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littlealeta · 8 months ago

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Abigail Review (Spoilers)

LONG BLOG! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THIS BLOG, SCROLL DOWN TO THE OVERALL SECTION FOR A TL;DR and ALETA REWRITES

We haven’t had an evil child film since uh… Annabelle Creation? So, I was excited to see how this movie would play out.

Unfortunately, it’s like every other evil child film.

So… the positives?

The actors are excellent. They fit seamlessly into their roles. Their comedic timing and wits are great. Abigail’s actress is adorably sweet and innocent and portrays her manipulative split personality naturally. Everyone looked like they were having fun and were really into their roles, which was always entertaining to see.

Some of the scenes are entertainingly quirky. Like Abigail using Sammy as a puppet, while cliched, was humorous and fun with the intercut shots while this wildly unfitting song is playing. The scene is melodramatic but it somehow comes off as ironically humorous (in a good way). Abigail dancing to classical music with Dean’s beheaded body is another moment of good creepiness. And the entire scene with Puppet Frank was interestingly disturbing and sometimes funny. It was crazy.

Rickle was a likeable character who the film, unfortunately, had the misfortune to kill off early on because… I guess they didn’t know what to do with his character.

And… that’s about it.

Story

Like I said, the story, besides a few scenes, doesn’t really do anything special with its concept. It had a good concept (ballerina who just wants to play and can turn people into her slaves), but it never really goes that far with it. Instead, it’s just another horror film where a group of people are being chased by a monster.

The ending is a total wtf mess. Joey gets her heart stabbed and twisted and somehow survives because the protagonist's gotta have plot armor. Abigail turns a 180 and starts protecting Joey for some reason. Lazaar appears and…we don’t know what he’s about, besides the fact that he’s creepy. He and Abigail let Joey out because the movie has to end.

Characters

The cast is an entire mixed bag. The only one I liked was Rickle because he seemed like the most decent in the cast. But instead, they write him off, leaving us with a group of ignorant scumbags for the rest of the hour. We don’t even really get much time to know Rickle because he was killed off so soon. I feel Dean had more personality than him. I don’t remember much about Rickle other than he was the nice guy. And Dean has the same problem. The film fucks him over too early so we don’t have time to find a reason why we should care about these two characters.

Besides Rickle, the cast are all unsympathetic people. Luckily, some of their actors are good enough to make them appealing. And they DO have their moments where they are funny and badass, but when they’re being serious and/or trying to make a decision, they’re just your average dumb horror movie character. Some of the dialogue that they make is on the nose, notably right before they die, they do the cliche “I will always be there for you” kind of shit.

Joey (seemingly our protagonist) is revealed to have been a deadbeat mother who dabbled in drugs and a life of crime. One poor decision she made was betraying the group over killing Abigail despite knowing she was Valdez! She is also apparently psychic (as she can read other people), but is never said to be so because the film is too lazy to. Dean is the dumb horror character who somehow just has no brains. Implicitly, he seems to be on drugs, but they don’t do anything to make his character likeable, nor do I believe it was stated that he WAS on drugs.

Sammy is my least favorite. Not only do I hate the way her character is designed, but she’s just a total whiny bitch who often has something annoyingly smug to say. Or she just gets pissed off for no fucking reason, like when she finds Dean’s body.

Peter and Frank? They’re on the more likeable side, but they’re not too great either. Peter, for example, makes the dumb decision to kill Abigail before knowing she was Valdez and almost released her from her cage at the expense of his group. Frank is the only sane man, I probably tolerated him the most, considering he was the only one with a brain. However, he can often be harsh and insensitive (like about Joey's troubled life) and, he too, threatens Abigail, screaming at her when for all he knew at the time, she was just an innocent little girl. And then, he just turns completely against the group because the writers LOVE making these characters impossible to care about. He has a similar past to Joey because the writers couldn’t come up with something different.

Last but not least is the titular character Abigail, who apparently has some dark past, but still manages to be a bland villain. She’s your typical horror movie character out for revenge and to kill the main characters. Her ballerina moves can hardly make up for it. Despite having a backstory, her development still feels shallow. There’s a whole slow ass scene where she monologues about how everyone came to be the way that they are. Number 1. How do you know who anyone is? Number 2. SHOW DON’T TELL, MOVIE.

Overall

Abigail gets 3.4 bells out of 10

Actors feel natural in their roles and are hilarious with their humor. The concept is a tad quirky, and there are some scenes where they run with that, but they are few and far in between. Plot feels mostly like your average horror film and is slow at some parts, especially at the beginning. Characters tend to make some horrible and appallingly dumb decisions with Rickle being the only nice guy in the group. If the characters are not horrible, they are shallow, like unfortunately our almost one-note villain. Dialogue sometimes feel so obvious, it’s unnatural. Ending feels very lazy due to the shallowness of the characters and their development.

Aleta Rewrites: I would make Abigail a playfully eerie child, like a Chucky kind of situation. Like, obviously, I think the movie tried to make her out to be this playful, quirky ballerina kid. So, I would lean into that more. So, it doesn’t seem like she’s just some generic character hell bent on revenge, but rather a lunatic with a morbid fascination with gore and death. So, the only reason she’s bodying people is so that she can play and mess with them, like in the scene where she’s dancing with Dean’s beheaded body. Maybe she can kill her victims while she’s dancing/playing, that would be funny. Lean in more into the horror comedy instead of making it a gritty drama about corrupt people.

I would also develop Lazaar more. Maybe make him the final boss of the film. Or preferably, do a twist where it shows that HE was the one possessing Abigail and everyone in the film, so when he's killed off or his magic is wrecked, Abigail will be free and THEN will team up to fight Valdez.

#abigail #abigail 2024 #abigail movie #review #rant #aleta rewrites

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7grandmel · 7 months ago

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Rip of the week: 24/06/2024

YO-Kai Direction

Season 7 Featured on: Now That's What I Call Quality! 3

Ripped by DonnieTheGuy

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Y'know, funny story: a part of me genuinely thought I'd made this post already, and I had to double-check my posting archive three times over just to make sure. Because for as much Season 7 glazing as I've done on here, YO-Kai Direction is the kind of rip that absolutely deserves that love, as such a perfect rip from one of SiIva's most surprise breakout events in recent memory. Hell, last time I was covering the event in question, this rip only barely lost out from being covered instead of Beautiful Dreamer - but, in earnest, I believe two legends should indeed be able to coexist.

I've learned a lot from running this blog, but one of the biggest breakout surprises to me was learning just how incredible of a ripper DonnieTheGuy truly is. He joined the team around when I was paying less attention to the channel in general, and didn't exactly have a loud internet personality for me to learn of otherwise - yet rip by rip, from the blog's very first in Running Through Cookie Country to later-covered examples like Epic Rap Battles of History: Funny vs. Funnier and Remember when this song was the one related to toilets?, I began realizing just how powerful the guy is. A master chef that works in the background, even working to provide tons of assets to help people get into ripping themselves, sharing samples, samples and much more. But even if I wasn't aware of all that, even if I wasn't aware of just how much of a menace he is even off of SiIva when it comes to Twitter shitposts (the Digital Circuit edit trend where he made like 20+ edits on his own for instance), YO-Kai Direction would've likely convinced me on its own of DonnieTheGuy's prestige.

I recall saying to myself back when I wrote Beautiful Dreamer that one of the reasons that I picked it over YO-Kai Direction was just due to how much I'd already featured YO-KAI Disco, and Yousuke Yasui's music in general, on here. 【＝３】e-MUNO Disco (vs. 音MAD AGENT) was effectively the rip that made me INVESTED invested in the art of high quality ripping, WA-HOO DISCO shows just how much Super Mario 64's sound can and has been pushed by the SiIva team, Siiva Lining just outright slaps - you get it. But we're now in the golden age of ripping quality, where it feels as if every rip made is touched by some benevolent gods ensuring that it does WAY more than it necessarily needs to in order for its proposed joke to work. Because like, YO-Kai Direction is an incredibly simple premise on the surface, mashing up the all-too-known YO-KAI Disco with What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction as part of the One Direction event. Back in, say, Season 1, that would've been the end of it, but there's so many small touches added by DonnieTheGuy that shows just how invested he was in utilizing One Direction's sound to the fullest.

And honestly, when the One Direction event began, I was initially a bit disappointed, as it took the place of the channel's annual "9/11 event", which had previously given us incredibly bait-and-switch events like what brought us SUNGORE in 2020. Initially I figured that I had no stake or familiarity with One Direction and so the event was completely out of my wheelhouse...but not only was I SURPRISINGLY familiar with What Makes You Beautiful in particular, I also had no clue that the team was so excited and ready to start using it. It gave me flashbacks to Season 6's Big Time Rush event which brought us Famous Surprise, only with even more people firing on all cylinders for it. Because again - in many other eras, YO-Kai Direction would've just been a mere mashup, but DonnieTheGuy goes the extra length to pitch-shift it all to something absolutely heavenly.

Without ever leaving that original pitch for the rip, YO-Kai Direction masters the art of escalation in a way that's so well done, it's hard to even notice with how well it fits in. It begins as a seemingly normal mashup with a slightly increased BPM speed of YO-KAI Disco being used as to match the One Direction song, but then at the second go around at the verse's melody it becomes more YTPMV-esque, editing soundbytes from What Makes You Beautiful into the melody of the source track, as if to communicate the two tracks merging - "You're insecure, but you walk-walk through the do-o-or!" is pulled off with just a slight stutter and pitch-shifting that's immediately noticeable if you're paying attention to it, yet fits so well as to initially sound just like an extension of the initial mashup. This then carries on into the bridge, before finally exploding in the chorus - wherein every part of One Direction's vocals are pitch-shifted to amazing effect. It's hard to put into word without repeating myself just how well done this build-up is, but the end result is obvious - a genuinely amazing listen.

All the while, slight elements of What Makes You Beautiful's instrumentation seem to be sprinkled into the rip, sounding almost as if they had just been dug out of the mix of the original YO-KAI Disco. That's the theme of the whole rip, and to be clear - ABSOLUTELY not meant as a negative. The way in which DonnieTheGuy managed to make YO-Kai Direction sound almost as if it was a natural collaboration between One Direction and Yousuke Yasui is actually insane, yet it still subtly honors the traditions of what makes the greatest SiIvaGunner rips as good as they are. I won't sugarcoat it - on many days, humming YO-KAI Disco in public, THIS is the version I'm humming.

#todays siivagunner #season 7 #siivagunner #siiva #DonnieTheGuy #Youtube #yokai disco #yousuke yasui #mamorukun curse #one direction #1d

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wondereads · 6 months ago

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Weekly Reading Update (06/23/24)

Reviews and thoughts under the cut

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler (8/10)

This was my first ever Octavia E. Butler book, and it didn't disappoint! The way this story used Anyanwu and Doro's relationship to comment on power dynamics and issues in the world at large blew my mind; I found the discussion of eugenics particularly interesting. They were both such intensely flawed yet compelling characters. This book skirts the line between fantasy and sci-fi (something I'm looking into for my thesis as a peripheral issue), and it definitely made me wonder about the world. I wasn't aware going in that this was a prequel situation, but even then I do think I was a bit dissatisfied with how things left off. That's just my personal taste though.

Haikyuu!! Vol. 41 and 42 by Haruichi Furudate (10/10)

It usually takes me around half an hour or so to get through a volume of manga, but these took me a couple of hours. Why? Because I had to keep putting it down because I was crying so hard I couldn't breathe. As someone who has read a plethora of books ever since I was young, it takes a lot to get me to cry, especially that hard. I was sobbing. Furudate has created such wonderful characters and then puts them through so many struggles that I can't even be mad about because it's highly realistic that someone pursuing a sport would run into this! Seeing Hinata break down followed instantly by the third years graduating and the Brazil arc had me miserable in the best way possible. I usually never rate manga or graphic novels five stars because they're usually super fast-paced and so much relies on writing style for me when I read novels, but this just broke me.

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter (46%)

This is a very cute book so far. I could probably tell you exactly what's going to happen from this point onward, but it's a genre convention for romcoms to be predictable. Liz is a fun protagonist; she's quirky in a way that has a reason and isn't annoying. There's good chemistry between the leads with some great banter, and you really can't ask for more than that. However, I will say the constant song references are starting to irk me, especially with the lyrics included in the writing --I don't know, it just reminds me too strongly of my early fanfiction years.

Moon Rising by Tui T. Sutherland (45%)

If there's one thing about me, I love a mind-reading protagonist. Moonwatcher is probably my favorite perspective of the Wings of Fire series, even if I wish she'd speak up sometimes. Sutherland did a great job making her similar to Starflight, since they're the same tribe, without being a carbon copy, and while mind reading might seem a little too omniscient, her inexperience and general social ineptitude keep it from becoming overpowered. I'm thrilled to see the return of Peril, whose story is left open from the previous arc, and I'm excited to learn more about the other new characters (Winter, Qibli, and I believe Turtle) who have their own interesting introductions.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien (43%)

Despite my fantasy obsession, this is my first time reading The Lord of the Rings (though I have read The Hobbit). While it is definitely much slower-paced than the average modern fantasy, I'm enjoying myself so much. If you've been following my blog for a while, you'll know I'm a worldbuilding nut, so this is like my dream book. There are so many tangents to tell stories about the history of Middle Earth and all the goings-on of the world, and I keep noticing little details and wishing they'd talk about those too. Tolkien is also a rather funny writer; Bilbo's passive aggression in particular made me giggle. While this a bit of a dense story, it's definitely living up to its reputation so far.

Boys With Sharp Teeth by Jenni Howell (42%)

This is a project for my part-time job, so I'm not sure how much I can actually divulge, but let me just say this: this book is compared to The Raven Boys in its summary, and it's living up to that.

Her Wolves by G. Bailey (7%)

I won't lie, the writing of this book so far does not give me hope. However, it could still be a fun read even if the grammar and syntax aren't the best. Also, funny thing, this book is set in the future on Earth. I did not know this. I thought it was a high fantasy. So imagine my surprise to see a landmass labeled "America Court" on the map. My misunderstanding was cleared up soon, but it still made me laugh.

#books #reading update #wild seed #octavia e butler #haikyuu!!#haruichi furudate #better than the movies #lynn painter #moon rising #wof #tui t sutherland #the fellowship of the ring #jr2t #boys with sharp teeth #jenni howell #her wolves #g bailey

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dani-says-stuff · 3 months ago

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✧ Blog Info ✧

❥ Back to the Control Center

General info, Requesting Rules, and Tag Navigation

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

__ General __

❥ I will only write x readers on this blog, and will post longer stories with original characters on my wattpad account (the exception, is my fic graveyard)

❥ Most of my stories at the moment are fem!readers because it's the default way I write, however I am trying to change this and start having more gn!reader fics available

❥ Each fic has an individual dialouge key at the beginning, and the rest of the fic's dialouge will be color coded to match the person or character indicated at the beginning (this is usually only for my youtube video based fics like the Nate Hardy ones so the fic doesnt end up being 12k words explaining who is saying what)

❥ I dont have the time or extensive knowlege of grammar to sit down and edit most of my fics... so if errors bother you, this may not be the best experience, or place, for you to spend your time

❥ If you wanna be moots just send in an ask or message me to lemme know! I love talking to y'all! This also applies if you just want to be an anon, I don't think I have a big enough audience yet to have emoji anons, but I'm not against having some :)

__ Request Rules __

Requests are open !

❥ I can't guaruntee I will take every request and I can't guaruntee the amount of time it will take. It depends on how good of an idea i get at the time

❥ Please don't spam my ask box with the same request over and over

❥ Include a detailed explanation of what you'd like, plot point's you'd like me to hit, quotes, prompts, etc in your request. I will not be taking any that only say "(insert person) please!" or "can you write ____ smut/fluff/angst". I need somewhere to go with the request.

❥ Please be reasonable with your requests. All I'm saying, is I will have differing rules on if a fic is for the HoTD/GoT fandom than if it is for any other fandom. I am willing to be more lineant on those because I am brain broken like the rest of the fandom, iykyk.

❥Tbh I'm willing to write pretty much anything if I get a good enough idea for it, just give me details or its a guarunteed ✨no✨

__ Tag Navigation __

aka my attempt at organizing my chaos

#rambles - The random thoughts I have in a day, including but not limited to: everyday random stuff, potential fic ideas, funny things that go down... basically just my diary tbh

#just dani complaining - Usually accompanied by the ramble tag, but on the ones that are, as implied, just me complaining

#updates - New info on wips, fics, and requests. (for example, update schedules, changes to a plot, etc.)

#my hyperfixations - Basically the things i'm promoting out of pure excitment, the "go check out ___ bc it changed my lifeee" type beat

#fic recs - Pretty obvious and self explanatory, but its just my favorites :P

#mutuals - Things my loves and besties who i got the courage to ask to be mutuals are doing , i'm too afraid to just randomly start adding all my mutuals so this one may be more unreliable

#fic graveyard - There's nothing in here yet, but its the fics I have like one or two really good chapters for that I've abandoned. Snippets, ideas, etc.

#control center - All nav posts will be under this tag

I believe everything else is pretty self explanatory (___ masterlist, reblogs, ___ x reader, asks & requsts, etc.)

#tag navagation #blog info #navigation #requesting rules #control center

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djinnandtea · 1 year ago

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When I was in high school, I stumbled across an artist that really grabbed my attention and held onto it tightly. His work was gorgeous and fantastical and gory and also more than a little…salacious. All things that teenaged me love. This artist’s name was Luis Royo, and his works often involved some variation of beautiful, thin, light-skinned, half-naked women looking moody and forlorn covered in blood or boning some buff dude in some dystopian wasteland of a universe. But sometimes, Royo’s women didn’t settle for boning random men. Sometimes they preferred something a little more…inhuman. Yeah, baby, I’m talking about monsters.

Now, eventually I stopped buying Luis Royo’s books. I don’t remember why—I mean, I don’t even remember how I started buying them in the first place considering all of my mail was routed through my mother, because again, this was high school—but I stopped. But that didn’t mean that I also stopped thinking about ladies banging monsters. That never stopped. I didn’t have a vocabulary for this interest. I didn’t know what it was called, I didn’t know if other people liked it. I was consuming Royo’s work on my own and forcing it on my high school friends who were considerably less interested in the monster stuff than I was. So I kind of learned to just keep it quiet. But the interest certainly didn’t go away.

As I got older and started to explore different types of art and media and ways of telling stories, I found myself continuously drawn to some version of humans and inhumans connecting, falling in love, getting it on. Sometimes that looked like a really intense vampire phase and an appreciation for all things Anne Rice and Twilight and Sookie Stackhouse. Sometimes that looked like a really deep interest in folklore that involved humans marrying animal brides and bridegrooms. Sometimes it looked like a fixation with the movies of Guillermo Del Toro. And sometimes that looked like accepting there was probably a strange and unconventional reason that Beauty and the Beast was my favorite Disney movie growing up.

I mean. Did y’all see the beast?

It wasn’t until late 2022 that all the dots started connecting. I had decided I wanted to read more, specifically more romance. I added some BookTok accounts to my TikTok feed. I started talking more about romance books with a friend. I started exploring the world of spicy adult paranormal romance and joining Kindle Unlimited, which was very exciting all on its own. And that’s when I found it, my holy grail: the book subgenre known as monster romance. You know that saying, “All roads lead to Rome”? It was kind of like that, except all the roads I took lead to the city of monsterfucking. Monsterfucking was my Roman Empire, if you will. And what a glorious empire it was.

As I’ve engaged more directly and consistently with the monster romance genre, it’s inspired a lot of thoughts for me. That’s why I’ve started this blog, because I can’t stop thinking about fucking monsters, and I want to explore the idea in a lot of different ways. For today, I want to talk a bit about why I think monster romance holds so much appeal for me and for the many others who enjoy it. That seems like as good a starting point as any.

When I was thinking about this question, one of the first things that came to mind was a blog post I read a number of years ago that never really left my head. It was written by Cleolinda Jones over on Livejournal. If you’re an older millennial viewer, Cleolinda’s name might sound familiar, as she’s the author of some very funny movie recaps she called “Movies in 15 Minutes,” which was my introduction to her. But Cleolinda is also known for her Twilight recaps that she posted to her LJ account. These recaps fused a summary of the books with her own observations, and man, her observations were good.

In Cleolinda’s recap for the first Twilight novel, she gets into why she thinks the series has had the success that it’s had. She specifically talks about how she feels Twilight is just an extension of the “good girls wanting a bad boy” trope.

I actually don't think girls like a guy who treats them bad. But I do think they--we--get off a little on the idea of changing someone for the better, or the idea of having the power that someone loves us so much that he'll change or sacrifice something for us….A nice guy doesn't need to change, and, most importantly, he's already nice to everyone. How do you know that you're special if he treats everyone else with as much kindness and respect as he treats you? The "bad boy" type, though? He may range from simple, garden-variety jackhole…to appalling psychopath…, but you know he loves you because he's completely different around you. You are an exception to his very nature….That's the fantasy.

Now, I’m not saying every male lead in a monster romance is a jerk, because a lot of them aren’t. (Don’t worry, Sol, I’d never let anyone accuse you of being mean.) But I do think by virtue of these monsters being, well, monsters, there’s a given understanding by readers that a human should not be fucking one. Monsters are predators, monsters are dangerous, monsters are not made for cuddles and smooches. But these monsters in these books? Especially the ones who are a little rougher around the edges? Seeing them soften for their human partners is deeply satisfying and scratches the exact kind of itch that I think Cleolinda is referencing.

But long before Cleolinda was musing on bad boys, writer and literary critic Hélène Cixous was posing something related in her essay “Love of the Wolf.” This essay has a number of interesting things to say on the tension between love and fear, using the metaphor of loving “the wolf,” aka loving a thing that can harm or destroy us, to make her point. Cixous writes about the thrill of fear when in love, and suggests that we must have that true fear to experience true love.

But happiness is when a real wolf suddenly refrains from eating us. The lamb’s burst of laughter comes when it’s about to be devoured, and then, at the last second, is not eaten. Hallelujah comes to mind. To have almost been eaten yet not to have been eaten: that is the triumph of life. But you’ve got to have the two instants, just before the teeth and just after, you’ve got to hear the jaws coming down on nothing for there to be jubilation. Even the wolf is surprised. (Stigmata, pg. 77)

It’s the idea, once more, of the person that we care about changing their very nature to be with us. The bad boy will treat us with kindness. The big bad wolf won’t eat us. The monster will love us tenderly. We humans are special, something to be cherished, even by something traditionally seen as negatively as monsters have been.

It makes me think too about the popularity of dark romance on BookTok and Bookstagram. Monster romance is kind of like dark romance taken to a different sort of extreme. In dark romance, there is often a baseline threat of violence or a disregard of consent. The male leads are often cruel, unpredictable, and inconsiderate. Their love of the other character drives them to stalk or kill or harm others, and even to be deeply, toxically controlling and possessive of the main character. And this is why folks like them. These are the real bad boys, and I mean the really bad boys, that Cleolinda’s talking about. And with the monsters in monster romances, there can be a lot of overlap. The monsters can be cruel and controlling for sure, but even when they aren’t, their very existence as monsters makes them a super unconventional choice for a human person. If the mafia boyfriend with anger issues who you know you should avoid is appealing, than the entirely different species with claws and fangs and a tail who you’re really not supposed to want to bone is that appeal taken about three steps further.

At some point I’d like to explore the different sorts of monster romance book covers that are popular with authors and artists, because I think they get at the last topic I wanted to touch on today when it comes to the appeal of monsterloving: aesthetics. Size kink can be fun in every genre, but monster romances really understood that particular assignment. The monsters in these books are massive in every possible area. Their muscles are chiseled, their tails are long, and their eggplants are otherworldy. Not to mention, a monster may even have more than one.

There’s also the contrast of furry or scale-covered monster bodies embracing soft, fragile human bodies. Monster bodies are foreign and unique; they’re a fantasy that can’t be found anywhere else, which makes the fantasy inherently more interesting. There’s a lot more that can and should be said here about the gender dynamics at play in the design of these monstrous figures and their human partners, and even possibly the racial dynamics too, but for now I just want us thinking about how the physical depiction of monsters and humans together holds an undeniable appeal to a large number of people. I’m thinking again about Luis Royo and the success of his art that explored this very thing. And that’s really interesting to me.

I’ll stop there for today, I think. See you in the next post!

Currently Reading: Devoured by Monsters - Katie May & Ann Denton

Monster Joke for the Road: What was the dramatic monster’s favorite play?

Romeo and Ghouliet.

Until next time, monsterfuckers.

#teratophillia #terato #monsterfucker #monster lover #monster romance #my posts #art #luis royo #helene cixous #monrom

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small-screen-superman · 1 year ago

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Superman: An Outsider Among the Justice League? (Inspired by Superman vs. Meshi)

This post is also on my independent blog, Small Screen Superman - go there for an even better experience!

Superman vs. Meshi is an official Superman manga that I greatly enjoy – not just because it’s cute, funny and well-drawn, but also because its depiction of Superman is actually really interesting. Like most of my favored depictions of him, he’s very humanized and very personable. It makes sense to focus on this side of him in this manga considering the book has a very human, small-scale focus: each chapter is a short story about Superman going to lunch in Japan, with lots of descriptions of the food he’s eating. There’s nothing too exciting going on – in fact, it’s implied that Superman has apparently done such a good job in this universe that the whole world is fairly peaceful. But the manga is far from boring, at least to this Super fan. I really enjoy getting to know this version of Superman, and it’s also surprisingly fun to read the detailed descriptions of Japanese food – they always sound quite delicious and bring back good memories of any times I’ve had similar food.

But more to the point, let’s talk about a specific trait of this Superman that is somewhat rare among Superman depictions. In Chapter 3, he meets with the Justice League and does some introspection about his relationship with them. I’ll go ahead and share the relevant pages.

There’s a lot to talk about in these three short pages, but the main thrust of it is that Superman doesn’t feel like he really belongs in the Justice League. That’s not what people expect from Superman. Superman is supposed to be the friendly and confident guy that everyone gets along with and looks up to, especially his fellow superheroes. He’s one of the first characters, if not the first, anyone thinks of when they think about the Justice League. So naturally, it makes sense that he would fit in with them perfectly – in fact, he should define what it means to be a Justice League member. Right? Well, not necessarily, in my opinion.

Now, let me be clear: I don’t think there’s such a thing as the “right” or “true” or “correct” version of Superman, since he’s a fictional character who has been portrayed in a wide variety of different ways. But an aspect of him that has showed up in many forms over the years is the idea of him being a bit of a self-contradiction in terms of his connection with others. He has many friends and allies, yet somehow has a sense of loneliness to him too. He’s different from others – an alien from a now nonexistent planet and either the last of his kind or one of only a handful of surviving Kryptonians. And the mere fact of being a superhero who has to keep a secret identity disconnects him from the majority of people.

Now, it does seem natural that therefore, perhaps Superman might be able to connect with other superheroes more easily than other people because they know what it’s like to be a superhero. But there are reasons this might not be the case, which makes me think this is a reasonable direction for the character. I’m going to be talking in generalities and across continuities looking for reasons why this can mesh with traits generally given to Superman.

Superman’s Origin

Most superheroes, including those in the Justice League, started as normal humans, and became superheroes because of an unexpected event. You could maybe interpret this as applying to Superman in terms of Krypton’s explosion being the unexpected event that “gave him powers” by leading to him being sent to a planet with a yellow sun, but I think this is a bit of a stretch.

As far as Clark’s life goes, there are many times he’s not depicted as having all his powers from the get-go and instead needing to grow in order to get them. This still feels pretty different from starting as a normal human and getting your powers from something external. In a way, Superman is fundamentally different from the majority of Earth’s population in a way that most superheroes are not, due to not being human and never having been human.

And yet, on a psychological and personal level, it’s perhaps more accurate to say Superman is human…but he might not be perceived as such by people who see him as Superman rather than Clark Kent. This leads me to perhaps a more important divide between Superman and his fellow heroes.

How Superman is Perceived and Revered

Superman is almost always perceived as a really big deal even among superheroes. Is he THE first, most honorable, most successful, most popular, most powerful superhero in every universe? Not necessarily, but his perception is something like that. And I think those expectations might have the potential to make things more difficult for Superman. People probably assume that they can’t relate to Superman before they even try to get to know him. Even accomplished, powerful superheroes don’t necessarily see him as a peer, but as someone above them.

What’s also awkward is that Superman doesn’t see himself this way – he’s generally confident, but humble. And he lives much of his life not reveling in his fame or power, but as a mild-mannered reporter. I see this a lot in those Superman vs. Meshi panels, and it warms my heart. But Superman knows it’s important to inspire others, including his fellow heroes, so while he’d want people to know that he doesn’t see himself as high above them, he might feel reluctant to shatter his myth altogether.

Seeing this awkwardness be overcome, possibly requiring character development from both Superman and the League members, could be a very satisfying story.

This might explain why Superman tends to have closer friendships with his fellow members of the “Trinity”, Batman and Wonder Woman. Since those two are also rather “legendary”, they aren’t as awed by Superman.

Superman is More Used to Working Alone (Well, Sometimes)

OK, this point is a bit dubious because Superman does work with other people and other heroes even outside the Justice League, but he’s at least closer to working alone than many other Justice League members (in most depictions). He may have “Super-Family Members”, but they’re somewhat independent from him – he doesn’t have long-term, “true” sidekicks. So maybe working with a lot of other superheroes doesn’t come naturally to him to the point it might be a bit awkward.

The big problem with this is…the Legion of Super-Heroes. If Superman was part of a superhero team when he was young, before even meeting the Justice League, than naturally it should be more normal to him, right? Of course, the Superman being part of the Legion as a teen is something that keeps coming into and leaving comics continuity, and it rarely makes its way out of the comics, so this isn’t even applicable to many versions of Superman.

Back to Superman vs. Meshi Real Quick

Before I conclude this article, I’m going to circle back to the manga that inspired it. It’s interesting how little relevance most of this article actually has to Superman vs. Meshi in particular. Unlike this article, Superman vs. Meshi didn’t seek to justify why Superman doesn’t fit in with the Justice League with detailed reasons based on the general traits of how he’s portrayed. It just did it rather casually, treating Superman as basically a normal guy. And I like that.

Still, I think it was worthwhile looking at some reasons why I don’t think this depiction of the Man of Steel is at odds with his character in general. I hope I can find more stories which depict Superman’s relationship with the Justice League in an interesting way. If you know of any, please feel free to let me know!

#superman #superman vs meshi #justice league #dc comics #comic reviews #comics #my writing #clark kent

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linklethehistorian · 2 years ago

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You know, being around Tumblr for like…5 years now, I’ve seen a lot of silly, goofy posts from fandom peeps making jokes and memes about themselves having to pretend to be ‘normal’ about a certain topic or thing they’re passionate about when around their friends, or wishing that someone else cared about their fics or OCs or whatever-else-have-you as much as they do themselves, so that they’d have a reason to share their trivia and go all out on the subject without being labeled as ‘cringe’, and like…yeah, they’re kinda funny, and don’t get me wrong, they’re definitely relatable to an extent, but…most of all, I just find them sad.

I know there are a lot of people — especially when making posts aimed towards fic writers — that’ll be like, “just do it for yourself!”, or “write/draw/create like no one’s watching!”, and that is genuinely good advice; I’m glad that it’s out there, because it is a very important step in being able to enjoy your hobby and/or your passion.

…But at the same time, something I never hear being said that I think really should is: while yeah, you should be able to create for yourself like no one is watching — in the sense that you should try to tune out the naysayers and just do what you love above all else — you should also allow yourself to be free enough to create like everyone is watching, in a good way.

Yes, realistically speaking, most people in the world right now probably don’t care that much about that super niche fic you wrote, or that OC you made, or whatever else it is you created or saw that you’re so excited about, but…so what? Who cares if not that many people have noticed it and given it the attention it deserves in your eyes? Why are you letting that stop you?

Go out there and make that ‘official blog’ dedicated to that creation you love, build that music playlist of perfect vibes for your OC or your favorite character, create hundreds of drawings and drabbles and fics and edits and posts and whatever else that you so want to do, talk like the whole world is listening with bated breath for your next statement about an update or interesting tidbit about that thing you made!

What is anyone going to do about it? Call you cringe? Send you hateful messages or make nasty comments? Delete them. Block them. Cut them off. They’re just a bunch of losers who have never learned a better way of coping with their own personal misery and unhappiness besides trying to drain the joy out of other people’s lives. And if you’re afraid your friends would do that to you — guess what? They’re not really your friends. There is a time and place for everything, sure, and there are going to be some people who enjoy doing different things with you more than others, but if you genuinely can’t just be yourself and have fun around the people you love without fear of being judged over something fictional or otherwise harmless, then you’re not in a very healthy situation.

And I’ll tell you something else, too.

When I started writing my most beloved fic of all, I had no idea that it would ever possibly get more than maybe one reader at best — if that — because of how extremely specific and niche the plot and the main pairing (and even the secondary pairing) was. I thought that it would at best sit on AO3 in silence forever and at worst receive massive backlash from a certain part of its primary fandom.

And I’m not gonna lie; it has received a few nasty comments over the years — but you know what it has mostly received? Love. Love, and appreciation, and support, and all of the things that in the beginning I never would’ve thought was possible.

I made an official blog for my fic, and it actually has a few dedicated followers that aren’t all just my close friends. I have playlists for it, I’ve made art, animatics, development notes on each chapter, I celebrate milestones with actual polls and events! I talk like people are listening, even when I’m not always really sure that they are, just for the fun of it, and you know…I’m happy.

And personally, I think that kind of obvious love and joy and dedication for what you do sells itself more than any type of attempt to appeal to the so-called ‘critics’ ever could.

Do what you love like others already love it just as much as you, and the rest will eventually fall into place.

#linklethehistorian #thoughts #my thoughts #fandom #but also #non-fandom #writing #advice #been thinking a lot about this lately #so glad I have good friends in my life who aren’t control freaks about other peoples’ interests and hobbies #but that’s mostly by design #and that support group took a long time to build #I’ve learned and grown a lot over the years and I hope that knowledge I’ve gained in the process can maybe help others too

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clairelsonao3 · 1 year ago

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Happy STS!

I haven't gotten a chance to read what you've written so far, but I'm curious as to your process. What was the source of inspiration for your current WIP? Did you start with characters who wouldn't stop talking in your head? Flashes of moments? Images inspired by music? What do you fall back on when you need to be re-inspired?

Happy STS and thanks for the ask!

No worries, my ongoing WIP on Ao3 is over 100K posted words, so I by no means expect you to. 😂

Good Slaves Never Break the Rules is the long-time-coming perfect storm of three main influences.

First, I started writing it almost eight years ago to entertain myself on a transatlantic sea voyage (that's worth another whole post altogether), and some of the characters and early situations (I won't say specifically which ones!) were inspired by the unusual dynamics that pop up when strangers from vastly different origins and roles onboard are pressed together in a small space with no choice but to work and spend time together (very soon, my imagination wildly diverged from what actually happened however 😂).

Second, for a long time, I've been an avid reader of pretty much any and all slavefic (there's a lot on Ao3, both fanfic and original) and much of it is good. I always especially liked the alternate universe ones that had slavery transposed to a modern setting. But for all of that time, I could never find THE story I was looking for, the one that uses many of the common whumpy slavefic tropes (although this was long before I was in the whump community, that was just a happy accident) but is also a preferably M/F romance, using a very different type of male MC who, despite being a slave and the target of pretty much constant abuse of all kinds, has much more in common with conventional romance heroes than the perpetual helpless victims that slaves tend to be in fiction. And the female MC, rather than being some powerful dominatrix type who can do whatever she wants, is an ordinary girl who is also oppressed in a way by the society she lives in, is blind to its wrongs, and has to have her eyes opened to be brave enough to stand up for what's right. And though power dynamics are always at the forefront, the MCs come to see each other as equals. So this was also one of those "I guess I'll write it myself" moments.

Third (and I don't think I've ever had a chance to discuss this on this blog before, so thank you!), having studied the classics, for many years I've been enamored with the ancient Roman comedies of Plautus and Terence, who tended to use slaves as main characters -- and I do mean main characters. They're active, clever, funny, charming, often manipulative (but always for the right reasons), perpetually involved in zany plans and schemes, and they're anything but victims. I'd written a few things inspired by these plays previously (including a quasi-historical short story and my very first novel, also historical and of a writing quality typical for an 18-year-old, many years ago), but now that my writing skills are far more advanced, I thought it was time to try again, using a modern alt-history setting this time. Plus the plays themselves are just really fucking funny, and my story incorporates a lot of humor (and a lot of really dark stuff, too, but that's usually how it works with me).

As for getting re-inspired? I also had to do that quite recently after writing and posting a monster chapter and needing a break. What helped was rereading some of those earlier scenes that I was really excited about, and doing some tag games on Tumblr (including the Q&A I tagged you in) that allowed me to just have fun writing in my characters' voices and kind of re-re-discover them.

Thanks for a great ask!

#sts #gsnbtr #storyteller saturday #asked and answered #my writing #writeblr

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hiro-doodlez · 1 year ago

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HELP I can't see my therapist for a couple of weeks and am currently having something i like to dub "yet another hiro autism crisis" where i contemplate if my therapist gave me the right diagnoses (she has told me she is not certified to give autism diagnoses, and instead more things like depression) Right now, I am diagnosed with ADHD, Anxiety/ Social anxiety (its still up in the air, DPDR, and depression. idk if that matters SO NOW I LIST RANDOM THINGS that could be considered symptoms or not I DUNNO HOW TO DO THISS feel free to ask questions about some of the crap i say here half of it doesn't make sense

First off, I have a general trouble understanding most social situations, and struggle sometimes when talking about practically anything. For example, earlier today my step-mom basically said she wasnt going to finish her food and let my brother have it. my brother said he would leave 2, he didnt (BOZO) and later after he left she found the empty container and said something along the lines "HAH! I thought he said he was gonna leave me 2!" and immdeiately without thinking i went "hey! you said he could have as many as he can! and hes working 10 hours a day and needs his energy!!" half jokingly and she got mad at me for it, we got into a mini argument over that.

When saying something thats serious, i tend to make a joke around it and i have NO CLUE why. I just CANT be openly upset around people. For example, when being told about something that happened to me as a kid that NEVER SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED RAGRHAGHAG, instead of having a breakdown and being reasonably upset, i burst out into giggles and laughs while my brother was just so fucking confused on what was wrong. It was kinda like i couldn't stop and it fucking sucked

The TINIEST things can upset me, and other HUGE things can have little to no effect. Its so incredibly annoying

I have INTENSE fluxuations in interests, hobbies, and motivation for certain projects. I will start on this huge project that im INCREDIBLY excited for, and then a week later have little to no interest in continuing it.

I make everything about my personality a joke, i dont know why. EVERYTHING i tend to say or do has to be funny. it's like i dont want people to see beneath that

I fluctuate in personality A TON, especially depending by the people i am around. At school, I'm the quiet kid. I don't talk to anyone except maybe 5 people, but other than that i tend to stay completely silent. It could be a mask? i dunno. but when im at home, ask my brothers, i am BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS. it might also be me just getting some of my energy out? RRAHHH I DUNNOOO

I will simply forget to do very important things to the point of endangering my health. Like forgetting to eat for a day straight. my step-mom thinks i have an ED AND I DONT. i literally just keep realizing suddenly at like 6 pm all i have eaten is a couple of skittles and pringles.

i have no clue how talking to people works and im constantly winging it. I forget how to have friends especially how to even talk or interact with them and its so stupid. I can't ever start a conversation with someone without having at least 5 minutes going "am i weird for this am i being annoying am i being clingy".

If i say even one thing wrong i WILL be thinking about it for DAYS thinking about how they probably hate me now and im a terrible person ect. ect.

I tend to hide many of my traits (especially good ones) because i am incredibly embarrassed and never want anyone to EVER compare themselves to me.

im a people pleaser does that count

i tend to get extremely upset if i get told one bad thing about something that i like or just a project i have. For example, I had this fandom silly man poll because i just wanted to find out who was silly. Then one of my friends just posted something like "i hate fandom polls theyre the worst" and i just lost complete motivation afterwards. I haven't touched that blog in WEEKS at this point becuase i simply have no more interst

I have had a meltdown or 2 before, and they both stemmed from being told about how i was a bad person. i don't know why the hell thats a thing

I can't stay focused on one thing for long periods of time (ADHD cough cough) Like literally earlier i was watching this video about autistic traits and i kept having to back the video up because i would get sidetracked in my mind to the point where im just not listening anymore

if im not paying attention to people sometimes I SWEAR theyre saying "ffajaleifnanamzmaldafjkjeffnma" and as soon as i start noticing it suddenly theres words again. hate that.

i have times where it can kinda seem like i cant speak, and if i do everything comes out wrong and jumbled. Like when my autistic friend would have a sensory related meltdown, i would never know what to do and end up going dead silent because of being so mad at myself for not knowing how to help (any tips actually hahahahaHOW DO I HELP)

i have little idea who the hell i am. had a mini-crisis because i didn't know what my favorite color was because before, it was the color my friend with synesthesia said i was and i just went with that (i think its purple or blue i have no fucking clue JFALJK)

i will have spikes of random motivation on one thing. like learning lanugauges, i will have a week where its so easy to get like 10 lessons on duolingo done a day and then the next week its a struggle to get even one done.

i focus better with distractions ??? I can't focus without music and tend to do better on reading tests if everyone else in the class is talking ???

i remember the most random things about certain things. Like, i could not for the LIFE of me remember what color that one persons hair that i was talking to for 15 minutes straight. but i can remember that they had pink socks on. WHY IS THAT WHAT I REMEMBER??

I hate organization and doing the same thing every day. i NEED chaos. My brother a little bit ago helped me out and got me to make a personal to-do list. i couldnt do it a single day even though the things were extremely simple like "brush hair, make bed, eat breakfast ect."

i zone out a LOT. especially when people bring up topics im uncomfortable with or conflict with my current feelings. i go into a kinda little talking (not nonverbal, i can still talk) or just confused state that freaking sucks.

when im in a high energy mood i tend to not feel.. reall???? I do many things overboard and annoy the heck out of my brothers. i always feel terrible afterwards.

Idk if this is weird to say but i tend to get really off put when people im comfy with get haircuts or major changes in their appearance. I never like the change no matter what the hair cut looks like. i dont have any clue why

i have no clue whether or not any of this is real or if I have managed to make it all up in my head. (bascially when i was younger i wanted attention and ended up faking depression for a year straight and was an absolute ass to my friends and blah blah blah)

#hiro.txt #autism #neurodivergent #neurodiversity #autistic #mental illness help #asd #asd help #nd help #rrahh #like i cant tell if i am masking INCREDIBLY WELL or not #i have no clue #oh its almost 1 am LOL

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dashawfrostart · 10 months ago

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This Week In "Time & Again" #12: It's Alive... Alive! Honest! And A Little Sour, And A Bit Sweet!

Guten Fhtagn! It's been... a while again.

(this is just a colourful teaser for you now, because it feels silly to make a post that starts with a wall of text - even though I personally love walls of text. Keep reading and you'll find out why those weird empty rectangles are here! And as I often do: there's an animated GIF in the end of the post!) Lately, life has sucked me into a giant cycle of great and lush eventfulness. Kinda as if I hopped into a funnel and then swirled around a bit. I might even say it was fun (haha, fun funnel 😁 What, not funny?.. Lame?.. Aah, well then). So, below goes a straightforward chronological report on what happened to "Time & Again" during this long looooong period of my blogging hiatus.

2 weeks ago I've actually spent only a few days working on "Time & Again" - much less than anticipated. As I always say, life usually takes away so much time from art!.. 🤣 However, it's always a choice. Because I'm not drawing 24/7; never did, and perhaps never will - because otherwise I'll never go birding, among other things. And birding is love. Birding makes Frosty happy. I wanna see more nuthatches and northern flickers around me, preferably every day, when possible. Too much to ask? Yes! But life is always about setting priorities straight and meticulously balancing the things you love and want to do. Because something always goes first, and something other goes second (third, fourth, etc.). So that is what I'm trying my best to do here.

But that was only half of the problem. The other half of the problem was about my futile endeavour to relight the creative spark that was seemingly extinguished over the course of the previous 2 weeks - perhaps due to the reasons mentioned above in this post. I'm always very hesitant to take breaks as I work on my projects, because it breaks immersion - and getting back into the mood again might pose a serious challenge. That is exactly how some of my novels/stories failed to see the light of day in the past. Now, since the work on Chapter 5 is nearing to its end - yes, it's almost done!!! - it's just very disappointing to slow down and having to look for the spilt marbles on the floor (however, Lothar, personally, will definitely benefit from at least TRYING to find his own marbles 🤦‍♀️ dear goodness, that man is indomitable). The work still went well, but without excitement I previously had. And I perpetually have serious problems trying to figure out a personal cure for the "lack of spark" issue: not even once in my entire life have I found a resolution that works wonders like a panacea for me in situations like that.

That said, with all of the distractions and not-exactly-creative events with myself in the epicentre, I managed to keep my word and created a Krita forum thread featuring majority of WIP screenshots from Chapter 5, which you can view following that link. Now, my only objective in this regard is to keep updating it 😁 (what I'm kinda failing at recently)

While not being exactly productive with "Time & Again" - that is only up until this week (read ahead) - in the meantime I have reconsidered a couple things that are related to the artistic part of my existence. One of the decisions was to take down the links to my DeviantArt account sometime after this post goes life. The reasoning behind that decision is as simple as an egg: because I don't post anything on DeviantArt anymore. And I keep forgetting to do it anyway. And I keep forgetting simply because it doesn't really matter. In the recent years I perceived DeviantArt to be nothing but a sort of a personal sketch/art dump simply for the sake of gaining more exposure [not really - read an UPD note ahead]. Let's be honest here: DeviantArt is not a good place anymore. It used to be awesome in 2008-2010 or around - for me anyway. But nowadays... Not so much. I don't think I want to delete it yet, for I still want to pop up, perhaps, once or twice a year and dump all the new artworks in there for the future archival purposes - and in case if somebody might be still interested. But for now, I view my DA account as an almost completely dormant collection of trash masterpieces of yore. So I will stop promoting it for the reason of it being obsolete like the morning dew beneath your feet in its current state. (holy effing smokies, that song was very difficult to find to provide a link to! 😱) [UPD 2024/03/12]: my aim with this was originally a bit off - which I realized only now. Aside from it being a random artworks dump, my decision to keep my DeviantArt account alive was precisely for linking back to it: meaning, I was thinking about uploading artworks on there in order to specifically use them in my posts and on the websites. So, yes, it is a relatively dormant collection, but also a convenient stash of art things to utilize elsewhere (thank you, id Software, for teaching me this word! 🤣). I'll see if that really works out in the future tho.

There's also something else that I don't to reveal just yet, and I'll keep it a secret for now 😉 I must try something before I jump to conclusions.

HOWEVER!.. This last week has changed the tides considerably, in my favour. Again, having only a very hypothetical and a rather unclear clue on why that happened - what, I must admit, mesmerizes and puzzles me to a great extent - that long-longed-for spark I thought I had lost along the way somehow magically returned back to me after I spent a few hours (and 2 days in total) of writing an arch-important "Notes & Commentary" section for the reissue of all the previous "Time & Again" chapters that is nigh (here, I teased ya. Now live with it 😎🤣). I really like "Time & Again". Even while it's still incomplete. Even if Lothar is just a stubborn a**. Even if a certain other character has quite funky fetishes. Even if Jeanny is perhaps dealing with her own little pinky demons. I really like "Time & Again", and I really enjoy its style, so revisiting the whole thing for the sake of writing additional materials for it quite possibly worked in a positive way on my spark. I love you, my spark. Let's keep it this way for as long as we can from now on. So now the work goes quite well, and I feel very good about it. There's still something troublesome that needs to be dealt with... but that'd be a painful tale for yet another post.

And, of course, I experimented with some Krita stuff again - for it seems, Chapter 5 really marks a period of great technical discoveries for me.

For example, finally, after all these years 😅🤣, I learnt and made a very good use of the toggle "All Layers" and "Current Layer" settings of Contiguous Selection Tool (that'd be your Magic Wand tool, ya Photoshoppers around - including my past self). That helped me to speed up flood fill of the certain areas. Speaking of flood fill and all, I experimented more with the "smart fill" as well. In the previous post, I was dreaming about an advanced AI algorithm to automatically recognize and colour the characters according to a user-prepared colour pallete. I might be exaggerating a bit, but flood-filling flat colours on every page felt almost stupefying - and, in short, not fun. I've read a little about the potentials to automate the process in Krita and have discovered a few neat tricks that I might use to speed up the process of colouring of the next Chapter. But right now - that's a story for another day in the future. And at last, let's talk about the backgrounds. I find it that the backgrounds that are just, let's say, "placeholders" and don't contain the surroundings of the characters are sometimes challenging. And in Chapter 5, there's gonna be plenty of those - because oh boy do I love long conversations! (strong self-awareness and self-mockery go here) And most of these conversations don't even require detailed environments for the backgrounds! Because people are just friggin' talking! And their surroundings don't matter on those particular panels. I've looked through quite a few graphic novels and comics at the local book store to get extra inspirations - but very often I see that the artists simply fill the panel with a solid colour. Completely flat. I must admit, I'm deeply hesitant to do the same, because I like at least a little texture on storywise-insignificant solid colours. It gives... depth.

So this is what I've been doing so far (and yes, you guessed it now! the picture in the very beginning of this post is very relevant here!):

While the "flat solid colour" on the background just seems... too flat, I decided to utilize a gentle gradient as a base, and then to apply additional brush strokes on a separate layer with special blending mode in order to create the effect of imperfection and ever so slightly visible texture to it. After a few sessions of trial and error, and thinking about how it feels and if it matches the mood of the chapter, I ended up using a couple of watercolour and splatter brushes together, in black, and the layer blending mode that I figured worked best for me was Soft Light (SVG). As illustrated by the following GIF:

And LAST (but as usual: not the least, but I won't cover "the least" in this current post for now, for the post is already a fatso - typical, innit?!), I've learnt how to use Filter Layers for the quick colour correction on the go. And this might be extremely useful in a long run for the future chapters of "Time & Again". I might cover this in one of my next posts.

That should be enough for now. So let's summarize: I most certainly did NOT disappear because "Time & Again" ceased to exist, or because I've been abducted by aliens, or because I got carried away giving belly rubs to pinky demons, or anything alike. I disappeared BECAUSE I was working hard on my story, even though at times it didn't go as smooth as I wanted to 😉.

Well, folks, let's wrap it up for today, and see you next time in another blog post! Take care! You will see Lothar in action again soon enuff! 👋

#TimeAndAgainbyDWF #This Week In Time And Again #graphic novel #krita

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i-rationality · 3 years ago

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Hello! for the longest time I've thought that I'm just "not good" at math, and that I'm just a creative type or something, but for the past few years I've been trying to brute-force my way through math drills and stuff to improve because I want to go into a STEM field. I've found that it doesn't work. I have, however, gained a kind of Stockholm syndrome for math, and I find myself wanting to know *more*. I feel like I'm missing out on something way beyond myself but idk where to even find that. So here i am. Asking a blog on tumblr for the secret math knowledge. If you have any resources that i could read about math that isn't just "here's how to do this" i would really appreciate it!!!

First of all, complete props to you for giving something that doesn't initially appeal to you, in this case, maths, a chance. Mathematics can be frustrating and even annoying, being an oftentimes nit-picky field. You can quickly realize that these are also the traits that grant the satisfaction and euphoria of mathematics. So don't forget to be proud of yourself for not disregarding mathematics as a whole and actually giving it a go.

Second of all, creativity is very necessary for maths. It is a shame that the educational system doesn't do maths justice (A Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart is exactly about this). Mathematics is presented as something mechanical, force-feeding formulas and having students repeat them to find adequate results. That is not a fair portrayal of mathematics.

Different people will have different conceptions of what the learning of mathematics is or should be - I mean, for god's sake, mathematics hasn't even been defined properly and one expects people to know what to do with it. I can only tell you what I conceptualize mathematics, and its learning, to be. For me, mathematics is the boring work of examining multiple results and cases of the same formulas, it is the finding of patterns and attempting generalizations, it's the excited scribbles of formulas and the necessity of looking at a particular scenario from multiple perspectives. Most likely, the generalizations won't come easily, a minus sign will be forgotten making the following calculations obsolete, an approach to a problem will prove fruitless, and laborious work will be done only to find out there was a specific theorem that would have shortened the whole process. Patience is required for maths, and hopefully, you can now see that creativity is too, there is no shortcut to knowing where to look or what technique to utilize. As is the case with most worthwhile pursuits, and as you know from experience, mathematics is endlessly frustrating, but that also means it is endlessly fun.

Now, I do not have any secret math knowledge (or do I), what I can do is present you with some things that fascinate me and have led me to love mathematics as much as I do, outside of the conventional mathematics curriculum.

Maths really comes down to practice, practice, practice... as many other things. I heavily encourage you to start playing around with mathematics a little bit. Olympiad mathematics kind of do that, (I, very conveniently, have a lot of posts about that.) as do many other math competitions. Maybe try out some exercises from your national olympiad and, with no judgment, because this is just to have fun, play around a bit. Disregarding the conventional maths you know, test out your logic, laugh at mistakes and losses of time, and feel that happy rush when a conjecture you reach, or part of it, is correct.

In terms of the resources, I opted for a mix of funny math history moments and some actual mathematics, in no particular order. Prepare for confusion. ↓

0. How Mathematics is enjoyable

No better way to start than with the reasons mathematicians decided to dedicate a good portion of their lives to the subject, or why some people just enjoy mathematics. This is something that greatly interests me, I always love to see people’s passion for their interests, hence this post, where you’ll find many people’s reasons for enjoying mathematics.

Andrew Wiles answers “What does it feel like to do maths?” - (video) - Andrew Wiles is a mathematician who proved the theorem which had been taunting mathematicians for centuries, famously known for being the subject of the third point of this same post, explains peoples’ distaste for maths and his own experience with the subject.

YouTube Stories: Learning Mathematics with Wootube by Eddie Woo - (video) - Eddie Woo is a wonderful mathematics educator as well, who videotapes his lessons (available on Youtube). This serves as an introduction to him and his channel.

Mathematics is the sense you never knew you had by Eddie Woo - (video) - In his TEDx Talk, Eddie starts by explaining his distaste for maths in his school years, mentioning his low scores and lack of interest, and how, despite this, he ended up as a maths teacher.

Reddit asks: “Why do you love maths?” - Another compilation of people’s explanations for their mathematical interest. Wholesome content ahead.

1. Intro to a new perspective on mathematics

Taming, claiming and reframing the beast that is mathematics by Vinay Kathotia - Small article related to the portrayal of mathematics by most and by mathematicians themselves.

On proof and progress in mathematics by William P. Thurston - Mentioned in the previous article, 17-page

Anyone Can Be a Math Person Once They Know the Best Learning Techniques by Po-Shen Loh - (video)

√2 . The Pythagorean Cult

I’m sure you’re aware of Pythagoras and his fetish for right triangles, but do you know about his weird cult? That’s right, Pythagoras was the founder of Pythagoreanism, a cult based on the teachings and beliefs held by him and his followers, the Pythagoreans. - very original naming ik.

Here’s and article about them. A really popular myth related them is the throwing of Hippasus into the sea as a punishment for “believing” (i guess) in irrational numbers.

The unreasonable man by Vinay Kathotia, further explores the irrationality of the square root of 2, allegedly identified by Hippasus, providing some proofs of it.

Proof: √2 is irrational by Khan Academy (video) - Because Khan Academy rarely misses.

The Madness of Pythagoras by Kayla Mahoney - Did you know Pythagoras refused to eat fava beams, because he claimed they contained the souls of the dead? Now you do, and there’s no going back >:).

2. The base tools of mathematics

Introduction to Mathematical Thinking by Alexandru Buium - Pretty self-explanatory title, simplistic and general apprach to mathematics starting with the essential, logic.

The Five-fold Path to Mathematical Wisdom by Vinay Kathotia - Article about five different approaches to mathematical problems/representations.

How to think like a Mathematician by Kevin Houston - Really useful book, starts with certain study skills and develops to the logic involved in mathematical thinking, explains theorems, definitions and proofs! Highly reccomend.

How to Think Like a Mathematician by Eugenia Cheng - (video)

3. "I have a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition that this margin is too narrow to contain."

Yup, this is about Fermat’s Last Theorem, which took 350 years to be proven.

I’m guessing you’ve come across some jokes about it, how could one not. Essentially, in the 1630′s, our man Pierre de Fermat jotted down the conjecture (fight me, no proof no theorem) that states that no three positive integers a, b, and c satisfy the equation a^n + b^n = c^n for any integer value of n greater than 2, along with the sentence "I have a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition that this margin is too narrow to contain.". The paper which contained this was only found after his death, and, as far as we know, he never got around to actually writing the proof. Because of this, we call this statement Fermat’s Last Theorem.

Andrew Wiles was who ended up proving Fermat’s Last Theorem, in 1993, after six years of working secretly on the problem. (Imagine your dirty little secret being working on revolutionizing an entire field of study, what a guy honestly.)

Fermat's Last Theorem - The Theorem and Its Proof: An Exploration of Issues and Ideas [1993] - Documentary about the theorem and its proof, as told by Andrew Wiles himself.

4. Functions

Honestly functions are just a very needed side of mathematics that can be applied to pretty much everything. You’ll find them in your average mathematics curriculum and in your everyday life, if you know where to look.

Introduction to functions

Introduction to Mathematical Reasoning - Numbers, Sets and Functions by Peter J. Eccles

Functions in the Real World - Education World

- This is definitely a more theoretical part of the list, I am sure you’ve encountered functions before and the resources you have musn’t be terrible. Look into these if you find the necessity, but again the “math secret” really is practice. They can be interesting reads though.

5. Möbius strips and Klein bottles

The wondrous world of ✨one-sided objects✨. Learn about these cool looking objects and the field they originated, topology.

The Mathematical Madness of Möbius Strips and Other One-Sided Objects by David Gunderman and Richard Gunderman

Intro to Topology by Alex Küronya - Decently advanced maths, I don’t know what level of maths you’re learning, but honestly only read this if you have a pretty thorough backgroung in maths and you’re enrolled/very interested in the field.

Möbius Strip - Cool graphics, cooler maths.

Klein Bottles on Numberphile - Because Numberphile never misses.

6. The Chicken McNugget Theorem

Yes, you did read that right, No, this is by far not the only theorem with a weirdly funny name*. This theorem derives from a 1800′s math problem.

Explanation of the theorem by Xavier Lien

Chicken McNugget Theorem - Art of Problem Solving

Another explanation, if needed by Mike Beneschan

*Proof: Reddit asks: “ What's the funniest theorem name you know? ” - Literally a gold mine, read this.

7. Godël’s incompleteness

One of the essential works of Modern Logic. His theorems destroyed the search for a mathematical theory of everything, at the mere age of 25.

Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The paradox at the heart of mathematics: Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem by Marcus du Sautoy @ Ted-Ed (video)

How Gödel’s Proof Works - Quanta Magazine

Gödel: His Tragic Life Story by Aimee Lamoureux - (TW: Sensitive themes)

8. Mathematics is an art, actually

I’ve seen many people stray away from the sciences because they’re “creatives” or “arts people”. Hopefully you’ve gotten at least a glimpse of the creativity needed in mathematics - if you didn’t, that is totally on me and I’m sorry.

I don’t doubt that you may be a “creative type”. We actually need creatives, more than anything, in this field. I thought the perspective of mathematics as an art mignt be a good ending note.

Why Math is an Art, Not a Science by Peter Flom

Why the history of maths is also the history of art by Alex Bellos - He also wrote the book “Alex’s Adventures in Numberland”, which I own and have read. It’s a pretty sweet book, it has my stamp of approval if you’re interested.

Math and Movies (Animation at Pixar) - Numberphile - On the mathematics behind the art of animation.

Art and Math: Aesthetics of Calculations by Rute Ferreira (DailyArt Magazine)

Besides this I’m also leaving a list of youtubers/authors that are worth looking into. :)

∞. General resources:

Math-related Youtube:

Numberphile - Have different concepts explained to you in a seemingly personal and almost always funny manner.

3Blue1Brown - Maths explanations paired with excellent visual representation of the concepts.

Reducible - As they put it “Reducing problems to their simplest form.”. Also paired with really good animations.

Websites:

Art of Problem Solving

Blogs/Articles:

Cantor’s Paradise - I’ve linked a few articles published there throghout this post. Essentially, different authors publish math articles in this online space, varied and generally well-written about topics.

Alex Bellos for The Guardian - Puzzles and mathematical articles.

Mathblr Blogs - Check the notes of this post to find a lot of them.

Games:

Nerdle - Math Wordle

(...) - Please reccomend more resources below, I’m not the most well-versed on these subjects.

-------

Hopefully, you now find maths a little sweeter, funnier, or comprehensible. As with most things, people lead math discovery, and there’s absolutely no reason you’d be unable to be part of that group.

Mathematical problem-solving is something really frustrating but also immensely fun and rewarding. Please look into it, be it olympiads or general problems you find online, don’t take yourself too seriously and have fun with maths! Mathematics doesn’t judge, people do. I wish you well on your math journey! Hopefully, you’ll love it.

P.S: Feel free to add to this post with any math stuff you think is interesting. The more, the merrier!

#sorry for the delay anon #this has been sitting on my inbox for about 2 months now #i dedicate this one to all math haters :(#mathblr please add onto this.#will include TLDR version of intro later #actual tags:#mathblr #mathematics #math resources #mathematician #math history #funny maths #sciblr #math olympiad #mathematical olympiad #math beginner resources #Mathematics ask #science

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starrrbitz-movedtonewblog · 2 years ago

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Happy 7 years to Undertale!! ❤

Happy anniversary to the funny pixel game that made me autistic /hj

Not gonna lie everytime I think about this game i can't help but be an emotional little bitch. I was obsessed with this game then, previous years, and it's only gotten worse <3 How the fuck has it been 7 years though good god I'm getting old ahhaha

Okay okay in all seriousness, my little insane rambling is under the read more for those who are interested. Warning its very informal pff

Any of you who have at all been following this blog know I am very much still obsessed with this game, so I'll spare everyone the usual "this game inspired me and my art" stuff since you all know that nonsense haha.

I think the reason I'm still here talking about Undertale in 2022 is because, well this game... is now a big part of my childhood/teenhood. This is the game I sort of technically grew up on, and I found in a time of insane loneliness and a creative block. I was fucking 14 struggling through high school and little did I know rahg I would have to transfer to a new school, and that it would be very stressful. I also didn't know that this game was going to help me through it.

You know how a lot of people had Pokemon, or Mario, or Zelda or other games as their fixations or childhood. That's cool, and I always want to play those types of games, but the thing is I've always either missed out on or came extremely late into those franchises. I came to Mario very late, and I consider one my fave game franchises, but that whole ass franchise is older than me and there's still games from it i have yet to play. Still to this day, I haven't played a single Pokemon or Zelda game, as a kid I only knew Pokemon as an anime and Zelda was completely off my radar until a couple of years ago. I've always come late to or missed out on many games.

Undertale however, I and many others have sort of been here from the start with it. I've seen almost everything from the first happenings of the fandom (whether for better or worse... mostly worse pfppf), I've seen so many people play this game, I've studied and analysed and theorised over every little mystery I could find in it, and sometimes just thought a lot about being friends with the characters cause you know I'm normal. I've also gotten excited for new merch drops, even though I still haven't bought any for myself. I've been with friends and gone apeshit for new content like new characters, the smash reveal, and of course the alternate AU smorgasbord game of Undertale, Deltarune, another incredibly important game to me.

I'm still waiting for new chapters of Deltarune, still drawing art for both games, still enjoying everything about it. This. This silly little game inspired by Earthbound and made by a previous Homestuck writer, two franchises i know nothing about, this fucking game is my Mario. It's my Pokemon, or Zelda or Metroid or whatever other beloved franchise that has captivated people for years. Its the game I get teary eyed and warm thinking about, the game with a soundtrack that I can listen to ANY time as much as I want. Its the game I can get all the references to and get excited about when I notice them. Cheesy as fuck yeah I know

I know 7 years seems measly to the maybe 10, 15 and even 20 years people have had their fave games, but fucking hell i think it means SOMETHING when this silly little indie rpg with a fuckton of lore and mystery around it can have such an impact on someone like me. And who knows, I think in the future, maybe 5 years later?? I will be able to look back on Undertale and Deltarune alike, like others do with their fave games, and feel nostalgia, and a connection with the games. I'll revisit it, play it again, still be making fanart for it, and maybe introducing it as something beloved to me to someone I know, while they do the same with their fave games to me.

I dunno i feel just really emotional thinking about it, and yeah haha Undertale the game that makes everyone cry and feel things, GOOD. that's the plan!! And i don't plan on fucking stopping talking about and loving, and CRYING over this franchise. Despite everything my love and respect for this game has never waned, despite everything, I'm still here!! Despite everything, its still me.

So yeah I guess thanks Toby Fox for continuing to make your games and inspiring me and many others and for constantly killing us with your games, thanks to you I will never be the same again and I think I'm more than okay with that <3

Happy Anniversary to Undertale (and happy 1 year anniversary to Deltarune chapter 2, how the fuck has it been a year already it seems like only three months ago I was losing my shit shit one discord with my friends at the announcement-)

Okay bye lol

#safeutdr #undertale #undertale 7th anniversary #undertale anniversary #deltarune #my art stuff #if anyone read any of my insane shit below thank you and also im sorry lsjdjkd #and even if you didn't and you just like the art then thank you very much as well #and also thanks to my friends on discord who are so supportive and who are just as normal about this game as me lmao

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autopotion · 2 years ago

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I love seeing you guys final fantasy tactics-posting omg :,) glad to see that people still love this game

Anon I will be super honest I had no idea that I had anon questions even on at all so when I went into my inbox this was a huge surprise LMAO. A pleasant one though. I'm not really a BNF or anything, I kinda keep a low profile, so this is extremely sweet.

But yeah!! I'm not sure if you're new here (re: to my blog) but I'll give you the backstory anyway. FFT was a foundational game to me growing up. It also is among the games introduced me to video games as a whole; I actually grew up watching my mom and sister play it, and then my brother and I played together when we were a little older. All of us cite it as among our favorites, if not our very favorite. FFT is also one of the few media properties from my childhood that I haven't grown out of. In many ways I feel like I grew into it, as the text is quite dense for a video game and a lot of the finer points and politics flew over my head as a child (not the least because I was playing the PSX version, which I adore, but that translation is not exactly known for its clarity).

I got my spouse @officecyborg to play it when we first started dating, and she liked it all right then, but it wasn't until I replayed War of the Lions about a year and a half ago that she really latched onto it, which was delightful to me as a long time FFT lover with no real place to channel my interest (most of my close circle of nerdy friends haven't played it, and my siblings like it for different reasons than I do). We got really into Delita/Ovelia, which was a delight for the teenager in me who had been obsessed with them (and I guess I still am lol), and I maintain that Zoe has The Best And Most Correct Delita opinions. (Ovelia is my favorite. (: )

Over the course of April/May last year we also wrote in a feverish haze what we lovingly refer to as "the manifesto," AKA a series of interconnected Delita/Ovelia vignettes that frames their tumultuous relationship in a way that we feel reflects what we like most about them. I've yet to read a fic that really captures what I love about their dynamic, though a small handful come very close, so it's been an exciting project. We put it away for a while to focus on other things, but have since returned to it to clean it up, and plan to slowly post it to AO3. One of our favorite scenes from "the manifesto" is already up, actually, since we liked it enough to post on its own, and wanted to present it to the world just in case we abandon the project for other endeavors. You can read it here, if you want. (My spouse and I usually focus on writing our own original fiction that we hope to post as a mixed-media web serial, so "the manifesto" is an unusual side project that we happen to hold very dear.)

Also, if you like my spouse's funny and insightful FFT posts, please go through her #tactics blogging tag for more wonderful gems.

And if you're looking for more people who talk about FFT, I would be super surprised if you hadn't poked around @corpsebrigadier's blog, who is I think hands-down the most steadfastly encouraging FFT fan when it comes to reading, distributing, and creating FFT fan content. Also their cakes look amazing. @adalheidis has also created some of my favorite FFT fanart ever, though Lou is more chiefly a Tactics Ogre fanartist if you're into Tactics Ogre too, and also just creates really stunning art regularly, especially original stuff.

But yeah. My blog name is an FFT reference (the Chemist reaction ability) and so is my video game aesthetics blog, @zeltenniacastle (though unfortunately FFT shows up on that blog quite rarely, as not a lot of folks gif it or make edits of it). It's a very important game to me and probably my favorite game of all time. I used to replay it every summer, and started switching between the PSX version and War of the Lions as a comparison. I don't talk about it all the time, but it's always lying in wait, waiting for me to re-hyperfixate on it, lol.

#quiznaibus #oh yeah my ask tag is an fft reference too!#to the dancer ability 'wiznaibus' from the psx translation #in sum: final fantasy tactics (:#fft blogging #tactics blogging

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words-for-holland · 4 years ago

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Always Yours

Pairing: Tom Holland x Reader

Summary: Sometimes dating a celebrity is hard...but Tom & Y/N have always said no matter what happens they could get through anything. Some angst but a lot of fluff.

A/N: So sorry for leaving yall hanging! Life is just crazy right now and this blog needs a lot of TLC tbh!! Also ehh I def dont think this was my best work but enjoy?

“Oof” Y/N lets out as she plops on to her boyfriend who was lying comfortable on the couch. Tom groaned at the impact with a cheeky smile on his face, his arms instantly wrapping around Y/N’s frame.

“Y’know..there are empty seats right there.” The soft brown-eyed boy gestured with the flick of his thick head as Y/N raises her eyes looking down at him, pretending to be slightly offended.

“Oh I see how it is then. It’s cool...Ill just cuddle with Tessa instead. I know she would welcome me with open arms instead of—” As she slowly starts getting off his chest, Tom is quick to pull her back in, securing her with his strong arms. “No baby, I was just kidding. I want you right here, and Im never letting you go.” he pleas.

The only thing Y/N could manage was letting out a fit of giggles into his chest, a sound that Tom adored and would do absolutely anything to hear every minute of every day. They stay like this for a while enjoying the feeling of each other as they both run their hands into each others hair, the feeling of their chests moving up and down, the subtle thumps of their heartbeats, and the little slips of adoration that came out of their mouths. It was peaceful. A moment that nobody could really take a way because it was theirs.

Y/N casually pulls up her phone, and scrolls through Twitter when she noticed a particular tweet on her timeline. Her eyebrows furrow, as she read the 160 character message.

Why Tom Holland Should Be With Aaliyah Cole and Dump Y/N: A Thread.

She knew it wasnt a good idea to open up the thread. She knew very well that everything within the shallow string of tweets would be a complete waste of her time because it was made up by fans who just wanted to satisfy their fantasy of shipping Tom with his co-star. Who can blame them? They always had great chemistry, but it was part of the job and thats all it would ever be.

“You’re awfully quiet.” Tom murmurs, as he places soft kisses at the crown of her head. “Whats going on?” She was lucky her phone was facing away from Tom, quickly closing the app and pretending to be on one of her many tabs in Safari.

“Mmm..nothing.” Y/N lies softly, a tight-lipped smiled plastered on her face.

“Absolute bullocks. Youre not a very good liar.” He chuckles. “Tell me darling. Whats on your mind?”

Y/N rolls her eyes in response. She’s heard that comment one too many times in her life from everyone shes known. After not giving it much thought, she gives in, sighing heavily. “Dont judge me for what Im about to say.”

“Mmm...I think it might depend on wha— Ow” Tom reacts as he playfully rubs the side of his chest that Y/N hit. “Okay too soon for jokes. Go on.”

Again, Y/N sighs as she props herself up. “Its just ... well a lot of your fans keeps talking about wanting you to get with Aaliyah.” She looks down trying not to make eye contact with Tom, who she’d imagine was looking at her with annoyance.

Tom rolls his eyes at the ridiculousness. Not so much at Y/N but the fact that some of his fans just didnt want to accept the fact that he was happy with Y/N. If it had to come from his mouth to stop the stupid rumors and give his girlfriend peace, then hed gladly yell it from the rooftops for everyone to hear. “Thats it Im making a statement about it.”

Y/N’s eyes widen in fear, scrambling to prevent him from grabbing his phone on the table next him. “No no no no.” She repeatedly declines. “You’ll only make it worse.”

“Darling, Im not going to stand here and watch you get all insecure because of their delusional ship.”

“Yeah well Im not gonna be the reason your fans hate me because Im getting in the way of your friendship with Aaliyah Cole.” She fires back.

Tom was ready to open his mouth only to be cut off once again. “And you know better. That is how your fans will always see it.”

“Okay, are you done?” He calmly asked, cautiously observing her. Rarely did Y/N ever get worked up about anything, but when she had her tangents, Tom always made sure she got off everything she needed to say before he becomes her voice of reason.

“Yeah, I guess.” she says feeling defeated. “Look its whatever and Im tired, can we just let this go and forget this whole conversation even happened?”

Tom was unconvinced, but didnt want to push her further. So reluctantly, he gave in and wrapped his arms around Y/N as they both tried to lull themselves to sleep.

***

Y/N wasnt sure how she ended up in the Tube. It was strange how the lights flickered off the rusted tile floor. The train was no where to be seen, but off to the side of the railroads was pitch black, she could hardly see beyond. To her right she noticed herself standing in the corner of the room, and to her surprise Aaliyah was there. Her milk chocolate kissed skin, and fashionably long frizzy hair dropped down past her shoulders. Her figure long and poised, as she wore a rain jacket and sweats. An outfit only she could pull off and make it look like she was a model for Vogue. Aasliyah smiles brightly at Y/N.

“Hey Y/N.” She says cheerfully as a genuine friend would.

To Y/N’s surprise she greeted her back in the same tone. “Hey Aaliyah...uhh whats going on?” Y/N wasnt sure if she wanted the answer of how they both ended up in the Tube or if she truly wanted to know how her day went.

“Well Im getting ready to present at the Oscars.” She replies, a smile plastered as if she was so excited about it, almost too excited like she was keeping a secret.

“Really? Oh my god, that’s amazing! Im so proud of you Aaliyah! Who are you taking?”

Aaliyah pauses for a few moment looking back and forth, making sure no one else was around. “Okay can you keep a secret?” She whispered.

Y/N nods her head slowly, not having the slightest clue of what was going on. “Im taking Tom. I think he really likes me, and well...I like him too! Do you think maybe I should ask him when we go?” Aaliyah asked genuinely. It was almost like she had no recollection of Y/N and Tom being a couple. “I think we would look good together. Everyone is already making rumors and ships about us.”

Y/N backs aways lowly only to bump into a broad figure. As she turns around she sees Tom, emotionless and almost sad. “Y/N.” He speaks out. “I dont think this is going to work out. Im leaving you.”

Y/N’s heart quickens, and her breaths become shorter as she tries to find a way to run. Running and running into the darkness, until all she could hear was Tom’s faint voice calling out her name.

***

“Y/N! Y/N! Baby wake up please.” Tom cries as he gently shakes his girlfriend from her disturbed sleep.

Quickly Y/N opens her eyes and clutches on to Toms hoodie firmly. Back home, and in Toms arms. It was a dream was all she thought. A sigh of relief escaping from her mouth.

“Darling...” he speaks softly, worried about his girlfriend. “Are you okay?”

Y/N looks up at him and nods frantically. “Mmm..bad dream.”

“Yeah it seemed like it. You were so frightened...I was scared. What happened?” He’s looking at her, trying to read her saddened eyes, wanting to desperately understand what scared her so he could make it all go away for her.

Y/N looks down at her fiddling hands, as she sits on the couch. “I uhh...” she lets out a chuckle, thinking of the ridiculousness of it all. “I uhh...dreamed about Aaliyah going to the oscars and saying how she loved you and how you two are perfect for each other. When I turned around I saw you but you werent happy and said you were leaving me.”

Tom doesnt say a word, all he could think about was how sorry he felt to put Y/N in this position. Though both of them knew, It wasnt Toms fault, or anyone’s for that matter. Feelings are feelings and that was okay. No human being was ever born perfect and without insecurities.

Y/N always tried to be a good sport with situations like this knowing every shippers theory and evidence were hardly ever true, but at some point there was only so much she could take before it all came out like an oil spill. Maybe it was a sign that she wasnt good enough to be with Tom if half of his fanbase thought this way as well.

Tom cradled her into his arms again, holding her tightly and kissing the top of her head. “Darling, I know youre still doubting yourself about all of this, but please believe me when I tell you that I love you so so much and no matter what happens...Im always yours.” He whispers gently in her ear. “It was only a dream and these ridiculous rumors and theories are just that. No one woman in the world could ever make me feel the way I feel for you.”

Y/N blinks softly, as she stares into space. Afraid and in a weird way ashamed, its funny how something so small and so minimal could affect her self-esteem so greatly. Tom gently brings her head up, so her eyes can meet his. He rolls his thumb on the bottom of her soft lips. “Hey, I love you.” Tom smiles.

Time stopped for the both of them the moment Y/N looked into his eyes, she felt safe. All the bad words and thoughts slowly disappear. Tom was right, none of the things that anyone said about their relationship mattered. She knew Tom loved her, and how much she truly loved him. Isnt that enough? Of course not. It was more than enough. A smile slowly forming on Y/N’s face. “Theres that smile I love so much.” He comments.

“Im sorry, for being such a —”

“No. Its okay. You have a right to feel the way you did.” He picks up her hand and leaves a gentle kiss.

“I love you so much Tom.” She says pressing her lips to his. “I dont deserve you.”

“Darling, its me that doesnt deserve you. Im always yours.” Tom proclaims as he kisses her back.

#tom holland #tom holland imagine #tom holland x reader #peter parker #peter parker imagine #peter parker x reader

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