#it’s like the embodiment of my attempts as a kid to be as white as i could the erasure of being. flops on the floor like a fish IDKKKK

[ender-lune]

lies down on the floor. AGH

[dark-and-kawaii]

your pregnancy ficlets are super sweet! How about Halsin finding out tav is pregnant 🥰

Halsin would/does make the best dad. When he was worried about the kids not getting a bedtime story from him I wanted to cry. I go feral for big ol’ guys with a soft heart, and he’s like the poster man for that.

༺ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥 ༻

♡ Halsin | Pregnancy - Fluff

In the midst of a small flower field, bathed in the golden rays of the sun, you sat in the forest. Halsin, in his bear form, approaches you silently, attempting to surprise you. But as always, you are keenly aware of his presence. Chuckling softly to yourself you continue plucking a pink flower, and with a playful tone you remark, "You'd have better luck sneaking up on me if you were a cat, you know."

Halsin nudges your back gently with his large furry head, emitting a low, affectionate grunt as he settles down beside you. Resting against his solid form, you're enveloped in a unique comfort only he can provide, afterall, it’s not everyday someone gets with a bear. Twirling the flower wreath you've been weaving, you muse, "I'm considering changing these to yellow blossoms, what do you think?" You glance at him, your look soft and affectionate as he cocks his head, ears perked, you know his bearish confusion was a silent compliment to your creation.

Your laughter is light as your fingers trace the fur between his eyes. "Yellow's quite the neutral choice," Halsin watches you, his gaze intent, absorbing every word you speak, “Hmm, or maybe I should do white instead, but that’s just- no. That’s a terrible idea.” He continues to listen, studying your expression intently, as if trying to decipher the message behind your words.

“If it's a boy," you continue, your eyes lingering on the wreath, "I don't think he'd appreciate all these shades of pink." Your gaze meets Halsin's, a playful glimmer in your eyes. "And if it's a girl, well, pink seems to be the only answer. But how am I supposed to know? I'm no seer." You raise an eyebrow, your eyes searching his face. Suddenly, his wide brown eyes illuminate, and in a burst of radiant energy, Halsin stands before you, transformed back into his glorious elven body. "Is it true? You spoke of the truth just now?" he asks, his voice filled with awe and excitement.

Joining him in standing, a smile spreads across your face, and you nod, uttering the words he longed to hear, "It's true, my love." Unable to contain his joy, Halsin bursts into laughter, engulfing you in his arms as he spins you around, expressing his elation in that moment of pure bliss.

Halsin's laughter fills the forest as he spins you around, his joy palpable in the warm embrace. "By the Great Oak Father!" he exclaims, his eyes shining with happiness. You both come to a stop, and Halsin cups your face in his hands, his expression overflowing with love. "Our love, our bond, will be forever sealed in this precious life."

The forest and flowers around you seemed to come alive with vibrant colors, the gentle breeze carrying the sweet scent of the blooms. It feels as if though nature is celebrating alongside you.

As the initial rush of excitement settles, Halsin lowers himself to one knee, holding your hand close to him. "My heart, I promise to be there for you and our child every step of the way. I will protect and cherish both of you with all that I am."

Tears of joy well up in your eyes as you meet his gaze. "And I promise to stand by your side, Halsin, as I always have.”

Halsin's grin widens as he rises from his knee, his eyes never leaving yours. "I have no doubt that we will raise a child who embodies both the strength of the wild and the wisdom of the druids. They will be surrounded by love, nature, and the embrace of the elements."

With hearts filled with excitement and anticipation, you and Halsin spend the rest of the day in the forest, basking in the joy of your upcoming journey as parents. As the sun sets, casting a mesmerizing glow across the landscape, you can't help but feel an incredible sense of gratitude for the life growing within you and the love that binds you both together.

[muddy-water-1997]

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗

𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚗.

𝙸𝚝𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚔𝚜 𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚑 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝚆𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚘 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚙𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝙰𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚊, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚌𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚊𝚗𝚢- 𝙹𝚈𝙿 𝙴𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝. 𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚒𝚍𝚘𝚕𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚛𝚞𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚂𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚢 𝙺𝚒𝚍𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚍𝚊𝚍𝚜 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚘𝚗 𝚊 ���𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖, 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚎.

𝚃𝚆: 𝙹𝚈𝙿 (𝚜𝚘𝚛𝚛𝚢), 𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚜𝚝, 𝚜𝚖𝚞𝚝, 𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚛𝚢 𝚜𝚎𝚡, 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝: 3.0𝚔 3𝚁𝙰𝙲𝙷𝙰 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 ~ 𝙱𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚎 ~ 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚝𝚠𝚘 ~ 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚃𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚎

The energy in the room had shifted dramatically. You sat beside your uncle opposite the three men on the plush white sofa. Chris was an idol? Chris was Bang Chan? Chris was a part of 3RACHA!? Your eyes narrowed into daggers, staring the older group member down. You were the embodiment of ‘if looks could kill’. You weren’t just mad; you were seething. You had let the one thing you hated most into your life—an idol.

The chatter in Korean flew between your uncle and the three men, not one of them paying attention to you. You caught a few words, one being K-pop, one being production, and one being your name. If there was one thing you hated more than idol culture, it was being the centre of attention.

“Excuse me?” you cut into their conversation as level-headed as possible. “Am I going to be working today, or can I go and book that flight to see my friends in Australia?” You were at your wit's end, not caring if your tone was spiteful. Idols were used to attitude anyway.

Your uncle's head snapped toward you, a hint of annoyance in his eyes. "Y/N, you'll be working. There's no need for that attitude." You could have sworn you saw a small smile grace the faces of the opposite men, either loving that you could talk back to your uncle when they couldn’t or finding the situation amusing. 

“On that note,” Han stood up from the sofa. “We should probably take Y/N down to the studio.” Han started walking towards the door, your uncle motioning at you to follow them out.

“Behave, Y/N. You'll be working closely with 3RACHA, and you have a lot to learn from them." Your uncle spoke, implying that you had no choice in the matter. You sighed, admitting defeat—the dream of a final attempt to get into Australia fleeting. 

"Fine," you muttered, crossing your arms. "Let’s just get this over with."

The studio door closed softly behind you, and the awkward walk from your uncle's office almost faded when you saw the equipment before you. The kit in here was no joke. The MIDI controller looked more technical than the plane that got you here. You just wanted to get your hands on it, but as much as you disliked idols, you respected producers and their gear. No touching until given permission. Changbin must have noticed your intense staring.

“Feel free to look closer; we have most things saved on presets anyway,” he offered. You didn’t have to be told twice. You quickly jumped into the big leather chair, turned on the studio computer, and watched everything boot up. The array of lights flickering to life made you feel like a kid in a candy shop.

Chan watched you with a faint smile. “Impressive, isn’t it? We’ve got top-of-the-line equipment here. You’ll have everything you need to create some amazing tracks.”

You ran your fingers over the controls, resisting the urge to start tweaking settings right away. "This is incredible," you admitted, your earlier anger momentarily forgotten. "I’ve only read about most of this stuff in textbooks."

Han and Changbin exchanged glances, seeming to relax a bit as they saw your enthusiasm for the equipment. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, but it looks like you’re more than ready to dive in,” Han said, leaning against the wall.

“I’m definitely ready!” you said, a little more excitedly than you had hoped. You reminded yourself that you didn’t like these people; this was just a courtesy they showed you because of who your uncle was. But the allure of the equipment was too strong to resist. “I actually brought some stuff from home that I wanted to mix on a bigger setup,” you confessed, pulling a USB from your bag and plugging it into the PC before dragging the file into the production program.

The three members of 3RACHA watched with interest as you navigated the software with ease. Chan leaned in a bit closer, eyes focused on the screen. “What kind of tracks do you usually work on?” he asked, genuinely curious.

“Mostly experimental stuff. I like blending different genres and playing around with unconventional sounds,” you explained, your fingers flying over the keys as you set up your project. “This one’s a mix of electronic and acoustic elements.”

Changbin nodded appreciatively. “That’s cool. We’re always looking for fresh sounds to incorporate into our music.”

You started playing the track, adjusting levels and tweaking effects as you went. The sound filled the studio, and for a moment, you forgot about the tension and the circumstances that had brought you here. You were just a musician, creating and sharing your work.

Han tapped his foot to the beat, clearly enjoying what he heard. “This is really good, Y/N. You’ve got a unique style.”

“Thanks,” you replied, feeling a slight sense of accomplishment. “I’ve been working on it for a while but never had the right equipment to make it shine.”

Chan smiled, nodding in agreement. “Well, you’ve got everything you need here. And if you ever need a second opinion or some collaboration, we’re around.”

You glanced at him, still grappling with the duality of his identity as both Chris and Bang Chan. “I might just take you up on that,” you said, the initial resentment you felt starting to thaw slightly.

Hours had passed, but it only felt like minutes in your brain. All three guys had started spitballing lyrics over your beat, and at least a verse had come together while you adjusted levels to fit the new vibe of the song. It was strange; you caught yourself laughing with them instead of scowling at them. Could you actually be enjoying yourself? No, this was purely a formality. You were their boss's niece, and they were media-trained well enough to make it look like they were having a good time. Suddenly, your demeanour changed back to normal. These were idols, and you were an average girl who should be in Australia right now.

“Well, my day is over.” You looked at your watch before standing and taking the USB out of the PC. “I’ll see you around,” you said sharply before dismissing yourself from the room, not even waiting for a reply.

You walked briskly out of the studio, your mind racing. The excitement of the music and the enjoyment you had started to experience felt too real, too close to something you could want to be around. You reminded yourself of your goals: you were here for the music, not to befriend stuck-up idols. Yet, as you left the building, some of you couldn't shake the feeling that maybe things weren't as black and white as you wanted them to be.

The cool evening air hit your face as you stepped outside, grounding you back in reality. You texted Mia and Kat, giving them a quick update on your day, leaving out the parts about actually having fun. You didn’t want to admit that to yourself, let alone to them.

As you walked to the nearest subway station, your phone buzzed. It was a message from Chris.

Chris: "Hey, I hope you made it back safely. Great job today. Looking forward to working more on that track! 😀"

You stared at the message, conflicted. It was a simple, friendly message but carried a weight you weren't ready to acknowledge. You sighed, put your phone away, and continued your walk, trying to shake off the complicated mix of feelings swirling inside you.

The next few days were pretty much the same. You got to the building. You worked on the song. You enjoyed yourself a little too much. You went home. It was strange, but as the days went by, you started to enjoy the company of 3RACHA. Away from the idol facade and in the studio, they were tolerable. Still, it was in your head that they were only acting like this because of your relationship with their boss, but either way, if you were going to be stuck here for the summer, you might as well go with the simple wins.

“So,” Han started in the middle of your Friday session. “We’re actually having some people over at the dorms tonight for Changbin's birthday.” Changbin had left the room to take a phone call, and Han had seized the opportunity to discuss the topic.

“Han is trying to ask if you would like to come,” Chris—Bang Chan—added, his tone more serious but with a hint of amusement. You couldn’t imagine anything worse.

“Oh… um…” You stalled, trying to find the words to reject without being an asshole. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. I mean, I’m not really into the whole idol scene.”

Han’s face fell slightly, but he quickly recovered with a smile. “It’s not about the idol scene. It’s just a chill gathering, you know? Friends hanging out.”

“Yeah, and you’ve been working with us all week,” Chris added. “It’d be nice to have you there.”

You sighed, feeling the pressure from their hopeful expressions. Maybe a part of you didn’t want to spend another weekend alone in your apartment. “Alright, I’ll think about it. But no promises.”

Sitting on your couch in your room, you checked the clock. You were in your room at 9 pm on a Friday in Seoul. Disappointing. Mia and Kat were probably at a bar, having the time of their lives. Your phone pinged.

Chris: “Hey, Y/N. Felix made brownies. If you want some while there’s some left, you had better get here soon! I’ve attached the location below.”

You groaned, staring at the message: brownies at a surprise birthday party. Surely, this was just a low-key hang that you could leave quickly. You threw on a hoodie, grabbed your bag, and headed out the door towards the company dorms.

Low-key and hang weren’t exactly what you would describe as you rocked up at the dorm. There were people everywhere; it felt like a repeat of the club but without the safety of a bar this time. You took a deep breath and pushed through the crowd, trying to spot someone familiar.

Inside, the place was buzzing with energy. Music played loudly, and people were mingling in every corner. You spotted Han laughing with a group of friends and Changbin animatedly talking to someone near the kitchen.

Chris spotted you from across the room and made his way over, a smile spreading across his face. “You made it!” 

You looked at him like a deer in headlights. “I thought this was a chill gathering?” you questioned, looking around the bustling room. “I’d hate to know what something not chill looked like…” You rolled your eyes. Chris handed you a glass of something that definitely wasn’t sober.

“Yeah, it got a little out of hand…” he admitted, laughing. “Seungmin and IN have a habit of wanting to throw ragers over everything.” Just then, another girl pushed past you, causing you to spill your drink all over your hoodie. It seemed too calculated to be an accident.

“Whoops, sorry!” she said dramatically. “Looks like you spilt something on that hoodie. Thank god for nepotism! You’ll get another one in no time.” The girl giggled before walking off with her friends. Chris stared at you, stunned.

“Y/N, I’m so…” he started before you cut him off, storming to the bathroom. He followed closely behind you, pushing his way in before you could lock the door.

“Just leave me alone, Bang Chan,” you snapped at him while rubbing at your hoodie, trying to make sure whatever the juice was wouldn’t stain.

“Why are you so astronomically rude?” he snapped back, glaring at you as hard as you were at him. “I’ve tried my hardest all week to make you feel at ease, to make this whole internship seem a little less like a chore and more like fun.” He wasn’t raising his voice, but his tone was getting angrier.

“You mean you’ve tried your hardest to impress my uncle,” you retorted. “Every idol is the same.” You muttered to yourself, returning your attention to the stain on your hoodie.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” he argued back. You hadn’t noticed the space between you in the small bathroom had shrunk; he was closer to you than ever. The energy of anger could be mistaken for lust.

“It means all you idols are the same. Media-trained puppies that will do whatever my uncle asks.” You hissed through your teeth before Chris crashed his lips into yours as if it were inevitable.

The kiss was electric, a surge of raw emotion and pent-up tension. You were both lost in it for a moment, the anger dissolving into something else entirely. You pulled back, breathless and confused; the anger in Chris’s eyes could be mistaken for hunger—maybe it was both. But you knew you were so angry at this point that you didn’t argue when he pulled off your hoodie and started hungrily attaching his lips to your jaw, neck, and collarbone.

You didn’t fight back, leaning into his touch as he worked to take off your tank top and undo your jeans. You reached for the hem of his shirt, pulling it over his head in one swift movement, leaving his bare chest against yours. A soft moan betrayed your angry demeanour as it slipped past your lips at the contact.

Every touch felt electric, a raw mix of anger and desire fueling your actions. Chris's hands roamed over your skin, each touch igniting a fire that had been simmering since the moment you met. His lips traced a burning path down your neck, his breath hot against your skin. You tugged at his belt; your movements were urgent and demanding, and he quickly complied, shedding the rest of his clothes.

The small bathroom seemed to shrink around you further, the intensity of your connection making everything else fade away. You wrapped your legs around his waist, pulling him closer as he pressed you against the cool tiles. Every kiss and touch felt like a battle for control, a clash of wills that neither of you wanted to back down from. His erection had found its way to your core, foreplay a distant idea at this moment. Not that you needed it; the anger had morphed into an animalistic want, and you knew you wanted him now.

It took him less than a moment to compose himself before pushing into you, giving you no time to adjust before he started at a relentless rhythm, biting at your neck and your lips as you went. Grateful for the loud party drowning out the pornographic sounds from inside the small bathroom, you lost yourself in the moment, a mix of rough passion and raw need driving you both.

Every thrust was powerful, intense as if he was trying to prove a point, and you met him with equal fervor. The cool tiles against your back contrasted with the heat of his body, sending shivers down your spine. His hands gripped your hips tightly, holding you in place as he moved, and you could feel every inch of him filling you completely.

You clung to him, nails digging into his shoulders as the rhythm between you became more frantic. His lips found yours again, the kiss rough and desperate, a tangle of tongues and teeth. Your breaths mingled, harsh and erratic, the sound of skin against skin echoing in the small space.

The intensity built, every movement pushing you both closer to the edge. The world outside ceased to exist; it was just you and him, lost in the moment, driven by a primal need. When release finally came, it was explosive, a blinding rush of pleasure that left you both gasping, trembling against each other.

For a few moments, you stayed like that, catching your breath, the reality of what had just happened slowly sinking in. You pulled back slightly, looking up at Chris. His eyes were still dark with desire, but there was something else there, too—something softer, more vulnerable. It caught you off guard, and you quickly looked away, disentangling yourself from him and reaching for your clothes.

“This doesn’t change anything,” you said, your voice shaky as you pulled on your tank top and jeans.

Chris nodded, his expression serious. “I know. But it’s a start.”

You didn't respond, focusing instead on fixing your appearance. The bathroom felt suffocating now, and you needed to get out, to breathe. You turned to leave, pausing at the door to look back at him one last time.

“Maybe,” you said quietly, “but not tonight.”

With that, you stepped out into the party, leaving Chris behind in the small bathroom. As you walked through the crowded room, the noise and chaos of the party seemed distant, your mind still reeling from what had just happened. Maybe this summer in Seoul would be more complicated than you had ever imagined.

The weekend had been a whirlwind of conflicting emotions, and the thought of facing Chris again today sent a wave of uncertainty crashing through your mind. The memory of Friday night lingered like a shadow, casting doubt on your every thought. You wanted to bury it deep, to forget the tumultuous mix of anger and desire that had consumed you in that cramped bathroom.

Determined to regain control, you resolved to confront the situation head-on. You decided to get to the building early, hoping to catch your uncle before the chaos of the day took over. Perhaps a department change would offer some reprieve from the turmoil swirling inside you.

Stepping into your uncle's office, you interrupted his conversation, the weight of his words hitting you like a ton of bricks.

"I promise, brother-in-law. She'll end up with an idol before the end of this internship, and you'll be sorted for life."

𝖶𝖺𝗇𝗍 𝗆𝗈𝗋𝖾? 𝖳𝖾𝗅𝗅 𝗆𝖾! 𝖬𝗒 𝗂𝗇𝖻𝗈𝗑 𝗂𝗌 𝖺𝗅𝗐𝖺𝗒𝗌 𝗈𝗉𝖾𝗇, 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖨 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝗁𝖾𝖺𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗀𝗎𝗒𝗌! 

𝖶𝖺𝗇𝗍 ��𝗈 𝗃𝗈𝗂𝗇 𝗆𝗒 𝗍𝖺𝗀 𝗅𝗂𝗌𝗍? 𝖣𝗋𝗈𝗉 𝗆𝖾 𝖺 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝗆𝖾𝗇𝗍 𝗈𝗋 𝖣𝖬!

𝖳𝖺𝗀 𝗅𝗂𝗌𝗍 𝖼𝗎𝗍𝗂𝖾𝗌

@bandolls @resi4skz @n1nme4r @seoyeonleexoxo @mellhwang

[navree]

MAWS Slade is possibly the most normal looking version of the character but also the most unhinged. Why is he so dramatic and alwaus so eager to kill people?

The fact that he's got golden eyes and absolutely snow white hair even tho he's like, what, a couple years older than Clark and Lois? Stupendous design choices all around, there's a reason why whenever he shows up my friend talks about his "draco malfoy slay", I love it so much.

And yeah, looks wise, he's not nearly as crazy looking as he can be. No fucked up goatee, no bell bottoms, no trailing silk ties to his mask (OG Slade had the most ass backward fashion sense, no wonder Addie divorced him). He barely looks anything like himself and it's very funny, but still normal. But in terms of character, he's just so much. He is incredibly dramatic, literally dragging his swords against the wall and actually for real flipping his hair getting ready to kill people who were interns only nine months ago. No one needs to be doing all of that. And you're so right anon, he's always so incredibly eager to cause bodily harm. It gives him literal joy and that's insane, he's so so happy about it. Anime Slade is over here being the embodiment of "if you love what you do, you never have to work a day in your life" while being part of alien Gitmo essentially, it's stupendous.

And this doesn't even touch on the fact that he seems to be perpetually irreverent. He seems to have a mocking disdain for nearly everyone, there's never not a moment where he's not being bitchy to someone for literally no reason. Other than, like, maybe two exceptions, this version of Slade is never sincere, at least as far as we've seen. He sees the lady who legit fried his eye out of his head and still decides to be caustic and flippant rather than being upset that she, you know, fried his eye out of his head. It's part of the reason why I always say that I hope he and Addie are married and he's got kids in this show, because someone with this personality not only having a somewhat functional relationship but also being the person most invested in it when compared to his partner is absolutely insane and also very funny. Plus, she's not gonna be shooting his eye out of his head because he nearly got their kid killed, so they don't even have to get divorced. Imagine this absolute bastard clocking out and going home to be an attempted family man. It's brilliant.

[ginger-lime]

Will Wood (and the Tapeworms) Songs as Ride the Cyclone Characters!

Recently decided to wade through Will Wood's discography more and I think some of the songs by the 30-something year old dude really embody them

How this half asleep rant will work:

[Character]: [Song(s)]

Explanation of why song is chosen

"Certain excerpts from the song I think embody the goober chosen"

Note: all songs wils be linked when they're written (mostly as youtube lyric videos), also this will probably be very long

Ocean O'Connell Rosenburg: The Main Character

Local ‘gifted kid’ teenager has yet to find out that the world doesn't revolve around her and stepping on anyone who doesn't fit in with her isn’t okay, more at 7

"I mean, imagine if protagonists just died in the first scene"

"I loot plot armor from NPC’s / Well, they are to me"

Noel Gruber: Suburbia Overture / Greetings from Mary Bell Township! / (Vampire) Culture / Love Me, Normally

This song (in my opinion) is really the embodiment of Noel's character. attempting to fit in, being told to "tone it down" by his mother until eventually arriving in the afterlife and essentially going "fuck it, we ball" with Noel's Lament (and Vampire Culture in this allegory) until eventually arriving at a state of peace with Love Me, Normally/It's Just a Ride

"a snowflake only matters in a blizzard"

Mischa Bachinski: 6up 5oh Cop-Out (Pro / Con & ¡Aikido! (Neurotic / Erotic)

6up 5oh with it's plot(?) of running from the police and proceeding to get mistreated by them is how Mischa is viewed by essentially everyone is Saskatchewan (and to an extent how he lets them see him). While ¡Aikido!, is more of his 'passion' side, specifically with Talia. The more aggressive reprise at the end of Aikido in the 2020 remaster also reminds me allot of the techno section of 'Talia'.

"It's never too late to embrace your fate"

"So we can touch instead of feel"

Ricky Potts: White Noise & Dr. Sunshine Is Dead

Imagine being so forgotten by everyone around you so the innocent bean stereotype is put on you automatically despite the fact that you’re real personality is far from that and then having a mini identity crisis over it

"You're not meant to sing along"

"I'm no one if I'm nowhere in between"

Jane Doe: Big Fat Bitchie’s Blueberry Pie, Christmas Tree, and Recreational Jell-o Emporium a.k.a. “Mr. Boy is on the Roof Again” (Feat. Pasta by Sneakers McSqueakers) [From “B.F.B.’s B-Sides: Bagel Batches, Marsh-Mallows, & Barsh-Mallows”]

No thoughts, story, or plot, just funky carnival music

Constance Blackwood: Falling Up

This song is essentially 'Sugar Cloud' but more melancholy. This is what I'd imagine a song about Constance's life before she died would be about, or Constance's Monologue in song form. What especially reminded me of her monologue was the rapid fire listing of objects and even the title 'Falling Up' being repeated in the song feeling like the roller coaster when it derailed. They're falling but being upside down it feels more like they're flying.

"You make a wish upon the dead, but turn and call it a weed"

"Much larger than life, 'cause from such height / Life looks awful small"

"Well, I cry on skies of blue linoleum, Clouds o' spilled milk"

Penny Lamb: Willard!

Aspiring animal conservationist doesn't know how to relate to "normal" people partially due to her upbringing. Parts of the song were the singer wants animal traits the make their life easier reminds me of Penny's whole "I vomit fire" thing before absolutely destroying JK-47

“Until frustration makes me wish my teeth were sharp as yours”

“I've never understood what humans do and want / It's quite confusing to me to try to connect / Never learned how I should feel, instincts somehow stunted”

Extra characters outside of the choir:

I'll go less in depth for these as i think most of these are self-explanatory

Karnak: Memento Mori: the most important thing in the world

funky sentient machine is constantly aware of his imminent death and decides to be a goofy goober because of it

Virgil: Tomcat Disposables

rat just wants to vibe and chew on a power cable. oopsies he's dead now

Monique Gibeau: White Knuckle Jerk & Front Street

oh em gee she's so gorgeous and dangerous and the world described in Noel's Lament is very gritty and a little gross

Ezra Lamb: Euthanasia (Live)

this mostly feeds into my hc that Ezra ditched school to go to the fair with the choir and had to see his sister get beheaded, being completely inconsolable, and not being listened to because he's "a kid looking for attention"

It's the end yay!!

That's the end folks! I really enjoyed making this (i am a very big fan of both rtc and will wood) there were a lot of other songs i wanted to include (skeleton appreciation day, i/me/myself etc.) but didn't because either

a. they fit too many characters for me to just pin one to them or

b. the character already had two songs assigned to them

i hope anybody reading this is having a good day/night and listens to will wood more in the future ig

[littlefankingdom]

I watched the One Piece live action and here are some notes I took.

I'm a huge One Piece fan since I was like 10-ish? And so, I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about it. It had a lot of impact on my personality (Nico Robin is my role model). This live action adaptation matters to me and I'm going to rant. Spoilers ahead.

The director is a woman, and one of the two writers is a woman. Manga and anime are male dominated hobby (and the comic's world is sexist), so the live action of the most popular shōnen being run by women is so great, imo. Also, it's pretty successful, in contrary to other attempts, so it's a win for women.

Garp's actor is a very handsome man. Wtf, they made Garp hot. He also has a beautiful Welsh accent, which is great because it's an accent that gives a "tough guy" impression. At least, it does for me.

Luffy's actor is perfect. This Luffy is slightly different from the original one, but he's perfect in his own way. I will die and kill for him. Also, him being brown with a white grandpa is so good, it had a racial gap between the two of them, where there are already a generational one and a moral one. Like, the white grandpa in the army do not understand how his brown grandson do not like the gov, because he doesn't see it from where he is when the kid does.

Alvida's actress is so beautiful, she's so pretty. I suddenly support women's wrongs.

Damn, the violence is going up a notch (Roger executed on screen, Mr 7's body cut in half, MERRY IS FUCKING KILLED,...)

The actors for Koby and Helmeppo are queer (They/Them pals) Oda is, once again, showing his support to the trans community.

I do not like the colors. It's too dark for One Piece, imo. Look at how saturated the colored pages are, I would have preferred it to be more saturated. I know, this is because of the CGI (issues are less perceptible this way), I'm going to need to make some edits. But, they didn't have to do it to the costumes too. Like, Buggy, except from his hat, his outfit is not flashy like it should be. Would help with the colored hair if it was more colorful and flashy.

Young Luffy wear the same shirt as in the manga is a nice touch.

THERE'S A CAVENDISH'S WANTED POSTER IN SHELLS TOWN!

Dead bodies smell strongly, and Zoro is bringing half of one in a bar???

Episode 2 is pure art. I love it so much.

Buggy is attractive, wtf. I find him more pretty than Shanks.

Bogard is so cool looking. I'm gonna die if Hina is introduced one day (she's going to be so cool)

They changed the "If you’re gonna point your gun toward someone, you better use it" scene. The new one is cool, but the original is iconic.

THE MUSIC WHEN LUFFY REALIZES THAT SHANKS LOST HIS ARM! It's like the orchestra is interrupted, incredible, love it.

Nami and Zoro's siblings' energy is so strong.

Kaya and Nami interraction about the dress "it belonged to my mother" is so good, Nami gets uncomfortable because she also lost her mother and knows how it is to cherish her memory. But Kaya is nice and share it with her, which break her view of rich folks.

The decor's department must have had the time of their life for this show. It's a great job.

Zoro wanting to wear black and drink wine in the 3 episode, he's already embodying being Mihawk's adopted brat.

Kaya makes the oof roblox sounds when she slapped Usopp.

Usopp x Kaya let's gooooooooooo my boy deserves the best (Oda confirming a romance with one of his protagonists is huge)

Zoro IMMEDIATELY trying to look at something else the moment Kaya kisses Usopp.

Luffy sitting on Going Merry with "We Are" playing... Art.

Without a cook, they are eating pasta, with some fruit and drink (just like me, fr).

Garp is wrecking a brand new ship!

Episode 5 Title Card, my beloved.

Mihawk music, and voice, and character: beautiful.

"Oh, I do like your hat." Mihawk to Luffy upon meeting him, great.

Sanji needs to stop talking about food, I'm getting hungry but I'm broke and a terrible cook.

"Oregano is for savages!" 😂 ok kiddo.

Me watching Zoro nap for a whole episode because of 1 cut: "Bro, you’re going to go through so much worse, you better stop whining rn"

The "YES, YES WE DO" after Sanji says "heard you guys need a cook" is so good.

Sanji is, like, the only one after Nami to have the most experience sailing, they fucking need him.

Buggy coming back all the time is perfect. Love him.

Having Bell-Mere slaps Nami was not ok. Y'all are ruining a character I loved.

Sanji knows a man that can cook well is attractive.

Usopp and Luffy are 17 and drinking, and Koby is 16. Underage drinking baby 🍻

Garp is already having the crisis he has during Marine Fort Arc, it’s going to be difficult for him.

Buggy be swinging being carried by Sanji, who's fighting.

Luffy breaking Arlong's sword axe thingy is badass.

The fishmen are so ugly and weird looking

Buggy saying "I'm gonna get out of here" with 🖕🤡🖕(If we ever get young Ace, I expect so much vulgarity from his little shit mouth)

Usopp exploding star was badass.

Sanji's ass after Mouton Shot.

Zoro "Yeah, you're gonna fit in just fine" means you're as crazy as all of us

Sanji opening is arms for Nami and Nami ignoring him to hug her bros, lol.

Arlong Park destruction be crazy.

Sanji little laugh.

Luffy is a true bestie to Usopp.

It’s the confrontation from after Seven Arc

It's Logue town after right? Like, where Luffy's father is introduced? With the comparison to Roger? But they just compared them, are they going to do it again?

The wanted poster is the exact same, with usopp in the background.

Employee of the month lol.

Alvida and Buggy meeting, the bad bitches.

Mihawk and Shanks!!! (Shanks gave him the "ableist pos" look, lol)

Smoker introduced -> Logue Town

[clairdeluneeeeee]

Perfectly Imperfect - An analysis of Mari and her portrayal in the Manga.

It’s no secret that the new manga has been a hot topic of discussion ever since the first chapter was released.

I, myself, harbour very mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I’ve really enjoyed the way some parts were arranged to make the story more entertaining to follow, together with how some secondary characters got more compelling motivations behind their actions and better development (primarily Kim), on the other, I can’t ignore the strange pacing and the way some of the main characters were portrayed.

I’m not going to expand on this point further, given that we’re still on chapter three and I need to see how things will turn out from now on.

However, there’s a character in particular who gained my curiosity, specifically right after the second chapter came out. I’m talking about Mari, the “muse” of the story herself.

Under the cut, I will analyse further the possible reasons behind some writing decisions concerning her, and I’ll try to make some predictions over how things may go in future chapters.

Keep in mind that this post is not spoiler free, so, uhm, MAJOR SPOILERS under the cut about both Omori the game and the manga.

Right from the beginning, Mari is presented as a rather strange figure, surrounded by an aura of mystery, even more than she was in the game.

The manga starts off with coloured pages featuring every single main character during their youth. Except for Mari. The only page in which she isn’t in black and white is the initial one, and in that one, her face is being obscured and we can’t really see her expression.

Furthermore, once Mari introduces herself, everything suddenly turns grey, like if she stole the colours from Sunny’s peaceful world.

As we’re already aware of, the manga begins on a total different note than the one the game started with. Instead of reassuring us with a playful and childish world, we’re thrown in the middle of its psychological horror elements right off the bat.

We see Sunny’s most prominent core memory: the day his friends gifted him a violin to allow him to play alongside his sister, Mari. A joyful moment that will turn out to be the beginning of a tragedy.

So, our first impression of Mari isn’t the protective and kind older sister that Sunny idealises in his dreamworld (like she was in the game), but that of a pushy, perfectionist individual who wants to keep everything under her control. Basically, the embodiment of Mari’s worst traits, something that Sunny is trying to suppress due to the way they’re directly connected with the accident.

Here Sunny is experiencing a flashback. Mari’s words look like a distorted version of what she may have said to Sunny during their argument on that day. Desperately, she’s trying to understand why he would waste the thing they all worked so hard to get him, confused and angry at her dear little brother for ruining everything, rendering all their efforts useless.

And then, Sunny wakes up, and Mari is nowhere to be found.

Next time we see her, it’s her dreamworld-self, eager to help us and ease our fears. However, here the way we’re meant to feel towards her is reversed.

We’ve already seen Mari’s “dark side”, so we’re more than aware that this “perfect girl” isn’t totally loyal to who she was as a person.

She’s described as the “glue that holds everyone together”, foreshadowing the reason why the friend group fell apart after her passing. Without her warm smile and attempts to make everyone get along, the kids grew more and more distant, forgetting the special bond they all shared with each other.

Now, chapter 2 is where we get more interesting pieces of information about the dreamworld version of Mari, more specifically, the impression she left behind and how Sunny highlights her positive traits in a desperate attempt to run away from his trauma.

For anyone who is familiar with the game, this is nothing new. We all know about Sunny’s coping mechanism and how this affects his headspace.

However, what I found fascinating is the contrast that was built between the dreamy version of Mari, and her real world counterpart.

When she gets talked about there, she almost feels like an haunting presence. Someone that came back from the death just to disrupt the others’ (and in particular, Sunny’s) peace. Despite this, when Sunny closes his eyes and gets transported in another dimension, he can still relish the warm and caring side of his deceased sibling’s personality.

Mari is seen as perfect, someone who is good at everything and can do no wrong, to a degree where she stops feeling like a human being, and instead turns into an idealised individual with little to no agency.

The characters give long speeches about how Mari is unique and special, they idolise her, to the point where they feel less like her dearest friends, and more like fans of hers, who know her superficially because of the image she built upon herself, and not for the complex and nuanced human being she actually is.

Of course, this is just Sunny projection this belief in his imaginary world. I do not believe that the other characters saw her in this manner, at least definitely not Hero, and I’m also 100% sure that even Sunny didn’t have such a distorted view of her when she was still alive. This is just his twisted way to cope with the grief.

Another thing that I feel like it’s important to note, is the way Mari acts so meek and defenceless.

This is already explained in-game as Sunny’s way of protecting her from “anything that could possibly harm her once again”. But here, I feel like we have a really interesting scene that expands on Sunny’s guilt and his desire to pay his sister back for all the good she did to him.

When Boss is holding Basil hostage, he starts harming his friends in an attempt to get revenge since they didn’t invite him to their party. In the heat of the moment, he even goes after Mari, who is incapable of fighting back due to her bad knees. That’s when Omori steps in, defeating Boss and saving her life in the process.

Omori’s final strike is enough to bring Boss to finally give up, and for a moment, he’s able to come across as Mari’s hero.

Mari, who is nothing but a sweet and pure angel, the person who sacrificed so much for his sake. She helped him in more than one of occasion, she literally was the reason why he didn’t lose his life drowning in the lake. And yet, he kept failing her, by being a failure, by not being good enough for her. This probably caused him to develop an inferiority complex of some sort, which only got worse once they started practicing together. No matter how much he tried to meet his sister’s standards, he simply couldn’t, the pressure was too high for him, and playing the violin wasn’t even his biggest goal or passion. This eventually will bring resentment to build inside Sunny’s heart, and he’ll end up snapping at her, causing the catastrophe of Omori to ensue.

Mari and Sunny loved each other deeply. They cared about the other’s feelings and wanted to see their sibling succeed. Yet, their bad communication was what ruined them in the end. Sunny refused to tell Mari how he really felt, both because he always had major problems communicating his thoughts, but also because he really didn’t want to disappoint her. Mari wasn’t aware of any of it, and she assumed that his brother was fine with their practice routine, when in reality, the pressure of it was becoming too much to handle, and he ultimately couldn’t take it anymore.

This single event will forever plague him, and I think that this simple moment truly shows it in the most heartwarming way possible. If his existence only hurt Mari when she was still alive, at least here he can be the person she looks up to, who protects her and tries to keep her happy. He may have been the reason why she tragically lost her life, but at least here, in the darkest corner of his brain, he can be the one and only who allowed her to survive.

This is also why Mari always looks so physically fragile. She gets exhausted easily and can’t go much further from her picnic zone, so Omori must be the one to take on the role of her protector.

Thing is, none of this can be healthy in the long run. Sunny can’t keep treating Mari as a flawless individual, demonising himself in the process, he needs to come to terms with the fact that they were both two very flawed people who ended up hurting each other, but their faults don’t inherently make them irredimibile, either, and the chance to forgive themselves and one another is still there. Only once he’ll realise this, he will be able to let go of his past.

He needs to see Mari as neither an haunting presence who wants to punish him for his sins, nor a perfect creature who’s incapable of any malicious thought.

The two Maris need to coexist to give a more balanced and realistic portrait of who the girl actually was.

The game already does this masterfully, but I truly hope that we will get more flashbacks featuring RW Mari, stuff that will allow us to come to a more three-dimensional conclusion of her character.

So yes, in conclusion, while I’m disappointed with how certain characters got portrayed, Mari is not one of them, and I’m truly eager to see more of her in future chapters.

[adarkrainbow]

Spooky season fairytales (2)

If there are two "Halloween fairytales" among the great and well-known classics, it would be "Hansel and Gretel" (see my previous post), and "Snow-White".

I have to admit that Snow-White has strong connotations with winter, and has been interpreted many times as a winter or spring tale (the spring interpretation being part of this wave of analysis which has every female fairytale protagonist saved from death or sleep be a symbol of spring - Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, and many more). But when you think about it, Snow-White is the perfect Halloween tale. It involves kind of "resurrecting" the dead. It involves a witch as an antagonist. It is centered around an apple, which is THE Halloween fruit. It relies on the use of disguises. It has a magical mirror - and Halloween was a night for divination by mirror and other mirror-rituals. EVERYTHING IS HERE!

And it also helps that surprisingly, it got the horror treatment many, many times. More than actual horrifying fairytales. But I'll blame this on the first movie in my "Spooky watch-list":

DISNEY'S SNOW WHITE!

Why is it on a list of creepy, dark and horror movies you ask? Because this movie, despite being incredibly sweet and a childhood classic, was also frigginly terrifying. It traumatized entire generations of children - kids had to be removed from theaters due to some of the creepy sequences. And still today horror pieces take inspiration from Disney's movie!

Three specific sequences form the "horror trio" of this movie. 1) The scene of Snow-White fleeing the hunter in the forest, and her terror-induced hallucinations which make the forest a place of horror. 2) The scene of the Witch-Queen going in her skeletons-flled dungeons, brewing deadly poisons, and ESPECIALLY the scene of her painful and frightening transformation into the old hag. The old hag herself is a terrifying visual which defined the image of a witch for most of the 20th century, and stayed a children's bogeywoman for generations. (By extension the Magic Mirror itself is a very creepy element of the movie, with its eeriness and uncanniness) 3) The sequence going from Snow-White's death to the death of the wicked queen. This climax of the movie is also yet another scene of great terror for any little kid.

Overall, it is ironic, but Disney's Snow-White stays one of the creepiest and more frightening faithful retellings of the Grimm fairytales - at least for a third of the movie. The rest is just wholeness cuteness and beautiful animation.

Of course, nowadays when you search for "dark fairytale movies", you will always end up hearing about 2012's "Snow-White and the Huntsman". One of the two Snow-White movies released on this year, alongside "Mirror Mirror" - and the two competing in very different lanes, since Mirror Mirror was a more light-hearted, humoristic, and "traditional fantasy" take on the fairytale, whereas "Snow-White and the Huntsman" was a "grimdark" take on the story, which marked the grimdark genre of the 2010s clearly embodied by the televisual success of "Game of Thrones".

I also like to draw a parallel between this movie and "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters", which form the two "adult dark action-fantasy" fairytale movies of the 2010s. Not that they are identical, far from it - "Witch Hunters" is a fast-paced, video-game-like, "punch-em-all-kill-em-all-and-big-explosions-everywhere" type of "dark fantasy action movie", with a lot of humor (or of attempts at humor), while this movie truly goes for gritty fight scenes, vicious war depictions, and is dead-serious in its treatment of the story as a grand epic about survival in the wilds, the destruction of nature, evil sorcery and kingdom-destroying conflicts.

If you ask me, I understand why the reception of this movie was very divisive, and why it was a success despite everybody mocking it or hating it at the time of its release. This movie is a true "neutral" piece. It is an admirable movie - because it has absolutely stunning visuals, impressing special effects, and it is a gorgeous movies with some fascinating and clever ideas. It does take inspiration from the Disney movie "Snow White and the seven dwarfs", very clearly, but the way it twists these references into proper horror material or true dark fantasy matter (such as the "dark forest") is done very well. But it is also unfortunately a forgetable movie by many aspects. For example, I personally did not care about the two titular characters (Snow-White and the Huntsman) which did not felt like actual characters, but more like simple "plot-puppets", here to clearly fulfill a very archetypal and stereotyped fantasy plotline filled with rushed elements and extremely-thin character development. Hopefully not all the characters are bad - and in fact, beyond the stunning visuals, there is one character this movie should be seen for.

Ravenna, the evil queen. She is definitively one of the "best" part of this movie (though definitively one of the most evil and vile characters of fairytale movies) - everything about her from her concept (the queen of Snow-White turned fantasy evil overlord/inhuman witch-queen) to her crazy outfits passing by her impressive magic spells and the way her actress truly offers an intensely deranged embodiment of narcissistic evil... This is one of the more monstrous and frightening depictions of the evil queen I saw and I am all here for it. Two scenes in particular stand out for me: the poisoned apple scene (which is a true twist that does come off as very well executed) and the concept of the "magic" mirror and how it works.

Unfortunately, for an excellent half of the movie, there is another that is... at best average, at worst boring - hence the "neutral" of this movie. And of course, there is also the very awkward fact that instead of hiring dwarf actors for playing the dwarfs, they hired big-named actors of average height who were then "shrunk" by special effects... A very bad move that did not go unnoticed at the movie's release and does hit a bit more this very ambitious but ultimately half-working piece. Go watch it for Ravenna, for the Dark Forest, for the Sanctuary and the Magic Mirror and the poisoned apple scene... But the rest you can skip without losing much.

However, "Snow White and the Huntsman" was certainly not the first attempt at making Snow-White a dark and mature fantasy movie. Oh no! There was a predecessor long before it - a movie that should not be forgotten and did mark the history of Snow-White adaptations. I am talking of course of the 1997's "Snow White: A Tale of Terror", still coming at the top of "dark fairytale movie" lists.

This movie as to my knowledge the first real attempt at making a horror story out of Snow-White - in a time when making fairytales dark and "edgy" wasn't a common fashion. It also stood out for many different reasons - but it most notably stood out for its treatment of the "evil queen" character, Lady Claudia, played by none other than friggin' Sigourney Weaver herself! One has to watch the movie just to see Weaver's performance and appreciate the handling of the character of Claudia. This movie was one of the first ones who tried to depict the "wicked stepmother" of the tale as an actual human being, driven to evil rather than just evil from the beginning. Claudia is a woman who is seen falling into despair and madness as she is hit with all sorts of blights, ranging from things we can relate to (an impossible relationship between step-daughter and step-mother) to absolutely awful things - and this all serves to draw an explanation as to where her narcissistic vanity and where her hatred from Snow-White comes from, instead of just cartoonish petty jealousy. And once the human side of the character has been fully established, we delve into a terrifyingly inhuman one, as she becomes a dreadfully powerful wicked witch - to tell you the scope of this movie, the first two attempts at murdering Snow-White, the comb and the corset, were replaced here by Claudia summoning NATURAL DISASTERS.

Mind you this movie is far from being perfect - and while it is admirable in term of fairytale movies, it is definitively not working great as a movie simple. For the most part it works and is absolutely "gorgeous" (sometimes in the most repulsive ways): you have good acting, cool ideas and concepts, fascinating costumes and set pieces (the "magic mirror" is immensely cool), some good practical special effects, and very cunning use and display of character psychology and character growth (I especially appreciated the twist of Snow-White, here Lilly, trusting the obviously monstrous and frightening old woman, because she learned from experiences to not trust appearances and that ugliness doesn't mean evilness).

But all that being said, there's flaws. Already if you are an animal lover be careful: there are some visuals that can be harsh, and there are some animal stunts that seemed dangerously unsafe (I unfortunately could not find information on if animals were actually hurt). Outside of that, the climax of the story and grand final does seem a bit confusing and throw-around a bit, with some stuff coming out of nowhere, some things never explained (and not in the good "mysterious" way, in the "I want the visual and the idea but I don't know how to fit it in" kind of way), and there's some moments where you sense they truly wanted to go far with the shock value (*cough cough* the father tied to the upside-down cross* cough cough*). Plus there's the whole rushed relationship between Lilly (Snow White) and the outlaws (seven dwarfs - except here only one is a dwarf). You start with a point A (Lily is the terrified hostage of outlaws that are not pleasant nor kind) and you have a point C (Lily is now a good friend of the outlaws and admired by them, and even has a romantic tension with one of them - you can guess which, he's the one they purposefully made sexier than the other), but the point B about the development of such a character growth is missing.

Overall it feels that this movie was a project too ambitious for its means and for its time - but we won't hold a grudge towards it, because for its two thirds it stays a brilliant and truly strong piece of dark fairytale storytelling with excellent ideas (that were truly new and groundbreaking at the time of the movie's release), and while the last third is confused, rushed and incomplete, you still feel the heart and the intentions there.

However if I end up learning animals were actually hurt during the making of the movie, I'll really be pissed off (I am especially thinking about the horse stunts at the beginning, which didn't look really safe).

Not a movie, but to conclude this post I HAVE to mention Neil Gaiman's brilliant and disturbing shot story "Snow, Glass Apples". Released in 1994 - and it is no spoiler what the story is about now - it is not the first time someone reimagined Snow-White as a vampire (Tanith Lee did it before in her "Red as Blood" book), but it is certainly the most popular take on this idea and what in fact made this concept more well-known in popular culture.

Beware however - because this isn't just about Snow-White being a vampire, and the "stepmother" an actual benevolent queen and good witch, in a simple twist of the original tale. Oh no... It is a dark and depraved (in a good way) piece that depicts Snow-White as a old-fashioned vampire, in the style of the original Dracula and the folk monsters that came before him. We are talking of a frightening nightmare, of a village-decimating plague, of a repulsive undead succubus, of a blood-sucking beast in human shape...

One thing I do find fascinating with this story is that in its depraved elements, it ends up being an eerie echo to the first chapter of "Ludwig Revolution". Those that read the manga will know what I am talking about.

If you do not want to read the short story (despite it being actually available for public freely right here), there is a brilliant and gorgeous comic-book adaptation by Colleen Doran released in 2019. The beautiful, detailled, richly ornated, carefully-crafted art of Doran serves to better highlight the Gothic morbidity and the repulsive folklore behind this tragic and poetically bleak retelling, by adding fairytale colors to the nightmare, and freezing the horror in a stained glass.

[finefiddleheaded]

Hot take, but I actually really, really love Cassie Sandsmark's current costume.

It just... it looks like how I dress. I see me in that. I see my evolution in her evolution.

I too was an awkward (unwittingly) queer kid who thought every other girl in existence was born with innate knowledge I had no way of obtaining. In my younger years I generally looked like a dorky string bean.

Then as a preteen and teen I leaned real hard into being a tomboy. At the time my idea of fighting the patriarchy was to ~not be like other girls~, but if I'd allowed myself to be truly honest with myself I would have recognized that i actually didn't feel all that happy wearing baggy, oversized clothing and being mistaken for a boy. There's nothing wrong with that, let me be clear. But to me it was either THIS or THAT. And wearing or doing anything "girly" was giving in to the patriarchy. And that's not a really healthy way to make life choices.

Obviously Cassie did the opposite, leaning way into "doing girl right," but we were both reacting to same principle: there's a right way to be a girl and there's a wrong way and you need to either gather or throw away what doesn't conform. I was looking for a fight. Cassie was looking to belong.

What broke this mentality for me was moving to an art school thousands of miles from the heteronormative white suburb I'd grown up in. I met so many different people with different experiences of the world. And wow! Lots of them had personal styles that weren't Boy or Girl or Popular Subgroup with Distinct Rules (when i was a teen it was emo, scene, punk, prep.) And I started to go "hey no one knows me here... maybe I could try on being sexy or girly or pretty or cutesy or dye my hair or shave my head. Maybe i can play. No one here cares, there's no one to fight."

But poor Cassie had to try to do her wobbly, awkward self-exploration in front of the world, while standing next to Dianna Prince and Donna Troy (and getting bullied at school.) Everything she did or didn't do with her self-presentation was automatically in conversation with their choices. And as one would expect, often her attempts ended up looking either painfully clumsy or "not herself."

In college I had a close friend and roommate (a lesbian - i was the "token straight" in my friend group which lol no i wasn't), whose style embodied feminine cuteness. She always wore heels and had perfect makeup and wore pretty long skirts. Like Cassie did with Cissie, I paid attention to how she put on her makeup and copied stuff. She gave me tips when I asked about it. I felt awkward and clumsy and self conscious (and looked it, too.) After a bit I moved on, took a little bit with me (a lot of it wasn't my thing and honestly felt like i was cosplaying someone else) and starting trying other stuff.

Over time I also became acquainted with the wider queer community and learned the gender binary was false to begin with. (God, I wish I'd known sooner.)

ANYWAY what ended up happening was that I pieced together a really comfortable, eclectic style that's first purpose is to make me happy. Sometimes I wear makeup. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes i look like a witch with tall edwardian boots. Sometimes I look kinda punk. Sometimes I look like I stepped out of a historical picture. Sometimes I *do* wear baggy oversized clothes. I have brightly dyed hair. I've tried an undercut, and pixies, and long hair and the bisexual bob. I wear a large hat and a leather jacket and heels. I wear sparkly nail polish and bright red lipstick and I absolutely don't gaf what shape my eyebrows are.

But that took years and years of saying "oooh I like that look" and going home and trying it on. (Sometimes with the additional queer head scratcher of "do I like this look or am I just attracted to this person?" Yeah, definitely not something i can imagine Cassie ever thinking lmao)

But funnily enough you wanna know what makes up the bulk of my outfits nowadays? T-shirt, leggings, comfy skirt, and leather or jean jacket. And comfy 1920s workboots. Why? It's comfy and I feel cute with very little effort!

Anyway, that's why i earnestly love Cassie's stylistic evolution and back and forth with femininity (even if I have to retrofit/reclaim some uhhh pretty sexist stuff from the people writing/drawing her.)

Because this girl? She looks like she looked in a mirror this morning and went "damn, I'm cute." She looks like she chose that skirt bc it's comfortable and fun to twirl in and for the snap the fabric makes when she's flying. She looks like she feels cool with that jacket on. She looks like she put that eyeliner on and went "fuckin nailed it" when she got the point she wanted.

[indigosfindings]

tiff thoughts part 2

seeds was like. fine i guess? idk, it had some pretty composition & good scenery shots, and the style emulation of tiktok/IG was flawless (& i wish it had been leaned into more past the first act lol), but it overall parsed as kind of simplistic, directionless, punch-pulling, & budget-constrained. for as much of a thriller as it's trying to be, there's little sense of threat or escalation. some of the humour was pretty funny, esp when it (very intermittently) leans into internet-style jokes, but a lot of it was also reeeally dry

sharp corner was really, really good. an extremely tight character study. im obsessed with the sort of inversion of "defending the homestead" it presents. astonishingly realistic depiction of Main Character Syndrome with an unwaveringly meticulous & attentive rendition of the pursuant thought processes. the decisions wrt the rural scenery and the cast demography (eg the protagonist inviting himself to a black man's funeral as part of his entitled absorption of suffering) reaffirm my belief that the neuroses in question are best taken as, like, an extension--a really creative one!--of white supremacy & colonial fantasies of atomized self-sufficiency

ick was solid. the central theming (monster/infection as (in joseph kahn's own words) longstanding & festering in an embodiment of the modern culture of crisis (& also, like, stagnancy/alienation)) is surprisingly meaty but held back imo by the noncommittal tone. im 100% able to fuck with an insincere movie, but i think one is kinda kidding oneself to suggest that a film in the key of, like, 'scary movie' is meaningfully bringing light to any loftier ambition. the political satire is present but barebones, and the bothsidesy have-your-cakey insistence on attempting to skewer both the right and the left (plenty of Conspiracy Nut type jokes, and plenty of "Woke Soyboy" type jokes), while admittedly demonstrating a rare-among-filmmakers degree of awareness of The Moment (albeit putting that to little use), when combined with the solipsistic tone, ultimately gives 'south park' more than anything. i will concede tho that it does have some really funny moments ("im calling the president"), and i think it's worth a watch purely for the insanely idiosyncratic visual style--i cant overstate how much it aesthetically parses like a feature-length music video (feat. plenty of needledrop-as-punchline moments too!). it's 90 minutes but feels a LOT longer (and not even in a bad way!)

the assessment was fucking WILD, i absolutely loved it. insane performance from alicia vikander. clashing incentives make extremely compelling drama, & textual richness is mined from the high concept--im enamoured with the idea of two people, assured in the security of their own social position, running aground of an abusive state apparatus, and the pull-no-punches approach to painting the scenario in shades of perversion & violence only enriches it further... it's as if the movie begs the viewer to remember times & places & ways that they & others have been dehumanized, deanonymized, stripped down & humiliated as part of some system's function. the biggest weakness is prpbably that the setting--an overtly eugenicist dystopia--is BEGGING to cast a dozen more shades of gray over the narrative concerns wrt reproduction & reproductive futurism, but the screenplay doesnt seem to have been written with any interest in that. i was initially wary about the (VERY) detailed epilogue, but ive settled on feeling that it recontextualizes earlier suspicions in a way that is more to the film's benefit than not. also i was thrown off by the extent to which elizabeth olsen looks and sounds like caitlin reilly lmao

[cyberdragoninfinity]

oh! iii/trey/michael for the character meme!

TREEEEYYY MY LITTLE STARBUCKS PINK DRINK

First impression: when he first showed up in Duel Links in like. i think like late 2021?? I was like "oh ok so that puppet freak from earlier has a little brother, INTERESTING" <--*ominous thunder as i think about How Bad Yugioh Siblings Get Me* didnt think too much of him beyond that except maybe "oh i dont. know how i feel about. his deck archetype"

Impression now: OUGHH....TREY....TREY MICHAEL III MY LITTLE GUY. i didnt expect him to be my favorite Arclight brother but he's just. So good. He's 15 and he wants his family to be alright and he wants to be useful and he wants to have friends and his design is adorable and he has a SWORD. Sobbing crying pounding my fists on the pavement. He's like the embodiment of 🙃 as a person. Smiling but barely keeping it together. I would kill for him.

Favorite moment: HIS WHOLE DUEL WITH YUMA. IS PROBABLY MY TOP FAVORITE ZEXAL DUEL STILL but especially when he's just like "if i do this maybe I can be of some use to my father and my family *literally attempts a murder-suicide that almost ends the world*. It blasted my brain clear into the stratosphere. ALSO the moment in Zexal II when he throws a sword at Mr. Heartland. HOT PINK BITCH NAMED BREAKFAST.... ATTACK!

Idea for a story: I think a post-canon Zexal story where Yuma invites both Trey and Vector over for some kind of hang out would be, really really funny. They're gonna get into a fight about who's closer to Yuma and it's only gonna dissolve when Trey realizes Vector has Fuckign Biblical Times Era Memories and can ask him about 400 B.C. era art and architecture. They're talking about Persepolitan columns now. Yuma just wants to play duel monsters.

Unpopular opinion: IDK IF IT'S UNPOPULAR OR NOT BUT I STILL. DONT KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT CHRONOMALIES. ive said it before the concept is cool but WHY. DID THEY GIVE A DECK FULL OF INDIGENOUS ARTWORK TO A LITTLE WHITE BOY. AND MAKE IT ALL ~MYSTICAL.~ ERM. WELL !

Favorite relationship: I do absolutely adore his friendship with Yuma and how that's progressed over the course of the show, but his bond with his family makes me especially absolutely beastmode Hooting Hollering Crying. This kid is loyal almost to a fucking fault and he just loves the people he's close to SO much. HE JUST WANTED TO BE USEFUL FOR HIS DAD. HE JUST WANTED HIS FAMILY TO GO BACK TO NORMAL. GOD. shoutout also to his dynamic with Quattro, which I love. guy going freak mode and his baby brother watching the carnage like <:)

Favorite headcanon: autistic with the Ancient Civilization special interest Of All Time. In a few years time this kid's gonna come out as nonbinary and start messing around with neopronouns we can only dream of. Surprisingly ruthless board game player. Picks up slang from Yuma and can't stop. Likes fizzy bubbly drinks.

[seefasters]

Oh, i dont mean to overstate potters cruelty or agency in this matter- he cant let charles or klinger go at all and its true that charles is a prick. But to me there always felt like there was a tension to me as a viewer where the show invites you to laugh at charles's and klinger's expense when they make attempts to leave that potter stops. Cus the show knows charles and especially klinger are very well justified in their desire to leave. To me it brings about this sort of intersting disonance, not in a bad way so much as a complex and interesting way that enriches the text. Potters the voice of reason and the authority figure the narrative defers to, especially in the later seasons, but his general feeling on these matters is resignation. "It is what it is" "it cant be helped." That resignation certainly isnt wrong or bad- hes being practical. But its hard to sympathize with it over hawkeye or klinger or even charles's rebellion.

As for going awol as an immoral act i suppose i was mostly thinking of various episodes in which people encourage a soldier to return to the front. I believe mulcahy encouraged a young man whod stolen a dead comrades identity in order to escape the army to return to the front. He also spent a whole episode trying to convincea kid who was trying to come home after his fiancee left him that he needed to return to the front. The show always shows characters being reluctant to do that sort of thing, but later on in the show i feel a real sense of resignation to that status quo. Idk if thats making sense but ive been thinking about it a lot. I feel like MASH's castwide emotjonal arc as a whole often concerns itself with the tension between rebellion (which runs the risk of being unrealistic or dangerous) and resigning yourself to reality (which runs the risk of being callous or despair inducing) i personally feel that the show tends to strike a really good balance, but theres something really interesting to me about the fact that, in my opinion, potter (who is loved by pretty much the whole staff and is generally considered the voiceof reason and wisdom) is also the most ardent voice of resignation if that makes sense? Hes wonderful and smart and more often than not hes right- rebellious acts are unrealistic theyre dangerous they cant be done without serious repercussions, the best way to do good is within the system and slyly- not because its the best way to do it but because it is the most effective way to do it without being destroyed by the powers that be. Him being smart or empathetic or reasonable doesnt make him any less oppositional to the spirit of spitfire rebellion that hawkeye embodies it. Potter dampens that. Perhaps thats by necessity for fear that hawkeye burns out, but to me that sort of effect feels more complicated than good or bad. Potter's mediating presence is an expression of care- he is a buffer between his unit and the cruel beurocratic military machine. But making the weight of the armys control easier to bear normalizes it- it puts a kind paternal face on the military authority they are all bring crushed by. The fact that he truly cares and is working within the system in the manner his is doesnt really lessen thar to me- which doesnt make potter villianous or wrongheaded so much as it complicates his approach at least to me. (Sorry a million billion words. Poter thesis to me- i love him i think hes great and his ideological position in the show is rlly interesting)

i don't think the narrative defers to potter as thee authority figure necessarily - he's the "good" army man and the show has to marry this with hawkeye's (and, in turn, the show's) anti army sentiments, which it does with various degrees of success

i do agree with everything else you said though! the mulcahy thing has always confused me a bit too, like sometimes they give him this black and white thinking and sometimes they give him complex moral problems (if i remember correctly, his opposition to the soldier who stole a dead man's identity was that the dead family won't ever learn that the man died, not that the soldier won't return to the front). and there's the episode where he tries to shelter a soldier who's AWOL simply because the soldier requested sanctuary

[linisiane]

Netflix’s Wednesday (2022) is for Fanfiction Readers who Actually Liked My Immortal

The first episode features a main character who is too goth and edge-y for the preps at her school. Just like My Immortal’s long descriptions of fish nets and corset outfits, the show seems to have spent more time on the gothic sets and make up over the writing. Wednesday’s gorgeous sets and lovely fashion fare much better than its dialogue or character writing. Though that’s a matter of taste, as I’m sure if I were interested in love triangles with white boys and being not like the other girls, I would have been a lot more interested. 

See, the problem is that I spent the whole episode with a bored sense of deja vu. An outcast girl entering a new school. A queen bee who recently broke up with her ex. Snarky lines about mean girl tropes. Cliques with snappy names. Even the nerd-y boy with asthma. It was clear that they were writing a “high school” show, instead of just a story set in high school. Aren’t writers tired of pushing out this same schlock? After all, I was in high-school recently—I know that high school has more stories to tell than the same, tired 80s high school movie tropes!

And I know that the tropes are tired because My Immortal was already parodying them in the 2000s, in addition to its pitch-perfect fanfiction satire. The structure and charm of the type of stories My Immortal parodies features at least 3 things: a relatable outcast girl main character, a love triangle with two cute white boys, and the main character girl impressing those two cute boys with how quirky she is! Self-insert your heart out!

My Immortal makes fun of how shallow and ego-centric this version of ‘being different’ is. People laugh at how absurd Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way’s name is—the embodiment of a 13 year-old making their first OC stand out by being as special and edge-y as possible. Enoby wears black lipstick and combat boots and flips off all the preps who stare. She’s different but all of it is skin-deep. Whether her gothic love interests—Draco and Vampire—like her is up to whether she’s a stupid prep that wears ‘slutty’ clothes or a goff like one of them.

Wednesday Addams, similarly, is obsessed with being different from her prep peers, never mind that the new school she’s switching to is supposed to be filled with outcasts and weirdos like her family. She’s more weird and mysterious than the rest, don’t you see, with her attempted murder and usage of a typewriter to write her novels, unlike those other squeamish kids with their blogs and cellphones. Every scene she’s in is meant to highlight this, with her threatening one-liner clap-backs or her girlbossily beating up cartoon bullies in front of her normie barista crush or her dramatically playing her cello to vent for the whole campus to love (and of course, who wouldn’t love such masterful playing during study hours). 

The thing that I struggle with is not that the show does this, but rather that it does this with a straight face. We’re passed the time where we can play these cliches straight, as My Immortal demonstrates. I kept waiting for the moment where the show would pull the curtain back from the cliche perspective and reveal a twistier view of this high school narrative, where Wednesday is an edge-y teen girl writing gore-y self-insert fanfiction on a typewriter and alienating herself from the peers that could connect with her out of a fear of rejection, but the way things are going, the show might actually be headed the other way, where her peers, parents, and teachers are actually the ones that need to learn to be more like Wednesday.

Not that that narrative couldn’t work! Just that it doesn’t work here because Wednesday, so far, is the second coming of Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way. Who reads My Immortal and The Addams Family and thinks every character should be more like Enoby?

[ronaldanthony4]

This world’s a little brighter And a whole lot happier too, Because of folks so thoughtful And as wonderful as you, Who live each day unselfishly With other’s cares in mind, Concerned about what they can give, And not what they can find… And those whose paths have crossed with yours Would certainly agree You’re one of the nicest people That this world would ever see!

"The Nicest Child" by unknown author

Creating digital artwork is a passion that I have cultivated over many years. Each piece I create tells a story, often featuring my original characters (OCs) who embody various aspects of my imagination and ideals. Recently, I finished another digital artwork, one that holds a special place in my heart. It features Arlon and Liliana, two of my OCs who symbolise my vision of perfect romantic love. Their stories and personalities are intricately woven into my creations, making each piece unique and deeply personal.

Four years ago, I embarked on a project inspired by an illustration from a textbook. This illustration depicted a boy and a girl amid a lush garden by the sea, accompanied by a poem titled "The Nicest Child," authored by someone unknown. The beauty of the scene captured my imagination, and I felt compelled to create my rendition of it. In my first attempt, I focused on rendering the characters beautifully. Their expressions, attire, and interactions were brought to life with meticulous detail.

However, I wasn't entirely satisfied with the background. I had made the sky too blue, a vibrant hue that overshadowed the soft, gentle daylight setting intended in the original illustration. This dissatisfaction lingered with me over the years, nudging me occasionally to revisit and refine the piece. As time passed, I learned more about colour theory and techniques to create a more harmonious composition. With this newfound knowledge, I finally felt confident enough to make the necessary adjustments to the background of my artwork, bringing it closer to the vision that initially inspired me.

Inspiration struck me anew one day, and I decided to remake the artwork. This time, I wanted to infuse it with a personal touch by featuring my beloved OCs, Arlon and Liliana. The vision of them as kids in the garden by the sea, dressed in pristine white, seemed perfect. Their presence in the artwork would not only correct the mistakes I made in the original but also breathe new life into it. Arlon, with his calm and gentle demeanour, and Liliana, with her vibrant and lively spirit, seemed like the perfect characters to inhabit this serene setting.

Creating this new piece was a labour of love. I meticulously planned every detail, from the soft pastel shades of the sky to the delicate blossoms in the garden. The garden was filled with a riot of colours – reds, pinks, and yellows – all blending harmoniously against the backdrop of the sea. Arlon and Liliana stood at the centre, their white attire contrasting beautifully with the vibrant flowers around them. Arlon’s arm was gently draped around Liliana, their gazes locked in a tender moment that spoke volumes of their deep affection for each other. The sea in the background was a serene shade of blue, gently meeting the horizon in a soft, blurred line.

June is typically a busy month for me, filled with art exhibits and various engagements that demand my attention. This year was no different, and I knew that my output of new artwork might decrease temporarily. However, the excitement of these events and the opportunity to showcase my work to a broader audience made the busy schedule worthwhile. Each exhibit was a chance to connect with fellow artists, art enthusiasts, and potential patrons, all of whom appreciated the dedication and creativity behind each piece.

Despite the hectic schedule, I found moments of peace and joy in working on this artwork featuring Arlon and Liliana. The process of creating it was almost meditative, allowing me to escape the busyness of the world and immerse myself in the beauty of the scene I was bringing to life. I spent countless hours perfecting every detail, ensuring that the light in the sky was just right, the flowers appeared fresh and vibrant, and Arlon and Liliana’s expressions captured the essence of their characters.

As I completed the final touches, I felt a sense of fulfilment. The artwork was a true reflection of my growth as an artist over the past four years. It not only showcased my improved skills but also encapsulated the evolution of my OCs, Arlon and Liliana. Their story had grown richer, and their presence in my art had become more profound. This piece, in particular, was a celebration of their journey and my own. Seeing the positive reactions and hearing the kind words of those who appreciated my work was incredibly rewarding. It reaffirmed my belief in the importance of revisiting and refining old projects.

As I reflect on this journey, I am grateful for the initial inspiration that came from that textbook illustration and the unknown author of "The Nicest Child." Their work sparked a creative journey that spanned several years, culminating in a piece that holds significant meaning for me. Arlon and Liliana, as mascots of my ideal romantic love, continue to inspire me, and their stories will undoubtedly evolve in future artworks. The characters of Arlon and Liliana serve as a constant reminder of the power of love and the beauty of storytelling.

This experience has taught me the value of patience, persistence, and the willingness to revisit past works with a fresh perspective. It has also reinforced the importance of personal connections in art. Arlon and Liliana are not just characters; they are embodiments of my thoughts, emotions, and aspirations. Through them, I can express ideas and feelings that might otherwise remain unspoken. Through them, I can express ideas and feelings that might otherwise remain unspoken, allowing me to delve deeper into my psyche and connect with my audience

In conclusion, creating this artwork was a journey of rediscovery and growth. It allowed me to correct past mistakes, infuse personal elements into the piece, and share my evolving artistic vision with a wider audience. The process was challenging yet fulfilling, reminding me of the endless possibilities that art offers. As I continue to attend art exhibits and engage with the art community, I look forward to the new inspirations and opportunities that lie ahead. Perhaps, one day, I will come across another illustration or poem that will ignite a spark of creativity, leading to yet another beautiful creation featuring Arlon, Liliana, and the many stories yet to be told.

[mediaonedesign]

Official Official Kamala Harris Sit The Fuck Down Kamala Shirt

My Dior look for the Official Official Kamala Harris Sit The Fuck Down Kamala Shirt but in fact I love this day was a beautiful white lace, puffy-sleeved dress from Maria Grazia Chiuri’s 2024 resort collection. Accessorized with a beautiful white Dior Bag and the most comfortable white cowboy boots, I was ready and equipped to take on the streets of Paris. I attempted to match the ethereal, fairy tale-esque dress with a soft pink eyeshadow and braided hair. A beautiful young Parisian woman screamed from the crowd garden princess!” at me, so I think, mission accomplished? As usual, I chose the floor rather than a chair. Perhaps this was simply an excuse to dramatically show off my look. If there’s one thing you need to know about me: I love the drama. One of my favorite details was this sophisticated metal belt, crafted to appear like butterflies on my waist. It was subtle yet strong enough to elegantly enhance the look.

I sent this hair photo to my mom and she responded with, So pretty. You should do this on yourself more often.” Yes, mom. Because I have exhibited a clear adeptness to the Official Official Kamala Harris Sit The Fuck Down Kamala Shirt but in fact I love this art of hair throughout my childhood and am undoubtedly capable of creating a masterpiece like this on my own. Again, kidding!! I could never. We have arrived! I simply love couture shows. The collective curiosity and inspiration, the buzzing energy and shared excitement…it’s an atmosphere that’s truly so rare and unique. Dior has done it again. Luxurious and show-stopping, woven with historical nods, and declaring a renewed sense of modernity. I continue to be blown away by the work of Maria Grazia Chiuri and Peter Philips. Congratulations on a fabulous collection! There’s a special relationship between designer and muse. The relationship is almost always symbiotic, each giving inspiration to the other with every collaboration. For Celine creative director Hedi Slimane, Kaia Gerber is a muse of the Cali-cool chic he embodies in his collections, with the youthquake of Gen-Z silhouettes filtered through his signature French flair. Gerber is, yes, a supermodel of the ages. But she is also mature for her age, with an indelible presence both online and in real life that surpasses her generation. Her inquisitive mind and casual, yet refined style make her the perfect Celine muse.

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[sqbr]

Orson Scott Card was my favourite author when I was 14, and this does not even scratch the surface of the amount of Gender. I can't be bothered actually rereading any of plot summaries, but here's the fuzzy and probably inaccurate impressions that were left in the mind of a repressed teenage biromantic genderfluid asexual in the 90s:

Content note: body horror, underage, and rape.

The sequel to Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, is set on a planet of seemingly all-male hobbits, who have sex with each other. Ender bonds with them immediately. Turns out the females of their species are consumed as pregnant babies by their all-male young, and only the infertile ones grow up to become sentient trees. We are told the trees are highly respected but they never get any lines. Ender falls in love with a local human woman, and they get married, only for her to immediately become a nun and never really speak to him again.

In another sequel, parts of him splits off to embody his memories of his brother and sister as teens. His actual, adult sister is unhappy that he seems to prefer this version of her.

In A Planet called Treason, the protagonist has an overactive healing gene that causes him to develop random extra body parts. There is a line like "As I saddled my horses Goebells and Himmel, I touched my breasts and thought of her". He develops a gut wound so severe that his loose intestines grow into a whole separate version of him, who becomes lord of the shapeshifters. The hero must commit genocide against that whole continent, because changing your appearance at will is a power noone should have. The Nazi reference is never explained, and "she" either never shows up again or turns out to be one of the shapeshifters and he kills her.

In Songmaster, the protagonist is a beautiful androgynous teenage boy who has sex with an older bisexual male friend. For Reasons, this causes the boy excruciating pain and ruins his life forever, and the friend is tortured to death as punishment.

In Wyrms, the teenage girl(!) protagonist is seduced by a horrible yet irresistibly sexy giant white worm, and gives birth to Advanced Alien children she must immediately murder as they call her Mother.

In Hart's Hope the hero must publicly rape a teenage girl for the greater good, and in punishment the girl becomes an evil witch and turns he and his love interest into humiliating, sexless beings who are tortured and cannot talk to each other for like a hundred years.

There are a bunch of short stories about young boys suffering eternal torment for attempting to reach for something beautiful and but tragically corrupting. A large proportion of his protagonists have done Terrible Things That Noone Understands and suffer for it alone forever.

And then I got older, and his books got worse, and I started noticing more and more plots about how it was vital for the greater good to trick people into becoming Christian/get underage kids or gay people to get married and make babies etc and I went off his books. But sometimes I look back and go... goddamn.

Also, a tangent: reading Ender's Game for the first time as a 14 year old I thought Battle School sounded absolutely unbearable, and was very surprised to find out this response is not universal. But as a child I also assumed the Doctor's companions were trapped with him and wanted to go home, because I seem to have been born too neurotic to ever experience the "wouldn't going on dangerous adventures be fun" phase of childhood.

There is a passage from one of the Ender’s Game sequels that lives rent free in my mind every time I enter a public restroom of like… Bean thinking very hard about which stall to select because appropriately masculine men never select the first stall, if you take the last stall you’re trying too hard, but you can’t take a stall next to a stall next to one that’s already occupied…

Orson Scott Card is having a Real Normal One Over Here, I Guess.