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nabi-unveiled · 16 days ago

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Catching Up: Love for Love's Sake (Ep 4)

Other Reacts: Ep 1 Ep 2 Ep 3

Yes, it's 3:15 in the morning. Yes, I have to work tomorrow. No, I can't even sleep in because I have to interview a potential intern at 9 am. Plus, the kids will be home with me too since it's a school holiday. I don't care. I'm starting episode 4 anyways.

And yay! We've went back to the fight. I was hoping we would find out more about what happened.

Is this a new way for them to do the subtitle for "debuff/curse". I guess that's fine so that people who don't understand gaming get it. It feels a little late in the game for that though. Still, I loved this screenshot, because you can see the transition that's a bit gamified. And the purple aura energy is showing up on Yeowoon's arm.

We didn't have any debuffs last episode so I guess the debuff really does relate to affection of Myungha and not Yeowoon's personal affection. Fine. I'll exit my clown car theory about the debuffs....for now. Outside of my clown car, it makes sense that the debuff would show up now since Myungha's affection level just plummeted.

Myungha absorbs the debuff. Yeowoon is left in shock. He definitely is feeling rejected/slighted at this point.

Myungha is dragging Sangwon through the halls. Sangwon says "I'm not a kid." I'd be careful Sangwon. That line of thinking means he can hit you. I know Myungha knows how to fight, but I do wonder more and more every episode about "why" he fought. I'm already developing a lot of head canons on that score. Maybe we'll find out eventually though.

He's not going to hit him (not that I thought he ACTUALLY would anyways), because we now have a ringing sound. I'm guessing the debuff is having an effect. He absorbed all the bad purple energy, and it was STRONG this time base on his -99. Was the -99 in red last episode? If not, it should've been. Sorry, random thought.

Myungha falls down the stairs.

I've given up on the episode names being strictly related to missions. The gamer in me though is going to retranslate this as "progress". That feels better in gamification terms. Especially if it's talking about progress in the mission quest. I obviously have no clue whether that is right. Wait. Unless they're talking about aspects of the game being "in development" like new code/levels being written or the story being redeveloped/changed. Hmm. That actually feels likely. We'll stick with development.

KYUNGHOON! You're back. I missed you so much. I'm guessing they're having to skip class to go to the competition. Apparently, Myungha has hurt his leg. Kyunghoon struggles to get over the wall. Based on how Myungha hopped the wall, I'm guessing it's the right leg that's hurt. But Myungha's leg obviously wasn't THAT badly hurt. It didn't look like he tried to favor one leg more in the landing. Guess that could depend on the type of injury though. My perspective is probably skewed. I've dislocated kneecaps more times than I wish to recount. I definitely wouldn't have made it over the wall shortly after one of those times. My personality is such though that I'd have doubled down and probably hurt myself more while trying. Lol.

Sangwon is waiting on the other side of the wall. I loved his "hi". Kyunghoon asks if he was waiting. Myungha says it's a "disease". It works, but I wonder if there is a different translation of that word. They've used it several times. It was also used in a very similar way during Secret Relationships ("being nosy is a disease").

Sangwon says he was just late to school. It's coincidence that they met up. I love that he's somewhat "talking back" to Myungha. But I also have a very sarcastic/roast style sense of humor. These types of exchanges always make my day. I wish I had more of that energy in my life.

Kyunghoon asks about the shoes, and Sangwon realizes that he had made a mistake. I didn't mention it last episode as the post was already getting really long. But my guess is that Sangwon was upset about the shoes, because he thought that his mom gave them to Yeowoon. His mom had just been to the school after all, and it appears like they have a complicated relationship. I'm guessing there's a lack of affection there too based on Sangwon's reactions to Myungha's signs of care. This is all conjecture on my part. The show isn't really SAYING any of this at the moment.

But now he knows the shoes weren't from his mom. It's okay Sangwon. I made several bad calls in the last episode too. Sangwon decides to follow.

And just like that, we have a gaming party embarking on a quest.

Our trio notices that Yeowoon is standing instead of taking his place on the blocks. Is he wearing the blue shoes? It looks like it. Myungha is still outside of the love supremacy zone, but he yells Yeowoon's name. I'm taking note that his number is 251 just in case it pops back up at some point. I loved the sound effect as the camera circled around and Yeowoon realized his name was being called.

Yeowoon is recalculating his affection, and the number starts moving up fast. Lol. This feels very much like love indeed. Highs and lows and emotional turbulence. Some might say that's the fickle nature of teenage affection. I'd say that doesn't ever really change. But maybe that's just the nature of my personal relationship talking. Maybe it'd help if we had affection scores above our head so we'd both know when we screwed up. On second thought, I don't think I'd want to know my score. That feels like a recipe for disaster.

Yeowoon takes his place at the blocks with magic sparkles coming off of his blue shoes. The affection level keeps rising.

If this wasn't a "game", the new shoes would be disastrous in a competition. But as I've thought about it, I actually like that this feels like an equipment upgrade in a game. Higher tier equipment immediately leads to better outcomes in a game assuming you have the skills to use it.

The music reminds me of late 90s/early 2000s movies. I kind of love it since we're panning across Sangwon and Kyunghoon's faces, and it feels like a friend montage moment out of one of those types of "high school" movies. Ah nostalgia.

Affection level is back at 0. The subtitles say Yeowoon is second, but I'm guessing he's actually third. They announced two other names before him.

Yep, he's third place based on the next part of the dialogue. Myungha says he did well. Yeowoon is crying, but Myungha definitely doesn't understand the reason. Yeowoon is trying to figure out why Myungha is nice to him.

Poor boy is definitely dealing with romantic feelings now. I'm loving the romance driven emotional angst of it all. This is my cup of tea.

The coach interrupts. Yeowoon is still emotional, but Myungha says he'll wait. They can eat together afterwards. Yes, please do. I'm always going to be down for a shared meal.

Yay! Our whole crew is EATING together! And Yeowoon is smiling.

Yeowoon tells Myungha to eat too and gives him food. OMG - our affection level has crossed the zero threshold. We're now at 5. And it keeps climbing as he keeps giving Myungha food. Lol. Kyunghoon tells Myungha to eat slowly and Sangwon's face is priceless! He seems absolutely disgusted by Yeowoon's actions. We end on an affection level of 17 for now.

Sangwon and Yeowoon are bickering. I love it. so. much. Frenemy relationships are the best. I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops moving forward.

For those that like talks about linguistics, they said a bit about honorifics too. If I followed it correctly, Sangwon used more casual speech with Myungha and Yeowoon didn't like it. I could be mistaken though. Myungha really is the exasperated parent here. Lol. Cutie Kyunghoon helps Myungha out. He is worried that Yeowoon's feet might hurt since he ran with new shoes.

Yeowoon says he's fine, but he asks what happened to Myungha's leg.

🤣 This pout had me dying. For the game aspect, it really is like now that his "affection level" has went up, it's unlocked all kinds of new dialogue/expression options.

I wonder if Myungha realizes that his leg getting hurt was due to the purple energy. He's a smart cookie. I bet he's figured that out.

This whole scene just put me in a good mood.

Yeowoon offers to help "hold" Myungha. I'm betting there's a better translation of that. Kyunghoon used the term earlier too. I bet it has to do with letting Myungha lean on him or something like that rather than "hold" as I typically interpret. Myungha says he fine.

Yeowoon wants Myungha to rely on him too. This is a tricky situation. Yeowoon wants them to be EQUALS, but Myungha is definitely going to struggle with that. Myungha has taken on a caretaker role, and while those things aren't mutually exclusive, it can make things complex.

Yeowoon asks how Myungha knows his (shoe) size. Myungha says he let the fan (sis) pick it out, and that she wants to meet Yeowoon. Yeowoon doesn't seem happy about Myungha hanging out with her often, but he agrees to meet up with Si-a.

Yeowoon has essentially walked Myungha home. He tells him thank you which Myungha teases him about. But he says it again and leaves.

The entry light starts flickering and there are some jarring sounds. Ominous music plays, and Myungha's head is hurting.

OOOOOOH. It WAS development like "game in development". Exciting.

We're back at the bar from episode 1. Senior is asking Myungha questions.

I first noticed the three butterflies in the corner of the paper. It shouldn't be a surprise given my blog name that I'm likely to notice butterflies. They're a symbol of transformation and personal growth. Actually, they have different stages of development just like a game. A butterfly's development requires they insulate themselves from the world and focus on changing themselves before they can emerge in their final form. I don't know whether that has anything to do with this show or not though.

But these questions are interesting. Yes, I used my phone to translate. Though it kept giving slightly different translations depending on the angle I held it, I think I got the gist of it. One of the things says "like minded friends" which was what the quest said in episode 2. If I remember correctly, that was in Myungha's hand writing. So is senior having Myung-ha essentially write the game levels? I had said in an earlier episode that this was really a quest for Myungha's own happiness as well.

It WAS his writing. I love this shot. It feels like a magic dungeon with the candles and lighting. The shape of the glass is nice. I think it's a glencairn whiskey glass. Actually no. The base is wrong. It doesn't matter. The glass itself is probably not symbolic. I just find certain types of glassware pretty. As a fun side note, I used to drink everything (soda, milk, etc.) out of a red wine glass that I got while dumpster diving in college. I loved that beautiful glass. My roommate eventually broke it "on accident", but said it was "probably for the best" so that people didn't think I was drinking alcohol. Fun times 🙄.

It's late/early. I'm rambling. *Focus brain*

Senior is in white as the "heavenly" being with the power. Am I supposed to trust him? I don't. But it feels like he's God/angel coded.

"Will there be happiness to 29 year old Tae Myungha?"

"So the standard is very important." says Senior.

Myungha doesn't hear him clearly, and we can't hear his next line clearly either. He's muffled as if he's under water. It's the same sound as when he first entered the game world.

This feels important, and it feels mistranslated. Or at least like it was translated without the needed nuance. I need to pause anyways. I'm tired enough that I know I'll miss details if I keep going tonight.

(pause)

Ok. I've slept a few hours and hung out with the kids for a bit. I've mulled it over. I'm guessing that senior is really meaning that Myungha needs to be very careful about what goals/words he's using. Happy is a pretty vague term. I actually walked down the aisle to a song called "Different Kinds of Happy" from the movie Sweet Land. The idea/theme in that movie is that happiness can take different forms and mean different things to different people. In a game, if you don't have a clearly defined objective, then it's going to be difficult to meet it. So what does Myungha actually mean by "happy"?

But Myungha "can't hear" what senior is telling him. Myungha, and us by extension, are missing a critical piece of information. I'm guessing it has to do with the standard/clearer objective or that it's a warning of some kind.

We're back in the video game world. Myungha is looking at his notes.

AND OMG - YES! HOORAY! A time jump/alternate world that GETS how problematic it is for a 29 year old to be suddenly back in high school. The dialogue is clearly establishing that he IS 19 in this world. It's how I had resolved it mentally myself in episode 2. I love it when my head canons become actual canon.

Anyways, it's a good question. What CAN he do? Because "making someone happy" on a identity level scale really isn't easy. I would argue that it's not actually possible. That they have to strive for their own happiness as they accept themselves. It's not just circumstances that's driving Yeowoon's mental disdain for himself. New shoes are great, but they're not a long term solution. When you're dealing with suicidal ideation the other person has to "want" to live. A lot of times they don't even realize it until the moment. Yeah, it wasn't my grandfather's first attempt before he succeeded. My brother's neither. So far my brother has always decided he wanted to live and sought help in time.

I love that Myungha is being smart about this. He goes "What does he WANT me to do?" If you're playing a game, that's an important question. It's anticipating the game maker's design. I am noticing that the butterfly is on the journal paper here. But it's only one this time, and it's in the top right corner instead of the bottom corner.

Now THAT'S interesting. He doesn't remember "senior". There are a lot of fun implications in this development, but I'll have to stop for now. It looks like my husband has got off of work early today. It's a national holiday. I should've expected it. This will have to wait until after everyone is asleep tonight. I didn't get very far in this session, but it's fine. I really should've been working/writing anyways. I have five scripts due in the next two weeks.

(pause)

Well...the emoji tag game happened, and I got a wee bit carried away with it. I loved it so much. But then my brain was broke so it's taken a few days to get back here.

The fact that Myungha doesn't remember "senior" from his real life is a cool detail. I had said I thought it was in odd in episode 1 that he wasn't weirded out by the situation. It could mean that ONLY senior is obscured. Or it could mean that the facts of his "future" will slowly disappear as he creates a new story leaving him only with the 19 year old version of Myungha. There are a few other possibilities too, but I'll go with those two for now. I actually like the latter one in some ways. I don't remember if he recalled senior once he entered the video game during episode 1. That would provide evidence for which possible interpretations to keep moving forward. I might have to go back and check that out.

Regardless, we know this memory was jarring. The question is what triggered the memory.

We're down to 288 days left to complete our mission so a good bit of time has passed, and we're reminded that death is the penalty. We still don't know whose death we're talking about though.

We cut to Kyunghoon and Myungha walking down the hall together. Myungha is complaining that the teacher treats him like a thug. Kyunghoon proposes that they go to college together, drink together and have fun together in the future. I love the video game sound effects in the music/soundtrack.

OH! Random thought. I wonder if those sound effects show up at critical/specific moments. Is this like the rain drops in When It Rains or just a fun part of the soundtrack? Sound analysis is tricky for me, but it can add a lot to a show. And I LOVE it when sound is used symbolically. That would require an entire rewatch though as I'd have to focus just on the sound. I'll try to make note of it moving forward though to see if I can find a pattern. I can't promise I'll catch it every time though.

Hold up. We HAVE had a sound. The freaking water. I said before that it sounded like water when Myungha is shifting between worlds. That's definitely a specific sound at critical moments. Is that significant? Is it even water? Stop brain. You know your hearing can't be trusted. Move on.

Myungha is obviously uncomfortable here. Probably because he knows that he doesn't have that kind of time. He was just reminded of the countdown. It could also be because he didn't have that kind of life in the past. I don't know if he has those resources in the current videogame timeline either. Money isn't an obstacle for Kyunghoon. But it will be for Myungha and Yeowoon. But I figure it's that he feels like he's lying to Kyunghoon by agreeing to a future that may not exist. Yeowoon has already called him a liar after all.

Ah, the bullies are circling for blood. Frizzy blond guy asks Myungha if he's gay and is obviously intimidating Kyunghoon. Myungha says "I'm gay. So what." That's the confidence of someone who is very comfortable with themselves. I wonder if he was always that way, or if this is a manifestation of him already working through that part of his identity in the "real world".

Cutie Kyunghoon steps in between to protect Myungha 🙌🙌🙌. This is VERY important. Why? Because it's a dynamic shift. Myungha is collecting people in his life that care about him too and who will stand up for him even if it's risky. He's gathering "like minded friends" as well.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Myungha kisses the bully.

Should I be laughing? Probably not. This is a forced kiss. But AM I laughing? 100% yes. And all of the bully gang not knowing how to respond is epic.

Blond guy is rightfully angry, and Myungha just scolds him for swearing. What I love about this interaction is that it quickly and decidedly shifted who was the "victim" in this interaction.

Blond guy - Tak ...Joonho? It'll eventually stick with me. Anyways, he punches Myungha and we see Myungha deftly assert his dominance. He threatens to kiss him again.

This is the second interaction where Myungha has really shown this guy to be pretty pathetic. As he seems to be a leader in this "gang", he's probably not going to react to this well. He wouldn't be able to keep power over his bully gang if he ignored things like this. I'd expect backlash soon. He'll either take it out on his own members or start targeting people Myungha cares about (Yeowoon, Kyunghoon). Potentially both. If he comes after Myungha himself, it will be sneaky style. He can't (or shouldn't) risk another direct confrontation like this one. He's already lost twice.

Teacher intervenes. Apparently Myungha has got some type of cleaning duty punishment.

Yeowoon is on the other side of the window being cleaned. I'm trying to figure out if Yeowoon had heard about the fight or he just noticed Myungha's busted lip. Either way, his expressions here are KILLING me. They are so earnest and so different than what we had in previous episodes. The rise in affection level has definitely had an impact.

Myungha tries to brush it off, but Yeowoon won't let him. "Who hit you?" Myungha tells him he doesn't need to know.

Yeowoon gets very serious. Just like that earlier interaction with Kyunghoon, this is actually very important. Yeowoon is asking to be seen as an equal. As someone that Myungha can rely on. He's asking Myungha to trust him. Ooh interesting. Yeowoon dropped honorifics.

Yeowoon drags Myungha to the nurse's office. It's a reverse of care. Yeowoon taking care of Myungha. I mean, technically Yeowoon had intervened before. However, this is DIRECT care. Yeowoon asks if he's really not going to tell him. Myungha responds "What would you do if you knew?". Yeowoon - "I'll kill him". 🥹 Yes, I'm taking the threat as a squee worthy moment. There was no hesitation. Just a direct assertion of "you matter to me that much".

Myungha rubs his head.

I'm going to have to think about this one. Why is this man's physical affection so hard for me to interpret? This feels like a parent/child interaction to me. Which...is possible. Is he in guardian mode? Trying to calm Yeowoon down while acknowledging that he's grateful for Yeowoon caring about him? Or do other people see this as just a friendly interaction? Because things would not end well if my friend rubbed my head and used that tone with me. I'd see it as condescending for sure. But cultural differences could be in play here. I'm going with guardian mode.

Myungha says that rather than hit, it's more like we kissed. And Yeowoon's reaction is amazing.

Myungha is flustered by Yeowoon's reaction. Yeowoon has to be cycling through all kinds of feelings. One - this gives him hope. Two - Myungha was kissing someone besides him.

So many thoughts running through this boy's mind.

He says he should ask Tak Joonho. That means he DOES know who was involved, but he wanted Myungha to confide in him on his own. "Can men kiss too?" "I want to kiss him" while staring at Myungha's lips and putting on the ointment. Baby boy is down bad.

We cut to Sangwon coming towards the bully gang. There's the "hi" again. Love it. But it does feel like he's out of the loop. It feels more like he's invading their space. @dropthedemiurge I see what you meant now. He's not part of the hierarchy of this group. The uniforms vs. plain shirt is visually depicting that as well. That does make me have some questions about the earlier rooftop scene, but I'll hold them for now.

Did he come because he had heard about the fight? Or is this just part of his routine? He does seem to do whatever he wants. Case in point - he didn't come to class just because he didn't want to. Skipping seems to be a regular occurrence for him.

Tak Joonho says that he's going to teach Myungha/Kyunghoon a lesson. Sangwon is trying to put the pieces together. I do find it odd that Joonho is openly admitting that Myungha kissed him. I would've expected him to threaten the others and keep that quiet. Unless he's expecting Sangwon to commiserate with him and understand.

Not happening though. Sangwon is clearly on Myungha's side in this one. I figure he knows Tak Joonho enough to know he instigated whatever happened. The chuckling of the other students as Sangwon pushes back has got to raise Joonho's ire.

Tak Joonho thinks Sangwon is teasing him, but he's actually angry.

I'm rewording this line a little bit in my head to fit better with that sassy head tilt that just made me so happy. In some ways, it's a lot like Myungha earlier. "Yes. I am. What are you going to do about it?" It's a statement and a challenge.

Unlike Myungha, Sangwon does punch Joonho and IMMEDIATELY puts his hands back in his pockets. LMAO. That's a dominance signal right there. He knows Joonho isn't going to immediately punch back. He doesn't see him as a threat.

Joonho says he's holding back because he's rich. Sure you are. Keep telling yourself that. Kyunghoon seems to be pretty rich too, and you tease him just fine.

Note - I do realize that they've said that Sangwon can get away with everything due to his family. I'm sure it does play some role. But it's not everything. Sangwon is exuding dominance in this situation. He's even leaning in a mock little bow and saying "thank you" in a snarky tone. God, I love him and his self-confidence. He has grown on me so much, and I'm only halfway through this show.

Joonho asks if he can't see that he's outnumbered.

Sangwon (in other words): Bring it.

I'm sorry. I've tried to ignore that hideous wall color this entire show, but now we've added what has to be one of the ugliest arrangements known to mankind in front of it. I'm sure there are people who like that kind of thing, but it just makes me wonder why someone thought a feather duster was appealing. Normally I would be trying to figure out if the red meant something, but I just can't. It's an eyesore.

Is Si-a considered part of our gaming party now. I'm not sure. 🤔 They're collectively worrying about Sangwon though.

Si-a asks if Myungha wants to be a model for Swoony (the brand). The pay is better after all. Pay is always an enticing thing.

Myungha tells Si-a to buy him dinner. I'm confused. Why does he want Si-a to buy him dinner? 🤔 Myungha doesn't do things without a purpose. What's the catch?

LMAO. It's because Yeowoon is here. He's giving her the fangirl moment. Yes, she better buy the meal. A good one too.

Wait. Her name has an "h" sound? The subtitles now say "Shi-a". Did I miss that before? No. I'm pretty sure that's a change in subtitles.

Yeowoon looks ticked. My guess is that he thought he was going to get to eat with Myungha alone. He wouldn't be reacting like this if he had known it'd be a fangirl moment. Yeowoon is being very terse. Yes, he seems to be a more introverted, private person. But this is what you do when you're thrown for a loop. Myungha, you really need to give us introverts a heads up for these types of situations. Especially true if you gave us false expectations and now expect us to socialize with someone we are not comfortable around.

I'm still bitter over there being no food at the company meal that I drove two hours to yesterday. Don't promise me food and then give me a non-alcoholic beer instead. Shared meals are sacred. Oh...it's probably this kind of stuff that prompted the anon's "what's with you and food" question the other day. I get it now. Sorry anon. I didn't understand what you were asking.

I'm squirreling. None of that's really relevant. Yeowoon is just upset because he expected alone time with Myungha (pretty sure on that one), and he isn't getting it.

This conversation is awkward. Si-a signals Myungha to please help. Myungha asks Yeowoon if he has any questions. "Are you two close?" I've said all along that I love how direct Yeowoon is with Myungha. If he has questions, he is going to ask them. It's admirable, but lol. He's not looking at Si-a at all. Yeowoon is grilling Myungha.

Myungha responds playfully and tries to direct the conversation back to Si-a. I actually see that as a way of trying to include her in the conversation. He was trying to create a fan moment for her after all. Si-a says they're just colleagues which Yeowoon smiles about. But then Myungha protests that designation.

Yeowoon didn't like that at all. 🤣 "Are you closer to her than you are to me?" I love that Si-a can see this is important to Yeowoon. She's giving Myungha this look that's like "You idiot. Don't you dare make my blorbo upset!"

Myungha says "I only have Yeowoon in my heart" which makes Yeowoon beam. Si-a takes the opportunity to ask for an autograph. Si-a, I know I struggled with you in earlier episodes. I'm sorry. I can respect your non-toxic, supportive fangirl side.

"What do you think of when you run?" "I imagine there's a big crocodile chasing me." Well...that would be motivation I guess. I never imagined what was behind me when I ran. I was always focused on the finish line. Different things for different people I guess.

Ok Yeowoon. Let's not manifest that energy. There are too many trucks of doom in dramaland. And I've had two of my family members hit by vehicles. They survived, but they still have side effects. My brother got hit by a car while he was INSIDE a building.

Anyways, Yeowoon is saying that the vision has changed. He now imagines that someone is waiting for him at the finish line.

Sweet. I wish I knew what his personal affection was at this point though. We're seeing the impact of Myungha's affection level changing in his mannerisms and dialogue, but has it impacted how he sees himself?

Si-a says that's romantic, and Myungha breaks eye contact and visibly shifts. Lol. He felt that one.

We cut to them walking home. Yeowoon tries to ask Myungha about Joonho again, but Myungha says that Yeowoon isn't allowed to say kiss.

We got confirmation that Yeowoon thought it was going to be the two of them. Myungha chastises him a bit saying he needs friends. That's really not the point Myungha.

Yeowoon said that he's annoyed. Myungha says "he's been rude lately". Did he drop honorifics?

Yeowoon says "I want to go play with you". My kinky brain takes that line a completely different way that intended. But he's asking him out really. I LOVE this frame. There's a blinding light of love, but it's mostly over Yeowoon. Yeowoon knows he wants to kiss Myungha. He knows he wants to spend time with Myungha 1-1. Myungha still hasn't come to that realization yet.

It's an amusement park near the sea. Myungha seems hesitant, but he says yes. Wasn't Myungha's mom near the sea? I wonder if that's part of his hesitation. Yeah, there's definitely something there. This means something more to Myungha for some reason. But he's agreeing anyway.

Well hello. 👀 She's pretty. She was hidden initially in the frame, but they've now exposed her as she's asking Si-a for help. Who is she? Is this the person returned from abroad that Kyunghoon mentioned?

We're now in a dream sequence. 100%. "Do it with me too. The kiss."

Based on the game interface, this is Myungha's dream. Fun. Realization is coming. It's a bit of a kabedon moment with the tree. I'm enjoying it, because as confident as Myungha was when he kissed Joonho, he's not confident at all here. He's flustered.

Myungha wakes up.

Yeowoon has been sending him messages. Apparently he woke up early. If you get messages from me at 4 am, it means I haven't went to bed yet. Not unusual.

Myungha has a message from an unknown number. It's referencing children's day, mother's day, and teacher's day. Myungha isn't sure who it's from though. My immediate guess is his mom. But that doesn't make sense. He hasn't had contact with his mom since he was really little.

Is it the heavenly senior? We know information about the game comes to Myungha through his phone. "But no time for me to meet you." It's reminding me of the poem I wrote for my grandfather following his suicide. It wasn't about holidays/time, but about hiking trails. That was our thing. "But no trail that brings me to you." Crap. I'm crying again. This has been a week of tears in BL land. For the record, I cry very little in real life. But I bawl like a baby watching shows. It's cathartic in some ways. I can't analyze this properly. I'm going to read things into this that aren't there. I'm sure this will become a reoccurring event. I'll wait until the next message to figure it out.

Yeowoon came to pick Myungha up, and it looks like he paid for the bus fare for both of them. Cutie. Myungha may not realize it, but Yeowoon is definitely taking him on a date.

The mural next to the bus is of the sea. I could get a better angle this time. Phone keeps translating different based on angle, but it's better than last time. Something about sacred and beautiful love. Something about a lighthouse.

I love that Yeowoon quickly says "Look at the seagulls". There were birds on the mural too. Seagulls are a trip down memory lane for me. I got handed a bone during my oral qualification exams and asked what I could tell the professors about it. It was a seagull bone.

Seagulls have so many different symbolic meanings depending on culture. I know there are a few different takes in literature. There are also a lot of different meanings for them in Native American lore. Some positive, some negative. It depends on the tribe. A lot of it has to do with their ability to navigate in a storm and overcome obstacles if I remember correctly. There might have been something about the connection between physical and spiritual realms which would be interesting given the premise of this show. Like a bridge or messenger between the two. I don't know what they typically means in S. Korea though. I'll dive into that later.

Yeowoon says he should've brought shrimp chips. They're not my favorite, but my sous chef loves shrimp chips.

Oh. We're feeding them to the seagulls? I mean, they'll eat it. It's a fun experience for the human. It probably doesn't give them the nutrients they need.

Myungha asks if Yeowoon likes the sea. Yeowoon says he likes the mountains more. I love them both, but I live closer to the mountains. I've asked my kids this question before. One chose sea. One chose mountains. One chose "Wherever Uncle Zach is". Yeah, I'm not the only one who thinks my brother is awesome.

They're planning to climb mountains. Yeowoon wants to climb "Kongryung". Based on Myungha's reaction, that must be a hard climb. Based on Yeowoon's reaction, I'm guessing it's a long one. "I'm happy to be with you." Myungha doesn't seem sure how to process that.

Yeowoon asks if Myungha has been here before.

This feels like a lie. It's going to be interesting if lying becomes a thing for Myungha. Well-intentioned lies. But lies nonetheless. It might not be a lie though. That's just my gut talking.

They're planning on going to a clam kal-guksu place. I enjoy noodle soups, but I've never had clams in any capacity. They're not very common here. I have dissected one and done an experiment on heart rate for a class though. Not important.

Apparently, Yeowoon doesn't like seafood. And Myungha slips up. He's using information from the manuscript. Yeowoon is rightfully perplexed and then amused that Myungha knows this about him.

"Sometimes it feels like you're someone that knows me."

Yeah, that's probably going to hurt when he realizes Myungha has known about him all along.

All of Yeowoon's little smiles are killing me this episode.

Yeowoon says he now understands why Myungha likes the sea. Did Myungha say he liked the sea? I don't remember that. 🤔 It could be in an earlier episode, or I could have overlooked it. If he likes the sea though - is that why we have a water sound? Yes, I'm still stuck there. My brain is still obsessing over a sound that probably isn't even what I think it is. I curse my brain sometimes.

Yeowoon says "I've come to like it too". Cut away to them sitting on the stairs in their coordinating blue/green shirts.

There is so much I could say about that closing frame, but I know that I'm out of images. Anyways, we're halfway up the stairs. We're building the relationship. We're sitting side by side. We're equal...in this moment at least. There's no railings on this part. It'd be easy to fall off the sides.

The blue/green combo I find interesting, because it's a shift. These two characters have worn a lot of black & white. What does the shift mean? Is it part of their relationship developing or the changing levels of affection?

Is this show even color coded? I'll have to think about that. Because Sangwon also wears a white undershirt. He's definitely not a "heavenly human" type. Wait...is Myungha the ONLY one wearing a different color undershirt as part of their uniform? Is he the only one in black? I guess that makes senses. He's from a "different" world after all. But why black? Actually, Yeowoon's running outfit was in black too when he had the -100 value. So Myungha isn't the only one in black. Nevermind. I was overthinking again.

This was a fun episode. I'm loving that Yeowoon is so open and direct with his feelings. Myungha isn't there yet, but he's beginning to react. Now I just need to convince my brain that it's 4 am and it needs to just let the water sound go. IS IT WATER?!?

Don't tell me. Because if it is water, that means it's important. And if it's not water, I'll eventually realize it wasn't important.

For now, I'll just distract my brain with a more pressing question - what happened to Sangwon?

#love for love's sake #live reaction #korean bl

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justajockyo · 8 months ago

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Signed in Gold

It took some courage and working up to it, but you finally decided to try your best and join a gym to get into shape. You looked online and found a listing for a new gym near you called 'Gold and Gainz Gym'.

"Join us in Gold and be the best you you can be!"

You read their motto aloud and sighed. You'd always wanted to try and better yourself, you could just never stick to it; always doubting, always worrying about other people or failing, never making any progress. Maybe this time will be different? You decided to check them out tomorrow, couldn't hurt to just see the place right?

Walking in the next day, you instinctively squint your eyes. There's gold everywhere, so much that it hurts your eyes. You walk up to the front desk and wait for a receptionist, looking around at all the guys here. They're all dressed in the exact same gold kit, all handsome, all muscular, all laughing and enjoying each other's company. You get so lost in watching them you don't notice one walking up to you.

"How can I help ya bruh?"

You jump back a bit startled, looking up at the gold adonis in front of you. Mouth going a bit dry you finally tell him

"I uh, was wondering if I could maybe, join the gym?"

You meekly ask, eyes a bit downcast. In contrast, the man's eyes lit up.

"Hell yeah bro! We're always lookin for new members. Take an application and follow to the office, we'll get ya sorted."

Taking a seat across from him in the office, he hands you an application and a golden pen.

"Gotta sign everything in gold bro, only way for it to work"

Puzzled as to why the pen would matter that much, you start reading through the application. Some basic info about yourself, couple of checkboxes, nothing crazy, until you get to the questions at the end.

Do you swear to be the best you you can be?

Do you swear to always support your Golden Bros?

Do you swear to always wear the Gold Kit with pride?

Do you swear to be a Golden Bro in mind, body, and soul?

You stare at the questions a bit incredulous before figuring it's probably just some kind of motivational thing, writing 'Yes' in response to the first question. As you finished, you feel a sudden jolt of pleasure shoot through your body. Shaking it off, you go back to the paper, not noticing that your hands seem a bit bigger and tanner now, the bro across from you watching with a knowing smile.

'Yes' to the second question. Another jolt of pleasure strong enough to almost make you drop the pen, traveling to your head and making it feel a bit fuzzy. You never really had friends, but you keep seeing images of you supporting, working out and hanging with other guys all wearing gold jerseys. As you struggle to reconcile the conflicting memories, your body begins to shift. You gain a few inches of height, a golden tan seeps across your skin, hair styling itself into an immaculate shape while stubble begins poking through your once bare skin. Blinking a few times, you still don't notice as your thoughts finally settle. Of course you've got memories of supporting your bros, why wouldn't you? Any good bro would support them, and you're a good bro aren't you?

'Yes' to the third question, and yet another jolt of pleasure. You lean back in your chair, eyes closed and mouth open as the pleasure keeps you oblivious to your changing clothes. An ill fitting t-shirt becomes a perfectly fit golden jersey, made of the most unbelievably perfect material you've ever felt. Jeans become a pair of golden workout shorts, showing off your growing bulge to go alongside them. And what workout kit is complete without some gold Nikes to go with it? Not yours for sure, as your sneakers change into a pair that wraps around your feet so nice it's like they were made just for you.

"Feels good doesn't it bro?"

The bro across from you asked still smiling. You couldn't help but agree, the kit felt so good on you you couldn't imagine taking it off, of a time when you weren't wearing it. You've always worn it right? Course you have, what golden bro wouldn't always wear their kit?

You make it to the fourth and final question, pausing for a moment. Some part of you is still fighting, still questioning what's going on. What will happen if I say yes to this? Almost sensing your hesitation, your bro gets up and moves behind you. He starts rubbing your shoulders, whispering in your ear

"Just let go bro. It feels so good to let go. To let Cap think for you. To let Gold take you over. All you need is Gold and Bros, Gold and Bros, Gold and Bros..."

As he keeps repeating it in your ear, you start to smile and say it along with him, closing your eyes in bliss as your hand automatically moves to write 'Yes' for the last time. A pleasure shoots through you so strong you almost fall out of your chair. Your body goes into overdrive, biceps inflating, ass growing, thighs thickening as every rational thought is blasted from your mind. Every thought, every memory, everything before you walked in the gym is wiped out by the Gold wave overcoming you. Your mind a flurry of the same few words over and over:

GoldCapGymBrosTeamUnityBuffDumbGoldWorkoutBrosCapGoldUnityBuffGoldTeamGoldGoldGoldGoldGoldGoldGoldGold....

Your mind, body and soul succumb completely to the Gold, becoming the perfect new bro for the Gold Team as you finally open your eyes again

"How ya feelin bro?" your new bro asks you

"Bro, feels like I just made the best choice of mah life! I feel like...like Gold!"

He laughs in response as he throws his arm around you, leading you back to the gym.

"I knew you'd love it brah. They always do after they sign in gold. Let's get ya hooked up with Cap and the rest of the bros before you start your workout eh? They're gonna love ya, trust!"

You walk arm in arm with your new bro into your new life as a Gold Team bro. Ready to be the best you you could ever be, ready to give everything for your cap and your bros. Ready to be Golden, and happy, forever.

#golden army #golden team #gold army #gold team #male transformation #jock tf #jockification #male tf #muscle tf

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c4nd1xz · 7 months ago

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ANTI-WASMO ROLE SWAP AU!!

I don't have an official reference sheet for their characters yet but when I do I'll post them!!

Basic rundown:

The role swap au is basically as it sounds, role swap. Anti-Wanda is the ruler of the anti-fairies and intelligent, while Anti-Cosmo is the dumb and silly one

Their relationship is based of the swap mfm(midfightmasses) au! RS (role swap) Anti-Cosmo is way more affectionate and touchy than regular Anti-Cosmo would be. But the same goes with RS Anti-Wanda, she is more outward with her affection, but most of it is to be satisfied.(We'll get to that later) She does love her husband deeply, but she in some way uses/depends on him.

Some basic info about them:

Anti-Wanda:

Anti-fairy/succubus

Big fangs for ripping into flesh

She's a cannibal because praying mantis love>>

Her clothing style is a mix of vampirism and victorian goth, often depicted with lots of ruffles and in dresses(she will occasionally wear a Morticia Addams style dress)

She's always got something up her ruffled sleeves(it's either a dagger or a coupon who knows)

She is constantly dealing with bloodlust, always needing to feed on some form of flesh or blood

Little bit of a sadist 😋

Chubby😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

Anti-Cosmo

Stupid silly dumb dumb

Anti-fairy/Vampire

He still needs to wear his monocle but doesn't because he thinks he looks like a dork

He absolutely HATES having his sleeves rolled down, so he either has them rolled up or is in t-shirts (the only exception is during winter)

VERY high pain tolerance

Masochist

He basically dresses like Cosmo in anw

His fangs are wayyyy to big so they look goofy sticking out of his mouth, but he doesn't really care

Can regenerate his body very fast(and does it often)

Is so in love with Anti-Wanda he doesn't care what she does to him

He doesn't dress fancy, so he has a crown like everyone else

GORE WARNING‼️

So before how I said RS Anti-Wanda depended on Anti-Cosmo, well the reason is because she eats him 🎉🎉

Now, it's not always a sexual thing(sometimes who knows) but because of Anti-Wanda's bloodlust and need for flesh and because of Anti-Cosmo's high pain tolerance and regeneration, he just let's her do it.

She can tend to get carried away at times, eating too much, but Anti-Cosmo never seemed to mind. Unfortunately, this is the prime way she shows affection. Though not the best, she's still trying?

There is a difference when she's dealing with bloodlust and then just displaying affection

Bloodlust: Affection:

Fun silly facts:

You probably saw, but RS Anti-Cosmo often calls Anti-Wanda "Shawty"

Where's Foop? This au takes place during BF(before Foop)

There's are a lot of scars all over both of their bodies

Anti-Wanda has reading glasses

Anti-Cosmo despises tea

They both have very sharp nails

Anti-Wanda's favorite part of the body to eat are thighs or forearms. Though she does agree palms are the tastiest, she feels guilty for eating his hands

Anti-Cosmo is bi, Anti-Wanda is omni!

Anti-Cosmo flies into wall cause he can't see

FANART BY MY FAVORITE MOOTIE WOOTIE @ragdollwuzhere!!

GORE WARNING!!!

#fypage #art #digital art #fairly oddparents #ibispaint art #ibispaintdrawing #ibispaintx #anti wanda #anti cosmo #anti cosmo x anti wanda #role swap au #fop role swap au #anti wasmo #fop anti wanda #fop anti cosmo #fop anti fairies

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ckret2 · 7 days ago

Note

I just wanted to say that I have been loving the Akuposting that has been happening as of late. The vibes that evil tree gives off are immaculate and so are the considerations you give his character. Consider this an open invitation to share any more random bits you might want to on him and Scaramouche/Mojo/the PPGs/anybody else you like!

I got this ask while I was working on the big art post for the kage and hikaru au, but saved this for a separate post just so i could post even more, different headcanons lmao.

I'll fling out several headcanons but I'm gonna put them all in separate posts so that it's not one super long post on a dozen topics again. because i crave peer validation and maybe if they're several shorter posts more people will comment lmao. The others will be posted not long after this one.

for this post I'm giving you some thoughts about scaramouche's & aku's musical tastes. I'm sticking it under a read more but first, ✨a request for help from y'all✨:

Are any of y'all fans of free jazz/avant garde jazz/experimental jazz? Do you have any recommendations for a newbie just stepping into the genre? Preferably ones that highlight the flute? Thanks gang.

Okay so Scaramouche's flute playing & singing is pure improv; if he's got any specific musical style, it's some kind of jazz. But we never hear him performing, like... normal music.

Two possibilities: either his magic to works by hitting certain notes or intervals, so he's just trying to make the necessary sounds, not play "music"; or, you need to be so far down on the jazz music iceberg you can't even see sunlight through the water before you hit the kind of avant garde shit Scaramouche is into.

Logically, I think the first option makes a little more sense; but personally, I like making in-character "what would they like to listen to" music playlists, which means I need to have a canon basis for the character's musical tastes; so I'm rolling with "he's into experimental jazz."

(The problem is I've dug into jazz for a prior character, but it was pre-WW2 jazz & swing. Like, "We'll Meet Again is way too late for the kind of jazz we're talking about" jazz. For Scaramouche I need "We'll Meet Again is way too early for the kind of jazz we're talking about" jazz. Whiiiiich is why I'm asking for recommendations lmao.)

The group of bots Scaramouche has jam sessions with are playing jazz so free that if a recognizable melody ever dared walked into the club, they would shoot it dead on sight. Their jazz is so avant garde that should the uninitiated ever hear them play, they'd think "oh wow that's what happens when you hand robots instruments, they don't understand music at all." No. Those robots understand music better than you or I ever will. The most elite of jazz snobs walks into that club, hears them play, and begins weeping at the beauty. It's exquisite. If you're into that kind of thing.

"Okay but the ask was for headcanons about Aku, how is that relevant to Aku?" It's relevant for this reason:

Aku thinks that shit sucks balls.

Scaramouche keeps inviting Aku to listen to his band play (the band does NOT know this and would be TERRIFIED if their boss showed up), and Aku keeps turning him down, because He Does Not Want To Listen To That.

Scaramouche thinks Aku's taste in music also sucks but he's willing to give it a shot. Aku doesn't care about his opinion.

I already did a headcanon about Aku's music tastes but I'm expanding on it: we've established that he's into techno music; I asked around on reddit about what kind of genre they think the mind control rave music is, and their suggestion is psytrance, maybe forestpsy or darkpsy, so that's what I'm going with until I can really dig into the nitty-gritty on the different genres in that area.

I think he'd also be into traditional music, like, "so old the only two people on the planet who still remembers these songs are Aku and Jack" traditional music. Before I can give specifics on that I need to do some research on traditional Japanese music.

Did you know your brain is trained to understand/hear certain music as musical? If you haven't been trained on a kind of music (just,, listen to it a lot), it doesn't hit. It doesn't sound "good" because your brain doesn't know how to listen to it. It might not even sound like music to you. Anyway—all that is to say that my brain has been trained on Western music, which means I'm anticipating a lot of musical brain training & historical research before I can give any sort of nuanced opinions on traditional Japanese music beyond "that sure is traditional and Japanese all right." So I'm gonna leave that part of his tastes vague for now.

But one extra detail: I think Aku was born already knowing some songs, including some from hundreds or thousands of years before he was born. They were songs sung by mourners at the edge of the pit of hate whose loved ones had been consumed.

#thewiglesswonder #ask #samurai jack #aku #scaramouche #headcanons

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wilhelminyard · 5 months ago

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compilation of nice/sweet things the foxes said to neil because even though they're a bunch of assholes who insult anyone in their vicinity they all just love him so damn much - except aaron - (part 3) :

ANDREW :

"I said I would keep you alive this year. you make it infinitely more difficult for me when you actively try to get yourself killed."

"the next time someone comes from you, stand down and let me deal with it. do you understand?"

"you were supposed to be a side effect of the drugs" "I'm not a hallucination" "you are a pipe dream."

"what would you give me?" "don't ask questions you already know the answer to"

"this isn't yes. this is a nervous breakdown. I know the difference even if you don't. I won't be like them. I won't let you let me be."

"I've never understood why he likes knives" "he will lose his taste when he has one in his gut"

"kevin is a fool whose style is numbers and angles. formulas and statistics, trial and error, repetition and insanity. all he cares about is finding the perfect game. a junkie like you can't be that cold."

"last summer you made me a promise. I'm asking you to break it." "no." "you said you'd stick with me if I kept kevin south, but kevin doesn't need me anymore. he chose us over the ravens because as a whole we're finally worth his time. there's nothing else I can give you in exchange for your protection." "I will think of something."

"spring break's coming. we could go someplace" "where and why?" "anywhere. anywhere at least three hours from campus. there's no point in going someplace closer than that. it won't feel like a vacation. the only trick is figuring out how to pry kevin away from the court" "I have knives"

"no one's said a word to them since they said we couldn't see you"

"if you tell me to leave I'll go" "you aren't going anywhere"

"I have to go. I don't trust them to give you back."

"ready?" "waiting on you"

"can I really be neil again?" "I told neil to stay. leave nathaniel buried in baltimore with his father."

"andrew could break our deal and let me go or break things off with neil" "he chose neil over you?"

"your close calls are getting old. I thought you knew how to run" "I thought you told me to stop running" "survival tip: no one likes a smart mouth" "except you"

WYMACK :

"I can't believe you trusted david to patch you up" "I was careful with him"

"you're a hundred times better now than you were in may. don't sell yourself short."

"go easy for a few days, would you?"

"are you okay?"

"neil asked us to leave the authorities out of this. I respect him enough to allow that"

"didn't I tell you not to worry about it?"

"I'm making you vice-captain next year"

"didn't you notice? they're uniting around and behind you. that's something special. you're something special."

"look me in the eye and tell me if you think I care who you used to be. hm? I care about who you are right now and who you can be going forward. I'm not asking you to forget your past, but I am telling you to overcome it."

"neil. talk to me. what do you want?"

"giving up on neil now goes against everything we are."

"I'm sorry. I should've told you but I couldn't" "don't worry about that right now."

"we'll wait for you, all right? as long as it takes, neil"

"I should be thanking you. you told us last night you intended to end the year dead or in federal custody. you could have shut everyone and everything out and worried about yourself this year. instead you agreed to help dan fix this team. you're saving the two I thought we couldn't reach, and you're a living example for kevin to follow. he never used to watch you but he's had eyes on you since december trying to figure out how you stand your ground."

"they told me to call them as soon as you returned. have you returned?"

"neil is a critical member of my team. you can ask any person on my line-up and they will all agree : we would not be where we are today if he wasn't here with us."

MATT :

"I want to break his face in six places. if he ever comes within a thousand yards of you again-"

"you okay?" "I'm fine" "for the record, I don't believe you"

"neil? we're here when you want to talk about it"

"neil? you good?"

"we're all legal adults here. we've made our decision. unless he wants to stay with you, you'd better bring neil back to us when you're done with all your questions

"hey, coach made us promise to leave you alone but are you okay?"

"they will get rid of me" "you're not serious"

"things could have gone much worse. I'm glad they didn't. you want anything, you need anything, you let us know. okay?" "okay" "I mean it" "I know. I'm done lying to you, matt. I promise."

"did andrew really choke kevin?" "took three of us to pull him off"

"we can't replace you"

DAN :

"neil? if you want to talk about any of it, or anything, or... you know we're here for you, right? whatever you need."

"kevin knew about this didn't he? he knew what riko was going to do to you and he let you go anyway. the next time I see him-"

"don't do this to us. don't sit here and lie to our faces. we're your friends. we deserve better than that."

"you told the truth. it's not your fault they don't like it."

"are you sure you're okay, neil?"

"go. but come back to us as soon as they're done with you, okay? we'll figure this out as a team."

"you're not playing. you think coach will let you on the court when you look like that? I'll sub in for you, neil. renee can help allison out one more time, right? trust us to hold the line. you focus on healing so we can use you in semifinals."

KEVIN :

"kevin called me yesterday morning when he couldn't get a hold of you. he wanted to make sure you were okay."

NICKY :

"don't you dare tell me you're fine. I can't hear that from you today, okay?"

"you can't have neil. he belongs with us"

"neil isn't a real person. it's just a cover that let nathaniel evade authorities. it's past time to let him go." "neil or nathaniel or whoever. he's ours, and we're not letting him go. you want us to vote on it or something? bet you it'll be unanimous."

"don't worry. andrew will protect you."

"hey, you good?"

ALLISON :

"it would have neen better if you'd come to the store with us. it doesn't matter. I bought out the entire row."

"I'm sorry" "shut up. no you're not. you're not. have you forgotten who has to paint you back together every morning? if you'd let them steamroll you yesterday after all this I would hate you"

"it is not safe for [neil] here anymore and it sure as hell isn't safe for you. it is better for everyone if he disappears." "what part of 'go to hell' do you need us to explain to you?"

RENEE :

"so those knives he brings everywhere are yours?" "were mine. he was right; I don't need them anymore. if you need them, he will give them to you, and I will teach you how to use them"

"if you want to talk more later, you know where to find me"

"will you be all right here?"

"kevin is very analytical whereas you're passionate."

"what do you need from us, neil?"

"I can do it." "I know you can. but perhaps it's easier if someone helps you."

ABBY :

"sometimes I think this job is going to kill me. seeing what people have done, what people continue to do, to my foxes. I wish I could protect you but I'm always too late. all I can do is patch you up afterward and hope for the best. I'm sorry, neil. we should have been there for you"

"let me take a look at you"

"it's over. it's over. you're going to be okay. we've got you."

"I dropped my gear in new york" "andrew found it while he was looking for you"

#aftg #all for the game #neil josten #andrew minyard #andreil #kevin day #david wymack #matt boyd #dan wilds #renee walker #allison reynolds #nicky hemmick #abby winfield #the kings men #psu foxes #the foxes #tfc

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sabookey · 2 months ago

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⭐How to Title Your Written Works⭐

I know a lot of people really struggle with titles to the point of frustration. You've put in all the work just to write the story already, and now you have to come up with a title too? Agonizing!

If you've never done it before, you might not know where to start at all. Even for experienced writers, trying to land on a title that is eye-catching and original can feel like trying to find the only perfect cherry in an orchard to stick on top of your sundae. Meanwhile, it's busy melting. I know it's tempting to just grab whatever cherry is nearest, but I promise you, there are plenty of cherries.

There are so many different methods to figure out a title that works for your piece. Personally I really enjoy working out fun titles, so I figured I'd talk some about how I think about them, and a few of the methods I use for my own works. [Long post below the cut!]

⭐Advice the First: Don't worry about your title too much when you're first starting your story.

Every time I have ever picked out a title ahead of actually writing a story, that title ends up getting scrapped. Often they have little or nothing to do with the completed project. It's fine to have a placeholder title, of course, but in my experience, they rarely stick. This is because, as you write, your story will usually change and develop into something more than your initial idea encompassed. And in my case, often the title chosen ahead of time is vague or clichéd.

⭐Advice the Second: The reasons why finding a title is so hard in the first place can actually be useful as a guideline for what your title needs to do.

The title of your piece is, often, the first thing your potential readers will see. That's a lot of pressure. Your title ideally should: ~ catch readers' attention and hold it ~ sound good and be read easily ~ represent the whole essence of your story in just a few words

That last point in particular is a scary one on the surface! But I promise you, that point is actually the key to figuring out what your title needs to be. (We'll come back to representing the essence later!)

⭐Advice the Third: Don't overthink it!

I promise you the title is actually pretty low on the list of things that will matter to your readers. It's absolutely okay if your title doesn't do all — or any — of the things I listed above. The only reason that list is there is because we're talking about nuts and bolts here - your readers don't have a checklist for The Perfect Title. If you don't hit on those points, it won't stop them from reading your story. That list — like your title — is a TOOL, not the art we are creating with it.

As writers, we often obsess over our word choices so carefully. We know that words have meaning, and articulating our ideas clearly is tricky. But let me ask you — because I know you're a reader/watcher/listener as well as a writer — has a crappy or nonsense title ever actually stopped you from falling in love with a story?

⭐Advice the Fourth: Titles have conventions and trends just like genres and eras — these can be great tools! I'm sure a lot of us have noticed the long-running trend in Romantasy where every book is titled something like "A Castle of Ice and Shame" etc etc. While that style of title had been used before, Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses series triggered an explosion in popularity for that particular style of title. Publishers will push other authors with books in the same vein to use similar titles as a way of signposting - if you liked ACOTAR, you will probably like this book too!

Romantasy isn't the only one that relies on title trends as a marketing ploy. Thrillers and crime fiction will use vocabulary that evokes an ominous feeling to suggest paranoia, tension, and stress (made up examples: "Unknown Caller," "The Stranger," "The Liar's Game"). Horror book titles might also use eerie, foreboding language, or use warnings against actions that will, of course, invite the horrors (made up examples: "Don't Look Under the Bed," "The Creepers"). On the other hand, a lot of literary fiction uses the protagonists name, or an epithet for them or another prominent character or location, to tell you who this book is going to be about (made up examples: "Annemarie," "The Stepfathers," "The Little Rock Library").

In fanfiction, meanwhile, you'll often see song lyrics or quotes from the source material used as titles. Readers that are familiar with the song being borrowed or the scenes/dialogue referenced can get a general idea of things like canonpoint, characters & dynamics involved, and emotional tone of the fic. Other trends I've noticed still lean highly poetic — for example, using all lower case, having a portion of the title in parentheses, and emotional metaphors.

Title trends & conventions may seem boring or safe, but they can be a super useful tool. It's a marketing thing, mostly; if you follow the trend of other books or stories in your genre/niche, then readers can look at the title alone and say ah, I see, this story will be like that other story I loved.

⭐How to actually come up with the words⭐

Step one, just write your story. Trust me, just get your piece written first. Sometimes, just via the process of writing and turning the words of your story around in your head like a microwave, you might land on the perfect title.

Okay, you have your story. Now you need a title.

⭐Option 1 - Themes, and the Thesis Statement Method This is where we're getting into the aforementioned "essence" of your story. If you've ever written an essay for school, you've probably talked about the thesis statement. That is, a single sentence that sums up the argument you are trying to make in your paper. If you were going to tell someone about your piece, the thesis statement would tell them what it's about and where you stand on its topic in one sentence.

In a way, figuring out a title can be kind of like figuring out your thesis statement, except that you get to be more poetic with it. Consider the following (write the answers out if you want to): ~What kind of story is it? ~What are the major themes in your work? ~What is the Big Point of your story?

Maybe it's about a character learning to admit they were wrong. Maybe it's two characters finding love again after loss. Maybe it's a adventurous quest to steal the Declaration of Independence.

Once you have boiled those questions down to find the Core(TM) of your story, start playing with language related to that core.

Don't overthink it. It could be as simple as stating it: "Learning to Admit that You were Wrong" or "Finding Love Again".

Or maybe, you want to get a little more flowery. Just calling it "Stealing the Declaration of Independence" makes it sound like a news article.... but what about "National Treasure"? .

But maybe the thesis statement style isn't for you. And maybe you're not into the title trends or conventions mentioned earlier. So, what else can we do?

⭐Option 2 - Quote Yourself Of course, the biggest source of quotable material relevant to your story is... your story itself!

When I'm writing, sometimes I'll write a sentence or a turn of phrase that just feels more elevated and poignant. More in tune with the theme, or the style I'm pursuing. I love metaphors and flowery, colorful language. I like packing symbolism and double-meaning and subtext into descriptions and set dressing. And sometimes, I can get great titles out of this.

My favorite creative writing teacher spoke to us once about the concept of "the world in a small thing," in which you might be writing about a tiny detail or moment, but metaphorically be speaking about something much bigger. I use this a lot in my writing, and very often my favorites become candidates for the piece's title.

Metaphors make for wonderful titles. A good metaphor will have an elegance and an efficiency to it. It's about communicating a complex idea with simple, graceful language. That's what your title is trying to do as well. When someone is reading a book with a metaphor title, there should be a moment at some point where they stop and look at the title again and go "Ohhhhh I get it now!" That can be very satisfying for the reader. It certainly is to me when writing it.

I often find, especially for short stories and fanfiction, that I also love mining the dialogue in a piece for gems. Dialogue is one of my favorite components of a good story. Quite often you'll find really poignant statements on the characters' desires, beliefs, and hurts. Dialogue can offer economy of language with the intent to communicate important themes, as well as language choice that is personalized and specific to the speaking character. Those can also valuable qualities for your title.

⭐Option 3 - Quote Something Larger from the Pre-Existing Canon

I talked about this some in the more general advice already, but you could also borrow from pre-existing phrases — poems, proverbs, clichés, quotations from classics or famous people. (With the caveat that you need to be careful about copyrights with modern music & writings).

You can always borrow from anything in the public domain. With your theme in mind, maybe there's a cliche or proverb (ex: Leading a Horse to Water) that your work explores. Or maybe there's a line from an older story, poem, movie, or a song that evokes the emotional response you want — a literary parallel you want people to make, a connection you want to draw.

When it's a line that is part of the popular lexicon, often readers can generally be assumed to be familiar with it. Connecting a pre-existing idea to your story can tell readers about the story, but it can also mean that you are drawing new context or meaning into the original quotation in a way that makes people think.

⭐Option 4 - Follow Genre Title Conventions

Again, I already discussed this above in the general advice, but this is a perfectly acceptable way to title your piece. Look up examples from other books or stories in your genre to see what the current and past trends have been.

Then — and this is the important part — think about the things in your story that particularly stand out. What niche within the genre are you filling? What specific notes do you want to mention up front? What vibe are you trying to evoke? The tone, the aesthetics, the mood? Thinking about these things will help you with the specific vocabulary you want to use.

Compare, for example, these made-up romantasy titles: "A Castle of Ice and Shame" vs. "The Forest of Flowers and Secrets." Even within this very specific title trope, you can glean at least a little of the vibe.

⭐Option 5 - Deliberately Ignoring Genre Title Conventions

Maybe you're writing for one particular genre, but you hate the title conventions for that genre. I get it. I know, for example, that the romantasy title trend is starting to garner more criticism (which I'm not going to get into here). There is absolutely no rule that says you MUST follow those conventions. If you can't stand it, don't use it!

In fact, there's no reason that you can't use the convention from one genre for an entirely different genre — just be aware that when you borrow framing from one thing that it can be misleading. Maybe you write your thriller and decide call it "A Castle of Ice and Shame." Your romance could be "Unknown Caller." Only you will know what combination of words will perfectly suit your story!

But the entire rhetoric behind genre tropes and conventions is that these are familiar signposts, themes, plot beats, characters, and ideas that particular groups of stories utilize and discuss — that's what genre is. Part of that discussion can and does involve circumventing expectations. Just remember that if you flip the script around enough times, there will be a point where the story you try to frame as a romance... stops being a romance and becomes something else with a romantic subplot. But that's for another post.

⭐In Closing⭐

In this particular discussion, again, I will reiterate that the title is a factor with relatively low weight in the greater context of your story. Being aware of the expectations and inferences readers will attach to the choices you make is what's important, rather than blindly following them all to a T.

These are hardly the only methods you can use of course, but these are the ones I use the most consistently when I'm making up a title for a piece. I hope you'll find this guide useful, and that titling your next piece will be more fun than trouble!

#on writing #how do i title #titles #book titles #story titles #title conventions #writeblr #writing advice #writing guide #writing tips #fanfiction advice #original fiction advice #tay speaks

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angelpuns · 2 years ago

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Also some design updates for these guys, we'll see if they stick!

Leo has a jacket instead of a scarf now ( due to some stuff I added to the doc and realized his design needed an update to reflect the changes) he also has two stripes and a bit of a different head shape. also longer pants. I'm trying a new eye design too, but I've tried it before and get tired of it easily so we'll see how long that lasts!

Mikey is more round. That's p much it cause he was perfect from the get-go LMAO l. Also made him even younger to better reflect mine and my youngest sibling's own age gap ( which is actually 8 years, but I couldn't make it that big or they would be the teenage mutant ninja turtles anymore ).

Donnie finally got a gov. Designated turtle species!!! I ended up going with Southern Painted turtle so he and Leo kinda match!! He also got a snoot!! And became a noodle :)

Raph is almost exactly the same except more square, with shorter mask tails.

I've simplified all their limbs to match their hands too, plus I like this look better overall. I've been thinking about changing Leo's mask tails to look more like styled hair, but I really really like him with the long flowing ones, so we'll just have to see :)

I've added so much to the Google doc that I an risking getting way too excited for it and not finishing other stuff, but thankfully writing it down here means I will have to be held accountable and that I'll have to finish stuff!! Plus I'm sure everyone wants to know what happens at the end of the Kid Leo au ;)

#TMNT:HME #Leo with a jacket is much closer to smthn i would wear #esp at that age #yippee!!

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corishadowfang · 4 months ago

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2025 Writing Goals

...Did I do one of these last year?? I...genuinely can't remember. But! I'm doing one this year--mostly to organize my own thoughts, haha, but I guess also to give people some updates, if anyone's interested in that?

But, uh, 2024 was...a year. The long and the short of it is: I am very burnt out. Most of that is due to my job, but other things have factored into it, too. (There were. So many animal emergencies this past year.) Because of that, I'm going to try to tailor my goals to be...a bit gentler. In theory.

As for the individual stories...

The Age of Fairytales (And Other Assorted Myths)

This is...probably officially going on hiatus, unfortunately. I don't particularly want it to, but I think it probably needs to. I've been struggling to write chapters a lot more than expected, and have been stressed about getting things out in a timely fashion, which is. Not particularly how I want to interact with fandom, and I don't want the story to suffer because of it. Some of this I think is due to the writing style (the myths specifically, which are different from my normal style), but most of it is from the aforementioned burnout. I don't think I was actually ready to have a regularly updated fic again, even if I thought I was (How was three months not enough time?? has been running circles around my head.), and probably should've stuck with my original plan of trying to write everything out, and then starting to post it.

That said, there's a reason it's going on hiatus, and isn't cancelled or anything, and it's because I still really like the idea. So for the moment, it might be going on the backburner, but hopefully I'll be able to bring it out and do more with it in the future.

(Also, like. Feel free to ask me about any lore stuff? Because I really, really want to talk about it, I'm just currently finding it difficult to put it into story format.

...I suppose I could also just make a lot of general worldbuilding posts in the meantime, too, which would be. Significantly easier. ...I'll have to see on that one.)

On My Heart

I really want to get back to working on this one; it's probably going to be my main "traditional" story. That said, I don't have a set goal for this; basically, I just want to make "decent progress" on it, haha. I'm going to try and take it easy and hopefully get at least some content that I'm happy with! (The beginning I already have, at least, feels pretty solid; now I just have to build onto that.)

One-Shots

I have four one-shots that have been sitting half-completed in my documents that I'd really like to finish at some point, which are:

coda: A Fallen Stars one-shot, covering the first year after the end of the story.

Children of Ozymandias: An AU where the Union Leaders (plus Player and Elrena) all remain together after the fall of Daybreak Town, examined through the eyes of people who don't have much relation to Keyblade wielders.

Touch of Midas: Hoder character study.

Ghosts of All We've Known: Ven-centric story looking at his connection to Scala, his buried memories of Daybreak Town, and his complicated thoughts about Eraqus and Xehanort and their past in Scala.

Of these, "Ghosts of All We've Known" is the one I most want to complete; I really like both the idea and what I've written so far, so hopefully I'll be able to finish that one this year, at least. "coda" also has a pretty good chance of being completed, just because, like...that's what I tend to work on when I'm feeling stressed, haha. So we'll see which of those two gets finished first!

(I would like to finish the other two sometime, as well, but...we'll stick with easy goals for now, and see how I'm feeling once those are done.)

And, uh...those are basically my plans for this year! I'm going to try very hard to just...kind of take things a bit easier. Keyword: try.

#kh folktale story #on my heart #tagging just so i can find this again if i need to

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chaggie4ever · 20 days ago

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Preface for upcoming multi-part fic: Fallen Wings

Hi there! Thank you for taking the time to read my very first fanfiction period! I've been lurking on AO3 and Tumblr for some time now devouring people's works. There are far too many for me to list here but between my obsession with this fandom and Chaggie, and inspiration from these works, here I am! This is quite the ambitious project that I have been planning out for the better part of 2025, currently planned to be seven lengthy parts. I am very busy with work but hope to put each part out all together for binge-reading as this is clearly the way we consume media these days and I myself search for completed works typically :)

This is obviously an adult cartoon made for adults, but children that have slipped through please skip this one. There will be blood and gore and language and LOTS of explicit sex. I will allude to nonconsensual mostly, with a few more written out parts because it is important to the plot. I was originally just going to write a bunch of smut one-shots but then came to think how my girl Vaggie is neglected in the fandom and while many works have remedied this, none have gone quite the direction I envisioned. I have lots of analysis of her on my Tumblr too if you're interested. I've never been quite this obsessed with a fictional character before so this is largely how I'm trying to work that out of my system. So there will absolutely be smut but we have to do some world building and actual plot first. I'm also trying to stick to some biblical stuff verbatim and challenge as much as I can as a "born again ex-evangelical" Unitarian Universalist.

I have a whole outline on where I want to go with this project, titled Fallen Wings as a whole with part 1 Before the Fall, Part 2 After the Fall, Part 3 season 1, Part 4 Post-Exorcisms, Part 5 Princesses of Hell, Part 6 Defense of Hell, and Part 7 Revelations as the working titles. I will focus on my headcannon of Luggie (Vaggie+Lute) for part 1, then Chaggie after this. All events from season 1 are cannon for this story, and part 4 onward may have some spoilers from season 2 leaks and eventually may diverge from the real series as I write faster than they do :) No there will not be poly. I am in a happy monogamous very gay marriage with my own wife and this is what I'm most comfortable writing. I will sprinkle other LGBTQIA stuff in and hope to more fully develop all of the main characters as well but it will mostly be from Vaggie's perspective with some Lute and Charlie. Main ships will be Chaggie and Huskerdust. Still deciding if I want Radioapple or to actually respect his Ace cannon.. They are just kinda perfect together but I also like Lucilith so we'll see.

I have a military background myself and am a psychiatrist so there will be some shameless Prozac scripts for the characters who need it and some deep delve into trauma and emotional and physical and sexual abuse because this is my jam. I will also try to put warnings for noncon and some trauma stuff ahead of time so that those who need to can skip those parts and still enjoy the work :) I tend to write sardonically and sarcastically, and my own political and religious views will likely become obvious, but I hope to capture as many aspects as I can of each character to fully flesh them out.

Also if you find the first few chapters less interesting please persist through! These are written a tad differently than my normal style for world-building and historical stuff (chapter 2-3), but I promise you will get to the smut (ch7) and actual dialogue (ch4) and hopefully some funny bits :) I'll try to sprinkle in my favorite fanart/scenes and songs that make me think of the characters as well (the link is the credit). Each title is based on a song that fits the theme of the chapter, with lyrics at the end.

Anyway, enough of my monologue and thank you again for reading! Please comment/subscribe! I take praise and criticism shamelessly :) I have the same name on Tumblr as well.

#hazbin hotel #chaggie #vaggie #charlie morningstar #charlie x vaggie #hazbin hotel vaggie #lute hazbin hotel #lute #hazbin hotel chaggie #vaggie hazbin hotel

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ceescedasticity · 3 months ago

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Have a script-style fragment of the House of Finwë at Lake Mithrim trying to decide if Nichonnen should be considered part of the House of Finwë (if I can force it into more formal language it might serve as a chapter in Of the Daughters of Finwë but we'll see):

Nolofinwë: Your aunt does know this meeting is occurring. She says she has no problem with our meeting and will abide by our decision.

Findaráto: Really?

Findekáno: Probably. She said she will probably abide by our decision, and won't show any rift in public. Which is likely as good as we could hope for, so.

Nolofinwë: Likely. The question is: Do we recognize Urucarien Nixënóna as Írimë Lalwendë's daughter and part of the House of Finwë?

Turukáno: That's a terrible name.

Nolofinwë: Arguments for — Lalwendë unquestionably loves the child as her daughter and has nurtured her with fëa and hröa both across the Ice and since then as well. Does anyone dispute this?

Aikanáro (aside): Has anyone been paying no attention whatsoever for some years now?

Nolofinwë: We are all agreed on that point? Moving on, argument against — the child has, obviously, parents who begot and birthed her, who wanted her very badly.

Artanis: Enough to discard all sense and reason, apparently. Don't give me that look, Ingoldo. There were more foolish things to do on the Ice, but when someone stripped off all their clothing and tried to run off into the darkness we called it madness.

Turukáno: They were still her parents. She already has a family.

Irissë: Which we have tried to look for. The whole time, when we had a spare breath! All anyone could tell us was they were followers of the House of the Vat—

Turukáno: Which means that they have a better—

Angaráto: Which MEANS that maybe someone should ask one of the lords of that house, or someone born into it, like, maybe, Eldalótë. Which we did.

Findaráto: She was even able to speak to her kin across the lake about it.

Findekáno: Impressive. Last I heard most of the houses which split are still barely speaking.

Angaráto: She says they can hardly hold sticking with her husband against her. —But I agree with you.

Nolofinwë: And Eldalótë discovered…?

Angaráto: Between Eldalótë talking to the Fëanorian Vat and Orotrátho talking to everyone from the Vat on our side, and then my covering the Cavern and the Crystal because there were some outmarriages, we were able to account for all of Nixënóna's ancestors to the fifth degree. All but one are dead or in Aman. That one is a great-great-great-grandmother in the Fëanorian camp who hasn't interacted with children for longer than anyone here has been alive, and who never spoke to either of the parents.

Nolofinwë: And laterally?

Findaráto: Not as exhaustive, but they verified there were no siblings or aunts or uncles. And no close friends, apparently.

Artanis (aside): No one who could explain what they were thinking—

Findaráto: So I think we can confidently say that no one wants to challenge Aunt Lalwendë's guardianship—

Irissë: We knew that already.

Findaráto: —And that Nixënóna's family through her parents is not available. If she's not in our House then she has no House.

Turukáno: Has no House here.

Findekáno: If you have a way to send her back, please share!

Nolofinwë: That would be an argument for, then. I have an idea of what our precedents before the Journey were, but did anyone find anything different?

Turukáno: I'm not going to claim we surveyed every Journeyer in the host, but everyone we did ask said children whose parents died were kept in the family, usually with grandparents, great-grandparents if necessary.

Findekáno: Some of them did qualify that they'd never heard of an infant surviving the death of both parents long enough for guardianship to be a question, but, uh. There is also a precedent that losing a parent in infancy does not lessen the connection to that parent.

Irissë: So the Fëanorians would not approve. Not sure whether that's an argument for or against.

Orotrátho: From what I have gathered the Mithrim Sindar have much the same customs, should tragedy strike.

Nolofinwë: So precedents argue against.

Artanis: Not quite! In Menegroth Elu Thingol is said to have a 'foster son'. The elf in question is grown now, but describes the king as his 'foster father'. They are not close kin by blood, but Daeron has no close kin on these shores.

#a tolkien tag #reckless application of spackle

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magicpaint · 4 months ago

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💄+lilia?

send me 💄 + a character and i'll tell you how i would style them

for lilia, i think the biggest change to how we've done this previously is that we know a fair bit about how others see lilia and fashion, while we know a lot less about how lilia views his own preferences. a very good example of this is his ghost marriage vignette. he does not get a suitor suit within the event itself, but one is made magically for him by malleus as a token of gratitude.

the most interesting part of this vignette to me is how malleus reacts to lilia's choice in color: green. he seems amused. malleus mentions that green is the color of the thorn fairy's flames, but given how bright the shade of green we see used as flames actually is in-game, we know that isn't the specific shade he's truly thinking of. what he gifts lilia is much deeper, a lot more subdued.

it's much closer to the armor we see in book 7.

malleus himself describes this green as "calm, mature" while lilia describes the overall outfit as "princely."

...an interesting word to use, given the color and what we now know of his backstory. but i digress.

lilia, in the beginning of this vignette, expresses that he has never worn a formal suit of any kind, and we see him later wishing he had gotten to wear one. this lends heavily to my own interpretation of lilia and modern fashion. he was restricted in what he could wear when he was younger, and now that he doesn't have these restrictions, he wants to try new things.

we see some of this in different events, but i think the best example is playful land. given that these outfits are magically applied and not chosen by the wearer, they give us a more honest representation. they pull from outfits we've already seen them wear. my interpretation is that, magically, they fit the wearer both in size and in preference. (a good example of this is to look at the shoes—floyd enjoys stomping around in his thicker-soled boots, and vil has a much higher heel than anyone else.)

all that to say, lilia doesn't currently have a personal style.

he's building one, he's attempting to find one, but it doesn't exist just yet. we can infer details he likes, but we don't have a concrete picture.

first and foremost: lilia likes stripes.

he wears stripes in a number of outfits, so i think it's safe to say stripes are a preferred pattern whether he's noticed this or not. (but malleus certainly has)

given that we see them used in a number of different pieces, we could reasonably use them anywhere, but i think i'm going to place them on a shirt. we'll be layering lilia's outfit, but to start, i want a long-sleeved mesh shirt. in terms of color, he is prone to green, so i think green, but i think i'll go with grey and black stripes. this color choice is pulled straight from his playful land attire.

the ruffles around his shoulders come in two colors—the innermost stripes are grey and black. given that i want them to be mesh, the colors will be more subdued, making the stripes a bit more subtle, but i think they'll be a nice base.

while i don't feel comfortable saying this is a true preference of his, we do see some layering here and there, so i think putting something on top of his shirt could work.

this is where i'm going to deviate a bit and push him a tad outside his comfort zone when it comes to fashion.

something i've noticed about lilia's outfits is that we see him in silhouettes that mimick a skirt without actually placing him in one. his playful land attire has shorts, but the tulle and draping around his waist hide them fairly well. his dorm uniform also features shorts while being covered in ruffles with a pooling coat behind him. he's completely engulfed by his lab coat.

i think i'm going to place him in a skirt. we've been given the illusion, but we haven't been given the real thing. let's finally do that.

i'm sticking with a simpler silhouette and giving him an overall dress. i think colored denim works well here—preferably in a deeper shade of pink. i know magenta is closer to his hair, but i'm thinking something a little more cranberry would suit him well. using a shade between his hair and his eyes brings them together.

the reason i'm going with denim is because i want to put pins or buttons on him. accessories for lilia are a bit scarce despite how he seems to enjoy them, so i'm hoping this will create a nice compromise. we could just make them mimick his birthday jacket or club patches, but i think that's a bit too easy. he seems the type to pick them up as he finds them, not necessarily curating them with intent.

he does enjoy a good bat motif, so at least one of them should feature bats. i'm imagining a button for a band, perhaps. and i think at least one of a flower. could be any from his bloom birthday bouquet or the suitor suit malleus creates for him.

beyond this, i think he would like having leggings underneath. i don't want too much sheer fabric given that his shirt is mesh, so i think leggings would look better.

we're going to get a bit fun with these—one leg black, one leg green. his birthday jacket outfit features mismatched shoes, and his playful land attire employs this same style to his tights / leggings. i think the bright, diasomnia green makes the most sense here. he does seem to come back to this shade fairly often. (and, now knowing his backstory, that feels intentional)

we could also go with a softer, pastel shade, but i do think lilia would choose the brighter option.

thus far, this outfit is fairly casual. to dress it up a bit, we can use his shoes and other accessories. while lilia doesn't go out of his way to dress up the way vil does, we do know that he likes being dressed up and tends to overdress where possible. his uniforms are a good example of this.

i've considered several shoe options, and i think i'm going to put him in a metallic boot.

using metallic fabric is an easy way to dress something up a bit without skewing too formal. his shoes tend to stay a bit shorter, so i'll leave the height around the ankle, but he does enjoy a casual heel. i'm not going to put him in anything notably tall, but 2-3 inches should suffice. i think, to add to this, a colored sole would be fun. i'm thinking silver for the rest of the boot, with the sole being a deep, vibrant purple. if we do laces, then i'd prefer them black, but i could see this working with a side zipper or just pulling on, as well.

now, some final touches.

i'm putting a choker on him. nothing too fancy, just a simple black one (perhaps a tattoo choker?) to give a bit of extra effort without it being too dressy. i think rings would be fun too, given that he has some in his clubwear, but i don't think i'd give him anything too large. simple, silver bands with smaller motifs are what i'm picturing. maybe one with a black, jeweled bat?

honestly, i think he'd be the type to enjoy spoon rings. taking something older, even antique, and giving it new life feels meaningful as an accessory choice for him.

and, finally, we're painting his nails. personally, i think we should interchange the bright green of his leggings with the purple of his boot soles.

i didn't go into detail on makeup, though i imagine he would have fun with that, but i think the outfit has come together well. this sat in the ask box a lot longer than intended.

#ask #anonymous #lilia vanrouge

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