#not quite matching the tone but also not jarring

[rivilu]

Ok so I like this game

[gagaewo]

BIG FLIRT | BIG JERK ♡´･ᴗ･`♡

Synopsis: 𝑱𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒎𝒆𝒙𝒚 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒚𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒖 𝑮𝒐𝒋𝒐 ( ˘ ³˘)♥︎

cw: AFAB in mind, crack, fluff fluff fluff, suggestiveness, teasing, pet names (babe, baby, cutie), he can be a jerk when he wants to be, drug use (Mary Jane only once), masturbation (m), virginity loss, p in the v (wrap it before u tap it), squirting mention, oral sex (f), aftercare always a must!

wc: 1.9k

a\n: I'm supposed to finish choso x bimbo!reader, but instead I got side track and decided to write this to boost my brain up ^^. I'm very rusty so I apologize if it's not good, I HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOY :D!

inspiration: big flirt by lil hero

MINORS & AGELESS BLOGS DNI!

❀𝑺𝑭𝑾❀

Boyfriend!Satoru - is infatuated in everything about you; and when he means everything, he means everything! Heart-shaped eyes seeing you, however, state you're in. He's obsessed with the way you smell, look, feel, and taste. Makes sure you know you're the most beautiful thing his six-eyes laid on.

Boyfriend!Satoru - who enjoys seeing you become flustered when he gives you surprise kisses on your face. He'd grab you by your waist, shoulders, hands, neck (his favorite part to wrap his hands around), and give you a sweet 'smack'!The way you shy your face away afterward always boosts his ego just a little.

Boyfriend!Satoru - who's on top of you when you wake up most mornings. His body weight crushes you in, so you can't escape :P. Other times, he's behind you; muscular arms wrapped around your mid-section tightly, breath tickling your ear when he lets out soft snores. Snuggled in so nicely he never ever wants to leave, and gets whiny when you do try to leave his grasp.

Boyfriend!Satoru - Buys you an expensive gift anytime you accomplish a big goal! Got a raise at your current job? Congratulations he just bought you a fucking Lamborghini. Didn't like the model? Oh, it's okay he'll just buy you another Lambo, but the newest model (the one that's not even out yet), you quite literally can not deny such a gift either. It's not just cars he'll get you. No- it depends on the last thing you look at on shopping sites, and he'll immediately buy everything in your wishlist/cart. Why? Because you work so hard to accomplish your goals he just HAS to do something for you!

Boyfriend!Satoru - who accidentally got you high because Suguru brought him edible brownies. You also have a sweet tooth like Satoru - so you decided to try some! Which left you laying on the couch and staring at the ceiling for two hours. Satoru silently freaking out; giving you your third cup of water now. How many grams were in the brownies, you ask? 1000 MG. Safe to say you slept for a good 14 hours after that incident.

Boyfriend!Satoru - Play fights with you when you're in a low mood, hoping it will work to take your mind off the small stuff. With his great strength he can easily pick you up and gently slam you down into the ground, couch, or the bed; one thing he always does is place his large hand on the back of your head just incase he miscalculated, so you won't seriously get hurt ^^.

However, when you do get mad at him, he has a difficult time trying to understand your feelings. Sometimes, trying to be 'funny' when you're talking to him about something serious doesn't always work. So, Boyfriend!Satoru - who would do anything for you - buys you bouquets and bouquets of your favorite flowers (mixed with blue flowers that match his eyes), with the most adorable sad look in his eyes as he confronts you with a soft tone that he's sorry. Of course, you forgive him.

Boyfriend!Satoru - who really knows how to piss you off on purpose, even though he meant no harm; he just can't help but want to see the way you glare at him again. You know how he's a striking 6'3 "man? Of course, you're going to be shorter than him, and he takes advantage of it! Wondering where the cookie jar suddenly went? Oh, it's on top of the fridge. Pushed all the way in the corner back. Now you're going to need a stepping stool, or you're climbing onto the counters.

"Satoru! Stop messing with the cookies!"

"You know, it's getting pretty boring hearing you blame me for misplacing things~"

"You fucker you pushed it too far!"

"Did not!"

Sat on the couch comfortably, his eyes watched the way you stood on your tippy toes, your arm's reaching at the top of the white fridge- palm out trying to reach the cookies. He bit back a chuckle watching you struggle, but he admired the view anyway. The shirt you wore just slightly - your panties now in his view. Standing up swiftly, Satoru amble his way over with a growing smirk on his lips.

Letting out a huff, you cursed silently. You turn around to go find the stepping stool - only to be blocked by Satoru. His sweet cologne filled your senses. His hand - rather bigger hands than yours - gently placed onto your shoulder softly massages your muscle.

"Here baby, let me get it for you."

Brows furrowed, a smack echoed in the kitchen when you slap his hand away. "Why do this on purpose?"

Not bothered by the stinging sensation, His glossy lips pulled into a smirk. "Do you know why my sweetie?" He spoke in a sickly sweet tone.

His other hand, palmes your blood filled cheeks, caressing softly with the pad of his thumb. Face scrunched up, your cheeks hot, feeling more irritated. "Because you like pissing me off."

Hearing your grumbled response, he adjusted both of his hands, placing his palms on your cheeks, and then lightly mushed them. Letting out a deep sigh, his eyes dart everywhere on your face; observing the way your eyebrows still furrowed and your eyes glaring at his.

Grinning now, he leaned down, pressing a sloppy butterfly kiss on the bridge of your nose; earning a soft annoyed grunt from you.

"Forgive me for my little stunt, and I'll give you your cookies back."

You scoff, now avoiding eye contact with the blue eyed-sorcerer. You bring his hand closer to your lips, pressing a soft kiss to it. "I suddenly don't want my cookies anymore-"

Removing his hands from your grasp, he kneels down, wrapping his arms around your thighs before lifting you up. A shirek escaped your throat as your view of the kitchen looked higher. You were now leveled with the cookies. You didn't understand why he couldn't just grab it himself for you. But, alas, he loves showing off his strength to you.

"Get the cookies baby, I know you want them~"

♡︎𝑵𝑺𝑭𝑾♡︎

Boyfriend!Satoru -, who loves to grope you anytime he can. His large hands on your body, anytime of the day - just grabbing at your sides, breast, ass, and thighs. (Pouts anytime you'd pull away cause the mf pulls that shit in public, too :P)

"Dont reject my love! I just want to hold you, baby~"

"Satoru, please, we're in the middle of the store, and people are looking!"

"They can stare i dont care- OOH, can we get some mochi ice cream?"

Boyfriend!Satoru - who was your first, who took your virginity sweetly. Who made sure you were comfortable in his king-size bed, his hand in yours interlinked softy; slowly rolling his hips into yours. Kissing any tears away, he'd stay still for a moment waiting for your 'okay'. Your pleasure will always come first before his.

Boyfriend!Satoru - who gets sexually frustrated when he isn't inside you for a day. Ever since you guys took it to the next level, he's been HOOKED and swears he'll never get enough of you. You underneath him or on your knees plays in his mind 50% of the time, the other 50% is your eyes and smile.

Boyfriend!Satoru - fists his cock thinking about you, letting out sweet groans into the echoed bedroom just thinking about you. He never felt so starved from your touch before till now, when you're busy or at your own place - he figures his dirty thoughts to himself. But that doesn't stop him from sending you pictures, videos, or whimper audios if you so ask nicely.

Boyfriend!Satoru - whose favorite position with you is probone. Addicted to the way you feel beneath him, he seriously couldn't get enough. The way your pussy clutched against his pretty dick so tightly when he hit that sweet spot always made his eyes roll into his head.

"Mmhmfm~...f-uck Satoru~"

"Shhhh just take it baby, yeah don't even worry I got you-"

Your hands clutching his white bed sheets, knuckles turning white as you moaned out. Your mouth in a 'O', panting just slightly; his cock so deep in you you felt it all. You felt the way he glided in and out of you at a settle but fast pace. A sudden whimper left your mouth when he'd suddenly quicken his pace up. Letting go of the bed sheet with one hand, it went flying to your mouth, letting it muffle your pornographic whines. Face burning up, you felt so hot.

Oh but Satoru didn't like that. He loved hearing every sound coming from your mouth, he lived on it as it was his oxygen. Leaning onto one arm, his now free hand swiftly- snatching your hand from your mouth. He then pinned that arm against your back, grip tight as he tuts, "Nuh-uh, none of that baby I wanna hear you."

Boyfriend!Satoru - makes you squirt at least 2 times before penitrating. It was a rule he settled (in his head, at least), so it would help you take him in better. And it did work, arguably working a little too good, because after that, he gets to savor in your fucked-out face. You wouldn't shy away as much anymore and let everything out.

Boyfriend!Satoru - who has denied your orgasm 4 times in a hour, to be fair he thought you deserved it. You were pressing your breast all in Suguru's face, after all. This was the outcome every time you pulled petty shit.

"Please please please Toru, lemme cum please im sorry~!"

"You're so sorry? Hah, what if I get Suguru in here and watch you cum on my tongue like a bitch in heat huh? You like him don't you?"

Practically sobbing, you shake your head, trying not to fumble on your words. Mascara running down your face with your salty tears, "N-No no I like you~ nngh please lemme cum!"

Slurping up his own saliva on your pussy, he gives it a slight slap before pressing two fingers inside your walls immediately. "You wait till im done playing with you. Got it?"

Boyfriend!Satoru - after a good fuck session he always treats you well. Pampering you with kisses and praises, making sure you were alright and he didn't go too far.

A kiss there and another kiss there, he litters your face with his soft kisses. You laid there, sweaty, hot and sore. Your muscles ached, making you hiss when you tried to sit up. Satoru who immediately took notice of your discomfort, gently pressed you down back on the bed.

"I'm sorry cutie I should've went easy on you."

You shook your head, a small smile appeared on your features. "I'm okay toru." You inhaled a deep breath, letting it out shortly after. Your mind was at peace but feeling a little worn out, you really could use a nap.

Pressing another kiss to your cheek, he got up from the bed with a small grunt. Aiming towards the bathroom to grab a wash cloth, not wanting you to nap in your mixed cum.

Coming back a couple seconds later with a pep in his step, he climbed back on the bed. The warm wash cloth startling you a little, than slowly you relaxed in his touch.

"Just relax baby, let Satoru clean you up, then you can rest, yeah?" He let out a breathy chuckle, taking in your post-orgasm glow.

Subtly nodding you let out a hum in acknowledgment, feeling yourself slipping into unconsciousness you then spoke in a soft tone, "Love you."

The warm wash cloth smoothly glided over your skin, wiping the cum off your pussy with caution. A soft giggle erupt in the room that came from you. Smiling softly at your laughter he sighed heavily, tiredness and in admiration of you. "I love you too."

do not repost on any other sites/claim my work as yours.

Copyright @gagaewo !!

[ruija]

Well I really love your art, may I ask how do u color? I struggle with coloring turtles and I wasn't to know how do u do that?

Hi anon! That's a very broad question, so you've given me a great excuse to ramble anything I want about my coloring, eehehehee~! This will be in two parts and I'll start with talking about my simpler coloring style.

As in, when I color characters on a white background, with a limited or light palette.

The driving force behind this style is me being lazy. My time, energy, and attention span are pretty limited, so if I want to finish anything, I gotta do it fast. And with fanart, I'm usually just doing it for fun and relaxation, so there's no need to push myself to polish it too much.

Despite that, I rarely post just black and white sketches or line arts. I always try to add at least a little bit of toning or shading, because that makes the image easier to read. The characters and their shapes pop out and catch the eye of the viewer better.

However, in this particular example, just the couple toning colors don't quite do the job. The way Don and Leo are entangled makes the center area of this illustration very busy and hard to read.

As a comparison; this pic has only one tone + mask colors, and it works. This is because all the characters are standing separately and their poses are very stationary and simple.

So for the Don + Leo pic, adding some shadows helps in bringing out shapes and depths. Also in general, if you don't feel like drawing BGs, it's good to at least add a shadow below the characters. It grounds them and makes them feel like they exist within a space.

Sometimes if the posing looks too complex and busy, it might just be best to color in the characters fully.

However, even if I do full flat colors, I tend to use a lighter palette. Putting characters in their neutral/default color on a white BG can look a bit jarring as if they're floating in a void. It feels less immersive and like the picture is unfinished.

Using lighter colors makes the image more cohesive, and fits the characters into the white environment a bit more naturally.

If I'm too lazy to draw a BG, I prefer using stylized and limited colors. It feels deliberate and that the whiteness is just part of the palette, whereas the character-accurate colors on white don't match as well, even if they're more pastel.

That being said, there's nothing wrong with just slapping the flat-colored characters on a white background. As you know, I do it too. I'm just exposing my 'fancy coloring style' for what it is; me being lazy, hah!

Limited and monochromatic palettes are a nice shortcut even when you do actual backgrounds. It's faster and you don't have to worry about clashing colors. And you can still convey atmosphere and mood.

Also, on the topic of conserving your time and efforts; I think it's very common among younger/less experienced artists to think that the amount of time you spend on your art piece = how good and well received that piece will be.

Which has some merit to it of course, but it can lead to putting too much effort into areas where it's not necessary. E.g. filling the piece with tons of details and clutter that don't serve an actual purpose, but rather make the image hard to read. Or doing really complicated shading for a meme/comic, where simplicity would deliver the joke better.

So whenever I'm drawing something I intend to publish, whether it's a quick doodle or a more polished piece, I try to follow these two principles: Make it easily readable and do the bare minimum that needs to be done to convey what I want to convey.

Putting time into practice is important, but if you draw for work, it's also crucial that you know how to prioritize and use your time efficiently!

Anyway, thanks for reading! In the next part I'll go into how I do my fully colored pieces, so stay tuned for that!

[smiling-stel]

Speaking ab the cover art from a Design pov *aside frm the comments that Cale looks out of character in the lore standpoint of vol. 2 art

(spoiler free, dw)

◇ TLDR; vol. 2 cover is beautiful, but it couldve had better color synergy. I can see why the artists did what they did, its just not my fav.

. man I'm just happy to have an official English print lmao, ill take what I can get

---

At first I didn't like the red shirt cause it was too much the same color as his hair. (Like if it was a darker or desaturated maroon, I feel it would've looked better, at least so he isn't matching with his own hair-)

. But now taking a step back n looking at vol. 2 again, zoomed out, I actually think his Face is the most jarring part [more on that later ◇]

◇ . The bright red of the shirt being lit by a yellower light, altho matching w his hair, actually isn't so jarring to me anymore cause I noticed two things

◇ 1) his pants are also tinted red (if my eyes aren't deceiving me) meaning compared to the background and the other two characters, Cale *in his entirety* is a red-toned silhouette -> this is a illustrative design strategy where the artist assigns a group of colors to a specific subject n *Restrictvely* uses the Hue Differences to their advantage. In my opinion, its a good choice in making him contrast and stand out. You can definitely Tell he's the main character with just the cover art.

. BUT it can also give off an Outlandish or alien feeling because (in this case) Cale is the ONLY red in the scene. Theres no balancing of red tones from his character to the background At All (e.g. the artists doesnt add Any red to the surroundings so his character can "fit in" with the scene- like as if you photoshopped a guy in sunny lighting into a dark room, the lighting differences is jarring n you can tell the guy is just slapped on top [not saying the artist did that at all, but the way they painted Cale to stand out feels jarring in that sense). While this does an insanely good job at putting him in the spotlight, it perhaps does Too great of a job, making him feel isolated or strange compared to the rest of the piece.

. (Then again, you can justify that that was the goal. To isolate Cale n show hes alien from a lore standpoint as he's "not from this world" as an isekai story)

◇ 2) but we're forgetting this is a COVER art. It's not Just an illustration to be pretty. To break my earlier point, altho Cale IS the only red in the *Illustration,* this art piece is - fundamentally - a Cover Art. It has the Title thats a part of its design <-<-<- And if we looksey at the title, what do we see? Red and warm tones. Like what other thing thats only reds? Cale Henituse himself!

. The Title IS the balance I said was missing in point 1). My theory is thats Also why the artist tinted the lighting on Cale to be warmer n more yellow, so as to use the yellow orange in the title (and the contrast of cools n warms from the focal points to the rest of the art) to their advantage. It helps add reds to the lower half of of the piece where the only warm tones are Choi Han's hand (the other character) and the fleeting window curtain; both of those details being at the edges of the piece and Both very small so they hardly have an influence on the overall design.

. So the title, taking up the majority of the lower half of the piece, draws the warmth down n assists in balancing the overall cover design.

So the reds have now been explained, but why are the whites so white now?--

◇ . Earlier I had said Cale's face was the most jarring part of the cover. And I still fully stand by that sentiment. Its the same idea where the reds do Too great a job isolating Cale; the whites do Too great a job contrasting w the background n the two other characters - who are black n cool tones - to the point where it Heavily draws the eye, practically in a violent manner.

. The extreme paleness is quite lore accurate for Cale's character, who hes isekaied as, but the extreme lighting Highlighting just his face compared to Choi Han's face is an extremely bold design decision (again, not a bad thing as he IS the main focal point, but adding onto the Isolating Spotlight trait going on)

◇ Ok then, but why's his jacket also so freakishly bright white? I heard from a fellow lcf fan (love discussing w you dawg <3) that they think the jacket is the worst part of his cover design.

N I agree. The reds standing out can be justified as a design strat, his face is the focal point so thats why that stands out, but why the jacket??

. Here i am on my artist apologist era <3

◇ . The jacket being blindly white is (probably) to Dampen the Harshness of his face being so bright.

. Altho the guy looks great in white ☆°• with how extreme the lighting is in this cover art, I think the artist wanted to balance the laser beam that is Cale's face paleness by spreading it out to his jacket, specifically that left collar fold ( i think that's called the lapel?)

. Basically by making the jacket's collar also intensely white, the artist gives their best attempt at trying to make Cale's skin less jarring so as to not make it so ridgedly highlighted. Like black ink spilt onto fresh paper, they tried to spread it out so its not so condensed in high contrast. ...But that only made the jacket join in on the uncanniness- TTvTT

---

(Posting the pic again so yall don't gotta scroll far o7)

Other notes I've noticed n wanted to just point out while I'm here looking through the Design Lense ☆°•

☆ The red of Cale's hair and the red of his shirt n neck scarf sandwiches his face, making it stand out even More. Ealier I said the contrast of the vibrant red to the paleness makes his face draw the eye, but thats also thanks to the *position* of the colors! Not just the colors themselves B) isn't that so cool (tell me yes even if you have to lie-)

☆ The lighting on Choi Han's cape, chest, to face -> the window arch -> to Cale's entire person being lit up + how he's wearing a long white jacket

. It all creates this general arch of light tones and highlighted features which surrounds and hugs the title! The artists really knows how to use their darks and lights !!

☆ Choi Han's entire person, Cale's pants, and our lovely Roan Miru (the dragon) are the only deepest dark black tones in the entire piece! The privilege of being the subjects <3

☆ cale looks crossed eyed lel

. Im glad I'm not the only one who struggles with eyes still

. Or maybe this artist did it right n I just don't know how to draw eyes- (very plausible tbh)

Man I love artists

---

All in all, Im not a fan of vol. 2 cover art but I can see why the artists did what they did

◇ . One of the most important things of commercial art is that its visually pleasing, regardless of design, lore, or even logic. The design choices are golden but putting them all together couldve been done better. Not that the art is ugly in any way. Its still gorgeous af, there just couldve been more balance or overall color synergy.

This is just my opinion anyways :D! No hate anywhere <33

[silent-browser]

*sigh* oh the tragic romance of a merfolk x human story. Neither can be with the other without giving up something important. Usually fins for legs. Also usually their entire family to simply love and exist with this person in a different biosphere. Rarely legs for fins if we wanna go a reverse little mermaid here.

But what if it was different. And no one had to give everything up. And maybe yandere. With a bit of soulmate shenanigans thrown in for flavor.

Imagine if you will, a walk on an empty beach. Headphones in, listening to your favorite song and sining along. Kicking up sand and the smell of the ocean air. Just minding your own business and having a good time by yourself.

Or so you think. Because not far from where you are walking a single quiet audience member hides behind some rocks, wondering why your song, your human song, sounds so similar to their soul song.

The song that they would normally perform for other merfolk in hopes of attracting their perfect life partner. But they had never garnered any attention for it.

So how did you, a weak and squishy human get them so immediately. No creature had ever been so close to repeating his own soul song back to him. And with your own little twist too. Human words and slightly different notes in his soul song. Your song. Our song. He soon found himself refering to it in his mind.

It takes a while of them impatiently waiting for your return and slowly learning your 'walks on the beach' schedule for them to finally make their move.

On the day that changed the rest of your life, you were simply walking along and humming softly to your favorite song once again when you heard the most fantastic voice start to follow along the melody with you. They matched your tone and moved their voice in such a way that it felt like an instant musical connection.

They were worried that you would stop and run away when they started but tried not to let that fear taint their song. If you ran further inland they would have a very hard time following you. Not impossible but certainly difficult. So they took your continued humming as a good sign and continued.

They began to dribble their emotions into the notes. The lonelyness. The fear of an uncaring ocean. The rush of affection they felt when they first heard you singing. The need to see you. Hold you.

Slowly, what started out as a dribble became a riptide of intense emotions they never knew they were capable of feeling. Longing. Jealousy. Want and need so powerful he felt like he would wear out his voice singing it all. By the time he stopped he was mortified that he put all of that on you. And before the first courting gift too! He suddenly felt awful. He gutted his soul when he never ment to and you weren't even singing anymore. What if you didn't want them? What if it was all too much for you? What if you left and never came back!?

You were stunned. Breathless. The emotion. The raw intensity. No words were ever sang and yet the song resonated in the very depths of your being. You felt intimidated to ever even think of humming ever again after that impromptu masterpiece. You wanted to respond but couldn't find the words to, much less the notes like they had. So you instead made your way to the shore where the music seemed to come from and searched. Looking for this person who simultaneously swept you off your feet and explained their life story in one song with no words.

Two star crossed lovers. Separated by the sea. One filled with obsession. The other with curiousity. Both wish desperately to meet and yet both are not quite ready. How strange that love can both bind and seperate. How strange indeed.

Idk where to go with this so no continuations for this one unless I suddenly get inspired. Also the end feels really jarring to me. Mostly because I originally intended for this to continue but I couldn't come up with anything so I just cut it lose. I hope you like it none the less.

[iodrawsandtalks]

Criticism of Penacony and why i think HYV shouldve quit while they were ahead.

//vent towards the end, references to suicide while those references are quest spoilers Recently I've been doing world quests and grinding out the new region and been repeatedly finding myself walking straight into microagressions and slights to the point where it's been jarring enough for me to put my game down. As a black dude playing HYV games i know well enough not to act like the stupid billion dollar game company cares about appealing to minorities but its 2024 man.

First off, the obvious issue. Penacony has been repeatedly mentioned by the devs themselves to be based off of the Jazz Age from the U.S. a few decades ago.

The Jazz age was a period of time in American History between the 1920's and 1930s where the popularity of Jazz just boomed from being like an indie type of music to one of worldwide popularity. Obviously, Black people in that era are wholly responsible for Jazz itself.

So yeah, Penacony takes its origins from a key black history movement. Penacony, the region that released at the start of February. Black History Month. Star Rail is arguably one of the most popular games right now in terms of outreach because it's free, its new, and its colorful/futurisric etc.... And yet....

Just like with the rest of the HYV games that take real world inspirations, they fucked over black people and their stories.

In Honkai Impact 3rd, basically we had this one black girl who's like sandpaper brown and complains about how much her DARK SKIN ruins her look and how she bleaches her skin using various products to keep it lighter. She is ashamed of her DARK SKINNED mother who's a military woman. Her father is absent. Her mother is also a grown adult who is a B-rank soldier(main character white teenagers are S-rank for reference). Carole Peppers is her name if you want to go further down that rabbit hole.

In Genshin Impact, besides the fact that people with different skin tones are CLEARLY sectioned into certain regions(no seriously there's no real reason why i shouldnt see a black person in any of the existing regions.), and besides the unnecessary amount of whitewashing and besides the perpetuation of the idea of melanin NOT being natural, every single brown/black character in the game has awful playstyles and/or poor matching with weapons/artifacts, inaccessibilty, and they NEVER make it to the top of any meta tierlists. I'm not outright saying they're bad they're just harder and almost never get specialized weapons.

The only previously relevant example in Star Rail was Arlan, a lightning/destruction character. He chews through his own HP and unlike characters like blade/clara, does not have resistance or healing to handle that. Serval, the other lightning 4 star, out-dps's him veryyyyyyy easily. So yeah, the ashy black person character basically dies if you use him for too long and is never relevant TO ANY quests except where he needs to be the sidekick.

sometimes these games have dragons, animals that can understand and process english, or magic.... but then not black people...

Penacony has no black main characters. No black stories of relevance. Yesterday found an NPC whose name was detracted from chocolate and the player had the option to let commit suicide.

yeah ill get to that 💀. This large mass of at least 4 supernatural looking characters and yet no black person. NOT EVEN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS FROM penacony itself are black.

so yesterday I was grinding clockwork quests and had to help out some apathetic shopkeeper named Cocona. Her story was almost a bit sad but midway into going through her background i realized her name is one letter off of cocoa. now imagine being on a creative team coming up with a name for a melanated NPC and somebody decides on fucking CHOCOLATE with an extra letter. before anybody implies that one was something i shoehorned, think about how itd go if i had a bunch of POC characters and one white girl named crackerella.

Cocona and her once again sad backstory reach a hard tipping point as the player follows her to the edge of a building and can either grab her to stop her from jumping or simply let her end her life jumping off the building.

Yes we've seen how this game lets you make choices and watch the consequences of your actions, but there have been established rule-breaking predecents. Take Ruan Mei's quest where you have no choice but to eat the cake she offers you and once again lose the ability to make a choice on saying anything related to her. or any time the trailblazer gets pushed into a fight and cannot de-escalate. ....with this in mind consider why was saving the cocoa girl from killing herself NOT a forced option.

normally id be the kind of silly person looking for lore bits and stuff and making theories, (like how clockie is from the path of elation :v)but as a black dude this whole region is disgusting. THEY ARE GENTRIFIYING JAZZ AND COVERING UP ITS BLACK ORIGINS idk who said HYV cared about their audiences they fucking dont.

wouldve posted this on reddit but whoop dee do i am NOT getting doxxed today.

[latoyalestrange]

THE FOOL

p. pascal x f!oc

Masterlist | Playlist

Summary: Naela wonders if her dream is worth her efforts. She's 25 now, and she's seen dozens of people's careers take off years before hers. Why can't she catch a break?

Words: 2.4k

Warnings: A lil childhood trauma thrown in there, loneliness, a quarter-life crisis. I'll make up for it, dw. Not edited bc I do what I want lol.

Taglist: @marvel-sw-lover , @lokislittle , @red-red-rogue

comment to be added to the taglist!

CHAPTER ONE -- HALF TRUTH

The beautiful in-between, the calm before the storm, or as Naela liked to call it, pure hell. The days, weeks, sometimes months she waited for her manager to call her with a verdict. She busied herself with her second job (the only one making her money) and other auditions in this period, but there was always a sense of existential-level dread that hung over her like a dark cloud everywhere she went. She could zone out for as long as her environment would let her, either daydreaming about getting the role or reminding herself of what she could've done better.

She was doing just that when she felt her phone buzzing on the leather booth next to her. She knew it could only be two people, her boyfriend or her manager. She recalled her last audition, a nameless Netflix show where, if she were to miraculously get the part, she would be a key character to the story. Tons of lines, a romance sub-plot, and even some character development. She also hated to admit it, but she really hoped it wasn’t her boyfriend.

It’s not that she didn’t love him, she did, but she loved acting so much more. They’d been together for close to three years. She had met him in her senior year at UCLA and they were a match ever since.

Sure enough, it was her manager, Mike's, name on her screen. Every single time he called, it left her breathless for a second. A familiar tightness in her chest and empty expression returned. She answered and hesitantly put the phone to her ear.

"Hello--"

"Naela!" She pulled her phone away, letting her eardrums recover. "Naela! Naela Rivera!"

"What? Why are you yelling?" She questioned him in a hushed tone, not wanting to attract attention on her break.

"You got the part! You're gonna be on a Netflix show!"

She was silent for a moment, then laughed, "What?" He must be joking.

"I'm serious! The Casting Director just called, the show is called Narcos, and you fly out to Columbia in two weeks." Silence again.

"I have work--"

"Hello?? So quit! You'll be shooting for six months anyway. Listen, I'll let you process this but I already told them yes. I'll send everything over." She blinked away the surprise on her face and nodded.

"O-okay, yeah, thanks..." She heard the line disconnect, but she held her phone up to her ear, still stunned, frozen.

God...this was everything she's ever wanted. She instantly thought of her fourteen-year-old self walking dogs, running lemonade stands, and babysitting every chance she got to save up. Then her at fifteen, getting her first job under the table and putting every bill they gave her in a jar. Then her at eighteen, spending so much of it to move to Los Angeles. Lastly, her now, at twenty-five...working forty-hour weeks, auditions on her days off and sometimes having to choose between an audition fee or food. On top of that, fighting with her boyfriend when she told him about her breakout role. Apparently she chose the job to spite him, knowing she’d be able to cheat on him with the illusion of it being part of her job. Eventually she convinced him that it was just a job and that she loved him, but all she kept thinking was how he should be happy for her. She wondered what her future self looked like.

The next two weeks were a blur of signing contracts, packing, setting up a direct deposit with her landlord, calling her family to tell them the news and mentally preparing herself when the madness ceased just a few days before her flight.

Even then it still didn't feel real when she got to the airport, stepped on the plane, or when she finally landed in Columbia. If the temperature change wasn't enough, the live tropical plants that decorated the airport definitely made her realize she was far from home. To Naela's surprise, and her dread, Mike was waiting for her outside of the terminal. Glasses, linen button up, slacks and all. He jogged over to her, his arms open for a hug. she reluctantly reciprocated, side-hugging him back.

"Oh, Naela, so glad to be here for you. This place is paradise! Have you seen the lounge yet?"

She gave him a tired smile, "No, I just got off the plane--"

"Right, right, getting ahead of myself. Go get yourself a juice or something, I'll go get your bags." He jogged off to baggage claim, that same chipper smile on his face. Naela stood there for a moment, confused. He wasn't normally so excited or helpful. She shook her head and turned to start towards the lounge, which looked a little crowded with chatting patrons. She weaved through the couches and tables to get to the juice bar with an array of selections and fresh fruit toppings. Naela, taking advantage of all the options, made a cocktail of pinapple juice, frozen mango, lemon, and orange. Taking one sip lifted a small weight off of her shoulders. Her first taste of paradise and fucking making it after all those years. A proud smile shown lightly through her jet-lag RBF.

The moment was short-lived, however, when Mike found her, her two large suitcases rolling behind him and her heavy duffle slung over his shoulder. He instantly dropped the patterned bag at her feet, his chest heaving a bit.

"Had no idea your bags were this heavy..." Naela repressed a chuckle as she saw her manager struggle and humble himself.

"I got it, thanks," she replied cheekily, taking both suitcases in her hands and carrying her duffle with ease. He looked shocked for a moment, then led her towards the exit. She smiled to herself as his back was turned.

Once they were outside, it was still just as crowded, but much, much, hotter. The humidity alone was bad enough but the early afternoon sun was brutal. She was sweating already, even under the shade of the building. She reluctantly took off her hoodie, which she was sure left her hair frizzy, just adding to the look. She wiped away the beads of moisture forming on her face, making her realize her deodorant was packed away in her suitcase. Luckily, she didn't have to suffer for long, the shuttle with the film company text on the side pulled into the drive after just a few minutes. Mike instantly opened the door and sat himself down in the farthest seat.

The driver, however, got out to help Naela put her bags in the trunk, at which point, four other men gathered around the shuttle to do the same. She didn't even notice them waiting with her, but she did now. Two of them were dressed more comfortably, like her, and the other two looked more polished, and professional. She immediately made the connection, more actors and their mangers.

Once her luggage was tucked away, she joined Mike in the air-conditioned van, not saying a word. The inside of the car was incredibly clean, it looked brand new and smelled that way too.

The next passenger to climb inside was older than Naela for sure. Some scruffy stubble shaped his cheekbones and sharp jaw perfectly, and he had the same curly, frizzy hair Naela had. He wasted no time sitting himself right next to her and giving her a polite smile.

"Hey, I'm Pedro," he introduced himself, a little breathless from the heat. He extended his muscular hand for her to take. She instantly look it and smiled brightly back at him.

"Naela." She added, feeling his hand totally engulf hers.

"You have a beautiful name, Naela. Nice to meet you." Other people were still getting into the car, and she could hardly focus, due in part to his confidence.

"Thank you--" Another man reached over from the row of seats in front of them and offered his hand as well.

"Boyd Holbrook. I've already met Pedro, but not you." Wow. Was every actor going to be this attractive? She already felt out of place by the second one.

"Naela. Nice to meet you." She shook his hand just as she did Pedro's. Boyd's were a bit softer, but hers were still small in comparison. He nodded, smiling and turned around to face the driver again, who was just starting the van.

The drive to the studio was mostly silent, very bumpy, but luckily not very long. When she saw all the trailed lined up outside of the warehouse, it finally sunk in. The biggest set she'd ever been on, and she was one of the stars. Everyone went their separate ways after getting out of the shuttle, and Mike led her to her trailer. Her very own trailer. It even had her name on the door. Once she got inside, she set her luggage down and looked around in awe.

"Okay, Naela! This is your home for the next six months." She didn't respond as she spotted the back bedroom, instantly going in to check it out.

"Don't forget the cast dinner at six, okay?" He called to her once she disappeared behind the curtain partition.

"Okay!" She answered. At times like these, she wondered if she really needed a manager that badly. She looked around a bit more, unpacked some things, then started getting ready. Only after she turned on the AC, though.

By five-thirty, she was ready. She put on a red two-piece sundress with sleeves that hung off her shoulders. That particular shade of red she loved; she was always told it complimented her tan skin. She refreshed her dry curls and put on some comfortable nude heels. She couldn't bare putting makeup on with the heat, so she just brushed through her brows and put a light layer of mascara on her lashes.

She knew she was early, but she also knew it couldn't hurt to get to know some of her castmates beforehand. She told herself she didn't have anyone specific in mind. To her surprise, however, she found mostly every seat filled when she arrived at the patio.

Most people didn't look up when she rounded the corner, but as soon as Pedro saw her, he started waving her over.

"Naela! Your seat is here." She was sure everyone could see her blush, everyone's eyes on her as she joined them at the table.

"Ah, there's my Lucia! The Golden Trio is all here." The director added. Wait. The Golden Trio?

He sat at the very end of the table, Boyd on one side and her and Pedro on the other. He outstretched his hand. No...that means Pedro is...Javi? She recalled the scenes she performed at the casting call with a character named Javi. From what she gathered, their characters were friends with benefits.

Out of politeness, she obliged and met his hand with hers. "Thank you, sir," was all she could think to say. Once she sat next to Pedro, she finally allowed herself to take in the scenery. Lush fruit trees grew over the courtyard and a grand fountain stood tall in the center.

"Exhausted yet?" Pedro muttered, leaning toward her.

She chuckled, "I don't think I've ever been so tired. I slept on the plane, too."

"I know, somehow sleeping made me more tired," He laughed in response, then continued, "Do you like your trailer? Definitely not what I'm used to."

She shook her head, "No, me neither. It's making my apartment look bad." They laughed again in unison. Unnoticed by Naela, Boyd was smirking over at Pedro, shaking his head too.

The extra twenty minutes they had before the dinner went by fast along with the flow of their conversation, which never stopped, aside from some interjections by Boyd and Joanna. It was honestly refreshing for her. Before they knew it, the table was being set with colorful fruits and vegetables, arepas and other appetizers, an entire roast pig for the main course, and cholado for dessert. Normally Naela would be put off by the entire pig in front of her, but she hadn't eaten a full meal in the 36 hours it took to get there.

After giving each other a few quiet moments to eat, Pedro was the first to start up the conversation again with "So Naela," he washed down his last bite with a fruity cabernet, "Tell me about your family."

She took a deep breath, "I grew up in San Antonio. It's just me, my mom and my brother, Sebastian. He helps my mom run her restaurant.”

"You guys must be close. No boyfriend, then?" he mused.

"Yes, actually. He’s Josh." she laughed. "What about you?"

"It's just me and my siblings now." His response wasn't wounded, it was more accepting than anything.

"I'm sorry," she replied instinctively. "I don't know if I could recover from that. You were right about my family being close." She chuckled painfully.

"Thank you. They make it better...they really do." He took another greedy sip from his wine glass. "I had a feeling you were Lucia," he added.

"Is that so?" she replied sheepishly, trying to hide the blush creeping onto her cheeks again by looking down at the table.

"Mhm," he hummed confidently. "Listen, if at any point theres something that makes you uncomfortable, please tell me." He leaned in closer, making sure to look her in the eye as he said this.

She nodded, "Thank you, Pedro. I appreciate that." She wasn't sure if it was the wine or the company, but she could tell by the flushed feeling she had that her entire face was red. If Pedro noticed, he didn't say anything.

They continued talking as they waited for everyone to finish. Once conversation lulled and everyone was feeling even more tired from such a filling meal, the director stood at the end of the table to announce, “Alright, everyone...go get some sleep. Table reading is inside, tomorrow at 7 AM. It's gonna be a long day of reading but you'll live." A few actors chuckled but most did not. Naela stretched as she stood, she felt like she'd been sitting forever.

"Goodnight, Naela." Pedro stood too, and Naela had to fallow his eyes upward to maintain eye contact. She could feel a pit in her stomach form. Hm, didn't realize he was that tall.

"Night, Pedro..." She hesitated, smiled tiredly up at him, then finally turned to go back to her trailer. His eyes lingered for just a bit too long as she walked away, but eventually Boyd snapped him out of it by patting his back and saying his goodbyes as well.

It felt so fucking good to get ready for bed that night. She was in her comfortable clothes again at last and she was clean. She dimmed the lights and decided to scroll on social media for a bit. She came across an ad for Game of Thrones, and remembered Pedro had mentioned being in the previous seasons.

Needless to say, her curiosity got the best of her and she looked up "got pedro pascal scenes".

Holy shit.

This job just keeps getting harder and harder.

reblog if you made it to the end!

[9leaguesofmirrors]

A Need For Something (a Ross Gaines x Joseph Lisgoe fanfic)

Remember when I said I wanted an tender, intimate Gainsgoe fic (3 words I didn't think could be used in a sentence) based on the above quote? Well, this is it! This was perhaps my biggest challenge because how does one write a tender Gainsgoe fic? The answer: with great difficulty

Please remember that I used the quote as a prompt rather than the scene itself, this is NOT a crossover fic or a rewrite of the actual scene because I haven't seen the show the quote comes from (which I've learned is apparently Outlander)

They were at Ross' house when it happened

Neither of them could remember when they started being around each other socially, but it had something to do with the fact they both liked movies that made others sick to their stomach. So, in the end, it worked out well

Soon, it ended up being a conversation about work. Ross was the one to bring it up, much to the exasperation of Lisgoe, who was much happier focusing on the poor man being torn to shreds on his TV screen

"How far have you gone to collect a debt?"

"Knocked out a lot of teeth," Lisgoe answered casually "I keep those in a jar under my desk. Once smashed someone dick and balls in with my knee - that was fun."

"Do you always use violence? Surely people come to expect that, a change in pace would benefit you-"

Lisgoe looked at the TV, clearly hiding something he didn't want to divulge. After a few darting glances at Ross, who was watching him like a hawk, he caved with a huff

"Maybe once or twice, and I'm not proud of it, I felt like I was pimping myself out. But a few times I've needed to... sweet-talk my way in. Never kissed anyone, and I do not fuck them. The people here look like they were made in a lab."

"You've never kissed one?" There was a hint of surprise present in his tone "I mean, clearly too much is unecessary, but you've never gotten close?"

"No. I'd rather cement myself into a bathtub and let ants eat me alive. Besides, I can't think of a single person that would want to do anything with me except knock me out."

They watched the movie in silence, the only sound being the screams of the actors. After a while, they realised that it wasn't worth it and turned it off. That's when it happened

"I would quite like to."

"Like to what?"

"Kiss you."

Lisgoe looked at him with a confused expression. He couldn't quite believe it - actually, he didn't believe it at all

"What the fuck?"

There was no trace of mockery in Ross' eyes. No trace of smugness on his lips. No raise in the eyebrows

It was as if he were telling the truth

"May I?"

Ross' face was still, which unnerved him slightly

"What the fuck?"

"You've said that already."

"And I'll say it again: what the fuck?"

"Don't swear, it's unnecessary."

"It's completely necessary!" Lisgoe's left eye involuntarily twitched, a tiny tell of confusion "I mean... who just asks that?! Especially you! I thought you were completely against me and everything I am. I also didn't think you knew what a kiss was!"

"Rude. But OK."

"And it just- no! No it's not OK! You just sprung that shite on me out of nowhere!"

"Then pretend I didn't say anything."

The look on Lisgoe's face said it all: are you fucking joking?

In the thick, heavy silence, there was a strange and tense energy that they wanted gone as soon as possible. Lisgoe was the one to break it

"I think the rumours are true."

"Excuse me?"

"The ones about that failed comedian and Legz Akimbo's shite director."

"Why are you gossiping with me like a schoolgirl?"

"It's either that or carrying on with the conversation, and I can't be arsed with that."

There was yet another pause, this seemed to be a trademark in their conversations

"Plimsolls and Tipps, two sour grapes in a bunch." Ross leaned back in his chair "A match made in pathetic Heaven."

"Heaven?" Lisgoe barked out a laugh "Are you sure?"

Neither of them could resist laughing a little at that. Lisgoe was slightly surprised to see Ross let the cold mask slip slightly, seeing him smile (actually smiling, not that arrogant little smirk) was a rare but not completely awful sight. He'd never admit it, even to himself, but Ross himself wasn't an awful sight either

Why the fuck would he ask something like that?

Try as he might, small talk wasn't going to shake their prior conversation from Lisgoe's head. As the silence settled around them again, he realised that he'd never actually answered the question. When Ross refused to meet his gaze, he could tell he wanted a response

"What you asked me wasn't OK."

"You've made that clear-"

"Shut up, I'm talking."

Once again, silence. Anymore and Lisgoe felt he would go mad

"What made it not OK is that it came out of nowhere and you expect me to magic up an answer like some magic bastard."

He stood up and stood in front of Ross with gritted teeth, not quite knowing how to force the words from his throat

"But what makes it a really fucking twisted thing to do," he continued, his voice hard as nails and rising from the pit of his stomach "is the fact that my immediate answer wasn't even no."

Ross stood up slowly, brows furrowed in a questioning gaze

"Excuse me?"

"Fuck off, you heard what I said. You just want it repeated back to you! Go on then, have your stupid fucking ego boost! My answer wasn't no. OK? It. Wasn't. Fucking. No."

"Joseph, calm down." Ross' voice was stern and demanding, his hands gripped at Lisgoe's shoulders to hold him still "For once, can't you talk without blowing up?"

At first, neither of then registered the contact. Once they did, they both froze. Their eye-contact was unbroken, neither knew what to say. Ross almost pulled away, but he noticed a tightness in Lisgoe's jaw that his right hand moved up to touch with a strange quality

A quality that should never be attributed to people like them

There was stillness. Slowness

Lisgoe couldn't understand why he was being treated like this. Nobody ever treated him like this, which he knew was partly because he never let anybody so close - and that was both figurative and literal! Even now, he refused to let his guard down. He wasn't going to close his eyes or let himself lean into those gentle hands. No, he was better than that

"What the fuck are you doing?" His voice was level and direct "You want one over me? Is that it?"

"You still haven't actually given me an answer, you just said the answer isn't no." Ross moved his left hand to Lisgoe's other cheek and repeated his previous question: "May I?"

His hands are warm

"Joseph?"

Why are they so fucking warm?

"Joseph, answer the-"

"Shh, I was about to talk!" He snapped, then composed himself "Yes. You may. If you want to word it like that."

At this point, Ross accepted that talking no longer meant anything, yet he only managed to move so close before his limbs seemed to shut down

Both their eyes were closed, barely a breath away from each other

"I haven't done this in a very long time."

"Ross," came the gravelly reply "do you really think I give a shite?"

That was the only hint needed before the gap between them was closed. It was strange, not the kiss itself, but rather how slow it was. How carefully everything seemed to slip into place, nothing felt rushed or frantic. There was no battle for dominance or control, it was built on a simplicity that was a surprise to both of them

"You've been smoking." Ross observed, only pulling away for a moment "A lot."

"Is that a problem?" He retorted "I only do it when I'm fucked off."

"Do you feel like smoking now?"

"The fuck is this? Rehab?"

"I'm asking because you're tense."

"So what? Doesn't matter, does it? Maybe I am tense, this isn't exactly an everyday occurance for me."

Once again, silence. This time though, it wasn't from awkwardness. Ross was giving him a chance to fill it, to let it spill out

"Why are you being kind to me?" Lisgoe asked "All this... gentle shite. It's like you're biding your time until you have me right where you want me. Then you'll fuck me over. So, if that's what this is, then I'm onto you." His voice contorted into a hollow laugh "So you can fuck off."

"... Joseph, when the hell did I say I was going to do that?"

"That's what people do." He responded, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world "Trust is a weapon, we both know that."

Ross couldn't argue with that. Not because he was lying, but because they'd both used trust as exactly that. A weapon

But now? It was something else, something much more destructive

"You're right." Ross said "I'm doing this for completely selfish reasons."

"I knew it."

"This is entirely for my benefit. Because you could stand here and tell me that you find me the most repulsive, grotesque man in all of Royston Vasey and I would still find a way to you because, as I've already told you, I want something from you. I don't know what, but I need something."

"You said need that time."

"It means the same thing."

"No, it doesn't. But you have that something. I let you kiss me, now can I go? Or is there some more bullshit you want to say?"

Ross went over to where Lisgoe was stood and knelt beside him, which earned him a questioning look

"Are you gonna suck me off or something?"

"No, I'm not."

"Then why the fuck are you kneeling?"

There was no response, instead Ross ran his fingertips slowly up Lisgoe's arm. Although he could feel him shiver slightly, there wasn't any outwardly negative reaction, so he let his hand trail upwards and rest on Lisgoe's upper arm. His other hand carefully guided the man's jaw so they were facing each other, then rested itself on the back of his neck

That warmth again Lisgoe could feel his breath hitch slightly why is it fucking everywhere? It squeezed and wrenched at every part of him, and the more he fought the urge to sink into it, the more it hurt

Then something happened

In the silence, the moment of pause, Lisgoe could feel his mind slipping slowly. And with it, there was something that caused him to gravitate towards Ross. It was invisible, powerful and completely unknown

But their lips fit together like puzzle pieces and there was nothing else

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

What if Kaiju!Rook can mimic other Kaijus sounds and voice. It's almost the same sound, and when researchers analyze the sound Rook make with the Kaiju he was copying, the match of the vocalization is about 95-98%

I thought maybe this can be the equivalent of Rook's French.

In reference to this ask here:

Ooooooh, that’s an interesting theory there! In a way, it matches what marine biologists discovered when it came to orcas and dolphins: the orcas communicated with dolphins using dolphin-like whistles, clicks, and buzzes to communicate with their social partners!

If we take that into consideration with Rook and his normal language, it would be safe to say that—much like how he taught Ace how to talk to the lost hedgehogs Ace’s dorm uniform card—he’s very skilled at mimicry and communication. So how would this translate in Kaiju language? How would it sound to human ears?

Well, normally, when he speaks in his native language, it sounds musical—like windchimes mixed with a low rumbling tremor that fills the air with a thrum (kinda like a pleasant tingling sensation if he's right next to you). Which can be quite jarring hearing it come from something that looks like he should be as loud as Leona, given he looks like a lion made of stone (with mantis limbs for hunting/striking). Perhaps due to the nature of his body structure, there’s a hollowness in his chest or throat that allows wind to pass through and mimic the sounds of wind-based instruments like an ocarina made of clay? Hmm...something to think about. 🤔

Either way, this same skill allows him to replicate the tones and pitches of the other Kaiju so he can communicate with them, mimicking Vil and Epel more often than not since he spends more time with them as part of their pack (or perhaps Vil calls it a flock? Hmm…). Though on occasion when he either doesn’t know the word or doesn’t feel it would be strong enough, he will revert to his original language. This same skill—however—may also have been the catalyst for the researchers to get so close to making a breakthrough in communicating with the Kaiju themselves!

If only their efforts hadn’t been cut so short before Yuu’s awakening... U.U

[saintmeghanmarkle]

Decoding Meghans Whistler dress sense: distinctly heading Dagenham by u/Mickleborough

Decoding Meghan’s Whistler dress sense: distinctly heading Dagenham* Objective observations and conclusions drawn from Meghan’s 3 main appearances at Whistler.Day 1 - ‘…[W]hat’s a colour that [senior royals] will probably never wear…Camel? Beige? White?’: 2022 Netflix fauxcumentaryI thought I’d Yeti see the Abominable Snowman, but that Bigfoot on Meghan has Sasquatched that belief.- White, cream, beige, and brown are complementary - but not all in one look.- The accent navy beret doesn’t fit anywhere. Maybe not a good idea if you’ve got dark hair - it all looks like one.- No gloves, but it’s a cold day.- Jeans in a ski resort? Not even off the slopes - it simply won’t keep you warm. Not even with thermal underwear - denim’s the wrong look for snow.- Jewellery in winter’s not a good idea. Fingers might shrink from the cold, causing rings to fall off. Ditto stones. And metal’s a conductor. Day 2 - ‘…[W]hen you’re going through a stressful time, [this is reflected by] wearing things that are more monochrome or darker in tone’: 2015 interview with InStyleIn the navy / Come on be bold and make a stand - not spectacle.- Black and navy can be worn together, but maybe not more than one shade of each. Also, textures matter.- Navy leather gloves smacks of trying too hard. Navy leather gloves aren’t terribly common - trying to match leather gloves to scarf and beanie is a bit much. NB Gloves were removed - see above- £3,000 / $3,800 Hermès puffer jacket reeks of paying for the label. Hermès of course wouldn’t put their name to anything of low quality - but why pay that much for a generic black puffer jacket? If it had a characteristic Hermès design or distinctive chic - yes. You buy what the brand’s known for. Otherwise, what justifies the price, apart from the label? - Jeans in a ski resort - see above.- Brown boots jar in an already cacophonous combination of navy and black. - Bottega Veneta phone cover. Fashion victim - they’re whatever phone covers are made from, in the Bottega woven leather pattern (but not leather), made in China, costing about 4-5 times a good specialist cover. - Jewellery - as above.Day 3 - ‘Women are fighting greasy pots and pans…’: 1993 Ivory Clear dishwashing detergent ad, Procter & GambleSeal clapping 675 metres / 2,214 feet above sea level.- It‘s almost 2 colours - but not quite.- It’s cold, hence the long gloves. But why opera gloves (in a singularly unattractive colour)? Not right for a ski resort, - If Meghan’s arms were cold (so she needed long gloves) - why wear a jumper with 3/4 length sleeves? Meghan’s basically wearing a coat, the short-sleeved jumper, and opera gloves in some weird colour, all for a weirder look.- Riding boots - more likely, boots in the style of riding boots. Not all boots are the same - you can’t wear riding boots to places where you wear snow boots, because they’d look out of place. Horses tend not to go skiing. ConclusionMeghan’s fashion choices over the 3 days were increasingly worse: she went from mediocre to bizarre. Can it be a sign of mental illness? Or did snow blindness affect her vision?* On the London Underground, Dagenham is 3 stops past Barking - think ‘mad’. post link: https://ift.tt/Q74hDkL author: Mickleborough submitted: February 18, 2024 at 01:47AM via SaintMeghanMarkle on Reddit

[bluespring864]

"The Martian AU"

I’ve seen a few „author of the Martian AU, if you see this, know how much we loved your story” posts go around and because I know the author I can tell you that yes, the author of the Martian AU is on tennisblr sometimes and you should probably have wished that they weren’t. Tennisblr and one aspect of the fan culture on this website is precisely why Blood Star is gone and why it most likely won’t be coming back.

Several times over the last months I have tried to tell all of you to be a bit less cruel about certain tennis players, and one Novak Djokovic in particular (because with your hate posting you are bullying the fans of the player, not the player!). The way he gets treated on here bothers me too, obviously, and I’ve spoken up for my own sake sometimes, but I tolerate a lot (maybe too much). When, however, my friends are affected by this stuff, it’s a different matter.

So one of my friends is this incredible writer, who decided to share a tennis fic with all of you for free, just for the love of storytelling and because they enjoy writing it, and they did this even though they’re a slow writer and they pour a lot of time into each chapter. As we all know, this story resonated. I have never seen so many gushing posts about a fanfic on tennisblr, at least not since I joined. What only a few of you know but what you really could have guessed to a certain extent because of the way the character of the same name is portrayed in Blood Star is that they are also a big Novak fan. In fact, he’s their fave.

I don’t know if you can imagine how jarring it is to see people on here, and often the very same people who gush about that fic, make/share mocking memes about the player they support, diagnose him as a definite racist for no good reason and just generally wish for that player to lose and be done as soon as possible (I obviously don’t remember who posts what because I’m not that chronically online, but I think I have only mentioned stuff here that has been reblogged or posted by people who also professed to love that story).

Well, the fact that this story disappeared on the day Novak lost his semifinal is no coincidence. Personally, I think the hate maybe wasn’t even quite as bad as when he lost Wimbledon, but that just tells you how absolutely awful it was before. (And it was still so bad this time around that some people who aren’t Novak fans asked for people to tone it down, which I’m very grateful for!) In any case, the author of the Martian AU ventured onto tumblr that day, and who can blame them for feeling a certain betrayal about the fact that many of the people who were so kind to them when it came to their story couldn’t at least keep their glee about the author’s favourite tennis player losing an important match to themselves, or keep it to direct messages or wherever else the Novak fans wouldn’t be bombarded with it. No, all those posts about how great it is to see this player lose, about how good it apparently is for tennis, about how people can’t wait for him to hang up his racquet etc. were there to mock them instead.

Us fanfic authors write for fun, and when the fun stops, we stop writing. Well, the fun stopped and the story is gone.

[idkaguyorsomething]

Why you should read Anchor Foal: A Romantic Cringe Comedy

¡Happy Valentine’s Day! ¿Have you ever wondered what the most romantic story of all time is? Well stop wondering, it’s a My Little Pony fanfiction.

The Setup- essentially, Princess Celestia has realized that, although Fluttershy can keep Discord from returning to his old ways, she will eventually die, and decides that if Fluttershy has a foal, her bloodline will be able to tether Discord to Equestria and keep him from returning to his old ways. An anchor foal, if you will. So Celestia blackmails an escort by the name of Fleur dis Lee into going to Ponyville to help Fluttershy find a life partner. Hijinks ensue.

Why You Should Read It- the narration is one of the highlights here. The world as seen through the eyes of the characters manages to feel intricately detailed and vibrant, drawing you in while managing to make each perspective feel unique. Ponyville itself manages to feel like a character, giving you a sense of why anypony would want to live there after everything that keeps happening and the tight-knit community, with all its ups and downs. The story is very OC-centric, but all of the characters are quite entertaining and have a lot of hidden depths, from Fleur herself, who has a rough time adjusting to her new situation, to Harem Fantasy, a romance novel that Discord brings to life and keeps around on a whim. Canon characters and locations are given a lot of depth as well, with Fluttershy in particular getting to show off the most aspects of her personality as she tries to find love, but glimpses are given into the minds of Pinkie Pie and Celestia, among others. Additionally, this story does an excellent job balancing the idealistic world of Equestria with the grounded, semi-realistic tone that so many other writers have tried to achieve. This world certainly has its flaws, but there is no tyrant!Celestia or edgelord gore to be found. And the central romance itself, holy shit. It’s one of the finest slow burns you’ll ever find anywhere, telling a very believable, very emotional story between two fleshed out characters that seem like an odd match. ¡All while managing to throw in plot and wacky misadventures!

Why You Might Want to Avoid It- this story is a spin-off of the Triptych Continuum, so it doesn’t really take place at any point in canon MLP: FiM as it’s just doing its own thing. A lot of the backstory and worldbuilding of the continuum can be understood just by reading Anchor Foal, but occasionally it does feel jarring if you don’t have the context for when an important character or device is brought in that you don’t have the context for. Several major plot beats also involve attempted pedophilia, attempted sexual assault, and dubcon. Nothing explicit occurs, but they are all important to the story. And if you’re not a fan of OCs then this probably isn’t the story for you, though they are so well-written that I’d recommend checking it out anyways, just to see if this turns out to be an exception. The title “Cringe Comedy” can be a little misleading, since the humor isn’t always the focus and derives mostly from other sources. The main OC, Fleur, is well-written, but has a lot of development to do over the course of the story, so it’s understandable if her initial character doesn’t work for those who don’t enjoy morally gray protagonists. And last but not least, the story has an… interesting relationship with asexuality. Fleur, who has the ability to detect ponies’ sexual desires, states that she believes that even those who self-identify as ace will have at least a trace of sex drive, and a big deal is made of Fluttershy seeking out a partner even though Fleur cannot detect any kind of desire in her. There is a sympathetic ace character who is satisfied with their life, and a point is made of how using their sexuality to blackmail them is wrong, but it’s a relatively minor part of the story.

TL:DR- sapphic pony odd couple rom com with such a good slow burn you guys, please read it it’s amazing.

[jacquelinemerritt]

Dragon Ball Z: Abridged Episode 56 Review

Originally posted September 4th, 2018

A somewhat overstuffed, but still delightful and funny, episode.

“Deities, Devils, and Doing the Dirty” is easily one of the most tightly packed episodes of Dragonball Z: Abridged, mostly by necessity, since it has to cover all of the remaining events that take place before the start of the #CellGames. How effectively it manages to fit all that plot into its relatively short 16 minute runtime is questionable, but while the pace feels a bit blindingly fast at points, Team Four Star here ultimately still manages to fit it all in without making the episode feel overstuffed.

Picking up where the last episode left off, is the continued story of Chi Chi trying to get pregnant with Goku, and this is easily the funniest story with the clearest progression. We see Goku vent about his sexual exhaustion to Krillin, who is still the perpetual virgin, and try to come up with clever ways to get out of having to meet his wife’s intense sexual needs, only to ultimately realize that the best way to deal with this issue is to confront her directly.

By that time though, Chi Chi has already gotten pregnant, something which excites and baffles Goku, who had no idea that sex is how you get pregnant. Goku’s foolishness here feels completely in character, as does his initial willingness to rise to Chi Chi’s “challenge” even as it exhausts him, and the constant stream of sexual innuendo sprinkled throughout his dialogue is genuinely delightful to watch.

We also check in with Bulma as she continues to work on fixing Android 16, and discovers an old video clip in his memory files, playing it back for her father. This video is a bit of original animation to Dragonball Z: Abridged, and it tells the story of Dr. Gero’s son, a member of the Red Ribbon Army, as he records a brief video message for his father just before being killed by Goku. It’s a dark and tragic bit of storytelling that helps further humanize Gero, as well as Android 16, and on its own, it’s quite well done, subtly conveying the relationship between this boy and his father.

In the context of this episode though, it feels a little jarring, and the lack of gravitas to the rest of the proceedings is a major factor. I’m also not sure there’s a better place to include this bit of storytelling though, since the show needs to move on to the #CellGames, and the show is certainly better off for having delved into 16’s origins this way. I just wish that the tone of the episode was better suited to this tragic reveal, as the constant jokes surrounding this video leave it feeling out of place.

Thankfully the other two stories match the episode’s overall tone far better, even if the biggest story feels rushed. After escaping up to Kami’s lookout, Goku has a discussion with Piccolo about recreating the Dragonballs, and ends up teleporting to Namek and kidnapping Dende in order to have him remake them, and take up the mantle of Kami on his own.

Having Dende back is easily my favorite part of this episode, as there’s no other character in this show whose level of sass matches his, nor is there another character who plays off Gohan so well (except maybe Piccolo). Dende all too eagerly signs up for taking up the role of Earth’s God, and all the horrifying responsibility that comes with that role, and he even shows a level of brash confidence that can’t be rivaled by any other character, as he blatantly threatens Popo’s life for calling him “Little Green.” I felt exactly as much delight at this arrogance as Popo did, as he twisted his mouth up into a smile, and I genuinely hope that we get to see more of Dende as Earth’s God in the future.

Unfortunately, as great as having Dende’s character back is, the way the episode blows through the story of him recreating the Dragonballs and taking up his divine mantle feels rushed, like we’re seeing this story displayed in its briefest form, and I feel like adding a little more time in between each beat of his ascension would give this story the time to breathe that it needs. As for what we needed more of, the obvious answer is to try and fit in more Dende crushing hard on Gohan, since it only accounts for less than a full minute of time as it is now, but I’m not able to say whether that change would have been possible given the footage and time they had.

The last story that takes place in this episode does not feel rushed or out-of-place, thankfully, and it’s quite the clever gag as well, as a group of reporters interview Cell, who proceeds to regale them with the entire story of Dragon Ball, from the beginning of the original series to the #CellGames here. It’s a very well executed joke that we see in very short snippets throughout the episode, and it ends perfectly, with Cell murdering his interviewer for forgetting to call him “Mr. Perfect Cell.” That’s the story beat we end the episode on, serving as a perfect slice of the entertainment terror yet to come.

Rating: 4/5

Critical Eye Criticism is the work of Jacqueline Merritt, a trans woman, filmmaker, and critic. You can support her continued film criticism addiction on Patreon.

[thefictioness]

6. Golden

This work is part of a fictober series. For more info, click here.

Snake looked at himself in the mirror. He was standing in a dress tent on the circus venue, trying on his very first performing costume, only… “Should it really be this… Revealing? Says Emily.” Snake looks at Joker, who was standing next to the tailor in a corner of the tent. He smiled. “Of course, how else are you planning on prancing those scales? You’re the snakeman of the circus after all.” Snake looked at himself in the mirror again. He was donning a loincloth made of some light, green material. Not much else. His chest shivered a little in the breeze wafting in the tent every now and then, caused by the wind. “I…” Snake bit his lip. Joker shook his head and looked at the tailor, who was eagerly awaiting their approval. “Could you leave us be for a moment?” Joker asked. The tailor left. Joker walked over to Snake, and carefully flung an arm around his shoulder, trying not to touch the snakes. “You know what I first saw when we met you in that cage?” Snake lowered his head and touched the scales on his right cheek. “On the contrary, dear friend,” Joker laughed as he lifted Snake’s chin with his free hand. “What I saw first were your eyes.” Snake blinked in surprise and looked into his own pupils. “Their golden colour is so bright and sparkling, they’re like little treasures m’lad. Of course, at the time we met, they weren’t shinin’ quite like they do now. Being well fed and healthy will do that to a person.” Joker likely shook Snake’s shoulders, who became flustered. “They now seem so eager to see the world, to make the most of their earned freedom. So don’t let their view be tainted by whatever they saw in that cage. The difference now is that people will be amazed by your talent, showcased by you on stage, instead of being disgusted by a filthy cage with a terrified boy in it. So why not make the most of it?” Snake felt tears welling in the back of his eyes, caused by Joker’s kind words. He rubbed them away, and then nodded. “Great! Then I’ll talk to the tailor to let him know we have a deal.” Joker let go of Snake’s shoulders. He then pointed to the make-up on the table on the left side of the tent. “If you’re feeling up to it, you can highlight your scales even further. They might be hard for the public to see when they’re sitting so far away.” Joker gave Snake a light pat on the back before walking out of the tent. Snake took a look at himself again in the mirror. His golden eyes were staring back at him. He never thought about it before, partially because he hadn’t been able to look into mirrors that much, but if Joker said that he was looking much better, then he’d trust his word for it. His white, toned body made a stark contrast with the dark green cloth. Curious, he walked over to the table, and found some green body paint. Unsure where to begin, he took a scoop of the stuff and rubbed it on his chest. The scales became green, just like those of the most typical snakes. He looked over at his friends, who seemed to nod. He took another, bigger scoop out of the jar and proceeded to smear himself. Once finished, he looked into the mirror again. Not only did the paint fit with the cloth, he thought to himself, it also matched with the colour of his eyes. Proud of his job, Snake left the tent. Tonight, he would debut as the snakeman, and he would put up a spectacular show. For Joker and his new found family.

[the-blind-assassin-12]

Also, as a second, optional thing for you to answer: Here's a list of six songs; which character do you think that they fit with the most... and why? Blinding Ghosts Light Of Love No Light, No Light Throwing Bricks Various Storms & Saints

OKAY I LOVE THIS QUESTION.

And *technically* I didn’t get any of these songs as requests, so none of them will overlap with any of the drabbles.

Under the cut because this got long.

Blinding: I’d go with Ezra for this one. It’s actually on my playlist for the Oracle series I started and then left sitting to collect dust haven’t worked on in a while. This line, which gets repeated, is what speaks to me most in regards to that AU: No more dreaming of the dead as if death itself was undone I REALLY NEED TO GET BACK TO THAT ONE. THERE'S A HALF-WRITTEN CHAPTER FULL OF FANCY EZRA AND FANCY READER IN A FANCY LOUNGE THAT I NEED TO FINISH.

Ghosts: Okay here’s where the *technically* comes in. Ghosts is the demo version of I’m Not Calling You A Liar, which I did get a request for (for Din) and the lyrics are the same. BUT! The tempo and tone is slightly lighter and more carefree for Ghosts, so I’d set that one in my Long Con AU for Pedro Across the Street. It’s about not being sure that the other person won’t burn you in some way, but that not being enough of a deterrent to stay away. I’m not calling you a thief, just don’t steal from me and When you kiss me I’m happy enough to die. Stick out to me for PaTS. I’m excited to share the one I’m working on for the Din request, though!!

Light of Love: First of all, I love this song a whole lot. Secondly I could go two ways with it. I feel like it works best for Dieter, but I could also make a strong case for Frankie. It touches on drug use/addiction and depression but on coming out of it and realizing that there is light and there are people who care and about fighting even when you want to quit. For Dieter: Flashes appeared in the corners of my eyes, I saw the stars and I didn’t ask why. Heard the voices and caught my breath, so close and yet so far from death - it also came out during the height of pandemic closures and lockdowns, which tracks with the timeline of The Bubble and the theme of isolation. For Frankie: I’ve been up all night, let’s stay awake. Push it further, you know I’ll never break. He says at one point he doesn’t sleep much, and I HC that plays partly into him getting busted for cocaine - he uses it to stay up for work or simply to stay up and not have nightmares. And then the push it further refers to how easily Pope and Tom (and maybe others) talk him into things he probably knows aren’t the best idea but doesn’t trust his own judgement enough to say no.

No Light, No Light: Joel. Joel. Joel. Joel. This one is Joel. Forget the mention of blue eyes (Or think of them as blue in sadness not color) There’s a theme of loss/things fading and of jarring violence. These lines specifically point to Joel for me: I never knew daylight could be so violent. A revelation in the light of day. You can't choose what stays and what fades away Along with Would you leave me if I told you what I've done? And would you leave me if I told you what I've become? There's also a line about wanting to make something right but not being ready for that conversation yet, and if that's not Joel & Ellie idk what is.

Throwing Bricks: This is the only one that made me really scratch my head. I like this one a lot, and it always cheers me up when it comes on because it's fun to sing along with. But if I had to match it to a character, I'm not sure who it would be. Maybe Nico? Since it's about building a man and bringing him to life and that man is a whole weird blank slate for writers to play with? (Me writing ACR: I built a man made out of bricks, and lived inside his chest. I beat my head against the wall to make a heart beat in his breast)

Various Storms & Saints: Hi, this one is for Aphelion Oberyn. It's about being caught in something overwhelming and powerful but in an "I chose this on purpose" sort of way, and about trying to keep finding a way forward. Lines that feel the most fitting: And I'm in the throes of it, somewhere in the belly of the beast. But you took your toll on me, so I gave myself over willingly. And also: I know it seems like forever, I know it seems like an age. But one day this will be over, I swear it's not so far away. It's definitely a more melancholy song, so I think it would be relevant to the time in his life between the last person he marked and meeting Reader.

Thank you so much for sending this alternate ask! This was fun to think about, and you chose some really good ones!

[animehouse-moe]

Goblin Slayer Season 2 Episode 1: An Ordinary Spring Day

Much like the title of the episode, its contents are rather plain. However, this is the first episode under LidenFilms rather than WhiteFox, so I have a lot to talk about. The short of it, it'll probably be alright, but it stands zero chance of matching up to White Fox. Allow me to explain why.

First, let's start with some staff credits. Yes yes, very boring which is why I'm getting it out of the way first.

It's.... very interseting. The director of the Goblin Slayer movie is listed as "Chief Director", while the "Director" role goes to a second timer that's a long time LidenFilms staffer. Similarly we have a total of 3 character designers (1 main and two sub). The main designer did Tsuki To Laika, while the two subs have done.... largely nothing. Together, these pairs of roles cause a good bit of confusion and concern. Does the "Chief director" role have any influence on the director? How much input do the sub designers have on the characters? It already presents a head scratcher to viewers that are aware of staff.

Regardless though, one of the biggest changes that's evident in the first episode is the color designer. Totally new person, and you can feel it right away with how much more saturated the colors are in comparison.

Following that up, and equally as important is the director of photography, and art direction. You might not think it a big deal, but it can be a really big game changer (it's also weird). For reference, Keisuke Nozawa is the director of photography for S2. Not bad, right? They did Vivy. But oh, there's something different about the credit. All their prior work lists Graphnica in parentheses. Still yet to see what the difference is, but I think it's fair to argue that it will be different than what they provided on Vivy. Thankfully for art direction, we've got the same one as the previous movie and first season.

However, there's a reason I talked about color design and photography changes as well. They're important in how the art is viewed, and with that I can finally start into the episode itself!

The opening is.... entirely unneeded. We know what Goblin Slayer's about. Showing those choice scenes is nothing more than torture porn.

Anyways, following the flashback we get to see Goblin Slayer out and in the open. Up close, his character design looks good. It's more detailed and the proportions are slightly different, but overall there's not much to write home about with him.

Priestess and High Elf Archer make their appearances though, and you can pretty quickly tell the differences. Both in terms of character and color design.

Archer's hair is more "pointy" at the top, and both her and Priestess sport smaller eyes with slightly different shapes. In terms of color design, you can tell much more easily than with Goblin Slayer that the colors are more saturated with them. Deeper and more vibrant blues and greens adorn their clothing in comparison to S1.

I don't think making it brighter is necessarily bad, but I do think it changes the tone as well as messes with the art direction. I mean, just take a look at the wooden tables here, with the brighter coloring and lighting they don't really look good. However, the darker wood textures still look alright (something about how color works).

And you know, that screenshot provides a good example of something else. Not quite character design, but maybe crowd design? Yes, the background characters do move more than season 1, but their designs are totally out of tune with the rest of the world. The lack of detail, as well as the vibrance that their clothes can add makes for a jarring scene in comparison to what we were used to with season 1.

It's a very big tradeoff, and in background characters like this I don't think its worth it. We're already losing atmosphere thanks to the color design and changeup in terms of photography, so adding onto the pile of less than stellar differences isn't great.

In terms of boons though, despite the added complexity of the designs, they seem rather well animated.

Of course, it's not all sunshine and rainbows as they struggle to keep characters on model, and the designs don't work too well at a distance. There's just too much detail that they try to compress into the designs that either you end up with a sort of crunchy or weird feel, or they don't really resemble the original design at all.

So all in all, I think there's chances that this season is good. So long as they're in a darker setting or at night, the art looks good. And considering how infrequent crowds are going to appear, I think they can scrape by. It's mostly in terms of direction and storyboarding how well they can handle the designs. Though as a bit of a teaser, they're struggling. They had 7 animation directors on this episode, and a total of 7 key animators. Not great, but I think it can hold up well enough given what we've seen with this episode. Though I suppose the real test will be once we get to see a fight.