#Do they have payroll?

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 30

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Ichirou Moriyama had long been someone Riko had spoken about and therefore someone Kevin knew of.

First reverently as he talked about how someday his brother would come for him and how he’d watch Riko’s games. Then Ichirou never showed up once and the anger set in and mentions of his brother would result in especially bad days.

Kevin’s only saving grace at the Nest near the end was that Ichirou had been as uninterested in him as he was in Riko.

Neil was the one who had handled any communications with the new Master of the Moriyama family and Kevin was grateful for that. His stomach still twists when he found out what it would cost him to have the closest thing he would ever really have to freedom since his mom’s car accident but Kevin could hardly fault Neil since Kevin has no idea if he would have been able to even open his mouth and speak to negotiate with Ichirou. He certainly wouldn’t have thought to bargain for Neil and Jean’s lives.

So he was going to make sure the Neil had the best possible chances to get on a great team not just because he had every faith that Neil could be on the national court but also Kevin wanted him on the national court. Neil was his partner and his friend.

This was his last year that he could help as directly as this so he and Neil were still putting in the hours in their evening practices. It was also the last year that Neil could rely on him to assist in getting everyone up to snuff.

Ichirou Moriyama was going to be stopping by at some point and Kevin had decided that the best way to handle this information was to focus on something life affirming.

“I’m just saying it isn’t an unknown flavor combination.” Kevin argues.

“Kevin there is something very different about vanilla protein powder in chicken stock and Chicken and Waffles.” Aaron says from his spot behind Kevin in Wymack’s car.

“There shouldn’t be! It’s all the same flavors, just liquid!” Kevin turns in his seat to point at Aaron, “You should put on your seatbelt, what if Wymack crashes?” He says for the third time since the car ride had begun.

“That’s my problem, not yours.” Aaron says and his eyes have been locked on the roof of the car since the car ride began which was rude but Kevin had learned to expect nothing less from a Minyard.

“It will be my problem when your corpse breaks my neck as you fly forward!” Kevin hisses.

“Coach, could you do me a favor-“

“I’m not going to crash the car.” Wymack interrupts eyes on the road and hands at 10 and 2.

“God forbid you do something nice for me.” Aaron gripes crossing his arms.

Kevin decides to change his target.

“Coach-“

“Kevin, you’re not putting any protein powder into Smith’s soup. That’s final. Do you want to mess up his Grandma’s hard work to follow the Doctor’s recipe exactly?” Wymack asks.

No.

No Kevin does not wish to mess up Grandma Smith’s hard work.

He just…

A Food pyramid flashes in his mind.

…thinks he knows more than the hospital dietician.

“It’s not that Smith’s Grandma made bad soup.” Kevin says because the woman was a talent in the kitchen even if she might use a bit too much butter. He’d let her know but Nicky refused to translate and she’d smiled so warmly at him and touched his face so gently… “I think she was led astray by bad science and Nicky wouldn’t translate for me.” He says, “If she understood English she would have understood and agreed with me.” He says because he did manage to get her finely chop a bunch of carrots to put into the pasta sauce so that Neil would get some veggies.

She was a reasonable woman who understood the importance of good nutrition.

“I don’t know about that.” Coach says and Kevin wonders what he means by that.

They’re close behind Andrew’s car and Kevin can see two parking spots next to one another near the front except Andrew pulls into the spots in a way that means it is almost impossible for anyone to get into the second spot unless they owned a tiny smart car.

Andrew often parks like that to make sure no one dings the Maserati.

“That little shit.” Wymack grumbles as he continues to drive.

“Aren’t you going to let us out at the entrance?” Kevin asks.

“Who am I, your driver?” Wymack grumbles and does not slow down to let them out  at the hospital entrance. “You’ve been bitching about not getting enough exercise and eating too much fat this weekend, consider this just some of the exercise you’ve been wanting.” He says.

Kevin leans back in the chair.

He does NOT pout. He merely frowns with his lips puffed out and feels as if he has been treated unfairly.

He uses this time wisely.

He thinks about Neil and Andrew’s ‘secret’ conversation.

Kevin still doesn’t know Russian, has no plans to learn it because he does not want to know 80% of what Neil and Andrew say to one another, but Kevin has always been great at understanding tone and it’s not that hard to understand that they were talking about FF when he ‘Kapitan Neil’.

He thinks about what might stress Neil out about FF (never once does he consider that FF being in the hospital with a stab wound may be the thing that stresses Neil out, not when there’s an explanation that involves Exy).

FF might choose to leave.

That would not bode well for Neil.

Kevin has already signed but Neil needs the next few years still to make sure he can follow through on his deal with Ichirou.

FF is a great defensive dealer.

Kevin still doesn’t really understand how he can seemingly just appear on the Court to intercept passes but Kevin has been informed that all of his plans to figure it out are ‘medically unethical’ and ‘likely to get him thrown in prison’.

Nicky patting his face pityingly and saying, “Your face is too pretty for prison.” had been when he stopped looking at how he could buy electrodes.

His follow-up search to find out that no prison in the United States currently had an Exy court as a facility had him drop the outline of his research into his recycle bin and right click to delete permanently.

Since Kevin cannot find a way to replicate that particular talent of FF’s then they just need FF to stay.

He also quite likes the steady freshman. He’s probably not ever going to be National Court level like he and Neil are, but he would be a solid Dealer on a good team. Kevin wouldn’t even mind playing with him professionally.

They park the car far in the back of the lot and Wymack grumbles at a different nice car that is taking up two spots. Kevin climbs out of the car and they start their way towards the hospital.

Kevin considers jogging in circles around Aaron and Wymack as they walk just to burn off more of the lunch they’d just had but decides against it.

Maybe a different nutritionist will be on staff today and will be able to back Kevin up on his plan.

***

Captain Neil and Andrew are quickly followed by Nicky and his Grandma both of whom look nervous but some of that seemed to dissipate when they saw him.

“Are you okay?” Captain Neil asks.

FF goes to open his mouth but a nurse interrupts, “He decided to go on a walk in his current condition. I thought we were quite clear that you needed to stay in bed. Stressing yourself is why you collapsed in the Cafeteria like that.” His main nurse chastises.

“Sorry, it won’t happen again.” FF promises because it won’t. He’s planning on asking for a medically induced coma to escape the consequences of his actions so leaving the bed is the last thing he’s going to do. His dad’s trust for him can have money taken out for his medical needs and there has never been a greater medical need in his entire life than right now.

“What happened?” Andrew demands stepping next to Neil.

How does one explain getting a job offer from the Yakuza (Yakuza or Mafia)?

“I wanted to go for a walk.” He answers because he had and that’s easier to explain.

“Why did you meet Ichirou Moriyama?” Andrew asks again in German.

Well dammit.

FF finds himself at a crossroads.

Does he tell the truth? That he’s an idiot and didn’t realize the man was reaching out to Captain Neil? That he went and had an entire conversation with the man who owns Captain Neil, Kevin, and Jean Moreau? That afterward he tried to stand up and fainted which is how he got taken back to his room?

He thinks he has enough lies going on between his own and his grandma’s and he needs to relay something from Ichirou Moriyama.

“Lord Moriyama wanted me to tell you that he no longer needed to speak with you Captain Neil.” He relays just like he said he would and he sees Captain Neil tense.

“Smith.” Andrew says his name.

He also doesn’t want to talk about it any further.

“I’m fine, but I don’t want to talk about it.” FF closes his eyes as he answers back in German. He feels exhausted now and wishes that he had just requested a coma earlier so that he wouldn’t be in this situation. “Captain Neil, you left your phone here and it’s been pinging. Sorry I read one of the texts.” He gestures vaguely to his side table.

None of his guests speak for the next few minutes as the nurses finish reminding him to stay still, that he’s lucky his stitches didn’t break, that he’s on thin ice. He’s tired and he’s hungry so he’s curt with them in a way he’ll regret later but right now it’s just a lot when he can still feel Captain Neil and Andrew’s eyes burning into him.

Then Nicky proves to continue to be the nicest friend he has when the nurses leave and he feels Nicky’s hand take his and squeeze. “Hey, how are you really feeling?” he asks.

FF takes a deep breath, “I have...no idea.” he says. “I’m sorry.” he adds.

Nicky squeezes his hand again, “Hey, Aras made you some soup and we kept it away from Kevin. You’re probably a lil’ cranky because you’re tired, hungry, and in pain. You don’t need to talk about it right now okay?” Nicky says.

He’s really lucky to have Nicky as his friend.

He squeezes Nicky’s hand back and valiantly does not cry. He squeezes his eyes tighter to keep them from slipping out, it’d be embarrassing to cry here like this.

“Thank you.” He says voice quiet but doesn’t open his eyes, knowing what will come out if he does.

His Grandma comes to his side again and strokes his face. Her fingers wipe away the few tears that did slip out despite his best efforts but he thinks she did it so casually that maybe no one noticed.

It hasn’t been a good day, but Grandma’s soup has always been something that makes him feel better. He just wishes he could be alone for a minute with just her to witness the next few minutes.

Nicky, bless him, must sense that because he squeezes his hand tightly before letting go, “C’mon, let’s give Smithy and Aras a moment okay?” He says.

FF doesn’t open his eyes until his Grandma whispers, “My little Rotisserie Chicken, they’ve stepped out.” She says.

“He offered me a job in the Yakuza.” He blubbers immediately. “I don’t even know if they have dental.” He spills one of his lesser concerns.

“Oh honey, let’s eat some soup.” She soothes stroking his face.

***

Neil feels bad.

FF was pale, shaking, sweaty, and despite his grandma’s best efforts Neil had seen a tear slip from his tightly closed eyes.

He looks to his side and sees Andrew’s own hands tightened into fists.

“C’mon, let’s give Smithy and Aras a moment okay?” Nicky says and drags them out of the room through the sheer force of his ire. It’s moment like this that Neil really does understand why it is that FF prefers to spend his free time with Nicky over any other of their group.

They get out of the room and down the hall before Nicky starts in. “You two are the KINGS of not talking about shit so, for now, LEAVE it.” He hisses in German in a bid to keep the conversation private from anyone walking past.

“We need to know what deal he and Ichirou came to.” Andrew says in the same language.

“You’re going to find that out from Ichirou probably once he crazy murders Romero and Jackson in the next couple days!” Nicky cries dramatically, “Smithy probably doesn’t even know the full details because he’s in a lot of pain because he’s been STABBED.” Nicky points a finger at Andrew but wisely does not poke him with it. “Do you think he ACTUALLY went on a walk? Ichirou’s men probably took him since they couldn’t find YOU Neil.” Nicky points at Neil and, again, wisely does not poke him with it.

Neil’s stomach twists.

Maybe Neil should invest in a phone clip like Wymack thought the implication that the Moriyamas came to where his phone was leaves him wanting to skip it like a stone straight into the ocean. Too bad going to a beach still makes his palms sweaty.

“So what WE are going to do,” Nicky does a quick circle to point at the three of them, “is we are going to be good friends and help Smithy because he’s stressed, in pain, and needs friends not INTERROGATORS.” Nicky waves his arms in exasperation.

“Who are Neil and Andrew interrogating?” Aaron asks and Neil looks to the side to see Aaron with Kevin being pulled along by the scruff by Wymack.

“Smithy.” Nicky says.

“Why?” Kevin asks.

“Because Ichirou came and talked to him.” Andrew explains.

Kevin goes pale. “Why? I thought he was going to talk with Neil?” Kevin asks looking at Neil.

“He probably came here following Neil’s phone, which he left. So he grabbed Smithy to talk to him.” Nicky says, “Ichirou seemed impressed and pleased with whatever they talked about but Smithy is a little fragile after all of this so,” Nicky stepped into Kevin’s space, “Leave.” He pokes Kevin’s chest once, “Him.” He pokes Kevin’s chest twice, “Alone.” He pokes Kevin’s chest a third time.

“How would he even have an understanding of who he’s talking to?” Kevin asks looking sick. “No one has mentioned anything about the whole thing with the Moriyamas right?” He looks at the rest of them and Neil knows none of them would mention it.

Nicky rolls his eyes with his entire body.

“Kevin, do you know how many languages Smithy is fluent in?” Nicky asks.

“Uh…quite a few?” Kevin responds looking thrown.

“Yeah, one of those languages is French. Which you KNOW because he’s corrected your pronunciation before.” Nicky reminds Kevin and the Son of Exy blushes slightly.

“What does that have to do with this?!” Kevin squawks.

“Kevin, how many conversations have you had RIGHT in front of Smithy in French as you talked with Jean?” Nicky asks.

“None!” Kevin hisses.

“Can you say that for sure? You know how it can be with Smithy. Aaron over here has basically almost fucked his girlfriend in front of Smithy before because he didn’t realize he was there.” He juts his thumb towards Aaron.

“Hey.” Aaron scowls not happy to be reminded of that. “He needs a damn bell.” Aaron grumbles.

“I’ve talked about it in front of him and you never told us?!” Kevin exclaims.

“It’s Smithy! He’s not going to tell anyone!”  Nicky argues.

Which is very true.

FF is just not that kind of guy.

“So we are ALL going to be good, supportive friends to Smithy and hopefully he gets out of here today despite the whole shit show with Ichirou and we get him back to Abby’s where he can rest up in her guest room with his grandma.” He points at each of them with a frown.

“But-“

“Kevin, leave it for now.” Wymack finally steps in to the conversation. “How’s he looking?” He looks to Neil.

Pale, tired, pained, and trying not to cry either from pain, stress, or fear Neil does not know.

“Bad.” Neil answers.

Wymack sighs, “Stay out here. I’m going to go check.” He says.

They watch as Wymack enters into FF’s room.

Kevin is still spiraling from the realization of all the different conversations he could have possibly had in front of FF thinking French would act as a barrier.

A thought crosses Neil’s mind, “Wait, Smith doesn’t know Russian right?” He looks to Andrew because he and Andrew have said quite a few things to one another when FF was there.

“No, he said he isn’t learning it here.” Andrew shakes his head. “Even if he does learn it Smith would just leave if he was uncomfortable.” Andrew shrugs.

They have all seen a ‘Smith 180°™‘ before when he’s walked in and has seen Aaron and Katelyn or entered a room where Nicky was talking to Erik or Matt was talking to Dan. Neil has even noticed one or two when him and Andrew may have been in a less than private place.

It was nice to have someone who would just see them like that and leave it alone instead of betting on it, trying to take a picture, or gagging like it’s disgusting.

Wymack walks back out after a minute in FF’s hospital room, “Let’s give Smith and his Grandma a couple more minutes.” He says and Neil’s heart sinks.

***

Wymack wasn’t quite sure what he walked into.

Smith’s Grandma was wiping his face and feeding him soup which is about what he expected. What he hadn’t expected was what FF was saying to his Grandma.

“….didn’t even wash his hands Gran. What if none of them wash their hands? I can’t work in that kind of environment!” FF babbles as he takes another spoonful of soup from his Grandma.

Smith’s Grandma looks up and sees that it’s just him at the door before continuing in English, “Sweetie, you don’t need to accept the job offer from the Yakuza.” She soothes.

“What do I even do?! What’s the etiquette? Do I send a letter refusing the job offer? Do I email him thanking him for the interview? Was it an interview?” FF asks.

Wymack shuts the door and he’s sure FF hadn’t even noticed him.

Yeah the kid needs a couple more minutes

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

NEXT

@i-have-three-feelings​ @blep-23​ @dreamerking27​ @andreilsmyreligion @belodensetdust​ @rainbowpineapplebottle @yarn-ace​ @iwouldlikesometea @lily-s-world​ @obscureshipsandchips​ @booklover242​ @whataboutmyfries​ @sahturnos​ @pluto-pepsi​ @dreamerthinker​ @passinhosdetartaruga​ @leftunknownheart​ @aro-manita-muscaria @hologramsaredead​ @Chaoticgremlinswishtheycouldbeme @tntwme​ @tayspots @nick-scar​ @crazy-fangirl2524​ @blue-jos10​ @stabbyfoxandrew​ @splishsplashyouropinionistrash​ @sammichly​ @the-broken-pen​ @bitchesdoweknowu​ @very-small-flower​ @ghostlyboiii​ @its-a-paxycab​ @bisexual-genderfluid-fan​ @cheesecookie​ @theoneandonlylostsock​ @foxsoulcourt​ @blueleys @adverbialstarlight​ @elia-nna​ @can-i-just-stay-in-the-corner​ @nikodiangel​ @foxandcrow-inatrenchcoat​ @hallucinatedjosten​ @satanic-foxhole-court​ @vexingcosmos​ @chalilodimun​ @insectsgetcooked​ @angry-kid-with-no-money​ @queer-crows​ @lillyndra​ @themundanemudperson​ @readertodeath​ @apileofpillows​ @mortalsbowbeforeme​ @hellomynameismoo​ @next-level-mess @youreonlylow​ @interstellarfig​ @notprocrastinatingatalltoday​ @percyjacksonfan3​ @queenofcrazy27​ @bsmr261 @ghostlyscares​ @spencellio @adinthedarkroom​ @harpymoth​ @sufferingjustalilbit​ @anxietymoss​ @oddgreyhound​ @ohno-myhyperfixation-itsbroken​ @ken22789​ @atiredvampire​ @isoldescorner​ @not--a--pipedream​ @azure-wing​ @bushbees​  @roonilwazlib-main​ @crumplelush​ @foldedaces-paperbirds​ @thesenseinnonsense​ @let-tyrants-fear​ @ketchupandfries​ @legowerewolf​ @deadlydodos​ @but-we-respect-his-craft​ @cariniqe @zanypersonapricotbiscuit​ @lesbian-blackbeard​ @lesbiansupernatural​ @silvermasquerade​ @thepeachfuzz​ @minniemariex​ @kazoo-the-demjin​ @gaypomegranate​ @ji-nk-ies​ @neilimfinejosten​ @omgrubelangel​ @itsyouitsmeorpheuseurydice​ @percabethotplove​ @cozyrosykay​ @foxyatlas​ @theoneandonlylostsock​ @cindersapsecrets​ @scornedethnographer​ @hugemotherfuckingnerd​ @givemethedamnflowers​ @our-king-bree​

The  requests to be added to the tag list keep being spread out across a few  different areas. If I missed you please just ask again in the replies I  promise I just missed you.

As stated before if you’re up here and I spelled it right but you didn’t get a notification there might be  something switched around in your settings that won’t let me tag you properly?

#Fluent Freshman AU #FF - Pt. 30 #Can't BELIEVE there's 30 parts of this #Happy 4th of July to all my fellow Americans #Happy Tuesday to everyone else #FF be going through it a bit in this chapter #He's a silly goofy guy but also he's having a delayed reaction to realizing who he just talked to #Yes Wymack was dragging Kevin because Kevin tried to go get into another argument with the Nutritionist #Also Yes GS had Neil eat veggies without his knowledge but EVERYONE else knew #Also yes the car that was parked the same assholey way that Andrew's was is Ichirou's car #Some other things that FF is worried about with the job offer #How does one ask for a raise within organized crime? #How organized is the crime? #Do they have payroll? #Or is it commissions based? #Is there some sort of ACCOUNTANT who manages all of that? #That's gotta be stressful #If he wants to pursue other avenues of employment how does he use this on his resume? #IS Ichirou Moriyama a good reference? #Do they get paid vacation? #What are his benefits? #Does he get to request 1 free hit a year? #If hired can he push a hygiene initiative? #Like YES you are trying to kill your target #But Sepsis is such an awful way to go #What do human resources look like in a crime family? #aftg #AFTG AU #AFTG OC #Andreil

[unpretty]

#original #the mood of the fucking day #BITE BITE BITE BITE #i have work tomorrow i haven't been able to fall asleep before 2 am i have PAYROLL #AND SHE WAITED UNTIL TODAY TO SEND ME EMS PAYROLL AND HALF OF IT'S FUCKED #YOU COULD HAVE SENT ME A PRELIM FILE ON SATURDAY AND JUST SENT ME ANY CORRECTIONS FROM THE WEEKEND TODAYYYY #SPECIFICALLY TOLD YOU I WAS DOING WFH SO THIS WOULDN'T HAPPENNNNN #and i don't know if it's the spiro's fault but i'm having a period again HOW DID I EVER LIVE LIKE THIS. HOW DID I FUNCTION.

[formereldestdaughter]

ok wait i need to hear more of your thoughts on peeta owning a bakery....

This is one of those rare times where I’m pretty sure this anon isn’t someone I know personally bc I’ve subjected anyone who will listen to my rant about the Peeta Bakery Headcanon. Anyway, you’re gonna regret asking this anon bc there are fucking Layers here.

I know this is probably a controversial take based on the number of fics where I’ve seen it, but I simply do not think that Peeta would open a commercial bakery after Mockingjay!! Like on a metatextual level, I don’t think it really fits with the point of the ending of the series. It actually sort of fascinates me that it’s just such a common headcanon because the ending of Mockingjay is exceedingly vague. I think that vagueness invites us, as readers, to imagine a better world post-revolution. A world where Katniss would feel confident that her children would be safe from injustice, where she’d feel confident that her children would never know want the way she did as a child. A just world. A kinder world. Can a capitalist society ever be just? Is a capitalist society where a disabled teenager has no other means to subsist himself (or feels like there’s no other way he can be a contributing member of his community) really the post-revolution world we dream of? Is that really the best we can imagine?

(This got so insanely long I’m adding a read more lmao)

I get that showing a better world is not always the point of post-mockingjay headcanons/fics. Like there are plenty of really great post-mockingjay fics I’ve seen where, yeah, part of the fic is that society like ISN’T all that different or all that much better. I’ve seen that really well done! Hell, I’ve written them myself! It’s easy to imagine how a lot of aspects of society would not get an overhaul, a lot of the same structural inequalities would continue to exist. One headcanon that really stuck with me (I can’t remember which fic it was from) was that Peeta sells basically mail order baked goods to people on the Capitol, sending them iced cakes and pastries by train, because there are still people who were “fans” of theirs during the Games. And idk this doesn’t actually have much to do with my point lol but I liked it because it’s kind of fucked up and like! Yeah! It makes sense! If he needed money that would be a good way to make it! War often makes people rich, often for horrible reasons, and often it’s people who already have capital in the first place.

Anyway, more about the hypothetical bakery because alright. I bring up the fact that “yeah society not being all that different post-revolution and still being an unjust capitalist hellscape” could be a reason why Peeta re-opens a bakery because that’s actually never the types of fics where I see the bakery headcanon. Fics where Peeta opens a bakery are usually trying to make the exact opposite point. Like. Things are getting better, now he can open a bakery! Look at how much better the world is now, plus he’s got a bakery! Peeta is healing, that’s why he can open a bakery now! And I am so, so sorry to inform everyone who’s never had the grave misfortune of owning a family business, but there is truly nothing further from the truth lmao. Like just putting aside the immense amount of emotional baggage that Peeta has about his family, running a small business is an insane amount of work in any context and being a baker especially is physically grueling and involves early hours (and long hours) that aren’t really the best fit with the multiple ways that Peeta is disabled now. (I could go into this more because I have a lot of thoughts. But I will spare you.). I also think it’s seen throughout the books that Peeta is someone who needs time to pursue creative outlets to process his feelings and someone who values leisure and values quality time with his loved ones. And having grown up in his family’s bakery, I think he’d understand the reality that running a bakery wouldn’t leave much space of those pursuits and wouldn’t leave much space for him to have the things that keep him healthy and stable. I think he’d know that the way he is now— after two Games and the war and unspeakable torture at the hands of a dictator—isn’t compatible with the lifestyle necessary for running a commercial bakery.

And tbh with that in mind, I don’t think he’d push himself to re-open a business (one that would be a constant reminder of his dead family and his complicated relationships with them that got no closure) that would require him to sacrifice his physical and emotional well-being. Like I think he might look into the possibility, I think he might even start trying to open a bakery out of a sense of obligation/duty, maybe harboring some idea that this is who he was supposed to be, who he would've been without the Games, or that it’s this last piece of his family that can live on, or that it’s this last connection to his family so he can’t let it die too. But ultimately, I think any attempt to open a bakery wouldn’t get very far. Maybe he'd start wading into the logistical nightmare that is small business ownership and realize it's not for him (because it's probably also true that as much as him and his brothers were involved in the business, there's almost certainly parts they weren't involved with and didn't see, i.e., filing taxes). Or maybe looking into opening a bakery— how triggering it is, the stress of it— causes a downward spiral. Maybe he hates how much he's worrying everyone by unraveling. Maybe having a breakdown from the stress of just trying to open a bakery makes him realize, yeah, maybe in another life he would have ran his family’s bakery but the way he is now just doesn’t work with running a bakery, not without great sacrifices he's not willing to make. I just can’t see a bakery coming to fruition.

I know a lot of fics include Peeta deciding to reopen a bakery as a big step in his healing or include him rebuilding a bakery as part of his healing process but honestly, I think the opposite would be more true: I think Peeta either trying/failing to open a bakery or ultimately deciding not to open a bakery would be hugely healing for him. I think it would be a huge part of him accepting the way he is now as a person, his new limitations but also his strengths. I think it would be a huge part of him accepting the way his life his now and accepting that he likes his life the way it is, that he’s satisfied with his life without needing to own a bakery. I think it would be an important part of him coming to terms with the loss of his family. I think he knows he can never have things back as they were and I don’t think he would try to recreate them, especially because his family’s legacy isn’t a business. I think he’s emotionally intelligent enough and self reflective enough to realize that what mattered to him about the bakery— taking care of others by feeding them, being integrated into his community and being actively involved in it, brightening people’s days with delightful things whether that’s beautiful cakes or hearty food or delicious treats— and the things he learned from his family through the bakery, are things that he can carry on in other meaningful ways.

(Do you regret sending this ask yet, anon? Because if not, you will soon. I’m not done yet. There’s more.)

I wasn’t really sure where to put this next part in what is rapidly becoming an essay because it sort of combines the points about like “what do we imagine a post-mockingjay society to look like” with the practical difficulties of starting this bakery but here’s another thing: do people really think that the Mellarks owned the land the bakery was on?? Like, sure, the merchants are the petit bourgeois of Twelve but I still don’t imagine they really own anything. In a society where houses are assigned to people upon marriage, where property ownership and capital are so closely interconnected with citizenship (as shown by the Plinths who, by having immense capital, are able to leave their District and become citizens of the Capitol) do people really think the Mellarks would be allowed to own the land their bakery is on?? I always imagined it sort of like a tenant farming situation: the Capitol gives them the raw materials for the bakery and in return the bakery give them some absurdly high portion of their profits, or the Capitol sells them a year’s supply of raw materials at a premium on credit and at the end of the year the Mellarks have to use the money they made with those materials to pay it back, except it’s never enough to turn a profit so they always have to buy next year’s materials on credit and the cycle continues.

We (understandably) get a really skewed view of the merchant class through Katniss’s perspective so I can see why people come to the conclusion that his family owned the property and, as the last surviving member, he would’ve inherited it. I’ve seen the inheritance thing in fics a lot or a hand wavey “well Twelve was decimated to no one owns anything anymore so it can be his” or even like an almost sort of reparations type situation where he’s entitled to the land as a surviving refugee of Twelve. But I don’t know. I guess I don’t think it fits with everything else we know about Panem that the Mellarks would’ve owned that land and I think the question of whether the government would’ve let him take ownership of the land post-revolution brings up a lot of issues about the structure of society post-Mockingjay that I find more interesting to explore in other ways, especially when, from an emotional perspective, 1) I find the idea of Peeta not opening a bakery more compelling and 2) I don’t think it really fits his character arc by the end of Mockingjay to reopen a bakery, as I went on about at length above lol.

On the flip side: literally who cares!! Do whatever you want!! Headcanon whatever you want!! I get why people go for the bakery!! It’s fun, it’s wholesome, it’s a built in bakery AU that isn’t even an AU. It doesn’t matter if it’s practical or realistic!! It doesn’t need to be practical or realistic!! It’s fanfic of a dystopian YA series!! My unfortunate affliction is that I grew up in a family that owned a restaurant and that I have multiple degrees in the social sciences so I can’t see the bakery without being like “What about the overheard? What about the start up costs? Who’s spending long nights balancing the books? Is Peeta covering shifts when an employee calls in sick? Is Peeta the sole person working there until the bakery is open long enough (often a year or more) to start turning a profit? How does that sleep schedule work with his nightmares? How does that work with Katniss’s nightmares? What happens when he has an episode and suddenly needs to take the day off before he has any employees? Does the bakery just remain closed for the day? Can the profit margins withstand regular unexpected closures? Can the supplies withstand regular unexpected closures?” And if the answer is “Elliott none of those things matter he’s not doing the bakery because he needs the money but because he wants to”, then my question is why does he want to? Does he not get the same sort of satisfaction out of feeding his loved ones? Doesn’t Peeta seem like someone who would rather give away baked goods than sell them?? Doesn’t Peeta seem like someone who would prefer to make cakes for people’s special occasions upon and then when they insist on paying him for it, he only lets them “pay for the ingredients” which actually cost significantly more than he says they did??

So yeah my point is that it’s a matter of personal taste! It doesn’t fit the way I see the series but that doesn’t mean it’s like wrong, I’m not an authority on Peeta lmao.

It’s also a matter of personal taste in the sense that I find the themes that most resonate with me at the end of Mockingjay (and the end of Peeta’s arc specifically) more interesting to explore in other ways. Grief, living with loss, relearning yourself, finding hope, figuring out your place in a dramatically different world when you don’t even know who you are anymore, healing, building a new life after such complete and total destruction of your old life— those are all things I find compelling about the end of Mockingjay but for me the bakery isn’t the most compelling way to explore them.

Not to say I find the concept of the bakery totally uninteresting. I have this fic about Johanna that I’ll probably never finish where the point sort of is that, yeah, her life really isn’t all that much better after the war. It’s been years at this point and she’s still miserable and she doesn’t know how to be a person but by the end she’s trying to figure it out. And towards the end, Peeta tells her that he’s spent years sort of passively, half-heartedly trying to figure out how to inherit the land his family’s bakery was on, only to find out it was never theirs in the first place. They’d been renting it the whole time and he’d never even known as a kid. So he sort of passively, half-heartedly went on another wild goose chase to find the owner and now, finally, after years of writing to various government agencies and being sent in circles and things being barely functional, he’s managed to track down the owner. Now it’s owned by the daughter of the man who owned it when he was a kid because the original owner (who was likely up to some sketchy war crime shit) died during the war and she inherited it (the irony…). He got in contact with her and asked how much it would take for her to sell it and she told him she’s not interested in selling but in light of the situation, in light of the fact that he’d have to build a new building in order to operate a bakery, that she’d cut him a deal— she’d only require 50% of the bakery’s profits as rent instead of the 80% his family used to pay. And of course Johanna is outraged, that’s not right, the owner shouldn’t be allowed to do that, they should do something about it, they should fight back. And Peeta is like. Not interested. He was actually sort of relieved that opening wasn’t very feasible. Getting the answer was a lightbulb moment where he saw that over the years of trying to look into this, he’s built a life that he likes— one where he’s stable, where his loved ones are stable, where he’s cared for and can care for others— and he doesn’t really want to change it drastically by opening a bakery anyway. He just needed an answer, one way or another, before he could get some closure and move on. (And the point of the conversation is Johanna is having her own lightbulb moment that it’s okay to move on, it’s okay to change, it’s not a betrayal of the people and things she’s lost but that’s not my point here!!).

But anyway. That’s obviously not about running the bakery— it’s about the choice to not run one.

Anyway!! Anyway… are you satisfied anon? Is this what you wanted?

Lastly, here is my most important qualm with the bakery headcanon: must Peeta be gainfully employed? Is it not enough for him to be Katniss’s boytoy? Can’t he just paint and garden and bake and hang out with his girlfriend all day? Is that really too much to ask?

#peeta mellark #thg #the hunger games #the hunger games meta #anyway wow this got so long and I literally read it through one (1) time so uhhh sorry if this makes no sense!! #as I was doing my one read through and realized that one of my other thoughts on this is that yeah I can much more easily see the #headcanon that peeta like sells baked goods (probably at cost with no profit) out of his kitchen because that’s much more flexible #and I think that would work a lot better with what like I guess I’d call his psychiatric disability post mockingjay #and how he’d certainly want to take care of Katniss too #like that sort of flexibility makes a lot more sense for him and it’s like. if he doesn’t bake for a few days or however long then it’s fin #it’s not a formal brick and mortar business #it’s just something he’s doing because it’s a way to be involved with people and a way to do something he’s passionate about #without there being waste and while covering some of the costs #and he doesn’t have to like keep books or do payroll or any of the things I can’t see him being very passionate about #as far as like bakery management goes Lmao he can just bake!! #but then I started getting into this whole thing about how that quote-unquote ‘running a business’ like that (informally from your house) #is actually a really common practice for people living in poverty so probably something that Katniss and peeta would’ve been familiar wirh #anyway and then this whole rant about how the emphasis on the brick and mortar bakery often goes hand in hand with #this widespread fandom thing of having a fundamental misunderstanding of how rural poverty works and what it looks like #but then I was too deep into it and said you know what? never mind! and deleted it lmao

[homeosloven]

"the king is taking herbs and potions for his illnesses" is not something i expected to read in 2024

#do they still have merlin on payroll or whats the plan here lmao #king charles iii

[angelsymbol]

did anyone else see the newest watcher video

#txt #watcher #huge L what the fuck are they doing #especially shane ‘eat the rich’ madej #i’ve lost absolutely all respect for these people #i’m not payrolling your lives in luxury man #i’m not payrolling your ceo as he travels around the world eating all this fancy shit i could only dream of affording #they have completely let down their fans and userbase #and their model isn’t even sustainable what the hell are they thinking #no one wanted them to do this #‘it’s only six dollars a month!’ does it look like i can afford that. i can barely afford rent and groceries

[quaranmine]

at a rare point in firewatch au where i'm gonna have to admit i know nothing about how this thing in particular works and bs the whole thing

#i Do Not know the structure of a forest service office. i do not know who works there. i dont know how many people work there. #i dont know what paperwork they store there and what goes to regional offices. i dont know Anything #i'm guessing there's like.... #a receptionist. perhaps someone for admin and payroll and books? typical office-keeping jobs? probably more than one person #and then i assume that theres some. management structure? do rangers ever have offices? or office space? or are they mainly in the field... #my one point of reference is when i worked for a city health dept and that's like. not really a great reference LOL #now i can guess at how the agency operates at the regional level #it's the tiny individual offices for each natl forest i dont know about #shoshone has like. 3?

[doggendoodle]

this is more wishful thinking than a theory but. with the past two seasons having lore connections to other seasons (Donbrothers with Zenkaiger and King-Ohger with Kyoryuger), a small part of me is hopeful we might see something of Kyuranger this season

obviously we won't, DonZenkai was a special case and Kyoryuger was having an anniversary, but. please I need to see Shou Ronpo again PLEASE

#they have kamiya on the payroll it's possible #<- voice of someone plagued by the devil do not listen #bakuage sentai boonboomger #boonboomger #super sentai #tokusatsu

[emi1y]

What do you do for work

i just got hired as a SCENIC CARPENTER!! building backdrops and set pieces and such for a professional theater company in my city 💕 every day i come home i am so sore and so bruised and so dirty sweaty yucky and i love it so much

#apparently its not community theater because the actors are paid i learned this recently #its a BIG DEAL PROFESSIONAL THEATER where they have things like PAYROLL and HEALTH INSURANCE #and i am so crazy unqualified bc i did not do any theater stuff in college i have never worked in theater or this kind of construction #the closest ive got is i went to trade school for fine woodworking so i know my way around power tools and can build a table #but i did some part time work there and they liked my work ethic so so much that they're willing to train me to catch me up to pace #even though they WANTED to hire someone that already had a background in theater. slays to slay 💕 #i was just irresistible i guess who knows. #ask #anon

[warlordfelwinter]

estinien realizing he's unemployed is so funny

#welcome to fiver's boat #are you also not on the scion's payroll #do you still have aymeric's credit card #fel's ffxiv #endwalker lb

[the-musical-cc]

FRANKELDA AND HER GHOSTS 1. (Part 1)

Seeing how more and more english-speaking audience is apparently watched Frankelda now, I feel like it's a good moment to post the translation transcript I did of the first live event with the Ambriz brothers, 'Frankelda y sus Fantasmas'. Posting on parts for easy reading because it's over 20 pages long. These are basically Q&A of making-of aspects of the series, going from concepting and design to even edition and post-production, going through voice-acting and even trivia. They do sometimes comment some lore, but are restricted in how much they can talk about it as it would apparently spoil upcoming things. Latter episodes have some guests, including Mireya Mendoza herself (Frankelda's VA both in english and spanish) Kevin Smithers, who composed the score and songs in the series and even the edition team in the most recent one! (It honestly gives me life to see how much Cinema Fantasma values the whole team.)

It's fair to warn you that it's probably better to have watched the entire first season before checking it out, as it contains commentary on things that might spoil you if you haven't. It's also worth noting that this one was recorded on November the 26th in 2021, back when we had no word of the film being made or the new dub and USA release.

Without further ado, here you have it, entirely transcripted and translated by yours truly, the first 'Frankelda y sus Fantasmas':

Arturo Ambriz: Hello, hello. How are you? Can you hear us? Hello.

Background voice (Gabo, I’m guessing): There’s a little bit of delay.

Arturo Ambriz: Hello. Hello, hello, hello, hello. We’re…

Background voice: Got it, it’s Youtube.

Arturo Ambriz: We’re… launching our live session. I’m not sure we’re set, I think we are. We’re broadcasting from our Facebook, Tik Tok and Youtube accounts. Instagram wouldn’t budge, but it’s fine, this is the first time we’re trying anything like this. And… well, we decided to do this broadcast to directly chat with you all for a bit about the ‘Frankelda’s Book of Spooks’ series, to show you a little bit of how the series was made, talk a little bit about the ‘Behind the Scenes’, and, of course, answer your questions because we’ve seen so much movement in social media that we kind of want to… just do nothing but spend all day replying to everything you write and post. But it’s downright impossible!

Roy Ambriz: And, well, this is our… our new show, ‘Frankelda and her ghosts’. The idea being that if it works, every… we would try to every now and then have a chat with different members of our team. Talk more about the music, about the art design, the character design, about how the puppets were made, how the props were made, talk to the voice actors. So, depending on how much movement there is or isn’t, we’ll see. Because the truth is, just like my brother said, we’re dying to have a chat with you and show you the ‘Behind the scenes’ of ‘Frankelda’. And, well, let’s start out by introducing ourselves, right?

Arturo Ambriz: Yes… well…

Roy Ambriz: I feel like we’re in a TV show…

Arturo Ambriz: Yeah, I know.

Roy Ambriz: Let’s introduce ourselves!

Arturo Ambriz: This is, uh, a new format, we’ll see how it goes. The truth is we’re excited. Well, let’s introduce ourselves. This is Roy Ambriz.

Roy Ambriz: And this…

Arturo Ambriz: He’s the younger Ambriz brother.

Roy Ambriz: And this is Arturo Ambriz, he’s the middle and older of the Ambriz brothers.

Arturo Ambriz: Yes, and…

Roy Ambriz: This is Frankelda. This is Herneval.

Arturo Ambriz: Frankelda… Herneval.

Roy Ambriz: Hernevalito and the other Herneval.

Arturo Ambriz: Christmas tree… Frankelda cut-out… El Coco cut-out right behind us. Erm, and look, we’ve got some interesting stuff right here. Here we have… well, here’s Hernevalito… and here’s Hernevalote, or rather, this is the book from the intro. As you might have noticed, in the series’ intro, we use this huge book… which Roy and I say is one of our most valuable possessions. We’ve already agreed that the first one of us to die will be cremated with this book held like this, between his arms.

Roy Ambriz: And it might be very valuable for the fans ‘cause you don’t know it yet but right here, within this book, is each and every one of ‘Frankelda’s secrets. Everything there is to know is in here. But, well, this means it’s a very secret book, which… no one is allowed to read, unless they’re witches.

Arturo Ambriz: Yes, well, that’s exactly what this broadcast is for, to talk a little bit about all these details, you can join the dots. We’ve noticed there’s people, there’s fans, who already have a perfect grasp on how stop-motion works, and there’s people who are just barely scratching the surface on learning or understanding the potential this beautiful technique has. But consider… let’s get started with this little example, since we’re already talking about the book. This is the book, Herneval, this is the puppet. Herneval-libro. It’s very small, it’s just a tiny book, look how small, am I right? So we couldn’t do the intro… record the pages turning or the writing happening in detail or even just the cover, with such a small book.

Roy Ambriz: Right, so we had to recreate it somehow, but we didn’t want it to be, uh… well, an exact copy, because this one’s… the… well, the chapter’s introduction, right? And we’re way better working with physical stuff, not digital. And, well, they do resemble, right? The two of them, that is.

For us, books are always very important. That’s where ‘Frankelda’s story was born, real books, books that were written. And, well, having the series start with a book is a nice homage to all the authors, all of them- I think the book is a perfect visual for telling a story or creating fiction. Something we’re really happy with is, I feel that with ‘Frankelda’, when we started making it, we were a very small group of people crammed up in the studio, working day and night. I mean, we loved it, and we were making up theories in our minds. And then we got to call in a lot of amazing people, artists, to work on the team, but now the best part is Frankelda is calling to all the right fans with her book. The whole fandom, which we know as Fankeldos and Fankeldas -Or, you can call yourselves Spooks, or anything you like, we’re fine with it. But we’re really grateful to you because, really, we’re… I think ‘Frankelda’ is a call, beckoning to creative people, and people are responding to it, we keep seeing it, they’re super creative, super kind, super nice people who really want to tell their own stories… and that’s what the series is for, it was the main reason we wrote it. As directors, before we knew what to do or even make a… sometimes series or products have marketing research made to know what to do… and we didn’t, we just ask ourselves what we want to tell and why. Why don’t you tell them a little bit about this, about what we wanted?

Arturo Ambriz: Erm, well, we’re obviously fans of shows, both animated and live-action, and we’ve realized- I mean, don’t get me wrong, we love Marvel, we love DC, but we feel like nowadays every movie or TV series protagonist is a superhero, right? Or heroine. Or adventurers like Finn the human, or sports stars. But we figured: ‘A show where the protagonist is woman, a writer, is worth making.’ See, when I was a boy and I watched some show where the protagonist was an adventurer, I felt like I wanted to go out and see the world, and travel and… and climb mountains and whatnot. And when it’s a superhero, you kind of want to fight, right? But if we have a… a protagonist like Frankelda, who writes, who is creative, who is free, who is constantly pondering on how to do better, on how to write better… well, we realized it could send a very positive message out into the world. And, just as Roy said just now, we sent out our signal, obviously with the help of Cartoon Network and HBOMax, and you guys got it. And the truth is we had no idea the series would get this reaction, we had no idea that it was going to hit it off quite like this. Believe me when I say… we could spend all day looking at the fanart you post, cosplay, fanfics, memes. We get so much laughter and love out of it, and it makes us feel proud that we hit he bullseye in so many points that were necessary to us. That’s when we realized making this sort of live event was worth it… first and foremost, to thank you all. Because, really, our gratitude is endless. What else can we expect from these sessions if we do keep them up?

Roy Ambriz: Well, right now it’s our turn to get the ball rolling, because we’re the creators. We’re also the project’s script-writers and additionally… on my part, I also do sculpting. Arturo also has a hand in the cinematography, as in… in, supervising on that area, specially regarding construction. And the best part is, obviously we don’t… you can’t make a series with just two people, it’s built by many. So along the… uh, the next days, we’ll be inviting, well… people to talk about the team from their perspective, y’know? Like… what your point of view was, being someone who’s focused solely on making the skeletons, or making skeletons as well as casting hands, in the rush of making characters and puppets along the season. What it was like to… plan the cameras, the cinematography, the lights. Where the characters come from, how they are designed. What the process is, because it involves a lot of people… then it’s like… we’ve always liked, as you can clearly see in Cinema Fantasma’s social media… we love the ‘Behind-the-scenes’ aspect of movies. Why? Because aside from school, where we learned the most was watching the ‘Behind-the-scenes’ of series and films. And it was easier to find them before because you could just get a DVD or a Blu-ray and watch the documentary feature. It’s a bit harder nowadays because they don’t really exist anymore, right?

So, we’re kind of… trying to find the way, adapt, just like how Frankelda adapts to the times to tell her stories, we’re trying to adapt to these times, we just happened to make a show in these times, and we’re trying to find new channels to show our ‘Making-of’s and we’ve realized Tik Tok is a great tool for making miny-documentaries to talk about one specific theme, but we’re always left wanting for more, wanting to tell more or to reply to more of your questions first-hand. So that’s precisely what this show is for, right? So we can show you more and broaden the spectrum of what making ‘Frankelda’ was like.

Arturo Ambriz: It’s just, really… it’s fascinating. I mean, we’re lucky, I mean…out of all the creators of all the animated series there’s ever been, I feel like we’re very lucky to have premiered in these times where we can use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok… and be able see the things you write, the things you post, being able to respond, to react with a laughing smiley to the memes you post. And it’s interesting, right? What Roy says about the ‘Making-of’s, which, yeah, they used to be on Blu-Rays or DVDs. Well, now you have a didactic ‘Making-of’, an interactive one, where you can comment, or make questions, and I don’t know if you’ve realized but, we’re always reading your questions, your comments, and we try to reply to those inquiries with more videos, more posts. But, well, it piled up and we decided we’d just talk it out.

So, what we’re going to do is answer to some of your questions. Now, trust us here… first of all, if we managed to get to this point where we have a series in Cartoon Network, in HBOMax, if we made it while being in México, you can make it too. I know a lot of people have this kind of interests, maybe not everyone wants to write the stories or direct them, there’s people who want to do illustration, there’s people who want to do character design, there’s people who want to do the voice work, there’s people who want to do the music, there’s people who want to… I don’t know, maybe even do the logistics and production work! And really, working full-time in animation in México is possible, it’s obviously an industry that hasn’t quite reached the growth we’d like, but I can tell you from personal experience; we’ve been doing this for ten years and things are way, way better right now than what they used to be ten years ago, so I hope this is something that continues to happen with each year and more opportunities are created.

Actually, without going much further, back when Roy and I were getting our degree, I think there were no animation bachellor’s degrees in México at all, and there were barely any for film, they were… they were very scarce. So by now there are a lot more places where you can approach this kind of media, and that’s another reason for these… these sessions, to… if you guys have these artistic inclinations, if you want to create worlds, create characters, I mean, that’s what ‘Frankelda’ is for; Frankelda is inviting you to enter the world of creativity, and to make a living out of it for the rest of your lives.

And this leads me to the first question we’ll be answering here, sent by Daniel García Lacernia, and it reads: ‘How complicated and fun was the creative process?’

Female background voice: Daniela.

Roy Ambriz: Daniela.

Arturo Ambriz: Daniela, sorry, Daniela García Lacierna.

Roy Ambriz: ‘You know, your Majesty, how the creative process goes…’ as Procustes would put it. The creative process was… it’s a mix of super cool, like, in the end, it’s super, super amazing, super cool, but it can also get kind of frustrating, just a bit… I mean… it’s said that whenever an author creates characters, they’re really just exploring different sides of themselves. So, we can… for instance, we can really relate to these characters, even Procustes, y’know? Like in that part at the beginning, when he’s frustrated and he has a creative block and he just can’t write anymore, well, it’s- I think it’s something all of us have experienced. Production in ‘Frankelda’… when we got the challenge, it was a bit like… like in ‘Finding Nemo’ at the end, when the fish are just floating inside their plastic bags, like we were fighting, fighting, fighting to get to make one season and when we got it, it was like ‘Oh… what do we do now?’ y’know? Like, now we have to actually make it.

So, we had to learn and relearn from all of our processes, we had to restructure absolutely every process we’d done before, it was… honestly, just- go for it, even though we were afraid, because that fear made us… the whole team, prep even harder, I’d say. And it was rediscovery, because we’ve always said: ‘Every project -and this is a Cinema Fantasma rule- every project has to be even better than the last one.’ Or if it isn’t, because there’s always fumbles and we have to accept them, we’re still going to try and give our all so it’s better than the last one. And we’d already made the Pilot, and people liked it, really, but we watched it and we were like ‘We can do better, we can make better puppets, we have more time to polish the stories, we can do better post-production, we can improve everything- the sound design, etc, etc.’

And so, it was a long, long process through which… we constantly had to lean on the whole team and we were- there are no rules here, like, to create this, and this is something to keep in mind, we can tell you guys how it was done, how we did it, but if you guys want to do your own stop-motion series, you’re going to have to figure out how to make it yourselves, because there is no rule-book.

So, we had to rediscover, we worked very, very hard, and sometimes it can be exhausting because you do late nights, or something didn’t quite work, or we’re behind in schedule and one tricky puppet isn’t ready yet, and the whole process keeps falling behind in schedule because the little hands aren’t ready, and it can get very harrowing. But then you remember what it is you’re doing, and you’re making dolls, you’re making toys, we all love toys. You’re giving life to them, you’re creating stories that go beyond… beyond us… you’re like ‘OK, this is worth it, it’s no biggie. Is it hard? Well, I’m going to make things even harder for myself to get the best possible result.’ Because that’s what the audience deserves, right?

Arturo Ambriz: Yeah, totally, and… really that’s what it comes down to, right? It’s a very fun way to live, working in stop-motion. Just yesterday we were talking about this, or rather, Beto, our animation director was. Like, it’s amazing, y’know? I mean… we aren’t doing this in our free time, it’s not like we’re getting together on weekends to make ‘Frankelda’, this is our day job and we’re honestly so happy, and we do realize it’s… it’s not normal.

Erm, here’s where I move on to the next question, which is: ‘What can you tell us in advance about season two of ‘Frankelda’?’ … sent by Eilor Pieyarik, I don’t know whether I said that right. What we can say is this. ‘Frankelda’, as you’ve already realized, operates in three narrative timelines. OK? One of them, let’s say it’s the simplest one, it’s the tales. For instance, Nemo and the Gnome, Magali and the Witches, Uli and the Mermaid, Tere and the Boogeyman, that’s the simplest of the narrative timelines, it’s rounded-up little tales, they begin and they end. The second one is Frankelda and book Herneval trapped within the mansion, trying to escape. OK? That’s the one we could call ‘Present time’. OK? So, the first line we mentioned, we could call it ‘Fiction’, or, ‘The Tales’, and the second one is ‘Present time’, it’s Frankelda and Herneval trying to break out. And then there’s timeline number three, the one we’ve realized you all loved, it’s… Herneval, Spook Herneval, Francisca just starting to write, and how this journey to the Kingdom of Spooks began.

So, what we can guarantee is that for season two, even though we are getting new stories and the new Spooks will be great fun, and we’ll even be seeing a couple of familiar faces, the real fun starts with understanding what the new ‘Present Time’ is, because now they’re apart, Herneval-libro and Frankelda are apart, they’re not together anymore, and that was the common ground in this series for the whole first season. Now they’re apart, which is a mess… and besides, we’re going to go way more into what happened with Francisca, what happened with Herneval, what happened with Procustes, even what happened to other characters some of you already figured are in there somewhere, but I can’t give away too much about them just yet.

Roy Ambriz: Something that gets me very sad when I think about it is what’s going to happen to Herneval, right? Like, he suffers his- ah, I can’t go into that? Alright. Poor Herneval…

Arturo Ambriz: Erm, let’s switch questions…!

Roy Ambriz: Alright, another one…

Arturo Ambriz: Before Roy starts giving away all the spoilers… let’s see… this one’s really good, this is a question by Hiuba Koblack. It’s: ‘I’ve got a question, was it tricky to manipulate Herneval-libro for photographing?’

Roy Ambriz: Yeah. Actually, he’s one of- the spirit of Cinema Fantasma is to always experiment in our processes. To not stay in our comfort zone and a place that’s already easy for us, instead, what can we do to push even further? And the moment we made up our minds to make a book, something we agreed on was: ‘He really has to feel like an actual book.’ Like, Frankelda has to be able to grab him and turn the pages, and at the same time, he has to look alive. And here’s where creativity starts, and you start to think ‘How am I going to solve this?’. You start with the character design, we had a lot of talks with, with animation department. For instance, one thing we decided is, it’s difficult to make ‘Replacements’ for the mouths… for a book. So, how do we do it? Do we sculpt a bunch of them or not? And that’s where Beto, the animation director, goes: ‘You guys are forgetting something about our main sources of inspiration, which is The Muppets.’ To me there isn’t a more emotional song, a song that hits home as much as ‘Rainbow Connection’ by Kermit, ‘La Rana René’, Kermit, as he is known nowadays, and it’s so emotive, and you see- you see him playing at his lake and… ‘Rainbow Connection…’, and the Muppets, they actually just have this kind of mouth movements. We’re big Jim Henson fans, and just with opening and closing the mouth, no blinking, no mechanisms around the ears or anything, just with subtle movements, they can convey so much. And we were like ‘Of course! There’s they key for Herneval!’ because he’s just going to open and close his mouth and we’ll have to get all the emotions out of that.

Then, so he could actually feel like a book, well, we literally used a small book that had been a prop in a previous project, I mean, this is a prop from a different production, and… and let’s say this was his lucky break, because… eh, he got to become the star…

Arturo Ambriz: He got ‘Promoted’.

Roy Ambriz: He got a promotion and now he’s the star in his own series, and he came to life, and then it was like… how do we adapt an actual book into a puppet?’

Arturo Ambriz: He’s just like… (Intelligible)

Roy Ambriz: And we had to make… we had to put hidden wires here in… this part, for example, with these ornaments. It’s because it’s a wire, and it has two more hidden wires here on the sides, which allow us to open and close. Then it was this block right here. First, we pasted it real good so it’d become solid, and then with a dremel, which is this little dentist-like machine, like ‘Tssss’… it spins on a drill, I was able to carve the little teeth, right? So he’d look alive. We put the little eyes, the eyebrows, the mouth on him; it’s funny because he has a small block -this is for everyone out there who’s wanting to make an Herneval of their own, we’ve seen the ones you’re making and they look amazing- this little block here is stuck together so it allows for the mouth to exist, but the parts underneath aren’t. So, the singular piece allows for a bit more control, and the looseness underneath, yeah- it gives it perfect balance, and it's held back here with a book. We made a hole, we punctured the book, and it’s held there, and this allows there to be some balance and we can work with it, but it really is quite a simple puppet, one of our favorites, though, definitely.

Arturo Ambriz: Alright, let’s move on to the next question… oh, boy, yeah, we can see there’s a lot of them…

Roy Ambriz: Are you gonna read them all? OK

Arturo Ambriz: We’re going to try and answer as many movies as we can…

Roy Ambriz: Questions.

Arturo Ambriz: Sorry, as many questions as we can. This one, for instance, we can answer it quickly: ‘What are your favorite stop-motion movies?’ This one was by Juan José Morales Rodriguez. In my case, erm… it’s definitely ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’. Not only is it my favorite stop-motion film of all time, it might even be my absolute favorite… that and ‘Spirited Away’. I think those are my two favorite movies. My experience with ‘El Extraño Mundo de Jack’, or ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’, is that on the VHS, back when I was a kid, it said ‘Tim Burton’s Nightmare before Christmas’ and I was like ‘That’s weird, why isn’t it called Jack Skellington’s The Nightmare Before Christmas?’ and that’s when it hit me, there were people who made the film, there was an author and therefore, adults could work and make a living out of making movies and making little toys and animating them. That’s when I was like: ‘Oh, my god! If this is a thing, I don’t have to worry ever again, in my whole life, because that’s what I’m doing, period. I don’t have to worry about being an engineer, an architect, a vet, a lawyer. Because if this is an existing career; writing stories, making toys and animating them, that’s it. That’s my place.’ And it was, like, quite the definitive decision for me, even though I was really young, y’know? Like, maybe starting Elementary School. And you?

Roy Ambriz: Me… well, obviously also- stop-motion, right?

Arturo Ambriz: Right.

Roy Ambriz: OK. Well, I obviously love ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ too, but ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ is a marvel to me. Beautiful. And also some other types I like, that I recommend -you always have to look further, right? So, for instance, if you like stop-motion and you’re only getting started, and you already saw the more commercial ones, you can also check authors like Jan Švankmajer out, right? He’s this really artistic Chzech animator. One of his films that I like the most is ‘Otezánek’ or ‘Little Otik’, which is about a plant baby that comes to life. There’s authors like Jiří Barta, who, you can watch his shorts in youtube. Or the Quay brothers, who also do some really crazy stuff, right? So… just for watching, I’ll put on ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ or ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’, but you must always be searching and searching and searching, and, just that, nurture yourself visually, because you can only create with what’s inside your head and it’s going to be a mix of what you have. So, the more you have from paintings, authors, stop-motion films, 3D films, live-action films, the more you’ll be able to create things because you’ll have a broader vocabulary, y’know? Inside of you.

Arturo Ambriz: Visiting places too.

Roy Ambriz: Visiting places, traveling, going to museums. If in Museo de Antropología there’s an exposition on whatever, go for it, you know? And that nurtures you and inspires new ideas.

Arturo Ambriz: It might sound silly but even eating weird stuff, right? Even just not always getting the breaded chicken with fries, I mean…

Roy Ambriz: Yeah, that’s it.

Arturo Ambriz: It’s a whole life attitude, of always being on the lookout of alternatives and the unusual, and this nurtures you in every way. Let’s see, now, I just realized we have four different versions of Herneval here. We have little book Herneval, live-action Herneval from the intro, Hernevalito and Hernevalote. Well, no, this is…

Roy Ambriz: Herneval-LOTE!

Arturo Ambriz: Hunk Herneval, as some have called him. And that’s just where the next question aims. It’s ‘How did the idea of Herneval and Frankelda’s name itself come up?’ Asked by Jimena Olmos. You can start if you want.

Roy Ambriz: Well, Herneval, we knew from the start that… when Cartoon Network offered us the opportunity to pitch, to show them a horror series, we were like ‘It has to be an anthology.’ Because it’s a format we love, and it allows us to tell a lot of different stories, like a showcase, and it’s also good for us as a company to show what we can do, right? I mean, like a range. We were like: ‘Who should be the protagonist? A male writer, No, a female writer.’ And right then, we met Mireya Mendoza. We were like: ‘She’s GOT to be Frankelda.’ And she got all her… her attitude, you know? Her character, and she helped, she helped us a lot when building the character. We were like: ‘But she’s got to have like a… a sidekick, right? Whatever you call it, y’know? Someone she can talk to and whatnot.’ And basing ourselves a lot on one of our favorite series, called ‘The Storyteller’, by Jim Henson, it was a… it’s a story that -it’s on Amazon, you can watch it, ‘El Cuentacuentos’, ‘The Storyteller’. Well, at least in México, it is- and it’s some sort of gnome, played by John Hurt, who is a great actor, with amazing characterization, and he has a dog, and the dog, he… he’s a grumpy dog, to whom he starts to tell the tales, and he interrupts, and he’s like ‘Hey, you’re being boring!’ Among other things. So they start to interact.

Then we wondered: ‘Who can be the sidekick, the ghost writer’s helper?’ and it was like: ‘Well, obviously, it has to be her book!’ Because an artist always has a dialogue and talks to their work, and even further, there’s artists who fall in love with their creation. So that’s why Frankelda is in love with her book, who is Herneval. And from there on -Psssh! We started to, like: ‘Wow! This has so much potential. Was he always a book, wasn’t he always a book? Who was he?’ and in the Pilot we couldn’t really get into that, but we always knew that ‘Frankelda’ ultimately is a story about love, the love for art, love for oneself, love for creating, and therefore love between these two characters, and that’s where all the seasons are heading to.

Arturo Ambriz: Precisely. We were checking the first PDF we sent to Cartoon Network with the ideas to make ‘Frankelda’, and at the time the story wasn’t really very clear yet, we just had the characters, and, precisely, there he was still ‘The Book’ Right? ‘Frankelda’s Book’. I mean, we introduce Frankelda, like…

Roy Ambriz: Back in the Pilot she still called him ‘Book!’, right?

Arturo Ambriz: Exactly, it wasn’t even Herneval. Back then she called him ‘Book!’. And, picture this, it said -in Frankeldas’ section it said… ‘Frankelda. She’s the best horror writer to have ever existed, but she’s passed away, and her ghost tells us stories. The Book. He’s Frankelda’s number one fan…’ that is, the very first line we wrote on this character that eventually became Herneval is ‘Frankelda’s number one fan.’ So, we realized later on. Well… maybe they were actually in love, maybe… well, I don’t want to spoil it even more.

And, going back to where Herneval’s name comes from, which is a question we’ve often seen in fan groups, and I think no one’s quite nailed it. The word ‘Herneval’ comes from mixing two names together. To begin with, well, you know, we’ve said this several times already, the main inspiration for Frankelda is the author Mary Shelley, writer of ‘Frankenstein’, a great book which we recommend you read, and Mary Shelley, in real life, was married to another writer called Percy. Percy Shelley. Actually, that’s where her last name came from, right? Mary Shelley’s. Percy Shelley was the original inspiration for this hunk. Back in the first drafts of the script, since we still didn’t make a name up for him, we’d simply call him Percival. ‘Percival does this, Percival does that’. But then we realized that there’s already so many Percivals, without going much further, Percival is one of Albus Dumbledore’s names, because he has a ton of them…

Roy Ambriz: Percy Jackson

Arturo Ambriz: There’s Percy Jackson. So we said: ‘OK, let’s combine the name Percival that comes from Percy Shelley with someone else’. And there happens to be a figure from… he appears in ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’, which is a William Shakespeare drama. There’s a spirit in the woods who rides around and he has antlers, and he steals maidens and his name is Herne, the Huntsman. He’s some sort of like… ghost or specter called Herne, the Huntsman. So when we combine Herne, the Huntsman, with Percival, we get Herneval. Well, let’s go to the next question, which Roy will answer, and it’s -Oooh, this is a really good one.

Roy Ambriz: Let’s hear it.

Arturo Ambriz: It’s a question by Atziri Ferrer. Asking: ‘Do you already know how the story will end?’

Roy Ambriz: Ssss…! Aaaaah!!

Arturo Ambriz: Don’t. Don’t open it.

Roy Ambriz: ‘Tinta invisible…’ Yes. Yes, yes, yes! We know full well how it ends.

Arturo Ambriz: We’ve even visualized the last frames already.

Roy Ambriz: And it’s beautiful, I think if we get to that point, we’re all going to tear up watching it…

Arturo Ambriz: We’ll be even worse off than you guys…

Roy Ambriz: Yes… I’m not telling if it’ll be happy or sad tears, but we’re crying for sure. And… I think it’s something we did at the very start, we- when you make your own series, you have to know everything about it. Because… well, there’s several different ways to write it, but… if we can count on all the seasons to tell these stories, when you watch episode one again, you’ll understand things you didn’t… until you see the very last episode. That is, when you watch the last episode, you’ll see something you hadn’t spotted in that first episode that’s already up. We don’t exactly know how we’re going to get there yet because there’s so many roads to explore, and a lot of ideas, it’s a creative process. We have to evolve and work it, but we know full well where it is we want to get.

In order to tell this story, we need at least… at the very least three seasons. That’s the very least. But if there were more of them, we could stretch out, this is why I tell you this will depend on how many seasons we get. When we know that, we’ll know how to get there.  But yeah, we’re certain of the ending and I think you’ll be very happy when… when you get to see it.

Arturo Ambriz: And… now that Roy ‘s brought this topic on, this is worth clarifying. No, season two still hasn’t been confirmed. Believe me, if it happens, it’ll be thanks to you, to all the support you’ve shown in social media. And… I swear. People from HBOMax LA and Cartoon Network LA are our best allies, we’re good friends with them and they helped us a lot with making everything we wanted to do come true.

Thing is, it’s not easy to make this kind of a series. Why? Because HBOMax and Cartoon Network already produce so many things in the United States and they could never produce a series outside their country and still be a huge hit. I mean, the trick is showing them that this is profitable work, as this is only business for them, show them that it’s worth it to invest in these projects. So, for them it’s very important to know how much people’s watched the show in HBOMax, how many people watched it more than once, who’s talking about it in social media, who’s mentioning the HBOMax LA accounts, whether they’re posting fanarts, whether they’re making fan-groups, whether they’re making fanfics- all of that helps us prove there’s an audience for ‘Frankelda’. And not only that, I mean, right now the big obstacle to overcome is getting the OK for season two, but then we’ll have obstacles that are even more fun, such as… getting the OK for ‘Frankelda’ action figures, selling apparel, selling hats, selling… scarves. Making the art book! Everyone brings it up…

Roy Ambriz: I’m dying for a scarf, haha.

Arturo Ambriz: A scarf with Hernevalito’s face. It’d be cute.

Roy Ambriz: For Christmas.

Arturo Ambriz: Erm…

Roy Ambriz: Here he is as Tiny Tim with…

Arturo Ambriz: Oh, that’s right!

Roy Ambriz:  Bob Cratchit, together.

Arturo Ambriz: You see, everyone’s written to us like: ‘Do the art book already!!’ And the answer is: ‘We know, we want to!!’ We’re dying to, ‘cause there’s tons to show. Concept art, making-of photographies, sculpting and painting processes, casting, sets, props, because Cinema Fantasma’s work is mind-blowing. Seriously, we work with top artists, we’re dying to make that book, but think about it. I mean. In terms of profit. Maybe HBOMax’s like ‘No, but, what if we make ten thousand books and we only sell fourteen of them’, right? So that’s why, we have to gradually conquer these walls. Let’s keep in mind that ‘Frankelda’ is a low-budget Mexican series, super indie, that’s why you get this pair of… of clowns ranting in front of a camera, explaining, and we’re not on this giant set like… like the one they’d interview the ‘Mandalorian’ creators in. All of us together, as a community, let’s crumble these walls and make this little series grow and grow and grow. And make it so it can eventually get launched in the United States. Not yet. Right now it’s only available in Latin-America.

Roy Ambriz: Uh-huh.

#Frankelda #Sustos Ocultos de Frankelda #Frankelda's Book of Spooks #Cinema Fantasma #cc translates #this is a good moment to remind people I can do this on commission huehuehue #like this I translated because I love making trouble for myself but I can also do it on a payroll #or... y'know. I have a KoFi

[unpretty]

I worked payroll for an accounting firm once where we basically had to harass the software provider into updating the local tax rates in the system. Why is accounting software so fucking terrible

a fun new thing ours has been doing is that it won't actually save a new employee's tax withholding information the first time i enter it. so i have to enter it in order to save the new employee, then close out, then re-open, then re-enter the withholding. otherwise it acts like i never entered it at all.

#original #also every time i edit payroll there's a chance it will randomly delete the first employee #it can do this multiple times until i have to recreate time for like five people #no one knows why this happens

[zodiacsea]

i think getting paid once a month would suck a lot less if i made even half of what leadership makes LMAO it’s almost as if they made the decision that’s most convenient for them without any regard for anyone else 🤔🤔🤔

#don’t have to hire someone for payroll when it only happens once a month! #just make one of the overworked accountants do it #instead of like… actually managing the money he’s responsible to manage as an accountant for a nonprofit LOL #when u make $300k a year tho i suppose u can’t conceive of what it’s like making 44k lol #漫言

[fellhellion]

Look not to be having a bitch about an otherwise genuinely excellent film but it’s still insane to me Kingpin, a perfectly serviceable but ultimately not overly unique villain, gets a well rounded exploration of his motivations and multiple moments that invite us to understand what this character won’t acknowledge about himself, and yet we get like. Nothing on what Aaron turned away from when he chose Miles.

#like???? I love miles and I love his relationship w Aaron but that throat grip scene has NO TENSION because I have no idea why Aaron was #chilling on kingpin’s payroll and was willing to murder a kid #in the first place! I have no idea why he was DOING any of that to start with so I’m just like Aaron loves Miles he will choose Miles #AND I LOVE THAT HE DOES! I JUST WISH I COULD FEEL MORE ABOUT HIS DEATH BEYOND HOW SAD I AM FOR MILES #tunes talks spiderverse #tunes talks critical #Aaron is SUCH an interesting character concept and I’m kind of like. why does kingpin get three sadman moments can I get some info on what #led AARON here?

[xbadnews-a]

pov: modern!percy trying to explain to you that necromancers killed his family

#ooc. #tbd. #i have so many thoughts abt this #i set up his modernverse with the thought that magic is largely in the shadows #& most people DOnt Know Abt It #& if they do they generally know better than to put it out there #but percy was one of the younger De Rolos so he didn't know abt their hand in the magical community #until tht hand came to Destroy them #but anyways i replaced the being kept in a cell to having to live w delilah & sylas for a year or so before he starts to talk #& the people who hear are like #haha yeah ncromancers & vampires are not real :| #& then he goes on grippy sock vacation #where his psychiatrist ( ripley ) is also aware of magic & on the briarwood's payroll #so he learns what to say & it's never the truth #but if he trusts someone he will try to tell them his truth #which is not always pretty #but he's desperate to be heard #also he has a room in the back of his apartment FULL of newspaper clippings surrounding residuum & the briarwoods tht he's collected

[littlekingbergara]

by the time i leave my current job i will have learned how to do every one of my coworkers' jobs including my bosses.

#i already have everyones computer logins. and basically do pieces of their jobs. #our warranty clerk is going on vacation so im about to be in charge of payroll and warranty claims and all of that. #ri.txt

[catman-draws]

I haven't been payed a single time since I started working here I'm starving to death -Ghost

Well, Ghost, you've got plush crabs aplenty

#catman asks #there's probably something else laying around #assuming the Creature hasn't gotten to it first #I'm not corporate; i have nothing to do with payroll sorry