#i hit rank 11 this time too~ pretty happy about that~!
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front page!
#shining nikki#my stylings#i didnt even know you could see yourself on the front page i had NO idea#imagine my surprise#i hit rank 11 this time too~ pretty happy about that~!
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500 CALIBER CONTRACTZ Post #12
Dialogue!!!11:
The main thing I did over the past week or so was put together this dialogue system. The system itself was fairly easily to implement, and I think the only interesting part of the process to share is how I went about making the UI. As per usual, I wanted to have a cool mechanical feeling ui, but at the same time a friend of mine suggested an AOL instant messenger inspired chat window. I loved both of these ideas so I decided to combine them into a screen that pops up and contains the aim-like window. The modeling process for the screen was similar to how I went about making the other two bits of ui that are on screen in the above photos, but I decided to include a VGA port.
VGA PORT:
I didn't originally plan to include a VGA port, but I was in the middle of researching monitors and accidentally left a window open on my computer that just had a big photo of one and I went "wait a minute.". With my final two braincells I suddenly decided to slap together a model for the port which I ended up being proud enough of to, for some reason, make an entire section for it.
Sorry if any of the above sentences read horribly. I am going to need a third braincell if you want this stuff to be coherent. Anyway, Blender is so cool. Using the array modifier to make all these lil squares for the holes in the port is just such a satisfying process. I've come to really like makin pre-rendered assets like this.
New Movez:
This is actually a pretty big inclusion, and I probably should've ranked it in my mind above the VGA port. I added some new movement options to the game!
Firstly, I added this melee move where you swing the back of the sniper forwards to propel yourself a bit. It is mainly useful as a bunnyhop that allows you to conserve momentum.
Next up I added this kick that happens if you melee while in the air. It's basically just the one from mario64. It lets you gain a little bit more height and distance. It also becomes way more effective if you have a lot of momentum. A good tool for correcting jumps and reaching new heights.
Finally, we have the big schmovement slide. This slide gives you a huge burst of speed that you can jump out of in order to send your self flyin. Surprisingly, it didn't really break any of the level design and ended up being a really fun addition imo. In order to perform it, you have to do a ground pound and then melee as you hit the ground. Also, I feel like I basically stole this from pseudoregalia. Played through that recently and it has been a good source of inspiration.
Nova!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:
This is a cameo skin I've been really excited to finally make myself put in the game. Anodyne 2 is a really important game to me, and I love it much. I'm really happy tha folks at analgesic let me put her in here, and I'm p happy with how her model came together. If you haven't peeped the Anodyne games I highly recommend them. The first one was a major inspiration for parts of Fatum Betula.
Conclusion:
Lately I've been playing this game way too much. It has made it impossible for me to tell if it is fun or well designed. Some problems cropped up during playtesting that ima need to address, and I hope that it all comes together into something that one could say is "fun and cool". I think takin this weekend off is gonna do my brain good. Oh yeah also I feel like I should advertise that I'm still doing commissions if anyone is interested. Anyway, have a good 1 and enjoy urself.
#screenshotsaturday#indiegamedev#gamedev#indiedev#game development#indiegames#lowpoly#y2k#y2k aesthetic#indie game#3d platformer#3dplatformer#sniper rifle#50 caliber 3d platformer#500 caliber contractz#50 cal#anodyne#anodyne 2
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2023 wrapped: cdrama edition!
taking a page from @dangermousie and doing an overview of all the cdramas i watched this year (i'll do one for kdramas later)! listed in order of least favorite to most favorite. favorite =/= objectively best/most well-made. just the ones i had the most fun watching.
15 have a crush on you. oh dear lord. this drama should be a case study for what happens when a bad drama has charismatic actors and they keep you trapped hostage. i watched this whole damn thing hating every minute of it on behalf of the poor female lead who definitely deserved better. the ending? absolutely batshit, and not in a fun way. one of the weirdest, worst endings ive seen since with you
14 back from the brink. too kitschy for me, i didn't last long on this one (i think 2 eps lol).
13 gone with the rain. i wanted to like this one because i love sean sun and troll general is exactly what i want out of life. but i didn't like the weird daydream asides, constant animal noise sound effects, and i found everyone kind of off-putting in a non-watchable way, so i peaced out really quick--ep 4ish
12 here we meet again. i love janice wu. i continue to try out her dramas hoping for something to grab me again. this one was pretty boring/too focused on the work element and not the rest of it.
11 exclusive fairytale. i have a secret weakness for youth-to-working-life dramas, so tried this one out. flat, not a lot of chemistry, and very color-by-numbers. the show was clearly made to vehicle jun, and that's okay, but not my thing
10 the starry love. i wanted to like this one because the side characters were fun and i loved the male lead/prince of heaven and all his awkward "please leave by 9" energy. but it bored me overall and unlike most folks i had no interest in the demon secondary ship. i dropped around ep 10
9 my journey to you. it kills me to rank this one so low because it was my most anticipated cdrama this year, but i just couldn't get into it. the pacing was too slow for me, and i couldn't stand how everyone talked to each other (long. pauses. and then. staring. and then. whispers. always the. whispers). i dropped this around midway
8 the love you give me. the chemistry between the leads was cute and it was a decent modern romance. started losing me around the midpoint when the paternity reveal hit and the ML got way into boundary crossing because of it
7 circle of love. objectively not a good drama. in fact, a toxic and batshit drama that has probably made me a worse person for watching it. but gd did my messy ass enjoy the trainwreck.
6 road home. you really got to be in the mood for this one, but it's a nice, understated and slow melo romance. but def not a bingeable show since it takes its time with everything
5 wonderland of love. another drama that i dont think is objectively great, but two competent schemers/martial artists trying to one-up each other is like ship catnip for me and this was a show that lived or died by its ship. surprisingly tame for the screenwriter, and had a happy ending! popcorn watch.
4 till the end of the moon. me and this drama were in a bad romance, which i suppose is thematically appropriate. i hated parts of it, i was super invested in others. the post-dream human arc was giving wuthering heights tragic obsession incredibleness. even with its flaws, i think most of cdramaland is in agreement that lyx/tantai jin stole the ML competition this year. great gowns, beautiful gowns
3 story of kunning palace. i adored the characters in this drama! even when the plot was losing my interest, everyone was cast so well and had so much charisma that i stayed pretty hooked from ep 10ish on. absolutely loved the mean high school theatre director wreck that was xie wei, as well as the other (imo) true love interest of the show, princess leyang. the desperate speech about being like iron is gonna live rent-free in my head
& then 1&2 are way ahead of the others for me this year/a very close race between them!
2 a journey to love. i love this drama so much!!! i have not skipped or speed watched a single scene which for me is a huge feat! great character work across the board -- even the side characters have a lot of nuance and interesting dynamics between them. beautiful fight scenes. great ost. one of the best, most balanced main couples ive seen in a show. it's gonna break my heart in a few eps when it ends, but i'll be happy about it
1 lost you forever (s1). this drama came out of NOWHERE and the vicegrip it had on me while it was airing!!! my favorite FL this year (although a journey to love's ruyi is a close second), and just a ton of fun while also being quietly devastating in parts. i loved how lived in and tired the FL felt, enjoyed the various flavors of mess from her love interests, and enjoyed how extra it could go while still giving us really grounded and complicated characters. this drama gets extra points for converting me on several actors i did not think that highly of before the show.
overall, despite how many i dropped (lol writing it out made me realize i dropped so, so many), cdramas delivered for me this year! my top two are on my short list for favorite dramas, period. everyone go watch a journey to love and lost you forever if you havent yet!!!
AWARDS
Favorite ship: definitely goes to ruyi and yuanzhou from a journey to love. it's just nice to see a couple that mutually supports each other's murders
Favorite FL: xiaoyao from lost you forever with ruyi from journey to love as a very close runner-up. i am here for this year's theme of competent, jaded ladies trying to reclaim their lives
Favorite ML: objectively, tantai jin from till the end of the moon should win this, but story of kunning palace's xie wei was just so entertainingly grumpy, petty, and unhinged which is a winning combo for me.
Favorite 2FL: princess yang ying from a journey to love. she's doing amazing and im proud of her!!
Favorite 2ML: technically third male lead, but xiang liu from lost you forever was my favorite to watch and had the best tuxedo mask exits
Best Cast: a journey to love, i literally adore all of them, even the ones i hate
Best Blood Cough: tantai jin, you beautiful bastard who needs a bib
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MONTHLY MEDIA: December 2024
I'm not one to rank stuff at the end of the year cause I'm easily swayed by recency bias. Anyway here's how I spent this final month of the year two thousand and twenty-four.
……….FILM……….
Josie and the Pussycats (2001) Some of my favourite art is both joyful and scathing. It's such a fine line to walk and a miracle when it works. Having never seen this before, it took me about three scenes saturated with product placements to realize that Josie and the Pussycats walks that line perfectly. Instant top film for me.
The Holiday (2006) This is a movie that I enjoy every time I watch it, but for different reasons. Sometimes I love how unique it was to cast Jack Black in this role, and sometimes I feel like he sticks out like a sore thumb. This time what really stood out was FedEx's sponsorship.
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (1970) There's something really zen about defeating the villain by outliving them. No better way to succeed than by continuing to live your best life.
Akira (1988) Got to see this in the theatre for the first time and it was such a wildly different experience. The surround sound was cranked, the imagery filled my entire field of vision, and the audience was dialed in. It was incredible.
Die Hard (1988) I know it's cliché but this is a holiday staple. Every year I think about why the scene of Sergeant Al shooting Karl sits wrong. I know it completes his arch and maybe saving John and Holly redeems him, but is it necessary? It's the ONE scene that keeps this from being a perfect movie in my books. Anyway I love it.
Midsommar (2019) Still isn't the movie for me. I know horror, by default, tends to be mean-spirited, but I still don't get why the London couple was murdered. They seemed pretty chill and nice and had a natural response to the cliff-jumping. Glad Dani found a family though!
……….TELEVISION……….
Skeleton Crew (Episode 1.01 to 1.04) Slow to check this out simply because the recent Star Wars shows haven't really inspired much hope. Happy to be proven wrong as the show, so far, is a delight! My only fear is that it'll all tie into some legacy character in the last episode. Please I just want a show that exists in this world but does its own thing.
Columbo (Episode 2.01 to 2.05) Consistently fun and I always appreciate how the crimes allow a little more of Columbo's character/personality to be revealed (the London episode's final particularly stands out).
Arcane (Episode 2.04 to 2.09) Continuously stunning but ultimately not where I thought it was heading. Season one spent so much time on the class disparity but that's mostly ignored in the second season in favour of a big battle that ultimately wasn't impacted by the majority of the main characters.
Dan Da Dan (Episode 1.10 to 1.12) I didn't realize the season ended at 12 episodes (and at such a strange point, narratively) but I'm really enjoying this world and its weird cast of characters. Again: if you check it out and find the alien probing scene of the first episode to be too much, know that I felt the same way and feel like the series hasn't hit that same low point in the remaining 11 episodes.
A Nonsense Christmas With Sabrina Carpenter Of the current era's popstars, I know the least about Carpenter and her music. The writing was sharper than I was expecting but the audience insert shots reminded me more of a modern comedy special than a classic variety show. Just give me some low wide shots of the audience watching the show, otherwise I assume the B roll is staged. Merry Christmas!
The Chair (Episode 1.01 to 1.06) A great lil series of television. Loved the setting and characters, but admit I found the ending to be a mixed bag (some threads were tied up in a really smart way while others seemed to be totally forgotten) but overall satisfying. It looks at these complex issues complexly and I respect that.
……….YOUTUBE……….
Why every restaurant has the same desserts by Vox I love dessert but this explains why I almost never order it when I'm out for dinner. VIDEO
Josie and the Pussycats is the Greatest Film Ever Made | Essay on Film | Amber Flannery Field by Amber Flannery Field Essays A concise expression of why Josie and the Pussycats is so great. VIDEO
……….READING……….
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie (Complete) Perfect holiday read though I didn't realize it was a collection of short stories. Some were more fun to read than others, but that's on me as I have trouble keeping characters straight if they aren't given much more than a name and description.
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate by Michael Moorcock (Complete) These old pulp fantasy novels are always an interesting read. The characters are little more than names and descriptions, and the plots feel familiar (probably because of how influential they were on what came after) but what I enjoy most Moorcock's breakneck pace. Some of the books from this era are one concept stretched out beyond its limits, but this is full of concepts that could fill out an entire book yet get a couple of chapters before moving onto the next cool thing.
Hawkeye by Matt Fraction, David Aja, and many more (Complete) I frequently choose to reread this around the holidays. Even before the loosely-adapted show stuck with the Christmas timing, it's just felt like a winter read. Can't recommend this enough for really highlighting what comics can be.
Reckless by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (Complete) The art is great but after reading a couple of Brubaker books, I now realize I do not like his writing style. I wish Brubaker would let some of the storytelling happen through the visuals but that's not his approach and honestly I think I'd prefer reading his work if it was strictly a novella or full length book.
……….AUDIO……….
Brat by Charli XCX (2024) Hey have you heard of this album? Pretty good.
……….GAMING……….
Spot it! (Blue Orange Games) I won't be swayed on the fact that this is one of the best party games. Good for most ages and player count, easy to drop in and out of the game, and (most importantly) very quick to explain and easy to grasp the premise. Every card has 8 symbols on it. Every card matches with every other card via 1 symbol. The matching symbol is different on each card. There are different games to play based on this fact but most tend to involve finding the matching symbols first to get rid of your cards. It's frantic and fun and rounds take just a few minutes. Super fun.
And that's it. See you in 2025!
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20 questions for writers
tysm for the tag @crows-murder!!
1. how many works do you have on AO3?
seven, but two of those are site skins
2. what's your total AO3 word count?
51,455, which is. so little. omg
3. what fandoms do you write for?
rn, exclusively batfam. i've also posted fic for bnha, and while i do think there's a solid chance i'll post more my hero fic in the future, idk when. i've also written for tmnt, voltron, and spn, but most of those never left my notebooks lmao
4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?
penance - ghost!robins au where tim dies + meets ghost!jason, and metric tons of emotional devastation ensue. MCD tagged bc yk. tim wakes up dead.
adds up to less - my sole bnha fic, platonic bakudeku that spans from childhood to after their fight post-all might vs. afo, centered around the fact that izuku knows katsuki's mom is abusive
despite all his efforts - whumptober fill for solitary confinement, dami and dick!bats and pain
bile is sweeter - whumptober fill for safety net, dick & tim where tim gets seriously injured on patrol. ambiguous ending as a standalone, but also ended up becoming the prelude to penance.
i know (do you know?) - whumptober fill for delirium, jason & dick, jason & bruce, bruce & dick sick!fic where jason is sick and bruce and dick are at odds but trying not to be.
5. do you respond to comments?
yes!! i love responding to comments. i am really behind atm, bc 1) penance got way more attention than i expected and 2) the comments are so frickin kind and like i short-circuit.
planning on responding to some more tonight, i want to try and wrestle my inbox away from hitting a like critical mass point
6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
hmmm. i think it depends, especially on how you interpret the end of 'bile is sweeter', but my gut instinct is 'despite all of his efforts'.
7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
mmmm. none of them? jk jk, kind of. i think they're all bittersweet is the thing. maybe 'penance'? or ik(dyk)? actually no, it's def 'penance'. neither of them end super fluffy, (or fluffy at all? fuzzy at best), but like i personally think, as hard won as it is, 'penance' has a happy ending.
8. do you get hate on fics?
i have not yet!! shockingly.
9. do you write smut? If so, what kind?
cuephrase on ao3 does not have any smut posted
10. do you write crossovers?
no, at least not yet. i don't think i will?
11. have you ever had a fic stolen?
not that i know of 🤞
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
nope!! i don't think i've written anything popular enough to warrant a translation haha
13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?
not yet!! i think it would be super fun tho
14. What's your all-time favorite ship?
uh. hmm. i don't know if i have one?? ships rank pretty low on my overall interest, relationships that stick with me forever and a day are siblings lmao. but okay.
overall, like regardless of fandom it's probs a tie between kyo/tohru from fruits basket and kabakura/koyanagi from wotakoi.
rn my top ship is timkon, no contest. love those two very much. platonic or romantic i am sat.
15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will?
any of them? all of them? i have one fic with like actual words written, everything else is percolating in my mind. i have a decent track record of finishing stuff i start...but starting is difficult. i'm trying to work on that tho!! i really love writing and every time i sweet talk myself into it i'm like omg why don't we do this more often. baby cue would be horrified at how little i write.
16. What are your writing strengths?
making people cry. at the ripe-old age of 7 i decided the best writing was the kind that elicited a physical reaction, which to me was either tears or laughter and i don't think i'm funny. so bringing the pain it was.
and dialogue. i'm super picky about my dialogue and i act out convos + read exchanges out loud. i worry sometimes that i like have too many "blah blah bla-" type lines, but like when people are arguing, nobody is getting out full sentences lmao. there's a balance to it, for sure tho
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
setting/description. i have the worst White Room Syndrome ever i fear. like, okay, so writing for me typically feels like i'm watching something play out and just recording what i see, and uh what i see is usually characters interacting. sometimes they're interacting with their environment but ehhhhh. so i have to make a conscious effort to have my writing not be talking heads interspersed with chekhov's guns
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?
i don't do it. too paranoid about it being wrong. i don't mind it when someone else does it, but if i was going to do it foreign language dialogue would probably be written like "<This is not English>." with a note at the beginning that dialogue in <> is X language.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
i was going to say tmnt, but then i remembered i wrote warrior cats fic way before i knew what fic was omg. stopppppp. i was like eight, i think? but like. consciously knew that i was writing fanfic? tmnt.
20. Favourite fic you've written?
hmmmm. this is probs a tie between 'penance' and 'ik(dyk)' rn, the former was just so much fun to write and the latter features robin!jason and dick bonding which i'm particularly fond of rn hehe this was sm fun!! no pressure tagging @androxys @librarylexicon @tevyaa, @coyote-nebula, @motleyfam and anyone else who sees this and wants to play!!
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Fic Tag Game
Thanks @ineffable-snowman for the tag! :D
1. How many works do you have on ao3?
7 works, 5 of them are my own fics and the other 2 are translations (in french) of other people's fics
2. What's your Ao3 word count?
18,740 words
3. What fandoms do you write for?
Only Star Wars at the moment. I used to write for Harry Potter but not anymore, and one translation is from a Sherlock fic and I sort of tried to write for that fandom but never managed anything.
4. What are your top five fics by kudos?
1. Who's having a gay crisis? (424 kudos) (HP)
2. Partenaire Particulier (397 kudos) (HP)
3. Not exactly common (221 kudos) (HP)
4. Happy as a stick bug (132 kudos) (SW)
5. I wish you with me always (99 kudos) (SW)
(I honestly don't think they deserve to be in that order, I would put the entire thing upside down lol. But drarry/hp in general is a much bigger fandom than obikin and they're older fics, so more time to get kudos. And my top one doesn't deal with aroace stuff so it must have helped too.)
5. Do you respond to comments?
I try to, yes! I might not if it's just a few emojis or a very very short one, and sometimes I just forget, but I like when authors answer my comments so I try to do the same.
6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?
None of them, I'm a fluff writer, I can't handle the unhappy endings 😅 I guess the worst one might be my very first fic, that must still be somewhere on ff.net, it was a pretty angsty/bittersweet fic (and probably very badly written, yikes)
7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?
All of them? They all end with people cuddling/holding hand/being really sappy 🤷 The one where the characters are the happiest is probably I wish you with me always though, it's the only one where nobody's traumatised one way or another.
8. Do you get hate on fics?
I haven't so far, luckily. But I don't have that many hits either so less people reading it=less likely to get hate (I think?)
9. Do you write smut? What kind?
Nope! No smut for me I'm afraid, I think I'd be pretty bad at it tbh. I'm not ruling it out but being an aroace virgin myself, I think I'd be a bit out of my depth lol. But if I ever do it'll probably be the sappiest most vanilla smut you've ever seen x)
(I enjoy reading way kinkier stuff, but I don't think I have it in me to write it)
10. Do you write cross-overs?
I haven't so far. If we're talking about characters crossover(?)(like, making characters from different media meet) I'm not sure I ever will, I'm definitely not inspired at the moment. If putting characters in another universe counts as a crossover (like, idk a pacific rim au?), then I probably will eventually, yeah.
11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?
I don't think so, probably not.
12. Have you ever had a fic translated?
No, but I did some translations myself. I'm vaguely thinking about translating my own fics in french though. It's thanks to translations of fics that I started reading in english, and it's thanks to that that I became so good in english, so like, I owe fic translators a lot? And I also feel kinda bad about speaking french but "gatekeeping" my fics by writing them only in english. Idk.
13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?
No, I don't think that's for me, too much pressure to write something good and that the other author(s) actually like.
14. What's your all time favourite ship?
Hmm 🤔 I want to say obikin because they're my current absolute fav, and they might rank first in term of investment, and maybe even intensity, but it's a relatively recent ship for me soooo 🤷 My oldest and longest lasting was Harry/Ginny, but I wasn't quite as much into it as other ships. Drarry was a pretty intense one for a while but I went multiple times from being obsessed with it to being almost squicked by it, so I don't think they can go first. Stucky, Dinluke and Johnlock are up there too but idk.
15. What's your WIP you'd like to finish, but doubt you ever will?
Idk if it counts but I wanted to write a sequel to Partenaire Particulier. I didnt have anything really planed but I really wanted a sequel and I promised up and down that I would write it, no matter how long it took. And uuuh, now I left the fandom and don't intend on getting back to it 😬 So that's haunting me a little bit.
16. What are your writing strength?
Strength? No strength here sir.
I'm kidding but I really have no idea. Dialogue comes the easiest to me but I'm not sure I'm actually good at it, i tend do make my characters ramble and go on emotional rants.
Or in middle school I wrote a scene description so good that my teacher read it for the whole classroom, so maybe that was my strength back then? I was twelve though.
And I dont know if it's a strength, a weakness or just a fact but almost all my fics so far are about aro/ace/qpr stuff (projecting much? me? naah. 👀)
(If anybody wants to tell me what's good in my writing I'd kiss you on the mouth)
17. What are your writing weaknesses?
Blending dialogue and not-dialogue (forgor the name). I either write 1k without anyone speaking or 1k straight of dialogue but you don't know what anybody's doing. I try to blend both when I edit but it's haaaard.
Also sometimes I feel like I have the vocabulary of a 5 years old.
18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?
I think it can be perfectly fine if the pov isn't supposed to understand what's being said, or if it's translated straight away, but when you read a long fic with mando'a every 5 seconds and none of it is translated (or all at the end) it gets pretty annoying and doesnt really add much to the fic. imo if you want a character to speak in a different language you should just write in english, put it in italics, and specify that they speak the other language or something.
The other thing that bother me that I see a lot especially with mando'a in fics, is just putting the word in mando'a in the middle of an English sentence. That's not how being bilingual works!! (at least not that much). Like, I don't call my sister "my soeur", so why do the clones call each other vode in basic? Idk, it doesn't bother me enough to stop reading, it's more of a mild annoyance, but it doesn't really make much sense to me.
19. First fandom you wrote for?
Harry Potter! But Star Wars is the first fandom where I'm actually (somewhat) active and interacting with people instead of lurking and blurting out a fic every once in a while.
20. Favourite fic you've ever written?
I'll go with I wish you with me always. I think I made a decent job at writing it and qpr are just so important to me. It also made me sooo happy to see so many other people liking it <3
But I think my wedding au will steal the first place if I ever manage to finish it!
I feel like everybody had already done this a while ago, so I'm tagging whoever is reading this and hasnt done it before!
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Here's another post regarding one of my portrayals being canon divergent! This time about Yachiru Kusajishi!
If you don't like Bleach: TYBW spoilers, you prolly shouldn't hit that read more.
So! To get straight to the point: Nozarashi is not relevant to my Yachiru portrayal. I don't acknowledge it; my portrayal of Yachiru is not a Zanpakuto spirit. She is, however, an absurdly powerful gremlin with a strong fixation on sweets. I may at some point come up with my own take on my Kenpachi's Zanpakuto spirit just to even things out, but that's something for future me to worry about. Yachiru herself, while still tied intrinsically to Kenpachi, is not a sword.
Yachiru was born in Kusajishi as the result of a fling made in exceptionally poor judgment; she was abandoned behind one of the bars, and survived only through sheer dumb luck. She was abused pretty regularly by those living in Kusajishi -- some didn't like having a kid watching them or even being closeby, some were simply sadistic enough to want to hurt her -- but despite it all, she survived. Her hunger manifested earlier than it did for most Soul Reapers, when she was still a toddler, barely able to even speak coherently.
This hunger first manifested well before she met Kenpachi Zaraki. Her encounter with him was a matter of right place, right time; pure luck. Among his victims in battle were men whom had kicked her around before, and even in her child mind, part of her reveled in the conflict, in seeing their agony as they fell before him. Of course, she didn't recognize that for what it was; consciously, she simply saw a cool sword fight and it caught her interest! She was taken in by Zaraki after this incident, as an adoptive daughter, and her hunger persisted with her growing spirit power.
Yachiru showed herself quite quickly to be unique. As those around them grew up, got taller, even as Kenpachi changed, Yachiru stayed much the same for centuries. Her body aged exceptionally slowly, although her mind was another story. She was devilishly clever, thanks in no small part to Zaraki's teachings. He encouraged her to learn and to better herself, but he never told her what exactly to study -- so usually, she'd studied him, and whatever else she could find that wasn't boring. She became exceptional with battle strategies, and when she grew big enough to fight herself, Kenpachi taught her all she now knows. Neither of them realized at the time just how powerful she was, nor how powerful she would become. Though, unfortunately, her sense of direction has never improved. This doesn't stop her from insisting on leading him to battle.
Her real talents came to light only a few decades before Kenpachi became Squad 11 Captain. She was a terror to anyone who opposed her Kenny, and nearly killed a group of noble boys who taunted her for her poor etiquette the first time they approached the Seireitei. Given the sheer power she had displayed, she was almost arrested on the spot as a threat to the Gotei 13, but when Kenpachi declared his intent to duel the current Squad 11 Captain, potential charges were forgotten. She had no part in the duel, watching from the sidelines with a giddy smile, as always.
Although she maintains Lieutenant rank, Yachiru is EASILY powerful enough to become a Captain. Her power has grown nearly unchecked, and even Zaraki doesn't realize just how strong she is; her power almost dwarfs Zaraki's. However, she has no interest in challenging Kenpachi to become Captain, and doesn't want the Kenpachi title. She's more loyal to Kenny than she will ever be to the Soul Society. Insofar as age is concerned, she's older than most in the Seireitei, but age is not equivalent to maturity. She's still small, impish in nature, and is all too happy to act childish to get what she wants. While actually considered a child by most, she doesn't see much distinction between herself and those perceived as adults, and truthfully doesn't really bother to give it much thought. She is certainly capable of being deadly serious when she needs to be -- but she prefers the opposite. Being serious all the time is boring, and her goal, as ever, is to have fun! And to make sure Kenpachi has as much fun as possible, too!
Post-TYBW, Yachiru maintains her rank, but is now a co-Lieutenant with Ikkaku Madarame! Though Yachiru remains a Lieutenant, she's taken on more duties in the Squad and functionally handles some of the Captain's duties on Zaraki's behalf. Although visually, Yachiru now appears more mature, in personality, she's hardly changed. She's as much of a terror to other Soul Reapers as ever, and delights in bothering the Kuchiki siblings, though now Rukia has her own nicknames: Rook-chan and Ruri. She has also been heard to refer to Rukia and Toshiro as 'shaved ice makers' and 'portable freezers'.
Beyond all this, she continues to do more or less whatever she wants, and generally speaking, neither Captain Zaraki nor Head-Captain Kyoraku bother to discipline her. So long as she isn't hurting anyone with what she's doing, she's generally left to her own devices, for better or worse.
As far as romantic themes go, Yachiru has a very childish idea of dating. Just because she's older than plenty of other Shinigami does not mean she's anywhere near emotionally mature; she is by nature a pretty selfish individual, and doesn't often think long on the feelings of others. She doesn't even give out chocolates to anyone and still expects free sweets on White Day. Her idea of dating is just a bunch of hand-holding and sharing candy! So when she hears about couples from other Shinigami, she mostly just pictures them sharing a big bowl of snacks and being sappy. Kenpachi, having precious little interest in such things himself, never really taught her much in regards to themes of romance, and so Yachiru remains mostly clueless when it comes to matters of the heart. Which is fine - she's more interested in chocolate candy hearts, anyway.
#{ File Found | Headcanon }#{ Kenny's Biggest Fan! | Yachiru Kusajishi }#your honor: she's a menace.
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Leigh plays Tellius prt 7
I'm at the halfway point of PoR, so I decided to look through all the units I plan on using until endgame and compare their stats to their average stats for their current level.
To recap, here are the goals I set for myself:
No one dies
Get Ike and Soren to rank A
Get Ike and Ranulf to rank B
Max out Soren and Ilyanna's speed
Get Ranulf to his max level with as many capped stats as possible
Thus far, I have restarted for every death, and thus no one on my team has perished. Ike and Soren are at B rank, so they're on their way to that A rank. I don't have Ranulf yet, so I haven't made any progress on goal #3. Soren is 7 points away from capping speed with 13 level ups to go, whereas Ilyanna is 11 points away from capping speed with 21 level ups to go, so I think I'm on the right track for goal #4. And again, I don't have Ranulf yet, so no progress on #5.
Now let's take a look at my most-used units!
For this, I put a green up arrow next to any stat that is higher than their average, a yellow star to any stat that is the same as their average, and a red down arrow to any stat that is lower than their average.
First up: Ike!
Turns out that my Ike is not doing too hot! He's good for strength and HP, but every other important stat is lagging behind. Uh-oh! I'm probably going to have to be more strict about his level ups going forward, if I want to defeat the Black Knight.
Meanwhile, my Soren is doing pretty dang great! He's either at or above his average for every stat, which makes me really happy.
My Mia is also doing fantastic! She's above average in every stat except for magic, which is fine because her magic stat is entirely irrelevant anyway.
Oh, Ilyana. She's really not doing so great, aside from that speed. Which I guess is fine, since I'm mostly just using her to cap out her speed for Radiant Dawn, but still. It's a bit disappointing.
My Rolf has been doing super well, though! Look at all those green arrows. I was initially worried about him, because he started off getting really crappy level ups, even a couple of level ups that included absolutely no increase to any of his stats, but he eventually turned it around. Good job, Rolf!
So, it wasn't until I took this screenshot that I realized that her skill was at 4. Literally so behind where she should be that I gave her two red down arrows next to it. I mean, she's doing great otherwise, but damn. I cannot count on my Mist to dodge anything.
My Neph is doing pretty good, just a little below average in terms of speed. I gave her vantage on top of her wrath skill, so she's been absolutely annihilating foes on the enemy turns.
Kieran, my man! I have to say, he's been hitting it out of the park for me on this playthru. His strength is a little behind average, but I honestly haven't even noticed, because he's just been slaughtering every enemy I set him up against.
My Jill is definitely lagging behind in strength, which feels super unusual for Jill. Hopefully she makes up for lost ground in the next few chapters.
Oh, Astrid. She's probably been my biggest wildcard of a unit. She either gets great level ups or absolute garbage ones. Her strength has been so pitiful. But at least she's capped her speed, right? She actually capped it, like, several levels ago. But I didn't want to promote her early, since her speed was like the only thing she had going for her.
Boyd! Somehow I got an unusually defensive Boyd, which kind of goes against his class. But with skill and speed that bad, I am definitely not complaining about the extra cushioning.
Oscar! Like Kieran, I haven't really been worried about his strength. He doubles and crits enough that it really doesn't matter. Overall, Oscar has been really good to me.
Aaaaaand, that's it! Those are all the units I am using on a near-constant basis.
Next time, I have to try to re-recruit Shinnon. Wish me luck!
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Play the game of ask
I was tagged by @imsodishy
1. Are you named after anyone? yes, first name. my mother named me after her favorite actress, Jessica Tandy. and my middle name, all women on my mom's side are given french middle names (family tradition/heritage thing). my middle name is after my great-maternal aunt,
2.When was the last time you cried? maybe a week or two ago???
3.Do you have kids? do pets count? if not, nope.
4.Do you use sarcasm a lot? on the daily. it's my love language.
5.What sports do you play/have played? i played peewee tee-ball at age 5. i sent a boy to the hospital on my first day 😎. i hit the ball straight into his gut... he shouldn't have been standing on the pitcher's mound if it's tee-ball. i tried out for softball in high school, but my school was a heavy competitor in their division rank and wouldn't take me because i hadn't been playing constantly all the way... they chose a different girl over me and lost the whole season (which made me gleefully happy bc she couldn't catch a ground ball to save her life). 👀 i get a tad petty when i'm bitter... lol. i didn't do much else except be super competitive in PE, also took ballroom dance (non-competitively). I picked up Ballroom again briefly in college for a semester, and then picked up Crossfit, and I've stuck with Crossfit since 2015, with only a brief break because of the pandemic years. So most of what I do is weight lifting, some endurance training, light to moderate gymnastic work, and power lifting. I just wanna be Mighty Mouse.
6.What’s the first thing you noticed about other people? Eyes/Facial expressions and tone of voice. I have a good/bad habit of sizing people up pretty immediately, and I don't tend to deviate from my initial opinions of people. They say you shouldn't judge people (don't judge a book...) but I got taken advantage of so many times as a kid by being altruistic and trying to push past initial feelings of why I didn't like someone. So if I don't immediately like someone... that's pretty much it. I don't engage more than I have to.
7.Scary movies or happy endings? happy endings, scary movies give me too much cognitive dissonance lol.
8.Any special talents? 😅 well i can do my cat's version of the bird chatter thing. so if i can't find him in the house, and he won't come when i call him, i'll make the chittering noises and then he comes running thinking i found birds.
9.Where were you born? Salt Lake City, UT, USA
10.What are your hobbies? Netflix binging, reading, writing (when I'm not dying writing for school), and picking back up artsy stuff now after a long while so thank you fandom buddies.
11. Was skipped so… I’m just gonna say the song I’m listening to right now, which is Figure 8 by Peach Pit
12.Do you have any pets? Cus (because he's a 'cuss'), my black lab (the moocher, but also baby). Smokey, my grey cat (the asshole in residence). Tucker, my beige/blonde tabby cat (the baby). All boys.
13. How tall are you? 5′2, es muy poquita.
14. Favorite subject in school? history, psychology, anatomy/zoology (if we're talking back in high school days)
15. Your dream job? Actress
16. Eye color? grey/stormy blue
no pressure tags anyone who's interested @oneshortdamnfuse @adelacreations @bigdumbbambieyes @chrisbitchtree @every-dayiwakeup
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Cameron Monaghan brought the character of Ian Gallagher to life on Showtime’s hit series, Shameless. The series aired for a total of 11 seasons after originally premiering in 2011. It ranked as the network’s no. 1 comedy, longest-running series, and had the youngest-skewing audience of any Showtime series. Monaghan also joined two legendary universes with roles in both Gotham and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which I got to ask him about too!
The final season of SHAMELESS finds the Gallagher family and the South Side at a crossroads, with changes caused by the COVID pandemic, gentrification, and aging to reconcile. As Frank confronts his own mortality and family ties in his alcoholic and drug-induced twilight years, Lip struggles with the prospect of becoming the family’s new patriarch. Newlyweds Ian (Cameron Monaghan) and Mickey (Noel Fisher) are figuring out the rules and responsibilities of being in a committed relationship while Deb embraces her individuality and single motherhood. Carl finds an unlikely new career in law enforcement and Kevin and V struggle to decide whether a hard life on the South Side is worth fighting for.
Along with the final season, fans also got a six-episode series that featured new Shameless scenes juxtaposed with a retrospective look at each character’s journey over the prior 10 seasons, titled, Shameless Hall of Shame. The first episode followed Ian and Mickey, showcasing their unique relationship and its evolution from a teen fling into a loving, complicated marriage.
I was able to chat with the actor over zoom and ask him all of my burning questions regarding the series finale, Ian and Mickey’s future, the show’s open ending, the representation his character provided to those watching, what he kept from the set, his future projects, and so much more! Keep reading to find out everything he told me.
So first of all, I want to say a huge congrats to you for wrapping Shameless after 11 seasons and bringing this character to life, who has inspired so many and that so many relate to. I wanted to ask, what has your time on the show meant to you and how would you describe how it helped you grow as an actor?
Cameron Monaghan: I mean, it’s so difficult to distill 11 years into some sort of concise answer, but it’s meant a lot for so many reasons. I think that obviously it’s been important for my career and my life in a sense of how it’s not only given me exposure but also given all of us a platform as performers to be able to tell interesting and challenging stories and to really develop and grow. Obviously, we had a couple of old pros on the show– when I say old pros, I’m not calling them old, just that they’re professionals and they’ve been doing it for a long time, but like William H. Macy, Joan Cusack, and a number of people who had very storied careers. Then we had actors on the show who had never appeared on anything prior and for a lot of us, we were somewhere in the middle, where we’d been working for a number of years, but hadn’t been given the opportunities to really put ourselves out there in such a significant way.
So being able to get an audience over the course of 11 years– and the show grew steadily, it was a marginal success at first, but it wasn’t until like season 4 or 5 that it really started to be seen by people and really connect on a larger platform, and a lot of that had to do with Netflix. When that happens we had such an influx of people kind of saying how they related to it and I think that that’s something that I’ve really taken away– I think we’ve all taken away, to be able to hear a lot of other people’s stories and how they’ve connected these stories in entirely different ways. Everyone has had different favorite characters or storylines and they have brought their own personal experiences to that, but for people to say that they feel seen or heard in some ways by these stories, I think is very special. You know, the character that I was playing was an LGBT love story, as well as a story about mental illness, and coping and struggling with that. I had so many positive responses from people regarding those things, and it was amazing to hear people’s responses. So I think that not only was I able to grow as an actor but being able to hear that response and feedback helps you grow as a human being too. I guess that’s what one of my major takeaways is.
What was that final day of shooting like for you, and how did you feel when you officially wrapped?
It was a bit surreal. I don’t think it really set in at first. It’s always funny when you wrap on a project, I feel like it comes in waves, and with something like a TV show, you start to feel it on the last few episodes of like, “Oh, wow, it’s going to be over.” You start trying to find your little ways of saying goodbye to people and understanding that these conversations are obviously not the last for everyone; we’re still close with each other, but you start to recognize that within the context of the show they’ll be your last so that’s a difficult thing. I’ve never been particularly good at saying goodbye, you know? I feel like in general, I’m kind of a person that just likes to be like, “I’m just going to walk away from it cause I don’t know what else to do really.”
So, we were shooting pretty late at night and we were all there hanging out and cracking jokes, and it was just of like, “Oh, I guess that’s it.” We all kind of looked at each other like, “Well, what do we do now?” A bunch of us stuck around for a few hours afterward, we popped a bottle of champagne, and we sat in each others’ trailers and just kinda hung out until pretty early in the morning, the next day. Then we’ve all kind of just been hanging out and seeing each other since. Everyone’s been really busy, thankfully. So we’ve been traveling and going to different cities for work, but when we’ve been in town we’ve been trying to see each other. I had dinner with Jeremy and Ethan, who played my brothers on the show last week. Noel Fisher, I just saw yesterday. I’m going to see Shanola Hampton in a few days. We’re all still staying in touch with each other is what I’ll say.
Were you personally satisfied with the ending of the show? I think it was very open-ended, which was kind of nice and left a lot open for the future. And was there anything you wanted to see for your character that we weren’t able to?
Endings are difficult in general, but I feel like, especially with a show like Shameless, which is a show about a slice of life and sort of how existence doesn’t really fall into a perfect narrative; it tends to be messy and kind of just continue in spite of itself, and it’s a stream of these little victories and these constant mistakes. So you can’t really cap off a pure ending to a story like that. I think that what John Wells tried to do with writing it is not really conclude the stories. He concludes certain aspects, but the way that he explained it to us is he wanted it to feel like if you were walking through the streets of Chicago, maybe you might bump into these characters. Maybe they’re still out there and maybe they’re still doing things. Some of us had more resolution than others.
I would actually say that the Ian and Mickey storyline was one that did have a fair amount of resolution for the final episode. It was about their anniversary, how they were going to deal with their future, and they’ve kind of figured out some sort of life with each other. There are still large questions, whether or not they’re going to have kids and what the terms of their marriage will entail in the future, but those are questions that are lifelong questions, and ones that I think that we know these characters well enough and we understand their relationships well enough that we can draw our own conclusions for. I think there is something beautiful about the fact that the audience will project what their future for these characters will be.
I think it was a challenging final season because of so many extenuating factors in the world. All shows, businesses, everything was trying frantically to keep up with a changing landscape, and the fact that we were able to make it in spite of all of those things, I think is a victory in itself; one that we are all proud of and happy with. I do think there’s still a future, years out, where we might return to these characters and explore them further. I think that I’m happy putting them to bed for now, I think we all are, but I would like to maybe check in with these characters in 5 or 10 years, and just kind of see where they’re at and what they’re doing.
Kind of like a little Shameless movie, just to play catch up for a little bit.
Yeah, I think that’s something that is kind of more possible now with these streaming networks. They’ve done it with a few series, to sometimes success and sometimes mixed results, but I do think there is a possibility of a reunion season or something like that, depending on where the show fits into the public consciousness in a few years, you know? It’s an open question, but one I’d be excited to see.
How you would describe Ian’s evolution and journey on the show?
I think that Ian has come a long way in terms of confidence and assuredness in himself and his own decisions. I think that’s what a lot of the exploration of the character was, especially in the middle seasons between seasons like 3 to 8 or 9, are this guy who sort of just doesn’t necessarily know what he wants for himself and he’s dealing with a bunch of surprises about himself that he doesn’t necessarily understand, or hasn’t really come to terms with. I think it’s amazing to see Ian in these earlier episodes where he’s kind of getting kicked around by his relationships and by his family. He’s kind of a forgotten kid a little bit. He’s like a middle child, who’s just sort of– people aren’t really looking out for him. His brother does to a certain extent, but also his brother is kind of telling him what he wants for himself and Ian isn’t as active.
At a certain point, he starts to really come into his own as an adult and as a human being. I think it’s amazing how we see him as not only a big brother by the end of the series, but also sort of– there’s something a bit paternal about him. He becomes a bit of a father figure, even a little bit in his relationships. I think it’s interesting how Mickey was always sort of the commanding force and deciding factor for so much of the series; when Ian was really struggling with mental illness and down in the dumps, Mickey is the kind of guy who was looking after him, but by the end of the series, Mickey is a bit childlike in certain ways. Ian is kind of protecting him to a certain extent, and even with his older brother, Lip, Ian is sort of looking out for him in a slightly paternal way, which I think is kind of interesting. He really comes a long way in sort of being confident enough in himself to start looking out for other people that I think is a really great quality. It makes him a character who has made a fair amount of mistakes but mistakes that we understand, and I think that ultimately he’s a guy that I understand and really relate to because he does have this quality to him.
So I have to ask you some questions about Ian and Mickey. I personally love them together, they were one of the reasons I started watching the show. In the end, as you said, we kind of get some closure, but also an open ending with them and it’s a happy one; they’re together and celebrating their anniversary. In your head, what do you think that their future holds? Do you think kids are in the picture; do you think they’re going to be parents? Ideally, what is your version of their happy ending, if you could create it?
I think that they both still need to do some work. I would say that they need to do work as a couple in their marriage still of just defining the terms of what is it that they want financially, sexually, intimately, personally, all of these things. It’s a show full of people who aren’t great at communication or dealing with their own feelings– I mean to a certain extent, most human beings aren’t, but these guys, especially, come from a rough background and they have that tendency of just kind of wanting to push that stuff down. Ian has really opened up Mickey and Mickey to a certain extent has really opened up Ian over the course of the series, but I still don’t think they’re fully all the way there. Mickey has a lot of emotional baggage when it comes to parenthood, his father, and dealing with responsibility.
I don’t know if Mickey is fully there. Hopefully, he would be one day in the future. And hopefully, Ian would be patient enough to give him the space to make that decision and to not want to rush into it. I do think that it would be something in their future. Parenthood was a huge motivating factor for Ian earlier in the series, going so far as to steal someone’s baby at some point because he wants to be a father. I would hope that they would be able to provide that for him and for themselves, but there’s no way to know, we have to sort of make that assumption for ourselves, but I think so.
Ian and Mickey have been this fan-favorite couple that means so much to the LGBTQ+ community in terms of representation. What was the moment that you personally started rooting for them?
I think it was pretty early. I was rooting for Ian from the first episode, from the pilot, but the second that Mickey gets introduced to the show, he brought such a fun dynamic with him. Obviously, a massive amount of charisma that was coming from Noel Fisher. The scenes were always fun, exciting, and felt steeped in a lot of dramatic tension. Whether or not they were destined to be together was kind of a question that still was developing. In the first season to the third season, the Mickey character is pretty rough emotionally and physically; he is at points pretty, extremely abusive in a way that is great for a character and for a story, but if I was talking to Ian as a person in real life, I would probably say, “Get the hell away from this guy. He’s awful for you.”
But within the context of the story, we’re able to get the internal life of these characters and we understand them well enough to really want to be rooting for them and see them succeed. It builds into this pretty epic love story of these characters that really do feel kind of intertwined by fate and something greater. It feels like you have these forces pulling for them in a way that you want with every fiber of your being to see it work out for them because you care for them. So obviously, Noel and I had been rooting for these characters the entire time, but it was really fun playing some of the ridiculousness of the situations of the two of them, where they were just very at odds with each other at times. It was a joy bouncing off of each other in both the highs and the lows of the character.
Is there sort of a message that you hope their love story gives to viewers that see themselves in these characters?
Well, I think the aspects of the characters, especially for Mickey, that I’m sure a lot of people relate to, and it is sort of the greatest tragedy of the character, is how he is deeply in the closet and he feels that he can’t embrace his own self and also this beautiful love because of this situation that he’s in; a traumatic home life, specifically an abusive father, and also an environment that doesn’t allow him to be what he wants to be. I guess the message that I do hope that people who are relating to that get is that there are places where you can be accepted and there are better options for you, and sometimes that takes time, but as cliched as it is, it does get better. So hopefully people are able to find these safe environments for themselves to be able to improve the quality of life and to get better situations. I hope that people find hope in the story ultimately.
Another relationship of Ian’s that I have to discuss is his relationship with the whole Gallagher family; that was a focus of the series since day one. What was your favorite part of their dynamic and playing off that?
Obviously, the chaos of the family is always really fun to play. We had these scenes that were kind of an amazing balancing act of like 8 or 9 people in a scene, all messing around with these different storylines that are bouncing off of each other, intertwining, and you have this really biting sharp satirical dialogue that all had a very specific rhythm to it and was a sort of flow that was established early in the show that was kind of kept across the entire series; one that was a genuine joy as a performer to play. But I think that specifically the relationship that I’ve always been a fan of and I love from the start, is probably– it’s definitely one of my favorite relationships on the show– was the relationship between Ian and Lip.
There’s not a lot of depictions of brotherhood and intimacy between men that are deeply sensitive, close, and uncomplicated. Those are definitely scenes that I felt very personally moved by, of two brothers who have just had a world of shit, a lot of complicated and messed up things that have been dropped on their heads that they’ve been dealing with for the entirety of their lives, but they’ve sort of made a pact that they were just gonna be there for each other no matter what. If they weren’t there for each other, who knows if they would have survived. I think that there’s something really amazing about those scenes in that they’re just very open with each other, and that’s something that’s established right from the start and was kind of one of those key relationships for the show that survived until the very last episode and that I’m very proud of, cause I do think that those are some of my personal favorite scenes of the show.
Here’s a fun three-part question: most challenging, fun, and insane storyline for you as an actor?
Most challenging would probably have to be… we reached a point in the series around season 8 and they were trying to contextualize the characters in a modern way, put them into new circumstances, but try to retain what the characters were, but they’ve moved a lot from where they originally were. We were at a point where we were getting so many new writers onto the series, and the show I feel struggled for a second, which happens with any series that’s been on for a while. It felt like there was a point where they didn’t know what they wanted to do with Ian. There were a couple of episodes where I was kind of looking at the story and being like, “What are we doing here? It doesn’t really feel like anything is happening with him and we’re kind of floating across these relationships.” I wasn’t sure what we were trying to say, but that being said, that is kind of true to life, to a certain degree, where we do find ourselves sometimes in these ruts where we don’t know what we’re doing with our relationships, our lives, and ourselves. There is a little bit of a struggle there and that is kind of real to a certain degree, and I do think having those episodes make when they started finding the way with the character and relationships again, kind of more satisfying cause he sort of loses his way and he comes back. So it was kind of a challenge, but I think it all worked out ultimately.
Craziest would have to be… so this is one that no one would even know is like a thing really, no one would even think of it as a thing, but the scene in the pilot episode, Lip and Ian jump out of like a window and they run out of a house to escape an angry parent, right? And they’re kind of running in a rush. So they run out in their socks, down the street, and it’s the middle of January in Chicago and the streets are covered in mud, water, and ice. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever felt in my life that I actually thought my feet were going to like fall off. I thought we were going to have to amputate a toe because of frostbite. We did the scene a bunch of times, and because Jeremy and I were young, we were just sort of trying to be tough, just like, “Yeah, whatever, it’s not a problem. We can do this over and over, not a big deal.” Then I definitely learned a lesson of like, when something is a problem, you have to say, it’s a problem.
Most fun… I don’t know if I can distill it to just one scene. I think the most fun was just getting to interact with all of the wildly different personalities of our show, and just kind of get to sit around and hang out with everyone. There were times that we would just be laughing so hard that one of us would start and we just end up crying, laughing. Usually, it was because of Howey cracking jokes or something like that, but it could be just the dumbest to smallest thing, but it’s the kind of thing when you become so comfortable with people, it just starts to happen. Sometimes it was just the downtime and these little small kind of boring or mundane moments that really ended up being some of my favorite experiences.
Did you take anything from the set at all?
I did. So in the final season, there’s a storyline where Frank steals Nighthawks, the Edward Hopper painting, and that was actually done in cooperation with the Art Institute of Chicago and the Edward Hopper estate. They did these really high-resolution prints of it that were then painted over by hand, and they even took pictures of the back and mimicked the way that the canvas wrapped over, the small writing, and everything. It’s a pretty damn good forgery of Nighthawks. So I stole one of those and that’s hanging up in my living room. I also stole one of the mugs cause in the show we’re always having breakfast and drinking coffee, so there are these rooster mugs and I stole one of those.
Since you’re talking to The Nerds of Color, I have to ask you about Star Wars and Gotham. What stood out to you about Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order compared to your other work, and what did it mean to you to join that iconic universe?
I mean, what stood out pretty quickly was that it had a tone all of its own. Star Wars is a very specific tone. It has sort of its own language, pacing, style, and rhythm; there’s something very specific about it, something that I’m a big fan of. I grew up watching the Star Wars movies and that was definitely… you know, anytime that you’re jumping onto something with an active and passionate fanbase it’s going to be slightly intimidating. There’s no way around that. Thankfully, I’ve at this point done enough projects with really passionate fanbases to kind of understand what that entails, which is that there’s going to be a lot of opinions. A lot of people are really excited about things and no matter what, even the smallest things, someone’s going to be very, very angry about it. That comes along with the territory, but that’s kind of fun to a certain degree; it’s fun to hear such minutiae and being examined, and these conversations are ones that are being had on set too.
There’s so much conversation between the Lucasfilm story group, Respawn, and EA, who are the production companies behind the game, and also the cast, directors, and everybody involved are sometimes discussing, “How does a person stand? How does one get onto a speeder bike? What kind of sound does this monster make?” And there’s always a genuine deference and respect to the series. We know how much people care about it. We know because we care about it a lot, and everyone on this project are huge fans of the source material. So that was exciting to be a part of, obviously; I mean, that should go without saying. It’s so freaking cool to be a Jedi and to be the face of this massive franchise, and to be able to not only be a part of a really well-known property and part of this large project but also to be able to tell an interesting and intimate story within it. For as bombastic as all of the action is, and as big as the Star Wars universe is, I feel the story of Cal Kestis and the people that he interacts with is a somewhat smaller one and a more intimate one. It’s ultimately, at least for me, a pretty emotionally resonant one and a story that I actually very much care about and relate to. I think that was probably the most exciting part about it, was being able to within the framework of this big machinery of what Star Wars is, still tell a story that might actually affect people and make them feel things, I think was just really cool.
Could you describe how it felt to take on the role of the Joker?
Exciting, intimidating, an honor, and challenging; it’s a role that I didn’t take lightly. I understood what it was, which is that a lot of the people who were seeing me in the role had never heard of me and didn’t know who I was, and it was a way to prove myself and to show off my take of what I could do with this. It was really cool too with that show that we were getting to do something that had never really been done before with the character, which is to show multiple versions and possibilities of what that character could be, and to kind of tip our hat to some of the famous stories that came before, and then kind of give a unique spin and show off some new things with it as well.
Obviously, that show was heightened to a certain degree and kind of existed in this wacky over-the-top violent, but also slightly cartoony universe that was kind of its own little thing. That was really fun to play around with it and to totally get to do something kind of different with that, something that we hadn’t seen before. But I think it was specifically really intimidating because, at that point of casting when I performed the episode in the first season of that show, no one had played the role since Heath Ledger had posthumously won the Oscar for the role. So the only people who had touched it in live-action had been Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger, which are just massive, massive shoes to fill and two people that I deeply admired. Again, it’s just sort of a case of respect and wanting to kind of come in, just do my absolute best with the material, and to try to pay a certain level of honor to the people that came before.
Anything you can tease about what you’re going to do next? Any future projects?
Absolutely. It’s always difficult with this stuff because there’s only so much you can say. I can say that I just shot a film that hasn’t been announced yet, but I was out of town shooting it for a while. It’s the starring role in the film, and that will come out to theaters in the near future. I’m also working on another project over the course of the next year that I will be working on and off for. Again, thanks to the joys of NDAs, I can’t actually say what it is. I have a movie that I will be doing in June and then also I’m starting to move a bit behind the camera as well. So I’m working on producing and starring in a feature in August or September. And I’m writing a couple of projects right now as well. So it’s a loaded year for the next year, but it’s all very exciting that’s happening.
#LOVED THIS#cameron monaghan#shameless#shameless us#ian gallagher#gallavich#noel fisher#mickey milkovich#jerome valeska#the joker#gotham#jeremiah valeska#mr j#cal kestis#jedi fallen order#star wars
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10 Times Yuzuru Hanyu Was Inspiring
Yuzuru Hanyu (26 years old) is a Japanese figure skater. He is a two-time Olympic champion, two- time World champion, Four Continent champion, four times Grand Prix Final champion and five times national champion. He is the only male skater that has achieved a grand slam (won all major competitions in both junior and senior circus). In 2018, he won the People's Honor Award given by the Japanese Prime Minister and became the youngest recipient of this award. He also won the award of the most valuable skater at the International Skating Union Awards for the season 2019-2020. Since his debut in the senior circus in 2011-2012 and until now, Yuzuru's performances have always made a great impact on the audience; allowing him to have the biggest fan base ever in the history of figure skating. His fans are not only from Japan but from all around the world; including other skaters and coaches. The reason behind all of this love is that Yuzuru touches the hearts by performing like an artist, hitting every note, being super passionate about what he does and combining a competitive spirit with a sport soul. On top of all of that, he has an ability to inspire people. His road has never been easy. It is full of injuries, surgeries, illnesses, strong competitors, mistakes and losses. However, he always perserves, pushes through his limits, overcomes adversity and rises in an inspiring way.
Here are the ten times Yuzuru Hanyu was an icon of inspiration:
1- Winning his first medal in the World Championship in 2012 despite having an injury and low stamina.
In his debut in the World championship (senior circus) in 2012, Yuzuru (17) sprained his right ankle during the official practice the day before the short program. His foot swelled up but he decided not to withdraw, taking into account all the effort he has made for this competition and all the people who came here for him (coach, mom and officials). He went ahead and competed. He was ranked seventh in the short program, third in the free program and third overall, winning the bronze medal.
Yuzuru commented on that competition in his autobiography book "Aoi Hono ll":
"Because I was injured the day before the short, I felt that even in that kind of situation 'I landed my quad, I did well’. I felt that I had worked really hard by myself. However, my mother told me, "That is wrong.” Getting injured was my own fault, but there were many people who helped and supported me. That is the reason why I could come to this point. Until about 9 o'clock that night, we were talking about this while having dinner, and in the end, I realized that my thinking was wrong."
Yuzuru was about to get full of himself and let arrogance take over him. However, his mother helped him stay grounded. Thus, he was able to face the free program with a humble attitude. He put out a passionate performance that many people still remember until this day and consider as one of their favorites. During that performance, he tried not to put a lot of pressure on the injured foot so he shifted all the pressure on the other one until it got exhausted and gave up on him. As a result, he fell all of a sudden in the middle of the performance, but he managed to get up right away and perform a great jump right after.
In his autobiography book that was mentioned earlier, Yuzuru talked about this fall and said: "Later, when I watched the videos, I saw that the fall did not take up much time. I was standing up again quickly. But to me, it felt like a long time. When I fell, the feeling was like flying mid-air. Like this (he re-enacts the fall in slow motion), 'ahh, I am stumbling~~’ (laughs). After the fall, I was thinking 'what should I do from here’, many thoughts circled around. Thinking that I won’t make it in time for the next axel jump, I shortened the path by going straight instead of curved. I can jump even a 3A+3A (in practice), so I thought I will be alright. (laughs)”.
One of the most exciting moments during the performance is when Yuzuru shouted out aloud before the choreographic sequence. The shout seemed like a great expression of the emotions of his character (Romeo). It made him look like he was totally into character. However, he clarified that it was unintentional. He said: "I felt like I couldn’t breathe, so I thought, for now just let the breath out. (laughs)"
Yuzuru is known to be suffering from asthma and because of it he had a low stamina at the time. However, even after finding out that the shout wasn't done to express the character's emotions, viewers still find it impactful because it is a genuine expression of Yuzuru's fight against his limits.
That night, Yuzuru made a name for himself internationally. He shed tears of happiness after getting his scores and so did his coach. He also got praised by the winner that night who said: "the one shining the most is Yuzuru".
2- Breaking a World Record and winning gold in his first participation in the winter Olympic Games.
At the age of 19, Yuzuru participated for the first time in the Olympic Games. Young male skaters like him who participate for the first time usually don't dare to dream about winning. The big scale of the competition gets athletes nervous and shaken, even the great and experienced ones of them. Therefore, the young newcomers usually consider their first participation as an experience to have under their belt while preparing for the next Olympic. However, Yuzuru was determind to win. His choreographer at the time, David Wilson, talked about his intense determination in an interview: "he wrote me an email letter that was so touching. He was like please help me do this because I'm ready. I'll do anything. I will die. I'll do anything to be the Olympic Champion. I don't want to wait until 2018. I want it now and I'll do anything. I'm willing to die for it. Anything you tell me, I'll do it but help me."
David Wilson talking about Yuzuru's determination to win the 2014 Olympics
Yuzuru performed a marvelous short program and came out of the rink saying: "I did it!" to which his coach replied: "you certainly did". He broke the world record in his first participation at the Olympics despite his young age. He did get nervous and made mistakes at the free program. However, what he did in the short program was enough to bring him the gold medal and make him achieve his childhood dream.
Yuzuru (11) saying that his dream is to win the Olympics
Yuzuru performing his short program at the 2014 Olympics:
Other Skaters reacting to Yuzuru's World Record at the Olympics:
The moment when Yuzuru finds out he won the 2014 Olympics:
3- Continuing to compete after a pretty bad collusion with another skater during Cup of China 2014:
In 2014, Yuzuru took part in Cup of China, which is one of the events of the Grand Prix Series. Yuzuru was in second place after the short program and during the 6 minuets warm up before the long program he had an accident. He collided with the Chinese skater Han Yan. They were looking at opposite sides and couldn't see each other until it was too late.
Yuzuru talked about the incident in his autobiography book and said: "My stomach hit the ice (when I fell) and so it felt like I received a body blow. My stomach was hurting so much; I could not breathe nor get up. Then, when I tried standing up, my chin was hurting and bleeding. My head was panicking and I didn’t know exactly where all the pain was coming from."
After a few minutes, Yuzuru stood up on his own despite the arrival of medical helpers. He preferred to exit the rink on his own instead of being carried. Backstage, he was examined and given first aid by American doctors.
The Collusion incident at CoC 2014:
In his biography book, Yuzuru gave some details about what happened backstage after the incident:
"I really gave a lot of trouble to the people around me. They told me ‘Don’t compete’. The doctors also said, 'It is not a concussion, so it is possible to skate but we do not recommend it.’Coach Orser also said, 'Now you don’t need to be a hero. You still have more after this, you still can do a lot as a skater.’But 'it has nothing to do with that. I will skate because I want to go to GP Final.’ I think I might have said that to him in Japanese. I wanted to go to the Final somehow. Here, 5th or 4th place is good enough, I can get 1st place in the next competition, so for now I just want to remain connected. If I compete at GPF, I definitely want to have a second consecutive victory. I also want to win the triple crown again (Worlds, GPF, Nationals). I had those kind of thoughts. Now when I look back I think, 'ah I skated well’."
Yuzuru decided to skate his free program and the people around him respected his decision and allowed him to go. He made sure to meet Han Yan before competing again and they exchanged apologies. After that, Yuzuru showed up in the rink with a bandage on his head and a small band on his chin. He skated his free program bravely after making some changes on the layout to adjust to his condition. He fell on five jumps but did full rotations and got grades for that. He also was able to land some jumps in the latter half of the program, which got him extra points. After the performance, his coach Orser was worried about his feelings if he gets a bad score for falling five times so he was preparing him mentally by saying stuff like: "scores don't matter. What matter is what you did out there" but it turned out Orser had nothing to worry about as Yuzuru received a high score. Yuzuru was so surprised and relieved when he saw his score and he burst into tears after holding on for a long time. He won the silver medal in that event.
Yuzuru performing his free program and receiving his score at CoC 2014:
After the competition, American doctors prepared the massage room to do stitches for Yuzuru. He received 7 stitches on his chin with anesthetics and 3 staples on his head without any anesthetics, which was really painful to him! The next day, he traveled to Japan for a medical examination in a trip that he described as hell. The result of the examination was "head contusion (or bruise), chin contusion, abdominal contusion, left thigh contusion and right ankle sprain’.
For ten days, Yuzuru was unable to walk and the recovery took more time than expected. Every time he finds himself able to walk, he would go to the rink, but once he steps his foot into the rink the pain comes back. He thought that he would never be able to skate again, felt so depressed and wanted to quit skating all together. However, his mother told him "how about just giving it a try anyway? If you skate just a little on the ice every day with the intention of rehabilitation, the situation may change for the better" her response surprised him because she never tried to stop him from quitting in the past whenever he said he wanted to quit. With that new attitude of his mother, Yuzuru became optimistic about being able to skate again, and found the willpower to try and even aim to win at the next competition of the Grand Prix Series, which was NHK.
At NHK, Unfortunately, Yuzuru wasn't able to present great performances and once he finished his free program he thought to himself: "ah, the final is gone!" he thought that all his efforts in Cup of China were for nothing, but luckily, the total of his points combined from the two competitions made him the last qualified skater for the final. Thus, he was able to take part in the final, presented great performnces and won the gold medal after all the struggles he went through.
4- Winning at Nationals 2014 despite bleeding and needing a surgery:
After the short program at the Grand Prix Final, Yuzuru felt some kind of pain in his stomach whenever he stretched or pressed on it. He thought that it must be a damage in the muscle tissue but after the free program, he found something that looks like a Ping Pong ball sticking out beneath his navel. It was so painful to the extent that he couldn't sleep on his flight back to Japan. When he landed, he went to the hospital right away and was told that he might have Urachal Remnant Disorder. He was given some antibiotic and sent home because his condition wasn't bad. However, once he returned home, and got into the shower, his navel burst and started bleeding. He went back to the hospital and it was confirmed that he has Urachal Remnant. He needed to undergo a surgery but he couldn't afford to have it any time soon because the Japanese national competition (All Japan) was a few weeks away. He was determined to attend it so he decided to bear with the pain and delay the surgery. Without telling anybody about his problem, he attended his trainings after wrapping himself with gauze to prevent blood from staining his clothes. That didn't work out well and blood still got to his clothes so when it was time for the competition, he was worried that his costume might get stained. To prevent that from happening, he put a strong tape on top of the gauze, which was painful, but did the job. In this condition, Yuzuru took part in the Japanese national competition, and despite a few mistakes in both of his programs, his endurance of pain didn't go in vain, and he actually won.
Yuzuru commented about this situation in his book by saying: "It was painful to bend forward and backward, but I tried to do whatever I could in that situation. I even did the Ina bauer, but I could not arch back at all. In fact, I also intended to do the biellmann spin! However, when I started the spin, I changed it into an A-line"
Yuzuru performing his free program and putting his hand on his stomach while leaving the ice during All Japan 2014:
5- Rising from fifth place to first in the World Championships 2017:
At the World Championship in 2017, Yuzuru made some mistakes in the short program that left him sitting in fifth place behind his rivals. The gap between him and the first place was around 11 points. He was so disappointed in himself but didn't give up. He wanted to go practice harder. However, his coaches stopped him from overworking himself and made sure that he takes a good rest and goes through a normal practice. After that, he collected himself, focused, stayed calm and presented one of the greatest performances ever. It was flawless and magnificent. His coach Brian Orser said that he felt privileged to have witnessed this performance. Yuzuru got a very high score that made him scream and left him on the verge of shedding happy tears. His coach Brian Orser was speechless while his other coach Tracy Wilson had her mouth wide open in astonishment. With that, Yuzuru was able to rise from fifth place to first and win the championship.
Yuzuru performing his free program and receiving his score at the WC 2017:
6- Winning the second Olympic title right after being away from the ice for 3 months due to a severe injury:
Before the beginning of the Olympic season, Yuzuru was done with his preparation very early and was all ready to compete. His coach Brian Orser couldn't believe how smoothly things were going and felt a little uneasy about the fact that Yuzuru was ready very early. His worry wasn't pointless because soon enough Yuzuru sustained a severe injury. It happened during the official practice before NHK. Yuzuru was practicing (4Lutz) which was a new jump he has been practicing that season. He landed the jump in a wrong way causing ligament damage to his right ankle. The injury forced him out of competition for the rest of the season.
Yuzuru's fall and injury at NHK 2017:
Yuzuru disappeared and was away from the ice for three months. During that time, he didn't make any T.V appearances or interviews. Thus, nobody knew anything about him and his condition. His participation in the Olympics and the mere ability to perform again became uncertain. A lot of people doubted he would be able to comeback. However, he showed up at Incheon Airport in South Korea surrounded by guards and declared that he was ready to compete and that he believes he has the potential to win more than any other skater. After that, he avoided talking to the press until the end of the competition.
Yuzuru's arrival at Incheon Airport to participate at the 2018 Olympics:
According to his coach, Brian Orser, Yuzuru returned to the ice only six weeks before the Olympics and had to relearn everything and take baby steps to be able to perform again. He was practicing strokes, single and double jumps while watching his training mate and rival, Javier Fernandez, do a full run through of his programs with triples and quads. Yuzuru was able to land triples only three weeks before the Olympics and started landing quads just two weeks before the Olympics.
During the official open practice before the competition, Yuzuru made sure not to reveal his abilities and current condition nor his planned layout. He simply did some strokes and single jumps then left the rink. He chose his layout after studying his rivals and calculating how many points he would potentially need to win. He did his calculations on an app that he developed as part of his studies at the university.
In the short program segment, Yuzuru put out a great performance that was so close to the world record (which he holds). He won first place at this segment. Seeing the results, he felt relieved and assured so he allowed himself to reduce the difficulty of his free program. He was one-step away from winning the Olympics again. He needed to put out another great performance during the free program, and fortunately, that's exactly what he did. He performed a memorable free program filled with emotions, and once he finished, he screamed: "I won. I won!" which was true! He became the first skater to win the Olympics consecutively in 66 years.
Yuzuru's free program at the 2018 Olympics:
The moment that Yuzuru is announced as the winner of the 2018 Olympics:
7- Receiving the gold medal on crutches during Rostelecom Cup 2018:
After winning the Olympics, Yuzuru decided to pay tribute to his role models in figure skating; the Russian legend Evgeny Plushenko and the American Johnny Weir. He chose one of Plushenko's programs as his free program and one of Weir's as his short. He adapted the programs to his own style but still kept some touches from the original ones. Since it was a tribute, he decided to perform his free program in the hometown of his Russian idol and in front of his people. That is why he chose to participate in Rostelecom Cup, which is one of the events of the Grand Prix Series, and is held in Russia. He performed a great short program and everything was going well until he injured his right foot again during the practice before the free program. He was advised to withdraw. However, he absolutely wanted to perform his tribute to the Russian legend, Plushenko, in Russia. He has prepared a lot for this performance and came all the way to Russia to do it so he didn't want all of that to be pointless. He decided to take strong painkillers and perform his free program. He lowered the difficulty of the program and then presented a great performance in front of the Russian crowd that brought him the gold medal. After the performance, he started moving on crutches and admitted that without the painkillers, he wouldn't have been able to skate. He received the gold medal that night on crutches with fans cheering for him and holding up signs that says: "Yuzu we love you from all over the world".
Yuzuru receiving the gold medal on crutches at Rostelecom 2018:
8- Conquering his fears during the season of 2019-2020:
Yuzuru has suffered from a lot of injuries throughout his career. More than once, he thought that he is facing the end of his career because of an injury. Therefore, his main goal during the season of 2019-2020 was to finish the season without injuries. He finished his first two competitions safely and arrived at Japan to participate in NHK, which was his second Grand Prix assignment. Many of his injuries happened in his second GP event and he was conscious about this fact. He was afraid of getting hurt again and was visibly shaking before the beginning of his free program. As a result of his nervousness he missed a combination. However, he pulled himself together and improvised a new combination to recover the points he missed. He thought of the new combination, calculated its points and made sure that it's not repeated all while performing amazingly. Once he came out of the rink, his coach Ghislain gave him a hug and said: "You know what? You conquered your fear!".
Yuzuru shaking before performing his free program at NHK 2019 + full performance:
Yuzuru continued to overcome his fears in the final of the Grand Prix. He was setting in second place after the short program and the gap of points between him and his rival was big. He felt that winning may not be possible this time; nonetheless, he still wanted to do his best and give a respectable performance. He decided to raise the number of quad jumps in his program to five for the first time ever in his career. In addition, he declared that he will bring back the quad Lutz, which is the jump that caused his injury before the 2018 Olympics. It's a jump that he never dared to perform again in competitions since that incident. However, he overcame his fear and performed a flawless quad Lutz during the free program with four other quad jumps in the GPF, challenging not only his fear, but also his stamina that has always been an obstacle for him. He did not win the gold medal, but won his own fight against his fears and limits as well as the hearts and respect of the audience.
Yuzuru performing quad Lutz+ full performance of the free program at GPF2019:
9- Winning the bronze medal in the World Championship 2021 despite an asthma attack and many other hurdles.
During the 2020-2021 season, the whole world was going through struggles because of Corona Virus and Yuzuru was no exception. He had to train on his own in Japan all year long away from his coaches and physical therapist in Canada. He prepared new programs for the season with his choreographers by receiving videos and training accordingly without any supervision. During the season, his hometown was struck by an earthquake twice. The last struck happened right before he traveled to Stockholm to participate in the WC. According to him, the inside of his home was a mess and he couldn't use the train to go to Tokyo and board the plane as planned. As a result, he arrived to Stockholm one day later than planned, thus, he had to change his training plans as well. However, his coach Brian Oreser said that Yuzuru is not the type of athlete who gets phased by such problems and he was right. Yuzuru did perfect run through of his programs during his official practices. He also performed his lively short program very well and won the small gold medal of the segment.
Yuzuru performing his short program at WC 2021:
Yuzuru was all set to win the World Championship for the third time, but something unexpected happened before the free program. He was supposed to start warming up one hour prior the turn of his group (the last group), but he was nowhere to be seen at the venue until it was almost time for the last group to compete. His coach Brian Orser said that he was worried and didn't know where Yuzuru was. He asked the head of the Japanese team but they simply told him: "He is somewhere else". Brian kept on going back and forth between the rink where two of his students were competing and the warm up area where Yuzuru was supposed to be, but Yuzuru did not show up. After Brian's students finished their turn, it was almost time for Yuzuru's group so Brian went to the locker room to see if Yuzuru was there. Usually, Yuzuru would put his skating boots in the locker room before the six-minuets warm up of his group and Brian would come to carry his tissue box, and then they would head to the rink together. However, Brian didn't find Yuzuru in the locker room. Yuzuru was caught on camera sitting on a chair at the warm up area, resting his head on the wall and looking exhausted while taking off his mask impatiently. At that time, the announcement of Keegan Messing's score from the group before the last one, could be heard in the background.
Yuzuru at the warm up area before skating his free program at the WC 2021:
When Brian finally found Yuzuru at the warm up area, he said that he knew something must have happened to him but he didn't ask him about it. Instead, he tried to encourage him by saying energetically: "Let's go!"
Yuzuru showed up at the rink without styling his hair unlike the norm. He made a lot of mistakes in the first part of his free program as if he was not the same person who did a perfect run through one day ago. He said that he suddenly couldn't find his balance but he did try his best. He explained that with every mistake, he tried to at least not fall. Later on, the Russian media reported that the Russian doctor who was accompanying their team at the competition said that Yuzuru has had an asthma attack right before coming to the venue and has asked for his help. Yuzuru never talked to the media about what happened before the free program and why he was late. When he was asked about his asthma he only admitted to feeling a little asthmatic after the free program. Despite all of that, Yuzuru managed to win the bronze medal and contribute in securing three spots to team Japan at the Olympics.
The mystery of what happened to Yuzuru before the free program would have stayed unsolved if it wasn't for the Russian doctor. The reason is that Yuzuru doesn't like to make excuses for himself. He once said in an old interview that he used to make a lot of excuses for himself when he was young but then he realized that real strong skaters don't do that and that he wouldn't learn anything if he keeps on making excuses. He took the renowned Japanese skater Mao Asada as an example when she competed with a bone fracture without uttering a word about it. That must be the reason why he never takes his asthma as an excuse or talks about it.
10- Achieving his childhood dreams one by one:
Since ever Yuzuru was young he declared that he wants to be the Olympic champion and he wants to land a quad Axel. He went on to achieve his Olympic dream in 2014; making history by being the first Japanese male skater to win an Olympic gold medal ever. However, he said that it’s not over yet because the plan in his head is to win the Olympics twice. He kept on improving himself and walking towards his dream while making a lot of sacrifices and overcoming injuries. At the end, he achieved his dream and made history once again by being the first skater in 66 years to win the gold medal at the Olympics consecutively. He then made a statement saying that he feels happy and that this happiness is what he gets in return to the sacrifices he made. After that, he said that he feels freed from the pressure of having to produce results. Thus, he announced that he is going to skate for himself from then on. It was time for him to start focusing on the other dream of his childhood which was the quad Axel. He made it clear that landing it in a competition is his next goal and didn’t allow himself to get swayed by what others are doing or what competitions he is losing. He stayed focused on his goal and is reported to be getting closer to achieving it.
Yuzuru's path has never been covered with flowers. It was hard and painful most of the time but yuzuru always turns the pain into success and fulfillment with his perseverance, becoming an icon of inspiration to many people. We wish him a lot of happiness and success in the future.
Translation of Yuzuru's book is from:
https://bit.ly/3vSGgBz
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Free Resources For Writers & Creators
This is a quick post of free resources that may help fandom creators (or creators in general). I’m sure many of these have been shared before. However, it doesn’t hurt to spread the word. A few quick points:
As a professional writer, I think this post will cater mostly towards writers.
I’m also a freelance photographer, so digital photography/editing/art sources are included, too.
I chose not to use any affiliate links in my post. I don’t want to profit from this, and I’m not sure that’s allowed on Tumblr anyways.
If I’ve listed a resource I haven’t used myself, I’ve made sure to state it.
Masterlists and/or huge resource compilations are marked with asterisks.
Alright, here we go! I hope you all find this post helpful. Happy writing/creating!
Research
All of these are free resources for research. I use most of them for my writing jobs because they are extremely credible. These are great for making accurate references in your fics/creations.
1. ***Research Resources For Writers***
Writer’s Write has an enormous database of research resources for writers. They are divided into 20+ categories such as:
careers
historical research
crimes and forensics
religion
Each category contains 10+ resources like websites, articles, tips, databases, and so much more. It’s the most comprehensive and organized free research tool I use.
2. PubMed
My go-to source for citing medical studies. You’ll find 30 million citations related to numerous physical and mental health issues.
3. BioMed Central
I don’t use this website as often, but I keep it in my bookmarks. It’s similar to PubMed - great for discovering current and former medical research.
4. Drugs.com
If you need to name a medication and/or refer to medication side effects, Drugs.com is a straightforward resource. It’s easy to navigate and understand.
It also has a tool that lists potential medication interactions. This is really useful for accurate descriptions of med combinations.
5. Merck Manuals Consumer Version
Merck Manuals started out in 1899 as a medical reference guide for professionals. This consumer version is really comprehensive and updated regularly. It includes definitions, studies, and more.
6. FindLaw
If you’re writing about legal topics, FindLaw is useful for learning about laws/procedures in reader-friendly language. Categories include:
accidents/injuries
criminal law
family law (divorce, custody, etc.)
Keep in mind that laws vary based on location! You’ll often find additional links to state-related laws within articles. I do recommend double-checking state/location-based legal resources for accuracy.
7. APA Dictionary of Psychology
This psychology dictionary is provided by the American Psychological Association. It covers 90+ areas of psychology and 25,000+ terms/definitions.
You’ll also find links to additional psychology databases, resources, and so on. The website is updated frequently to provide updated information.
8. U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics
If you’re writing about a character’s job/career in the United States, this is a great source for accuracy. For any job sector, you’ll find details about
education requirements
positions in the sector
average salary for positions
what the positions entail
I imagine there are alternatives for other countries, too!
9. Investopedia Financial Term Dictionary
My area of expertise is personal finance; all of my writing published under my name is in this niche. I still refer to Investopedia’s dictionary for help. It’s excellent for understanding/explaining financial terms in a way that your reader can understand.
10. MedTerms Medical Dictionary
This is the medical version of Investopedia’s dictionary. I use this source less frequently, but I find that it’s accurate and helpful. There are many similar references online if you search for “medical glossaries” or “medical dictionaries”.
11. Domain Authority Checker
I’m not sure if this one is too helpful for fic writers, but it’s one of my most used tools. Domain authority “a search engine ranking score developed by Moz that predicts how likely a website is to rank on search engine result pages (SERPs)”.
The Wikipedia page for domain authority (DA) explains it clearly and simply. To sum it up, websites with good DA scores are considered reliable and accurate. If I cite sources in my work. I always link to sources with good DA scores.
Writing/Editing
This section is the most thorough one. All of these are completely free tools for writing and editing any type of content. I currently use or have used all of these at some point in my career.
1. ***List Of Free And Open-Source Software Packages***
This Wikipedia page applies to multiple categories in my post. It’s a masterpost of free and open-source software for anything and everything. Software is divided up into categories and sub-categories. Some relevant examples include:
media
networking/Internet
image editing
file management
There are hundreds of free software links on the page, so you’ll need to do a bit of browsing. Start with the categories above to find software geared towards writers/creators.
2. OpenOffice
This is a free alternative to Microsoft Office. I’ve used it for nine years and love it. OpenOffice software includes free applications for:
text documents
spreadsheets
presentations
drawing
templates
There are many more tools with OpenOffice that I haven’t used. If you write offline, I cannot recommend it enough. Tutorials are readily available online, and the software is pretty user-friendly.
3. Evernote
I briefly used Evernote and found that it’s very user-friendly and helpful. Most of my colleagues use Evernote and recommend it for taking notes/staying organized.
(I’m personally not a fan of note-taking software or apps. My method is messy text documents with bullet point lists.)
4. Google Drive
This might seem like an obvious one, but Google Drive/Docs is my writing haven. It has the tools included with Microsoft Office and OpenOffice and then some. It’s great for collaborative writing/sharing documents, too.
5. Grammarly
I use the Premium (paid) version of Grammarly, but I also used the free version for years. It’s helpful for detecting simple spelling, style, and grammatical errors.
There are numerous ways to use it - desktop, copy/paste documents, and so on. I’m not a huge fan of how well it works with Google Docs, but they’re improving it/it’s moved out of beta mode.
If you’re interested in the paid version - which I highly recommend - wait to buy until a holiday pops up. They offer a major discount on the software for almost every holiday/special occasion.
6. Plagiarism Detector
This website is handy for scanning for plagiarism. You can scan your own work to ensure uniqueness, too. My clients are big fans of this tool.
(I no longer use this resource; I use a paid tool called Copyscape Premium. The low cost has a big return on investment for me.)
7. TitleCase
The name says it all. It’s free and simple! I’ll be honest - I’m terrible with proper title case. You’d think after a decade of writing I’d nail it. However, I use this tool pretty often.
8. Hemingway Editor
Hemingway Editor is an online and desktop editor. It’s excellent for scanning your writing to check for:
readability (a grade-level score is listed)
adverb usage
passive voice usage
complex phrase usage
estimated reading time
This tool is color-coded to make editing easy. For example, adverbs are highlighted in blue. I don’t use this as often as I used to, but it was essential for my early writing career.
9. Polish My Writing
This tool is very straightforward. You paste your writing into the text box. Spelling errors, grammar suggestions, and style suggestions are highlighted in red, blue, and green.
It’s great for double-checking your work alongside Grammarly or Hemingway. When using free editors, I recommend using at least two for higher accuracy.
10. OneLook Reverse Dictionary And Thesaurus
I’m going to use the definition directly from the website:
“This tool lets you describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept. Your description can be anything at all: a single word, a few words, or even a whole sentence. Type in your description and hit Enter (or select a word that shows up in the autocomplete preview) to see the related words.”
To put it simply, you can use the reverse dictionary/thesaurus to find those words/thoughts that are on the tip of your tongue. Use the tool to:
find a word based on the word’s definition (i.e. search for “inability to feel pain”)
find synonyms and related concepts
generate a list of category-specific words (i.e. search for “cat breeds”)
answer basic questions (i.e. search for “what is the capital of France?”)
The results can be hit or miss, but I usually find the information I’m looking for. It’s a solid resource any writer regardless of genre.
11. Word Frequency Counter + Phrase Frequency Counter
I cannot emphasize how much I love these tools. Repetition is the bane of a writer’s existence; it’s simply inevitable at times.
These two tools count the number of times you use a single word or phrase in a text document. Just copy/paste your document, hit submit, and you’re all set!
For the phrase frequency counter, you can scan for two-word to ten-word phrases.
12. Thesaurus.com
This is another tool that might seem painfully obvious. Combined with the word frequency counter, it’s such an essential resource for me.
It’s especially useful if you’re writing about the same topic multiple times (i.e. love, getting drunk, sex, etc.). I always use this combo of tools to ensure uniqueness.
13. Lists Of Colors
Are you stumped when trying to come up with unique shades of blue? Is describing your character’s hair or skin color difficult? This Wikipedia page has you covered. It contains:
lists of colors (alphabetically)
lists of colors by shade
lists of Crayola crayon colors
lists of color palettes
I typically use this resource for product descriptions, but I also used it for creative writing many times. It’s a lifesaver for all things color-related.
Free Photos/Images
Tons of creators need free photos/images for numerous reasons. All of these sources provide 100% free photos, illustrations, etc. that have a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. This means there’s no copyright whatsoever on them.
You can edit the images however you’d like, too. All of the images in my post are from the first source listed below. I made them black and white and added text.
(A lot of these sites have donate buttons for contributors. Donating a dollar here and there goes a long way!)
1. Unsplash
Unsplash is my personal favorite for high-resolution photos. It’s easy to navigate and has over 2,000,000 free images. Downloading an image is a one-click process, and you don’t need to create an account.
2. Pixabay
Pixabay is my go-to site for illustrations and vector graphics (they have photos, too). There are 1.9 million free images to choose from. You don’t need an account to download images, but I recommend creating one. It’s free and with an account:
you don’t have to complete a CAPTCHA every time you download an image
you can access higher-quality/larger/etc. versions of images
I often use graphics from Pixabay to create overlays and masks for mixed media art pieces.
3. PxHere
I’ve never used PxHere, but one of my writing clients recommends it. It seems very similar to Pixabay, and the interface is user-friendly.
4. Pexels
In my limited experience, Pexels seems to focus on “artsy” stock images/content. I found great high-quality images the few times I’ve used it.
5. Burst by Shopify
I haven’t used Burst, but it’s another free image site that a writing client recommended to me. It seems a little limited compared to the other sites, but it never hurts to add it to your toolbox!
Digital Art/Photo Editing/Etc.
This section seems brief, but the tools listed are pretty comprehensive and diverse. They are geared towards many creative needs/projects like:
Creating manips of people/etc.
Adding text to images.
Creating collages.
Digital illustration.
Advanced photo editing.
There’s something for everyone. In my experience, finding your favorites among these will take some trial and error.
1. Pixlr X and Pixlr E (app available)
Pixlr X and Pixlr E are both versatile free editing tools. Pixlr X is ideal for less experienced creators. Pixlr E is comparable to Adobe PhotoShop.
I’ve used both software formats for personal and professional art projects.
The Pixlr app is handy for making collages, adding filters/overlays, adding text, and so on. I’ve used it for creating fanfiction collages and similar projects. It’s super easy to use.
2. Remove Background by Pixlr
This is one of the easiest/fastest tools I’ve found for removing backgrounds from images. It’s perfect for creators who make manips using photos of people.
It takes literal seconds to use. The tool automatically removes the background. If you spot any mistakes, you can refine the results with brush/erase tools. Then you download the cutout and you’re all set!
Unfortunately, this feature isn’t available on the Pixlr app. There are a lot of smartphone apps for removing photo backgrounds.
3. GIMP
If you need a full-fledged Photoshop alternative, GIMP is excellent software. It’s not an online tool like most I’ve suggested; you’ll need to download it to your computer.
There’s quite a learning curve for it, unless you’re familiar with Photoshop already. Fortunately, the free video/text GIMP tutorials online are endless. I no longer use/need GIMP, but it’s a personal favorite of mine.
4. Paint.NET
Admittedly, I haven’t used Paint.NET, but my art/photography colleagues commonly mention it. It’s comparable to Photoshop and GIMP. It’s a web-based tool, and a quick Google search returns several tutorials for it.
5. Photopea
This is more or less a Photoshop clone, but it’s free and web-based. If you watch Photoshop tutorials, you can usually follow the same steps in PhotoPea.
I’ve only used it a few times; I have Photoshop so I don’t need it. Still, it’s very impressive - especially for a free tool.
6. PicsArt (app available)
PicsArt is a photo editing website and app; the app is much easier to use in my opinion. It’s a “fun” editing tool for photo manips, collages, and fan art in general. A lot of users post their art in the app, and I’ve noticed tons of cool fandom edits.
Some of the features are Premium (AKA cost money), but I don’t think they’re worth the extra cost. PicsArt also has a digital drawing app. I haven’t personally used it but it may be worth checking out!
7. Adobe Photoshop Express (app available)
(I’ll preface this by saying I have an Adobe subscription, so I have access to the “locked” features. I’ve used the free versions, but my memory of it is a bit hazy.)
Photoshop Express is a free web-based tool and smartphone app. The app is very user-friendly and can be used for detailed editing, adding filters, adding text, and so on.
I’m less familiar with the browser version; I only use it for the cutout tool when I’m feeling lazy. It seems to be a good fit for quick edits - filters, cropping, and so on.
8. Make PNG Transparent by Online PNG Tools
This tool is awesome for removing solid colored backgrounds. I use it to create graphics for mixed media art pieces. Here’s how it works:
upload an image
type the color your want to remove (name or hex code)
type the percentage of similar color tones you want to match (for example, 25% will remove your chosen color plus similar warm/cool tones)
the removed color is replaced with transparent pixels
If you want to make a JPG transparent, start with the website’s JPG to PNG Converter. There are a ton of useful free tools offered, but I haven’t tried out most of the others.
Wrap Up
That’s all I’ve got for now! If I think of additional free tools, I’ll add them to this post. Feel free to reblog with your own recommendations or message me if you’d like me to add anything.
I hope my fellow creatives find these too
#writer resources#writing#writblr#fanfiction#fanfic#creative writing#writing reference#writing resources#writer reference#obviouslygenuinely#creators#artists on tumblr#fandom#fan art
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Here is a list of amazing bottom Louis fics that were posted or completed during the month of January. Between the third month of the Bottom Louis Fic Fest and all the other fics that authors posted throughout the month, it’s clear that this was a great way to start off the year of bottom Louis fics! Happy reading!
1) Leave It All Here In This Bed | Explicit | 1071 words
One of Louis’s many sleepless nights.
2) Games Are Only Fun If You Win | Explicit | 1554 words
Louis and Harry have a bet. If Louis wins that means he's off laundry duty. If he loses well.
Let's just say Harry won't be complaining.
3) If It Makes You Feel Alive | Explicit | 1691 words
Louis is horny one night on the tour bus so he and Harry fuck while trying not to get caught by the others.
4) Beg Me Silently | Explicit | 2140 words
“So, your boyfriend…is he planning a magic night for you at home?”
Louis snorts. “He’s not, actually. He’s pretty hardworking, you see, so he comes home late.”
“Such a shame.” Harry walks towards Louis, so close that they’re sharing the same space. “You’re so beautiful, Louis. If you were mine, I wouldn’t make you wait for me.”
5) Birthday Wishes | Explicit | 2895 words
Note: This is part 3 of this series.
The one where Harry takes Louis to dinner for his birthday, and gifts him with a vibrating butt plug he wears to the restaurant. Fluffy birthday sex follows.
6) New Year, New Beginnings | Explicit | 3577 words
Note: This is part 4 of this series.
The one where Louis and Harry unexpectedly end up at the same New Year's party. Louis makes Harry jealous, and Harry shows him just how bad of an idea that is.
7) Heaven In These Sheets | Explicit | 3557 words
Bunny Hybrid Louis has it out for his boyfriend’s phone.
8) Pits Of Love | Explicit | 3934 words
Harry smells Louis' sweat for the first time after they've moved in together. His alpha goes a bit wild.
9) First Blow Hits You Cold | Explicit | 3986 words
Louis wears a shirt with a big ass H on it for his livestream, and Harry really, really likes it.
10) Close Your Eyes And Surrender To Me | Explicit | 4209 words
Note: This is the sequel to this fic.
Harry hummed and pressed his lips to Louis’ forehead. “I am very stressed, but I also know you’re stressed and tired too.” He glanced to Louis’ face seeing the confirming nod. “But, if you’re sure you’re up for it.” Harry smirked, waiting for Louis to say it was okay before he laid the boy down on the bed and hovered over him. “I really love this color on you. You look so pretty. Always do.” He spoke quietly, rubbing his hands over Louis’ soft thighs and moving them to his tummy. He then moved his hands up to Louis’ hair. It had been a while since Louis’ last haircut and it was now long enough that he could tie it up in little ponytails and even little braids. Louis currently had two hair clips in his hair. One was gold with little stars on it and the other gold with a moon. “I love your hair princess. Do you feel pretty?” He asked.
11) P Is For | Explicit | 4349 words
Note: The pairing for this fic is Louis/Pedro Pascal.
Louis and Pedro, winter in New York, a coffee machine, and bilingualism.
12) Pull Out Your Heart | Explicit | 5028 words
He wants to apologise, the five letters sit on the tip of his tongue but he does not. It means nothing to either of them.
13) Loving You's the Antidote | Explicit | 5070 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
Prompt 302: Alpha Harry & Omega Louis are divorced but still spend each other’s heat/rut together because they only really trust each other but things get complicated when Louis (or Harry, author’s choice) spend it with someone else. Cue angst with a happy ending.
14) Sweet Talk With A Hint Of Sin | Explicit | 5095 words
“What the hell are you wearing?” Harry had the nerve to ask, and Louis bristled slightly.
“Well, what the bloody fuck does it look like?” Louis snapped, breaking his seductive demeanor momentarily because he was wearing this ridiculous get-up for Harry. He had thought that this would go over well.
And now that the moment was here, it was going anything but.
Harry’s brain seemingly malfunctioned, completely unbothered by the fact that he was now standing in an actual pool of red wine, or that there might even be broken glass directly next to his feet. He was focused solely on his boy splayed out on their bed. “Are those ears?”
“Yes,” Louis mumbled, reaching up to finger the burnt orange fur of the fox ears. “And a tail,” he said, shifting to lay on his stomach so that his perky ass was on display, showing the way his lube slicked hole had been prepped and was now hugging the impressively sized plug attached to the fox tail.
15) New York's Beauty | Mature | 5274 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
Prompt 104: AU where Harry is an alpha wolf and Louis is a hybrid kitten. They were roommates. While they were arguing about something stupid, Harry wanted to bend Louis over the kitchen table and knot him right there. He slowly accepted his feelings and extreme desire for Louis, so he started to tease the hybrid until he would beg Harry to fuck him. They fall in love.
Louis needs to feel comfortable with the camera so harry fucks him until he is blushing and calm and gentle.
16) I Went Astray To Make It Okay And He Made It Easy | Not Rated | 5537 words
Note: This is a sequel to #17 on this list.
Harry makes sure to put on his blue truckers hat that has 'if you ain't a fisherman, you ain't shit' printed on it to hold back his hair out of his eyes. He remembers when he came home after buying it and Louis went on for days about much he looked like such a Dad. He made sure to fuck him hard that night and show him that he's a fucking DILF not just a Dad.
17) You Make My Heart Beat Like The Rain | Explicit | 6611 words
Note: This is the prequel to #16 on this list.
"You're stunning, eh?" Harry whispers, his Canadian accent thick with lust. It usually slips out when he gets horny because he knows it turns Louis on. Harry presses his lips into the curve of his neck. His hot breath makes Louis shiver. He opens his eyes and sees Harry's bigger, tattooed arms wrapped around him, completely engulfing his smaller frame—and, fuck, maybe he is up for it.
Why does his boyfriend have to be such a fucking DILF? He blames it on a twitter thread he read a few weeks ago.
18) Baby, Let Me Love You Goodbye | Explicit | 6837 words
Harry and Louis are going through a divorce after being together for 10 years, so Louis comes over to collect his things, and, well…what’s a little goodbye sex, just one last time?
19) A Place To Call Home | Mature | 8113 words
The thing is, he’s pretty sure he’s found home in a person in his life, someone who’s been essential in everything he’s done since he was seven years old. Through every broken bone, through every breakup, through every failure; through every triumph, personal and professional, and every goal he has scored in his time in Man U, there’s been someone there for it all.
That’s his best mate. Harry. A twenty-two year old with the kindest heart known to man, a slow drawl that is entirely too endearing, with the dreams to open up his own flower shop. A quiet and earnest boy with those he doesn’t know, and open and honest and absolutely lovely with those he loves.
It all hits him, really, the night of their final game of the Premier League. Again, timing is not his forté. They’re gearing up, ready to hit the field for the second half against Liverpool that determines their ranking in the League, when his brain decides to come online (after seventeen years, apparently), and conveniently supply him with the revelation that oh yeah, you’re kind of in love with your best friend.
20) To Love Without Reason | Explicit | 8854 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
“Come on in, soldier,” Louis pats Harry’s chest and walks away, leaving Harry to follow behind.
Harry stands in the living room, looking around at Louis’ dwelling. Family pictures placed high on a shelf, certificates of Louis’ practice, and other trinkets that make Harry entirely too nostalgic.
“I have to warn you,” Louis says as he puts the kettle on, the water droplets from his hair trickling down the golden skin of his back. “The door jams if you lock it so you'll have to leave it ajar.”
Harry acknowledges with a soft hum, too entranced by Louis’ glistening skin to form a coherent reply.
21) It's A Game We Play In The Sheets | Explicit | 9426 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
“Louis is… He’s a boy I’ve been talking to.” He bit his lip, grin evident. “After I watched one of his videos during a Harry Reacts a few weeks ago I messaged him and…”
His sentence was cut short by the sound of a timid little “Hi” being whispered into his ears.
Harry closed his eyes for a second, pausing to take in the online presence of the real-life fairy, before he opened them and smiled. “Hey Lou. Ready to play with me?”
22) One Track Mind | Explicit | 9911 words
“You have a lot of friends, huh?”
Harry nods again. “A few.” The muscles of his bicep flex under Louis’ touch, and the alpha looks a bit drunk from the feeling, his eyes blinking slower and lips quirking at the corners. He’s leaning in, his alpha scent surrounding Louis from all sides.
“Mm,” Louis hums, squeezing his fingers tight, just to hear the sharp way Harry inhales. Then, when Harry is least expecting it, Louis returns the earlier sentiment—leaning up on his tiptoes and pressing his weight into Harry for balance, drawing his lips up close to Harry’s ear, and whispering, “Why don’t you go tell them goodnight.”
23) See You When I Get Home | Explicit | 10308 words
"What are you thinking about?" He repeats Louis' question from earlier.
"You." Louis' reply comes out in a moan. It shocks Harry, and his brain scrambles for the right thing to do, the right thing to say. He doesn't even know how to feel, or if he even heard Louis correctly.
"Me?"
24) Floating | Explicit | 10435 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
The one where Louis has control over water in every form but he doesn't know what to do with it. Harry is here to guide him.
25) I'm At Your Mercy Now (And I'm Ready To Begin) | Teen & Up | 10552 words
Where Louis' soulmark was leaked, Harry keeps his private. They're both famous popstars. Louis is waiting for his soulmate, Harry has a feeling it's him but Louis is completely oblivious.
26) You And I 'Till The Day We Die | Explicit | 10807 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
Prompt 124: A fic inspired by Groupie Love by Lana Del Rey, where Harry is a Rockstar and Louis is his cute little boyfriend who tries to hide himself in the middle of the crowd. (Preferably set in the 80s)
27) Moonlit Sky Over Gentle Waters | Explicit | 11377 words
Harry left his hometown to sail the seven seas and returns seven years later, yearning for something — or rather, someone — that he isn't sure he can have.
28) Late Night Devil Put Your Hands On Me (And Never, Never, Ever Let Go) | Explicit | 11524 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
Harry is a demon that feeds off of people’s nightmares. He finds his next meal in Louis’ dreams where he changes and molds them to become scary nightmares. Soon harry learns Louis is a lucid dreamer- he can act on his own in his dreams. They interact in the real world and have sex in the dream world. when the demon catches feelings for louis, he wants to live.
29) If You're Feeling Lonely | Explicit | 12807 words
The guest list is on the desk. Louis runs through it and stops a third of the way down, a familiar name catching his attention.
Harry Styles.
All he needs to do is confirm whether Harry Styles is the same Alpha whose scent left such a memorable impression on his body.
30) Want You To Play With Me | Explicit | 14335 words
"I'm quite not finished with you yet." Harry whispered right on the shell of his ears and squeezed the girth of his cock, making Louis shudder a sloppy puff of air as the tickling sensation ran through his spine, Harry was intoxicating. "Let me play with you a little more, Lou. I promise I'll give you what you want. Be my good boy, hm?" He slowly annunciated every word and licked a warm line on the nape of Louis' neck — Louis curled in his arms at that. Submitting himself a little bit more.
"Always wanna be your good boy." Louis whispered back and enveloped Harry's hand in his.
31) No Good Unless It's Real | Explicit | 17021 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
Louis is a very busy farmer who’s just trying to make it to his next nap and Harry’s the new hot vet that’s determined to infiltrate every area of his life.
32) Tennis Court | Explicit | 18285 words
Louis and Harry are co-workers and Louis is sure Harry hates him because he always refuses to help him with his heats.
33) Joker Is Wild | Explicit | 18444 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
Prompt 390: A reality show AU where Louis, Harry, Liam, Zayn and Niall are selected to stay at confined in a luxury mansion for 1 month, where they are required to have explicit, graphic sex at all times, like a porn Big Brother kind of show. Every week there are several different sexual tasks and trials that they must overcome together, which all ends in orgasms for all of them. When the boys all discover Louis is strictly a bottom, and a slutty one at that, they all can’t wait to get their hands on him. Bonus if other hot celebs are there too, like Shawn Mendes, for example. Includes lots of hard gay sex, rimming, blowjobs, gang bangs, ass worshipping (Louis ass, of course) and double penetration.
34) Baby, Let Me Love You Goodbye | Not Rated | 20249 words
Louis almost calls Harry daddy. Cue denial, feelings, and way too much dirty talk.
35) Give So Much (Not Enough) | Mature | 24610 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
“For my little lion,” Louis slid the smoothie bowl in front of Oscar, letting him dig in with his little hands. “And for daddy.”
He didn’t process the bowl in front of him, the push across the table causing a raspberry to roll off and fall on his lap, because Louis calling himself mummy may make him feel all sorts of mushy emotions, but Louis addressing Harry as daddy was suddenly having a very different effect on him. Since when did Louis saying daddy out loud render him speechless?
“Daddy’s still sleepy, but we’re up bright and early right Ossie?” Louis’ cooing shook him out of his daze. The man coughed, picking the raspberry off his lap and swallowing it with unintentional, and very unnecessary, eye contact with Louis. “Well, is it better than your protein smoothies and why?”
Harry chuckled, spooning another heap of the strawberry banana goodness into his mouth, “Way better sweetheart.”
A friends to lovers au with tons of mama Louis and domesticity.
36) Short And Sweet | Explicit | 29658 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
Louis is a shy university student in a world scarce of male omegas. He's always dreamt of having an alpha despite his sheltered upbringing, fantasizing about being loved and cared for. He's immediately smitten by the mysterious alpha with curly hair, broad shoulders, and the addictive coffee scent.
37) Under Thorn And Bramble | Explicit | 31931 words
Note: The pairing of this fic is Louis/OMC. This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
Prompt 445: A historical AU where Louis is working as a servant on a farm. The family that owns the farm is exceedingly cruel to him and he is often exhausted and in pain from his work. A mysterious stranger boards at the farm and is very intrigued by Louis, but Louis doubts his interest in genuine. Any pairing fine.
38) Pink In The Night | Explicit | 32324 words
His finger was tapping on Louis’ chat before Harry could even think about it, eyes reading over the last text he’d sent Louis. I miss you. Do you miss me?
Harry had felt so pathetic that December night, alone in the dark room of the Japanese apartment he’d been staying at, the strong smell of alcohol clinging to his clothes.
Louis hadn’t replied, but Harry wasn’t surprised; he had texted Louis a few times before while he’d been away, but there had never been a response.
It pained him to admit that this was their new normal.
39) Coeur De Pirate | Explicit | 34207 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
He tilts his chin up as the Captain strides across the deck, his footfalls falling loudly against the planks. The crew watches them from afar.
Stepping into his space, the Captain wraps an arm around Louis’ waist and pulls him in. He lowers his head to breathe his words against Louis’ cheeks. “I won,” he whispers, “I’ve come to claim my prize.”
40) If The Sun Don't Shine | Explicit | 36330 words
In a world where you meet your soulmates in dreams, Louis has spent the last three years going to bed hoping to finally meet his, only to end up disappointed time and time again. It all changes with a violin.
41) The Pirate And The Piper | Explicit | 38396 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
The one where Harry is Hook, Louis is Pan, and nothing is what it seems.
42) Begged And Borrowed Time | Mature | 40198 words
Prompt 60: Time travel AU where Louis somehow gets thrown back in time and ends up in the dark ages, during the reign of the Styles family.
43) I Ain’t Gonna Fence You In | Mature | 40645 words
Louis Tomlinson is a 18 year old city boy who is forced to spend his summer before his senior year at his aunts farm. There, he meets Harry, a 19 year old country boy his aunt hired to help around the farm.
Maybe the farm isn't the worst place to fall in love?
44) Don't Want No Other Shade Of Blue | Explicit | 43285 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
Prompt 339: it was foretold that Alpha Prince Harry would be mated to a beautiful male omega with eyes that could rival the stone amethyst, but Omega Prince Louis refuses to believe it.
45) No Easy Choice, But You’re Mine | Explicit | 44963 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
Louis is an omega hitman with one last job that goes a little sideways. Harry is the alpha bartender that looks a little too closely and cares a little too much.
46) Sedative Duty | Explicit | 46588 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
Pop-star of the moment Louis Tomlinson is on his third-world tour. He decides to hire renowned professional dominant Harry Styles to unwind while on the road. In an effort not to raise suspicion by the crew, fans, and press, Harry pretends to be his bodyguard. He ends up being far more than that.
47) Just Always Be Waiting for Me | Explicit | 46837words
Note: Please be sure to check tags for any trigger warnings.
Harry Styles is a librarian at a private school who is not very devoted to his job but is very devoted to Louis Tomlinson, the resident English teacher, and has been ever since they met six years ago beneath a lonely streetlight.
Louis Tomlinson is a self confessed bookworm whose passion for Peter Pan, the literary classics and Harry Styles' happiness knows no bounds. He's self sacrificing, somewhat self loathing and haunted by a trauma he can't talk about.
Mutual pining abounds in this fic where a Peter Pan quote is never just a Peter Pan quote, caretaking is a love language and a platonic nude is never actually platonic. Louis has a kiss that belongs to Harry but he also has a painful past that might end up hurting them both.
48) Since The Future | Explicit | 48947 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
"It's done."
The words were barely above a whisper when they left Harry's mouth, but they hit Louis with the force of a freight train. It was done. Holy fuck. They had created a time machine. And tomorrow, they were travelling to the future.
49) Dirty Laundry Looks Good On You | Explicit | 50581 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
When Louis Tomlinson finds his clothes lying in a sad soapy mess on top of the washing machine in which they are supposed to be, he acts upon his anger and retaliates. What he doesn’t expect is having to deal with a six-feet tall, curly-haired and dimpled man in return, who seems to arouse confusing feelings within him and to make his life take an unexpected turn for the better (or worse?).
50) Hamartia | Explicit | 66970 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
Six years is a long time for Louis to mend his heart back and erase every lingering, stubborn memory of his ex-lover, Harry Styles. But when news of the war being over spreads across the world like wildfire, and he stumbles upon the alpha he vowed himself to never see ever again, he realises that not even a lifetime will be enough for him to pick up the scattered, broken parts of his soul. He's far from expecting the alpha he loved to be struggling in the same way.
All the ointments in the world might never soothe the pain out, but it doesn't take long for them both to come to the conclusion that, maybe, the only medicine to their heartbreaks are what caused them in the first place.
51) Feeling Borrowed, Always Blue | Explicit | 68214 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
Louis has been dreaming of his wedding since he was young - he just never expected it to happen like this. words
52) Mind Over Matter (You Under Me) | Explicit | 73825 words
Note: This fic was written for the Bottom Louis Fic Fest! Check out the full collection here.
It’s dark outside when Harry finishes practice for the day.
53) Rogue | Not Rated | 94992 words
Louis is a rogue Omega who's suffered through rejection and abuse for the biggest part of his life. He stumbles onto the Styles pack, quite possibly the kindness one he's ever met.
54) Chandeliers And Fake Smiles | Mature | 145010 words
On the brink of winning their first Grammy; up-and-coming rock band One Direction find themselves in the midst of the biggest scandal of their career - right before tickets for their world tour go on sale. in order to save their reputation, Louis Tomlinson must find it in his heart to forgive pop singer and heartthrob Harry Styles after his first impression rubbed him entirely the wrong way. after all, they cannot sell a relationship if it looks like they hate each other.
Check out our other fic rec lists by category here and by title here.
You can find other monthly roundup fic rec lists here.
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the thing everyone has been asking for (note: literally nobody asked.)..... Ranking The Spooky’s Beasts Based on Spook Factor Based On My Subjective Opinion (under a read more bc this is a mile long + wiki pages will be provided for the convenience of the two people who’ll read this)
Specimens:
Specimen 1: honestly it varies. depending on what pops up And depending on how On Edge I am it can either be a 0/10 or a 10/10
Specimen 2: the choking noises it makes are scary and it’s game over screen is pretty creepy too but. the specimen itself is not too spooky once you get used to it. so, 5/10
Specimen 3: design is low on the spook factor for me (honestly he. looks kinda cute? maybe I’m just weird) but its movements are Uncomfortably fluid and its speed is nerve-racking + the clicking noises are bone-chilling. 7.5/10
Specimen 4 (Normal Mode): design isn’t really scary on its own and the chase music isn’t scary on its own at all but them combined makes for a pretty spooky chase sequence. 8/10
Specimen 4 (Endless Mode, in the link above): design on its own is horrifying and the chase music on its own is horrifying esp that fucking Ungodly screech at the beginning and them combined on top of how she fucks with your vision makes for a terrible time 10/10
Specimen 5: design doesn’t spook me v much but the noises it makes and how uncannily slow it moves and how it fucks up the interface is pretty creepy, plus its apparent ties to a cult is too 8.5/10
Specimen 6: annoying as a chaser but disturbing backstory, fucked up game over screen, design is based on the Happy Mask Salesman aka is creepy as fuck 9/10
Specimen 7: this is kinda a difficult one but.. the design and chase itself doesn’t really scare me but the fact that it most likely symbolizes mental illness and trauma makes it disturbing so 8.5/10
Specimen 8: every single thing about Deer Lord terrifies me and I have legitimately had several real nightmares about this thing. 10/10
Specimen 9: still Barely have an opinion on this guy but the way it Comes At You out of nowhere if you don’t move is a decent jumpscare and how little we know about it other than the fact that it Might be a victim of the Imperial Japanese Unit 731 experiments (which were. Let’s Just Say, Very Not Pretty) is disturbing 7.5/10
Specimen 10: hate the chase but its design and animations are gross and creepy and the chase music is creepy as well (like.. Calming/y creepy which is a trope that hits with me) and the Grand Entrance it makes is fucked up. 8.5/10
Specimen 11: design is kinda low on the Spook Scale but chase music is ominious the noises it makes are scary and the Demonic Cow Pictures it flashes before your eyes are p creepy. 8/10
Specimen 12: to keep it short: makes up one of The most tense and scariest pasts of the entire game imo 10/10
Specimen 13: Game Over screen is p creepy and the fact that it eats whales from the inside is terrifying/fucked up but aside from those everything else about it is Very tame compared to the other specimens and I never really felt anxious during its chase plus it’s more pretty than scary imo 4/10
Unknown Specimens:
Unknown Specimen 1/WHITEFACE: was creepy in IMSCARED, Is creepy here. nowhere near creepy as it was when I was younger but still creepy 7/10
Unknown Specimen 2/Otto the Otter: so I know this one is a joke character and was designed specifically to be Not Scary and its design and chase really aren’t particularly scary and I’m not going to treat like like a serious monster but imo its deep laugh and Glowing Dead Eyes are actually genuinely creepy imo plus its activation music also creeped me out and I really wish it was the chase music. so overall 5.5/10
Unknown Specimen 3/Spooper: on top of the fact that it makes you puke up blood and dead fetuses its chase is probably the most adrenalin inducing chases in the game and plus the music is creepy and the way that he just Slowly turns towards you is creepy too. 9/10
Unkown Specimen 4/Tirsiak: intentionally not very creepy designwise since the dev admitted to being tired of designing creepy characters when working on her but the chase theme is ominous (but also a bop.) and the game over screen where her animals eat you alive and leave behind a pile of gore is fucked up. 7/10
Unknown Specimen 5/Lisa: We All Know How I Feel About This Chase But I’m Judging Her On Spook Factor And Not How Fun Her Chase Is So. imo the build-up to her chase with the threatening notes and increasingly creepy music is Very well-done and her design and animations are pretty disturbing + her chase theme with her wailing in the BG while nothing groundbreaking Is pretty creepy plus her game over screen (which believe me I have seen A Lot) is fucking nasty. so.... 9/10; You Win This Round, Lisa
Hospital DLC Monsters (mostly based on their Endless Mode behavior if they are in Endless Mode):
Monster 1/Security Guard: pretty much not a threat due to how Incredibly slow he walks but the way he just hobbles around aimlessly in the dark with his Giant Club Hands is hella unnerving 8/10
Monster 2/Body Bag: in general not all that scary to me but the Lead Up to it is well-done and creepy so 6/10
Monster 3/Baby Face: looks MAD gross and the noises it makes sound like a baby choking which freaks me out and the fact that there’s no chase music and that you really only know it’s there when you see it slowly hovering towards you is spooky 8/10
Monster 4/The Hanged Man: don’t care for the chase but design is creepy, music is creepy w/ how it starts with a Feral Roar, the fact that it rapidly teleports after you and doesn’t move an inch is creepy, and the implication that he ate his family and then hung himself in a mental hospital is really fucked up. 8.5/10
Monster 5/Ghost Cow: this thing legitimately scared the absolute Fuck out of me when I first encountered it in the DLC while turning a corner and its design is just. 10/10
Monster 6/Bekka: so in the DLC the way she appears as a tiny beam of light at the end of an endless hallway and just fuckin DARTS at you from the darkness and instakills you when you get close enough is startling enough for a 9/10 but in Endless Mode Bekka is. really nothing special spookwise imo + her mechanic is just plain annoying as shit 4/10
Dollhouse DLC Monsters (See Above.)
Husks: the fact that it’s implied that child souls are locked in them is disturbing and they Are startling when you first spot them hobbling towards you but once you know how to deal with them they become more of an annoyance than anything. 6.5/10
Woormy Charles: incredibly fucked up design, the implication that the child spirit in it is suffering immensely, the fact that he Game Over screen has it ripping you in half via stretching, and all on top of how it literally runs straight at you at 500 MPH? 9.5/10
The Clown: the fact that it Doesn’t actually do anything to you makes it less scary than if it Did do something to you but the fact that it just silently follows you when you aren’t looking is.... Very Creepy To Say The Least and I can definitely see why the child spirits didn’t like it. 8.5/10
Hooked Doll: not Too high on the Spook scale appearance-wise but moves Unnervingly fluidly/fast and its chase in the DLC is anxiety-inducing. 8/10
Frenzy: Long Story Short: Is Why I Literally Always Keep The Doll Happy At All Times And Why The Moments I Don’t Have The Doll Are Some Of The Most Paranoia-Inducing Moments In Video Game History. 10/10
Miscellaneous (All on this page)
Class Shadows: definitely adds to the ominous atmosphere of the class segment but aside from that there’s really not much else to say 6/10
Violent Deer: Deer Lowkey Terrify Me And Carnivorous Man-Eating Deer Highkey Terrify Me 9/10
Howard: makes for an effective jumpscare the first few times you encounter him (which I’d give an 8/10) but the initial shock eventually wears off after a while. plus I hate the room he appears in so as a whole 5/10
W.A.M: I.... really have no comment or thoughts about this thing and Idk what to rate it I’m sorry
Carl: Design Is Pretty Creepy and overall makes for a good optional spook 8/10
The Virus: No Comment Or Thoughts Here Either
Scare Chair: doesn’t seem like much at first but will induce creepy effects when you sit in it. esp the Weird Faces 7.5/10
The Brain: Once Again, Nothing. Moving On
Nightmares: their designs + how quickly they move are pretty disturbing as is the fact that they represent someone’s PTSD that lead to Spooky being killed 8/10
Clicky: so the first time I played the Dollhouse DLC and I walked into a room and heard a clicking noise while I walked and I had No idea what it was and thought it was just the floor but when I watched an analysis video about the Dollhouse I found out that it was a dead-eyed doll crawling on the ceiling and staring down at me and I didn’t even know and that’s fucked me up ever since. 9/10
and that’s about everyone I think!!
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Rating Every Song on Fearless Based on How Gay it is
Hello friends! I still have a few song analyses in the pipeline (and one on Lover the album) but today in honor of Fearless (Taylor’s Edition) being announced and Love Story being released in a few hours I thought I’d do something fun to celebrate!
And you know what? Fuck my usual disclaimer, I am the word of god here. Try and change my mind about any of these. I dare you. (I kid I kid this isn’t that serious and you’re free to disagree <3)
1. Fearless 15/10
Everything about this song is so fucking gay oh my god. This isn’t a fruit, this is a whole ass edible arrangement. As a small rural town Gay (my hometown has a population of less that 4,000 and where I’m living now has a population of 2,500) this uh. Hits.
“And I don't know how it gets better than this/You take my hand and drag me head first, fearless”
Y’ALL
The idea of falling in love with someone who makes you less afraid of your homophobic small town…….it’s getting to me.
“My hands shake, I'm not usually this way but/You pull me in and I'm a little more brave/It's the first kiss, it's flawless, really something/It's fearless”
This is making me emotional, I'll be honest. I see so much of my friends and my experience in high school in this song.
This quote I found on genius is from when the album was released on BMR’s website.
“When I wrote ‘Fearless,’ I wasn’t dating anyone. I wasn’t even in the beginning stages of dating anybody. I really was all by myself out on tour and I got this idea for a song about the best first date. I think sometimes when you’re writing love songs, you don’t write them about what you’re going through at the moment, you write about what you wish you had. So, this song is about the best first date I haven’t had yet.”
This just screams baby Tay writing gay folklore to me, about the gay stories she wish she had. Notice how there are no pronouns in this song??? Fruity I’m telling you.
All that to say. I’m crying because the linear note says “I loved you before I met you” and I want to go listen to Long Story Short and cry now.
2. Fifteen 1/10
Objectively pretty straight as she’s singing about her and Abigail’s dating boys in HS. And Taylor got with a senior guy. Good for her I suppose.
Unless he was one of the shitty ones in which case.
“This is life before you know who you're gonna be”
This however, is a cute line and the whole song makes me warm and nostalgic. You can also hear her crying after the line “and Abigail gave everything she had to a boy who changed his mind” which makes me emo and I’m sure will take on new depth after Abigail’s divorce and hurt me even more.
Other highlights that make me sob include.
“When all you wanted was to be wanted/Wish you could go back and tell yourself what you know now/Back then I swore I was gonna marry him someday/But I realized some bigger dreams of mine”
Bigger dreams of hers indeed :’)
(Also how can you say she’s a gold star lesbian when this song exists. She was obviously dating boys in high school and even if you think she’s a lesbian. Comp het is a hell of a drug kids.)
3. Love Story 8/10
Tried to change the ending indeed.
This is THE Taylor Swift song, and maybe it’s the nostalgia talking but damn I still love it. Written because she wanted to change the ending of Romeo and Juliet (how anyone likes RandJ enough to want to rewrite I have no clue.) and/or because her parents didn’t approve of a guy she was seeing. (according to genius, it would’ve been too early for Joe J so it could possibly be Boys Like Girls frontman, his image did clash with hers and they did release some cute songs together. However if you want my take it’s probably folklore about Emily, take for what you will)
This song has very oft gay vibes with the ‘They don’t approve of our love angle!’ but uses male pronouns so points redacted for that. HOWEVER this is a very early use of ~the male perspective~ in Taylor’s songs and for that it deserves all the love.
“ So I sneak out to the garden to see you/We keep quiet, 'cause we're dead if they knew/So close your eyes/Escape this town for a little while”
More rural town angst!!!
Nothing gets me more than rural town angst.
“Romeo, save me, they're trying to tell me how to feel/This love is difficult, but it's real”
Originally the lyric was “this love is different”. Granted I do not remember the source, i’s just lore implanted into my brain, but make of that what you will.
“"Marry me, Juliet, you'll never have to be alone/I love you, and that's all I really know/I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress/It's a love story, baby, just say "Yes"”
Marry me Juliet from the male perspective :)
Also worth noting. This is Karlie’s (and Kim K’s lmao) favorite Taylor song which. While basic as hell. Makes this cover sad as hell to this former Kaylor. (thanks @swiftgron-get-married for the tears <3)
Also not to make this about a man AGAIN but the secret message is “Some day I’ll find this” AND SHE DID IM CRYING.
4. Hey Stephen 1/10
The one thing Camilla Cabello and I have in common is loving this song, so I have to live with that for the rest of my life.
This song is very painfully straight.
How can you think this woman is a gold star lesbian.
The only noteworthy thing is that this is one of the few songs she confirms who it’s about. The secret message is “Love and Theft” which is the name of a country music duo who went on to open her Fearless tour. Which, does make me side eye this song a little bit.
Still a cute song.
“Hey Stephen, boy, you might have me believing/I don't always have to be alone”
5. White Horse 1/10
Oh look. It’s track five.
You know maybe this is just me being a bitch but in my ranking of track fives this is. Pretty low. Maybe on the bottom.
Like I don’t have a lot to say about it.
She’s going through it over a guy. He was a cheating dickweazel.
“'Cause I'm not your princess, this ain't a fairytale/I'm gonna find someone someday/Who might actually treat me well”
“Try and catch me now, oh/It's too late/To catch me now”
These lines hit though!!
And she found Joe!! Who treats her well!!!! And she isn’t the princess, she’s the prince who dropped her sword and knocked on her door!!! But this time if they come for them she’s ready!!!
Yes I will make every song about Long Story Short <3
6. You Belong With Me 5/10
Ah yes. The other THE Taylor Swift song.
You know. If I went to a high school with a cheerleading squad. And I had a crush on a cheerleader. I would blast this song. So for that it gets a 5/10. Otherwise. Fairly straight and fairly iconic.
7. Breathe 8/10
Well. We know this one is about a woman. (Emily Poe for those not in the know. Ha. A rhyme!) That alone has an 8/10. And it’s the first time she has a featured artist so bonus points for that!
It was nominated for a Grammy and it fucking lost to Jason Mraz. When’s the last time you thought about Jason Mraz.
I will not have Kaylor feels on a fucking Fearless song but damn is it VERY easy.
“Never a clean break, no one here to save me/You're the only thing I know like the back of my hand”
“It's 2 A.M, feeling like I just lost a friend/Hope you know it's not easy, easy for me”
Also this bridge? Goes off. HIGHLY underrated.
8. Tell Me Why 3/10
You know. Maybe this album isn’t as gay as I once thought.
This song does bop though, not as good as her other angry songs on this album. But I can vibe with this you know. Why are you being an asshole mysterious man.
“You could write a book on how to ruin someone's perfect day”
This has to be one of baby Tay’s best burns. Damn.
“Why do you have to make me feel small/So you can feel whole inside?/Why do you have to put down my dreams/So you're the only thing on my mind?”
Men ain’t shit kids. However, bonus points for the shade.
9. You’re not Sorry 1/10
Ok, ok. Maybe this was a foolish endeavor.
Because yet again we have a very straight song. A good song. That was on Taylor’s episode of CSI. But oh dear. Very straight. Gets a measly one point. We started this post off so very very gay but damn. We seem to be nearing the end on a very straight note.
10. The Way I Loved You 20/10
Hey Remember what I said about this album being very straight.
WELL THAT WAS A LIE.
Is this a comphet album or am I projecting.
This is one of my favorite baby gay Taylor songs. Her masterful use of pronouns (he is sensible! And so incredible! And all my single friends are jealous! But I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain, when it was two am and I was cursing your name!) makes the other person she’s singing about completely vague, while we know she isn’t happy with whichever guy she’s dating.
Mayhaps an early reaction to PRomances?
Either way this song is so good, truly an underrated gay gem I mean. Look at it.
“Breaking down and coming undone/It's a roller coaster kind of rush/And I never knew I could feel that much/And that's the way I loved you”
AND THE BRIDGE. Do all of her gay songs just have kickass bridges?
“He can't see the smile I'm faking/And my heart's not breaking/'Cause I'm not feeling anything at all/And you were wild and crazy/Just so frustrating/Intoxicating, complicated/Got away by some mistake and now…”
Damn. I’m imaging this with 2020 vocals and fucking ascending.
Also please watch the live performance of it from the Fearless tour. It’s such a damn shame this got cut from the movie and some woman in the front row is wearing a cowboy hat. Everyone is holding up those cameras everyone had to have before smartphones. Taylor is being endearing. It’s a good time.
11. Forever and Always 6/10
Bonus points for the ~drama~ of it all. Added last minute to the album? The iconic throwing of the chair in live performances?? All of it very dramatique and for that we stan.
Still pretty straight.
Also Joe Jonas responded to the song and why do I find his response so damn funny. “It’s part of being a musician, I guess. You write songs about each other.”
This is another song where the idea of Taylor’s grown up vocals on this is………..whew
12. The Best Day 0/10
This gets zero points because it’s about her literal mom.
Still makes me cry.
God bless Andrea Swift indeed
13. Change 13/10
We start the official tracklist with a gay song. We end it with a gay song.
We will ignore that it was originally written for Scott and BMR and instead induct it into the hall of gay pride anthems, as it should be.
“We're getting stronger now, finding things they never found/They might be bigger but we're faster and never scared/You can walk away, say we don't need this/But there's something in your eyes says we can beat this”
“This revolution, the time will come/For us to finally win/And we'll sing hallelujah, we'll sing hallelujah”
The music video is cringe though lol
14. Jump then Fall 10/10
This song is gay because I choose it to be. <3
Like. Picture baby Taylor writing this song and playing it on her guitar to a girl she has a crush on telling her that she’ll protect her and they’ll be safe and in love and happy together. Gah, maybe I’m ~projecting~ but this sweet ass song always gets me and is EASILY in my top five Taylor songs. Super underrated and hecking cute.
“We're on the phone and without a warning/I realize your laugh is the best sound/I have ever heard”
Like. Look at this shit.
“I watch you talk, you didn't notice/I hear the words but all I can think is/We should be together”
Tell me this is about the first time you get a crush on a girl and she’s your best friend and she’s amazing and beautiful and you realize you kinda want to kiss her and you hope she wants to kiss you too.
“I had time to think it oh, over/And all I can say is come closer/Take a deep breath and jump then fall into me”
And she’s the Romeo who's going to protect her!!!!! She’s the knight in shining armor in this song and I love that for her??
“The bottom's gonna drop out from under our feet/I'll catch you, I'll catch you/When people say things that bring you to your knees/I'll catch you/The time is gonna come when you're so mad you could cry/But I'll hold you through the night until you smile”
I won’t divulge into full on analysis here because. This is what this post is about but PLEASE listen to this song more. It’s such a gay little gem.
15. Untouchable 9/10
How does she make a cover sound gay.
It sounds so gay.
“You got to come on, come on, say that we'll be together/Come on, come on, little taste of heaven”
Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay
16. Forever and Always Piano Version 1/10
This song gets 1/10 because I don’t like it. There. I said it.
17. Come in With the Rain 3/10
I can see why this is a bonus track. It doesn’t hit me as much as the other songs on the album.
But damn if I don’t want to scream sing this one driving down a high way.
18. Superstar 7/10
You can’t tell me this song is about a man. I simply won’t entertain the idea.
You cannot prove to me that this song is about a man. There is not a male pronoun in sight.
>:)
19. The Other Side of the Door 6/10
Is this song about having a fight about being in the closet? Probably not. Will my gay little brain make it about that? Yep!
And that, funky little queer pals, is my gay rating of every Fearless song. Like and subscribe, #t3atmidnight
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If you ever finish answering all of yours awaiting asks...
45 questions for you 👀
https://myaekingheart.tumblr.com/post/650107314353897472/fic-writer-ask-game
Lolllll BADLUCKBREBIS, you are so funny.
Inspiration and Reading Asks:
1. How long ago did you start reading fanfiction? Writing fanfiction?
It looks like I started writing in 2017. I've been reflecting recently on how there are so many regularly active writers now compared to in 2017-2018. It was the tail-end of some of my fave writer's activity within fandom. Utsus was posting less and less. The Tumblr NaruHina fandom seemed to disappear, a whole community of writers left for other things (matchaball, nekomamoru, magmawrites, cherryjutsu, spyder-m, tenney-shoes, eliphya, among others). 2018 was a very quiet year, but! I avidly read katarinahime and bunnyhoodlum's works! In 2019, quirrrky restarted things with NaruHina Week!
2. How do you spend your time when it comes to fanfiction? Are you primarily a fic reader, writer, or a perfect 50/50 split of both?
Recently I’m primarily a reader!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Because there's so many writers now!!!!!!!!
3. Are there any fics that inspired you to write what you do?
Yeah, let’s list them. “A Special Friend” by agitosgirl inspired “Nightdreams. “Medicine” by @grimmjowkurosakidrake inspired “White Lilies. “Torch Song” by @mmmbuttery inspired “About You.” The language in “Unless the World Were to End” by @bunny-hoodlum inspired the language in “That was the plan.” “In Between Drinks” by @peppercornpress inspired “In Between Drinks NH.”
4. Link your three favorite fics right now.
“Operation: Bring Home Naruto” by Dragonwannabe - Rated T, Canon-Divergent, Multi-chapter, Complete. Hinata's been assigned the mission of getting Naruto back home safely after his last dangerous assignment. But can she handle the undercover identity as his girlfriend that she’d been given without revealing her true feelings for him?
“The Mission” by Lunawraythe - Rated M, Canon-Divergent, Multi-chapter, Ongoing. It wasn't that Hinata never expected to work with Naruto, just never on a mission quite like this.
“The Loving Type” by @peppercornpresses - Rated M, Canon-Divergent, Multi-chapter, Ongoing. A few years have passed since the Fourth Shinobi War, in which...Rookie Nine steadily advances in rank. Naruto gets engaged. Hinata leaves Konoha. And Kakashi schemes for days.
5. What are your fanfic pet peeves? Do they have a huge effect on whether or not you decide to read something?
ahhh. I do have quite a few pet peeves. If the fic is Canon-Compliant or Canon-Divergent, I expect Naruto and Hinata to behave like Japanese people. Say what you want, but the Naruto Universe is definitely Japanese in my book. So that means no shoes in the house. Nothing rattles me more than reading Hinata taking her sandals off before climbing into bed. Like, what? she was wearing her outdoor shoes indoors this whole time??
mmm... another pet peeve is when the writer describes Hinata in a kimono, but it sounds like an American Halloween costume, like the slutty version, instead of an actual kimono.
mmm... and the other big pet peeve I have is when it’s Hinata’s first time eating ramen because Naruto is showing her the wonders of ramen. lol. why. how. in what world would a Japanese person make it to their teenage years without ever eating ramen.
I have a bunch of other little pet peeves regarding Japanese culture in fanfics. But in general, it doesn’t stop me from reading the fic if I'm already in the middle of it. I’ll continue reading it and will probably recommend it to other people anyway. If I can tell based on the summary, then it's not for me, and I don't read it. If this makes anyone feel nervous about writing fanfiction, that's not my intention! I would also be happy to be a sensitivity reader if necessary.
6. How do you find new fic to read? Where do you primarily read fanfiction?
I primarily read fanfics on AO3 and ffnet. I find new ones by constantly checking the Hyuuga Hinata/Uzumaki Naruto tag on AO3 or looking into a writer’s favorites list on ffnet.
7. Do you prefer to read short fics or long fics?
Short fics.
8. How often do you reblog/comment on fics that you like?
I reblog pretty often. I don't comment as often as I used to😕 I used to comment on every fic I liked.
9. Tag 3 fic writers you think are underrated/unknown in the fandom/fanfiction community.
Uhh?? Idk. I think recently the writing group here is pretty tight, everyone seems to know everyone.
10. What’s your favorite fandom, pairing, or character to read fic for?
Naruto fandom and NaruHina.
Fanfiction Writing Asks:
11. How do you come up with your fic titles?
I usually take it from words used in the story or from the prompt.
12. Tell the author your favorite fic title of theirs (not the fic, strictly title). Author: what’s your favorite title you’ve come up with and why?
I think...maybe "Tell Me of Forevers" or "Nightdreams." I like those because they aren't taken word-for-word directly from the story, but touch on a theme in the story.
13. Do you outline your fics? How much of a headache would someone get if they just looked at an outline of yours without reading the fic?
Yes, I outline. They wouldn't get a headache, I think. It's usually just a summary.
14. Do you have a personal word minimum that you hold yourself too? Why or why not?
Nope. I didn't know people do that.
15. Tell the author your favorite fic of theirs. What’s your (the author’s) favorite fic you’ve written?
My favorite fic continues to be "It's No Secret."
16. Do you research for your fics? If so, how deep of a rabbit hole have you gone down by accident when researching?
Yes, I do. I've done historical and folktale research for "Little Samurai." I did area/location research for "Last Chance." I did historical research for "About You." I did fairy tale research for "Catskin." I did a ton of astronomy research for "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl." And I did lighting research for "Inspo." I go pretty deep.
17. How obsessively do you sit and stare at your fic after you’ve just posted and wait for feedback?
I don't. I usually have something else I need to do or I go to bed.
18. Do you have a WIP that you keep telling yourself you’ll eventually get back to, but deep down you know that’s probably a lie?
I actually think I can finish all of mine if I just try.
19. Do you edit your fics after you write them, or do you prefer to just hit post and run (because it’s someone else’s problem now)?
I always edit before posting to AO3. Anything I post directly on Tumblr might not be edited.
20. What’s your favorite part about the fanfiction writing process?
Posting!
21. What’s your least favorite part about the fanfiction writing process?
Starting a new chapter.
22. Do you take fic requests? If so, for what characters and why?
On occasion. If someone sends me a request, I'll think about writing it. Sometimes I do write and post it, sometimes I leave them in my drafts for a better day.
23. What’s your absolute favorite trope to write?
From what I already have posted, probably friends-to-lovers, secret relationship/forbidden love, or high school au. I don't think I have an intentional favorite.
24. What’s a trope that you’d like to never hear about as long as you live, let alone write?
Public humiliation / public degradation.
25. Do you listen to music as you write? If possible, link your writing playlist.
No, not usually.
26. What’s your biggest distraction when writing?
Tumblr feed, all the pictures to scroll through mindlessly.
27. Do you like to give your readers some warning of what might be coming or just slap them in the face with content at random?
lol, whatever is fine.
28. How do you deal with writing pressure (ie: pressure to update, negative comments, deadlines, etc)?
Well, pressure to update is not a big deal to me. I do this for fun, so I don't think I unnecessarily pressure myself too much. With negative comments, I don't get too many of those, and I think I do my best to avoid situations where I might get negative feedback.
29. Have you ever written for an exchange or event of some kind? Which one(s)? Did you enjoy it?
Yeah, I like the events. My favorite was NH2020, the year-long one last year. I also enjoyed the Secret Santa last year since @badluckbrebis was my giftee.
30. Post a snippet from your current WIP without context - no more than 300 words.
haha😈
Ecstasy slides through his veins, blooming over his mind, cocooning him in pleasant sensations, cum shooting out in eager twitches against hot, milking flesh.
31. Of the characters you write for, which is your favorite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers’ reactions to certain ones?
Naruto Uzumaki, always.
32. Copy and paste your top three favorite lines/jokes/sentences you’ve ever written. What fics do they come from?
Top 3 faves in order:
That was the plan: "She shifts in his arms, and cloth and cleavage come pillowing up to his face, and he’s certain that she’s scooped from the same puffy stuff his adolescent daydreams were made of."
Tell Me of Forevers: "What he wouldn’t do to inspire every blush, every smile of hers for an eternity when such moments already only speak “forever” to him."
White Lilies: "Whether at his feet, in his eyes, ears, mind, if not reaching his heart, she never landed anywhere. (It’s okay.)"
I consider "White Lilies" to have my technically best writing, so it was kind of hard to choose just one line from that fic! But I decided that one's my favorite line from the whole story.
33. What do you like writing better: one shots or multi-chapter stuff?
One-shots.
34. How much of yourself and your life experiences do you put into your writing? What do you think your readers’ image of you is?
A lot of my life experiences are in my writing. Hmm, I think readers probably think I'm...hmm...either empathetic or really perverted?
35. How much has writing fic changed your life?
I spend a lot less time on real-life social media than before.
36. Are there any fics or fandoms you’re embarrassed to have written or been part of?
I'm kind of embarrassed of "Honeymoon at the Hot Springs" lol. It's fine.
37. Give an update on your current WIP - if you don’t have one, give a sneak peek to a title or idea that you have and would like to write.
My current WIP is that A/B/O fic I started for February Smut Month Prompts: Sweet as Candy or Love Bites. I'm going to title it "Sweet As," and it'll be about how Naruto and Hinata become Alpha/Omega mates. It's really kinky, really smutty, and totally what I would want to read.
38. What does your writing process look like? How chaotic is it on a scale of 1 (very tame) to 10 (you can’t handle this kind of chaos)?
uhh???? a 1?? I've never once thought of my writing process as chaotic. Ahh, then I think of bunnyhoodlum's multiple drafts for the same chapter, and I realize that there exist types of writing processes that I would not be able to handle...
39. What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?
My smut.
40. How did you come up with the idea for [x fic]?
41. What’s your most popular fic (with the most notes on tumblr, most hits/kudos on ao3)?
Idk about Tumblr,,, maybe White Lilies got the most attention here. My most popular fic is Nightdreams on AO3.
42. Asker: pick three of the author’s works. Author: rank them 1 (the best) - 3 (the worst) based on whatever criteria you want - this could be something totally random that isn’t quality related (like simply ranking fics based on how many trains appear in them) - have fun!
43. Talk about a positive experience with fanfiction or the fanfiction community that you will always remember.
I will always remember how people congratulated me for finishing White Lilies😭 Also, when peppercornpresses made that FIRST art of my story, I just, I just stared at it all day.
44. Rant about something writing related.
hmmm, I don't feel like ranting about anything. I just recently ranted about my pet peeves above.
45. Fic specific questions - if you have any weird questions about specific works, here’s your shot to ask them!
I did them all! Nice questions.
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