#me trying to not use blue in my palette...failed again

[wombywoo]

smoke break

[melimelissa998]

A Favor pt. 4

Part 3

“I still can NOT! Believe you asked him on a date” Mina says clapping her hands together, “It’s not a date” I say for maybe the 5th time today “Y/N, it is a date! He said so!” Jihyo is obviously on her side “He said, set the date, not it’s a date” I repeat but not sure if it was more for me than for them.

I lied to my friends about how I met Christopher and how we’re having a date dinner tonight. I had to go with a simple: we met at district 9, chitchat ever once a night and one thing led to recommending good restaurants and I mentioned one we both wanted to go and set a date to it…

“If he wasn’t interested, he wouldn’t have said something like that” Jihyo arches her eyebrows and me. I try not to laugh at her meme face, but I fail. “He was just being nice” I try one more time to make them stop “BUT! He said, ‘I’ll take you!’” Mina screams irritated at my denial. I roll my eyes and smile ignoring her, I later I realize I’m still smiling “Yeah, I, guess it is a date” I whisper hoping they don’t hear me, but I know they do. The 3 of us giggled as if we were 17 again and we just said hi to our crush passing by the hallway and he said hi back.

I still wasn't sure if i was nervous excited or nervous scared of what can happen tonight, was this even a good idea? I wish I wasn’t this excited over dinner with someone, but it’s been years I went out a date and Chris is such a mystery, but again, it’s just a favor he’s paying back I am reading all this as something it’s not…

“Soooo, what are you going to wear?” Mina’s voice makes me stop overthinking, I blink twice and come back to earth, “I was thinking of.” I’m about to show them the outfit, but Jihyo stops me “No.” she says firm and I look at her confused “You are not wearing a cute blouse with your jeans” she crosses her arms and I look at her surprised “I, I was not going to.” I lie to her and turn to my closet again. How the hell did she know?

I desperately look through my clothes for a second option and almost at the end of the rack, I see 2 nice dresses: a purple sundress with puffy sleeves and a navy-blue dress to the neck with long sleeves. I show both and they choose the blue one. “Isn’t it too much?” I take the piece to the mirror and try to imagine myself in it “You should do sexy tonight, not cute” Jihyo says, and Mina agrees “Leave the purple one for a day date, and besides, you do look amazing in blue” Mina tells me and I half smile “Okay, fine, I’ll go shower” I inform them and leave the room.

After I shower and change to something for now while I do my hair and makeup, I go back to my room and see Mina and Jihyo on their phones and internally laugh remembering Felix’s phone from the other night.

I walk to my vanity desk and start my makeup, simple, nude palette. “You should put on a red lipstick, that would be very, very hot” Jihyo suggests and laughs, I roll my eyes and I shake my head “Nah, I, will go with brown tonight, I can do red lipstick another time” I tell her, and she sees me through the mirror and tries not to do a frown but doesn’t say anything else.

I straighten my hair a little and go back to the bathroom to change to the dress, when I go back to the room I spin in the dress “Yeah, I like how I look” I tell them, and both of my best friends smile at me “You look great!” Mina compliments me and I fake a blush, I walk to the closet again and I look for shoes, black heals or brown flats “Heals” Jihyo says behind me, and I laugh again, “I knew you would say that.” I tell her.

I arrive at the address Chris texted and the uber left me in front of one of the 3-star Michelin restaurants there is in the world “God’s Menu”, I recheck the address on maps and the location was the same, as I walk to the entrance my heart starts to skip a beat and my hands start to sweat. Is this a joke?

A beautiful young hostess smiles and welcomes me “Can I have the last name for the reservation?” she asks while she pulls out a tablet “Oh, um, it’s under, um, BangChan? He told me to give you that name?” I pass on what he told me to say at the door, but it sounds more like a question. She looks at me surprised and clears her throat “I see, yes, follow me please” She leads me in the beautiful place, all so brown, and gold, so luxurious I felt even the air in here smells expensive.

“I, sorry to ask, but, is it a business diner?” she whispers and I shake my head “Not that I know of” I laugh a little to it and she nods trying to hide a smile, we do a right turn and as I’m looking around being distracted by all the details in the celling, she suddenly stops and I accidently bump into her “I’m so sorry” I apologize and she laughs “Don’t worry, it happens more than you think” we both smile at each other and then she points to the booth beside her and when I turn, Christopher is already sitting there with a drink in his hand, he’s looking at me with a smirk. “Hope you have a great night” she again whispers and this time she gives me a different smile, a soft smile. I see her go and I turn to Christopher “Hi” I wave at him and stand there not actually knowing where to sit.

Next to him? The other side of the booth? Am I going to slide all the way?

“You look gorgeous babygirl” he compliments me so daringly and I forgot to breath for a moment “Thank you” I feel my cheeks hurt from the blushing, he scoots more into the booth and with his head he points to the new spot he made. I swallow hard and sit next to him. “When you said ‘great place’ I thought it would be a pizza place like dominos or something” I joke and he smirks “I can take you to dominos next time” he shrugs, I don’t answer to that, but I feel my stomach flip inside me “This place is, just so, amazing, I thought it was hard to have a reservation here in with days” I tell him “It is, but the owner is a friend of mine” he says so nonchalant about it, I don’t speak and just stare at him, so casually, handsome, is face features are so drop dead gorgeous, his black suite looking expensive…

“Are you allergic to anything?” he asks taking a sip to his drink and hiding a smirk, I look away and felt embarrassed, he knows I was staring… “Um, yeah, shrimp? Seafood actually, it gives me like a rash and closes my throat” I explain, and he looks at me a little surprised “and my eyes get puff so that also looks ugly” I point to my eyes, and he chuckles “Got it, anything to drink?” He asks “lemon juice with whiskey” I answer and he nods, he does a sign in the air to call a waiter “Bring her a sour whiskey and today’s special make sure there’s no seafood related” he orders and the waiter agrees and leaves. Again, I feel my stomach all weird and I really don’t want to feel how special he is making me feel.

There’s a moment of silents between us and I wonder if he feels it as uncomfortable as I do, but his facial expression is so hard to read “So Bang Chan? Is that your last name?” I ask, he straightens up from his position and clears his throat “It’s my business name” he clears out “Oh, and Christopher is for friends?” I chuckle “Like Hannah Montana?” I joke and as soon as I say it I regret it, I am about to apologize for doing such a comment but before I can say I’m sorry, he laughs as if I said the funniest thing in the world “Yeah, you can say I have the best of both worlds” he joins a punch line and I bite my lips trying to avoid my smile.

The waiter comes back with my drink and an entrance soup. I thank him and he gives me a small nod, he leaves us alone again, Chris is looking at me as waiting for me to try the soup first, I take the spoon with soup and bring it to my mouth. “Oh wow, this is so amazing!” I sound too excited about it, but I can’t contain the happiness of the taste. He smirks and starts to eat too. There is another moment of silences and I try to think of something to talk about, I take a sip of my drink and remember the other night and see he still has painted nails “Does the whole ‘drug in the glass’ happens often?” I want to know, and he nods “yeah, we are kinda used to it” he keeps it simple “We? As in Lee Know, Felix? The other boys with you?” “Yes” I nod and talk again “Your accent, it sounds, not from here, it’s like a.” “Australian, it’s an Australian accent” he interrupts me “Oh! Yeah, it is, Felix too, right?” he nods, and I feel conscious of how many questions I made “Sorry, I’m doing too many questions” I explain and breath in and start to eat again “You’re fine” he says sincerely “Sorry, I just get nervous when there’s silence, I feel like I have to fill it up with my talking” I nervously laugh “You don’t need to apologize, it’s fine” he says again and I am about to say sorry again but he gives me a “don’t say it” expression which makes me shiver and the word gets stuck in my throat. His face expression relaxes, and he continues to eat which I do the same “You, have a job?” he asks after a while and I nod “Yeah, I’m an elementary teacher, at the Northwood school, the one that’s on top of the hill?” I question the last part waiting for him to answer if he knew which one I was talking about, and nods “Is it a hard job?” he asks, and I smile “Oh let me tell you about it…”

Through the night, I start to tell stories of my kids and how crazy it is to be an elementary teacher, I also tell him all the funny moments I’ve had and at first, I really felt I should shut up at one point, but Chris would give me a look as if he was very interested or as if I was telling the most amazing story ever and made it feel like if it was okay for me to keep talking. Every now in then he would also share a story of his elementary days or crack a joke between my stories making all uncomfortable feeling go away.

At the end of dinner, after have to most amazing dessert Christopher lets out a heavy breath “I’ve got to say, you are funnier than I thought” he says with a half-smile, I roll my eyes hiding mine “Thanks, sounded offensive but thanks” I joke with him and he smirks. He’s about to say something back at me but the sound of a ringtone stops him. He talks a very old phone from his pocket and looks at the screen. I look at the phone with a frown, but also let out a chuckle, he looks at me confused “What’s up with a modern phone? You and Felix seem to not like smartphones” I comment and laugh about it, Chris looks down and the phone and back at me “It gives me what I actually just needed it for” he kinda sound serious almost annoyed about my comment “Sorry, I didn’t mean anything abo.” I feel bad and want to apologize about it but he interrupts me “I, didn’t mean it like that, I, just don’t need a fancy phone” he says in a better tone but it stills make me feel bad, I nod understanding and he still seems uneasy “I’m not into social media or have time for texting with friends” he comments in a sad tone now. I try to think of what to say instead of sorry, “Oh, that’s sad, and here I was thinking we were going to be text buddies after this” I tease him and give him my best “it’s okay” smile. He looks at me with an expression I try to read.

Was it funny? Did he hate the joke? Did he even get the joke?

“In that case, I’ll have to change it” he wiggles the old phone in the air and takes me off guard, I feel a chill breeze all of a sudden and my back is shivers. I really try stop myself from showing any emotion on my face but I feel a stupid smile on my face trying creep. I think of something to say back but I don’t know what to respond. I look away and distract myself with whatever I see first, I hear him chuckle but still don’t say anything else. I take a deep breath and look at my watch “I, should probably get going before it's late, then the Ubers get really expensive and I.” “I’ll take you home” he interrupts “Oh, I didn’t mean it to sound like.” I panic and try to explain myself but he ignores me “I’ll drive you home, getting in a car this late isn’t a good idea.” He again interrupts me and takes the last sip of his drink. I sit there looking at him getting up and out the booth, how can he just be so fine and cool about it… “. Let’s go baby girl” he sounds like he’s ordering me which I instantly react to it by getting up. He guides his hand to the bottom of my back and gives me a little push to start walking. I again feel a shiver down my back and my heart in my ears, I am so glad he can’t see how my face is probably damn red right now, I take small breath to stop my heart race and hope he can’t sense my nervousness.

We walk to the entrance of the place and a black Mercedes probably car of the year pulls up, a valet steps out and gives the keys to Chris, the valet guy is about to open the passenger door from me but Chris stops “I’ll take it from here” he again speaks in a demanding order in which the guy steps aways “Yes sir, have a great night” he says goodbye and leaves. Chris opens the door of the car and also closes it after. I take the chance to let out the air in my lungs and wait for him to get to the driver’s seat. The drive to my department was silent, not even music playing to make it feel not weird at this point. My need to vomit talk was making me go crazy. “Thank you!” I say out of the blue “. F-for dinner and the ride home” I look at him but he doesn’t seem to react about it “I know I talked a lot and sorry if I annoyed you, but.” “You didn’t at all, I enjoyed it” he interrupts and stops in front of a red light. He looks at me and just stays like that. The light makes his skin glow and I once again I look at his face, the scar, his lips, his nose, and into his eyes. The light turns green and he turns to face the road.

I then feel so unreal, the night, the air, this isn’t real, it’s so unreal, he’s unreal.

I stop overthinking as soon as I hear Chris get out of the car and walk to my side to open the door, I am about to say goodbye and thank him again but he speaks first “Let me take you out again.” I stand there a little confused “. But this time not as a favor…”

He just really knows how to take my breath away…

5.

[poppypirate]

So I'm rewatching PJO episode 6 in preparation for tomorrow (so excited!!!) and here's some thoughts~

1) I watched the Iris message with Luke like a million times and it is SO unnerving to see what a master manipulator he is. He's the cool older friend everyone wants to be seen bumping fists with - and he's giving them so much caring attention. All while subtly deflecting the conversation to pushing the conclusions HE wants Percy and Annabeth to arrive at. For the first time, I was reminded how scary this thing with Luke was, and once again, gave me the same feeling I'd had when I first read the books :')

2) Social commentary in the Lotus Casino like pls????? Rick NEVER fails to deliver on the best messages. Drugs injected into the air of one of the biggest gambling businesses in the world? Grover literally getting "lost in time" in the VR headset? Hermes lamenting about parenting? I love it.

3) Percabeth🥹🥹🥹🥹 "You were like two seconds ahead of me" SO PERCY. I was wheezing. Percy FINALLY opening up to Annabeth about the dreams had me sighing in relief. And the way the two of them navigated Hermes and the Lotus Casino together had me sobbing fr. MY BABIESSSS

4) PERCY DRIVING IS SO ME PLS. "Try aiming for the middle!" Like same bro been there😭 Waiting for a full minute after the guy cuts him off and then angrily honking ME. ME ME ME. I detest driving and I mean. Oh, and the best part - Annabeth staring proudly at Percy as he goes up that ramp, and Percy happily looking into her eyes AND THEN CRASHING INTO THE WALL I WAS BESIDE MYSELF I did not know this was something I needed. And... of course... WISE GIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRLLLLLL

5) When Annabeth said "it's easy to forget what's important when you're alone" it reminded me so bitterly of Luke. For this kind of lone forgetting is exactly what Kronos is betting on when he singles Percy out as his backup or whatever. It's scary how blurred the line between Luke and Percy's possible destinies is. And branching from the same dialogue, Grover's reaction after he realises he forgot quite a bit was heartbreaking. It kind of reminded me of the scene from Chalice of the Gods (spoilers, yall!) when Grover's sad Percy and Annabeth will be leaving. Hit too close to home :')

6) The Nereid was so mindnumbingly beautiful??? Also, they're making Percy's colour palette green and gold instead of blues, and while that's going to take a while to get used to, they're doing an aesthetically marvellous job!

7) But... there was no zebra :(

Anyway now I'm SO excited for tomorrow's episode I cannot WAIT. I cant wait to see the Cerberus, the Underworld, and Hades and Persephone (the gods all look so amazing so far this is going to be SO good) - and I can't wait to see Sally again!!! Her figure in the teaser seemed so cool. Literally counting down the hours😭

[mysticsparklewings]

Obscutober 2024 Day 6: Plexure 🪢

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Plexure (n.)

the act or process of weaving together, or interweaving; that which is woven together

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I opted to keep things a little more simple for today…Yet I’m still posting late-ish & feel a bit -un-woven myself because I kept noticing dumb mistakes in the final image that I had to fix. 😅

Click the "Keep Reading" and we'll talk more about my thoughts/process for this piece (dumb mistakes aside) ✨

⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

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Ironically, I feel my brain is coming a bit unwoven at the moment because while I technically finished today's mandala much, much earlier, when I sat down to start the upload process, I kept noticing really dumb mistakes or oversights I had to go back and fix. 🙃

Ignoring that, I am once again really pleased with these results. "Interweaving" didn't give me a ton of super strong imagery to work with, so I opted to stay true to that keep things simple.

I was kinda worried "just woven lines" wouldn't be visually interesting enough and might be a little too similar to how angular yesterday's mandala was, so I did linger and tinker with certain things a little longer than I otherwise would have on that front. In particular, those interlocked squares near the corners were probably the biggest pain to draw out of the whole thing, but I feel like they add a lot and that's why I even bothered with them.

There were also several false starts to include more curves (again, to help separate from yesterday's piece) but you can see they largely failed. I just couldn't come up with an arrangement that felt like it fit with this concept. The only curves that survived are the really thin ones in those squares I mentioned and then the "soft" triangles I used between weaving lines.

Those soft triangles were a very spur-of-the-moment idea trying to provide some visual relief from all the hard edges and angles. But I really like how, especially hatched over like this, they kind of look like worn appears of fabric, or some other kind of "fabric depth." The mandala design might look even better if the center octagon was filled in similarly instead of the definition being there; Food for thought for another time! The color palette is sort of random; In the name of simplicity, I went with the first thing I thought of: Rainbows are color "woven" together, and/or white light is "woven" from all of the colors. However, in my efforts to shift a little away from a "traditional" rainbow palette and not use too much blue and risk getting a glass-like effect (because I'll be working with glass themes at least one other time later this month, possibly two), I circled back around and this palette is a little more similar to yesterday's than I really wanted. But I've fiddled back and forth with it enough times that I'm really just tired of messing with it and want to settle, lest I keep fiddling until 11 o'clock at night. To be clear, I still like the color palette a lot; The part I'm struggling with is the similarities to yesterday's and the specific ideas I had in mind for this piece as a whole. In a vacuum where those two things don't matter, I actually find the color palette really pretty as a step-off from a more traditional rainbow.

Art feelings are complicated sometimes! 🤷‍♀️

The biggest silver lining though is that, aside from the dumb mistakes I mentioned at the beginning, I didn't encounter as much frustration in trying to put this one together as I did yesterday, which was nice. Hopefully that's a pattern that continues, because I think this coming week is going to be an awfully busy one in a few different ways. 🤞

Only one way to find out, though...! Hope you Sparklers don't come unwoven before then. 🤪

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See the Prompt List

Artwork  © me, MysticSparklewings

Obscutober Concept Inspired by nikolas_tower

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⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

[themissingnumbers]

Hey, guys! I have a question if you don't mind me asking. :)

Now, I might just be slow, but it's taken me far too long to realize that Fire had not said a single word to us. (Because he's MUTE-) Like, he can make noise—albeit, very quiet noise—but he cannot speak. Instead, what he says gets projected into our brains using like, holy magic or something. I dunno.

[Spoiler for the Palette Glitch story. If you haven't read Palette Glitch before now, then I recommend that you do so. It's really good, and it's much better if you don't know what happens.]

In Palette Glitch, Blue can't understand Fire. It looks like he can understand when he mouths a word, like when he was begging for his life at the end (yes, I went and reread Palette Glitch. And DAMN is it good. Pain is my favorite thing to ingest in the morning.), but Fire never actually spoke, even when he tried to. Not to mention that he also called attention to the fact that he couldn't speak in his inner dialogue and that he didn't know why he couldn't. It looks (to me) like he didn't know that he couldn't speak until he tried and failed.

[Spolier over. Feel free to read on from here.]

As for Leaf, in the section where you explained her duties, it was mentioned that Fire spoke, but when he did, it was soulless, objective, and only served to remind her of her duty. Maybe this is just wishful thinking, but that doesn't sound like Fire to me. I don't think that, if he saw his sister alive again, he would only remind her of her duty (which I don't think he would have even known about at that point?), and, y'know, not be happy to see her again, even if he sucked at showing it. Leaf clearly understood him back then, but I don't know about now though, as she doesn't seem to have a read on him.

All of this yapping has been kind of unnecessary, but I guess I wanted to lay out my reasons for asking. Anyway, to get to the point, the question I'm trying to ask is this:

Are we (the players, in comparison to everyone else) just god-tier Fire interpreters? Can anyone else understand what Fire says or is it just us? Could we translate for other people?

[fire doesn't have a voice of his own, and you cannot hear it. but you still understand him. he communicates with you in a way he cannot with anyone else. after all, you haven't heard a single voice, have you? but theres a certain way that you know exactly what your little friends are saying. a way thats convenient for him and you, but, indeed, you're some of the only ones who sees this world this way.]

[miragethecat]

if you look at the statue next to the lady, that is God with a G. Of the Ultraman franchise anyway, his name is Noa and yes, there are a lot of Christian allegories in this franchise. but he is holding a blue orb that protects the city where the statue is from the Kaiju antlar.

(context: i was showing some of my new dioramas  that i had just gotten)

so there’s this group of ultras called the ultra brothers right and during one of the shows I think it’s like six of them get crucified, and their newest member has to be the monster called ace killer and it’s insane

THEY GET CRUCIFIED

they are called the 6 ultra brothers and then there’s another group including them, just called the ultra Brothers and it’s a group of like nine ultras

and don’t get me started on how all the series are classified into eras because some of them are wonky, and some people can’t agree, which shows go where, but that’s mostly for newer shows

and now going back to Noa

he has this I want to call it a puppet form because I don’t know the accurate terms. But he is also Ultraman Nexus. and Nexus has like four different forms, and has the most hosts out of every ultra I believe. he also looks like he has a mullet.

now to noa - pls notice that he does not have a mullet. he does have wings or what are supposed to allude to wings. he’s got a counter part called Dark Zagi. he’s a little freak.

he is an entity, that aliens tried to control, failed. And he was after the energy from the ultras home planet M78. to I believe, go back to his dimension. him and Noa fought, and now he has beef (i haven’t seen nexus yet, might be wrong 🤷‍♀️)

also, almost every ultra in the franchise has a dark/evil counterpart. they are also like 50 m y’all giants of light.

and most of them take hosts because earths atmosphere, cannot sustain their true form for more than three minutes or somewhere around that. most of the time. and then there are ultras who just take a human form and try to blend in while still being an alien

So they travel in these balls of light and honestly it’s really cool. there are 4 canonical ultrawoman (again could be wrong) and there are three others that have had women as hosts (maybe????).

now want to talk about the ultra series that is so popular in China that I believe last year it sold more than the Mouse. Ultraman Tiga!

he got a 4kids dub of the first 24–25 episodes and man. They are rough. I’ve seen them, they are so rough. but basically Tiga is very popular with people in the west, because I believe it was one of the most popular ones to come here and stayed popular

which is why I believe anyway, of the Ultraman figures that I have found at GameStop 2/3 of them have been him. And probably the ones that are going to come to the US first will probably be him and what Tsubaraya Think are the most popular ones that people here would want.

also, I believe he’s the first ultra to have indigo in his color palette and people online like to swear it’s either blue or purple. When I first watched it, I thought he was purple. so he’s got three main colors on him, being indigo, red and silver. and I believe he is the start of the gimmick, where the characters would become all one color, or mostly one color as a different form.

so his all indigo type is the aerial/speed type, and his all red type is his strength type. And each form has its own use and drawbacks. And then it is revealed towards the end, that he was originally an evil titan. Who had a dark gray and silver color palette and honestly he looks really cool because we don’t normally get those colors

and he like gets the traumatic flashbacks to when he was an evil titan and killing people. LIKE for his series he has the highest kill count(i believe????).

anyway i can’t beat the tiga fan allegations cause like half of my figures are of him. and his are usually the ones i find the most, in the US anyway.

this is getting so long, dear lord.

I liked watching tiga, I loved the throwback episodes, but it was not my favorite series in the slightest. it’s definitely in my like top 10 but I also haven’t seen a good chunk of the like 75 year run of this series.

i’m trying to, and it’s very easy to because a lot of them are on the YouTube channel for free with really good subtitles and some of them even have really good dubs.

anyway, this has been my pitch for you to watch this show/series and you can literally pick and choose where you want to start. That’s the beauty of this thing. You can start with the most recent show that just ended or you can pick a show from 50 years ago.

we have one series that people call the darkest one in the entire franchise, that’s Nexus. you can basically watch to college age siblings, become Ultraman and then the shenanigans they get up to. you can go back and watch the original, which was supposed to be its own universe, along with the second show the franchise until they decided to make it a multi-verse situation. now to get in the multiverse. 😀

A very, i want to say convoluted multi-verse. There is a character that canonically travels through dimensions with the help of God I think??? I don’t exactly quote me on that, but he does travel through dimensions.

The Ultraman that does that most frequently is named zero. he is the son of ultra seven who is the second ultra technically in this franchise. and they have a terrible relationship with each other. Seven left him to be raised/mentored by his trainee, Leo, who he traumatized when seven was training him.

zero basically has become tsubaraya’s Golden boy. he shows up in like everything, he is very charismatic. I will give him that, but he’s got issues and don’t even get me started on the different kinds of ultras that exist because there are distinctions.

ITS MY BIRTHDAY!!!!! now here’s my ramblings as my reward

i’m not even gonna get into that because I don’t know all of the information or at least some of the information. I only know a little bit about that specific topic.

but a really fun part about the show is that they do a lot of tribute episodes so sometimes your faves come back in the newer shows and it’s great to see them and just a lot of them haven’t gotten that treatment because I think they do it on like the 25th anniversary and then like special anniversaries or years or whatever.

anyway, that was my pitch to watch the show so I have other people to talk to about it and not just my sister and my dad. Actually, you can blame my dad for even getting me into this now I must go and do other stuff. Goodbye.

[alltheworldsinmyhead]

Post 7 Comfort Movies and Tag 7 People

tagged by the wonderful @oneofthewednesdays - half of your picks were mine as well so I needed to get creative!

About Time (2013)

I adore this movie. It is geniune and sweet, and it makes my heart flutter with love and longing whenever I watch it. The romance is adorable, but the father-son relationship absolutely outshines it. And the iconic red wedding dress! My favorite Rachel McAdams movie ever, by far.

2. Emma (2020)

A joy to watch. The most beautiful color palette ever used in film Anya Taylor-Joy is a worldwide treasure and Mia Goth is close second. The way this movie intelligently and accurately depicts how privilege really works (and makes a lot of fantastic comments on how society still works) without ever losing its spark of humor, is really a sight to behold.

3. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Wes Anderson is really THAT guy. I want to live in this movie.

4. Ponyo (2008)

My favorite Little Mermaid retelling. I love all Ghibli movies in equal measure, but there is something absolutely soothing and comforting about this one. Obscenely beautiful and talks about love in a way that never fails to make me cry.

5. Ocean's 8 (2018)

Other heist movies don't have Rihanna in that red dress, so I don't see a point in watching other heist movies. Also, the scene with Anne Hathaway at the end will never not be absolutely hilarious.

6. Mamma Mia! (2008) and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again (2018)

These movies are the definition of joy. Pure, unfiltered entertainment. Slipping Through My Fingers scene was written with one purpose only - to make all girls with mommy issues (me) weep. Idk why directors bother to try to write any more movies if these two masterpieces already exist.

7. Crazy Rich Asians (2018)

By far my favorite rom-com. Everyone is beautiful and ridiculous.

+ Cinderella (2015) because I couldn't not mention the only live-action to ever matter. Lily James in this blue dress makes me feel six again and it's a beautiful feeling.

tagging: @marauders-groupie @cameliawrites @whatanybodygets

and @yanak324 ❤

[angelbellelc2]

Dark Blue Shadow chapter 2: The Professor's lamemt

Luke continues to stare at the hat as he felt the sudden need to ask his mentor something that's bothering him. Luke feels like there's more to the note as he notices the Professor's saddened expression spread across his face hidden beneath his treasured top hat. Luke begins to adjust himself to a certain distance between himself and the professor holding both note and hat. "Hey Professor would it be alright if I could ask you more about the note? I would like to know what happened to Clive and what is on your mind." Luke speaks with a very respectful tone but at the same time sounding very worried.

"If you want I could make us some english tea to make this easier for you and to let you know that I have been practicing." Luke suggested trying to make the atmosphere more palettable for the grief stricken gentlemen. Professor Layton adjusts his top hat as he agrees to the offer of freshly made tea and to speak his story of events. As Luke makes his way to prepare tea for his mentor the professor starts to retell the all to quick horrid events from gaining the note to the sudden death of Clive.

"I remember the day when I received the note my boy. Reading Clive's feelings of regret and self hatred made myself think that he needed to know that he shouldn't think of himself like that. That he deserved a second chance even if he himself didn't believe that." The professor continued on as Luke begins to firmly pour the tea into both cups slowly still listening further into his mentors story. "I made my way to where Clive was being held to try to talk himself out of taking his own life. I spoke about him being able to go on parole and that I could advocate for him if needed."

Clive listen fully to the professor word's taking to heart. "Alright then Professor I understand what you're coming from I suppose if you are sure that's still something worth living for. I would have to take your offer." Clive smiled even though it's a little faint confirms that there's still a chance for him. Clive then handed the professor the hat as his note mentioned.

The Professor continued on telling of the parole hearing and that Clive was finally allowed to be among the public once more but only if the Professor took full responsibility of Clive. "As a gentleman I felt it was my duty to help Clive in any means necessary so I agreed in taking him in as my responsibility my boy." For a quick moment the Professor's saddened expression became almost hopeful. The hopeful expression slowly transitioning into a more somber one as he continues.

"On the day of Clive's release at first glance Luke everything was going in a splendid way that looked hopeful for himself to start again. Everything was is perfect order as I made sure everything was prepared for his rehabilitation and Flora as thoughtful as she is made sure to make her ever so flavorful foods to celebrate." Professor Layton adjusts his top hat once more hidden beneath it as to endure speaking of Clive's fate.

Luke looks with concern as his mentor then starts to take out quick sip of the tea still hidden beneath his hat. "Luke you asked me of Clive's fate and what bothers me my boy. The truth of the matter is what exactly was Clive's fate. His death was undetermined and apparently classified. I felt like I failed him my boy he was ready to start once more but then taken before he had the chance. " The professor speaks with a guilty heart looking away from his ever loyal apprentice.

Luke shocked by this still makes an effort to comfort his mentor smiling softly. "Professor I'm sure you did the best you could and I would believe that Clive would be thankful for what you did for him. A gentlemen always goes out of his way to help anyone in need no matter the circumstances and he does the best he can." Luke says with a familiar tone that the professor usually used bringing a smile to the professor.

"Thank you for reminding me Luke. You're right a gentleman does his best in the end anyway." The professor says in response to his student and he starts to think of something himself. "Luke I thank you for the tea as I now have to take my leave now." The duo part ways until the next time they see each other again. Luke picks up the hat making his way back towards his bed seeing the professor through the window leaving until the next meeting.

[frostythefrostedfox]

What's your opinion on the recent Frontiers teaser?

Right between "Nothing", "Fucking boring" and "Is this game still a thing?"

Nah I am joking, my serious opinion is that this shit fucking sucks, its ass and I am sad it aint dying faster.

Let's start with the basic problematic stuff of this trailer

Eggman, why in the name of chao is Eggman tired, oh, let me guess, someone had the brilliant idea of "Lets make him lazy hahahaha", but guess what, WRONG, Eggman has been shown to be a fairly strong person, and have quite the physical prowess, where in fuck did this concept of "He uses machines bc he lazy" came from, really, because He has been shown doing physical activity before without breaking much of a sweat.

Second, these motherfuckers are so cheap they couldn't even get a few voicelines on the thing? Because I gotta be honest, this entire thing is very devoid of any emotion, it doesn't makes me feel anything, there is music sure, and there are things happening on the screen, but none is making an impact or being meaningful, they just stand there, clench their fists as if any of them was gonna do shit (because in case anyone forgot, the 3 stooges on the left don't have a physical form, Baldy McNosehair on the right aint certainly gonna fight this robot and Alexa 2 in the middle has no control over the robot so she is as useful as the first Alexa by Amazon.)

The fuck is this, really, the fucking flying fuck is this, this has to be the ugliest motherfucker I've seen all day, and I don't mean that as a compliment, is this supposed to be The End's new form? Because it looks like an amalgamation of all the other Titans into one, trying to look menacing and creepy but all it does is look like the failed fusion of Mistral and MG Rex from Metal Gear Rising, it even has Mistral's colour palette lol.

Wasn't The End supposed to signify your deepest fears (assuming for a second that was always a thing and not something someone in sega made up at the last instant to simply justify that awful touhou minigame at the end of the game) so why would this be in any form the physical manifestation of fear?

Again, the design is utter garbage, it only has two arms to the side, the rest are on top of that carapace thing on its back, which renders all arms automatically useless because they are barely able to reach for anything at the ends of it, he can't grab anything with those, they are just there to look menacing and "oh look, he's eeeevil" but they serve no function, besides, what is he gonna grab with it? Because there is only one titan with stuff to grab, and that's Knight, and that is only a sword and a shield, what you gonna use the rest of your arms for? Oh wait, for nothing! Just like I expected you to!

I assume this is the part that you and (literally nobody) everyone wanted me to talk about

This utter waste of screen time and hype-bait.

Why do I call it that? Because that's what it is, is literally what we had before but now the eyes are blue because blue is now the new orange or something like that, that is all that changed.

His transformation into this wasn't anything spectacular, just another burst of energy and ta-da, done. I'm sure 99% of the kiddies that are dying to play this shit aren't even old enough to watch the original dragon ball z, but when Goku turned into Super Saiyan 2 for the first time, not only there was a physical change on his appereance, it truly was something magnificent, you just had to be there; now, why would I compare this to SS2? Because in case anyone forgot, Sonic is just Furry Goku, and if you don't believe me, ask any actual sonic fan, not the newer ones that unironically think this game is well written, the ones that are old enough to consume alcohol, legally, in all jurisdictions of Planet Earth.

Anyways, i am getting sidetracked; this is supposed to be a "Teaser", why in heaven's name would you reveal your biggest card in a teaser? Is like the "Would you kindly" thing from Bioshock 1 was shown in the first trailer, y'all get what I'm saying right? Please don't ever play poker in your life, because you're gonna start jumping up and down when you get a pair of aces. Why the fuck would you show the "wowzers" moment of the update in a teaser, not even a trailer, a teaser.

Second, what purpose does this form serves? Super Sonic is already strong enough to easily conquer the other titans, he was never struggling in any point of the game as super sonic to kill them, he always had this "Imma kill you" expression mixed with "Pathetic" on his face, he killed all four titans without even sweating, why a new one would be a problem? This overhyped tech demo has zero idea of how to escalate a context because it aint escalating, is the same thing we had before, but then again, his new form also is the same one we had before but now featuring big blue evil demon eyes (or some bullshit like that some fans are gonna start calling it in a few days, or maybe they are already because oh my god we've never played a real game in our lives before.)

This form really serves zero purpose, it is just there to pretend like SEGA is trying to get sonic somewhere other than the bank to cash in all of their millions that the "highest selling game in the franchise" gave them while at the same time spending as little money as they can so they can maximize their profit margins; this form is just there to make you look the other way and be all hyped for "look super sonic with blue yes" so you can ignore the blatant problems of this game that are still not fixed and the updates actually added more or made them worse; this form exists so you can look up to big boy sonic team and thank them for the crumbs while at the same time chanting your mantra of "At least it aint forces" and/or "At least it aint 06" while you eat up whatever that is remotely serviceable and praise it to heaven and back not because is good, but because it doesn't sucks like 90% of the content we've gotten for the past 15 years.

But deep down I know all the answers to my questions

This shit was planned from the start, this is the same shit EA does with 90% of their games but everyone hates because is cool to hate EA, this is the same game that many other companies have played before, the whole "thank you for your imput" and then they wait until what people says alligns with what they were gonna do since the beginning so they can either say "look guys, we listened to you" if it comes out good, or "this is what you asked for" if it bombs; this is the same shenanigans we've seen countless times before, but since is SEGA, we must bow to them like they are reinventing videogames, but I guess I expected too much of the average internet user.

Don't think I'll ever forget when I predicted all of this shit almost a year ago and y'all called me "overthinker" and "paranoid".

[goondah]

Well, @manyminded Since you asked so nicely (and thank you for asking, it means a lot),

I have a type of colourblindness called protanomaly, colloquially known as "red/green colourblindness". When i look at this image, the left and the right side look literally identical.

I keep a list of things i've noticed i struggle particularly with in day-to-day life as someone with protanomaly:

red text on black (and vice versa)

maps using similar colours

cheap projectors

blushing

cookedness of meat

whether autumn leaves are green or orange

the entirety of purple

lime green and yellow

red or green biros

red laser pointers

almost any makeup

However, there are many different forms of colourblindness which will result in different experiences.

The biggest thing you can do to help is to make sure that anything you create is accessible to colourblind people. The largest part of this is choosing a colourblind friendly palette for whatever you are creating. Failing to do this can create graphs, websites and (particularly frustratingly during my younger schoolyears) presentation slides that are completely inaccessible to colourblind people, such as this map from 2021 which i had bookmarked as an example. Looking at the greyscale conversion, you can see that the graph is very difficult to interpret without the difference between what i assume to be green and orange.

There are various online tools to help with this, such as this one, but as a general rule, try to make sure that there is a contrast in brightness as well as hue, especially when colouring text (a good way is to check this is to see if it is readable under a grayscale filter). Increasing the stroke weight can also help.

Another thing to consider is avoiding colour as the only indicator of change. A good example of this is traffic lights, where even if you can't see the red amber or green you can see whether the top, middle or bottom light is lit up.

But if you aren't a graphic designer or a web designer or someone who makes PowerPoints or anything like that, the only thing that i can ask is that you are kind and patient with colourblind people. If someone tells you they're colourblind, there's a few things you shouldn't do (as i hinted at in the original post), including:

Assuming all colourblind people see in black and white, or all see the same. I have talked about my experience here as a protan, but there are also deutan, tritan and many other kinds of colourblindness.

Trying to "test" or "prove" their colourblindness. I personally am happy to discuss my experience in good faith and talk about how i perceive colour, but a lot of people find this really tiresome, especially after the 10th "what colour is this pencil?"

Telling them about the glasses. They don't cure colourblindness or give colourblind people "normal" vision again, they just emphasise the differences between problematic pairs of colours. They also don't work for most people.

Saying how sad it must be for them not to see in full colour. I do sometimes wonder what purple looks like since it appears identical to blue for me, but since i have always seen it that way there is nothing to mourn. Many colourblind people find these comments to be condescending.

A good place to start learning about colourblindness are color-blindness.com and their list of 50 facts about colourblindness. They also have a really cool Colourblindness simulator which lets you upload different images and see how they look with different kinds of colourblindness, which i would definitely recommend playing around with a bit.

Being aromantic isn't like being colourblind because you "have a narrower human experience 😢" or "you see the world in black and white 💔" or whatever but being aromantic is exactly like being colourblind because most people don't even know what it is and most people who think they do have the complete wrong idea. Because our society is not designed for people like us but no "allies" take our issues seriously. Because I'm still not even sure if people want us in their communities. Because whenever you tell someone you know you're going to be asked the same stupid questions. Because people in fandom love to use you as a cool quirk to add to characters without respecting what it actually means. Because my life would be marginally better if everyone spent just 5 minutes reading about it on google. But hey it's not all negative you also get a unique outlook on life and an appreciation for beauty outside the norm.

Signed, a colourblind aro

[oswlld]

OH PUEN, WE’RE REALLY IN IT NOW (or, an ask requested by @megacherik​ that I didn’t mean to turn into an almost 6K word count about the character, Puen)

BUCKLE UP! This post is split into two parts : 1) summarizing Puen as a standalone character and then 2) realllly diving into how these character moments are fleshed out in each episode

-

PART I - SUMMARY

Here are some takeaways about Puen as a standalone character; these conclusions are my own and some are supported under the cut, so please take these with a grain of salt (cries oh gawd there’s already pink)

ROMANTIC LEAD VS LOVE INTEREST

Romantic lead - main character in a romantic setting (main plot, other motivators drive towards romance)

Love interest - a character that the hero/main character is interested in (subplot, motivator to move the main story along)

And for the majority of the series, a lot of Puen’s onscreen presence, to me, functions more on the love interest side. HOWEVER, there’s still so many instances where his status as a romantic lead lead to understated character moments

WHAT IS IN A NAME

the narrative choice of never telling his name, calling himself/making others call him Tun for two years (and for us, ten weeks), weighs heavily when we hear “Puen” for the first time in ep 11

we feel the trauma at the same time as he does

i never took issue to the name drama and Talay has made it clear on numerous occasions it wasn’t important for him; having the audience wait ten weeks to hear it again was well executed

MOURNING? SOPHISTICATED? BLANK SLATE?

Talay’s wardrobe dialog carries the blue theme throughout his time in their universe, while Puen wore black/grayscale

we poke fun at those who default to black wardrobe, but how do I find meaning in this color palette choice that the production team assigned for Puen if it is an important characteristic for Talay/Blue?

so, is it because it’s one less thing to think about before going into work? is it painting a bigger picture about his character being orphaned? or is it simply saying nothing because we’re not supposed to know anything about him?

in a very quiet way, Tun’s wardrobe is the AU version of Puen; muted, neutral tones vs tess’/AU’s vibrancy paints, until we see Puen in red in so many occasions (which comes to a head when it comes to Real Red)

“TUN” vs PUEN

the balance between Up and Aou showcases the two sides of Puen - the person (silly) vs the actor (serious)

in a very understated way, it feels right that Talay also fits into Friend Credits and, by extension, falling in love with Puen, due to this dynamic

whether it was intentional that Jimmy moves differently or not, I have no choice but to pick up on the way Puen moves in the glass house scene, with the hand in his pocket, as if the suit/his wardrobe changes the way he carries himself vs when he was in Tun’s body and wearing casual clothes

“PEOPLE THINK I’M PERFECT”

Puen is naturally talented, picks things up quickly (good memory), which is an important skill to have for being a successful actor

reminds me of Lito a lot, having to learn new things for the job (ex: flair bartending)

we don’t see much evidence that would lead me to believe he’s a people pleaser or having insecurities to maintain perfectionism

thus, i think his professionalism, mixed with the loneliness, comes with the territory of never voicing his needs; other people assuming he could take care of himself gave himself permission to shut himself away at a young age

LOVE FROM A DISTANCE

we’re told that he remembers everything about Talay, but he has also been keeping tabs on Pang’s life while she’s been away in the other universe

it would make sense for a loner like Puen that he’d keep other people he cared about at arm's length; he’s very self-aware about being bad about love, so to what extent did he try and fail at retaining friendships in and outside of work?

in Lady Bird, there’s a scene where it’s pointed out that a piece of writing about Sacramento was written with so much affection and care; main character tells them she was just paying attention, but the other points out that “don’t you think maybe they are the same thing, love and attention?” the context for that scene in the movie and Puen as a character doesn’t translate thoroughly, but it does speak to how memory can play into his character without having flashbacks

i am going to just lean on the writers for creating a character that is very understanding and is the first to apologize and easily forgiving; without having moments to dispute this otherwise, this is a character trait he has, but not necessarily something he needed to work on i wonder if there’s a place in their og universe Puen disappears to when he’s struggling with something, that is unique to him (rather than using the same locations shown in the show so far)

HE’S A SELFLESS MAN WHO WANTS TO BE SELFISH FOR ONCE

his loneliness hasn’t hardened him or made him bitter, it has made him childlike in return

perpetually orphaned

reminds me of when heedo told her mom she was still thirteen; i think in many ways, he’s stuck there and it showed in moments when he wanted to be taken care of

there's something to be said about having the biggest angst/fight between them in midnight black be resolved in the love interest lens; meaning, the most important details about Puen’s life/motivations were vocalized through Up and Pang, in their respective scenes with Talay (instead of carrying out the turmoil through Puen, in the romantic lead lens)

we learn the full extent Puen is willing to fight to keep this life for himself, when Talay has previously fought so hard to ensure Puen’s return to their universe, and Puen wrestles with this selfish (and very understandable) revelation offscreen until we get to the island scene

after all this, is there something he learned from universal traveling? thinking back to the point i made about never voicing his needs - i think this was where growth happened, when he asked Talay if he could be that person to wake up to; that singular, pivotal moment of being vulnerable enough to ask someone to be their person???? no wonder it's the one scene he writes into a script ITS SO GENUINELY ROMANTIC

There is love in holding. And there is love in letting go. the Friend Credit subplot didn’t serve as a vehicle to motivate the portkey/universal travel plot forward; even less so for Puen’s ideal life with Pakorn’s parents, but the letting go of both was FKJLSKDJLSKDF inhales that…. it’s the grandest romantic gesture and greatest character moment for Puen as a romantic lead

his last act before leaving the universe was writing his name, letting go of the last thing he kept for himself; it being written in the earth of the universe that was his home, instead if it being spoken, is so LOUD

As we go into the last ep, the one character moment I am looking forward to seeing is how much of his life as Tun will be carried into his life as Puen. In the AU, being Tun was his way of being his most authentic Puen and now that he’s back in his own body, how does Puen change to carry Tun with him from this point forward? I do have points laid out below, when it comes to Puen’s return as an actor, but will we see further growth in establishing self worth? We shall see.

If this wasn’t long enough, I have broken down the character analysis further, by ep under the cut. It’s a marathon, so pls take breaks and stretch your legs when you can.

PART II - PUEN, THE CHARACTER THAT YOU ARE —

DISCLAIMER: I am utilizing much of my thoughts/explanations with context to later episodes, instead of what we learn about Puen within the timeframe/scope of the episode itself. In short, this is me breaking the character moments down with the information revealed later in the series.

OCEAN BLUE - 1a. Mainly showcases Puen through Talay’s POV, which gives love interest vibes alone. But what we did take away from his two brief scenes is how he interacts with his fans vs those he works with (well, there is no difference, he treats everyone with the same kindness and respect). We also know now that he keeps everything his fans gift him in his apartment, which speaks to how he cares for his fans; is there an element of sentimentality for him? Sidenote: he is tooootally the type of person that would have one thoughtful, nice interaction with a stranger and then think about that moment/person for at least a week 1b. Gawd, the professionalism of this man; you can sense how level-headed he can be in between takes. What is his rapport as an actor? We know him to be a superstar, enough to gain recognition to star in an international film and represent his country, but does the industry like him? Is he a pleasure to have on set?

FOREST GREEN - 2a. Puen’s entry into the other universe; how blessed we are to have a show give us THREE distinct events where PuenTalay meet each other again and again anew; instantly, Puen is surrounded by people, but i think the scene plays out beautifully; in that, while meeting Pang again later was special to him, Puen too felt that, in meeting Talay and Talay asserting himself as someone Puen can trust, the meeting was special to him too 2b. What’s this? a flashback that serves more as a Puen POV, rather than a Talay POV? there’s not much to take away from this short scene, but I wanted to establish a romantic lead POV shift, even if its only in a flashback scene; the rest of the episode exists with Puen in scenes with Talay and we don’t get a moment alone with Puen until the next episode

SOFT BLUSH!!! - I think the short, drunk narrative doesn’t need to have a moment in this post, but it stands to be said that it was a necessary send off to a version of Puen - we need to see Puen shift from how he deals with his previous life to learning how to exist in this universe. 3a. NOW, Pinky Promise™ reference, with the wooden hand model, was pointed out by others in the tag, so I won’t speak too much into it; but loooooook! a full scene of our romantic lead, fleshing out the history and future of Friend Credits; although the scene is most carried out through a flashback of a character we don’t see again until the end of ep 10, we understand what aspects of Pakorn Puen needs to contribute to the friend group and the type of friend he needs to be for Up and Aou; i wonder if he read further into Pakorn’s journals/studied them

3b. What is this?? ANOTHER solo scene of our ROMANTIC LEAD PUEN???? I love that the show gives us this moment: the beginnings of this friend group with Puen; it’s an important gesture (as opposed to how tess treated Talay’s friends), to truly want to make amends with Up and Aou; after this, we rarely see moments with just the three of them outside of Friend Credit shenanigans, but at least we had this 3c. A perfectly normal reaction to learning that Talay is single in your area.

DEEP MAGENTA, MY BELOVED! 4a. He’s SO perceptive about portkeys; “Hasn’t it occurred to you that the key to finding the portkey is love? […] What if to go back, you must fall in love with someone? What if it’s me?” - and it DOESN’T STOP - “I’ve been thinking about lots of things lately. About going home and about work. Everything is related to love. […] So I want to know a little more about love.” (the therapy bills are just piling up) That deep breath he takes, that pause, the way his hands hold together like that… PRECIOUS TO ME 4b - T: “Want to get married too, don’t you? P: “That’s normal, isn’t it? Of course, I think about it sometimes.” Interesting moment to contrast two character moments in that conversation; Talay thinking about the video presentation, saying he would like to color the video vs Puen thinking about his potential partner; also when Puen catches the bouquet vs Talay shielding himself from it (just like the RV scene when Puen points out that Talay shouldn’t just plan for the future alone)

side note: GUYSSSSSS, it didn’t occur to me until now that the music playing during the wedding video is the same as when they reunite in the glass house in the end of this ep AND in Talay’s fantasy reunion with Puen in ep 12 outside the building), APPALLED AND UNWELL

Jumping forward to the scene after the toss, when Talay reflects on their ongoing conversation about falling in love: P: “We can just fake it.” T: “No.” P: “Why not?” T: “Love isn’t something you can fake.” P: “Of course, we can. I faked it all the time when I was an actor.” T: “Then you fake it with someone else. Leave me out of it.” It’s an interesting take on having to artificially manufacture the elements required for both as inspiration for a screenplay and conjuring a portkey into existence. Do I believe there’s some hiding happening, in that he is using screenwriting as an excuse when Talay repeatedly turns him down? When Talay gets upset about the big spray paint display, there is a moment of hesitation. We know he was already falling, but this is a love interest moment. It’s creating friction for the Talay narrative. But if I switch over to Romantic Lead!Puen lens, I wonder if the moment after Talay says stop messing with me, he was going to confess something. However, Talay cuts him off.

4c. Let’s pause to take a 5 min break, you’ve already sat through likely 20+ min of my ramblings. Plus, let’s looks at one of Puen’s best looks as Tun… it’s a good look, lbr. Theyre all good looks - guys. shhh just look

4d. Anyways, at the end of the ep: P: “I just… wanted to know the feeling when I really love someone.” In hindsight, THIS REALLY HURTS YK??? He’s on his way there, albeit misguided. But how fascinating it is to point that out, diving into those emotions like an actor would in researching a role, except the lines are blurring. “But I want you to know that if it’s not you, I wouldn’t be able to work this well.” I am going to come back to this when we talk about ep 11. 4e. Now, that kiss… “There’s one more thing about the characters that I still don’t understand.” “Are you messing with me again?” “Not messing with you this time.” We jump to ep 5, the scene as a flashback continues with Puen confirming, “I kissed you because I felt like kissing you.” That’s mah BOY!!! Baby’s first real moment in acting on his feelings, not from his acting experience. Still misguided, in ways I can't express right now, but what a big step in his journey to learning more about love.

WINTER WHITE - 5a. the way I love a Bookstore Scene!! It’s such an understated character moment, when Talay is taking a genuine interest in Puen life. He’s not used to someone being curious about his likes/dislikes, especially coming from someone he really likes. We know the many future instances he turns Talay down in revealing something personal about his life, but ever the same, it’s so worthwhile to capture moments of unease/hesitation for Puen. VV showcases more of Talay’s journey in Puen rocking his foundation and keeping him on his toes, but we rarely see the many little ways Talay does the same for Puen. 5b. SOLEMN FACE!!! “The series crew got him a nickname.” GAWD, he - inhales This was him at least five years ago, around 18/19? “Because he always made a cold and solemn face on set.” IM SADDDD. As I mentioned before, I see him as someone who keeps an ear open to those he cares about, even if it’s not people he regularly keeps in touch with. By either osmosis or just seeking out news every once in a while, idk. Interesting thing to point out that he wants to give up acting while in the AU. In some ways, maybe he wanted to retain as much of Tun’s life as possible. But there is something to be said about staying away from a life he wasn’t happy in.

Before I move onto the next ep - “I’ll be the guy who lives with you.” MY GUY, RELAX! And then, when Talay is the one to hold his hand One (1) Time, Puen is just ready to move in together PFFFFT head in hands

5c. I know this is a post about Puen, but HI BABYYYYYY!!!!!! uhhhh PINK?????? FJSLDFKJSLKDF (btw this is a callout post to everyone who watched part 4 and made the most-played part of the video the preview for ep 6, where jimmy is shirtless with the shaving cream…. Valid, but STILL)

FIRE YELLOW - 6a. SOLEMN FACE RETURNS [crowd goes “awww :( “] Do I agree that it’s a good character take, that he prefers working anywhere with Talay over actually getting a job?? MMMMMMMMM idkkkk. 6b. “A life of doing things alone was not fun at all.” Now, THAT’s something. What a throwaway line that tells so much in so few words. Sure, he’s still shaken by Friend Credits disbanding, but he’s really trying to drive himself away from falling back into his old life: doing this alone. Yes, he now resides with Pakorn’s parents, but he’s really hoping to bring the group back together somehow over anything else.

We’ve all had our collective moments with Puen’s fantasy at the top of ep 6, so I won’t dwell into the specifics of the dialog, but it is a great character moment in how he paints Talay in his fantasy. From our initial reaction, not realizing it was a fantasy until we are brought back out of it, it was that blatent: he loves Talay exactly the way he is. Nothing about Talay felt out of character, which also extended to how their banter played out. Of course, there were moments that made the fantasy obvious, but it got the point across. Our boy is down BAD.

6c. Oh the paradigm shift in ep6 [2/4], you will always be famous - the first instance where Puen starts saying, “my dad’s…” Already laying the groundwork in the upcoming turmoil in wanting to stay. I speak more on this below when I dive more into Puen’s goodbye to Pakorn’s parents. 6d. I often wonder how long Puen has thought about writing that next screenplay about their lives. And I think a lot about the motivation behind it, bringing something so personal into existence. It’s not so different from what writers of all media do normally (which, wow that’s something to think about if Puen eventually steps away from acting to become a screenwriter full time; he’s already a natural at it)

6e. After learning that he truly fell since glass house, i think joob’s death really spooked him. perhaps even moreso that Talay, but we didn’t see it that way when the episode aired. the scene to me played out as a love interest scene at first, but it really is a good romantic lead moment. And then in ep 7, not telling Talay how he feels, while Talay is pushing him towards Pang???

SUNSET ORANGE - before we get started, let’s take another break. Rest your eyes for a minute, drink some water. But also, Scent kink? In my thai bl???

7a. Okay let’s continue - “HASN’T IT EVER OCCURRED TO YOU THAT I’M YOUR PORTKEY?” “IF YOU ARE, WE’D BE BACK BY NOW.” WHY ARE YOU TWO SO LOUD BUT SO STUPID 7b. “People think I’m perfect. I can take care of myself.” Having it be spoken so plainly, instead of show us evidence of this in more flashbacks (rather than seeing that through gyo’s/fans’ eyes… is something). “I’m just a man who can be weak and needs care.” That moment after Talay teases him about it, I COULD KISS IT. He’s taking the necessary baby steps in vulnerability and my son Talay is teasing him… SIGH “Not many see this side of me… You’re one of them.” Just how many people out there has he opened up to, outside of Pang? And how have these people come in and out of his life? Are they all from work?

7c. We now know what he wrote, I’M FINE BTW (lying). The next scene plays out in them having a moment to themselves and Puen steers the conversation to them, but never pressuring him to like him back. In a moment where he can act on his emotions, and Talay wants him to, his final thoughts are always Talay. His wish being the most selfless, unspoken thing… SEDATE ME. He doesn’t just write that he wishes Talay to fall in love with him, but the unspoken intention of giving a piece of his declaration the moment his wish comes true??? His wish isn’t to hear “I love you”, it’s to be able to say “I love you, too.” I am no longer fighting demons, I am sending them my therapy bills and they’re pissed.

7d. [Oh NOOOOOooo the bg music for their almost kiss scene is the same as their glass house reunion scene STAHP] 7e. Jimmy, the actor you are…

7f. Small side tangent, but I wish there were more moments of having the both of them start to pick up habits/mannerism in their scenes together, rather than have it always be recalled in flashbacks (ex: Pang’s scene about the Talay palette and then again in Puen’s flashback to learning about pantone with Talay) 7g. MY PATHETIC WET KITTEN - to me, it’s both an important character moment AND a important trait for a blorbo

Back in Aug, after ep 7 aired, I was discussing the progress of the show with beloved mutual @lulabo and she pointed out how “jimmy’s doing interesting work in that I still don’t know who Puen IS outside his relationship to Talay and so far that hasn’t gone anywhere. he’s SO enigmatic it should be a point of contention” and my response:

Currently, I feel the needle moving a bit since my last response. I still feel strongly about this, however there are several aspects of his work in the month without Talay that reveal his screenwriting and acting produced improvements in the eyes of his peers, due to his time with Friend Credits.

CLOUDY GRAY - 8a. I don’t really see him as a jealous type of person, esp having Mek really having no connection to Talay in their universe. Hmm… Was having one rejection too many really getting to him? Me thinks this was his first trial in this universe fighting to maintain a connection with someone and us witnessing something he has perhaps experienced in his previous life, with people falling out of his orbit. He just wants to be wanted and he’s so CLOSE. 8b. It would at least explain his expression when Talay finally confesses that he likes him. Something something to be chosen again and again. Some of us are single, gmmtv.

MIDNIGHT BLACK - so… that pillow scene

9a. That moment when he was eating by himself - my first real glimpse at a scene of him ALONE alone, perhaps his natural state back home. Did he feel more himself at this moment or did it feel strange? We don’t get many moments where we stay on him for a great length of time, just existing. It was a fleeting moment before we see the birthday scene play out, but i will cherish this small bubble of me meeting this side of him 9b. Their biggest fight, being Puen’s desire to stay, was written as a roadblock for Talay (and so to me, a love interest moment); it was still a character moment for Puen, since it transitions from his birthday scene into them talking about his birthday wish and at the end of the fight, the camera stays on him (instead of following Talay out)

9c. When he gives Talay a piggyback ride without explanation, I think this is when I also fell in love with the character; the show and the writers are finally giving him the depth I was seeking earlier in the series (since we don’t get flashbacks to their former life). If I loved it less, I would be able to talk about it more ;; 9d. I can’t believe up until now, Talay believed that their time together was going to stop once they return to their universe. My son, what.. huh lol do you not understand how down BAD Puen is for you??? SO I ALWAYS THOUGHT - I WANTED TO WAKE UP AND SEE THAT SOMEONE WAS WAITING FOR ME. CAN YOU BE THAT PERSON FOR ME? [………………………… user talaypuens flatlined for a few seconds but shes back] Okay soooooo anyways, that is a Scene. a Scene that doesn’t change the course of everything in this universe and their own. Nope. It’s not like it sets in motion their pinky promise to find each other… or that it improves Puen’s acting career in ways that not only received praise from those in his industry but a moment that Talay needed to hear from him and run back to him. It’s a completely normal, romantic lead scene.

9e. [INCOHERANT SOBBING] EXCUSE ME, DID YOU BUY THAT BEFORE OR AFTER THE PINKY PROMISE; seriously, i need to study his brain.. when the braincells work, they WORK. how did he connect the dots about the theme of an hourglass representing universal travel?? HOW??? Does he know this did psychological damage to my brain when it was explained as a flashback for Talay? PSYCHOLOGMICAL. DANAJ. 9f. We’ve already sang our praises how this reveal played out, but im giving it it’s moment here because i love the editing in the latter part of the series. They included more of Puen’s POV in their scenes together, giving us more glimpses into his thoughts/motivations that we didn’t get earlier on. Getting the screenshots of them in the bathroom… i was fighting demons,,,,, DEMONS

[WHY IS THIS POST SO LONG, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME…. let’s not unpack all that]

PINK - Mek really said get your gay fantasy out of my script fjlskdkfjsl;d Mek can have some rights but also...

10a. The maturity and speed in which Puen reconciles with saying goodbye to the life he loves. I think I seriously love him… I often think about how different this show could have been if the Pakorn family dynamic was the whole of it, in place of the Friend Credits subplot. Of course, we needed to keep the “improving their bodies’ lives” narrative, but as heavy as this scene was, it had potential to just SHATTER ME BEYOND REPAIR. It was more like a treat into a character moment for Puen, rather than a reward for the journey. Since we have sat with the revelation about Puen being orphaned for a short time, we have come to care for Puen long enough to be destroyed by the scene of him saying goodbye to his surrogate universe parents. To somewhat be able to leave them with a soft confirmation that even if he wasn’t Pakorn, they’d still love him, if not more. I SOBSSSS 10b. In the week leading up to ep 11, I fully thought that Puen dreamed and didn’t tell Talay. I also knew this would be so out of character for him, but I wanted to find some meaning for the last scene they had together and what the motivation was behind finally wanting to tell his name. It almost felt like the place they chose to camp at was his dream location and when the big reveal happened for the switch, it made me feel like he ran out of time before leaving. I mean, why else would he himself bring up the dialog “Though we aren’t together tomorrow, you’re always here in my memories” uh…. ow????? and you expect me to think he wasn’t saying goodbye to Talay?

oh gawd i need a moment before diving into Real Red, I - inhales take a moment to stretch your legs again while i have a mild breakdown, maybe do a few neck stretches?

REAL RED - 11a. I need to preface this by giving all of my love to those who made [1/4] all 25+ min of it a POWERHOUSE. The editing between both universes were perfectly balanced in pace, emotional weight, and dialog. There were moments left unspoken that just made my heart SING. I just - MWAH. And it all starts with Puen’s return to their universe and the scene that alone deserves at least 3 oscars for acting, directing, and best foreign language - short subject.

The very first night back in his apartment - I imagine that he didn’t get any sleep and mostly it might be due to missing Talay, but some part of me thinks about the idea of sleeping in a strange place and the difficulty of sleeping in a different bed; could he have felt the same sensation here, after feeling more at home in the other universe? did he ever feel like he was back to sleeping in his own bed?

11b. In my red color analysis post, I took a moment to mention the cubby in Puen’s apartment and how that speaks to his character. That prompted an ask, which created this Puen brick of an analysis post. [We have finally made our way, woo!] That is to say, knowing for weeks that Puen has no one in his life, no personal connections outside of work, speaks to the little corner of praise in his apartment. It’s not organized in any particular way and no item is displayed with more attention than the others. It just is and it’s in plain sight when he w- IS THAT AN ALPACA PLUSHIE??????????? He doesn’t have people over, so it doesn’t need to be hidden or tidy. He doesn’t (often?) throw any of it away, it just appears to accumulate. It is made even more poignant by the positioning of where the hat is on the shelf, just out of sight for two years. He appreciated the gift and placed it in the cubby where all the other love he receives goes and that was that. Good thing he has a really good memory, because that small moment, that token given by a fan’s best friend, that memory brought him home.

11c/11d. He’s done so much in a month, I wonder how much of what he claims to have done was also done by Pakorn. Does it really take less than a month to write, film, record, and premiere a movie? In that time, he’s done so much with Talay written all over it. He’s screenwriting, writing in a scene that he experienced with Talay, he’s singing a song that he learned from Talay, Talay, Talay, Talay. He’s outputting so much of their love into their universe, it’s only right that the universe screams it back. Remember back in my ep 4 pointers, when he said if it wasn’t Talay he would not have worked as well?? Look at how the universe is rewarding him for this love. The cherry on top is having Talay fight to get his life back on track, with it having nothing to do with his feelings or connection to Puen, and it brought them together nevertheless. Puen’s speech even didn’t have any motivation to reach Talay’s ears; he didn’t even think that Talay was there in the building, let alone in their universe. Puen does these things out of so much love, confident that they will be together again someday. I hope he’s also finding some moments of joy in the process. He deserves to get excited about doing all these things, instead of feeling trapped again.

11e/11f. I mentioned above about how the suit seems to change the way Jimmy plays up Puen the actor. Now, I don’t know Jimmy well enough to see if there’s a distinction between actor Puen and actor Jimmy, so I only see Puen. And here, I love seeing how he carries himself in front of Talay, still thinking it’s Tess. There’s something about how he presents himself in front of the face of someone he loves, but knows and acts like it's someone else. I mean, don’t we all act differently in front of different people? But this is Vice Versa, and we are here to witness the shift in Puen when he turns away, saying goodbye to Tess and then turning back around and seeing Talay in his home body. For the first time, AGAIN. HE CRIED, TALAY CRIED, I CRIED, WE ALL CRIED.

-

I am writing this on the eve of the finale. Who knows Crystal Clear will bring (besides tears because who am i kidding), but this undertaking into Puen as a character was the perfect send off for me. I have seen him, or a version of him, claim something that Puen at the beginning of the series would not have fought as hard to keep. He’s kept people away for so long, not knowing how to ask to be cared for. But I enjoyed seeing that development in seeking Talay out again and again in ep 11, going to Tess over and over. And when he finally stepped back, just letting it be and working until Talay would eventually reach out to him, that restraint too is growth. The confidence in their love… And in loving Talay, where that love will continue to carry into his work until Talay returns, it has already started to make waves in the industry. I am sure future projects will only further his fame and we know it will not change him. Because he’s Puen. I am so happy for him and I love him so dearly.

In conclusion, he’s baby.

[primalsouls]

checkup

albedo x m! reader

⚠️ : none but let me know!

theme: general

note: albedo albedo albedo albedo. i just love albedo and want to write something more general because usually the fics i read tend to be too fluff or too angst and sometimes other fics tend to feel like a super slow. like, im not trying to read an eassy. 💀 jkjk lol anyway, enjoy, hope you like it! and thank you for reading! let me know what you think. :)

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Dragonspine was never in their bucket list of places to visit. It was deadly cold. Monsters roamed around. Even the Fatui were presented. [Y/N] was surprised how he managed to reached the campus set out by the Chief Alchemist further up the mountain. One would think he would camp out with the group based at the bottom of the mountain. He was a skilled swordman and his vision kept him warm throughout the difficult journey as best as it could. He did broke a sweat when fighting a few monsters but all that was important was his destination. Thus meeting Albedo, the genius Kreideprinz. [Y/N] was new to the Knight of Favonius, started back a few weeks ago. Today he was ordered by the Acting Grand Master to assist the Captain of the Investigation Team in one of his experiments. Or alternatively, Jean worried about the alchemist not taking care of himself and potentially risking failed experiments turn to unwanted results in Dragonspine and Mondstadt.

It was his order to check on the man. But, by the Archons, does he had to camp this far up. [Y/N] groaned when he reached a broken bridge. How was he going to get to the other side? Ah, right. Gliding. With a good running start, he could jump just high enough and glide his way to the other half of the fallen bridge with no added injuries. A flawless plan.

Not.

A scream left his lips when he jumped as best as he could after his run. No wonder he did terrible at mathematics. His calculations were off. And now, he was going to pump down to his end. Just to check on some big-time, smart guy. [Y/N] should had decline. But he wanted to prove himself. For what now? Prove he can see the light firsthand? What a joke. He reached out, his hand inches away from the other broken part of the bridge. He was so focus on reaching something to grab on he didn't hear his own scream leave his mouth nor the abrupted tug on his hand held by another. He came to his senses when he smacked against the wall under the brigde harshly, letting out a groan. [Y/N] looked up. [E/C] eyes met bright teal eyes. Such beautiful eyes. It felt like he was staring into emerald instead. They outshined the blues around Dragonspine. Like sun if the clouds ever go away.

"Are you only going to keep staring or help me pull you up?" He heard, the soothe voice snapping [Y/N] out of their thoughts. A blush bloomed on his face as he cleared his throat, using his other hand to keep himself firm in their hold.

"S-Sorry..." [Y/N] mumbled as he was pulled up. Solid, cold ground was what he felt right away. He looked over his shoulder, grimacing at the sight of the long fall he could had experienced first and last. Cursing the fall away, the knight turned back to his savior, about to thank them until he stopped himself. Upon closer look, his savior was... handsome. Their ashy light blonde hair reached below their shoulders, pulled back in a braided ponytail. It lookes adorable. Soft, even. It makes him want to run his fingers through it. Realizing he was staring again, [Y/N] cleared his throat as he shook his head, his blush increasing in color. Eyes darted to stare at the ground instead. "Uh, thank yo-you... Thank you for saving me back there." The knight said with a small smile, looking back his savior only to see them walk away already. "What?" [Y/N] sat there forzen, not believing what happened. He chuckled weakly, now pissed for the rude manner. "Hey, wait up!" He stood up from the ground, dusting himself off from any snow as he ran up to catch up to the mystery person. "You know, it's really rude to jusf walk away like that!" [Y/N] complained, slowing down as he came up to a campsite. His eyes widen a bit. There were bookshelves lined up again the walls of the cavern. Tables filled with written pages and materials. A small set of art supplies in one area and an crafting table by his side. Did his savior lived here? Wait, was this...?

"Are you the Captain of the Investigation Team, Albedo?" The knight said, walking up to the alchemist who simply nodded with no reply. He was focused on his work, [Y/N] could see that. "Oh okay..." He muttered underneath his breath, raising a brow. Well, here he was. The alchemist looked alright. There was no sight of any failed experiments. Mondstadt was good to stay for another day. But [Y/N] wasn't leaving yet. "My name is [F/N]. I was ordered by the Acting Grand Master to check on you... Which is why I'm here..." Albedo only gave a faint hum. What a conversationalist. "Okaaay..." The young man looked around. He couldn't just leave after what he just experienced. He was still shaky.

"Where are you from?" [Y/N] asked, attempting to make a conversation.

"Here and there." Albedo replied bluntly.

"What do you do?"

"This and that."

"You ever-"

"Now and then."

"Gosh, you're just full of information." [Y/N] grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"And you're just full of interruptions." Albedo fired back, finally looking away from his work and turned to the knight. His expression was stoic but his beautiful emerald eyes held a hint of annoyance. His comment made the other man pouted and rolled his eyes. "You done your quest. Now, you may leave."

"What the-? Huh?" He couldn't believe it. He was being kicked out? Reasonable, actually. But still. What a rude alchemist. "Okay, look, I have to actually make sure you're okay and Jean said to stay for a few days before I return, anyway." [Y/N] explained. Albedo sighed softly, disinterested from the interaction. The knight clicked his tongue. "So, no, I'm not leaving." The knight huffed, head held high. Albedo hummed again, already looking back at his work. "Oh my- really?" [Y/N] shook his head, running a hand through his hair. He kept studying the area they were in, trying to locate any sort of self-care going on. There was a cook pot but the burned woods look as if it had went out hours ago. "How long had you been working?"

Albedo shrugged, papers being moved around in his area. [Y/N] sighed. He went to stand beside the table, inches away from him to not disturb his work. With the closeup, [Y/N] saw fainted dark circles under his eyes. He looked a little pale, too.

"Have you eaten at all? Rest?" He asked softly, a frown on his face. His gloved hands rest on his waist. [Y/N] looked like a parent scolding their child. Albedo shrugged again. The knight groaned, head tilted back. The lack of responses were starting to pissed him off. "I'll make you something." He grumbled, looking into his traveling bag as he walked over to the pot. Using his Pryo vision, he watched the flames come to alive once more. He pulled out pre-packaged ingredients he made himself before he set off.

Albedo's concentration was fully on his project but the smell of a delicious meal wandered around his nose. It pulled him out of his priority. The scent made his stomach growled. The Geo user stopped what he was doing and turned around. His eyes spotted the knight crouched down beside the pot, stirring around the contents it cooked. The flames illuminated the small cave, the knight's face glowed from it. Hair swayed back, half-lidded eyes stared boredly at the pot. Soft lips pressed into a thin line. It was a pretty sight. A perfect picture. A gorgeous paint on a canvas. His canvas. The scenery needed to be painted in his canvas.

[Y/N] heard movements behind him but he didn't bother to look up. He figured the alchemist was still all over his experiments. Behind his back, Albedo set up his easel, an 18x24 canvas rest nicely on it. His paints, brushes, and palette laid beside him on a stool with a cup of water on it as well. He began to sketch out the sight, a concentrated frown on his face.

"Hmm... I think it's done." [Y/N] muttered to himself, smiling a bit at the cooked stew he made. He was about to get up but a shout stopped him.

"Don't move! I'm not done yet." He heard the alchemist. The Pyro user blinked, confusion written over his face. "Not done..." Albedo continued, his hand moving a brush around. [Y/N] swallowed, wondering what he was doing.

"Why can't I move?" He asked, still in the position.

"Because I'm not finish."

"Finish with what?"

"The painting... It's not finished..." Albedo trailed off, focusing more on the canvas. [Y/N] was dumbfounded. Ah, right. The alchemist had a set of art supplies. But why could he be painting? Was he painting him? He was just sitting around the cook pot, nothing else. What did he capture in his mind to had the urge to paint? So much questions ran through his head and his face rest back to how it was when the knight stared at the pot. Just what Albedo needed to complete his new piece.

Half an hour passed and the flames were small. the pot was sat beside it. No need to have burnt food. [Y/N]'s legs were starting to cramp.

"Are you do-"

"Done." Albedo finished for him, stepping back from his canvas. [Y/N] sighed in relief as he stood up and stretched his limps out, hearing a few joints popped. Surely didn't sounded good but felt good. He walked over to Albedo.

"Can I see, please?" He asked, tilting his head. Albedo stared at the canvas before shifting his eyes over to the knight. He suddenly felt flustered. What a foreign feeling. It was he was embarrassed. He was not embarrassed. His face felt warmed. Was he blushing? What was going on? [Y/N] waited for an answer, raising a brow as he sent a charming smile his way. Why did such a gesture made his chest tightened but in a good way? Like something fluttered inside him. Was his heart beat increasing? Impossible. Feelings were unfamiliar to him. So, why was he experiencing them right now? "Albedo..." His name rolled out of his mouth. It sounded perfect. Did he just noticed it?

"It's not finished..." Albedo replied quickly, throwing [Y/N] off guard.

"But you said-"

"It's not finished." Albedo repeated, clearing his throat. The knight nodded slowly.

"Okaay..." [Y/N] mumbled, looking back at the pot. "Ah, well, dinner is ready. C'mon, let's eat." He said, walking back at the pot to begin serving the meal for both. Albedo watched him, lips parted slightly. His teal eyes moved back to the canvas. Finished. It was finished. He just... didn't want to show the knight but why? It was beautifully painted. A pretty piece. The look he captured from the knight painted there. Admirable.

"Are you coming or what?" [Y/N] called out, already setting the other table for them to eat at. Albedo blinked and nodded a second later. He placed his brush and palette down, taking his gloves off as he made his way over. There they sat. In complete silence. It wasn't awkward, fortunately. It was comfortable atmosphere. No need to exchange words. Albedo seem to like that. Perhaps Jean did a good thing to sent someone out. It felt nice to have company over for once.

[camprell-art]

Waaaah, I love this story so much, holy shit, thank you two for writing this.

I'm gonna reblog this in the art blog because I need this info in a place it'll be easy to find akfkajf

Breaking this because the post will be long af

I was talking about the Dimentio backstory implications 30 mins ago to my mom, (obviously she didn't understand anything) but after all the things I read here and all that I said to her, I think I might try harder to tell the story and theory I believe in. Like, it's so interesting, I LOVE how Bleck and Dimentio are very similar characters, even in design they look alike.

I particularly am a fan of how Nintendo made them composed of contrasts, Bleck has this dark blue skin but his clothes are very bright and he has both the red orange eye and the monocle, and how Dimentio is literally 2 faced, for every color meaning darkness he has one meaning light.

There are times that I think of why they made him a jester and it's hard for me to really speak about it without it sounding like a stretch skfkajf

But I'm pretty sure that the color choices are intentional because, let's be real, when we invert them, his color palette turns into Luigi's and that's just insane.

@mochilorddrakeinferno mentioned the Prognosticus controlling or corrupting people's minds AND (this being a thing that I believe in, because the Count literally speaks in third person) also makes me believe that the color choices might really represent the way Dimentio sees himself and is perceived by others.

He believes he's doing all of that for a greater good (if I'm not forgetting stuff), literally there's NO way he is doing all the murder and manipulation just for shits and giggles because we're talking about the end of EVERYTHING in the universe. By the way, there's also the one stupid thing he did that was the reason for why he failed, that was sending everyone to Dimension D, and man, idk why he did that because okay, "I'll kill you later" is a reason, but like, why don't do it now??????? It's almost as if he was actually trying to save them from doom because the only fucking place that the void wouldn't destroy was exactly his chroma key room. But again, this one is probably a stretch too.

And to finish this because I talked too much already, everyone knows how he is perceived by others, I wish we got to see more of the Bleck crew in terms of how they see each other, because we only know about O'Chunks thinking he's weird and L thinking he's a joke, so... Yeah.

I won't even talk about Mimi because really, she's a very difficult character to understand because she just can't decide if she wants to be a psychopath or a good person, which isn't really a bad thing because they do say that she probably doesn't even know how she originally looks like anymore, so not being sure of what she wants to be might be a good character trait. And talking about her, she's almost the whole reason why we get some casual interactions, like in the start where they're all bullying each other and that one part she's like "why the fuck are you singing so loud, stop that".

Also, one last thing, Castle Bleck could have been so good if we got to see it not as just some big puzzle with death traps, but, yknow, an actual Castle, with living rooms, and bedrooms, a kitchen, and etc. It pisses me off a little that we only get to know those characters more because of a bartender when we have the literal home of the dudes floating on the "void" which conveniently has a door in the tower of Flopside! And then you go back there and the only reason to do so is farming coins and xp. Like, what a lost opportunity. (and I know, the game was rushed but aaaaaaaa)

Anyways, as always I completely lost the meaning of the post and started talking about random things that were crossing my mind, so sorry for all the ramblings XD

I hope I said something useful here.

Blumiere and Dimentio are the same person and I’m tired of the plot trying to pretend theyre not.

Y’all I love this game and all but why were Mimi and Chunks not only still loyal to Blumiere but also said not one bad thing about him after finding out he was going to kill them despite the fact they were trying to help him this whole time and were the only mfs that cared about him- but Dimentio did the exact same thing and they hit him with a car

Like this is a genuine question I’ve been a fan for over a decade and I’m still like huh😭 about their logic. “We won’t let dimentio get away with this!” Or whatever she said- MIMI SWEETHEART BLECK DID THE EXACT SAME THING

Like if Bleck wanted to die whatever but it would’ve done so much for his character if he was like “hey the people who genuinely care for me and are trying to help me destroy everything and think they’re going to be spared? Huh! maybe I should actually spare them and create a new world for them but I still croak” unless he couldn’t create dimensions at all and was lying? But didn’t Dimentio do it with only the power of the chaos heart or am I stupid. So could Bleck have done it too? Idk maybe we could’ve had a scene where like “hey dimentio master of dimensions LOL I was kidding btw I cant do shit. Make a world for y’all whatever but I’m gonna die” and I’m pretty sure dimentio would’ve been like alright (lying, still wants a world just for him) but idk. Anyways Nintendo having Count Bleck still trying to kill his minions after everything they did for him really messed up his character and went against the writers intentions of trying to make Bleck a tragic villain but Dimentio purely evil and accidentally made them the EXACT SAME person and I just wish they could’ve handled it better because his arc could’ve been nearly perfect.

Not ONLYYY that, but he wanted to kill all worlds because he lost Timpani. Yet. There she is. Right there. And he KNOWS THAT. YET. HE KEEPS FIGHTING. KNOWING THAT IF HE WINS THE WOMAN HE WAS TRYING TO END LIFE FOR BECAUSE SHE DIED IS ALIVE AND HES JUST GOING TO ACTUALLY KILL HER. But then after they beat the shit out of him he says “kill me and stop the void- if you’re alive, it gives me peace” WHY DIDNT YOU SAY THAT THE SECOND SHE FLEW INTO THE ROOM. Maybe he was in a state of madness. But idk I’ve never seen anyone else talk about it

“But dappledpaintbrush, at least Bleck had the motivation of his one true love dying and Dimentio was just a bitch” *twitches finger back and forth while going AH, AH, AH, AH, AH* We have the very high possibility of Dimentio’s whole family fucking dying and his sister turning into like a demon according to Carson. So in game canon there is a POSSIBILITY (cause that story can be interpreted a lot of ways) that BOTH of them had tragic backstories that POSSIBLY was BOTH of their motivations to destroy all worlds. Yet Blumiere gets treated like a poor little meow meow by the characters and the clown doesn’t. Then again I don’t think the clown ever talked about it. Maybe it’s just my own experience, but I feel like the writing still tried to push the narrative that Bleck is less terrible than Dimentio.

And hey let’s say Dimentio is only a descendant of the Pixl Creator and he’s doing this for no reason other than for lols. Both of them STILL tried to destroy all worlds and only Bleck had a change of heart after Tippi returned… yet still tried to enable the Void after finding out she’s alive? Both of them lied to, betrayed, and tried to MURDER their ENTIRE TEAM. Earlier, I said “(the writers) trying to make Bleck a tragic villain but Dimentio purely evil and accidentally made them the EXACT SAME person” and this can go two ways- the first option, or making both of them tragic characters. If the writers genuinely thought this through and genuinely wanted us to pry into the lore to conclude Dimentio and Bleck are not that different, sending one to his dream world with his dream girl and the other to actual super mario hell doesn’t help their intention

And Blumiere is such an amazing concept for a character and he STILL IS, but wow the writers could’ve done so much more. Even a cutscene of him deciding the spare the minions could’ve meant SO MUCH and it really sucks nothing ever happened. With or without the “both had a tragic backstory” interpretation, there isn’t much that puts a clear line between Dimentio and Bleck’s characters. The game tries to make us think the line is there, but it really isn’t. At least not in my own interpretation of the writing. Idk lol. End of rant

[weallpartyatybcpatricksfuneral]

I'll be making this into a long fic, but for now I chose to keep it short. Hermitcraft x Dream SMP crossover

Title: button

Grian sat down at the oak wood table, brow furrowed. Another day, another failed attempt to reconnect to Hermitcraft. The strange glitch that had caused the border to fall in the first place must have been repaired, for the world border was back up and running. His communicator didn’t work outside of his home server, and Phil’s crows (who insisted on following the man everywhere, and who Phil had put up to the task of flying between the severs, trying to gather intel on the border glitch and if people were trying to find him) haven’t delivered any news. 

    The builder glanced out the window as the sun set over the horizon. Past that was Hermitcraft. His home. What was Mumbo doing? Scar? Iskall? Xisuma? How was the war progressing without him? Did anyone notice his absence? No, Grian, don’t get sad. Happy thoughts only...Happy thoughts. 

    “Grain!” 

    Torn away from his thoughts, Grian looked up to see Philza, his dark grey wings fluffed up in distress. “Wil’s sent a letter.” The avian said, holding up a piece of paper. 

    “Well, that’s good!” Phil had been under extreme stress these past couple of days since Wilbur hadn’t sent a letter in weeks and the past few he had sent were...concerning, to say the least. “What’s it say?” 

    Another letter should have been a relief, but from the look on Phil’s face, Grian concluded that this letter was everything except relief.

    “It’s just a date, time, and coordinates. November 16th, noon, with a set of coords in L’Manberg…” Phil’s voice trailed off as his dark emerald eyes scanned the page, over and over, as if he were looking for more writing than just a simple date. 

    “That’s tomorrow, innit?” Grian questioned, trying to distract the man from his distress. That’s how Grian ignored his. Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. “I mean, you’ll be able to see your sons, check up on Wil?” 

    “Something doesn’t feel right about this, Grain.” Even after all this time together, Phil still called him Grain. Grian stifled a laugh, as it wasn’t the appropriate time to giggle. “His last few letters concerned me. He mentioned something in his last one about 11 and a half stacks of TNT.” Phil looked Grian dead in the eye and whispered, “Grain, I think Wilbur is going to blow L’Manberg!” 

    “But why?” Grian attempted to rationalize with the distraught Phil, who was now pacing across the room making stressed-out bird noises. “He won the election, shouldn’t he be content with that?” This type of stuff never happened on Hermitcraft. There were never serious talks of blowing up anyone’s builds, much less an entire country! The only time TNT is used is in pranks, and they always helped clean up after. 

    “You clearly don’t know Wilbur...He’s a force of chaos, I’ll tell you that. A creative little shit who always comes up with new ways to get what he wants. If he wants L’Manberg gone, then he’ll go to crazy lengths to achieve that goal.”

    Silence fell. 

    “We need to get to L’Manberg. Now. It’s about a day’s flight from here, and we need to leave now if we want to get there as fast as fucking possible.” Phil tucked the letter into the pocket of his dark green kimono and flexed his wings. Unlike Grian, who used the sleek and slim elytra to fly about, Philza had a pair of actual feathery wings. Upon arrival, Phil explained that he was a bird hybrid, also known as an avian. He had feathers on the sides of his face and neck with elfish ears. Back on Hermitcraft, every member of the server was human. 

Grian and Phil started out on their journey north, towards the world border of Dream SMP. The sun had risen, and the world border was in sight. Phil stated that Dream, the apparent Admin of the server, had agreed to let up the border for a few seconds to let Phil and Grian inside. Phil took a rest on a tree, breathing heavily after hours of non-stop flight.  

“You alright, Big P?” If Phil could nickname him Grain, Grian would nickname him as well. A smile twinged across Phil’s face. 

“Ahh...You sound so much like my youngest, Tommy. He says that to people too. You remind me of him so much. Right down to your red shirt and the aura of pure, unbridled chaos you emit.” 

Both men laughed. Grian really enjoyed Phil’s laugh, and despite how giggly and giddy the avian usually was, it had been a few days since he had last heard him laugh. Wilbur’s lack of letters had really spooked him. 

“Will you stay?” 

“Hmm?” 

“In L’Manberg. I mean, it’s closer to your sons.” 

Phil shrugged and drank a potion of strength, and stood. 

“I might, depending on what happens. If my theory is correct, and Wilbur is going to blow the place up, then I’ll probably stay. Just to help him out and help clean up y’know? Maybe I’ll be able to convince him to come home. Before you got here, I was...really lonely.” 

“Well, you won’t be lonely anymore! Since I can’t return home yet, I’ll be your friend so you don’t have to be lonely!” 

“Thanks, Grain.” 

“You’re welcome, Big P!” 

The two rose and started to fly towards the world border. Maybe Grian could make a new home on Dream SMP. The builder already started making plans for an epic build, having a vague idea in his head. However, he would have to inspect the landscapes available to see what his block palette would be and what style his build would be. Grian thought of his mansion back home and wanted to build something similar to remember it. 

“Oi! Grain! You there mate?” 

Grian shook his head as he was, again, dragged from his daydreams by Phil. They had arrived at the world border. “I’ve sent word to Dream, he should be letting us in soon.” 

“Alrighty! What kind of base do you want to build if you stay?”

    Phil just shrugged. “Eh. Don’t know just yet. Don’t want to start anything too ambitious, like a Hardcore project.” 

Grian kept forgetting that this man held the world record for the longest Hardcore run. Phil was only 5”4 and didn’t look that intimidating. He looked loving and fatherly, and Grian considered Phil to be like a father to him. But the man was a dedicated Hardcore player, and could easily take Grian down in a fight. It scared him, sometimes, about how little he actually knew about Phil. 

“Alright, mate, let’s go.” The blue striped border had been removed by the mysterious admin, and the two flew into Dream SMP. Grian felt a buzz from his communicator and pulled it from his pocket. 

<Grian joined the game>  

<Ph1LzA joined the game> 

Unlike in Hermitcraft, when a member joins the server (especially a new member), the entire chat would be flooded with ‘hello!’ messages. However, on the Dream SMP, there were one or two directed at Phil. How peculiar. Phil went silent as they flew over the woods and forest. In the distance, Grian could see what appeared to be a city. That must be L’Manberg. It wasn’t as big or as grand as some builds on Hermitcraft, heck his own base would have taken up over half of the area if he lived there. On a tall pole lay what Grian assumed was the flag of L’Manberg, inky black, with a fiery red arch and X. Interesting design. Phil didn’t go into the city, however, he flew towards the coordinates that Wilbur had written in his letter, his brow furrowed. Fireworks crackled and popped throughout L’Manberg. 

Grian landed with Phil, in front of a small tunnel that bore deep into a hill that was just outside the country. 

“It’s now or never. Grain, stay behind me.” Phil tucked the letter away and led Grian through the tunnel, and into a compact stone room. Carved into the wall were words. No, not just words. Lyrics. 

I heard there was a special place, 

where men could go and emancipate. 

From the brutality and tyranny of their rulers. 

Well, this place was real, you needn’t fret, 

With Wilbur, Tommy, Tubbo, fuck Eret. 

It’s a very big place, not blown up L’Manberg. 

MY L’MANBERG

MY L’MANBERG

MY L’MANBERG…

Those lyrics were carved all over the stone walls, and in the middle, was a stone button. In front of that button, was Philza’s eldest son, Wilbur. 

Grian had never actually seen Wilbur before, only in an old picture of when Phil, Wilbur, and Phil’s other two sons, Tommy and Technoblade, won MCC 4. In that picture, Wilbur wore a cute yellow sweater with a brown beanie, with a shimmering smile on his face. 

The man that stood before them now was not that person. It couldn’t be. Wilbur stood, hunched over a stone button, whispering to himself. He donned a brown trenchcoat and ditched the beanie. 

“What are you doing?” Phil asked.

Wilbur turned to face them. His eyes had no emotion in them, his smile no longer shimmered. Standing before them was an insane man. 

“I will admit,” Wilbur said. His voice sent a chill down Grian’s spine, “Do you know what this is? What this button is?” Phil’s speculations appeared to be true. Wilbur was trying to destroy L’Manberg. 

“Uh huh. I do.” How, how could Phil be so calm? 

“Have you heard the song? The song on the walls?” Wilbur’s fingers gently ran over the words ‘MY L’MANBERG’. His eye twitched, “I was just making a big point you know? About how there was a special place, it was a special place. But that's not there anymore.” Wil’s voice lowered to a hush. 

“It is there, Wil, it's out there.” 

“PHIL I’M ALWAYS SO CLOSE TO PRESSING THIS BUTTON! I’VE BEEN HERE LIKE SEVEN OR EIGHT TIMES--” Voices from above cut Wilbur off. Grian could hear footsteps above them. Wilbur turned his eyes to the stone ceiling and lowered his voice. “Oh they're going to come…I need to block this off.” Wilbur hastily piled blackstone bricks in the doorway, which not only sealed whoever “they” were out, but also sealed Grian, Phil, and Wilbur in.

“Oh Phil...I’ve been here so many times.” 

Numerous fireworks exploded outside. 

<Tubbo_ went off with a bang due to a firework fired from [Rocket Launcher] by Technoblade> 

“Oh they’re fighting, they’re fighting…” WIlbur whispered, sounding tired. 

“And you just want to...to blow it all up? You fought so hard for this land, Wilbur, and you just want to...destroy it all?” Phil tried to reason.

“I don’t even know if the button works anymore, Phil, I could press it, and it might--”

“Do you want to risk it? There is a lot of TNT potentially connected to that button.” 

Wilbur seemed to hear him. His breathing got heavier as he returned to that hunched over position over the stone button. What was this place? Nothing serious ever happened on Hermitcraft. There were no seriously high stakes, there were no serious threats, no serious danger. It was all in good fun. 

“There...there was a saying, Phil...by, uh, by a traitor. Once part of L’Manberg, don’t know if you ever heard of Eret, but he had a saying.” 

Wilbur looked up at Phil. Grian could see the familiar resemblance between the two, they shared emerald green eyes. 

“It was never meant to be.” Wilbur whispered that phrase, and pressed the stone button. 

[just-honey-dewd]

Miraculous Ladybug Season 5: Episode 1 Tangent

So I felt a strong urge to get this out of my system. Usually most ML episodes just feel like noise to me. I’m not usually compelled to write whole posts about them, so this could just be a fluke. Heads up, these will be spoilers for this episode, and they’re mostly negative. Oh, and it’s long…

For whatever stakes Season 4 supposedly set up, I’m not surprised the very first episode required the contrived intelligence deprivation of all the characters involved.

For starters, of course Gabriel didn’t use the Rabbit miraculous with a given plan, he was already obsessively giggling about getting the jump on Ladybug and aimlessly targetting their miraculouses even though time travel is hella OP and we coulda seen an attempt at using one of the most dangerous miraculous in place of making a sacrificial wish.

Oh yeah, speaking of sacrificial wish, unless eng subs are failing, Sass outright states it as a life sacrifice. Nothing abstract like “emotional value” the recipient may hold towards an object, personality, or memories. It’s a life for a life. Not as cool or nuanced as Equivalent Exchange, but was there any expectation for that…?

Anyways, had to watch 22 minutes of the grand equivalent of a Scooby Doo chase sequence across doors and hallways. And the heroes had so many opportunities to get the other miraculous — specifically crucial that they should’ve prioritised the Rabbit and Dragon miraculouses, since Gabriel pulled Air Dragon on them twice. There were several instances where he was tied up and the heroes just circle him and talk.

I feel like with the early seasons, Ladybug and Chat Noir were a lot more effective at acting without needing to exchange any dialogue. Like the way they were able to speedrun the mini villains back in Kung Food.  Also every instance Ladybug didn’t just use her yo-yo to pull the staggering, wheezing Gabriel back to them was secondhand cringe.

It’s really impressive how obnoxiously close everyone was to each other, yet everyone seemed to be in no hurry. If the heroes wanted to end Hawkmoth once and for all, I really feel like Ladybug could’ve gone harder and taken back all the miraculouses that Gabriel (who is now full on autopilot mode) fuckin wore on his person.

Also the new hero designs were atrocious, I’m sorry. You’d think Rabbit and Cat miraculous could look good, but that’d require creativity and/or decent attempts at creating colour palettes unique to the individual. But we’re stuck with light blue being the main colour influence to anyone who uses the Rabbit miraculous, as with all other miraculouses. So uglyass neon cyan with black, cuz everyone knows neon goes great with black. Not to mention the terrible looking bunny ears, but I’ll try and pull back from that. The bunny and dog combined didn’t even try to incoorporate the look of the dog it’s hilarious. Why is everyone who wears the dog fated to either look bad, or lame?

Gabriel for the majority of this episode is so infuriating, there’s no nuance to him since… season 1 maybe? But then again, his dignity was already put in question all the way back in Simon Says. Uptight, arrogant headass got himself almost committing suicide, yet the old man never learns.

Gabriel could’ve done something with that drive, and whatever it was, would’ve been more significant to the viewers if we were… idk… introduced to what the drive was??? I couldn’t give two shits about what it could’ve meant. I knew he wasn’t even questioning it, he was gonna go straight for Ladybug and Chat Noir even when going after them is the equivalent of throwing your head into a brick wall the umpteenth time and expecting different. He deserves no salvation. He chose to continue fighting a losing battle of wits with teenagers, over the potential higher chance of salvation for his wife, and Nathalie.

I’m glad Nathalie berated and basically abandoned him at the end, his path is not even an effectively evil one. It’s incompetent, hard-headed, and unsympathetic. He’s a sad dumb little manchild. He isn’t even fun to root for cuz he can’t outsmart or think critically for shit. Ladybug and Chat Noir aren’t doing any better in that department honestly.

Man, the moment Felix walked Gabriel through to an advantageous point, Gabriel tripped down a flight of stairs, and just kept tripping harder. The season finale was a “I’m ready to give everything I’ve got for this mission. I will risk it all” and Evolution being the byproduct of that, and he’s now just “Well, I didn’t think past this point. What now?”

He’s as directionless as a headless chicken. Felix please come back, the story can’t progress with the sluggish rate of the main characters… You need to wheelchair Old man Gabe into his own victory again.

[ignitification]

LoV Colour Analysis Part I: Shigaraki Tomura.

As this analysis would be quite too long to read in one go, I decided to split it into three parts, each covering one of the Three Main Villains of BNHA (Shigaraki Tomura, Himiko Toga and Dabi).

All three do denote a precise and powerful colour scheme, but on today’s episode I am going to focus on the Leader of the League of Villains aka Shigaraki Tomura or Shimura Tenko.

Shigaraki’s colour pattern variates from Red (shoes and eyes), Black (his usual outfits, his hair when younger) to Light Blue, Grey and White (colour of his hair, skin and hands).

The interesting fact is how Shimura’s colour evolve with his persona and Quirk. The third paragraph is dedicated to the colour Yellow, which is not part of the palette associated with Tenko, but I included it because it adds to the detailing of Shigaraki’s character.

(Spoilers ahead! & tw/: mentions of canon-compliant violence; death)

I.) From Black to Light Blue to White 

During his growth, evolution as a villain and person, not considering the one spurred from his Quirk, Tenko’s hair undergo a quite big development. While the colour of his clothes stays more or less stable (being black throughout the entire series), what differentiates his eras is the colour of his hair. In his childhood, before manifesting his Quirk, Tomura’s hair was dark (strikingly similar to the one both Touya and Izuku sported). This changed to light blue/grey in his years until last arc, where after being himself an experiment under the hands of Doctor Death (Kyudai Garaki is a very creepy man) to inherit the original AfO’s Quirk, his hair becomes snow white (as a result of the transformation, I would believe - but it might as well mean another thing which I will talk about later). 

Beginning with maybe the easiest association: the colour black. 

A little note of the fear association: in this case, I would like to interpret it as Shigaraki being aware of his decaying Quirk and freak people out because of that, and because of his external looks, which do look like the one of a decaying child.

Power refers definitely to both his position and his Quirk, in this case - which make him stand out even more. However, the strength in this case, in my opinion, is more a smoke screen: black is also worn as a protection from external damage, as in stress and emotional backlash. This creates a barrier between the subject and the world, protecting internal emotions, and hiding its vulnerabilities, insecurities and lack of self confidence. The emotional trauma, the ‘hands shield’ Shigaraki derived, in a way, from his trauma and from being confronted with something, has shaken him to the core since childhood, and in this case the clothes serve to protect him from himself and his ‘actions’. In this aspect, him wearing black as a child might also stand for him trying to shield himself away from his parent’s judgement and stare, while protecting his will to want to be a hero, despite their negative reaction to any hint of that. These meaning are, in conclusion a full circle: one calls for the other, especially in Shigaraki’s case.

Black is also associated with mystery, evil and aggression. Shigaraki is written as an enigmatic villain, cold-hearted, devoid of any humanity and the will to full front destroy everything in its path. And while the meaning perfectly fit to how Shigaraki should be, I do believe that this is a very superficial and banal description of such a complex character. 

One thing which I found particularly interesting about this colour and its relation to Shigaraki, it’s the rocky tie that appears between black and its meaning as in rebellion. This aspect might refer to two different conditions: it might suppose a certain degree of refusal and hate for authority (The society at large), and at the same time the rebellion from his own family/persona/mentor, which could entail a fundamental foreshadow for Tenko’s destiny.

The color black affects the mind and body by producing feelings of emptiness, gloom, or sadness.

 I think here again, this might just an extermination of the feeling that have been torturing Shigaraki from the inside since he was a child, and that he himself has not acknowledged, which also stands to explain how he tries to feel that void or to ‘eliminate the scratch’ that has been tormenting him, and that knows no peace.

Furthermore, In Japanese culture, the colour black mainly denotes non-being (apart from mourning) and evil-heartedness in a person. This meaning is consistent with the personality described to us by Horikoshi: Shigaraki Tomura ceases to be a person at one point, when his consciousness gets subdued by AfO for a while. It is important to note here, how White (on the other side of the spectrum) is also the colour of death and mourning.

Not entirely worth mentioning, is that black is the stereotypical colour worn by villains and bad guys in different fictional environments.

(Light) Blue/Grey.

Just a reminder: neither grey nor blue are explicit colour in Tenko’s palette as a character, but I think they are still important and since greyish blue (the precise colour oh his hair) has not its own meaning, I took the freedom to actually associate the two separate colour in association to describe this period of transition between black and white.

The phase in which Tomura has Greyish-Blue hair is the longest one (in terms of years), but also the phase of passage (which consequently is the phase he is exploring, and is in the ‘grey zone’, where things are just getting defined and there are no absolutes). Grey, in this sense, sports both characteristics from White and Black (depending on the shade used), and even if not explicitly used for Tenko, it still represents a landmine in his development.

The colour grey is an ‘unemotional’ colour. It is detached, neutral, impartial and indecisive - all traits that can be reconnected at Shigaraki. Indeed, it is after his encounter with Izuku at the mall where he recognises why exactly (or so he thinks) he rages and wants to bring destruction to the world as known. This indicates how he has been striving for a real purpose, like the one Stain has, in order to actually understand what he is doing and evolve from the child the Heroes define him as, to a Villain with the capital V. He does relate to reality in partial ways, while he tries to define his identity as something that has died inside of him, Shimura Tenko, and at the same time the part that has lived on through the memories he removed and the hands which accompany him. He does not know which part is stronger, and trying to figure it out he tries and fails, only to try again.  To confirm the shaping of Shigaraki, indeed grey is a conforming colour and most of all it struggles with identity, which is arguably the most prominent trait Shigaraki presents during the first arcs of the story.

On the other hand, Blue symbolises coolness, passivity, fidelity. Somehow it reverberates the meaning of grey, while at the same time enhancing its other effects (it being emotionless and calm, undecided but also flowing). Blue is also indicator of depth, wisdom, confidence, and intelligence (among others). This also confirms the precedent meanings (of especially white) and it adds another dimension to Tenko’s character. It is clear how he feels deeply, and is still very clever in its own way. Still, this development and phase serves for him to obtain the other characteristics proposed by blue, especially wisdom and confidence (refer to Black where I said how sometimes the clothes are a screen to hide his true feelings). 

Blue is a colour that’s constant and unchanging, which contrasts with grey and brings forwconstant struggle in Tenko. Blue is also nostalgic. Curious is how blue lives in the past, relating everything in the present and the future to experiences in the past. I think that this is what blue is about with Tenko: he struggles to look forward, to forgive and let go because he never forgot his dad, his grandma or even society for when they had brought upon him as an innocent child. His bringing up has been focused, after all, on his developing his constant feeling of sadness, rage and gloom and the necessary power to express them in confident ways, which could bring destruction forward. Tenko is a puppet in AfO’s hands since he has ‘saved’ him, so I think this is why the sentence in which Shigaraki tries to break free from AfO’s will is a break point for the story, and for Shigaraki as well. 

Blue is also known for being deceitful and spiteful, depressed and sad, passive, self-righteous, emotionally unstable, weak, unforgiving. It can also indicate manipulation, unfaithfulness and being untrustworthy.

Indeed, it is after that Izuku sees Tenko being kneeled over by AfO and his presence that he understands that Shigaraki too, is human and that maybe the reasons for his rage and absolute hate for everything he comes across have deep roots, which is why even if he cannot forgive him for all the pain he has brought, he wants to save him.  

Finally, the paler the blue the more freedom we feel - which brings me to my theory on what, throughout the years Tenko’s hair have been ‘decaying’ and bleaching out. I think that as a child, Tenko is caged and tries to break free of his cage, of his ‘itch’ but he cannot because he does not realise what it is, and there is no freedom for him to actually understand. The first time he uses his Quirk, he feels finally satisfied for the first time. He tasted freedom for the first time, and now he wants to do it again and again. Growing up, however his ideals become blurry and he does not understand what he actually wants. He does know that the hands on his body represent what he has lost and what is actually still there with him, giving him strength and will, but at the same time he does not know what is beyond there. Which is why, after he goes through the transformation by Garaki, his hair becomes white: he gets rid of the insecurities, of the shackles that have stopped him from actually achieving his goal, or rather to pursue it freely. His ultimate goal, after all, is to get rid of his ‘itch’, which, in its own way, it’s his language to say that Shimura Tenko wants freedom.

As a note, Blue is also the colour of the Throat chakra. It is located in the throat, but it is linked to the throat, neck, hands, and arms. This Chakra is linked to speech. 

Final remark on blue: this colour is one of the most important lucky colors in Japan ( together with yellow, white, purple, green and, red) - and all the colour associated with Tomura, except for black, is indeed considered lucky.

White 

White, is an inherently positive colour, is usually associated with purity, innocence, light, goodness, beginnings, possibility and perfection. However it is also described an dperceived as cold, impersonal and bland. Shigaraki after his ‘transformation’ is the perfect soldier: he is very powerful, to a fault, and represents a new chapter in not only his own life but as well in the one which has been conducted by AfO, as he sees him as his vessel. The fact is that the beginning of a new Shigaraki which is flawless, in appearance, is a very well constructed lie. While he should represent perfection, first of all his transformation has not been entirely completed and furthermore, while it does represent a clean slate in his check, is also the possibility, reality coming through for AfO to take advantage of the body new, which Tomura must preserve. As the new Shigaraki however, has his ideals very present and wants to fight for them, to protect his feelings and his ideas, it is anyway a struggle for both him and AfO to juggle through everything going on Tenko’s mind, and emerge victorious. This is also the most interesting aspect of this colour: the goodness and inherent purity which comes from this colour implies a purification process in Shigaraki’s character, who instead gets fixed even more on him not wanting to forgive society and insisting on going on his rampage, because at the same time he cannot let go of these feelings, because now they are the only thing which make him go forward.

White is usually used in contrast to black, and represents the dichotomy of good and bad.

The psychological meaning of white is wholeness and completion. This also refers to the meaning and falls into the category of ‘perfection’: it is a new beginning, but at the same time it represents the closure of a cycle and the beginning of a new one: a perfect one, which represents closure (‘The Circle’). Tomura is supposed to be the new complete weapon at AfO’s will, but as I states before this is a fought point (between the two of them).

White, in cultures that believe in reincarnation is held in high regard. Indeed, they sustain how white is a sign of rebirth. 

Technically, Shigaraki has been reborn. What I mean is that he has transformed himself into not a new person, but in a better version of himself, he upgraded - and now of course going back is not an option. He has been held in a womb, breeding his new potential and now he became an individual whose strength far surpasses normal, his quirk control is absolutely insane and as well his memories, ideas and feelings are heightened. The theme of rebirth, which I think fits both Shigaraki and Dabi, is used a few times in BNHA, but as for Shigaraki it is very literal and very clear (after all he has been asleep for a time, just to wake up and fight an entire war against the Heroes). It is clear however, how his personality has been rebirth too: while he was not insecure, but more hesitant, now he is sure of his objective and he thrives on achieving it. What distinguishes therefore the old Shigaraki from this new one is the knowledge of being powerful and therefore being able to accomplish what we wants.

Finally, white inherently denotes death and mourning too in the Japanese culture, as well as black. Here, we are mourning the old Shigaraki, and the loss of the traits that instead made him a little bit more human, and a little less like God himself.

II.) From Red Eyes to Red Shoes (in association with both Izuku and Katsuki) 

I already talked about the colour red in regard to Izuku here, but if we take the same meaning and apply it to Tomura instead, we get a different picture. It is no mystery how Izuku and Tenko are foils for each other, and that they resemble each other in different ways (starting from them sporting red shoes, to their characters, being ‘accepted’ and trained by a mentor, and so on).

Red is the colour of extremes. It appears clear how Izuku and Tenko represent the opposite extremes: where Izuku is enamoured of heroes and idolised them to an unhealthy point, even though he comes from a background where he has been discriminated by that same society because he was different, Tenko is disillusioned with the society they live in. He wants to destroy to the ground, because he cannot find it in himself to forgive anyone who could and did not extend him a hand when he needed it. At the same time, both Izuku and Tenko believe that to a certain extent what they had done has been ‘deserved’, and are not entirely focused on their own well being. 

Red is also an attention-bringer. As I already noticed for Izuku, it is very curious how both wear red shoes, as a way to try and separate themselves from the rest, trying to escape the opinions of other which have labelled them in a way, and of course at the same time trying to take control and wanting to be the best in their own ways (hero or villain, that is).  

Red is also the colour of blood, of rage, anger as well as desire, leadership and strength. I want to make a point which I do not know whether is important or not, however, a fact that struck me hard is how Shigaraki’s irises are very very small, and it somehow seems that he tries to compensate the little quantity of red of Shigaraki with wearing red shoes. This might be an indicator how Shigaraki strives to achieve these qualities, but at the same time he needs to put a lot of effort in it, and furthermore it somehow feels different from when we compare it to Izuku: even if both are charismatic leaders, Shigaraki is very dispassionate about it, while Izuku frequently denies how his influence might be fundamental when it comes to other people (Katsuki, All Might, 1A). However, Shigaraki does reflect in his personality, the venous desire to be angry, aggressive and destructive as it what his power entails, and after all what has been taught to him. I noticed as well a post (which unfortunately I cannot find) where it says that Shigaraki has a very high tolerance pain (again, the parallels with Izuku are insane), which also reconnects somehow to the colour red as we saw how Shigaraki himself even if tired (LoV vs Machia/LF) or absolutely bloody and at the brink of death is instead held up by his will to destroy (Shigaraki vs Heroes).

It relates to danger, power, determination and action. Well, Shigaraki and danger go to hand in hand as well as determination and action. After all, Shigaraki’s Modus Operandi is Trial and Error, which means he is not afraid to be wrong and to try things out, even if he is stubborn and ways things to go his way, every time (when that rarely happens in general). 

Red is indeed determined, powerful, impulsive and aggressive. It is also tied to self-preservation. Although true for the most part, the self-preservation is still a massive blank point. 

He is bloody, and even AfO is telling him to rest and preserve his energies (even if here, my counter argument would be that it would be easier for him to overtake Shigaraki’s body if he is weaker, so I do not know how reliable this is).

The color red in Japanese culture denotes strength, passion, self sacrifice and blood. It Also stands for good luck and happiness. Which is still very amusing to me, as Shigaraki feels like the farthest character away from achieving happiness, and his passions and strives are all useless unless he gets rid of his master puppeteer. However, Shigaraki embodies the self-sacrificing spirit. Even if it might sound strange, and he is not very willing to be himself in the front lines (at least not always), he does approach ReDestro himself and takes him on, while leaving the League to deal with the rest.

III.) Yellow

Surprise, surprise! Yellow, in the Japanese culture stands for Courage, while usually the Western culture associates it with Cowardice. It is a funny thing that it also stands for betrayal, sickness, egoism and madness on the negative side, however it is rather a holy colour, usually associated with deities on the other side.

Since I am not going to include yellow in the association paragraph, it is not a case that black reacts badly to yellow, and forms a very unpleasant colour, which means that the circumstances which follow either do not mix well together. However, it is also true how the most resonant contrast between yellow and another colour is given by black. 

Plus yellow is the colour of the Solar Plexus Chakra and it is the symbol of vitality and will. All these elements, however present in a very limited amount in regard to Tenko, are telling of the aspect of authority (reconfirmed and amplified by black) and somehow, the lack of bright colours of Tenko makes the little yellow details resonating of a sad picture, as it embodies more the negative sides (egoism, sickness - and in part sickness). 

Colours in Association.

Black used in contrast–particularly with white or yellow–does create energy (especially the contrast on shapes and just power that the image of waken up Shigaraki creates in the last arc is enough to send this message). It is as well true that black when used in opposition with white, symbolises the eternal struggle between day and night, good and evil, and right and wrong - a thing that for Shigaraki is somehow a metaphor and a literal representation of himself as a character. A perfect example would be the struggle he has with AfO for his body, where he struggles between his internal feelings and dreams and instead the evil will imposed by him by AfO, as well as in terms of consciousness where him being present and conscious is the day, while being subdued to AfO’s will in the Night.

Black usually represent the end, but the end always implies a new beginning. So when the light appears, and black transcends to white, it instead the colour of new beginnings. I already talked about how rebirth theme and the new beginning on new ideals and dreams is represented for Tenko by the colour white, however it is interesting also to note how his change in personality brings him from his childhood dream to being thankful to AfO who raised to him, but wanting to be even greater than AfO himself,- metaphor for Tomura’s life as being free from shackles of reality.

Bluish-Grey is also defined as ‘livid’, an adjective used to describe anger or decoloration of the skin (caused by bruising). This colour gives a sense of detachment - which also goes to review the colour grey and blue, in them being interpreted together as an entity, and how Tomura feels a detachment from his own memories, and past life, as well as his future (When Did We Ever Need A Future?) and instead seek meaning in everything that surrounds him. 

Red and white are prominent traditional colours in Japan. Both colours are used in decorations at events which represent happiness and joy.

On a non serious note, Shigaraki’s date of birth is 4th of April, and casually the colours associated with April are Burgundy (deep red) and White (according to the Japanese etiquette). 

And finally last remark for this post: it is very funny how Shigaraki’s palette is somehow almost the same as Bakugou’s (with the exception of green - which I would like to interpret as if Bakugou did not have Midoriya as his side, he could have ended in a far worse position, with no hope and no one to compare to).

Thank you for reading.