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riansdiary · 5 months ago

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My BRIDGERTON S3 E1 Reaction/Annotation 🎉

My dearest gentle readers,

It is finally time to start off my new series of posts for my written reaction to Bridgerton Season 3! We are doing the first episode on this one! I wanna thank all the amazing members of the ton who have liked my post about this letting me know that you'd like to see this. I will include screenshots if it is extremely necessary! This is not the first time I'm watching, this is my second but I'll still share thoughts I had from my first watch! My favorite characters are Eloise and Benedict! Yes, my favorite Bridgerton siblings! Penelope would be the third probably! I also have a special place in my heart for Lady Danbury and Kate! I love them. Philippa is also super adorable to me especially when she said her iconic line. Now, Varley! The bugs!

That is all, shall we start? Warning: There will be spoilers.

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I love that they do this every year! It's like someone was giving birth inside the room but it's just really one of the sisters getting their makeup done and putting on their beautiful gowns!

This is my face when Kathony appeared: 🥹

Would you look at her dress? It is just so beautifully done! I love Kate's looks even more this season and I'm so happy that Anthony is being himself and is so cute with her! How is it that they didn't know that it was Frannie playing the pianoforte downstairs? Even Kate knew. Now, do you know what I'm really curious about? How did our girl escape from that room? Everyone is literally outside of that room. How did she get to the drawing room from there? Nevermind, I think she said that she woke up early.

I love Hannah Dodd! I actually recognized her as soon as I saw her. I thought that she looked familiar at first and then it clicked to me that she was in Enola Holmes 2! One of my favorite movies! She was the missing girl. Her character was Cicely or Sarah Chapman. She was amazing there so I knew she would do Francesca justice!

Aw, Pen staring at Eloise as they walked out of Aubrey Hall was heartbreaking to me. Not my favorite besties in the show not getting along anymore! They both made a mistake and I really hoped that they could resolve it.

Here's my honest opinion on Colin's F-boy era: I know his glow up was great and every girl is out to get him but he didn't need to be such a RAKE about it! I want our sweet romantic boy back!

Let's look at our boy's glow up though! I am very proud of him. Look at our boy! If only he used that to be more honorable and acted like a prince more instead of turning into a rake. Come on, where's our sweet Colin from S1 and S2? I just really miss him not trying to fit in and just being his sweet self.

Nice Colin! I love his hair better now. We love the curls! He did look cute before but I gasped and my jaw dropped when I saw him first in this specific scene! I was like: Wow! He looks so good! Penelope will fall even more for him.

I love that he calls Eloise "El" it's so cute! I myself have a nickname for her but let's be honest, Colin's nickname for her is way better. It's "Lou" or "Loulou" cause she's Eloise. There's that "Lou" sound when you say her name even if the u is not there but you know what, Colin's is way cuter. I'm gonna call her "El" instead.

Ah, the intro always hits. It just calms me down when I hear the opening theme!

I love Anthony's line when the brothers were in the carriage! "Who are you? What have you done with our brother?" My second favorite Anthony line after "Lilies, Forget-me-not, Lilacs!" 😆

Gregory was so adorable when he was imitating Colin! "Mm. I should like some... proportion." That was so funny for me. I loved Anthony and Benedict's reaction to that! Love how they both leaned to the left when they smiled at Gregory! One of my favorite Bridgerton brothers moments for sure!

The mom and the daughter speaking to each other with sign language! I loved that they added that!

Let me say one thing about Mama Featherington. What I like about her is that she always does her best to take care of her daughters. Maybe not in emotional ways but rather in the financial way. Love that about her. The thing that I disliked about her is how she treats Penelope. She teaches Pen to dumb herself down so men can tell her things. While that is a good strategy, it is not entirely true. I think Lord Debling would have wanted Pen to just be herself and talk intellectually with her. I didn't like the way she treats Pen at all. She underestimates her own daughter. Dare I say, she doesn't even know her daughter.

Oh Portia, you are so so clueless. That is literally Pen to a T except she has more money.

Cressida, Cressida, Cressida. I hate it every time she comes to bully Penelope or ruin her dress like she does almost every time. I do love her gigantic sleeves 🤣

I never wanted Mama Bridgerton to move so thank God Kate doesn't want her to move either! Also, look at her entire outfit and hair! Slayed! So gorgeous!

One of my favorite moments appears after that which is the moment Lady Danbury called them Lady Bridgerton and they both answered! I found that so heartwarming to be honest.

Great, every debutante is in love with Colin. He is the charm machine this season. Just be yourself sweetie!

When Cressida's mom said: "Or does common thievery run in the family?"

I would've immediately said: "Does bullying run in yours?" 😎

Portia is the one who has been dressing or at least choosing Penelope's gowns and you don't know how relieved I was when Pen said that she doesn't want to see a single citrus color on her new dress. She's finally using Whistledown money for her own good. Yes girl!

I love how Anthony is letting Gregory play with the bow and arrow but not where their mother can see it! Benedict and Hyacinth coming along with them was so cute!

Colin's timing when his mother wondered if they will ever be on time was fantastic! And the fact that it's a watch gift too! 💡

I cannot say enough about how much I love Francesca's gowns! They're so pretty and the hair! I wanna do that with my hair too! It just gives me Belle from the Beauty and the Beast vibes! So elegant! Emma Watson, my role model of all time was a great Belle but I think Hannah Dodd also looks like Belle especially with the hairstyle they gave her which is almost exactly the same hairstyle that Belle often has!

Eloise reading Emma! Okay, personally I haven't read but as my favorite YouTuber Darling Desi loves Emma, I know for a fact that it is an amazing book! Please watch her if you wanna relax or if you are a book lover too! She has a lot of aesthetic and lovely seasonal, cottagecore and other types of videos!

Colin questioning Eloise about why she's befriending Cressida. Our boy is at least there for Penelope when it comes to El and when it counts! She said that no one showed her kindness but Penelope does.

I cried. It was so hard and heart-wrenching to watch Eloise and Penelope's first scene together at the modiste. It's the first scene where Penelope finally approached her. Not my favorite best friends!

This necklace on Nicola was so beautiful. I couldn't take my eyes off it!

Okay, I know there are people who are siding with both. There are some who said a lot of bad things about my Eloise. That it's her fault and that she's a horrible friend but let's get into the bottom of this. I want to share my point and this is it. What's a character without a flaw? Someone who's too perfect, could be boring and seemingly less human. Penelope and Eloise both made mistakes and it's true.

Penelope could have told her earlier that she's Lady Whistledown. Eloise is her best friend and I feel like she would be fine with it. She didn't really hate Whistledown and I'm sure she would have been ecstatic if Pen confessed to her earlier. Yes, Penelope only wrote about Eloise to save her but she still dragged her family to filth. I know she had no other way to protect her but it still did something to their reputation. It was revealed in part two that it was true, that Eloise was a little jealous of Penelope's success and her being Lady Whistledown. That kind of added fuel to the fire. Pen did write about Colin and Eloise both as Lady Whistledown and that did a lot of damage to their reputation as a family. People tend to forget that Eloise couldn't continue to be friends with Theo because Pen wrote about it. They were so cute and she was starting to feel something for him. Both of them.

I am kind of hoping that we get a different kind of love for Eloise if it's possible for her to be with Theo instead of Crane. It would be quite interesting to see someone from nobility fall in love with a normal person. I would love to see that and that would be so much more dramatic and romantic. Rich girl, poor boy trope anyone? Yeah, I did adore Theo a lot, he's so cute with her!!! ❤️

Eloise wasn't always mean to her during their feud. When Cressida ripped Pen's dress, she looked so apologetic and almost teary-eyed. What I wanted to say is that they both hurt each other and I hope this will make them grow.

The Mondrich couple are one of my favorite side stories. They might not be nobility or royal before but damn, they dress so well! Just look at them! I love that pink gown 😍 and it matches with his outfit!

I love Newton so much! One of our puppies is part corgi so she kind of looks like Newton! So cute!

Me when Penelope said "I should like to try something a little different tonight.": 😱🫢👍

Yes queen, enough of the citrus colors (not that they're bad cause I saw the Featherington fam in S2 wearing gold and I was like 😍) that your mamma always dresses you in! Penelope hair and gown glow up! Ahhh! Her entrance scene with the new look is one of my favorite moments! Everyone was astounded by her beauty and we all know it especially you Colin! A lady with red hair in green dresses is just a match made in heaven! It just works! Nicola or Penelope's smile when she walks down the stairs and notices that everyone is looking at her was so beautiful!

Cressida Cowper and her iconic always gigantic sleeves!

Oh Colin "down bad" Bridgerton stopping to stare at Pen! I think he doesn't know he had feelings for her or is it because of the fact that he is roleplaying as his brothers? I heard somewhere that Colin is trying to put on a mask, be a rake and act like his brothers because he's trying so hard to fit in. He just always has seen Pen as a friend and doesn't recognize how he feels about her.

Pen was so nervous when she was talking to the men who approached her and yet she's so confident and charming as Whistledown. I guess we can say they never talked to her as much before so this is the first time. I hate that they left her early because they don't want Whistledown to write about them with Pen ugh! They don't wanna be written that they're with her but remember they were the ones who loved her look and approached her? Oh my God, fight me! 😠

Eloise staring at Penelope: 👀

Me: "I'm sure you're proud of her. Maybe secretly but just go talk to her!" 😆

The Penelope and Francesca moment was so wholesome and I loved that they had each other.

Every time Cressida Cowper ruins Penelope's gowns I'm like: 😤😡🤬

The guy who said this to Colin: "Miss Featherington, why concern yourself with her?" I don't like him. I don't like any of Colin's new friends, they are insufferable! How rude! Why concern himself with her? Well are you dumb? They're friends hello?

"I would never dream of courting Penelope Featherington" was the worst thing that came out of Colin's mouth. Lies, lies and more lies!

Portia is so smart when it comes to saving her girls! I love that about her!

They were so smart about how they covered Claudia Jessie's injury! I did enjoy the Eloise and Cressida's promenade scene where she's scolding her about what she did to Penelope's dress! Eloise still does care about Pen. We're seeing a bit of Cressida's good side there. Loved that. I think she thinks Pen is a threat even though she doesn't wanna say it. She has been bullying her for a long time and trying to ruin her chances with men. She feels threatened by her. She could easily snatch the attention of the men without doing that to Pen. She wouldn't do that if she thinks that Pen doesn't have a chance.

Love that Kate convinces Anthony to let Violet stay! The Bridgerton drawing room is literally my favorite room or place in the show. The blue is just so calming and the place is so cozy.

Colin apologizing to Pen was sweet but she got friendzoned yet again! Oh Colin. Pen's wearing green again! It's so perfect with her red hair I tell you! He's finally appreciating Pen. Thank God.

The Mondrich family are now members of the ton? Yes! They deserve it!

Me when Eloise is reading the new Whistledown issue about Colin: "No no no no no, I feel a storm coming on! A storm of drama. She's not going to like that. Neither will he. Yikes, Pen."

Colin: What are you reading?

Eloise: Nothing.

Colin: 🙂‍↔️🤨

Eloise: 😐

This was so funny to watch even though the situation was, you know, dire. I loved that they could talk just with their eyes and face expressions! Something that reminds me of me and my own siblings!

Penelope calling out Colin's act! Yes!

Colin: I will never forgive her

Me: They're setting it up, oh no. Here we go. He's not gonna like it when he finds out it's her

He literally said "I will make sure it is her life that is ruined." Oh my God! Pen, what now!

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And that is it, everyone! I hope you enjoyed my first one! My reaction to the first episode of Bridgerton! This was fun to do! If you noticed that I'm suddenly talking in Bridgerton style, it's because it's easy for me to pick up accents and ways of speaking! I had so much fun with this! See you on the next one! 💋

#penelope bridgerton #colin bridgerton #bridgerton #reaction #annotations #art of annotating #my reaction

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thrndlngs · 3 years ago

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three times shinsou misses the opportunity to kiss you + the one time he seized the moment.

── pairing, shinsou x fem!prohero!reader ── request: x times shinsou wants to kiss fem reader??? pLZ I NEED IT ── author’s note: this was super dope & cute to write. tysm for sending this in. i hope i did this justice and it wasn’t to out of character. also reader has a water quirk & the two of you are in your early twenties. ♡

"'toshi,” you whispered, chest against his as the two of you currently hid from the group of villains. your two agencies had partnered up in attempt to take down a new gang of villains who were transporting drugs from the city to the waters, the two of you were partnered because of how the two of you excelled in your respective agencies, shinsou was sent to aid in your patrols of the waters ── which is why the two of you are currently hiding in a storage closet on a ship.

“shut up.” you don’t take it to heart, you’re sure he means it as nicely as possible - he just lacks a few pages in the ‘vocabulary’ department.

“we need to do something.” you tell him, trying your best to meet his gaze in the tight space (which was nearly impossible because he’s towering over you at the moment). he doesn’t reply, not at first at least, if you looked hard enough you would probably see the gears in his head turning.

“──stop talking, it’s distracting me.”

your mouth quickly shuts, fidgety hands are now at your side, you were starting to get antsy and there was practically little to no room to move around without being heard - or seen for that matter.

“they switch the guards every ten minutes, in the middle of the switch, we run.” the purple haired male explained, taking a peak at the time on his cellphone. the two of you had to endure this for three more minutes. just three more minutes and you would be free.

“three minutes,” you repeated, more to confirm this for yourself. you’re sure you wouldn’t last that long, after all, this was shinsou, the male you’ve had a crush on for quite some time now. how were you expected to last that long?

“──think of it like seven minutes of heaven.”

“we haven’t played that since── “

“yeah, yeah i know, but just think of it like that. don’t think about the closet, just the game.”

you nodded quickly, meeting his gaze as the two of you stood there in silence. you’d be lying if you said you weren’t thinking about kissing him. it seemed like the perfect moment - it was just the two of you. if it were the last day on earth, you at least wanted to go out with a bang. you know?

“let me get comfortable, you can do the same after.” you watched as he places either hands besides your head, slouching a bit against the wall so his back could have some sort of support. he nods to you, signaling for you to do the same.

it takes you a moment, the position shinsou is currently in causes your heart to skip just a few beats. were you disappointed in yourself for letting your mind drift.. elsewhere during a mission? for sure. did you care right now? absolutely not.

you cleared your throat, widening your stance and trying to balance the weight in between your legs to help ease some of the weight ── but there wasn’t really much you could do.

“two minutes.”

this had to be the longest three minutes of your life.

“i think i just tasted my own sweat.” he complained. it feels like he’s sweating in places he shouldn’t produce sweat in.

“i feel like a fish out of water,” you added.

“──gonna start passing out if i don’t throw you in the water soon?”

“says the one whose sweating to death.”

“and you’re dehydrated. guess we’re both shit out of luck aren’t we?”

“yeah, but, i think this isn’t the worst way to die.”

he takes another peak at his cellphone, noting that there’s a minute left before the two of you could finally get out of this damn storage closet. “you’ve got a minute to tell me anything worse than dying like this.”

in hindsight ── there’s a lot that could happen in a minute, that’s the only reason you said something to begin with. “alone, i could die in this closet, alone and then you know, it would be lonely.”

“are you serious?”

“oh come on! that’s pretty serious!”

“it ── it really isn’t,” he’s trying to laugh as quietly as possible and you playfully slapped him in his shoulder.

“okay, well, i wouldn’t want to die alone.”

“mhm, scaredy cat.” his smile is infectious and for a moment, he forgets that the two of you are stuck in a storage closet. maybe now would be the perfect time to kiss you, when it’s just the two of you, waiting to make your grand escape, when the two of your are just centimeters apart.

“now’s our chance,” he whispered, straightening himself to get out first just in case. he doesn’t want to act off of impulses. if he kisses you, he wants to make sure it’s because you want him too.

ii.

“good to see you when you’re not acting like a goldfish who just hopped out of it’s bowl.” the familiar voice teased from behind you, hands folded behind his head. if it were anyone else, you might have tripped them.

“──don’t you have to go buy hair dye now or something?”

“no that was after i made sure a fisherman didn’t take you on the way home.”

“is this what do you do on your spare time? think of jokes that revolve around my quirk?”

he rolls his shoulder lazily, leaning against the apartment railing across from your front door. “they come naturally, no extra thinking required.”

“and here i thought all the hair dye went to your brain.”

this wasn’t out of the norm for the two of you, he would make the first jab and then you would follow suit. sometimes, the bickering could go on for hours ── regardless of task at hand (like the time the two of you were trying to detain a villain and shinsou had told the woman you were a water sprite), it’s an old nickname of yours, he had given it to you back at the sports festival when you were kids. you had earned it when you had almost drown mineta because he wouldn’t stop making inappropriate jokes and you had brought the entire water fountain down on him.

as the two of you stood there in silence, you, had your back against your door, hands folded behind you while he stood parallel, arms against his chest he wonders: is this the time he kisses you goodnight?

“d’ya want to come inside? i have leftovers? we could pull an all nighter like we used to do back in the dorms?” there’s a hint of hopefulness in your eyes and he would feel like absolute shit if he declined the offer.

“only because you have food.”

he doesn’t kiss you goodnight then. and he doesn’t kiss you goodnight when you fall asleep on his shoulder after the second horror movie either. if you were anyone else, he would’ve left without a care in the world, but it’s you and you are different.

so he stays and tells himself that tomorrow will be a new day and tomorrow, he can try again.

iii.

“i don’t dance,” shinsou tells you as you so desperately tried to bring him onto the dance floor. it’s a hero’s gala, everyone from your respective classes at U.A. were here, pro heroes from all around the world and some of your old instructors as well ── these aren’t his thing, you know that. you remember his attitude during the first two hours of the third year’s ‘goodbye party’ - not much had changed. he’s taller, a bit more handsomer and smiles more often.

“you do tonight, come on.” while you had dragged him by one hand, the other desperately tried to loosen his tie because it feels like he’s suffocating.

“──you’ll be the death of me woman.” he’s mumbling under his breath, one hand resting in yours as the other found its place at your waist.

“because i asked you to dance? might i say this is on your list of horrible ways to die?” you teased, offering him that infectious smile that makes him go weak in his knees. he hates to admit the pull you have on him ── he might even go as far as saying you might have him wrapped around that finger of yours and you don’t even know it yet.

“if it’s by your hands i would say it’s a merciful death.”

“a merciful death? i’ll keep that in mind.”

“don’t test your luck,” you know he’s only messing with you ──

you’re to busy enjoying the moment to think of some witty comeback. it’s something about the way your hand seems to fit perfectly in his. or how the two of you are able to move in sync without any words spoken in between the two of you that’s driving you insane.

if you would’ve told your past self that you would be slow dancing with the hitoshi shinsou at a hero’s gala while the world around you disappeared you would’ve laughed at the idea. it would’ve seem silly to you ── stupid even. shinsou and you weren’t rivals like you and bakugou were, but, you had always found yourself trying to one up him.

yet here you were, swaying to the slow tune as you managed to snake your arms around his midsection and rest a head against his chest. maybe this was his chance: with the little distance in between the two of you, dim lighting and dressed to the nines. surely, this would be a good memory to relive later down the road wouldn’t it?

but he wanted to savor the moment. so he decides it against it ── despite the ache in his chest.

iv.

"we did it.” shinsou muses, an awkward hand offered in your direction for you to shake. it’s been six months but your agencies had finally shut down the smuggling operation and you could finally take the break you had so desperately needed. you weren’t sure what to do with the outstretched hand, but, you give in anyways, resting your hand in his as he gave it a firm shake.

“pleasure doing business with you.” you tell him, lips curving into a bittersweet smile. teasing, bickering and ‘playful’ sparring aside, you were going to miss him. you were used to patrolling and doing missions on your own but this was different.

“try not to end up on the other side of fishing hook, yeah?” it’s his way of telling you to be careful in shinsou’s teasing nature.

“make sure i’m the one to grant you the merciful death.” please be careful, is what you want to say. though you couldn’t bring yourself to say it aloud - if you did, it would only confirm that you care about the purple haired pro hero more than you should.

he shakes his head with a laugh, “you’re the only one who gets the satisfaction.”

“it better stay that way ‘toshi.”

he doesn’t know for certain if your agencies would cross paths again. your agency was closer to the waters and he was closer in the city, the chance that you would run into one another again would be slim to none.

he clears his throat for a moment, retreating his hand from yours and placing them at your waist instead. he’s pictured this a thousand times but now that he’s in the moment he couldn’t manage to find the right words. it’s frustrating, really.

“──hi.” you’re holding your breath in anticipation, was this another one of his games? was he going to kiss you? tell you a secret? use his capture weapon and tell you that he’s not letting you go until you admit something embarrassing?

he doesn’t care anymore. doesn’t care if it makes him look like a love sick idiot when he kisses you like it’s the last thing he’s about to do before he dies, he doesn’t care if anyone’s watching or for the wrinkles you’ll cause since you’ve got a fistful of his shirt in a desperate attempt to close whatever little distance the two of you had between you.

you pull away first causing him to pout (which was actually cute but you’d never give him the satisfaction of knowing that) but you do laugh.

“you know,” he muses, a hand reaching up to rub at the back of his neck sheepishly, a habit you hadn’t seen in years. “──i didn’t want to let you walk away without something to remember, my little water sprite.”

you rolled your eyes at the choice of nickname but were flattered nonetheless, your own arms finding their way around his neck, “who said i was walking away?”

#shinsou fluff #shinsou x reader #shinsou x you #shinsou x y/n #bnha imagine #bnha drabble #mha drabble #mha imagine #shinsou tbt.#( this is so lame bc i wrote this at 1:43 am while at work JHADKJHDA )#╰ ♡ ✧ ˖ 𝐉𝐀𝐘𝐄 ┊ WRITINGS .

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fawn-eyed-girl · 2 years ago

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DUSTIN HENDERSON FOR THE CHARACTER ASK

@mrfeenysmustache, dear, I am SO SORRY for not answering this sooner, but I needed to be home, and it takes me a LONG time to do these, and I wanted to make sure I gave Dustin his due justice, because I adore him and he deserves it. Let's go!

Favorite thing about them

Dustin is the darling of our Stranger Things crew (to me, anyway). I love his passion, his kindness, his sass. He's the best boy--the sunshine boy!--of the group. Will is either angsting or in danger, Mike is too into El to think about anything else, Lucas is trying so hard to fit in, and Dustin is just...himself. He owns who he is, and he's not afraid to embrace it. I think is part of what just makes him amazing. At an age where kids are trying really hard to find themselves, Dustin, in some ways, already has. He's a nerd, he's really fucking cool, and he doesn't really care who knows it.

Also--I will say more about this a little bit later--but he has this way about him, where he's able to connect to just about anyone. And I absolutely adore that about him, too.

Least favorite thing about them

Not so much about him, but I wish that his friends recognized his awesomeness a little bit more 🥲

Favorite line

I'm gonna go with two here:

"Mike, I found the chocolate pudding!" (If you are a fan of the old MTV show The State, you understand why this makes me laugh really hard.)

And, dealing truths: "Don't you think it's time you moved on from primitive constructs such as popularity?"

(God, I really love him.)

brOTP

This one I SUPER had to think about. Because honestly, it's pretty close between Eddie and Steve. I am gonna go with Steve here, though, and let me explain a bit about why.

When Dustin and Steve strike up their friendship, Steve is still immature, still thinks of himself as the Big Man on Campus (which, no dude, you graduated), still thinks of himself as god's gift to women, etc. He's kind of obnoxious still, and even though he's made progress since S1, he's still kind of a dick. It takes Dustin (and Robin, but that's for another time!) to help Steve grow up and become the chestly-haired man that we know and love today.

Dustin and Steve's friendship, to me, was unique, because they were, on the surface, opposites. I think Dustin brought out a side of Steve that was there all along--the kind, brave, compassionate side--but it took Dustin's encouragement and friendship to help Steve see that it was okay to be a little bit vulnerable, that it was okay to fight for what he wanted, and that it was okay to be who he was, both inside and out. I don't think we have the Steve Harrington of Seasons 3 and 4 without Dustin Henderson, and that's why I pick him for their brOTP.

Eddie is already fairly comfortable in his own skin, and he and Dustin have a much easier friendship. It's still awesome and special (see below), but I was thinking about whose life did Dustin change? Definitely Steve's.

Just look at the joy!! MY GOD I LOVE THEM.

OTP

I really like Susie for Dustin. He needs a really, really smart person who is going to appreciate his intelligence and his wit. She does both. I just wish she didn't live in Utah, because I want Dustin and Susie shenanigans, like all the time. But I understand why they can't be in the same town, let alone the same state. They would absolutely, totally, rule the galaxy.

nOTP

This one is a good question, too. I'm not sure! Maybe Mike. Mike needs to spend some time working on himself, before he can really be good in a relationship. (Side note: Dustin and Will would also be super, super cute, because Dustin would take such good care of Will 😭)

Random headcanon

After Dustin and Wayne Munson have their little moment at the end of Season 4, Dustin keeps coming to visit Wayne, who is living in a hotel while he figures out his next steps. He brings Wayne food, and books, and they sit and talk about everything and nothing. Dustin eventually brings Mr. Munson an old DnD set. Lucas, Erica, and Will come along with him, and they teach Mr. Munson how to play. And Mr. Munson takes over Eddie's spot in the Hellfire Club, and it's sweet and sad and magical and endearing.

Unpopular opinion

Dustin, my dude, keeping a Demogorgon in your house as a pet was not your best moment. I'm sorry.

Song i associate with them

I have been waiting for this one. 2022 Dustin is a big Greta Van Fleet fan, and whenever I hear Black Smoke Rising, I think of him. It's the perfect Dustin song.

Favorite picture of them

I couldn't find quite what I was looking for, because Netflix doesn't allow screenshots, but this moment I think it pretty close! (Although "most metal ever" is probably the exact moment I was looking for--that whole sequence just made me go 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼)

Thanks again for this ask, Feeny dear! I really, really enjoyed breaking down Dustin and revisiting ST (it's time for a rewatch!!).

Character Asks are still open 🥰

#feeny asks #fawnie answers #character asks #dustin henderson #stranger things

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gins-potter · 3 years ago

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Casting Thoughts

Yes, I did a long post when the rumours first dropped but hey now it’s confirmed plus we have characters descriptions, and I’m bored so let’s do this all over again people. Under the cut because it got long

Sisi Stringer as Rose Hathaway

I said this in my other post but I’m pretty happy with Sisi as Rose.

Visually I think she’s a great fit, I love that they casted a WoC in the main role, and I think if she can bring Rose’s humour and sarcasm to the role, she’s going to do great.

The character description mentions Rose being “fiery and outspoken”, happy to jump into the action, and the strongest fighter in her class but struggling to toe the line, which is all very Rose-esque, especially in the first book. It sounds to me like they have a good grasp on her character.

I’m a little disappointed we didn’t hear more about Rose as a character since she is the lead - it felt like the descriptions for Lissa and Dimitri both gave us a little more to go on - but it is only a very preliminary description so I’m happy to wait for more.

Daniela Nieves as Lissa Dragomir

Daniele is another one who I was happy with straight away.

She’s probably not what I imagined for Lissa visually but that’s not a bad thing either; I will be interested to see if they dye her hair a lighter colour (like a caramel-blonde) but personally that’s not something I need to see for her to be a great fit for Lissa.

I think she has a very sweet face which works well for a character like Lissa but I think she’s also going to be able to stand up in Lissa’s more fiercer moments which is nice to see as well.

The character descriptions mentions her as being “carefree and kind-hearted” who “coasts” through life until a death in the family thrusts her into a new role. That sounds a lot like pre-series Lissa so I wonder if we’re going to see a bit of that in the show before Andre (and her parents??) die and see that change.

It’s curious though that she’s described as the younger sister of the heir apparent - which would be Andre - so it sounds like they’ve changed it so Andre was supposed to be King. Obviously a deviation from the books but I don’t hate it? I don’t think it would change Lissa’s arc all that much because obviously she was always going to grow up to be an influential royal figure, this just slightly changes the dynamics of it.

The description also specifically mentions that she’s uninterested in “political machinations” and the “hypocrisy of the moroi royal society” which sounds very accurate to book!lissa as well.

All in all I’m very happy with what they’re doing with Lissa.

Keiron Moore as Dimitri Belikov

This is one who’s really grown on me since the rumoured cast list started circulating. At first I was kind of eh about him but I can really see him as Dimitri now.

I will be curious to see if he grows out his hair or not though.

As far as I know Keiron is not Russian, there’s not a lot about him online, but there’s some instagram activity on his account linking him to UK based companies so that would be my guess as to where he’s from. They’ve kept Dimitri’s incredibly Russian name so I guess we’re to assume Keiron might be doing an accent and they’re keeping Dimitri’s backstory relatively the same? I’m not gonna be super mad if they change it just because I think it’s doable for him not to be Russian (I know, I know a whole book is set in Russia but lbr here they could make him from anywhere and just send Rose there in that book).

The biggest thing for me will be his chemistry with Sisi, Danila and Zoey had great chemistry (imo anyway) which saved the move a little for me, so it’ll be important that Sisi and Keiron do as well. They’ve interacted a few times online which is cute so I’m hoping they were able to do some chemistry reads and that will translate on screen.

The character description mentions Dimitri as being “lethal, disciplined, discreet, and totally committed” as well as living by “a deep moral code” but with more going on “beneath his stoic, watchful surface” which sounds exactly like book!Dimitri to me.

They don’t really specify what his role at St Vlad’s is going to be but they do mention that he is a guardian so I’m assuming they’re keeping some sort of age gap between him and Rose. They also don’t mention anything about their relationship in the description, be it student/teacher, platonic, romantic, whatever, but they do say he has “an expansive spirit that could threaten to expose the underlying tension between his sense of what’s right and his formal duty to the Moroi.” which seems like a nod to their relationship.

Andre Dae-Kim as Christian Ozera

This was one of my favourite casting choices from the original rumoured cast list and I still love it.

The idea of a non-white Christian makes a lot of sense to me and I think Andre could do a great job of Christian’s aloofness (in the first book) as well as his sarcasm and growing confidence across the other books.

His character description confuses me a bit though: “Intelligent and thoughtful, Christian is the pariah of the school and royal court, due to his parents’ unforgivable societal sins.” sounds accurate enough to the book (although idk if thoughtful is quite the word I’d use for Christian - maybe they mean it in the sense that he’s quiet and keeps to himself?).

Even “Well-read and hungry for knowledge” doesn’t sound that far off, idk if he was *that* particularly studious in the books, but it doesn’t necessarily not make sense either you know?

But “he searches for faith-based answers and discovers a kindred spirit who is also looking for the truth” ??? My cynical, irreverent asshole Christian is now a man of faith? I’m assuming Lissa is the “kindred spirit” (again weird word choice but maybe they mean she’s feeling lost because of the death of her family?) but I just cannot see Christian as being particularly religious.

I’m trying to keep an open mind about these changes because you never know they might play out totally different on screen, but I really hope they didn’t make these changes, particularly that Christian is studious and religious, just because they cast an Asian actor as him (because they feel a little like Asian stereotypes).

J August Richards as Victor Dashkov

This is one that didn’t appear on the original rumoured cast list (as far as I saw) and it’s so different to his description in the books that I kind of don’t have an opinion about it as a casting choice.

I’ve never seen him in anything before so purely on a visual level I think he could be a great fit for Victor, I just think it’ll really come down to how he plays it.

As for this character description: “Victor is a Moroi noble vampire with a heart of gold who’s highly regarded for his role as advisor and political strategist to Moroi dignitaries.” as well as mentioning that he has intelligence and influence, sounds pretty accurate to the book. Obviously if Andre was the heir to the throne, Victor had to be shifted out of that role, but I think his book 1 arc could still work if they wanted it to.

The “heart of gold” bit obviously made me chuckle and I really hope they threw it in there as a kind of decoy to throw non-book-readers off the fact that he’s actually the villain in book 1/s1.

As for giving him a husband and two daughters, my thoughts are: why the fuck not? He didn’t have a love interest in the original books and I’m always down for more lgbtq+ rep. My only concern is it maybe playing into the trope of evil/villain characters being queer-coded. And as for having two daughters, well as long as one of them is Natalie I don’t mind.

Anita-Joy Uwajeh as Tatiana Vogel

Okay this is the most bizarre one imo, not because of the casting, but just the character description.

I mean “Tatiana is a Moroi vampire and political underdog who slowly takes the royal court by storm. Motivated by love and a sense of justice, Tatiana has a unique skill of making herself seem of no consequence until we realize much too late that she was always the one to watch.” sounds extremely Tasha Ozera to me, so like why not just make this character Tasha? Nothing about this sounds like Tatiana, and Tatiana wasn’t even a Vogel anyway (well Vogel wasn’t even one of the 12 royal families), she was an Ivashkov.

In terms of Anita-Joy herself, well I mean we don’t really have a character to compare her to, is she supposed to be more like Tasha or Tatiana? She looks fairly young, so my guess is actually on Tasha, but we’ll have to wait to see I guess.

Mia McKenna-Bruce as Mia Karp

This is another one that I was instantly a fan of.

I was so not a fan of Mia’s casting in the movie (I can’t even remember who played her tbh but I really didn’t like it) so this Mia is a lot closer to how I imagine her.

I think she’ll be able to carry Mia’s transformation from bratty social-climber to badass fighter really well.

The character description is interesting though. “Witty, cutting, and just the right kind of ruthless when necessary, non-Royal Mia has a long-term plan to social climb her way into the ranks of royalty, with all the privilege and freedom that entails.” sound pretty bang on to Mia in the first book.

“A plan complicated by her instant chemistry with Meredith, a Guardian-in-training, as Mia struggles to reconcile her attraction to Meredith with her lowly status.” is an obvious deviation though, and one I kind of love??? Give me all the queer rep, and if we get to see Mia confront the issue of comp-het I’m so here for it.

It’s kind of funny though because I’ve seen theories that Meredith is a replacement for Eddie and Mia/Eddie has always been my sort of rarepair ship.

The last name Karp is weird af though. Is she supposed to be Sonya’s daughter? And if that’s the case I wonder if we’re going to actually see Sonya turn Strigoi in the show’s first season or something and that triggers the change in Mia? Interesting concept but I’m not sure how the timeline will work.

Rhian Blundell as Meredith

So this is another new one, and tbh I hadn’t given Meredith *that* much though in the past but she’s probably close to how I would have pictured her which is cool.

The elephant in the room with this casting is that Meredith’s role in the books was relatively minor - she was just kind of that character that got brought up whenever R.M needed a dhampir who wasn’t Rose/Dimitri/Mason/Eddie. So clearly she’s going to have a bigger role in the tv show which I don’t mind but I do wonder if we’re going to lose a character - probably Eddie lbr - in order to have her. They haven’t casted an Eddie yet as far as we know, but I have seen it pointed out that Eddie’s role in book 1 was pretty small so maybe they just aren’t announcing it. But there’s also the possibility that maybe Meredith will sort of replace Eddie and be the third part of Rose and Mason’s friendship.

I’m very interested by this part of her character description though, “She has little patience for Rose’s volatility or Mia’s elitism, and regularly calls both of them out.”

Jonetta Kaiser as Sonya Karp

I don’t necessarily dislike Jonetta as Sonya but I am confused by this choice. She looks fairly young, which tbf Sonya was young-ish I guess, but if Mia is supposed to be her daughter she doesn’t look old enough to have a teenaged daughter. So maybe Sonya and Mia are sisters? Cousins? Just have each other’s last names for no reason? I really don’t know. They also look nothing alike.

Other than that, I don’t really have an opinion about Jonetta as Sonya. Obviously looks nothing like how Sonya was described but that’s not new nor a massive concern for me.

I can’t really tell just from looking at her, and I haven’t seen her in anything, if she would play a good Sonya. I think with a lot of the characters it’s going to come down to the personality they bring to the part and the writing.

I looooooove her character description though: “Quiet, careful and decidedly odd, Sonya is not of royal bloodline and sits out on the fringe of Moroi society, preferring to spend her time in the library or her gardens. Not a person who likes a scene, nonetheless she has a quiet but profound power of her own. She is taken by surprise when a Dhampir Guardian named Mikhail shows interest in her, a relationship that will expose both the brightest and darkest parts of her heart.” It’s everything I would probably want from a description of Sonya and I’m more and more convinced that we’re going to see Sonya’s descent into madness and transformation into a Strigoi play out in maybe the first season which I am so curious how they’re going to work into the timeline.

Andrew Liner as Mason Ashford

Our last one and another one who doesn’t look remotely like his description but again? Not a surprise and not a problem for me. He looks like he could play Mason’s goofiness really well as well as be a solid contender for a love interest for Rose.

“Charming, loyal and popular, Mason is Rose’s main competition in the quest to become the No. 1 Guardian-in-training. Though their relationship is casual on her side, he is hopeful she will finally look at him and see him as something more.” His character description makes a lot of sense, maybe him being Rose’s main competition is a bit of a deviation? But I think that’s more an indication that he’s supposed to be a strong fighter which isn’t inaccurate to the books. The rest sounds great.

Other Thoughts

Descriptions of the show specifically mention friendship and classism as major themes which I am very happy to hear about because those are the two parts of VA that I love the most.

Am a little more worried about it being described as “sexy” though, if they shove a whole bunch of meaningless sex scenes in it just because it’s a YA show I’m not gonna be happy.

Seen the show compared to “Game of Thrones” and “Bridgerton” which at first had me like oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck not good not good not good. But thinking about it more and trying to understand where Plec’s coming from with that description I wonder if means similar to GoT as in the cut-throat nature of the Moroi/Dhampir society cause I can kind of see that. And as for Bridgerton I wonder if she’s referring to the kind of social-climbing aspects of it, because again that makes sense and it seems like a theme she really wants to concentrate on. I hope that’s what she means by those comparisons, or that she just wants to compare it to popular shows to get people to watch it. The worst would be if she tries to throw in a lot of unnecessary sex scenes to make it like those shows, because I hate when they do that, especially when the characters are teenagers.

Interesting to hear that Plec has known about the series since before Twilight or TVD - not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Seems like it’s actually mostly (or all??) written by Marguerite MacIntyre which is interesting because I know people were worried about Julie Plec - I’ve never watched anything by either of them so I’m neutral at this point.

#wow this took me most of the day to write so i got absolutely no uni work done #oh well #worth it #vampire academy #va #va tv show #rose hathaway #dimitri belikov #lissa dragomir #mason ashford #meredith (va)#mia rinaldi #sonya karp #christian ozera #respond to this and tell me your thoughts cause i want to hear what everyone things #*thinks #keep things respectful tho guys

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firespirited · 2 years ago

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I’m watching the Monster High live action to have some context on some odd takes. My main thoughts so far are they’re super cute, that’s non!bieber kid from The Other Two (watch it, one of the best comedies that’s actually snort-funny from the last few years) and it’s not as low budget as expected, but also it’s a high school full of... theatre kids *horror violins* (actually slightly less intimidating than the school full of arts majors who know how to ski)

It was different but I expected entirely different characters from the reboot and what we saw of the new dolls. It's just what happens. Besides it feels rude to have Garett Sander's canon and him not getting paid or a part of it.

My thoughts on Clawdeen is that I appreciate she was the lead, her story seems to be about integrating dual identities and we have a canon curly haired human and werewolf Clawdeen with more curl than her dolls ever got. Colourism is more than just skintone and I honestly expected them to cast someone with a thinner nose and less rounded face and now we get to hound them for the lack of textured hairstyles.

The bar for black actresses is CW level low okay. I'm used to seeing black brits in all face types and american tv has a few flat nose gals as sassy black friends but a love interest? mostly small nosed heart shaped face light skin ladies.

Draculaura was lovely: her grouchiness was just about pushing people away and she had the range (i think i heard autotune on pretty much everyone - did covid mean less studio time?) . Frankie has the squareness of the new doll and an endearing personality and duh you learn pronouns with language, gender with basic biology, social rules you learn through tv and friends. Their pronouns could because they're both genders, because they've understood they don't fit male or female or because they want to wait and see what fits best (which would fit the hyper logical character).

Cleo wasn't painted gold thankfully but not reddish tan like her doll either. I'm torn about Cleopatra depictions, mostly because no-one dares do her big nose justice. It's the one thing we know for sure and it's always erased. You can look middle eastern while being pale skinned if you've got the nose, Sevdalisa being the absolute icon of cheeks nose jaw that could cut glass AND ultra femme. But that's not going to happen and it's not on the doll. The story was generic but the core 3 friendship felt authentic, all the side characters were paper thin but they were doing a movie with a villain plot.

I suspect they're going to retcon half of this with the cartoons but eh such is the fickle nature of toy commercials pretending to be stories (go watch hbomberguy explain how transformers did their reboot, it's a doozy)

#saf #mh live action film

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saturnaftertaste · 3 years ago

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I would love to hear your thoughts on YJS3

sure! fair warning, though, I'm a ranty person by nature so this might end up being a bit long. sorry in advance ♡

anyway! things I liked:

the humor: s3 was pretty funny lmao, theres that whole collection of outta pocket scenes from throughout the season that I find hilarious each time + the humor was a little more dirty which is nice bc the audience has also grown up from the kids they might've been when they watched it on CN

dickbabs!: I'm not a huge fan of dickbabs, I prefer dickkory (no hate to dickbabs stans btw I just vibe more with dickkory) but this dynamic between the two of them was so sweet and well-balanced I couldnt help but squeal everytime they were on-screen

Clark and Conner getting along: them calling each other brothers was so CUTE I canttt

FORAGER: an absolute legend 10/10 freaking love him

That Episode With The Hallucination: mmmmmmm I miss wally. SO MUCH. and the og 6 I was Super Mad about the first timeskip so it was nice to see them all together again🥰

yeah that's about it for things I liked lmao. now time for the Much Longer list of Things I Hated:

HALO: young justice the bar was so fucking low how are you still successfully doing the limbo what the fuck. you take a muslim immigrant in what is VERY CLEARLY a hijab and 1. infantilize her to an exceptionally uncomfortable degree (I KNOW SHE WAS THE MOTHERBOX, I DONT CARE) to the point where she resembles a five-year-old with every sentence she speaks or action she takes 2. you made a visibly muslim girl claim that she's actually no longer muslim, she's just wearing the hijab as some kind of security blanket???? I'm sorry??? what the fuck were you aiming for here exactly 3. why did you have to name her violet harper. what. 4. really?? the immediate romance with brion? What the shit was up with that...you make her Muslim in some aspects like victor not seeing her hair when she brushes it but her LITERALLY making out with brion like I'm sorry what the fuck are you doing??? you had one muslim character and you fucked up so bad holy shit...like...it could've been simple as hell, man, but no...Big Yikes.

M'gann: I've said this before but I really feel like once they introduced artemis m'gann immediately became a side character whose only job is to be villainised again and again even though it doesn't really vibe with her character. Secret teams?? Lying to Conner??? This isn't s3 but that whole thing with their breakup in s2...what the shit are they doing to M'gann, man. I loved her so much in s1, she's literally trying her best after having gone through so much and it's never fully explored...like we get half explanations every season but we're never shown half the shit that we were given for artemis. And by making her the Uncool Girlfriend at points it just looks like they're trying make her easy to hate like what the fuck. no. stop it

The Plot: too overcomplicated, too many characters. It's only season three, why are you introducing Apokolips already. Why are there so many characters?? what's with all the subplots yall were switching location cards every five minutes. And it's so convoluted...like...what was going on with Beast Boy and the monkey-god-doom-patrol-exposition stuff? I can't even remember if there were two granny goodnesses or just the one. All of those meta kids left over from the last season are a cute cast but like...I was so bored??? we know you can do well-written self-contained storylines a la s1, so hop to it, yeah?

THE ANIMATION: ok ok ok so. season 1 and two (one especially) had a very distinct feeling to them and that feeling was very late-2000s Cartoon Network Action Show - the base model for the males and females is the same (like Ben 10 Alien Force) the colors were not dynamic (stayed the same no matter the lighting, lots of cel shading, and generally were realistically colored in the sense that suspension of disbelief was not entirely necessary) CHEEKBONES, gritty textures and purple skies (Batman the Brave and the Bold). overall theres a certain Tone to the earlier seasons that spoke a lot to the animation capabilities of the studios at the time, as well as the general feel of the show. however, season three was a MAJOR downgrade in terms of animation. they made it both simpler and more complicated - they started using their DCAMU animation style which while it does give muscles to the women, adds too many unneeded shadows and a strange stiffness and dullness to every character. There are now extra lines and uncessesary shadows on the face of every character, and their eyes and facial features are almost identical. There's also less highlights, and the hairstyles are way too overcomplicated now to be appealing (see mgann and dick) - the hair is unspeakably dull and and the skin tones and hair colors are painful on the eyes. This isn't even taking into account the shitty backgrounds they've started using (AHEM AHEM ARTEMIS'S KITCHEN) because while the earlier seasons may have had unappealing, mostly empty settings, the characters still fit in to the scene, unlike now.

the lack of sisterhood????: apparently, only artemis goes to see zatanna for her Dr. Fate appointments. Apparently, M'gann barely talks to Artemis after the very tragic apparent death of Wally. the two of them, dare I say even the THREE of them, should be close as hell considering they spent their early years super-heroing together on a team full of boys. M'gann LITERALLY called Artemis her sister in the SAME EPISODE she was introduced, and neither of them had any real girlfriends other than each other at this point. M'gann who fell apart so hard Artemis died in her head that she almost killed them all in her grief. Like. You're telling me, you're SHOWING me that these two aren't each other's support system? Where is the sisterhood, bitch????

Lastly: the costume design. I understand that they're constrained by the need to make it simple enough to animate, but COME ON. if you're going to borrow Diana's DCAMU/JL: War costume, at least keep the metal silver. What the fuck is that green-gold. And Tigress? god DAMN that mask is ugly. Cassie looks like she robbed a goddamn supermarket discount clothing aisle for her outfit. Why is bart's outfit Like That it's so ugly it makes me want to cry. @ young justice costume designers Please Rethink Your Decisions

that's about all I can think of right now. it got REALLY negative whoops, but theres just so much I didn't like about this season :/ hopefully the next one will better ;-;

#thanks for the ask!#dc #dawn rants #young justice #mgann morzz #artemis crock #violet harper #opinions

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texasthegreatdestroyer · 3 years ago

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Ya know... I pick fun at dumb people on the internet, but uh... I don’t pick a lot of fun at myself. I think it’s time to change that...

What kind of post is this? For once, not a Sims 4 post bitching about how custom content creators are scummy, because oh my gosh Tex, how many times can you actually bitch about shit most the people who follow your blog already know? What can I say? I’m a broken record. No today, I’m doing another art drop, this time doing an art before and after, poking fun at the old piece I did over a month ago in comparison to a brand new piece I finished up just a little while ago.

(oh muh god, the cute cheak swirlies~ I do not know what eldritch Lovecraftian abomination possessed me to leave the adorable swirly cheekies out of the first design, but it’s fucking blasphemy, I am an uncultured swine! :’) )

For context, I own a role play server that is steampunk oriented of about 100 plus people, and I write for a range of characters ranging from my own original characters, to characters from other fictional works. This here is a steampunk/Victorian adaptation of Marlya Noel from the anime, Fairygone.I finished this about an three hours ago and oh muh god. She beautiful! She majestic! Her uh... grip on the rifle could be better, but at least her hands look nice, All around, the sketch was done so much better and it really shows through on this piece. (Fellow artists. The sketch matters. Never dial it in on a sketch, because while you can fix minor errors in a sketch later on down the line, you cannot fix the foundation of it without having to pretty much redo the whole thing. Put effort into sketches, don’t make the same mistake I did and have to go back and eventually redesign a piece you absolutely despise.) That and thinking back now, I could have probably done good with a black lace headband for the goggles considering how light her hair is and I might fix that since I didn’t merge all my layers, But I really love this piece, it did justice towards a lot of the issues I had with my last version of this, which I’ll go into soon. My biggest accomplishment? Her body size. I’m used to drawing very busty women, hell, my tumblr account persona is based on my main original character who is a very busty woman, so believe me when I say this character was a challenge, because I don’t draw a lot of super petite women, and uh... here’s the original piece of reference art of who I am drawing.

Uh yeah. She a stick. She a cute stick, but still a friggin stick. As you can figure, there’s a reason I made this 2nd redesign. I did not do well at portraying her body type, and there were also quite a few anatomy errors/mediocre portrayal. Allow me to just post that train wreck now and promptly tear it apart.

Right off the bat, a bunch of issues.

MUH’LADY, YOUR HAND IS BACKWARDS! WTF??? That thumb do no go there! Hands do not work like that! That do not do the thing that your thing is doing! God, she must have an awful time using that hand for ANYTHING. I’m so sorry queen, what did I do to you???

I absolutely failed at adapting to my paper texturing, and it shows, because everything is darker than it should be, and it’s awful. That thing I mentioned about a black lace head band in comparison to the beige one? Yeah, woulda done me sooo much better to use the beige one for THIS piece, because Marlya’s hair was made so fuckin dark that you can’t hardly tell that her goggles are put on a lace head band. And don’t get me started on the hair’s shading, it’s fuckin abysmal. What’s the point of doing lighting if it’s gonna look so damn dull and hardly there, that and it’s one flat, boring color? Her eyes, although coloring wise, I do like them, are not accurate to the actual original reference, even then though is a bit dull, and neither is her hair or skin, because I failed at adapting to the texture I frequently use to make things look nice and soft. Oh! And those boots? YEAH! THEY’RE FUCKIN STUPID :D I wanted to go the route of a lacy, curve fitting dress, with some sleek, skin tight, modern looking elements to it, so uh YEAH! LET’S JUST ADD SOME BULKY ASS, HIDIOUS, BROWN BOOTS! :D Tex, what the actual fuck were you thinking??? You’ve just committed an act of mental torture to yourself and all who bear witness to this atrocity and over all to the name of fashion... The legs are cringe. Yall don’t have weird pointy spots sticking out of the side of your right leg? BAGH! BLASPHEMY!

“SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-”

Ma’am, you look quite perturbed and a little dead inside. It’s okay, I am too. I’ve been dead inside since I found out that Sims 4 builders think they’re entitled to money for building houses out of other people’s cc, oh and also since I found out that MAP supporters actually exist. :D

Jokes aside, her expression really isn’t that terrible, it just doesn’t work in the context of what I was drawing, but it is accurate for the type of art I was making, It’s a character ref, and I don’t want the character I’m trying to show off to be overly expressive, as I want a clear as possible image of the character I’m portraying, but like... The pose I tried to do just doesn’t work for the minimal expression. A pose like what I was doing requires more facial expression to not make the pose look super forced and stiff. It just looks really uncanny and awful. As a result of that, she legit looks fuckin dead inside. Me too Marlya, me too. The pose for the redo looks so much better, because it doesn’t require a whole lot of expression to work, that and in this AU I put her in, someone I role play with frequently expressed interest in the rifle she was using, because I described it as having a mahogany butt, and they’re like “Sounds super old, antique, and cool AF” so I’m sure he’ll be pretty stoked to see the actual rifle in question. So yeah, definitely if I’ma do a pose like I did in the 1st drawing again, it needs to be a lot more expressive. I cannot stress this enough. The FUCKIN AUDACITY to leave out the swirly cheekies. It’s a signature part of my art style at this point, and even the dudes have them, which is saying something because I try to reserve more cutesy traits for women or feminine appearing individuals, and I didn’t put it on a woman??? What crack was I on when I made the artistic decision to leave it out? Cause I need to steer clear from that shit.

As I mentioned before actually posting this shite ass pic, there was some struggles with the body type I was trying to draw. My biggest issue was that the image I was referencing made her look like she had relatively curvy hips, and so I tried to heavily emphasize those hips to make it stick out, but by doing this, she ended up bustier than she actually canonically is, and I’m trying to make a reference piece for her, not prep her for fuckin r/34. So yeah, she ended up with tigger ol biddies than she actually has, and wider hips than she actually has. Also doesn’t help that the dress I made for her does emphasize the chest a little, so I knew breast size wise, she was going to look bigger than she is, but it’s really obvious that I over did the curves in an attempt to not overdue the curves, and clearly the dress is not THAT impactful, because I managed to pull it off in the 2nd redesign. So uh, yay me for being absolutely friggin counter productive! GOLD STAR! :D

What actually really ended up helping me is that I stopped focusing so heavily on the hips and just tried to get down the basic, general, slim yet curvy feel and just left out the usual effort that I put in like when I do with drawing bustier women, and that helped significantly, so in short, I learned not to overthink it. I need to put in as much effort as there is mass. Bigger girls need more effort, smaller girls need not as much effort. I really friggin hated the first piece I did. I just pushed through it in using it what it was made for because I didn’t feel like making another one at the time, and then the thing that actually set me off and made me redo it was that hand, like that’s a fuckin rooky mistake for myself, someone’s actively been doing art every day and seriously practicing to improve since I was 7 years old and really awakened myself to my potential skill. 5 year old me be like: “Ooo! Pretty colors neat scribbles!” 7 year old me: “Oh hey! I semi drew anime! I think I can keep going with this!” and did. I’m an adult in my 20′s now. I’ve doing art for awhile, so that piece REALLY bugged the shit out of me, especially because these pieces are again a month apart. I could understand if maybe the piece was a few months ranging to a year old, but a single month?... I expect much better from myself than the garbage fire that was that first picture. That and I could tell I really got tired of that image towards the end of drawing it, because I really just fuckin threw in the towel. The Shading was so basic bitch, and the details were non existent. where as this recent one had a lot of details, the dress was made to look so much better, so much prettier and working very well with the style I was trying to go for, and you could really tell I gave a shit about what I was drawing there. There’s still some mistakes in it, I mean, no piece is ever perfect, but still, I love it for what it is, and it’s not only a testament that I can always do better, but it shows a difference between me when I’m passionate about a piece and when I’m not. If yall got any criticisms for either pieces, feel free to leave em, because contrary to some people’s beliefs, I actually am very capable of taking criticism when it’s legit actual good, well informed, criticism. But also, while I won’t be a dick about it, if I do see criticism that isn’t the best, I’ll do my best to explain why it’s not the best, because as much as some people don’t want to admit, there is such thing as trash criticism, but if it’s legit criticism, I will take it to heart and try to better myself. Ya don’t have to worry about me being a butt hurt bitch over it, OBVIOUSLY because I’ll sit here and tear my own shit apart without the help of someone else.

Oh, and I went ahead and swapped out the beige band for the black since it works for her hair color now and doesn’t get overshadowed by how dark her hair is. Feel free to tell me which one ya like better.

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nobody-wants-ice-cream · 4 years ago

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Everything Wrong With The Umbrella Academy. Episode 8, I Heard a Rumor.

This episode is particularly brutal. Warnings include child abuse, domestic abuse, suicide, rape, gore, and manipulation. Keep yourself safe.

We Only See Each Other at Weddings and Funerals

Run Boy Run

Extra Ordinary

Man on the Moon

Number Five

The Day That Wasn’t

The Day That Was

Disclaimer: This is all in good fun! I wanted to do a really nitpicky re-watch of the series and found some really cool and interesting things I didn’t notice before. This is meant to have a Cinema Sins-esque tone. However, I did take off a lot more sins than Cinema Sins would have because I do genuinely like the series and the people that made it possible. So all of the good things got one sin off and all the bad things got one sin added. This is a really long post, so grab some popcorn. If there’s anything that I missed, feel free to add it!

I would also like to add that normally you wouldn’t watch a show this way. I am purposefully looking for mistakes, easter eggs, and other things that we’re not supposed to notice. I am watching not with the goal of entertainment, but for analysis. So most of the things that I sin, I am seeing for the first time.

Also, no I can’t do better. I am in no way qualified to give this level of criticism about anything. I am not taking this seriously. At all.

I Heard a Rumor

Stormy Weather by Etta James. I adore this song. When I first watched the show I was so happy when this song came on.-1

I am also taking a sin off for the Emmy Raver-Lampman version -1

It looks like Allison genuinely adores her daughter. And Claire’s bedroom? I would want to have that room now and I am at least ten years older than her. -1

Speaking of, how old is Claire? Sin until we have answers. +1

The animations for the story of The Umbrella Academy defeating the robbers at the museum. -2

“While your Uncle Klaus got a little distracted.” What did Klaus do on missions again? +1

Allison carefully censors the mission so she is still telling the truth but doesn’t actually say that Diego used knives or that Ben used the horror to (presumably, we don’t know how much control Ben had) kill four people. Good job. See Reggie, this is how you don’t traumatise your kid with violence. -1

“Their leader.” Looks suspiciously like a villain from the comics. -1

“I wanna hear the one about the Eiffel tower.” Me too, Claire. Especially since the magazine clips we see suggest Five was there this time. -1

Mind control. ON A CHILD. This is what bothers me the most about Allison as a character and I am glad that she is moving past it. However, in no universe can I let this go. Depending on how Allison used it, Claire’s emotional control could be fucked for life. +40

Patrick behaves like a rational human being and doesn’t blow up at Allison for this in front of their child. He also divorces her in order to keep said child safe. Good. -1

“I heard a rumor you love me.” Who did she say this to? It doesn’t matter who, it’s still disturbing, but oh dear God who did she say this to? I think this is the second most fucked up thing we hear Allison say after the rumoring Claire scene. +10

Allison is going 120 kmh, or 75 mph, in the rain. If you have ever driven a car in the rain then you know exactly why I am sinning this. For those who don’t know, google hydroplaning. Allison could have died here very, very easily. +3

Title screen on a billboard! I forgot how cool the episode 8 title screen was. -1

Allison doesn’t bring her proof with her when going to confront Vanya, who has been shown to be irrational when it comes to Leonard. +1

Bird jumpscare. +1

“They want me to come back tomorrow be fitted for a prosthetic eye”. Leonard places emphasis on the words “prosthetic eye” to remind the viewers that Leonard is bad news. Good acting choice. -1

Leonard’s clothes look freshly bloody when the blood should be several hours old and therefore a more rusty brown color than a bright red. I think. I don’t know if that’s how it works with such large amounts of blood. +1

Luther’s bed is now magically big enough to fit both him and the rave girl. +1

Luther’s reaction to the rave girl. Rewatch this scene to get such a laugh at Luther’s face. -1

How out of it was Luther vs the rave girl? Consent issues on both sides. +3

Luther treated the rave girl to some wine? Or cranberry juice? How thoughtful. -1

I really, really hope they were safe though. There is no evidence to imply they were safe. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about then you’re too young to be watching TUA). +1

Klaus is such a little shit. “Wakey wakey! Eggs and bakey!” while ringing the bell. Peak sibling culture is doing this sort of thing while knowing that the other sibling is NOT going to appreciate it. Also, Klaus deserves his revenge after last night. -1

The little wave the rave girl gives Klaus. -1

Go back and watch this scene. Holy shit this is so underrated. This is the funniest thing ever. -1

“He popped his cherry! Now you’re gonna have to marry her” -4

Klaus doesn’t remember his first time. Consent issues. +3

“No dilly-dallying, alright?” I love Klaus. -1

Klaus makes french press coffee for Luther and Ben. Klaus is a good brother. -1

I would kill to see Ben’s reaction to Luther and the rave girl. +1

Five snatches Luther’s coffee and not Ben’s, ya know, the guy who can’t drink the coffee. And is invisible. Five is a dick to Luther or Five wanted to be a little shit to Luther after having to hear him and the rave girl. Either way, +1

He steals the coffee and he complains about it. +1

Ben! -1

“This is a bad idea” no shit. +1

The awkward pauses where Ben is presumably speaking don’t make sense here. +1

The camera trickery used to make Luther look like a giant compared to Five. -1

Five knows where the aspirin is “top shelf next to the crackers” because he was also hungover. I think. I can’t remember if FIve stopped back at the house, but presumably he and Luther had to go there to get the car. -1

Luther still isn’t getting up to get the aspirin even though he can listen just fine while getting it. +1

Ben adding to the dramatic tension of the scene in a uniquely humorous way that only this show can pull off. -2

Luther doesn’t believe Klaus about Reggie’s suicide. What reason would Klaus have to lie about this, Luther? +1

Five believes him right away. -1

Convenient Pogo backing up Klaus is convenient. +1

This has nothing to do with this very dramatic and important scene, but the mismatched chairs, while cute, don’t appear in any other scene. +1

Five calls Reggie a “sick bastard” under his breath. That’s one way to describe him. -1

Pogo kept this secret for a long time. Not telling the kids was a strange choice and I’m not sure why Pogo made it. On one hand, he would be respecting the wishes of his creator and friend but on the other he would be helping these people come to terms with their father’s death. Pogo’s character motivations are strange and I don’t understand them. +1

Luther said it best, “there’s always choice.” +1

Random thought I had, where was Harold’s grandmother when he was being abused and then going to jail because he killed his abuser? +1

Leonard says some nice things in this scene. If we didn’t know how manipulative he was I would give him credit for this line. +1

Agnes looks adorable out of the Griddy’s uniform. Costume/hair people, you did good. -1

Agnes keeps saying things like “we aren’t in a rush” and talking about seeing three years worth of stops to remind us that there is no time. Hazel looks heartbroken by it. -1

Allison abandons her vehicle. Do not take driving advice from The Umbrella Academy, ever! +1

Allison sees a random scarf from several cars away and immediately connects it with Vanya. Does she also have super sight? +1

The first time we see Allison get recognized by a random stranger for her acting is eight episodes in. +1

Cheddar (the cop Allison is talking to) is so enamored by Allison that he stops doing his job correctly. +1

“Jackpine cove” who named these towns? +1

Allison and Five have the same little shrug when they finish telling terrible lies. -1

Allison is a terrible liar. +1

Diego is still in jail. They’re talking about transferring him upstate. This is really bad news. +1

“Did she use that word? Contentious?” The definitions of contentious all say the word argument. Beeman says that Diego and Patch had an argumentative relationship. This matters to Diego. Why? +1

This conversation was written by someone who doesn’t understand the connotation of the word contentious. +1

Beeman encourages Diego to escape and go on the run. Are all the cops incompitent on this show? You have Patch, who hasn’t pinned Diego for obstruction of justice despite the show implying that Diego has touched evidence he wasn’t supposed to many times, Cheddar, who is so distracted by Allison freakin’ Hargreeves that he forgets that taking her along to a murder case is unethical at best, and Beeman who straight up encourages Diego to escape from jail. That last one is definitely illegal. +10

The parallel between Five and Leonard reading something they aren’t supposed to have in the bathroom. Both the apocalypse file and the journal are red, too. This means something but I don’t have the analysis skills to really go into it. If anyone wants to take a crack at it, go ahead. Sin removed because I know this is smart even if I can’t figure out why.-1

Vanya’s training implies that Reggie has been training these kids hard since they were at least four years old. +7

Current Sin Count: 73

Reggie doesn’t praise Vanya for breaking the glass, he just demands that she does it again. Say it with me now, Reggie is a dick. +1

Leonard straight up uses the word extraordinary. Sigh. +1

The description for how Vanya’s powers work (concentrate on a constant sound until that’s all you can hear and then use an emotional connection to target) is surprisingly good. This is the best description of somebody’s powers we’ve ever gotten in this show. -1

Klaus is attempting to get the yarn on the needle and failing miserably. This is one of the simpler, if tedious, things we do in knitting. Therefore, it is completely understandable how a beginner can’t make heads or tails of it. -1

Five is still injured. The old man walk gives it away. +1

Five treats Klaus like a second in command. I want more of this duo. -1

“So how’d the crazy bastard actually know to kill himself a week before the end of the world?” We would all like to know the answer to that question. Five would be excellent at cinema sins. +1

“Don’t answer, that was purely rhetorical.” Nice cop out, show. +1

Reggie used The Apocalypse to make his kids do the dishes. Checks out. +1

Five and Klaus bond over hating doing the dishes and the person making them do the dishes. Sibling culture. -1

“Where have you been?” “Jail. Long story.” The looks on Klaus and Five’s faces! -2

Vanya breaks the monocle. Good job, kid. However, if you know the comics then you know why I am mildly concerned about this. -1

“That will conclude your training for the time being.” Meaning the next 25 years. Reggie, you suck. +1

Now Vanya’s powers are a bit more vague and imply that she has super hearing. +1

Leonard’s training routine actually includes some praise, which is a step up from Reggie. However, a step up from Reggie is still someplace in hell, so it’s still a sin. +1

It’s also a sin because it’s uncontrolled and Vanya is afraid of it, yet Leonard keeps pushing her. +1

Leonard uses the kind of language Reggie would use to describe Vanya’s powers. Checks out because he read Reggie’s book and is using his ideas to train Vanya. +1

Helen Cho’s missing person poster reminds the viewer that Leonard is bad news. +1

Vanya plays for the St. Pluvium Chamber Orchestra. First of all, no they have a conductor. +1

Second of all, “Pluvium” means of or relating to rain. The Umbrella Academy fights against the leader of the rain orchestra in episode 10. Who came up with that pun? That is absolutely hilarious. -1

Based on a post by @seven-valid-libras I think Griddy’s is across the street from this bar? I am not 100% sure. If it is then that’s a sin off because Agnes definitely has a bunch of drunk people coming in for doughnuts every now and then. I lowkey want to write this fic. -1

“Maybe they’ll brood each other to death” Is this a reference to the fact that Luther and Diego were both too emo for umbrellas in episode 1? -1

I feel so bad for Luther right now. Reggie really fucked with his head. +1

After hearing that Vanya’s boyfriend is a convicted murderer, Luther is more concerned for Allison than he is for Vanya. +1

Diego’s face when Luther says “you should have led with that!” [the fact that Allison went after a convicted murderer alone] -1

Luther is right. Diego should have led with that. +1

Luther breaks the door in his rush to get out of the bar. Checks out. -1

Mary J. Blige. -1

The shop is closing because Agnes is leaving? Who owns Griddy’s? +1

And if the shop is closing, then why leave doughnuts on the shelf? Are they gifts for the other waitresses who are now out of a job? +1

Agnes keeps a flamingo (presumably, scented) candle in a bakery. +1

Cha Cha was way too close to that explosion to not get some scratches at the very least. +1

Sergeant Cheddar is letting Allison stay in the room while he interrogates Mr. Luntz (the man that survived Vanya’s powers). +1

What kind of person allows themselves to be hired by some guy in order to beat him up in front of his girlfriend? Who does that? Are there people like that who exist in real life? +1

Allison doesn’t get pissed off when Luntz says that they started to hurt the girl (Vanya) too. +1

Sgt. Cheddar finally gets pissed off with Allison after she starts leading Luntz. This took way too long. +1

“What I really need to do is practice,” said every musician ever. Including me. As I’m typing this I’m putting off practicing. Vanya is calling me out. I deserve it. +1

Also, Vanya just got first chair and so far she still hasn’t learned the solo the day before the concert. That is such a mood. -1

The cracks in Leonard’s personality are finally starting to show. If Harold was smart he would let Vanya do this without attempting to manipulate her into more practice. +1

Vanya left her violin propped up in the middle of a sofa. That is a broken violin waiting to happen. +1

Where is her rosin? Don’t tell me she reuses the same rosin and doesn’t clean her instrument. Please. +2

Leonard doesn’t tell Vanya where he will be going. He just sort of leaves without a note. This would be fine if this universe had cell phones, but it doesn’t. Leonard is a dick. +1

Agnes would like to spend her (Hazel tells her it’s hypothetical but we know it’s not) last two days on Earth with Hazel. That is so sweet. But also, they met less than a week ago. +1

This is the turning point that makes Hazel an active character that wants to stop the apocalypse. Finally some character motivation that makes sense! Whoop! -1

They Call Me a Fool by Damon is another one of my favorites from the soundtrack. What can I say, I’m a sucker for jazz. -1

There is a parallel between Five leaving Vanya’s apartment and Leonard leaving her at the cabin. Her brother (whom I assume she loves) and the man she is infatuated with both leave her at some point without warning. The people who Vanya loves keep leaving her. +2

Vanya puts her violin down on a chair and lets the bow fall. Bows are expensive. +1

“I made a secret place just for you. None of your siblings get to play there.” Of course Reggie is framing it this way. He’s scared of her. +1

The further away from Pogo the camera is, the less real he looks. +1

Reggie and Pogo locked Vanya in this cage. +1

Vanya’s violin bow fell down but in the next shot it’s propped on the chair. +1

Sgt. Cheddar tells Allison to stay put but has no way to verify that she actually will. Also, if he’s such a fan then shouldn’t he know that she used to be a superhero? +1

Allison kept her proof about Leonard/Harold in the car again. +1

“I love you. And I wanna be here for you as your sister.” -1

“I love him.” Vanya you met him less than a week ago. +2

If there was ever a wrong time to bring up the fact that you took Vanya’s powers away and left her with a horribly low self esteem due to the poorly worded “I heard a rumor that you think you’re just ordinary”, it would be now! Now is the wrong time to bring this up! +10

Reggie used Allison to make Vanya powerless. Reggie is a dick. An absolute bastard. A complete scumbag. Etc. +20

Reggie has also been drugging Vanya since she was FOUR YEARS OLD. +50

Insert Reggie insults here. Feel free to come up with your own in the tags. Fuck this guy repeatedly with a rusty chainsaw. +20

Vanya is not in the right state of mind to understand that Reggie is the one that made Allison rumor her. +1

The final fight between Allison and Vanya is heartbreaking. Emmy Raver-Lampman and Ellen Page are excellent actresses. -5

Vanya’s skin keeps getting paler and paler. Foreshadowing. -1

This is the only time Allison attempts to use her powers in the show. To save her life. I would say that it is pretty justified. -1

Violin bows are not sharp enough to cut human flesh. Is this another part of Vanya’s power? +1

Gore warning! This is super fucked. Not gonna lie, I gag a little every time I see this.+4

Vanya is freaking out and then Leonard walks in. Vanya’s mental state is completely out the window at this point. +4

Leonard manhandles Vanya into letting her sister die (as far as they know) on the floor of the cabin. +10

Allison has definitely lost enough blood to kill her, yet she survives this. +1

Leonard went out to kill Luntz. +10

Nobody in the car (Five driving, Klaus shotgun, Luther and Diego in the back) is wearing a seatbelt. +1

Also, of these four people, Five is the most qualified to drive right now? Diego is sitting right there! And we saw Klaus drive the ice cream truck! Luther would have some trouble driving because he’s so large. But really?? +2

“Can you go any faster?” “Ask me again and I’ll burn you with the cigarette lighter.” The comic relief doesn’t really land here because the scene before was so dramatic and the music is still playing. To change the mood, the song would also have to change. +2

Independently, that is a pretty funny Grandpa Five line. -1

Including Ben in the scene where they find Allison bleeding out on the floor is a subtle reminder to the audience that if Allison was dead, Klaus would be able to see her ghost. The lack of a ghost means she is still alive. +1

Also, this scene has all the original members of The Umbrella Academy in it. Look how far they’ve come from the bank robbery. +6

No one is checking for a pulse right now. They’re just assuming that Allison is dead. +10

Overall Review: It goes without saying that this episode is fucking brutal. When I first watched it I had to stop and go do something else for a while because of the rumor reveal and the throat thing. That was really, really concerning. Props to Emmy Raver-Lampman. She fucking killed it this episode. If anyone was wondering if she was a good actress (ya know because of all the “come look at this” lines she kept getting) then this episode made it very clear that she can act and she does it very, very well.

So, Vanya’s sanity is out the window, Allison is down for the count, and no one cares about the apocalypse right now. That last one is understandable because of Allison’s situation, but damn it really isn’t looking good for the Hargreeves siblings.

Also, I want to talk about something. This is the last episode in which Allison and Vanya are both capable of speech. And in the eight hours we have known these two women, they have had multiple conversations. All of them have been about a man. Their brothers, their father, Patrick, or Leonard/Harold. Seriously, the two women in this show that are main characters never have a conversation that isn’t about a man. There is no excuse. With the fridging and this, you have to wonder if the writers on this show hate women or something? I don’t normally add sins post analysis, but I think I will make an exception for this one. +100

Total: 283

Sentence: Serious gore.

#The Umbrella Academy #all in good fun #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #five hargreeves #ben hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #leonard peabody #harold jenkins #show warnings apply #this episode is brutal

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howlingmoonrise · 4 years ago

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Thoughts on Petshop of Horrors: Wandering Ark volume 3

(crossposted from dreamwidth)

me realizing a whole-ass 25 pages of the last volume of the papa series are just sensei's travel logs:

what did i do to deserve this, honestly? sensei i love you and all but THERE WERE SO MANY OTHER THINGS TO COVER ABOUT PAPA. AND YOU DIDN'T TOUCH THEM. AT ALL.

To start with, there's only two actual chapters in the volume, keeping in line with the previous volumes. A whooping total of 103 pages out of a 128 page manga - except, a good portion of one of them is pretty much just rehashing the events of the last volume of the original manga, so it's not exactly like they're overflowing with juicy new content. Vesca and Victor fans will be pleased at a new glimpse of them both though, with emphasis on Vesca.

Oh, you wanted an explanation for the ark? For why Papa was going around supposedly through "space and time", with a reason other than "well, I wanted to draw stuff from other eras but I don't want to write a whole new manga with a D from back then"? There's none. N-O-N-E. Zilch. Zip. Nada. Niente. Nothing about his relationship with Sofu (though they do briefly meet on Victor's funeral - and wow, am I surprised Sofu deigned to show considering how much he loves humankind), nothing about D or Papa's relationship with him beyond an outsider's point of view on the events of the last manga, nothing about the D species in general or glimpses at previous Ds that were likely alive before our D came into being.

Another bad point: what the hell was up with the cover art?

The top portion of it is fine, but why does the rest of it look like whoever painted it forgot how to shade things? Look at that belt. Look at those sleeves. That's all I have to say on this subject.

On to the chapters themselves!

First chapter:

Papa D helps with The Bachelor. No, really. It's literally a Bachelor-style show, recorded for TV, with one single man and twenty ladies competing to become his wife. Trigger warning for almost-rape in this chapter.

I'll be honest, I liked the main character for this chapter. She's a go-getter, and a survivalist, and prefers stuffing her face with food instead of flirting away the night. Honestly? Mood. I really liked the butler too. I was going on a "oh, is he going to be the actual love interest?" line of thought since he looked interesting, and then went "nah, they're not focusing on him at all beyond that one (1) scene where they were dancing, guess he's just a side character after all", only for him to actually turn out to be the final love interest. That was. Hm. To say that it was majorly underdeveloped is to put it lightly, but the "prince" wasn't great either. The attempted rape felt as if it was shoved in because they were running out of pages though, since the rest of what we saw from his personality seemed a lot mellower than that.

The ?prostitutes? were an unexpected bright spot, even though they only showed up for a couple of panels, but it was nice that they gave her food (however dismissively) and tried to get the other guy to leave her alone, and that they were simply described as "beautiful" instead of anything else.

OH BUT. Papa hitting the would-be rapist over the head with an oar was great, it actually gave a bit more dimension to him since the Ds are usually so unwilling to dirty their own hands when it comes to violent business: at most they would usually let their pets do the work for them.

Which actually brings me to another question.

I've already said before that Papa is at most a side character on his own series, and that he actually barely gets involved at all apart from a few nudges here and there - but it's kind of jarring that he almost never "sells" a pet in this series. On all volumes including this one, there are only two chapters where he gives away a pet that was already with him and that didn't initially belong to someone else that he was just returning: the dogs from the Austria chapter, and the bird from Empress one (who was actually said to be given by Sofu, but I'm calling bullshit since he had long hair and this is supposedly a time-travelling ark). It's definitely a weird choice for a manga whose title is, quite literally, "Petshop of Horrors".

Also, for a FLYING ark there sure seem to be a lot of water-related incidents.

Thoughts on the family thing down on the general thoughts section. Also, WHY IS IT AN OAR AGAIN? WHERE DID THE BUTLER FIND AN OAR, SINCE IT SEEMED LIKE IT WASN'T PAPA LENDING IT TO HIM? I can't say the penguin thing was a huge twist considering previous chapters, but it makes me wonder that so many of Papa's stories are directly about either humans or animals, but rarely the conjunction of both apart from brief exceptions.

Second chapter: Nice callback to the original PSoH on the first page: I'm extremely fond of that description of the Ds, and it's fitting for a final chapter of a PSoH series.

This chapter is a cameo for Victor (from the Sofu series which I haven't read yet but know some things about), and a full appearance for Vesca. Victor seems to have chosen the same path as Leon, though arguably he'd actually have the money for it since he's a baron. Travelling the world following rumours and sightings, in search of someone they considered to be dear to them? Sign all three of these blonds up, because it seems to be a tradition at this point. The Ds really have a type, huh? Truth be told, from what I heard of Victor I didn't think he'd be the adventure-seeking sort, so this was a bit of a surprise. He looks cute and happy piloting planes and running from rhinos so I guess that's all that matters though.

BUT WHY DID HE HAVE TO DIE POOR. He looks like a huge cinnamon roll so I feel super bad for him, I bet they all resented the money he spent trying to chase Sofu D across the globe once the Great Depression hit :/

And then, bam! Sofu cameo. This is the chapter where EVERYONE gets a cameo, copy-paste of the last chapter of OG PSoH or otherwise. He's cryptic as usual, and I REALLY didn't expect him to remember Victor's name, much less show up to his funeral. Not that he even looks like he's grieving; he pretty much only speaks of Hitler and Eva Braun's kirin, to Papa's seemingly frowning disapproval (I haven't complained about the round art style on this volume's commentary yet so consider this to be it: the only reason why Papa even looks put out is because he has a Very Clear Frowny Line, because otherwise he just looks normal... and round).

And then finally, some actual Papa content! Or, er, Vesca content. Both. Let's go with both. I don't want to make myself sad thinking about how little we saw of Papa on his own series. Here we see once again mentions of extinction and of resurrecting species, and finally a throwback to why the ark is an ark: "Noah's Ark". It took me RNS' translations of OG PSoH to understand the reference back on the original, because on Tokyopop's mangled translation the ark is merely a flying boat.

It's nice to see that Vesca has a strong sense of justice similar to my dear boy Leon Orcot, since it was a bit iffy on the original manga. He's righteous (and right!) about the other Professor using Papa's research, and how Papa should have the benefits of it for himself since he was the one doing the studies. Papa, however, cares little about money or glory: even now his focus is on recovering the blind bird species from their trip to Greece (see: Shin PSoH), and here we see once again his hopeful view that one day he may be able to help them see again. Parallel to his own family much? Honestly, I feel for him.

WHAT IS IT WITH PEOPLE SHOOTING PAPA? At this point he's trying to reach for Leon's record - and failing, because Leon gets shot and mauled a frankly unholy amount of times during the original PSoH, so no one else can ever really compare. What really breaks my heart here is that he actually asks why. Sofu and D would both have simply taken it for granted, but Papa (seemingly, up until this point) doesn't automatically assume the worst of every human being he comes across. That pained why kills me a little bit, here, and soon after he grows cold and allows the more murderous side of that contract to go loose.

That page with Vesca going into the FBI really throws me back to the panels on the original PSoH right before/right when Leon decides to chase after D. Part of the background is blank, the other part a faint image of the city and Chinatown, with a sense of detachment associated with them. I could probably take the time to place them side by side and compare fully, but uh. I may or may not be stretching my workday bedtime a little too much to finish writing this, oops.

Also, an echo to the original PSoH with Papa's death, called back with him nearly being shot in the middle of the forehead. The actual event is brought in shortly after Vesca gets to mind-rant about the Ds and his search for a few pages, and then flashback flashforward time! A whole six pages which are just portions of OG PSoH's last chapter redrawn from another angle. It's implied that Vesca was able to board the ark like Leon did due to a similar scene with lying in the clouds and sighting the ship amidst them, though whether he was able to stay or not is a whole new story. This is where the actual story ends.

Sensei's travel logs: I'm not going to bother going into these. It was nice to see some glimpses of my son (forever a Leon stan here!) and a cameo for Taizuu also showed up a little later on if you're one of the people who liked him (personally, I would trade Taizuu in for a cornchip and a ball of lint). I'm going to make the executive choice of pretending that the D/Leon bits are what's actually happening right now after Leon caught up to D. It's lovely to see them on vacations, and Leon has mellowed out a little bit while D seems extremely comfortable and content with his favourite ex-detective's presence =v=

General thoughts: All the series so far seem to have some sort of theme, which kind of ties into the main character of it and their own arc. The original PSoH, for one, was focused a lot on family and greed and love and desire: our D, similarly, had plenty of unresolved issues surrounding his bloodline and things that he wanted but that he couldn't/was not allowed to have because of that very blood.

You'll have to forgive me if my interpretation of Shin is spotty since I only read around half of it (online scans only went up to volume 6 or so, physical versions of the Tokyopop translations were discontinued, and ruthlessnightsscans started scanlating it after I’d already read the available chapters for Shin), but from what I remember of it it seemed to bring in softer, more loving and lighthearted stories, usually tied around romance and being kept apart from things they want/love. The two non-Leon chapters that immediately spring to mind are the Romeo and Juliet Mafia AU, and the one where the lady got pregnant from her dead husband and was able to live on due to that renewed hope. D himself seems to have turned a new page: he hangs around humans on his leisure time (bless those drag queens), takes a vested interest in happy endings for others even if not for himself, and seems overall less inclined towards gruesome murder.

(You'll have to forgive me, but I actually haven't read the Sofu series at all yet so I can't analyse that one. I wasn't even aware RNS had scanlated it until recently, but then again I hold a lot of rage against that slimy bastard (Sofu, not RNS, RNS are baby) and so I'm putting it off indefinitely. Oops?)

And then there's this one. It's probably no coincidence that so many of the stories are about reproduction and birth and continuing a dying species: this is something that chases Papa all the way from his college days not even considering his childhood, which we don't actually don't know about but can make an educated guess at down to his issues with his son and the faint madness of his last years. Even his death plays into this theme, with it ultimately working as an way to keep the D line alive. It makes me think that Papa being kept from his position as a main character in his own series might actually be somewhat purposeful, though the decaying quality of the latest PSoH mangas makes me think this is not the case. I'll have to read the Sofu series to make a better judgement on this, depending on whether or not Sofu is or is not treated similarly.

Another theme: being haunted by the dead. I think this is actually present on almost every chapter of the Wandering Ark series, though we may disagree on the levels on which it was shown and how easily it is or is not divorced by my previous point. A reader that reads this series on its own will likely find Papa a very bland character and will not grasp onto the nuances of these themes and how they are connected to him, IMO. These conclusions and these hypothesis are drawn by virtue of the first manga alone; it's because of it that we're aware of how Papa himself lives for the species who are long gone, his own kind included. Most of the characters on Wandering Ark push through the suffering and the sorrow of their dead to go beyond their limits and become greater and independent, which is another parallel to Papa since he's the only one of the Ds who has an objective beyond simple (and inefficient) vengeance.

Overall, there's little else I can say that I haven't said already, either here or on my previous post for the first two volumes of the Wandering Ark series. There's a real sense of isolation and detachment on Papa's side (though he seems more benevolent than the other two Ds were), but as I said I'm not sure if it's meant to be purposeful or not, though Sensei's choice to not give him an actual companion thorough his series is also telling. The pacing was also better than in the first chapters of this series, though there was that issue with the ending of the first chapter of this volume. I also still can't say this enough, but it's really strange that Papa is such a side character on his own series??

Final thoughts: we were robbed.

At least Sensei hinted that her journey with the Ds might not be over yet, though if we get another Sofu manga I can and I will riot.

#petshop of horrors #pet shop of horrors #papa d #wandering ark #drifting ark #hyouhaku no hakobune hen #petshop of horrors hyouhaku #psoh wandering ark #psoh #howl rambles a lot

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a-libra-writes · 5 years ago

Note

GOT MEN: Write down things you find attractive about each of them? (I saw this at Underrated Character Imagines and wanted to ask if you could do the same?)

oh, I saw that too!! Khat has good taste 😏 im including some girls bc I am a Giant Bi

Ned: 150% HUSBAND MATERIAL. I love how broody he is. Love his POVs in the book. his love for his family & siblings is 🥺🥺 10/10 would live in domestic bliss with this man, his nice hair and 10 kids.

Robb: idk he’s real cute and honorable and i wanna pinch his cheeks. love his bond w Jon and ofc w Grey Wind is awesome.

Jon: sorry Kit is too baby-faced for me but i really love Jon’s chapters, he’s such a broody considerate sad lil butt, & loyal to his friends!! love his partnership w ghost, the goodest boi

Benjen: THAT VOICE AND FACE AND SMIRK I JUST 1500% 👌👌👌 AND THAT HAIR! damn Starks and their perfect-ass hair. damn his smile and cute nose.

Jory: sweet loyal boy with a perfect smile i will always protecc. JORY NEVER HURT ANYBODY

Edd: i love his dumb face and nose and his personality is great thanks. i think his actor is perf.

Tormund: im not super attracted but hes got a great heart and TREATS HIS WOMEN LIKE QUEENS

Mance: fuckin chaotic-ass bard int he books why did they take away his singing and lute. big sweetie too

Theon: ill be real hes kind of a giant fuckboy and i love Alfie but I dont think he fits Theon well BUT fuckin fantastic character arc 10/10

Yara: pleaSE STEP ON ME I LOVE BADASS PIRATE LADIES SHES SO SASSY AND COOL SFJDSJDFJSD

Jorah: THOSE EYES!! THAT SMILE!! THOSE SAD LINGERING LOOKS FSLDFD I love Jorah sO MUCH 😭😭 This seems silly but i LOVE his whispy blonde hair and the armor+blue/tan outfit he wears a lot, IDK WHY HEsS SO HANDSOME!?

Missandei: gorgeous queen who knows all the languages and is hella wise I love her pretty outfits too

Grey Worm: big ole sweetheart who will also throttle a man and rip out his heart for u. a smile i must protect.

Tywin: first of all charles dance is 💕💕 bc THOSE EYES AND THAT NOSE aND THAT VOICE and i just love dominating assholes who only have a soft spot for a love interest like hes an awful person but we dont judge on this blog ok. also love me some sneaky intrigue characters

Tyrion: just as much sneaky intrigue as Tywin except he actually has a moral compass, also a heart lmao. 10/10 would marry

Jaime: problematic fave bc Nikolaj is a dreamboat. also his devotion to those he loves is really frickin sweet even if its misguided as hell lol. ultimate tsundere, prove me wrong

Sandor: GRUMPY! 👏 BUTTHEAD! 👏 WITH A BIG SOFT SPOT HE DENIES!! 👏👏 also like jorah he has that “lady and knight” trope that im a HUGE sucker for. fuckin handsome-ass giant cant decide if i wanna cuddle or get railed by him

Bronn: he has pretty eyes and i like his voice but that’s moreso the actor lol. Im not super into him but i really like his interactions w Tyrion and his personality

Petyr: not super into him but i really love his manipulative nature and his actor is fuckin A++. say what you want about him but he PLAYS THE LOOOONG GAME you know he’s faithful AF. probs the only legit yandere in GoT lets be real

Stannis: MY ONE TRUE KING AND HUSBAND 😭😭💕💕 I love him soooo much, the show ruined it but his character arc in the books is just SKFKSFK AGH i really love justice-oriented, unyielding & stubborn characters and he has such a big soft spot for Davos and Shireen and he’s such a frickin butthead but also just wants love and has all these insecurities bc of his brothers. I love him. Absolute fav. I really like his actor too, his voice is 💕

Davos: I LOOOOVE LIAM CUNNINGHAM his sweet eyes and voice just fit Davos so well and that beard!! 💖 also great devoted husband and wonderful dad i jsut sfkdkfsl i also want to settle down on a seaside home and have several kiddos or just like 5 dogs with this man. love his relationship w stannis, most iconic duo

Margaery: marg in the books is kinda meehh for me so i really love natalie’s take on her, i love how gorgeous and sassy she is!!! if we dated we’d have unstoppable double femme energy

Brynden: AAaAAAA HES SO TALL AND CUTE AND HIS VOICE AND HE’S A BADASS KNIGHT I JUST SKDFKSDL 💕🐟🐟💕 and he’s so sweet to Cat and just a stubborn butthead to his brother I WILL NOT BE SHAMED FOR MY LOVE OF OLDER MEN

Edmure: idk why he’s an idiot in the show but i really like him in the books haha, he’s just likable? damn tobias menzies is a cutie tho. doesn’t look like my image of edmure but i love his smile!

Brienne: AAAHHH PLZ BE MY KNIGHT AND CARRY ME AND FIGHT IN MY HONOR akfksdkf I adore her idealism and honor, even if it tends to backfire on her, and she’s just wholesome and kind!!! SHE DESERVES THE WORLD!

Ramsay: hes the worst so WHY IS IWAN RHEON SO ATTRACTIVE LIKE?? those eyes?? that fucking smile? hIS cANINES ARE SO PRONOUNCED WHY IS IT CUTE??? damn him. damn him for making ramsay attractive. i am shamed.

Roose: hooooo buddy okay i cant help it, its like tywin all over again except Roose gives off those yandere vibes and his voice is just 💦💦💦 I LOVE THE ACTOR THEY PICKED. I will not apologize for him being a fave lol, id post my writing for him but shaaaaame

Oberyn: so i binged Narcos before GoT and i had no idea Pedro was in this show, lost my shit lol. Ahhh I love the swagger Oberyn has, he’s such a chaotic bi 😆😆 a very passionate man, not my type at all but his stupid charisma makes me swoon anyway

Beric: i love his actor!!! such a big soft sweetie with THE MOST RADIANT SMILE OMG how does he do this. love him!

Gendry: eehh hes too young for me but i love his friendship w Arya and hes a big cute dork in the book.

Edit: no one asked but i think lord commander mormont's actor is p cuuuuute.... 👀 even without his talking bird

#libra says #thanks for asking me to do this it was fun!!#its a crime and a sin that jeyne poole and dacey mormont arent in the show

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dtfrogertaylor · 5 years ago

Text

2019 Queen/Bohrap Fanfic Awards

Tumblr Fanfics, NOT 18+ rated (if any of these are 18+ please tell me so I can move them to the correct list)

‘A Simple Favor’ by @redspecialty nominated by 3 anons

“it is the best” - @dingdongdeaky

“It’s was simply incredible! A beautiful read by an inspiring and imaginative writer! A supreme pleasure to read!” - @littlehopelessdreamer47

“Its written so so so well and its so real and honest and the ups and downs suck you right in. This series absolutely built me up and crushed my heart and made me cry with happiness and sadness and if you love Gwil there's no way you can't love this series. It really has everything, from fluff to angst to smut, friends to lovers, a pregnancy AU, comfort... Its just an amazing series, really my review doesn't do it justice.” - @lovehelpmewrite

“So well-written, beautiful descriptions, and such a unique storyline!” - anon

‘Virtues Uncounted’ by @a-night-at-the-0pera

“it’s so creative and i love how all the characters fit into the plot!” - anon

“Virtues Uncounted is so different than all other fics, and so incredibly well done. It reads like a novel, and the work put into it is so obvious. It kept me guessing until the last chapter, and I eagerly awaited each installment.” - anon

“aside from the writing and the wonderful person Tori is, I really just want to point out the sheer effort that had to go into this. the hours of research and outlining and plotting that had to go into this - that’s dedication. and it totally pays off! she built such a believable and complex world, it reads like a real novel.” - @littlespoiltthing

‘Headlong’ by @bensrhapsody (O/C)

“It’s fun and fluffy and with time travel involved it has a dash of drama” - anon

“Lena has somehow managed to capture their personalities perfectly!” - anon

“Cara is such a relatable and lovely character - especially in such a surreal situation as she finds herself” - anon

‘Meet the Family’ by @blamerogertaylor

“Frankly it made me feral for a 70 year old and I absolutely loved it!” - anon

‘Memory Lane’ by @39taylor nominated by @blamesachadhawan

‘I’m Happy At Home’ by @brianmay-be

“It’s one of the cutest fics I’ve ever read!!” - anon

‘Responsibilities’ by @daemyiel

“Because it's a really good Roger fic that I didn't expect to go the way it did.” - anon

‘Doing All Right’ by @strangeandwonderfulconcepts nominated by anon

‘Simple Sentence’ by @cobaincreates nominated by anon

‘The Great Pretender’ by @likethewingsof-butterflies

“It deserves way more appreciation than it got. It is written absolutely amazingly with the detail and the depth of how they both react.” - anon

‘I Do Love You’ by @megalony

“Her stories have vivid descriptions which make it enjoyable and captivating for the reader, also her stories are creative!” - @bluutac

‘About Last Night’ by @mothermercuryy nominated by anon

‘Ten Things Series’ by @taylorroger-s

“it is so immersive and you get very attached to the characters. i love how they portray the band and readers relationship with them :))) this author in general is excellent and i always look forward to her projects, even if they are not terribly often” - anon

‘Soft Disco’ by @laedymoon

“where do i even begin? this fic is so gorgeously written and has ripped my heart out on more than one occasion.” - @illfoandillfie

‘Funny How Love Is’ by @funkytalia

“It’s just so fuckin’ good. Usually I can’t stand slowburns, but this one is just *chef’s kiss*.” by @benders-diamond-earring

‘It's A Hard Life’ by @brian-maybe-not

“heartbreaking and never fails to get the waterworks going but also its *chefs kiss* delicious” - @illfoandillfie

‘A Night At The Library’ by @veriloquently

“the absolute loveliest fandom exchange gift i could ever have hoped to receive. made me smile for like a week straight and still makes me go all soft and giggly when i think about it.” - @illfoandillfie

‘Killer Queen’ by @softlyhardy

“Beautiful story, well written, and I'm looking forward to more chapters!!” - anon

‘j.d. | b.m.’ by @daddydeakydeacon (ship)

“I like it because it's a cute little piece about two people who love each other very much, and I like how the author (Kevin?) didn't feel the need to add smut into it so that he could feel that other people would accept it.” - anon

‘Detox’ by @megalony

“So sad and heartbreaking but so so good” - @jennygggrrr

‘That Silly Wig’ by @queensdivas

“The way she captured the whole scene was absolutely gorgeous! Completely underrated” - anon

‘Save Me’ by @deakyspuff nominated by anon

‘Angels’ by @bohemian-napsodyy

“It’s a work of art and made me cry so hard, but they put so much effort into it and it shows” - anon

‘Funny How Love Is’ by @funkytalia

“such a lovely story; friends to lovers is <333″ - anon

‘An Average Friday Night’ by @acdeaky

“It’s very sad and angst and I love it!” - @leatherjacketmazzello

‘Just Go With It’ by @sohoneyspreadyourwings

“The writing was just super great! I loved the whole story idea, and it made me fall even more in love with Joe.” - anon

‘Just Say It’ by @briansclogss

“I actually cried reading it and felt my heart rip out of my chest :((” - anon

‘Love, Miss Nurse’ + ‘Love, Genie’ by @acdeaky

“The description is absolutely incredible and the letter plot is amazing. The mere word auburn for Joe/Genie's hair gave me sparkles in the eyes I can't even explain why. I love it !!” - @warriorteam1924

‘Lazing on a Sunday Morning’ by @painandpleasure86

“This is Lily's very first fic and also continuing one of my story. It is just beautiful, I love it !!!” - @warriorteam1924

‘See What a Fool I’ve Been’ by @doubledeaky

“Even if it is with Brian May and I'm more into John Deacon, the plot is very good, the protagonists are very well described. A kind of mini series, with four parts, simply elegant and beautiful.” - @warriorteam1924

‘Wipe My Nightmares Away’ by @eileen-crys

“The idea of nightmare is just so great. The husband/wife plot works perfectly. The writing is excellent.” - @warriorteam1924

‘Weep Not For The Memories’ by @thosequeenboys (platonic)

“It made me cry, but because it was absolutely and amazingly beautiful. The description is perfect, the feelings expressed are so real, the protagonists perfectly fit. The writing is just superbe. An amazing author, really. Brilliant.” - @warriorteam1924

‘Not Just You and I’ by @rhapso-kei

“a very soft, very hilarious pregnancy reveal/announcement fic. legitimately, I laughed almost the entire time I read it. everyone, from reader to john, are Top Tier Dumbasses and I love them for it.” - @littlespoiltthing

‘Morning Glow’ by @ohmyrog

“a short but tooth-achingly sweet thing. it's like a little morning pick-me-up! you're almost immediately immersed in this soft little world. and i believe it was written on the fly, which is pretty awesome!” - @littlespoiltthing

‘Present!Roger Universe’ by @blamerogertaylor

“The best present!Roger fic series I've read, the others are almost always smutty, this one is 100% fluff/angst and I love it!” - anon

‘Pillow Talk’ by @bensmazzello nominated by anon

‘Right in the Middle’ by @brianmay-be

“I love all their fics but this one is so fluffy and pure, it warms me” - @tv-saved-the-teenage-girl

#2019 fanfic awards

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thewritewolf · 5 years ago

Text

Two Cursed Detectives in Paris Chapter Three: Cats and Raccoons

Connor struggles under the weight of the secret and spends quality time with Adrien.

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3

The sun was only just starting to dip below the horizon, but you wouldn’t know it sitting inside Connor and Eerie’s hotel room. The black curtains were drawn shut and the lights turned out except for a bedside lamp. A crime show was playing on the television and Connor watched it with narrowed eyes. His attention was divided between the show, brushing his tail with a vintage silver brush, and worrying about his recent discovery.

“You figure out who the murderer is yet?”

Eerie glanced up from her book with pursed lips. “I’m trying to read here.”

“I saw you peeking at the TV. So what’s your guess, boss?”

“Well, boss,” she said as she closed the book. “It’s pretty obviously the old man at the lighthouse.”

“They aren’t even subtle about it.”

“Honestly. Amateurs.”

They fell silent again. Neither of them were particularly tired, but this was going to be their only chance to get some sleep before the stake out tonight.

But would he be able to get any rest if he didn’t get this off his chest? Eerie was the most dependable person he knew. If he couldn’t trust her of all people to share this secret with him, who could he trust? Deciding to put his faith in her, he started talking before he could chicken out.

“Hey, can I-”

“I need to-”

They cut each other off and Connor snorted while Eerie concealed her smirk behind one well-manicured hand. Maybe they’d gotten too in sync with each other.

He motioned to her. “Go ahead, Eerie. I can wait an extra minute or two.”

“Thanks.” She smiled gratefully before a serious expression settled over her face. “Do you know about the situation in Paris? With the superheroes and everything?”

“More than you might think,” Connor said, raising an eyebrow. “Why?”

“I meet Ladybug.”

“Oh wow, that’s-”

“I know who Ladybug is,” Eerie added in a low voice, as if there were people listening in. Whatever reaction she was expecting, Connor busting out laughing didn’t seem to be among them. She pouted, her hair poofing out like an owl’s feathers as she got up to loom over him. “This is serious, Connor!” She smacked him with a pillow.

“Trust me, I know. After all, I found out who Chat Noir is, so I understand the kind of pressure you’re probably under”

“Oh, good.” After a moment’s processing, her eyes widened. “Wait, what?” She sat down on the edge of his bed.

The next half hour was spent catching each other up on their adventures earlier that day.

“I guess we’re better detectives than we thought, huh?”

“And that’s saying something, given how much you talk yourself up.” Eerie rolled her eyes with a smile. “God, this was a crazy day.”

“No argument from me.” Connor stretched, tiredness starting to creep up on him. “So what are we going to do about it?”

“What do you mean?” She got off his bed and walked toward hers. “Doesn’t sound like we need to get involved, does it?”

“Well… I was just thinking… Chat seems pretty fond of Ladybug…”

“Connor,” she said, her tone reminiscent of all the times she’d found him digging through dumpsters or rifling through trash cans. “We are here to catch bad guys. Not play matchmakers for two fifteen year olds.”

“But you have to admit that they’re cute together!”

“I’m not having this conversation.” She turned off the lamp. It was purely a symbolic gesture since they both had night vision.

“...Fine. Good night.”

“Night,” she said as she rolled over onto her stomach.

“Sleep tight.”

“Mhm,” she hummed into her pillow.

“Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

“Connor. Go to sleep.”

“You’re right. Nothing to worry about, really. This is Paris after all. It’d be the fanciest bed bugs of them all. You’d thank them for biting you.”

“Sleep. Now.” She did her best to put on the Boss Voice, but he could hear the undercurrent of amusement just below the words. He smiled contently as he rolled over to cuddle his banana body pillow.

“Sure, boss.”

------------

Connor suppressed a yawn as he tried to focus on the game in front of him. The night was both incredibly brief because he got to spend it mostly goofing off with Eerie as they poked around for clues, but also unbearably long as night turned to morning.

His character was soundly thrashed, the irritation being just about the only thing getting through how fuzzy his brain was at the moment. Adrien turned toward him, a smug grin on his perfectly punchable model face.

The smirk vanished when he saw Connor’s expression, replaced by a look of concern. “You okay, Mr MacThomas? You seem a little, um… Tired.”

“You don’t need to sugar coat it, I know I’m not at my absolute most handsome today. I just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night since I had to do some detectiving.” Explaining Connor’s real reason for being in Paris hadn’t taken that long. He stretched, reaching his hands high above his head and flexed his fingers. “Not all of us get to jump straight into the beating up bad guys part of the whole fighting for justice gig.”

“It’s hard to believe you’re here undercover…”

“What? Just because I’m cursed that means I’m somehow less qualified for stealthy missions?”

Adrien’s eyes widened and he raised his hands in a placating gesture. “Wh-what?! No, I didn’t-”

“Relax,” Connor said, punching Adrien’s arm. “I’m messing with you. And hey, it wasn’t easy coming to grips with you being a super- MMH!” Connor glared at Adrien as the latter covered his mouth with both hands.

“Sorry! Sorry. I just - can we talk about something else? It’s really weird talking about that with anyone but my kwami, especially here at home.” Once Connor nodded, Adrien returned to his side of the couch.

“Why don’t you tell me about your friends, then?”

“Well, I don’t have a whole lot of them…”

“Oh come on. You’re a sweet kid and not half bad at video games, I’m sure you’ve got plenty of folks beating down the door to be your bud.”

Adrien smiled. “Thanks. I guess you could say I’m friends with most of my classmates, but there are only three that I hang out with much.”

While Adrien was staring off into space thinking about those friends, Connor’s fingers inched ever so slowly toward the unopened bag of cheetos nearby. “Sounds like you really care about them. What are their names?”

“Well, my best bro is Nino. He was one of my very first real friends when I started public school. I couldn’t ask for a better friend - he even got akumatized because he got so mad for my sake once.”

“Uh huh,” Connor said, quietly opening the cheetos. He still wasn’t super clear on what akumatization meant, but it sounded bad. “Sounds like someone who always has your back.”

“Definitely. Although we don’t hang out as much as I’d like - I’ve got my schedule, and he has a girlfriend. Who is another of my friends, actually. Alya, she likes superheroes and journalism. It’s been… interesting being her friend while being Chat.”

“That leaves one person. Best for last or is this the one you aren’t as close with?”

Adrien smiled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. “Kind of both? She’s absolutely amazing, but I think she mostly hangs out with me because she is Alya’s best friend. I wish we were closer.”

“Well, well, loverboy,” Connor said while nudging Adrien with his elbow. “It looks like you’ve got a crush. What’s the lucky girl’s name?”

“It’s not like that!” Adrien sounded a little exasperated, like he’d had this argument before. “She’s wonderful and cute and all that, but my heart belongs to Ladybug.” He sighed. “Marinette is just a good friend is all.”

Connor’s eyes bugged out and he sputtered in surprise, but with his mouth stuffed full of cheetos, he ended up doubled over into a coughing fit.

“Um… Mr MacThomas, are you okay?”

“Water,” Connor managed to croak out between coughs. In the minute that Adrien was gone, Connor’s mind whirred as it came to grips with this revelation. If he weren’t busy choking to death on snacks, he’d have laughed. What were the odds that they’d both go to the same school, let alone the same class?

Probably pretty good, now that he thought of it. They were probably picked by the same guy after all.

Adrien returned with the water and Connor eagerly gulped it down.

“Connor, by the way.”

“Huh?”

“Mr MacThomas is way too formal, kid. Just Connor is fine.”

“Okay… Connor.”

“Anyway, I think we were talking about your future girlfriend, Marinette.”

Adrien sighed patiently. “I told you, I’m in love with-”

“Ladybug, yeah, got that part. But you realize you can have a crush on multiple people, right?” True, just not in this case. “Just because you have feelings for the Bug doesn’t mean you can’t feel something for Marinette.” Adrien seemed about to say something, but Connor covered his mouth with his hand. “And I notice you didn’t deny having feelings for this Marinette girl.”

Whatever Adrien was trying to say was muffled by Connor’s hand over his face. His attempts to pull it off were to no avail.

“Yes, yes, I know you are madly in love with her, it’s very obvious. But we have to stay on track.” Connor felt something wet on his palm and raised an eyebrow. “Wow, you really are an only child.” At Adrien’s confused look, he added, “I’ve got a bunch of brothers and sisters - this is far from the only time this exact thing has happened.” Connor leaned back, letting Adrien’s face go free and wiped the spit off his glove onto the couch.

“I’m not in love with Marinette.” When Connor scoffed loudly, he folded his arms and pouted. “What? I’m not!”

“Really?” Connor smirked and settled into a relaxed slouch. “You care about her a lot, right?”

“Well, yeah, but-”

“Do you look for excuses to be closer to her?”

“Of course! She’s my friend-”

“Uh-huh. And how often do you think about hugging this ‘friend’ or wanting to hold her hand? And remember,” Connor added, waggling his finger in front of Adrien’s face. “You might be able to lie to yourself, but I get paid the big bucks to know when you’re not telling the truth.”

He was quiet for a few long heart beats. “So… you’re saying… that’s not normal for friendships?”

“Not usually, no.” Connor ignored the treacherous part of his mind that was thinking of Eerie. “I’ve seen a lot of cases of love sickness in my time and buddy, let me tell you - you’ve got it bad.”

“How bad is it?” Adrien squirmed worriedly in his spot.

“Bad.” Connor scooted closer and put an arm around his shoulders. “But hey! Don’t worry, I’m here to help.”

Adrien eyes widened and he stared at Connor as if he had all the answers in the world. “Really? You must have tons of romantic experience, right?”

Connor flashed back to his last romantic experience, a kiss in middle school from before he was cursed.

“Absolutely.”

#Chouette fanfic #Miraculous Ladybug #Adrien Agreste #Connor MacThomas #Eerie Escamilla #ml fanfiction #my writing #Two Cursed Detectives in Pairs

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