#probs more but those are the ones I’ve watched recently

[dragons-in-spaceee]

Science docufilms (one of the BEST film genres, second only to sci-fi) always have the simplest yet most emotional and heart wrenching soundtracks they’re so full of hope and light and logic and tragedy and modesty all at once im going to cry

[louisisalarrie]

Thought you’d like seeing this taken by someone who attended the show https://x.com/catfishseven/status/1817003838143893660?s=46

Thank you and everyone for your help and things you sent through!!! Much appreciated xx

I quickly found the map of the festival:

And sweet Louis baby is playing on the Estrella Galicia stage which, if you look at the map, is obv the main one next to those massive bathrooms. You can see how intensely louis is staring at that big temporary room, pictured below:

Now you can see there, and on the map, the Water Closets/bathrooms are on the other side of that structure he’s looking at, and are separate to it. I imagine there’s prob a line of temporary toilets placed there, or perhaps some kind of similar temporary structure with multiple toilets in it, but it’s not the same building. And why do I say that?

Well, because, it’s simply too close to backstage and main stage, even if there are only doors on the right hand side. So, I very highly doubt it is a bathroom, and that they’re on the other side.

With temporary festival set ups, there’s always gotta be an artist area, ya know? And there were only 10 artists per day, so they didn’t need to set up something massive, but it did need to be close to the stage. You can see in the above that to the left of the stage there is like… a couple of little tents/temp structures there too, which usually would hold crew/staff as opposed to artists. It could be some kind of small backstage artist hangout, but I’m leaning more towards it being for crew.

People are also saying that louis intensely looks up a bunch often at shows, but this was a lot more prominent than I’ve seen recently. He also seemed super on the ball tonight, and just… happier. Anyway, that structure to the right could be used as a multitude of things, but I’d argue it’s more likely than not for artists/entourage/guests to watch the show and would have access to the stage blocked by a large amount of toilets for further privacy. That’s just my guess, anyway.

Like, it could just be the back of the toilets, but it would be very odd to me that it would have a large window there, as it would encourage folks to set up camp in the bathrooms to watch the show. Plus, festivals always have a VIP area for artist guests etc., so it wouldn’t make sense for it to just be a massive bathroom.

Anyway, very unconfirmed but very intense staring at a festival where he seemed pretty damn happy. I’ll count it as a win.

[aphidclan-clangen]

here is my attempt at a fanfic this is literally the first time I’ve done this lol. I hope it’s passable cause I suck at grammar and it’s probs a but confised and this was my first time writing with neopronouns so I hope I didn’t mess that up! Anyway here is my mess of a fanfic

I think of all the things I should’ve said all things that i did and I all i feel is emptiness.

It’s been 2 moons since you’ve been gone.

I… We all miss you.

Here I got you some lilacs for decoration as I couldn’t have your grave looking drab! As well  as a mouse I know that was your favorite…

I got with Blisswhistle or as u call him Whistledick. Guess you were right about me being gay for rai huh?

And things are great I mean you being gone is terrible but Blisswhistle is helping me through that rai’s really good at it I mean rai is the medicine cat but even with those standards rai’s still the best! And rai makes me feel just so happy! I wish you could’ve been here to see us actually together I mean you tease that shit out of me but it’d still be great.

You know I still remember the day you joined us in this dumb little mess of a clan it was just a regular day till your dad, who for the recored is getting some constantly, showed up and dropped u off with us and he couldn’t have given us a better kit! You were brave, sweet in your own special way of course and you always made me laugh… I miss that…

If you were worried about the kits they’re good! Stormkit wears feathers now and she looks good with them too! She’s been hanging out with Blisswhistle recently I think the two are becoming friends.

We recently met your attackers while out on patrol… I wanted to go for their throats but Pearlstar wouldn’t let me I mean star was right about it but it still pissed me off that we can’t avenge you. I promise you one thing though one way or another I’ll get them back. I’ll make them pay… 

WOAH sounds like I’m going on a villain arc. Does… this make you my backstory. Goldshine laughed to starself sure this would have made Lilacpaw laugh as well.

-I… really wish you were here… Star said tears forming at the corn of stars eyes It’s so unfair! Why are you gone! Star exclaimed. Tears now rapidly streaming down stars face

YOU SHOULDNT BE GONE YOU WERE JUST AN APPRENTICE!”

Star crumbled then and there sobbing uncontrollably first minutes until star heard someone stars ears trying to pinpoint from were the sound was coming whilst simultaneously trying to silence stars tears

-Hey… Goldshine I thought I’d find you here. Goldhines mate said softly Pearlstars looking for you wants to go out on patrol but I can tell star to wait if you’d like? Rai continued

I’m sure star wouldn’t mind…

-Thank you… Goldshine said unable to find other words for the situation

Goldshine slowly walked over placing rainbowself next to rai’s mate letting star lean on him 

-I miss lilacpaw to you know… they were such a good kit and it’s unfair what happened to flowers… Blisswhistle whispered But even though their gone I know we’ll see flower again when we’re in starclan and I know they looking at us and let’s be honest making fun of us right now…

-That’s true… said Goldshine leaning a bit more into Blisswhistle fur now being able to smell the herbs that rai were always around.

The two sat their in silence till the sun was almost gone when Blisswhistle finally spoke up

-I think we have to go star… Our clanmates must think we’re dead at this point. Upon finishing rai’s sentance rai stood

-I guess Goldshine conceded starting to pick starself up

Blisswhistle watched rai’s mate get up and with a slight head movement to rai’s mate almost aksed if star was ready. Star nodded and the two started walking away star trailing a little behind.

When suddenly star stopped, turned around and said

-Bye sis we miss ya you knucklehead. Star turned back around and trotted back off to camp to go on that patrol Blisswhistle mentioned

-🦐

Awww, I love this 💕 Genuinely made me laugh and feel sad for Goldshine, boy’s goin through a lot :< I love Blisswhistle being so sweet and Goldshine thinking so much love of him. I think you did good with the neopronouns, I was able to follow along with them pretty easily/clearly and tell who was doing what! Thank you for including them! 💕

You were very accurate with portraying these guys and what they’re going through, thank you for writing a fanfic for my little cats 💕💕

[the-himawari]

A3! Troupe Event Translation - Journey to the Colours (1/11)

*Please read disclaimer on blog; default name set as Izumi

---

*flashback starts*

Kumon: …

Yamaguchi: …What’re you doing squatting down over there?

Kumon: It’s just… we could’ve won today’s game for sure. If only I didn’t mess up in the bottom of the 7th inning…

Yamaguchi: That wasn’t your fault, y’know? Geez, don’t sweat it. —.

*flashback ends*

Kumon: It’s been a while since I’ve been to a batting cage. I can’t wait.

Azami: You went last week, didn’t you?

Kumon: It’s been six days. That’s a long time!

Azami: How? Anyways, baseball’s fine and all, but play soccer with me too. I feel like we’re always just playin’ baseball every time.

Kumon: No prob! I’ll go anytime! …Huh?

Azami: What’s up?

Kumon: This poster…

Azami: Huh. They’re renovating the sports ground? You practiced there durin’ your baseball club days, right?

Kumon: Yeah… I see. Renovations, huh?

Azami: Well, it’s a sports ground so it won’t change that much. I bet they’ll just switch the lights or netting or somethin’.

Kumon: Good point…

-pause-

Kumon: I sure am starving. I wonder what’s for dinner tonight?

Azami: Who’s in charge again today?

Kumon: I think it was Omi-san!

Azami: It’s hard to predict since his repertoire is so wide.

Kumon: If it was Director, then there’s only one possible answer~.

*footsteps approach*

Izumi: Ah. Welcome home, you two.

Tsuzuru: Welcome back.

Kumon: We’re back!

Azami: Were you two out shoppin’?

Tsuzuru: I ran into Director while I was on my way back after visiting home.

Izumi: I asked him to lend me a hand with the shopping.

Kumon: We’ll help hold the bags too!

Izumi: Thanks.

Tsuzuru: Great, that’s a load off.

Kumon: Hold on. Are you tired, Tsuzuru-san?

Tsuzuru: My little brothers were playing a little too aggressively.

Azami: What kinda aggressive games are elementary school kids playin’?

Tsuzuru: We were playing Journey to the West. Apparently, they watched a rerun of the anime recently and got hooked on it. I was forced to play two roles, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, and they requested that each of them gets defeated in a flashy way…

Izumi: Those sound like pretty tough roles.

Kumon: Journey to the West? Like Son Goku, right? I copied a manga I read a long time ago by using a curtain rod as a magic staff and swinging it around~.

Azami: I feel like you’d do that even now.

Kumon: Yeah, I bet it’d also be fun doing that now!

Tsuzuru: Let’s act together next time then.

Kumon: Ahaha. I’m down~!

-pause-

Kazunari: …

Kumon: We’re home.

Kazunari: Welcome back~… ooh, this is a pretty rare party!

Kumon: We happened to meet up and get together!

Azami: We look like such a random group.

Kumon: What’re you up to, Kazu-san?

Kazunari: Just some work that was commissioned~.

Kumon: Work!? That’s so cool!

Kazunari: After the public exhibition, I started getting work offers here and there. I’ve been taking them to gain more experience. These type of work connections are gonna be important from here on out as I aim to become a UMC~.

Kumon: Come to think of it, didn’t you say that you also have assignments, Kazu-san?

Kazunari: I mean, yeah~. I’m taking it easy since you don’t go to school all that often after entering fourth year. I guess I have to get around to those though. Director-chan, can I use the storage room for work for the next lil while?

Izumi: That’s totally fine, but I think it’s about time to start thinking about Summer troupe’s play. I ask for your cooperation with that too. Well, I’m sure you’ll be fine. You’ve always done lots of other things in tandem with your rehearsals and performances.

Kazunari: You know it. It’ll work out, so no worries!

Azami: Right. It’s that time of the year already, eh?

Tsuzuru: Continuing from Spring Troupe with Chikage-san, the lead for Summer troupe will be Kumon, right?

Izumi: Yeah. That’s right.

Kumon: It’s my first lead in a long time. I’m so excited~!

Tsuzuru: Do you have any sort of request or theme you’d like to do?

Kumon: Eh!? Asking me so suddenly…!

Tsuzuru: Anything you want to do is fair game.

Kumon: Mmm… AH! In that case, I wanna try out some cool action!

Izumi: Oh yeah, you said something along those lines when you said you wanted to join Autumn troupe at first.

Kumon: Yep! Something exciting and adventurous would be sick~!

Tsuzuru: Noted.

Izumi: Even if there’s action, it’ll turn into a Summer troupe-like play as long as you add comedic elements.

Tsuzuru: I’ll give it some thought.

Kumon: Azami, since you’re going to be the lead in Autumn troupe’s next show, you should also start thinking about your request now!

Azami: It’s way too early for that, don’tcha think?

---

| next

[hesitantdeathwish]

here’s a messy introduction to me & my page!!! :3

hi hiiii!!! :D. i’m (sort of-?) new to tumblr! (first joined in 2019 but never got too into it until now-ish? i dunno.. -_-")

‘m lookin forward to possibly making sum friends/mutuals on here with similar interests of mine, posting whatever comes to mind, & also interacting with posts that i like!! —practically just using this platform for what it’s intended for, ahahaha…

hoping that this quick(ish) explanation helps!

creepypasta and marble hornets are big ones for me. i’ve liked them ever since i was a small child (about six or so, can’t remember exactly.. T_T) & if not obv already, my fave has got 2 b ticci toby!!! :D

then, this a bit more recent (early 2023), i really like the rock band my chemical romance!! prob sounds familiar to most peeps, but this band practically saved my whole life (T_T). luv them dudes sm<33

i haven’t played the games but i’ve watched the gameplays of sally face, franbow, undertale, little misfortune, omori, & also mouthwashing. i heavily enjoy all of those games.

if you like any of these medias i’ve listed as well then i’d appreciate if you interact here!!! /nf

i honestly don’t have much social media, but i do have spacehey, discord, & pinterest which all have the same exact user as my tumblr account!!! (besides pinterest, having an _ between) @/hesitantdeathwish :). idm random adds/follows but i’d appreciate if you lmk where you found me from— (tumblr, spacehey, etc)! cya ‘round. xD

-edit: 4got to mention this when i first uploaded but im a young teenager! idm adults interacting but if you wanna know my age in specifics you can see it on my spacehey or dm me asking!!! ^^

[h0rnyv01d]

0: Height

1: Virgin?

2: Shoe size

3: Do you smoke?

4: Do you drink?

5: Do you take drugs?

6: Age you get mistaken for

7: Have tattoos?

8: Want any tattoos?

9: Got any piercings?

10: Want any piercings?

11: Best friend?

12: Relationship status

13: Biggest turn ons

14: Biggest turn offs

15: Favorite movie

16: I’ll love you if

17: Someone you miss

18: Most traumatic experience

19: A fact about your personality

20: What I hate most about myself

21: What I love most about myself

22: What I want to be when I get older

23: My relationship with my sibling(s)

24: My relationship with my parent(s)

25: My idea of a perfect date

26: My biggest pet peeves

27: A description of the girl/boy I like

28: A description of the person I dislike the most

29: A reason I’ve lied to a friend

30: What I hate the most about work/school

31: What your last text message says

32: What words upset me the most

33: What words make me feel the best about myself

34: What I find attractive in women

35: What I find attractive in men

36: Where I would like to live

37: One of my insecurities

38: My childhood career choice

39: My favorite ice cream flavor

40: Who wish I could be

41: Where I want to be right now

42: The last thing I ate

43: Sexiest person that comes to my mind immediately

44: A random fact about anything

oop this is long so

1: yeah lol

2: 6

3: nope, gotta keep them lungs healthy to stay slutty

4: nopity nope, i’m so scared of saying something i’ll regret while drunk

5: again, nope 😭😭

6: recently people have been offering me kids menus at restaurants? it’s odd, idk how old they think i am but

7: no :(

8: i wanna get a star pattern on my collarbone at some point, and maybe a jellyfish on my upper arm

9: yep! regular lobe, and a cartilage piercing on my right ear

10: i wanna get a bunch of piercings, but just on my ears, i’m getting a conch piercing on my left soon

11: probs my friend sophia but you wouldn’t know her obv lol

12: it’s complicated- we’re both into each other, and weve dated in the past, but neither of us is willing to b like “let’s get back together”

13: men just casually hinting at something they’re into. it just makes my brain go WILD with possibilities

14: being mean outside of sex

15: cinderella (1950)

16: i’ll love you if you’re sweet (my standards are so low i’m sorry)

17: my friends i don’t talk to anymore

18: i’ve had two seizures, and those were probably the worst moments of my life

19: i’m clingy but i won’t admit it

20: my chin and my need for attention

21: i got that hourglass figure <3

22: i wanna be an author!!

23: i have one little sister, i love her, but she’s nuts sometimes

24: no father, and my mom is more like a big sister than a mother to me

25: any date is perfect as long as i’m with someone i love. but if i had to pick, watching fireworks together

26: people pronouncing my city name wrong, idk why

27: he’s a lil short, he’s got curly blonde hair, and he’s so sweet, he wants to be lawyer someday

28: the person i dislike most has greasy brown hair, is 5’6, and looks like he doesn’t shower

29: protecting feelings, and also i’ve lied if i thought it’d help repair friendships

30: waking up early!! i hate getting up at 6

31: “will you wake up if i send you more pictures of cats i like, or should i wait until tomorrow?”

32: ‘we need to talk’

33: i’ve gotten told i look like cinderella twice today :)) that made me feel so amazing

34: i’m more attracted to men than women, but i’ve noticed that whenever i’m into women, they tend to be really strong

35: brunettes for some reason

36: tbh i’m perfectly fine in florida

37: my laugh

38: i used to want to be a marine biologist, and while that field is still incredibly interesting to me, i think i’d rather write

39: vanilla, i’m a basic bitch <3

40: adelaide kane, shes dropdead gorgeous i’d love to be her

41: greece, because apparently there’s a ton of cats!!

42: i had a banana a few hours ago

43: chris hemsworth. on his poster for thor: ragnarok, he literally fits leonardo da vinci’s idea of perfection, so i will unapologetically be saying this

44: the blue whale is the largest animal to have ever lived

[wendytestabrat]

why butters is an awful character now

ok i’ve already talked about this in full length on my amino blog but like i feel like i have to talk about this shit again bc matt & trey still haven’t fixed this problem and it’s pissing me off lol. ok so like i think butters used to be an amazing character in the golden seasons in like seasons 6-9 when he started becoming a more prominent character and hanging out with the boys more. like those iconic cartman & butters episodes like awesom-o & casa bonita are some of my favs lol. but honestly i think they really ruined him around s12 or s13 when butters started becoming way more mean and douchey for no reason (prob bc the boys corrupted him) lol. i mean the appeal to butters character was how he WASN’T an asshole like the other kids and he was all nice and innocent and behaved like a normal kid that’s what made him funny. now it feels like every single butters episode is just for shock value at this point, like matt & trey seem obsessed with making butters be mean and act all edgy and out of character. i mean like it’s funny when it’s used in moderation bc like it’s cool seeing butters stand up for himself every once in a while when he’s always nice to people but now it’s like all the shock value is gone bc he does that in every single episode now and it’s getting old. like honestly i think the nightmare started in the episode “butters bottom bitch” which was out of character af for butters to do all that pimp shit & then he literally calls a girl fat & ugly in “the hobbit” and sells vapes with cartman in “tegridy farms” and just now in the recent episode he was being a dick to bebe for no reason so she kicked his ass. honestly you know it’s gotten bad when kyle is starting to seem more innocent than butters now lol like how kyle was the one who was against selling vapes while butters wasn’t. some may say it’s character development but it’s honestly just bad character development imo. and the other issue i have with butters now is he gets way too much screen time and appears in more episodes than some of the four boys lol. i’m sorry but i liked butters more as a secondary character and he’s usually only funny to me when he’s interacting with the boys or cartman is messing with him and they’re just using him for some scheme. i rlly don’t like seeing entire episodes focused just on butters bc he’s a lame character on his own & his parents are unlikable too and they’re in too many episodes. he’s honestly suffered the same fate as randy but no one wants to talk about that. you never wanna overuse a comic relief character bc the novelty gets old after a while. like literally the two worst episodes from s25 were the two butters centric episodes. that one where he was doing dressage was so stupid and i also didn’t care for the st patricks day one either. i think it says a lot when the best episodes from s25 people liked the most were the ones that focused on the other boys. my favs were “city people” which was a cartman centric episode and then “the big fix” was a stan episode and “help my teenager hates me” focused on all four but mainly kyle. i mean even on imdb those two butters episodes were the lowest rated ones the stupid ass dressage episode only got a 6.6 lol. i feel like it’s only the normies and casual fans that are obsessed with butters and say he’s their fav. when u take a closer look at the sp fandom and the rlly hardcore fans who watch every episode hardly anyone says butters is their fav lol everyone is mostly obsessed with the four boys.

[rei-does-stuff]

MLP MYM LIVE BLOG

Ep one!!!

-THE MARE-STREAM!!!

-Sunny making sure Misty is okay EEE!!

-The way Hitch looks at pipp oooooo!!!!

-AWW HITCH DOING THE DEEP AND MANLY VOICE, I love how much of a dork he isss

-oh noo shes anxious :((

-“smooth sailing!” *immediate storm* Its the little things in this show i love <3

-HEY THEY ACKNOWLEDGED IT

-THE INTRO!!! Oh how I’ve missed you!!!

-OOO SONG!!! CATCHY!!

-AW HITCH IS THE ONLY ONE NOT GROOVING CMON MAN

-Little SunIzzy moment (they’re standing together)

-OH YEA SPARKY ISNT HERE

-AWWW MAMA FIGGY

-Convinced Sunny only suggested that bc she’s been BURSTING to share that story

-ALSO TINY SUNNY I MISSED YOU WE HAVENT SEEN YOU SINCE THE MOVIE!!

-She loved sellin shit even as a kid <3

-ARGYLE!!!! MY MAN!!!!!!!!!!

-Aw they couldn’t get his actual voice actor it seems (not even the one from tyt :()

-WAIT WHY DOES SHE HAVE THE YELLOW EYESHADOW AS A KID THATS RECENT I SMELL A CONTINUITY ERROR!!!!!!!!!!!

-jkjk maybe her dad put it on her, or she snuck into the makeup cabinet <33

-AWW SHES SO CUTE

-Aww siblings bickering <3

-AWW TINY ZIPP AND PIPP ARE CUTEE

-Epic <3

-That wasn’t flying! That was falling with style!!! /ref

-WONDERBOLT

-DONT USE YOUR DOG AS A TISSUE QUEEN HAVEN!!

-HITCH IS SOO CUTE

-SPROUT!

-OH so sprout’s talent IS kindness! Glad to know that! Like a knight in shining armor!!

-IZZY MY BELOVED

-That water animation,,, I did say it was SLOWLY getting better in the animation department…Slowly—

-Misty has social anxiety, we are the sameee

-She talks to herself! Just like me!!!

-IM JUST SAYING��T4T Zipitch it could work

-MAKEOVER!!!!!

-HA people pleaser sunny <3

-The red doesn’t work for me either

-I like the green!!

-AND THERE WE HAVE HER NEW MANE!!! I love itt

-Sunny being concerned :(((

-DONT LIE MISTY!! THEYLL UNDERSTAND!!

-OPALINE!!! I love herr

-YUP that will be a tad awkward but shell get through it!!

-Pipp my dramatic queen

-AWW THEYRE NICE!!!

-Aww Haven being encouraging

-It does look weird, them using utensils

-OH HAVEN IM SURE SHE DOESNT WANNA UNLOAD HER TRAUMA ON A BUNCH OF KIDS

-YOU ARE CUT OUT FOR THIS WORLD MISTY!!!

-Oh so we know opaline was never gonna give misty her cutie mark, nice nice

-YIPPEE

-trottie-talkies THAT IS SO CUTE

-POSEY!

-AWW ITS OKAY TO BE SHY MISTY

-NOO DONT CRY

-See I love how they tell her its okay!! In g4 I’m sure they wouldn’t done an ep telling her to just go out there and be confident but here they can be like “yeah! Its okay to be nervous! We can do something else!”

-SONG

-THEYRE CONCERNED ABT HER AAAA

AAAA THAT WAS SO GOOD

EP 2

-TINY MISTY????

-Those pancakes look sooo good

-Sunny trying to comfort the situation!!

-Sunny and Zipp act like a bickering married couple sometimes

-Aww yk Haven and Alphabittle are a cute couple ngl

-OUGH HES LOOKING FOR HIS DAUGHTER!!! FOR MISTY!!!

-TELL HER!!! DONT HIDE YOUR FEELINGS!!

-THEY ALL RUSH IN TO COMFORT HER :(((

-BREEZIES!!

-They all have the same hairstyle, reminds me of g3

-I wonder if the shit theyre saying actually means something if you slow it down, probs not but yk

-I have a feeling that Misty’s trauma with Opaline cause her to forget all this, maybe push it back deep in her head as a way to cope?

-Breezies using phones THE HORROR!!

-Ipad kids breezie edition

-Ur so funny sunny :)

-THE KEY FROM THE TRAILER

-ARG CLIFFHANGER

EP 3!!!

-SPARKY MAGIC!!!

-DRAGON LORE???

-AWW misty and sparky siblings arcc

-SONG

-Aww misty being selfless!!

-After sparky!!

-DRAGON LAND!!!

-it looks a lot more…Grassy compared to g4!

-No dragons…Ooooo

-BATS

-Ooo so we might get an episode abt hitch having to let sparky go!

-Look at pipp being smart!!

-LOOK AT THEM PUTTING TWO AND TWO TOGETHER!!

-OUGH HAPPY REUNION IM CRYING

-I THOUGHT THE THEORIST WERE CRAZY BUT THEY WERE RIGHT MANNN

-Im wondering how misty met opaline tho!! We knew she “rescued” misty but how??? I NEED ANSWERS!!

-I guess this also makes misty pipp and zipp’s step sisters! Sorry shippers!

-HITCH WITH A RAINBOW MANE LOOKS SO COOL

OKAY OKAY ILL WATCH THE REST TOMORROW BUT AAAA I LOVED THAT!!!

[starjxsung]

hiiii! i’m soooo excited for you!! your summer is going to be so fun <33 pls spam us with ateez pics & vids!!! (yeosan for me pls, i love them🙏🏻).

and im so excited for lolla! i need to start outfit planning😫 i kinda really want a skzoo bucket hat or baseball cap that i saw but: 1) i don’t want it to get ruined bc ive heard it gets dusty and muddy, 2) it doesn’t match my aesthetic and i don’t want to look insane😪

frrrr princess mononoke is in my letterbox 4. i love joe hisaishi so much. sometimes im just sitting and i start thinking about merry go round of life and i cry. and earwig is just all around horrible, the same thing happened to us and it was just wasted time. i also try to block it out of my life but i just can’t. did you ever see the boy and the heron btw?

i will probs keep talking about her at some point bc im kinda barely passing this class and she’s being kinda sus. i think her grading method is a bit biased so im kinda scared🤕 but whatever tbh. i talked to my classmates about it and they’ve been so supportive and i was literally like well friends if having a phd means i become like those professors id rather not. so we’ll see!

i absolutely hate tommy hilfiger so much. only skz can make it look good. the clothes are just so extremely mid. im not for the preppy style (to each their own) its just so bland. i also miss idols having a more unique style </3

ily bb!!! i hope your week has been great! take care <3

-🐈‍⬛

HI BABYYYY yes I promise I will spam all the Ateez pics I am physically capable of spamming !!!! 🙏

I haven’t even started LOOKING at potential Lolla fits and I’m panicking but now I also have to find Ateez fits for 2 separate nights and I’m so stressed I can’t even bring myself to start 😭 I just know I’m gonna be panic searching right before every one of my events LMAO

merry go round of life my beloved 😔 such a fucking masterpiece 😔🫶 I never got around to watching the boy and the heron!!! I’ve been meaning to for the longest time but somehow I just didn’t have the time. I know it’s obviously good but where would you say it ranks among your ghibli hierarchy? You have god tier taste so I trust that we’ll agree 👼🫶

I’m glad your friends are a good support system w this whole shitty Professor thing 🤕 ugh I’m sending you all my best wishes bby I still can’t believe you have to deal w her. It always begs the question to me of WHYYY they’re even in that field if they’re neither helpful nor understanding. It’s just a full power trip for them honestly

PLEASE did you see skz is attending the met gala dressed in Tommy 🤕 I’m so excited to see what they’re going to wear but if it’s anything like their recent stuff I feel like it’s going to be boring 😭 TH has done some cool stuff in past years for the met gala so I’m crossing my fingers but I don’t know !! Also I can’t wrap my head around the fact that skz will be at the met gala in the first place like not even BTS attended that’s insane 😭

I love u bby have the best weekend !!!

[sewerpalette]

I headcanon bart as autistic personally, as is a popular fan head-canon. That’s probably my strongest one.

I don’t think the architects have a concept of gender the way humans do since they’re all just data at the end of the day so I headcanon AL-AN as non-binary or gender queer in some way, also as either Aro/Ace or gay. Aaand very much autism.

Ryley im not sure about but definitely bisexual, makes my gaydar go off in some way, I just don’t know which.

Robin is either a bi ace spec or aro/ace spec for me. Can also see her as having adhd.

Marg I originally thought was very must aspd-coded, wich is technically on the neurodiversity spectrum, but in recent times I’ve seen more people say she’s kinda autistic and I can definitely get behind that aswell. Either very gay or very straight, no in between.

With the Aurora survivors I don’t have that much because, well, the game doesn’t give us a lot of content about them lol.

But always joked with friends / mutuals about keen being in love with Hollister because of his more than reasonable response to watching (or hearing I guess) his captain go under to try and save the rest of their crew; do I believe that? No, but do I believe he’s into men? Maybe, goes for both of them honestly; I can see it.

Yu and Berkeley are very bisexual, no explanation needed.

Also Avery, not from the Aurora but he’s making my gaydar go off aswell.

I’m gonna be honest I care very little about the alterrans from below zero so there’s nothing solid there, but I can see them all being very much homosexual.

When it comes to the mercury we actually have more content, I hc their captain as lesbian and everybody else idrk, most of them bi probably, except for Yasmine and Stefanos, they’re definitely straight.

Elliot I think would first of all get along very well with Bart and second of all, autism.

The sea emperor is confirmed asexual so there’s that, if you wanna consider her a character.

I prob forgot some that I can’t think of rn but I’ll probably follow up on those one day.

underrated canon subnautica lore i think about all the time:

-marguerit fist-fought like 4 stalkers and ripped their teeth out of their mouths. she did this to build bart a cool window. i feel like this should be talked about more because she ONLY did this to build bart a cool window. she fought a group of stalkers for several hours. to build a glorified window for someone she consistently claimed she didn't care about.

-every iteration of bart thinks marguerit is super badass, and even literally says she's badass in one of his original logs

-alterra has knowledge on paul torgal's possible half-children?? and they put this uncomfirmed drama in a missing persons report???

-captain hollister's nickname was hot dog hollister

-relationships have contracts at alterra and people are treated like products that you can choose. or at the very least this is a somewhat popular ideology??

-kharra symptoms include typical flu symptoms, and also aggression! maybe a reason why the degasi never quite worked out their differences?

-kharra has also has a confirmed death count of 143 BILLION. thats ONLY confirmed deaths. the number is undoubtedly higher.

[your-generic-art-blog]

Hi hello yes I have no idea what’s going on anymore

So uh, I have some old artwork that I abandoned and I decided to post now for the hell of it, BUT unlike most of my posts/art, this could be uhhhh a bit disturbing? So we’re starting this post with a content warning and then the work will be below. Okay? Okay.

ALSO: This post contains my first attempt at giving my images alt. text! I will suck at it for a while, but I want to make my work/posts more accessible, incase people come across these posts and can’t see the images. I will improve over time, just please bear with me (and tell me how to do it better l m a o)

Content Warnings: Mildly Disturbing, Mild Gore(?) and Slight Body Horror- revolving around the mouth, teeth and gums. There’s no blood, but it’s badly drawn so it’s not too graphic. Just keep it in mind to be wary ADDITION: There will be an additional image at the bottom of the post where it shows my attempt of adding blood/more gorey details, however it sucked so I’ve forgone it (I did my best- was weird analysing how blood worked though…)

You here? Cool! Let’s check out this trainwreck

So this is an abandoned artwork from Halloween, yes as in from 3 months ago, that I was unable to finish due to time and also just sucking at art. This would be an interesting redraw some time in the future lmao.

(Below I talk about the inspiration which may be a bit disturbing if things about the teeth and gums unsettle you. I would skip this paragraph if so)

It was inspired by some REALLY bad toothache I was dealing with from mid-October until recently. All I knew before I could see a dentist was “it hurts” and this was exactly what it felt like. Like it genuinely felt like my gums and cheek were being ripped apart. To try and distract myself and bring humour into it, I was like “hah imagine it was like a really dramatic scene in a vampire fanfic”, so as I was brainstorming for a Halloween drawing, that thought kinda ran away from me. I was actually going to do a fun/silly drawing for Halloween and then couldn’t help myself.

Makes sense why it hurt btw, half of it was gone lmao. Got it sorted a week ago though! Handled it better than I thought it would.

Funny story- did the sketch for this while watching Halloween (1978) for the first ever time, home alone, while on the phone with my mom, who was also watching it at her house. Hadn’t initially wanted to watch but was convinced, and I spent my entire time watching making sarcastic commentary.

Tried to do some blood and more gorey effects while sitting in a little corner in college. Where everyone could see. I doubt anyone would have batted an eye- if not for the fact I was right beside the eating area/vending machines, and the department for social sciences. Still probs wasn’t that weird, just noticed I caught eyes when people past lmao

For those curious, here was my attempt of blood at the time! It was not just bad but lazy lmao

(One without the weird running blood, and one with it)

[dutchvanwinkle]

Mr Van der Linde Pt. 1 - Dutch x Reader

OK I’m working on like a bagillion things atm but I wanted to get something out before the years end to prove that I’m alive and writing (those of you waiting on requests I promise I will get to them) 

I’ve been sitting on this bitch for months and have a ton of ideas for it but I wanted to see if it was anyone’s cup of tea before I poured hours and hours into it but tbh i probs will either way hehe

Also I tried to make the location ambiguous but I’m a UK gyal and the UK uni experience is all I know so don’t shout at meeeee sorry  

Also pt. 2 this will be slow updates fyi. But I am nothing if not a completionist so it will get finished eventually 

Happy holidays to those celebrating! The fic is on ao3 if you prefer.

Summary: You meet John's father after your first term of university, and find your growing attraction to him difficult to ignore.

Word count: 8,248

Content warnings: Modern AU, age difference, alcohol, mentions of drug use

PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7 | PART 8 | PART 9 | PART 10

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗‗

You hated driving with John, he was far too reckless and half the time you were sure he wasn’t even paying attention to the road, but when compared to getting an overly expensive train or a stuffy coach, it was a no brainer. John’s warped view of the value for money, thanks to him growing up with an abundance of it, also played in your favour in that he refused to take any contributions for fuel. 

After meeting John at a welcome party for your student accommodation, you soon bonded over growing up in a similar area - his house was just an hour on the train from you.  

From then on, you’d often attend each other’s pre-drinks before nights out, and that soon led to you battling through your hangovers together the following day. You frequented his flat more often than your own by the end of the first semester, enjoying the company within it much more than that of yours. He and his childhood friend, Javier, had asked to be put together in their accommodation and he was always a lot of fun on nights out and super easy to get on with, and you discovered he’d taken the same course as you which saved you the worry of being alone in lectures. One of his other flatmates, Sean, had drove you insane when you first met him as he wouldn’t stop talking, but you soon grew to love him, too. 

Abigail was another of his flatmates, and he made the dire mistake of pulling her on the very first night; making the living situation unbearably uncomfortable for everyone else, especially when the two made the event an “accidental” reoccurring theme. It was no secret that she was smitten the moment she met him, but John being John and John also being a university student he had no desire to enter anything serious, even if he did like her more than he let on. 

You’d grown close to one of your own flatmates, Karen, and she often joined you on your trips to the flat across the hall, and after she’d drunkenly got with Sean on one of the nights out, being intoxicated became a requirement for her to visit the flat to calm her embarrassment. So, you all began smoking weed together on a regular occasion, and the small group became your favourite thing about university so far. 

Although you were already saving money by getting a lift most of the way home, the day that John had wanted to return for the Christmas holiday only had expensive ticket options for the final leg of your journey on the train, but two days later was much cheaper and he’d kindly offered you a place in one of his spare rooms. You gladly accepted, eager to see how nice his house was and spend a bit of time with his younger sister, Tilly, who you’d only spoken to over facetime but whose dry sense of humour you found hilarious. 

“Fuck, John, stop cutting people off,” you craned your neck backwards, watching the most recent victim of John’s erratic road presence throwing up the V’s at his car. 

“Stop backseat driving,” he batted his hand, but as always there was no irritation in his relaxed raspy voice, one that was getting raspier by the day considering how much he smoked. If it wasn’t weed, it was cigarettes and oh there he goes lighting another. 

“You do know this is why your car stinks, right?” you asked, cringing slightly at how careless he was even with his nice expensive vehicle. 

“You’re starting to sound like Abigail,” he scoffed, taking an extended inhale from the cigarette and blowing the smoke at you for good measure, laughing in that signature wheeze of his when you recoiled. 

Pushing the button to crank the window down, you leaned over and allowed the fresh air to fill your lungs now that you were back on normal roads. 

The pair of you soon reached a more rural area, and John cleared his throat when he pulled into a gated entrance. You gawked at the property, once John had used his fob to open the gates to reveal a driveway filled with decorative stone leading up to a gorgeous big house. 

“Shiiiiiit,” was all you could muster as you admired the beautiful brick and windows when you stepped out of the car. 

“Yeah, yeah,” he dismissed, flicking his cigarette and leading the way to the front door. 

You’d never seen a door so grand, dark wood that looked heavy and a golden lion's head holding the knocker. John fished his key from his pocket as you rang your fingers over it and didn’t care for your interest when he flung the door open.  

“’m back!” he called into the house, which somehow felt homely despite how large it was. It was only a few moments before Tilly came charging down the stairs and flung her arms around him. You smiled as the pair embraced, one of the few brother-sister duos you knew that didn’t hate each other. They were extremely close, and you’d found out after a few weeks the reason why. 

John’s mother had died when Tilly was only young, and your heart ached for the two kids but thankfully it brought them closer and they always had each other’s backs, with the guidance of their father, who had understandably been broken by her passing, along with their older brother.  

Tilly greeted you too, and you shook her hand as she bounced in the direction of the kitchen. “Dad’s in the back room watching the game with Arthur,” she informed the two of you as you followed in her direction. You’d heard a lot about Arthur, John’s older brother, and had the privilege of seeing a photo of him once. He didn’t live at the house, instead with his boyfriend, Charles, and if you’d have known he was going to be there today you might have made a bit more effort. 

You tried to be subtle as you took in the gorgeous room, black granite counter tops and high-end appliances only a backdrop for the big family kitchen that boasted an island in the middle with stools pulled up to it as it functioned as a breakfast bar too. 

As Tilly helped herself to something from the cupboards, you followed behind John to the adjoining room where you could hear noise from the TV in the form of a football commentator.  

You weren’t often nervous, not really, but something about this big house made you wonder what sort of man owned it and managed to make it warm and inviting while single-handedly raising his three kids. And when you saw him, lounged back on his sofa, wrapping his long ringed fingers around the neck of his cold beer bottle that paused on its way to his lips as his eyes landed on you, you had to gulp. 

And when your name rolled of his tongue, that voice so deep and rich, you tightened your grip on your bag and quietly sucked air into your lungs as you smiled at him coolly. That didn’t help either, just brought your attention to the faint smell of tobacco in the air mixed with cedarwood and some delightful cologne that you wanted to inhale even more of. 

But christ that’s John’s father you’re thinking about and you’re stood there like a moron and he’s waiting for a response. “Mr Van der Linde,” you swallowed. “Thanks for letting me stay, your home is lovely.” 

John tutted loudly at your ass-kissing display, but you didn’t miss him shrinking slightly when his father turned his attention to him. 

“I see you’ve not developed any manners while you’ve been away,” he tipped his chin down at the man who now gave off the aura of a boy, before looking back at you. “Thank you, miss. Please make yourself at home.” 

You nodded and swallowed again, hoping it wasn’t noticeable to anyone else but God your mouth felt so wet all of a sudden. He was John’s father, alright, in possession of the same rugged charm held by his son, but much more refined and much less boyish. He shifted slightly in his seat, propping his leg up on the L-shaped sofa that he’d claimed the corner of. You darted your eyes away, reminding yourself not to look between his legs but wishing you could because those tailored black trousers did wonders for him. 

“That’s Arthur,” John pointed lazily at the other man in the room, and you hadn’t even looked at him yet, but you were glad for something else to focus on. He was also a treat to look at, even more so in the flesh and you wondered what it was about this family that produced these kinds of men because you’d never encountered anything like it and now here you were in a room with three of them. 

“Nice to meet you, Arthur,” you smiled and the man nodded in acknowledgement, nudging his beer upwards slightly. 

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Mr Van der Linde loosen the collar of his crisp white shirt, that’d been rolled up to reveal his forearms as a substitution for changing out of his work clothes to make himself comfortable. 

“Will the two of you be joining us, son?” 

You looked to John, part of you hoping he’d say yes but part of you desperate for any excuse to leave the room so you could breathe. John opted for the latter option, muttering something about being hungry and tired and wanting to settle in after the drive and Arthur asked when he planned on telling them all about his life at university, for him to just mutter later as he departed the room, and you quickly offered a smile to the two gentlemen before following him out. 

“I’ll let you pick a room before we get the bags,” John began the walk up the stairs and you grunted behind him. 

“Pick? You mean there’s more than one?” 

He shrugged, as he always does when he felt uncomfortable discussing his financial situation. Half the time, you thought he hated having money, but you supposed it was more his manifested embarrassment over how much it set him apart from other people. Nobody would guess if they didn’t know, both due to his mannerisms and his insistence on often wearing the same t-shirt for a week straight. 

“Well, where’s your room?” you asked, thinking that picking whichever was closest to him was the safest bet. 

John pointed up, before walking towards a door which when opened, revealed another small flight of stairs. “Mine’s the attic. You’ve got the choice of that one,” he pointed at a door in front of you to the left, “and that one,” he pointed behind you at a second door, before making his way up the stairs to dump the first of his stuff. 

You looked between the doors and decided to investigate the first one. It was bigger than your room at home, decorated in white and duck egg blue with a large double bed in the centre. The theme was the ocean, a beautiful painting above the bed depicting a grand ship on a calm sea. You’d be more than happy to stay here, hell a sofa would do you fine, but you still gave the other room a look even if out of pure nosiness.  

The second room was warmer, dark wooden furnishings with an accent of a pretty mustard colour. The double bed was tucked into the corner beside the window, looking out over the garden and countryside beyond. There was no theme to this room, but a few decorations appeared to be antiques. You dropped your bag by an old-looking gramophone and ran your finger over the brass horn, marvelling at something so pretty being hidden away in a spare room. You peered at the disc inside, making out Tchaikovsky in faded lettering and reached your hand out to turn the crank, but recoiled when you realised you’d probably end up breaking it. 

John’s feet thundering down the stairs prompted you to turn towards the doorway and he beckoned you to follow with the tilt of his head as he peered inside. You did, and the two of you made your way to the kitchen in search of food once your suitcase was safely situated in your room. 

“There any dinner on?” he called to the next room. 

“What’s it look like to you?” Arthur called back and John grumbled something about him being a smartarse.  

“Half time is in five minutes, we’ll just order takeout if you decide what to get,” Mr Van der Linde called, prompting John to reach into a drawer and pull out a handful of menus. 

“I forgot they even had paper menus,” you mused, leaning up beside John as you ran your hands over them to splay them out and get a good look. It all looked so good; you didn’t care which one they ordered from. “I’ll eat anything,” you announced and John huffed. 

“You always do this. Can’t you pick for once?” 

“I don’t mind! I could eat a horse I’m that hungry.” 

John just rolled his eyes and scanned over the menus before pulling two of them out and presenting them in front of you. “Choose between these two then, I’ve whittled it down.” 

You sighed, thinking that’s a fair deal as you looked between the two options: Indian or Thai. 

Both were delightful, but you knew John would complain if you didn’t make the decision. After a minute of back and forth, you decided the tofu guay tiew was the most appealing and vocalised your choice of Thai. 

“Dad’ll be happy,” he remarked, collecting up the other menus and unceremoniously jamming them into the drawer, “that’s his favourite.” 

At the small sense of pride that filled your chest, you cursed yourself internally. Something about the man made you want to please him, an odd sensation for you since you usually could care less what other people thought. Besides, it was just a takeaway for Christ’s sake. 

Shifting from the next room prefaced the two men that parted from it, expressions content and you assumed their team was winning. They were both so tall, because of course they were. 

“Are you staying for dinner?” Mr Van der Linde asked Arthur who nodded as he deposited the beer bottles into the bin. 

“Sure, I wanna hear all about little Johnny’s adventures,” he had a strong southern drawl, and proceeded to ruffle John’s hair who shoved him away in displeasure. 

“Did you let our guest choose?” Mr Van der Linde then asked, raising his eyebrows at his other son before glancing at you with a small half-smirk. 

John answered by reaching over the counter and handing him the menu, his eyes lighting up once he realised which one you’d chosen. “Good choice,” he hummed, not looking up at you and instead reaching into his pocket for his phone. “What does everyone want?” 

“We can just use the app,” said John. 

“No, I’ll call.” 

John’s sigh caused the man to harden his gaze.  

“It’s quicker over the phone,” he explained irritably. 

“Dad’s an EOP,” John informed you. 

“EOP?” Arthur repeated. 

“Enemy of progress,” John responded, as though it was terminology even a baby should know, despite he himself only learning it from you a month ago. 

“I am not,” the man grumbled. “Just don’t see the point of an app, is all.” 

You smirked at the back and forth as Arthur rolled his eyes. “Someone just order the damn food,” he drawled. 

Once everyone had ordered, including Tilly who it turns isn’t overly fond of Thai food but was quickly reminded by her father that she’d had free reign over the house and choice of takeout for three months, and it was only fair that her brother got to pick on his first night back. John teased her, saying that she’d become spoilt now that she was practically an only child.  

“It should get here in time for the end of the game if we order and you collect it, otherwise we’ll have to wait an extra twenty. Up to you.” 

“We’ll collect,” John answered without pause. 

“You students really that hungry, huh?” Arthur chortled. 

“I’m just excited to eat something that’s not instant noodles or beans on toast,” you hummed, thinking longingly about how much you’d missed a well-cooked meal. 

“Or instant noodles on toast, in your case,” John teased. 

At the looks of disgust directed at you, you huffed. “It’s nicer than it sounds!” 

“That a thing you do often?” Arthur asked, more than intrigued by the strange diet of a student. 

“Only when I fancy a change,” you shrugged and he scoffed, partially in disbelief and partially in amusement. 

“Well, let us hope that your meal tonight is slightly more appealing,” Mr Van der Linde slid his phone back into his pocket, beckoning Arthur to follow him into the back room as the commentator announced the start of the second half. 

You and John had left almost straight away to pick up the food, just to keep yourselves occupied, and thankfully it wasn’t long before you were back at his house and greeted with an already-set table including a couple bottles of wine. 

It was a bit of performance getting everyone’s correct orders to them, but eventually you were all seated. Mr Van der Linde was at the head of the table (of course) with Arthur and John either side of him, you sitting next to John and Tilly sitting next to Arthur. 

“Help yourselves to wine,” Mr Van der Linde gestured to the bottle of red and John didn’t need to be asked twice, pouring himself a large glass which his father eyed suspiciously. 

John side-eyed you and laughed at your pursed expression. “She has a uh... an aversion to red wine,” he explained to the table. 

You threw him a glare, embarrassed that he was bringing up your drunken tales from when you were learning your limits, even if you’re still yet to be mindful of them. 

“Ha,” Arthur barked, “I’d like to hear that story.” 

“Nobody is hearing that story,” you paused, “especially not while we’re eating,” you shuddered at the memory, looking at the delicious food in front of you and willing your brain to think about anything else. 

“This is proper wine, not like that shit you students drink,” Mr Van der Linde huffed. “Just try a tiny bit.” 

You obeyed, albeit hesitantly as you offered out your glass and John poured a mouthful in. Bracing yourself, you sipped it and tried to ignore the eyes around the table on you. 

It tasted rich, smooth and warm on your throat and nothing like that red wine you’d experienced at university which was more closely related to window treatment. “Oh,” your tongue lapped slightly in your mouth, “that is nice.” You held your glass out again for John to fill and Mr Van der Linde chuckled to himself. 

“I still want to hear some drunken tales,” Arthur took a sip of his own wine as you took another of yours. 

“Well, I have plenty about John,” you smirked, forking some of your noodles into your mouth and nearly groaning at how good it tasted. Tilly’s eyes widened with intrigue. 

“Don’t you dare,” he hissed, stomping his heel onto your toe under the table. 

Your squeak turned into a laugh, and you raised your brows at him - I’ll keep your secrets if you keep mine. 

He shifted his attention back to the food, knowing he had much more to lose in the present circumstance, and your agreement with one another was settled. 

“How are your lectures, son?” 

John shrugged. “Fine.” 

“What are you learning about?” 

You smirked around your next sip of wine, knowing that John hadn’t got a clue about the contents of his course given his terrible attendance to his lectures. 

“Uh... Ethics.” 

“Anything else?” 

John attempted to remember the names of the modules he’d done the bare minimum for, but it didn’t seem to fool Mr Van der Linde one bit. He had mentioned that the push to study philosophy had come from his father, and unlike most kids that did something because their parents wanted them too, John didn’t seem to care. He much preferred being out of doors, with animals or working with his hands. Above anything, John preferred not working. So, a three-year degree, paid for by his father where he could slack off for a little while longer was more than welcome. 

The way his father looked at him, you could tell John would be getting a talking to in a more private setting at a later date, but he instead turned his attention to you in favour of not lowering the mood around the table. 

“Do you have more of an interest in your course than John does in his?” he asked you, his voice not entirely cleared of his disappointment and John noticed it too, shrinking his shoulders slightly. 

“I suppose so,” you said brightly, hoping to alleviate the tension. 

“You’re studying philosophy like John?” 

“Oh, no,” you sipped at your wine, feeling as though you were being interviewed for your place on said course all over again. “Computer Science.”  

He raised his eyebrow in surprise and Arthur hummed to vocalise how impressed he was. “Smart girl,” Mr Van der Linde said thoughtfully before taking a bite of food. 

“She’s only interested in it because she has to be,” John scoffed, and you wondered if part of him was jealous at the praise you were getting that he wasn’t. “She’s got a scholarship,” he clarified. 

You cleared your throat, embarrassed and slightly irritated at John for mentioning it. “I have to keep my attendance above eighty percent,” you shrugged nonchalantly. 

“A scholarship? My my,” Mr Van der Linde brought his glass to his lips. 

You just shook your head. Truthfully, you wouldn’t have even been able to go were it not for the scholarship; it would have been far too expensive, so you didn’t really have a choice in the matter if you wanted a place on the course.  

“Do you know what you want to do for work?” 

“Not really, suppose I’ll just go into software - that’s where most of the jobs are,” you took another sip of the wine and found your glass empty. “I guess I won’t go into app development, though.” 

Even though you could slap yourself for trying to banter with him and only coming up with something so pathetic, he chuckled into his glass and his eyes were warm as they bore into yours when he licked a stray droplet from his bottom lip as he set the glass down. 

You could swear you clenched. 

“You always get flushed after wine,” John commented with amusement, refilling your glass before his own. 

“I’m not,” you said quietly, holding your knuckles to your cheek and yes, your skin was burning. You grumbled and dipped your head, the spicy flavours of your dish now something you were all too aware of. 

Mr Van der Linde just observed you, something unreadable on his face or maybe the wine had gone to your head and you just no longer had the capacity to distinguish emotions. 

“Well,” he wiped a napkin over his mouth and sat back in his chair, his plate completely emptied of food. “I’m glad you’re around to keep John in check.” 

“She isn’t as sensible and innocent as she looks,” John said over a full mouthful and Arthur tutted at his lack of table manners. 

“That so.” Mr Van der Linde wasn’t asking. He sipped at his wine. 

“Sure I am,” you cleared your throat, finding your voice once again but having nothing more to say to defend yourself. You couldn’t deny that John had experienced you in a light that was more than ill-fashioned, thanks to the numerous substances you’d experimented with over your short friendship so far. 

The conversation continued long after dinner finished, Tilly talking all about her new school year and it was clear how much her father and brothers adored her; looking at her with all the love in the world and your heart swelled at the display. Your head swelled too, and you stopped your alcohol consumption after your fourth glass of wine, knowing you’d have a fierce headache in the morning. 

Unfortunately, the conversation didn’t turn to the topic of Mr Van der Linde, and in your drunken haze you couldn’t stop your mind wandering as you thought about him as he sat there, a soft grin and slightly heavy eyelids following the wine and beer he’d drank that day with a hearty meal to top it off. You desperately tried to keep your gaze on whoever was talking, and for the past twenty minutes it’d been mainly Arthur. He briefly mentioned the business Dutch owned (what the business was, you had no idea) with another man, Hosea, his most trusted friend and colleague.  

None of you had realised how close to midnight it was, and you rubbed at your eyes once Arthur pointed it out and called for a taxi to take him home. A yawn and a stretch later, you stood to excuse yourself too. 

“Thanks again for dinner, Mr Van der Linde,” you said, picking up your cutlery, plate, and glass and loading them into the dishwasher. 

“Please,” his voice came from right behind you and you stifled a gasp as you turned. John and Tilly were saying their goodbyes to Arthur at the door, but Mr Van der Linde was right next to you and god did he smell good. 

And god, were you drunk. 

“Call me Dutch,” he crooned, loading his own dishes beside yours. 

All you could think to respond with was a nod. “Alright, thanks. Dutch.” 

His brow softened at hearing his name on your tongue and he allowed himself the slight indulgence of wandering his eyes down your form as you walked away, clearly trying to hide in your walk how quickly the wine had gone to your head. He was in no position to judge, attributing his interest in his son’s pretty friend to nothing more than a drunken lapse of judgement that would go no further than that.  

- 

Your mouth was so dry.  

The room span a little as you opened your eyes, but the headache wasn’t as bad as some you’d had previously, thankful that it was still dark out and you didn’t have to deal with any blinding lights. Rolling over within the comfort of the bed, which you could tell was dressed with a very expensive sheet and duvet set, you tilted your phone that sat charging on the nightstand and checked the time. 03:43. 

Lord knows why you didn’t bring a glass of water to bed, or at the very least have some before you went to sleep, but you needed some right now and sat up to swing your feet onto the floor.  

The house was still warm, and you ran your hand over a radiator in passing to find that it was on a low heat, so no wonder. You wore your plain, oversized, grey t-shirt and some underwear that you always referred to as your ‘boy shorts’. Drunken you had decided to be a little modest, at least. 

(Mostly) sober you didn’t follow that trend, venturing onto the landing without pulling on some trackies, saying to yourself that you’d only be a moment anyway, so it was no matter. 

You tiptoed down the stairs, thankful for the minimum creaking of the floorboards and made your way to the kitchen, the tiles cold on your bare feet.  

There were a lot of cabinets, and while it felt rude to rummage through them you didn’t have much choice unless you wanted to lean over and drink straight from the tap, which was a much worse position to be caught in should someone see you. You eventually found the cupboard with the glasses and mugs, and after pulling out a pint glass you filled it up and gulped it down within seconds. 

You did the same thing again, and as you were halfway done with your second glass a dim light was flicked on and you almost choked on your drink. 

“Didn’t mean to startle you.” 

Turning, you held your hand to your mouth to mask the massive gulp of water you held in it, and you swallowed it down as gracefully as you could, wiping your lips with the back of your hand as you cleared your throat to greet Dutch. 

“It’s no problem,” you shook your head. “Sorry, did I wake you?" 

He shook his head too, dismissively, and you didn’t miss his eyeline drop to your legs before back at your face. 

“Shit,” you muttered, moving to hide your bottom half behind the island and he smirked. 

“Don’t worry about it.” 

But obviously you did, you’d known him shy of twelve hours and he’d just found you in his kitchen dressed the way you were and he’d probably seen half of your ass when you were turned the other way. 

You glanced down at yourself by uncomfortably. 

He let you fester for a moment under his smirk, before shrugging off his night gown to reveal his broad and surprisingly muscular chest, black hairs decorating it as well as his stomach. “Here,” he handed it out to you over the counter, leaving himself in just his red and black checked bottoms. 

You took it without thinking, most of your brain power allocated to the task of not staring and you looked at the garment in your hands. “You don’t have to -” 

“It’s fine.” He looked almost bored of your apologetic demeanour, something you realised he’d seen a lot of from you. You took the robe and wrapped it around yourself, the softness of it making you want to curl up but not quite as much as that scent did. 

“Thanks,” you mumbled and he nodded. “You don’t have any painkillers, do you?” you asked, feeling like an immature teenager that couldn’t handle her drink. “Just in case.” 

“Of course.” He moved round the counter and opened a drawer, tutting at the creased-up menus that jammed it and you did your best to hide your amusement. A rattle from the packet later, he pushed two out and offered them to you, and you held your hand out for him to drop them in. You popped them in your mouth and leaned your head back to gulp down some water. 

He stared at your neck as you did so, but ripped his attention away when you brought your head back down. 

“Is your head hurting?” he asked, stepping towards you and holding his hand to your forehead while brushing your hair away soothingly. 

“Oh no, not really,” you swallowed. “It’s just in case it does in the morning.” 

“I see,” he said plainly, casually returning his arm to his side. 

“Thanks... again.” 

Leaning back on the counter behind him, he crossed one foot over the other and offered you a gentle smile. You took another few sips, emptying your glass. 

You glanced from Dutch to the sink and back to Dutch, before making your way over to fill up again. Now he was right next to you, silently observing and you didn’t face away from the sink as you drank down some more water. You could feel how warm he was, it radiated from his chest, and you were glad to have sobered up because you were certain drunken you would’ve just leaned into it, and how awful would that be. 

Awful. Terrible. Definitely not wonderful. 

Gulping down the rest of the glass, you finally felt satisfied and filled up once more so you could bring some it to bed with you. You turned to the man beside you, who did nothing other than blink. 

“Good night, Mr Van der Linde.” 

“Good night, miss.” 

You walked out of the kitchen, remembering you hadn’t called him Dutch like he’d asked but supposing it wasn’t a big deal and you couldn’t think too long on it without the image of him topless crept back into your mind. 

He’s John’s dad.  

Shaking your head to hopefully rid it of your thoughts, you pushed open the door to your room and closed it gently before climbing into bed and curling in on yourself, keeping his nightgown wrapped around you. 

- 

Despite it being winter, it was too hot when you woke. 

It was no surprise, given the heating was on and you were wearing Dutch’s robe and had a thick duvet draped over you. You kicked it off, star-fishing and grimacing at the sweat that’d pooled on your lower back. 

09:07. 

You brought up your messages with John. 

Going to get a shower if you don’t mind.  

John was mostly hit and miss with his sleeping schedule, sometimes he’d be up at the crack of dawn and other times he’d sleep in until mid-afternoon. Today, you were thankfully he’d been an early riser. 

Knock yourself out.  

You stayed still for a moment, before sliding out of the bed and unzipping your suitcase to find your toiletries bag. Not wanting to change into anything that was clean, you opted for keeping Dutch’s nightgown on since you were only walking across the hall. 

But when you did, and reached your hand out to open the bathroom door, you could hear the shower on from inside. You frowned and turned, in time for Tilly to depart from her room to the right.  

“Oh, John’s just gone in,” she informed you. 

“Fucker,” you grumbled and she tilted her head at you in questioning. “I just told him I was getting a shower.” 

She giggled apologetically, her eyes shifting to look behind you at the sound of a door opening. You turned. Dutch. You hadn’t realised the room next to yours was his. 

“You’re welcome to use my ensuite,” he yawned, patting Tilly’s arm as she passed him to go downstairs. 

“Are you sure?” 

“I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t.” 

“Right,” you nodded. “Thank you.” 

“There’s no shower in there,” he leaned against the door frame, folding his arms over his now (unfortunately) covered chest. “Just a bath, but I can draw you one up no problem.” 

A bath. God, you missed baths. Your accommodation only had crappy showers that were unbearably inconsistent with their water pressure and temperature. 

“I’m sure I can wait,” you shrugged, not wanting to trouble him even a little. 

“John’ll be at least 20 minutes,” he pointed to the door with disappointment, “bath’ll be full in ten.” 

You swallowed, now feeling like it’d be rude of you to say no. “O-Okay, thanks. But I can run it.” 

“Please, allow me. On account of my idiot son,” he scratched the back of his scalp lazily. 

You huffed a laugh, not wanting to oppose him anymore and gave in. “Alright, I appreciate it.” 

Dutch nodded, disappearing into his room and you busied yourself back in yours while you waited. You were fiddling with the gramophone again when he rapped at your open door. 

“You just turn the crank,” he informed you. 

“Oh, yeah, I didn’t want to break it.” 

He huffed in amusement, meandering over and stopping next to you to wind it up. 

You smiled fondly, as the ever-familiar Dance of The Swans began playing. 

“Swan Lake,” you hummed, more to yourself than Dutch but he turned to you with his eyebrows raised. 

“You like ballet?” 

“Love it. Used to take lessons when I was younger, not that I was any good,” you snorted. “Swan Lake was always my favourite.” 

His smile was warm, and eyes intrigued. “Do you go to see the shows often?” 

“Not as often as I’d like, it’s been a couple years actually.” Life as a student didn’t often allow room for the luxuries of tickets to the ballet. 

Dutch nodded thoughtfully. “Well, your bath is ready.” 

You followed him out the room, the song reaching its crescendo and fading out in your ears as the two of you walked further away from it. He opened the door to his bedroom, motioning for you to enter. 

“There’s a speaker in there if you want to put on any music, John says it’s Bluetooth or something.” 

God, he’s adorable. 

He’s also John’s father goddamnit.  

“Thank you,” you cleared your throat, walking past him and through the next open door, stopping at the frame. 

“Take your time,” he hummed after you and you nodded in appreciation as you closed the door. You'd wanted to sneak a peek at his room but couldn’t very well do so with him watching you. You dropped your things on the floor and locked the ensuite, turning to the pristine bathroom that felt warm and cosy despite the fact it was mostly grey, the floor slate and the standalone bath by the small window at the end. 

The smells inside the room were wonderful, and you peered into the steaming tub and to your surprise it was filled with bubbles, the water a shade of lavender and you were impressed that he even had the supplies to make such a delightful bath. 

He’d even lit a candle for you. 

You shrugged off his robe and hung it on the back of the door, taking a second to smell it and make sure it didn’t now reek of your sweat. Thankfully, it didn’t. 

It was the best bath you’d ever had. You’d played some of your favourite relaxing music and looped through an entire album before you cracked your eyes open, realising how long you’d sat in the warmth as your hangover dissolved away. 

Giving the bath a little once over with the scourer and bathroom spray you found under the sink once the water was out, you rubbed your nice-smelling moisturiser over your skin and dressed in your clothes for the day; feeling miles better than you had done a few hours previous. 

You only allowed your eyes to rake over Dutch’s bedroom briefly, dark mahogany furnishings and an extremely inviting king-sized bed with silk sheets in the centre of the room. The only think you didn’t like was how eerily tidy it was. You left quickly. 

The scent of something sweet greeted you and you cringed slightly upon seeing the hands of the fancy kitchen clock reading the time of 10:25. Whoops. 

Nobody seemed to mind, greeting you as John and Tilly sat at the breakfast bar while Dutch cooked over the stove. You flicked John’s ear as you passed him for stealing your shower, although you weren’t really that bothered since the alternative was much more desirable. He rasped his laugh, as usual, and you could tell he’d just had his morning cigarette, though you suspected he was missing his weed that he’d usually smoke on a Saturday morning. 

“You were pretty wasted last night,” he slung his arm over you, and you pressed your forehead into his shoulder. 

“I wasn’t that bad,” you mumbled into the fabric of his hoodie that you’d borrowed on more than one occasion. 

He vibrated with a laugh, resting his head on top of yours and you pondered which one of you had really been that drunk, considering he was showing signs of a strong hangover; he was always very snuggly after a particularly heavy night. “Hair of the dog later?” 

“You’re going out tonight?” Tilly asked and John looked to you. 

“If we don’t find anything else to do, probably. We did say we were only going to go if Javi went anyway.” 

“And is he?” 

“Not sure,” you hummed, shifting to lay your head on John sideways (he was surprisingly comfortable given his lean frame) and pulling out your phone to find no new messages from Javier. 

Thoughts on tonight?  

You set your phone on the counter, not expecting a reply until much later when he finally joined the land of the living. 

“We could go on a walk?” Tilly asked sweetly and John groaned. 

“A walk,” you jabbed his side, “would be lovely. Maybe in a few hours when John’s recovered.” 

“Coming, dad?” 

Dutch cleared his throat, seemingly very focused on his cooking and slung the tea towel over his shoulder. “Uh... Perhaps. It’s colder than it looks out there.” 

He brought two bowls over, one filled with fresh berries and another with melted chocolate. You groaned in delight and sat up from John, peering at the selection.  

When the bowl of chopped banana arrived along with lemon juice and sugar, Dutch allowed himself a glance in your direction and his lips turned up at the sight of you eagerly eying the food. 

He finally brought over the pancakes, sauce, and fresh orange juice before seating himself beside Tilly. 

You salivated at the display in front of you, the best cure for a hangover that wasn’t quite the same when you’d made it back in your flat. “Thanks so much, Dutch,” you hummed, beginning to stack your pancakes with toppings.  

“It’s my pleasure,” he chuckled, pouring out a cup of coffee. 

Internally, John briefly questioned when you’d gotten to a first name basis with his dad but didn’t give it much thought to it and soon his full focus was on the food in front of him. 

“I got a load of washing,” he chewed his last mouthful after pretty much inhaling his breakfast, washing it down with a glass of orange juice. 

“You know where the laundry room is,” Dutch countered calmly to which John scoffed and stood to grab his washing that’d accumulated over the past few weeks. “Do you want to wash anything, miss?” 

“Oh,” you swallowed your juice, remembering your suitcase full of clothes that needed washing. “It’s fine, I do have some but I was just going to do it when I got home.” 

“Nonsense. When John’s finished you can put a load on.” 

You shrugged. “Alright, suppose I may as well.” 

Later that day, Dutch called up the stairs to let you know the washing machine was free and you ambled downstairs after separating your clean clothes from those that needed washing. He directed you to the laundry room and you placed your suitcase on the dryer and opened it, deciding that one load should be enough. You looked at his fancy washing machine, slightly uncertain on how to get it going. 

As though reading your mind, he appeared in the doorway and cleared up your confusion. You turned to thank him and found his eyes cast down to your pile of clothing – and you were mortified to see your underwear right at the top. In an attempt to play it cool, you looked back to him and he gave you a smile, one that had you questioning if he’d even been looking or if it was just a figment of your imagination. You returned his expression, turning back to desperately try and remember what he’d just told you about how to work the appliance and you leaned over to turn a dial and pretend you knew what you were doing. You breathed a sigh of relief when the door clicked shut after an extended moment, and dumped your pile of clothes in. 

Unfortunately, the weather was both cold and rainy by the afternoon, squashing all hopes Tilly had of going on a walk. She made you promise that when you next came round, you’d join them on one and you were reminded that you had to leave tomorrow but the prospect of returning was an exciting one. Incidentally, Javier had no desire to go out in the rain and so yours and John’s plans were cancelled too, but you went to the drive through for a late lunch that you’d both finished by the time you returned to his house. 

Instead, you spent the rest of the day on the sofa with Tilly and John, flicking through Netflix and bundled under blankets. Dutch put you to shame by having a better social life and going out for beers with his friends that evening, but he made a lasagne to go in the oven when the three of you got hungry, and the entire thing was demolished in no time. Nursing a rather large food baby, you turned in at around 11pm. 

- 

“Are you going to come and watch?” John asked you after he informed the room that he'd be playing football with the guys on that dreary Sunday. 

You glanced out the window and back to him with a frown. “It’s pouring rain. And I see you’re going back on your promise to give me a lift to the station.” 

“I never promised nothing,” his expression told a different story; he’d just forgotten. “Dad’ll take you,” he gestured to his father who looked up from his phone. 

“Course I will,” Dutch stated, and returned his attention to the device in his hand. 

“Oh, it’s fine, I can get a taxi -” 

His expression alone silenced you as he looked up once more, an eyebrow raised at you to stop protesting. “I insist,” he said after letting the silence hang in the air for a bit. You just nodded. 

When John left an hour later, he gave you a big squeeze goodbye and you told him to at least do some revision for his exams in January, to which he countered that they didn’t even count to the final grade and you couldn’t really argue with him on that. With Tilly up in her room and a couple of hours to kill before you had to leave, you tried to find something to watch on TV but had no luck and sighed as you eyed your laptop beside you. May as well try and get some work done. 

You begrudgingly pulled up the code for one of your assignments, but soon found yourself focused and began to make some decent progress. 

“What on earth is that,” Dutch commented, leaning on the back of the sofa as he squinted at your screen over your shoulder. 

Huffing a laugh, you craned your neck to look back at him. “Broken code,” you stated, before looking back at said code. 

“Looks... interesting. How can you concentrate with this on?” he gestured to the TV. 

“Oh,” you looked up, half forgetting it was even on. “It’s just background noise.” 

“I see. Mind if I watch something?” 

As if he was asking you, like it wasn’t his own house. “Course not.” 

He moved round the sofa and dropped himself in the spot you’d first found him in, and he flicked through the channels until he landed on a cooking show, and you were reminded of how delightful your dinner was last night. 

“That lasagne was so good,” you commented, not taking your gaze off the screen in front of you. 

“I’m glad you liked it. Can I get you a drink?” 

“Oh,” you blinked at him, “no, I’m fine thank you.” 

You returned your attention back to your work and settled into the cushion of the sofa. It felt oddly normal to sit with Dutch, while he did have a very intimidating aura, he was also the kind of person you could sit in silence with and not have it be awkward. He lounged back, watching his show while you typed away on your keyboard.  

Before you knew it, an hour and a half had passed, and you rubbed your eyes before closing your laptop.  

“Ready to get going?” 

You groaned and rested back, wishing you could curl up on the comfy sofa instead. “I guess,” you grumbled. 

Dutch chuckled fondly. “You’re welcome back anytime.” 

“Thanks Mr Van der Linde,” you smiled at him, and there was something about the way he was looking at you... 

Or perhaps it was your imagination. 

He cleared his throat as he stood, placing his warm hand on your shoulder as he passed and you almost leaned into it, but he was out the room before you could and all that remained was that scent of his. You shivered as you stood. 

The short journey to the station was delightful, in Dutch’s fancy car that had heated seats and was pristinely clean. You only allowed yourself to look at him once, the way he sat back and leisurely stirred the wheel with one hand, his other one resting on his thigh. 

“Have a good Christmas, miss,” he tipped his head as you turned to close the door, and you returned the sentiment. 

You were actually glad to be leaving, a little fantasising was harmless but there was something about that look in his eye that had you wondering if perhaps it could be a reality. And, of course, that was territory you’d never venture into; sleeping with your friend’s dad, a man twice your age? Absolutely not. Time to enjoy Christmas at home and forget all about him. 

When you couldn’t find one of your favourite pair of knickers, the lacy, dark grey ones, you tutted at yourself for forgetting them even though you were sure you’d packed them. But when you returned for second term at university, they weren’t anywhere to be found in your flat, either. 

[skadiyoko]

Okay, like, Matt’s been in AH videos BEFORE he was even hired. Wasn’t the first Minecraft we saw him in Griffball? And everyone in AH immediately liked him bc he smacked Gavin? Like, we as a community knew axialmatt, and were excited when the guys played one of his maps! And then he and Jeremy (AH fan artist AND fan fiction extraordinaire) get hired to do their DREAM job! And I hate to say a good chunk of the community took a LONG time to warm up to them (especially Matt, but Ray leaving soon after they were hired I think really threw a wrench in things too), but eventually they got comfortable and clicked into their places in AH, and it was like they were there the whole time!

And especially recently, Matt specifically has been KILLING it! He’s so creative, and funny, and his humor is sarcastic and dry, but he’s GENUINELY so kind, you can just tell. Like, this sucks, everyone’s pissed, WB are burning their company to the ground and idk if RT has any way of getting out of there, but they really need to, bc this is only the beginning.

Challenge Accepted and the Randomizers are, imo, the best content in AH right now. I even watched the Raft series, even though I have no interest in that game, bc Matt kept me there! Shark mage was the best! I love the rest of the cast, I really do, but at this point in AH’s life, Matt and Michael are def my fav members. It just sucks, I’m taking it better than when Ray left (I was a damn mess through that;;), but maybe that’s bc he’s still PT? We’ll see how long that lasts, I’ve really been enjoying seeing him in Chilled’s Among Us lobbys, and if he had more time to devote to streaming, he’ll prob hang out with that crowd more, which would be awesome tbh.

Does anyone know if he has a YT VOD channel? I have a thing, I don’t know why, but I don’t like watching livestreams. They make me anxious for whatever reason;; So VODs are a lifesaver for me, so please let me know if you know! 🧡

And yeah, that’s my jumbled thoughts on the matter. WB is ruining RTAH, and it sucks to see, and I really, really, really hope they SOMEHOW get out of that company. Easier said than done, I know, but it just sucks to have had to see all of the obvious change they’ve had to go through since they were put under them, and are still going through. AH cast and content used to be so colorful and bright and happy, but as much as I enjoy how they’ve matured, and still have fun together, the contrast from the past, more care-free AH is drastic. The past however many years, it’s just noticeable how dark their spaces have been, like, it’s kind of dreary looking at them compared to, let’s say, their tiny OG office. Like, that room was always so full of life! And their past few spaces have just been… sad looking.. and also, they’re not quiet about scheduling. Matt and Michael talked about how Sarah had been breathing down their necks for like, half the Wind Waker randomizers bc they were taking too long, and every time they brought it up it bummed because out, bc I HATE they’re being rushed to make content! Idk who thought a Zelda randomizer was going to be less than like, 8 episodes anyway! But that just suggests to me they’re not enjoying playing the game as much as they could be, bc they’re being bitched at about it behind the scenes. Plus other random, too-businesslike things I smell just bc I’m an employee of a big business, and like, I can TELL they don’t have as much freedom as they should have, and it sucks.

like, I really don’t like getting into the “AH was better when it was just the OG cast 😤”, because those people annoy me (I don’t know why they just don’t stop watching if they just complain every video how they hate current AH? But that’s a can of worms I don’t want to open), BUT I do hate what big business has been doing to them, I hope Matt settles into the path that is right for him, the AH members someday gain their freedom back, and WB burns in hell. It’s 3:30am, I got a bit off track with this post, goodnight.

Edit:

After seeing more information come out, Big Yikes, looks like RT has been shitty even before WB sunk their claws in. I know back in 2013 they would make shitty, offensive jokes and call people babies for being upset when they were called out on them, but as I said before, one of the biggest things I’m thankful for is the vast majority of them [AH] have matured, and realized slurs aren’t funny. The community still, for the most part, gets on my nerves for MANY reasons, but I never get too into any kind of community anyway (so I can actually enjoy the media I’m consuming). All that being said, this looks like the beginning of a real big garbage fire, and I just hope all the good RT/AH people find their way to a happier life, and all the shitty assholes get what’s coming to them.

[kathrynalicemc]

Lineage Challenge (Day 6) - Q&A Ask Game

First of all, thank you everyone that played this challenge with me! Even if you popped in for a day or two, thanks and I hope you enjoyed it!

Canon or Fiction?

The Arcanos and Varangrs are original and fictional. I came up with the Arcano name first by taking a name from Skyrim. He was a high elf mage called Ancano (who was kinda a dick) but he was into magic so I was like perfect. But then I forgot the spelling and said Arcano instead. I decided this way was prob better anyway when I saw this pic.

This also helped create the Gifts as the first one I made was Necromancy. I thought about the 8 schools of Arcane magic (Abjuration, Evocation, Necromancy, Enchantment, Illusion, Transmutation, Divination, and Conjuration)

As for Varangrs, I can’t really remember where it came from? I think I just googled some norse names and found one that sounded like it would fit their wild nature. It also means Sailor so that fits into both families longship use for trading together.

Family Ties

The Arcanos/Varangrs aren’t related to any canon families but there’s a bunch of creator made ones! I’m always looking for more too!

@sirfluffig has Varus de Fey, @lgvalenzuela has Lorilyn Kumari, @endlessly-cursed has Atticus Demiurgos-Kennedy and Semele Thorne, and for the Varangrs there’s @cursebreakerfarrier with Benji Gerhardt (tho it’s complicated. Will he won’t he join the family? 😌)

I also have my own created family called Lionette that live in Skalafell and marry into the Arcanos. Else Lionette was one until she married Alatar. I’ve been wanting to create more viking families that live in the village but haven’t gotten around to it. (👀 invitation)

Foundations

The very first member of all three family lines can be traced back to a single woman from the viking age (8th to 13th century??). She’s nameless but that would also be spoilers for my fic. She’s the one that did the ritual to imbue her family line with the Gift. She has three sons who each split off into diff families.

As for oldest on my tree, that would probably be the parents of my hphl gen (Unni, Aros, Oliana). But they aren’t developed much as I forget some of their names 🤡.

The very first member I created for the Arcanos was Dafne of course. For the Varangrs, it was Jorren. She has water powers uwu.

Fun Facts

The Arcanos and Varangrs don’t use regular owls for mail. Instead they own Ravens. Yes they name them. Dafne’s is called Hela of course.

There was a feud between the Arcanos and Varangrs since forever. It was only recently that Alatar and Jorren made a tentative peace and started trading with each other.

Lycanthropy is common among the Varangrs.

You could have caught this reading my one shots but Dafne’s eye scar was made by Unni’s old sword.

There’s about a 100 year gap in the Arcano Family where nobody is born with the Gift. The last member was Khione (Unni’s younger sister), and the first member to get it after all those years was Dayamanti. The gap caused the Gift to become sort of legend so when the three sisters were born with white in their hair, they didn’t believe it was the Gift until they started using it at 10.

Iolanthe and Dafne are probably the two Arcanos who actually stick to the family trope while the rest of the family are mainly Gryffindors. As for Varangrs, the whole family sticks to the trope EXCEPT Aros and Rune. Gotta love opposite parallels.

The Varangrs were created when I was watching His Dark Materials and decided to create one of the other two families. That’s why they live on Svalbard.

Ask Game

Ask me anything about my families that I haven’t covered! I will redact anything that has spoilers for my upcoming fic tho 👀

[meruz]

i was gonna draw tonight but i dropped my tablet pen and the barrel of the pen broke off and flew somewhere underneath (??) my bed (?) and now i cant find it so I’m just gonna answer asks before bed instead. just some art asks and more mentions of infinity train LOL

What program and brushes do you use when making your art?

@ravki hi! part of this is in my FAQ but i’ll say it again anyways LOL: I use photoshop CC and have used photoshop for pretty much....my whole art career. I’ve dabbled in clip and paint tool sai in the past but photoshop is my true wife, we eloped away from her awful father adobe many years ago and are very happy together. 

as for brushes... I should prob put this info in my FAQ too lol,... my default brush set is actually free to download here! Tho I will say I also use steve ahn’s storyboarding brush sometimes and lately i’ve been using shiyoon kim’s brushes A TON. Shiyoon’s cost a couple bucks but they’re super worth it imo

How do you choose colors?

This is kind of a difficult one to describe from scratch but hmm.... I’ll put it this way. Generally when I go into coloring or painting something I already have some colors in mind. Like for a certain piece I know I want a bright green, or a magenta, or a dark blue in certain areas. A lot of the time I know a mood I want. So I’ll start with that core color tone and build around it. I’ll use an example from a recent piece

So you can see here that the first color I accessed was that bright cyan. So I start with that bright cyan and then bring in its “friends” in the form of analogous colors (shown below on the far left)

greens greys etc. THEN I know I want the characters to stand out against all the blue so I start laying down warm contrasting colors for them (middle group). the mat under them is orange, skin tones are warm, ryans flannel is red etc. then to get them to work together I work more cool colors into the shadows and slightly warmer (not too warm because its a cool img overall so in this case, greener LOL) colors into highlights. 

hope that makes sense? for me choosing colors is a lot about story and composition. If you know what you want to say, the mood you want to create, where you want to go, the path to get there becomes a lot clearer imo.

Have you ever considered making an art book?

I have! But I don’t think I currently have enough...original illustrations for one LOL? Not that an art book has to be all original work but if I were putting fanart in an art book...at that point I’d just make a fanzine. I’m making more original work lately though so maybe this year....? Who knows. For now, I do have a sketchbook up on gumroad. Hoping to do one of those next year too.

Any tips for keeping background drawings from getting super stiff, especially since things like interiors have a lot of straight lines?

This is a really interesting ask. Really great question that I don’t think gets asked enough - forgive me if I get a bit art school here but I drew up some examples.

First I think we have to investigate the assumption that straight lines make things stiff. That seems true on an instinctual level and certainly proves to be true very often But I don’t think its actually the straight lines themselves but the sort of arrangements and compositions they tend to dictate. Take this for instance.

pretty big difference, right? there’s a couple things that make a composition feel stiff and one of the most significant is lines that are perpendicular and parallel to the frame. it feels locked in and solid, like bricks. but the moment you shift these angles even a little the composition instantly becomes more dynamic because our innate senses of weight, gravity, and directionality can sense movement.

But it’s not just diagonals let’s take this one step further

when lines meet and terminate together those tangents can flatten and lock space so the best way to solve this is with overlap and complete intersection, forms continuing past or behind each other feel more layered and less like a flat mosaic... again, even in the simplest line drawings. So how do we apply this to a background?

ok I drew this really fast so its potentially not the best example but I think the idea is there. This space isn’t even particularly deep, it’s basically a room, a doorway, and a hallway behind it, and we’re not seeing that much of any of those things LOL. but when you draw an environmental object like a doorway in a way that lines up with the perpendicular and parallel lines of the canvas you’re automatically flattening it and making it look rigid.

and when you create tangents with objects and characters you flatten the space around them and make it difficult to tell what is actually in front or behind or if they’re on the same plane.

GOD I HOPE THIS MAKES SENSE. Anyways. avoid those things and you’ll instantly have less stiff bgs no matter what kind of bg you’re depicting.

I wanna mention however that this isn’t to say a stiff bg with flat space doesn’t have its purposes.

sometimes you want to create parallels and tangents. it can make characters feel closed in, trapped, regimented, part of a routine, etc. it’s also great for making a composition look ornamental (especially combined with symmetry).

directors like wes anderson can even use these compositional elements to make images feel uncanny or harrowing! its very versatile. I think the important thing is to just be aware of when you are making something rigid and when that’s the last thing you want to do. conscious choices.

Can you speak Tagalog?

@lemuelzero101​ I can! BUT NOT VERY WELL LOL ;;; both my parents are from Visayas! but they met and had me in the states lol so I’m pretty American born and raised. We go back to visit family on occasion but not regularly. My tagalog is mostly absorbed from listening to relatives at parties lol and my parents speak bisaya at home so I’m marginally better at that. Sorry to any filipinos out there hoping I’d be better educated, I’m like a little baby...

I do love meeting and talking to other filipinos online though, I grew up in an area that was relatively diverse but the asian population was small and the filipino population basically non-existent. I was like one of maybe 2 filipino kids in my highschool of 2000.

Apart from infinity train what shows are you watching now? Have you seen jujitsu kaisen?

Man this is gonna sound so boring but I haven’t watched a lot of tv lately.  It’s not really part of my daily routine. Let’s see... I was sort of watching Amphibia, Craig of the Creek, and the new Digimon Adventure 2020 but I keep falling off watching those for one reason or another. Also there’s a lot of episodes, it doesn’t feel like something I can just binge and be done with.

The last thing I binged was Succession. I want that show and Euphoria back so bad, when I’m done forcing all my friends to watch Infinity Train im cancelling my HBO subscription until Succession and Euphoria return so they know exactly what I’m on their list for LOL. 

I have not watched jujitsu kaisen but I’ve kept up with some of the sakuga news (I keep up with anime industry news and production info like x5 the amt i keep up with actual anime) for it and their compositing/editing looks dope. I’ve read the manga actually LOL or at least part of the beginning. I wasn’t super keen on the whole finger eating thing. Also to be honest I kinda feel like its the new Bleach and I never particularly cared about Bleach. Characters look nice enough tho. I wholeheartedly support jjk fans.

Thank you! Thank you @keznodzieja​! <3

And thank you anons who don’t watch infinity train LOL...it’s always nice to hear when people enjoy my fanart despite not knowing the source material because it lifts a little bit of the “oh god am I being annoying???” fear off my chest. But also I think you should watch infinity train because it’s really good I have no reservations recommending it.

[canmom]

영화 화요일 29 - Park Chan-Wook’s Vengeance Trilogy

Hey there again... I’m back in the UK. I don’t think that merits an explanation mark because this country sucks. (So do most countries but this one’s so much more personal). Final ‘America observations’ to follow soon!

Also it’s my birthday today! I’m 30. Apparently going by 2016 death rates, I probably can expect to live another 50 years (p=0.7); I might live another 60 (p=0.32), and I am pretty unlikely to get another 70 (p=0.027). My chances of making it to the end of this century are definitely slimmer yet! But who knows what developments in ‘climate crisis’ (-ve) and ‘medical science’ (+ve) and ‘rise of global fascism’ (-ve) and ‘collapse of the present economic order’ (?ve) will adjust those numbers in that time!

Anyway Toku Tuesday kind of foundered during my last couple weeks in California, but it is not dead, and today we’ll celebrate this birthday by watching Park Chan-Wook’s ‘Vengeance’ trilogy, consisting of 복수는 나의 것/Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002), 올드보이/Oldboy (2003) and 친절한 금자씨/Lady Vengeance (2005). Of the three, I have so far only had the chance to enjoy Oldboy, which was screened while I was at uni. My impression at the time was to be kind of disturbed lol because I was kind of sheltered back then. I’m looking forward to seeing it again with more appreciative eyes!

Not so long ago on Toku Tuesday 21, we watched some films of Bong Joon-Ho, a director who occupies a pretty similar niche in both Korean film and well, film internationally. This is apparently situated in a ‘Korean wave’ of increasing international popularity of South Korean media since the 90s, although this tends to refer more to K-dramas and K-pop than film; for the current movement in film specifically we see terms like ‘Korean New Wave’ (here) and ‘New Korean Cinema’ (here)

Both directors (along with others such as Yeon Sang-ho and Hwang Dong-Hyuk) deal more or less directly with the harshly unequal social landscape of South Korea: you probs know at least the vague outlines of the story by now: to my understanding, South Korea saw decades of American-backed military dictatorship in the wake of the Korean War stalemate bifurcating the peninsula into two countries; more recently, after a successful protest movement made the dictatorship somewhat less overbearing (need to look into that more!), this gave way to massive growth of capitalist industry polarising society heavily between hyper-rich capitalists and a majority still in shitty housing, severe debt and limited work etc.

At some point I would like to learn a lot more of the details of Korean socioeconomic history and indeed its film industry; the articles I’m skimming talk about the Americans pushing the Korean government to lift restrictions on foreign film, which were replaced by a quota system in local cinemas that didn’t really do much to prevent domination by foreign films, giving this current wave of filmmakers a pretty international set of influences.

So [bearing in mind like I’ve never been anywhere near South Korea and I’m cobbling this story together based on what I’ve seen and Wikipedia], the film industry that’s grown up since the 90s - or at least, the side of it that tends to get shown internationally at film festivals and the like - is one which favours darkly comic, tightly edited character dramas with a lot of comfort depicting both gore and sexuality. Which is a kind of film I quite like, so we’re on our way back to South Korea!

I don’t think this is by any means an inevitable deterministic result of a society of any particular social factor: a somewhat similar story (of rapid and highly unequal capitalist growth) might be told of China for example, but the Chinese film industry seems to face considerably more censorship and place different emphases. We could speculate that the success of directors like Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho established a certain idea of what ‘Korean film’ should look like, which led to similar films from South Korea getting 1. funded in the first place and 2. international releases... but that’s kind of speculation.

So let’s narrow in on the thing I do have information to hand to talk about: Park Chan-wook’s career. On Wikipedia we learn that he came from a devoutly Catholic family (something he briefly discusses in relation his vampire priest movie Thirst (2009) in this interview), and that he once hoped to become an art critic as a child, but decided to become a filmmaker instead after seeing Vertigo.

His first film came in 1992, a  gangster film 달은... 해가 꾸는 꿈/The Moon... is the Sun’s Dream about a man who attempts to elope with his boss’s secretary but fails to escape and ends up coerced into assassinating a childhood friend. Five years later, he directed Saminjo aka Trio (1997), about which I can find little information beyond that it centres a suicidal saxophonist. Neither film was very successful, and he mostly worked as a film critic through the 90s. One might infer given the content of many of his films that he was probably hanging out with anarchist or leftists of some stripe in this time.

The break came in 2000, when he wrote one movie, Anarchists, about a cell of anarchists fighting the Korean occupation through propaganda of the deed in 1924, and directed another, a political thriller called Joint Security Area, adapting a novel in which two North Korean soldiers are shot in the DMZ, and the two countries do not agree on how it happened. The truth turns out to be that soldiers from both countries became friends while patrolling the border, and the killings happened after they were found out.

This one was a hit, and enough of one that Park was afforded a lot more freedom on his next film, 복수는 나의 것 (2002), literally translated as Vengeance is Mine but better known internationally as Sympathy for Mr Vengeance. Here we really start to see his interests: it’s a film about a deaf-mute factory worker who after being fired, tries to exchange his kidney to a group of gangsters in order to get a matching transplant for his sister. The gangsters instead just rob him, and he is unable to afford the operation... but he knows an anarchist named Yeong-mi who proposes kidnapping the daughter of the CEO who fired him as a way to get the money. Naturally, it doesn’t go to plan, leading to a growing cascade of murders, suicides and accidental deaths...

This was not especially successful at the time, disparaged by critics at the time for being overly gory, although it’s subsequently been reevaluated more positively as the first part of the Vengeance Trilogy.

Park also wrote a film called A Bizarre Love Triangle in 2002, although once again there is less info to hand about this one. It seems to involve a twisty story about a three way bi love triangle recapped from a space station? But I really only have the imdb summaries to go on.

The next ‘Vengeance’ film (the trilogy is linked thematically rather than narratively) was Oldboy (2003), and this is where the Park Chan-wook train really got a ton of steam, since it went ahead and won the Cannes film festival that year. The plot has a lot of really quite amusing and left field devices that it seems almost a shame to write out in chronological order, but if you want to know (skip a para if you don’t):

It broadly involves a rich man’s very elaborate revenge scheme for being caught having sex with his sister, who subsequently committed suicide. To this end, he kidnaps and imprisons the man Oh Dae-su who witnessed him, giving time for Dae-su’s daughter to grow up, and then contrives an elaborate scheme to cause Dae-su to have unknowing sex with his now adult daughter (while Dae-su he finds newfound purpose seeking revenge on his captors). It is known for some really beautifully shot scenes of very gruesome things happening, like the long scrolling corridor brawl, Dae-su stuffing an octopus in his mouth, and the suitably vicious finale in which he cuts out his tongue after learning the truth.

This time around, critics judged the violence suitably thematic and purposeful rather than excessive, and Park achieved his promotion to ‘big name auteur director’ in the eyes of the criticism industry. Very cool movie that I remember a lot better than much that I watched that time, and I can’t wait to see it again...

Finally we have Lady Vengeance, also concerning an elaborate revenge scheme: a high school student who became pregnant and was imprisoned for killing a younger child, who in reality was exploited and abused by a teacher after she went to him for help with her pregnancy and coerced into falsely confessing after he kidnapped her baby. Securing an early release, she pursues her own elaborate revenge plot to kidnap and torture the teacher in question, who turns out to be a serial murderer. The reception was warmer this time around, though not quite on the level of Oldboy.

So three gory films about people seeking revenge, in the contexts of various systems of power. What is it all to say? For this we might turn to this master’s thesis by Se Young Kim, whose view is unlikely to be controversial:

At their core, the films are concerned with issues of gender and class, and in a broader context, society and history. The personal struggles for vengeance are allegorical for social struggles and this thesis finds that specific anxieties connected to a very specific period in recent South Korean history are expressed in the films. Those are anxieties formed in the wake of the processes of democratization and capitalization in the country. The Vengeance Trilogy is speaking to and speaking of Korea, and through that dialogue we can see not only discourses of popular nationalism prominent throughout this period, but also a response and resistance to that popular nationalism.

(...)

the protagonists of the films or the citizens are locked in constant struggle that ultimately turns out to be futile. Their resistance is in vain because their citizenship demands their blood, as does the nation. The construction of the national body (capitalism and democratization) demands it. Body parts are not only disconnected from the body, they are also used as commerce, traded in exchange for other services and/or items. This allegory of the body mirrors the argument that Korea’s current economic status came at the cost of blood – starting, perhaps, with Park Chung-hee’s sending of Korean troops to Vietnam in exchange for American economic support (Kwak, 2009). The characters’ bodies are representative of the national body, and allegorize the lack of integrity in the nation: while the hegemonic nationalism argues that the country is at its strongest – in terms of social unity and cultural cohesion – the films are pointing to the contrary. The country is economically strong and progressing, but at an enormous price.

It would be interesting I think to compare these films with movements like ero-guro, which also connect gory imagery with symbols of nationalism; Se Young Kim’s thesis briefly touches on the films of Takashi Miike who works in a somewhat different tradition of exaggerated splatter but I’m not sure if I agree with the reading he cites which takes the violence of allegorical of the incursion of foreigners into a weak Japan (like, seriously? that’s what you’re getting?).

On that note... my own general feeling on ~The Issue of Violence In Film~ is that it is necessary (and even if it weren’t, inevitable) to make art in a society as overtly coercive and violent as the ones we all live in which in some way processes that violence and its various psychic effects including fascination and even eroticism; films with a lot of special-effects gore is one approach which I think continues to be productive! So when Se Young Kim writes:

In no way do I intend for this study to be a validation of a disreputable body of work by an ultraviolent director. I am not studying these films and saying that they are worth study because they too have social commentary and historical value. Rather, I am saying that even these films that are indicative of a “bankrupt, reductive postmodernism” are worth studying for they do not exist in a cultural vacuum (Dargis 14). Even the most disreputable films are products of a society and a culture and are reflective of that culture that produces and consumes it.

I find it frustrating: I don’t think there is anything to apologise for here and the appropriate answer to “how do you justify the ultraviolence and sexuality in your films” is just a middle finger, because if you’re asking that question you do not have the appropriate perspective to get it. I don’t think anything is obliged to watch them if it’s upsetting, but the idea that such films are ‘disreputable’ when a Marvel imperialist vehicle (whose connection to actual, real-world warfare is so much more tangible) is ‘mainstream’ is... galling. This is what you get when you turn to academics for insights...

Anyway, all that aside, I’m very keen to catch up on what Park Chan-Wook was up to back then. We’ll definitely get on to some lesser known filmmakers before too long, but for now, those of you who saw these when they came out I hope you will be down to enjoy them again, and those who haven’t seen some of all of them, I look forward to getting to go into it together! If we’re sobbing shellshocked wrecks by the end of this I think I’ll have done something a little right.

Park Chan-Wook has gone on to direct many other extremely stylish and compelling films, of which I have sadly only seen The Handmaiden, so I’m certain we’ll be back to him soon.

Toku Tuesday will begin at 7pm UK time, about an hour and a half from this post! I’ll be streaming at the usual place, twitch.tv/canmom and we’ll watch the Vengeance Trilogy in order! And if time permits we might take the chance to catch up on Kamen Rider Revice as well...