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disillusioneddanny · 1 year ago

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If It Makes You Happy (then why the hell are you so sad?)

Tim took a bite of his ravioli and looked around the table at his family. It was Sunday dinner. A monthly tradition where every member of the family adopted or otherwise came to spend a few hours together. It didn’t matter who was arguing with whom, or how estranged from the family you were at the time. You still had to attend the monthly family dinner. However, there were times when Tim wondered if anyone would notice if he stopped attending. If he no longer came to the dinners where he sat mostly unnoticed by the rest of his family. Where he typically sat in silence, having not uttered a single word throughout the entire event. Would they ever realize he was gone? Did they even realize he was there in the first place?

A part of Tim truly doubted it, if he was being completely honest with himself. Maybe that was why he hadn’t been able to share with the family his upcoming exhibit.

Tim was in his fourth year of college. Where he was getting a degree in Art, Technology, and Culture. It was a major that allowed Tim to immerse himself in photography, video art, creative coding, and so much more. He had gotten to work in traditional analog and digital photography. Played around with film and art in ways he had never thought of before while also learning about cultural theory, the expression of ideas, and cultural practices which gave him the chance to truly discover himself. It was the first time he had ever chosen something for himself.

His entire life he had been groomed to run a business. To at first take over Drake Industries one day and then later Wayne Enterprises where he was unfortunately CEO. But then he had learned about the ATC program at Gotham University and he had fallen in love with it. He had always been obsessed with photography and even film later on as he grew older and spent his days alone in dusty old Drake Manor. And he had always loved to learn about cultures, he ate up the stories from his parents and their trips abroad. Had spent countless nights watching the people of Gotham and how they did things, and had absorbed it all like a sponge to make up for the fact that he was just a lonely boy living in a manor by himself.

Even when he had joined the Bats and had made his tiny little place with them, he still fell back on his love for learning about others and his desire to tell their stories. It had just become an intrinsic part of Timothy Drake.

And now here he was, slowly creeping to the finish line. He had his senior showcase coming up. A requirement for all students who were receiving a bachelor of fine arts. He was to show off all of his best work from the last four years. It was a chance for him to show everything he had learned, and to display his work with pride.

He had toyed with the idea of inviting everyone to it. To let them see the love that Tim had cultivated over the last four years. He was set to graduate in just a few months and the pride he felt for himself was tremendous. And if Tim invited the Wayne family to his senior showcase, then maybe they could come to his college graduation and share the achievement with them then too.

It was a big time in Tim’s life and he wanted to share it with them.

He listened as a lull came in the conversation and carefully cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the others.

“I have a senior showcase this weekend for my BFA. It’s at six in the evening in the Wayne Arts Center on Gotham Campus. I would be happy to see you all there,” he said hesitantly, eyes firmly trained on his plate of food.

“That sounds nice, Tim. I’ll try to be there,” Bruce said politely before going back to his conversation with Jason and Dick. Tim felt eyes on him, though, and slowly looked up to find his little brother giving him a curious look.

“What?” He asked, still trying to calm his heart just a bit. He still wasn’t sure why he came to these things, why he was even here. Just talking to the Waynes gave him anxiety. Just being here reminded him how much he didn’t belong. How other he was compared to the rest of the kids that Bruce had adopted?

Damian tilted his head to the side. “I was not aware that you were getting your Bachelor's in Fine Arts. Will you tell me about your degree program? I have been thinking about getting an Art History degree but have been torn between that and a business degree.”

Tim gave him a small smile and rested his chin on his hand as he started to tell Damian all about his degree and how he was enjoying the program at Gotham University. The rest of the family went on to their own conversations while Damian listened with rapt attention to Tim describing the ATC program at Gotham U.

The rest of the week was a whirlwind as he prepared for his senior showcase, he had sent out invitations to everyone he wanted to come see his work. The Team had already made a reservation to take Tim to lunch before the showcase before helping him get everything ready. And as the day came to be, they had made good on their word, taking him to his favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Gotham before taking him to the gallery. He blushed as he listened to his three best friend gush over his artwork, as they listened to him explain each piece. They asked questions and made remarks about what their favorite pieces were and even tried to buy a few pieces only for Tim to promise to give each of them prints of his photos.

The three had left with quick goodbyes, each one giving Tim a hug and congratulating him before they made their way from the gallery. The rest of the evening dragged on as people came by and asked Tim about his photos and the small films that played on the movie screen on one wall. He smiled and explained each photo to anyone who asked. He had wanted to showcase his vigilante photos of the bats and birds but it had been too much of a risk to do so.

Instead he had shown off his photos that showcased all of his favorite parts of Gotham. From the beautiful gothic architecture, the gargoyles that looked out over the city. He showed the photos from the last time Ivy had thrown a fit in Robinson Park and covered the entirety of the grounds with flowers. He showed the pictures of community from Crime Alley and the beauty of the strength of Gothamites who had managed to survive the worst of the worst.

He also featured pictures of his family, of Dick hanging from a chandelier, of Damian training Titus to do a trick. He had a picture of Bruce, Alfred, and Jason sitting side by side as they each read a different book. One showed Cass as she posed for the camera in her favorite ballet form. They were some of his most treasured memories, there for everyone to see and enjoy. Tucker between the one of Damian and the one of Dick was a photo of Tim. He had taken forever to set up the camera and get the timer right. Alfred had simply chuckled the entire time as he continued to offer to take the picture for Tim but no one was meant to be behind the camera for that picture. It was the only family portrait of his entire family. Cass, Damian, Tim, Dick, Jason, Bruce, Alfred, they all sat smushed into a single couch together, wide smiles and laughs on each of their faces as Tim beamed from the far side, leaning into Alfred’s side.

The gallery was meant to showcase culture that was important to Tim. To showcase the life that he loved and treasured. And even if he never felt like he quite fit in the Wayne Family, even though he knew that he was the expendable one, the replacement, he still treasured his family. It was why he had invited them, he had wanted them to see just how important they were to Tim. And maybe they would realize he was important to them too.

Only, the rest of the evening seemed to drag on, and not a single person from his family ever stepped through the door. He waited, shoulders tensed and smile polite. Every bit the gentleman that Janet Drake had trained him to be as he stood with his hands clasped in front of him. He kept glancing at the clock, waiting for Bruce or Dick or someone to walk through the doors, to say hello and look at all the work that Tim had put in the last four years in college. The hours ticked by until it was nearing ten pm and the gallery started to clear out, custodians came in and started to clean up around him.

Tim cast one final look at the doors before he turned to his photos and started to take one off of the wall.

“Master Timothy! I am so sorry that we are late,” a voice said and Tim quickly to find Alfred and Damian walking through the doors of the gallery. A small smile spread on Tim’s face as Damian bound forward.

“I apologize,” Damian said softly, staring up at Tim with disgruntled eyes. “I got into an argument with Father and then Titus scared Alfred the Cat and we spent the last three hours searching for that blasted cat and when we realized the time we came straight here,” he said. “What did the others think of your exhibit?”

Tim’s smile fell and he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “They uh, they didn’t show up,” he said quietly. “But if you’d like, you guys are the last ones to show up. I’d love to show you everything.”

Alfred’s face fell at that as he stepped forward and clasped a hand on Tim’s shoulder. “That is their loss, my dear boy. I would love to see your work,” he said. Before he could stop himself, Tim pulled Alfred in for a tight hug, burying his face in the old butler’s chest as he held him close.

“Thank you,” he whispered before pulling away. He glanced down at Damian and smiled. “How about I show you my work and then if my advisor is still here you can meet her and talk to her about the ATC program.”

The fourteen-year-old nodded his head once. “I would appreciate that,” he said before grabbing Tim’s hand hesitantly. He followed quietly as Tim showed them his pictures of Gotham, explaining the stories behind each one before he showed them his favorite pictures. His pictures of home and both men let out soft gasps as they looked at them.

“Master Timothy, these are beautiful,” Alfred said, stepping forward to take in the picture of him, Bruce, and Jason.

“The lighting for this is amazing, I did not know that I even smiled like that,” Damian said softly as he took in the picture of him smiling at Titus.

“Oh Tim,” Alfred said quietly, losing all strict politeness that Alfred held so dear to his heart as he took in the family portrait. “This is amazing, Timothy. So absolutely perfect. I remember when you took this photograph. It was right after Thanksgiving dinner last year.”

“I was so irritated, Todd had gotten mashed potatoes in my hair,” Damian said with a huff, a small smile tugged on his face.

“I did not even realize that Master Richard and Master Jason were hugging in this picture,” Alfred said, a soft smile sti on his face as he took in the way Dick had his arms wrapped around Jason’s shoulders, a wide smile on his face as he laughed at something Jason had said. A small smile sat on Jason’s face, his eyes brighter than Tim had seen since the older man had come back from the dead.

Alfred tore his eyes from the picture. “How much?” he asked.

Tim blinked. “What?”

“How much for the picture?” Alfred asked him, turning back to the family portrait.

“For you?” Tim asked, blinking again in surprise. “Free of charge, considering it a thank you for coming to my senior showcase.”

“I would like this one of Titus and me,” Damian piped up. “It would be lovely on my desk in my bedroom.”

Tim sniffed, his chest tightening slightly. “I would be more than happy to give you both the original copies.”

“Timothy,” Alfred said, turning back to Tim, that soft, kind, smile on his face once again. “I am so incredibly proud of you.”

The vigilante’s eyes burned furiously. “I-I thank you,” he said, a soft sob slipped out of his mouth before small arms wrapped around him. Damian hugged him tight, his face pressed against Tim’s chest.

“I am so sorry that our family forgot to come to your showcase, Timothy,” he said stiffly. “You are incredibly talented and it is their loss for missing out on this.”

Tim pressed a hand to Damian’s back, feeling tears building behind his eyes that threatened to spill over. “Thank you,” he whispered. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before he looked around and spotted his advisor. “There’s Professor Maheshawen. She’s my advisor. We can go talk to her and you can ask your questions, okay?”

Damian nodded and pulled away carefully, smoothing down the front of his sweater before he followed after Tim to meet his professor. Leaving Alfred to continue staring at the pictures with a kind smile on his face.

Alfred Pennyworth looked at the smiles on his charges faces and let out a breath. One of these days, Bruce and the others would realize just how important Timothy was to their family, how he was the one who held them all together. He only hoped that they would not realize that lesson too late in life. At the very least, Damian was now starting to understand just how wonderful Timothy Drake was.

#Tim Drake #Detective comics #Red Robin #Drabble #Damian Wayne #batfam #Batfamily #alfred pennyworth #dis writes #dis dreams

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canmom · 10 months ago

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How do you live?

I (finally!) saw Miyazaki's new film 君たちはどう生きるか (How Do You Live?/The Boy and the Heron)! It's been out in the States for a while, and in Japan considerably longer, but it took a while to make its way over here.

I remember at the time it came out, people were having fun riffing on the incredibly cryptic marketing campaign, which consisted only of this rather abstract poster...

In the spirit of this, I resolutely avoided watching any trailers or knowing anything at all about the plot of the film. I picked up a thing or two here and there - I knew to expect some amazing Shinya Ohira animation for example, and you couldn't really avoid seeing the bird with teeth! - but overall, I had no idea.

There's plenty of great writing about this film in English already, such as kvin's fantastic sakugablog piece which discusses the physicality of Ghibli's animation, its weight and springiness, as a throughline. The stuff that kvin talks about really stood out to me as I watched this film. You can likewise read detailed interviews with Toshiyuki Inoue (fantastic interview for sakubutas) and Akihiko Yamashita on fufuro.

First up, the credits of this film are pretty much a who's who of the greatest jp animators of the last 30 years, and they've had some 7 years to cook it, so naturally this film looks fucking amazing. This is absolutely the kind of film that only Miyazaki could direct - its design language feels so familiar and yet it's iterating in all kinds of visually imaginative directions that show that yeah, the old bastard's still got it.

And like, god, man. This film's animation is really something special. Its real-world scenes in particular are full of shots that require an unbelievably strong sense of space, of both subtle and broad acting, the classic Ghibli attention to detail on mechanical objects and everyday tasks. It's full of bouncing and squishing and squeezing and oozing things. It loves to draw crowds and swarms of people and animals. It's the kind of film where any given shot would be the absolute star-of-the-show sakuga moment in just about any other anime film. If you wanted a complete statement of the Ghibli school of animation, it would be hard to do better.

And yet, for all that Miyazaki's known for his tight control over animation and heavy corrections to animators, in this film he had to step back from that kind of role and hand over the sousakkan reins to Takeshi Honda, who steps up admirably - as kvin writes above, bringing in more realist elements to the bouncy Miyazaki style to create a really effective unity that grounds all the big fantastical elements of the film and fills the first act with tension.

Alongside all that excellent key animation, the film's colour and photography departments evidently understand that well-chosen colours and good highlight shapes beat all the digital gradients and overlays you can imagine - the drawings get plenty of form from the strength of the animation, and the flat shading really pops. The backgrounds are as delicious as ever, skyscapes and vegetation and opulent interiors with the just-slightly desaturated and harmonious colours that just kind of remind you that oh yeah, it is still possible to do it this way.

Basically it's a Ghibli film lol. You know how it is.

But what of the story...? What's all this technical magic in service of?

The film's story has something of the feel of a serial story, perhaps reflecting Miyazaki's (in)famous process of working out the film gradually as he draws the storyboards. Certain ideas, like the parakeet empire, arrive in the film rather suddenly and then become fairly central to the plot. There's a clear emotional throughline, but this is not a film that is in a hurry to explain itself more than it absolutely has to. It wants to keep its magical elements numinous and mysterious. I would say, though, it's generally more satisfying in this approach than some of Miyazaki's other later films like Howl's Moving Castle, and resolves a lot more clearly.

So what is it like, About? Well, Miyazaki has been pretty open about channeling a lot of his personal relationships into the film, and a lot of it seems to reflect more or less obliquely on him. It's what they call a 'personal film'. The protagonist's position as the son of an aeroplane factory owner during WWII is straight-up from life. What about the old sorcerer, haphazardly stacking blocks to keep a world alive, and looking for someone to succeed him? The reading's kinda obvious, even if Miya himself says this guy is based on his memory of Takahata. Well, he can be both...

To say more I'm gonna have to delve into the spoiler zone. See you below the cut.

OK so! Let's try and get some thoughts in order.

first, a plot summary type of thing

Our first act introduces us to Mahito at roughly the moment his mother Hisako dies in a hospital fire. This is midway through the war, which is present mostly in the background - now and then we see soldiers marching around, and of course Mahito's dad runs a factory producing warplane parts, not entirely unlike Miyazaki's own father although seemingly a bit higher up the ladder.

We jump forward a little and Mahito's father remarries - to his deceased wife's sister, no less, and she's already pregnant. This is Natsuko, who does her best to play the role of mother, but Mahito still has big traumas and he is understandably not entirely on board with the idea of welcoming a mum 2 who looks almost exactly like mum 1. He moves with Natsuko into a huge old house complex, a mix of older Japanese architecture with a more recent Western wing where the family currently sleeps - and staffed by a small army of colourful old ladies who are eager for any canned meat or cigarettes they can get their hands on.

Also there's this freaky heron that keeps bothering Mahito. It seems to have something to do with a mysterious tower which turns out to have been built by his great-uncle. Mahito visits the tower, but can't make his way inside. Natsuko tells him not to go into the tower.

Mahito goes to school, but naturally they don't much take to the new rich kid on the block, and so after being attacked by his classmates on his way home he injures himself with a rock. (His dumbass dad is like, who did this to you son, I'll fuck 'em up.) For the rest of the movie, he has half his head shaved to accomodate a bandage, which is the sort of attention to detail this movie loves.

The heron has started growing teeth and talking to Mahito, telling him to come to the tower. Mahito is convinced it's a trap, and after a maybe-dream sequence in which Natsuko shoots an arrow to drive off the heron, he steals cigarettes from Natsuko in order to get one of the servants to sharpen his knife, and then constructs a bow and arrow out of bamboo - using a couple of the heron's feathers. Constructing the bow and arrow is shown in immense, loving detail.

In the process, he witnesses Natsuko walk into the forest, and also stumbles on a book: How Do You Live? by Genzaburō Yoshino, which contains a handwritten message from his mother. He looks at this book briefly... and this is about the extent of the connection of the film to the book, beyond thematic parallels.

The maids notice that Natsuko is missing. Mahito tells one of the maids, Kiriko, that he saw her go into the forest, and they follow, finding an old road that gives another approach to the tower. They're greated by the heron man, who is increasingly emerging from the heron's beak to reveal a big warty nose. He's some kind of like... heron selkie or something, a gnome in a heron skin. There's some wonderfully grotesque animation around this guy.

Heron dude taunts Mahito with an illusion of his mother Hisako. Mahito threatens him with the bow - the heron guy is like, do your worst, not realising it's a maaagic arrow. The arrow chases him around the room and pierces his beak, fucking up his magic. At this point, the tower master shows up and orders the heron to guide Mahito. Heron guy sends everyone through the floor into a fantastical world...

Mahito arrives in front of a huge, sinister tomb. He approaches the gate, and a swarm of pelicans walk up behind, crawling all over him and pressing him through the gate. This causes a storm to start brewing, since opening the gate seems to piss off the stones or something...

A fisher woman resembling a much younger Kiriko runs up and chases the pelicans away. She takes Mahito under her wing, explaining that this world is inhabited mostly by dead people, but there are also these little round guys called the wareware, who gain the ability to fly when they eat a fish's guts.

Kiriko, uniquely in this world, has the ability to kill, so she catches fish to sell to the other inhabitants and feed to the wareware; she and Mahito butcher a huge fish. Mahito fairly quickly figures out that she is somehow the same Kiriko that entered with him. She has tiny charms representing the other maids, which serve an apotropaic function.

That night, staying on Kiriko's huge derelict ship of a home, they watch the wareware rise into the sky to be born as humans in Mahito's world. They're attacked by the pelicans, but a fire-wielding magic user called Hisa (hmmmmmmmmmm) drives the pelicans away. Mahito shouts at her not to harm the wareware, but Kiriko assures him that more of the wareware will survive thanks to Hisa's intervention.

Later, a singed and dying pelican explains the pelicans' predicament to Mahito in a scene that calls to mind the animals in Mononoke-hime. The pelicans are foreigners in this world, they don't have anything to eat, so they take it as their role to eat the wareware. The heron man arrives on the scene too, offering to help Mahito find Natsuko as Mahito - coming in to his own as a protagonist more - buries the pelican. Mahito distrusts him but eventually Kiriko persuades them to give working together a try.

Mahito and the heron set out. As they pass through a forest, the heron reveals that thanks to Mahito's arrow, he can't fly and do heron shit anymore - and by magic law, only Mahito can fix the hole. Mahito applies his new woodworking skills to fashion a bung for the hole. The heron tries to stage a top 10 anime betrayal, but then the bung needs more work, so Mahito fixes it, and from that point on, the heron joins the party and he and Mahito are fast friends.

(You might wonder why I just call him 'the heron' and not by a name. He never gets named! He's just the heron man.)

Mahito and the heron arrive at the house of a blacksmith who's supposed to help them find Natsuko, only to find it guarded by big buff parakeet men. The parakeets are splendidly goofy round guys - they remind me of the heedra in Nausicaa. The heron draws the parakeets away, and Mahito enters the house, only to find, uh oh! More parakeets. The parakeets prepare to eat Mahito, who is not carrying a child and therefore fair game unlike Natsuko, but Hisa shows up and burns them with fire magic. She looks just like a young version of Mahito's mum! Funny that. Hisa helps Mahito escape into her house through the fire, and then takes him to infiltrate the parakeets' empire.

In the human world, the maids explain the backstory of the tower to Mahito's dad. It's a weird meteorite that came from space, it turns out, and Mahito's great-uncle built the tower on top of it before eventually disappearing inside. Mahito's dad overprepares in an elaborate getup complete with katana, and goes to try to rescue everyone.

Hisa leads Mahito to a corridor full of doors which open into all the different worlds, including his own world. Mahito briefly glimpses his dad coming to try and rescue him - the two see each other briefly, but the parakeets catch wind of the whole thing and attack, and so Mahito and Hisa have to flee back into the magical world. We see that the parakeet guys turn into regular parakeets when they come into the human world. Mahito's dad becomes convinced he turned into a parakeet.

Mahito and Hisa make their way to the delivery room where Natsuko is resting, waiting to give birth. On their way, lightning starts emerging from the stone - Hisa explains that the stone is sentient and pissed with them. Mahito insists on approaching Natsuko despite this being a huge taboo. They have a heart to heart - Natsuko's mask breaks and she tells Mahito she hates him, while he finally starts calling her mother, as he's assaulted by paper charms that tear at him violently. They part, with Hisa burning the charms to free Mahito, but it's too much and they both pass out.

Mahito dreams of meeting the sorcerer, who stacks irregularly shaped wooden blocks, and explains that stacking the blocks is necessary to maintain the world, buying a few days at a time. The sorcerer reveals the huge flying rock that is the source of his power; he also shows Mahito some blocks, but Mahito somehow divines that these blocks are 'stone for building tombs' and stained with malice. The sorcerer approvingly says this is a good sign for Mahito's ability to succeed him.

While they were asleep, the parakeets have captured Hisa and Mahito. One of them is preparing to eat Mahito, but the heron arrives just in time to save him. They Metal Gear Solid their way through the kingdom while the Parakeet King - a big swaggering guy very like the colonel in Castle in the Sky - goes to press a claim on the wizard, using Hisa and Mahitos' taboo act of entering the delivery room as a bargaining chip. There's some very funny scenes where the parakeets cheer for their king.

Mahito pursues the parakeet king, but the king destroys the staircase behind him, and talks to the sorcerer. The sorcerer is inclined to wave away the transgression, because he wants to let Mahito succeed him, but the parakeet king seems to be bringing him around. I kind of forget how this part went, but the parakeet king goes away from the sorcerer for a bit while Hisa is freed from her prison thing.

Mahito climbs back up with the heron man's help, arriving in the sorcerer's little subplane. The parakeet king quietly follows him, after telling his aides to inform his subjects he was a good king. Mahito approaches the sorcerer, who reveals he has found a new set of blocks, unstained by malice, and again invites Mahito to succeed him. Mahito says that his self-injury is proof of his malice, making him unfit for the job.

At this point, the parakeet king intervenes. Angry at all this sorcerous malarky, he desperately attempts to stack the stones himself, but when they don't stack, he flies into a rage and slices them with his sword. This naturally causes the world to start collapsing, and everyone runs to the doors to escape into the human world.

Mahito has by this point figured out that Hisa is his mum, and he asks if she really wants to go back to their world, knowing that she will very definitely die in a fire not much later. But she is naturally on board with this. Young!Kiriko goes with her, suggesting that she and Hisako entered the magical world at the same time. Meanwhile, Mahito returns to his own time, with Natsuko and the heron. All the various parakeets and pelicans come out through this door too. Old!Kiriko is restored from her apatropaic charm.

As everyone celebrates their safe return (and the appearance of a fuckton of birds), the heron tells Mahito that he ought to forget what happened in the magic world. We skip forward again, with Mahito - now with a baby sibling - setting off to Tokyo. Roll credits!

now let's comment on it

This is not a film that necessarily prioritises an internal logic playing out - new elements enter unexpectedly even quite late in the film. The sorcerer's motivation is murky until late on; the parakeets become major antagonists despite entering only halfway through the film.

There is a certain temptation, knowing how autobiographical this film is, to take it is a roman à clef. Mahito is of course a young Miyazaki; the old sorcerer's concern about finding a successor might be about Miyazaki wondering who should take over Ghibli or if it should just be allowed to die. Under this schema, the parakeets might be Ghibli's legion of fans, or the merchandising empire that prints their designs on every possible product. kvin's article develops this kind of reading, finding some angles I wouldn't have even considered, such as how the idea of weight communicated by the animation factors in to such an allegaroy. It's also something suggested in Miyazaki's own comments about the film, where the sorcerer is Takahata, the heron man is producer Toshio Suzuki...

It definitely helps to know a bit about Miyazaki's background when approaching this film. However, I think it would be reductive to go too far with this kind of reading, and take everything as an allegory for something in Miyazaki's life. The film still has to stand on its own feet!

'Coming of age' is the spin put on it by some outlets, like the BBC. And this is accurate to an extent. The arc of this film is similar to Spirited Away: Mahito starts out sullen and traumatised, but like Chihiro he transitions over the course of his journey in the magical world into the kind of determined Miyazaki protagonist we're used to. On this coming of age angle... well, also like with Chihiro, I don't find the Mahito of the first part of the film especially unsympathetic, his alienation is extremely natural given his situation. Mahito's dad kinda sucks! Living in wartime Japan also really kinda sucks, even if you're the son of a rich dude. But definitely over the course of the film Mahito has a change of heart towards Natsuko, and forms friendships that motivate him to try to protect them. His character arc definitely sees him become 'more prosocial'.

However, there's another angle that's pretty important - the idea of the weight of 'malice', the cursed existences of the pelicans and the like, and the fantasy of building a utopian world that is free of these things. This returns to a theme of Nausicaa, the manga in particular, where Nausicaa discovers that the world she knows - the toxic forest in particular - is actually an elaborate artificial system for cleansing the world of pollutants, that the clean world on the other side will be uninhabitable to her and her people, and that the architects of this system wait in stasis to replace them in this utopian future world. Nausicaa destroys them, commiting instead to an uncertain future.

In Mononoke-hime likewise, we encounter the lepers and former sex workers of Irontown clinging on to the 'cursed' world. Their extractivist project proves incredibly destructive, but the film still regards them sympathetically, and the resolution sees them perhaps finding a new way to live - and San, the feral girl, reconciling herself to the idea of humans.

Here, although the parakeet king forces the decision, Mahito has already declared that he doesn't believe he's fit to oversee a utopia, but instead that his place is in the awful, violent human world.

The film, and the book it's vaguely based on, are titled How do you live? In Japanese, that's a plural 'you' (君たち). There's a lot of ways you could read it, depending on who you take as 'you' - a child asking an adult how to live, or equally a future question of how will you live. This is a lot more explicit in the novel - which I have not read, but here is a summary courtesy of wiki:

Junichi Honda is a fifteen-year-old junior high school student, known by his nickname Koperu, after the astronomer Nicholas Copernicus. He is athletic and academically gifted, and popular at school. Koperu's father, a bank executive, passed away when he was young and he lives with his mother. His uncle (on his mother's side) lives nearby and visits frequently. Koperu and his uncle are very close. Koperu shares about his life and his uncle gives him support and advice. His uncle also documents and comments on these interactions in a diary, with the intent to eventually give the diary to Koperu. The diary writing, which is interspersed with the narrative, provides insight into the ethical and emotional trials that Koperu shared with his uncle. The diary entries, which cover themes such as "view of things", "structure of society", "relation", etc. are in the style of a note written to Koperu.[8]

Thinking like Copernicus that our Earth is a celestial body moving within the vastness of space, or thinking that our Earth is fixed at the center of the universe, are two ways of thinking that, in reality, are not only related to astronomy. Even when we think about things like the world around us or our own lives, the truth is that we are still revolving around them after all.

In the end, Koperu writes a decision on his future way of living as a reply to his uncle, and the novel ends with the narrator asking the question "how do you live?" to the reader.

The author of the novel was a socialist, who had been imprisoned by the nationalist government, and wrote the book intending to impart lessons on ethics. The version of his book published after the war was heavily edited to strip the book of political content. But it's also, perhaps paradoxically, a book that centres on very wealthy characters, aimed narrowly at educated boys, though it became a widely read classic.

Studio Ghibli's films, from both Miyazaki and Takahata, have a habit of being framed as imparting something to the younger generation - something the pair seem to have seen as a mission all the way back in the days of Panda Kopanda. For example, while Grave of the Fireflies is seen as the classic tragic war movie, for Takahata it was also aimed at criticising what he saw as the careless, consumerist generation of the 80s; the stubborn arrogance of the protagonist supposed to reflect on this. It's an attitude that also emerges in their comments about Chihiro. And, indeed, one of the first things we heard about How Do You Live? was that it was aimed towards Miyazaki's grandson - and more broadly towards that generation.

So what does this film have to say to the younger generations? Let's have a look at it from Mahito's POV.

For Mahito, the adults in his life are all pretty complicated. His father is enthusiastic and well-meaning but incredibly oblivious to what his son is going through (we might recall some of what Miyazaki wrote about his father in Starting Point, describing him as basically a grifter). Natsuko is masking pretty hard, trying to play the role of Good New Mum and connect to her newly acquired son, but there's an intrinsic distance. It is understandable that Mahito would want to reject them.

Mahito is... not entirely a passive character, he goes to some efforts to for example fashion the bow and arrow and repair the heron man's beak, but mostly he is pulled around by the plot into a strange world he doesn't understand. At first, his instinct is to retreat, even to the point of self-injury. Once he arrives in the magical world, he has acquired something of a purpose (finding Natsuko), but he gets pushed into near-disaster situations (the pelicans piling up to push him through the gate at the tomb) or stumbles into circumstances where something is expected of him (hey kid, gut this fish!). Gradually though his exposure to this world pulls him out of his shell. He runs into conflicts and injustices that seem intractable - the wareware and the pelicans - and has little power to intervene except to bury the bodies.

Eventually, he gets to carry out his main objective - finding Natsuko - but despite finally deciding to accept Natsuko as his new mother, he finds himself rejected, not just by her but also by the earth. Perhaps feeling responsible for getting her into trouble, his new objective becomes rescuing freshly-damsel'd Hisa. But now new adults want things of him - his great-uncle has decided he'd make a fine successor. Mahito has to make a decision here about what relationships he wants to commit to, what sort of life he wants to build - and he chooses the world he found so alienating at the outset of the film, the one which hurt him by taking his mother, not to the secondary-world fantasy.

It could be a 'this world is all we have' sort of statement, perhaps. But also the last act of the film feels like it gets a bit caught up in Castle in the Sky-style adventure-story beats.

I do feel like some aspects of the film ended up a little underbaked - which is an odd thing to say because it's not a short film and there is so much in it already. But Hisa for example - she's got badass powers and all, but I feel we barely get a chance to get a sense of what motivates her. Why did she enter the fantasy world? She acts at first like she doesn't know Mahito is her future son, but rapidly becomes incredibly devoted to him (in a way that reads a little romancey lmao). So much of her screen time is dedicated to having her convey the secrets of the world that it's hard to get a bead on her as a person.

Likewise, Natsuko - why did she enter this world to have her baby in this special ritual delivery chamber? She clearly knows more than most of the characters, but she gets kind of sidelined after Mahito confronts her, with wizard shit becoming more central. The animation does such a fantastic job of selling her feelings in the first part of the film that it feels like a shame that she drifts away at the end.

The progression of the film feels rather like a dream, where everything is arranged by symbolic significance to Mahito. It makes sense... on a magical level, where the secondary world is shaped primarily by parallels in the real one. So the tiny apatropaic statues of the old ladies protect him because they represent the role the real old ladies have in his life. Hisa has fire magic because Hisako died in a fire. Once Mahito has come to his personal resolutions about returning to the world, the magical one is no longer needed, and it collapses.

This is not such an uncommon role for magic in a story. In Miyazaki's own works, we have Totoro and Spirited Away, where a magical world provides direction or relief to a child's real struggles. Or take for example Okiura's film A Letter To Momo, in which the three yōkai recognise taking care of the grieving Momo as their explicit purpose as spirits. This magical world comes to Mahito to help him come to terms with losing his mother, and reorient himself towards living in a painful world.

Meanwhile, the sorcerer, whether he be Miyazaki or Takahata, is quite a distant figure. He may maintain the magical world by stacking his blocks, may be the authority which factions within it must plead to, but he also rules from afar in a vast empty palace full of long halls and open air spaces. His main company seems to be a big fucking rock, with which he made a 'contract'. He's generally handling it a bit better than, say, Ushiromiya Kinzo - he receives the parakeet king with good humour - but he's a pretty flawed god of his little world. So much of this world seems to pre-exist him, it's not something he constructed. Still, when he shows up, you pretty much have to do what he says.

If this is about Miyazaki's relation to Takahata, it seems like quite a sad portrayal. But 'unapproachable patriarch' does sorta describe their role in the studio from what I understand (c.f. Oshii's infamous article comparing them to the Kremlin).

When it comes to the question of who should succeed Miyazaki, we should probably consider the matter of Yoshifumi Kondō, who was being set up as the next big Ghibli director until his untimely death - which allegedly Takahata was willing to accept the blame for. The mythology built up around Miyazaki and Takahata is double-edged.

Here are some rather startling comments from Toshiyuki Inoue's interview. Inoue is one of the most impressive animators who ever lived in my book, the other star of the realist line besides Okiura. Just have a look at his booru page: iconic scenes from GitS, Akira, Millenium Actress; even in more recent films, he pretty much carried Maquia, and steals the show with his scenes in Miss Hokusai.

And yet even he was intimidated to be working alongside Miyazaki when he first came on board for Kiki's Delivery Service, fresh off Akira:

I believe you’ve always been a fan of Miyazaki’s, why were you scared to work with him? Toshiyuki Inoue: I had heard quite a few scary stories. A lot of acquaintances had worked on Nausicaä, Laputa and Totoro before that, so I knew how scary he could be when he got angry – I had heard stories of people being fired mid-production, things like that. How was it actually? Toshiyuki Inoue: Not as scary as I had imagined. He’d only rarely scream in the studio. But he did get angry. I’d sometimes be called to some separate room and lectured alongside Kōji Morimoto and Masaaki Endō. It felt like being in school all over again.

'Only rarely'. Honestly. Inoue describes how difficult it was for him to adapt his logical, analytical style to Ghibli's stretchy, bouncy characters - and how Miyazaki would disparage him if he, for example, drew a ship inaccurately.

For Inoue, coming back to How Do You Live was something like a 'return match'. He talks about how an older Miyazaki was no longer able to strictly correct the animation, and in general age was limiting him, but he still feels that Miyazaki is fundamentally superior:

Toshiyuki Inoue: I’ve always wished for a return match or a way to redeem myself. But even if I say that, I know I can’t even pretend to rival Miyazaki. I just can’t win. He’s extremely smart and learned, and on top of that, as an animator he always transcends common sense: he’s so talented that I know very well there’s nothing I can do against it. The more I learn about him, the more I realize I’ll never be on that level.

Miyazaki's genius is undeniable, but man... it's not a good mindset to cultivate if you want to find a successor lmao. If even Inoue doesn't feel he can measure up, who the hell could?

Mind you, it does rather seem that Miyazaki had mellowed out by the point of How Do You Live?. Here's Yamashita:

Akihiko Yamashita: As I said, the core of an animator’s job is to follow what the director asks, so whenever I had trouble with that, I’d go see Miyazaki to show him my roughs. He’d advise me on the things that were missing and reassure me about those that were good. He really helped me to gain more confidence in myself.

Reading these interviews underlines pretty hard that we shouldn't get too caught up in the mythology of Miyazaki the mighty auteur. While the story may be all on Miyazaki, and most of the character designs (with the notable exception of Natsuko)... so much of the details of the animation, the stuff that really makes this film land, is primarily shaped by everyone else - Honda in particular, but also the individual key animators who interpreted his scenes. I really need to get my hands on a copy of that Industrial History of Studio Ghibli book to get a less Miyazaki-centric perspective on the studio's history.

I do not feel, having come out of this film, any closer to knowing the answer to that eternally pressing question of how do you live - I guess I'm still working out my answer to that one, and I will be until I die. And maybe that's rather the point. I think this film still carries some of the flaws of Miyazaki's later films - despite having so many iconic scenes, it doesn't quite seem to know where it's going. But I am so glad to have seen this in the theatre (I saw it at the Prince Charles theatre in Soho with friends, the theatre was completely packed!), and glad Miyazaki managed to get this one out before he goes. Whatever happens to Ghibli without its sorcerer, it's been a hell of a thing to witness.

#anime #the boy and the heron #how do you live #studio ghibli #hayao miyazaki #film

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amarachno · 4 months ago

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“Getting thrown back ten years in the past is decidedly not a monday morning activity.” Tim Drake muttered, glaring at the old computer in front of him.

He had been in the middle of throwing himself into his desk chair at W.E. when the world flickered and suddenly he was lying sprawled on the floor of his childhood bedroom.

Tim continued grumbling as he checked out which events would have happened. From looking at the date, Tim gathered that he was about two weeks from his tenth birthday. His internal clock was going haywire, it had been around 8:20 AM and the 12th of September, now it is 9:14 PM on July 5th.

Tim needed a plan. Fast.

Tim draws a blank on his plan. Usually he’s much better at coming up with them but his body from ten years ago is sick. Who even gets sick in July? AND this body has a functional spleen. So basically no excuse and Tim is reminded why his parents called his useless all the time.

Right now? Tim just wants to feel happy. He misses the giddy feeling in his chest, that feeling had faded in the years since he turned twelve.

Tim has a really really good idea. Maybe it’s not a very good idea considering he’s sick and not in the ‘right’ body but it seems fun enough to ignore those setbacks.

Dressed in threadbare, baggy, black clothes he bought from a second hand store at some point in the past, Tim begins to pack. He pulls out a black backpack, peeks inside and grins and the contents. His camera, some lenses, and a few more essentials are tucked carefully inside. Theres a credit card in the camera case and a bottle of water at the bottom of the bag. Its perfect.

Tim opens his childhood window, climbs the tree outside the window, and begins a not so familiar trek to the bus stop. If his memory serves correct, there should be a bus arriving in about 30 minutes so Tim just has to jog a little bit to get there on time.

Boarding the bus goes well, getting up on the roofs goes even better. His little nine year old body is light and at this point, he had already been running around like this for a year so the muscles have built up adequately. Before he left, Tim had done some research on Batman’s patrol routes, and if he hurried Tim would catch Batman swinging by five rooftops down and three to the left.

Tim settled down half tucked between an air conditioning unit and a wall, content to wait for Batman. Already, his chest had lightened, feeling like his body was vibrating from excitement. He had missed this.

Ever since joining Batman as Robin, Tim had been forced to retire his photography hobby unless there was a stakeout. There was no time to go out in the city unless he was Robin. Training ramped up, the workload piled, and the exhaustion won out. Tim’s reflection on what his life had become was cut short by crowing laughter and the sound of a grapple.

Tim’s camera was out in a flash, standing on his toes for a good angle over the air conditioner. Point, aim, Click! Click! Click! Perfectly in frame, Robin and Batman flying side by side across the rooftop next to him.

He slunk back into the wall and checked out his pictures. He had brought his digital camera today, seeing as he was out of practice and wanted to see the finished product. His heart beating out of his chest, giddiness building in his lungs. Tim checked the small screen and-

They were perfect. From this angle, Tim caught the right side of their bodies. Batman’s cape flies out behind him, almost perfectly framing his figure against the bright lights of the city. He’s swinging forward, chest out, the symbol clear again his suit. Slightly lower than him and a little closer to the camera, Robin.

His Robin. Jason Todd, Tim’s Robin. The one he had looked up to so much. The Robin who died, came back, and tried to kill Tim.

Robin’s chest was puffed out, drawing a deep breath before another fit of laughter. One of his legs outstretched, the other curled up a little.

It was perfect. The sound of Robin laughing played on repeat in Tim’s mind.

Tim would not waste this chance.

Tim sat on that rooftop for another hour after that, thinking, planning, plotting. The trek home did not go as well. Tim’s body was achy and sweaty. At some point he must have gotten chilled, (Which is bullshit because it’s literally July.) but it had been raining the previous day so maybe that caused it. Either way, Tim’s bones hurt and his hands were shaking. His face felt hot but his body cold, and he already felt the sickness in his throat. Again, Bullshit. Tim made it back on the bus, and then off too! “Good job, Tim.” he mumbled as he walked back to his house. The gravel crunched beneath his feet and promised a… less than kind… extra crunchy landing if he fell over, so Tim took it an encouragement to keep walking.

Tim’s legs gave out ten minutes through the thirty-five minute walk. He is such a brave soul though, because he gets up again and tries to walk. It feels like his legs are made of jello and his vision is blotchy.

Again, this body has a spleen and everything! Useless.

Tim’s vision swims again and when he falls to the ground he doesn’t get back up.

________________

To be continued…

#tim drake #dc #jason todd #bruce wayne #fanfic #batman #alternate universe #time travel shenanigans

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ruruumin · 1 year ago

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capture this moment.

₊˚ ᗢ photographer! kazuha x gn! reader, modern au.

⤷ we'll keep these memories with more than our hearts.

Most of his photos would consist of nature. It can span from simple pictures of the ocean or close-up shots of rare flowers he came across in gardens. On the rare occasion though, for the more special bunch, he likes to take photos of you. It comes to him whenever you’re not looking and when you’re traveling with him. He finds that the best ones always turn out to be the ones where it's unexpected.

When you first met him, you would have never thought he was a photographer. He looked more like a bookworm than anything else. He looked like someone who would knit cardigans and beanies. However, rest assured, this man (despite not looking like it) can take amazing photos. He would ask you to pose in different ways to enhance your stance or frame, and he would take full advantage of the situation to rest his hand against your waist.

He’s very kind and soft with you, always giving you tips and advice with that smooth voice of his. He guides you carefully with his hands, never doing anything to make you feel uncomfortable. The last thing he wants is a photo you were not fond of. With his ability to come up with creative poses, it makes you wonder how long he’s been doing this for, and how many people he’s worked with.

He doesn’t have a very professional set up so don’t expect him to come out with a tripod or anything fancy. He likes using a digital camera that was passed down to him by his friend Tomo, who passed a long time ago. He says that one of his reasons for starting photography was to commemorate his friend, but also to remember the things he’s doing in day-to-day life. “You miss the small details in the mundane,” he would repeat, “best that we spend every moment appreciating what we have."

He keeps a lot of his works in an album that he carries around. He takes a marker and writes down the date and event just to make sure that he will never forget. On photos with you in it, he likes to draw hearts or cat whiskers on you. You would oftentimes tease him for having such cute habits. It wasn’t every day that you have someone so enamored by the littlest things about you. It made the time spent with him a little more special because it was being kept safe somewhere. You won’t be able to forget it with him around.

A small pet peeve you might have is when he takes photos of whatever he is eating. He’s one of those kinds of people. Though, he doesn’t mind if there are minor imperfections in the photo like a massive bite-sized mark being imbedded into his sandwiches. He thinks it adds to the charm.

“Rest your hand here darling,” He whispers, placing your hands against your hip as he spreads your fingers out. You could feel his warm breath tickle the back of your neck. You swallowed a thick lump at the base of your throat, slightly nervous with the sudden intimacy. “Put your foot here. It would look nicer on camera when I shoot from an upwards angle.”

#₊˚ ᗢ kirimoochi #genshin #genshin impact #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #kazuha #kazuha kaedehara #kazuha kaedehara x reader #kazuha x reader #genshin headcanons

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baby-yongbok · 1 year ago

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Poetry

Chapter Six - Mr.H

Hyunjin x Fem!Reader

Genre: Fluff with a swirl of angst

Summary: The night that you see Hyunjin again after your date is full of surprises. You can keep your cool but can he?

Word Count: 5,407

A/N: Things are happening, ya'll. I'm so excited to be back in Fan Fiction land <3 + If you haven't already, I highly recommend reading the previous parts before this one so that you get the ✨full experience✨. See you next Thursday at 6 💕

Part Five

✧Poetry Series Masterlist✧

✧Main Masterlist✧

There wasn’t a moment of silence after Hyunjin left, you spent the entirety of your breakfast answering questions while giving Changbin and Serena as many details as you could before you had to leave for work. You will admit that you appreciate how involved your friends are, especially Changbin. You were almost afraid that he was going to go full big brother mode and quiz Hyunjin the moment that he met him but he actually kept his cool, let’s see how it goes next time.

Speaking of next time, you haven’t seen Hyunjin since your date. The two of you have been texting nonstop and you even spoke on the phone two days ago but neither of you have brought up a plan to meet. He canceled your meetup this week because he had to help his roommate Felix with something upstate. You weren’t mad about it though, you took the free time as an opportunity to look into a new hobby.

You have a bit of a tradition that you started during your second year of university, every autumn you look into building a new skill or taking up a new hobby. You weren’t sure what to get into this year until you saw a flier on your way to work yesterday. Apparently your local community center has a photography club that meets on Fridays where you’re taught everything that you need to know by a professional. There’s no way that you could turn a blind eye to such a wonderful free opportunity. So here you are, walking through the large glass doors and into the quiet lobby. Your brand new Canon camera is placed safely in its case hanging from your shoulder and your tote bag is hanging from the other. You looked up at the digital board by the reception desk to look for the room number for your class. Once you found it you made your way down the hall, humming a smooth tune to try and calm your nerves. You were more than excited but you were almost positive that the club would be filled with experienced photographers looking for community and you are far from experienced.

The door to the room is already open when you reach the room and there are a few people in there talking amongst themselves and fiddling with their cameras. You enter quietly, not wanting to draw too much attention to yourself but that fails once you get half way into the room. The group swiftly looks up at you, each one of them studying your frame with furrowed brows and that’s when you notice the elephant in the room… they’re all teenagers.

“Hi, you must be new.” One of the girls breaks the silence. “I’m Mia.”

“Hi, I’m Y/n. Nice to meet you.” You move to sit by the window, right in the middle of the row. You never liked being too far from the instructor but you also hate being in the front.

“I’m James and this is Olivia, she’s a bit shy.” One of the boys sitting against the wall introduces himself and the girl sitting on his lap. Olivia offers a timid wave before looking back down at her camera. You smile, waving back at her.

“Leo, stop being rude. Say hi to the new girl.” Mia pushes the boy sitting in front of her and he curses at her quietly before turning to you and waving passive aggressively. You wave back silently as you try to hold back a chuckle.

“Leo is an asshole, don’t mind him.” Mia explains before glancing down at her phone.

“Two minutes until Mr.H gets here.” James nods his head, only half paying attention as he looks past Mia and over to you, clearly itching to ask you a question.

“Am I crazy or are you the oldest one here?”

“Oh my god, what the hell, James.” Mia’s exasperated voice echoes through the room followed by Oliva’s laugh.

“It’s an observation, fucking shoot me.” You chuckle a bit, nodding your head.

“You’re not crazy, I’m probably about seven years older than you guys.”

“Oh you’re about the same age as Mr.H” You pinch your brows together softly, you didn’t expect the teacher to be around your age. “Maybe we can hook you two up, he desperately needs a girlfriend.”

“What are you going on about, James?” You shift your attention towards the person speaking, that voice sounds so familiar and you realize why as soon as your eyes land on his figure coming through the door. Hyunjin is the teacher?

“I’m just trying to get you a girlfriend, Mr.H” You watch as Hyunjin walks over to the desk at the front of the classroom, he hasn’t looked up from the packet in his hands since he came through the door. You take a moment to admire him, he doesn’t look as dressed up as he usually does, he looks relaxed and cozy. You could get used to this look.

“Why don’t you worry about perfecting your depth of field instead. You’re not here to get me a girlfriend.” Hyunjin smiles to himself as he leans against the desk, still focused on the paper in front of him. The others in the room immediately start laughing and making fun of James.

“That’s what you get.” Mia laughs as she moves from sitting on top of the desk.

“Whatever, Y/n is way too pretty for you anyway.” You cover your mouth as you try to stifle a laugh. Hyunjin immediately looks up at the sound of your name, his brows furrowed in confusion.

“Excuse me?” Hyunjin asks before turning his head in your direction. He freezes for a second, his eyes glossing over your frame slowly to make sure that it’s really you.

“Oh um you must be new.” He stands, pushing a hand into the pocket of his worn denim jeans and making his way over to you.

“Yeah I am.” You grin, playing along with him. Once he reaches you he offers you his hand and you immediately take it into your own.

“I’m the photography instructor for this program, you can call me Hyunjin.” He smirks down at you and you nod your head.

“I’m Y/n.” He gives your hand a light squeeze before dropping it.

“It’s a pleasure to have you in our club.” He winks at you before turning on his heels and stalking back over to his desk.

“Why can she call you Hyunjin but we can’t?” Mia whines, earning a dramatic eye roll from Hyunjin.

“Because I’m eight years older than you.” You chuckle lightly and Hyunjin smiles at the sound.

“How do you know that she’s your age?” James argues and Hyunjin shrugs.

“Are you guys here to question me or to actually learn something?” The group of teens sigh as Hyunjin starts looking through his bag. “I made a project sheet for today but I suppose I can save that for next week now that we have a new member. Let’s focus on questions and practice for today.”

He pulls a thick folder out of his bag and places it on the desk right next to his massive Sony DSLR camera. You feel a bit intimidated by this side of Hyunjin, he seems to be very in his element here. Maybe he’s been doing this for a while.

“Can we do an object project?” Olivia asks in a soft voice, catching Hyunjin’s attention.

“I like that idea, what do you guys want to shoot today?” You can’t help but stare as Hyunjin talks to the kids, he seems to have a pretty solid relationship with them. You stare down at his Versace bracelet on your wrist as you listen to him talk to the kids.

“Alright so that’s what it’ll be, four photo’s of your favorite place to be in this community center. It can be a place that you have a positive memory of or just a place where you feel the most comfortable. Today's object is a clock, if you don’t have a clock in the shot then it doesn’t count. Get creative, there are no limits. I want two black and white photos and two sepia.” The kids all stand from their seats, pulling their camera straps around their necks and talking about where to go.

“Be back here in forty-five minutes. I will set a timer, please don’t make me come find you.” The group mumbles a half hearted ‘okay’ before turning their attention back to their previous conversation. You take this time to unpack your own camera, turning it on and flipping through the settings. You made sure to watch a couple of videos before coming here but everything that you learned went right out the window once you saw Hyunjin.

“I’ll be right with you, Y/n.” Hyunjin smiles over at you before turning his attention towards Leo. He’s been so quiet that you forgot that he was there. Hyunjin kneels in front of the boy's desk, leaning into his space a bit before whispering. You decided to look away to give them some privacy. Maybe you can manage to google some quick photography tips before he turns his attention to you.

You start looking up photography quick guides on your phone as you wait for him. You get so engulfed in the article that you’re reading that you don’t even notice Hyunjin making his way over to you until he’s sitting at the desk in front of yours. You jump a bit, locking your phone quickly.

“Well this is a pleasant surprise.” He smiles as he leans back against the wall behind him. “You missed me so much that you tracked me down?”

You chuckle, a light blush creeping up your neck. You look over towards where the kids were earlier and notice that they’re all gone. You must’ve been so distracted by your research that you didn’t hear them leave.

“What if I did?” You tease and now it was his turn to blush. “I didn’t know that you’re into photography.”

“Surprise.” You roll your eyes at him and he smiles towards you. “I may be a little into it. I’ve been doing it for about five years, nothing too major.”

“Clearly it is pretty major if you’re certified to teach people.”

“Are you impressed by that? Because if you are then I’ll agree.” You scoff, pushing his arm playfully.

“No comment.”

“That means that you are impressed.”

“Are you going to flirt with me or are you going to teach me how to work this thing?” You ask, holding your camera up in front of you while smiling towards Hyunjin. He surrenders, shaking his head and taking your camera from you.

“You’re right.” He turns your camera on, studying the settings and adjusting things the way that he sees fit. You can’t help but blush a bit as his fingers press the buttons. His gaze turned from playful to focused and serious as soon as you placed the device in his hands. The way that he operates the camera is actually pretty attractive.

Your eyes widen a bit as you realize the nature of your thoughts. This is not the time to think about all of the things that you find attractive about your boyfriend,wait, he’s not your boyfriend. Not really, not officially, he hasn’t even asked you out for a second date yet.

“Alright, so, this camera is actually pretty simple. I’ve adjusted some settings, I’ll show you what they all do and we can get you started on practicing the rule of thirds, sound good?” Hyunjins voice pulls you out of your thoughts and you sit up straighter in your seat. You clear your throat and look up at him as he watches you, his eyes wandering over the exposed skin of your neck for a second before looking up at you.

“Sounds good, Mr.H.”

“How’s this one?” You ask while looking down at your camera screen to study the photo you just took. Hyunjin steps closer to you from behind, looking over your shoulder to get a look at the photo too.

“Perfect, I think that you should be fine without the grid now. Maybe practice eyeing it yourself throughout the week and I can check it for you when we meet next Friday.” You chuckle, turning your head to face Hyunjin and he furrows his brows in confusion. “What?”

“Couldn’t you just check it when I see you next Thursday?” He grins at you, shaking his head and tonguing his cheek.

“Nope, I’m gonna treat you just like everyone else in the club.” You narrow your eyes at him, glancing down at the tiny space between the two of you.

“Like you are right now?” Hyunjin looks down at his hand on the small of your back and pulls his lips into a thin line.

“You’re right, Y/n this is highly unprofessional. I really need you to keep your hands to yourself.” Hyunjins eyes morph into cresents as you push him away from you, scoffing playfully.

“I hate you.” You make your way back over to your desk and Hyunjin walks over to his at the front of the room.

“Are you sure about that?” He pulls himself up onto the desk, sitting and leaning back on his palms. A deep blush runs over your cheeks as he stares over at you with an equanimous smirk adorning his lips. You look down, avoiding his piercing eye contact and now it was his turn to chuckle. “The kids should be back in a second.”

Just as he looks down at his phone the timer that he set earlier goes off. You look over at the door expecting to see them walk through but no one is there. Hyunjin closes his eyes, tilting his head back towards the ceiling and humming softly. Your eyes pinch together in confusion, is he not going to go get them?

“Are you sure they’re coming back?” Hyunjin hums in response, a small smile pulling at his lips before he starts counting.

“5, 4, 3, 2” He points towards the open door and you can hear the loud pitter patter of the group racing down the hallway. “They’re always two minutes late.”

“We’re here!” Olivia makes it into the room first, panting as she makes her way over to her seat. The rest of the group follows behind her, trying to catch their breath as they sit.

“Once you all remember how to breathe we’ll get started.” Hyunjin teases, lifting his head to look at the group. You can’t help but smile, something about seeing him interact with them makes you feel warm. He's a natural leader, in the way that he carries himself, the way he talks to them. He radiates a sense of comfort and confidence in this space and it’s almost rewarding to see.

“Can I go first?” Mia asks as she stares down at her camera.

“Nope.” Hyunjin quips quickly.

“Why not.” She whines and Hyunjin offers an exaggerated sigh in response. “I want to get it over with, Mr.H”

“And that’s why you’ll be going last.” Mia groans, putting her head down on the desk and stomping her feet. Hyunjin immediately imitates her, kicking his feet against his desk and whining. The rest of the group laughs, you even hear a faint chuckle coming from Mia.

“Always remember that I'm ten times more dramatic than you.” Hyunjin teases before sitting up completely. “Alright, let’s do this. Show me what you got James.”

“I think that Olivia wants to go before me.” James sinks down into his seat as he tries to dodge a hit from the girl behind him.

“You threw your own girlfriend under the bus? That’s cold.”

You’d be lying if you said that you weren’t impressed. Each of the kids in this club are amazing at photography, if you saw any of the pictures that they took online you’d think that a twenty year professional was responsible for the art. You’re equally impressed by Hyunjin’s teaching skills, he answered all of their questions flawlessly and made sure that you were still engaged even though you didn’t participate in the activity.

Once class ended Hyunjin texted you offering to walk you home, of course you said yes, you actually did miss him so you couldn’t pass up this opportunity. Your house was only four blocks from the community center but it seemed a lot longer since the city blocks are massive. Usually this would bother you, you’d put some music on and try your best to get the walk over with but you found yourself settling into a comfortable stroll with Hyunjin. You weren’t in a rush to get anywhere, you were grounded, living in the moment.

“How did you start teaching photography?” You asked as the two of you waited to cross the street.

“My mentor set it up for me, he thought that it would be a good way to redirect my emotions.” He chuckles softly, taking a step forward to guide you across the street. “I told you that I was a bad kid but I didn’t really stop getting into trouble until I turned twenty. I met my mentor's son, Chan, a couple of weeks after my birthday when I was taking pictures of Felix for his portfolio. His dad is a photographer and he took interest in me almost instantly, he taught me some stuff and basically became a father to me. He started the club on my birthday last year when he retired from the community center.”

“So you replaced him?” You look over at Hyunjin who seems to be deep in thought.

“Something like that, I’m one of the youth counselors but he was in charge of it all. People treat me like I’m in charge for some reason. It’s probably because I’m so smart and handsome.” He sighs dramatically, pushing his hands into his pockets and shaking his head. “It just isn’t fair, it’s so hard being me.”

“Oh yeah, it’s super hard being a model for luxury brands.” You laugh, rolling your eyes at him and bumping him with your shoulder. “I would hate being a role model for the youth.”

“Hey, this is hard work.” He defends as the two of you stop at the next corner. “But, on a serious note, I do enjoy working with them. I teach two more classes throughout the week and it’s probably what saved my life. Now, I get to help save theirs. Every kid that I teach has gotten into some kind of trouble. I like offering them a space to be themselves and learn something new, I like creating the space that I wish that I had when I was their age.”

You stare over at the crossing light as Hyunjin opens up a bit. It’s so hard for you to imagine the sweet, soft guy standing next to you as an angry teenager fighting everything that looked in his direction. You can’t help but to feel proud of him, he seemed to have really turned himself around for the better. It takes a lot of discipline to correct bad habits.

You keep your eyes trained on the light in front of you, waiting for it to change. Just as it turns green you reach your hand over towards Hyunjins, interlocking your fingers and offering a reassuring squeeze. He keeps his gaze forward as you two cross the street silently but the smile on his face and the blush on his cheeks speak a thousand words. He squeezes your hand back, running his thumb along the back of your hand as you reach the next block. He doesn’t need you to say anything back, your actions speak louder than any sentence you could possibly speak.

“On a different note…” He looks over at you with a grin. “What did you tell your friends about me?”

“I am not answering that.” You start to pull away from him but he pulls you into his side, letting go of your hand and putting his arm around your shoulder.

“Let me guess, you told them that I’m the best kisser in the entire world and that I’m so amazing and funny and that you can’t get enough of me.” A goofy smile adorns his lips and you sigh, covering your face to hide your blush. “Aw, she’s shy.”

Before you can protest, your phone starts ringing in your bag and you take this opportunity to escape Hyunjins teasing. Thank god for Changbin.

“Hey, what’s up.” You laugh a bit as Hyunjin presses you into his side more.

“Hey, are you with someone?” You can hear the smile in Changbin’s voice.

“Yup, coming home now.”

“Ah, good, could you do me a favor? I forgot to grab popcorn on the way home. Serena is coming over to watch a movie and that’s the only thing that I don’t have.” You nod, looking up the block and spotting a store on the corner.

“I’ll grab it for you, I’m walking up to a store now.”

“You’re a lifesaver. I’ll see you soon. Oh, and tell Hyunjin that I said hi.” He sings the last part of his sentence before you say bye and hang up. He’s definitely going to question you as soon as you walk through the door.

“Everything alright?”

“Yup, I just need to go into this store.” You lock your phone and slip it back into your bag as you walk up to the store. “And Changbin says hi.”

There’s a group of guys outside of the store but you don’t pay them any mind, Hyunjin follows you closely as you pull away from him to enter the store, you’ve been to this shop a million times so you know where everything is. You make a beeline to the popcorn and make your way over to the counter. The cashier smiles at you as you approach, making small talk as he checks you out. Once you’re done you turn to Hyunjin who’s waiting for you at the door but his demeanor seems to have changed. His arms are crossed over his chest and he has a mean look on his face. You smile over at him as you start to leave the store but he doesn’t smile back, that’s odd. He opens the door for you and you take the lead exiting first and tucking the popcorn into your tote bag.

“Excuse me, you’re looking really good tonight.” One of the guys standing outside of the store steps over to you and you flash him a small smile.

“Thanks.” You start to walk away but he speaks up again, stepping a bit closer to you.

“Can I have your number? I could take you out.” You shake your head, replying with a firm ‘No’ before starting to walk away again. Hyunjin places his hand on the small of your back, guiding you away from the group.

“Come on, don’t be like that.”

“She said no.” Hyunjin speaks up, his voice is loud and flat. You’ve never heard him use this tone before. It’s almost scary. The two of you start walking away again, Hyunjin makes sure to keep you in front of him as the two of you make your way towards the corner.

“I wasn’t fucking talking to you.” The guy follows the two of you. Picking up the pace as the two of you get further from him. “Come on, let me take you out sometime.”

“Keep walking.” Hyunjin whispers to you, pushing you forward a bit. He stops in the middle of the sidewalk, turning to face the guy following you. You can’t help but to look back as you walk away slowly, you can’t just leave him there by himself. Neither of you know what that guy is capable of.

“Do we have a problem?”

~ Hyunjin’s POV ~

I’m using every ounce of my self control to keep my temper in check right now. If this guy decided to mess with me while I was alone that would be a different story but he’s messing with someone that I care about and I don’t like that. This has always been a trigger for me, Felix always says that I get scary when I get mad protecting someone else. I really don’t want that to happen right now, I don’t want her to see that side of me but this guy is making it very hard to hold back.

“How about you mind your business.” He yells in my face, his breath reeks heavy of alcohol, that’s not even fair. If I hit him he’s going to be knocked out almost instantly, drunk people can never take a hit.

“She is my business.” I cross my arms over my chest and clench my jaw. I have to remember that she’s here. I have to keep my cool. “She said no, leave her alone.”

“Ah, I see, she’s yours. Is that it? That’s your bitch?” I bite my bottom lip between my teeth as his last question rings through my ears. Don’t react, not while she’s here. “She likes pretty boys, huh?”

I look back at Y/n, she’s stopped at the corner watching me. I take a deep breath and uncross my arms, turning back around to the idiot in front of me.

“Leave her alone, alright?” I turn to walk away, trying my best to distance myself from him.

“Is this your boyfriend?” He yells over at Y/n but that’s not the only thing that makes me snap. He touched me, he pushed my shoulder as I was turning away and I felt my blood boil instantly. I don’t even remember what I did, my body went into autopilot. I can hear Y/n’s heavy footsteps as I stand over the disoriented stranger. My hand in a fist at my side, I’m shaking, why am I shaking? I haven’t felt this mad in years, I haven’t hit somebody in years, this isn’t how that was supposed to happen. I was supposed to keep my cool, why did he have to fuck it up? The more that reality sinks in, the more angry I get.

“What did I just fucking tell you?” I don’t raise my voice, I never raise my voice, there’s no need to. I bend down, making sure to keep eye contact with him as I grab his shirt, and pull him towards me. “Leave her alone.”

I can hear myself, I can hear the hiss in my tone. I can feel the anger getting to my head, I can feel myself losing to it. That’s my problem, I don’t know when to stop, once I get started it’s hell getting out of it.

“You should’ve listened.” I don’t want to hit him again but I feel like I need to, I need to get this feeling to go away and the only way that I know how is to keep going.

“I’m sorry, man.” He pleads, I knew that he wouldn’t be able to take the hit but that just makes it easier for me. I push him back onto the sidewalk, letting go of his shirt and raise my fist almost by instinct. Before I can lower it I feel a hand wrap around my wrist, I stop for just a second as I remember who this is about. Y/n is with me, she saw everything.

“Hyunjin, get up.” Her voice is firm but somehow soft, I wish that I could just listen to her. I want to listen to her, maybe I can?

Despite my desire to stop, I don't move. My brain and my body are doing two different things and for a moment I feel guilty. This is going to be how it ends isn’t it? She’s going to think that I’m a horrible person, she’s going to hate me for putting her through this. My jaw clenches at the thought of losing her, glancing back down at the man in front of me I feel anger climbing up my spine again. Why couldn’t he just walk away?

“I told him to leave you alone.” I meant for my words to come out softer than they did but I can still hear the hiss in my voice, it’s muffled by the sound of my heart beating in my ears but I can hear it. She steps in between us, trying her best to pull me back, her grip tight and her voice stern.

“Hyunjin, please get up.” In all of the years that I got into fights there has never been a person who could calm me down. I don’t know why it’s different with her, I don’t know why but I don't resist. I allow her to lower my fist, I allow her to stand between us and guide me to my feet.

“Hey, look at me.” I listen, taking a deep breath and turning my attention towards her. I expected her to look angry, I expected her to have tears in her eyes or maybe even look scared. My mom would always be angry, Felix would always look scared but she looks calm. How could she look at me like that after this? I don’t deserve that.

“Good, you’re fine. Everything is fine, come on.” Her hands run over my forearms, as she tries her best to ground me and by some miracle it’s working.

She takes both of my hands and starts to lead me away from him, I keep my eyes on her as we walk over to the corner. I try my best to calm myself down, taking deep breaths through my nose and going through every grounding exercise that I was ever taught. For some reason those techniques aren’t what help me the most, it’s the look in her eyes that's calming me down. It’s the relaxed tone of her voice and the way that she’s guiding me. No one’s ever done this before. I can feel the anger in my body being replaced, it’s that feeling of electricity. That feeling that I only get when I’m with her.

I’m not sure how long we’ve been walking but when I finally come out of my thoughts and look back I don’t see the guy anymore. In fact, I’m pretty sure that we passed her block. We come up on a busier street, nothing too serious just a couple of people going about their night. She guides me over to a bench at the bus stop and we both sit in silence. I close my eyes, running my hands through my hair and sighing heavily.

“Let me see your hand.” Her tone is sweet like she isn’t about to check me for bruises. She reaches for my hand, running her thumb across the back of it and I hiss in pain. That’s definitely going to be a different color tomorrow. “You’re gonna need to ice that.”

“I know the drill.” I reply in a flat whisper. “I’m sorry.”

“He deserved it.” I shake my head, turning to look at her and this time I really looked at her. I let her see the worry in my gaze, I let her see the fear that has bloomed in my stomach.

“I’m not sorry for hitting him. I’m sorry that I almost didn’t stop, I didn’t want to stop and if you weren’t there I wouldn’t have. I would have done everything that I could to make sure that he ended up in the hospital.” I allow my gaze to drift down to my hands and it’s only then that I realize that I’m shaking. I’m still shaking, it must be the fear, not the anger.

“But you didn’t.” Her hand rests over my trembling one, petting my skin softly with the pads of her fingers. I let out a shaky exhale at the feeling of her skin against mine. “I told you that I’d be there to calm you down. I told you that it would be alright if I saw you like that and I meant it.”

“You don’t hate me?” My words leave my mouth in a whisper as I bite my bottom lip. Reluctantly, I look up at her, her expression is still so soft and calm.

“Not one bit.”

← Previous Chapter ♡ Next Chapter →

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slumpsnail · 7 months ago

Text

Process Post

The devil is in the details?

Time-lapse and more under the cut:

I read that some tieflings have forked tongues so I just wanted to draw Rolan with a very long forked tongue and then it turned into this punk rock au drawing. I liked the sketch so much, it ended up as a big paint.

The lighting is inspired flash photography, especially photos taken in a club and night scenes so my intention was to blow out the colors, hence the hot pink under sketch. I got attached to it and in the end the hot pink shows through in some areas which ultimately influenced some of the other colors. I was worried it would be too crazy but I thought to myself, don't be a coward just use them!

I love to bring back some of the core character details in AU stuff, so he's still a full time wizard and part time punk rocker haha. I gave him a thunderwave pin and his necklace is a section of the chest piece in his in-game clothes.

Anyway, thanks for reading this far :)! I think I'll keep making these process posts for my big paints. I'm learning to get better and faster at digital paintings, so it's helpful to log it but hopefully informative to you all as well!

Time-lapse and brushes below:

The brushes I used in this are from the COFE free and 2.0 brush pack, the base procreate brushes - inka, thylacine, and gouache, and Retro supply risograph brush for the bg.

#my art #my process

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cerealmonster15 · 10 months ago

Note

For the date ideas post, may I slip a note under your door that says Idikei? K bye! 🏃‍♀️

HELLO. this ended up being way longer than i planned initially JFKDLSJKLF sorry it took forever but also THANK YOU for the suggestion i LOVE IDIKEI i'm so glad i had reason to make myself sit and write for them!

This was written as a prompt from this post! I asked for someone to suggest a ship, and I would randomly draw numbers for the rest of the categories. I pulled:

Date type: Wedding date

Date idea: Getting ice cream[x] and strolling through a park

How the date is going: Super romantic

I may have taken some liberties with the prompts LOL but the overall vibe is there.

[Ao3 Link]

Title: Blue Raspberry Mango

Word Count: 5,224

Rating: G

Summary: Idia absolutely cannot show up to Azul's wedding while he's still single. Can you IMAGINE the obnoxious gloating he'd have to endure? Good thing his best buddy Cater Diamond is willing to help him avoid such a perilous fate!

“Oh my god, Trey,” Cater sighed between bites of risotto, “No one does it like you! I miss your cooking SO much!”

“Cater, don’t talk with your mouth full,” Riddle chided from across the table, but smiled nonetheless. “I suppose that means you’ll just have to come visit us more often, doesn’t it?”

“You know our door is always open for you,” Trey agreed.

“Provided you call first,” Riddle added. “It’s good manners.”

Cater laughed. He was glad his job in photography allowed him to travel around and ultimately landed him in the Queendom of Roses for most of his work. He’d never expected that he’d see so much of his old friends after graduation and yet… Here he was, years later, sitting at the dinner table with two of his best friends in the entire world.

“Ooh, speaking of getting together for some mingle time,” Cater said, a grin spreading wide across his face as he spoke. “Did you guys get the invite to Jamil and Azul’s wedding!?”

“We did.” Trey stood for a moment to step into the living room, returning shortly with a familiar card that he placed on the table. “Riddle already sent our RSVP, of course. You’re going too, I assume?”

“So punctual!” Cater winked at Riddle, then nodded. “And OBVI. Cay-Cay’s not about to miss a once in a lifetime event like this! Idia says Azul’s inviting practically everyone from our NRC days. Something about wanting to ‘flaunt his happy marriage to everyone that doubted him,’ or something like that. You know how Azul loves his theatrics.”

“Ugh, yes,” Riddle scrunched up his nose, “I’m sure Azul will love reminding me - again - how he and Jamil managed to schedule a wedding before Trey and I have.”

Trey chuckled, pressing a kiss to the top of Riddle’s head on his way back into the kitchen to retrieve dessert. “You know it’s not a competition.”

“It is to Azul, and he certainly believes he’s winning,” Riddle sighed, but then turned his focus back to Cater. “And how is Idia doing? I imagine you’re one of the few that he willingly keeps in contact with from NRC these days, yes?”

Cater nodded, a sense of pride filling in his chest at the acknowledgement that Cater was, in fact, one of the rare people Idia spent time talking with. On PURPOSE, even! “I sure am! He’s chill doin’ his thing over at S.T.Y.X. with Ortho. He still games with Lils on the ‘reg, and I think he and Azul do these, like, speedy flash matches on Chess.com? I don’t know if they even talk to each other. I think they just like the thrill of trying to digitally kill each other or whatever.”

Still, gaming and asserting dominance over virtual board games was practically the social pinnacle when it came to Idia Shroud.

Riddle raised a curious eyebrow. “Chess… Dot com…?”

Cater already had his phone out. “I’ll send you the link, and I'll get Idia and Azul’s usernames for you. I bet they’ll be thrilled to have a fresh opponent.”

He pulled his phone out, despite Riddle’s unspoken no texting at the dinner table rule, and sent a quick text to Idia.

Cater: heyyy whats ur chess.com username or w/e + also azuls

To which Idia replied almost instantly, as he tended to do with Cater whenever he wasn’t physically too busy to multitask.

Idia: no way ur actually signing up for chess.com unprompted. whats it for

Idia: also ew why azul lol

Cater huffed a small laugh through his nose at the incoming messages while he sent the website link to Riddle, and then swapped back to Idia’s messages.

Cater: lol u know me so well bestie ~ it’s for riddle!

Cater: cmooooon u know u and azul would have fun doin one of those speedster rounds with him lol

Idia: they’re called bullet rounds 😑 w/e ya i’ll txt u the info

Idia: or yknow. he could wait to get it at the wedding. 👀👀👀

Cater gasped out loud, followed by a squeak of delight, causing both Trey and Riddle to look at him curiously.

“Whatever’s happening on your phone must be very interesting,” Trey said, “because you haven’t even glanced at the plate in front of you.”

There was, in fact, a new plate in front of Cater. A plate with a beautifully sliced, dark chocolate tart, topped with fresh strawberries and raspberries. A compromise, of course, as Trey trained himself in the art of locating more semisweet desserts back at NRC, so Cater wouldn’t feel completely shut out when it was time to bring dessert to the table.

A subtle reminder to Cater that he was very loved by his dear friend.

“Aw, sorry Trey!” Cater set his phone down and took a bite of the tart. Perfectly balanced flavors, as always. “I just got excited! Sounds like Idia’s able to make it to Azul’s wedding after all. We weren’t sure ‘cause of his schedule, but I guess he managed to clear things up in time!”

“That’s good,” Riddle said, a light smirk forming across his face, “because I think we all know Azul would never let Idia hear the end of it if he failed to show.”

Cater’s phone lit up again, another text from Idia displayed for all to see.

Idia: ummmm ahem nows the part where u ask me if i cleared my schedule so i could go ( which ya i did) so that i can smoothly lead in2 asking u for a favor

Idia: cmon cay stay on the ball 🙄

Riddle sighed. “Why don’t you just call him? There’s no use pretending you aren’t distracted by his texts going off every few seconds. It’s faster.”

Cater COULD argue that he and Idia weren’t exactly ‘callers’ so much as ‘texters’ or ‘video chatting in the privacy of their own homes while multitasking on six other activities’, but… He figured it was best not to start a disagreement with Riddle of all people.

After about three rings, Idia answered. “I-it’s not such a big favor that you needed to call me…” he sheepishly mumbled into the receiver.

Cater smiled. Idia was always so shy in the first few seconds of a call, planned or not. “Yeah, yeah, but I don’t wanna bug Riddle and Trey with my constant text notifs-”

“You know how to put your phone on silent.”

“Idiaaa…” Cater pouted, and though Idia couldn’t see his face, he could definitely hear it in Cater’s tone. “Just tell me what’s up?”

Idia exhaled a long, drawn out, dramatic sigh, before responding. “‘Kay, fine, whatever. Basically, I need you to LARP as my player 2 at Azul’s wedding. Y’know, secret stealth mission style.”

A long pause.

“...Huh?” Cater eloquently replied. “Um, what?”

“Uuughhh, this is why I didn't wanna have to explain out looouuud,” Idia groaned. “Listen. You know Azul. I know Azul. The dude invented the concept of being an insufferable, smug little bitch.”

That last comment pulled a full laugh out of Cater. “OMG, Idia, if that’s the kind of stuff you say about your besties, I’d hate to hear you tell me about your enemies!”

As if Cater hadn’t heard endless gamer rants time and time again about randos online that Idia felt personally wronged and slighted by. He knew exactly how cutting and fired up Idia could get, so by comparison, Idia was being gentle with Azul.

“LOL, Azul’s no bestie - but N-E-Way, circling back to the prime objective… Um…” Idia’s voice grew quieter as he cleared his throat. “What I’m saying is… There’s a 100% chance Azul’s gonna rub his stupid new marriage in my face, like, ‘Ohh, Idia, still single, are you? Wow, what’s that like? Can’t relate, Jamil and I are sooo happy in our stupid normie marriage, here come look at my ring did you see my ring-’ like, DUH I saw the stupid ring! He only emailed me a billion pictures of it!”

EMAIL?! Cater bit back a laugh. That was so on-brand for Azul.

“So, uh, anyway…” Idia resumed his mumbly, more reminiscent of NRC days tone of voice. “I wanna… Lie. W-With you.”

WHA-

“N-N-Not like, physically!” Idia quickly followed up before Cater could interject. “I mean, like, deceit! Lies and slander but without the slander! I want you to pretend to be my wedding date!”

“Your… Your wedding date?” Cater repeated, earning a couple of curious glances from Trey and Riddle. “Wait, what? You want me to pretend to be your date just so Azul doesn’t think you’re single?”

Trey raised an eyebrow. Riddle furrowed his brows together with a frown.

Cater pretended not to see.

“Exactly!” Idia responded with a sigh of relief that Cater was still following. “If he thinks I have a new b-boyfriend, he’ll have slightly less reason to be annoying towards me specifically! And it has to be believable anyway, right? You’re one of the few people I still talk to post-grad, so…”

It also didn’t hurt that Cater would be high up in Idia’s top 10 list of prettiest guys to ever graduate from NRC. And NO, it didn’t matter who the other nine on that list were, thank you very much.

“Well, for one, I’m totes flattered,” Cater said. “But, d’you think we’d be able to pull something like that off?”

“Cater!” Riddle interrupted. “You cannot seriously be considering-!”

“Shh,” Trey softly interrupted Riddle’s interruption. “Let’s see where they go with it, first.”

Riddle relented with a pout, leaning into Trey’s shoulder and watching Cater closely.

Idia huffed into the receiver. “What, because the Riddle Police is gonna expose us before we even try?”

“Aw, nooo, Riddle can keep a secret! Right, Riddle?” Cater covered the phone with his hand and offered Riddle and Trey his best, sweetest, pleading smile - complete with as much eyelash fluttering he could muster on the spot. A classic Cater Diamond move.

Riddle and Trey both sighed at the all-too familiar sight.

“Cater,” Trey said, “You can’t weasel your way out of every situation with a cute face.”

“Ooh, is that a challenge?” Cater winked, then dissolved into giggles as Riddle crossed his arms and continued to pout at him.

“I don’t exactly feel right about you two lying for such frivolous reasons, but… I can’t say I don’t fully… Understand.” After all, having graduated alongside Azul, Riddle just might understand better than anyone why they might feel tempted to go about such a way to avoid Azul’s smug tendencies. “Just don’t expect Trey or me to carry any outlandish stories for either of you!”

“Yay!” Cater cheered, uncovering the receiver and speaking back into the phone. “No biggie, Idia. We’re all good over here!”

“Wait, so you’re in, then!?” Idia asked. He hadn’t really expected this to go so well, but he figured if anyone would be willing to hear him out, it would be Cater. He was always down for a fun shenanigan, after all, but still… “I kinda thought I’d have to do a little more convincing, TBH. I even wrote a speech-”

“Lemme hear it anyway!”

“No!” Idia shouted. “You already agreed, so no take-backs!”

Cater giggled. “Hehe, alright, alright! Let’s do a vid call when I get home later, and we can start planning our coordinated outfits!”

–

The wedding itself was beautiful, obviously. Cater and Idia wondered just how much bickering likely went on behind the scenes for Jamil and Azul to find a compromise between Azul’s need for an extravagant, flashy-yet-tasteful, show-off wedding, and Jamil perhaps wanting something more lowkey and humble.

Or, perhaps they truly both wanted to show off to their former classmates, as the wedding ultimately ended up very ‘cammable, as Cater made sure to tell Idia every five minutes.

“God, did you see these centerpiece flowers?” Cater giggled between sips of champagne as he clutched Idia’s arm and tugged him over to a nearby table. He nearly spilled the glass on his shirt trying to pull his phone out of his pocket, and was saved only by Idia reaching over to pluck the champagne flute from his hand and finish drinking it himself.

“Heh, failed your dex saving throw,” Idia grinned. “And yeah, I saw those same flowers when you pointed them out ten minutes ago.”

“Uh, ‘scuse me for getting excited about all the photo ops, babe.”

Idia rolled his eyes at the obvious teasing, but a few giggles spilled from his mouth all the same. Surely it was due to the champagne that he felt so lighthearted and giddy, despite being trapped at such a bustling social event.

“Well, well…” The familiar voice of Azul Ashengrotto called out from behind the pair as he and Jamil - arm in arm, much like Idia and Cater - approached. “It would seem that your message wasn’t full of baseless fabrications just to try and distract me from our active chess match after all, hmm?”

Cater couldn’t hold back from openly, loudly laughing. “Wait- Idia, did you for realsies RSVP to their wedding over Chess.com?!”

“Yes, he did,” Jamil sighed.

“Oh, don’t act like it didn’t make you laugh too, my dear.” Azul patted Jamil on the arm, to which Jamil responded with a snort and roll of his eyes.

“That being said,'' Azul continued, “I really couldn’t believe it until I saw it for myself in person. You two really did end up together after all, then?'' His piercing gaze shifted from Idia to Cater, and then back to Idia with a growing, devilish grin. “Your cute little high school crush never faded after all these years?”

Idia gasped. Oh, he should've known this was the route Azul would take the second he didn’t have a chance to gloat about Idia being single. Of course Azul wouldn’t forget about the forbidden knowledge he collected back in the olden days of NRC. An elephant - or in this case, an octopus - never forgets! And this particular octopus still had that stupid, smug grin on his face that Idia was so hoping to avoid.

But, there truly was no avoiding smugness when Azul Ashengrotto was involved; both Idia and Cater were fools if they thought they could prove otherwise.

And speaking of Cater, his gasp was even louder than Idia’s. “OMG. A crush!? You had a crush on me when we were in school?”

Idia instinctively reached for the hood that he was not wearing. Curse these fancy wedding clothes and their stupid, hoodless collars… “U-um! So what if I did?!”

“You never told me!” Cater huffed with the PUFFIEST cheeks he could muster. Trey and Riddle could say what they want, but his cute pouts were his most powerful weapon! … After his unique magic, probably.

“The poor thing thought you were dating Trey for the longest time,” Azul interjected, clearly pleased with the direction this conversation had gone. Idia’s flustered look of betrayal was more than satisfying.

“Wh-!? I literally TOLD YOU when Trey started dating Riddle!”

“Okay, well, I thought you three had some sort of secret polycule hidden route thing going on in your IRL VN of a life!” Idia huffed, crossing his arms in what was probably a more adorably huffy look than he intended.

“Oh? What’s the matter?” Azul asked, his smarmy grin not faltering in the slightest. “You’re together now, are you not? No need to be so embarrassed… Right?”

Oh. So that’s how it was. Azul was a doubter and a HATER, huh?

“Ugh,” Idia grumbled. “Anyone would get embarrassed when you go aggro-mode like that with forbidden lore of the past!” He reached for Cater’s hand as he spoke, and gripped it firmly in defiance of Azul’s stupid smug face.

“Um, yeah, totes!” Cater returned his friendly, dazzling smile to his face. “Besides, I think it’s cute. Look how far we’ve come!”

“Maybe your wedding will be next, then.” Jamil said, a tiny smirk tugging on his lips as Idia once again failed to hide his jittery reaction.

“Oh, please,” Cater laughed. “I think Riddle might actually kill me if we cut ahead of him and Trey.”

“Oh, yes, of course,” Azul chuckled. “And how long have those two been engaged, again?”

“UUGGHHH,” Cater groaned with every ounce of drama he could muster. “Don’t rush them! You KNOW Riddle isn’t gonna cut a single corner when it comes to having the perfect wedding!”

“Well, I’d say we managed to do so quite efficiently,” Azul said, not even pretending to be humble. “I couldn’t afford to waste time, after all. I wanted to marry the love of my life as soon as possi-”

“God, you’re so cringe, Azul,” Idia interrupted, crinkling his nose at Azul’s shameless, sappy proclamations of love for his partner while he and Cater were still standing RIGHT THERE!

Cater decided that perhaps this was his and Idia’s cue to escape the conversation. “Um! Y’know what, Idia?” He said, starting to tug Idia in the opposite direction. “I totally feel inspired by their lovey-dovey vibes. Let’s go dance!”

“Wh-!” Idia’s protests dissolved in his throat as Cater swiftly pulled him through the crowd and back to the dance floor. Idia, of course, complained, but when Cater asked him if he’d rather dance together or go back and continue talking to Azul, the protests quickly stopped.

And so they danced - Cater led Idia through a range of more traditional dances that Riddle taught him over the years, and plenty of modern dance trends that Cater practiced through watching hours of viral Magicam videos. Idia, though nervous at first, soon forgot his fear of prying eyes as he and Cater got lost in the moment together. Cater wasn’t the only one with dances to teach, after all! Idia made sure to show Cater just how much he learned through all his hours of watching idol group music videos.

Perhaps their dancing strayed a bit from the theme of the actual music playing, but that didn’t matter to them. Idia and Cater had fun off to the side in their little pocket of the dance floor together, occasionally joined by a former classmate now and then, or pausing to make conversation. It really WAS an NRC reunion, intentional or not.

And it was exciting! Exciting… And really, really draining.

“...Idi-BB,” Cater sighed, draping an arm around Idia’s shoulders and leaning against him with a few exhausted pants. “I’m, like, so spent from all our hardcore grooving. Y’’wanna go outside for some fresh air and a sensory break?”

“Yes,” Idia wheezed, nodding with equally exhausted enthusiasm.

The two promptly fled the scene, getting themselves out of the crowded venue and across the street to a quiet little park that was decorated with seasonal lights and flowers.

“Azul and Jamil really know how to pick a location,” Cater murmured as he and Idia walked under an arch of twinkling lights and found their way to a bench. “Even the nearby lots are top-tier photogenic. It looks like there’s even some kind of night market going on at this park.”

“Just what we need,” Idia complained, “MORE activities.”

“Hey, c’mon, at least over here we don’t have the obligation to talk to anyone. No familiar faces at a random market! And besides…” Cater pointed towards one of the trucks with pretty lights and colorful signage. “That one looks like it’s selling ice cream!”

“You don’t even like ice cream!”

“But you do…” Cater mumbled, and then grinned. “Plus, ice cream from vendors always looks super pretty. So, like, you get a sweet treat, and I get sweet pics! It’s a win-win, really.”

“Do you ever take a day off your photographer brain?”

“Absolutely not. The ‘cam life was simply my calling, as my professional website can show you. I still can’t believe Azul didn’t even ask to hire me for wedding photos, TBH.”

“You wouldn’t’ve wanted to,” Idia said, slowly standing up and inching over to the ice cream truck-slash-booth. “Azul would have crazy annoying standards and requests, and would no doubt try and squeeze out a ‘friends and family’ discount from you.”

“Ugh, totes,” Cater shook his head, walking alongside Idia towards the truck “I’d rather take it easy and enjoy the event as a guest, anyway. Much more fun!”

He paused for a moment, peering at the menu. “Looks like they've got some flavors based on the Great Seven - Ooh, OMG, you should get that one!”

Idia looked at the menu item Cater pointed at and read it aloud. “...King of the Underworld Cone: Mango and Habanero Sorbet, topped with blue raspberry syrup and chili-lime flakes, and served in a blue raspberry cone.”

“I love a good mango-chili combo! And the colors are perfectly coordinated to match our hair. You’ve gotta get it so we can take a cute selfie under the lights!”

Idia sighed, but pulled out his wallet as Cater ordered it for him. It DID sound pretty good, so he wasn’t going to fight it. He allowed Cater to hold the cone and pull him back over to the bench, pull him in close, and finally snap the photo before he finally got to try the ice cream.

“Jeeze, you seriously haven’t let up on the selfie-taking all evening,” Idia said between licks. “It really is like we’re back at school.” He held the cone out to Cater, tilting his head and silently offering him a taste.

“Aw, c’mon!” Cater paused, eyeing the ice cream suspiciously for a movement before lowering his head and giving it a tiny, curious lick. “...Ooo, spicy! That’s not bad.” He smiled, then turned back to his phone to text Idia the photo. “And anyway, I’ve def let up on the selfies these days, especially since I take pics for a living now.” Cater supplemented his statement with yet another pout. “Besides, today was a special occasion! Like, hello? It’s a WEDDING, and there were a ton of people I haven’t seen in years!”

Cater reached over to boop Idia on the tip of his nose. “Like you, mister! You live so far away and with such a complex job, I haven’t seen you in, like, LITERALLY forever…” He sighed, dropping his head onto Idia’s shoulder.

It was a warm and familiar sensation to the both of them. Near the end of their time at NRC, the two spent many a late night in Idia’s room binge watching anime or pop idol music videos together, which almost always ended with Cater laying half asleep propped against Idia’s side. The first three dozen times it happened, it would send Idia into a silent, internal freak out spiral, but through the exposure therapy of Cater’s consistent sleepiness, he eventually not only grew used to the feeling, but started to yearn for it on nights he watched shows alone.

“...Tell Riddle and Trey to hurry up on their wedding planning, then,” Idia mumbled into his ice cream. “If I know about it early enough, it’d be easier to fit into my busy boss-lord schedule.”

Cater’s ears perked up. “Oh? Would you really go to their wedding?! I know you weren’t as close to Riddle and Trey as you are with Azul … But then again, I guess you have been playing those online chess matches with Riddle ever since we signed him up.”

“Never doubt a warrior’s bond over a chess board,” Idia snickered. “A-And, uh, yeah. I’d go, but… Only ‘cause I know we’d get to see each other again, or whatever… O-Ortho would probably want to go, anyway, so… Might as well.”

“Aww!” Cater picked his head up to beam at Idia, eyes shining with delight. “You better promise! ‘Cause I WILL be there, and I’ll be on official photographer duty, so you should start planning your perfect outfit now. There’s no hiding from this professional shutterbug!”

“Wha-?” Idia scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion. “Weren’t you just saying you were glad you didn’t have to put up with Azul’s picky perfectionism and just wanted to enjoy being a guest? You don’t seriously think Riddle Rosehearts would be any less difficult a client than Azul, do you?”

Cater laughed. “Oh, don’t worry, Idia. you’re forgetting one very crucial detail!”

“...What’s that?”

“Riddle is my bestie, and I love him.”

Idia burst out laughing, quickly covering his mouth to avoid spewing blue and orange droplets everywhere. “The power of friendship is gonna save you from Teapot Tyrant meltdowns?”

“Hey!” Cater protested. “I’ll have you know that Riddle is MUCH more mellow these days-”

“Heh. You should see the chat logs from our last chess match.”

“Oh my god,” Cater rolled his eyes. “ANYWAY, I’ll have you know I’m the perfect person for the role. Trey and I stood by Riddle’s side for two years running Heartslabyul and herding underclassmen around. Riddle trusted my aesthetic eye when it came to setting up tea parties, and I earned that role, thank you very much! I’m a trained professional in both photography AND Riddle de-escalation tactics.”

Idia laughed again as Cater dropped his head back down onto his shoulder. Really, he couldn’t argue with that logic. After Trey, Cater really was the only other person from their school days that knew how to handle the ins and outs of a Riddle Rosehearts tantrum.

Still, a lot had changed over the years…

“...Did you really have a crush on me when we were in school?”

Idia nearly choked on the half-crunched cone that he just shoved into his mouth. “WH- GHK- CATER!”

Cater quickly sat up again and started patting Idia on the back while he coughed up blue chunks. “OMG- Don’t you dare die on me before giving me an answer!”

A few more coughs and wheezes, a rough swallow of ice cream remains, and then Idia finally spoke again. “...Ugh... Hey, what’s with the sneak attack!? Don’t you think I took enough psychic damage when Azul brought that up earlier?!”

“No!” Cater huffed. “Because you never even told me! Why’d I have to find out from AZUL?”

“B-B-Because…” Idia stammered, “Why would- I told you I thought you were dating Trey and kind of also Riddle back then! And there was also that one time you came over to hang out after you’d been to a party in Pomefiore, and you told me you kissed Rook Hunt!”

Cater gasped. “OMG, I can’t believe you remember that. I almost don’t remember that!”

“Of course I remember!” Idia took his turn to pout, now that the ice cream cone was finally finished and no longer a hazard to his theatrics. “I had a huge crush on you! OBVIOUSLY I’m gonna sit and agonize endlessly over every little detail you told me about your love life - and also my own headcanons to your love life, apparently. You were my super hot best friend and I was the school shut-in!”

Cater gasped. “You thought I was hot?”

“I still think you’re hot!” Idia shouted, and then slammed his hands over his mouth as his eyes blew wide open and the tips of his hair flushed into a bright shade of pink, flaming wisps dancing wildly around his face.

Cater stared silently back at Idia with equally wide eyes as silence filled the air between them.

Idia promptly spent the next ten seconds planning out how he could escape and have Ortho help him fake his own death, only to be interrupted by Cater speaking again.

“...It’s kinda like the universe is playing a trick on us, don’tcha think?”

When Idia’s only response was more panicked stares, Cater continued. “Um, like… Neither of us was really ever the type to seriously ask someone out, y’know? So we were both just… Sitting on our feelings.”

Idia finally managed to find his voice again as he squeaked out a reply. “Wh-?! Both? ‘O-our’ feelings?! You never-!”

“Ugh, Idia, please,” Cater grabbed Idia by the shoulders and turned him so they were facing each other. “I fell asleep on your shoulder WAY more times than I’ve ever gotten sleepy hanging out with Trey, and he and I were roomies for two years straight!”

“...How many times did you fall asleep on Tr-”

“NOT important! Just- Listen…” Cater closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. He slid his hands down from Idia’s shoulders to his hands, then opened his eyes and looked at Idia very seriously. “...I… Also still think you’re hot.”

“Wh- Don’t make fun of me!” Idia shrieked, his face now matching the color of the tips of his hair as he attempted - unsuccessfully - to wiggle his way out of Cater’s grasp.

“Sorry, sorry, I couldn’t help it!” Cater giggled, tugging Idia closer. “But I'm not making fun, I swear! You really are still a Grade-A hottie after all these years!”

Idia paused his squirming to glance sideways at Cater. “..Enough to kiss me instead of Rook at a party?”

Cater gasped in shock, and it was Idia’s turn to laugh.

“IDIA! You’re so much bolder these days, jeeze….” A sly grin spread across Cater’s face, and he leaned closer. “But, y’know… We ARE at a wedding party, and Rook is one of the guests.

Idia went quiet again, freezing in place as he watched Cater’s face move closer.

“Totes within kissable range if we went back, I guess… But I kinda don’t wanna get on Vil and Leona’s bad side, y’know?”

He leaned in closer, and hoped Idia couldn’t hear the anxious hammering of his heart against his chest.

“And… You’re a lot closer… And a lot cuter, TBH…”

Cater paused, averting his eyes to the side. Waiting.

The offer was on the table, and it was up to Idia what happened next. The following five seconds stretched across what felt like eons to them both as Idia focused all his energy on trying not to literally pass out on the bench and take Cater down with him, or get overwhelmed by the possibility that if he DID kiss Cater, Cater might immediately throw up all over him and run away screaming. Really, it wasn’t that he didn’t WANT to kiss Cater, but what if he died? What if they both died!?

Well, they didn’t die. The agonizing seconds passed, but Idia decided that if he DID die, he’d rather go out knowing what Cater Diamond’s lips felt like against his, even if just one time.

The kiss itself was quick, but had the weight of ten thousand hammers crashing into their walls of repressed feelings built up over several years.

Idia pulled back first, watching Cater cautiously for any signs of nausea.

But, Cater smiled at him, a nervous giggle bubbling from his lips. “That was-”

“BIG BROTHER? CATER DIAMOND? WHERE ARE YOU!?” Ortho Shroud’s shouted out in the distance from the direction of the wedding venue.

Oh, shit. How long had they been hiding out at that park, again?

“We… We should probably… Go back…” Idia mumbled.

“Y-yeah…” Cater slowly backed off of Idia, face flushed, but had not let go of his hands. “We… We should talk tonight, yeah?”

Idia wordlessly nodded, clutching Cater’s hands like his life depended on it.They headed back towards the wedding venue, hand-in-hand, both ignoring the internal dread from within at the growing realization that they both, somehow, had Azul Ashengrotto to thank for this.

#twisted wonderland #twst #idikei #cater diamond #idia shroud #cereal writes #extrasweetcoffee #as always go to the ao3 for more tags / my bonus blabbering in the notes LOL

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uwmspeccoll · 1 year ago

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Old Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, 1900

Wisconsin architect and printmaker Charles Clark Reynolds (1893-1969) produced this etching of the Door County port city of Sturgeon Bay for the Federal Art Project of the WPA in 1941. Reynolds, who was born in Sturgeon Bay, ran a successful architectural firm with offices in Manitowoc and Green Bay, Wisconsin from 1920-1934. Andrew Stevens, curator emeritus of prints, drawings and photographs at the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, made these observations about another copy of the print at the Wisconsin Historical Society in his 1998 exhibition catalog, 150 Years of Wisconsin Printmaking:

The print's title and the notation on the plate that identifies the image as being "Sturgeon Bay 1900" suggest a nostalgic purpose for the work. Instead of presenting the city as it was when the print was made in 1941, he looked back forty years, perhaps by reference to photography, to present if at the turn of the century [as Reynolds himself would have known it as a boy]. As if to reference further the retrospective stance of the work, there is a pencil notation in the print's margin that identifies it as having been printed on antique paper. This retrospective aspect of the work . . . may also reflect some of the historical goals of other projects of the WPA.

Our copy of the print is part of a portfolio of prints from the Wisconsin WPA, and this image is from a digitized version of that print from our digital collection Wisconsin Arts Projects of the WPA, which was made possible with generous financial support from The Chipstone Foundation.

View other posts on prints by Charles Reynolds.

View more posts from our Wisconsin Arts Projects digital collection.

#Old Sturgeon Bay 1900 #Sturgeon Bay #Wisconsin #etchings #Charles Reynolds #Charles Clark Reynolds #Federal Art Project #Works Progress Administration #WPA #Wisconsin Arts Projects of the WPA #Andrew Stevens #digital collections #intaglio prints #Wisconsin artists

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izumikoushiroweek · 3 months ago

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Koushiro Izumi Week 2024 Prompts

Koushiro week aims to offer flexibility and a variety of prompts, so that fans with different talents and amounts of free time can participate!

Entrants are free to select among the prompts on any day, or treat every day as a free day! You can post as many or as few times as you choose.

There is only one day with a set theme. Friday, October 25th will be Reblog Day! Entrants are encouraged to reblog their Koushiro and Tentomon content on that day, but please only reblog items that are not already on the Koushiro Week archive. I will make a special post on reblog day honoring our beautiful archive! Let’s share the Koushiro and Tentomon love, even if we are busy!

Event tag: izumikoushiroweek2024

Please find the prompts beneath the cut! You can use a prompt from any year. It gets harder every year to make new prompts, apologies for that (and for any repetitive/overlapping prompts). Please feel free to send suggestions!

New Prompts for 2024

Koushiro as a Son

Explore Koushiro's relationship with Kae and/or Masami! What is it like to be a parent to a kid or adult child who is so instrumental to the Digital World and everything that goes with that? How do they relate to him? Maybe draw the family going out, or Kae bringing snacks to Koushiro and Tentomon, or Koushiro appreciating his parents.

Koushiro as a Father

Koushiro's daughter is adorable, show us her! Or explore their relationship, how Koushiro feels about being a parent, how he struggles/grows/flourishes as one, how he relates to his daughter.

No Tech!

For whatever reason, Koushiro does not have access to any tech! How does he contribute/cope? Or maybe he just takes a nice day off?

Koushiro: Pillar of the Chosen

We have prompts about Koushiro as a CEO, but what if we focus on Koushiro as the head of the Chosen? What is he doing to support the Chosen, local and global, as he grows up? If he travels, can he stay pretty much anywhere with a Chosen he's helped at some point? What do Chosen think of him around the world? What do non-Chosen think? How does Koushiro cope with the pressure, or does he feel supported by thousands of Chosen?

Koushiro's Day Off, With or Without Friends

What do Koushiro and Tentomon do on an off day? Do the Chosen take him out sometimes? What does each Chosen like to do with him? Does Koushiro go along with anything, just to broaden his horizons?

Dressing Koushiro

I love the idea of each of the Chosen (or any character!) suggesting outfits for Koushiro when he's in his fashion phase. What would he look like if Yamato offered his wardrobe or picked an outfit that suited his (Yamato's) tastes? What about Takeru, lol?

Hobbies

What kind of hobbies might Koushiro explore? What hobbies might his friends encourage him to try?

Exploring the Digital World

Where are some of Koushiro's/Tentomon's favorite places in the Digital World? Do you think he goes there to think? Does he ever just... Sort of vanish there for a few hours, to remind himself what he's working so hard for, or just to breathe? You can draw the places, describe them, or work it into a fic/ficlet! Or share screen grabs/gifs/etc.

Appreciation

The Japanese Chosen (or the global Chosen!) try to thank Koushiro for all his help and support over the years. What do they come up with? How does it make Koushiro feel?

Music

What kind of music do you think Koushiro and Tentomon like? Do you have a Koushiro/Tentomon playlist to share? Koushiro and Miyako helped process music for Yamato's bands (explicitly The Teenage Wolves, but why not his other bands and future music?). What was that like?

Koushiro the Creative

Koushiro is highly entrenched in tech stuff. I wondered... Does he see himself as creative, or does that feel foreign to him? Does he have creative outlets? Maybe photography with Hikari or writing with Takeru? Or maybe a friend can help him see that the things he does ARE creative?

Growing

I mean this physically, but feel free to take it where you'd like! But Koushiro is a Short King who really shoots up between 02 and Tri. I wondered how he feels about that? Or if it was annoying to suddenly not fit into his wardrobe as he shot up?

Koushiro and the 02 Crew

Koushiro gets a lot of screen time in 02 (bless!). How does he feel about the younger Chosen? How do they feel about him? Write or draw him hanging out with his other crew!

2023 Prompts

Crest of Knowledge What does the crest of knowledge mean to you? What do you think it means to Koushiro and Tentomon? How about the people who love them?

It’s lonely at the top What is it like to be an outlier? Over the course of Adventure, Koushiro learns to use his gift to connect to others, rather than as a means to cope with lack of connection. This is beautiful, but still, being an outlier has to… complicate things. Do you think classmates or coworkers resent him and his success? Koushiro launches a business after high school. What is it like to have people relying on him for their livelihoods at such a young age? Do his older employees balk at having someone so young above them? Does he feel that he’s missing out on higher education and fun college activities?

What are your Koushiro headcanons?

Alternate Universe Do you have any AU Koushiro designs? Alternate haircuts? Show us your wildest Koushiro dreams, from mermaids to crossovers to epic fantasy!

Koushiro the mentor

Koushiro often takes on the role of mentor. He’s a member of both the Adventure and the 02 teams and works hard to support everyone. Show us Koushiro offering support to the Chosen: younger, older, or both! Explore his unique role and what it means to him. Does he enjoy sharing knowledge? Does he want to remain as involved as possible with the Digital World, even when the 02 crew takes over? So many Koushiros!

What is your favorite iteration of Koushiro? Adventure, 02, Tri, Kizuna, the reboot, the movies? Izzy and the various Koushiro dub iterations?

What is your favorite canon Koushiro outfit?

Show us a screenshot or draw it!

What is your favorite Koushiro or Izzy quote? How about Tentomon?

Screenshots/illustrations are encouraged, but not required.

Koushiro and Tentomon Screencap redraw

Koushiro memes!

Koushiro is Extremely Online, the boy has seen a meme in his day. Invent a Koushiro meme, or place him in an existing one! What memes do you think Koushiro would like?

Do you relate to Koushiro?

How so? Alternatively, what do you love about him and Tentomon?

What is something you wish we saw happen for Koushiro in canon?

I know we all have wish lists! Share yours!

Koushiro interacting with his parents I cannot get enough of the Izumis!

Prodigious!

What is your favorite prodigious moment? What do you love about Izzy? What are your thoughts about Koushiro vs Izzy?

Emotion As Koushiro grows more confident, perhaps he begins expressing his feelings more. Does he see this as a good thing (growth, trust that he is allowed to show how he feels), or regression (why can’t I control myself like I used to)? How does Koushiro feel about personal expression and his emotions?

2022 Prompts

Feel free to use prompts from last year, or to re-interpret and explore ones you already used!

Koushiro and Tentomon

Wanna try your take on the classic Koushiro and Tentomon hug in the trolley? Or show us the boys being adorable, living their best lives together? The Koushiro and Tentomon relationship is so sweet, there is so much to explore here!

Adoption/family

Koushiro tells his friends about the adoption, visits the graves of his biological parents, meets his first ever biological relative when he has his daughter, spends time with his parents, etc. Also, Tentomon absolutely sobbing when he meets Koushiro’s kids, lol!

Friends/life outside of the Chosen

We don’t see much of Koushiro’s personal life throughout the Adventure content. What does this boy get up to? Who are his friends, both local and spread over the world? What are his hobbies? We know Koushiro is an incredible researcher/tech expert, but he is also a normal kiddo.

Confidence/the Chosen love you for you/everyone loves Koushiro

Koushiro struggles with self worth and confidence over Adventure. We see him find his way as the Digimon Tech Expert, but we know he’s so much more than that! Let’s explore Koushiro realizing that he’s needed and valued beyond his skills, and that he doesn’t need to be helpful to connect to and be loved by others- and that he very much is loved.

Confiding

Koushiro doesn’t discuss his personal life onscreen during Adventure, except to Tentomon and his parents. It would be amazing to explore him confiding in his friends.

Casual

Koushiro tries to speak more casually to his friends- this is inspired by this post.

Koushiro as the head of Chosen information/Koushiro’s company

What does Koushiro get up to in his company in Kizuna? How is he funding global Chosen activity and also researching and also having a life? How does he juggle everything? Does everyone look up to the guy who is making sure the global Chosen have the resources and information they need to operate? Are his friends concerned?

Plz help

Koushiro needs help, and the others rise up- whether he asks them to or not, lol! Maybe he’s stressed by work, juggling too much, or just in a research vortex and hasn’t come up for air in a while. Maybe a Chosen convinces him to lean on them and take a break. Or maybe someone pushes him to do “something fun,” and shenanigans ensue! Maybe Tentomon secretly calls the Chosen when Koushiro enters a Work Vortex or seems down.

Oolong tea

A classic, lol!

FASHUN

Koushiro explores fashion and style! Show us your best Koushiro Disaster Kouture ™, or show him growing out of that stage and settling into what you imagine his style might become. Does all the screen time result in glasses someday?

Eyebrows

Show us a range of Koushiro facial expressions! Dem brows are there for a reason >:3

Assistant Tentomon

Tentomon the mighty, making sure Koushiro remembers to Human (eat, sleep, call friends, etc). Tentomon, acting as Koushiro’s secretary/assistant. Tentomon learning how to research on his own! Tentomon sending an SOS when Koushiro needs some help, but is too polite to reach out.

Mochimon

HIM CUTE! HIM ROUND! SHOW US HIM!

Koushiro and Bugs

Koushiro sipping from a ladybug mug, Koushiro being gifted ladybug items, Koushiro finding ladybugs or beetles and thinking of Tentomon, Koushiro taking a bug outside when someone else wants to squish it, Koushiro casually revealing that he has an encyclopedic knowledge of beetles for Reasons.

Computer Club President Koushiro

Koushiro was the computer club president in 02 (hopefully this is true of both the English dub and original Japanese)! That would be so cute to explore!

Koushiro Playing Violin

Inspired by this.

#prompts #koushiro izumi #tentomon #digimon #izumikoushiroweek2024 #digimon adventure #digievents

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