#i really do wish that i could use the three-light setup on other people's frames though :p

[grineerios]

Macabre Nobility - Dagath (Featuring my baby Tenno, Pup!)

[valkyrieelysia18]

RWBY Rewrite: The Relics

Hello there everyone! I’m back with another post on my Rewrite series that hopefully will delight you.

Admittedly, this might be an odd topic after my last post. Well, that one was pretty big and I wanted something a bit smaller to tackle. I had thought about getting into the White Fang next, but that post is going to be a dozy and then I thought of the Relics. And I thought “Sure, that’ll work.”

The Relics, in my opinion, were handled poorly in the show. Items that can grant great power and when collected something amazing/terrible have been done before and done well (which is honestly true a lot of stuff in RWBY). In RWBY, we didn’t know the Relics existed until over halfway through Volume 4, reduced the Maidens to essentially gate keys in Volume 5, and even at the end of Volume 6 we only know what the lamp can do on its own. I mean come on, Dragon Ball took one episode to explain its titular item (granted they were a lot more simple, but still)! So we’re going to tackle these things.

Now before we get into the individual items, let’s address some things that about the Items as a whole.

The first thing to note about the Relics in this Rewrite is that gathering the four together won’t summon the Gods back to Remnant. The Brothers in this Rewrite are much more distant figures, preferring to observe their creations rather than directly interfering. 

So then, why does Salem want to collect them? The full reason will be in her and Ozpin’s backstory post, but to put it simply Salem has a more personal history with the Relics here and wishes to get them back. She views that leaving them in the hands of mortals will just lead to them abusing the items, causing more pain and suffering for the world. Not an entirely baseless viewpoint as we’ll get into soon enough.

The next thing to note is that before the Relics were under the care of the Academies and Ozpin’s group, each was possessed by a former Royal Family. Vale had Choice, Mistral had Knowledge, Vacuo had Destruction, and Mantle had Creation. Granted as time passed and certain things were failed to be passed on, by the time of the Great War only the Crown of Choice’s abilities were known and even then only to a select few.

Each Relic will have a have a spirit that will be involved with the item’s power. I’m not sure whether it was said in RWBY after I left that each Relic had a spirit or whether Jinn was an exception, but I’m going to roll with the first one. Also, each Spirit technically doesn’t have a biological sex, they choose how they want to look.

Also, only the Lamp will have the blue glow. The other Relics will associated with the color of their kingdom: the Staff having a White crystal, the Sword having an Orange gleaming blade, and a Green jewel in the center of the Crown. They can still have the gold, but this will make them more distinct from each other.

Finally, they are NOT the major Grimm magnets as presented in the original show. While they do give off a sort of a signature that Grimm can recognize, it’s a faint one. It would attract Grimm attention if it stayed out for too long in the wild or Grimm would be looking for it in an area if Salem directed them personally to it.

All right, now let’s get down to business!

Knowledge: Jinn

The Lamp of Knowledge is the only Relic we’ve gotten to know it’s full abilities as well as meet its spirit. Even then, I think that three questions every a hundred years is maybe a little too limited for something that is a power of the gods. So, I’m changing it.

Instead of granting three questions within a certain time frame, I like the idea of giving anyone who uses the lamp the ability to ask Jinn one question of the past and present. Everyone is entitled to knowledge after all and they should determine how they want to use it. I know, I kind of stole the idea from the scepter from the direct to video Aladdin King of Thieves, but I think it’s a good setup. It’s powerful, but it still has limitations. This will contrast with its opposite the Crown, which will be more exclusive and deal with the future.

Then there’s Jinn and am I the only who thought her design was lazy? I mean we get it, she’s a genie, but there’s nothing interesting or unique in her design. Pretty sure comparisons to Aladdin’s Genie and Magi’s Paimon have been made. I’d leave her redesign to someone who is fully capable of putting a new spin on it, but I would like the idea of her not having a consistent wardrobe. Maybe have her wear a top that was similar to something found in Central Mistral while wearing a hairpiece you would identify being at home in Eastern Mistral. Not only would this symbolize how multicultural Mistral is, but also how history is made of many different parts.

Now Jinn herself wouldn’t be that different of a character from canon. She would still be a rather pleasant, teasing spirit who is quite thrilled to finally be out of the Vault again. Amongst the Relic spirits, she’s probably the one who has the least regard for mortals, but that’s partly because of what people usually use her for. Most people would ask about power, riches, dark secrets; it got kind of boring and predictable for Jinn and it was less pleasant when they would get mad at her for telling them truths they didn’t want to hear. Let’s just say a few rulers of Mistral that used her Relic didn’t use it very wisely.

Jinn’s favorite type of petitioner would be someone like Oobleck: someone who would ask her about some part of history that doesn’t have much known about it and she doesn’t get to talk about nearly as much as she’d like to so she actually goes into more detail than necessary. She’d also respect someone who probably knows the answer she’s going to give them is not one they want to hear, but is resolved to face the truth whatever it is.

Creation: Eve/Ev

The Staff of Creation is a bit interesting in that works better for some than others. It uses what a person pictures in their mind to bring what they want to reality, within reason. So it really works best with someone very creative and has a clear vision of what they want to do. It can’t create something that’s alive (like a dog) or that had been living (like someone who has passed on). Also, the more detailed and involved an item is, the longer it will take for the Staff to recharge. For example, the little crystals (which are basically a crystallized form of the staff’s power) Ironwood has been creating as an alternative energy source would take a couple of hours to a day depending on how many were created at a time. Whereas a huge detailed palace would take decades to over a century, longer than it would have taken them to build in real time.

Eve is the Spirit of Creation and would have a rather androgynous appearance. I was also thinking that the Spirit could be called Eve or Ev depending on who’s addressing them. Their main color would be white, but their appearance would resemble that of artist. Perhaps having smudges of charcoal on their face or a splattering of color on an apron. I think it would be really ironic that the kingdom that banned the arts at one point would have a Spirit that is quintessentially an artist, heck Eve might have locked up during that time and forgotten about until after the war was over. Again, I’d leave the design to someone who is much better suited for it.

Now in this Rewrite, the Staff is no longer in the Vault because Ironwood took it out. He reasoned that having a powerful tool that could be used to in the fight against of Salem would be wasted simply being left in the Vault. Needless to say, Eve doesn’t like the way Ironwood is using them. It’s clear the power is just a means to an end to him, something he can use to make Atlas more secure. There is no love or passion for what he’s creating and he treats them with no courtesy or respect, not listening at all when they try to talk to him. When Watts eventually comes to retrieve the Staff, Eve is basically “Oh thank the Brothers! I could care less about your plans, just get me out of here!” It��s sort of a summary of what partly causes Ironwood’s fall: the inability to get that people aren’t purely logical beings that will do what they are told for the greater good, but emotional irrational people who will snap when pushed too far.

The best person Eve could work with is someone who specializes in the visual arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, etc. Someone who has a very clear vision and obviously very passionate about the things they want to create. Eve would also enjoy someone who is perfectly okay if they don’t get their creation exactly right on the first try  and is more than willing to take Eve’s advice/criticism. 

Destruction: Adamou

The Sword of Destruction is perhaps the easiest Relic to understand and use. Using the sword will increase your physical abilities and the sword can send out waves of power that can devastate a group of foes or alter the environment. However, using it takes quite a bit of energy. Best case scenario will involve a week of recovery. Worst case scenario you expend years of your life. Even the King of Vale with all his power, lost two or three years he should have had to live on that Final Battle of the Great War. This cost was so great to the old Vacuo Monarchs (and given that most of their past was peaceful) that it was hidden away and forgotten about until the Great War happened and the last King of Vale rediscovered it.

I’m still little unsure of how I would like Adamou, the Spirit of Destruction, to look like. The closest example that comes to mind is something like Nemesis from Fire Emblem Three Houses: a large older battle scarred man with light armor. Once again, I’m a writer and not a character designer so if anyone has ideas I’d be willing to see them. That being said, his name is actually a West Africa variation of the name Adam, putting him in contrast to Eve. Anyone who has a passing understanding of the Old Testament should probably understand what I’m doing here.

Adamou, despite his outward and intimidating appearance, is actually a pretty easy going spirit. He’s also somewhat disappointed in how he doesn’t get used as much compared to his brethren, but he does understand why and has great respect for the old rulers of Vacuo for doing what they did. He enjoys a good fight, but he also enjoys competitions of all kinds whether physical or mental. You could talk him into a little kiddie board game and he’d go at with as much glee as slaying a hoard of Grimm. As the Spirit of Destruction, he knows better than anyone that life is finite and it’s best to live and fight to the fullest until your time comes.

Adamou would gravitate to people like Yang or Pyrrha: those who enjoy combat and wish to live their life to the fullest. Those who’s spirits burn bright even if it means they burn out quicker. That said, he also respects those who fight to protect those they love and things they believe in (to an extent, he’s not fond of fanatics who would give their lives away without a second thought for something obviously sketchy).

Choice: Caesar

Whereas the Lamp reveals the past and present, the Crown of Choice is focused on the future. Those who wear it have the ability to see the possible outcomes of any choice they face. As such you can see what the cost and consequences of your options. That being said, it’s not a hundred percent as the future is always in motion and there’s no telling how other people’s actions and choices may affect what you decide. Still, the predictions do tend to be very accurate. There’s also the possibility that wielder may obsess over said choices or may become dependent on the Crown, but that has happened very rarely since Caesar usually stops their wielders before they go too far in this.  

The thing about the Crown is that unlike the Lamp, it can only be used by one person. When its user dies, the Crown is free to be taken up by another and once it has bonded to someone they are bound for life. Now the Crown can be lent to another person, but every wielder can only do so once in their lifetime and those who borrow it can only use it for three days. On the fourth day, the crown will tighten around the person’s head, giving great pain and hallucinations, and will only stop if that person takes it off at which they can no longer use it. 

Seeing the obvious issues of such a powerful item potentially falling into the wrong hands, the first King of Vale came to an agreement with the Spirit Caesar to set up a trap/test to anyone who would try to claim the Crown. The Crown would be placed in a special chamber when not in use with a multitude of different crowns and circlets in the room. It’s up to the person to choose the right crown with no outside input. Get it wrong and the crown will turn to ash and that person is forever barred from taking the Crown. The twist? The true crown’s appearance in the trial is in fact not a crown, but a wreath of laurels (which can be seen on Beacon’s symbol). And if you’re thinking this sounds quite a bit like the scenario from Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, that’s cause it is as its kind of the sort of trial you’d find in a fable or fairy tale. It would take either a very thoughtful and self aware person to pass the trial as well as one not greedy. It’s also made a little more complicated as the Crown looks slightly different for each of it’s wielders, which will be noticed in an earlier scene with our group of heroes in a hall of portraits of the past monarchs of the Vale. Because that is what determined who would succeed to the throne of Vale.

And yes, we will learn a lot more on this when I do the King of Vale Rewrite Post.

As a result of the nature of Crown, Caesar is the spirit that is the most close to mortals as they build a strong personal relationship with their users. As part of this, when a new wielder is chosen, Caesar will take upon the appearance of their predecessor to guide the new one. I’m still a little torn over whether Caesar should appear as the old wielder when they first took up the Crown, in the peak of that person’s life, or how they looked when they died. 

Caesar, for the most part, acts as a sort of advisor to their wielder. That can come off as them acting very parental which given how often the Crown would pass from parent to child is quite fitting. They will give advice when asked for, but in general will advise against using the Crown’s power if its a situation their user can more than handle on their own. They are very much the type of person who would advocate that “It’s the journey, not the destination” and is more than willing to let their wielder fail if it meant they could learn something from it. That said, they do get very attached and is probably the only Spirit that would openly speak positively about Salem due to her history with them and also has issues with Ozpin. They and Jinn will be the ones to eventually give the more specific details to group about Ozpin and Salem’s history after they got the general outline elsewhere.

Caesar has worked with many different types of people, but the main thing they each had in common is that they were the type of people who were always concerned with the consequences of their actions for those around them and the kingdom of Vale as a whole. They generally work best with someone who is humble and empathetic. However, they generally don’t like someone if they put a singular goal above everything else without consideration of all the consequences (again, issues with Ozpin).

Well, that turned out longer than I was expecting it too. I guess I just got into the creative juices. Anyway, I think I’ll do a different post before coming back to do Cinder. And just as a reminder people, I dropped this show at the end of Volume 6 so don’t bring up anything after that to me in a comment.

See you soon!

[frevandrest]

Review: A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians

This book focuses a lot on history (with a magical twist) and it follows late 18th century France, Britain and Haiti. Since I don’t know much about British history of the time, and I feel it is not on me to talk about how representation of Haiti and slavery was done, I will be solely focusing on the French portion of the book, which focused on the Revolution. Impressions while reading: here. 

The book hinges on the magical twist, and it is an interesting setup (once you accept that the history unravels identically to our own). Yes, this choice could be questioned (especially in terms of oppression and power), but it allowed for discussions of historical details framed through magic, which I liked.

The review will mainly focus on this intersection of history and magic, or how history and historical personalities were represented in the light of the magical twist in the story.  

Warning: Spoilers! (And I mean the most spoilery spoilers, including the ending).

The Magical Twist

In this world, certain people are born with magical abilities, but only aristocrats are allowed to use magic. A lot of the motivation and one of the main reasons behind the French Revolution was that commoners were not allowed to use magic (so, for example, a weather mage could not prevent frost so his village had to suffer from famine). Ironically, Louis XVI is born without magic. 

There are different types of magical abilities, but the most important for the plot are mesmerism, vampirism, necromancy and shadowmancy. Mesmerism is easy to understand: influence people (mainly through talking). Robespierre has this, although weakly. Necromancy allows a person to bring someone back to life, but only for a very short time period. Robespierre is the only living necromancer in Europe (and he has to hide it, because this power is not allowed to anyone, including aristocrats; his own mother was killed for it - well, she covered up for child Max, but still). Shadowmancy allows a person to control “shadows”, which are ambiguously/evil entities (ghosts? demons?) that could be trapped in objects. Vampires are blood mages and the main villain (mostly “seen” as a voice in people’s head, typically Robespierre’s) is a vampire. 

Now, the most plot-relevant thing is that two magicians (a necromancer + shadowmancer) can make an undead army or warriors by bringing a person back from the dead and trapping a shadow inside of the body. Camille Desmoulins is a shadowmancer and so is Saint-Just. 

Characters

Robespierre (mesmerizer/necromancer): I felt Max’s characterization was fine; you can feel his wish to do good, and you feel his insecurities and frustrations. He is not villainized. He is presented as making harder and harder choices, which was a good development. The trouble is, there’s the main villain (who communicates with Max telepathically) and the whole thing is that Max strikes a deal with him to help him “save France”, and it goes just about as horribly as you can imagine. Basically, the evil dude helps Max and pushes him to do things (increasingly more evil). The whole plot is about the villain manipulating Max (and everyone else). This strips Max from some of his agency and responsibility. The book does a good effort in balancing this - Max still has his own free will to make choices and mistakes, so it’s not like he’s a puppet, but it kind of puts emphasis on being manipulated - what happens in the book is the result of the villain’s machinations. 

Camille (shadowmancer/fire magic): I liked this Camille a lot. I felt he was given a larger role (one of the revolutionaries who pushed for most changes and was hugely influential), but he was complex. He’s described as passionate, impulsive, zealous and sassy. I felt that this description was much more interesting than the usual uwu cinnamon roll naive infantilized Camille. He is all over the place, but at least he does something, and he makes mistakes, and is allowed not to be perfect. The fallout between Max and Camille is explained through the magical twist (in part, at least - Camille is warned about someone manipulating Max and he even felt it in Max’s head and wishes to stop what they are doing). 

Saint-Just (shadowmancer): There was not much SJ, but at least he was not demonized or portrayed as depraved, which is, frankly, more than what 90% representations typically give him. He is still cold (described as ice, to the opposite of Camille’s fire), and handsome, but it’s not presented as eeeevil! He felt dignified, so that was not bad. But he’s a prop to Max’s activities, mainly, and not a full character. He does get a good sendoff (see below).

Danton (no magic): There was not much Danton in the book; his role was in line with history (although often presented as being magically ~influenced by Robespierre, which was... ugh), but also not important for the main conflicts. He’s mainly there to take Camille away from Robespierre, which is an interesting narrative choice (because it’s typically framed as SJ taking Robespierre away from Camille). 

Others: Charlotte Robespierre was strict and a bit mean (and she’s also the most prominent female character in the French part of the book). The main villain was a secret mastermind behind all three narratives and I understand the narrative choice, but he was a bit stereotypical (which is not bad per se; it’s just that I feel I’d prefer if he wasn’t there at all). Marat was there for maybe two scenes, which was a shame - I wanted more. 

Plot

The plot follows our history almost identically. So, there are a lot of meetings and talks and Convention scenes, which were exciting to me. Robespierre (with the help of his “benefactor”) uses his mesmerism to be taken seriously and listened. Camille leads people to storm the magical Bastille (and Robespierre is also there). The main point of conflict between the Girondins and Montagnards is that almost none of the Girondins are magicians so they are not really interested in fighting for magician rights. 

The most interesting parts of the French Revolution plot are the Terror and Thermidor (who is surprised?) I suppose I am in a minority when I say that I wished those parts were longer. The book takes a lot of time to establish its setting (it starts in the 1780s); the storming of the Bastille happens around 160 pages in. But when we get to Terror, it unravels quickly, and I wanted more. 

The Terror

Ok, so here’s the key thing (that will be relevant for the sequel, I assume - yes, there is a sequel, focused on Naps). In order to win the war against foreign armies, the French need soldiers. And the villain convinces Max that ordinary soldiers are not enough - they need to make an undead army. This is where necromancer + shadowmancer thing becomes important. Basically, Max turns all the guillotined people into undead soldiers, first with Camille, and then, when he refuses, with SJ. For a moment, I hoped this would tie brilliantly to the history of SJ as a representative on a mission (to command the army), but nah. Apparently, once created, the undead are simply given a command to fight, and off they go. 

This is an interesting idea (especially since it includes Danton and Camille being turned into undead soldiers) but it was kind of short. It also meant that Max had to be there for all the executions, and basically watch Camille die. 

Thermidor

The background for Thermidor was ok done - what Max was (mainly) accused of was that he used magic (mesmerism) on others to influence them, and they didn’t like it. (I suppose I failed to mention this, but until he revealed himself as a necromancer, nobody knew Max had magic). In reality, the main villain turned against Max and influenced the Convention to do the same. The villain’s goal was to get an undead army and he needed a necromancer for that. Once it was done, he had no use of Max anymore, and that was it.

The Hôtel de Ville scene was interesting, although I wanted more. It was also one of the most heartbreaking moments in the book, because of Le Bas. What happens is that the soldiers are coming and they have nothing to defend themselves, except SJ’s shadows (who can kill people but can also be killed). So Le Bas is all: well, if you had an undead soldier, that would make it better. So he offers to kill himself and that Max and SJ make him into an undead. 😭 But that goes nowhere, and the events happen as they did in history (more or less). 

I said SJ gets a good sendoff - before the soldiers arrive, he makes a shadow to fight them, and it is described as his act of free magic, because this is what they did - they made magic free for everyone. And that even those who are coming to arrest them are part of that same Revolution (which I felt was too poetic - real SJ did not think that those people were part of his Revolution). Max takes a pistol to get rid of the voice from his head, but one of the soldiers who arrive has magic to manipulate metal and he makes the bullet hit Max in the jaw. On their way to the scaffold, the villain in Max’s head tells him that he fulfilled his purpose of making the army but that the Republic will die, to be replaced by an Empire. I felt it was nice that it was acknowledged the importance of Max & co for the Republic. 

I typically have concluding thoughts to share, but I am not sure what to say here. I enjoyed the blending of history and magic, and I wished the book fully focused on the Revolution. But I am not sure how I feel about the core villain plot about Max and everyone else being manipulated. On the other hand, there was this very interesting Camille, and nobody was demonized, so that was good. 

[seokiloquy]

Ready. Aim. Fire? Pt 3 - Sugawara & Sawamura

AU: Gang

Gender Neutral Reader 

Word Count: 5.6K+

Disclaimer: contains violent themes and suggestions, gun violence (? Kind of) all of this is fiction and I don’t condone violence...anyways enjoy lol

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3

“I’m going to kill him,” Kiyoko said, kicking a nearby trash can. “I’m going to bash everyone’s head in–” 

“Woah,” Kuroo said, pulling Kiyoko away from the dented bin. His expressions were the same as always, easy going without a care in the world, but you could read the concern in his eyes. Another reason he’ll be a good leader, you thought. Care about your people but stick to business as usual, keep a level headed mind. “We don’t know if it’s actually Aoba Johsai. It could be someone else.” 

Kiyoko glared. “It’s their colours, Kuroo.” 

Kuroo shrugged and rubbed his forehead, letting out an exhausted sigh. “It could be a setup. We can’t take the risk.” 

You nodded. “He’s right. We shouldn’t do anything until we know for sure. It could have been them, but if it wasn’t then we’d be declaring war with the wrong person. A person who would watch us tear each other apart to pick up the scraps.” 

Kiyoko smirked and shook her head, trying to ignore the truth in your words. “‘We’? You’re throwing that around like it’s a ball.” 

You met her eyes, they were cold and unwavering, worn with the time as gang leader. But you could see the cracks in her carefully made mask. She was, and will always be, your sister. The one you ran away for. The one you left your family for. The one you used to laugh and cry with. Your flesh and blood. The last person who understood what it was like to lose both your parents. 

The last person who remembered your father’s kind eyes and your mom’s smile. 

“If you want Neokma’s help, you have it.” 

Kiyoko nodded. “Thank you.” 

Kuroo looked between the two of you, surprised that the conversation didn’t end with bloodshed. He didn’t complain though. “What’s the first move then?” 

“First we need to figure out if it’s actually Aoba Johsai,” you said, and then turned to face Kiyoko, “you should call your members and get everything in order.”

Kiyoko furrowed her eyebrows. She was probably used to giving the orders rather than receiving them and you sighed lightly in relief when she met your eyes and walked away. 

Kuroo leaned in closer to you. “What happens if it’s them?” 

You closed your eyes and then grinned. “Then we prepare for war.” 

“Going somewhere?” You asked, leaning against the door frame. 

Kiyoko hesitated for the gun on the desk. She cocked her head to the side and straightened her back. Sliding the gun into the holster, Kiyoko walked through the door past you. 

Quickly, you turned around, right on her heels. You grabbed her arm and held her back. “Where are you going?” 

She ripped out of your grasp. “We know officially that it’s actually Aoba Johsai and they are going to bleed for taking them away. I’m going to get my family back. ” 

You winced. In a way, Karasuno was her family, like how Neokma was yours, but that didn’t change the fact that Kiyoko was your family too. You knew it, and you wished she did too. 

“We have a plan. Kuroo’s rounding everyone up. We’ll get them back,” you said. 

“It’s not going to work.” 

You scoffed. “You agreed to the plan. It’s going to work.” 

Kiyoko didn’t answer, but you already knew. 

“You only agreed so that the meeting would be over,” you sighed. “You're going to go after them by yourself all along.” 

You took a step closer to her and reached out for her arm, but decided against it. 

“They look horrible,” Kiyoko whispered. “Karasuno. They put on a brave face because we’re in company, but I could see it on their faces, in their eyes, they...they miss them. Even though I make the final say, Dachi is their leader and I know it, they listen to him. Koushi too. If Karasuno went into this alone, we’d lose.” 

“Karasuno might be at a low now,” you said, checking to see if you remembered your gun. You smiled slightly when you felt its weight at your side. “They might be sad and have a clouded mind, but they’re probably angry too.” 

Kiyoko looked up. 

“If they’re angry, well, then they’ll fight like they have nothing to lose and that’s powerful. Dangerous, even.” 

You reached out for her arm, grabbing it lightly this time. “That doesn’t exclude you either. No matter how angry or sad you are, you can’t risk being reckless. You are their leader, Kiyoko, if something happens to you then Karasuno will fall apart for sure, left without any type of leadership. So, you either let me come with you, or you don’t do anything at all and follow our plan. I’d suggest the latter, but I know better than that, I know you better than that.” 

Kiyoko sighed and grabbed your arm back, giving you a hint of a smile. “Like old times,” she whispered.

“We need some sort of plan though,” you reasoned, enjoying the sight of Kiyoko’s sisterly smile, one that you haven’t seen for a long time. “Even if we go in guns blazing, we’d be taken down in a second. Maybe less depending on who we run into. We should let Kuroo know too…” 

Kiyoko smirked. “I’ve got a plan.” 

“You know,” you said, playing with the seatbelt on the passenger side of the car, “your plan might work. But it’s extremely dangerous and idiotic. I don’t know if I should be proud or get a brain scan for going along with it.” 

The corners of Kiyoko’s lips curled up. “You should be proud. It’ll work better than the other one.” 

You glared at her. “And you couldn’t have mentioned it during the three hour long meeting we had to come up with a plan.” 

She shrugged. “It was nice to hear all the ideas that I knew wouldn’t work.” 

You rolled your eyes.

“You know what to do right?” 

“Yes,” you said. “Are you sure though? It could go really bad from the very beginning and we’re going to need a shit ton of luck.” 

Kiyoko shook her head and slowed down the car. She pulled across the street from Aoba Johsai’s headquarters, the windows were boarded up from the outside and a braided metal fence went around the perimeter. To anyone else, it would just look like an abandoned building, but both you and Kiyoko knew what hid behind the old brick walls. 

There weren’t any members of Aoba Johsai lurking outside the building. You were a bit skeptical. All leaders liked to know when people from other gangs entered their territory. Especially if those people were the leaders of other gang groups. They probably knew that you were there, they just didn’t show or say anything. A part of their own plan. 

“It’ll work because we will make it.” She unbuckled her seat belt and turned the car off but left the keys in the ignition. “Everything will be fine.” 

She took a deep breath and then gave you a firm nod. “Wait five minutes. Remember the plan.” 

You nodded back. “Good luck...and stay as safe as you can.” 

Your eyes followed as Kiyoko walked into front of the car and jogged lightly around the corner to the entrance of the building. You swallowed and closed your eyes. It’ll work.

The five minutes that lasted hours came anyways. 

You opened the car door and walked the path that Kiyoko did, hoping for the best, but expecting and preparing for the worst. As you turned the corner, Kuroo’s words flashed across your mind. 

“Aoba Johsai has a lot of problems. They think they’re better than everyone else, so they let their guard down, especially when it comes down to the new members. They get put on patrol, guarding, and become runners even though high ranking members should still rotate those jobs. They don’t. So, rely on that. Rely on their ego and pride.” 

He was right. 

By the time you reached the outer door where Kiyoko should be, she was still there and not dead already. The guard standing there had his gun pointed to her, but he was shaking ever so slightly. Kiyoko had her hands up lazily and her gun was on the floor in front of her. 

You undid your own gun from the holster and aimed it up. “Hey!” 

He jumped and aimed his gun towards you and then back to Kiyoko, afraid of both of you. Kiyoko reached down to her gun. The man jumped back and pulled the trigger. 

An echoing bang shot through the air as Kiyoko dropped to the floor. 

You levelled your gun and shot him in the leg.

He fell face first next to Kiyoko and gave a grunted scream. 

The door was still opened, anyone who was close enough to hear anything inside would. And if they did then you knew you were going to be surrounded by people in no time. 

You rushed over to Kiyoko and turned her over. She smirked and grimaced at you when you turned her over, keycard in hand. You held your hand to her leg to stop the fresh blood. Her leg was bleeding, but the shot was only an inch in and it went through her leg. 

She was okay. 

You heard footsteps coming from inside the building. You grabbed her arm and pulled her up. “You need to go. Now!” 

“An hour,” she whispered and shoved the key card into your hand. She glared at the person whimpering on the ground and whispered, “Lazy shot.” You stuffed it in a secret pocket that you put in last night in case this would happen. Kiyoko leaped away and rounded the corner as a person pushed through the door and held up their gun. 

You put up your hands and tried to look as neutral as possible. The person served the scene, and gripped his gun tighter when he saw you. 

With your hands still up, you pointed at the boy on the ground holding his leg. “He started it.” 

Daichi couldn’t hear clearly through his left ear and his chest hurt. There was a slight ringing in it, but otherwise, he felt okay. He couldn’t tell how long they’ve been down here. It was definitely a basement and there were no windows in the room they were given, the only light came from the light bulb on the ceiling. It was too tall to reach even if they stood on the cot and they tried. Daichi expected that— it was a holding cell after all — they couldn’t take the chance that they could get any weapons. Even if that weapon was a broken lightbulb. 

There was a separate door that led to a bathroom and a single cot pushed into the corner of the room. Two chairs were in the middle of the room facing each other, but other than that there was nothing. Both the chairs and the cot were bolted to the ground. 

He guessed that Aoba Johsai didn’t keep many captivities, let alone two at the same time. The people who used to be in the room probably didn’t stay for long. He didn’t even want to think about what the chairs were for. 

Sugawara took the cot today. He was a little bit worse. He had a cut on his lip and had a couple of bruises around his upper arm and stomach. Sugawara took most of the hits. They probably thought he couldn’t take it. He wasn’t as built as Daichi, but they didn’t know Sugawara like he did. 

He was a fighter. 

When they first got here, they were stalled in an interrogation that didn’t mean anything. They asked things that they knew Daichi and Sugawara couldn’t answer – wouldn’t answer. They wanted to cause them some pain even if they knew they wouldn’t get anything from it. 

Daichi glared at the door, specifically the key card reader that laid on the side of it. They put it there to mock them, saying: look at you, the person who can’t get out. If only you had a piece of plastic. 

He kept busy listening to the guards that stood patrolled the hallways. They came around every hour or so. The only thing that was persistent was the meal times. From what he could tell, they brought meals around the same time every day and it was always the same thing, just enough for two people. 

He heard something outside the door. Multiple pairs of feet rushing towards the door. 

It opened with a loud creak, waking up Sugawara and they threw someone in. 

You hit the ground hard, but it didn’t hurt as much the pain in your side. The person who found you next to the guard outside elbowed you in the ribs, making you sink to your knees. The pain wasn’t the worst you’ve ever felt but it still hurt like hell. 

You curled into a small ball and groaned, holding your side. 

“(Y/N)?” 

A person rushed to your side. The room was dimly lit, the once source was a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. You looked up to see Sawamura. He grabbed your arm lightly and pulled you up. Sugawara was behind him half sitting up on the cot. His eyes were tired but alert. 

“Hey,” you winced. 

“What are you doing here?” Sugawara swung his legs over the edge of the cot and walked over to you. 

You didn’t answer and slowly limped to the cot and laid down. You could still feel the warmth from when Sugawara was lying down. You turned to face them, both had a mixed expression of relief and worry. 

“It’s a part of the plan, Daichi,” you whispered. 

Daichi widened his eyes and then quickly shifted back to a neutral face. There could be cameras anywhere in the room. He kept his voice low as he said, “A plan? Like to escape?” 

You nodded and then cringed when the action sent new pain to your side. “I’ll tell you in a second.” 

Sugawara smiled and sat beside Daichi who was sitting on the ground beside your bed. The two boys were patient. You took a deep breath and tried to tell yourself that the pain you were feeling would only last a little while longer. You didn’t think it was broken, but you weren’t a doctor, how would you know? 

You allowed yourself a second to hope, telling yourself that Kiyoko made it back to Nekoma and that they’d be here in an hour to finish what Aoba Johsai started. Her leg didn’t seem too serious, but you didn’t think that she’d be here when the heavy gunfire would start.  

“Cameras?” You keep your voice low. The holding cells at Neokma and Karasuno had them, but you weren’t sure if the ones at Aoba Johsai did. They didn’t seem to care about who was here and probably wouldn’t have had a thought about it. 

Sugawara shook his head. “We checked. There aren’t any visible ones but I don’t think we should take the chance. Especially if the information you’re going to give us is...sensitive.” 

You frowned. “It’s not like we could all go into the bathroom to talk. I agree about the cameras, but I doubt there’s any of them in there.” 

Daichi blinked. “That could work.” 

“I was joking.” 

“I know,” Daichi said quickly, “but you're right. There probably aren’t any cameras there and if there are any here then they’d probably just think that we’re either...odd or not see anything at all.” 

“Or they could see all of us go into the bathroom, come here and kill us,” you deadpanned. 

“Let’s just try,” Sugawara said. 

They were too optimistic. You looked between the two of them, both had hints of smiles on their faces that made you want to shout at them, but there were bigger things at hand. You’d have to tell them the plan before the other came or else things could end badly if they weren’t informed. 

“Fine.” 

You pushed yourself off the bed ignoring the pain in your side and went to the bathroom. They followed closely behind making sure that you didn’t fall or hurt yourself further. You hated it. You’ve stopped relying on people since you left Karasuno and the only other person who you truly trusted with work was Kuroo. Kiyoko came in at second because she was your sister. She knew you, but it was hard to tell where she stood sometimes. Most of your conversations ended with fights, so it was hard to believe whether or not your sisterly bond had fully returned within the days that you two weren’t at each other’s throats. 

The first thing you learned when you entered Nekoma was how to be self reliant. 

The bathroom was small, barely enough to fit two people. It would be a tight squeeze. You went and sat on the edge of the bathtub, that was clearly unused. Daichi came in after taking a spot beside you and Sugawara closed the door behind him and leaned against it. 

“So the plan?” Sugawara asked. His voice was still low, but clearer than in the room. 

“The first thing you need to know,” you started, “is that we only have an hour before they come for us.” 

Sugawara nodded. “So getting captured was a part of the plan?” 

“Yes. I came here with Kiyoko, it was her plan. She was actually supposed to be the one who came here, but it was always going to be a 50/50 shot. We knew from Kuroo that Aoba Johsai relied on lower level members to guard doors, so we expected that whoever we were going to run into would be a little shaky. We didn’t know he was going to be...trigger happy.” 

Daichi flinched. “Is Kiyoko okay?” 

You nodded quickly. “She’s fine. Got shot in the leg, but alive last time I saw her.” 

Both sighed in relief. 

“We thought that he would shoot at me, but I guess he just shot who he thought he could hit. We got what we needed though.” You put your hand to your pocket and pulled out the key card. “They are so stupid to have a key card reader on the inside of the holding cell.” 

The genuine smile returned to their faces and this time you were happy to see them.

Any minute now. 

None of you were sure of what you were supposed to wait for. An explosion? Gunfire? The one thing that you knew for sure was that you’d know it when it happened. 

“(Y/N)?” Sugawara asked. 

You snapped out of your thoughts and turned to face him. Even though the question was directed to you, it caught Daichi’s attention too. 

You hummed in response, not taking your eyes off of the door. 

“Why are you...Why do you…?” 

You laughed. “I assume that there is an end to those questions.”

“You don’t seem to like us that much,” Sugawara said, “why?” 

“Is now a good time to talk about that?” 

Sugawara shrugged. “Probably not, but there are never good times. Not with what all of us do for a living. This is a convenient time, all we’re doing is waiting. Also, I’m curious. ”

You glanced between the two of them. “It’s not like I hate the two of you...you just remind me of someone I’d rather not remember.” 

“Who?” Daichi asked. 

You looked away from them. “My mom.” 

The gunfire echoed the hallways. 

It started. 

In no time, the three of you held guns in your hands. 

Another hiccup in the plan: even though Kuroo’s intel about Aoba Johsai has been correct so far, he didn’t know where the holding cells would be. They couldn’t wait for someone to find them, so they would have to meet up with Karasuno and Neokma by yourselves. 

There were dead or injured bodies every turn you took and every stairwell you went up, but you wouldn’t stop until you saw Kuroo or another high ranking member of Neokma. However, Daichi and Sugawara quickly found the members of Karasuno. 

A short orange hair boy ran up to them with a smile on his face, droplets of blood decorated his right cheek. 

“Have you seen Kuroo?” 

The orange hair boy’s eyes snapped to yours. He straightened his spine and dropped his smile. Sugawara smiled at him while Daichi covered his mouth to stiffen a laugh. 

“No,” he said. “Neokma took the other side of the building.” 

You laughed a little too at his formalness. “Okay.” You pointed to both Daichi and Sugawara. “Get them out of here. They have some minor injuries which could turn out to be more, get someone to see them.” 

He nodded and grabbed both of their arms. “Of course.” 

Daichi pulled his arm back. “Where are you going?” 

You raised your gun and shot behind Daichi. Their heads turned as a body dropped behind them. “I’m going to find Kuroo. I’m not leaving until he does.” 

Sugawara shook his head. “You’re injured too. You could barely stand when they threw you into the cell. Hinata should take us all back.” 

“You’re injured?” Hinata said. He quickly roamed you to find your hand clutching to your side. 

“Yes, but it’s fine. I’ve had worse and I don’t want to leave Kuroo here. I need to tell him something and I can’t if I die within the next couple of seconds. I can clearly walk too.” 

“I understand that,” Daichi said, looking over his shoulder in case anyone decided to shoot at the four of you. “But you’re their leader. It’s important for you to be here but it’s more important that you stay alive so that you can be there for the aftermath.” 

He sounded like you when you were speaking to Kiyoko in the car. 

“He’ll be fine,” Hinata added. “You know Kruoo, he can handle himself. The whole point of this is to get everyone out safely as possible and that won’t happen if we’re all dead.” 

You bit your tongue. “Fine.”

Hinata nodded and turned, in what you could assume, was the direction he came in. You hated being in hallways. It was open ended and anyone could come from either direction. Together you devised a system, Hinata and Daichi lead with their guns raised and walking to an exit while you and Sugawara walked backwards, securing both sides. 

You were almost there. The pan in your side was lessening but still present. 

A strange mix of calmness and panic coursed through your body as you saw the influx of Aoba Johsai members flood your vision. Sugawara tightened beside you and nudged Daichi in the back. 

You were an excellent shot, but even you knew that when it came to gunfights, the number of people mattered. 

You couldn’t count how many people you shot. All you knew was that you ran out of bullets faster than the others. You quickly searched for another gun and leaned down to grab one from a body off the ground. 

You heard another gunfire. You raised the gun and shot them with the bullet landing square in his chest. 

Someone grabbed your hand and started dragging you. You let them as you fired your gun time after time, slowly wilting down the people who stood in your way. They pushed you out the door and slammed it shut. You stumbled as the person let go of you.

Daichi looked around and a broken pipe caught his eye. He picked it up and shoved it through the handle, scratching the door closed. 

“Everyone good?” Daichi asked, surveying everyone. 

Sugawara nodded along with Hinata. You were about to join them when a sharp pain burst to your side. You gasped and bent down, hand to the pain. 

“(Y/N)?” 

You looked up to them slowly approaching you. You pulled your hand away and held it in front of you. Your hand was painted deep with dark red blood. 

You fell to your knees. 

Kiyoko was lying in the bed beside yours. Your eyes blinked as they met hers. Her leg was elevated up in a sling that was attached to the ceiling and her hands held brown folders in them. Relief flooded through you when you saw that she was alive. You never thought that she was dead, but it was good reassurance that she was alive. 

“Kiyoko?” 

She smiled at you and placed the papers down. “Hey, (Y/N).” 

“What happened?” You tried to sit up but flinched at the new pain at your side. 

Kiyoko grimaced. “You were shot near the ribs. You shouldn’t move either. It’ll hurt for a bit.” 

You nodded weakly and rubbed your eyes. 

“(Y/N)?” 

Your eyes moved to meet her again, careful not to move your body, but your eyes strayed as your eyes adjusted to the light. It was the hospital wing at Karasuno. You swallowed, it was exactly the same as the last time you saw it. 

“Yeah?”

She shifted in her bed to face you. “You know how you asked me how mom and dad died? I got the file on them and it doesn’t make any sense. And honestly, I don’t believe anything that grandfather said in the reports. It all seems...too clean. Do...Do you know how they died?” 

You looked away from her. You didn’t like to think about your parents. You loved them deeply, but the thought of them only made you realize how you left them, how you didn’t get to say goodbye to them. 

“When I joined Neokma,” you started, picking at your hand, “and heard that they died, I was heartbroken. But...But I knew it wasn’t a coincidence. I’m not sure how it was on the Karasuno side, but there were tons of rumours saying that our grandfather killed them.” 

Kiyoko closed her eyes. “I didn’t think they were true.”

“I couldn’t find out the truth for myself because that would mean going back to Karasuno territory and I couldn’t. I had Kuroo find out if it was true and when he told it was...I killed our grandfather.” 

Kiyoko put a hand to her cheek, wiping it dry. “Is that why you left?” 

You shuddered. “Kind of? Our parents died so soon after I left, I don’t think they got the chance to tell you how it happened, but I left because of you.” 

Kiyoko snapped her head up. “(Y/N), I’m —” 

“Let me finish,” you interrupted, “I left because at Karasuno they have this tradition: if you’re siblings, whoever doesn’t become leader gets killed. The first kill of the official leader. I overheard mom and dad talking about it saying that I was in the lead and I knew that I couldn’t kill you, Kiyoko. I couldn’t. After that, I tried to do everything to show that I wouldn’t be a good leader, failing all the tests and things they put us through but it didn’t work. 

“I left just before they would decide who would become the next leader. I couldn’t kill you. I don’t know if you could have at the time, but even if you did, I don’t know if you could live with yourself after. I didn’t want you to put that on you either.” 

Kiyoko looked away from you. After a moment, she said, “I wouldn’t have been able to do it either…” 

You laughed a little, trying to ease up the tension in the air. “That’s good to know.” 

“You could have told me,” she whispered. “I could have helped you. We could have found a way out.”

You shook your head. “Mom and dad tried everything already by the time I found out. We couldn’t have done anything and if we outright refuse to do it, our grandfather would probably have killed us both on the spot.” 

Kiyoko nodded meekly. “I miss them.” 

“I miss them too.” 

Silence hung in the air, a comfortable one. 

“I actually have something to tell you,” you said, breaking the calmness. Carefully, you sat yourself up on the bed, only jerking your head slightly when the pain seeped through. “I think I want to step down as leader of Neokma.” 

“What?” Kiyoko said. “But—But the alliance.” 

You laughed. “I don’t think that Kuroo would be against the alliance between Karasuno and Neokma.” 

Kiyoko smiled and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “You’re making Kuroo the next leader?” 

“Yeah. I think everyone knows that he’s the real leader.” 

“That’s a good choice.” 

“Also, I was hoping to maybe do something in between.” 

Kiyoko furrowed her eyebrow. “In between?” 

“I don’t want to be a leader,” you smiled, “I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to be one. I can’t leave Neokma fully, they’re my family, but you are too. Karasuno is too. I know how things work on both sides, so maybe I could be like a diplomat or something. Help keep the alliance in place and things along the lines of that.” 

Kiyoko grinned. “I could make that work.” 

It wasn’t long before the entire hospital room was filled with people from both Neokma and Karasuno. You had called a meeting despite the very informal setting. The pain in your side still prevented you from moving, so it was easier having everyone come to you. 

“I have an announcement,” you said, letting your voice carry across the room. Everyone turned their head to you. “First, I want to say thank you to everyone who helped get Daichi, Sugawara and, kind of, me back from Aoba Johsai and from what I heard from Kruoo, they won’t be a big problem anymore. The main thing I wanted to tell you all is that from this point on, I will no longer be the leader of Nekoma. I am stepping down.” 

The Nekoma side of the room erupted with confusion. 

“Quiet down please,” you said. You looked around the room smiling at the people looking back at you. “I also want to appoint the new leader, if he’d like the job.” 

Your eyes landed one Kuroo and grinned at him. “Kuroo?” 

The corners of his lips curled up to a beaming smile. He took a step closer to you and gave you a mocking deep bow before returning your gaze. “It’ll be my honour to look after these idiots.” 

The crowd cheered him.

“What will you do?” Kuroo asked once it died down. 

“She’ll be working with us,” Kiyoko answered for you. “A person who knows both Neokma and Karasuno to help with the alliance and any other problems. If you still wanted to do that to align yourself with Karasuno.” 

Kuroo smirked and turned to face you. “Does that mean you’ll be answering my orders?” 

“In your dreams.”

Once Kiyoko left the Hospital wing with a clean bill of health, Daichi and Sugawara came to visit you. You were surprised but didn’t complain. 

“Feeling better?” Sugawara asked. 

“Better than when I got shot,” you said. “It still hurts a bit, but what’s life without a little bit of pain?” 

Daichi laughed. “Does this mean you’re staying at Karasuno?” 

You shrugged. “Kind of. I’ll be going back and forth I imagine. Kuroo already asked me if I could give him a few pointers of being a leader.” 

“That good. We actually wanted to tell you something,” Sugawara said. 

“The both of you?” 

Sugawara nodded. “First, I wanted to say that you should call me Koushi…if you want too of course.” 

You smiled. 

“Second,” he continued, “we’re not going to pretend that we know what your life is. We barely know you aside from being the leader of Neokma.” 

“Former leader,” you corrected. 

Daichi smiled. “But now that you’re going to spend more time at Karasuno...We both wish you’d see us more than a ghost of your mom.” 

You swallowed. This definitely wasn’t how you thought the day would end. 

“My mom...she was the loveliest person in the world. She’d wake me up smiling and was always a little too optimistic.” You smiled at the thought of her. You shook it out of your thoughts and held your head up high, she would have to wait. “Neither of you are the ghost of my mom, she already follows me around. When people like my mom die, when people like the both of you die, it leaves a scar with the rest and I don’t want that to happen. I don’t want that for Kiyoko, the members of Karasuno, and for me.” 

Koushi and Daichi’s gazes soften. 

“It might tell a little time,” you continued, “but I’ll try and we can go from there.” 

They shared a look between the two of them and smiled back at you. 

“That’s all we can ever ask for.” 

THE END. 

So...first….sorry that this is late...again. 

Second...sorry that it’s not really romance heavy….that’s another thing I’ve been trying to work on. 

I kind of wanted to have a semi open ended thing and hopefully this isn’t too bad to wrap things up…

If I have any loose ending or ideas you want tied up, you can ask and I’ll answer :)

I hope you all enjoyed it. 

-Kiwi

Posted: 27/07/2020

[allywrites360]

Red Shoes - Analysis/Review

“You’re the most beautiful woman in the world… whether my eyes are open… or closed.” - Merlin

““But I’m still that Merlin inside.” - The one who grew. The one who changed, and learned to love himself and others for more than what’s on the outside. I know Snow is the main example of self love in this film, but Merlin provides a great example of this; something we don’t often see in male characters.”

--

So this film just released in North America, and I thought I’d share some thoughts and overall themes/metaphors from this film. But first, I’d just like to encourage you (if you haven't already) to go and support this film. It pretty inexpensive, and was made by an independent animation studio, which I think is absolutely amazing. Now onto the analysis!!

Love the concept of everyone being an adaptation of a fairytale character; adds to the society being shallow and appearance focus as a whole, as fairytales were traditionally focused on dichotomy and physical beauty.

The lighting, and really animation as a whole, is phenomenal for a film made by an independent studio. The shading and colour grading is a real standout, though. And the landscapes!! They feel really three dimensional, and gorgeous.

[ID - A shot of a sunrise, beautifully lit behind a belltower - End ID].

Scoring/motif for the main villain is amazing.

Introduction to the protagonist is really not setup well. Did she actually get sent away from the palace? How long was she gone? How desperate is she to save her father? All of these questions are left unanswered, and no prominent character traits are shown through her first scene. She could be clever? All she did was change her hiding spot, so even that’s a stretch.

I hate the king’s narration. The dialogue is choppy, and repetitive in a completely irrelevant way.

The lore around the tree is really unclear. Why haven’t the shoes worked for Regina? Why do they work for Snow? Will they not regrow?

Love the transition scene to the dwarfs; makes it feel as though they’re just been walking listlessly since the spell was cast. Which, y’know, more or less true.

[ID - A shot of the seven dwarfs walking together through the centre of a forest in midday, looking slightly dejected - End ID].

Love the fact the mirror points out that ‘wisdom’ and ‘kingdom’ don’t rhyme; I paused to point that out.

I will say that the action scenes are really well directed/choreographed. The camera flows really nicely, and always follows our protagonists (ooh, tying into the dichotomous nature of fairytales overall?), which makes the stakes and emotions feel higher/more personal.

The villain’s voice acting and dialogue is really sharp and entertaining. She feels like a real threat (and also uncannily similar to Gothel but).

Love the wooden front on their house disguised as a castle. Really nicely done metaphor for them clinging on to a cheap version of their pasts; refusing to move on, which is torn down when she arrives. Also ties in to the “what’s on the inside outweighs what’s one the outside” moral.

[ID - The seven dwarfs’ house, which is a cave, with a wooden cutout shaped and painted like a castle sitting in front of it to give the illusion of a grander living space - End ID].

Can I also say I love that her first reaction isn’t insanely positive to her new appearance? In general, she just notes there’s been a change, which is a really nice subversion of the ‘overweight people have to be unhappy at the outset’ trope.

Her facial expressions are also really animated, which is something I’ve always loved (see Ariel, Anastasia, etc.), especially her eyes. Really well designed. Actually, all the expressions suit the characters’ personalities really well. Great job, animation department!

The fact that all seven dwarfs are names after popular mythical characters is really inventive (much more so than simply naming them after a character trait), as well as having their diverse fighting style be built from that, which I loved. Could even be allusions, but I don’t know enough about the original stories to say.

Hate the electric guitar of Prince Average. Highlights how much he doesn’t belong in this movie. His name is horribly uncreative, and his pop culture references break the forth wall, and aren’t funny, as they aren’t used properly. With him as the involved antagonist for most of the film, I can’t take the threat seriously. Other comic villains have been done so much better, such as Prince Charming from Shrek. The only valid line he has is about ‘dwarfs’ vs. ‘dwarves’; I never know which to use. “Finally, the big guns, thank you!” One more fourth wall break from this man I swear.

Love the added detail of the shoes not being able to be removed once you place value on the beauty they give. It’s hard to let go of that temptation; and if you don’t, you won’t be seen as your true self. It also highlights how she loves herself at the outbreak of the movie, and is therefore able to remove them freely. Also gets rid of the the deus ex machina of her shoes coming off freely in the water.

Wish we could’ve seen her doubt grow as she realizes they wouldn’t have helped her in her original form. Feels like we were a bit disconnected from her emotions. Which might not be a bad thing… if we assume Merlin in the protagonist.

Nice foreshadowing to her father being the bunny; if you know to look for it.

References such as ‘#blessed’, or ‘Pablo Picasso’, don’t work in the slightest. They serve no purpose, and aren’t funny simply because most would recognize them.

Normally I would make a note about Merlin and Snow having really standard, basic designs, but one, this animation studio is small, and on limited resources, and two, it, again, relates back to the shallow, uninteresting societal expectation of beauty that refuses to be unique.

Ahh, nice that apples are what trip the guards up in the chase scene through the market. Symbolic.

Love that she’s willing to defend the dwarfs even when she realizes they won’t help her in her original form. Again, wish we could’ve seen her emotions pertaining to that a bit more, although the reflection shot in the mirror (reflected from the shot at the start of the scene) was nice. Speaking of that, the broken, fragment reflection of her ‘fake’ self, is beautiful, because it isn’t a representation of herself, however at the end of the scene, we see the reflection in the same manner, but with her original self, but due to newly inflicted self doubt, we get a split second of that reality being fragmented too.

[ID - Snow White frowning as she looks into a shattered mirror leaning against the wall of an alleyway in her society-dictated “beautiful” - End ID].

[ID - Snow White looking into the same mirror, frowning, and having removed the shoes, restoring her to her original appearance - End ID].

The three bears (I’m assuming an allusion to the Goldilocks mythos) don’t really serve any plot relevance… however they are cute, so make of their inclusion what you will.

Again, the scene where she exits the dwarfs’ home; it would’ve been great to see a shot of her internal conflict before she submits herself to giving up her freedom for Merlin and Arthur’s. Relating to that, I have noticed that the hostage situations have shockingly low stakes in this film. For instance, at the end, Merlin is simply held in a branch, and a second later, Snow is willing to give up her life to set him free.

The movie didn’t end up using this (which was a nice subversion of expectations), but if Merlin had used all his spells in the final battle, and needed just one more shot, it wouldn’t have been a deus ex machina, because we establish previously he has the one Snow gave him for luck. I assumed it’d comeback again, but turns out they just used it as a symbol (for having the flower, a symbol of outside beauty, float out of his hand), for him letting go of his shallow mindset.

[ID - Snow White (wearing the shoes which change her appearance) smiles at Merlin, in his dwarf form. In his hand there’s a paper flower she folded from one of his spells - End ID].

Really love the joke about the mirror being hurt by smoke. Get it? Smoke and mirrors? Now that reference is funny; and also ties into the theme of false fronts/illusions. But not gonna lie, all that was an afterthought. It genuinely made me laugh.

Love that they rebuild the house too. It’s not beautiful, at least in a traditional sense. It’s cracked, uneven, but personal to them; they did it as a family. I’ll give the writers credit for so fully entrenching the theme into every frame and action. Nothing is meaningless in this film. Well, at least surrounding the protagonists.

Ooh, ooh, I could forgive the use of pop as their love motif if at the end, when there are no facades, it’s replaced by original scoring. I don’t remember that scene in all that much detail though.

The tree thing is… strange, I’ll admit, but considering Regina puts all her stock in the beauty which comes from the magic tree, it makes sense it’d be rooted into her magic in some way. The apple details are cool (notches shaped like seeds on the trunks), if nothing else, considering the scene with the three attacking is not investing the slightest, beyond some inventive attacks from Merlin (the action and attacks surrounding him aren’t executed all that poorly).

The directing in general is phenomenal in this movie; which is something I’ve been trying to put a bit more attention on lately.

Love small details like Merlin holding his back after the fight, circling back once again to the fact these characters are more similar than they realize (if you remember, that’s what she used as a cover when she first woke up).

[ID - A shot of Merlin running, pressing a hand against his back as he does so - End ID].

Okay, I can suspend my disbelief for a lot of things in this movie, but when Snow dives into the lake, that surface tension would’ve seriously hurt her. If even some waves would’ve been added, it would’ve not only added suspense to the scene, but made it a bit more grounded as well.

“Who do you like more, Snow White or Red Shoes?” “Easy, it’s Red Shoes.” “Who does Red Shoes love more?” “Easy, it’s me. Wait… no. It’s you.” That line is by far my favourite from the film. I love that it shows his guilt. She’s chosen to love him despite his appearance, but he won’t do the same for her. And now he has to look in the mirror at that ugly part of his personality.

[ID - At night, Merlin in his dwarf form stands beside Merlin in his human form. The dwarf version of him looks irritated as he looks up - End ID].

(Assuming Merlin named the rabbit, and if I’m being honest I didn’t pay attention to that) It’s sorta fitting to his character that he named it ‘Long Ears’ - a notably physical attribute.

While I do like that, just because the climax called for it, the sword didn’t suddenly lift from the stone, I really dislike that it was broken out by sheer force; which goes goes against the entire magic system/point of the sword and who gets to hold it.

Kronk as the magic mirror is hilarious. I want to credit the screenwriters for his lines… but I have a strong feeling it was mostly improv. Well done whoever is to credit for that.

Now this action scene, with Merlin being attacked by the tree roots, is insanely well done. For maybe the first time in this movie, I feel the suspense I’m intended to, and the setup and just character movement in general is really inventive. You feel his emotions and breath in this scene, which takes serious talent.

“How could she possibly want to save you more than she wants to be beautiful? Did you cast a spell?” - On a related note, I’m proud of this movie for not falling into the traditional ‘misunderstanding breaks up characters before the final battle’ (they technically do split up, but it’s the fault of Merlin’s unresolved selfish intentions rather than a petty matter) through Snow seeing the love spell, and assuming the worst even though Merlin never uses it.

The vines could be a metaphor as well; in this battle, they’re the shallow desires holding him back, while he, with the assistance of others, has to break his own way out (as shown by him using his lighting to crack a small hole in the doors (or exit) of the room.

[ID - Merlin is running towards the “camera”, however, he looks surprised as a vine grabs his waist, and attempts to drag him back into the castle - End ID].

“I’m sorry, Snow White.” That’s the first time he uses her name; and he does it mentally; in a voiceover. It isn’t to impress her, or win a competition. It’s how he truly sees her now. Also, so beautiful how his motives go from being self centred, to focused on her; he changed because of her influence. It’s been done before, but that doesn’t make it any less meaningful here.

“You’re the most beautiful woman in the world… whether my eyes are open… or closed.” That wasn’t his final line (he survives), but if it was… that would’ve been so powerful. Still is, just in a different way.

“I kinda liked the short and green Merlin.” “But I’m still that Merlin inside.” - The one who grew. The one who changed, and learned to love himself and others for more than what’s on the outside. I know Snow is the main example of self love in this film, but Merlin provides a great example of this; something we don’t often see in male characters.

And I loved that it was a hug immediately after his spell is broken. He isn’t trying to gain anything, he’s just happy to be with her, which is super romantic. 

[ID - Both now restored to their original forms, Merlin and Snow White sit on the ground just outside the palace hugging each other, both smiling with their eyes shut. The king, and a few of the dwarfs stand in the background - End ID].

Onto a few of my favourite lines;

“I was worried about you!” “I was worried about me too. But- but mostly you!”

“If you could see the real me…” “I think I can see the real you… eyes open or closed, I still see Merlin.” What a great line. What a great theme. You don’t need to know the facts about someone, or see their original appearance, to know who they are. And I think that’s beautiful.

“Someone you’l be proud to be seen with.” “I think you’re right.”

“I thought that we were both under the same spell… but I was wrong.”

“He likes you more than he likes me,” as she looks down at the shoes.

“Who do you like more, Snow White or Red Shoes?” “Easy, it’s Red Shoes.” “Who does Red Shoes love more?” “Easy, it’s me. Wait… no. It’s you.”

“How could she possibly want to save you more than she wants to be beautiful? Did you cast a spell?”

“I’ve never been so glad to be chubby and green again.” - Because it means he’s not alone.

“I’m sorry, Snow White.” 

“You’re the most beautiful woman in the world… whether my eyes are open… or closed.”

“I kinda liked the short and green Merlin.” “But I’m still that Merlin inside.” 

I’ll just say, as an ending thought, that the 2D animation of their wedding is adorable.

Overall, I’d give it 8/10. Nothing phenomenal that was entirely groundbreaking, but there’s a lot of heart to be shown here, with some truly amazing characters, even if some of their universe isn’t all that intriguing. Would highly recommend.

[doom-dreaming]

“Dear Digital Diary”

I finally finished it! So this is my fic for @shanblackwood - as part of a trade (that beautiful bloody monstery boy from a while back). It got much longer than I was expecting, so most of it is under the cut. There’s a lot of pining, a little bit of smut, and copious amounts of fluff. (I hope it’s everything you wanted!!)

(Read it on Ao3 here!)

- - - - - - - - - -

“Oh fuck, we’re gonna have to retake that—” He grins briefly at the camera, all sharp white teeth and sparkling eyes, before ducking his head, laughing.

Your heart skips a beat. You rewind. Pause. It feels like that smile is for you. Like those pale blue eyes are looking directly into yours. You take a screenshot. It joins the other thousands in the folder labeled ‘outtakes.’ You think it sounded innocuous enough.

Not that either of them ever go through your files—you’re one of the few people they trust. They have no reason not to. You’re just the video editor, after all. They’re the faces on the screen. They’re the voices on the radio. You’re not much more than a useful tool to them.

You press play. “—have to retake that—” A few keystrokes, a few clicks, remove the clip from the rest of the recording. ‘>DELETE or SAVE?’ the screen prompts.

Keystroke. >SAVE  Click.

- - - - - - - - - -

“How do you always manage to fuck these up?” Tyreen sounds incredulous, but not angry. She punches Troy’s arm and he jumps away with an exaggerated yelp, then smiles. It’s equal parts dazzling and dangerous.

Your heart does a little flip as you play it back in slow motion. >SAVE

The next one is Tyreen’s. She mispronounces a word. “What’s that about me fucking up?” Troy teases, repeating her slip-up in a mocking tone. “Shut it, asshole.” Again, not angry. Playful. He sticks out his tongue at her. Laughs through a grin.

You cut the footage. ‘>DELETE or SAVE?’ Your hand hovers over the keys. >DELETE Click. You attempt to distract yourself with the rest of the video. Anything to keep from thinking about that slick pink tongue on your neck, between your lips...between your thighs.

Three hours later, you pause with your cursor over the power menu. Instead, you nudge it toward the little trash icon. Click. Click. ‘RESTORE TO “outtakes”? >YES   NO’ Click.

- - - - - - - - - -

It’s late. Your work had been easy, for the most part. Just fixing pacing, sound and color correction, little things. The twins had stayed professional—well, as professional as they could be, which wasn’t saying much. But they’d gotten their point across with minimal mistakes.

All except for the few minutes before the cameras started rolling when Troy had decided to sing. You’d never heard it before—the song—but you rewound and replayed it so many times that you knew the words by the time you finally forced yourself to move on. After cutting and saving the clip, of course.

He hadn’t been trying to put on a show. He hadn’t even been particularly loud—you had to adjust the volume and bump down the ambient noise to even make out most of it—he was just...singing for the sake of it. Fixing his hair, his eyeliner… ...singing. The usual frantic beat of your heart had settled into a gentle flutter—not the typical reaction when you saw him.

And now you’re leaned back in your chair, watching it again. His eyes are unfocused, distant, but not troubled. He seems calm. Content. That cloying warmth is wrapping itself around your heart again. You find yourself wishing you could touch him. You want to reach through the screen and run your hand through his hair. Trace his jawline. Kiss him. You want to feel him murmuring those lyrics against your lips, humming into your mouth—

You shove your chair away from your desk. Run your hands through your hair. Sigh and close your eyes and shake your head. You can’t do this. You absolutely can’t let yourself feel this. Sooner or later, it’ll start affecting your work, and if you give anything less than what the twins expect—if you’re not useful anymore—

You stand. Close the video. Turn off your monitor. Go to bed. But not even sleep lets you escape from visions of his hands on your body, his mouth on your neck, his whispered words in your ear.

- - - - - - - - - -

You wake the next morning to the insistent ‘ping’ of your ECHOcomm. More work. Well, that’s a good sign.

Your breath stops—no, it feels more like it’s punched out of you—when you see the name of the sender. That single, simple, four-letter name. Troy. Troy Calypso. You hate the way your fingers shake as you open the message. It’s semi-formal, all business, a simple request for more editing. He’s attached several files. More work, you reassure yourself. Just more work.

Still, it takes you the better part of an hour to finally sit down at your computer. But you do, armed with shitty coffee and a very fragile grasp on your willpower. Six videos. DOWNLOAD ALL? >YES   NO Click. You try not to watch the progress bar.

Why in the hell do you feel like this? Sure, you’d always had a tiny crush on Troy—but so did a lot of people. They’d be stupid not to, you think. He’s tall and toned and dangerous and confident...and those eyes... You sip at your coffee, grimacing against the half-burnt aftertaste. This crush is getting out of hand, that’s your problem. And it’d come completely out of left field, too. Day one was, ‘oh, he’s cute,’ and now… Well, now you were here. Working yourself into a frenzy over the sight of his goddamn name.

A chime sounds, announcing the download’s completion. You gulp down the rest of the coffee, crush the flimsy cup in your hand, and start clicking. You recognize the setup from the thumbnails alone. New gun reveals. Some of the tension drains from your body. These are something you can handle. Granted, they’re more candid than the usual broadcasts, but they’re still not as personal as you’d been expecting. You fight back the wave of disappointment, rationalizing it away. Telling yourself it’s for the best.

“Hey, ECHOnet, it’s your favorite twin, with another shipment of kickass guns! Tyreen had something “super important” to do—” You smile as he claws the quotation marks into the air. “—so you get me all to yourselves…” He winks. Your heart flips. “Okay! So let’s jump right in—” He makes a face. Cocks an eyebrow. “Jump? Dive? Feels like I need something better than “let’s get started”—” More air quotes. “That just sounds lame.” He sighs and rolls his eyes.

“Your voice makes anything sound good,” you murmur to the screen. He sits in silence for a minute, chewing on his bottom lip, looking lost. The urge to reach out and touch him comes back, even stronger than before. And then the vulnerability is gone, replaced by the cocky, carefully-crafted mask of charisma and confidence that everyone else assumes is normal. “Okay! So let’s break down these new guns! First up, we have…”

Pause. Rewind. Click, click, click. >SAVE Play.

The rest of the video goes more smoothly, as do the next three. Not much to cut, even less to keep for yourself. You continue to fight back the disappointment. Two left. Just two more and you can distract yourself for (hopefully) the rest of the day—

The fifth video catches you off guard. It’s...not a gun haul. It’s not set up in a studio. It’s dark, but there’s enough ambient light to make out shapes. It looks like it’s been filmed from a personal recorder and…

Troy’s face slides into the frame and he’s grinning, looking happier—and more devious—than you’ve ever seen. “Ty’s asleep…” It pans away, toward a vague shape across the dark room, before flipping back to Troy. You realize he’s the one filming it. “...and, uh...the new skag puppies are harmless right now, so…thought I’d play a little prank on her…” He creeps closer, quieter than you would’ve assumed, keeping the camera trained on the bed where Tyreen’s sleeping, clinging to a pillow and… You adjust the volume. ...yeah, she’s definitely snoring.

An odd feeling washes over you. For the first time, you feel as though you’re intruding into something you shouldn’t be seeing. The twins, your gods, are so...human. Granted, you’re smarter and saner than the majority of your peers—you know about sirens and relics and everything that could feasibly give them the illusion of divinity, but this still feels nigh-sacrilegious. He couldn’t have meant to send this…could he? You watch it anyway.

He holds up some sort of treat, then makes a show of placing it on the bed. After a few minutes, both the bed and Tyreen are practically covered and he’s retreating to the doorway, stifling involuntary laughter behind his free hand. You find yourself smiling along with him. “...gonna go release the hounds,” he announces as soon as he’s a safe distance down the hall, although the giggle that follows completely negates any sense of drama. Your stomach curls around itself in a funny twist.

The camera shakes horribly as he jogs across the compound, but you’re glad you don’t speed through it. “Goin’ to see the babies,” he sing-songs to himself once the skag pens start to come into focus. You swear your heart almost explodes. How the fuck is he...like this? Does anyone else see this, aside from Tyreen? Do they know their god is so...sweet?

He whistles as he approaches. The reaction is immediate. A litter of skag pups bowls out of the nearest den, tripping over each other and their own legs, yipping and growling. The camera dips—you assume Troy's kneeling. “Hey, killers...heh, yeah, hey…” He's laughing, scratching at their heads, letting them snap at his fingers. “Oh! You’re gettin’ big, Pepper. Yeah, not really the baby anymore, huh? Wanna go play with Ty? Yeah?” There’s a lower growl, somewhere offscreen. “Easy, big girl… I promise I’ll bring ‘em back.” With that reassurance, he opens the gate.

The remaining three minutes of footage go exactly as expected, in a flurry of hungry skag pups, laughter, cursing, and a few death threats from Tyreen. You watch, awestruck. They’re so playful, so normal. Again, so human. Innocent, almost. The video ends with a mad scramble for the recorder, from which Tyreen emerges victorious. The screen zaps to black, cutting her stream of half-sincere verbal abuse off mid-sentence.

You stare at the replay symbol, vaguely aware of your reflection in the monitor. They wouldn’t know if you kept a copy...would they? Click. Click. Click-click. You name the duplicate something inconspicuous. Not that they’ll go looking for it. ...but just in case.

Steeling yourself, though you’re not sure exactly what for, you click on the last video. The name doesn’t give anything away, none of them do—they’re all titled by filming date—and you can’t make anything out from the thumbnail, but you’re expecting another haul. Surely the personal recording was included by mistake— ...it’s some sort of reaction video. Troy’s own computer screen is the focus. His webcam feed is in the upper right corner.

“Probably gonna regret this…” he mutters. “But what the hell. Okay! The “horny for Troy” chat is officially open!” You pause. Rewind. No...you'd definitely heard him right the first time. “I want you to know you're all sluts.” He shoots a saccharine grin at his webcam. You feel the faintest twinge of guilt. “First question, here we go. ‘Starting with the obvious’—ooh, watch that confidence, fucker—’dom or sub?’ Okay, listen—” The smirk on his lips betrays his dramatic sigh. “These collars?” He yanks on the metal loop with one finger. “Not just for the aesthetic. But truthfully, I can do both. Next question.”

You fidget, acutely aware of how hot everything feels. Your head. Your hands. Your thighs. It's as if half the blood in your body rushed north and the other half rushed south. It's fluid, fiery, desperate. You toss your headphones onto the desk. Push your chair back. Rake your fingers through your hair.

You imagine they're his. Gripping your head as he kisses you, forcing his tongue between your lips, claiming you, marking you. You're mine, he'd growl. The words would rattle through your ribs, filling you up, making you believe them. And in that moment, they’d be true. Just you. Just him—

NO. You have to control yourself. It's not professional, it's not right. Whether or not he meant to send this doesn't matter. It doesn’t justify…

You glance back at the screen. You wish you hadn’t, because your fleeting fit of common sense dissipates as soon as you see the blush on Troy’s face. It’s deep red, beautiful against his skin, splashed across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. He’s laughing about something, reaching back to rub at his neck, looking down, long eyelashes fluttering almost shyly—

CLICK. That’s all it takes. A single, swift, definitive motion. The window closes. Your flustered reflection stares back at you. Your heavy pulse taunts you. Your arousal mocks you.

You ignore all of it. With more self-control than you've been able to manage recently, you load the edited videos onto a new drive. You'll deliver them yourself. Maybe that will keep the fantasies at bay for a while. Maybe.

- - - - - - - - - -

You find him in the antechamber of the throne room. Not the most private place, but maybe that's for the best. It was always funny to you, how your reactions mellowed when you were actually, physically close to him. It was a blessing, you supposed. You doubted you'd have a job if you turned into an incoherent, fumbling mess whenever you looked at him.

“You could have just sent them back,” he mutters, plucking the microdrives from your hands. “But whatever. Thanks.”

You nod, though he probably misses it as he turns to look back through the door to the throne room. Tyreen is readying for a hearing. You chew your lip, unsure how to broach the subject really on your mind. To hell with it. “Did you mean to send—?”

“Shit.” His focus returns to you. “You got more than the gun hauls, huh?”

“...yeah. I didn't do anything to them.” It isn't a lie. The original videos are still intact.

“But...you watched them?” One eyebrow quirks. He doesn't seem angry.

You nod. And take a risk. “They were kind of endearing.” You keep your completely unprofessional reactions to yourself.

He huffs a soft laugh. “Don’t hear that a lot.”

“Troy!” Tyreen’s voice barks from the throne room. It cuts into the air between the two of you. “C’mon!”

He rolls his eyes and pockets the microdrives. “Thanks again. Wish I could stick around to hear more of your compliments, but…” He jerks a thumb over his shoulder. “Godhood calls.”

His bootsteps fade, leaving you alone with your racing thoughts and deceptively-calm heartbeat.

- - - - - - - - - -

The rest of the day is uneventful, you busy yourself with software updates and routine server maintenance. It’s easy, menial work, but it’s enough to keep your thoughts from wandering too far in any direction. Maybe you’d been right, maybe seeing Troy in person had been enough to take the edge off—

Your ECHO pings again and you nearly jump out of your skin. Meet me in Studio B. Troy. You read it again. And again. And once more to be sure. And then you obey.

Your heartbeat isn’t so calm this time. What does he want? Had you made a mistake? Said something wrong?

The studio is dim when you arrive, just a few low lights flicked on behind the booth. Troy’s waiting, his feet kicked up on the mixing desk, fiddling with his ECHO. The door creaks as you enter. You cringe.

“That was fast.”

“An order’s an order.”

He watches you for a long moment, then hums. “I’m not blind, you know.”

“I—” What? You know that, what is he—?

“Or stupid.” He stands, faster and more fluidly than you’re anticipating. In a second, he’s right in front of you. “I know exactly how you feel when you’re around me.” His voice has dropped to a whisper and your stubborn, stupid, misbehaving heart— “I hear the way your pulse skyrockets when you think about what you want me to do to you.”

You blink. Swallow. Is this actually happening? Warm, human fingers press under your chin, tilting your head, forcing you to look at him. There’s mischief dancing behind his pale eyes.

“Stop trying to hide it.”

“I—is that an order?”

His razor-sharp grin is enough of an answer. And then it happens. Those coy lips are pressed to yours. That hot, pink tongue that had invaded so many of your wet dreams is now invading your mouth. He’s gripping the back of your neck. Tugging at your hair. Moaning and growling and laughing—and the sounds are bouncing around your ribcage.

The surrealism of it all flips an interesting switch in your mind. In all your daydreams, every fantasy, you’d assumed you’d be paralyzed with shock in a situation like this. Frozen in awe and disbelief. Pliable and soft in his hands. Instead? You go wild.

All your actions blur into a haze of sensations. His teeth on your neck, biting deep, drawing blood. Your hands running over the sleek lines of muscle that define his body. The jagged tearing of cloth as something is ripped off. His knee between your legs. The world spinning as you’re lifted and pushed onto your back. You hardly notice the jabs of the knobs and switches on the instrument panel beneath you—your legs are wrapped around his hips and you’re clinging to him with all the strength you can muster.

Frantic, desperate fingers tug at your belt, slide inside you, curl forward. Stars bloom behind your eyes. You moan. He growls. Panted, breathless exclamations ricochet between you. Names are chanted, recited like prayers.

You’re wide open and ready for him by the time he thrusts up into you. Quick, needy. You move with him effortlessly, rocking up to meet his hips, digging your fingers into his back. All you can do is feel. Feel his body, feel his lips, feel his breath whispering over your neck as he leans down, pushing deeper. And finally—

It breaks. Tension releases. Heavy breaths mingle with sighs and feather-soft kisses. Bliss.

- - - - - - - - - -

You wake up groggy. Sore. Not naked, but you may as well have been because you know this feeling. You’d definitely had a good, thorough fucking. There isn’t enough fog in your brain to make you forget who’d done it, either. He knew how you felt and he’d… God damn, had he done something about it. You swear you can still feel the echoes of your orgasm throbbing between your legs and you wonder how long ago—

A brisk knock at the door nearly kills the mood. You scramble from your bed, praying that none of the...evidence...of your rendezvous would be apparent to whoever— It’s Troy. Heat blossoms in your face.

There’s a lazy, satisfied smirk on his lips. “Sleep okay?”

Fuck it. “Would’ve been better with you.” You don’t even attempt to maintain a normal pulse rate anymore.

His eyebrows arch. His smirk grows wider, showing teeth. The faintest hint of crimson colors his cheekbones. “Is that an invitation?”

You shrug. Keep cool! “If you want.”

He nods. Bites his lip. “I’ll, uh...keep that in mind. But, here, in the meantime…” He pulls a microdrive from his pocket and holds it out to you. “It’s not work, it’s…you’ll see.”

You take it, letting your fingers brush his palm. You don’t miss the way his blush spreads. Still so goddamn cute.

“I’ve gotta go, but...watch that tonight. Tell me what you think.”

“An order?”

He winks.

- - - - - - - - - -

You settle into your chair and load the microdrive. One file. Click-click.

You recognize the setup immediately. It’s Studio B. And there’s Troy. You’re fully expecting what comes next, but you still groan when you hear the door creak open and you step into view of the camera. Of course he’d filmed it. You’re not surprised in the least.

It’s...comforting, though, how you can allow yourself to watch this without trying to school your emotions. He’d made this for you. He’d given you what you wanted. He knew. You don’t stop—you don’t have to stop—yourself from curling up in your chair, biting your knuckles, blushing, and… ...yes, you’ll admit it—touching yourself while you watch.

The two of you look good from this angle. You don’t remember pushing his coat off, but there it goes, crumpling to the floor, revealing his bare back as he lifts you onto the table. From here, you can see his cybernetic spinal support, glowing with dim red light when he dips down to grind against you. You want to touch it. You’re surprised you didn’t. Maybe next time...

For once, the fantasy of there even being a “next time” fills you with warm hope. Unless you’ve been reading him wrong, he seems...interested. It makes you giddy. It makes you feel as though all of your initial reactions are justified. Now that you know he’s reciprocating.

You feel like you’re dreaming, watching all of this play out on the screen. Those are your hands scratching red lines down his shoulder blades. Your limbs tangled with his, wrapped around him. Your body moving perfectly, fluidly, rhythmically beneath his. Your voice panting out his name like an absolution.

And his voice doing the same with yours.

You stay there, curled in your chair, one hand trailing idly over your thighs, long after the last of your cries have faded. After he cradled you to his chest and helped you back to your feet. After the video ended.

It’s all real, you know that, but it feels like it shouldn’t be. He hadn’t even really known who you were until yesterday. Had he? You guess it doesn’t really matter. You’re both getting what you want, but… ...deep down, you’re hoping it’s not that shallow.

- - - - - - - - - -

He finds you in the morning. You’re back in the server room, allowing your thoughts to sort themselves out. At least… ...that was the plan. Until you hear his voice.

“So...what’d ya think?”

You don’t look at him at first. Your hands work with swift, practiced motions, tying a bundle of wires together. You’re not ashamed of the way your heart skips anymore, but what are you supposed to say to something like that? “Kinky,” you manage to joke.

He sighs, but there’s a hint of a laugh at the end of it. “And here I was expecting some quality constructive criticism.”

“I thought you said it wasn’t work.”

“You know what I mean.”

You watch him out of the corner of your eye. There’s nothing to lean on; his hands are fiddling awkwardly. He’s shifting his weight from one leg to the other. He seems expectant.

You finally look up, meeting his eyes. Your heart is racing, as usual. Not with anxiety or anticipation. With newfound hope. With affection. A smirk tugs at your lips. “Maybe a better angle next time? Not that the one you chose was bad…”

And then he does it. He ducks his head, laughing, exactly the same way he’d done in countless videos, in hundreds of cut and saved clips. That same scarlet blush adorns his cheekbones and the bridge of his nose. And you fall in love all over again.

- - - - - - - - - - @corpseyb0nes @afterthedreamer @mischiefsilvertongue @marigold-magpie @tricerathotss @vanderlinde-exe @ayilachan @zipp0flare @luxury-of-insanity @nikyri-reaper @argentineanweaboo @vanillabuttercreamm @anni000001 @imchaoticnerd 

[anna-milton]

At the end of the day I am, have always been, and will continue to be an idiot, but this idiot has some things to say about season three (3) of asoue. strap in. This one could be long

The third season of asoue seems to focus more on answering every possible question (even what are objectively the wrong ones) rather than delivering a satisfying conclusion to the series that remains rooted in the themes of the books. Small pieces and scenes delivered on this, but as a whole it was very lacking due to the setup the past seasons had provided and an unwillingness to truly turn the tables on the audience’s perceptions of VFD and other characters.

VFD itself and the lore surrounding it between the netflix show and the books is full of contradictions, although I’m not willing to get into the new information we are given about the founding of VFD here. In the show, they are shown as undeniably Good right up until a few lines are thrown out (primarily by Olaf) but these are never really explored fully. A gaggle of well-meaning but ineffectual adult volunteer are far more sympathetic than ones who kidnap and indoctrinate children and who frame the interests of their organization as more noble than helping people in need. When(/if) volunteers are shown as being cowardly or wicked it is always more of a personal flaw than one of the way VFD functions (see: Josephine, Ishmael).

In the book version of The Slippery Slope, Quigley suggests taking Esme prisoner in order to negotiate for Sunny’s release, and though the plan is villainous the elder Baudelaires are at that point willing to cross that line to keep each other and Sunny safe. However, at the last second, Violet realizes that it isn’t worth it and they stop Esme from falling into the pit at all. In the netflix version, Esme sees what was supposed to be the bait of their trap (and is there a simple accident) and takes it upon herself to come down the mountain. At the headquarters, she falls down into an existing hot tub and the children “volunteer” to carry her back up the waterfall, where they attempt to use her as a hostage anyways. In the book Violet uses the location of the sugar bowl as a bargaining chip, but because it has been established that the sugar bowl is Esme’s quest that Olaf couldn’t care less for, this wouldn’t work. (I still personally don’t understand why that alteration was made, outside of creating conflict between Esme and Olaf. But anyways.) In the books the children plot and nearly carry out a villainous plot, but realize that it isn’t worth it to sacrifice their moral code. In the show... the circumstances were out of the children’s hands and there wasn’t the same sort of moral quandary. 

In The Grim Grotto, Captain Widdershins was cut entirely, which also forced Fiona’s development into a scared and alone teen who takes charge because there’s no one who would to happen offscreen. It also cuts out any room for identifying Widdershins as another morally gray character with complicated motivations. For some reason, the show also gives Fiona an affinity with mechanics, which serves to further alienate Violet although this, again, doesn’t have any emotional fallout and doesn’t lead to further character development. The episodes also focus too much on Olaf’s emotional arc than those of the Baudelaires and Fiona.

Additionally, existing characters have their qualities twisted in ways that do not support the depictions of them from the books or from earlier seasons - Esme becomes almost cartoonish in her over-exaggerated villainy and silliness and Kit’s vulnerability is stripped away in favor of making her (and by extension VFD) seem cool and glamorous. Kit is The face of VFD presented to The audience in season 3, and while she is reckless she is capable, charming, composed, and always justified. The Baudelaires like her, and so we are supposed to as well. The reasons she and Dewey wish to leave VFD are barely even touched upon, but Dewey pushing the Baudelaires to take up his mantle as sub-sub-librarians (rather than aiding him as they would/could have done in the book) would suggest that it isn’t because of any fundamental problems with the ideals of the organization. 

All of these convene on an unsatisfyingly thorough ending and flashback that is truly just so bad in all regards to the plot. Taking a moment so important to the series in that it shines a light both on the questionable practices of VFD and the subjective morals of even the Baudelaire parents, and turning that moment into an accident and misunderstanding as part of what the audience is supposed to see as the greater good is... laughable. Making Olaf’s father a kind man and captain of the Official Fire Department also stresses that this is not their fault. They would never do this on purpose. That Olaf is clinging to his own view of a simple misunderstanding rather than a premeditated injustice. There is a scene in The Penultimate Peril (book) in which the Baudelaires doubt themselves but Dewey tells them they are noble enough, despite the bad things they have done, and while these things cannot be erased they do not define them. The overall theme of the show, however, seems to be that ‘when desperate, noble people can do things that look to others like wicked acts but are actually justified’ rather than the actual chef’s salad philosophy.

Despite all of the talk of various central themes this season, the writers have shown a strange disregard and disrespect for those of the series. The lack of nuance and mystery leaves too much to be desired and honestly? [it’s just bad writing.gif]  

Well my laptop crashed and I lost a bit of work but I’m done looking at this. 

[ryouverua]

Chekhov’s Bathroom

RECORD SCRATCH -

so you may be wondering how I got myself into this situation -

PREVIOUSLY ON DANGANRONPA V3...

... we found out the classroom has an incredibly interesting mechanism that not only creates flashback lights, but immediately transforms the whole setup back to normal the moment someone comes in. WHICH. UH. IS HUGE.

Also, we’re nowhere near the girl’s bathroom - but we’re getting to that, I promise.

.... Also also, Himiko is alive, which is very good! And I’m super happy for her! I’m just, uh, distracted, that’s all.

L-LOOK HIMIKO I AM REALLY HAPPY TO SEE YOU BUT I DON’T THINK YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT WE’VE JUST UNCOVERED HERE -

Oh crap that’s right though! I guess we aren’t assuming she was able to dislodge it enough from her side by way of time and effort? .... I did just associate the word effort with Himiko, didn’t I. T-TO BE FAIR THOUGH, SHE HAS GOTTEN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT -

sweetcheeks has the cutest little ‘e-eto...’ sound clip istg

Aaaaw Shuichi! He’s gotten so much better at expressing his feelings!

LMAO HIMIKO

WE’RE TREADING INTO UMINEKO TERRITORY WITH THAT SORT OF LANGUAGE man she really is trying to change the genre even now

I was going to say you really need to tell her about the flashback light machine you found but now I’m afraid of bursting her bubble. 8′D

....

You know what? Speaking of adorable sound clips, her ‘KA KA KA - !’ is also cute af. Equality!

- another seacats references

sweetcheeks I’m sorry I can’t help it

okay I know that it’s just the building collapsing from the damage but at the same time -

“K1-B0 CAN YOU PLEASE WATCH YOUR AIM!”

“SORRY CAN’T HEAR YOU, I ONLY LISTEN TO PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY FINISH MY FTES -”

I was just one away k1-b0 I was just one away -

“And how crazy would it be if someone died in an investigation, anyway - oh wait -”

Yet another bone for the my fellow Umineko fans but man I can’t get over the similarities between Maria and her - I honestly wonder if she was inspired by her at all. 8′D

ANYWAY IGNORE ME TIME TO DECONSTRUCT THE MAGIC SOLUTION -

..... you lost me. But I suppose that’s why she’s inviting us to investigate the bathroom with her -

HIMIKO. HIMIKO. FOCUS.

......... this would be a bad time to bring up the Love Hotel, huh.

It would also be a good time to bring up the whole flashback light situation too, but??? We don’t? Okay, fine. Moving on, I suppose.

MORE RUNNING - though at least it’s a lot closer than the other spots? LIKE A CERTAIN ASTRONAUT’S LAB LOOK I LOVE YOU KAITO AND TSUMUGI BUT FFS WAS THAT NECESSARY -

Omg I love Shuichi’s internal monologue here as he stares at the bathroom door and tries to psyche himself up after going in -

Full disclosure Shuichi? It’s just a room. I’ve accidentally walked into the guy’s room myself. It’s... just a room. It’s not a big deal. Just. Just go in there, dude.

SWEETCHEEKS. YOU ALSO NEED TO FOCUS.

IT’S REALLY NOT A BIG DEAL UNLESS IT’S IN USE.

One step two step three step you can do this Shuichi Saihara this bathroom’s got nothing on you, we have the Detective’s Authority on our side - !

“Please tell me quickly before I pass out from stress.”

................ this sounds more like the Chamber of Secrets to me, but okay.

Wait, no, seriously, were they connected? Since when was Junko’s hidden room connected to the bathroom? I swear they weren’t??? Wasn’t there a special control room and everything? Am I misremembering?

?????? Seriously, though? W-What in the world are you talking about???

Honestly if this appeared behind the sink I would have freaked out. .... Well, more than I’m freaking out, for multiple reasons. There’s the general ‘oh shit a secret passage’ and then there’s the more specific my brain associates two characters with this room because of a certain scene for shipping purposes and one of them is still alive, currently with us, and incredibly suspicious -

Oh goodness, how fitting that they left finding the hidden passage for the Ultimate Magician. 8′)

Where’s the exit then? Like, the hidden one that leads to the bathroom? Was it also concealed in case this room was discovered?

.................wait,

wait

WAIT

I NEED TO LOOK UP SOMEtHING -

BECAUSE I SWEAR

TSUMUGI SAID SHE WENT TO THE BATHROOM IN CHAPTER 1 WHEN WE WERE COLLECTING ALIBIS - or someone said she did? There was the whole group that went downstairs, Kaede and Shuichi in the classroom, and the ones left upstairs were Kokichi, Miu, Korekiyo, Tsumugi, and... Ryoma? K1-b0? Did Ryoma get invited down? He seems like he would’ve been an asset but okay now’s not the time to criticize Kaito’s ‘best fighters’ choices -

oh god where’s the screenshot I really didn’t document anything in the first chapter at all lmao -

I just - I just remember it being so weird at the time? Like a random tangent that went nowhere? She just said she went to the washroom, they followed up for like, five minutes, and then that was it - or... or something, right? Because she never went past Kaede and Shuichi? And then there were apologies passed around for accusing her, and I thought it was cute at the time, and I thought she was kinda cute, and Ryoma too, and oh god I miss them but I’m getting distracted -

OOOH MY GOD I ALWAYS THOUGhT THIS WAS WEIRD POInT BUt ULTIMATELY DISMISSED IT AS UNIMPORTANT WHEN THE GAME SEEMED TO MOVE COMPLETELY PAST IT

Enter through the bathroom.... run out and grab the handbook.... sneak back up while no one’s the wiser? What if Kaede’s plan had failed???? Then again, Tsumugi said she had the aura of a protagonist.... did she have that much faith in her to succeed? this is some twisted Kaemugi at work lmao

And omfg it wasn’t included on Rantaro’s map for the sole purpose of setting him up for some kind of ambush - 

A mastermind who, honestly, was heavily hinted to be female with the initial ‘mother’ comments in Chapter 4 but has definitely been confirmed.

Also this game is really driving over how badly the mastermind screwed Rantaro over. what was it she said, backflip onto a landmine and die or something -

SWEETCHEEKS DID YOU REALIZE TOO???

Then again you didn’t have the benefit of being with me for the Chapter 1 fanservice scene... 8′D

GOOD.

T... thanks for confirming I suppose.

....  ew. Why can’t being busted stop you from talking, too.

Wait... really??? Why? Shouldn’t you and the mastermind have the same shared interests at heart?? Even if you’re at your end, shouldn’t you want to protect the identity of the mastermind - or at least keep on with this whole Kaede frame-job?

... But yeah, okay, I get it now - they’re trying to drive that phrase into my brain, and I think I understand why. I just, uh, wish there was another way about it, or that the wording could be a bit different, that’s all. 8′D

BUT WHY

OH NOW YOU’LL SHUT UP

oh ew it vomited like, motor oil or something. Eeeew.

>:|

Man K1-b0, even though I’m pretty sure it was Monotaro that caused the explosion, you really... really aren’t being careful with your classmates’ lives anymore, huh?

J-J... Just let her have this one, Shuichi. It’s okay to add a layer of fantasy as long as we can get the answer. 8′D

I’m so glad we have a little chance for sassy Sweetcheeks to rear his head. 

I still want to get a visual on what the pathway looks like from the mastermind’s end but I guess just knowing it exists is enough. 8′D Ah well.

And then Shuichi says nothing LMAO SHUICHI SHE IS BEGGING YOU FOR SOME EXTERNAL VALIDATION

He.... he’s getting better, but man he’s still pretty obtuse when it comes to emotions. I’m glad that while he’s showing some improvements, he didn’t just transform all at once.

Anyway, after Shuichi and I try to leave and Himiko literally doesn’t move Shuichi realizes that there’s some emotional work he needs to do on the side of his detective work. Himiko still has to spell it out for him though. B-Baby steps, kid.

LITERALLY. HAS TO GUIDE HIM THROUGH HER VULNERABILITY. LIKE, HANDHOLDING HIM THE ENTIRE WAY.

.... Though this made me smile. Aaaaw, that’s pretty sweet. Just a thought, but I wonder if this is another case of him thinking everyone else is on the same page as him and projecting, the same way he does with his anxieties? ‘This is the clue that will change everything. And now that I know that, surely Himiko does too.’ It’s another example of him diminishing his own skill as a detective - “if I could do this, anyone can” - so naturally, he had already assumed Himiko understood this. Why would she be worried if she already knew the huge contribution she had just made, after all?

anyway small tangent ignore me

You’re the Ultimate Mage. :D

Sometimes I’m a little worried about indulging in her magic/escapism fantasies but then she smiles like this and I can’t help but think it’s worth it ~ she has been through so much, you know? She needs something familiar lol to lean on and as long as it’s not impending the investigation like it did in Chapter 2.... 8′D

Adrenaline is disappearing, huh? Well, keep that energy up - now we have to be nearly done, right? .... Right? What else could there possibly be?

“Shuichi come quick there’s something weird in Hotel Kumasutra -”

“NO. NO, I REFUSE!!!!”

“OH GOD COOTIES, THERE ARE DEFINITELY COOTIES EVERYWHERE -”

lmao Shuichi never change

[readingwebcomics]

Analyzing Questionable Content: Pages 151-200

High school bully or not, I’d like to reiterate the fact that Dora’s presence is so terrifying that it can repel a trained government agent. That’s a level of badass we should all strive to be.

…I mean like, don’t actually beat people up and steal their cigarettes, lung cancer is bad. But still!

Before getting into things, I’d like to open with a little bit of bookkeeping: First, as was pointed out to me by at least two different people, I COMPLETELY misread #123 – it was Marten who was helping Steve out on a date, not the other way around. This was completely my bad, so I personally retract everything I said about Jeph’s timescale.

Secondly, on my point on Dora’s identity crisis, user Scarlet Manuka had this to say:

For the time frame of Dora's goth phase, I think that Jeph is actually trying to present this as a genuine identity crisis for Dora - but it's also likely one that's been a long time building up. She's probably been becoming increasingly disenchanted with it for the last couple of years, and given that Raven complains that she's missed fifteen or so meetings, it looks like she's already subconsciously let it go quite some time in the past. I think we're seeing more the conscious realisation of a process that's already happened. In many ways that's what an identity crisis is: the realisation that the slow incremental changes we all experience every day have added up into something big while you weren't looking, and that something you thought was part of you really isn't any more.

That’s a perfectly fair point and one I didn’t consider. Thanks for bringing this up, under this light the time frame of Dora’s realization and her gradual shift into a different identity over the course of the next few comics makes perfect sense.

Finally, it was pointed out to me by Marco on the QC Forums that it’s only fair to link to the comic itself in these posts. While I had figured it was really simple to find the comic for whoever’s reading it considering it’s one of the biggest, longest running webcomics out there, they do have a point that I at least owe it to supply links to the site in these posts. So from now on, the dumb intro blurb to each of my posts will hyperlink to the first comic in the batch I’ll be talking about. That way, you can read along with the analysis if you so wish. Cool? Cool.

Now with that all out of the way, let’s move on to the analysis. Agent Turing has nope’d out and Dora saw herself out, letting Marten know that if he buys her dinner she’ll call it even.

This is a weird case of me totally getting WHY Jeph’s going this particular direction – he needs Marten and Faye at an ice cream shop to reveal a bit more about Faye’s backstory, which we’ll be touching on a bit later – but the particular setup for doing this feels… off. This right here reads like a textbook case of a writer going “Fuck, how do I get these characters to do XYZ…” and this being the best solution they could come up with. What’s worse about this is that only a few panels later, Jeph offers a much better alternative:

Literally all he had to do was have Faye be the one to bring this up: Instead of the panel with Marten blatantly asking “So THAT happened, what do you want to do now?” have Faye be the one to bring up that Marten owes her a little something for helping out with the situation, he brings up the ice cream parlor and then the rest of the comic goes on as normal. This may sound pedantic, but it’s a case where just a slight change in wording makes all the difference between sounding contrived and sounding natural.

I have… issues with this comic.

On one hand, Faye is opening up more about her past. A small, innocuous thing spurred her on to open up a little more to Marten, the reminder cracking her mask and showing just how much trauma she’s really containing within. You can tell this is more than just “bringing back memories” – his death had a profound impact on her, there’s something she’s not wanting to bring up or discuss but is being partially dragged to the surface. This is good character writing, and an amazing step in Faye’s character arc. It spurs curiosity, sparks intrigue, makes you WANT to keep reading to see the next time Faye’s mask cracks because you want to see what she’s hiding underneath it.

On the other hand… there’s no nice way to say this – at this point, Jeph is not talented enough at drawing to portray this from an imagery standpoint. The faces are too stiff, the expressions to stock. Faye doesn’t look like tears are escaping from her despite her best efforts to keep a straight face, she looks like she’s mildly disinterested and a blue line to represent tears was drawn on top of her face. Writing can take you far, but the thing about comics is that the written word is only half of the story. Anything you sell with words, you need to also be able to sell with expressions, with physicality and staging.

I’m not an expert in art – not by a LONG shot, I couldn’t draw a comic to save my life – so I can’t exactly offer any advice on how he could’ve made this work better. I’m at least glad to say that with time Jeph came to improve his artistic style, making moments like this feel a lot more natural down the road. He eventually gets comfortable enough with his drawings that he’s able to tell a story using JUST body language, which is admirable. Clearly, we’re not there yet… and unfortunately, it hurts the mood that this comic is trying to sell.

After a week of guest comics, we continue the story with Faye sharing stories about her childhood with Marten, showing just how comfortable she’s become around him that she feels at ease sharing details about her past she likely wouldn’t share otherwise.

Oh, and we’ve got some revelations about Marten’s past here. The Thanksgiving comic where he talks about how his family drives him crazy is starting to make more sense now, isn’t it?

Here, we see three things displayed. First, the fraction used in Marten’s dialogue instead of just saying “half”. I… don’t get why that is. It makes me irrationally angry though. I’m aware that’s fully on me.

Second, this serves to showcase both Marten’s blasé attitude about his strange upbringing and offer potentially an expiation as to why he seems so passive about everything. I’ve offered up the idea in a previous post that when he goes out and makes a choice, it’s enough to completely shift his entire world, so that may have served to encourage him not to not want to rock the boat and keep his head low. This, however, might serve as an alternative explanation, or at least another piece of the puzzle – growing up in a… let’s call it “untraditional” household where his parents were clearly quite open about what they were doing with his son, the fact that Marten grew up to be rather milquetoast serves to make a certain degree of sense.

Third, Marten’s being sassy. I like when Marten’s sassy. As I said, his character kind of… devolves in later comics, so seeing him have a spine enough to throw this out is always fun to read. Plus, it also serves to showcase how comfortable the two of them are with each other that Marten can sling this stuff out without fear of retaliation.

Setup...

The next day, Faye’s leaving for work when a surprise visitor comes to their door.

Marten’s comment always makes me laugh. This comic in general is just hilarious, from Amanda – Faye’s sister’s name is Amanda by the way – triple bomb thrown right into Faye’s lap to Faye’s 404 error to Marten not even missing a beat in his reaction to what’s going on in front of him.

Honestly, I’m with Marten here. And once again, I’m afraid I have to point out the fact that Jeph isn’t quite talented at drawing facial expressions yet ruins the punchline to Faye’s joke in the last panel. At least the writing serves to keep the humor going strong, and don’t mistake me here – these next few comics are gut busters. I fucking love the chaos Amanda causes by just stepping into their lives.

Oh yeah, I guess I should talk about Amanda now, shouldn’t I? Well, uh. Hm. She’s a Lesbian. And she’s a bit of a troublemaker. And like a little bit of a ditz?

…yeah that’s literally all I can think to describe her as. Cut me a little bit of slack here though, at the time of writing we’re on page 4010 and I’d be genuinely surprised if Amanda was in more than 50 pages total. The only real significant things I can think to say about her as a character is how what she says and does serves to inform Faye’s character.

Like right here – we can see the whole “doesn’t plan much further than the very next step you’re about to take” mentality runs in Faye’s family. Also, Jeph’s trying different angles out! Good on him, even little changes like this can serve to make the action feel at least slightly more dynamic!

“Clitoriste” is an amazing word and I hope to find a way to work it into at least one conversation before I die.

Amanda hangs around the coffee shop, swapping sex stories with Dora as Faye desperately tries to claw her own eardrums until Marten comes along. And as I’m saying this, I realize with hindsight that Dora’s being super cool right now, not only letting her loiter around her business but also realizing she was kicked out of her house at least in part because of her sexuality and so is letting her know “Hey, fucking girls is AWESOME, right?” to keep her mind off current events. The more I talk about Dora, the cooler she gets, seriously.

“Aerodynamically curvaceous” is another amazing phrase, this one great enough that Jeph eventually made it into a T-shirt. Seeing as I have as many curves on me as a string bean does, there’s no way I could get away with wearing it myself, but the fact that the shirt exists makes me a little happier to be alive.

Anyway, this comic goes on to show that despite the circumstances, Amanda is taking this rather well all things considered, and Faye has faith that given some time to sit with the information their mom will come around… Also that Faye was a damn good student, which might go on to explain how she was able to absorb so much information about guitars when her ex rambled on about them so much – she just retains information THAT well.

This comic… raises a LOT of questions. The last comic involves characters from another webcomic entirely, making this a fun little Easter Egg/crossover sort of deal. That being said, this raises a LOT of questions about the continuity of QC. Does it take place within the universe of Diesel Sweeties? Or does Diesel Sweeties exist within the universe of QC? The fact that we have a humanoid robot here – does that serve to shed a light on AI development in the QC universe? Did Jeph consider what AI development there would be at this point in writing? I assume not, as thus far the only intelligent devices are Anthro PCs. Is Clango an Anthro PC? Is he a prototype of a more advanced synthetic?

These are questions that were never intended for me to ask, aren’t they? Yeah. That’s what I figured. Considering the fact that Amanda has a girlfriend is canon, and the following phone conversation on the next page is canon as well, the best way to rationalize this is to just pretend that last panel doesn’t exist. Remove it entirely, and this strip fits in perfectly with QC’s established continuity and universe thus far.

Unless you REALLY want to find a way to fit Diesel Sweeties into QC’s universe, which I suppose wouldn’t be that difficult considering it’s a non-plot focused gag-a-day comic, but that’s entirely up to you.

Oh, and speaking of the conversation the two have over the phone:

Credit where it’s due, Dora’s expression on the first two panels is clearly different from the standard set of facial expressions Jeph usually puts on everyone. It’s always nice to see some experimentation! And here’s another situation where Amanda’s main purpose is to drive forward Faye’s character – here we get another hint of something that happened in her past, confirmation that she hasn’t dated anyone in a long time and some kind of source of a reason why she hadn’t. The scar on her chest, the death of her father, the lack of a love life stemming from some event… pieces to the Faye puzzle are falling into place, but we still don’t have everything. We’re given just enough to inspire further curiosity though, which – and I know I’ve said this a hundred times before, but I will say it a hundred times again – is good character writing.

…all that said, I sincerely hope that phone was shock proof. I don’t think her Mom’s exactly going to be in the mood to get her a new one.

Considering Amanda stole her credit card and all, I don’t blame their mom for being furious at her. That said, it’s nice to see that it didn’t take long at all for her to calm down and want to talk things over.

And here, we have specific confirmation that there was a set of “circumstances” that led Faye to want to leave home and move up here. Another piece of the Faye mystery falls into place.

Amanda’s immediately heading off to the airport to return home, leaving Marten and Faye to reel in the wake of an… I’d say it’s fair to call it an intense day.

HAH! If you haven’t read all the way through QC, you don’t understand why that’s so funny in hindsight. Trust me, give it another few hundred comics and it’ll make sense. God, I wonder if that specific reference was intentional on Jeph’s part, or if he just likes Vespas? Then again… he IS an anime buff, it’s entirely possible both events stem from FLCL.

Oh hey, there’s that pink Anthro PC again. We saw them back at the LANPark. Haven’t added them to the character list though since we don’t even know their name, but it seems like Pintsize has friends and a life off-panel. Good for him! I do wonder what ends up happening to these guys later though… Most likely they all just drift apart and move on with their lives.

...Why am I so sad all of a sudden?

And here we see an example of the two of them openly flirting with each other, dipped deep in sarcasm of course but that’s just how these two roll. Their inter-personal relationship has progressed really well and at a nice, natural pace so far. At this rate, something should be coming to a head very soon – either one or the both of them need to acknowledge the fact that they’re getting closer, or something’s going to happen that will throw a monkey wrench into the dance they’re performing.

Ugh. I’m coming to hate whenever Marten says “What do you want to do now?” Maybe it’s just me, I’m willing to accept I’m reading too much into this, but whenever he says that all I hear in my head is Jeph going “I can’t think of a more natural way to transition into this next scene so I’ll have Marten ask this question to push the scene forward.” It just feels like bad storytelling to me, it really does.

Now, I need you to hold onto your seats right now, because what you’re about to read next might just be the greatest comic you’ve ever read in your life. The mere act of seeing this may very well knock you out of your seat. Are you ready for this? I don’t think you are – I don’t think ANY of us are. Brace yourselves.

My man, Jimbo! And yes, he is officially called Jimbo now, so we’ll be changing the name in the character stats screen at the end of this post. And this man, this absolute LEGEND, is living the dream – quitting his blue-collar job to pursue his passion in writing! He’s worked hard to get where he is in life, and now that he’s here, the fruits of his labor are paying off! As a commercial electrician who’s writing on the side, I strive to be like Jimbo one day. God bless you, you absolute PINNACLE of human achievement!

I can’t NOT show off more Jimbo comics, he’s just that great. Also, Faye’s drunken antics are fucking hilarious.

Credit where it’s due to Faye for not only helping Jimbo out with his writing but also doing it as a completely on-the-spot Haiku, while totally piss drunk. Not even going to lie, that takes talent.

Faye’s willingness to engage in behavior like this raises… questions. Questions that I’m not entirely comfortable asking right now considering the author’s own past with alcohol. I’ll touch more on it when we reach the batch of comics 501-550, I’m going to need more time to prepare myself to talk about it in a way that’s as respectful as possible.

And finally… the moment of truth. When long-time readers of QC remember the Pre-500 era, there are two things that come to our mind: The actual conversation that happens at issue 500 that marks the transitional phase of QC into the kind of webcomic it is today… and the headbutt-crotch-vomit comic.

Behold.

I’m not even going to try offering commentary here. Absolutely nothing I could say can be better than what you just witnessed in this comic.

This page right here… it has an interesting dynamic between its first and last panels. Panel one, again, Jeph takes the time to make a new facial expression for Faye as she’s waking up, one that looks nice and works with the dialogue to communicate how she’s feeling. And then in the last panel… well, I don’t think it’s exactly controversial to say that her face in the last panel doesn’t communicate the confusion and rage she’s supposed to be feeling as expressed in the dialogue, is it? Jeph is getting there, his artistry is clearly evolving, but he’s not quite talented enough to pull it all off quite yet. Still, little improvements should be applauded!

And here we get another character confirming suspicions raised back in #172, that being Faye clearly has some relationship hangups stemming from something happening in her past. This raises some concerns considering their more flirtatious behavior around each other and their developing inter-personal relationship. At this point, SOMETHING has to happen to inspire a reaction or change out of one of the two, or they may very well find themselves trapped in stagnation… keep that in mind for a little while longer. On the art side of things, something to note that I just realized… Steve has a shine in his eyes to make them look more natural and full of life, but Marten’s doesn’t. Is there any particular reason for this? And why am I noticing it just now? Actually looking back a few comics, the “shine in the eyes” detail only started with #186… again, in all characters except Marten. Is there a significant reason for this? Or is it just a detail that’s easier to do with the shades of color in people’s eyes except for Marten’s for whatever reason? I don’t have an answer, but it’s something to keep in mind at least while we watch the art evolve.

Also, one more thing?

Either Marten’s a liar, or Faye’s ass is just THAT good that it converted him. My money’s on the latter, considering people routinely talk about how baller Faye’s ass is.

Yes, I did just use the word “baller” unironically. No, I don’t have any shame, thanks for asking.

…payoff. 

And again with the fucking contraction thing… It’s not subtle if other characters are pointing it out! I know, I’m the only person willing to die on this hill, and I KNOW it’s long-passed and nobody’s concerned about it anymore, but it genuinely bothers me! This is a stupid character traits that… bah, I’m not going to repeat myself again. On a lighter note, this particular comic showcases how much better Jeph’s gotten at drawing faces. It’s not much, but it’s better than the stock expressions that most characters usually wear, and you can see some subtle actions and thoughts expressed in the way Dora or Faye’s eyebrows move, in which direction their eyes are facing… it’s nice stuff.

I won’t show everything in these next three comics, but I wanted to showcase this series of events at least because this is some good character writing that says a lot about both Steve and the new girl Jeph introduces.

Setup…

Payoff…

…and subversion of expectations.

Sorry Marten, but I’m with Steve here 100%. That was clever, well-played, and EXTREMELY hot all at once. It’s too bad we don’t end up seeing much of Ellen after this because she has SUCH a strong established introduction.

And what fortunate timing – we have another collection of guest comics, which ends RIGHT at #200:

And here we go – the spark of conflict in the relationship dynamic between Marten and Faye that I predicted we needed. How’s Faye going to deal with this? How’s Marten going to deal with this? What if on this date it turns out he’s actually, seriously interested in Dora? Would this push Faye to action? She’s made it clear, at least to the people around her, that she’s not interested in pursuing something with Marten… so what if someone made her put her money where her mouth is? Well, we’ll find out one way or another come the next batch of comics.

While we’re still talking about this batch however, let’s do our usual deal of comparing the art shift between the first and the last comics in the batch:

This is a clear-cut example of a lot of small, subtle tweaks happening over the course of a long enough period of time making a clear, distinct difference. The biggest change, of course, being the faces of everyone as I’ve been bringing up all throughout this post – everyone looks so much more EXPRESSIVE. You can get a proper read on someone’s mood based on just how they look alone now, and I find that super impressive… admittedly, it also makes me wish that Jeph could/would re-do the ice cream comic in this newer art style to properly capture the expression on Faye’s face that he wanted to capture, but you know. Would’ve, could’ve, should’ve.

So what did I think of this batch of comics so far? Personally, I think it’s the best batch yet – the best improvement in art, the most introduced on Faye’s character, the best sarcasm from Marten… a LOT was improved in this batch, and that deserves praise. I like where the plot is going, I want to know more about Faye, and I am hooked on the will they/won’t they story, especially with the newer developments in the complexities of their relationship web coming into play.

All that said, let’s take a look at the data analysis for this particular batch:

Marten: 34/50 – 68%

Faye: 33/50 – 66%

Dora: 12/50 – 24%

Amanda: 12/50 – 24%

Steve: 6/50 – 12%

Pintsize: 5/50 – 10%

Jimbo: 3/50 – 6%

Ellen: 3/50 – 6%

Turing: 1/50 – 2%

Grand Total:

Marten: 166/200 – 83%

Faye: 163/200 – 81.5%

Dora: 51/200 – 25.5%

Pintsize: 50/200 – 25%

Steve: 22/200 – 11%

Amanda: 12/200 – 6%

Sara: 7/200 – 3.5%

Jimbo: 5/200 – 2.5%

Turing: 4/200 – 2%

Raven: 3/200 – 1.5%

Ellen: 3/200 – 1.5%

Scott: 2/200 – 1%

Miéville: 1/200 – 0.5%

Ell: 1/200 – 0.5%

Do note that in this last batch, 12 of the 50 were non-canon guest comics, so I didn’t count any characters showing up in any of them. Either way, it looks like Amanda was in enough comics to create a barrier in the stats between main and major supporting characters and minor characters as far as amount of time they’ve shown up in the comic goes. I don’t know if anyone else finds that as interesting as I do, I just think it’s neat.

In any case, tune in next week for the exciting conclusion to the double-date story! And a trip to the hospital!

…the two things aren’t related, I swear. See you then.

[precuredaily]

Precure Day 089

Episode: Futari wa Precure Max Heart 39 - “Go All Out Out! The Youth Lacrosse Finals!!” Date watched: 28 October 2018 Original air date: 27 November 2005 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/0Y1Lywz

that’s it, that’s the review

bonus quip: this looks like the setup for a Dokidoki monster

Okay no I can’t just leave it at that, because hot damn is this another really good episode. I’d say the 30s of Max Heart have been a tad better overall than the 30s of FW, though that may be due to them skipping a couple of weeks earlier in the season, putting the 30s of MH a little closer to the endgame while in FW it was largely filler. Anyway, regardless of why, this is a good episode. Let’s break it down.

It’s the lacrosse finals, and once again it’s going to be Verone vs. Otagaku Girls Jr. High. While Verone’s practice involves Nagisa positively reinforcing the team and just encouraging them to have fun, we cut to Otagaku’s practice and they’re being drilled like the military. The captain, Nagasawa, is going over formations rigorously and chastising players for being a few seconds early or a few inches out of position. Essentially she’s hyperfocused on perfection and chasing victory over enjoyment, because she knows Verone is a strong opponent. One day, Nagasawa waits outside of Verone in order to formally introduce herself to Nagisa before they meet on the field. She recognizes that it will be the last game that both of them play as middle schoolers, and tells Nagisa about the perfect team she’s created. She attempts to take her leave after wishing Verone good luck in the match but Nagisa decides, in true Nagisa fashion, to invite her out to Akane’s place to eat takoyaki. While they eat, Shiho, Rina, Hikari, and Honoka all comment on how Nagisa’s easygoing nature tends to surprise people, and clearly Nagasawa is taken aback by this display of friendliness. As they all talk, Nagisa opens up about why she started playing and why she continues, urging the rival captain to do the same. Honoka makes a remark about Nagisa being happiest when she’s playing lacrosse, which Nagisa responds to by saying it’s because she loves lacrosse. Nagasawa seems a little surprised by this response, as if it’s not something she’s really considered before.

At the game, the difference between the two teams is clear before they even start the match. Otagaku is interested in a no-nonsense victory while Verone is all about playing their best and enjoying this final game, whatever the outcome. When the starting whistle blows, Verone gets the ball but Otagaku intercepts a pass and cleverly maneuvers into a quick goal. While Nagisa encourages her team to keep on going and do their best because it’s still early, Nagasawa criticizes her players for being slightly out of position or off on their timing. The next play, Shiho winds up with the ball, blocked on both sides and unable to pass (her specialty). Nagisa encourages her to just go for it so she shoots..... and flounders... but by a stroke of luck the ball bounces around the goal and the goalie accidentally knocks it in. The look on Nagasawa’s face is golden.

As the match continues, Nagisa scores a goal, putting Verone one up on Otagaku, and then the end the half at 3-2 Verone. While the Verone team laugh and revel, Nagasawa wonders how they can be so jovial. Then she flashes back to her conversation with Nagisa as she remembers the remark about loving lacrosse and realizes that she stopped loving it herself along the way. That’s when she has her little revelation (at the top) that she’s focusing too much on winning, and for the first time she gives her team some slack and positive reinforcement. This is clearly not something they’re used to but they take it well. Going into the second half, Otagaku’s playing style has livened up and Honoka, Hikari, Seekun, and Happynen all notice. They score a goal. Nagisa goes to take a shot of her own and then..... well, what always happens in lacrosse episodes? The match is interrupted. This time it’s Circulas who drags them into an alternate dimension. He insists that darkness will devour them and they’ll submit to the Dark King’s will, they fire back that they have free will, their own desires, and that their personal happiness is the most important thing to them. He sics a giant zakenna on them made from the stadium lights, armed with a crosse and able to throw them around. It’s a pretty good fight, they come out on top with Extreme Luminario and then return to the game. It’s tied 4-4 when Nagisa gets back and there’s seconds to spare as she shoots at the goal. The ball ricochets around before making it in as Nagisa falls on her face and time runs out. Verone has won! Nagasawa immediately thanks Nagisa for a fantastic match, in the process reminding her what she loved about lacrosse to begin with, and hopes that they can meet again in high school. Happynen makes a speech about how everybody was pursuing their happiness and he’s seen enough, and returns to the Chairect, bringing the number of sealed Heartiels to 9, and that concludes it.

Oh also the last few episodes, Hikari and Hikaru have both been thinking intently about their encounter in Kyoto. There’s not much to say about that, but it seemed worth bringing up in case it pays off in the next few episodes. It’s implied they might be able to connect thoughts with each other, but this is unclear.

I have two minor criticisms about this episode and then I’ll get into the analysis of what makes it good. First is a plot-ish criticism. I’m flashing back to the first season when the villains would have to lure the girls away from the lacrosse field instead of just transporting them to another place or dimension. I liked that, it allowed the villains to be a little more clever in their approach (even if Regine was the tallest middle school lacrosse player ever) and was a bit more diverse than BOOM you’re in a dark lacrosse field now something like 5 times this series. It doesn’t ruin the show or anything though. The second is an animation criticism, and really it’s not even that, more of an observation. There’s a shot where the three heroines are standing in a circle and espousing their values to Circulas, and the camera is intended to circle around them. Instead what they do is slide a large model of the closest girl across the frame with mid-size models of the other two, and they keep switching who’s in front. I’ll post some pictures tomorrow to support what I’m saying. I realize animating rotation is really hard, even The Lion King had difficulty with that famous shot where the camera circles from behind Simba and Mufasa to infront of them, so I can’t fault a low budget anime for not doing what even a well-funded Disney movie couldn’t, but it stood out because they kept repeating the shot so I’m pointing it out.

Onto the good stuff. Nagasawa is an interesting character. She could almost be Nagisa if her circumstances were different, but she gets caught up in victory over fun. Her methods work, her team is top notch, but as she realizes at the halfway point, a little positive reinforcement goes a long way. Fortunately her team trusted in her enough up to that point. It’d be easy to hate her, but you can’t. She’s another captain who has a method that works and her team respects her leadership. Before the end of the match she remembers to have fun with it, too. I’m glad they took the time to flesh out one of Nagisa’s opponents like this. It is Nagisa’s last senior lacrosse game and that’s a bit sad, but it’s time to move on. I might have more thoughts to share in the morning, we’ll see. For now, I’ll end it here.

Pink Precure Catchphrase Count: 0 Areinai White Precure Word Ways: 1 “Mou, Nagisa ttara”

Next time: Ryouta gets a sports episode too. I didn’t know he played a sport.

[heavyonthecost]

fatamoru snippets dump #5: nsfw edition

Pardon me for these but someone’s gotta suffer these beside the anons. Only the first three are explicit, really, but the rest also contain (Reincarnation-setting) less vanilla kinky stuff so figured it’s safer to group them together. This one also has something that isn’t Yukipauline... just the first one, though.

(#1, #2, #3, #4)

(Content notes: infidelity, menstrual sex, rape roleplay (setup), light D/s, knifeplay, (consensual) snuff)

(Prompt: fingering, 300 words, Maria/WHG. Contains infidelity)

“Poor Madam. Your husband can’t be bothered to visit you, let alone touch you like this…”

Maria inserted a third finger, causing the Madam to to arch her back, repeating the same words, “Darling… I’m sorry…”

“You really don’t have to be, Madam. It’s his fault for neglecting you this badly.” Maria made the most pained expression she could. “I’m sorry I can’t be a better replacement for him…”

“It’s - not your - fault…”

“Tell me, Madam,” Maria said, keeping her fingers moving. “How can I touch you like he did? How did he use to run his hands over your body?”

“That… I… don’t know…”

Maria paused. “Has it been so long that you forgot? Or… have you never…” When only heavy breathing came in answer, Maria let out a loud gasp - an exaggerated reaction, but on some level the surprise was genuine. “Oh, Madam, how pitiful!”

The sudden speed-up of Maria’s fingers jolted her eyes open. “Maria, wait -”

“Please leave this to me, Madam. You can just relax, you deserve as much after all you’ve been through.”

A few more thrusts, and Maria could feel a tightening around her fingers, the Madam’s body trembling against her own. Between her breathing, Maria could vaguely make out the name of the master of the house escaping from her lips.

Maria marvelled at the result of her handiwork - pale skin flushed with a colour almost as red as those eyes behind half-closed lids, long flowing white hair strewn across the bed, the wetness covering her own fingers - and tried her best not to smirk in satisfaction. Sure, what she just did wasn’t strictly required for her plans - the rift between them was growing beautifully already. But what was a little bit of fun to be had with such a lovely, unsuspecting lady?

(Prompt: weird fetishes, 300 words. Contains menstrual sex, written pre-Defectives so the characterisation might be kinda wonky)

Usually, sex was something he only partook to humour Pauline, as part of his “good lover” act. But sometimes, the times he would be in her town would overlap with those times for her, and it made things... different.

“...I mean, we’re already here now, but… are you sure you really want to do this again?”

“We don’t get to meet often as it is. It’d be a pity to let this ruin it.”

With his face between her legs, the scent of blood wafting from her filled him with - not arousal, perhaps, but a sort of excitement nonetheless. Not as much as smelling freshly drawn blood dripping from his sword, but still enough to get him breathing more heavily, his heart beating slightly faster.

“You don’t want to do it?”

She cast her gaze aside, and then back at him. “I… do. I want to make the most of our time together too…”

He stuck his tongue forward to catch a drop of blood that was about to drip down, and as soon as the metallic tang spread in his mouth, he instinctively pushed further, his tongue sliding into her, searching for more. He pushed back the urge to sink his teeth somewhere, drawing more blood and maybe even a scream - but the urgency in her moans, pleading for more, was a close enough substitute to push him onward.

Pulling out, he licked upwards, over all dried traces of blood, and he felt her fingers grasping onto his hair, heard her hitched breathing interspersed with his name. He repeated the motion some more, at which her legs locked around him, and he could feel her whole body trembling from where her thighs pushed against him.

He wondered if there was a good way to strategically time his next visit.

(Prompt: Blasphemy, 100 words)

The Archangel in the stained glass leered down as she violated her vows behind the pews.

He’s a stranger to this land, he couldn’t be expected to understand all of our customs and beliefs, she told herself, but of course he did - he had never shown any intention of laying his hands on her until she made it clear in everything but words that she wanted him to - and her guilt grew from trying to frame him for her transgressions.

Trembling under his touch, she wished that she wasn’t Marie, everyone’s beloved Saintess, but just Pauline, a normal town girl.

(Prompt: kink negotiation, 300 words. Contains rape roleplay (or the setup thereof, rather))

“Do I really have to tie you up?”

“It’s important to set the mood!”

Yukimasa still only frowned at the rope. “I’m still not convinced hurting -”

“Pretending to.”

“- you before it’s time is a good idea.”

“It’s only pretend. And who knows, maybe having an outlet for your tendencies like this can help you last longer.” Realising the possible double meaning of her words, Pauline quickly added, “I mean -”

“Before I kill you, right?”

“...yeah.” Even she surprised herself with that ‘come kill me’ deal, but they’d since established that they were both kinda weird, after all. Soon, she felt ropes rustling against her wrists, gradually tightening around them.

“Is this enough?”

She tried pulling her wrists apart - and found little resistance. “I could probably break out of this.”

“Good. So you can stop me if needed.”

“But we have the word for that! And you can’t say you’re pretending if you’re not even trying.”

“...all right.” Through a frown, he re-tightened the ropes. “Why are you going this far for me?”

“What if I say… it’s not just for your urges?”

“Huh?”

Throughout everything, this was the first thing to cause Pauline to blush. “The books I used to sneak from my mother’s collection were… inspirational.”

“...I see.” Times like these, she was thankful for Yukimasa’s stoic disposition. Finished with tightening the ropes, he stood upright. “And now I have to get out of the room?”

“Yep! Building the atmosphere is important.”

He took a step away, but quickly turned back. “You will stop me if needed, right?”

“...if you really feel like killing me in the middle, I don’t mind letting you?”

“Don’t.” The answer came firmly. “Stop me if I try to. I don’t want to kill you yet.”

She smiled. “If that’s what you want, then.”

(Prompt: submission, 100 words. Contains light D/s)

“Is this too tight for you?”

“No, just right.”

Done adjusting his collar, she straddled his kneeling form, one hand holding his leash.

She herself was his chain, his tether. But the collar, the leash served to emphasise that. She grabbed his jaw and pushed her thumb between his parted lips, running it across his teeth. “You’re not to bare these teeth against anyone else, okay?”

She smiled when he nodded, then tugged on the leash until her collarbone was right in front of his eyes. “Go ahead.”

He sunk his teeth into her skin, drawing blood and a moan.

(Prompt: your favourite kink, 200 words. Contains knife+bloodplay)

“Can I try it out too?”

Yukimasa stayed still, bloodied knife in hand. “Why?”

“I want to know what it’s like.” Pauline brushed a finger against the still-bleeding cuts on her chest, ones he just left. “What, you can deal it out but not take it?”

“That’s not it,” he said, glancing away. “Someone like you shouldn’t know about -”

She pushed a finger against his lips and pried the knife away with the other hand. “Weren’t you the one who called me not so normal after all?” She pressed the edge against his chest and blood flew out, bright red flowing onto his skin, onto the blade, spilling onto her hand. If she were to forget what it was, forget the slight hiss of pain she heard from him when the knife cut into his skin, and just focus on the vivid colour as she smeared it across his chest with her hand - perhaps she could see a part of what he enjoyed so much about this.

“Pauline…”

“I told you, right? I want to be the only one to understand you.”

She pulled him in for a kiss, the slick of their blood mingling together between their pressed bodies.

(Prompt: knife day, 200 words. Contains (consensual) snuff)

“You don’t look scared.”

Most people would with a knife pointed at them, but Pauline managed a smile, albeit a wistful one. “I knew this day would come. I proposed it, after all.”

“And you have no regrets about that?”

“...I did want to grow old with you.”

“You can run away now.. Find someone else to grow old with.”

She shook her head. “It won’t do if it’s not with you.”

She stood in front of him, unwavering, about to let him have what he’d always wanted - and so he did, plunging the knife into her gut. Her eyes shot wide open, mouth open in a voiceless scream as blood spread across her clothes; her hand brushed up against his face, neither pushing him away nor refusing him. He pulled out the knife and stabbed again, and again - to see her death sooner? To see more of her pain, or shorten it? - and before long, her hand fell down, her whole body going limp in his arm.

It was done, One of his wishes fulfilled, the other never to come true again. He ran his fingers across her face, closing her eyelids and lips.

She was beautiful in death.

[heardyousoldtheamazon]

Why You Should Focus on Improving camping rooftop tent

As the outdoor sector dives into a new age of high-end alongside the rest of the modern globe, glamping grows in popularity. While we're still planning to obtain outside, we have actually set our views greater, finding methods to obtain outside in style roof top tent cold weather offer the perfect solution for that outdoor trip where you could remain in the comfort of your very own automobile.

Fail to remember adjusting rowdy camping tent poles as well as hammering away at inexpensive metal risks-- going outdoor camping doesn't have to be so time- and also energy-consuming. Spend less time working as well as even more time under the celebrities with a roof top tentthat folds out right into your personal backcountry resort room. Supplying an outstanding vantage point, defense from insects and also curious animals, and a residence that looks great to oversleep, it's easy to see why somebody may choose a car palace over an archaic ground sanctuary Here are the very best roof tents currently offered.

The Tepui Baja Series Kukenam is for the major camper that delights in being out in the aspects during any kind of season-- snow, rainfall, or sparkle. The tent's innovative style is suitable for year-round travelers, with an interchangeable cover to suit altering problems.

This softshell makes use of a Zipper Gimp which affixes the cover to the base of the camping tent and also makes the altering out procedure a breeze. Regurgitate the mesh color cover for security from the sun and superb breathability in damp and also hot weather condition. The Baja supplies a lightweight nylon rip-stop canopy for springtime and also loss as well as an aluminized cover for severe wintertime problems. In addition, a removable rainfly is consisted of.

The camping tent consists of an 8-foot, 6-inch telescoping ladder, eliminating the need for expansions for big or lifted vehicles. The classy A-frame style allows for a sizable inside and the ability to rest up and truly take in the sight via huge, evaluated side windows.

The soft cover is created with 1000 gram, durable PVC for sturdiness throughout transportation. While just one cover is included in the base $1,275 cost for the Tepui Baja, added canopies can be purchased independently.

The Criterion Stargazer Leader is a whopper of a rooftop tent-- determining 8 feet by 6 feet and also suitable up to four adults comfortably. Perfect for team camping, the Leader consists of an annex/changing area for added deluxe.

This rooftop tent is suitable for households or teams of pals, providing three doors and also a gain access to door on the annex. You will not have to crawl over any kind of stretching siblings when you have to get up and also use the shower room in the center of the evening. Furthermore, the tent consists of a personal privacy wall surface which you can utilize to divide the snorers from the silent sleepers.

Two moving, flexible aluminum ladders are also included, each with their very own brace. The material is constructed from 230 grams of polyester/cotton ripstop canvas offering breathability, mold resistance, UV resistance, and water resistant finish. The mattress is 2.5 inches of high-density foam with a detachable polyester/cotton cover.

This is the best rooftop tent for large families, groups of campers, or those who appreciate a little additional room. And also, you can not fail with all of the added privacy attributes. The Mt. Denali Standard Stargazer Pioneer is really a high-end addition to any type of camping program-- and with a price tag of simply $2,300, it's worth the financial investment.

The Roofnest could be just one of the most convenient, easy-to-set-up rooftop tents on the market. The business dove carelessly right into rooftop tent production, running under the adage, you do not need a van to live the #vanlife!".

The roofnest is the larger of its two dimensions-- as well as resembles a pop-up box. The Sparrow pleasantly fits two grownups, measuring 82 inches long by 48 inches wide. The Roofnest is coveted for its reinforced fiberglass shell, created to be wind resistant for improved gas mileage. The inside of the covering is additionally coated with a soft foam for noise decrease.

There are mesh home windows at the front and also the back with zip closures as well as doorways at both ends so you can get in the camping tent from either side. The Roofnest Sparrow affixes directly onto any roof covering shelf, creating an adaptable item that consists of every little thing you need and also absolutely nothing even more. A 60-second established makes it one of the fastest outdoor camping outdoor tents set-ups on the planet, made for those who really don't wish to mess around.

Among the most cutting-edge thick skin camping tents on the marketplace, the iKamper Skycamp is for campers who wish to sleep with a view of the stars-- and also do not mind shelling at $3,600 to do so. While outside it appears similar to other hard shell tents, it in fact folds out into a huge sleeping location suitable for two adults and 2 youngsters-- or up to three adults. The Skycamp is the globe's largest expanding thick skin rooftop tent.

The very best function about the Skycamp? The Skyview home window which includes a revealable transparent urethane pane. Sight the skies by day or night and also don't fret concerning the elements, the Skyview home window is One Hundred Percent waterproof.

Difficult top camping tents are quicker to set up than soft top tents and the Skycamp is no exemption. Pop open as well as slide out the extended floor along with the ladder, increasing to an impressive size of over 82 inches. Extra attributes consist of a honeycombed light weight aluminum flooring and also three textile alternatives: 250 Denier polyester, a polyester-cotton blend, or mesh.

Invest less time functioning and also even more time under the stars with a rooftop tent that folds up out into your own backcountry resort space. Supplying an excellent vantage point, protection from bugs and also interested animals, and an abode that looks trendy https://afrilaw.org/blogs/news/why-people-choose-roof-top-tentt-over-ground-tent to rest in, it's easy to see why somebody may select a vehicle palace over an antiquated ground sanctuary Below are the best rooftop camping tents presently readily available.

While on the outdoors it shows up similar to various other tough shell camping tents, it in fact folds up out right into a big resting area ideal for 2 adults as well as 2 youngsters-- or up to three adults. The Skycamp is the world's largest expanding difficult covering rooftop tent.

Difficult leading outdoors tents are quicker to set up compared to soft leading tents as well as the Skycamp is no exemption.

I waited a few months to post this review so that I could use the tent a couple of times and become familiar with it before giving an opinion. I was amazed at first with just how easy this tent is to setup. In a matter of minutes after parking in your camping spot, the tent is ready to go. My first camping trip with the RTT, I set the whole thing up

http://edition.cnn.com/search/?text=rooftop tent

[tsgnashvilletennessee]

American Woman

Women-owned businesses in the United States are growing at a rate quicker than any other demographic; generating more revenue, hiring more employees, and contributing more to our national economy.  Locally, Nashville has one of the highest percentage of female-owned businesses, so it’s no surprise that our Scout Guide Nashville is filled with these leading women, with a wide range of backgrounds and passions.

What better way to cheers the red, white, and blue, than to celebrate the American dream!  We caught up with a few of the female business owners included in our guide to learn more of their story, what it’s like to run a Nashville small business, and what it means to live the American dream; each an inspiring American Woman.

Photo by Leslee Mitchell.

Kimberly Lewis, owner of Emerson Grace

TSG Nashville: There is nothing more American than creating your own business.  As a female entrepreneur, what was it that inspired you to take that first leap in starting your own business?

Lewis: The opportunity to use my years of experience in the fashion retail and wholesale arena for my own freedom and flexibility.

TSG Nashville: During your entrepreneurial journey was there anyone who helped you along the way, or a particular source of inspiration?

Lewis: My husband, Jim.  He has always pushed me to follow my passion.  He has a great business background and mindset, so together we are fortunate to have a great balance that shines through with the store.

TSG Nashville: What does a typical work day look like for you?

Lewis: I am fortunate to have a great team working in the store.  That allows me freedom and flexibility.  I now spend most of my time on the buying, merchandising, and big picture goals for Emerson Grace.

TSG Nashville: As young girls, we have so many ideas of what we dream of doing when we grow up.  When you were younger, what did you want to be?  Did you ever imagine you’d be where you are today?

Lewis: Ironically, I thought I was going to be an interior designer!  Once I started working in the retail world, I truly enjoyed it, and I was really good at it...and that’s when I started to focus on making it my career!

TSG Nashville: Success is measured in so many ways.  For you, what defines success?

Lewis: It’s personal and professional.  Building the business to a place that affords me certain luxuries, is definitely a highlight.  Albeit “just clothes,” women want to look and feel good.  Our consistent repeat clientele and words of encouragement and pride from them, reinforce that we’re on the right path.  Having a great team allows me the freedom and flexibility to do my job well, travel, and spend time with my family.

TSG Nashville: Is there a motto you live by that also reflects how you like your business to run?

Lewis: #stayfocused.  Know the goal and keep striving for it.  Do good work, it makes all the difference!

TSG Nashville: What does being an American business owner in Nashville mean to you?

Lewis: It means I am a part of a community of talented individuals in this thriving city, that share a common interest or goal.  I enjoy working with, socializing with, and seeing other female entrepreneurs in my field, or other fields, and having mutual respect and support for the journey that we have all decided to embark upon.

For more information on Emerson Grace, visit www.emersongracenashville.com

Photo by Leslee Mitchell.

Kristen Winston, owner of Kristen Winston Catering

TSG Nashville: There is nothing more American than creating your own business.  As a female entrepreneur, what was it that inspired you to take that first leap in starting your own business?

Winston: I have always had a passion for cooking and entertaining.  The suggestion of a friend helped me realize that I could turn my hobby into a profession.

TSG Nashville: During your entrepreneurial journey was there anyone who helped you along the way, or a particular source of inspiration?

Winston: My husband, John, who gave me the support and encouragement to start the business, and the knowledge and expertise to take Kristen Winston Catering from a home based business to a company.

TSG Nashville: What does a typical work day look like for you?

Winston: I wake up at the crack of dawn in order to have some alone time and a walk before my kids get up, and we head out for school.  Then it is to the office or meetings, and many times, going by an event setup at the end of the day.

TSG Nashville: As young girls, we have so many ideas of what we dream of doing when we grow up.  When you were younger, what did you want to be?  Did you ever imagine you’d be where you are today?

Winston: I wanted to be a nurse.  I took a completely different path midway through college, but I have always had a passion for serving others and foodservice ended up being my calling.

TSG Nashville: Success is measured in so many ways.  For you, what defines success?

Winston: I measure success by client satisfaction.  We strive to make our clients happy by delivering the highest level of professionalism in service, consistently great food, and memorable experiences.  Building lasting relationships means repeat business which is essential for sustainable growth.

TSG Nashville: Is there a motto you live by that also reflects how you like your business to run?

Winston: My dad has Thomas Jefferson’s 10 Rules of Life framed in his study.  Rule #1 is, “Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.”  I have always remembered that.

TSG Nashville: What does being an American business owner in Nashville mean to you?

Winston: I feel very fortunate to live in a city with such explosive growth and popularity, especially the culinary scene.  We have a very strong community of women entrepreneurs.  

For more information on Kristen Winston Catering, visit www.kristenwinston.com

Photo by Leslee Mitchell.

Elizabeth Allen, owner of e.Allen

TSG Nashville: There is nothing more American than creating your own business.  As a female entrepreneur, what was it that inspired you to take that first leap in starting your own business?

Allen: Women! I started e.Allen when my youngest was only 2 months old.  I noticed how I had more confidence when I would pull together a look for myself, even if that meant simply throwing on a basic staple from my closet and adding some interesting accessories along with it.  I just knew other women HAD to feel the same way, and I had the inner confidence and drive to pursue a vision in a store that wasn’t already out there!

TSG Nashville: During your entrepreneurial journey was there anyone who helped you along the way, or a particular source of inspiration?

Allen: My main source of inspiration is branding.  From the beginning, I always wanted to have brand recognition that stood the test of time.  I wanted e.Allen to be a brand people could relate to and ultimately love!  I have a passion for reading about brands and their creators, be it through magazine articles or other means of communication.  Most recently, a friend of mine has turned me onto podcasts!

TSG Nashville: What does a typical work day look like for you?

Allen: No two days are the same.  We were lucky enough to invest in an e.Allen headquarters office space where a large portion of my time is spent.  I utilize that location to review lines, purchase store product, conduct photoshoots and meetings, review reports, and so much more.  Then, all of the fun is to be had at one of our locations: Nashville, Murfreesboro, or Franklin.

TSG Nashville: As young girls, we have so many ideas of what we dream of doing when we grow up.  When you were younger, what did you want to be?  Did you ever imagine you’d be where you are today?

Allen: I studied Biology and Chemistry in college; therefore, the answer to your question is I never imagined creating my own brand and owning three successful stores.  While doing so certainly isn’t brain surgery, (even though at times it feels that way) it truly is a dream come true.  I am exhausted by the end of each and every single day.  However, the reward I receive in dressing women and helping them realize their original beauty is priceless.

TSG Nashville: Success is measured in so many ways.  For you, what defines success?

Allen: Being able to do what you love for as long as you’d wish, while coincidentally helping others recognize their inner confidence and outer beauty, is what defines success.  I hope to help shape others in a positive light and repay the feeling I have had when others have done the same for me.

TSG Nashville: Is there a motto you live by that also reflects how you like your business to run?

Allen: Treat others the way you want to be treated.  With three stores, I entrust my girls with a superior level of expectation!  e.Allen has my name on the store front, and at the end of the day, our team is a reflection of that, which I certainly do not take lightly.  In order for customers to have a positive experience, and for e.Allen to have continued growing success, my stores must start with an extraordinary high level of respect that permeates from its leader to the individual customer.

TSG Nashville: What does being an American family business owner in Nashville mean to you?

Allen: Though Nashville is an extremely welcoming and supportive community, the growth of our town makes the business world highly competitive.  To achieve and maintain a growing success rate in Nashville, along with our other two locations, is incredibly empowering.  Female leaders are imperative in any area’s business world; therefore, owning and operating a brand for close to 10 years is an incredible personal and professional accomplishment that I hope encourages women to go after their initial dreams...or cultivate a new one!

For more information on e.Allen, visit www.eallenboutique.com

Photo by Leslee Mitchell.

Maggie Tucker, owner of Magpies and The Girls Shoppe

TSG Nashville: There is nothing more American than creating your own business.  As a female entrepreneur, what was it that inspired you to take that first leap in starting your own business?

Tucker: My husband!  My sweet, wonderful, always encouraging husband.  He told me every day for years that I needed to start my own business!  He held me accountable to my potential, and he made me believe I could do something I truly doubted was possible.  He continues to make me think bigger and bolder, and always offers constant support to see my dreams and ideas through fruition.  He is a true partner in every sense of the word.

TSG Nashville: During your entrepreneurial journey was there anyone who helped you along the way, or a particular source of inspiration?

Tucker: I have the most incredible mentor.  Magpies would not have been possible without her guidance and support.  My ultimate goal is to pay it all forward, and champion another woman towards her entrepreneurial dreams the way Beth has done for me.  She is my real life angel.

TSG Nashville: What does a typical work day look like for you?

Tucker: I usually go to SHED fitness at 5 a.m.  I pop into Starbucks, then head home to check emails, do our morning social media posts, reply to messages, make breakfast, and play with my dogs.  I head back to Starbucks for a refill, and onto our baby and kids store to start the day with Catherine, she’s been the head of operations there for several years.  I love getting a daily plan together with her.  I head to our Girls Shoppe for a quick check in and start gathering inventory for transfers to our Franklin store, we send inventory back and forth multiple times a week to maximize sales and serve our customers.  I run out to Franklin and spend the afternoon with Wesley, our Southside manager, the bright and beautiful face behind our newest location!  We plan upcoming events, work on product reorders, and gather up the inventory that needs to go back to Nashville.  I head back, run by the post office to ship online orders, and wrap up the day with our Nashville Girls Shoppe team.  The afternoon is usually our busiest time in that location, and I LOVE to be there for the madness!!

TSG Nashville: As young girls, we have so many ideas of what we dream of doing when we grow up.  When you were younger, what did you want to be?  Did you ever imagine you’d be where you are today?

Tucker: One summer I took the lemonade stand game to a new level and set up shop near construction sites, offering both donuts AND lemonade.  My mom made me reimburse her for supplies, so at an early age I understood the importance of a good margin!  Based on my success, I immediately envisioned being the first female president!  I was extremely confident, and when school started back that Fall, I demanded to play the role of president in my 2nd grade play.  Did I imagine being HERE one day? No!  I imagined I’d be in the White House!  But I think I’ll take my happy neon pink palaces and leave politics up to someone else.

TSG Nashville: Success is measured in so many ways.  For you, what defines success?

Tucker: For me, success in my industry is: paying myself.  So many people I meet with do not pay themselves.  For me this is a huge WIN, and something my mentor encouraged me to do from day one.  Having growth opportunities for employees within our company. Cultivating a work environment I genuinely want to be in and miss when I’m not there.  Keeping our stores relevant in the community and in the industry.  Consistently and authentically using our stores to elevate the lives of others.  Building a brand that has the potential for sale one day.  This all defines success.

TSG Nashville: Is there a motto you live by that also reflects how you like your business to run?

Tucker: Leave it better than you found it.  Be it a person, a place, or a thing.  Make sure it’s always better than before you got there!

TSG Nashville: What does being an American business owner in Nashville mean to you?

Tucker: It’s definitely a blessing that I don’t ever take for granted.  I hold it as a constant reminder and motivation to elevate rising female business owners.  The trail was blazed long before me, and I feel accountable to the previous women to do the same for others.

For more information on Magpies and the Girls Shoppe, visit www.magpiesnashville.com

[originalpistol]

𝑩𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚐𝚎, 𝑩𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆. 

Running — That’s something I am great at. But I never ran from /you/. There was something about the way your arms wound around the small of my waist, pulling me in, and making me remember what it felt like to call a person home instead of four walls and countless marble pillars. Something in the way your breath would gently cascade in against the delicate flesh of my neck with every heated wind from the slow wind of my hips. A simple, slow tease. Oh, but I knew it was pure torture for you; that’s why I did it. Two small reasons why...why I never strayed, and why I held tight when your presence was nonexistent. I still remembered the shock that settled in the day you knelt down against the warm sand, and pulled out a ring. Pear shaped; my favorite. Simple, golden band. I never was one for over-complicated jewelry. Gross. If that shit has more diamonds than the most important one? Throw it out. But that was something he knew. Boy, did you really do a number on me with this whole setup. Lure me in, take me to our favorite beach, and low and behold? Sharks! The one and only favorite animal of yours truly. Great. Gotta love a man that knows exactly what to do. Fuck, me. So here we were, sharing the best memory I could ever hope for — a shark meet-and-greet. I was right at home in the ocean, swiping light fingers along the silken backs of them, completely mesmerized by the way they moved. And then? That was when he pulled me away; I didn’t mind, I knew the day was drawing to an end, and that was usually the time when sharks become ravenous with hunger. Wish I would’ve sank you to them, honestly. Shit, then I wouldn’t be standing here, feeling stupid. The thing I hate almost more than feeling vulnerable. Good job, pal. The initial pain that followed his disappearance was something that I’d honestly learned to tune out. Just busy, or perhaps just up to some shit I didn’t know or need to know about. Shit happens, Alice. You’ll be fine, just keep on building your empire. So that’s exactly what I did. I built a wedding line while he was off gallivanting. Seven of the eight pieces were nearly finished. All that lacked was the eighth and final dress. Something I had taken my sweet time in both designing, but also in bringing my idea to life. I never had issues on this until now. Where I couldn’t even find the headspace to slip away from the lingering memories of having him at home with me. I used to take my pieces home, give him a little show all his own, and allow him to tell me the small changes to make to the pieces. It was stupid, probably, but it always helped to steady my mind. I still can’t believe I allowed myself to lean on someone else so completely. Wasn’t that the first thing I learned in life from my lunatic mother? Crazy bitch; still locked away in the asylum. If there was one solid piece of advice I’d bother to lend to anyone? Never rely on anyone other than yourself. Your fingers, feet, will, and determination will take you a helluva lot further than anyone else ever will. If you find yourself wanting to lean into or on your partner? Fucking stand up — Stand tall. We don’t have time for that bullshit here. Waiting wasn’t the hard part. Continuing to have hope when you’re six months into being alone? That is the hard part. Going back, recreating each and every little memory you have of him while he won’t let you know he’s still breathing; that’s hard. It’s the whole thing of not knowing, for me. I never thought I would be the kind of girl to sit back and find myself a mess of confusion, anger, and doubt all because of this goddamn ring that sat so prominently against my left ring finger. But yet? I held on, refusing to let go or to give up. Not because of myself, but because I knew the feeling of coming back to an empty life, an empty home. Detriment was a kind way of putting that kind of hurt. Trust, love, compassion; these are all things we built together. Things to which were slowly slipping between my fingertips as the eighth month alone was creeping in. Settling into its place on the chalkboard calendar I’d hung to track both my progress on the wedding show, but also so I would force myself to be conscious in the time that lapsed. Eight fucking months of space between the two of us. I had never felt so empty. Both in mind and in soul. He’d slipped away so easily to my dismay. Not a word, not even a second thought. Maybe marriage wasn’t for me. Perhaps I was the kind of girl that would always find herself in these fucked up situations because this wasn’t something in the deck of cards I’d been playing with? We shall see. Teeter...totter. Back and forth she goes. Do I slip away like he did, or do I give it the full length of a year before I let this crash harder than a car at 80 stopping against a tree? Fuck it. Held on this long, suppose it won’t ruin me any worse to wait it out. Yeah? Yeah. Back to the dress. That’s right. It was mid July — only one dress remained. I slipped another pin from between my lips, into my fingers, and right by my thumb right through the soft — damn near silken, fabric. Weaving the pin into place, and securing it with a final thread of fabric against the shoulder. Draping it down to sit perfect against the shoulder of the mannequin at hand. They would slouch slightly, but never enough to reveal too much skin. Classy. Effortlessly classy. For a moment I pulled away from my project to look over it, eyes narrowing in suspicion and critique of my own work. Everything would be perfect, and without flaw by the time I was done. Nine months deep in this treacherous hell hole of a relationship, ey? Here I go again, making my rounds of excuses for why he’s gone, why he hasn’t said a single word, and why I don’t matter. Here I go venturing into the path of unknown on whether or not I’ll ever speak to the second most important person I’d met. Can’t believe I let him in to this extent. Still feel stupid. My will to push forward with my long-lived journey of waiting was dwindling. Quick. It was almost as if with every tap my nails made against the glass top of my desk, my patience were wearing further. Down the drain. Oh, fucking, well. I remembered typing out my release form, allowing me to escape the confines of this, but instead? I’d somehow turned it into a soppy form of how much I loved this man, and how I was still going to persevere so he would see the love I gave. I couldn’t tell you how badly I wanted to just be able to hear that deep, rusk voice of his. To know he was near. Little did I know, this need to feel him would be met only days later. I was dead to the world on the leather couch in my living room, bottle in hand, and drool dripping down the corner of my mouth. How lady like, Madame Lunatic would be oh sooo proud. Insert eyeroll here, please. Thank you. Anyways. I’d slept for a grand total of three hours when I finally heard the soft ringing of my phone. For the record, I had seven missed calls from Brooklyn at this point. What in the sam fuck is this? “Swain is here!” That was all I had to know, and I immediately sprung into action. Time to see /my/ man. When it was said that it was either Swain or nothing? People meant that. I cared about little to none unless it dealt with him. Dude had my whole heart tangled around his fingers. Even when he wasn’t around. But he was now. That is what mattered, for me. Fuck, yes. I knew there was a reason I kept holding on. This is exactly why I never gave up. He was coming back, he was always meaning to come back. Right? Of course! Wait...but then why had he left for so long in the first place? How could someone who claimed they loved you so fully just...disappear? What kind of things ran through his mind when it wandered to me, and subsequently; did he think of me? Did I actually matter? How could I? Truly, how could I have mattered to this man if he could suck the life from someone so easily? But then again, I couldn’t place that blame solely on him. I chose to wait. I put myself here, but love for me is a beast to remain unconquered. There isn’t a thing I wouldn’t overcome if it came between me and someone I loved. He was the one person I loved more than anything. He wants to marry me. He wants to marry me. He’s here now and he wants to marry me. These are the words I had to forcibly think over and over as I pushed pins and needles in and out of the fabric of the dress. My very last dress. The only dress I would start and complete all on my own. The only dress that was completely created by Pistol. So here I was, completely knees deep in tulle and silk, and crystals alike. Beading sure was a fickle little bitch, and my compulsive need to have everything perfect wasn’t helping the situation at all. Guess that’s the price you pay when you know your craft, and you take pride in each and every facetted detail. A small smile managed to hem it’s way onto my lightly lined lips as I stitched in the last few sectors of the bodice. Lace was embellishing the tight corset, meant to strap in everything. There was a soft fabric draping the shoulders, and framing the bodice. That way it would look more vintage than new-age. Paying homage is the purpose, here. Must remain a take on a classic. That small reminder hit me as I was carefully weaving my needle in against the lace. Ocean inspired eyes watched over every stroke, making sure to take the time to correctly stitch everything. Lets see how many years this would take. Kidding. Only took the next two weeks. During those two weeks Swain and I went back and forth of colors for our wedding, the people we should include, and a date. A year. It had almost been a year since we’d gotten engaged and we were finally getting somewhere. Holy hell. I didn’t give a damn that he wanted to scrap the things I’d came up with, either. Not even the tiniest bit. Life was on overload as it was. Hell yeah, you can help! Do what you want, mister man. That was my way of thinking, at this point. I didn’t care if we didn’t invite a single soul to our wedding. I cared about the two of us and that was genuinely it. If you asked me? I was in favor of having this as small as it could be. I’d always been one to remain vulnerable with very few. Besides, he was all I truly needed. A marriage is between two people, not two people and everyone else. No thanks. Including other people in your relationship only succeeds to ruin that relationship. Outside opinions shouldn’t count or matter. This was about he and I. But the excitement that filled me to be able to say we had everything completely mapped out was unreal. I never thought we would get there. Not in the slightest, and especially not with nine months of space. Maybe this is that crazy level of love where nothing really forces you apart, or breaks you. Maybe. Just maybe. Slowly, though, oh so slowly he began to retreat back to the old habit. A few days at a time, at first, and then a week. See, I never was the girl that likes to nag someone because they’re absent for a week or two. Not when I’ve waited far longer. However, when you’ve got so many raw emotions invested into one human being? It’s genuinely a struggle to keep your head screwed on straight when that person starts fading once again. It’s like watching a relative relapse into the same shitty pattern. Over and over. This is where I had to sit back, on my own, and wonder how long until those little cracks in my heart would cause it to shatter? There has to be a limit to where I stay stable against the harsh reality that my favorite sense of comfort is about to wipe all that I’ve held onto, away, and into the nearest breeze. It’s almost as if I could feel the tension rising along my heartstrings. Each and every time I heard those fateful words, ‘I love you.’ There’s nothing more dangerous. October 31st, the big day. Holy hell, it’s finally here. I was going to be Kieran’s wife. His /wife/! The realization hadn’t even remotely set in at this point, but fuck it, I was hype. My nerves were non existent as I bustled to make sure I’d perfectly edited my vows for the man I loved endlessly. The erratic beating of my heart was unlike anything else, and even though I was surrounded by a group of people Swain and I had handpicked to witness our small ceremony? There was a huge weight of nervousness clouding my bronze shoulders. Lord, let's hope that my vows are enough. Nothing too short, nothing too long. Please, let me be enough. He said 2 o’clock. It is now well past 5p.m., but maybe he’s caught up and needs some time? Maybe a hundred different scenarios could’ve happened and that’s why he isn't here. Why I am standing here, wondering, waiting. My mind was running a million miles to the minute as I was being asked where he was, and if we were going to actually get married today. I hoped so. I remembered rolling the ring around the knuckle of my finger time and time again to ease my growing pangs of anxiety towards the situation at hand. He promised. He planned this. Why wouldn’t he show up, and how could /I/ not be enough to extract a goddamn hour of his time? One hour. That is all I wanted. Would I gladly accept and take more if the opportunity arises? Of course, but the chances of that were extremely slim. I knew that. I might’ve been in denial, but it wasn’t that goddamn strong. I could see two inches out from my feet, at the very least. As the hours passed, my anxiety level spiked, only to drop into the realization that it was now six hours later and not a word was said. No sorry, no dumbass excuse of what kept him from being here, from loving me. From making up all that time he’d already taken away. There really was nothing. Not a damn thing. You. I have loved you from the start. You drug me in with those stupid stoner jokes (that we both laugh at as if we’re kids), and kept me with your heart. When I think about you I see more than a body. I see your soul, your heart, and the mind that keeps it all afloat. I see you, Kieran. I’ve spent so many months learning any and everything from you that I can. And somehow it’s still hard to believe that we are here: waiting to be one. I know it’s probably weird for you to see this side of me; hell, it’s weird for me. But you allow me to be soft. To have emotion and to be vulnerable. You are my better half. You make all of the bullshit dissipate, and you are the light when everything seems to drown in black. I couldn’t be more thankful for someone than I am for you. But I’ve found myself thanking whatever higher power is there, for letting me find you. To have your love. And to be able to hide against you when shit gets hard. Marriage is something I /never/ thought /I/ would experience. But here I am. Here /you/ are. We’re fucking gettin’ married, and I couldn’t be more happy! I love you. More than a broken record loves to skip on the best part of a song. You have always and will always hold my heart and my hand. You are my most important. My constant. My rock. My ever-lasting love. The only one I would want to do forever with. You save me. In so many ways; from myself. You’ve always done that. Oh, but I doubt if you ever knew. You have bettered me in ways I don’t even know how to say, but baby? When I peer into those baby blue’s of yours I find myself watching out who life play out. The images I never thought I was worthy of. Being a wife. Being a mother. Owning about ninety-eight dogs. You’ve made me come alive in every sense of that word, and I love you even more for that. Loving. Admirable. Caring. Warm like the sun. Sweet. Honorable. Courageous. Funny. Talented. Wise. These are just a few words I have when it comes to you. These are aspects I watch flutter through your being each and every day. You inspire me to be a better woman in hopes that I will be the best for you. You called me the sun when you asked me to marry you, oh but you’ve never seen what you look like through my eyes, Kieran. You make me stand breathless all the time. And when I hear that deep voice of yours, signifying you’re home? Goddamn if my heart doesn’t want to run to you. Back to its home. Where I feel my safest. Because for me? You are my home. Fuck a house. It’s you. It has been you from the second week I knew you. So, Thank you, Kieran for always loving me. For staying even when I was the biggest pain in the ass. And for deciding you wanted to deal with my bullshit for the long haul. With that being said; please kiss me. Make me your wife, and let me take your last name, mister. Because I’m too in love with you for every passing minute it only gets stronger.‘ Those were the words that lay splattered across the back of this postcard I found nearly a year back. See, I wrote my vows far before I was ever even engaged to this man. He was my rock, my heart, my best friend. In every form possible, and I knew from the jump that it would always be him and I. Or, at least, that’s how it felt and seemed to be panning out. I felt like I was on top of the world when I felt the love he shared with me. He brought my heart to where it needed to be, and helped make me who I am. I knew that. But as I thought about the last year, I couldn’t help but to feel my pastel pink fingernails dig down into the weathered-most side of the postcard, tears welled, and soon strolled down the sides of my cheeks. I was slipping lower to the ground in hopes that I could avoid the incoming questions of our closest friends regarding our marriage. A marriage that wasn’t going to fail, because it couldn’t even start. I wasn’t worth the shot. The time. The effort...or the energy it took to simply show up. Processing the next few hours was something I didn’t fully understand, or know how to do. Maybe I’ll just push it away, or down? That’s usually how I would respond to a situation like this, but yet here I was. Still waiting. Everyone else gave up hours ago. Tears continued their way down my face, and I moved to get comfy in my favorite chair, in my home, that I shared as ours for over a year. Slap in the face. Insult to injury, as I thought more and more on this whole ordeal. What was I going to do? Was he ever coming back? Would he have the balls? OF COURSE HE WOULD! Here he was, in the early hours of the next morning. Did he apologize? Yes. Did it really mean anything? Not particularly. Did he give me an excuse? Also yes, but it wasn’t enough. Just that Halloween, the date he chose, was his favorite holiday (Mine too, but I don’t count, remember.) and he was busy enjoying it. You could’ve let me know, jackass. You could have taken three minutes to say you wouldn’t make the wedding. We either needed to reschedule or stop. Reschedule or leave. Those were the options I saw. The only ones that were worth a damn, and that would actually somehow save my heart a little bit. Would it fully save me? Fuck no, but in this case? I supposed every little bit really did count, didn’t it? Perhaps. We would see what came of this. To answer that one — A quick back and forth with how embarrassed I was, and how he didn’t care enough to save me from, what felt like, the ultimate embarrassment. I didn’t know what to do. I went back and forth with him. Fuck, me. Here we go again. How was it that all he needed to do was apologize, and I was going to nod my agreement to reschedule this? Yep. Yes, I was. Because why? Because I loved him more than I had anyone yet, and I had never been one to give up. Especially not when it came to anyone I loved. Perhaps that was my biggest downfall; the fact that I always loved to put those that I love before me. I could feel the rhythm of my heart picking up in pace, and the strong red discoloration coming into play along my chest and neck. God, I wanted to claw that skin away. Keep your hands away, Alice. Stop. It is going to be okay. I wanted to scream from the whole anxiety of it all. Not knowing what he would do next. Would he actually do what he said, or was this yet another empty promise for me to put weight into, and continue to feel my heart fall at the end of another dead-end result? September 1st.. That’s our new date for the wedding. Update all the guests. Everyone was ready. I was ready. Beyond so, even, and again? No Swain. Right back in stagnant water, huh. I needed to go, to get out. But I fought that overwhelming sensation turned urge to run from every part of this. I fought so fucking hard, and somehow I never got very far with it. Not in the slightest, and maybe that was one of the most devastating moments that compiled this shitty, shitty day? A sigh of defeat crossed my ruby red lips, and I nodded to myself in acknowledgement that he had fooled me this time, too. Here I was, with all the hope in the world, and a bouquet of daffodils. Soft, blue eyes swam in an ocean of pain as I sank into the nearest chair. Forget your life as you knew it, Alice. Forget the hope, forget the way he lies in his love for you. Someone who loved you a fraction of the amount he claims wouldn’t have done this. This guy is fine, just living his life, and at the expense of your raw heart. Pick yourself up, do better. But I can’t. I love him. Oh, the memory of it all was almost too real in this moment, and I could feel the want to let my tears form, but I would fight that, too. I was not allowed the right to be fragile or emotional, or vulnerable in any light. I am strong, right? Right...at least, that’s what I’ve always told myself. A day and a half later — That was the last time I saw him, and the last time my heart wept with weathered pain. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the way he spoke to me that day. I was a stranger, not the woman he wanted to marry, and that much was clear. I’d never seen him so cold, and why? For what reason was I given this kind of treatment? Because I stayed, and never gave up or gave in…? Was it because I loved him so completely and unconditionally? Was my love something too heavy to hold, for him? Did I, unintentionally, become a burden in the enormous love I shared? Every one of these questions plagued me for so damn long. They still do. But closure is a friend I do not know, nor do I yearn to. I only wish I could erase one thing that was spoken to me that day, “You know that even when we get married, I’m still not going to be around much, right?” There it was, I guess. What I knew he was doing, but at least? At least if he didn’t say it out loud, I wouldn’t have to deal with the reality of it all. I could just keep playing along as if my heart wasn’t slowly falling to a billion little shards, sharp as nails, and cutting me wide every time I attempted to bring myself together. God knows, he wasn’t going to even attempt to give me that small ounce of comfort that I was begging for. My pain was unimaginable. Sometimes it still haunts me. What makes me so hard to love...to deal with? Even with that guilt coming into play that I was the reason behind his drive to be so far? I found myself wanting nothing more than to love this man, who broke me so easily. “Never forget that I love you,” Boy sure did know how to sell it. All the way. Full fucking send. That was the last thing I told him, was how much I loved him. And then he was gone. I was broken. Void to everyone and everything around me, in entirety. I just didn’t care anymore. My wedding line was ready for the show in a week, and I was alienating myself from everyone in my life. Block them out. That’s all I cared to do. It wasn’t until the morning of the show that I found myself allowing a smile to crack along the lines of my lips. I had every dress perfectly organized in each bride’s dressing room, and on the eight one? I hung a sign on the door asking for privacy. She’d want to get herself ready for this day. Over the past few months, I’d gotten to know her fairly well, and I decided to do her this due justice. None of the other brides were aware of who the eighth bride was, and that was exactly as planned. I nodded to each of these women as I shut them into their spaces with their dresses. None had laid eyes on the finished product until this moment, and for once? I found comfort in not knowing the immediate reaction. Instead? I moved back down the long hallway, and stepped behind the door of my own little space. Here I could allow my soul some comfort, and a moment of peace before the runway bliss and clamor. Breathing was something that had become hard here lately. It was like I was suffocating beneath the pressure of tons of water. I couldn’t seem to get ahead of it, but yet here I was. Doing what I had always done, what I was good at — Acting like I was perfectly okay when I was anything but. One foot stepped down, into the dress, followed by the other. I’d made sure to have the perfect one for the show. Time in advance, and all. One couldn’t simply create a full wedding line, and look mediocre herself. I smiled up at myself as I lifted the dress from the floor, to my shoulders, and allowed Elie to complete fastening the back. Any other show? This would’ve been Swain’s place. To let his fingertips glide against the seam of my back, and drop a soft, simple kiss to my shoulder. But that was gone. A distant memory. Diminished, now, and I couldn’t allow myself that memory. Not now. Not today. I’d let Oscar take over guiding the girls in who was to take their walk down the runway, and when. I’d decided to take this time to myself, to ready myself. I kicked Elie out a few moments later only so I could wipe away the makeup I’d let a tear roll through, and for reapplication. Once that was done, I brought a diamond encrusted pin to slip between caramel locks, and fastened it in place. Both feet slipped down into my favorite pair of Louboutin shoes, and I took a few deep breaths before I headed out of the room, and down the hall...again. This time my heart was damn near jumping out of my chest, and I looked to both of these wonderful men for a brief moment before I moved to the stage entrance. All of the brides were lined up on the opposite side of the stage, where no one could see me from my current position. They’d taken their walks. Now it was my turn. Within the next few moments, life was a blur. It always was when I debuted a new line. Slowly, I stepped up to the stage, conscious of the dress, and overly conscious of what was going on. I allowed my smile to pour its way onto my porcelain features as I looked out at the hundreds of flashing lights, and began my journey down the runway. The dress was a tribute to a classic, just as all the rest. But this one hadn’t been touched by any hands other than my own. I’d taken months on months to create and sew this dress together. Lace, tulle, silk. All simple fabrics, with intricate weavings. Beautiful fabrics, for what was meant to be the most beautiful day. This was the first time I’d ever been allowed to step foot into my masterpiece. It never shined on its day of purpose. He’d ripped that away from me, hell, he’d never even known I was the eighth bride in my show. No one had. But here I was, making my way down, step by step, flash by flash, and with ease of motion. I’d learned how to fake it better than most, and this was where I used that to my advantage. The shoulders of my dress slouched along my slender shoulders, just as they were meant to, and everything fell perfectly into place. I had created something so beautiful, so perfect for my wedding day. It never shined on its day of purpose. “Oh my god, it was her this whole time?!” I heard those words as I was stepping back towards the exit of the stage, and I felt as if my heart was ready to shatter from the trauma of it all, all over again. And I was angry. So fucking angry at how I hadn’t been given the opportunity to shine, or to love, or to hurt. I’d only been allowed to deal with things as they came at me, in the moment, and never to process them. I continued to fake a smile as I stood alongside my co-creators of this line and took our final bows, but as soon as I managed to step away? I was gone. I needed to get out. I had to go. The urge to rip my skin off was rapidly approaching, and before my chest could start splotching, I needed to go. I knew exactly where, and truth be told? I never thought I would want to retrace my steps back to that spot, but here I was; already en route. My knuckles were white against the steering wheel as I flew down the PCH, throwing all caution to the wind, and not giving a damn about any speed limit in sight. Who cared, anyways. At this rate, it only took me a little over an hour to make it to the ocean. Well. The specific beach that Swain took me to nearly a year ago. Once I pulled in, I cut the engine, and sat there. Watching the waves crash against the sea-soaked sand, and rocks. I felt numb. I didn’t move, but instead? I reached over into my glove-box, and stole a cigarette to place between my lips. Lighter in hand. It was then that I slipped from the confines of the car, and made my way down the rocky path to where he asked me to marry him. I stood in the exact same spot I had then, and simply moved to unbutton the dress as best as I could. Rocking to and fro, ever so slightly, against my feet, as I did this. I didn’t speak. I didn’t think. I just let the dress fall to the sand. Leaving me in nothing more than my white, corseted slip, and heels. The cigarette remained between my lips as I flicked the igniter on the lighter, and took a nice, long drag. Ah, the ease of nicotine. Something to steady my restless and relentless nerves. In that same moment? I lifted the train of my dress, riddled with lace, and flicked the lighter to life once more. It took little longer than a minute to watch all my hard-work, love, and determination go up into flames. Just the same as my love for him. Burn the bridge, burn the memory. With the next drag of the cigarette, I was gone again. Sunk back into the seat of my ‘69 Hemi, and flying down the highway once more. It was time to go home. I am good at running. I am good at burning bridges. I am good at loving. I am good at many things. But what I am not good at is handling trauma. So, I’ll give you a Pro Tip: Never design and sew your own goddamn wedding dress. That shit will burn you far worse than any flame ever could. Much love, The Eighth Bride.

[kathydsalters31]

Just how to Take a Funny Photo of Your Dog Using Treats

Have you been inspired by the Dogs Catching Treats photo series and intend to record your

very own? Well, I did. I was stuck around residence for some time and determined to make this set of my special projects to keep me active.

I believed this might be a fun thing for other people to do so I made a decision to share several of my guidance as well as tips for how to do it. First Step: Choose the Right Treat

Make it alluring The tastier the treat is, the a lot more your canine will

be urged to catch it. Small yet not as well little Because you will certainly be practicing with about 10-20 deals with per session, approximately 3 times a day, you’ll wish to select small

treats to maintain the calorie matter down. Pro pointer: subtract the calories of treats or food you utilize from your pet dog

‘s everyday dish(s). This means that they will certainly be eating a

little bit much less but doing this will assist maintain your pet dog at a healthy weight. The treat requires to be huge sufficient for your pet dog to see while it’s relocating accross a” hectic” background

. I discovered anything smaller than a pea was too little. Light to medium weight I located the light ones don’t “fly”as quickly, and get a little bit extra loft, so it offers

your canine a couple of more seconds to find it coming with their face. Nonetheless, I located I was a lot more exact at throwing– the trajectory of the treat was much more predictable– if it had a little bit of weight to it. Second Step: Train Your Dog to

Catch Treats In my instance, my Dachshund was already”trained” to catch pet dog treats I throw mid-air prior to I began this little photo adventure.

When I state trained, I really did not precisely instruct her to do it. I was throwing treats

on the flooring someday (for my pets to “hunt”)as well as she captured one prior to it landed.

I simply strengthened that behavior by exercising with her. In full disclosure, if your pet dog does not understand how to capture deals with or playthings in the air already, I am not going to be able to use you skilled advice. However, I can use some advice and tips. Because I can not show the very best method to educate a pet to capture

treats, I did some online research wishing to discover some great directions for you. These are the very best sources that Iv ‘e discovered until now: Article: How to Train Your Dog to Catch Food I liked< a rel=" noreferrer

noopener “aria-label= “this post (opens in a new tab)”href =”https://wagwalking.com/training/catch-food”target =” _ space “> this article regarding educating a dog to capture

because it lays out 3 various techniques you can try to obtain your canine to catch a piece of food or treat you throw.

Not all approaches will benefit all pets,. Some pets are naturally inclined to capture points so they

will select it up quicker. I think # 1 makes believe most sense for a dog feeling has no canine how to catch a treat

. Article: How to Teach Your Dog to Catch This write-up has to do with teaching your pet dog to capture a plaything yet it recommends beginning to educate that procedure with treats.

What I truly like concerning this set is that step 3 addresses the all-too-common issue: a canine that just looks at you, lets the reward loss on the flooring, and then eats it. This write-up supplies a couple

of prospective services for that. Video clip: Can Your Dog Catch Ball? Instruct Them How! Some people are

aesthetic learners so I wished to share a video presentation of exactly how to teach

this technique. I checked out about 20 and also thought

this video was the best. It’s ultimately concerning capturing a sphere however, as with the short article over, the

initial step is showing your dog to capture a reward. I additionally like that the lady has a smaller sized canine. Tip Three: Capture it On Film When your canine is dependable catching deals with

— which can take a

pair days or weeks to educate– the next difficulty is trying to get it on movie

. You’ll want to decide whether you want to try video, your phone’s camera, or a DSLR video camera. Smartphone video clip In my experience, the video clip is easiest. If you begin shooting prior to you throw the treat, it will likely remain in

focus the whole time. Also

, you can usually still throw the treat with your leading hand while you operate the phone with the various other( this will maintain your accuracy). The primary drawback here is that you will record the trick however not have the ability to freeze your pet dog’s movement as well as expressions mid-air like you would with a cam.

Because it was those freeze-frames of funny movements and also derpy faces I intended to catch, this was not the technique I selected. If your pone has a slow motion video choice though, that could be fun.

Mobile phone images Some individuals just have their phone to take pictures with.

While it’s not the best option, it can work. A lot of phones made in the last number of years have a” professional “setting on the electronic camera while you can change the setups.

While you can simply see what your cam catches in typical mode, you may need to manually adjust your phone electronic cameras setups. You can regulate the focus with aperture

and also motionless scene with shutter rate. Some pro modes will just allow you to change one or the various other while automatically selecting the other element for you. Raise the shutter speed as much as you can without making the picture too dark if you can just manage one thing. If your phone cam does not

enable hands-on adjustments, or the shutter speed will not increase high sufficient, you’ll probably wind up with a great deal of fuzzy shots. That does not imply you can not get a good one. You may need to hold your phone to take photos in your leading hand, which means you may have to toss the treat

with your various other hand, which can decrease precision, but having to switch hands is not constantly the situation. If your phone has the option to take numerous, succeeding photos quickly by holding down the shutter switch, that can help increase the chance you will obtain an excellent one.

DSLR Camera

I think this is the best method to go if you have access to a DSLR electronic camera. It gives you one of the most control over how the image turns out.

I’m mosting likely to start with the disadvantages today with this one though.

A DSLR is much heavier, you will need to hold it in your right hand in order to push the shutter, which likely indicates you need to throw the treat with your non-dominant hand. Utilizing a DSLR video camera will likely be a discouraging experience for you if you don’t currently recognize the principles of photography and/or do not know the camera

you are going to use well. Utilizing a DSLR is most likely to produce the most useful images. You can readjust the shutter speed to freeze the activity, you can readjust the aperture to help keep your

canine in emphasis, as well as you can change the ISO (and also exposure settlement)to assist keep the picture from being also dark(as a result of the other 2 settings). Everybody has various cameras and ability levels so I’m not also mosting likely to try to offer any type of sort of camera

lesson right here. I will certainly share that the setups that have actually resulted in the highest possible number of usable pictures for me are:

Focus mode: ASP-C Shutter rate of 1/2000 or 1/2500 Aperture of f4-5.6

Ruptured high setting (my video camera fires 11 fps)

< img src =" https://youdidwhatwithyourweiner.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/DSC00029wm.JPG-copy-800×1201.jpg "alt=" Photo of Dachshund jumping in the air to catch a canine deal with in an area of flowers "class=" lazyload wp-image-19488"data-srcset=" https://youdidwhatwithyourweiner.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/DSC00029wm.JPG-copy-800×1201.jpg 800w, https://youdidwhatwithyourweiner.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/DSC00029wm.JPG-copy-600×901.jpg 600w, https://youdidwhatwithyourweiner.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/DSC00029wm.JPG-copy-768×1153.jpg 768w, https://youdidwhatwithyourweiner.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/DSC00029wm.JPG-copy.jpg 1000w "data-sizes="( max-width: 800px)100vw,

800px”> 13 Tips for Taking Great Treat-Tossing Photos of Your Dog If you and also your canine are new to this, start on a hard, level surface area. Have your pet sit, or a minimum of stay in one area, before throwing the treat. Exercise with a number of different type of deals with initially to see which ones have the greatest level of curacy for you and your pet dog( obtain captured the most typically).

If you require to use your non-dominant hand to toss the reward when taking pictures, method tossing with that hand. The all-natural light outdoors is far better than indoor lighting. Trying out flash. Typically, you should’t usage flash when photographing your dog. If the outside light is bright enough, the flash will not appear to rough and also may include just the right quantity of extra pizzazz.

Place your canine in the full sunlight or shade when taking the photo. The brighter the light, the much easier it is to ice up movement but rough, unequal light does not create fantastic results.

Position canine towards bottom of framework since they will likely jump up and also onward when catching so this leaves room in the frame to still capture them.

Making use of a picture orientation for the photo structure (vs. horizontal) can help maintain your pet dog within the structure.

For taking pictures of lap dogs, you may need to flex over while taking the image to get your hand close enough to their mouth.

If using a DSLR, or if your phone has the capacity, take pictures in ruptured mode to record several rapidly one by one.

If you can take images on burst, dispirit the shutter to begin taking images before you throw the treat.

Don’t discourage your self and also your pet. Keep image sessions to 5 mins or two each time and also quit if your canine misses greater than 3 or 4 treats in a row.

Examine out my short articles on taking fantastic images of your canine using a smart device and taking the best photo of your pet dog for Instagram.

source http://www.luckydogsolutions.com/how-to-take-a-funny-photo-of-your-dog-using-treats/ from Lucky Dog Solutions https://luckydogsolutions.blogspot.com/2020/07/just-how-to-take-funny-photo-of-your.html

[barryswamsleyaz]

Just how to Take a Funny Photo of Your Dog Using Treats

Have you been inspired by the Dogs Catching Treats photo series and intend to record your

very own? Well, I did. I was stuck around residence for some time and determined to make this set of my special projects to keep me active.

I believed this might be a fun thing for other people to do so I made a decision to share several of my guidance as well as tips for how to do it. First Step: Choose the Right Treat Make it alluring The tastier the treat is, the a lot more your canine will

be urged to catch it. Small yet not as well little Because you will certainly be practicing with about 10-20 deals with per session, approximately 3 times a day, you’ll wish to select small

treats to maintain the calorie matter down. Pro pointer: subtract the calories of treats or food you utilize from your pet dog

‘s everyday dish(s). This means that they will certainly be eating a

little bit much less but doing this will assist maintain your pet dog at a healthy weight. The treat requires to be huge sufficient for your pet dog to see while it’s relocating accross a” hectic” background

. I discovered anything smaller than a pea was too little. Light to medium weight I located the light ones don’t “fly”as quickly, and get a little bit extra loft, so it offers

your canine a couple of more seconds to find it coming with their face. Nonetheless, I located I was a lot more exact at throwing– the trajectory of the treat was much more predictable– if it had a little bit of weight to it. Second Step: Train Your Dog to

Catch Treats In my instance, my Dachshund was already”trained” to catch pet dog treats I throw mid-air prior to I began this little photo adventure.

When I state trained, I really did not precisely instruct her to do it. I was throwing treats

on the flooring someday (for my pets to “hunt”)as well as she captured one prior to it landed.

I simply strengthened that behavior by exercising with her. In full disclosure, if your pet dog does not understand how to capture deals with or playthings in the air already, I am not going to be able to use you skilled advice. However, I can use some advice and tips. Because I can not show the very best method to educate a pet to capture treats, I did some online research wishing to discover some great directions for you. These are the very best sources that Iv ‘e discovered until now: Article: How to Train Your Dog to Catch Food I liked< a rel=“ noreferrer

noopener “aria-label= “this post (opens in a new tab)”href =”https://wagwalking.com/training/catch-food”target =” _ space “> this article regarding educating a dog to capture

because it lays out 3 various techniques you can try to obtain your canine to catch a piece of food or treat you throw.

Not all approaches will benefit all pets,. Some pets are naturally inclined to capture points so they

will select it up quicker. I think # 1 makes believe most sense for a dog feeling has no canine how to catch a treat

. Article: How to Teach Your Dog to Catch This write-up has to do with teaching your pet dog to capture a plaything yet it recommends beginning to educate that procedure with treats.

What I truly like concerning this set is that step 3 addresses the all-too-common issue: a canine that just looks at you, lets the reward loss on the flooring, and then eats it. This write-up supplies a couple

of prospective services for that. Video clip: Can Your Dog Catch Ball? Instruct Them How! Some people are

aesthetic learners so I wished to share a video presentation of exactly how to teach

this technique. I checked out about 20 and also thought this video was the best. It’s ultimately concerning capturing a sphere however, as with the short article over, the

initial step is showing your dog to capture a reward. I additionally like that the lady has a smaller sized canine. Tip Three: Capture it On Film When your canine is dependable catching deals with

— which can take a

pair days or weeks to educate– the next difficulty is trying to get it on movie

. You’ll want to decide whether you want to try video, your phone’s camera, or a DSLR video camera. Smartphone video clip In my experience, the video clip is easiest. If you begin shooting prior to you throw the treat, it will likely remain in

focus the whole time. Also

, you can usually still throw the treat with your leading hand while you operate the phone with the various other( this will maintain your accuracy). The primary drawback here is that you will record the trick however not have the ability to freeze your pet dog’s movement as well as expressions mid-air like you would with a cam.

Because it was those freeze-frames of funny movements and also derpy faces I intended to catch, this was not the technique I selected. If your pone has a slow motion video choice though, that could be fun.

Mobile phone images Some individuals just have their phone to take pictures with.

While it’s not the best option, it can work. A lot of phones made in the last number of years have a” professional “setting on the electronic camera while you can change the setups.

While you can simply see what your cam catches in typical mode, you may need to manually adjust your phone electronic cameras setups. You can regulate the focus with aperture

and also motionless scene with shutter rate. Some pro modes will just allow you to change one or the various other while automatically selecting the other element for you. Raise the shutter speed as much as you can without making the picture too dark if you can just manage one thing. If your phone cam does not

enable hands-on adjustments, or the shutter speed will not increase high sufficient, you’ll probably wind up with a great deal of fuzzy shots. That does not imply you can not get a good one. You may need to hold your phone to take photos in your leading hand, which means you may have to toss the treat

with your various other hand, which can decrease precision, but having to switch hands is not constantly the situation. If your phone has the option to take numerous, succeeding photos quickly by holding down the shutter switch, that can help increase the chance you will obtain an excellent one.

DSLR Camera

I think this is the best method to go if you have access to a DSLR electronic camera. It gives you one of the most control over how the image turns out.

I’m mosting likely to start with the disadvantages today with this one though.

A DSLR is much heavier, you will need to hold it in your right hand in order to push the shutter, which likely indicates you need to throw the treat with your non-dominant hand. Utilizing a DSLR video camera will likely be a discouraging experience for you if you don’t currently recognize the principles of photography and/or do not know the camera

you are going to use well. Utilizing a DSLR is most likely to produce the most useful images. You can readjust the shutter speed to freeze the activity, you can readjust the aperture to help keep your

canine in emphasis, as well as you can change the ISO (and also exposure settlement)to assist keep the picture from being also dark(as a result of the other 2 settings). Everybody has various cameras and ability levels so I’m not also mosting likely to try to offer any type of sort of camera

lesson right here. I will certainly share that the setups that have actually resulted in the highest possible number of usable pictures for me are:

Focus mode: ASP-C Shutter rate of 1/2000 or 1/2500 Aperture of f4-5.6

Ruptured high setting (my video camera fires 11 fps)

< img src =” https://youdidwhatwithyourweiner.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/DSC00029wm.JPG-copy-800×1201.jpg “alt=” Photo of Dachshund jumping in the air to catch a canine deal with in an area of flowers “class=” lazyload wp-image-19488"data-srcset=“ https://youdidwhatwithyourweiner.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/DSC00029wm.JPG-copy-800×1201.jpg 800w, https://youdidwhatwithyourweiner.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/DSC00029wm.JPG-copy-600×901.jpg 600w, https://youdidwhatwithyourweiner.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/DSC00029wm.JPG-copy-768×1153.jpg 768w, https://youdidwhatwithyourweiner.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/DSC00029wm.JPG-copy.jpg 1000w "data-sizes=”( max-width: 800px)100vw,

800px”> 13 Tips for Taking Great Treat-Tossing Photos of Your Dog If you and also your canine are new to this, start on a hard, level surface area. Have your pet sit, or a minimum of stay in one area, before throwing the treat. Exercise with a number of different type of deals with initially to see which ones have the greatest level of curacy for you and your pet dog( obtain captured the most typically).

If you require to use your non-dominant hand to toss the reward when taking pictures, method tossing with that hand. The all-natural light outdoors is far better than indoor lighting. Trying out flash. Typically, you should’t usage flash when photographing your dog. If the outside light is bright enough, the flash will not appear to rough and also may include just the right quantity of extra pizzazz.

Place your canine in the full sunlight or shade when taking the photo. The brighter the light, the much easier it is to ice up movement but rough, unequal light does not create fantastic results.

Position canine towards bottom of framework since they will likely jump up and also onward when catching so this leaves room in the frame to still capture them.

Making use of a picture orientation for the photo structure (vs. horizontal) can help maintain your pet dog within the structure.

For taking pictures of lap dogs, you may need to flex over while taking the image to get your hand close enough to their mouth.

If using a DSLR, or if your phone has the capacity, take pictures in ruptured mode to record several rapidly one by one.

If you can take images on burst, dispirit the shutter to begin taking images before you throw the treat.

Don’t discourage your self and also your pet. Keep image sessions to 5 mins or two each time and also quit if your canine misses greater than 3 or 4 treats in a row.

Examine out my short articles on taking fantastic images of your canine using a smart device and taking the best photo of your pet dog for Instagram.

from Lucky Dog Solutions http://www.luckydogsolutions.com/how-to-take-a-funny-photo-of-your-dog-using-treats/ from Lucky Dog Solutions https://luckydogsolutions.tumblr.com/post/622509860174561280