#anyways yeah. totally international + you get to see early art + it supports me! yippee

[wuntrum]

october's spooooky postcard 🕯

[utilitycaster]

It’s so interesting how spot-on you were with the thoughts about toxic Beaujes folxs fleeing to D20. The same person who’s been starting shit on twitter just found out that CR doesn’t allow mass-produced zines, and used that fact to make some batshit generalization about how “that’s why the fandom is corporatized and violent and racist towards any canon-contradicting fanon like all my beaujester friends told me and now I’m parroting it uncritically”.

So I think this might be my last post on this unless some more wild shit goes down (very possible) not because I disagree but just because I am also trying to be conscious of overshadowing my genuine excitement for The Ravening War. But yeah...like, I followed a few people who were CR fanartists until Beauyasha started happening and unfollowed them once that went down; it was extremely exhausting watching a bunch of (mostly white) people in their early 20s suddenly claim a show they'd watched over 200 episodes of was hopelessly problematic simply because their ship didn't happen. It was a truly vile combination of normal shipping drama plus appropriated social justice language about said shipping drama plus, as others have noted, middle-class white queer people [a demographic I fit into myself] shoving aside narratives about POC or working class people because they aren't explicitly queer narratives (or even narratives about queer people that aren't to their exact specifications of what queerness looks like; see people who refuse to respect Molly's pronouns or who erase Vax's bisexuality because he was primarily romantically involved with a woman).

The zine thing is fucking wild in particular for the following reasons:

The two CR-centric zines that person has mentioned as not ultimately moving forward were both zines that intended to pay the artists, ie, at least partially for profit rather than charity zines.

I am not personally in a creative industry but I've been reliably told by basically everyone who is that CR's policy is boilerplate.

CR has a pretty extensive history of showcasing and hiring fanartists; this is not opposition to fan content, which is how this wack job is attempting to portray it.

Similarly no one is devaluing fan content; they're just saying "you are throwing a big old hissy fit in public about the hypothetical scenario of The Ravening War not honoring a ship that has, and I am not joking here, six fics on Ao3 in total." (For reference: Lapin/Theo, a ship that person actively dislikes, has 56 works, which, idk I feel that's almost ten times as widely accepted fanlore.)

Their twitter currently is bragging about their cookbook zine (which as far as I know wasn't based in fanon but was just a cookbook with fanart in it) and not about their currently active charity zine (which is the one about Belizabeth and Citrina). Also that charity zine is available for free which really undercuts the "for charity" aspect. Anyway a cool thing to do is to not buy it, but just donate directly to the International Rescue Committee or your refugee-supporting charity of choice.

Anyway. This was an opportunity to rant a lot but I will leave you with this: I am not the right person, obviously, to enumerate every possible issue with CR's portrayal of characters of color nor the lack of diversity of the cast. I think discussions of racism and lack of representation in actual play are important to have. But it's telling that fanartists, specifically, who left CR over Beau and Jester not getting together but pretended this was about social justice, always seem to go to D20. Or NADDPod. Or Friends at the Table. Or have their art featured in the TAZ graphic novels. All majority white or entirely white main casts.

They rarely seem to go to, say, Rivals of Waterdeep, or Into the Motherlands, or Three Black Halflings (and those are still some of the better known examples, frankly). People complaining that Critical Role hates lesbians for having a lesbian relationship they didn't like never seem to check out The Broadswords, or use resources like this to find women-led actual play. It's about getting clicks; they want to find an existing fandom to adore them rather than use the power they claim to wield to popularize something underrated.

Anyway that's the last reason why I think I'm done for now: I think the best and most satisfying thing is to starve them of attention, and to enjoy the Ravening War and art and fic about it from fans who are happy to be here.

[five-rivers]

Hobbies

Phic phight! @idiot-cheesehead-archenemy

A series of vignettes about Danny having various hobbies.

(Master the Orb)

Danny exhaled slowly as the ice built up between his hands.  Each new layer glittered in the ghostlight cast by the overhead ambient ectoplasm, embedding complex patterns in the overall piece as new layers built up over it.

“Very good, Great One,” rumbled Frostbite behind his shoulder.  “Your control has improved immensely.”

Danny inhaled equally slowly, examining his work so far but not adding to it quite yet.  “I don’t know.  It looks a little lopsided.”

“Mmm, it looks fine to me.  Especially for such an early attempt.”

Danny sighed, exhaling the ice he had built up with his breath.  “So, it is lopsided.”

“Consider it practice,” said Frostbite, encouragingly. “It takes time to master art of any kind.”

“Humans do ice sculpture, too,” mumbled Danny. “They get really good, too.  I’ve seen pictures.  And videos.  They don’t even have ice powers.”  He rubbed his thumb over the surface, smoothing over a slightly rougher patch.

“That may be true,” said Frostbite, “but, again, you just started, Great One.  You have only had your powers for a little while.  Give yourself some support.”

Danny shrugged.  “I guess it isn’t something my life depends on, so I can relax about it.” He built up another layer of ice. “This is oddly therapeutic, and I don’t say therapeutic lightly.  You know Jazz.”

“I do indeed,” said Frostbite, somewhat ruefully, head half-bowed.  

Jazz could be a force of nature, even more so than ice powers.

He held the ice orb up to the light.  It caught on the patterns he had placed there. Fractals were the easiest.  He was hoping that if he got better, he’d be able to make real sculptures with patterns in them, instead of just orbs.  

But, first, he had to master the orb.  Just like how when drawing you had to do circles first.  Circle. Orb.

Ooorb.  Yep.  

The controlled application of ice.  The evenness of the internal patterns.  The solidity, density, and durability.  

His orb was… not very orblike, despite what Frostbite said.  Frostbite probably thought he was making so flat on purpose.  

Yeah.  He was terrible at this.  

He was having fun, though.  

.

.

 (Furnace)

“You’re taking up glass blowing?” asked Tucker, surprised.

“Yeah?  Is there a problem?” asked Danny, reaching over to stop his friend from accidentally drawing a line of orange sharpie across his poster on the themes in Macbeth.

“No!” said Tucker, quickly.  “But, like, why?  It just seems… unlike you.”

“Exactly,” said Danny, nodding sharply.  “It has absolutely nothing to do with my powers and nothing to do with my family.  Plus, I had a coupon.”

“For glass blowing?”

“It was a groupon,” said Danny.  “For making Christmas tree ornaments.  I’m going to do it with Jazz.”

“But, Danny,” said Sam, looking over from where she was working on her own poster about Twelfth Night, “glass blowing, uh, involves a lot of heat.”

“Sure?”

“Danny, you have an ice core.”

“Ah,” said Danny.  “Well.   I’ve got to use that groupon.  If it doesn’t work out, it’s only the once, right?”

.

“Oh my gosh,” said Danny, wringing sweat out of his t-shirt.  “That was awesome!”  He giggled to himself and peaked into the annealer again.  “So awesome!”

“Uh huh,” said Jazz.  Her attempts had been… rather less successful than Danny’s, partially because she was trying so hard to make them perfect.  But she had managed a few little baubles, nonetheless.  “I think these’ll all be good for the tree. Assuming we get one.”

“And it isn’t set on fire.”

“Oh, yeah, that was a bad year.”

He squeaked open the annealer again, only closing it when the instructor lightly scolded him.  “They’re so terrible and lopsided,” said Danny.  

“Hey,” said Jazz.  “Mine are fine.”

“I know!  I was talking about mine.”

“Ah, okay then.  I agree.”

“You aren’t supposed to agree.”

“What, you want me to lie?  And after you said it first?”

“No,” said Danny.  “But you could be nicer about it.”

“I’m your sister, what do you expect?”

.

.

 (Lung Capacity)

Danny let the last note trail off to complete silence. He stared apprehensively at the assembled student body.  Curse Mr. Lancer’s extra credit talent show assignment.  Any minute now, they’d start laughing at him.  

What was he thinking?  He’d just watched a few YouTube tutorials on breath control, and he thought he could come up here and sing in front of people?  He was a moron, and—

Sam and Tucker started cheering wildly, followed rapidly by everyone else in the gym.  

Okay.  What?

Sam and Tucker, following impulses known only to overexcited teenagers, swarmed up the stage and attacking Danny.  

“Why didn’t you tell us you could sing like that?” demanded Sam.  

“When did you learn?” asked Tucker, doing his level best to noogie Danny.  “Why did you learn?”

“I wanted to improve my, you know, wail,” muttered Danny, “and all the breath control YouTube videos either had to do with diving or singing, so…”  He did a little head wiggle to illustrate his point and also dislodge Tucker.  

“I just can’t believe you kept this a secret from us,” said Sam.  

Danny snorted and took a sort of half bow before attempting to leave the stage.  “My dudes, I am basically made of secrets.”

“Encore!” screamed someone who clearly hated him.  

“Oh, no,” said Danny, bracing himself against Sam and Tucker who were pushing him back into the middle of the stage.  “No encore.  I don’t do encores.”

But now people were chanting.  Chanting.  

“Come on, Danny,” said Tucker.  “Just once!”

“Yeah, these are your fifteen minutes of fame!”

“I had those already!  Multiple times!”

“That was Poindexter.”

“And now it can be you.”

Danny reluctantly took the microphone back off the stand.

.

.

 (Letterhead)

The ink was thick, almost creamy, and paint-like. It was the ectoplasm mix, which also gave it a rich, rosy glow.  

Danny was practicing ghost calligraphy.  Well, one particular subset of ghost calligraphy, one which put special emphasis on the color of the letters as well as how they fit together.  

It was a totally useless hobby.  But it was… not exactly calming.  No.  He’d gotten way too angry about poorly formed arcs and crooked lines a couple of times.  So. Yeah.  Not calming.  But… meditative.  Meditative. And there was something satisfying about seeing the finished product.  

Plus, if he framed his better finished work, they made for good presents for weirdo ghosts.

“You misspelled this,” drawled Ghost Writer.  

“No, I didn’t.”

“Keuwii only has one kei.”

“This is only one kei.”

“What’s this, then?”

“It’s a flourish.”

“A flourish.”

Danny rolled his eyes.  “Everyone’s a critic.  If you don’t want it—”

“I didn’t say that.”

Danny raised an eyebrow.  

Ghost Writer made a show of rolling his eyes. “Very well.  Do you have one for my half-brother Randy.  Perhaps one that says something along the lines of ‘idiot?’”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

.

.

 (Babies on Fire)

“Danny,” said Jazz.  “What are you doing up at three in the morning with a lighter? And… yarn?  Is that yarn?”

“Dad wanted me to learn how to sew,” said Danny, “but I don’t like needles, not the sharp ones, anyway.”

“You get stitches every other week,” pointed out Jazz.

“Exactly,” said Danny, gesturing with the lighter.  “So, I decided to look into, you know, knitting. And I was on knitting websites, and having, you know, a pretty good time with that, but then I found out about the babies.”

“The babies.”

“The babies,” said Danny, seriously.  “And the blankets that are on fire.  It depends on the yarn, you see.  If the yarn is the wrong kind of yarn, if it catches on fire, the blanket can melt onto the baby.  It’s terrible.  Just terrible.”

“I kind of think that if the blanket is on fire you have bigger problems,” said Jazz.  She took a step closer to her obviously insane younger brother.  “Are you… testing the yarn?”

“I have to, Jazz.  It’s for the babies.”

“Alright,” said Jazz.  “You are going to limit it to just the yarn in our house, right?”

“But we don’t have any babies.”

“Okay, that didn’t answer my question, but, like…” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Since we don’t have any babies here, why are you testing the yarn?”

“Because we might have babies here in the future,” said Danny.  “Or I might knit something and give it to someone as a gift and then they give it to their baby.  Oh my gosh, I’d feel so guilty.”

“I’d be more worried about the toxic waste in our basement,” said Jazz, which was exactly the wrong thing to say to a sleep-deprived half-ghost on the edge of an Obsession-fueled breakdown.  Danny vanished in a blur, trailing yarn behind him. Jazz, who had only gotten up for a glass of water, cursed under her breath.

.

.

 (Before the Ball)

“I’m so, so sorry, Dora,” said Danny, holding back something adjacent to laughter.  

Dora laughed, more openly.  “It is fine, Sir Phantom.  Even now, you are better than my brother.”

“Am I really?  Your brother?  Who was raised to do this?”

“Well,” said Dora, letting go and stepping back out of the range of Danny’s feet.  Which were, evidently, both left feet.  “No, I’m afraid, but it is amusing to say, isn’t it?”  She pressed her fingers to her lips, suppressing more laughter.  

“Yeah, it is,” admitted Danny.  

“In any case, you are far more graceful concerning your mistakes than he ever was.  More gallant. A better representative of chivalry altogether.”  She patted the shoulders of his shirt.  

“Thanks,” said Danny.  “Do you think that I’ll be, uh, ready in time for the party?”

“It’s more than a party,” said Dora.  “You’re being officially knighted.  You’ll be a peer of the realm.”

“Aha,” said Danny.  “Yeah.  I don’t… what?  Really? That’s a thing?”

“You thought I was joking?”

“No,” said Danny, drawing out the word.  He had, in fact, thought she was joking and only accepted her offer to teach him how to dance because he thought it sounded like fun and like it might take his mind off his problems.  “Of course not.  So. Dancing.  Important.  For first impressions?”

“Everyone already knows you, Phantom,” said the knight assigned as Dora’s bodyguard.  “But dancing is surprisingly useful for swordplay.  Which you need all the help you can get at.”

“You said I was getting better.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re good.”

“Ouch.”

.

.

 (Time)

“I don’t have time for a hobby,” complained Danny through the Fenton Phones.  “Maybe if the ghosts let up a bit—” He zapped one of said ghosts.  

“Danny, are you fighting ghosts right now?”

“Yeah.  That’s my point.”

“Oh my god, get off the phone.”

“No way!  This is the only time I can call you, what with all of your classes.”

“Danny…” said Jazz, clearly exasperated.  He took advantage of the lull in the conversation to blast a few more ghosts.  

“I’m fine Jazz.”

“You are not fine.  You are, like, ten thousand miles away from fine.  When was the last time you even slept through the night?”

“Eh,” said Danny.  “Recently?”

“You need to take more time for yourself.”

Danny sighed and captured the last ghost.  “Maybe catching ghosts is my hobby.”

“Catching ghosts is your self-imposed penance for doing something that isn’t even your fault.  Not a hobby.”

“Okay, okay.  I’ll talk to you on Wednesday, same time.”

“Danny, don’t—”

He hung up.  

“Ugh,” said Danny.  “I guess I need to find a hobby.  Have to find time to find a hobby.”

“Perhaps I could be of help.”

“Ah!”  Danny jolted forward, dropping his phone.  

Clockwork gestured with one hand, and the phone dropped back into Danny’s hands from above.  

“Ohhh my ghost, why are you here?”

“You were just talking about finding time.  And now I’m here.”

“Good timing, I guess?”

“Only the best,” said Clockwork, evenly.  “But we were speaking of hobbies.  Might I suggest ice sculpture?  Your friends in the Far Frozen would be more than happy to teach you...”

[jessiewre]

Day 22

Sun 26th Jan 💜

It’s been a year to the day since we lost Nanny. That’s mad isn’t it. Miss that legend.

Woke up at about 5am because we’d gone to bed too early, but managed to power through and stay in bed till 7am. Phil got up and continued researching his new obsession - a half marathon near Kilimanjaro - and I joined him at 8:30am for Spanish omelette breakfast included in our 25$ a night room. Good deal that init. People say that in London you’re never further than like 5 meters away from a rat. Well thats like me and good deals, there’s always one close by for me to sniff out. Maybe I’m more like one of those pigs and the deals are truffles.

I digress...

The hostel manager was now wearing a chefs coat and I realised he was now the chef. What a multi-talented chap he was. I threw him into a frenzy by asking for salt, pepper, ketchup and chilli sauce, and eventually went into the kitchen myself to assist.

The ketchup was in a huge bucket bottle in the fridge and he gracefully glugged it out into a plastic squeezey bottle that he couldn’t find the lid for. Yum.

Shout out to Stella and Helen who will surely boke at that description of keptchup.

We got bodas to the Woman’s Centre for the recommended walking tour starting at 10am - but there was a big bike race on believe it or not, and so road blocks meant we had to walk the last kilometre. Phil was loving the bike race, I could see his legs twitching like he was imagining himself on a bike that moment, but I soon snapped him back to reality by power-walking ahead to avoid us being super late to the walk.

The sky was rapidly turning a dark shade of grey but Phil assured me that the weather report he’d checked stated that there would be no rain until midday or later.

You may be able to sense where this is going.

We arrived at the Centre and sat in the sofa area for the introduction, and the exact moment the woman began to talk and tell us about the community, the rain began to thunder on the metal roof and no one could hear a word she said. After 10 minutes, the intro finished and the rain actually calmed down a little, but then it went totally crazy again and me and Phil looked at each other like...hmm should we just not do this walking tour.

Another English girl there was thinking the same thing and the 3 of us decided to ditch the tour and head back the next day, while the 3 older people and a young American woman went off in the torrential rain with umbrellas. Umbrella’s are all good and well but I couldn’t see another soul on the streets so I seriously doubted how good a community walking tour would be in this weather. We chatted to the English girl, Esther, and she was ending a weeks work doing research for the Princes Trust who she works for. In a nutshell, she creates programmes for local groups in different countries to integrate technology into their lives to improve their prospects and quality of life. Really interesting! Phil mentioned that she should hang at our hostel later if she wanted as we were planning on trying out the bowling alley on site, and she was really up for that, especially considering she was in Kigali on her own and it was her last night.

The rain eventually calmed down enough for us to jump on a boda and we decided that considering the rain, it would be appropriate to visit the Genocide Museum at this point. We knew we were going to visit it at some point so made sense to be inside during the rain.

We were really hungry though and didn’t want to rush through the museum, so thankfully there was a cafe on site where we had a vege burger and vege panini, both with chips. We decided we’d try and lay off the chips for a while after that meal, it was the chip that broke the camels back.

The Rwandan Genocide museum was a harrowing and necessary visit.

The below information is upsetting, I’ll warn you now.

genocide

noun

noun: genocide; plural noun: genocides

1. the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group.

To briefly summarise, the problems began when the country was ‘colonised’ - or should we say if we’re being honest, when the country was invaded against its will. The Germans were first in 1899 then the Belgians in 1916 and then the Belgian’s decided to split the country into three different groups. Ultimately this created a sort of competition between the groups of people that had never existed before and this was what they say sparked the issues in the country. Fast forward to 1994, and the genocide officially began, over a period of 100 days - neighbours were murdering neighbours, friends were murdering friends. Relatives even betrayed each other. By turning people against each other, the ringleaders were able to sit back and watch the killings happen for them.

Being in the country now, its very difficult to imagine it happening, as it feels vibrant, friendly and safe. But the images in the museum leave you under no illusions. People were mindlessly slaughtered, no one was spared - children, pregnant women and men. It was absolutely mind-blowingly horrendous.

The museum talks a lot about how the international community sat back and let it happen, like Rwanda was on another planet that no one cared about. There is obviously a lot of pain from that which was difficult to read about.

But there were also a number of people who put themselves on the line by hiding people in their houses and gardens, saving many lives. Unfortunately, there were not enough of those people and over a million people were killed. They are still uncovering mass graves today.

There were videos playing with interviews from survivors talking about the guilt they feel from being the only member of their family who survived. But incredibly, they spoke about forgiveness and said they would like to forgive the perpetrators if they were willing to ask for forgiveness. They spoke about moving forward with only peace in mind, as this was what would move Rwanda forward in a peaceful way. By seeking revenge, the violence and pain would continue, they said. It’s unbelievable to hear that from someone who watched their innocent young siblings and mother murdered by machete in front of their very eyes. You can’t even imagine what this person has gone through.

One of the most difficult parts of the museum was The Children’s Room. This section had beautiful photos of child victims printed in large portraits displayed around the room, with a small plaque underneath each one with bullet points of information about the child, like:

Name

Age

Favourite Snack

Best Friend


Then the final point for every child was

Cause of death

The descriptions here were detailed and distressing.

Obviously there is a huge amount of detail missing from this account of the genocide and I urge you to have a read about it if you have time and are interested.

We left there after a few hours taking it all in and went to find the Inema Art gallery, as we’d read about it being a really cool artists space that has had a lot of international interest.

It was different to what I expected, as there wasn’t actually a lot of pieces in there - more like a few extremely large pieces, each priced around $5000. So obviously, we bought two and headed off.

Well anyway, some of the artists were there stood near their art in smart clothes and were hoping for a super rich muzungu coming in and buying everything. That was not going to be us, so we thanked them and headed to the cafe for a little coffee.

Not before I asked them if there were any female artists there.

One guy said No, the women in Rwanda seem to stick to the craft-making and THEN he said that even though many are good at art, he thinks they are lacking in passion.

I said Hmm perhaps you means Confidence, not passion.

He was like Oh yeah, maybe that.

Yeah MAYBE THAT mate.

We boda’d back to the hostel and Phil donned up in his gear for a run. Just before heading off, he finally booked himself a spot onto the Kilimanjaro half marathon in Moshi, Tanzania on 1st March. FFS. Better get practicing on my excited supportive girlfriend look then.

Meanwhile I sat in the hostel garden watching videos on how to use Procreate on the iPad. Suddenly realised Phil had been gone AGES and then he rocked up having run like 10 MILES and then said Oh also, I may have tripped over and potentially broken my toe.

He’d taken out his phone to check the map and ended up kicking a bit of metal sticking out of the group, and then he’d fallen over and made a few new cracks on his phone screen (to join the 5 that were already there).

Wicked.

Phil had a quick shower and change while hobbling around on his bad foot (I hear broken toes are brilliant for half marathons), and Esther arrived at the hostel, so we went searching for a restaurant open on a Sunday. After a few fails, we eventually stumbled across a place called Afrika Bite and negotiated the 10k per person meaty Rwandan platter down to 5k each for a vegetarian version for all of us. It was so good! Garlic potatoes, peanut sauce, rice, vegetables, fried banana, salad, plus some ‘fish fingers’ ordered as an extra. Such a welcome relief to eat something local and delicious. Shout out to those who are reading this blog mainly for the food descriptions.

We went back to the hostel to play in East Africa’s 2nd bowling alley (the only other one is in Nairobi!) and Esther made sure she mentioned she had a ‘bad neck’. That would explain her unbelievably bad scoring thats for sure. Ok now to be fair, Phil the physio also advised that she use the heaviest ball available which turned out to be truly awful advise and after a stagnant run of about 2 points in 6 goes, she tried a really light ball - and actually hit some pins! Go Esther.

Can I also mention that this bowling alley had a system where a bloke hidden at the end would organise the pins and reset them for us manually using a kind of lever system. He always managed to move his hands out of the way before the ball struck the pins of course.

Esther headed back to her hotel and we ended up playing basketball on the two hoops game with Desire the manager. Our quick game of ‘How many can you score in 1 minute’ managed to take over our lives for over an hour. My record was 23, Phil’s 24 (he’s taller init) and Desire managed 33 (well, he works there so ya know). Was addictive and super fun and I got the impression Desire will spend the next year working on his pb.

[chococustard]

((I’m really sorry if I’m becoming too annoying with asks and all that!!! U don’t have to respond!!)) Kind of random, but out of curiosity, do you have any A/B/O AU family headcanons?? I honestly would LOVE to know more about all of them!! Thank you sm!!

!!! NOT AT ALL I ACTUALLY GET SUPER HAPPY WITH YOU LIKING THEM SO HUSH YOU’RE NEVER A BOTHER ASK WHATEVER YOU WANT

legit i have a shit ton of notes in my notebook with my horrible hand writing and basically nonsense notes and while writing the edited ver a) like the dingus i am i accidentally clicked a thing and lost all the answers b) the internet dies haaah

SO YEAH THERE’S A SHIT TON UNDER THE CUT

MIDORIYAs

mido worries about his mom getting overwhelmed by paparazzi so as a pro hero he doesn’t really give off his name to the public and the name midoriya kinda just fades over time

i’m guessing heroes give birth in secluded hospitals who won’t give off their info yeah? but mido’s location got leaked somehow and yu got kidnapped by villains which then todo fucks shit up and got her back so since then they’ve been kinda worried about safety and shit

inko stands in as guardian for school related stuff most often since todo and deku are mostly busy

idk why i kinda hc todo’s mom as an ice dancer or something (look at how that boy works with ice that does not come from endeavor) she used to take the kids to the ice rink and teaches them to skate. todo still holds that place as a safe space and goes to the one a few train stations away from campus after he gets his shit together. he took deku there for their date and ends up also taking the girls there too.

rei gets out at some point, as she gets used to being in society again she stays with inko (and all might//SHOT) at deku’s old room when he got a place with todo. she gets along with them and also mitsuki. they have tea together and share embarrassing stories about their kids it’s great

yu and tsumu plays mostly at tsumu’s house which was closer to the school, they hit it off super well and they even talk about each other to their families, todo and deku are super relieved to know their girl has another friend. yu actually met mirio and tamaki already but are not aware they know her parents

so tsumu one day just “hey you wanna come over for dinner we’re having bbq you should bring your family over!” and they do come over cause why not i guess and then the 2 families meet and damn

their balcony is filled with potted plants courtesy of inko. there’s also a small bottle with a single morning glory flower, wrapped in a blue ribbon and a duck cutout stuck into the dirt

no one uses watashi in the house, yu uses boku, chi uses ore, yu calls them oka-sama and otou-sama and generally uses more formal speech while chi uses the more common -san honorific, not sure if this is relevant of anything but yeah. also todo calls deku bunny from when they started courting (2nd year)

they have a thing with nicknames. obviously deku uses -chan, but also

BAKUGOUs

baku and kiri works as partners tho sometimes kiri helps out with the fatgum office, they have an office at home and basically a small gym

meat. so much meat. there’s always meat in the fridge

baku and kyou both eat with so much fucking spice and chilli kiri’s basically kinda used to it to a point. but if they have the girls over (like when deku’s in heat//SHOT) they have to have extra of the low impact portion. one time chi took the spicy portion by accident, apparently she’s immune

they’re an outdoor family basically. whenver they can they go mountain climbing when kyou is old enough. baku’s chili peppers kept getting stolen by animals, he tries every time to blow them up

baku and kiri dated and courted first, but deku and todo mated first cause of a quirk related accident. but then they got engaged and married first because baku is fucking petty.

baku’s parents fucking love kiri he’s a good boy he’s glad baku somehow ended up with someone so great. baku however have to holds himself back to be a good boy™ to kiri’s more traditional family. he managed somehow

when baku’s parents meet kiri’s they’re shocked to find how they find baku as a charming and wonderful young alpha and they’re glad their eijiro found someone who accepted him. SO MITSUKI OUT OF SPITE INVITES THEM A LOT AND BAKU HAS TO ENDURE SO MUCH SHIT

BAD NEWS FOR HIM CAUSE THEY GET ALONG

“MRS KIRISHIMA WOULD YOU LIKE TOO SEE KATSUKI’S BABY PICTURES?” BAKU, INTERNALLY DETONATES

baku ended up basically deaf so he has to learn sign language, kiri the ever supportive bf learns too, as well as their families, and they also thought it to kyou

friday nights are mario kart nights, no holds bar

the rest of the baku squad (and camie) often visits but since they converted the extra room to baku’s office and their couch isn’t all that big they have to sleep at mido’s place, or borrow their extra futon

kiri, when asked if he wants another kid, “holy shit no it was so hard to get my body back into shape ok and also how the heck do you even hold yourself as a hero not to save people IZUKU SOMEHOW DID IT MORE THAN ONCE IM STILL SHOCKED”

when kyou got his quirk he accidentally burned his bed, then screamed to dad and pop hOLY SHIT I GOT MY QUIRK

he was so proud of it at first and shows it off at schooltho when it's found out that he has little control with it, as lava often seeps through his skin and out of his mouth at random times, almost hurting the other kids, the at first popular kyou was feared by his peers, until yu got her quirk late in the year and was able to put out his lava whenever

"you're not scared of me? even before you got your quirk?" "why would i it's not like you did it on purpose" also like she's used to baku. that goes along for years until kyou presented. yu comes over after school with meds and stuff, but kyou, out of his mind and his body out of his control, attacked her, trapping her in a cascade of hot burning lava. she managed to escape with some mild burn and they kinda got awkward for a while. they're cool eventually

however when yu presented the fear of that happening again got way fucking worse

YAOYOROZUs

momo and kyouka wants to be independant yeah, so they got their own apartment (more of a penthouse if anything) with their own money

a note, dams are gender neutral pronouns for moms, sires for dads

itsu calls momo dad, kyouka mom

since he’s mute since birth, in addittion to sign language, as his interest with music grows they make a system for basic stuff he can make with notes and sequenses as answers where he’s unable to use signs

momo however also makes a list of codes for specific teas

he carries around at least a whistle or kazoo, mostly he uses a harmonica

momo’s parents worries at first about enrolling him into a normal school but momo and kyouka themselves are convident their kid can get along with the other kids

they right, even without his connection as their kid

is he a goth? not really, he just really likes the color black

he also like birds, he has a bunch of photos and encyclopedias of birds in his room

kyouka often holds charity concerts, momo and itsu always comes to support her

IIDAs

it surprised everyone when iida, the rule abiding iida, had ochako pregnant before they got married, so with the power of the iida family they got engaged and married so fucking quick

tho really it was an accident, ocha misscounted her birthcontrol pills during her heat and they’re already courting anyway and their familes are already aware of each other and get along well so whatever

HE WAS ALSO LATE FOR HIS BIRTH BECAUSE HE HAD TO FUCKING OBEY THE GODDAMN TRAFFIC LAW

also i need someone to get me like, you see iida and ura, they cute right, pure and soft. but holy shit when ocha’s in heat she takes no shit and is basically a goddamn dominatrix

they, deku and todo shares a hero agency, so basically when tenma was born they made a baby space for him in their shared office with toys and shit and the sidekicks can play with him, they’re putty in his chubby hands. same thing happened with the tododeku kids. the sidekicks are all okay with this

there’s not many support and rescue heroes, so ocha often gets called in as an instructor at ua, she brings tenma for lessons for her students to safe

tenma likes to hang around the future heroes, he likes to play hero

“senpai senpai do you need help!” “ooh ye see i think i accidentally blew my shoe way up that tree can you get it for me?” “YES!!”

he takes martial arts lessons as early as from 3 years old, as a teenager he’s able to fight midair

TOGATAs

so like not sure yet, tamaki’s either an omega or beta so tsumu is either theirs biologically or adopted so

either way if she’s their biological kid, during his heat tamaki used his quirk when doing the dirty so the genes stick and mutates and shit

aNYWAY

tamaki doesn’t really like making appearances on tv and in public, he even rarely sign for merch deals, tsumugi often finds knock off merch of him and she likes to get it as a kind of joke cause the design was actually kinda funny, mainly this actually

she also likes to find show cameos of him, that too was hilarious

she loves hanging out with aunt nejire they often go shopping, she’s the one who bought her the knock off suneater shirt

“lol you wanna know why your dad’s hero name is suneater?” “what?=D” “tha-” tamaki: NEJIRE I SWEAR TO GOD

also like mirio totally acts like the protective big bro to eri when someone likes her

she likes buff/big bodies, mostly to sleep on, she sleeps on mirio and mr fatgum

she has a bunch of miruko merch cause she’s a rabbit and has strong ass legs and she may or may not have a gay awakening cause of that

here is, in fact, said bootleg shirt

she likes the giant gaping mount

SHINSOUs

SHINSOU’S AN UNDERGROUND HERO FIGHT ME

he teaches the hero course and LIKE HIS DAMN DAD IS A LITTLE SHIT TO HIS CLASS

so he’s the one who changed the entrance exam to make it more fair for kids with quirks that are not flashy his, so the robots are then deligated to the recomendation exam kids while the regular ones gets a basically game of hide and seek with his hero buddies and the older students

i actually have this for his hero costume back from goddamn january i dont even know

i, i have nothing for fuyusei they met at the hospital and they hit it off and that’s….. it

i have even lESS SHIT FOR OJITOORU

ALSO LIKE I FUCKING LOVE THE IDEA THAT ALL MIGHT RUNS A VILLAIN REHAB FACILITY OR SOMETHING WITH ALL HIS MONEY, YOU KNOW, FROM BEATING VILLAINS TO SAVING VILLAINS, AND LIKE INKO HELPS WITH TALKING TO THEM IM WEAK

[tumblunni]

Man today was A Chore. I got some good stuff done in the end but the middle of it felt awful and im just relieved it ended on a better note i guess? I had to spend like three hours sitting waiting for a package listening to some horrid old ladies talk about how child abuse is great and all the flaws of modern life stem from the fact we dont smack kids anymore. And like..fuckin.. "Ha ha remember how we used to fail all our classes and lie and hide our grades because we were scared of our parents and do anything to try and make the beatings hurt less BUT NOW IM AN ADULT I KNOW MY PARENTS WERE TOTALLY RIGHT YES" And friggin discussing all these beatings and LAUGHIng?? Laughing about being beaten and about going on to beat their own kids like ha ha this is so fuckin normal and just the logical conclusion of everything?? Like these were GOOD MEMORIES?? Fuck man i was like that gif of the dude with the giant vein in his head it was SO HARD to just sit there and try not to hear what they were saying. I actually ended up buying like 20 scratchcards just cos i was running on autopilot and trying anything to distract myself. (Only wasted 10 pound tho cos i won a few quid along the way and lost it again lol)

And gahhhhh after all that waiting i just get told my package didnt arrive today and i just have to come back tomorrow! So i went home super depressed and had to try and talk myself out of it and yeah. AND THEN i get a phonecall from the post office literally right then, saying 'yo whoops the parcel arrived a lil late, come get it before we close'. It was kinda funny, like me conquering myanxiety self hateness actually summoned a good luck better resolution to the story?? And i rushed down there and managed to get the parcel and all the post office people were REALLY NICE,like they'd gone kinda mom friend on me from seeing me come in and out asking for this parcel for the whole entire day. I dont know either of their names but thank you nice red hair lady in charge of the parcels and scratchcard corner grandma who chatted with me! If i see them again another day i have to go into the post office, i'll be sure to say thanks!

So yeah anyway i FINALLY have everything sorted now to do my Lets Play of the new pokemon game! I probably wont be able to start it til saturday evening or sunday morning though? Cos tomorrow i have the Big Stress of meeting again with my estranged sister and hoping i can maybe repair our bond. I dunno how long we're gonna hang out or even what we're gonna do or if its gonna go well, aaaa!! And then on saturday i need to wake up super early and catch a million buses to get to a cool art class place. Maan its been a busy week lol!

Oh!! And the stuff of actual success today!! Cos yeah some stuff did go well before the big post office trashness, and i need to focus on that instead of the awkward middle. Big good thing the number 1! I met with my support worker and had a really nice meeting in the new cafe in the local library. She was just super nice and gave me a great motivational talk about how i was handling this whole sister thing really well and she was proud of me. She said she got my voicemail i left for her during the whole thing and she was really sorry she was late replying to it and she was really worried how it all went. I totally forgot i even sent her that voicemail during all the mess! So i just got caught up in the panic and forgot to call her back, aaa!! Im glad she knows im okay now! And we had a nice hot chocolate and she said she's also proud of the progress i've made in going out and being social more often, pointing out how when she first met me i was too nervous to go to this cafe and now we're havong a nice day here. And i was like "but thats not a very big accomplishment" and she was like "ITS BIG ENOUGH, BUNNI!!!" Dammnit what did i do to deserve these kind people? *sniff*

Oh, and then she also helped me learn how to post an international package and IT IS FINALLY DONE!! Summon-daze, keep an eye out for parcel number 1, containing 25% of all the books i have for you!! They said it should reach you between 5 to 14 days. Sorry its so long, it seems the christmas rush starts a whole damn month early! *sigh* And i feel proud of myself for pulling it off, it was so stressy and embarassing aaaa. Just the soul pain of asking so many questions of the post office lady and holding up the line and having to go back and forth and be like 'is the parcel ok now? No?' *awkwardly crabwalks back again* But now i know! And i can definateky handle it all better next time! And aaaaa i just really hope it all goes well and i hope she likes the books and i hope i can afford to send the rest soon!

And then also i was brave enough to go to the other cafe too! I had to kill a lot of time so i had a second hot chocolate at the other place lol. That one is more busy and standard restauranty instead of a small library place, so its a little more imposing. And i actually had a small sandwich too! Somehow eating things in public is one degree more scary than drinking a drink? Dont ask me to explain my anxiety lol, even i dont know! XD it was weird eating a sandwich with a knife and fork tho?? Like the lady just gave me a knife and fork and i felt too polite to say 'umm actually i ordered a sandwich so here have them back'. It was a toasted cheese so the bread was all warm and chewy and really hard to cut! Really really nice though, it helped heal my soul from all the stress. Oh and i tried an american root beer for the first time! Its so cool and weird! Like a slightly bitter/salty sweetness combo? And how it foams up like beer even though its a soda??? Thats so WEIRD AND NEATO!!! Oh and umm maybe i should give myself some points for making conversation with the post office people too? I was so awkward and anxietyish so i feel proud that i managed to articulate myself well enough to actually ask for my parcel, and then they were just so nice and tried to chat with me and i...vaguely managed to chat back, lol.

Oh oh oh! And also i bought a shoes! I shall officially dub them The Murder Shoes~! It was a really good deal in a clearance thing at the supermarket, for shoes that actually looked pretty awesome! These big neat boots covered in WAY TOO MANY metal studs and belts and awesomeness! Theyre like goth cowboy aesthetic?? I love them, i dont have too many professional shoes and these are that but also funky cool!

So yeah several good things happened but the bad bit in the middle was just so long and frustrating that it left me in a big downer mood where it was easy to forget the good stuff. Writing it out like this kinda helps! And also to remember i have stuff to look forward to for the rest of the week! And, well, more challenges to face, but i feel more optimistic now!

[andy-clutterbuck]

WSC Atlanta 2017

I just tried to eat pineapple with a knife so I’m not sure how coherent this will be. I don’t think the majority of it has sunk in yet and it’s like I’m in some sort of con AU version of my life but I wanted to get it out while it’s all fresh.

I have to say first and foremost that no matter how I feel about TWD(and how this con is run) TWD cast is full of gems. I don’t have any heart eyes to spare but maybe Andy can lend them out every other weekend or something. Yeah I know they get paid to do this but some of that sincerity and warmth just can’t be faked, actor or not. Secondly, the lighting in my hotel room is god awful. Thirdly, this weekend wouldn’t have been what it was without my TiTTD fam. 

Friday:

I met Ross that evening when I went to check out the layout. He immediately stepped around the table to hug me before he even said anything. ❤️  He was so sweet. He’s very genuine and super easy to talk to. Plus he asked to hold my Pikachu phone case.

Saturday:

The first full day. I met Khary first and what really struck me is that he stands in front of his table like he just gets right out there to talk to you and again he immediately came in for a hug. The warmth just radiates off that dude. He is so full of life. He gave my Pikachu phone case more love.

I went to meet Norman because I promised @peggy-steve that I would get his autograph for her. Again, came right at me over the table for a hug. He was incredibly sincere and very soft spoken despite the utter insanity that constantly surrounds his booth.

I met Lennie next! He immediately wants to know about you and engages you in conversation. I think it would pretty impossible to be nervous around him because he just puts you at ease and he’s so lovely. So lovely.

I met @oldmangrimes // @mdgart !!!!!!!! 🙌🏻  I walked up to her booth and said something to the effect of “If I told you the trash was here would you know who you’re talking to?” She surprised me with this big, gorgeous, glittery print of the Andy art she did for me for my birthday last year. I came back on Sunday before I left to get a print of this because how could I not? It has two of my most favorite things: a curl curving around his ear and CHEST HAIR. FYI she’s just as lovely in person as she is on tumblr. 💖 💝

The last thing I did on Saturday was pop by to see Jon Bernthal for @bernthalus-christ so I could get him to hold up a birthday sign for her. Success! Her post is here 💙

*I was planning on meeting Danai and Lauren but the scheduling didn’t work 😒

Sunday:

Did you scroll past everything else to get here? I don’t blame you. Holy early day, Batman. The panel was great I think everyone knows that. We were sitting in the 5th row! The first thing I did when Andy came out on stage after saying “That’s a good shirt.” was notice that my hands were shaking. My eyes were also sporadically welling up with tears which was aggravating. I love that Andy is 44 years old and still listens to his mom and dad about not swearing. 😂

@ricky-grimes took some A+ Andy photos that I will be editing once she uploads them 😻  😛

Andy op time. Mess™ Like a legit mess. And when the dude who runs the whole damn con comes strolling in like a douche and doesn’t tell a fuck ton of exasperated people what’s even going on.....ANYWAY ops are super fast so luckily you don’t really have time to freak out you just have to move. So I just opened my arms to him and he opened his and went “Yeaaaahhhh!!” Now let be trash for second but his body is hard. I didn’t expect him to be squishy but the dude is solid. Also the Santa beard is soft, it touched the side of my face and I didn’t even feel any roughness at all. He’s so beautifully proportioned...sorry moving on. We both said thank you and off I went. Here I am internally screaming legit 😂 : My digital download is MIA so terrible lighting and the reflection of my hand is all I can do right now. We’re not gonna talk about that 4th Freddy Cougar that happened just before I got in there ok....Andy legit wore 87 hats though.

@packt and I finally met up before Andy’s autograph! She had these gorgeous coins created for the cast and was I’m super honored that she wanted to give me because they’re amazing and I’m going to treasure it forever. 💜 💙 ❤️ I’m truly amazed by the wonderful people I’ve met through running this blog.

Andy’s autograph. I got in line and when @mamagrimes6 found me she was going to just go back so she wasn’t cutting in line but I wasn’t having that 😂  I very vocally stated that no I needed her and @ricky-grimes with me I wasn’t doing this alone. I was going to fight someone if they gave us shit but they both got in line with me without an issue. 🙊  We were at the very front of the gold line so the panic set in pretty damn fast. I couldn’t even look at him for the short amount of time that we could before we got up there. It legitimately felt like staring at the sun, that’s the only way I can put it, like it stings so you flinch away. Or a really handsome version of Medusa. I imagine that’s not a totally uncommon thing but when you spend as much time as I do staring at his face in photoshop it’s pretty amusing. I actually texted my friend and told her it was like I was just seeing him for the first time, I was legit shook. 😖  I could feel my heart beating in my chest and I got really short of breath, I wasn’t even sure that I was going to be able to say anything without sounded winded or something. I gave him my silver fox hat to sign and I managed to choke out some version of thanking him for all the goodness he puts out into the world because it’s really helped me, I don’t really remember exactly what I said, and he said “Oh wow.” and that he’s just trying to spread a love bomb to the world 😂  which is such and Andy thing to say and it’s so true. He put his hand up for a highfive so I gave him one and he held onto my hand for a moment. Said our thank yous again and I proceeded so quickly out of the curtain the volunteer chuckled at me. 

If you were at WSC you may have several silver foxes around because it was a thing we did.

I finished my day/con experience with the Kingdom panel and it was a great choice. Cooper, Lennie, and Khary were just wonderful and hilarious, it couldn’t have ended on a more upbeat note.

It’s sporadically sinking in. I think I’ve teared up two or three times tonight. It may sound silly but I just want to thank everyone for their support. Just to have so many people understand the way I feel and be happy and supportive has been so amazing. Also I cannot stress enough how utterly gorgeous Andy is ok? Like no picture, no video, nothing truly matches the real thing in the flesh. That’s my bean and I can’t believe i actually met him 😖

[kohakuneko]

The Best Anime You’re Not Watching: Princess Principal

If you follow me over on my main blog, you’ve probably seen me gushing/screaming/crying about this show for the past month or so (you’re probably tired of it by now and I’m not sorry). I knew from the premise that I was going to like this anime at least a little bit, but I really wasn’t expecting the huge emotional reaction I ended up having towards it and from what I can tell a lot of other people who watched this show feel the same way. Anyways, I love this show to death and more people need to watch it, which is exactly what the point of this blog is. And I really want to post more often here, so this seems like the perfect opportunity to talk about Princess Principal. (also I have a lot of thoughts about this show and absolutely nobody to talk about it with because none of my friends have seen it yet WHICH IS REALLY FRUSTRATING DAMMIT)

Princess Principal is set in Albion, an alternate steampunk version of late-19th/early-20th century England. Ten years following a civil war known as the “London Revolution”, a great wall separates the country into two opposing nations: the Commonwealth and the Kingdom. Though officially at peace, conflict is still high between both factions as each side sends spies to duke it out in the shadows. Our story follows a team of five undercover Commonwealth agents: Ange, a pathological liar and self-proclaimed alien, Dorothy, the team’s leader, getaway driver, and token sex appeal, Beatrice, a sweet sweet cinnamon roll with the ability to mimic people’s voices, Chise, a skilled samurai experiencing massive amounts of culture shock, and Princess Charlotte, a member of the Kingdom’s royal family who is totally Ange’s girlfriend. Every night for these spies is girl’s night out as they crash parties, take names, and navigate the mysterious underworld of espionage.

First thing we have to get on the same page about is the opening. Because it’s absolutely EPIC.

(i thought tumblr let you embed videos but i guess not? or maybe i screwed up? anyways there’s a link up there go watch it)

Moving on, let’s start praising Princess Principal (holy wow ALLITERATION) by talking about the setting. This show has literally everything I could ever want to see: steampunk, action, spies, and a kickass all-female lead cast… and lesbians, but more on that later. Probably my favorite things about the universe of Princess Principal are all the little gadgets the characters use, most notably Ange’s C-Ball that lets her float.

There’s also other things like the huge machinery we see in an underground scene, the cars that the team drives, the Kingdom’s airships… whatever the heck Beatrice made in episode 8…

(seriously we never get any kind of explanation for this thing and it never comes back again but this one little part is so frickin funny)

There’s also concept art/blueprints somewhere of some of the different vehicles and mechanical devices seen in the show. I can’t find them now (I wanna say they’re on twitter?), but I remember they were pretty detailed and it’s clear a lot of thought was put into the inner workings of everything no matter how big or small. And yes, there’s blueprints for Beatrice’s thingamajig too. 

On the subject of detail and thought, a lot of that definitely went into the writing as well. There are a lot of mysteries and plot twists to unravel throughout the series that are very well executed. Most of it is based around sprinkling in little hints throughout an episode that come together within the final minutes and though they’re not completely obvious at first, they’re always right there in front of you in plain sight; you just have to pay close attention. Being able to pick up on all these things kind of makes you feel like a spy yourself, in a way.

The music for Princess Principal was done by Yuki Kajiura, which automatically gives pretty much every anime fan very high expectations going in. I think Kajiura really delivers in this series; in fact, this might be one of my favorite soundtracks of hers to date. There’s a lot of her signature style that we all know and love, complete with the epic vocals in the background, but in this OST she also adds a lot of jazzy pieces into the mix as well. It kinda gives it a bit of a “James Bond” type of feel, perfect for spies running around in jolly old England Albion, especially when the saxophone kicks in. Even the opening, while not composed by her, still gives off the same sort of vibe with the bass around the middle of the track along with, of course, some awesome sax. (oh boy don’t read that bit out loud haha if you know what I mean)

And now, finally, we get to the bit I’ve been most itching to talk about. The thing that is, in my opinion, the biggest strength of Princess Principal: its characters.

At first glance, we have a very typical action team setup. You’ve got the leader (Dorothy), the cool prodigious main character (Ange), the muscle (Chise), the sweet smart one (Princess), and of course, the lil’ cute one who supplies the moe (Beatrice). But as you watch the show, you find out very quickly that all five of them are developed much much further than those basic concepts and that none of them are what they seem to be on the surface, which is pretty fitting since they’re all spies. (yeah, I know I called Dorothy the “token sex appeal” earlier, but that was just for comedic purposes; don’t get mad at me plz XD) And as you just saw in the above image, they’ve all got really cool designs, too. (where can i get me Ange’s hat and cape i really want them)

Of course, this is a show about a team of spies, so it wouldn’t matter how cool they all were individually if they didn’t work together well as a cast. And they do.  Ange, as the main character, is not surprisingly exceptionally skilled all around and in any other show she’d probably just be soloing every mission. But as good as she is, she isn’t at all invincible or OP; she needs the specialized abilities that all her teammates possess. Each of them has a very important role to play and none of them are at any point just dead weight. The other four team members don’t just exist to support Ange either; all five of them support each other as a single unit. 

They also play off one another very well outside of missions and their team dynamic has clear development over the course of the show. And that development is not derived from the overdone “You’re getting a partner” “But I don’t want a partner” “Actually come to think of it you’re not so bad partner” schtick you see in all the buddy cop movies; they don’t do that at all THANK GOD. Instead, it’s a bit more on the internal and subtle side. At the start, while everyone clearly works together well and missions go very smoothly for the most part, you still get the sense that they have a very thin layer of trust towards one another and they may not all be on the same side, which, again, is very befitting of spies. Sure they’re teammates and they all work for the same people, but individually they each have their own goals and motivations, some more obvious than others. Because of that, they each occasionally withhold information from each other and sometimes even the audience (again, some more than others). But as time goes on and they figure out more about each other, they start to bond and form a genuine friendship. They begin to channel their individual goals into their work as a team and either open up about or put to rest whatever secrets they’re keeping. And again, all of this is very subtle, which is as it should be; we don’t need all this stated, we can clearly see their chemistry.

And SPEAKING of clearly seeing chemistry…. Ange and Princess are gay. Like, REALLY FUCKIN GAY. Like, I have no idea how they’re so good at stealth missions cuz they’re setting off ALL the gaydar alarms with how gay they are.

If you’ve been on either of my blogs for a while, you probably know that the only anime I watch have lesbians or at the very least a ton of yuri subtext. (okay that’s a lie I watch other things too… kind of…) So yeah, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that most of the reason I kept watching this show was because I ship these two XD. But in all seriousness, they are perfect together; their relationship is very well-developed both casually and romantically and easily one of the show’s highlights.

And what makes this pairing even better is that IT’S BASICALLY CONFIRMED TO BE CANON IN EVERY DAMN CAPACITY. I won’t spoil the show here of course, but they make it pretty clear that the two of them are in love. Also, if you’ve watched some of the livestream events with the main voice actors because you’re running away from responsibilities and don’t want to sleep (help me), then you’ll see that they all pretty much ship them too (especially Ange’s and Princess’s VAs). They’re all such cute lovable dorks and it’s clear they care about the show as much as the rest of us do, which is always great.

And lastly, good god, have you SEEN the promo art???

yep. das pretty gay.

So what have we learned today from this long-ass post? Princess Principal is a marvelous anime with an intriguing setting, awesome music, brilliant characters, and adorable lesbian spies. What more could you possibly need in a show? Please go give this anime the love it deserves; you won’t regret it.

[rhainontheshelves]

Musical Theatre!Rocky

A/N: Please forgive me please!! You have a long-ass bullet scenario ahead of you if you choose to proceed because yo girl doesn't know how to condense rip This is dedicated to an awesome friend, @sanhatation! The feelings might be long past but I promised to write this for you. A short part 2 will be coming to describe the life under the stage lights. Happy Reading! - Rhin

Rocky originally wanted to go to school for dance

Why wouldn't he? He knows he's stellar

But, he also wanted to sing

Unfortunately, it wouldn't be possible for him to get a minor in vocal

Dance takes a lot of effort and practice hours

So he worried and thought about it a lot over his senior year of high school

One day, Sanha approached him with a poster

It was advertising auditions for the school spring play

Immediately, Rocky was interested; acting had always piqued his curiosity but he had never gotten a chance to try it

He accepted the offer

Cue many practice meets with Sanha (who was auditioning as well) to memorize the monologue required

He memorized it quickly, just like any step or note

Pretty soon he made it his own, reciting with sincerity and little hand motions

At one point Sanha wondered if it was even worth it to audition anymore because Rocky was killing it

Come audition day

The director and the people helping him judge were very impressed with this young man they only saw passing the theater to go to the practice rooms

By the end Rocky was virtually guaranteed a spot in the production

He walked out of there the proudest boy alive but also as the most internally dying and relieved it was over with

Because he will never admit it but the audition really stressed him out and he worried over miniscule details

About three days later the director approached Rocky

He wanted to talk about the role he was thinking of assigning to the boy

It was an important part, however it wasn't the lead

"It's your first time." Was the director's reason

This disappointed Rocky a bit but the director had come with a plan in mind

Rocky would also be assigned as the understudy for the lead

The director had some suspicions about the boy casted as the lead's loyalty to the show, so if he did leave Rocky would get the role he really deserved

This pleased both parties and the next day the cast list was posted

A month later, practices were in full swing after school

Rocky was well on his way to getting his part down word-perfect and memorizing the lead's lines

He liked the cast and had made some new friends

The vibe in this group was carefree and fun while still hard-working

That's Rocky in a nutshell so he fit in quite nicely

The only thing that he didn't like was the inactivity

There were plenty of stage directions, sure

places he needed to be and actions that needed to be carried out

but where was the variety?

he thought back to when he was a tot and his grandparents took him to a show

There was dancing and excitement and singing and emotion throughout the whole thing

he wondered what had changed since then

turns out nothing had

he was just in the wrong year

"We switch between musicals and plays every other year," giggled Doyeon, the girl who was casted as the female lead

"You just came a year too late. I'm sure you'll have a chance to do one sometime in the future."

Rocky sure hoped so

First show night couldn't have come fast enough

There were still parts that needed more work, which is normal in any production

But the director felt that this was the most prepared that any of his recent shows had been

certainly not because of how hard some had wanted work to catch up and surpass Rocky

The show went amazingly well but there are always the oopses

aka a couple of props falling apart in the user's hands

Improvisation is a wonderful thing

It seemed like bows came too soon

Rocky stood up at the front of the stage with the rest of the cast, smiling and waving a bit after their final bow

His heart was soaring

The only thing that compared was when he finished performing one of his own choreographed dances and he got a standing ovation

That's when he realized that this was what he wanted to with his life

Fast forward to the last part of 2nd quarter, freshman year of college

He had just finished his homework for a history class and headed down to the theater department to grab audition material for the spring musical

Gotta start early

He gets outside the professor's office and sees someone else is in there

So he hangs around and waits, because he can be patient

He ends up dancing for like ten minutes, waiting, because this meeting is taking a really long time??

The door finally opens and a really happy girl exits

Rocky swears that the hallway gets a bit brighter

She turns around to thank the professor one last time but sees Rocky and almost has a heart attack

She totally didn't notice him there

Now flustered, she rushes away without giving Rocky a chance to see if she was okay

Slightly confused, Rocky just watches her go

The professor is in the exact same boat Rocky is

So they let it go and have a small talk about what the auditions require

For the rest of the quarter Rocky sees the girl in a lot of his classes and comes to the conclusion that she has the same major he does

However, before he gets the chance to approach her Christmas Break rolls around and he's off on the road back home

3 weeks, one memorized song and dance routine later, 2nd semester starts

Musical auditions are at the end of the first week back

and that first week couldn't have seemed slower

Lectures stretched on forever and homework seemed to take twice as long as it usually did

Finally, the last class on Friday was dismissed and Rocky was out of there like lightning

his class ended about halfway through the audition hours r.i.p

He ran as fast as his dancer legs would carry him over to the auditorium

Luckily the line is semi-long so he has time to catch his breath

The line shortens to about half the length it was when another person sprints in

The thudding of tennis shoes makes Rocky look up from the sample script

lo and behold the girl that ran away that one day is bent over a couple of feet away from him

"Are auditions over?" she asks fearfully

"No, I'm the end of the line" he replies

"Okay, good" she comes over to stand next to him in line

Rocky wonders if she recognizes him

she barely got five seconds in before she dashed away so he figures probably not

silence settles

until she curses

"I forgot my music in my room" she hisses to herself, smacking her head

Rocky's mouth runs before she can

"You can borrow mine, I have it memorized anyway"

she stares at him in surprise

"Really?"

"Yeah, here"

"Thank you so much!" Her gloomy mood brightens and Rocky's world does too

"No problem"

By this time the next person is called, and Rocky is torn away from a perfect opportunity to talk to her.... again

The audition goes by fast as always

Rocky stays for the girl's audition

Now or never am i right

She does a great job

Dancing needs a bit of work but that comes with practice

He's still standing in the doorway when she comes up the aisle

she gives him a "why are you still here" look but quickly replaces it with a smile

"You did awesome!" she compliments

"Same to you," Rocky nods

"Nah, I was just average... Thanks again for letting me use your music, uh... what's your name?"

"Minhyuk, but you can call me Rocky if you want to."

Cue the Zelda "object acquired" music because a new friend has just been made: (Y/N)

Rocky walked (Y/N) back to her dorm and got to know her a bit

She indeed has the same major as him

Her dream was to be on Broadway someday

but she's going through a slump rn so things aren't going so hot

Rocky understands; that happened with him and dancing around 7th grade

He promises himself that he'll check up on her and make sure everything's going okay

so he acquires her number before she takes the stairs up to her floor

and proceeds to do just that over the rest of the semester

checking up becomes full-blown conversations complete with memes

and they became best friends

they both got into the production that year

which made them even closer ofc

Summer Break rolls around and (Y/N) and Rocky swear to not let distance separate them

it doesn't

and this friendship continues until Junior year....

when (Y/N) drops out

her parents can't continue to support her financially and she doesn't have enough to support herself

Rocky, of course, is devastated

Where will (Y/N) go? Will she be safe? What about her dream??

He dies inside while helping her move her stuff out of the dorms and into her car

He goes back to cry in his room when her car is finally out of sight

The rest of the day is spent reflecting on every single memory

especially the one where she finally remembered that he scared her that one day Freshman year

"That was yOU??????"

and Rocky realizes that his world is no longer as bright

they continue to message each other

but it teeters out after a few months bc (Y/N)'s working two jobs to pay off her debt

soon Rocky has lost all contact with his former best friend, although he never forgets her

Fast forward a few more years

Now Rocky's graduated with a Bachelors' in the Performing Arts

He just auditioned for a role in Newsies

It fits his skill set perfectly

Acrobatics?? Yas

He's feeling pretty confident until he steps out of the building and someone runs smack-dab into him

He's dazed for a bit but when he asks the person if they're okay, his brain goes on over drive

(Y/N)'s there staring back at him in shock, an audition packet in hand

Rocky grins and immediately encases (Y/N) in a hug, questions falling out of his mouth at a million miles an hour

All (Y/N) does is hug him back at first, but Rocky notices her hesitation so he lets go

"I'm so sorry, it's just been a long time and I've been worried? How are you?"

(Y/N) finally smiles and replies, "I'm just fine now."

the two catch up while (Y/N) waits in line for the female auditions

(Y/N) was on vacation and she overheard someone mention auditions

she had never forgotten her dream

and a small little voice told her that something good would happen there

now she knew what the good thing was

*nervous and awkward blushing from both parties*

(Y/N) was called in before she could say anything else, so Rocky waited for her outside

fifteen minutes later she comes out smiling

She has a really good feeling about it

About three hours later

(Y/ N) has to go back to her hotel so she can pack and catch her flight

Rocky is determined to never lose (Y/ N) again

Bc he realized over lunch with her that his world was bright again and he never wants that to end

So he walks her to the airport, insisting that he see her off

(Y/ N) pretends to mind, but she really doesn't

She really missed Rocky the second she got into her car Junior year

The exchange of cell phone numbers happens once again at the terminal

It takes Rocky a couple of minutes more to enter his new number into (Y/N)'s phone

When (Y/N) looks at his contact, she blushes

it reads: Minhyukkie 😘

it doesn't seem special, but it is bc Rocky was insistent that only his girlfriend could call him that

(Y/N) makes a mental note to ask him about it the next time she sees him

fast forward one last time to the phone call

(Y/N) and Rocky were both super excited when Rocky picked up his phone

They had just gotten phone calls saying that they had been accepted into the production

Their first reaction was to call each other

In fact Rocky was just about to hit the call button when (Y/ N)'s contact popped up

The first five minutes was just screaming tbh

Eventually proper congratulations were exchanged

But it got lost in all the excitement

They would see each other for the rest of their Newsies career

And that was possibly the best thing ever

[onestowatch]

ieuan Thinks “VIRTUAL REALITY” Has Us Trapped in a Simulation [PREMIERE + Q&A]

We live in a crazy world at the moment. Between celebrity politicians and self-driving cars, sometimes it’s hard to tell if everything happening around us is real or if we’re living in some sort of wild simulation. Young electro-pop mastermind ieuan thinks we might be – and he’s got just the music for the ride.

San Francisco-born and now London-based, this fresh singer/producer has been on the rise tackling topics like LGBTQ+ love, loss, religion and youthful angst via sultry, synth-drenched bangers that might be on the playlist of that exclusive, invite-only nightclub downtown. Having shared the stage with artists like Charlotte Lawrence and Elijah Daniels, and even finding himself playing events such as San Francisco Pride, ieaun is starting to make waves with pop fans globally.

Ahead of the release of his EP Childstar, ieuan sat down with Ones to Watch to exclusively premiere his latest single, “VIRTUAL REALITY,” as well as talk Black Mirror, growing up gay, and Joe Biden.

OTW: Hey ieuan, thanks for sitting down with me.

ieuan: No problem. It’s a nice break from making Frappuccinos. I’m working at the Harry Potter exhibition in North London right now to fill my time since I finished the EP.

OTW: Oh no way, I’m a huge Harry Potter nerd.

ieuan: Yeah, it’s hard because I really, really loved it growing up, but when the music is on all day and people keep asking me where to buy butter beer it kind of leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

OTW: Haha, I totally understand that. But you’re California born, right?

ieuan: Yes sir, I’m from San Francisco.

OTW: What had you make the move to London?

ieuan: Well, my whole family is English. My mom and dad are from the UK, and they’re the only people in my entire family to not live here. And so we sort of had a bit of a childhood here - when I was little we spent a few years here before moving back to San Francisco. I just always wanted to come back, and I had the opportunity to study here for university so I’ve been in London about a year. Yeah.

OTW: Oh nice, what university are you studying at?

ieuan: Well it was University of East London. But I got kicked out.

OTW: Ohhhhhhh shit! What happened?

ieuan: Basically, everything started heating up as I moved here, I got proper management and started spending more time in sessions and meetings than going to class, and because I’m an international student they thought I was just trying to trying to get a visa. So they kicked me out. It wasn’t because I was just like, too lazy to go, but I was spending my time making music instead of learning stuff I already know, if that make sense.

OTW: For sure, that makes a lot of sense to me.

ieuan: But it’s quite funny to tell people I got kicked out of school, haha. I love doing it.

OTW: Well, since you got kicked out for doing music stuff, I suppose we should talk about your new track “VIRTUAL REALITY.” Can you tell me a bit about the inspiration for the track?

ieuan: Yeah. About a year ago, after I released my last mixtape Over the Garden Wall, I was kind of like, “Alright, where do I go from here?” At the time I was binge watching Black Mirror, like I think that shit is fantastic. I was really, really, really inspired by the perspective and obscurity behind each episode and how every one was different but they all have this underlying theme of “ah, technology is scary, ahhhh!” And so, I was going to the studio with this storyline I had in mind for the EP and I was like, “What goes better with the theme of dystopian technology than this world where everybody lives in VR instead of real life?” So yeah, it was really just like Black Mirror, and I was listening to a lot of electronic records at the time, so they both sort of came together to create that song.

OTW: Makes sense. What are some of the more unbelievable things you’ve seen happen in modern times that draw the comparison between your project and Black Mirror?

ieuan: Ummm, hmm. Oh my god! Here’s one. I take the train a lot in London, I work an hour and a half away, so I’m on the train quite a bit. I will literally see parents on their phones and like all that shit while their kids are running around screaming. I saw this kid like hurt himself so badly and his mom just did not care. This girl was too busy watching Facebook videos and playing Candy Crush to notice that her child cut himself up. Like that is ridiculous. Black Mirror shit.

OTW: Damn, that’s crazy. On an unrelated note, your publicist said that you’re homies with Joe Biden?

ieuan: Oh my god yessssss!! I love.

OTW: I gotta know how that happened.

ieuan: My life is fucking ridiculous, let me tell you. I was at my boyfriend at the time’s theater show on the East Coast, in Wilmington, DE, which is where Joe Biden is from. My boyfriend was always flexing like “yeah, I’m from the town where Joe Biden is from” and I was always like “yeah, whatever.” And then I was at this play, and we invited a few of our friends from DC to come see it, so we were all there together. One of the girls was very quiet so I started talking to her, and I was like, “What’s your name?” and she was like, “Maisie.” And I said, “Oh, Maisie what?” and she was like, “Biden” and I was like *gasp!!!* She was like the dopest girl ever, and she invited us all to stay over at her grandpa’s house that night. She was Joe Biden’s granddaughter. It was the most surreal… if you weren’t there, you wouldn’t believe it. We roll up, and there’s like security and a private lake and all that, and then we walk in and there’s just Joe Biden sitting there in a black turtle neck. I really wanted him to be like “Hello, my fellow Americans!” and all that but the things he said really shook me. He was like “Hey guys, I bought you donuts and orange juice for the morning. Let me give you a house tour.” He took us to the basement and the first thing I see is a Migos music video on a projector. Like bro, where the fuck where am I?

OTW: Black Mirror, man.

ieuan: Oh my god, you’re so right. What if it’s a simulation, and I’m making it all up? But yeah, it was absolutely insane. He was such a nice guy.

OTW: Well that’s good, I like to hear that. So you mention that you were in Biden’s hometown because you were visiting your boyfriend at the time. You’ve been a pretty outspoken advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, can you talk a little bit about how your sexuality and experiences thus far have affected your music?

ieuan: Yeah. Well, I came out when I was eleven.

OTW: Oh wow! Quite early.

ieuan: Yeah, so I was really, really young. I think because I came out so early - must’ve been like 2010 or something, it was a little bit before Born This Way by Lady Gaga came out - you didn’t know many gay people.

OTW: Or didn’t know you knew many gay people.

ieuan: Exactly. And like, I just had a really strange, gay childhood. I don’t know many people who have had a gay childhood. It inspired me to put some of that strange energy into my songs. I’m really glad that nowadays kids can come out at whatever age they want and people are supportive. It was very, very weird at the time. It led to me sort of seeing a lot more than any other 11-year-old would. I just figured it out so early. I don’t know, when I came to music I felt like it was a similar thing. This isn’t going to make any sense, but whatever, ahaha.

OTW: All good! You’ve performed at some functions benefiting the community as well, like San Francisco Pride.

ieuan: Yeah, that was insane.

How do you think other LGBTQ+ musicians, or allies even, can do things like that to benefit the community?

ieuan: Well, I think it just depends what you’re doing it for. Like for me, I don’t sit down to write music and say “this is for x.” I was just making sure that my music is a sonic projection of my personality. I am gay, and I am quite energetic, and the way the community responded to that ultimately sort of led to performing at pride being a very obvious decision. I think as long as you’re not sacrificing the thing that makes you special, you will get to where you want to be.

OTW: For sure. Last question on this subject, I suppose. Both San Francisco and London have pretty iconic gay scenes. How do they compare?

ieuan: Haha, yes they do! They’re very, very different. London is a lot more young. The gay scene is a lot more like 18-to-25-year-olds. Back in San Francisco I feel like it’s a lot more mature. You’ll see 50-year-old, married gay couples walking around going to art museums. It’s two different scenes. Over here in London, you���ll go out to Heaven or something and it’s just packed with gay kids, but then in San Francisco it’s all “let’s go to the art museum!”

OTW: Well, back onto music – you just finished your Childstar EP, but you also released an album called TECHNICOLOUR Vol. 1?

ieuan: Yes sir.

OTW: That’s a lot of content for one one year. Where do you find the inspiration?

ieuan: Um, well I think if I’m not creating like 24/7 I lose my mind. I’m a severe workaholic, I get that from my mum. I’ve just been listening to so much music, music from my childhood and albums that I never thought I’d listen to. It inspires me to like, literally never put the pen down, if that makes sense. I feel like I’m wasting my time if I’m not writing new music or producing or thinking about new visuals. That album was sort of a collection of the things I’ve been doing for the past three years.

OTW: Can we expect a Vol. 2 at some point?

ieuan: Oh absolutely. It depends if I’m not gonna sleep for another three years which I plan on doing anyways.

OTW: Well sweet, all the better for us. If you could form a supergroup with any artists living or dead, who would they be and what would you call yourselves.

ieuan: Haha, I think that may be the best question I’ve ever been asked. Oh my gosh. Okay. Me, Robyn, and Travis Scott, and we’re gonna be called The Robosluts. That’s my dream. We all use autotune, it’s insane. I would be the leader of course.

OTW: The head slut?

ieuan: Yes, the head thot.

OTW: Excellent, haha. Well, last question – who are your Ones to Watch?

ieuan: The first one off the top of my head is Instupendo, he’s sick. Must be 19 or 20. He makes this insane electronic-lullaby-dance-ambient music. It’s really, really beautiful, and I literally put it on repeat for my Animal Crossing and Pokémon sessions. If you’re trying to sleep and dream about some cool shit, you definitely have to put him on. Absolutely. There’s also this boy called That Kid. I think his real name is Spencer. He makes this really sick gay, ecstasy-fueled dance pop. Those two are my go-tos right now. Oh! And I can’t not mention my boy Jesse Saint John. He is a dream to work with. I don’t think I’ve met anybody in the last five years who is as supportive and loving and caring as that person. And we’ve only met once, when we performed together in LA. He writes for other artists but his own music is just brilliant.

OTW: Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us.

ieuan: My pleasure. I hope this hasn’t been too embarrassing for me!