#will is the audience (very important role. no shade here)

[finxwrites]

They used to play the game a lot. One of them would say a name, and they wouldn’t ask the question aloud if they were anywhere even slightly public—secrecy was too ingrained in the three of them, and Mike had taken to it quickly enough—but they’d all hear it anyway: if they were a shifter, what animal would they be? They’d toss ideas back and forth, sometimes settling it at once, sometimes arguing for days. It was more fun than it had any right to be, and it hadn't taken Dustin all that long to figure out why: they’d never had anyone to share this with before.

Shifters mostly stuck with their own kind. In a town as small as Hawkins, that meant shifters mostly just had human friends, and politely avoided each other in the grocery store. It was part cultural norm and part instinct—something about being near other shifters made their animal side a little stronger, and animals don’t trust strangers. Especially strangers with sharp teeth. 

Mike had practically had to sit on them to get the three of them to be friends. For the longest time, just being around Lucas had made Dustin want to bolt. Hares and badgers weren’t even natural enemies, but it was enough that they weren’t friends, and that some deep part of Dustin, the part that lived right at the base of his skull, knew that Lucas could maul him with one well-placed strike.

Will hadn’t been so instinctively frightening—no one has anything to fear from a mouse. Where Dustin got jittery around the other two, Will went still and quiet. But Dustin had been as wary of that as he had been of Lucas’s on-edge sharpness. Everyone knew Will’s dad was a rat. Will had taken after his mother, but you never know with mixed shifters, and no one wants to tangle with a cornered rat.

Mike and Will had met on the first day of kindergarten and become instantly inseparable. Lucas had moved into the house next to Mike’s during spring break of first grade, and they’d hit it off almost at once. Mike hadn’t been able to understand why they’d both balked so hard when he tried to get them to play together at recess.

Most people would probably have given up after a few weeks. But Mike was one of the most stubborn people alive when he got an idea in his head. It didn’t get any easier when he and Dustin got close at summer camp, but Mike started second grade with an iron-hard determination that they would all be friends. Whether they liked it or not.

It took a little over a month for him to get all of them in his basement at the same time, very cautiously playing board games. It was another month before the three of them spent more than thirty seconds alone together, and even then it wasn’t voluntarily. Mike’s mom interrupted a game to insist he take a phone call from his grandma right now. Mike went with loud and lengthy protests, but he went, and then Dustin, Lucas, and Will were left staring at each other in suddenly stifling silence.

It was Will who broke it. Will had always been much braver than you’d expect a mouse to be. ��If Mike was a shifter,” he said quietly, “what do you think he’d be?”

Lucas barely hesitated a moment. “A donkey.”

Will nodded pensively. Dustin snorted. “Because he’s stubborn as a mule?” he asked, at the same time as Will said, straight-faced, “Because he can be a real ass.”

Dustin and Lucas both lost it. Will grinned, and then joined in the laughter. That was how Mike found them, collapsed on the floor and giggling, drunk on the cut tension.

They weren’t magically friends after that. But for Dustin, at least, that was when it had started to feel possible.

[allgirlsareprincesses]

Love At First Sight (2023)

Okay, we’re going to talk about the new Netflix romance directed by Vanessa Caswill, Love At First Sight, because I’m seeing almost no chatter about it and that cannot stand. Full disclosure, I’ve never read the book on which this movie is based, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, so I’m reacting only to the film (which I’ve now seen 4.5 times in 2 days).

The Surface Reading

It’s a perfect, tight, adorable little RomCom that’s heavy on the Rom and light on the Com, with a wrenching dash of angst and the most hair-twirling chemistry between two leads that has graced our screens in years. Truly, if all you want is 90 minutes of two actors being saccharine precious cinnamon rolls, look no further!

There are simple takeaways here, like that chance can only take you so far, but in the end you have to choose to love. Or that change and loss are part of life and you can’t run from them. Or that London is a massive labyrinth of eccentric people that probably looks 400% cooler onscreen than it is in reality (I wouldn’t know, I’ve never visited, so this and the 90s Parent Trap are the extent of my knowledge about the city, sorry).

Anyway, I adored how straightforward the story was - that the narrator (played brilliantly by Jameela Jamil) tells you directly in the first two minutes that it’s a story about love, fate, and statistics. She then repeatedly describes every development as it is happening, the characters’ histories and internal monologues, and all the context you need to follow the thin but fast-paced plot. The writing, performances, and production design are all solid, allowing the audience to get lost in the romance as it unfolds.

BUT if you’re slightly unhinged like I am and you’re always looking for more layers in your media, HAVE NO FEAR! There is in fact more going on in this little movie than you might expect.

Color Theory

For starters, the use of red and green in the film is fascinating. Yes, I realize the action of the story takes place a few days before Christmas, so you might assume it was just a seasonal aesthetic choice, but if you look closer, you can see very carefully selected shades of red and green repeating throughout the film. The red is a cool, deep rose color, sometimes pink, while the green is cool and dark, like oxidized bronze rather than emerald. Further, while they appear over and over, these hues are rarely used in a purely decorative or festive way. Instead, they play a role in the separation and coming together of the couple. On a color wheel, red and green are complements, perfect opposites that are never adjacent but always joined in the middle.

The title card during Hadley’s introduction is literally a green stripe over a red stripe, then the hallways of the airport are green, and of course Hadley’s ever-important backpack is a rosy red. As the couple grow closer on their flight, the light turns pink. Once in London, a green van takes Oliver one way while a red taxi takes Hadley the other. At her father’s wedding, Hadley is dressed in red (“the color of a bruise” she calls it), contrasting beautifully against her green jacket. Upon realizing Oliver’s true purpose, she chases after him on an iconic red double-decker bus. Meanwhile at the living memorial, Oliver’s father is dressed in red while his mother wears a faded green, as if to say she is already beginning to fade away. The event is decorated with green drapery and streamers, and there are even stacks of red and green chairs in the stairwell where Oliver begs his mother to receive treatment.

Hadley gifts her red and green bouquet to Tessa, and when she is driven away, a green-clad narrator returns the red backpack to Oliver. Wandering London alone, Hadley exchanges her painful red heels for a pair of green trainers (“sneakers!” she insists), and tries to call her dad first in a red phone booth and then on a phone from a stranger sitting in a cluster of red chairs. Finally, Oliver chooses to pursue Hadley to the wedding reception which is lit in pink, and where they finally share the long-awaited kiss.

There are many more examples, but in general we see that green indicates separation and loss, while red symbolizes joining, intimacy, and (what else?) love! It lends the film a gorgeous, subtle aesthetic without being garishly festive, and shows the lovers’ emotional journey from lonely childhood to vulnerable, loving adulthood.

Death and Rebirth

Speaking of which, there’s plenty of rebirth imagery too! When Hadley and Oliver meet, they are both still children, struggling with the impending loss of parental security through divorce and death. Thus, when they board the plane, it is as if they enter an underworld or womb, separated from their families and remade as new adults. They emerge on the other side into a hallway (read: birth canal), as each must still confront their own dying childhood before they can join as full and equal partners. Hadley journeys to a bright, red-strewn celebration of life, while Oliver must enter a dark green commemoration of death, his fear driving him deeper to hide in another hallway. Here his mother comes to find him, begging him to emerge into life, but Ollie still can’t confront her death alone.

Thankfully, Hadley travels to this underworld to find him, bursting into the memorial like a bright red flower. Even the bruise metaphor works, acknowledging the pain they are both experiencing at the changes in their lives. But Oliver still refuses to face his fears, trying to take a shortcut around death to life with Hadley. Still, she knows he’s not ready (likely because she’s not yet, either), and gently pushes back. And so, Oliver returns to the underworld, and Hadley walks off alone until she descends barefoot through a soggy riverside tunnel (birth canal again!). Finally, she calls her father and admits she is “lost.” When he arrives, Hadley at last gathers the courage to ask why he ended their old life, and to tell him how much it hurt her. But as Oliver predicted, she forgives her dad and even begins to accept his new bride.

Back at the memorial, Oliver is reminded by Hadley’s red backpack - his unaddressed emotional baggage - to be honest about his pain. In at last openly mourning his mother and his own childhood, Ollie takes a step into adulthood, just enough for his family to nudge him that extra bit to go after Hadley. And so, the family delivers him to his bride, who has meanwhile learned to dance again, even through her heartbreak. With one last confession, the two consummate their love with a kiss, bathed in pink light before an open door.

Happily Ever After

There’s so much more, with the hand-holding, numbers, Shakespeare, Dickens, the music, and beyond, but the point is that this cute, charming little romance is actually very deliberately constructed. It follows timeless patterns and motifs which we instinctively understand through visual and auditory language. And the narration plays a huge role in this as well, not unlike the prologues and epilogues of the Bard’s plays in that they state the story’s lessons plainly: that we cannot always be prepared for unwelcome surprises, but that we can make the choice to love every day.

Anyway, Vanessa Caswill deserves all the flowers and if you haven’t seen her gorgeous adaptation of Little Women (with all due respect to the marvelous Greta Gerwig and Gillian Armstrong), please do yourself a favor and watch that after you finish this!

[mach-speed-spin]

Beyblade character design analysis: Kenta Yumiya

Masterpost here. Now let's take a look at Kenta, who somehow went from getting beaten up by the Face Hunters to gaining Ryuga's respect

Starting with the hair, it's green. This has nothing to do with his bey, but the green, and more specifically this shade, make Kenta stand out. The rest of Kenta's design is fairly generic, to the point where some actual background characters have more captivating designs (like Django), so the hair helps set him apart from someone like Osamu. Green is one of the lesser-used hair colors in mfb, and the characters with green hair all have a very dark shade (like Kyoya). Kenta is the exception, which catches our attention when the rest of his design doesn't

Kenta wears a yellow shirt with a blue stripe. The yellow-green-blue color scheme looks like the Brazilian flag (insert joke about the time the Garcias jumped Yu). The design itself is quite plain, but the colors are bright enough to make Kenta not seem like a background character. He's still a generic audience surrogate in design (and character, at least at the start), but without being too generic as to be mistaken for a background character

He lacks gloves or a visible belt, which are accessories used by most bladers. This makes his design seem more generic, and it's on purpose because almost everyone else has at least one of these 2. However, Kenta does have a belt that holds his launcher, which is just not seen very much. He is a strong blader, but doesn't seem like it at first

Kenta wears shorts. There's nothing I can really say about them other than they contribute to his child look (I mean, he is a child, but he looks way younger than almost everyone else)

His shoes are unremarkable, but unlike some other footwear, seems like something a real-life kid would wear, cementing Kenta's role as an audience surrogate for the first few episodes (though he grows out of it fairly quickly)

His hair in Fury is mostly the same, but altered slightly to be a little more detailed. This is still the same Kenta from the previous seasons, but he's older and more mature. He also becomes a lot more important to the plot in Fury. Despite having less screentime than in Fusion, his contributions are a lot bigger

His shirt gets a redesign. The new style makes him look older, which is the primary purpose. The blue stripe is also gone and instead we have a white, vertical stripe. With his redesign being more detailed in general, the blue stripe loses its purpose of making Kenta stand out as an important character. The white gives it just as much detail, if not more, but isn't as flashy. Plus, Flash Sagittario's facebolt has white in the center, unlike Flame's. Subtle foreshadowing maybe?

Kenta wears pants that are rolled up to look kinda like shorts. It makes him look older while retaining most elements from his original design. Despite how much Kenta grew over the course of the series, at his core he's still the same

His shoes are a little more detailed but still essentially the same. Not much I can say about them

[ca-suffit]

As a black viewer (in response to the other anon) , I have to say that the lack of understanding in (seemingly sparse) conversations surrounding the importance of race and blackness/anti blackness is extremely frustrating in the fandom. Blogs on here who are so tied to/fans of the book never seem to want to have these conversations. They are so hung up on the book the book the book and the facts of the book and ignore that this show isn’t directly pulling from the book. It’s inspired by, with the same storylines just told differently, with the same characters played by an array of actors. People on twitter (most of them because i have seen a few people bring of this up and get blacklisted by fandom) never want to talk about this. A lot of journalists as well. I wish the podcasts were still a thing because the host, a black woman, discussed race in relation to the story and how it impacts Louis/Claudia. Instead we got - in addition to articles/etc- interviews with mostly or all white fans on YouTube with the cast. No shade to them because they seem fine but to can a podcast that discussed important topics like antiblackness/racism, being black in that time period to instead give space for these fans to ask the cast questions that never cut into the meat of it all or dive into those topics whatsoever is… a choice. An insulting and disappointing choice. About the depiction of that in the show especially season two, it did make me uncomfortable. It was hard to stomach. Without the intent to normalize the storytelling choices at all, I can’t say I’m surprised they decided to depict that the way they did. The showrunner is white and who knows how many of the writers are as well or simply not black so there’s a very serious lack of understanding the impact this has on a black audience. Claudia was always going to die in the show no matter what because the writer for the book series this was based on had a daughter who was the inspiration for creating claudia who died young. Having said that, it could have been handled differently in the show knowing that they’re in Europe in the 1900s with two black characters. Rollin (the showrunner) casted a black actor to play one of his main characters so he was already aware that Louis would be treated differently than say if he was a white Louis. Thus, he was already aware of how Louis would be treated if/when Louis went to Europe because he and Claudia are black. He plans out storylines and I wish that could have been handled with more care and less triggering. I am aware that if Louis and Claudia freely traveled around Europe during war times and racism with no one - not a single vampire or human trying to attack or bother them- that there would be fans saying well you are just brushing over the reality of how Louis and Claudia would be treated. And yeah they would have. So all of this to say I understand where that anon is coming from.

Can I say that it bothers me to no end that - although I can grasp why- the consequences of some people’s actions specifically Armand - are not treated with the weight as it should. I do not know how this will be dealt with next season, but it has been said (about this story/characters) that since vampires live to eternity/for centuries, they learn to forgive heinous and the most traumatizing of situations for the sake of moving forward and healing. You can choose to forgive if you want if it serves you in healing because that is a person (or vampire’s) right but Armand killed and orchestrated the death of two peoples daughter. I don’t want to see two or even three seasons from now Armand becoming ‘buddies’ with Louis or Lestat. The writer of these characters said that if Louis and Lestat did have an actual wedding, Armand would be there and have a role in it ? Why would the man who killed their daughter have a role in their wedding? I don’t want to see something like that in the show. Fans excuse it because these are vampires with a non human experience but we are humans watching and will find it hard to forget something like that. If this was real life, a person or duo would not think twice about cutting someone off who killed their daughter. I will say to Louis staying with Armand after Claudia’s death, he doesn’t know that Armand planned and did that. He thinks it was all or mostly Lestat’s fault, which it wasn’t. Lestat we will learn was weak from Armand holding him captive so he couldn’t save Claudia- going back to the reality that Claudia was never going to be saved because the writer/creator of the book series had her die because she was inspired by her daughter’s death. Despite knowing that, it was troubling seeing these events unfold as they did nonetheless. All of this to say, I am aware that life for Louis and Claudia was never going to be rainbows and sunshine everyday with no racism or hardships. If the show attempted to portray their lives that way, it would be problematic. So I understand that Louis and Claudia will be faced with racism and hard times, but it’s how the portrayal unfolds. As for Lestat’s treatment of them, I’m glad there’s some semblance of remorse and apology that we never get from Armand ever. This is NOT me excusing Lestat’s actions whatsoever just to say that is the bare minimum lol especially for a white character because we know if he was lacking remorse and didn’t care, it wouldn’t go over well. At least we might see his consequences from his actions next season since it appears to be half focused on him and the rest still on Louis. There are limited number of episodes in a season so I am aware that there is only so much ground that can be covered in terms of consequences and fallout from these events. It is difficult having a lack of a black persons perspective in the making of the show because even if Claudia was always going to die and Louis was going to interpret the events wrong to end up with her killer, there is a way that could’ve been handled that didn’t cause as much triggering and distaste for black viewers

(context)

(posting this as it is for a fan vent)

Part 2 also:

"Black anon here who sent an agreeing response to the other ask talking about their reaction to the lynching/racism- the book purists willingly ignore the reality that this book was written by a white woman who was racist and is now in the hands of a white man who does not understand what it is like to be a black person- black American man specifically - living and existing especially in the time period the first two seasons are set in, the early 1900s to present day or close to present day. The book purists focus more on ‘yes this is the Louis and Lestat (as endgame) show if you don’t like it then don’t watch’ and do not even try to give it the same amount of attention or understanding. They do not want to talk about the lynching and how traumatizing that is. It’s not like the showrunner doesn’t care but it doesn’t seem as if he’s as invested in telling that with as much intent as he is at portraying Lestat as interesting and memorable as this new version separate from Lestat’s of the past in media. Yes he cares about this new version of Louis portrayed by Jacob but to what extent because it feels as if the writing for Louis could have been handled with more care in numerous circumstances/situations. It’s not all bad/in distaste I do see instances where the portrayal of Louis is reflected with nuance and I don’t know if that’s Jacob it could be but he only acts to what he is given on the page. He does understand Louis more- not only as a black person but in terms of things he has discussed before like mental health struggles- I understand that this show is about vampires and complexity and a range of other themes but this can’t be ignored and should be handled with the same weight and intention as Lestat being developed as he has and will be for next season. It must be easier for the showrunner to see Lestat because he is also white, so there is a level of understanding. But Louis who is black in the show- he will never understand that experience of being a black American or a gay black American man at that- and yes he can research or consult with people if he hasn’t already- but I’m noticing discrepancies and that can only do so much when he doesn’t understand/live in that experience himself. This is not to say that Louis is unlikable or uninteresting because I find Louis to be very interesting and I very much enjoy him as a character however what he endures and experience feels like never ending pain. Yes he is guilt ridden and traumatized and depressed but that’s not all he is. Yes, this is his life story entangled with moments that bring out these feelings but I want to see more. I hope to see a shift to something else moving forward next season and beyond since the showrunner intends to do 8-10 seasons allegedly"

[esther-dot]

It seems like jonsa wasn’t a thing till season 6 happened and they hugged each other? Idk I’m wondering what some saw in that hug that others didn’t that made people start shipping them romantically? That scene was emotional for me but that’s because I saw two siblings that have been through so much and are what’s left of their family reunite. Of course since then there has been a lot of metas written from both show and book to support it. But it was after the fact. What was it about that one scene lol

Well, season six premiered in 2016, but three years prior, in 2013 there was a beautiful meta speculating that Jon and Sansa would reunite first of all the Starks (link) and marry for political reasons, so, the hug may have been the introduction to the idea for some, but the interest in/theory of romantic Jonsa preexisted it.

In addition to spec, there are Jonsa fics on AO3 dating back to 2011 (I see some that are now dated before that but those may have been backdated, not sure), I know I've reblogged artwork and meta from before the reunion, here’s a post about the ship from 2011, so, the moment anyone thought “this reunion is being filmed some kinda way”, or, “this soup scene is a little flirty”, or “why are they breathing this way in their scenes and …is Jon…panting? WTF”, or “why did they mutually cloak each other?”, or “why are the promising trust and protection?”, or “why are they cosplaying as NedCat?” they could check and find meta and fics that predicted some or several of those elements before the show did it. Some of the fics and spec even predicted Sansa in Witnerfell and Jon at the Wall, so there was a lot of foresight on the part of the og shippers!

I suppose what I’m getting at is that even when people point to the hug, there’s a context for why it so easily  snowballed. We can pinpoint that as the moment, but my tendency is to think that all the surrounding things made a foundation for it. I mean, even genre tropes played a role here. I’ve had people tell me they expected it from the first book because of the princess/secret prince idea. And, in-verse, it has connections to other ideas like a Targ prince and Stark maiden, Targcest, and the Jaime/Jon foils + the Cersei/Sansa foils situation. I mean, hundreds of thousands of words have been written about this stuff since the reunion, sure, but a lot of the elements that make it so compelling were written by book fans first, they just never carried it to an endpoint where these things could all be gathered into a single development that allowed Martin to write a shade of grey into his discussion of incest via a storyline that also addresses Jon's longing for Winterfell/children and Sansa's desire for love. If one is willing to take a step back from the preconception of what Jonsa is, why it exists as a ship, it's very easy to see it as a clever culmination of many, many threads into a heart-wrenching, possibly hopeful, development. So, I’d argue that even if those ideas were only present in someone’s subconscious, it’s why someone might watch that hug (or the mutual cloaking/chemistry of the actors/lighting and blocking etc) and have a holy shit moment.

As for the hug itself, I don’t interpret it as romantic either in the sense that, I don’t think that is at all what the characters were feeling. However, when one thinks about how it was filmed, the breathlessness of the acting and how they let that scene stretch out and take it’s time...few other moments compare. Every aspect of it worked to tell the audience how important it was, and of course, as a Stark fan, finally having two Starks reunite after near misses, well, we had spent years building up to a meaningful Stark moment. Jon and Sansa’s relief and joy was ours. And not only did we have all that catharsis and a scene that was...treated with solemnity in a show that was losing it’s depth, storywise, it was one of the few writing choices after the halfway point that carried through the last three seasons. It set a trajectory for Jon and Sansa individually, that reunion and relationship changed everything for them. However one interprets it, their bond became the most important relationship in the last three seasons, and was of the utmost importance in the finale, despite everything becoming pretty nonsensical. In hindsight, it wasn’t accidentally meaningful, incidentally a highpoint of the series, it was essential, essential to them, essential to the story, essential to the endgame.

So, not only do you have in-universe ideas that make this meaningful, not only was there speculation that called it and presents it as the beginning of a romance, not only did they film it in a far more reverential way than they filmed any other relationship (even more so than the epic romance of the series), it also was a necessary stepping stone to the endgame. Even mishandled as it ultimately was, the weight of what it meant spans the entire series, and audiences felt that. It was a turning point for Jon, for Sansa, for the North, for the fight against the Others (even more so than Jon meeting Dany because s7-s8 were so horribly written), so not only is it compelling for lovers of themes, for lovers of the overarching narrative, for lovers of the characters who simply needed their favs to smile again, the failure of the last two seasons made it even more of a high point in our minds of what GoT was and should have been, who these characters are and what they want. And you see how this leads us right back to those desires Jon and Sansa have: Winterfell and family. Again, I did not watch s6 and think it had to be interpreted romantically, but after s7 when I got online and read spec, rewatched their scenes and compared them to how Kit acted Jon with Ygritte and with Dany, I changed my mind. Jon and Sansa, their desires and fears, were never as vivid and compelling as they were in their shared scenes, every conversation developed the complexity of their emotions for each other, and all of that was established in the way they presented that first hug—disbelief, longing, relief, joy.

Also, when someone can predict what happens, I think it’s worthwhile to consider the idea that maybe there’s something to learn from their interpretation of themes, and the fact that a Jonsa reunion was long predicted, matters so much for character development as well as plot progression...well, it means something! Anyway, I can’t argue that the hug itself was romantic, but I do think, especially in comparison to how they handled every other relationship, meeting or reunion in s7-8, that D&D were doing something there, and I personally can’t be convinced they meant for the Jon and Sansa dynamic to be read as strictly familial.

[rockonyou717]

Posting my review of Django Unchained of Letterboxd here. Maybe some might like it. I feel like most miss the importance of its story and very inception.

Spoilers ahead!

Am I an excessive violence fan? A Western fan?

No. But this film is absolutely amazing. A peak revenge film that has you smiling from ear to ear as you witness Django and Dr. King Schultz take on some incredibly smarmy people.

Django Unchained is a fascinating film. Christoph Waltz knocks it it of the park as a lovely and cunning German immigrant with the alias of being a dentist. He brings fun shades of humour and warmth, a perfect contrast for Django's icy personality (though Django is not immune to being just as funny and warm in this film). Christop Waltz and Jamie Foxx, like Schultz and Django alike, complement each other perfectly. Each of their presences is unique and though they are different, they glue you to the screen nonetheless!

Leonardo DiCaprio, when he's not chasing 20-somethings, absolutely fulfills his role as Calvin Candie to the highest degree. He gives off an incredibly perfect amount of ignorance and malice in his role. DiCaprio steals almost every scene he stars in, impossible as it may seem when you have talents like Waltz and Foxx there for the ride. DiCaprio brings such an insufferable unpleasantness to his role that you easily understand why Schultz would instead take a bullet than shake his hand.

The direction and the cinematography are both amazing and easily backed up by such a star-studded cast.

The film’s handling of slavery and its various nuances has been heavily criticized over the years by many critics. Many of them white. It feels as though these critics have misunderstood that not only this is this a well-done revenge film but it is a blatant satire and commentary on social injustices, the production of blaxploitation films, and the still true notion that our wider society still isn’t ready to have a candid discussion about slavery.

Proper discussion of slavery and its impact has caused for modern cinema audiences have a cautious appetite for authentic, honest and non-sensational films about the slave trade, especially from those that were enslaved. This film was never going to fulfill that. Why must any film with a black lead, one who lives in the past, consist of the same story about slavery? Is that not just forcing a minority group into a box yet again?

This film had little to do with slavery and instead used slavery as a backdrop for the actual plot. This isn't a film that is about the slave trade. This is a story of revenge that stems from the slave trade. It is a bit different in that regard. This film is about a slave breaking free. The fact that many got incredibly angry over the revenge killing of white people in this film has shown that the commentary has fallen on blind eyes/deaf ears. Ask not why one should be upset about the on-screen killing of whites but why others are enjoying it.

Conservative columnist Jeff Kuhner wrote saying: "Anti-white bigotry has become embedded in our postmodern culture. Take Django Unchained. The movie boils down to one central theme: the white man as devil—a moral scourge who must be eradicated like a lethal virus."

Mr. Kuhner missed the point of the film entirely, focusing only on the killing of white people. A shame indeed. Being upset about a film that involves killing whites while it's set during the time of slavery is quite telling indeed.

Samuel L. Jackson told Vogue Man that "Django Unchained was a harder and more detailed exploration of what the slavery experience was than 12 Years a Slave, but director Steve McQueen is an artist and since he's respected for making supposedly art films, it's held in higher esteem than Django, because that was basically a blaxploitation movie."

Jamie Foxx and Samuel L Jackson seemed to understand what exactly the story was looking to tell. This is a film with social commentary, incredible storytelling, a hell of a soundtrack, and multiple characters to love. It's not perfectly historically accurate but it doesn't need to be. Its story, exposure of blaxploitation films, and its gritty, satisfying revenge make for a killer film that makes sticking it to the "white devil" all the more satisfying. It still isn't enough though.

This is a pure revenge film at its core and it's never been such a greater joy to watch.

[joylinda-hawks]

ZZH during the series' promotional session and meeting. I bet this is a promotional event for the Legend Of BanShu series. This series was the series in which ZZH was given a larger lead role. He could show his talent and not just be a background for other actors. I think he was delighted with this fact because he knew that if the audience liked his role, he would be able to count on another leading role. ZZH knew that such productions were very demanding, so he certainly improved his martial arts and worked on using melee weapons. He also learned to ride horses. ZZH wanted to show everyone how versatile an actor he is. Maybe ZZH didn't immediately get the role he deserved, but this series was the first important stage in his career. Coming back to the photo I chose, this is one taken by ZZH during the break. I don't know if it's part of a larger photo, but what caught my eye was a close-up of his upper body. ZZH was maybe 24 years old here, very slim, which was further emphasized by his styling. A simple dark blue suit and white T-shirt. Nothing extravagant and probably not from any fashion house. But even if ZZH didn't wear designer clothes, he looked very good in them. Looking at ZZH's face, he also looks slim, his jaw and cheekbones are clearly visible. ZZH has no make-up on his face, his complexion is luminous and his lips have a natural shade. Plus, he has a nice hairstyle that delicately shapes his face. ZZH with this slightly dreamy look radiates inner light. He is happy and believes that only good things will happen to him.

[jcmarchi]

Web Design When a Logo Is Your Only Brand Asset

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/web-design-when-a-logo-is-your-only-brand-asset/

Web Design When a Logo Is Your Only Brand Asset

It’s challenging to build websites for clients. It takes communication and cooperation. Web designers also need enough resources to do the job right.

That last part can be tricky. And it’s not just financial resources that are in short supply. Clients may lack brand assets as well.

The issue often occurs with smaller organizations. They might not have the budget for custom photography or print materials. Thus, you could receive a low-resolution logo and not much else.

Is a logo enough to build a design around? You may be surprised at what a logo can inspire. Even basic images can tell us a lot about our client.

With that, let’s see what we can learn from a client’s logo.

Their Preferred Colors and Typography

Here’s hoping your client’s logo features a few colors. It’s a big help in determining the website’s color scheme.

However, even a single color will provide clues. You can create a palette based on a primary color. Several online tools will do the job for you. They’ll generate complimentary colors and shadings.

You’ll want to run these by your client for approval. But a logo can do wonders for inspiring the perfect color scheme.

The same goes for typography. Simple logo fonts could be appropriate for use elsewhere. For example, a clean serif font makes for a solid text heading. Unsure of the fonts used in the logo? You can use a font identification tool to help.

Script and display style fonts aren’t always a fit, though. They could be too difficult to read as headings or body text. But you can still use them as a basis for finding acceptable pairings.

The Client’s Personality and Tone

Is your client’s organization serious and buttoned down? Or maybe they’re a bit more relaxed? Their logo can provide clues.

Both color and typography tell a story. Bright and neon colors may indicate a casual vibe. An old-fashioned wordmark says it’s all business.

Illustrations also play a role. Does the logo contain a cartoonish figure? What about a simple line drawing of an office? Each can help you create the right mood.

You can also use this information when choosing other design assets. Items like icons and stock photos should match the tenor of the logo.

There are other indicators beyond the logo. Your client’s industry is important. Their communication style is also a factor. Still, their logo says a lot about who they are.

A Path for Reaching the Target Audience

Who is your client’s target audience? Their industry and clientele are deciding factors.

But details may be scarce. Clients with limited brand assets may not have a lot of demographics to share. And they’re unlikely to have a research budget.

In that case, a logo can show you a path to reaching the right audience. Or at least facilitate an educated guess.

For instance, an image could convey the relative age of the audience. And it’s also possible to target other identifying characteristics. Things like gender, identity, or financial status come to mind.

All of this assumes that the logo fits your client’s brand. That’s not always the case. However, web designers can only work with what’s available. Any imperfections are out of our control.

Making the Most of the Brand Assets You Have

Designing a website without brand assets is difficult. How can we create a relevant look without a guide? And even a client’s previous website may not be of much help.

In many instances, a logo is all we have to go on. It happens time and again, even in this digital age. And it presents a challenge for web designers.

However, a decent logo provides a starting point. It can lead us to some answers. We can use it to craft color and typographic schemes. And it’s also possible to understand more about your client’s personality and target audience.

At the very least, a logo serves as a basis for discussion. Assess what you have and ask for your client’s feedback. You may be on the right track. Or your client may have to go back to the drawing board.

Either way, the logo might be the best tool to move the project forward. There are more details within than you may think.

Related Topics

[sfjones]

Creating a Sense of Place: How to Design Office Parks that Foster Community and Collaboration

Office parks are the new "it" places to work. They offer everything that a traditional office park has, in addition to plenty of space for employees to collaborate and innovate. That creativity in design is something that's becoming more important than ever as we face increasingly complex challenges like climate change and sustainability.

We need to separate our traditional viewpoints from the cement towers of older office park design and open our minds to innovative creations that foster a sense of collaboration and build community identity. Here are the key components of creating a sense of place in your office park:

1. Building Community Spaces

You can create a sense of community by providing spaces for people to meet and gather. These can be informal, like a coffee shop or cafeteria, or more formal, like an auditorium or conference room. But no matter what kind of space you choose, you want to be sure it fits the goals of your office park, has enough space for an audience, and provides the amenities you need for residents to succeed. As a side note, never forget the importance of good bathroom placement!

2. Prioritizing Accessibility

Accessibility should be a vital component of any office park design. Not only is it an essential factor in creating a sense of place, but it improves employee experience and enhances overall satisfaction with your workplace.

As part of this effort, some companies have begun prioritizing accessibility features like wheelchair ramps at entrances, elevators that are large enough for wheelchairs, accessible restrooms with wide doorways, designated parking spaces close to buildings, and even lower countertops in break rooms so that wheelchair users don't have trouble reaching them. There is a delicate balance between legal requirements and personalization that residents will appreciate.

3. Creating an Identity

Identifying your company's values and culture is an excellent place to start with office park design. What do you want employees to feel as soon as they walk into the building? Is it important that each department has its own identity, or are there specific spaces where everyone will congregate regardless of their role in the company?

This comes down to the various colors, materials, and design elements that support your overall feelings and goals as a business park. Not necessarily branding, but a way to self-identify the space so the surrounding community feels welcome and appreciated.

4. Incorporating Nature

Nature is an integral part of your employees' lives. It can help them feel refreshed, inspired, and renewed. Office parks that incorporate nature into their design create a sense of place for employees, which in turn leads to better collaboration and community.

Create outdoor spaces with plants and trees that provide shade and privacy. These areas should be located near buildings so people can easily walk between them if they want to take a break from working inside all day long.

If possible, include a fountain or pond in one area of the park so people can enjoy listening to its sound while they're taking breaks away from their desks. Even a tiny waterfall can make an excellent addition.

5. Providing Opportunities for Socializing

It's easy to overlook the importance of creating opportunities for socializing. After all, you're probably thinking about how to design your office park to accommodate its employees' needs. But if you don't consider how people will interact with each other at work, you might end up with a very isolated office park design that doesn't support collaboration or community building.

6. Extend the Design onto the Rest of the Property

The building is only part of the office park design. The rest of the property should also be designed to be a place that people want to spend time in, and can be used as a destination for events or social gatherings. You can do this by creating walkable paths through your property, including outdoor seating along them, and even adding decorative lighting or art installations along those paths.

Do not forget to focus on the roads, parking areas, and pathways where your visitors will travel the most. You want them to get a positive experience from the moment they arrive at your office park property.

Office parks can be a great place to work, but they need to be designed with balance in mind. They have the potential to be more than just places where people go each day. Instead, they can become communities that foster collaboration and productivity. 

As long as you take the time to consider all the various features of office park design, you can have a beautiful space that people will enjoy for generations.  

[artattackk1]

Web design gives your customers an experience, a drive across your brand inside-out. If you won’t deliver a better experience to your customers, then there are other competitors waiting to grab the opportunity.

Thus, as a Website designing company in delhi, we believe that one needs to invest resources to build an effective website design, which will boost the business with the right exposure.

There are a few elements, which play a crucial role in building the website design. These things also help in engaging the audience, driving them through the website, and even influencing them to purchase products.

Influential Web Design Elements:

Theme color:

We all know how colors are highly influencing the psychology of people. Understanding this, brands position themselves with a brand color palette, where every color has a meaning and a distinct value in positioning the brand among the audience.

When we remember brands like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Tumblr, they all are having shades of blue. Though they are social media platforms, but they have evolved as the brand. When we speak about Uber it has black and white colors across its communication collaterals. Thus, we believe brand colors play a vital role in building the brand. And when it comes to a website, the design is built with the same brand colors.

However, to make the website design stand out you need to have a different color palette, and at the same time, the composition and usage of these colors in the website also play an important role in engaging and influencing the audience.

Strong copy:

Copywriting is very similar to what the salesman does, they speak about the products. Here the difference is you have time to research and use the right and powerful words, which will influence people to take action.

Usage of keywords in the proper manner helps your brand to be positioned on the top and to the right audience, on the internet.

Overall, a strong copy engages the audience and delivers the core message to the prospect about the brand and products.

Read More

[threecheersforinking]

Character Analysis: Shouya from A Silent Voice

(Spoilers for A Silent Voice/Koe no Katachi)

Shouya Ishida is one of my favorite anime/manga characters ever, and I’ve been meaning to make a post about him. In my opinion, he is the poster child for the perfect redemption arc. I want to talk about some of the reasons why his change of heart was foreshadowed/under the surface right at the beginning, and why we as an audience are rooting for him, despite the horrible things he did to Shouko.

A Silent Voice is currently one of the top anime movies of all time, and while I do really love the movie (KyoAni is amazing) I am a much bigger fan of the manga; it has more time to expand on the characters and introduces some smaller important plot lines. In this post I will be quoting some moments that were in the manga and not the anime, aka, Shouya’s internal monologue. Anyway, let’s get into it. I want to start with why I think Shouya went down the bullying path in the first place.

Environment and Role Models

One of the biggest factors that influenced Shouya’s class’s toxic environment and led him to be a bully was having an uncaring ableist teacher. In the manga, the phrases “something we just have to deal with” and “this is your responsibility”, things that the teacher said to him regarding Shouko, repeatedly echo in Shouya’s mind whenever he interacts with her. At some points, the teacher actually laughs when the other students make fun of Shouko, letting Shouya (as well as the others) believe that it’s an ok thing to do. If Shouya had an adult figure in the classroom with a stronger sense of morality, he might have changed his tune earlier.

Shouya was also highly influenced by his peers (which makes sense because he was literally 11 years old). When another teacher comes into the classroom to explain what sign language is, there’s a very small panel before anyone else says anything, where Shouya thinks “that sounds fun”. At first, he’s interested in sign language and may have been willing to give it a shot. But then, Ueno suddenly starts complaining about how it’s much easier for them to use the notebook than sign language, and Shouya absorbs this and immediately goes back to thinking about how much of an inconvenience Shouko is to him.

Another influence on Shouya’s behavior is his home environment. I do not want to shade Shouya’s mom completely because overall I think she is a loving parent, but unfortunately she was not able to fully be there for her son because she is a single mom with a full time job. Even though he was in a caring home, he was not necessarily in one that gave him enough attention, and by the time Miyako realized what her son was up to it was too late. If she had given him more guidance earlier on in his involvement with Shouko, they may have been able to avoid disaster.

But all of these reasons aren’t excuses, they’re explanations. Regardless of why, Shouya contributed to Shouko’s severe trauma and did unforgivable things. So why do I think he’s the best case for redemption in anime?

Recognition/Guilt

Shouya is repeatedly shown as having actual remorse for his past actions. This is why other bully characters like Ueno and Kawai are seen as far less likable than Shouya. Other people on here might have actual analyses about those two characters, but as for this post all I’m going to say is that I believe they are much more widely hated than Shouya because of their initial denial of having done anything wrong.

It’s also important to remember that Shouya changed his tune as soon as Shouko left. It wasn’t years after she left his school that he realized he was wrong, it was days. He as an 11 year old realized he was wrong for hurting her; he figured it out as soon as he noticed how she was protecting him from being bullied. And once he himself started to be harassed by his peers, he finally recognized the full weight of what he had done to her.

Some might criticize this moment, saying “Shouya only realized bullying was bad because he got bullied himself”, but frankly, what’s so wrong about that? Many kids who bully don’t realize the full extent of the emotional damage they’re doing until it happens to them. Through this experience Shouya was able to realize, “this is how much pain she felt from the things I did to her”. And that unfortunate shared experience is what drives him to have so much guilt and a desire to change.

Change of Behavior

After his realization of the severe damage he had done to Shouko, Shouya started actively being more kind and thoughtful to others. He learned sign language in order to properly apologize to Shouko. He started helping out strangers and not judging people who are different (Tomohiro, Yuzuru). He acknowledged the severe financial strain he put on his mother and worked hard to pay her back.

And the whole point of the ending of the story is that him feeling sorry for himself and hating himself for the rest of his life isn’t going to undo his past behavior. All he can do now is operate with a better mindset going forward and make a positive difference instead.

Obviously, no one should be forced to or feel obligated to forgive their bully/abuser. But the story isn’t about whether Shouko should forgive Shouya, it’s about whether Shouya can change into a better person. I think it’s a very harmful ideology to believe that people who were bullies as children will be the same person forever. The world isn’t divided into ‘good people’ and ‘bad people’, it’s made up entirely of people who are capable of doing both good and bad things. And I really like how the protagonist of A Silent Voice is someone who had done bad things but is now choosing to be different.

Anyway, this was super long so thank you if you read all of it. Please let me know your thoughts on Shouya or any other characters from this movie/manga.

Thanks for reading!

-threecheersforinking

[janumun]

A [Cat] Parent's Memoirs of Pregnancy ft. Spouse (Pregnancy Headcanons)

Game: Shall We Date: Obey Me! Rating: General Audience/SFW Tags: pregnancy sweetness (and shenanigans)

Summary: Satan's approach and reaction to having a baby with his S/O.

Author's Notes: YESSSS YOU CAN @niphredil-14. 💚💛 This is cute and very, very warm. I tossed in between giving him either fur babies or demon babies (he deserves both!), and chose this! I hope you enjoy your read. 💚

Requests for this event are now (long) closed, dear readers. Thank you to all those who participated!

Perhaps three or twelve feline babies later, the two of you might plan on making a hybrid child — with two hands and two legs, five fingers on each and absolutely no fur in sight.

Satan would prefer waiting until your youngest adopted foundling — a tiny, dark slip of a cat — is well into its second year in this world before he decides to try for a baby, of your own flesh and blood. A decision he hardly takes in frivolity. Every vulnerable life, be it cat or person, is important and requires adequate care; Satan is very well aware of the fact.

When the two of you discover you are with child, happiness trumps within alongside multiple plans he’s already running through his head for the arrival of your child. Unfortunately, his immediate task on the agenda is informing Lucifer about the upcoming arrival — fighting for board for his adopted cats’ was Hell enough, war waged with you by his side — lest Lucifer demand he find elsewhere for the two of you to care for your baby. He’s going to stomp out of the House of Lamentation if Lucifer so much as suggests displeasure at your child.

Begrudgingly — and as frightening as it is to witness this conversation in between the two brothers, you fear you might almost collapse at how tensed you are watching the two glare at each other — though your demon breaks the news, and perhaps almost surprising for Satan, Lucifer greets the news with good cheer.

Claret gaze warming in affection as it slides towards you before he congratulates the two of you on your pregnancy.

Suffice to say, once his other brothers are informed of the news, they’re gathering over to express surprise (you suspect it’s more about them wanting to fawn and coo over a human pregnant) and extend their well-wishes to the two of you. Gifts from every single brother — in good will, but largely injurious to your health and the baby’s — Satan has lined against your side of the bed. Lucifer’s he burns with his unearthly verdant fire the moment you’re presented with it and the elder brother’s out of sight.

Manuals are brought out, books are being purchased. Shipments from all four corners of Devildom, pricey tomes on human pregnancy from the Earth.

Satan’s here to provide you with all information necessary to nurturing a baby within your womb, random facts and tid-bits even you’re hearing for the first time. He stresses on keeping yourself healthy. He isn’t an over-bearing future father but does definitely encourage you to stick to the health schedule he draws up for you every week, making a point of, time and again, how important it is for you to follow a good lifestyle in order to see through a safe pregnancy and delivery.

Everyday walks, Kegels, healthy amounts of fruit and meat in your diet (let him know if anything — anything at all — upsets your appetite and he’s quick to swipe that item out of your plate, and your lives). None of which you’re doing alone because he’s more than happy to accompany you throughout your regime.

Don’t let him choose too many of the baby’s clothes however, he’s pulling the oddest combinations of clothes off the rack and it leaves you half-amused half-terrified for your future baby’s sense of fashion. [That is way too many cat onesies in bizarre shades, Satan!]

He would never force you to adhere to something he wasn’t capable of seeing through himself. And, first and foremost he wants to be there for and with you. If you’d let him, he’d be very hands-on in helping deliver your baby as well.

Every single time the two of you make progress through your health list, Satan’s got a pat on the head ready, stroking your hair, affectionate, praising you on how well you’d done that day and what good progression you’d been making lately. Parting stray locks to press a kiss against your forehead. One to your lips in a smile more than happy to, if you ask for more. He’s that perfect balance between strict and adoring.

Future Father™️ (not so) secretly loves to be wrapped up in surprise cuddles any day of the week. There is nothing more joyous than the thought of being needed by you.

Perhaps one of the more enjoyable parts of your pregnancy has been how much more physically affectionate your child has made you and he can hardly complain when you crawl across the covers to join him in bed as he reads. You settling soft against him, needy arms coming around. Swollen stomach, round and wonderfully full, pressed into his side, he almost thinks he feels the baby within, kick a foot in welcome against his side — Hello Dad, as if that’s what Baby’s saying, if they could speak. The rather ridiculously sweet thought’s enough to pull a soft bout of laughter from him and an arm he fits carefully against your shoulder to drag you in.

“Are you cold again, kitten? Come sit next to me. We don’t want you and the little one to get sick now, do we? Is that better? Do you need me to go fetch a blanket? Alright then, sweet dreams.”

He’s here to answer to your every need, so long as it’s within the bounds of reasonability and not injurious to you or the baby.

As much as Satan might seem in control of the entire situation; calm rationale persevering through your hurdles of new pregnancy and future parenthood. Despite how he is the one you seek comfort in and take pride in as the father of your child… Satan is not entirely without his own chips in a seemingly flawless armor.

His knowledge, no matter how vast and thorough, doesn’t replace the practicality of witnessing you nurture a child — your child — within your belly for nine long months. Less than even a speck within a demon’s eternity but so very long and at times… challenging, more than he’s ever encountered throughout his lifetime. Having been born of Lucifer’s rage and anguish, Satan has never known of a parent’s love, nor does he pretend to understand what it might entail. He’s never really felt the need to, past that hollow ache that surfaces at times, to know he was born of loathing and negativity, not nurtured from love.

Lucifer’s hatred of his Father, Levi’s brief mentions of his Mother… a bedtime story narrated of times within the Heavens past with their family, among the brothers, in Lucifer’s absence, is all he knows of the entities called ‘parents’. He does not know what he ‘feels’, if his emotions and reactions are appropriate for a life the two of you are responsible for, together. If his version of love would ever be adequate enough for your baby — the thought that they too might grow missing half the love of their parents, to have no outlet for restless agitation and hurt towards a father who’s never had one of his own… it terrifies him beyond belief.

Times like these are when you need to read him like the very books he’s so fond of picking apart. Seat him by your side and engage him in conversation of your future as a family of many, many children (demon/human and feline alike). Let Satan voice his thoughts, unformed or firm, however they might come across. Pity or sermons are not what he needs; rather quiet understanding and thinking space. To let him realize how he has no need for anxiety; his version of love is just as much valid and your absolute faith in Satan’s ability to love your child as much as he does you. Something you’re willing to learn, a new experience of loving your child, together, with him by your side.

And if the hand that reaches out to caress your distended abdomen, as if towards one very precious, the soft affection in that verdant gaze is indication enough, he’s already begun to learn.

Bonus: Baby Wrath™️ is studious and very interested in learning of the world around, from a tender age. Drinks milk regularly and lick-finishes their cup clean, like they are supposed to under the watchful eye of Dad Wrath™️.

Satan is strict only in terms of good manners and good education; he’s nurturing and encourages the child to enjoy whatever hobbies they develop over their years. (Reading is one and no one’s more proud than Satan that Baby’s often found burrowed within their father’s mountain of books). You do allow the child more leeway, in terms of candy consumption and staying up past bedtime, although that influence can be traced back to Uncles Mammon and Levi who are terrible role-models and have more than once caused Dad Wrath to explode on their sorry souls. Baby Wrath is — much to the chagrin and woe of his father — very fond of Uncle Lucifer and he is their (second) favorite in terms of gifting new and fascinating books to study, and teaching to write simple words, on occasion.

End Notes: Thank you for reading!

♧° Link to Master List °♡

[bleulone]

Can we talk about about how Colin looked in ep 1 when he first saw Marina compared to how he looked when he saw Pen in ep 8. Almost the exact same look! Of course his look to Penelope is probably more about his guilt because he brushed her off when she tried to warn him but still..progress! Lol and then when he's getting ready to leave for Greece, he glanced towards Penelope's home. I think they're having Colin's feelings for her grow gradually in the show instead of all of a sudden like in the books.

Hey! Thank you for this insightful ask of yours :) Sorry for the late answer, I took a long time to write this— without further ado, here we go!

Indeed, Polin is first and foremost a story of gazes, those gazes being of many natures. Whether they are love ones, friendly ones, admirative ones or lustful ones, looking imposes itself to be a huge parameter in Penelope and Colin’s love story.

In order to understand that on screen, film-making has at its disposal a very rich and smart langage of its own. Sometimes, comparision helps to underlines the differences between one character’s relationship with person A mirorring person B. I feel like Shondaland and Chris Van Dussen wanted to introduce the audience to the evolution of our Bridgerton men’s perception of Love. For instance, while Anthony views attachement— to Siena— as a way to escape his responsibilities before becoming his villain (...until our queen ma’am Kate Sheffield comes to the picture), Benedict doesn’t comprehend this universal concept and prefers to enjoy the many physical pleasures life can offer. In other words, the older brothers already explored their sexuality here and there, making them the infamous rakes that they are. As for Colin, it’s a complete other thing.

Colin is young. Very young. At 21, he’s just left Eton College and barely knows anything of the world nor women. Like Anthony said in 1x06, Colin hasn’t been taken to brothels which is a very important step in the building of young men’s sentimental and sexual education during that time period. Since he missed this essential step, our sweet/immature boy has no clue about how to deal sagaciously with his feelings and his “foolish” impulses, baring his naivety. At this point of the story, we can easily come to the conclusion that Colin is a virgin who can’t drive XD. He’s just a child overcame by his passions, a hopelessly romantic who rushes things without taking the time to properly court or know his significant other. And his off-screen flirtation with those supposed numerous girls in London isn’t of any help to justify his (oh so little) experience. So when he sees Marina, he’s so struck by her... mainly by her alluring appearance. And he doesn’t seem to let his eyes nor mind go beyond her exquisite beauty.

In this perspective, the whole Colin/Marina storyline can be perceived as a parallelism to the Pen/Colin’s one. In 1x01, he is immediatley smitten with a dancing Miss Thompson, which happens to be ironically the same case with a 17 year-old Pen but with him. We got to see her, a few moments ago, dreamily looking at him from the back of the dancefloor (echoeing the episode where she fell madly in love with him after he fell off his horse at Hyde Park). She’s charmed by his dashing look and his kindness, yet she doesn’t seem to know anything else about him considering the rare conversations they share. Her burning gaze fits the original story from Julia Quinn’s books because in Romancing Mister Bridgerton, the 28 year-old spinster Penelope do realize later on that Colin is more than a good looking man : he’s a human who possesses a temper and flaws.

Either way, both of our boos are portrayed as hopelessly young people in love who childishly idealize the objects of their affection.

In 1x08, it’s the other way around. It’s Colin who sees Pen first, her who appears to wear the yellow dress’ lookalike from the pilot—what an interesting call back ^^. With his mouth slightly agape and his eyes wide open, we can catch sight of the timid spark of a change in his gaze : Colin Bridgerton notices Penelope Featherington. He‘s touched by the realization that she cares about him. It would be rather inappropriate of me to say that Colin is already in love with her. However, in the finale, I do believe that he’s more struck by her high level of deep care for him than her beauty.

We are thus able to spot two big differences in Colin’s relationship with women in this season : when his attraction to Marina was purely physical and rushed, his attraction with Penelope is more emotional and slow. And for now, he comes to cherish his special bond with her, especially after she tried to warn him of the dangerous trap he was about to fall into. Even if he just sees her as his younger sister’s best friend right now, Pen matters in his life. And it’s still a little yet important progress for sure.

Speaking of which, I agree with you that this look of awe as well as realization is mostly mixed up with guilt. Since he didn’t take into account her words, he felt the strong need to apologize. But bear in mind that guilt formulates a considerable part in Colin’s feelings for Pen... and it’s only the very beginning. In the future, he’ll blame himself for not seeing her as the beautiful goddess and siren that she is in the first place. He’ll blame himself for not reciprocating the feelings for her.... Though at the moment, due to his lack of experience with women, Colin is oblivious to Pen’s obvious signs of sorrow when he told her he’s leaving for Greece/Cyprus. Next time, he’ll detect her sadness and won’t let her go, I’m sure of it (if he doesn’t I’ll riot).

Furthermore, I’m so glad you brought up the scene where Colin glances at the Featherington house. I had the same thought as well. When you put this still and the one where Pen is crying while looking at her window side by side, it even seems like they’re looking at each other. In a way, it implicitly confirms Pen’s key role in his final decision... After all, she’s the one who inadvertently inspired him right ?

The act of traveling has always been seen as cathartic since leaving home to discover yourself allows you to heal your broken heart and soul. It’s natural for Colin to do this. To make his first real steps into the world. His choice is quite relatable more than it is essential for his arc in the series. I can’t wait for him to come back all changed, hot ^^ and mature. I think, like you said, they are planning on making him progressively falling in love with her. Colin’s feelings will gradually leave the platonic zone to explore and officially stay in the intimate zone throughout the seasons.

Overall, the Colin/Marina and Colin/Penelope parallel in s1 mostly helps viewers to compare the way Colin evolves from being a stubborn naive boy to a heartbroken young man who’s aware of his crutial need for Experience. His coming of age, just like Pen’s, has just begun. And they will surely lead to our boy changing himself into the true charming rake that he’s meant to be and our girl into a more confident woman. Consequently, I think their story won’t take 10 years but rather at the very least 5 years perhaps to fit the TV timeline. Once Polin will finally be able to discuss, we’ll hopefully get to see more interesting nuances and shades added to the portrait they painted of one another over the years. They’re indispensable to the slow build up of their emotions/attraction as well as the shattering of their childish idealization/perception of each other.

All in all, I’m so loving the fact that season 1 beautifully sets up the importance of the gaze in Polin’s love story. This first installment is like an expository scene of a play. It leaves a trail of clues and pieces of information here and there at the reach every viewers who can pick them up and analyze what can be the main themes which will determine one character’s story arc/romance. With Polin we have : admiration, wit, love and friendship, desillusionment. (I know they are more but it’s all I can think of rn lol).

If we’re already emotional messes just with the mere power of them looking at each other, imagine when they’ll actually talk and share real conversations. It’s going to be a long way to canon but luv me some good fluffy angsty steamy slow burn :) ✨ I hope this long of mine answers your ask ahah, even if I talked about many things other than just Polin’s looks. Also, sorry if you spot some grammatical mistakes, English is not my first language.

[brian-in-finance]

Jamie Dornan Makes 50 Shades Joke with Handcuffs in Award Show Speech: 'Going to Need a Participant'

The actor was honored Thursday at the 16th Annual U.S.-Ireland Alliance Oscar Wilde Awards for his role in the 2021 Academy Award-nominated film Belfast Award-nominated film Belfast

Jamie Dornan | CREDIT: ALBERTO E. RODRIGUEZ/GETTY

Jamie Dornan got a little cheeky at the 16th Annual U.S.-Ireland Alliance Oscar Wilde Awards.

The 39-year-old actor was honored Thursday night at The Ebell Club in Los Angeles for his role in Belfast, a 2021 semi-autobiographical film from Kenneth Branagh about an Irish working-class family during the 1960s.

In his speech, Dornan noted that honorees previously received a highlight reel featuring key moments from their acting career. With none in store, he opted to improvise.

"In the absence of a reel, I'm just going to act out my entire career. Only the things you know best," he said before whipping out a pair of handcuffs, in a nod to his role in the Fifty Shades of Grey films.

"I'm going to need a participant from the audience," he quipped while holding the cuffs.

Jamie Dornan and wife Amelia Warner | CREDIT: GREGG DEGUIRE/FILMMAGIC

Dornan appeared in films of all kinds in the years between his starring roles in Belfast and the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, from his work in the 2018 biographical film A Private War to voicing a troll named Chaz in the 2020 animated movie Trolls World Tour.

Speaking with PEOPLE Thursday on the green carpet ahead of the Oscar Wilde Awards, Dornan said he was initially "slightly non-committal in a good way" by not rushing to move to the U.S. as he found his footing in Hollywood.

"It was always just come out, spend a lot of time here, take on a load of meetings," he said. "So the longest I ever did was probably four or five months or something, maybe even three or four months, to be honest, in the early days."

"And then it felt like slightly non-committal in a good way: If you failed, you didn't fail as hard because you hadn't properly moved out there," Dornan explained.

The actor said it took some "self-belief" to reach this point in his career, but now, he's pleased with his progress.

"My whole ethos in life is, 'Back yourself,' so I guess I backed myself to be able to make something happen," he said Thursday. "And I always felt I had something to offer ... things needed to fall into place, and you need a bit of luck in this time. So luckily it worked out in the end."

Dornan is also proud of the "important message" he helped to convey in his latest film Belfast — which is up for seven awards at this Sunday's Oscars, including Best Director for Branagh, 61, and Best Picture — telling PEOPLE that it was "a very cool thing to be a part of it."

"I am just beyond proud to be from that part of the world and to tell a story that resonated with so many people across the world, and maybe change some people's opinion of that part of the world, in the north of Ireland and Belfast, and the people and the hard-working families," the actor said.

https://people.com/movies/jamie-dornan-makes-50-shades-joke-with-handcuffs-need-a-participant-award-show-speech/

Remember… man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. — Oscar Wilde

🎭 Mask. Christian Grey. Too much?

[eamonorus-blog]

The Peter Jackson LORD OF THE RINGS films and blond hair.

I care a lot about the issue of making sure that an actors physical features and race match the character or people they are meant to be portraying. But since that is a big topic, I will start by talking about a way in which this was mishandled by Peter Jacksons trilogy.

To start with, its clear that PJ and crews hearts were in the right place. They knew that creating recognizable and unique armour, weapons, and appearances for the different people of Middle Earth was important. They just didn't always get it right, either in terms of following the books, or staying consistent to the film version they were creating.

Lets start with the Rohirrim. In the books they are described as being golden haired and fair skinned. And so PJ made everyone who was playing a Rohirrim had white skin and was wearing a blonde wig. So far so good, he is making sure that the Rohirrim maintain a distinct appearance which helps make them stand out from the other people of MIddle Earth, and is also in alignment with what Tolkien wrote.

The blonde wigs and how uniform they are give a slightly unnatural appearance, considering that the Goths and Anglo-Saxons that the Rohirrim are based off wouldn't ALL have had blond hair, and blonde hair tends to darken with age. (Something Tolkien was very aware of, Eorl the Young was partly called so because his golden hair never dimmed as he aged, making him seeing forever young in a way)

Nonetheless, its a bold visual choice, which is a good idea for a film, and the alternate of hiring only Scandinavian actors and extras who could use their natural hair colour in all its more natural shades is clearly time consuming and unfeasible.

So all in all this decision is perfectly fine. IN ITSELF. But this decision has a damaging unintended consequence. Lets get to Wormtongue. In the books and films he is called a man of Rohan. We never get any contradictory information, so this is safely assumed to be canon. We can be fairly sure he isnt partly Dunlending, since a character in the story would have mentioned it, and Tolkien goes out of his way to mention when a man of Rohan is part Dunlending when he writes about the rule of Helm.So Wormtongue is meant to be a self serving traitor who is horny for Eowyn, not someone whose mixed heritage has created dual loyalties. Its safe to assume Tolkien would have at least hinted at this if it was the case. However in the films PJ obviously thought that a greasy dark haired Snape like look for Grima would suit his pervy treacherous look more. Ok, in a vacuum that decision is fine, but this leads to a lot of confusion.  Film is a visual medium like I said, and when you make a race of people all have vibrant gold hair, and one of them has greasy black hair, this immediately creates a disconnect in the audience. I have seen multiple lotr reactors who, when in the extended scene for the RotK Theoden calls out "you were a man of Rohan once" they have visibly recoiled in confusion. They may not have been consciously thinking about, but the visual language of filmmaking had told them Grima wasnt a man of Rohan, and now they were confused. By making this seemingly insignificant change, PJ had undermined the foundations of the role Grima and Saruman play in the story.

 Saruman is a Wizard, one of the good guys, who turns bad, Grima is a Rohirrim, one of the good guys, who turns bad. Whereas Sauron is the enemy without, Saruman and Grima are the enemy within, those who are driven by a mix of greed and fear to turn traitor.But thanks to PJs decision on this matter, the story is now subtly different, now instead of a traitor, Grima is a dark haired racial outsider who has infiltrated Rohirric society like a parasite, lusting after a blonde woman. And that is not the vibe that Tolkien was intending, yet it is one that i have seen several  reactors pick up on. Ok, time to move on to Gondor. My issues with the Gondor storyline are myriad and deeply felt, but I wont go into them here or else I will produce a small novel. What makes the issue with Denethors sons all the more odd that PJ got this wrong, is that he was pedantic about other issues of this nature, so he was clearly aware of this being something important. He gave the Rohirrim blond wigs like I said, and he made Orlando wear a wig and contacts, which believe you me, we will get to that later. And yet, on this issue not so much. All of the Exiled Numenoreans that we see in lotr (almost certainly because they are descended from the house of Beor) have a distinctive appearance. Whereas certain characters like Legolas, Gimli, and the hobbits get very limited description, the Numenoreans like Boromir, Faramir, Aragorn, and Denethor all do. Pale, tall, grey eyes, raven hair. This is something that ties them all together.  They may have different life experiences and goals and and have grown up in different places, but this is something that if portrayed in film would have helped the audience instantly tie them all together, and when the race of Numenor is mentioned, we would have a way of putting these two things together to get a good instinctive grasp of who is Numenorean and who isnt. I admit, even as someone who thinks getting the appearance and races of characters right is important, I understand the argument that all this is taking it too far, and all these details don't need to be exactly represented on screen. HOWEVER not only did the PJ crew take pride and pains to get all the details right, and to make sure the races and cultures of Middle Earth were distinct, but they also went out of their way to make Orlando Bloom wear annoying contacts, when Legolas's eye colour isn't mentioned, and to make John put on heavy painful Dwarf makeup. So don't give me that. (edited) Both David Wenham and Shaun Bean are blond, and yet PJ didnt insist they wear black wigs or dye their hair. Imrahil is blond too. And all this despite the fact that PJ took into account the fact Gondor is meant to be a more Mediterranean civilisation, and had the common soldiers wearing some sort of black wig under their helmets. He clearly thought about these details to an extent and thought they were important, but he either only read some parts of the material, or thought some things were important, and others weren't. WHEN ITS ALL IMPORTANT PJ. I mean seriously, we have the scene in the books where Faramir and Eowyn kiss and their hair, raven and gold, mixes together in the wind, representing the two cultures combining and coming closer despite their differences, and that scene wouldn't make any sense if put into the film verse, perhaps you didnt show the romance properly because you don't understand Faramir and Eowyns relationship or them as characters?? COULD THAT BE IT PJ??? And finally we get to the Elves. And this is where I really get the sense that PJ roughly read through the books, and got a vague but inaccurate sense of things and ran with it. In general I get a strong sense that PJ understands lotr more in the flashy appearance and less in the substance. In the Appendix we get the description of the Elves as looking, well, like the third age Numenoreans, tall, pale, grey eyed, dark haired, with a few Finarfian exceptions. Even without that, there is nothing stopping PJ cracking open a copy of the Silm and getting all the details of elf appearance he could want. Despite this, and the famous lack of information on Legolas's hair colour, PJ insisted Orlando wear the wig. WHY? My only explanation is that PJ was married to the idea for some reason. He clearly knew not all elves were blond at least, since Elrond and Arwen are explicitly dark haired, and he remembered that somehow. My honest guess is that he saw the Bakshi version, and the interpretation of Legolas stuck for whatever reason. However it does feel like there is a bit more to it than that, as we have legions of blond elves showing up for no reason, in Rivendell and Lothlorien. So clearly it was a wider issue than that. Maybe PJ is an unconscious nordicist, or maybe he just thinks of etherieal fairy creatures being blond, I don't know, I cant read the mans thoughts. All I know for sure is that PJs priorities in how people looked were somewhat skewed. I don't like bashing this sort of stuff, as its stuff that the PJ crew mostly got right, but the things they do get wrong are important, and why they get them wrong is hard to figure out. And considering how much the cinematic world of the lotr films relies on visual language to give a lot of information quickly and effectively, these mistakes do matter, and do hurt the film, not only from my perspective, but I have seen reactors become confused by them also. tldr: PJ getting hair colour wrong confuses the audience, and messes with the kind of message and story Tolkien was trying to tell.

[evarcana]

Taking it out on you

Ev attends the court meeting only to learn that sometimes the second impressions are just as bad as the first ones.

characters: Ev Panopolis, consul Valerius and brief appearance of Volta

words: ~3k

warnings: alcohol (as expected)

notes: On some point I gave up on the idea of Ev being the apprentice, as she just does not have this "MC energy". So this is an introduction to her story, because there is no better way to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of this blog than to remember that a very long time ago I used to write fanfiction.

It has been almost a month already. Almost a month since she came to Vesuvia, almost a month since she was told that her services were not required here. The thought makes Ev frown, but she keeps a quick pace, the sound of her impatient steps on the marble floor echoing through the palace corridor.

It is just before eleven o’clock, and the last of crisp morning sun pours over the rich mauve of lustrous silk drapes and the gold leaf of intricately carved murals, drawing out the warm scent of orange blossom and beeswax from the polished panels of precious wood. Vesuvian palace is exactly what she was promised - a great wonder, and yet Ev doubts it could give any lesser impression while the backdrop to its striking opulence is the city torn apart by disease and grief.

There are no servants or visitors in sight, and Ev’s only company in this seemingly endless corridor are paintings on the walls, depicting what she can only guess are some of the proud moments of Vesuvian history - people and places so foreign to her.

She does simple math in her head: two months and two days ago she was marching down the corridor of a very different palace, eager to be on time for the meeting with Crown Princess Nafizah despite the quite literal last minute notice, and not knowing yet that she was about to hear details of this so-called diplomatic mission.

Back then it sounded straightforward enough. Prakra couldn’t ignore the news of Count Lucio's tragic death, not least because that meant Princess Nadia, the youngest daughter of the Prakran royal family, was left widowed and with the daunting task of handling the red plague epidemic in Vesuvia all on her own. Any ruler could do with an extra pair of hands and any country could benefit from the alliance with Prakra, especially in times of crisis like this. And it would have stayed straightforward if only the discovery of Countess Nadia’s mysterious illness and the unexpected, unreasonable, outrageous hostility of Vesuvian court did not bring this crisis to the whole new, now personal, level.

In theory, Ev did not have to deal with any of that. She could use the excuse that it was only appropriate to deliver such unsettling news about Nadia in person, go back and forget everything that happened in this palace like one of those unpleasantly bizarre dreams you get after a night of drinking. But Vesuvia was still the city Prakra cared about, Nadia’s city, and as far as Ev knew none of the people who came to be in charge of it were appointed by her. Prakran diplomatic presence was perhaps the only way to look after Nadia’s interests until she woke up. Even if Ev had no actual power over the court, returning to Prakra without accomplishing at least something felt like a failure, and failure has never been an option for Ev. With that in mind, she pressed the seal with enough force to imprint Prakran royal crest on the desk and not just on the drop of red wax marking the envelope, and stayed.

Now, after a month of living in the city, she has learned to see that there is more to her new role than just misfortunes. Her relocation allowance is generous, her new place is nicer than what she had in Prakra and she is getting rather used to the convenience of the wine shop next door. Even if parts of it are foreign and unwelcoming, Ev feels at ease in Vesuvia. The tension in her body relaxes, and she thinks maybe this palace can eventually get used to her too, but the thought faints away as soon as she sees the salon door. Ev presses a pile of papers closer to her chest and tells herself that she can think about everything else another time - the court meeting is about to start.

She pushes the door open but immediately freezes on the spot stricken by the gagging wave of nausea - nails dirty with soil and blood, sickly sweet buttercream pastries and rustle of feathers covered in mud. It is no more than a faint impression but even through the fogged mind Ev recognises the feeling - it is vestige, the afterimage of magic. She has felt it before, many times and in many different forms but never has it made her feel physically sick. What is even more unusual is that such a revolting sensation is coming from the palace quarters. One would expect tingles of bubbles from the charmed fountains of never ending sparkling wine or at least the impression of whispers, premium tea, treacle and bitter ambition from the walls which have been magically given ears, and not... whatever this is. Ev draws a deep breath, pushing down into her diaphragm and looks around the room. The salon is not set up for the court meeting, instead there is a tray of food and stacks of empty plates towering on almost every flat surface. Her eyes stop on greasy remains looking terribly out of place on the delicate porcelain plate and she unconsciously covers her mouth. Maybe she is mistaken after all - it is the strange smell of food and not some kind of creepy magic, and, more importantly, maybe this is not the salon she was looking for.

Before Ev gets a chance to mentally blame the chamberlain for giving her the wrong directions, a tiny figure appears from behind the chair. The white cornette is instantly recognisable and Ev is about to ask procurator Volta whether she is here for the court meeting too when she sees that behind the commotion of dark robes Volta is frantically trying to push the whole roast rack of lamb down her mouth. Dear gods. Somewhat unsurprisingly, one of the bones appears to be stuck. Clearly having not expected to have an audience, the procurator widens her eyes at Ev in a mixture of terror and shame. Unable to speak, after a few incoherent squeaks, she throws her tiny hands in the air helplessly, spattering herself with gravy and gestures to the open French doors leading to the balcony. Without giving it too much thought, Ev gives Volta a quick nod and takes an opportunity to escape the awkwardness of the scene.

Wrapped in the soft shade of the balcony, consul Valerius is casually leaning back in the chair, with the usual glass of wine in his hand. Even before she reaches the doors, Ev sets her eyes on his face. The consul is looking away, his face carved and unmovable, the tight knot of dark eyebrows making him look ireful and disgruntled, like one of those statues of stern gods she saw growing up in Zadith. Her next step lands much quieter and then, there steps in, Ev stops and stands very still wondering what thoughts could possibly bring this storm to Valerius’s face. Sun would suit him much more, she thinks, her eyes curiously trailing down the golden glints of his hair.

A loud snort catches Ev off guard and she realises that Valerius is now facing her, looking considerably more displeased than before, no doubt because of her. That’s more like it. How could she forget that this man is the very cause of her problems.

“Could I please have some of your time, consul?” she asks, heading straight towards him. Greetings seem excessive, they didn’t necessarily part on friendly terms last time.

“I didn't expect to see you here again.”

Ev allows herself a smirk. “I know.” I am not here to do what you expect from me. She stops inches away from his chair looking down at him, apparently enjoying the close proximity which, considering their formal relationship and the consul’s well known bad temper, could be regarded as both highly inappropriate and potentially reckless. But Valerius only turns away, more interested in his drink than in her.

“I have been studying the treasury records,” she continues, searching his face for any kind of reaction. His lips curl up in a sneer as he takes a sip of wine, but his eyes are still firmly fixed on the horizon. Ev follows his gaze expecting to see some radical change to the surrounding landscape, but there is only faint outline of the city roofs behind the lush green of the palace's vast grounds, - no columns of smoke, no ominous looking storm clouds gathering in the distance, nothing that could possibly be more interesting than her. Whatever. “Your tax system - ,” she hands Valerius neatly arranged papers, which he completely ignores,“- it is not working.”

“Vesuvian tax system remained largely unchanged for the last two generations, this is how these matters are handled traditionally,” says Valerius, once again denying Ev courtesy of eye contact.

Ev’s mouth twists at the sound of the last words. Too worried the conservative mindset might be contagious, she quickly withdraws her hand and takes a step back.

“I trust you understand that sometimes one should focus on what works, and not what is traditional,” she says, doing her best to disguise the growing irritation. “You don’t attract nearly as much foreign trade as you used to.”

What comes next is a very profound, uncomfortable silence. Ev sighs.

“Consul, you had plague in the city, people died,” her voice is louder now, “lots of people died”, and the irritation is obvious. “And Vesuvia cannot exist without its people. Somebody needs to bring food from the farmlands, make clothes, teach children, attend to the sick. Yes, in the past you could always import whatever you did not have but now people are scared to come because of the plague. You -”, she pauses in anticipation noticing Valerius shifting in his seat, but he only reaches for the bottle to top up his glass, “- you need to do something to make it attractive for them again. Lower the customs, lift the taxes for people whose skills you need, sell empty real estate cheap. There is plenty all around the city!”

Deep down Ev knows that none of these is going to work long term, but she doesn't care - she wants to do something and she wants to do it now.

Yet, nothing changes. She is still standing there, and he is still looking away. Ev would prefer him to disagree, start arguing with her - anything really, as long as it breaks this silence.

“Fine! If you don’t feel like changing this traditional system of yours, even temporarily, at least fix your mistakes.” Ev starts chaotically flipping through the papers searching for the one she needs, which would be a much easier task, if she was less flurried and if Valerius offered her a seat. She wonders whether he is now watching her, sneering at her struggle. “Your approved accounts, here,” this time she brusquely puts the paper in front of Valerius’s face blocking his view, “your numbers do not even add up! ”

For a split second she sees something on his face - a twitch, a flick of rage, and thinks that she has gone too far. But his question comes out in a calm, almost disinterested tone: “What makes you think that somebody like you is even qualified to check the city’s budget approved by the esteemed procurator Volta?”

A moment passes before Ev is able to break from staring at Valerius in disbelief. She glances to the salon where, judging by the sound, Volta has freed her mouth only to move to the next dish. Seriously? Perhaps she should be impressed that he managed to say it with the straight face.

And then there is a chilling sensation at the pit of Ev’s stomach. She asks herself what is going on here? What is this city under the reign of a person who questions everything and everyone except the obvious mistake in the accounts? And what is she - ? Angry, she reminds herself, is what she is, and throws a look at Valerius, who is taking another sip from his glass as in triumph. You don’t need to be qualified, you just need to have common sense. And you, Valerius, either don’t have it or you were not even bothered to look at what your court approves.

She pictures him lazily drinking wine, legs on the desk, his shirt unbuttoned, while completely ignoring his state duties. The image is irritating and yet not entirely unpleasant.

“We both know that I come from a family of alchemists and merchants. Trust me, I know how to count,” she says with a smile. It sounded right in her head, a ridiculous answer to the ridiculous question.

“I thought that during our last meeting you said that you had nothing to do with your witchcraft family.” A perfectly raised eyebrow, and that infuriating smirk.

Ev opens her mouth in protest but gives up quickly. Those were her exact words after all, save for the witchcraft part.

She begins to pace around the balcony avoiding looking at Valerius as much as possible. The consul clearly has a way of getting on her nerves, and she needs all her concentration if she wants to explain what exactly will happen to this goddamn city if they carry on with this approved budget.

“Think about the consequences for the people if this mistake is not corrected!” she shouts, her voice much louder than she would like it to be, and quickly turns to Valerius expecting a blowback. But the pale eyes are looking down, studying something on the floor, or on the edge of the fabric of her long sleeve, she really can’t tell. Oh gods, he is not even paying attention.

***

Valerius has firmly decided that he is not going to pay any attention.

The time of plague was exhausting: the palace suddenly full of people of all kinds and intentions promising to find a cure, pleas for help on the streets which he could not escape even behind the doors of the most expensive carriages, the count who was growing more desperate everyday and the white smoke of the Lazaret carried by the sea breeze towards the city, the memory of which still haunts him. And now there is the Satrinavas’ new pet here having an audacity to talk about his city’s problems - the problems which, out of all people, he should know the most about, he is the consul after all, and a Vesuvian.

Vesuvia he inherited is haggard and sad, and on top of that an enormous responsibility. The last thing he needs is a stranger questioning his authority, as if the incompetent court and the city demanding their beloved countess back have not been tiresome enough. Valerius lets out a short, barely audible sigh. He just wants this farce to be over so he can go back to thinking.

But the witch is not planning to stop, if anything she seems to be enjoying it. Look at her. Absorbed by herself and her ludicrous ideas, she is loud and talks too much with her hands. Her dress keeps slipping down the shoulder draping around the soft curve of a half barred breast every time she does one of these unnecessary, overconfident gestures. Valerius has absolutely no idea whether this is deliberate or she is simply unaware of the indecency which keeps drawing his eyes.

He tries to distract himself by taking a drink of wine only to discover that his glass, just like the air around him, is full of this loud perfume of hers. Harsh cinnamon, incense and patchouli, very much alike their owner, have no concept of the personal space ruining the perfect balance of his red. The wine is not helping. He catches himself looking at the shoulder again. In fact, absolutely useless. He sets his unfinished glass aside on the small table. Valerius has had enough.

***

“Enough!” Valerius shouts. His voice is suddenly deep and rather forceful and Ev hates that it has the desired effect on her. She stops and looks at him. “You were not invited to the court meeting.” The consul’s face looks awfully angry now.

Ev narrows her eyes. “And what exactly are you doing at your court meeting?”

“That should not be a concern of the Prakran subject”, Valerius says, his words dripping with poison, “or whoever you are.”

“I am a diplomatic emissary -,” she does not get a chance to finish.

“Leave!”

Ev wants to scream and protest, but even she knows better than to yell at somebody who outranked her. She draws a breath. One, two, three. All right.

“I only came to give you the papers”, she says coldly, her eyes still locked on his, and leans forward to place the documents on the table. “But I am taking this away, one should work without the distraction of wine.”

With these words Ev snatches the glass from the table, turns away and heads toward the exit as fast as she can without breaking into running. She does not want to look like she is scared that Valerius will grab her by the arm. If anything she is slightly disappointed that he doesn’t.

“My regards to the court,” she raises her hand and waves the glass in the air without looking back. Behind her there is a sound of paper being torn apart.

***

Ev only slows down when she reaches the main staircase.

Suddenly feeling very tired, she leans against the handrail. Again, what is she doing here? Why did she need to turn up in person when she could send a letter? Ev closes her eyes and rubs her fingers together as if feeling for answers in the whorls of her own skin, and remembers about the glass in her hand. Another bad decision. It would have been wiser to take the bottle.

She raises the glass to her lips and breathes in the wine. It’s pleasant. Perhaps she would prefer its company to the boring palace affairs too. Ev twists the glass in her hand, eying the smooth rim before drawing one long sip. It leaves a blush mark of her lips firmly planted on the surface which she studies for a few seconds. “You better be as angry as I am now”, she says to the dark liquid at the bottom of the glass.