#that guy was just salty Chloe was so popular

[dreamwreaver]

And this is my argument to any and everyone who said Chloe was never intended to be the true bee holder. Like bruh, products take r and d and TIME. You're telling me zag sunk a bunch of money into making merch of a character's hero persona if the intent wasnt to keep them as that hero?

No, I call bs on that. Zag is a lot of things but business minded ranks among the top. He will produce what sells well and when Queen Bee came out, despite how she got her start she was POPULAR. Her merch was selling like hotcakes. Do you know just the fashion doll alone is both a bit harder to find and usually sells for more than the vesperia doll? Vesperia gets left in clearance in major box stores yet somehow she was the true holder?

We know Jeremy likes Chloe, I believe in one interview way back he said he though Chloe should end up with adrien because the latter needed someone in his life who could teach him to have a spine. But the extent to which there is so little vesperia merch even just beyond the zag store stuff is really surprising. Just as a quick rundown of the queen bee merch that came out in the... 2 years she was the official bee holder;

A ten inch fashion doll

A five and a half inch action figure

A kids Halloween costume

A queen bee dress up accessory pack which included a mask scrunchie and I believe a spinning top

An action figure which might have hinted at her Astro design since it came with a wing attachment

A feature as a Burger King toy

Tons of QB clothing

This is a non comprehensive list. But it doesn't make any sense go Zag, knowing as far back as beginning that Chloe wasn't supposed to be keeping that miraculous, would go through all those contracts for that merchandise. Also you'd think if they'd had zoe in the pipeline this whole time there would have been a huge rollout for her merch the moment her debut episodes went global. But there was a noticeable lack for the longest time

Hell, she didn't even get zag official merch for her version of the comb until THIS YEAR. You're telling me the true holder of this miraculous didn't have merch for cosplay purposes available for over a year since her original introduction?

No, I don't buy it. I don't know a whole lot about retail marketing and development but I do know that if you have a change up like that you want to sell stuff for you have it ready to go before the reveal, not months to years after it.

Speaking of Zag's store, I just looked at the Zoe/Chloe section and they only have six things that have Zoe involved in it while Chloe has over 20+ items

https://www.zag-store.com/collections/queen-bee

YEAH

[hamable]

Thoughts while watching the new miraculous movie cuz I’m three minutes in and can already TELL I’m gonna be losing my mind:

Spoilers under cut obv

Daddy no :( you can’t take me to school tomorrow with fresh baked goods for my whole class :( that’s so embarrassing :( what would they THINK ?!?!

Marinette: I want a better life (beautiful, picturesque Paris, apartment above your parents bakery, heading to a fancy school) cause I’m so clumsy???

Me: GIRLY ILL SWAP WITH YOU???

God I saw stuff about the singing voice and it’s so tonally and stylistically different from Christina Vee’s VAing that I can’t take it seriously. The singer isn’t necessarily bad, but it’s so clearly a different person.

Aside from the im loving the animation so far. It’s so cool seeing these character I’ve known since like 2017 in a new, more polished style.

Goddamnit we’re still making popular girl no carbs jokes???

DAMN ALYA THATS COLD (oh sorry, do I need to take a number behind the line of friends coming to your rescue?) LIKE YOUVE HAD ONE LINE SO FAR.

Chloe going about this bully/rival thing reeaallll fruity

Emo Adrien just trying to listen to MCR and tune out the normies that just don’t get it 😡😭

NINO BEST BRO

EW WHAT HAIR IS THAT GABRIEL

Nooroo called them the ladybug and chat noir miraculouses, but shouldn’t it be the ladybug and black cat miraculous? I thought they chose their names for themselves, ladybug sticking with ladybug, chat noir coming up with his own?

TIKKI IS SO CUTE OMG

This chat noir so silly and goofy

NOT CARELESS WHISPER ARE YOU KIDDING ME. YALL COULDA DONE A BEAUTIFUL ORCHESTRAL SWELL AND YOU PICK C A R E L E S S W H I S P E R?!?!?!?!

Btw why did Marinette prove her worth while adrien was just like. Doing hw. It’s easy to prove you can use the ladybug for good. Show me why he was chosen to use destruction for good. That’d be so interesting.

PUSS IN BOOTS

Plagg take an antacid plz

SHE THREW IT OUT THE WINDOW

Pop off hawk moth villain song honestly, best one so far

OK HAWKMOTH SING

Nino Dr. Love omg my favorite guy

Golden rule: always stay cool… (voice immediately shoots up an octave when Alya speaks to him)

That’s NOT HOW ROLLERCOASTERS WORK

That’s gotta be at least a few casualties

ASHDJFJF Catches Chloe from a deadly fall only to redirect and chuck her HARDER into a dumpster

Chloe you gotta stop giving off repressed fruity vibes

This movie has not established enough of a connection between marinette and adrien to justify ladybug rejecting chat noir (on the basis of loving someone else, I mean, not that she can’t reject him at all)

Plagg? Not the time.

WTF HAPPENED TO YOU GABRIEL?!?! DID YOU GO ON A BENDER?!?!

The movie has not established enough, if any, disconnect between adrien and gabriel. I love seeing adrien stand up for himself, but it feels kinda weird

LMAO HES LIKE BOUNCING IN PLACE WITH ANGER DONT MAKE ME LAUGH

Adrien with headphones is so fucking funny to me. Head down shoulders hunched, listen to welcome to Nightvale cause no one else gets it

Chloe. Every. God. Every word out of your mouth is so fruity. “There is someone else. And she’s right in front of you.” Someone else for who, Chloe?? For marinette?? I better you’re hoping she thinks you mean u and her huh?

Crush likes someone else. Life not worthy living. Dreams not worth pursuing.

All these songs run together. Except hawkmoths. His kicked ass.

Jesus Christ it’s Armageddon

STOP WITH THE FUCKING CARELESS WHISPER

HAS HE BEEN LISTENING TO CARELESS WHISPER THE WHOLE TIME?!?! THIS FUCKING LOSER OH MY GOD

Ladybug out here in YOUR FATHERS APOCALYPSE and you’re MOPING IN YOUR FANCY HOUSE

It’s the end of the world are you really gonna be salty rn?!?!

Ew why it’s the cataclysm like. An oil slick?!

Oh shit he dead

Oh he super dead

From the top of the Eiffel Tower? Into water?? You’re dead.

WHERE IS THE LAVA COMING FROM?!

SINCE WHEN DO YOU HAVE THE FORCE HAWKMOTH?!

Damn show hawkmoth could never.

Jesus fucking razor winged butterflies

Movie says fuck sentimonster adrien here’s Emilie pregnant

Anyways uh you killed and displaced likely hundreds of citizens so get ready for a lifetime in prison, hawky

OH I FORGOT ABOUT MIRACULOUS LADYBUG LMAO WERE GOOD ACTUALLY

Ok you placed the rubble back together but a bunch of people are still probably dead right

Ya Chloe make a quick exit bc of that gay crisis you’re having. Next year? Back to bullying. What was this year Chloe? Hm?

Overall: cool animation and effects, nostalgic for early lady noir dynamic, writer brain is itching for what could’ve been, but otherwise it is what it is, prob won’t watch it again.

EDIT: SHE DISNT DO MIRACULOUS LADYBUG UNTIL THE END RIGHT???? LIKE AFTER A FEW MONTHS OF HEROING??? SO ALL THE SHIT AT THE FAIR. JUST HAPPENED. YOU CANT TELL ME THERE ARENT LIKE. DEAD BODIES. I DONT THINK SHE KNEW SHE COULD FIX IT RIGHT??? PEOPLE DIED. YOU DESTROYED A CHUNK OF A CITY GABRIEL.

[simpyuuma]

The Gotham Princess [Daminette] Chapter 2:

[Marinette's POV~]

Lila Rossi.... the liar finally showed up. What lies will come out of her fucking mouth this time...

"I'm sorry Miss Bustier, M.S. asked me to help her choose her new design that I didn't even realize the time!" She said putting her crocodile tears. That made my friend gag including me.

"It's okay Lila, just don't be late next time" the shit teacher said. Lie-la smiles(I don't want to imagine this) and went to her sit next to Adrien due to her 'hearing problem'.

"As I was saying earlier before I got interrupted... OUR CLASS IS GOING FOR A TRIP TO GOTHAM!!!! Be here tomorrow morning at 7:30 sharp, okay??" She excitedly said. Oh, that's mean I got pick. LUCKY!!!!. The class cheered and shouted yes until it was ruined by the oh so kind Lie-la.

"Yeah, I convinced my 'Dami-boo' to give us this trip since we haven't seen each other in 7 years" Lie-la lied again. The class thank her as she just said, "No problem guys!". Apparently, she said her 'Dami-boo' is none other than her boyfriend, Damian Wayne. I know I know, what a lying bastard. Using others popularity just to have her own. Oh well, what can I say. It's fucking Lie-la that we're talking about.

I looked at 'Gami and said, "You jinx it" She laughed follow by the group. "What are you losers laughing at???" Asked by an angry Cesaire. We decided to ignore them.

"Are you all deaf?!??!, I said what are you laughing at?!?" The worst reporter yelled stomping towards us. We finally decided to pay attention to her.

"Well, Cesaire. I have a one question?" Chloe asked her. "What Chloe-brat???" She responded irritated. "If we asked you that question when you and Lie-la's were laughing, will you answer us???" Chloe finally asked her question. "No-" "Exactly!, so don't but in our business cause you're no where near the word and the meaning of 'Important'!" Chloe said cutting of the worst reporter. We stood up and picked up our items.

"Excuse us!" We all said as we left the room that is full of idiot and a shit of a teaher.

We walked until we reached the entrance of the school. "Are we skipping???" Luka asked. We looked at each other. "Heck yeah!!" We all chanted at the same time. "I say we go for ice cream" I said as the rest nodded and we went to André for ice cream.

"Hi Marinette!" Andre said as we arrive. "Hi Andre" We all chanted together again. Andre smiles. "So, what are you all doing outside???, I remember that you are all supposed to be at class at this time" he asked us. "Well.... story short, Lie-la lies and the  our idiot classmates believes it" I said as we sat down near his ice cream cart/stand. "I see.... so who wants ice cream?" He said and asked as we raised our hands.

Andre gave them their own ice cream basically describing their other half. Luka with Kagami and Nino with Chloe. Shocking???, probably. We are kinda surprise when they told us they were dating. Alya hated Chloe more than me... At least that's what I think since Nino broke up with her. She's being a little salty. Screw it!!! She is being SUPER salty about it!!.

They're lucky that they already found their other half/soulmate. Both a super hero. Yes, you heard it right. They are now permanent miraculous holders. Luka is Viper, same costume but a litter more darker. Nino is still Carapace but without the hood. Kagami become the kitsune holder, She is called Kitsuna. Her costume is amazing, it has nine tails at the back and she has a pair of  ears at the top of her head. Her mask is color white. Basically, her costume color is white and orange. Chloe still have the bee miraculous but of course she change her hero name. She is now called Honey Bee. Her costume is still the same but there is now skirt above the knee length. It consist of yellow, orange and black color. Mine has a big difference. It also have a skirt. My shoulder is exposed and a pair of red gloves. So many things have been change since Lie-la appeared 5 months ago. I'm happy that it leads like this. I hope it stay for eternity.

I was lost in thought that I didn't notice my friends and Andre are calling for my attention.

"MARI-BUG!!!" Is what broke me from my thoughts. I feel a stingy feeling at my left cheek. "Ow!, yes?" I asked gently rubbing my left cheek. It seems like Chloe slaps me to broke me out of my thoughts. "We've been trying to get your attention for like 3 minutes now!" Chloe irritatedly said. Oooopppss! Hahahaha. "So what are you even thinking about Mari??" Asked Luka. "Hmmm... I'll tell you all later" I said to them. I looked at Andre. "So Andre, any change in my Ice Cream?" I asked. Andre's eyes lit up as he said "Ahhh, yes yes yes. Come here Marinette" I walked after him. "Hmmm.... dark chocolate for his dark past, mint for his eyes and another dark chocolate for his hair w/ dark chocolate syrup and chips" He said as he give me the Ice Cream. 'What a weird combination??' I thought. I took it as my friends come closer to me. "You've got a odd combination there Dudette" Nino said as the other nodded. "Also, do you have a thing for those who have green eyes??" Asked by Chloe. "Maybe???, I don't know Chlo" I said. "Anyways, thanks Andre" I said to our favorite Ice Cream Vendor. He smiles as he said "Your welcome".

We talked as we explore the place again. We eat, we play, and we joke around. It was fun that we forget the time. I looked at my watch to see that it was already 5:24 pm. I inform the group.

We starts to walk home as a group. Until we came to our stop. "Guys, tomorrow morning at 6:00. Be there w/ all the important things that you needed to bring. Don't be late" I said as they nodded. It's like this, I am the leader of the group even though I said that we don't have a leader. They convinced me by saying "It's only you Mari-bug/Mari-Hime/Mari/Dudette who is capable of being our leader". I have no other choice so I became their leader either it's in superhero costume or in our group.

"Okay, see ya guys!" We all said as we went home. Chloe and I arrive at our home, Papa/Jagged's house to be exact. "There are my princesses" Papa said as he saw us. "Papa!" We both shouted as we group hug. "Where's Clara?" I asked. "She's busy pacticing her song" He said. Ohhhh, ok. "Papa, we have a trip tomorrow at Gotham. We need to pack now" Chloe said. Papa nodded as we went to our room. We packed our most important items and went downstairs to eat dinner. After the dinner, we went to our rooms as we lay down at our bed. "Night Chlo" I said as she responded "Night Mari-bug" I close my eyes as I fell into a deep sleep.

[miraculouscontent]

The "Adrien COVID" story is a story posted a few days ago by a saltfic writer who dislikes Adrien. The premise was that the Mayor/elites of Paris want to reopen schools, Ladybug objects because it's not safe to have school before COVID is addressed, and then Adrien sides with the rich people because... well, it's a salt fic, so Adrien is a rich privileged jerk who doesn't care if everyone else dies of COVD as long as he can go to school and thus get out of the house and away from his father.

I mean, I already wasn’t interested based on just the “title” since fiction that brings in real-world issues so bluntly like that doesn’t interest me. Not saying that people can’t (it might even be how they cope so yeah) but it’s not my thing.

So Adrien’s basically the villain then (don’t actually answer this question; the less I know about the AU, the better)? I mean, once a character goes into “being okay with people potentially dying” (hi, Chloe) and stuff like that, I feel like they upgrade past “antagonist.”

And people can do that if they want. I’m fully aware about all the salt fics that come about with characters turning outright violent/being arrested/so on and so forth. It’s not for me but maybe that’s how they cope and honestly it’s ultimately my fault for looking at it in the first place (so long as it’s properly tagged; if it’s not then it’s the author’s fault when people come after them). I know people say that fics like that “give salt fics a bad name,” but honestly, if any person is going to look at salt fics like that and start generalizing and just say that “salt is bad” (y’know, while being super salty about it), then quite frankly I think they’re being overly dramatic and unfair to the people who write legitimately good salt fics.

I think what happens is that people don’t like to blacklist or wait too long to do so, which ends with them constantly exposing themselves to content they don’t like and getting more and more sour about it. They blacklist at that point of course, but it’s too late because they’ve already got this negative perception that’s been heightened due to how long they’ve been exposed to it.

Me? I don’t play those games. I see stuff and I roll my eyes (at most) before blacklisting (sometimes the user, sometimes the tag, it depends on the situation). It’s a waste of my time to get angry about people who do such things when, most of the time, they’re just flat-out wrong/misinformed and nothing I say is going to get through their delusions. That’s why you guys only see me talk about fandom stuff when people bring it up to me directly; I literally don’t know about such things existing outside of what I’ve seen briefly.

Another thing people don’t seem to fully understand is that salt fics aren’t always meant to be totally in-character from the author’s perspective. Sometimes it’s an escalation fic (which is like an in-character fic but exaggerated for various reasons), sometimes it’s just a call-out, and sometimes it’s slightly/mostly out-of-character because someone just had a really good idea and wanted to bring it to life (or they’re just really angry; could be that too).

Yes, it’s all salt, but the idea behind it is typically not, “I have this super-realistic and totally legitimate idea where everyone is in-character and justice is served--” No. The idea behind it is catharsis.

It’s why not all fics stay within the realms of canon: because the show is the established canon, achieving the catharsis that the author intends sometimes means pendulum swinging in the other direction and then going further with it. Just doing the exact opposite of canon isn’t always enough because canon is on a “higher plane of existence,” so to speak, and thus requires more than a call-out for some people.

And the author isn’t always doing it just for them; they’re also doing it for other people who can’t put their frustration in the words and are looking for ways to cope. Fix-it fics aren’t always enough because all it’s doing is the opposite of what canon did. Fanon is not on the same level as canon, so it’s not balanced. That’s why there aren’t always redemptions in salt fics; that’s not the point of the fic itself (and it sometimes negates the feeling of justice by going on after the satisfaction has already been served; authors can do it but it can come off as damage control when they’ve already taken things “too far”).

I’ve said this before, but just because I have a couple of salt AUs that got popular doesn’t mean I always give Adrien a bad role or “go so far” in every single AU that I do (and it could be the same for anyone else). In the literal hundreds (yes, I counted) of ideas I have, I have taken the cat miraculous from Adrien thrice (technically four, but he gave it up himself in that one), and that’s including LadyBugOut and Leave for Mendeleiev. It’s literally less than 1% of all my ideas in which I’ve taken the cat from him.

I have AUs with no salt aimed towards him whatsoever. In fact, I have one that takes place post-canon (yes, canon), where he and Marinette are best friends. He still has the cat miraculous, he’s in a loving and healthy relationship with Kagami (because, contrary to popular belief, people who like Luka can also like Kagami, though people who don’t like Kagami/Adrimi as much as Luka/Lukanette can have reasons for it that make perfect sense and anyone who thinks they can’t is stupid and wrong), and he’s the intentional driving force for getting Marinette together with Luka because he cares about Marinette’s happiness.

If I wanted to, I could do an AU where Adrien was outright the villain, or make him the villain in LadyBugOut by having him choose to work with Gabriel after losing the cat miraculous.

But I don’t. Why? Because changing Adrien’s character or twisting things around to make him out to be a villain is where I draw the line in salt. It doesn’t matter how interesting the ideas I had were because, for me, it’s going too far. It’s the ultimate level of salt to villainize a character because I don’t like how they’re portrayed and I’m not going to do it.

[svgurl410]

1, 4 and 6 for the salty asks

Thanks for asking!

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get? There are a lot of ships I don’t like but usually, even with the popular fanon otps, I “get” them. With Gilmore Girls, I know it isn’t popular but I don’t really get shipping Rory with Dean after s1. You don’t have to like Jess (or Logan) but I guess I really don’t get how people still don’t see how toxic he was on his own. I’ve never really gotten into Rory with Colin or Finn either, and I always thought Marty fell into the “nice guy” stereotype. I remember some Literati shippers seemed to prefer Rory with Marty instead of Logan (with a Lit endgame of course) and I was always ‘meh’ on it. There are a few more minor Smallville ships that I don’t get but I don’t want to list them all. One fanon ship I’m definitely put off by in the MCU is Peter and Tony. Or really, pairing Rumlow with anyone, especially Bucky or Sam.

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP? I have a ton of NOTPs lol  Most of them are fanon ships. I can just be so picky on shipping. So sticking with canon ships, with Smallville, I think my NOTP has quickly gone from Clark and Lana (who I still don’t like together) to Chloe and Clark. They were very popular back in the day. With the general DC universe, my NOTP is Clark and Diana and they are popular in certain sections but not overall as far as I can tell. In Gilmore Girls, again, Rory and Dean. Not really popular. MCU, I mostly dislike a lot of fanon ships and many of them are popular.

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated? Not that I can think of off the top of my head. Fandom has made me like ships I haven’t thought about before, but I don’t know if I have gone from hate to like. I’m pretty stubborn. :D

Send me salty asks

[timetravelersdoctor]

you want some salt?

You guys wanted salt so here I am to deliver (please know that this is my first time actually writing down headcanons and au's)

For the au I thought of (can be maribat felinette or something else)

So no one outs Lila and the class cast marinette out and every one (besides Chloe juleka and rose and Nathaniel cus I like them) bully marinette. Adrien doesn't do anything because he's a spineless jellyfish And one day marinette gets pushed down the stairs by Lila and and she gets hurt enough to be sent to a hospital.

Marinette's parents finally have enough and send her (after her hospital stay is over) to a different school. The class except the mentioned four and adrien celebrate.

But with Mari gone things start to go down hill. Alya can no longer get interviews with ladybug. She can only get them from chat and even those are very brief (only cus he's on thin ice after practically harassing ladybug and the guardian has had enough) so she starts to lose followers especially when a certain new blog is endorsed by ladybug. Her family finds out what alya has done and punish her accordingly

Nino finds that his music isn't the same and after allowing lila to help him he gets in trouble for copyright reasons (since lila most likely has no care about copyright stuff). He's relationship with alya begins to suffer and without someone to talk to (because adrien doesn't exactly understand relationships) he becomes irritated and breaks up with alya. His family also find out what he's done.

Lila now the class pres realises it's a lot harder then she thought and pushes the responsibility on alya adding more stress on her. Lila continues to lie and control the class. (She's outed eventually though. How you ask? You choose)

The class all has something to wrong (something that wouldn't have happened if they were mari's friend)

Chloe after finding out what school Mari is transferred to begs her father to let her move there to. So he does (in this salt au Chloe and her parents have a healthier relationship)

Juleka and rose and Nathaniel (did I spell it right? Hope I did) stay behind to play pretend and update the other two on the class.

Kagami and luka are also on marinette's side.

Now that that bit is over on to the headcanons

Who gets what miraculous (if the character has a * on there name it means they're permanent. I don't really want to make it an over powered thing) no one was outed as a user including chloe. They keep the miraculous on them even if they're temp heros (not really temporary they don't want to have to many heros fighting one akuma unless they have to) each user knows the others identity (screw the not knowing whose behind the mask)

Mari* -ladybug (imma be honest I almost forgot the *)

Juleka- tiger (friggin autocorrect wants to put Juliana) : tigress

Rose - mouse: souris

Luka*- snake: viperion

Nathaniel*-fox (had to choose between juleka and him):renard créatif

Chloe*- bee: queen bee (may or may not change this name though)

Kagami*- dragon: ryuko

Whoever gets the cat is up to you (adrien can even keep it if you want to go the adrien redemption route)

Headcanons (finally)

Ship depends on where you send marinette

(Felinette, maribat, other thing I may or may not know)

Chloe since she has a better relationship with her parents isn't a bully she's just guarded due to not wanting to be used. She actually is aro ace.

Nath is dating marc. He has long since hidden his comics after the class once tried to edit them (Lila told them that nath's story wasn't going to get popular unless they helped him)

Luka and Kagami are dating. So are juleka and rose.

Kitty section is still together how ever they lost Ivan to lila's lies. They were able to find a drummer in Kagami and convince her mother to let her join their band.

Marinette has gotten over her crush on adrien and now that she no longer has the stress of being class pres she finds that she has more time to train her team and create fashion. She loves that her friends (the ones that stuck with her and her new friends) don't take advantage of her and they don't push things onto her.

Adiren has trouble accepting the fact that ladybug does not love him as chat or Adrien. After a very long chat (pun intended) with the guardian and plagg he decides that it's for the best that he gives up the ring. He's tired of everything. Adrien moves on (I didn't really want to do to much adrien salt because I couldn't be too salty to him without needing to amplify his flaws which I didn't want to do.)

Well thats it for now. Please tell me if i can improve something or You want me to write about different au's. I might even do a few one shots if you want. (One shots only. I don't think I would do a good chapter story. I'm not very good at writing as you can probably tell.) But if you want you can help me improve by asking for a one shot and then give me constructive criticism (advice on What I need to improve on.) I might be slow in doing it tho.

This might be the longest thing i've written.

[runicmagitek]

1, 6, 11, 16, 20 for the salty asks :)

Look at this salt mine!! Many thanks!

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

So many. Too many, perhaps. A lot of popular pairings go over my head. Ones that come to mind are Locke/either Celes or Terra from FFVI; Cloud/either Aeris or Tifa; Zidane/Garnet from FFIX; Max/Chloe from LiS; Shu/Yuki from 13sar; pretty much everything outside of my three ships in Pyre... there's probably more, but that's what I got!

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

I don't know if I'd say I hated the pairings previously, but there have definitely been fics that made me go "oooo I never considered this before and now I do!" Over the years, I've come to enjoy fan content for Aeris/Sephiroth, Zelda/Ganondorf, Rinoa/Quistis, and others I can't think of. Again, nothing I'd say I actually hated - just never thought of them until some wonderful people convinced me!

11. Is there an unpopular character you like that fandom doesn't? Why?

Depending on where you're floating in the fandom pool, people seem to love Setzer or hate him. I know he has his flaws, but I love this guy. So much. The balls on this one. I hope he never changes.

16. If you could change anything in the show game, what would you change?

Hmmm... a lot of the stuff I'm super into I'm pretty cool with what's already there. I think I'd change some game mechanics and stuff and OH I LIED I'D FILL ALL THE PLOT HOLES IN FFVIII WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT. And the combat. Wtf. I love that game but I literally cannot play it because I genuinely do not enjoy so much of it outside of the core story.

Also I remember finding an interview somewhere regarding 13sar and how there was supposed to be 20-30 more hours of content???? I'd love to see how that worked into the story, but also that game is near perfect and I wouldn't want to change anything lol

20. What is the purest ship in the fandom?

....so Im not sure what constitutes as "pure" for this ask. Like fluffy? Naive and innocent? Have not had sex and probably won't?

You know what, fuck it, let's knock out all of those.

Fluffy? For me, Aeris/Tifa. My favorite fics I do for them are super fluff overload and it just makes me smile. They're just two girls living that best life and I'm proud of them.

Innocent? Hmmm... I kind of want to say Keitaro/Natsuno from 13sar. Between Keitaro trying to be polite when she's wearing a track outfit and Natsuno having a onetrack mind with her hyperfixation of sci-fi/aliens, it makes for a lot of innocent moments between then. Like Keitaro is a blushing disaster who would scream into his hat if Natsuno showed any more skin than she already does.

Lol sex wut? Honestly, I'd put Link/Zelda into this. I used to ship them more, but I dunno. I got really bored with the fan content for them. I have trouble imagining them doing anything sexy, so yeah. That's my pick.

[sidsinning]

Salty ask list 😎 1-5 & 20-25 😎

I’m pretty sure this is for Miraculous mostly so here I go

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?*

-Chloe x Luka. When I saw just how popular this ship really was, I was shocked. They haven’t even met in canon. Their opposite personalities just don’t clash for me in a good way. Luka is such a selfless and nice guy while Chloe is selfish and narcissistic. It feels like a ‘Luka fixing Chloe’ type of situation to me, which I’m not into.

2. Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?*

- (Hope this doesn’t get me killed.) Luka and Adrien. I really think of them as just friends. I am just not interested in shipping them.

3. Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?

-I don’t think so.

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?*

-Adrien x Kagami. I do not find their relationship well developed in the show, romantically or platonically- it just sort of happens out of the blue with no explanation or chemistry. It doesn’t feel good to watch them because most of the time, it’s just to make Marinette anxious. Whenever they have a scene together, it isn’t to develop their connection as people, it’s to make Marinette jealous and upset. Their romance, heck their whole relationship, isn’t theirs.

-Okita x Nobume. They are too similar in personality for me. Not popular but I still see stuff occasionally.

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

-Dramione. I read some fics for it that took 3 years off my life.

20. What is the purest ship in the fandom?

- Luka x Marinette. Wow are they just wholesome and sweet. Being around each other makes them feel happy and at ease. They have each others’ backs. Marinette isn’t surrounded by stupid girl drama around him, which is a big reason I dislike the show these days. She also acts like a normal girl who likes a boy instead of a crazy stalker. Episodes with him don’t make her out to be a klutz, or in the wrong for everything. Luka’s presence helps her relax and “go with the flow” as he says.

21. What are your thoughts on crack ships?

-Have a good time and keep doing what you’re doing mad lads.

22. Popular character you hate?

-Chloe Bourgeois. Redemption arc was a flop. She’s still mean and hasn’t apologized to any of the people she’s hurt. Feels like everyone just forgave her for the plot. Having a sad backstory does not excuse what she’s done. I do not like how her Miraculous was given to validate her instead of earning it through self improvement. She shouldn’t be a hero just so she can feel good about herself.

23. Unpopular character you love?

-This would have to be between Luka and Kagami because I see hate for the both of them. Luka has some hiccups in terms of character development but I still like what he brings to the show. I like Kagami’s base characteristics, but hate her role/portrayal in the show (until Ikari Gozen).

24. Would you recommend XXX to a friend? Why or why not?

-Here’s where I’ll branch off Miraculous a bit and say EVERYONE NEEDS TO WATCH GINTAMA. One of the most unique experiences I’ve ever had watching a show. It is truly unlike anything you’ve ever seen. You feel like the characters are your friends, and are deeply connected to them as if they were real. WATCH IT PLEASE IT’S HILARIOUS AND TEAR JERKING AT THE SAME TIME.

-As for MLB, I’d give people a disclaimer first and let them decide for themselves. 

25. How would you end XXX/Would you change the ending of XXX?

-Bleach. Have Ichigo remain a Soul Reaper, because he himself said it was something that gave him meaning in life, and gave him the power to protect those around him. Just becoming a dad that runs his family’s clinic in the end is so random and anticlimactic. Also have no one end up with each other. Even though I shipped Ichiruki, it simply wasn’t the type of show to develop that sort of thing. Having everyone remain close friends would’ve been the best choice, especially with how rushed the ending was.

(And Chad shouldn’t have ended up as a professional boxer bc WTF that goes against your whole character???? Don’t use your fists unless it’s to protect your loved ones right???)

[thealexchen]

ask thing 4 and 9 ^^

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?

Any ship that puts Chloe with a dude, because she’s pretty clearly depicted as gay. Caulscott is just a huge NO— why the hell would anyone want to ship Max and Nathan after how he treated her??

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

Copied/pasted from my last ask: 

The obvious answers, of course: Jeffershit, Eliot, Hank Stamper, Brett Foster. They’re depicted as straight-up shitty people.

Besides that, I really cannot stand David Madsen and his past doesn’t excuse his actions at all. He was capable of giving Chloe a bit of respect and decency. Adding onto that, I hate that Joyce excused all of his abuse. I don’t think she’s a good parent. Even in BtS, she would try to listen to Chloe but didn’t actually listen to her. It’s so frustrating.

I don’t like Nathan or Warren. Nathan is violent, misogynistic, and I hate how much he gets away with everything, but I guess because of his home life he’s just like that. Warren comes off as pretty entitled, pushy, and quiiiiiiite guilty of toxic masculinity (feeling constantly entitled to Max’s affection for being a “nice guy.”)

Thank you for asking!

Salty fandom ask list— send me questions!

[dreamstormdragon]

Top 10 Female Characters!

Tagged by the awesome @nightwonder7 to do this. So let’s get started! 10 cool gals from 10 fandoms!

1. Red Blood Cell  AE-3803

The newest cause I just started watching Hataraku Saibou/Cells at Work but so far quickly becoming a favorite. She’s a bit ditzy but she’s a brand new blood cell learning about the body she lives in and figuring out where she’s supposed to go. She’s really funny.

2. Princess Serenity / Sailor Moon 

Nostalgia’s coming into play here (and with more on the list to come I assure ya) I loved Sailor Moon when I was a kid, I really looked up to Serena and her friends as characters and their stories stuck with me for years. The transformations, the way they always stuck together. Serena was always my favorite scout though. Moon Prism Power!!!!

3. Honey Lemon!

This gal! Honey Lemon is such a sweet girl, she’s a bit naive about the rougher parts of town but she’s always got her heart in the right place. She has her down moments but she’s always up for a pep talk or worrying about her friends. (Especially Hiro.) She’s just a big sweetie and I love her. 

4. Misty Waterflower!

I grew up with Pokemon. It’s still one of my main fandoms as an adult still, I even play the game competitively. It’s something that’s always been there and I’ve always loved it. Misty was the first Pokegirl I got to know and one of my favorites. (Not my favorite, favorite (sorry Mist you’ll always be the nostalgic one though) She was always dedicated to her water Pokemon and her bond with Gyarados is amazing. Even if she was a brat she out grew it.

5. Kari Kamiya/ Hikari Yagami

Honestly I loved all the gals from Digimon from Sora all the way to Yoshino in Savers/Data Squad. There’s not a Digimon Girl I don’t like to some extent but I’ll give it to Kari. Her arc in season one is my FAVORITE of that season. Especially her bond with Gatomon and how committed her brother is to her. I love this gal and she gets some good growth in season 2. Also Angewomon is awesome. 

Feels like there’s a lot of anime here... I watched a lot of anime as a kid okay?

6. Kim Possible! 

I watched a lot of anime growing up. But I also had gals like Kim to watch too. She was one of those characters you just couldn’t dislike. She had her moments where she was in the wrong and owned up to it. She was always helpful sometimes to her detriment... And the popular girls only had one who disliked her cause of jealousy. KP’s biggest issues was defeating her villain gallery before school or before lunch was up. Overall just a cool character, Kim was great. (and the Kim Possible soundtrack is waaaay too catchy for it’s own good.)

7. Nova (Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go)

Jinmay should probably be here instead of Nova, but Jinny only had about three episodes of real character development. Nova... Ho boy Nova. This show was cheesy as heck but Nova was so much fun. Antauri was my favorite but Nova was second. She had a lot of things going for her, from actually having legit fears (being seen as weak, she actually had anxiety in the cold due to abuse her former leader dealt out (basically locked her in a cold room until she was about to freeze to death and then she got royally pissed off) she’s got some fire power to her too and she is definitely the team mom. Seriously, you touched a hair on Chiro’s head and you were dead. Her weapon? GIANT FISTS. Yeah I’m still salty about the way the show went in the final season but in those first few seasons? Pretty fun stuff. And I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for this one.

8. Carmen Cortez

I swear I probably drove my mom crazy trying to find a shirt just like that one in the kids section when I was little. Carmen is unapologetically kick butt. Even though she was a brat sometimes with how she and Juni fought... She was a kid. She also wasn’t phased at the obstacle course she and Juni had to do every morning before school, even expertly jumping a THOUSAND FEET and not being phased. She was the big sis and she did her job well at keeping Juni safe and also fighting with him. They were equals. Spy Kids overall was just a great movie series for me as a kid and I still like it as an adult (Except Spy Kids 3. We don’t talk about it) 

Plus I still use that phrase up there every now and then. It’s funny.

9. Madoka Kaname and Homura Akemi

I’m cheating, I know. But these two are so intertwined you can’t separate them. Best friends to the very end, Homura did everything in her power to protect Madoka and Madoka realized in the end Homura WAS her best friend. Still watched out for her and refused to let her become corrupted in despair. I can’t talk more about these two amazing girls without spoiling the entirety of Puella Magi Madoka Magica (if you haven’t watched it, do it. Even if “Mahou Shoujo” anime isn’t normally your thing. You will not regret it) sooo yeah.

10. Naomi Kimishima

NAOMI!!!!! I am a huge Trauma Center fan so it wouldn’t be right to end this list without one of my favorite ladies from this medical series. (Honorable mention to second favorite TC gal Tomoe) It’s been awhile since I played the games but Naomi was always a favorite of mine. She reminded me of Temperance Brennan from Bones, a show I was really obsessed with at the time too. But she was also her own character. Her interactions with Gabe, her relationship with Little Guy/Agent Navel (I STILL SHIP IT DARN IT) and especially how things effected her. One of the most heart wrenching scenes for me was (And major spoiler seriously) was when she was saying it was her fault that Alyssa got hurt and Little Guy was holding her back from the blast zone. And then in the end... She chose to raise Alyssa as her own. That child became her little girl and she clearly loves her dearly. Even if Chloe that darn cat keeps getting her into trouble. (And Naomi was one of the first characters I ever created a next gen for, my character Lucas was created after I played the game for the first time back in 2010) 

Soooo yeah.  10 11 gals. All cool characters.XD Thanks for tagging me, was fun. 

I will not tag anyone this time. Do it if ya wanna.

[enyaga]

1, 22 and 23 for the salty ask (´∀｀)

Thank you so much!! It would be useful to get a fandom along with it, but if you give me freedom, I’ll just go for a little remix lmao

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

When it comes to Inazuma, there’s several, like Tsurugi x Kinako, Handa x Max and, especially, Midorikawa x Yagami. The third one is especially irritating.

For other fandoms, I don’t get Taichi x Meiko from Digimon Tri, which seems to have been a thing some people think they were shoving down our throats, but I didn’t see it at all. And even if I did, I wouldn’t have liked it.

Same with Midoriya x Bakugou in BNHA. Look, I’ve only watched the first two seasons, but Bakugou has been an asshole to Midoriya (and in general) through and through. There’s no redeeming what he did and how much he’s abused poor Midoriya for absolutely no reason. That ship is not only pointless to me, but also super toxic. At this stage, at least.

Also, Max x Chloe from Life Is Strange SUCKS. It’s similar to Midoriya and Bakugou: Chloe treats Max like utter shit most of the time and simply tries to balance it out by saying, “hey, yer my friend,” and that’s apparently what people are crazy about. Max deserves MUCH better than goddamn Chloe. Max x Kate all the way. Or even Max x Warren, because that guy tries super hard for her and he deserves the world.

22. Popular character you hate?

Oh, boy. Here we go.

If it isn’t clear yet, I hate Bakugou, I hate Chloe and I hate Midorikawa. (No, I have nothing against Tsurugi, Kinako, Max or Handa–I just don’t see the point.)

Other than those, I hate Tenma from IE. He’s insufferable and a fucking god who leeches off everyone else and sucks their power to become stronger. The final match from Galaxy was a literal deus ex machina. Blergh.

If any of you have played Another Code/Trace Memory, that game is full of dipshits. Ashley’s dad is a dipshit no matter what he does. Bill is a dipshit. The rich girl from Another Code R is a dipshit. Matthew is a smaller dipshit, but still one. The only main character who isn’t a real dipshit is D. He’s cool.

Oh, and I’m not a fan of Ikki from Saint Seiya either, nor Kabeyama, Tsukishima and Oikawa from Haikyuu. I don’t hate them the way I hate Chloe, but I still don’t like them.

23. Unpopular character you love?

All of them, probably. I absolute ADORE MIneta from BNHA. I absolutely ADORE Handa and the rest of original Raimon, the forgotten kids from Go and Earth Eleven, along with Kozoumaru from Ares. I love Ryouga from Ranma even though my girlfriend can’t stand him (sorry, boo). I FUCKING love Krillin, Yajirobe and Yamcha from Dragon Ball. I love Kimahri from FFX. Heck, I even love Osomatsu.

And, well, I love everyone who deserves better than they got. Which is awfully common.

Thank you so much for your questions!

[rorykillmore]

rachel amber, rory gilmore bc I exist to make you answer questions about her and uhhh bayformers!optimus

fine

FINE

rachel amber

How I feel about this character:  i love her....... honestly i have a weird thing for Dead Girl With Secrets narratives so she was one of the things about life is strange that always really really fascinated me. i’d been (tentatively, warily) looking forward to meeting her properly in before the storm and?? she’s great??? she’s charming and grounded and free-spirited and angry and fractured and sometimes even very troubled and destructive (oh and GAY) and i’m like... i’m literally here for all of these things.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: nathan

My non-romantic OTP for this character: even outside of a romantic context i’ve ofc always thought it would be interesting to see what her and max thought of each other. also maybe her and victoria, i feel like they have a weird and interesting dynamic even though we only ever really hear about it.

My unpopular opinion about this character:  there’s this part of the fandom that’s always trying to nitpick and find ways to prove that she was secretly the most evil person alive or some shit and i’m just like..... or you could relax

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:  i think we all know hahahaha

rory gilmore

How I feel about this character: obviously i am very skeptical and critical of a lot of the choices rory makes and sometimes i’m more frustrated with her than anything but?  i also do genuinely love her? in spite of all of that? i guess it’s just symptomatic of growing up with the show and her as a character, like she’s almost... familial to me. i can’t hate her. but i do find it really interesting to pick apart her character because there are so many unusual directions she goes in. they really aren’t afraid to tear down their protagonists in gilmore girls.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: i’m pretty infamously team jess although my feelings on it are. complicated? i really love jess as a character but i don’t think he and rory have a very... healthy relationship when they’re teenagers. when they’re adults they’re clearly much more well-suited for each other (although honestly at that point i sometimes feel that jess is too good for her, but i teeter back and forth between that and really loving their dynamic) so. shrugs.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: lorelai of course!! lane, paris, umm... emily and richard definitely always have a really interesting dynamic with her. i guess that’s probably it? rory doesn’t really have a lot of friends. it’s a weird thing that the gilmore guys podcast points out constantly.

My unpopular opinion about this character: idk man, the fandom is all kinds of split on their rory opinions from what i know so it’s hard to peg anything as “popular” although... team logan is a pretty prevalent thing and i’m of the opinion that that relationship is all kinds of shitty, if that counts.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: honestly like as much as i go on about how much of a wreck she is, the revival kind of did her dirty. like i’m not sitting here tryin’ to watch her regress through her earlier development. i could’ve worked with the whole “she’s kind of lost, doesn’t have a job atm, has to go home and live with her mom for awhile” thing because in our society that IS something that happens even to people in their thirties! but the stuff where she’s having an affair with logan (which shouldn’t even be a thing because a) she and logan broke up for pretty valid reasons at the end of the original series and b) there was already a plot where she HAD AN AFFAIR WITH DEAN and it ended horribly and she should realistically know better) and acting pretty selfish about wanting to write a book about lorelai without her consent is just... amy sherman-palladino, why. see you made me go off.

optimus

How I feel about this character: bayformers in general is so... dumb a lot of the time, but god do i enjoy optimus. there’s something so, idk, emotional about seeing him in live action. he has such gravitas even despite bayformers being... bayformers. i think if you already come from a place of loving his character, bayformers is at least somewhat rewarding to see him alone. also DAMN do they build up a lot of interesting potential with his anger and trauma that other iterations don’t; i’ll never not wish they explored that with more nuance.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:  no one i guess?? honestly megatron is the only person i ever really come close to “shipping” with optimus in any capacity but apparently in bayformers they’re ~brothers~ (somehow)

My non-romantic OTP for this character: him and all the autobots but especially bumblebee. also him and mikaela just because mikaela’s fuckin’ awesome!!!! and i’d love to see him bond a little more with a human that isn’t like. sam.

My unpopular opinion about this character:  i really have no solid grasp of bayformers opinions... i know a lot of fans are (rightfully) salty but i’m not sure how much that extends to optimus or his arc so???

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: JUST WRITE HIM BETTER JFC. there’s so much interesting shit you could do with an optimus who is slowly beginning to distrust humanity and question himself and i bet 0% of it is in the last knight. thanks michael bay,

[anipwrites]

24- 29 :)

24. favorite scene you’ve ever written

I think my favorite scene I’ve written ever is probably either when Nathanael gets reakumatized in A Darkened Soul, when Nathanael is fighting Ladybug and Chat Noir in the same story, or when Le Dessinateur, Reflekta, and Princess Fragrance all fight Ladybug and Chat Noir in The Disposables. Or when Nathanael meets and talks to Master Fu in Ain’t Clowning Around. Or literally whenever a clown appears in Ain’t Clowning Around. Its so hard to choose just one.

(Skips 25 to put it at the end)

26. story you’re most proud of

Honestly? It’s not the most popular one, but I’m really proud of Ain’t Clowning Around. Its nowhere near finished, and I’m hoping to make it a series, but its the first time I’ve ever bent canon this far and I think it’s going pretty well. Alternatively, A Darkened Soul, because it’s the first time I’ve ever finished a fanfic that wasn’t just a one-shot. And Last Christmas, because it was directly based off of my favorite Christmas song in all eternity, and I actually DIDN’T just copy and paste the lyrics into the fic like I do with any other songfic, and it came out really well imo, so.

(Skips 27 because that gets long too)

28. worst review you ever got 

“I'll be honest: I expected this to be a bit more... Serious and mature.” on ff.net, The Disposables, Chapter 2. Like, geez, if you want ‘serious’ and ‘mature’ then write your own. Its going to be fairly serious, but you need a bit of comedy between the serious to relax, right? I think. Unless this guy just loves to orgasm off seriousness in fanfic or something. Like, Chill, my dude.

“Why didn't Nathaniel just draw new clothes? XD” on ff.net, THe Living Nightmare, Chapter 3. I mean, I’m just being salty with this one, but. Wow. Its almost as if he’s not going to do that neXT CHAPTER. HE WAS GONNA UNTIL IVAN’S DAD GAVE HIM PAJAMAS TO WEAR HOLY SHIT DUDE.

“They're being mean to them because they murdered six kids to try and get out and commit more genocide to be free, taking their souls. Oh, and they can shoot energy beams. And fireballs. And summon hordes of flies.It's called "reasonable suspicion" or "reasonable concern". Every single monster can do magical attacks of some kind in the game as we saw. And can claim souls after killing a human. No normal human can do that. Humans have every reason to be A LITTLE AFRAID of these monsters, dude. It's not just a matter of "cuz they're different". I see that over and over again with Undertale works, and every time I have to shake my head. It's just simply a lie to say it's simple racism. This isn't like being afraid of black people or Asians, where the only difference is skin color. No black person can teleport around, or have bones pop up to barrel into you, or shoot magic spears!” SurfaceTale, Chapter 1, Fanfiction.net. Like, okay, this was the VERY first review I got on this story, and it was my first time writing fanfiction in a really long time, and I had written it together with my friend, and I was so excited to finally put it up and then I got THIS in my inbox. Honestly probs one of the reasons I didn’t continue it.

29. favorite story/poem of another author

*sigh* okay lets GO 11 PM CONFIDENCE DON’T FAIL ME NOW

“The Weight of Jade” by @thelastpilot​

“Illusions and Illustrations” by @nobodys-pearls​ (is this the right one omg)

“The Akuma Hunger Games” by @queenkubdel​

Thats about it thats all I can remember off the top of my head I am SORRY but also these stories both inspired me the most to write. Like, Illusions and Illustrations inspired me to write Casual Villainy (which lead to A Darkened Soul) and Ain’t Clowning Around (which lead to about everything else), and Illusions AND Jade both are like *wipes tear* writing GOALS OH MY GOD. Like the Warriors series is what inspired me to write in the first place but these two are what inspired me to write AGAIN OH MY GOD

And Akuma Hunger Games is a good read for a few laughs and its genuinely entertaining and I think about it when I’m sad to cheer me up sometimes.

NOW BACK TO THE ONES I SKIPPED Y’ALL ARE IN FOR A RIDE

asks for fanfic writers

25. favorite line you’ve ever written

Oh my gosh. So hard. I’ll just post a few favorites. Just a warning that some aren’t as eloquent and symbolic as you might be expecting from an author lol.

This is where this starts to get long, so read below. (I can never keep these short dammit)

“The Evillustrator stood before her. But most importantly, her son did. He was hurt, and he needed to be saved from the beast that had taken over him.

The only problem was he clearly didn't want help.”  A Darkened Soul, Chapter 2

“Feline fucker”  ADS, Chapter 2

“The Evillustrator heard her and scoffed. "Do you really think you can stop me with those?! Fat chance, Lady Bitch!"

"Hey! Language!" she huffed, crossing her arms as she looked around for any indication on how to use the round stones in her hand.”  ADS, Chapter 2

““...well, I mean, he didn’t say anything, but he was there, and to be completely honest neither of them had to do that. They could’ve just left me there, and I’m really glad they didn’t. It’s almost like… I dunno how to explain it, but it’s like… I mean, they’re the heroes of Paris. They deal with crazies all the time, they don’t really have to stop and help each and every time. And yet, they do it anyways. They definitely helped Paris that Saturday, but they took a bit of time and helped me too. And I’m grateful.” Nathanael took a breath. “They reminded me that people make mistakes, but in the end, I still have friends to fall back on. Whether it’s Chloe tormenting us, or Ms. Mendeleev talking shit about our grades, or if we just woke up on the wrong side of bed, we have people to support us. And I’m grateful for that; some people don’t have half as much. And I hope that I can find the courage to be a support system for someone else.””  ADS, Chapter 4

“He felt a sharp burning seize his chest and his heart beat fast with adrenaline. He wasn't going to let this happen if he could stop it. Nathanael Kurtzberg was not going to be to blame for some poor old man dying from a construction accident. He was there, he could do something, so he would. Or at least try his best. His grip against his sketchbook shifted into a one-handed gasp as he rushed forwards. He wasn’t aware of the fact that he was shouting for the man to ‘look out’, was barely aware of the fact that he was actually doing this until he grabbed the old man and pushed him aside, away from the path of the falling brick.” Ain’t Clowning Around, Chapter 2

“all he saw was his reflection in the mug, and he didn't much like what he saw. A too-short, too-scared boy with no one who cared for him, not even his own parents. How pathetic. He only felt more pathetic when he looked up and saw the sympathetic look in the old man’s eyes.” ACA, Chapter 2

“‘You wanted to drown Marinette and Chat Noir!’

Monster.

‘You wanted to torture me!’

Monster.

‘You wanted to work for Hawkmoth!’

Monster!

That’s all he was, all he was ever going to be, a monster! Why was he cursed like this, why did he remember so much, why! Had he really wanted it? Had he really wanted all of that?! If given the chance again, would he accept Hawkmoth’s deal with open arms?! Was he just a tool?! Would he say no, was it possible to say no?!” ACA, Chapter 2

“A sudden flash of color caught his eye just enough for him to turn his head slightly, and he felt his heart skip a beat at what he saw. It was the clown. It lifted a finger and beckoned for him to come closer, to cross the street and hear whatever he had to say. Every instinct told him to run, his brain was screaming for him to fight or fly, he felt his muscles tense for a sudden outburst of energy. And yet, something was telling him to come closer. This clown clearly wanted something, maybe he had dropped an ID or something and he was trying to give it back? Curiosity began to overtake the panic in his brain, and he almost crossed the street.” ACA, Chapter 3

“Nathanael Kurtzberg was not having this voodoo crap.” ACA, Chapter 3

“For maybe the second or third time that day, adrenaline tore its way through his veins and he punched the clown in the face, right in the nose, and felt a satisfying crack.” ACA, Chapter 3 (This line and the other one are one after the other but they’re favs for two different reasons so)

“He wouldn’t have to deal with Chloe and creepy clowns if he was dead.” ACA, Chapter 4. Me too, Nathanael, me too.

“What the hell was in that tea that old man gave him earlier?!” ACA, Chapter 4. Pfffft bahahahaha

“Soon he barely even felt her there, barely even felt the pencil in his hand or the desk under him. He just felt his eyelids getting heavy, and his body felt weightless. His pencil was moving in his hand, but it felt distant, unattached. The lamplight dimmed as the word vanished behind his eyelids.” ACA, Chapter 4. First time I’ve ever really written someone slowly falling asleep while doing something, and after getting some help on it, I really like how it turned out.

““Holy fuck, I’m late!” Nathanael exclaimed, jumping to his feet as he scrambled to get his things together. His alarm had been ringing for twenty minutes already, school was going to start in thirty, and it took fifteen to get over there! How had he missed the alarm?!A quick glance at his phone revealed that the ringer had been switched off.

Nathanael hated his phone.” ACA, Chapter 5. Me too, Nathanael.

“Nathanael swallowed. He wasn’t going to let them get to him this time. Biting remarks tended to cause things to take bad turns when it came to Chloe. He’d have to find another way to defuse the--

“Well, at least he has a mom!” Everyone’s jaw dropped to the floor at Lila’s comment. then Chloe’s eyes narrowed viciously.

Goddammit, Lila.” ACA, Chapter 5. Me too, just--Goddammit, Lila.

““Well, fuck!!” he jumped up and grabbed his bookbag and his hat again.“Nathanael!”“Sorry, I meant frick!”” ACA, Chapter 6.

“Did she understand how much she'd taken from him? Everyone had heard of her little speech about how her locker was her 'private garden' and how those who entered without permission 'broke her soul and stole her privacy.' If some dumb locker was a private garden, his sketchbook had been Eden. And Chloe had just broken in with a steamroller and turned paradise into a wasteland.” The Living Nightmare, Chapter 1

“Why was Chloe Bourgeois allowed to stomp around like some kind of tyrant and crush everyone's emotions underfoot with no consequence? It wasn't fair, it just wasn't, he--

The room took a hazy purple glow as a dark voice dripped like sweet poison into his ears.” TLN (I just love writing people getting akumatized or re-akumatized but this is one of my favorites for just how SUDDEN it is)

“"I… I said no." he felt so much power in that word. Last year, he'd been faced in this situation and had said yes. This simple, two-letter word had so much strength now. He'd fallen before, he'd let him control him before. But not today.” TLN, Chapter 1

“His answer came to him in the form of a sharp pain in his chest. He let out a strangled scream as the pain branched out from his chest and into every fiber of his being. It felt like he was being torn in half, limb by limb, atom by atom, molecule by molecule. As the world went black around him, he thought he heard Hawkmoth's evil laughter. He thought he heard Chloe's mocking cackle.

He thought he saw his fingertips turning purple.” TLN, Chapter 1. Like, Jesus Christ, for how much I hate feeling pain I damn sure love putting my favs through it am good at writing it.

“Wow. Hawkmoth was a dick.” TLN, Chapter 1. ME TOO NATHAN.

“Nathanael hadn’t dared let himself leave the alley. It was still the middle of the afternoon; going out in broad daylight would only bring about more screams and accusations. He didn’t want to face them. He wasn’t ready to.” TLN, Chapter 2

““Uh-oh. Emotions in Paris are never a good idea.” Ivan joked.” TLN, Chapter 2

““Well, I was in my room all emotional and stuff and all of a sudden Hawkmoth’s like ‘lol I am Hawkmoth you’ve failed me once but I’m giving you another opportunity to snatch some jewelry for me.’ ” He grinned when Ivan started laughing at his Hawkmoth imitation.” TLN, Chapter 2. I just imagine Nathanael trying to make his voice go as deep and Batman-y as possible and coughing sometime after that. Little laugh break in a serious story.

“Ladybug continued on about how she should’ve been more careful, more considerate, but to be honest Nathanael had stopped listening. They were standing under a street light, the harsh yellow glow glinting off of her earrings. He could see the vibrant, almost glowing red of them, five black spots crossing the smooth surface in an ‘x’. And Chat Noir’s ring… the glowing green pawpads across the smooth black surface…

He didn’t just want them. He needed them. As everything went dark and he heard a voice telling him to ‘Get the Miraculouses,’ he followed orders.” TLN, Chapter 2. If this line had its desired effect, at least one person reading this story immediately thought, or called out, ‘HOLY SHIT’ when they read this set of lines.

“All he had to do was formulate a good lie to tell this kid, maybe he’d come from a costume party or--

“I’m a costume party.”

The fuck???” TLN, Chapter 3. You know how when you’re trying to decide whether you’re gonna say one of two variations of something and you accidentally end up just mashing the two together somehow?? Or does that only happen to me.

““So how exactly did all of this happen?” ‘Pops’ suddenly asked. “Y’know, the…” he gestured at the entirety of Nathanael’s existence.” TLN, Chapter 3. Me too, Pops, me too.

“He found little bruises and scrapes on his arms and legs when he took off his suit, but he was also pleased to discover that yes, there was underwear under this thing. It just wasn’t his boxer-briefs. They were briefs, if even that, more like a speedo.

He hated speedos with a passion.” TLN, Chapter 3. Because A) I bet at least one person was expecting me to not give him underwear and launch into a detailed discussion of his penis or something and HAH SUCKERS and B) Seeing as the only male underwear I’ve ever handled was my Dad’s, I don’t actually know what teen guys wear, so I had to google ‘what kind of underwear do teenage boys prefer’ AND look at pictures to decide not only what would he have preferred but also what he ended up with instead. I did RESEARCH  for these four lines.

““Je suis le Pire Noël!”

Oh my god. Did this akuma just dab? Four times?!” Shut Up!. Me tOO NATHAN.

“It was the only time they kissed. Because then May happened. And that May may just have been the worst month of his life so far.” Last Christmas.

“Even then, he couldn’t find it in him to blame her. He couldn’t find it in him to hate her. He’d given her flowers, he’d painted a huge portrait of her, he’d given her his love and his time and his devotion and all of the passion he could muster in him and anyone else would see it as a waste, right, but he just couldn’t. Surely, she’d just been excited and hadn’t been expecting things to move so fast. Maybe he’d driven her off somehow? She was far more outgoing than he was, maybe his quiet nature was too restricting for her. But, whenever he looked at Marinette, it wasn’t hate or resent that he felt. Rather, something lost, something he’d been able to taste for a short moment before having it ripped away from him.” Last Christmas

“Is this what heartbreak felt like?” Hell if I know mate Last Christmas

“Ivan was bored out of his goddamn mind.

Fuck Ladybug. Fuck Chat Noir. Fuck da police. Fuck everybody.” The Disposables, Chapter 1. ME TOO IVAN

““I’m sorry, you need me to what?! ” Kingston Damocles’ jaw hung in shock at the preposterous request he had just been given.” The Disposables, Chapter 2. I’m sorry, this line isn’t even all that great, but whenever I think about how I named Mr. Damocles ‘Kingston’ first thing that comes to my mind is *voice in the distance* Sean Kingston. *heavy bass kicks in, shaking the room* Y’ALL WAY TOO BEAUUUUUUUUUUUTIFUL GIIIIIIIIIRL

“Finally, Max. Max was a genius. He was a living encyclopedia, a walking college math textbook, and a computer whiz. He could hack almost anything within minutes… when he felt like it.” TD, Chapter 2. ME TOO MAX.

““That’s like saying the manager of some bakery is fit to rule all of France! Which, by the way, they aren’t! And someone who already has experience should be leading a major operation, and someone who doesn’t should be, like, an intern or something! And, no, Chloe doesn’t count, she’s only been Bourgeois’ intern for two months and has done nothing but sit on her ass and sip on triple-macchiato lattes!” Max said.” The Disposables, Chapter 2. SLAY, MAX.

““You need to be debriefed, you don’t even know what we’re doing or what we know!”” TD, Chapter 2. GET HER, MAX.

27. best review you ever got

Gosh there’s several, hang on. Because I just LOVE getting reviews like they all make me so happy I like to just go back and read them over when I’m feeling down and need inspiration.

“This is seriously incredible like oh my gosh?!?! It's hard to find good Nathaniel centred story's such as this one!! Thank you so much for writing this and ahhhhhhhh!!!!!! Can't wait till the next update!!!!” Pandamonkey12 on AO3, Ain’t Clowning Around Chapter 2

“This is cool i hope a story like this becomes cannon” Saurka on AO3, Last Christmas

“Yes!!! I seriously love this story thank you so much for updating! You are incredible and I can't wait to see what will happen next! Seriously a great chapter!!!!!” Pandamonkey12 on AO3, Ain’t Clowning Around Chapter 4

“This is seriously incredible!! Like ahhhhhhhh!!!!! It's such a cool idea and I can't wait to see what happens next!!!!!!” Pandamonkey12 (Basically Panda Monkey is a great person) on AO3, The Living Nightmare Chapter 1

“https://deusbex.tumblr.com/post/156549006721/the-disposables Keep up the great work! I made you a cover!” DeusBex on AO3, The Disposables Chapter 1 (because HOLY SHIT THEY DREW ME A COVER?!?!?!)

“Ani, you amazing human, this is amazing and it's so well written that it leaves me craving more. I didn't know it would be this good when you brought it up in chat. Just beautiful.” @some-italian​ on AO3, The Disposables Chapter 1

“AAAHHHH! OMG this is so good! Seriously, keep up the amazing work!” VisualSnow on AO3, The Disposables Chapter 1

“IF YOU DO NOT CONTINUE THIS, I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND MAKE YOU. Also, Lol I am Hawkmoth is FREAKING adorable.” SHIPPERHELL on AO3, The Living Nightmare Chapter 3

“I was pleasantly surprised by Ivan having two fathers, which was a pretty good choice. Now Nath just needs to hunt Hawky down and punch him right in the jaw, right hook.” @some-italian​ on AO3, The Living Nightmare Chapter 3

“Wow, at a loss for words, I'm already hooked, so much emotion and sympathy towards him. Great work and have an awesome New Year!” SaturnNights on FF.net, The Living Nightmare Chapter 1

“Tryst me, I'm so far on the edge of my seat I'm nearly falling off! Can't wait to see how it all plays out!” MagicQuill42 on FF.net, The Disposables Chapter 2

Okay so there’s this one fanfiction user called Yellow14, and he comments on every chapter and at the end he always says ‘Keep Writing’ and that just encourages me so much so I started doing it too.

“Woah. I have to say I was not expecting this. It was so... Amazing! From my experience, it seems like you got the villain's personality right, and people actually trying to take selfies with him is pretty funny. Keep it up!” GravityFallsIsAmazing on FF.net, Casual Villainy, Chapter 1. because mischaracterization is the one thing I ALWAYS worry about no matter what, asides from story quality.

“this is totally wonderful and awesome, i couldnt help but smile reading your will definitely be a favourite of mine and others.” Chocolate-cream-pie on FF.net, A Darkened Soul, Chapter 4

Brokenwings35 commented on every single chapter of A Darkened Soul with “I loved the chapter” “Great chapter” and “Awesome chapter” and then on the last chapter said “This story is perfect” and thanks so much omg.

“I absolutely loved this story!” ishipit-myotp on FF.net, A Darkened Soul, Chapter 1. It’s simple, but it was the day after my birthday and I was feeling kind of down because i had the NHS induction ceremony that day. Which you think would be a good thing, except SO many people forgot it was my birthday because they were all focused on my grades and stuff. Including family members. Then we went to J. Alexanders to celebrate my induction/birthday, but I wasn’t particularly close to anyone there and everyone was like ‘happy birthday and congratulations on your accomplishments and your wonderful grades’ and it just kinda felt like nobody there cared about what I liked about me that was ME. It’s kinda stupid, but. Hey.

“Yay Nathaniel! Yay Adrienette! Yay EVERYBODY! This was such an amazing story! I'm glad you wrote it and put it on this site so we could all read it. We really need more authors like you.” GravityFallsIsAmazing on FF.net, A Darkened Soul, Chapter 4. The ‘we really need more authors like you’ part is what gets me because omg that makes me feel like I’m actually good like omg I only ever see those kinds of reviews on like Pilot’s stuff or like super popular fics so to get it on one of mine, let alone one I wrote in the middle of the night sustained by cold medicine?! Oh my god.

“"The world may never know." That moment when a fanfic author starts quoting the Tootsie Pop commercial” Shadow of the Elements on FF.net, Ain’t Clowning Around, Chapter 2. Because OMG SOMEONE CAUGHT ONE OF MY REFERENCES.

And at that note it’s now 12:46 and I have church in the morning I should have been asleep like 3 hours ago but whatevs. Goodnight

[opepin]

april: week two

10: IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL DAY. i got to wear my light jacket and my elephant “harem” style pants vivian got me from cambodia. my morning wasn’t as perfect as i wanted it to be but everything worked out. i woke up 10 minutes later than i was supposed to because i started using the fitbit’s silent alarm. i guess the vibrating doesn’t work well for me. then i found out my bracelet was knotted :( i qq’d and just wore it and actually untangled it on the train. i got to work before 9:30 am though :) i worked on videos in the morning and then charles, me, and cole went to get tenoch! they didn’t have tacos and horchata there T___T so i just got the torta with carnitas and chorizo because cole was pushing it. i didn’t get cheese because my stomach has had enough. lol. it was super salty and didn’t have enough veggies... i rated it a 6/10 and charles rated it a 7/10 LOL. cole was so disappointed in us. i had standup at 12 pm so i went back to the office, chatted for a bit, and then got on.

i got to work on a client map but i only worked on that after i finished editing my videos. these two videos were super long (lots of pauses) so they took longer. x__x; it was such a beautiful dayyyy. cole and i stopped by the cookie monstah ice cream truck and i helped cole pick out an ice cream sandwich. well, i told him to get the cinnabon cookie and reese peanut butter cup ice cream but he got vanilla ice cream. what a basic fool, ahah jk. he offered me a bite but i didn’t want to because i need to get back on my health/fitness grind. the train trolled me because the cart that stopped in front of me was completely empty and the doors were broken but then one came right after :) i snacked a bit when i got back and then did some hip hop cardio and went into the new blogilates ab video and chloe’s new full body/abs workout. i saved both of them to do again :) kevin came back earlier than expected from climbing because he kind of hurt his hand again... tsk tsk.

i showered and then de-boned and cut the fat off the pork. then i tenderized with them with the back of my knife. i watched the latest episode of ‘reign’ while doing this. kevin finished his shower so then i took a break (my neck hurt) while kevin seasoned, breaded, and fried them. then i helped with the noodles and the herbs. we had a real late dinner at like 10 pm and just sat, ate, and talked. i made kevin all of his spring rolls and the rolls we packed for lunch ;D i was like the head chef and giving him da omakase LOL. kevin cleaned as i packed the lunches and then he played soome hollow knight and i tried playing bravely default but i completely ko’d before 12 am. my fitbit says i fell asleep at 11:54 pm...ahah. i got up eventually (kevin left me to play overwatch), brushed my teeth, and then went to sleep right away on the bed. i didn’t even charge my phone. .___. idk why i was so tired...

11: i was still kinda tired when i woke up. i was surprised to wake up though. i don’t remember all of the details before my sleep though? hmm. i wore a dress today and i took my time going to work; i was still one of the first few people in the office! haha. i just worked on the map in the morning. i ate lunch and talked to kal (he came into the office to visit) and then with the 15 minutes i had before stand up, i took a walk and found the one of the few chase atms in boston LOL. it’s surprisingly close to my office! i was a bit late because i didn’t understand the card reader, the atm was small and kind of hard to find, but the walk and getting cash was worth. the rest of the evening was filled with meetings. i was actually the last person out of the office today :OOO everyone went to grab drinks at the rooftop bar at envoy and i just waited for kevin by doing some more work. lol, kevin got to the chase atm before i even left so we met outside of my building.

then we walked to the boston public market and we couldn’t help ourselves and bought some food there. we first delved into a lobster roll -- one of the best i’ve had since coming here. then we walked around and kevin told me that he never had a churro before?! so i bought use two with dipping chocolate from the taza chocolate booth. the chocolate was super bitter at first but paired so well with the churros. kevin really liked it. we walked around some more eyeing the produce, the meats, the eggs, and etc. then we stopped by red fish once more and got their fried fish sandwich because one of the guys working there suggested it, and it was delicious. we were pretty full by then so we took the train home and gamed for a bit before kevin started cooking burgers. we had a super late dinner but it was so yummy! then kevin went to play overwatch and i did my 45 minute “500″ calorie burning exercise video. my fitbit said it only burned about 300 calories and that sent me into a deep dark researching binge on it. some people say yes, it works and some think that it under calculates. meh. then i showered and watched a good amount of youtube videos in bed and slept at like 2:30 am? kevin was still gaming at this point ahah.

12: i still only got 6 hours of sleep or so but i was so awake. i made myself breakfast and went straight to recording. then i got on standup and went into another meeting and after that, ate a hamburger for lunch (still yummy -- kevin made mushrooms with gravy mmm), and then did some video editing. i got to edit a showcase video as well and uploaded that to youtube. it was a pretty quiet and chill day and i got my work done. then i got ready to head out and pick up kevin from work. we walked to a starbucks so i could pee and chilled there while waiting for the children’s museum to open up for the children’s museum grown-up event. it was so much fun! there was a mini climbing wall, we lifted ourselves up on a rope, colored, we played with bubbles, we climbed on one of the play structures, took pictures in a photo booth, and stepped in a real 100 year-old japanese house that was donated by kyoto to boston because we’re sister states?! kevin got a gin and tonic and drank on an empty stomach so i’m pretty sure he was a little tipsy. we got really hungry after the japanese house tour and got a taco for $12...because that’s what they were selling them for...haha. it was a pretty good taco though -- not worth $12.

around 9 pm, we went back home and made spring rolls for a really late dinner. then i did a quick workout before showering and ko’ing in bed. i still slept pretty late and kevin was still up gaming. he’s been binging overwatch because he hasn’t played in a really long time. it was a really tiring yet fun day <333

13: i was so tired in the morning but i got up, changed, ate breakfast, and got to work. phil was off for two days so i thought it was going to be a real chill day but i ended up getting forwarded all of the support emails and etc. i was also super tired so it was not a good combo, but i made it through. i forgot my 3ds at home T_T and cole brought his today so i was like skdfndjkgnfkj.  the rest of the day, i just worked on editing my videos. it was a long and hard process but i managed to get everything uploaded by the end of the day. yeah, i didn’t even take breaks to go bother cole and steve. x_x; however, i did eat a bit of shrimp pizza and will not do it again. i also managed to cut off just the crust of the leftover pizza and eat that as an end of the day snack. i waited for cole to finish up a phone call before heading out. i walked him to the front of south station and then walked halfway to kevin to meet up with him and also to get more steps LOL.

we got home and then kevin played overwatch and i exercised. then i showered and kevin made a ton of stir-fried veggies for dinner. we ate while watching two episodes of black mirror. we watched the white christmas one and the singer one, which is the most popular? then i played bravely default and watched youtube videos while kevin gamed. we both went to sleep before 2 am :) that’s early for us. x__x

14: it was a really productive wfh day! i was also more vocal during standup and checked in on everything. go, me, LOL. anyway, i listened to jazz the entire work day and then made sure i got up and took 250 steps whenever my fitbit reminded me. kevin was surprised at how many steps i took while i was at home. :P when kevin got home he was sooo tired for some reason??? he actually napped on and off for 3 hours. i stayed in bed with him so at some point i fell asleep too and i woke up grumpy because i was hungry haha. kevin was full because he got pizza at his happy hour. then i got mad at fitbit because of how discouraging the UI is, but i totally understand why it says over budget and then the next few hours it could say under budget now. it’s all a matter of how much you’re burning throughout the day rather than the calorie burn overall. anyway, i exercised to get my energy back. it was a bad nap because we both woke up moody ahah. kevin had a skype date with mike and brittany though so he had to wake up.

after his skype session, i apologized to him and then kevin cooked. i was full because i ate cereal before the workout and had some leftovers before i accidentally fell asleep with kevin. i ate a bit of his chives and egg with rice after my shower and then i gamed a bit and looked up stuff online. hmmm what a day. we stayed up of course because the weekend is here!

15: it was another bummy day and we feasted for breakfast. i ate some cereal, chinese broccoli, a couple of dumplings, and a plum. kevin ate dumplings with chinese broccoli and a plum and fermented veggies. x_x; i talked to my mom on the phone for about 30 minutes toooo. :) after eating, we went to the movies to get tickets to watch ‘get out’ at 10:20 pm and then went to target again to check if they have coconut milk. kevin didn’t know that target expanded to a semi-grocery store so his mind was blown when he saw that they had a very large selection of food and milk. i found my unsweetened milk there <333 we also picked up strawberries, some pretzel rolls, and some candy. we got gummy bears and these new trolli branded gummy crushers that aren’t that amazing. kevin dropped me off and he went climbing. then i looked up shoes and inserts from dr. scholls because of my current toe problems haha and then lazed around for a bit. i played some bravely default; i finally got past the beginning of eternia. then i prepped the meat for dinner.

kevin got back and then i did hip hop cardio and arms/back for the day. kevin annoyed me during my work out so we had a mini-argument about explaining things and trying not to make each other seem stupid and it all worked out. then i showered and we ate dinner while watching another episode of ‘black mirror.’ then we ate grapes for dessert and we cuddled for a bit before we headed out for the movies. ‘get out’ was such a great movie. it was the epitome of horror and comedy. kevin got scared a few times and i jumped a bit at the first scene haha. we got back and then gamed a bit more -- kevin got heated while playing hollow knight :P and then we went to sleep at 3 am.

16: it was good morning :) we actually woke up at 10:30 am even though we went to sleep around 3 am? it was a beautiful day outside. i showered in the morning because i wasn’t planning on doing any heavy exercise today and then started doing the laundry after breakfast. kevin played hollow knight while waiting for the rice to cook and then i joined him after doing internet errands and looking at some more shoes and doing some budgeting. we ate lunch and watched the latest ‘worth it’ youtube video and then we planned meals for the week and headed over to kam man. we only spent $17 and $11 of it was spent on swai (fish). we stopped by roche bros only to find out that they were closed for easter. x_x; we forgot it was easter today too, lol -- that’s why the grocery store was so empty! so we just headed to oh my tea and they got new drinks for the summer! my mom told me to stop drinking cold things so i got their latest ginger tea boba <3 it was fate. kevin got their lemon lime tea boba and it was delicious. both were super refreshing.

we headed back to the apartment and took a quick break before starting to deep clean the apartment, especially the kitchen and the living room area. x_x; it was fun cleaning with kevin though :) then we washed up and kevin started cooking the fish and some wood ear mushrooms. i took this time to play bravely default. lol. i’m currently over it because of the rest of the storyline but i must play through T^T then we ate and watched the latest episode of ‘supernatural.’ kevin went to play more overwatch and i just planned out my new workout schedule. i’m planning to split up my workout and do cardio in the morning and then cardio / pilates or whatever else when i get back from work and also try to sneak in a 10-15 minute walk during the day. i’m trying out the whole “being active throughout the day” without tiring myself out completely.  i just hate that i have to sleep earlier and wake up earlier, but i’m testing it out tomorrow to see how that is. i planned on sleeping at 11 pm but then we had to make the bed and everything so i ended up sleeping at 12 am, but nbd. it’s way better than sleeping at 2 am haha.

[stephaniegoestoflorence]

(07/20/13) The Uffitzi & Pitti Palace

This morning we went to the Uffizi Gallery. The Uffizi is huge and composed of two big long wings: an east wing and a west wing. We started in the east wing and moved our way south until we made our way into the west wing. We dealt mainly with Renaissance work first, of which one of my favorites was "Madonna and Child with two Angels" by Filippo Lippi. I'm not usually prone to liking family scenes, religious scenes, or particularly pretty women when it comes to art, but this one just did it for me. Or, after all of the earlier, more Classical art I'd been seeing, the transparencies afforded by oil-resins, the more natural and non-idealized features, and the lighter, sweeter colors were just a breath of fresh air. The one that struck me most, however, was "The Birth of Venus" by Botticelli and partly for sentimental reasons.

When I was little--about 9 or 10--I became obsessed with Greek mythology. I had one of those flashcard books, with the long, skinny cards that were held together by a key ring and gave information on science, history, art, and so on. The little card book I had was about the major characters of Greek mythology, including Aphrodite. Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" was the image used for Aphrodite's card and I used to stare and stare at the tiny reproduction of the painting. The artist, title, and museum were all listed underneath the image and I remember thinking, "Someday, when I get bigger, I'm going to go see this painting." Today, I did. And misted up a little standing in front of it. Like a big girl, though, I blinked real hard until I was composed.

Something interesting to note, though, is that the painting is one of, if not the first painting ever done on canvas. Previous to this, artists always painted on board. For this part of the world, the wood of choice was popular. Farther north, oak. "The Birth of Venus", being created at a time when there were no large factories to make a huge piece of canvas, is actually composed of two pieces of canvas stitched carefully together. The loom that the canvas maker would have used would not have been able to make a wider piece, so Botticelli used two. When you see the piece in person, you can actually see a very faint line running across the center of the painting where the two pieces meet.

We also saw Botticelli's "Primavera", which became more interesting to me once our art historian, Joan, explained it. The piece, although very different in subject matter, is meant to be exhibited with "The Birth of Venus". Whereas "The Birth of Venus" presents the idea of chaste nudity and beauty, "Primavera" is meant to represent change. The piece is horizontally formatted and meant to be read right to left. The eye moves from Zephyrus, to Chloe, to the wood nymph, to the goddess Flora, to Venus, to the Three Graces, and finally ends on Mercury near the left edge.

What fascinated me has to do with the three rightmost figures. Zephyrus, the West Wind, is shown chasing after Chloe. Once he gets a hold of her, Joan said they "get together" (which sounds consenting, while the painting doesn't look consenting at all). You'll notice that there's a vine or some kind of green something-or-other coming out of Chloe's mouth and that this vine/stuff extends onto the goddess Flora. That's because Chloe becomes Flora through her union with Zephyrus; unlike all the other figures in the painting, which don't crowd each other, Chloe appears to push up onto Flora. This represents her transformation into her. This transformation seemed so mysterious and fantastic to me, that I came to really like this painting. Flora's serene and knowing expression helped, of course. A fun little fact is that there are over 80 species of Florentine flowers in the painting, all identifiable and--as Joan tells us from her personal experience--all real. She says that she's seen them all here in Italy over the years.

After viewing more work, Joan released us. This was a good, good thing, as my knees were about to give out and I'd been crazy hungry for two of our three hours with Joan. Classmate Aparna and I grabbed lunch from the Museum's rooftop cafeteria and enjoyed the close-up view of the Vecchio Museum's clock tower and coats of arms. I had a tuna sandwich with salad and mayo and a custard and almond slice tart. The sandwich was slightly salty for a tuna sandwich, but the soft focaccia bread, salad, and tomatoes balanced it out. The custard and almond tart was dusted with powdered sugar, had a mild custard, and nutty-sweet almonds. So good!

Afterward, Aparna and I went down to some of the lower levels of the museum and saw Artemesia Gentileschi's "Judith Slaying Holofernes". No one knows the rush of enthusiasm I felt when I rounded a corner and saw this piece hanging on the wall. In my excitement, I said something that isn't repeatable on this blog and startled Aparna a little bit. I stood there for awhile and tried to soak it all up. Here it was, a piece we'd seen in art history and art seminar, a piece of significance in both art and feminism, and I was standing in front of it.

Good God.

I took a photo. Please don't hold it against me.

Eventually, I moved on (Aparna patiently waited for me), and we also saw Caravaggio's "Medusa", some preparatory sketches by other masters, and Madonna and Child after Madonna and Child. Sore and suffering from museum fatigue, we headed out for our respective residences. Once at the apartment, I put my feet up for some time before eating a little more and heading out to the Modern Art Gallery at the Pitti Palace. I arrived early, so I grabbed some lemon sorbetto at a gelato stand before walking up to meet everyone.

The Pitti Palace, being a building of the Medici (just like the Uffizi), is also huge. We visited only one wing of it--the Modern Art Gallery. For those not very familiar with art terms, this does not mean works from nowadays; from about the 1970's on up to today, that's called contemporary art. Modern art starts somewhere in the 1800's. The works we viewed included a few marble pieces of life-size nude young women with little butterfly wings, which were so thin that the sun shone through the marble. Beautiful craftsmanship and completely charming. As we moved through each room, I was struck by how low-key the museum security was. I saw multiple people covertly take some shots with their phones or cameras--sometimes even in the same room as a guard. The guards, for the most part, looked bored and could be found texting, reading, or lounging in their small guard chairs.

...I took some shots too. For you guys, I promise.

Another point of interest about the Pitti Palace is that the rooms are multiple and small and it is very easy to get too close to a piece and set off an alarm. Once you move away it's fine. However, we were constantly hovered, stepping, or gesturing too near to the sensors and every five to ten minutes we'd hear a beeping. The guards hardly looked up, it's so common at the Pitti Palace. We moved on to historical paintings of Italy both just before and just after its unification from city-states to the country we know today. These were enormous, floor to ceiling, wall to wall pieces.

At length, we visited pieces from the Macchiaoli collection. Joan looked around at our group and asked if anyone was from the Landscape Workshop. The small number of us who were in this museum group raised our hands and Joan said, "Ah," before telling us a few things about the Macchiaoli. These painters started about 1555, 1556. Because they were also painting around the time that Italy was unifying (the 1860's), they became very concerned with "truths". The "truth" or "essence" of being Italian, but also the "essence" of art.

The word "macchi" means "blotch", and this is the word that Macchiaoli is derived from. The Macchiaoli believed that the "truth" of art lay in tonalities: light and dark areas. That colors were always the same--red was always red, blue was always blue--and that the only thing that changes the way they look is how light and shadow played across them. For this reason, they emphasized the values of what they saw and painted in "blotches" of light and shadow, of tonalities. In order to help themselves emphasize or compress the values they saw, they would use a black mirror (really a piece of black glass) with which they looked at the reflection of the scene they were painting. We've been using these black mirrors in class as well, but I hadn't realized that the Macchiaoli introduced them to the art world.

Joan told us a little more about some things that I had practiced in class, but hadn't realized were started by or had origins with the Macchiaoli. She then released us for the second time today and we realized that this had been our last class with her. We stood around for about fifteen minutes afterward talking to her before parting. Aparna and I were curious about another gallery in the palace and decided to check it out as our ticket allowed us to do so.

We visited the Galleria Palatina. This gallery houses much more Classical(?) work and as we had just started to experience museum fatigue, I couldn't really describe any specific pieces to you (apologies!). There was one room, though, that was enthralling: the Sala dell'Iliade. We walked in and met the tall, brown walls, covered in paintings, which led our eyes up to the white and gold molding along the ceiling, which led us up to a magnificent tondo/dome painting. It depicts the Roman (and therefore Greek) gods and goddess on Mount Olympus, with Jupiter seated on a throne at the top (naturally) and almost all the other divinities seated or standing below him. While Aparna was looking up, I used her body as a shield so that I could take few shots without the guards looking. I felt awful about it, but wanted to show you all, and that desire won out. I'm sorry, Italy.

As the paintings and rooms began to all look the same, Aparna and I headed out. We grabbed some gelato--strawberry and pineapple this time--and ate as we walked a bit of the way back to our respective apartments. Here now, I'm up for a shower, so goodnight to you all!