#olga is rambling a bit to much

[woso-dreamzzz]

i feel like alba taking bambi is a bit extreme. hear me out! like yes ofc caring for one kid more than the other is bad!! but with the whole ale forgetting bambi at daycare it’s like what parent hasn’t forgot to pick up their kid once. like does that make sense like i feel like especially because it happend only once and she was at her job when she forgot that shouldn’t warrant alba legit taking her daughter away from her? like it just wasnt THAT big of a deal like ofc it’s not good but i think alba is reacting a bit over the top about it. idk maybe my perspective is different, but what do you think? id love to hear your opinion as the writer

I don't think you guys understand just how much I love answering these kinds of asks. Also, sorry in advance because this is going to be a lot of psych ramble but genuinely parent-child relationships and their impacts are actually so fascinating to me

So, the whole Alexia forgetting Bambi thing would be a big escalation if that was the only reason Alba had for removing Bambi from her home. It looks like the only reason but there were a lot of other things that Alba would have noticed when she got Bambi from nursery.

So, first of all, what Alexia's been doing is emotional neglect. Compared to other forms of neglect, emotional neglect is one of the harder ones to recognise because it's not as obvious as something like physical neglect.

The signs are very subtle and it's difficult to notice if you're not a child's primary caregiver.

From Bambi's perspective, she's been shoved to the side a bit since Jaume was born. She was never really close to Olga so she can cope with that in a sense (not that she should have to) but Alexia's disregard for her definitely hits hard.

It's a lot of little things built up onto each other. In Injured IV, when Alexia comes home she immediately greets Olga and Jaume but doesn't even spare Bambi a look. Bambi stays under that coffee table for quite a while in the hope that Alexia will notice she's not there and look for her but she never does.

She also mentions when Jaume isn't 'being good' then she doesn't get things like a bedtime story or cuddles at bed which is essentially her equating Jaume crying with the fact that Alexia yet again forgetting about her and that his needs trump her own.

There's also the fact that all of Bambi's individual pictures have been changed to ones of her and Jaume which leads to her thinking that she's only worth anything if her brother is attached to it. Similarly, all of the pictures she drew have been taken off the fridge in favour of a photo of Olga, Alexia and Jaume. Even when she lets Alba put her drawing up in Injured IV, she places it on the side of the fridge where it won't be seen as clearly.

Bambi also learnt how to cry quietly. When Kids are younger they can't communicate their feelings properly and crying loudly gets the attention of a caregiver so they can receive comfort. Bambi's learnt to cry quietly because she knows that no one will come to give her comfort if Jaume is also crying even though there are two adults in the house, one for each of them.

Emotional neglect really builds on a child as young as Bambi and causes effects like low self-esteem, depression and anxiety and in more extreme cases failure to thrive and Bambi, sadly, is on track for all of them.

Now, that's all from Bambi's perspective and, of course, Alba can't know all of that because she's not Bambi's primary caregiver.

She can only go off on what she can see. What she knows for sure, at first, is that Alexia and Olga have both forgotten Bambi.

That isn't what makes her take Bambi though.

She gets a notification from the Barca account saying that they're meeting their youngest teammate and it's got a picture of Alexia, Olga and Jaume so it's not like both of them were super busy and that's why they forgot Bambi.

There's also the change in routine that Bambi mentions. She used to get a new train every week and when Alba mentions that, she finds out that Bambi hasn't received a new train in weeks (more like months) which is a massive deviation from an established routine.

There's also the celebration they watch on tv with Alexia winning the Copa de la Reina and all those pictures of her with Jaume and the cup and there's no hint at all that she realises Bambi isn't there with her.

There's obviously Bambi's reaction to that too and her tearing up the picture because she doesn't think it's real (bearing in mind that it's a picture of her, Alexia, Olga and Jaume as a family).

It's clear to Alba that something is going on and Bambi isn't doing well because she's been in such a sad mood since she picked her up and then Bambi hides herself away in her room and Alba can't get the door open.

It's a pretty big emotional outburst from Bambi and quite out of character to how she had been previously.

Honestly, everything is out of character from what Alba previously knows - both Alexia and Bambi and it's enough for her to think that perhaps the two need to be separated.

The anger from Injured IV comes in because it's been hours since the final ended and Bambi hid herself away compared to when Alexia, Olga and Jaume come home.

Throughout that entire time, Bambi wasn't even a thought. Alexia didn't even realise Bambi had been left at nursery until she got home which is hours after Alba had to cancel her own plans to get Bambi.

The anger probably escalated the situation a bit more than it needed to but Alba had hours to stew and piece everything together so Bambi's removal from Alexia was warranted once she'd put it all together.

That's all from Inured IV, not onto Injured V:

So childhood emotional neglect is especially impactful the younger a child is. Bambi is around 4 and she's at that age where she's beginning to understand her own and others emotions. Having a stable caregiver to help her work through this is crucial and she doesn't have that so there's a big chance that she'll be developmentally delayed because of it.

This, of course, could lead to big impacts down the road when she goes to school and makes friends and even when she gets older and develops adult relationships.

She's already got low self-worth and is trying to be too independent at too young an age because to her, nobody wants to pay attention to her.

In Injured V, she actually flinches away from Alexia when she tries to grab her because she's now used to being ignored by her mother and having Alexia suddenly wanting her is overwhelming and strange.

It's seen in Injured V how different Bambi is in Alexia's home vs Alba's home when she's genuinely excited to show Alba the picture she made because she's still in her developmental stage and is still able to adapt and come back from this - at least in a way that will have minimal impact on her emotional development and regulation.

Of course, we also find out that Bambi at least suspects that she wasn't as planned as previously thought. She knows Jaume was definitely planned but she's slowly finding out that she wasn't so that's another hit to her confidence. She equates how Jaume is being treated to him being wanted and how she's being treated to her not being wanted.

When Eli comes and all of this comes out, it's clear that this is deep rooted stuff.

As I said previously, emotional neglect is one of the forms of neglects that's hardest to notice. Alba has no way of knowing just how long this has been going on for and just how close this is to having extremely detrimental effects to Bambi's emotional development.

The low self-esteem is already there. She's nervous at the thought of seeing Alexia, Olga and Jaume so there's some anxiety setting in too. For all Alba knows, the depression could be next and if she had left Bambi there, the potential of failure to thrive is quite high too.

So, honestly, Alba removing Bambi was probably the best way to do it. With Bambi with Alba, she would know how she was doing and even if she had left Bambi there and explained what was happening to Alexia, there was always a chance that it could regress back to the neglect again even if Alexia promised to work on it.

Honestly, the standard practice for suspected emotional neglect should be to report it to child services so Alba is actually doing Alexia a favour by not getting them involved.

But, yeah, this is really long but those are essentially the thought processes of everyone 🤷‍♀️

[beesmygod]

hmmm. was olga more "respectable" than maxine, for lack of a better word? we know she was the head of the coven, but would that mean respect from people outside of magic practitioners? or because of the way the world is set, there is not really a sharp divide between people that meddle with magic and spirits and people who dont? im asking bc i find the theme of legacy super interesting when it comes up (do people think that maxine is dragging the gottwin name through the mud? or do they shrug their shoulders bc who gives a damn about what an exterminator does and doesnt do?)

this is a good question and warranted a good answer, sorry for the delay.

there are a couple things at play here:

the position of "town witch"/coven leader was once significantly more prestigious than it is today. what used to be a position as essential as the fire or police chief has been worn away by technological advancements; her position was essentially replaced with extermination as a global business model after the rise of the cheap, electronic anti-ghost devices. maxine inherited a defunct position and failing business.

the divide between those who practice magic and those who don't is, funnily enough, the same as my view on why people make art and others don't: they don't enjoy doing the process. its messy, its complicated, it takes a long time, doesn't have guaranteed results, and it involves dead things in one way or another. sometimes it's just easier to call someone to do the process for you when you can't be bothered to work on your pronunciation of magic words. in this way, a witch is sort of like a plumber or a mural artist. explicitly for hire to do something you don't want to deal with yourself because it might be out of your skill range/take too long to learn the skills. so olga's reputation did suffer a little bit from the irrational public assessment of extermination as a "messy" business.

there's also an unfortunate stain on the gottwin name that maxine inherited long before her grandmother died: her father ran away from home in his teens because he and olga fought viciously and publicly. no one heard anything else about him until he died, and it was a surprise to everyone (including olga) that maxine even existed at all. so the rumor mill started churning: what did olga do that upset her son so badly? by the time olga died, people seemed to understand that the family was cracked beyond repair; behaviors that were more acceptable in the decades before the events of the comic were looked at in hindsight as painful and cruel. and since maxine, public nuisance, was the end result of olga's work it's hard for the public not to lay the blame at her feet.

so, maxine is caught in a sort of weird nostalgic hell where people can simultaneously tut-tut her for not being enough like her grandmother or for being too much like her. lol. this was a ramble but i hope it was interesting. im folding most of this into the comic but a lot of it i just try to keep in my brain when writing and thinking about them both.

ive been thinking more and more about olga as we approach parts where we're be flashing back to maxine's childhood and approach the next (final?) book. "books" are the huge overarching storylines as opposed to individual chapters, so there's still a lot of AGS to go. i want to explore character motivations so much i just need the power and energy to do so again.

[bvnga-aprikot]

Sketch of a wmmap OC

So a long, long time ago, i decided that Lucas deserves to have a father figure and a family that loves him bc everyone has them and he’s been pretty much left out of all of it. And i did so by pulling out my archived OCs from an old isekai story i made, thus creating my Noble!Lucas AU! In which Lucas slowly develops a bond with a stoic and nihilistic grand duke who lived a life full of grief and agony, as well as his ambitious and passionate daughter who aspires to reunite with her long lost mother. Together they open each other to different perspectives in life and later on help each other grow from their personal traumas while also confronting a past in their empire that was thought to have long since been buried deep in the snow…

They’re called the Zakharovs and they hold territory in the north where it is full of supernatural legends and overflowing magic. Grand Duke Aleksander is the one responsible maintaining the empire’s military and wizards, since they’re the only family other than the Imperial family that is known to be able to wield magic. He’s a bit of a tinkerer behind the scenes. One of the OCs i picked for this AU happened to be a favorite of mine, her name is Olga and she becomes Lucas’s adopting sister. While at the start she was very bratty and suspicious of Lucas being her father’s ward, she slowly begins to understand him more and later on become one of his life-long friends when the two’s relationship as siblings grow. I enjoyed writing their dynamic as well as how they interact with their father since they would be absolute trolls to everyone >:3

There was an old concept i played with of Lucas being part Korean or at least WMMAP’s equivalent to Korea. This was mostly inspired by a fanfic called La Memoria where Lucas iirc is Korean/part Korean? I haven’t read that fic in a while. So i thought it would be fun to have a group drawing with him in a hanbok alongside Olga in a kebaya and batik since she’s part Creseavian, this AU’s equivalent to Indonesia! Though i’m not really confident in the way Lucas’s hanbok turned out, if you are Korean or familiar with hanboks do correct any mistakes i may have made 😓

Another thing i want to address, in an earlier version of this AU, Aleksander had a sister named Maharani who is also part Creseavian and was instrumental in the growing bond between Lucas and Olga as well as having her own struggles with belonging. The good news is that she’s still a character in this AU, however she will not be the kids’ aunt or Sasha’s sister anymore. I won’t tell what her new role is, but the hint is that her character was part of the reason why Olga was quick to shut down Lucas when they first met…

Thanks for reading this post, hope you enjoyed my ramblings about my AU and OCs!

[a-ramblinrose]

A Weekly Reading Journal 10.13.24

My All Hallows Read is still a blast! I'm currently reading just a bit at a time from many books but I am reading so that's a win!

Currently Reading:

Fiction:

It Devours! by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

Harrowing the Dragon by Patricia A. McKillip

Poetry:

The Collected Poems 1912-1944 by H.D.

Poems For Tortured Souls by Liz Ison

Wound Is the Origin of Wonder: Poems by Maya C. Popa

Nonfiction:

Lady Killers by Tori Telfer

Graphic Novels:

Dead Boy Detectives by Toby Litt & Mark Buckingham

Something Under the Bed Is Drooling by Bill Watterson

Just Finished:

Fangs by Sarah Andersen ★★★★

Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver ★★★

Everyone In My Family HAs Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson ★★★★★

DNFs/Try Again Later:

Underground Hocus Pocus by Denise Nicole ( just a meh kindle freebie)

Spookily Yours by Jennifer Chipman (another kindle freebie and it felt really juvenile for an adult romance so out it goes)

General Reading Thoughts:

Started the week off strong and then I slowed down a bit due to fanfiction distractions. No regrets! XP

🖤👻🎃🖤🎃👻🖤

Happy Reading!!!

Current Reading Tag || General Original Content || 2024 Reading Page

And a few more ramblings under the cut:

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is one I kept seeing on booktube so spotting it thrifting was neat. This is going to be a weird one and I'm excited for it. Probably a book where I'll read a chapter or two at a time but not binge.

Angela Carter!!!! How did it take me so long to read her stuff??? I have a bunch of it so really how? Amazing!

Lady Killers is annoying me. When writing/publishing a group of what's basically mini biographies group them either chronologically or my theme. Not randomly with no pattern. No. Almost a dnf but it's easy to read when I walk with my Grams in the mornings.

Dead Boy Detectives is just meh so far. I looked at reviews and a lot of people say the show is better. I wanted to read at least some of the source material 1st but maybe it would of been better if I hadn't. I will finish because it take some epic bad for me to dnf comics.

Butcher & Blackbird was fun junk food but I could not take it seriously with how bad the two serial killer main characters were about NOT GETTING CAUGHT. Real names with witnesses around, obvious travel plans, texting details, and so much more. How did they not get caught? As a romance it was fun but noting special. I've heard horrible things about book 2 so I'm done with the series unless book 3's reviews are GLOWING!

[annbourbon]

2024 Reading List

Okay so I have to finish some books I left last year. And new ones. Here we go!! If you need hel understanding why they are colored, I suggest you to check my System color and Master List.

If I don't finish by the end of one month I'll take them with me to the next month so don't worry about it 😉

Also, if I ever create a post to rant or criticize it, the link is gonna be on the title of the book, so now you know<3

Twisted Lies by Ana Houng *for now it's only me, rambling about it, but maybe I'll try to change it and put my thoughts in order after I finish reading it*

100 Deadly Skills by Clint Emerson

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (yes, again lol)

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Fairytales by Brothers Grimm

The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf

Weird by Olga Khazan

Save the cat! by Blake Snyder

The second sex by Simone de Beauvoir

The rights of woman by Mary Wollstonecraft

The feminine mystique by Betty Friedan

Why does he do that? by Lundy Bancroft

The Bible ~ KJV (it took me sometime to decide which version of the Bible read. Please keep in mind I'm not reading as a believer but as a Literature student who wants to improve my writing skills. Although I do have some religious background and I'm passionate about certain versicles.)

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoi

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoi

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelley

The picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

Perv by Dakota Gray

Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell

Badass Survival Secrets by James Henry

The seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Nobody's Victim by Carrie Goldberg

Essential Book of Martial Arts... by Guli Cohen & cia.

The Ethics of Spying by Jan Goldman

Fighting Talk: 40 Maxims of War by Colin S. Gray

Stein on Writing by Sol Stein

Grand Strategies: Literature... by Charles Hill

Grand Strategies and Military Alliances

How to kill, spy and other survival skills

How to Stay Alive by Bear Grylls

Japanese Sword Fighting by Masaaki Hatsume

Japanese Ultimate Martial Art by Dorrell Max Craig

Ninja Skills by Anthony Cummins

100 Unorthodox Strategies by Ralph D. Sawyer

Prepper's Underground by Jonny Mayhem

Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall

SAS Handbook by John Wiseman

Secrets of the Ninja

Self Defense Nerve Centers by Bruce Tegner

Spy Book: Encyclopedia by Thomas B. Allen

Criminal Poisoning

A court of thorns and roses

Lord of the vampires by Gena Showalter

45. Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

46. Books on Decentering men

47. The Biology of human Survival by Claude A. Piantadosi

48. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

I'm too lazy to type the rest rn... there are more of 20 something pages, each with 30 titles per page. Yes. I'm sure I can finish all by the end of this year. But I'm not gonna type it all here.

TBH I've been reading 4 books per day since I was at least 13. I beat my own record by reading 7 books (Narnia Chronicles) in one day once. I was bored. Anyways I never tried it again or at least I was never interested in doing it so. But yes. I can read them all by the end of the year. I'll bring to you the whole list (I'll take pics but let me tell you my handwriting is messy so don't expect too much of it.)

If you by chance finish the books listed here during the year, send me an ask and I'll drop a couple of titles here.

The book titles might be a bit weird but that's because I'm trying to research for my future project. I promise, I'm a writer lol

[let-me-call-myself-olga]

Unpopular opinion(I think?): The V3 cast is dumb as fuck.(SPOILERS AHEAD)

Ok, so don't get me wrong, these people do have their smart moments, but said moment are so overshadowed by their general stupidity to the point it's a bit painful to watch. These people could've literally figured out the mastermind by the first half of the game, either:

- before the first death

- during the first trial

- during the second trial

Here I will explain each one of the cases of finding the mastermind, having as basis the the mastermind is also a participant in the killing game:

A. Before the first trial:

Something that we know from the start is that the mastermind wants us to kill each other. So let's "give" them a death.

First we'll figure out possible victims, the most obvious pick being Rantaro Amami, since for someone who is talked about as one of the smartest people in the building my man has made some of the dumbest mistakes you can make in a killing game:

a. he is always alone, making himself easy prey

b. he has nothing on him, leaving himself defenseless

c. In cannon he followed the flashlight produced by the camera without thinking that maybe "Hey, this could be a trap!"

Now that we know the "victim", it should go as follows:

→we think of a trap that in theory should kill him(as example we will use Kaede's)

→we make it look as if someone is planting a trap, making it unable of actually killing Rantaroand

→we make sure that he doesn't die before the plan gets into action, which we can do by stalking him for a bit(stalking is wrong, but since this is a killing game I would say it is excuseable).

Once he gets into the library and his attention is caught by the camera we'll only have to stay in position, most importantly we need to stay in blind spots of the cameras in case the mastermind wants to check the perimeter, positioning us in opposite sides of the room if possible.

Since the mastermind has to make sure that there is one death before time runs out, they will use the trap we made as an alibi and go for the kill. Wherever Rantaro dies or not in this part doesn't really matter, cause' we will be able to find out the mastermind and catch them before they flee.

B. During the first trial:

Ok, so let's say that we didn't think about plan A and that Rantaro dies from the mastermind's shotput ball.

I have absolutely no ideea how these bitches didn't connect the dots, but I'll do it for them:

• the moving door(since for some reason Kaede though that it's useless information)

• the way blood was splattered over Rantaro and the way he was laying on the ground(because those details should indicate that Rantaro tried to defend himself, which he wouldn't be able to do if he would've been killed by Kaede's trap)

• the mastermind being the only person that didn't show up with the rest of the group when the body was discovered

• the mastermind generally acting weird

(BECAUSE WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU ACTING LIKE NAGITO FUCKING KOMAEDA, YOU ARE LITERALLY PUTTING THE SUSPICIOUS SPOTLIGHT ON YOU, I MEAN WHY THE FUCK WOULD THERE BE SOMEONE "PLAIN" IN A GROUP OF EARTH'S MOST TALENTED PEOPLE????? AND I DON'T TALK ABOUT YOU CALLING YOURSELF PLAIN BUT THE WAY YOU LOOK AND ACT ASWELL???? LIKE YOU ARE PRETTY PLAIN BUT THAT DOESN'T HELP YOUR GODDAMN CASE)

This should be enough proof that the mastermind's a little bitch.

C. During the second trial

Let's say that we're dumb enough to doom Kaede and boom: second chapter babey.

Now you all are probably wondering: "How could Ryoma's death uncover the mastermind?"

Well the answer is: it can't. That's why Ryoma doesn't die in this chapter: because we are going to fake a death.

Whoever is reading this probably thinks I'm tripping balls at this point, but that's where you're wrong, for we have the best candidates right in front of our very eyes: Angie and Korekiyo.

Something that a corpse should have is low temperature and no heartbeat, things that Angie should be able to replicate.

Now I am sure that you are asking

"How the fuck would Angie be able to get rid of her heartbeat and body temperature???"

Well that is actually pretty simple:

1. A cold bath can get Angie to rather low temperatures to the point you would be able to think "HOLY SHIT ANGIE NOooooo"

2. When it comes to heartbeat things get interesting. All we have to do is get Angie's heartrate low enough so that we can make Monokuma *think* that she died. This is the part that *only* Angie is able to do as she has a big adventage: she prays(or mostly meditates).

I'm not saying that Atua will be able to lower her heartrate(although by the freaky shit she's been able to do I don't deny something like that wouldn't be possible). A fun fact about meditation is that it should be able to get her in a state where her heartbeat would be really low, low enough to fool Monokuma(because I don't think the bear puts on a lil' doctor suit and uses his teeny tiny equipment to cutely check corpses)

NOW we get to actual planning:

Something that we've seen was that Saihara was quickly able to get over Kaede's death, therefore he is giving himself enough time to start thinking of a plan to fake said death.

First things first, he should look for the blind spots of the cameras, then he should talk with Angie and Korekiyo (privately with each one of them) and convice them to take part in his plan.

The night the plan is put in function should go like this:

→Angie takes a cold shower just before she goes to "take candles for her ritual"

→Korekiyo goes to cut some wood for his "kill" and meets up with Angie

→Kiyo bonks Angie with the plank, enough so that it seems as if she fell unconscious(but this is all theatrics)

→Korekiyo carries Angie, heading for her lab, but once he reaches the camera's blind spot he "trips" and wispers to Angie to get ready

→Kiyo continues to carry Angie to her lab

→Kiyo fakes killing Angie with a knife, only cutting her throat a bit so that she bleeds

→Kiyo puts up the whole room decor

→Kiyo leaves

→The "body" is discovered the next day

→The trial starts

The reason why I think this plan is good is because:

1. Kiyo can't betray Shuichi because then Shuichi will be able to tell everyone about what Kiyo did (and everyone trusts Succi Sahara so Kork instanly gets executed+ Kiyo only kills women so getting rid of Shuichi ism't an option)

2. Angie should be safe since Monokuma will be paying attention to the trial (Monokuma shouldn't be able to get rid of Angie's body since without Tenko's death he wouldn't have enough time)

Now all Shuichi has to do is play dumb so that the mastermind will have to take the lead of this case, making them fall right into the trap as the mastermind will have to come with proper arguments in order to make people believe that Kiyo is the culprit since they wouldn't be able to reply with just "Kork is being such a sussy baka right now!" (said aeguments only knows by someone who would be able to look on the cameras). This was the reason I chose Kiyo as the culprit. He is so suspicious all the time that telling the group how suspicious he is makes you look desperate, leading the group to think that you are trying to frame him.

BOOM: Mastermind found. It doesn't take a goddamn genius to think of this.

[lenskij]

The costumes in the apple Onegin

Mariinsky-2, June 2015, costume designer: Irina Cherednikova

What I love about this recording, in addition to the fantastic voices, is the stage design. It’s tastefully sparse, with a dramatic dark backdrop, which sets the characters into focus. Since the first time I watched it, I was impressed by the costumes, so I though to write a little something about them.

Disclaimer: I know nothing about costuming! In fact, literally everything I know about clothes and fashion comes from Karolina Żebrowska’s videos. In all fairness though, what matters is what I feel when I see the costumes, and ether way, a regular opera-goer doesn’t have a historical database to reference in order to understand the “accurate” story told by the costume designer. Therefore, this will be an entirely personal observation, told with love for the opera and absolutely no research. The pictures in this post are screencaps from the recording, and they don’t necessarily show the costumes that well - but instead of apologizing for the low quality, I’ll urge you to go watch the entire thing :)

And so, without further ado, a little and non-comprehensive ramble about the costumes in this Onegin:

Act 1

The design tells us what the text doesn’t. What we need to know about the Larin family is that they’re living in the countryside: it’s an idyllic, simple and domestic life, far from the glamour and excitement of the big city. They’re in harmony. The peasants we see in the background are dressed in a mix of styles heavily inspired by Russian folk clothing. 

Here’s a shot of the Larin girls’ dresses - simple, for the country life. In the background, you can see their neighbor Lensky’s sharp riding costume.

Here’s a better look. Note the stripes, they show that Lensky is in love. Look out for when you see a striped scarf again...

[The apples! They are telling us a story! But we’re not talking about the apples now...]

At first glance we see Onegin is a dandy from St Petersburg. Sharply dressed, hat and gloves, buttoned up - unlike his friend Lensky, who’s already opened his heart to the Larins and has his coat unbuttoned. Under this first visit, Onegin doesn’t unbutton his coat, and he carries his riding rod with him - closed off, in control. Meanwhile, Tatiana is shaken...

During the letter scene, Tatiana wears her white nightdress, which we’re used to see in almost all productions. I have nothing new to say about this scene’s costume, but the rejection scene....!

Look at Tatiana! She’s dressed up - her dress is much more fancy, and although you can’t see it here, she’s also changed into nicer shoes than the boots she wore until now.

And. Look. At. The. Scarf! She’s wearing it, but when Onegin starts speaking, she takes it off and fiddles with it. It’s her heart she wears on her sleeves, and holds in her hands - but Onegin doesn’t reciprocate.

Onegin wasn’t rattled at all by this all. He’s wearing the same outfit as before, but he did unbutton his coat. He opened up by his own confession, yet he remained sharp and collected.

Act 2

I love the design for Tatiana’s party! The Larin home looks so, well, homely, and I love the rural feel of the partygoers’ dresses - they’ve dressed up their best, but haven’t upgraded the clothes according to the latest fashions. The nuggets of fashion history I know give me the feeling that Tatiana and Olga have new dresses for the party - they seem the most modern - while everyone else have a mix of older fashions. The servants were dressed in simple but nice clothes, and my favourite detail was the sofa where everyone’s coats are piled up - they don’t have any proper wardrobe, it all goes on the Chair!

I love how Triquet looks like he’s been tucked away in an attic somewhere since the 1700s, only being taken out for parties once a year. 

The most important - and my favourite - clothing choice of this party is how Onegin’s dressed:

Here he is greeting Larina - dressed in a black tail coat. You immediately notice he’s overdressed for the party - certainly very suitable for a ball in St Petersburg, but no-one else has a black tail coat in the village! I adore how it immediately marks him as the outsider. Everyone in chorus noticed him too, and started gossiping about this dandy.

Painnnn..... Another important detail: Lensky is wearing the same clothes he wore the night before - he’s been up all night, sleepless. Meanwhile, Onegin has been at home, getting a change of clothes, presumably a little sleep as well.

Act 3

After his years of travel, Onegin is back in St Petersburg. He’s yet again in a tail coat, but I notice it’s a slightly different cut: he’s upgraded to the latest fashions. This ball he’s ended up on is completely different from Tatiana’s party: here, it’s high society. There are many officers in uniform, and those uniforms are so decorated, his black-and-white formal wear seems almost underdressed. The ladies don’t have uniforms, but they are uniform: the dresses are of a similar cut, and it appears blue is the colour currently en vogue. The servants, of course, are wearing fine livery.

Here’s a snap of the ball, and in the background - could that be... Tatiana? That same girl Onegin met in the village, so regal, so beautiful?

Tatiana’s dress is a nice black velvet piece (and, notably, she’s wearing a малиновый берет, a crimson beret, which is always sung in the text but rarely seen on stage). It’s starkly different from all the other dresses. That simple yet very fine design sets her apart from the crowd, what prince Gremin appreciates in his aria about her. She’s a part of this high society, and yet a bit of an outsider. Her scarf is white: she has the utmost respect for her husband, even if it’s not romantic love.

After seeing Onegin again, Tatiana is shaken. And when we see her again, she is dressed in white. Just like in act 1, back in the village - she’s turned into the girl she was!

And. Look. At. The. Scarf!!!!!!! IT’S THE SAME ONE AS BEFORE - but now she’s wearing it inside out, the bright part outside, the dark part inside - their situation has inverted! Now it’s Onegin asking for her love, and Tatiana is doing the rejecting!

I love this production so much... The artists are amazing, from Goncharova’s Tatiana, to Bondarenko’s Onegin, to the maestro Gergiev at the conductor’s podium. It’s visually sharp, too, I loved the backdrop. I can wax lyrical about this production until the end of time, but for now, I’ll stick to the costumes. There’s probably a lot more they tell! Maybe I’ll notice it on my next rewatch...

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 265 “Keyhole”

So Golden Kamuy is back with a chapter that really make me...

...okay, I’m curious, very much so, really, I just can’t resist. I feel so called out watching Tsukishima and Koito trying to overhear what Tsurumi is going to say to Sofia and Asirpa...

Anyway, let’s start.

The covers shows us an image framed by a keyhole, a reference to the chapter’s title and to how some characters will spy from a keyhole and learn of Tsurumi’s past, because that’s what the image depicts, Tsurumi holding his baby while his wife hugs him from behind.

Tsurumi is basically wrapped in love, it’s clear is wife loves him and the way the baby rests against him, while perfectly normal for a baby, seems almost to suggest the baby too is hugging him.

It kind of reminds me a painting from Gustav Klimt, of which is often shown only a part of it, a woman hugging a child, as if it was meant to represent motherly love . The full painting is actually called ‘The three ages of a woman’ and features three women in varying stages of age, symbolizing the cycle of life.

This scene seems to leave out the old woman and paint Tsurumi in between the woman in the spring of her life, Fina, and at the beginning of it, Fina... but in a way symbolically Tsurumi can be ‘the old woman, which in the painting is in an aura by herself and with a desperate expression, who now gets finally included between the other two.

Tsurumi is the only one of the three who got to grow old and he’s clearly desperate for his loss. Sure, in the image he looks like his younger self, but the image is basically symbolizing how, through a keyhole, we’re looking at him talking about his past. The real Tsurumi that we would see if we were to look through the keyhole is older, alone and desperate... and in a way the younger Tsurumi shows a bit of this.

We can see the left corner of his mouth is up, but the same can’t be said for the right one. Even his eyebrows are slightly raised, in a bittersweet expression. This is not Hasegawa, this is Tsurumi remembering his beloved ones, this is Tsurumi remembering what being Hasegawa felt like, the joy of being with his family and the pain of having lost it.

But okay, enough with my speculations on the cover, let’s start with the story.

Kikuta, Tsukishima and Koito, who were sent out by Tsurumi with the excuse to check for the others discover that the soldiers who were on foot had reached the planned meeting spot but the same can’t be said for the three men on horseback (who were tailed by Hijikata).

Kikuta suggests to split and look for them, and Tsukishima tells Koito to stay there just in case the three of them will show up... which they won’t do as, below Tsukishima’s balloon we can see on image of the three of them lying on the ground, efficiently disposed off by Hijikata...

...who, however, is starting to show signs of his age as he’s panting and has some blood on his face, a sign it wasn’t an easy battle. Hijikata, joined by Ariko and Kantarou, plans to search for the 7th in order to get Asirpa back.

Meanwhile Sofia’s men plan to search for her.

Now... let’s go back a moment.

Remember how Kikuta told Koito and Tsukishima they should split and search for the men and Tsukishima told Koito to remain behind?

Well, this caused the three of them to go for separate ways, unsupervised by each other.

Koito, who has noticed how Tsurumi has reacted seeing the photo Sofia had, feels curiosity bubbling inside him and decides to go back into the church from a side entrance so as to spy on Tsurumi’s conversation only to discover Tsukishima had anticipated him and is now trying to peep from the keyhole.

Basically that was why Tsukishima told Koito he should stay back, so that Koito wouldn’t go with him and Tsukishima could freely spy Tsurumi.

Honestly I wonder if Kikuta too is taking care of a personal business, maybe not spying Tsurumi as he might already know of Tsurumi’s family, but it would explain why he told the others to split and wanted to go search for the riders when it was safer to assume they were killed and just give up on them. Or maybe Kikuta is the only one who’s doing actual work.

We’ll see.

Anyway Koito and Tsukishima show their maturity by arguing, each saying the other is there to spy Tsurumi because they don’t believe in him.

Koito though, tries to deny it, but Tsukishima, with a vein bulging as if he were quite angry, points out how Koito was now able to talk to Tsurumi normally...

and how this might be a sign that a distance grew between them in his heart. So okay, pot, I present you a kettle in denial. You do your best trying not to be a pot in denial as well.

Anyway Koito has no words to counter but, in that moment, they hear Tsurumi telling Nikaidou to go stand outside and keep everyone else away from the church then, as soon as Koito is out, Tsurumi checks the church AGAIN for intruders, forcing Tsukishima and Koito to comically hide under the desk, making really clear he doesn’t want anyone to hear the discussion he’ll have with Sofia.

I should probably mention Tsurumi’s face is always kept heavily shadowed... but if this is to keep his expression in the dark or Noda actually plans to redraw it for the volume version... well, this is up to speculation.

We’ve a flashback then, showing how Sofia, before exiting from Hasegawa’s house, spotted the photo of herself, Kiro and Wilk about to be burned and retrieved it. That’s why she still had it.

As the flashback ends Sofia wakes up to see Tsurumi seated on what seems to look like a clergy throne. She realizes her hands are tied (and she seems to hold something in her hand but maybe it’s just me)...

...and then notices Asirpa gagged next to her.

Tsurumi stands and removes Asirpa’s gag, warning her though to keep silent as he would prefer not to treat her roughly if he can help it.

We can see the gag, which was nothing else but her matanpushi, had left marks on Asirpa’s face as Tsurumi, who had placed it back around Asirpa’s forehead says it suits the brave and beloved child of the Ainu.

Overall Tsurumi seems gentle with Asirpa... if this is because she’s a child and it reminds him of his daughter (it’s an effect she had on Nihei as well) or he’s just pretending to win her favour... well, this is something we’ll discover in the future.

Tsurumi then comments he’s glad they could meet it again and the visual in this is very interesting as we basically see only his eyes since the lower part of his face is completely blackened and what little we can see of the upper part is covered in swirling lines that seems to hint to an emotional storm.

Giving his back to Sofia he also says he’s glad he could met her again which causes Sofia to ask him who’s him.

Tsurumi comments it’s no surprise she couldn’t recognize him as they had both changed and their previous meeting took place 18 years ago.

I’m a bit confused by this.

The official timeline says they met in 1891. 1891+18=1909

However the story started, always according to the official timeline, in 1907 and, supposedly, only one year went by, placing us in 1908. Have we... lost a year somehow?

Whatever, Tsurumi calls Sofia ‘Zoya’, showing her the photo but it still doesn’t ring any bell in Sofia. However, when he asks her if she has forgotten about his family too, commenting all their photo were burned that day and all that remains to prove they were alive are their finger bones. As he says so he shows two bones, one clearly belonging to Fina and the other so small it should have belonged to Olga.

As he mentions their names the visual shows how Tsukishima, who’s eavesdropping outside, connects them with the finger bones he saw in Tsurumi’s possession.

Those names ring a strong bell in Sofia as, with a shocked expression and panting (we can see the small clouds her breathing made around her, signifying she’s panting) she recognized him for Hasegawa-san.

It’s worth to remember Sofia always felt an intense guilt for Fina and Olga’s death, so her reaction is completely understandable. Those deaths in a way changed her life.

Tsurumi’s brain leaks as he thanks her for remembering them.

‘Oboete ite kurete arigatō’

憶えていてくれてありがとう

“Thank you for remembering”

Asirpa knows Hasegawa’s story as she was told about it by Kiro. Her interest though is for the people in the story as she asks Sofia if that picture portrays her father and Kiroranke and if it was taken in Russia.

Sofia seems still shocked and doesn’t reply.

Koito, hearing this, is surprised Tsurumi had a wife and a daughter. Tsukishima’s veins are popping out as if angry as he makes a sound of disbelief (はあ ‘haa?’) in a strained font.

He doesn’t seem positively impressed Tsurumi too had a past life and people he cared who might have influenced his choices. He possibly might have wanted Tsurumi to be solely attached and devoted to his men.

Tsurumi goes on, claiming after Kiro died they found some letters in his belonging, letters that he received from Sofia when they were writing each other while Sofia was in Akou prison.

Tsurumi suggests he and Sofia should join their knowledge together and tell Asirpa everything about who killed the Ainu and why Wilk had to die so as to taka away Asirpa’s ‘itami’ [傷み “Pain, grief, distress, damage”]. ‘Itami’ is actually in between brackets.

As he says so we see an image of Asirpa with a serious expression and an adult look.

It’s not the first time that, when the situation is serious, Noda depicts Asirpa as if she were older, her eyes slightly squeezed so as to take away the roundness that makes them look like the eyes of a child and her lips shadowed as if she were to wear lipstick.

And it’s such a sharp contrast with his words because the child he’s talking about doesn’t look like a child anymore because she’s forced in a situation that’s not fitting of a child and she will likely required to show a maturity a child normally doesn’t possess.

On a sidenote, as said before, Tsurumi has acted polite and ‘kind’ with Asirpa so far, but there’s to keep in mind in the volume version of chap 211 there was the implication Tsurumi came to believe it was Wilk who shot his wife and daughter.

Does he wants revenge on Wilk through Asirpa?

It doesn’t mean he necessarily have to want to kill Asirpa, he might want to ‘destroy’ Wilk as a father figure in her eyes and then take her as a replacement daughter. Wilk took his own child away so Tsurumi might take Asirpa in exchange.

And this might gain him Asirpa’s cooperation. Though, considering he planned to jail her in such a terrible place always in the volume version of chap 211, I really fear he doesn’t have nice intentions toward her.

I really, really hope things will go well for Asirpa, I don’t want her to be hurt... but I’ve to admit I’m also really, really, REALLY curious to hear what happened... hoping it’ll be the truth and not the result of Tsurumi manipulating information.

We’ll see.

It’s interesting Tsurumi said he and Sofia has to piece together what they know... as if he doesn’t have all the answers... which might mean he’s either lying or he wasn’t there when the Ainu were murdered.

I’ve always wondered, honestly. Murdering everyone wouldn’t get him any close to the gold, so it seemed weird he could have ordered to kill those Ainu. At the same time, unless Wilk chopped everyone down to disguise himself among the corpses, the damage done to them seemed the one that would be caused by an explosion.

We know Wilk didn’t do it and I honestly can’t think of Kiro doing it considering how reluctant he is at killing Ainu.

Did Tsurumi men attempted on doing something without him being present and things went wrong and everyone died but this caused Tsurumi not to know what happened?

I’ve always wondered if Ogata knew more than he let out... but he could have discovered things from either Kiro or Tsurumi so this isn’t telling us much.

Can it be that something happened that wasn’t caused by either Tsurumi or Wilk or Kiro, like other Ainu getting involved, fearing Wilk and the others would cause a war?

I’ve always liked to suspect Asirpa’s uncle but, of course, who knows?

Really, I can’t wait to know the truth!

...on a sidenote I wouldn't be surprised if Noda were to decide to keep us on hold a little longer and show us, in the next chapter, what's doing Sugimoto, or Ogata, or Hijikata. We'll see.

On another sidenote... even though I fear Tsurumi might hurt Asirpa... I feel really bad for him in this chapter. The pain for losing Fina and Olga should have been terrible, him being the only one to remember about their existence. In a way it should feel like a relief to get to meet Sofia, someone else who knew them and cared enough to keep on remembering them. ;_;

[oskarwing]

Out of both S1 and S2, what's your favourite scene for each of the Hargreeves siblings? 😄

Oh... that's a tough one. I'm just gonna go with what I remember first. I really love all the introduction scenes because they're so well done and great but I think just saying them and then saying something for Ben and Five would be cheating so... Okay, I love the scene where Allison just runs up to Vanya to hug her and you can just feel how happy she is to see her sister again right in 'We only see each other at weddings and funerals' because it's just lovely and you do get the sense that Vanya is a little confused by it but that Allison really wants to mend something here. Also the sene where she's driving the car and all of her rumors start playing in the background. Because I got chills. Okay this might be controversial but hear me out I actually also do love the Vanya and Luther hug of s1 for both of them. Because while I could go into a lot of detail on how decision bad and everything it's great! They use the size difference of Elliot and Tom so well here and with every step Luther takes you realize how heavy the decision he's making is weighing on him. Like it's nothing he's doing happily. And you also see how desperate Vanya is and I just really love the details of this scene, okay? Alternatively for a less heavy Luther scene there's the little ramble he gives when he's talking about how they tried to stop the apocalypse already (his little 'We died' *coffee sip* is very cute) or the scene where he and Allison talk while looking at the moon because it's so sad. For a less heavy Vanya scene I love the scenes where she interacts with Harlan and the scene with her and Sissy in bed because it conveys comfort and love and I love that for her. I love the Diego scene(s) where he's walking and then sees Grace walking and Grace tells him "Your father isn't here anymore, silly" and he realizes that his Mom is free and he is free and all of them are free. And I keep thinking back to that walk they took on the day that wasn't where Grace turns towards him and is trying to tell him what's going on and I also quiet enjoy the Olga Ferog scene because they're dumbasses and I love that. And the scene where he finds Eudora almost makes me cry everytime because it's so sad, every time. I love the Don't stop me now scene for Five because it looks cool it is cool but also because I think it's the first time we see returned Five be vulnerable. In the end he's just cradeling Dolores and I get really soft for that. I also love him during the showdown with Hazel and ChaCha where the Handler (and Diego and Klaus) show up. I love how time stops and I love him protecting Luther from the bullet. (When my mother watched it she gave a loud and approving YESSS! when he did that) For Ben I think I love the bit where he talks Klaus through detox the most - he was maybe pretty mean and sometimes outright unfair to Klaus but he did try to talk him through being vulnerable. I also love the scene where he talks to Jill - eventhough yes, I do see the problems with possesion but still Ben and Jill are v cute and Ben is very cute and aw that hug later with Diegoooh! (but I don't know if that counts fully?) For Klaus... I really love the goody two shoes scene! Like what a dynamic and fun way to see what happened and how fitting with his character! Especially knowing Luther held him back just like a second before. (I also just think that's his prettiest outfit, sorry don't come for me) And the scene after he died inside of death's barber shop with dear old Reggie was amazing. It was such an interesting set design too with the pictures in the back and it always makes me think so much about how much influence Klaus truly has in the afterlife and just... Ah! Great scene. I'm not very good at just picking one favourite scene... but yeah. Here you go. I hope I didn't cheat too badly.

[prettyoddfever]

some of the visual aspects of the Nothing Rhymes With Circus tour

The band didn’t make nearly as much money on this tour as they could’ve because they put on such an elaborate show, but it was totally worth it.

All four guys had talked about becoming bored with playing the same few songs over & over (which is part of why they were so eager to do something drastically “different” with their second album). A lot of fans complained that they didn’t want yet another tour off the first album, but I think this theatrical tour still managed to make the old material feel exciting. Spencer said something similar in November 2006 to The Denver Post:

"It's hard for us now, because we've played the songs so many times that we get bored. But our show, people say, is so elaborate and different and better than what a lot of bands are doing that they still like hearing these songs, even if we only have 11 songs and two covers to pick from.”

Brendon told Las Vegas Weekly:

“It's our first time really doing the kind of size production that we've been wanting to do do for a long time. The way that we present our show to people is less in the fashion of a club show, where it's intimate. It's more in the fashion of a Broadway musical where people pay money to see a spectacle and we try to give it to them with our production and performers that we have. It's more like if you were going to see Cirque du Soleil or the Blue Man Group – you go to see a performance, not just a show.”

THE OVERALL CONCEPT

The summer tour was pretty easy to summarize as “Moulin Rouge,” but I think the NRWC tour is a bit harder to sum up in one phrase. The band & their design team talked about going for “a really exaggerated carnival environment” and a “gothic circus�� theme. Reviews talked about the tour being a freak show and said it “could best be described as Tim Burton directing Civil War ghosts,” which is so accurate haha. The old-fashioned circus was supposed to feel abandoned and almost lost to time... the paint on the set pieces even looked weathered & old. The AFYCSO album was split into two very different halves (futuristic vs old-fashioned), so the visual aspects of the NRWC tour managed to capture that with an old-fashioned circus that felt a bit post-apocalyptic. 

THE COSTUMES

I think the NRWC tour was the first time that Anthony Franco did the costumes for the band, but he didn’t start actually designing original costumes until the Pretty. Odd. era. For this tour he pulled pieces from film sets like Gangs of New York, X-Men, and Waterworld to mix in... so that was the perfect blend of old-fashioned plus post-apocalyptic. Here’s something from the set of Waterworld:

Here’s a quick look at the two general costumes the guys wore each night. (Ryan also had cool sleeves for a short time). The guys did a costume change during intermission on this tour too, but it seemed way easier than the change during the summer tour... they mostly just switched something about their jackets. 

Bartram wore an awesome coat that later showed up on an episode of some show like Bones or CSI where the investigators were going undercover at a club or something. So basically the costumes were pulled from a range of tv/movie sets and weren’t specifically created for the band. (Here’s another post where I rambled a bit more about the costumes and how Brendon’s reminded me of Adam Ant). The performer’s costumes were also designed by the tour’s wardrobe department.

THE PERFORMERS

The band said that they’d recently seen Cirque du Soleil and were inspired to bring six performers into their own arena tour. Those six people rehearsed for 10 days before the first show while P!ATD was still in Europe for the previous tour. Andrew Logan was the choreographer and the performers were:

Tonya Kay

Olga Karmansky

Adealani Malia

Chae Hill

Tara

Michael Pena

They were all great dancers, but it seemed like they each had a more focused specialty too… like Olga was a rhythmic gymnast, Adealani was the main ballerina, Tonya & Chae were stilt walkers, & Tara was a contortionist. The fans knew Tonya best because she came onto the main boards online to introduce herself and some people already knew her as “Creature” from Who Wants to Be A Superhero.

MAKEUP

Spencer, Brendon, and Ryan got really into their stage makeup. Here’s a general overview of Ryan’s looks. Spencer did a lot of variations on the “El Dangeroso” look he’d been doing since the October international tour.

Brendon started out the tour with black shapes on his eyes that made him look like a meerkat (I’m not saying that’s what he was going for, but that’s the best description I’ve got haha). He switched to the whole puppet look for the majority of the tour, but there was also a short-lived design that bridged those two looks... the Kerrang article actually described the moment backstage at Madison Square Garden when Brendon tried it for the first time:

“Urie is putting on his stage make-up in preparation for the evening’s show. He’s decided that he’ll go a bit crazier than usual and sets about drawing big, red circles on his cheeks to match the black patches masking his eyelids. Walker strolls in and stops cold. ‘Oh wow,’ he shouts. ‘That’s awesome!’

Ross and Smith rush in to see what the fuss is about. The four of them crowd in front of the mirror laughing and shrieking...”

THE STAGE DESIGN

The whole band definitely worked together to come up with their NRWC plans, but I could really see Spencer’s influence in this tour especially. That guy had been talking about his increasingly elaborate dreams/plans for their live shows all year (a lot of those thoughts were in print or radio interviews too). So this whole tour screamed “Spencer Smith” to me... his imagination and flair for the dramatic were seriously amazing. Spencer also talked the most about loving the arenas because that meant they could put on a full show with a big, elaborate production.

I’m not sure if I can legally share some of the NRWC stage & lighting plans I have copies of, so I need to check on that still. I’ll probably do a bigger post on the stage design later, but here’s something for a start! 

I also tried to summarize some NRWC stuff in this post a long time ago... so there’s that.

(the main post)

[lestatwillneverhurtyou]

Confessions

Rating: T (slightly suggestive but mostly fluffy sweetness)

Pairing: Nygmobblepot (Oswald x Edward)

Summary: Born of a desperate desire to FIX IT after first watching the scene where Isabella is introduced. A different way things could’ve played out.

Betaed by the awesome @artemis099 ! 🖤 :D

Read on ao3 if you prefer

Ed doesn’t believe in signs. They’re illogical, fictions people tell themselves to feel better about how out of control life can be. Ed doesn’t believe in signs, but when he sees Miss Kringle in the liquor store, he thinks maybe he should start.

“Kristen?” He stares in shock for a moment. She looks odd. Her hair is styled differently, blonde instead of that gorgeous red, but he’d know her face anywhere.

With a sweet smile, she corrects him, “I’m sorry. You must have me confused with someone else.”

“You look like someone I used to know,” he says, still reeling with shock. How can it be possible? Could she be one of Strange’s monsters? Why? Why bring her back? What purpose could she serve?

“Are you feeling alright? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she frowns, brow wrinkling with concern.

“I’m fine, just a little shook up. And there’s no such thing as ghosts,” he replies.

“I’m Isabella, what’s your name?” she holds out her hand for him to shake.

“Edward, Edward Nygma,” he shakes her hand with a frown.

“Pleased to meet you,” she smiles, “so what are you drinking today?”

“Wine,” he shakes himself out of it, suddenly remembering what he was doing, “I’m having dinner with a friend.”

“That’s always nice, who’s your friend?”

“Oswald,” he smiles, “Oswald Cobblepot.”

“The mayor?”

“Yes, he’s a good friend of mine”

“You must be pretty important,” she smiles, “he’s lucky to have a friend like you”

“I’m the lucky one, really. He’s helped me through a lot. He told me he had something important to tell me at dinner,” he frowns lost in thought, “I wonder what it could be?”

What did Oswald have to tell him? He’d been acting rather off all day. It’s not like him to forget his words, could he be hiding something? Then why would he tell him now? That doesn’t make sense. It can’t be bad, Oswald looked...happy, actually. Happier than Ed’s seen him in a while. He’s really taking to his new job as mayor.

Ed smiles, remembering the way Oswald looked at him after he’d won the election. Like he’d never really seen him before. The soft, disbelieving way he said love when he solved Ed’s riddle. Of course the people loved him, why shouldn’t they? Oswald is wonderful, and he truly loves the city. There’s no better candidate for mayor.

Wait. Love! Could that be what this is about? Could Oswald have feelings for him?

“Well, you mustn’t be late! It won’t do to keep a friend waiting. And you won’t find out standing here.”

“Y-yeah, better not. Nice meeting you!” Ed hurriedly paid for the wine and headed out the door.

Oswald can’t have feelings for me, he decides. He would’ve noticed! How could he not notice something that important? We’re friends! We live together! Work together! I see him every day! Oh, Ed pauses.

Do I have feelings for him? Ed stops in his tracks to consider Oswald. He is rather handsome, and if Ed’s being honest with himself, he has admired him for some time. Long before he found him in the woods. Even in that first meeting at the GCPD, he’d immediately been drawn to him. Oswald radiates power and charisma from every pore. The way he waltzed into the GCPD like he owned the place, like he didn’t care at all that he was supposed to be dead. And then, in the woods, he looked like a wounded bird. A poor little bird in need of care. His mother’s death, he’d seen Oswald through it hadn’t he? Even that idiot Jim Gordon had thought he was talking to Miss Kringle when he’d been on the phone with Oz. But, love? Sure they’d formed a wonderful friendship, but he’d never even considered another man that way…

Ah but that’s not true is it. His over dramatic alter ego decides to cut in.

Shut up, that was nothing. A mistake. He was just a distraction. A curiosity is all. I never really felt anything for him.

That’s not what you thought when you had his tongue down your throat. I remember a lot of “uhhh’s” and “please more!”

Mind your business. Besides, Oswald is different.

You ARE my business. My body too, remember? I don’t even see why we’re standing here debating this, Eddie. You want him and so do I. Oh think of how magical it would be! We can accomplish so much together! Real partners in crime. Unlike that goody goody Miss Kringle you had before. She could never accept us like Ozzie does. Never UNDERSTAND us. You just said so yourself. He’s different. Remember how much fun we had together with Mr. Leonard? How pretty Oswald looked with blood dripping down his face? The barely concealed RAGE, the malice in his eyes when he’s plotting revenge. The schemes he comes up with. That murderous penguin was made for us, Eddie. Don’t deny it. You know you can’t lie to me.

We don’t even know that’s what Oswald wants to tell us. For all we know it’s about work. Important business to discuss.

Oh it’s very important business indeed. I wanna hear that little birdy SING.

Ed blushed at the graphic images his alter ego had created. Maybe we should just get home, he thinks to himself finally beginning to walk again.

As he walks through the door he’s greeted with darkness. Nothing but the soft flicker of candles. The air smells heavenly, Olga’s really outdone herself, he thinks. When he reaches the dining room he stops dead. Oswald has never looked so…

Beautiful, his alter ego helpfully supplies.

Oswald hasn’t noticed him yet, he’s busy nervously rearranging the cutlery on the table, muttering to himself.

Practicing? Ed wonders.

“Hello, Oswald. I brought your favorite.” He smiles, holding up the expensive wine.

“Ed! I was starting to worry,” Oswald’s face lights up, mouth curling into a soft smile. The candles make his already bright eyes look almost inhuman.

Ed’s worries start to fade as he slips into his usual seat and Oswald summons Olga to bring their dinner.

“Ed, there comes a time in every man's life when he must make a choice. To be brave and go after what he wants or to be a coward, and never know what could’ve been. I am not a coward, Edward Nygma.”

Ed watched, intrigued by Oswald’s speech. He could tell he was shaking, stumbling over his words a bit. He was having trouble looking in Ed’s eyes and even...is he blushing?

Well isn’t that a pretty sight?

“I’ve been trying to tell you all day. I must confess I don’t have much experience with this sort of thing. It frightens me a little. But, my mother always told me ‘Life only gives you one true love, Oswald. When you find it, you must run to it.’ What I’m trying to say is, I love you, Ed.” He finishes his speech, finally looking up at Ed nervously.

Well, that was-

Certainly something. He must’ve worked hard on that.

...

Say something back you idiot!

...

Any time now.

Oswald begins to look panicked, fear and disappointment shining in his eyes, he starts to ramble, “if you don’t feel the same, that’s okay! I mean of course we can still be friends if-”

Do something you moron!

“I’m needed to live but you can never hold me

I can be shattered in an instant

Taken, without consent

But given, I’m the most precious gift of all

What am I?”

“A heart!” Oswald smiles, looking up at Ed with a sigh of relief.

Ed was out of his chair in an instant, gently caressing Oswald’s face before their lips met.

He tastes even better than I imagined.

For once, I agree.

Oswald wrapped his hands in Ed’s hair, deepening their kiss with a moan.

Ed gasped, nipping at his lips teasingly.

They pressed their foreheads together as they broke apart, gasping for air.

“What does this mean for us now?” Oswald asked, blue eyes meeting brown.

“I think it means we’re real partners in crime now.” Ed grinned, laughing at his own stupid pun.

Oswald stared at him in disbelief before shaking his head. “What have I gotten myself into?”

[shortmania]

If Olga had children, what do you imagine they would be like?

Oh, I created a batch of those years ago. This pic’s from 2014:

To create OC kids, there’s a lot of junk you have to consider. Mother, father, family, parenting styles, income, environment, and all the ways these things might come together to form a person. And thinking about Olga as a mother has always been… fucking hysterical, honestly. Like can you imagine? Can you stand it? I’ve only ever been able to think about it in short bursts because it’s too much for me. It’s too much. 

There’s also The Patakis to think about, and the ways Olga is likely to change as she gets older. Lucky for my sanity, I see her developing into a calmer, wiser, less chaotic sort of person. Less luckily, I don’t see this being a particularly significant development. It doesn’t matter if she’s 20 or 50, she’ll always be Olga Pataki and Olga Pataki is ridiculous. I don’t want to say she’d be a bad mom, but… she wouldn’t be a very good mom, either? She’d do some things right and other things very wrong. I’ll get into that, but lemme just do a quick rundown of the other basic considerations here: dad, income, and environment. 

I created a husband for Olga around the same time I made these kids, but I never developed him very far past a few basic traits and a general backstory. So he’s very basic, but he works. Charles was a good friend from Wellington College (in England) who shared most of her English classes, was the only one to maintain contact with her after she transferred to Bennington, came from money, raised by nannies, bit of a nervous wreck but hides it well because that’s how he was taught–to be pent up and twitchy. His fam wanted him to be a lawyer or business man but he quietly rebelled by becoming an English major instead, knowing full well how useless a degree it is and not caring at all. He eventually goes on to be a successful playwright, though, and Olga performs in all his plays. So, income would be decent verging on very decent, and their kids would grow up somewhere teeming with theatrical opportunities. Probably somewhere really crowded and loud and pretentious.  

Getting right into it then, from left to right, we have Angelique, Helena, and Genevieve, because Olga’s That Bitch. They attend(ed) a fancy private school because Olga’s That Bitch. They’re all very well-read, well-traveled and “well-behaved” because Olga’s That Bitch. But since Olga is, as specified, That Bitch, her kids didn’t escape her influence unscathed. 

Tbh, I do think any kids Olga would have would be Pretty Good Kids™– barring her having any with an absolute scumbag like she so easily could, but that’s another question entirely (I write fluff and comedy, so these kids reflect that) – but. Hmm. I see Mom!Olga being extremely affectionate, extremely emotional, and frequently selfish; generally hella overbearing; definitely stifling. And she wouldn’t want to, but I can’t see her not on some level perceiving her children as extensions of herself, and thus incapable of coping with anything less than Excellence on their parts. Not to say that I think she’d be a monster. I don’t think she’d force them into things or demand they win awards or anything like what Bob or Miriam did to her, but being in the same room as her with a less than impressive report card would be… uncomfortable. And that’d be on top of her always being in their business, looking over their shoulders, and constantly trying to spend quality time with them. Even when they don’t want to spend time with her, and so help any of them that say as much, because Olga’s incredibly sensitive. So layers upon layers of bad, there.

Some rebellion would be expected, then, so Genevieve gets into the goth punk scene. She’s more casual about it as an adult, but Olga doesn’t understand her. Helena uses comedy and misdirection as a defense and smiles very big and very nervous when her mom’s lip wobbles at her a little too expressively. Angelique straight up hides from her. She used to be sweeter, used to gently comfort her mom whenever she inadvertently did anything that upset her, but it took a toll on her and she can’t handle crying, or disappointment, or criticism, and she hates explaining herself so she avoids ever needing to. She’s a little emotionally underdeveloped, as a result. Not good for anyone to avoid conflict.

I also see Olga babying the hell out of her kids, so that would be another reason for Genevieve to rebel and Angelique to be Babey. In some ways, it’d be good, like they’d be generally very sweet kids, but I’m not sure how emotionally stable they’d be. Better than Olga, at least. Their methods of coping with heartbreak and life’s little every day tragedies would be… interesting, though. I sense a lot of Beethoven’s 5689574th and other general dramatics. Dancing, ice cream, black mourning veils being broken out over the smallest things. Either that or just complete repression.

Since you asked specifically how I imagined the kids, I’ll go ahead and give a messy little bio on each.

Genevieve: I wanted to play with the dichotomy of the Posh Gifted Nerd archetype and the Cold Badass Rebel archetype. Bob has an influence on her in that he’s something of a military enthusiast (I guess?), and I see Genevieve being lowkey into that as a kid, until she gets older and learns more about what goes on overseas and how much carbon emission hummers give off. Incorporates a lot of her old camouflage into her goth punk looks as a mocking salute to that now. Proudly rides on the outskirts of society in her down time, but she’s the most academically-driven out of her sisters and was absolutely Valedictorian. Reads a lot of books, a lot of Smart Person magazines, and listens to a wide range of music (classical, alternative, showtunes, punk, jazz). Creative. Loves history, but especially the Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian periods of Europe. Super into black pearls and lace. Bit nihilistic, but cares a lot about everything. Always gets into very interesting conversations with Helga, but Olga has no clue how to talk to her.

Angelique: I already kinda rambled about her, but she’s my All Natural Girl. No makeup, no piercings, had to be talked into using conditioner, almost gave up shampoo once (bad month for everyone). Shy, sweet, sensitive. Concerned with the world at large. She tries to be an academic like her family but she’s really not. She dresses and behaves like a perfect little nerd, but school doesn’t interest her, and she feels hella guilty and self-loathing about it. All she ever really wants to do is watch trashy made-for-TV dramas, cook/bake and moon hopelessly over guys. DIY af, buys nothing new. Is Babey. Soft clothes, soft eyes, a little messy and chaotic. Constant low-level thrum of anxiety. Rumpled button-ups and over-worn sweaters energy, forever jeans, rarely in skirts because skirts are stressful. That character you forget and underestimate but shocks you with insight from time to time. Will probably end up a baker or smthn. The oldest of the kids, actually, though she rarely acts like it.

Helena: That girl who raids your fridge, chews twelve sticks of gum and paints your nails whether you want her to or not. No sense of personal space, very touchy-feely, always wants to braid hair and thinks makeup on dudes is the greatest invention ever. Goes against the dress code at her school very brazenly but gets away with it because her work is excellent and the teachers adore her. Attitude in spades but she’s a sweetheart. Lots of friends. Loves her mom to death but tends to avoid her without quite meaning to. More Daddy’s girl, though she avoids him, too. Parents are no fun. Thinks her Aunt Helga and Uncle Arnold are the absolute shit, because why would we want to live in a world where she didn’t?

And that’s my take. There are lots different ways Olga With Kids could go down, but Intense and Stifling are pretty much the two things I see as being universal variables in the equation. So, yeah. Maybe a little less fluffy than originally intended, but Idk. These are old designs. Other drawings and further information on these kids here and here. Shown pic here. I hope this was helpful anyway. Have a good.

[feynavaley]

@shinysteph replied to your post:

Love that movie! And it would be so interesting to see how you would interpret it!

About the AU: Ella’s attitude, with her kindness and resolution to be always positive in spite of everything life kept throwing at her, reminded me awfully a lot of Canada. So, I would use Nyo!Canada (Marguerite/Maggie) as Cinderella (I still have to come up with a good nickname, though). Her father would be France (I would hate killing him off, haha, but it has to be done, at times), and her deceased mother, Jeanne. (They obviously wouldn’t be exactly like the characters in the movie, but retain the generally positive and kind attitude.)

The prince would be America, and the king, England. I just think that the dynamic would fit them – Alfred a young and hopeful prince who wants to be free, and Arthur, a king who wants the best for his son and the kingdom but ends up being overly stern because of it. I would use Lithuania in a role similar to the Captain – in the fic, he would be Alfred’s reluctant best friend who cares for him and ends up being dragged along in his schemes. I think Japan could be the Duke due to his closeness with both America and England in the canon material. He would support Arthur and disapprove of Alfred’s infatuation with Marguerite, but wouldn’t conspire with the stepmother, he would instead eventually come to accept Alfred’s decision. I also don’t think I would kill off Arthur, haha, my heart couldn’t handle it.

I am, instead a bit more undecided on the roles of the stepmother and stepsisters as I don’t like using Hetalia characters as antagonists. I guess one of the stepsisters could be Nyo!Russia (Anna/Anya), who would be cruel to Marguerite without truly realizing what she’s doing and eventually come to regret it (and be forgiven). I have two different takes I could take on the rest: the other stepsister could be Belarus – who wouldn’t participate in the abuse but not intervene in Maggie’s favour, either, just watching from the sidelines – and the stepmother 2p!Nyo!Russia (Olga, who I see more shrewd and intentionally cruel than canon Russia). In alternative, Olga could instead be the other stepsister (Anya’s intentionally cruel twin) and their mother 2p!Ukraine, Sofyia, who I personally see as a very calculating and cold person – and as such, quite fit for the role. Essentially, aside from Anya, the others would be OCs unless I find somebody else suited for the role... Edit! I have overhauled this section in another post. [x]

I have a similar dilemma with the Fairy Godmother. I was thinking I could go with three fairies portrayed by Nyo!Prussia (Julia/Julchen), Nyo!Spain (Isabel), and Nyo!France (Marianne). Or, maybe it could be just a young fairy who once ended in trouble and was saved by Maggie and has been checking on her ever since, waiting for an opportunity to return the favour. In this case, my pick would be Seychelles (Michelle).

But, this is just a random idea, I’m not going to write it. And I hope I’ll stop thinking about it because I have other stuff I should be concentrating on, haha. I guess it was all simply born by how much I associated Cinderella with Canada. Thanks a lot for giving me the opportunity to ramble about it, though!

[thessaliah]

i have a theory about kirschtaria wodime i’d be interested in what u think? that he is going to be some kind of foil/comparison to kiritsugu and also maybe arturia. this is p much based on his name lol but also he looks like a male saber face a bit. also he is said to have a great love for humanity and seems to think of himself as someone who will save humanity. what do you think? i know it’s not based on much but i’m so excited for the next few lostbelts and want more content lol!

I don’t think thematically Kiritsugu fits in FGO narrative (FGO isn’t a story about heroism related to ideals, it’s a story about how worthy our history is and the civilization we built as species). Though I know what you mean, I guess. IMO, I feel Kirschtaria is a foil to Solomon/Romani:

Solomon was God’s system. Wodime wants gods as systems.

Solomon was Chosen by God, Wodime is Chosen by a false one who gets nicknamed Satan (Shimosa).

A close relationship with Marisbilly Animusphere, one as a disciple, other as Servant.

Solomon as one who wished to be human rather than the king to lead men, Wodime who is a human who wishes for this position (his motivation rambling in LB 1 prologue). 

They are both the “kings” of a respective Chaldea remnant aligned groups. I think this is very different from the Director, a bureaucratic role (held by Olga and her foil Gordolf) as neither Director provide any philosophical content or support to their groups. 

Roman played the reluctant king and is an actual ruler who doesn’t look like one, Wodime looks natural in his role although he’s not really one.

Despite this, both are notably secretive and unwilling to share their burdens and sacrifice a lot for their groups. Roman conceals all this with fake smiles and almost zero sense of self-worth, Wodime with pride and he lost his ability to smile.

Roman ended the Age of Gods. Wodime wants to bring it back.

However he’s as you say the “Kiritsugu” type (the one that kills his heart for his goal), which also places him in tension with Solomon because he used to be a “Shirou” Type. That’s just roughly how he is but in narration, he’s foiling Romani IMO.

[dcarhcarts]

🎰

1. dmitry sudayev / kseniya gorlinsky -………………..the universe wants it to happen (i have no more intelligent analysis than that honestly it’ll probably just devolve into me keyboard smashing in all caps) (it’s a resounding yes from dima so)

2. helene kuragina / liesel ivanov - i frogot, is liesel bi???? in any case um helene Will Try to Flirt. That’s just. Helene’s m o o d. In anastasia verse i imagine Helene has spent the majority of her life in Paris already??? to avoid her husband, who haunts russia up till the last moment he absolutely realizes he has to leave? Anyway, she probably thinks liesel is Pretty as Heck (charmante) and c o m p l e t e l y wasted in her work clothes (it’s such a shame to bury pearls in Communist Russia attire). Ultimately I don’t think re: personality and values they would work very well, even if liesel w e r e bi so…??? 

3. elizabeth bennet / luka mikhailov - luka, my buddy my pal my man, why do you keep ending up getting shipped with formidable ladies, even when it’s the generator doing the shipping?? Well, ok, ignoring the scope of au, Luka is definitely Lizzie’s type, to a degree. Dashing young officer with a heart of gold?? Lizzie is Down to mess with him, at the very least lolol. 

4. col. fitzwilliam / olga romanova - this….in a Surprising Sense, sounds like it could work. He’s an Officer (directly Her Type), and also not the type to be cowed by the fact that she’s a grand duchess. He might infuriate her a little and ruffle a couple of feathers, because it’s not a True Brand Rose Muse if he ain’t a sassy shit, but he’s definitely enough of a gentleman to know not to cross lines? He’d probably find her infuriating (a little bit) as well, and would make it a game to ruffle her feathers as much as he can without offending her oops

5. howl pendragon / aleksander ivanov - …………………wow sasha break his nOSE. yeah….i think howl would rub sasha the hELLA WRONG WAY and then he’ll end up with a broken nose. i don’t even think they’d be v friendly w/ each other so needless to say we can say the shipping is off lmao

@ncvaflows / send 🎰 for 5 randomly generated ships + my horribly rambly commentary

[animasend]

MASKERADE 2: ELECTRIC BOOGALOO INFO 

  this is gonna be long pls forgive me i go insane for halloween but anyways! for this rerun, olga is going to have three costumes. yes, you heard me, three. why? because i know no restraint and also we love a variety! they’ll be listed below with some ref images and a brief description and probably put under a cut because i ramble. any activities will be listed in the starter call as this is mainly a ref for myself and anyone else if they need it

VAMPIRE. yes. vampire. for the costume, she’ll be dressed much in the way like this, complete with a rapier on her hip. the only notable changes in her appearance would be her nails becoming slightly longer and sharper, paler skin, elongated fangs and her eyes will take on a heterochromatic appearance ( red & gold), and she’s going to be taller. yes i’m going to let her be like 5′7″. powers wise, just your typical vampire like abilities. incredible endurance, enhanced speed/reflexes, enhanced senses, enhanced strength, the whole spiel. she still also has her magecraft so it’s a Double Whammy. but to change it up from your typical vampies, Olga is not going to be weak to garlic and yes she can be out in the sun thanks to a gem necklace that came with said costume. personality wise, she’s way less thorny and more relaxed, in a way? to put it simply, she’s more likely to taunt and tease and be unapologetic while displaying some slightly unhinged tendences. (i am drawing upon u-chan habits and miss victoria from the hit vampire movie twi--)

CELESTIAL BEING. a star. she’s literally going to be a star (if you’ve seen the movie stardust then you’ll know). so yeah a personified star because she saw this pretty dress with stars on it and bam. costume wise, it’d look something like this and behaviour wise, olga will pretty much just be the same though she’ll act a bit more open and brutally honest and sassy. nothing will change much about her appearance, save for her hair reaching to about her ankles and her eyes will have this subtle glow to them when in dark places. and her entire self. yes think of literal starlight. power wise, the costume won’t give her any she’s just going to be a star she already has a little galaxy from her challenge why not just Embrace Everything

SPRING GODDESS. she has a crown so why not make use of it? so yeah, think of nature goddess because she works at a flower shop and also the Symbolism bc we’re making it spooky with the spring and rebirth and death and very loosely inspired by the goddess perse//phone. i’m still deciding on what her costume would look like but it’ll be either this one or this one with the flowers being red and orange. i’m probably not gonna give her any powers she’s already uncapped as is. BUT i think i will let her float in the air if she wants to.  that’s a fun little god-esque power! personality wise, not much is going to change i think she’ll still just be. olga.