#or do you only care about your preconceived version of me

[the-blaze-empress]

nimona out here making me feel things i didnt know were possible

[lisa972kdlz]

(It's translated from French, I hope there aren't too many syntax errors ^^" In any case, enjoy your reading !)

Dreamtale Theories:

Here's a list of a few theories about the Dreamtale Lore, this story leaving some very interesting gaps to try and fill. Philosophical and scientific thoughts helpt me to concretise these ideas, but although I've been inspired by them, it's not with these points of view I'm going to develop, but rather a purely artistic point of view. Little by little, philosophy and science have been lost in my ramblings, giving way to imaginations that seemed to fit together. Artists imagine. They cheat, they lie, they don't care much for concrete realities. In the end, the only science I get into position on is the elements of the Dreamtale canon, at least those I've managed to pick out. Perhaps I've missed some information that would disprove these hypotheses, in which case it would be courteous of you to let me know.

On a more chill note, say I'm just a teenager with a overflowing mind who loves to come up with crazy theories with whatever I can get my hands on, and I write this mainly for fun ^^

In fact, I don't think for a second I'm right, so I don't know if I can call those theories... Maybe speculation ideas about Dreamtale I wanted to share? Almost headcanons, but still based on concrete elements of the canon.

So let's go, first theory!

☁︎ Canon/Fanon:

For starters, why do I insist so much on canonicity? Because when it comes to Dreamtale, the boundary between Fanon and Canon is not always well understood, given that there are a lot of preconceived ideas on the subject.

The fact is, I see Dreamtale's Fanon and Canon as two completely separate worlds. And yet, understand that I hate adhering to variants of this and that for anything and everything. The idea of viscerally separating the Canon and Fanon sides of an oeuvre makes no sense to me, especially in an open world where each universe is a piece of a larger puzzle, where the world we're presented with is meant to be a huge playground.

And at this stage, if we do that with this universe, we could do the same for all the existing stories, no? Nevertheless, for THIS world and this world in particular, I think it's important.

For there is a crucial difference between C!Dreamtale and F!Dreamtale, a difference that completely alters the interpretation of the oeuvre. Fanon doesn't just make a few interpretative changes... He changes the very nature of a character: Corrupted Nightmare. And that, well... It's a bit complicated not to separate the two, especially when the Fanon version is so popular... Canon, he is dead and his body belongs to another character who has his own personality and background. Fanon, he's alive. Trapped, imprisoned, manipulated, split into two personalities (Night and Mare) or fundamentally evil, depending on the case, but alive.

Night is experiencing a bit of Asriel syndrome: it was because Undertale fans couldn't accept his death that the first AU's were created. And for Dreamtale, there was such misunderstanding about this (Because reading the Prologue, everyone agreed that Corrupted Nightmare was...well... Nightmare), that the majority think this is official. (It has to be said, it wasn't evident let me reassure you...)

To this we can add the fact that most of the time, in very fanon fanfics and fancomics, the other two trees don't exist or are never mentioned, that Corrupted (I refuse to call him "Nightmare" simply because he isn't Nightmare) isn't a real person or doesn't exist at all, that Dreamtale is an AU of Undertale, so made up of codes like the other AU's, but all that still depends on people's interpretation and knowledge of the real Dreamtale.

To put it more bluntly, and if the boundary's still unclear: F!Dreamtale is a part of the Undertale Multiverse, while C!Dreamtale is its own universe.

Since I like both aspects equally, and in order to get everyone on the same page, I've come up with a mini theory:

Dreamtale Fanon, being the Dreamtale developed by fans based on the belief that Corrupted Nightmare is more or less Night, has strayed so far from its original story (it focuses more on the "broken brothers" relationship of the twins, their mutual development and their relationships with the characters of the Undertale fandom), that over time, by putting down roots in the world of Undertale and through the influence of the creators, Dreamtale would have "split." This double would then have merged with the codes of the Undertale Multiverse, because Dreamtale was so well integrated into it that this version of it ended up becoming imprinted on the very core and codes. That's why, in F!Dreamtale, we don't always mention the other trees, since they never joined the Undertale Multiverse. Even we NEVER mention them in Dreamtale's AU's like Swapdream or the alternative Multiverses like Dreamswap, Swapverse, etc. That's why Dream and Nightmare exist in the alternative Multiverses,AU's and not the rest (Vampireverse, Empireverse, Minuscultale and so on).

The result is two Dreamtales:

The Canon Dreamtale, which belongs to Joku,

The Fanon Dreamtale, which belongs to the Fandom Joku too.

Well yeah, it's still Dreamtale, so it still belongs to Joku, no matter what haters want ◖눈ᴥ눈◗

Duh.

Also, this definitely doesn't prevent fanfics from being based on C!Dreamtale, it's even advisable to give it the prominence it deserves. Hence the idea of completely separating these versions, because fans can make fanfics about the Canon, and although it's fanon, it won't be similar to the F!Dreamtale version at all.

Two worlds taking different thematic paths created on the uncertainty of Night's death (like a "Schrodinger's Night" ͡° ͜ · ͡°).

Next theory!

☁︎ Tree of Feelings/Creators link:

This is a question I picked up when wondering about Dream and Corrupted's various attacks. Where Dream needs a body to hold him together, Corrupted has so many black apples that he can physically hold himself together without a body, and more or less correctly. Do positive and negative energies function differently? Is it because Corrupted has more apples that he holds on better? What is positive and negative energy in Dreamtale's Lore?

At the beginning, I'd started from the principle that Energy with a big E, being what makes up absolutely all existing things, humans and monsters alike, could be used by Dream and Corrupted to be converted into either magical energy or physical energy. As Dream only holds one apple and enjoys a body, he'd mindlessly convert his energy into magical energy, which is why he has a soul similar to human's souls and why he's able to heal as green magic does, or cause damage as white magic does. For Corrupted's part, possessing no body of his own and having amassed enough power from his hundreds of apples, he would have to convert negative energy into physical energy. This would require a great deal of power and would therefore explain why, despite he's stronger than Dream, he's not 999X stronger than him. He already uses a lot of his energy simply... Holding on without melting.

I also theorised that if one of them were to acquire all the apples, not only would it have a stable body, but it would also be able to convert this energy as it saw fit. Corrupted could then generate magical attacks AND have a physical body.

The trouble is... Dreamtale isn't actually part of Undertale. So there's no Magic,Physics duality. And even assuming that Dream converts that energy into magical energy because he's unconsciously copying the way his adopted world works, he's still canonically attacking with positive energy and not MAGIC made from positive energy. Energy comes in many forms, but I don't think he can control it in such a pure form...

All this can still hold together, but what bothers me most is that pure Energy would have... A positive side and a negative side? And what's more, related to feelings? Why not, but I'm not really pleased with.

Dream and Corrupted's energy is material, palpable. Of course, we could stop at the fact that it's just a magical energy like we find everywhere in stories and not ask ourselves any more questions.

But I love wracking my brains to find answers to questions that no one wonder, so I'll keep going èwé–

What kind of energy would this refer to? Not energy in the scientific sense, because that's independent of any emotion, whereas in Dreamtale, positive energy, for example, is directly linked to positive feelings.

Because tree of FEELINGS–

The most plausible thing I found with is that positive and negative energies are linked to the spiritual energy: auras, meditation, etc. Proof of its existence is fairly hazy in the world of creators. But in the world of fiction...? What if? This energy of consciousness exists, whether it's real or not. And if it's not in the real world, as long as there are people who believe in it, then it's in the world of fiction. What if the fruits of the tree of feelings were the material manifestation of this spiritual energy produced by the consciousness of the creators? Just as a world is created by a creative mind, what about Dream and Nightmare were the guardians of the feelings of fiction as the direct embodiment of the emotions that creators instil in their work? This could be the reason why Dreamtale isn't made up of codes, because it's the direct embodiment of a philosophy and not just another fictional universe among many.

I can't decide whether it's too obvious or too far-fetched ^^". It was the concept in Underverse that made me think of it... There are references between what Nightmare implies in 0.6 and creators tearing up their own universes because they're filled with negative emotions. Underverse isn't canon, but there's nothing to stop this idea of the creator,feeling link being applied to Dreamtale.

Especially as it allows us to imagine something even bigger that could work in relation to the three trees...

But before that, a little theory about Corrupted, because the more we learn about him, the more this character becomes... Mysterious.

☁︎ Something is rotten in the state of Dreamtale :

Ever since I knew that the three trees were part not of the Undertale Multiverse but of all the other Multiverses, I've been wondering why it should be Corrupted who embodies absolute Evil and not someone else. After all, we know plenty of evil lords, don't we? Isn't it a bit pretentious to claim him to be above everyone else?

But one detail, one nuance, makes all the difference.

By definition, Corrupted does not embody Evil, but negative feelings. He embodies them because he has become their guardian, their bearer. What I'm trying to say is that black apples and evil are not linked... Black apples are not fundamentally evil. They have no conscience; they are neutral, they exist for balance and have a purpose of their own.

No, Corrupted is Evil for another reason. He's Evil because he's simply wicked. If the personification of negative feelings is evil, it's not because the negative emotions or the apples are mean, but because they are themselves corrupted, alienated by a consciousness that manipulates them irresponsibly. Why would the Entity feel hatred? Hatred and not despair or dread? Because he was already filled with hatred, or because he has a fighting personality that allows him to exploit this emotion for its dark projects. Is it a sign that Corrupted isn't worthy of being their carrier? After all, he's not their basic guardian; it was Nim, then Nightmare.

In this way, that doesn't prevent him from being THE allegory on the scale of all dimensions (or of a large area of dimensions, if you don't like the idea that Dreamtale is linked to all fictional universes) , because the role relating to negative FEELINGS in a neutral behaviour is rather original. He's an allegory of negative feelings that doesn't need to be, and that gives a false image of what negative feelings actually are; the pejorative and common image we have of them. In reality, negative feelings are neither good nor bad; they mean no harm to others. The one who wishes them harm is the Entity, Corrupted.

He's a simple villain who has got his hands on power that doesn't belong to him and is out of control with.

...

Maybe not a 'simple' villain either?

Because, another theory, I think that Corrupted is this fourth guardian that Joku mentioned. Firstly because I don't know who else he could be, but also because he knows about the other dimensions outside Undertale. How would he know if he didn't come from outside? Who else would this fourth guardian be, and why would Joku mention him? What's more, a number of elements fit together with this theory, notably his strategy of manipulating Nim (Nim is far from stupid, and he probably wouldn't have succeeded so easily if he didn't already know a little about her), in order to create Dream and Nightmare, dividing positivity and negativity to undermine the pillars of balance, all with the aim of finding a carnal envelope and taking possession of the Tree of Feelings...

Like a plan that has been fine-tuned for years and years... Add to this the anecdote that the tree guardians are not the original guardians and that Nim learnt something awful about them before leaving for Undertale, and you'd think there was a rotten menace already pulling the strings in the shadows, long before our dear twins were born.

So what is Corrupted looking for? What's his ultimate plan? To spread negativity across all dimensions and reign supreme as a Living God?

A fine programme... But what if we took his ambitions one step further?

☁︎ Feelings, Life, Magic:

Why three trees? Why THESE three trees? Why place them at the centre of the Multiverse? Why are feelings, life and magic at the heart of the worlds? What link can we make between them?

Feelings, well ok, that works... Life and death, logical... Magic? Why magic? Magic isn't a necessary element in the Multiverse, sometimes it doesn't even exist... Why a tree of Magic and not a tree of Souls, or a tree of Virtues and Sins, for example? Undertale is very closely linked to magic, but that's not the case for all worlds...

This is where we come back to the idea that apples are the materialised forms of the feelings creators apply to their work... Does this also work with Magic and Life? Yes, it does. Trees don't just take care of Feelings, Life and Death and Magic... They reflect what creators need to create.

Feelings, as we've said, are exactly what it takes to find inspiration, to feed the imagination like maintain fire. As long as the feelings remain, so do the passion and inspiration.

Life, on the other hand, is quite simply what enables a work to exist, to remain. Life is the nest in which the spirit bathes, gathering together the experiences of the creator, housing and preserving them. You could also say that the more lives there are to witness a work, the more real a work is.

Inspiration, yes... The environment, all right... But what is needed to create something out of nothing? To make the unreal real? The immaterial material?

Nothing more than a little magic ✨ !

Not the kind of magic you find in fiction with wizards and pseudo-scientific logic, no... Magic in the sense of believing in something irrational. To believe that these worlds exist, to have faith without needing proof. Accepting imagination. Not in a religious connotation, but in the sense: Magic = Consenting Suspension of Disbelief.

Feelings: The fuel.

Life: The oxygen.

Magic: The spark.

Fire triangle is complete.

What if these three trees were the equivalent of the Triforce of Creation itself? Feelings to stimulate, Life to sustain, Magic to materialize.

What would happen if, by some mischance, an ill-intentioned person managed to seize the power of these three trees? What would be the consequences? In the end, perhaps this mysterious Entity wants more than just the golden apple in Dream's care?

And if these three trees work very well together, what would the fourth guardian be doing?

Would he be the original guardian?

Or the exact opposite of Creation: Destruction and Nothingness?

(Voilà! I hope theses theories will have interested you ^^ And you, what do you think? Do you have theories about what's going to happen in the Dreamtale sequel?)

Dreamtale belongs to @jokublog

[fantasygerard2000]

Read your arguments for Magnifico and honestly they aren't as well presented either. They are just mainly assumptions rather than actual things established in the movie. Especially calling him a narcissist and associating a disorder, which you are trying to use the NPD version here, to natural prone to evil traits. We can say he's vain, but we really need to not touch narcissm here

This is not me saying he's not a villain or that I particularly cared for him btw. He's a very boring villain and character overall. They all are ngl.

The movie just has a tone problem with its characters cuz at the end of the day they had an entirely different story in mind just to revamp it and confusing animators and writers what these characters are supposed to be like. Amaya was evil at one point but since they scrapped that now she's just clueless but also witnessed all the "bad things" Magnifico has done which makes her an accomplice but also not really shes just a background character that just doesn't do anything significant.

But yeah Magnifico is one of those characters where I don't see him as a victim or a compelling villain either cuz the story doesn't establish anything to make me care. Same thing for Asha though

It's just every time I read something from Magnifico fans or hater or whatever you fall in, it's just assumptions based on preconceived notions of other Disney villains

"The evil queen and Gaston are villains because they are vain!" No what made them villains is that they killed and did other evil deeds because they couldn't stand to be second best and thats based on their vain. Magnifico's vanity doesn't do anything for his villainy other than sing an obnoxious musical number. If some part of his vanity had any part of his villainy it's immediately overshadowed with that stupid book that supposedly makes it's users evil a very useless detail for a villain that is naturally bad from the start. Wouldn't it had been interesting if Amaya assumed the book turns you evil but it actually doesn't Magnifico has always been like that? But nope, the book establishes this lore

Anyways sorry for this essay it's just this movie messed up on so many beats that I can't help but see why there are so many conflicting opinions of these characters. They either have nothing or the movie gives them conflicting goals that don't add up

Oh, so we entering ethics of diagnosing a fictional characters now? Magnifico has traits of a narcissist but I never said anything about him having NPD, or diagnosing him because I ain't no psychiatrist and I know full well that diagnosing a character with a disorder has obviously unfortunately implications towards real people who have them so I avoid doing that. If I did so unintentionally, I apologize because that was not my intention.

Gaston and the Evil Queen are villains because their stories are personal to their main characters. Snow White and the dwarfs see the queen as a villain because she wants Snow White dead for being prettier than her. The reason she hasn't been overthrown because she's literally the queen and people don't want to piss her off.

Same with Gaston who the town sees as a public figure and a bit of a local celebrity. Belle only sees him as a self entitled jerk but what made him crossed it is when he threatened to send Maurice into the asylum if Belle refuses to marry him.

Tremaine is a better example because she does what it takes to make Cinderella's life miserable just to make herself feel better. She would have just find another rich man to marry and leave Cinderella, but no, she chose to remain in that house and treat her as a slave in her own house because she wants to. It's her spite and pettiness that made her dedicated to treat Cinderella like garbage.

While Wish does indeed have issues, the people who are confused about it are either just not paying attention or are just looking for an excuse to be angry at not understanding it. Wish is very straightforward with its story and themes yet people who sympathize with Magnifico flat out refuse to get it in their heads that Magnifico is a straight up cult leader and just like real life cult leaders, they isolate their followers, feeding them beliefs so that they can only rely on their leaders.

The reason why I'm vocal against Magnifico defenders are largely because they treat him like he did nothing wrong and accuse Asha of being the real villain for suggesting him to doing his dang job as a king and granter of wishes. Recently, I just don't like to engage with them, largely because just like with debatebros, debating with them is just a waste of time and stressful.

Playing middle ground against the haters and the fans isn't exactly a hill worth dying on because if you genuinely don't care, you wouldn't be participating in telling both sides are incorrect.

And to be honest, after seeing so many people talking about how Wish is not as good as the stuff they like, I just honestly stopped caring about what they say. Even getting recommended videos about why it's animation and music sucks, I just don't watch them and dismiss them. I get that Wish was not a good movie, so was Chicken Little and Home on the Range yet those movies still have fans that grew up watching them.

If you like Wish, good for you. And if you hate it, that's fine. Different tastes in media is not an issue. Its when people who care too much about things they don't like are the ones causing the problem, and they can easily solved if you just don't give them a darn.

[leofrith]

FINALLYYYY okay assassin’s creed + 1, 8, 16, 18

1. the character everyone gets wrong

answered here!

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

valhalla is not the worst ac game ever, just as odyssey was not the worst ac game ever before valhalla came along, just as origins was not the worst ac game ever before odyssey, and syndicate was not the worst before origins, and unity was not the worst game before s—[GUNSHOTS]

this happens literally every time a new ac title gets released. everyone hates the newest game until a newer one comes along for people to hate even more, and then proceeds to look back on the game they previously hated with fondness a few years later. rinse and repeat forever and ever. stop expecting the new games to give you what the ezio trilogy gave you. if you want unity, then go fucking replay unity. if you want black flag, then go fucking replay black flag. if you want the original, then go fucking replay the original. stop rating the games based on what they aren't and instead, rate them based on what they are. of course, none of this is to say that people aren't entitled to their own personal preferences, but the constant complaining makes me wonder if most of these people even like ac at all and in fact, just makes you sound like an insufferable, pedantic asshole.

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

reader inserts. not only would I Not Fucking Say That, most of the time the subject of the reader insert also Would Not Fucking Say That. they're almost always made to be so painfully out of character in order to fit into whatever story or preconceived au is being written, to the point where i often wonder if the author even likes or cares about the character they're writing for. personally, if i'm writing a character—especially one i like— i want to make sure i'm doing them justice, which is why i cannot fathom essentially borrowing a character's face and name and nothing else for the purpose of wish fulfillment. it's feels like these authors see all these characters as being completely interchangeable with one another and it drives me fucking crazyyyy.

the only reason i can really think of for not just writing an original work at that point is that using a pre-existing character also provides a pre-existing fandom for your work. but then you're also annoying the shit out of anyone, like me, who is going into a character tag because they want to see content about the actual character, not a 5k ooc smut fic that you couldn't even bother to put under a read-more!!! i cannot stress enough how much i literally would not give a single shit what people are doing with their own free time if the proliferation of those works didn't make every single character tag (and often actor tags as well, because some people will tag every character an actor has ever played in their fics as well, which qualifies as spam btw!!) on this site completely unusable. if i ever wanted to see x reader fics i would search for them specifically, but unfortunately there's also no blanket tag for me to blacklist. so i guess i'll just keep blocking new users until i die.

(yes, i know you said specifically ac and this is a bit more general but this relates to every fandom :/)

18. it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

shut up!!!!! you know i'm gonna say leofrith. 😭 he is the It Girl he is the moment he's got everything!! he's got the kind of religious trauma that only being a christian with a martyr complex could give you. he's got dead parent trauma and a horribly one-sided relationship with his adopted father. he loves ceolbert like a son. the best friendism with hytham. he's literally a sister brother. the dog motif. he is so so deeply unwell. i know he's barely got a character arc to speak of in the game but consider: what if he did? he is everything to me i need to be able to beam the version of him that exists in my head directly into the people's brains or i'll die.

send me a number!

[not-this-guy]

oh shit you hit on something I've been ruminating about. okay so like... Bro is Dirk. he's Dirk to the extent that Hal is Dirk which is tonsay he is and isn't, right? Like at one point they were the same person and they bring up the classic nurture vs nature argument.

What I posit is that, yes Cal had something to do with him being Like That, but! If you took any version of Dirk and put his autistic lil ass in the 1980s Texan foster care system... You'd get the basic template for Bro.

no person growing up in 80's houston comes up sane source: trust me

and yeah. that's about it. goddamn life experiences out here shaping you in ways you cannot even perceive, truly existencial horrors beyond your comprehension. sometimes i think about like. huh. wow. i sure would be a vastly different person if i didn't grow up Like That and like. Got Help.

too bad though, that bastard is off somewhere existing a blessed life and i'm the one in the flesh having to work for what i want while still aware of the horrors.

bro is dirk, but he's doing an "selecting only asshole options" run. he is actively speedrunning life, being the most "efficient" and "cool" he can be, because he knows he's got a time limit and he has to Be Ready. like, seriously. alpha dirk was already a mess when he knew they had to play the game around jane's 16th birthday, and there he grew up isolated with no ther people. alpha dirk is well meaning and honestly i think he grew up kinder for knowing that humanity was already doomed by the time he was born - because it meant that by playing the game they'd have a chance at restoring it. beta dirk, however, grew up in the middle of smog city texas usa with the preconceived notion that he'd be there when humanity faced extinction and it was up to him to make sure dave survived it - and that made him Not Very Fun to be around, and exceedingly macabre.

beta dirk is an aggressive misanthrope with a superiority complex stemmed from knowing The Horrors they would face from as early as he could remember.

he's basically the human version of the [ glass him ] interaction.

[cosmicspacesx]

i do not know who this letter is for

i am not a delicate flower, or the relief of a gentle breeze on a blistering summer day. i am not the innocent crush accompanying young love, or the fantasies you have about the girl next door. i am not a pretty shade of pink, and i am not a ray of sunshine.

i am the midnight black ink that scribbles your most undesirable inner thoughts down in a notebook, under the flicker of a single candles light. none can see the secrets i hold, yet you burn my words away in the flame, anyways - just to be certain. you doubt my ability to hold your secrets, yet you do not realize that fear & doubt reside only within your preconceived notions.

i would willingly have burnt myself away, before i spilled your treasures for others to bear witness to. the tears rolling off your cheeks are like a fine wine that has been given to me as a sacred gift. the trembling of your voice shakes my soul as if earthquakes were to consume the entire world, within a single heartbeat. words falling from your lips crash through every wall that i have ever built, demolishing my ideas like towns underneath a wave of boulders that are falling from the highest mountains.

tell me your secrets, and they will never again see the light of day, if you so choose. in the same breath, i must tell you i am ready to take on wars for you. i will fight any burden that has ever fallen upon you, removing any trace of the aches/pains they left in your tattered heart. every enemy you've ever known will vanish - sent away to reclaim their own soul's purpose, no longer a concern for you. i will scour the earth, searching for all of your missing pieces, so that you may piece them back together in any manner of your choosing. i do not care the order in which you choose to reassemble yourself, so long as you find it in you to feel whole once more.

my only desire's are to see yours be fulfilled. i wish to be reintroduced to you a thousand times over, getting to know each and every version of you with precise detail. i want to known your shadows, your demons, your worries & fears... every bit of darkness you hold will bear witness to my light, & vice versa. i require nothing of you, other than a deep willingness to meet yourself in all versions.

[ayeeyo1]

I think “Transmaxxing” only works for men. You get the social “benefits” of being a women, being seen as less threatening, allowing yourself into female spaces such as women’s sports and academia. Your still a male so you get all these on easy mode. Your still an evil piece of shit for that but I digress. You’re physically stronger than the avarge women. Men will defend youAnd vast majority of normie women treat trans women better than they would they’re own sisters. The amount of dykes that larp and ride for transwomen is craazzyy

Female people can not transmaxx. You’ll be a 5”4 blading male who is essentially invisible and seen as a creep. But your actually a female who has no male privilege or propensity to commit acts of violence. You get the worst of both worlds. The hatred patriarchy has build for women and other women treating you like dogshit. I’m not saying this to be an edge lord. I feel like people don’t tell young dykes the truth of the world. LGB activists and radfems yap about how things SHOULD be but never tell you how things ARE. Transitioning to a man 👨 is an L pursuit. You’ll never be a handsome man, you’ll be a roided up version of yourself. Stay natty dykes!

Don’t listen to these 5”9 white dykes who juice and get surgeries. White people ARE the beauty standard. Unfortunately most “beauty” standards are just Eurocentric nonsense. Kayden he/him will get matches. Hamza he/him will be in the shadows. Women already have preconceived notions of men of color ( as they should, all men are dangerous).

Trust me you don’t want to be a sub 5”10 man of color. What I’ll you do? Go to your homeland and say with your teenage boy voice “I’m looking for a bride” 😂😂😂. Force some straight women to tolerate you? Or stay in the west Settle for some wannabe snow bunny?

Bruh I’m telling it to you like how it is. Women are always valuable and the one demographic that values dykes are other dykes. You won’t find refuge in selling out. Take care of lesbians and you will take care of yourself. The world WOC live in is waay different than that of white women.

[acnhretreat]

don’t let me forget about halloween lmao

i keep losing touch with what the date is and i time travel so i’m getting paranoid i might miss halloween when everyone else is playing lol

i believe this is my first official animal crossing halloween

i didn’t play the animal crossing events/holidays as much as my brother did on the gamecube when i was a kid, although i did watch him play some of them. and i didn’t play animal crossing on my DS lite for long enough to get to halloween (i had a harder time getting into the DS version of the game, i think because of the cumbersome controls, plus my 6th grade mind could not care enough about the menial tasks you have to do to earn bells to pay off your loans which was the only way to get the game to really start getting interesting so i found myself bored often)

so i’m looking forward to whatever the halloween event is in ACNH. i know it has to do with candy! lol i’ve been stocking up. but i’m trying not to spoil myself for any of the animal crossing holidays and events if i can help it so i can experience it firsthand without any preconceived expectations

[hoes4hoseok]

enhypen as speak now

thanks again to @lethekoo for helping me:) this is my fave ts album so it was so much fun hehe

jake as speak now

“baby, I didn’t say my vows, so glad you were around when they said ‘speak now’”

I think jake would leave someone at the altar for true love ngl

he’s nice, I know, but he seems like too much of a romantic to enter a loveless marriage like that

anD if the roles were reversed, I do think he’d crash a wedding. probably not in the middle of it, but he’d totally meet his ex in the back and be like “DON’T DO IT PLZ 🙏🙏 I LOVE YOU”

jay as the story of us

“this is looking like a contest of who can act like they care less, but I liked it better when you were on my side”

a relationship with jay would entail so much heat. not necessarily fighting, but rather a lot of passion that, when you did split, would manifest itself in the form of tension when you were together

I have no idea if that even made sense but just generally I can also picture that library scene in the music video with jay SO VIVIDLY. the glasses and everything?!?! bye

jungwon as enchanted

“this is me praying that this was the very first page, not where the story line ends; my thoughts will echo your name until I see you again”

I CANNOT EXPLAIN THIS ONE 😰 HE’S JUST REALLY CHARMING AND HIS AURA FITS 😰

but also you would def be hoping he wasn’t in love with someone else if you met him and he had you blushing all the way home 💖💞💓💝💘💗 don’t laugh I know you would

ni-ki as innocent

“it’s alright, just wait and see, your string of lights are still bright to me, who you are is not where you’ve been”

now I KNOW I wasn’t the only one getting ready to fight it out with mnet with all that evil editing on i-land

with everything he’s been through and so many people antagonizing him, ni-ki deserves an apology

ni-ki was never in the wrong for voting taki out (argue w the wall 🤗) but this is just a “hey, it’ll all be fine :)”

sunghoon as last kiss

“and I hope the sun shines and it’s a beautiful day and something reminds you, you wish you had stayed”

MMM ME PUTTING TAYLOR’S SONGS ABOUT JOE JONAS WITH SUNGHOON TWO FOR TWO whoops BUT THIS ONE JUST MADE SENSE TO ME

maybe it’s because I have this preconceived notion that sunghoon is a heartbreaker but also he isn’t the type you’d be mad at you’d just be left wondering what you could’ve done differently </3 okay yikes I’ll stop

sunoo as if this was a movie

“I know that we could work it out somehow, but if this was a movie, you’d be here by now”

I think my decision was very much influenced by the fact that sunoo is a fan of dramas and he seems like someone who would reflect his the media he’s consumed onto his real life (haha like me 😝)

like I just think he’d be disappointed if things didn’t quite go the way he and his s/o anticipated 💔

I can imagine him on either side of this relationship too, this scenario just generally fits him really well:)

heeseung as superman

“don’t forget where I’ll be–right here, wishing the flowers were from you, wishing the card was from you, wishing the call was from you, ‘cause I’ve loved you from the very first day”

I could TRY to convince you that this has nothing to do with my love of superheroes and heeseung overlapping but I’d probably be lying

BUT I do think that there would be that sense of desperation in a relationship with him in his current status as an idol or superhero

it’d feel lonely sometimes because he’s such a diligent worker and puts his all into everything he does like COULD ANYONE KEEP UP?? probably just someone who knows their self worth I think I’m being dramatic

txt version ☆ fearless version ☆ masterlist

[my-verklempt-mindspace]

Day 3 April 5, 2022

Tuesday

Hello again! (Yes I suck at being consistent)

Today, I'm here with a specific subject to share my views on.

You know, I often think about love. About what exactly it means to "be in love." I've received a variety of responses from people I know, and media has portrayed a lot of different versions of it- some films/books project it as a sublime fantasy few are lucky enough to experience, some describe it as the "butterflies in your stomach" and the "violins playing in the background", yet others confuse it with infatuation.

Well, according to me, love is~

Sharing your deepest and darkest secrets, sharing your traumas, knowing that your significant other is aware of the dark side within you; of the void that exists inside of you. You know it's love, when sharing silences isn't awkward but comfortable, when you know the two of you have a connection to the extent that you can flaunt your imperfections, when none assumes anything, and everything is communicated clearly, where there are no unrealistic expectations out of the other, only a sense of mutual understanding. Here I'm talking about love in all its forms and the one that exists in all kinds of relationships.

Well, honestly speaking, I can keep going on and on about "love." But let me rather talk about a significant part of it~

Vulnerability.

Ever wondered why we're able to easily express ourselves/share our emotions with strangers, but aren't able to do so in front of people closest to us?

In my opinion, we all suffer from our own set of complexes, insecurities, and traumas that we have a tendency to constantly remain under a mask. A mask that protects ourselves; a mask that makes us feel safe, immune to people's judgements and criticisms. Now when a human shares the things that make him/her feel "weak", he/she feels like they're no longer in control of the way they present themselves, because that mask and that facade of safety has been lowered.

As a result, being vulnerable is difficult. Rather, I'd say it's daunting. Being vulnerable in front of strangers is difficult, but you know what's even harder?

~Being vulnerable in front of people who know you. Because those people have a preconceived notion of you in their minds, they know you and as a result, your sharing a vulnerability with them changes the notion of "you" that they had in their mind. In my opinion, it altogether changes the way they look at you.

And fearing that apprehension, we feel intimidated sharing our innermost emotions with the people closest to us. It's like we want to retain the image of us that they have in their mind.

That is why, according to me, the biggest benchmark in love is to share your vulnerabilities. To share your innermost emotions; that would mean that you've reached the level of trust that it takes to be an unfiltered version of yourself; that you no longer have to put on a mask and that you can be unapologetically yourself in front of that person.

Sometimes, I feel, it takes one broken person to heal another broken person. Just imagine- if a person with a void in their heart meets another with a void in their heart, they form a symbiotic relationship where both of them are able to provide each other the warmth they couldn't get from anywhere else and where both of them are able to fill the void in the other's heart~ and this also happens by sharing vulnerabilities; by sharing their weaknesses, by sharing the trauma both of them have been through.

Here's to hoping everyone is able to find that one person in front of whom they can be unapologetically themselves, be it in the form of a friend, a partner, a family member or for that matter, even a stranger.

Until then, stay curious, laugh more, and take care! :)

[rivetgoth]

Hey, tysm for existing!!

I always really enjoy seeing you on my dash, you're someone i look up to a lot and as a trans person the world feels less scary with you in it, if that makes sense. Idrk if I'm just a guy who's also goth or just non-binary, it's still something I'm struggling with but knowing guys like you actually exist and aren't just hopeless figments of my imagination really helps! I hope you take care of yourself, and please enjoy your life to the fullest!!!

Thank you so much dude.

I feel like the FTM community has a really big issue at large with kind of encouraging repression/discouraging self expression. Honestly I think it’s actually just a man problem in general LOL because honestly acting like masculinity and maleness itself is this fragile thing that can be denied via like, expressing any sort of non-traditional behavior is really really prevalent amongst normie guys in general and no different from cis men with fragile egos who do the exact same thing. But it is disappointing because you’d think that guys who already have to fight preconceived/mainstream notions of gender to be respected as men at all would be more nuanced about it? But no. It’s unfortunate.

I think it’s kinda compounded by the fact that a lot of conversations around transmasculinity and gender nonconformity have this approach that’s very removed from IRL experiences being perceived as a GNC man. A lot of FTM spaces view transmasculinity as this binary where the only options are “passing and gender conforming” and “non-passing and gender nonconforming” which is. Really fucking awful, infantilizing, and I’d say just straight up transphobic. The implication that trans men are never actually perceived as men if we’re gender nonconforming sucks big time. I didn’t realize for the longest time that trans men can be both not typically masculine and still pass. When I’m out in the world I’m read as a really effeminate man. The way these things get simplified and watered down suck because they deny us the reality of our experiences but it also just really sucks for questioning or pre-everything trans men who are trying to grapple with their identity and self-expression and trying to figure out if there is a future for them that isn’t just “giving up any sense of self” or “never being seen as a man.”

I dunno, I’m kinda rambling but it’s a topic I feel really strongly about. My dysphoria and being closeted in an unaccepting household in a small conservative town really made it hard for me to express myself when I was younger. It got to a point where I questioned if I was really a man (and I identified as nonbinary for awhile due to this) because I felt so torn between expressing myself and actually trying to pass as a man, and failing miserably because I was pre-everything and closeted anyway, and I just felt like I was being torn between multiple facets of myself that were at odds with each other. Coming to the realization that there are incredible amazing goth guys in the world who practice non-traditional forms of masculinity and maleness and that I didn’t have to live up to a preconceived notion or standard of masculinity to be a real man, that that was something that existed within me rather than something that I had to fight for by betraying my inner self, and most importantly realizing that transness is meant to be an extension of the self, a tool to become the best and most authentic, truest, happiest version of yourself, that it’s not supposed to change you from the person you are but make you a more realized version of that person, was what made me realize who I was and who I wanted to be and was what finally pushed me to confidently transition and begin living as a man.

Your story may not be the same as mine in the end! And that’s fine. Just be true to yourself, dude. I know it’s cheesy advice but I mean it. Just do what makes you happy. I fully believe that transness, like art, can be a grueling and painful process but it’s also a beautiful facet of the human experience and there is so much hope and joy and magic and love to be found in it. 🖤✨

[therealvinelle]

So I don't know if you're the right person to ask, but you seem to be tuned in to fandom tropes and you love Carlisle so I thought you might know. So um do you happen to know what's the deal with the trope of Carlisle spanking the Cullen kids? Why is that such a huge thing? The Carlisle tag on ff dot net is so full of fics like that and that's really weird because canon Carlisle gives zero indication of being strict with his children, and he hates violence. Was there like a fandom challenge or kinkmeme that kicked things off? Did Peter Facinelli play a character like that in another movie? What's going on?

I was going to go sleep early tonight but then this fell into my inbox and after I was done gaping at it I decided to reply right away.

So, first of I'm not sure that I'm actually tuned in. I've lurked on tumblr a lot, sure, but 90% of my familiarity with what I'd actually label Twilight fandom is through fanfiction. I've read a lot of it, it's what I do really. I'm usually not a tumblr fandom person at all, this blog is an anomaly.

With that in mind, this won't come as a surprise but I heavily disagree with this fandom's fanon, and fanon Carlisle especially just kills me. He's a Christian™ (he's either Flanders or Satan's Alley or somehow both) and if we accidentally make him Catholic along the way that's fine. He's Stepford American Dad and that's the dream, and last but not least he's a certified Edward sycophant. Oh, and a raging misogynist of course.

And somehow, all of this has translated into fanfiction having a big trope where he is a BDSM enthusiast who's got a dungeon and asks his children (or, more likely, Bella. Sadly never Aro, that would be hilarious and singlehandedly redeem the whole trope) "Who's your daddy?"

I see bondage Carlisle, but I can't explain him. Sexy authority man is in charge in a sexy way?

People see what they want to see. If burger-flipping American Dad who'd have lots to talk about with Charlie is what they want from him then that's what they'll see, same goes for those who want to tear this racist misogynist monster down from his pedestal.

That being said, I think most people don't put a lot of thought into his character, at least not without already having strong preconceived notions about who he is. And why should they, along with Esme he's the boring and adult Cullen. Can't make high school headcanons with him, nor any of the Cullen kid stuff people are so fond of. He becomes a background fixture, far from the focal point.

There's the movies, of course, those babies did a lot of damage. Switching Carlisle's faith around so he now believes vampires don't have souls is a big one, but really there are so many little moments that total up to a very different character.

In essence I think Carlisle spanking his kids comes from fandom having created a version of his character that they've gotten very attached to, while also not caring enough to dive deep into his character and asking themselves, "this is the sum of his actions. What does that make him?"

As for Facinelli, the only other thing I've seen him in was when he was in season 5 of Glee. His character, a Broadway director, showed no proclivity for BDSM or spanking.

[loruleanheart]

I got inspired by astronomicalunit32’s Zelast playlist explanations and so I chose a few songs from my playlist to go more in depth over. I’m taking artistic license with these lyrics of course and discussing what they mean to me when I hear them.

Explanations under the cut, because this is a bit lengthy.

The Ones - Aesthetic Perfection

This song gave me canon Astor vibes. I associate it with his canon fate/death, especially with the following lyrics:

“Crawl to the mirror and see all that you’ve become. A grim reflection of all the things that you have done. You try to weep, but no tears have or ever will come. So this is who you are?”

Basically reflecting for a moment before death that he was ultimately just a pawn of Calamity Ganon and what he thought he had was all lie. It’s a cruel fate and a horrible way to spend your last moments alive.

I Am Robot Hear Me Glitch -  Nosthalghia

A song from Zelda’s point of view, a lot of it having to do with her frustrations with her father’s scolding and her training, and somehow it all drives her to try to awaken her inner power all the more out of spite, even if it seems an impossible task.

Golden Crown - Anaria

Another song that makes me think of Zelda.

The official description on the band’s site even says “Golden Crown is about wanting to break free of being held to standards of perfection, left to pursue our dreams without preconceived notions of who we should be.”

“Why do you build me up only to tear me down? Was I not good enough to wear your golden crown?”

The rare occasion Rhoam tries to inspire Zelda towards her duty is just torn down by his hurtful words.

“Why do your lips sing praise while your throat screams neglect? Am I your Goddess or am I degenerate?”

Rhoam so easily lavishes the Champions with praise while not sparing even one kind word to his own daughter. Zelda begins to feel as though she’s somehow less than the previous Zelda’s in the line, even wondering if she’s just broken.

Rise - Illumishade

This song has very strong canon Zelda vibes.

“Got a savage war to fight for a kingdom I hold tight. With the gravity of might I fulfill my role.”

But it’s then followed up by this:

“and yet a young girl screams a fearsome tale of life unknown.”

There’s a whole tale unknown where Zelda successfully redeems Astor and they live happily ever after, and she’s screaming across the void to canon Zelda that she doesn't have to ‘fight alone’.

That won’t Save Us - Against The Current

They’re enemies, and Astor lives in Zelda’s mind 24/7 rent free. She obsessively wonders what makes him tick and what would drive a Hylian to serve Calamity Ganon. She considers that they’ve both become ‘numb’ from their respective roles, and perhaps they are indeed destined to fight, but she aims to do better and set her anger and distaste aside and slowly realizes she’s starting to fall for him.

Savages - Kerli

Pretty self-explanatory, Zelda pining over Astor.

“And I curse this hell and I hate your guts.”

It’s ‘hell’ to pine for someone you’re supposed to hate (and does hate to a certain extent.) She knows it's a dangerous crush, but she can’t help herself.

“I’ll lick the poison from right off your kiss. Fall on rosy thorns for a taste of lethal bliss.”

She wants him so badly, she doesn’t care if she gets hurt in the process.

“Each of my defeats is your victory. And I walk barefoot on a field of swords. You have mastered the art of cruelty. And I curse this hell and I hate your guts.”

 This nicely reflects Astor’s thoughts right after she awakens her power.

Alone - Anaria (Cover, original song is by Heart)

Mutual pining. They’re each wondering what the other is up to at any given moment. Astor has never dealt with these emotions before and never thought he would, and doesn’t know how to cope. 

I want love - Myuu, Violent Orlandi (Cover of the Silent Hill 3 song)

You can really feel the sadness and longing in the singer’s voice in this version. From Zelda’s point of view. She’s so worn down after all her training and breaks down as she thinks about Astor This is a moment of rock bottom pining.

The Unforgotten Name - Seven Spires

Astor has been redeemed and is supporting Zelda through the Calamity. 

“Solemnly I swear to vanquish darkness in your name. I swear your light will permeate my being.”

Tales of Time - Illumishade

Astor and Zelda post Calamity. Happily ever after.

Voices Carry - Adona, Unsecret, and Roary and the Colony (Cover, Original song by ‘Til Tuesday) (The cover omits some of the original lyrics, and the tune of the cover gives a totally different feeling from the original. So much so that I almost didn’t recognize it.)

Their first kiss. (The song is so evocative, I got a whole story idea here.)

I wanted to write a oneshot of this idea as an alternate first kiss scene. Unfortunately I’m kind of bogged down at the moment trying to wrap up Desired Fate.

Zelda is training at the Spring of Power. Astor shows up (maybe he got Kohga and Sooga to distract Link, so he could sneak into the spring under the guise that he was there to make another attempt on her life.)

Zelda and Astor sneak behind the Goddess Statue for cover, and Astor is telling her to keep her voice down. They can’t let anyone know that their relationship is evolving into something more than enemies. They’re still getting to know each other, and Zelda wonders what he’s thinking, but she’s ‘frightened of the things she might find’. She’s trying to figure out how she can pull him away from Calamity Ganon, and when she confesses that she’s falling in love with him, Astor loses his composure, because he knows ‘all the trouble they’ll get’.

They argue for a bit and then Astor relents and kisses her. The water is so cold, but Zelda barely notices as she is locked in his embrace.

The song has a very sad, romantic feel to it, but it ends sounding triumphant and elated.

(I can imagine Kohga and Sooga being pissed that Astor, yet again, failed to kill her and give him shit about it afterwards.)

[not-xpr-art]

Art Advice #3 - Drawing tips!

Hi everyone!

As you may know, every week or so I’m writing blog posts with art advice hints and tips for artists of any skill level in the hopes of helping some people out a bit! The tag is here so feel free to check out some of my other posts!

This week’s post is going to be some drawing tips I’ve picked up over the years that could hopefully be useful for beginner artists! 

(this is about 1800 words altogether btw)

Drawings tips!

I’m going to split this post up into little sections which will hopefully make it easier for you to scroll to find certain advice you’re particularly interested in!

Part 1 - How to get started?

I’m a firm believer that anyone can be an artist, regardless of what materials or equipment they have. So when it comes to my advice on what kind of materials I recommend for beginner artists, I’d mainly say ‘whatever you have’. 

But if that’s a bit vague, I’d essentially recommend you have a set of pencils which you can usually get relatively inexpensive online or in craft/art shops which range from 6B all the way to 6H (’B’ being for softer, darker pencils, often good for shading, and ‘H’ for the harder pencil leads which are best for much lighter shading or if you want a really faint sketch. Something important to note about ‘H’ pencils is not to press too hard with them since they’re a lot more likely to leave indents in the paper than ‘B’ pencils! For general sketching I personally use 2B or 3B pencils since they have the perfect balance of soft & hardness in my opinion!) 

Of course, you can just draw with whatever pens or pencils you already have, so definitely don’t feel you have to go out of your way to buy something new or expensive just because your favourite artists use a particular brand of pencil or pen... Of course, often higher quality pens or pencils (especially colouring pencils) will have better pigment payoff than the cheaper alternatives, but as someone who’s been using the same WHSmith pencils they got when they were a child, I definitely think that as long as you have something to draw with, you’re all set to produce masterpieces of your own!

A lot of my art education got us using charcoal for a lot of our drawing practise. It’s not a medium I’m particularly fond of personally, but it is a great way to practise being a lot quicker and expressive with drawing, so definitely if you’re up for the challenge you can try some charcoal stuff! Only piece of advice is that I wouldn’t really recommend those ‘charcoal pencils’ you can buy in some shops, since they mostly just break apart every time you try and sharpen them... Regular charcoal is messy, though, and smudges very easily, so if you are interested in using it I’d say to do a little bit of research before hand! 

(Or feel free to send me an ask if you want any further advice on using it!)

If you’re wanting to get into digital art, I’m planning on making a post discussing my tips for beginners to digital so... keep an eye out for that in the near future lol!

~

Part 2 - Getting over ‘Drawing Anxiety’

Drawing can be a daunting thing, particularly when artists who are already pretty good at it can seemingly produce a perfectly proportioned face out of thin air. But these artists weren’t magically born with this skill, of course, so with practise and some perseverance, I can assure you that you’ll be at that stage one day!

So my first piece of advice here is to be patient with yourself. Don’t expect yourself to be perfect straight away. 

Second piece of advice is to sketch constantly!! I notice a lot of people who haven’t been drawing long are really careful about how they draw, almost like they’re afraid to be rough with the pencil. So I’d really recommend just starting to sketch a lot: be rough, be messy, draw things you can see and things from your imagination! 

Observational drawing is another thing I think is crucial in improving your drawing skills (and I’ll go into more detail with this in a bit), but honestly just sketching things you like is such a great way to help you grow as an artist! And yes this includes drawing anime fanart or drawings of your original characters! 

Below is some comparisons of my attempts at drawing Freema Agyeman from 2013 to 2019... Is the latest version of this perfect? Of course not. But I just want to show what constant practise can achieve!

~

Part 3 - Observational drawing

I honestly think that observational drawing was one of the most important things I learnt in my years of art education. 

Observational drawing can take on many meanings. Perhaps it’s drawing a still life of a fruit bowl, or a life drawing class with a naked dude in front of you, or even drawing from a photo. The point of observational drawing is to improve how you translate the world around you onto a 2D surface, essentially. 

And you don’t need anything fancy to do observational drawing either! Just placing an array of things in front of you and trying to sketch them (try and focus on a mix of textures and surfaces for the objects. So, for example, including a cup along side a woolly hat will help you get a handle on how to create texture with your drawing, and drawing anything with a reflective surface like cutlery is both challenging and interesting to do! Basically just use what you have around you!)

If you’re lucky (or unlucky, depending on how fond you are of seeing naked people lol) enough to have the chance to do life drawing, I would honestly recommend it! Often the final results aren’t great, but it’s a really good way of practising your observational skills! And even if you don’t have the opportunity, just trying to sketch a friend or family member from across a room, for example, is something that can really help you improve! 

Top tip: a teacher once told me that when you’re drawing something like a face, for example, a way to improve how you draw is to see the face not as a ‘face’, but instead as a collections of shapes. Because our brains have a preconceived idea of what a face looks like that we end up drawing what we think we can see rather than what we can actually see! 

There’s a lot of art snobs who believe that drawing from reference images is ‘cheating’ in comparison to life drawing, Of course, this is bs, and I’d say I’ve learnt just as much from using reference photos for the basis of my art as I have from drawing from ‘real life’. For more information about my thoughts on references and how to use them, see This post!

~

Part 4 - Drawing from references: Tracing, Grids and Freehand (which is best?)

Tracing in the world of art is a ... Contentious subject to say the least. And I’m not really interested in getting into the ‘moral’ implications of whether it is ‘cheating’ or not.

Instead I want to focus on the pros of using something like tracing when you’re starting out. I think particularly if you’re trying to improve how you shade things, colour things or how to get better at blending, then I do think that tracing can be a useful tool! Even I used tracing in the very start of my delve into digital art, but soon found that tracing wasn’t really something that was helping me in the long run so moved onto freehand stuff. 

Overall, I think tracing is good as a starting point when you’re still learning about art, and also if you’re not too comfortable with your freehand drawing skills yet. I’d also recommend you mention if you have traced a piece if you share art to social media. Of course, no one is obligated to do this though! 

This is an example of an artwork that I traced (it’s from 2013, hence why it looks... like That lol)

But if you’re someone who perhaps has used tracing in the past and found it doesn’t really work for you, or if you don’t want to start with tracing at all, then a good ‘next step’ I’ve seen other artists get into is using grids. 

Now I have to admit, I’m not the best person to talk about grids since I’ve actually never used them lol... But I know a lot of artists who do, particularly people who do a lot of traditional work, since it makes it a lot easier to translate the reference image to your piece of paper or canvas. 

And in a way I would recommend grids more for people starting out in drawing than tracing, and this is mainly due to the fact grids force you to use a lot more observational drawing skills than tracing! If you’re interested in getting into using grids I’d recommend doing a bit of research yourself! 

The final technique of drawing from references I want to talk about is freehand! Now this is the one I’ve been doing for the majority of my art ‘career’ and honestly is probably the most ‘difficult’ to do of the three techniques. 

But I find freehand drawing particularly rewarding with the ways it can make you reimagine an artwork in ways you never intended! Like what I mentioned in my Reference advice post, I have found that making ‘mistakes’ in freehand drawing can actually lead to more interesting and unique works of art than tracing or grid work could ever do! 

I also think that freehand allows you to create your own characters or concepts in a much more free way. For example, my Spirit of Somerset piece was something I created from a variety of references (I seem to remember I used Isak from SKAM’s mouth as a basis for the girls’ mouth?) and the dragon was based on a real mishmash of references, which is something that I I feel I couldn’t have done if I’d have been using grids or tracing!

With this I’m not trying to say that freehand is the ‘best’ way of drawing, it is just the one that I personally have found to fit me the best, which is the entire point of this post! All of my advice is just pointers I think could be useful for new artists, it is up to you to find which ‘path’ in art suits you best!

And of course, I’ve phrased these techniques as separate purely for the sake of explaining them easier, but the fact of the matter is that you can use a combination of these in your art if you wish! 

If you struggle with drawing the outlines of hands, perhaps use tracing as a way to get a handle of the shape and then maybe use freehand to fill in the colour of them! Use a grid to draw a tree but freehand the leaves and bench below it! 

Remember that your art is your art, and no one can tell you how to draw things! 

~

I think I’ll leave this here for now! But I may do a part two at some point in the future! & my ask box is always open for anyone who wants any specific advice!

I really hope you found this at least moderately helpful, and a massive thank you to everyone for the constant support of these posts and my art!

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

Let’s talk: the Vmin “no on screen interaction = no bond” Paradox

by Admin 1 & 2

One of the reasons that are usually stated for why people are so insistent on their claims that Jimin and Tae supposedly aren’t close anymore, that their friendship is nothing but PR for Friends, and that the whole “soulmate agenda” is fake as well, boils down to the statement of “we rarely or never see them interact on screen, no touching, no talking, nothing”. We find this both misleading, since it isn’t true, but also disrespectful, since it means that the only way in which some are able to accept closeness between the members as real and valid is if they see it, nothing else. So, just because you don’t see it through grand physical touches, hugs and whatnot, does that mean if they speak about each other, for example, that doesn’t count? 

You could argue that the power of pictures is greater than that of words, but to that I would like to ask: do they owe us visual proof of their closeness when we already have so much that shows how truly close Jimin and Tae are, how much they care about each other and how much work across years they’ve willingly and eagerly put into their bond for it to grow as deep and beautiful as it is?

As a way to showcase how misleading the screen time = friendship/closeness argument is, especially in connection to Jimin and Tae, I’d like for us to look at two different instances: Black Swan MV (the MV Sketch as well as the “opera” b*omb and the basket ball b*omb) and the Jingle Ball 2019 EPISODE.

Let’s start with the videos surrounding Black Swan below the cut:

Around that time I saw a lot, and I mean a lot, of chatter (mostly negative) about vmin since a very loud portion of the fandom were very up in arms after we got Friends. Not only did it solidify their preconceived notion that they are just friends, because the song is titled like that and none of them really cared enough to check the lyrics, but also because it opened up a whole new discussion about “but like, are they really friends?” To which, of course, their answer was mostly “no”. It’s just PR, they actually don’t really like each other, they barely interact, we see nothing of them, both interact way more with the other members, you know the drill. So when the MV Sketch for Black Swan came out it was, once again, like more “am/munition” for their arguments.

The thing we find laughable though is this expectation of “ship moments” in a video that’s literally about the filming of their music video, most of the scenes showing said filming happening though there’s also a few scenes of the members interacting. But, at the core, this isn’t like a bangtan b*mb of them hanging out backstage waiting for something or another where it makes sense that we’d see them interact a lot and be silly, instead it’s a video in which their focus (as well as ours should be) is on filming and giving the best performance they can so the MV turns out amazing, which it did. They are doing their work, not enjoying their free time. When you’re at work, do you really spend the majority of your time playing around with your friends? No, you do your job, the thing you get paid for doing.

The first few times I watched the video, I was so captivated by the theatre and their dancing, their mindset and performance, I didn’t even really notice any of their interactions or pay attention to who interacted with who or who did not. Guess my priorities and expectations are simply a bit different when watching a music video being filmed...

So what was the conclusion people drew? While Jimin and Tae are both close to JK and the other member, they are not close to each other, they don’t even particularly like each other. It was a narrative I saw repeated across various sns and, really, while it made me sad, I also wasn’t surprised. It’s nothing new that people treat vmin in such a manner.

Then, months later we got two Bangtan B*mbs from the same time and surprise, surprise Jimin and Tae did interact, a lot even, in ways that show how attuned with each other they are, how easy it is for them to fall into one of their role-plays or just be silly together, how gentle and thoughtful of the other they are, and how much they enjoy doing something together, regardless of what it is.

The first, posted October 1st 2020, showed Tae playing basket ball while Jimin and JK sat off to the side and watched him. Like you can see in the above pictures, eventually Jimin joined Tae and they played together for most of the video. Since the sun was shining at them, Tae stood before Jimin and raised his hands so the shadow fell onto Jimin’s eyes and he could see better, later on doing the same for Tae. It’s a small thing and yet it shows they care about each other. At some point Jimin pretended that he’ll be leaving, twice, and yet he stayed and they played some more. Toward the end of the video Namjoon joins them and eventually vmin leave and Namjoon stays behind and plays with Seokjin before the video ends.

Based on all that you’d assume the people who, seven months earlier, claimed vmin are essentially estranged and barely even like each other would reconsider, but of course not. Despite the focus being largely on them across the entire video, many comments by non-vminies (and non-namjinists) I saw on sns were about Tae playing on his own, Jimin and JK sitting off to the side together, and Namjoon playing with Seokjin. 

The second video was posted October 24th 2020 and began with Jimin pretending he’s an opera singer, which Tae noticed and immediately joined in, since we know this is the sort of thing Tae enjoys doing, even occasionally turning their own songs and lyrics into opera style to make the other members laugh. This sets off this entire sequence of Tae and Jimin singing different things, JK also joining in for a moment, and then vmin ending on that sweet moment of Jimin standing behind Tae with his hands covering Tae’s eyes before concluding that “it’s hard to play with him”. And yet, even if it’s hard, can we talk about these two screenshots of Jimin fondly watching Tae and looking like he can’t wait until his stylist is done so he can go join him? Adorable.

But again, even here while the focus is on vmin for a large portion of the video, this fact was largely omitted and instead people zeroed in on moments in which Tae was alone, Tae or Jimin interacted with JK, and Tae singing with Namjoon and Seokjin. It seems to me like the council of “how valid is a friendship” decided on their opinion months prior and stuck with it even if it meant, as always, to just ignore vmin interactions in favor of other things while at the same time spreading the “vmin are not friends because they don’t interact” agenda to anyone who’ll listen.

Generally I don’t really care all that much for all the chatter happening among parts of ARMY, but seeing these comments belittling and erasing the bond Jimin and Tae have, regardless if you see it as platonic or potentially romantic, is just really hard to read sometimes. Not even because I’m a vminnie, but simply because they are erasing something that is so important to both Tae and Jimin, this bond they have with each other they themselves spoke so much about, showed so much of, and yet people refuse to accept it, like they have any right to make such judgements about their bond.

The second example I’d like to show is Jingle Ball 2019 in LA and how deceptive, paradoxical and misleading the no screen time = no bond agenda really is.

For context, the Jingle Ball happened some time in December 2019, the same month as when we got the vmin “let’s take a half bath together” while holding hands during Seokjin’s birthday vlive happened, meaning a time when Jimin and Tae were just as close as ever, even occasionally giving us glimpses into their bond, giggling together and being all smiles. Also the same month as the famous holding hands because we think no one sees us anymore moment at the airport.

On July 22nd 2020 we got the EPISODE showing the behind the scenes of the Jingle Ball performance. It’s 11 minutes long and includes the BWL performance with Halsey, but largely shows the members getting ready, practicing their English and being excited to perform. If we focus solely on vmin then sure, I’ll agree that there were no interactions between those two whatsoever, not a usual or out of the ordinary thing, and not something I see any kind of problem in. They don’t owe us interactions in every piece of content. And yet, as always, it just added fuel to everyones favorite agenda that vmin are not close, ignoring all the prior time frame context we established previously. But who cares, they didn’t interact in this 11 minute video therefore they definitely didn’t interact at all and now hate each other.

Jokes on those people because of course that isn’t true.

Excuse the rather mediocre quality of those pictures, I tried my best with the screenshots taken from a video taken by a fan (one of many) who got to see BTS behind the scenes before going on stage from the stands further up. There’s this video on twt that shows just vmin and then I found a longer version in this person’s vlog (around the 7:25 min mark and onward). You can check both and confirm that it really is vmin in those screenshots. Also, as memory refresher, Jimin was the only one with a black collar and shirt along with blond hair. Namjoon stands further away and can be seen in the three lower pictures.

So, what does this tell us? Easy--just because it wasn’t shown in a condensed and edited video it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Just because Jimin and Tae don’t show us things on screen, or the editors don’t use scenes where it can be seen, it doesn’t mean that it’s an accurate representation of their actual, real life bond. They weren’t in the EPISODE but hugged and walked together off camera.

Notice how this agenda merely applies to vmin, how their bond, their soulmate status and closeness is the only one that gets questioned at every possible moment. When Seokjin said that Yoongi feels like his soulmate nowadays in an episode of In The SOOP no one questioned his words and accepted them as true, because he said so himself and we should believe their sincerity when they say these things. And yet when it comes to vmin, the rules are entirely different.

This was a post brought to you by Admin 2 coming across yet another thread on twt filled with ARMY claiming outlandish things about vmin and their bond and getting annoyed.

[yeah-all-of-it]

I wrote a fic the other day (my first!) that included a brief appearance by an original character named Rhonda, who is Ian and Mickey’s neighbor across the hall. Decided to write a bit of a prequel, exploring how they came to be friends with her. It’s 2 parts because it’s 4.7k and I don’t have an Ao3 account. Link for part 2 is here and at the bottom. Hope you enjoy!

Spill Your Guts: Part I

“Mickey, shut the fuck up! We’ve only lived here for like four days!” Ian whispers, dragging his slightly inebriated husband down the hall toward their apartment door. “We don’t want everyone to hate us already!”

“No, you don’t want everyone to hate us. I don’t give a fuck.” Mickey replies.

“Mickey.”

Ian’s trying to convey irritation, but the truth is, he’s so giddy about the evening’s surprise anniversary party, he’s struggling to come off as anything other than completely fond of his loud-ass, thoughtful husband. He’s a little drunk himself which isn’t helping matters.

“What? The only person I want to like me is you, Gallagher,” Mickey says, trying to be only slightly quieter.

“And I do like you, very much. But it would be nice to make a couple friends here too. Waking people up at 2 am probably isn’t the best way to do that,” Ian explains.

Mickey stops walking and gently pushes Ian up against the wall, holding him in place with a hand on his chest. Mickey says slyly, “Oh, you like me, huh? How much? D’you like me… this much?” Mickey plants a soft kiss on Ian’s neck.

“Umm, yeah, I like you that much,” Ian responds.

“Okay. What about… this much?” Mickey steps closer, placing his hand on the side of Ian’s face and softly kissing his lips, just barely slipping his tongue in.

“Mmm, yeah,” Ian replies once Mickey pulls away. “I definitely like you that much.”

Mickey steps right up to Ian, pressing his body into the wall with his own. Their faces are so close, they can feel each other’s breath hitching. He slowly slides a hand down the front of Ian’s jeans.

“You like me this mu-,” he doesn’t even have the words out before Ian is devouring him. Bodies pressed together, hands gripping each other’s hair, tongues tangled together.

Things are so intense that they didn’t realize that they have somehow moved and are now up against their across the hall neighbor’s door.

The next thing they know, they are both plummeting toward the ground. It takes them a moment to realize that their neighbor, apparently hearing strange noises coming from her door, had opened the door they were leaning against.

Ian is flat on his back on the floor and Mickey is directly on top of him. Their arms are still wrapped around each other and it’s blatantly obvious what they’ve been up to.

“Do you know what time it is? I thought someone was trying to rob me! Scared the life outta me!” a slender lady, likely in her late 60s who had clearly been in bed based on her attire, yells at them.

The two men scramble to their feet, Ian panicking when he realizes that at some point Mickey had managed to undo his belt and his zipper. His plaid boxers were on full display as well as an obvious display of what’s underneath them.

“We’re… so, so sorry, ma’am,” Ian says sheepishly as he pulls his pants closed. “It won’t happen again.”

Ian grabs Mickey by the jacket and yanks him out the door and across the hall. He pulls out his keys and unlocks the door as quickly as he can, the neighbor eyeing them suspiciously the whole time. Once she’s presumably satisfied that they do actually live there and aren’t burglars, she closes the door to her own apartment.

They stumble through the doorway, slamming the door behind them and Mickey bursts into laughter.

“Holy shit, that’s one way to make friends, Gallagher! Wonder how long it’s been since that woman’s seen a dick?” Mickey laughs, as Ian’s face turns the same color as his hair.

———

It’s been almost a week since Ian inadvertently flashed their new neighbor and so far, they’ve managed to avoid running into her in the hallway.

Saturday morning, Mickey is sleeping in and Ian goes for an early run. He sneaks out the door, hoping the lady across the hall is still in bed, and walks quickly down the hall to the elevator. He manages to evade her again but when he returns, she opens her door before he’s able to get his key in the lock.

“Well, hello there,” she says cheerily. “Long time no see, neighbor!”

“Um, hi there,” Ian nervously replies.

“So, the name’s Rhonda. I figure we should be on a first name basis, you know, since I’ve seen your penis and all.”

Ian blushes and chuckles uncomfortably, but for some reason, finds himself feeling a little less embarrassed. He likes this woman already and they’ve barely spoken. She seems like a pretty no-nonsense, calls a spade a spade type of person.

“Oh, uh, I’m Ian. Ian Gallagher.”

“Well, Ian Gallagher, I was about to head out to the pool to get a little sun. Care to join me?” Rhonda inquires.

Ian looks down at his watch and figures Mickey will be asleep for at least another hour. And he does want to make friends.

“Umm, sure. That sounds nice,” he ultimately decides.

“Well, let’s get goin’ then!” she exclaims, linking her arm with Ian’s as they take off down the hall.

———

Once they reach the pool, they find two lounge chairs. Ian drags a patio umbrella over by his.

“Ginger,” he points to his hair. “I fry in the sun, even in the morning.”

Rhonda nods understandably as they kick back in their chairs.

“So,” she begins. “What’s your story, Ian Gallagher?”

“Umm, my story?” he answers, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. He’s just met this woman and his “story” is… a lot. They’d be here all day if he told the whole thing. He decides to stick to the basics.

“Well, I’m from the Southside. Born and raised. Have a huge family, five brothers and sisters. Got married last year and moved here with my husband a couple weeks ago.” He decides that’s enough of an introduction for now.

“That’s all? That’s your story? I imagine it’s way juicier than that, but I get it. You don’t know me. I’m sure we’ll get to the good stuff eventually,” she winks after she says it.

This Rhonda, there’s just something so warm and vibrant about her. She has long wavy hair, white with a little gray mixed in. She has on a bohemian style dress and some turquoise jewelry. Ian imagines she’s had quite a life, well traveled and all that. Probably been outside of Chicago more times than he’s been to the Alibi. Her laugh is melodious, and her voice is cheerful and friendly. She’s one of those people you instantly like, that makes you want to open up and share your deepest secrets with.

“So that man that you were ravaging in the hall the other night. Your husband?” Rhonda asks.

“Yeah, yeah. That’s Mickey,” he replies. “Sorry again, about the uh, disturbance that night. We had just come from our first anniversary party and were, um, celebrating. Mickey planned the whole thing as a surprise for me.”

“A surprise anniversary party? Well your Mickey sounds like an absolute gem.”

“Yeah, he really is.” Ian can’t hide his sweet smile and look of adoration in his eyes. It makes him so happy when others notice the goodness in Mickey.

“So, how’d you two boys meet?” Rhonda asks, like she’s waiting for Ian to give her the real dish.

“Uh, well, we’ve known each other since we were kids. Grew up around the block from each other. I didn’t even know he was gay too until we hooked up as teenagers. The rest is sort of complicated, but that’s the gist of it”, Ian replies, and hopes that satisfies her curiosity. He’d love to tell her more but the whole unvarnished truth is a lot to unload on someone you’ve just met.

“Another Cliff’s Notes version, I see, but I’ll accept it for now,” she laughs.

Ian glances down at his watch and notices the time. Mickey is surely awake by now.

“Listen, this has been really great but I need to get back upstairs. Mickey is probably awake and we always make a big breakfast together on Saturday mornings. He’ll be pissed if I’m not there to flip the banana pancakes.”

“Oh I understand! This has been lovely and we should certainly do it again soon, Ian Gallagher!” she says with that cheery voice. Makes it hard to say no.

“Absolutely, Ms. Rhonda. That sounds great.” Ian rises from his chair and heads back inside, offering her a friendly smile that she returns.

———

“Where the fuck you been?” Mickey inquires as Ian walks through the door, not heated, just a question.

“Good morning to you too,” Ian replies teasingly. “I went for a run, then I was sunning by the pool with Rhonda.”

“Rhonda? Who the fuck is Rhonda?” Mickey asks, confused.

“Uh, the lady that lives across the hall from us.”

“The lady that liv- the one that caught us the other night? The one that saw you with your cock out?” Mickey is growing slightly agitated.

“Yeah, that’s her.”

“What’s she want with you? She tryin’ to pull some Mrs. Robinson shit on you? Saw somethin’ she liked?”

“Relax, Mickey. She’s just a friendly older lady. She didn’t do anything, we just talked for a bit. She’s nice,” Ian tries to assuage the situation. “Plus, you are aware I’m not attracted to women, right? And she’s old enough to be my grandma. Don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“Whatever, man. Come in here and flip some fuckin’ pancakes.”

———

The next Saturday morning, Ian decides to skip his run and knock on Rhonda’s door to see if she wants to take a walk with him. He really enjoyed their chat last week; it felt good to talk to someone new, someone who had no preconceived notions about him or his life. He wanted to continue that.

He knocks on the door and Rhonda answers, dressed in lilac colored athletic wear, long hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was in remarkable shape for her 65+ years.

“Well hello, handsome. I was just getting ready to go do some yoga on the roof. Would you like to come?”

“Uh, sure,” he replies. “I was actually going to see if you wanted to come on a walk but yoga sounds nice. I’ve been wanting to try it but didn’t wanna go alone, and yoga’s not really Mickey’s thing so…” he drifts off.

“I have an extra mat, let me grab it and we’ll head upstairs!” Rhonda says cheerfully.

Once they’re all set up, Rhonda begins, ”I like to start my mornings with something called sun salutation. Do you know what that is?”

“No. I don’t really know anything about yoga, just that it’s supposed to be good for you. Always wanted to try it, especially since moving here. Show me?” Ian requests.

She walks him through step by step, reaching up to the sky and back down. They go through some basic flows, downward dog, warrior, tree pose, cat-cow. She makes sure he concentrates on his breathing.

“All done!” Rhonda chirps and they sit up from their final shavasana position.

Ian feels amazing. Relaxed and limber and strong. He’s surprised how difficult some of the poses are, especially because he’s always considered himself to be in pretty good shape. Yoga is definitely something he wants to continue. Rhonda really knows her stuff, too. Maybe he could convince Mickey to do yoga on the roof so he wouldn’t have to go to an actual class with people.

“Wow, Ms. Rhonda, that was incredible. I see why people love yoga. I feel amazing.”

“We can make this a regular thing, if you like,” she offers.

“Sure, I’d love that. Maybe I could bring Mickey sometime?” he asks.

“Sure thing, handsome!” She smiles at him.

“So, your Mickey. Tell me about him. What made you fall in love with him?” Rhonda asks casually, like she’s just making conversation but he knows she’s trying to dive deeper, get to know him better. He can’t figure out why she’s taken such an interest in him but she’s just so sincere. He can’t help but feel a connection with her.

“Well, Mickey is… complicated. He’s rough and tender. He’s vulgar and beautiful. He’s tough but so kind. He’s… everything.” Ian pauses and Rhonda doesn’t say anything, indicating she wants him to continue.

“He had a rough upbringing. I did too, actually, but not nearly as rough as his. I had druggy, absentee parents and was mostly raised by my older sister Fiona. Struggled to pay bills. Had to steal to survive sometimes. But Mickey…” Ian drifts off, not sure how much deeper he should go. There’s just something about this kind, welcoming woman in front of him that makes him want to open up. He wants to be careful though, as Mickey’s story isn’t entirely for him to tell. He wants to be respectful of that.

“Mickey was raised mostly by his dad who was in and out of prison. His dad was homophobic and violent and was awful to Mickey. Obviously he didn’t support us being together. Mickey had to hide who he truly was for so long which made it tough on our relationship. But we survived all that and Mickey now is just… he has rough edges. Anyone that is around him can see that. He’s Southside through and through. But when you really get to know him… he’s the best person I know. I guess that’s why I love him. Because he’s just… good. And he’s always had my back no matter what. He’s damn good in bed too, so there’s that,” he laughs.

“Oh trust me, I can tell you boys have no trouble in that department!” she cackles and Ian blushes.

Her tone turns a little more serious after that. “So when you say his father was homophobic and Mickey couldn’t be who he really was…” she leaves it open ended for Ian to fill in the blanks.

He sighs, “Yeah, um. His dad had threatened to kill him. And me. Actually tried, after our wedding. He caught us together once, years ago, naked in the living room. It was… really bad. Traumatizing but I won’t go into details. Mickey spent his whole life hiding deep in the closet because of his dad. My family always supported me and loved me no matter what, but Mickey didn’t have that. We had to hide our relationship for years which was tough. I just wanted to be a normal couple, be able to hold his hand in public, shit like that. But he was scared. Wanted to make his dad proud. He finally came out… I kinda pushed him which wasn’t my proudest moment. But he came out and his dad beat us up. It was awful, but he was out so it was kinda freeing too, I guess? I don’t know. Then there was my diagnosis in the midst of all this. I don’t really tell a lot of people about it but I’m bipolar. Did some crazy shit when I was in a bad manic state several years ago. Then spent some weeks in bed, couldn’t even get up. Mickey never left my side. I’m really not sure where I would have ended up if it wasn’t for him. He saved my life. I’m stable now, on meds that are working well for me. Plus Mickey is really good at picking up on shit, like if he thinks I’m starting to get depressed or something. He’ll say something or do something to help me through it, but like, subtle.” It’s all coming out like word vomit. But it feels so therapeutic at the same time, like just saying these words out loud lightens the weight of them.

“I don’t know. We broke up a few times over the years, forced apart by circumstances out of our control. Oh, and we were in prison together for awhile. We’ve been through some shit. We’d be here all day if I told you even half of it. But despite all that we found our way back to each other and never have to let go again.”

“How long have you two been together?” she asks.

“On and off for ten years. Since we were just dumb teenagers, banging secretly in the walk-in cooler at work,” Ian answers.

“Well that’s one hell of a story, Ian. I’m sorry things were bad for so long but I’m so happy you are in a good place now. Your Mickey sounds just wonderful though and I can’t wait to get to know him better. Maybe we could do dinner one night! I’m a pretty fantastic cook.”

“That actually sounds really great, thank you. I’ll check our schedule,” Ian replies.

“Anytime next week works so just let me know.”

They get up and begin to roll up their mats.

“You know, I just realized,” Ian states. “I don’t really know anything about you. I’ve just been droning on about myself. What’s your story?”

“Oh, Ian. I promise, we can discuss my wild life at dinner,” she laughs.

“Sounds perfect,” Ian smiles.

———

“We gotta do what?” Mickey complains.

“We are going over to Rhonda’s for dinner this Friday. It’ll be fun. She’s wonderful. You’re gonna love her. She’s really excited to get to know you better.”

“Better? You’ve already fuckin’ told her a bunch’a shit about me, haven’t you?” Mickey grumbles.

“Listen, Mick. Yes, I’ve given her the gist of our lives and our relationship, nothing too in depth. I didn’t go into great detail about your history because I didn’t think it was my place,” Ian explains. “Just told her how rough we had it in the past. She’s just so kind, and she really listens, no judgment.”

Mickey hesitates. “Alright, fine. I’ll go. But if this woman isn’t as amazing as you say she is I’m leaving. Unless the food is really good or there’s free booze. Then I’ll stay.”

Ian just rolls his eyes and gives him a hug, whispering a quiet “thank you” in his ear.

———

Friday is here before Ian knows it. He’s chatted more with Rhonda this week, seeing her for a few minutes in the laundry room, waiting for his clothes to dry. Then again out by the pool when he went to swim some laps. They were both looking forward to dinner.

“Mick, you about ready? It’s almost 7,” Ian yells back to the bedroom from the living room.

Mickey walks out into the living room wearing his black skinny jeans with the ripped knees and a gray long sleeved waffle knit shirt with his black boots.

“Wow, Mickey, you look really nice.” Ian walks up and kisses him on the forehead. “You smell great too, what is that?”

“Some cologne I found at some fuckin’ hipster shop the other day. Thought it smelled nice. Wanted to make a good impression on your new best friend,” Mickey states, with a slight hint of feigned attitude.

“You’re my best friend, Mick. Rhonda’s just a nice lady that I enjoy talking to and hanging out with. She’s definitely a friend though, the only friend I’ve made here and I really like her company.”

“If you insist. Let’s go, I’m fuckin’ starving.”

PART 2