. This bearded icon was just kicking a pebble round the Landmark on a Wednesday night while on the phone. As you can imagine, I was a little distracted but desperate not to look disrespectful by making a note of seeing him. When we stopped recording I had to point out the former actor and noted French footballer (still on the phone) to Leee. Of course Leee had met him in France before.

After the interview I assumed a driver or maybe a rocket would come to collect Leee. But instead we both got on the normal tube where he treated me to an extra edition of off the record showbiz tales. When he disembarked, some of the passengers/audience looked at me and I gave them a nod and mouthed ‘I know.’ 

Leee was here to promote his new album Retropia. But, over the hour, he kept to his promise and talked for Christmas - and a little bit for Easter and bank holiday too. 

I hope you have Leee’s voice and the setting all locked in and you enjoy these pearls of wisdom from the voice of a soul and funk legend.

Leee on ....

Getting a photo with The Jacksons

I used to write for ‘West Indian World’, that was run by a guy called Arif Ali. He allowed me and a friend to go off and we would do all the showbiz section so we would watch all the groups like The Supremes, George Benson and Brothers Johnson who I remember interviewing.

We tried to be older, I remember interviewing Brothers Johnson and I didn't shave or anything like that. But now I try to look younger, you know.

It was a doorway to understanding how the industry was. Meeting all the different artists, Natalie Cole, Ray Parker Jr, The Jacksons, we got a picture with The Jacksons actually. It was by the time I did Imagination I was kind of prepared.

I wanted to study my craft and to study your craft you gotta really get down and work. and that meant getting on the road, playing pubs and bingo halls and working men’s clubs and you're on your knees baby, carrying the sound equipment.

I did so much amazing grounding work. I was a singing waiter in the West End for nine months. I learnt the craft darling, you know, to get your equity card. That was a real turning point for me I was learning that and having to learn a lot of repertoire, a lot of songs, a lot of everything. And it was a long way from my club scene days. but it was great. Then I found myself in the studio doing some background vocals for Elvis Costello on an album. got a lot of money and ended up going St Lucia. It was a great time and this was all before Imagination.

When I was 15, I got signed when I was at school. We recorded at EMI and actually auditioned in the foyer of EMI. You know when you see in the movies, and they say ‘Okay kid sing for me, whaddya got?’ I remember singing some track we’d written. One of those people we sang for was Roy Fisher.

We recorded two tracks, they were no hits. But it taught me a great lesson. We were in the best studios we had the best session musicians, we had Gonzalez as our backing band. Lou Reed who at the time had a hit with Walk on the Wild Side, he had a backing band called ‘Thunder Thighs’. The part where he says ‘and all the coloured girls go do-do-do-do-do-do’ well they were singing on our track. So we all thought hey this is it, this is a hit. But no, it wasn’t a hit.

Singing for Marvin Gaye

Sometimes I do forget things, you know the old brain cells. But there have been some wonderful moments. I sang for Marvin Gaye in Soul Train. He did Soul Train and he was basically in the dressing room and I said, ‘there was a duet you did with Diana Ross called Light In My Window and it was really good and we used to dance to it - ‘why didn't you do it.’  - And he said: ‘Sing it to me kid, sing it to me.’

He was living in London then came back and gone really big with Sexual Healing. I passed the dressing room and he burst out and told me to come inside. They shut the door on the band and the manager. I was inside the dressing room with Marvin Gaye. I started singing Light in My Window and it has this organic feel this track, you should check it out if you can.

Collaborating with MC Skibadee

We did a thing called Retrospects a few years ago and we did a tune called Raver with Skibadee doing a rap on there.

(I told him about Skibadee playing in Margate back in the day.)

Being from of out of Space and getting lucky on TOTP

When Imagination first started we were so out there and so outlandish in our costume and our visual. Because the music, like Body Talk had really heavy base, very sexy, it had the lyrical content and the sound. And we could have easily been like the Four Tops and The Temptations up there in suits. but we decided to go for the Funkadelic way.

They thought we came out of space people were like, wow. We took stuff we liked from the Caribbean and a combination of that, and particularly in the 80s our following was so strong. And everyone looked and sounded so different. Nowadays if anyone wants they can sound like Beyonce, or look like Beyonce. But what we had in the UK with Imagination at that time was our own brand.

Everyone was flamboyant - Parliament, Funkadelic, early Earth Wind and Fire everyone dressed wild. When we came up in the early days, Kool and The Gang were kind of copying what we were doing because it was relative at that time.

Morgan Khan, our A and R guy was very crazy, very influential and very wild. When I went on stage he’d say, boy you gotta stroke that keyboard, you gotta be outrageous you gotta be out there. For black groups being on TV it was a phenomenon, you didn't see any black artists on TV, much less so British black artists and to make an impression was so important. I know that when we did that first performance, it is on YouTube now, it was legendary - the next day everybody was talking about it. It was in the papers, how we were going to get banned and all the rest of it.

I wasn't prepared for the first Top of the Pops performance but I was prepared for the work mode. I was totally nervous for the first TOTP. You did three or four different performances in the day, but everything was riding on it. Because we were there by fluke, because someone dropped out . That’s the only reason we were there. So that’s how life is, sometimes it’s a lucky break.

In some people’s terms I was flamboyant but if you look at other people like Eddy Grant in the late 60s, a black guy wearing blonde wigs. He told me we were doing just what he was doing which is like carrying on this kind of banter. I think that was good so it broke the ice. You couldn't put a black artist and just put them in one category. It made everyone question and that’s what you had to do, you have to push the button.

Recording We Will Rock You

I did a version of Highway to Hell. You know whether it is blues, jazz or rock, if you slow any song down that is the element. It comes from rhythm and blues. Like if you sing I Can’t Get No Satisfaction or something like that it is the same element. A lot of the rock artists, that is their influence, Muddy Waters and those kind of people.

I was in Paris doing an album with the Gibson Brothers (starts singing their tune Cuba) we are very good friends and do loads of shows together.

Basically,we were doing a completely different concept. I did a version, like Pharell, of We Will Rock You, that is in the can and no-one has heard it. Then we did decided to do Highway to Hell. Then I started singing the vocals and the background vocals. Then I went over to the UK and got Mark Vandergucht (Push, Galliano) to do all the bass guitar and all the you know (air-guitaring) “I’m just shaking ma locks” and we went back to where we recorded the album and tidied it all up.

I did it in one take and then did all the backgrounds. You see I do all my own harmonies anyway. So I kind of took it away from the Gibson Brothers in a sense from the concept we were doing for my album but they didn't mind. But I sung them a new track on their new album.

*at this point I asked ‘do you have to do a lot of favours with your voice?

It tells you all you need to know about Leee that he did not need to pause for thought when he answered ‘sometimes, sometimes, yes.’

Flashback  

It stems from the 20th century through to the 90s. I felt there were so many different artists that people just don’t know about. Because nowadays I feel youngsters don’t know this kind of music. I was lucky to grow up knowing Eddie Grant, Errol Brown and Clem Curtis from The Foundations, Light of the World and Junior there are just so many different bands.  

And there are so many different artists from the years that I felt people just don’t know.

I think people may know the music but probably think it’s from the States.

There aren't enough live platforms for groups if you play funk, soul, blues or jazz. It’s like if you’re a white group and you play rock music there is always a platform. There is always that kind of thing. If you play soul or funk, it’s like you have to have decks and a computer and I’m thinking that’s rubbish, because I still want to see someone play those chords and someone singing.

the mission

I think I will do a final Imagination album but I have an idea in my mind what that will be. I think I need to do that as there might not be people around who know us, so I want to get them in the studio before they’re gone!

I am doing a lot with the film side of stuff and Flashback, we have 400 hours over 200 different interviews, I’ve interviewed so many fascinating people who have loads of interesting stories and I think that needs to come to light.

I think that my mission is to really bring that to people around the world.

MB

[zukadiary]

Bakumatsu Taiyouden / Dramatic “S”! ~ Snow Troupe 2017

nngg…

I always feel this weird sort of out-of-body sense of detachment in the Tokyo theater. It’s not home, I’m not grounded… you leave and it’s just Tokyo, no bowl of homemade oyakodon and sympathetic conversation waiting for you with open, friendly arms. I wound up watching Sou’s taidan here too, also in blistering heat. I so wish I’d seen this in Takarazuka, more times, and without such a vast sea of heads in front of me (although having the opportunity to read the July GRAPH talks first added some lovely nuanced depth to the pain).

I did not expect to be this invested in Chigi when my much-loved Sou left. The evolution of my interest in Chigi went from “I wish Kaname was still here” to “eh, I guess” to shattering my personal record for in-theater crying (and I’ve cried in *a lot* of theaters). She lasted longer than I expected, and no one leaving with her is a huge shock, but this taidan is gutting me. I love this Yukigumi so much. I’ve loved a lot of Yukigumis, but this one has its hooks in me real deep. And it feels like its soul is being torn out. 

At my first viewing my friend flawlessly described Bakumatsu Taiyouden as “distilled essence of Chigi ft. Miyu’s beautiful voice.” It’s a perfect, lovingly crafted tribute to the Chigi-est parts of Chigi, which also means it’s an amazing troupe show.  

::insert 7 minute crying break::

Koyanagi-sensei transformed what I thought was a really mediocre movie (that had me particularly worried Miyu would get shafted) into such a playful, fun, well-orchestrated musical. There are so many opportunities for ad-libs I think I could have gone every day of the run and not gotten tired of it. Even though I’d seen the movie, it was a bit difficult to follow at first; Chigi uses a silly voice and a lot of slang, and it’s kind of a slice of life story with a lot of random happenings going on as opposed to one continuous plot line… but it gets easier once you have a general picture of the character relationships. EVERY CHARACTER’s personality comes across so clearly even with no background (which was soooo refreshing after three viewings of Yamataikoku no Kaze), and I adore Koyanagi-sensei for how well she executed that. 

Chigi’s character, Saheji, has contracted tuberculosis and has come to this inn/brothel by the sea to live out the rest of his life (I thought tuberculosis was highly contagious, but *SHRUG*). He winds up meddling, mostly hilariously, in all of the brothel’s drama. The best parts should be seen fresh so I won’t spoil them, but in general, this was so on-brand for Chigi’s comedic abilities, and it looked like she was having a TON of fun. Saheji and Osome (Miyu’s character) aren’t romantically involved, but they play off each other so well and there are so many opportunities for primarily MIYU TO TEASE CHIGI that it’s just beautiful. 

Miyu is so heartbreakingly good in this show. Her growth over her tenure with Chigi has been incredible, and her Osome is overflowing with sass and confidence. She’s also dancing the best I’ve seen her dance and singing like an absolute angel; the last time I saw her live was in Kenshin when her voice was broken, so I was beyond happy to hear this. I’m so glad she’s going out on such an amazing performance, but also IT HURTS SO BAD. Lord I hope she continues a career on stage, because she is really blossoming right now… and depriving the world of the full bloom would be such a travesty.

The other taidansha: Anri landed the role of a lifetime with Koharu, Osome’s rival (and almost equal in terms of importance), and she slayed. Dai and Gaori don’t have a ton of stage time, but they each have their own very funny and memorable scenes, so charming that they don’t feel slighted. MomoHina and Miki are primarily dancers, but they get their time up front.

Daimon is the calm and collected leader of a team of hot-headed isolationist samurai comprised of Kiraha Reo, Tachibana Kou, Kanou Yuuri, Hinata Haruki, Suwa Saki, and Manomiya Rui (interestingly, Kari may have had more stage time than anyone other than Chigi and Miyu). And Shou I guess?? She seems to be part of their team but not 100% on board with their plans, which are to blow up the foreign traders’ living quarters. It’s definitely an amusing group; Daimon’s character is all SERIOUS BUSINESS, but between the ridiculousness of their plot and the buffoonery of her comrades it’s just as silly as everything else going on.

I was fawning over Saki after my jet lagged, unfed live viewing of Takarazuka senshuuraku. Unless she was particularly on fire that day, I’m not sure exactly what hit me quite so hard then… BUT, I DO really like this character for her. She’s the spoiled, kinda flamboyant, completely useless son of the two kumichou innkeepers, and she wore that really well. Since Kenshin was the first place I saw her start to level up, it was nice to see her do such a good job with something that could not be more different. 

HIME was used properly, which is REALLY IMPORTANT TO ME. 

My heart’s not really in summary and analysis… I just want to gush. Spoilers ahead.

Dramatic S is a roaring river of tears. 

It doesn’t have a flashy theme; it reminds me of My Dream Takarazuka in that way, all soul-crushing lyrics and simple but sharp, passionate dance numbers. I find myself referencing most of the scenes by the color of the suit, versus “the pirate number” or “the gigolo number” or, you know, “the passion of the christ number,” etc. There isn’t a scene I don’t love, and all the music is beautiful; I’m excited to cry my eyes out at work while listening to the CD. 

The part choreographed by Bryant Baldwin, in particular, was a spectacle. It wasn’t a flashing lights and glitter spectacle, but the dance was cool, aggressive, and visibly challenging, and it was full of little Chigi things—a Lupin heel click, a kizuna fist pump…

My kangeki schedule last year included HOT EYES!! and The Entertainer, both of which featured breathtaking special top star numbers: Maakun’s barefoot dance to Chopin under blue starlight, and Micchan ascending from the floor singing while playing a glass piano. I’ve had my fingers crossed since leaving The Entertainer that Chigi would get hers. At first I thought she didn’t, but she completely did. You’ve probably at least seen the mint green outfits in pictures floating around if you haven’t seen the show; they’re from this cruel, devastating Kizuna number. Everyone is in it, everyone is gushing Yukigumi pride… everyone lines up and Chigi looks at them one by one. Chigi’s masterpiece is this close-knit family she built, and they showed it off absolutely spectacularly. I have no idea how they’re going to be able to do it the last time without breaking down.

The kuroenbi is also devastating. Every otokoyaku (except for the newly assigned 103rds) is in it, because that’s what Chigi wanted. I lost it every time they knelt down on the stairs in her direction.

It’s hard to decide whether the Kizuna number or the duet dance is the most awful part. The dance is so stupid and tender and terrible, I need them to stop touching foreheads and looking at each other like that on loop in my memory so I can stop crying and see my damn screen. 

……….

But as if that’s not bad enough, the song is so incredibly beautiful… Chigi starts singing it up on the stairs, and when she meets Miyu to dance Daimon’s voice takes over from the kage box. I was hoping that would happen… in her personal book’s Special Talk, Tomu mentions how much she loved dancing to Daimon’s voice, because it created a whole world she could get lost in. It did, and it was a lot… arguably too much. Honey and silk and love and admiration and maddeningly soft at times…

On a personal note, whoever thought of giving first Miyu and then Daimon to Chigi is an absolute genius. Not only did they support her in the exact way she needed to be supported, but she took these two insanely talented but somewhat shy/awkward ladies and nurtured them until they bloomed into something so BEYOND… And I seriously can’t think of a top 3 whose collective chemistry I love more. 

And on an even more personal note, as a Daimon fan, I watched Fancy Guy in my despair on Tuesday night and was struck anew by how awkward Daimon was when she came here, and how despite my JOY at my FAVORITE coming to MY TROUPE of all places I couldn’t help but think “Oh honey, I’m so sorry…” And now I get choked up looking at this bit of a photo…

…because look at how fully entrenched she is in our warm beautiful family, I’m so overflowing I genuinely can’t stand it. 

I remember Lupin shonichi too clearly for it to have been 2.5 years ago, even though I wasn’t there. It was New Year’s Day and snowing. How fucking perfect is that?

Chigi, I really can’t thank you enough for this ride. 

[pastordorry-blog]

A Flamboyant New Year

Epiphany Sunday

Matthew 2:1-12

January 6, 2019

           We don't know all that much about the magi whose arrival at Jesus' bedside marks the day of Epiphany. The “magi” have been variously identified as “kings,” “wise men,” Zoroastrian priests, and astrological scholars. Matthew identifies them simply as “magos” or “magi”—recognized scholars who claimed to have special abilities to interpret dreams and predict futures. Most of what we “know” about these “magi” comes from tradition, not from the biblical texts. Matthew does not specify that there were only three. We assume there were three because of the three gifts that were presented to the baby Jesus. Any group of notable, treasure-toting authorities taking a long journey would certainly have been accompanied by an entourage of servants, guards, animals, and caretakers. The magi would have been traveling in quite an extensive caravan. And if these magi were, in fact, Zoroastrian priests, that means that some of these “wise men” might very well have been women, since women also served as priests in that tradition.

          What Matthew’s text does tell us for certain is that these star-gazers had witnessed the rising of a new “star” (a supernova? a comet?) and had, as their tradition taught, associated this sighting with the birth of a new “king of the Jews.” This is a title, an identity, the child has been born with. It is not some political appointment in his future. Thus, the magi wish to welcome this “king” and pay him “homage” as soon as possible.

         Although they were bearing treasures, the magi themselves were on a “treasure hunt,” seeking their king. When they found him, Matthew tells us they opened their treasure chests.  The only treasure chest I ever got anything out of was at my dentist's office growing up.  After each check-up, we could pick a trinket like a tooth shaped eraser or spiffy pencil. At the time I thought they were a lousy reward, given how no one likes going to the dentist.  But it turns out, writing implements were actually appropriate things to stock a treasure chest with, because the Greek word for treasure chest is thesaurus!  A thesaurus is a treasure chest of words, isn't it?  I love that connection.

         Anyway, the wise men opened their thesaurus and pulled out gifts fitting for Jesus, the Word of God.  This was no ordinary baby shower!  Gold was a gift given to kings, and they saw Jesus as the King of Kings. Incense was what believers, through the centuries, used in connection with their prayers to God.  The rising smoke and the sweet smell are symbolic of how God hears and enjoys the fragrance of the prayers of his trusting ones. Thus, the gift of incense meant that the Wise Men saw Jesus as God!  Lastly, myrrh was often used in powder form to sprinkle on corpses before burial in order to retard odor.  Thus, the Wise Men’s gift of myrrh showed that they knew Jesus would, somehow, be dying for their sins and the sins of the world.  What marvelous gifts of faith!

         On the day of Epiphany, we celebrate the gifts of faith brought by the wise men.  But every day we celebrate an even better gift.  The greatest gift did not come out of the “treasure chests” that the magi brought to the baby Jesus. The greatest gift was the presence of Jesus in this world, for our sake, to save our sins, and for making it possible for us to reconnect in a right relationship with our God and Creator.  The gifts of the magi were a promise of abundance to one child. The gift of Jesus the Christ was the promise of boundless riches for each and every child in the whole world.

         The most well-known Epiphany hymn is "We Three Kings", which we sang at the start of our worship service.  It was written in 1857 by John Henry Hopkins, Jr., who was the head of music at the Episcopal Seminary in New York City. He composed the hymn for a Christmas pageant at the seminary.  I guess he wrote it because he couldn't find many other songs that talk about this important event!  I have been thinking about the wise men, how they brought their gifts, not just to "shower" the newborn baby, but to WORSHIP him.  They give us a really great model of faith for starting out a new year.  They followed a star of wonder, which Christians are still following today. The Light of Christ.  They brought incense and prayer and praise, encouraging future generations from all over the world to worship Jesus.  The somehow new this king would be called upon to sacrifice, prompting them to behold him with even greater tenderness and honor.  Is that how we see Jesus, too?

         Since the time of the wise men, the light of Christ has been carried across the globe. Christians are still following that star of wonder, and opening their treasure chests of gifts to serve their king. Isn't that amazing?  We are an Epiphany movement.  We are Epiphany people.  We are people who are following the star, following the light of Christ, to new places, so we can worship Jesus with the best gifts we have to offer.

         And because we are always following that star, we know things will always be changing.  In less than two months, delegates from around the world will gather for a special General Conference to hopefully find a “way forward”, putting an end to decades of debate and division over human sexuality. We don’t know what the outcome of that General Conference will be, but we do know something will change as a result. But what will not change is our desire to follow Jesus as closely and faithfully as possible.

This week I tapped in to a demographics tool our Conference gives us access to.  I drew a circle around our church to see who’s here and what the predictions are about the future.  Did you know that right now, within a 3 ½ mile radius of our church, there are 51,000 people in our “neighborhood”?  Five years from now, the prediction is that there will be 54,000 people in that same circle around our church.  Some of those new people will live right across the street, and according to the website for that apartment complex, will be moving in this year.  We don’t know exactly who is coming, but we do know that things will change as a result.  And we know we want to do the best we can to welcome them.  

We are Epiphany people.  Guided to Christ by a special light, and sent out in to the world by a special light.  They say there is one prayer that God can never answer, and that is the prayer that things will stay the same.  Things can not stay the same, because God is always doing a new thing, always enlivening people toward growth and change.  This is a new year.  We don’t know what it will hold.  But we do know, it won’t be a year of everything staying the same!

So that makes me wonder.  If we know this is going to be a year of change, what kind of attitude do I want to bring to that?  Last week, my daughter Adrienne and I did a little after-Christmas bargain hunting.  I was reminded again of how I always buy more if I go shopping with someone else! Anyway, as we were checking out at one store, the clerk wished me not just a happy new year, but a “flamboyant” new year!  I was surprised and said I would have to give that some thought.  Adrienne laughed and said how she didn’t think that would be possible for me, considering the fact that I wear tan pants almost every day, usually with a solid color top, often purchased at LL Bean.  No one would look at my wardrobe and accuse me of being flamboyant!

But for some reason, the word stuck with me, and I started to think, why not have a flamboyant new year?  It’s so much better than a boring new year.  And for Christians, maybe we should be flamboyant.  After all, we are Epiphany people.  Wasn’t the star in the sky flamboyant?

When we got home, I looked up the word flamboyant in the dictionary.  It means “strikingly bold or brilliant; showy.”  Looking in the thesaurus, I was wowed by the list of synonyms for flamboyant, which include bombastic, brilliant, dazzling, and resplendent.  I’m not saying we need to invest in some gold lame clothing.  I’m not going to exchange my black clergy robe for a Liberace style outfit!  I’m not talking about being flamboyant in outward appearance or actions.  But what I can picture is God calling us to be so filled with the light of Christ, to follow the star so carefully, that we appear in our dark world as strikingly bold and brilliant.  So filled with joy that we dazzle. So filled with hope that we are resplendent.  So filled with love that we present a bombastic contrast to the hate in apathy in our world.

Today is Epiphany, which marks the end of the Christmas season in the church.  Next week there will be no more poinsettias, no more nativity scene—everything will be "back to normal".  But "back to normal" in the church is really pretty extraordinary if you think about it.  It's been 2,000 years since Jesus was born, and people are still talking about him, and worshipping him, and believing in him.  And not just Jewish people.  Jesus came for ALL people!  That truth is like a star that guides us every day.  Toward what brilliance is God leading you?  Toward what flamboyance is God leading us?  Let’s not just have a happy new year.  Let’s have an amazing, faith-filled, even flamboyant one.  Amen.

[charliearlet-art]

💡✒️🌻 for the character asks

💡 3. Has creating a character ever made you realize something about yourself?All the time! When I started working on my book In Interim (gosh, that was almost four years ago!) and writing the main character Ben (who has depression), I realized that I had depression too. It was too easy to relate to his feelings, and I eventually realized that they were mine, too. There’s a lot more examples of this (such as Asmodeus’ longing for affection, Gamma’s process of self-healing, etc), but I’ll spare the mountains of text! ^U^

✒️ 11. If you have characters that embody certain traits of yours—good or bad—has writing them changed how you view those traits? Has it affected you in any way?I end up mixing a little bit of myself in every character I make! I feel like it helps me develop the characters easier and to a greater extent- whether its making a character with similar gender identity or insecurities. In NEX, Gamma is on a process of self healing, and there’s a scene where he talks about how he has improved over the years and is learning to be comfortable in his own skin and love himself. I created Gamma after coming out of a really rough time, and writing him makes me feel a little emotional and proud that I am now able to get into a routine to help myself out of bad funks. I hope that (when I eventually post NEX, which sadly won’t be for a while RIP) people can learn from Gamma’s story (and mine, to some extent?) that although things may be bad, things will get better and you can heal. I have a deep love for my alien rabbit son, and writing/drawing him always makes me feel better. :)

🌻 15. Which character is your guilty pleasure? 

Aaaa, Asmodeus! He was made as a silly and flirty character, and although he has grown very much as a character, he’s still extremely fun and ridiculous. Because he’s polyam and pansexual, I end up shipping him with pretty much everyone. He’s also very genderfluid and flamboyant, so it’s so much fun drawing him in different fancy outfits (aka my weakness.)

Thank you for the asks! ;;u;; I went WAY too deep into these, lol

Send me character design questions!

[brd2dthwrites]

Like Silk

First fan fiction don’t really know if it’s any good but might be a series but will see 

SMUT Warning 

“Damn Dev,” Nico said stunned at her reflection, she barely recognized herself, here was a girl who was beautiful from her glossy jet black hair, laying straight and shiny behind her ears down to her shoulder blades, to the soft glowy makeup accentuating her emerald shaped warm brown eyes and sharp cheekbones, her perfectly full lips accentuated by the bordeaux red lipstick covering them, right down to the almost second skin thin strapped denim jumpsuit, that exposed her entire black complementing her golden brown skin tone.

This was a girl Nico forgot she could be in the past couple years with RJ, a boy who tricked her into thinking that stomping out her fire, making her feel small was something resembling love.  

This wasn’t the girl that in the past several weeks while indulging in intense self care with a side of pity on a steady diet of Halo Top and Erewhon green juice, who only shuttled between her apartment and Devon’s just lying around in active wear, wearing sheet masks and watching endless episodes of the Golden Girls, falling asleep alone not admitting how much she missed the weight of a man’s arm around her.

“Here’s to being too fine to be in bed by nine,” Devon joked as the girls clinked their mugs.  

*********

It had already been a long night for Sebastian, the blind date his buddy Will had set him up on, no doubt to appease his fiance Alissa, had been not so much of a disaster as it was just boring.  

Sebastian was starting to notice a pattern with the women his friends, most married or engaged, were setting him up with, women who were so obviously ready to settle down, ready to play house, but for Sebastian, right now that wasn’t in the cards.  

With his career finally heading in the trajectory he always hoped, with all the opportunities finally within his reach, it seemed unfathomable to him to be committed, or better yet be tied down, to a wife and kids, that responsibility of people at home waiting for him while he was off on a set somewhere or in the middle of a six week long press tour, that was something he was not even close to ready for yet.   

So after dropping his date off at her place and making some half-assed excuse about having to get up early to head to the gym pretending not to notice the look of disappointment on her pretty face, he decided to meet up with his friend Ethan at a private party at the Chateau Marmont.

So here in this booth with Ethan, and the girl Ethan managed to find on his journey to bathroom and back, Sebastian finally began to unwind allowing his eyes to scan the room and survey the scene, taking in the women in their short dresses and impossibly high heels obviously pretending to laugh at some joke some cornball hollywood producer threw their way.  

After scanning for a while his eyes settled on a familiar face, it was his Nico Seda, sitting at the bar talking to another girl.  He had spent almost three months the past summer co-starring in a movie with her and even though they had spent almost everyday together he still felt like he barely knew her.

He always just chalked it up to her being the only woman in the cast, he also figured it had a lot to do with her boyfriend, who came off as condescending at best but a total fucking asshole at worst anytime he was around on set.  

She didn’t look so timid right now he observed, he always thought she had a sort of understated sexiness about her, she was impossibly gorgeous but always sly about it, like the simple gold nameplate she wore on her neck, to the small gold earrings and hoops that covered her ears, she was delicate and shiny, she was silk.   

Sebastian watched her for little bit longer, he noticed that she was with a friend, just as equally hot as she was but instead of the deep brown skin, the girl was pale wearing a pair of not so comfortable looking shiny vinyl pants with a corset.  

The two girls looked so effortless and at ease in themselves, giggling and casually chatting with various guys who orbited in their direction, but it was Nico that stood out to him, honestly, it was always Nico who stood out to him, every time he talked to her she always had something to say, she was so cool, she just radiated confidence.  

“I’m going to go get another drink at the bar does anyone want one” Sebastian asked hastily getting up quickly before anyone could answer.

*******

Flirting had never been Nico’s strong suit. Having been in a relationship since she was eighteen, Nico had to never play at being that girl. The girl who twirls her straw in her drink and giggles while some guy speaks at her rather than to her. Yet here she was making the smallest of talk with a guy whose name she forgot almost as soon as he said it.

 “Ugh excuse me for a second man” a deep voice said behind her tapping her on the shoulder,  Nico somewhat annoyed by the interruption turned around in a huff instantly calming as her eyes met a pair of familiar friendly blue ones.  

A smile creeped on her face as she leaned in to give Sebastian Stan a hug, one which he reciprocated warmly fully engulfing her in his arms.

 “Hey Seb”, Nico said softly pulling away, the three Moscow mules she had since the start of the night giving her the courage to use his pet name, something she wouldn’t have even entertained doing last year when the two worked together in Atlanta.  

She had never really let herself look at him when they were working together.  The main reason being RJ, who at that point was just jealous monster disguised a blond haired blue eyed aspiring music producer.

The other reason is because she wanted to be professional and cordial on set.  No hanging out with the cast and crew after hours.

Being a young black actress, is a tricky thing to navigate, she had to be 10x well behaved, she had to be better.

He was very handsome, his baby blue eyes, his warm smile, the way his simple black sweater and grey trousers fit his athletic frame. He was gorgeous and friendly, she always liked spending time with him even if it was mostly on set.

“Hey buy me a drink, save me from the guy behind me” Nico whispered in his ear riding the wave a liquid courage.

*******

He sat in a booth next to her, across from them Nico’s friend Devon and Devon’s boyfriend Jesse wearing an outfit as equally flamboyant as his girlfriend’s.

Despite the gold lamé pants, Jesse was hilarious and Sebastian was amused by the playful banter that flowed seamlessly between the three seemingly lifelong friends.

Sebastian liked hearing Nico talk, she was more relaxed and present then he had ever known her to be, her laugh goofy and genuine every time someone made a joke.

Every so often her leg would brush against his and as they got more comfortable in each other's company he noticed she would let her leg rest against his for a few more seconds longer before pulling away.  

As the night went on the conversation dying down allowing Nico to focus her attention completely on Sebastian and the conversation becoming more intimate.   

***********

“Oh my god this best fucking taco in LA” Nico exaggerated as the two stood next to each other against Sebastian’s car.

“Wow that means a lot coming from a local” Sebastian grinned “you have to promise you won’t blow this spot up, it would kill me if I ever came here and it was crowded with hipsters” he added.

He held out his pinky which she hooked with her’s laughing “your secret is safe with me” she responded not letting go of his finger.

He didn’t want her to, that much was certain, and he was grateful that she agreed to come here with him, even after her friends left to go to another party, he was happy she wanted to spend more time, because he did too.

In the past couple of months since filming ended, he had thought about her more than he cared to admit to, he thought about her lips, how soft and full they were, he thought about the way she scraped her teeth across his jaw line when they were filming an intimate scene, he thought about the soft sound that escaped her mouth when his groin accidentally brushed up against her crotch during one of the takes.

*******

“I thought you hated me” Sebastian said quietly looking down at her.  

“No, no Seb” She said looking him in the eyes, “I was a bitch to you, last summer, I’m sorry, I was going through shit, trying to figure things out, it’s no excuse but I’m sorry” she finished.

They were holding hands now, looking out over the city, sharing stories, just talking, just being next to each other.  

Nico liked holding his hand, it was big and smooth, and like everything about him, it was so warm, every now and then giving hers a squeeze.

“Can I kiss you” he asked her softly, his voice so low it came out as a whisper.  “Yes please” Nico replied eagerly.  

Sebastian turned to so that the was looking at her his hand cupping the side of her face, Nico couldn’t resist the urge to lean into his hand letting out a soft sigh.  

“God your so fucking pretty” Sebastian said his face so close that his lips brushed against hers when he talked, Nico never wanted anything more than to feel his lips on hers.   

The kiss started off chaste enough, just two mouths, shyly pressing together, their eyes asking each other permission to move forward.  

It was Nico who made the first move, much to Sebastian’s delight, she let her tongue explore him, first his his lips, then his teeth, finally before meeting his own tongue.  

He loved the way her nails felt grazing the back of his neck as he deepened the kiss, her other hand pressed tightly on his shoulder as he moved away from her mouth, down her jaw line, and to her neck, sucking on the sensitive spot just above her collarbone eliciting a groan.  

He paused for a second to look at her, to see how she could be feeling, he was pleased to see her heavy lidded and panting, he let his fingers graze over her swollen lips, mimicking the trail he made with his mouth stopping to finger the gold chain she always wore around her neck.  

“Seda” he said huskily, her last name, also the words on the pendant of her necklace, written in old english reminding him of the chains all the Puerto Rican and Dominican girls used to wear in the neighborhood he grew up in, Seda, the spanish word for silk, silk like the skin on her face and neck, it was perfectly fitting.  

The way she was looking at him, the way she bit her lip, her fingers tracing invisible circles on his upper thigh, it was to much, he couldn’t help himself he wanted to be closer to her.  “Come home with me” he asked softly.

**********

It wasn’t like she was nervous or anything, Sebastian was good, that Nico knew, she could go as far or not as she wanted to with him, he wasn’t going to hurt her.  

Despite knowing this she couldn’t stop the anxious feeling from forming in the pit of her stomach.  

Maybe this was too soon, maybe she didn’t know him well enough, maybe this would make things difficult and weird between them further down the line.  

She quickly pushed those thoughts out of her head as she sat on Sebastian’s bed waiting for him to get of the bedroom.

This wasn’t about love, she didn’t love Sebastian, she barely knew him, this was about moving on, this was about doing something with someone that was good, this was about her.  

She didn’t know how long he was standing there watching her but the sight of him looking at her, big shit eating grin on his face caused her to smile back at him and bite her lip slyly, never taking her eyes off him as he walked over to sit down next to her.

“Hey” he said quietly running his finger along her bare shoulder before reaching over to play with necklace again, his face inches from hers.

“Hey” she replied back,  looking at him, letting his run his fingers along the chain her dad gave her for sixteenth birthday, her favorite piece of jewelry, the feeling of him running his fingers along it as he covered her neck and jawline in butterfly kisses was so exquisite all she could do was arch her head back granting full access to the skin on her neck and the top of her chest.

Sebastian watched Nico for a second waiting for her eye to catch his.  

She was gorgeous like that, clearly deep in thought, absentmindedly fiddling with her necklace.  

She finally settled her eyes on him, her gaze so intense that Sebastian felt warm all over, she smiled softly gesturing for him to sit down next to her.

“Are you happy right now,” Sebastian asked quietly running his finger along her chain mimicking her earlier movements.

Nico looked him in the eye and nodded her response leaning over to give him a kiss.  

Sitting so close to her, he couldn’t help himself and went straight for her neck, attacking the skin there with his mouth and teeth before helping her move so that she was sitting on his lap, straddling him, granting his more access to her.  

He let his hands run down her exposed back gently cupping her ass, enjoying the little squeal she made as squeezed her through the fabric of her jeans.   They continued like that for a while, kissing, each other exploring each other necks, him placing kisses on the top her her chest, her letting her hands roam over his chest and shoulders.   

“Take off your clothes, Nico” he said gruffly as she got to her feet, looking at him with a sly smile.

First were her sandals which she slid off slowly, then she fingered the straps of her jumpsuit, slowly lowering them down, exposing her full breast, before dipping her thumbs in the waist of her pants, slowly sliding them down revealing a pair or pink lacy panties that rested high on her hips.   

Sebastian stood up so that he was standing right in front of her, she put her hands on his hips bringing him closer and attacking his neck his neck this time covering him in sloppy, eager kisses, running her tongue over his jawline, she also moved her hands starting to unbuckle his pants before his hands stopped her.

 “We’ll get to me, but right now you first” he said softly before turning her around swiftly, pushing her towards the bed and placing himself on to her.  

*********

Nico loved the feeling of Sebastian’s fully clothed legs brushing against her naked ones,  He was fully on top of her, his mouth and tongue massaging her right nipple, as his hand and fingers teased the other one.    

The weight of him his body touching hers, she was like an exposed wire, a heavy feeling pooling in the pit of her stomach, she felt like she was feeling everything for the first time, and in a way she was.

He begin to move down her body placing little kisses down her ribcage, and along her tummy, stopping right at the top of her panties,  she was grateful that Devon had forced her to wear the cute L’Agent Provocateur ones instead of the drab cotton calvin klein boy shorts she always wore.

He looked up at her, causing her to bite her lip when he caught her eye, her hands on her nipples eliciting giant smile from him.

He kissed her inner thighs, biting them roughly before soothing his tongue over the bite marks, his hand pressed firmly against her vulva feeling the warmth through her panties.  

She jerked her body towards his hand as he continued to attack her thighs.  “Please Seb, fuck” she groaned still softly riding his hand letting the friction build up as the cotton brushed up against her clit.

“Please what Nico, what do you want me to do, I want you to hear you say it” he said his voice warm and honey like.  

“Please Seb, just take them off, just fuck me, please fuck the shit out me” Nico said delighted by her own boldness and the way he smiled as he sat up on his knees so that he was in between her legs, hooking his index fingers into her panties at the hips, sliding them off of her and throwing them behind his shoulder.

“Gone now” she smiled, as he lowered his head, she could feel his lips on her.  

The pleasure of it all, causing her eyes to flutter shut,  she had never had a guy go down on her before, the feeling of it, better than anything she had experienced ever, and even though she was no expert she knew Sebastian was great at it, the way he gently slid his teeth over clit, how he knowingly hooked two of his fingers inside of her, it was like he just knew what do, like he could read the buck of her hips or the pace of her whimpers, gauging went to slow down or speed up his attack.   

After a while, the warmth pooling in belly begin to spread through her body, all she could think about was a release, of getting of that hill, of him making her orgasm.  “I’m gonna come” she said as the waves of pleasure begin to wash over her.  

The look on her face as she came, the way her body shook, the way she pushed his fingers away from her and turned over on her side riding the wave of her orgasm, everything about this was exquisite.  

After a few moments her body began to calm down, Sebastian blowing cool air on her shoulder and cheek, trying his hardest not to touch her with his hands, just watching her feel however it was she was feeling.

Finally she was laughing causing him to laugh back the two of them just looking at each other through heavy lidded eyes, Nico kissed him softly and uttered a small “thank you” which he felt right in his groin, he was rock hard now, his dick screaming to get out of his pants.

 “Your still way too overdressed Sebastian” Nico said undoing his shirt buttons, kissing the skin she exposed as he slid the shirt off and threw it on the floor.  The next thing to go were his pants, then his boxers,  he liked the way she looked at him for a minute letting her eyes roam all the way down

 “Do you have something, I have an IUD, but I would feel better if you used a condom too” She said clearly, no fear or hesitation in her voice.  

Sebastian leaned over her to the nightstand grabbing the tiny packet and closing the dresser.  

“Please let me do it” she said pushing her off his and positioning herself so that he was standing in front of her.  

Nico smiled up him wrapping her hand around his hard dick stroking gently before for licking the tip of his with her tongue, causing him to take in a sharp intake of breath.

“Ugh where the fuck did you learn how do that” Sebastian said, letting the waves of pleasure coming from her mouth and tongue on his dick wash over him.

He knew she wasn’t innocent but he was surprised with how comfortable she was going down on him, it turned him on more and more at how much she seemed to enjoy it, but he didn’t want to come in her mouth, he wanted to feel her, he wanted to know how it felt to be inside her, no barriers this time.

He gently tugged on her shoulders motioning for her to stop “lay down on the bed” he whispered.   

She did everything he asked, she laid down on the bed looking at him with anticipation as he opened the condom package with his teeth, and slid it over his dick.

Soon enough he was back on top her of her, kissing her on the mouth surprising her that he would want to put his mouth on hers right after she went down on him, RJ never did that, and what she had heard from her friends, most guys never did that either, it fucking thrilled her.  

He entered her slowly, burying his face in her neck, her legs instinctively wrapping around his waist her hand coming up to stroke his back as he deepened his thrust, still maintaining a slow pace.  

“God your so fucking beautiful, I’ve been wanting to do this to you ever since we left the bar” Sebastian said his voice muffled, Nico feeling the vibration of his words against neck.

She grabbed at him wanting him as close to her as possible,  it started to scare her a little bit how intense her feelings were, she wasn’t sure if they were for him or it was the intensity the randomness of being with him and how fast everything had progressed, she tried to push the thoughts out of her head and just be there with him, just the two of them, the only noise being the sound of their labored breathing and quiet cursing.

They rustled around a few times, her on top, riding him slowly as his hands ran up and down massaging her breast and tummy, stroking her throat, pulling her hair, then he was coming at her from behind, his hands gripping her hips roughly, the pleasure so intense all she could was lay there with her ass in the air as he pounded into her roughly, her moans and hisses encouraging him every step of of the way.

 Then they were on their sides, with Sebastian still behind her his leg flung over her body, his hand gripping her hand tightly.  

She was about to come again, the sound of his breath hitching against her ear all the encouragement she needed.

It was like rockets exploding everywhere, her screams, her saying his name, the way she clenched around him, it was all so much.

He came hard and sank heavy on top her, the two of them laying together, trying to catch their breath.

Without looking at him Nico got up and headed to the bathroom, he wondered what she was thinking and how she was feeling a slight panic coming over him that she might regret what they just did.  

Sitting up he waited for her to get out of the bathroom and after a moment she did.  “Hey” she said quietly leaning against the door frame of bathroom, “hey yourself” Sebastian said with a nervous smile.

 “I have a meeting tomorrow pretty early so I think I’m just going to head out” she said looking around for her panties.  

“Oh, are you sure it’s pretty late, you know you can just stay I’ll drive you home in the morning” Sebastian said trying hide the disappointment in his voice.  “It’s ok Seb, I’ll just get a lyft, thanks though” she said sliding on her jumpsuit, giving up on finding her panties.

 Sebastian relented not wanting to sound desperate but he wasn’t going to let her get in some strangers car at 5 in the morning and insisted he drive her, she reluctantly agreed.  

Sebastian sighed getting out of bed and throwing on a t-shirt and some sweatpants, grabbing his keys from the tray on the dresser.

They were quiet in the car,  Nico could see she had hurt his feelings, and that made her hurt a little but she knew there was nothing she could say.  

She couldn’t explain to him that she had real feelings for him, feelings that surpass any physical need, she had just got out of a long relationship, she didn’t need to get herself in another one.

“Sebastian, I uh, thanks for tonight it was really fun” Nico said quietly silently dying of embarrassment at how lame that sounded.

 “I’m glad you had a good time, I had a good time too” Sebastian response equally as lame.  Nico reached out and placed her hand over his, feeling a sense of relief when he laced his fingers through hers, bringing her hand to his mouth and kissing it.  

When they reached her apartment, they just sat there for a second, holding hands and not talking.

 “Hey Seb, I really mean it when I say thank you, tonight was great and your amazing, I think it would be better if we just stayed friends, it’s crazy for me right now” she said looking at their hands.

 “I understand, things are crazy for me too right now” he responded quietly his thumb stroking her hand.  Nico leaned over and kissed him softly on the lips,  “I’ll see you around” she said softly against his lips before opening the car door and getting out.

Sebastian stayed until she opened her apartment door and closed it, a part of her wanted to turn around, get back in his car, get back in his bed, but she didn’t, she couldn’t.