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copperbadge · 9 months

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We recently got into a discussion of producing audiobooks for small press, indy, and/or selfpub authors on another post, but we had strayed pretty far from the original post, and @genedoucette very kindly gave permission for me to slice his comment off the end of that post and put it into a new one.

genedoucette

I have been very, very lucky when it comes to audiobooks, so I'm hesitant to offer advice without adding a huge YMMV caveat at the top. For most of my self-published novels, I used ACX and paid a narrator out-of-pocket (rather than 50-50 proceeds split), which just means I'm paying an agreed-upon X dollars per finished hour, prior to making any money off f the audio editon. Every book I did this with paid for itself, sometimes within the first two or three months, sometimes longer. (YMMV: I did a lot of this during what I would call the audiobook bubble, when demand was higher than supply.) I had another novel series--Tandemstar--that I brought to an audiobook company, who brought it to their distributor, who agreed to pay for the production costs of the book and to pay me a (small) advance. To date, the royalties from that series have not made up the cost of the advance, but the good news was that none of the production costs came from my pocket and the advance meant I did make something out of the deal. The rule-of-thumb I always heard was, don't expect books that haven't sold well to sell any better as audiobooks. But my experience, with ACX/Audible, is this: about 50% of my monthly earning come from audio sales. How long is the book in question (word count), and what is the genre? Because it is absolutely possible to get a not-terrible narrator at a not-terrible cost on ACX. If it's a low word count book with a decent sales record, I'd 100% do it. If it's a high word count book with few sales, maybe not.

Thanks so much for this! I am admittedly always suspicious of Amazon writ large, but it's not like I've never partnered with them before, and often for indy authors they're one of a very few games in town.

50% of sales via audio impresses me a lot -- I'm not really in the industry so my sense of scale may be off but my eyebrows went up at that. And looking at ACX, a split-profits model would be appealing. I'm more interested in providing the reader with more options than I am with making royalties, so I don't mind low payout, but I also don't want to exploit a narrator if I can avoid it.

I doubt I'm selling near the level you are, but it's pretty consistent, at least -- for the last literary novel I published in 2021, and for the four genre romances published in the past year-and-change, it's generally 200-250 copies (epub and paperback) in the first 6 months, and about 40 per year after that. None of them are over 100K words -- the first of the romance novels, the one I'd be most likely to have done as an audiobook to trial, is around 50K, and the other books are all between 60K and 90K or so.

There's some fine print I'm not nuts about -- exclusivity to Amazon/Audible/iTunes for example -- but I can see why it's a necessary business model for them. There's not a ton of clarity on cost per hour for a book, but it looks like for a flat fee it starts around $250 per finished hour? So I'd probably be looking at minimum $1K out of pocket, which is probably roughly (I haven't done the math) royalties per book for a full year. It could be fun to give it a swing regardless, although reading the ACX site made me realize I'd actually have to give notes and feedback to a reader which sounds nervewracking.

It looks like the readers for ACX are repped by SAG-AFTRA, which means that for now I have time to consider while the strike is going on. (Obviously not all of them are union but if it's an entertainment format where the union is involved, I don't want to cross the picket.) And the ACX site is pretty comprehensive in terms of figuring out how it all works, so if I did want to source a narrator elsewhere and perhaps not distribute exclusively through ACX, I now have a grounding from which to research other options too.

Sorry, a lot of this is just me thinking aloud, but I truly do appreciate the info and also something to bounce off of in terms of considering it. And I appreciate the opportunity to share it with my readership too, thank you!

#genedoucette #shivadhverse #independent publishing #selfpub #audiobooks

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im-not-even-sorry · 4 months

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Oughhhhg i have been to skinny since i beat my addiction(yay) i would love to get fed by you til im back to my normal weight(even maybe surpass it)

First of all, congrats on beating your addition!! That's a huge success!!

Second, I love feedees that start out skinny ❤️ I'd dote on you, cook you homemade meals, balanced with protein, fat and veg, with dessert afterwards. At first you'd have to take your time to finish your portions or you wouldn't be able to do that at all, but don't worry! I'll be there to whisper gentle praise into your ear, rub you full tummy and maybe feed you the last few bites by hand, how about that, baby?

I want to make you used to the warmth fullness in your stomach, to the slightly sleepy feeling you get after that, maybe when I fed you a bittt too much sugar in packes and cream and fruit and chocolate...

I'd make sure you can always reach out for a snack when you feel like it, being it nuts or a protein bar or a bag of crisps, whatever you feel like! The more calories you get from snacking, the easier it'll be to see the results of our work.

Maybe every once a week or two we'll put you on a scale or measure your pretty body here and there, note the progress and set out new goals, that for some reason, get progressively easier to reach with your newfound appetite.

You clothes start fitting like they used to before, hugging your curves and softness till they start getting... tight? Your shirt awkwardly rides up after I fed you unholy amouts of pizza on a weekend night, but I assure you that fine, baby, I love it when you let yourself indulge! You can't pull on your jeans that used to fit before, but that's only an item, that can be exchanged for a bigger size, don't worry.

I'll take care of you so well you won't even realize exactly when your cute little belly develops adorable muffin tops by your sides and when your tighs start deliciously rubbing together.

I'd love feeling you heavier on my lap, mapping the newfound growth with my hands and lips, admiring how far we've come together.

Are you in for more, darling? ❤️

#my post #queer feeder #trans feeder #soft feedism #queer feedism #ask #trans nsft #answered #wg encouragement #make me huge #feedee encouragement #weight gain encouragement

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riddle-me-ri · 6 months

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Idk if this is allowed since you already did something similar just with different versions lol but how would secret six jervis deal with nnn

a/n: aaahhhhhhh asfghh I totally didn't realize I didn't have him on my list at the time I did the No Nut November series lmao. It's hard to believe there was a point where Secret Six wasn't on my list but I can absolutely do that!

So just a tiny recap for those new to how I sorta write these NNN (No Nut November) I actually rank the characters on a scale of 1 to 10!

1 being lost by default, can’t even last a second.

10 being “We Are The Champions” by Queen is playing.

And you can find the headcanon list of the other Mad Hatters here

Content Warning: sexually suggestive content and mention of drug use

Secret Six Mad Hatter - No Nut November

I won’t lie…Secret Six Jervis will likely rank at a 5.5 or 6 and the only reason he would even pass the halfway point is because at first he will mostly be focused on getting you to lose.

I see Secret Six being a huge tease. Once he has a partner that he can divulge anything and everything to them, especially his more intimate desires…

He will also do whatever it takes to show that you're just as much of a mess over him as he is over you.

Jervis may or may not rely on certain substances as a means to distract himself and find relief elsewhere especially if his plans on getting under your skin backfire.

However, in the end there's absolutely nothing more addicting and fulfilling than you.

Despite you warning him that there's only a couple weeks left of the challenge, he could not give less of a shit.

All he wants is you. At the end of the day, that's all he will always ever want, silly month challenge be damned

#ri writes #secret six mad hatter x reader #secret six jervis tetch x reader #I mean I guess it's kinda x reader #never really knew lmao

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frickerdoodledoo · 1 year

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Soooo... guess who got really nostolgic while having a cold and binge-watched all of Sanders Sides again after almost a year?

For the last few days I have been sucked down a rabbit-hole of Fandercontent, and let me just say... while this fandom is so creative, there are just a few things I wish people utilized more in fics, you know?

(Disclaimer, I live on angst and the Dark Sides are my three favourite characters, so most of these are about both of those subjects. Also not a huge fan of non-mindscape au's, so these are all about canon-adjacent fanfiction. My only AU is Sympathetic Dark Sides where they all coexist. Yes, even Remus.)

First and foremost, and this is what inspired this post until I found more things after, why do I see so few fics that include Virgil's Dark Side Voice™? It happens whenever he get's too stressed in canon, and from how he reacts whenever it happens, it seems to be a bit of an insecurity for him. Why aren't angst authors jumping on that?

Guys. We... we all saw the end-card of Flirt or Flight, right? How come so few do anything regarding Virgil's colour-changing eyeshadow? It's adorable, it's gorgeous, talk about it, please!

When Janus takes off the gloves in order to show himself to be truthful about his name... why??? He did that for a reason. If it was just about the typical "Cross my heart" pose, there was nothing stopping him from leaving on the gloves unless their was a reason to take them off! Theorize, go nuts! (I personally believe that his scales fluctuate in their coverage of his skin, and his hands being completely human shows that he's being honest. He wears gloves to make his lies less obvious.)

And on the subject of Janus' lies, has anybody else realized that for the embodiment of Thomas' Deceitfulness... he's actually kind of a terrible liar? While disguised as other sides, he always drops some pretty obvious hints that he's not the real Patton or Logan. And whenever he does his whole "speaking in lies" thing, he has this tone about him that makes it clear to... almost everyone, (Cough cough except Roman apparently), that he's lying, or atleast just being sarcastic?

In the Five Year Anniversary special, Virgil, Remus, and Janus refer to themselves as the Cousin, Uncle, and Aunt respectively. And I know that there actually is a fair amount of content about the Dark Sides being a seperate but related family, but I just feel like not many people talk about the low-key confirmation of that as a reality, ya know?

More.👏 Protective.👏 Dark Sides.👏 They've known eachother for so long, no matter how close the whole family is, Virgil, Remus and Janus would naturally know eachother better than any of the others.

If we are to assume that Janus even just unstably co-exists with the Light Sides, (like pre-redemption Virgil), post-Redux, but Remus doesn't... Well, that's the third person that Remus actually has a connection to that just... left him. First Roman, then Virgil, now Janus. (I personally believe that the Orange side will just be an Unsympathetic Dick, so he doesn't count, but that's just me.)

I am a "Former Paranoia Virgil" Truther, as are many others in the fandom. However, something I wish I saw more of is others not catching themselves when calling Virgil paranoid. Even better, the Dark Sides not realising how much thinking of that part of his past affects him, thinking nothing of it and then feeling really guilty.

And that's all the canon-supported stuff, but just... one last thing. Consider the following:

The Orange Side is a relatively new "Relevant" or "Consious" Side, his existance only needed when suddenly there were only two Dark Sides and still three Light Sides

Janus is Patton's foil because he represents an "immoral" side to Thomas, and Remus is Roman's foil as a flip-side to one, single concept. Virgil used to be Logan's foil before his redemption, because senseless overthinking and paranoia defies logic.

This need for a foil doesn't apply to Virgil, because he is no longer a Dark Side, but he isn't really a Light Side either. A Grey Side, if you will.

Virgil encompasses both the good and bad aspects of Anxiety, and is even capable of representing more of an excitement or sense of anticipation, hence the purple eyeshadow seen in Fight or Flirt. He is his own foil in the same way that Roman and Remus are eachother's. They're the good and bad of creativity, Virgil is the good and bad of anxiety.

I am most likely not the first person to come up with this, but this is just my specific take.

Anyway, I am probably going to go write atleast half of these prompts myself, so if any of these concepts interest you... maybe stick around?

#sanders sides #dark sides #fanfic ideas #virgil sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders #idk just a thought #fine ill do it myself #sympathetic remus #sympathetic deceit #sympathetic dark sides

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valeriefauxnom · 2 months

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Day 16 of Scaling the Walls of a Mystery Art!

Euden Tower Defense, in my Dragalia fic? It's more likely than you think.

Jokes aside it was a very hard decision to commit to such a 'norm-breaking' change in the fic, both of character and the plot. But I figured it had to be time to stop circling the drain and take the plunge at some point, and Euden deserves to go a little nuts. The plot must progress!

As another funny aside, WillofWinnie almost was giving away accidental hints to this huge project. She'd been pretending she hadn't been reading Scaling, which, fair enough, it's my mad 200k~ post-game ramblings of a game she hasn't finished. Even if she had, no blame there. But once or twice, she'd sent texts to me when I'd been commentating and talking to her about debates for what to do next, etc, and making comments like 'it's well-written'. Eventually I finally decided to call that one out like, "I know you're probably just extrapolating from other work of mine you have read and just trusting this is, but really, you haven't read it! For all you know it could be jam-packed with the stupidest spelling imaginable in my mad ramblings!" And I guess this made her have the nervous sweatdrop emotion a few times upon realizing she was almost giving something up!

Exert from the chapter:

He did it. He actually did it! Now, to capitalize on the razor-thin opening. Even though his muscles were loudly protesting, he rose from his bed as fast as he could, adrenaline spurring him into action. He snatched the back of a chair, and leaned it against the door in just the right way to turn it into a makeshift lock. He flipped the actual lock, too, for good measure. A symbolic gesture- they no doubt had a key, but a gesture nevertheless. In no time at all, he’d assembled formidable barricades through strength of will alone. Chairs, the bedside cabinet, the table, were ever-so-slowly pushed to provide further support to both his door and window. His muscles sang even more than they had before, but it was worth it. Euden even bundled up the rug in his room as another stopgap to halt that door from budging. If they wanted a war, so be it. He knew a thing or two about sieges. And they were about to learn who had fought one against them.

#dragalia lost #dragalia #scaling the walls of a mystery #dragalia lost fic #my writing #friend's art #The Great Scaling the Walls of a Mystery Art Compilation #Hard to think we're almost done with this amazing incredible gift! Please look at WillofWinnie's stuff too!

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incarnateirony · 2 years

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We need to talk about the tattoo.

I know, all lanes just cringed in variable anger or exhaustion. But listen.

I get it. I get stans just impulsively wanting to stan their fave. But right now, there's a LOT of nuanced Americas history going on here, and a lot of people--a mix of OUSA people that reasonably don't know, and US people that had a lot purposefully omitted from their textbooks--that's making this whole discussion BAD.

I'm going to say it. The best possible read on this, for Jared Padalecki, is that he's a gun nut.

There, I said it.

But what I need OUSA people to understand is how normal that is in the US, much less in texas. Even some democrats have unreasonable amounts of guns. I literally just had a teammate leave my workplace because he enthusiastically got a job as an armorer, when otherwise he's a regular dude.

Do I agree with it? No. But I need everyone, fans and haters of his both, to sit here and just realize like. This isn't the UK. This isn't whereverthefuckistan. So we need to look at it in context of the culture.

But that says as much for the defense arguments. For example, "oh, he's not a gun nut, gun nuts just APPROPRIATED IT!"

The phrase "Come and Take It" was basically the declaration of "fuck you, Mexicans, we're stealing Texas." In fact, Ulysses Grant published in memoirs that this Texas Revolution and slogan were huge motivators setting off what became the Civil War, with a similar mindset.

Resultingly, the entire thing is premised on, well, white nationalism. The thing is, white nationalists and gun extremists share a 99.9% venn diagram. But gun ownership in some degree of exception is generally accepted by the public, so they repackaged their OWN MENTALITY into one easier to onboard, and less with the nationalist associations.

Which is why I'm saying, the real best read of this, is Jared is a gun nut. How people negotiate his Joe Rogan listening, his Tulsi support, ICE sympathy, and whatever else as if they operate in a vaccuum is its own business.

But a lot of people keep screaming "It's just Texas pride!" Thanks, that's exactly what the white nationalists scream, so sit and look at where that fucking pride originates in. like we haven't heard this shit a million times about the confederate flag too. "It's about independence!!!"

Whereas the idea of History Casuals That Support Guns getting a rebranded tattoo oblivious to the history is just that. About the same energy as getting a japanese tattoo the artist lies to you about the meaning of, but dosed on politics.

So yeah. What his own fandom needs to do is come to terms with: they are not jared padalecki, they do not personally know jared padalecki, but even in the best case scenario, they may need to accept that his views on something like guns might not agree with theirs, and that their idealization is the thing that needs to prove itself as the reality, not the messages the man is inking on his skin, himself.

But don't do it at the cost of casually spraying white nationalism you don't even realise is white nationalism because you tried to google an answer and don't realize some site's source is basically breitbart.

god.

not all performers will perfectly fit your world view. in fact, very few will. But acting like people are just making it up is WILD.

It may be time to go "Hm, I like Jared Padalecki a lot, and I disagree very much with his gun politics, assuming that's what it is. I do feel he does other good things over here, but people who criticize him for this might be right."

There! Mature adult processing of reality! You can decide its scale of importance to you. But stop building AUs where people who *do* have these reasonable association concerns just "made it up" just because you don't like it either. That's up to you to negotiate your values with. It won't change the real dude.

You can either let your political views guide your fandom, or you can just eschew those, stop trying for moral high ground and let fandom guide your politics. That's your choice. But be honest about that before trying to "silence opposition" or whatever weird digital thing you think you're accomplishing.

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eazy-group · 2 months

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Tamara lost 63 pounds

New Post has been published on https://eazydiet.net/tamara-lost-63-pounds/

Tamara lost 63 pounds

Transformation of the Day: Tamara lost 63+ pounds. Faced with a number of health concerns, including diverticulitis and fibroids, she took steps to reclaim her health and be a healthy role model for her daughter. She adopted a adopted a holistic, alkaline/plant-based approach combined with a balanced fitness routine.

Social Media: Instagram: @weightlosscoachtamara TikTok: tiktok.com/weightlosscoachtamara Facebook: facebook.com/nuelifewellnessrx

What was your motivation? What inspired you to keep going, even when you wanted to give up? My motivation stemmed primarily from my health concerns. In my early thirties, I was diagnosed with idiopathic cardiomyopathy and was told I’d be on medication for life. Later, I faced other health challenges like diverticulitis and fibroids. These were significant wake-up calls for me. I realized the importance of taking proactive steps to improve my health.

The passing of my father in 2014 was a pivotal moment. He and I shared similar health issues, and his loss at age 60 was a stark reminder of the consequences of not taking care of one’s health. This personal loss, coupled with my desire to be there for my daughter, kept me motivated. She was, and continues to be, a huge inspiration. I want to be a healthy, active role model for her, showing her the importance of health and well-being. My journey has always been about more than just weight loss; it’s been about making lasting changes for a healthier future. My goal is to start creating general health in addition to generational wealth.

How did you change your eating habits? My journey was significantly influenced by joining Dr. Bobby Price’s Tribe Healing Community. It was there that I was educated on the Alkaline diet and the concept of eating to live. The community provided me with a wealth of knowledge on nourishing my body with the right foods and adopting a lifestyle conducive to my health goals.

In addition, I took a step further in my commitment to health by completing a course to become a certified Holistic Nutrition Weight Loss Coach. This education has allowed me to adopt a holistic approach to weight loss, addressing not just the physical aspect, but also the mental, emotional, and lifestyle changes necessary for true health transformation.

My diet now mainly consists of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, and some whole grains, focusing on Alkaline, whole food, and plant-based nutrition. I’ve eliminated meat and dairy. I try to avoid processed foods as much as possible. Hydration is key, so I drink plenty of spring water, coconut water, and herbal teas.

Intermittent fasting has also become an integral part of my routine, not eating after 8 pm and breaking my fast around noon the next day, usually with fruit to ease into the day gently. I aim for at least two servings of green leafy vegetables daily and undertake a 30-day full-body detox quarterly, using a blend of herbal teas to cleanse my system of toxins, waste, and parasites. It’s about creating a balance and making informed choices that support my body’s needs.

What is your workout routine? When I began my fitness journey, my approach to working out was primarily cardio-centric. I had this misconception that the more cardio I did, the more weight I would lose, and I was constantly fixated on the numbers on the scale. However, this approach led to an unintended consequence – I lost not only fat but also a significant amount of muscle mass. It was a learning curve for me to understand the importance of a balanced workout routine.

Realizing this, I shifted my focus. Now, my workout routine is more holistic and balanced. It’s not just about burning calories; it’s about building and maintaining muscle, which is crucial, especially as we age. I incorporate a mix of strength training and HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) into my routine. This combination helps me to not only lose fat but also to strengthen and tone my muscles.

Strength training has been particularly transformative for me. It’s empowering to see how much stronger and more capable my body becomes with consistent training. And HIIT workouts are fantastic for maximizing efficiency – they are intense, but they bring about significant results.

Of course, I haven’t completely abandoned cardio. I still include moderate cardio sessions in my routine, but they’re no longer the sole focus. It’s about finding that balance and listening to what my body needs.

How often did you work out? My workout schedule is quite consistent but also flexible, depending on how my body feels. Generally, I aim to exercise 3-5 days per week. The structure of my workout week typically looks like this: I work out on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, then take a rest day on Thursday to allow my body some recovery time. I get back to my workouts on Friday and Saturday. Then take another rest day on Sunday.

In terms of my workout routine, I focus on lower body exercises on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. For upper body workouts, I usually train on Tuesdays and Saturdays. However, I do occasionally switch things up – for example, sometimes I’ll work on my upper body on Tuesdays and Thursdays instead and then take the weekend off. It really depends on how I’m feeling physically. Listening to my body and giving it the rest it needs is key to preventing burnout and injury.

This approach has worked well for me, striking a balance between pushing myself in my workouts and allowing ample time for recovery and muscle growth.

What was your starting weight? What is your current weight? When I first started my weight loss journey, I weighed in at 223 pounds and was wearing a size 16. Initially, by focusing mainly on cardio, I managed to bring my weight down to 140 pounds. I fit into a size 8. However, despite the significant weight loss, I noticed that I still had a protruding belly and realized that I had also lost a lot of muscle mass in the process.

Realizing the importance of muscle tone and overall body composition, I shifted my focus to include more strength training in my routine. This change made a substantial difference. Currently, I weigh 160 pounds, and I still wear a size 8, but the composition of my body has changed dramatically. I now have a flatter belly and more defined muscles. I feel stronger, healthier, and more confident, both in how I look and in how I feel in my clothes.

This journey has taught me that the number on the scale is just one aspect of health and fitness. It’s more about how you feel in your body and the strength and wellness you gain along the way.

What is your height? I am 5’9″.

When did you start your journey? How long did your transformation take? My journey towards better health and fitness has been an ongoing process for the past 20 years. It’s been a rollercoaster of gaining and losing weight, a cycle I found myself repeatedly in. However, the real turning point came in 2021. That’s when I made significant changes to my diet and lifestyle, changes that have allowed me to maintain my weight loss more effectively and no longer need to take prescription medications!

Since then, I’ve seen consistent progress, but I like to think of my transformation as an ongoing journey rather than a destination. I am still actively working on my body, focusing now on building muscle and toning. It’s important to me that this journey is about continual improvement and maintaining the healthy habits that have brought me this far.

So, while the most dramatic changes occurred over the last couple of years, my transformation is a continuous process. I’m committed to evolving and enhancing my health and fitness for the long term.

Is weight loss surgery part of your journey? No, I did not have weight loss surgery.

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned so far? The most impactful lesson I’ve learned is the importance of shifting focus from just cardio and scale numbers to strength training, body measurements, and overall wellness. Initially, I was too fixated on how much I weighed and how much cardio I could do, which, while beneficial to some extent, didn’t give me the holistic results I was looking for.

Another significant realization was the importance of understanding food labels. Just because something is marketed as ‘healthy’ doesn’t always mean it is. This awareness has helped me make more informed choices about what I consume.

Discipline and consistency have also been key lessons. Staying committed to my routine and diet, even when it’s challenging, has been crucial in achieving and maintaining my goals.

Lastly, I’ve learned to view my health and fitness journey as an ongoing process without a final destination. It’s about continuous improvement and adapting to my body’s needs over time. This mindset shift has been essential in keeping me motivated and focused on long-term well-being rather than just short-term gains.

What advice do you have for women who want to lose weight?

The most valuable piece of advice I can give is to deeply understand your ‘WHY.’ Knowing why you want to lose weight is a powerful motivator, especially on those tough days when you feel like giving up. This ‘WHY’ becomes your anchor and reminder of your goals and aspirations.

Start your journey with a positive mindset. Recognize that your journey is unique to you; avoid comparing it with others’. Each person’s path to weight loss is different, and that’s perfectly okay.

One of the things I found most transformative was learning to fall in love with my body. It might sound cliché, but loving your body as it is right now will inspire you to take better care of it. It’s about nurturing and respecting your body, not punishing it.

Patience is key. Weight loss is a journey, not a race. Celebrate every small victory and progress, because some progress, no matter how small, is still progress. It’s important to enjoy the journey and not just focus solely on the destination.

Don’t hesitate to seek support. Whether it’s a coach, a fitness trainer, or just an accountability partner, having someone to guide and support you can make a significant difference, especially if you find it overwhelming to do it alone.

And most importantly, never give up. You are capable of incredible things when you put your mind to it. Remember, it’s about transforming your habits and lifestyle for sustainable weight loss. Natural weight loss is definitely achievable, but it’s about finding what works best for you and sticking to it.

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tilevirgo82 · 2 years

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The Mayo Clinic says the rule of thumb with cooked meals is that it must be saved within the refrigerator inside two hours of being left at room temperature. The cooked refrigerated meal should then be consumed inside three to four days, however definitely not as long as a week. More than two hours of the food being left at room temperature will run you the risk of contamination. Consuming meals that has been refrigerated longer than 4 days could lead to food poisoning also referred to as foodborne sickness the place micro organism contaminates the food. The “danger zone” temperature for meals is between forty and 140 degrees Fahrenheit when micro organism can grow fairly quickly. If you know that you'll not eat your leftovers within the most four-day timeframe, then freeze it as quickly as possible.

#外燴

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nevertheless-moving · 3 years

Text

Star Wars AU #10: Deception Time AU

Vader and Obi Wan ~10 years into the empire are offered the chance to go back in time. They both accept.

They get to the past and Vader’s plan consists of loving his wife and having a body and killing Obi-Wan before he can betray him. Palpatine is on THIN kriffing ice because he’s the divine emperor and his True master but the last several years have been hell in a torture suit

if you really press him on the subject he doesn’t actually even like his job very much

He spends a week just reveling in hedonism, which since his scale is so off is inadvertently just regular self-care. Easts a normal variety and quantity of foods. Drinks a ton of water with his working throat. Gets several nights of sleep in a row, with Padme in the bed next to him.

His brain is just spitting out YES YES YES happy serotonin chemicals; partially in response to suddenly NOT being in chronic pain, plus meeting his basic needs to an extent he hasn’t in 12 or 2 years depending on how you count

Time traveler Obi-Wan finishes up his regular mission and makes it back to Courascant. Anakin isn’t really answering his comm but thats not really a red flag (in the original timeline Anakin was using this time to be be sad about something while he avoided everyone so it all checks out)

Obi-Wan seeks out Anakin and Anakin is ready to murder but not R!E!A!D!Y T!O! M!U!R!D!E!R! because of all the above.

Obi-Wan hugs Anakin??, tells him how much he loves him?, is crying??

This did not happen in the original timeline

So vader realizes that Obi-Wan must also be a time traveler, that bastard!

but obi-wan must not know Anakin is a time traveler too, or he would be useing the past tense for love, and attacking, and not hugging

HA HA VADER HAS THE HIGH GROUND NOW

and this hugging thing from Obi-Wan is really nice wow

So Vader pretends to be his past self so he can trick obi-wan at the most DEVASTATING moment possible

and also keep getting hugs and affection

And he’s really not that great an actor but

Obi-Wan’s just thinks how could I have not seen the Seeds Of Darkness And Anger in him so early

Any other discrepancies he can pass off as a vision because he did have those

Time Travel AU where Vader pretends to not be a time traveler and chills tf out for long enough to see that Obi-Wan really, truly would never betray him, even when he knows that in less than one year, Anakin would absolutely become someone who murders all Jedi, no ‘future is always in motion BS’

Anakin knows that Obi Wan knows how huge a threat he is! and also knows that Obi-Wan’s response to that is to cuddle him?

Which is objectively nuts, at this point in the war and with the the also time traveled Vader brimming with leashed darkness, Obi-Wan absolutely should’ve killed him immediately

but we all know that Obi-Wan is insane about this specifically

Fortunately Anakin’s love languages are ‘crazy over the top acts that a little bit violate your most basic principles’ and ‘extremely clear affection’

And now Obi-Wan is doing both! all the time! Every second he doesn’t turn Anakin over to the council as a looming Sith Apprentice!

Obi-Wan stealth assassinates Palpatine and Anakin has mixed feelings

Does the truth ever come out???

#star wars #star wars au #my au #time travel #star wars au no 10 #Deception Time AU

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chubbology · 3 years

Text

The Munchies

prompt: a stoner feedee's girlfriend uses him to test out new edibles and deals with his munchies

Remmy returned home from visiting relatives on the last day of December, and he was very glad to be back. They’d fed him well and his pants were tight, but all the small talk and bad vibes had been as much of a drag as usual.

He opened the door to his apartment and breathed in a familiar, potent scent.

“Baby!” Brianna ran from the kitchen and tackled him.

“Happy almost New Year! Wanna hear my resolution? Baking and getting baked. Check it out.”

She brought him over to the counter, where she was almost done filling up three containers of what Remmy had no doubt were various edibles. He ignored the kitchen mess.

“I’m liking what I see,” Remmy laughed.

She preened and then pinched his love handle. “I bet you do."

"These aren’t your typical brownies, though," she said. "This is gourmet.” She kissed her fingertips in a muah.

The first container was full of moist shortbread, the second with a kind of apple crumble dish that looked divine. Last but not least, the third had a jumble of what like peanut butter cups.

“Try something!” Brianna gushed. She seemed to be a little floaty already. “You’re gonna be my new taste tester. I think I could really be good at this. Make some cash, too.”

So Remmy tried one of the peanut butter cups. His eyes widened, and he smiled. “Bri, these are incredible.” He ate another.

“Take it easy. Two should get you stoned. So says the recipe anyway.” Brianna rubbed his pudgy forearm as he eyed the rest in the container, biting the inside of his lip. “Hey. If you’re just hungry, I can fix that. You wanna eat?”

“I’m starving,” Remmy said. A lie, since he’d had a big lunch before driving back. But he could eat.

“Okay, I’ll get you something! Pay day was Monday. Let’s splurge. What do you want?”

McDonalds, Remmy’s mind supplied easily, in an almost salacious tone. His relatives thought they were too good for McDonalds, and now his body thrummed with the desire to just get a truckload of those greasy combos and revel in the guilt and satisfaction of eating every last unhealthy bite.

Then again. Brianna probably wasn’t okay to drive right now, he didn’t feel like getting back in the car, and the scale told him he’d hit 240 recently, “Let’s just order in.”

“Sounds good to me.”

That night, as they ignored the idiots on television bringing in the New Year, the two of them picked at the apple crumble - which tasted as brilliant as Remmy had suspected - and lounged around, enjoying their high. Brianna barely touched her Chinese takeout, and Remmy ate all of his. Then hers. Then he started grazing the kitchen for more food.

Over the course of the next week, the two of them finished off the rest of what she made, plus some more recipes that turned out delicious. Brianna got a pleasant high every time, and Remmy enjoyed the edibles, too, although his experience was slightly different. It was just—

He just—

He got hungry. Munchies but on unholy overdrive. Cranked to eleven and a half. With every high, Remmy became a little more overwhelmed by the sheer amount of food he felt compelled to pack away, savory and sweet. Takeout and fast food and quarts of ice cream. Nuts and fruits, too. Jar of peanut butter here. Tub of icing there. He’d never been very active, so it came as no surprise when his clothes began stretching over his chest and belly and thighs and ass. He popped a button getting dressed one morning and couldn’t stop thinking about it the rest of the day. He hadn’t realized it would happen so quickly, his body converting all the calories into flab. Flab that padded him out chubbier than he already was, and then more on top of that. In the mirror, he started to look big.

Brianna seemed unfazed by her boyfriend’s growing girth. She took to her baking resolution with as much gusto as she did anything that interested her, and even into March, April, and May, she was selling the edibles well and raked in money that almost made her day job obsolete. Remmy was constantly praised for being “the bestest taste tester ever” and enjoyed a steady stream of free highs to balance out the lows of spending most of his time working his IT job from home.

Working, gaming, watching old movies. Remmy already stayed sitting most of the day, but as he gained weight, gained a lot, filling out his desk chair to its limits, crumbs becoming his constant companion, he felt even less like standing up. His weight climbed to 280, 290, 300.

June, July, and August passed uneventfully, and pretty happily, too. Brianna stopped asking him what food he wanted from the grocery store and just bought him things. Bought him things she knew he’d eat when he got high, things that made his ass spread wider on the couch, his arms round out like sausages, his pudgy chest start to really droop. The scale said 320, 330, 340.

Remmy gave up trying to gain control of the new appetite Brianna’s heavenly edibles seemed to install in him irrevocably. When he craved, he ate, and he ate. And like a dam breaking, his body surged with so much excess fat he began spilling out of even his newest clothes.

He was a little ashamed, sure. But quite a few of his relatives were fat, so they couldn't talk, and it felt like sweet revenge to embarrass his irritating parents by becoming so overweight. As for everyday life, well, he just moved around from room to room slower, wore the same stretchy clothes a lot, and that was it. Remmy did mention his weight in passing sometimes to gauge Brianna’s feelings about it, but Brianna only ever giggled, called him cute, and passed him her venti sugary monstrosity of a coffee concoction, which he thoughtlessly sucked down to the dregs, ingesting a thousand-plus calories just like that. This made her eyes sparkle, huge and utterly endeared.

“Like a piggy,” she said, thumbing his fat cheek. “Always willing to eat.”

In bed, she made it clear she liked him the way he was, and was becoming. And it wasn’t long before Remmy realized he was into how big he was becoming, too.

They continued like this. Getting high together and watching movies and making out and snacking. Well, Brianna snacked. Remmy feasted. Gorged himself, to put it precisely, with Brianna’s enthusiastic help. “You look good soft,” she’d tell him, playing with belly fat that his stretchiest t-shirts couldn’t cover anymore.

Remmy would swallow another bite of a snickers and spread his huge thighs a little, with effort. “You call it soft, but I’m the one who gets tired moving from the office to the kitchen.” I’m so heavy, he wanted to say. God, I’m so heavy.

“Just move your computer to the kitchen then,” she said. “Duh.”

It was a seed planted that came to fruition a month later - when Remmy’s food cravings became unmanageable and his weight climbed past 360 - that he felt he would simply be more productive during his day job if his breaks to get food from the kitchen were shorter.

By November, whether he was high or not, Remmy was grazing all day, everyday. What Brianna got from the store became insufficient, and he started a habit of ordering take out most days. In big portions. His scale creaked at 375. When Brianna wasn’t home, he sometimes ate takeout on the scale to see if the number would rise.

On Remmy’s birthday in early December, Brianna made a fresh batch of his favorites again: the peanut butter cup edibles. After ordering pizza for delivery, she got in the shower, and Remmy scarfed down three of the big cups as soon as they cooled. Then he waited, leaning against the counter, scrolling on his phone, belly hanging, feet hurting. He didn’t want to go to the effort of sitting on the couch and getting back up again when he could just stay in the kitchen, where he knew he’d end up anyway.

He scratched his supple underbelly. Found a pack of Twizzlers and started eating those.

Soon enough, his breathing slowed as he felt the high slowly come over him. And, as expected, his whole body immediately began to tingle for satiation. Fattening food sung to him from the pantry and fridge and freezer all at once, and it was all going to make him so huge and heavy he wouldn’t be able to stand on his own wide feet, but he wanted it anyway.

He didn’t care if he was pushing 390 now. He’d blown up, yeah. Inflated from a thick guy to obese and waddling. At this point, he was so pumped so big with blubber that he couldn’t twitch without jiggling, but so what? He was hungry. Being high made him want to consume, and so he did. He couldn’t stop. Didn’t want to.

Remmy opened the fridge and took out his birthday cake, which Brianna must have stuck in there after getting home from work. He couldn’t wait to eat it properly. There was no way he could wait until after the pizza came. Besides, it was his birthday. Remmy took off the plastic lid of the round, triple chocolate cake and felt his nerves light up with anticipation. He was going to eat it all, and there was no stopping him.

He found a knife and cut himself a slice three times the size any reasonable person would take. Desperate to get the goodness into his mouth without delay, he skipped a fork and bit right into the gooey, dense cake and mouse and fudge. God, Brianna was so perfect for getting him the unhealthiest cake imaginable. She knew he didn’t care if he was ten pounds heavier tomorrow, if his fat ass ripped his sweatpants open, if he ate so much he couldn’t haul himself to bed—she knew he needed this.

He ate slice after slice, and it was mostly gone when Brianna got out of the shower, looking sexier than usual in her matching purple lingerie. She’d gotten chubbier with so much junk food in the apartment, and fat clung to her in all the right places. But her pudge was a far cry from his angry-red stretch marks and neck rolls. Hell, his moobs had grown bigger than her tits.

She found him in the kitchen, eating and holding his drooping belly, and she rubbed his back, cooing at him when he apologized.

“It’s okay. I figured you wouldn’t be able to wait all night. How are you feeling?”

“Good,” Remmy said, but all he could think about was getting his next bite. As she watched him, he tried to hold out. Tried to prove he could stop eating for two seconds. Three seconds, four - his resolve broke and he crammed the rest of a slice into his mouth and chewed, choking back a moan.

“You get the munchies so bad, don’t you?” Brianna grinned and leaned against his belly, patting and cupping his weighty breasts in the way she knew pleased him. “Let’s get you sat down. I’ll bring you what you need. Just sit and relax and watch whatever you want.” They moved to the couch and Remmy sat, the cushions wheezing, his thighs and belly quivering. Brianna tucked the remainder of the cake into his pudgy hands. “Don’t worry about a mess. It’s your birthday. And there’s more where that came from.” She winked. “I just needed to keep this cake refrigerated because it’s fancy. There’s a whole sheet cake on top of the fridge that’s cheap and huge. Covered in icing. Perfect for munchies.”

Remmy could only feel a wave of relief at this news. There would be more cake. And after that, there’d still be more junk in the cabinets. There was pizza coming. His high was just right. Brianna turned on the television to his favorite show and he settled further back into the cushions, feeling his second chin swell out and engulf his first. Everything was just right. He was lucky to have Brianna and food. So much food.

A year later, around the same time, Remmy skipped his usual trip to see his relatives for the holidays. At 520 pounds, it was simply too much effort to move.

Thank you to the reader who commissioned this work!

I'd love to write more. Check me out <3 etsy.com/shop/Chubbology

#weight gain #fic #female feeder #male gainer #named

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tinyboxxtink · 3 years

Text

"Weird Secret Friends" *Chapter 2*

Part 1

Part 3

Y'all IDK what it is about this story but I can just write and write and write. This one ended up being 11 pages [on a google doc] And I only stopped because it's 2:15 am.

I hope you guys like this, but I just want to clarify: This isn't a Barisi fic. I'm sorry, if you're looking for that, just...this isn't it. I mean they do interact and it'll be fun, but they will not be ending up together.

That being said, enjoy this new chapter! I'm debating on how pathetic enamored Sonny is, I don't think I'm gonna go that deep. No worries, people.

As always let me know if you want to be added/deleted off the tag list!! <3

Tag List

@madamsnape921

@lolliepopsicle

@chasingeverybreakingwave

@milkshqke

@wanniiieeee

@word-scribbless

@gibbs274

@sassyada

@aprildecker-blog

@bookishfanfic

@stars-in-the-skies-world

@stars-trash-18

@omgsuperstarg

@objection-argumentative

-------

"Y/N, I'm so happy for you and Barba. You make the cutest couple," Sonny beamed at you while you were wrapped in Rafael's arms, huge smiles on all of your faces.

"Thank you Sonny, that means so much." You gave him a warm hug.

"Yeah….and you'll make the cutest couple in HELL!" All of a sudden Sonny pushed both you and Rafael off a cliff.

You were falling to your death when you woke up to your professor glaring at you.

"Have a nice nap, Miss Y/N?" He scowled at you.

"Um," You cleared your throat and straightened up at your desk. "Yes sir,"

"Good," he huffed as he headed to the front of the classroom once more. "Maybe now we can continue without your snoring,"

You heard the students around you snicker at his comments as You sunk lower into your desk and waited for class to end. It had been a long train ride home and then a drive to your apartment last night, you hadn't gotten home until around 2 am and had this 8 am class. As soon as the professor dismissed your class you booked it out of the class and out into the parking lot of your community college.

"Ugh, could this day get any--" before you could even finish your thought you got your answer. Your phone beeped with a text from Rafael:

RAFA: Hey killer, how's the bullshit county? 😉

That was the nice thing, then just as you were about to text him back your phone lit up.

SONNY BOI CALLING

"Shit!" You hissed to no one. "How does he know?!"

"Ahem….Heyyy, cuz," You answered it with your best nonchalant voice. That of course sounded totally chalant.

"Hey sunshine," His voice sounded relaxed, thank God.

"What's up?" You tried keeping your tone light as you neared your car.

"Well y'know I was just thinkin, I feel real bad about standing you up last night,"

"Oh, Son it's no big deal really," the fact that he felt guilty about anything made you feel even more guilty.

"No, I know you have a busy schedule and it takes a lot to get into the City and I just blew you off," He kept on with the guilt train.

"You didn't blow me off Son you had work. I get that--" You unlocked your car and got in, starting it so your windows would thaw. And your whole body.

"Well I wanna make it up to you," He cut you off.

"Oh?" your voice fell short. This couldn't be good.

"Yeah, my boss-- well he's not really My boss but Mr. Barba--"

Oh shit. Barba? Was Barba having a party? Why wouldn't He tell you that? Wait why WOULD he tell you that? Stupid. Wait, what was Sonny saying?

".... birthday, so you could be like my date," you caught the tail end of his invite.

"Birthday?" You repeated like a parrot. It was Barba's birthday? Oh god. You were really trying not to focus on how old he was. Don't ask. For the love of god don't say it Sonny.

"Yeah don't worry you don't need to get him anything, I got it covered," Sonny assured you.

Well, that was one way you could figure out just how much your cousin cared about his "idol". The more expensive the gift, the stronger the feelings were. You wondered whether you should ask him now or wait for the surprise. Maybe you should ask now, then his answer should tell you what you'd be getting into.

*So what did you get this 'non boss' of yours?" You asked slyly.

"Oh," now Sonny's voice dropped. "Well I, I don't wanna say,"

Fuck.

Don't panic. Do not panic.

"Oh come on Sonny," you did your best to keep a joking tone. "What am I gonna do, tell him?"

Should you joke about it? Hidden in plain sight, right?

"No I guess not, it's not like you know him,"

Whew.

"It's just kinda embarrassing…."

Oh god.

"O-Oh?" You tried to stay calm. "Why's that? Is it a gag gift?"

Please be a gag gift.

"Actually it's a new briefcase," He replied.

"Oh why is that embarrassing you goof?” You gave him a hard time. What was that in the emotional baggage department? Pun intended.

"I mean, it's more expensive than the one I own," You could hear the shrug in his voice.

Fuck. Don't ask why. Don't ask. But if you don't ask, that will be even more suspicious wouldn't it?

"Oh Son," You asked softly. "Why would you do that?"

"Well the one he has is as old as dirt, I think it's probably the first one he ever bought. I wanted him to look snazzy in court." He replied with a super eager tone.

"That's sweet," you were pounding your steering wheel in frustration. Say it.

"Seems like a lot of work for a mentor though," You closed your eyes mentally killing yourself.

"Yeah well," he laughed uncomfortably.

Say it.

"Sonny…” You didn’t want to do this.

“Yeah?” He was oblivious.

“You know you can always talk to me,”

“Yeah of course,” He assured you.

“About anything,” You scrunched your nose.

“Yeah I know, sunshine,” He half laughed.

“ANYTHING,” You reiterated

There was a long awkward pause.

“...Sonny?” You made sure he hadn’t hung up on you.

“Yeah, I'm here,” He replied softly.

“So?” You waited for the bomb to drop.

So…. He sighed. "I just want him to like me,"

Dammit.

"....Yeah," You nodded, cursing yourself.

"Yeah, its stupid. I'm stupid." He laughed again.

“You're not stupid,” you laid your head on the steering wheel in shame.” I mean the heart wants what it wants right?”

“What?! Oh my god, Y/N,” He scoffed. “I'm not gay,”

“….Sonny it's 2021,” you shook your head. “Sexuality is a spectrum,”

Right well. He laughed defensively. "I'm on the p in the v scale,"

“Ugh, Sonny,” you made a face.

“Sorry sunshine,” He apologized. “I just...why would you even think that?!”

“Uh…” You paused.

Maybe he wasn't fully aware that he had romantic feelings for Rafael. If you started pointing out the signs, he might realize it. But then you'd have a cousin going through gay panic AND then finding out it doesn't matter anyway.

"No reason," You lied.

"I just want him to like him so he'll give me a good recommendation once I graduate Fordham Law,"

"Oh" you smacked your head. "Duh. Right. Of course,"

That was completely legitimate. Maybe you had been misreading this whole thing. Now you just had the whole overprotective Gotti side of Sonny to worry about.

"Well I guess I could spend the weekend in the city," You shrugged as you pulled out of the parking lot.

“Absolutely!” He exclaimed. “My couch is always open,”

Not exactly where you were thinking of sleeping, but you weren't blowing your cover over the phone. Wait, maybe you should. Then he couldn't kill you over the phone. Wait, he's presumably at work right now. You didn't know how closely he worked with Barba, but you figured it would be a hell of a lot easier for Sonny to get to him before you could stop him from killing Rafael.

"Sure sounds good. I'll see you then cuz,” You smiled and hung up the phone.

------

Friday arrived, and you once again found yourself standing outside Forlini's. You debated heavily whether to go in or not, but you told yourself you were going to wait for Sonny outside this time, no more risking a sexy bar rendezvous.

You hadn’t really responded to Rafael’s texts the last few days, and you certainly didn’t tell him you were coming. Maybe you should have told him. You grabbed your phone to text him when you heard a familiar voice behind you:

“Y/N?”

You spun around to see Rafael dressed to the 9’s, smiling at you. He smelled delicious, mixed with the food aroma wafting out of the restaurant and the smell of freshly fallen snow in New York City.

“...Happy Birthday, Counselor,” You bit your lip nervously.

“W-What are you doing here?” He stared at you as if he thought he was dreaming.

“Sonny invited me,” You nervously smiled.

“Seriously?” He laughed.

“Seriously,” You nodded with a laugh as well.

“Did-- did you say anything to him?” He asked you worriedly.

“Are you insane?!” You hit him. “No!”

“So why did he invite you here?” He asked.

“He said it was to make up for ditching me the other night,” You shrugged.

“...The irony,” He smirked.

“Mmm,” You nodded with an amused smile.

“Well this is a very happy birthday indeed,” He smiled, pulling you closer into his coat similar to the night you had met.

“....Just don’t ask which one it is,” He warned you while staring at your lips deviously.

“Deal,” You nodded in agreement before he pulled you into a hungry kiss.

“DUDE!!” You snapped back before his lips were on yours for more than a millisecond. “Are you nuts?! Sonny’s gonna be here any second!”

“It’s my birthday, carino,” He made a pouty face. “Don’t yell at me,”

“Oh lord,” You rolled your eyes. “Alright, man child,”

He was about to go for another sneaky kiss when you both heard a voice from behind you.

“....Sunshine?”

“Oh!” You jumped ten feet away from Rafael when you turned to see Sonny standing there with a huge gift bag, staring slack jawed at the two of you. “Sonny! I um, we--”

“I was teaching your cousin a lesson in New York safety,” Rafael talked over you, his face completely stone. God he was a good liar.

“Excuse me, counselor?” Sonny raised an eyebrow, glancing between the two of you. You just stared in speechlessness.

“She was standing on this curb holding her bag out for any miscreant on these streets to just wrestle away from her, I was just demonstrating how,” He gestured to your open purse.

“Barba I really think this ain’t that kinda neighborhood,” Sonny half laughed.

“...You never know,” Rafael shrugged. “Now let’s all get inside, I’m sure everyone is anxious to start celebrating me,”

You and Sonny both rolled your eyes with smiles; too similar of smiles, you noticed. Thankfully, he did not. You both followed Rafael back to a private room where a bunch of fancy dressed people were mingling with drinks in their hands while two long empty tables stood in the middle of the room. They all stopped and clapped when Rafael walked in.

“Oh, for me?” He feigned surprise and humility.

“Yeah right Barba,” A woman laughed sarcastically. “You’re the one who invited us here,”

“Touche, Rita,” Rafael smirked as he began making the rounds around the table greeting everyone.

“So are we allowed to eat now, I’m starving,” An older man asked.

“And I’ve got a son waiting,” A red headed woman chimed in.

“Right, right,” Rafael nodded as people began to take seats. “Sorry everyone, you know I love to make a dramatic entrance,”

“Oh trust me we know, Barba,” Another man called. “Your catwalks into the courtroom prove that. I think we have a montage of them,”

“Ha Ha,” Rafael rolled his eyes, then turned to you and Sonny.

“Sonny,” He put a hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t you sit next to me?”

“R-Really, counselor?” You saw Sonny’s eyes light up like Christmas tree lights.

Fuck. You knew he was only asking him so that you would sit next to him as well. And while you loved the idea, you knew how much this was toying with Sonny’s feelings.

“A-Are you sure, about that Mr. Barba?” You gave him a look.

“Absolutely, Miss-- I didn’t catch your name?” He played it so cool.

“Y/N,” You held out your hand as you re-introduced yourself.

“Right, well--” He shook your hand then turned his attention to Sonny who was still beaming like a kid on Christmas. “I don’t know how much Carisi has told you, but he is quite the promising mentee of mine,”

“....R-Really, Rafael?” Sonny blinked in disbelief, causing Rafael’s smile to falter for a moment. Sonny had never called him “Rafael” before, it was always “Barba”. Shit, maybe he had given him too much praise.

“I mean, you know, for a lap dog,” He quickly added with a snarky tone and a smirk.

“Mr. Barba!” You tried not to raise your voice at the birthday boy. “That is my cousin you’re talking ab---”

“No, no it’s fine Y/N-- th-that’s how we work isn’t it, counselor? He just gives me jabs, I know he doesn’t mean it,” Sonny laughed nervously, staring at the floor. He knew not to get too comfortable with Barba, why did he even try it?

“Indeed,” Rafael nodded in agreement. “But, I still request you sit by me-- at least I know you don't poison my food. Which is more than I can say for many of my esteemed ‘guests’,” He eyed the tables of people before him.

“Then why invite them to your party?” You quirked an eyebrow.

“I get that Jersey doesn’t have the social classes of Manhattan, Miss Y/N,” He smirked. “But here, you’ve got to do things to keep up appearances,”

“Oh do you?” You practically growled.

“Yes,” He nodded while a waiter brought him a glass of scotch. “Even if you don’t like someone, if they serve a purpose for you than you do what you must to keep in their good graces,”

“Oh is that so? So you’re only kind to people who can ‘serve’ you?” You crossed your arms and narrowed your eyes at him.

What kind of Danny Zuko bullshit was this?! This was an entirely different Rafael Barba you had met the other night. He was kind, flirty, endearing. This new Barba was snarky and condescending, and you were not amused at all.

“Y/N, chill,” Sonny hissed at you. “This is just how Barba is, he’s harmless,”

“Yeah well you might not mind being his doormat Sonny, but I sure as hell won’t be,” You angrily stomped off.

“Oh my god,” Sonny muttered, wondering if he should run after you or not. “Barba, I am so so sorry about her,”

“It’s fine, Carisi,” He watched you stomping away, trying to hide the guilt in his voice. He was just trying his best to throw Sonny off the trail. He may have overcompensated just a tad.

“I-I should go check on her, She’s just a kid--”

“No, allow me,” Rafael put a hand to Sonny’s chest. “It was my faux paux, I should apologize to her myself. I was being a bit of an ass,”

“Yeah but that’s just you, Barba,” Sonny chuckled, trying not to blush at Rafael’s hand on his chest.

“True, but I forget not everyone knows me as well as you do, Carisi,” And now he was trying to be extra nice to Sonny to get on his good side, while cluelessly egging on his feelings.

“That is very true,” Sonny laughed even more nervously. “I’ll uh, I’ll take a seat and get our drinks ordered,”

“Excellent,” Rafael smiled at him, probably one of five times in the entire time they’d known each other. He gave Sonny one more pat on the back before walking after where you had stomped off to.

He found you right before you hit the front door, his hand catching yours before it could grab the handle. You turned and scoffed at him, your scowl still present after stomping off.

“Oh, come to appease me, counselor? How can I be of service to you?” You snapped.

“Please, Y/N,” He gave you apologetic eyes as he pulled you closer to him. “I’m sorry, I just-- I didn’t want Carisi to think anything was off. He already caught us being handsy, I had to make it look like we disliked each other,” He explained.

“Oh I think you’ve done that above and beyond, jackass,” You huffed. “First I’m too stupid to not get robbed in the city, and then I’m too uncultured to understand ‘high society’ manipulative bullshit?”

“I’m sorry, I may have gone a little over--” He started.

“But that wasn’t even an act, was it?” You interjected angrily.

“What do you mean?” He asked you curiously.

“Your line of you having ‘use’ of a person? I assume that is why you have a room full of powerful people you dislike as opposed to a room full of sycophants?” Yeah, you might just go to community college but you knew big words too.

“I mean, that is how it works--”

“Jesus Christ,” You shook your head with a laugh. “You know I understood for about half a second why my cousin is so infatuated by you, but I am losing that belief real quick,” You turned and started to walk away again.

“Y/N come on,” He grabbed both of your arms this time and pulled you close into him, your noses almost touching.

“Look I’m-- I’m sorry, that I’m---this,” He gestured to himself.

“But that’s just how I have to be in their world,” He gestured back towards the room. “I’m telling you, it’s a room full of sharks. If I show weakness or misstep in decorum, I’m nothing but chum to those people,”

“The guy you met the other night, that’s the real me,” He put a hand to your cheek. “I never get to be that guy, not in public. That’s why I was so attracted to you,” He put his other hand on your waist.

“I don’t have to be ‘Rafael Barba, the snarky ADA with a silver tongue,’ I can just be…’Rafa’,” He gave you an earnestly sad smile.

“I’m sorry,” You blinked in confusion. “I know I’m not helping myself but what exactly is the ‘ADA’?”

Your question brought that familiar amused grin and a laugh. “See, this is what I’m talking about,”

“Oh yeah I know, the ignorant girl you can placate--”

“No,” He put a finger on your lips. “The earnest, normal, gorgeous girl,” He kissed your forehead. “I’m sure if we took a poll in here right now the majority of the room would be with you, not knowing what an ADA is,”

“Which still doesn’t answer the question,” You pointed out.

“I…” He tried to think of a way to explain his role in the Manhattan judicial system. “Well, the DA of the county is like-- the King of Lawyers in that section. Or queen, as my boss is Rita,” He shook his head with a laugh. Oh Rita Calhoun, the stories he could tell about her.

“So, you’re her king?” You raised an eyebrow.

“Eh, I’d say Prince but she’d probably say Jester if she heard this metaphor to be honest with you,”

“Mmm I like that,” You finally let yourself smile at him.

“A Prince?” He grinned.

“The Jester,” You gave him a tongued smile, settling against his chest.

“Well, I’ll gladly take that title if it makes you happy,” He kissed your forehead. “I’d do anything to make you happy right now,”

You looked into his green eyes, they were now their usual sparkling green hue, and you remembered very quickly how you had gotten yourself in this mess in the first place. He really was a sweet, charming, gorgeous guy. And then you remembered those were probably all the reasons Sonny fell for him too.

“Ahem.” You straightened up and stepped out of his grasp. “Well, what would make me happy right now is getting back to my cousin,”

“Oh,” Rafael’s eyes softened into a sad gaze.

“Rafael, I think he really likes you,” You bit your lip with guilt. “And you toying with him just now isn’t helping!”

“Toying with him?” Rafael’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion? “I wasn’t toying with--”

“Sit by me, Carisi? You’re important to me, Carisi?” You imitated his questions in a mocking tone.

“I had to ask him that so you would--” He started to explain, but you already knew.

“I know!” You stopped him. “I know, that’s why it’s so fucked!” You put your hands over your face.

“Carino…” Rafael walked over and pulled your hands from your face and held them.

“I’m hurting him every second that I stand here with you, and I--” You bit your lip trying not to cry. “I’m still doing it! I can’t walk away!”

“So don’t,” He squeezed your hands with an even sadder look.

“This is just--” You broke free from his grasp once again and wiped your eyelids. “We need to get back before Sonny comes after you,”

“....So where does this conversation leave us, then?” He asked you cautiously.

“I don’t…” You gazed into his puppy dog emerald eyes. “I don’t know, I don’t want to think about it right now, okay?”

“Fair enough,” He put his hands down in concession. “...But we really need to--”

“Yeah, I know,” You nodded softly as you walked back to the private room, Rafael trailing behind you.

All you could think on the way back was how in God’s name were you going to make it through the rest of the night.

#rafael barba #rafael barba x you #rafael barba x reader #rafael barba fanfiction #rafael barba imagine'#sonny carisi #law and order svu #weird secret friends

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whetstonefires · 4 years

Text

mcu ethics bad

The thing is that, while I was angry at Tony during Age of Ultron, particularly when he rode over Bruce’s compunctions about building a giant combat super-robot and pressured him into the project like a very very bad friend who happened to also be wrong...

...and when he equipped Hulkbuster armor and fought the Hulk in the middle of a city rather than attempting de-escalation or attempting to haul the Hulk out into the giant adjacent desert....

(And my suspension of disbelief snapped like a frayed cable when he brought down a skyscraper that had had no time to be evacuated on a street full of fleeing people and the only reason we were given to believe he hadn’t just cold-bloodedly created massive civilian casualties was that he told his AI to find the impossible magic angle where doing this wouldn’t kill anyone...)

While I was angry with him then, and unspeakably relieved that he recognized his own damage and retired at the end, haha psych, I was revolted by him during Civil War.

It’s supposed to make us sympathize with a character more, spending so much time with them, getting into their heads, being shown their emotional drives and reactions to things, and we spent so much time with Tony during that film, understanding his point of view. And...I did understand him. He’s not complicated. I even sympathized with his emotional state.

But in the context of his actions, throughout the film, I gazed into that understanding the way I did into Kylo Ren’s face in the seconds after he first unmasked. I see you, I know you, everything you are is written here, and the lines of your shame and self-revulsion are so thick upon you, and you should be ashamed but your self-destruction does not expiate or justify one jot of the harm you do.

Because everything Tony did in Civil War came from a place of selfishness. He was selfish all throughout that movie down to his very spine.

And selfishness isn’t itself necessarily bad--you need a little, to get through life, you have the right to your own portion of it. Your boundaries and your needs. But the type of selfishness that is forcing other people pay dearly for your emotional comfort and sense of control: no.

That is tyranny. That is not acceptable.

And you know how I know he was being selfish? Because his motive for pushing the Sokovia Accords was his personal guilt for the destruction of Sokovia.

But the Accords didn’t address that at all! They were tangential to the issue! None of the terms of the Accords would have saved Sokovia--in fact, the existence of them could easily have prevented the evacuation and harm-reduction the Avengers managed there, without saving a single soul.

The Ultron crisis was something Tony did, not as Iron Man but as Tony Stark, with Bruce Banner’s help, and which Wanda as criminal fugitive later helped exacerbate, and which all the other Avengers were involved in only to mitigate harm.

Legislation, or...treaties, idk, the UN isn’t actually empowered to pass laws so who knows what this thing was...aimed at preventing another Sokovia would mandate constant ethical oversight of billionaire science man’s mad science. At the very least! He never has to run things by ethics boards because he’s self-funded, at the very least let’s invent a mechanism to make up for that.

That would address the actual Sokovia issue, both in terms of risks and in terms of Tony’s personal guilt feelings.

But no one suggests that! It’s not even on the table! Because no one, certainly not any government, can tell Tony Stark what to do unless he lets them, that’s been a clear matter of record since Iron Man 2.

And because no one writing this legal instrument of whatever description was actually motivated by wanting to avoid another Sokovia, or even another ‘Wanda tries to neutralize a suicide bomber but merely gives him a different, smaller victim pool’ incident.

They didn’t care! They blatantly didn’t care! The entire thing was a ghoulish use of the dead to gain enough political leverage over the Avengers to put a leash on them!

(Which might not be a bad thing in principle, everything needs its checks, but when the last quasi-governmental organization you worked for turned out to be Nazis who were only prevented from staging a mass slaughter of undesireables by the skin of your teeth, I think you’re well within your rights to be very choosy about who you agree to obey, and to be firmly against pledging your honor to follow people whose first move was dishonest coercive tactics.

Actually you’re well within your rights to demand to negotiate the terms of even a much less sweeping contract, even without the Nazis. The whole approach to this thing stank to high heaven.

The fact that it was written by the UN like a treaty, expected to be signed by private individuals like a contract, and then enforced like a law except not because 1) laws are for everyone 2) if you break a law you get a trial not extrajudicial incarceration and 3) being pressured to consent to a restriction and then punished for refusing consent is hypocritical circular logic and in fact police corruption at its finest, all continues to show it was a bullshit nonsense franken-document.)

The whole movie is people ghoulishly using the dead to manipulate Tony into making bad decisions in response to his emotional pain. That’s. The plot of the film.

Then Zemo staged T’Chaka’s assassination and framed Bucky for it to raise the tension, ramp up the pressure, and prevent any sitting-down and talking reasonably through this, which might have allowed for the recognition of how extremely bullshit the entire concept was.

Tony was being used. Tony was a tool of bad people for most of that movie, and while Zemo banked on using his wrath for it, the politicos were leaning on his guilt.

And there’s honestly little I hold in deeper scorn than going out and hurting other people to assuage your own guilt and treating this as having the moral high ground. No. You don’t have the moral high ground on account of your guilt motivation. You have it if the actions you took were just, or at least could reasonably be assumed to have been so at the time.

And Tony fucking knew they weren’t. He didn’t even last to the end of the movie before recognizing that he’d been manipulated and fucked up, and doubling back.

That he then walked into a different manipulation, turned on a dime, and had to be stopped from doing a murder doesn’t unwrite that.

And it drives me nuts that people will say Tony was acting out of principle while Steve was acting out of personal attachment. Because sure, the Bucky thing was important, was the reason he was walking forward against all opposition instead of standing still to argue, but it wasn’t the reason Steve said no, while...

Tony wasn’t acting out of principle. Tony isn’t...very good at having principles. That’s not even a criticism or condemnation, it’s just how he functions. Since Iron Man he’s been substituting good intentions and emotional investment, which has worked out to varying degrees. It works best for huge, difficult, very straightforward decisions like ‘ride the nuke through the portal and save my hometown.’ It works less well for nuanced situations.

Tony was, as usual, acting out of emotion. And some awful shitheads who’d figured out where his levers were had calculated how to jiggle his emotion switches in the right places to make him do exactly what they wanted.

And you can tell he wasn’t acting out of principle because, for example, someone who was trying to get the superhero community under outside control for the sake of harm mitigation...

...well, firstly wouldn’t have chosen to stage a massive battle? But it’s possible someone in the UN specifically told him to do that, and in theory they at the very least signed off on it, presumably for its PR value of making Captain America look deranged and violent since it’s a deranged decision from every other angle, so yay, he can pass that responsibility up the chain and not have to angst about it, as promised.

But I was going to say would not have approached a minor who (this timeline takes pains to show us) had no prior experience of battle or even, somehow, serious violent crime, to recruit him to go be a government child soldier on another continent, without his guardian’s knowledge or consent. There were overtones of blackmail in Tony’s approach, before it turned out Peter was such a big fan he didn’t need that. What the fuck frankly.

That is not the action of someone who wants to start doing things by the letter, scaling the violence down, keeping within the law and putting the power of decisionmaking in other people’s hands because he’s realized he can’t trust his own.

And frankly even if he did act like that I wouldn’t necessarily support his choices, in particular his snap decision to behave coercively toward other Avengers with vastly less social power and security than he has.

And that’s the other thing! Everything about ‘Tony + Accords BFFs’ rings so hollow because he has never thought rules applied to him, and he knows perfectly well the entire time he’s fighting to force this surrender of agency down other people’s throats that he is going to be practically immune.

This man was technically a terrorist, proabably the most prolific single terrorist in world history until his rogue android exceeded his body count, but he was immune to prosecution because he was in tight with the United States military-industrial complex and basically untouchable due to his status within capitalism, and pursuing their international goals anyway. In the time between Iron Man and Iron Man II he was basically a one-man upgrade of the US drone program, and so good at it that the crest of blood he carved through the Middle East allowed him to announce he had ‘privatized world peace.’

(You are never going to get a world peace worth anything on the basis of a giant flying gun, okay.)

He went to war as a private individual, against non-state actors who were not directly threatening him, which is very much defined as ‘mass murder’ in all domestic and international law, and the US army in response sued him for control of his weapon. And lost! Lost.

No one attempted to press charges. No one. Because Tony Stark is above all that. And he knows it.

And like. I’m willing to accept the mass murder under the heading of ‘superheroing’ within the terms of this setting! Even if, after his vengeance rampage on his specific kidnappers, this violence was kept strictly off-screen for a reason. I did that! I bent that far! Genre convention!

But this history is kind of vitally important to any analysis of what he thought he was doing, and what he actually was doing, when he decided to become the iron gauntlet of the Sokovia Accords.

The currently active member of the Avengers who needed muzzling most was very manifestly Iron Man, and he knew even as he jammed the muzzle on all his comrades to make himself feel better that it would affect him the least, even if he didn’t finally retire for real this time. You don’t force Tony Stark. Not if you want anything out of it but blown up. You persuade him.

And once you have...oh, look at what he can do.

#hoc est meum #mcu #tony stark critical #i am so angry with this man and i will never stop #i throw salt #an ocean of it

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seventeenlovesthree · 3 years

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I forget. Did you ever draw either Taichi or Koushiro having their, "oh..." moment about the other? You know, the classic, "oh, I'm in love with him," trope

I actually haven't put it to paper yet, but I DEFINITELY want to, because, on a pining scale, nothing even comes remotely close to the sheer heartache during the moment of realization - especially when you have two "nuts" like Taichi and Koushirou. I have mainly drawn cheesy stuff recently, with them either being clueless or in an established relationship already, because I craved some happiness for them. But the thing is - there are so many possibilities to pull this off, whether you take the canon OR (like me) one of various AUs as baseline.

Canon wise, you might have little moments between them here and there (like the card incident or the entirety of the Dark Masters arc in 01 or the camp scenes in 02) where one of them just... Wonders if this is normal. (In addition to Yamato completely losing it over the fact that they simply can't seem to grasp it.) That's usually the angst route, because once one has realized what's going on, they might be too afraid to approach it or fear that the other will not like them the same way. (Although canon also implies that Koushirou has enough of Taichi's sh*t and wants him to be honest - and Taichi having an emotional outburst is also a great opportunity to make a confession happen eventually.)

For my AUs, I have two scenes pretty clearly in my mind... One of them being a more aggressive version of the scene I recently drew about Koushirou confessing to Taichi that he's adopted. In a scenario in which they are best friends, Taichi would first confess to him about his past trauma with Hikari (they'd be in their mid-teens here), which causes Koushirou to contemplate the idea that Taichi has to be the first one he talks to about it. Koushirou might voice his concerns on how he wasn't sure Taichi would have looked at him differently and that it was difficult to come to terms with himself for the longest time and Taichi would just panic and shout the "BUT YOU ARE LOVED!" at him, grabbing him by the shoulders insistently, before he stammers "... By your parents, I mean, they love you very much." And when they depart, Koushirou thanks him for listening, Taichi reassures him once more - and once they're both alone at their respective homes, they have a classic "Stares at the ceiling, leans against closed door and collapses under the weight of their own feelings for each other after it FINALLY sank in" moment. Cries.

The other moment would be Christmas related - everyone remembers the Christmas episode in 02, right? I'd age them up 1-2 years and make the whole situation a bit more cheesy (I will write this as a fic as well one day): It's Christmas Eve and Tokyo has been riddled by digital distortions recently. The Chosen Children all plan to spend their Christmas differently: Mimi is with her parents celebrating in New York, Jyou has also travelled to the landside after his brother dragged him to have a time out for once. Yamato is having a concert once again and Sora, Taichi and Koushirou decide to attend it in the later afternoon, Takeru and Hikari are actually celebrating with the other 02 kids again. The Yagami family has a tradition of baking huge amounts of sweets on Christmas Eve, whereas the Izumi family plans to have a nice dinner in the evening, so Koushirou promises to be there in time - but before the concert even begins, he discovers another distortion and informs Taichi about it. Who just texts back "That sounds serious. Want to come over early?" and he hesitates, being a bit self-conscious. He had acquired a present for Taichi, but when Mimi made a huge deal about how "presents (and going out together) on Christmas Eve are such a romantic gesture here in Japan!", he started doing research and tries to figure out the meaning of all of this. Tentomon reassures him, but he doesn't quite know how to deal with it. But - distortions are serious, so he has to see him, right??? He promises Kae again that he will definitely be back home in time today and rushes over to the Yagamis - just to be greeted by Yuuko who said she sent her children to buy more ingredients (and she didn't let Taichi warn him beforehand). So they spend time baking until Taichi and Hikari rush back, Taichi is still grumpy about it, but they settle and have a good time after all (cue a scene in which Taichi just... Stares at the cookies Koushirou made and... tries to makes sense of that weird buzzing in his stomach as well). They'd then leave, escort Hikari over to the Motomiya residence, she wishes them "a nice date" (cue blushes and denial), they attend the concert, Sora is actually confessing this time, distortions happen, they have to fight... And succeed. In the end, Taichi accompanies Koushirou on his way back home as well - and the latter decides to actually hand him the present (it's the football tickets mentioned in this interview, because this is still the most romantic thing I can imagine for both of them being clueless teenagers). Taichi actually has something for him as well (it's a book on his current interest haven't decided what it is yet and ointment, since he has noticed that he rubbed his wrists a lot recently when working too long on his laptop) and they depart with bashful smiles, a "Merry Christmas, see you soon" on their lips - and the cheesy "looking against the ceiling, chest burning with sudden affection" moment once again. :D

... Sorry for the rant. I really want to write this one day. There are 7362628 other possibilities as well, but these are the most vivid to me. (I also have a dramatic/life or death situation fight scene in which Kou reaches out to Taichi and can't reach him due to their enemies keeping them separate and he just shouts "TAICHI!" without the -san and THAT is what snaps him out of a state of trance and it's a wake-up-call for both of them. I love my tropes, okay.)

(Also, the closest I ever drew of Koushirou having an “Oh” moment might still be this, haha.)

#personal #i have way too many feelings about them

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gambitgazette · 4 years

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The X-Perts: Gambit

The following is a repost of an article about Gambit that was posted to the Marvel site in 2011. We’re reposting it here at Gambit Gazette for two reasons; 1) it’s no longer on Marvel’s site (as far as we can tell), and 2) it exhibits insight and respect for Gambit’s character far deeper than what’s displayed on the comic book page the vast majority of the time (sadly). Gambit Gazette has taken the liberty of highlighting passages we find especially noteworthy.

The X-Perts: Gambit Kieron Gillen, Mike Carey, Marjorie Liu and Victor Gischler determine where this wild card will fall Posted Jul 12, 2011 1:31 pm Updated Aug 4, 2011 1:58 pm

By Ben Morse

This July, X-MEN: SCHISM kicks off a startling metamorphosis in the mutant corner of the Marvel Universe that will split the Children of the Atom and lead to ReGenesis in the fall along with two new ongoing series, each featuring it’s own distinctive team: UNCANNY X-MEN and WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN.

With change in the air, here on Marvel.com we’ll be regularly gathering the creators and editors responsible for guiding the X-Men’s destiny to dissect each of their charges to examine what makes them tick and perhaps lend some insight into where they will find themselves once the Schism ends and the ReGenesis gets underway.

This week, we take a look at Gambit, the thief-turned-X-Man who currently serves on the mission squad led by his on-again, off-again love, Rogue, while also mentoring the unpredictable X-23.

Marvel.com: How would you describe the core of who Gambit is and what is most important to him?

Victor Gischler (writer of X-MEN): Self-reliance.

Mike Carey (writer of X-MEN LEGACY): Gambit’s a guy with a core skill that he glories and excels in, and his sense of himself has formed around that, to some extent. He’s not just a thief, in the sense of having earned his living by stealing—he’s a Thief in a self-defining sense that’s halfway between family and ethnicity. [He was] raised by thieves, in a city where thieves were a clan with clan loyalties. So I think that’s his core, and his instincts and identity and an X-Man were grafted onto that.

Kieron Gillen (writer of UNCANNY X-MEN): Gambit's just one of those classic conflicted characters, torn between a fundamental selfishness—or, at best, self-interest—and the realization that [this] isn't right. His shows of genuine compassion are all the more striking now because of where he's come from. I mean, put aside his recent interactions with Rogue. Look at his interactions with X-23. A man of experience who is man enough to realize that not all experience is worthwhile. He'd roll his eyes at anyone who takes the Sinatra-ian "Regrets? I've had a few, etc" line.

Marjorie Liu (writer of X-23): At his heart, Gambit is a good man who believes in taking care of his friends, and his friends are what's most important to him. People are his home. He will do anything for those who matter to him.

Marvel.com: What is Gambit’s view of how the mutant race should conduct itself moving forward?

Kieron Gillen: Any future of the X-Men that involves having a future and keeps him out of long, boring meetings is probably good with him.

Mike Carey: Arising out of his childhood experiences, I think Gambit is fairly tribal in his gut instincts. Protecting his own, and keeping faith with his own, are core values for him. He’s also perfectly comfortable with a sort of under-the-radar lifestyle, and he knows first-hand that it’s possible to live invisibly among others who don’t share your values or your lifestyle. I’d say Gambit would be comfortable with a strategy that saw mutantkind dropping right out of the rifle sights of the various nut jobs out there and going underground until its numbers are up again and it can confront the world on its own terms.

Victor Gischler: I think he knows that difficult things need to be done, but he wants to see the mutant race finally push through those times so things will be better for the next generation.

Marjorie Liu: The thing about Gambit is that he's a man who knows how to adapt to survive. He plays things by ear, depending on the situation, and never feels obligated to follow the rules, because the only rules that matter are his own sense of honor. Ultimately, that sense of honor includes 'doing no harm'—at least, not to the innocent.

Because of that, however, I don't think he has a firm idea of how the mutant race should move forward. There's no overarching philosophy, no set of rules. Again, he adapts, he plays by ear. I think he would be more likely to say that the mutant race is filled with individuals, and each situation needs to be taken on an individual basis, without imposing some master plan.

Again, though, he's a survivor, and if the world turned on mutants as a whole, his approach would change, as well. He'd fight. He'd protect.

Marvel.com: Does Gambit like being a member of the X-Men? What keeps him affiliated with them?

Mike Carey: He likes the excitement. He likes the company—or some of it. He likes the sense of family. I think those would be the most important things for him. Having said that, he’s definitely someone who would be able to step into another life if the X-Men folded. He’d miss it, but he wouldn’t mourn it. He’d survive perfectly well.

Kieron Gillen: Honestly, I could spin out an enormous answer about how he sees himself in relation to mutants—though it suddenly strikes me that I see Gambit as one of the mutants who least self-identifies as "mutant"—but about 85% of it boils down to the following: One word, five letters.

Marjorie Liu: I don't know if he likes being a member of the X-Men, so much as he likes some of the people there, and feels obligated to stick by them, and guard their backs. It's a 'people' thing that has him sticking around, and not philosophical.

Victor Gischler: There is kind of a lone wolf aspect to Gambit, but I think deep down all lone wolves really want to be part of the pack. They just don't want to get burned or have their trust betrayed. Gambit has been an X-Man too long not to be a team member in his heart.

Marvel.com: What are Gambit’s most honorable qualities? His least honorable qualities?

Mike Carey: His chimerical gallantry. His insane courage. His anarchic shrewdness.

When he first joined the X-Men, Gambit served as a cynical and occasionally ruthless counterpoint to their stern virtue. They’ve met him more than halfway now—in fact, in some ways, they’ve surpassed him: the X-Men’s moral mainstream has changed so much that Gambit now seems more like a Robin Hood among them, a principled thief with a paradoxically strong code of ethics. He’s still got that ruthless streak, and he can be dishonest both in concealing information and in lying outright. And he has a weakness for going it alone when he ought to trust the people around him. That was what got him sucked into Apocalypse’s wake.

Victor Gischler: He's honest about who he is, warts and all.

Marjorie Liu: Most honorable qualities? Least honorable? Sometimes I think those are one and the same. He'll take care of his friends, no matter what. That's great. But what's not so great for everyone else is that he'll take care of his friends -- no matter what. Even if it means an act of betrayal.

Marvel.com: Do you think the rest of the X-Men really trust Gambit?

Kieron Gillen: Dark, tortured past. Propensity for playing on the other side. Will make out with your other half behind your back. A big part of me thinks they trust Gambit more than they probably should.

Or maybe they don't. The Utopia-era Cyclops-condoned Wolverine-lead X-Force—Gambit wasn't on that team.

Marjorie Liu: No, not really. I don't think they know him, that's the problem. The individuals who do—Storm, Jubilee, X-23—would trust him with their lives, without question. Everyone else? Not so much. To them, he's a wild card, so to speak. They see his reputation first, before they see the man.

Mike Carey: I think they didn’t, and then they did, and now they don’t again. He’s got a lot of lost ground to make up after the Limbo debacle. His past as a thief doesn’t count against him any more, but his past as a Horseman and his past as a Marauder during Messiah Complex do.

Victor Gischler: As long as they keep one hand on their wallets at all times.

Marvel.com: Could Gambit ever be leader of the X-Men again?

Victor Gischler: I don't see it. But that's mostly because I don't think he’d ever really want the job.

Marjorie Liu: My first instinct was to say yes, but the more I think about it, issues of trust and reliability would undermine his position. I'm not sure all the X-Men would feel secure with him in charge, or be willing to follow him to hell and back—and that's a huge component of successful leadership.

That said, I do think he can lead, just on a smaller scale, with a team that would fit his highly adaptable nature.

Mike Carey: He’d never want that job. It’s too public and too constricting. He wouldn’t be afraid of the responsibility, although he wouldn’t exactly relish it, either—he would be afraid of having his hands tied in a fight by having to co-ordinate what everybody else was doing.

Kieron Gillen: It doesn't seem a natural fit, but I'd never say never. I wouldn't say he could lead the X-Men as they are now. But a hypothetical X-Men team of the future? Yeah, I can see him pulling that off. As long as it doesn't involve all too many of the aforementioned long, boring meetings.

Marvel.com: How does Gambit’s relationship with Rogue color his place among the X-Men?

Marjorie Liu: I wish it didn't! If this was real life, that relationship would be one of those bad running jokes that people tell each other around dinner, or when there's nothing else to talk about and so you go to the one topic that's only less boring than dull silence. Don't get me wrong, I used to be a fan of Gambit and Rogue, but the relationship doesn't do either of them any favors.

Mike Carey: It’s the main reason why the X-Men feel like home to him. If she left, his attachment to them would be significantly weakened.

Kieron Gillen: What can I say? Heavily.

I know I've been laboring it, but more than almost anyone else, his ties with the X-men are personal. He's happy to exist in a world with the X-Men. He's happy to do the X-Men's work. But he's an outsider, and I think that's a real core of who he is. He needs shadows to step out of.

Mike Carey: Who among the X-Men does Gambit trust? Who does he feel should lead the team?

Victor Gischler: I think he'd trust Storm under almost any circumstances.

Kieron Gillen: Rogue. That's about it. And I don't think he has particularly strong feelings about who should lead the team—but he is interested in the institution of the X-Men. I wouldn't say he's a "Doesn't matter who you vote for, the government always gets in" cynic, but as long as there's an institution which exists to do the job the X-Men have been doing, he's happy. If a leader appeared who changed that role entirely, it's only then Gambit would raise an eyebrow.

Marjorie Liu: I'm biased, but I feel he trusts X-23 and Jubilee, along with Storm. I'm not sure he trusts Rogue, even though he loves her—and I'm sure he's comfortable with Wolverine leading.

Mike Carey: I think he trusts Cyclops and is comfortable with his leadership. Certainly there’d be more tension for him if, say, Magneto had a leadership role. But the question of who leads isn’t a compelling one for Gambit, because he doesn’t see himself as being a follower. He follows his own conscience: sometimes that takes him outside the X-Men’s big tent. When he’s there, he toes the line, but his allegiance isn’t easily given or given without provisos.

#gambit #marvel #gambit gazette articles

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love-takes-work · 4 years

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The Art of Steven Universe the Movie: Outline & Review

The Art of Steven Universe The Movie was released March 3, 2020. It's a wonderful journey through the concept art, character development, and experience of fashioning these ideas into the movie we all love.

Nuts and bolts: The book is published by Dark Horse, and it was designed by Ryan Sands (a zine specialist), with commentary by Takafumi Hori, Kat Morris, and Rebecca Sugar. It includes art by Rebecca Sugar, Kat Morris, Takafumi Hori, Alonso Ramirez Ramos, Angie Wang, Ashley Fisher, Becky Dreistadt, Chromosphere, Danny Cragg, Elle Michalka, Hilary Florido, Ian Jones-Quartey, Jasmin Lai, Jeff Liu, Joe Johnston, Julian De Perio, Katie Mitroff, Leonard Hung, Miki Brewster, Patrick Bryson, and Paul Villeco.

Full review below with low-quality images.

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

An introduction explains the same origin story that Rebecca Sugar told us in the movie DVD's commentary: that she accidentally restored her phone to factory settings and lost years of important stuff, and she ended up applying that devastating premise to her movie. That combined with the concept of "breaking" the main premise of a TV show to make a movie was how she got started developing the story. The opening of the movie styled like a storybook is blocked out with some great drawings and breakdowns of which narration would go to what storybook pages. This is combined with some partial sheet music for "The Tale of Steven." Rebecca writes about how she felt having to wrap pre-production on Season 5 only to take on this even bigger movie challenge. The biggest challenge was writing all these songs in such a short time--six weeks--and having to deal with the stress, being crushed under all that pressure while still wanting to do this story so badly, and it was humbling to still have to work so hard to sell the idea. The feeling of relief to finally be done that Steven expresses in "Happily Ever After" is very similar to what Rebecca went through feeling like she wanted to be finally done but still knowing what she had to do to climb an even bigger mountain. Some very cute Steven-at-age-16 and Connie in Space Camp clothes follow. Notes indicate that Steven and Connie are the same height now, but his poofy hair is just slightly higher than her head.

Notes from 2017 also give us the "Neckstravaganza": design notes on Steven's new form, with a neck and a jacket. It's very cool.

Some beautiful Joe Johnston boards follow, with sequences from the "Happily Ever After" song. We also get Angie Wang's final design (with Ashley Fisher's color) of the injector, including some sketchy concept art for it from Rebecca Sugar and Hilary Florido. In the rough concept notes, they call this the "Mega Injector," with notes for Takafumi Hori to use for scale. It looks beyond huge in a Leonard Hung drawing.

Spinel concepts are next. Some notes explain that aivi & surasshu (the usual composers) were involved very early since it was a musical, and Rebecca included them when pitching the story to the Crew so they could organically develop the sound. The heart shape was central to Spinel from the beginning, and early versions of her had an entire heart shape to her head.

(There's a doodle of what looks like a cartoon dog in the pile of drawings shown in this section. It's not clear what that was.)

Spinel was given the heart imagery partly because Rebecca had learned early on about the importance of symbols, and when it came time to assign one to Steven, the star was chosen because it's so positive and is read as gender-neutral. Rebecca still hadn't used hearts for anything, so it was time. They also incorporated really old, dated character design ideas to make Spinel feel like an outdated cartoon from the rubber hose era.

The aspect of her design with the running mascara versus cute eyelashes predated the rotation of her Gem. Rebecca likes to start with more realistic sketches when she's figuring out a character, and then she'll move to making it more cartoony. A quote from Miki Brewster is shared: "Spinel can do anything, as long as it's entertaining!" Her "best friend" form is described as "a doll for friendship fun & games! Of a different era--hokey, charming, weird...super gullible and trusting. Incredibly loyal, constant entertainment machine!"

When it comes to developing her "worst enemy" form, Rebecca explains a bit that she has a really complicated relationship with old cartoons because nostalgia is not compelling to her--the animation from the 1930s is so neat, but considering the social limits and the way the industry was at the time, Rebecca doesn't think she could have participated. Especially considering nowadays she even had to struggle to be allowed to tell the stories she needed to tell and it would have been impossible five years ago. The norms of the time aren't entirely extricable from the art itself.

Takafumi Hori weighs in with commentary on how fun it was to animate a scary but fun character on top of Miki Brewster's boards for the "Other Friends" fight sequence.

Next, moving on from the central new character, they also spend some time discussing Steg. Rebecca first explains "Steg Multiverse" as a character so uplifting he can make you fly, combining Greg's unending support and Steven's positive power. She makes reference to the early "stegosaurus" concepts they had for his look, but they didn't want to lose the opportunity to have his hair flow. Rebecca confirms that the pompadour idea was established in "Steven and the Stevens" so they wanted to give it to Steg, and she credits Paul Villeco for really finalizing his design and bringing him to life.

And of course the poofy hair from Steven and the double-necked guitar was essential for Steg.

Next, the book gives us a whole page of handwritten notes about "Drift Away." Kat Morris explains the intentional duality of the scene--how Spinel should be shown seeing her own past with new perspective, being embarrassed, blending together who she was with who she is. The partial lyrics to the song and some sketchy boards are offered.

Rebecca shares her personal connection with the subject matter--how she once left a stuffed animal in her garden and the side facing the sun faded. It really made a mark on her as a child that things changed without her, because of her actions, and that she'd left this treasured toy alone without thinking about it all that time, letting it be affected by the elements without her interference. She wrote "Everything Stays" for Adventure Time based on that plushie, and realized that she was writing about it again for the Steven Universe movie.

Many beautiful miniature boards are shown in this section.

Partial sheet music for "Drift Away" is also offered here. It's credited to Rebecca Sugar and Aimee Mann. The music sheet is followed by some lovely images of the garden by Julian De Perio, Patrick Bryson, and Leonard Hung.

Takafumi Hori returns for a discussion of the final fight sequence during "Change," which he animated from Jeff Liu's boards. He discusses trying to keep the fight feeling dramatic and serious even though Spinel's fighting style is funny. He wanted to keep her tension. Hori-san throws in a word of thanks for being allowed to work on his favorite show again, praises Jeff and Miki, and compliments Rebecca Sugar's demos. He hoped we'd get a soundtrack album. (Of course, we did.)

Some final boards by Rebecca Sugar and Becky Dreistadt of the characters in their show gear descending the steps close out the book. There are also some cute little doodles at the end on the credits page, like a head of lettuce with caption "lettuce adore you" and Spinel in a drifting go-kart laughing, captioned "drift away."

The back cover pictures Steven with his arm around a heartbroken Spinel, comforting her.

Overall, the book is wonderful--the accompanying information is generally not new to anyone who watched the DVD's documentary and commentary, and many of the sketches have been released one way or another directly by the artists through Instagram, Twitter, or Tumblr blogs. There was still plenty of wonderful new concept art that wasn't already out there, and looking at some of the iterations Spinel and Steg went through was particularly captivating. There was no new insight into the development of the plot beyond the premise and the Spinel-related conflict, though; nothing about how they decided to focus the Garnet storyline, the Pearl storyline, and the Amethyst storyline for how they would each get their memories back, and there was no spotlight on their movie versions--modern Cotton Candy Garnet, copycat baby Amethyst, and factory settings uncustomized Pearl. I was hoping especially for some Amethyst stuff because the movie was the first place we got to see her with the simple default outfit and segmented limbs. It was primarily an art book with commentary on some of the most definitive movie aspects--it didn't reach the depth that Art and Origins gave us. It has a start-to-finish feeling in a sense, but it's mostly just splashes of information that are fun to know. It's a great companion and definitely should not be missed by any fan of the movie. I recommend it heartily!

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

#steven universe #steven universe the movie #the art of steven universe the movie #movie art book #myblog

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