#and it goes so well with her sepia photos

[nell0-0]

Just had an idea for your 'Emmet reunites with Ingo is funny ways' fic. (You don't have to write it, just a scenario you can imagine)

Have you ever heard of the theory that Elvis never died but became a fast food worker in a different state? They constantly laugh at it in the book Good Omens but it's a real theory.

Well imagine: Emmet has decided that he wants some junk food, maybe it's a bad day and he needs a pick me up or it's a good day and he decided to treat himself. He going to get quite a bit so that he can binge watch train documents until early morning cos its one of those days, he might even order more if Elesa is invited.

He goes into a small time fast food chain (maybe he's in Unova and it's one he used to visit or maybe he's in Sinnoh and it's recommended) and at the counter he's face to face with Rei/Akari and Ingos in the back flipping burgers.

It's 2023, inflation hasn't made it easy to house a time displaced full grown man. Even though they could make some money battling, they don't want Ingo to be in the spotlight as a professional battler just yet as he's only just gotten used to some modern things.

Thankfully this fast food chain is known for taking on anyone regardless if they are qualified and the food and equipment is simple enough for Ingo to use, helps that it isn't really popular too. Rei/Akari works with him to help him adjust and to help with any food rushes.

So yeah. There Emmet is, standing in front of his adopted nephew/niece and his long lost brother handing him a tray of a dozen fries, burgers, nuggets and a slushpuppy while in an apron and goofy hat.

Omg anon, what would your reaction be if I showed you one of my wips with this idea. It's been months since it's been a things in my phone's note app and I had completely forgotten.

LOOK AT THIS (far from complete but oop-):

The seat felt uncomfortable under him, but Emmet didn't have any other option than endure it, self imposed suffering as it was. He had promised Iris he would take her out to eat wherever she chose if she managed to regain her title as champion. Defeating Rosa, after all, was no easy feat. Not only was she one of the region's heroes, but also a regular at the Battle Subway. Emmet knew first hand how difficult, how fun and challenging, it was to fight her.

And finally, after a year and a half of frustrated training sessions and manic strategizing, Iris rose as champion of Unova once more. Enduring it was.

That didn't mean he wasn't enjoying himself, though. Emmet usually had some time set apart for socializing with family and friends at least twice a week, so it wasn't a matter of social battery. Just the wooden seats.

He could understand from an objective point of view why this particular restaurant had them. it was aiming for an 'old era' feeling, with high barstools, wooden furniture and walls, gentle light coming from paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling... There were also sepia photos filling the walls to the brim with pictures of extinct pokemon and historical figures, of which Emmet only managed to recognize profesor Laventon. If he looked more closely, maybe he would distantly recognize more from his time in school, but he had no interest. He had a set schedule, a point of arrival already in sight.

To have a fun night out with his favorite (and only) cousin.

Why this place, he had asked Iris. To try something different had been her reasoning, of course.

The restaurant wasn't as bombastic as the usual Nimbasan ones, not even Unovan. A fairly new restaurant that focused on 'traditional Sinnoh' cuisine. He usually wouldn't trust such bold statements in Unova of all places, yet all reviews of people who came from Sinnoh had seemed surprised in a good way.

Emmet's preferences had always been to traverse the same tracks over and over again. Always the same. But it was Iris who was asking, and for family Emmet would go a long way. Especially since...

Must have been verrrry fun to battle Rosa again. Emmet wondered when the girl would show up in the Battle Subway, since now she had the free roam being champion didn't allow her. Emmet hoped Rosa chose the Doubles. He would see her regardless, but he verrrry much hoped for the Doubles line.

Emmet was sure Ingo would have been delighted to see Rosa challenging the Battle Subway again. He sighed. Damn it, he had been avoiding the thought of his twin so well lately, too. It hurt to be glad about it, but Emmet was so, so tired of the constant agony. He was sure Ingo would forgive him, just this once.

"Heeeeeeyoooo, Nimbasa to Emmet! Are you there?"

"I am Emmet. I am here. In front of you."

Aaaaaand that's about all I have written out. From there it would go on a funny reunion with chef Ingo, waiter Melli and a Karen. Melli vs Karen the ultimate showdown. Poor Ingo.

Lmao, I wanna get back to writing fanfic so bad, but I really really shouldn't right now.

#asks #my fanfic tag #my fanfic ideas #subway bosses

[loregoddess]

Reverse Unpopular Opinion for Faye and Rinea!

Okay, well first of all both of their designs are really good. Like, I know I'm biased because Hidari is one of my top-favorite illustrators and I think all Echoes artwork is excellent, but Faye and Rinea's is like, especially excellent. Like, we have Faye:

This is the most generic "local girl who lives in a fantasy faming village" look and I mean this in the best way possible. Of all the Ram kids, she's the only one who actually looks like she could have been someone who just hung around some little farming town, and I especially love the little touches that the apron and satchel add. And the color palette is really good, which isn't something I say a lot for FE, and her being dusty blond and paired with lots of browns and whites could have made her look like a sepia photo, but nah, everything's balanced well enough that this looks like a legit.

And then we have Rinea, and just:

LOOK at the amount of thought that went into that dress's design! I'm no seamstress nor cosplay artist, but I do love me some clothing designs where the artist thought out how the clothing might work. And while all the layers aren't broken down, enough are that I can imagine how the dress works, which also makes it easier to draw for me for whatever reason. And again, this is a fantastic palette! Granted, blues and whites with some off-blacks is actually a pretty safe palette to go for and really hard to mess up, but even how the colors get divided is nice, since most of the whites (the "lightest" colors) are at the top of her design, and the black stockings (the "heaviest" color in her palette) are at the bottom. Rinea's color palette looks like glacial, snow-capped basalt mountains, and I love it.

Also like, in line with Echoes' strong emphasis on the divide between the nobility and the commonfolk, we can really see those themes in these two designs. Faye's just a girl from a small farming town, and while she's clearly very trendy and conscious of her appearance, given how she wears cute little bows and has decorated her satchel, there's still something very humble and utilitarian about her outfit. Whereas Rinea's a noble, and her outfit shows as much with the incorporation of more complicated sewing patterns, and the addition of metals as pretty--but essentially non-functional--decoration. Everything about her outfit looks more expensive to produce, and really helps to illustrate her status as a noble engaged to the heir of Rigel. It's such a small detail, but I've seen a lot of fantasy stories where the character designs get a bit carried away and you can't actually distinguish things like social class, or even trends from different geographic areas.

Aside from how much I love the designs, Faye is also one of my favorite units in the entire game. Like, when I did my run of "I'm actually going to try and complete Thabes instead of ignoring it", Faye was front and center on my dungeon-dive team. She's so versatile too! I had her as a pegasus knight my first run and not only was she able to keep pace with Clair, she outpaced the pegasi trio (which might have been lucky rng for the stat growths, but still!). I had her as a cleric for my second run (the Thabes run), and again, she was super useful. Her early access to Physic is very helpful, and while I don't normally use dancer classes, her unique spell Anew ended up being really helpful for my Thabes dive (and also helped me figure out that I didn't dislike the dancer class and its support skill, I just didn't want an entire unit tied up in one type of support only). Also, since Nosferatu can bypass Duma's godshield, I wanted to see if it was possible to get Faye to land the killing blow. This was not a feat I achieved, given that she could only deal a total of 12 damage (although if I decide to buy the DLC before the eShop goes down, I might be able to achieve this feat with an overclass), but 12 damage was the highest not-Alm damage dealt by anyone I had in that battle, which was neat! I think if I ever do another run, I might put her into cavalier and see if she can outpace Mathilda (and then I can give her Gradivus, aka my favorite weapon in the entire series).

Anyhow, I actually have a lot of love not born of spite for these two, and for FE in general, and could probably go on but we'll call it good for now.

#fayeslingeringwill #listen I LOVE these two and I will fight on that hill #I didn't even get into FEH stuff bc I don't actually play the game but like FEH stuff for these two is good as well! #fire emblem #FE15 #faye #rinea #ask meme #I still don't have an ask tag

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this Week #130 (Year 3/Week 26):

Nobody goes to bed on Sunday night in order to wake up early the next morning and read my weekly film reviews... :(

🍿

My first by Pan Nalin from Gujarat, Last Film Show. Definitely, an Indian love letter to the magic of movie-making, a-la 'Cinema Paradiso'. Semi-autobiographical memories of a boy helping the poor projectionist at a remote, primitive village. Sweet, beautiful and sentimental.

It ends with a surprising recitation of names, a list of directors who inspired this homage: Kubrick, Chaplin, Lean, Maya Deren, Godard, Coppola, King Hu, Zhang Yimou, Ozu, Keaton, Spike Lee, Jane Campion, George Méliès, Bigelow.... 7/10.

🍿

2 Road Movies:

🍿 First watch: Zabriskie Point, my 9th by Michelangelo Antonioi, with a screenplay co-written by Sam Shepard. A symbolic counter-cultural cult experiment, about a young student who steals a small Cessna, flies to Death Valley, where he meets a young woman, participate in a dust-covered orgy with her, and flies back, to be shot by the 'pigs'. (Photo Above).

With music by both Pink Floyd AND The Grateful Dead, as well as Roy Orbison AND The Rolling Stones. Also, with G. D. Spradlin! 6/10.

🍿 There were news that Salvation Mountain and the outcast community at Slab City by the Salton Sea had been sold to some kooky religious cult. So this was a good excuse to see Sean Penn's Road movie Into the wild. The true story of a young individual who rejects the material world, and while searching for meaning and self, is escaping to the edge of the world, to the wildness of Alaska. A long, romanticized homage to alternative lifestyles.

🍿

75 years ago this week, the New Yorker published Shirley Jackson's harrowing story 'The Lottery'. A small New England town observes an annual tradition, in which a member of the community is selected by chance and stoned to death to ensure a good harvest and purge the town of bad omens.

A terrifying tale about mob mentality and blind tradition, the story was adapted to educational television (by Encyclopædia Britannica!) in 1969. At 19 minutes long, The Lottery is just as upsetting and intense as the original story. (With Ed Begley Jr. as a little child.) 9/10.

🍿 

My first 2 by Lars von Trier:

🍿 I studied film at the University of Copenhagen at the same time Lars von Trier attended the attached film school there, even though our paths never crossed. When he screened his experimental first feature The element of crime, I thought it was one of the most unusual and mysterious films I had ever seen.

So why did I always resisted seeing any of his other movies? On re-watch, 40 years later, 'Element of Crime' holds up. Multilayered, surrealist, literary and incredibly original. It begs the comparison to heavyweights like Orson Wells in 'The third man', and Fritz Lang's M. Fragmentary, visually masterful, drenched in yellow and red filtering, it's full of dystopian despair, water everywhere, nocturnal rituals and a continent falling apart. Dark and nightmarish, one of the greatest debut films of all time. 7/10.

🍿 Von Trier actually directed another film before that: The 1982, 57-minutes Images of Liberation (Befrielsesbilleder) was his film school graduation film, and it created such a stir, that it was given a regular theatrical distribution, a first in Denmark.

A German officer in 1945 visits his Danish mistress days after the end of the Nazi Occupation. Like the more accomplished 'Element', it's a visually-original manifesto, impressionistic and nearly abstract art, filmed all in sepia and red filters, and again played in a foreign language (German). It's obvious he was a film prodigy even then.

Available on low-res YouTube. 2/10.

🍿

..."Osbourne Cox? I thought you might be worried… about the security… of your shit"...

You stumble across a short clip called What did we learn, Palmer? and immediately you must stop everything you do and re-watch Burn after reading for the umpteen time. Another one of the Coen Brother's infectious, addictive fun rides, where every line of dialogue is memorable, and every single character is unforgettable (Linda Litzke, Manolo, the Tuchman Marsh Man, divorce lawyer, plastic surgeon, David Rasche's CIA guy ...).

Funniest Coen Brothers script + the fantastic dildo machine! 10/10.

🍿

Le Brio ("Brilliance") is a French Comedy about extraordinary law professor Daniel Auteuil who is also a politically-incorrect anti-hero, an old-fashioned racist, misanthropic prick. After he publicly insult a young Arab student, he is being forced to mentor her for a prestigious national debate competition, or lose his tenure. What do you know? In the course of the year of them working together, they learn to respect each other and find humanity in their opposite backgrounds! Lovely with a schmaltzy happy end. 4/10.

🍿 

More misogyny! Woman Haters is a short musical 'novelty' by the Three Stooges from 1934. At one point it was acceptable to tailor a casual slapstick routine around "WH", The Woman Haters Club, without betting an eye. Crude, violent and unfunny. 1/10.

🍿 

The devil all the time, my first unpleasant film with boring, bland actor Tom Holland. It's an Appalachian Hillbilly Gothic, full of dark incidents and over-powering ugliness. Nearly two and a half hours of badly-played tragedies, suicides, White Trash religiosity, serial killings and despair, with too many confusing bad characters, and none worth caring about.

🍿

..."I’m nothing… I’m naval lint"…

Re-watch: True Lies is one of the few action movies I ever loved. From James Cameron, the undisputed champion of Hollywood box office. 90's action And comedy. Another movie that was structured with a stopwatch, so that exactly every 10 minutes, a 'pinch point' took place (The Swiss prologue 0-15, The DC hotel fight 30-40, The Helen interrogation exactly at 1 hour, 10 min. mid-point, Arriving in Florida, exactly at 1:30. Etc.). 7/10.

🍿

The In-laws, the 1979 "classic" sitcom-style comedy with 'Lieutenant Columbo' and "Sheldon the dentist". Also with David Paymer, James Hong and Ed Begley, Jr. But not as funny as it possibly was 40 years ago.

Also, Kevin Pollak Torments Alan Arkin. RIP, Alan Arkin.

🍿

5 More Don Hertzfeld shorts, again:

🍿 "...That's the thing about the present, Emily Prime. You only appreciate it when it is the past..."

Another constant re-watch, his World of tomorrow. the only science fiction movie I love, and one of my most favorite films - ever. The magic lies in the contrast between the scientific explanations of time-travel, neural networks and end-of-the-world vs. the spontaneous voice of the 4-year-old girl who doesn't care about any of it, and just hums "What a beautiful day it is". 10/10.

[I didn't have the heart yet to watch the following 3 episodes of it, even though they are similarly applauded.]

🍿 "For the love of God and all that is holy, my anus is bleeding!"

Rejected, his first Oscar nominated short from 2000. A simple, surrealist collection of anti-consumerist diversions. 9/10.

🍿 Wisdom tooth, a 5-minutes nightmare in mock-Swedish, about a guy trying to help another guy who has a toothache. 9/10.

🍿 His 2014 Simpson Couch Gag, an out-of-this-world dadaist riff on the Simpson opening routine. Mind-bending. I wonder what people thought of it when they sat down to watch the show.

🍿 Watching grass grow, a short time-lapse short of him as he animates his short 'The meaning of life'. Crude homemade animation, low-low-low-tech.

🍿

Wrestling X 2:

🍿 Twenty-five years ago, The Undertaker damn near killed Mankind in one of the greatest 'Hell In a Cell' matches in the history of professional wrestling. Mark Calaway and Mick Foley sat down to re-watch the infamous match that came to redefined each of their careers. [I know it's hard to believe it, but in the mid-90's, I loved watching WWE!]

Calling u/shittymorph!

🍿 Man on the moon, directed by Miloš Forman (so it features his colleague Vincent Schiavelli, but without the subtlety of his early films). A standard biopic about a weird comic with the 'different' sense of humor. Misunderstood genius or an obnoxious prankster? Jim Carrey's Andy Kaufman came across as unlikable, self-centered and uninteresting. With Norm Macdonald. 3/10.

🍿

3 X "So-Bad-I-Couldn't-Finish-Them-Films”:

🍿 Giva't Halfon Eina Ona / "גבעת חלפון אינה עונה" is a classic Israeli "Bourekas-film", which later became a cult film. Bourekas films (Like Spaghetti Westerns) were low-brow, broad comedies based on ethnic stereotypes, and often dealt with conflicts between Mizrahi and Ashkenazi Jews. This one starred the iconic trio 'Hagashashim'. Maybe if somebody saw it first time in 1976, it would be funny, but it aged badly. I lasted 13 minutes.

🍿 While you were sleeping, the apex of 90's romantic comedies and my first by Jon Turteltaub. Most of the chick flicks from that era did not age well, using cliched TV sitcom tropes throughout, from newspaper boys to cute voice mail messages to Christmas gifts. Cringy, saccharine, formulaic.

🍿 A Million Ways to Die in the West, a Seth MacFarlane western comedy, a riff on Blazing Saddles, with bad writing and terrible acting. I lasted for about 45 minutes.

🍿

Throw-back to the "Art project”:  

Adora at Salvation Mountain and at Salton Sea (from 'Into the wild').

🍿  

(My complete movie list is here).

#movies

[taiblogcomics]

A Hitch in Crime Solves Nine

Hey there, Team Li'l Bitches. All right, we're finally back on track with these pony reviews. It's all forward chronology from here! Genuinely, I don't know what's ahead, so we'll see what they do with the future.

Here's the cover:

Ah, it's Hitch. I'm not quite sure this counts as film noir. I think it explicitly has to be in black and white. What is this, then, film sepia? If that's not already a thing, please credit me for it. Either way, with the hat and the sepia tones, it puts me more in mind of Indiana Jones than a detective story. I guess Indiana is sort of an archaeology detective. They're not dissimilar stories, is what I'm saying. Other than the hat, the big sign of film noir is the venetian blinds. All in all, kind of a cool cover. And very muted for a pony story!

So if you remember back when we covered issue 11 for Halloween, Hitch wasn't in that issue because he's doing true crime podcasting now. Zipp borrowed some equipment from him, and she's doing the AV for him. They've called their show "MareCRIME Bay", which I'm not sure is stupid or brilliant. Stupilliant, let's call it. Hitch got into this whole thing digging up a cold case from before his time as sheriff, which changed his whole view on Maretime Bay. That's a dark path to go down, Hitch, are you sure you can handle it~?

So starting the podcast got him loads of viewers sending in new information about the case. Well, that's one way to solve cases, I suppose! So here's the case: Pansy Silverbell was a four-time winner of the local bake-off, headed there for her fifth year of competition. But she never made it there, and in fact was never seen again. All we know is she talked to two ponies before failing to reach her destination: Jazz Hooves and Dahlia. What kept her from the competition, and why has she never been seen again? That's honestly a pretty good mystery. Darker than I'd expect, and given some of the stories we've covered, no guarantee the answer isn't just as chilling.

Other facts about Pansy: she ran a baking club and spent most of her time volunteering. She liked soup, and made some killer cupcakes. That was her signature award-winner. She even bragged online about being ready to take the next competition, to the ire of some online commenters. None of the commenters have been identified. But what Hitch is sharing on episode 2 is some interesting photos the Pony Photobug Club caught. Lotta clubs in Maretime Bay, I'm noticing. Guess they needed some way to socialise while still isolating from the other races.

The photographs (available to listeners on their Ponygram account) at least prove Jazz and Dahlia were the ones Pansy spoke to. Jazz runs a hooficure salon in town, and Hitch isn't so manly that he's above making an appointment to talk to her for the case. As soon as he mentions her name, though, Jazz hauls him into the back room to talk. It's a small town, it wouldn't do to hear such things being asked about. Jazz asks if he's asking in an official capacity, since she's not sure how much she wants to say. Bit suspicious, if you ask me, and Hitch thinks so too.

So Jazz's story is just that she was minding her own business walking down the street--minding it a bit too closely, as she runs right into Pansy, knocking her cart over. She helps her pick up the cart, sees her off, that's pretty much it. Not much of a story. Hitch points out she looks a bit grim in the photo for such a simple incident, and she says maybe she was upset by something or somepony else. She continues to be a little bit shifty, such as suggesting she definitely doesn't know who these Ponygram commenters are, even when pronouncing their names perfectly.

Hitch himself didn't put the names together until he heard them aloud. One of the nastier comments left on Pansy's last post was from "DollyYeah". Which, you might notice, sounds like "Dahlia". So that's who Hitch goes to interview next. She runs a tidy little bakery stand, which must be nice to not have a lot of competition anymore. Which is basically what Hitch comes right out and says, accusing Dahlia of being mad enough to leave nasty comments online and then also arrange Pansy's disappearance. I think those two events are a bit apart in scope. I hope they are, anyway…

She and Hitch grab a bite from her own stand, where she reveals she learned to bake from Pansy. So, the reason she left mean comments online is because she was annoyed with Pansy. Or more specifically, the circumstances. The winner of the bake-off was probably going to get a sponsorship deal and 10,000 bits. And Pansy already had a pretty successful bakery as it was, while Dahlia wanted to open her own. Dahlia was one of those friends who gets overshadowed all their life by a more successful one. So she kinda lashed out. Sometimes friends have disagreements, that's all it was.

As is usual for this kind of story, this is the part where Hitch gets stymied for a little bit until an innocuous unrelated comment gives him the hint he needs to break it wide open. In this case (literally), Hitch and Zipp break for lunch and really enjoy their butternut squash chowder. Zipp even comments that she wants to nominate the chowder for an award, and it's that remark which gives Hitch his eureka moment. Pansy never showed at the bake-off--but was she even registered to compete? Or just to attend? He dashes off to pursue the leads.

So Hitch meets with the judges from the bake-off (for a chili lunch), and they confirm they haven't seen Pansy. But another thing they confirm is the very interesting detail that Dahlia was the winner of that contest. She got that 10,000 bits and opened the very bakery where she and Hitch had a snack. For some reason she didn't feel this info was pertinent to share. Before he can digest that (or his latest meal), he receives an interesting email. In short, it's a mysterious podcast listener, somepony who wants to meet him tomorrow afternoon…

Hitch arrives the next day to meet the mysterious email sender, who turns out to be… Pansy Silverbell herself. She's been listening to the podcast, and is quite surprised that she's the subject. She's brought a couple of one of her singature treats. Friendship is like cookies, you see. You need equal icing on both sides, or it won't stick. And that's when the other email recipient drops by: Dahlia. She apologises for running out on Pansy, but she's not concerned about all that. Instead she invites the pair of them to her house--right next door to Dahlia's shop.

Pansy serves them some soup and comes clean about the whole thing. Jazz was the only one from their old friend group who knew, and she pressured Pansy to send that email after the podcast started up. So what's going on is that Pansy never wanted to be "the best", she just happened to be really good at stuff and outshone her friends by accident. Eventually, the prospect of being the champion winner for a fifth time and getting a sponsorship was too much for her. She abandoned everypony and disappeared so she could find herself.

That's it, basically! She wasn't even sure baking was her calling and is into soups now. She just never knew how to start up with "I'm not dead and live next door" to Dahlia, which is fair. The two start over, and Hitch starts up episode 4 of his podcast by declaring he's calling off the investigation. I'd say I dunno how he stretched that all out to four episodes, but I've seen modern comics stretch an entire storyline out to six issues, so actually I believe it. But ye, the comic ends with the important lesson that some things are unsolved because some folks just want a little privacy. Case--and comic book--closed~!

Honestly? Kinda liked this issue. Probably one of the better mysteries they've attempted, and they had a whole miniseries about mystery-solving. I have two main critiques with it. First, I'd say this is a great example of how they do when they focus solely on one or two characters--except it's not really about Hitch, is it? Hitch is just the connecting piece that links all the rest of the story together. And speaking of things connecting it all together... That's my other complaint. This is much more minor, but like... Every lead Hitch followed, other than Jazz, involved a meal of some kind. Like, he didn't need to get chili with the bake-off judges for the story to work, but he did. I thought it was all building to some punchline about detective work making him feel full or something. I dunno, it just felt like a joke set-up that never happened~

#comics #reviews #My Little Pony #My Little Pony: A New Generation #Taiblog

[userpurple]

I’m counting down the minutes til we can all jump into this brave world together, filled with equal parts nostalgia and brand newness.

Head first, Fearless💛

(Click image for better quality)

#tsedit #tswiftedit #tswiftgraphic #taylorswiftedit #usermist #userafterweglow #my works #mine: edits #tscreators #userdianne #tsusersoph #tsusermeggie #okay i know it's the same coloring as the lockscreens #but!!! #pls I just love the coloring #and it goes so well with her sepia photos

[electric-eccentricity]

cadmium orange; what do you like to do on your days off?

mars brown; what’s a movie that always puts a smile on your face/makes you laugh?

sepia; name five things that always make you happy.

cadmium orange: I wish it were more interesting than…nothing, but that’s the truth. Weekends like this one, where I have nothing on my schedule, are the best because I don’t have anything to cause me anxiety until Monday. I’m very rarely productive, and do a lot of napping, but I figure if it’s happening my body must need it. I’ve been taking about one day of PTO a month and last week I used it to see Everything Everywhere All At Once, which was a great choice!! And sometimes I’ll do something with family, but that expends social energy in a different kind of way depending on who it is (see below).

mars brown: I’m not one to “put on a movie” for whatever reason, so this more happens when I see something on the cable guide (yes I’m an old that still has cable) to have in. This seems to be happening with Clue more lately and I’m happy about it!! And, just for pure nostalgia purposes, a 90s disney movie is always on somewhere and that can do the trick as well.

sepia: FIVE?!?! ok, I’ll give it my best shot.

- my little cousin, who is intensely adorable and wonderful independent of this context, but was born right before both of my grandparents died and THEN the pandemic, so seeing photos of her/spending time with her/watching her grow have been bright lights in the darkness the past few years. Genuinely when I babysat her on my own last year (because the rest of our family went on a wine trail lmao) and just got to learn about her little quirks and hang out with her with no competition for her was the happiest I’d felt in a long time. Also her moms are gay and that makes her better than other children sorry that’s the rule.

- additionally, I get a lot of seratonin from the cute children of tiktok. and animals.

- I do enjoy cooking, but sometimes it goes awry and/or just seems like too much of a burden. So I’ll say the happiest version of it is trying a new recipe that I nail on the first time and is actually delicious.

- writing is…not coming easily to me at the moment, but it makes it easier to read other folks’ excellent fic, so let’s go with that!

- uhhhhhhhhh boobs. any and all of those. great. love em.

thank you darling 💜

#ask meme

[nitewrighter]

We've had Uncle Hanzo reading to little Rei but what about little Rei reading to Hanzo?

“Omnicode cipher one-one-eight-Delta-B underscore six is for...” 5-year-old Rei yawned, “Puhhh--pace--Peace!” She was tucked practically into a ball against Hanzo’s side, with Hanzo’s arm draping across the back of the loveseat, arching over her as he leaned his head back and rested his eyes. The late afternoon sun was streaming through the window and turning the insides of his eyelids sepia-red. A part of him knew he would probably stay awake if he took his hoodie off, but Rei was leaning against him and had finally seemed to stop fidgeting and he didn’t want to reset her posture by the action. He felt Rei nudge against him and he blinked his eyes open.

“I was listening--” he said, his voice a little groggy.

“But is it right?” asked Rei.

Hanzo gave a glance down to the page, the text was laid out in both english and Omnicode, with blocky, vivid illustrations showing a human and an omnic holding hands with yellow sunbeams streaming behind them and the Omnicode character for ‘Peace’ smack dab in the center of the sun. One corner of his mouth tugged up. Zenyatta had lent the book, Omnicode Adventure, to them to ask their opinion on it before the Shambali would publish it as a sort of gesture of goodwill between humans and omnics, but Hanzo wasn’t sure if a 144 character language with numerous complex context-and-sequence-shifted meanings translated all that well to a children’s book. It certainly felt far from an adventure.

“Yes, it’s right,” said Hanzo and Rei turned the page. 

“Omnicode cipher one-one-eight-Delta-B underscore seven is for....” Rei rubbed her eyes, “Family. Also Proh--uh...”

“Sound it out,” said Hanzo.

“Prooodue-”

“Little ‘u’ sound.”

“Produc--Produc-tee-own.”

“Production.”

“Production Seeress.”

“Production series.”

“Production series,” Rei nodded as she repeated.

The illustration for this cipher featured both a human family on one page and a group of identical omnics standing with their arms slung around each others’ shoulders on the other. Rei turned the page, rubbing one eye before adjusting her hold on the book.

“Omnicode cipher one-one-eight Delta-C underscore one is for---” Rei started to read when the door to the living room opened and McCree walked in, sighing and stretching. 

“You would not believe what happened with Jack at Winston’s latest--” McCree paused at the sight of Rei on the couch, “Oh hey, Sunshine.”

“Uncle Jesse, I’m reading!” she said.

“Oh yeah?” said McCree, setting a bag down in one of the chairs before plopping on the other side of Rei on the couch, “Something happen with Ange?”

“Something about a vid-com emergency meeting with one of her colleagues,” said Hanzo, with a hand wave, “And with Genji on that mission in Numbani... Rei gets to spend the afternoon with us.”

“And I’m reading,” Rei said again, a bit of that Genji theatrical cockiness in her voice this time. 

“I can see that,” said McCree with a chuckle.

“Zenyatta was kind enough to lend us a book to read,” said Hanzo.

“Really?” said Jesse, “Because you can’t get over your grudge against Little Lamby Lambkins?”

“Ha-ha,” said Hanzo drily, “No, this one is more... educational. If you want, I could get started on dinner while you take over.”

“Oh well you know I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” said McCree, taking his hat off before looking at Rei, “What do you think, Sunshine? You wanna read that book to me?”

 Rei excitedly gasped and bounced over to McCree’s side of the couch, shuffling her shoulders a little as she pushed under his arm and flipped the book back open.

Freedom, thought Hanzo with a slight smile, pushing up from the couch.

 McCree noticed the relative thickness of the book, but had assumed it was some kind of large board book, but as Rei turned the page, his brow crinkled with concern.

“Omnicode cipher one-one-eight Delta-C underscore one is for... Life,” Rei read, as McCree looked over the illustration of an omnic in some kind of farmer’s outfit looking fondly at a butterfly in its metal hand, while framed by greenery filled with more butterflies, birds, and flowers. “Omnicode cipher one-one-eight Delta-C underscore two is for life, sue--”

“’uh’ sound,” said McCree.

“Suuuhh-Sub-c-c-aaate---”

“Sub-cat-eg-or-ee,” said McCree, pointing at different sections of the word with his finger.

“Subcattergory,” Rei said, “Nuh-on-orr-gan-ick. Subcattergory Nonorganic!”

“Great job, kiddo,” said McCree, trying to will up the mental energy to correct her on the pronunciation of ‘Subcategory’ but at the same time it was well within her own half-Swiss-German, half-Japanese quirks of speaking.

“What’s nonorganic?” said Rei.

“...Zen’s nonorganic,” said McCree after a few seconds of thought.

“No, Master Zenyatta’s Omnic,” Rei corrected.

“That, too,” said McCree smiling a little. Rei seemed satisfied with this and kept reading.

“Omnicode cipher one-one-eight Delta-C underscore three is for life, subcattergory... Non?” she looked at McCree.

“Non,” said McCree, nodding.

“Non-sen-tee-ent life,” said Rei, “What’s ‘nonsentient?’”

Someone’s going to have to break it to Zenyatta that this is a terrible easy-to-read book, thought Hanzo, rinsing some rice off in the sink.

“Nonsentient means uh... like... plants? Like... living things but... they don’t uhh... think?”  McCree’s voice trailed off a little helplessly. 

“Like Junkrat?” said Rei.

“Well, no, Junkrat thinks... allegedly,” said McCree, “They’re talking about more like... uh... mushrooms and stuff. Mushrooms are alive, y’know?”

“Mushrooms...” Rei repeated thoughtfully.

“Hey sunshine?” said McCree.

“Yeah?” said Rei.

“Is uh... is the whole book like this?” McCree was trying to keep a smile up but his brow was crinkling.

“Uh huh!” said Rei.

“Do you wanna maybe... switch to an easier book?” McCree rubbed the back of his neck.

“But Master Zenyatta gave me this one! We have to finish it!” said Rei, clearly offended. 

“Okay, all right, we can keep goin’...” said McCree with a shrug.

Rei turned the page and started reading again. “Omnicode Cipher One-one-eight---”

As Rei read, McCree’s head swung around to look at the kitchen, where Hanzo was serenely slicing some onion. Jesse summoned his best, ‘I miscalculated, please help me, I love you’ face. Hanzo paused only momentarily to look up to meet his gaze and gave Jesse the smuggest, most cat-like, shit-eating ‘Suffer’ grin. There was a glint of ‘Oh you bastard’ in McCree’s eyes before he turned his attention to Rei, now struggling through the Omnicode cipher for the Turing test and its later variants. And of course he had to explain to her what a Turing test was. And the variants.

Hanzo let Rei’s chatter and hesitant sounding-out of syllables, and McCree’s stilted murmuring explanations fade to background noise as he fell into the motions of cooking. He wasn’t sure if it was ten or 15 minutes that had passed, but the savory smells of onion simmering in dashi filled the kitchen and lingered with rice cooker steam when McCree’s voice hoarsely drifted over.

“Hanzo--You gotta help me.”

“Mm?” Hanzo glanced up, turned down the heat on the stove, and toweled off his hands as he headed out of the kitchen to the living room. Rounding around the couch, he saw that Rei was asleep, one arm strung tight around McCree’s waist and her face smooshed against McCree’s side.

“She conked out around Omnicode cipher something-something epsilon. She’s like a vice,” McCree whispered.

“Mm-hmm,” said Hanzo, pulling his phone out of his pocket and opening the camera.

“Don’t just take pictures, help me out of this!” McCree hissed.

“Can you pretend to be asleep? It’s cuter that way,” said Hanzo, adjusting the lighting on the camera.

“I am not gonna pretend to be asleep, just so you can---” McCree heard the beep of the camera prepping and closed his eyes and relaxed his head slightly as Hanzo took the picture.

“You will and you did,” said Hanzo, tapping at his phone’s screen.

“That was for the doc and Genji and you know it,” muttered McCree.

“Mm-hmm,” said Hanzo, gently adjusting the lighting on the photo he had just taken and briefly puzzling over adding a ‘hearts and sparkles’ filter before deciding against it.

“...this is where all the displaced Yakuza boss evil goes, isn’t it?” said McCree.

“You love it,” said Hanzo, posting the photo to the family group chat.

“Mark me, Hanzo, had it not been for our 5 year old biotic mutant ninja niece currently threatening to break one of my ribs I would have cussed you out by now.”

“She’s not a mutant and she’s not going to break your ribs,” said Hanzo, bending and crisply kissing McCree on the temple before heading back into the kitchen.

“You don’t know that. I could be in danger right now.”

“Dinner’s in another 10 minutes,” Hanzo said airily from the kitchen.

“Save me, Han.”

“No.”

#mchanzo #follow for more Gency kid facts

[thescorpioracer]

Sen Çal Kapımı 1 - Episode Recap

To be honest, this series of posts is mostly going to be a fashion roast. But DISCLAIMER! I really do love this show and Turkish TV in general, it’s just my preferred mode of media analysis is to pick things apart. 😂And I need everyone to know that I am very pro-women, and believe people should be able to dress how they want and not be judged for it or be looked down upon for it. But oh my god this wardrobe department/costumer needs to be STOPPED. I also have zero credentials to be talking about fashion, but will that stop me?

I’m going to make these posts assuming you’ve watched the show, and just comment on whatever comes up. There will be spoilers. Let’s go!

We start off with a voiceover from Eda Yıldız, an A+ romcom trope. (It wasn’t until my rewatch that I remembered that Eda used to do VOs at random intervals, and I’m kind of glad she stopped tbh.) She is a strong woman who wants to get her education and become a landscape architect/designer. She was all set to do that until- dun dun dun! - Serkan Bolat destroyed everything. 

Check out that dart board of a man (and this is the only time we see that photo there). And these outfits are probably the most normal and reasonable clothes she wears in the show. She’s a beautiful young woman, who was a college student, and now works outdoors as a florist. 10/10 outfit. 

Of course that transitions us into an epic slomo of Serkan exiting his private jet. He of course begins to berate his assistant on the phone in a way a friend described as reminiscent of The Devil Wears Prada.

@teamnick​​‘s commentary back when she first started the show. 

Serkan returns to his office for the first time in 2 months after working on business deals in London. Chaos ensues: Miranda Priestly is baaaaaaack.

See... here we have some good fashion choices! We meet the girls for the first time, while they try to sneak off to their graduation without making Eda feel bad that she won’t be receiving her diploma. Melek “Melo” is dressed in a sweet dress with a bold, romantic color, which captures her personality perfectly. Ceren, the rich daughter from a family of lawyers, looks a bit more high-fashion. The dress is short but it has long sleeves and no cleavage so it works out to be chic and elegant. Fifi is unapologetically herself with her full-black, punk wardrobe. Eda is again dressed in a pretty, but casual outfit. Nicely put together for her lower-middle-class lifestyle and her job as a florist.

Enter: the plot device to get our protagonists together. Serkan’s face says it all.

We are then introduced to the main couple’s respective cars. Serkan has his 2020 BMW (though the show blocks out the copyrighted branding) while Eda’s beat up SUV is clearly unreliable. What’s that? Another plot device being introduced? I have no idea what you’re talking about.

Also, I just noticed this, but for someone as uptight as Serkan, I’m surprised at how fun his suit jacket lining is. If I’m not mistaken the pattern is of a bunch of rainbow fish. #Snazzy, but they seem out of character?

Plot highlights:

Eda learns she can come back to school and finish her final year, but she’s lost her scholarship and will have to pay. She can’t.

Serkan gives his talk at the graduation (?)-- Is his talk just for architecture students? If so, why are Ceren, Fifi, and Melo there? We’ll never know. I know, I know... it’s all for the ~plot~

Eda calls Serkan out in front of everyone for taking away the scholarship that she earned from his company, Art Life. He is confused but unrepentant. She refuses to tell him her name.

She tries to deface his car with lipstick after keying the side (we never hear about the damage to his car after that). He catches her and wants to call the police, so she impulsively handcuffs them together with the plot devices from Selin’s wedding invitation sitting on his passenger seat.

They then have to go to Serkan’s urgent business meeting with an out-of-town client. Eda drives while they’re handcuffed together. Bickering ensues.

What is this? Foreshadowing? Symbolism?? Eda’s last name “Yıldız” is the Turkish word for “star” so... file that away for later.

One of my favorite parts about watching Turkish dramas is the experience of trying to decipher the fan translations. Add to the fact that Turkish only has 1 pronoun *chef’s kiss* 

Eda refuses to take the elevator to the 15th floor (we’ll learn about her claustrophobia later). Serkan is equally as stubborn, saying she owes  him for screwing up his day. But he has met his match in Eda with regards to stubbornness. They take the stairs.

More highlights:

First instance of fake dating - they need to hide the handcuffs from his client so Eda pretends she’s his girlfriend and a fellow investor.

The girls track Eda’s phone to the hotel and try to find her by asking around the premises. 

Eda charms the client into selling his land to Serkan.

We learn that Serkan is allergic to strawberries and has a lot of health anxiety. He’s a very tightly wound person.

Serkan says “Mashallah,” translator hears 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

Engin brings way too many people to open the handcuffs and chaos ensues.

I feel like nothing can do justice to the comedy of 58:45 to 1:00:00 with Fifi using a bobby pin as a lock pick. The dramatic editing is 👌🏼

Leyla gets fired for somehow causing this drama??? And she is so happy to leave that stressful workplace omg, we don’t deserve her 🥺

Serkan and Eda go their separate ways, Eda prepared to never see her enemy again, but of course her phone and purse are still in his car so she has to go to his office at Art Life and confront him again.

Serkan has found out that Whoops, Art Life did cancel the study abroad scholarships to cut costs, but his CFO did it without telling him. And Serkan is pissed, but I think mainly about the fact that Eda did have some (SOME) grounds for yelling at him in public.

Leyla then explains the nonsensical reasoning behind her being fired-but-not-fired and still working. (Spoiler alert: she never goes anywhere and she is my favorite side character to this day).

Eda: “How can I piss Serkan off?” Leyla: “Find a mistake he’s made and he will fixate on it forever. But you won’t find anything.” Eda: “Hold my beer.”

Eda walks into Serkan’s office and his meeting. She gets her purse back and they fight about him not being willing to apologize for ruining her life and education. He refuses and says she owes him an apology for embarrassing him in public (no, dude).

He wants to give her back the scholarship and make it all go away but she rightly tells him that it won’t fix her broken pride from begging the company and her university for a second chance. But somehow her calling him a heartless “Robot” is what gets to him???? And he short-circuits. Eda walks out triumphant. 

~dRaMa!~

MEANWHILE

Melo, as well as being a perfume sales girl, also works as a flight attendant and wants Eda to cover her shift (we’ll get into how that doesn’t make sense in a minute) 

Eda says no, she’s going to meet her boyfriend, Cenk, who she hasn’t seen in months and has just returned from Italy.

Enter: Selin. Serkan’s ex who he dumped a while ago and is now engaged to the heir of a hotel empire. Serkan doesn’t like this. The two of them grew up together and are set to each inherit 50% of the holding company that Serkan’s father currently runs.

Right away Selin serves us with a gender reveal level color scheme.  Personally not a fan. They confirm that Serkan is coming to her engagement party tomorrow.

Meanwhile Eda  meets up with Cenk. Her outfit is still reasonable and cute for her character. He looks mildly like a hobo and doesn’t seem to have anything going for him (I know he’s a throwaway character but the two of them really don’t have anything in common).

This creeper keeps staring at them, but Cenk tries to explain it away and says he’s busy and can’t meet her again until the day after tomorrow. Eda is disappointed but accepts this. Creeper girl remains and remains a red flag to viewers, but apparently not to Eda.

Cut to later that evening, and of course our broody main man enjoys astronomy in his free time (???) idk what he’s charting and to what purpose but okay? 

Eda finds a mini first aid kit in her purse that Serkan put there before returning it. Queue montage of them treating their respective wrists for handcuff-related injuries. #couplegoals

Of course we also needed a sepia-toned flashback to earlier that day when the handcuffs contrived their faces to get too close together. #romance

Finallyyyyyyy it’s morning again and a new day.

Since Eda can’t see Cenk (good, he’s so boring), she agrees to fill in as a flight attendant for Melo, who’s side job is for a private plane company.

Now. This should not be a thing. Eda was in college to be a landscape architect and now works as a florist for her aunt... Where has she learned any relevant skills to work as a flight attendant?? Presumably nowhere. And I really don’t think a private plane company would be so easygoing about just having a random person fill in to cover for her friend? 

But does this show care about that? What do you think...

Also, instead of the standard white shirt, black skirt uniform requirements, the girls decide that this skimpy dress and heels is fine? Hmmm

Also lol @ Melo for assuming that the client who wants jasmine tea and fruit salad is probably a woman. And her telling Eda that the PRIVATE JET COMPANY would in fact have its own tea was very random and unnecessary. 

Back at the Bolat house compound, we meet the parents: Aydan and Alptekin. We’ll see them again later. Selin’s engagement party is today. 

Meanwhile Eda is just.... being a flight attendant, I guess??? And who could possibly be the passenger she has to take care of? Take a wild guess. Of course it’s Serkan Bolat.

And of course that tiny dress (THAT ALSO HAS A LEG SLIT?? WHY?? I really don’t need to see her vagina) looks very practical and professional... not! (Hande Erçel is a gorgeous human, and the dress looks good on her, don’t get me wrong. BUT THIS IS SITUATIONALLY INCORRECT ATTIRE). Also him just folding his vest and then social distancing from it... K? 😂

Eda panics and doesn’t want Serkan to see her and runs away back to her seat pod thing - Serkan takes issue with his fruit salad for ~plot reasons~ (EDIT: I’ve been informed that it’s because there was a strawberry in his fruit salad and since he’s allergic, of course it needed to be fixed. Why doesn’t the plane have a note of that??) and comes back to find this mystery flight attendant.

Eda is very stressed out about this encounter and is also starting to have a panic attack because, surprise, she’s also claustrophobic. 

After Serkan calms her down, they have a cute/civil conversation for the rest of the flight.

When they land, Eda realizes they’re on an island 2h45min away from Istanbul and she isn’t sure what to do with herself (How did she not already know where they were going, as the FLIGHT ATTENDANT??? So may red flags with this private jet company).

Serkan convinces Eda to come with him and she can hang out at the beach while he’s at Selin’s engagement party.

At the engagement party we finally meet Selin’s fiancé Ferit. He’s sweet and non-threatening and clearly insecure about Serkan being Selin’s ex.

This dress/skirt outfit Selin is wearing isn’t terrible, but it doesn’t scream rich socialite to me. Anything with feathers seems... a bit tacky/too showy? Like someone pretending to be rich? Idk, this outfit isn’t one I’m going to really take a stand on.

Does this engagement party warrant being a 2h45 min flight away? No. They try to explain it away as the couple wanting to have something small and private, even though they also invite the press?? But okay whatever, as long as Serkan and Eda cross paths again, I suppose.

Kaan Karadağ has been mentioned a couple times in passing, but now we finally meet our “villain.” Ferit’s friend, and Serkan & Selin’s childhood acquaintance, who has it out for Serkan bc he somehow bankrupted Kaan’s dad? Idk and I don’t really care but tl;dr they’re enemies. 

Another thing I love about Turkish dramas is the censoring. Like, they’ll allow alcohol to be on screen, but they won’t say the word and they’ll just blur out the bottle and any liquid that we’d assume is alcoholic 😂

In the evening, Serkan is tired and wants to leave and Ferit snidely jokes about how Serkan is too picky to have a fiancé of his own. Serkan flashes back to 1 entire day ago when he and Eda pretended to be dating at his business meeting, and says that actually he is engaged to someone and then peaces out.

Serkan finds Eda on the beach, and they are preparing to leave when a crowd of people (Selin, Ferit, and Kaan mainly), arrive to get a peek at Serkan’s new “fiancé.” Eda very reluctantly plays along (good thing she has that unnecessarily sexy “work” dress to help her look the part) and Serkan notices that for the first time ever, Selin is jealous of another woman. #drama

After they finally escape the crowd, Serkan makes an annoyed Eda an offer: Pretend to be his fiancé for the 2 months leading up to Selin’s wedding so he can get them to break up and prevent Ferit marrying into the company. In return, he will pay all the fees to help her complete her last year of studies in Italy.

Eda refuses, stating that she doesn’t want anything from him, and besides she has a boyfriend (Sure Jan; Cenk is such a joke). They have it out and then fly back to Istanbul. But of course the gossips at the engagement have spread the news of Serkan’s new woman so the paparazzi corner them at the airport when they land. 

So glad that we got to see this random mechanic find out the news (???)

They escape the cameras and Serkan takes her home, saying that Art Life has a press conference tomorrow, and she should come so he can save face and tell everyone that she was his assistant accompanying him for work to the party. Eda agrees. 

It should also be mentioned that Serkan still doesn’t know her name at this point?? She refused to tell him and Engin still hasn’t sent him the names of the scholarship candidates so it’s a bit miraculous that their relationship was at all believable.

The next day, Cenk wants to meet but Eda has to go to the press conference. The girls come too for whatever reason, and Melo is convinced that Cenk wants to propose. Eda just lets that fantasy take hold (why tho?), and Cenk shows up unexpectedly right before the press conference and takes Eda into the nearby hotel’s cafe so they can talk.

Eda seems ready for a proposal (they haven’t seen each other or really communicated in months??) but Cenk wants to break up. Eda is shocked (???) but then Cenk mentions that he has a new girlfriend from Italy that he adores, and oh by the way, it’s the creepy girl from the other night who also happens to be here right now?

Okay fine, I guess??? Cenk: “She’s doesn’t speak Turkish” Girlfriend: *clearly a Turkish actress*

Eda is upset that he brought his jealous girlfriend with him to break up with her and says something about how actually, she’s seeing Serkan Bolat now (maybe it’s just me being someone who doesn’t follow tabloids, but are business people really that popular in every day society where everyone knows who they are?). Cenk laughs at Eda, saying that everyone wants to be with Serkan Bolat, and that she’s bluffing.

Eda makes an impulsive decision, and walks away, over to where Serkan has started the press conference. And seals their fate as fake dating in the public eye.

Queue confetti. No really.

And there we have it. That’s the episode!

In all seriousness, it’s a pretty great pilot, especially for a romcom. It hits all the right beats, includes enough tropes, and tells us a lot about what we should expect in the episodes going forward. And no matter how much I make fun of it, I really do enjoy this show! It’s been such a nice distraction from Current Events. I’ve spent a lot of time watching these episodes just saying “oh my god” out loud to myself as I watch all of the cute/romantic gestures that give me a lot of second hand embarrassment (I forget that PDA makes me kinda uncomfortable 😂).

There wasn’t actually that much terrible fashion in this episode, which I didn’t notice until my rewatch. If I continue with this series of posts, I’m hoping they’ll end up being less plot-centric, and more about the situationally inappropriate outfits and strange subtitling choices. 

See you next time? 

#was this a good use of my time? you decide 😂 #should I do all the epiosdes? I want to get to the really bad outfits #episodes #sçk recap #sen çal kapımı #mwtd #thescorpioracer #sck #sçk #sen cal kapimi #sen çal kapimi #eda yıldız #serkan bolat #kerem bürsin #hande erçel #edser #1. bölüm #Maya watches Turkish dramas #long post #turkish drama #turkish dizi #dizi

[renaerys]

PPG One-Shot: Six Degrees Chiller (Brick/Blossom)

A new cute one-shot in honor of @carriedreamerx birthday! In the same high school AU as part 1, part 2, and part 3, but can totally stand-alone. Also posted on my AO3. Tune in for some laughs and some Reds cuteness!

Summary: Brick goes deodorant shopping. It doesn't end well. (Or does it??)

xxx

Brick squinted at the nine-foot shelf packed with a full color wheel of deodorants and antiperspirants. The sheer surfeit of brands and scents was as daunting to behold as it was absolutely batshit insane—how many ways did people need to not smell like a dirty gym sock?

He picked a random stick and scowled at the label as if it had offended him and all his future progeny. Who the fuck would want to smell like mango lassi?

The squeak of a shopping cart rolling down the aisle sent Brick into a febrile panic for a hot second, and he shoved the saccharine deodorant stick back onto the shelf. A geriatric woman with a hunched back, a bright head scarf, and eyes so folded over with wrinkles it was a miracle she could see anything at all wheeled her cart slowly past Brick, who froze where he stood. She smiled politely at him, and he nodded out of sheer self-preservation instinct. The moment she passed him, he yanked the bill of his red cap lower over his eyes.

“Get a grip,” he grumbled. He was an eighteen-year-old guy buying deodorant, not stool softener. He was totally casual and had absolutely no reason to be so fucking paranoid. Nobody who might recognize him was coming to Cooper’s Market at 8 a.m. on a Sunday.

Brick wiped his clammy palms on his jeans and searched the shelves for what he’d come for so he could hurry up and leave. There it was, fifth shelf in a sea of sleek black and edgy, neon letters: Axe Ice Chill.

“Okay, do you consider yourself more of a music lover, sports star, gaming guru, or style icon?” Boomer had asked as he sat cross-legged on the sofa with his laptop open to the Axe “Find Your Magic” test a few months ago.

“Sports star,” Butch had said on his left, and poked the screen that wasn’t a touch-screen.

“That’s you, moron,” Brick had said, totally above this stupid test. “Pick style icon.”

Boomer grinned. “Oh yeah, your hoodies are so stylin’.” He clicked the next question. “Signature scent? Huh, maybe warm and aromatic?”

“Sounds like one of those Yankee holiday candles,” Butch had said.

Unfortunately, he had a point.

“Well, you're not exactly woody and earthy, and you’re definitely not fruity and sweet—”

“Just go to the next one.” Brick clicked on “fresh and cool” and waited for the screen to load. “Smellin’ good!” the loading page flashed at him. Jesus fucking Christ.

When the quiz presented a true or false statement, Butch moved like he had a bug up his ass and slammed the touchpad before Brick or Boomer could do anything about it.

Boomer tried not to laugh. “Dude, come on.”

“Please, he’s a punk-ass dweeb who’d never make the first move in a fight, let alone on a girl—” Butch had taunted.

Brick punched him in the throat with his Super speed and smiled at the sound of his asshat brother gagging. “Choke and die, motherfucker.”

Butch wheezed as he laughed through the pain, and Brick and Boomer breezed through the more generic age and appearance questions: under 18, long hair (“Mane Man!” the quiz gushed, and Brick almost melted Boomer’s laptop right there), and natural look. After an artificially anticipatory loading screen, a picture of a dude with a clown nose crowd surfing in a sepia Instagram filter appeared on the screen with the generic “Be your best self!” encouragement in blocky letters superimposed upon it, and finally the expert, personalized recommendation for Brick’s body spray needs.

“Because you’re hotter when you’re chill.” Brick had cringed when he read that idiotic tagline the first time, and he cringed reading it again now in the deserted personal hygiene aisle where he prayed no one would find him buying this cry-for-help vanity spritz.

However.

He sprayed a bit of mist in the air and reveled in that cool, icy scent that wasn’t a scent so much as a feeling. Six degrees chiller in a bottle. The first time he’d tried it (under great duress), he’d griped and bitched and slammed his bedroom door to get away from his howling brothers. Settled on his bed with a frown, he had to admit it did cool him off. It was almost pleasant. The smell wasn’t overwhelming like that tiger piss Butch bathed in on the daily. But it wasn’t out of this world compared to the generic shit he’d been using before.

It wasn’t until Blossom sneezed on their way out of AP Lit that her ice breath—and understanding—hit him with the force of a cold snap to the balls.

“Sorry, did I get you?” she’d said, abashed as she covered her mouth with one hand and fished out a bottle of Purell from her messenger bag with the other. Her ice splatter fast melted on his shoulder as his too-warm body absorbed the cold with a bizarre, but extremely pleasant, shiver down his spine.

Son of a bitch, but he had a kink.

Which, of course, spiraled way the hell out of control when he found himself here months later with a recycled shopping bag he’d brought so he could carry the three bottles of Axe Ice Chill he planned to purchase home, because Brick planned ahead and liked to keep his bathroom well-stocked.

Which also, of course, was why at that very moment, fate decided to punch him in the dick.

“Bubbles, you have, like, fourteen bottles of shampoo at home! You don’t need another one,” Buttercup groused at 8 in the goddamned morning on a Sunday.

“Those are all different products, not just shampoo. Honestly, Buttercup.” Bubbles zipped into the aisle with Buttercup on her tail just at the moment Brick had his second panic attack in the span of five minutes and completely lost his shit.

He launched the bottle of Axe Ice Chill so hard into the ceiling that it lodged in there tighter than a prairie-dogging turd.

“Brick?” Blossom’s hand on his shoulder nearly sent him yeeting after his abused body spray, if the sheer mortification didn’t rob him of further motor function and exactly one hundred percent of his brain cells.

Like her sisters, she wore a jacket over her pajama pants. They must have just popped over for some last-minute breakfast staples and a side of peer humiliation. But even in those criminally hideous Ugg boots and five boxes of pancake mix in her shopping basket at 8 on a fucking Sunday morning, her smile glowed.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi,” he returned lamely, because that was all she was getting from him until his neurological functions rebooted.

“Hi, Brick,” Buttercup said, suspicious like usual and searching for some excuse to bust his balls for a laugh. “What’re you doing here?”

The Super sisters had cornered him in front of the Teen Spirit, which came in an absolutely frightful eighteen scents because there was nothing pubescent teenagers needed more than eighteen reassurances that their social survival depended on smelling like a potpourri candy bar.

“Shopping, obviously,” Bubbles said. “Ooh, Brick, you have straight hair. What do you think?” She held up two bottles of brightly colored free-range, organic hair shit.

“I think I was just leaving,” he managed.

“Empty-handed?” Buttercup peered at him like he might transform into a literal dick with ears if she only managed not to blink for long enough. He could smell the threat of a joke on her.

“They didn’t have the brand I wanted.”

“Oh, that sucks,” Bubbles said, genuinely stricken.

“Girls, let’s get going. I really want those pancakes,” Blossom said.

“We better grab more syrup. Buttercup finished it all,” Bubbles said, already moving away. She dropped both hair products in Blossom’s basket, not bothering to choose between them.

“Oh please, everybody knows you and the Professor are the syrup fiends in this house.” Buttercup floated after her and waved to Brick. “Hey, tell that shithead to answer my texts. He owes me $20.”

“Uh-huh,” Brick said, fully intending not to mention anything about this conversation to Butch at all.

“Sorry about your favorite brand being sold out,” Blossom said.

It’s fine, he would have said had she not caught his cheek in her hand and pressed a frosty kiss to the corner of his lips before he could do anything about it. Frozen fernlings crept over his cheek and chin, down his neck, and slowly absorbed through his now flushed skin, and he shivered. Without even thinking about it, he reached for her, but she was already walking away to catch up with her sisters.

When she got to the end of the aisle, she shot him a cheeky grin over her shoulder and had the nerve to wink at him. “Stay cool, Brick.”

Red in the face and high on her, Brick just stood there like an idiot gawking at his kind of unofficial girlfriend and the singular dominating object of his fantasies, be they sexual or otherwise. What was dignity when she smiled at him like that? What was a paltry imitation in a bottle when she kissed him like that?

The paltry imitation fell from its hole in the ceiling and exploded on the tiled floor at Brick’s feet with a winter ferocity that, in that moment at least, rivaled Blossom’s in the heat of battle.

When Brick got home later that morning and Boomer asked him why he smelled like a snowman’s asshole, Brick burned the clothes on his back and spent the next half hour in the shower thinking about how he was going to convince Blossom to make the first move and finally make them official.

xxx

Y’all better appreciate the research that went into this fic. That Axe quiz is real and I took it pretending to be Brick, and it literally does spit out a photo of a dude wearing a clown nose in a club. If that’s not a sign from the Daddy that I’ve chosen the righteous path, then idk what is. Sacrifices to my Chrome search history were made for this fic in the name of celebrating Carrie, ergo, worth it.

#Blossick #PPG Reds #Blossom #Brick #Powerpuff Girls #PPG Fanfic #Powerpuff Girls Fanfiction #february fic prompts #ppg shook

[im-not-looking-for-forgiveness]

Heyyyy I saw requests are open and I was wondering if you could do something where the reader was an American nurse in the war who saved Tommy’s life, and she finally finds him after many years?? You can make it romantic or platonic between reader and Tommy :) thank you!!

Debt - Thomas Shelby x Reader

A/N: Loooooved this idea 🥺

Taglist: @imagine-richards @hxnky-cat @sweetiekokkiri @captivatedbycillianmurphy @tranquility-or-chaos

*****

Your life as a war nurse had many ups and downs. The war stayed with you, as with all the others who lived through it. They said it was over, but did any of you really believe that when memories still played out in vivid color before you?

There was an upside to the trauma, though. The men you'd help save brought you immeasurable joy and relief. You always told yourself that the ones who lived made it all worth it. It didn't stop you feeling guilty when others died, but you figured that part would never go away. You helped where you could and that had to be enough. Especially when these men thrived. Thomas Shelby was one such example. A photo of him in uniform was on your desk, and you couldn't stop the tears that sprung to your eyes.

He'd been in a bad way when you'd gotten to him. Cold, dehydrated, and in shock. He'd been a clay kicker if you remembered correctly, and only a few men of his team made it out. He was mostly silent as you had treated him, and he did whatever you needed him to. He let you save his life because he already died in the tunnels, but some small part of you hoped that it was for your sake.

"Thomas Shelby." you murmured his name aloud, remembering how clear blue his eyes had been amidst the dirt and grime on his face. The sepia photo didn't capture their hue.

Your roommate and fellow nurse entered the room with a mischievous look on her face, "Aha! It's that man from the war, isn't it? The tunneler you wouldn't shut up about?"

"How did you get this?" you answered, nodding.

She explained, "I'm still friends with one of the girls over there. She wrote me complaining about the gang wars, and how she had to treat one of their leaders. She said she was sworn to secrecy about who he was because there were men after him, but she remembered him from the papers after the war."

"Ah, when he was awarded O.B.E. He's a gang leader now?" you wondered, at a loss for words.

"Apparently. They call themselves the Peaky Blinders." she sat down across from you.

"What does that mean?"

"They cut people, I think." she frowned, and folded her arms.

"Fuck."

You roommate sighed, "Even after me saying that, you're still going to go see him aren't you?"

You gave her an embarrassed smile, "I have to see him. Don't give me that look! You gave me the photo!"

"Fine, you're right. I thought maybe you'd be satisfied with just the photo." she threw up her hands.

"Liar. You're a hopeless romantic, admit it!" you jumped up and hugged her, grateful for the photo between your fingers.

"Oh, whatever."

*****

A week later, and you were walking down the muddy streets of Birmingham. You held the photo in your hands tightly, but trying not to wrinkle it. Anxiety was running rampant inside you, but you'd never been more sure about something before. It had been a mistake to let him leave the infirmary without leaving him a way to contact you, and you felt you had to make it right. You couldn't live your life wondering what if.

"Have you seen this man?" you asked a stranger.

The man nodded gravely, "Try the Garrison, it's a pub up the road. The Peaky Blinders run it, so he's bound to show up some time. Just be careful, miss, they aren't the sort you should hang around."

You thanked him, and carried on. You didn't come all this way to be discouraged by a scared man. Sure, you knew what you were getting into, but Tommy was worth it. Besides, you were fairly certain that the war couldn't be outdone in terms of the trauma inflicted upon you.

Pushing open the ornate doors of the pub, you were immediately surrounded by the din of conversations and glasses clinking. It was a warm sound, a sound of life. A long bar stretched out to your right, and cozy tables and booths were to your left. You spotted a door in the back that probably led to a private room, and another smaller private room near your end of the bar.

You moved the counter when the bartender was close, "Excuse me, do you know where I can find Thomas Shelby?"

"Ah, American? How is it in the States?" a man to your left interjected, clearly drunk if his slurred words were anything to go by.

"It's fine. If you'll excuse me.." you told him, looking to the barkeep for an answer so you could leave sooner. You didn't like the way the drunk man was looking at you.

"Who's asking? I haven't seen him around." the bartender looked quickly away from the photo, and you got the distinct impression that he was lying.

"Tommy?" the drunkard asked, snatching the photo off the counter. He leaned close enough that you could smell the reek of body odor surrounding him. You tried desperately not to gag.

"Hey!" you tried to get the photo back but he kept it out of reach.

"You're looking for Tommy? I know where he is. Oh, don't worry, I won't charge you for it. Come on." he took your photo and slumped off his stool. Before you could say anything, he was already shuffling towards the door.

"Thanks." you said as venomously as you could to the bartender. He had the decency to shrink back a little as you passed.

This was a horrible, horrible idea, but you wanted Tommy. Maybe this drunk man was part of the gang some how? You were told that they hung out there, so you supposed maybe he really did know Tommy's whereabouts.

"He always cuts through here." the man gestured to you, sliding down the extremely narrow alley next to the pub.

You wondered as you tentatively followed, 'Why would Tommy willingly remind himself of the tunnels every day?'' You'd seen how cramped the hole he came out of was. No one you knew would ever go back in there, whether they got claustrophobic or not.

Stopping as you neared the entrance, your tried to decide if you could make it back inside the pub without the man noticing. But that's when you looked up.

The man who had seemed nearly incapacitated by alcohol just moments before was now standing as still as a shadow with a gun aimed at your face. He gestured you forward with his free hand, no shake to it at all.

"What the-?" you began, but he got impatient and yanked you into the alleyway with him.

"Scream and I'll shoot your pretty mouth off." he snarled, shoving you against the wall and the gun to your cheek.

The alleyway was so narrow that you had no room to escape him or the smell that radiated from his body. You did gag this time, unable to stifle it in such close range to the source. He took advantage of the distraction and slid his free hand around your throat.

"Who are you? Some kind of whore? Or better yet, you his girl?" he demanded, squeezing.

"Get off me! I'm not a whore, you jackass!" you rasped out, painfully aware of the metal being pressed into your skin and the lack of air you were receiving.

"Ah, so you are his lover! Well, then, I bet he'll mind if I take you with me." he chuckled, moving the gun your shoulder and shoving you back toward the street.

You inhaled sharply as he released your neck, only to yelp as you stumbled into the street and caught your boot on a rock. You nearly went down, but the man wrenched you back up by your arm. He pressed the gun into your back. This was all happening too fast! Who was he? What did he want with you? Why did he think you were Tommy's lover? More importantly, how were you supposed to get away from him!?

A group of men were headed towards the pub, and recognized the infamous peaky hats that your roommate had warned you about. You couldn't tell if Thomas was among them, but you hoped if they were his men that they'd step up like you hoped he would.

"Get the fuck off me!" you shouted as loud as you dared, hoping your captor wouldn't shoot you for doing so.

To your luck, one of the men said, "Hey, let go of the girl, mate."

"Fuck off! There's nothing to see here!" the man holding you snapped back, tightening his grip on your arm.

"She told you to let go." you heard a familiar cool voice behind you and your captor.

"I knew you'd come out if I laid a hand on her!" the man laughed, releasing you entirely.

You whimpered and scrambled back, rubbing your arm. There was sure to be bruises there tomorrow. Guiltily hoping to see a gun in Tommy's hands, you were shocked to see that his hands weren't even raised! You bit back your terror and continued to watch the scene unfold.

Suddenly, faster than you could see, Tommy swung at the man. The next second, the man was spraying blood and falling to his knees. Thomas swung the cap in his hand twice more, slashing at the perpetrator's face. Then, Tommy kicked the gun out of his hand and one of his men retrieved it.

Peaky Blinders. It made sense now.

"Get the fuck out of here." Tommy snarled to the now wailing man curled up on the gravel. Two of the Blinders hauled your attacker to his feet.

"Wait." you stopped them, finally finding your nerve. You snatched the photo of Tommy from his pocket.

You added to the man, "Those will need stitches. Being a nurse, I would be inclined to do them but you've made me angry. Plus, you stink."

"Y/N?" Tommy started, realizing who you were. He tried half-heartedly to wipe the blood off his hand.

"You saved my life." you tried to smile and calm your still racing heart. It helped that your attacker was being dragged away.

"I'm only standing here today because of you." he said calmly, blue gaze ensnaring yours.

You stepped closer and pressed the photo into his hand, "The same goes to you."

He slid his arm around your waist and held the door to The Garrison open, "Come in and I'll get you a drink. We've got a settled debt to celebrate."

#cillian murphy #thomas shelby #tommy shelby #peaky blinders #request #tommy shelby x reader #thomas shelby x reader #peaky blinder headcanon #peaky blinder au #peaky blinder fanfic #peaky blinder imagine

[phantomflower42]

Deciding The Technological Level of Your Setting

When writing a story, it is important to determine what level of technology your characters have access to.  That determines what tools or solutions a character may have to solve a problem.  It will also influence their hobbies.  Before going too far, consider what technology actually is.  It’s not all about electric gadgets.

What is Technology?

Technology is knowledge used to solve problems or create useful tools.  Phones and computers come immediately to mind, but there are others.  Roman aqueducts are an example of ancient technology helping to solve a problem.  Knives are another basic example.  Medical care is a very important technology.

Basic Factors When Deciding Technological Level

If your story is a fanfiction for another work, research what items wouldn’t look out of place in the setting.  Take a look to see what the characters use in the work when completing tasks or performing hobbies.  If the work takes place in a certain real year or time period, look up that period’s available items such as radios or printing presses, and head off from there.

Sometimes, the development level isn’t the same for all areas in a work or for all types of technology.  This is okay.  There are many reasons why this may happen.  Some areas are more studied than others.  Rural areas take longer than cities to adopt now inventions.

The Legend of Korra is set in an analogue of the 1920′s.  Characters drive cars, ride trains, listen to the sport of pro-bending on the radio, and have sepia/black and white photos.  But when Korra and her companions visit the Earth Kingdom in season three, it is heavily undeveloped compared to the other settings.  It is hinted the Earth Queen’s corruption stimmed its growth.

In Naruto and its sequel series Boruto, they do not have cars, tanks, modern firearms, or many modern style shoes.  But, the setting has TVs, refrigerators, wireless radios, batteries, satellites, color photographs, and eventually phones and laptops.  They explore the advancement of the setting in several of the Naruto light novels, especially the first one (Kakashi Hiden: Lightning in the Icy Sky).  In Kakashi Hiden, it is mentioned that the invention of an airship will cause many people to lose their jobs.   

If your work is an original fiction, first decide whether it has its own timeline or is based in the real world.  If it takes place in a real world place and time period, please look up what people in that area used.  If a particular field of science or theory is more advanced in your work than in that actual time period, determine how it would influence the technology in the story, study in related fields, and the social classes interacting with each other.

Should the tale be based in its own world, you have free reign.  How advanced of a setting do you want?  Is it set in the beginning of time, in a medieval era, in your setting’s equivalent of the Victorian or Edwardian era, in modern day, in the far off future, or even at the end of the world?  

Are certain types of technology more advanced than others?  Which kinds are banned or discouraged?  Are certain parts of the world more developed than others?  Are supplies of certain items limited and/or nonreplaceable? How does this affect the average person’s lifestyle? You decide.

Making Original Technology For Your Story

Sometimes, the technology shown in an existing work isn’t helpful for dealing with a certain task.  Maybe your original story needs a special tool for issues specific to the setting or an equivalent item for a modern gadget that doesn’t exist in your world. Sit down, and ask yourself a few questions.

Why is this item needed?  Does your character need a way to store cold food?  Are their culture’s medical techniques different from the norm?  Do your characters need a way to stay in contact while split up on a quest?  Need is the mother of innovation.

What does it look like?  What materials is it made of?  Is it bulky or sleek?  How large is it?  What color is it?  How is it shaped?  Is it expandable?  It is the item’s first version, or an improved model?  How well does it perform?

What situations are this item used in?  Who invented it?  Has it been made in bulk?  If so, how does it affect trade, medical care, communication, hobbies, or travel?  How common is it?  How expensive is it?  

Besides the benefits, consider the item’s weaknesses.  Does it run out of its power source in a certain period of time?  Does it need a long time to recharge?  Is the item fragile?  Is it prone to malfunctions?  Is it too bulky to be hauled everywhere?  Is your setting’s equivalent of cell service patchy?  Does relying on the item for too long cause health problems for people using it?

Technology and Magic

If the story is one where magic also exists, consider how the two interact.  It may depend on the individual setting.  Remember that magic can be considered a scientific field.  If in a world where magical and non-magicals live separately, magic users may use their power to invent versions of modern tech.

Oftentimes, magic is presented as incompatible with modern technology, or at least electronic devices.  In the book series The Dresden Files, the main character Harry Dresden is shown to short out any inventions past the 1950s.  He actually has to leave modern hospitals as soon as he’s mobile after injuries, in fear of his magic shorting out another patient’s life support.  This issue also forces him to drive an old-school car, use an ice box to store cold food, and go without a lot of modern conveniences like heated water or air conditioning.

In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it’s stated that technology fails around large amounts of magic or largely magical areas.  However, the limits are not clearly established.  Harry Potter uses a watch until it’s destroyed in the Triwizard Tournament’s second task in the Black Lake.  He continues wearing it out of habit afterwards.  Those usually require batteries.  

Certain technology can run off magic instead of electricity, such as the Weasleys’ car or Colin Creevey’s camera.  Diagon Alley is in the middle of London, yet there’s no fuss about random blackouts in the area or the local security cameras shorting out.   

In other situations, magic may coexist alongside regular technology.  They can even enhance one another.  In Sailor Moon, the Sailor Guardians protected the Moon Kingdom before its destruction, and gain magical abilities while transformed.  Yet, the Moon Kingdom and later Crystal Tokyo are depicted as  high-technology societies; the Moon Kingdom had an artificial climate dome around it, and an advanced computer.

Consider what approach you want, and the consequences there of.  Settings where magic is supposed to be hidden have the risk of ‘outing’ magicals to non-magicals if electronics like phones or crosswalks fizzle out whenever they’re in public.  Modifying items with magic may be a special scientific field.  Imagine a person with a pacemaker or insulin pump wandering into a highly magical area, only for their medical device to fail on them.  Even a few bigoted magical folks would hate that they’re unintentionally causing harm.

Technology and Magic Subsection: Harry Potter

As Harry Potter fanfictions are very common, it’s important to address the series and its approach to magic and technology interacting.  As mentioned above, technology blacks out around high amounts of magic or highly magical communities, but limits on what is affected and what isn’t weren’t clearly established.  Battery-run items like Harry’s watch seem to work fine, but phones and bugging devices do not.  

In post-Deathly Hallows works, think of how jarring it may be for muggleborns or muggle-raised wizards to go from being able to text friends in a moment to having to mail letters to family members by owl.  New Hogwarts students despairing over not having Facebook anymore makes for a good joke, but consider practical problems.  

Say a girl with cerebral palsy has magic.  She uses an electric wheelchair because her limbs don’t work well.  She receives a letter from a wizarding school.  Let’s hope the girl’s parents and the school’s representative talk it over and find a solution to her dilemma before she sets foot in Diagon Alley.  She will otherwise be unable to move under her own power in a magical environment. 

Wizards are portrayed as ignorant to modern trends.  Arthur Weasley goes crazy over various gadgets.  He even wonders what people use rubber ducks for.  It’s implied that Harry Potter misidentified his cousin Dudley Dursley’s broken video game console as a Playstation One in 1994 when writing to Sirius Black.  The Playstation One was not released in Europe until September 1995.  Multiple wizards are shown fascinated with the Dursleys’ microwave when they visit at different times.  It is stated that pureblooded wizards resist adopting muggle tech unless there is no choice.   

That is not to say wizards are a technological blackhole.  Many items like radios, cars, and others can be enchanted to work off magic.  A lot of wizards enchant or create their own magical items.  Sirius Black and James Potter used a set of two-way mirrors during their school days, with the device acting similar to a cell phone.  They and their friends Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew eventually created the Maruaders’ Map, which showed nearly everyone on Hogwarts’ grounds and most of the castle.  The Weasley twins come up with Skiving Snackboxes so students buying them can skip class without too much trouble.     

Maybe Professor McGonagall goes soul-searching after the final battle, and tries finding ways to make the school more non-magical friendly.  She would have ample reason to do so; she would not want the Carrows’ days of cruelty to return in any form.  She may modify the wizarding wireless radios to cast local muggle stations or keep an enchanted phone in her office so non-magical families of her students can contact her in emergencies.          

Keep in mind that a wizard OC can’t sneak their modern video games into Hogwarts or Beauxbatons, but watches, certain cameras, radios, and handheld games with non-rechargable batteries could make it in.  Non-electric devices like notebooks, pencils, pens, paints, or board games have no restrictions.   

How Technology Affects Living Conditions

How advanced society is affects how housing and chores are handled.  Many modern perks like clean water, heating, air conditioning, refrigeration, and fast travel are taken for granted.  If the characters in your setting lack certain conveniences, think of how they will tackle different problems that usually require them.

For instance, a lot of people use electric washers and dryers to take care of their clothes.  Getting them cleaned, dried, and sorted is easy.  But, what if your world doesn’t have these items?  Do the local people scrub them by hand in a river or on a board?  How are stains dealt with?  Are herbs mixed with the clothes to freshen their scent?  Are they dried on a clothesline?  If it’s raining or snowing, what is done instead?

Think along similar lines for various issues.  Water might be boiled for safety, or mixed with alcohol.  Shades will be pulled if too hot.  A lot of food may be canned, cured, or otherwise stored in a root cellar when fresh cannot be bought.  Preparations for any trips may take a long while.  People will sleep under mountains of blankets to retain heat.  

Conversely, works set in the future may find all of this child’s play.  Think of how a lot of appliances can be activated now with a smartphone application.  Do robots grocery shop on the characters’ behalf?  Are clothes dried and sorted in one machine in a few minutes?  Can a room’s windows be programmed to show a certain background, like in the Hunger Games film?  Are fingerprint scanners used so characters may access restricted areas?

Think long and hard how the technology of your world will influence daily life.

In Conclusion

Technology is a powerful force.  Sometimes characters may solve problems too easily with it, but all time periods have some level of it.  It’s important to know what the limits of inventions in your setting are.  Otherwise, someone may complain ‘how did they end up with this issue when so-and-so gadget could have solved the problem?’, or ‘why is the ninja watching television?’.

Have a nice day.

#storyguide technology

[mimiplaysgames]

Terra Week Day 6 (Free Day)

Summary: Sometimes, a ghost is a wish. | Word Count: 3,218

Read on AO3

A/N: For Terra Week 2021! You can find that account on Twitter!

~*~*~*~*~

The Tenets of a Master, Ch. 6

The Master’s bedroom is exactly as he left it many years ago. Bed made, dresser (now) dusty, curtains parted to let the sunlight in, walk-in closet neatly organized with not a single article of clothing in his hamper, as the Master was a fan of washing clothes every single day. Terra never found out why. 

Terra has rummaged through this drawer three times already and still he can’t find them. He’s looking for a stack of sepia-toned pictures, cradled in a small envelope, the ones on the top dated many years ago when the Master was a student, while the ones at the bottom chronicle some of his adult life when Terra and Aqua were children. He’s tried searching every drawer, every box, every cupboard, and has even looked under the mattress and in the pillow cases. He couldn’t have misremembered them, could he?

One of the things he’s surprised to find instead is a small, delicately furnished wooden box with a latch. Full of cigars. The Master never smoked, but maybe he liked to smell like them. Though Terra would never personally choose to keep a set in his dresser, smudging all his clothes. 

Sighing, Terra stands by the bed, taking another gander around the room to see if there’s a spot he could have missed. Maybe behind the mirror? No, not there. He slips his hands into his pockets, and finds something else. Folded over in four, the paper is crumpled, living in his pocket for the better part of a week. Naminé’s drawing of Xemnas is messier, the strokes of crayon meshed into each other that he’s less of a childish, crude figure and more of a smear. That ring of fire surrounding him stays closed. 

Terra grunts.

Here comes another headache, a tense pulse above his brow. Massaging it never helps. Suddenly, Terra is not in his Master’s old bedroom anymore. Suddenly, he’s standing high on a cliff overlooking a wasteland, talking to someone in a black cloak with the hood up. 

Now he’s back in the bedroom, the sun cutting shapes through the lace curtains with the breeze passing by. In a few minutes, the headache will go away. This is how it goes every single time.

Yes, it’s been a week since they left Radiant Garden. Only Ienzo uses the Gummiphone for contact, leaving long messages that take Terra too much time to reply back to. The rest of the team would prefer correspondence through letters, which is something Terra would rather do as well. He just hasn’t done so yet, focusing his attention on cleaning the castle as they start a new life without their old Master. Once that’s done, he promises himself to do so. 

It’s a shame, he knows he should make more of an effort (and promises that he would once he takes care of the Master). Xion sometimes texts him with pictures, some of them with Roxas, who still hasn’t made an effort to talk to him even though they played a good race at the beach (Terra didn’t even need to let him win—that kid is fast). That’s okay. Xion has offered to set Terra up with what she calls a Kingstagram account, and Terra supposes that’s okay, too. He just doesn’t know what that is or if it’s worth his time. 

In the end, he is still really bad at connecting with others, and he’s still out of pictures, and he still doesn’t know what to do with the Xemnas drawing. Any moment now, Aqua will come looking for him. They’re finally preparing for his memorial, to say goodbye to his Keyblade—

—And Terra has to say goodbye forever without ever seeing him again. What’s the point of staying linked to these memories if they do nothing for him? 

Why does looking at this drawing of Xemnas the only thing that gives him reminders?

Grunting, Terra rubs his face. Maybe it’s as good a time as any to text somebody now, distract himself so he calms down and do some good so he’s not completely isolated. He waits for his Gummiphone to turn on to the initial screen, the whirring of the machine the only noise accompanying him. How did Ven do this again? He clicks on his address book. Now he has to remember how to open a text and take a picture, particularly of the Xemnas drawing.

terra

did he ever call you an also-ran

Send.

Terra doesn’t expect Lea to answer right away. He probably will read the text, probably take the time he needs to register how he feels before painting his usual bright smile that he uses to play everyone. Maybe Terra has him all wrong. Maybe this is really offensive, and Lea would actually be upset. It’s not his intention.

The Gummiphone buzzes several times.

lea

see

i told isa the other day

the first time i saw you i thought you looked like an asshole

Terra snorts to himself quietly.

terra

is that your favorite word

lea

;3

So it’s all good. Terra breathes a sigh of relief, a smirk that’s warm on his cheeks. He doesn’t know if texting people randomly is the right way to go about doing this whole make-new-friends thing. It’s not as easy as walking up to somebody and saying hello anymore, but starting a new life doesn’t have a manual. 

As though the chains he linked through Xemnas harbor resentment, he’s hit with another spasm of pain, drilling onto the side of his skull. Stars, they get intense sometimes, some of them downright gorey. He will not think about it. He will push it away. The pain subsides but only a bit, throbbing instead. 

It can’t end like this. He’s avoided going back to Naminé ever since just to keep trying and see Eraqus, one more time. One more. It’s not much to ask for, so why can’t the stars be more forgiving? He swears to them he’ll never ask for something again. 

Terra groans, pain hammering over his brow. What’s coming this time is going to knock him around, so he lowers himself to his knees. Several people dressed in extravagant embroidery, from some other world, being swallowed up by darkness, their hearts floating up to the sky and a small cry of Mister, is my mommy coming back? 

When it’s over, Terra sobs, keeping a heave from rupturing his chest and wiping dry tears. If Aqua comes in and sees him like this, she’ll freak—she’s already brewed so many potions and teas for him whenever he has an episode. 

He tries for the closet again. The Master kept his most expensive robes wrapped in plastic, preserving a faded scent of cedar. Terra takes the fabric, smooth as silk, and breathes into it. It’s weaker than last time. He could always spray it with the Master’s leftover cologne (his favorite), but it still wouldn’t smell exactly like him, and as Terra waits seconds for another memory to come, he realizes as soon as it hurts that it wouldn’t bother with giving him what he’s looking for. All he asks for is the sound of the Master’s voice, to see that smile move one more time so he makes sure he sears it into his mind for the rest of his life. 

Instead, a strong voice (Xehanort’s) talks about the Darkness making way for the Light, just like the expansive sky that is home to the stars. It was necessary to pursue it, he had said to someone. 

A single tear treads all the way to Terra’s jawline. He’s tried his best. No photos, no special memory. It’s like the Master doesn’t linger here anymore.

Defeated, Terra pulls his Gummiphone out, searching for Naminé’s entry. He won’t commit to an appointment. He’s only asking questions, wondering if there are better ways to maneuver through the memories so he gets what he wants. She doesn’t answer right away. 

He pulls himself up at the foot of the bed, aching like an older man even though he looks twenty in the mirrors. What lies.

Where else to find mementos? Terra has already looked through the Master’s study and his favorite spots in the library. The only place left is the attic. 

The attic sits atop the northeast tower. Terra is in the residential wing, in the southeast tower, so he has to travel several paces downstairs to make it over, just to climb all the way back up. Entirely built of wood, the attic has one stained-glass window that slices pastels through the floorboards. A lot of junk gets dumped up here—old knight statues from a Master that lived eight-hundred years ago or so, faded paintings that have names but aren’t recognizable anymore, couches that are stained and out of style, chests of outdated books and maps, and trinkets and gifts that litter everywhere else. Even Aqua can’t bear to let any of this go despite that none of it truly belongs to anybody. To her, it’s like rejecting their history. The Master probably had felt the same.

Before what happened, Master Eraqus was moving items up here, mostly stacks of papers. They were shoved in a leather binder, tied together with string. It’s a long shot the photos will be with them, but regardless, Terra begins the hunt. 

It’s not in the chest of crystals. Not by the old (creepy) dollhouse. Not with any of the broken phonograms, nor with the folded rugs that stack from floor to ceiling. 

But it’s right there, sitting neatly by a basket full of gold artifacts from worlds Terra has never been to and engraved in languages he doesn’t know, tied with a red string and stitched in handmade leather. When Terra pulls it open, he’s greeted by a handful of letters written to Eraqus about trouble in other worlds, asking for his help, and a stack of essays about the philosophy of the Keyblade, both in the common-tongue and the ancient. 

It’s nothing like reliving memories or watching them like footage, but Terra imagines the Master working late into the night on his desk with a quill, writing these essays slowly so he keeps his impeccable script. He’d read books with a glass of wine every night, and keep at it in the morning with a mug of coffee, hair unbrushed as usual but that’s fine when he keeps it in a short ponytail every day. He’d disappear every week to some other world, leaving Terra and Aqua with a nanny until they were old enough to take care of themselves. Considering what these people are writing about—missing circus animals, their neighborhood mountain being possessed, and even an early report of Unversed showing up in the woods—the Master used to be a busy man. 

Why did he have to die that day? Why can’t Terra keep the things that are supposed to come with home?

Terra sniffs. The smell of cedar comes up, as though the cologne was sprayed up here recently. Kicked up with a cloud of dust, as though the Master is here.

I am… well, for a short time at least.

Terra whips over his shoulder to find the Master behind him, a glow beaming through him as he checks the rust spreading on one of the oldest sets of armor. Picking up dust, Master Eraqus rubs it between his fingers.

This sorely needs urgent attention. I recommend some solvent and a spot of oil, he says, smiling at Terra as if it’s any other morning and breakfast will be announced soon. So many histories live here.

“Master?” Terra drops the papers.

Eraqus tsks his disapproval and like muscle memory, Terra immediately gathers the papers together, working on automatic mode, tucking them under his arm as if this is class and he has to be on his best behavior. When the Master approaches, he makes no noise: no thuds to his steps, no wind whooshed by his robe, gliding gracefully across the floor. Terra bows... though he cannot fight the urge to stare up. Terra has forgotten about the scar; it was on the Master’s face,  every single day, but he’s never heard the story behind it. An elephant accident. A run-in with pirates. Those were the contradicting explanations he’s heard every time he asks.

The Master looks down, motioning with his hand to stand up. Look at you. Almost as tall as I am.

“You’re here.”

The Master smiles. This is the happiest Terra remembers him being; he must not feel his chronic back pains anymore. You have spent your whole week following me. He gives Terra a mischievous knowing in his eyes. I suppose it would be rude of me not to return the gesture.

“I’m sorry,” Terra gasps, mouth gaped open for all the words he prepared, but now that the moment is passing by, he doesn’t know what to say anymore. He reaches out with a hand but stops himself, scared of what it would feel like to to pass right through the image. “I missed you.”

And I have missed you all so much, Eraqus says with contentment.

“I wish it never happened,” Terra chokes. “Sometimes, I wish I could find some way—”

Shhh. The Master shakes his head lovingly. Don’t. No longer shall you venture down the path of grief. You have already experienced first-hand what such curiosities could lead to. And you already know you don’t need to. 

“I know,” Terra whispers. “I know.”

When the Master smiles this time, he sighs and closes his eyes like he’s feeling the sun. I have reunited with so many of my old friends since. Such a peaceful existence. He opens them. Your friendships are something to cherish for as long as they can physically walk by your side, Terra. But who am I to lecture? You have always. Friends to love, who want to care for you. I am so proud.

So proud…

Tears, quiet and happy, fall like drops of spring, Terra hearing what he always yearned to hear since he was six years old, a comforting embrace that wants to tell him he can breathe again without feeling guilty. 

But he still does. Every living breath is guilty by association.

“She’s so happy now,” Terra whispers as if to justify his actions, remembering Aqua sparring for the first time with Rainfell in years, hesitant at first, unsure of how it’s going to react with spells, but it comes fast. It comes like drinking water, natural and needed. “I don’t regret anything.”

Which was why you were the perfect candidate when I had asked you to look after them. He smirks. I couldn’t have trusted anyone better for the responsibility. 

Terra swallows, searching for the courage not to ask, believing he shouldn’t. He’s weak. “I am?”

The smile falls. You are not weak. 

You are willing to bare it all for your friends. Your bonds with Aqua and Ven are unbreakable, a magical, special, living Light to behold. A forge stronger than chains, weightless and free. I am sorry for seeding so much doubt within you, when you have so much to offer. If only I wasn’t—it was my duty to do better. That is my shame. He shakes his head at himself. But you’ve been so dedicated to the past, Terra, he says, concerned but not disappointed. Too much so. I worry. 

Terra grimaces. “Ha, I never have any explanations for the dumb mistakes I make when I need to.”

You’ll find little answers in what lies behind you. The Master leans forward, pulling a small smile as he studies Terra’s eyes. But you are more than capable. Please do me the favor. Trace the past no longer. You have your bonds to nourish, and more to flower. Then he smiles more, an epiphany in his eyes like he wants to share a secret. Only in death did I realize what true Mastery really is. The living can be so foolish. 

“You weren’t a fool, Master.”

Master… A Master is a forever student. To deny this is to be blind to your faults. Eraqus laughs, his eyes rolling. What would I have said to my younger self. You don’t see that one in the books. 

“I don’t know, I… I think what I did for Aqua trumps any dream I had in becoming Master.”

Eraqus’s eyes glisten. Do you not see one when you look at yourself in the mirror? 

Terra bows his head, squeezing his eyes shut.

He feels a hand on his shoulder, warm and real. Terra could hug him. But he doesn’t, not when Eraqus slips something flat in his hand. 

Do take care of them. He holds Terra’s jaw. Chin up, son.

Footsteps climb up the stairs leading into the attic, and Terra is alone with a smooth piece of paper in one hand, the other wiping tears from his cheeks.

“Terra? You okay? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Aqua is carrying a finished wreath with purple flowers. She stops when she gasps, looking around the attic. “That smells like the Master’s cologne,” she whispers.

When Terra smiles, he cries more. “Look at this.”

A sepia-toned picture of Eraqus as a young boy, sitting on a window seat with a chess board laid out in front of him, all teeth from ear to ear, sincere and hopeful. He looks at the camera like it’s his best friend. 

Aqua’s eyes light up as she takes it, a tear for each eye. “Look at him. It’s so strange, but he was adorable.”

“Have you ever seen that one?”

“Never. It wasn’t with the others.”

“The others?”

She strokes the photo with her thumb. “Hm. I moved them into my room. I wanted to frame them.” She holds it to her chest. “Can I take this one?”

“For your room?”

“I’ve got one ready for yours. It’s that nice portrait that used to embarrass him.”

The one where he looked serious enough to judge someone to death. The Master had called it unsightly when it was presented to him.

“That one’s perfect.”

Aqua exhales deeply, shivering as tries to keep herself tall. “I’m so sad he’s gone, and... I don’t know. Sometimes I wish I had given him a Wayfinder. He feels so far away.”

He holds her chin softly, keeping it up as her heavy tears fall. “We could give him ours.”

She stops sobbing and stares through Terra when the realization hits her. She nods. “That’s a wonderful idea,” she says, nuzzling the wreath closer to her, her own little hug for the Master. 

Terra’s Gummiphone buzzes in his pocket. That has to be Naminé. 

“The wreath is beautiful,” he tells Aqua, and that grounds her back to reality. “You’ve done a marvelous job.”

“Thank you.” She strokes some of the leaves to keep them in place. “I’ll see you back at the front door?”

“Definitely.”

He’ll let her go downstairs first, pulling out the Gummiphone to read his new text. He’s going to tell Naminé that he’s changed his mind. He’s ready for an appointment.

#kh terra #terra #kingdom hearts fanfiction #kh fanfic #AHHHHHHHHHHHH #this one is def not as good #so is the last one #i just ran out of time i'm sorry #my fic

[yutaya]

Iron Fist Rewatch 1x04: Eight Diagram Dragon Palm

Danny, struggling to pull himself onto that light post thing with his probably now bruised chest: "I dedicate myself to the service of all beings of K'un Lun-" *falls* So is this a recitation they do in training - is he trying to use that mindset to help him climb this beam? Is he doing some sort of traditional ask-the-gods-to-bless-me-with-strength thing?

Lol somehow I had remembered it as Danny crawling up again anyway after the initial push. I forgot they actually went and collected him. Guess that makes them look more favorable to him than my own recall though...

On the coffee table directly facing Danny when he wakes up, probably meant to be a sign to him about where he is and who has so kindly rescued and tended to him after his unfortunate tumble off a building: the formal pic of Harold and children, another photo hard to make out - my first thought was the vacation photo of the 6 of them but it's very sepia, could be something else. Maybe if I look back at other photos we've seen before I could match it.

Danny: "What happened to me? Last I remember I was climbing up-" Ward: "Yeah, like goddamn Daredevil." LOL

UGH THIS WHOLE HAROLD INTRO SCENE UGH Danny mad at Ward one second and then Harold appears and it's like the breath is punched out of him. Looking at Ward and Ward just calmly looking back because he clearly knows what's going on and Danny doesn't - it's as if they're bringing him into their confidence on something. This is a form of offering Danny something he wants - to be a part of something with the only family he thought he had left, not to mention the miracle of one of his parent-figures being alive again. (Wow, what a journey. From finding out Harold is dead and then Ward and Joy both quite clearly rejecting him and denying him a place in their lives to Joy actually doing something to indicate maybe at least she still wants him around after all? To wait, Ward and Harold bringing me in on something too? It's like the dream he clung to in K'un Lun got snatched away and now seems to be trickling back, and - UGH.) "You see him too?" because Danny thought he was seeing things that night at the hospital but this- this is real? Ward's sad, small nod because he knows so much more about Harold than Danny does, and he's seeing this innocent joy (word choice intended) while knowing himself to be wary and that this is almost definitely another manipulation (but what if it's not? What if-? But Harold is still dangerous, he can't help it, there's a reason Ward wants to protect Joy from him even while knowing that Harold favors her so dearly, because there are other ways to hurt your children-)

Harold calmly walking forward while wearing a black suit and confirming "I did die," followed by Danny's "You look the same age as when I last saw you..." - Vampire AU??? (Ugh but why did it have to be Harold? Not a fan of monsters as the bad guys.... need a non-evil vamp to balance him out....)

The way Ward just keeps looking silently between the both of them, like a witness, like - UGH.

"You're home now," GOD DAMMIT and Danny's relief and gratitude and Ward's somber look down I -

Cancer lasted 3 years

Ward: "Dad, are you sure you should be saying this?" Harold: "It's ok. Danny needs to know this." Casting Ward in the opposition role

Ward sits down in the chair adjacent to the couch Danny is on. Harold crosses over from where he was standing near the left side of the couch to sit on the farther right side instead - specifically sitting in between Danny and Ward.

Harold: "I still remember my last breath. Scariest shit I've ever experienced." Ward looks up and away, taking a breath, before turning back again. Combo of eye-roll at dramatics and genuine pain at the thought because that's his dad and Ward remembers those years of pain and decay and - ?

I forgot Danny originally thought of the Hand more like a fable than a reality - and finding out they're a real, present threat combines with being told it's not K'un Lun that they're threatening, but that this whole time, they've actually been digging their claws into his home?

Ward rolling his eyes with his whole body when Harold encourages Danny to think about this as ~embracing his destiny~ hahaha

Ward: No offense, but Danny has zero idea how to do business and therefore maybe shouldn't be running a company with again, absolutely zero training??? Harold: Don't mind Ward being a petulant brat who wants to keep you from your rightful place in our family, Danny. I need you. :)

Harold to Danny: "We've needed a fighter like you back in the family." - right in front of Ward, yet another small "unlike you, who are weak" jab. In line with the whole "Joy can close the deal, you, Ward, can not do anything" lines in the previous episode.

Ward warning Danny about Harold!! But not really doing it great so it could be taken as another 'othering' where Danny could hear 'Harold's not YOUR dad' instead of Ward's intended 'Harold's not your DAD' - made much better by his clarification that Harold only cares about Harold and helping to show he meant 'not a good supportive dad you can lean blindly on' than if he had just. left it at that. I'm glad for Ward's continuing with that line and for Danny's long, considering look at nothing afterward. Gives the sense that Danny feels that something is off, even if he's not sure what.

Colleeeeeeeeeeeeen and her shame and her truly believing in honoring the code of bushido and her teaching these children to get them "the scholarship" to help them in a legitimate, meaningful, honorable way (SOB) and believing that their skills should be about the code and not be about flashiness or showing off or being able to lord their power and ability over others or money -

Code of Bushido (Includes eight virtues, and this episode title is Eight Diagram Dragon Palm. Coincidence???)

1. Rectitude or Justice (refers to PERSONAL rectitude - “one’s power to decide upon a course of conduct in accordance with reason, without wavering” “the bone that gives firmness and stature...without Rectitude neither talent nor learning can make the human frame into a samurai.”)

2. Courage (Bushido distinguishes between bravery and courage - “Courage is doing what is right”)

3. Benevolence or Mercy (“Love, magnanimity, affection for others, sympathy and pity, are traits of Benevolence, the highest attribute of the human soul”)

4. Politeness (Courtesy is rooted in benevolence - “Politeness should be the expression of a benevolent regard for the feelings of others; it’s a poor virtue if it’s motivated only by a fear of offending good taste. In its highest form Politeness approaches love”)

5. Honesty and Sincerity (interestingly, rather than what *I* personally think of when I hear the words “honesty and sincerity”, the info in the Bushido code text about this virtue mostly centers around the idea of disdaining money and riches - probably what Colleen is talking about with her whole “fighting for money breaks the bushido code” thing)

6. Honor (referring to non-martial behavior)

7. Loyalty (bushido text about this seems mostly in context of loyalty to a superior, to your leader, to people you are indebted to. Applies tragically to Colleen and her personal experience with Hand culture. To me, of course, I am more interested in the idea of those leaders deserving your love and your loyalty hand-in-hand with it. Given the other virtues, this IS probably what the code meant to include, but from a modern standpoint it seems like one of those things where especially paramilitary organizations or cults like the Hand could twist the letter of it into an expectation of blindly following orders, even perhaps against your personal devotion to the other virtues)

8. Character and Self-Control (“Bushido teaches that men should behave according to an absolute moral standard, one that transcends logic. What’s right is right, and what’s wrong is wrong. The difference between good and bad and between right and wrong are givens, not arguments subject to discussion or justification, and a man should know the difference.” I get the ideal of this, but something about the wording sits weirdly with me... maybe the implication that they can’t make a mistake?)

Ageless qualities of manliness: choosing compassion over confrontation, and benevolence over belligerence <3

“The tie might be a touch effeminate” Shut UP Ward

Danny, at a press conference: *waves at Jeri* “Hey.” Jeri: *shakes her head*

Danny: “Yes, I was in a mental hospital.” Joy, despairingly: “Oh, Danny”

Jeri smiling. Maybe she worked with Danny on how to handle the press conference and likely questions he would face? My headcanon from this anyway. Ward and Joy looking at each other, seems like in surprise at Danny’s answers and spin?

“Kindness is the eternal law”

The way Danny slips in to this conversation with Joy about the Red Hook property for his Hand investigation is very well done. Reminds me of watching the Netflix trailer and thinking that it made IF look like a show where Danny was some form of government agent going undercover as himself for an investigation.

SO CUTE how Danny goes “woah, I have a first appointment of the day? Who is it?” and then he turns around and it’s his friend Jeri! Hahaha. Danny: “J-money!!” *goes in for a hug* Jeri: “Woah, we don’t do that.”

Jeri: “Your father’s office. Even found his old desk.” Meaning she was the one working on this - Ward is the one who had to set Danny up there after his sarcastic remarks in the penthouse, but Jeri brought in the sentimentality. (Jeri, directly after basically admitting to putting a bunch of effort into a very sentimental gesture here: “Now don’t get all weepy on me.”) Jeri in IF is so soft I love it

Danny: “I pretty much had to raise the dead.” *smirks to himself at his own inside joke*

Jeri, trying to give Danny advice: “For most of these people, you are a hostile takeover.” Me: JERI, HE DOESN’T UNDERSTAND THE NUANCES OF YOUR CORPORATE SPEAK.

Jeri asks if Danny wants the door open or closed. He chooses open. Open to Megan, open to all his new coworkers and employees. Danny is, at his core, for people.

LOL Did Danny just steal Ward’s chair?

Danny: *forces half the board to move so he can sit next to Joy* Me: DANNY

If these guys really wanted to persuade Danny to their point of view on the sell-at-cost thing, they should have emphasized the “funding new research” part of it instead of just repeating “this is just business” ad nauseam. Obviously Ward is actually trying to do the opposite right now and get Danny driven out, but idk what the rest of these people are thinking. Danny acknowledges that they can still make profits elsewhere, which is his side offering a dialogue to meet them. Their counter is that the WHO will be buying it from them and subsidizing it from other people. If they wanted to meet or even just appear to be meeting Danny partway, they could have suggested an initiative to work with the WHO on a program for that? Although since none of them want to actually do that and don’t really care what Danny thinks about it, I know why they didn’t.

Joy raising her eyebrow at Ward’s declaring that they’ll go to market at cost like “I see you Ward and how many times have I told you to leave the maneuvering to me you are unsubtle and unskilled”

Danny looking back at Ward significantly on his way to his discussion with Joy about the pier deal

Ward taking The Drugs before he has to answer Harold’s late night phone call

Harold: You did a great job today. Ward: *baffled expression* Harold: Now, son, this isn’t the time to point fingers, it’s the time for solutions. Ward: There it is. Harold: Also, you screwed up in the meeting and you need to make it up. Ward: *sigh*

Danny: white sneakers with the suit

Joy casually placing the monks and their traditional robes in a lower class position to them and their white collar formal business attire

Time for Joy to play the angle on Danny, curb his at-cost behavior for the future

The ringmaster choosing the second fighter for Colleen followed by that “look, you guys know all the rules” line - I like this guy. He probably remembers how the last dude Colleen fought was a rule-breaker and wants to keep all his fighters safe as possible in an already dangerous 2-on-1 fight like this.

Again with the camera slowing and the noise fading and the blood splattering camera work giving the “losing control” vibe

“The problem was, I never thought through WHY I wanted this job. I mistook my stubborn will for a sense of... destiny, or something.” (Danny, earlier: “My shifu would have called this destiny.”)

“Every moment was a struggle. Failure... led to a beating. Victory... led to another fighting style. To the next lesson.”

Joy flat out calls it abuse and Danny doesn’t deny it.

Vodka and tonic, light on the tonic.

Danny clearly still shaken by the borderline flashbacks to his life at K’un Lun.

Is this the first time the Hatchets appear? Just storming the apartment and punching Joy in the face? Danny and Joy must both be like “WHAT IS HAPPENING”

Joy tries punching one of them. Good for you, Joy.

Ah yes, Ward flat out telling one of the more shark-like reporters that the drug is a huge deal that would save millions of lives and that Rand was of course planning to really boost the price to make a “huge” profit. “That is a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars [that our one company wanted to make off of the millions of people who needed this drug to save their lives]. He’s worse than those bleeding-heart-liberal-trust-fund hipsters wandering around Williamsburg.” (Note: Williamsburg: hip neighborhood that draws the young and fashionable. Boutiques, cafes, street art, outdoor concerts and food markets. Dance clubs, bars, music halls. East Williamsburg is ranked one of the 5 most LGBTQ+ friendly neighborhoods in Brooklyn.)

“Ellison, don’t give the front page to Karen”

Ward just looks at her retreating back and rubs his hands together like “Ah yes, a job well done.” Biggest question for the viewers in this scene is probably: Did Ward tank this on purpose or is he really that far removed from the reality of the non-Elite?

Colleen: still bloody from her illegal cage fighting and hears noise outside her door. Last time she heard noise, it was attackers breaking in for what probably seemed to her like retaliation. Then it’s Danny and she has the relieved exasperation, but - oh ho, Joy Meachum?

“Wasn’t he stalking you?” “It was a misunderstanding.” “Right. I guess being a millionaire covers a multitude of sins.” (Danny: “Billionaire.” Colleen in the background: *disbelieving huff+head shake*)

TRIADS. Time for my triad rant: Every drama show ever to involve Asian-Americans - even just in one-episode specials - includes triads. I’m so sick of it. I know organized crime is a real problem that actually exists, but - why are the Asians always evil? It’s like having the mafia be a plotline every time an Italian character exists on screen. Plz diversify. Media colors perception.

Danny: literally just walks into a restaurant and says he needs to speak to the head of the crime gang. AND THEN NONE OF THEM EVEN BOTHER TRYING TO DENY IT. The Hatchets literally just open the door to their backroom where you can clearly see their illegal activity and come out to talk to Danny. What if he was working with the cops, guys?

It’s so scary how the Yangshi Gonsi react to the mention of the Hand. Well done, IF.

“Joke around the house was that Danny and I were pledged to be married.” (“In another life, this would have been romantic.”) (THIS CREEPS ME OUT THOUGH in a very personally specific triggering way as someone who spent their childhood running around with a boy that I found out later people thought was gonna “knock me up someday.” #BARF)

Colleen has a billionaire in her dojo learning how to punch on a dummy held together with duct tape because she can’t afford to fix it. (Also: Colleen's dojo is also for self-defense classes. Joy was just attacked by hatchet-wielders.)

Danny: "The hatchets won’t be a problem anymore." and then doesn’t elaborate. DANNY THAT SOUNDS SO SHADY. YOU LOOK SO SHADY RIGHT NOW.

Danny: *reaches out and touches Colleen’s hand* Colleen: *flinches back* What are you doing? DANNY. DANNY, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. You seriously have no idea how you come across. Joy is watching all this like “wow....ok.”

Danny used to fight in illegal fight clubs on his way back from K’un Lun. Along with his obtaining an illegal fake ID. New headcanon: Danny is actually super connected to the criminal underground worldwide. Mob bosses everywhere have a soft spot for him. He’s somewhere on a mission with Ward/Colleen/Defenders/HfH and acting like he knows the area, someone recognizes him and he starts chatting cheerfully with them, suddenly they’re being greeted and helped out by people deep in the black market scene while Danny bear hugs someone that most people clearly fear and his companions look on with wide eyes.

Danny, a literal billionaire: Remember how I offered to pay you six months rent for helping me out? Colleen, broke as hell: My denial stands.

Danny: So how are we gonna tell Ward? (framing them - all three of them - as a team) Joy: lmao, are we thinking about the same Ward? You want to tell the most overprotective big brother in the world that men with hatchets attacked his sister? Do you remember what he did to those bullies when we were 8?

Gao: *black bags Harold, refuses to tell him where they’re taking him, doesn’t reveal that this particular instance is him landing on the ‘good’ side of the scale until the last possible second.*

Ugh, he just puts that sword back in the scabbard with all the blood still on it? Improper blade care

Oh yeah, I guess this is the audience’s first scene showing that Harold is capable of cold-blooded murder

I notice that this article may be the front page of the business section, but is NOT the front of the newspaper. Sorry, Jennifer.

[I had initially transcribed the article here, but have made it it's own post which can be found here. Notes on the article, though: Jennifer was very kind to the Meachums in it, given what Ward was actually saying. Also, which Bulletin employee fell down on grammar checking that thing?]

Danny’s Jeri-given apartment doesn’t have a number on the door, but does have some sort of cherry blossom branches etching in the plate?

The Hatchet box!!! (congrats again @Sholio LOL) Yang Hai-Qing wants Danny to get rid of the Hand too. He wasn’t gonna mess with them, explained they didn’t know about the Hand's involvement when they went after Joy, and apologized, but then the Hand came to his restaurant and killed one of his men anyway.

Ah yes, the great tattoo reveal. Also, is that a bullet’s pucker scar on Danny’s left shoulder?

#Iron Fist #iron fist rewatch #eight diagram dragon palm #my stuff #the immortal iron fist #i am lagging so badly on this rewatch!! #but this episode literally took me all day

[pepper-seeds-archive]

I have too much time on my hands today, so for the purposes of keeping myself entertained, I present to you all: 

What Color Was Adrienne de Noailles Hair?

Or, alternatively, “bringing back repressed eight grade science class memories”

@adieumotier, I think I did it. Also beware, long post ahead. 

So I scoured google for about two hours trying to find a solid source for her hair color, and the only real thing I found was this, saying she was blonde. However, I don’t particularly trust this site, so I’m going to see if my own research turns out any better. 

Let’s start with the main photo of suspect: 

Blonde eyebrows, seems to corroborate the first source, yeah? Blonde hair, case closed. But not really. See, let’s discuss the portrait itself first, genetics later. 

Now a pretty common use for the sepia-ish shade of her eyebrows in the 18th century would have been mommia, a paint comprised of the grounded remains of mummies. This paint tended contained ammonia and fat, things that caused the paint to crack and disrupt other paints around it. It also faded with time, so there is a very real possibility that her eyebrows were meant to be darker compared to what we can see now. Add to that that the painter of this piece isn’t known, we don’t actually know how “official” this even is. If any of you reading this have more information on this portrait, I’d love to know, as I don’t even know where it’s being kept! 

On to genetics and also makeup!

Darkening one’s eyebrows was a pretty common thing done in the 1700s, however not every portrait painted of noble ladies had to have their brows darkened. My evidence? Look at these portraits of the QUEEN OF FRANCE! 

Marie Antoinette was pretty well known for having blonde hair, and look at how light here eyebrows are, you can barely see them! So, even if she wasn’t the most well-liked, these show that paintings of noble ladies did not have to have their eyebrows darkened. Thus, if Adrienne really did have light eyebrows, there could be another portrait of her with light eyebrows. But, alas, there is not! 

Now the genetics part. Dark hair is caused by a lot of the pigment eumelanin. Unlike other traits, eumalanin isn’t really dominant or recessive, more like a “yes” or “no” gene. Pretty much means that the more “yes” genes for eumelanin someone has, the darker their hair. Please take a look at this portrait of Adrienne’s mother, Henriette Anne Louise d'Aguesseau: 

Dark! Eyebrows! Going back to the makeup thing, it wasn’t required for her eyebrows to be darkened for this portrait, so she may have had dark hair! This gives her a daughter a greater chance of having dark hair as stated previously. Sadly, I can’t find any colored portraits of Adrienne’s father, but there is one of her grandfather on her father’s side! Louis de Noailles looked like this:

Dark eyebrows again! Another thing to point out is that his eyebrows seemed to have thinned here, but aren’t graying at you may have expected of a man his age. Eyebrows don’t go gray at the same time hair grays, but they do tend to thin out as one goes bald. There isn’t a color picture of his wife, but because he likely has naturally dark eyebrows, Jean de Noailles likely had dark hair. Adrienne’s maternal grandfather looked like this, and would you look at that!

Dark eyebrows! So it doesn't look like there’s any immediate candidates in Adrienne’s family that would give a “no” gene. In all likelihood, Adrienne had a lot of “yes” genes, giving her brown hair. But let’s take a look at her daughters, just in case. 

These two paintings of Anastasie, as well as this one of Marie, they all appear to have naturally brown hair. 

And as it’s particularly obvious by the cut of Anastasie’s dresses, these paintings are late 18th, early 19th century! Meaning powdered wigs were pretty much out of fashion, and their hair is natural! It’s pretty obvious they didn’t get their hair color from their father, as he had red hair along with his son, so who else would they have gotten their dark hair from but their mother! 

So in conclusion, as much as I wanted to have a blonde Adrienne, it’s more likely she had dark brown hair. If anyone finds any evidence to to contrary, I’d love to hear it! 

#mine #when did I start writing essays #adrienne de noailles #marquis de lafayette

[makeitquietly]

A quick recap of what criticism I remember reading about this Blu-ray set: nobody agrees about the picture quality, or on which films it’s best/worst, but it’s on the waxy/soft side mostly because of too much digital cleaning or whatever, the sound is said to be good, some hissing, out of sync in the 1936 version of Berth Marks, extras are good too, no Blu-ray logo on the case, no booklet, awkward menu always reverts back to beginning, no play-all possibility, the films are not in the order of making/release.

But a lot of people worked very hard for a long time to make this set available. Which is why nothing negative should be said about it? Eh. Next time go for quality instead. Or don’t sell your product. Make it a fanwork.

Anyhow, if I was all powerful and had commissioned someone to restore these films, I’d make them go back and do it again if this set was presented to my ruling eyes.

OTOH, I paid 99 euros for this package and have had lots of fun with it and if there’d been Stan’s scrapbook (pages) amongst the galleries, I’d happily paid double. It’s not about the money spent except when people imply that negative reviews aren’t allowed. I’d paid 99 euros for the galleries alone.

It’s about the fact that the films aren’t as well restored as they should/could be. Beyond me, why it’s so difficult to admit. And it’s clearly not only an issue of getting waxified during some final cleanup or somehow being ruined when transferred to Blu-ray disks.

Any idiot (me) knowing nothing about the processes involved can easily confirm this by watching how different films on the same disk have different quality, likewise first reel can be almost okay, the second much worse, scenes and cuts have often annoyingly varying quality, even single frames look like they came from different prints and nothing was done to make them fit more seamlessly in their surroundings. And I’m not talking about that one wandering frame in Scram!, which must be some person’s idea of a joke, how else could it be so out of place?

Or didn’t anyone watch these that one last important time since it wasn’t removed, nor were the countless spots still there in most of the films? I know, when things get cleaned up that one remaining crumb is much easier to spot... er... see my point?

There are also jumpy frames, which I imagine would’ve been easy to adjust, and to prevent those ubiquitous flashy cuts, you’d only needed to adjust the brightness of that single frame causing the flashing. Even I have done that on GIMP when making gifs. I’m guessing too much contrast on, say, Me and My Pal isn’t a problem created by the wax people either.

The ridiculously softly glowing Brats might be, there’s an awful lot of glowing in One Good Turn too, and in parts of Sons of the Desert, for example, where faces are dangerously close to have that overly scrubbed look, which is a big problem in The Chimp and Come Clean.

When it comes to wax, Helpmates and County Hospital are the most hideous, the latter must be the worst looking of all the films in this set, being also awfully spotty as well as too dark. It’s got other faults too, like wonky frames. The Music Box has a pretty decent first reel (except for the opening scene), and despite not being able to see the stripes on Stan’s and Ollie’s pants because of too much contrast, Me and My Pal is also clearly better wax-wise in the first reel.

It’s interesting to watch some of these films for the first time, thinking that this is crap quality picture, but then the second reel is even worse and suddenly there’s a whole new level of crappiness.

I think the sound is ever so slightly out of sync for a bit in Way Out West and One Good Turn. At least it is compared to those same films on my 21 DVD set. In addition to being very clearly out of sync in that Berth Marks reissue like others have noticed. Berth Marks also has a weird stripey “cover” over the actual film. I suppose it was impossible to remove.

Even with some sync problems, if I had to choose the best restorations from this new collection, Way Out West would be on my list, together with Busy Bodies, Hog Wild and Towed in a Hole. Some parts of Sons of the Desert look gorgeous. With grain and all. Pretty much like Atoll K but unfortunately not as consistently. (Atoll K was restored by different people, I gather.)

The much anticipated but already online for free since 2019 The Battle of the Century then? Well, the first reel is quite good, or would be if it wasn’t a weird blend of an ugly greenish yellow or yellowish green. Sepia isn’t what it used to be. And I would’ve thought they’d made sure to get all those black spots removed at least from this one what with it being one of the “new” things on this set. The second reel is worse except colour-wise. But at least it’s there complete with Charlie Hall and the “what pie fight” ending.

Haven’t mentioned The Midnight Patrol, Their First Mistake or Twice Two yet. The last two are pretty evenly waxy, and comparing The Midnight Patrol to Come Clean and The Chimp makes it not that bad. There’s no actual need to bleach faces or an excuse for Billy Gilbert’s patternless shirt, is there?

For me the treasures from this set can be found on each disk under galleries. Even for those not interested in scripts, press material, posters and assorted documents, there are circa 1,400 photos, many of which really are rare, or at least I’d never seen them before. One of the gems are the about 140 photos from Babe’s Vim days. Awesome! Nothing as gemmy from Stan’s past before Laurel and Hardy, and someone put wrong names on the photos where he appears with the Hurleys, not the Cookes. Yes, there’s a short, handy description for most of the photos. 

So many of them and I must peruse more, of course, but I’m going give a special mention to Stan with both Loises on the set of Brats for adorableness and likewise to Thelma Todd for previously unseen (by me) variations from her photoshoot on that bathroom set. Love the six new-to-me photos of Stan and Babe together on the 1932 British tour especially. Great stuff. Oh, and Mae Busch, Dorothy Christy and Charley Chase in their Sons of the Desert portraits look fabulous.

Another treasure are the interviews with only a couple of slightly dubious moments. Joe Rock made me grin. George Marshall made me cry. Walter Woolf King made me laugh. Most wonderful. Short introduction by Randy Skretvedt for each interview. He’s the one who did the interviewing too. There’s 15 of them altogether. Plus a chance to hear composer Marvin Hatley perform Honolulu Baby and Will You Be My Lovey-Dovey. The audio only interviews come with some more great photos.

I kind of adore how Richard W. Bann casually debunks Anita Garvin’s The Battle of the Century story with one dry line during his commentary of the film. Hurts so good. Let’s have more debunking!

Speaking of the commentaries, and maybe more about them on some other occasion, Bann only comments The Battle and The Music Box, all the rest, including That’s That and The Tree in a Test Tube have commentaries by Randy Skretvedt.

I was expecting Bann to tell the whole story of why it took so long to get The Battle on video but he didn’t; fair enough, I thought, but then in his other commentary he goes on about his grudge with a dead guy, so I guess it was not his, um, politeness that stopped him from dishing on the much more recent and therefore interesting stuff. What then?

Perhaps a third person sharing the commentary duties would’ve been a good idea. That was my thought when Skretvedt obsessed over Stan’s smoking for the third time. By obsessed I mean he listed all the films where, according to him, Stan smokes. What for, you may wonder. I did. No answer. I remember reading somewhere that Stan not smoking in the movies means he’s a child. (Yes, some Laurel and Hardy fans are somewhat weird sometimes. Aren’t we all?) Maybe Skretvedt was trying to debunk that theory? Hehe, okay, I know he wasn’t, because he did the “they’re children, Hal Roach said so” routine in his Their First Mistake commentary, complete with Charles Barr quotes to prove there’s nothing gay about Ollie liking Stan more than his own wife. Made me fume. I don’t know why. Nothing new.

I don’t know why it doesn’t occur to him that if Ollie didn’t spend so much time with Stan, Mae wouldn’t be the lonely, disappointed wife who ends up wanting a divorce after one too many lies from Ollie and accuses Stan of alienation of Ollie’s affections. But no, apparently it’s no wonder that Ollie likes Stan more than his wife because she hits him with the broom. So the hitting came first and then too much time spent with Stan? I don’t think so.

Anyhow, third person, more variety, something newer, or at least an explanation for Stan’s smoking being of particular importance. Ollie’s smoking isn’t mentioned. Also, to digress even more, I always found the claim that Stan doesn’t smoke because he is a child odd, not only because he does, but also because he drinks alcohol too and manages to be married in several films. But the Laurel & Hardy child squad of course thinks the wives are actually their mothers. (Yes & again, weird.)

I did and do also wonder if there would’ve been anyone available and even if there had been, if these old school fans had accepted someone with different views. Probably not.

Still waiting for Skretvedt to notice Stan’s camera looks. Maybe he just hasn’t been a fan for long enough yet... 😛

I’m out of steam now. Need to rehydrate.

One more thing: No booklet, so maybe nobody involved wanted to spread about their name more than absolutely necessary knowing the restoration work was, shall we say, uneven?

Tl;dr: Uneven restoration work. Great extras. Mostly interesting commentaries.

#Stan Laurel #Oliver Hardy #Laurel and Hardy #the definitive restorations #2020 #2020s

[papermoonloveslucy]

MISS BALL GOES TO BAT!

January 23, 1941

On January 23, 1941, film star Lucille Ball was the subject of a full page article by Hollywood correspondent Lucie Neville, including cartoons by Carol Johnson and three photographs in the Franklin Repository Public Opinion (PA).  

By LUCIE NEVILLE, HOLLYWOOD 

THE still-man on the set of "Three Girls and a Gob" was trying to snatch some pictures between scenes and was having no luck at all. Electricians trailed lengths of cable through the tripod legs; prop men strolled in front of the camera. Just as there was some inquiry about who would like a good poke in the nose, Lucille Ball broke in with a shouted, "You let him alone! He minds his own business and does his work. G'wan, Fred...shoot the picture." And she struck a leggy pose, smiled wistfully into the lens, then made a snoot at the crew.

Knowing how it feels to get shoved around, Miss Ball vigorously defends all weak, helpless creatures, from union photographers to underprivileged producers. But she really goes to bat for anybody who, like herself, asks no favors, minds his own business and does his work. That's doing things the hard way and doesn't promote reams of publicity and sudden stardom. But it's showing steadily increasing results for Miss Ball. 

The honey blond with the big blue eyes has been a major decoration of RKO films for five years, and she has been picked time and again as a can't-miss star prospect. Her invitation to join the small but select cast of "Mr. Pinky" makes 1941 success pretty definite for her. 

THERE has been no colossal publicity on Lucille Ball, largely because her studio hasn't boasted its smart, hard-working blond. But some of the fault is hers, because she isn't good at aimless conversation and doesn't eagerly volunteer dabs of personal information. Her early movie interviews she remembers as pretty flat because she had no exciting anecdotes and didn't believe anybody could be interested in knowing whether she liked apples and what time she got up. Well, how about that time she landed her plane on the ice on Lake Chautauqua and rescued a couple of youngsters? "Oh, that! It happened a long time ago." the heroine said un-encouragingly. "Why bring it up now? It doesn't matter." 

In those first Hollywood days, she was an independent little package whose swaggering what's-it-to-you air helped cover easily hurt feelings, but didn't encourage sympathy or friendships. Now, with more poise and assurance, her tongue isn't so sharp, and she has relaxed. But she still is cagey with gossip columnists whenever she suspects one of trying to make her say what he thinks.

The pencil-and-paper boys got plenty of copy without asking any nosey questions, though, when the Lucille Ball - Desi Arnaz flame began to burn. All they had to do was watch, from the day the Latin from Manhattan musicals started work in "Too Many Girls." Since Hollywood long had accepted Director Al Hall as the actress' steady beau, it figured the new romance was just routine publicity that would end with the premiere. But it didn't. Until Senor Arnaz reluctantly went back to Broadway to rehearse for a new show, he and Miss Ball might have been seen every noon, beaming at each other and paying very little attention to food. Rhumba spots called it a dull night when the two didn't drop in. And instead of giving gossip-itemizers the usual brush-off, the actress welcomed chances to talk about the boy friend. 

Servants like to work for her, only they're forbidden to brag or gossip about her to other movie-colony domestics. Plump, sepia-skinned Harriett, who is her personal maid, watches every scene from a canvas chair stenciled with her name. Miss Ball had the studio fix it specially so Harriett could rest her feet, just like a star or a director. 

Few people call her Lucille, and she has dozens of nicknames. Usual one is Lucie. Director Eddie Ludwig calls her Apples. During New York schooldays, she was Bobbie, or, because of her Montana birthplace, Two-Gun. While she imitated movie idol Clara Bow's hairdo and makeup, she liked to be called Paris - the It Girl's name in one movie - and proudly lettered PARIS across the chest of her basketball sweater. 

SHE knows publicity tricks, recently proved it when she got in a free plug for her boss, his picture and herself at the same time. In New York at the end of a personal appearance tour with "Dance, Girl, Dance," she was wired to hurry home Harold Lloyd had turned producer and wanted her for "Three Girls and a Gob." But Miss Ball didn't depend on just being met by a couple of photographers at the airport. 

Instead, she hied herself to the World's Fair grounds, arranged for one of the long-distance telephone calls on which thousands of visitors could listen in, and talked to Lloyd in Hollywood asked him all about the picture and himself, what her role would be, when the film would release. After this smart stunt, Lloyd isn't bothering much about looking for another pretty and clever comedienne for his other pictures. 

The main reason she appreciates her business manager is because he has cut down on her hand-outs, won't let her be a generous sucker. But the manager doesn't cost Miss Ball a cent; she made her agent furnish, and pay him. For a while, she owned an artificial flower shop here but closed it, and later, her gown shop, as soon as it showed a loss. Lots of customers, she said, but an actress doesn't have time to attend to business details the way she likes. And Miss Ball is strictly business, except where long-distance telephone calls are concerned. She has absolutely no conception of toll charges. 

She avoids local conversations, but given the faintest excuse to talk to anybody in New York or Miami, she'll call several times in an evening, hang on until pried loose. Her toll charges probably will give her business manager gray hairs while Desi Arnaz is on Broadway. 

NEXT largest extravagance is hats. "I buy 'em like spinach. I hate 'em but think they'll be good for me," she explained. "Every time I'll say to myself, 'Look, Lucy, it cost a lot be a good girl and wear the nice hat.’ Then I leave it on the shelf until it's out of style." 

She has had the acting bug since she was three years old a precocious brat who danced and sang on the street corners of Jamestown. N.Y. "I picked up quite a little change that way, until my mother found out," Miss Ball said. For a while she planned to be a concert pianist like her mother, but two years of music study after high school disillusioned her. 

The stage idea came back, and she entered John Murray Anderson's drama school, toured for a while in stock. But back in New York, she could get only show-girl jobs, lasted briefly in Ziegfeld and Earl Carroll choruses. Even changing her name to Diane Belmont, obviously theatrical, didn't help. So when she was hired as a manikin for Hattie Carnegie's snooty salon, she gave up stage ambitions. But she determined she'd be the best model in New York, or else. 

"I was always the girl who had to show the organdies and nets," Miss Ball recalled. "I got so sick and tired of ruffles that everything I bought for myself was tailored and still is. But the frills helped get me to Hollywood.” 

“I was posing for commercial photographers, besides modeling, and one job was a cigarette ad had me in a fluffy blue frock with a couple of white wolfhounds. The tobacco people picked me for special advertising because of it, and when Samuel Goldwyn hired all the poster girls for 'Roman Scandals,' I came along with all the others."  She stayed. 

Speaking of hats and fitted couture, this photo and blurb appeared on the same date (January 23, 1941) in the Santa Ana Register (CA). 

On the same day in a different paper, fashion writer Ruth Penney mentioned Lucille Ball’s blouse in “A Girl, A Guy, and a Gob.”

Not to be outdone, the January 23, 1941 Hazelton Plain Speaker (PA) included a casually attired Lucille Ball on vacation in Miami Beach, Florida. 

Also on January 23, 1941, in Harrison Carroll’s syndicated column “Behind the Scenes in Hollywood” he reported that Lucy and Desi were in a car wreck where she got a black eye.

Different column, same day: Robbin Coons reported in his “Hollywood Sight...and Sounds” column that Desi had written a new song for his new bride. 

#Lucille Ball #Desi Arnaz #A Girl A Guy and a Gob #Robbin Coons #Harrison Carroll #Ruth Penny #Lucie Neville #Newspaper #Publicity #Hollywood