#SO CUTE SO CUTE!!! It was a pleasure to draw for you julia!!!

[thread-theocracy]

Raffle Prize for @demonbestie ⭐💛

#obey me #obey me mc #obey me mammon #om mc #om mammon #my art #other mcs #mammon #SO CUTE SO CUTE!!! It was a pleasure to draw for you julia!!!

[choicesficwriterscreations]

450 Followers: Meet The Writer

Hello there! We’re back with another Meet The Writer Q&A and it’s our pleasure to introduce a fellow Brazilian fanfic author for our ninth interview:

Blog: @julia-highstorms​ Name (or petname): Julia/Ju Birthday: July 9 Nationality: Brazilian 🇧🇷 Current residency: I'm one of the 12 million people living in São Paulo, Brazil Languages you speak: Brazilian Portuguese, English and a bit of Japanese Masterlist: Julia’s choices fanfiction masterlist

1. Is there a meaning behind your url name? Yes! For those who have been following me for a while, they already know that I used to change my URL according to the Choices character I was stanning at the time but it was a PAIN to fix all my fanfics links 😩 so I decided to finally create an unique URL that I wouldn't get tired of. So I mixed my two surnames together and it (basically) means Highstorms. I loved it 😌

2. When did you start playing Choices? What's the first book you played? 2017 I believe. TRR book 1 was about to debut. YEAH. It was the Freshman Book 1.

3. When did you decide to join Choices fandom? December 21 2017. ILITW was in its last chapters and I was obsessed with it. I wanted to talk about it with other people, but I didn't know anyone who also played Choices. So I found the fandom on Tumblr and decided to join. I miss all my friends I made back then and we all went nuts with ILITW finale together 😩 Good times

4. Go back to your archive and tell us what was your first post on your Choices blog was about. My first post was about how I loved ILITW and how everyone was fucked up sjddndossok also a lot of reblogs about MAKE NOAH AN LI 🗣️

5. How long have you been writing fanfiction? I started writing fanfictions in my senior year of high school, although I attempted to write my own stories when I was younger, around 12-13.

6. Share the first fanfic you wrote with us. Do you still like it or would you change anything about it? My first fanfic ever is about The Maine, it was my favorite band back then slfjdfodj but my first Choices fanfic is If Jane Was Here (ILITW told by Noah) Chapter 1. I AM SO PROUD OF IT. Of course, there are some things I would change. Like adding even more angst. Having finished writing it way sooner. But I'm super proud of it overall. My first (and so far only) Choices long series I've ever finished. Wow.

7. What are your favorite Choices books to write about? Definitely Open Heart just because of Bryce Lahela and Rei (my MC). OPH has become a mess, but I love Bryce too much. I loved the It Lives anthology too and enjoyed writing about. And I'm hyped for my upcoming Blades AU series!

8. What is your specialty as a fanfic writer? Oooh I guess it is rewriting certain scenes or events of the books or thinking about AUs. Since ILITW I have enjoyed doing this. Writing on another character's point of view of the events that have happened (the whole If Jane Was Here series, that is ILITW told by Noah's POV). Or adding some depth to a certain scene (did something like this with Julia, my ILB MC, and Tom's relationship. And with Rei and Bryce's). Or even rewriting the story to fit better with my MC's personality (Rei, OPH MC).

9. What aspect of your writing do you most enjoy to see praised? When people say they like my MC's, Rei (OPH MC) and Luxia (Blades MC). Before, whenever I played Choices, I didn't care much about the MCs because they're all generic (which makes sense because we're the ones playing it). They're always the happy go lucky friend that tries to fix everyone's problems and every LI is in love with them. Boooooring. Rei was my first MC that I created a whole non-canon personality to her, and that's why she's my baby 🥺 and when people commented that they felt represented by Rei, that she felt more realistic than PB's usual MC, well, that was my peak as a writer lol so they're basically OC's, with their own personalities and temperaments.

10. Do you participate in any writing events or challenges throughout the year? If so, what do you like about them? I do, but I wish I could participate more often! The prompts are what I like the most, because they give me ideas that I'd have never thought to write about before.

11. Are there any writers (published authors and/or fanfic writers) who influenced your writing? Meg Cabot was my favorite author growing up and I read some of Sophie Kinsella’s books too, so probably my love for adding a bit of comedy, silly little things in my fanfics came from them. I love Jane Austen too. And last but not least, my flair for angst definitely came from reading Fruits Basket, my favorite manga ever. There’s so much angst in Furuba dodksdishd Takaya Natsuki-sensei really enjoys it. I recommend reading her other manga series, Twinkle Stars, too.

12. What element of writing do you struggle with most? Actually writing lmao. You know, taking the plot out of my mind and typing it down on Google Docs. Writing is hard, takes too much time and I'm lazy 😩 I wish I could just transfer my ideas to a document and it's done. No need to write, no need to revise, etc. I love the final product, but I hate the process.

13. Do you have any abandoned WIPs? What made you abandon them? A BUNCH OAJDSKDKD 🤦 Either because my inspiration to write it has faded or because I don't want to spend my whole time writing.

14. You’re applying for the fanfic writer of the year award. What five fanfics do you put in your portfolio? Oooooh great question! I must put:

If Jane Was Here - Alternative ending (ILITW): this is the only finale I accept sorrynotsorry

Too Little Too Late - Jax x MC (Bloodbound): I wanted to feel hurt. People cried. I loved it sclkdsdjsops

The Loudest One - Bryce x F!MC (Open Heart): I wrote this one for CFWC Kinktober! And honestly, this is the best smut scene I have written. I’m quite proud about it.

Satisfied - Jax x Lily (Bloodbound): it was fun writing for my crack ship! My babies. And the first smut scene I have ever written. I’m glad it was with these two. I still can’t get over the fact that either one of them dies in BB’s finale. I cannot accept skfjdpd

Lullaby - Tyril x Elf!F!MC (Blades): don’t get me wrong, I love Tyril and his goth lordling mysterious elf boy personality and the first time he and MC made out was HOT but… I missed a bit of clousure before, you know? It felt a bit sudden to me, so I wrote a couple of fanfics showing their growing interest and attraction towards one another. This one is a light cute one and I really like it.

15. Do you create original content aside from fanfiction (original stories, art, etc)?  I sometimes draw some fanarts in which you can see by searching for #occasional drawings on my Tumblr.

Do you want to contribute with questions/ideas for the next Meet The Writer Q&A? Send us a message.

Thanks for reading! Reblog to share your appreciation for @julia-highstorms​ ❤️

#choices fic writers creations #cfwc meet the writer #450 followers #blades fanfic #bloodbound fanfic #it lives in the woods fanfic #open heart fanfic

[duhragonball]

Disinterpretation

I finally finished the Sarah Z video about “pro vs. anti”.   It’s pretty long, and I ended up watching it in chunks over several days, but I think it’s worth watching, especially if you’re sort of partially connected to online fandom, but not enough to be aware of all the lingo. 

As I expected, the whole thing was vague and confusing because the people involved in the conflict made it vague and confusing.   In theory, the full terms would be “pro-shipping” and “anti-shipping”, but it seems like it’s more about particular kinds of ships that could be considered controversial.  But that’s a slippery slope, and apparently the whole conflict mutated into both sides deciding that every hypothetical relationship between fictional characters is either equally valid or equally dangerous.  

Long story short, it’s just purity culture, which was what everyone on Tumblr was calling it around 2012.  But now, if you’re a sane person who genuinely asks: “Who gives a fuck about Voltron?”, these people will jump your ass and accuse you of being on the side of their enemies.  “Children have died over the importance of Lotor/Hagger!   Your callous indifference proves that you yourself must have murdered children!” 

I think what Sarah Z really hit upon in this video was that media consumption has become so ingrained in our culture that people feel like it has to go hand-in-hand with our morality.   That is, it’s not enough for me to watch Star Trek, I have to justify Star Trek as evidence that I’m a good person.  Maybe this is where the expression “guilty pleasure” comes from.   Conversely, it’s not enough for me to not watch Dr. Who, I have to somehow convince everyone that Dr. Who was invented by the devil.

I’m pretty sure the Reylo ship has a lot to do with this, since it’s kind of understood to be a dark, problematic concept, and fans either embrace its flaws or recoil in horror because of them.   Star Wars itself is a dumb story about space wizards, so people try to give the debate more weight by linking it to freedom of self expression and/or enabling real world harm.   Suddenly it’s not enough to just think two actors would look cute making out instead of fighting.   Now it’s this battlefield for the soul of civilization or something.

I grew up in the 80′s, when “concerned parents” and grifters would accuse the Smurfs and metal bands of promoting satanism and witchcraft.   I used to hear stories of teens going out into the woods in the middle of the night to do occult stuff, and all I could ever think about was: “Why would anyone bother wandering out in the woods in the middle of the night?”  Which is why “concerned parents” turned their attention to things that were closer to home, like Saturday morning cartoons.   It had nothing to do with the content; it was just about finding a safe, accessible target for their hysteria.   Some people want to go on a crusade without leaving the house, so they pick a fight with Papa Smurf instead of confronting the real evils in the world.  Even as a kid, I knew this was a con, because I’d watched the show for myself and knew it was too saccharine to be threat to anyone.

The pro/anti folks have tried to disguise this with a lot of terminology.   I wondered why they seemed to reluctant to use the full terms “pro-shipper” and “anti-shipper”, and it’s probably a couple of things.   First, the word “shipper” is basically an admission that this is pointless bullshit that doesn’t matter, and they’d like to avoid that connotation.   Second, they seem to have decided that this goes beyond shipping itself, into practically anything else they want it to involve.  It’s all part of the con, which is to make you believe that it’s “us vs. them”, and you can be part of “us” by curating specific attitudes about Steven Universe.

Seriously, “about Steven Universe” is such an incredible punchline.  You can make anything funnier by adding those three words to the end of a sentence.   “Do not interact if you blog about Steven Universe.”   “Hey, what’s up, YouTube, this is SSJ3RyokoLover69, and this is going to be kind of a serious video about Steven Universe.”   “Mrs. Johnson, the results of your biopsy are in, and I have some bad news about Steven Universe.”   It’s a fucking kids show.   “Oh no, all the characters look like the characters in all the other kids shows!”   Yeah, that’s because it’s a kids show.   Marvin looks like Garfield, this isn’t new.

The common denominator here seems to be that both sides try to wrap themselves in the flag of vulnerable groups: impressionable minors, trauma survivors, harassment victims, etc.   The “pros” want to protect those people so that they can feel free to explore weird subject matter on their own terms, and the “antis” want to protect the same people from being exposed to weird subject matter that they might not want to see.   It’s all about establishing a moral high ground.   Back in the day, it was called “sanctimony”. 

But people get roped into this, because at their core, people want approval, and this stupid conflict offers them a sense of community.  As long as you support the cause, whatever it may be, you’ll have this online friend network that appears to support anything you do.   But if you deviate from their norm, you’ll be cast out.    Does this sound familiar?

To use a more familiar example, I still sometimes find people clamoring about Gochi vs. Vegebul.   I’ve never understood this, because both ships were canon, and I never saw much direct evidence of a war between them, but people would still talk about how crazy the Vegebul shippers were, and how crazy the Gochi shippers were, and it was like some huge thing going on just over the hills.   It’s the same idea, since the idea that you could like both or neither never seems to occur to anyone involved.   I never gave a shit, because I used to see the same dumb agendas in the Harry Potter fandom.

Okay, so let me take you back.  It’s 2005 through 2011, and I’m hateblogging all seven Harry Potter novels, because fuck you, that’s why.  The funny thing I encountered was that occasionally fans seemed to want to pretend like my bashing of certain characters was proving them right somehow.    They were like “See?  He hates Ron Weasley too!  That proves that Seamus Finnegan is the coolest guy ever.”   The Slytherin stans would do this all the time, because I would constantly take the piss out of the Gryffindor characters for being self-important dopes.   I think they just liked hearing it from an outside perspective.   But I had to keep reminding them all that I hated all of them.   Every character from Harry Potter sucks ass. Voldemort was my favorite, but only because he was the one guy who wanted to kill all of the others.   But he sucks too because he failed. 

And the shippers were the same way.   I’d say something shitty about Ron, because Ron sucks, and some smartass Joss Whedon fan would be like “Yes!  Boost the signal!  That is why Harry/Hermione is the best ship!”  And I’d be like “No, Harry and Hermione suck at least as bad as Ron does.  They’re all terrible and I hate them.”   I really do think there was some sort of Stockholm Syndrome going on with Harry Potter books, where everyone secretly knows they suck, but the fans sort of latch on to one or two characters and go like “Well, he’s not as shitty as the rest.”   Like finding spaghetti in the trash and picking out the meatball with the least amount of lint on it.   Then you’d go and start a flamewar with some other starving person over whether your meatball is shittier than theirs.  This is what people mean when they say to read another book. 

Anyway, the big thing I picked up from Sarah Z’s video is “disinterpretation”, a term coined by MSNBC columnis Zeeshan Aleem.   The Twitter thread is worth a read, but the short version is that he once remarked that a Julia Louis-Dreyfus routine wasn’t very good, and someone got mad at him for insinuating that women are incapable of being funny.    They just took his dissatisfaction with one performance by one comedian as being a universal condemnation of women comedians in general.  And this sort of thing is all over the internet.   Everyone sees what they want to see and then they take it as permission to overreact.  

I ran into this myself a while back, because someone saw who I interacted with on Twitter and decided that they’re all bad guys and if I have any interaction with them, then that makes me a bad guy too.   At the time I tried to play it cool, but the more I think about it, the more it ticks me off.   And over the course of that conversation, it was said that I don’t talk about myself much, and that’s kind of funny, because all I ever do on social media is write long-ass blog posts like this one.  I don’t expect anyone to memorize them, or even read them all the way through, but when I write all this stuff and someone goes out of their way to say they don’t know anything about me, the message is that they just didn’t pay attention to what I was saying, and they didn’t bother to try.

So I’m a little jaded from that, because I got called out for a bunch of stuff I didn’t even do or say, and apparently that’s just a thing that happens.   People will reject you for completely arbitrary reasons, not because of anything you actually said or did, and you’re left thinking you made some terrible mistake.   Except, no, I’ve seen it happen to other people, people a lore more conscientious than I am, and if they can’t satisfy the bullshit purity standards, then I never stood a chance.   If the game is rigged so I can’t win, then I’m not going to play.  

And it’s that same condition that probably draws people into these online holy wars, because if you declare yourself for the pro or anti side, at least then you’ll have a posse backing you up.   Only they don’t support you, they support your willingness to support them.    Once your commitment to their agenda wavers, even in the slightest, they will turn against you.   

Sarah Z suggests that both sides of the war drop the pro and anti terms, since they lost all meaning long ago.   But that just invites a new set of useless terms to perpetuate the same cycle.   Her more useful advice is for fandom people to broaden their horizons.   She got a lot of flak for tweeting “Go outside” once, but the ironic thing is that it’s sound advice.   I had lunch with my mom yesterday and it was just nice getting away from things for a while.   People need to do that more often, and unfortunately it feels like it’s harder to do than ever before.

But “go outside” isn’t just a literal thing.   It can mean going beyond your usual haunts, reading the same books, watching the same shows, rehashing the same conversations.   I think the reason this stuff always revolves around “shipping” is because there seems to be this deep-seated compulsion to pair fictional characters off like this, and for a lot of folks it’s the only way they can consume a story, so they do.   And they do it lot, and there’s a lot of them, and they do it the same way every time, and lo and behold the same old conflicts start up.   So maybe “go outside” should mean “go outside of that cycle once in a while.”   Just a thought. 

[renee-writer]

An Invisible Thread Chapter 21 Mr. and Mrs. Fraser

She stands before the full length mirror, a bride. On pure white, lace, silk, and taffeta. Jenny had found it in a shop in Inverness. Everyone had done their jobs well and now it is finally the day. She will be Claire Fraser soon. Making official something that has been a fact for quite awhile now.

 

“You are so beautiful.” Her mum says. The tears she can’t hold back drip down her face. Thank God for waterproof make-up.

 

“Thank you mum. I can’t believe this day is finally here.”

 

“Finally?” a laugh as she takes a seat at the vanity table in the Laird’s room that is being used as a bride’s room. It will be a wedding night room also, a fact that makes Claire flush with embarrassment and anticipation.

 

“I have loved Jamie since I was two and knew I would marry him since I was eleven and we shared a first kiss. So, yes finally.”

 

“I can’t argue with that. Mary and Willy have the baby ready. He is so precious. Not,” she adds, “that I wish you making me a grandma anytime soon.”

 

“I have been on the pill for a month now. We are good.” Her eyes drift to the bed and she flushes again.

 

“That type of pre-planning is very responsible. You two are so young but, the responsibility you are showing makes me think the others are right. That you are ready for this.”

 

“We are truly.”

 

“For all of it?” Again she flushes. She wants him and badly. But the actual act, especially the first time, well, it was a bit intimating.

 

“I am a bit concerned about tonight.  We have been good. Not done that. Things but..”

 

Her mum smiles. They thought so, her and Ellen, but to have it confirmed. Now to help her daughter. “Claire, the stuff you two have done, did it feel pleasurable?” Her flush deepened. She nods. “Brilliant. Tonight do a lot of what you have been doing then move on to other things, eventually coming to together. You will know when it is time. It will sting a bit, but, if you find pleasure before, it won’t be to bad. Also, urinate before and after. Trust me. You don’t want a honeymoon bladder infection.”

 

“Ah, thanks mum.” She takes a seat on the edge of the bed. Her dad will be here within minutes. They will follow Geillis and Willy, and Mary carrying William down as a ring bearer.  Her mum will push the wheelchair as Claire holds her dad’s hand. A bit unconventional but a way for both her parents to walk her down the aisle.

 

“Oh my beautiful daughter.” Henry calls out when he wheels himself in a few minutes later.

 

“Isn’t she exquisite?” Julia replies.

 

“She is.”

 

“All ready dad?”

 

“Yes. Your procession is all lined up. William is so bloody cute in his tiny kilt.”

 

“Brilliant. And Jamie?”

 

“Well, I can’t tell you what he is wearing but you will soon see. He awaits you.” She lets out her breath and stands, soothing her gown out. Her mum adds the veil and they step out.  They head to the lift that the Fraser’s had added for Henry and head downstairs.  Her bridal party waits at the door that leads to the back garden.

 

“You are a vision Claire. My brother is a blessed man.” Willy comments.

 

“As you and Mary. William is the cutest baby I have ever seen.”

 

“Thank you Claire and for including him in the ceremony.” Mary softly says.

 

“You’re welcome.”

 

“Ready hen?” Geillis asks. She nods before replying.

 

“Very. I have been for years.”

 

The music starts. The Wedding Song( Where there is Love) and her heart speeds up as Mary and William step out. She smiles at the sounds of awe from their guests at the sight of the baby. Geillis squeezes her hand before threading her arm through Willy’s and stepping out next.

 

Claire takes a deep breath and takes her dad’s hand. The music swells at the lyrics, “a man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home”. Their cue. Julia takes her husband’s chair and they step out.  A trellis covered with flowers cover them as they walk down the aisle. It is beautiful but all Claire sees is her groom.

 

Her Fire Jamie is a Highland Viking Warrior, with his kilt, high boots, sword and dirk, linen white shirt, tartan held over his shoulder with a broach engraved with the family motto. He is magnificent.  By the look on his face, he thinks the same about her.

 

They move slowly, to slowly, as the music continues. “A woman draws her life from man and gives it back to him. And there is love.”  A few more steps and they are in front of Jamie.

 

The music stops and the priest smiles at them. “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?”

 

She hears her dad utter ‘woman?’ under his breath before he answers, “Her mum and I do.” He then takes the hand he still tightly holds and places it in Jamie’s.  Julia wheels him back towards the chairs and she is his. Her soon-to-be husband’s. It is a bittersweet moment.

 

She smiles at him as his warm hands enclose over hers. “I love you.” She mouths as the good father begins to tell their guests why they are gathered together.

 

“I love you.” He mouths back.

 

“Now the couple have vows they wish to pledge to each other.” He says after they have said the traditional ones. “Claire.”

 

“From the time I was your Curly Care,” a twitter of laughter runs through their guests. She, focused on him, talking only to him, continues, “I knew there was a bond between us, even if at two I was unable to express it. Being away from you was like being away from family. Finding you again at ten was coming home. I knew then we were more then mates. With our first kiss, I knew we were heading here. Jamie, you have been my second home, my soulmate, and now you will be my husband. I love you more then words can say and will as long as our souls exist.”

 

The laughter was now soft sobs as Jamie tells her, “So Fire Jamie and Curly Care finally made it here. I knew it too, as soon as I so you that day 16 years ago. I was inconsolable when my Curly Care wasn’t there at kindergarten. But, even then, I knew, knew, that someway, somehow we would come back together.  That the bond wouldn’t be broken. So, I was awed but not surprised when you returned. I did vow I wouldn’t lose you again. Now you stand here pledging to be mine forever and it is as it should be. As it was fated to be. Te agam ort, Claire. Forever.”

 

There isn’t a dry eye among their guests as they exchange rings. As Brian binds their wrist for the older part of the ceremony.

 

“You are blood of my blood and bone of bone. I give you my body so us two may be one. I give you my spirit until our life’s be done.” They pledge.

 

“May I present Mr. and Mrs. Faster. Kiss you two.” They do, tasting each other’s tears as their family and friends cheer.  He lifts her up and carries her back down the aisle to the laughter and cheers of the others.

 

The cake is perfect for them as the side, on each layer, shows a couple from weans until their wedding day, growing up and growing closer. Their story.  They carefully cut into it and feed each other. They dance, together and with her dad and his mam. They are toasted and feed. Claire throws her bouquet which Geillis catches. Jamie her garter, after removing it with a blush. He tosses it to Angus. Pictures are taken.

 

“We are leaving,” Jamie announces after a few hours. “You guys are welcome to stay as long as you like. Thank you for all you have done for Claire and I. We love you guys.”  

 

He takes her hand and they head to the house. Bird seed and bubbles follow after them.

#my writing #outlander fanfic #an invisible thread #mr and mrs. fraser #jamie and claire #cannon divergence #modern au #outlander fandom

[divineluce]

Tickled Ink || Darwin & Luce

Timing: May 6th, 2020

Location: Ink, Inc.

Tagging: @wardinasrani

Notes: Darwin comes in to get an old tattoo touched up and Luce is happy to provide. Not a single heterosexual character was involved in the making of this chatzy.

Tapping her stylus against the edge of the desk, Luce stared at the design on her computer for a long time. It was as good as it was going to get, honestly. The design wasn’t one of her favorites, but the girl who had requested it was very insistent on it. She wanted a half realistic, half geometric butterfly with geometric pieces kinda flying off the geometric side. Had Luce argued with her that it would make an awful piece? No, of course not. She liked getting paid. But, it was going to be a fucking awful time. Booting up her printer, she set the stencil to start printing and wandered out of her room to the lobby. Rory was walking a client through paperwork, but she waved at him all the same. “Your 3 o clock, the butterfly girl? Yeah, she had to reschedule.” The receptionist said. Rolling her eyes, Luce sighed. “Figures. I’ve still got that booking at 6 though, right?” She said before confirming that her evening was booked up. Ugh. She’d put all that fucking work in just to have the girl flake on her. Better for her to get cold feet about it now than when she was getting it zapped away with a laser, though. As Luce scrutinized the schedule, the bell to the shop jangled loudly and she waved offhandedly.

Getting lost had become part of Darwin's daily routine by now. Inevitable when he was still so new to the town, but a hassle nonetheless. On the bright side, it often lead him to discover small little gems, and this time his wandering had led him to stand in front of a small tattoo parlor. “Ink Inc., mh? Catchy, if a bit uninspired.” Yet the place looked clean enough. Darwin lifted his shirt, just enough to glimpse at the faded tattoo on his hip. How long had it been since he'd gotten that protective symbol? Ten years? Twelve? Time, and one too many scuffles with stubborn demons who just wouldn't go back to their own dimension had taken their toll on the ward, to the point where now it had probably lost all its protective properties. Darwin looked at the parlor. “Guess it's time for a little update,” he mumbled to himself before opening the door and just strolling into the parlor as if he owned the place. Without sparing a glance to the woman in the lobby, his eyes drifted immediately to the drawings hanging on the wall. A good protective tattoo needed to be perfect to be effective, so Darwin took his sweet time studying the sketches and pictures. Good lines, a firm hand. Definitely professionals. Nodding to himself with satisfaction he finally turned to the woman, studying her with the same attention he'd given to the works on the wall. Lots of ink on her skin, too, which meant she knew her way around tattoos. His mind made up, Darwin waved at her with a dramatic flourish. “Greetings! I'm here for my appointment.” He had no appointment, of course, but someone probably did, and Darwin was willing to bet their design wasn't nearly as essential as updating his own protective ward.

Luce was no stranger to people coming in and straight up ignoring her-- usually it was because they were too nervous, sometimes it was because they were on their phone, which was hilarious and stupid. But this dude waltzed in like he owned the place, staring at the different art displays around the main lobby. Leaning against the reception desk, she watched as his eyes focused on a couple of her own designs. And when his gaze turned to her, Luce folded her arms across her chest, her sleeve tattoos on prominent display. She met his eyes with an unyielding, unimpressed stare of her own. If this was meant to be some kind of sizing her up thing, she’d been through this before. So many shitty big ass biker dudes had thought that she was some kind of hack, that she couldn’t handle being a tattoo artist. But, they changed their mind real quick once they were in the chair. At his words, Luce lifted an eyebrow. “Mhm, three o clock right? I’ve got your design all drawn up. You wanted the butterfly on the lower back, right, Julia?” She said, her lips curling into a grin.

“Yes, three o'clock, quite right, sorry I'm a little late. Glad you can accommodate my-” Luckily for once in his life Darwin actually managed to listen to what someone else said and he stopped himself in time. He couldn't help but frown a little. He could understand the Julia, many people had described him as flamboyant and Darwin himself had used worse fake names than that, but... “I like to think that if I ever were to get a tramp stamp I'd be able to come up with something more original than a butterfly. Maybe a Barghe-- A wolf skull, with flames coming from its eye sockets and an elaborate rose growing from its mouth.” Sarcasm and indignation wrestled on his face for a second, and then he settled for a short sigh as he took out his phone and glanced at it. “Well, it's already 3.15... I'm guessing Julia stood you up. Care for a replacement?”

“Oh, but it’s a very pretty butterfly. With shards of glass everywhere. Very cute. Sure to bring all the boys to the yard.” Luce said, her grin growing at the man balking at the idea. “Oh, yeah, something as original as a flaming wolf skull and a rose?” She said and tilted her head to one of the art pieces on the wall behind her-- the rose wasn’t growing from the wolf’s mouth, but the wolf skull had fiery eye sockets and was surrounded by roses. She’d done it for Ulf shortly after he’d told her about his wolfy heritage, just to keep it around. “Mhm, fair point. You got a name, not Julia? I’m Luce.” She said, holding out a hand for him. She liked the opportunity to work with someone who could be taken down a peg. Or, at the very least, someone who she could have an amusing back and forth with. Having a chatty client made it more fun when she stabbed them full of needles and ink.

Darwin glanced at the piece and let out a long sigh, burying his face in his hand. “Alas, there goes my new tattoo. Can't have something so similar to another one, imagine the embarrassment if we ever attended the same cocktail party.” After what he deemed an adequate dramatic pause he grabbed Luce's hand and bent down in what looked like a kiss to the hand. His lips never touched the woman's skin, but the smile he flashed up at her oozed charm. Or at least, that's what he liked to think. “Darwin Asrani, it's a pleasure.” He gently let go of Luce, but his eyes lingered once more on her art. “I like your style, and I'd hate to walk out without taking a little bit of your talent with me. Since my first idea was already taken could I bother you for some touch-ups instead? And perhaps we could schedule something new and original for my next visit. I'm thinking a well-dressed dinosaur drinking the blood of his enemies from a fancy teacup. That way people will know that I'm majestic, refined and dangerous.”

“Oh, no. I’m sure it’d send everyone into a panic to be seen with the same tramp stamp. Whatever will people at the country club think?” Luce said with an exaggerated fanning motion, as though she was some kind of fainting Southern belle. When he reached out to grab her hand, she stared at him, both amused and very much ready to knee this man in the face. But, he never kissed her hand-- which, good fucking thing. Anita, kissing her hand? Totally fun and gay and great. This rando? Sexual harassment. As he looked up at her, Luce pulled her hand away and shook her head. “Luce, can’t say the same.” She said, but her tone was joking. This guy was batshit, but in the fun kind of way. She could fuck with that, no hetero. As he continued to spout out bullshit, Luce couldn’t help but laugh. “Sounds like you’ve got a real winner of an idea there. But why not up the ante and make him drinking straight up poison out of the cup? You know, to show that you can’t be fucked with. Go big or go home, you know?” 

“Can't say the same yet,” Darwin corrected her with a confident smirk. “I'm sure you'll find plenty of pleasure in stinging me over and over while I'm on that torture chair of yours.” Truth be told, he appreciated the woman's quick wit: it would be a great distraction. Darwin was no stranger to pain, but he wasn't too keen on it either, and he wouldn't be able to face himself if he started to whimper like a whiny puppy once she had her tools out. Good conversation would help with that, maybe he'd be able to leave the parlor with his dignity, as well as with a retouched tattoo. Darwin stroked his chin, pretending to be deep in thought. “Poison it is, but it'll have to drink it from a bendy straw. Otherwise all the boys will be too intimidated to really come to my yard, and that would be a tragedy.” He nodded solemnly, and quickly added “But that seems like the sort of design that would require a couple of drafts at least, we can't rush art. So for today I think I'll just have you work on what I already have, if that's alright?”

“Someone thinks highly of himself. But, you’ve got a point there. Not as sharp as mine, but a point all the same.” Luce said, matching his smile with one of her own, with a wink thrown in for good measure. “Oh, in that case, we should change it to a milkshake glass. Just to really make sure the boys aren’t confused.” When the conversation turned to the real reason he walked into the shop, she leaned against the wood of the desk and scrutinized him, trying to see if the art in question was anywhere visible. But, it didn’t seem like it was the case. With a nod, she drummed her hands on the counter top. “What sorta shit are you looking to get done? Cover up, touch up, extension of your piece? I can roll with anything, just know my next appointment is in a couple of hours. So if it goes long, we’ll have to schedule a second session.” She warned, knowing that some people didn’t like the idea of having to come in twice to get work done. But, that was the price of a walk-in. 

“Cherry milkshake, then. It'll look like blood. Plus, it's my favorite.” Darwin said that last part as if he was sharing some deep personal secret. Which wasn't that far off from the truth, only Bertrand and a couple more were aware of his sweet tooth. Then his whole posture changed, and the hint of a playful grin on his face made way to a serious expression. “I need it to be perfect. Two, three, take seven whole weeks if you need to, but it has to be flawless. Matter of life or death.” Namely, his own life or death: relying on a defective protective tattoo had cost more than a couple hours of time to members of his family that were too careless to care. Quickly he lifted his shirt up, letting Luce look at the tattoo on his hip. The size of a closed fist, it was a protection symbol that'd been passed down his family for generation, each Asrani adding his own personal touch. Sanskrit symbols formed a small circle surrounding some other runes intertwined together. The Sanskrit prayer protected his mind from demonic invasions, the runes made it harder for them to interfere with his own magic during the summoning. It wasn't pretty, but it was effective, and any magic user worth their salt would recognize it was more than just some ice-breaker to use in a bar to pick up guys: while the full scope of the tattoo might be a mystery, it was obvious it had power. Or used to have: the black ink was faded with time, and a small scar that suspiciously looked like a claw mark had touched, albeit barely, the edge of the tattoo, interrupting some of the lines. “Do it well, and you’ll have my official permission to call me Julia till the end of time.”

Normally, if a dude decided to flash her in the shop, Luce would have wasted no time in kicking his ass out the door. And Ulfric had even let her get those brand new swords, just for that purpose. But, when her eyes fell on the intricate design, the symbols written in either Arabic or Sanskrit-- the two were difficult to distinguish between with her untrained eyes-- and the very distinct rune that the letters formed… Luce knew exactly what this was, even if she didn’t know the specifics regarding it. This was a rune of protection and a very well done one at that. Her eyes widened as she took in how intricately and cleanly the line work was executed. The attention to detail was exquisite. “Done. Come on in to my room, we’ll get started right away.” She said, leading the way back to her private room of the shop. Her room looked just the same as ever, neat and organized, the large rolling toolbox that she used to hold her equipment tucked in the corner. The walls were decorated with a few shelves that had a couple candles, a polished citrine crystal, and some of her artwork. A pinboard, refreshed with new stencils filled one wall, the prices written on the edges of each paper. Shutting the door behind her, Luce pushed up the sleeve of her t-shirt, showing him the intricate geometric pattern she had tattooed on her skin, the center of which featured a very specific rune, one of fire and power. “You showed me yours, I’ll show you mine. The line work is incredible-- where’d you get it done?”

Darwin was usually good at keeping his reactions under control. Or rather, he often overreacted, but that was a choice, not a mistake. This time though the flash of surprise hadn't been planned, nor was the deep interest as he studied Luce's tattoo. He even raised his hand, one finger extended to trace the symbol on her arm. Luckily, he managed to stop himself in time. “That is remarkable.” While he wasn't an expert on elemental magic, fire was often a component in his rituals, and as such he knew enough to recognize the rune for what it was: authentic. Darwin wasn't sure of the specific purpose of it, but he knew it was... Some sort of catalyst, perhaps? Either way, that rune meant Luce either was a magic user, or knew someone. “What does it represent, exactly?” After a beat, he realized that answering her question with one of his own would not satisfy her, so Darwin quickly added. “Mine is... You could say it's something of a family tradition, really. The design has been passed down for generations. I added my own personal touch to it, because I firmly believe that, ah... Tattoos should be tailored to oneself. Otherwise they're just scribbling on skin, absolutely useless.” Again, a brief pause, where he cleared his throat. “As an ice-breaker, I mean. Obviously.”

When Darwin moved to trace the image etched into her skin, Luce’s eyes narrowed. Apparently this dude was a big tactile kinda guy. Whatever. She could let it slide, just because he seemed to think it was impressive. But, he stopped himself. Good for him. “Thanks. Drew it myself, and had one of the boys do the work. It’s impossible to tattoo yourself from that angle. It’s one of my foci, I use it to give myself a little extra oomph.” She said, rolling her sleeve back down to cover that specific area of her tattoo. Even to those who knew about magic, she had designed her rune in a way that made it nearly indistinguishable from the geometric pattern that surrounded it. A person would have to be familiar with magic and the symbols concerning fire to understand. And, even then, there were more than a few normal humans who walked around with runes they didn’t understand tattooed on her skin. “Hm.” A traditional rune of protection? She could understand why some people would want such a thing. It didn’t tell her anything about what kind of magic he did, only that he was in the business of keeping himself safe rather than channelling additional power. Interesting. “Very nice. And you know I can understand that. Tattoos are an extension of yourself. Family tradition or not, you should express your own personality within it.” She said with a nod before returning to her more businesslike demeanor. “A touch up for that bad boy of yours won’t be easy, but I do good work. I can guarantee nice, clean lines.”

Someone who knew what a focus was and used the right plural for it. If Darwin hadn't been so gay he would have fawned himself like an excited school-girl. Instead he settled for an impressed nod and another smile. He was dying to know more about her, to learn how much she actually knew, what she did... But it was dangerous: for all Darwin knew his family would eventually look for him, and he couldn't just trust the first magic-inclined person he met. Well, second one, but Winston spoke like a newbie, Darwin doubted they had any ties to the Asrani. So, in order to protect himself, Darwin decided for it'd be best to bring the focus back on the reason he was here, and luckily Luce seemed to share that idea. “Oh, I don't doubt your ability. What's more, you seem to know how crucial precision is with this kind of design, so... Just tell me where you want me and please, be careful. I'm ticklish.” Not one to usually follow orders, this time Darwin got himself into the mind frame of listening to each and every instruction she'd give. Then again looking at the various tools in the studio reminded him of exactly why he'd put it off for so long. Stupid needles. A sharp ceremonial knife across his arm never scared him, the pain only lasted a second and then he had rituals to focus on and distract him from it, but the chair of a tattoo-artist meant he'd have to feel each and every single sting. Safety be damned, he needed the distraction. “So, an extra oomph. Amber stones just weren't doing it for you? Most practitioners I've met tended to favor something less...” Traceable? Recognizable? “Permanent to channel their magic.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. Lie on back and I’ll get everything started.” Luce said, gesturing to the chair between them. “Take your shirt off too, can’t have it getting in the way.” She said as she got the needles, ink, and a fresh pair of gloves on. The business of touch ups wasn’t too difficult, not usually. But on something that was this precise, this delicate, she needed to make sure that she had everything just right. “Trust me, I know. It took a while before I found the right artist to do my sleeve and I made sure the guy’s hands were just as steady as mine. Precision matters for work like this.” She said as she pulled her long hair back in a ponytail. Snapping on some fresh gloves, she noted the apprehension on his face as she pulled out the tools of the trade, the individually packaged needles that sat on a sterile tray, her machine poised at the ready. Setting up her machine, she took out a spray bottle of sterile solution and wiped down the patch of skin that was to be her workspace. “Let’s get started, hm?” She nodded, switching on her machine. The familiar humming vibration filled the room and she set to work, tackling the biggest area of faded skin and ink first. “I’m not like most practitioners. Besides. My symbols blend in with my designs. I hide them in plain sight. Distract with the main design to keep the attention away from the purpose.”

Darwin did as he was told, taking off his shirt and carefully folding it before taking his place on the chair. He wasn't too concerned with the shirt itself, it was more an excuse to buy some time: just like the last time the sight of the needles made his knees a little weak and his face just a tad paler; he hoped she wouldn't notice. When she started the pain wasn't that bad. At first. But Darwin knew how these things went, it would only become worse, so he decided to just focus on Luce's words instead, drinking them in. “Smart. Misdirection is often a magician's best friend.” He tensed his stomach in discomfort, and he noticed that she seemed to anticipate that and stop her work, which put his mind at ease: she really was a professional. “Besides, in my experience the times you need... Ah, an extra oomph, as you put it, are often the times when you can't afford your focus to be swatted away. A crystal can be dropped, a tattoo... Not so much.” Again, he flinched, doing his best to hide the grimace behind another smile. “I could think of at least a dozen times that tattoo has saved my life, it's nice to know the bad things'll have a harder time getting into my head.” He bit his lip, suddenly deep in thought. Then he looked at Luce. “So, let's say I designed another one, maybe something to help with channeling... How much would you ask to make it all discreet and pretty-like? I got a feeling I'll need some extra power in this town, but I can’t give up on style.”

While she was focused on her work, Luce considered being able to read her client’s body language a part of that. She’d tattooed her own sisters, after all, and the two of them hated needles more than anyone she knew. Which is why she paused every so often, checking the man’s expression, making sure that he never went pale and that he remained alert. She nodded at his comment as she wiped away some of the ink from the skin with a paper towel, clearing the area so she could continue over the delicate, intricate letters and symbols. But, internally she frowned at the idea of being called a magician. That was Bea’s thing. Not hers. “Exactly. It’s always nice to have it on hand. Or rather, on shoulder.” She joked. She watched him flinch and paused, lifted needle away from his skin. She didn’t want to ruin his… rune. As she continued her work, his words played around in her mind. Dozens of times, hm? That explained the wear and tear on it. But, getting into his head-- what did that mean? Someone try to take his memory, like her sister did to August? Or did he mean something else. Hm. “Channeling? Depends on what kind of thing you’re channeling.” She said, pulling away to look at her handiwork from afar. Nice. “For the elements, I use the old alchemical symbols. They blend in nicely with my style. Sacred geometry.” She said, tilting her head to the pinboard with some of her designs were displayed. “For other things… I could hide it in a landscape, imbued with power. Or in the gilded edges of a neo-traditional mirror. It all depends on what you’re looking to channel.”

“Elements, huh? So I was right, you really are a Firecracker.” Darwin said with a small shrug, one that he immediately regretted. “For me it's usually safer to stay away from flames, but most rituals draw power from the elements, I thought I recognized something.” He grew silent, his brows furrowing. What was he looking to channel? Truth be told, the potential of a new tattoo hadn't really crossed his mind before now, but he had to admit, it was a brilliant idea: before running away he'd always had another ritualist to help out, but ever since he'd escaped he'd been on his own, and tangoing with demons was a dangerous hobby, one that took a lot out of him. If he could pick one thing to improve in his spell casting, what would it be? Finally, after a long pause, he murmured, more to himself than Luce. “Stability. That's what I need. An actual anchor for my power. Ever felt like you're a breath away from casting the perfect spell and then something goes wrong and all that energy you collected just slips away? I can't afford tha- Ouch! Careful, there!” Oh yeah, now he remembered: the part over the bone had been the worse, even when he first got the tattoo. He steadied himself and focused on the conversation again, humor the only coping mechanism he had left while at Luce’s mercy. “Whatever design I come up with, I'm sure you'll be able to fit it into our fabulous dinosaur. No one would look for a power rune there.”

“You know it.” Luce said, flipping him off, the alchemical symbol for fire on full display on her finger. For all he knew, she did other magic, focused in other spells. But, that had never been something she’d wanted. Fire was in her blood and it was all she wanted to study. All energy, all life on Earth depended on fire just as surely as it depended on the other elements. His mention of rituals, they didn’t give much away in the nature of what he did. Everyone did rituals-- the coven did circles and rituals all the time, to strengthen their ties to the earth and to the magic within themselves. But, stability. That was an interesting one. “Hm.” She said with a nod. She’d felt that sensation once before, only once. Messing with creating a fire so hot, so blinding, that it barely felt like the flames that she was so used to controlling. In that moment, power beyond her imagination was within her grasp. Only for it to slid away. At his protests, Luce laughed, “Don’t be a child.” She said, but used a gentler hand as she tattooed over his hip. Steady hand, steady pokes.“Mm, of course. I could work it into the scales of the dinosaur, or maybe even into the monocle on his eye. He’s got to have a monocle.”

“Easy to say when you're not the one being poked to death,” Darwin mumbled, slowly raising the hand on the opposite side of his tattoo to flip her off. Normally he'd never resort to such crude gestures, but he'd learned to adapt to the person -or creature- in front of him, mimicking their habits in order to better anticipate their movements, their attacks, their plans. Also, he was in pain, he was allowed a slip in style. Despite his protests, he stilled himself, doing his best to suppress every small shiver and tremor and, more importantly, every chuckle: flipping someone off was one thing, but going into a giggling fit would wreck his reputation as well as his tattoo, and he definitely hoped to stay in contact with Luce. “Of course he has a monocle, what kind of uncultured swine do you take him for? And I'll name him Bertrand II, after my...” Demonic pet? Too personal, too soon, who knew how she'd take it. “...Familiar.” Hopefully she'd mistake that hesitation for another reaction to the tattooing process, but even then, Darwin realized he wouldn't be able to keep twisting the truth without focusing 100% on the conversation, and her needle was distracting at best. “I refuse to burst into tears on your chair, so... How about some music? To take my mind off the damned buzzing? I'll take anything, as long as it's loud and I can sing along. Yes, I sing, feel free to swoon.”

“You say that like I haven’t sat in that chair for hours myself.” Luce snorted, gesturing to her elaborate sleeve tattoos. He didn’t need to know about all her other tattoos-- those were reserved for the lovely ladies she took to bed. “You can talk to me about being poked to death when you get a rib tattoo or three.” She said. A hawk and a peacock, for Nell and Bea. Though they wouldn’t know that. No, they just thought the matching tattoos across the sternum was all she had for them. The pause in his voice didn’t go unnoticed and Luce arched her eyebrow as she continued to trace the linework. “Your familiar, huh? I’m sure he’ll be touched by it.” Iggy new that she wouldn’t ever be getting a tattoo of him, that was for damn certain. “Gonna cry? This is so sad, Alexa, play Despacito.” She said, leaning back in her chair as the little gadget lit up and the musical stylings of not the Justin Beiber version filled the air. With a grin, she set back to work, humming quietly to herself as she drew. Darwin, huh? Just what kind of spellcaster was he? She supposed she’d just have to find out another time.

#p: ti #p: darwin asrani #//this was so much fun to write #wickedswriting

[thestarlightsymphony]

Do you by chance have like anything written or something like that for the character traits/personalities of everyone on the BeBop? You just write them all so accurately and I'd love to just study off you and I hope there would some way for you to share your knowledge, if not I completely understand. I've been writing my own fic and honestly it's like baby shit when compared to your accuracy!!

heart eyes motherfucker

You Have No Idea What That Means To Me Holy Shit. I would love to share my knowledge! But also, I will say: Every person’s interpretation of this crew will (and should!) be a little different! Something I identify in them may not be what you see or jive with, so take my words as one interpretation and not Bebop Gospel, as it were ;) 

Um??? Where do I start?? Well.... an easy one is I’ve rewatched Cowboy Bebop about a thousand times at this point and I’ve Taken Notes. Physical movements, identified particular wordings, focused on their actions and reactions to each other. I reference specific scenes a lot in Spike’s nightmares and internal exploration bc I really wanted to draw on the source material and have it be a literal Part of the story. I’d also really recommend looking up Session XX if you haven’t already; a hefty amount of Faye’s growth came from analyzing her sessions, but also seeing where she falls at the End of Cowboy Bebop vs. where she is during Session XX (which is arguably halfway through the show).

Next, and I’m fighting the instinct to be embarrassed by this, but I did a personality analysis using the Enneagram (kinda like the myers briggs but with fewer, more articulate options imo). My roommate’s hella into it and we’ve spent Hours talking about their personalities and lemme just say holy Shit I am convinced of several things:

Spike is an 8 wing 7 (impulsive, control-oriented, deflects, speaks with his actions, passionate, has a hard time being vulnerable especially emotionally, craves autonomy).

Faye is a 7 wing 8 (spontaneous, material, pleasure oriented/ indulgent, avoids negative feelings, self-reliant, craves independence).

They compliment each other. But they also have a high potential of clashing. I don’t use the enneagram as like a “this is the only inspiration for scenes i get” but it HAS helped me when i’ve been like “fuck how WOULD they respond? what makes the most logical sense?”

Bonus: Jet’s a 1 and Ed’s a 3 (i think). Ed’s harder to pin down bc she’s a kid, and I haven’t done as much exploring with them, but I think I’m still pretty good on those lines.

The hardest part of writing Bebop past Real Folk Blues is that the majority of the content we have for them is a lot of the growth happens at the Very End of the series. I’ve struggled with Faye bc most of her life we see on screen is about Running, and Keeping Moving and being so fucking mad that she has no past; when she finally remembers that past, it’s lost its weight, and then when she realizes she has a home, THAT gets broken, too. The last shots we have of Faye, she’s crying, heartbroken and angry and (in my interpretation) hella confused. I’ve struggled with Spike bc in the end, it’s hard to fathom what he’d be like after losing two of the largest reasons for being alive. In those last scenes with Jet and Faye, is he numb? Decisive? Did he already die with Julia, or is he genuinely just going to end it with Vicious and then see where/ if the world turns afterwards?

Who’s to say, either way?

You, the writer. A lot of my stuff has been written on instinct, with a goal in mind. The closer I got to the characters, the further the goal got, bc I realized in order to write the characters, you have to respect them. Which is a weird way to say it, but like.... It’s the best way I can describe it. You have to accept their faults and strengths; stubbornness is cute to play with, but it can also be an incredible source of conflict. Oh sidebar, every single fucking memory of the Bebop is stubborn. Opinion or fact? Yes.

I could go on for days. I definitely should, maybe I’ll make character analysis posts if people are interested, idk ;) 

Most importantly though (and this is gonna be just straight up writing advice): don’t be so hard on yourself. Blah blah blah, you’re your own worst critic, I’m sure you’ve heard that before, but it’s so true. 

Those first fifteen chapters or so, I’ve reread through for details and to get a hold one where I want to go, and I BIG cringe at them. I had no sense of timelines and my heart just wanted them to Get the Damn Together Already, but once I got a better sense of who they were, the rhythm and motion of their push and pull became so much more natural and something I’m more proud of. 

You’ll get better at writing the more you write. I just spent the past two months of my life working on this project, and I’m fucking Excited to keep going. How?? How did this happen??? I just wanted Spike and Faye to make out?!?!

Listen. Listen well. Trust your instincts. If something feels off but you still want to explore an idea, don’t dump the whole chapter, just put it to the side and write again. I’ve written multiple chapters that way: I started writing, it felt off, so I KEPT the chapter, but I reworked the order, or took lines and mashed them in a way that changed the meaning. Writing is a process.

Second, write what you want to write. What you want to read. I’d defo recommend reading a bunch of different fics, see how other writers interpret the characters and such, but don’t let them (or me!) influence solely how you write the crew. Find your own voice in this world. Rewatch Bebop and take directly from the source material if you have to; break it down and ask the question “why did they use that Exact word? Why did they make That choice?” and then answer it in a way that feels honest to You.

Hope any of this helps! (P.S. if you are so inclined, dm the the title of your fic and i’ll try to take a gander!)

[itsdappleagain]

CS Season 3 Thoughts...

Okay, overall?? Kinda disappointed, like a lot of people. Only five episodes, its been covered. Its disappointing. But lets go over them, shall we...

The Luchadora Tango Caper

Overall thoughts? Well, this season seems so....separated? Kind of out of character and disconnected. I’ll go over why at the end.

Haha, do the Cleaners do everything?? They can cook, rig explosives, kidnap people, play bagpipes, fly a helicopter...is technology really their weakness? Oops. That’s not for another few episodes.

Poor Cleo. She seems rather out of character in this season too. All she wants is to be warm. Throughout, she seems so...almost inexperienced? Where’s the sharp-tongued, sarcastic, delicate in taste and style Cleo we know? She’s there in places.....just...

They faked us out. I thought we were going to see Carmen tangoing. Also, is it just me, or is there a lot of...leg wrapping...this season..?

Ah yes, thank you, musical cues, I was worried Shadow-san had torn Carmen to pieces since Season 3. That’s her triumph score; maybe its like a “welcome back to cs” or something. Honestly, the whole “she’s been missing all summer” seems weird and unexplained, and unnecessary.

Does Veracruz exist? Yes, it does, how did that fly under our radars?

“I have his eyes” tore me to bits. Oh my gosh what a line. She’s seeing her father for the first time.

Thank you for showing us the 10 passports and giving us some pictures, we will never hear anything about Dexter or Vera after this episode again

She was an adorable baby and Carmen acknowledging this is hilarious

“Who may I have the pleasure of declining?” is another really funny line to me

This fight between Carmen and Spinkick has no suspense and its really a bad one to be honest, but holy crap Spinkick can dent stone lol

It makes a lot of sense that Catching Carmen Sandiego 101 is a class now, lol. I really want to see it. That- those fights were horrible by the way. Does Shadowsan know how to use the bolas? Because we know Carmen sure can’t.

Coach sure does like making messes and ruining tables

Ivy is so supportive this season and I am here for it. Kinda unlike Zack who is just “Hi, I hate fish and I misunderstand names” guy.

Yeah Maelstrom, what the hell did you let her walk for? Brunt easily captured her and you want to enforce sketchy psychological doubts in her mind? What?

Don’t show your face, Maelstrom says to Brunt. You know. After kidnapping a law enforcer with apparently perfect face memory recall who now has your face plastered all over wanted posters. Oh, and that Lutedor you knocked out didn’t see your face either

There is so much indirect calling Carmen good looking this season? What? I mean she is but it is so weird

Zack saying juicy steaks is so so uncomfortable

Carmen is so disengaged this season???? *Finds a link to her mother and pictures of her father* oh its another *sad sigh* link to my past. *Wow, you look like your mother, and I knew her, and her name!* Oh. Can you tell me about her.. Family is Carmen’s main trigger and source of steam in s1 and, mostly, s2. Now we get actual parts about it and she seems like she doesn’t care.

HAHA! Julia even gets her own little entrance with music and “camera” angles. And she is SO dismissively sassy sometimes in this season, I love what little we do get of her. I mean it is REALLY out of character, she hardly ever gets sassy/angry. But everyone is out of character so what the hell might as well enjoy it

“We have a fresh Carmen sighting!” Devineaux: “Haha!” Julia: *sigggggghhh* Julia girl, whats up? Please don’t leave forever. I know you said your head was in the game but your heart wasn’t, but? What? Why? Your heart seems to have been in it in season 2! Did you have a really bad summer??

Player has a space alien and a sock on his dresser and why am I not surprised

Okay, Carmen, because sitting down against a door you’re waiting to open (and you have waited for three seconds) is a great thing to do

Hahhaha Player. “I’m sorry, did you not attend a school for thieves?” Carmen is so sad though “Hey, just broke into your house, I’m your long lost daughter” and she should be sadder about the long lost daughter thing!??! It is so out of character!?!?

And so, Uncatchable Master Super Thief Carmen Sandiego breaks into an unknown house without checking it for people or weapons, after waiting three seconds to be let in. What? What?

The casual use of “mommy” and “daddy” is so, so very strange and I hate it a lot

*Snort* Zack and Ivy are doing their best but it is sot hard to see how they got caught by VILE in TSONTS

jgkjjdf Ivy just slings Zack to the floor and he can not move her an inch

I love Lupe a lot and I hope she returns

Carmen is more wholesome in this season too, it seems, probably because of this whole disengaged character shift but its cute

Devineaux *s t r u t s*

I would be concerned if Chief hadn’t made him take the driving course but I was still terrified for Julia’s life ALSO JULIA JUST. ROLLS HER EYES SASSY QUEEN

How is it that Zack and Ivy haven’t been arrested or killed yet, they have been seen so many times with her

Ah, yes. The famed roses scene. Okay, fine, fine....ugh

Julia is looking for Carmen behind because she learned her lesson with Devineaux! yes

Julia knows what is up but Devineaux gesturing at the trophies is pretty funny

Carmen just gets yoinked off her feet by Brunt and it is the most concerned she has been all season and will be all season because getting lifted off your feet in a crowded public place with strong friends and lawmen all around is much scarier than being electrocuted, kidnapped, and gagged on a plane going to an unknown location

Coach Brunt was the Imposter

“This isn’t your fight,” Carmen says, instead of accepting help from the woman who she has seen easily lift probably 300 pounds or more to help her get rid of the lady who’s tried to murder her like twice and nearly succeeded

Oh my gosh Devineaux actually spots her peeking out and recognizes her instead of blindly following Zack/Ivy and Carmen is PEEKING OUT WHY

Carmen is handcuffed and its really funny She just drags him along like later would be a much better time for her fhdgfkhdhsf Also she is much funnier when she threatens people with a bumbling idiot cuffed to her wrist, although he is much less of a bumbling idiot this season, I must say

Of. Course. Carmen has a device which just unlocks handcuffs why wouldn’t she?!

How is Devineaux not dead

HAHA SHE JUST EXAPSERATEDLY DRAGS HIM AWAY “COME ON DEVINEAUX” that is quiet honestly hilarious to me like “My god why do I have to keep dragging you out of stupidly dangerous situations involving Brunt where you get injured”

Oh? Did they rehearse Lupe jumping off Carmen’s back? Lupe had no way to know Carmen was strong or steady enough to handle that

Saira cackling at Brunt getting beat up is the best thing I’ve ever witnessed and she is drawing a thief cat oh my god

Did Lupe still win if that wasn’t her opponent and she had help from Carmen and a debatably helpful policeman

Julia my child what happened to you? Why are you like Zari now?

Devineaux just can’t keep a car in good condition ever can he? I love how Julia just stands there covering her mouth with her hands

My god Carmen are you going to tell your story and motives to every person you meet this season? Oh? Yes? Oh, okay

No, Brunt, not a single soul saw your face. Nope. 

VILE is so, so very unsinister during most of these episodes. They went from murder and trauma to pumpkin carving and nougat

Well, anyway. I’ll do more episodes coming soon.

#carmen sandiego #carmen sandiego season three #carmen sandiego spoilers #carmen sandiego season three spoilers #spoilers

[katedrakeohd]

A Stolen Moment - Part 3

A The Royal Masquerade Fanfiction

Part One / Part Two

...................

Cast of Characters: (MC) Julia Aster, Kayden Vescovi, Teapot the guard, various marketplace folk.

Rated: PG

.................

Part Three : The Mariner and the Maiden

I nudge my horse to follow Kaydan as he pulls away from the line of carriages. After turning a bend in the road the sound of the carriage wheels and trotting horses fades and as I look over at Kaydan he seems to have relaxed a little.

"A change of scenery is nice." I venture, still feeling uncertain about where Kaydan is leading me.

When he looks over at me his usual stoic, unreadable expression has fallen away, and he gives me a happy smile that lights up his whole face.

"This kind of change is welcome. It feels like a lifetime since I've explored town as a free man without responsibilities."

I laugh, "You're still responsible for me, and to get us back before we're missed."

He nods, "Be that as it may, for now I don't want us to be Crown Shield or Lady Aster. Let's escape from that life and choose to be other people, if only for a short time."

As the bustling marketplace on the edge of town comes into view I feel a sense of wonder at the crowd of people and the brightly colored awnings.

"Who shall we be then?" I ask, as I look at the various people in the market for inspiration.

Kaydan looks at me for a long moment and then leads us toward a hotel next to the market. He dismounts his horse and ties it to a hitching post and then secures my horse before offering his help to get me down.

The slippery fabric of my dress causes me to slide sideways out of the saddle too quickly and with a yelp of surprise I find myself falling down on top of him. Somehow he manages to catch me in his arms, although he has to shuffle his feet a bit to not end up on the ground himself.

As he holds me tightly against his chest I can feel him start to laugh. "If I remember correctly this is the second time you've fallen into my arms."

Trying to catch my breath from the shock of falling I suddenly realize how close my lips are to his. I touch his cheek and smile, dropping my voice to a whisper, "Thankyou Kaydan, now perhaps you should put me down. People are staring."

I can feel his body stiffen momentarily, as he blushes and gently puts me down on my feet.

Fixing my skirt and then brushing my hair back over my shoulder, I try to push aside how intimate it had felt to be held in his arms so tightly. "So what were we talking about?"

Kaydan is busy putting his riding gloves in his saddle bag, and I notice he's having trouble meeting my eyes. He's so cute when he gets all flustered. Clearing his throat he straightens up and takes a quick glance around the market.

"We were going to choose new identities so we could escape court for a moment."

"Oh that's right, such a clever idea. You choose for me and then I'll choose for you." I say.

He looks at me for a few seconds, and I can only guess at what he's thinking. Finally he starts walking toward the lineup of shopping stalls and I hurry to catch up.

"I'd choose an Artist or Painter for you. As a scribe you're no stranger to holding a quill and making intricate designs on paper. I can easily imagine you as a Great Master's apprentice walking around the market looking for inspiration."

I quirk an eyebrow, "That's oddly specific, you think I'd be a good painter?"

"You're highly intelligent and are used to working independently just as a painter would. I've seen your creativity in action as you easily adapt to any situation, just like a painter might improvise with colour to make something uniquely their own creation."

I can't help but smile at his unexpected compliments. "Why thankyou kindly, I accept. Just like a painter, as a scribe I was no stranger to having my fingers stained by my medium. So you've chosen well."

He nods, offering me his arm, I smile as I tuck my hand in the crook of his elbow. As we stroll toward the market vendors together he asks, "So what's my story then? Julia the artist. Paint me a picture."

"Well let me see. You're a mariner on leave and looking for some fun before you have to go back to sea. And while you're ashore you meet a beautiful young painter in search of her next masterpiece."

"A mariner you say?"

"Yes, a mariner and a poet. Your fellow shipmates are so jealous of your prowess with words, and demand that you tell them stories every night as they lay in their bunks."

Kaydan laughs, "I'm hardly a storyteller, definitely not a poet."

I smile and give his arm a squeeze, "Oh I don't know about that. I've seen you with your fellow guardsmen, and there's no doubt they're a colorful bunch. I bet you could tell me a story about each of them."

Kaydan chuckles, blushing a bit as he lowers his voice. "None fit for a Lady's ears I'm afraid."

"I don't know Kaydan, what would you tell them about today? Is your company not worthy of inspiring a few words?"

He looks at me as if his story is written all over my face, and as his eyes linger on me I see a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. "I say that story hasn't been written yet. And if I were to put quill to paper I would surely keep this story for myself."

Between the kaleidoscope of sights and sounds of the market and the pleasure of having Kaydan at my side I feel positively giddy with excitement. But I can't resist the urge to take my 'Mariner' off of guard duty.

"Well this muse needs to stretch her legs a little. There's plenty of market to see so let's split up, and explore. Come find me later and we'll see where our story goes."

"Are you ok wandering the market alone? You know this goes against every bit of my training as a guard." He warns, looking concerned.

"Aha, well you're not a guard at the moment. You're a mariner out looking for treasures. Besides like you said I'm independent, capable and smart. And in this dress I stand out like a sail on the horizon anyway. I'm not going to run away, just keep an eye on me and I'll keep an eye out for you."

With a sigh Kaydan steps away from me, "Ok fine, we'll explore the market separately. But only for a little while."

"I promise if anything bad happens I'll scream and make a fuss, so that you can come running and be my knight in leather armor."

While Kaydan reluctantly blends into the crowd of people. I choose a parallel path of market vendors and check out the wares. Under an awning woven with a colorful design, I approach a lady wearing flowing robes. She's standing behind a display of delicate glass bottles. Some have wooden or glass stoppers and others are open to be smelled or sampled. From the mixed spicy, floral and musky aromas I can tell she's selling perfumes.

She smiles at me, "Good morrow to you M'lady, would you care to sample a new scent today?"

"Yes, that would be lovely."

"Something sweet and floral or something musky with a hint of spice?"

Being around Kaydan I'm reminded of the strong scent of musk and leather. Which works nicely on him. My own toiletries table always has rosewater and citrusy scents for me to wear thanks to my sister Annalise. Today I want something different.

"Do you have anything spicy and floral? I'm trying to draw someone's attention."

The lady smiles and picks up an empty bottle, she adds a few drops from various other bottles and then a clear liquid to dilute them. After placing the stopper she gives it a little shake and then hands me the dampened cap to sniff.

"Tell me what you think of this." She says with a grin.

Bringing the cap to my nose I'm assaulted by a heady dizzying scent of flowers and some kind of unknown spice. It makes me cough at first, but then as I catch a whiff on the breeze I inhale deeply and the scent mellows to something more pleasant.

"I like it. I'll take the whole bottle."

I hand her the cap and she secures it to the bottle and then I give her some coins from my purse. She wraps the bottle in a scrap of cloth and then hands it to me. As other people gather around me to look at her perfumes, I nod my thanks and move on.

Undoing the cap I dab some of the perfume on my neck and into my hair at the nape. I'm hoping Kaydan notices it, but I feel a knot in my stomach at the thought of Hector smelling it too. I have no interest in being matched with another strange suitor, but my duty to the Crown requires it. I tuck the bottle away in my pocket, and move along the row.

Looking across through the crowd I search for Kaydan. A catch sight of a pair of broad shoulders and a head of dark hair but he's turned away from me and I'm not sure if it's him.

I quickly pass by a group of vendors hocking various meats and roasted animals on sticks that make my stomach turn in unhappy ways. And then I come across a kindly middle aged woman sitting quietly and knitting behind her display of various handmade objects of leather and wood.

I still have a few coins left and I want to buy something for Kaydan. The objects vary from hand carved wooden chess sets, boxes of gambling dice, various leather belts and pieces of braided jewelry and a collection of small leather bound books.

I'm hoping any of these things might bring him some enjoyment, whether he played games with his fellow guards or needed replacement leather pieces for whatever. But as a lover of books myself it's those that catch my eye. I run my finger along the spine of a brown book with an embossed leather cover.

The lady smiles at me, and sets her needlework aside. "Good day to you Ma'am is there something that catches your interest?"

I smile as I pick up the book and hold it out to her, "Yes, what can you tell me about these books?"

"They're books rescued from the private library of a nobleman who had no heirs to pass them down to. The new Duke and Duchess of Valtoria had no use for them when they took over the manor and decided to renovate."

Looking down at the book in my hand, and at all the other books. I can't believe my good fortune at finding these lost treasures, but alas I only have enough coins for one. Opening the book I see it's a handwritten journal containing snippets of poetry. Apart from the first handful of pages the rest are blank.

When I had given Kaydan the book from my sister's collection, he had admitted to not owning any. With this journal he would have two, and hopefully he'll be inspired to write down his thoughts when he has time alone. I don't know how often he gets the chance to read, especially amidst the company of his fellow guards. But I want him to have something else to remember me by once my marriage to Hector takes me away from him. Thinking about Hector makes me feel uncomfortable, but I shake it off and offer to pay for the journal.

The lady smiles, holding up her hand and shaking her head. "You were kind enough to show interest in a piece of someone who was dear to me, please just take it and give it a loving home."

"Are you sure? I can offer a few coins for your trouble."

"I'm sure, pass it along to someone you love so that his words aren't forgotten."

I smile and shake the hand of the woman after she wraps the book up for me. "Thankyou so much."

With a nod she goes back to her chair and resumes her knitting.

Tucking the wrapped book under my arm I continue to the end of the market and find myself in the middle of the town square. A small crowd has gathered to listen to a trio of stringed musicians. Their lively tune has many people clapping hands or tapping their feet. A few brave souls have even paired up to dance.

I'm thoroughly engrossed in the entertainment and don't hear Kaydan approach me from behind. When he places his hand gently on my arm I gasp and stumble back into him. "Kaydan! You frightened me."

He leans down and whispers in my ear, "That's the fun part, because catching you off guard means you end up in my arms."

I grin and nudge him on the arm as he steps in next to be, "Is this the mariner talking? Be careful there Kaydan, lest your verbal innuendo earn you the same nefarious reputation as your brother Cyrus."

"Half-.."

"Sorry, half-brother."

Kaydan shakes his head looking slightly offended, "I would have to crawl on my belly in the muck in order to stoop low enough to reach his level of depravity."

"Relax I'm only playing with you. I know you're a much more honorable man than Cyrus could ever hope to be."

Continue on to the next

.....

@gardeningourmet @samihatuli @jovialyouthmusic @sirbeepsalot @dcbbw @mfackenthal @bobasheebaby @pedudley @be-still-my-aching-heart @krishu213 @ibldw-main @chaotichuman0090 @addictedtodrakefanfic

#kayden vescovi #kayden × MC #theroyalmasquerade #long post

[kierongillen]

Writer Notes: The Wicked + the Divine: The Funnies

 Spoilers, obv.

 I suspect this will lean a little shorter than usual, partially because it’s more an editorial, sitting back position than any other issue of WicDiv and partially as DIE is out tomorrow, and there’s a lot of plates I’m keeping spinning.

 But let’s see, eh?

 Last year, when we did the Christmas Special, doing a comedy special was the other option. We decided to keep that in the can, simply because I was trying to visualise what on earth it would be like. Would I ask people to write stuff? Would I write it all? Could I somehow get The Wicked + the Canine to fill the whole issue? We went for Jamie’s idea (which required less conceptual engineering, so was easy, despite being more actual writing work) and saved this for the end.

 Which is nice. End of school party, right?

Jamie/Matt’s Cover: Jamie and I have a piece of performance twitter, where I make puns and he pretends to hate them. Okay, that’s not true at all. He hates them, as is only right, as they are designed to be hated. When we have Skype calls, and Chrissy and I sit beside each other, when I drop a pun, Chrissy makes a face which… well, Jamie’s wants to grab it as a gif. It’s quite the thing.

 Anyway – a variety of responses to puns. The pun is, I suspect, the best one I’ve dropped on twitter. One day I’ll write an essay on What I Do With Puns. But not today. It didn’t get a ludicrous number of retweets when I dropped it (and deleted my whole stream, as I do sporadically – don’t worry, I store everything before I do). It had an afterlife though being reblogged on tumblr (I think last time it was about 130k interactions), used in big websites’ pun round-ups, put on T-shirts and straight up stolen and tweeted by other people.

 So let’s stick it on a cover, and show the variety of responses to it. Of course, Baph would like it.

 I really like what Matt did with the colours here as well.

 Margaux Saltel’s cover: Margaux is great. I got to know her distantly when C was editing superfreaks, and actually got a chance to hang properly at this year’s thought bubble. She’s got a real playfulness to her art, which this fascinating design sense. Adorable big dog staring at the reader was the first thing I thought of when planning this issue, really.

IFC

Intro page to explain what’s going on, with pop-comic design by Sergio, headlines courtesy of C. If you haven’t read it, give it a scan, because I big up all our collaborators.

How did we decide how to ask? Far too many options. Our comic friends are very funny. We tended to ask people as it occurred to us, see how many pages they wanted to do, and then work out how many pages we had left

The Wicked + the Canine

I lured Erica into this by basically promising her to draw six pages of as many dogs as she liked. Write for your artist.

The pun was basically to amuse Chrissy, and grew into a story. I thought it could be longer (and it could have) but realised it’s best to cut it short – the backbone of Ananke as trainer, and the dogs as untrainable pups, is basically the core of it. Plus the big kick in seeing everyone done in dog form.

I threw some ideas into the mix of how the dogs could be differentiated (For example, Sakhmet as a cat and Woden as clearly-not-a-puppy in a cone of shame) but really left it to Erica to draw whatever dogs she liked. I actually suggested they all be Labradors, but Erica wanted to stretch and play, and it’s all wonderful.  The worry is in terms of race-coding the dogs, which is something we avoided.

I think my favourite is Baphopup.

The white-background and “get in the sack” is a wonderful bit of cartooning. How the lack of background stresses it all.

That it was basically done to make C laugh means that it’s part of a history of my dog based comics, which also includes the Christmas issue of Journey Into Mystery, where Loki has to give away seven hell-hounds. I think Thori is the character I co-created for the Marvel Universe who has had the longest life in terms of being used by other people. Adorable sweary murderous puppies can’t go wrong.

I’m pleased that people seemed to like it. That it’s a six page story where the joke is “Evil old lady doesn’t throw trusting pups in the river” is not exactly family comedy special material. I suspect if you’ve stuck along with WicDiv this far, you know what we’re like.

This is also a story which implicitly spoils the book, in terms of Ananke being a shameless manipulator of the pups. A lot of the stories are similar, which means this is a comic designed for relief of those who came along for all the issues.

The Wicker + the Divine Lizz Lunney is one of my favourite British cartoonists, and whole fierce scowl has petrified me for the decade or so I’ve known her. Lunney hadn’t read much of WicDiv before, so we lobbed her the PDFs, and found something fun to mock in terms of how ludicrously call-back-y we are.

Go support her stuff. She’s great.

The Lost God

Chip’s just a phenomenon, and his rising career across the last decade has been basically the most delightful surprise in the period. Immediately I have to swallow the urge to do the usual “Because he’s rubbish” chip-baiting joke, which says a lot. Chip is so much fun. That he’s both one of Marvel’s biggest, most interesting writers now and half of one of the most popular and definitive indie comics of the period is something else. Like, he’d be a legend if only for his internet jokes. That’s a footnote now. Amazing.

Anyway – we meet the first Kieron and Jamie version. Chip’s one is delightful – the over-tortured pun is on the money, but the real joy is Jamie McKelvie’s Hellboy-esque hyper-developed single arm. Every time I look at that, I laugh. Plus the accent. Marvelous.

“Wossat?! Time paste this nob, innit?” is just poetry.

Gentle Annie Vs The World

Talking about poetry…

Chrissy is WicDiv’s editor and also a poet, and has done some indie comics before – as well as co-editing the anthology Over The Line, which is an introduction to Poetry Comics. This isn’t that. This is her just channelling her loathing of Gentle Annie’s obfuscatory nonsense, and I love it so.

Clayton and Dee step in on the art duties. It was Clayton’s idea to drop in the Scott Pilgrim parody Annie at the top, which is very cute, and implicitly shows the modes he can work on. The realism of each scene, and the sense of place is great. Also, the Banshees poster in the doctor’s office is hilarious.

Making A Difference

This is fun. Romesh is a proper famous comedian, and digs WicDiv, so thought it’d be fun to write for the medium. As his script was coming together, I thought of Julia Madrigal’s Giant Days issue, and realised it’d fit well. She had to do it on her trip to Japan, which involved some hilarious jetlag.

Dee’s doing some powerhouse things here with the purple-white lighting too. That’s hyper-strong.

“Fresh Prince of Baal Air” is a hell of a line, in passing, and I think this may have the prize for the darkest punchline of the whole issue.

5 Things Everyone Who’s Lived With Sakhmet Will Understand

I loved Hamish’ Pantheon, which is a playful but entirely accurate retelling of Egyptian myth. Hamish also won this year’s Russ Manning Promising Newcomer Award, so clearly should be doing something else rather than being talked into playing around with us lot. Thankfully, he didn’t.

I think my favourite moment is Persephone’s glance up as Sakhmet walks across the keyboard.

18 Go Made In Wiltshire

Kitty and Larisa have done a bunch of stuff, but I have to put a special plug for where I first met them – TAYLOR SWIFT GIRL DETECTIVE: SECRETS OF THE STARBUCK LOVERS. It’s illustrated prose, and utterly delightful, so was honoured to have them along.

This is all an accurate and extensive skewering of what we’re doing, with a not-perfect Scooby Doo mash-up. I did try to talk them out of including all the characters, as that’s so much work, but they could not be stopped. This meant that working out speaking orders was the main formal issue to worry about.

Now, there’s lots of mockery of me in this issue, but reducing Laura down to “Everyone is so hot! Let’s make out with them!” was absolutely the I Feel Called Out Right Now moment. She’s more than that, right? Right?

While the “WicDiv is a scooby do plot” complete with “Evil old man reveal” is lots of fun, the bit which makes me laugh every time I flick through is the “I would have got away with it if it wasn’t for you meddling ki—” “Oh, fuck off.” Oh, Lucifer, Never change.

Enquiring Minds Want To Know: What’s Your Guilty Pleasure Song

Cover-artist Margaux joined by the irrepressible Kate Leth. I’m really into how the two play together – Kate wanted to cut things tight, and the “Short moment” illustrated with Margaux’s warmth is fascinating. Like, have the two other Norns ever looked more delighted and engaged than they are at the end of page six?

In terms of Kieron and Jamie baiting, Grumpy Jamie in full Captain Marvel Gear and me trying to write an essay in any given space is fun and mean (which is how we like it). And I’ve just realised that writing more about this script would only be underlining Kate’s point, so I better stop.

Secret Origin

I wrote it, and offered it to Jamie. Really, the point of the specials is to create a space in the schedule so Jamie can get ahead, but he couldn’t resist this one. It’s cathartic closure, at the least.

Choosing the puns was tricky – I realised it had to be a chain, so chose this one which amused Katie West, which was tweeted when visiting them in Edinburgh. So I was in range of punching.

As always, this is Jamie expression masterclass, and a little self-mocking of my tendency to go full clockwork in my story universes is fun. I hope so anyway.

28 pages of comics, which is quite the thing. I don’t suspect we’ll be making much (if any) money from this issue after paying everyone, but that’s fine. It’s a party, innit?

Oh, it was nearly 2000 words. It’s never short, is it? It’s never short.

WicDIv 40 is out tomorrow (December 5th), which starts our final arc, “Okay.” Hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for reading.

#WicDiv #the wicked and the divine #writer notes

[thegreatescape]

My experience at the HVFF

This is going to be a very long post about my experience at the HVFF (sorry for my terrible English).

So, when we arrived, on our left, we saw Milo Ventimiglia and we almost fainted in front of him because we didn't expect to see him so close to the entrance lol Infact we were shocked when we saw John Barrowman few seconds later on our right too haha

Then my friends and I went immediately to Robin's stand and when we saw him we all freaked out -damn, he's so good looking and he seems like 28, not 39 :O- So we stood right next to him (not in the queue) and when he saw us he waved and smiled at us (his smile is so bright and cute, I almost melted).

Then I met Em, Julia (@robinllordtaylor) and Jen (@christopherpaulcolfers) and they're absolutely adorable ;-; I'm so happy that I've finally met them -I love you so much girls!

Then we all went to Robin's photo-op and when I saw him I asked him if we could hug and he said 'Of course, sweetie!' and he smiled again. So I picked up my bags and I showed my hand to my friend -because I was literally shaking- and Dickie (Robin's husband) saw me and he laughed -lol I was sooo embarrassed!

Then we went at the Gotham panel but I don't remember everything they said... But when the interviewer talked about the couples and mentioned Nygmobblepot everyone screamed out lout (video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/BUt6B2BDV_P/?taken-by=giulsholfer ) and Robin laughed and changed the subject and talked about Alfred's terrible love life lol

At the end of the panel we went to Robin's stand again and there I witnessed the funniest thing ever: my dear friend Alexa (@rainbowthirteen) asked Robin to sign her 'Nygmpowerbottom' pic (video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsc_JEy1nW8 // gifset: http://colfernygma.tumblr.com/post/161274349417/few-days-ago-i-took-this-video-of-my-friend )

Then it was my turn and it went pretty much like this:

Robin held my hand and said: 

-Hi, nice to meet you! What's your name?

-Hi, I'm Giulia. First of all, sorry for my English.

-Where are you from?

-Venice, Italy.

-Oh, Italy! Well, my Italian is terrible too. The only word I know is 'prego'. (he was so adorable when he said that with his accent hufodsiafshoi) Is it correct, right?

-Yes, it's correct! So... (I gave him my drawing, this one:)

-Do you want me to sign this pic?

-Ehm, no. This is a drawing for you!

-A draw-- what?! OH.MY.GOD!!! I thought it was a picture!! (he called his manager and told her that it was a drawing) Look at the details! Oh my God, it's so impressive! You're so talented.

And his manager: Oh my, it's better than the original!

And Robin: Yeah! Wait... (he looked at her pretending to be offended) thank you!? (and they laughed.)

Robin hold my hand and complimented my drawing again, and I gave him the t-shirt.

-I hope it fits.

-OH MY GOD! It's my cat Finn! Look! She put a picture of my cat and... Oh, wonderful.

-Actually, it's a drawing.

-You drew this too? Oh my God that's amazing! You're so talented omg!

And his manager: She's spoiling you! And him: Definitely!

-It looks like a picture, thank you so much!!

(gifset: http://colfernygma.tumblr.com/post/161254744987/when-i-gave-my-t-shirt-to-robin-with-a-drawing-of )

Then I asked him to give Cory my present for him (a tshirt -yeah, with that terrible guinea pig bc Cory is obsessed with it lmao- and a drawing) 

because he cancelled his participation few weeks before the fanfest so I had my gifts already done and Robin was SO kind to me. Here's the moment: http://colfernygma.tumblr.com/post/161311350147/ill-be-forever-grateful-thank-you-robin

-Come here, let me hug you!

-Love you.

-Love you too.

(gifset: http://colfernygma.tumblr.com/post/161292214277/robin-and-i-after-i-gave-him-a-drawing-of-oswald )

Then we went to Sean's stand and I gave him another drawing ( https://www.instagram.com/p/BOiI9ULgbFF/?taken-by=giulsholfer ) and he complimented me and said something like:

-Oh my God, can I keep it?!

-OF COURSE! (I mean, I thought it was obvious haha)

He was sooo sweet and he hugged me twice ;-; ( https://www.instagram.com/p/BUsdGniDIHZ/?taken-by=giulsholfer )

Drew was right next to him so we decided to go all together and do a group pic. Me and Em had two cutouts of Cory

and when Drew saw them he yelled:

-OH MY GOD! That's so creepy! But beautiful! Wait...

He took his mobile phone and asked us to pose with the cutouts and thEN HE TEXTED CORY IN FRONT OF US!!! HE LITERALLY SENT OUR PIC TO HIM -I'm still screaming-

So he said:

-Okay, I get it that Cory is your favorite BUT who's your second favorite?

And we -laughing-: YOUUUU!

He laughed too and said “You'll have my gratitude forever!”

When we told him that we are all friends and we're from Italy, Great Britain, Germany and Argentina he said: “You should start a girl band called 'The Cory Smith!'

Then we took like 20 pics (he's so sweet and funny istg and he gives the best hugs) and he even put Cory’s face on his lmao

 And at some point a guy run towards us and photobombed us and we were like 'Hey you didn't pay for the pic!' but then we noticed that it was fREAKING BRANDON ROUTH! And my friend screamed: OH MY GOD! SUPERMAN PHOTOBOMBED US!

Then I went to Milo's stand and while we were queueing I was taking a looot of picture till he caught me. I smiled guilty and he laughed and said: Don't worry, take as many pics as you want!

When I arrived in front of him the conversation was this:

"Hi! Nice to meet you! Omg this is an ooooold picture!"

"Well, you're always beautiful."

"Aw, thank you! What's your name?"

"Giulia."

"Italia!"

"Yes! I'm from Venice."

"Bella! How do you spell Giulia?"

-I had a panic attack and I wasn't even able to spell my name lmfao-

"Give me your phone."

"Yeah thank u, bc I'm shaking."

"Aww, no." -he took 3 pics-

"Can I hug you?"

"Sure! Certo! �� stato un piacere." (He said it in italian and I melted)

Then he hugged me tight ;-;

The second day we went to Robin's stand in the morning. I talked about my social anxiety and that I was there just to meet him and he said that he has the same phobia and that he was so happy that I was able to face my fears to meet him. 

But the thing that made my heart jumping was the first thing he said to me:

-Oh, hi! I was looking forward to seeing you again!

And he held my hands... he was so sweet I'm still crying. (gifset: http://colfernygma.tumblr.com/post/161314684447/i-was-literally-shaking-when-he-told-me-that )

Then we went to his stand 3 more times and he hugged us every single one and I was like 'I'm so so so sorry, I don't want to bother you!'

And he was like: 'Awww noo! Don't worry! It's a pleasure, come here!”

And we took a pic with Cory’s cutout too lmao

We also saw Dickie again because he was bringing him bottles of water bc it was so hot, and a friend of mine tapped on his shoulder and when he turned around we paralized and waved at him. He smiled and looked genuinely happy and he said: “Hi! How are you?! Are you having fun?!” and omg he's so cute! He has a beautiful smile!

Then we went to the photo-op again and when Robin saw me he said:

-Hi Giulia! Nice to see you again! and he hugged me one more time.

Then we went to Sean (he had his black glasses... we HAD to take a pic with him lmao he's hot, I've to say that :P) 

and while we were taking our pics with him, Drew yelled:

-Seannyyyyyyy??? I'm on someone's wallpaper! Are you on someone's wallpaper?

And Sean pretended to be sad: -No :((

And Drew with an high-pitched voice: Well, I'm on someone's wallpaper!

It was soooo funny! I love them so much!

Before leaving I asked Drew if I could hug him again and he almost lift me off the ground and he said to me and my friends: “Good luck with the girl band!!” (the one that he called 'The Cory Smith' the day before lol)

Then we waved at David and Jessica more than once and they're so cute too! David is so small and Jessica is breathtaking!

It was such a lovely experience and everyone was so nice to me. The cast of Gotham is a treasure and I had the best time with them and my amazing friends!

P.S

When I came home I saw this adorable video posted by Robin ( http://colfernygma.tumblr.com/post/161313103552/justgotham-robin-thanking-fans-at-heroes ) and I cried bc you can see my drawing, my t-shirt, my gift for Cory and Julia's drawing ;-;)

Oh, and Cory liked these two pics: 1) https://www.instagram.com/p/BUpMB-1jsN7/?taken-by=giulsholfer 2) https://www.instagram.com/p/BUpKjSlDKmL/?taken-by=giulsholfer 

I’m still laughing! 

#robin lord taylor #gotham #cory michael smith #milo ventimiglia #nygmobblepot #sean pertwee #drew powell #hvff #hvff london #hvff 2017

[13flowersandfoxes]

1-99 please and thank

I vote you do this too you turd

* do you have a favourite sweater?    * My green one* what’s your middle name?    * Not telling 😊* do you still talk to the first person you kissed?    * Nope* do you get on with your grandpa?    * They’re both dead so…. * what was your favourite cartoon as a kid?    * Probably monsters inc or nightmare before Christmas. Or Aladdin. Or lilo and stitch. I DUNNO. * what’s your favourite cartoon now?    * Pretty much the same, except you can add tangled to the list* do you read the news paper?    * No* who was the last text you sent to ?    * Brendan* what does the last text you sent say?    * :P* if you could have any hair colour what would it be?    * Red with a bit of green. Maybe purple?* do you like nature documentaries?    * Yeah :)* what is your aesthetic?    * Nature, also just super classy looking stuff. Or old stuff. Idk* when did you last pet a dog?    * Probably when I left my place in Utah. It’s been a while :(* whose friend’s parents do you like the most?    * Probably my guy best friends * have you ever been on a road trip?    * Hahahaha that’s cute yes* tell me about someone you know called emma    * A cranky black cat* are you reading a book in english class, what is it?    * I’m reading dark places by Gillian flynn for fun* do you have a favourite aunt?    * Yeah the aunt I’m living with* baths or showers    * both* skiing or sun bathing?    * Sun bathing cause I don’t know how to ski* do you kill spiders?    * Pretty much only if they’re in my shower or upsetting my pets* have you ever made an ice pop?    * I don’t know* are you wearing shoes right now?    * No* tell me about you favourite primary school/elementary school teacher    * I don’t really remember them that well and I have more bad memories of teachers than good. Not that they were all bad, just that I had one particularly horrible teacher. There was one teacher at the school I didn’t have that was awesome though* who was the last person you hugged?    * I think the guy that offered to let me work with him at his wedding company as an intern for a wedding * do you wear glasses?    * Yes* do you have a cat?    * Yes* do you have a favourite pair of underwear?    * A couple lol* what was your last tweet?    * I don’t have twitter * do you still use facebook?    * Not really* do you like birds?    * More for watching. They’re not an animal I’ve ever thought of having as a pet* who was the last person you called cute?    * All of tumblr?* how did you meet your best friend?    * Theatre class* escalators or elevators?    * Depends * are you named after anyone, who?    * No* what was your first url?    * Same as this one* autumn or winter?    * Autumn * do you win at scrabble?    * Yeah* put your ipod on shuffle , who is the first song that comes up by?    * Kate Nash * have you ever drunk from a mason jar?    * Maybe* can you draw?    * A little. I probably would be decent if I’d ever worked at it or had a teacher but I had a teacher who was an asshole and wouldn’t let me take art* what was your first profile picture?    * How the fuck am I supposed to remember it’s literally been years?* favourite tshirt?    * If we’re talking softest my salt lake comic con one is amazing. But I also love my Batman one cause Batman * best tumblr friend?    * I know @aqueous-stars really well, but lately I’ve been talking to you a lot, it changes from time to time though just as I talk to people and such* when did you last run?    * Probably when I had to run after my friends cause they’re crazy * do you like to paint your nails?    * Yeah* did you ever do something as a kid that got you into loads of trouble?    * I punched a girl in the face. But I got off easy cause I didn’t have a disciplinary past. And I got in trouble loads with my parents. Including them removing my bedroom door which I hateeeeed cause I have this thing about doors being left open* who is your favourite dog that isn’t yours?    * My old next door neighbors retriever/lab mix named Sarah, she was a big drunken sweetheart and was always so happy to see me * have you ever been drunk?    * Nope* have you ever done something you regret while drunk?    * Nope* do you want to kiss anyone right now?    * Kinda. Not necessarily anyone in particular, just affection would be nice* do/did you like you math teacher?    * Yeah I only had one math teacher I didn’t like and it was just cause he didn’t focus. Nice guy, just didn’t teach. * do you often ride the bus?    * Not very often* do you have a fireplace in your house?    * Yeah* are you violent when you’re angry?    * Yeah. Not at people though. I just wanna throw things and hurt myself. * do you cry when you’re angry?    * Yeah. * favourite Harry potter book?    * Probably 3* can you remember your last dream?    * Nope* do you go to bed early or late?    * I go back and forth* do you speak a second language?    * Trying to learn German* who was your first ever best friend?    * My friend Julia. We’re still friends but we’re very different from each other, but our families are friends and everything so we grew up together. We even moved from California to Utah at the same time* have you ever had an operation?    * 4 knee surgeries * tell me about your favourite cousin    * I don’t really talk to any ofmy cousins. I call another family friend who’s my best friend my cousin though. His name is John and he’s a great guy. * do you have a piece of clothing that doesn’t even fit you anymore but you can’t bare to throw away?    * Yeah I have this gorgeous blue dress* have you ever been in a musical?    * Yeah * do you have a porch?    * No I guess not* how many times have you watched your favourite movie?    * I dunno I don’t count these things * what do you order at mcdonalds?    * An über home* do you get on with old people?    * Not really. My grandmother hates me irrationally so I have a hard time being comfortable with them. I do know an amazing man in his 70s named buzz whom I would pay good money just to hang out with again cause he’s so much fun* science fiction or romance?    * Both?* do you take naps?    * Yes * how many classes do you/did you take in high-school?    * A lot* when did it last snow where you live?    * In Utah:yesterday probably. In California: like when I was 11* does it ever snow where you live?    * Yes* how many months until your birthday?    * 9* how much charge does your computer have right now?    * 21* what is your favourite disney channel movie?    * Starstruck is a guilty pleasure TBH (his eyes are gorgeous okay)* the city or the sea side?    * Sea side* what is your least favourite colour?    * Orange* do you have homework to do?    * Nope* are you still friends with your first best friend?    * Yes* do you have/are you the gay cousin?    * I’m bi, but me and none of my cousins are out if they are gay. Lol* do you own dungarees?    * I know I’ve heard the translation but I forgot and idc* do you like to play sport?    * Yes* what was your favourite ever christmas present?    * Disneyland pass* how old are you?    * 20* what is your mum’s name?    * Nope* do you ever use internet explorer?    * Nope* have you ever had blonde hair?    * It’s my natural color* is their a play park near your house?    * They’re building one right across the street * when did you last see the person you have a crush on?    * A few weeks ago. But I’ll see him soon* who did you last talk to on the phone?    * My mom/sisters* pants or dresses?    * Either. I’m not picky* do you read fan fiction?    * Not really. I don’t have the attention span. I’ll read short ones I see here sometimes thought * what is your favourite blog?    * I dunno* do you write poetry?    * Not really* drama or comedy?    * Both* have you ever had a hickey?    * Yep

#hana answers #asks

[darlingsteps]

Things to do with kids in any part of the world

Things to do with your kids in any part of the world: USA, Europe & Beyond

No matter where you are in the world, you don’t need a lot of money or extravagant things to make children happy and have fun. I’m a pure example of this. Here are some ideas to get your juices flowing:

Build a tent

Seriously, who buys those pop-up store tents anymore? (I’m not judging, I used to own them lol) When you have a small living space or live out of a suitcase like us, you have the luxury of having All. The. Things. amiright?

So, trust me, kids will much rather build their own tent with extra bedsheets, pillowcases, fabrics and chairs of all sorts.

Have bunk beds? Ohhh those are the best and bring back so many memories! #hello

Make cookies

(at least in my household) kids want IN on whatever you’re doing. Haha, My youngest child will harass my life to ‘help cook’ until I say yes. Obviously, I should be sterner and not give in (what the heck am I teaching her by giving in right? I know. moving on) but in this case, I adore the cuteness of a teeny tiny human with a cupcake for a face, trouting along to beg me to cook. How can I resist? So I now schedule time for the girls to cook. And what’s more fun than mixing, tasting and squishing!

Arts and crafts

This is my inner creative alter ego wanting to pry itself out. I LOVE arts and crafts (don’t be fooled, I’m by no means crafty or good haha) I enjoy it, and I promise if you let go of perfectionism you will too. Honestly, you don’t even need ‘a plan.’ Go to your craft store, i.e., any dollar store, and stock up on anything even remotely crafty, even if you think you won’t use it. Head straight to the stationary section, then head to the home/garden isle, after the tool and auto isle (you need something reasonable to hold all this crap, food aisle (for cheap dry goods. think beans, rice, and oats) and finally the kitchen isle for plastic cups, foil, etc. and those paper plates you’ll need for those maracas.

Make playdough

Why on Gods green earth is playdough SO DAMN EXPENSIVE???!!! Okay, I’m sorry for yelling. #Imdone. I’ve never purchased playdough for the girls because we afford it and when we could, why the heck would I pay that much anyway? And for the bargain shopper mamas reading this before you go on to tell me I can buy them in bulk, on sale, from said dollar store…I wrote above- here are my thoughts: my kids must be one a kind because these boogers go on to ‘make’ me food creations of all types and mix the playdough in all kinds of ways to make colors I didn’t even know existed. (and I’ve tried those cheaper ones and my goodness- NO THANKS) Kids enjoy cooking (see note above) and making messes, it’s a win-win. Plus it’s super easy, all types of recipes available online. So no excuses. (and no it doesn’t take that long. #aintnobodygottimeforthat

Have a Treasure Hunt

This is sooo fun. Honestly, it doesn’t need to be, and it gives you time to just sit down. Ah. You can hide anything from candy, new pencils, notes, etc. (Think the birthday section at a said dollar store) Play dress up we only have girls, and it goes without saying that they enjoy dressing up. (see toy section of any dollar store. do you see a pattern here lol) But I can only guess that boys would enjoy dressing up as well as it is a great pretend/imaginative play. Make pizza Let me start off by saying that if you don’t like pizza, I don’t know we can be friends. Ok just kidding maybe lol I don’t think I’ve ever met a kid but doesn’t like pizza and this is indeed such a versatile and cheap thing to make that there isn’t any excuse for you not to make it and it’s a lot of fun. I grew up pretty poor, and pizza for us consisted of a slice of white wonder bread cheap no-frills pasta sauce and a slice of what was supposed to be cheese. Then we popped it in the oven for a few minutes watching it until the cheese got ever so slightly burned and dug in. Do everyone in your family a favor and make the dough from scratch is pretty simple or you can just buy it one from the store it’s still a lot of fun!

Fly a kite (create a kite)

So self-explanatory and kids love it so go get one and get to your local park already if you don’t have a kite , crafts to the rescue! It is super easy to make, and they work!

Stargaze

This is one of my favorite pastimes, so I feel kind of selfish writing it but our kids loved it, and I think it’s because we are both from big cities in you don’t see stars are often and when you think it’s the one you realize that it’s just a helicopter. Enjoy the little things

Listen to books

Another guilty pleasure here but I’ve posted this love answer my children, and it’s always a good time. There are a few ways you can do this if you’re looking for free options the best way is to download the Overdrive or Libby app and entering your details and library card details, and you get to listen to audiobooks for free. If finances are no burden for you then audible is such an excellent option, and they have pretty much anything you could look for. Except The gruffalo…they don’t have that anymore because Julia Donaldson wants to do stick to print books…ok I digress. Haha. Another more affordable option is the Scribd app. it’s pretty amazing because you pay a small fee of about 5 to 8 books of month, and you get to listen to an unlimited amount books the downside is that you don’t keep it, so it’s kind of like a music subscription you get all the music you want while you’re paying subscriber otherwise you lose all your stuff.

  Read books

Same advice as above^

Make a play

Piggybacking off of the dress up here….our girls could do this all day long. Like seriously. They have. They do.

Keep all and any extra boxes you can get your hands on… The bigger, the better. (Invest in a good x-acto knife) < you’ll need this for the never-ending requests to make doors, windows and “secret exits.”

Build a snowman

If you’re in a climate where it permits this, don’t let the beauty of snow pass by because it’s bitterly cold. Trust me. I understand the struggle. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t last and the memories will.

Park

Does this really need a caption?

Train or bus ride

So, it doesn’t matter if you’re in NYC, London, Paris, or your tiny small town that’s barely making Google maps…if there are buses or trains, use em. Kids love this stuff.

Free workshops

Don’t underestimate your local library. They always have fantastic free workshops going on where all the is required is a simple registration.

Farmers market

This is such a great way to immerse yourself where you are. If you’re traveling like us, this allows you to see and meet new people. Engage in the culture and get fresh produce, food, and knick-knacks.

Make musical instruments

Here I am with the craft stuff again! If you’re like us and travel like it’s your second job, then this is a good one. Music is good for the spirit, and you wouldn’t believe how easy it is to use common household things to make instruments out of.

Have a parade

When you’re done making said instruments^ Be super silly and have a parade! Storm and stomp around the house and have fun. (Be mindful of the hour of course if you live above anyone)

Bubble bath

I can’t quite remember, but there was a time/age where our girls didn’t always get along so well. And the only time where there was a sense of peace was when they were taking baths. Seriously, don’t underestimate the power of simple water, soap and “toys” (I wrote that in quotes because I despise bath toys and much prefer temporary toys like plastic water bottles, used up lemon juice containers, etc)

Birdwatch

Children do mimic what they see. Obviously, this can be a good and bad thing. In this case, it’s alright. Many times throughout the day you can find me lost in thought #heyfellowinfj and wait for it: bird or human watching

The girls love seeing birds up close and analyzing their attributes. Have your kiddos try this!

Make confetti

Kids love to make messes so let them! Grab any old magazines, newspapers, leaflets, flyers, and pieces of scrap paper you no longer need and cut them up. You can simply put them through the shredder (this adds to the fun, but obviously watch out for those little fingers and blades) or cut shapes snowflakes, etc. Then toss them in the air and roll around in it and have a confetti party!

Outdoor sport

One of the joys of many sports is that you can travel with said instruments. Any game that involves a ball can fit in your luggage once deflated. Cricket is super lightweight, and the ball is small. Frisbee is a fantastic choice. It can get tricky with tennis as rackets tend to be heavy and bulky. (But relatively cheap to purchase)

Sidewalk drawing

Chalk is typically cheap anywhere you go and works on almost any sidewalk/balcony! If you have a private area you’re using, bring out the hose, a bucket or a bowl of water to wash away the drawings and begin fresh the next day.

Garden

Nature freedom!

Go to a museum, café, library or bookstore.

To find free museums, type “free museum, city” into your browser of choice….Same with the others.

Fire station

This may differ wherever you go, but in the US, most firefighters are happy to speak to children when they drop by to have a look but do call first to verify! (To avoid disappointment) We’ve never had an issue, but you never know.

Sing & dance

So I almost felt a bit hypocritical writing this one because I loathe doing both in public. Yes, even in front of my own family haha! But, I assure you, if you’re the same way, take it slow and do it scared! You’ll be glad you did. The easiest thing to do is go to YouTube and find some kid dance channels (maybe search for kid choreography) and let the magic happen. We also use a Toca Boca dance app!

Learn a language

After a certain amount of time traveling (it’s been years for us) your kiddos will grow to love languages. Naturally, as humans, especially little humans, we love communicating. And there’s no better way than completely immersing yourself into another one’s culture: language and all.

I realize this specifies toddlers in the heading. However, these activities can be easily adapted and enjoyed by older children as well. My kiddos are in the 10 and under range (as an example.)

What do you do for family fun? Tell me below!

The post Things to do with kids in any part of the world appeared first on Darling Steps.

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#IFTTT #WordPress

[survivorkochang]

Reward #1 Results

Before we see your glorious creations, let’s meet your judges!!

Judging the Khao Salak Phet flags,

NATHAN COOPER

hey yalls it’s your fave forgotten four time flop. In my spare time I take cry over cartoon characters, take naps and then cry some more over the work I’m not doing

ALYSSA

Hi, I’m Alyssa and I dressed as Britney Spears last night. I played Kilimanjaro and got famously robbed

EMMA LEE

Emma didn’t submit an intro and I didn’t wanna use a picture of her without her permission, so this is a stunning manga she made!!! Apply to Main Org season 51 on Facebook/Wikia when apps are released, it’s gonna be amazing! <3

Judging the Khlong Plu flags,

LILY D

Hi! My name is lily d and I just had the pleasure of winning Kilimanjaro. Partially due to my effort in the F4 challenge and my flag! I have a dog and he is pretty cool.

ROXY/JULIA/DAWN SUMMERS

Hello, im Roxy, Seamus's wife. Im just here to support my favs and rub into ur faces that seamus loves me more than you

JOSÉ

Hi i'm Jose and I played Italy and flopped very hard, now here is a pic of me which looks very bad but I really can't do anything about it xoxo good luck everyone!!!

And now for the flags from Khao Salak Phet!

Flag #1 - Nicole

Nathan - Creativity: 3 Effort: 4 Appeal: 4 I mean this flag isnt ugly by any means but it is very basic and does not wow me

Alyssa - C: 3 E: 6 A: 7 It looks polished so that’s good! But definitely could’ve done something to make it above and beyond. 

Emma - Creativity:  4 Effort: 4 Appeal: 5     You could of done better it looks okay at the best

Flag #2 - Frankie

Nathan - Creativity: 2 Effort: 7 Appeal: 1 I definitely do respect that you took time to individually print out each contestant’s icon and cut and paste them; however, I’m not a fan of how this looks at all, sorry 

Alyssa - C: 1 E: 3 A: 2 I like that you tried to draw it?

Emma - flag 2 Creativity: 5 Effort: 8 Appeal: 1 Looks so bad you could of done better smhhhh 

Flag #3 - Anna Jane

Nathan - Creativity: 4 Effort: 7 Appeal: 6 Not the most inventive flag I’ve ever seen but she is quite purdy. I also love the cute little touches like the little bow tie on Mitch, or greying out Callum. 

Alyssa - C: 4 E: 6 A: 10 This flag is so pretty. I’m such a slut for butterflies 

Emma - Creativity: 5 Effort: 5 Appeal: 8  These flags make me wanna cry

And the flags for Khlong Plu!

Flag #1 - Zach

Lily - creativity: 10 effort: 2 overall appeal: 2 comments: I can say I wasn’t expecting that but I’m not sure how to feel about it.

Roxy - Creativity: 4/10 Effort: 3/10 Appeal: 2/10 looks like a drawing a 5 year old showed its parents and was like munny daddy look at what I drew isnt it amazing? And tge parents grinned and threw it in the trash when the kid left the room

José - Creativity: 6 Effort: 2 Overall Appeal: 3 I mean it's really cute! But beside it being somewhat creative with the fingers representing the tribemates, that's all it has going for it :/

Flag #2 - Tobi

Lily - creativity: 6 effort: 8 overall appeal: 9 comments: I really love the style of this flag and it was executed well. 

Roxy - Creativity: 4/10 Effort: 7/10 Appeal: 8/10 the most traditional styled flag here. It looks nice but no originalality but it does have personality

José - Creativity: 6 Effort: 7 Overall Appeal: 8 Pretty cute honestly! Especially the background scene was done very well, I just feel like I've seen this type of flag one too many times.

Flag #3 - Jones

Lily - creativity: 10 effort: 9 overall appearance: 9 comments: I love the avatars and Kermit. Just what I needed to brighten my day. 

Roxy - Creativity: 6/10 Effort: 8/10 Appeal: 6/10 im assuming you drew the players yourself. Its very nice but the flag's design is sort of meh. The kermit was a cute touch. But overall the only appeal is the fact you drew the ppl urself. 

José - Creativity: 9 Effort: 10 Overall Appeal: 9 Hand-drawn along with a nice aesthetic of your tribe? I would have to say this is really well done, just a point off for Kermit though since he's a meme and I'd rather have something else to fill his space over a meme.

Flag #4 - Dylan

Lily - creativity: 5 effort: 7 overall appeal: 7 comments: this is well made but nothing that really sparks my interest. 

Roxy - Creativity: 4/10 Effort: 5/10 Appeal: 3/10 Average. Photoshop skills are p good but not much to say cause this flag is meh sorry bro

José - Creativity: 6 Effort: 5 Overall Appeal: 6 I feel like once again, it's just an overused concept just to use basic photoshop skills in a flag challenge, sorry >.>

Flag #5 - Agustin

Lily - creativity: 5 effort: 6 overall appeal: 7 comments: It looks good and I like the lil froggie. 

Roxy - Creativity: 4/10 Effort: 2/10 Appeal: 7/10 Looks like barley any effort was put into it. But thanks for being one of the 5 who didnt abstain.

José - Creativity: 2 Effort: 3 Overall Appeal: 1 I'm sorry fam, but this really doesn't live up to any standards that I would even hold for myself, and I'm really bad at photoshop :/

Which means Anna Jane, you have won for Khao Salak Phet, and Jones, you have won for Khlong Plu! Both of you will win a reward!

Jones, because you had the highest overall score, you will get first choice of the three prizes.

Thank you all for submitting and judging!

#LoveManyTrustFew #results

[latestnews2018-blog]

There Were Zero Things Better This Week Than These Grandma Twins

New Post has been published on https://latestnews2018.com/there-were-zero-things-better-this-week-than-these-grandma-twins/

There Were Zero Things Better This Week Than These Grandma Twins

Welcome to Good Stuff, HuffPost’s weekly recommendation series devoted to the least bad things on and off the internet. 

The best thing I saw this week was this photo of two old women I’m going to assume are twins because they look exactly the same and are wearing matching pink outfits. If I’m wrong, sue me.

Why do I like it? I don’t know. I just do. Maybe it’s been a so-so week, but I can’t think of anything else that has brought me more joy. Look at their outfits! The shirts! The glasses! The hair! Are those called shorts or pants? Who cares! I love them!

My colleague Ashley Feinberg described this photo as “fucked up,” claiming “there’s no way you get to 80 and still keep buying matching outfits with your twin without something being extremely fucked up.” She is wrong. Sometimes two cute twins (presumably) are just two cute twins (presumably).

Do you know these twins? I would like to interview them. Thanks. ― Maxwell Strachan

Jonathan Chait’s BOFA Tweet

Twitter

On July 12, in the year of our Lord 2018, at 10:51 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, persecuted white man Jonathan Chait tweeted three perfect words: “What is BOFA?”

BOFA, as any self-hating internet user knows, is “bofa deez nuts.” It is the “What’s ‘updog’” prank, only vastly stupider and consequently infinitely funnier whenever an unsuspecting target takes the bait. Jonathan Chait took the bait, and the result was more beautiful than any of us could have ever hoped to deserve. 

Jonathan Chait, however, deleted his tweet — the tweet in which he asked, “What is BOFA?” — and deprived us of our constitutional right to dunk on Jonathan Chait. Just one more example of illiberal deplatforming from the radical left.

Anyway, congratulations to the remarkably damp Jonathan Chait on giving brief, beautiful life to a perfect tweet. We should all be so lucky. ― Ashley Feinberg

Sweet Soccer Boys Sharing Gentle Hugs

ALEXANDER NEMENOV via Getty Images

This week I wanted to recommend hate-watching (or more like “confused-watching”) Fox’s nightly special “World Cup Tonight,” but my editor made me turn it into a standalone blog. 

Instead, I will recommend a more healing aspect of the World Cup spectacle: watching the beautiful boys of soccer comfort and celebrate with each other through emotional embraces. Jezebel’s Sheena Raza Faisal saluted these loving clinches in a very on-point post that features not quite enough images of man hugs ― check the comments for more, especially England manager Gareth Southgate soothing Colombia’s Mateus Uribe after Uribe missed a crucial penalty kick in a shootout against England.

Boy, it sure is dusty in here, etc., etc. ― Claire Fallon

Glynnis MacNicol’s New Book

Illustration: HuffPost/Photo: Simon and Schuster

After hearing Glynnis MacNicol talk about her new memoir, Nobody Tells You This, at the Strand in New York City, I’ve had this one sentence stuck in my head. When asked about the plight of unmarried, childless women and our society’s treatment of them as somehow other or incomplete, MacNicol hit back with a statement that resonates with me still: “We look at women as a problem in need of a solution.”

In her book, MacNicol draws attention to the ways strangers feel they have a right to women’s bodies and lives in service of the ultimate goal, motherhood. The shame around it all, the general lack of freedom or agency, is really frightening. Although I have yet to read Nobody Tells You This, I’m excited to. And I’m ready to recommend it as a refreshing take on what life can be like for women who choose not to do what is expected of them. ― Anna Krakowsky

The Birth Of Kulture

Kulture ❤️❤️anything else woulda been basic 💁🏽‍♀️💁🏽‍♀️💁🏽‍♀️Okrrrrr

— iamcardib (@iamcardib) July 12, 2018

Cardi B had the baby and her name is Kulture with a K. That’s self-explanatory Good Stuff. ― Julia Craven

When June Smacked The Shit Out Of Commander Waterford On “The Handmaid’s Tale”

In a moment when it feels like terrible men are trying to whittle away women’s rights on a near-daily basis, sometimes you just really want to see a lady righteously smack the shit out of a dude who deserves it. Enter the “Handmaid’s Tale” finale!

June (Elisabeth Moss), who has spent two seasons being psychologically tortured, raped and belittled by Commander Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) ― a man who desperately wants to be powerful and desperately wants the approval of women he knows are better than him ― finally stops bottling up her rage and lets him have it, right across the face. I could watch this GIF on repeat for the next two years. ― Emma Gray

England’s Loss

WATCH: Mario Mandzukic scores the game winning goal in extra time to put Croatia in its first ever World Cup Final. #ENGCRO #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/dnRpjSNPHo

— Jurado (@JuradoNYC) July 11, 2018

It’s not coming home. LOL. ― Travis Waldron

The Enya Song In “Eighth Grade”

You know a movie’s good when an Enya song pops up in a pivotal scene. But even without “Orinoco Flow,” Bo Burnham’s “Eighth Grade” would be an indie masterpiece ― one you should definitely, totally, run to the theater to see.

It follows “Most Quiet” superlative winner Kayla (Elsie Fisher) during her last week of eighth grade, as she tries to come to grips with her social anxiety and lackluster lifestyle before high school. Behind her phone, she’s confident, even funny. But in real life, Kayla is quiet, a loner. Burnham allows viewers to study her every move in a tech-obsessed world while contemplating their own adolescent memories. It’s beautiful, raw and utterly sweet. ― Leigh Blickley

Megan Amram’s Emmy-Nominated Web Series

Please watch “An Emmy for Megan,” a hilarious and weirdly poetic exercise in doing the bare minimum, while remaining utterly extra. The concept is simple: Writer Megan Amram, best known for her work on “The Good Place” and Twitter, decides she reeeeally wants to win an Emmy Award. (It’s her favorite award!) So at the last minute, she decides to write, direct and star in a short web series about making a short web series to win an Emmy.

The six episodes, under 10 minutes each and created in the week leading up to the submissions deadline, use the constraints of the Emmy requirements like forms of meter and verse. There are tears and tantrums and alcohol-fused meltdowns and even a surprise MUTINY along the short (so short) way.

Amram’s feat is not only hilarious but effective. On Thursday, the series was nominated for two Emmys: Outstanding Actress in a Short-Form Comedy or Drama Series and Outstanding Short-Form Comedy or Drama Series. Don’t sleep on the most inspiring tale of our time. ― Priscilla Frank

A Podcast About A Cult

When I was a kid, my best friend’s name was Robin, which was kind of weird because my mom’s childhood best friend’s name was Robin. The difference between my Robin and my mother’s Robin (aside from their being entirely separate humans) was that the latter ended up in a “Wild Wild Country”-ish cult.

My mom told me the story of her friend’s descent into Cult Town, U.S.A., and the teen girl power rescue mission that boldly extricated her a million times. Everything about it fascinated me. For a while, I actually thought it was a cosmic inevitability that my Robin would end up in a cult from which I’d need to liberate her. Anyway, she didn’t. But “The Gateway” is a good podcast about a cult. ― Katherine Brooks

Road Trip Music

Over the past few years, there’s been renewed interest in the work of John Fahey, the instrumentalist who put American primitive guitar on the map. As the genre has surged in popularity, acolytes and like-minded explorers have come out of the woodwork. Specialty labels have reissued private-press recordings that had long since gone out of print. It seems as though every town had an uncelebrated devotee of these obscure, mystical tunings. Worshipful but questioning, celestial and homespun, primitive guitar uses repetition and drone to access the pleasures and enlightenment of devotional music.

In April, Fahey’s hometown of Takoma Park, Maryland (just outside D.C.), honored the genre he helped create with a multiday festival. Lauding his work, it also shone a light on others who followed a similar path, devoting years to decoding the light and limber picking of Mississippi John Hurt and replicating the primal thump of Reverend Gary Davis. It was only fitting that one of this generation’s best pickers showed up ― Marisa Anderson, a guitarist based in the Pacific Northwest.

Anderson recently released a new album, “Cloud Corner,” which should be her breakthrough. She does something that I think most Fahey followers miss. She captures his melancholy, favoring mood as much as speed and technique. Her songs put you in places and moments. One song off an earlier album, she has said, is a tribute to her favorite swimming hole in Kentucky.

The new record lands on weightier subjects like the Syrian refugee crisis while other tunes process Tuareg-style playing through her fuzzy, electric style. But mostly, the songs ring clear, notes hushed or plucked pure. The album is meant for one of the few modes of escape where we can all still worship in peace: the road trip. ― Jason Cherkis

And Finally, The Women Of Color Who Dominated The Emmy Noms

Noam Galai via Getty Images

Sandra Oh was nominated for her role in “Killing Eve.”

This week in Good Stuff for me was the plethora of amazingly talented women of color who got Emmy nominations for best and supporting actress, including Sandra Oh (the first Asian woman to be nominated for lead actress in a drama), Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae, Zazie Beetz, Letitia Wright and my queen Thandie Newton. ― Zeba Blay

Get last week’s Good Stuff here.

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[thesinglesjukebox]

CLEAN BANDIT FT. DEMI LOVATO - SOLO

[5.80]

I don't wanna be a chicken, I don't wanna be a duck, so I shake my FWOOP FWOOP FWOOP

Iain Mew: What if "Solo Dancing" was actually about what its video thought it was about, went as direct as "you're the only one I'm coming for" and also chose to use the medium of stuttered vocal sample to explore cry/quack dualism? Complete with the emotional clarity of "Symphony" and the friendly audacity of "Rockabye?" No need to wonder any more, and Clean Bandit's success in everything they try is getting almost too good to believe. [9]

Claire Biddles: After the middling Julia Michaels collab "I Miss You" Clean Bandit are back to their winning streak. "Solo" is a checklist of all the best Clean Bandit characteristics: (literally) banging chorus, cannily-selected guest vocalist, and um, esoteric lyrical content. I've written before about my enthusiasm for their weirdo sensibilities, so I was practically cheering when I first heard that "WOOP WOOP WOOP" wanking metaphor. It feels good to have a pop mainstay as reliably odd as Clean Bandit. [8]

Will Adams: There might be something interesting in the concept of a song about female masturbation that explores its loneliness instead of cheeky, I-see-what-you-did-there empowerment. But it's hard to contemplate that over the sound of "I wanna FWOOP FWOOP FWOOP but I'm broken hearted" and my ensuing laughter. [4]

Katherine St Asaph: Never mind the irony of a supposed female empowerment song -- it's not, not unless you consider "I'm so devastated over this dude, all I can do is desperately masturbate" empowering -- turning Demi Lovato, a distinctive singer with things to say, first into a nondescript voice then into wordless chopped-up babble. We're still stuck with that trend, it seems. The real problem is that evocative babble, as in "Breathe," is hard to pull off; more often, you'll end up in narm, as in "Make Me (Cry)." You just can't convey pathos as Crazy Frog. [3]

Ryo Miyauchi: While Demi goes about it casually without a need to angle it as if it's something out of character, it still sounds a bit too labored with its attempt to center it as its main draw. Clean Bandit has some offenses with its cut-and-paste, self-censoring chorus, but Demi also got some puns in there that bat a wink a little too hard. [5]

Alfred Soto: About a decade ago, the whistle made a comeback to the pop song. Now the stutter's cool. As usual Demi Lovato brings her formidable charisma to a production that could use a Xanax. [6]

Vikram Joseph: Totally passable, profoundly average trop-house-pop. You'd dance to it because your friends are dancing to it and it's easier than not dancing to it; hell, it might even absorb some sort of transient significance if you heard it enough times on holiday somewhere hot. Chances are you won't remember much about it, though. [5]

Juana Giaimo: It's a pleasant surprise to find Demi Lovato having complete control over her voice. The fast EDM beat isn't just suitable for the strong vocals she displays in her own songs. The vocal distortion of the chorus adds some fun effects suitable for a party kind of song. As for the lyrics, many are already pointing it them out as a female masturbation anthem and the music video confirms it. This is still something to celebrate -- considering that for the world, women don't know about self-pleasure. However, it's quite disappointing that it's called "Solo" and not "Sola,", that is, the feminine form of the adjective "alone." [7]

Stephen Eisermann: Demi always sounds best on songs that aren't her own and I'm convinced it's because the producers and people in the studio aren't too scared to tell her to dial it down. Her restrained vocals are more pleasant and versatile than the overwhelming belt she seems to love to use. Much like a kid is better behaved at a friend's house than his own, Demi doesn't bombard us with belts on this track. Oh, and the production is cute, too. [6]

Joshua Minsoo Kim: While I'm convinced that the best Demi Lovato songs are those that work with -- and justify -- her propensity for unrestrained vocalizing, it's always refreshing to hear her do something relatively tame. "Solo," however, completely hinges on how one reads the chorus. While I'd argue that the stuttering Farmer See 'n Say vocal edits stymie the lyrical themes (female masturbation is empowering funny?), the song would be considerably less memorable without them. So, uh: [5]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

#Clean Bandi #Demi Lovato

[kidsviral-blog]

This Is What Self Care Looks Like For Women Learning To Love Their Bodies

New Post has been published on https://kidsviral.info/this-is-what-self-care-looks-like-for-women-learning-to-love-their-bodies/

This Is What Self Care Looks Like For Women Learning To Love Their Bodies

We asked women to share the habits that help them remember how great they are. Here’s what they had to say.

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Chris Ritter / BuzzFeed

1. Taking selfies.

This will slot me into every millennial stereotype and sounds almost insufferably narcissistic but I Snapchat a selfie to my close friends every morning (saying good morning, usually, with some high-level pun work included). It takes me about a minute to do, but the act of paying attention to my own face and seeing it in flattering light leaves me feeling super-duper validated all day. —Rega Jha

2. And keeping some just for yourself.

This is wildly embarrassing to admit but any time I see myself and I think I look good, I’ll take a bunch of selfies or shitty mirror pictures. I never post them anywhere, but every time I’ve felt shitty about myself/body/face/style since I started, I’ll literally just flip through all these pictures of myself to be like, Nah self, even if you feel bad about the way you look right now, you KNOW (aka you have photographic evidence) of how good you CAN look five seconds from now. —Krutika Mallikarjuna

3. Treating yourself the way you’d treat a friend.

A thing I have found really helpful lately is trying to channel how I feel about the way my female friends and acquaintances look — which is overwhelmingly positive, regardless of whether they have a body like the one I “wish” I had or one like mine or one bigger or different than mine or any number of variations — and trying to apply that same thought process to myself. I know so many pretty ladies with different kinds of bodies who I think look smoking all the time, so I just try to pretend I’m friends with myself and tell myself that I would totally think I l looked awesome, too. It doesn’t ALWAYS work but it helps. —Summer Anne Burton

4. Suds-ing up.

I feel like whenever I’m getting myself clean — in the shower or even just washing my hands — I slow down for a minute to really appreciate and think kindly towards my body. I don’t even know when this little ritual started, but I notice when I’m scrubbing or rubbing shampoo in my hair I feel close and safe with my own body, and there is a moment of peace. Sometimes I can hang onto that good feeling all day long. —Sarah Karlan

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Chris Ritter / BuzzFeed

5. Making sure your closet is filled with clothes that fit comfortably.

I’ve learned to stop throwing away my “fat” clothes — sure, it feels good to get rid of them but it feels TERRIBLE to have to go out and buy more when my weight, inevitably, goes back up. This goes double for bras, which are just SO expensive. Also, I got rid of my scale a long time ago. I gauge my weight based on how I look and feel and how my clothes fit. —Deena Shanker

6. And buying clothes you actually like.

I actually started to get comfortable with myself in college, after I had gained about 20 pounds of extra weight on top of already being “too big for my height” according to that dumb BMI chart. What helped me most was forcing myself to buy cute clothing — especially underthings — for my size. If I’m going to be bigger, I might as well dress cute! I also started concentrating on my hair, face, and nails — nourishing them, making them cute, and generally being proud of them — because they’re part of my body, but they don’t have anything to do with my size. —embeebee

7. Taking time to relax.

Loving my body is a very complicated thing — I don’t necessarily love it as an object so much as love what is is capable of and what I can do to it; I like the potential it has as an agent of what my brain wants to do. A thing that helps me love it as a thing in and of itself to appreciate is taking a bath, though. I make a huge ritual of it and set my intentions for the week in the bath every Sunday, and exfoliate while I think about the stuff I accomplished during the week. Steaming my body and letting out all that bad energy that accumulates through the week is also super important to me. Bath time 4ever. —Arabelle Sicardi

8. Ignoring the scale.

I no longer weigh myself! It’s something small that I used to do that would trigger massive anxiety for me. Trying to be a certain weight is something I grew up doing, and I no longer let that control my actions or thoughts. I know when I’ve gained weight, because my pants won’t fit, and when that happens I just opt for a salad instead of a burger. Eventually I get back to my happy place, but I no longer have a number circling around my head and taunting me for weeks on end. —Erin LaRosa

10. Understanding that perspective can be flawed.

I’ll often look back on pictures at times where I felt really self-conscious and realize I had little to no concept of how I actually looked. I’m definitely not the best judge of my own appearance, which is an odd thing to realize since I spend the most time with me. —Alex Alvarez

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Chris Ritter / BuzzFeed

11. Finding beauty in other women.

As a transgender woman, who started her transition late, there’s a lot I don’t like about my body. Hormones can only be so effective. My main way of feeling better about myself is to compare myself to cisgender women, but in a good way: “That cisgender girl has smaller breasts, just like me, and she’s perfectly normal and beautiful. That cis girl has straighter hips, just like me, and she’s perfectly normal and beautiful. That cis girl has a squarer jaw, and she’s normal and beautiful. If I share so many things in common with cisgender girls, how can I not be normal and beautiful myself?” —suddenly-sara

12. And telling them about it.

Complimenting other women. Honestly telling others that you think they’re beautiful somehow boosts my mood and helps me see myself from another angle. If I find all these different women and their bodies beautiful, then mine is beautiful as well and deserves the same love I give others. —theacemerperson

13. Being kind to your reflection.

I no longer allow myself to look in the mirror unless I say one thing positive about myself. Me today: “Hi Lara, love your dress today.” —Lara Parker

14. Watching porn.

When I first started therapy following a very bad breakup, I couldn’t believe that anyone would find my body desirable. I had never had sex that didn’t hurt, and a part of me believed that I deserved this for having a fat body. Obviously, that was WACK-ASS THINKING, because I am a glorious female warrior and goddess of all that I survey, but I truly believed it. My therapist at the time suggested I seek out feminist erotica and porn that intentionally shows people’s bodies in all their glory — fat, thin, stretch-marked, wobbly bits, uneven boobs, body hair and all — experiencing pleasure without fetishizing them. This really helped. I was actually kind of surprised by how much it helped. Sorry to scandalize you, mom. —Kaye Toal

14. Living in the present.

I try to regularly remind myself that no matter how I feel about my body currently, I’ll one day wish I had the body I have now. I am in my prime; I will never be this young again, and I don’t want to waste my time with my current body putting it down. I also tell myself that it’s perfectly fine to want to be smaller/fitter/healthier, but that I don’t have to wait until I get there to love it now. Loving what I have now while working on something different will make the journey, and life, much easier. —Tracy Clayton

15. Decorating your body.

I’m pretty insecure with my body but before I get into the shower, I draw a smiley face on my tummy, because if it can be happy, so can I. –anonymous

16. Maybe even with a tattoo!

I’ve always been self-conscious about my hips (every summer brings that uncomfortable moment of buying large bikini bottoms to go with my small bikini top), but I figured they won’t be changing anytime soon, so I decided to embrace the broad, fleshy expanse as a canvas for a tattoo. Now those large bikini bottoms look bangin’. —Claudia Koerner

17. Challenging standards of beauty.

As a Mexican-American woman growing up in a predominately white community it took me a long time to realize that just because I don’t have a light complexion with blondish hair and blue/green/hazel eyes doesn’t mean I’m not beautiful too. Finding positive role models in cinema, media, and life helped tremendously. —terreisa

18. Redefining size.

Lifting weights has taught me to find beauty in my strength. I no longer work towards losing something but instead toward gaining something. I have a hard time saying that I’m bigger than I’ve ever been because I’m also stronger and healthier and happier because I constantly push my body further than I knew was possible. —Mackenzie Kruvant

19. And redefining strength.

I’m 24 and I was born with a congenital heart/lung defect. I’ve had a handful of major open heart surgeries, among other surgeries for health problems. I have scars that are visible to everyone. My body, while “broken” inside with a crappy heart, one working lung, etc., is my body. It’s kept me alive much longer than the doctors told my parents when I was a baby. I proudly wear my scars. I love and respect my body. While some may call it flawed, I find it beautiful and strong. —asitypethis

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Chris Ritter / BuzzFeed

20. Thinking about your impact on others.

When I can’t love myself for me, I try to think of how hating on my body or saying shitty things about myself would affect the li’l future feminists who are all around us. My mom talked shit about herself my entire life and I do NOT want that to be me, so when I can’t be strong for myself, I try and do it for feminists. —Julia Furlan

21. Thinking beyond your body.

A good trick is to look at yourself in the mirror for five minutes without moving at all. Don’t play with your hair, pick at your pores, etc. After five minutes, just smile at yourself. Eventually, since you’re not moving but your brain is still going, you start to realize what makes you you is the soul inside you. Your body is just a shell that your incredible life force lives in. Once you realize that you learn to be a little easier on your sack of bones and flesh. —Ashly Perez

22. Exploring alternate realities.

I play a lot of video games. A lot. What I like to do is create my characters based off my body type and appearance. There is nothing like seeing yourself saving the world. I can hunt massive monsters. I am the Inquisitor. I can even play guitar with the best of them! —dagger32

23. Getting naked.

I’ve started spending as much time as possible naked. I noticed that I was spending almost all my time in clothing (aside from showering) and it was making things worse because a) I didn’t like the way I looked in clothing and b) it disconnected me from my body. So I decided to spend more time with just my body. I don’t cover up in the locker room, and I sleep naked, and it’s actually helped me become more comfortable with it because now it’s part of me. –Anonymous

24. And then dancing.

I’ll dance naked in front of a mirror to awesome music and tell myself, “I looooook good.” –Chelsea

25. Experimenting with makeup.

When I started researching makeup to write a few portfolio pieces, I realized I’d never really worn foundation or done anything to my eyebrows. Since getting into makeup and beauty, I’ve really come to appreciate the fact that I have naturally beautiful, flawless skin, and eyebrows that just grow on fleek. Top that off with thick, shiny, luscious hair. So by learning about makeup, I’ve learned to love myself even more. —cwnerd12

26. (Lipstick specifically)

Lipstick fixes almost everything. When life sucks and the patriarchy is getting you down, a fine lipstick in your favorite shade (I love dark wines!) makes all the difference. —ladyypreshpresh

27. Stepping out of your fashion comfort zone.

Sometimes I catch myself admiring another lady’s outfit and then thinking about how “that looks great on her, but ~I~ could never pull it off.” Then I deliberately make it a point when I go shopping to find something similar and try it on. A lot of the time it works JUST FINE on me, and sometimes even turns into a style I wear all the time. Living by internalized rules about what I “can” and “can’t” wear based on the shape of my body is a downer and a waste of time, and I’ve found this to be a good way of walking back that judgy little internal voice. —Rachel Sanders

28. Just buying the pants.

For years I obsessively restricted my eating, and then for a couple more years I restricted it less so. During that time, I gained weight and felt really bad about it. I graduated from college and started a new job. I became obsessed with buying pants, and devastated every time I tried on a pair. I wanted something perfect: not too expensive, work appropriate but cool, flattering. I explained how much of a failure the search had made me feel like to an older friend and she laughed. “Just buy the pants!” she said, recommending I just go for a pair, and not expect them to solve my problems or perfectly embody my identity.

I did what she said — bought some pants, didn’t love them, got rid of them, bought more pants — but for whatever reason, think of that phrase all the time. Every time I know I’m working too hard to police my body or setting unreasonable expectations for how I’d like to feel, I’m like: “Fuck, just buy the pants.” –Anonymous

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Chris Ritter / BuzzFeed

29. Leaving love notes to yourself.

I give myself daily positive affirmations by just doing the simplest things; whether it’s just writing the tiniest heart on my hand or thigh in pen, or writing, “You’re beautiful!” on sticky notes and putting that on my mirror. It makes all the difference. —junkiexprincess

30. Or a love list!

I have a list of everything I love about my body — my dark long-lashed eyes, my high waist, my long legs, my dark curls — taped to my mirror, written in giant letters so I can read it every time I want to love my body. —sociopathofalltheprettytardises

31. Finding a power phrase.

One way my friend makes herself feel great is surrounding herself with the words, “Je suis une deesse” which means “I am a goddess” in French. It empowers her. —willamettstone

32. Or a daily mantra.

When I was recovering from an eating disorder, one of my online recovery friends told me to look in the mirror every morning and say, “I love myself unconditionally, no matter what. Food is my friend, not my foe.” I genuinely feel like it helps. –Anonymous

33. And saying it again and again.

Being a large lady and disabled, mine has been a love/hate relationship with my body. What I do to deal with that is, after a shower, while I’m brushing my teeth and putting on all my lotions, is to really look at my face. I look at my eyes and nose, which I really like about my face. I work with my hair to get it the way I want it. Then, just before I leave the bathroom, I look in the mirror and tell myself, “You look good.” Same when I’m just about to go out. Once I’m all dressed and ready, I look in the mirror and say, “You look good.” —uraniabce

34. Keeping your own sexy secret.

Wear a bra and/or panties that make you feel cute, pretty, sexy, whatever you want to feel. No one but you can see it, but it can make you feel good the whole day. —mpromise268

35. Focusing on the basics.

I look at how much my body can do. It carries me. It breathes for me. It pumps blood through my veins. It can give people hugs. It can work hard. It can feel pleasure. It can feel pain. It is truly incredible, and its value should not be limited by what it looks like. —naivevegas

36. Finding the stories in your “flaws.”

I stand in front of the mirror when dressing and automatically see my flaws. Then I remind myself that this soft tummy held three perfect children; these saggy breasts nourished three children; my dimply butt has sat and rocked away fears, heartbreak, and 4 a.m. earaches; my flabby arms soothe, love, and reassure with just one hug; my thunder thighs have paced the floor all night with a colicky baby, raced to the finish line cheering my kids on, and walked a thousand adventures with them. My body is magic. My body is home. –Anonymous

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Chris Ritter / BuzzFeed

37. Embracing vanity.

I love to make myself look beautiful, not for anyone except myself. I put on lotions that make me smell like vanilla and makeup that makes ME feel lovely. I allow myself to be vain. I feel like women often don’t do this because there is so much shame behind a woman loving herself, like they are full of themselves, but I think it’s really quite beautiful. —queenofrussia

38. Standing up straight.

I refrain from slouching. Having good posture makes me feel more confident. —icecreamcakeandchocolate

39. Being your own nude model.

One day I took a nude picture of myself and I looked like a piece of art. I realized then that my body is a work of art and while not everyone may like it, all that matters is the artist’s opinion. And I am the artist. –Anonymous

40. Losing those PJs.

I sleep naked. It’s way more comfortable and I feel better in my own skin. I don’t feel like I’m covering anything up and it helps me get used to my little flaws. —eh-malee

41. Exploring sports and exercise.

For me it’s all about sport activities. Not in a looking-good-in-the-mirror way, but in sweating, running, making today more than yesterday, feeling how all your muscles are working, feeling endorphin that fills your body. Best feeling in the world. It’s all about step-by-step doing more, and feeling better about myself with each day. You run and somehow everything starts to look so simple and easy to solve. It’s of course different for every woman, but I found the way to love my body and myself in sport. —evleoni

42. Figuring out triggers and avoiding them.

I don’t keep a full body mirror in my house anymore. It helps me massively! I also tell the doctor I don’t want to know my weight when I go to the office. I don’t want to know the fluctuations. —Julie Gerstein

43. Highlighting what you love.

I try and pick at least one body part or feature that I really love each day, and then I’ll dress accordingly. Am I having a great boob day? Then I’m gonna wear my best bra and the lowest cut shirt I can get away with. Great eye day? You bet I’m loading up mascara, Rose Tyler style. And if I’m not feeling fab? Then I’m gonna be as cozy as possible. Bring on the slipper socks and fuzzy scarves. —themcgeek

44. Looking through someone else’s eyes.

Write about their body from the perspective of a lover or good friend. Imagine how someone who values and adores you would see your assets and flaws, and realize that’s how people you care about actually do see you. It’s how you are. —tiltilla

45. Treating yourself like the babe you are.

I check out my own butt in the mirror whenever I can. It’s not the greatest butt even, but it still helps with my self-esteem. –Anonymous

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Chris Ritter / BuzzFeed

Need some affirmations or self-care suggestions on the go? Here’s a vine for you!

vine.co

Read more: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariannarebolini/this-is-what-self-care-looks-like-for-women-learning-to-love

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