#holy shit my top posts of this year are like. twice the amount of last year. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

radramblog · 3 years ago

Text

Planeswalkers in Cube: White

It’s been a while since I’ve discussed cube, I think, and also a while since I’ve just dived into a stupidly long topic without thinking too hard about it. And so here we go.

Planeswalkers are kind of in an interesting place in Cubes. Most of the time, they’re powerful midrange or control threats, but a lot of them have more specialised roles that can make them better suited to particular cubes. They’re also popular to include, seeing as they’re big, cool, and splashy, and a lot of people really like playing with them. What home exists for something like Liliana, Death’s Majesty in any other format? (I know it’s fine in commander hush)

However, you can only afford so many slots for Walkers in your cube, depending on how you treat them. And so, you’re not going to see all of them very often. Here, we’re going to go through all of them, colour by colour, and figure out why you should or shouldn’t play them, and which go better in different builds. Starting off, as many things do, with Mono-White.

Some ground rules: I’m not going to talk about the Planeswalker deck cards in this post, because the answer to whether you should play them is pretty much universally “no, why”. I’m also not going to talk about the creature->planeswalker transform cards, because they get treated more like creatures in a Cube environment. Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy is kinda just Merfolk Looter.

My next point before I talk actual cards: I’m far from an expert on this sort of thing, and this is going to be my opinions! If you want a different perspective, Season 4 episode 6 of Solely Singleton is a great podcast about this exact topic, though it’s two and a half years old at this point so some things might be a bit outdated.

Finally: White is a colour that tends to get more good Planeswalkers than other colours. Turns out, most Gideons and token-producing walkers are good in slower decks, who’d a thunk it. So unlike, say, Black, the average here is a bit higher than most of the time.

Let’s get into it!

Ajani Goldmane

Ajani is kind of a classic, but the original iteration is kind of showing its 14 years of age. It’s a 4-mana walker (which is a very competitive slot) with a +1 that doesn’t really do anything, a turn-3 ultimate that dies to removal, and while the minus is good (see cards like Unbreakable Formation, or other Ajanis), it requires a board and isn’t really worth a four mana cast.

I had thought he’d be good in more budget lists, though. Except he hasn’t been printed since 2010 and so even though he sees no play he’s still like 5 bucks. So I’d pass on this version of cat dad.

Elspeth, Knight-Errant

On the other hand, Elspeth pt.1 is still one of the best Planeswalkers you can play. She makes blockers for days, can push through some serious damage, and does both of those things while getting more resilient rather than less. Her ultimate might not be game-breaking, but since she’s constantly pushing towards it anyway you don’t really mind. Also she’s only 4 mana, holy moly.

Elspeth is good in aggro, good in midrange, and arguably still more than playable in control. At 12ish dollars, it’s not the ideal price point, but if you can afford it (or have one sitting around), she’s absolutely worth the include.

Gideon Jura

Gideon 1 is a bit more specific. Aggro is not going to want him, seeing as the minus does basically nothing in that deck and the +2 isn’t really worth your time at 5 mana. On the other hand, this card is nuts in control. It’s a hard-to-kill wincon that is also removal that fuels its own condition and survives boardwipes. Gideon Jura is a chad in those decks, and kind of takes over the game the moment he comes down.

The other nice thing about Gideon Jura is that due to recent reprints in Mystery Booster and his Signature Spellbook, as well as not being very good in Commander, he’s ludicrously cheap. You can get one of these for under a dollar, making it perfect for budget cubes (that still include rares). Although, at that point, he might be warping to a cheaper format where aggro is worse, so keep an eye on him.

Elspeth Tirel

Elspeth’s second incarnation (which is the one with her last name, because ???) is significantly worse than her first. If you’re in a slower deck where you want the ultimate, she’s probably not going to live to make it there. If you want the tokens, there are better options at cheaper mana costs. And you don’t want the +2, unless you somehow have a decent board against a red aggro deck.

I remember really liking this card when I first started playing Magic. That was a long time ago, and we have had much better options in the near-decade since then.

Ajani, Caller of the Pride

The first 3-mana walker on this list, and one that shows the conservativeness WoTC had when first testing them at that mana cost. Just kidding, this came out after Liliana of the Veil.

Ajani 3is theoretically fine in an aggressive deck, but white has some seriously good 3-drop creatures that you’d rather just cast instead. Because when your options are a Blade Splicer or putting a +1/+1 counter on your two drop…I’m taking that token. And let’s not act like this card has any place in a midrange or control deck.

Gideon, Champion of Justice

This was the first Planeswalker I ever opened, so I have a soft spot for it. But not enough of one to put it in my cube.

As potentially threatening as this Gideon is, he basically doesn’t do anything? While token decks might have a hard time taking him out, seeing as his loyalty can get pretty huge against them, they can also just block him forever. The ultimate is a game-ender, but also would leave Gideon so small that your opponent might just have enough time to draw lands and get back in the game. And he doesn’t do anything to protect himself aside from get big, and doesn’t really progress your board, so. Sorry Gids, you’ll get them next time.

Elspeth, Sun’s Champion

Elspeths alternate being good, I guess. Elspeth, Sun’s Champion is basically unplayable outside of slow midrange or control, but is utterly incredible in those decks! She wipes out anything that would threaten her and makes enough blockers to easily protect either herself or you, and stalls long enough that those tokens can turn into a wincon via her ultimate.

It is not as universally powerful as the four-drop Elspeth, but the 6-drop one undeniably shapes the game when she hits the table. She stops aggro in its tracks, and nukes the shit out of midrange, especially green-based decks. I suppose there are times when she might be awkward to cast because she hits your own threats…but then just hold her back or +1, dude.

Ajani Steadfast

Ajani Steadfast is kind of trying to be a better version of Ajani Goldmane. And yet, funnily enough, the Vigilance on Goldmane’s -1 is so important, as is being a -1 instead of a -2, so he’s kind of in a similar tier. The loyalty counter upside is so utterly niche that it might as well not exist, but the +1 is unquestionably much better at least.

Like with Goldmane, Ajani Steadfast isn’t really doing anything at 4 that cheaper cards don’t do better. And he’s at about the same price point. At least the ultimate is better?

Nahiri, the Lithomancer

Nahiri is really specific. Like, if you’re at a power level where you have equipment worth playing Nahiri with, then you’re probably at a power level where she’s completely outclassed by things like Angel of Invention or…I mean, most other playable 5s. And some unplayable ones.

…I just remembered this card has 3 starting loyalty. On a 5-drop walker. You can -2 her and she’ll die to literally a goblin token. I sure hope that Equipment you got had Living Weapon!

Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

The first 4-drop that really steps to Elspeth, Knight-Errant. This Gideon is kind of just good in any deck- aggro decks like a 5/5 top end that makes a token T1 or just is an unkillable Glorious Anthem, midrange loves an infinite source of 2/2 to block or beat down with, and control loves an infinite source of blockers that can clean up after a wipe. He’s just kind of a disgusting piece of cardboard for a whole variety of decks, making him easily one of the best walkers in the entire format.

Also he’s…surprisingly cheap? After one “real” printing, and being on The List (which doesn’t do much, trust me), Gideon Ally of Zendikar is still only like 5 bucks. So if you can justify spending that much on one card…probably do that? He won’t let you down.

Gideon of the Trials

Unlike our first 3-mana walker, this one is more than playable in slower decks. Gideon of the Trials is kind of awkward for aggressive decks, put what he does do is effectively remove some seriously big threats, adjust for whichever is the biggest problem around, and still punches peoples as a 4/4 Gideon. And he also has the unique benefit of being a Planeswalker that makes combo decks think twice, given that Emblem- though you’ll still go to 0 life if Splinter Twin or a similar combo is in play, and then die since they probably killed him too there.

Once again, though, this card is pretty cheap, sitting at about 3 bucks. As we get towards the more recent end of this list, a lot of these cards are going to look like that. I remember when I made my first cube, with the restriction of “Rares/Mythics that are under $2 US”, and getting 0 white Planeswalkers. I was playing the Planeswalker deck Gideon, for fuck’s sake! Things are so much better now.

Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants

I could never really get a good read on this Ajani. It’s obviously something control doesn’t want, and the +1 isn’t doing a huge amount in midrange decks. But the -2 is powerful in creature-based decks, and the +1 is solid for quicker builds, but not enough to really justify 4 mana? There’s a lot of power here, but the parts kind of form a strange whole.

I guess it depends a lot on how deep that 2-drop slot is in your cube, and how deep the 4-drop slot is. Because you kinda need good 2s and medium 4s for Ajani to really shine. I’m a little bothered by how meh Ajanis are apparently in general in Cube, but the multicoloured ones are a bit more solid.

Gideon Blackblade

Take Gideon of the Trials, make it not playable in control, and make it really fucking good in aggressive decks. There you go, that’s Gideon Blackblade. Cheap in money and in mana, he’s here to die, aside from the part where he’s hard to kill.

The +1 on this card is not super great, but you have to keep in mind that you get that at the same time as Gideon being a creature. Honestly, it’s kind of easier to think of this card as a creature with a triggered ability than as a planeswalker, at least as far as cube is concerned. It also helps that the -6 isn’t actually that hard to hit, considering you can keep a creature back by giving it vigilance. He’s quite solid, and might just be the best aggro walker White gets. Certainly at 3, at least.

Teyo, the Shieldmage

A bit of a step down from our last 3-drop, Teyo is clearly not built for the same formats as Gideon Blackblade. But with him, we can talk about weaker formats, like Peasant, where Teyo is…still not great? 3 mana gets you a pair of 0/3s and immunity to burn spells, which I suppose control might like in formats where you don’t really get board wipes, but I can’t imagine any other deck wanting him. And that’s not a great place to be.

The Wanderer

Much like Teyo, I don’t think even Peasant wants this. I do think it’s kinda better- their static abilities are virtually the same, except Mx. ??? here extends the burn protection to your creatures. And they do serve as removal, but its both expensive and narrow. Like, how often is this just going to kill a 4/4 and then get killed by their 2/2? I wouldn’t play Smite the Monstrous but it gains 2 life.

I’m interested to see this character return at some point. Maybe next time they can be playable. Some of the uncommon walkers from WAR were great for Peasant (and some even in higher formats), but this isn’t one of them.

Serra the Benevolent

Okay, so. 4 mana Serra Angel that can stick around to make another one is quite powerful! Though the +2 basically does nothing, it’s still a +2, meaning you can get an unkillable Worship the turn after you play this if you aren’t under pressure, or go token into pump into token. Serra is clearly quite solid!

However, it suffers from two issues. One, it’s competing for that 4-drop slot, and is less playable than Elspeth or Gideon in slower decks since she makes tokens slower than those two do. The tokens are more threatening for sure, but token decks generally want more tokens rather than bigger tokens. And two: it’s more expensive than Gideon and similar in price to Elspeth, not to mention another card we’ll get to later, so she’s not even getting into cheaper cubes. Since a lot of cube slots like this are taken by cards with more general playability, Serra is going to sit on the sidelines more often than she maybe should. If you’re at like a 720 list, though, spare her a thought.

Ajani, Strength of the Pride

Take everything I just said about Serra, and make it worse, basically. I suppose 4 mana for two Ajani’s Pridemates is fine, but the plus doesn’t do anything (unless you have those tokens, in which case it’s okay) and you are never activating that 0 unless you’re already winning.

Oh also he’s more expensive than she is and is still at the same mana cost. Yeah nah I wouldn’t bother. Ripper in my Cat EDH deck though.

Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis

This card is actually really interesting. Our last Elspeth is still mono-white, despite the art and flavour, but she almost doesn’t play like she is. I think most of the time, she’s likely to make 4 tokens and then probably cack it, but the Escape on this is really interesting. By the time you reach 6 mana, you probably will just have enough cards in the yard to cast this again.

I really don’t know how to interpret this card. She’s in my own cube, but I don’t remember seeing her cast yet, so that’s not really any help. My guess is that she’s mostly good in slower decks, but also making and pumping tokens does output a fair bit of damage over time. She’s only like a dollar, so maybe try her out? At least she won’t be an expensive mistake if she is one.

Basri Ket

Mr. Sandman here is pretty much just a better Ajani, Caller of the Pride. The +1 does more, the -2 actually puts things on board and is better for aggressive decks to get value out of, and the ultimate is actually attainable. He’s basically aggro-only, but he’ll get the job done in those decks.

However, the 3-mana Gideons kind of just outshine Basri here. He does literal jack squat without a creature on board, and his -2 is quite weak with only one or two attacking creatures to work with. The ultimate is nice, but +1ing over and over is extremely bleh, and you probably have better things to do. So sorry, Basri, maybe next time.

Grand Master of Flowers

Bahamut, you aren’t fooling anyone, it’s on the typeline. For reference, Monk of the Open Hand is a 1/1 for W that gets a +1/+1 counter if you cast two spells in a turn- so it’s not really worth running? And even if you do put it in your cube, there’s no guarantee you’ll have both in a deck, or want to play both in a deck…so…

Okay, fine, let’s assume you just get a copy of Monk of the Open Hand when you draft the card. I’m still not super enthused about this Planeswalker. The lockdown ability is going to miss more than you think it will, and a lot of the things it misses are the things likely to kill you. It can make a 1/1 every turn, but only one at a time, and if they exile it then the ability does stone nothing. And that “ultimate” takes forever to actually get to. Also it’s another 4-mana White Walker. I think I’ll pass on this one. Somehow, both Tiamat and Bahamut were disappointments.

Teyo, Aegis Adept

I wasn’t sure whether or not to include this, but I didn’t really want to end on GMoF, so. I’ve done a whole post on the digital-only cards, and I do think Teyo, despite being a Planeswalker, is one of the less fucky ones. You will need to track a lot of things, though.

So how does the card stack up? Honestly, I think it’s surprisingly solid. Aggro probably isn’t that interested, though Lumbering Lightshield’s ETB (makes a random card in the opponent’s hand cost 1 more) could be a real pain if you’re lucky. It makes a 4/4 every other turn for a bit, which is quite solid, and the ultimate isn’t that unobtainable. And you don’t have to worry about money, because this could only ever exist as a proxy.

I’d be really interested to see how Teyo, Aegis Adept plays. I don’t think I’m likely to, outside of Arena-based cubes, with the whole stigma around these cards and the added layer of having to proxy them. But in an Arena cube, with a restricted list of cards he’s competing with (It’s Adversary of Tyrants forward), he could really shine.

This concludes White Walkers, the post. Please join next week when we discuss Blue Walkers. Make your own Game of Thrones joke here, I haven’t watched or read it.

#ramble #mtg #mtg cube #planeswalkers #mono-white

2 notes · View notes

alkhale · 5 years ago

Text

Shoot the Ball (Ushijima x Reader) Ko-Fi request

Guuuurl can I please get like a bunch of accidental run in encounters with ushiwaka plssss I feel like he doesn’t get much love

Here’s the problem with a school like Shiratorizawa.

It’s a big school.

Fucking huge.

Massive campus yet elite, trimmed student body with a very personal class average of students to teachers. Private tutors are offered in every nook and cranny of the libraries, and the dorms are luscious and extravagant.

Unknown to many of your classmates but most of your team members are aware, you got into Shiratorizawa on a favor from your childhood kyudo coach and a hefty scholarship you had to claw your way towards over a bunch of other studious bookworms.

You’re the leading star on Shiratorizawa’s kyudo club, the ochi from your tachi group, the last person to shoot, the person who guides the rest of the team. You also hold the position of captain in your third year at Shiratorizawa, and kyudo is all you have ever known and love.

But, but, but, but, at a school like Shiratorizawa where a classic, high performance sport like kyudo, a traditional, beautiful sport like kyudo should be fairly popular, your club and your teammates’ performances are always outshone by more high-energy, easily watchable sports.

Shiratorizawa’s sports expect nothing but the highest level of triumphs from all their divisions. From basketball to dressage on horse, each club is required to perform admirably. If you perform well, the more funding you got for your club, the more prestige, and all good things.

Shiratorizawa’s kyudo club is actually high on the list, last year your team placed first at the Inter High and made it to the top four in nationals. Despite all this, despite the fact that you even scored consecutive kaichus, hitting all your marks and not missing a single arrow, making waves in the kyudo community and getting higher renown for your team, your headmaster still refused to acknowledge your club.

You’d come to him, white headband tied around your head, posters ready, armed and prepared to fight tooth and nail for an increase in funds and a spot at advertisements because if your fellow student body just knew about the sport, more people would join, more people would watch, and your club wouldn’t be in danger of closing down after you graduate or declining—

“It’s just not popular!” your headmaster clapped you over the shoulders himself, beaming. “Keep working hard though! Good job last year!”

Because popular and television-worthy, massive poster worthy, constant overhead announcements in the morning and the afternoon about matches, constant offered opportunities for extra credit, belong to certain sports at Shiratorizawa.

Shiratorizawa’s Boys’ Volleyball team.

Every morning you came to school and stared in disgust, not out of a personal vendetta for the guy, but for his whole damn team for taking the spotlight for the past three years you’d been here at Shiratorizawa, at the giant, blown up poster lining your school’s walls, posted in any classroom you two might have together. He flooded the school’s daily bulletin, online articles, even the god damn konbini near your house when your returned home for the holidays.

Ushijima Wakatoshi.

Volleyball star, playing for Japan’s national youth team—which was something you did drool over because nationals was your goal for kyudo—and even top of all his classes.

You kinda hated this guy and you didn’t even know him.

But it was no matter because this year you planned to take your team all the way to the top. Everyone at this damn rich school was going to known kyudo and love it, damn it. They were going to sing your praises all the way down the halls, line up outside the shooting range to get a peek at your beautiful team and fall in love with the bow.

All the way to the same stage this rich, boastful school’s especial crowning achievment and pride, enough to get them their own stupid bus, enough to get them their own damn gym, enough to get them their own damn cheer squad and—

Your first real, personal meeting with Ushijima Wakatoshi goes something like this:

I don’t need more protein, I need better results. You frowned, staring at the picture of the protein drink you’d been texted that was apparently quite popular these days, according to your fellow teammate. She constantly sang its praises, promising nothing but the best and urging you to start getting into it.

“Your practice schedule is too rigid!” she lectured, shaking her hands at you as you notched another arrow and took aim. “You’re going to shoot arrows till you’re an old maid! No one will marry you at this rate!”

“Kyudo will marry me,” you said, completely serious. “I’m marrying the best kyudo archer of this era and no one else.”

“He’s over fifty!”

“I like them older anyways.”

While normally you would have ignored your vice captain in favor of your own home remedies, your joints were acting up lately, specifically your left wrist and that was never a good sign. You had a feeling the tautness to the new string you were trying to break in wasn’t doing you any favors either. You needed to keep an eye on it in case it got worse.

I can’t bring this team down.

The school’s mini-grocery was fairly empty at this hour. Most students were back at the dorms and anyone still lingering around should’ve just finished with their own club practices.

The rows were designed so items could be taken from either side, not just one. You browsed the aisle, tempted by the choco-snacks but willing yourself to put another batch of fruits in instead. Have to treat my health like second nature. Results don’t come from potato chips.

“Finally,” your eyes zeroed in on the brightly colored bottle. A hefty size, meant to be poured out in cups and drunk daily. You had no idea how it would taste, but by your vice captain’s face, it couldn’t be too great.

You crouched down, reaching for the last bottle on the lowest row.

A massive hand engulfed yours at the top of the bottle’s cap, swallowing your hand whole.

“Holy shit!” you shrieked, ripping your hand away—only to find yourself unable to do so with the massive hand still laid down over yours. You hit the floor on your ass, gaping in horror at the monstrous palm and the calloused fingers and fearing this was finally the moment you were dragged into some abyss by an unknown creature and killed—

Eyes like olives, flecked with gold.

You stared, caught, unable to move for a second. You’d always thought his eyes were brown. You never noticed the weird lining to them that gave them a sharper look, like an eagle or—

“My bad,” Ushijima. Ushijima Wakatoshi said, his voice a deep, resounding rumble in his chest like a goddamn bear.

He crouched there, sitting back on his heels, directly across the aisle from you, peering through the metal shelf like some kind of monster trying to fit through a crack. His massive hand and massive arm barely had to leave his body to reach the same bottle of protein you’d both been shooting for.

Ushijima Wakatoshi.

All at once, the flood of posters assaulted your brain. The blaring announcements, the squealing girls, the headmaster, the volleyball buses with his face printed on the side, the magazines, the articles and—

You blinked, once, twice.

His lips parted.

You ripped your hand out from under his with a hefty amount of force. The action sent you flat on your back and you were sure he’d gotten a front row view of under your skirt but you really didn’t give a crap.

“Have it!” you barked out, awkwardly scrambling to your feet. You grabbed your basket and Ushijima blinked once at you, slowly, face monotonous. “You need it more anyway, jerk!”

You huffed, shoulders puffing up. Ushijima was silent on the other side of the aisle, wordlessly taking the bottle of protein with him as he stood.

You gaped.

HE’S A LIVING TREE.

Your neck actually craned a bit, straining to look up at him and he stared down at you from the top of the aisle.

His arm promptly stuck itself through the gap in the shelf, offering the drink to you.

“I’ll be fine,” he said, voice devoid of emotion. “You should take it.”

For some reason that irked you.

You forcefully—struggling with great difficulty—shoved the drink back to his side through the shelves. Ushijima blinked once, slow down at you and you bared your teeth at him before hoisting your basket up into your arm and storming to the check out where you flew through your wallet, aggressively paying the lady at the counter, nearly running into a smirking redhead at the doorway and rushing the rest of the way to your dorm where people kept asking why you looked so damn mad.

“Who was that?” Tendou chirped, sidling up to Ushijima. “A fan?”

Ushijima stared out the still swinging door and calmly examined the bottle of protein in his hand.

“No,” he said.

“...you gonna continue with the sentence or what?” Tendou prodded.

I hate this time of the year. You frowned, burrowing deeper into your muffler as you fought the early morning chill. Several other students were trudging beside you, sleep in their eyes as you all headed to the regular meeting for club time slots. You always showed up as early as possible to get the best dibs for your club.

You absently kicked a pebble in your way, wondering how you should organize practice this week. You wanted to brush up on your form again and—

Why was everyone looking at you like that?

“Good morning.”

It took you a moment to realize a massive shadow had engulfed your own. You stared at your feet for a moment, rubbing your eyes before slowly turning.

Ushijima Wakatoshi bore down on you, face cast in dark shadows from the early morning darkness, puffs of steam clouding by his mouth where he breathed.

He looked like a monster.

You felt your hackles raise, nearly jumping out of your sneakers as you started to backpedal away from him, “Hah?”

“Good morning,” Ushijima said, looking completely unfazed by the crack of dawn and cold.

You continued to hurry backwards toward the gym while barking back at him as Ushijima took calm steps forward—since you were both headed the same way—every three of your steps one of his own.

To anyone else, it looked as though a bear were advancing on a chihuahua.

“G-Good morning to you too!” you snapped. “Bye!”

“What?” Ushijima asked.

“I said bye you—”

“We’re still headed the same way.”

“Stop following me then!”

- - - - - - - -

You smirked, hefting the pile of posters into your arms. This was it, this was going to work for sure. No way anyone could ignore the please join flyers if you were pinning them up all around the school, and the team had worked hard to make it stand out and eye catching, appealing to all genders and interests.

Your wrist was starting to bother you a bit, so you shifted the papers to the other arm. I got careless trying to get the bow turn again. I need to slow it down and ice it tonight.

Who says we’re last on the funding list? You grinned, grabbing your tape. They can’t ignore us with a bunch of members—

“Good afternoon.”

You screeched, dropping your stack of flyers onto your foot. They scattered the hallway.

Ushijima calmly turned his gaze downwards, staring at the colorfully illustrated flyers now flooding both your feet.

Join the kyudo club!

“You,” you snapped, urging your heart to calm and shoving your tape back into your pocket. You hurried, grabbing the flyers and restacking them as he stood, towering above you. “What the heck do you want? Do you get some kind of kick out of scaring people or—”

In one smooth, swift motion, Ushijima had crouched down beside you. You stared, gaping in disbelief as his large hands—he has such big hands, I’ve never seen anyone with hands that big, this guy is all muscle and—moved across the floor, gathering up the papers in one fell swoop. His bangs shifted slightly over the slight furrow of his brows.

Ushijima looked at you, quiet, somber, unreadable as he carefully put your stack back together.

He looked weird in the school uniform. You were so used to seeing him in his volleyball one. He seemed like a different person. Oh, you’re the type that leaves the first button undone.

“I did not mean to scare you,” he said, slow, with that rumbling voice of his. It sent a timbre down your spine.

Ushijima remained silent, staring calmly at you, seemingly content with the silence.

“Y-Yeah, well,” you started. “My bad then.”

You quickly stood, lifting your stack. You stared down at Ushijima for once as he calmly looked up at you and promptly ran off without another word, unable to figure out the weird awkwardness that sat on your tongue whenever you dealt with him.

I mean, it’s not like I really… hate him right?

Why the hell am I running into him so much?

You just needed to shoot some arrows and you’d feel a lot better.

-----------

You shot too many arrows.

You frowned at your throbbing wrist, giving it a look of utter betrayal. The nurse had said to give her a few minutes for her to come back with some pain killers. You were only in the infirmary this time because the pain had gotten to a point where you’d actually dropped your bow in the middle of a draw.

Prelims are coming up. You glared harder at your wrist. You just needed to ice it and you’d feel better. I can’t let them down.

You were taking them straight to the top and then it’d be kyudo posters this school would see, not just stupid Ushijima’s face and—

“(L/n)-san.”

You screeched, nearly toppling off your stool. Your wrist smacked into the counter and you hissed in pain, tears pricking the corner of your eyes.

Ushijima stood in the doorway of the infirmary, staring at you with furrowed brows.

Why him, why now? You grunted in greeting, gingerly rubbing your throbbing wrist, turning away from him toward the window.

You heard the door close behind him, focusing all your attention on anything else to ignore the massive presence behind you.

“What happened?”

WHY IS HE TALKING TO ME.

“Oh, this and that,” you said simply, vaguely, struggling to find better words. You… you really didn’t hate this guy personally or anything, but it was personal at the same time? You didn’t know how you felt about him and it was making you confused.

You hated being confused.

Ignoring any and all other social cues, Ushijima took a seat on the stool beside you, back and posture impeccable. His hands calmly set on his knees. His volleyball uniform like second skin against his form, revealing nothing but miles of muscle and hardwork.

You stared at him in disbelief.

Ushijima faced forward, face unreadable.

….okay. You awkwardly glanced to the side, rubbing at your wrist. Way to make it even more awkward. Does this guy not socialize much or what?

“Uh,” no! Don’t talk to him! Just keep your mouth shut! “What happened to you?” you said awkwardly.

Ushijima’s face relaxed an inch. You blinked in surprise.

“My knee,” he said. “Coach made me go get it checked out.”

“...me too,” you said. He looked at you. You looked away. “Not my knee, I mean. My wrist. My vice captain will have my head if I didn’t. I told her I could just ice it.”

“You should be more careful,” Ushijima said.

You looked at him. He looked at you.

“I’m sorry?”

“You do not need to apologize.”

You stared.

Ushijima motioned to your wrist, not taking his eyes off your face, “Your fans would be disappointed if you were unable to perform.”

“I-I’m sorry?”

“You do not need to apologize,” Ushijima said again, shaking his head. You gaped at him. “I would be disappointed. I wish to see your kaichu again.”

Your brain short-circuited. You were left to dumbly look at Ushijima. He seemed to take pity on you and turned fully on his stool, several heads taller, looking down at you before he calmly said—

“I am a fan of your archery.”

The two of you sat there in silence.

Steam shot out of your ears as your face exploded into red. Ushijima watched in silence as you toppled over your stool and back onto the ground.

- i also stan one giant tree

#haikyuu reader insert #ushijima x reader #ushijima wakatoshi #ko fi requests #haikyuu

584 notes · View notes

thesaltyace · 4 years ago

Text

Another post of griping, feel free to keep scrolling.

tw: menstruation, blood, birth control, also mention of pregnancy in relation to treating PCOS and mention of abortion

I have PCOS and have had irregular periods my entire life. After stopping hormonal birth control around 2014, my periods settled into a "once every four to ten months" frequency. I told my doctors about my concerns and they'd only ever offer hormonal birth control to give me a regular cycle.

And I was like I could give two shits about having a regular bleed. Even when I was on the pills I might only spot once during the placebo week. And the pills made me feel crazy and like utter shit so I'm not taking them again. My concern is that an irregular period like this means there's something else going on. A hormonal imbalance, likely.

And every time, they then said it was "normal" to not have a period for months on end. I hated them for it because I knew they were wrong. They were only saying it because I refused to accept hormonal birth control as the solution, and they weren't willing to do anything else so we'll just say it's normal and you'll leave us alone about it.

And yeah, I did. Because what else were they going to do for me? I did manage to make them do a hormone panel a couple years later but they found nothing abnormal. Wouldn't prescribe me anything to address insulin resistance either, because the "treatment" for PCOS is birth control pills for a regular cycle. You only get Metformin if you want to get pregnant. Because getting pregnant is more important than treating insulin resistance which could lead to diabetes. My symptoms, my body, don't matter unless it's to create another human.

I got the copper IUD in 2017 and my periods didn't change. Absent for months, light to medium for a couple days, then absent again. For the past two years I've only had light spotting a few days of the year.

And I've gotta be honest - I don't want a menstrual cycle! Not at all! I'm happy it's fucked off elsewhere for the most part! It makes me feel dysphoric, it's inconvenient, and now that I have an IUD I can't use the menstrual cups that used to make the whole process at least somewhat bearable.

All of the above to explain that the fact that I've been heavily bleeding for the past three days is very concerning and upsetting.

I can't fully express how glad I am that I moved into a remote position before covid and, therefore, am still remote now. Thank fuck I don't have to sit in an office, cramping and miserable on top of masking for ADHD, and try to get any work done during this. I can recline on the sofa, answer emails, have phone appointments, and all the while be eating a popsicle in my pajamas with a heat pad on my lap.

My symptoms are mostly okay during the day except for the fact that I'm bleeding heavily. I'm completely out of regular/heavy pads and only have my thin light pads (purchased in 2017 lmao - you see how little use I've had for them) so I'm terrified of bleeding through them. The first night this bleeding started I was caught completely off guard and made a huge blood puddle on our (thankfully, burgundy colored) armchair. After three days of this I've decided to go to Walgreens and just get a new box of pads because I can't keep jumping up to run to the bathroom twice an hour to make sure I'm not bleeding onto my furniture. (Spouse would go for me but I also have to pick up my ADHD meds today which requires that I be physically present so... I'm just gonna go myself, ugh.)

So symptoms are fine by day, but by night, holy hell. My cramps were so bad last night I took two naproxen and three hours later I had to take two extra strength Tylenol just to touch the pain. Like, objectively, these cramps aren't near as bad as the pain I had passing clots after an abortion; HOWEVER, I also think not having periods for a couple years has greatly reduced my pain tolerance/expectations such that these cramps now feel way worse than I remember. And sure, I'm passing plenty of clots, but nothing bigger than like a nickel, so.

Spouse has already asked twice if I'm sure I'm okay because he can tell it's been way heavier than anything he's remembered me having before. According to the internet, this definitely falls into heavy period territory but it's not yet into "concerning amount of blood loss" territory. Yet.

I'm just... this is extremely inconvenient and annoying and painful and messy and I had forgotten how much I absolutely HATE it. And the fact that I've gotten an extremely heavy period after a couple years without one at all actually concerns me a little because WHY. 😤

1 note · View note

carmenlire · 6 years ago

Note

Hi! I am pretty new to SH, and when I went to ao3 to find some malec fics I saw there were 19k fics there and I just... noped out. But then I came across one of your fics somewhere idr (prob tumblr) and I really really liked your writing style so I may or may not have spent my spring break reading all your fics... rip. I'm still way too intimidated by the sheer amount of fics on ao3 and since I really loved your writing, I was hoping you could maybe rec some, either fics or authors? Thanksss

holy shit, anon, I’ve written so much dkfgjhsdfkjg that must have been quite the undertaking for spring break lmao! I’m super happy to hear that you like my writing though, especially enough to read most/all of my fics!

Okay, so. When I first started in this fandom, it was overwhelming too and that was in August of 2017 lol! I read a lot of fic rec masterlists on here and then once I went through those, I explored ao3 a little more, along with those authors that captured my interest. I don’t know what you’re interested in but I’ll just go ahead and list some of the fics I started with along with my favorite authors! Everyone on this list is a delight as a person and a writer and I hope you like them!

(This is going to be probably a lot of me rambling variants of read this!! but I’m gonna put a short summary so you know what the story is actually about. I will most likely oversimplify the fic lmao but check out those links for the full synopsis!)

Over 100k

Fall Without Wings by @notcrypticbutcoy (WIP) This was the first fic I ever read in this fandom and it topped every masterlist when I started– for good reason. At the time, it was around 180k? and I read it in one day/sitting. The writing is impeccable, plot to die for, and the way the author builds the characters in this story is just engrossing as hell. This is god tier lmao!

One Line Summary: Canon divergent AU where shadowhunters have wings, Magnus is actively on the Clave’s shit list, and Malec’s relationship is the best sort of slowburn.

One Easy Answer by @maleccrazedauthor This is the first of a two part series and holy. shit. I was enthralled from the first sentence. Apparently, I have a thing for canon divergent AUs and I read this a year and a half ago but still remember gasping at a certain point, hanging on the edge of my seat as I waited to see what the characters would do. I love this canon divergent AU– it’s written so beautifully. (Note: The series itself is over 100k. This particular fic is around 36k)

One Line Summary: Magnus and Alec are leaders of their people and have to learn how to make things work when a marriage of convenience is their only option.

Anything You Say by @milominderbindered Admittedly, I’ve only read the first 80k? of this because I started it like over a year ago and it was a wip at the time but I remember being Super Into It and desperate to see where the story was going. Now that it’s finished, I’d totally recommend it!

One Line Summary: Detective Alec and Forensic Expert Magnus. Honestly, need I say more lmao.

Deeper than the Truth by @insiemes This was one of the first fics I read– probably within the first week of entering the fandom. It’s a wonderful story and a classic for a reason. And that ending:’)

One Line Summary: Alec is a famous author who uses a pen name and Magnus is a fashion designer in love with Gideon’s books.

60k-80k

The Haunting of Lightwood Hall by @bonibaru There are tragically few historical Malec fics in ao3 and this is a gem! The plot is interesting and the love story is super well done. And that ending! I loved it so much.

One Line Summary: Magnus Bane, a psychic, is invited to the Lightwood estate when a murder mystery implicated the heir, Alec Lightwood.

42 North, 71 West by @lecrit Okay so, admittedly, I haven’t read this yet but it’s because I don’t read wips and this just concluded like, last week lol. However, lecrit is a brilliant author and I’ve read several of her fics before and loved all of them! You really can’t go wrong with this author and I would encourage you to read anything/everything in her ao3!

One Line Summary: Politics!Alec and Actor!Magnus in one AU? Sign me up!

The Strength of (Un)Broken Bonds by Blue This is the first of a three part series and I love it so, so much! This is a little grittier though not angsty. The plot is tightly woven, the characterization spot on, and it’s an excellent exploration of the parabatai bond done right. Wildly creative and I everytime I reread this, I’m just in awe at this author’s skill!

One Line Summary: Post 2b, shadowhunters realize just how intrinsically their biology is tied to demon energy and Alec has to deal with a fritzing parabatai bond.

Addicted to You by AlxSteele I’m not a huge fan of fuck buddy AUs but this author is prolific in the shadowfam so I took a chance and I’m so glad I did! This was a realistic portrayal of this AU without being needlessly angsty. Everything was just right and I was so ready to see Magnus and Alec get their shit together!

One Line Summary: Magnus and Alec lead busy lives and neither one has time for a relationship– only what starts out as a string of one night stands leads both to catch feelings big time.

A Fighting Chance by HeartsDesire456 This is a classic for me. I read most of this in one sitting and was almost late for work! But it was totally worth it. I love the build up and the world that this author created. Really, one of the best malec fics I’ve ever read and I love it so, so much! I would recommend anything else by this author, especially Hard Choices, though that fic is considerably heavier though no less well done.

One Line Summary: Alec owns an MMA gym next to Magnus’s dance studio. What starts out as a noise complaint quickly changes Magnus and Alec’s life irrevocably.

We Break That Way by ifallonblackdays_fics and valfromrome I’ve read this several times and it’s a fic of substance. I love fluff but this is a really excellently plotted story that does a fantastic job of showing both Magnus and Alec as the leaders they are. It’s darker but realistic for the shadowhunters universe and I love how amazingly well these authors created a story that picks up after 2x18 in an excellent canon divergent AU where Magnus and Alec didn’t reconnect at that Hunter’s Moon party?

One Line Summary: Not all shadowhunters are happy that Alec’s trying to build relationships with the downworld– what happens when a group of extremists go after the Head of the New York Institute in a bid to return to the old way?

40k-60k

The Lonely Heart Hotline by @unrestrainedlyexcessive Anon. Listen. I am putting Fatale here because this is her latest completed fic and it’s 40k but I would heavily encourage you to read every single piece of writing by this author. I have read all of her fics at least twice and I love them to death. She does such an amazing job of portraying real life, even when her AU is fantastical. I’m partial to her Ave Atque Vale series, which was the first fic I read by her, and her Home series but as I was scrolling through her ao3 profile, I just kept remembering all her stories and how amazing they are. Seriously. I can’t stress enough about how much i love this author’s writing!!

One Line Summary: Alec’s a law student who moonlights as a phone sex operator and Magnus calls him one night, only to talk about music and his questionable phone professionalism.

Love is a Gamble by la_muerta This is another author that I adore and I’ve read all of her fics! This is a western historical AU that I read last spring and simply loved! I’d also recommend her series The Universe is Conspiring Against Us!

One Line Summary: Sheriff Alec Lightwood is busy enough keeping Nephilim Falls from descending into chaos but when Magnus Bane opens a gambling house in town, Alec’s has more on his mind than his townspeople.

20k-40k

Give Me the Pain (Then Take It Away) by LadyOxymoron This is a beautifully well-done story of Alec and Magnus exploring BDSM, particularly Alec’s submission. But it’s so much more that. It’s about their relationship and Alec learning to take better care of himself and overall, I was stunned at this fic. I would really recommend anyone read this for something that pulls the heartstrings while still being hot as hell.

One Line Summary: After a near death experience and throwaway line from Magnus, Alec finds out that he can let himself fall, as long as Magnus is there to catch him.

Appassionato by chonideno This is a classic in the shadowfam. A wonderful story of malec falling in love before properly meeting. The vibe is so ethereal and full of feeling. Really lovely story.

One Line Summary: Alec plays the piano and one day, a request slips under his door– what follows is months of Alec playing for a stranger, both of them falling one note at a time.

Pillow Talk by lacheses This was one of the first fics I read and it’s a really beautiful story that takes place during season one. It’s gentle and really does a fantastic job of building Magnus and Alec’s relationship, both of them so cautious and invested so quickly after meeting.

One Line Summary: Alec Lightwood falls in love, one nap at a time.

Good Our Whole Lives by @beatperfume This fic ruined me. I was invested from the first word and read it in one sitting. The emotions are enough to put you in a stranglehold and while I was wildly unsure based on the synopsis/AU (hooker AU) I gave it a chance and I am so glad I did. I remember reading it and just feeling so much. Wonderful, 10/10. I would rec anything by this author (she really is very creative!) but particularly and I will be your shade.

One Line Summary: When Magnus catches Alec, a shadowhunter, hustling his club the two of them reach an agreement.

Three’s a Crowd by GoldenDaydreams I’ve read this a few times and I love it to death. Super lighthearted and funny, it’s a fun story about Alec and Magnus trying to have sex and Jace being a perpetually pain in the ass cockblock lmao.

One Line Summary: The story where Jace keeps interrupting Alec and Magnus’s ‘alone time,’ and they’re both super fed up.

Sympathy for a Prince by @ketzwrites This was a hella fun story about Magnus as a literal prince of hell and Alec, a no-nonsense detective just trying to do his job. Ketz has written several fics I’d recommend but this might just be my favorite!

One Line Summary: When Magnus, prince of hell, comes top side he doesn’t expect to meet Homicide Detective Alec and become his partner, so to speak.

Hold Onto Me (Cause I’m a Little Unsteady by MagnificentlyMagic One of my biggest pet peeves with the show is that scene in 1x09 where Jace betrays Alec and then it’s never spoken of again. This is a great fic that takes that scene and runs wild with it.

One Line Summary: His parabatai rune was burning, not with death, or injury, but with betrayal.

10k-20k

Yours is the Light by @theonetruenorth This author is an autoread for me and I love a good abo fic. This is so beautiful and I really, really love this. It spins the trope on its head while still in the shadowhunters verse and delivers a really satisfying love story for Alec and Magnus! I would really, really recommend literally everything they’ve written though!

One Line Summary: It wasn’t exactly a secret that out of all three secondary genders, it was the alphas who were the strongest, the most aggressive, the most territorial– It was also completely wrong.

Inimitable by Bumblebeesknees. I adore anything by this author but this. Wow. The plot is super creative as Alec and Magnus get sent back to Victorian London and Alec has to do something both of them would rather he didn’t. It explores a murky area that has the potential to ruin both of them and the writing is perfect. I don’t want to ruin anything but you gotta read this. I read it when it was first posted then scrolled back up to the top and immediately devoured it a second time. I’d recommend anything and everything by this author.

One Line Summary: Stuck in London in 1882 without Magnus’ magic, the way back to New York in the 21st century requires securing a charmed amulet from the Magnus who lives in that time.

It’s a Kind of Magicby @thealmostrhetoricalquestion I love every single fic by this author and would highly suggest you read everything by her but this one has a special place in my heart. It’s light and sweet and a wonderful AU!!!

One Line Summary: Magnus and Alec live on the same floor and are highkey into each other– the only thing is that Magnus is a witch and Alec’s a mundane.

1k-10k

You Only Live Twice by partnerincrime I love this story so much!! It’s a fun little Simon POV on Alec as a gardening billionaire recluse and Magnus as a CEO of the shadow world’s largest department store. It’s hilarious and I lose my shit every time I read it!

One Line Summary: In which Simon Lewis becomes an entrepreneur, and, through a series of highly improbable events, fails upwardly toward success.

Lonely Starbucks Lovers by partnerincrime is also a hoot and I love this author so much!! It’s the quintessential coffeeshop AU.

PWP

The Way I Feel for You by @theonetruenorth Goddamn, this is a masterpiece. I’ve read this several time and like I said earlier, anything by this author is guaranteed to be amazing.

Shadows. Shovels. Joy. by oncethrown While this isn’t strictly a pwp, it’s about the parabatai bond and Jace’s POV on Alec having sex. Heartwarming and super well written! another example of how the parabatai bond could be well done.

In Plain Sight by redorchid. Holy shit, I love this to death and it’s actually the first in a series called membership, about Magnus and Alec’s exploration into exhibitionism.

hit me like a ray of sun, burning through my darkest night by liamandzayn I’ve read all of her malec fics at least twice and I just think she writes great sex lol. Definitely recommend!

With Bones Unbuttoned by @ohfreckle No smut list would be complete without ohfreckle. She’s an autoread author for me and I think I’ve yelled about this particular fic literally every chance I get. Goddamn, the sex is hot as hell and the emotions that pour through are enough to make my own heart ache. No one does it better and I wish everyone would read this and die with me.

Lionheart by Bumblebeesknees Both this one and the one above are 2x18 makeup sex fics but they’re both very different. I also love this one immensely and this author, as I’ve mentioned above, is amazing.

Series

Alec Lightwood Deserves Nice Things by @my-nameless-bliss This series ruined me. I can’t stress enough how much I love this series. It’s beautiful written, the emotion gut wrenching, and it’s a wonderful exploration of Alec’s masculinity and what that even means. It really made me think and reevaluate my own life and I am awed by this author’s talent and everyone needs to read this. There’s also ALDNT extras which is a multichaptered work set in this universe.

We Built a Dynasty Like Nothing Ever Made by Madalena. This was a canon divergent AU set after 2x17 that does a great job of exploring shadow world tensions and Alec as a Leader and Head of the Institute. Creative and stunning and wonderfully plotted, I’ve read this series several times and love it so much!!

The Boundless Saga by sarcasticfluentry and teumessian This is a canon divergent AU that starts in season one and it’s a classic for the shadowfam in my opinion. I particularly love Parts 4 (which could go in the pwp section) and 7, which I think it’s an excellent exploration of shadowhunter tradition and expectation.

Authors

@laughingmagnus Serendi has been an autoread author for ages, since the beginning, really. Her writing is wonderful and she really hits emotions in a way that’s enviable. Her Maryse centered fics are superb.

@gingergenower I’ve been yelling about Kat’s writing since I discovered her last winter. I started with goddamn right (you should be scared of me) and I’ve read all of her fics multiple times. You really can’t go wrong with her!

@thattrainssailed Monica’s writing style is very distinctive and literary. She writes Malec like they’re set in stone entities, powerful and always in control, even if everything else is a chaotic mess.

@bytheangell Elle can write fluff or angst depending on her mood and she does a wonderful job with whatever strikes her fancy. She has a >100k fic called Support System that I’ve heard really great things about, even if I haven’t had a chance to read it yet.

@royaltybane Lydia is an OG in the shadowfam for good reason! Her writing is fluid and suitably full of feeling. You really can’t go wrong with anything by her!

Ohprongs is a wonderful author and I’ve read all of their stuff on ao3. I’d highly recommend them for shorter pieces.

This is by no means an exhaustive list! I’ve quite literally read thousands of Malec fics since I joined the fandom in summer 2017. These are the most memorable to me, however, and the ones that I’ve returned to time and time again. Any author I mentioned would be worth going through their backlist. I often just picked my favorite fic of theirs.

If there’s something that you’re into– a trope, a general tone– you can always come back and I’ll do my best to answer your questions and give you recs! I hope that this helps and isn’t too overwhelming– I tried to organize this masterlist by word count and then misc categories. Thank you so much for thinking highly enough of my writing to ask me this and I’m sorry it took a little while to compile this fic rec list! Happy Reading!!

#sdkfjghsdkjfg this took me three and a half hours lmao #and I just wanna reread all of these fics right now #but alas #malec masterlist #malec fic recs #malec fic #anon #asked #answered

279 notes · View notes

saint-patrice · 6 years ago

Text

“Tbh I would like to have the 34 *other* Bergy pics on your shortlist, complete with commentary lolol. And then (if you’re still waiting that is) any other Marchy pics with commentary? xD xD”

here are some more of my favourite marchy pics, complete with my bizarre personal commentary, for anon! the 34 bergy pics can be found here also!

Note: a few people have said they like these posts, so i’m up for taking people’s requests if there’s a particular player they’d like to see! inbox is always open (and anon is on) so just drop me your request and i’ll get working on it :)

okay so this is some absolutely premium cute marchy!! the smile that manages to be completely self-confident yet in no way cocky? the polite little wave as he surveys his audience who, if i recall correctly, were booing him heavily?? oh i do love you mr rat. marchy is fantastic and i have so much respect for the way he deals with his reputation across the league and the excessive amount of shit he gets.he knows what people think of him yet doesn’t seem to let it get to him. i have so much love for him.

KATRINA IS LEGENDARY. before moving on to the part of the image that gave me whiplash when i first saw it, we’re back to talking about brad’s smile. i think i said it in my last post but he really is one of those people who smiles with their whole face - even if you just saw his eyes in this photo you can immediately tell that he’s got that little grin on his face and that’s adorable tbh. now onto the d*lf mug (censored bc i fear the dodgy underground porn blogs these days)… i don’t even know where to start. i feel like he very proudly bought it for himself. and it’s like the only mug he ever wants to drink out of. just my take. i also think the longer hair really suits marchy ngl

ahhh the boys and their dirtbag christmas suits 💛 highlights of this image are the suit jacket that is definitely just one size too small for this absolute man rocket, and the pants with “FRAGILE” plastered all over them - very relatable if not at all festive.

gay rights are stored in the rat!!! i’m glad marchy has been pretty open about his support of LGBT stuff, particularly within hockey. also i feel like some of the stuff he’s said in interviews or social media (esp re: lickgate) manages, even if not intentionally, to be quite diminutive towards implicit homophobia or ‘toxic masculinity’ within hockey. okay maybe that that was poorly expressed but basically he just doesn’t give a shit and appears very open and accepting and i think that’s super nice. this picture also makes for a good reaction image when someone says something dumb

short kings love.jpeg !! a wonderful example of the love that brad shows his teammates on a regular basis, despite his constant chirping. i have no real opinions on torey krug (no h8, i just don’t think i’ve seen that much of him off ice so idk) but him and marchy are quite the duo tbh, i live for their back and forths on twitter - more on that later - and they seem to love each other an awful lot, it’s v cute :^)

that’s my pest™. honestly i think lickgate is one of the best scandals in recent hockey history. when looking for a good image of this is saw an article where some dipshit reporter was outraged about it and was like “how would you feel if someone just came up and liked you?” i mean what if someone just came up and started punching you or hip-checked you into the wall????? hockey is a nasty game a lot of the time, and instead of giving people concussions or broken bones (not that he hasn’t in the past ik…) marchy managed to make opposing teams just as angry, if not moreso, just by licking players. i think it’s fucking hilarious. and most of them took it well in hindsight anyway - i think it was komarov who said he kinda liked it lmaoooooo. peak bradley kevin antics if you ask me

every pic from the china trip has such a special place in my heart. this is just an all-round adorable photo and brad is looking gorgeous in the sunlight and his backwards cap

brad waving the towel in surrender is just about the funniest thing i’ve ever seen someone do in the penalty box… i can’t believe they gave him a 10 minute misconduct for it, something i think they’d wouldn’t have done if it had have been someone else. at least someone in this league has a goddamn sense of humour. the penalty minutes stat in the corner just makes this even better

brad, once again, showing us how we should deal with people talking shit about us - just get on board with it. i love how much he’s just embraced his massive nose and his height and his general reputation. idk if it’s really deliberate but i think it’s such a good message to send, and it makes for some pretty funny stuff too.

brad single-handedly keeps nhl refs in a job. in my bruins drinking game™ you have to take a shot every time the ref has to physically restrain marchy (2 if it’s because he was going to get revenge or fend for bergy) and you could get fucked off that alone during some games. it was nice to see him not actually get suspended this year, but i will always love that he’s such a physical player and quite the pest on the ice :))

me: *slaps helmet of brad marchand* this bad boy can fit so much personality.

really though, can you believe he’s managed to squeeze more charisma into only 5 feet and 9 inches than 85% of the league combined… very cute picture, and always lovely to see him by bergy’s side on the ice where he belongs

oh my goddddddd how fucking cute is this though!!!! the hat! the dad energy those jeans and the boots give off!!! his face!! his little daughter!!!!! i can’t take it, my heart is going to burst.

(gif via @kureally) this is also just so cute, i need a minute. brad has some very powerful eyebrows and this gif displays them wonderfully. this section of behind the b was also pretty sweet all round, and i agree with pasta that the hair is looking pretty first class

(gif via @murlin09) i am not like into marchy (no tea no shade if u are though), but this gif… whew. i’ll let you come to your own conclusions on this one, gang

i was not lying when i said more on the brad-torey social media antics earlier. there are some truly iconic chirps (the zamboni one is lethal), but this self-roast just kills me every time. i never once thought i’d read a tweet from the official brad marchand twitter account that opened with “hey shorty” but here we are. “my nose wouldn’t fit” i astral projected the first time i read that. and if you’re wondering what torey said to prompt this, it was simply “hey marchy”. it doesn’t take much for brad to light on you, huh? we better watch our backs

definitely a favourite marcheron pic right here - the pucks and paddles (i still think that’s a questionable name but maybe that’s a me issue) content is always top notch. if you can find the video, it’s even better, but this picture captures the general energy of the video perfectly. the only thing missing is that brad’s feet aren’t actually on the floor because the height difference is so pronounced that bergy has to lift him. beautiful

return of the cute brad smile!! a cute yet mischievous little grin, i can only assume he’s restraining himself from laughing at m*tthews fivehead (although who is he to talk with that schnozz. at least he rocks it tbf 👃🏻). not sure blue is really his colour but he’s going for it anyway. that’s my all star!

it’s been days since this photo first surfaced and i haven’t stopped palpitating. the cutest photo ever, they all look so happy and i love that!!! also how are their wives so beautiful….!? oh my every pixel of this image is just stunning

i know i included this in my last bergy list but if they can name new york twice i think i can put this on 2 lists, because lord knows it’s even more iconic. i feel like this is a good metaphor for brad marchand: getting up to no good, although still relatively harmless, all the while supported by the considerably more sensible, yet still entertaining, patrice bergeron. additionally, another excellent display of the oft-overlooked fact that this man is built like a motherfucking tank. holy shit

i wish i could see these boys in suits without my brain immediately trying to think of some sort of au. anyway, i really like this look on brad (unpopular opinion - i love his loud checkered suits as a concept but i don’t think they look good). although he has dark hair, strong eyebrows, and dark facial hai, the all black actually looks really good on him. coffee in hand really adding to the look too - well done, brad “fashionista” marchand.

ahhhhh i love nothing more than family man marchy 💛 his daughter is adorable - those tiny jerseys kill me - and i love that his son is wearing the all-star jersey omg how cute (he is definitely going to end up taller than brad lmao)

sometimes i forget that brad is short and then i see photos like this (brandon is 6′5 for reference)…amazing. i relate to the lady on the left on a spiritual level. brad’s face is a mood and a half. his feet are half a foot of the ice at least. i adore this photo.

(gif via @brandoncarlo) absolutely one of my fav things about watching bruins games is how brad and patrice will always find each other during a celly - nothing beats the 100 hug. this is also just a very satisfying skating gif that i love.

last but very very very far from least is this. there is literally no need for me to make any comment on this so i’m just going to leave it and go. bradley kevin marchand you are iconic and ily

ayyy this was super fun to do, thank you for requesting it anon, i hope you like!! again, i’m absolutely up for taking requests for more of these lists so hmu if you have ideas :)

#my bergy post was pure thirst for the most part #this is just me appreciating the true iconicness that is marchy #the effort i went to to not use 'iconic' every third word...bc he just is #answered #Anonymous #bruins photos compilations #bruins #marchand

47 notes · View notes

agirlinhell · 6 years ago

Text

just a casual reminder that:

THIS BLOG AND ITS MUSE CONTAIN PRETTY MUCH ALMOST EVERY MAJOR TRIGGER. THIS BLOG IN ITS ENTIRETY IS EXTREMELY TRIGGERING. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

If you proceed to read this blog’s content after the multiple content warnings that I present in the blog’s rules page, you are responsible for whatever happens. I informed you of what is present. Do not try to claim I did not give you an adequate warning.

I write a lot of “horrible” shit. I literally write a sweet and innocent girl turned assassin and killer in her own right in the apocalypse for a muse - there’s very little I have an issue with writing in detail. This blog is riddled with mature content. With that said, I won’t be roleplaying with anyone under the age of sixteen. This should be obvious but just because I write disturbing content DOES NOT MEAN I SUPPORT IT.

On the topic of Clementine, she is a very morally grey character - she is neither good nor evil. She will not always be kind and sweet to your muse. She won’t always do the morally “right” thing. She will not hesitate to resort to murder, manipulation, blackmail and torture if it means getting what she wants.

Please don’t have your muse presume to know what Clementine is thinking, unless if your muse is some kind of telepath. Just because you know what going on OOCly, it doesn’t mean your character knows. Characters who seem to know more than they would is irritating and really annoying. Clementine is very charismatic, persuasive and secretive and as such, it is difficult to know exactly what she’s planning or thinking.

My Clementine has been - and still is - very lonely, and did not have friends or family for most of her life, as everyone else had either betrayed her or died, and even with her friends and accomplices, most of her friendships were merely for survival purposes. It’s fairly easy to forget that the timeline of Episodes 3 through 5 of Season One lasts only about four days. In the space of less than a week, Clementine has lost everyone she’s ever loved. She finds her parents infected, Lee is either dead or infected, and every single other person Clementine has come to rely on and know in the past three months — everyone, from Duck to Lily to Kenny to Ben and everyone in between — has died systematically over the course of a few days. Omid and Christa are the only ones who survived, but she had only met them during that four day timespan. It gets even worse as the seasons progress and this is no understatement in the slightest.

Clementine is age eighteen-nineteen and over in her default verse, as it is set post-The Final Season. With that said, most asks will be answered when Clementine is an adult, unless if the ask specifies for a specific verse.

For the love of all that is good and holy, DO NOT STEAL MY HEADCANONS FOR CLEMENTINE.

There are people I have a lot of threads with. It's inevitable that sometimes it'll appear as if I only reply to one person or the same 2-3 people simply because they're the only ones I have a lot of replies from. If you can't handle it looking like I've only responded to so called "faves" all day, when I owe you less than 5 things, don't follow me.

While Clementine in the majority of her verses is a human, there will be alternate universes where she is a vampire, werewolf, crossroad demon, shapeshifter/druid, deity, etc. and because of this, she will be very powerful and in some scenarios, even overpowered in the case of her deity verse. However, I do not powerplay/godmod/whatever else. It’s hard for some people to grasp, but for example, in my vampire or deity verses, Clementine does not give a shit about yours enough to waste her energy on them. For example: I have a verse where Clem is a goddess, and yes, she could know everything about your muse, but trust me -- she’s not going to act like it or even acknowledge what she could know. She doesn’t care to go through your muse's brain to figure out what they’re thinking. The only real metagaming you’ll see is deity!Clementine knowing your muse’s name when they haven’t given it out. I will IM the fuck out of you before I do some crazy shit with her anyway. I only ask you don’t act as if she is not a powerful goddess in said verse - because she is and she will destroy a muse that pisses her off.

Have a rules page and an about page for your character. I don’t care if your character is canon. I will not follow you if I can’t find an about section. Linking to the wikipedia/whatever page of your canon character does not count.

I don’t follow people who post ooc a lot. Blog updates, headcanons, activity notices, etc are not ooc per say but an excessive amount of them can be.

I have a really big issue with people who post super negative stuff all the time. I’d rather not have to deal with your problems on top of my own, thanks.

I absolutely will not follow you if I have to put in a ton of effort just to make it so I can actually read your information. I don't give a fuck about the "aesthetic" - just give me something to work with.

I do not follow every single blog one person has. It feels like you’re taking up a ton of my dash/followers, and it drives me insane.

I don’t follow people who are only here for shipping. If you're here just because you want to ship with Clementine, you came to the wrong place. My Clementine is not just a shipping facet.

If we do not interact within three months of becoming mutuals, unless if there’s a hiatus on your part, I will softblock/unfollow you. Interaction means a starter (or ask) and a reply. If I write you a starter and you never respond, it is not interacting.

The more we talk ooc, the easier it is for me to reply. It makes me more comfortable writing with you, and I often chat about our muses, making it a lot easier to come up with ideas and giving me a lot of muse and inspiration for our threads.

Memes can be awkward and harder for me to answer if we’ve never interacted before. I understand that a lot of people prefer memes as a means of getting things started, but I would really rather plot if you’re trying to get a thread of any substance going. I don’t mind starting with a meme, but I can almost guarantee you it’s not going to go very far if it’s our first thread.

Don’t pester me for replies. Feel free to remind me about a thread by liking my last reply to it or sending me an IM, but I will be really annoyed if you remind me more than once or twice within a month.

If I don’t like the post, I didn’t see it. Please tell me about it.

I’m a part time college student with shit mental health and confidence issues. I can be slow as hell some days and fast as fuck on others.

Once a thread is longer than two paragraphs (medium sized), it sometimes takes me 948728923660700 years to gain motivation for it. It will literally exhaust the hell out of me, but I am not against longer threads, in fact, I totally encourage them. It just takes me way longer to gather muse, time, and motivation to respond to them. If we have a longer thread together, I expect you to be patient as hell. Obviously, I will not mind waiting forever for your reply either.

I'm not going to bother with a million poorly slapped together ships for the sake of the muses involved "being cute" together. Most ships will need to be plotted, yes, even canon ships like Louis/Clementine and Violet/Clementine. My muse is not going to like yours without special circumstances and an extra push from me, especially since Clementine is demiromantic and demisexual.

I almost always answer asks in the form of a starter (questions are the common exception). Don't feel obligated to continue every ask I respond to.

Please, for the love of god, like a starter or ask response if I post it for you. I hate not knowing if you saw it or not. I will send it to you if you haven’t liked it within a few days of being active.

I have discord if for whatever reason mutuals want to speak to me outside of tumblr’s IM system - I also RP on discord - it's for mutuals only and you must let me know who you are beforehand.

#OUT OF THE APOCALYPSE. ( ANGIE SPEAKS. )#( PSA. )#( note: this isn't directed at anyone in particular!! )#tw; long post

11 notes · View notes

tessatechaitea · 5 years ago

Text

The New Titans #60

First time in my comic book reading history that I noticed how much Nightwing's symbol looks like the torso of a woman in a skimpy top.

It's difficult beginning a new New Titans comic book when I'd let myself believe I was finished reading them all. It's especially difficult to keep reading this comic book when the first page includes this warning:

You don't have to tell me twice!

Apparently my brain disagreed with its first assessment that the comic book didn't need to tell me twice because it reread the warning and idiotically read it correctly this time.

Dammit! Why did I already read Batman #440?! Now I'm practically locked into reading this!

Looking on the bright side for the second time in my life (the first time was when I realized that when I die, it'll most likely be in some horrible accident in which I won't have time to register that my life is ending and therefore I'll never actually know I've died, easing swiftly into the loving embrace of non-existence!), I thought, "Well, Batman #440 was written by Wolfman and it was a decent read. How terrible can this comic book be?!" But that pleasant thought was completely undone when the first panel reminded me of something I had yet to consider:

Fuck. Cyborg was still alive at this time. I'm fucking bored already!

Well, looking on the bright side who loves seeing a character yell "Booyah!" constantly, this comic book should be a real treat! I do feel a little bit of white guilt creeping in around the corners when I voice my indifference of the most boring character in the DC Universe because he's black. Especially with Donald Trump's recent explicitly racist tweets and the GOP's rush to hide behind other members of the GOP in the hopes that they won't have to shrug apathetically on camera when asked about the tweets. But it's not my fault that DC Comics chose to make their most boring character an American black man! Would it help if I said some of my favorite DC characters were black? Nope. Just heard how that sounds. Not better! Paragraph breaks don't do as much heavy lifting as I need them to. Sometimes after I've written some commentary, I'll wander off to another part of the Internet to take in some sights. Then when I come back, I sometimes want to discuss what I've just experienced. But going from one paragraph to another, readers just think they're reading it in real time as I wrote it. What I need are paragraph breaks that represent the amount of time I was away (but not what I was doing while I was away or they'd all be variations on "Gone five minutes. Jerked off to Sailor Moon porn where Rei surprises Usagi in the shower and teaches her how to masturbate" or "Gone ten minutes. Watched an erotic massage video and spent most of the time fiddling with the sound so the downstairs neighbors couldn't hear it. Turns out 3 out of 100 is still to loud for some women's orgasms" or "Gone three days. Couldn't take reading another Wolfman New Titans comic book and wound up just playing thirty games of Apex"). Between the last paragraph and this one, I went on Twitter where Andy Richter posted Fats Domino's version of The Beatles' "Lady Madonna." My only response after hearing it was, "Holy fuck." Seriously, I never want to hear The Beatles' shit version ever again! I also just noticed in the above panel, Cyborg accidentally stuck his penis plug-in to the side of his face! Whoops! Back in 1989, Cyborg wasn't capable of contacting anybody in the DC Universe immediately. So he's having trouble finding Dick Grayson. He tried his pager and...well, that's about it! It was 1989! If somebody wasn't sitting by their phone, you didn't have many other options when trying to contact them! This is probably one of the moments where much later DC editors looked back at Cyborg and realized he needed to be more powerful. I'm not arguing that he definitely needed to be more than a white noise gun that said "Booyah!" but they could have realized he needed to be interesting as well. Hell, it's not long after this issue that Marv Wolfman completely gives up on him and smashes him into bits. Having no other options but to risk exposing Batman's secret identity by putting calls to Wayne Manor on the Titans phone records, Cyborg gives Bruce a call. I'd understand interrupting Batman's hectic life if the world were on fire but the big emergency right now is that some weird kid looking for Dick visited Kory while she was practically naked (no wait. She had a towel on after showering so her body was more covered than usual). Batman is busy dealing with Two-Face even though it's the middle of the day. I think maybe Alfred lied to Cyborg. I bet Batman's taking a shit. Dick has gone back to Haly's Circus to find himself.

I bet these two clowns are actually old white land developers responsible for the circus failing! Their next trick will be to dress up like ghosts and zombies to scare everyone away!

A third clown named Harry comes out of a tent and passes out in Dick's arms. Can you imagine blacking out as a clown? You'd probably wake up in an unknown tent with no make-up covered in lion spit and shame. Dick meets with Haly and is all, "I read about the circus closing down and I couldn't figure out why. But now that I'm here, I totally get it!" And Haly is all, "Fuck you, Dick! You try running a circus in 2019! I mean 1989! Oh, yeah, I guess I should probably still have been able to trick idiots into thinking freak sideshows and abusing animals was still cool." Haly actually blames the failing of his circus on too much TV and too many video games. Obviously Super Mario, Tecmo Bowl, and Duck Hunt (hee hee! You thought, "Cunt!") were way more fun and interesting than sitting in a smelly tent being terrorized by people in greasy face paint but Haly really should take a little responsibility for his own business failings. Dick arrives and in ten minutes, he's already washed an elephant and kept a drunk clown from breaking his neck. Maybe get off your ass, Harry Haly, and fix up your shit. Haly also mentions that there's been a rash of accidents that have kept the selling price of the circus down. I bet it was those fucking clowns!

He's talking about his penis so yes, Dick, he has to ask.

While at Haly's Circus, Dick Grayson witnesses the origin of Clown Batman!

Later, after Bozo Wayne grew to an adult and was wondering what direction to take, a clown crashed through his window.

Tensions are running high at the Haly Circus as some performers want to circus to be sold so they can move on and others just want things to remain unchanged.

Finally, a clown that makes me laugh!

During the show later, Wilhelm the lion tamer gets his throat ripped out before Dick can save him. Dick was disguised as a clown so Wilhelm probably bled out as Dick was struggling to take off the stupid shoes. Tim Drake is in the audience watching because he's smarter than the entire Titans team put together. Later, Tim and Dick team up to find out who's been sabotaging Haly's Circus. It turns out it was the little person and the strong man. So typical! It's totally who I thought it was and not those two clowns from earlier. That was just a red herring I was throwing out to confuse you. The team-up doesn't make me like Tim Drake any better. But then Tim makes an admission that warms my heart and I can't help but love the kid.

Wolfman knew what he was doing.

At the end of the day, Dick Grayson buys half of Haly's Circus to help keep it afloat (with Bruce's money). Then Tim shows him the pictures of Batman battling Ravager that he took in Batman #440. He pleads with Dick to go back to help Batman cope with the death of Jason Todd. "Batman needs Robin!" he argues like a nerd doing his thesis on Batman's inexplicable need to endanger minors. Dick takes the kid seriously because who else has ever figured out that Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson are Batman and Robin?! Only the smartest man on Earth and he won't do that for another twenty five years! The New Titans #60 Rating: B+. Apparently it's the Titans that make the Titans comic book suck. Concentrating on Dick Grayson and his relationship with Batman and the circus (and even this new upstart kid that loves Dick) causes Marv Wolfman to be at his best! My guess is that it's the lack of Cyborg that really makes the book shine.

#The New Titans #Teen Titans #DC Comics #DC #A Lonely Place of Dying #Batman #Tim Drake #Comic Book Reviews

5 notes · View notes

suchakidder · 7 years ago

Link

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Armin Arlert/Jean Kirstein Characters: Jean Kirstein, Armin Arlert Additional Tags: Blow Jobs, Anal Sex, Established Relationship, Discussion of masturbation, the slightest bit of voyeurism but it's most unintentional? Series: Part 1 of Jearmin Week 2018 Summary:

Jearmin Week Day 1: Fantasy Titans are mostly eradicated, the ocean has been seen, and the Survey Corp finds themselves with free time for the first time in years. There's one activity Jean prefers to indulge in above the rest, but when it seems Armin doesn't get as much out of it as he does, a conversation must be had. Featuring penis insecurity, Jean learning more he ever wanted to know about his friends' sex lives, and no actual smut in the first chapter.

You can read it on ao3 but it’s also posted below the cut. It’s kinda long so I’d suggest ao3 BUT it’s all up to your preference

“Are you sure you’re alright Jean?” Armin asks for maybe the third or fourth time in the last half hour.

Jean’s not. The whole post-dinner walk to the beach had been for the express purpose of talking about what’s bothering him, but the closer he gets to asking the question he needs to ask, the less he wants to hear the answer.

“Armin, I have to ask you something.”

“Go ahead,” Armin says and when Jean doesn’t he frowns slightly. “Jean, you know you can ask, or tell, me anything, right?”

Jean takes a deep breath, steeling himself for any outcome. You only want the best for Armin, his happiness is most important.

“Is my dick too small for you?” Jean finally asks.

Armin wrenches his hand from Jean’s to turn and face him. He blinks several times, and then opens his mouth to reply but no words comes out. He closes it, then opens its, stops to think and the process repeats several times before finally, “What the hell Jean?”

---

The problem started on Jean’s birthday. Precisely it began the day his mother gave birth to a boy with a penis too small to please his lover, but for this particular instance the problem started on Jean’s seventeenth birthday when Armin’s present to him was the best blowjob in the world. That cum was the only thing to shoot from Jean's dick, not his soul or the remains of his dignity, was phenomenal. That Armin could smile and talk, his throat not wrecked from that amazing performance, was a goddamn miracle. Where it had all gone wrong was when Jean asked how to return the favor.

“I’m good.”

“But I can make you feel really good” Jean had countered, but his attempts at a seductive voice must have failed because Armin just laughed at him. Armin, naked and cum stained, laughed at him.

“Just enjoy your present,” He’d said and that should have been the end of that. Jean was man enough to admit his dick sucking techniques were probably good but nothing near that, but it wasn’t like they only ever traded blowjobs.

While Armin dozed, pillowed on Jean’s shoulder, he had done the math in his head. In the past three weeks, they’d had sex nine times and Armin had finished three times to the best of Jean’s recollection. Three times. A whopping two thirds of the time they had sex, Armin didn’t orgasm. Including that time last week when Armin topped; how could he not come from that? Sure that was only a three week sample of their nearly two year relationship, but if Jean had included the first few months, pre and post returning to Shingashina, the rate would probably be even lower.

It’s not that Jean didn’t try, Armin just seemed to hurry them along and he either fell asleep right after or got up to shower. Case in point, a few days later, Jean had tried to focus solely on Armin, kissing down his body slowly, before zeroing in on his cock, but Jean had been there only a minute or two, hadn’t even managed to fit all of Armin down his throat yet, when Armin took hold of Jean’s hand and moved it from his thigh to his backside where, holy shit, Armin had pre-lubed.

Jean had tried to go slow, find that perfect angle that drove Armin crazy and keep him there with long, full strokes, but Armin dug his heels into Jean’s back, and he pleaded and begged him to go faster and looked so good, a flush starting at his chest and moving up his neck and face, those big blue eyes blown, that Jean had complied. And when he tried to reach for Armin’s dick, Armin batted him away then dressed almost immediately, teasing Jean they’d be late for dinner.

Jean didn’t have any previous experience, they’d been each other’s first everything, but he did have the contents of his mother’s bedside table. He must have been seven or eight when he found her collection of erotic novels, and since that day they had been his favorite past time when both his parents were out of the house.

In those novels there were one of two reasons a man couldn’t please his woman. The first was his lack of oral skills, but Armin didn’t have those parts anway. And as for the second, how many times had the heroine laid under a man, usually her husband, as he worked her over with his small tool, while her thoughts were a million miles away on men with nearly double the length and girth.

Armin’s dick was only a few centimeters longer than Jean’s own, and pleased Jean perfectly well when he was bottoming, but he topped more often than not. He knew his penis was average sized; after five years of communal showers, he knew the size of most of his fellow teammates, flaccid at least, and knew he measured up to most, aside from Franz’s abnormally large physique. But, if Armin weren’t coming nearly as often as Jean, maybe he needed more?

Which led to here, ruining their weekly beach stroll. Jean should have let sleeping dogs lie, Armin wasn’t complaining after all, but the thought that Armin might be unhappy wouldn’t stop nagging him.

“Why would you think that?” Armin asks.

“You didn’t come last night.”

“Ok, I don’t have to every time-”

“Or Sunday night.”

“There have been plenty of times where I’ve come and you haven’t Jean, there’s no - “

“You’ve come three times out of the last ten times we’ve had sex.”

That finally gives Armin pause. His brow furrows as he thinks it over in his head. “That bad? It’s not that I haven’t noticed there’s this discrepancy but…”

Jean waits for him to finish, but Armin looks uneasy suddenly. He’s looking down at his clasped hands, not meeting Jean’s eye. The moment of truth is upon them, Jean only hopes the solution won’t be Armin leaving him for another man.

“I always thought you were just… a little over enthusiastic.”

Which is not the reaction Jean thought was coming at all. “Wait, you think I’m the one who comes an abnormal amount?”

“A few times a week is a little excessive, don’t you think?”

“A few times a week? Armin, we lived in the same dorms. After lights out you couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting someone who was jerking off."

“Yeah, that was when we were twelve. I’m pretty sure our hormones have cooled off since then.”

“Armin, since we’ve had our base, I either have sex with you or jerk off almost every single day. Sometimes twice in one day. Sunday? I masturbated like 40 minutes after you blew me.”

“You’re joking.”

“I am not.” Sunday had been a little excessive and Jean honestly thought he didn’t even have any cum left after Armin’s birthday present, or the mindset to jack off once the doubts of his skills and size came into play, but once he started thinking of sex and of Armin and of Armin during sex, well, it really wasn’t too hard especially with an uninterrupted view of Armin’s back and ass.

“Jean, that’s just… don’t you ever get bored?

That just confirms everything Jean read in those novels. Armin must see his distressed face and is quick to try to correct it.

“Bored’s the wrong word Jean, I’m not bored with you or with sex, I’m just… I think a lot.” Armin looks pleadingly at him. “Well what are you thinking about?”

“During sex? I’m not. Or if I am its just what position to get into next. Once, just once I wondered if Sasha or Eren could hear.” He actually has that thought a lot, there have even been times he’s afraid the whole wing could hear them, but thats always a thought for before or after, or occasionally in the morning when he meets Eren’s gaze as they exit their rooms at the same time.

“What are you thinking about?”

Armin has the decency to look chagrined. “I take it supply chains isn’t the answer you’re looking for.”

“No it’s not.”

They face off against each other, quiet but for the waves breaking over the shore.

“Let’s go back to our room.” And if Armin is offereing to leave the beach, things must be bad.

---

They don’t talk the entire way back. Even when they’re fighting, which has been only a few times in their relationships, they usually keep talking to each other. It’s why they don’t really fight, Armin doesn’t ever let the subject die nor does he let Jean storm away, so by the time they finish talking it out, they forget why they were upset in the first place.

As if to keep up appearances, or maybe just to placate Jean, Armin takes his hand as soon as they start walking, he even lifts it to his mouth and gives him a brief kiss to his knuckles, followed by what Jean thinks is a supportive smile but it doesn’t do much to ease the dread curled up in his stomach.

As they pass through the yard in front of the compound, Connie waves them over to where he’s sitting with Mikasa and Sasha under one of the trees, with what looks like a card game between them. Sasha catches Connie’s hand and pulls it down, only confirming Jean’s suspicion that even holding hands, something looks off between him and Armin. He hasn’t looked over to Armin, but he knows his own expression is stormy, the criminal look Armin calls it.

Inside, once they turn the corner onto their hall, Eren is there talking with Levi. The pair is at Eren’s door, which comes before Jean and Armin’s, and as they pass Levi turns to say something but Jean ignores it. Armin stops, the motion pulling his hand free and if he answers, Jean’s already opening their door. He tries to shut it gently once he’s inside, or at least with the usual force it takes to close a door, but his hand slips and it slams.

Great, now even Eren and Levi will think he’s too dramatic. But too dramatic would be packing up his things right away, when he doesn’t think their fight is anywhere near that level. Though if it would be, Jean suddenly despairs at their choice of only one room. The vets wing only has seven bedrooms, if he and Armin break up they’d have to repurpose an office somewhere, or worse. Jean’s imaging his life back in the new recruits dorms at seventeen when the door opens and Armin quite literally jumps at him.

They hit the bed, Jean first and Armin landing with a bounce on top of him. Armin’s arms are around his neck, and Jean is worried maybe they’re physically fighting, but then Armin burrows into the crook of Jean’s neck and Jean realizes they’re hugging just horizontally.

“Jean, I love you, alright. And I love having sex with you. And I love all 16 centimeters of your penis. I don’t want you to think I’m not satisfied with you- with any part of you- just because I don’t come as often as you do.” Jean holds him tight, one hand cupping the back of his neck and he starts to stroke the soft hair there while Armin kisses the side of his neck. With no warning, Armin pulls his head up, dislodging Jean’s hand, and looks at him hard.

“Wait Jean, are you hard?”

“No!” Jean says, not defensively at all.

Armin spreads his legs so that they drop down to either side of Jean, giving him the leverage to grind down into Jean’s crotch.

“You are!” Armin yells triumphantly, sitting up, still straddling Jean’s hips.

“You’re grinding on me, I’m somewhat aroused, what of it?”

“You were totally turned on before.”

“Well, you were talking like -”

“Like what? I love you? That gets you off?” An evil grin spreads on his face when Armin realizes he’s on to something. “I love you!” Armin repeats it again and again until Jean has to reach up and cover his mouth

“Eren and Levi are right outside the door.”

Instead of using one of his hands to remove Jean’s, or biting him, Armin starts to stroke Jean’s palm with his tongue, then pokes it between Jean’s middle and ring finger, doing his best to suck his ring finger into his mouth.

“Now I’m really getting hard, is that what you want?”

Armin shrugs, then succeeds in his mission and sucks his finger in deep.

Jean yelps and pulls his hand free. “Armin be serious.”

Armin pushes his hair back from where its fallen all around his face. “I suppose you’re right. Though,” and he really grinds down into Jean’s dick here “this isn’t what you’d consider fully hard? You are only 16 centimeters after all.”

Jean shoves Armin off and he falls back to the bed laughing.

“That’s low Armin.”

Armin tries to respond, he keeps making the beginning of what should be apologies but he can’t get any word out around his snorting, laughing so hard he curls up on his side and clutches his stomach. Jean can only imagine what Levi and Eren must think is going on in here, and for both their sakes, hope they cleared the hall long ago.

“I was thinking you’d leave me for bigger guy, but I think I’ll have to leave you for someone who doesn’t laugh at my pain,” Jean says.

Armin, still laughing, crawls back on top of Jean and peppers his face with kisses. “Jean I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist.”

Pinned down, the only escape Jean is to turn his head to the side, leaving Armin to kiss the side of his face . He should have never given him an opening though, because after sucking a kiss under Jean’s jaw, Armin sticks his tongue into Jean’s ear. Jean’s reaction, screaming and flailing, sends Armin off in another peal of laughter, and Jean really hopes Eren and Levi aren’t listening in.

“I’ll find me a nice guy who doesn’t stick his tongue in inappropriate places.”

“How boring,” Armin comments. He’s still on top of Jean, his weight a nice pressure against his, somehow, despite everything, still somewhat hard dick.

“You can’t break up with me anyway; we share a bedroom.”

“I could if I left you for Levi. Then I could share his bedroom with him.”

“That’s who you’re going with, out of all your other choices?”

“I need a mature man, who can really understand me.”

“I’ll be mature for you,” Armin says in a voice that neither sounds mature, nor does anything to alievate Jean’s erection.

“Was there something you were going to talk about or just tease me all night?”

Armin sighs, so put out. He climbs off Jean, and fixes his hair that has once again, gone tangled and messy around his face. Jean sits up too, and reaches out with his thumb to rub away the tears collecting in the corner of Armin’s right eye.

“I can’t believe I’m dating someone who finds my misery so amusing.” Jean says. Armin opens his mouth. “If you’re about to say you can’t believe you’re dating someone who’s only 16 centimeters, I swear I’ll go proposition Levi right now.”

“He wouldn’t want you anyway.”

“Wanna bet?”

“I want to now, just to see you try.”

Jean considers it. “He’d kill me.”

“I guess you’ll have to settle for me then.”

“If I absolutely have to. Can we get on with it?”

Arnim nods, and suddenly it’s tactician Armin sitting on the bed with him, not his silly boyfriend who’d been teasing him the last few minutes.

“Our problem is we have a limited frame of reference for sex. I.E. we only have our own experiences with each other and by ourselves. So we need an outside view.”

Jean had even considered that briefly, before he’d confronted Armin about their issues. He’d even go so far as to sit down next to Connie, before realizing the fatal flaw in his plan. That flaw being the most important factor in Jean’s life; Armin is his best friend, his closest friend, and as such the only person he would ever talk to about matters even far less personal than his sex life.

“I’m not talking to anyone about our sex life.”

“Oh come on Jean. It doesn’t have to be personal.”

“How is ‘Hey Connie, I can’t make Armin come from my adequately sized cock, do you have any tips?’ not personal?”

Armin breathes in deep through his nose. “I like your dick Jean. Its big. In fact, when you’re inside me I feel so full, like I couldn’t take even the smallest millimeter more. I-”

God damn it, his erection had just gone away.

“Alright, I get it but what, I tell Connie I can’t make you come because you think too much? That’s still too personal.”

“Are you being purposefully difficult?”

Which, ouch, stings a little when Armin had been the one derailing the conversation at every turn just a few minutes ago, but Armin sorta has a point.

“Fine, Armin, what do I say to Connie then?”

“Our problem is we’re just apparently different in what turns us on and how often. So just ask Connie his experiences. If every day is less, more, or on par with his habits. If ‘I love you’ would work to turn him on. Things like that. And Sasha too.”

“No way!” As a whole, he’s close with Connie, Sasha, Armin, Eren and and Mikasa in ways only people who experience life and death situations together can be, but as for personal relationships he hit it off with Armin and sorta stayed there. He’s closer to Connie and Sasha than Eren and Mikasa, and he and Sasha go practice at the range together to fairly often, but he can only see himself talking to Connie about this, and even just barely. To ask Sasha?

“Would you rather talk to Eren and Mikasa?”

“Not only would I rather eat sand until I suffocate, but I don’t know if I want Mikasa and Eren knowing about our sex life.” They’ve been mostly good about their relationship, but Jean still gets looks from Mikasa occasionally that tell him otherwise. This afternoon, walking back from the beach, he was pretty sure Mikasa was gearing up to take him down when they passed by, and only a small wave from Armin, a clear ‘stand down’ wave, stopped her. Even once they’d passed the rec area and into the base, Jean still felt her eyes on the back of his head.

“They know we’re having sex Jean. Everyone does. Eren has more proof than others.”

Not only was Eren their neighbor to the right, he’d also learned his lesson about entering without knocking pretty quickly.

“I know they know, but they don’t know know. I don’t want them having to hear about how I deflowered their childhood friend.”

“That’s such an antiquated idea; do you think Kaitlyn Wegmann deflowered Mikasa?”

“Kaitlyn Wegmann? The military police transfer? She and Mikasa are---”

“Yes, quite frequently.”

“How do you know this?”

“Wasn’t it obvious?”

Jean had noticed Mikasa had a new friend. There were recruits and transfers from all over now that the Titans had been eradicated; even Jean had made a few new acquaintances. But he didn’t think Kaitlyn and Mikasa were that friendly. Mikasa’s room was only two down surely he would have noticed if--oh god, he suddenly remembers the time a few weeks he’d walked to the men’s restroom as the two were coming out of the women’s. But Jean had showered with the other guys all the time and he wasn’t sucking Eren’s or Connie’s dicks.

“Who else is hooking up?”

“Well…,” Armin lowers his eyes, conspiratorial. Jean leans in close, even though they’re in the privacy of their own room. “You do know about Historia and Ymir right?”

In a role reversal, Jean is the one tackling Armin to the bed this time. They land easier, it’s a much shorter distance to go from sitting on the bed to lying back than from standing at the foot of it, and Jean immediately gets to his knees so his hands are free to grab and poke at Armin’s stomach.

“I may not catch on to romance that well, but I’m not an idiot, Armin,” Jean says as Armin thrashes away from his tickling hands.

“I never-” and Armin breaks into laughter so hard he can’t talk “Jean please- ah ah ah - I never called you an idiot.”

“Well you definitely thought it.”

“Never.” Armin gasps. “Jean, I’m gonna pee myself if you keep this up.”

Jean relents, sitting back on his heels, still straddling Armin’s hips. The view is one he can never get tired of, Armin laid out underneath him, gazing up at him with that easy, thoughtless smile.

“So you’ll talk to Connie and Sasha then?” Armin asks, like anything in that conversation confirmed that.

“Have either of them had any secret hookups?”

“I’m not sure, but I at least have first hand evidence that Connie’s masturbated.” And at Jean’s disgusted face, “Come off it Jean, we shared a dorm. What were you saying earlier, a cat died every time someone masturbated?”

Which was not what Jean had said at all, but the fact remains. “That doesn’t mean I knew who was masturbating individually, I tried to tune that out.”

“I didn’t mean to listen, but come on. You had to be able to tell the difference between voices and sounds. I have an enclyopedia worth of knowledge on the individual habits of each of our fifty person dorm. I could - “

“Even me?”

That causes Armin to pause and he flushes, cheeks turning berry pink before he’s quick to recover. “You were a dormmate, were you not?”

Armin’s eyes track his movements as Jean places first his left, then his right hand to either side of the pillow. When Armin finally looks back up at him, his face is blank. If Jean didn’t know him well, he’d think Armin wasn’t affected, but this is his best friend after all.

“I was.”

“Well then, you were included in that list.”

“That’s it? Just one, completely insignificant noise in the middle of the night amongst all the others?” Jean lowers himself, their faces now only a few inches apart. Trapped and completely caught in his own admissions, Armin manages to still look aloof.

“Mhmm, that’s it.”

“So you watched me jerk off?”

“No!” Armin answers too fast.

“Tell me about it.”

“There’s nothing to tell. It was- I went to the bathroom one night and on my way back… You know it was always noisy at night. Guys were always snoring and coughing and shifting or adjusting themselves, and when I got close to your bed I heard something that made me look over and you were obviously touching yourself.”

Underneath him, Jean can feel the slightest shift as Armin moves his hips the tiniest bit. Armin’s chest is rising quicker and harder than any time in the night, tickling and laughter aside, and his pupils are wide, watching Jean closely. Insignificant his ass.

“That’s it? Come on, babe, I’m the injured party here, with some night creeper peeping on me. The least you can do is tell me what you saw.”

“Oh Jean, I couldn’t really see anything, it was dark and you were under the covers. You were half sitting,” Armin’s eyes close, as if he’s painting the picture in his mind. “Kinda leaned against the headboard and your legs were spread out, knees bent.”

Jean nods, he remembers many a night in the dorms spent bent over his cock, pumping furiously while visions, mostly of Mikasa, played out in his mind. Never more defined than just her presence, dark hair and eyes, thin red lips, some pressure and thrust. He only had his mom’s novels to go off, torrid love affairs, wets folds and quivering members. He had no idea what sex was like when it was with someone you wanted, with someone you loved.

“I moved closer because I could tell you were awake and I don’t know, maybe I was going to say something but then… I could see your right arm, your shoulder really, pumping up and down. Your other arm bent at the same angle so I thought you were probably… cupping your balls or the base of you dick... And you were, uh, moaning just a little. Yeah, a quick, low moan. And cursing, or… I couldn’t really here the words you were saying, but I think it was shit or fuck or…”

Again, Armin shifts, squirming under him but making no move to buck Jean off. Jean’s not resting any weight on Armin, but he lowers himself just a little, and yeah, Armin’s definitely turned on.

“And then?” Jean asks.

It takes a moment for Armin to reply, and when he does he’s back to aloof. As aloof as he can be with his pupils blown, his breathing shallow and the beginning of an erection forming.

“And then I went back to my bed and I never thought of it again.”

“Uh huh,”

“You don’t believe me?” Armin asks, and it’s too much for Jean not to lean down all the way, lips so close to Armin’s he can feel every exhale.

“You know what Armin?”

“What?”

“My bunk wasn’t between yours and the bathroom.” And then he finally closes the gap between them.

And as it would turn out, that night Jean’s sixteen centimeters are more than enough.

#jearmin #jearminweek2018 #thejearmincollective #jean kirschstein #armin arlert #i've had this ready to go since last week I'm so excited to finally post it

18 notes · View notes

seenashwrite · 7 years ago

Text

Conversations With The Commissioner: Crappy Monsters In Barber Shops, a.k.a. Nash's First Headcanon + Wine = The Image I’ll Never Be Able To Top

@lipstickandwhiskey kindly thought to tag me when she saw a jovial post that reminded her of my disappointment in the lack of dinosaurs in the *alternate world and hoped to cheer me, but little did she know [mainly because I completely brain farted on posting this way-back-when] this had been addressed. In an objectively bizarre way. Admittedly.

FYI: Spit-take warning in effect, also cursing, should you choose to carry on

Preamble

* Dear SPN Writers' Room*: I'm not calling it The Bad Place, because I'm done with y'all ripping from other stuff, in this case, a beyond phenomenal show - hey! you do recognize carefully crafted season arcs when you see it! - even if y'all thought it was a homage, it's not since viewers of the show "The Good Place" already know about The Bad Place and it's not a physical nightmare, it's a psychological nightmare.

Pay. Attention. Stop ripping from well-known pop culture shit without (1) making sure the “homage” is used correctly, (2) double-checking that something similar hasn't been done before and, if so, (3) adding your own cheeky-sneaky spin. Not doing so makes you look, at best, like hacks, at worst, like doofy dipshits, particularly when it is from shows in your same genre - like a renowned show from the same fucking network that hadn't even ended their run but a year and a half prior to when yours started - and wrapping up *your* season with a title that was an iconic element from an iconic show [it was iconic, for several reasons, that's an essay for another time] which was the basis for everything from a/possibly *the* pivotal moment in the series and which was tied to many of the composer's pieces for the soundtrack, as it was a central thread. TV Tropes is your friend.

Tangentially related, while we're here:

[Shep as Romo Lampkin]

I digress.

The Background

The Commissioner and I pop a cork, start talking about the Wayward pilot. We don't say a word about the scripting or the acting [because if we do, I go down a Dolly Deadeyes road, and nobody wants that]. Rather, we do a deep dive on the things that resemble other things and postulate how this came to be. Not in the minds of the peeps behind it, no, the dive comes via what the youths call a "headcanon". I've never had one before, I don't think, and I'm proud this is the first.

Oh, and a housekeeping side note: While my observations/the conversing began that night, the main convo/legit start on the image at the bottom happened later on. This has been run through the Nash snark filter for funsies, which is why the tone is the same for the whole conversation as, in truth, I have little clear memory of a lot of this, and the time taken for the assemblage of the image took longer than a conversation's worth, since the beginnings were sponsored by wine but it had to be done, it's how I combat insomnia and after seeing the monsters, I needed to purge my feelings of.... well....

The Beginning

After a verbal review (an accosting-of, really) of both Well-Coiffed Predator in a Bane Mask and Dollar Store Doomsday from the Wayward pilot, we begin discussing theories on how exactly this came to be in the alt world. Everything below is based on (a) the fact that New!Kaia's outfit denotes the presence of some sort of killa shopping and/or a hella talented Matrix-obsessed seamstress in the alt-world, therefore why not additional styling like a salon, and (b) the fact that we were lit on wine.

And the Predator rip - who, in the concept art, does not appear rippy-offy, it should be noted - got that mask somehow. He's either homaging Bane all over his face [his own face, not the other-way-'round] or he's gotten hold of one of the real things, modded it a touch to account for the spread of his general mouth region. Seems their temp name is the generic supernatural/folklore catch-all that I was vaguely aware of - "Canid" - and that some dude who's apparently of import on the show hates it, and I concur because all I can think of when I see the name is Candida. The Commissioner asked for a reminder, and I explained what that infection was and that now upon learning the creature’s name, I looked upon it as a yeast infection made sentient. The copious amounts of viscous discharge helps that along.

This then got a general science light bulb to pop, and we again consulted the googles, and boo-yah:

It's a dog. That. That up there, that I linked to. A daaaawwwwg.

No, not a if-this-is-a-dog-then-what-does-the-owner-look-like, maybe-they're-just-disgruntled-puppy-mill-alums type of WTF. The WTF is because I, once again, am wondering if at any point people over yonder are bothering to check shit out with this cool new thing called google. I know. It's a novel suggestion.

Somebody sure as shit used said googlins for squid beak - it's a touch birdy beak, but nah, slimy squid goes better with the aesthetic - and I guess they had to, as they already gave the far superior on the creepy scale pacu teeth to the Dollar Store Doomsday.

Because we were sneery and feeling gross at this point, we needed something fun, so we refilled on wine, and decided to make a mash-up image of the “inspirations” [to be clear: The Commissioner decided I should make a mash-up]. We were also feeling gross after looking at all that above, so for an eye sorbet, we needed some pretty, and STAT. We both instantly knew what would do the trick.

We start the conversation with Bane.

The Conversation

[looking at still from that Batman movie Bane was in; neither of us have cared to clarify which of the Nolan B-mans it was, because we don't care]

The Commissioner: He is so smooth, like, everything, even the fit of the clothes.

Nash: I'll never forget his turn as young Picard in that shit 'Trek movie, what was it called?

[we do not look it up; digression discussion of the awesomeness that is Sir Patrick Stewart]

TC: What's in his hand? Is that a riding crop? Or a shuffleboard thing?

N: Yes, exactly, Bane took a break from beating up Batman to shuffle. Nooooo. He got drug away from riding his horsey----

TC: YOU MUST MEAN HIS STALLION - if he rides horses, they are buff

N: ---to bring the mask, and is he pissed about it?

TC: No. No, because he is a dollbaby - he loves dogs.

N: You're mixing Tom Hardy with Bane.

TC: NO.

N: [realizing] BECAUSE THAT IS A DOG THING, THAT CREATURE IS DOG

[digression googles to look at pics/vids of Tom Hardy with pups]

N: Oh, no, wait - can we make it a putter? Like he was on his way to golf?

TC: But he still doesn't mind, because he's good guy Bane? And golf sucks? Oh hell yes.

[putter image sought; we go back to staring at Hardy, sip wine for untold moments]

N: And Preddie's all - Oh Bane, no! I couldn't possibly! Aren't these custom made? But he's gripping the shit out of it, like, pry it from my hands, bitches.

TC: And he takes a sniff when nobody's looking and swoons. *SWOONS*

N: Freaked-out stylist saw, though, and a touch of pee slips out, because it was weird before, but now shit's kicked off.

TC: Oh, she's already wet her pants at least once, absolutely. Do we need to add her?

N: No, she's in the bathroom.

TC: But you know who we should add.

[Image of 1990s Leonardo Di Caprio is immediately sought; we love the R+J still too much for words and select it with zero pause]

N: But why?

TC: You know he's gonna end up bopping around to other worlds anyhow, and for Bane to be here, there must be other rifts----

N: Low-Sugar Low-Fat Low-Calorie Eye of Saurons?

TC: ----so they're babysitting.

N: THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE [gulp of wine] Hey, you know who should be his foster parents if he’s bopping around to all points?

TC: Is it some side-character who's off-show at the moment? So we can get the show back to, um, Sam and Dean?

N: Chuck and Amara.

TC: You remember they're brother and sister, right?

N: [side-eye] Okay.

TC: They are. It's canon.

N: OKAAAY. [stares at Leo] Alright, what are we having him do? Satan's crotch goblin?

TC: [possibly disgusted with me] Pencils.

N: YES I KNOW WHAT TO DO they need to keep him busy so they just keep giving him piles of pencils to sharpen, and he's distressed because there's no more and the sharpener’s motor burnt out.

TC: [touch of a spit take]

[we stare at the collection of images; it is a bitch to find a clear shot of a Pred sitting, but we need him in a barber chair; I will ultimately cobble it from three separate images; it was worth every goddamn minute]

TC: Okay, now what about that thing? The thing? Deadpool?

N: No he was something else, that's Reynolds. Deadshot? Wait, hang on.

[we watch the Bob Ross Deadpool thing, maybe twice, I have no idea]

TC: What'd you say?

N: I dunno.

TC: Me neither I just remember thinking you were wrong.

N: [looks it up, or we'll be here all week] DOOMSDAY

TC: Stop, stop, stop - didn't we also say Lord of the Rings cave troll?

N: I can't remember if it was me or somebody else.

TC: Do cave troll.

[we search]

N: Holy shit. He's in the club.

[image chosen; best one is of him pointing; I later add the touch of a framed photo of King Kong that's inexplicably hanging in the barber shop, also next to it a photo of Captain Shitty Render]

N: But Doomsday.

TC: Do it.

[image chosen; this was also a bitch, I had to blur and cobble and blend and hide part of his bottom half because ZACK SNYDER LOVES SHOOTING EVERYTHING LIKE WE'RE IN A DANK CAVE]

N: They're so glad Bane pulls through, because Preddy won't shut the fuck up about him.

TC: It's because his last boyfriend was garbage, keeps hanging out with humans, and Bane's loyal, like he was to that chick from Inception, like----

N: LIKE DOG

[the bottle is empty; we are sleepy]

The Results

I regret not adding an aquarium with a squid.

The Aftermath

Both TC and my Tumblr wife @butiaintgonnaloveem had reactions that can nicely tuck under the umbrella of [in concerned tone] Nash are you okay, like, is life beating you down somehow, this is crazypants which I appreciate from the latter, but as for the former I pointed out that they are my enabler/dealer/peer-pressurer in every bit of this.

There is no end to this post.

#Nash Shares #Conversations with The Commissioner #dollar store Doomsday #discount 90s Leo DiCaprio #well-coiffed Predator in a Bane mask #poorly rendered #rip-offs #do better #pseudo-art #Wayward Sisters pilot #wine-induced head canons #Queueby Dooby Doo #Dad's on a blog post and #he hasn't been queued in a few days

7 notes · View notes

dandonnarumma · 7 years ago

Text

TOP 50 RELEASES OF THE YEAR PT. 2

Without a question, 2017 was the year of Planning for Burial. I've been a big fan of his music for a while now, and this year just further cemented Thom Wasluck's musical genius for me. I can't say how many times I've listened to Below the House, but it's an absurd amount. Like, a ridiculously absurd amount. From the pounding and guttural bombardment of Whiskey and Wine to the droning and ambient anguish of Dull Knife pt. 2, that album is utterly enthralling, and encapsulates the mood and emotions of sadness and melancholy so perfectly. It's an album that I connected to upon first listen, and haven't stopped jamming since its release back in March. If one fantastic release wasn't enough, Planning for Burial also released Matawan-Collected Works 2010-2014, which boasts some of my favorite songs from him to date, including I Hope You’ll Pick Me Out and I Put Red House Painters on a Mixtape for You. A collection of rarities and unreleased tracks that were recorded between his first and second albums comprises this release, and god damn does it not disappoint.

I was also fortunate enough to see Planning for Burial twice this year-once with the mighty and amazing Have a Nice Life and then this weekend here in Rochester, NY. The Boston show will forever be one of the best shows I’ve ever witnessed, and seeing Planning for Burial and then Have a Nice Life was almost like an out of body experience. Both times I saw Planning for Burial, I was floored and amazed by what I was hearing and seeing, and by the fact that what I was hearing was just one dude, a guitar, an insane pedal board, and some amps. Like, what?! Conversely, Funeral Advantage's Please Help Me delves into the sadness of breaking up in a much more upbeat dream-pop manner. Please Help Me and CEOT7K are two of my favorite songs of the year, and I absolutely danced like a maniac to CEOT7K at my wedding back in August. This EP is incredible, and my only knock against it is that it's not an LP. I want more from Funeral Advantage, and hope we get some more music in the near future. From there, Blueprints for an Empty Vessel by Pallow continued to traverse the waters of gloomy and melancholic music so thoughtful, creatively, and magnificently . Blueprints for an Empty Vessel's melodic gloomgaze immediately hooked me in with Holding and then punched me in the gut by the end of the album with Dreaming for Letters. I feel that this album will wind up being one of the most underrated releases of 2017, but it shouldn't be. It's a phenomenal album with incredible lyrics. Between this LP and their two EPs, there’s not a single song of theirs that I don’t think is awesome as hell. Do not sleep on this band. Next up is Long Island's amazing Iron Chic. I'm not sure there is any other band that fully encapsulates the doldrums of your late 20's/early 30's as perfectly as Iron Chic does, and Can't Stay Here is a prime example of that. I found myself relating to so many of the lyrics throughout this album, and totally sang them as loud as possible more than a few times. Iron Chic is hands down my favorite punk band, and Can't Stay Here is yet another slam dunk from a band that has released some of my favorite albums over the last decade or so. I can't wait to stage dive and sing along when I see them at the Bug Jar next month. Then there's Sannhet's So Numb. Good god does this band and album rip. Do yourself a favor, put on Sleep Well, turn the volume up as loud as possible, sit back, and prepare to headbang until your neck is about to break. Holy shit is this album incredible. I've yet to see them play live, and I've heard their live show is unbelievably awesome, so that's on the list of things I have to do. This album is amazing from start to finish, and these dudes reign as the kings of post-metal, as far as I'm concerned. Between Chelsea Wolfe's Hiss Spun, Death Bell's Standing at the Edge of the World, All Out War's Give Us Extinction, and All Pigs Must Die's Hostage Animal, my ears and brain were in heaven all throughout the year, and the amazingness didn’t stop there, as there would even be more amazing releases from some of my favorite bands as the year progressed. Godspeed You! Black Emperor, King Woman, my long anticipated wait for a Death of Lovers LP, Full of Hell, Big Brave, Incendiary setting the world ablaze, and Jacob Bannon's incredible debut of Wear Your Wounds all assaulted me, made me want to sing, dance, sit in a corner and be miserable, scream at the top of my lungs, headbang into oblivion, and pick up a guitar and write music. 2017 was a fantastic year for music, with some of my favorite music to date being released. If you’ve yet to check any of these bands or releases out, do it to it, Lars, because you won’t be disappointed.

Here’s my top 25 releases of 2017:

25. Damn.-Kendrick Lamar

24. Auras-Deafcult

23. Music for Chilling Out-The American Dollar

22. Covert Cult of Death-Low Estate

21. Every Country’s Sun-Mogwai

20. Thousand Mile Stare-Incendiary

19. After the Party-The Menzingers

18. Voids-Minus the Bear

17. The Dusk In Us-Converge

16. Ardor-Big Brave

15. WYW-Wear Your Wounds

14. Trumpeting Ecstasy-Full of Hell

13. The Acrobat-Death of Lovers

12. Created in the Image of Suffering-King Woman

11. Luciferian Towers-Godspeed You! Black Emperor

10. Hostage Animal-All Pigs Must Die

9. Give Us Extinction-All Out War

8. Matawan-Collected Works 2010-2014-Planning for Burial

7. Standing at the Edge of the World-Death Bells

6. Hiss Spun-Chelsea Wolfe

5. So Numb-Sannhet

4. Can’t Stay Here-Iron Chic

3. Blueprints for an Empty Vessel-Pallow

2. Please Help Me-Funeral Advantage

1. Below the House-Planning for Burial

4 notes · View notes

grizzbe · 7 years ago

Text

Let the past die. Kill it if you have to.

After my third viewing of The Last Jedi, I think I’m ready to write down my thoughts on the movie. Follow below the cut for my spoilerific musings!

First off, I’ll put down a quick and easy guide as to whether you should bother to continue with reading my review or not: In your rankings of the Star Wars movies, does any prequel movie rank above TLJ? If so, you might as well move on. If not, keep on reading!

Alright! I’m just going to say right off that bat that I loved it. I loved it the first time I saw it and I only love it more with each subsequent viewing.

The reason that it’s taken me so long to get around to this, though, is because I want to try my hardest to avoid some pitfalls that I feel are a bit easy for myself to fall into, namely to make this review simply a point-by-point list as to why your reasons for disliking this movie are wrong or simply word-vomit gushing over the movie.

So, I’ll start by saying that the movie is not without its faults. Some of its jokes are ham-fisted or fall flat, some of the visual effects (you know what I’m talking about) look wonky, some of its subplots could use a little tuning, and the whole thing probably could’ve been helped by increasing the timeline even just a few days.

That being said, the jokes aren’t bad and there are far more “Star Wars” jokes than those dastardly “off-brand” jokes that seem to be sticking in a lot of people’s craws.

I’ve heard a lot of people complain about Leia’s force moment and while I’ll agree that it doesn’t work great visually, I am more than willing to accept it in its principle, especially considering that people can survive in the vacuum of space in real life (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/survival-in-space-unprotected-possible/). Once you throw onto it Star Wars’ wacky take on physics and space in general, Leia surviving this moment is more than reasonable.

When it comes to subplots, the main thing that they’re about is quite simply character development.

Poe learns that there’s more to being an effective leader than being an excellent flier. After putting the fleet and the whole of the Resistance in danger more than once over the course of a few days, Poe finally sees what it takes to be a leader through his mentor, Leia, and his foil throughout most of the film, Holdo. I’ve seen a lot of people upset at the “character assassination” that Poe goes through in TLJ, but I’ll argue that we finally got to see Poe be more than just a cardboard cutout in this film and he really shined because of it. I might have been more willing to accept this version of Poe since I’m an avid reader of his comic book, where him being an immature leader has been a plot point for at least the past year.

While some might just flat out hate the Canto Bight subplot, I appreciated it for what it was doing. Finn starts the movie as a man only concerned about himself and a couple of his closest friends (fully in line with where the character was at the end of TFA). It’s only through his time with Rose and his interactions with DJ that he comes to realize that he can’t just hide and that he needs to drive himself forwards. DJ even offers him a false, easy escape, “Live free, don’t join” and Finn sees it for what it is: a man unwilling to stand up for what is right. Finn ends his journey a true hero of the Resistance.

And while other might be upset with how the film portrayed Luke, I loved it. The man screwed up. He retreated, exiled himself and resigned the end of his story to that of a hermit whose only option is to die alone. Rey appears, and while she has her own journey (she goes from putting all of her faith in Luke, to putting it in Ben, to finally putting it in herself), she riles in Luke a desire to once again be the man that he knows he can be.

Which brings me to my final point: the movie subverts expectations at almost every turn and does so beautifully. People expect Luke to face down the First Order and single-handedly save the Republic with his lightsaber. Luke does this, but he does it his way, through an amazing show of Force Power (In which the man creates a corporeal force projection of himself and other objects across the universe).

People expect Kylo Ren to listen to his master and fight Rey, but he tricks Snoke (side note: I could write a whole other post on how amazing Serkis was in this role) and proves that the Supreme Leader, in his hubris, had hugely underestimated his apprentice.

People expect Poe, Rose, and Finn’s plan to work flawlessly and save the Rebellion. It doesn’t and they all have to learn and grow and pay for that mistake.

And on top of all that, we get one of the best laser sword fights in the whole of the canon, an excellent performance from Adam Driver as Kylo Ren (holy shit, is he built like a brick shithouse. In case you were unaware, Driver is a former marine), and, in my opinion, EXCELLENT answers to the “Who is Snoke?” and “Who are Rey’s parents?” questions (hint, it doesn’t fucking matter. The past is the past, look to the future. This is a call out to my post’s title, btw).

So, this is already too long and I want to discuss some things I’m looking forward to in the next film. Suffice it to say, the movie is excellent and I’m super excited to see Rian Johnson’s take in his trilogy.

Okay! Next movie, I’ll just jot down a few things:

I fully expect Rey to consult a Force Ghost Jedi Council comprised of Luke, Obi-Wan, Yoda, Anakin, and Qui Gon at least twice. I’m going to feel real cheated if we don’t get this.

The next movie is going to involve a pretty significant time jump. I’d say at least five years.

As a Damerey shipper, I’m actually concerned that we’ll miss the opening salvos of the relationship in the time jump and the movie will just start with them together in a committed relationship. Don’t rob us of this JJ.

For those that are going nuts right now wondering how I can be a Damerey shipper after they’ve only spoken to each other once, did you even see the scene?!? And you can’t just throw the two most loaded words in the whole of the Star Wars canon on us and not expect us to want some payout.

I don’t think Kylo will die, he is the last of the Skywalkers, after all, but he’ll be in exile, probably self-imposed, where he’ll try to learn from Anakin and Luke.

With Leia unfortunately out of the picture, I really want Lando and Wedge to come in as Leaders of the Resistance. While the new group will undoubtedly rise to prominence in the ranks (much like the OT trio), the leaders of the whole movement can’t be flying into battles or leading from the ground.

So that’s about it. I, of course, have way more but this thing is already an insane amount of word vomit. If you have any other thoughts that you’d like to kick around with me, please feel free to message me!

#Star Wars #Episode 8 #Episode VIII #The Last Jedi #Poe Dameron #Rey #Finn #Rose Tico #Damerey #Leia #Luke #Kylo Ren #Snoke #Rian Johnson #A Rian Johnson appreciation post #Good Star Wars gives me LIFE

2 notes · View notes

ts-indonesia · 5 years ago

Text

Episode 1 - "Time to put on a bra and take some selfies." - Leigh

Episode 1 saw eighteen players, some fresh faces, and some veterans arrive on the Indonesia beaches, ready to play and ready to win. On a somewhat quiet Obor tribe, Leigh/Trent bonded over the age difference on the tribe (with a cunning plan reliant on using the word ‘lit’) and Anabel/Trent begun to form a bond that would survive the test of time.

On the Cahaya tribe, Matt/Jess feared the casting of one another, and Julian arrived plucky and ready to avoid another prejury experience, determined to improve. Owen/Stoner quickly formed HOS 22: Bermuda, and set to work spreading their connections across the tribe, forming at trio with Julian.

After a decisive victory in the Scavenger Hunt, it was revealed the returnees would have to send two returnees to the other tribe as “infiltrators” casting a sole vote. In an attempt to force the result, Julian went “offline”, in an attempt seen-through by his fellow tribe mates, but one that was ultimately successful, with Owen & Julian sent over as infiltrators.

At Obor’s tribal council, Evan quickly emerged as an easy vote, for his minimal challenge contribution. Two key alliances formed, a newbie majority alliance of Trent/Chris O/Leigh/Anabel/Lorelei and a girls’ alliance of Lorelei/Anabel/Leigh, with Anabel armed with an idol to boot.

As expected, Evan was sent out unanimously, but not before Julian trashed on the Cahaya tribe during tribal council... in a tribal seen... by the Cahaya tribe. With Evan out, the torches still inspiring such hate, and the infiltrators returning... that drew round one to a close.

MATT

first confessional give me idol?

also hi Jones

OWEN

okay so im walking onto the boat.... my hair is thinning, my skin is getting wrinkly, im ancient at this point. nonetheless im back for like the sixth time. or seventh, honestly who can keep track anymore. i see these like cute little new people. ANABEL's vid is AMAZING gay icon, lorelei legend likes pokemon mystery dungeon, Leigh is near chicago, like... i literally love all these new players but then i realize NONE OF THEM WILL BE ON MY TRIBE SKADSFJH. instead? im stuck with crazy ppl. there's julian who i voted out premerge in the season I won, and Matt who was in my most recent season nnn but NOT the matt I worked with in that game. and of all people CHRIS STONER LMAO. to be fair, chris isn't that bad bc I know he'll work with me hopefully but also I know he's a good player and wouldn't hesitate to cut me out. thank god olivia and jess are here tbh. omg and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse.....a furry shows up. WHAT THE FUCKKKKKK lmao I remember foxx back from the old old days and he seems scary :(((( good news is julian said him and isaac haven't ever gotten along and that isaac has voted him out twice :') so that might be good. and i'm fairly sure stoner and jess would have my back rn i just need to talk more to them. but for real, as soon as there's a swap or something if I survive that long? bye bye returnees :) i dont see myself getting very attached to anyone at the start so ill just do my best to ride out this beginning and maybe have some fun

LEIGH

I'm looking forward to seeing how long our tribe chat is just "Hey *Tribe Member's Name*!"

I think it could go on a while.

OWEN

chris: ditching u for the other stoner tho chris: tumblr needs an all stoner f2... 7:23 PM me: thats ok im ditching u for the gay girl from the first post me: but for now? u and me <3 7:23 PM chris: deal stoner and I rlly did speak this into existence....... it'll happen

LEIGH

So this tribe has literal children on it. 15, 16 years old. I might have to backstab ACTUAL CHILDREN! How do I even fit in with them? Trent suggested we could buy fidget spinners. I said maybe yoga pants and a crop top? There are people here BORN AFTER 9/11!!! What the fuck I didn't even know you could be born after 9/11 and be out of kindergarten. What year is it?

EVAN

Just met some other castaways, they seem pretty chill.

FOXX

What's up. So this fox has returned after an eternity of a hiatus with more grey in his muzzle and hopefully some self-awareness to go with it. I played some pretty solid games in the past but after taking a long time lurking and sort of forgetting Tumblr Survivor Crooks asked if I wanted to play despite not knowing I have played before. That's how old and irrelevant of a has-been I am. Back from the dead. I'm glad my star has faded and I can go in with a blank slate. My biggest concern is that I am not on my anxiety medication so my social interactions, especially on call, will be a lot more stilted and I'm terrified this will impair my judgment but we'll see. Right now I'm not trying to come off as a huge strategist. I made an intentionally crappy intro video, made fun of myself, and just tried to be funny without coming off too weird/desperate etc. Almost like I'm not taking this too seriously. However, already I'm noticing a patterns in how people on my tribe are. I have no fucking clue who these mammals are. People will have extensive conversations about people, twists, running jokes, etc and I'm totally lost. That hiatus really did fuck with my ability to ingratiate myself with this community. That will be a huuuuge advantage coming to dealing with the newbies since I can leverage that to not seem so threatening but right now I think I'm doing a fair job being friendly and making people laugh. I hope. God. So my thoughts on my tribemates thus far: Stoner: Vaguely know who this guy is. Aptly named. He's clearly blazed as hell but I can tell he's bright and likable. Says "oh shit" a lot and he seems like depsite his facade he's probably someone I can work with. Isaac: We talked about Overwatch a bit and he seems nice but he's not coming on my radar too strong. Jess: Definitely made a fairly strong impression on me since we're similar ages, Francophone, and we bonded over our mutual detest and hatred of furries and then I calmly sneak in the fact I am a furry an hour later and holy shit I was trying so hard to not bust into tears. She's funny and likable and seems like she's someone I could work with. Matt: Talked a bit about me coming back. Very little in group call. Michael: Talked a fair amount about D&D and made some fun Upside Down jokes. Seems like we have a lot in common but him being a different time zone could prove hard to keep up with. Being the outlier on Time Zones is playing on Hard Mode. Olivia: Love her! We bonded over animals and she seems like a total sweetheart and I definitely wanna share pics of my cat with her some more! Owen: We talked a bit about literature and it was fun. Definitely seems intelligent and he's someone I know a bit about from Olympics. In an ideal world I'd want to work with Stoner, Jess, Olivia, & Michael but everything in on fire. Also, no luck on the idol so fuck me I guess

JESS

So... first night has been interesting? I was going to do your typical "first impressions" confessional but... FOXXX or whatever the fury's name is.... is playing too hard too fast. Am I being a Paranoid Patty and reading this the WRONG WAY entirely? Possibly. HOWEVER... It's been less than 5 hours since we were thrown into this hell hole of a game (The hosts are lovely individuals but we all know this is about to get insane) and he's telling me if I want to make a move that he's my guy? Ummm.... WE HAVEN'T EVEN GOTTEN OUR FIRST IMMUNITY YET? I'M NOT THINKING MOVES RIGHT NOW? I BARELY CAN REMEMBER YOUR NAME!

MICHAEL

https://youtu.be/Swisjdq1R4s

OLIVIA

Have I befriended a furry???????? Is this real life????? Is he actually a furry or just really in deep on this joke? Why are there so many Dylans in orgs? Also fucking goddamnit I like EVERYONE HERE I just wanna be friends with all y’all damn. All of the newbies are so adorable and seem so excited and unknowing to the pain that’s gonna come :’) Annabelle especially like my wig flew with that intro! I wanna meet them all. Also wtf is with the torches I WANNA KNOW ALREADY! Anyways that’s all I’m excited for this season. Owen and I renewed the o alliance :-) and Jess seems cool as hell I really clicked with her and the furry. Michael seems sweet and I already know Julian from Mykonos, the absolute crackhead. Real sweetie tho hopefully we’re friends. I hope I’m not coming off as too insane I was so nervous on the phone call with the tribe :( it was so fun but I felt like every time I said something it fell flat I felt so awkward abhhhhhahshsjaj. Anyhoo yay! New season!

Should I write the rest of my confessionals in japanese? Neko. Boom

JESS

So coming into this game with a TS under my belt is different... I still have no expectations whatsoever BUT I do know how HARD people go for in these games and I'm planning to go just as hard. The first night was wild. Everyone on my tribe except for Matt and Julian were lively on the tribe call. Everyone seemed pretty cool and super... out there.. I think Isaac might be the one to watch on my tribe. He's been around the block and knows most people on my tribe (new and old). WHICH IS WHY.. I'm going to try my best and get super close to him. I need to make sure I'm not disposable to these "older players" and as asset to these "newer" players. I just know need to cool my jets on the whole socializing bit in the main chat (Yes I know it's literally day 1). I want to be as irrelevant as possible so no one thinks I'm a threat but no one really wants to get rid of me either. Gotta focus on those INDIVIDUAL RELATIONSHIPS. Hopefully these other players with more TS's under their belts become bigger shields than me because if not... yikes on yikes.

ROB

I like everyone so far. Evan is giving me a few red flags because he’s only giving me one word answers, so i might take that into consideration when voting.

FOXX

We had a very fun group call with the tribe last night. Definitely haven’t laughed that much in a while. Love my tribe thus far so I hope we can keep the good vibes going. Jess & Stoner are people I feel like have talked with me the most Nd Olivia, Owen, & Michael are also friendly so I think I have options. One thing I’ve noticed is how casual and sociable this tribe is. Nothing is more frustrating than a tribe full of overserious gamebots (*cough* Selwyn *cough*) but it’s a group of funny and chill people. It’s gonna be a great game!

OLIVIA

I love these hosts 🙂 HATE the idol system but honestly it doesn’t change much I’ve never gotten an idol before and probably never will so it won’t change my gameplay lmao

I like Isaac a lot too! Forgot to say. But I’m also a little wary of him because I know he’s very experienced

JULIAN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKDvx7VxRC8

ANABEL

well. yesterday i found an idol on my second guess. and made two new friends. so yesterday was great. today was bad. i outed myself. my mom heard me tell my eyebrow lady that i was gay. this is a sad confessional and i wish i wasn’t so loud. im real fucking sad. sorry. but at least i have an idol and some friends.

LEIGH

Time to put on a bra and take some selfies.

I'm glad I shaved today for that tattoo selfie.

OLIVIA

There’s an alliance I’m not in isn’t there

Why am I so FUCKING awkward

ANABEL

im so fucking good at survivor like... good lord. trent and i are like best friends already (see, i knew this would happen, i always meet a nice old usually straight man and we become friends, it's like the hallmark of my survivor experiences) and we came up w a plan where i am gonna try and seduce evan and rob and make them my lil minions so im gonna lie to them and tell them that im a cheerleader bc that's hot right?? so ya my womanly charms will be utilized to their fullest potential. go me.

MICHAEL

https://youtu.be/aAqEUHoyy78

LEIGH

Can we talk about how bullshit it is to have "Lipstick in your tribe's color" when we're yellow and they're RED? Honest to god might as well have "Lemon in your tribe's color" to make it fair.

Alex coming in with bold capslock "MAKE SURE EVERYONE ON YOUR TEAM HAS SUBMITTED AT LEAST ONE THING" ... Just DM Evan directly my dude.

OLIVIA

Feeling much better about this game today than I was last night I think I was just spiraling 🥰 we’re doing really well on the challenge and I hope we win!! Two people messaged me saying I’m doing great on the challenge and idk how to respond. Just tryna make sure we don’t lose I will NOT be the first vote out. Newbies go hard on scavenger hunts but I go even harder 😈

LORELEI

Ok so! I'm super bummed that obor lost the challenge, I really thought we would win! Now we have to get rid of someone and it sucks but I feel like we all know who it has to be. It's not even personal, it's just the fairest thing and the best thing for our tribe. Also, alliances are forming! I like Anabel, Leigh and Trent so I'm with them but I'm gonna try to connect with everyone so I'm not on the outskirts. I hope that the boys haven't formed an all boys alliance bc if they have, then the girls could be in danger. That's it for now!

STONER

guess I’ll follow Alex crook’s rules... https://youtu.be/ndsfCdjtcQI

Not much, about to sleep! https://youtu.be/v12a2AbklVw

MICHAEL

https://youtu.be/4inKBNkg87M

JESS

It's 2:30am so WHY NOT post ANOTHER confessional? Am I right? Honestly, we won which I'm BEYOND THANKFUL for. I hate tribal and I can now at least say I wasn't first boot. THANK GAGA. I'm just really trying to solidify things with Michael right now. I think out of everyone on my current tribe I can honestly see myself making a run at this game with him (at least up until merge). I offered him the prospect of sharing idol clues (it's literally the only collateral I have at the moment) so hopefully this doesn't bite me in the fucking ass. Other than Michael I was kind of hoping to somehow get closer to both Julian and Matt (plot twist I know). Matt has hosted me before and it's no secret he is a founding father of the "I Hate Jess" Club. However, these two seem to be the odd men out right now. They aren't overly socializing with people so there's a high chance they'll be taken out if our current tribe loses. HOWEVER.. I see potential numbers in them. So I can't let that happen. As of right now both Foxx and Stoner seem to be the ones to watch out for. I just can't let them think or know... that I know that about them. Stoner gives me mega "I say the same things to everyone" vibes. He's clearly playing a strong social game so far. I just need to play dumb and ensure that he thinks he can control/trust me. Honestly, as soon as he doesn't see value in me I have no doubt he's gonna cut me. Foxx on the other hand, just seems like he's playing too hard. He's another guy who I strongly believe is going to drop me as soon as I have no value to him. I'm just going to have to have to lay low and be dumb. Owen scares me shitless. He's giving me PTSD from my last season because homeboy is playing a strong contender game. He's definitely a pick to win. He's another person who I'm going to have to try and pretend I'm under their spell. Am I playing too hard too fast? I'm not entirely sure. I'm just going to slow my role a bit and see what happens

MATT

What’s Up? WHAT’S UP?!?!?!? how dare you ask me such a ludicrous question. Alright so first real general confessional of the game here. I wanna eventually try and record some video confessionals, but that’s if i have the time. but for today, we’re good with a text. So starting off the game on the Cahaya Tribe, which consists of entirely returnees. So right off the bat it makes nervous bc i’m really not around much in the community. Yeah i’m in a few VL’s and i played once before, but i really don’t know anyone. So being the odd one out for that reason was a real fear for a little bit. Looking at my tribe, there are a few names that stood out the most to me. Owen stood out bc we both played Kuwait, and even tho we never met each other, we still have that little connection. Chris motherfucking Stoner is here too!! Chris is such a chill dude. we played together once before and i voted him out pre swap. But that game was so long ago, and i really don’t think he cares (i know i dont). So i’m looking forward to reconnecting with him. Jess is also here!! Jess and I had met previously because i hosted her in Celestial Komnata, and we had some rough misunderstandings there. But months have passed and I know that I am well over it bc i frankly don’t care. But i feel like she still probably cares which will not be good for me. Michael was the last person that stood out to me. Not because I know him, or know of him. But because he’s the only Non-North American in the cast, which means if i can stay up late and socialize with him, he might favor me over other When i looked at the other tribe, i think the only person i know is Anabel? We played together once, i hosted her, so we have somewhat of a connection that if we swap together, i hope that works in my favor. So on the first night of the game, i was very busy with Celestial All stars premiere, so i didn’t get to talk as much as i would’ve liked. which resulted in me telling jones on call like 5 times that i’m gonna be first boot. But the first night, i talked with everyone (to some degree) except Issac bc i forgot Issac was here. The torch twist thing i have no idea what it’s going to be and it worries me. My first thought is that it somehow would result in a third tribe bc there were six torches. so someone would light a torch and be placed on that tribe. But it’s too early to figure out what they even mean and i’m sure as the game progresses.

LEIGH

Woooo so what's happened. Well, we lost the challenge and it wasn't even close. I haven't looked at the spreadsheet to see the final scores but I feel like Me, Trent, and Anabell did the most work. I talked to a few people last night and put Evan's name out there cuz I know most people are too scared to say a name first and I feel comfortable enough about my position to be the one to say a name that most people should agree with. A mutual alliance formed between me, Chris, Trent, Anabell, and Lorelei. Within it, an all girls 3 alliance formed which I'm super happy to be part of. I'm sure Trent will be paranoid about that sooner or later so hopefully Chris and I can make him feel confident. Trent is sharing idol guesses with me so I'm hoping that means I'm like the closest person to him right now. I like the number of options I have so far.

I feel like Facebook might be falling out of style so maybe these youngin's don't even have it or aren't familiar with Facebook ORGs. The only other people here who know my history as far as I know are Foxx and Chris, and I hope neither of them bring it up. If I can stay UTR that'd be nice. Also, I think I need to stop capitalizing letters/using punctuation if I wanna fit in with these kids. Did I already confessionalize that? Not sure.

Apparently Lorelei missed the HII thing day one haha oh well. I'm compiling guesses from me, Chris, and Trent. Hopefully I'll get them from the girls too. I'm not showing the girls' guesses to Chris though. I don't think he'll be mad at me for it. We gotta play close to the vest sometimes yo

TRENT

So far I think the game is going alright. My tribe is incredibly quiet for some reason but I guess that isn't too bad. I made a connection with Anabel and Leigh pretty early on. Decided to suggestion and alliance and both we in so I added Chris and Lorelei so we had a majority. This is the alliance I wanted from the beginning. I wanted the older people to stick together and then add in one young one. I think it's a pretty solid idea. Ive been messaging both kenny and dylan as well. I don't want an alliance with them, but I would like for them to like me and want me to stay in. I also think im getting along pretty well with the two infiltrators right now. Julian was spilling all kinds of info about his tribe to me this morning and then me and owen connected really well. Hopefully this will help me in the future if there is a split soon.

OLIVIA

Jess was hinting that her, foxx, stoner, and I should get together and I said we’d make a nifty cool group. A NIFTY COOL GROUP WHAT THE FUCK IS A NIFTY COOL OLIVIA

ISAAC

This twist can become SO detrimental. And I’m so MAD Owen went over there first because that bitch is unbelievably charismatic. Hopefully it paints a bigger target on him but like it’s whatever. I like my tribe. We seem chill and I seem to vibe the most with Olivia and Jessica Messica. Foxx is cool. Julian is....Julian ig. Matt has yet to talk to me so that’s a wig ig. Michael seems nice but ngl I get kinda bored when I try to talk to him? He seems very gamebot-y which could be frightening but idk he’s not my biggest problem atm. I’m terrified of Owen - he’s unbelievably charismatic and has the ability to twist people around his finger so like I’m gonna keep my eye on him and I’m not gonna let him out of my sight. With that being said I do wanna see him live for at least a little while for meat-shield purposes. Anyways I hope I do well this game but 👀 I have a sinking feeling.

KENNY

So yeah.. it seemed like a pretty laxxed day and Evan was the vote. How true is that? Idk but I have to trust strangers. But just heard he through my name out like 20 minutes ago, with less than 3 hours to go. So I just hope everyone’s being honest 😭

OWEN

what’s up? Everything :’) I couldn’t help as much in the scav hunt as I liked because I was living my life. But thankfully we won anyways bc my tribe kicked ass! I still contributed some and I made sure to keep talking to people. I still love olivia, and matt has been fun to talk to. Don’t rlly know why but foxx seems hard to get to know. And not big into michael rn either. I think I will stick with Julian and chris, hopefully can pull in jess and olivia to do something if we lose. Chris mentioned that both him and jess DO like foxx so we will see.... The main thing is that this twist worked out perfectly for me!!!! I couldn’t call when we were decided and I REALLY wanted to go. Thankfully I was able to take advantage of the majority vote thing and pretend like I wasn’t online hehe and by some miracle I got picked to go. MEANT TO BEEE and let me say I was right, I do love this tribe so much more than my own for some reason. Trent is great, Annabel and I are talking like I wanted, the Chicago girl and the Pokémon mystery dungeon girl. It’s so good over here, but the biggest surprise has been chris o. I really like him and could see myself working well with him if we swap. The only thing is that Julian said he was sketchy sometimes..... hehe so down the road I might have to tell chris o that Julian is after him :~) but I don’t need to snake too hard yet, for right now I’m a crocodile lookin like a log. Vote should be easy on Evan from what I’ve heard but if it changes? I’ll be living for the drama!

LORELEI

It looks like Evan is the consensus. I feel really bad though because it's not his fault. He tried to plead his case with me by saying that he wasn't the only one that was inactive, but that doesn't change the fact that he contributed the least. I know it's the fair thing to do but I feel bad about it. Voting out people is so not fun, I really hope we win the next challenge so I won't have to do this again.

EVAN

I’m pretty sure I’m fucked. I’ve been trying to get people to vote Kenny but idk fuck

KENNY

“I know I’M voting Evan = I might be voting Evan but I know others are voting you”. Or am I being paranoid

JULIAN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaH8l2R-Xt0

MATT

i feel like i did pretty good on the scavenger hunt. i managed to scoop up a bunch of items that were left over and some that were high points. so i do feel good about my performance and think i pulled my weight. Speaking of pulling weight...Julian is...there. I think he only submitted one item which was the Vine. I mean i get you have work and are busy, but like...most of us were the same? even issac who was celebrating his birthday did more. after challenge results we got on call in the tribe chat (olivia, chris, michael, myself). and we were talking about the infiltrator twist and the challenge results. We agreed to have myself and Olivia go, but we needed 5 for a majority. Julian shows up and says he “might wanna go tbh”. and then disappears. We’re on call laughing bc we wanna submit this and not randomize it, so someone who isn’t here gets forced to go. BUT JULIAN won’t talk in tribechat even tho we’re all like, “hey we’ll take turns and you can go next time.”. but no. Julian is only talking in olivia’s pm’s and she’s telling us whatever he’s saying. eventually the hour is up, and julian got randomized to go. that fucker strong armed us into randomizing and he still went god damnit. I think that call was good for my game because we were just chatting for like 1.5 hours about the game stuff and people. After michael/chris left the call it was just Olivia and myself on call and we stayed on for another hour and a half(????? ish??? probably less i can’t remember). But that was a nice call and i think helped start to solidify a bond. Olivia is someone i can see myself working with in this game. Same goes for Michael and Chris. I feel like that call group was pretty natural and we got along really well. I’m too nervous to initiate any kind of alliance talk, but i know it’s gonna have to happen eventually. i’m sure alliances already exist on the tribe and i’m obviously not in them. I think for starters, i need to work on conversations a bit more, because they are somewhat weak right now. My goal for the future is to work on olivia, michael, chris and owen. Those are the people i feel most good about. Foxx is cool but idk it seems hard to gel with them. Julian is cracked and i hope he’s our first boot. and the four of us on call forgot issac was on the tribe so that’s not good for him. i think i’m in a decent position for now, but i’m not gonna count my chickens before they hatch (i think that’s the saying idfk)

#whenyourfiresout

0 notes

hanasaku-shijin · 8 years ago

Text

Okay I’ve been wanting to make a post like this for a while now but I finally kicked my own ass into gear so here it is. Took me several days to compile it all and finish, but Neon deserves it.

For @theneonflower and all of their incredible art ♥

I know Neon does plenty more art other than Dianakko but that is my otp and usually the ones I look at and obsess over the most. Nearly every night before bed for the past 5 months since LWA came out and since I met Neon, I’ve been looking at their art to help myself fall asleep. I always end up spending like 10-20 minutes just looking through it because it makes me feel so soft and happy inside ;w;

Something I’ve always done with art is I’ll stare at a single piece for like 5 minutes straight just tracing it with my eyes, trying to absorb every piece of it, trying to appreciate it as much as humanly possible. Because I know someone spent time and energy on this and stressed about it for probably hours and I don’t just wanna glance at it for 20 seconds and be done. I wanna try to put some time into appreciating it for all the trouble the artist went through.

Neon’s is probably the only art I’ve done this for with every single piece. It probably sounds weird that I just stare at art, but I love it. I feel it’s all I can really do to appreciate the pieces. Well, that, and I can scream in the tags and make posts like these!

So I’m gonna be going back through my Neon_art tag from the beginning, linking and sharing every Dianakko piece and explaining just why I love it so much. Other people should totally follow the links and reblog pieces they haven’t seen before. And even if you have seen/reblogged it before it is not a crime to reblog something more than twice, give it some extra exposure and notes. Don’t be scared to reblog the same post/artwork twice if you want to!

All righty here we go!

This one the first Dianakko piece I reblogged from Neon ever! Diana and Akko on a secret date. I love this one because it’s so simple but yet still so beautiful. It really shows that art can be lovely whether its got 8 million details and colors and shadings or just done with the right amount of everything - just what’s necessary, nothing extravagant. I’m a sucker for my girls in casual clothes but I especially love their expressions in this piece - Akko’s YOURE REALLY PRETTY excited face to Diana’s bashful face. And then the humor with the reactions of their nerd friends disguised and reacting to it all. And the hand touch. Starting with a small small pinky brushing, and then full-on hand-holding. So soft. So gentle. So nice. And Akko’s just so goddamn happy. UGH.

Next is Part 1 of the Sorcerer comic. Ho damn. This was before I really even knew Neon well, but I saw a badass dragon with Dianakko and I was hooked. It’s just done so well, the shading, the glowing of his eyes, and just his creepy, bony inky design in general. And Diana not even flinching in front of him. It captures her character perfectly, her confidence. Neon’s a pro at doing suspense in drawing form. The way Akko hurries in and Diana isn’t looking at her at first but then turns. You can just TELL something is going to happen and it does. That dribble of blood on her lips is all we need. And god the look in her eyes. It isn’t excessive terror, no, it’s just that dazed kind of shock, confusion. Like, she hasn’t even felt the blow yet, it just sort of happened and now there’s blood in her lungs. And the last panel just leaves you screaming like how fucking masterful is this.

Part 2 now god GOD when I say you can feel her being impaled I mean you can FEEL IT. You can tell his tail is sort of locked in place in her chest, that he’s keeping it there for a little longer than he has to just because he’s a giant asshole. And when he yanks it out you can feel that too. The way the blood spurts out and follows the direction of his tail really shows the force of it. And even despite all of this, Diana is STILL trying to put up a front/show a strong face. You can see the desperation in Akko’s eyes, you can almost hear her crying, and Diana’s just so numb with pain she’s beyond feeling. We don’t even need dialogue - we know exactly what they’re saying to one another. I’ve never seen art accomplish that feat quite so effectively before. And the ending panel, reflecting the one before it with Akko’s name and the seven stars. Do half the people looking at this art even appreciate those small details/shoutouts to the canon? I doubt it. And it’s a damn SHAME.

Next up was this request I never thought an art god like Neon would ever accept from lil old me, a person they didn’t even really KNOW at the time. Another fine example of how art doesn’t need tons of color to be beautiful. Neon is an expert with blue in particular. It’s such a cold color but not in Neon’s hands. It portrays darkness of night but not cold. I don’t feel chilly looking at this piece. I just feel so warm. Their embrace is so tight and intimate, you can just see the blushes on their faces. But even in a darker piece like this where some artists might use the lack of lighting as an excuse for lack of detail - not Neon. There’s still every wrinkle in their clothing, every shadow, every ruffled blanket and wave in their hair, the way Akko’s shirt crumples up a little at the small of her back and that small, secretive, admiring look she gives Diana. I might as well be dead.

This one more bedtime cuddles and kisses! But notice how none of these are ever the same with Neon. No matter how many kisses or cuddles they draw, each one is always different and just as beautiful as the one before it in different ways. Akko and Diana aren’t as closely-pressed as they are in the one before it. It’s just the bare minimum of contact in their hands, and where their legs touch, and then their lips. All very small but significant points of contact. And I just love how Diana curls her legs around Akko’s back. Just a bit of light coming in from a window we can’t see but know that’s there. It’s just the amount of light we need. Perfect.

A beautiful colorless comic next! Their poses match their dialogue so well and again with the DETAILS. You can tell how badly they’ve missed each other even when they aren’t looking at each other. And then when they DO, upside-down, hair touching so close they can feel each others’ breaths, so intimate so soft, so playful. And then the kiss, how Akko reaches up her arm to pull Diana down and the way Diana curls her arm around the side of her neck. The pose of Akko lying on top of Diana hugging her with her feet kicking happily in the air is probably one of my favorite things ever. She just looks like a happy little puppy. And Neon never fails to give Akko bedhead that adheres to her usual hair. There’s always a tuft where her ponytail is and I haven’t seen that in any other art for LWA that involve Akko in her pjs/with her hair down. It’s something totally unique to Neon in my book.

The wedding spell comic is so beautiful. Akko’s maids of honor trying to reassure her. Their expressions are all so cute (and then there’s Sucy being Sucy) but Akko’s nervous pose and Lotte’s reassuring hand on her shoulder is so cute. And then the blue team aspect with Hannah and Barbara with the little hand-wave motion they did in canon like how perfect is that little detail? I can really feel Akko’s nervousness in the next few panels and the darkness really helps that too. You feel like you’re the one about to cast this super emotional marriage spell that could potentially fall through and break your heart. And then when they finally get to look at each other and suddenly you can breathe a little easier like ‘okay at least they’re not alone in this at least they have each other’. Also just the slight differences in their wands is so nice. And then they’re holding hands so softly but also concentrating on this super difficult super stressful spell. They just both look so gorgeous in this shot oh my gosh I love it. And the lighting comes in again, I swear to god Neon with their lighting techniques. Super bright on super dark really gives it that lively magical feeling. And you can see the rings being linked and you can essentially hear the emotion in their voices when they say each other’s names like when was the last time a comic made you HEAR something?? But GOD when they hold hands and rests their foreheads together look at the lighting and the tears in their eyes look how soft and tender it is. This is even better than a wedding kiss at this point because they’re both just so relieved the spell succeeded (the kisses can come later) but I absolutely love the forehead touch.

The wedding pic holy shit. I still can’t believe there are only?? 4 colors in this? Peach brown blue and white and yet??? It’s more gorgeous than most other pieces of art that use 9000 colors. It’s the lighting, the glow, the contrast between light and dark. The way the magic swirls around them, bright and soft. It really flows. There’s so much motion in a still piece. You can FEEL the love between them even without the adorable magic hearts in the background. And god have you seen their dresses? They aren’t both wearing the same generic white wedding dress. Neon goes a step beyond and adds in swirls, thinner or thicker materials, gloves, but makes sure to keep them open-back, because GOD are Akko’s and Diana’s backs important in this Au. The fact that their matching scars are exposed on their wedding night just really says something to me. And holy hell the shine in their hair. You can see every strand. It’s beyond me how that is even POSSIBLE.

After their reunion lord they’ve been apart for 3 goddamn YEARS and look at how they’re looking at each other, like they’re trying to make up for all those 3 years when they couldn’t. As if the tears and the smiles don’t say enough, look at how they hold one another. This is another thing I love about Neon’s romantic pieces. The characters always hold each other’s faces, cradle their heads, hold their hands, hug their backs and sides, but it’s rarely the same in any two pieces. And in this one they’re touching foreheads, and the way Akko’s bangs fluff up and overlap Diana’s is such an eye-catching detail for me. And then the lineart of the kiss. Again, the detail especially in their hair and especially Akko’s. The way their hair slips through the others’ fingers. Shoot me.

Oh my god this one. Okay I need to get my shit together. We get everything we need and nothing we don’t. Just bits and pieces of the memories and the nightmare. You can feel the impact of Akko getting hit in the back. But my favorite panel in terms of emotion is definitely the one of Diana waking up from it all. You just know exactly how that feels. Everyone knows exactly how that feels. The way she’s jolted up in bed, hunching forward, gasping, and the tiny detail of one knee bent higher than the other to show she’s curling in on herself. I love this shot so much. But of course my favorite are the final ones because Akko is there to help her. Neon always has their marital rings glowing so they stand out in darkness. Simply the shot of Akko’s hand on Diana’s shoulder is again, so simple but so, so telling. It’s gentle but firm. And the look on her face as she kisses Diana. She’s upset that Diana suffered that nightmare. You can tell Akko is sad that she couldn’t save Diana from that. But she’s so gentle, that kiss is so small, just enough to coax Diana back into reality. And of COURSE the happy hug to finish it off. You know Akko needs that just as badly as Diana does.

The art for Pink Potion is next up aaaaaaah Neon drew for my fic out of pure enjoyment of it and I literally could not be happier. I still look back on this and just get so giddy. It’s so cute. Simple coloring to match the lighthearted tone of the fic. And bunny Akko is exactly as I’d imagined her. I didn’t mention the tips of her ears in my fic but Neon still somehow knew they were black and nailed that detail. The kiss is too adorable, the way Diana blushes and Akko scrunches her little bunny nose. And their faces when Akko turns back. Neon does suspense/angst/serious so well but I LOVE how they do cute/funny expressions like this. And their noses still touching aahh~

The dance dresses are just. So fucking gorgeous. Full color and all the right colors, so many details. This is literally a scene straight out of the show that we never got. I love the ruffles in Akko’s dress and the lack of them in Diana’s - kinda speaks to their personalities, though it’s more likely just the material. Neon has such a beautiful way of blending blushes with the skin ton and it really shows in a full-color piece like this one. I especially love how fluffy Diana’s hair is and how Akko’s hand is just gently resting there on the nape of her neck while their other hands are entwined. And god, the way Diana is looking at her. I know this scenario is part of the “We shouldn’t be doing this” idea, and that just makes you think twice about this happy colorful image. Akko’s wondering why she’s apologizing. But of course she soon realizes...

The continuation comic is probably one of my favorites (I... might be saying that about like 90% of these though...oops) Okay but the colors for this one, especially right after that full-color piece. It works so well. Their illusion of perfection is shattered by reality and the fact that people are in fact watching them disapprovingly. Before they realize that, they’re just so infatuated with each other, so happy to forget the rest of the world. The softness of that kiss followed so abruptly by the shock and dismay in their faces. And god the way Akko looks to the others and they just look back at her not really knowing what to do or say. Lotte and Sucy give her looks that just say “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what to do for you, I wish I could do something but I don’t know what” because Akko did just blow hers and Diana’s ‘cover’. And then the crying over the forced smile right before she runs. Neon doesn’t put the dialogue for suspenseful comics in the same image as the pictures like they do with cuter simpler lighthearted pieces. They make a whole new panel with nothing else to focus on, just that despair in those words. And this next part out in the rain. This might be the only time Neon makes blue feel cold because god poor Akko is out there alone and waterlogged and she doesn’t even care. Her tears are highlighted on her hands which I really like. The shot of Diana finally reaching her and just gently reaching her hand out. She doesn’t even touch her right away so she doesn’t scare her. And the hug. One of my favorite Dianakko hugs to-date. Diana even casts a barrier from the rain. That’s just such a good detail I feel, again, other artists might not think/bother to add in. As if the hug itself isn’t perfect enough in its desperation and earnestness, there are just tiny little details Neon puts in. How Akko lifts her arm but doesn’t exactly hug back, how there’s a drop of rain coming off her ponytail, how her hair fluffs up after Diana’s arms press down on it higher up, and the way Diana’s arms lock around her. Hugs are risky because we often will only see one character’s face/expression in a single panel, so the artist has to chose who to show. Neon always chooses the most poignant option - the person we need to see. We can tell by Diana’s calm manner of standing and reaching out what her expression looks like without needing to be shown explicitly. It’s Akko we need to see in that hug. And then for her to return the hug, to accept Diana, to bury her face in her shoulder... I love this so so much. For them to go from scared and separate to comfortable and close. From darkness and loneliness to having a bit of light and hope. And somehow once again making blue feel warm, even though it was just cold 3 panels earlier. How?? I don’t know, but somehow Neon does it.

Next is a marriage proposal one aaaah gosh how cute. This is one of those where they’re still students but a bit older than they are in canon. Especially in the first panel their expressions are so perfect, blushy cute nervous Akko and calm confident Diana. The colors are so warm and pleasant and the way Diana cups Akko’s face when she answers is so sweet, making sure Akko’s looking her in the eyes. But gosh that kiss how Akko literally just wraps her arms around Diana like with the one cradling the back of her head and the other just draped out over her shoulder and Diana holding her face GOSH I love this pose. It really encompasses the desperation they’ve been suffering from all this time to be together, and the relief that they finally can be. And just the way their bodies are pressed so close together is so nice because you know they’ve been kinda holding back until now but they don’t have to anymore.

Okay this. This is a biased personal fav. Oh god. There’s a reason this was my phone background for several months cause it’s just so goddamn beautiful. Neon draws any and every outfit so perfectly but these dresses I swear to god. This piece in particular looks so clean and simple with a lack of color, which makes you focus more on the girls and what they’re wearing and what they’re doing. I’m in love with Akko’s dress in the first part, the ruffles of her sleeve and the loose way it falls down her back, and how Diana’s cupping her cheek really softly. And just the very subtle, very soft blushes fanning out across their faces and shoulders. Just the perfect touch of the perfect color. And then we get even more angles of it from behind Akko where we get to see her gorgeous flowy hair with the ribbon and cute accessories, and Diana gently holding to both of her shoulders. Then how they just very slowly, very slightly open their eyes to look at each other and you can tell they’re both just a little bit breathless but not enough to stop them from doing it again. And another kiss to finish things (and me) off. God I love these so much. They’re so simply but so easy and nice to look at.

Next is cuddles and oh my god just that first one of Diana hugging Akko and resting her head on her chest to listen to her heartbeat look at how happy she is. Just hugging Akko around the back and nestling so close to her, as close as possible. And Akko’s just in heaven getting to hold her wife and rest her chin on her head. Another example of Neon’s amazing usage of blue and shades. Their hair is so soft and fluffy and bed-heady-ish. And the next part would you look at how Diana looks at Akko. I love Neon’s technique of just putting a bit of light in their eyes whenever they’re in a dark scene. Just the eyes and the rings cuz that’s all we need. There’s so much emotion in their faces and in how they touch each other. Diana’s so happy she looks like she’s about to cry. They look at each other like they’re the most precious thing in the world (because they are, to each other). Look at that kiss, very soft but firm, and just a faint glow in Akko’s ring to remind us they are married, putting her hand around Diana’s head to bring her closer. And god the breathless last panel when they’re just all over each other, Diana’s sprawled out on top of her and Akko’s never been warmer in her life. Again with that half-lidded look they give one another. Neon even put a glow for right where Diana’s ring is, even though it’s not shown. The attention to detail again.

The art for Matters of the Heart ch1, our first big project together I still can’t believe Neon did this with me god. Akko’s crying so much and her cheeks are puffy and you can see that clearly. Look at the sheen in her hair and the shock on her face and her eyes. I always loved how Neon does Akko’s hair. It’s got a very slightly-messy feeling to it, just a little bit, but that’s perfect for her, because she’s Akko. No one else draws her hair like that. And speaking of hair, this piece is a perfect example of how Neon does Diana’s. Not only wavy and highlighted, but sometimes multiple shades. It literally looks like a flowing little stream of water. The blue of her eyes is so beautiful, and the tears god she just woke up and she’s already about to cry because you can feel how tired and in pain she is. She just looks so weak and I feel like I’m the one lying in bed when I look at this. Neon puts you in each character’s position every time and it’s incredible.

And older Shiny Dianakko holy moley look at this full-body full-color masterpiece. Not only is Neon a pro at drawing people and tools/items/wands but the backgrounds the stars holy crap. Several of their arts have galaxy/stars backgrounds and each is more beautiful than the last. There’s so much color and light in this one, so much to look at. I just stare at the little details from the shine in Akko’s hair to the fabric lining Diana’s boots. And again with their rings glowing just so slightly. Their arms around each other and their hands together. Every detail was nailed beautifully.

Matters of the Heart ch2 I absolutely love the lighting in this one. You know exactly what time of day it is by the sunlight slanting in, and it’s bright and soft. Akko’s hair is ruffled cuz she’s been up for hours just worrying, and there’s the little tuft of her ponytail again, Neon’s little trademark. And the shine/shading all through Akko’s hair. I can feel the lump in Akko’s throat as she tries to talk past the tears. Her hand on Diana’s cheek and Diana weakly leaning into it and looking at her so longingly. She’s so so tired and everything hurts but you know she feels so much better just because Akko is there with her. Her hair is messy and unkempt, and Neon only draws her like that when it’s necessary. It’s not a careless swipe of the tablet pen, it’s intentional and it’s really expressive as to Diana’s state right now. All light, calming colors that set a really easy mood for this quiet tender moment.

A small kiss but still so beautiful. I love the (for lack of a better word) sketchier style. It looks so carefree just like the kiss. This is a kiss they can share just because they can, and I reel it’s something Neon drew just because they can, and thank god they did, cuz look at how cute. Still so many details, ruffled clothes and streaks in their hair. But like I said, no matter how many kisses Neon draws, they’re always different. Akko’s holding Diana’s shoulder and face and Diana is holding her firmly. It’s a quick messy kiss that you give your significant other just because you love them so much. More beauty in simplicity.

One of my favs like all the others are aahaHA Okay but this one gives us a view of how Neon draws other parts of the body like the back and shoulders more (and since it’s nakey we can see the muscles and scars and whatnot). More ‘warm’ blue colors at nighttime with these lovely cuddles. Look at how gently Diana strokes Akko’s back and we get CHIBIS I love Neon’s chibis. Cute little faces and expressions, which look especially great on Akko being tickled. And Diana’s just looking at her so longingly so lovingly. You can really see the love in her eyes and the adoration. And then you can feel Akko’s guilt. Neon just always chooses the best poses for everything. The way Akko hugs her pillow and gives Diana that nervous look (and her cute messy hair again ajksdhf) I REALLY Love the next part when Diana kisses her back. It’s so intimate, and I love their expressions. Diana is so certain about what she’s doing despite Akko’s clear misgivings and surprise. And the way Diana’s brushing Akko’s hair aside. I fucking love long flowy hair and this is the perfect opportunity for it and Neon does not disappoint. Such a sweet, tender kiss. I’ll never be over how well Neon nails emotions/expressions. And there’s often a variety of those in each comic. This one has guilt, nervousness, fondness, surprise, affection, joy. And the tiny little nose touch and how their bangs fluff up together. Look at how they look at each other. AND I fucking die when Akko gently touches Diana’s scar. Just that panel alone is so beautiful to me. The location of Diana’s scar being right over her heart, the way Akko’s ring glows just at the bottom of the panel, and the curls of Diana’s hair falling over her shoulders. God I love it. And another surprise little kiss for Akko. Have I said yet how much I love how Neon does kisses. And then adorable chibi cuddles as they just squish together look at how happy they aaaare.

Okay an angst comic Neon’s so good with choosing colors for text. But before that, their handwriting is really nice too. The haunting black/red backgrounds and drops of blood. And just the choice of dialogue itself is so telling. You don’t need to see the knife in that first panel to know what Croix is doing to her. Croix is so calm, but you can see she’s also tired and she’s not happy about this at all. But goddamn the shock and dismay in Diana’s face, the shading, the lack of colors and then a splash of bright red. And then I like how the painful red panels turn green (which is kinda associated with magic and in this case Akko’s healing magics). When Diana wakes up you can see Akko’s hair off to the side, so you know she’s there hunched over her sobbing even before you see it for real. Neon does tears so well. And not only little happy tears or slow dribbling tears, but pouring heavy tears too. Just streaming down Akko’s face in 3 different places and dripping off her lip and chin. And then you get to see her hands bloodied with Diana’s blood so you know Akko was pressing down to cover her wound all this time Diana was unconscious. You can feel just how relieved Akko is, not only because of the tears and how her eyebrows furrow and the way she looks into her eyes, but her mouth too. It’s a tight but wobbly smile, like she’s crying so hard she can barely get it out there but somehow she manages. And then what a beautiful tight hug of relief and love and joy and just good lord. I love this hug. Akko needs it as much as Diana does. You can really feel their closeness. And I know I was mainly gonna focus on the Dianakko cuz I’m trash but this is my fav art of the Sorcerer so far I just. Love his design so much. So inky and drippy and bony and neat. But an ass.

Chibi cuddles where you can see Akko’s pouty tired stubbornness look at her puffy cheeks and her tired eyes and her unrelenting grip on Diana. And Diana’s torn cuz she wants to stay in bed but she’s wired to get up and work. Their pose is really super cute, like how Diana has a hand on Akko’s head to half-pat half-push her away. And I love the lighting to show where the sunlight is coming in from this morning. Not too much color, but that’s perfect for an early-morning scene because at that time of day everything is still kinda pale and milky in color and not as bright yet so it really works perfectly here.

Study lesson sure okay right off the bat look at sweating gay baby Akko, meanwhile Diana is trying to be SERIOUS HERE but of course Akko is Akko. I love shocked Diana, how her eyes widen and her face turns pink. Then how they hold each other and close their eyes just as they kiss. Again, their hands are in different positions/spots than they are in any other kiss Neon has drawn. I like Akko putting both of hers on Diana’s shoulders/collar kinda to steady herself and keep her aim straight (lol). Followed by a cute little kiss and some of the cutest chibis ever. I’ll never be able to comprehend how simple circles and shapes like these chibis can instantly = people in my mind. All the work of an amazing artist.

Small kissu so simple and yet still so complex. I’ve always been as much of a sucker for the sketchy style as the clear lineart style. But this one is definitely more fun. Especially with Akko’s messy hair and ruffled bedhead, yet in contrast Diana’s hair is fluffy but not mess like Akko’s. I’m not sure HOW but it just is. And her fingertips just barely touching Akko’s face Akko’s chin and jaw, Akko’s hand on her shoulder firmly but comfortably. The way their hair kinda spills out over their shoulders and just that singular blush to keep our attention focused on the kiss itself. But don’t neglect to appreciate how Diana’s stroking Akko’s hair through her fingers. And then for her to move her hand onto Akko’s shoulder tells us she’s bringing her a little closer, kissing a little deeper. Such simply little subtleties but I want to appreciate them all cuz Neon needs to know someone really does just stare at these pieces for hours on end sometimes before bed.

Another that was my phone bg for a month or so. Such a cute, clumsy, totally-canon-possible situation. I like this simple, one-layer coloring technique a lot. Not too extravagant because the situation isn’t that serious, just cute and fun to look at. The side views are really cute, especially their mouths. Just the difference in the shapes of their mouths express their characters, how Akko’s goes wide/high and how Diana’s curves downward. But the follow-up image is just so precious, Akko worrying about Diana, but Diana reassuring her. I love Akko’s tiny little pout as she frets about hurting her, but Diana’s completely fine and just flattered Akko would even be that worried about her. And of course it’s a hug, and I’m a sucker for those, especially how Neon draws them. Always so close and cuddly. It makes perfect sense that Akko’s hands would be on top of Diana initiating the hug, pulling her in/worrying about her, while Diana would be returning it around her sides. Again, very small but important details that make the art all the more believable and enjoyable

Good please don’t ever stop cuz everything neon draws is fucking adorable. Another black-and-white piece, save for the blushes. And the sashes. I’ve said it a lot in art of other fandoms I used to be in, but I always love when artists do things like this, coloring only small parts of the art to kind of “highlight” it against the rest. In this one, they both have their hands on each others’ faces rather than shoulders or sides. A sketchier kind of piece for a quick, but intimate kiss works perfectly and really gives a feel for it.

A full color piece I really love. The highlights in Diana’s hair, the shine in Akko’s, and hell there are even shines in Diana’s too. For this one (as every Neon kiss is different), the both have both hands on the others’ back, and you can even see the motion in their hands (even though it’s clearly a still piece). You can tell their hands are roaming, rubbing, massaging gently, busying themselves in ways other than just kissing. And I love how Diana’s stroking through Akko’s hair. A super cute detail most pieces don’t bother to go above and beyond to depict, but if you are kissing someone with long hair, it tends to be something you do. It gives the piece a realistic feeling. Even more so with the second piece. By this point, both of them are a little breathless and giddy, their hair is messier (even the prestigious Diana Cavendish’s, and that detail in and of itself says loads about how busy they are with each other). I’m really in love with Akko’s hair on this one, the sketchy, shiny style for it, and the thin strands covering Diana’s fingertips. Tiny details that make it all the better and more enjoyable. And how Akko’s hand is kinda lazily lying over Diana’s shoulder, showing she’s at the point where she’s kinda stopped focusing on holding onto her shoulders and now she just wants to focus on her lips. These are also expressions we rarely get to see on these two, so it’s nice to see.

Matters of the Heart ch4. This one is simple (by which I mean simple to look at, though not to have created). Few colors, but again that highlight of the flowers in the background . Love it. But even more than that I just love Akko in this one. I love how she’s looking at Diana with such joy, such adoration, such fondness. No one has to read the fic or know what happened to know that Akko loves this girl with all her head. How she gently touches Diana’s shoulder and just gazes lovingly at her while she sleeps. Just gorgeous.

What should have happened in ep13. Beautiful coloring, and even more beautiful poses. Akko’s even crying because she’s so happy, Diana is just shocked at first. I love this hug (I keep saying that I KNOW) but I mean it shows Akko’s joy, to hug Diana around her back with both arms, happy enough to cry, while Diana’s hand is in midair, hesitant. But then she gets comfortable right away and hugs Akko back, and even Diana has tears in her eyes. I wrote an entire page describing this scene and yet Neon can express every emotion in two images. It just astounds me.

Okay this one. The One. It literally took me 20 minutes to look it over the first time cuz I liveblogged my reaction to it for Neon. I’m not gonna redo it on this post because nothing will ever be able to top the raw emotions I was feeling looking at it the first time. But I DO go back to it at least once a week (usually more than that) just to look at it. Just to stare. It is one of my favorites of any art ever.

Then there’s this one boy oh boy. Single image, different coloring technique, absolutely beautiful. The way Akko hugs her, holds her. It’s tight but not too tight. I’ve always liked hugs from behind where the person being hugged reaches up to put their hands over the other person’s (I know that is SUPER specific but it’s true). There’s just something about that kind of pose. The hugger having their arms/hands directly on the other person’s body, and the one being hugged just put their hands over the former’s just to hold onto them somehow too. It makes them both feel safe. It’s just so cute. And nothing’s cuter than Akko nuzzling into Diana’s shoulder/cheek. They’re both so relaxed, resting against each other. I haven’t mentioned yet how I love how Neon does eyelashes, so here’s a great time. They just look so pretty, especially against their blushy cheeks.

How the anime should’ve ended. New outfits for both of them, plenty of color, and all the most beautiful colors. The colors, shading, the background (again with the galaxy stuff!) And the magic and the light, sparkling exactly like the Seven Stars do. And of course in the shape of a heart. I can’t even imagine how much effort a piece like this takes. I also really appreciate the red and blue embroidery on their hats to match their sashes.teams. And the outfits overall are red/blue in reflection of them. It’s such a gorgeous blend of colors. And the Shiny Rod looks straight out of the anime. I had this as my laptop bg for a while cuz I just love looking at it.

Art for one of my fics ;w; Which absolutely kills me. Knowing that my writing could inspire someone to draw/create something out of just images spawned from words I jotted down will never cease to astound and flatter me. Especially when it’s a scene like this. The climax of the story, the most desperate/intimate/important part. Akko’s crying so hard, clinging to Diana, her ring glowing again to remind us of their relationship at his point. And Diana’s unresponsiveness and lack of reciprocation. Again, you don’t need to read the fic or know exactly what’s going on in order to feel the raw emotion and understand how Akko is feeling as opposed to how Diana is feeling at this moment. And I have to mention I love Neon’s choice of their Years Later sleepwear. Akko’s basically the same as her younger canon pjs (because she’ll always be a kid at heart), and Diana in a nightgown, which is the only kind of pjs I can see her in. The smaller final panel reassures us of the happy ending. Because the first image might scare you a little, wondering if Diana is all right, so leaving just that would’ve been a little worrisome. But Neon reassures us with that little bit at the end, and knowing it ends well makes looking at the first image not as worrisome the second and third time around - we can enjoy that more in knowing it ends happily.

Red and blue. Okay. Anyone who’s been with me since RWBY (where my main otp of gals also have blue and red colors) KNOWS I am the ultimate sucker for color scheme things like this. Akko being red, Diana being blue, but the best part is the purple blending them together. Dash does this in her art a lot and I tell her all the time how much I love it. Neon does it even more beautifully and very smoothly. The blend is in such a small part, only their bangs and chests. It’s hardly noticeable, because it’s so subtly well-done. This pieces is like watercolor and gives off a hydrangea kind of feeling. Usually for Years Later pics, Diana’s hair is loose (for bedtime scenes) or over her shoulder in its ponytail. So I really enjoy seeing it in this new style, still in a ponytail but all down her back. And Diana’s threading Akko’s hair again. Though all kisses Neon draws are unique, some elements reappear more than others, like how Diana threads Akko’s hair and how Akko cradles the back of Diana’s head. Reoccuring small things like that in the art gives them a sense of normalcy, so we can establish and understand these two girls kiss a lot, and they have come to realize what things they like to do best when engaged in a kiss. Those things each of them do more often than others are things you’ll only notice if you look at all of Neon’s art. We kinda start to accept them as ‘headcanons’ of how Dianakko kiss when Neon draws them.

The Kimono piece is lovely. Seeing them both with new hairstyles, the jewelry, the hair accessories. As if the colors aren’t gorgeous enough, there’s the patterns of the clothing. I didn’t notice my first time looking at it that Akko’s actually tying Diana’s bow for her, implying she helped her put the whole thing on, or at least helped with finishing touches, which implies a bit of closeness right there. You know Akko is a pro at kimonos since she’s from Japan and Diana has no clue what to do with them, so having Akko tie it for her was a perfect touch.

Soft As Cotton art absolutely murders me. Another draw from one of my fics like holy shit I absolutely fucking died. This one is just pure adorableness. I love Akko’s disbelieving face and Diana’s twitchy tail but even though she’s annoyed she’s still blushing this gay nerd. And the chibis again AHH so cute. I love how Diana’s tail poofs up and Akko gets that look in her eyes like “I gotta... do it again...” My fav might be the one of Diana leaning into Akko’s hand and purring she just looks so damn happy. It’s just such a soft moment and such a soft picture with soft colors. But no wait I think my favorite is the big bonus image cuz I had that as my phone bg for a long time. Diana’s annoyed at getting hit in the face with ears, but Akko is just. So content. So damn happy. I love the closeness, how Akko’s pressed right up there against her chest, and god her little nose ugh. And her arms are underneath Diana’s in this hug, which is a detail I love that I haven’t even been able to recognize for YEARS until very recently. When my fav gets hugged with the other person’s arms under theirs, because the person in Akko’s position is as close to Diana as physically possible, without her arms obstructing her grip. Again, a small detail, but one that makes it for me. I might be biased but I love this comic so much. It’s just so soft, as the title of the fic says, soft in every possible way. Soft and lovely.

Comfort kiss. Oh my gosh I was looking through Neon’s art tag the other week and spotted this one and I just stopped and gushed about it all over again. You can tell by my fics being 90% hurt/comfort that I love this sort of thing and this art fucking slew me. Diana’s just breaking down after all this time and you can tell how much pain she’s in, but that it’s emotional, not physical. Because Akko is level-headed for a change, taking on the role of the comforter. Her hands gently cupping Diana’s face, not her shoulders or sides where the clothes would skew her touch. She touches Diana’s skin directly to let her know she’s here and this is real. And she’s kissing Diana’s cheek, not her lips. I’ve seen comfort/crying art before of other fandoms/ships where they kiss lips but like... would you really wanna do that? I think cheek is the best. Not only does Akko get to brush away Diana’s tears but she’s allowing her to breathe freely as she cries. And look at how Diana’s hands are just loosely holding onto Akko, like she’s not even sure how hard she should be holding her back and she’s shaking too hard to tell anyway. But fuck me the final panel of Akko cupping her face and touching her lip so gently and shushing her... it fucking ruins me. AKKO being the one to take control of such a delicate situation. AKKO being the one to comfort/hush her. It’s a major role-reversal from their canon personalities and it’s so beautiful to see Diana being taken care of for once. I could stare at this one for hours (and sometimes I do I swear to god). And the colors are kinda dull/sad to match the tone of what’s happening, but it’s still oddly calming in a way.

Casual date okay if we don’t all already know by now that I love seeing my fav characters in different clothes and with different hairstyles so hello. Have a look at this gorgeous piece. If I’m a sucker for small details being colored in a colorless piece, where is nothing that gets me more than color-reversal things. Like ask Dash and Leo I always freak out whenever why do it in their art and here goes Neon. Akko’s got the bluish clothes and Diana’s got the reddish and they both look so GOOD. Even their shoes are different but still so cute. And for Akko to be having mint/vanilla and Diana to be having a chocolatey thing which is also a general color contrast for them is really nice. I love Akko’s smooth, stylish hair and Diana’s messier ponytail, again a little contrast from what we might typically expect from these two. And the colors are just so... summery. This entire piece screams summer to me, so bright and sparkly and it just kinda looks like marble soda in and of itself. The colors are so gorgeous and light and pleasant, like sherbet ice cream.

Another beautiful kiss. I just love how Akko is all but lying herself onto Diana, lazily wrapping her arms around her shoulders in a loose kinda hug. Looks like she’s about to just fall on top of her and take a lazy kissy nap, which is definitely something Akko would do. It’s such an ‘Akko’ kind of pose too. In contrast Diana is hugging her more tightly, a little more responsibly, probably trying to keep them from actually toppling over lol. Neon’s really good with not making the kisses too obvious. I mean the actual drawing of their lips. It’s done in such a simple little line or two, but the curve/angle of those tiny lines are so important to show whose mouth is where. I feel profile kisses are such a difficult thing to get right but Neon nails it every time. This is another piece where I love to look at their hair, but I think Akko’s lazy huggy pose is my favorite part. Their arms being lifted up lets them press chest-to-chest and man that closeness is so nice.

Surprise blue kiss agh so cute. There’s black-and-white pieces with just a bit of color, and then there are pieces that are all one color, like blue, and then just the red/pink blushy highlights. Akko’s got a little smirk on her lips and you know she probably got Diana to look up from her work by saying something dumb or saying her name in a sing-songy way and Diana was kinda focused on her work and she just looked up with a neutral/tired expression and then suddenly Akko’s kissing her and Diana’s heart is skipping a beat. Like we didn’t even see what was going on before this, but we just know that’s exactly what happened. It’s such a perfect pose too, with Akko leaning slightly down over her, taking prestigious Diana Cavendish by surprise, which probably nothing/no one else in the would could ever do. Even in the show, Diana’s eyes rarely ever go so wide, only in ep20 when Akko got right up in her face. So it’s always cute to see her shocked into an expression she doesn’t usually show. I like that this is just a simplistic, school setting kind of thing, cuz we need those too.

The ep 19/20 kiss that definitely happened off-screen. The face touching/holding fits really nicely here because this is a reunion scene (even though they’ve only been separated for like 12 hours, these gay babies). I know I’m repeating myself at this point but just. Look how soft this is. The tender caressing of Akko’s face and Diana’s hair, Akko holding the back of her head again. I don’t know why but this one always gives me a “christmas” kind of vibe. Probably because of Diana’s green shirt underneath and reddish warmer colors on the top, but also the lighting sort of makes it look like sunlight/snowfall, and that they’re beneath mistletoe or something. That’s just me I know, but I love it. It makes this piece really unique, and I plan to make it my phone bg soon over the summer to give me a cool/christmasy feeling in the heat of July. I love how the colors are all within the same palette/range (Idk terms but) they’re all very close to each other, browns and reds and purples and peachy colors. It all seems to almost blend and it’s just beautiful. I love seeing them in different outfits, but there’s a really cute charm of seeing one girl in normal clothes and the other in different clothes. Kinda tells the story right there that Diana wasn’t where she was meant to be because she has different clothes than usual.

Boop. A nose bump piece and it’s so cute and sketchy and light and fun. I love how Neon always matches the emotional tone of a piece to the literal color tone. Their noses pushing up together is so cute, and their little miles are to die for. This one isn’t as intimate/tight as some of the others, but it still portrays its own level of closeness between them. I love how Neon does blushes, not just as little lines usually, but with smudgey sort of brushes. It’s much easier to look at quite frankly, I think it looks fucking adorable. This is another one of those things, even non-romantic, that Diana would never do with anyone else. Even in canon, it only happened with Akko.

Fake marriage AU is the most precious thing. In all of the Years Later art, Neon has them both look a bit older and dress/look different than usual. But they also just fucking nail the canon Akko and Diana. This comic shocked me from day one because it just looks... exactly like canon Diana and Akko, just without color. It’s exactly them in this scene - DIana’s shock and hesitance, Akko’s tearful joy and excitement, the way she’s holding Diana’s hands so earnestly. And here, the blushes are a combo of the smudgey pink and the little lines. And how adorable is that. I love their robes and cloaks/shawls and how they’re different yet similar, revealing the same amount of each of their arms. I also really like Diana’s hair in this one, with the shading of grey on white. And Akko this sly cutie pie slipping her fingers between Diana’s as the images go on, instead of just holding around Diana’s hands. She interlocks them by the end, and I KNOW people overlooked this detail but I fucking drink it in like a crusty old sponge. And the kiss, Diana being shocked again while Akko is almost puffing her cheeks up with the effort to just “do it! kiss her now! prove to the world you’re the best fake fiancee ever!” cuz Akko is Akko and she doesn’t always THINk she just Does the Thing. There’s a cute contrast to Akko’s earnestness and Diana’s surprise. And Diana’s mostly composed after it all, but you can tell she’s realizing she liked it. I also love how in chibi form at the end, their hands kinda turn to little paws and Akko’s ponytail sticks up in embarrassment.

Tummy rubs ;w; this one is probably the darkest (literally the colors, but emotionally, neon has done MUCH darker stuff haha) but visually this one is very dark, all/most of the light coming from Akko’s ring. It matches the scenario so well - being stabbed through the heart and poisoned into being infertile is about as dark and devastating as you can get. But Akko’s ring (their marriage/love) is a glow in that darkness, small but constant. Just the bit of sweat on Diana demonstrates how she’s suffering (maybe not as badly as other times, but you can tell it’s that kind of awful discomfort where you can’t eve find a comfortable position to lie in for bed, sweating and in pain all night). You can see it in Diana’s eyes how tired she is. But Akko is diligently taking care of her however she can. And so Diana looking back at her also portrays how grateful she is for Akko’s help.

The ep23 kiss oh lord. It’s such a difficult thing to choose only one phone bg image and one lock screen. I literally have to flip coins because I can’t choose. But god I love this one. Warm colors in contrast to the snow you know they were just in, fending off the cold. And the color palette is barely different colors, so similar they blend in so easily and pleasantly. It’s just so nice to look at, so cute, so easy o the eyes. It’s all sort of shaded/darker colors but ranging from orange to purple, their clothes their blushes, everything is just so smooth. I like that Akko’s cupping Diana’s cheek again, playing with her hair like Diana plays with hers in some of the other art. And Diana’s got a hand on Akko’s collar kind of just pulling her in closer, keeping her there, making sure she doesn’t run away again. There’s just love and warmth radiating from this picture, and I don’t know how but Neon pulls it off beautifully as always. I’m definitely making this my next bg or phone lock screen for the summer.

I scrolled through the rest of my Neon art tag and was a lil sad to see that it’s ended there FOR NOW but aahhh how nice it was to go back and look through it all again for a long time and write up some reactions/notes.

I know a lot of things I said here are probably just... explaining what’s obviously happening in the image. But I just wanted to show how like... Neon makes it so clear what’s happening, can express the emotions so expertly.

It just astounds me. Even more than the idea of someone creating a drawing from something they read, making an image painted with words into one painted with brushes, more than that I am astounded by how artists like Neon can just think of pieces without prompts/writing. Just. Out of nothing. And they make it into a thing that never existed before and will never exist again. Something only they could have made.

I am just blown away. I love all my artist friends but Neon’s art strikes something within me that the others don’t. And I can’t really explain it, but I wanted to do this and make this post for Neon anyway, to show them how much I love and appreciate their hard work. When I say I spend minutes to hours just looking at these pieces before bed at night, I’m not joking.

So thank you, Neon, for sharing these beautiful pieces with us! I wish I could write about EVERY single piece you’ve done, not only Dianakko, but I hope you get the gist of my feelings from this post!!

#theneonflower #personal #Neon tag

69 notes · View notes