#remember all the art on my old art blog of him.... yikes

[t00thpasteface]

do u have a post abt your martin/lucien headcanons and if not would you consider making one....

oh. my god. i have so many. SO MANY. so many headcanons and also so many posts about the headcanons.

i was going to link individual posts, but actually if you go to this blog search (the term "marcien shoutz") it will pull up all my marcien text posts and you can browse the whole lot at your leisure! and of course all the text posts i've posted and asks i've answered about marcien (including ask games and anon hour) are under the marcien tag just the same as the art posts ✨

that being said, a lot of my headcanons are actually kind of in a permanent state of flux depending on what i need/want for a particular drawing or fic. i'm torn between a few very specific possible setups for their relationship, and i jump between them (or blend them) as the rule of cool/funny dictates!

HoK introduces them as mutual friends: this could pan out in several different directions. there's the obvious one where they hit it off right away and are open about it, but there's also the version where they hook up secretly afterwards and don't tell the HoK. and there's even the third version where Lucien sees an opportunity and pretends like he wants to be closer friends with Martin while secretly plotting to exploit him... until he starts actually liking the guy for real. wait, isn't that just a Spongebob episode??

HoK sets them up on a date: i think this one is probably at its funniest when they don't get along right away. they agree to one or two dates mostly out of loneliness and/or curiosity, or just to humor the HoK, but then once it actually starts to pan out they're like... dammit, the HoK was actually right again.

failed love triangle: now this one's got some spicy potential for explosive drama. my HoK is a lesbian, so she really doesn't have a stake in a genuine love triangle, but another HoK who's already dating, crushing on, or (yikes!) engaged to one of the boys would have a lot more to lose. maybe it's not all sunshine and rainbows, but if you love angst, there's a lot of meat on this bone. you could also take the polycule route, but we're talking about Marcien and not Marcienhok, so i'm only interested in the illicit guilty hookups behind the HoK's back. muahahaha...

they met before the events of the game: these all have a very similar dynamic of the HoK independently & unwittingly befriending either half of an old flame that fizzled out, but they would start differently depending on what stage of his life Martin was in when he met Lucien: farm boy, prodigy guild mage, Sanguinite, or priest. there's a lot of potential for friction between how much Martin has changed over the years versus how constant Lucien would be as a lifelong member of the Brotherhood, and that would certainly color their expectations about reuniting and trying to get back together.

one of them has/wants to kill the other: obviously, this could refer to a scenario in which Lucien takes out a contract to kill Martin, but remember that Martin also holds a lot of influence and could absolutely have good reason to want to wipe out the Dark Brotherhood, or at least their influence in a specific area. there's a potential for bonus drama if the HoK is/was in the DBH, whether or not Martin knows about it. i'm always a sucker for the "i came here to kill you but i can't bring myself to do it anymore" dynamic you often see between an outlaw and their lover.

you can probably presume the sort of headcanons that would go along with each scenario but as always i'm happy to elaborate if there's one you want to hear more about. (and they're all on my To-Draw List… but so are ten million other things x_x;;)

if you're reading this, consider all thse ideas totally fair game for stealing for your own art/fic purposes. far be it from me to gatekeep a rarepair!! i've also beta-read some Marcien fic before and would be happy to do so again if anyone asks.

that's all for now!!! thanks SO much for the ask!!!!

[moved2alk3]

him..

[annyankers]

train tell me about your xander 👀 (please?) (also hi)

XANDDDDERRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!

OKAY SO--- for one thing I have a tag for him on here that’s xander (train’s version) (we see a pattern here lol) also my old rp blog for him is @andhaert  which has some things like headcanons and aesthetics. 

For starters I use Liam James, especially in his role as Billy Bennett, for my actor for Xander for a few reasons:

1. It helps mentally separate this version of Xander from canon!Xander who we all know is Very Contentious whether you think he should be or not, also helps to separate Xander from the actions of his original actor Nicholas Brendan. This is kind of a standard practice in the tumblr rp world (swapping out your actor when you find out the original is Kinda Yikes) where I started to develop my Xander Concepts more coherently and it’s stuck.

2. I think Liam works really well as an actor for Xander both in looks and acting and his role as Billy really highlights it as they’re similar characters.

3. It’s probably his most prominent role atm that I know of so it’s the easiest to get content for. He also works for me as Xander with his normal brown hair but the mohawk is the dominant look.

Moving on from there I really just like..... think about Xander in terms of what we know about him factually and textually and then separate that from the Whedon and 90s teen male tv character taints. Whedon has said that Xander is like, mary sue-ish self insert of his high school self and i feel like it shows and frankly holds his character back a LOT. I’m actually a rabid Xander stan I think he has a lot of potential and good in him. I just feel like both the writers and the fandom don’t really uh..... wanna actually engage with it or his character lol.

We know canonically that Xander comes from a poor, abusive and unstable household. We see in the show evidence of verbal and emotional abuse and heavy neglect. There’s literally a scene somewhere in S1 or S2 that I don’t wanna spend and hour finding in the transcripts where he has to remind his own mom she has a son which is played for comedy but is like um... WOW. It’s implied both of his parents are alcoholics and honestly I think his father is physically abusive (I can’t remember if it’s actually canon or not but it just you know, the Vibe is There).

I don’t think we really see? A lot of that? In how he acts? Like we do see some of it but say, compared to how much the show loves to gorge itself on Buffy’s trauma the amount of time spent on Xander’s trauma and struggles at home is laughable.

So I tend to write Xander as the true ADHD  loser burnout he is and things like the dyed mohawk, ratty clothes, punk shirts and bands and skater energy Billy has just like.... Works™ for Xander. Same with the ADHD energy. Xander strikes me as a kid from a bad home with learning disabilities who’s given up on school and has turned to staying out of the house as much as possible, weed/substances, and acting out for attention as ways to cope with his shitty life. He’s sad and desperate and begging for someone to care about him and the only person who does truly give a shit about him when we meet him is Willow with whom he’s in a kinda co-dependent clingfest with because of the huge amount of insecurities they both have.

I’m genuinely sad we didn’t get skater!Xander for the whole high school era and i’m making it happen for society. It fits in soooo well with the whole Vibe the show is going for. Also I made him worse and now he likes Ska because it’s the 90s and also just look at him. Ofc Xander would like Ska. It also adds in some interesting shit with the Xander-Spike dynamic to have Xander more on the ska/skater/burnout end of punk and spike on the more trad/this is a sociopolitical statement/i’m here for the ART side of punk. It does NOT give them an immediate middle ground but it DOES give them the ability to clock each other in 0.00005 seconds. Like Spike sees him in a Descendants shirt and is like “oh I immediately know everything i need to know about you now”.

I also just think it’s more real????? I find generally with people/kids that part of why they get into subculture and special interests and such is to Cope with things. I will never forget when this dude in high school basically told me he was so in the paint for sonic the hedgehog because it was the only thing keeping him fucking sane and it altered my whole fucking concept of life and reality. I physically cannot look at sonic the same now and every time I see it I think of him and all the other people who’re into it and I’m just like “godspeed mother fuckers may you find peace in those fucking emeralds”.

Even while trying to remove the elements of his character that I think are like, creator or era taint that tends to end up skewing the conversation around him from actually being about him to being about Other Shit I don’t remove his dogshit creeper energies in like, high school, especially 1x1 to 1x6. They get better over time sure but I think it’s important to show that side of him. His dad is the Worst and Jesse-- one of his ONLY friends-- is a Massive Creep and he’s a Teen Boy. It’s really not that shocking that when he’s like 16 he just.... Sucks So Bad. All teens Kinda Suck, it’s literally part of growing up. It’s things tho like The Pack that help to start not just him changing but galvanizing others into looking out for him more.

(including the gifs as breaks in the behemoth lol kill meeeeee)

For one thing I will die on the hill that XANDER WAS ALSO A VICTIM OF THE HYENA POSSESSION AND THE SA ATTEMPT. That’s not something he’d do, want to do or ever try to do and it occurred while he did not have full autonomous control of his actions. I’ve seen some REAL DOGSHIT TAKES ON THIS ONE AND I WILL SHOOT ON SIGHT OVER THIS.

I tend to see him trying to cover it up as him trying to compartmentalize and repress the trauma of it instead of whatever the fuck THAT was in the show. I also think it really only works for so long before he loses it because I don’t think he can look Buffy in the eye without mcfucking losing it because he just feels so awful about it. Which is what prompts like..... the only moment of Giles giving a shit about Xander because he talks to him about it and helps him find a way to get some help (be it Giles himself or whatever professional-ish help they can get him given his situation and the desire to keep his parents out of it).

And that’s one of the huge differences in My Xander™ just like, he fucking-- he fucking SEES the fucking guidance counselor or some shit for you know, THE CHILD ABUSE, NEGLECT AND SA TRAUMA. Which I mean... he probably should’ve been already give how guidance counselors work but dskjghsdkfj shhhhhhh. It’s then with that, friendship, dating Cordy and Time that he starts to get less and less shitty and more Baby Boy Little Guy Meow Meow Deluxe. He still cheats on Cordy and says shitty stuff but like... there’s a noticeable overall improvement in him over S1 to S3. He’s not getting full on grade A therapy and all that but like, he’s being given a sounding board and some tools and the thing is that Xander at his core IS A VERY GOOD AND SWEET PERSON!!!! So really it’s just all about getting him to a place where all the bullshit beaten into him by his dad and SoCieTy is out of the way so he can Be A Good Boy™.

I maintain his crush on Buffy and his struggle with it over the years but I also have it kinda Die finally around S4 and then not hang around as a weird Complex for the rest of the fucking series. Seeing how he absolutely fumbled his whole relationship with Cordy and then how his relationship with Anya is going in Some Kind of Direction it all helps to finally shut the door on that for him and he really whole chestedly embraces his role as best friendboy after that. I think especially around then when he’s being a MANIAC trying to save up to gtfo out his parents’ house and Buffy’s having a Crisis about like... being a votech gal in academic world they really hardcore bond. They’re both smart but neither of them are really made for academics or classical office vibe jobs and it’s just something people like Willow and Giles will never get. It’s basically ADHD kid solidarity and they’re finally able to achieve their final friendship form without his pining issues out of the way.

I think also to make Spike’s Yoko Factor Nonsense make ANY sense Xander should actually BE SEEN CONSIDERING JOINING THE MILITARY and it’s ENTIRELY because they have that whole recruitment thing of like “join up and we pay for your education/board/etc” and he’s DESPERATE to get out of his shitty home life. Like he cannot get a half decent job for more than a fucking week, he’s desperate for money and stability and idk he didn’t die that one time on halloween and he monster hunts w/o dying either so maybe he can handle this???? and finally Escape????? but then there’s a lot of Classic Xander Strife around the choice and a genuine fear that if he leaves they’ll just... get on with their lives just fine. which would be crushing for him, that he contributed so little they just kept going with out a hitch.

Season 5 to Season 7 is really where Xander for me comes out to be just like.... the carebear godsend hero that he’s supposed to be. Like he’s talked about as the Heart of the Scoobies and Buffy’s metaphorical heart but while he does do a solid job mirroring/expressing/etc her heart he’s kind of a shitty one for the group. Like if he’s supposed to be the MOST EMPATHETIC SCOOBY IN THE GANG THEN JFC YIKES. 

By S5 everyone else’s lives are like, officially starting to fall apart while Xander’s is getting more certain and more together. He’s like, Maturing. Like a fine Faygo. And even better he’s finding the balance between being Goofy Silly Mohawk Nerd Xander and like, Adult Big Boy Xander. I think that Xanya and Spuffy should be even BIGGER parallels especially in this season with Xanya being like the more wholesome human/demon romantic relationship dynamic-- basically PROVING that it CAN work-- something that can then be used to lampshade the issue in S6 when Spuffy enter toxic hookup hell. What Spike is asking for ISN’T insane, Xander and Anya ARE DOING IT!! wHaT’s ThE pRoBlEm BuFfY?!?!?!

But Anya’s human you say!!! it’s totally different!!!

Shut the fuck up she was a demon for 1,000 years, had a soul the whole time and never once feels bad for her past actions. She’s in the same boat as Spike you’re just a sheeple falling prey to the broken ass soul propaganda.

It’s also an opportunity with the solidification of his relationship with Anya as like Something Real and not young adult horny relationshiping to show how he really is as a person. Less of the belittling “helpful” comments and more him just like, genuinely LISTENING to her and LEARNING her language like we see him do when he’s Suave!Xander in 5x3. like he Hears her and then is able to almost IMMEDIATELY understand what she’s actually saying/where her anxiety is coming from. I love the idea of Xander basically always being the most kneejerk reactionary to all situations and sometimes saying Dumb Shit because of that but then also being the only one who’s brave enough to then circle back later and reevaluate his stance.

Like he’ll say something that hurts someone’s feelings then be willing to circle back unprompted and look at himself with harsh honesty and see what he did and what’s going on with him then act accordingly and adjust/apologize/reconsider his stance/etc. Basically if Buffy is a bleeding heart then Xander should be too and the thing that makes him The Heart™ and not Buffy is that unlike her he is unwilling or unable to close off his heart to anything. Buffy can face off against the hordes of Hell but will collapse under the threat of emotional honesty with even herself. Xander was raised in Hell and not unlike Angel tbh, has to constantly reevaluate his like Whole Existence to make sure he’s not becoming what he hates-- the very real and human monstrosity that his parents represent.

His whole goal in life is to not be his father. His superpower that not even Buffy has is that he’s so incredibly brave in the face of human evil, human cruelty AND emotional vulnerability. He’s been mocked, ridiculed, bullied and tormented his entire life and he’s still stayed big hearted and intensely kind when it counted his entire life. He’s open, thoughtful, understanding, empathetic and more than willing and able to put himself in the other guy’s shoes. Something none of the others can manage like... at all lol. His relationship with Anya should be in part about showing us this and it only fails because he’s like what... 21? and still working through all his bullshit around his shitty family. Not because they were a broken couple which is more the show vibe no matter how they wanna pretend like he wasn’t a shitty boyfriend to Anya for 2 seasons lol.

I think it’s important in the back end to have at least one of them still semi-functional and Xander’s already been living in “I have to do something about my life bc otherwise I will Become That Which I Fear” hell since high school. He’s the furthest along on that road and the emotional anchor of the group so ofc he fucking sam gamgee carries them all up the side of mt doom for like 2 solid seasons lol.

my depiction of Xander is always about healing, growth and the power of empathy, love and kindness. I feel like making him more subculture-y and with a certain amount of substance abuse (weed and booze mainly) makes sense given his history. I think he’s the foil to Angel and Spike (and Giles in someways) and their own explorations around toxic masculinity and masculinity in general. He unpacks the damage done by his father way more efficiently than Angel ever does and he learns how to be more emotionally open without reflexive retaliation when hurt than Spike does. He’s very much trying to get to this place where “I am. And that is enough.” sits well in his chest and permeates his life. Which is more than anyone else in either series can say LOL.

Also just like.... make the whole Xander vs the trio toxic nerd boy culture meta discussion thing actually WORK.

He also highlights in the narrative the idea of there always being another option. He’s not living the expected college life. He’s not acting or dressing like society thinks he should. He’s also found a way to thrive via construction/carpentry and finds a happy place between growing up and not giving up all the things he likes that can be considered childish or lame. He also hasn’t compromised his personality or identity to “be more mature” or “act like an adult”. He refutes the ideas that Giles keeps expressing about what he (Giles) has to do as an Adult or what Buffy should now be capable of as one by just like being a Cringey Little Dude and also Pay Taxes On Time. Like Spike he’s living and working in defiance of a society that has done nothing but hurt him but unlike Spike he’s coming from a place of optimism and compassion. 

Xander SHOULD be friend shaped. He and Tara SHOULD be the go-tos on all things emotional. He should be kind, creative, open minded, empathetic, and loving all while also being Kind of a Dick sometimes. When the writers talk about how when they wanted to make the audience upset/riot they’d just put Willow in danger or emotional distress -- by the end of the show that should be Xander!!!!!! by S7 I should be RIOTING if Xander is in danger!!!!!

Also the faith-xander victims of child abuse self recognition via the other vibes oh god the faith-xander victims of child abuse self recognition via the other vibes

 He’s just a silly little guy!!!! just a fun little boy!!!! just a harmless little fun-time boy!!!!!! you wouldnt sentence a silly harmless little fun-time boy!!!!! its his birthday!!!!!!

GOD THIS ISN’T EVEN ALL OF IT BUT I LOST MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT AND THIS IS SOOOOOOO LONG ALREADY FUCK

(last gif for the road bc this is massive Xander/Cordelia energy)

[princesstutufandemonium]

Rapsblüte no Yoru (Princess Tutu epilogue skit) and my thoughts

Or: Why a bitch is still salty after 9 years

So, as previously mentioned on this blog, there was a skit presented at a Princess Tutu convention in 2004 by series creator Ikuko Itoh and chief director Junichi Sato called “Rapsblüte no Yoru.” It takes place about a year after the anime’s ending and serves to wrap up some loose ends about the characters and their feelings - particularly Ahiru and Mytho.

So I’ve talked about it before, but now more time has passed, so I thought I’d let the raging monster out of its slumber to REALLY address the epilogue and my own uncensored thoughts and feelings about it. Half of this ended up reading like a rant, really, but I just had to get it all out there. 

Here is the skit, as recited by Japanese blogger Goma and translated by LiveJournal user csakuras, along with my reactions and thoughts, which are indicated by the blockquotes.

"Quaack.." Ahiru seems to be swimming on the river during a night with a beautiful moon It's been a while since then, and every day I'm happy. It's fun talking with my bird friends, and Madam Pelican is a little noisy, but...it's fun. And besides......whenever I look up, Fakir is always there.

So Ahiru has returned to life as a bird and has settled in well. Good for her.

Ahiru: "I've come all the way to Gold Crown Academy....somehow I feel like dancing." Saying that, Ahiru climbs onto the bank and is surprised to find the whole surface covered with rape blossoms. Ahiru: "Gwak!!" Autor: "Oh? What's this?" It seems he stepped on Ahiru.. Ahiru: "Gwakgwak!!" Ahiru protests. Autor: "Oh it's you, Ahiru-kun...isn't Fakir with you?" Autor backs away as Ahiru tries to talk to him. Autor: "Sorry, but could you not get so close? I'll start sneezing from my bird allergies." (The mystery of his dislike of birds is solved.) Ahiru: "Charon-san and Raetsel-san had a child so Fakir went to the celebration."

The idea of this seems to negate all of Raetsel’s development, but okay then.

Autor: "I see....by the way, did you come to see the Night of Rapsblüte too?" Ahiru: "Rap..Rapsblüte?" Ahiru asks curiously. Ahiru: "Rapsblüte are rape blossoms, right?" Here, Autor goes Hnph! with his nose as if making fun of her. Autor: "The Night of Rapsblüte is when once every 50 years, all the rape blossoms bloom simultaneously on a night of the full moon. According to what I've researched in the library, in the records of a student from 50 years ago, there is an eye-witness account." Ahiru heaves a sigh (lol) Autor: "And tonight, the weather, the date, everything matches with the past data!" Autor is full of confidence. "Besides that, you're in the music department so maybe you should be studying piano instead..." Ahiru mutters. Autor: "Did you say something?" Ahiru: "Huh? Autor can understand me." Hnph, he laughs at her with his nose again. Autor: "Anything can happen tonight and it wouldn't be strange." Ahiru: "The moon is so pretty..." (Here, a man wearing a mask of the moon appears from behind..it's a great hit in the assembly) Autor: "What's that? An onion?" Ahiru: "!!" Uzura: "Ho~ Ahiru zura~" *Tototon* (her drum) Ahiru: "Uzura-chan!!" Ahiru: "Uzura-chan! Where were you?" Uzura: "I've been wandering the interval of time with the old man zura."

WHAT does that even mean?! What is the interval of time?! Considering Uzura’s previous life as Edel, it’s surprising that Uzura chooses to stick with Drosselmeyer. He’s the one who put her Ahiru and Fakir through so much trouble, after all. Then again, Uzura is a child and probably has no memory or idea of the role Drosselmeyer played and the evil things he did. Uzura also isn’t human, so maybe human morals don’t bother her as much.

Ahiru: "By the old man do you mean Drosselmyer-san? Then where's Drosselmyer-san?" "Drosselmyer?!!" <--(Autor's switch is on) Uzura: "The old man is busy with updating the site zura, sorry he's so irresponsible zura." (Here, Director Satou is rolling with laughter.) Autor: "Why didn't you bring him with you?!" Clearly, his Drosselmyer otaku switch is on lol

I hate you, Autor. I try not to but I do.

Uzura: "One more is coming zura." Autor: "One more?" Mytho: ".......Tutu." Ahiru: "Mytho!!" (I can never forget Ahiru's sad voice here)

Ah, and here it is. The agony.

You know, I could possibly stomach the whole damn ending of the show if the epilogue doesn’t go on to make it entirely clear how heartbroken Ahiru still is. I mean, if Ahiru is actually happy, there’s nothing more you can want for her. But this here kind of ruins it. Like, why?! How am I supposed to be content with her situation when she’s sad at the mere sight of Mytho?!

Mytho: "It's been a while...." Uzura: "He was dancing on the balcony so I brought him zura." (....At your own pace as usual, Prince.) Autor: "Prince Siegfried from the story!! Myu...Mytho-san." (He sounds as emotional as if he were meeting Drosselmyer.) Mytho: "Are you Fakir's friend...?" Autor: "I'm Autor!" Mytho: "You were the one who helped Fakir? Thank you..." (How does he know..)

How DOES he know? Well, there was a tiny time skip between the defeat of the Raven and Mytho and Rue’s departure to the story. Perhaps things were explained a little during then.

Autor: "No! It was an honor." (only dimly remember) Mytho: "If I remember correctly, during our ballet lessons you were asked by Neko-sensei to accompany us on piano." Autor: "Yes, I was asked to accompany you on piano by Neko-sensei 11 times, and I passed by you with Neko-sensei in the hall 27 times." (Jeez, Autor's in high spirits (lol)) Mytho: "Fakir sometimes sees cows and alligators flying in the sky, so I'm worried. Could you take care of Fakir?"

 Mytho seems to naturally be a little bit of an airhead. It’s funny to see that qualities of him that we saw in the anime can be attributed not to his lack of a heart and common sense, but just to how his personality really is. Cute.

Autor: "Yes!! Mytho-san, please leave him to me." (He's been left to him without having a say, Fakir's in a pinch (lol)) Ahiru: "Mytho? How is Rue-chan?" Mytho: "Rue is doing well." Mytho: "It seems Rue is good at singing too and she's a popular princess among the people." Autor: "Rue-san?"

So Rue is a true lady of the arts, not good only at dancing but at singing too. Interesting that she’s so popular, considering that she honestly doesn’t seem to be the most sociable person. Polite, but not going out of her way to be friendly. Perhaps her time in the story with Mytho has defrosted her even more. What is the new Rue like, I wonder?

Uzura: "Mytho is rabu-rabu with Rue zura~" Autor: "Could you be quiet for a while..." His voice is lacking energy and sounds like he might cry (He knows they're rivals in love..is that okay?)

WHY is Autor so torn up over Rue still?! He never even really spent time with her. Foolish kids, I tell you. She was hardly more than a pretty face to him.

Ahiru: "Thank goodness... Mytho. "The Concluding Volume of The Prince and the Raven" got published. It's not a story without an end anymore." Ahiru: "And also, soon Fakir's going to dance an all-male version of La Sylphide with Matthew Bourne-sensei's choreography!"

Soooo this part is confusing. The concluding volume… So The Prince and the Raven was a story published in installments? The show made it look like it was just a single novel. Unless they mean that they simply published an official ending… But if the story was given an ending, wouldn’t that affect the storybook world? And who wrote the ending and got it published, Fakir? A couple of questions that remain here.

Mytho: "Fakir....I always feel like I'm connected with Fakir..the more my country becomes peaceful, I can feel him close by." (It's...mostly dim recollection. Just the nuance of it.)

Yeah, don’t act like you didn’t just up and leave him AND Ahiru once your business was finished, Mytho. Anyways, skipping the salt, does this mean that Fakir’s conclusion to the novel made things more peaceful in the story world? That’s what it sounds like to me.

Actually, isn’t it kind of scary that Fakir can still wield influence over Mytho’s world? What if he got pissed off at him? yikes

Ahiru: "Mytho...." "You should meet Fakir! He's coming back tomorrow..so then.." Mytho: "I can't..I can only come here because the interval of time is connected tonight..see, the moon is already sinking this much." (The man playing the moon sinks down (lol) The assembly bursts into laughter again) "I see..."

WHAT is with this ‘interval of time’ nonsense again! Someone explain it to me!

Also, fuck Fakir, apparently.

Mytho: "Princess Tutu.....thanks to you, I can be like this. Thank you." Ahiru: "I wanted to see you smile, so my wish is already granted." (only dimly remember)

 AND THERE IT FINALLY IS!!!

“Thank you, Tutu, for risking your life to save mine and restore my happiness and holding your tongue about your feelings for me so I could do nothing for you in return and leave hours later.”

No, I’m not salty. Anyways, the abrupt ending to the show without much dialogue was due to time constraints, not necessarily a true display of Mytho’s character, which I guess this epilogue was partly written to fix. It does seem pretty heartless when you watch the anime, though.

Mytho: "Princess Tutu, I wanted to be with you longer. I wanted to talk with you like this longer....to me, you are the light....because you are someone very special..." (?? Mytho/Ahiru?)

See, this is why I just can’t do it. Like, Mytho, are you fucking kidding?! You leave her alone as a duck and now you want to sweet-talk her?!

But actually, all bitterness aside, this is really sad. They obviously care for each other, but because of circumstances and plot, never once did they have the time to really just… talk.

And he still sees her as the light. I saw some people kind of making fun of this, but of COURSE he does. There was a considerable period of time when she was the only person vouching for him, keeping him safe, acting as his voice… and ultimately saving him in every way. He can only be a real person again because of her, and she never faltered in her mission. That’s INCREDIBLE. Of course he would hold her in high regard.

Mytho: "But, I have to protect Rue. Rue needs me...." (I'm sorry, it's completely out of memory...because I was so overwhelmed..(lol) I should take my reeling in moderation)

And here’s the dagger. After talking about how highly he thinks of Ahiru/Tutu… he backtracks by saying Rue needs him.

And you know why this is REALLY fucking sad? He doesn’t say that “But, I really enjoy being with Rue” or “But, I love Rue.”

He says he has to PROTECT Rue. Rue NEEDS him.

I don’t think I need to dive too deep into the implications of his wording to spell out why this is upsetting, but I’ll sum it up quick. Instead of saying he likes being with Rue, he says Rue needs me. That’s the first thing that comes to mind.

And if it means what I think it means, that’s just fucking harsh. That’s not fair for Rue. That’s not fair for Ahiru. That’s not fair for Mytho.

I mean, we all know the prince has a savior-complex, but the implication that he chose Rue because he feels a sense of duty to protect her instead of romantic affection is kind of… tragic. That’s not a happy ending at all, really. Does Rue have any idea?

I think this is why I have an issue with Ruetho, because no matter what you can’t escape the fact that Mytho will always view her through the lens of what she suffered. It’s just in his personality as a heroic, selfless prince. Doesn’t Rue deserve someone who sees her as… more than someone to protect?

Whatever, can’t be changed now.

Mytho: "Tutu...you have done so much for me, but I couldn't do anything for you." "Is there something I can do for you, Tutu?"

WHAT on Earth could he possibly expect to be able to do for her?! I mean, short of turning her human again, but I’m guessing that’s out of the scope of his abilities. Don’t be so bait-y.

Ahiru: "......Mytho! I.........." "No, nevermind..." (Ahiru sounds incredibly sad)

AUGHHHHHHHH

What was she going to say? You know what, probably doesn’t matter anyway. We know what she wants… she can’t have it, though.

Mytho: "It's almost time..." "See you again....Tutu...." (Jeez..I don't remember any of it) Ahiru: "Can we meet again?" Mytho: "Surely we will meet again..." Mytho (or is it Yanagi-san? lol): "We can meet again, when Sakurai-kun is here." (The assembly explodes with laughter)

NOOOOOOOO

No no no

No, do NOT meet again. This is just asking for trouble. Ahiru clearly isn’t over Mytho, and Mytho… clearly does not have his priorities straightened out. If they keep meeting like this…

Well, as the anime shows, it wouldn’t be the first time they put themselves through the wringer for love. Mytho recites something in German. "Waaao!!" <--(Uzura)

What did he say? I’m curious.

Here, Mytho says his never-ending feelings for Tutu (if someone remembers this part please tell me~) And at the end, Mytho: ".......Ahiru."

 ……..Yeahhh, probably not a good idea to meet again.

Like, I get that this epilogue is to ‘tie up loose ends’ including the torched remnants of Mythiru that were dropped so abruptly at the end, but...

Why, oh why, Mytho, did you choose Rue if you’re still hung up on Tutu?

Additionally, we see that Mytho DOES now know that Tutu is Ahiru. That’s bittersweet too, but in more of a good way. He finally knows that the little passionate goofball was the princess all along. I wonder who told him, or how he found out. Did he just figure it out on his own? Like, the duck that was once Princess Tutu must be Ahiru because Ahiru = duck? Maybe Uzura told him? I doubt Fakir would’ve, simply because once she was back to being a duck again permanently, there was really no reason to tell Mytho. Couldn’t much matter anymore, right?

Ahiru: "I get the feeling I heard Mytho's voice at the end." I am a duck....I can't wear toe shoes, I can't dance.. (I'm sorry, I don't remember) But inside my chest there is a sparkling gem that will never be broken. The end.

And that’s it.

Sooo a lot of conflicted feelings coming at me from this, if you couldn’t tell. I guess first is the question of whether or not this could be considered canon.

Honestly? I think so. Both Ikuko Itoh and Junichi Sato, the people behind Princess Tutu, worked on this and presented it. They even had some of the Japanese VAs present to act it out. Additionally, as I’d mentioned previously, it addresses some questions that were left open due to the somewhat rushed ending of the anime’s finale. And nothing presented in this skit goes against the show’s canon or really comes out of left field (aside Charon and Raetsel man tf). It’s short and sweet.

Moving on, the first time I read this I was really happy, simply because it makes it clear that YES, Mytho does return Ahiru’s feelings. Which I guess was clear in the anime too, but this skit makes it undeniable. It’s nice to feel validated.

But as time goes on and I’ve had the chance to chew over and really digest it… It’s kind of a really crappy situation for our heroine and hero. Like, so they are in love, and they want to continue seeing each other… but Mytho is SUPPOSED to be spoken for with Rue, and Ahiru is a duck. Not to mention that Ahiru is Rue’s FRIEND. C’mon girl, chicks before dicks. Of course, they could still interact platonically, but the confession from Mytho in this skit kind of shot that possibility dead. And what about Fakir in this mess? Granted, Fakir isn’t stupid – he’s known that Ahiru loves Mytho from the beginning, and it’s not exactly like he can be in a relationship with a duck. But still.

Maybe I’m just looking too far into things, but with a piece this short and direct, I don’t know how deep you can really dive.

Anyways, my final thoughts are: Mythiru is canon but in the most tragic way possible, Rue deserves better, annnnnnd I’m still left unsatisfied.

[seekeroftruthpromestein]

Welp. Paradox time.It’s the Finale.

Yikes. Last campground....

That doesn’t bode well...

Here they are. All my friends. I’ve traveled with them for this long. We’re near the end of the game. Who knows what will happen... 

Promestein. You’ve been a very interesting character to see through this game. Seeing you young kind of shows you were always a fucked up kid. But, you have a good heart. And you now have a found family. You’re no longer a lone wolf salvaging through a dark world. You have us. And we’re happy to have you and alllow you to examine this bright new world.

Nuruko. I sadly didn’t get to know you too well and I’ll be sure to remedy that next game. But you were an interesting little thing. 

I wouldn’t have pegged you as a main character honestly but hey. I’m glad your here. You were another person that I’ll have to be sure to bring next time because I feel you probably have lots of interesting insight. 

Pope. You are DEF going to be in my next group. You were one of the most exciting twists i’ve ever seen and I am happy you were here. I am still angry for no sex scene. 

Hilde. Once again, another “I didn’t bring around enough” but you hey. Happy to have you.

These two were my favorite running joke. The not so wise senpai and the student. 

Not sure why YOU are here but you WERE the first boss of the game. So. Yeah. Welcome.

And you were the first recruited monster... I think.

This little exchange reminds me. Granberia was NOT at ALL a regular character in this entire exchange. Hardly any of the knights showed their faces. Alma I think was the most regular. 

The spirits play little purpose as well. In the orginal trilogy they were SUPER important as they were a constant ability you had to keep on or die.  Here. They’re not weak, they’re decent buffs.  But I rarely use them... I did use them actually in the battle against Blalice. Alice actually is a Spirit Summoner because I felt it was rather poetic all things considered. 

Wait are you a noble? Maybe you should put on pants. And a shirt. But okay. Vanilla! The most useful member that never see’s battle. She was BRIEFLY drafted in Black Alice when all of the other allies died but yeah. She has been a rock this entire time. Constantly producing MP for the party.  

I admit I never had a use for her. She mostly stayed around because she had the most Dialog from things. 

And ah. The MVP herself. Okay second MVP but we’ll get to her soon. Superb support. Valuable as hell. Sadly a lot of Angels have Auto-hit attacks. But I would have lost without her many times. 

I’m trying to do the whole sentimental thing but yeah. Don’t have a lot to say. Maybe one of these days I’ll have just the four of them on a team. 

I’m just WAITING for you to betray me. But it’s a bit late and you’re no longer important in the slightest so. 

Ah speak of the devil. Now. Time for the main course. 

Traveling with Black Alice has been a really facinating experience. She’s a lot of fun. If you know, a bit evil. It’s interesting that she played the Alice. Pretending to be something she’s not. It makes me wonder if it’s a tradition? I wonder if this experience will make her nicer. 

Ah Sonya. You sadly have a LOT of death flags... It was interesting the idea of Luka having a human friend, but from a writing perspective it makes sense as she suddenly got the tropes that were associated with Alice in the first game. 

Not a good sign.

This does bring a point though. Sonya I dropped out of the party for not being too useful. A healer in a game where healing is incredibly easy. And she didn’t exactly have a whole lot... Actually I could have turned her into a vampire funny enough. And a worm Villager. But yeah, besides that. She didn’t have a whole lot. I’m probably gonna try using her more in my Ilias file as I want to RP it as more of a Human/Angel Centric idea. The only overlap being Prom really. 

And Alice. I really wish there was more to you but I get it. The romance between Luka and her just isn’t  a focal point. Despite the fact that her and Luka’s children are in fact facing off. I kind of wish that was addressed more. 

And her mother... There’s actually a LOT of plot threads still not addressed. 

Was hoping for Elemental Giga. This would be a game where it could be theoretically useful though. With all the abilities and such.

Ilias prayer music in the background.

Now we have Opera music... Place has changed.

Less then steller. 

You bitch.

You know what. Fuck you. YOU are FOURTH! 

Alright gotta act quickly. Can’t... wait

WHAT??

SHE SAID IT

I’m not sure if gleefully killing an entire town counts. 

Never a nice thing to learn.

“Then the fanfiction writers started... There’s this ONE bitch. She runs a Promestein blog and if you LISTENED to the drivel she writes. She made up this nonsense with male monsters for drama’s sake”

“And don’t get me started on the Luka Situation. There were like 3 at one point.”

Wait... How many others from other worlds??

...Wait When??? I can go over level 60 now?? Must be when I updated.. Huh. Okay. Wish I did this earlier.

Too many... oh

See. I’m doing an RP with La Croix that takes place using this concept. But something both of us realized is that Luka actually very rarely DIED in most of his endings. Not right away. Many of them used him as a pleasure slave. Or married him. Or he just gave up adventuring. Some like the angels even used him for 1000′s of years. So. Theoretically. He would have had to live his entire life. Die of natural causes. And then wake up back at a fight he had years ago. 

But here it just says failed. 

Oh.... Is this...Which Ilias?

I forgot... You’re... the Real ilias. so you have been trying your best to keep things from going to shit huh?

Oops.

Yikes... So yeah. Makes sense. Fuck that Lukia (Which was us)

The...Remina labs??

Oh hey. It that bitch.

Yes Little Prom. Yes. Soon. You will meet. Yourself.

A better part of the whole. I remember there being an Angel/Monster hybrid who says she couldn’t  combine her dark and holy energy. This is probably why.

I wonder if this is a joke of some kind revolving around smoking becoming less allowed in Japan.

And they summoned.... Black..Alice. Is that how she was alive in the original Trilogy??

Oh no... This..... Is.... Original Trilogy Black Alice.

As creepy music plays. I am reminded. The White Rabbit is a universal Constant. Where was she then in the original Trilogy? Simple. She was here. Right here. In Black Alice... the drug created by Promestein. The fusion of Holy and Dark.

Those poor Scientist.

That Casualty of it.

Oh. Dear. Lord.

“So you finished the art for that Hentai game right?” “HENTAI GAME?? I thought we were making Bloodborne.”

That is terrifying. 

Oh dear lord.

Angels. Demons. Both are at her demand.

YOU SAID SHE COULD NOT REACH US.

Of course. Time Succubi from aother wordl

That. Is terrifying.

Yup. Zero.

She’s dying as the Villain again? The Pyrrha. 

Wait. What?

So... You.. Were killing them to.. Bring them into YOUR world??? So. They’re alive? 

So they’re killing people... to bring them into another?  This reminds me of a little bit of a Webcomic called Order of the Stick. Where the gods wondered briefly if they should destroy the world, in order to save the souls. Because the main monster, was a giant horrifying sould devouring creature.  So if the gods destroyed the world, they could save many from inhiliation, and bring them into the after life.  This begs a lot of question about after lives and existance beyond death and whether or not it truly is a death. 

Bloodying her hands so her daughter doesn’t have to.

Yeah I would like to know that as well.

I would like to know actually.

Wait why are you wearing clothes now?

I forgot you were a person.  Wait. So these are from another universe.... One where Ilias won...And therefor Eden got to wear clothes. 

The old Monster and Angel War, Fought in the foreground of the world we stand.

And the death flags come home to roost. 

Was she... one the entire time?

Or did she become one now?

Mhm. This looks familiar.

And the music begins. The  battle wasn’t too hard. But...

This isn’t good.

Not grand.

This battle music is though. ♪♫

Oh you bitch.

We beat both of them... or...

We did not.

That’s... really really not good.

...what?

HUH???

UMMM????

SHES A WHATR??

She’s the element of chaos....   Does that mean there’s a HOly and Dark Spirit too?

Fine. I’ll train you.

...What?

Oh.... shit.... Dad... Killed Alice’s Mom.

And. That. Is the end.... Welp. I guess we have to do the Ilias Route next.

[365days365movies]

January 13, 2021: House of Flying Daggers (2004)

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was HUGE. I don’t just mean on this blog, I mean in the United States in 2000 and 2001. If you were alive and aware of movies that year, then you remember people talking about this movie. It was, and is to this day, the highest grossing foreign-language film in the United States. So what does that mean?

It means that Ang Lee wouldn’t be the only wuxia film director to cross the pond. Two years later, a little movie called Hero would be released internationally. That wuxia would eventually become the #3 highest-grossing foreign language movie in the USA. It’]s director was an old hat wuxia director in China, Zhang Yimou.

Yimou’s success on China never translated in the USA, until Hero in 2002. After that, he would release more films in the USA, one of the most recent being...oh. OH. OH NO, The Great Wall starring Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal, and Willem Dafoe?!? THAT’S A ZHANG YIMOU MOVIE?

...I mean, Ang Lee made the 2003 Hulk, so I guess nobody’s perfect. Anyway, House of Flying Daggers.

Zhang Ziyi’s back! This is another critically acclaimed movie, but wasn’t nearly as popular in the USA. It was nominated for one Academy Award, for Best Cinematography, but it lost to The Aviator. I’ll talk about that one in the future the way of the future the way of the future the way of the future.

But OK, enough introduction, IT’S WUXIA TIME WOOO SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

The House of Flying Daggers is a Robin Hood organization, stealing from the wealthy and giving to the disenfranchised in a particularly poor area and time period in China. Their biggest enemies, as you’d expect from a Robin Hood group, are the police, who are conspiring to take down their leader within ten days, whomever they may be.

One of these policeman is Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro), who goes to the Peony Pavilion, an “entertainment house” full of beautiful women. See, the leader’s daughter is rumored to be working there as a new showgirl.

This is the blind dancer Mei (Zhang Ziyi), who’s questioned awkwardly by the VERY drunk Jin. She dances and sings for him, as requested. Good time to mention something that I didn’t mention yesterday: Zhang Ziyi has no martial arts background prior to her film career. Instead, her background is in dance! She learned fight choreography in that film the same way she learned dance choreography. So, it’s neat to see her return to her roots.

It’s less neat to see Jin straight-up sexually assault her and get arrested by the cops. So, y’know, ups and downs there. To prevent from getting arrested herself, Mei accepts the offer to play a game called “Echo.” This is prompted by another police officer, Leo (Andy Lau). He, uh...throws beans at a circle of drums, and she responds by hitting the drums with her sleeves. Yeah. Sounds dumb, right? Well, check out how it looks.

This is a very different movie, as compared to CTHD. And yeah, I’m only 15 minutes in, but the choreography is far more artistically flourished. Yeah. I said that as compared to CTHD. Only time will tell, but this full dance sequence is definitely interesting to watch.

Anyway, as you can see above, it ends once Mei grabs the captain’s sword with her sleeve ribbons, and challenges him to a duel. She also TOTALLY blows her cover as a sympathizer to the House of Flying Daggers, and the two fight.

This fight does NOT go well for her, and she’s arrested. Also, it would seem that the drunken display by Jin was actually just a ruse, meant to get her to play the game and reveal herself. Seems...complicated, but it got result, I guess? Anyway, they threaten her with torture (like you do), unless she gives them information of the new leader of the House of Fly...HoFD. There. If CTHD gets an acronym, so does this.

Suddenly, though, a ninja appears and sets Mei free, fighting off the guards. Said ninja reveals himself as...Jin? They refamiliarize themselves.

Very refamiliar.

Anyway, the soldiers are indeed approaching, and Mei and Jin go on the run. The policemen chase them down on horses, and Mei takes down three horses and the guys riding them...with a scabbard. By herself. Badass.

That’s followed by her taking on four armed men at once, although this round doesn’t go nearly as well.

Luckily for her, however, Jin arrives in the nick of time to save her. We get this VERY cool POV arrow shot:

And the two leave. HOWEVER, the policeman ALL get up at the end, which means...Jin’s lying about all of this, huh? It’s a ruse to find to location of the HoFD, using Mei as an unwitting guide. Oof. Liar revealed plot set-up, huh? If that’s the case...I’ll get into that more later.

Jin leaves a message for his fellows, while Mei bathes and puts on men’s clothes provided by Jin, as a disguise. 

It’s at this point that Jin decides to go FULL creep again, and GODDAMN is it not working for me. It is...UNCOMFORTABLE, knowing what we know about Jin. And yet, despite that information...

It’s working for Mei. Yeah, they make out. Mei does say that it’s too soon, and that she doesn’t quite trust him that much yet...but they definitely made out there for a hot sec. It was...yup.

We get a reminder the Jin’s kind of an emotionally manipulative asshole as he meets with Leo, who warns her not to “fall for her.” So. It IS one of these stories, huh? We’ll see how it goes, but...yeah, not digging the love story so far.

And yet, as I say that, there goes Jin, falling in love with her. Soldiers consistently follow them wherever they go. Looks like the plan is backfiring, as soldiers who aren’t one of Jim’s cohorts believe that he’s a member of the HoFD, having broke Mei out of jail and all. So they attack them in earnest, even injuring Jin somewhat.

And that’s when Mei brings out the dagger. The Flying Dagger. THE HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGER.

I tell ya...that’s cool. Might be a CGI house of flying dagger (LOT of CGI in this movie, by the way, and none of it is technically...good), but I love it. The two fight off the soldiers in the field using the house of flying daggers and arrows, but reinforcements arrive. The two fight them in a sequence that’s more dance than ight. And it’s pretty cool. But they’re soon outnumbered.

Until...some wooden dowels come out of NOWHERE, impaling them in the neck and taking them down. Having survived, the two rest in the field, pondering where the dowels came from. And, of course, making out.

Although, this time, Mei starts it, and Jin refuses. He leaves, at her urging, and meets with Leo. Turns out the General sent the soldiers in the field, and is sending more to kill Mei AND Jin. And, as a note, Jin just KILLED some of those guys, as did Mei. Arrow boys from earlier lived, since it was a set-up for Mei. But, no, Jin actually has to kill the soldiers coming up.

That’s when he realizes that the General doesn’t care about him, at ALL, and he’s willing to shed the blood of his men and of Jin to get his goals met. And Jin...quits. Jin STRAIGHT UP quits, and returns to Mei. They get into a spat, and Mei leaves. And she goes to...

A bamboo forest. Thank you, China, for loving bamboo so much in these movies, because this sequence is gorgeous. I tell you, these movies do real well with the bamboo green color. Gorgeous.

The soldiers ambush Mei there, but Jin’s caught up, and he helps fight them off. Some awesome bamboo tricks (and sounds, by the way, real neat sounds here), more object-throwing (including a lot of using the bamboo stalks as weapons, which is SUPER FUCKIN’ COOL), and some gorgeous cinematography though the forest. Real talk, this scene made the movie for me. So far, anyway. We even get a BADASS bamboo spike trap! And it’s here that our pair is caught.

AND THEN

IT’S THE HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS FUCK YEAH

Looks like the madam of the entertainer’s house actually is the head of the HoFD, once again upholding the tradition of badass women of wuxia that we’ve seen in LITERALLY ALL THREE of these movies.

The leader asks if Jin likes Mei, and would consider marrying her. It’s far too soon for Jin, and he’s formally captured by the HoFD. They knew about his and Leo’s plan, and drag a captured Leo in as well. AND, AND...MEI’S NOT BLIND, or the daughter of the leader!!! Yeah! She’s been faking the whole movie! HA! Liar revealed indeed!

Didn’t see that one coming! Mei’s just a normal anti-governmentrevolutionary, and Jin’s now just a prisoner alongside Leo. But another twist, as this isn’t the actual leader of the HoFD. Leo reveals this; and how does he know that? LEO...IS A GODDAMN MOLE IN THE GOVERNMENT!!! WHAT????? YES! Leo’s a member of the HoFD, and he was planted three years ago to spy on the cops! And...AND...HE’S MEI’S FIANCEE!! WHAT IN THE SHIT?!?

OH I AM FULLY INVESTED. What the hell else is gonna happen? How about a game of Echo?

Yeah, that scene from earlier? No wonder it was a dance! It was the reunion between two lovers, long since parted! Holy shit, THIS is a romance I can fully get behind! But...can Mei? Because she certainly isn’t feeling it as much as Leo is...

Yup. Looks like she fell in love with Jin after all. Uh oh. BIG UH OH. And there goes my support of their romance, as Leo tries to rape Mei. Nia, the leader, ain’t having it, and throws a dagger into Jin’s back. He goes back to spy on the cops, but not before shaming Mei. Oof. I take it back. 

And now, Mei’s been told to kill Jin. I’m sure that’s gonna happen.

YUP

Well, after they have Field Sex (probably better than CTHD’s Cave Sex, let’s be honest), they decide to go their separate ways, becoming fated lovers on two separate sides. But Mei has second thoughts, and goes back.

Somebody else comes back, too.

YIKES, LEO! Yeah, he kills her right there in the field, blaming her for making him kill her! YIKES, LEO!!! I take it back, you’re a DICK.

Jin ALSO comes back for Mei, and finds Leo instead. A pissed-off Leo reveals himself to Jin, and the two engage in a sword battle for Mei. And then...autumn turns to winter.

As the army encroaches on the HoFD in the bamboo forest, two former friends shed blood amongst the snow. Their fight...their fight is brutal. The choreography may not be the fanciest...but it is insanely and viciously emotional. Blood and snow, man. Blood and snow.

Also, hey, guess who’s alive after all! Mei gets up, despite the DAGGER IN HER CHEST STILL. She asks Leo to let Jin go, or she’ll USE THE DAGGER IN HER CHEST TO KILL HIM. METAL. Obviously, that’ll actually kill her, So Jin asks her not to do it. But it doesn’t matter in the end.

Mei throws her dagger to intercept Leo’s. And Leo...never throws his dagger..

Leo leaves. Mei dies. Jin cries and sings their song.

A rare beauty in the North. She’s the finest lady on earth. A glance from her, the whole city goes down. A second glance leaves the nation in ruins. There exists no city or nation that has been more cherished than a beauty like this. A rare beauty in the North. She’s the finest lady on earth. A glance from her, the whole city goes down. A second glance leaves the nation in ruins. There exists no city or nation that has been more cherished than a beauty like this.

And we never see what happens to the...House of Flying Daggers.

WHOOF. Epilogue soon.

[dungeonsandhammers]

Storm Strike Part 2: Spooky Ghosts!

In the previous chapter I promised I’d be covering the Castigators this time. However, my new paints haven’t arrived yet, and I can’t do the job without the tools, of course. So instead I’ll be covering the Glaivewraith Stalkers and Myrmourn Banshees that came in the Storm Strike box instead. One thing’s for certain, you gotta love Games Workshop for their names.

Base Models

Below is a picture of what we’re dealing with. As you can see, the models are really dynamic, with bits and robes flowing everywhere. These ghosts amazed me the most of the box set, and are the reason I decided to start this blog. In comparison to, say, a Reaper Bones Ghost, it’s incredible how much more expression is poured into these spooks. (ignore the bad paint job on the ghost below, it’s one of the first I painted)

Second, it’s important to note that one of the Glaivewraiths has two options for assembly. You can either build him with a large glaive, similar to the others, or you can give him a small drum! I chose the drum, of course, because I love me some differences. Plus, now you’ve got an extra glaive to use as a accessory to improve a base!

Let’s get painting!

Alright, so I’ll start by sharing a bit of an embarrassment. After I painted my first two Sequitors (the two with helmets), I thought “I can paint this model without any help!” The result is this mess:

Yikes. It’s not unusable, but compared to what’s on the box art, it isn’t all too great. The blending in the robe is a first for me, and I hoped I could cover it up by dry brushing some White Scar over it... Ah well, the next one’ll go better! I decided to paint the Glaivewraith next, since he has a “simpler” paint scheme, with clear divisions. For this first model, I stuck to the advised scheme. And I gotta say, I’m quite pleased with the result!

How to use?

Of course, any old ghost is represented just fine by these sculpts. However, if you want some general undead inspiration to throw at your players, here are a few cool enemies I recommend.

Shadow: CR 1/2, CE, MM 269. Can move through small openings and disappears in the shadows. Oh, also drains the life out of you until your muscles become to weak to function. 

Specter, CR 1, CE, MM 279. Can move through solid objects and attack with “Drain Life”, which actually doesn’t drain life oddly enough.

Poltergeist, CR 2, CE, MM 279. Remember Peeves from Harry Potter? It can move through solid objects and it can throw stuff (including people) 30 feet into the air whenever it feels like it.

Banshee: CR 4, CE, MM 23. Can sense the living, move through solid objects and can literally scream you to death. Seems like a stereo-typical representation of a mother-in-law.

Ghost: CR 4, any, MM 147. Can see and flee into the Ethereal Plane, moves through solid objects and can possess humanoids! I’ve had and ran encounters with these in various campaigns over the years, and they’re really dope enemies.

Bodak: CR 6, CE, TOA 215 / VGM 127. Resists a lot and kills you by coming close. If you look at it, there’s a fair chance you’ll die.

Also, while searching I read that a Dracolich inhabits the body of a nearby deceased reptile if its current body is destroyed. Imagine a Dracolich the size of a common lizard! Fun little NPC.

Side Quest

I’m working on getting a better camera, and if I get one I’ll retake some photo’s to show the models more clearly. Can’t promise when that’ll be, however!

I’ve also started working on a small Google Sheets document with all sorts of Warhammer units, and how one could use them. It isn’t finished yet, and some of the inclusions are somewhat experimental (using Tyrannids and Necrons for example), but I think that they can all be quite fitting given the right paint job! Anyhow, I’ll throw a link when it’s ready. Thanks for reading, and if you have any ideas for units or comments in general, please feel free to share them!

[camryndaytona]

Cassandra Clare

Cassandra Clare is one of the most popular and successful young adult authors of today, however, a huge percentage of her fans have no idea of her past where she was know more for her bullying than her writing. I started this as a post on my “You Should Know” instagram, but eventually it got way too big and I had to create a post for it as well.

Terms to Know

Big Name Fan

Or “BNF” is an old term mostly used during the early 2000s, before ff.net or AO3.

They were the biggest names in fandom, producing the most popular art or fanfics.

Getting on the wrong side of a BNF could lock you out from the entire fandom, as you would be blocked from any forum they (or they friends) moderated.

The Inner Circle

In the early 2000s the Harry Potter fandom was essentially ruled by the Inner Circle. 

Although most of the Inner Circle changed constantly due to fandom drama and scandals, one member stayed for almost it’s entire duration: Cassie Claire

ff.net

Fanfiction.net

One of the early and most popular sites for hosting fanfiction.

The Draco Trilogy

Draco Dormiens

Author’s Summary: When an accident in Potions class turns Harry into Draco and Draco into Harry, each is trapped playing the part of the other. Romance, mistaken identities, Really Cunning Plans, evil bake sales, a love triangle, and snogs galore.

Draco Sinister

Author’s Summary: When Hermione is kidnapped, Harry and Draco must team up to rescue her from a thousand-year-old evil that threatens the entire wizarding world. Cursed demon swords, love potions, time travel, dementors, flying dragons, Draco wears leather, and everybody dies at least once. Except when they don’t.

It is notable for being the source of the Draco in Leather Pants trope as well as the catalyst for the Cassandra Claire plagiarism wank.

Draco Veritas

Author’s Summary: The sequel to Draco Sinister, featuring winter at Hogwarts, snogging, Quidditch, mysterious things and Rhysenn Malfoy.

Why was the Trilogy so popular?

As most people in fandom probably know, there’s usually two subsets of shippers: gay and straight (please note that, back in the early 2000s, there was still a lot of homophobia, and the heterosexual ships were undeniably more popular for that reason).

Since The Draco Trilogy had both Draco/Hermione and a lot of Harry/Draco subtext, fans of both ships flocked to the fic.

The Plagiarism 

Although she’d done it all along, it wasn’t until the second fanfic, Draco Sinister, that fans began to catch on. What was “it?”

Cassie including a lot of quotations from other work. And I mean a LOT. She lifted entire conversations and paragraphs from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Black Adder, Red Dwarf, and Terry Pratchett. At first she didn’t even mention this “inspiration,” so everyone assumed that this wit was all hers.

Once she was called out, she put a standard disclaimer at the top of her work, which was worded to imply that she might have borrowed a few, small quotes here and there, not that she was taking paragraphs and scenes. When she was called out for her continued plagiarism she switched to claiming that she “forgot” what her sources were.

Finally a former fan called Avocado got tired of it and reported her to ff.net. Within a day her works were taken down.

Predictably the fandom melted down over this and accusations began to fly. Cassie used her status as a BNF to ban anyone mildly critical of her from any message board or mailing list. A friend of Cassie’s claimed to be a real life lawyer and harrassed young fans with seemingly legal threats. There are even threats of people calling the police in an early form of “swatting.” Cassie tried to get a “hater” kicked out of university for “hacking” her and a REAL lawyer had to be involved before Cassie admitting to making it all up.

After all that began to die down, as she was working on the third installment of the trilogy, Cassie began accusing her friend and fellow BNF, Aja, of plagiarizing her. When that failed to incite the anger she wanted against Aja, Cassie began to claim that Aja was posting leaked spoilers for the Draco Trilogy. This infighting between the two lead to the collapse of The Inner Circle.

Laptop Gate

Although the third part of the Trilogy wasn’t as popular as the first two, due to the plagiarism scandal, it still racked up a ton of views when she began posting it. So when there was a potential threat to the continuation of the saga, readers were horrified.

This potential threat was a break in and the loss of Cassie’s computer.

Almost immediately after the robbery was announced Cassie’s lawyer friend (who was also her roommate) popped up again. This time, they were raising money to replace the laptops of Cassie and her roommates that had been stolen in the break in. Any extra money from the fundraiser would go to some vaguely mentioned charity.

Divisive comments poured in.

Some people expressed frustration that more “meaningful” fundraisers (like someone who had lost everything in a fire) didn’t get anywhere near as much attention and support.

Fans were even less happy when no proof was provided of either the break in or the charitable donation of excess funds (which was reported to be over $10,000).

When called out they changed the subject and posted links to another fan that was also fundraising (although they never posted any charity before or after, even when asked to do so the lawyer friend claimed to be “too busy” to share a link).

Published Works

After enjoying her celebrity as the Queen of Fanfiction, it’s no surprise that Cassie decided to venture into actual, original published works.

Except they weren’t that original, because it’s Cassie and she really, really seems to like “borrowing” from herself and others.

Let’s start with some name changes

Cassie

Cassandra Claire (with an i) is her fanfiction name

Cassandra Clare (without an i) is her published name

You may be surprised by how well this name change suited her. For a long time, before exposes began to be posted, you could google her published name without finding out about her history in fandom. Additionally, some of her victims from her fanfic days read her published books without realizing who the author actually was (until they started to recognize the quotes and paragraphs that she’d lifted straight from her fanfiction)

Her Writing

“Mortal Instruments” is Cassie’s Ginny/Ron incest romance fanfiction.

“The Mortal Instruments” is Cassie’s published work, about two fake siblings who fall in love with each other.

Similarities to Harry Potter

Now I haven’t read Mortal Instruments or The Mortal Instruments so I’ll let someone who has read them both do some explaining:

When I opened the book, I knew that Clary was Ginny. Alec was Harry. Isabelle was Clare’s version of Blaise (who back then was not officially male or female, and could therefore be interpreted by fandom either way). Valentine was a strange mixture of Lucius and Voldemort. And Jace, of course, was undeniably Draco.

Jace is so Draco, in fact, that it’s impossible to see him as his own character. The way Clare characterizes Jace is the exact same way she characterized her Draco. They share lines (the ones she didn’t steal from Buffy, of course), they share nervous tics, they share appearances, and they even share memories. The second I read the scene in which Jace tells Clary the story about the boy and the falcon, I felt an unpleasant jolt of recognition: that story is one Draco tells in one of the Draco Trilogy installments. I couldn’t remember which one. I couldn’t even remember who Draco told it to (Harry? Ginny? Hermione?). But I knew it was if not word for word taken from her fanfiction, it was very, very close.

Yikes. That’s a lot of similarities.

The same person I quoted about went on to say that the fanfiction was still much better than her published work, and that she’d rather re-read the fanfic than the non-fanfic.

Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dark Hunters

Almost immediately after The Mortal Instruments (the non-fanfic one) became popular, Sherrilyn Kenyon slapped it with a lawsuit for copying her urban fantasy series, Dark Hunters.

Kenyon fans attacked Claire fans, Cassie’s history was brought to light, and Cassie got to pull out her favorite argument “you hate me because I’m Jewish.” Which is interesting, because I’ve been working on this for two weeks, and I only just learned that she’s Jewish when I read about her accusing others of anti-Semitism.

Now as Cassie apologists will tell you, Kenyon did ultimately lose that suit, but it’s really, really starting to get repetitive over here.

I’ll borrow a quote from Ryan Givens, “If you meet an asshole in the morning, you met an asshole. If you meet assholes all day, you’re the asshole.” Or in this case, maybe you’re the plagiarist.

Common Questions

Has Cassie apologized for this?

She did occasionally

Has Cassie changed?

My opinion is no. She’s not.

Let’s see, as the “Queen of YA Literature” she has:

used Copy Right strikes to prevent people from calling out problematic passages in her books

sent her fans after critics

posted a hilariously ironic blog about cyber bullying

attacked her OWN FANS because they didn’t like the ending of a book

currently complains about people posting her real name (which is Judith Rumelt, in case you wanted to know) despite her own history of publishing people’s actual phone numbers online

Calls critics anti-Semetic while having this quote in her book

Claims that she was threatened when someone called her friend an “ignorant duck” 

Loves Token Minorities

Wrote a questionable almost rape

My Thoughts

I don’t like Cassie.

I really don’t.

And look, I’m not saying that Cassie is a narcissist, but here’s a fun little saying called The Narcissist’s Prayer:

That didn’t happen. And if it did, it wasn’t that bad. And if it was, that’s not a big deal. And if it is, that’s not my fault. And if it was, I didn’t mean it. And if I did… You deserved it.

Does any of that sound familiar, because it should. It’s basically Cassie’s text book responce of “avoid admitting fault until there’s too much proof, say I didn’t do it on purpose, blame someone else, claim to be the victim, find another person to accuse of drama.”

Now I’m going to again quote from ProblematicYA because I absolutely love their writing. In this quote, they’re talking about how all of Cassie’s books, even those set in different times or cities, follow the same pattern. Non-Shadowhunter meets Shadowhunter (who is basically Draco).

So what’s really my problem? My problem is the fact that Cassandra Clare is a marginally talented writer who has one story and one cast of characters up her sleeve, and yet somehow she’s sold millions and millions of books based on this. My problem is the fact that Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series was partially copied from her fanfiction trilogy, which copied a plethora of other authors, not even including J.K. Rowling, who provided her with the characters, premise, and setting for her beloved trilogy. My problem is the fact that Cassandra Clare is in the authorly equivalent of a time loop, and has come full circle. My problem is the fact that Cassandra Clare is, in essence, writing fanfiction of her own work, and it is getting published and she is getting paid bank for it, when other far more original and talented authors are getting absolutely nothing for their hard work. I may despise Stephenie Meyer and the world she’s created, but at least Twilight and its accompanying works are her own original product; at least she deserves to reap the benefits of the crazy fandom she’s inspired.

Look. I don’t believe in dredging up ancient history just to hurt people. Shit we did when we were teens shouldn’t be held against us as adults. People grow and change a lot from what they were as teens.

But bitch, you actually have to GROW AND CHANGE. And Cassie hasn’t.

Also, try actually apologizing for what you’ve done instead of silencing critics.

Sources and More Information

As always, I love, love, love fanlore and I linked to many of their articles throughout this post.

A user on the HobbyDrama subreddit made a great write up called The Cassandra Cla(i)re Saga.

ProblematicYA wrote several amazing articles on the subject:

Why I Have A Problem With Cassandra Clare and Why You Should Too

anti-bullying ya queen cassandra clare is a massive bully. water also wet.

They also have an entire tag dedicated to Cassie

Alli6 wrote Things you should Know

Cassandra Clare, Rape Culture, and the Oft-Forgotten Metaphor by The Book Lantern.

SnarkTheater also has pages of things tagged as Cassie Claire, including chapter by chapter break downs of the books.

source http://camryndaytona.com/2020/06/cassandra-clare?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cassandra-clare

[too-attached-to-fiction]

Midnight

GIF IS NOT MY ART THE ARTIST IS @bitterfragile

Masterlist here.

Word count: ~1000

Requested by anon

Request: Hi! I was wondering if I could request sdv sebastian, 2 for the prompt list! Btw I absolutely ADORE all of your fics, I've been reading them nonstop ever since I found your blog.

#2: It’s nearly midnight, what are you doing?

A/N: new prompts come out tomorrow morning and I’m kinda scared that I won’t clean out my inbox by the time it uploads yikes! But also, to anon, I’m so happy you requested this and have been reading all of my fics! I’m excited for any future requests any of my readers have!

~~~

Time wasn’t necessary tonight.

You sat on the river bank, listening to the cicadas sing as you closed your eyes. It was the end of the week, and the dance of the moonlight jellies was tomorrow. You didn’t want to think about tomorrow, though. Tonight you were here, sitting on an old blanket, enjoying the last true night of summer.

The ground crunched behind you as footsteps grew louder. You ignored them - it was probably only Linus putting out his fire. He kept his distance even though you tried your best to be friendly around him.

The footsteps stopped, and you could hear the click of a lighter. Soon enough, the smell of smoke made its way to your nose.

The footsteps got closer. “(Y/N)? It’s almost midnight, what are you doing out here?” Despite the darkness, your eyes made out the dark figure of Sebastian, a cigarette stuck between his teeth as he approached you.

“Just wanted to enjoy the last nights of summer.” You said, turning your head up to the sky.

The sky in the valley was so much more beautiful than it had ever been in Zuzu. It was so clear and beautiful. You loved looking for constellations when summer was starting to die down. You leaned back, lying with your back on the ground while your knees stayed up.

Sebastian moved to lie down next to you, his cigarette discarded somewhere in the dirt nearby. “I don’t know what you see in this little town.” He said, looking up with you. “I don’t know how you managed to stay here for more than a month.”

“You really want out, don’t you?” You asked, turning your head slightly to look at his face. He didn’t answer, continuing to stare.

After a moment of silence, he spoke again. “What was Zuzu like?” You sighed quietly.

“Lonely.” You said. “Even with my parents, I didn’t think anyone really cared about me. And then when I came here, it seemed like everyone cared. Like we all had a purpose, and my purpose was to be here, to keep my grandfather’s memory alive.”

There was another pause before you spoke again. “You know, the stars we see are the same stars the ancients saw. They found shapes and patterns and told stories of those shapes.” You told him, untucking one of your hands from behind your head. You pointed up. “That’s Orion’s Belt.” His eyes followed your finger as you pointed.

“You like space?”

“Yeah.” You murmured, your eyes lost again.

You’d fallen in love with space as a teenager, opting to look to the sky to forget everything. When you looked up, your problems fell away, and you were reminded of how small you were in the ever-growing universe. When you needed it, the sky was there. It always was.

“When I was little, Demetrius used to take me and Maru outside on nights like this, and we’d look through the telescope. Maru liked the stars. I liked the darkness.” You laughed, imagining little Sebastian and Maru looking through the telescope in their backyard. Maru on her tiptoes to peek through, Sebastian waiting patiently for his turn. Demetrius pointing at things.

“You know, we’re made of the same stuff stars are made of.” You said after the conversation lulled again.

“I call bullshit.” Sebastian said, and you laughed again.

“It’s true.” You said. “Stars are made of iron, iron is in our blood. During the Big Bang, our ancestors were created from nothing into something, and part of what made up that something was stardust. So we are, quite literally, made of stardust.”

He chuckled softly. “You’re something else, you know that?”

“Mm, not really. I’m just too in love with this place.” You looked over at him, flashing him a small smile. “There are billions of places in this world, and somehow I ended up here, looking at the stars, rambling about stars to a boy who wishes to escape them.” Your smile turned into a lopsided grin.

“Tell me more.” He said, adjusting his body to face yours, and you mirrored his actions.  

“Okay, think about all the colors you’ve ever seen.” You said. “Are you imagining them?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not.” You giggled as he flashed a glare at you. “But anyways. Colors are part of the light spectrum. The light spectrum is huge. All the colors in the world? They’re just one percent of the light spectrum. Isn’t that beautiful? We can only see one percent of the light spectrum. Imagine what the other 99 percent looks like.”

“Demetrius told me that, but I don’t think he could ever say it the way you just did.” You smiled. “More.” You rolled your eyes but kept going. You were too excited now, too eager to explain more.

“When you lock eyes with someone who you’re in love with, your heartbeats synchronize.” You started going faster. “You literally become one. That’s why cartoon hearts look the way they do, because it’s two human heart shapes coming together.”

He watched your face as you spoke, loving the way your eyes had lit up when you were talking. You seemed so passionate about the beauty of the world, so confident you were meant to be here. He could only hope he was as passionate as you when it came to computers.

He hadn’t known that you loved science, but it made sense. You’d known where to start with the farm right off the bat, as if it was second nature.

You didn’t remember staying up late, but you rambled for a long time. You didn’t remember falling asleep, nor did you remember being tucked into bed.

When you blinked your eyes open, you were in Sebastian’s room.

And sure, you’d seen it before, but you were in his bed, and he was on the couch, snoring softly.

You couldn’t help but think that you wanted to do it again.

[wolfpawn]

I Hate You, I Love You, Chapter 24

Chapter Summary -  Danielle and Tom have a dinner out with Diana, which is a pleasant affair until someone recognises Tom and paparazzi become involved.

Previous Chapter

Rating - Mature (some chapters contain smut)

Triggers - references to Tom Hiddleston’s work with the #MeToo Movement. That chapter will be tagged accordingly.

authors Note - I have been working on this for the last 3 years, it is currently 180+ chapters long.  This will be updated daily, so long as I can get time to do so, obviously.

tags: @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog  @jessibelle-nerdy-mum @nonsensicalobsessions @damalseer @hiddlesbitch1 @winterisakiller

If you wish to be tagged, please let me know.

The longer Danielle sat by his side, the more Tom wanted her to remain there. Diana, as expected, was heartbroken and happy for the girl she had seen slave through years of study and exams. “You are going to do brilliantly sweetheart, just like Tom.”

“Well, I will be staying very much behind the camera,” Danielle commented.

“I have an idea.” Tom declared. “I am taking you two lovely ladies out to dinner.”

“Wonderful.” Diana smiled.

Danielle looked uncertain. “What…if there are any…”

Tom swallowed, “With her gone, they don’t come around anymore, Suffolk is, once more, calm and quiet.”

“Well then, if you’re buying.” She smiled, earning the megawatt smile Tom had for when he was at his happiest. “So, where to?”

“Manzoni’s?” He suggested.

“Just because you have no mortgage, doesn’t mean you should take one out to eat in a stupidly overpriced restaurant.” Danielle looked him up and down.

“Come on, Elle, you deserve fine dining in celebration of your huge career change.” He urged.

“I can’t, seriously Tom, it’s too much.”

“Elle, I missed your birthday, I have been an unmitigated ass to you this year, and I really need to thank you for…well, that other thing, so please, please let me do this; I know how much you love their carbonara.”

“You know nothing Hiddleston.”

“Yes I do, Emma said you practically made sex noises at the table when you ate there before,” Tom whispered into her ear as soon as Diana left the room to get ready to go out. Danielle went puce red at his words, the deep timbre of his voice sending a shudder down her spine in a way that could be very much be accused of being sinful as she looked to the ground, not wanting him to see the embarrassment on her face. “Elle.” The manner in which he spoke her name caused her to gasp slightly. “Please.”

“I don’t know if I…” she looked at him, her eyes focusing on the icy blue and green specks of his. “I…” She forgot the art of speech for a moment, as his eyes focused back on hers. “Yes.”

His pupils widened fractionally and a glimmer of brightness added to them at her agreement. “Thank you.”

“I think I should get changed.”

“You look perfect as you are.”

“I don’t think I am to their dress code Tom, I am in my normal clothes.”

“I know, your River Island black jeans, your favourite t-shirt, your grey and black open cardigan and your, what appear to be yet another pair of Converse, how many pairs of black converse can one girl own?” He asked, his voice affectionate, his eyes not once leaving hers as he spoke.

“I just buy new of the same…you didn’t even look at my clothes there.”

“I looked at them when you opened your door.” He smiled.

“I…”

“Are we ready?” Diana came back into the room and froze as she realised the peculiar tension between her son and neighbour, both still sitting next to each other, and both staring into one another’s eyes.

Tom’s stare was the first to break; he turned to his mother and smiled. “Yes, we are. I just convinced Danielle to come, she was somewhat reluctant.” He rose to his feet, rubbing his hands off his pants as he did; glad they were dark enough to hide the sweatiness of his palms from his nerves at being so close to Danielle.

“I see.” Diana looked between them again, still paying attention to the tension that surrounded them. “Well, you can drive there, but I will drive home, my doctor said I shouldn’t mix alcohol with my medication.”

“What medication?” both demanded immediately in unison, their previous nervousness immediately dissolved.

“I had a small ear, nose and throat infection last week; I am on decongestants for it.” She dismissed.

“What ones?” Danielle asked.

“I can’t remember the name; they are made by that Pfizer company.”

“Yeah, no alcohol for you.” Danielle agreed, Tom listening to her and nodding.

“I was not aware paramedics are so up-to-date on pharmacy stuff.”

“Pharmacology? Yes, we need to know the ones that react badly together, and some react very badly, decongestants, plus alcohol equals a stoned effect and very bad issues with blood pressure, not a nice combo.” She explained to him.

“Well then, it’s settled, into the car you two.” Diana ushered them out the door of her house and towards Tom’s car. “Tom darling, your car is in the way, so we’ll take it.”

“Is there anyone not trying to drive my car?” He stated in exasperation, opening the passenger side door for his mother.

Danielle raised her hand. “I don’t.” Tom looked at her; there was some form of offence on his face as he did. “I would be terrified to drive it, sitting in it, however, well, that is another thing entirely.” She beamed as she got into the back seat. “Are these things heated?”

Tom closed the door on the passenger side before heading to the driving seat. “They are.”

“Fancy prick.” She grumbled under her breath. “Ow!” She yelped immediately after since Diana had reached back and pinched her leg.

“Mind how you speak of my wonderful son.” Diana chastised.

“Haha, Ow!” Tom went from chiding Danielle to yelping himself as Diana clipped the back of his head. “Mum.”

“And you, mind how you provoke my favourite neighbour, she is like a daughter to me.”

“Sorry, mum.” Both stated at the same time, causing Diana to glance between them and for both to erupt in giggles.

“Two five-year-olds, that’s what you are like.” Diana sighed, shaking her head.

“Tom started it,” Danielle stated lowly.

“Did not.” He retorted.

“Dear God, drive boy, before I lose my patience altogether,” Diana ordered.

*

The meal was a pleasant affair, and as Tom had predicted, Danielle had gone for the carbonara, and both having finished almost two bottles of wine between them.

“I regret the drinking.” Danielle groaned as Diana went to the bathroom. “Why did I drink fancy wine?” She held up the bottle. “I am going to kill you in the morning.”

“No one forced you to drink it, you’d think the food would have helped,” Tom commented. “Though it does seem quite strong.”

“Yep, look at that percentage.”

“Shit, I am not driving anywhere until after lunch.”

“Good plan, I don’t plan on getting up until after lunch.” Danielle declared.

“Better plan.” Tom commended.

Danielle pointed to her feet. “Down there’s for dancing.”

“What the hell does that even mean, you have been saying that since I met you, and I still haven’t figured it out. In fact, it was one of the first things you ever said in my presence.”

“It means we use our feet for dancing and our heads for thinking, obviously.” Danielle chuckled, as though it blatantly clear.

“Elle, thank you for coming out tonight, I am so happy for you.”

“Thanks.” Danielle smiled. “Thank you for helping me with telling your mum, and for the extortionately overpriced meal.”

“My pleasure Elle, I hope I can take you out in London some time, there are some great places there or LA.”

“Maybe.” She gave a small smile. “I am not exactly Hollywood.”

“Two Disney movies are fairly Hollywood.” He gave another grin back. “How is Paul about all of this, shouldn’t you spend time with him when you’re home?”

“Paul is in Africa at the moment. He goes for a couple of weeks every other year as part of a Doctors Without Borders thing. He won’t be back for at least another fortnight.”

“That’s noble of him.”

Danielle nodded. “Yes, it is.” There was a proud smile on her face that caused Tom’s stomach to sink. “So what’s next for you, movie star?”

“Well, thankfully Ragnarok is over, so I am waiting to see if there needs to be any reshoots, then I have a few more ad campaigns to shoot too.” He began.

“Are you home for Christmas?”

“Definitely, you?”

“Four days.”

“Yikes.” He gave a small grimace. “Need a lift from the airport?”

“Isn’t that usually my line?” She smiled back.

Tom chuckled. “Usually, yeah.” Danielle bit her bottom lip as she smiled. “Elle…” she glanced back at him, taking Tom’s breath away.

“We have a small issue.” Diana declared quietly as she came back to them. “You’ve been spotted, darling.” She informed Tom.

“Shit.” Tom leant back. “I’m sorry Elle.” He rose from the chair. “Walk out the door with mum, and walk to the car, I’ll see you there.”

Not entirely sure what to do, Danielle just nodded and got to her feet. “Darling,” she looked to Diana, “Just ignore them and pretend they are not there.”

As Danielle walked out of the restaurant, she realised that was far easier said than done; as a camera flashed at her time and again, the bright light of which blinding her. From what she had seen beforehand, it was only three men, but it felt as though fireworks were erupting around her over and over as they shouted random questions at her and Diana.

“Mrs Hiddleston, did you really approve of Taylor, or was that all part of the act?”

“Mrs Hiddleston, does this girl meet your approval?”

“Are you the girl Tom left Taylor for?”

“Did Tom cheat on Taylor with you?”

“Are you the obsessed paramedic?”

Danielle swallowed hard, her heart pounding in her chest at what they were saying. “Gentlemen, please.” Relief filled her as Tom’s voice from behind them.

“Tom, are you worried about what Taylor will write and sing about you in her next album?”

“Who is the girl Tom, did you leave Taylor for her?”

“I am just having dinner with family, nothing of note, so please, let us enjoy our evening,” Tom asked politely.

“Taylor is saying you cheated on her, what have you to say to that Tom? Is this the girl you cheated with?”

“She is nothing to do with any of this, she is just a friend.”

Danielle just kept walking, passed Tom’s car, and passed the side of the street, her paces fast, and her head down. She thought she heard Tom calling her back, but she kept going, arms tucked in around her. To her relief, the photographers seemed more interested in following the celebrity and not her, so she walked along, sobering up as she went.

She made her way to the taxi depot not too far from the restaurant and asked for a cab, doing everything in her power to not show how upset she was. When she got to her house, she cursed, she had no idea where her purse was, her house keys, phone and money were inside.

A mixture of relief and dread filled her when Tom came out of his mother’s driveway, her purse in hand. He ran straight to the driver’s window and handed him fifty pounds. “Keep the change.” He smiled at the thrilled man before running to Danielle’s door and opening it for her. “Elle.” She took her purse from his hand and walked to her door. “I’m sorry Elle.”

“It wasn’t your fault.” She stated, not looking at him.

“Elle please, look at me.” He begged, following her to her door. “They say that stuff to get a reaction.”

“I gave them none.” She answered coolly.

“Are you mad at me?”

“Why would I be, you did nothing wrong, you brought me for a nice dinner, you came out to try and get them away.”

“Then I don’t understand.”

The words ‘She’s just a friend’ repeated in Danielle’s head. It had never hurt her as deeply before, she knew she would never be anything other than that to him, but Tom physically saying the words hurt. “I just need to get some rest; the wine did me no favours.”

“Why didn’t you come home with us?”

“I wouldn’t have appeared as ‘just a friend’ if I went home with you, would I? That would have added fuel to the fire.”

“Elle, I…I had to say that, they would hound you otherwise.”

“What do you mean ‘had to say that’ that’s all we are, isn’t it? I mean, we’re friends, nothing else, it wasn’t a lie.” she snapped.

Tom felt as though he had taken a kick to the gut. “I…”

“What Tom? What? We’re friends, nothing else; you are the big movie star with blonde, statuesque starlets at your beck and call. Of course they got curious when they saw you with me, I’m nothing like that, I’m no one, the idea that after being with one of the most wealthy and renowned women in the music industry to well, short, plain and anonymous, they must have thought you were having a sort of breakdown.”

“Elle…you’re…”

“Nothing, I’m faceless, and I’m actually okay with that.” her tone was becoming more high pitched as she became more upset.

“You are not ‘nothing’,” Tom argued. “You’re brilliant.”

“Tom.”

“No, you are brave, strong, independent, perfect.” Tom came up close to her, his chest almost against hers. “Elle, you are so much more than what you think you are.” He tucked a few loose strands of her hair behind her ear. “Why can’t you see that?”

“Tom…” she was about to argue with him when Tom leant forward and pressed his lips to hers, silencing her.

For a few moments, Danielle’s mind short-circuited, leaving her silently staring at him, as he tried to deepen the kiss, she reacted in kind, enjoying the feeling of his strong lips against hers, the smell of his cologne filling her nostrils, sending her stomach in a knot with anxious excitement. But when his hand came to her cheek, and he sighed in contentment; she came to her senses. “Tom.”

“Elle.” His voice ghosted against her lips.

“We can’t.”

“Why not?” he groaned when she pulled back from him.

“Tom, you need to leave.”

“Elle.”

“Please.” She swallowed hard, her voice breaking, “Please leave.”

“Elle.”

“Please, Tom.” There was no disguising the upset in her voice.

Heartbroken, Tom nodded and turned from her doorstep, looking at her again when he had taken a few paces. “I’m sorry Elle, I shouldn’t have…and Paul.”

Danielle said nothing with regards to her breakup with the doctor; she only nodded before turning the key in the door and walking inside, closing it behind her and allowing her heartbreak to take over at her pushing away Tom. It had been a mistake on his behalf, surely. She had no idea why he had done it, but she was not what he looked for in a woman, and she knew it. She would never be good enough for him, and she needed to accept that.

[diminuel]

A comment on the top/bottom debate circling around me

I want to address what some of you might have seen going on mainly on twitter but also here on tumblr. 

To summarize very roughly, there has been a lengthy discussion about stereotyping in Dean and Castiel’s relationship based on top/bottom preferences on twitter. The recent discussion did in part use me as an example of someone who perpetuated harmful stereotypes based on how I draw and things I have posted in the past. I don’t know how this then later gained a different dynamic focusing on “exposing” me as a horrible person. A lot of assumptions were shared, a lot of “yikes” were exclaimed and then a post “chronicling” bad things I’ve said was circulated as proof. I don’t think it’s me “playing the victim” when I post about how this felt for me. Of course I know that I’ve thought and said things in the past which were ignorant, I’m not denying that. However.

Again and again, the following core of the issue was repeated: listen to criticism.

And I do. I did. Maybe, if you take the post on woes of yaoi as your only source about me, you can’t / don’t have the chance to see that. I am not sure anymore what exactly was in that post. I do remember how the post was structured though: someone went through my blog, probably my top and bottom stuff tag, took statements that they deemed problematic and then strung them together (with their take on what I’m saying) into a proof of my horribleness. It’s not a reliable source. No context, no information when I had said those things, intended interpretation of my words already provided by the one who had gone to such trouble putting together that post.

And this post is now circulating. Someone dragged it back up and felt it needed to be part of the debate to show my views. However, and – again - I don’t see how people haven’t realized that, those are old “statements”.

The aim is listen to criticism and the ideal would be that I do, that I consider and reflect and that I adapt. But if you circulate that post and assume this is all what I think right this instance, you don’t even allow me to actually implement what I’ve learnt from criticism. Shouldn’t I be given the right to learn and make amends? If you only look at what I’ve said in the past, you deny me that.

So please, the top and bottom stuff tag is there. You can browse it. I haven’t deleted or changed anything. The last time I felt the need to talk about it was months ago. Scroll back, read what I say. Scroll back months, a year, I don’t know what your mileage is on how long back changes must have happened for them to mean anything. Read what I’m actually saying instead of focusing on what you think I must be saying or what I have said in the past.

Now, maybe you see what views I expressed, but then why do I draw like I draw? I know that there’s a difference between what I think, what I write (if any of you have read my fics) and what I draw. Sometimes. The thing is, art too is evolving, but it’s slower than changing how I think. I do like drawing in a cutesy, exaggerated style. I like drawing pretty dresses. And I know, not everything I enjoy drawing is the perfect fit for SPN or its characters.

But it’s also something I enjoy drawing. I think exploring things – even if they might not appeal to everyone – is allowed in fanart. It has to be. Those characters belong to us to manipulate how we see fit. Just because Cas or Dean look a certain way in the show, doesn’t mean that’s the only way I can draw him.

I don’t draw feminine Cas nearly as much as people think and I’ve also made an effort to reduce how often I draw it in favor of stepping out of my artistic comfort zone (i.e. what I’m used to, a style that comes easy to me through years of doing it) to learn new things.

But I do reserve the right to draw feminine Cas or Cas in dresses from time to time. This is not going to change, I can however offer consistent tagging. I know I’m always advocating for tagging, so I will practice what I preach. I once made an attempt to tag feminization, but I wasn’t consistent and maybe I don’t consider the same things warranting a tag as others do. I’m open to suggestions on how to do it better. And if I post new art and miss a tag, please tell me.

I hope this will clear up some issues and that if you have concerns or questions that you will come to me. You can ask. I also hope that you are willing to believe that what I have been saying recently on the issue has more weight than snippets of what I’ve been saying in the past. Sometimes the far past. I’ve been here since 2012 and I did say stupid things - as everyone does. But other than what this post and what I’m reading people say about me implies, I don’t enjoy being ignorant and do nothing about it.

Thanks for reading this long post.

[rowe-v-theworld]

I had this saved to my drafts last night aND TUMBLR ATE IT so here I am, back at it again! Allow me to introduce y’all to Sutton Elijah Rowe -- Resident poet, artist, drug dealer, loving grandson.. you know, nothing out of the usual 👀Some of y’all might remember Sutton’s twin brother Sydney from the first iteration of veritas. Don’t worry, Sydney’s still around and more extra than ever, you can still see some of his stuff on Sutton’s blog. He has a tag! Now. Without further ado. Let’s get into this jawn.

Sutton Elijah and his identical twin brother, Sydney Cliffton (ayyy), were born in Louisiana but were raised by their grandmother, “Ma”, in Texas.

lamao except not Houston they lived like 3 hours away under the poverty line.

For a period of time as children (when their mother was still alive, she has since passed to illness and let's not talk about their father, thnx) they were in and out of shelters. They were 7 when they moved to Center, Texas, spending the rest of their adolescence at Ma’s. 

Sutton has 5 younger (not including Sydney THOUGH SUTTON IS THE OLDEST JUST PUTTING THAT OUT THERE) “siblings” who he adores. So he came from a PACKED house. Sutton is fairly quiet despite the LOUD household he grew up in. He leaves most of the talking to Sydney but he’s charming in his own right. He’s the cool quiet kid naw’mean? 😎

As he and Syd were the “men” of the house they worked from the age of 16 while attempting to keep up with school. But customer service positions were never really....Sutton’s strong suit. Because fuck the man (like the saying but also Sutton and Sydney are the gayest so...)

Anyway, he hung around a lot of street corners and got into some trouble as a teen. This was his first introduction to drugs and dealing. 

Of course, Ma wasn’t going to have her 16-year-old on the fucking streets so she forced him to work at his great Uncle’s dusty bookstore called Shades of Afrika. L A M E

Sutton’s Uncle was a writer and eccentric, he couldn’t pay much, but needed the help and the arrangement was mainly so that he could keep an eye on Sutton. 

At first, Sutton hated working in the basement of the old building. It was basically helping the old man archive all of his crap — books, masks, boxes upon boxes of Africana, masks, speeches, records… But it quickly became the best form of punishment. His Uncle really encouraged him to get into poetry and eventually spoken word and to keep up with his artistic practice.

Sutton stayed off of the streets for a while, but times were rough and let’s just say dealing paid for their application fees for St. Etienne.

Sutton and Sydney are the first in their family to go to college, both receiving a full scholarship to St. Etienne — Sutton for English, Sydney for Dance. 

Ma is very supportive of her babies.... But like Sutton is on his way to receiving a degree in English and Fine Arts, and Sydney a degree in Dance and Women, Gender, and Sexuality studies so… She can’t help but pray they actually get jobs after graduation.

Sutton got into too many fights as a teen, where Sydney could talk himself out of most situations Sutton's two options were run or throw punches. If you want to tell the twins apart, look closely at their faces. Sutton, no matter how hard he tries, can’t get rid of the dark circles under his eyes.

Sutton was the deciding force in choosing St. Etienne. He wanted to be as far away from Texas as possible.

The plan had always been to stop dealing when they got to college. Sutton had promised his grandmother he’d stay away from it. But it continued (at first) because of financial stress at home. 

Sutton feels a twinge of guilt about breaking his promise, but he justifies it by saying he’s doing something for his grandmother for once.

As far as Daisey is concerned Sutton is was (yikes) her supplier. It didn’t take long for him to be the guy on campus. Sutton can hook you up with whatever you need -- Pills to help you study, pills to help you sleep, hallucinogenics, grass, pretty white powder. Whatever. Whenever. And for a good price.

St. Etienne is so far from what Sutton is used to. The feeling of being out of place has never gone away, though he’s not shy. Sydney is the more approachable -- more talkative and warm -- Sutton gives off a cool, laid-back demeanor that seems to do well for him.

That said lol guess who has an anxiety issue?? This kid. Sutton will have a panic attack then throw on some shades and skateboard away from his problems. It’s fine.

Connections!

Drug du jour: Sutton is the drug dealer on campus so there’s a lot there to play with. Maybe your character has brought from him before. Or is a regular. Maybe your character disapproves? Lot’s of options here!

Reading Rainbow: Sutton is in the book club and is also a TA most likely for an English course/Intro painting course SO if you need a tutor, are also in the book club, or are an artist Sutton could be of assistance.

I won’t hesitate bitch: Give me drama or give me death

I hope he likes boys: Crushes! Flirtationships! Wingmen/women! Exes!

A mess ✨: Sutton really only show’s his more anxious side to Sydney but if you get to know him close enough he’d be more willing to let you in and even ask for help. He’s been struggling the past year especially.

Paint me like one of your french girls: Sutton is that kind of artist that will like, stop everything to take a picture of a leaf or tell you to STAY RIGHT THERE because you have now become his muse and must sit for 3 hours while he paints you. This is your life now.

//Phew, ok. That’s all for now folks. I’ll post on discord and you can hit me up there or here if you’d like to plot! :*

[sugapop-rp]

*:･ﾟƜιѕнℓιѕтѕ Oƒ Ɯιѕнєѕ

              ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ hi, hi! tis bunny anna here and i thought i would decide to make a little wishlist for my muses! i figured this might be handy for in the future because who knows right? so read below to see what i have in mind for my muse beans and if you are interested, please like this post and/or send me a message so we can chit chat about them :) 

note:you do not have to be mutuals with me to do any of this (obviously lol), you can be a random peep passing by that is curious and that’s cool with me! you liking this means i shall be sending you a message instead thus make sure there is a way for me to do that (dm or ask). this will be also updated as time goes on depending on what new idea/muse i may have at the time

Choi Ha-joon, 26 and is an elementary school teacher

“muse a sings like an angel but is really shy so they only sing in the shower. everyday,muse b, who is their neighbor, listens to their singing and thinks muse a is actually a professional singer. one day they meet at the elevator of their building and muse b really wants to ask for muse a to sing a song for them, or just compliment them. but how will they do so without making things awkward? and to top this situation, muse a is also a lotattractive.“

give me that cliche old high school lovers see each other again after school by accident, the feels hit them once again and oof. make it angsty, make it fluffy, idc just give me some of that!

ha-joon is a book lover so what if ha-joon keeps coming to this book store that also involves your muse. they get to know each other for their enjoyment of books but the plot twist of this all is that ha-joon doens’t know your muse is not only an author but one of ha-joon’s favorite writers!

you left your USB flash drive in the library computer and i had to go through your files to figure out who you are and i ended up reading the entirety of this book you’re working on and wow you’re actually really good???? 

Kris Yamada, 26 and is an assassin

so lowkey when i made kris i got a bit inspired by the video game “assassin’s creed” so would be interested to do something loosely based around that. something like say your muse is working for the enemy organization that kris’s order doesn’t like. they meet and get closer (friendship or romantic, doesn’t matter) and go from there? very basic idea i know lol but can be fun i think!

give me assasin buddies, bro this is something that kris is in need of lol. sure he can be like a grouch sometimes but he knows how to have fun! he used to live the wild life so let’s do some wild friend antics lol

speaking of used too’s...why not bring something back from the past for kris?  say maybe an old friend from kirs’s childhood? they can maybe meet on the street one day and they may want to ask questions because of kris suddenly dropping all contact? or we could do the more cliche idea of said friend is now a target and oops, now kris is stuck in an oopsie :’)

Song "Hayes" Hyeok, 26 and is an indie music producer. 

hayes doesn’t have the best relationship with his parents (this can be read in his bio here) so maybe one day his parents may want to do a surprise visit because he does have good contact with his sister and she praised alot about him. his parents (specifically father) wants to see how “amazing hayes is doing”. cue hayes trying to make things not go south because his parents are not fans of the fact that hayes likes boys...so to see him having a boyfriend/fiance/husband may cause some problems to put it lightly. this could include hayes pretending not to be in a relationship with your muse or pretending they are just roommates. a bit of a heavy idea so far in this list, i know but it is something i would like to explore for hayes. 

rival music producers, just give me some of that drama lol

a mentor type friendship where hayes could take in your muse under his wing to help them out in the music scene

“🌟–– we had a really ugly break-up and didn’t talk for a long time but oh hey, you’re at this party too and we’ve had a few drinks and now we’re kissing and … oh, all that wasn’t supposed to happen tonight but we’re sort of on better terms now and yikes!!! i might be falling for you again …”

“muse a is in an accident which leaves them without memory, and muse b had been on their way to break things off with their beloved muse a. when they arrive at the hospital the only thing muse a remembers is how in love they were with muse b, and muse b is forced to keep coming back to positive. muse b is trying to move on, trying to find a way to tell muse b that they want to leave them, but find themselves falling back in love withmuse a. muse a of course, eventually get their memories back, even the ones up until the last moments before the accident where they remember the fights and tension and out of the silence ask ‘youre leaving me arent you?’ but by this time muse b is entirely in love with muse a again, and muse a just feels hurt and decieved“

Sarla Dunnavant, 26 and is a businesswomen (no longer active)

give me that cliche idea of the businesswomen falling for their secretary or something similar, i’m weak for cliche’s and this one would be just fun as fudgecakes lmao.

enemies to lovers;your muse is a rival to sarla’s company and they sort of can’t stand each other ??? but like ??? respect each other at the same time ??? it’s weird but they think they cannot stand each other but one day during some business event, they find out they actually like each other and can get along (can be romantic or platonic)

based of this iconic post

ok hear me out...a sugar baby plot? it doesn’t have to be a schmexy plot either! it can be something like out of kindness (and boredom becuase what else can she do with her money) she will give gifts to your muse. like you want that fancy make up collection? alright, your college? paid off at the moment as we speak. want a lifetime supply of donuts? she can do just that. all she asks is to spend time with her and just chill out. 

Angelica Heartorne, 25 and is a vampire huntress

legit anything vampire stuff related. i am not going to be flippen picky. 

just because she IS  a vampire huntress doesn’t mean it has to be ONLY to vampires. she is multiverse so she can be a hunter for anything supernatural really. this can be something discussed for sure but she is versatile, she doesn’t have to stick to only human like leeches lmao.

a bit of a weird but funny idea that jsut came to mind? but what happens if angelica was dating someone right? but what if that person she was dating...was a vampire and she had no idea about this until by accident or something? please this sounds hilarious to me and would love to rp this out.

“ muse a enters a coffee shop and was in such a rush that she forgot her wallet, as she explains what happened to the worker and ask for them to cancel her order, then suddenly there’s a hand that hoovers over her head and money is slapped on the counter incoming muse b paying for her. muse a is like wHAT THE FUCK ! I AM AN INDEPENDENT WOMEN I DONT NEED ANYONE TO PAY FOR ME, but she turns around and meets eyes with muse b who is beyond attractive. muse a then stumbles and ask how she could repay muse b and he tells her to sit down and enjoy her coffee with him “

“you said you’d call me in the morning but the voicemail you left had her voice in the background”

“ Humans start out at birth with milk white blood. The more crimes they commit, the darker their blood becomes. One day, you meet your soulmate. Skip a few years, and things are amazing… Until your soulmate trips, falls, and exposes black blood… “

based off this post

Jeong Jin-Gi, 25 and is an indie artist

“ Don’t give me one-sided unrequited love, give me two-sided unwanted love. Both sides are deeply in love with the other and both sides are like ‘fuck, really?? them??? really?’ “

“ ok so hear a sister out… i want an actual HEART WRENCHING  celebrity  &  non - celebrity thread. like muse a meeting muse b in the most random place and muse b KNOWS  muse a is famous but they’re not gonna say anything but on the inside they’re secretly freaking out. but they get to talking  &  muse b kinda forgets that they are because they’re just so normal and they have so much fun talking to them,  and muse ahas a rich lifestyle  &  is the most popular person in the world,  yet the only thing they wanna do is be with muse b. but dating the most famous person ever comes with the DISADVANTAGES.  i want the ugly stans drilling them over dating their favorite star,  i want the paparazzi making up stories about muse b  &  giving the constant break up  -  conspiracy’s,  i want the late night drama filled phone  -  calls about “ maybe this is just too much for me  “  &  muse b seeing muse a in a new picture released with ANOTHER  apparent love interest,  and i want new songs released by muse a that’s a little  T O O   emotional to just be a careless piece of work.  i just want the constant back  &  forth between them  & them wondering if their love is strong enough to overcome the difficulties or if all they are is a love that was never meant to last. “

jin ain’t no angel, he’s a bit of a person with an addiction to drgs so give me anything surrounding that. dealers or pals that find out about his addiction, anything really. just want to dive deeper into this side of jin

“i’m trying to start a celebrity gossip blog and you are an effing trainwreck so now i’m lowkey stalking you in hopes of getting a humiliating story” au

plot idea : muse a was a punk, and muse b did ballet. what more can i say? muse a wanted muse b, but muse b would never that secretly she wanted muse a as well. all of muse b’s friends stuck up their nose because they had a problem with muse a’s baggy clothes. five years from now, muse b sits at home. feeding the baby they’re all alone. b turns on tv, and guess who she sees? muse a rocking on mtv.

James Yeeun, 22 and is an art student in college

“im gonna claw myself apart. we watch netflix together and i keep a respectful and responsible distance; you lean against me to pause the screen. ask if i want cookies. i can’t stop staring at your lips. what? i say. i knew what you’d asked me even as you ask again, i just don’t want the moment to end. we’re just friends. we’re just friends.”

okay but how about an “i’m in my twenties and sick of still being a virgin, so one night when i’m drunk i think it’s a good idea to dm my old celebrity crush who is no longer really that famous anyway and ask them to take my virginity – wait why did they just dm me back?? giving me their number?? i don’t even remember doing this” au

“You kissed me on the playground the day before you moved away in the 4th grade and now your dorm is right across the hall from mine” AU

would love to do something where james could realize he DOES like boys as well. this is something he isn’t sure off himself so i would like to dive into this background of james.

so i was watching tiktoks last night and i’ve came across this story time and would love a plot for it… so muse a had a bad childhood for varies of reasons one thing lead to another and they were kicked out of the house, so they ended up couch surfing.. this enters their fear of the dark because they would wake up in the middle of the night not knowing where they are and everything is just dark and scary, so they begin sleeping with night lights or any sort of light that they have. well moving into college means roommates and muse a is too embarrassed to mention how they’re scared of the dark to their roommate. so first night, muse a wakes up screaming and enters muse b aka their roommate into their room and they’re like ?? are you good? finally muse a breaks and tells muse b what happened to them and then next night muse a finds a night light in their room, however, that night they still wake up screaming. muse b wakes up as well and just tell them that they’re ok and that they got them.. second year of college goes by and they’re not roommates anymore. first night moving in, it happens again.. muse a wakes up screaming only to find that muse b texted them that ‘they’re in their new apartment and that everything is going to be okay.’ it could turn into beautiful friendship or maybe something more?? i just want it pls

Rose Price, 23 and is a rebel along with school drop out

lowkey i legit got inspired by the video game character “chloe” from “life is strange” but i decided to do my take of chloe if that makes sense so...rachel amber inspired plot xD to those that are a bit confused, rachel amber the character is someone chloe befriends during her time when life is a bit downhill to put it lightly. they get close (some would say even romantic) and up until the final years of high school...rachel is gone. now in the games, rachel isn’t alive BUT i was thinking why not twist this around? make said missing friend (this would be your muse) show up out of the blue? with no answer as to why they just “left” and simply goes back to how things were. 

“gimme muse a just finished their sentence in jail and they lost contact with most of the people in their former life. on the day of his release, the gate pulls back and their high school sweetheart who they lost contact with years ago muse b is in the parking lot. “

  “i drove two hours to the closest video rental store that’s still operating and you were checking out the only copy of the movie i was after“

“we both decided to take a [yoga/fencing/cooking etc] class and we’re the only two assholes not taking it seriously and everyone else is giving us dirty looks but we keep grinning over at each other“

jsut give me any fxf plot ideas man. i want rose to get some love :(

Daehwi Goe, 24 and is an indie video game creator/works at a cafe

" give me a plot where both muses are each other’s pen pals that end up falling in love through letters please. threads would be in letter format up until they finally meet each other. please. “

“ imagine that you’ve been stood up by your douche of a boyfriend on date night and the waitress keeps asking if you’re ready to order but you keep asking for more time hoping that he’s just late. people are starting to look at you with those apologetic looks like they know and you start to feel worse and worse about the whole situation but as you decide to just get up and leave, this boy you’ve never seen sits down explaining loudly “sorry i’m so late, babe, traffic is crazy right now.” and he quietly adds, “i’m Michael. just go with it, yeah? whoever didn’t bother to show up is a dick.” and so you do go with it because he’s being sweet and trying to save you (and plus he’s the cutest thing you’ve ever seen) and as you’re leaving the restaurant after the best non-planned date ever, he asks you out for real this time. “

“ AFTER MONTHS YEARS OF REPORTING TO A JOB THAT ABSOLUTELY KILLS MY SOUL, I FINALLY QUIT! WITH NO BACKUP PLAN OR WAY TO PAY MY BILLS ONCE NEXT MONTH IS OVER, I WALKED DANCED OUT OF MY WORKPLACE WITH THE BIGGEST SMILE ON MY FACE.. BUT NOW REALITY IS SINKING IN, THAT I’VE JUST DONE SOMETHING CRAZY IMPULSIVE AND OMG YOU’RE WATCHING ME SPIRAL OVER WHAT A MISTAKE I’VE JUST MADE AND YOU’RE SO SWEET TO OFFER TO BUY ME A DRINK BECAUSE I SURE AF CANNOT AFFORD ONE. “

“we broke up right before a giant roadtrip our friends planned and we don’t want to bail on everyone and ruin the trip so yay, looks like we get to spend a five hour drive and a weekend in a cottage together.”

Adagio Seo, 20 and is a warlock

just give me that chilling adventure’s of sabrina plots man...it’s why adagio was even made lmao.

adagio while yes, i did made him specifically for that show universe, just like angelica he is mulitverse so he’s not off limits to that show only. if you want him to be in a harry potter au? cool with me. a normal college au? also cool with me. want to go full on twlight, even better lmao. just because he is mostly for the show, doesn’t mean he’s not expandable :)

“ does the “i slept with you the other day and i didnt know we had a mutual friend and now we’re sitting across each other for brunch and it’s awkward because i ran out when you were asleep” au exist bc i need that fic “

ok so adagio has an interest of necromancy but like the thing is he’s bad...like really bad at necromancy lmao (there’s a reason he skills in herbal) so like just give the whacky shiz that can happen when doing necromancy wrong. 

basically anything warlock/witch plots, throw them my way! want my wild warlock to have some love :(

Simone Hines, 22 and is a worker at the garden section of homdepot

the happy florist who delivers one flower to the boss of the hardcore law firm across the street everyday, just to make their day a little bit brighter

plot #001: in which muse a is really insecure and struggles with their self-esteem, so muse b, their best friend, starts secretly sending notes with all the reasons to love them.

plot #013: one day, muse a wakes up and finds themself to be in the future, seemingly married to their high school enemy, muse b.

any plot with a soft, sweet, submissive male that needs to be protected at all costs because he’s naive and doesn’t know how to speak up for himself with a girl that’s dominant, rough around the edges, not afraid of anything, and is ready to take on the world.

  tbh i just need a long distance relationship plot where they cry on skype bc they miss each other so much and they have passive aggressive texts bc of what’s on each others snapchat stories but then the fluffy moments when they see each other at the airport and all the desperate please don’t leave me again sex and i just need a long distance plot  

Levi Kim, 24 and owns his own cafe

highkey want a ‘someone wrote your phone number on the wall of a bathroom in my dorm with ‘call for a good time’ and i just texted you to let you know that i scribbled it out and oh wait you’re actually funny and easy to talk to and now we’re talking every day and i might have a tiny little crush on you even tho  i don’t even know your name’ plot

i got up at 2 am to get some snacks at the convenience store down the street and opened my door to find you trying to sleep on the floor of the hallway because your roommate has his fiancée over so i guess i’ll lend you my couch for the night AU

it’s 3 am and you’re blasting off classic rock at full volume and your music taste might be awesome but sOME PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO FUCKING SLEEP YOU SHITHEAD

utterly obsessed with the niche but incredibly romantic concept that is “late night radio show host falls hopelessly in love with and pines for recurring caller, oblivious to the fact that the person calling in whenever they’re on air is also in love with and pining for them after finding comfort in listening to their voice every night on their long commutes home”

Park Hades, 23 and is next in line for the Park corporations/modern day greek god hades

look i’m glad you have a healthy sex life and all but will you please try not to pierce a whole through my ceiling with your bed thanks

i have a policy of not giving my real name on dating apps and apparently you do the same. we have a good conversation so we decide to meet, but oh no … it turns out you’re my ex. yikes!!!

[pitiless-achilles-wept]

What’s with the blog name?

When I was accepted to Columbia in the spring of 2002 we received, with our welcome packets, a copy of Homer’s Iliad. It’s a common practice at many universities for incoming students to have a shared piece of reading to frame their first-year experience and to provide a ready topics of conversation. At Columbia, this was also a part of the college’s Core Curriculum, a rigorous series of courses required of all undergrads that emphasize the value of humanistic study. (The classes are themed accordingly: Lit Hum, Art Hum, Music Hum, and Contemporary Civilization, to name a few.)

I don’t know if the text of choice was always The Iliad or if they had chosen it specifically for us because we were the first post-9/11 class to enter Columbia but it certainly felt like a timely selection as we watched our country spin headlong into its own wars. Even those of us who weren't New Yorkers were shellshocked. (Though there were a lot of native New Yorkers among us, including the friend who would become my long-term boyfriend, who had a personal connection; they variously witnessed the event, lost friends and family, or literally breathed the dust of 9/11 if they went to school below 14th street.) I'm not sure, then, if our hardness was a defensive response or not. Columbia has always had a bit of a reputation as an anti-social and lonely place. It is. (I generalize wildly, of course.) As students we were many things: nerdy, sincere, hardworking, intensely capable, hyper-articulate, ostentatiously witty. But we were not very empathetic. It was an environment (and, again, this was exacerbated by being in an immediately post-9/11 New York) where emotion and vulnerability seemed like weakness.

And yet, The Iliad all hinges on emotion. There is one of the most moving scenes of empathy in any piece of literature. I recall reading it–not for the first time, since I had taken a “Great Books” course at my high school–and sobbing freely, perched on my dorm single (lofted to create more space) and knowing that for me studying literature was never going to be about anything else but emotion. That’s not fashionable, in a discipline that so often adopts a defensive posture about its own rigor (often in response to institutional threats). But it was always true. I could analyze it and turn it to the ends of argument but I was there to feel.

The scene I’m talking about is when King Priam, following the death of his son Hector and Achilles’s mistreatment of the body, comes to Achilles’s tent to plead with him to return it. (For those who don’t know he pierced the feet and tied Hector to his chariot than dragged him around the walls of Troy b/c YIKES he mad about Patroclus.) Now, Priam is a king, he’s actually the king since he’s so old and venerable, so the things he does–kneeling, pleading, weeping–are simply not done by someone like him. He goes to Achilles as a wretched, simple human (what Shakespeare would later call "unaccommoated man"). And Achilles cannot help but respond as the same:

“So he spoke, and stirred in the other a passion of grieving/ for his own father. He took the old man’s hand and pushed him/ gently away, and the two remembered, as Priam sat huddled/ at the feet of Achilleus and wept close for manslaughtering Hektor/ and Achilleus wept now for his own father, now again/ for Patroklos. The sound of their mourning moved in the house. Then/ when great Achilleus had taken full satisfaction in sorrow/ and the passion for it had gone from his mind and body, thereafter/ he rose from his chair, and took the old man by the hand, and set him/ on his feet again, in pity for the grey head and the grey beard,/ and spoke to him and addressed him in winged words: “Ah, unlucky,/ surely you have had much evil to endure in your spirit.” (24.508-518)”

They speak the universal language of human beings here: grief. They weep as fathers and sons and lovers because that’s honestly the only constant in our small human lives.

So here I am, recording my grief, with the hope that at least, by being together, we can get through the evil I have to endure.

I actually thought that the blog title was a quotation–and a beautiful line of poetry–but nowhere can I find a translation that reads, “Pitiless Achilles wept.” But I still cannot think of a line that feels more appropriate to record the thoughts of someone who has to be both a warrior (brave, fierce, pitiless) and a frightened, vulnerable person. So that’s the blog. That, and probably rants and TV commentary. Thank you for being here with me.

[keebzcoolmailbox]

hi im mun pink and im gonna ramble about this funky au keebz and shu-chan is in

tfw this au and an oc is all you’ve been thinking about that you have to write it down in words :)))

part 1 of ??? - intro to the au and going into angie’s and kaede’s story

Okay! I’m deciding to call this the Flipped!AU. Why? I’ll tell ya why! All of the NDRV3 characters (except ONE theywhowillnotbenamed >:( ) have this fabricated backstory, right? Well, what if A) this was the character’s actual backstories and B) in some point of this backstory something changed that caused them to go to a whole different career path. A... flip of a switch so to say... Heh, heh, heh. 

I ain’t gonna talk about the two characters on this blog cause their backstories and what makes them different from their OG counterparts is something that ya’ll gotta ask yourself. So, I’ll just stick to characters that probably aren’t going to show up on this blog. 

Probably.

Being the person who watched someone online play NDRV3, I really don’t know as much as other people! So, what is a girl to do? She looks in the Wiki. Looking into the DR Wiki for that good old fabricated past lore brought some interesting things up. Things like that fact that Angie’s home island has plants that are known to attack people. Um, WHAT? 

I never knew that, and I feel like those goddamn plants need to be in the spotlight! So, let’s weave them into Angie’s backstory, eh? But hooooow? Well, Atua is really important to Angie, so let’s rip Him away from her via the power of attacking plants!

In the Flipped!AU, lil’ Angie, the prophet of the island god Atua, is attacked by one of these plants and forgets EVERYTHING. Her name, her status, and the main man Atua Himself! The islanders see this as Atua rejecting Angie and shun her to the wild jungle because if their God doesn’t see her as suitable then why should they?

Now Angie is like less than ten years old in this wild ass jungle. Kind of a big yikes. Don’t worry, she totes survives. And with that survival comes the total hatred. People who she doesn’t even remember just discard her like just because their stupid (every time she disgraces Atua, she flinches but she doesn’t really understand why) god said so? Fuck them, and FUCK THOSE PLANTS.

Yea, that’s right. She hates those things, especially now she’s in the jungle where they live. It was because of those plants that she’s in this mess! Grrrr!! And with hatred comes the desire to wipe them off of the planet! She sets up a hut and via her childhood friend who tries to help she studies her little brain off to eradicate these plants. But it’s hard to do when these things when the plants you're dealing with might not even be plants, so hell why not study all the plants and how to kill them to see if something works.

Studying all the plants? Whoop, whoop, we got ourselves a SHSL Botanist! After using her friend to send a letter to a scientific journal about a correction, Hope’s Peak Academy sends her a letter and a free ride to their academy (because killing games don’t exist in this universe. a weird little game about them does tho OWO). Boom! This feral botanist is on her way to becoming a true Ultimate!

If I were to make a sprite edit for her character (which isn’t saying a lot because I don’t change their clothes at all sksksk), then I’d just dirty the swim top, make her jacket white, exchange the paintbrushes for vials, and make all the clothes look like its been through a tornado. Oh and have her hair more shaggy and long as she really wasn’t able to get proper hair cuts (if I could even achieve that with my basic sprite edit skillz)! I’m not sure what else though. Tbh, I’m more of a backstory person than a costume design person.

Personality wise, she’d be insanely bitter with some serious walls around her heart. But at the same time, she just wants human connection so she does a total Gundham and makes excuses for a classmate to be “useful” and be around her. Standing next to a person (god forbid someone she finds slightly attractive) gives her a high, I swear. Her speech would be blunt and short to the point with a possible stutter because I’d imagine an incident that gave her amnesia might mess with some language things.

Hgggggh, god it feels so good to put this on paper! Or online text? I don’t know. You know what doesn’t feel good? Me, Mr. Stark. Not doing the thing you love to do! Bad segways are bad, but Kaede’s situation isn’t that good too.

Lemme read you something straight from the wiki. “Since she was a child, Kaede has been playing the piano so much so that she would forget to eat and sleep at times.” Forgetting to eat and sleep. Forgetting to eat and sleep. Hmmm, I can use that!

I like when there are consequences for actions, and this time the action is that Kaede goes too far. She really immerses herself in the piano and gets hospitalized as a result. This has been like the fifth time this has happened, so the doctor says NO MORE PIANO. 

Did you hear that? 

That’s the sound of 9-year-old Kaede Akamatsu’s heart breaking.

Kaede feels empty without her beloved piano. It’s been her whole life up into this point, so she tries to fill that void. A little bit of art? How about some writing? Gardening? Cooking? Building? Studying? Acting? She does it all. And, honestly, she’s only decent at all of the skills above and she still feels as empty as ever. 

Apparently, that’s enough for Hope’s Peak Academy as they invited the supposed girl who can do everything. And thus, the SHSL Jack of All Trades came to the school. Or maybe something shorter. Eh, I’ll figure it out.

Sprite edit would be to make her clothes into dull tones. Erase every reference of music and piano if possible. If not maybe draw x’s over these? Anyway, in place of these have a bunch of badges all over her clothes, one for each talent she’s half-assed in. Lowkey just realized her talent is the shitty version of Izuru’s sjafksdflkj

Like her clothes, her personality would be like her OG self if some pulled back on the reins a lot. Dull, bland. Not very fun to be around tbh. However, being in Hope’s Peak and away from parental supervision would probably make her personality slowly (and I mean slowly it’d be pretty unrealistic if she snaps back to her ndrv3 self immediately) go back to original, especially when her class surprises her with a cheap piano from the Japanese equivalent of Craigslist. She’d cry so much seeing that thing.

tldr; Different backstories make for this Flipped!AU. Angie is feral and angry SHSL Botanist, and Kaede is a piano-less and empty (but slowly recovering) SHSL Jack of All Trades.

Okay that’s it for the rambling. It’s like midnight, and I have to be up at 7:00! If you got to this point without relying on the tldr, thank you for reading!!! Ahhh, it makes me feel fuzzy that someone was willing to read all of my verbal vomit. Maybe one day I’ll make an addition to this idk! Have a good day!

[askaceattorney]

Dear ellipis-ultima,

As much as I like the joke of Phoenix joining Smash, it’s the same thing of everybody in the PL fandom want’s Professor Layton to be in the game. They have the same possibility, but the majority of people either don’t know the characters, don’t know the capability of the characters, or don’t care about either. Now, about the game as it is...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Kumatora Kumatora Kumatora! Ku-ma-to-ra!! I’ve always been a Lucas main, but I’m DEFINITELY going to main Lucas, JUST so I can see Kumatora in his final smash. And the Inklings! I wanna play them so badly!! I’m SO hyped!

Dear ellipsis-ultima,

It’s funny you should ask -- I already made a comment about it using one of Gary Larson’s “The Far Side” comics on my other blog:

Needless to say, I’m quite excited at the prospects of a Smash Bros. game that includes every flippin’ fighter from previous games.  It does make me wonder how much content we’ll get in terms of the music, stages, and storyline (if there is one), but it’s still an intriguing thought.

And if, by some miracle, Phoenix appeared on the roster, my reaction would probably be the same as the one I had when they announced the new Ace Attorney game for the Switch:

Dear Afool Ishdud,

Fixed it.  Mind if I borrow your name for a little while?

Dear Inferno,

...Whelp, that’s a book to add to my reading list. If we’re giving out legal book recommendations, I recommend to everybody “Black Jack Justice” by Gregg Taylor. It’s based on the podcast of the same name, and it’s about an old-timey detective and his... perky girl detective partner, and how they first met.

Dear Inferno,

I’ve only read his first book, A Time to Kill (and seen the movie adaptation), and from what I remember, it was pretty great in terms of plot buildup and suspense.  I’m admittedly not much of a book-reader, but if his other books are as good as that one, I’ll definitely check it out sometime soon.

(Referenced News Report)

Dear Tanlerst,

Unsurprising.

Dear Tanlerst,

Word.

(Previous Letter)

Yikes...  Thank you very much for finding that for us, as well as finding a better link (and another link after that one).  Considering how many other links are on this blog, it might be a good idea for us to hire a quality control person.  Do you know anyone with a palindromic name?

(Previous Letter)

Dear Guquis,

Possibly, but I'd say it was worth it.  It isn’t the first time Athena has made a generalization about men, plus, as a member of that group myself, I wouldn’t say she’s too far off.

Dear Laura,

I’m so sorry I missed your birthday! Happy Birthday anyways! Sorry, I was so caught up with my own things. My friends and I are working on numerous things IRL, plus I’m waiting for a job application to go through, and a lot of other IRL nonsense. :(

Dear askaccurateaceattorney,

Dear Fulbright,

I haven’t been following Pokemon very much lately, so let me just take a quick look at it...

Hmm.  Gameplay-wise, it seems like it’s playing the nostalgia card for the sake of older Pokemon fans, but even so, I like how the music sounds, how the multiplayer system works, and how much more real they’re attempting to make raising Pokemon.  If I had one of those real-life Pokeballs, I’d probably be petting it all day.  As someone who isn’t a hardcore Pokefan, I’ll withhold judgment of it until I see more, but I’m guessing its popularity will mostly depend on which features the developers decide to focus on (hardware, gameplay, graphics, etc.).  Who knows?  It might end up being great.

I’m also waiting for the Switch’s price to go down a little before I buy one.  It looks pretty entertaining from what I’ve seen, but I’ll probably keep clinging to my Wii U until the Switch is within my grasp budget-wise.  I’ve also been a fan of the 3DS for a long time (true, I stopped using the 3D feature a while ago, but it’s still amazing), so I hope it retains its popularity for at least a little while longer.  The funny thing is, I was lucky enough to find a used one pretty cheap, but I still think it was worth way more than I paid for it.  Sorry for ripping you off there, Nintendo!

Dear Pinky the Artist,

I LOVE fan art! It’s, in my personal opinion, one of the best things about any fandom!

Dear Pinky the artist,

Do I?  DO I!?  I wouldn’t make fan art myself and not accept it from others.  Send it on in!  (Assuming it’s tasteful, of course.)

And while I’ve already explained this over on my blog, I might as well explain it here so everyone can see it:

This blog was created by someone who called herself Ace Admin (a very clever name, in my opinion).  She later handed it off to a guy who called himself the Mod (short for “Moderator”), who ran it up until about a year ago.  At that point, he held an audition to pick a new moderator, and the winner was my good friend, who goes by The Modthorne, and she later allowed me to join her as the Co-Mod.  (We both picked those names for ourselves, by the way.)  The Mod said he was planning to stop by every now and then to answer a few letters, but we haven’t seen him in quite a while, so the blog is now run by the two of us.

However, as I mentioned before, it’s really the writers who provide “fuel” for the blog.  We’re just the pilots.  We hope you’re enjoying the ride so far!

-Modthorne and Co-Mod