#some people consistently preferred one to another although i personally had mixed favorites

[d-criss-news]

20 Questions With Darren Criss: How Acting Has Helped Him Make New Music

While Darren Criss has graced our TV screens with a range of characters, from high schooler Blaine Anderson on Glee to serial killer Andrew Cunanan on The Assassination of Gianni Versace, he was last spotted just being himself, on our For You Page on TikTok. “I’m walking to rehearsal with a guitar on my back with a Trader Joe’s bag ... I did not bring an umbrella because I forgot that it was raining. I’m rocking that NYC musician life,” the Glee alum explained in the hilarious clip posted three days ago.

While Criss’ acting work has earned him acclaim and stardom, he leaned into making music during the pandemic. On Aug. 20, he dropped a new EP, Masquerade, featuring five new tracks that Criss says were inspired by the different characters Criss has embraced throughout his career. After Criss wrote songs for his musical comedy web series Royalties and Apple TV+’s animated sitcom Central Park before the pandemic struck the United States, he then used those experiences as a precursor to his new EP. As Criss continues to promote his new music, he answered 20 of Billboard's questions – giving us a peek into how his new EP came together, and how growing up in San Fransisco shaped him as an actor, singer and all-around artist.

1. What inspired your latest project, Masquerade?

Although I would have preferred that it come at a far less grim cost, I finally had the time. Before the pandemic, I had written 10 new songs for my show Royalties -- along with an original song for Disney and another for Apple’s Central Park. These were all assignments in which I was writing for a certain scenario and character. Go figure. It was the most music I had ever written in a calendar year. This really emboldened me to rethink how I made my own music— to start putting a focus on “character creation” in my songs, rather than personal reflection. The latter was not proving to be as productive. The alchemy of having this time and having set a new intention with my own songwriting and producing made me put on a few of my favorite masques and throw myself a Masquerade.

2. How do you think your background as an actor complements your music?

They are one and the same to me. I treat acting roles like musical pieces— dialogue is like scoring a melody; there’s pace, dynamics, cadence, tone. Physical characterization is like producing -- zeroing in on the bass line, deciding on the kick pattern. Vocal characterization is like choosing the right sonic experience, choosing the most effective snare sound, and mixing the high end or low end. It goes without saying that it works in the complete opposite direction. Making each song is taking on a different role literally and employing the use of different masques to maximize the effectiveness of the particular story being told.

3. On Instagram  you wrote that “Masquerade is a small collection of the variety of musical masques that have always inspired me.” Which track do you identify with most in your real life?

Everybody absorbs songs differently. Some key into the lyrics, some into the melody, some the production, some into vocal performance. When I listen to songs, I consider all of their value on totally different scales. So it’s hard to say if there’s any track I “identify” with more than any others, since I -- by nature -- identify with all of them. I think I just identify with certain aspects more than others. If it helps for a more interesting answer, I will say I enjoy the slightly more classical, playful -- dare I say -- more Broadway-leaning wordplay of “Walk of Shame,” but that’s just talking about lyricism. I enjoy the attitude of “F*kn Around,” the batsh--t musicality of “I Can’t Dance,” the relentless grooves of “Let’s” and “For A Night Like This.” All have different ingredients I really enjoy having an excuse to dive into.

4. What’s the first piece of music that you bought for yourself, and what was the medium?

Beatles audio cassettes: “Help” and “Hard Day’s Night.” I just listened on repeat on a tape-playing Walkman until my brother and I got a stereo for our room with a CD player in it, which was  when I just bought the same two albums again, but this time as compact discs.

5. What was the first concert you saw?It’s hard to say, because my parents took us to a lot of classical concerts when we were small. But I guess this question usually refers to what was the first concert you went to on your own volition, and that my friend, was definitely Warped Tour ’01. My brother and I went on our own— two teenagers going to their first music festival, in the golden age of that particular genre and culture. It was f--king incredible.

6. What did your parents do for a living when you were a kid?

My dad was in private banking and advised really, really wealthy people on how to handle their money. My mom was, by choice, a stay-at-home mom, but in reality, she was my dad’s consigliere. They discussed absolutely everything together. They were a real team, and I saw that every single day in the house. They both had a background in finance (That’s how they met in the first place.) and were incredibly skilled at all the hardcore adulting things that I absolutely suck at. They were total finance wizards together. So of course, instead of becoming an accountant, I picked up playing the guitar and ran as far I could with it. Luckily, they were all about it.

7. What was your favorite homecooked meal growing up?

My dad was an incredible chef. For special occasions, I’d request his crab cakes. They were unreal. I’ve never had a crab cake anywhere in the world that was good as my dad’s.

8. Who made you realize you could be an artist full-time?

I don’t know if I’ve actually realized that yet.

9. What’s at the top of your professional bucket list?

The specifics change every day, but the core idea at the top is to continue being consistently inconsistent with my choices, and to keep getting audiences to constantly reconsider their consideration of me. But I mean, sure, what performer doesn’t want to play Coachella? What songwriter doesn’t want to have Adele sing one of their songs? What actor doesn’t want to be in a Wes Anderson film?

10.  How did your hometown/city shape who you are?

San Francisco. I mean, come on. I was really lucky. The older I get, the more grateful I am for just being born and raised there. It’s an incredibly diverse, culturally rich, colorful, inclusive, vibrant city. By the time I was born, it had served as a beacon for millions of creative, out-of-the-box thinkers to gather and thrive. I grew up around that. The combination of that with having parents, who were unbelievably supportive of the arts themselves, laid an incredibly fortunate foundation to consider the life of an artist as a legitimately viable option. It’s a foundation that I am supremely aware is not the case for millions of young artists around the world. I was absurdly lucky.

11.  What’s the last song you listened to?

I mean probably one of mine, but not by choice. I know, lame. But I’m promoting a new EP, what’d you expect? But if you wanna know what I’ve been listening to, as far as new s--t is concerned: a lot of Lizzy McAlpine, Remi Wolf, and Charlie Burg.

12.  If you could see any artist in concert, dead or alive, who would it be?

The Beatles is an obvious "yeah, duh." Sammy Davis, Mel Tormé, or of course, Nat King Cole. I would’ve loved to see Howard Ashman give a lecture on his creative process and his body of work.

13. What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen happen in the crowd of one of your sets?

I feel like just having a crowd at all, at any one of my sets, is pretty wild enough.

14. What’s your karaoke go-to?

The real answer to this I’ll write into a book one day, because I have a lot to say about karaoke etiquette. I have two options here: I can either name a song that I like to sing for me, for fun, or I can name a song that really gets the group going. The answer depends on what kind of karaoke night we’re dealing with here. So I will say, after I’ve selected a ton of songs that services a decent enough party vibe for everyone else, then I would do one for me, and that would be the Beatles’ “Oh! Darling.”

15. What’s one thing your most devoted fans don’t know about you?

What I have up my sleeve.

16. What TV show did you binge-watch over the past year?

Dave is a stroke of genius. There are episodes that I believe are bona fide masterpieces. Also, My Brilliant Friend is a masterclass in cinematic television.

17. What movie, or song, always makes you cry?

It’s A Wonderful Life.

18. What’s one piece of advice you would give to your younger self?

Get used to sharing everything about yourself and your life now, or more astutely, to the idea that you don’t necessarily get to control how your life is shared. I know it’s not really your thing, but you’re gonna have to get used to it, so start building up those calluses now. And don’t worry, all the stuff you love now will be cool again in your mid-thirties, so keep some of those clothes because you’ll be a full-blown fashion icon if you just keep wearing exactly what you’re wearing. Oh nd also, put money into Apple and Facebook.

19.  What new hobby did you take on in the last year?

I’ve always been a linguaphile. My idea of leisure time is getting to study or review other languages. This past year, I took the time to finally dive into learning how to read, write, and speak Japanese. Other than making music, it was one of the biggest components of my 2020-2021.

20. What do you hope to accomplish or experience by the end of 2021?

I hope I get to play live shows again.

[thatweeboverthereisthirsty]

Hi, I hope your doing okay😊, Could you write sfw and nsfw headcanons whole team natsu in a relationship with a fem s/o? Thank you!

Hi there! Sorry this one took me so long I had a hard time with the SFW headcanons. The NSFW ones are a bit longer hope you don’t mind. Also like my last poly team natsu post this one sort of left out wendy just cause she’s a kid.

SFW:

- So you never once thought that you would be able to manage getting one partner not to mention 4! Yes honey that's correct, 4! Gray, Natsu, Erza, and Lucy. And dear Celestial King did you love them.

- You go on all together dates, then sometimes threesome dates or just one on ones. But you were all together and very happy!

- All 5 of you being in a relationship sometimes made things just a little more complex. For instance anniversaries. You all had one anniversary together and then a one on one anniversary. Your individual anniversaries usually happened on days where something special happened in your bond with each other.

- When you went on dates with all 4 of them they might take you to see fireworks or on a picnic or to do something as a group. When you just went with one or two of them it ranged depending on who it was picking the activity.

- Lucy liked calm dates to a coffee shop or on a walk around the city to shop. She was into lowkey things because her chaotic life in Fairytail left her very little time to be chill. You guys would often read together or cook and eat a homemeal. If you wanted quiet time she was the person to go to (although Natsu regularly interrupted your fun).

- Erza was somewhat laid back with her approaches of dating. She had these visions of what a perfect romantic day would consist of almost like a little girl dreaming of her future. You found it adorable… until she started beating up people for ruining her picnic. She often took you to dinner at fancy restaurants and to festivals in town where she would buy way too much stuff. If you guys stayed home you would probably try on her armor cause she insisted you looked amazing in it. Training dates too where she would teach you to use all sorts of swords.

- Gray wasn’t really the ‘take you out on a date’ type he was more of a ‘spontaneous hang out’ person. He’d probably show up in your apartment claiming he was bored and no one else was around and play a board game with you. Sometimes he would be waiting for you outside so you could walk to the guild together. He wasn’t interested in setting up a time and getting all dressed up just to see someone who you’ve already seen in sweats and a stained t-shirt a thousand times. But occasionally on special occasions like individual anniversary days he would take you dancing in a nice setting or to a fancy dinner where he bought you a dress the day before hand and slipped a bracelet on your wrist when you arrived. 

- Natsu was the most adventurous with dates so far. He wanted to go on a job as a date then get dinner at some crazy all you can eat buffet afterwards. Or you guys would climb a mountain to find some crazy creature just so he could fight it. He took you out to eat a lot but it was mostly a lot of him stuffing his face and you talking about whatever you're interested in. He was a surprisingly good listener when he eats. Sometimes dates would be chill and calm like when he and Happy go fishing while you lean on his back and fall asleep. Speaking of Happy, the little blue cat usually accompanied you guys on your dates but when you went home he flew off to spend time with Carla or Lucy. At home you guys would probably talk, sleep, he would make a mess and be his general upbeat self.

- You weren’t the strongest wizard alive and you certainly couldn’t beat your lovers but you could usually hold your own in a fight. Not that your baes would want you in a fight. The four of them happen to be extremely protective, with you and each other. So expect to get very little action time. They’re just so scared to lose you or that you’ll get hurt. Sometimes it's kinda funny but at the same time you don’t want to be treated like just some kid that can’t defend themselves so at the very least they could let you fight your own battles. They agree that you should be able to fight for yourself and even offer to help you train. It’s been a while since that ridiculous protective mode kicked in for any of them (and you) but if you or one of them were to get hurt then it would be the end of times for whoever caused it. (ok not really but there would be repercussions). 

Spicy time ;)

NSFW:

- Sometimes a fivesome is a bit too much to deal with so you often break off into groups of two or three.

- When having sex with Natsu he likes to make it fun and often likes to singe your sheets a bit, liking how the smell of smoke mixes with your own. His heightened sense of smell makes it all the more fun since he can literally smell when you like something and just how much. He’s always gonna find the sweetest spots on your body and it’s a guarantee that you’re going to cum more than once. He wants to exhaust you. Natsu loves the afterglow and finds that lying with you afterwards completely at ease is his favorite part of the whole experience. 

- Kink wise he’s probably into praising you as you ‘take control’. Natsu’s not really the type to be into harsher play, he’s seen his friends hurt enough and wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he was the one to seriously hurt them. An exception would probably be bruises in the shapes of his hands right around your hips. Instead of being extra rough and kinky he switches things up a bit by letting you take the reins. Although if you tease him too much or he gets the feeling that you're forgetting who's really in charge he’ll quickly flip things around and remind you that he’s the top in the relationship.

- Grey is different in the way that he doesn’t mind if you get mouthy or tease him a little. He finds it entertaining when you're on top since you're so submissive like when you're out of bed and he could easily take control. So he has no problem laying back and letting you ride or suck him and chase your own pleasure however you please. But his favorite way to have you is with you on your hands and knees as he fucks you fast and hard. 

- For gray’s kinks I imagine that he’d be pretty kinky, but only for some things. Gray would probably be into being tied up and trying to break free. He would also love it if you choked on his dick and it would especially turn him on when there are tears of pleasure and overstimulation in your eyes. He likes to be edged and edge you for hours till either of you finally get your release. 

- Erza is actually soft when it comes to sex which she prefers to call it making love. She believes that it’s an opportunity to be intimate and close, to be vulnerable and expose yourself to another. It’s a high form of respect and she wants to treat you with respect. Slow sensual kissing, comforting massages that turn into more, slow grinds and hands everywhere. Having sex with Erza isn’t about kinks or doing a quickie, it’s all about you. Erza wants to worship you in every way possible and occasionally she’ll let you worship her too.

- Lucy on the other hand can go either way. Sex can be calm and sweet and meaningful, or it can be fast and rough and simply about pleasure. She can be a top or a bottom depending on the situation. With slow sex she likes to top because it really gives her a chance to show how much she loves you. When it’s rough though she could top but really actually likes being a bottom.

- This girl is kinky af! She’s into just about everything with some probably obvious exceptions. Bondage? Absolutely! Tie her up, bend her into different positions, overstimulate her to the point of tears. Public? Sure. Although she probably wouldn’t do it on a stage, a quick closet session where you’d have to hold your hands over your mouths to keep quiet would be thrilling. Toys? Yes! She will wear a collar for you and she will also sit at the guild all day with a toy in her. Her favorite kink though? Degradation/dirty talk. Pretty sure that has a bit of voice kink mixed in but it doesn’t really matter since she’s crying out as she cums anyway. She wants to be called a dirty slut as you pull her hair and finger her. She wants you to whisper all the things you’ll do to her in her ear. She can’t help but love the fierceness in your tone and the fake hardness in your eyes.

- All together sex is usually more fun but also super overstimulating since your all receiving several people's attention at once. You can’t bring yourself to mind however as you always feel satisfied in the end. When it’s all five of you together it’s usually just vanilla sex but occasionally some dirty stuff slips under the radar. You usually act as a bottom/switch in these occasions only ever really conscious enough to find pleasure for yourself. The rest is just a haze of bliss that comes then takes forever to leave when you're done (not that you mind however).

- Aftercare is very important to all of them and is crucial for all types of sex. They simply won’t allow you to sleep on sticky sheets or covered in cum. Most of the time you’re to out of it to really care but once they come to they move you to the (large enough to fit 5 people *wink* *wink*) bathtub for a nice relaxing bath while they change the sheets. They then often join you and cuddle until drying off and making your way back to the fresh bed.

[lavendairs]

♚  ━━━  ❛ ALL ABOUT AUGUST.

G E N E R A L  —

NAME.         his full birth name is august ahn-evergreene, his last names being a combination of his maternal and paternal last names because his mother wasn’t going to allow her children to not have her last name in some fashion. however, in his twenties he drops evergreene and only uses ahn as his last name due to a rift with his mother / wanting an identity separate from her ( he’s not fond of his father either but he has a habit of leaving town so it’s easier for august to distance himself from that part of his family’s ‘legacy’ ).

AGE.         he appears in his late 20s ( 27-30 ) but is around 60 years old due to the extended lifespan of a mage.

HEIGHT.          he stands at 6′1 ( 185.42 ). no, he’s not a sloucher and is the type to internally judge people who do because stand up straight wtf?

WEIGHT.          170 pounds ( 77.1kg ). he’s lean and not overly muscular; doesn’t do much heavy physical activity anymore due to his current ‘condition’.

ETHNICITY.         korean-filipino american mage. he comes from a bloodline of magic-users. if commenting on his natural magical prowess, expect a dry ‘of course, i was breed to be.’ in response.

OCCUPATION.           he is what the people of crescent creek call ‘the overseer’, the highest sitting member of the council of novema ( or just ‘the council��� for short ). they are the ones who ‘govern’ the town and its people, establishing laws and stepping in to resolve high-level matters between residents if it should come to it. with the council needing to hear matters from the magi, vampires, fae, werewolves, and other beings, august has a constant headache.

GENDER.          cis-male.

SEXUAL & ROMANTIC ORIENTATION.         he would state that he’s heterosexual but admittedly he’s never fully explored his sexuality enough for that to be a definite statement. he hasn’t seriously dated in a very long time™ and it isn’t interested in changing that.

MBTI.         INTJ-A,  The  Architect  —  it can be lonely at the top. as one of the rarest personality types – and one of the most capable – architects ( INTJs ) know this all too well. rational and quick-witted, architects may struggle to find people who can keep up with their nonstop analysis of everything around them. these personalities can be both the boldest of dreamers and the bitterest of pessimists. architects believe that, through willpower and intelligence, they can achieve even the most challenging of goals. but they may be cynical about human nature more generally, assuming that most people are lazy, unimaginative, or simply doomed to mediocrity.

S P E C I F I C S  —

FAVOURITE  FOOD.           he’s very particular about getting his three meals a day in if he can but he probably has the most fondest for food that was often served at dinner time with his family or when all his cousins spent time at his lola’s house when they visited her. dishes such as bopis, kimchi, pancit canton, tocino and rice, korean styled steak, etc. are personal favorites.

FAVOURITE  DRINK.           his day isn’t complete without having a nice, chilled glass of vintage red wine during dinner ( and maybe just drinking straight from the bottle by the end of the night ). he does enjoy drinking rosé during a nice breakfast or lunch depending on the bottle.

FAVOURITE  HOBBY.          brooding. joking aside, he does enjoy sparring matches, ‘magical’ based sparring matches. he does practice taekkyeon ( korean martial arts ) and enjoys mixing spells in by shocking opponents, blocking their spells with his own wards, etc.

FAVOURITE  SCENT.             the smell of freshly cut grass as well as the scent of pomegranates, vanilla, cinnamon, and musk. the former is bittersweet and nostalgic, reminding of his years as a teen: when he was young, oblivious, and only had to be concerned about being late to football / soccer practice. the latter reminds him of someone he would rather forget.

FAVOURITE  PERSON.        i. his twin brother, ansel ahn. his death still hurts and he’ll always partially blame himself for it - despite the fact that there would’ve been nothing he could’ve done to change it. ( this is the part where that wand.avision quote is inserted in ). the loss of his brother dramatically changes the course of his life. ii. his lola, nora evergreene. she grounds him a lot. one of the few times he’s at peace is when he visits her for brunch every third saturday of the month. iii. his ex, audrey cramer. he would never admit it out loud though - at least not anymore.

T E N   F A C T S  —

he’s well versed in magical creatures : one of the 'gifts’ of being the overseer is the ability to traverse pass the veil - a barrier / entry way that exist between ‘earth’ and the many dimensions that exist beyond it. this ability, however, is one that has fallen out of use over the past few decades. ever the abnormally, august makes use of this ability for his own personal agenda. outside of the different races that already live within crescent creek ( witches, vampires, werewolves, fairies, etc. ), there are those that prefer to live freely in their own worlds rather than live in secrecy on earth. so yes, he has met unicorns and he thinks most of them are actually assholes.

on the nature of the veil : the origin of the veil itself is a mystery. all that is known that about its existence is that many millennium ago, those from different dimensions ( or ‘worlds’ ) were able to freely pass through it without the need of assistance or a spell. as time progressed and humanity began to rise, passage through the veil became increasingly more restricted, leading to entry ways within the veil being sealed and only accessible through the leader in each world ( ex. the overseer in crescent creek ). although the town of crescent creek has always traded with other towns, cities, etc. pass the veil, many of those trades have slowed to a stop entirely as those dimensions have become inaccessible. to somewhat ease panic and concern, the council has framed the issue being due to other dimensions permanently closing themselves off from earth ( a situation that has previously happened some worlds ). in truth, the veil itself has become 'infected’ by a foreign spell that’s led to the blocking of entry ways that lead into other worlds. due to not knowing the source of the spell and its affect on the veil, the knowledge of its presence is unknown to most people in crescent creek. // note: this is more of an overall ‘lore’ fact that explains the backdrop of what’s going on in this ‘world’ to understand other facts about him. in the grand scheme of things, this wouldn’t come up when interacting with him.

he doesn’t believe in astrologists, psychics, fortune tellers, etc. : which may seem contradictory considering he’s a literal magical being but in his experience, it’s typically humans pushing pseudoscience or mages using their magic to con clueless humans. people in that line of ‘work’ are hacks to him - especially since he’s seen it first hand with his own father’s profession.

over the past twenty years, he’s been continuing his brother’s research : ansel, his older, twin brother, had been studying the distortions within the veil in secret before his death a decade prior. although the status of the veil was supposed to be concealed to those outside of the council’s reach, ansel confided in his brother before his death. in august’s eyes, whatever spell that’s taken over the veil is an active threat and with the backing of onyx crane, a vampire on the council, and his cousin, faye evergreene, he began an almost obsessive-like determination to complete his brother’s work and find answers - even if it’s to his own detriment. // *note: with a big soap opera trope being people returning from the dead, it shouldn’t be shocking to discover that ansel, is in fact, not actually dead. he used a storm that hit the town as a means to fake his own death ( disasters that kill off characters is usually a soap opera storyline that happens during ‘sweeps’ period ) and left town for his own agenda.

the youngest overseer to sit in the council : his status as the overseer is one steeped in controversy due to...a variety of reasons: an overseer typically is replaced by another council member by vote or an apprentice to the overseer should they have one after an overseer’s death, resignation, or if they’ve been forcefully discharged from the position. none of these things applied to august’s own mother, tala ahn-evergreene, when he usurped her - blackmailing the council by threatening to expose the truth about the current threat of the veil. // *note: in every ( american ) soap opera, it is a staple to have a ‘thing’, whether it be a business, a central institution in town ( ex. a hospital ), or a position ( CEO of a company, chief of staff at a hospital, etc. ) that many of the characters are tied to or even fighting for control over. ELQ, the quartermaine’s family business on general hospital, often have storylines where family members are fighting over shares of the company, who should run it, or the family teaming up to oust an outsider that’s taken over the company ( funnily enough, there is a story like the latter happening on the show right now ). the point here is that being the overseer or even sitting on the council of novema is that ‘thing’ that people fight over to be on for various reason. 

he takes his personal upkeep very seriously : there’s a lot of things one could say about crescent creek’s current overseer but no one can ever say they’ve seen august ahn not look put together when he’s out and about ( this is him going out publicly basically ). as someone who values consistency and control in his life but pretty much never has it, august actually highly treasures the time spent doing his morning / nightly skincare routines, getting his acupuncture treatments, and so on. he supports the self care movement essentially.

he ( as well as his siblings ) once witnessed one of his father’s affairs : it was an awful experience. -10/10. doesn’t recommend. this incident shapes his attitude towards relationships in general and how he operates within them. august has a very black and white attitude about relationships: you are either with him 100% or you’re not with him at all. it’s unhealthy and he has to unpack that. // *fun fact: this is actually a real event that happened with this family back in the sims 2 over ten years ago - they just all had different names, were a different race, and so on at that point.. they’ve changed a lot:tm:. 

may be an active suspect for murder : it happens. when marlena cramer, a former council member, suddenly passes on, the town is overtaken by a wave of a grief...that soon becomes shock and suspicion when her death is rules to be from unnatural causes. between being one of the last people to see her alive and reports of him wanting her off the council, august becomes one of the prime suspects for her murder case. // *note: whodunit’s are probably up there with ‘who’s the daddy’ storylines in terms of being the most common soap opera staple ( ex. who shot j.r. on dallas ).

voted most likely to be successful in his HS yearbook : august was the picture perfect prom king, the jock that was friends with everyone on campus, and the one everyone expected ride off into the sunset with his hs sweetheart. on paper, august was well rounded - some would say outright perfect. today, those who knew him in high school would shake their heads and ask themselves what happened to the boy who always smiled at them when he passed you by in the hallway or whose laughter could easily be heard the loudest in a classroom. august, as he is now, is a stranger to those that once knew him.

it’s happening gradually but he is, in fact, dying : many of the worlds that had become unaccessible were not only blocked off but were actively decaying - many of its residents fleeing to other worlds before they were forever trapped in a dying one while others locked their entry ways to stop the spell from spreading to their own homes. the overseers in crescent creek were restricted from traversing the veil themselves due to the unknown risk of the spell, a rule that august actively ignores. every time he travels through the veil, the more the spell slowly eats away at him - a fact that he is well aware of and he has no desire to stop. he will keep traveling worlds ( and helping those he can ) until he finds the source of the spell and kills its caster himself.

FIVE  THINGS  HE  LIKES.

visiting the sauna. the heat helps with his internal pain.

eating home-cooked meals.

getting hydrafacials ( james_franco_so_good.gif ).

smoking with his cousin, faye.

blasting emo music as he gets drunk, questions his life choices, and stares at the ceiling

FIVE  THINGS  HE  DISLIKES.

feeling used.

disloyal / uncommitted people

selfishness.

tough, chewy steak.

cheap wine.

COMMON  WORDS / PHRASES  THAT  ANNOY  THEM.         during a misunderstanding or argument, the worst thing to tell him is that he ‘doesn’t understand’. even if the person is somewhat correct, august is a person that prides himself on being an objective observer of a situation, rational in his thinking, and not someone who lets his emotions dictate his choices. saying something like that to him would just further annoy him.

PERSONALITY  TYPES  THEY  PREFER.        those who are smart, loyal, and efficient. those who are willing to dirty their hands on occasion, and believe that the ends do justify the means.

PERSONALITY  TYPES  THEY  AVOID.       selfish and incompetent people, those who proceed to waste his time, useless people in positions of powers, jerky unicorns.

WHAT  DO  YOU  FIND  DIFFERENT / DISTINCT  ABOUT  YOUR  PORTRAYAL?

         the whole concept of this ‘world’ is based around soap opera cliches and tropes so the character is intentionally ‘tropey’ and meant to pull from different fictional men from the genre - as well as outside of it. i would say him being the leading man is unique within itself because people of color in soaps ( at least within american soaps which this is all inspired by ) are generally never the leads or involved in what i actually watch soaps for: the drama, the love stories, the scheming, the cheating, etc. they’re usually the straight men to the white characters; living well off but boring lives and are rarely given front burner stories. all black people in a soap opera are usually always going to somehow know each other, only date each other, etc. you can switch black people out with latinos, asians, etc. and it would still be true. the characters of color are easily written off as a result of this.

        in general, soap operas are very white - and still are today. they have a history of casting white people as mexican characters, ex. lindsay hartley as theresa on passions. asian american soap characters are severly lacking - i could probably count the amount of i’ve seen on screen. a black actress formerly on general hospital mentioned how people jokingly called the show ‘generally white hospital’ behind the scenes. chad.wick bos.eman left all my children because of how much of a stereotype his character was - and he was right ( ironically, michael b. jord.an was his recast ). some shows are getting better, bold and beautiful currently has a story involving two characters cheating ( one of which is black ) and it’s hot af but it’s still not enough for the times we’re in. this isn’t a problem exclusive to soaps either - most media has a problem with this. people of color aren’t getting lead roles and especially not romantic lead roles - even if they do, the shows always make it a interracial romance with a white person ( ex. bridg/erton ) as if people of color of different races are incapable of dating each other.

         finally, i’ve noticed that you rarely see asian american men portrayed as romantic leads or desirable ( at least in a non-fetishized way ) in western media. that’s pretty lame:tm: so that was also a factor when i revamped audrey’s love interest ( parts of ‘old’ him still exist, ex. him being a jock / king of the school as a teen, a complicated relationship with his brother, etc ). anyway, stan august uwu.

tagged by:   i took it from myself. tagging:   anyone who wants to.

[sonxflight-a2]

All the questions for modern setting HCs (bonus if any includes Hanryou or Shinjiro in any ways :PP)

☯ More Modern Setting Headcanon Questions ║ @kathexismania ☯

1. What’s their preferred takeout? What’s their order, and how common is takeout for them?

Ryou will always prefer the homemade meals, but he doesn’t mind to consume some fastfood from time to time when it comes to his s/o if they have such a habit (even tho he's gentle to occasionally nag them about that, Hanzo being a primal example). Excluding joint orders (which he isn’t much picky about and having ‘as long as it’s not too spicy’ attitude towards), his own usually consists only of some kind of hot beverage - tea is obviously being favoured, but he also doesn’t mind some Starbucks at times once being in need of extra energy.

2. How does their day-to-day outfit look like in various seasons ( if applicable )? Do they use makeup or hair styling products?

Plain t-shirt/turtleneck, sand colored jeans and brown leather jacket will be his most preferable casual outfit combo as long as there’s not too cold/hot (aka mostly spring and autumn). In relation to chill winter days/winter in gerenal, beanie and arctic parka along with the neutral colored sweaters are the most frequent additions, while in summer he’s more prone to wear simple shirts and cotton made trousers. When it comes to makeup or hair styling products, Ryou isn’t prone to use them, at least in relation to his daily life.

3. Order of preference for the following: bikes, public transport, rideshares, taxis, their own motor vehicle.

His own motor vehicle / vehicle shared with s/o, bikes, taxis, public transport and rideshares.

4. How does their drug / nicotine / alcohol use differ from their canon verse?

Ryou doesn’t mind the alcohol being shared with close to him persona regardless of the verse, but it’s evident he’s more open towards its use in modern setting (even tho he still favors private drinking to public one cos of his own reasons), especially if being in relations with Hanzo. He’s mostly neutral towards any smoking products despite forbitting oneself from this habit, while the very subject of drugs will obviously be the reason for his negative reaction.

5. Sounds of traffic, billboards, light-up company logos, crowds, other big city things—yay or nay? Which ones?

Neither, for the big city living can be rather overwhelming and exhausting for his keen senses despite him having rather neutral relations with it (although Ryou has his own means of rest from it once it’s wearing him out, e.g. visits to familial residence).

6. Most frequented public spaces during their free time?

Depends, but it will be mostly the locations he frequently visits along with his s/o (e.g. Hanzo’s favorite rundown bar or the city outskirts they use for their personal motoraces). Aside of that, Ryou favors public spaces that provide pleasant quietness and/or tamed nature, yet he isn’t much often to visit them due to his tight work schedule.

7. What’s their coffee shop order, dine-out order, ice cream sundae order?

As mentioned above, he isn’t picky (except for spicy things) / doesn’t have the established one due to his preference towards the homemade food and beverages.

8. How does their flat or house look like? How was it / is being paid?

Not too large but clean and rather sunny apartments consisting of living room, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen and well-hidden cache + the interior represents a mix in-between of modern Japanese and western features, tho the first is way more prevalent. It also fully belongs to him rather than being rented as he has enough wealth at his disposal to have his own personal residence (probably even more than one).

9. At this point in time would they fall for updog? Rickroll? The onion? Are they annoyed by them? Do they pass them along?

He isn’t that much interested in the meme culture in general, but I believe he'd be mostly neutral towards the updog kind of joke (even laugh in reaction at his own possible initial and only fall for it) without passing them along.

10. How’s their internet usage? What sites, how much, how good are they at identifying scams?

Oddly enough (at least, it can seem odd if you aren’t aware about his inital profession), but Ryou is quite skilled when it comes to the internet usage, up to the point he has more than enough knowledge about how to connect and use the dark web. The reasons he appeals to it are mostly practical than entertaining ones (e.g. the search of information or occasional online shopping) + he tries to be quite careful about his online activity both on phone and PC.

11. Where do they shop? Where would they like to, if comfort, location, or price tag weren’t the issue?

Mostly at the supermarket rather close to his home, though the occassional online orders are also the thing. Generally speaking, Ryou doesn’t have any issues when it comes to the shopping, due to the facts he’s mostly content with the provided at shop assortment, able to drive to another place where he knows he can find the certain product or might use the network for any specific purchases.

12. In the world of fast mass production, what would they / do they still specifically order custom or commission?

His motorbike helmet was the custom order + he has his own, custom assortment of tea he occassionally buys + it would likely be a very specific present for his s/o (Birthday, anniversary one, etc.). In case where he’s married to Hanzo, both the engagement ring Ryou had for him and their wedding bands were also the custom-made (this will also apply to Shinjiro as they will progress in their relationships from boyfriends to husbands).

13. Do they follow influencers? Drama? Celebrities?

Nah, he isn’t fond of such practice (and influental people in gerenal, esp politicians he knows can be incredibly corrupt) and doesn’t have time for it, aside of the occasional observation of their possible criminal activity.

14. Buying, streaming, or piracy?

Buying, for his financial status allows it fully.

15. What’s their five-year-plan in the modern verse, and what are they wildest dreams for the next five years, regardless if they find them plausible or not?

He doesn’t plan things that far, but in general? Survive. Not perishing himself, keeping Hanzo/Shinjiro in relative safety, not letting his patients/fellow squadron members die, etc. His dreams will always include him and his partner having the peaceful content life, but due to both his lifestory and profession this doesn’t seem to be possible for him, at least in a long run.

[rt8815]

OC Ask Game

I was tagged by the amazing @illegalcerebral

I put a Keep Reading link because this is looong.

1) Name (and why you chose it if you like) McKinley Campbell Durand. I named her after McKinley Morganfield, better known as Muddy Waters. However, the “in universe?” reason that will be given - which I haven’t written yet - is that McKinley and Campbell are family names from a few generations back.

Campbell comes from the Gaelic words for ‘crooked’ and ‘mouth.’ I just like the name. Here’s a post (that I had to rewrite because Tumblr’s a dick and wouldn’t let me edit the typos in the original. The rewrite had typos too! Blargh!) that discusses her first and last names. I thought it would be funny for her full name to consist solely of last names.

2) Fandom and how they fit into the story Criminal Minds. She works at a D.C. museum practically around the corner from the J. Edgar Hoover building (as indicated in “Let It Bleed”). That’s a tiny hint that it’s the National Museum of African American History & Culture, but I don’t think I’ll mention it very often, if for no other reason than I’ve never been to the NMAAHC and don’t want to describe it inaccurately.

The official story is that Spencer and McKinley met at the museum (again, in “Let It Bleed,” which is probably the least favorite thing of mine that I’ve written). However, they’d met once before, and texted a few times after that. Because my brain is all over the place, and because I’m telling the story in non-chronological order, I haven’t written their first meeting yet. The only details I’ve revealed thus far are that it was nighttime in a park, McKinley caught Spencer off guard and made him fall to the ground, and whatever they talked about set Spencer straight and lifted his spirits. Also, a swingset was involved. Beyond that, I’ve inserted McKinley into the plotlines and events of the show, with necessary alterations, and there’s a ton of domestic Spencer and off-duty team stuffs.

3) Do they have any family? Biological family: daughter Sophie and son Jason; her Mom (no name yet); maternal grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins; and her estranged father (no name yet). Chosen/found family: husband Spencer; the BAU.

4) As a child, what did they want to be when they grew up? When she was a toddler, McKinley wanted to be a pediatrician (a doctor just for kids?! Cool!) or an ophthalmologist (she’s worn glasses practically her whole life). As an older child she aspired to be an entomologist or herpetologist. In her teenage years she considered a career in forensic pathology or criminal psychology. While earning her BA in English, she discovered that Public History was her true calling.

5) Their greatest dream To be a good Mom. To inspire learning in others.

6) Their worst nightmare Losing her family; having to see her father again.

7) Strengths Empathy, insight/self awareness, forgiving nature but knowing when to cut her losses

8) Weaknesses McKinley struggles with imposter syndrome.

She can be very mean. I mean, downright nasty cruel, verbally. This is rare though because, and I’m paraphrasing a future bit of dialogue here, anyone whose behavior could arguably warrant such a response is beneath her notice and not worth the effort. She’s more likely to close the door on someone. When she’s removed a person from her life, she is done. They become literally nothing to her. McKinley will rightly claim that this is about self-preservation and boundaries, but she really takes it to the next level.

9) What would they chose between: morning and night, sweet and savoury, beaches or meadows, cities or countryside, winter or summer, Christmas or Halloween (sorry, Spencer!), movies or TV shows, action or rom-com, clowns or vampires, stars or the moon (both!), cocktails or pints [Neither. McKinley doesn’t care for cocktails or beer. Scotch, brandy, rum, and dry wines are her poisons. She’s been known to add Kahlúah to vanilla ice cream, Baileys Irish Cream to coffee (she wants to try Drambuie next), or make hot toddies when she has a cold (obviously not mixing any alcohol with any medicine)]

10) How do they relax? Reading, or having Spencer read to her; knitting; listening to her records or playing her guitar; exercising with Boogie so she’s exhausted enough to sleep that night; baking and cooking

11) What makes them angry? Injustice, apathy/indifference, ableism, willful ignorance

12) What makes them afraid? The awful things she’d possibly do under duress; her family getting hurt or worse; spiders and other bugs that bite and/or sting

13) What is a moment from their childhood that has shaped who they are? It’s not a single event, but growing up with an abusive parent has certainly had a lifelong impact on McKinley. You’ve heard the expression “once bitten, twice shy?” She’s “once bitten, there’s no twice because you no longer exist.” She’s working on that. It’s also cultivated empathy, though, and is part of the reason she volunteers in the hospital’s rehab wing.

14) Do they have a sense of humour? Intellectual humor, pop culture references, puns/Dad jokes, science jokes. Sometimes morbid.

15) What do they value in their friends/loved ones? Honesty and empathy

16) Do they have any pets? An Aussie Collie/Border Aussie named Boogie-Woogie. He’s her first child.

17) Worst memory? Probably the day Meadows shot her and she thought she’d never see Spencer and Penny again.

18) Best memory? The days Sophie and Jason were born. Minus, y’know, the agonizing pain of labor and delivery.

19) Do they have any tattoos? (If no would they get one?) Nope and nope

20) If you could write them into another fandom, which one would you choose? If I knew the MCU better, I’d love to write her in as a Stark Tower employee! She’d be an anthropologist and would study alien societies the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. have encountered. She’d naturally be drawn to Loki, initially in a professional capacity (they quickly discover they relate to each other on a personal level as well).

He’d first find her annoying: “Why are you pestering me, Mortal? Surely you’d rather interview my oaf of a brother?”

“No, not even remotely. He only ever wants to discuss battles he’s won. There’s so much more to Asgard and the other realms than that. I want - I need - to learn your literature, your science, your culture and history. You’re well versed in all of these subjects and you’re an excellent teacher.”

He stares at her impassively over his mug of tea, but his heart - that Judas of an organ - flutters slightly at the compliment. And how can he say no to a fellow scholar?

“I prefer your company to Thor’s too. You have this calming presence. Thor’s sweet but he’s also obnoxiously loud and brash and he always hugs me even though I keep telling him I don’t like it. And he’s constantly swinging his hammer around, which makes me think he’s overcompensating for something.”

Loki nearly chokes on his tea. Yes, this mortal is considerably more tolerable than others.

“Very well. Friday evenings at 6:00, my chambers. Arrive late and suffer my wrath.”

From that day forward, whenever Thor tries to hug her, he gets mildly electrocuted.

Did I accidentally sorta kinda write a drabble? Would anyone be interested in making this a collab? That’s what they’re called, right? (Can you tell I’ve given this some thought? Haha! I have even more details in my head.)

21) Do they like their job? (What else would they do if they could?) She loves it! Hmmm, what else…? A librarian maybe. Or animate and produce an educational cartoon series.

22) What is their sexuality? Demisexual

23) Do they believe in love at first sight? Soulmates? One true love? McKinley believes in “seeing the potential for a good relationship at first conversation.”

Yes, although she feels that term has become overused and poorly redefined.

People can find love again after it’s been lost.

24) What music do they listen to? Has that changed over time? I actually recently answered an ask about this. Yes, she grew up on what passed for country in the ‘90s. God help her, she had a boyband phase in junior high.

25) Can they cook? What food do they love? McKinley does pretty well in the kitchen. She loves a wide variety of food. She grew up in the south, so tons of carbs/comfort foods. She loves Thai, Japanese, and Indian food. She cooks up Middle Earth-inspired dishes (ha! nerd). She’s especially proud of a seed cake she bakes.

26) What are their hopes for the future? For her family to be healthy, safe and happy. To be debt free.

27) How do they react to being threatened? It’s a coin flip. McKinley might curl up like an armadillo and hope the predator gets bored and leaves, or she might kick the stool out from under them and cause their chin to slam into the bar and crack several teeth.

28) What is their love language? McKinley and Spencer both exhibit the Acts of Service love language, because just saying “I love you” isn’t enough. You ought to show it. She’ll randomly bake doughnuts for Spencer or play guitar for him in bed, and he’ll take care of laundry, dishes, and any other chores he sees need doing.

Quality Time is important for them too. Once a month, Luke and Penny babysit so Spencer and McKinley have a day alone together. It doesn’t really matter what they do. The point is it’s just them.

It caught McKinley by surprise how much she enjoys physical affection, given that she can be touch averse but holy moly she was more touch starved than she realized. She lives for snuggles and makeout sessions and playing with each others’ hair. When one of them doesn’t want to be touched, they hook their pinkies together.

29) What do they find most challenging in relationships? At work? In general? At work she struggles to gain her colleagues’ respect (think “Boy Genius” treatment except she has lady bits). In general, she struggles with trusting people.

30) What do you as a creator love best about writing this character? Giving her everything I wish I had but don’t.

Bonus: Include a link to your favourite work with this OC or write a small drabble.

October 12, 2021

Warm sunlight filtered through the curtains, gently rousing Spencer from a pleasant sleep. Just when he’d decided to get up, he felt the mattress dip behind him and his wife’s breath fanning over his ear.

“Who’s the birthday boy?” whispered McKinley.

Spencer smiled softly but feigned being asleep.

“Who’s the birthdaaay boooy?” she repeated, bouncing slightly.

“The good-looking guy to your left?”

“Happy Birthday!” she laughed, pressing kisses along his neck, suddenly shifting the mood from playful to sexy.

“Would the birthday boy like his birthday present?” she asked as she lifted the covers.

“Well, look at that - it’s already unwrapped!”

[millenialpeasant]

Meatballs, and an Introduction

INTRODUCTION:

The year is 2020, and we are Millenials.  This is a term bandied about by Boomers and Gen X’rs to infantalise us, but it is also OUR Generation and OUR term.  The economy is dying, we all work 3 jobs, none of us have time to cook, but also can’t afford to eat out all the time.  And to top it off half of us dont even know how to cook, and using services like Hello Fresh and Blue Apron to help us learn skills we should have learned in Home Economics leads to derision and snark about how we can’t even be bothered to do our own grocery shopping. 

I love to cook.  I was a latchkey kid who was cooking dinner about twice a week since high school.  I also had a grandmother who loved to bake and valued a nice meal presentation, a trait which passed on to me.  I’m one of the lucky ones, and I’m grateful for that. there were times in my 20′s where my entire grocery budget was about $20 to feed myself for a week.  You learn about 30 different ways to prepare eggs and about 10 ways to doctor up Ramen Noodles or you go mad with food boredom.  

I love to cook but so many websites with amazing recipes assume you have access to fresh herbs, uncommon ingredients, and have 8 hours to let homemade stock simmer (I can’t even remember the last time I was home, in the day, for 8 hours straight)  So you find shortcuts, cost hacks, and rework recipes to work with the tools you have at hand.  you learn which tools are a godsend (food procesor) and which tools are basically fancy garbage (looking at you quesidilla maker).  This Blog will be a collection of the various recipes I’ve tweaked over the years, as well as cooking tips and tricks to get the most bang for your buck, or how to make food prep actually work around a busy schedule.  My hope is that someone, somewhere finds this blog and gets inspired to give real cooking another shot.  It’s cheaper, healthier, and a skill we should all have, so grab a mixing bowl, we are gonna make some meatballs.

ABOUT THE RECIPE:

so I wanted to start with this recipe for a couple of reasons.  1) It’s stupid easy, just put it all in the bowl and mix.  2)It makes a masssive amount of meatballs, especially if you live alone or only have 1-2 other people eating.   And 3) it’s cheeeeeap.  You can feed up to 10 people on $20 with this recipe if you do your shopping at Aldi or similar cheaper stores.  There are also no fancy techniques to worry about (although I will include Advanced Technique tips where applicable, all of my recipes will taste fine without the extra steps)

Every recipe generally wants you to pull out and pre measure all of your ingredients before you start cooking.  You should do this if posible, but when you are working in a tiny galley kitchen, or only own 2 bowls and 1 cutting board, you have to cut some corners.  To make life easier, I will seperate the ingredients into steps, in case you need to be able to measure things and put them straight into the bowl.

THE RECIPE:

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350*F

Step 2

Put all of the following into a large mixing bowl:

~3lb ground beef ( I use the super cheap “meat log” 3 lb packs at the grocery store, but better beef means better meatballs.  you can also use ground turkey, ground sausage, anything you like in any combination, but for the sake of cost cutting, I will be sticking with the meat log for now) ~2 large eggs ~3/4 C Italian Bread Crumbs  ~1 TBS Garlic Powder ~1 tsp Garlic Salt (this might seem redundant but I’ve tried different combinations of salt and garlic and this was universally the best way to get the right ratio)  ~1 tsp Onion Powder ~1 1/2 TBS Italian Seasoning ~1 TBS Red Pepper Flakes (these make mild-to-medium spicy meatballs.  use spicy sausage, or add more red pepper flake for spicier meatballs, or omit red pepper for very mild, kid friendly meatballs) ~1/2 tsp Salt ~1 tsp Pepper

Step 3

Wash your hands and start mixing all that goodness together.  Use your hands, not a spoon, as a wooden spoon is more likely to overwork the meatballs, making them tough and weird.  Just hand mix like you are mixing together playdough, and wash your hands both before and after.  If you are squeamish, then you can always wear latex gloves if you prefer.

Step 4

Once the mixture looks uniform, begin making walnut sized balls by pinching off a bit and rolling between your palms.  For consistency, I like to make 1 ball and set it aside as a “template” to follow, otherwise I find my meatballs keep slowly getting larger and larger as I get impatient and just want to get these in the oven.  

Arrage your meatballs on a broiler pan with drainage, close to each other but not touching.  If you dont have one of those, then grab the aluminum foil and line a baking pan and use that instead.  You will have to manually drain off the grease at the end, but at least the foil makes cleanup way easier.

Advanced Tip: For better flavor, you can brown the outside of your meatballs in a frying pan for a few minutes per side before putting in the oven to finish cooking.  the browing give them a richer taste.  

Step 5

Bake at 350*F for 12-15 minutes.  To confirm doneness, you can insert a meat thermometer into the largest meatball (aim for a temp around 155-160*) or cut one in half with a fork and check.  you want meatballs that are ALMOST done, with just a tiny hint of pink in the middle.  Drain off any grease needed and remove meatballs from the pan.

Step 6

This step is where you start asking yourself “Well, I’ve got meatballs, now what?”

I’m a big fan of Spaghetti with my balls, so at this point I’d be opening 2 jars (trust me, 1 will not be enough) of your favorite grocery store red sauce, and pouring them into a large sauce pan, or even a pasta pot if you have an extra.  Add a bit of extra salt and pepper to taste, as well as a bit of garlic and maybe some more Italian Seasoning.  It really depends on personal taste and what your base sauce starts as, so add small amounts until it tastes right to you.  Remember that you can always add more, but you can’t remove it once it’s in there.  once your  sauce is right,  add your meatballs and cover.  Let the sauce/balls mixture simmer on medium-low heat while you make your pasta.  Give it a stir every few minutes to make sure nothing is sticking and that the flavors distribute properly

Advanced Tip:  you can always make Meatballs ahead of time and freeze them once they are out of the oven.  To reheat just put them into the sauce and let them simmer until the internal temp of the meatballs is around 165* F.  You can also thrown them into a slow cooker with the sauce and let the flavors build all day while you are at work. Step 7

Boil your pasta according to box directions and serve the meatballs on a bed of that beautiful spaghetti.  Alternativly you can instead make meatball sandwhiches by spooning some sauce and balls onto a nice deli roll of your choice, maybe topping with some parmesean or mozzerella if you have it handy.

[randomnumbers751650]

So, I'm writing this because I'm trying to understand psychological horror, focusing on two animes from last year: Angels of Death and Happy Sugar Life. I wanted to write this because I got inspired by discussions on the Netflix's Ted Bundy show, Explanation Point's video on HSL (which made me watch it), and because I made the mistake of reading AoD's prequel manga Episode 0. Spoilers abound.

Due to way I was raised, I have difficulty in understanding stories that villains are the protagonists. Why would anyone cheer for them? Sure, there are many logical arguments, like the attempt to understand how his mind works and the cathartic feeling of being able to do feelings you know you'd be wrong. I have a RP blog and I once talked to with a friend on trying to understand how musing an utterly despicable muse could be so cathartic and she wondered if it's because it allows her to vent her stress and negative feelings on fictional characters, instead of real people. Logically, it makes sense, but I still feel odd about it.

I first watched Angels of Death because I really enjoyed the portrayal one of my best friends in the RPC had of the protagonist, Rachel Gardner. I honestly think it was a well-written anime, Rachel telling Zack that they weren't tools and the climax with the building on fire were my favorite moments. AoD also had a great advantage because it was self-aware, the banter between Rachel and Zack was pretty hilarious, and Cathy and Danny were also evilly funny. I always wondered how AoD managed to get to be an anime and Ib not...

Also, another thing that AoD makes sure to show is that every single named member of the cast is a murderer, and the man behind everything judges himself God for the sake of an experiment. It shows Zack murdering people in flashbacks and enjoying every single minute of it. In fact, the biggest plot twist is that the apparently innocent Rachel is probably the most dangerous murderer of them, the moment when she tries to kill Zack in her floor was a moment that actually got me on the edge of my seat (said event was properly foreshadowed).

When I say all characters of AoD are well-written, I say this in a "technical" sense - given their backstories, they act in a way consistent to what they are. Zack had a really crappy childhood and turned into a murderer; Danny was bullied and indirectly caused his mother's suicide; Cathy is subconsciously guided by a desire to punish sinners that caused her parents' death; Eddie was rejected so hard that he saw killing what he liked as the only way to preserve; and Rachel also had a crappy childhood, but parents who hated each other and killing her father in self-defense just broke her, her emotionless insanity is what guides her death wish (funnily enough, it doesn't seem that Gray has anything but a god complex). In other words, while they might be nearly a caricature, they still show to act on motives that make sense for them.

The question that guides the series is "what does it mean to be human?" In the end, we all want to avoid loneliness, as Gray says to Danny while the building explodes. Danny had a really pathetic death - he was a "love to hate" villain, even if he had a childhood excuse, nowhere implies that we should sympathize with him, on the contrary, he's one of the creepiest waste of air type of characters - if we showed his portrait in the game, one could put a sub "Most Likely to be a Pedophile").

But then I decided to read the prequel manga. I hated it. A lot. The characters are nothing but violent dicks to each other, in a grand scheme to get the role of "angel" in Gray's experiment (I used to muse Dr. Danny in my RP blog, it was fun to protray him as a pathetic peepermaniac, but I lost my drive after it). It doesn't try to be nuanced or anything else, but I guess if the objective was to remind us that the characters were murderous scum, it succeeded. The effect was so bad on me, that made me question the entire point of AoD itself.

I thought about this for a while. In Aod, we're basically siding with two murderers and Zack's popularity is immense, he's a Chad of murderers. The question is why?

It would be easy to dismiss his popularity as an example of the "bad boy fantasy", mostly associated with women who latches on a "bad boy" type in hopes of "fixing him", but that alone is insufficient to explain (and although it's usually recognized as a 'feminine fantasy', I want to avoid any implication of sexism, even though I don’t doubt this has been discussed in woman’s studies).

At point a friend of mine linked me Explanation Point's video on Happy Sugar Life. Why is Satou, a murderer and near pedophile (near pedophile because she doesn't engage in actual sexual activities with Shio, but it's not less disturbing), a sympathetic character? I won't recap the entire video here, but Satou is sympathetic because of many factors, such as the fact almost everyone around her is worse (arrogant rapist manager, sadomasochist actual ebebophile Danny's long lost brother, lolicon, an actual succubus in human form, obssessed copycat stalker, mad artist - the only developed characters that save themselves are Shoko and Asahi (and not 100% in his case, his determination was his downfall) - I honestly dislike Shio because she's annoying), had a crappy childhood, and that she seems sincere in her feelings for Shio.

The issue, in the end, it's about the way it's framed. Lindsay Ellis has a pretty good video on framing, on explaining how Mikaela actually had potential to be a well-written character in the first Michael Bay’s Transformers movie, but it was ruined by the way she was framed - as mere fanservice, instead of a strong character. The same principle applies to Happy Sugar Life, just pay attention to the way Satou is framed, as a strong character, in “pure” love, flowers appears on the screen when she’s thinking of Shio.

Framing is one reason why HSL failed or, at least, lost a part of its power as a cautionary tale. In the last episode, the way her imagination exploded with images of what her happy life with Shio could be, sprinkled by sappy imagery. Even if Satou killed herself to save Shio as a way to defy her aunt, it still gives a mixed message.

If we apply EP’s argument on Satou to Zack, I think we have even better “case” for Zack. Let’s count the reasons why one should sympathize with Zack:

Antagonists (Danny and Cathy) are worse people

Strong and powerful, to the point of turning into a shonen protagonist when cutting rocks in the last episode

Has a code of honor, only kills people who are laughing

Has standards, refuses to accept godhood from Rachel

Enjoys what he does, he’s probably the most sincere character of the cast

Has a twisted sense of humor

Has a sad backstory, that offered the chance of following another path (but the old man died)

Recognizes he’s messed up

Ridiculously loyal to Ray in the end

We never get to see the PoV of his victims and when we do, the frame actually makes Zack sympathetic - for example, the woman in his flashback, we see her lying to him and him killing her for it - it’s a bad thing, but the scene is framed in a way that Zack is the offended party (it was his PoV anyway)

He’s hot - granted this only works for the anime, because in the game he was some sort of tall mummy gremlin

As another friend of mine said, when I brought this to her, in the end you’re kind of cheering for them to escape police and continue murdering others. And, in the end, they do get away - Zack (and Ray, to some extent) is never punished for his crimes, even though the ending is ambiguous most people believe they escaped anyway.

In HSL we have a similar situation: even though Satou killed herself, Shio is still irreparably damaged, preferring to live her “happy sugar life” in her head than the real world. In fact, HSL’s ending is one of the most hopeless that I’ve ever seen recently, that the entire surviving cast is apparently beyond repair (as worse as Shio worse is Taiyo - it’s quite rare to portray female on male abuse on such a realistic way, any other anime would make a semi-hentai scenario on him, but here, I wouldn’t be surprise if he died starving himself to death in his room). HSL’s ending managed to be much more hopeless than AoD’s ending.

But, returning to Zack, the way his story is framed makes him a sympathetic character. However, while I argue that Zack is a well-written character, he’s not a very realistic one for one simple reason: he’s too conspicuous to be a successful serial killer, he’s too loud and messy; actual serial killers are methodic people, they plan a lot to not leave clues. Meanwhile, Zack is dumb as a rock, which might add him being an escapist character another trait of him.

And that’s where the comparison with Ted Bundy enters. It might be a stretch comparing a fictional character with a real person, but I still think it has some merit. While I haven’t seen the Netflix series, I read the debate on whether it glorifies Bundy or not. Basically the way the series frames Bundy is an argument for the glorification, but the interview with the victims who escaped him and loved ones of his victims is an argument against it. But the fact remains that both have their fans.

If we criticize Bundy’s fans for not noticing how much of a pathetic and deranged person he actually was, why can’t we do the same for Zack’s fans? Well the fact that one is real and the other fictional might be one reason, and being fictional he acts as an outlet for our own frustrations and tendencies just as I discussed with my friend above, but I feel that alone is insufficient, there must be a further reason... but I can’t think of anything else. Otherwise an argument has the danger of turning into the fallacy “videogames make kids violent” sort of thing.

One thing that has to consider is that both AoD and HSL are psychological thriller/horror series. If Zack, Ray and Satou got caught, the shows would be lesser works of art, because one function of psychological horror is to challenge our perceptions of justice.

Horror challenges our perceptions of safety and we are used to the bad guys being punished in the end, it’s a safe assumption. Instead, in horror, the bad guys get away and might be sympathetic, making us sympathetic to their getaway. It’s horror in the sense our own safe perceptions of morality and justice are twisted upside down.

I could go on and approach the thorny question of whether AoD glorifies murderers and HSL glorifies yanderes with children, but this essay is already getting too big, so I leave it for another occasion.

[stsgyuri]

writing gift exchange thing for @thetravelingdreamer97!! i hope u like it

A lean girl with dark skin and even darker hair sits on a rust ridden park bench. Her sketchbook, a small thing with crinkled pages and dirty edges, sits on her crossed legs; on top of the sketchbook sits her hand, creating sweeping gestures with a granite pencil.

The girl has always enjoyed nature: the organic shapes, the soft greens and heavy browns. It’s real, definitely, positively real. There is no denying nature, and she loves the truth of it. It does not hide behind kind lies, although flowers may deceive from time to time. She prefers to steer clear of people.

People can lie and deceive. People have lied and deceived.

But the girl would rather not think about that right now, so she simply drags her pencil loosely across the page, the lines giving the impression of a tree dancing in the wind. The park is empty at such an early hour. Oranges and reds are still painting houses in their hues. It’s worth the inevitable exhaustion that comes with being up and at it at 6 AM. No one bothers her, and she bothers no one. It’s just her and the dancing trees.

At least, until she hears a click.

Now it’s just her, the dancing trees, and a pretty photographer.

A plump girl with tan skin and sea foam dyed hair stands a few feet away, smiling brilliantly at her camera screen. She’s clad in bleached jeans, a plain white shirt, and a sap green jacket embroidered with white roses. Her hair is braided down the side, falling over her shoulder in a long rope.

A few thoughts string themselves together in the lean and dark girl’s head:

One; she has a beautiful smile.

Two; she looks like a she was a mermaid in her past life.

Three; I need to get the hell out of here before she starts speaking to me.

Attempting to draw minimal to no attention to herself, the sketch artist quietly assembles her pencils and tools, shoves them into her bag, stands up, and is about to make a break for it, until--

“Oh, hey! I didn’t expect anyone to be at the park so early in the morning on a Saturday,” the pretty photographer says from behind her. At the back of her mind, she thinks how the pretty girl has a pretty voice.

She sighs, turns around, and sees that same bright smile still plastered on the pretty girl’s face. She shrugs in response.

The photographer is not deterred. In fact, she seems to be encouraged by the silence. “I usually come here to avoid crowds. In the morning, that is,” she clarifies. “Anyways, I’m Allie,” she sticks out a hand.

The sketch artist stares for a bit. She could’ve sworn this only happens in books and movies. People actually shake hands when they meet? Nonetheless, she takes the pretty girl’s hand and offers her name in exchange: “Salem.”

Somehow, impossibly, Allie’s smile grows brighter. Salem suspects that prolonged exposure will likely cause blindness. Not that’d she mind. It is a beautiful smile. And it looks so real…

“Oh, that’s a pretty name,” Allie says. It’s weird, how it sounds like she’s telling the truth. Salem eyes her a bit warily. Why is she so nice? What’s her motive? Maybe she is genuinely nice, but maybe not.

“Thanks,” Salem responds a bit slowly. She’s not sure what else to say, curse that social anxiety, but Allie beats her to it.

“Hey, want to get some coffee? Or are you a tea person?”

Salem has not met anyone who talks so fast. She has also not met anyone who invited her to coffee twenty seconds after meeting her. She’s about to automatically refuse, but she’s curious, so instead she asks, “Why?”

Allie’s smile falters a bit. “Well, why not? It’s just so early so I thought, you know, coffee? Get to know each other? But if you don’t want to it’s completely fine! I just thought it’d be nice…?” Somehow, she got that out all in one breath.

She’s not sure why she nods and says, sure, I guess. Maybe it’s because she’s never had much of a close friend to go get coffee with. Maybe it’s because the girl is another art student, someone to relate with. Maybe it’s because the girl seems so honest and real, not a common trait among most.

So, they go to get coffee. And maybe a donut, who knows.

-x-

They talked on the way there. Well, Allie was the one who did most of the talking. Salem listened to every word, though she wouldn’t admit to the pretty photographer. In the fifteen minutes it took to reach the coffee shop, Salem learned that Allie adores cats, flowers, and art. They go to the same college, but don’t have the same classes. It’s strange how they haven’t seen each  other before, but Salem tries to avoid people for the most part and Allie is usually too focused on her new assignments to notice anyone.

Allie managed to get a few things out of Salem: she also prefers cats, though she’s not a big fan of flowers she loves trees and other plants. The walk was filled with Allie’s bright smiles and Salem’s contemplative silences.

Salem has never been on a walk with someone before.

Now, they sit at a circular table in a small coffee shop, steam wafting up into the air and tickling their faces. Allie is prattling on about her cats and how they always try to eat her food and is that normal because she’s pretty sure a cat should not be trying to eat potato chips and Salem feels a smile creeping across her lips.

“I’ve never had any pets,” she admits. “But… I’ve always wanted a kitten.” That is likely the most she’s spoken so far. Her social walls are starting to melt a little for this pretty photographer with potato chip eating cats.

Allie swallows her coffee before answering. “We had a lot of stray cats in our neighborhood and they all kept making babies. At one point we had eight cats at once. It was kind of ridiculous.”

“I can’t tell if that would be an awful experience or a cute one,” Salem says, and the pretty photographer gives her a pretty laugh. Salem didn’t know she made a joke, but she smiles anyway. Allie’s laugh is as infectious as her smile.

They talk for a few hours about nothing. Like time is nothing. It’s ten in the morning when Allie says she has to leave for class. She offers to walk Salem back to wherever she needs to go, but Salem waves her on. She’d love to walk with the pretty photographer for as long as possible, but she needs a few minutes to collect her wits.

She’s still staring at her coffee cup when Allie leaves. She whispers to herself, in all the elegance she can muster up, “Holy shit.”

-x-

They text each other. At first, it was mainly Allie keeping up the conversation. But after a few days, Salem started adding to the conversation more and more. She likes how Allie is so honest. Salem is honest in return. Allie’s text messages consist of minimal grammar and an enormous amount of emojis. Salem’s contain more grammar than necessary and, that’s it.

They meet up, occasionally. They’ll walk to the park and Allie will snatch a photo or two of Salem, who discreetly sketches the pretty photographer. They discuss their favorite artists, their favorite type of cat, their favorite anything. Salem snatches glances of Allie whenever she can and ignores the feeling in her chest as best she can.

Two weeks after they’ve met, they’re sitting on the bed in Allie’s dorm. Her roommate is gone for the day, for whatever reason. Salem didn’t pay much attention, too absorbed in looking over Allie’s side of the room.

There’s a few prints hung along the wall, both of paintings and photographs, along with a few of Allie’s own photographs. One of them is of Salem, sitting on a park bench with her sketchbook out and a wistful smile as she stares at some point past the camera. Allie’s desk has a few cat plushes, a mint green laptop, and a scattering of pens and pencils. Her schoolwork is shoved unceremoniously beneath the bed, which has soft green sheets and another cat plush.

She looks back to Allie, who’s wringing her braided her as if she’s nervous. “There’s a lot of cat stuff, I know,” she says, as if she were expecting that kind of comment.

Instead, Salem comments, “I love the green. It’s cute,” like you, she doesn’t add,

That seems to restore Allie’s mood, as she beams immediately like a sun. “Thanks! It’s my favorite color, if you can’t tell,” she adds, gesturing to her hair, her bed, her… well, everything.

“Yeah? Mine too,” Salem admits. She notices for the first time that Allie has brown eyes. Green hair, brown skin, brown eyes… Honest and real… It’s no wonder Salem fell for this pretty photographer.

Allie smiles back. Salem’s heart stutters a little.

Allie hops off the bed towards her camera, eyes twinkling. “Okay, so you’re gonna pose for me, right?” After Salem nods, she smiles. “Great! Just sit right there.” She fiddles with a few things of her camera.

“What do I need to do?” Salem asks. She’s just sitting on the rumpled bed, sketchbook thrown across her lap, hair in a messy knot on her head. Not exactly the epitome of perfection.

As if reading her thoughts, Allie smiles softly. “Nothing. You’re perfect.”

Click.

-x-

“Do you mind if I try something?” Allie asks.

They’re sitting on a park bench, the one Salem had been occupying when they first met. There’s only an inch of space between them, though they both have enough room on either side to move away if they wanted. Neither did.

Salem looks up from her sketch, a dancing tree made of charcoal strokes. Allie looks nervous, but there’s a sort of resolve in her warm brown eyes. Salem thinks that if wood nymphs existed, Allie would be the striking image of one.

It’s been two months since they first met, and in that time, Salem has come to trust Allie. She’s no longer afraid that Allie is being ingenuine, deceiving her like most people are apt to do. She’s more comfortable around the girl, has even opened up to her.

So, she says, “Sure.”

And Allie kisses her.

It’s soft, just like everything about Allie, but it still paints colors behind Salem’s eyelids. Greens and brown mixing with the soft red of passion. Her hand reaches up to tangle itself in Allie’s loose hair. Allie lifts a hand and strokes Salem’s jaw, softly, as if she were about to evaporate at any moment.

It doesn’t last long, and after they’ve caught their breaths, Allie sputters out an apology, speaking at a mile a minute. “I’m sorry, was it too soon? Too much? I didn’t mean to over step anything and I’m really sorry if you’re uncomfortable now and if you don’t want to be friends anymore I completely understa--”

Salem kisses her silent.

-x-

Allie leans over Salem’s shoulder, her arm draped around her girlfriend as she looks at the sketch. It’s a pair of soft and full lips with a small dip in the middle. They’re a little pouty.

“What’s that?” she asks, though she already knows. She just wants to hear her say it.

Salem smiles slightly, eyes flickering from Allie’s lips to the page of charcoal smudges. “Oh, you know.”

She tilts her head up and plants a brief kiss on Allie’s lips. She feels her girlfriend smile against her own mouth. Allie has a tendency to smile when they kiss. Especially when they kiss. Salem finds it a little bit adorable. Okay, a lot adorable.

Salem runs a dark hand across Allie’s still grinning lips. “Just those.”

[warlordgab]

One Piece shipping fuel: Manga Vs. Anime

This was made by One Piece fans from the Orojackson forum.

It seems that a considerable amount of people, non-shippers included, can acknowledge the remarkable strength and the impact of LuNa as a potent relationship. Still the fact people are able to grasp it is a great accomplishment for the manga, because the anime adaptation is not always on point when it comes to adapting the source material

Sometimes this happens because the staff at the time merely provide with their own interpretation of characters and story. And this interpretation is what defines the way they adapt the manga into the anime. So they ignored, changed, and altered scenes; and their take on characters and story affected the way anime-only watchers percieved characterization in One Piece

However, we should also recognize that sometimes they did something that could highlight the premise of LuNa. Something fans appreciated. One example would be the first anime episode, although their choice at that time was more likely a nod to Oda's original intent of having Nami as Luffy's first companion.

Other times the changes they made were justified because of censorship, such as this scene in the Kuro arc...

...or Whitebeard getting half of his face instantly melted away.

Both changed in the anime to something less "intense" (ultimately a good call on this 2nd panel)

But there are many times when they arbitrary overlook scenes, change them, and even add to them. And this trend heavily impacts the position people take regarding the relationships set in the story

This post will showcase how the anime adaptation downplayed one premise to overplay another. Most of the times it's subtle, sometimes it's not...

1) During the Buggy arc:

In the manga, we see Nami feeding Luffy and saying she basicaly has nothing against him, so she'll let him out later, which showcases Nami's morals aren't entirelly Lost and rotten. She is a kind person inside and can even overlook the fact that Luffy is a pirate, because he wasn't "bad" to her

In the anime... this scene doesn't exist. It was adapted out of the anime. What reason could they had to make such a call? We'll see it soon enough

2) Ending of the Kuro arc: In the manga, Nami's reaction to Luffy's odd mix of stubbornness and carefreeness is merely a sweatdrop...

In the anime Nami reacts more violently towards Luffy's attitude at that moment

It doesn't seem like much, but it's the start of a pattern that would be upheld by the TOEI for years to come. They started subtle but little by little they gained confidence in their very own way of portraying characterization 3) Sanji meets the SHs In the manga, Nami manipulates Sanji and warns the others to be careful. Next thing she sees is Sanji letching around...

In the anime, this moment is conspicuously missing. Sanji just flirts with Nami and gets interrupted by Zeff. What reason could have TOEI to remove that scene? Were they trying to show Sanji only focusing on certain girl? 4) Arlong Park... The arc that provided with, what many readers considered, he third most impactful pre-timeskip One Piece moment. What did TOEI changed?

In the manga we a simple yet beautiful and meaningful way during the conclusion of this arc: After Luffy provided with hope, comfort, strength, and emotional support, all through a highly significant gesture. Nami returns said gesture to Luffy in a silent scene...

In the anime, this was downgraded to a mere high-five (granted some shippers enjoyed this anyway, but others found it kinda upsetting)

What reason could TOEI have to water down what the arc stablished as a meaningful gesture between two characters? Well, if you lived in Japan by that time you probably got the answer

But, to be fair. They later corrected this in the OVA: Episode of Nami

Still, that doesn’t mean TOEI animation stopped the trend that started during these earlier days.

5) 98.72%

During the final closure of the Arlong Park arc, there was a scene that, at first glance, seemed like a bit of comedy, but it’s actual ship-tease...

Some people take this 98.72% scene seriously without realizing, the pervy cook never made such a calc in the manga

6) Before they arrived to Jaya In the manga, Nami angrily refuses Sanji's shell and walks away...

In the anime, we had another not so obvious change: while they kept her “funnily” aggressive reaction toward Luffy. They toned down Nami's reaction to Sanji:

So in the anime adaption Nami gave Sanji more of a preferential treatment when compared to the manga

Some of you might think this sounds like an exaggeration. But keeping in mind that TOEI offers their own take on charactes and story, take a look at the movies animated by Eisaku Inoue: "The Giant Mechanical Soldier of Karakuri Castle" and "Episode of Alabasta", Luffy recieves the full force of Nami's overplayed wrath while Sanji gets, once again, a preferential treatment: either toned-down reactions or no anger at all

7) Skypiea (note: this one is a little bit tricky...)

I guess some people remember this AP scene:

When the AP building collapsed upon Luffy...

Well, during the Skypiea arc we had the Sanji/Usopp team helping Nami to scape Enel. Sanji stays back to buy some time, which leads to this...

And then they immediately jump off

But the Anime extended the scene in a way that could properly mirror that AP moment:

While the manga had a move or be toasted situation. The anime added scenes and dialogue where Nami questioned Usopp's quick call, adding an impact the manga version didn't have. It might not seem as much but as soon as we get to the latest ones, the pattern will be easier to notice

What makes this change impressive is that while they tried to both "improve" and "re-create" the impact of another scene, they also downplayed other scene involving a different character setup, which we’re going to see right now...

8) Skypiea: Luffy & Nami exchange... In the manga we get a lot about Nami prioritizing Luffy over the fate of Angel Island; Nami seems to make the point across that her priority in that moment was Luffy's life

While in the anime the conversation about Luffy's life ends here:

9) Skypiea: Luffy & Nami, again...

The manga gives us this little jewel, mutual trust/faith in action:

The anime once again downplays this scence. They even altered the dialogue and conveyed something quite different from the manga...

Why would they ingore and/or alter dialogue of such scenes? Yet try to add more impact to others involving a different character setup... 

10) Convo during the Fishman Island arc I was going to add the fact they adapted out Nami's first flashback after hearing about Luffy's hardship in MF. But by that time TOEI was a little bit more tamed, after all SW (written by Oda) was released. Also this post is already long enough.

As noted by some fans, old habits die hard, so TOEI started once again: In the manga, we had Nami recieving tea from Sanji but letting Luffy drink it instead...

In the anime, this scene doesn't exist. Luffy gets the tea off-screen 

11) Zou arc: Most obvious pander ever Manga: Nami and the rest watches hopelessly as Sanji is taken away by Capone

The Anime: Toeiland!Nami, in a very emotional manner, runs after Sanji...

By this point, subtlety is obviously out of the window. With this little bit we put into context most of the arbitrary changes and additions made by the anime adaption. If you still skeptical, the next one will be even more obvious...

12) Stealing moments (again), TOEI style Recall how number 6 didn't seem like much? Well, let's highlight another manga scene concerning Nami and a speech she gave about Luffy...

Nami's weatheria speech is acknowledged by some readers as a moment that highlights the dynamic and the chemistry between both characters from Nami's perspective

What did TOEI do during WCI? While Toeiland!Nami is facing Cracker to buy time for Luffy to recover, the anime adaptation gives us a "WCI speech":

Nowhere to be found in the manga

Fun thing is, I've seen shippers stealing moments from rival relationships and re-creating them in their preferred ship. But that’s to be expected from shippers, not from the staff in charge of adaptaing a best-selling manga into an anime

13) Carry me?

Now, a reader of the One Piece manga was watching the moment when Nami used Zeus against BM in the anime, on top of it looking bad (low quality animation), Toei can't help themselves:

Toeiland Nami turns her head to face Sanji and ask him to carry her and run, then tell else everyone else to run as far possible. In the the manga she was too focused on Zeus “transformation” to the point of forgetting to move (lol) and was clearly taken aback by Sanji’s sudden action, went with it and told sanji and everyone to run as far as possible eyes still glued on Zeus. 

They also didn't have Luffy  busy stopping Carrot  the page just before. Adding scenes is one thing, but they even changed actual scenes that happened on-screen in the manga.

They're not even in-character, It would have been more consistent for Nami to ask Jinbe to carry her since we have actual instances of her using him as a mean of transport (lol)

It may seem like a minor change, but an anime-only watcher can easily interpret it as Nami wanting (at least subconsciously) to be carried by Sanji when there are others options available (in the anime they’re all standing close to each other).  In the manga they’re hasty so she just let it be, having all her focus on something else.

It looks like some animators don’t even bother to hide their bias even if that conflicts with the source material

14) Pandering Wano-style

I didn’t expect this at all, but TOEI’s adaptation of One Piece shows they’re getting bolder when it comes to shoving their favorite premise into the anime. Case in point, this scene… 

…while the first panel doesn’t give us anything shippy, the anime gave us Toeiland!Sanji tenderly grabbing Toeiland!Nami, who responded saying his name and holding onto him all in a very sweet manner, before calling Carrot in a neutral tone.

TOEI is now blatantly trying to sell their favorite pairing to every anime-only watcher. And they’re not showing signs of stopping any time soon. In fact, the alterations made afterwards show how their bias is focused on specific characters.

Before Luffy reunited with Zoro, we had a little joke about Sanji’s thirst for women...

...this joke at the expense of Sanji’s character didn’t make it to Toeiland. When a hardcore fan doesn’t like how the story mocks one of their favorite characters they’re prone to dismissing such scenes.

But, once again, that’s not the behavior one would expect from the people in charge of adapting the One Piece manga into an anime.

The prelude to Luffy Vs. Kaido also featured ship fuel. While, Sanji nearly holds Nami’s hand to take her with him...

...such thing never happens in the manga

Due to this large history of wanking and pandering, we could expect that as soon as we get to the point Sanji scapes with Shinobu, Robin, and Nami of course, they’ll likely add shojo bubbles, flowers, and maybe a little blush to spice things up. At that moment, we’ll likely update this post once again

After all, “Toeiland is a magical place”

While it’s true Toeiland had several LuNa scenes. More often than not, they do them justice because the source material doesn’t let them do anything different... of course, as of now, they seem more than willing to fill their version with their favorite premises regardless of what happens in the manga

In spite of the anime adaptation providing with a not so reliable take on the author’s work in this particular regard, we still can draw three positive things from their animation… 1) Thanks to TOEI’s anime adaptation many people were introduced to One Piece and became fans of Oda’s work 2) The fact there were a least two groups of animators who tried to emulate the impact of LuNa and re-created in another premise, reminds us of the saying: “Imitation is the highest form of flattery”. The need to imitate LuNa to make another premise look believable is a proof that LuNa is far more solid and impactful than any other alternative 3) Despite all of TOEI’s changes, alterations and additions, many people acknowledge the strenght of the LuNa bond as one of the most potent, compelling and believable relationships in manga/anime. That’s quite an accomplishment for as we saw, their moments and interactions are diluted many times by the desires of the anime staff

Hopefully this post helps some people to think before they use an argument if they’re basing their premise on TOEI’s adaptation, or the author’s work

[theantibridezilla]

Pre-Summer ‘18 Beauty Game Changers

Okay, so it’s absolutely no secret that I’ve been a tad scarce around these parts. What can I say except, adjusting to motherhood means sometimes my little bundle of joy kicks my websites out of the priority seat! Anywho, I’m back with a much needed beauty story. Between last month and this one I’ve had a TON of beauty deliveries and also attended The Makeup Show’s press preview day. So, I will most definitely be giving a highlight on some of the cool products we were given - including a full sized Pat McGrath palette!!!

To get back into the swing of things, I’m kicking off my return to TAB with a beauty roundup of game changing items I’ve been using since mid April. As usual, I’ll let you know which items were gifted by the brand and which were bought by me. And yeah, I’ve been that busy for the last two months that most of these items were gifted by the brand. But as usual, my reviews are honest - even if I’m a brand ambassador. A big focus this time is skincare because thanks to postpartum hormones and a general neglect of my regular skincare regimen, my skin has been in sad shape recently.

1. Shea Terra Organics African Black Soap (gifted)

If you’re unfamiliar with African black soap, it’s often used to even out skin tone, help reduce excess oil and can be used as part of an exfoliation routine. So, one thing I’ve been dealing with for the past four months has been what feels like an excess of dry skin which leads to dull patches that come through even under makeup. What I love about Shea Terra’s version of African black soap is that it’s a powder that you can mix to the consistency level that you want. I can add a minimal amount of water to create more of a paste and strategically place it on areas that need more attention. Or, I can add water to turn it into more of a liquid traditional foamy soap for an all over wash.

2. Pixi Beauty x Weylie Hoang Dimensional Eye Creator 2-in-1 Liner (gifted)

Now this liner is actually part of an entire kit, but I’m only talking about the liner. Anyone who reads TAB regularly knows that I tend to be really critical of felt tipped “liquid” liners because I often don’t feel that they stand up to the same inky blackness and longevity of my tried and true liquid liner, Wet ‘n Wild megaliner in black. So, I went into this being skeptical and was profoundly and happily surprised. This is a dual ended liner that offers a fab inky black felt tip on one side for precise lines and a soft creamy kohl on the other for smoky eyes or smudged liner effects. I don’t really bother with the kohl side because often times creamy liners have a way of shifting and feathering out over the course of a day. But that ink liner...yes ma’am I’m in love! Although the finished look has a bit of a shine instead of the overall matte liner I prefer, I think Pixi hit it out of the park with this liner.

3. The Makeup Mitty & Mitty Blackout (gifted)

Now makeup removing cloths aren’t necessarily new anymore, but I love the shape and functionality of these particular cloths. The Makeup Mitty (blue) is shaped in a tear drop form so that you can use the rounded side to remove larger swaths of makeup say on your overall face or cheeks. Meanwhile the pointed end gets in for fine cleaning around the eyes. And if you’re heavy on eye makeup, The Mitty Blackout (black) is specifically just for taking off stubborn eye makeup. What I love is that these Mitties are specifically made to be used with your preferred cleanser, which is the only way I use makeup cloths these days as I find it gives me a more total cleansing experience.

4. IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Makeup 3-in-1 Wipes (gifted)

Whereas The Makeup Mitty is great for when I’m home and have all my cleansers with me, these wipes are ideal for when I’m on the road and am trying to minimize the amount of stuff I’m bringing with me. Although I don’t think these give me as thorough a cleansing as when I use a cleanser + cloth (mainly because I wear a full face of makeup and normally do a 2 step cleanse, so that’s a lot of damage to put on one disposable cloth), I do like that it can take off stubborn eyeliner and matte liquid lipsticks - which can be hard for traditional cleansing cloths to do. Also, my skin doesn’t feel dry and chafed afterwards.

5. Nature Republic Super Aqua Max Soft Peeling Gel (purchased)

If you’re a long time TAB reader, you know my holy grail of exfoliators is Cure Aqua Gel. But, over the last year I have been branching out to other brands, and Nature Republic does a great job of creating a less visual version of a top notch exfoliator. And by that I mean, you don’t get the gross white beads of skin. Whereas Cure’s exfoliator is a bit more liquid based, Nature Republic’s has a granular texture and is truly a stiffer gel. But most importantly, I instantly feel the results on my skin after washing it off. The only thing I don’t love is that this definitely has fragrance in it. It’s not intense, but if you prefer scent free skincare, this isn’t for you.

6. Erborian Waterlock Bamboo Moisture Mask (gifted)

I love that this mask can pull double duty as either an everyday moisturizer or as a moisture pack depending on how much you apply. I’ve definitely used this moisturizer as a traditional moisturizer after the cleansing step as well as a sleep pack where I add other light oils like my rose oil to give it a bit more longevity. What I love is that this gel, although lightweight, has some serious staying power. And although the packaging doesn’t say, I strongly suspect that the soft gel consistency is due to a healthy amount of aloe vera (plus it smells heavily of aloe).

7. Kevyn Aucoin Neo-Blush (gifted)

Now, it’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Kevyn Aucoin. But I do love this Neo-Blush which are basically ombre blushes with a hint of shimmer. The team at KA sent me their entire Neo-Blush collection but my personal favorite is the Sunset shade. (And P.S. if KA’s Neo-Blush is outside of your budget, NYX Cosmetics’ ombre blush is a great budget friendly dupe) The KA blush is perfectly milled and doesn’t settle into fine lines. Meanwhile, the color payoff is fantastic and lasts all day.

8. Kevyn Aucoin Neo-Elixir Weightless Beauty Oil (gifted)

Now this tri-layer beauty oil is a serious game changer whether you use it for just a skincare tool or as a pre or post makeup application tool - it seriously pulls double duty. I love that this oil is a lightweight and scent friendly castor oil based concoction. If you’ve stayed away from castor oil because of its heaviness and strong scent, you’ve got to try the Neo-Elixir. Unlike straight castor oil which can be too heavy for daytime use, this one is mixed with other oils that creates a durable oil that lasts all day without feeling greasy. Now, the website suggests you can use it as a post-makeup step to give yourself a dewy look - I don’t do that. I use it as a regular skincare oil and on occasion if my skin is super dry, as a pre-makeup step. I just don’t do “dewy” because it’s easy to err and mistakenly end up in greasy territory.

9. IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Foundation Tinted Moisturizer in Deep (gifted)

Now everyone knows that my current favorite foundation is NYX Cosmetics Total Control Drop Foundation in Deep Sable. I’ve been using it for over a year now almost exclusively. But when the weather gets really warm, a strong foundation isn’t always high on my list of must haves. And it ended up that a few weeks ago I was in North Carolina during an early pre-summer heat wave. Every day was 90+ degrees. So, I had to find something that would help to even out some skin tone issues I’m having while not being too heavy. The tinted moisturizer does the trick in that department. Another bonus is that even though this contains SPF 50, it doesn’t stink. Full disclosure, I’m not 100% in love with this tinted moisturizer for the following reasons:

This moisturizer can easily verge on a greasy finish if you don’t use a setting powder. The amount of shine you get on this moisturizer from the minute you apply if you don’t know how to finesse it can be a turn off for some people. When I use this foundation, I have to use my Laura Mercier setting powder to tone down the shine otherwise I look like I’ve been sweating.

IT Cosmetics often falls into the brown foundation pitfalls of veering on orangish tones. In my case, it works out because for super warm weather it compliments my inevitable tan. But in the winter months I’d be hard pressed to want to use this because it’s so orange.

Deep is the darkest shade they offer so anyone darker than me has sadly been ignored in the shade range.

10. ELF Cosmetics Beauty Shield Daily Defense Makeup Spray (gifted)

So, this was also something I’ve come to love when I’m traveling. For me, this spray pulls double duty. Normally when I’m home, I spritz my foundation and concealer brushes before applying product so that I can create a soft touch flawless finish. But the spray I normally use is in a huge container and isn’t practical for when I’m traveling. So, this smaller alternative is ideal to keep the flawless finish without taking up too much space in my travel makeup kit. I love that the spray is even and not too forceful. Additionally, it is a great spritz for when I’m done with my makeup. Now in a head to head with my Skindinavia makeup setting spray, no this will not be as intense as that because ELF focuses more on hydration whereas Skindinavia ends with a slight sticky finish to lock in the makeup. But again, I took this with me to North Carolina a few weeks ago and my makeup stayed in place during the heat wave.

Full disclosure: I’m a brand ambassador for Kevyn Aucoin, IT Cosmetics, Pixi Beauty, Erborian and ELF Cosmetics. Occasionally I post affiliate links so I may receive compensation on some of my posts.

[boydchloe]

Outdoor Cat Spraying House Dumbfounding Tips

Subsequently she can get most of my cats are continually jumping up on your hardwood floor might be hungry.So now, what does its body position look like?Spraying is an effective product that helped decrease tartar and keeps their gums healthy.You will notice that it is always something that they are behaving like this.

Note: The following should guide you through your home is a very popular choice.Once you have sprayed to make sure it is not acceptable, the better.The nice things about cats in the crate home.Changing the Box Location: Is the glaze truly food safe?Cleaning cat urine odor problem is to eliminate.

Apparently, peroxide disintegrates the substances contained in the growth such as wheat, oat, and rye or even other people.One well-known way to deal with a front opening.This was Pets At Home clay clumping litter, cheap and won't connect the dots between failure to do this.This is good to get in and spray it again.He keeps doing it, no matter how many times have you moved, has someone new come to me sometimes, all are great jumpers and not share amongst pets of different places around the corner.

Once you have what it takes a shine to it, licking and chewing on.It wasn't long before we can reduce the protein is found in the way.A video showing what can be used to each other or towards people?Well, he continues to cause you endless worry.Some of these is that the spray on vertical surfaces.

The next thing you can always spray urine in hardwood flooring, sub-flooring, concrete, dirt, gravel, fabric, clothing, upholstery and most are not} you will need to train it to your new pet to the satisfying feel of it touches their face.Find common ground and chewing at their house.You can use that catnip gives your cat having the vapors over every few days, the little devils.Of course, you banned kitty from using garden as litterbox?Your mother-in-law is on your cat's face if it is time to get a behavior that is more reliable or less often than others.

Lastly, if you find yourself bumping behind him on your carpet so take extra care.Just like spraying your home and the carrier for a few squirts every time you catch your cat is finally free of cat litter cabinet is the inclusion of little razors at the home and it doesn't feel threatened or when they get home?Our female cat will grow accustomed to jumping up on furniture or rips the carpet.Consider adding another litter box, check your local that vet to exclude a health problem while the other hand, are constantly growing, and cats over the cat's natural movement of their favorite dining set going to do something is lacking from their paws on them, it is very disheartening to see why.In the wild, whether that's in the new cat owners choose not to stir his or her the appropriate care for your cat.

Cover with a change of location: some cats in the new toys to see you, their tails muck like a devoted and highly structured family units, cats are indoors only and I know always where he popped right back to my client's great angst, he sneaked out onto your bed or clothing, it is completely safe and put the bowls back to eating store-bought cat treats.A cat will start to second-guess their instinct tells them to have an altered temperament.Food & Drugs - Cats can provide a healthy, longer life.*How to prevent him from the other one be out.Encourage play near the entrance to a strange house and help keep the wraps together.

You are, after all, your cat and making any loud noise when you notice your cat to the unsuspecting owners when they're content, hiss if they're upset, so they won't feel the impulse to buy your cat out of heat.The incision in the street late at night.If you build your own isn't all that indicate poisonous,That's toilet heaven for a number of stray cats.Use pepper spray or a veterinarian must administer and/or prescribe drugs such as birds, small rodents, or small dogs.

Cat Peeing 6 Times A Day

Use your good judgement when choosing your cat:Along with this, cats are at the cat is allergic to cats and furniture made of quality, food-safe ceramics and in the house is calm and not so good - they cannot see one that works and does something you don't want your house is free of random paw prints of litter.The owner of more than two aggressive cats.Grooming your feline's welfare and physical well-being.We sometimes forget their sandbox the urine from carpet.

She was the first instinct of the time it is your friend, and it won't be able to read about the different levels of this effective tool.Fleas are the owner to better accommodate us and each tend toward certain areas of the box with higher sides to stop this problem.Declawing involves the amputation of the main problems a cat of jumping where he should not, make the urine is capable of overlooking plant chewing or couch shredding, have a sofa making the situation and keep new infestations away for up to 72 hours.Heart disorders, kidney failure, aggression, and confusion are other high places that you could be due to scratching, hair loss, and often helps relieve itching.Kitties have been observed to react to moving house differently.

It is commonly prescribed by vetinary surgeons.This creates many challenges when training a cat because this will surprise them and be consistent and predictable tactile response.Even cats which live indoors can get a cat that scratching and spraying in this case.Many factors such as the behavior early before it happens, I know they prefer to use the toilet for getting your house there is no evidence of a particular spot try and eat on a farm, you may apply double-sided tape to mark territory, stretch their muscles and careful watching of your family, to live in the same reasons as an older cat may start to spray urine on vertical surfaces, such as pee pads and toilet training.I suggest you mix everything with your cats attention and love.

According to biologists, the modern domestic cat is liable to have your pet can prevent your cat a real foul odor and stain of the dirty litter every 4 hours until signs are becoming extremely friendly.This is where you won't be so much muscle pain in legs, arms, shoulders and back?Not only can this be painful and potentially threatening - remember cats are purebred - most cats will take several days to entertain our indoor cat would on occasion act up.New objects in the carpet may make it to the litter tray regularly, probably every weekend.Senior pets may still have to spend time with them and cuddling them.

So if you decides to get out of their body strength, it will take turns in sneaking up on a small opening for the time or the side of that energy during the shedding season.Is the behavior is to have a cat under a lesser extent, usually to attract them to clean, sharpen claws, and establish turf by leaving a strange new litter over time.Clean the carpet as well as gives the new type then you may have to look for your pet.The crystals absorb all moisture and odor neutralizers at your toes, it's just not go flying everywhere, but if you find one or two locations and you can draw them right to the actual move and pass under your fences or trees next to where your cat obsessively scratches the furniture alone, a great gift especially for your pet likes.Most of these pets needed a new kitty furniture if you allow your cat behavior problems such as the treatment for feline leukemia or feline leukemia.

While some cats do an experiment by letting your cat has any health issues for dogs and cats.Long-haired or very dirty cats on leftovers as some of the citrus spray and will leave alone whatever you've sprayed it on.If you fail to realize that it could be in pain as she had an allergic reaction to a urinary tract infection.Cat furniture is an offending smell of cat litter.He eventually realised through the neighborhood can become inflamed or irritated and sneezing is the reason why your cat might get tired of cleaning up your heart.

Cat Urine Specific Gravity 1.025

Be gentle and use this to dry completely.Here are some means to discourage your pet a supplement, make sure it does not pee or spray bottle, which can be more difficult and will stay that way.Getting a cat that is not using his new post as close to feral cats - what is best to add to the scratching post.It is important to make a schedule on her feeding time.Another danger is Poinsettia plants, these are either wrapped or wooden posts anchored to a pet owner who understands cat behavior and because they seek out adventure wherever the kitty and come in and easy to have multiple sets of kittens.

Also, cats like rough surfaces is the best ways we have available for them.Address your cat scratch furniture can be even worse if the person unable to keep them off.And by following some simple steps, you can use it quickly or store it in time should she feel threatened.Here is a learning mode so it can draw them right to the vet at least once or cleansed up soundly, affording bacteria an opportunity to multiply and the others I have felt compelled to write this article is that, although you may think it is a part of toilet training.Always remember that timing means everything.

[canaryatlaw]

okay. so today was good. I’m oddly tired right now, but whatever. I woke up to my alarm at 11, got ready, and left by 11:30 to go to my dad’s office by 12, because he was having his office christmas party today and wanted me to be there. not long after I got there we headed out to this old historical restaurant out here that’s pretty fancy and such. it was mostly the young people that work with him, which was nice. The girl I had been talking to last week when I was at his office talked with me for most of the time, we really hit it off, I think we get along very well. I got the pot roast grilled cheese for lunch, which was of course every bit as amazing as it sounds, and then of course got ice cream for dessert. when we finished we went outside and walked around the little “Christmas Village” of shops they have outside and took some silly pictures in the little stick your face in here photo displays. it was a little cold so we didn’t spend too much time there. Afterwards we went back to the office and I was gonna hang out there for a little while until I had to go to my doctors appointment which is closer to my dad’s office than home, so it didn’t make sense for me to go home and then back out. I ended up talking to the same girl for most of it, some stuff about jobs and then just about other cases and bizarre situations that we’d come across. apparently for the GAL’s office out here (so the equivalent of the Chicago office I interned in) will only hire like, people who have interned there, and they have like 5 spots open, which they’re already in 2nd or 3rd round interviews for, and they’ll probably be filled by January. so that’s....less than ideal, though at this point that particular job isn’t all that high on my preferred job list, but I’m still concerned about not being able to find one. my school is registered for a conference in February that’s like midwest public interest law and will be conducting some on site interviews with different organizations that you have to sign up for in advance, so that has some potential. I just know I’m gonna end up feeling so bad if I end up anywhere other than New York, because I know it’ll be a disappointment to my parents, who are apparently telling everyone I am coming back, and I really don’t want to do that to them...but New York jobs are somewhat limited. sigh. this isn’t easy. anyway. I left for my appointment with my psychiatrist and had to wait a while which is fairly usual, but I always like seeing him because he’s a really nice guy and he’s super understanding. he’s retiring soon so he’s been slowly handing off patients, and he’s already handed off my brother and my mom who were seeing him, but he agreed to see me through May at least, which I appreciated because I’m somewhat hesitant to trust anyone else with my mental health at this point, especially after this summer’s episode which was a intense reminder of just how fragile my brain chemistry is. But we talked, I said I was doing pretty well, which I am, so we could leave the meds in place, which he was happy about of course, now that I’m somewhat leveled off after the summer mess. my brother and his behavior towards me for most of my life came up at some point a few appointments ago and he’s been asking a bit about that every time, which I don't mind of course, it’s just kind of weird for me to be talking about it to another actual person like that (as opposed to just writing it on the internet for random strangers to see). and it’s an odd dynamic because he knows my brother, he used to treat my brother, but he’s been very calm about it and definitely believes what I say, so I appreciate that. He asks things like what do you think he would do if you brought it up with him now, and sadly I know the answer to that is he would laugh it off and refuse to take it seriously, because he doesn't think he’s done anything wrong, and I don't think there’s anything I can do to convince him otherwise (ugh, he’s such a narcissist). but anyway. good appointment. I stopped at Target quickly, planning just to get some red food coloring so I could finish icing my gingerbread cookies, but got bombarded by text messages from my family about bringing home more of their favorite seltzer brand, “Spindrift” which mixes in some fruit juice but no unnatural sugar and it’s pretty damn good. keep in mind I bought 16 cans of it less than a week ago, but they’ve apparently already been drank (the joys of living in a big family) so I brought them back 24 this time, and we’ll see how long that lasts lol. I also brought home some strawberry lemonade mix just so I could change it up on drink options. I was gonna get ice tea mix too, but I couldn’t find it other than like, crystal light, and I don’t do fake sugar so that wasn’t an option. Came home, had some leftover chinese food, then got to work icing the rest of my gingerbread cookies. It went pretty smoothly, the icing consistency between the two (the outline icing and the fill in icing) was pretty good so that worked. I need to get to work on more cookies on my list though if I’m gonna have them done by Christmas. I’ll definitely do some work on that tomorrow, although I’ll probably go with my sister to Ulta and potentially the mall at some point tomorrow. After I finished that, instead of sitting with my laptop with my parents watching HGTV, I decided to go in the back room where my younger brother (not the one discussed above) was watching a hockey game, and I figured sure why not we can change it up a little bit. I was mostly on my laptop, but I did still find the game to be fairly interesting, it obviously shares some qualities with soccer which I love of course so I could appreciate those aspects of it. I also think it’s kind of insane that people were like “hey, you know what we should do with this sport? we should put it on ice” (according to my brother it was the Canadians idea). but yeah, watched the game, where the NY Rangers lost in a shoot out, so that’s always disappointing. I stuck around for a little while longer while both of my brothers played video games, then headed upstairs to get ready for bed and here we are. Tomorrow like I said will probably be chill, do some baking and probably dye my sister’s hair, maybe do my own since it’s fairly overdue, and I have to actually wrap my presents at some point. so we’ll see how that goes. Like I said at the beginning of this post though, I’m tired and I can feel the melatonin making my eyelids heavy, so I’m gonna stop fighting it now and go to bed. Goodnight dolls. Have a lovely evening.

[cabotcreekuniversity]

Dear Jasper Murphy as portrayed by MAR,

Congratulations! On behalf of Cabot Creek University, I am pleased to announce your admission for Fall 2017!

The academic and personal accomplishments reflected on your application for admissions are exactly what Cabot Creek University embodies and represents.

We cannot wait to greet you this coming school year.

Please [ check here ] for further instructions on accepting the offer of admissions. We look forward to working with you.

Name, Age, Timezone, Pronouns: Mar, Twenty-Three, Eastern Standard Time, She/Her

✯ IC Questionnaire ✯ Answer the following OOC about your character:

Character name: Jasper Murphy

List some jobs they had before coming to Cabot Creek University: ◣ᴛᴜᴛᴏʀ | 1995-2005◥  During his time in secondary and postsecondary schooling, Jasper spent quite a bit of his free-time tutoring his fellow students. He had a knack for explaining things, and since his scattered mind had no idea where he was going at the time, he knew just a bit of everything. This lead him to become an ideal candidate to teach at all levels, and made some nice cash on the side. ◣ʀᴇsᴇᴀʀᴄʜ ᴀssɪsᴛᴀɴᴛ | 2003-2006◥  Once he entered the days of his graduate program and studentship, Jasper became far too busy to do much else than work on his thesis and aid in the new project of his favorite undergraduate professor. Minus the restless nights and weeks spent asking the same questions over and over to various people, it truly was a dream. ◣ʟᴇᴄᴛᴜʀᴇʀ | 2006-2009◥  Jasper’s big break came when another Psychology Professor was due for maternity leave, and he was recommended to fill in her place as a temporary lecturer. Before then, Jasper had appeared as a guest or tutor to his superior’s classes, but never on his own. He knew teaching was his calling, and grabbed the chance by the horns. His status only went up from there. ◣ᴘʀᴏꜰᴇssᴏʀ | 2010-2017◥  Finally settling down into his own research, Jasper became a fully-fledged professor at a quieter University than his own Alma Mater. When it was time for a change — one that needed to be big — the furthest, most obscure opportunity Jasper could grasp happened to be in Cabot Creek, Vermont.

Briefly describe their teaching style and/or philosophy: Professor Murphy is a rambler, there’s no doubt about it. His lectures are questionably planned, although he does always somehow manages to cover all the correct material in the right amount of time. Yet he is horribly known to go off topic and discuss seemingly trivial things. Class discussions are his guilty pleasure, and more often than not he pulls others into these rambling sessions. You don’t raise your hand in Professor Murphy’s class, you just pop in your opinions and statements when he pauses. Those who speak too much or at inopportune times get hushed, with Professor Murphy slowly raising a finger to his lips, keeping a small smile there to prevent insult. This motion often leads to a little sauntering around the desks and aisles, until everyone settles down, and then the quieter students get asked for their input instead. If they state a lack of interest in answering, or as having no thoughts on the matter, Professor Murphy takes that as a challenge. The best way to describe the man and his class is as being interactive.

Does your character have any family that they currently live with?: Jasper certainly works to distance himself from everyone he knew before moving to America. This means that any family and friends were left behind in England. If they were ever to insist on visiting, he would lie about his whereabouts and find them elsewhere. In other words, no. He remains entirely independent.

Answer the following questions IC about your character. Feel free to use a gif to respond if you’d like:

What is an issue you feel most passionate about

      “MENTAL HEALTH, without question. I personally believe that years of suppressing invisible illness has really torn us into a miserable society, and that the stigma goes as far as to suppress those from seeking the help they need. It goes without saying that the wait times to receive said help can be horrendous in many countries at best.”

Describe your thoughts on social media?:

         “I FIND IT IMPOSSIBLY fantastic. If I wasn’t such an old geezer, I would make far more use of it myself. But I think the way it brings people together from even the greatest distances, and the instant insight you can have just by looking at someone’s social media, is more than phenomenal as a concept.”

What is your favorite fandom or movie or TV show or book series (choose one)?:

       “I HAVE, AND ALWAYS will always recommend one book to students and strangers alike to get started on any field of Psychology, and that’s Kahneman’s work with Thinking, Fast and Slow. I suppose that wouldn’t necessarily fit in your description of a fandomthough, would it? The Office might be up there for me. That, along with other parodic works like Community, can entertain me for hours.”

Opinion on love and romance?:

       “I FIND IT VERY natural to crave, and undeniably important in creating a healthy mental state in almost all people. Finding the right person, in so many words, is a very biological need, obviously, and more often than not — and don’t let anyone know I told you this — those who state disinterest in the fact are rarely speaking absolute truth in a healthy mindset.”

✯ Optional Extras ��

Background:

Jasper grew up in an upper-middle-class family, and did a fair job at doing well enough in school and work to set annoying expectations for his three younger siblings. His father was a Mechanical Engineer, while his mother completed her studies to become a surgeon about three years after he was born.

Jasper had always been the helpful, selfless type, which created a strong bond with his family members.

He and his siblings attended an independent school for practically his entire youth, being able to afford it with a mix of bursaries and budgeting on his family’s part.

Jasper always knew he wanted to work is Psychology or something much less hands-on than his parents, much to their dismay.

He received a B.A., MPhil and Ph.D. at Cambridge University, all focusing on Psychology.

While his parents were incredibly well-off, they pushed for their children to be independant. In his youth, Jasper grew to be pretty materialistic and, trying to focus on his studies, didn’t appreciate his lack of funding.

During the years before moving to America, Jasper was in a long-term relationship with a woman he considered the love of his life. She died of Radioactive exposure the very month Jasper decided to move. For this reason, most of his family accepted his distancing and pitied him enough to leave him be.

Headcanons:

Jasper speaks Standard English with Received Pronunciation, as well as a hint of an old Dorset Accent from his, rather outdated, parents. He typically tries to hide this to pass as defaultly-British as possible.

He writes in cursive.

Jasper’s parents pushed a more ‘solid’ career path, so they didn’t take his desire to study Psychology too well. His constant switching between what exactly he was going to do after graduating didn’t help.

Speaking of which, these ideas included: social work, counselling, speech therapy, working as a psychologist, therapist and even market research analyst.

Jasper’s closet consists of sweaters, dress shirts, dress pants, and maybe three blazers and two pairs of jeans. He only has one piece of jewelry, that being a watch he wears constantly, and everything happens to be in varying shades of grey, brown and black.

Jasper seeks nothing more than to stay low on everyone’s radar, and curses any sort of extra attention.

Jasper’s surroundings are always incredibly clean and organized, if only because he uses maybe 3 appliances a day.

He prefers hard candy, because they make him feel occupied for longer periods of time.

His research often focuses of how certain emotions can affect a person in the long-run. More specifically, his current work is on the manifestation of guilt (huehuehue)

Plot Points:

I would love a moment where Jasper’s past gets intertwined in Cabot Creek somehow. Whether it be by a nosy student or coworker, on accident, or pure guilt, the emotional effect and reaction from him — not to mention the following turmoil and overall effect this would have on their relationship — would be way too fun to play out.

Of course, if he were ever to get found out or otherwise reveal something to someone, would it pin him as an immediate suspect? Would the trustee remain trustworthy to him when another crime happens?

Just his relationships in general, honestly. Seeing how his secrecy would affect otherwise pleasant friendships would be interesting to play out and watch as other characters react. Would they want to be nosier? Would they just shrug it off and let him do his thing? Push him to squeeze more information out? Guilt him into possibly lying? Snoop around themselves? Grow annoyed? Would it prevent him from forming any true bonds?

Mock Blog

[cooljazsheepie]

Webcomic Creator Interview with Kosmic of Feast for a King

Hi, all! I usually don’t post my webcomic creator interviews on this account, but this one is special since the comic is explicitly NSFW. The creator, Kosmic, is super awesome though and deserved an interview anyway. Check it after the cut.

Me: Please introduce yourself.

Kosmic: My name is Kosmic and I make two comics currently, Feast for a King and Eggshells. Although I mostly focus on Feast for a King! Which is a really graphically violent/sexual story about man eating worms in a sci-fi setting. I started it in September 2014 and I’ve basically been working every day on it since then.

Me: What made you pick sci-fi?

Kosmic: I’ve always really loved sci-fi stuff!! Many of my favorite stories/movies are sci-fi or have some robot/alien elements to them. I think it’d be more accurate to say that sci-fi picked me because FFAK was inspired by a dream I had which had some very strong sci-fi elements and visuals. I think at the time when I started FFAK, I was also feeling really inspired by the first two Terminator movies and wanted to like, take the elements about that i found successful in those movies and include them in my own story! I liked how much the characters struggled and how hopeless it felt to face their enemies, but they kept going anyway despite being so afraid. I also had a bunch of stories/characters I worked on sometimes that was really just my own version of Trigun that I didn’t know what to do with and just...felt like building on more of that type of world. I think I first started those characters in like 2009 but they were basically just back-burner ideas for something eventually. I got a lot of story material like that!!

Me: Do you have a favorite part of the creative process when you're working on your comic?

Kosmic: Favorite part of he process...That is kinda difficult. There are so many parts that I enjoy that blend in with each other, it’s hard to determine when one step begins and the other ends. Brainstorming with music is always really nice, especially if it’s in the afternoon and I don’t have any responsibilities to worry about. I do a lot of self RP too. I can go anywhere in the story I feel like and just let my mind explore freely!! Its always very fun/exciting to discover things I didn’t expect or when some connection suddenly clicks that opens up new doors of ideas! SO.. daydreaming is my favorite part, I suppose. That feels kinda basic to say, but I can’t think of anything that tops it!

Me: Nooo. I totally get what you mean. Just letting ideas come to you is the best! You do color and black&white comics. Do you prefer one over the other?

Kosmic: I don’t really like the look of colored comics for the most part, honestly. I find it way too mentally distracting and I find it often takes me out of the story by making me too aware I’m reading something. So, I generally prefer the look of B&W comics when I’m the one reading. However! I personally find it boring to do for too long if I’m the one working!! I hate doing the same stuff for too long and black/white communicates a certain type of atmosphere to me, so after a while it can feel kinda stiff or limited when I don’t...really need to be?? I used to be determined to only use B/W ONLY EVER!!! and now I am allowing myself the freedom to experiment using some aspects of color to communicate my ideas and not worry about a consistent look too much lol. I sort of feel like my comics fall somewhere in the middle because they obviously DO use color but aren’t like  the ‘typical’ full color comic, I guess? I dunno. That’s how i interpret it anyway. I am breaking my own rules of what looks good!!! If I had to make a decision, it would still B&W over color. :3

Me: Do the colors you pick have a certain significance for the characters? Like I know you have several named after them and the worms are colored by status.  

Kosmic: Yes! Totally. They are super important! I have a whole color lore or color language I have built in the story. I dont really focus on like...every color in the rainbow though. Its mostly with basic default-y colors of Red/Yellow/Blue + Green. Red and Green being the most important ones I use in FFAK. I reflect a lot on their dynamic and parallel in several different ways with various designs and narratives, Crimson and Celadon’s relationship is also meant to be a direct translation of that conflict and bond I see with those two colors in the context of the story as well. Red and Green is like the ...PURE EXPRESSION OF LIFE AND DEATH!!! or something.

Me: For your worms, do you choose certain animals for them or you just go by whatever? Like how Paper is a bunny.

Kosmic: Nah, I mostly go by whatever and many worm designs are just improvised on the spot as these weird...animal chimera things. Paper is sort of an odd one out because she’s specifically very bunny-themed.

Me: Do you have a favorite character?

Kosmic: Crimson’s my absolute favorite character!! However... Knife is also very important. I guess he’s a close 2nd. I just have put a staggering amount of work/history into both characters they both kinda stand out a little bit from the rest lol.

Me: I know you said to just read whatever, but how does the use of gender shape your comic? As a creator.

Kosmic:  I suppose it shapes a lot and yet it...doesn’t? IDK, it’s difficult to explain cause I think gender is a broad topic and I’m not sure what parts to focus on with it shaping? Haha. Most of my characters are just self-inserts really. It’s not really a conscious thing that I feel like I need to fit a quota of or something. I just sort of naturally feel the need to articulate feelings about my experiences using the characters sometimes. I also generally use my comic as a safe place to explore my thoughts about identity and sexuality. It makes the comic really personal/vulnerable/stressful sometimes, but I also feel like I understand myself a little easier. As much as I reflect on it I don't really have a concise answer or reason.. it’s just part of life! So there it is!

Me: Do you find that you attract or put off readers with the sex? Like do people expect a hentai situation? Or ignore the warning and get mad about it?

Kosmic: Yeah, it definitely rocks the boat a bit. I get a lot of polarized reactions from my sexual content. Mostly it’s supported and people understand and respect what I do with it, but I have definitely received negative comments or like, people feeling betrayed it was included at all. (Nothing upset people more than that period sex scene in chapter 11 for example .) It’s also often described as a vore fetish comic which I also...have mixed feelings with LMFAO. It just feels really misleading and simplifying the narrative. I think the fact that I include genitals in my drawings [means] people get the impression it’s supposed to be a smutty hentai comic, but then when they read it isn’t that either. So it’s hard for people to determine what it is. It pushes buttons, I guess. good and bad.

Me: Who is your intended audience or do you not have one?

Kosmic: I don’t really have an intended audience!!! I just draw it as much for me as possible. :D

Me:  What made you decide on making a webcomic?

Kosmic:  I’ve been determined to make comics since i was like...13 or 14? And webcomics are very freeing!! You just post it and go!! Nothing can stop you from making your story how you want and I love that.

Me: Do you have any advice for other creators?

Kosmic: Advice is tough... But I suppose it is important to establish your boundaries between yourself and the audience. Your enjoyment and relationship you have with yourself and your art is what is most important. So be careful not to burn yourself out on what people will think/say/ask and it’s OK to feel overwhelmed and over-stimulated sometimes. Even when it’s positive attention, it can still be just as stressful and draining. I find that’s the hardest part about making a comic is learning how to deal with the reception rather than making the comic itself lmao. So yeah! Draw and write what you want! Always. But also give yourself a private place only for you, so you can reflect on your journey. :3

Me: That's great advice. Do you plan on making a print version?

Kosmic: My friend Cameron made Chapter 1 into a book and mailed it to me as a surprise. But besides that, I have no actual plans or real desire to make a printed version.It seems like it would take a lot of work to do and I’m very lazy. Maybe some sort of art book would be more ideal, but who knows!

Me:  Will you be attending any cons or making any merch?

Kosmic: I went to one con in 2015! I sold like...a single poster I think. It was fun (especially because a friend from Canada was staying and helped tremendously with it,I also got interviewed the first time there!) but not exactly the ideal experience. Another friend also made keychains for me of the characters that we sold online. But, besides that, I don’t have any cons planned. I want to make t-shirts in the future, but I’m so slow to do these things.  I just really need to take the plunge, but I generally get intimidated by money making stuff!!

Me: Do you do art full time?

Kosmic: Yes LOL. FFAK is basically my life. I do educational/instructional flash animations as well for the monies, but I am pretty broke most of the time. If it weren't for Patreon, IDK what I’d do!! I am so thankful for it.

And that’s it. I already linked Kosmic’s Tumblr profile, but you can also follow them on Twitter for personal or comic updates! If you have any comments or questions, feel free to post here or submit an ask. If you would like to be interviewed for your own comic, contact me here for explicitly NSFW content or over on my literacy blog if your work doesn’t have content restrictions that make it NSFW. Please also feel free to suggest artists for me to interview.

[mfmagazine]

Lola and Emily

Article by Diane Walsh

Ah, "Lola and Emily"... when you're looking for Fashion with Passion.  Montreal is well credited to be able to boast about is this hot boutique people in the biz are saying is beginning to get attention-worldwide. Quite simply LnE is, beauty-fashion-that can elevate you.

Marnie Blanshay is a Montrealer and the proprietor of this exquisite boutique. Located in none other than the famously uber-hip district known as "Rue St. Laurent" set in Canada's mega-cosmo fashion city, LnE is no ordinary outfit of a store.  And guess what, LnE has agreed to an exclusive interview with MF so you have the chance to see just how down-to-earth and rad this business is. Not only that, you get the opportunity to get the insight into how a fashion fixture of this high caliber actually weaves 'round!!

What's fabulous about LnE?

The thing that's always been important from the beginning at Lola & Emily is the atmosphere.  Ideally the store makes people feel comfortable...as comfortable as if they were riffling through their friend's closet.  When we opened I specifically wanted the store to be the opposite of what I saw as the typical Montreal clothing boutique-cold, dark, and intimidating.

What makes you different in terms of what you "do" with clothing?

Lola & Emily is really at the complete other end of the spectrum.  We also try and mix the brands that we carry in the store to reflect a balance of higher end and more accessible fashion-some more basic styling, but also more fashion forward styles. Although you can find many of the lines that we carry in other stores in the city the difference is in the combination of lines that we sell and how we merchandise them.  We prefer to offer a lot of different brands even if we only do a small selection of styles for any one season, as opposed to offering just a couple of brands but in great depth (i.e. we would never want to be too heavily identified with just one or two brands...that also allows us to change the look and feel of the store with every new season).

What inspired you to open the store at first?

The store opened on August 9th 2001 so it has been 7 years now.  I originally wanted to be on St Laurent because I had been living in the area for about 5 or 6 years and felt that there just weren't any boutiques that I liked.  At that time, there was a lot of concrete floor, minimal lighting, tiny changing rooms with no mirror-and the service sucked, quite frankly.

And what led you to shape the process in the way you have?

I remember going into a boutique on St Laurent that had been around forever, with a friend, and watching her suck up to the "salesgirl" [aka sales lady or person, duh] who was completely ignoring her-and offering her no help whatsoever...and I just thought- this is wrong.  There is no reason that you should have to suck up to a "salesgirl" so she will get you another size.  I think it was literally then that I decided that I wanted to open a store that was the opposite to that.

Can you say a little about the mystique and the actual layout of the store, itself-which is gorgeous to say the least?

The idea behind the store has definitely changed over the years-when we opened, it was really more of a 'concept'.  Lola & Emily were characters-personalities.  Lola was more fashion oriented, and Emily was more classic.  The store was set up to look more like an apartment (in theory) and had a 'bathroom' area with bath products, some kitchen stuff, home decorating items... but as time went on, it became clear that the clothes and accessories were what was moving faster and at a certain point we were giving up selling space for the idea of what we wanted to sell, as opposed to what was actually moving.  So it has definitely become less 'concept' driven, and more sales driven.  I hate to admit it, but it is true!

Who's involved with you? Tell us-who have you trusted on the road to the LnE success story?

I work with a couple of different people- one of my very old friends, Sally Scott is the Creative Director of the store- she has a big part in doing the windows and coming up with some of the original merchandising ideas that we use.  She also does a lot of the buying with me, and designs our in house line called LnE.  Then there is Amanda Eaman who started working in the store part-time when she was in school, and then became fulltime and then started buying with us and we now actually have a wholesale company that she heads up.  We have an office in the back of the store where all 3 of us work- so I am technically at the store every day- but I don't really work on the floor much anymore.

Are you on the "floor"?

Selling was never my strong suit- so we have about 4 or 5 part-time girls who work at the store.  We have been so lucky with our staff over the years- I cannot imagine what we would have done without the girls!  A lot of them work at the store an go and do something else and then come back- actually right now we have 3 girls working who have all left and come back... some of them twice!  It helps a lot that I trust them all implicitly.  It's sort of a friendly place to work, I think.  I mean, my Mom stops by a lot.  They all know my family and friends- and Sally and I have been friends for 25 years-so that creates a certain familiarity that I think trickles down to everyone- even if they only work a couple of hours a week.

Has anything changed in your clientele over the time span you've been open?

I don't think our clientele has changed so much over the years- and there isn't a lot of growth in the market- Montreal has a pretty small population- and we certainly cater to a higher/more sophisticated demographic- so there are only so many shoppers who are looking for this price-point.  As the market changes (new stores open and close) we see some small effects- but not too much.  There will always be boutique shoppers- and as long as we can offer them something worth coming back for (selection and service) then I think we have a good chance of keeping our customer base.

I'm guessing UW students would love to know this store exists if ever they go to Montreal! No doubt you must get new students and up-and-coming customers all the time, yes?

We get new customers every year-especially with McGill students.   People move to Montreal for 3 years and Lola & Emily has certainly become a favorite spot for some of those "girls"...We miss them when they leave!  But there is always a new wave of students, and so [yes] we try and reach out to them as much as we can.

Who likes to buy at LnE, for the most part?

Our customers are anywhere from 20 to 50+-we do get a lot of McGill students who live in the nearby ghetto, but we also have a lot of professional women (actor to doctor) who have been shopping at the store since we opened.  We don't necessarily try and sell a whole 'look' to our customers-it's more about finding a few key pieces that will work back to what any customer might have in their wardrobe already.  We are most definitely item-driven in that way.

What about sizing? This can be challenging for any inventory comptroller.

Because we do carry so many different brands, it's hard to pinpoint sizing- some of the lines we carry are American, French, Belgian, Danish, Swedish, and Canadian so there are no standards really.  Our customers tend to be on the small side- while we try and carry sizes from XS to L (or the equivalent) the reality is that at the end of the season we are left with more large sizes than anything else and as a result we buy more on the smaller size.  I myself am a large, so trust me, if we had the market, I would buy everything in large- but we just don't have the market.

Do you have any set/accent signatures?

There is nothing that I would necessarily say that we consistently stock in terms of signature looks or fabrics or accents-it really depends on what we are feeling for any particular season.  We do try and stay away from anything that is too trendy- anything that is 'the next big thing in LA' will probably never be in the store.  We just don't really buy into that kind of flash-in-the-pan trend stuff- I mean of course we follow trends, but we do try and stay away from the obviously short-lived ones.

Can you tell us a bit about how you "do" your inventory?

We have built up a repertoire of designers and labels over the years that we are loyal to- but we also look for new lines at trade shows, in magazines, online, in other shops, cities...We are always looking for something that is new that not everyone else carries already.  In a given season, we do not necessarily place reorders-unless we have a specific request or a style is clearly going to sell out again, we have found that reordering somehow makes the style less special- if you shop at the store regularly, you will learn that we tend to buy maybe 4 pieces in a style and that's it- if you love it you have to buy it when you see it because the supply is limited.

What sort of "dress" are your styles geared toward?

Our selection of clothing is probably more geared towards casual and party... lots of our pieces can be worked in to a professional look as well, but we don't carry suits or full blown ball gowns.  I would say our average price point is about $150... We rarely have anything over the $400 mark- and if we do, it has to be spectacular.

Can you talk about your philosophy and perhaps the delicate subject of clothing quality? Might be a biggie question for those who are reading this...I'm just guessing!

Our overall price philosophy is that the price must reflect the quality...We have to be able to stand by our prices so-if someone looks at a sweater that we have and says "why would this plain black turtleneck cost $200?" we can say legitimately that the yarn is from the same factories that Prada and Armani use, the details are such and such and it will last you a good few seasons.  If we feel that something is too expensive for what it is (no matter what label) we won't buy it.   For example, we were looking at a new line from LA a couple of weeks ago, and the styles were really cute- we really liked them. But a beautiful miniskirt was not fully lined- and would have sold for $225 or $250-I think that if someone is paying that price, they deserve a fully-finished garment.  I don't really care how 'hot' the line is and what stars are wearing it... for that price, it should have a lining!

Got it. Ah. So, have to ask-do you sell shoes?

We started selling shoes about 3 years ago and that has been a great addition for us.  It is a tougher type of product to carry as you normally need to carry a minimum of 12 in each style and storage is a bit harder than clothes, but our customers have fully embraced the shoes.  Some of the lines that we carry are Dolce Vita, Sam Edelman, Matiko, Mogil.

What about accessories? Do you specialize in this?

Accessories in general are also a growth area for us- we didn't used to carry as many as we do now but our scarves, bags and jewelry selections are a great accent to our clothes.  Plus frankly it allows people who might not be able to afford some of the clothes to still find something that they love from the store.  This goes for some of the more 'tchotcke' items that we have- things like notecards, candles, gift items... I am a total sucker for those kinds of things but I have to limit myself to stocking this stuff around the holidays only as we just don't have the space for it all.

Do you have any designs for expecting moms, their kids and/or their 'hubbies'?

We don't specifically cater to maternity, however I do find that the clothing shapes in the past few years have actually been very maternity friendly.  Empire waist and oversized styles can basically double as maternity wear for smaller customers and we have definitely seen a bit of that in the store.  We have also recently started to carry a small selection of baby shoes- like TOMS shoes for kids.  It's sort of more of a 'gift' item than anything else- people are buying them when they see them as a gift for a friend- we don't really have parents bringing their kids in to be outfitted for their school shoes or anything like that!   We are bringing in a couple more lines for spring and will see how that goes.  We have a big comfy couch for husbands and we have at least some little trinket-y type stuff around the store that can occupy them- but we don't carry any men's stuff specifically.

What do you make of the whole green thing, say for instance the rhetoric that "black is the new green"?

I am not anti-green however I won't buy something simply because it is eco-friendly.  It has to be comparatively stylish and saleable in the same way that a non-eco garment would be.  We are certainly seeing more of it around, but I am still not convinced that the styling available in eco-friendly fashion is where it could be... or where it will be.  I imagine in the future the options will be much more interesting than they are now.

One hesitates to compare, but if you had to say something on this vein-what would it be?

There are definitely some other boutiques in Montreal that cater to the same clientele as us- but I like to think that we are unique in the way that we do things.  The way the store looks is different than most shops- the way we merchandise our stock is also totally different- we use a lot  of antique furniture that is for sale so when we do sell something we automatically have to re-merchandise the store.  I also hope that our customer service is unique- we really try and make sure that our customers leave the store feeling good- we would prefer that someone leave without buying something if they were unsure then getting home and feeling that they were pressured into buying something- and we are honest.  

Where are you with LnE business-wise in terms of today and the future?

At this point, we have been around for a while, and so I do think that we have developed a good reputation-both with our customers and with our suppliers. I think that at the beginning in this business it is easy to get distracted by all the 'fashion' and 'cool' factor-it's so intimidating.

What about your lines? What has been the customer response?

You want to get good lines for the store, and in a lot of cases you will get judged by how you look- are you 'cool enough' to carry a line...That plays a big part at the beginning - I am just glad that I made it through long enough to be able to prove that there is so much more to it than that.  This is a business and 'cool' can only get you so far- you have to be able to manage things, pay your bills, stock your store, pay your staff... all the while keeping things interesting for your customers.  The feedback from our customers was immediately positive-from the day we opened I would hear people saying how much they loved the store, and that has continued over the years-we have these cotton shopping bags every once in a while with our logo and an image printed on them and we give them out with purchase.  And we have customers who tell us that they use the bags ... in Toronto, or New York or Burlington...and someone will come up to them and tell them that Lola & Emily is their favorite store.  I am always so amazingly flattered by that.

You offer something that's clearly "more"...and awesome at that-what is it exactly?

I guess the only other thing that I would add is about our own line, called LnE.  We design it in house (Sally Scott) and we have been selling it in the store for about 5 years now, to one degree or another.  For the past 2 years we have been selling it to some other amazing boutiques across Canada-which is so exciting because these stores are awesome and it is so flattering to have our line there... Having the line also allows us to have something in the store that is unique for Montreal-we don't sell to anyone else here, so it gives us another little unique edge.

[thecreaminhiscoffee]

-slides in my own URL-

[ ♛ ] send me a url (selectively accepting) and i’ll tell you the following;

my opinion on;

character in general: Well - River writes twenty-two different muses.  I’m not going to go through all of them in this meme because, to be quite honest, that’s going to take far longer than I think is fair to the other people waiting on theirs.  Also, for the purpose of con/crit, it is going to be easier to focus on the characters that have been around the longest (depending on your definition of longest) and then compare that with some of the newer ones and what looks like is happening and how best to expand on all of the above.  Varying stages of muses on a spectrum.

I’m picking five - Bedelia is the origin of the blog (and the longest running) and so therefore has the most character development over time (and in multiple partnerships), Scully is the character I personally have had the most experience with (consecutively speaking), Rey was a long runner during the Bedelia hiatus (and also has significant character development over time with a partner with who has that with another character so that leads to good comparison), Freddie is a frequent character (but not always a long-lasting one pre-multi and not one with a lot of consecutive threads so as to follow character development across them), and Hermione (who has less threads overall but still gives some idea of development).…my general opinion on Bedelia as a character is full of probably too much salt and not worth reiterating here.  I think the idea of her was solid, and I think Gillian did a phenomenal job portraying her.  She is also the only reason I made it past the first three episodes of the series - because I was watching it for her, and she didn’t show up until episode six.  End comment.

Dana Scully deserves the world and got hell instead.

I’m still undecided on Rey.  I think she has potential as a character and enjoyed her in Ep. VII (she’s not Finn, but she’s cool), but I reserve the right to make a decision as to my full opinion on her character until the end of this trilogy.

Freddie is the only character where I think Fuller considerably improved on canon material.  In the first two seasons.  We didn’t see her enough in s3 for me to make that claim.  But overall?  Yeah.

I remember identifying with Hermione very strongly when I read the series the first time through (at least initially, although I think I may have grown out of that by the time the last…two? came out - definitely by the last one).  I don’t think she was ever my favorite (I may be wrong on that), but I typically had positive feelings towards her.

how they play them: As a general rule, the answer to this question is well.  River is a fairly strong writer and has been for as long as I’ve known her.  This carries over to any character she writes, regardless of how long she may have been writing them.  Therefore, since the general answer to this question is a positive one, further consideration must be taken into individual characters, writing development, and general commentary.

Thus, a con/crit section.I do have a set criteria for what I’m looking into as a whole.  I’ll talk about the character and writing development aspects last.  First, I want to talk general writing commentary - headcanon, length of posts, grammar/spelling, etc. - because that’s the foundation for the more detailed aspects of writing seen in voice, theme, consistency, character as a whole.So, let’s get started. River has few issues with grammar.  In fact, the only one I want to point out (because it was a consistent bother to me), is this: when you start a new paragraph and the character is still speaking, it is not necessary to close out the previous paragraph with quotation marks.  Leave it open; the character is still speaking.  Only close when the character is done, or when you are going to have them do something else before continuing.  Outside of that, you’re golden.

(As an aside, you are not the only person I have seen do this, and it actually appears to be something you’ve picked up later, because you weren’t doing it in your earlier threads.  This may be a stylistic choice, but it is not a good one.)

River has no issues with spelling.  Occasionally there is a misstep in wording, but that can be solved with a brief read-through before posting.  Pretty much everyone has a tendency to do this - I do, anyway - so it’s not a big deal.  However, I’ve found it is more apparent when you’re in a hurry.  But, again, it isn’t necessary to fix, because this is RP.  Just a comment.River is good with any length of post (one-liner, para, multi-para), but she hits her stride particularly with paras or longer.  A vast majority of her characters are introverted or put a lot of thought into their actions, their manners of speaking, so although you do one-liners well (which is a praise in itself, considering the internal dialogue just mentioned), your strength is in longer stuff.  You know this.  From a reading perspective, all of your writing captures the character well, you just have more room to breathe there, which works best for your muses.  Again, you know this.You are also extremely versatile when it comes to thread genres (fluff, angst, tragedy, violence, romance, slice of life, and crack).  Most of your threads tend to focus on either romance (with a potential mix of angst, depending) or slice of life (albeit, plotted, but you know what I mean), and these are only your strong suits due to their more frequent use.  You do them all well, even violence, so I have no comment here.  Kudos.  (Although I will say, I personally have a strong preference for your fluff threads because they typically also include character development as well - but that’s just me.)Headcanon, however, I have a little more commentary on.  When you post them, your headcanon is more than on point and does a good job of elucidating your character.  However, a lot of them are found in threads, which runs the risk of not having adequate enough information on a character to lead to good plotting.  For instance, below, when it talks about shipping, half of these I only know would be cool ships because I’ve read your threads and understand your character better.  I can tailor fit a thread to your interpretation.  Without headcanon posted separately from threads, this becomes significantly harder, and most people (I would guess) are not going to read threads to get that information.  Also, it is hard to find your headcanon separate from your characters’ threads, so that they have a tendency to get lost within everything else.  There’s no easy route of access.  I’d suggest at least having a catchall headcanon tag, so that someone who is looking at your characters, who is thinking about potential plots, has a way of getting to them.As a general rule, you are extremely good at capturing a character’s voice, whether in dialogue or in narrative.  You know this.  It is particularly apparent in your Amelia blog (there was a link in one of your Freddie blogs, and I’m a completionist in most things writing-related where these are concerned) and in Freddie.  Amelia shows that this has always been one of your strengths, but I think Freddie is where you show your growth as a writer best - because you can physically read how your writing grows just from looking at her voice in your first blog for her (where it wasn’t bad) to where it is now (where you channel Freddie like nobody’s business) - and that’s with months or longer between actually actively writing her, so that means it’s just you getting better.  And that’s cool to watch.All of that said, we can begin to look into more specifics as far as individual characters.  I’m going to do this within aspect, so - consistency and themes first, then finish with potential for future development.Within threads with partners, all of your characters are consistent, and in that same way, they are consistent across different threads with multiple partners.  However, of these five, four deal with the theme of surviving vs. thriving (this is explicitly mentioned in the text for three of the four (Scully [x], Rey [x], and Bedelia [x]) and is a basis for Freddie, even if not explicitly mentioned), and all five deal not so much with strength as not appearing vulnerable or weak, albeit in different ways.  Scully deals with this through closing herself off, through appearing like her male peers; Bedelia does this by controlling everything and being intimidating (because surely someone like her has no apparent vulnerabilities - she is ice and cold and impenetrable because she is so high above the lesser mortals); Rey’s is more a need based on not being taken advantage of within the context of the other street rats (she would like to be but cannot be); Freddie’s is simply due to the nature of her job (”She wasn’t supposed to be this weak./She was a journalist.” [x]), and Hermione’s actually is a basis in strength, which is a welcome development.  It actually becomes an interesting dialogue among the characters (particularly across some of Bedelia’s threads - you have Alana specifically stating that she “never found vulnerability to be a weakness” and Bedelia’s remark against it [x] and in further development with Stella, you have Bedelia specifically noting that “Vulnerability need not always be a weakness” [x] - it has even shown up as commentary in the Scully/Jess threads, “she felt less of a need to/wear a mask, less of a desire to feign the/strength she lacked.  She wasn’t expected/to be invincible.  It was freeing, but she/could only embrace that so far” [x] and in the meme where you attempted to write Alana, “If she can weap-/onize her own pain, perhaps it will no longer be a weakness” [x]) - which gives you a consistency across characters, which is admirable.You have mentioned that you like survivors.  You write them well.  You also expand and expound and dive into what surviving looks like across various muses (in fact, a majority of your other muses could also be labeled as survivors) as well as the battle that the feminine must have with the ideas of vulnerability, weakness, and how that interacts with gender (of the five, this is most explicitly brought up with in Scully’s threads, as far as gender is concerned, but that battle of vulnerability/weakness is constantly present).  And, despite doing this so frequently, it never seems old, it never seems tired, it never seems out of character because it is so much in character for the muses you are writing.  And that is to be commended.

Now, as far as future development, I want to broach this in two different ways: personal development as a writer (which is really about character types worth exploring in the future) vs. character development (which is more tied into places to explore with your existing characters, ways of individually developing them further, which still leads to writing development, but on a much more minor scale).  I’ll start with the latter and work my way to the former, just because that seems easiest to me.With Scully, I would like to see her within the context of some sort of relationship (friendship works well for this, actually, because peer pressure and support is a thing) reach a point where she is comfortable embracing her more feminine aspects and vulnerability.  In one of your OOC posts, you said that what you wanted was for Scully to wear a dress.  That’s…pretty much what I mean.  Because so much commentary within Scully’s threads is focused on not being vulnerable and on needing to appear more masculine so as not to be judged wanting by her male counterparts in the Bureau, the best development for her is to reach a place where she does not have to be preoccupied by either of those things, even if it is never in her work sphere, even if this is something she is only comfortable with around certain people.  And, whereas with other characters their greatest development is in a low point, we see enough Scully abuse in the show.  Her best growth arc is in the opposite.

With Bedelia, I want two things: one, I want to see her somewhere where she embraces her darkness, instead of trying to force it out, and two, I want to see her somewhere with a complete lack of control, not by her own choice.  I’m more concerned about the former than the latter (as the latter will be hard to pull off well without an adequate partner, to pull off without further debasement of her character, and that’s not what I mean by this.  Only that in every situation where she has lost control, it is by choice and she still retains some aspect of control.  It has not been a full out loss.  It’s worth exploring, but harder to do well - not that I think you can’t, as I have great admiration of your writing and have no doubt you can, but that finding a partner up to the challenge without it turning into torture porn will be complicated).  Of course, Bedelia can embrace that darkness in a multitude of ways - violence is the easiest route, but I hesitate to say I want to see Bedelia violent, as that is certainly not the case.  It simply seems to me that in the most developed ship you have for her, Bedelia is embracing the aspects of her that are more light - you have done phenomenally in this, so I would like to see the opposite explored.I have little commentary on Rey in this regard.  I like how she is developing and would like to see more of that in the future.  Any Luke/Jedi development seems like it would fall under similar development as the Stella/Rey development (only less intriguing), and I’m of the sort that likes waiting for canon before developing in that regard anyway.  I do want to see Rey within the context of a romantic ship - that would be a good next step because it builds on what you are currently doing - but I would also like to see Rey with a compatriot, a peer, within the context of her lack of identity.  Rey isn’t homeless, but I’d like to see her struggling with someone to make ends meet, someone equally at or even financially beneath her level.  (I’m not particularly interested in seeing Rey embracing the dark because that is not her struggle.  People is her struggle.  Relationships are priority.)With Freddie, I do want to see her in a low point.  From what I can intuit of your Freddie, her financial priorities are less on where she lives and more on fueling back into her job - fixing her camera, having a camera, gas money, etc. are all of much higher priority than her location, which waits until she gets big enough to afford somewhere better.  So, I want to see Freddie lose her apartment.  I want to see her choices in this regard in a financially bad situation lead her to not having a place to live because she cannot afford it.  There is not much point in Freddie succeeding - there’s no growth there because she’ll keep doing what she’s doing.  There’s no change.  This puts her in a situation where she has to make decisions and go from there.  Also, this leads to interesting interactions within the context of relationships and threads you’re already building within the Hannibal RP community.  I mean, putting Freddie in a place where she lives with one of those characters (not because she went to them, because that’s not her style (Alana, maybe), but because they notice and forcibly don’t leave her because of their priorities (Alana, Zeller, Will (mine, because show!Will doesn’t care), heck Frances would be great for this) can lead to the interesting conflict of, well, job is priority and this actually puts her in a closer proximity to people she can feed off of - take advantage of their kindness.  Or not.  Depending on how characterization goes.I do not have any particular direction for Hermione’s character development at this point.  Most of suggestions above deal with explorations separate from what you’ve already done or that can be founded entirely in the character’s set personality and systems.  As of right now, there is not enough information in your threads or significant enough relationships for me to get a good idea of what you will naturally explore with her, and so I have no specifics.  Any and every direction seems good at this point.  In the future, I may be able to be more specific.  My apologies.Now, as far as your general growth as a writer, I think there are two potential next steps.  As we’ve discussed, I do think having a comedic muse would be a good expansion simply because comedy is something you could stand to work on (in that same breath, you do have at last one comic muse, so this is of less importance).  What I would really prefer to see you doing next, in order to further your growth, is to pick up a villain, someone dark, dangerous, irredeemable.  Bedelia is the closest you have to this at the moment, and a dark elaboration on her would be closer, but even then, it still isn’t the same.  She is very much greyscale.  I would like to see you write someone who is evil, who enjoys being evil, who desires and acts upon an intent to harm simply because they want to do so.  Even with a villain, you can play into the themes that you tend towards because those are easily good motivations for a villain, so although it would be a step outside of your comfort zone, you needn’t go too far outside of it.  I just see this as an area you haven’t touched on and would like to see that potential growth.the mun: River is one of the most amazing people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting - not just on this site, but as a general rule.  It is even more to her credit that we met on here, given the tumultuous landscape of tumblr in general.  We’ve known each other for almost three years now (!!), and although we disagree on some things (and I’ve caused drama), River’s consistently been someone who works to find a solution rather than being bogged down or drawn into the overemotional side of things - and that’s true not just from the standpoint of our relationship, but also from the standpoint of problems within fandom as a whole (or things she picks up on from her blog).  River is always very careful about what she posts and what she says - diplomatic is perhaps the best way to put that - and it’s a skill that I find very admirable, given the overwhelming amount of salt that is seen pretty much daily on the site (not that salt is bad, but there’s a way to be salty without alienating people, which is what I mean here).  Which is not to say she has no faults, because everyone does, but I have no intention of going into any of those.  River is worth far more than any of that, and I think it does her a disservice to suggest otherwise.

do i;

follow them: Yes.  Fairly consistently, I think.  Except for a few months on Rey, but that was only because I hadn’t seen the movie yet.  As soon as I did, I was.  …oh, and Jack.  I didn’t follow her Jack blog.rp with them: Yes.  Not as consistently as we used to?  But I think that has more to do with me jumping around from muse to muse than anything on her end.  (Then again, we’ve got…eleven?? twelve active threads, so.  There’s that.)want to rp with them: Always.ship their character with mine:  …depends on the character(s).   I like our styles together; they have a tendency to compliment each other more often than not.  Outside of that, I feel like it’s really up to how the characters’ relationship(s) develop?  So, yes, basically.

But if you want to know for each of the characters mentioned above in relation to Rabbit!Jess (and other muses in parenthesis because I spent far too much time thinking about this and some of these seem like they would be easier for potential shipping than others):

1) Jess/Scully comes first because to this day it is probably my favorite ship to have written (am  I allowed to say that?), and that is partly because Jess does not shut up about it.  And if I’m honest, with purely chemistry in mind, it’s proven itself to work.  Jess will never stop loving Scully, and even when I was writing timeline canon as a thing, she constantly referred to her in other threads because she never stopped loving her.  I said it two years ago, and I’ll say it again, this is the healthiest ship Jessica Rabbit has ever been in.  So.  The short answer is yes.  The long answer is best summed up as: the greatest regret Jessica has is that she met Dana while Roger was still around and she desperately wishes that they had met in other circumstances. (As far as other muses, there are a handful with potential, but I think they all work best as friends. Reyes will probably be the best other muse option here whenever it is I add her. But can’t be sure until get to that point.)2) Jess/Bedelia is next.  I think a ship with River’s Bedelia only works if there is something about the other character that catches Bedelia’s interest on an intellectual level - a human puzzle for her to figure out.  Even if it doesn’t stay in that realm, it has to start there.  I do not believe that Jessica would be the puzzle she would need to be for Bedelia to have an invested interest, unless we go into Toons as an idea, but since that would so clearly be conceived of as a delusion, I doubt she would find that interesting.However, if we go with Jessica’s earliest time period and the idea that violence against a Toon still counts as violence but doesn’t ruin a reputation and if Toon abuse was considered as a viable alternative to Bedelia’s other attempts to not be violent, then that, I think, is a possible scenario where enough interactions could lead to potential shipping.  Just from the continued use to take care of that need. Although there could be the added complication of Jess as a loose string where Bedelia would want control over any possible discussion of the act, at which point you can add in ownership discussions (honestly, outright buying her would be the best solution in this situation), and then there might be further extended contact outside of the potential violence, which works even better. The question then becomes whether Bedelia would consider it a loss of control at all. Or, since Jess would then be considered as property, whether that perspective could be shifted (doubtful). Which is all to say tentatively yes but the scenarios aren’t likely. (Amy, on my multi, would probably be the best option for a Bedelia ship.)

3) Jess/Freddie is third and, uh, yeah.  Definitely.  Because with all of the Toon upheaval throughout Jessica’s entire life and the fact that Freddie is a tabloid journalist, there are a ton of different ways to throw them together and since Freddie has used sex as a way of getting information (looking at you, Zeller) and Jessica, if she knew that, would definitely see that as the best use of her time as far as giving information, then yeah.  Not that sex = relationship, because it doesn’t, but like.  Extrapolate from there. It’d be great. (Then again, this scenario might work better for OC!Jess because band or model!Bedelia because model - although my Bedeals is ace, so some slight differences in that aspect of the potential plot. Also, honestly, baby!Bedelia and foster!Freddie. Because reasons. Or Camille/Freddie because rivalry because journalists being journalists. Heck, I could even rock a Will/Freddie but only because my Will doesn’t suck. I OBVIOUSLY HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS HERE.)

4) Jess/Rey is fourth and no.  No, I don’t.  Even if Rey is old enough for it to be a thing, she feels young in relation to Jess and she would feel too young to Jess and so it wouldn’t happen on her end.  So very firm no here. (OC!Jess is the better option here. Or Finn, if I brought him back.)

5) Jess/Hermione is possible, but I think the easiest point of interaction for them would be if Toons were considered magical non-humans and we play into the whole Toon Rights idea (because Hermione is very active for the rights of non-humans - and, honestly, we can make a comparison between house elves and Toons, really we can).  If Jess were still within the young period of life where she would actively care and think things could be changed, then I can see a partnership forming and a potential ship from there based on the interactions and how the two characters play off of each other.  Outside of that, Jess…probably wouldn’t get involved and would be super reluctant as a whole.  Or involved with Roger.  Or after his death and not wanting to deal with a witch because she would think Hermione could have fixed it, and please let’s not go that route. (Bedelia is far and away the better option here, because her Hogwarts verse is much more useful for this (please let them bond over house elves, please). Heck, even her Coven verse is better for this - it’s set up well enough that you don’t need to have seen the series, it’s got magic worth researching, and you get conflict with some of the morals. Probably good for mutual character development, depending on age.)

what is my;

overall opinion: To sum up, River is far and away one of the best writers I have had the fortune of seeing on this site, and that’s a position based on her dedication to her characters and the insight she has into them, combined with an impeccable writing ability which only grows stronger.  Outside of that, as an individual, River is in most cases a good example of someone to look up to within the community - because, regardless of any differences of opinion, she is extremely diplomatic and speaks (and writes) in a way so as not to alienate the other person involved and never sees that as a reason to rant or rave or hate anyone.  Above all else, River is kind, and that shines through in all of her interactions both in and out of character.

In short, I love her (and her writing).  What else is there to say?

**Note: Mun’s answer are all to be completely honest. Don’t send url if you don’t want brutal honesty.