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inspector-montoya-fox · 2 years

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let’s rank the boss fight locations

this isn’t a ranking of the boss fights themselves, but, let’s be real, the location they take place in plays a major role in their quality and overall vibe. i’ll be looking at the locations of boss fights with the main baddies, and i’m gonna make a separate list for Sly 3′s secondary boss fights (like Tsao’s dragon, which might take place at the end of that episode but is still secondary because we have a boss fight with Tsao himself). let’s take a look:

15. Dimitri’s... Basement ?

this was a mess from start to finish. so, from what i gather, we never got to see this boss fight’s full potential because of cut content? the area has 3 floors and you can explore the entirety of it during the boss fight (idk why SP neglected to put some invisible walls or something to block Sly from going upstairs), so it seems kinda lazy to just have the boss fight take place on the ground floor. it matches the fact that Dimitri’s “superpower” is never explained (which, as some of y’all explained to me a while back, is just him shooting lasers from his ring ???). overall, even if we disregard the “cut content”, it’s very underwhelming: a basement with jars of green goo? it’s giving tiktok star making slime during quarantine 2020

14. Cooper Vault Sanctum

you’re telling me you had us explore the entire Cooper Vault, filled with traps, gadgets and puzzles, just to have the final boss fight take place at... what is it exactly? the wasted potential here is so annoying because imagine Dr Michael chasing Sly throughout the Vault as a prelude to the final fight, which could take place after ConnEr’s section. the awkward cut to Bentley and Murray’s mini boss fight feels misplaced and then we have Sly hiding under his ancestors’ vehicles ??? like for what? why??? it’s just a dull arena with a duller colour palette

13. Jennifer’s Body, dir. by Karyn Kusama (2009)

this one’s weird. i doubt SP had any kinky intentions behind it but crawling up on Carmelita made me uncomfortable. Carmelarga is just one (bizarre) component, though: looking past the unintentional macrophilia, this area was used in the scorpion mission, which was really exhausting, so i don’t know why they chose to use it again. it’s really bland and i feel like it’d be much more interesting to have this take place at the fracking site where Sly and Murray’s mission took place. in terms of location, meh

12. Prague Rooftop

the Contessa’s boss fight is pretty decent, especially once she starts using her hypnosis. the main issue with the location is how dark it is. i had to brighten up the screenshot above because of how little i could see. and i guess it could be argued that the darkness adds to her evasiveness during the fight, but even if that’s true, it takes place on a simple rooftop. it’s not by any means bad, but it’s a bit underwhelming considering she’s been such a threat for two episodes and then treated to no grandeur. both her levels are gothic masterpieces filled with secret rooms so i wish that was incorporated into her boss fight somehow

11. Raleigh’s Blimp/ Panda King’s Pagoda

i’ve grouped these two together because i couldn’t decide which is better. i don’t have much to say here other than the locations reflect aspects of the characters but in the end they’re just boss fight arenas. they’re pretty, used in accordance with the bosses’ gimmicks but yeah, that’s it. average

10. ClockLa Sky Battle

it’s not really serving final boss fight energy (especially because of the turret), but it’s very dramatic. this entry makes it into the top 10 because of the section where Sly has to save Bentley and Murray and everything is falling. that was pretty cool and matches the intensity of the scenario and ClockLa as a final boss. Sly 2′s boss fights benefit a lot from each country’s culture, nature and architecture adding some flavour, so i feel like this was cheated of that, but it’s also nice to have the game end where it begun

9. Plane Wing

i’m not really fond of this boss fight because it’s (a) nonsensical, (b) anticlimactic, and (c) doesn’t fit in with the themes of the level which are otherwise greatly realised. but if we ignore all that and focus solely on its location, it’s great ! straight out of an action movie, truly. guards efficiently come out of the actual plane, as if they’re passengers, and it’s overall really dramatic

8. Jean Bison’s Sawmill

now... normally this would land lower on the list because it’s just come crusty, dusty sawmill with a huge square arena reminiscent of a level from Sonic: The Fighters. and idk it’s bleak, kinda boring. b u t ... the excellent use of the location within the boss fight itself is cool. Bentley using his surroundings to destroy Jean Bison was pretty neat and fit in with the ‘brain v brawn’ theme (even though i fail to see how “brains” have anything to do with learning that pressing square drops logs and pressing circle lights a fire)

7. The Entire Fucking Hub

just like with the Baron boss fight, i don’t particularly like this one. but the fact that you can mess around with Octavio because the boss fight takes place in the entire hub? A+ !!! girl every time i play this godforsaken section, i’m scaling the buildings, taking rides on the gondolas, trying to see if Octavio can keep up, it’s hilarious

6. Ship Mast

a true feminist moment. there’s just something so ultra-masculine about pirates, which is a result of the modern world trying to capitalise on historical figures and moments through gender-based marketing. princesses for the girls and pirates for the boys. charming stuff honestly. anyway having “the boys” fight it out over Penelope and then in the end she herself does a Carmelita leap onto the mast, taking down the patriarchy one yard at a time? being restricted to just side movements was very refreshing, albeit a bit hard to get the hang of at the beginning, but they made it work. i’d love for SP to make more use of the severely underused main hub instead of having the entire boss fight take place on the ship, but as it is, it’s good

5. A Hole

we all love a good hole. both The Black Chateau and A Starry Eyed Encounter have their climactic moments take place in a separate area to their hub, so this was such an interesting surprise. the boss fight location was literally in the hub’s centre the entire time, right under our noses. the walls are too high for Murray to climb and we’re trapped down there with Rajan who growls every opportunity he gets, like papi chill ok? it really gives the sense that there’s no escape, which matches the fact that after this fights, the overall plot transitions to its second act, its most dark. also, the circular shape of the location makes it similar to an arena, which goes nicely with Rajan taunting Murray over his strength. it’s reminiscent of Fight Club, especially once the guards start to jump in from above

4. Muggshot’s Hideout

i’ll admit, this one ranked high because of personal bias brought on by extreme nostalgia, but the atmosphere is so good i couldn’t put put it lower. i’m aware of how bizarre some of its aspects are, like the huge glass shards (?) that literally emerge through the floor never being explained. maybe Muggshot collects fancy glassware, who knows. i’m choosing to give a pass to the fight’s first two sections because the final one more than makes up for it: we face off on a fucking chandelier. i mean, come on. if you really want me to defend this controversial choice, i’ll put my literature hat on and say that the interior here is so kitsch and try-hard fancy, with its purple carpet and crown-decorated mirrors, that it really shows how Muggshot might have tried to escape his upbringing by becoming some sort of... pimp ? but in the end wasn’t able to

3. A Literal Volcano

a volcano lair feels synonymous with villainy, it’s just so dramatic, very Dr Evil. Clockwerk is truly the HBIC, dethroned by no one, and everything drowning in the lava in the background really makes this three-act boss fight one of the most iconic in the series. i love how in the final segment we have to traverse all the machinery and broken pieces to make it to Clockwerk, really forcing Sly to come into close contact with the lava

2. A Croc’s Head

no boss fight encapsulates its level’s aesthetic as well as this. i don’t even know where to start with this one, it’s just so legendary: firstly, we start in a literal crocodile head, which tries to chew us. work. then, the three rooms we move through are decorated in the most demonic, voodoo way, with the side characters bopping around to the beat of the fight amidst the bones, chicken shit and ritualistic candles. like... what more do you want honestly

1. Tsao’s Sanctuary

it’s giving ultimate boss fight. this was iconic from start to finish. we’re thrust into an extremely aggressive atmosphere, an ethereal but spiritually-charged hub with no surfaces to step onto, and given Contessa-level dialogue courtesy of Tsao’s conservatism and good ol’ delusion. this new type of gameplay isn’t hinted at beforehand and the player is stripped of any sense of security due to the fact that we can’t ride away or hide. we duel it out mid-air, before the second segment, which takes place in a seemingly endless bamboo forest, giving Tsao the perfect opportunity to showcase his set of magic attacks. 10/10

#honestly y'all are gonna clock me for what i'm about to say but... the TiT boss fights had cool locations #LOCATIONS. I DIDN'T SAY THE BOSS FIGHTS WERE COOL THEMSELVES #but... huge statue? train? ice cave? castle? yea i can't deny it #i've been working on this post for a week and i think you can tell by the varying lengths of entry descriptions #have two other lists planned: Sly 3 secondary boss fights and Bentley's operations #might do a fourth one with modes of gameplay like hacking and RC car etc.#sly cooper #i wanna see how the full Dimitri boss fight would have played out honestly #i'm gonna start a petition for SP to release the trilogy again but with the Monaco level added #and also S*nzaru's mistakes corrected like the Ruby boss fight #they had one job...#also very curious as to if there is no music during Carmelita's boss fight with Muggshot in the trilogy for everyone or just myself?#it always cuts off in that mission #that and the Ruby bossfight are the mistakes that steak out the most but there's more

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sanstropfremir · 2 years

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Hello! I was wondering if you had any favorite cheap kpop mvs? Ones like gr8u where they used an intresting trick or idea to make the mv stand out despite the lack of budget.

HI HELLO AGAIN THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE QUESTION THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

okay okay okay. so there's a bit of a scale i'm gonna operate on here, because there's some pretty large gaps in between what i would consider 'cheap' for specific groups vs like, actual monetary cost and access to resources and stuff like that. i've separated these out into a couple of categories, because i could and to make some more distinctions. i'm judging a lot of this based on expense in terms of set, because that's generally where you're going to sink the most cost. if you want custom sets of any kind you have to have 1) the space to put the sets (a studio/warehouse), 2) the people to design the sets, 3) the materials to make the sets, and 4) the people to build the sets, which all is going to cost you. i'm also likely forgetting ones here but there's a lot of kpop mvs in the world and my memory sucks.

ok to start off, some flops (complimentary):

hair short - wings : unironically this is one of my fave songs+mvs from this era, it has such a creative premise and it's so smart and i'm sad we never got anything else from them.

annie - toppdogg : toppdogg mvs were never particularly expensive, but this one is really restricted, literally. also they get bonus points for being the only group to ever find a way to integrate the members' names into the mv without it being obnoxious.

baby i'm sorry - myname : one of the best story mvs of all time. i don't think this one was actually that cheap because there's a lot of actors but it likely had very little physical production costs because it's all shot on location and it's probably only shot with a handheld camera. there is actually choreography and styling for this and it's very inexplicably 2013.

she - vromance : i'm pretty sure they shot this mv with 12 dollars and a piece of lint and technically i think star is a more interesting mv with better thought and planning but idk. there's something about she that i think is very charming and i forgive the low budget-ness of it just for the fact that it's so wholesomely cute.

"it's just a guy hanging out":

2 kids - taemin : i know taemin would rather forget that 2 kids exists but genuinely it's one of my favourite mvs of his and hot take it's one of his best. it is the epitome of low budget stealth filming with maximum impact; he filmed this and the think of me mv in the off time he was in paris while he was on tour with superm, and the exhaustion and bitterness and sadness and remorse in this really shine. it perfectly captures that watery feeling of being awake for the dawn during a bender. taemin actually does so well with these smaller scale atmospheric mvs but they tend to be underappreciated; see day and night.

after we ride - brave girls : 99% of this is shot on location in mostly public + outdoor areas but the mv really rides on the performances of the girls and the skills of the editor and cinematographer, who really knocked it out of the park in terms of establishing the atmosphere. this has some really really phenomenal colour grading that gives everything that high sheen 'neon lights reflecting on a wet street' look that really amps up the feeling.

-> sub-genre: pandemic bottle mvs

mayday - crush : maybe the most iconic pandemic mv, which also purposefully looks inexpensive due to the camera equipment and editing techniques.

lazy - woosung : really clean colour palette and i love the integration of the feature, as well as the styling change at the last chorus. i can't remember if this made it onto my best of 2021 list in the end but it was in my runners up for a while.

down - a.c.e : one of the best things about a.c.e is their creative directors and designers, who are frankly incredible at their jobs, because they can stretch a shoestring budget and make it look so good. it was kinda tough to pick just one mv from their catalogue but i settled on down because it's all shot in a single location in one day and really utilizes the vertical format in a way that i've seen few mvs do. runner up is changer, which was shot somehow somewhere during the promos for higher, which holy shit they were so busy last summer.

unusually small budget for a big 3:

view - shinee : view changed the kpop mv game. this isn't case of low budget because no budget, this is a case of concept that doesn't play out to be very expensive to produce. by shooting everything on location (including the dance sequences) min hee jin took the money that would have gone to set building and used to pay more for location (it's shot in malaysia) and for better and more unusual editing than kpop had really seen at the time.

1of1 - shinee : again, this was all about style, and the main feature of this is absolutely the clothing. otherwise it's quite literally just filmed in a white box.

i want you - shinee : there were FOUR mvs shot for tsol and they all are absolutely fantastic. i wouldn't say any of them are cheap but i want you is shot primarly in a single studio space and on a greenscreen, so it's not the most expensive of the bunch. countless is also filmed on a single set, but i think i want you shows a much more effective use of style (even though i do love countless). i've talked about tsol before and as a full work it's one of the best kpop comebacks of all time.

blooming day - exo cbx : she's an icon. every minimalist colour pop kpop mv thinks it's blooming day and guess what? there's only one blooming day. in this case similarly to view, it isn't about a lack of budget and instead it's that the concept itself does not require a huge amount of expensive spectacle.

breath + last piece - got7 : i'm putting these together as a double feature because they were filmed back to back on the same sets and although they are not cheap by any means, since these are custom sets, but comparatively (to other jype mvs) both of these have very low production value and a high economy of shots. i remember watching these at release and actually going 'oh these are cheap....???'. however, despite being limited to these twoish locations these are very well filmed and there's a lot of very good editing here that makes them interesting.

call me baby - exo : maybe the least expensive exo mv but also one of the best. i know there's supercars but those are definitely rented and there's a grand total of three locations (and two of them are empty warehouse/studio spaces). i really like this mv because of that absolutely ripping intro with kai/baekhyun/xiumin/suho/sehun in the car, and it shows a really strong consistent creative direction that makes it look more expensive than it is.

not necessarily cheap but very good use of a gimmick:

goosebumps - onf : ENTIRELY greenscreened!!!!!!! we moved on TOO fast from this and we need to talk about it more!!! beautiful beautiful was predominently vfx but goosebumps took it to a new level. other than a few shots in a white box this mv is built entirely by a vfx team and that is neither that cheap or fast but it is a FEAT.

skinz - onlyoneof : i wrote a post about skinz here and i'm sticking to my guns about this being one of the most interesting mvs released this year so far.

gr8u - vixx : great gimmick, 10/10. honestly most vixx mvs are pretty low budget and i think this is in the middling bit but it still counts.

take over - do hanse : this is all shot in the same black box studio with a single projector screen. i'm not joking. the director of this mv is insanely smart and very good at getting bang for their buck, so i bet you that the most money went towards hiring the horse and neonmilk, probably.

rain to be - onewe : they sacrificed a whole bunch of equipment in order to film this and that's why it's not a particularly cheap mv, but it was quite literally shot all in a single session in a single location, which is more restricted than 90% of most kpop mvs. and yes i know onewe is a kband but i literally think about this mv like once a week.

fantasy - fei : another vfx heavy mv that is supremely effective. it's obviously got funding behind it but it's got quite a restricted scope that makes it feel as close quartered as it is.

face id - epik high : epik high are very good at high impact mvs with limited scales and their two from last year are both soooooo good. they were both on my best of 2021 list so i'm not gonna go into a lot of detail but face id in particular really works that gimmick good.

i'm tempted to put a couple of jackson's solo mvs here, because his mvs are very very good for being limited in funds (as he's paying for them himself) and he's really good at capturing specific styles and feels (lmly and pretty please with that 80s/90s hong kong cinema feel) but they're not technically kpop so i'll settle for just mentioning them here at the end.

#i meant what i said in that exo ask about how sm does NOT want to pay money for mvs #i was genuinely surprised by the last got7 mvs like those were SO cheap for jype i still marvel at it #kpop questions #fave posts #kpop mvs are SO expensive and a lot of them follow such an obvious formula #so this was actually a bit more challenging than i expected #there was originally a lot more in the 'its just a guy' category like most eric nam mvs and b.i's illa illa #but ultimately i cut them in favour of yes theyre fun but they're not really saying much beyond what i have in the category already #OH luna's free somebody mv is also pretty inexpensive and fun #answers #text #gunwoo standing centre stage and wailing those adlibs in his leather skirt >>>>>#me watching call me baby and yelling 'WHY ITS GREASED LIGHTNING!!!!' at the chorus

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milkybunbuns · 3 years

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ii. battles → perfection masterlist → next → previous

w/c: 1.9 K

warnings: spoilers for season 1 episodes 6 and 7

a/n: I moved the basic hero training part to morning because I realised half way through it happened in the afternoon and I was too lazy to change everything 😅

A brand new day, which meant a brand new day of school. You wouldn’t even be surprised if today there would be another test and just unluckily for you, Hawks was nowhere to be seen in the morning, leaving you with no food (the fridge was empty) and there was no time to go shopping considering you were running late. Home school was kinda nicer, you could wake up whenever you want, learn whenever you want and train whenever you want, but sometimes it did get a little bit boring.

Sliding the door open quietly, you slid through the smallest opening possible and settled down in your seat, All Might completely oblivious to the fact that you had just walked in, 7 minutes late, however, it clearly didn’t go unnoticed by Iida. You watched as he raised his arm, panicking internally and waving your hands crazily at him, trying to signal him, no. Yet he paid no mind to you. Grrr, Iida!! Way to blow my sneaky entrance smh.

“Yes young Iida?”

“I’m sorry for disrupting the class, but I would like to point out that L/n-san has entered the classroom late and being part of UA, it is expected that all students should be on time”, he pointed at you, exposing you as everyone turned their heads towards you.

You heard whispers of ‘huhh, who’s that?’, ‘I didn’t see her’, ‘Is she new?’, which brought a lot of embarrassment upon yourself.

“It’s not very nice to whisper about someone in front of them kero”, Tsuyu, spoke up, which stopped all the whispers.

Iida stood up and bowed an almost perfect bow to All Might, “I’m sorry All Might for the discrepancy, please continue.”

“Right!”, the no.1 hero sweat dropped, “Please put on your costumes and meet me at Ground B”, he pressed a button on a remote, the wall somehow magically producing cases which held individual costumes based on requests. You grabbed your case, which was labelled no.9, looking around for Tsuyu so you thank her properly for standing up for you. Her green hair was pretty easy to spot, as you rushed to her.

“Oh hi L/n-san!”, she waved at you with her free hand, still keeping a fast pace.

“Hi Asui-san, thank you so much for standing up for me, I would’ve been a gonner without you.”

“It’s no problem at all and call me Tsuyu.”

“Alright Tsuyu, I was wondering if you’d like to be friends with me?”

“Of course! It’d be my pleasure kero”, okay phew it would’ve been so embarassing if she said no sjoakpa.

Everyone met outside, after changing into various hero costumes. Some looked out right ridiculous, Mineta’s was a great example for sure, while some looked really good and you couldn’t help but be in awe at Ochaco’s costume. It had a really nice colour palette consisting of pink, white and black and fitted her quirk really well.

“Ochaco!”, you waved her over, from where she was standing with Deku, quickly examining his hero costume, you noticed that the teeth looked a bit strange and he kinda looked like a bunny though it was clearly meant to be All Might style.

“Hi Y/n!!”, Ochaco smiled bouncing up and down excitedly, “This is so exciting! Our first hero training class!!”

“Yeah, I guess it is. Your costume is really cutee~”

She scratched the back of her neck sheepishly, “Thanks, but I honestly didn’t expect this to be skin-tight.”

“It’s good for your quirk and easier to manoeuvre around with a tight suit rather than a loose suit. We don’t want you accidentally making yourself float in a battle.”

“Oh yeah, of course, that would be pretty bad. But I love your costume, it’s really bright though, wouldn’t that be bad for stealth?”

“That’s why I’ve already figured out what I want to be. If or when I become a hero, I’m going to be a daylight hero.” Your costume was almost all white, but it also had bits of f/c with it. It consisted of white combat boots lined with stars in f/c near the soles, as well as 3/4 length leggings and a skin-tight top which was able to help cool you off. In terms of gadgets, you had heatproof f/c gloves, a utility belt which contained ice cubes in a small thermos, bandages, a small bottle of water. Other than those, you had a heatproof visor on your face. (Feel free to imagine up your own costume)

“Wait, you’ve already thought so far ahead, we still have 3 years here tho!”

“Well, maybe I’ll change my thoughts along the way, but lets listen to All Might before we get called out.”

“Right.”

It turned out you were put in team I, along with an invisible girl, who had introduced herself as Hagakure and a tail boy who was called Ojiro.

“Okay, Hagakure, you should go scout for them and me and Ojiro will protect the bomb.”

“On it!”, and she was soon out of the room, discarding her clothes in one of the many rooms to become completely invisible. The extra time for the villains was over and before you could begin anything, ice quickly made it’s way to your feet, trapping both you and Ojiro in the ice.

Ojiro pressed a finger to his ear pierce, “Hagakure! Where are you what’s the situation?”

“The Todoroki guy has frozen the whole building and he’s coming to the room right now!”

“Okay, I’ll get us out of this”, you activated your quirk, hands quickly heating up as you let them hover over your feet, the temperature enough to melt it off. Thanks to Todoroki, the whole room was cold, so you could freely use your quirk without overheating, but the negative to this was you could only use up any stored energy from before, since it was almost pitch-black in this room. The door slammed over before you could free Ojiro, revealing Todoroki, who seemed slightly surprised that you were free. He still had no clue how your quirk operated and what it did exactly.

“So,Todoroki-kun? You after this?”, you grabbed the bomb which was still coated in a thick layer of ice and ripped it right out of the ground, allowing a pair of wings to form on your back. He raised his right foot, slamming it down to create a large scale ice attack which you avoided easily, flying out of the window and onto the rooftop where your quirk could operate freely and without end, until your body temperature gets too hot.

Todoroki followed the particles of light out, creating his own path of ice, but by the time he arrived, you already had the bomb safely sitting on the other side of the roof, now instead of being coated with ice, being coated with light energy, which was hot to the touch and melted the ice. Wordlessly, he sent an ice attack towards you, hoping to knock you out to remove the barrier around the bomb. Well he knew it’d know you out, he knew his ice side was powerful. So when you rushed from behind the glacier, sending a ball of light towards him, he was shocked to say the least, but still dodged it.

“If you haven’t figured out by now, your ice only helps me. Using ice attacks is useless, to defeat me, you’ve gotta use your fire side.”

Todoroki frowned, “I can defeat you with just ice, no matter how powerful you are.”

“Hm?”, you arched an eyebrow then shrugged, “Alright, sure.” You created a few more light balls just enough so they were surrounding you, “Say bye then”, you sent them all at once, controlling them to follow Todoroki like guiding missiles. He quickly created a cube like shape of ice around himself, the ice shattering into pieces leaving him unscathed except for a few scratched form the shards which pierced him.

A glacier, larger than the others before raced towards you, and you thought quickly, covering the space around you with light energy which melted all the ice.

“Your quirk relies on light doesn’t it, so what if you run out of it”, Todoroki pointed out, now the rooftop was encased with a thick layer of ice all the way around which was too much for you to melt through without wasting all the energy you had saved. “And even though ice helps keep your body cold, how much of it can you handle before your body starts to get frostbite. My body was made to be able to withstand these temperatures, but yours is made to withstand heat.”

He could already see that you were shivering, your costume didn’t provide much warmth at all, since you simply assumed you would always be too hot rather than cold.

“No way am I letting you win”, you said through clenched teeth, if there was one thing you hated, it was losing. In your palms you held bits of light energy to keep you warm, but you knew you couldn’t keep this up forever, you had to think and act quickly. Your eyes darted around the ice room, all that was there was you, Todoroki and the bomb. Of course! The bomb! The bomb was still covered with light energy. You grabbed onto the bomb, burning your hands in the process, but still managing to throw it at the ice, the heat melting through the ice to create a hole out. At that moment, you realised you had been baited. Todoroki knew you could withstand the heat of your own light energy better than he could and made it so you had no choice but to use the energy form there which got rid of the layer so he could get the bomb. You watched in horror as he reached towards the bomb and in panic, you sent one towards his hand which was badly aimed and went over his arm instead and into the ice walls.

You lunched forwards, even though you knew there was no way you could make it to him in time, as he touched the bomb, signalling the heroes win. Placing his left hand on the floor, everything was melted off. You were shivering from the cold, frost forming along your body. He took notice and felt just a bit bad, and got permission from all might to take you to the nurse’s office. After all, a hero’s role was to save.

You got on the bed, rubbing your arms to try and get warmth, recovery girl’s quirk couldn’t help you warm up since it wasn’t really an injury.

“Here, I’ll warm you up”, Todoroki stated bluntly holding out his left hand.

“R-right thanks”, you chattered, trying to fit both of your hands in his, which were extremely warm, but not too hot. After a few moments of awkward silence, with him staring at you, you let go. “Thanks for the help, but I think I can warm up myself from here on.”

“Alright L/n-san, but I have proven that I can defeat you with only my right side. I will not need my left side to defeat you.”

His words left you thinking for a while, he only required half his strength to take you out, which meant you still had miles to improve. When you got third in the quirk apprehension test, you thought you were pretty good, but you never noticed the difference in power between you and Todoroki till now. Training was definitely needed.

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tagged: @dyna-m1ght

#todoroki x you #todoroki x reader #mha todoroki #bnha shoto todoroki #todoroki x y/n #bnha todoroki #todoroki shoto x reader #todoroki #todoroki shoto #bnha #mha #boku no academia #my hero academia

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solecize · 4 years

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𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘. the boy you meet in detention, felix, doesn’t see colours. you want to gift his eyes with the kaleidoscopes and the rainbows of your world. the palette of your love story is supposed to bring together a work of art, but calamity lies beneath the canvas. 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆. felix x reader 𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒. swearing 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓. 4.1k 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒. i wrote half of this while i was high sorry

YELLOW. / PART III - “THE LIST OF GOOD THINGS”

this is what you were afraid of. felix came and went as he pleased and after the day at the beach, he was gone for weeks. you had no way to contact him and when you worked up the nerve to ask around, nobody had a clue. it was a little embarrassing, the way you scoured social media for any trace of him and you weren’t even the slightest bit surprised when you discovered that he was off the grid.

there wasn't any chance of you being able to shake him off—the thought of felix was tattooed on your skin, entangled in your hair like bubblegum, left a stain that couldn't be washed away. his lazy grin haunted you and the faint sensation of his lips forever planted on yours. you thought you were going mad.

you'd had crushes before, even a failed relationship or two, and the way he made you feel was incomparable to all.

“was that okay?” you fumbled with your words, tripping and leaping over hurdles to get your voice out.

you weren’t sure how long the two of you sat in that cave. you especially weren’t sure how long you two spent completely taking in the other by the lips, dizzying your vision and swelling your lips. it was felix who pulled away first, panting for air. his hair was tousled and a wash of strawberry pink flushed his face.

felix just laughed and cupped your cheek. “yes. it was more than okay.” his eyes bore into yours and an army began marching through your chest.

the two of you remained in that spot until the night fell and the stars illuminated your surroundings. someone—you weren’t sure which one of you—finally knocked some sense into them and realized it was time to go. neither of you wanted to leave and making your way back was like dragging you feet.

“where do you live? i’ll give you a ride home.” this time, you were the one that hopped into the driver’s seat. you took a glance at your phone abandoned on the dashboard, vibrating wildly.

twenty missed calls from your mom. four from your dad. about fifty texts altogether. you rolled your eyes and turned the device off.

felix raised his eyebrows, startled for a moment. “oh! no, that’s okay—”

“don’t be dumb, i made you come here and you’re not taking the bus,” you snorted.

“. . .fine. you can drop me off back at school,” he ran a hand through his hair, shoulders tense. “i left my car there.”

“your car? i thought you said it’d “been a while” since you last drove,” you said, but turned on the car anyway. the engine roared to life and the two of you were met with the local pop radio station. you scrunched your nose and turned it off, just as felix reached for the button at the same time with the same expression. the two of you shared a laugh.

you connected your phone again and played a more mellow playlist, one for the late atmosphere. adore you by harry styles filled your ears and you felt your hands relax on the wheel.

felix chuckled. “come on. i just didn’t wanna get in the minivan with you.” his nose crinkled when you playfully slapped his arm.

“i don’t blame you,” but you sure were glad that he ended up doing so.

the rest of the car ride was filled with comfortable silence. at some point, felix shyly put his hand over yours and you didn’t notice. it felt so natural and your fingers automatically tangled up in his. the rest of the harry styles album found its fingerprints all over the inside of the car and the remainder of the night.

eventually, the two of you pulled up to the high school and you felt a weight of dread trailing down your spine. you looked over at felix and a frown etched his face as well.

“i guess this is it?” the thought of collecting his number didn’t even occur to mind.

felix’s hand didn’t move. “i guess so.”

worst of all, there was nothing to distract your mind with. the glare of the summer sun and the clean slate of all of your days brought you with a frustrating routine of sitting in your room in front of your electric fan all day. you weren’t even quite talking to your parents beyond a few words at dinner and the occasional moment when one of them would stick their head through your door to ensure that you were alive and breathing. clearly, they were still upset about the whole steal-the-minivan situation.

you felt pathetic, holed up indoors. you wanted to find motivation to go out and actually be with people, but it wasn’t like you had many options. eventually you got tired of wasting your summer away and decided to go for a bike ride. outside. of your room. admittedly, it was the craziest thing that happened since school went out.

you slipped on a pair of beat up white air force ones at the bottom of your stairs, tiptoeing quietly down and stopped when you realized that the house was empty. taking a glance at yourself in the mirror, you looked like you hadn’t seen the sun in years—really, it was for a few weeks. you wore a pair of oversized basketball shorts and a tank cropped just above your belly button, showing off a piercing that represented another badge of rebellion against your parents. a sound that could’ve sound like a groan of frustration rumbled from your throat, though it was too distorted to be compared to anything human.

after a moment’s deliberation, you decided to at the very least put your hair up in a ponytail, roughly forcing the scrunchie through your tangled hair. you appeared a touch more presentable then. then again, you didn’t care all that much if you ran into anybody you knew—it wasn’t like you were going to run into them in september after you moved away for university.

carefully, you locked the front door and brought your bicycle out from the back. you didn’t have an idea of where you wanted to go, but you knew that being inside the house brought a heavy weight to your body that you couldn’t quite get rid of. even just the slightest stream of sunlight spilling through the door and the kiss of the summer heat lifted your mood.

following the wind, you found yourself in front of your now former high school. maybe it was the familiarity of the route that creeped up at the back of your mind and unconsciously brought you here. it looked exactly the same, even in its barren state.

you were coming to a stop when you heard someone call your name. an all too familiar deep rumble of a voice. thinking you were imagining it, you ignored it. then, it came again and you whipped your head around.

“hey.”

it was felix that walked past you, hands deep in the pockets of his grey sweatpants that you knew must have been killing him in the crazy heat, along with the light zip-up on top. he wore the same jordans from the day in detention and a plain white t-shirt. simple, but it fit him so well. and that goddamn smile. it always reached his eyes, it seemed, no matter what.

“hi,” you managed to breathe out, suddenly thanking yourself for hauling your ass out of bed. what were the chances that you’d bump into the boy that had been plaguing your mind for week? “. . .long time no see.”

the words felt dumb and numb, rolling off your tongue, but you were too taken aback to process that he was actually in front of you. it had come to the point where you wondered if the day at the beach was a fever dream, created in the haze of your lonely desires at the back of your mind.

however, he was very real before your very eyes. he creeped up upon you like a summer breeze; unexpected, but exactly what your spirit ached for in a seemingly endless drought. it seemed as though felix was just as happy to see you, though a twinkle of relief slumped in his shoulders and relaxed all of the muscles in his body. with you, he always did that.

felix bit his lip. “it’s nice to see you. how’s your summer been so far?” you tried to read his facial expression, wondering if he was feeling the same way you were feeling about him, but was left to a complete wall of neutrality. he was good.

“boring. not much to do when you don’t have friends and it’s too hot to do anything outside.” that was the truth, but it sounded more pathetic out loud than you were willing to admit. however, felix simply nodded in understanding.

“well, you’re out now, aren’t you?” felix looked off into the distance, squinting at the relentless sun.

you could’ve sworn you heard him mutter the word “finally” but you weren’t sure.

“i was going stir crazy,” you admitted with a gentle laugh. you subconsciously tucked a strand of loose hair behind your ear and stopped mid-way through when you realized what you were doing. oh, you were a freaking goner.

he teased, “so you decided to come visit the old prison yard?” he gestured to the school building and you tilted your head to the side, taking a moment to observe it. the lot did resemble a jailhouse to an uncanny extent.

however, with void of students, the lot seemed peaceful. abandoned and colossal. it was as if there was actual oxygen to breathe in, instead of feeling restrained as you had been the past four years. you wanted to attribute it to that, but there was an itching feeling that it was because of felix’s presence that gave you the ability to capture freedom.

“i was riding my bike and i guess getting here is just muscle memory,” you shrugged it off. “what’s your excuse?”

nobody hung out at the high school during the summer unless they were getting high in the parking lot or using the outdoor field to play soccer. you had a feeling that felix wasn’t there for either. he also came alone, or so it seemed, considering you hadn’t even realized his presence.

“well. . . .” a playful smile emerged on felix’s lips. “okay, fine. since you showed me your hidden spot, i’ll show you mine.”

it was as though the earth had thundered and a mirror sprung up from the ground below, forcing you to see your reflection in him. you knew there was a reason why you were so drawn to felix from the very first moment. in a way, he was just like you.

without waiting for you to verbally answer, felix extended his hand, just as you had done for him on graduation day. and, in the same vein as his own actions, you laced your fingers with his without any hesitation. you had to stop yourself from sighing out loud—the feeling of his hand joined with yours was a relief that you would cross the ocean for.

however, today, his skin was rough. they were calloused and dry, ones that were hard at work and had been drained of hydration in a deep desert. they met your soft palm and the contrast was electric. the two of you became one in just the smallest of forces, though, it was as powerful as a hurricane. you imagined that kissing him once again would feel like as though the heavens were to rain down upon us all—quenching thirst after a drought.

“i swear, if you take me behind the bleachers . . “ you teased. everyone knew that place as the local makeout spot, where there always seemed to be a douchey senior guy declaring it as his and the innocent girl next door’s secret hideout. of course, felix was the last person on earth who would take any person there.

his ears still tinted a cherry red, even in spite of the fact that you were joking. you laughed a bit and with your free hand, you abandoned your bike on the side of the driveway into the high school. somehow, it didn’t occur to you to bring a lock or even place it anywhere safer than there. your mind was too wrapped around felix’s pinky finger and his eyes were glued onto yours.

“no! no—of course not,” he replied without waiting a beat, eyes wide.

you just laughed and shook your head, as felix caught onto the joke. he chuckled nervously in response and your heart wanted to burst. it was adorable.

felix tugged gently to prompt you to begin moving and you did so. the summer sun climbed onto your bag and wrapped its arms around your neck, straining your ability to walk in smooth motions. however, you were able to see that the two of you were going towards the forest nestled behind the football field.

“what have you been to this summer?” you asked, squinting at the sun startling your eyes upon looking up at felix.

he just shrugged. “there’s nothing to do around here. i just end up coming back here all the time,” he said, referring to the place that he was leading you to.

that was the truth, the city got boring fast. not to mention, everybody you grew up with turned into completely different people and the ones who didn’t change already drifted too far away. it was like being stuck and staying inside wasn’t even as bad because coming out to face the real world meant facing the reality of the cards that you were dealt with.

it was the reality of growing up. you despised it and it must’ve shown on your face because felix glanced over at you and frowned. at that, you relaxed your shoulders that had stiffened without your command.

“sorry. it’s just—” you began, already hearing felix’s inquiry form at the tip of his tongue. “—this isn’t really the summer i dreamed of. i wanted bonfires and friendship bracelets and sleepovers. not sitting around in my room all day because i don’t have any friends anymore.”

“you have me,” felix immediately said and you weren’t sure if your heart should’ve skipped a beat or sunk because you just potentially got friend zoned. however, the squeeze of his hand and the way his lids grew a touch heavier looking at your face, at your lips, relaxed the thought.

he then let go of your hand for a second and began to tug at the strings of his zip up sweater, slowly and more forcefully when he realized just how hard it was. you simply stared at him, blinking, because you were confused at what he was doing. felix finally managed to get the string out and then proceeded to wrap the arms of the sweater around his waist, submitting to the heat.

“hold out your wrist.”

you silently did so, still confused. felix pulled you slightly closer, just enough that you were almost chest to chest and your arm still stuck out. he smiled. then, he took the red string from his zip up hoodie and began to tie it around your wrist. you couldn’t help but notice that it was the same shade of red as his red paper footballs from the first day in detention.

tilting to your head to the side, you managed to ask, “uh, what are you doing?”

he was having a hard time knotting it and looping the excessively long string properly. “what do you think i’m doing?” felix wore a mischievous grin on his face.

“ruining your hoodie?” you blunted.

felix chuckled. “no, dummy, this is our friendship bracelet.”

no one had ever done something like that for you before. you were always the one going out of your way to do nice things for your friends and play the good guy, only to be fucked over in the end. with felix, he gave you the power of feeling appreciated and wanted. it weighed heavier than a box under an evergreen tree or a birthday surprise with confetti.

you jumped onto him and he let out a yelp of surprise. maybe you crushed his bones at some point, but you couldn’t stop repeating words of gratitude over and over again. you felt felix’s shoulders relax and his chest rumble with another laugh, as he snaked his arms around your torso and squeezed you just as hard back.

“i know it’s kind of just a string, but you also kind of just made my summer,” you whispered in his ear and felt him stroke your hair in response. “sorry, i just had to tell you that. do you. . .do you wanna go now?”

“if you still want to,” felix’s face was slightly flushed when you pulled away from the hug.

he captured your hand in yours once again and reeled you in, pulling you straight out of the salt water and into his world of butterscotch skies.

you didn’t even know that place like this existed in your hometown. it was a moderate journey to say the least, at least a twenty minute walk from where the two of you started at your now former high school. felix began by leading you through the forest, taking paths that you didn’t even notice during your few visits there.

throughout the past four years, you seldom found yourself strolling through the murky trails of his forest, mostly to avoid the kids who would cut class to smoke weed here. the place was notorious for the activity, with its extensive paths crawling into one big maze and lengthy branches perfect for hiding behind. it was never anything but ugly and shady to you.

however, felix was like midas. everything he touched turned into gold. everywhere you went with him turned into a wonderland.

“these trees are way grown out now,” he murmured, pushing an small log out of the path with his foot. “i like it here, though.”

“it’s peaceful,” you replied, eyes drinking it all in. it wasn’t quite like the trees leading up to the beach hill, but the gloom hanging off of pea coloured moss and damp dirt brought strange comfort.

that wasn’t the end of it, though. the two of you continued to make your way through the forest and on your end, with no destination in your mind. you even forgot about the heat. weaving through the way, bits of light began to make their presence known, shining from the far distance. you looked over at felix and a small grin began to form on his face.

all you saw next was yellow.

at first, you were blinded by the sudden flash of sun. then, you slowly, but surely, fluttered your eyelids open and were confused when you were met with the same yellow. tucked away in the middle of the forest was a surprisingly large field of sunflowers. they varied in length and sparseness, but the one constant was their bright hue. the field shone brighter than the sun itself. the aroma of the field attacked your lungs and you relented, letting the scent of the flora run through your body.

“you always come exactly when i need you. . .” you mumbled under your breath, perplexed. you looked up at felix, who let his fingers run through the first patch of flowers, never picking, but appreciating the soft petals.

felix’s ears perked up. “huh? did you say something?”

“nothing,” you shook your head and bit back your smile. felix as a good luck charm would have to stay a secret. it was all a quiet coincidence, but you were more than grateful that he seemed to perfectly show up every time. “this place. . . .is this even real?” you giggled, mimicking his movements and brushing your fingers against the flowers.

“i come here almost everyday. it’s breathtaking.”

there was a crinkling noise and you hadn’t even noticed that felix let go of your hand to open a lollipop. he popped it out and it was, of course, a bright lemon colour. it perfectly matched the field. you raised an eyebrow at him,

“yellow,” he began, with the stick poking out of his right cheek, “is the easiest colour to remember. it’s the colour of happiness and home and summer and flowers and. . . and goddamn lemonade!” felix declared, spreading his arms open as if to hug the skies.

you knew exactly what felix meant. everything that embodied the colour yellow was right there, in that moment, there was no better colour to remember.

you blinked and after a breath, you grinned and yelled out to up above, “like goddamn lemonade!”

“LEMONADEEE!”

the two of you began making yelling and whooping to absolutely no body other than yourselves. after a few moments of jumping around, he captured you into a gentle hug. you only squeezed your arms harder.

he paused. “you know you’re one of my first friends in a long time?” felix asked. “and graduation just happened. great.” his tone was sarcastic, but the truth hurt you just as hard.

you thought about the alleged “friends” you used to run with, the petty girls who always found themselves in drama. the ones that you completely changed yourself for. the ones who no longer had a place in your life.

you thought about felix. he felt like home. you met him too late.

“you’re one of mine, too.” you wondered if being a friend was all that felix thought of you. you thought back to the day you kissed him and he responded positively. you thought about the friendship bracelet now laced and bound to your body. maybe, that’s what you needed him more as. “what happened to your old friends?” you were attempting to change the topic.

was that a mistake? felix cleared his throat. “well, there used to be nine of all of us back then . . .” he trailed off and instead made a spot for himself on the ground. he sat crosslegged and began playing with the nearest flower.

there was a story to everything. experiencing it is the worst, but explaining the breakdown to someone else was just as bad sometimes. you saw the way felix struggled to piece it together, so you merely shook your head and sat beside him. it could wait another day.

“i can’t believe i never knew about this place,” you said.

felix replied, “it’s probably for the better. it wouldn’t be this pretty if a bunch of random high school kids found it.” he cocked his head towards the forest, the lollipop still dangling from his mouth.

in one fluid motion, you swiped it and stuck it into your own mouth with a grin.

“hey!” felix exclaimed, completely taken aback. he began laughing, though, and a playful look shone in his eye.

before you knew it, you were underneath him. of course, not in that way, but the idiot managed to tackle you to the ground in the same way he had done at the beach. you gasped for laughter as he did so, holding you down with tickles.

you somehow slid from the position below him and held your hands up in defeat. “i’m sorry!” you giggled.

felix couldn’t help it. you looked ethereal against clusters of flowers and the best colour in the world. he couldn’t see it, but he felt it. the list of good things associated with it was now changed: happiness, home, summer, lemonade, and now, you.

he pressed a kiss to your cheek.

“i thought we were friends?” you countered, smugly. you really didn’t care what you were, all that you knew was that you were drunk on felix’s presence. it wasn’t love or lust, but a comfort that you were addicted to.

“we can be whatever you want.” felix picked a sunflower, one of a smaller size, and held it out to you.

#kwritersworldnet #lee felix imagine #lee felix scenarios #stray kids x reader #stray kids imagines #lee felix x reader #stray kids au #stray kids scenarios #stray kids fanfic #— COLOUR THEORY.

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zebrabaker · 4 years

Text

Choosing Destiny; Part 2

Here ya go!!

“Um, hi” Raven said, “My name is Raven um- Queen, it’s nice to meet you.” holding out her hand.

“My name is Epel, oh- Felmier, it’s nice to meet you too,” He shook her hand “Sorry if I’m awkward, this would normally be Vil’s job. He’s our dorm leader.”

“Ah, I understand. I’m pretty awkward myself. So, any tips on how to survive here at Night’s Raven? I’m pretty new around here”

“Well um- always avoid Azul. He’s the dorm head of Octavinelle, he loves to make these “deals” with people,” The boy spoke, leading Raven down the halls, “Oh, Also! steer clear of Riddle, he’s the dorm leader of Heartslaybul. There, the students have to follow a bunch of made up rules and if you don’t, Riddle gets mad!” and through twisting corridors, passing a cafe of sorts. They reached the dormitory, tall brick walls surrounded by thin pathways and evergreen trees.

“This is the Pomefiore dorms. You and I are going to be on the top floor, since we’re first years. We share the two bathrooms with every other first year” Raising his hand, he swiped a key card against the keypad, opening the door “The bathroom cleaning is handled by students, but magic is used, so we don’t have to scrub anything, lazy pricks.”

Raven didn’t seem to hear Epel’s afterthought; her attention was on the lavish lounge they walked into, polished chandeliers hung from the ceiling, white rugs with floral embroidery.

The chairs and tables filled to the brim with boys scattered about, studying, playing, talking, strangling each other wait what-

“There you are Epel! Today is your day to help repair the- who is this?” A boy with long icy blonde hair had come storming over, beginning to berate Epel before he noticed her.

He had flawless eyeliner.

“Hello! I’m- Raven Queen. It’s nice to meet you!” The boy stopped and stared at her for a moment. “I was placed here in Pomefiore, the mirror thingy said that it was because I was the Evil Queen’s daughter”

“Deep apologies, did you just say, ‘Evil Queen’s daughter’?” He asked.

“Er, yup.” Raven awkwardly rubbed her neck, heat crawling. “Apparently you guys call her the ‘beautiful queen’ here? Sorry, I’m new to Twisted Wonderland, I’m from Ever After” looking over her shoulder, she could see the students staring at her. The boy stood, gaping at her before being interrupted by Rook Hunt, who had bounded to them.

“Mademoiselle! It’s wonderful to see you again! How is your ankle?”

“I’m fine now, thanks for asking. I’m actually gonna be a new student, I start classes tomorrow... I think so anyway. The headmaster didn’t make it clear, he’s strange. Not as bad as Giles, but still pretty hard to understand.” Raven giggled, and the three boys couldn’t help but blush, she sounded like bells.

“Come on now, there should be an empty dorm on our floor.” Epel said, gently grabbing Raven’s hand, tugging her towards the staircase.

“Tch! Fool.” Vil scoffed. “This girl is the descendant of the Beautiful Queen; she can not just stay in a common dorm!”

“That is true, but where else should she stay, Vil? Pomefiore is quite packed.” Rook pointed out.

“There are two rooms for dorm leaders, I use the second as a staging room for my photos, Princess Raven-”

“Just Raven is fine”

“can stay there, I would never put the daughter of the Beautiful Queen in some commoners dorm!” Epel swallowed a scowl.

“If you could follow me, Princess, I can show you where you shall be staying” He turned on his heel at the other boys, he clapped getting everyone’s attention “Louis, Benard, Trachov-” they snapped off their seats and quickly came to Vil’s side.

“-Rook and Epel, you all will help move my equipment.” Raven was frozen for a moment, as the three boys from the lounge stood before her and bowed. Her greetings evaporated in her mouth.

“It is a delight to be in your presence” The first boy said.

“It’s nice to meet you too.”

“Sorry to be blunt, but you’re beautiful.” The second smiled in a charming way.

“Oh! Uh- thank you.”

“It’s an honor to have you in our dorm.” The third boy pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.

“It’s great to be here.” Raven quickly nodded back before following the group of boys up the stairs. She shied away from the curious stares of the other boys in the common room, how they had all perked when Vil had snapped at Epel, hungry for drama.

The room was much larger than expected, with a giant four-poster bed in the center left, while the far wall held a desk, a massive vanity, and a small dresser. On the right was a walk-in closet, and what looked like a private bathroom. Next to the door was a large marble fireplace, with a loveseat in front of it. It was a room that screamed ‘Vil was here!’.

Scattered around the room was photography equipment and make-up brushes, and many, many make-up palettes. Raven gasped a bit, in awe of the view through the windows. She could see over the woods for miles, all the way to the horizon.

“I apologize if it isn’t up to your standards, Princess Queen.” Vil spoke, bowing low at the waist

“Please, just, call me Raven. Where I’m from I’m not exactly considered noble.”

Raven laughed a little at the self-deprecating joke, leaving the boys stunned.

“Still, you are a direct descendant of the Beautiful Queen! You ought to be admired, revered even!” Vil was walking around, tidying up the room as he went, piling make-up palettes and brushes and styling tools into Rook’s arms who quickly shoved it to one of the other boys.

“Tell that to the kids at Ever After.” Raven scoffed, sitting on the edge of the bed, it was comfy, too much lace though. “So, what do you guys do for fun around here? Is there, like, a village square or a mall or something?”

“Could you sit up Miss Raven?” The first boy from earlier said.

“We’re trying to remove the sheets.” The second explained. Raven turned to the two students.

“Oh really, no it’s fine!”

“I asked them to,” Vil responded, noticing her dislike for lace. “continue as you were, please” he muttered something to the boy next to him.

“So anyways... if I was at home, I would be getting ready for Thronecoming, decorating my float for the parade, getting my dress tailored for the party Briar would be throwing…I really hope Maddie is okay.” she said, sitting back down on the newly changed covers.

“Pri- Raven, what’s a ‘Thronecoming’?” Epel asked, placing a light outside for someone else.

“Thronecoming is a huge parade held every year a week after Legacy Day. Each student gets to decorate a float for a parade, and that night we have a huge party. It’s the kick-off of the school year.”

“And ‘Legacy Day’?” Rook asked, still holding a teetering pile of beauty supplies, as the third boy struggled with the same task.

“That’s…complicated.” Raven sighed, flopping back onto the bed. “See, Ever After High is a school hex-clusively for the children of fairy tale beings, from prince charmings to wicked witches.” Everyone in the room was now listening, a few passer-by's stopping to investigate. “Every student, in their second year, signs what we call ‘The Storybook of Legends’. Once you sign, you’re magically fated to follow the path of your ancestors in life, be it eating a poison apple or sleeping a hundred years”

‘how dreadful’

‘eating a poisoned apple doesn’t sound bad, I’ve had quite a few’

“Louis, mind sharing your thoughts? You look distracted”

“Oh no, not at all. Deepest apologies for my offence, Princess”

“Really- it’s fine,” Raven sighed, I'm never gonna get used to this “Princess” spiel.

“My mother’s line is that of the Evil Queen from Snow White’s tale. A lot of people think that since it’s my supposed to be my destiny to poison my best friend and marry this- guy! He's so- old. But…I didn’t sign. The complicated part is, the Headmaster of Ever After High, Headmaster Grimm, told me that if I didn’t sign the book, everyone involved in the Snow White story would disappear from existence.”

She stood up, furious.

“And, well, I obviously didn’t!” Raven puffed out her cheeks, before hissing out air like a leaking tire.

“That’s…a lot to put on a sixteen-year-old.” Epel muttered.

“Fourteen.”

“What was that, Raven?” Rook asked.

“I’m fourteen. My birthday was a few days before school started. I was castle-schooled for most of my life, so I got to skip two grades. All the make-up and heels makes me look older.” Rook shot Epel a bewildered look. This girl was fourteen, and had almost been married to a man in his- what? fifties? That was…repulsive!

“Well, you’re safe here with us, Raven!” Rook chirped, everyone followed.

“You can expect nothing less from us!”

“Trachov, the boxes.” Vil snapped.

“Apologies, Vil.” So, he was Trachov, the last one is Benard then.

“Indeed. One so lovely as you are, deserves only gold! After all, beauty holds power.” Vil sniffed, checking his eye makeup in the vanity (it was flawless, as always).

“Thanks, but I’m really nothing special” Raven blustered, cheeks painted red.

“Nonsense!” Vil snapped. “You have a fair complexion, a flawless facial structure, full lips that look to be naturally red, unique coloured, large eyes, and you’re petite enough to be considered cute.” Raven looked at the other students, they seemed to agree “Add all that together and you truly look like a doll, Raven dear. Now, we need to introduce you to the rest of Pomefiore, and let them ask their questions so that they keep their hands off you tomorrow, you would not want them intruding in your studies”.

Benard- she thinks that’s right- arrived back in the room with a plate of cookies, he handed them over to Vil before leaning against the wall with Louis and Trachov.

“Remember to restrain yourself, usually I only allow confection sparingly but, I can make an exception for you”

Raven nodded and munched into them, it was simple but very tasty.

“Thank you, Benard- Oh they left”

“Vil asked them to get the Pomefiore students,” Raven jumped at the presence of Epel next to her, then she noticed him eyeing her plate of cookies.

“You can have them.”

“Really?!”

“Epel, the noise” Epel turned to Rook with a look, accepting Raven’s plate.

“And just so you know, Benard’s his last name, same with the other two”

Just when it seemed to get quiet, Raven saw the three who left sprint past the door screaming all sorts of profanity and laughing their lungs out.

“Quiet down out there!” Vil snatched up his jacket and chased after the boys.

Then, it dawned on Raven. they treated her differently, was going to be Ever After High all over again? small tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.

“Oh mademoiselle,” Rook saddled to her side, cupping her cheeks, “There is no need for tears.” Epel sat down by her side.

“Pomefiore can sometimes be hectic, so don’t worry.” The shorter boy reassured her.

“No, it’s not that. It’s just-” She sniffled a little, trying to stay calm. “I just want to be normal, treated normally.”

“If that is what you want,” They gasped, Vil was already back. “then tell them. You are a part of us too” He joined Raven, Epel moving out of the way, “You have what it takes, and you will do what it takes” They stood up, Raven’s eyes glinted.

“Why else are you here?” a small hug, among the four of them.

“Rook, Epel, go down with everyone else. I need to touch up Raven’s makeup. Your mascara is smeared, dear.” Rook and Epel left, and Vil guided Raven to sit in front of the vanity. From his pockets he withdrew a small pack of makeup wipes and gently stripped off her old mascara, before having her close her eyes and applying a new coat.

“There we are. Now, if you’ll follow me, Raven. Our audience awaits!” Vil clapped with a dramatic flourish, and Raven couldn’t help but giggle. Maybe being stuck here wouldn’t be so bad after all… in fact, it was going to be great.

@sayuricorner @keiwahikari

#ever after high #ever after high salt #twisted wonderland crossover #salt #writing prompt

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amphtaminedreams · 4 years

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A/W 2020 Fashion Month: Before Vogue Went Blank

Hi to anyone reading,

I’m sorry this post is so late! I really have no excuse apart from all my mental energy being taken up by shooting and editing my Euphoria lookbook up until now and me being too much of a lazy, nap-loving twat to face the mammoth task of a fashion month review; honestly, by the time it’s done, it’s like a dissertation-level amount of characters, so let’s say the final push to get this out is in sympathy with all my 3rd year friends I started uni with finishing their ACTUAL dissertations.

Things have got scary since I originally started saving the photos for this post, and the world has been turned upside down. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the likes of which have not been seen since the Spanish Flu, Italian Vogue’s April cover was blank. As I’m writing this, 26,000+ people have died of coronavirus in Italy, the worst affected country behind the U.S in terms of sheer numbers ( though quick update: as I post this, I’m pretty sure our incompetent prick of a PM has made sure we’re up there too). Proportionally, the actual death rate is even higher, along with a handful of other European countries. There have been some complaints made about the cover and it’s supposed “lack of imagination”; all I know is that in a country whose death toll accounts for 10% of worldwide coronavirus deaths, something of a visual silence feels appropriate.

That being said, for me, writing is one of the only things giving me a sense of purpose right now. Yeah, surprise surprise, working in a grocery store isn’t all that fulfilling. Who would’ve thought it? So what better time to reflect on a time when all the rich people of the world were going about their lives as usual and sitting front row at fashion week rather than crying on Instagram live to their millions of followers about how trapped they feel in their 10 bedroom mansions.

I’ve got to say, this year’s A/W offerings were a lot better than I expected, mostly due to the fact that I’m not generally a big fan of winter fashion; it’s hard to be disappointed given my preconceptions! There’s only so many knits and coats and jeans you can see before it begins to get a bit tiring, and I expected that to be reflected in the presentations. Fortunately, even the brands which are known for their bohemian, Coachella-esque collections generally managed to translate that into something recognisable and consistent on the runway whilst actually being weather appropriate. Of course, there were a few disappointments-I’m sure if I say one of them begins with D, you can guess which brand I’m talking about-but that was more than made up for by the standouts. Gucci in particular was my 2013 Tumblr wet dream and the Moschino show was what I can only describe as a live continuation of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, though I’ll stop with my praise there and wait til I get to actually reviewing before I go overboard with kissing Alessandro Michele’s ass. And on that note, in chronological order, I’ll get one with the reviews! First up, Acne:

Continuing on a winning streak when it comes to catering to my personal preferences (if someone tries to tell me designers don’t care about my personal preferences I’m going to whack out that “just found out the world doesn’t revolve around me, shocked and upset” Marina Diamandis tweet), Acne once again channels futuristic hippy commune living in a dystopian wasteland. I know, those are very specific personal preferences

I love the shredded hems and the burnt velvet, the rawness of it all, and the baroque/your-nan’s-wallpaper patterns are actually a surprisingly nice touch. I imagine if Giselle from Enchanted had to make her dresses out of a thrifty goth’s curtains rather than an upper-middle-class New Yorker’s, they’d look something like this collection. You’ve even got the odd bit of classic fresh Scandi tailoring in there with the oversized coats and blazers which holds it back from being a bit TOO flea market. Plus, the renaissance painting detailing on the black leather-look coat is a stunning detail as well; I’m so glad it seems this trend is here to stay, why wouldn’t I want random nude bodies all over my clothes?

As for the styling, I can’t get enough of the tousled hair. As an eternally tired person who can't be arsed to pick up a brush most of the time, I feel represented. Along with the outfits, it says “I’m an art student/transient painter in the 70s living in a city loft who smokes a lot of weed and does acid on the regular” and that is a life worth manifesting.

Alberta Ferretti was dreamy, and a perfect example of how to translate the bohemian aesthetic of their S/S show to A/W. Somehow despite the furs, ruffles (pussy-bows under tailored jackets and knits/generally heavier pieces always looks really chic imo), tulle, metallic tapestry style prints and chunky jewellery, it all still looks very effortless, like a natural continuation of what we saw last summer; the typically masculine structure of the oversized suits with the ornate patterns and the accessories lends to the careful navigation along the line where maximalism and minimalism meet, the looks as practical as they are decorative. Picture it: you work some high-flying, powerful job in the city, commute on a motor cycle and roll up in one of these suit sets. This collection is for the edgy businesswoman who is completely comfortable telling all the twattish males she works with where to stick it and I want to be her.

The evening gowns are, of course, stunning too. In this analogy where I am a powerful businesswoman and not a pushover who works at a grocery store right now and only beefs with rude customers, I would be wearing one of them to the boujie work Christmas party. The ruffled dresses remind me of something Valentino would put out with the colour palette and the ruffles, and whilst we’re on the topic of colour palettes, this one is beautiful. The lilac and hot pink is SO right.

Though predictable, Alessandra Rich is just as much of a treat as usual, the first brand you’d go to if you were styling a throwback it-girl, Chanel Oberlin in Scream Queens if it took place 30 years earlier. Reminiscent of an amalgamation of vintage Chanel and Versace, there are so many cute details I love here, from the white tights with the black heels and the double breasted blazers to the gold chainlink belts and the pearls. The tartan suits with the shoulder padding are very Heathers, the prints the best of your mum’s 80s wardrobe, and nobody else out there is doing bows as well as this; these are the outfits that prissy bitch wears in the cartoons of my childhood that turn out to actually be quite good fashion inspo 15 years later, Trixie Tang from Fairly Odd Parents I’m looking at you.

This girl was the blueprint.

I think someone like Lilly Collins or Daphne Groeneveld would be an ideal fit for any of these looks, or Lana Del Rey if she wanted to stop serving us middle-aged suburban soccer mom and took us back to those H&M ad campaign days. Lana stans please don’t come for me for saying that, I am one of you; I say this because I love her. It’s all altruistic.

Whilst I admittedly didn’t love it as much as last summer’s, I really enjoyed the Alexander McQueen collection too, plus I had a better idea of what to expect this time round; no, we’re not gonna get a repeat of the Plato’s Atlantis show but we do always get some beautiful pieces. Again, like with Alberta Ferretti, this seems like a natural continuation of what we saw in the summer, just with adjustments made for the colder, darker, and altogether moodier months. A/W being the gothier older sister of S/S, it seems right that a lot of the looks turn their back on the ethereal, almost fairy-like feel of what we saw before and embrace the vampier side, reds and blacks (the ultimate Bratz Rock Angels colour combination), plenty of dramatic structures and formidable suit sets. It’s punk but it’s classy, and even with the lighter pieces, we’ve got the grunge inspired harnesses on top to contrast with the elegance and effectively, toughen the whole look up, something Gucci does well too.

The patterned suits with the clunky boots in particular are very cool and I need a gun metal grey heart detailing harness, but undoubtedly the MOMENT of this collection is Adut Akech in what appears to be a silver chainmail dress. She looks like an Amazonian goddess, and whilst I could never dream of pulling something like that off myself, I could happily admire her in it for hours.

There wasn’t much to get excited about at Altuzarra. The collection was very elegant for sure and the feathered belts are cute but it was all quite pedestrian and nothing new-the only detail I really like is the cut out on the second dress from the left, 3rd row down.

As for Anna Sui:

I’m not altogether sure why I wanted to review it. A lot of the outfits as a whole are a bit messy, and not in that avant-garde, expensive-looking Margiela kind of way, just in a “how many fabrics can we possibly get on this model” kind of way. Plus, the styling seems weirdly outdated-a lot of the jewellery looks like the kind of thing you’d see if you searched “gothic choker” on Ebay and ordered the results from low to high, and the makeup and hair in particular is very 2012 Tumblr fashion blogger. Backcombed hair and red lipstick? We’ve got a Zoella thumbnail on our hands.

When the collection did go down the bohemian route though (and when that route wasn’t a failed attempt at what Etro does a lot better), there were a few nice pieces and prints. I mean you really can’t go wrong with a teal fur trimmed coat.

Ashish, on the other hand, took their aesthetic from a similar era and did it a lot more creatively and kookily; this collection looks a lot more deserving of being on a runway. The prints are so loud and costume-y that at times the garments risk looking like something you’d wear at a decades themed dress up party, but they’re saved by understated and much more commercial silhouettes, plus some gorgeous hair and make up. On the whole, very groovy, unintentional disco queen, despite the few risks that didn’t quite pay off.

Next is a brand I always look forward to. In the words of Myrtle Snow:

BALENCIAGA!

Seriously though, if any brand knows how to blend costume and high fashion, it’s them. They take over-the-top, almost absurd silhouettes and turn them into theatre. This year we’re taking it in the direction of Phantom of the Opera, I guess? Dracula? The Woman in Black? An off-broadway production of Harry Potter where Snape is the protagonist? Whatever the direction of the collection is, I live for the dramatics of it all. Demna Gvasalia got these models walkin’ down the runway like they’re members of the Volutri, which is a reference you should all understand given the renaissance Twilight is having online atm.

Straight off the bat, I adore the staging, and all the models are exquisite-the theme of the show was climate change, and I always love when there’s a story behind the presentation of the clothes. I can’t imagine how amazing this must have been to witness in person, though I’m guessing equal parts mystical and intimidating. There are so many things I love here: billowing coats, cinched in waists, the pattens that are sprinkled sparingly in amongst the black, and the bloody shoulder pads that almost run PARALLEL to the model’s necks. This is really a collection that Myrtle Snow would be proud of and brb whilst I get rid of my padlock necklaces in favour of putting whatever meagre amount I can get for them on Depop towards a Balenciaga padlock belt (as if, lol, I don’t even think selling my soul would cover it).

And then there’s Balmain, which isn’t always the fashion critic’s favourite, but which I do tend to like.

I mean there are some really good takeaways here-though the 80s inspired suit, as wearable as they are, can get a little repetitive, they are staples which here seem to pave the way for Olivier Rousteing to try something new for the brand. The moulded breast plates (reminiscent of the Tom Ford one Zendaya wore though I’m not sure which came first!), for example, along with the Matador-style capes and the flowing silk dresses are the most glamorous incarnation of Lara Croft one can possibly imagine, probably just as equally suited for a Roman goddess as they are for an Assassins Creed style action heroine. And yes, I am aware of the fact that Tomb Raider and Assassins Creed are two separate games, okay! I just don’t know enough about the visuals of either to firmly plant this collection in the camp of either one, so I’m going down the crossover route with it!

Not to say there weren’t any bad choices-I omitted a good portion of the looks that were shown; there were definitely pieces that I found to be a little tacky, particularly a recurring chain print which has got to be one of my least favourite patterns out there. Overall, though, it’s gonna be the richly coloured art-deco prints, the wet-look boots and the gem-encrusted scorpion brooch which stick with me, so I’ll let it slide.

Bottega Veneta was very meh; even of the looks I picked out, there are a lot I’m now looking back at and wishing I hadn’t included. Some of the men’s pieces are nice, sure, and I feel like one of those vaguely sick, victorian ghost looking male celebrities everyone obsesses over (Timothée Chalamet and Dane DeHaan I’m looking at you) would make those suits on the second row look fine af, but it’s mostly the womenswear that I’m here for and on this occasion it wasn’t great. A couple of the coats are nice and that’s about it. Like I really had to act as if the tassels weren’t there on a lot of the clothes and go from there because I really don’t like them in this context and if I was to veto looks purely on one of the garments having tassels, there’d be nothing to show or reference when giving my opinion on the show. They were EVERYWHERE. In a summer collection, done right, they can be a nice detail but here they just feel unnecessary and if I’m being honest, are quite ugly.

Thank god for Brock taking the sour Bottega Veneta tassel taste out of my mouth. Never a let down. Literally, everything they put out sends me into a daze of imagining I’m in some romantic drama wearing one of the pieces, in a man’s idea of “no makeup”, running round in a field looking forlorn and windswept because my ghostly lover has-

Okay, you get the picture. I’ve never read Wuthering Heights, but it goes something like that, right? If not, lets just say envisioning myself in any of these catapults me straight into some period drama where I’m born into wealth and sit by my mansion window looking sad all the time and writing poetry and lusting over some stuffy upper-class man I can’t have and who is probably played by Colin Firth because I’m pretty sure that’s what happens in most of them (about to enrage my future English lit undergraduate sister with that line).

Nobody does modest, muted sexy to such a masterful degree. I mean, when Maison Marigela did face veils I was just mildly afraid, but here they’re subtle enough that they’re quite beautiful and almost other-worldly, acting as some kind of boundary between this world and the past that Brock aims to recapture through its designs-the red lip popping out from underneath is a perfect touch too. I don’t like it AS much as the summer collection but I would say that’s solely on the basis of the more autumn/winter appropriate colour scheme and the heavier fits, which is just a personal preference. I mean, I’m usually not a fan of empire waistlines at all and Brock even manages to make that work.

Burberry this season was a real mixed bag, mostly due to the styling. There are some really gorgeous, London back alley vintage shop looking pieces, especially the 70s style coats, reminiscent of outerwear a slimy record exec would've worn back in the day repurposed by someone like Alexa Chung or Zoe Kravitz or whichever effortlessly cool woman it is we all want to be-also the private boy’s school rugby gear looking shit is classic Burberry and I’m a fan of that, even though it’s not the most inventive or exciting. I just don’t get why there had to be SO much ill-fitting plaid over ill-fitting plaid. Again, like with Bottega Veneta, I thought the menswear was a lot stronger; whilst I wasn’t really wowed by anything, it seemed a lot less forced, whereas a few of the womenswear looks gave me the vibe of a design team desperately grasping onto some ill-conceived ideas of street style and relevancy.

The design team at Carolina Herrera for example, know their niche. They never try to be something they’re not, always sublimely preppy and pretty and predictable-when it comes to target market, the bag is reliably secured. Laid- back princess dresses never get old for those constantly “summering” in one expensive coastal town or another, for the rich American moms attending charity galas and the Spencer Hastings and Blair Waldorfs of the world; women with glossy hair and fresh faces who act as if they woke up looking like that polished but are actually anal as hell and take 2 hours to get ready and would NEVER, I repeat NEVER, shit in a public toilet.

Yes, I managed to worm toilet habits into a review of a Carolina Herrera collection. I’m sorry. Enough with the pearl clutching.

Next is Celine:

I mean, when there are THIS many looks, it’s hard not to find something you like, and though VERY predictable and verging on lazy when you’re putting out the same shit every collection, Celine’s aesthetic is so similar to my own ideal style, it’s hard to be mad at it. That being said, a lot of the pieces, as per usual, came across as cheap YSL knock offs; the overall outfits are cute, but the more you look at the details-it particularly pained me to include a metal bow belt and an ill-fitting velvet skater skirt but I liked the rest of the outfits-the worse it gets. Please, PLEASE someone drive it home to Hedi Slimane, I’m begging you: QUALITY NOT QUANTITY. I get what he’s going for, 70s hipster Jane Birkin is a vision I can very much get behind, but not when it seems to be so rushed.

With the men’s looks, you can get away with it a lot more; when so much of menswear is so plain and unchanging, the slightest hint of Mick Jagger is enough to make a outfit edgy. But even then, I still feel like we’re seeing a load of variations of the same outfit. There are always some pieces that catch my eye, this time round the capes and the velvet blazers, and I would wear most of these things, sure, however I don’t think the combinations SHOULD necessarily look like something I’d personally put together; a runway collection is supposed to be aspirational and cutting edge, not pedestrian (entirely intentional self-drag, lol). Also, side note, the lack of diversity really bothered me. 111 looks and not one of these models has a body type that is naturally achievable for most people. It’s 2020 for fuck’s sake. I’m tired.

SO, let’s liven things up a bit with the Central Saint Martins collection, a breath of fresh air in terms of diversity (though a few more plus-size models would be nice):

As a former University of London student, I hate to heap praise upon them. If you’ve studied in London as well, you’ll know CSM students are ANNOYING. I mean, I’m sure they’re lovely as individuals but you can’t fully understand the meaning of the word pretentious until you’ve seen a group of them at a Uniqlo Tate Late. That being said, they are very good at what they do and I’m so glad that Vogue Runway includes them; this is what Off-White thinks it is, and really it makes sense that a bunch of current fashion students are able to come together to present one of the most experimental and forward-thinking shows of this season.

And let’s talk about the RANGE. From catsuits worthy of comic book heroes to dresses Twiggy would’ve worn in a 1960s editorial, every subgenre of fashion has been fully delved into here. Whilst we’ve got the adrogyny of the suits and suspenders combo and kitschy gender-bending co-ords David Bowie would be proud of, at the other end of the scale we’ve also got models walking down the runway dressed like wood nymphs or some other kind of siren-like creatures. There’s looks that wouldn’t be out of place in a Gucci or Come Des Garcons collection but at that same time would be equally at home in a Berlin techno club.

Honestly, credit where credit’s due-it was a really interesting show and I wouldn’t expect anything less.

Chanel was quite literally the polar opposite of the CSM show.

Very blah.

It’s crazy because before you properly get INTO fashion, Chanel is like the epitome of style. And then you do, and you see the runway shows get lazier and lazier (with some exceptions) every year, and you realise that same prestige that had you aware of Chanel at the age of 7 or 8 is literally all that’s keeping the brand going at this point. I’m not saying the collection is flat out ugly, a lot of it’s cute, but you’re CHANEL for fuck’s sake. Yeah, I like the crucifixes but SCALLOPED HEMS!? No. I do NOT recall travelling back in time to witness Primark’s Spring 2013 collection on the runway and I am NOT having it.

It’s not at all surprising that a lot of the time newer brands Charlotte Knowles (above) tend to be more interesting than those more established-and yes that was a Chanel indirect if the transition wasn’t obvious.

With no room to rest on laurels or reputation, everything has to be bolder and smarter and more distinctive and most importantly, has to appeal to its target market with the fervour of an L.A sign spinner. I only found out about Charlotte Knowles because of a Vogue article citing her as Bella Hadid’s new favourite brand to wear, and once I saw the collection, it was clear why; daringly modern, slick, and edgy is both her street style (say what you want about her as a model but her outfit game is unbeaten) and Knowles’ USP to a T. If Dion Lee, Off-White, GCDS and Acne had an orgy, this would be the result, and that is a GOOD compliment.

Next, Chloe:

Not a huge amount to say, to be honest. Low-key, wearable, and cute. Like Emma Roberts’ Nancy Drew if she did an autumn exchange program at the Sorbonne and studied art history, libraries and coffee shops on the weekdays and galleries and protests at the weekend. On reflection, that definitely makes this collection sound more exciting than it is but there are some effortlessly beautiful pieces here. The 4th row in particular is full of stand outs-the vest with the watercolour faces on with the shirt underneath is perfection, and the burgundy suit with the saffron ruffled collar peeking out from underneath is adorable and not at all reminiscent of the Ronald McDonald inspired nightmare that any combination of red and yellow tones should theoretically be.

As for Christian Siriano, I see why people hate it, I really do. I understand that it seems kinda unfair to have it show the same week as Brock and Rodarte and Oscar de La Renta. We’re talking 2 very different kinds of quality here. BUT, at pure face value, his clothes are FUN, plus Coco Rocha will always have a special place in my heart as someone who lived on The Face and America’s Next Top Model and every show that could possibly give me an unhealthy body image ever.

Like are you telling me you wouldn’t wear these dresses to a party!? Live a little. They just need tailoring...which ideally would be done BEFORE the model’s walking down the runway in it but...you know...can’t have it all.

Christopher Kane is a show I always look forward to.

I would say his designs are the only thing that make geometry look fun but I’m going to expose myself and admit that would be a lie because I actually found geometry really fun. Trigonometry was my shit, lol.

He is a designer who perfectly demonstrates that juggling interseasonal consistency and taking risks can be done. There’s always something DIFFERENT about his collections, fresh and subtly experimental. There are occasionally a few misses, sure, but I’d rather that than for a brand to keep playing safe, plus he never goes too far in the opposite direction either; no going weird for the sake of weird. I don’t like it AS much as the summer collection but it’s mostly because of the more muted, autumn/winter appropriate colour palette.

Comme Des Garçons? Too weird?

Never.

Honestly when it comes to a CDG collection, I have to really shift my perspective to appreciate it. I’m not looking at fashion presentation, I’m looking at a moving piece of experimental art. I know, it’s a stretch. But you know you’ll never be bored by one of their shows. Not gonna lie, this specific collection crossed the line into plain ugly a couple of times for me. We had padding so extravagant it looked like several models were walking round with Ikea pillows stuck to their chest and headdresses reminiscent of the kids’ game Headbandz. In amongst that though, we did get some gorgeous veils like the ones seen above and the shoes and socks combo is actually quite wearable.

I’d say Dilara Findikoglu is the cut-off point after which things get a little too avant-garde for my personal taste, and it hovers over that cut-off point flawlessly; despite the other-worldly elements of her collections, they remain somewhat grounded by nods towards conventional fashion that allow the beauty, be it inner or outer, of the wearer to shine through. Comme Des Garcons garments undeniably have character but they tend to swallow up any trace of the individual underneath, whereas the character of Dilara Findikoglu garments seamlessly merges with the wearer and in turn elevates both to something transcendent and ethereal. If the Pussycat Dolls got transported into a rugged, post-apocalyptic future, they’d scrape together these outfits to perform in, I know it; the energy of the collection, with the body jewellery and the frayed cut outs and the chalk white faces, is very warrior princess, just as raw and intimidating as it is hot as fuck, and I want that energy in my life. Along with a Dilara belt, of course. I would wear her name like a badge of honour anytime she wants. Dilara, pls pls let me be part of your tribe. PLEASE.

Anyway, this is where I thought I’d cut things off, so as to end on a positive note. You know what that means: Dior is coming up. I feel bad knowing my first post was defending Maria Grazia and yet here I am now, looking at the bar down on the floor, but I mean, you never know; maybe girl is doing this on purpose and one day she’s gonna come out with a Gucci level quality show like a phoenix from the ashes.

If you got this far, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING even if you’re just here for the pics. Part 2 will be covering some of my most anticipated shows from Elie Saab, Fendi and Etro to Gucci and Moschino, Miu Miu and Marc Jacobs, and everything in between. Yes, the shitty ones too.

I’m plowing through all the material as quick as I can so I hope to get the next post up really soon, and yes-you can count on the overwhelming sense of needing to be productive pushing me into fulfilling that statement.

Thanks again and I hope you’re well!

Lauren x

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piracytheorist · 4 years

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Drawings (1/1)

Summary: Killian hasn't drawn in ages. With Wish Hook's help and inspiration, he picks it up again.

Note: what is giving titles lol anyways this is short and a bit silly but I had the idea and wanted to share!

Again, for clarification, I’m borrowing the idea used by other authors where “Killian” refers to OG Hook while “Jones” refers to Wish Hook.

Word count: ~1.3k AO3

Killian passes the bag from Granny's to hang from his hook before he pushes open the main door of the sheriff's station. He takes the turn for the office and spots Jones sitting on one of the desks, occupied with writing.

"Hey, mate," he says.

Jones raises his head and gives him a smile. He then nods towards the storage room. "Emma's just finishing."

"Really? I thought I'd need to wait for her." He walks closer to Jones. Is that a notebook he's writing on?

Jones snorts a laugh. "She said your... our, punctuality is rubbing off on her."

Killian laughs. He's about to comment on how having two very punctual deputies would have that effect, but his attention is caught by what Jones is actually doing on the notebook.

He's sketching.

Killian doesn't realize he's transfixed by that simple sketch of a ship sailing on the open seas until Emma calls out to him. Neither her nor Jones seem to notice exactly how transfixed he was.

Killian "catches" Jones sketching again two days later, during a slow, lazy evening shift. Chin resting on his mechanical hand, he doesn't react when Killian stands up from his desk and steps closer. He's sketching the bare back of a female figure, her hands buried in her long, curly hair.

Killian takes a deep breath. His mind fills with memories of Milah posing for him to draw, of him for her to draw... though she always preferred drawing landscapes, painting people frustrated her, the only drawing of that kind that she didn't end up ripping being her own self-portrait. Had he known how early he'd lose her...

"I didn't know you kept up drawing," he says in a low voice.

Jones just shrugs. "I had a lot of time to spend alone in the tower, when Alice was asleep. I remember," he says, pausing on the sketch, "one of the first times I went for a supply run at the nearby village, I found some paper and charcoal, and decided to try picking it up again." He adds a couple of lines before adding, "My first attempts were pitiful. I tried sketching the tower room, the view from the window, my Alice sleeping in her crib. Eventually I just fell into it again. By the time Alice was old enough to draw shapes, I had practiced enough to reach the level I was in when I'd stopped." He turns to look at him and immediately grows worried. "Are you alright?"

Killian realizes how he must be looking. To Jones' eyes he's probably an open book. He sighs weakly. "I... I guess I hadn't realized I've been missing that."

Jones fidgets with the pencil in his hand. "It wasn't easy for me to start again, either."

The good thing with being friends with... himself is that a lot of things don't need explanation.

He remembered sketching as a kid; not so much during his time in servitude, then the occasional doodle when he was in the Navy, then it was with Milah that he spent the most time on it. She'd taught him techniques, let him copy her sketches for practice, posed for him to draw... and then she was gone, and any thought of going back on that hurt.

"But when I was thinking of how I had Alice to live for... it felt different." Jones picks up his phone from the desk and after a quick search, he shows Killian a series of charcoal sketches of a baby, then a toddler, then a small child.

Alice, he realizes.

Jones chuckles. "You could call those my 'baby pictures' of her. Alice told me she'd picked up all the sketches she could find in the tower before finally leaving, I had a few on my person but I lost them during my search for a cure..." His eyes fall as he looks at the pictures of the drawings.

Killian rubs softly on Jones' shoulder. "Good thing she kept those, then."

Jones smiles softly. He then straightens his face and looks up at him. "I could help you start again, if you want."

"Well, I-" Killian shrugs. "I do have the luxury of actual baby pictures."

Jones gives him a look that lets him know he's not buying the excuse. He clicks his tongue. "Fine. I don't mind excelling you at something other than our looks."

Killian scoffs, but he knows even that isn't convincing Jones.

Killian gives in only a few days later and invites Jones home one evening when Emma is off to inspect some troublemakers in the Land of Untold Stories while he babysits Hope. They start with Jones guiding him through sketching the vase filled with fresh roses in the living room.

Killian squints at the end product, but Jones reassures him he'll get better at it soon.

The living room. The view of the sea from the attic bedroom, the two Jolly Rogers moored next to each other. His Jolly Roger herself. The flowers Emma grows in their garden.

After a few sketches, Killian realizes he doesn't need Jones' guidance anymore. However, Jones accepts happily every time he invites him to come draw with him.

He finally draws Hope sleeping calmly, that thumb of hers trying to sneak its way past the pacifier to her mouth. As if she feels it, she only wakes up right when he's finished, and he's surprised to actually feel satisfied with the final sketch.

Jones scoffs playfully at him when Killian shows him the sketch.

"What? I think she looks beautiful," Killian says.

"Of course she does. Proves how much of Emma's looks she got," Jones teases him.

Jones laughs at the face Killian gives him.

His first time with watercolours, Jones takes him to the port to paint their ships.

"I started experimenting with colours for the first time when Alice was about three. I wanted to give her more colourful pictures of what she didn't have the chance to see on her own," Jones says.

"Great motivation," Killian comments.

"It made me think of all the colourful paints we'd find in all the exotic ports Milah loved, and why I had never bothered trying out painting with colours back then."

"Huh," Killian says as he prepares his palette by Jones' instructions. "I never thought of that myself."

"That's what I like about this, you know?" Jones looks at him with an earnest smile.

Killian knows he speaks for both of them when he says, "Getting to know ourselves better."

Once again, Jones lets Killian mimic his painting, giving him instructions throughout. He's not satisfied with the end result, but Jones assures him again that it's gonna get better.

"We didn't learn how to use a sword in one day, either," he tells him.

He eventually sticks to sketching, or pale soft colours when he does add them, in contrast to Jones' bright, vivid colours.

"It's interesting," Emma comments on that, "to see how you're still different despite being... almost the same."

"Well, we do have some twenty-eight years of different experiences," Killian says.

"You'd better not mimic my full experience, mate," Jones says.

"Are you kidding? I'll still be the more handsome when we grow old."

Emma scoffs. "I have an idea. How about you paint each other? You can compare the two paintings and decide which one has the most exaggerated ugliness."

"Now that's a competition," Jones says. "As long as Emma is not a judge."

"Are you afraid of losing, Jones?" Killian says.

"Just keeping it fair," he shrugs innocently. "It's your face she sees all the time; perhaps she's grown bored to it."

The pillow Killian was sitting on flies to Jones' direction as he and Emma burst into laughs.

#Killian Jones #Wish Hook #ouat ff #piracytheorist writes

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mymomanddadaregonnabesomadatme · 4 years

Text

Sometimes when Gerry's painting it just hits him like a Wave. The feeling he tries to bury tries to overcome always stuck inside of him wormed into the parts of himself he tries to numb carved too hard into his spirit and when Jon comes home he's Stuck: stood in the middle of their flat and turning, one way, then the other, caught in the middle of something he can't always get out of, painbrush still in hand and clung to his elbow, acrylic drying to his hair as he pivots again, spins clockwise under the weight of his history. Jon tries to be deliberate and clear, not taking him by surprise trying to remember the steps he's supposed to take to make Gerry feel Safe, simple conversation where he's visible and something to drink waiting on the table, when he's ready, and Gerry breathing himself into something closer to the ground as Jon hides his stress, better than ususal, gives him conversation and atmosphere he can use to climb down, ladder strung from rope: one strand always connected. When he sits on the couch and starts to come home to his body he jokes the sad, wet joke of necessity, thankful laugh into absurdity as he pulls at the plastic shellacked to his elbow. Jon only looks a little too worried beside him, hand clung to mug and lips tight at the edges of his smile, but he's mostly doing alright, Gerry thinks.

It's how she ruins his projects, he thinks, then speaks it: coming back through him to hurt him, his progress, his need to escape. So now it's another half-finished canvas, tacky with anger, interrupted brushstroke thick with the energy of a haunted memory.

And Jon has that misplaced sentimentality, misty over the arts and their importance and his fascination with how Gerry speaks through his hands, and so he won't give up on it, asks if Gerry minds if he tries to add to it.

And he almost does, because it's Weird, but he was going to have it staring at him angrily from the corner of the room forever if he let it, and Jon Won't, so he says Okay, because he's still got a bit of that curious bent to him too,

And it's very funny, so he doesn't regret it, Jon's needless intensity as he grinds the brush into piles of paint, shitty ones Gerry knew he couldn't ruin, but he frets at the frayed ends when be notices them anyway. Throws Gerry a little glare when he laughs, heckling comment about using his hand as a palette kept light, because he knows he was The Sad One today so he can get away with it, but Jon's still sensitive, and fragile, and terrified to Try where people can see him fail.

"Hm. That's not very good, is it." He concludes, and Gerry watches the soft panic as he wonders where to put the brush, knows he's Allowed to look now, lazy crawl to Jon's position on the floor. And Gerry Does choke a laugh, but because of the sweetness of it, the naive care in the delicately carved oval, the terror in the small thrush of hair, the sweet stoke of the two dotted eyes.

"Self portraiture...gauche? What do we think?" And Jon pops a hand under his chin, mock seriousness, art connoisseur on a dingy apartment carpet. And he gives way before an answer, self conscious, uneven eyebrows and smile as he explains,

"I thought I could at least get the colour right," And waves his hand, stroke of brown just a touch warmer than his skin, that silent wish for a return to humanity, neighbouring grey as he tried to match his hair, caught on a strand over his face from comparing. It's sweet, almost too sentimental for the both of them, kiss on a part of Jon's neck that makes him laugh, so they can lean into the absurdity, always. But Gerry does feel the lifting of anger, the broken seal, and they both catch one another working idly on it: piece of art not sacred, testing brushes over Jon's painted head and quiet experiments in one corner, when he knows it's okay, and ideas layered one over the other in a quiet reprieve, peaceful solitudes intertwined.

#alright gamer. Sure #jongerry #tma #abuse #kinda? Mary Keay memories etc.

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holosoftheoldrepublic · 4 years

Text

Marriage: Reloaded

(Also available on AO3)

Yniuria was the happiest she had been in a long, long time. When she had gone to Ossus to help the Jedi sheltering there, she had not expected to run into Doc again. And despite everything, a small part of her had feared that he had moved on to someone else when the Eternal Empire separated them. To find that he had remained true to her and was still as in love with her as he had been six years ago had gotten her quite emotional.

She had been sure to reward him quite vigorously after they had returned to Coruscant.

Curled in his arms after, listening to his rapid heartbeat as it slowly calmed, she felt complete. Being a Jedi, helping others and defending them against the Sith, was all well and good, but one could not live with just duty alone. Or at least, she couldn’t. Having someone to come back to made the pressure easier to deal with. When she was with him, the tension all just melted away.

Doc bent forward to give her a lazy kiss on the forehead. “I missed that smile,” he murmured, squeezing her gently.

“Just the smile?” She teased.

“Your smile, your laugh, the way you feel in my arms, the colour of your eyes, your intensity when you’re facing off against injustice, basically everything, really…”

Yn laughed and kissed him. “I missed everything, too.”

“But mostly my rugged good looks, right?” He grinned.

“Oh, yes, especially that,” she replied seriously, able to keep a straight face for about ten seconds before she started giggling, and Doc couldn’t help but join her in it.

They lay contented for a while, basking in each other’s company in silence. Life had been so hectic, and with hostilities resuming between the Republic and the Empire, it would continue to be that way, so they cherished the moments of tranquility that they got.

She realised, lying there, that most of her good memories were tied to Doc. The only other thing that came close was the Jedi Order, but they paled in comparison. While she was still devoted to the Jedi cause, she found herself caring less and less about many of the dogmatic restrictions.

And she didn’t want to hide what made her happy anymore.

“Doc?” She said, nudging him.

“Hmm?” He responded, his eyes closed, possibly half asleep.

“Let’s get married.”

Yn watched a ripple of emotions going over his face, settling on confusing as he opened his eyes and gave her a curious look. “You get a bit rattled on Ossus there, beautiful? We’re already married.”

“By a protocol droid who wiped the ceremony from his databanks,” she said. “And it’s not on any official records which could make things… difficult, legally.”

He absently stroked her arm, thinking. “So, you want it to be more official?”

“Yes.”

“You’re alright with upsetting the Order?”

“With all the things I’ve done for the Order, I think they can overlook a marriage,” she said. “And if they can’t… well, I’ve decided that some things are more important. I don’t want to hide this anymore.”

“Considering that we made out in front of several prominent Jedi, I think it’s safe to say our relationship isn’t a secret anymore, beautiful,” he said dryly.

She stuck her tongue out at him, and he took it as prime opportunity to kiss her deeply.

The discussion was tabled for a little while.

“I should propose to you more often,” Yn panted when they were done.

“How many marriages could we have before it gets too indulgent?” He asked, rolling onto his back with a groan. “I’m out of shape… not as much running around and getting exercise on Ossus, you know…”

“So, do you want to?” She asked, resting her head on his shoulder. “I’m okay if you don’t. We did go through it once already, after all…”

“If it makes you happy, I’ll do anything,” he grinned. “Well, not anything but you know what I mean…”

“When I was little, I sometimes imagined getting married,” she said. “Dressed in a pretty white wedding dress, with my friends and family gathered and lots of good food…”

“Hmm, the wedding dress has a certain appeal,” he said, a far away look in his eyes as he thought up whatever degenerate scenario he had in mind. “Yeah, that would be nice…”

“Archiban.”

“It would be nice to bring everyone together,” he said, tactfully moving on. “A celebration will help keep people’s spirits up, what with the war resuming and all…”

“Good company and good food?” She said, smiling.

“And maybe with a marriage announcement, Kira will come out of wherever she’s been hiding to yell at me,” Doc said dryly.

Yn sighed. “I wish I knew where she and Scourge have been hiding…”

“Sorry I couldn’t keep an eye on them.”

“They’re their own people, and you all had your own problems to deal with, after all,” she said. “I’m sure we’ll find them again.”

He gave her a squeeze, smiling. “So, does this mean I need to break the bank to get you a ring?”

“A black band with a red stone would be nice…”

“What, no diamonds?”

Yn made a face.

“You can get red diamonds, beautiful.”

“Yeah but… they’re ugly.”

Doc snorted, then laughed. “Alright, a red stone that isn’t a diamond.”

“And a black band.”

“You ever think about expanding your colour palette a little, Yn?” He asked.

“No.”

He was useless from laughing for a minute.

“I’m going to invite all of your ex-girlfriends to the ceremony,” she muttered. “Every single one. I’ll pay for their transportation personally…”

“Nooo don’t do that,” he laughed, squeezing her again. “I’ll die...”

“No less than you deserve,” she grumbled. “Making fun of your wife for the colours she likes…”

“You still want a white wedding dress, though,” he said dryly, poking her nose. “Why not have a red and black wedding dress?”

“I want the stereotype!” She said, propping her head up on a hand. “A fancy, flowing white dress and sprays of white flowers covering the marriage hall from floor to ceiling…”

“But a ring with a red stone and a black band.”

“Well I’ll be wearing it after the wedding, so it needs to match my aesthetic…”

“I thought Jedi were supposed to be above that sort of thing.”

“We’re also supposed to be above romantic attachments,” she said, rolling her eyes, “so unless you want me to dump you maybe don’t bring it up.”

“Aw, don’t even joke about that,” he said, kissing her cheek. “I just found you, why would I want to lose you so quickly? I might have to handcuff us together…”

“Well, I’d never have to worry about losing you in combat…”

“So that’s the ring, the dress, and flowers sorted,” he said, ticking them off on his fingers. “What about food? I’m guessing you want a cake.”

“I want the biggest cake physically possible,” she said, looking absolutely serious.

“You planning on giving cake to the whole of Coruscant, beautiful?”

“I want a big impressive wedding to satisfy my younger self, who fantasised about all the things she couldn’t have to make life a little less dreary,” she grumbled.

“Tell your younger self that we’re not made of money, please.”

Yn stuck her tongue out at him again.

“Hmm, tempting, but unfortunately I’m not up to the task yet,” he grinned, wiggling his eyebrows.

“You really are a walking hormone,” she giggled. “Aren’t you in your late 30s now?”

“Shh,” he said, pressing a finger against her lips. “I’m 28 forever, beautiful.”

“You say that, but I’m pretty sure I see some grey hairs…”

“You take that back!”

“Right here, and here, and here…”

“Weren’t we talking about food for the wedding?” Doc complained. “Why are we talking about my nonexistent grey hairs?”

She kissed his nose. “Shouldn’t you come up with some ideas? It’s your wedding, too.”

“I’m not really much of a foodie, love,” he shrugged. “I’ll eat anything put in front of me. Came in handy on Balmorra.”

“Come on, Doc, you almost got married once before, surely you have some ideas?”

“If you recall, I ran from that wedding at the speed of light,” he said with a nervous laugh. “I wasn’t really involved in the planning at all… I’d rather not think about how terrible I used to be, if it’s all the same to you…”

“I’d agree but if you’d married her, we wouldn’t be here now so I can’t help but thank your terrible, younger self.”

“Thanks,” he said dryly.

“As for food…” she thought about it. “I’m not sure, most of the foods I like aren’t what you would consider wedding fare.”

Doc snorted. “It’s your wedding, do whatever you want.”

“Our wedding,” she said absently. “I do like Selkath food… but I don’t think a lot of people would appreciate a largely fish-based meal…”

“You could always have things from a bunch of different cultures,” he suggested. “No matter what you do this is gonna be a bit in the public eye, so you could always make it a gesture of unity and togetherness in these dark times.”

“Why are you pulling politics into our wedding?” Yn complained.

“You’re a Jedi, everything about you is politics,” he grinned. “Besides, having a whole lot of different food would be fun.”

“I’ll leave you in charge of catering then,” she said. “You should be involved in some of the planning, after all.”

“How about music? Can’t be any sort of celebration without music. And decorations, can’t have just flowers… guests… seating arrangements…”

“For someone who said he wasn’t involved in his own wedding you sure know a lot,” she commented.

“Hey, I went to a lot of weddings, you know,” he grinned. “Romance in the air, people emboldened with a bit of alcohol… great place to pick up women… Yn, if you roll your eyes any harder, you’re going to break something. Trust me – I’m a doctor!”

“Is there anyone you want to invite?” She asked.

“I can think of a few buddies from med school… some people I worked with on Balmorra… lot of people from Ossus…” He said. “I am absolutely not inviting any of my exes.”

“It’s a shame you haven’t remained good terms with at least one of them,” she sighed. “You should send out apology messages…”

“I’d be at that for the better part of the decade.”

“Who will you have as your best man?” She asked, deciding to veer away from subject. “Rusk?”

“Oh, stars, no,” he grimaced. “I’ll have to think about it.”

“I would’ve loved to have Kira as my maid of honour,” she sighed wistfully. “I’ll have to ask Sara if she’d be up for it. Did you know that she got married and no one made a fuss about it? How is that fair!”

“I guess it’s different when you’re a barsent.. bareth… uh…”

“Barsen’thor.”

“Yeah that.”

Yn stretched languidly. “We have time to think about it,” she said. “Time to plan things out, invite people, research things… for now, I think we should get out of bed.”

“But it’s so comfy,” he complained.

“Well I’m going to have a shower, and then get breakfast,” she said dryly, slithering out from the covers.

Doc watched her stand and stretch. “You know, maybe I’ll join you for that shower…”

#star wars the old republic #swtor #jedi knight #swtor doc #archiban frodrick kimble #marriage #proposal #fluff #fic #god these two are so cute #and no one stopped me from the garbage title #so there you go #you only have yourselves to blame

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swellwriting · 5 years

Note

part five is soo good ! and i am really curious about the moment of y/n applying the eyeshadow. can you write something about that moment ? if you want to of course ! :)

Thank you, ❤ I was hesitant to add that little part but I got the idea in my head and I needed to add it in there and NOW I get to expand on it even more! Yay!

It’s mid-afternoon, the sunlight is shining through the trees and they are using the natural light to read their comics in silence. They’re in the back seat with their backs pressed against the car doors, across from each other with their legs sort of crisscrossing to fit on the seat.

They are reading comic books that they bought in a big package in a thrift store, the pages are ripped and the corners all folded up but they are readable and that's what's important.

Remus finishes the one he's reading and goes to grab another one but finds something else instead.

“Is this makeup?” He asks as he pulls the little palette of colours out, it's the kind of eyeshadow you get in middle school and just never really throw away because one day you might need that exact shade of bright blue eyeshadow.

“Yes Detective Lupin, that is indeed makeup.” She teases as she lowers the Wonder Woman comic in her hands so she can see him.

“Well sorry, I just feel like I've never seen you wear makeup.”

“I don't usually, mostly because I’m lazy, I didn't even know that was in there.”

He examines it for another moment before putting it away.

Y/n closes her comic and puts it down beside her as she stares at the bag, thinking. A devious smile spreads across her face and Remus notices it before he has a moment to start reading again.

“What?” He asks, slightly nervous.

“Nothing I just,” she pauses and then grabs the bag taking out the small pallet. It's a row of five colours in a clear case. It has that bright bold blue, a blush pink, dark pink, white and deep mossy green, the weirdest assortment of colours.

She looks at it and then looks up at him, he was staring at her confused.

“Are you planning to put some makeup on?” He asks with a chuckle and she nods.

“On you.”

“What?”

“I'm going to put it on you.”

“Wait, what why?” He asks again as a nervous laugh escapes his lips.

“Because I think you'd look funny.”

“Well, in that case, go right ahead,” he says jokingly but before he knows it she’s crawling across the seat, sitting on his lap and holding his chin. There is no stopping her now, he's lost for words at her actions.

She takes the little plastic spongey eyeshadow brush and covers it in a good layer of the blue pigment, it crumbles a bit falling on his cheek and on her fingers before she can get it to his eyelid.

“Close your eyes dummy.”

“Sorry I'm a bit new to this,” he says sarcastically.

She covers both his eyelids messily in the blue colour, it smudges into his eyebrow and the loose powder falls to his cheeks, even more, giving him smudged blue freckles if someone was close enough to see and she was.

“Very pretty.” She compliments with a wide smile that he takes a moment to adore before he replies.

“Thank you.”

“Do you wanna do me now?” She asks innocently and his cheeks turn pink under the smudged blue pigment as he struggles to reply.

“Yeah, yes... sure. What colour do you want?”

“You pick!”

#wdwdn #Anonymous #what do we do now?#wdwdn drabble #drabble #wdwdn ask #cute anon!

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snkpolls · 5 years

Text

SnK S3E13 Poll Results (Manga Reader Version)

The poll closed with 539 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results of the manga reader poll. Anime only watchers are suggested not to read if you do not wish to be spoiled about certain events! Anime only viewers, click here to view your poll results!

RATE THE EPISODE 534 Responses

WIT kicked off the arc fantastically according to the viewers! This episode got overall positive reviews, with 95% of respondents giving it a 4 or 5 rating.

An ideal opening episode in my opinion!

Incredible start for possible the best season yet ♥

Awesome opening episode to set the stage for the arc to come. Pacing was just right, imo.

HYPE MY SOLDIERS

I think it was a great ep and did pretty well with the chapters it adapted. The dialogue was there and so were the scenes, the ending hyped what is coming so much so I'm already in love!

Lack of creavity when it come to the OP and ED visuals, but the ep overall was good.

The soundtrack slaps, voice acting is on point, and the animation proves to be very promising. Overall, it's a great episode to start off the second cour!

Awesome episode with awesome soundtrack.

One of the best episodes of the whole series, which was surprising.

RATE THE OP 533 Responses

Overall respondents liked the new Linked Horizon opening, which was a great summary of the current arc, but overall it fell flat as a song that most would be willing to label as their favorite.

OP depicts the upcoming battle well!

Great adaptation, just wish the opening was a little more original

It is the worst OP of all. The song is disappointing; it sounds like typical, boring song from random shonen series.

The opening definitely had some parts to it that felt recycled from previous openings, but I guess it's just Linked Horizon's way of linking them all together.

SPACE OPERATION RAINBOW!!!

To me it looks like they ran out of time to make an OP so they slapped a green filter on what they had done already.

RATE THE ED 530 Responses

The 104th-centered still-frame ED has some mixed reviews with most of the fandom sitting somewhere in the middle between loving and hating it. Respondents overall are leaning more toward the positive, however.

ED is perfect with the time skip just over the horizon

WE GOT A FEW NEW SAWANO TRACKS. HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT THEM? 530 Responses

Well over half the fandom are already pumped for new music from the series’ composer Sawano Hiroyuki! A whopping 76% already feel that he’s killing it. 22% need more time to decide how they feel. A small sliver of respondents don’t really care for the OST. Who hurt you?

ost perfect as usual

It was good but at this point everything sounds like it's been reused a bunch of times. Hopefully we get some new great tracks later on..

Hyeh

The bassline in the new rendition of "Attack on Titan" (or however Sawano spells it) is amazing. I cannot wait for the S3 soundtrack to be released.

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 532 Responses

The scene with the Beast Titan appearing with his army of titans took 30% of the vote, with Levi attacking Reiner as a close second with 22% of the vote. 10% overall liked the entire episode, and 7% favorited the cliffhanger staredown. We can all agree the battle to come has us all hyped!

I repeated the scene where Reiner appears until the end of the episode tons of times already

Did they really had to skip Levi's frustrated expression after he failed to kill Reiner? It was my favorite moment…

Levi attacking Reiner and everything after that has become one of my favorite scenes in the series. Damn!

Nice Erwin Screentime, nice Levi nyooming behind Eren

Best girl makes her appearance

the last three minutes of the episode where the warriors show up was fucking amazing

ON SCALE OF ARMIN TO ERWIN, HOW GOOD ARE YOU AT GIVING ORDERS? 526 Responses

The majority of respondents relate to Armin’s timid nature a bit more when it comes to overall confidence in giving orders. Just a small 6.3% of you guys feel you have the charismatic swag that Erwin brings to the table.

I loved Armin giving orders politely.

How was Armin overcoming social anxiety a billion times cooler then eren flying over a 60m wall, becoming a titan and basically saving humanity.

ON A SCALE OF 1-5, HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT TO GO HORSEBACK SURFING? 528 Responses

This was in no way a serious question. But at an almost even split, 35.8% of voters would totally try their hand at horseback surfing, while 35.2% would never risk their life doing such a dangerous activity!

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE ANIMATION QUALITY IN PART TWO SO FAR? 529 Responses

Overall respondents are pleased with the animation in the first episode of the RtS arc, with 54% stating that it’s the best animation they’ve seen from the series yet. 42% feel it could be better, but is also not the worst. A small percentage don’t find the animation all that impressive.

I can’t believe how clean all of the animation is looking. SUPER impressed with the difference in art-style compared to season 1 as well.

The animation is on the highest level.

i miss the thick lines the show used to have

i really love the colour palette of this season and the op especially.

IMO the color tones on this episode could've been handled better, it was too gloomy on some scenes :(

The animation & art style was almost as good as season 2’s (which is one of my favorite pieces of animation of all time) but still lacked in some areas.

Looks like they went all out with budget on this season and I'm loving it

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE CG COLOSSAL TITAN IN THE OPENING? 532 Responses

57% of respondents aren’t too upset about the GCI Colossal Titan in the opening and say they don’t mind either way. 35% aren’t happy at all with the decision to make the Colossal CGI, while a few actually find the effect super cool.

ON A SCALE OF 1-5, HOW EXCITED ARE YOU TO FINALLY SEE THIS ARC ANIMATED? 533 Responses

The overwhelming majority are extremely excited to see this arc animated after all these years. With its high levels of action and drama, it’s no surprise to us to see that the fandom is looking forward to getting this arc in an animated form!

IVE WAITED MORE THAN 2 YEARS FOR THIS IM NEVER BEEN SO FUCKING HYPED IN MY WHOLE LIFE

I've waited so many years that I'm satisfied and ready to pass now that my favorite arc is being animated

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE ADAPTATION OF RTS SO FAR? 532 Responses

67% of respondents are feeling very satisfied with the way the arc is unraveling in the anime, finding that it’s a very close adaptation of the original source material. 23% feel that it’s still too early to judge the adaptation properly, and a few less feel that the adaptation so far is somewhere between good and bad.

Fantastic adaptation.

Good pacing jumping right into the action, while staying faithful to the manga.

Overall very good, but could be a TAD better

I think the adaptation so far has been great, but I need to see how the action is handled before I say for sure whether it's well adapted or not.

It was ok.

It was very well-adapted! All the important details were there and nothing important seemed to be missing, which was something I was sad about in the last arc. It seems like everything I want will get covered.

How do we come back from there without breaking my heart?

PART 2 IS SLATED FOR 10 EPISODES. DO YOU THINK THIS WILL BE ENOUGH TO ADAPT THE ARC WELL? 531 Responses

Voters are confident that WIT knows what they’re doing by shortening the amount of episodes that will air for this action-heavy arc, with only ¼ of respondents feeling that they haven’t given themselves enough screen time to cover every last detail. 10% don’t want to say either way.

i was disappointed in knowing it was a 10 episode arc, but seeing the quality and taking into account that this is an action-heavy arc, i'm bouncing off of the walls to see what wit has underneath their sleeve. hopefully they don't ruin the best arc

one advantage of the short season is that they cant draw out the serum bowl for too long. God, that was a painful wait when the manga was dropping those chapters.

Really well done, the pacing in particular was great. After seeing it I was convinced 10 episodes was perfect for this arc. A 6-4 split is perfect.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE VERY SPOILERY OPENING? 532 Responses

61% of respondents agree that the opening, while spoilery, is a great summary and teaser of what is to come for those who only watch the anime. Without context, they can’t know what every last symbolic image in the opening means, after all! 23% of voters expressed distaste at how much WIT is spoiling the viewers, however. 9% aren’t even concerned about it.

The whole opening was just one big “fuck you” to people who don’t read the manga.

it only becomes obvious b/c manga readers keep pointing stuff out. Yes, the intros have always hinted at things but it goes so fast that I don’t think every person will know exactly what something means if they’re anime only.

The Opening is good representation of this phase of the story ending.

I don't get why people are making a big deal over the "spoilers" in the opening when they're not even anime-onlies themselves in the first place.

Man, it only seems spoilery for those of us who know what's coming. Anime onlies don't understand the context of the images, so they can't recognise them as spoilers unless it's directly identified as such! We gotta stop judging this stuff from the perspective of someone who already knows what's coming.

It's definitely not holding back on the indications that'll happen in the arc

HOW DID THE NEW ED MAKE YOU FEEL? 527 Responses

61% of manga readers felt nostalgic seeing the images of the 104th during their trainee days coupled with a somber song. 20% felt sad about the ending, and 15% were just disappointed with the entire thing.

Lazy ending.

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE RED EYES ON THE TITANS? 533 Responses

Just over half of the fandom feel that the red-eyed pure titans was a cool aesthetic to add to show that they are under some form of control by a shifter. 33% feel it’s a cool addition, but not really necessary. 11% don’t care.

I was on board with the red eyes until the cart titan also had them. No longer made any sense.

I don't get why Pieck's eyes are red when she's not a mindless being controlled by Zeke…

Like the red eyes but why does Pieck have them too.

WHICH SCENE FROM THE PREVIEW ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? 530 Responses

Perhaps unsurprisingly, over half of the fandom is most hyped to see the Eren vs. Reiner showdown in Shiganshina. Although not far behind, 28% of respondents are excited about Erwin’s badass unhooding moment as he challenges Reiner.

THUNDER SPEARS FOR NEXT CHAPTER!!!!!!!!!!

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

Even though I totally know what will happen, the episode is written and directed in a way I still get goosebumps and forget I actually know what will happen. And the music, oh god. That's amazing. These two together have a really good effect.

I need the next one RIGHT NOW.

AAAAAHH!!!!

It was an introduction episode, so imo, it's just there to put the basis for the rest of the season. There was a good balance between the "emotionally charged" scenes and the more quiet ones, all this accompanied with an increasing tension in the background.

I wish theyd reanimated the scene of armin talking to eren about the opening instead of just reusing the animation from season 1.

that Zeke smile is like : hey there, i am here to euthanize you all. Love it !

I'm buying tickets into denial islaaand, bye, bye!

Airpipes. AIRPIPES. p.s. cracking soundtrack

Reiner has been enjoying himself some Marley protein, he extra swole now.

Armin was the MVP

PIECK!!!

I don't like the fact that WiT decided to spoil a lot. Some anime onlies already have guessed that Armin is going to be burned and then will become the next CT. So the serumbowl won't be as emotional and exciting for them anymore. I don't understand why WiT decided to do such thing. Don't they want anime-onlies to enjoy the show?

Exactly as expected you'll find a strange titan next to the beasty

I love Mikasa’s improved design and hope they show more of her working in a team like the manga. Focusing on the mission ect without pandering

RIP nameless soldier killed by Reiner.

Very happy to get a glimpse at best girl Pieck

Really no questions about our exactly right girl in this poll ? I am dissapointed :/

Watching this episode is bringing back all the suspense and awe I felt when I read this part in the manga. What a treat to be able to relive it!

They did a great job at keeping the tension and the "well shit everything's about to go wrong" from chapters 73 and 74, and managed to make the explosion at the end worth it, despite the fact I still think Reiner's continued survival throughout the arc is stupid and wish the anime had changed it so it'd be more believable, but here we are.

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 514 Responses

Thank you to everyone who participated! We’ll see you again in a few days!

#snk poll #snk polls #snk spoilers #snk s3 #poll results

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hereticpriest · 5 years

Text

Weather the Storm Part 2

Warnings: NSFW, swearing

@lvngdvns

Natalia was used to short showers like him, but they had learned to indulge together when they had the time. John liked to rub her back to get some of the tension out of her shoulders, and he found himself incredibly fond of washing her hair for her. She would wash his as well and had taken to styling it for him sometimes so that he wouldn’t just slick it back. Shower sex was out of the question purely because John was getting old and Nat had some old injuries that could get worse were she to re-injure herself. He remembered fondly when she had explained that to him. This twenty-seven-year-old woman trying to explain that her time as a gymnast had done permanent damage. To him – an assassin. Learning about her previous career had explained her unique muscle tone and the way she moved so gracefully – unless, of course, one took into account how clumsy the woman was.

(“She wasn’t always like that, honestly. I’ve seen videos of her competitions; she’s an amazing gymnast. I think it might’ve been the injuries, or a loss of confidence.” Courtney explained over a coffee one afternoon. He had only asked if she had known Natalia before her injuries, but Courtney saw her opportunity and took it. She had met Natalia after the injuries, when Nat had moved to town to get away from her old life. Courtney had grown up there and had been happy to see people coming to town instead of constantly leaving it.)

It was rare to see Natalia without bruises and John was sure he wasn’t helping the situation. As Natalia undressed in his master bathroom, he noticed hand shaped bruises on her thighs and butt, finger shaped bruises on her breasts, and light bruising around her hips. That wasn’t even to mention the amount of lovebites littering her skin. A moment of unease hit him, and he gently touched the bruising on her hips, drawing a sigh from his girlfriend.

“Hey hon- John? What’s with that look?” Natalia asked, frowning at the look on his face. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and paused, admiring the palette of colours he’d left on her. She smiled, turning in a little circle to admire the full picture.

“Is this what has you all broody?” Natalia asked, sweeping her hands down her body.

“I’m not broody.” John protested, but she gave him a sharp look. He sighed, giving a little shrug in response to her question.

“I used to be more delicate with you.”

“Yeah, and I told you that you weren’t going to break me, didn’t I?” Nat retorted.

“Yes, but-”

“And then I told you that I liked it when you manhandled me, right?”

“Yes, but-“

“And then I told you that if I wanted you to be gentler, I would tell you because I know that you would never hurt me, even though you certainly could if you tried, right?” Natalia cut him off, unwilling to deal with his self-depreciation.

“You promise?” John asked for about the hundredth time, and Natalia stole a kiss before answering.

“I promise, John. I like it when you’re gentle with me, and sometimes I want that. Sometimes, feeling like I’m as delicate as you make me out to be feels nice. But I’m not. You know I’m not.” Natalia stole another kiss, “And I like it when you show me how much stronger you are. I like when you show me that you could hold me down and do what you like and there’s nothing I could do about it. Because I know that if I said a single word against it, you’d stop. I have power over someone who could hurt me so easily. It’s nice.”

John sighed into the kiss, broke it messily to kiss his way along her jaw to bite her ear. Natalia giggled, giving his hair a sharp pull before he could leave yet another lovebite on her, pulling his head back.

“Plus, you like it when I’m rough with you, don’t you?” Natalia asked, pressing a couple of kisses down his throat, “I don’t want to hurt you either. I only do this because I like having power over you, and you like it too.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll stop ‘brooding’ then.” John hummed, straightening up when she released him. She winked and smiled, stepping around him into the shower, closing the glass door behind her. What once had been the least important fancy feature in his house was now one of his most appreciated. He was glad for the space in his shower now that he had someone to join him in it. He smiled fondly, adjusting himself through his boxers and waiting for his body to relax a bit more before joining his woman.

After their shower, John put on a simple grey-blue t-shirt and boxers. He didn’t have anywhere to be, so why put on more than that? Natalia followed his lead, dressing in a pair of white panties and one of his shirts she’d stolen the last time she was over.

“You know, I was looking for that shirt?” John gave the edge a little tug, and Natalia snorted.

“Oh, really? You were looking for this specific white t-shirt out of all of the white t-shirts you own?” Natalia asked, making him smirk. He nodded, picking her up despite her protests so that he could toss her onto the bed. He crawled up to her, turning on the tv once he was settled beside her. He handed her the remote, turning over so that he was facing her and burying his nose in her hair. The power shut down only a moment after she found a movie she wanted to watch on Netflix. A skittering in the hall had John sitting up a bit, but not in time to catch the frightened blue pitbull that leapt onto the bed and slammed into his chest.

“Woah, woah, Dog. It’s just a storm.” John gave him a couple pets, ruffling his ears and letting him wiggle and squeeze his way under the covers.

“Aww, poor puppy.” Natalia lifted the sheets to help him, petting him once he got himself settled. John scooted closer again so he could snuggle up with Natalia.

“We don’t have to worry about anything with the power being off, do we?” Nat asked, pressing John onto his back and snuggling up to his chest. John’s arms wrapped tight around her, and he sighed happily into her hair when she slipped her leg between his.

“No, we don’t need to worry about anything.” John murmured, breathing in the smell of her shampoo, “Unless something breaks, we can just lay in bed and do absolutely nothing until the storm passes.”

Natalia laughed, pressing kisses into his cheeks. He caught her in a proper kiss after a couple of kisses, but she laughed into the kiss which made him start to laugh as well.

“What are we laughing at?” John asked, bumping her nose with his.

“We’re such old people, John. Take a nap, fuck, shower, take another nap. Power goes out? Oh, guess we better go to bed early at… oh, look at that, seven o’clock at night.” Natalia giggled, running her fingertips over his chest in little circles before tracing down to the little trail of hair leading from his belly button into his boxers.

“Mmm, I’m an old man, kitten.” John murmured, shifting a little when she began to run her fingers through the hair just above the waistband of his boxers.

“I’m not complaining, darling. I’m just laughing because we’re… what, twenty years apart in age? And yet we’re both old fogies.” The blue of Nat’s eyes was darkening as she gave the hair on his stomach a gentle tug. John smirked. He loved that he could usually read her purely from her eyes.

“Storms make everyone into old, lazy people. Unless you want to go run around in the rain and howl at the moon like a weirdo.” John hummed absently, tickling her nose with a lock of her ginger hair.

“Don’t tempt me, John. That actually sounds kind of fun.” Natalia laughed, nipping at his fingers and earning herself a heated look and a boop on the nose in reprimand.

“Jonathan Wick, did you just boop me?” she asked, feigning outrage.

“Oh, breaking out the full name. That’s just unfair.” John murmured absently, shifting up onto his elbows, “So what if I did, Natalia Jamieson?”

“Well, if you did, you’ll have to pay.” Nat replied, carefully maneuvering over the dog to straddle her boyfriend’s hips. His hands slid up her thighs to grasp at her hips, and his eyes were dark as midnight. He used his grip to attempt to grind her down on top of him, but Natalia raised her hips off of him so that they were barely making contact.

“Ah, ah, ah. No, John. That’s not what I’m aiming for.” She purred, giving his nipple a pinch that had him hissing and arching into her. She held him in suspense for a moment, and lightning flashed, lighting up the room. Mentally cheering at the ominous drama provided by the storm, she leaned down to whisper in his ear.

“Your punishment is… laundry!”

John groaned like a dying animal, dropping his hands to his sides and screwing up his face in disgust. Natalia laughed evilly, leaning down to kiss the tip of his nose. Lightning flashed again, and both of their cellphones began to sound the emergency alert, letting them know that the storm was only getting worse and that emergency crews were working on restoring power to outlying areas.

“John, love, we should probably get the fireplace built up a bit more and bring some more blankets up here if we’re going to sleep. It’s going to get cold.” Nat murmured once the alarm stopped blaring, rubbing her ear with one hand while holding herself up with the other, switching and repeating the process once her ear stopped ringing.

“Do I have to? I can just keep you warm myself.” John murmured, pulling her closer and kissing down her body towards those white – and now nearly sheer from the wetness between her legs – panties that he loved.

“Mmm, I suppose I can get on board with that.” Natalia laughed, trailing off into a breathy moan when he kissed her cunt through the wet fabric.

#john wick #john wick/oc #john wick/reader #fluff and smut

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slothgiirl · 5 years

Text

forever isn’t for everyone (is forever for you?) part 5

London is gray and dull after Australia and the festivals we'd been at. And like it's welcoming us all back, it's raining.

Foggy, a complete 180. It doesn't help that it's night, and I haven't seen day since two days ago, having spent another day traveling. Cramped up in my seat, squished between other passengers.

This time I had slept fine on board, exhausted from touring. We're all dead on our feet and unlike the last few days, we don't puke into a cab, we just sort of wave and leave and it's sad. I think after all we've done, all the time spent together, we leave like it's nothing. I know even I need some alone time.

But it's still sad to me.

The second leg of the tour isn't for months and I have a week off before having to go into work. A week I spend sleeping and doing laundry and becoming a couch potato.

Another week of catching up with friends and getting lunch before I have to go back to work. It's the day before I go back to work that Alex texts me, my heart lurching, an unconscious desire that had sunk into my mind.

In Australia, it had seemed easy to believe that a man like Alex might like an ordinary girl like me. Perhaps I was selling myself short, but my confidence was a fickle thing that still needed propping up after my acne ridden teenage years.

More eloquent than in person, his preference for written word is obvious.

I was hoping we might have a listen to the record I told you about. A drink or two, a small offering in comparison to the pleasure of your company once more, in the city we both inhabit, where everything will seem solid and less ephemeral than abroad. -Alexander

It was long and flowery for a text and made me dizzy with anticipation, I threw out everything I'd been told to do when a boy texts you and replied instantly, walking home from tescos trying to make food instead of getting takeout for a change, eagerly asking for a time and address.

It was nice to be able to come home and do nothing. A privilege I couldn't imagine coming back from while my roommates came home from their jobs dead on their feet.

Grueling weeks on the road seemed a small price to pay.

I take the tube over to his, a beautiful georgian house among many in Chelsea, save for some dying plants outside, a clear victim of his recent travels, thick dark curtains obscuring all the windows.The street is littered with nice cars, millionaires the only people who can afford the nice neighborhood. London's market on the uptick.

At least I feel at ease in the dying light, the sun spilling in the sky like egg yolk as it sets, turning the clouds blood red, casting long dark shadows. I guess Alex is not a struggling musician, or maybe he's just from a well off family.

It's then I know that I start to feel anxious, no longer buoyed by our shared work, just me and him and would that be enough? It was stupid when I already knew how easy it was to be with him.

But this felt more concrete then wondering around a foreign city had. The thought of kissing him no longer a far off wish but a possibility so close it had my fingertips tingling.

Alex opens the door with a boyish smile on his lips, clad in loose blue jeans, frayed at the hem, and a grey t shirt emblazoned with give a damn, hair hopelessly disheveled as if he'd just woken up. "El, love" he says fondly, after a second, "I'm delighted you're here."

Waving me inside. I'm expecting the inside to look like a Tatler photo shoot, more burberry than marks and spenser sales rack, with the uninviting feeling carefully decorated homes had.

Instead, the rugs are rich, intricate designs, the edges frayed with time and use. There's a thin layer of dust in the paintings hanging on the wall, one signed manet, another of a slender woman with doe like eyes and hair the colour of milk tea, in vivid realism, only the clothes betraying the age, paint cracked with time by the frame.

Following along, I spy the stacks of books piled high on every table, some new others yellowed with age.

There's a silver tray on the coffee table littered with pens and paper and a beautiful piano in the room he leads me too, room lit by stained glass lamps in the shape of flowers, the shades tightly drawn with a beautiful japanese inspired screen for good measure.

A guitar rests in one settee. It's closer to an antique shop than any catalogue. "Please," Alex says, "sit, make yourself comfortable," as he goes to place the needle on a record, a small library of records covering a bookshelf nearby.

As an after though he adds, "don't mind the mess."

"It's fine," I smile, watching him, at ease in his home, wanting to run my fingers through his hair and find out if his hair was as soft as it looked, "it's kind of the vintage shop of my dreams. I don't know where to look because everything is catching my eye."

As I'd hoped, he laughs. "That's certainly a way of looking at it innit?"

The first notes of the record filling the room. Alex takes a seat next to me on the plush sofa. I kick off my shoes, surprised at how quickly I take a liking to the jazz music, curling up on the couch, dim lighting adding to the cozy atmosphere, before I catch him looking at me with the same fondness from earlier. With an easy smile on his lips.

For a moment, we just gaze at each other with a certain schoolyard shyness that settles when neither of us looks away.

His expressive eyes on mine.

A gaze so intense I can't hold it for long before I have too look away. "It's funny," I note, "the music has me picturing the concert clearly. Like I'd been there. Fuck that must have been a night."

"It was." Alex nods, his gaze still heavy on me. "They all lived for their music, bodies a vessel for playing the notes swirling around their souls."It was a beautiful thought, and I wasn't sure how to reply to the sheer earnestness.

"You said there was wine," I ask all faux innocence, wanting something to take the edge off.

Hyper aware of every movement I make. I want to sink back into the ease we'd had in Auckland and not this. The thought of him wanting me as much as I wanted him was driving me crazy.

"Oh so that's why you came," he grins so alight with amusement, eyes twinkling.

"The musics good too."

"And the company?"I shrug, teasing, "I've had worse."

"Oi!"

I snort.

He doesn't move to go for wine. "I'm starting to feel superfluous El," Alex say in his thick yorkshire accent, a drawl to his words, each one carefully considered as he takes his time to form a reply, uncaring about the time he takes. "It's not a very nice feeling."

I roll my eyes. "Don't tell me you need as much ego stroking as Miles?"

"Miles does all the ego stroking for himself."

"That doesn't surprise me," I laugh, "I think you need a lot of ego to get up on stage every night. I don't have stage fright but it's all very weird to have that many people looking up at you."

He nods in agreement, "it's a good thing that's not part of my job. All I wanted to do was 'ave people listen to my little songs."

"Well I'd say job well done."

The album had debuted top of the UK charts. And he'd written the lions share with Miles. Alex ducks his head, red rising to his cheekbones, a stark contrast against his pale skin.

Even a few weeks down under had done nothing to rid him of the lack of colour that came with living in such a gloomy city.

"You've got the whole country singing along."

"Well. . .Miles and the boys do. I just helped Miles a little or well we just jammed together. Can't help myself around that man. . .rarely has anyone understood me so well."

"Have you always written songs?" None of my childhood hobbies had stayed with me, consumed with studying.

"Can't help myself," he admits. "A tune or some words. . .coming to me mind. There till I write them down."

"That's loads more creative than me. I always think it would be fun to draw but I'm imagining some renaissance masterpiece and it always comes out a derpy stick figure or worse. So I just give up and read or go for a walk." Even in the winter, Greenwich park was beautiful, and bundled up it was bareable.

"What do you like to read," Alex asks, tilting his head towards me, curiousity brimming in his soft eyes. The space between us closing in as we lean towards each other, disarmed by our conversation.

His hand resting on his knee, pulled out on the sofa, making me feel shameless about having my legs pulled up as well.

"Articles. Very depressing boring world news. Free essays on the paris review. It's a shame prints dead or else I'd try to justify buying copies. But I think I'd rather have a cuppa tea. With those fruit bits or boba."

"Is print dead?"

Alex says it with a layer of incredulity, baffled.

"Yeah. This thing called the internet came along."

"Bloody hell," he jokes, "I'm still waiting for the windows explorer to. . .do it's thing."

"You mean load? Not surprised. The selfies you tried to take in Sydney were awful. Thankfully those people were there to take our picture."

"Be easy with me El," Alex laughs, shaking his head at me, eyes crinkling in amusement.

"I'll have to think about it," I tease, leaning against the softness of the sofa, resting my head as I take the sight of him in, warmth spreading in my chest, thrilled to know that I can make him laugh, that he'd meant it when he said he wanted me over.

It's a funny little skip of my heart as hope takes root, the idea that he might like me as much as I like him, making me smile, happy for the first time since I got back. Really happy, not just content to be home, to lazy around and get time to myself.

He pours us both a cuppa wine in ceramic cups, "no wine snobs here," he grins and the music plays and his knee taps to the beat against my leg.

Every touch too much and yet not enough, desire welling up in the pit of my stomach. It's easy to drink, pour another glass out."

I don't think anyone has the time or concentration to listen to a fourty minute song anymore," I note, sipping lazyily at the wine, my palette too unrefined to know if it's cheap or expensive.

"It's a jam session!"

I drink, trying to hide my smile at his expression, affronted on behalf of music everywhere, the seriousness to his mouth, frowning, a directness to his gaze.

Failing, I giggle, slumping against the sofa, looking up at Alex through my lashes. "I thought it was just a very long song."

"El." His voice, that thick accent, his unique drawl, my face burning, as he leans over, empty bottle of wine forgotten on the coffee table. His hand cups my cheek, the tips of his fingers calloused in a delightful way, toes curling on the sofa cushion, thumb running over my bottom lip.

Heart beat lodged in my throat, I can't speak, the desire bubbling over, wanting to spill over and kiss him already. Alex pressing lightly over my body, trapping me against the sofa.

I swallow thickly, my fingers going to neck, threading my hands through his caramel hair, soft and silken, and pull him down to kiss me hard.

I can feel his satisfied smile against my skin as he kisses me back passionately, without any hesitation, all of his fumbling for words gone. All confidence and want.

Alex's other hand going down to my hip, rubbing cicrcles over my cotton shirt. My head spins with want and desire and Alex all tangled together, finally, kissing him eagerly as he shifts, shoving a cushion thoughtlessly off the sofa. I lay down, skin burning hot. Too many layers between us.

His lips against mine. Tasting of wine and bitter chocolate, a tanginess I can't get enough of.

My mouth opening up to his, tongue exploring my mouth, my hands running through his hair. Alex pressed against me as I lay with my back on the couch, solid and too many layers between us.

He pulls back, pulling up at the hem of my shirt with a naughty schoolboy grin, endearing all the same.

"I hate winter," I whisper against his cool skin, colder than the room, barely emanating any heat at all in the frigid english winter, "it makes getting undressed such a pain."

Alex laughs, pulling his own shirt over his head. "I'll be sure to make it worth your time."

"Cocky bastard," I utter as he hooks his fingers through the loops of my jeans, pulling me closer to him, the feeling of his own cock, already half hard, sends me reeling.

In leiu of a response, Alex trails kisses down my neck, sucking at the skin, sure to leave marks tomorrow.

My fingers dig into his hair, breathily moaning his name. Shamelessly, he undoes the button on my jeans.

It's never sexy to take off jeans, kicking them off rapidly, as I reach for him, kissing him again fiercely. The feel of his cool skin sending sending shivers down my spine. Lithe but toned.

Alex cups one of my breasts, nipple hardening through the delicate lace. "Fuck El," he groans, hips grinding down against mine.I want him. I want him so much, feeling feverish with desire.

All my thoughts of him.

Of Alex.

He slides his jeans off easily enough, cock hard through the fabric of his boxers. I look up at him, as I unclip my bralete, adding it to the pile of things on the coffee table.

There's always an initial nervousness, when sleeping with someone new. And yet, I know Alex wouldn't hurt me. I trust him.

"El-,"

"Come here," I reach for him, a whine to my voice, "come here and fuck me Alex."

He does.

#Alex Turner #alex turner fanfic #forever isn't for everyone #alex turner imagine #alex turner x reader #mine

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lumikinetic · 5 years

Text

*flops down on sofa*

*exhales*

Tumblr gives me a lot of wild shit every now and again. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, sometimes it's hilarious, sometimes it's disheartening. And then yesterday came along and gave me the one-two punch of:

Captain Marvel being dolled up by the Russos instead of a jacket, S.H.I.E.L.D baseball cap and a Nine Inch Nails shirt, which is how she should be (not gonna talk about this, just want it out there that I'm pissed about it)

One Day At A Time being cancelled

ODAAT I'm gonna kind of touch on because it's not really what I want to talk about, but it did help me finalize the words for what I do, and that's capitalism in entertainment.

The most annoying goddamn trend in filmmaking (and of course in TV and Netflix/Prime originals) is companies caring more about their bottom line and less about making good content, and yeah I know this dead horse isn't just beaten, it's thrown into an active supervolcano but it really pisses me off and it's why I hate the new Star Wars stuff (well OK hate is a bit strong but they're uh Not Good) but I'll get to that. What corpos can't seem to get into their bloated skulls is that one cannot exist without the other. You need to put out good, quality content with value so that fans like it so they give you money so they increase your profits so you can make more content and so on. But somewhere down the line some fuckhead went "what if we just pushed out what we have?" and just kinda expected us to not take notice.

Now before the comments section gets all hot and bothered because I know some people on this site don't have the gift of reading comprehension, I know profits are important, I'm saying when companies shun good filmmaking for more money, they get lazy and all they can think about is profit and not how they make that profit, they don't care at all about using that money to make more good, valuable content.

One Day At A Time

I've never watched One Day At A Time but the fact Netflix just outright cancelled it knowing damn well what it meant to the people the characters are representing is just disgusting. And they have the fucking audacity to blame it on the viewership? I've seen hundreds of artworks, gifs and a video clip here and there of this show. I've seen precisely one (1) meme of 13 Reasons Why and that is literally it. I'm not following the tags for either. Plus, #saveODAAT has, last I checked, 350k tweets on trending or thereabouts?

So obviously the viewership isn't the problem, it's the racism and homophobia of cancelling a Spanish (? - again, never seen it), LGBT+ focused show that a lot of people quite happily and positively connect with when a crap show about suicide and Friends gets to stay on. It's just ugh. Cancelling a show like this then paying something like $100mil to keep Friends. I was going to expand on the shitty capitalism here but tbh that's it, Netflix are making bad decisions and like I say, I'm only going to touch on it because it's not the main part.

Star Wars

Go watch the original trilogy and it's clear George Lucas was trying to create and do. He was trying to make art. The key difference between that and modern SW to me is BB8. Look at C3PO and R2D2 and already you can see they belong. C3PO is a translator droid and I'm not sure what exactly R2's job description is but it's obvious he does some kind of pilot assistance for X-Wing fighters. I never understood people who said R2 never did anything, because they obviously haven't seen Star Wars. You get that this is an R2 unit, right? Like, there's more than one out there and they have a job they were specifically built to do, it's just this one particular R2 unit who had to carry the message? Anyway, I'm derailing. R2 and C3PO have functions and they're clearly not new, they've been used for a long time. Then you look at BB8 and instantly it's like "this is a toy. This so called character was designed to sell toys". And then he was. He's a toy, he's on bags, notebooks, pens, clothes, everywhere. Disney is less concerned about making a Star Wars movie and more about making money off of the Star Wars name.

Into The Spider-Verse VS YA Movies

YA movies tend to suck because they were adapted from books and we all know how that pans out but the reason I'm using YA books specifically is because my mind jumped to The Hunger Games. I couldn't tell you a single fucking thing that happens in those movies. They're so dull and dead and forgettable and the characters are borderline unlikeable but you know which one I do like? Catching Fire, for one reason and one reason only: Jena Malone as Joanna Mason. Save for Haymitch, she's the only character I liked because those two are the only characters with any kind of charisma or life to them. They made an at most halfway decent attempt overall at recreating some otherwise really great books and they made a big show out of it, hiring some pretty well known names. And I'm not disparaging their performances, it was just what I call, ever since Suicide Squad came out, the Harley Quinn effect, in which good actors get given a good character and perform them really well and, through no fault of their own, fuck it up because the character was written poorly and no matter how well they act, if the script doesn't change, the performance will always be shit. The same for Divergent. And Percy Jackson. And Fault In Our Stars.

Then outside all of that you have Perks Of Being A Wallflower which is just a great, heartwarming movie because the characters feel like people and the brightness isn't turned way the fuck down in post and you actually want to be invested, and they're not afraid to have a colour palette beyond a splash of pink here and blue there and red there. Plus, Ant-Man as an English teacher. THEN you go watch Spider-Verse and oh hey. I can actually see the movie now. And I mean see it. They do not slack off when it comes to visuals. Even by animation's standards, everyone is so expressive and alive and... animated. Sorry, I couldn't get a better word but they are! When you look at Miles in comparison to Katniss in terms of writing and performance, the difference is just startling. The only times I can think of where Katniss shows any kind of emotion in the first movie is when she slams the knife in the table and Rue's funeral and I had to think about that. Without thinking for Miles, already I've got "who's Morales?", the scene where Uncle Aaron teaches him the shoulder touch, the scene where Miles spray paints in the subway, that scene in the alley, the moment in Olivia's office when he just freezes after she says she can't wait to watch Peter in immense pain Like That and made all the wlws melt in their seats. You get the idea. So what's the point for this section? Well, as simply as I can put it, Hunger Games was made with money, for money. Spiderverse was made with love, for love. Spiderverse cared about people who read comic books and paid more than enough tribute to the art forms people think of as lesser for no goddamn reason other than elitism and proved for the thousandth time that it is something that can be used in filmmaking. They were trying to make art. Hunger Games and most other YA novel movie adaptations saw a preestablished fan base they could exploit for money. They were trying to make money.

Rambo

This was a weird one, yeah. Don't worry I was confused too when it popped into my head. I saw the original Rambo a while back and what I liked about it (and Apocalypse Now) is it wasn't a war film where the USA charge in and hooray everything's all right, this movie grabs your shirt and says "hey. Vietnam did something to these guys and they're not OK. Probably they'll never be OK". Then I watched the Rambo reboot that came out in like 2011 or something and I remember thinking "OK so now he's just this dude? Who lives in Thailand... And what, that's it?" There was no scene to show his psychological state today. Nothing to acknowledge his PTSD. They just thought "hey! Let's make Rambo but this time, just give him guns and and yelling and spray some blood!" The reason I kind of ended this train of thought quickly is because I realised that, let's be real, the main body of Rambo's audience just want to see Sly Stallone kill some fools. But yeah, the fact that they just ignored John's mental state in place of mega violence is such a glaringly obvious move to just appeal to violent teenage boys.

The Auteur

My favourite director is Wes Anderson and my favourite movie is The Grand Budapest Hotel (though Panos Cosmatos seems to be eyeing these titles with Beyond The Black Rainbow and Mandy, I haven't watched them yet). Quentin Tarantino, Spike Lee, Wes Anderson, auteurs always stand out even though their movies are all the same, and I think the reason they're so successful is because that specific style is so much better than most other mainstream cinema. I'm not saying that those other movies are bad, I love them and will watch them again and again but I'm saying Wes Anderson could make a short movie and it would be better than most Marvel movies put together (don't talk to me about Captain Marvel, I haven't seen it yet. Gonna see it this Sunday). No matter what you think of these directors, you can instantly tell the difference between these movies that they care about and the passion and hard work they put in and Disney pumping out their 400th reboot.

It Keeps Working

You guys wanna know the thought that keeps me up at night? Someday they're going to make a Fortnite movie. You guys wanna know why it keeps me up at night? Because it's going to be popular. Yeah, obviously not at the box office, because it'll be a videogame movie and those are worse than book movies, but it will be popular for no apparent reason. And what pisses me off is that Fortnite's popularity is only because of the battle royale mode, which has now essentially become synonymous with dying franchises and it just adds another layer to the lack of creative effort and the movie will just be Hunger Games with guns. Exactly the same as what I said at the start of this rant, there's a really noticeable shift from making content to jumping on whatever bandwagon is passing by because you know it'll make you money. Yeah, you have to spend money to make money but that doesn't mean you get complacent in what you spend your money on or if you spend money at all because when you cut corners, consumers can see that shit.

Anyway I'm done complaining thanks for having the willpower to pay attention to my dumb opinions.

#discourse #odaat #one day at a time #capitalism #star wars #into the spiderverse #rambo #long post #hunger games #hunger games: catching fire #ya fiction #young adult fiction #netflix #eat the rich #corpo #captain marvel #marvel #disney

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