#because I’ve always been a perfectionist sort of artist and stuff like these are things I’m not really used to posting | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

orestes-hungry-and-pylades-sober · 4 years ago

Text

Les Miserables Stonewall AU

Just hear me out for a moment: Les Mis AU taking place in 1969 Manhattan. June, if we want to be specific. Why June? Stonewall.

So my school does these trips every few years that are always a big deal. A really big deal. As in, a month in the Galapagos Islands. It got canceled cause of covid but still, y'all get my point, right?

I also came across these two amazing drawings the other day. I don't know either of the artists so if you do, please let me know so that I can credit them. Not my art

The art and the trip gave me the idea. Because look, pretty much the entire fandom ships e/R. And then there's Courf and Ferre, and everyone else. I'll list them all later.

So we end up with les amis in Manhattan during the Stonewall riots and protests. Obviously, they're going to get themselves caught up in it, right?

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

There are two ways I might want to go with this. They're both good and they could both work out well but I'm not sure which one I'd rather use.

1) they're just all students at the same university who happen to be going on the trip together. Obviously, some of them would already know each other (like R has been completely in love with Enj for years) but realistically, you don't know everyone who goes to your school

2) all of them are part of the drama/theatre club. This one might work out in the sense that they're all going to Broadway to watch a performance or perform themselves (Phantom maybe?), and that the theatre club has become an accidental hidden magnet for closed queers. Tbh that's what it's like at my school and why I'm in drama.

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

And here are basically all of the character roles.

Enjolras - Social equality/civics minor. He hasn't yet decided if he wants to pursue a higher degree in the same field or try something else. Often in detention or something because he gets into fights all the time. If he sees a bully picking on a kid, he will not hesitate to kick the bully's ass into next week. He's that one person that you'd go to if you had a problem, kinda like a school vigilante. A girl being harassed? Talk to Enjy and the man will never bother her again. He organizes a bunch of rallies and protests for what he believes in. Should've probably been suspended or expelled a while ago, for all the people he's hurt, but the teachers and school board know why he does it and know that he keeps the other students safe. Still manages to get really good grades, as long as he gets a bit of help from Ferre or Courf (and they're glad to help him study or smth)

Grantaire - slightly sketchy fine arts and music double major. He's a composer and his music is beautiful, and so are his paintings, but while he's amazing in those classes, he's just barely scraping by in the more 'academic' classes he's taking. Everyone knows him as 'the problem kid' but not in the same way as Enjy. R gets into fights and stuff too, but not exactly for good reasons. Has a drinking problem and has turned up to class drunk on a few occasions. Always carries around a sketchbook. He's completely in love with Enjy, and while the two of them aren't exactly friends, Enj likes him a lot more than most of the other students, since he's actually taken the time to get to know Grantaire personally rather than just as 'that one drunk problem kid who's about to flunk out.' Really sarcastic and sassy.

Combeferre - (y'all, I said his name with the E at the end kinda like 'ferreh' for so fucking long before someone decided to say it rhymed with Javert). Philosophy minor, lit major. He's probably on the student representation board. That one kid that manages to be a total nerd who literally corrects the dictionary for fun yet is still one of the coolest kids in the school. Everyone seems to think he's cool and composed and calm, and they're not wrong, but he's mentally screaming the loudest of all of them when it comes to finals or something. He's a bit of a perfectionist and knows it, but he's also used to being able to easily pass his classes. How do I describe this... he's outwardly composed but internally a mess. A lot of kids known as 'the smart one' who are overachievers and have teachers who praise their work, etc, are. Internally screaming 24/7. Believe me, I know what it's like.

Courfeyrac - he's the only mutual friend of everyone in the group. He's a literal ray of sunshine and always will go out of his way to say hello to someone and ask how they're doing that day, and check up on someone who's looking down. He's really good with kids and people in general. Might run a tutoring group or something because I've always thought he'd make a really good teacher. (Just imagine Courf as an elementary school teacher or something. Carrying little kids around on his shoulders, helping them with art projects, and hanging them up all over the classroom. He'd be kind and patient and funny and everyone would love him. Just- elementary teacher Courf). Best friends with Combeferre. Probably Jvj's aide or TA or something.

Marius - I think we all know him. He just Pontmercys his way through university and has a massive crush on this one girl who sits across the aisle from him in one of his classes. She's pretty and brave and smart and outspoken, and he admires her. Eponine, his good friend, sees this crush and convinces him to talk to her. He has a brilliant idea to ask her for help with homework and just botches up the entire thing and kinda embarrasses himself, (cue Eponine facepalming in the background) but she thinks it's sweet, and they end up becoming friends.

Eponine - honestly I don't know what I want to do with her. I know she's another student on the trip, but I only have the vaguest ideas of how she fits into the group, and even that is more of a vibe, rather than something I can put down in words. Used to have a sister that her parents often abused and used. Ponine did her best to shelter Cosette from their parents, but she didn't always succeed. However, she was able to get help and get her sister taken away. Their parents turned on Ponine instead. Her little brother ended up running away, but she wasn't able to. Eventually, she stops going home at night, sleeping at school instead. Professor Valjean found her outside his classroom one time when he finally left at like 2 in the morning after being stuck there grading papers. He ended up taking her home with him.

Cosette - Eponine's "sister". I will insist on these two getting along and being best friends, regardless of how you want to interpret their canon relationship. Imma just call them sisters, since they were raised that way. Eventually, she's taken away from the abusive household she lived in as a child. Soon she was sent to be fostered with a man who later became a university professor. Much to her surprise, she was reunited with her sister in a class and found out what had happened to Eponine in her absence. She quietly brought the issue up to her adopted father.

Valjean - history prof, and the supervising teacher for the trip. I call him Jvj and pronounce it sort of like 'Jivvy' and yes I know that's not even how it would be said and that it's weird af but I will live and die by that nickname. He's that one professor that everyone loves. While he never brings it up, his house is a second home to Eponine and Gavroche, ever since he found Ponine sleeping on a bench outside his classroom (Cosette may or may not have set this up so that he would find her), and now he has three children instead of just Cosette. By the end of the trip, he ends up with like 20 students who all treat him like he's their father.

Javert - ex-military school dean. He's coming on the trip as well because the school's two biggest problem students - Enj and R - are going on the trip and he doesn't trust Jvj to keep them in line. Everyone knows there's some sort of drama between him and one of the history professors, but no one can figure out the story between the two of them.

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

Oh well look at me, totally ignoring the thing I said about them all not knowing each other. Welp. And yeah, I know I'm not being the most brick-accurate when it comes to their personalities or whatever, but I'm trying to keep the main feel of each of them while modifying it in a way that works for what I'm trying to write. And look if y'all want to make suggestions about roles for the other amis please go ahead cause I only really have theories for a few of them.

So anyway on to the actual plot.

They all settle in and the next day, they're kinda just let loose in the city to explore. Look we all know that Grantaire is probably going to try to find a bar or a pub or something. The thing is... he ends up at the Stonewall Inn. For y'all that don't know, it was a bar that mainly catered to members of the LGBT+ community. For the first time, he's kinda like 'there are... other people like me? I'm not some sort of a freak for being a man who's in love with another man?' and all that. Through some turn of events, Enj and R (maybe even a group of them?) end up there the next night. I remember reading this thing about since how common police raids and in order to avoid undercover police (*glares at Jav*) there were all sorts of safety measures in place and to be allowed in, they had to 'look gay' and you can bet R takes full advantage of the fact that he's there with Enj to get in.

The police conduct a surprise raid on the bar, and it explodes from just a regular thing into a massive deal, with a massive crowd of spectators. It quickly becomes more and more heated and eventually violent. They fight back against the police because you know neither of them would ever go quietly. Enj and R end up getting arrested together before everything goes insanely out of control, and if anyone else from their group was there, they manage to get away. In prison, Enjy talks to R about the whole deal. Through that conversation, they discuss the LGBT+ movement (though I can't remember if it was called that at the time) and Enjy eventually admits he's not straight, and one of the reasons he ended up becoming the School Vigilante is because he used to be tormented for it, and taught himself how to fight back. He refuses to let anyone else go through the same suffering for it. His protection soon extended to anyone being bullied and picked on, not just fellow queer people. The two of them decide that something has to be done, and this is the start of something massive. Enj tells R that he'll be going back whenever they get released, and Grantaire agrees to go with him.

Jav and Jvj come and negotiate for the release of the two of them since they're visiting French students and all that. When they get back to the place they're staying, I imagine they get a massive yelling-at from Ferre and Courf and Ponine. None of them know the full story, only that the two of them were caught in a bar and got arrested. I'm not sure how old all of them are in this... they're all over 18 in the novel (if I've done my math right) so they weren't arrested for being underage, so there are all sorts of rumors flying around about the two of them.

The next day, someone, I'm not sure who, overhears the two of them discussing what happened the night before, though they've both agreed not to mention anything personal about each other, in case that exact situation of being overheard occurs. However, the person who listens in on them goes to the rest of the group and talks about the protests, and eventually come to the decision that yes, what's happening is a massive deal, and they kinda all want to be part of it? Even if not all of them are part of the community, like Marius and Cosette, they're all very supportive allies and agree to join in these protests. Enj and R try to sneak out when they're confronted with the rest of the students. The two of them think the others are going to try to stop them until Courf steps up and says "like hell we're letting you do this alone,"

They all meet up before the Stonewall, joining a crowd of over a thousand people, surging against the police cordons. The bar itself has smashed windows and looks like someone tried to burn it, but it's still defiantly staying open. R gets his hands on a bunch of rainbow spray paint and joins in a group grafitting walls and buildings. Is grafitting even a word? Grafitti-ing? I dunno. But I had to look up when spray paint was invented and began being used and now I can tell you all about the history of aerosol. Being a writer, right?

They stick around for the rest of the week, joining in various rallies and protests at night, participating in the actual point of their trip during the day. Jav and Jvj obviously know what their students are doing, but they’ve both decided to not mention it at all.

One morning after the group has been out all night, they all escape the chaos and catch rides to Central Park? Maybe? I’ll have to see if that’s even possible. More research, yay!

Anyway, probably Central Park. I don’t really care how improbable it is rn. And we just get a series of shots of all the couples together who’ve found each other.

Enjolras and Grantaire, Courfeyrac and Combeferre, Joly and Bossuet, Bahorel and Feully, Maruis and Cosette. I’m going for lesbian or ace Eponine. Maybe both? If anyone else has suggestions, please lemme know.

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

The only problem is, will I ever get around to actually writing this? No, probably not.

Sorry for the long post! Look I get that people feel weird leaving long replies or whatever but I promise you it's totally okay. More responses = me being more likely to actually write this, please and thank you! I'll probably come back to this someday and see if I can update it and add even more ideas and stuff to it, because I feel like I could turn this into a pretty cool fic, if anyone's even interested in it. Thank you so much, everyone!

#les mis #les miserables #au #alternate universe #stonewall #stonewall riots #history #enjolras #grantaire #courfeyrac #combeferre #enjoltaire #courferre #les amis #les amis de l'abc #marius #cosette #eponine

5 notes · View notes

kayliemusing · 4 years ago

Text

1. Is there something you have been trying to learn lately? - There’s kind of a few, because I feel like they all tie into one. Self acceptance is a big one, self-discipline, productivity, and trusting in God (which has proven to be the hardest thing. It hurts to trust in something you don’t see the outcome of, but it hurts too much not to trust in God.)

2. If you ever feel like you are different from your extended family, in which ways is this? - My dad/s side of the family is really toxic. There’s a lot of hypocrisy, drama, mental illness, drug addictions, and religiousness on that side (and when I say religious, I mean shame-y religion which I don’t agree with at all.) But my dad was really different from them. He was very kind, open to council, very steady and stable despite coming from such a dysfunctional background, and he loved God so truly that a lot of that pure ‘religion’ that exists within his family was broken off of him, and then I have my mom too, who is very fun, kind, caring, etc, so I grew up around more normalcy than my cousins did. My parents just parented me well and they talked about God to me and my sister a lot in such a good way that I never grew up around pure, shame-y, rule-bound religion which I think is the explanation why I (and my sister) are very different from our extended family. My dad died when I was fifteen so I don’t see that side very often, especially because they’re just entirely chaotic and dysfunctional so when I am around them it’s way more noticeable how different we are. (Sorry for big explanation. I’m in a super reflective mood lol.)

3. When you think about your future career, do you envision yourself becoming the head honcho or CEO? If not, why not? - I’ve always kind of wanted to have this leader-esque feeling to my career, but no, I don’t see myself being a CEO. I really just want to be an author so I guess I would have some level of being a leader to my own business, but not quite on a CEO type level. Right now, I’m trying to focus on fiction but I’m easily overwhelmed by it so I have been considering other mediums of writing. I just don’t know what that is or what fits right.

4. Is there something that you are sort of weird about talking about? Like, a thing that other people find casual, but you feel uncomfortable when the subject comes up? - Sex, is the first thing that comes to mind, but not sex in general. More like the conversations that are too much, you know? Lol. Some people go really into detail or can be graphic about their sex lives and I’m just like, please don’t. I don’t mind generically talking about it, but there’s a line. 5. Can you think of a time when you seriously misjudged a music artist based on their name? - I don’t think so.

6. Do you ever make negative comments about other body types? How does it make you feel when you see or hear negative comments about your body type, or a physical trait that you have (even when it’s not directed at you)? - Sometimes I have the tendency to judge other body types (i.e. I really don’t like the thigh gap look), but it’s never malicious and I’m always trying to be aware that others can’t help what they look like and if they’re happy in their body, that’s what matters. I struggle with disordered eating and kind of sit on that line between having an eating disorder and not having one so I’m very sensitive about my body and its type. I have a chubby tummy and I’m so insecure that it’s not flat that when I hear anyone say anything negative about not having a flat stomach it’ll ruin my day or I’ll just feel really ashamed.

7. If you are in a situation where you feel like you are being attacked or not respected, how easy or difficult is it for you to stay and keep your head rather than leave in a huff? - I’ll usually leave the conversation. Maybe slam a door lol. I’ll usually stand my ground until I finally feel like I’m not heard or no one cares and then I’m out.

9. When you think about how attractive you feel and your favorite features, are you comparing yourself to a societal ideal? - Yes. I happen to be well-acquainted with the comparison game.

10. If you have a favorite song right now: What is it? How did you first hear it? Why do you like it so much? - My favourite song is probably Coney Island by Taylor Swift right now. It’s from Taylor’s new album Evermore, but I have a couple on that album that tie for my favourite song right now (Honorable mentions: Willow, Cowboy Like Me, Tis The Damn Season). I absolutely love how poetic this song is and I think one of my all time favourite lyrics she has ever written is in that song: “If I can’t relate to you anymore then who am I related to?” This song for me just feels like I’m reading a poem and I just sink right into the story she’s telling.

11. Have you ever had someone that has been your friend for a while come to you and tell you they had romantic feelings for you? How did you respond, and did the friendship survive? - I did have a friend of mine tell me they had feelings for me. We had become friends in the eighth grade and then he confessed his feelings for me in the ninth grade, I told him I didn’t feel the same way but we stayed friends and it didn’t ruin anything, and then he confessed again in the eleventh grade and I said no to him again. After that final rejection, we never really made it back to being friends for a few reasons a) We stopped being in the same classes, b) I think he was really hurt and c) his friend (who is most dramatic than a girl by the way, and ironically dating one of my friends at the time) stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and gave his two cents and that was kind of when it fell apart. I didn’t really know his friend so it was weird that he had this narrative of me that he said “was leading X on” when I was just trying to be his friend but it’s whatever now. That was when I was like sixteen lol.

12. Hypothetically speaking, if Hillary Clinton were running for President as a democrat against Chris Christie as a republican in 2016, who do you predict would win the election? - Well, since it’s 2021 now, I would predict that Trump would win and divide America.

13. When you are getting to know someone new online (particularly someone male), how cautious are you of the possibility that they are serial killer/kidnapper? - I honestly never think of this, mostly because we live in such an online world now and I’m an adult. I don’t really know how much of this still happens, but you just don’t hear about it anymore. Not to mention, if it is a male, it’s most likely a pedophile (which is still gross) rather than a killer or kidnapper.

14. If you are talking to someone that you want to get to know, what are your go-to conversation topics? What subject makes you disappointed when another person isn’t interested in or knowledgable about it? - Tbh I feel like I’m really bad at conversations and I don’t know how to lead them because I’m quiet and scared of looking stupid. I know I really like deep conversations more than basic questions. However, it’s very important that I know their opinion on Taylor Swift because if there’s a chance they don’t like Taylor Swift, I already know that the person is probably not worth my time. For real though, if I’m having a conversation with someone, I usually get disappointed if I find out they’re a partier or drink a lot, because I’m really not into any of that stuff so it’s immediately like playing the Sims and having the minus sign appear above my head.

15. Say you have a lot of free time and want to join a club or class. You are browsing postings on local bulletin boards and online. What sort of group would you be interested in joining (e.g., book club, game group, crafts, golf lessons, etc.)? - A romance-only book club, DIY club.

16. Have you ever kissed someone that you didn’t really want to kiss (not assault, just indifference)? Why did you go along with it and how did you feel after? - Nah I’ve never been kissed

17. Have you recently learned anything about your personality? If not, have you ever consciously tried to change your personality? - Sort of recently, it was something I discovered last year which is that I’m a neurotic perfectionist and what I mean by that is I’m a perfectionist in a very self destructive way. I’ve always known I was ‘particular’ or others would say ‘has high-standards/expectations’ but I realized that it’s literally just perfectionism.

18. Are you or any of your friends in a sorority or fraternity? Would you be interested in belonging to one? - No and I don’t really understand what they are or why they’re a thing.

19. Can you recall a recent time that you were surprised, but in a bad way? - Yes. When my job eluded that they thought I was stealing from the registers. This happened around September 2020? Basically they didn’t flat out say that’s what they thought, but they made comments that the tills were either short or over at the ends of the night whenever I would be working and dead ass said “it looks suspicious”. I think it was surprising because I’ve worked there was two years and really felt like they should have known my character. (I literally am afraid of getting in trouble for the smallest things and they seriously thought I was capable of stealing from them lmao)

20. Do you feel uncomfortable when you receive praise for doing certain things? If so, does this make you less likely to do those things? - No totally the opposite. I really struggle with validation and I never feel good enough, which is something I’m working on, but it feels almost like I thrive on praise. Maybe it’s because my love language is words of affirmation?? I just always like/need to know when I’m doing a good job so when I don’t get praise or validation my self esteem plummets.

21. Do you make spontaneous purchases often or rarely? When you are upset does it make you temporarily happier to buy yourself something new? - Spontaneous purchases, often because I have no self control lol, but lately I’ve been working hard to try to save more. And yes when I’m upset, it does make me feel better to buy things.

22. If you have to wake up early for something, what time is just TOO early for you to be there and be presentable and sentient? Have you ever had to be somewhere that early? - 5 am. I think I can manage 6 am, but anything before that is a no from me. I used to work at 5 am when I worked at Chapters, but it was a nice shift because I finished work at 10 am and then went home and napped for two hours and then had literally the entire day.

23. Have the majority of your romantic relationships started with a physical attraction or a deeper connection? - I’ve never had a romantic relationship oops. But at least I read romance novels every day (and I write romance too!) I’ll try to answer this based on what I think would happen. I think it would start as a physical attraction and I think a lot of relationships start that way but they become something when you have a real connection. I think there are relationships that can start the other way though too, but I’d say for me it’ll probably be physical attraction first.

24. Do you ever catch any of those conspiracy shows on Animal Planet, like Bigfoot hunting or proof of Mermaids? Do those shows make your more or less likely to believe in the existence of such creatures? - No, but I DO watch ghost conspiracy theories/”REAL GHOST CAUGHT ON CAMERA” videos on Youtube for fun. But no I don’t believe in any of that stuff.

25. Did you ever write a fan letter to a celebrity? How about submit something to a magazine? - I’ve never technically written a fan letter to a celebrity but I wrote a post on tumblr to Taylor Swift a couple years ago that she’ll never see lol. And I’ve never submitted anything to a magazine, but I’d like to one day.

#survey

1 note · View note

homesteadchronicles · 5 years ago

Text

10 Questions Tag

Thank you so much for tagging me, @songsofaleria! You had such interesting answers, and I wanted to ensure that I could give the same enthusiasm with my responses. Buckle up, y’all! You might learn a thing or two about moi.

1. What are you characters favorite foods/snacks?

What’s sad is that I have a hard time answering this solely because I am not a snack person. Blasphemy, I know - I just prefer whole meals! If we’re talking modern-day snacks? Oeden’s chowing down on salt and vinegar chips, Royan would be a Twinkies guy (no jokes, please, spare my boy), Medea’s a cinnamon girl - the kind that scarfs down Hot Tamales like they’re nothing, Carmila would snack on individual pretzel sticks while she works (and is the kind to suck the salt clean off of them because she keeps getting lost in thought while they’re in her mouth), Farukh would be a jerky guy, and Kasumi’s the kind to carry around little veggie packets and dip.

If we’re talking in-universe snacks? Come on. Fantasy worlds don’t have fun snacks! Although I did write one excerpt with Oeden and his mom, Nadielle, chowing down on spiced pufferfish spines which I’m relatively sure are not a real thing...and likely should not be.

2. What playlists do you listen to when writing?

I made a playlist of worship songs for my friends who are newer to my church and I’ve been jamming to that while I write because it’s the only lyric-inclusive music I can listen to that won’t interfere with my writing. Plus, because writing can drain my body and darken my thoughts, I need something positive and godly to revitalize me and keep me centered.

3. Which OC is/was your favorite to create?

There’s one character I’ve talked about in passing, but I haven’t dedicated an entire section to him yet. I don’t know if he’s my favorite, but he has a special place in my heart: Algon. He pays homage to one of my personal heroes and mentors, so there’s always a giddy little part of my heart when I get to write him. Plus, the development he goes through is...well, heartbreaking, but also beautiful over time.

4. What is the first book you read that made you cry?

Oh gosh, I can’t remember! I was a big crybaby when I was little, so I probably wept at the slightest thing gone wrong. Aslan dying in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe always got me.

5. Do you hide any secrets in your books as a way of foreshadowing?

If you read something in my stories, assume it will eventually foreshadow something. I treat my books as a game of I-Spy, wondering when readers will find the most hidden clues I snuck in there.

6. What is the most difficult part of your writing process?

This might sound strange, but knowing when it’s “right”. I’m a perfectionist, an INFJ, and a Type One Enneagram - otherwise known as someone who is paralyzed by the thought of doing something wrong. I don’t just write for fun, I write to do what I believe I’m meant to do in my life. And if something I produced was lesser than what was meant? If I wasted my time or led someone down the wrong path because I did it wrong? Game over for me. I spend SO much time deciding whether I’ve had this character do the right thing, built the world correctly, etc. that it’s...crippling, to be honest.

7. Which of your characters would you liked like to meet/get to know irl?

You know, I had a lot of different answers to this...but I’m gonna go with Kasumi. I have a habit of befriending people who need my guidance or leadership and/or people who make me laugh and are fun but aren’t deep enough to hang with me intimately. Kasumi, while deeply flawed, is someone who would want to help me as much as I help her. She’d listen, she’d advise, she’d protect, she’d spend time making art with me, we could go adventuring when necessary and stay inside when we’re down. I feel like we could be besties in a heartbeat!

8. Was there a situation in your writing that you took from your own life?

There are snippets and themes that I use, as everyone does, as inspiration. But generally, I try to limit that because I don’t want it seeming self-insert-y. However, there are a few specific instances and issues I feel personally convicted to write upon based on my experiences with and overcoming of them. But none of the situations in my stories are one-on-one parallels.

9. Do your characters have reoccurring symbolism in their dreams?

HOO BOY! You opened a whole can of worms for one character in particular: Oeden. I’ve changed what his dreams entail eighteen thousand times, but he always envisions a vault (which is a main theme in my story, and certainly no secret) long before he ever finds it. Lots of other things, too: torn wedding veils, man made into gods, blood poured on white moons, angels in plain sight, and an unknown voice calling out to him. You know, totally normal dream stuff!

10. Which Hogwarts houses would you sort your characters into?

I’ve def done this before, but I don’t remember everyone’s. I think it was: Royan is Gryffinpuff, Oeden is Slytherclaw, Medea is Slytherin, Farukh is Slytherdor, Briggid is Ravenclaw, Kasumi is Hufflepuff, Carmila is...crap, I can’t remember!

Questions for Those Tagged to Answer: 1. When you find a book at the store, what about it makes you decide to buy it or put it back on the shelf? 2. What would your book’s ideal cover look like, should you have access to any artist you’d want and any resources you would need to make it a reality? 3. If you could rewrite one story - be it a book, game, movie, show, etc. - which would it be and why? 4. Have you ever given a story a second chance and liked it better the next time through? What caused your opinion to change? 5. What do you believe endears an audience to a character? 6. What kind of romances do you prefer to read about and/or watch unfold? (Soft and shy, hot and sexy, slow burn, enemies to lovers, etc.) 7. What type of AU’s are your guilty pleasures, be they for your stories or for others? (Modern, High School/University, Coffee Shop, Vampires, etc.) 8. If only one age demographic would ever read your books, which would you choose and why? 9. If you could pay homage to one person in your life through your stories and/or characters, who would it be and why? 10. If every reader walked away from your story having been changed in one significant way, what would you want it to be and why?

Tagging: @rhavencroft, @incandescent-creativity, @fair-folk-nonsense, @stardustspiral, @ardawyn, @lady-redshield-writes, @feathered-quill, @hannahs-creations, @cogesque, @merigreenleaf

#tag #tagged #tag game #writeblr #writeblr community #writing community #write #writer #writing #10 questions tag game

16 notes · View notes

2k18leo · 5 years ago

Text

((This may get lost in all the finale talk but I wanted it finished in time for Leo Day, so without further ado, here is Rogue’s personality sheet))

Name: Rogue

Age: 16 (November 5th)

- Leo 16, Donnie 16, Mikey 15, Raph 17, April 17

Gender: Female

Species: Australian Water Dragon

List the most important things about your character.

- Was an actual lizard before her mutation

- Was shipped from Australia to be a pet of a gothic teenage girl

- Did not retain an Australian accent because she was too young to learn one when she was shipped from Australia

- Gets called multiple creative nicknames from Leo, including but not limited to:

-- Ro

-- Rogue-y babey

-- (to the tune of Row Row Your Boat) Ro-Ro-Rogue-y baby

-- Stripes (they both call each other this)

-- Tails

-- Hot Fry ( ??? don’t know where he thought of this)

-- Spade (because of the shape of the mark on her back, which resembles a spade)

-- Reggae ( ?? )

-- Babey Spade

-- Moulin Rogue (to which she always laughs and responds, “it’s Rouge, dumbass!”)

- She loves to paint and be artsy with Mikey

- Will patiently listen while Donnie explains the technicalities of his latest inventions, and is also eager to be a test subject for some of his newer creations

- Absolutely loves to pull pranks with Leo and will sometimes sneak out with him on the shellhogs to race around the city

- Lives with April because “living with all guys is just a little too much sometimes” (but will crash with Leo if she is over there too late) and helps take care of Mayhem when April is at school/work

- She will sometimes instigate the Disaster Twins and their tomfoolery because she finds it so amusing

- She is actually not much of a fighter (but is well aware how to weaponize her tail and claws) but Raph has offered to help train her in their downtime

Physical Details

- Slim waist

- Thick thighs

- Short torso with long legs

Height: 5’6” (with Leo 5’11”, Donnie 5’11”, Mikey 5’6”, Raph 6’4”, April 5’5”)

Weight: ~ 130lbs

Skin: All scales

- Creamy pale green in color over the majority of her body

- Has “glove” markings on forearms and shins

Hair: None

Eyes: Blue eyes, long eyelashes

Other defining features/extra anatomy:

- Long tail with 17 stripes

- Has horizontal stripes from her eyes to the back of her head

- Three fingers/toes on limbs

- Has a heart-shaped marking in middle of torso on ventral side

- Has a spade-shaped marking in middle of torso on dorsal side

Habits:

- Constantly laughing with Leo

- Picking at her scales

- Will tap her claws or tail if she is jittery

- Will subconsciously quote movies if it seems appropriate for the situation even if no one around her knows where the quote comes from

- Will flick her tail if irritated

- When she gets nervous, her tail will suddenly curl around an object close to her for support (more often than not this object is Leo and he thinks it’s precious)

- When she’s being flirty, the tip of her tail will caress under his chin *enter heart-eyes Leo*

- Her tail moves in the night, accidentally knocking stuff over while she sleeps

- Often has sarcastic quips escape her mouth

Gestures/Mannerisms: She likes to sweep her tail around to help her hips sway back and forth

Voice: I am still figuring out a voice actor that I feel would fit her well. I’ve thought about Elizabeth Gillies, Liana Liberato, Sabrina Carpenter, Peyton List, etc. If you have any suggestions, I’m always open to options ! :)

Style: Athletic but casual (a cropped sleeveless hoodie with a choker, and a bandana wrapped around her arm)

-Personality-

Loves/Favorites:

- Food (will eat anything as she is omnivorous)

- Sunny days (loves to bask in the sun)

- Keeping her nails long and sharp

- Music (almost any kind. She can dance to pop, rap along to hip-hop, belt out to the Hamilton soundtrack (where Donnie will join in sometimes), dance to country music while breaking out in a southern accent, and sway lovingly to some nice jazz)

- Spooky stuff (Horror movies, Halloween, ghost stories, etc.)

- Movies! (Disney, Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Adventure, Mystery)

- Watching/playing basketball (has somehow managed the ability to dribble with her tail)

- Playing Baseball (is not a bad short-stop)

- Swimming (she’s pretty fast underwater with the help of her long strong tail)

- Playing games (be it video games, card games, board games, etc.)

- Creating art (she loves to draw and paint, and also has a subtle love for photography)

- She has a huge ole’ crush on Leo <3

Hates:

- Cold weather (unless it’s snowing)

- Cloudy days (she loves the sun, duh)

- Rom-coms (too cheesy for her taste)

- Bad grammar (her previous owner (while Rogue was not fond of her) went to a college-prep school and she often overheard her speak with proper grammar)

- Burnt popcorn (a trAGEDY)

- A bad sense of humor (she’s thankful that pretty much all the turtles are able to laugh and not take anything super seriously because she often has some sarcastic quips that escape her mouth)

Hobbies: She draws, watches movies, will pick up a book occasionally

Talents/Skills:

- Dribbling a basketball with her tail

- Drawing/painting

- Memorizing movie quotes

Fears/Nightmares: Waking up one day back as a regular lizard

Best Quality: Sense of humor

Greatest Flaw:

- Not great at communication (gets cranky when she doesn’t have her alone time but is not good at expressing that)

- Sometimes gets jealous that she’s the “odd man out” and it wouldn’t matter if she wasn’t there because the boys already have April, but loves April all the same

- Perfectionist (likes things done a certain way) but only sometimes

Character Strengths:

- Playful

- Patient

- Good-natured

- A good sense of humor

- Laid back for most things

- A rationalist (very practical)

And the coinciding weaknesses: She’s not the best at opening up to anyone

What she wants and doesn’t want

- She wants to move towards having an actual family. Perhaps getting some training under her belt to know how to fight.

- She wants to stay away from her previous owner (and the snake that Evie always picked on her with, Calamity)

How does the character picture herself? Rogue: Oh gosh, what did everyone else say? This is kinda weird. Erm, I guess I’m a great swimmer. I like to laugh a lot so the boys never fail to make me. I’m not a neat freak, but not a crazy slob either? I like to think I’m fun to be around.

How do others see her?

- Leo: She’s beautiful, funny, short, has a great laugh, is always down to part-aaay. She laughs at my jokes! My jokes! You know that’s a quality girl!

- Donnie: Yeah, she’s… perfect for Leo, I guess. The two of them can get a bit riled up at times but she has a good heart. Plus, it keeps him busy and not a distraction for me when I’m trying to get work done.

- Mikey: Omigosh, I love her! She’s an awesome artist! She painted this piece on my shell right here, can you see it? Right here. Yeah, she’s great. Not a perfect chef, but I introduced Kondescending Kitchen to her and I think I’ve got her hooked.

- Raph: Shorty? She’s the best! She knows just when to bring Leo back down to Earth. Is always down for any athletic event. *whispers* she throws a mean spiral on Lace Face. I’ve been training with her a few nights a week, y’know to get her strength up. But it’ll be awhile before we take her on any type of mission.

- April: Oh, that’s my girl! Rogue is hilarious, and definitely great with Mayhem. She lives with me at my place, which isn’t bad. She isn’t a slob, so that’s great.

- Splinter: Is that the one with the tail?

Five adjectives that she would use to describe herself. Rogue: Oh, I guess… hmm… funny? Reasonable, happy, laid back, aaaand… artsy?

Five adjectives others would use to describe her.

- Leo: I’ll say it again. Beautiful, cute, funny, short, hilarious, pretty, smart, smokin’, (no, no, Leo, you’re only supposed to do 5. You’re good) … but I can keep going. (nah, I think we got it, thanks!)

- Donnie: Let’s see… Intelligent, humorous, independent yet social, and likeable

- Mikey: She’s tons of fun! Super friendly, a crazy good artist, awesome gamer, and very responsible when need be.

- Raph: The girl’s tough, athletic, smart, a jokester, and pretty trustworthy.

- April: She’s so funny, we laugh all the time. And we have inside jokes and secrets that I trust her with. Super sweet, but she also has a daring side that hypes me up. Aaand, she’s considerate. A good roommate and friend.

- Splinter: When did Blue get a girlfriend?

Most valued possession: Rogue: Oh, uh… probably the bandana that I have wrapped around my arm here. The boys gave it to me as sort of a family token. I didn’t like the look of it on my face since it hid my stripes but I always like to know where it is even if it’s not on me.

Darkest secret and/or treasured memory: Rogue: Wow, you guys ask a lot of questions. Ummm, I guess I shoplifted this hoodie. That’s not the worst thing in the world, but I’m not sure. Not many people know but I don’t think it’s a huge deal. A treasured memory I guess is when I met the boys for the first time. Also the day I escaped Evie.

Most proud accomplishment and or greatest failure: Rogue: I mean, I’m pretty proud of all the art I make. I guess the best thing I ever accomplished was escaping Evie, my previous owner. Everything kinda went uphill from there.

Current motivation: Rogue: Motivation for what exactly? To keep living? I guess my family. The turtles and April have really opened my eyes to what a happy life could actually be. It’s great. Everyday is an adventure with them and they make me feel so loved.

How does she view the future and/or the past? Rogue: I guess I regret not escaping Evie’s place sooner. That was just not a great time for me. But, hey, it’s all better now. I’m happier than I’ve ever been.

What is her philosophy on life and death? Rogue: Well, back before the mutation, when I was still at Evie’s place, I was just a lizard that didn’t really care one way or the other. Evie would constantly shove her other pet, a snake she named Calamity, super close to my cage. Us Aussie Water Dragons are common prey for snakes so it scared the shit out of me. It happened so much that it got to the point where I would just think ‘whatever. If the snake is going to eat me, go ahead. This isn’t a life to live anyway, being in this cage.’ It sucked and the best day of my life was when I escaped. Now I spend everyday with a smile on my face. I want to live life to the fullest! And the turtles really make that feeling come true.

What kind of energy level do they usually have? Rogue: I’m normally pretty calm and chill but I have been known to get riled up with Leo. Mikey and his bubbly side also hype me up sometimes.

How does she show and/or handle: love, affection, grief, pain, anger, sadness, conflict, change, loss? Rogue: I was conflicted with how to feel when the turtles first invited me to their home. Up until then all I had known were dead crickets and a glass box on all sides of me. So, it was definitely weird for me. I mean, Calamity didn’t like me so all I got were stupid threats from her. But loving the turtles came so easy to me. And ever since I met them I had felt a different feeling towards Leo, but the sensation was so foreign to me that I didn’t really understand. I liked him, all of them, but it was just a feeling of wanting to be around him more.

Does she have a temper? Rogue: I think I’m self-aware enough to admit that I have a small temper and I handle it with major passive aggression. I’m not great at confrontation and I’m used to letting things that really get to me sit inside. It’s not the healthiest practice, but…

How does she respond to the surrounding world, the ‘unfamiliar,’ and other people in general? Rogue: You mean everything outside my cage? It’s fantastic! I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to taste the fresh air when I first escaped. The only type of “friendship” I had was with a tarantula in Evie’s room. He and I weren’t close but I preferred him to Calamity anyday. So coming out into the world and seeing the turtles, I was super nervous. Everything was unfamiliar to me.

Polite or rude? Rogue: I like to think I’m polite? I mean, I was never really taught any manners from Evie.

Stingy or generous? Rogue: Umm… both? Neither? I don’t have much to share or hoard.

What kind of ‘public’ face does she display? Rogue: The turtles know I’m not crazy about Evie, so they accept that I don’t always want to talk about her. I’m pretty much an open book, though.

Leader or a follower? Rogue: Both? Neither? I have the reasoning to be a leader in some cases, but I will always do what Raph says if he’s giving orders… even though I don’t go on missions with them. He and April are the oldest and definitely know more about the world than I do. As far as I’m concerned, he’s the leader and I respect him too much to argue about that.

More happy by themselves or in a group? Rogue: I spent years alone in a cage. I love being around people. We don’t even have to be doing anything, but their presence makes me feel a bit safer.

Does he/she have any addictions/dependencies/fixations/fetishes/ or other strange behavior? Rogue: Is popcorn an addiction?

What is her sexual preference/experience/values? Rogue: I like Leo.

-History/Background- Rogue: I feel like I’ve talked enough for one day. I’ll let Taylor finish this off.

Setting: Present day in Rise universe

Occupation: Nah, she’s a mutant lizard, although she sometimes wishes she could help pay rent for April’s apartment because she spends so much time there. April doesn’t mind it since she’s already used to the boys raiding her fridge, but a job under Señor Hueso was mentioned at one point (and might possibly play a role in the future)

Educational background/other learning experiences: Her previous owner has good grammar, but she did not develop the ability to speak until after mutation

Intelligence Level: As smart as a pet of a prep-school kid can be. She also has learned plenty from the turtles and April.

Short Term Goals: Probably finishing a book or a video game.

Long Term Goals:

- Finding the perfect weapon for herself.

- Keeping the family she was so lucky to find

Family:

- Has no idea about her biological parents since she was shipped out so early in life. Doesn’t really bother her that much, though.

- Previous owner: Name is Evangelique (Evie) Flint, who named Rogue and took care of her fine, meaning she was fed adequately. However, Evie favored the other pets that she owned (her snakes and scorpions) and would sometimes get the snakes close to Rogue in order to freak her out (Australian Water Dragons are often prey for snakes). When Evie was moving houses with her family, Rogue was able to escape. She never looks back.

Friends:

- Leo: She and Leo are super close and became fast friends. He flirted with her for months before she actually caught on. Rogue always thought he was cute but was pretty clueless when it came to romance. April filled her in and helped them get together (the best wingman). He is always able to make her laugh and it’s not difficult for her to reciprocate. He enjoys playing with her tail. They’re young and in love but still best friends. The others refer to them together as “The Stripes.” He doesn’t really get seriously jealous because he trusts her with his brothers. He adores her laugh and the heart-shaped mark on her chest.

- Donnie: They’re cool friends. She looks up to him as if he is older than her because of how smart he is. He’s more calm with her than he is with the boys because he’s seen her rational side. She’ll stay out of his way when he’s busy, but won’t decline being a helpful assistant or test subject for an experiment.

- Mikey: She thought he was super funny, like Leo. He was fascinated by her splotches and patterns, and was overjoyed that she liked art as well. One of their first times bonding together was over video games.

- Raph: He approached her first when they first encountered her, mainly as a way to shield his brothers if she was a threat. She likes to play some type of sporty game with him even though she is not nearly as in-shape as the rest of them. It was his idea for her to start sparring. He appreciates how tough and level-headed she is. He thinks she’s a good fit for Leo.

- April: Rogue was fairly relieved to make friends with a girl. April loved her look and thought the choker and hoodie was awesome. She lets Rogue sleep on her couch whenever she pleases, and she thinks it’s great that Mayhem likes her.

- Splinter: They’re not close. She’s met him a couple times and only because she felt it weird that the rat had yet to introduce himself. It’s sort of a mutual respect that they have.

Backstory:

- Born in Australia and shipped to Poughkeepsie, where Evie lived. She was lonely and constantly tormented by her owner and the snake, Calamity, who lived just a single frame of glass away next to her cage.

- After years of living in Poughkeepsie, Evie’s family decided to move to Detroit because of her mother’s business demands.

- Early on in the move, Rogue was able to escape and out of the vehicle and off the Mid-Hudson Bridge into the Hudson River. The river carried her down to Manhattan where she consumed an Ooze-quito and became mutated.

- I’m still figuring out a story on how she met the turtles and the events leading up to the present because she’s currently been with them for nearly half a year (I’ll probably write some drabbles on it in the near future, so stay tuned)

-Combat-

Physical Strength:

- Her tail is the strongest part of her body

- She has enough strength to workout with the boys, but cannot do any of the heavy weights that they can.

Coordination/Reflexes: Not bad reflexes. She’s not clumsy, but her tail has been known to knock things over in an environment she is unfamiliar with.

Fighting Style: Is typically prone to striking with her claws and/or tail

Unusual Abilities/Powers: Nothing mystical about her besides the mutation

Weapons/Other Gear: Has yet to find a weapon that works for her

((couple things, Tumblr completely messed with the format of this but oh well, yes I referenced Leo’s pose from the episode Newsworthy, but I just adore his pose so much that I was super excited to draw it, they may or may not be holding hands, that’s up to your interpretation :D, but yeah. this personality ref sheet was super long but I really wanted to milk this character because I hope she sticks with me for a long time. If you read the whole thing, thank you so much, I appreciate you more than you realize :) ))

#tmnt #tmnt leo #happy Leo day #Leo day #ninja turtles #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #Rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt #rottmnt rogue #tmnt rogue #my oc #my character #rogue #rogue x leo #tmnt leonardo

35 notes · View notes

matt-skc-rp · 5 years ago

Text

I'm Like A Lawyer With The Way I'm Always Trying To Get You Off (Me and You)|| Swiftimer AprilAU

Matt and Suzy couldn’t really find time on their schedules to go out anymore, between their schedules and their own personal things popping up, so they found the perfect thing to get them together doing something they both enjoy, video-making and giving to those who can’t. The Gamma house had a few charity streams set up for the holiday season and Suzy said she can get him in one of them that she was doing with the Grumps, where she’d be off camera as well as on camera. They mostly needed someone to toggle the viewer’s screen.

Matt came over and Suzy met him at the door, they excitedly embraced and walked over to where the stream was going to be held. “You eat lunch yet?” Suzy asked, while she grabs the food she was eating, “We got some Chinese food over there you can heat up.”

“Oh yeah, I’ll get to it in a second. You have a uhh...like a wrap sheet of what kind of cuts I’m going to be making and how to transition into the different screens and minimizations. I know StreamLabs is gonna kind be on top of all of the donations and stuff,” he said.

“Wow, you’re really straight to the point about the work..but you’re volunteering,” Suzy pointed out with a giggle.

“Well once I know what I’m doing, then I can relax and have a little fun...But uhhm..I see you’re not looking like the Queen of Darkness much today,” Matt said with a nervous giggle.

“It’s not like that’s all I do, or all I’m about it. I actually do a lot of my activities wearing a bunch of Game Grumps merch,” Suzy explained while Matt poked through the Game Grumps Twitch channel and its setup in OBS.

“Well I figured as much, I do follow your social media, I just thought that you’d be a tad more done up for the stream,” he clarified, “I think your loungewear is what you look cutest in, you definitely are sexy when you’re modelling clothes or you’re dressed up.”

Suzy giggled shyly at his compliment and tucked her hair behind her ear, “Well thank you for recognizing I’m still a lazy girl gamer like everyone else in Gamma.”

“Aaaannd done! So, when’s the stream starting?” Matt asked, looking at the girl leaning on the table and gave her a warm smile.

“Uhhmm..tomorrow?..At 3 in the afternoon?” she replied, shrugging slowly.

“I’m actually not mad you did this..It means I’m much more prepared for this and can catch if something goes wrong..Thanks Suze,” he said, chuckling and standing up, “Was this your idea?”

“Yeah, the other guys are so busy with getting the rest of their finals and videos done that they forgot they needed to get a volunteer live editor for the stream since they’re gonna be completely hands-free on camera. Even their editor is gonna be in front of the camera or working props and other staging,” Suzy explained, grabbing her drink and sipping it, “Well, since you’re here, what do you wanna do?”

“I’ll be generous and ask what do you want us to do, because I blocked out literally all day today and tomorrow for this. I can stay here, we can go to my place and watch movies,” Matt suggested.

“Awwhh, but it’s still so cold!..Why don’t we stay here and play some arcade games?”

“What games do you guys have?” he asked, turning to her.

“Uhhm...we can just go check,” Suzy said, dancing around the chair slowly moving toward the hall where they held their systems and coffins. Matt followed, smirking at her and walked normally. She opened the door to a colourful and loud room, full of classic cases of games and some new ones they obviously brought in for fun, and tables of pool, foosball, and air hockey all aligned in a slightly dim room. Suzy gets the rush of air that is only distinctive of walking into an arcade and thinking about what is your first move after getting your cup of tokens. “Yeah whatever’s in here is what we can use..Did you wanna get beat in something?” she teased, nudging his side.

Matt was still surprised that this is what Gamma does for its students, and he’s been stuck playing off his consoles in his room. “It surprises me that any of you study with this just down here,” he scoffed.

“It gets locked during class times during the semester and at like 1am too, but since we’re in the middle of winter break, it’s open 24/7!” Suzy explained, propping herself onto one of the unused pool tables. She watched Matt take a tour, and she noticed that he was...different. He wasn’t hanging on her or trying to be as intimate as possible, not even in his questions and answers! It’s almost as if he’d welcomed whatever looming loneliness and let the ideas of being close to anyone repulse him. It was comforting, in a way, but it tugged at her mind that it’s not like they hadn’t started their chemistry, so why the distance with her?

“That’s good to know, but then you guys just go into your rooms..Whatever, we have something similar in Theta with the editing and shooting booths. We perfectionists tend to lose track of the time, so they lock the isolated editing and shooting rooms when we need to study, but it’s not like..we can’t just ask the president and vice, because the actual school security monitors that. And they only do that because our president has a horrible habit of putting work and results above all else,” Matt explained as he hovered at the air hockey table, “Let’s start here.”

Matt sets up the game and they wait for the puck, a gust of air blowing in Suzy’s face from the rink. It lands on Matt’s side and he starts the volley, “How have your classes been, Suze?”

Suzy defends herself well, and they get a hot volley going, “I really liked the anthology classes and courses in the dead and dying...what say you?”

“Taking a bunch of production and set detail courses, I’ve also started taking management and busniess courses just in case i don’t work out as an artist of some sort. Gonna start my business- Ah!” Matt exclaimed and as he saved his goal, darting it into Suzy’s. She nodded, retrieving the puck and serving hard and fast until the volley ended with a point from her.

They both looked at each other, then he dropped the puck and served her nicely. Again?! What’s his deal?

“Uhhm...well I mean ” she asked almost forgetting they were playing a game, “The whole taxidermy and bugs thing is gonna be like, my marketable skill, I also like to model sometimes. You know, I do all of that when I’m not working on my own gaming channel. I wanna start getting into jewelry-making..”

“Oh that’s dope! I love that you don’t settle for less!” he said, grunting as he was competing, then Suzy sliding a point past him, “You definitely are not afraid to get your hands dirty...I think that’s so great!”

Ping ping Ding Ding Suzy let the puck hit the wall and then slide in. She really wasn’t used to being praised like this. It was so refreshing in some way knowing that he was still willing to just talk to her. Even if she doesn’t really say what she really feels or thinks. “Haha..I was letting you catch up!” she blurted out as she bent down to pick up the puck and looked at Matt who looked at her as they stared intensely at each other before dropping the little plastic puck in front of her and checking it off the side towards him.

“Tell me more about your Christmas stream you’re having here instead of in the saftey and comfort of your family,” Matt had said after scoring another point and allowing her to start the volley again.

“I’m gonna hang out, and probably oversee some of the challenges we do on screen, then I’m probably going to just read comments and donations and just interact with my audience,” Suzy explained, “But if you were wondering why I haven’t joined the exodus from this facility like everyone else then that’s because I’m flying out on the 22nd or 23rd so I’m not missing out on all the cute cuddly family fun.”

“Oh...that’s nice,” Matt responds, focusing on the puck. He was interested, but he really only wanted to know about the stream, since Christmas for him was a touchy subject. He would be watching her work and he guesses he could get her food and water and such, but she could’ve asked anyone. Why him? “I already flew out and saw my family. I decided to come back to just have more time to think...At least that’s what my sister wanted for me,” he explained as he dodged her attempts to score, his hands were getting sweaty but he couldn’t let up. Then he feels his phone vibrate in his pocket.

[From: Gabbie Babbie] Hey, are you still with Suzy? [From: Gabbie Babbie] I don’t mean to bother you, just was thinking about you I think... [From: Gabbie Babbie] Idk have fun. Maybe we can try to grab dinner together tonight again. [From: Gabbie Babbie] I just wanna touch your beard lol

Matt scored another point, but then Suzy retaliated with the last 2 points of the game and they both sighed as the game went back to its normal state.

They played another round and then moved on to other games in the arcade. One being a two player game with only one joystick and set of buttons. He had allowed her to mess with him while he was giving a grand effort of a turn to get a higher score. So he had no problem returning the gesture as safely as he could. When the girl was gaining a lead and even past his score, he warned her that the game is going to get really hard. He started to tickle her sides. Fun little finger pokes at first while she beat his score. They set up another game. Suzy lightly feathered Matt’s arms and actually caused him to finish with a score better than either of them. Suzy received air being blown in her ears and her freaking out causing her to jump back into Matt’s arms. She looked up with a giggle, and he looked down, checking her eyes and saw a softer look. Where was her fear of falling? Where was her blind rage that he cheated?

She felt her heart start to jump a little, not from their frolicking, either. His arms were a lot more welcome than she last knew. His touch was gentle on her body, and she felt cradled instead of caught. Is this how his sisters feel? Who would have thought this creep and weirdo would have such a light touch. He’s told her once before that he’s played with his sisters (moreso Hollie) and he would make sure not to hurt them so they knew how to have fun, but that they wouldn’t get hurt because of them. His glasses shining against the lights of the cabinet and the dim light gave it a galactical shine. She was lost in his eyes and gripped him for her fear of falling, but she still felt drawn to him.

This whole ordeal was throwing Matt off balance and it felt like they only stayed like that for a moment. He watched them almost from above himself as they crash back into the game cabinet they were playing, Matt towering over her, his hands propped up on either side of her. He dodged hitting her in the face or falling with his whole weight by simply shifting, and landing on his hip at angles to the other girl still gripping his shirt on his sides. He immediately moved back from the cabinet to let the girl stabilize herself, her hands now going to the ends of the game cabinet, to stabilize herself, while he took her hands off of his shirt. “I...I am so sorry, Suzy. I didn’t mean to make you jump like that, are you okay?...” he said, a clear 5 feet away from her and edging towards the door.

Suzy wasn’t sure what had happened there. She had frozen, but she had also had something come over her. She hadn’t realized that she had been pulling them down until they were falling, their awkward recovery being salvaged by Matt, and he wasn’t being weird about it. She just noticed him scooting to the exit of the game room, and opened her mouth to answer the question, “NO! N-no...I think you should leave..” She hadn’t expected it to come off that way, or those words rather, but there he was, nodding in understanding and escorting himself out of the room to gather his things.

He wasn’t fighting to say it wasn’t that bad. He wasn’t trying to say that she was crazy. He wasn’t trying to touch her again to see if he could make things right. He wasn’t even offering to buy her something special to eat or to drink after the stream when they’d ultimately meet again. He’s just...leaving. Suzy sat and thought about it and knows she made the right choice. He shouldn’t have blown into her ear like that, fucking perv. He’s disgusting. No. NO. She followed him just to make sure he had everything and to maintain some level of their acquaintance with one another...at this point.

Matt walked away, knowing he didn’t do anything wrong and his intentions were good, but the whole thing became a jumble and he’s done trying to make sense of those. His sister said If you want a girl to make up her mind, be nice! And go with the first thing that comes out of their mouth. It’s usually their most clear answer. Then never talk about it again. Don’t make her feel bad for not being able to make a choice, just encourage the girl to have a better one in mind next time. And even though it’s advice from a 17-almost-18-year-old girl, it sounded right. It was easier, too. Better than his approach. His approach branded him as a creep. This one gives him some nobility. He could hear Suzy following behind him and he kept checking his phone and replying back to Gabbie.

[To: Gabbie Babbie] Lmaooo you can touch my beard anytime uwu [To: Gabbie Babbie] Dinner sounds cool, how about tonight if you aren’t busy? Nothing fancy? Just some Thai, I feel like spice tonight [To: Gabbie Babbie] I’m about to leave Gamma now. Just had a super weird interactive moment with Suzy and she told me to get out so I could use a distraction. [To: Gabbie Babbie] Call you when I’m back in Theta.

Suzy stood there, not understanding why she felt so...off. He was smiling into his phone, probably texting a girl, making separate plans for the evening because theirs had just come to an abrupt end. He’s not accepting his loneliness. He’s not even lonely. He’s just indifferent. Suzy knows for him to brush it off and walk away is what he usually does now, but now it also seems like he’s not even that interested in her. All because she snapped at him to leave. She was more so thinking the room and not leave her, but he’s okay with either gesture. She almost feels embarrassed he reacted so politely and jealous that he had another person he’d rather spend his time with- BUT SHE ASKED HIM TO BE HERE. “Uhm!” Suzy blurted out with a small voice, keeping her hand to her mouth, causing Matt to look at her and realize he hadn’t moved.

“Oh..I’m sorry, I wanted to make sure you hadn’t died in there from the beating I’d given you...We should do this again sometime after the charity stream, and under...uhh..better circumstances- which, again, sorry..about that...in there...” he trailed off as he began to hurry through the Gamma common area.

“You didn’t want a t-shirt?” Suzy asked, her face donned a broken smile, her whole body was conflicted on what her curse was to be around Matt like this. Maybe she just like dreamy guys treating her like a cool kid sister. Maybe it’s the beard he’s growing. Or the haircut. Or the glasses. It’s gotta be the glasses. He’ usually doesn’t wear them and he just thinks he can walk in here with them on like it was okay. “Yeah...uhh all participants of the charity stream get t-shirts and merch and stuff to wear, so do you want your t-shirt? Cus I can’t promise you any tomorrow, you know, with Mark and all-”

“Yeah, yeah, I do know,” Matt’s appearance of a deer in headlights quickly subsided when she mentions a t-shirt and an inside joke about Mark, “Uhh..I mean I can still hang here, if you’d like..and get that leftover chinese..and the t-shirt of course.” He agreed and knew exactly how this was going to pan out. It had to get better. Matt had to be able to hold some type of human interaction. He walked over to the kitchen with Suzy and she pulled out the food and let the other take his pick. “So uhh Suzy....is..it okay if I get personal?” he asked carefully filling a dish with food and then putting it into the microwave, pressing in the settings and starting it, leaning back against the counter.

Suzy was surprised he wanted to speak to her and dig into a topic. Here she was thinking that he was almost forced to come here. Whatever, maybe he’s just trying to keep his mind off of what happened earlier. “Yeah, yeah sure. What’s up?”

“Soo..I don’t usually let gossip affect my friendships and relationships, but, and I don’t know how to put this, but uhh..are you Pewds’ concubine or something? I’ve heard a lot about it, but I wanted to check with you on the validity of it,” Matt said, sticking his hands in his pockets.

“WHat?!” Suzy spat, she looked around and walked closer, “Is it that obvious?”

“It’s that true?” he asked back, matching her hushed speech.

“We don’t...I-I mean we haven’t..I just...*sighs* Yes. I’m in cahoots with Pewds,” she admitted after getting frustrated about not being able to sugar coat it. He was the Gamma President after all, “Shane is fine with it and Harlan doesn’t see it much. They just figure it’s a..rough dry spell until they can cuddle up and vacation in the summers and such. It’s really the only time they get to have off. Shane’s always busy with schoolwork and Alpha work and taking care of Harlan, but he knows Felix is busier and needs to relax, and he can’t be there, I guess this is how they figured it out.”

“Oh ok,I understand that. I was seeing a girl who was a double major double minor 5.0, and so she would like only talk to me when she couldn't focus on studying and so I’d like hang with her, we didn’t like have sex very much, but it was fun while it lasted. The only reason I’m not with her right now is because she got picked up by UC Berkley and transferred to go straight into grad school,” Matt explained.

Suzy’s hand was trembling. He was okay with it? It’s not like his opinion mattered that much, but coming from a guy and being told that what she was doing didn’t damn her, felt odd. She listened to him talk about the girl he saw and she couldn’t help but think that he must have creeped her out and she stopped talking to him. However, Suzy had a strange pull that he wasn’t lying. She got the school bulletins, too, and there was a double major double minor 5.0 student at this school that had gotten picked up on scholarship to UC Berkley. Maybe he’s just that good of a liar. She was brought out of her thoughts by the beeping of the microwave and followed the man to the island nook. He sat and started eating, nodding as he slid Suzy his phone, showing pictures of him with the girl, who clearly looked tired and nothing like the polished one in the picture, standing together in a mirror together, another of them getting coffee at the cafe, and another with the two in bed in their underwear kissing. She nodded back, raising her brows in surprise, “You like prodigies,” she commented, “Well, you like them smart, at least. Interesting..eh..You’d have to prove it. And I’d thought that you’d have more of..an opinion about me..doing what I’m doing.”

“Well, it’s not that I like prodigies or that I even like them smart- I mean, well, I do..but that’s not the point. What’s more important is that you expected me to judge you, the only cis-female in an all cis-male house, that it’s wrong you’re having sex with men...in college. Jeez, you’ve gotta relax. Don’t take yourself so seriously, or don’t act like you have to around me. I think it’s hot as hell to have something like that to look forward to...I mean, is he anything like me? Do you guys like talk about things and be there for one another? Cus I understand it’s not a whole big thing, but I’d hope you two are friends. I’d hate to have to be standoffish to Pewds because he’s just being a fuck boy to someone as great as you,” Matt said between bites, carrying the conversation, getting up to the refrigerator and grabbing a drink, then sitting down to continue. He felt that Suzy probably expected to be judged, or she gets off on defying it, either way he knew he just wanted to make sure his friends were happy. At the moment, he looked at her as she had tensed up, “Look at me, talking about me and being overprotective of your well being. You can talk if you’re up to it,” he mentioned, sipping his juice.

“Pew-Felix and I are friends,” Suzy began, fighting the blush on her cheeks, “He comes to me about his marriage and his house problems. Him and Cry going at each other over it and things. Planning events and things. He also just asks me for creative input. Sometimes I’m the babysitter. Oh yeah, I’m definitely more than just some cheeks for the man,” she blurted out in defence. It had been going on long enough that she could say normal things they’ve done, and that doesn’t count for the numerous instances of raunchy flirting. “Yup, your regular brand of rebel!” she joked, sitting back, proud of herself.

Matt giggled at her and cleaned up where he was completely, before going back to her and his drink at the counter. Suzy had came over the counter and was sitting, watching the man move around to cover his presence in her house. He looked at her, cross-legged on the countertop, and leaned back on his elbows next to her, “You’re not a rebel here until you get thrown out of a party, and you barely go to those!” he joked back, nudging her, “However, it raises your quality. You’re usually busy at work anyway. And babysitting would explain some of the times, especially between finals. That’s super duper kind of you. You’re definitely a real well-rounded friend!” he explained, listening to her and watching her face flush with pink. He looked at her and scoffed, “A real horny well-rounded friend. Pull yourself together, Suze!..All jokes aside that was cool how you were able to get in where you could find and got accepted for it. You get to have fun how most girls think they’d be having fun in college. You think you really like him?” he asked, looking at her.

Suzy grunted nervously, "Matt, you're putting a lot of thought into it, when...it's really really not that deep...I'm just friends with Felix sometimes and it's none of your business to be honest. So, like, can you please respect that?" The room rang with silence, causing Matt to withdraw. He stood on the other side of the kitchen now, looking through his phone and finishing his drink.

"I'm sorry," he began, "I haven't been the most respectful of people. It's mostly because I'm not around anyone anymore, so I tend to...obsess. And I really don't mean to be that way. That's why I wanted us to hang out more so that it doesn't happen anymore. I'm just..tired of being isolated."

Suzy looked at him and sighed hard, he very well could be lying. She can't doubt him, and given all the other times he's been very sweet, respectful and accomodating, maybe she was being a little too judgemental of him in that moment. She couldn't blame him for not being around anyone because she wasn't the most socalized person on campus either. She bit her lip and twirled her hair, feeling her chest tighten as she heard the familiar voice in her head. She was briefly conflicted and really thought she had gotten her voice up to tell Matt that she was sorry too, but had just been sitting there pulling at her hair. "Are you okay?" he asked from across the kitchen, scrunching his eyebrows. Suzy looked up and their eyes met, Matt looking at her blankly still waiting for a response. She had softened her stance, looking at the other person. He was so simple and strange and rugged. It all seemed so frustrating in her head, why couldn't he just be one way all of the time?!

Suzy still sat there and Matt grew concerned, but he was really about to leave because he had been totally blowing it. She quietly took in his frame, his energy. He was so soft and non-threatening, it felt nearly easy to be around him, and almost ignore him. Is that what he felt around everyone else? He didn't let the rumors become him, but it had isolated him because people like her would jump to so many conclusions. He'd believe anything you said, and wouldn't fight. Even though he's out for his gain of something so huge for him, she feels like it's not reaching her like that. "W-what about Gabbie?" she said, looking around, jumping off the counter, "Word around town is that you guys are becoming an item." She felt proud to have something to say about him.

"Gabbie and I are hitting it off. However, it's not what I'm used to," Matt began, "She's..as she described..going through a lot of things and she isn't always up for interacting, but if she cares about it in the back of her mind, then it'll show, but it takes some time."

"So...you think..maybe if you spent-"

"She specifically told me to leave her alone unless she asks for me- I usually don't know what it means until I get to see her, and from what I've been into so far, we're taking this...very..very slow," Matt replied, "SO..with that being said, I'll wait for her. Doesn't mean I'm tied to being around just her and when I can't I keep myself isolated; I spoke to my counselor and she said I shouldn't do that."

"Oh.." Suzy was so surprised, and felt rather lousy because of the explanation, and her lack of a rebuttal. He was put together and accepting of the different types of relationships. Maybe it really is lack of socializing. Matt looked at her and then looked at his phone again, then back to her. She felt like she wanted him to look at her, but maybe not look at her. She was so conflicted.

"Are you okay?"Matt asked, leaning over a little.

"N-No.." she said, pulling at a strand of her hair.

"Do..you...want me to leave you alone? Like leave?"

"N-No!" Suzy blurted out, trying to catch her breath.

"How about...we sit in the common area? Is anyone home? They gonna mind the noise down here?"

"Mmm-mmm...everyone's home on break or they're hard-wired into their streams and editing. I'm one of the only like...3 people here."

"Alright. Let's watch a movie or binge a series or something...this silence and everything are cutting into my psyche." ----------------------------------------------------------------- The two made some pizza rolls and settled in to watch an anime. Suzy sat close with him with his arm around her as they watched the show. She would elbow him when something made her jump or she reacted to a twist in the show. Matt would occasionally squeeze her arm and glance over at her as they casually spent hours together. Suzy hadn't realized, but she was so settled into Matt and his hand had moved from the top of her shoulders to the lower middle of her back, which felt amazing. His hand resting on her side ever so nicely, Matt felt so at home and relaxed. He really missed being able to hang out without that apprehension or air of doubt in the way. It was all clouded by the anxiety from him worrying about his hand going too far up or down, whether or not Suzy was comfortable, or even if she'd let him know what to do next.

Suzy had started it: "So..weird question, but..and you don't have to answer, but what's the best sex you've had...by category?" "By category..uhh..you mean like by position or like..by person? Bc either way that list is small and a bit arbitrary," Matt replied, jutting his lower body forward to lean back. "No...I mean like...well, obviously you start by orifice and work your way around to where and who...but like..for example..like...best head or something, then best penetrative sex then the subcategories of front and back-" "But I don't...I don't want it back there..." Matt joked, making them both laugh. "It's..it's fine, but in all reality it's not that bad. You just gotta really want it and stuff." "Ok, I think I get it...So...like the best head I've given was to the girl I was talking about earlier..you know the grad..I don't know why, but everything felt so right and I was in the zone. It may or may not have been because we'd taken adderall, may have not been. She was really into me, though. It was a good study break...Uhh best head I've received was hands down my first ex when I was 19 and she blew me in my mom's truck bed on a date." "Oh wow...Uhhm..well everything I did was mostly with Arin, and like maybe the person I dated a little after...but uhm..yeah I'd known him and been with him since we were teens," Suzy explained, "So it was really good and he didn't mind doing it upon request.." "You guys ever get caught?" he asked, looking at her, "Also I bet you all of your subscription payments that I give better head." "Hmm...well, I wouldn't say better, I don't like the idea of competition..How about if I cum more than once in like 30 minutes? Since sex on average is supposed to be a healthy half hour or so before a break," Suzy suggested, looking up at Matt. She wasn't too serious, at least not consiously, but sitting under him maybe had an influence because she couldn't think. He smelled so good and it just felt so comfortable to be wrapped up in him. Comfortable, though, isn't attraction; so what is she to do?

1 note · View note

houseofvans · 7 years ago

Photo

ART SCHOOL | Q&A with SARA M. LYONS

Influenced by the works by the likes of designer Lisa Frank and Saturday morning cartoons, artist Sara M. Lyons’s illustrations are colorfully eye-catching, vibrant, and filled with fun! Not only ONE thing, Sara also runs an online shop filled with her awesome creations from patches, pins to an upcoming Tarot card deck she’s creating. We’re stoked to chat with Sara and learn about her process, her favorite artists to follow, and about her local art scene in this week’s Art School w/ Sara M. Lyons. Make the leap!

Photographs courtesy of the artist

Hi Sara!, Could you tell us a little about yourself ? For sure! I’m Sara M. Lyons, and I’m an artist, illustrator, muralist and product designer living and working in Orange County, CA!

When did you first get into drawing? Was it a hobby turned career or something you knew from the start that you’d eventually wanna do for a living? I’ve been drawing since before I can remember, and it’s always been something I did for fun, but I never really considered that it could be a career until I suddenly found myself in the middle of it. I didn’t start leaning into this as a living until I was in my late twenties (I’m 32 now), so I feel like I’m still learning the best ways to navigate everything.

Who were some of your early artistic influences? Art mentors? I was born in ’85, so I was surrounded by Lisa Frank and Saturday morning cartoons, and I think a lot of that spirit is present in my work. I also grew up reading Betty & Veronica obsessively, so Archie comics and the drawing style of Dan DeCarlo in particular was what I started emulating as a kid when I was teaching myself to draw. In high school that developed into an interest in indie comics, and I was really inspired by Los Bros Hernandez. I think you can really still see the influences of both of those comics in my character drawings.

You make some much fun and colorful things, for a lack of a better word, from pins to patches to just about everything? What’s some of the stuff that’s in the works now? I love making small pieces of art that are accessible and affordable, and that’s always been my thought process when designing products like pins and patches. I think I’ll always be doing stuff like that, but this year I hope to try some new things too. I’m working on a deck of Tarot cards right now (I released a Lenormand fortune telling deck in 2016), and it’s really exciting to create a bunch of highly detailed illustrations in that context - knowing that when I’m done with these 78 drawings, they won’t be just one-offs going on a wall somewhere, but that they’ll be accessible to anyone who is interested.

Do you keep a sketchbook or work your ideas as you go along? Organized, Sort of, or Complete Chaos? What’s your process for new ideas like? I’d say I exist in a constant state of Organized Chaos. My ideas, sketches, and concepts are spread all over the place - I’m usually bouncing between my planner, my journal, my phone, my sketchbook, my iPad Pro, and my desktop computer, and that’s probably the approximate order of where ideas get parsed out as well. When I’m working for a client, I move really quick, but with my personal stuff I’m a slow starter - I’m both heavy on self doubt and a perfectionist, so there’s often a LOOOOOOONG stretch of time between conception and completion of any given concept. I’m not one of those artists who can sit down and knock out two or three completed drawings in a day. Sometimes I’ll have a sketch on a Post-It in my office or an idea in a note on my phone for over a year before I even start to develop it. But once I really get going on something that I believe in, I get laser-focused.

What mediums do you love to work with? What are your essential art tools? My favorite medium right now is a huge wall - I’ve been working on murals since late 2016 and it’s so much fun and such a complete departure from my usual artistic process!

But my most comfortable, well-loved mediums are digital and plain old pen and paper. Drawing digitally, I used to work mostly in Photoshop on my desktop using an ancient Wacom tablet, but these days I spend a lot more time drawing in Procreate on my 10.5” iPad Pro (rose gold, obvi!). I know they’re not for everyone, but the iPad and Pencil have been a game changer for me creatively - I love being able to sit on the couch watching trashy reality TV while I work on fully layered digital pieces.

But still, sometimes nothing beats the classics. I pretty much exclusively use Canson Mixed Media XL sketchbooks, any size, because I like the heavy paper, spiral binding, and turquoise blue covers. I’ll draw with any old pencil - I mostly hoard and use ones I take from hotels when I’m in on trips - and Microns are my favorite drawing pens.

Who are some rad artists you think folks should definitely check out and follow? I love Jenee Larson’s super distinct style and sassy digital illustrations of petulant ladies - @bobbypinss Bianca Xunise makes the most poignant, funny, personal, emotional diary comics - @biancaxunise Ayaka Sakuranbo is a Tokyo-based artist and I’m obsessed with her whimsical paintings and incredible color palette - @ayakasakuranbo Ashley Lukashevsy makes powerful illustrations with a focus on intersectional feminism and anti-racism - @ashlukadraws Ms. Wearer based in the UK does amazing rainbow-drenched pop art - @ms_wearer Lilly Friedeberg in Dusseldorf is one of my favorite graphic designers; I love her clean, fun sensibility - @elfriede_s Yoko Honda’s work makes me want to transport myself INSIDE the beautiful world she’s created and live there forever - @yokopium

What’s a common misconception about what you do? There’s a lot more “boring office stuff” to my job than most people think. I wish I was drawing and painting and creating all day every day, but in truth I spend like half my time answering emails, fulfilling orders, taking inventory, going to the post office, keeping the online shop up to date, managing all manner of legal nonsense, staying on top of social media, hustling for new work, and so on.

What do you do to take a break from art life and just the day-to-day hustle of running a shop? Drawing is still a release for me, and my husband (@therealjoshr) is an artist too, so it’s not uncommon for us both to still want to be making stuff in our “off” time. When we’re not doing that, we like to do a lot of really grown up stuff like going to theme parks, arcades, swapmeets, and toy stores. We also like taking weekend trips, and I really love being in the desert, so we try to get out to Palm Springs and Joshua Tree as much as we can too.

What can you tell us about the art community around where you are? What’s the art scene and culture like? Orange County sometimes gets a bad rap, but I think it’s a really cool and diverse place to be a creative person. A lot of iconic art and punk rock and culture has come out of this area (just look at Vans!!)!

As an artist today in OC, I feel like there’s breathing room here - the contemporary and alternative art scenes are still growing and finding themselves here, so it doesn’t feel as high pressure as the larger LA art scene - but you’re close enough to LA to get involved in that scene, and you still have easy access to so many amazing shows and museums and events. There’s just something distinctive about Orange County that is hard to put your finger on unless you’ve kinda grown up here. I went to high school in Newport Beach; I’ve lived in Anaheim now for years - of course there are pockets everywhere where those Real Housewives stereotypes are painfully true, but that hasn’t been my overall experience in OC. I love it here and I really hope I can help the creative community here continue to develop.

What’s something you liked to see more of in art? More women in the spotlight.

What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t an artist? Oh my god, probably working on a cruise ship or something. I didn’t go to school and I don’t really have any other marketable skills, so hopefully this works out!!

What are your FAVORITE Vans? It’s a toss up between two SK8 Hi’s - blush pink suede or baby blue faux fur. Don’t make me choose!!

What advice would you give someone thinking about art as a career? This is a super nebulous job choice, and “art as a career” in general is really subjective. Know yourself well, but don’t pinhole yourself. The scope of this creative industry is constantly shifting and changing, and things come in and out of fashion quickly. Something that’s your livelihood one year might become a nonstarter the next. If you can identify and remain true to the things that make you unique as an artist and the things people respond to in your work, the knowledge of that point of view will carry you from phase to phase.

What’s on the horizon for 2018? I’m still trying to figure that out myself! After some major plans I had for this year fell through at the last minute, I’m at kind of a blank slate phase in my career. I have a ton of different ideas and I’m trying to nurture them all to see what blossoms first! I’d really like to paint more murals this year, travel more for events, and continue to develop my more personal illustration work. Something I’m trying to keep in mind this year is that it’s OK to be small - not chasing the giant clients or the big money projects, and just doing work that fulfills me creatively and resonates with the people who care about what I do.

Follow Sara Lyons | Instagram | Website

#Art #Vans #Vansart #Vansgirls #art school #interview #creative #painter #pins #women

165 notes · View notes

britneyshakespeare · 7 years ago

Note

For the music asks: 9, 19, 20, 24, 25, 31, 47, 63, 65, 66 And 69 🌸🌞

i was gonna go to sleep but i wasn’t quite tired yet so THANK you friend this is just what the doctor ordered.

9. Artist/band that saved your life

I’m kinda iffy on that kinda stuff as a mentally ill person whose life has been legitimately at risk before (and on more than one occasion). I totally get, and commend, the way artists and music can inspire and empower a person but to say anyone I admire musically has saved my life is crossing a line, for me at least. I saved my own life. That and my support system by myself most of all. I deserve to be able to say that. I’m gonna have to respectfully pass on this one.

19. A song that gets you through shit

The Beatles, just as a band, I think. I’ve been through a lot with them, for a long, long time. The only musical act in my life that I can confidently say is not just an adolescent phase by any stretch of the imagination. The rest that I love must stand the test of time first.

20. A song to shut everything out

Jerusalem by Sinead O’Connor because it’s epic and it really goes off.

23. A song that punches you in the gut every single time

I don’t know. It doesn’t happen a lot, I have to be very contemplative about a song and in an emotional place. Julia by the Beatles always comes close though.

24. A song that calms you down

Everything Come My Way (1965) by Marianne Faithfull. Just all of it.

wait fuck. it was 24&25 and i copied 23&24. oh well fuck it it’s a bonus.

25. A song that makes you feel alive

That’s probably how I’d describe how pop-punk made me feel in middle school. Then I would’ve said Feelin This by blink-182. I don’t really know how I feel about that song (I remember how it goes, but I haven’t listened to it or thought long about it for many years).

Oh! A pretty good band that still holds up that I liked in middle school, I don’t listen to them much anymore, but Tonight Alive. Their song Revenge & Its Thrills is actually really good.

31. 25 songs to play at your funeral

Oh my gosh… 25. I don’t even know. I don’t like to picture my funeral. Not because I’m terrified of the thought I’ll be dead someday, I’m more or less accepting of that, but I don’t like to think of how I’ll be mourned. That’s not my business. I won’t be there. Maybe I’ll be in some higher or lower realm if there is such a thing, I don’t know. I certainly won’t be occupying a body in a casket with any profound thoughts on the kind of church march playing in the background.

Maybe that’s a little morbid. You can play Live and Let Die by Wings. I don’t know. It’s all that comes to mind. I couldn’t think of 25 for the life of me. Pun intended.

47. A song made suddenly painful because of someone special

I don’t know that I have a lot of someone specials that have ruined any songs for me. I don’t associate people with music very often unless something’s just uncannily on the nose, or if someone introduced a song or artist to me, and even then, it can kind of wear off. I remember when I first heard The Other Side by Tonight Alive in 2013 it reminded me of some guy who liked me in eighth grade, but he was annoying and cocky and just kind of a stereotypical jock in the worst way, but then he moved away halfway through the year and I felt kinda bad for being “mean” to him (read: not wanting to be his girlfriend), and like, every other girl in my grade cried on his last day and they all had crushes on him and I felt really bad and regretful in my own private way. & I was also a shy as hell 13-year-old in whom no boy had ever shown real interest in dating before and of course I was unreasonably ashamed of that at the time, as if that was my last chance for true love or some bullshit. Like no guy would ever like me ever again. For some reason. I don’t know. I was goddamn 13-14, okay? I didn’t relate to the particular personal story Jenna McDougall tells in it but I genuinely felt the weight of missed opportunity on my conscience at the time as it was less than a year later that that song came out. That’s still the first thing that comes to mind when I think of associating people with songs, because I just don’t do it very often. Most of the time when I hear a song I think of unlived experiences and people I haven’t met yet. I picture a little story in my head of something I haven’t done yet.

That should’ve been like three paragraphs but I didn’t both to space it as I typed it so it’s just stuck like that forever now.

63. A song that makes you think about life

I keep dropping Beatles songs but In My Life by the Beatles always does. It’s kinda obvious but I love the autobiographical aspect, knowing about Lennon’s life a great deal, and how it would continue to ebb and flow until his untimely death. His life to me just seems so tragic and unfortunate and inspiring at the same time that it’s hard to believe he was a real person, with the way I’ve always admired him and his work he’s like a mythic figure to me. And also I sort of love the idea of writing about one’s own life through poetry or song. I’d love to do it, and I’ve gone through a great deal but certainly not as much as John Lennon, it wouldn’t be too crowded for a multiple-verse poem it’s just. It’d be so long if I were to go into as much detail as my perfectionist ass is prone to when it comes to writing about things I really care about. And I’m so disorganized I just rewrite things a million times when I’m passionate about them and I end up being indecisive about which versions I like best, and so fickle to whether or not I like my own writing at all. I’m gonna have to be MUCH more emotionally mature and in touch myself if I’m ever going to pursue such a project.

65. A song that you think everyone should listen to

This question feels like a responsibility. I’m tired. I’m just gonna say The Rain Song by Led Zeppelin because it’s unobjectionably awesome.

66. A song that makes you want to fall in love

I always say Here, There and Everywhere by the Beatles but that’s like what. 5 mentions of them. Goddamn I don’t USUALLY talk about the Beatles this much in asks these are just really good questions dgadsf.

Lemme think of something else. Secret Door by Arctic Monkeys and Little French Song by Carla Bruni. There’s two to compensate.

69. A song that reminds you of you

Hmmm. I can’t think of just one song that’d be a good example. Usually I just have affinities for an artist as a person/figure. & I have quite a few, all for wildly different reasons. Marianne Faithfull, Gwen Stefani, Patti Smith, Reeve Carney, Bob Dylan, maybe Alex Turner. Maybe. Or I just have a really big crush on him it’s hard to tell.

Thank you so much!!!

send me music asks

#god bless you if you knew i was gonna ramble this much #yerawizardjimmeh #dianswered #long post

3 notes · View notes

just-one-string-in-a-silent-sea · 7 years ago

Text

Bobby Roode x Reader (Requested)

Request: “Do you believe in aliens?” & “Hell hath no fury like a woman on her period” with Bobby Roode

Word Count: 1,604

Warnings: Mild language

A/N: So Bobby Roode is such a cute little nugget but I love him but anyway look guys I’m finally doing requests and it only took me 17 and a half years. Well guys, enjoy this because it took me forever to do it

When you had started as a makeup artist and costume designer for the WWE, obviously they started you with NXT, because everyone who was everyone in the WWE started on NXT. You’d been doing your dream job with NXT for almost two years when you finally got the call that you were wanted by the blue brand: Smackdown, and you’d accepted, because who in their right mind wouldn’t?

You had watched wrestling since you were a kid, and when you graduated technical college with a specialization in clothing design and all of your certifications to be a cosmetologist, you had known that WWE was where you wanted to be, and call it a lucky shot, you’d caught the attention of the one and only Sandra Gray, the head of costume design for the WWE, and like that, you ended up on NXT, helping to design costumes and makeup looks with the big shots.

It was amazing, nerve wracking, crazy, and yet you loved it. The thrill, the excitement of seeing a costume in action, the satisfaction when a wrestler gave you a huge smile and gushed about how much the loved it. You wouldn’t trade your job for the world, but sometimes it had its stressors. One of these, happened to be the one and only Bobby Roode.

You’d been on Smackdown for all of two weeks when the news that Bobby Roode was coming to Smackdown hit, and you internally groaned when you’d found out.

Back on NXT, you’d never worked with Bobby, but you’d heard the horror stories. The rhinestones, the glitter, the need for everything to be “glorious.” From what you’d gathered, he was a terribly nice man, but he was a perfectionist, often sending his costumes to be changed three or even four times. No one had ever pleased him on the first try.

You prayed he wouldn’t be your assignment, but no such luck, and here you were, walking to a meeting with Bobby, carrying two cups of coffee and your briefcase slung across your chest.

When you entered the meeting room, Bobby already held a pen, and was writing on a piece of lined paper.

You set down your coffee, and Bobby stood, noticing your presence.

He smiled, and you looked at him. He had facial hear, trimmed and kept well, bright blue eyes that shone out of tan skin and laugh lines. His teeth were almost fluorescent white, and his nose crinkled a little when he smiled, it was adorable and you couldn’t help but shoot a smile back.

Bobby stuck out his hand, “Hi, I’m Bobby, I don’t think we ever met when we were on NXT.”

You shook your head, “No, we haven’t. I was mostly in charge of women, and a few men with simple costumes,” you cringed at the thought of working with the brute that was Pete Dunne, “I’m (Y/N), nice to finally meet you.”

The glorious one smiled and nodded, and went to sit down, but you stopped him.

“Would you mind if I took your measurements first? Then we can start on design?”

He smiled again and nodded, moving to the side of the meeting table, and pushing his chair out of the way so you had some room to walk around him.

You took him in, wearing a blue Smackdown shirt and a pair of black basketball shorts. He was built, that was for sure. His chest was broad, shoulders broader, and his hips narrow, however he had a slightly large butt, which you stifled a giggle at as you walked around him a couple times and then pulled out your measurement tools.

As you started to measure him, you started up a conversation, “So is it fun? Being on Smackdown?”

He chuckled, “Never heard it put quite that way.”

“What do you mean?” You asked, wondering if you’d said something wrong, but Bobby just smiled.

“I just mean most people don’t really describe it as ‘fun’,”

“Well, maybe they should. My job is fun, why wouldn’t yours be?”

He nodded, chuckling again, “Yeah, I suppose it is fun, but nobody talks about that. I’ve always enjoyed wrestling anyway. I could be performing in front of 2 people and I’d be happy. It’s been a little crazy to adjust to this huge fan base that just showed up overnight, you know? You don’t realize just how big the WWE universe is until you move up from NXT, right?”

You nodded, listening to him intently as he talked. His voice was smooth and deep, it had a very relaxing tone.

“Yeah, you got that right. Do you like it better than NXT?” you asked, writing down his measurements and sitting down, which he followed.

“Honestly, sometimes I miss NXT, but I think it’s just because I’m new. You ever feel like that?”

You looked at him, meeting his eyes, which had a shine in them you couldn’t recognize, “Yeah, I do, but let’s not talk about me, tell me what you’re looking for in a costume.”

Three hours later, you had a page and a half of notes and 4 sketches, which had been difficult to accomplish, because for some reason all he had wanted to do was talk about other things, but nevertheless, you had what you needed, and it was time to start building.

Over the next three days, you found Bobby was following you, showing up in your workshop at least once a day to ask how it was going or try to get a peek at it, which you never allowed. You always pushed him away, and slowly, you found yourself forming a friendship with the glorious Bobby Roode, and you enjoyed his company more than you liked to admit. He brought you food most of the time, either your favorite candy bar or some buttered toast, which you had offhandedly mentioned was your favorite breakfast treat and midnight snack. It kind of amazed you he’d remembered, if you were being honest with yourself.

The two of you talked while you worked, sometimes falling into comfortable silence, sometimes Bobby read to you. He always seemed to have reading material in his hand, either a newspaper, a magazine, or a book. The Monday after your meeting the previous Friday, he read you some of Macbeth, Tuesday he read to you about a world record that somebody in Pittsburgh had broken, and Wednesday he read an article about the making of athletic equipment.

Four days after your meeting, you awoke in your hotel room to find you’d bled through the sheets, and you groaned, already knowing that this visit from Aunt Flo was going to cause some sort of chaos.

You shambled into work in one of your NXT t-shirt and sweatpants, carrying coffee in your hand and your briefcase.

When you stepped into your workshop, you almost went into cardiac arrest, as Bobby was already there, sitting on a folding chair across from your work table, flipping through an issue of Sports illustrated and munching an apple.

You walked past him, setting your things on the ground and finishing your coffee.

“You know that stuff is horrible for you, causes all kinds of internal issues,” Bobby spoke from his chair, and you tried and failed to overcome the mood swing that possessed you.

“You cause me to have internal issues you prick,” and then you clapped your hand over your mouth, horrified you’d been such a bitch.

Bobby just looked up and chuckled, “Jeez, I’d forgotten that hell hath no fury like a woman on her period,” he said, tossing you a king-sized kit kat, which you caught.

“How did you know?” You asked, and Bobby gave you a look.

You sighed, “Yeah, you’re right.”

“So how’s this costume coming?” Bobby asked, standing and walking towards you.

“Well,” you said, smiling, “I have your robe ready if you want to try it on…” You held it up, and Bobby snatched it, scrambling to put it on and then rushing to the full-sized mirror. You watched him inspect it, smiling and leaning back against your table, he looked happy.

He turned, “Well, (Y/N), it seems you are the first costume designer who has pleased me first try,” He said, walking over to you and standing before you.

You reached up to straighten his collar, “I’m sorry for snapping at you.”

“You’re alright, I know you didn’t mean it.”

You scoffed, “You don’t know me that well.”

“Maybe I want to.”

Your head shot up to meet his gaze, and his smile made you blush, “Well for heaven’s sake all you had to do was ask, you know?”

“Yeah,” Bobby said, stepping closer to you and wrapping his arms around your waist, “But this is more fun.”

He leaned closer to you, and he fixed his eyes on your lips. The two of you drifted closer, but when you were only millimeters away you spun away from him and walked to your table, “So do you believe in aliens?”

Bobby laughed, a sound that made you smile, “Yes, I do actually.”

You grinned, “Me too.”

Bobby was going to learn very quickly that this wasn’t going to be as easy as he anticipated.

#wwe #bobby roode #bobby roode imagine #wwe smackdown imagine #wwe smackdown #wwe smackdown superstars #wwe superstar #wwe x reader #bobby roode x reader #wwe superstar imagines

61 notes · View notes

asbiecat · 7 years ago

Text

Spring Developments (It's supposed to be Spring right now, right?)

So, in the past few weeks and in the upcoming month there's a lot going on!

Publishing:

I sent The Haven in to my publisher last month and they sent me a contract for it! Everyone's signed it and I'm currently working on the marketing and cover questionnaires while the publisher does their own editing of the manuscript.

I did honestly consider self-publishing because of discussions I had with other authors at conventions over the past few years, but ultimately, self-publishing means I have to find and commission my own cover artist, perform my own layout editing for both print and ebook, still have to do my own marketing after all of that, and would mean I'd be cutting ties with a community of other writers. Plus there is a stigma about self-published authors in the writing community still. It's annoying and unjustified, but it's there. Maybe it's something I'll pursue on another book, but I think that Division 53 is going to stay with Soul Fire Press.

I'm feeling a lot better about the process in general because they agreed to update the proof of The Dark, so all of the errors will be GONE. I'm so happy I could cry. The super loud perfectionist in me is just thrilled. I have other issues with The Dark still, but that's because I've matured as a writer and has nothing to do with editing. However, if I spent all my time fixing old stuff I'd never get anything new written, so ONWARD.

I'm going to fill out the marketing and cover questionnaires for The Hunt as soon as I finish the ones for The Haven, just because it's a lot of work and even if the forms change or whatever, most of the information will already be ready and won't be slapped together at the last moment. The Hunt is in beta stage right now. My first early reader already did an alpha test of it and so I'm rewriting 1/4 of the book. It will be done this year. Hopefully it'll be published this year too, but we'll see how it goes. I wrote 18,000 words in it last week before I switched gears and reread The Dark so we could update the proof, so I don't think finishing it will take very long.

New Books:

Last night/early this morning we (me and two of my awesome early readers) named the brand new fourth book! After the The Hunt, the next book will be called The Shield. There was a whole list of candidates that we sorted through, debated, picked apart and ranked, and ultimately decided on The Shield. It fits on several levels and fits in nicely with the other books in the series, so I'm happy to welcome it. ^_^

For anyone who has read these books BEFORE The Dark was published, I highly encourage reading everything that comes after it, regardless of how familiar The Dark may have felt. I have changed some huge things in the series - people who got married before aren't now, children that existed before don't, massive story points have been changed, people who were neglected before have been fleshed out and given deeper personalities, the whole D53 system has been developed further than ever before, and I have real villains with recurring roles/motivations throughout. I also feel like I have grown exponentially as a writer. The Dark is too long, drug on in places, and the people - although better than they used to be - just aren't as mature as they could be. I'm not looking back though. Even The Haven is better by a long shot, and I intend to make all the others continue to improve!

Public Appearances:

Early next month (May 4-6) I'll be at DemiCon in Des Moines, IA to sell The Dark and hopefully advertise pre-orders for The Haven. This audience for this convention is definitely well-matched to D53, so I'm hoping it goes really well. I'll also post some art there, and my con buddy and early reader, Megg, will be there in the dealers' room with me, dressed as her favorite character, Hitara (The Streets/System). I'll be dressed as Teffifa again for a good portion of it. We'll see how long I can handle her work attire without overheating. That leather is WARM.

On June 24, from 1-4:30 p.m. I'll be attending a Local Authors' night in my hometown, Dubuque. It's being headlined by my teacher, Heather Gudenkauf, and is taking place at the city library, which I've always loved. I'm really looking forward to this as well.

Otherwise the only other con I have on my radar for this year is LitCon in Cedar Falls, IA, in the fall. DBQCon is cancelled this year. Next year I hope to hit a great deal more and have three books to put on my table, not just two!

If there are any other conventions or literary nights that you know that you think I should check out, comment or message me so I can put it on my list!

I'm feeling really good about writing right now, even though I have a ton of work ahead of me. I'm so excited to finally have new content to share with everyone, and I hope they love it as much as I do. ^_^

#Division 53 #The Dark #The Haven #The Hunt #The Shield #Editing #Writing #Publishing #Selling

1 note · View note

ratherhavetheblues · 5 years ago

Text

INGMAR BERGMAN’S ‘SUMMER INTERLUDE’ “Get the lead out, little lady!”

Way back, when Ingmar Bergman was a hack by necessity, he found himself (being an acute student of Hollywood flutter) ready at last (around 1950) to speak his piece. The vehicle he chose for this debut, namely, Summer Interlude (1951), involves all the treachery and emotional violence mowing us down for the next forty years. Although his portfolio would include marvelous instances transcending destruction, those marvels would be hedged in a way that protracted evil would seem to triumph on planet Earth. But what is planet Earth but a sick puppy in face of the infinite potential of the cosmos? In the days of Summer Interlude, however, we should not neglect the singularity of heartiness putting in a dynamic (perhaps) never to be seen from him again. This singularity is the special gift and the special task of our film today.

Whereas, at the outset of a saga like Bergman’s Cries and Whispers (1972), there is a piercingly beautiful rendition of the grounds of a large estate in early morning light, only to become promptly swallowed up by vicious interaction and horrific physical decline and death, the tyro matter goes to sheep-dog persistence to show us that an agency of uncanny love is very much in the mix. Not being able to deploy (as with the film of 1972) remarkable chromatic effects, our preamble reveals an estate of some opulence, rich foliage including daisies in bright sunlight and gentle breezes, benign white clouds and, particularly, a body of dancing water with a rocky shore to be displaced with the sea looking back toward the now distant structure, touched by a carefree flute motif. (The last detail to note here, is three chevron-form windows at the mansion’s upper floor. That they resemble jaws as well as a formation of dialectics indicates how early Bergman’s instincts for synthesis were in play.)

Plunging right through that whimsy, only to engage more whimsy, there is the harbor of Stockholm and its flotilla of tour boats and ferries to be supplanted by a bicycle parked at a curb while leaves dance along the sidewalk. Promptly we enter a ballet theatre and its hubbub, which could have shattered the intuitive dance. That it doesn’t, has to do with the two ancient, long-term office functionaries, first seen receiving a package for the prima ballerina, Marie, and shooing off a reporter claiming, “She’s [Marie’s] expecting me.” With this mundane buzz, there emerges, by way of the courier/ messenger, a surprise: “What’s that smell?” Though the more assertive sentry claims that there is no smell, there is the delivery boy pressing the case, “You’ve lost your sense of smell, friend.” (With that, the discoverer pushes his hat into a rakish angle. This action tends to confirm that the reporter—his tabloid called, “The Year Round,” being about the usual—is dressed to resemble a whimsical and eccentric Hollywood detective with his trench coat and rakish fedora.) The smaller of the two sentries comes to life with, “Something does smell funny!”—something in the air we should take seriously. The rotund top-cop loses his temper about that volatility and yells out, “That may well be, but no outside brat’s gonna be telling me that! I’ve worked at this theatre for 40 years…” An in-crowd shaping up, disinclined for change. The delivery to “Miss Marie,” by the second-in-command, becomes another rakish motion, this time not so tacky as the poses of American tough guys. The boss-sentry rips open the curtain behind which he directs traffic and instantly there is the little old flunkey ripping open Marie’s dressing room and presenting her with the package. The shock of that gusto links to the mysterious “smell,” invading the ordinary with a type of acrobatics. (Here we have the comedic outset of what will become, in The Seventh Seal [1957], a blue-chip uprising against arrogant insiders.) In support of noticing that a dance is in force, somewhat supplanting the rigid activity of the ballet, we have a number of dancers in tutu costumes, seen from below on a rather precipitous catwalk down flights of narrow stairs. Almost simultaneously with that rush to a dress rehearsal, we hear a loud, grinding noise filling the hall. This also coincides with Marie’s opening her package to be jolted by the diary of a former lover who died while she watched him carelessly dive into a rocky seaside, along a trajectory of compromising distraction and superficiality which he—not she—could have averted. This unexpected arrival eclipses the work in progress. With everyone in place except her, many of the bemused run to the sense that Marie is losing her grip. We hear, “Something’s going on with Marie. Everyone says so!” (A cut to the stage curtain, and it strikes us as dark and fussy with frills.) Marie is induced to return to be a team artist, but her escort, one of the many support staff needed to satisfy a pedantic culture, worries, “There’s something strange in the air today! I told the missus so when I woke up. The weather and all, and I had a strange dream… Something’s going to happen, I feel it coming…” After a short passage with the premiere (the dancers performing the ballet, Swan Lake) and during an expectant musical thrust, the lights go out.

The on-again, off-again lighting is “some king of glitch,” necessitating an evening dress rehearsal. But the “glitches” we’ve just experienced speak to an agency—always there but seldom noticed. Surely the arrogant ballet master alerting Marie that there is to be a lull in the workplace that day and going on to be viciously rude toward an elderly woman helper of the dressing room, would be missing in action regarding that agency. (He tells the ballerina, “I’m cool.” But no one’s fooled about that, since cool is the medium of disinterestedness, also known as acrobatics.)

We’ll follow how Marie spends that rest, and whether she amounts to anything better than the laughable wannabe. She goes out, but before that she stops at the phone booth at the doorway, to connect with the man from “The Year Round” [the everyday, the common]. She can’t reach him. But can she reach the pattern of meteor-passes on the phone booth glass? On hearing from the decades-long bouncer that he had bounced her date, she spits out, “They should send you packing!” That being exactly the register of the “cool” one. The hapless doorman remarks, “There’s something hard about her.” Marie bumps into the person of interest while yawning, and meandering along a sidewalk. She complains to him, “I’m tired because you won’t let me sleep at night.” Thus, ensues a bitter row about preoccupation with career, culminating with him telling her, “I can’t stand old sourpusses!” She has carried along the diary, and when, at the docks, passing a tour boat ready for an excursion, she is rallied by a crewman calling, “Get the lead out, little lady! Are you coming or not?” She can’t resist a bid to shake things up, to recapture what she imagines to have been the heights of love. A sprightly harp motif joins her windfall along with the sunny sky and lovely seas, in addition to a white wake and white smoke from the chimney, conspiring with the white clouds. She enters a precinct of thrilling space, serenity and its brave instincts. Pensive, while the boat skirts a forest, she could be seen to be an artist of vast promise.

On reaching her destination, she finds the key to a small and decrepit cabin, where she sits on a dusty cot. She closes her eyes and recalls a summer day 13 years before, when she graduated into the corps de ballet, by way of a celebratory performance. “A day like no other day of the year!” But she had to include, within this treasure of skill, the complaint, to one of the trainers, “That was awful! The orchestra played too slow…” Her listener replies, “Don’t try that one…” [to cover errors by blaming others, resorting to place others at a disadvantage]. She then shifts the advantage game to the form of, “It didn’t go well…” [I’m a perfectionist without peers]. The more mature correspondent here covers the cut-throat’s vanity with, “No, but you were brilliant…” All he gets in reply is, “I’m going home to have a good cry.” Frustrated, his retort is, “You do that.”

Marie may have been in the spotlight here. But her account includes another male backstage, smitten by her sensuous presence and early authority. He’s quickly disposed of by the larger sentry, before being introduced. But we should know right now (before succumbing to overkill from the measure of wholesomeness this movie packs) that Marie, for all her impressive resolve, is locked, as is most of the population, into life-long superficiality, with occasional faint hope being to no avail. And yet, this Bergman standby will in fact be tempered—not simply, as with the usual drama over the years, a demolished gem—by a perpetual vector of efficacy (a glitch), notwithstanding having been virtually never taken out on the road. Whereas the young admirer, far more capable of real artistry and power than she, will die in the course of taking her too seriously, he will have deposited, in his diary, the wherewithal (and he is not alone in this challenge) to shut down a gigantic farce. We do need to notice and celebrate the many upbeat moments, because their sunniness is quite unique in the works of Bergman. And thereby we are enmeshed in a critique: on the order of loosening up (somewhat) the good stuff.

Out she goes (in her reverie), on the same boat she would use after the quarrel with the reporter, for her summer holiday, and who should be seated next to her but Henrik, the finder of celestial apparitions. She remarks (not exactly a calling card), “It’s cold.” His shy and awkward reply is, “Are your legs cold, miss? I mean, since you’re a dancer…” He goes on to declare, “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” After sorting out each of their positions on the Stockholm Archipelago, the impressiveness of Marie’s home takes precedence. He jokes, “Yeah, the Manor. Gruffman [his large poodle] and I used to raid the orchard there.” This brings out more coldness in the ballerina: “Perhaps our paths will cross, if only if you come to raid the orchard,” she stakes out a far from equitable intercourse.

Now that we’ve floated the crisis (a much lower key than that of, say, The Passion of Anna (1969), we’re treated to Marie’s susceptibility to cogency when alone and heeding “glitches.” She wakes up on the cot to be welcomed by a foursome of intense squares of light upon the wall. (The makings of a twosome without attitude?) She hums a happy tune while putting on her bathing suit, and then she opens wide her arms to the sun. She carries a long fishing pole to her rowboat at the dock, and we regard her smoothly rowing from a seagull’s perspective, which is also the perspective of disinterestedness. Who knew? We’re treated here to a play of rallies, the likes of which are very rare in the Bergman catchment. She drops anchor, puts a worm on her hook and falls asleep in the molten sun. A cuckoo sings. (No matter that her endeavor here comes to naught. This film has opened up a very long-term payoff.) The splash of Henrik’s diving into the waters nearby wakens her to a divided result. She is amused by his whimsy; but also displeased to feel exposed that she can’t handle the rigors. “Hello, again,” she takes up a form of pecking order. “Swim, miss?” he invites, perhaps having taken umbrage with her seeing him as a thief. “Too cold,” she maintains. “Try,” he argues, all smiles. And therewith Marie finds a way to put him at a disadvantage. “Think we could drop the formalities?” the modernist tweaks the old-fashioned. She takes further control by asking, “Do you like wild strawberries?” And away they go, with a harp fanfare, to her place. “No one knows about it.” While they are enjoying the treats, a bird calls so furiously that she becomes confused. He shrugs it off with, “I usually call it the summer vacation bird.” (One other aspect of the wild things in this skirmish is Gruffman, the dog, in the process of losing his special fluency with the boy.)

As the summer goes very wrong, Marie makes a point of having nothing to do with Gruffman’s equilibrium. On hearing from the college boy of his having been shunted off by his divorced father to a rich and hateful aunt, Marie tries to bring to bear her vision of soaring virtue. “I love blind kittens, don’t you? And babies… And people that other people think are ugly. And mice, of course.” (How close to Anna, the martinet of “Security,” in the film, The Passion of Anna, is Marie?) As an afterthought formality, she adds, “and poodles.” How much did she care about Gruffman? After Henrik’s death, she demands having the deep creature put done, with the slimy concern, “The poor thing shouldn’t have to live” [in malaise].

Henrick’s not feeling that his concerns are getting across to her—“It’s just that people don’t take me seriously…”/ “Oh dear,” she chuckles, “is it really as tragic as that?”—prompts him to declare, “No one cares about me but Gruffman…”/ “Really,” she mocks./ “No,” he insists, “only Gruffman!” The conversation continues to fall short of serious connection. “What about me? Do you care about me? Would I have brought you here if I didn’t?” is her infantile rationale./ Even a freshman could smell that glitch. He politely replies, “I’ll have to give that some serious thought.” Serious thought, about a gulf, crashes into him immediately, by her happy face, “I’m never going to die.” Not content with pushing around the population, Marie has no qualms about pushing around the cosmos. And before leaping to the conclusion that she’s a dancer, period, we should be alert to the possibility that her moments of vision at the beginning of the morning might just touch upon an agency—far from about forever alive—which could move a headstrong dancer-laborer to recognize that powers do surpass and sustain mere human physiology right up to a right death. “I may get really, really old, but I’ll never die.” Henrik, after fielding this matter of incredible self-concern, shares his very different sense of “serious thought.” “While, I’m scared… Scared that I, Henrik, will suddenly fall over the edge into something dark and unknown.”/ “Why do you talk like that?” she complains. He explains, “The feeling just comes over me [a glitch], clear as can be…” He smiles, having in fact reached the same territory of Marie’s gratitude; but from another, more visceral angle. “But it’s interesting, don’t you think?” Henrik looks for a link. She smiles uncommittedly. But she does manage to maintain, “Hey, Henrik, I think we’re going to be friends.”/ “I think so too,” he hopes. (Here, we should delight in the helmsman’s great craft in theatrical dialogue, casting light where darkness has prevailed.)

This high ground proves to lack traction. Here she is, back to her default zone at the estate, receiving, from a rich uncle who hopes to bed her one day, an expensive bracelet. This Uncle Erland, an amateur classical pianist of some finesse, grows his hair patrician-long; and, in the midst of it, he installs two strands of white curls which set the table for the kind of synthesis Marie and Henrik struggle to master. Erland, teased by Marie that he lusted for her now-deceased mother, trains his rationale toward a supposed supernal gift which Marie’s actress-mother possessed. Marie, in her most sustained register, teases and triumphs, “And is the bracelet a token of my artistry?” Her uncle, frequently drunk, advises, “We’d run away, you and I… and live life to the fullest… seize the moment and hold it tight…” In reply, she maintains, “I already seize the moment and hold it tight.” Her patron dismisses that arrogance, telling her, and laughing, “You think so, poor dear? Lucky the man who will teach you. There’s so much to life…” The lunch dissolves with her coquetry, seen often, no doubt, at many affairs. But rushing to the traction involving Henrik, , she finds that he had been once again trespassing and overhearing the minor cynicism. (Erland’s wife, regarding with him her racing off, states, “She’s run off, dear Erland, and you can’t catch her.” Sometime after the death of Henrik, he will reel her in, for a while.) A frosty new friend greets her, and Gruffman doesn’t even look her flighty way. She uses the dog as a ventriloquist’s doll: “Gruffman, why’s he mad?” Clearing the air, she refers to the gift-giver as merely “an old codger,” and adds, once again, “Is it as tragic as all that?” She cuddles up, and then pushes him into the nearby waters. “I got you!” she adds. A cut reveals the three returning in his canoe. Her voice-over, covering the scene as Henrik wrote in his diary, emphasizes, “One night, after a scorching summer day of blazing sunlight, there was an immense silence that reached all the way up to the starless vault of heaven… The silence between us was immense as a well…” Hopping gracefully from one small purchase of the treacherous surface to another, she induces Henrik to follow suit, which he does. (Two forms of poetry.) The friends lie on their bellies upon the flat rocks. She adds, “The rocks are still warm. His contribution—“Everything seems unreal tonight, don’t you think?”—elicits from her, “It’s beautiful” [beautiful as a bracelet?]. A small “glitch” having come to concentration for her, brings to her: “We’re inside the same bubble… It’s so beautiful I could burst, break into pieces and disappear without a trace [“I’ll never die” a poor fit for this understanding]… You know, kissing must be fun…” His response, “Must be, since everybody’s doing it” [in sexy Sweden], once again doesn’t find them on the same page. He thinks out loud, “Everything’s so difficult, and all connected somehow… Marie, I like you. I’m in love with you, and all that… I mean… You must think I’m stupid. I’m just a damned fool. A damned coward!” And once again she drops the ball. “How does it feel?” she asks. (Not the big picture; but, “How am I doing to brighten your melancholy?”) “What?” he wonders, is she talking about. She clarifies, “You said you’re in love with me.” He, wanting to drop the subject going nowhere that could work for him in her context, puts out a slap-dash cliché, “You feel it in your chest and stomach.” This brings her to the failing of poetry, and she laughs at him. Having a miserable time expressing the subject by duress, he struggles with a quicksand of language. “You’re knees feel like they’re full of applesauce, and your toes curl up. But it’s mostly in the chest.” (Bergman’s ironic bite here involving a possibility to make amends, given long enough time to live. She, facile most of the time, amends, “In the heart.”) “I don’t know what,” he puts an end to the revealing farce. But he politely asks, “What about you?” She, having been accorded all her life the license to duck out of conundrums, rudely shoots back, “Who said I was in love with you?”/ “You’re right,” he acknowledges—and this would have been his cue to do something else during his vacation. But from her perspective there was nothing more interesting here than toying with reflection. She comes up and puts his arm around her shoulders. “I think it’s in my skin,” she gets around to replying to his asking about the subject. “I want you to touch me and stroke my skin with your hands…” As he moves to kiss her, she rushes away, whips out a cigarette, hands it to him and they proceed to toss flat stones into the inlet. Far from the creative acrobatics stalking this film, the rippling of the waters doesn’t catch fire. Then they canoe, and their return is bemusing. She marches straight on to the dock, leaving the more evolved two to bring the awkward craft to steadiness. Their land route passes cherry blossoms and a peacock, but they meet the beauty with less than incisiveness. (Traction missing.)

Now both of them needing a new outlook on life, they visit the salon of the estate of Erland. “He’s probably a bit drunk, but don’t worry about,” are the opening notes by her aunt. They sit on a polar bear rug, and listen to Erland tell of, “Your mother, Marie, used to dance for me on evenings like this… when it was quiet and still, and moonlight filled the room …” (Less than celestial? Or once celestial?) He moves on to, “Now all the clocks in the house have stopped… We were alive in those days…” Marie escorts Henrik to the garret room where she is supposed to work out every day, during the closure of the ballet. Here Marie, in voice-over, reads Henrik’s read of the moment. “It was the ship’s horn tooting in the distance, and other things echoing too. The silence and the anticipation… The blood whispering in our ears. A strange mood set in… almost like a melody [a musical progression]. A new room opened up in our minds…” Then she resumes the jist of her leaden factuality. “Two crows talk in the trees every day at 4 a.m. They’re quite sweet… Then your “summer vacation bird” appears…” Henrik is recalled as responding to this introduction, “You sound like a museum guide…” She responds with, “I think we should kiss each other…” The choreography of her gleaming eyes, his soldiering forth, and his ending on top of her on the carpet is indelible, not requiring any additions. Henrik gently touches her cheek. Then a deep kiss and a pan to Gruffman with his own saga of alienation. A cut to the morning, discloses only their arms and hands reaching upward and touching, as if a primer were found to be a better bet. Marie, as if to disarm any notion of her being not so bad, becomes a radio soap opera ingénue. “Now you have a lover… How does it feel? Exciting? I’m sure you’ll tell your friends. Will you boast about us?” Properly miffed by this violence, he says, “I can’t give any guarantees. But we will get married.” She commands, “But now! How do you feel right now? Haven’t you longed for this?” He once again admits having had fears. “And you’re not now,” she probes, being almost a selfie about making a splash. On hearing that he’s no longer afraid, she has to brag, “I’m never afraid of anything!”

That gross overestimation becomes the mantra of her dark solution to form a happy ending (for her) within their deadly reconnaissance. She covers his mouth as he adds, “I am” [afraid]. That cover will launch her woodland theatrical regime, going lickety-split to shed an unsupportable endeavor. (Gruffman’s being a steady source of love becomes almost totally lost in the shuffle.) And they race to the shore—Hollywood-intensity-style—early rebels without a (viable) cause. A piccolo motif applying a whip, we see them on the lake, she in her stolid rowboat, they in their lyrical canoe. Then to the vicinity of their cabin-castle, where he lifts her over his head as if on the ballet stage, the Romantic-era fantasy so wrong in this world of very hard acrobatics, and only then deploying juggling which might catch fire. A rain shower leads to them hunkering down on the cabin cot. Marie reads the unwelcome passage, “Days like pears, round and lustrous, threaded on a golden string [onscreen, a stormy sky… a church]. Days filled with fun and caresses, nights of waking dreams. When did we sleep? We had no time for sleep…”

Pan to Marie in real time. She finds Erland in his kitchen. He tells her, “Nothing’s ever surprised me in my life.” Boarding the boat back to the rehearsal, the sway of a lamp lights up more reverie, the reverie of her putting her foot down. It begins with her on pointe, working out in the garret. The arrival of Henrik and Gruffman is nothing but an annoyance. “So, it’s you two…” The two visitors sit on the floor feeling hated. After a while, Henrik says, “You don’t care about me. I’m always waiting for you.”/ “I’ve got a job to do… Fine… Just say the word…” She reasons, “We’ve been together night and day for two months… Good lord, you’re a pain today! Here I am groveling and apologizing… Just go. I’m fed up with your moods…” [moods being their real “job to do”]. She does engineer a truce upon this shaken basis, telling us, “I spent the whole day looking for him…” She finds him at his hostel/ mansion, where an influential aunt and a clergyman with a big hat, remind us of the trials of Alice in Wonderland. (This being another instance of lazy mood headed for LA.) Their being addicted to chess opens the door to Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. As if a marvel of paradox, the grandee claims, “I like living. That’s why I’ll outlive the bunch of you! Nevertheless, I still feel like a ghost.” Marie passes on the invitation to enjoy the “port.” Also, part of the awkward standoff, the divine states, “This may seem ridiculous, but I have the strange feeling I’m rubbing elbows with Death himself” [a reprise of the frissons at the outset].

As if now the Red Queen must rule, they encounter a fizzling fireworks display, move on to the cabin and play dubious razzmatazz vinyl discs, which bleed over to early Disney animation (by her) drawn on a paper sleeve. The show (while they drink their diminished milk) features them: Gruffman, made to sit down, while the lovers flirt; Gruffman becoming the fat sentry; and the old lady’s chest of money coming their way. The last vignette has the chest of money, the preacher and a wedding not happening. The chest changes to the big sentry, the ballerina becomes morose, and all that is left is Henrik’s sailor hat and a ballerina being the dying swan of the ballet, Swan Lake. From there, she declares, melodramatically, “Listen, it’s so quiet. Suddenly, everything went quiet.”/ “Maybe we’ve landed on another planet,” is how Henrik now unhappily reveals his capitulating to Disney. “An alien planet,” Marie piles on [about to claim a victim]. They crawl out of the little doorway, bathed in moonlight (doing its best). The one never afraid of anything becomes uneasy about a crying wind. His attempt to calm her, while having bought into her bathos, slides along to, “Such fine breasts you have, miss!” That jag of witlessness culminates with her, “As for me, I’ll be faithful as long as I feel like it. And since I always feel like it, I’ll be faithful till doomsday.” (The register here is just to the left of pre-Code-Hollywood.) There is a loud bird call. “What an ominous sound!” she shudders. (One person’s shudder being another person’s glitch. Both of them miles from their personal best, while personal becomes a disease.) He, dragged along by her cripplement, says, at this point of worn-down traction, “Don’t you recognize the eagle owl?” Oblivious to the puerility they have contracted, there she is, “I don’t know. I just feel like crying tonight. It’s like a toothache in my soul.” Hollywood forever, she emotes, “Hold me so I don’t break into pieces!” He, never realizing embracing a crash, replies, “My little darling. My love. My dearest darling and beloved friend. Hold me tight. Tighter. Let’s stay up all night until the sun rises, and the trolls burst…”

It’s the morning of the supposed Olympian love cake, and he’s ready to keep the so-called magic alive. He scampers to the top of a picturesque ridge overlooking the pretty waters, and takes flight. The rock face he rocks leaves him close to death. Gruffman comes to his struggle to right the ship that might have resolved to something she’d never become. By the time she arrives at the hard facts, he tells her—all poetry lost—“My back!” (His “back,” his second front of deadly and ravishing truth, if only he could have steadied it, becomes a fitting epitaph to a young adventurer.

The conclusion of Henrik’s life is not quite the conclusion of Henrik’s being a player in Marie’s life. The saga’s last moments comprise the lovers, in a Stockholm hospital room, where he regains consciousness for a few seconds before dying. Her strongest emotion is horror, not love. She had arrived wearing a chic, shiny black leather coat, giving her continuity with the American melodramas she had burrowed into at the end of the summer. (Similarly, she suggests here an oil slick.) Her retreat from the hospital, with no further concern toward any sequel, is as stagey as it is incipiently uncanny. Piling on the pushy “mystery,” she and Erland (he having secured the diary) create a film noire parade along a corridor while exiting the mishap. First there is Marie, enclosed by shadows resembling prison bars. Following her, like a gumshoe, there is the silhouette of Erland pulling on his European habit like a cape. From out of that delirium, she condemns Gruffman to death and allows Erland to confirm her sense of being cheated by life, resentful nihilism. “I’d spit in his [God’s] face!” The uncle/ paramour, holds forth with, “Protect yourself, build a wall around yourself, so the misery can’t get to you.” She tells us—the diary segueing to the career of a prima ballerina of questionable quality—“That’s how I forgot Henrik… In the end, I wasn’t just protected but locked inside…”

That trace of self-criticism needs thirteen years to yield a pitiful “recovery,” as problematic-heavy as noir is problematic-light. The evening rehearsal proceeds nicely; but Marie’s concentration remains divided. The sentry informs her that the “hack” with the trench coat had been at the door again, “but he left.” She assures those ancients that she saw him. This surprises them inasmuch as, “it didn’t make her happy either…” In her inner sanctum she’s visited with eerie features of décor; but “it didn’t make her happy, either.” A visit from one of the leaders of the company, trying out his disguise for the figure of Dr. Coppelius—wherein the latter attempts to bring to life a puppet—has the same haplessness, concerning lightening up, as the décor did. “You don’t dare leave, yet you don’t dare stay… You see your life clearly just once… when all your protective walls come tumbling down. You stand there naked and cold… seeing yourself as you really are… I can see it in your eyes” [that you have had such a brush]… Then the hack obtrudes; and a hack interplay, from both “lovers,” ensues. She asks, “What do you think of the two of us, really? We’re nothing to write home about.” She comes to a point of veering. She blurts out, “So now, Henrik…” The voice of the street pounces on this, “Is my name Henrik?” She replies by handing him the diary and telling him to read it overnight. (What would come of it, she has no idea; but she would be forming some possibilities trailing out to others.) In a voice-over, this time not manufactured by Henrik, she tells us, “I feel like crying all this week and next… Crying away all my shabbiness… and all this wasted time… [But] Do I want to cry at all? If I really look deep inside, I’m actually happy!” (She puts out her tongue to the mirror she has been subjecting herself to. The Hollywood soundtrack only approximates her mood.)

All we pretty much see of the next day is a bit of the performance of Swan Lake. One twist shows the noire lover backstage during the bittersweet saga. Did he read the diary carefully? Probably not. Marie, in a lull where she’s not onstage, brings him to a place of rendezvous and she touches his cheek. Then she’s back onstage where her steps bring her to a rather awkward pyramid of less than sublime acrobatics.

Does the oracle in the Dr. Coppelius disguise speak truth about, “You see your life clearly just once?” How about three or four times? Would that be a life? How far could Henrik (a very early version of the Dr. Borg, in Wild Strawberries [1957]) have gone, were he never foolishly became in awe of Marie? From here on in, we must ponder the vast subtleties of this neglected open door of a film by Bergman, having slammed perhaps a bit too forcefully his clowns. It is well and good to measure the horrors of “virtuousness.” But interludes of magic there bring to bear a second front, and its acrobatics and juggling.

#ingmar bergman

0 notes

lovelornrocketscientist · 7 years ago

Text

Name: Dr. Leopold James Fitz

Warm, action-oriented and driven by the desire to be loved and admired, the Leo have an air of royalty about them. They love to be in the limelight, which is why many of them make a career in the performing arts.

Traits: Kind-hearted, energetic, optimistic, straightforward, loyal, headstrong, egotistical, possessive, dominating, impatient, arrogant.

Comment/Accuracy: He’s not royal, optimistic, straightforward, headstrong, impatient, egotistical, possessive or dominating. He’s minimally arrogant, definitely loyal and kind-hearted. He’s not at all interested in attention or limelight. He does want love and admiration but only from those he’s close to. Accuracy: Meh, 1/10

ISFJs are interested in maintaining order and harmony in every aspect of their lives. They are steadfast and meticulous in handling their responsibilities. Although quiet, they are people-oriented and very observant. Not only do they remember details about others, but they observe and respect others’ feelings. Friends and family are likely to describe them as thoughtful and trustworthy. ISFJs, or "Protector Guardians", are most concerned with taking care of people by keeping them safe and secure. They are modest caretakers who do not demand credit or thanks for their efforts. But while they are essentially compassionate—and in fact exercise more patience in dealing with people with disabilities than perhaps any other type—their shyness with strangers can lead others to misread them as standoffish. Only among friends and family may this quiet type feel comfortable speaking freely. ISFJs are serious people with a strong work ethic, not inclined to self-indulgence. They believe in being meticulous and thrifty. They work well alone. While they may enjoy taking care of others, they do not enjoy giving orders.

Comment/Accuracy: This is him. 10/10 accuracy.

☝️ Four Temperaments: Sanguine | Melancholic | Choleric | Phlegmatic

Type descriptionYour temperament is melancholic. The melancholic temperament is fundamentally introverted and thoughtful. Melancholic people often were perceived as very (or overly) pondering and considerate, getting rather worried when they could not be on time for events. Melancholics can be highly creative in activities such as poetry and art - and can become preoccupied with the tragedy and cruelty in the world. Often they are perfectionists. They are self-reliant and independent; one negative part of being a melancholic is that they can get so involved in what they are doing they forget to think of others.

Comment/Accuracy: 7/10, none of the others fit him as well. The only one that comes close is Choleric but that’s really not him as much. He’s a combo of the two, really, with more Melancholic.

Hazel Tree Meaning: Creativity, Purity, Honesty

August 5 - September 1 If you are born under the energy of the Hazel, you are highly intelligent, organized and efficient. Like the Holly, you are naturally gifted in academia, and excel in the classroom. You also have the ability to retain information and can recall, recite and expound on subjects you've memorized with amazing accuracy. You know your facts, and you are always well informed. This sometimes makes you appear like a know-it-all to others, but you can't help that; you're genuinely smart and usually know the right course of action because of your impressive knowledge base. You have an eye for detail, and like things to be “just so.” Sometimes this need for order and control can lead to compulsive behaviors if left unchecked. You have a knack for numbers, science and things that utilize your analytical skills. You like rules, although you are typically making them rather than playing by them. The Celtic tree astrology sign of Hazel joins harmoniously with Hawthorn and Rowan's.

Comment/Accuracy: This sounds like it could easily be Simmons but I do think he’s picked up some of her traits over the years. He does tend toward being a bit compulsive but not about his perfectionism. He’s not a rule-maker, he’s a rule-follower—unless it conflicts with his inner moral code. Accuracy: 8/10

August 5 - September 1 Salmon signs dive deep in their inner waters for inspiration, bright visions and dreamy perspective. They are naturally intuitive but they don't make a big deal out of it. These people have a unique view of the world which makes them some of the community's best artists, poets and visionaries. Some times they dive way too deep for the rest of us, and some just can't follow where they swim. But that's okay, the fish sign needs that kind of depth, isolation and introspection because when they come back up for air, the world is awed by their brilliance and insight.

Comment/Accuracy: He always tests out creative and I agree with that but they only seem to consider art, poetry and that stuff to be creative. He’s creative in a more technical way. He has big ideas within his field of interest, which is cutting-edge tech. He is a deep well of a human being and he really doesn’t make a big deal out of anything, really. He’s a salt-of-the-earth genius which is quite the dichotomy when you think about it. Accuracy: 9/10.

Comment/Accuracy: He scored almost exactly the same number on all these. He scored almost nothing on Performer or Leader. He got a pretty high score on Hunter and a low score on Spiritualist which I think is only because he’s a romantic. My personal opinion is that he’s a Caregiver because he does put others’ needs before his own all the time. He is a Thinker, a Creator, and an Educator but none of those things really define him. It’s almost a toss-up between Caregiver and Helper. He really is both of those to a large degree. I’d probably go with Helper if he weren’t such a romantic but he has a great need to protect his loved ones and so I’ll go with that as his defining character trait. The nature of the test is such that I really had to make my own call. Which seems to defeat the purpose of having a test in the first place. Accuracy: 2/10, because this test kinda sucks.

Caregiver

The quintessential characteristic of a Caregiver type is the desire to take care of others. For this reason, Caregivers may be drawn to the long-term care of children or the elderly. Though some Caregivers find their need to nurture satisfied by raising a family, many others seek out work in such venues as schools, hospitals, and animal shelters. The long-term care of those with Alzheimer’s, autism, and mental illness often becomes the responsibility of Caregivers.

If you recognize yourself as a Caregiver, you may already have noticed the tendency to put others’ needs ahead of your own. This trait makes it essential that you go out of your way to take care of yourself as well as those around you. Remember that you’re no use to others if you’re not healthy or fit enough to help them.

You are loyal to the extreme, and you guard those who are entrusted to your care with your life. Fighting another person’s battles can be important if that individual is unable to stand up for themselves, though you should be cautious not to disempower those in your care by not allowing them to do things for themselves.

Your empathy allows you to understand nonverbal emotional signals. This ability will tell you when someone needs your help, and how best to assist them. It is common for Caregiver types to intuitively know what someone needs at any given time.

Helper

You can find Helper types at the scene of an accident, behind the counter in a shop, or doing laborious work—such as garbage collection—jobs that others feel are beneath them. From fruit pickers in California to hospital staff in Boston, Helpers are everywhere.

Helper types have plenty of common sense, and a pragmatic approach to problems that ensures things get done. With their no-nonsense, roll-your-sleeves-up-and-get-the-job-done approach to life, Helpers keep the modern world rolling. Without them, our cities would grind to a halt, and the infrastructure of our societies would crumble.

If you’re a Helper type, it’s important to find something or someone you can devote yourself to. For that reason, dedication to a career, partner, family, or friends will come easily to you. You might even throw yourself behind a cause, like getting someone elected, or ensuring that a ballot measure gets passed.

As a Helper, you are unlikely to seek out a leadership role, since you’re probably happiest diligently working behind the scenes. Many Helpers will spend long years in the same job, proud to have never missed a day of work. On the downside, your soul’s desire to be of service can get you into trouble since it can be hard to say no, and you may become overwhelmed by all the tasks you take on.

When it comes to expressing emotions, you rarely allow yourself to get too carried away. Being stable and grounded means keeping a strong attachment to the Physical Plane and not being distracted by flights of fancy. Your purpose is not to change the world, but to keep it turning smoothly.

👌 Hogwarts House: Gryffindor | Hufflepuff | Ravenclaw | Slytherin

Comment/Accuracy: I’ve taken this quiz many times and he’s been sorted into every one except Slytherin (unless I’m doing it for The Doctor) but most often he comes up Gryffindor, sometimes Hufflepuff, and occasionally Ravenclaw. I will call him Gryffinpuff. What can I say? He’s a hatstall.

I’m content with him as a Gryffindor. It’s definitely in him and he’s developed that over the course of the show. I think the hat knows all and put him in Gryffindor to challenge him. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it.

Neutral Good You are more of a modern kind of good. You are willing to break or use the law to defeat those you see as evil, and, though you prefer the truth, you are willing to lie to get those who are evil imprisoned or exposed. If you are working for an evil villain, you most likely are using him as a way to stop greater evils.

Comment/Accuracy: On that particular test, he comes out as Lawful Good but I don’t agree with or accept that. He’s actually Neutral Good and he’s tested out that way on every other test I’ve taken like that. It’s not the best test in my opinion. I took this one. [x] Thumbs down on that particular test in the first link. It seems skewed toward lawful.

Beaver Characteristics: Reliable, Ethical, Determined Beaver Top Careers: Engineer Notable Beavers: Alexander Graham Bell Comment/Accuracy: 9/10 accuracy

👎 Life Path Number: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 22

Seeker of Knowledge: As a Life Path 7 you are always looking for the answers. Whether the question is big or small, doesn't matter, it’s the glory of finding the answer that drives you. This can lead to some interesting journeys during your life since you tend to seek spiritual or inner self understanding.

You tend to do this journey on your own and can live inside your own head for lengths of time. You can see situations from many different angles. This is great for careers that requires you to analyse a situation solo, or weed through large amounts of data.

However, because of your desire to process things and stay in your own head, it can take a long time for someone else to get to know you. This can make relationships difficult to flourish and maintain. You are highly sensitive, but shy away from emotions that may be foreign.

You Get The Last Word: You tend to be in positions that allows you to give the "Last Word" on a subject because you are often considered an authority on the subject. Careers that you should consider, if you haven't, include: Lawyer, Judge, Clergy, Scientist. These careers and careers similar to them will work well for you because it allows for the time to process things in your head and allows you to be in a position of authority.

Comment/Accuracy: This doesn’t seem entirely accurate, but of course, it’s numerology. *snorts* I give it a 5/10 accuracy.

☝️ Brain Lateralization Test: Left 64% | Right 46%

Right Brain||||||||||||46% Left Brain||||||||||||||||64% *results won't usually add up to 100% as this test measures each side separately.

Left brain dominant individuals are more orderly, literal, articulate, and to the point. They are good at understanding directions and anything that is explicit and logical. They can have trouble comprehending emotions and abstract concepts, they can feel lost when things are not clear, doubting anything that is not stated and proven.

Right brain dominant individuals are more visual and intuitive. They are better at summarizing multiple points, picking up on what's not said, visualizing things, and making things up. They can lack attention to detail, directness, organization, and the ability to explain their ideas verbally, leaving them unable to communicate effectively.

Comment: I don’t know about this one. Fitz is very visual and intuitive. He’s good at visualizing and making things up too. He does not lack for attention to detail or an ability to explain his ideas verbally. His inability to communicate stems solely from his emotional problems. He is articulate, literal, good at understanding directions, and anything explicit or logical. He doesn’t have trouble understanding emotions—his or others’—or abstract concepts. He’s a freakin’ physicist, he gets abstract, okay? He does get lost when things aren’t clear and sometimes very subtle forms of communication lose him. He doesn’t doubt everything not proven. He’s very open and seeking more truth via science.

Accuracy: Questionable? 5/10? He’s really more balanced than that.

Tagged by: @corinnebaileyrp Tagging: @secondchaircellist @whydoyouthinkileft @aldrnaari @frombehindpaleeyes @spitfiresurvivor @ms-potts-to-you @whiskeyandtwoshotglasses @byscience @blindlygifted @electrokinetic @whyarewewalking

#with my own comments and test ratings with hand symbols #this is kind of a mess but have fun?#( fitz. ) » about »» ⸨ 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘐’𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘰𝘯𝘦 ⸩#about #( headcanons. ) » ( 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 )#headcanons #long post

6 notes · View notes

gam702mjordan · 5 years ago

Text

Game 1. Part 1 (Ego is the naughtiest of private parts).

I have spent the first two weeks of this project running in circles, twisting myself into knots and feeling figuratively petrified by the prospect of creating something. The cause of stemming from many things; the fatigue of the mind that has been left idle for too long with the hyper critical inner voice that tell you that every idea you have is garbage on backing vocals.

Starting this project was particularly difficult for me. I was trying to generate ideas that would fit, and nothing was working. Why I found it so darn difficult is most likely because I have never created under constraints before, and while yes: thematic constrictions are there to push me as designer to come up the unique ideas despite having a strict outline to follow. For someone that has never done game jams or the like to have imposed on them for the first time is one doozy of a learning curve. The ideas that did come to me where pedestrian at best, and way beyond my technical expertise. Historically this has happened to many times, I should know the techniques to tackle it by now. Instead I unconsciously fell back on areas that I know I am adept at, which is note taking. Thus, I began a separate project which had little relevance to the project and was more akin to professional development; it was not conducive to project creation. I made pages and pages of notes on everything; narrative design, paper prototypes, writing for critical reflection, reflective language, beginning writing projects, outlining methodology, designing for boardgames, many notes in writing for interactive fiction. I was terrified of getting things wrong or not making something good enough that I just worked myself into a panic. That, right there is the thing, the ego gets in the way, especially since I’m now on a masters and working with people that are far further ahead than I in their technical, artistic and creative fields. You want to create works that mean something and show how gosh darn smart you are. And sometimes that not the case, you just must make something that works and is playable and stop trying to make everything have like 12 level of metaphor to it.

I played around with a few ideas at first, a board game involving some newlyweds that by a haunted house and as they try and move in and fix the place up they are confronted by a poltergeist that grows in power as it gets more angry at the couple. It would be a game that would rely heavily on resource management, characterization and an emotion mechanic in which the player would employ a mechanic Comparable to hit points, but fear points instead, as the ghoul frightens them they lose points and gain them as they overcome and fail at obstacles in gameplay. While this might have been the easier choice, for someone who historically doesn’t play board games, I felt that this was the harder option for me to get on with as my frame of reference is zero.

The idea I really liked was an interactive fiction game in which the player takes the role of a women who inherits a house, a real fixer upper. Unbeknownst to the protagonist the house is alive and doesn’t want to change and will essentially try to kill her as she is fixing areas of the house. Having a simple win lose diverging narrative system wherein the player must pick the right choices to make it through to the happy ending or just die. The themes of the story obviously being about DIY. From this I came up with the idea that she should have just left an abusive relationship and using the fixing of the house as a way of cleansing herself and as a metaphor that infers that as she fixes the house, she fixes herself. Then before I know all these metaphors are crawling out of the woodwork (albeit organically), and then you have this massive pile of heavy themes, you want to use all of them because you like them and you wat to talk about them and sometimes you just can’t, or the story takes on a life of its own, and becomes to long to organically put into a small prototype without it being jarring or disjointed. Some stories demand to be told in their entirety otherwise it’ll be a downright injustice to the piece. I am annoyed with myself that I focused on this one area for some time and put loads of work into, creating scenarios and maps of the layout of the house and such, and I can honestly say that I desperately tried to make it work, it caused me a lot of anxiety, so I’m putting that idea in the vault for later, because it’s true and interesting and plays to my strength, but right now it’s unmanageable.

Then we had the ideation lecture and the techniques I learnt form it is what helped me come to my final idea. I felt I should keep it simple and play to my strengths, which Is comedy, in particular- dark comedy. Through a personal study session I came up with the idea of doing an interactive fiction game in which a teenage girl from stoke invokes a demon to help win her the heart of a boy in her year at school, but instead gets possessed and her father being the practical sort, attempts to do his own exorcism and from there it devolves into a farce. I know I can do farces, and while it may not say anything meaningful. I know I can make something that might maybe make at least someone laugh .

My single biggest problem is myself. I am a constant perfectionist. I am always trying to shoehorn ideas together so that the piece of work says something evocative, and sometimes that just doesn’t happen. This time I feel into that pitfall once again. I continued working on an idea because I felt I had put to much time into it to just give up on it, because of that I had worked myself into a frothy frenzy. While the notes may have helped me get to a place where I can start, they mostly constricted me into thinking that I needed to stick with the piece that I had put a lot of time into.

Next time I will trust in the myself and the knowledge I have accumulated. As I was reading and writing the notes my brain was telling me that I knew this stuff already and It was my ego that was telling me that I needed to brush up on the thing because I’ve been out of the any sort of creative endeavour for a fairly large amount of time.

And Sometimes you’ve just got to kill your babies and put them in a safe place for later.

0 notes

adrabbleofkpopcoffee · 7 years ago

Text

Hi, can I please get a create my day ship with BTS? Something along the lines of how he would realize his feelings/confess? Or if you’ve written a lot of things similar to those kind of ideas before, you could write something else if you have another idea that you’d like to write?

I’m 155 cm tall, have long straight dark hair and brown eyes. I’m usually dressed pretty casually in something like black skinny jeans and knitted shirts. I’m openminded, polite ,creative,softspoken,kind,friendly,introverted,calm & quiet(I can be pretty quiet even when I’m close to someone, but I also have days when I’m very talktaktive). At first I can seem cold/awkward because I’m shy/quiet/in my own world. I’ve been told that I seem like someone who has a responsible, calm, sweet and gentle personality. I’m pretty independent and value authenticity and dislike burdening people with my problems. I always try to be friendly but sometimes get slightly anxious in some social situations as I find it difficult to make conversation with new people (I try to hide that, though).Also, I’m kind of easily distracted and don’t always notice things in my surroundings. I like to paint (actually just art in general, like photography, etc),play piano (I’ve mostly played classical, though),travel,read,be w/friends,sleep,watch movies,listen to music & dance. I’m a major homebody but I do like going outside on adventures and I love travelling. I’m a huge procrastinator but I’m also pretty ambitious and perfectionistic so I’m often feeling like I’m not working hard enough whilst like… procrastinating, haha. I dislike inconsiderate and judgmental people who cannot/don’t care to put themselves in other people’s shoes. I really like skinship and cuddling but only when I’m close to someone. Thank you!

Namjoon from BTS would realize his feelings for you. I think Namjoon is someone who would really appreciate the shelter you would offer from all of his stresses and thoughts. It wouldn’t matter to him if you were reserved at first; he’d get to know you at an intellectual level, and then, as you both grew more comfortable, at an emotional level. As someone who values open mindedness, Joonie would constantly seek you out as a person he can discuss ideas and thoughts with whenever he needs to, even ones that don’t contain much weight. These conversations might even span hours, as you and he lapsed in and out of silence, simply content in each others’ presence. Sometimes your tendency to hold your problems to yourself would stress him out - he’d always want to be the Superman in your life - but Namjoon is also mature enough that I think he’d step back and let you come to him after making sure you knew he was always willing to listen. He’d be constantly amazed by your artistic abilities, and also be cheering you on whenever your procrastination got in the way. Namjoon would be pretty happy to do anything with you, be it staying at home and watching a movie or going on a hike or taking a few days off work to travel.

This is how the realization and confession would occur: The blast of AC is a breath of fresh air as you and Namjoon stumble into his apartment, retreating from the heat of the day. As much as you’d enjoyed driving to and from the mountains (or, more specifically, driving to the mountains and then protesting as Namjoon insisted on driving back) your car’s air conditioning had quit an hour outside the city on the way home. Given your already sweaty condition - hiking through a forest couldn’t exactly be called a relaxing activity - the sweltering car ride would have been unbearable if not for your travel companion. A soft smile curling across your lips, you glance at the man in question, just in time to see him go to unzip the backpack he’d brought on the trip - and jerk off the zipper in the process. The dismay on his face makes you laugh, and he sighs before setting the bag to the side. “I might be cursed,” he states matter-of-factly, and though you shake your head, Namjoon continues. “First my shoe this morning, then your car, and now this bag. And that on top of everything else I’ve broken.” A pause as he contemplates the zipper in his hand before he asks seriously, “Do you think curses could be real? Or are they just a product of peoples’ need for a higher power to be involved in their luck and misfortunes?” You snort softly, but it isn’t long before Namjoon drags you into a mild argument that must be happening for the sake of happening - you know Namjoon isn’t a firm believer in luck or anything like that. The plan had originally been to head home right after dropping Joonie off, but you find yourself curled up next to him on the couch, not quite touching. You’ve changed out of your hiking clothes into something a little more comfortable, jeans and a slightly oversize shirt, and you’re honestly not sure how much time’s passed. He’s put a movie on but neither of you are paying much attention, your words moving easily over the low volume of the TV. As you look at him, arching an eyebrow at the most recent speculation he’s throwing out, you try to ignore the gentle ache in your chest. It’s been growing for several months now, and it seems to get worse when you’re alone with him, almost to the point where it’s easier to just look away. So you do, drawing your legs to your chest and hugging your arms around them for comfort. You’ve already admitted to yourself that you like Namjoon, like him in a way that’s more than simple friendship, but you also know you’re not going to say anything. He’s incredibly busy with university; bringing another complication into his life wouldn’t be fair, to say the least. At least you do get to hang out with him quite a lot, you remind yourself with a sigh.

His eyes are fixed on your face, and Namjoon can only be relieved that you don’t notice his staring. He’s had many occasions to appreciate the fact that small details tend to pass you by - mainly when he’s dropped or fumbled with something and you’ve made no comment - but today he’s especially grateful. This is the first time you’ve spent so long together alone - getting close to the whole day now - and each passing hour has just made him feel more and more… well, more. He has thousands of words in his vocabulary, and yet as the conversation trails to the most recent book you’ve read, your face morphing into a quietly excited smile, he can’t find one that quite fits the feeling in his chest. It’s fondness, definitely, but how can fondness walk hand-in-hand with panic and a strange, thrumming sort of tension? The sensation has only grown since the first time you met in the university’s music room, and frankly Namjoon is a little reluctant to put a name to it. You’re so composed, so self-reliant, it’s a little intimidating to put that feeling into a thought that involves you and, well - him. After a moment he shifts, barely holding back a sigh, and runs his finger over his lip in one nervous motion. Which is a mistake, because it makes him think about your lips, and everything involved with that, and abruptly, like a surge of electricity that’s short-circuited his brain, Namjoon realizes what he’s doing. Overthinking. He’s overthinking this so damn much. You’re sweet and kind and he doesn’t want to put you on the spot, and he doesn’t want to put himself on the spot, and God knows he doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable, but - But you’re sweet, and smart, and so, so comfortable to be with, and he really doesn’t want to keep pushing that fact away. His sudden throat clearing has you pausing, eyes drifting uncertainly towards him, and Namjoon flushes in embarrassment with the realization that he’s interrupted you. Well. Too late now. His hand finds his head, fingers running in quick, calming strokes through his hair, and as you ask him if something’s wrong, Namjoon takes a deep breath. And he let’s it out, and he let’s out his feelings, too. “I’m - today’s been awesome, Y/N. I mean, that’s no surprise, since it’s been a whole day with you.” He laughs, awkward and sheepish with the complement, and the ache in your chest becomes sharper. Sharper, that is, until he hurries on. “Seriously though, Y/N, right now, just, I really don’t want today to end. Because, you know, I’ve read a lot of stuff about - about liking someone, about love, but I don’t think anyone’s really done it justice, just - just based on how I feel right now. And even if they have, I kind of want to experience it for myself, because that’s the truest way to understand something, and… well, I think I already understand, a little, but I want to understand more. If that makes sense at all,” he finishes in a great rush, and laughs again, self-deprecating. For a long moment that stretches thin and soft, like beams of sunlight across the floor, you stare at him and find no words to say. Because you do understand, the flood of words made perfect sense to you, and you’re a little scared to say anything at all, anything that might be selfish or hurtful or just wrong. And when you realize you’re smiling, and Namjoon is smiling despite your silence, you can’t help but love how much he understands, too. Gently Namjoon reaches out, takes your hand shyly in his own. “What I’m saying, Y/N, is that I like you. A lot. And I hope you like me, too.” And suddenly those simple words crash against you, exactly enough, and with a soft, slightly awkward, slightly bewildered - but entirely thrilled laugh - you shift so that you’re leaning into his warm side, and that’s all you need to say.

**Ahh, this request was so cute! I’ve actually never written a confession create my day, so I was really happy to do it. I hope you enjoyed it, that you liked the ship and the scenario itself, too! I was caught between a few ideas, but I’m hoping the softness of this one was okay. Thanks so much for requesting!**

~Admin Day

#kpop ship #bts ship #written ship #bts written ship #create my day #create my day ship #submission #the-dreamer-doer

4 notes · View notes

theseventhhex · 6 years ago

Text

Kevin Garrett Interview

Kevin Garrett

Kevin Garrett twists up soulful tradition with singer-songwriter spirit, lush instrumentation, and alternative adventurousness. The Pittsburgh-born Grammy Award-nominated artist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer echoes the kind of grit meant to be smoothed out only on vinyl and emanates the ambition of a 21st century festival draw on his 2019 full-length debut, ‘Hoax’. His brand of bold and blunt soul unfolds on singles such as ‘In Case I Don't Feel’ and ‘Faith You Might’. Kevin Garrett is perpetually an artist to watch. Introduced to many as a collaborator on Beyonce’s ‘Lemonade’ album, the Pittsburgh native has amassed a solid audience of his own following two EP releases, sold out US and UK headline tours and a strong support history including Mumford & Sons, Alessia Cara, and James Vincent McMorrow. In an industry surrounded by repetition and pressure to change, Kevin Garrett holds true to himself while continuing to evolve the model as an artist and songwriter… We talk to Kevin about having restraint, Frank Ocean and performing on Stephen Colbert…

TSH: With ‘Hoax’, were your intentions once again to get specific emotions and reactions and put them into songs to see if they resonate?

Kevin: The general concept of my songwriting and expressions whatever the message I’m trying to get across all normally falls under the same umbrella. For me, personally, the reason that I write music is for myself. It’s more often than not the only way that I’ve been good at expressing things from my own point of view. I also put it out for everyone else to see if there is anything that resonates.

TSH: Was the notion of you talking to yourself a communication tool that you used to find catharsis in your music making process?

Kevin: Yeah, I mean you just try and get around another corner and then there are a bunch more corners to get around. I just take it one step at a time. My opinions on the turmoil and madness in the world is something that I’ve kept to myself because I’m just an entertainer. The real reason I write is to pull apart a specific set of emotions and I then analyse those emotions and unpack them for my personal realisation.

TSH: What sort of simplicity do you look to imply with your instrumentation?

Kevin: The one thing that I have always sort of lived by is the idea of restraint and the beauty of watching something breathe on its own, rather than trying to fill every void with another sound. This paired with a conscious commitment to making something analogue and very organic created a sort of cinematic landscape for the body of work for this album.

TSH: How rewarding was it to have collaborators on board for this record that were as passionate as you were?

Kevin: It was so gratifying. I had a very eclectic group of musicians that live in the same world as me to help me out. Rob Moose, Buddy Ross and the singers from Third Story were all great. It’s rare to find people like this in the music industry. These days I feel like we’ve fallen to the fleetingness of success and the root of it still has to live in quality over quantity. However, we went into the session with 13 songs and came out with an album that was 13 songs long - nothing got cut. We stuck to what we intended to make all along.

TSH: What sort of incentives and direction did you have in mind as you readied the track ‘Warn’?

Kevin: I wrote that song Mississauga, Ontario with a guy named Frank Dukes. It was written in a very similar way that I wrote ‘Pray You Catch Me’ where it was all lyrics first and then I’d scratch stuff out so it fit the melodies that I would come up with. I guess it was almost like erasure poetry. Also, as soon as I wrote that song in 2016 I knew that it would open the record, especially with the nuance and subtleties that were in the lyrics. In addition to this the structure of song builds really well to the rest of the music.

TSH: Is ‘How Dare We Fall’ one of the songs that you want your listeners to interpret and come at from different angles?

Kevin: Yeah, I actually think it’s the case with the whole record - you can look at it and move in a 360 degree sort of fashion - the listener can look at similar experiences from different lenses. That song for me in particular evokes some feelings of anger and frustration, but it’s up to others how they perceive it. I feel it has a different energy compared to the other songs. It was an opportunity for me to step out of the more perpetually sad box that my others songs are in.

TSH: What sort of qualities of Frank Ocean do you admire mostly?

Kevin: I don’t know Frank personally; I’ve only met him once or twice, but I admire him so much. Whether he’s doing it deliberately or not, with his music there’s a very visible and heavy measure of intention. It seems like he’s very purposeful and deliberate with the decisions that he makes, but somehow he manages to do it effortlessly, which is so cool. His last record took the less is more route - there were not too many drums or production on some songs and that’s something that I am really fond of. He truly is a generational talent, that’s for sure.

TSH: Are you still passionate about how social media is challenging us in a bad way and that it’s filtering out real communication?

Kevin: Yeah, it’s a double edged sword in many ways. I don’t see many pros anymore, it’s mainly just cons. Social media has for better or worse become more than half of my job. I like having the opportunity to communicate with my fans and other artists because some of my touring opportunities have come through direct messages on social media. Nonetheless, the more that we have become bound to our screens, the more it’s sort of just eliminated the element of listening to stuff with real intent. The way that people consume music now and watch things and the narratives that get created via social media even though they are real or not have become this sort of false advertising. The conversation I want to have about social media is less about how it helps me and more about how it’s not really helped anything in general.

TSH: Do you get much time away from being creative with music?

Kevin: Well, lately I’ve just been trying to drown myself in my work. Where I’m at currently in my life means I need more constant distractions. It’s nice to get outside and stuff, but I don’t necessarily like going outside because there are people there, ha! I’ve recently been trying to hone in on what I need in my life and working on just being more creative and burying myself in this type of lifestyle.

TSH: Judging by your Instagram you’re a cool uncle when you find spare time...

Kevin: Ha! Well spotted, and thanks for checking it out. I wish I was an uncle but that’s one of my best mates’ kids and I’m like the fake uncle, haha! When I’m in Brooklyn I try and see them as much as I can. He’s been my barber for six years and we’ve become really close. I hang with them as much as I can. I have two younger sisters, so we’ll see how long it takes before I become an official uncle! In the meantime, I’ll steal others peoples kids to be there uncle, ha!

TSH: What was the experience like in performing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert recently?

Kevin: I can’t speak for every artist but that kind of stuff is very high pressure. I’m already very sensitive enough as a person; even a twig breaking can tilt things over for me. I remember that day was particularly stressful for several reasons. However, when everyone on my team and Stephen and his team was telling me how great it was, it was enough for me afterwards to take my perfectionist goggles off. There was a moment when they were turning the whole lighting system on in the theatre and it felt surreal because I was introduced to some of my favourite artists and bands watching Letterman in this very same theatre. So to perform there myself was amazing. Also, just being there for Stephen and watching his team work their magic and to see how the show operates in real time was a real honour.

TSH: What’s your main goal as you look ahead?

Kevin: The goal is to resonate with others and to be connective. If I can creatively keep refining my process and my product - regardless of whether the pubic agrees with my output - if I know that I’m happiest with it and it’s the best work that I’ve done so far, then I’m going to be content and pleased. I’ve never really written songs for a prolific output, I’ve always been very intentional with my writing - it’s never looked at like a business for me. Instead, it’s just how I’m getting my thoughts out. Whatever is next for me will be including me cataloguing and organising what’s in my head. I have a lot left to say and hopefully if people keep coming to my shows and keep listening to my music, then you’ll be hearing a lot from me sooner rather than later.

Kevin Garrett - “It Don’t Bother Me At All”

Hoax

#Interview #Kevin Garrett

0 notes