#to say nothing of all the dialogue that got cut bc they simply decided to do something different with the story there

[yandere-yearnings]

do u have any writing tips dar??? Ur stories are immaculate

nonnie?? that's so sweet of you to say, thank you😭🩷 in general, a lot comes to mind bc there's so many different components to writing (i.e dialogue, characterisation, structure,, even mindset!!) so if you want to hear abt anything specific pls lmk🥺 for now tho, i've summarised a few across the subject that i think are helpful, and they will be below the cut bc i'm shit at explaining things, so i ended up writing a lot hhh

i also wanna point out that these are just things that i've personally made note of over the years from my own experiences + being friends w/ other writers, but that doesn't mean they will apply to everyone!! more than anything, i always believe that you shouldn't let other ppl dictate how you do and enjoy things, so if smth works for you and you like it, there's nothing wrong w/ that even if it contradicts an opinion you got from some rando on the internet (a.k.a. me😔💔)

Know your game

I'd like to say that in writing, there's a vein of liberty that isn't echoed in very many other creative fields; a lot of the times you can go in blind, and still make something of it because the nature of fiction is liquid — if you can imagine it, it can work. So to say, I find that nine times out of ten, room for improvement doesn't necessarily lie in the content of someone's writing, and more so its execution.

You could play a desultory game of chess without knowing all the rules, but if you wanted it to be your best match, you'd have to be aware of every move you could make, no? What you do from there then becomes a matter of choice, and choice is a landmark divider between doing something and being good at doing something. There's a difference in omissions due to lacking the technical knowledge, and omissions made because you are aware they are optimal.

Knowledge on the fundamentals of literature will always serve you, and that isn't to say you have to study all forms and contexts, but if you want to write a story, for example, it will always help to know the common elements of one. Grammar, punctuation, structure — brushing up on those things will build your toolkit, and once you've got that, you have the self-autonomy to decide what to use from it. My three favourite writers only use commas and full stops, and their works are, on all levels, spectacular. Still, if you asked them how to use a semi-colon, they'd be able to tell you.

Appreciating the basics will also tie into your creative exploration as a writer, which is a cornerstone in developing your distinctive writing style. I doubt a person in any type of craft hasn't heard a variation of know the rules before you break them, so studying until you do, inside out, remains beneficial to both new and old writers alike.

2. Have a starting point

This tip is fairly applicable to a range of different types of writing, and how one would practice it depends strongly on individual preference and styles of working. Some people like to plan things out thoroughly whilst others, including myself, like to dive in headfirst, and there's nothing wrong with either approach. The commonality between both types of writer is that regardless, they will have at least a vague idea of where to start from — a scene that they've bullet-pointed prior, a lyric that resonated with them, a mental image, an emotion or even just a single word that everything branches from. What all these details achieve is writing that has motion, because you have something of substance to piggyback you to an end point (the establishment of which is also important, but I will not be covering in this post).

3. Decide a structure

Again, this can be done both comprehensively or as simply as just having the thought to adhere to a certain method. As you gain more experience as a writer, you'll begin to understand what works best for you and create a system of your own, but starting out, there are a number of templates that have already been established by writers that you can follow, and find by researching. What matters most is that by using one — whichever it may be — you're turning your text into a story.

As an example, I'll detail two that I use regularly, in their simplest forms for the sake of brevity:

A linear narrative moves from point A to point B, and from point B to point C, etc. and all subsequent points build on the previous ones until your goal is reached. It's a system that works well for shorter pieces because it has a definite structure, like a length of spine and its individual vertebrae (and although we're talking about writing here, I think Newton's Third Law of Motion sums it up very well: every action has a reaction.)

A coalescing narrative considers all points as separate elements that may or may not always interact, but all contribute to the end point to different extremes. It's a useful template for creating depth in a piece, but due to its complexity, is better applied to longer projects.

They are visualised respectively below.

4. Iterate

If you think of your first draft as a block of clay, everything you do to it will equate to it being moulded and shaped, and if you think of your first draft as a skeleton, everything you do to it will equate to flesh being put on the bones. If you want your piece to be the best it can be, there's a sort of detachment you must have from it, where you won't have the fear of changing it until it is in the image of what you have intended. Write and rewrite, add things, take them away, make a separate copy for every edit if that makes it easier for you, but keep working it until you are happy.

Iteration doesn't just apply to drafts — chapters, paragraphs, sentences and even singular words can be given the same treatment. When you pick up the habit, the process becomes second-nature and you'll find that the first lines you put down are the ones that make it into the final piece, and that is in light of sorting through the renditions unconsciously. Additionally, you don't have to do things in one sitting; sometimes taking a break and coming back to your writing with a fresh outlook is valuable.

5. Analyse and apply

One piece of advice I always see given when someone asks how to improve their writing is to read more, and though it is — at its core — a tip worth acknowledging, it always comes across as unserviceable to me. There is nothing that reading will change for you if you are not actively practicing the things you learn, or even actively learning to begin with. So to address it as a matter of semantics, I feel it's best put as studying the writing of others, as opposed to reading.

If you have a favourite author, go over their works twice — once as a reader to identify what you like about them, and then again as a writer to identify why you like those things. To put it into context, if I read something and decided that I enjoyed how clear and easy to understand it was, I'd do a second pass to figure out the attributing qualities. Perhaps it's the use of punctuation, chosen sentence forms or even the simplicity of words used. My first tip of knowing different literary fundamentals is complementary here, because it makes the analysis and application of isolated features that much more smooth, and also means you'd be able to adapt them into your own style instead of just copying the other writer, which is what you want to avoid.

(Some writers I personally recommend studying are @ozzgin, @monstersholygrail, @aayakashii and @urprettylildoe for readability and clarity in execution, @moyazaika, @carnivorousyandeere and @purerae for characterisation and dialogue, @suiana and @unhappy-last-resort for engaging plots and concepts, and @sabotsen and @lirational for word choice.)

[yakocchi]

Becoming a Family With Him, Part 3 // Shuichi, Hikaru, Rhion, Luke, Eisuke

so this came out, as further celebration for the anni. VERY GOOD, much more appreciated than the prior story set lol that one was kind of boring but i get it

they made the kids for all the... kid-less ones, and the eisuke one that used to be VIP-exclusive is now here for everyone to buy (rip those ppl who gacha for it)

my rambling behind the cut (spoilers!!)

shuichi // as ud expect, shuichi has a literal hime ass looking girl (kikyo) for a daughter. she’s only 6, but is pretty calm and ladylike. She even calls her parents with –sama so... ok luckily shuichi does not strip down all the way in the presence of her daughter and only takes off his suit coat. thanks dad

anyway since shuichi has a break coming up, he wants to have a family trip how nice. but then the dang girl wants to go over to see eisuke WHAT when soryu exists and lives a block away? unrelatable, im closing the app anyway eisuke is her first love, which wtf he’s like 20 yrs older than u. even worse, mc says she’s been in love since she was like 3.

shuichi is reconsidering the benefits of democracy in his mind but eventually relents. but then they’re still following the fucc-days rule they set years ago. well, as he says in the story, RULES ARE RULES

blah blah i don’t want to go over everything bc then it’ll be boring reading the story when it comes out in engl right? also im tired bc it’s 1 am and i just want to play toontown in bed but nothing really bad happens. they are a v cute family bc shuichi is a pleasant and mature dad. kikyo and mc even do a little surprise for him at the end and it is very sweet. i feel like out of all the families, this is the most ideal

mad hatter // so they have twin sons named Rui and Kai. Rui is the childlike one that resembles Rhion in personality, Kai is the more mature one that resembles Al. man i forget that boy’s name but u get me i know they only can use stock bgs but it’s killing me that these dang kids get to sleep in what looks like separate king sized beds.

even though rhion is now a father of two, he still acts like... 10. i mean he still horni but it makes me feel weird

later it’s revealed that Ota teaches them both as an art tutor bc they both showed an interest in art. this is cute bc ota is bad with kids in this universe LOL

the ending on this one was weird cuz the kids didn’t show up in the entirety of the last ep bc it was about WORK. so uh... interesting

hikaru // so their son is named akari. haha get it because it means light. like how hikaru also means light. can mc name her kids unrelated to their father or is that against the Geneva convention

this kid actually acts like an actual little boy. like what hikaru would’ve probably turned into if not for the whole sad backstory. the story starts with akari just bringing a dog randomly home one day. he actually saved the dog (it is very cute bc he did not want the dog to cry), and then after a talk they decide to keep the dog as long as akari knows the responsibility of taking care of an animal.

so next day, the bidders come over to their house and everyone’s like woaw a dog. lol they come into their house as guests and eisuke and mamo still demand for beverages, they all suck

akari names the dog... “Light” (Raito) and i want out of this nightmare. Naturally bc Light is an abandoned dog it’s still kind of bad with interacting with things. But then Light suddenly be giving the ( ╹ਊ╹) to soryu bc remember, animals love him. everyone clowns on soryu for being an unintentional dog whisperer and then akari is like “soryu san pls make me ur apprentice” and he gives some advice like approaching it slowly, and talking to it from the front instead of back.

blah blah there’s a situation where Light goes YEET after a Doberman gets all angry and then hides bc then another dog is scaring it. hikaru swoops in to the save the day as the Real Dog Whisperer. ok it’s cute when hikaru actually gets to look cool  for once LOL

luke // luke is cute on the bc “pre-story” scene he’s actually pretty open to the idea of having kids; he actually goes “well imo we should think abt it pretty soon, but i wanted to hear ur opinion on it” but then he gets horni. and then he’s like “our kids are going to have your collarbones. awesomeee im looking forward to that” ....ok

ok cut to the actual story and they’re in Japan. Luke’s kid looks... strange versus the others. why are his eyes so big? omg voltage his eyes arent going to be saucers just cuz he half white also the kid’s name is Yuri (Or Urey). They couldn’t think of any other Brit-styled names? Like Harry? Henry? William? Wilfred? hey stan be my princess btw he’s pretty cute, though he gives serious “timid kid that gets bullied in the children’s movie” vibes. He calls Luke “daddy” and mc “mammy/mommy”.

so luke talks about his relationship w/ soryu and eisuke and then yuri is like “i want friends like that” wow cute but also find less ethically-complicated friends

so luke lets yuri meet a young patient of his (haru) so they can be friends. they get along so it’s good. haru gets in critical condition later so luke zooms outta there to do the operation.

LOL but at the end yuri is like, “i want to make more friends. (...) can i go to the bidder’s room from now on?” this boy works fast

And then he’s like “Eisuke-san... please be my friend.” HIS POWER. even eisuke was like :O so then eisuke orders a whole bunch of food and books up to the penthouse. But then yuri’s like “...i like eisuke’s eyes” and everyone’s like oh man that’s gonna be his fetish

Baba: why have u started to have an interest in eyes Yuri: I read it from one of daddy’s medical books Hikaru: wtf u can read that at 4??? (...) Soryu: wat Yuri: um... i want soryu to be my friend too Yuri: bc soryu’s eyes are also powerfully cool...

eisuke // ok this gets an extended ramble bc the more annoying the story the longer i must complain

so you might be thinking, “oh so this is gonna be a flashback in some in media res styled story with your 2 kids, u know in the style of the others” and well, no you just go straight to white screen into the flashback, back when eito was smaller and thus a little more cute. well it’s not really false advertising bc they did say “reminisce” in the description. but i wanted to see eito be a good big brother for a moment! or... less good? man i wanted to see kaito go waaaah like a baby idk i wanted to see him exist

so back to the story they cut to small eito. even as a smaller punk he does fight with his dad a little, just w/ a more narrow vocabulary to work with. tho at this point he’s still pretty sweet so clearly eisuke clowning him day and night was a negative effect on his development. (doesn’t treat his child like a child) (child grows up to a punk that doesn’t respect him) (surprised pikachu) being the son of a billionaire means that this child has to go study at a very young age and listen to MOZART. no child of eisuke ichinomiya will be listening to degenerate bops like lee taemin’s criminal next day they all go to the very fancy school that eito will be attending. eisuke does a speech, but then eito is all like “why is papa over there all the time” in reference to how all the other parents in attendance are having fun with their children, but eisuke is busy talking to other people for business and connections etc. etc. mc kind of has a hard time trying to explain it to eito bc... it’s honestly poor parenting... eiji shows up after arriving late, and he’s like “gramps is gonna be with ya today! instead of papa” which is cute but then she’s like psst thanks for coming and im like oh... so grandpa just didn’t randomly come to the open house for fun he’s just gonna be surrogate dad while real dad is busy... aw... and then at the end eito’s like FUC THIS KINDERGARTEN. eisuke is like “(smh) don’t yell in public. (despite everything) you are still the eldest son of the Ichinomiya family”

and so afterwards it’s clear that eito does not want anything to do with this school. he just sits in the classroom until mc is there to pick him up instead of playing in the courtyard or w/e, wanting nothing to do with the other kids.

so later there’s a hiking trip for the students and both of their parents, and mc asks eisuke if he’ll be available for it. eisuke is like, “i have a business trip that day, so I’ll have to adjust my schedule” and he’s been very busy in the opening of a new business or w/e. mc tells him to not do so much for something like that and that it’s ok if she goes alone with eito on the trip.

it’s the day of the trip, and mc goes alone with eito. she notes that a lot of dads did indeed come along for the trip. she apologizes to eito and says that she did talk to eisuke about the trip before, but he’s simply busy for this day. and im like... but girl, you were the one who told him not to change his schedule for the trip. yes a trip may seem less important than business ventures, but don’t make it sound like you weren’t the one who stopped him. lol. idk why im pressed abt this single line of dialogue bc later she does realize she fucced up there well eito is just like w/e about it and has pretty much accepted that sort of thing

anyway eito goes missing later and one of the kids said that he told eito that his dad (eisuke) didn’t come bc his dad thinks that his work is more important than his son. so eito got mad and ran off somewhere

and then mc finally gets the lightbulb moment that eito... wants to see his dad!! he ran off to go try to see him somehow??? !! wow so sweet

it’s raining like a mf but then in her search for eito eisuke randomly pops out of nowhere. He’s like “ho i did not remember saying that i wasn’t coming” and she’s like “im sorrryyy” and both me and him are like “just find the dang kid”

ok yea they find eito, he starts being a good student, and u start to see where he starts being antagonistic towards his dad LOL etc. etc. lol this story annoyed me so i don’t feel like doing the rest of the play by play orz

anyway thanks for reading my garbage LOL

[seijch]

ANNOUNCEMENT: NOT A HELLO, BUT NOT A GOODBYE EITHER

omg hi ... im like . ashamed to come back after saying brief hiatus in october and then disappearing off the face of the earth til FEBRUARY but under the cut i will be explaining myself and the following, if youre interested (and a tl;dr at the very bottom if you don’t wanna scroll thru this obnoxiously long post):

the reason(s) i was gone for so long

what i was doing during that time (its just a personal account yall can scroll past this idrc)

the status of those um . halloween requests

the future of this account

i. so . Hiatus .

i know. i know . i probably mentioned it when i made the announcement post, but my mental health likes to go on one of those rides. yknow the ones where you go like up rlly fast then down maybe and then up then DOWN .... its like that. i needed a break and every time i wanted to come back or thought about it, something would happen and i would get stuck in my own head.

a big reason for getting stuck in my head was (and i hate to admit this ... i hate to admit that i have Insecurities On The Internet) my feelings of inadequacy regarding my writing. i love to plot fics, i love concepts and characters and making little headcanons but i dont ... know if i love writing rn. and i thought for the longest time that like . whatever ill just push thru it its fine ill be fine but it kinda wasnt lmao you can kinda see it in my halloween reqs and what become of them when i get to that but i began to feel like nothing i had put out or would put out would hold up prose wise (and normally i dont feel like this im much more “idc its my life im living it” but thats not a rant for tumblr LMAO). i still feel like that -- like im better as a reader than a writer. but . You Know :-)

tl;dr: mental state go brrrrr

ii. anywhere here’s wonderwall

when i left, i was in a steadily decreasing mental and emotional state, made worse by a situation at work that really was a case of petty jealousy on my end and rlly isnt very consequential now despite how much pain and resentment it gave me when it Was a problem so i wont get into it. the tl;dr of november and december was me using work as an crutch and distraction -- i know my job, i do it well, it helped me not think about my responsibilities and obligations and inadequacies. of course, as the holiday season grew busier n busier i was scheduled so often that i moved 88 or so miles (according to my apple watch, which i ONLY wear at work since im never anywhere else outside my house) and fell into a cycle of showering n sleeping at my house before going back the next day. (theres definitely something to be said abt capitalism and “grind culture” here but once again its not the time or place snsjkdfds)

at the turn of the new year, i happened to remember a birthday card i hadnt filed away for safekeeping from a friend of mine that id been horribly out of touch with til that point. i started crying because i realized how out of touch id been in general up until that point. the month of january was great for me: i was focused, happy, and in a much better place than i had been before. the end of it brought me down focus wise and im hoping that enough time away from my distractions will refocus me bc i ... need it LMAO and though ive burned out from that level of productivity and gotten distracted again im ... trying to stay positive which i think is the most i can do 😁👍🏼

media wise, i got real into stardew valley (but burned out bc i played it extensively as a way to wind down after work), the pokemon platinum romhack renegade platinum (still havent finished it bc of school n i played it w the intent to see if i could nuzlocke it ... bitch its so hard but its so fun bc of it), briefly assassins creed: odyssey (im one of those ppl who completes an entire region before i move to the next so you can tell i burned out of that one + wouldnt have the time to properly devote to it even if i didnt), got back into genshin impact after pulling for xiao (after not touching it for like . months), and danganronpa. yes . danganronpa 😐 i Know. i stopped playing it after the second trial of the first game bc i was so hurt by the outcome and picked it up in late january only to get sucked in (thank god i had the foresight to buy the second and third games during the steam winter sale). rn im at the start of chapter 4 if anyone wants to come in my asks and um . talk to me abt danganronpa

tl;dr: I’m Into Danganronpa Now

iii. you realize halloween was three months ago right

i mentioned this in the first section, but i love to plot things. every request is plotted or at least has a solid foundation. i had fun detailing what concept i wanted to go with considering what i was given, and there were some bangers i might touch up in the future. but heres whats going to happen to the requests themselves:

there are two finished requests. one will be posted tomorrow and the other will be touched up (just bc i finished it doesnt mean its good 🧍‍♂️) and scheduled for next saturday. as for the ones i never got around to ...

i will not be finishing those requests. i hate to be That Person, but i feel like we all expected this 🧍‍♂️ what i will do is post all of my notes for each request in batches -- requests that have an @ to go with them will be mentioned in the post proper, but anon asks will be pictured. (there are some asks that came from blogs who are now deactivated but i wrote down all the prompts and remember most of those askers so ill cross that bridge when i get there) there will most likely be an excerpt or two simply bc i think i mightve written a few plot points or interactions in the form of bullet points. i rlly am sorry about doing this but i remember looking at my notion doc with all the prompts and feeling ... like i wasnt measuring up n it wasnt just to myself or to some intangible concept of “other” id constructed but it was instead to those who requested n actually WANTED to see and hear and read my writing and i ...... im gonna admit thats another big reason i avoided this site.

regardless, youll definitely get what i have (and likely more than just my bullet points and illegible handwriting).

tl;dr: im sorry. what i have in terms of plot, concept, and interaction for every request will be posted, but i cant say ill ever complete them and mean it.

iv. so what now?

well i mean . im not entirely sure how sold i am on haikyuu in the content creation department (as a creator n to a lesser extent, as a consumer). as mentioned previously, its no longer my primary focus. it doesnt mean im not into haikyuu anymore; i have a lot of love for those boys but i cant rlly say im even caught up w recent fandom activity and also havent even finished s4 pt2 LMAO thats on my to do list

and despite all that, i still want to share my plots n concepts and snippets and maybe even fics. it wont happen anytime soon. it might not even happen. but i mean . its better than me saying i wont write ever again shjdkfs but either way ill probably use this blog as a personal blog w the occasional ask game for dialogue prompts (those are always so fun i love making up aus to fit like . the most mundane prompts)

as for my works (past and any potential future), ive opened an ao3 acc here n ill be editing n possibly expanding on my old works to post there. tumblr, to me, is The x reader hub, but i figure more x reader fics on ao3 is never a bad thing.

ill be deleting/posting drafted posts to the queue since they were all meant to be queued anyway as well as (sorry again 🧍‍♂️) deleting or answering asks in the inbox. (moots if you get a notif from me saying i rbed your post from months ago ... mind your business) im very hard to get ahold of and its ... a problem. expect an overhaul of the nav n shit to reflect my new direction n also because i feel like i cant tell if my passion for carrd is shared by the majority HSDKLFS maybe its better to read my info in a normal post ykwim .......

and of course . if youve read all this n decided im no longer worth the follow, i sure as hell cant stop you. thank you for wanting to, at some point, hear what i have to say -- it means more than you think.

tl;dr: writing will be edited and reposted to ao3, this blog will be a personal blog with a hint of writing (sometimes)

the tl;dr to end all tl;drs:

im back! i wont be as active as i used to due to a lessened interest in haikyuu in general, but i have an ao3 acc now where all my past work will be edited, possibly expanded, and reposted. any future work will also find itself there. my halloween requests will be posted in batches as incomplete concepts, plots, and snippets of scenes; i wont be promising to finish any of them.

there are still fic concepts im attached to and want to finish, but i cant promise any more writing on my end. this blog will be a personal blog with maybe writing, not a writing blog with my personal thoughts all over it.

regardless if you stick around or not, its been crazy sexy cool (equal emphasis) being on haikyuu tumblr even tho i wasnt around for long ... even tho its not my main focus anymore, im still excited to see what the future might hold 🤝

love, ari 💌

[canonicallyanxious]

hi, If you are still doing taking asks for the top 5 of whatever, I have one. Top 5 (or 10) scenes in the skamverse?

anon this is a really good ask and i’m unfortunately absolute trash for the skamverse so it’s gonna have to be my top 10 skjdnfskjdnfs in the interest of fairness though I’m going to try my best to limit myself to one scene/clip per season [also cut on this one bc it got long oops]

1. Minutt for minutt [og skam s3]

Words cannot express how much this scene still means to me four years after i first saw it. Like this is the scene that made Even and Isak’s relationship so special to me, this is probably the scene or at least one of them that tipped this show from “oh this is really good” to “i will fucking die on this hill for skam” for me. like, just the tenderness of Isak quietly watching Even as he sleeps. the soft physical affection a mentally ill character is allowed to have on screen. this beautiful yet grounded dialogue about coping with mental illness which cheesy as it might sound is also something i’ve very often taken to heart in my own struggle with coping with mental illness since. like god. truly groundbreaking, honestly.

2. David’s coming out scene in druck s3 ep 8 - “i am a boy. i just have to try a little harder” [druck s3]

this scene came very, very close to beating minutt for minutt and honestly on a different day it might have done so, just today i decided to put minutt for minutt at the top simply because it’s been with me for longer. but i think this was probably the most emotionally moving clip for me in the entire season, and i had the privilege to watch it in real time which makes it even more special to me. it was everything i could have ever wanted from david’s coming out - soft, aching, quiet, devastating writing that broke my entire heart. and “i am a boy; i just have to try a little harder” is probably a line that’s going to stick with me for a very long time. i can’t think of another trans person’s coming out scene in mainstream media that has touched me as deeply as this one.

3. Fatou and Kieu My’s museum date in druck s6 ep 6 [druck s6]

this scene has everything. EVERYTHING. space imagery! soft and tender kisses! hands brushing in the dark! yearning looks! playful banter! serious conversations about feelings that move forward both their development! like it just reminds me so viscerally of falling in love for the first time as a teenager. druck in general i think does a very good job of portraying teen romance but the fact that this teen romance is about two wlwoc [one of whom is vietnamese like bitch!!!!] means EVERYTHING to me. like this more than anything else in the entire skamverse is something I wish my teen self had gotten to see. i’ve probably seen this clip about twenty times because part of me still can’t believe it exists.

4. The Carnival scene at the end of the last episode of skam austin s1 [skam austin s1]

honestly i think the entire last clip of skam austin s1 is just pure excellence [even if they made me watch Meg and Marlon have sex in a car wash smfh]. like one of my favorite things about og skam was how it really gave their characters room to breathe and take their time with their conversations and i think this clip is probably one of the ones that come the closest to capturing that energy for me [no wonder i guess since julie andem was so involved with this season]. but i love the carnival scene in particular because i love the energy it captures in meg’s dynamics with the other characters and it’s just such a nice opportunity for them all to finally breathe after a difficult season. also i will never ever forget the pure euphoria of watching Shay become a confirmed lesbian on screen in real time [even if i still think the way it was done was kinda meh]. i think i was giddy for the rest of the fucking night after i saw that.

5. Nora breaking up with Miquel for good in skamesp s3 ep 8 [skamesp s3]

i actually think skamesp s3 is one of the best remake seasons of the skamverse. An incredible feat for skamesp to make me rank a NOORHELL season near the top, but honestly skamesp s3 is much more than a noorhell season, like i think the story it tells is hard to watch but very important to tell. i especially love this clip because it’s just such a well thought out culmination of Nora’s arc throughout the season. and it’s so devastating in how understated it is. the acting is phenomenal, the lighting is gorgeous, my breath was taken away by the way Nora said “don’t touch me” with her hair blowing gently around her face. just very good.

6. Josh and Nora’s second break-up scene at the end of druck s5 ep 9 [druck s4]

what does it say about me that this is the THIRD BREAK UP CLIP on this list skdjdnfksdnfsdkn. i genuinely did have a really hard time picking one clip for s5 [other top contenders include the last clip of ep 8 and the cuddle clip at the beginning of ep 6] but i went with this one because a. i love to suffer and b. the way josh plays with nora’s jacket and then she gently pulls away and his hands still linger bc he can’t quite bring himself to let her go just yet fucking HAUNTS ME. watching this scene genuinely made me feel like i was going through a break up myself, maybe because it reminded me so much of my own first break up in a lot of ways. kudos to the strong writing and stellar performances from the actors here.

7. Best of Islam [og skam s4]

Yousana the true og m/f relationship i was overly invested in... i miss they... anyway this clip is really good just on its own and i think it’s a good encapsulation of everything i wanted this season to be. i love that Sana got to talk about her experiences and her relationship with her religion; i love that yousef listens to her carefully and talks about his own experiences and feelings; i love their playful energy; I LOVE YOUSEF GIVING SANA THE FLOWER. truly it doesn’t get better than this.

8. Amira and Mohammed get back together at the end of druck s4 ep 7 [druck s4]

i love this scene because i think it showcases the very best of Amira and Mohammed’s dynamic. the way they listen to each other, their playful manner with each other, how utterly taken they are with each other. i love also that Mohammed finally got to talk about his experiences as a refugee and how that connects to his religion. and the whole exchange about baklava still has me so ;-; ;-; the chemistry these two have is absolutely unreal. i will never get over Amira being cheated of the last few episodes of her season. the greatest injustice to experience after a clip like this, truly.

9. Life in Italics [skam austin s2]

aside from the first ep this might be the only clip i’ve actually seen from this season but i stand by this choice sorry not sorry shay dixon performing an absolute bop in a pink wig is just too iconic

10. Crisana cuddle scene in skamesp s2 episode 6 [skamesp s2]

I think I’ve loved basically every remake version of the iconic s3 ep 5 cuddle clip i’ve seen but this one has stuck with me in particular just because it was really special to me to be able to see two girls be so soft and gentle and loving with each other. no excessive make-up, no hypersexualization, nothing glossy or glamorized about it. i honestly often have a really hard time connecting to teen wlw romance but this was one of those times it actually felt real to me. also the song choice for this clip is simply chef’s kiss

Ask me my top 5/10 anything!

[monsterkingdom]

Heya! welcome to the masterpost I’m making to keep track of how I view my Wandersong AU that I’ve dubbed

Eya-Born

Read below!

Concept

The concept of this AU is very simple! Kiwi -- our Bard-- is a being made directly from Eya. That is to say, they are basically a demi-god.

When setting up to finally have the passing of the Universe -- Singing her song again-- Many know of the Hero who is sent to usher out this task within its final moments.

What if, before even that prophetic dream and entities start truly deteriorating-- She made a being to also challenge the idea with the knowledge of the ever so elusive Earthsong. That’s where this AU comes in!

Beginning

Eya created a being to see how much the world truly is in disarray and attempt to remedy it in their own way. A being free from fate. Free-will was her emphasis... as well as her attunement to magic-- which by default meant music.

They were sent to the Earth the Wandersong Universe knows... Specifically to a woman living in a city in the midst of industrial change. Riddled with loneliness due to a husband who got too into his work and guilt.

Seeing such an ailed child on her doorstep, a scenario one only hears in fairytales... She took the child in wholeheartedly, worrying who would leave them in such a state. After searching for the origins to no avail, she decided to raise them as her own.

Under the name Jack. Named after the fabled protagonist of many fairytales and rhymes... it seemed fitting based on their circumstances.

And thus, begins the bard’s life.. full of normality in every sense of the word.

....almost every sense of the word.

The magical properties of their music were always something they grew up with. Though, it didn’t do too much... Their mother assumed that the child was most likely part witch. As simple as that.

As least... as simple as trying to mask their child’s slightly pink tinged hair with several different hats upon growing up. Thankfully, Chismest was starting its headstrong course on being perpetually cold and gloomy by the bard’s early years and being bundled up was definitely inevitable indoors and out.

Cutting forward to the events of Wandersong, many of everything ended up panning out the same. The prophetic dreams, ghastly encounters, universal fates amounting to nothing, so on and so forth...

The not-so-Earthsong was sung. The world was saved... the zip and zap from the dreamtower was done and the dialogue with Eya congratulating them begins. However... as she starts prepping to send them off. A rumble occurs... the clouds separate and palms grasp the platform the three of them stand on.

Reunion

(now please enjoy this minor comic I did half a year ago)

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(ok end back to writing)

Kiwi then began-- as Eyala once put it-- “vicariously feeling Eya’s love through everything in the world” (paraphrasing this btw)

However, there’s... quite a lot of love to feel. Especially when you’re not used to it. That happiness... that joy... starts feeling a bit weird when you can’t turn it off.

Needless to day Kiwi didn’t adapt well.

Though... Eya, in all her overseeing capabilities... seemed to have a detached reaction to the whole situation.

“Oh fine fine...” she waved her hand slightly... the hue in Kiwi’s face settling a bit, though their face still bore an expression that showed they were still under some of the emotional weight of the whole thing.

“I suppose it is a bit much all at once... You’d probably be better off having it opened but unleashed through your own discoveries.”

Before Miriam could question further, the goddess’ gaze shifted to that of her Angelic assistance, who was watching the whole thing rather speechlessly.

“Eyala, dearest...” the melodic voice of Eya’s godly tones spooled out toward her, “I’m putting you in charge of guiding them through the basics.”

“M-Me, Eya?” She hesitantly replied, “I mean... of course!” she sputtered out.

“Eeeeeeexcellent” she chimed, “We can see they’re already experiencing increased empathy... maybe in due time they’ll be able to discover their other properties. The bard may excel beyond your basic prowess later on, Eyala, but your knowledge is a wonderful base for the poor dear...”

Eyala wordlessly nodded, clearly not about to speak up about the whole ordeal Kiwi had gone through in front of the goddess herself,

“In any case... I am greatly pleased with your performance, child. As a reminder, this is my gift to you. The locks are now undone... all that is needed is for you to learn. Maybe then you’ll be ready to take it in this way.” she smiled, eye crinkling with pleasure as Miriam helped Kiwi to their feet,

“Eyala will assist you in any way she can... She’ll probably teach you how to contact her with ease after this. However, I must leave you now... re-establishing the universe that was saved and all” she chuckled about it, hair slowly enveloping her face before she began receding into the clouds once more.

The godly presence left in an instant, leaving the trio to stand bewildered on the platform once more.

“So...” Eyala began.

“...Is she... normally like that?” Kiwi wheezed out, finally gathering their bearings.

“Yeah... she didn’t sound empathetic like the tales blab about her being.”

Eyala frowned at the two of them and clapsed her hands together, “She tries her best... but, she doesn’t get to experience things as much as she used to. Though, her love for everything is still here...”

The angel sighed and floats closer to Kiwi, holding their face slightly. A bit more tenderly than the goddess did to them previously,

“We’re gonna make this easier for you, lil’ B. I promise.”

Learning

Kiwi-- being a direct piece of Eya as opposed to a simple messenger like Eyala-- had a lot more going for them in terms of connections to things. As someone who normally was pretty darn good at burying their feelings into the dirt, suddenly feeling a good amount of what everything else did along with their own weird doubts was quite a bunch to take in.

They went through with their hellos and good-byes, keeping their misty tears in as best they could. They met up with their mother during... trying desperately to hold their tongue as she rambled on about their ‘long lost’ father finally come home... hoping all of them could live normal again. That they could be normal.

They were whisked home in the  late evening after staying with Miriam for dinner... holding her closer than ever in their ever-so-tired arms... before letting her drift into the night sky and drift to their bed.

Only to be unable to sleep due to all the sudden emotions they felt. Realizing... ever suddenly.. a lot of them were from the people they interacted with. It was like having thousands of voices and waves of feelings hit you in a chaotic, nonsensical cacophony. It all felt like static, their brain muddled with thoughts not quite their own. They shook their head and for the first time in a while... they cried.

They felt the immense weight of these feelings drag down their face, the tears building and washing over their cheeks relentlessly. They couldn’t tell if they were happy, scared, or sad. Or if it was even them that felt this way.

A hand touched their shoulder, a familiar glow next to them. Kiwi needn’t even look to know it was Eyala again. checking in on them, most likely.

“Hey... Lil’ B.” her voice whispered, “I know it’s... a lot. You’re being left on a pretty bad note.” Kiwi turned,, face still full of tears and their voice caught in their throat from.. well... everything. They simply nodded in agreement.

Even Eyala could see the visible strain on Kiwi’s face.. and very well knew the reason why, “ Here. Let’s start with this instead... and I can help with the contact stuff tomorrow. We gotta help you filter this all out.” She held their hands in hers, rubbing their palms with her thumbs, “Just... focus on me. Okay? It helps to have something to think about other than people... “

Kiwi nodded... and looked Eyala over. Her hair effortlessly floating behind her in its usual ever-shifting hue... her smile, small, but visible. They could read the concern on her despite having most visible features omitted... Eyala was good at that. Expressing herself through motion and all. It reminded Kiwi of themself.

Without realizing it-- they found their head suddenly empty... well. mostly. There was still that static tingle in the back of their head. Near their neck, it felt. Almost like forgetting something important... but they pushed it down. Much like anything else they felt in the past... and let out a shaky sigh.

“That better...?”

Kiwi nodded again, looking at their hand for a sense of stability now.

It glowed... not much but. It was just a tinge... ever slightly lighter than the darkness surrounding them and Eyala, “So...” they scratchily started, “I’m really...”

“A real child of Eya. Not just in... like... a collective universe sense. Yeah.”

“Wow...”

--WIP ATM BC BED--

[kunstpause-archive]

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

For this Fanfic ask game

I love writing dialogue-heavy scenes so this was a hard one but I found one I particularly like. It's from a long story about DA2 I am writing together with @elveny and it’s between Cassia (Hawke) and Anders at a point where she has been in a very bad place for a while. Cassia has struggled with self-worth issues and depression for a long time, on top of it she always had issues really controlling her magic - and over time it led to her trying to fix her problems through potions - basically stumbling into an addiction. Around the time her mother dies all this comes up and to light and the bit about her talking to Anders after she relapsed (with not so nice side effects) was something I had in my head for them for months in advance already. Trying to find the balance between someone being true there for her in a helpful manner but also not acting like talking a little bit to a friend solves the issue. Bc it doesn’t, but it is the first time she realizes, that she isn’t the only one struggling with certain things and that’s worth a lot in itself.

I really liked how that scene turned out, from the actual talk to the mood around it. I put a part of it under the cut.

cw: for talk about drug abuse and depression

“Cassia? I was at your sister’s, and I thought I’d check in on you because…” Anders suddenly stopped, and Cassia could guess why. What sight greeted him. “Cassia?” he called out again. Louder, more alarmed this time.

“In here,” she called back, her voice cracking under the strain. But he had obviously heard her, for only moments later, she wasn’t alone anymore. From the way he looked at her, Cassia was reasonably certain she wouldn’t have to explain much. Resignation mixed with concern was all over his face.

Cassia felt like she had to make him understand regardless. “Anders, I...” she started, but her voice trailed off with uncertainty.

“It’s alright,” he said, bending down to help her up. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up and back into bed first.”

“I don’t need even more rest,” Cassia said between clenched teeth. “I need…”

“I think you have no idea what you actually need right now,” he interrupted her. He didn’t sound unkind, but there was a sternness on his face Cassia wasn’t used to. Anders let out a small sigh. “I was afraid of something like this,” he murmured quietly. “But not enough to take precautions.”

All of a sudden, Cassia felt defensive. “It’s not that bad,” she insisted, “a small error in judgment. I made a mistake, but there is no reason to get all overly worried about me again.” She tried to stand on her own, to move away from him, but her balance was off the second she tried. Anders managed to hold her upright just in time, looking even sterner than before.

“I decide how much I worry, not you,” he said as he helped her over to the water basin. “I know you think you don’t need anyone’s help, but you do. And from what I am seeing, you probably shouldn’t be the one to make that call right now.”

Everything inside Cassia wanted to protest, but she felt too weak to even lift her arms on her own as she let herself be sat down. A warm washcloth against her skin made her able to focus at least some.

“You don’t get to decide how I…” she started, but Anders was having none of it.

“I think it is pretty clear that your decision-making is piss-poor at the moment,” he said dryly, continuously cleaning up the remains of spilled potion and stray ice flakes on her. “So, right now? I’m taking charge, and you are going to let me help!”

He didn’t get loud, but he spoke with so much quiet authority that Cassia didn’t have it in her to argue anymore. She just nodded silently as he helped her up again and walked her back to her bedroom. A few minutes later Cassia was back in bed, her potions chest gone, out of sight. As she got settled, Anders sat down at the side of her bed, looking at her intensely.

“You want to tell me why you thought any of this was a particularly good idea?” he asked, and Cassia shifted uncomfortably, not quite knowing how to answer that. The silence between them stretched, but from the way he was looking at her, she knew he wouldn’t just let her off the hook. Not this time at least.

“You didn’t even have a good reason, did you?”

It sounded surprisingly calm, and Cassia didn’t quite know how to meet his eyes. “Oh, I had plenty,” she muttered.

“Tell me then.”

Cassia looked up. “Why?” she asked, feeling her guard go up. “So you can pick them apart and tell me how dumb I was? How they were not valid reasons at all?” Part of her could hear it clear as day already, but something in his eyes seemed not right. Unexpected.

“No,” Anders said simply. “They were probably valid reasons. But you are not seeing your situation clearly right now.”

He said it with such certainty that Cassia felt irritation flare up in her. “I can see just fine, thanks!” The exasperation was all over her voice as she tried to make him see. “Look, I get that you are trying to help, but there are some things you couldn’t possibly understand. You don’t know what it’s like!”

“Try me.”

“What?”

His open expression and the lack of any further admonishments threw Cassia for a loop. She had expected another lecture at least, but so far, Anders had been surprisingly uncooperative when it came to her expectations.

“You’re right, I have no idea about your magic issues,” he said softly. “But everything else? You’d be surprised how much I understand what you are feeling.”

Cassia shook her head in disbelief. It didn’t deter Anders from continuing.

“It’s all too much, isn’t it? The expectations. The pressure. People needing you to be a certain way, and you just know deep inside that you are not up to it. That you are going to let them down.” There was something in his eyes as he spoke that gave her pause. Something personal. Like he wasn’t just talking about how she felt, but about something way more private. Remnants of pain much older than her current situation. “And no matter how often someone tells you it’s alright, something inside you just can’t believe them,” he continued, and Cassia felt herself slightly nodding along with his words that described what she was feeling all too well. “Something insists they are wrong. Knows they would see it too if they only looked close enough. If they could only see you as you see yourself. If they knew the truth…” His eyes were locked with hers. “Am I close?”

Cassia swallowed as she nodded. “How…”

A sad smile appeared on Anders’ face. “Cassia, if you believe me in nothing else, believe this: You are not the first and not the only person to ever feel like this.”

For a moment, all Cassia could think about was all that she knew about his past in Ferelden. And the fact that he definitely wasn’t just spouting platitudes at her. He knew how she felt. He understood because she wasn’t the only one. A realization that should make her happy. Instead, all she felt was a feeling of deep sorrow for her friend.

“Anders, I am so sorry…” she said quietly but he waved her words aside. The sadness in his smile disappeared as it turned into something more genuine. More him.

“Don’t be. It was a long time ago, and I’ve learned a lot since then.” He gave her an encouraging look. “It wasn’t easy. As I assume it won’t be for you. But I promise you: It can get better. Not through a potion though, and especially not one that could very well kill you!”

“But it helped…” Cassia heard herself say in a small voice before she could even think about it. “Before I mean. I felt so awful, and then I took it and it helped!”

Anders shook his head. “Not really.” Gently, he took one of her hands into his, squeezing it lightly. “It made you feel better about yourself for a while, but it didn’t really solve anything, did it? It’s temporary. And trust me, if you keep this up, it will only get worse.” If someone is interested in the whole chapter you can find it here

[thedeaditeslayer]

Running Time Restored Interview: 1997 Josh Becker and Bruce Campbell Indie Gets a New Life in 2K.

You can read the full interview on the upcoming release With Josh Becker, Bruce Campbell, and Don May Jr. from Diabolik Magazine below. 

In 1995 on New Year’s Eve, Josh Becker had an idea. Born out of a session pondering Alfred Hitchcock’s legendary, true crime classic, Rope, he decided that he was going to improve upon the master of suspense’s legendary concept of shooting a film in real time. A daunting task but Becker was up to the challenge.

What resulted was perhaps one of the most ambitious efforts to ever grace the silver screen, Running Time. This neo-noir thriller about a heist gone wrong and a small-time criminal who rekindles his love affair with his high-school sweetheart was a hidden gem that didn’t get the recognition that it deserved. Written expressly for Becker’s childhood friend and Super 8 cohort, Bruce Campbell, the pair were once again, doing gonzo-style filmmaking just like when they were growing up in Michigan with the likes of Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert.

Josh Becker was and is an adventurous soul who does things his way, just like the director gods of old. When I think of his work, the names of John Ford, William Wyler and John Huston readily spring to mind. There is something admirable about his driven determination that was the heart and soul of this black and white throwback to another era which is ultimately endearing. Yes, I have a special place in my heart for Running Time because it is honest and not filled with “tentpole” tendencies. At the core of it is the written word. The end result is one of the most overlooked masterpieces of both Becker’s and Campbell’s careers.

What is truly amazing is that this flick was shot in two weeks and that everyone went home early. It was like having a 9 to 5 job. No 18-hour-days, just fast, efficient, run and gun style filmmaking that resulted in a production that could stand toe to toe with noir classics from a bygone era like The Petrified Forest and Desperate Hours.

Prior to Running Time, Bruce was known predominantly for his work in the horror and science fiction genres which can sometimes be limiting for an actor. Becker gave him an incredible script to work with that really showcased his range as a thespian. Behind the smart-ass quips and bravado lies a talented individual who takes his craft seriously. He is capable of creating complex characters and he is most assuredly fit to be a romantic lead.

I had the chance to sit down with the major players in the restoration of Running Time (Josh Becker, Bruce Campbell, Don May, Jr. and Gerry Kissell) to reminisce about the journey of this film from its humble beginnings to preserving this indie classic for future generations.

The Director and His Muse

Diabolique: Bruce, I have to start off by telling you that Running Time is my favorite out of all of your films.  

Bruce Campbell: It’s a cool, little flick. Too bad it sort of escaped, it wasn’t released as the old joke goes.

Diabolique: What I like so much about it is the neo-noir aspect. It’s a throwback to the 40’s and 50’s. In Josh’s book, Rushes, he talks about how he convinced you to be in the film. You weren’t getting paid and you invested in it. What was his pitch, how did he sell the concept to you?

BC: The pitch was that it was NOT McHale’s Navy. I just spent 11 weeks in Mexico just sort of bullshitting our way through that film where we would make up our lines of dialogue because there was nothing written for us. In the script it would say things like, “McHale and his guys get off the boat,” “McHale and his men go to Cuba.” Which means they hadn’t thought anything up for you. I did it because I liked the show as a kid. It was a very popular thing; it was from Universal. It made sense at the time. It was just a case of when something is underwritten, the problem that it causes actors. I had just come off of that, and Running Time was very ambitious, low budget it was meant to be this conceit of being done in one shot so it was cinematic. So, I was like, okay, yeah. It was like the anti-studio movie, small crew, fast moving and yet no money. Basically, I invested the money that I was paid back into the movie in order for them to make it. It was definitely for a love of the movie type deal.

Josh Becker: I’ve known Bruce since we were twelve and I’d seen him in a number of plays. I knew that he had a much bigger range as an actor than he’d had a chance to show at that point. Plus, he’s a pleasure to work with. Once I pitched him the idea, he was all for it, partially because the long takes are a way for an actor to really show their ability.

Diabolique: Thinking about your filmography, Bruce, you haven’t played a traditional romantic lead. Do you see Running Time as a love story of sorts?

BC: What’s funny is Josh had Carl come back. In a proper film noir, he would have gone, you would have heard the tires squeal and she would be sitting there crying and the credits would roll and that would be it. It would be bleak, but Josh deep down is a sentimentalist and I think I am too. We had no issue with the happy ending. We wanted to make the audiences think for quite a long period of time that it’s going to be a sad ending. She packs her bag and then she unpacks it. The whole thing is quite an extended piece but I thought it was well worth playing just to kind of throw a little wrinkle in it. Maybe even in a criminal story you can have a happy ending.

Diabolique: In terms of the storyline, Josh, we all know that Rope was the blueprint for Running Time. You hadn’t made a film in 7 years. What was it about that production that captured your imagination besides the challenge of the “long take”?

JB: Part of my inspiration was simply getting another feature film made after seven years of working in television, which was never my goal.  But as I thought about Rope, I wondered why the continuous, real-time concept didn’t really have any impact on the story. Then it occurred to me that there was no time element involved.  Two young men—ostensibly Leopold and Loeb—have killed another young man for the fun of it, put the body in a chest, then invited people over for a party, including a cop. Well, if the chest was spring loaded and had a timer on it so that at some point it would pop open and reveal the corpse, that would be a time element. So, I thought, how do you use the real time technique and add a ticking clock? The first story that came to mind was a heist which generally has a time element—we’ve got to get the money and get out of here before we’re caught.

Diabolique: Running Time was shot in sequence like a play. Did it pose any challenges for you as an actor?

BC: I liked what Josh was trying to do. These long uninterrupted takes from an actor’s point of view, you know stuff can get really choppy these days. My complaint from Burn Notice is they wouldn’t let a full sentence stay on camera; they would have to cut away to somebody else. It felt like they had to keep cutting, cutting and cutting. This movie was no cutting for like ten minutes at a time. It’s great from an actor’s perspective because you can feel the juices flowing. It’s like a play. You can work on the pacing; you can have something build over a period of time and minutes to play out in literally real time. It’s a real time crime drama. I liked it conceptually and it was challenging. There was a fair amount of dialogue because my guy, Carl is calling the shots. I thought it was a good premise. Guy gets out of prison turns right around and robs the prison because he knows how the prison laundry system works. I thought that was pretty sound. I am always sympathetic for the low budget independent movie. I always will be.

Diabolique: Were there any other films that influenced you and your writing partner, Peter Choi? The entire concept is very noir and the desperate situation that Carl finds himself in is reminiscent of any number of films from the 1940s.

JB: My main inspiration was Straight Time with Dustin Hoffman, an overlooked movie from 1978. And though I didn’t think of it at the time, several folks brought up Joseph Lewis’s Gun Crazy after it came out, and I do see that. The film has one long take in it during a bank robbery, and even though the camera stays in the backseat of a car, it has that same feeling of a real time event.

Diabolique: I know you are a fan of classic movies, Bruce and in a sense Running Time reminds me of Desperate Hours or The Petrified Forest especially when the robbery is botched and the situation is escalating in the enclosed office. Did you find any inspiration from the noir genre for your portrayal of Carl?

BC: No, but the classic tough guys were always awesome. We loved them all, Bogart and Robert Mitchum…the fact that Josh shot the film in black and white was perfect. Because it really helped lend itself to a look of that time period when Jack Palance was a leading man.

Diabolique: In your book Rushes, you talked about your decision to shoot in 16 mm Kodak ASA 64 black and white stock. You get sharper images due to the finer grain of the film, but did that pose any problems in terms of showcasing your work at that time since most people weren’t shooting in black and white?

JB:  I didn’t think of it regarding showcasing my work. I thought it was appropriate for the subject matter and that it would be visually striking.  Also, moving the camera from inside to outside in color posed the problem of adding or removing filters which would not be an issue with black and white.

Diabolique: You shot over a period of 10 days which was unheard of even back in the 90’s. How were you able to keep things moving along?

JB: It was based on pre-planning. I knew exactly what I wanted. We rehearsed the film and the actors were all very comfortable with the dialogue. Then it was just an issue of getting the complicated camera moves in regard to the actor’s blocking to work right, and that didn’t turn out to be all that difficult.

Diabolique: As an actor, did you enjoy working on an accelerated timetable?

BC: It was exciting to do and so different. The toughest thing was the technical demands. It wasn’t like there were explosions and stuff like that. But in order to do blocking inside of an apartment, the camera is moving in circles, well, the crew had to move every object behind the camera before it got there and then had to put it back before the camera saw it again. So, there was a lot of voodoo, a lot of magic. We would rehearse and rehearse and rehearse and we could never get it right. Finally, we were like fuck it. Let’s just start shooting because everyone gets a little more alert when you shoot. That did it. That allowed us to conquer the impossible. After 3 or 4 takes if we got it, we were done even if it was 10:30 in the morning. I don’t think we spent more than two thirds of a day getting that particular shot. The end result is cool. I’ve seen the cleaned-up version without all the scratches and the dust marks. You can’t even tell what year it is. It almost seems like its videotape transferred like those teledramas of the 60’s that were done on TV. There were moments in the film that weren’t perfect, and that’s okay.

Diabolique: When I revisited Running Time recently, I was impressed with how well it holds up because some efforts don’t. With the 2K restoration, Bruce, this will give your fans a chance to see it. For some, it might be their first time. Do you have a scene that you are particularly fond of?

BC: There’s some scenes that are fun to do. After I get shot, I am in Janie’s apartment and she’s trying to put me together, that fainting on the toilet while she’s trying to patch me together it felt kind of real, playing shot and being delirious. Stuff like that. Just fun to be able to take the moment to do it.

Diabolique: Josh, do you feel shooting in black and white made the 2K restoration more challenging?

JB:  Slow speed black and white film stock has a lot of silver in it which creates an inordinate amount of static electricity. When I did the initial film transfer back in 1997, the negative kept getting covered with dust, causing us to have to stop and clean the film every 30-60 minutes. Since the transfer was $375 an hour—in 1997 dollars—I could only stop so many times before it became financially prohibitive.  Dust on a black and white negative shows up as white dots. Using the newest technology, Don May was able to remove all of the dust digitally. Therefore, the film has never looked as good as it does now.

Diabolique: What excites you the most about Running Time getting restored, Bruce?

BC: I am always happy when something gets re-released which means in this case, it gets preserved. It will look fantastic in 2K. That’s why with all these reissues fans are like, “Why should we care?” Like well, if you care about preservation, this means it will be the latest version of a movie that is fairly obscure. Sometimes a movie can die on the vine because no one will pay the money to keep it current. Now, we can show the sucker, hopefully, anywhere.

Diabolique: Josh, do you have any plans to showcase Running Time once the restoration is completed? This is a great film that fans should definitely see.

JB: We have no plans at the moment, but then the film isn’t out yet. When it’s done, we’ll see what happens.

Breathing New Life into Running Time: The Art of Restoration

Don May, Jr. along with Jerry Chandler and Charles Fiedler created Synapse Films in 1997. Known for their work in preserving unique genre classics, May had previously collaborated with Josh Becker when his company restored the director’s 1985 production, Thou Shalt Not Kill…Except.

Gerry Kissell was the official artist on Running Time and will be reprising his role for the 2K restoration. He has been friends with Josh since the Freaky Film Festival where he and Bruce premiered the film on the University of Illinois campus.

Both gentlemen were kind enough to take time out of their busy schedules to talk to us.

Diabolique: Were you able to obtain the original negative for Running Time?

Don May, Jr: Yes, thankfully. Josh Becker is a true movie fan and loves the filmmaking process, so we were fortunate to work with him. He kept everything stored properly in a climate-controlled vault, as a man who cares about his movies should.

Diabolique: Can you talk about the scanning process for 2K?

DMJ: The 16mm negative was separated into A/B rolls, so we had to scan a lot of reels separately at Prasad in Burbank, CA. Luckily, because of the actual nature of the “one-take” aesthetic Josh utilized, there were only a total of about 30 cuts in the entire film… hidden in editing, of course. So, we basically scanned the 30 separate shots, and then assembled them digitally using DaVinci Resolve. We had to be VERY careful the way we put the 30 cuts back together, making sure the shots were frame accurate and of the proper length. Unlike a film that has a conformed negative separated into 10- or 20-minute reels, Running Time was all in separate pieces, with each shot edited on separate reels. It was a challenge, but we were able to use a previous master as a reference and most of it went together without a hitch. Being shot in B&W also helped in color correction to hide the edits properly to make the real-time aspect as seamless as possible. Once the film was properly assembled, we were able to ship everything off to India for restoration. Because Josh had everything stored properly for decades, the negative itself was fairly free of a lot of dirt and scratches, but we did carefully sonically clean all the pieces before scanning commenced.

Diabolique: How long does it take the digital artists to fix debris or scratches on the original negatives?

DMJ: There’s a lot of data wrangling involved. Copying data for safety. Making backups, etc. But we have a great working relationship with Prasad. They have worked on such classics as Lawrence of Arabia, How the West Was Won, A Fistful of Dollars, Gandhi, The Red Shoes, etc. They do the lion’s share of my output, and I put a lot of trust in them. They’ve never failed me. We do ship the film scans to India and that takes time. I think Running Time took about 4-5 months. I let them take their time, though, because I don’t want to have to keep sending things back for fixes. With Running Time, they did an excellent job, right from my first restoration test reels. But, again, Josh had taken very good care of his materials, so it wasn’t much of a challenge.

Diabolique: Gerry, what artwork did you originally provide for Running Time and what can we expect from you for the 2K restoration?

Gerry Kissell: I did promotional art that ended up on tee-shirts. It included the shot of the three main characters, which I called Tres Hombres, on one, Jeremy Roberts aiming the pistol at the camera on another, and the last, which you’ve seen of Bruce’s mug all heroic and chinny. All of the art was done on Bristol cold press illustration board. The new painting for the Synapse release is me, 20+ years later, a tad bit better at drawing and painting, lol.

Diabolique: Besides the idea of preserving Running Time, Don, what attracted you to the project?

DMJ: We had worked previously with Josh on Thou Shalt Not Kill…Except, and we had a lot of fun with that one. I like working with Josh. He’s a great guy, and I love that he’s so passionate about film. He loves movies, and he loves MAKING movies. It’s so great to see people like Josh doing things like Running Time, back when using computers to do a “one take” approach was non-existent. You see things today like the film 1917, which is a fine film in its own right, but they cheated a lot of its “one take” aspect using computers. Josh did Running Time, but used his brain, and actual organic film splicing and editing to achieve the same result. He’s smart, funny, talented and I love working with people like him. It also doesn’t hurt that Running Time stars Bruce Campbell, so… yeah… of course, we jumped at the chance to do it.

Diabolique: When can fans expect to see the Running Time 2K restoration?

DMJ: I would imagine late summer/early fall 2020. We’re wrapping up extras and artwork now.

[macklives]

homestuck recap

i hated this so fucking much bc my 2 am bitch-ass didnt want to read a recap thats probably longer than any slowburn out there

anyways here it is

also, uhhH sorry im using this as a end of session discussion bc that shit gets explained in her as well. and im not writing up more recaps of a recap so this is where im done for the day. (by done for the day i mean last nights session, im still doing a liveblog soon. i just wrote this yesterday)

also that this is long

you dont have to read it, theres nothing of importance

ive been coping with humor to get me through it

neato.

have fun with what i suffered through:

why was “beta” the only thing unhighlighted?

like did i miss a page???

OH its the beta version of HS thats why

damn its like 5 pages and thats it

mmh

well youll all be happy to know im clicking every single one of these links again bc i like looking back like ahh i remember that. good times. also in case i forgot some shit existed.

do you think andrew had fun writing this? or was he like “fuck”

thats a lot of fucking package talk. good thing im not confused as of now and remember it pretty clearly. of else, this early on in the recap, id be screwed.

god remember when i did an analysis on each item and what it did

i feel as if i have the technology engrained inside my head right now

cruxite, alchemeter, all that jazz

flashbacks are starting up already

yeah, that was the good part in homestuck where i knew 100% that i probably would continue on this liveblog in its entirety, ngl

that one explosion scene. bc it kept me going.

OH W A IT SHIT

i just realized how the intermission spades probably fucking foreshadowed the whole jack revolts thing and gains the ring, which was also technically JOHNS fault considering he slashed up the doll in the first place

my god, i guess thats the only good aspect of the recap. looking back at things and realizing the missing pieces.

oh that makes sense for the whole “this prototyping had no effect on the enemies, since he was already in the medium” i didnt actually think about that

little did rose know where that would get her right now

oh yeah

there’s still the whole entire lab terminal thing and how mom basically knows the place exists. i guess we’re still venturing onto that and itll come up later when we find out how mom knows SO MUCH about the game.

still think shes some weird spy or secret agent

i kinda love her ngl

anyways, theres literally no reason for skaia to produce a cloning machine. so technically, they only sent the meteors in, right? so who put the cloning machine in if not mom?

oh yeah that impact was nerve wrecking asf

and still at this point in the comic i called dave fuckboy red

huh, how times change

i hated reading that whole paragraph ngl, the frustration just kicked me in the boobs again

yeah nobody else got tornadoes, huh?

OH that makes also much more sense

bc she did prototyped them before she entered the medium.

i gotcha

man one of my favorite edits i made, rose hitting that meteor with a bat

are you

telling me

the exiles structures they arrived on were in the form of the items the kids used to enter the medium?

THE EGG

THAT EXPLAINS “EGG”

of course it was 413 years ago. that was never explained. simply vague “many years in the future....” but i expected no less from this

man serenity is the most wholesome character in hs no doubt

damn thought andy here was really gonna spoil us jade’s planet

okay cool, im glad i now have the layout to the whole “their stations went to the coordinates of the home button” shindig

man i honestly dont know what else to say besides “yeah cool recap” when i already pretty much know what went down? ofc im looking into each link and shit and adding in things when i see fit, but otherwise its just me going “ah good times” yknow

the whole meteor thing kinda makes sense now?

we’re still missing a few pieces of info but we’re getting there, folks

oh yeah that reveal

god jade and dave have it in the shits for parents huh

bro isnt the best and jade has a fucking dog

who lowkey

is doing better than bro

who knew a fucking dog is a better guardian than bro lmfao

dreambot = terminator. im telling you.

sorry im still on that idea and it will never leave unless i have the actual proof in front of me that its not going to become a thing. meaning, ive finished hs and theres still no terminator dreambot or either andrew himself gives me a canon letter with “the robot is not arnold, mackenzie, pls just let it be”

why is the entire game session highlighted

i swear to god if this is like to a second recap or smth of the whole game session i may fucking CRY

okay thank god its just a design of the skaia layout

which is honestly cool

idk why its blurry tho but i can at least see the layout now. which is honestly how i pictured it anyways.

yeah, john did make a huge impact in his friends’ life and i find that so fucking touching

yep. got that. everything loops around. cool.

especially when the trolls come in. god we havent even gotten to that recap portion yet, we havent even gotten to the INTERMISSION

pls can this be the halfway point to the recap

AT LEAST

so they were exiled after the whole jack: ascend thing, right? considering theyre way in the future. man no fucking wonder.

speaking of jack

man that whole dad and jack interaction was gold, ngl

OH THAT EXPLAINS THE RING THEN

and wow, andrew’s really giving us the best female content huh. andrew is the true god of equality and diversity.

also hey, i didnt realize that wow. so PM tricked the queen in showing the parking ticket to be able to take the present from jack. she’s a smart cookie, that one..

she and PM basically snitched on jack and it was the best thing that has happened to me so far

oh yeah okay

but why did AR panic over bec? bc thats something we havent learned yet, right?

anyways

exile town, the only town which should exist. facts. i dont make the rules.

noice

i love PM being queen. like.. thats canon now. shes an actual queen.

yeah that was a fun game and the consorts were cute

fuck yeah the dick head

hate them even more now that i know john was killed because of them

anyways, i wonder what dick move dave’s denizen did? maybe thats why its filled with lava bc the denizen was like “fuck it. make the land red. kill them all”

UH WHAT

WHAT

OH MY GOD HOW DID I JUST FORGET NANNAS LETTER LIKE THAT LMFAO

THEIR TITLES WERE THERE THE WHOLE TIME!

so i still dont know what they mean but i can gather it has something to do with the game giving them abilities. considering dave is the “knight of time” and he can go back in time. whack.

which means john can either control someones breathing or simply wind. and rose is... like that one girl in the winx club who does the sun shit. bc whenever i think of light powers, i think of stella.

and jade is space. witch of space.

nice

i have no idea what that means ngl

okay finally

we’re at the trolls

maybe this recap will end soon

i remember when i thought they were internet bullies

yesss

someone asked if i basically knew the trolls were on a different veil than the kids, so not presently with them, and i know lol. i was making a joke before btw. jsyk. dont think im incompetent to forget these things when sometimes i choose to forget it so i can add in a joke

it be like that, i annoy many

then again, pls dont assume im trying to say im not incompetent bc im also a fucking dumbass and DO forget shit and i have no excuse

imagine being so bored on the meteor, your last resort is speaking to aliens

ngl me if i was ever trapped on a meteor and could potentially do that

nah ik its bc its their only hope at helping with their session or whatever tf CG said to john. but there was BOUND to be a conference meeting between them like “okay guys. humans. that needs to be sorted out” and you just hear CG screaming in the background

i cant wait to meet them honestly bc im growing on all 4 of the ones we’ve seen already. and on top of that, i know what they look like and i know theyre not THAT bad, just a little on the crayy zee side sometimes

but theyre trying

OH MY GOD

I GET IT

FUCK

DOES THAT MEAN THE INTERMISSION IS *APART* OF THE MAIN FUCKING STORY??

AND SPADES IS WV FOR THE TROLLS

GOD D A M N

wow

i didnt expect that. but maybe the signs were there and i was just willingly choosing to ignore it or smth bc “haha couldnt be, right”

flashbacks to how i thought the trolls were humans

anyways, i guess he got his revenge on the kids version of “snowman” ie the black queen. but really

he did not have to do that. he could have cut off the finger and fled. but he decided “nah, lets implode her” so the loml is dead and all i got was a catchy song

i knew they were different types of “bullies” but now i just have to replace bullies with uhh

trolling strategies

anyways, this is cute. i love how they’ve come to be friends through mutual frustration. good part in the comic.

i wonder why it explodes

more importantly

....

terminator time?

this was my favourite sequences of dialogues in the whole entirety of homestuck. that is to say the back and forth thing that the kids went through to become a sort of wingman for the other.

absolutely gold.

all except AT’s rap.

GC was the only smart one with the linear shit

anyways fuck he still has to kill the denizen now but apparently its hard to beat for a sleeping dick head so

that will be fun for the future

john will probably need to kill A LOT of imps to get there

yeah rose is a badass bc she slayed that thing with needles of all things

OH and the white queen was the cursive

damn did AR ever do the whole guide process to a kid yet? maybe he will with dave, idk

oHHH

i fucking SEE

thats why he said DNA

to use it and replace all the life forms in the ocean

fucking neat wow

man that sounded sarcastic but im genuinely impressed bc all i got was bullshit as i read jaspersprites log

so thats the secret. it was “meow” bc that somehow translates to the genetic code she needs then. and that code apparently took fucking years to write as well. sick. whack. oh man.

derse is very pretty, ngl

and wow shit

“dave had already been awake in his tower all along without realizing it” how tf does someone just

do that, awake in both places at once

i didnt even fucking realize that fact as i read that pesterlog wow

ah yes, around the time things got confusing

okay so the capsule makes sense bc at first i didnt know it was a fucking time capsule so i got confused as to how it just apparated the game lmfao

the more you know i guess *twinkle*

i find that a neat concept tho

like the whole whatever you prototype affects the imps and shit

yeah so that whole “he had no advice” basically impacted his future

no shit dave wanted to reset things bc he probably thought he caused some sort of bad butterfly effect and killed his best friend

fuck calsprite thats all im gonna say

i read that first sentence and i think i got an aneurysm

and then everything else just made me sad again

i mean good thing he fucking did amirite?

we got pain at first but now we got cool shit like idk

fucking DAVESPRITE

damn idk how that works

will rose have like two minds now? or will this be some steven universe fusion shit?

“and understood their meaning” course well i fucking didnt so could you pls elaborate, rose?

okay but then what the fuck did he use that was inside the fucking box

bc i thought he used his knife?

im only every going to refer him as that now, thank you andrew

alright okay..

god that was a lot

i dont know what will happen once i click on those links but i am going to see that for myself bc i refuse to add ANYTHING ELSE

[split-n-splice]

So this chapter got longer than expected. I hate long chapters though, so I cut it in two rather than shortening it bc I like saying words. There's not much dialogue in this chapter. I swear I make up for that in the next.

[Chapter Guide]

2. Hospitality – 1 

The batteries in her walkman had died hours ago, and the ambience of the drive was close to driving her mad. The radio was mostly white-noise in face of the ugly weather conditions, and did nothing to break the lull. It was almost enough to make her un-ban I Spy and 99 Bottles.

The peace and quiet and hypnotic stretch of highway didn’t help the state of awareness of the bullheaded driver who’d been refusing to give up his position all night. The blue man’s fatigue was indisputable, but the only one denying it was him. Shego made an attempt to convince him to forfeit the wheel. There was no reason for him to drive tired when he had three henchmen to do the work, but he was still averse to the idea. She chalked it up to a pride thing.

The deciding factor came when Dr. Drakken drifted across the fog line while side-eyeing her, about to object once again, but the jarring vibration of hitting the rumble strip made him grit his teeth instead. He gave a grunt of annoyance as he pulled over, and rudely ordered the most wakeful of his henchmen to swap places with him.

The hairs on the back of her neck rose. It didn’t sit well with Shego as the blue man threw himself into the seat just behind her. A deep-rooted paranoia rose from her gut to remind her that he had pulled a gun on her just a couple nights ago. Having him sit directly behind her in the dark where she couldn’t keep a good eye on him simply didn’t appeal to her.

She shot a sharp look over her shoulder at the henchman sitting in the center, and gave him a curt nod that conveyed all he needed to know. The goon in red understood the jerk of her head, quickly moving his butt out of her way even if it meant waking the last henchman by clambering over him to avoid confronting the boss.

Shego had climbed between the seats and was sitting in center by the time Dr. Drakken was buckling himself in. She took up far less space than the average henchman, so the dirty look and grunt of displeasure he gave her felt unwarranted, and almost warranted a punch in the shoulder to give him a reason to dislike her as a neighbor. If he had any real complaint about the new arrangement, he was too tired to voice it.

Of course she was tired too – it had been a long boring ride – but she wasn’t so tired as to simply slump back and nod off like him. Not to mention she was reluctant to let her guard down in the presence of four felons. Keeping that in mind certainly put her on edge and rang a wakeup call in the back of her head whenever the drowsiness got to her.

Just as soon as she began to wearily second-guess her qualms and the risks, she inwardly berated herself. Falling asleep was a bad idea, plain and simple – for a number of reasons, just one of which being heightened vulnerability. She couldn’t fight in her sleep.

Shego’s head was starting to pound. She carefully wrapped her arms around herself as she slouched back and crossed her legs, the position making her belly ache enough to return some wakefulness to her, although not much.

A bed to curl up in was the last thing she needed on her mind. And besides, even if she wasn’t surrounded by thugs, she couldn’t fall asleep here. She didn’t have her special sleep aid to keep her powers suppressed. She’d be a fire hazard now if she dozed off, and that wouldn’t do. Unconsciously activating her glow was about as likely as sleep-talking for her, which wasn’t comforting. All it would take was a nightmare – and she had more than enough fuel.

Letting her eyes shut would be begging for trouble, so she forced them to stay open. All the while, she envied the alleged villain asleep beside her and his henchmen, only one of which was awake now to keep them on the road.

It was dark, dreary, boring, and a center seat had no right being so comfortable. Exhaustion was to blame for her inhibitions not being quite up to snuff.

With rest was out of the question and the to-and-fro swish of windshield wipers too reminiscent of a mesmerist’s pocket watch, Shego let her focus wander to the next thing to pique her interest. Which happened to be the strange blue man beside her.

First it was just a knee rested against his leg, and then picking some lint off his sleeve. She almost hoped he’d wake up and make a scene just to ease the monotony as she slowly came to lean against him, but she found herself not terribly opposed to feel of his shoulder under her cheek, even if he didn’t make a very good pillow.

For just a second, Shego lazily kindled a soft glow in her palm to shed a little light to study him, but the green fire reflected off his glasses and the windows, giving away her proximity, and she hastily extinguished it before the driver’s eyes could flick to her in the rear-view mirror.

Her face heated, but she wasn’t completely deterred. She lit a much dimmer glow to take her curious inspections lower, hopefully out of immediate sight of the henchman behind the wheel.

The blue man’s arms had fallen limp to his lap, his hands the only thing of interest there until a seedy curiosity she almost snickered at crossed her mind, which she quickly forbade henceforth. His hands were enough to sate her boredom anyway, and with nothing better to do, she honed in on them.

Shego picked at a cuff, waiting for him to wake, and snuck her fingers beneath it to find his wristwatch and give the knob a twist to offset the time just to spite him before tugging his arm carefully closer for easier access.

Dr. Drakken didn’t have the rough grubby paws of a mechanic by any means, which she would think would come with the territory of working with machines. Instead his digits looked better cut out for delicate detailed work, yet little blemishes and broken nails showed he’d been putting them to use, even if they were fairly free of calluses to indicate any extensive manual labor.

With her non-burning hand, she tried to gently pry open his fingers for a better look at his palm, the drowsy thought of palm-reading drifting across her mind – but then he stirred and she sat back immediately, her glow snuffed out in the blink of an eye and hands tucked innocently under her arms.

Her heart thudded and her cheeks burned more than before, as if she’d been caught, but she waited for a tense moment before breathing easy again once she was sure she wasn’t about to face repercussions. 

Dr. Drakken hadn’t woken up to her poking and prodding, so the false alarm didn’t stick. Hell, maybe she wanted him to wake up. To entertain her, or maybe to suffer with her. She’d play innocent if he did.

Pushing her luck and abusing the opportunity, she was soon back to idly touching him, her fingers gingerly finding their way up to his mop as she waited on edge for him to wake. While he was obliviously out for the count and incapable of protest, she wove a few small loose braids into his shaggy mess of hair, shutting out her shame for allying herself with a mullet head with locks almost as long as her own. It was the last thing she could think of to busy herself and it came with no reward other than to serve as a fleeting distraction from the boredom.

Giving up, she decided with a miserable sigh that she’d have to think of new ways to press the man’s buttons when he was awake. She crossed her arms and slumped unhappily against him with a little more force than necessary, in much the same way she might rudely shoulder one of her siblings.

Staying that way had been a mistake.

She awoke uneventfully hours later, coming around slowly enough to remember where she was in time not to startle, her biggest concerns being her own morning breath making her nose scrunch and the longing for a hot shower. She was warm and sweaty and that didn’t bode well – but it was daytime now and the hot season hadn’t quite come to a close yet, so there was some hazy hope it wasn’t just her freak nature at play. She was still in her sweater as well, and she pawed at the black turtleneck she still wore from Thursday, but was too reluctant to expose the uniform beneath on the off chance someone reported a sighting of the ex-hero on the run.

She groaned blearily, and then a hand was on her shoulder, shoving her to make her sit upright, and she refused to give the man the satisfaction of a fluster when she realized she’d fallen asleep against the rogue doctor. “What year is it?” she grumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

Someone made a quip about the year 2000, and so started day two of the cross-country road trip, and she still didn’t know where they were going. If three of the men hadn’t just been sprung from incarceration and she hadn’t abruptly decided to get the hell out of Dodge, she might have wondered why they hadn’t caught a flight instead. She might have hijacked a jet herself if she’d known it would take this long, but then she supposed Global Justice might have been hot on her trail with their own jets.

Jet lag and cramped space were a literal pain in the butt part of road trips, but it still beat another day in Go City.

Thanks to a couple wrong turns, it was turning out to be a much longer journey than anyone had anticipated. Someone gave her an idea of how much longer, but that was ever-changing depending on how many times the dunces got them lost whilst avoiding the freeway. Each henchman took a shift behind the wheel, and breaks were few and far between. Even Shego was ordered to drive eventually, which surprised her. She still wasn’t told where they were going, only instructed to follow whatever highway they were on for however many hundreds of miles. Against Dr. Drakken’s instruction, she exceeded the speed limit, but otherwise didn’t fool around, too eager to reach the destination so she could get out of the damn rig once and for all.

When the second dusk fell, she surrendered the wheel in favor of returning to the back with Dr. Drakken, her spirit to be a pest crushed like a bug on the windshield a thousand or two miles back. Even the classic, “Are we there yet?” lost its charm eventually, and she could think of nothing to do to show her resent beyond crossing her arms and huffing indignantly. Had she known a major road trip was in store, she might have come better prepared. The withdrawals and lack of facilities hadn’t made her a particularly happy camper today, but at least she wasn’t the only one in a funk.

Eventually, lethargy weighed her down once again, and she made the grievous error of dozing off for a second time as they drove through yet another painfully boring night. She’d never forgotten what a risk shut-eye was without her medication, but she accepted that unfortunate drawback of her glow and tried to stave off the drowsiness for as long as possible through sheer discipline, but no one was perfect. She could only cross her fingers and hope nothing terrible would happen when she inevitably fell victim to the vicious cycle.

Now wasn’t the ideal time for a bad dream to plague her unconscious mind, but she had no say in the matter.

Red wasn’t his color and it didn’t belong in his hair as her big brother lay face-down on the floor. Her little brother turned his back on her as her baby brothers wailed, asking where Sis was, but she was too far away to wipe tears from the twins’ chapped cheeks. Similarities ended at the face and the only one dead to her was a deadbeat mother.

Yet she became a little white lab rat, and like a rat, she ran. And she ran and ran and men in red she sought refuge among were nothing more than ruddy wolves waiting for her. Cries for a hero went unanswered. The only figure in blue merely stood by to watch the cruelty unfold.

The fever dream swamping her sleeping mind took the back burner in an instant as Shego awoke with a gasp. She drew back a hand in reflex, as if she instinctively knew where to aim before she’d even opened her eyes.

Dr. Drakken caught her wrist in the nick of time as she was mere inches from swiping him across the face with a hand glowing hot and bubbling with unchecked alien fire. He’d been standing outside the door, leaning in to shake her awake.

Her breath came in ragged gasps, sweat chilling her scorching skin yet not cooling her effectively enough as her body slowly relaxed. When she realized there was no immediate danger, her mouth moved as she struggled to apologize but not a single intelligible word came out until she’d taken a deep breath and swallowed the cotton in her mouth. “What…?” she managed to croak instead.

Rightfully wary, Dr. Drakken eyeballed her as he backed away slowly. “I said we’re here.” He gave her a wide berth, but then he blinked and shook his head and gestured a little too quickly at her, making her flinch at the movement, ready to go back on the defense. “What was that all just now? You were glowing – not just your hands. All over. And— oh please, Shego, not here—”

She was too busy stripping out of the singed top layer to fire a comeback, in a hurry to get the civilian outfit off before the polyester could stick too badly. If the rogue doctor was such a know-it-all, it shouldn’t be hard for him to figure out she’d been about to combust. The turtleneck and jeans she’d worn to hide her uniform the past few days had begun to melt and burn in her nightmare, and it was a smell she could do without.

The man had been quick to shield his eyes when she ripped off her sweater, and after a moment she heard him breathe a mutter of relief when he realized she wore something beneath. Thankfully that something was fireproof.

She was thankful now that she hadn’t changed out of her Team Go uniform – or worse, left the specialized suit behind in Go City.

Discarding the disguise gave her time to get her land-legs back – they’d been on the road for far too long – and as Shego stretched, she surveyed her new surroundings.

They were in warehouse of sorts, just large enough to be sufficient in serving as a hangar for a few gutted crafts in various stages of disassembly or repair. A fleet of half a dozen assorted vehicles parked along one wall, the individuality of which gave Shego the impression that they must belong to the crew of henchmen harbored here. The last of the three men they’d traveled with was already disappearing through a door way at the back.

Shego let out a sigh. “Well, I’m not gagged or dead yet,” she muttered reassuringly to herself, grabbing her go bag from the floorboard and following a few steps behind the blue man skulking after his henchmen. She raised her voice to test the acoustics, but also to let her discontent be known, “If I have to sit that long in a car again, it’ll be too soon.”

Dr. Drakken waved his hand dismissively. “You’ll get used to it,” he said, and gestured back to the jet junk pile. “Soon I hope to be cutting travel time in half and conventional vehicles will be a thing of the past. For the elite, that is.” He turned an optimistic grin back to her, as if hoping the promise would impress her.

It didn’t. She’d heard enough self-proclaimed evil masterminds boast to take it with a grain of salt.

More concerning was his grin. She wasn’t sure if she’d get used to the rogue doctor’s crooked smile and misaligned teeth. They may be befitting of a madman, but he needed to keep his mouth shut, she thought inwardly.

Keeping her remarks to herself, Shego shadowed him in silence.

The warehouse fed directly into sort of lobby furnished with a couple couches and a coffee machine in the back, along with a TV, sink, and a fire extinguisher. Two of the henchmen still lingered there, slurping on joe now and ceasing their chatter upon entry of the boss and his new recruit.

Scaling up an earthy back wall were stairs without railings carved into the rock, something Shego hoped wouldn’t be the norm.

She recognized the construction right off the bat. She’d snuck around lairs like this before. She knew the architect by name from reading the Global Justice file on him and had even faced him once in battle. The architect always got off scot-free, because there wasn’t much to be done about a contractor who chose to work exclusively for criminals.

As she followed Dr. Drakken deeper into the abode carved from stone, it became abundantly apparent to her that this was one of the cheaper lairs, which wasn’t encouraging. If she had to guess, this was Dr. Drakken’s first. She hoped he’d learn soon enough not to sacrifice structural integrity to save a buck, but hopefully that lesson wouldn’t be learned while anyone was inside.

The stairs lead to a long crooked hallway, metal support beams arching where necessary to hold up the rock ceiling. Sconces lit the way, some draped with cobwebs. As Shego kicked at pebbles on the dirt floor, she found herself glaring at Dr. Drakken’s back as he strolled ahead with hands clasped behind him.

“Hey,” she called, breaking the silence as she punted a small stone like a soccer ball. It skittered down the hall for quite a ways before clinking against a steel door at the very end of the hall, a small dust cloud left in its wake. “You said all your employees were guys, right?”

The stupefied sound Dr. Drakken made was weak, but then he squared his shoulders to put on his tough-guy front. “Yes? And?” he barked defensively, getting up in arms over her judgmental tone. He stopped before the only other door in the hall, located roughly halfway, and punched in a PIN code that Shego paid careful attention to as she hovered to peek past his shoulder.

“Oh, nothing,” she said airily as the steel door split open with gears grinding in protest. “I just hope you weren’t expecting a lady’s touch,” she sneered, folding her arms, “because I’m not a maid.” Contrary to what her family seemed to think.

He grunted but didn’t answer.

Shego lingered at the door, unsure about following Dr. Drakken into a dark room that sounded too vast for comfort, past a door with automatic locking and so far from any exit that could promise a handy escape route.

When fluorescents came on with an eerie resonating clang that made her jump a bit, she managed to steal herself against her nerves, setting her resolve and slipping in before the door could shut.

Tailing the man into the dim lab, Shego wasn’t about to admit her relief to find that although the floor here was still made of stone, at least it was immaculately clean. Polished, even. She felt more like she was walking on marble than dirt now, their footfall echoing sharply through the cavernous space.

The first thing to draw her eye here was a large round work table in the center, an equally large surgical light illuminating it as if to showcase a mess of steel, cords, cables, gears – robotics mumbo jumbo. It reminded Shego of the robo-toys she’d seen a boy tinkering with back at the geek lab she’d swiped tech from the other day, only on a much larger scale. As they neared it, she picked out a dismembered robotic arm, a metal head with the face missing, a spinal cord – and she concluded Dr. Drakken was building humanoid robots. He wouldn’t be the first, but it still made her skin crawl.

He cast a leery glance back at her as he swung by his workstation, and pressed a button under the table. The work lamp shut off and a curtain hung from a rim around the massive fixture came swishing shut, hiding his projects from view before she could get too close. As she passed, she couldn’t help an attempt at peeking through the veil, but he beckoned to her and called gruffly, “Keep up.”

She reluctantly obeyed him, choosing to believe that she’d have plenty of time to meddle later.

As she peered about, Shego came to the realization that this room hadn’t been simply hollowed out. It was a natural cave, with spires of stone hanging from the ceiling like fangs. It didn’t seem like the kind of place one would want to put a laboratory full of costly materials, but could she expect less from a madman? Not to mention, it was a cheap lair, probably utilizing whatever natural formations there were to save on digging and rubble removal. Braced against the walls were a few metal support beams, but they weren’t reassuring.

Dr. Drakken took the stolen goods she’d retrieved for him back in Go City to his computer desk, and Shego followed.

She crossed her arms and her lips quirked as she tipped her head back to examine an oversized twelve-foot-wide computer monitor. It reminded her of the one at the Team Go headquarters. She’d never asked what company produced such monstrous screens, but she’d gathered over her brief hero career that they catered frequently to villain hobbyists. It was an essential part of every villain lair. She should have expected to see one here. By the bulbous screen, it seemed dated though. Maybe even second-hand.

She couldn’t help narrowing her eyes at it.

It hardly resembled Team Go’s, but it still incited a memory of a time she’d once snapped at the older two of her brothers for using the multi-thousand-dollar device to play video games. Then she remembered abusing it herself to watch television. She remembered the supersized pixels had hurt her eyes.

Shego’s frown was torn from the quiet sleeping screen to the look of focus on Dr. Drakken’s face as he popped a panel on his desk to access the innards of his supercomputer, installing the stolen hard drive into a slot among several others. Staring at the dark bags under his eyes, she wondered idly how much time he spent in front of this stupid setup. Just how much sleep did the guy lose working in here?

In retrospect, nearly all villains she’d faced in the past seemed a little sleep deprived and a lot caffeinated.

Dr. Drakken snapped the panel back into place and spun around, leaning back against his desk. Shego shifted in place and adjusted the bag hanging from her shoulder as he surveyed her head to toe, and finally he scrubbed his face and grumbled, “I suppose we should get you taken care of.”

He scowled in the direction of a dark passage drilled through the cavern wall. “First door is a washroom,” he said, gesturing. “Three doors down from that should be your quarters. I ordered for arrangements to be made for you, so if they slacked off, tell me and I’ll take care of it. Stay on this floor. Now shoo. I have work to do.” He waved her off to dismiss her.

Shego adjusted her backpack strap and stalked off into what she imagined might be a trap. Paranoia nagged persistently at the back of her mind, even when she reminded herself that she’d made it all the way here without incident. She tensed for an ambush anyway.

It was a pleasant surprise there wasn’t one awaiting her, but she couldn’t bring herself to relax now that she was tiptoeing down a strange hall with intuition alone as her guide.

As promised, behind the first door was the washroom. Everything was so sterile white, she wondered if it had ever been used. She decided the facilities must have been for convenience or the off chance someone needed a quick wash in case of a chemical spill. That, or the cleanliness was due to this Dr. Drakken guy being a bigger clean freak than the lobby and entry hall let on.

Shego moved on down the tapering hallway to locate her designated room, finding the fourth door was ajar as if to tempt her to come snooping in. She ignited a hand to shed some light before she stepped inside. No booby traps were sprung, no goons jumped her, and no wires were tripped. Shego almost hoped something exciting would have happened.

She found the light switch and when it buzzed to life, she examined the furnishings. For now, there was only a simple twin bed with plain white sheets, and beside it was a small dresser and vanity mirror. Otherwise empty and twice the size of her room back home, with stone teeth hanging from the dark earthy ceiling, Shego’s stomach knotted with doubt she’d ever be comfortable sleeping in here. She’d have to put work into personalizing it with rugs and posters or something before it could be worthy of being called a bedroom. That was assuming she stuck around long enough.

All alone in this empty stagnant room, Shego became increasingly aware of something critical: she reeked to the high heavens. In her own humble opinion, anyway. The whole ride here, she hadn’t even noticed herself because the overwhelming man smell had overpowered it. As her face flushed and she dumped her bag on the bed, she wondered if anyone had noticed she hadn’t had a shower in days. Mortified was putting it lightly, but some things couldn’t be helped.

Few times in her life had she felt quite this grungy, and she’d been through some rough times in the past. She hastily dug through her belongings to gather a few essentials, hoping the facilities had been stocked with soap.

Once the bathroom door was locked behind her, she was tearing off her uniform. Top half of her suit discarded to the floor, she was unbuckling her belt when she caught sight of herself in the mirror and froze.

[green-makakas]

Cosplay, Fanart and Plagiarism

(gif curtesy to Mel)

TL;DR: An artist traced (!) my cosplay photo without permission, gave me zero credits, sold the prints at a con and denied she’s ever seen my photo. First, both of us, the cosplayer and the photographer, want to say that it would never have come to this if the artist would have immediately apologized to us in person, instead of being extremely rude to us and letting things escalate. A simple sorry and taking down the prints would’ve sufficed. In the beginning of January, being hyped with the new SU episodes, I immediately fell in love with Blue Diamond and cosplayed her. Two months ago, a friend let me know that an artist she saw drew a fanart based on my photo. I was extremely flattered and happy, but also kinda sad the artist gave me zero credits. Us cosplayers and photographers work really hard to get a nice result, and everyone is happy when their photo serves as an inspiration for another artwork. I wrote a letter to her stating that I love her art, but I’d like her to credit me as a source of inspiration (adding the screen shot). For two months, there was silence. I tried it again a few weeks ago, but again, no response. Okay, what can you do…

Last weekend we had a big con in Germany with a huge artist alley and both of us, the photographer and the cosplayer, attended. Suddenly, a friend came to us and said that there’s a girl selling this exact drawing. We were puzzled and decided to go to her booth and look at it ourselves.

Now, I added a gif our friend Mel made of her drawing and my photo overlapping. She didn’t really use me as a reference or an source of inspiration: she simply TRACED my photo. The changes she added to it are minimal! We went to her booth, showed her the photo and asked her to explain this: Why didn’t she ask us if it was okay? Why didn’t she answer two of my messages? And finally, why was she selling it? The artist answered that she’d never seen this photo in her life and she had no idea what we were talking about. Now, dumbfounded by the obvious lie, we asked her to cut it out and to explain herself honestly. She was very rude, didn’t even look us in the eyes and repeated numerous times that she’d never seen this photo, never seen my message and that she wants us to leave right now. We asked her how it could be then, that our photo and her picture were identical down to the folds on the fabric. She avoided answering, flatout refused to continue the discussion and told us to contact her via e-mail instead. No, we said, we are standing right in front of you, so please talk to us now, especially since we had already tried to contact her online. 

Then she changed her story and admitted that she HAD seen my message after all, but was too busy preparing for this convention and thus couldn’t answer. Please note: she was contacted TWO whole months before the convention, so naturally we were having none of it. Later on, she changed her story once again and said that she didn’t understand my message bc it was in English and that’s why she hadn’t answered. This whole time, she continued to state that SHE HAD NEVER SEEN MY PHOTO IN HER LIFE. And by god, she was so rude… all in all, the whole thing was very disappointing and disheartening. Seeing as we had no chance to even have a constructive dialogue, we went to con helpers, who were so, so, so kind to us! They looked at the photo and asked us what we wanted to happen. We told them we just wanted her to stop selling this exact print here. That it wasn’t okay doing it and it wasn’t okay lying about it.

Now, the con helper responsible for the artist alley went to the artist’s booth, talked to her and asked us to talk it out in their presence. They looked at our photo and the artist’s picture and immediately took our side. Now, it was THE FIRST TIME the artist admitted that, indeed, our photo MAY have been used to for this picture, but not by her. Supposedly, it now was „a collab with a friend“ who did the drawing, while the artist in question only did the coloring, so she wouldn’t know anything about tracing our picture. Since her story has already changed a few times during our first attempt to talk to her, we were rather sceptical of this new excuse, but then again, shit happens, right? And it would explain her denying the absolutely obvious fact of tracing, wouldn’t it? Well, as we found out a few hours later on her twitter (thanks to another friend), back in January, when she posted the picture, she stated in no uncertain terms that she was the one who drew it.

Translation: „I watched the new Steven Universe episodes a few days ago and since then I’ve got „What’s The Use Of Feeling, Blue?“ stuck in my head“ „And that’s why I drew Blue Diamond today in the morning!“ Notice her claiming credit for DRAWING the picture alone (”ich habe gezeichnet” – “I drew”), without mentioning any colab friends. And needless to say, without mentioning us. Now, either she was lying to us about having a colab partner or she’s snubbing not one, but two parties of credit here. We do heavily lean towards the first option, due to the way this excuse emerged only after she had time to come up with one, but the second option doesn’t make her look much better either. But back to the story. Not having seen this tweet at that point, we relucantly bought the story of the colab partner being the one at fault here. The con helpers asked her how much was selling the print for. 12€ per print, people, and of course she’s already sold a few. We ourselves don’t even sell this photo and meanwhile someone was profiting of our hard work like this :( The story ended with the con helper taking ALL of her prints of Blue Diamond and giving them to me so she can’t sell them again (at least, not at this con). I shook the artist’s hand and told her that her drawings were beautiful, she was obviously very talented and SHE DIDN’T HAVE TO DO THIS. She could have asked and I would’ve said yes! I told her I wished her no harm and that I wished her good luck, but this was not okay and as an artist, she should understand this. I really wish the message came through, but, sadly, she showed zero remorse. She didn’t even apologize, but whatever. * Now. There are a lot of people who have used our photos as references in the past, but they usually ask beforehand and ALWAYS credit us properly. Nothing makes me happier than to inspire other people with my art. It’s a huge compliment to us as cosplayers and photographers. All the person has to do is to simply ask! It is NOT okay to TRACE a photo and to SELL the result with minimal changes… especially not witout permission. It’s just not. My artwork may be used as a reference, but it’s NOT A STOCK PHOTO and not „just“ a reference for art students or aspiring artists. Cosplay and cosplay photpgraphy are also an artform and there’s a lot of effort and money that goes into it! For this Blue Diamond shoot, we:

1) Put effort into developing the idea 2) Bought fabric and made the costume 3) Styled the wig 4) Did the make up 5) Worked on the studio set up 6) Worked on the lightning set up 7) Put thought into compostion and expression of the photo 8) Took the photo 9) Edited the photo

It is NOT A SIMPLE „CLICK“ OF THE CAMERA. We put sweat and blood into this because, same as fanartists, we are huge SU fans and we wanted to honor the amazing new episodes. In no way did I think someone would simply trace my photo and make profit of it without asking me. Of course, I do not own BD, her design or whatever. But this doesn’t mean that what I created isn’t an artwork within its own right and can be freely traced and sold without permission! The changes the artist made in her „drawing“ were minimal and nothing was changed in the concept, the composition, the idea or the artistic expression of the shot.

There’s always a shit storm in the community when someone reposts an artwork without crediting the artist or when people are reposting without credits for internet points, and rightfully so. Here it’s not just about internet recognition, it’s about actual monetary profit. So I do think it’s understandable that we’re deeply upset about this. This is not, in any way or form, some „Cosplayers vs Fanaritsts” discussion, it’s an „Artist vs Plagiarism“ problem. So please, please, PLEASE, just ask if you want to use someone’s photo, give them credit, show them your work! They’ll be so happy, flattered and proud! Don’t be like this artist… the situation here was entirely avoidable and caused unnecessary pain for everyone involved.

Regardless of the upsetting situation, we really want to thank all friends (and strangers) who showed us support! It was incredibly important and reassuring. Biggest thanks go, of course, to Mel who first notified us of the situation and helped us greatly in solving it! And so many props to convention helpers! We’re thankful beyond words!

[bleusarcelle]

What got you interested in writing?

…

Hi Anon.

Okay, first off, I’m so sorry I missedthis? I honestly have no excuse so uh…yeah, I’m sorry.

But one of my mottos in life is: “Betterlate than never!” so …tada!

Now, it actually…took me a while to answerthis correctly, I still don’t know how, but I’m just gonna go with the flow,yah?

This may be long so I’m cutting this herebc I’m gonna ramble and get emotional and deep.

Honest to God, it’s L O N G bc I got excited and bla bla bla, you can just ignore this. 

What got me interested in writing?Creating.

Everyone has something, you know? Some kindof talent, something that makes them shine in the crowd because it’s somethingthat belongs to them.  

I wanted that shinning. I wanted to knowwhat was my damn shinning, but I didn’t know what it was because nothingscreamed me. I wasn’t good enough to be the best in something, I couldn’treally do anything?

I wanted to know what I was good on.

“Try things. Do something. You have to workfor it. Look for it.”

These phrases where stuck on my for a longtime, and I’m a lazy motherfucker but it was a tthat point that I was like …

“Okay.”

I said okay with so much determination andpromise. I was ready to fight, ready to be let down, ready to raise, ready tofind myself, looking in every single thing possible.

Drawing, music, singing, dancing, theater,ballet, tennis, swimming, painting.

Nothing.

I was thirteen/fourteen and it was aroundthat time when I was in the Naruto fandom,(yes, leave me alone, that’s my blue eyed baby, he’s hokage now) and Istarted reading fanfiction.

It was mind blowing like….what. I washonestly so surprised because they were funny, charming and so original; onefic after another and another and another.

It was a damn sea of fics and I was so damnhype.

I honestly don’t remember the first time Idecided to write something, but I do remember thinking, as I read the authors’usernames, that maybe I could do it too, or at least try.

“Ifthey can, why can’t i?”

I knew that I didn’t have anything special;scrawny chubby teen filled with angst? Pretty sure I didn’t have anything butneither way, I was stubborn, so damn stubborn and I wanted to write a damn fic.

I wanted to be someone.

I wanted to create.

I wanted it with my entire soul.

So I worked for it.

Honest to fucking God, the first time Iwrote one page, one single simple page with over 40 typos, badgrammar and cringy interactions, I fucking fell in love with it.

Can I read it in the present? Heck no,omfg, I wouldn’t even make my worst enemy read that, but I’m so proud of it because I did that. For me and all bymyself.

I know it’s kinda like a label? Calling andsaying I’m a writer but I’m so proud of my label. I had been so damn proud whenI gushed about my trashy crappy writing to my family members and they were soamused and happy for me even tho it was crap.

They lost interest on it ofc, they werejust humoring me bc I was young, but still, the feeling for me never fade. I keptwriting, I kept talking about, I kept trying.

And then, one day, I wasn’t even thinkingabout it, and someone around me just ….simply said, “You’re a writer.”

And I just… what?

I was.

I was a writer and I was so HYPE becausethose words on my notebooks were mine. That dialogue was mine, that plot, thatcharacter, that personality, that funny detail, that, that, that, that.

It was mine.

And I freakingloved it.

It came out of me (lmao) and everything Iwrite is literally my baby, to this day, ever since I started.

It’s actually just recently that I decidedto push myself and try harder, try to be someone and scream my name to theword, one way or another.

I don’t compare myself to other, notanymore, I don’t like that, sometimes is inevitable but I try every day to pushthose bad thoughts away. Because everyone has their own touch, everyone havetheir own spark, everyone have their own audience, everyone have their own cupof tea.

And that’s okay and incredible because that’sjust such a massive bunch of people creating stuff out of thin air and it’samazing.

Here are the things I love about mywriting:

-         It makes someone, somewhere,smile. I know it those, okay? I’m so sure of it and I’m so happy I could makesomeone smile with something I created.(Best fucking feeling)

-         Amazing way to let my feelingsout and I keep it all inside = Not goody. I try to pour my feelings. Everything. Everything I write my soulis in there.

-         Helps people. I wanna helppeople with my fics/novels/books, with anything I can and help them in someway.

I know I’m still nothing woah,but I know I have come a long way, I know I have made people smile, I know I’m goodenough.

I totally fully completely sidetracked thequestion, and I’m so sorry for that, but I was feeling pretty bad? And, like Ijust said, I wanted to let it all out and remind myself why I do this. Why Iwrite during class instead of playing attention. Why I write instead offinishing an assignment due to today. Why I cry and take a deep breath wheneverything is overwhelming and I write.

That’s why I don’t give up on it, becauseit’s my passion, or I least I hope so, and I will fight with my very beinguntil my last breath to be the person I want to be and make my dream come true.

Someway, somehow, but I will, and it’sgoing to be amazing.