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

[a9saga]

tbt - exo-m - transformer // the amount of non exo-m listening that goes on in this house needs to be stopped

[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.

[flvcr]

ᴡᴇꜱᴛᴍᴇʀᴇ ᴛᴀꜱᴋ ₀₀₁ : ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ ꜱᴜʀᴠᴇʏ

𝙬 / 𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙣𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙤𝙧

ᴀɴꜱᴡᴇʀᴇᴅ ʙʏ ᴇᴛɪᴇɴɴᴇ

when you think of westmere, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind?  

❝ i guess it’s more of a feeling for me ? this sense of warmth. it’s just bits and pieces engrained in my mind of those in town. it’s starting to feel like home for me ? i mean, i’ve moved around a lot, and although i think back on those cities fondly, this is a new one for me. ❞

have you read rw wallace’s books?  if you have, which ones your favorite?

❝  i’ve read through them all, mainly as a result of joining a book club in town - some a couple times more than the others. if i had to choose, i think my favorite one is secret identities. although i’ve marked up corruption and creation a bunch, that one’s pretty solid. i read the first when i moved to new york, and then once i discovered it was inspired by westmere i knew i needed to come visit, and ever since it’s definitely lived up to the hype set in merelake. ❞

what spot is your favorite in town and why?  

❝ favorite ? hm, the gazebo, at night, is a bit surreal. there’s this bit of stillness for a moment that just seems to encompass the entire town, and the very next second the crickets are chirping, it’s almost like you can hear everything yet NOTHING all at the same time. ❞

if you were stranded at night, who’s the first person you’d call and why?

❝ @sebmeier​ . let’s just hope the poor sod isn’t standing beside me this time. oh, cause he’d put the pedal to the vettel. but if he’s with me, @mcttie​ - it’s a given. ❞

how often do you talk to your parents/family?

❝ we text here and there throughout the week, my parents and siblings alike. we have a family group chat, ha, um, but it’s nice. i call my mum on thursdays, we’ll facetime and have a proper meal together. if my siblings are visitng, or dad is around they’ll join too. ❞

how would your best friend describe you?  what about your worst enemy?

❝ probably in the same fashion - an ass that just won’t quit. i’m only kidding. perhaps more along the lines of me being a pain in the ass ? ❞

do you like celebrating birthdays?  what about holidays?

❝ birthdays ? hm, no, well not my own. i do enjoy gift giving though, and writing a card, so i guess i enjoy others birthdays. holidays, eh, it more so depends on the one. i enjoy halloween, that dream-like christmas bubble of time is a bit uncanny, and i’m a proper sucker for valentine’s day. all the others are a bit of a wash. no offense to the easter bunny and what not. ❞

do you believe in ghosts?  aliens?  are you a conspiracy theorist?

❝ ghosts ? definitely. growing up in montpellier, i could’ve sworn there was this girl that used to come and play with me, but a couple years back when i tried to explain her to my parents, they said they had no idea who i was describing. aliens? there’s absolutely no way we’re the highest form of life in this galaxy, if so, that’s awfully depressing. i guess you could say i’m a conspiracy theorist, i mean, i’m not sold on the ideology of lizard people quite yet, but i do often slip into the online void - some of those just ... click, y’know ? ❞

if you won the lottery, what’s the first thing you’d do?

❝ lately i’ve been thinking of designing some type of rec center filled with after school programs and an ice rink, of course. although, i don’t necessarily need to win the lottery to really set it in motion, i suppose. regardless, i think it’d be a bit exciting to develop a program that’d engage with the youth of westmere, it’s a bit shoddy now, but who knows ? maybe one day it’ll come together. ❞

is the glass half full or half empty?

❝ that all depends on what you’re putting into it, hm ? are you taking or giving ?  ❞

are you more at home in a room full of people or being alone?

❝ of course i enjoy spending time with others, but a room FULL of people sounds a bit nightmarish.  i read this thing about how you become the most like the five people you surround yourself with, but it makes me wonder, at what points are you ever truly yourself ? i figure you can only find out when you’re completely alone. ❞

are you someone who follows a routine every day or prefers the spontaneity of life?

❝ a mix of both ? during training and the hockey season, i think a routine is a bit easier to follow. however, knowing i’m out for the season, i’m looking forward to the spontaneity of life here in westmere. ❞

do you want kids someday?  if you already have kids, would you want more?

❝ i haven’t really thought that far ahead. someday, maybe ? i do enjoy spending time with @salingcr​ and his rugrats, so why not ? yes ? ❞

what’s your go to karaoke song?

❝ runnin’ with the devil - van halen.  ❞

what throwback movie are you crossing your fingers that drive on by will show someday?

❝ meet joe black, although i’m not sure if they ever would due to the length of the film. ❞

what’s your favorite ice cream flavor down at ice queen & king?

❝ mint chocolate chip is a classic, but lately i’ve had a hankering for their mocha almond fudge. can never go wrong there. ❞

ᴀɴꜱᴡᴇʀᴇᴅ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴇᴛɪᴇɴɴᴇ

if your character grew up in town explain what they think of town and why they still live here. 

— n/a.

if your character moved here at one point or another, explain what they were thinking when they moved.  was it their choice?  a parents?  how did they feel about moving? 

— after being gifted the first of rw wallace’s books while living in new york, etienne knew the town depicted in the story was a place that he desired to be a part of. so, once his lease was up, he opted to move to westmere, commuting to new york during hockey and training season. he’s enjoyed it ever since, definitely no regrets.

what is your character’s earliest memory?

— his earliest memory is from halloween when he was about four years of age. still living in montpellier, his parents took him and his siblings from business to business to do a bit of trick-or-treating, popping in and out of different store fronts asking for candy. that year his parents dressed him up as jason voorhes, finding it comical for his age.

is your character’s family big or small?  what is their relationship with their family like?

— etienne has two older siblings, each of them being two years apart. he and his siblings are very close, as well as his parents - they have a family group chat.  he definitely gets along with his mother the most, the two of them having a virtual dinner on a weekly basis.

is your character the type to have a lot of good friends or a few really close ones?

— etienne has both ?! a solid amount of good friends, and yet also a tight knit group that he feels that he can be a splash more expressive and vulnerable with when the time comes. he does make a point to insert himself in others’ lives, wanting to be there for truly anyone who may need / want him, but he sometimes finds it difficult for himself to open up to that connection.

what is your character’s life philosophy?  how do they see the world?

— with a deep appreciation and love for  matthew mcconaughey this video here basically is etienne’s philosophy / way he sees the world in a six minute nut shell. BUT taking things from it, etienne is very realistic and straight to the point - will tell you what’s wrong / what the problem even if it’s a little blunt and borders on the rude end of things. he just doesn’t think living in some delusional realm is the right move for any one by any means. he may come off having a superiority complex when one is asking for his advice, but it’s just cause at the end of the day he thinks he’s being honest / right and by all means helpful, even if the other person doesn’t want to acknowledge it. aside from that, he has a deep appreciation for all forms of life, the earth included - just treating peeps with kindness and the like !!

what are some goals that your character has?

— in regards to his hockey career, he’d like to be awarded the nhl foundation award. fingers crossed he’ll be cleared to return in the following season if all goes well with his recovery, bc he really wants to go into the playoffs and win the stanley cup. he is also hoping to attend the winter olympics in beijing in 2022. 

what does a typical day in the life of your character look like?  

— a typical day, as of late, for etienne consists of him waking up a touch on the early side to a freshly made pot of coffee, then followed by taking olive on a walk/run around town. after that he will shower, make a bit of breakfast, perhaps check on seb’s chickens ( just to be safe ) and then spend the day either reading or working in his makeshift studio. he enjoys the throwback days offered down at movie magic, so he’ll drop in to watch whatever film is being shown. otherwise, he’s likely with friends - doing whatever can be done in the day. 

what does your characters house/room look like?  is it messy & cluttered or is it neat & organized?

— for a visual, click here ! his house and room altogether are rather neat and organized. if things are  messy, even in the slightest, it’s an indication that something is wrong. he lives with sebastian, and with seb also being rather tidy, the two never have any issues, nor really any conflicting design ideas throughout the home.

what does your character’s typical wardrobe consist of?

— for an overall visual, click here ! etienne enjoys dressing up, give him a lil sweater vest and he’s beaming - he likes to look sharp, and a bit on the clean cut side. he can be a bit adventurous with his wardrobe, but definitely loves a splash of color. on the other side he his more casual looks are a jeans ( flare, skinny, cord ?! the options are endless ), a fun lil graphic tee to spice things up ( he prefers the more ridiculous ones ), and a jacket ?! he’s looking sharp, def won’t be wearing the same thing twice.

what’s a quote that describes your character?

— “ It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. ” ― Theodore Roosevelt

why did you choose your character’s song?  

— etienne has wide range of music taste, having bounced around growing up, he’s had various influences and exposures when it comes to what he enjoys listening to when he’s on his own. he really took a nose dive into rock music when he was practicing and developing his hockey skills - enjoy being on the ice and listening to / mentally playing back a power guitar riff doing a game. overall, rock music is the genre that he finds the most “ fun “ and he can be caught, embarrassingly so, doing his own little variations of air guitar. but he really fell in love with eddie van halen and truly believes he’s one of the best guitarists of all time, so van halen is one of his fav karaoke songs - not only to sing, but to simply act out.

[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.

[iamapoopmuffin]

GO TAG CITY *Waves pompoms*

I got a tag from @pilotpig again so here you go!

Rules: Answer 11 questions, make 11 of your own, tag 11 people!

1. What is your favorite soap scent? Honeysuckle. It smells so sweet. It’s usually mixed in with something else but I’ve forgotten what the second smell is.

2. What is the talent of yours that you are most proud of? Please go on and on and on about it!! (and don’t say you have no talents because I know all of you well enough to know that’s not true >:’D)

Also, if it can count, and Piggy says it can, I’m apparently great at envisioning things clearly in my head, especially characters I’ve created or interactions between people. I’ve always had a very vivid imagination.

3. What is your favorite book and why? Or TV show/anime/movie if you don’t like books? I haven’t had proper time to read anything but scripts lately but I can tell you that I’m always a slut for the Skulduggery Pleasant series or any murder mystery thriller. On that note, is there a book search tag here? All the book finder websites I’ve been recommended are like ‘no, make an account, sign up for shit you don’t want’. I’ve been looking to reread a book I read in school you see.

4. Which fictional character do you relate to the most? (And why, if you want?) I don’t know...Probably Murasakibara Atsushi from Kuroko no Basuke because I’m lazy and never stop eating sweets but I’m athletic af.

5. Do you have any collections? If so, what do you collect? Foreign coins.

6. What are your top three best personality traits, and what is one thing about your personality that you want to work on? Idk. I’m annoying, desperate for positive attention and reinforcement from my peers and I get frustrated very easily so those are all things I need to work on. I think I’m also rather selfish and lazy. My best personality traits, though, I always try my best to be nice and supportive to others (though I never know how to comfort anyone), I’m not completely stupid and I’m good at finding the humourous side of things.

7. Do you have any pets? If so, what is/are their personality/personalities like? I have a cat. She likes cuddles and when she’s in a playful mood she gets really skittish and that’s always funny.

8. What is your preferred study method? For learning lines, I usually just read them over and over, either out loud or in my head, but with monologues I’ll do learning games, although those sometimes require a second person. When I was at school, I only ever revised for language exams, because they consisted of learning a huge block of text and reciting it, so it was pretty much the same as a monologue, it was just in another language. If I revised other subjects, I ended up overstressing myself and doing worse in the exams.

9. What is the most adventurous thing you’ve ever done? I auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent once. I didn’t get through, but frankly I’m slightly relieved I didn’t since I’d end up angsting over whether I’m one of the good people or one of the people so bad they get through because it’ll be hilarious.

10. What are your life goals? Get married, have children, don’t die miserable and alone.

11. What is your favorite part of being on Tumblr? My friends (I always look forward to friend interactions) and the fact that I can make really stupid jokes and lots of people like them.

I couldn’t think of any questions myself today, so I’ll come back to this later and edit in some questions when I can.

[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.

[mahousparkles]

Character Design in Magical Girl Raising Project: Arc 1

One of the things that immediately caught my attention about MGRP was the character design. The outfits don’t go together as a lineup in the way traditional magical girl outfits do, rather they exemplify each individual character’s abilities; this allows the viewer to learn a great deal about the character just by looking at them.

I’m sure other people have made similar posts, but as a passionate character design enthusiast I’d like to discuss my personal thoughts on the character design in Arc 1. I’ve tried to keep everything as spoiler free as possible. And yes, I do plan to do the other arcs, so stay tuned!

Snow White - 7/10

I actually like Snow White’s design, but with all the competition, I need to be a bit strict. Her outfit may not be as interesting as some of the other characters’, but that seems pretty intentional; Snow White is *supposed* to be the cliche, idealistic magical girl protag, so the artists didn’t have a lot of wiggle room with her design. Considering that, they at least managed to give it some unique elements. I especially like the bows on her boots and the ribbons on the front of her top that look like suspenders.

Ripple - 5/10

Ripple’s design has always been confusing to me. I don’t hate it per se, I just think there’s a little too much going on in it. It’s supposed to look like a cross between a kimono and a bathing suit, but really it just looks like a bikini with some fishnet accents and... pom poms? That’s at least one too many things for an outfit. I do like the scarf though, and the shuriken shaped hair accessory.

La Pucelle - 9/10

La Pucelle’s design was the first one in the series to get me really excited. It’s a simple and expressive costume that represents her personality and motifs as a magical girl. It sticks to two central themes, dragon and knight’s armor, and doesn’t have any unnecessary elements that stray from this theme. The frills add a splash of femininity without being overwhelming, and the muted, earthy colors are pleasant to look at. Altogether, La Pucelle’s design just seems very... cohesive. It’s well thought out.

Cranberry - 8/10

When I first pulled up this image, I planned to give Cranberry a 7, then it changed to a 7.5, then to an 8. The more I look at her design up close, the more I find myself liking it... but that’s kind of the problem. The fact that I didn’t take notice of the interesting parts of her costume until I sat and stared at it for five minutes means that her design is a little too ornate to appreciate at a glance. I think the main culprit is the huge purple roses; they grab your eye, and that’s the only thing you notice. I consider the jacket and tights to be the most fun parts of Cranberry’s design, so it’s a shame that they aren’t more noticeable from the get-go.

Ruler - 10/10

I consider Ruler’s design to be one of the most successful ones in the entire series. It sticks to a single theme and it’s immediately recognizable, but at the same time, it has those subtle, unique accents that make it fun to look at. The little diamonds in her hair and on her ears. The vertical stripes on her tights and bows on her shoes. The black lace adornment at the bottom of her dress. Every detail comes together perfectly to encapsulate Ruler’s vision of herself as royalty.

Yunael and Minael - 4/10

My favorite parts of their designs are definitely the speech bubble halos. It’s a cute idea that combines two aspects of their characters in a simple and effective way. Which makes it all the more disappointing when the rest of their designs are fairly, well, dull. They’re not bad, they’re just nothing very new. It’s also annoying how I can never tell them apart.

Tama - 7/10

This one boils down to personal preference; I’m not a huge fan of animal-based costumes, and I’m not really a dog person, so I didn’t love Tama’s design at first glance. But for what it is, it’s actually very well put together; the crop top and leg warmers are cute, and it follows my rule of sticking to a central theme. I respect it as a design, and don’t really have any formal critiques, it’s just not my thing.

Swim Swim - 5/10

I really feel like I should hate Swim Swim’s design. A swimsuit, headphones, bat wings, and whatever those weird tentacle things are? In one outfit? I mean, I know that 5 out of 10 isn’t a stellar ranking, but someone who breaks all my rules of good outfit design should at least be below Ripple, right? But oddly enough, I don’t mind Swim Swim’s design. Maybe it’s because the color scheme is consistent enough to tie together the unrelated elements. Maybe it’s because Swim Swim is actually a little kid and it makes sense for her to design a Mary Sue OC with bat wings as her avatar. Or maybe I just think that little garter on her leg is cute.

Hardgore Alice - 8.5/10

I couldn’t figure out whether to give an 8 or a 9, so I finally said fuck it and brought decimals into this. I’m sorry. Truthfully this design is a 9 in my book, but I’m afraid I may be letting the fact that Hardgore Alice is my favorite character in the series affect my review of her design. So I had to knock her down a peg. Well, half a peg. Anyway, despite pretty much looking like something I could pick up at any gothic lolita store, I like this design a lot. Is it just because I like Alice in Wonderland? No. Well, maybe. But I also like the muted colors and overall simplicity. And the bunny, of course.

Calamity Mary - 8/10

Whatever your opinion of her character may be, Calamity Mary’s got style. The fringe on her sleeves, the holster at her leg, the giant spurs on her boots; Calamity Mary is a cowgirl, and you can tell. The wild-west attire looks modern without being overbearing, there isn’t too much or too little going on. My only complaint is that I wish the hat was bigger and more pronounced! The hat is such an important part of an outfit like this, and I feel like it gets kind of lost with its size and shape as is.

Magicaloid 44 - 6.5/10

I have very mixed feelings about this design; all in all, I think it was the hardest on this entire list to rank. It is unique and relatively centralized, but it’s also kind of... clunky. Looking at it, it’s hard to understand what’s going on, and that’s a problem. Are those spiky things supposed to be her hair? If so, why do the bangs look so out of place? What’s up with the crown icons on her arms and legs? Is her skirt poofy or flat? I can’t help but overthink everything when I look at Magicaloid’s design, so although I don’t hate it, it kind of irritates me.

Top Speed - 9/10

Top Speed has another one of my favorite character designs in the show. Her design is a seamless combination of magical girl and witch, all in warm Halloween colors. I love her chunky braids and cape, the lace around her hat, and the frill on her sleeves. She’s immediately recognizable as a witch, but these little feminine details also help her fit into the magical girl ensemble.

Weiss Winterprison - 3/10

Um... yes. That’s a coat. Okay, next.

Sister Nana - 7/10

It’s hard for me to decide whether or not I like Sister Nana’s design. Impulsively, at a glance, I’d say I like it, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. The religious motif isn’t really my thing, but the simple black and white colors with a splash of red in the shoes pleases me. I also think the cross shape is used very creatively, especially with the neckline. I can’t really tell what those cushion-like things on her legs are supposed to be though.

Nemurin - 10/10

Maybe I should have given this one a 9.5 because I think overall I still like Ruler’s design the most, but Nemurin is certainly a very close second, albeit for very different reasons. Nemurin’s design isn’t as straightforward as Ruler’s or Top Speed’s are, mainly because “pajamas” is an incredibly broad category, and the artists have more room to be creative. Despite this, her design is wonderfully balanced, it doesn’t seem stuffy, and the colors work nicely. The long, dragging pigtails, the little clouds in her hair, the uneven socks; everything about Nemurin’s design tells us that this is a girl who likes to sleep and dream all day.

Thank you so much for reading my silly post, I hope you enjoyed it or it at least gave you a few things to think about. Feel free to tell me what your favorite design is in the tags!

[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.