#but i'm trying to showcase someone who's able to pick up on people's personalities and feeling

[666writingcafe]

The Adventure Begins

Levi's overacting. Again. The only reason it wasn't obvious during the school play was because Simeon kept him reined in. Levi gets excited quite easily, and it causes him to get lost in whatever role he's playing.

I'll have to ask Simeon, but I don't think he intended the Lord of Shadow to act so...dramatically? badly? I don't know how to describe it, really. It just isn't very good.

Unlike MC. I'm not sure why I like their acting better, especially since they're currently matching Levi's energy. Maybe it's because they're intentionally hamming it up. They did mumble an apology to me before they started talking to him, after all, so they must know that Levi's acting isn't the best.

Satan's isn't much better, either. He's not as over-the-top as Levi, but I don't find him convincing as the "villain" of this story. If anything, he'd make a good anti-hero, but Solomon probably didn't want to make things too complicated.

Solomon's not a very good author.

However, I'm choosing to keep all this to myself, because the point of all this is to help MC get their first star. Lucifer, on the other hand, is having a hard time suspending his disbelief. So, I understand why MC told him to shut up. I just hope they're prepared to get their ass handed to them once Lucifer's back to normal size, because while he has a soft spot for MC, he doesn't like being silenced. Messes with his pride.

Speaking of which...the stars.

They represent the seven virtues, which are direct opposites of our sins. For me, that virtue is temperance. Solomon probably knows this, but he may not realize the full extent of my relationship with temperance.

Once upon a time, I was able to control myself and my urges. Until I wasn't. For my brothers, their sin was triggered by specific events; that wasn't the case for me. It just...happened. And I didn't realize it until it was too late.

Now, it's what most people know me for. They think I'm a meathead that only thinks about food. Even my brothers.

Which isn't fair.

Why are they allowed to have complex personalities, but not me? Why can they participate in mentally stimulating activities, while I'm cast off to the side and dismissed as too dumb to understand any of it? It's never made sense to me.

I think that's part of why I like MC so much. They're the first person in a really, really long time that sees me beyond my sin. They actually listen to what I have to say and seem to value my opinion, even if it's not related to food or sports.

Yet somehow, deep inside, I don't fully trust them. I think it's coming from my subconscious. Somewhere in there lives a hurt angel that feels like everyone he cares about will die and leave him behind. And in a way, it's true.

Lilith may have been the only person in our little family that actually lost their life, but my brothers barely resemble what they were in the Celestial Realm. It's weird. They wear the same faces, but they're completely different people. Sometimes, I feel like they're complete strangers, or perhaps taken over by aliens.

Oddly, the one person I can rely on to stay the same is Satan. Then again, he didn't have his own form until we arrived in the Devildom, so this version of him is all I've ever known.

"Beel?"

Shit.

I missed a lot, didn't I?

"Are you okay? You seem out of it."

"I could say the same to you." Why is that the first thing that comes out of my mouth? I sound like a jerk.

MC merely sighs as they sit next to me on the...bed? I take a proper look at my surroundings and realize that we're in a hotel room of some kind. Lucifer appears to be sleeping on the nightstand, using tissues as both pillow and blanket.

"Wanna go first, or shall I?" Interesting question. They don't seem upset at me.

"Your call." MC rests their head on my shoulder.

"Simeon needs my help making an important decision." Their tone indicates something serious.

"With what?" MC sighs again.

"His future." Huh? Why would an angel need a human's help with that? I know that the two of them are fairly close, but still.

"But that's neither here nor there," they quickly add, sighing. "It's not like I can do anything about it now." They glance up at me. "What's on your mind?"

"My past."

"As an angel?" I nod.

"Back then, the only thing that mattered to people was that I was strong. I wanted to be useful, so I decided to become a soldier and fight for the Celestial Realm. Problem was, I had trouble controlling my powers."

"Like I did before receiving the Ring?"

"You know, I hadn't really thought about it until you said it, but yeah. I suppose we have that in common. In your case, everyone had your back, which is good, because I wouldn't have wanted you to go through that experience the way I did." MC sits up and properly looks at me.

"What do you mean?"

"Every time I would destroy something--even though most of the time it was a complete accident--Raphael would make some sort of sarcastic remark about it. I think he started calling me the Hulk at one point, but it was meant as an insult." I pause.

"At least he had the decency to do it to my face. Lots of angels would talk shit about me behind my back. They thought I was too stupid to pick up on it, but I knew. They acted overly sweet towards me whenever I would walk in the room. Condescending, even. It was like I was a dumb kid to them." MC places a hand on my thigh and pats it.

"Sounds depressing," they remark.

"It was. Oddly enough, the one person in authority that didn't treat me that way was Lucifer. I initially thought he was too busy with his duties to really care about much else, but then one day he approached me and started talking to me. We had a legitimate conversation."

"About?"

"He told me to keep in mind that being a Celestial Realm soldier wasn't about attacking--"

"--but protecting." We must have woken Lucifer up. "You had the power to protect everyone--to keep them safe--and that you shouldn't feel bad because you were special. If you learned to control your powers, I'd recommend you to the cherubim and have you serve as a Celestial Realm gatekeeper. You did, and so I kept my promise." Lucifer beckons MC to pick him up and bring him closer to me.

"MC and I may be connected by the Ring of Light, but the two of you have a strong connection as well," he continues. "You're both motivated by the need to protect the ones you love, even if it means sacrificing yourself in the process. Drawing on that similarity is going to be the key to pass Solomon's test."

"Are you saying Solomon knew we had that in common?" MC asks incredulously.

"No. I did. I simply passed the knowledge along to him."

"How long--"

"The rooftop."

"Of Dogi Magi?" I'm glad MC understands what he's referring to, because I'm completely lost. Must have been something I wasn't involved with.

"You knew that Belphie would hurt you if you went against his order to reject me, but you did it anyway."

"I didn't want to lie to you."

"Because that would have meant hurting his feelings." Asmo may have used his powers to pick up on Lucifer's crush on MC early on, but I knew pretty much from the moment they set eyes on each other. Granted, he was more attracted to their soul initially, but who could blame him? It was bright and shiny, even back then. If we weren't under orders to not eat them, then they wouldn't have made it out of the assembly hall alive. Even Diavolo was struggling to contain himself.

Anyway, the point is MC cared enough about Lucifer in that moment to feel the need to protect him.

Just like I felt the need to protect Lucifer after I became a cherub.

MC's going to get their star.

#obey me shall we date #obey me mc #obey me beel #obey me beelzebub #obey me lucifer #basically what i'm doing with beel is depicting him as someone constantly in his head #and not in the 'i wonder what i'll eat next' kind of way #but instead having him silently observe what's happening around him and mentally commentate on it #sometimes it involves going on little rambles as certain things remind him of other things #but i'm trying to showcase someone who's able to pick up on people's personalities and feeling #simply by watching them interact with the world around them #i think he's emotionally intelligent #that doesn't always transfer to academia #but it is an important type of intelligence #because it helps guide interactions with real people in real situations #also #headcanon that lucifer was the last one to realize/accept that he had a crush on mc #asmo and beel may have picked up on it first #but eventually the others caught on #even the other exchange students #and diavolo #cue relentless teasing from diavolo to lucifer #diavolo: you have feelings for mc #lucifer: no i don't #diavolo: yes you do #and they'd go back and forth about it #diavolo just wanted his friend/occasional lover to be happy #and he thought mc was good for lucifer #so he rooted for them to get together #and was happy when they did

[skwigelfskwisgaar]

I use Tarot as apart of my spiritual practice and for personal comfort :) i think the most brutal thing that's happened is like. actually speaking with dead relatives + deities coming through and this one time someone said i predicted a death but *i genuinely didnt*, you cant do that with tarot, but i got a card called "The Tower" in that reading that signifies something that's supposed to happen and feels traumatizing but you'll learn and grow from that experience and they informed me of what had happened in their life. everytime someone tells me im being spot on or the thing i predicted ACTUALLY happening is so so insane and fulfilling to me.

Do you have a favorite myth or God in Norse mythos?

!! I'd love to read your book, maybe you can read it to me sometime since I don't speak Swedish, unfortunately ^^' ATM I am reading through Odin: Ecstasy, Runes, and Norse Magic. It's in English but I'm trying to learn old Nordic pronunciations and words! I've also been looking into a few other resources my friends who are fellow Norse Pagans have sent me! I know Odin sees me as a newcomer that's still learning, so I'd love to take any information you might have if you're open to sharing it! ; w ;

OK Sorry this is like. so rambly ahaha. you're really easy to talk to!!

8 OF PENTACLES:

Pentacles is the earth suite, it brings forth light to matters within the more physical matters of the realm. You need to be grounded here. In order to make peace- you need to put in genuine hard work and effort- which can be hard. The shadows you face are big, and loom in over you and remaining calm in the face of that can prove to be a challenge, but it's not something you can't do! The guy here is at peace and diligent as he gets into the process of creating something great.

I think that this card gives you a good energy to begin the process of making that peace within yourself and is showcasing a good start to beginning that journey. Doing things that heal your inner child, like doing things you couldn't do or experience during that time- forgiving yourself for wrongdoings, accepting you can't change others, etc. Coming to terms with the cards you've been dealt in life and appreciating what's in front of you can help. Know you have the power within you to control yourself and make what you want to see, it's a matter of labor to build that reality up. Facing your demons is simply some work- which I'm sure you're used to since I know you're always working extra hard to pick up Toki's slack :3 (/joke /light hearted, he's a great guitarist!)

QUEEN OF WANDS; REVERSED

The Queen of Wands is a very determined, powerful lady who gets her shit done and is fiercely by your side! This energy is in it's reversal, meaning it's lessened or there's some sort of blockage here. You're *used* to this kind of energy from fans, and you're looking for something more genuine that's coming from yourself. This card is reminding you that it's in there, try to think of ways in which you genuinely feel validated through a less superficial lens. You might be able to find some peace within yourself through aiding other people, as well. There might be a lot of problems surrounding you and being able to be someone that can fix or ease it for those around you might help.

4 OF SWORDS; REVERSED

This card is usually about BIG NAPS, BABEY. You might be feeling isolated from others- I know sometimes people think you're a fertility God or something? You're on another level, and every now and then it's good to come down from that, and be by yourself for a little bit.

You might need some alone time to meditate and really get comfortable with yourself and the thoughts that come in through your head- whether they be positive, negative, anxiety inducing, or something stupid or ingenious.I think the energy here is reversed because it's something that's kind of hard for you at the moment? To just, sit with yourself. Sit with your thoughts, and either accept them or just give em a simple "huh that's weird." and move on if they're like, especially disturbing or something! thats where I think some of that work from the 8 of Pentacles comes into play- just accepting what comes into your mind during the silence of it all and going about your merry way after it.

anxiety can be something really hard to deal with, but the best course of action sometimes is to not act on anything in the moment and just breathe your way through it, and accept stuff for what they are and redirect yourself. Soul search so you can obtain some solid truths about yourself so you can know exactly who it is you are with certainty, (like. example! you're someone with a sarcastic set of humor.) and know how you'd react with certainty in any situations (hypothetical or otherwise) with confidence!

Push forward, no action is needed- you just need to take yourself to greater heights with this journey with some stillness and meditation.

OVERALL; I think yes- you are more than capable of finding peace with who you are and i think you'll get to that point! This just seems to be a description of how to get there as well as what might be in your way of that and how to get through it in order to obtain that peace. i hope this was ok! ;w; if you have any questions feel free to let me know!

ooc:

This was an amazing reading, and I took my time really reading through it. I will come back to this but this must be posted so that people can see how great and wonderful a job you did!

#skwisgaar rp blog #rp blog #skwigelf talks #asks #ooc: #tarot anon

[inkrabbit]

Hello!

First I'd like to say that I love your writing! Also I'm still a bit new to Tumblr so please forgive me if I'm doing this wrong or don't explain something well lmao.

I was wondering if it would be possible to do headcannons on how any of the Papas would react to finding out their s/o is incredibly strong? And they can pick their Papa up and carry them around with no problem? I imagined that and thought it was hilarious :D

Thank you and please feel free to ignore this if it is confusing or overwhelming at all <3

you're so sweet omg ty <3333 but bb don't you even apologize. so long as anything is within my rule set, anything goes. requests can literally be like Primo x reader and I would be fine with that xD

hcs below the cut. if anyone's wondering, I'm keeping Rob Zombie's version of Michael Myers in mind as a sort of "base". and, as always, it's GN

Primo:

he's surprised at first

like really surprised

he knows the ghouls are pretty strong, but someone who had originally started out as a sibling??? it catches him off guard

bonus points if you worked under him and one day just casually show off your strength

mans has never been so confused in his life

but you know what? he absolutely loves it

his ghouls get a little jealous since he starts asking you for extra help with anything

but he's also gonna worry about you

"Girasole, are you sure you're not straining yourself? You know you need to take breaks."

pls don't pick him up. he might not like to admit that he's old, but he's decently frail and he's a little scared of heights

Secondo:

he knew something was up when you didn't back down from one of his ghouls that was getting a little snippy with him

and it may or may not have turned him on watching you quite literally throw said ghoul across the church

"Minga! I knew you were the one when I laid my eyes on you, uccello canoro."

starts calling you "mia guerriera/mio guerriero" which just means "my warrior"

but pls don't try picking him up around people

or doing anything to even hint that he's weaker than you (even tho we all know he is)

he still likes to appear as though he's "top dog"

100% changes behind closed doors tho

he turns into such a sap in your hands, and when he's feeling extra stressed, he'll happily let you lead

he trusts you, with both his mind and body. and he especially trusts you know how to keep your strength in check

Terzo:

"MY S/O CAN BEAT UP YOUR S/O!"

often gushes about you to anyone who's unfortunate enough to be within earshot

and he won't shut his mouth, even if you pay him

has his absolute favorite stories about you showcasing your strength

but don't let his enthusiasm about everything fool you. he is a little weary around you

sure, he trusts you. but it's not 100% and he unintentionally walks on eggshells around you

"I'd rather take a fall on stage any day than fight you, amore."

he still spoils you with whatever you want, even if you don't want him to go through all the trouble. he's just that type of lover

if you train/spar, know full well he's gonna be your personal cheerleader. you might make him a little hesitant, but you're still his number 1, and he's gonna remind you that

congratulations, you're also one of his bodyguards whenever he goes out. and it's totally not an excuse to spend all of his time with you

Cardinal Copia:

have you always been this strong??? was he blind???

Lucifer below, he doesn't remember you being able to pick everything up like it was nothing before you two started dating

okay, yeah. it's hot to him. but he's too embarrassed to say anything

who wouldn't want you? you literally make him feel so safe, like nothing could ever hurt him

well... whenever you're not zoning out

Copia's a naturally shy guy, maybe a little too pampered growing up. but he's seen the horrors of the world and of people. he's scared you're only dating him out of pity, or simply you'll simply just one day and snap and show him how strong you really are

don't be offended, but he's also hesitant to let you hold his rats

not many people like them. it's fine, but he's just being extra careful. they're like his children they are

still makes all the time in the world to be with you tho, and he showers you in affection

and it's not just to stay on your "good side". he's just a naturally loving man, and he's gonna make sure you get all of his love second (Sister Imperator comes first)

Papa Emeritus IV/Popia:

any worry he had about you? gone. doesn't exist anymore erased like his older brothers

brings you everywhere with him and shows you off, especially during rituals because, yes, you're either gonna be off to the side of the stage, or down on the ground in front

and expect him to trot on over while he's singing to interact with you

has he cirice'd you during a ritual before? yes he has. does he plan on doing it again? 100% and you can't stop him. he loves telling stories about how "Papa cirice'd the strongest person in the abbey and got away with it"

feels safest when he's with you, especially if you're holding him

pls give his forehead a little kiss. he loves having you pick him up while he's on stage just to show off, but he also craves gentle affection

"Ah, not even my own ghouls give me a sense of security like you do, mio roccio/mia roccia!"

he doesn't look at just your physical strength, but also taps into your mentality

and you're also the first person he goes to whenever he's worried about something

all he'll want is to lay in bed with you, cuddle with you and his rats and talk about anything that comes to mind. nothing else matters

Papa Nihil:

gives you increasingly heavier things to see what your limit is

is a bit scared when nothing bothers you and you're lifting everything up like it's a feather

nearly had a heart attack when you lifted him up as a joke

saw his life flash before his eyes and cowered behind his ghouls for a bit

dw he's fine. he's just being the drama queen that he is

congratulations, you now get all of the heavy-lifting jobs, especially the ones he doesn't feel like doing

he's praising you all the way tho, very supportive

"I know I can be a little... overzealous, especially on stage. But you, mio piccolo diavolo/mia piccola diavola, will always be the one I want."

give the idiot a chance. and then a couple more after that. he's a little dense and lives in the moment, but he's trying his best... and he might like being able to gloat that his S/O could probably lift a train

you'll never know it, but several songs he's written (and eventually scrapped) were all about you and how amazing you are. there was only 1 that ever mentioned your strength

#request #papa emeritus i #primo #papa emeritus ii #secondo #papa emeritus iii #terzo #cardinal copia #copia #papa emeritus iv #papa nihil #headcanons #hcs #gn!reader

[crash-and-cure]

Dear Crash,

I had too much for a reply on your post so I'm writing you here :) I tend to read other writers' fic either late at night or during the day (at work or in between life bs) and so I feel bad, because I don't usually take the time to really tell people how good their writing is, like specifically. But I want to be better, and I feel like if I'm not going to celebrate a 21K first chapter like Burin' a Hole, than what kind of person am I?

Did I know what the omegaverse was bf yesterday? No. In fact, and I mean this without judgement, but bc I have never really read this genre bf, I was a little unsure or wary of what to expect but I have read you other work so many times , that I just dove in. And then I reread it again. There were several things that I noticed reading it a second time, like the significance of having her be a make-up artist and the quote from Kitty, ugh, of course, because she is hiding who she is, the appeal of this career/interest makes so much sense. Elvis reading the mail when she comes to tell him she got another job. There were so many other things that just bowl me over with how much work you put into crafting this piece. The humor too - that Doner party gag, ahhhhh! Perry Mason wins, lollll!

And the way you build these characters, especially E and reader ! Muah, chef's kiss! I love the flipped expectations bf they present, I really appreciated that reader is not just using suppressants to save her father's reputation (bc I don't think that would be motivation enough), but because of her history with alphas, and having watched what her mother went through, and fear of abandonment, and the genuine fear of the intensity of being mated to one. I could see why she does what she does. One of my favorite passing vignettes is the image of Elvis holding up traffic trying to get her to come back to the show after they fight while she walks to the bus stop with a suitcase.

And, of course, the last part ... well, let's just say I have a feeling that section is now one of my go to comfort readings when I want to smile and shiver and be inspired in my own writing.

I'm probably fangirling out too much here, but I'll just end by saying thanks for your fucking brilliance and I'm so grateful I found your work! 21 K fucking words!!! I guess I'm an alpha!elvis stan now, which i never predicted by am so in to, picturing angry alpha austin elvis here....

xoxo

Norah

Thank you so much ☺ I love to hear what people loved most about my pieces and I'm so happy to see when they pick up on those details!

When I started writing this one, there was so much to think about in terms of how the ABO dynamics interacted with the era. Which was a lot of fun to speculate on and at times also overwhelming TBH, but once I figured this out and the details within the request I was able to go from there. When I got the request the thought she was a makeup artist while also being someone who hides who she is was too good of detail to leave so happy to see you picked up on it. The humor was an important aspect to me to really showcase their friendship (what's a light threat of cannibalism between best friends lol).

That being said the build up of the relationship was one of the most crucial aspects to the story for me as to why of all the omegas that froth at the mouth over him, why reader? So them being friends since they were kids and being shaped by one another was something I really wanted to explore. Knowing how he was described as a kid, that definitely factored into how he was expected to present in this world, so reader had to be on the opposite end of that spectrum. Her being his most ardent supporter since the get-go, and basically being the extrovert that adopts the introvert was something I thought fit well into that why.

The readers motivations were also in the same vein of asking why not go for it? Especially making a bold reader, you're right on the money that saving her piece of shit father's reputation was her lowest priority. Fear of abandonement is something I think many people can relate to so the fact that in this world an abandoned mated omega going into heat oftentimes = death, doesn't help either. It doesn't help that the fact that her primary example for an A/O relationship fell apart so spectacularly and both parents to some degree laid the responsibility for it's destruction at her feet, and she unintentionally internalized alot of the blame and now believes that there is something inherently wrong with her.

Something I also had to take into account was why Elvis didn't go for it earlier either, and I can't believe I forgot to mention it in the story, but there is this idea (potentially false) that Alpha's tend to unintentionally injure Beta partners in the act which he would never want to risk (edit: as well as the very real fact that an A/B couple can't reproduce which of course is heavily stigmatized especially in this era). But just because the physical aspect wasn't there didn't mean he didn't view it as a relationship in all other ways, as in his mind for all other intents and purposes reader is his. He to a lesser extent was also traumatized seeing reader so emotionally effected by her situation, utterly unable to imagine how a mother could do that to her kid so he wanted to always keep her close to him. So when the reality that she is an omega comes to light and she wants to leave the temporary pain of a less than willing claiming bite is outweighed by the knowledge that with it she'll never be able to leave.

Believe it or not that vignette was a last minute edition, because I wanted to demonstrate readers near iron will to truly make the fact that she eventually just gives in to him all the more poignant.

I put alot of work into that final section, wanting to make it hot but also elevate it given the omegaverse setting so I'm honored to hear you feel inspired by it.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this all out, especially when you're working on your own amazing story as well! I'm honestly so grateful for all the love and support I've been getting from you and all of the other lovely readers out there.

Again thank you so much Norah!

#crash answers #elvis #elvis 2022 #yandere!elvis x reader #omega!reader #omega reader #omegaverse

[leam1983]

On the Cruelty of Immortality

People always mention vampires as examples of creatures pushed into outsider or outcast status by their nature, but most of them are merely the products of their environment, upon closer scrutiny. As far as I'm concerned, and as a disabled man with Cerebral Palsy, there's a mostly-forgotten nineties' gem that offers a perfect translation of the concept.

Chances are you've heard of Henry Cavill's attempt at a Highlander reboot, more or less presented as "John Wick with Swords" - and directed by Chad Stahelski, no less. Chances are you also remember the original movies that starred Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery and Clancy Brown. What's less likely to attract attention is Aaron Paul's turn as a McLeod clan member, in the Franco-Canadian series of the same name. In it, Connor McLeod (Paul) crosses paths with Richie Ryan (Stan Kirsch), a thief who has the misfortune of dying while attempting to abscond with some of the Scottish immortal's possessions - only to reawaken as an immortal himself.

It's your classic Master-Padawan setup, with a modern hood more used to knives and handguns being forced to pick up swordfighting from a reluctant mentor, and learning of the vagaries and wonders of eternal life as he's shuttled between New York and Paris across several seasons. The catch is that Richie is quite young, in every sense of the term, and still tends to reason like someone who only has a few decades to live and who shouldn't take too many risks. He's also revealed to be very, very compassionate.

That eventually sets the pace for a cruel lesson. Richie happens upon the cognitivitely-challenged survivor of a train wreck (who, in retrospect, has all the traits of nonverbal autism depicted in a way that's sadly very nineties), and discovers that the poor guy is, in fact, an immortal like him - and a freshly-risen one, at that. He's had his first accidental Quickening (e.g. the absorption of another fallen immortal's life essence, fragmentary skillsets and memories) and is understandably confused.

Connor spends the episode trying to get Richie to realize that some people simply aren't born to shoulder immortality. It happens, he's seen it before, and he claims the most merciful thing that could be offered to Ryan's new companion is a swift and painless beheading. Eternal life, foisted on someone who couldn't even begin to comprehend it, is more than a curse - it's a literal death sentence, to be dealt by those who do know how to bring about a Quickening. That's without mentioning the risks related to detection, of being seen healing from things that should've killed an ordinary person.

Richie doesn't budge. He spends most of the episode's runtime convinced that there's a way to get an isolated, unsupervised and unstructured non-verbal immortal to pick up swordfighting, calisthenics, proper dieting, exit-spotting, tactical awareness - all of it without being a trained educator for autistic individuals. He's just a guy with a sword, himself a greenhorn at this, and is trying to impress the fact that fighting is now a necessity to someone who cannot understand him.

The episode ends with Richie narrowly saving the guy's life from a gaggle of opposing immortals seeing his friend as an easy meal ticket, and finally realizing that death really is the kindest option. Stan Kirsch does a fine job of showcasing Richie's mental anguish as the camera pans away from the disabled immortal, and he readies his killing blow.

We're also shown what happens when a Quickening is unwanted, as Richie didn't want to kill someone whom he saw himself as responsible for. The usual pyrotechnics display carries a charge of emotional anguish that's hard to miss - and we're left thinking that this was, in fact, the kindest outcome imaginable.

Pop Culture makes it a point to turn the able-bodied, the traditionally gorgeous, the resourceful or the wealthy into vampires. I'm of the mind that Fatality doesn't really pick favourites, and that some stories of life eternal would be far more poignant if a neverending existence were, in fact, structurally cruel.

#thoughts #immortals #vampires #Highlander

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hello! I just wanted to start off by saying that I love all your TWST analysis posts. They're so insightful and well-thought-out. They've made me consider a lot of characters from new angles too (something I appreciate; I absolutely adore reading a take on a character I hadn't considered before and being like "...Dang."). I read your critiques of TWST as a dating sim and dating sims in general and I have to say... Sweet Snapdragons, those were some of the most validating takes I've read in...probably ever. I'm aro/ace and, since I don't feel romantic attraction, I place a greater emphasis on the platonic and familial bonds in my life. Personally, some of my favorite things about TWST are its nuanced views on romance (showcased in the Ghost Marriage/Phantom Bride event) and the lack of overt romance in the game as well as the focus on other types of love and relationships. I can certainly understand why so many people want a TWST dating sim and I'm by no means trying to shame people for that. Heck, the TWST fic I'm working on has a romance element to it (mostly I just looked at my OCs personality and picked four potential love interests based on who I thought she'd gel the best with), but her platonic relationships (and those of the other characters) are just as important and her bonds with her family, whom she's currently separated from and desperately wants to get back to, are probably the most important ones for her. I don’t think I would've been able to make my story or my MC work if the source material was a dating sim, especially the Harveston event since none of her love interests are present for that one. I 100% agree with what you said about TWST offering fans the creative freedom to make so many unique OCs and takes on bonds (platonic or romantic) with the boys because there aren't rigidly defined routes or guidelines. Again, I'm not trying to shame anyone for what they like and I sincerely hope this doesn't come off that way. It was just...amazingly gratifying to read similar takes from someone else, especially someone whose opinions I've really come to respect. Thank you for taking the time to read this rambling. Have a great day!

[Referencing this post and this post!]

Hi, I’m glad that you enjoy my own ramblings so much 🤣 and that those ramblings have helped you in some way. I often feel like I’m alone (or at least in the minority) when it comes to a lot of my TWST takes, so I’m really happy that other people feel gratified and validated by reading the thoughts that I put out into the fandom.

I agree with you, I really enjoy that TWST has really nuanced views on romance (I happened to write an analysis on that if you were interested and haven’t already taken a look!) and that it stresses the importance of friendship and familial love too. A lot of us love TWST because it offers us so much freedom of expression and freedom of interpretation when it comes to its characters and its relationships. I always love seeing what kinds of creative things the fandom comes up with! ^^

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts with us! And please feel free to do it again if the urge ever hits you, the inbox is always open for word vomiting 🥰

#notes from the writing raven #feedback for the writing raven

[eorumrosae]

my life is a series of memories that showcase myself mostly being alone, alone or hurt by adjacent people one would call family. alone in a swing of a neighbor in the early morning. alone throwing a knife on the wall of the stairs. being kicked down a tree. crying on the asphalt with bruised knees. falling on the ground and bleeding because I tried to hug a mother that started to walk away despite of having my arms around her. when I gained age, past 7-10, I begin to have memories of distant classmates. distanced by cult teachings, by being too different, by being too, different. kids throwing rocks at me. getting a 'snow wash'. swinging in the swings; "now we're married, now we're engaged, now we're divorced" but he was terrified. being the last to being picked in teams in baseball. being the odd one out. being singled out. bad mouthed. processing situations by associating myself into different gender, wishing things that made no sense to little brain. unheard of. "wish I could be like her, able to play with the boys like that", she was a tomboy twin to a very petite girly sister. I'm genderfluid, but it's probably because of trauma. because when I encounter traumatic situations with no one to trust, I become many. or I used to, anyway.

normal life terrifies me, because what then, maybe I can't handle it any better. many more things have become difficult since my childhood. daily my brain shuts down, sooner or later. shuts down, to a point I have to lay down. i hate how my brain feels then. in those moments. i end up shaking my head time to time, to make the brain juices go back in place, so the ill feeling goes away. so my eyes stop averting to look at things. so I can think again. at least, think again.

it takes a good day, to be able to listen to song lyrics and have relative ease in understanding what I hear. most of the time I have to listen and read at the same time. sometimes, some people talk, and I don't hear every word, or understand what they mean. sometimes, I can't understand which language they're speaking in. I can try to listen carefully, and understand then. but even then, even if it's my own native language, my brain can't translate what I hear enough to say I heard what they were saying.

most days now days, I go downtown, but have to hurry, because the noises and the people are overwhelming and my brain starts to go strange. then my body starts to go strange. and I begin to feel exhausted and it's hard to think or focus.

I have no safe place. even at home, I feel exhausted, eyes averting, wanting to just sleep the days away. i don't feel safe enough to keep reaching out to anyone. i don't want to bother. and I don't want to be rejected. im important to no one. my body knows it and it tries to shut down each day. sometimes sooner, sometimes later.

i don't know who i am when I am getting things done around the house. im me, sure, im me. but right now. im not that person. who is it? that person is nothing like I am right now. none of my thoughts are like hers, my outlook on life is nothing like hers. im not planning a future for myself. but she is.

sometimes I find out in the morning, someone did something during the night. and i have no recollection. im missing items, like i don't know what happened to them. then i remember someone threw many things away a few years ago. many important things.

i know. all we ever did, was try to receive help. but we didn't. there was no help to what ails us. there is no help. in contrary, we're being offered as the only help a medication that worsens our ailments, and all we can do is refuse it. what is it to sleep better, if what makes us go insane becomes worse and multiplied by the treatment?

#mental health #trauma disorders #vent #let down by the psych team #personal

[chasingpj]

𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐤

pairing: percy jackson x child of aphrodite! gn reader

requested?: yup!

warnings: mentions of underage drinking, one curse word, and mentions of sexual tension

category: fluff, shy boy x obviously interested girl trope

a/n: don't mind me I'm just projecting and I got carried away

you’re not sure what gravitated you to percy more

the crystal green eyes, the freckles over his nose, the disheveled dark curls, or his clumsiness

the first time you laid eyes on him, he was walking back to his cabin after sword-fighting practice

his tan skin gleamed in the sunlight as a hand came up to swipe away the damp hair sticking on his forehead

for an action so mundane, it made your stomach flutter like crazy

and then the beauty of the moment was ruined right when he trips over the steps of his cabin

you heard stories of the kid killing the minotaur, blowing up a volcano, and rumors of being the suspected child of a huge prophecy

yet, he was not immune from tripping over his feet

and you’re sure the dorky charm of that moment made you think, he’s mine

for the next few days, you were determined to approach him

but you didn’t just want to come up to him and introduce yourself; that would be too plain and forgettable

you ended up finding your opportunity during a capture the flag game

silena gave you instructions to distract percy, and you headed over strong, ready to make your first impression while also taking him down for your team

sure, he had water powers and done a bunch of cool things, but your father made sure you were well trained in sword fighting and martial arts even before you knew about the camp

you planned to take him by surprise, and luckily it worked

with ruthless attacks, it didn’t take long for you to sweep him off his feet and knock his sword out of his hand

by pressing the flat of your sword under his chin, you forced him to look up at you, and you peered into those clear green eyes

gods, he’s cute, you thought

“hey,” you said

percy was stunned, not sure if it was because you effortlessly took him down or if it was because you were one of the prettiest girls he’s ever seen

“... hi,” he sputtered, gawking for a moment as you offered your hand

you swore you felt sparks when his fingers brush across your palm... even though the contact was a little sweaty

in the distance, you heard the satyrs blow the horn and the roars of celebration from your team

“i should go back to the others. catch you later, ocean eyes,” you flirted

percy’s shoulders tensed up when you blew him a kiss; awkwardly frozen in his place as you waited

“well, are you going to catch it? you can’t just let my kiss fly away.”

percy shifted on his feet, not sure if you were serious or not, but when you held your ground with arms folded over your chest, it was clear that’s what you were waiting for

and so with a flushed face, percy awkwardly grabbed the air in the front of him, and you couldn’t help but giggle

“good, i wouldn’t want it flying to a stranger,” you commented playfully. “you know, i don’t really like this whole outdoor camp life thing, but seeing your pretty face around here makes it a lot better”

“uh… oh, thanks?” he stammered, not having the words to respond

you winked at him before walking off, more than satisfied with your first impression

after that, you were contemplating your next move

children of aphrodite can see all the possibilities in a potential relationship

you were able to see you and percy eating ice cream in central park, holding hands at camp, a shy kiss on your first date

you wanted all of it, and you going to make sure you get it

of course, silena and your siblings were your wing women

if percy was in the strawberry fields, you were picking strawberries beside him

in the fields, you got to know him and his sarcastic humor, which made your crush flourish

you even took sword fighting classes at the same time as him and made sure he was your partner most of the time

whenever you had a chance, you’d affectionately fix his hair or his armor just to hear his shy thank you’s

he’s never had a girl show this much interest in him, so you definitely made him a little nervous, but despite that, he opened up to you pretty quick

sometimes he’d help you out in the stables, and you noticed how he’d fumble with the harnesses or knock things over when you would flirt with him

you loved his reactions so much that you always took it up a notch just to see how he’d react

you suppose the pegasi didn’t make percy’s shyness any better

there were times where he’d shush them, or the tips of his ears would grow even more flushed at a neigh or huff from one of the pegasuses

as the summer came to an end, you gave percy your email and made sure you stayed in touch

you didn’t live very far from one another, but you didn’t dare ask to hangout

you wanted to be asked first!

and you were disappointed when the invitation never came despite the two of you being consistent with sending emails

the year flew by fast, though, and you were excited to return to camp for an array of reasons; percy being one of those reasons, of course

when you saw him for the first time that summer, you were in awe at how different he looked after a year

he was taller, broader, and just more handsome overall

your stomach went into a frenzy when he greeted you with a boyish smile while his hand rubbed the back of his neck nervously because he didn’t fail to notice how, somehow, you were even prettier than he remembered

unfortunately, having the prepare for the war meant you guys were too busy to hang out as often as you did the previous summer

but when you did have time to see each other, it was still fun

there was an unspoken rule between you and percy that any talk about the war wasn’t allowed

it allowed you guys to just bask in the nights where you would watch the sunset while joking around and sharing funny stories

those nights were calm and still; they brought a sense of normalcy amongst the chaos and growing tensions

because of this, percy had sought out your company whenever he could get it

being with you made him feel like time slowed down

inevitably, the battle of manhattan occurred and passed, causing the summer to end with the grief of losing your siblings

while campers arranged the ceremonies to honor their siblings, percy hopped around to help

losing silena as a counselor meant it was time to pick a new one, and to your surprise, your siblings nominated you

you were silena’s right-hand person, the oldest in the group after her, and the strongest fighter, so your siblings felt it was fair that you took the role

but it didn’t feel right to you; the pressure of being a newly elected councilor while still grieving silena weighed hard on your shoulders

after the nomination, you needed time to get away and sit with your thoughts, and you were only there for a moment alone until percy had found you

his eyes studied your somber expression, and he was quick to ask what was wrong

as you poured out all your worries, percy was quiet and attentive

you cuddled up to his side for comfort, and even in your sorrow, you didn’t fail to notice the way he tensed up

finally, when you let everything out, he chimed in to soothe your worries

your expression was a little lovestruck as he said everything you needed to hear, and well, his strong arm around your shoulders definitely helped too

you were so elated that you couldn't help but press a kiss on his cheek to thank him

his flushed face was enough to lift your spirits for good that day

by the time the summer officially came to an end, you could feel that percy’s feelings for you were becoming stronger

the romantic possibilities you envisioned became more apparent, but percy hadn’t asked you out yet

and like, you guessed you could have asked him out, but that wasn't fair in your book

you were already making the first moves; it was his turn to do something about it

then you were sure your mother pitied you because finally, after a few more months of emailing, percy asked if you to go ice skating with him, and of course, you agreed

but then, you concluded that it was more like a cruel joke from your mom because percy never showed up

you waited hours for him before you trudged home in defeat

heartbroken wasn’t even enough to describe how you were feeling

being stood up with no follow up from him made you conclude that he just wasn’t interested and you just needed to move on

it wasn’t until you went to CHB for christmas break did you find out percy was missing

you were crazy worried about him and helped as much as you could to try and find him

when it was confirmed that he was still alive, you were more than relieved

from that day on, you were itching to see him again, and finally, after the giant war, you were able to speak to him

you only said a hello before you got sucked into a game of truth or dare with your friends

the game was self-explanatory; spin the bottle and the person who’s chosen is submissive to the person who spun it

you made up some lousy dares for the first few people until you spun the bottle in percy’s direction

“truth or dare?” your voice was challenging, and a little flirty

percy shifts in his place, “truth.”

“do you want to kiss me?”

“dare.”

“kiss me.”

the instigating coos of your friends made you smile, which contrasted percy’s stunned expression

“never have i ever-”

“that’s not even the game, percy!”

your friends laughed at your interaction, but you were honestly a little annoyed

he liked you; you could feel it, so what was he even waiting for?

“it’s fine. you don’t have to kiss me if you don’t want to,” you say with a playful smile in an attempt to hide your disappointment

“shit, i’d kiss you,” leo joked, and you suddenly perked up at the request

a new idea came to your mind

“so kiss me,” you snapped your gaze to leo, a smirk on your face

leo gasped so hard; he choked on his own saliva

while he coughed erratically, showcasing all his shock on his face, you announced, “new rule! you can only give up a dare if someone else in the group offers to take it for you.”

your gaze fixed on leo, “so, are you going to kiss me or what?”

“uh, only if you want to,” he stammered, and you smiled, moving to lean over in his direction

suddenly, percy cut in, “i didn’t give up the dare.”

your attention shifted to him, and you didn’t fail to pick up the jealousy radiating off of him

your stomach flipped with anticipation at the success of your idea

if percy needed a push, you were going to push him

“you’ve given leo false hope then,” you joked, and playfully leo sighed.

“man, so close,” he mumbled.

you bit your lip as you leaned in percy’s direction

you felt his attraction to you; his eyes told you everything you needed to know and more

and before you knew it, your lips were against his

the kiss was short, but for a moment, the world around you was drowned out; you barely heard the coos and cheers of your friends around you

with a satisfied smirk, you pulled away, settling back in your spot as percy’s eyes averted elsewhere, too shy to look at you

you and your friends played the game until you grew bored and found something else to do

because the festivities kept pulling you in one direction to another, the only interaction you had with percy was the occasional longing glance and nothing else

as you escorted a few of your sisters who drank a little too much back to your cabin, you were sure you’d have to wait another day to talk to him

lost in your dismay, you automatically denied piper’s offer to finish the task

it wasn’t until she scoffed did you pull out of your thoughts

“are you kidding? go. i’ll get them back. you find percy.”

“oh yeah. you guys need to do something about that sexual tension. are you gonna date him or what?” another one of your sisters slurred

before you could even protest, you were shooed away by not only piper but by the rest of your siblings too

you stayed in your spot, making sure they had at least made it to the steps of the cabin before you pranced up to percy’s cabin

you figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask if he wanted to go on a walk with you

your knock is followed by a few moments of shuffling before he opened the door

and, whew, you were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a shirtless percy

“hey." you leaned on the door frame, your eyes trailing down to admire his toned torso

“eyes up here," percy playfully demanded

you were almost hesitant to avert your eyes, but you obliged.

"i wanted to ask if you wanted to take a walk. you know, i just haven’t been sleeping well."

percy leaned against the door frame, amused at the dramatic pout on your face.

“sure, let me put on a shirt firs-”

“oh, you don’t have to. i don’t mind,” you cut him off, and his head tilts back just a little as he laughs

“i’m putting on a shirt,” he declares playfully, and you whine in fake disappointment

on your walk, he told you all the crazy things that happened while he was missing, and even though his stories were a lot more interesting than what you had to say, he was eager to hear about what you've been up to

your conversation persisted as you walked around the camp and as you arrived at the docks, another idea came to mind

suddenly, you cut yourself off mid-sentence, your gaze fixed on the water

“perce, you know, i can’t swim,” you mention, stepping on the wooden dock

“really?”

“really.”

it was quiet for a moment, and percy's expression was laced with confusion as you kicked off your shoes

you didn’t even care that you were wearing designer clothes, running straight off the dock and into the deep lake water

you heard percy yell your name right as your body completely submerges in the water

and it wasn't even more than 3 seconds before percy jumped in, one arm immediately wrapping around your waist to swim up to the surface with you

his baffled expression sent you into a fit of laughter

“what? why did you do that?!”

“cause i knew you’d come and get me.”

percy’s lips curved up into a smile, and you took the time to admire his features in the moonlight

you swore you saw his eyes flicker to your lips for a second, and the action made you hyper-aware of how close your noses were

"kiss me!" you thought in your head as you circled your arms around his neck, pulling him even closer

you could feel his admiration, the accelerated thump of his heart, the fluttering in his stomach that mimicked yours

the kiss you shared earlier was far too short for your liking, and you were already looking forward to the next opportunity to kiss him again

“i haven’t forgotten that i owe you a date.”

you smiled at his words, half-distracted at the proximity of his lips

“so it was a date all along?” you asked, and percy nods, amused

“you know, i was thinking now that there isn’t another big prophecy and the chances of me disappearing again aren’t likely, that, maybe, you and i could-”

“yes! gods, yes.” you cut him off, and percy laughs at your eagerness

you waited too long for the question that you couldn’t even let him finish asking

he isn’t able to say anything else as you pull him into a passionate kiss

it was as if the years of anticipation were being poured into the movement of your mouths

the kiss was long, growing in eagerness until the harpies had ruined your fun and the two of you had to run back to your cabins

a part of you had wished that all of this would have happened sooner

you had plenty of nights where you were stared at the ceiling with conflicted thoughts, wondering if you guys just weren't meant to be, if you somehow made up his attraction to you in your head, or if you should ask him out first and save yourself the potential regret

but when you returned to your cabin full of enthusiastic siblings asking why you were soaking wet and why your lipstick was smudged, you realized you wouldn’t have changed a single thing

masterlists taglist:@xxyrr @nct127bee @mochabreezeee @minamisulemisa @yanfeisluvr @Slytherclaw-kitten @-thatgirloverthere- @passionswift @nanskidoodle @s0urcru5h @ilikefluffygingercats @all-hailreyna @autmngirlworld @sunkissedskin1328 @Hermioneswifeee @quteez @hajigayy @aleksanderwh0r3 @drayshadow @tonyedwardstarkk @londoncherry @ashookykooky @lotusnegra666 @loverstyless @yelenabel0vaswife @t0xicmuse @ohmydamgods @jordannfields @tomriddles-wh0re @amy-writes-blog @muted-mayham @shawkneecaps @dreamerball @earthtokace @thehighladyofday @theverydramaticcabbage @lala-llama123 @tootsdoll @slytherindaughterofposeidon0 @black-rose-29 @somekidnamedkai @possiblylostchasecousin @silver-gemini @hamdehlesmis @shadowsndaisies @cami05sworld @does-anyone-hear-me @scarlets-widow @sol-the-salmon @hipsdofangirl @tatofan @missusstark @atryx0-tal @iamparou

if your username is bolded that means i can’t tag you ! you probably have your visibility settings on !

#percy jackson x you #percy jackson oneshot #percy jackson imagine #percy jackson fic #percy jackson x reader #percy x reader #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson fanfiction #percy jackson x y/n #percy jackson headcanon #my writing

[landinoandco]

|Shutter speed|

Chapter two : A New Beginning

{Lando Norris x Reader}

Summary: A photographer. A pair of F1 drivers. Triangles. A sticky situation of morals and fighting fate. What could go wrong?

Warnings: none :) apart from a mention of grief and passing of a loved one

Rating: teen and up

Word count: 2.9 k 

A/n: welcome to the second chapter of 'Shutter speed.'

I'm going to start a taglist so comment on this post or message me if you would like to be added :)

Previous chapters: Chapter one

Chapter two: A new beginning

By the time Georgie had raced home, it had stopped raining and the sun was beginning to fight its way through the mass of clouds that had filled the sky. The journey home had given Georgie plenty of time to think - to mull everything over about the crazy afternoon she had just endured. They had finally booked their first event since lockdown, the insanely attractive stranger she had met in the coffee shop but somehow it all ended back to a person she thought she had finished thinking about - not that you ever could. Her Theo. Her lovely Theo. 

Theodore was her childhood sweetheart. Theo was everything to her, llike Georgie was everything to him. They had their whole future planned out: travelling around the world and experiencing different cultures, photographing their entire experience and showcasing the beginning of their journey through life on an Instagram they had set up. Before settling down and starting a family of their own. Together. It was going to finish like all the fairy tales did...

And everybody lived happily ever after.

In hindsight, they had jinxed themselves before they had even started, not long after they had finished their A - levels and about to start their next chapter at Uni - Theo had fallen ill. Georgie refuses to acknowledge the illness for she believes it shouldn’t be the way he is remembered, instead reminiscing on the short but meaningful life he lived. Theo died not long after he was diagnosed, leaving Georgie behind with a new and tainted meaning to happily ever after because if it wasn’t with him then what did it truly mean? 

As they say hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Even now, 5 years on, 23 years of age, she is still plagued with the memories and the thoughts of everything they could have had but for some reason the universe was against it all. She hated to think of herself as unlucky because she was blessed to have met Theo in the first place. 

Shaking the memories from her head, she unlocked the apartment door and trudged through - hanging her coat and bag on the hooks then making her way over to the breakfast bar. On top was a fluorescent post-it note that read: “Popped into the city to pick up some new lenses for the cameras. Fill you in when I get back. Fancy getting a takeaway tonight to celebrate? Love you lots ~ Maisie.” 

A takeaway was exactly what was needed. She thought. And a nice warm shower. 

The thing Georgie loves about showers is that they give her the ability to find an answer and solution to pretty much everything and anything. She spent a lot of time in the shower after Theo passed, it was the only thing she could justify enjoying. Striping her clothes off and chucking them into a pile on the floor, she reached into the shower to turn it on - the water immediately rushing out and crashing loudly onto the floor. As soon as she was happy with the temperature, she stepped in - letting the warm water droplets wash all of her worries away. It was the only thing that she felt helped her relax; come to terms with everything she was feeling. 

Her first and main worry was what they were going to do after Goodwood. If they didn’t find consistent work soon they were going to run out of money - they were lucky to have made some good investments and savings leading up to this point to have coped through lockdown. 

Georgie grabbed the shampoo and rubbed it thoroughly through her long waves. She had been to Goodwood a few years back -  Theo had taken her. It was the best date she had ever been on - she remembered it as clear as day. They had found an empty bench to sit on next to the hill the cars climbed in the ever popular annual hill climb - it was there and then they had decided they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together and travel the world. 

Stepping back under the water, she let the water take the shampoo away, watching as the bubbles slipped through the drain. Theo had been a massive formula one fan - dragging Georgie into the sport as well. Jenson Button had been his favourite driver and McLaren his favourite team so naturally that was hers as well. As soon as he passed Georgie had nothing to do with the sport - she refused to watch it and stopped keeping up with the teams. 

She reached for the conditioner bottle, pressing her lips together in a tight line. All of this thought about Theo and the racing world she turned her back on - a slight regret forming in the pit of her stomach, was she ready to go back to it? She remembered the atmosphere of Goodwood when she had been, people from all over the world gathered to celebrate the one thing they had in common: their love for cars. She was slightly envious of the people who got to travel the world, following in the car's tyre tracks and capturing the moments you only get to experience once in a lifetime. 

Georgie paused and furrowed her eyebrows, she was struck with an idea. Whether it was absolutely brilliant or outright stupid and unrealistic, she was yet to find out. Hoping out of the shower and grabbing her towel, she made her way to her room. It was worth a look, she supposed, there was no harm in that. Once she was dressed, she sat at her desk and turned on her laptop; begging fate to be on her side today. 

“Honey, I’m home.” Called a voice from the kitchen. 

“Hey sweetie.” Georgie shouted back, “I’ll be with you in just a moment.” 

She pulled up the McLaren careers page, her mouse hovering over the view jobs link. Georgie was ready to travel the world. She was ready to experience life again - after all it was Theo’s dying wish that she completed everything they were setting out to do. Perhaps she was selfish for not coming to this conclusion sooner. 

She clicked. 

Taking one last deep breath, Georgie placed her hands to her forehead and moved her face closer to the screen as she read through the roles. Tyre performance engineer. No. Finance analyst - production. Definitely not. Hope was diminishing rapidly even though it was as she had expected. The chances of finding anything suitable were low. She was coming to the bottom of the list when a role jumped out at her. But not impossible apparently. 

Lead photographer - team. 

And the deadline was Tuesday at 11.59 pm. They had the best part of 6 hours to complete this application. It was going to be tight but possible. 

She jumped up and rubbed her hands over her face in disbelief. Running her hands through her hair, she sat back down - hardly being able to keep still. It was only an application advert - many people were going to be applying. She thought as she exhaled loudly. More experienced people. Skimming through the description and requirements, she almost felt like she was dreaming. It was perfect. The role was to travel with the whole team and capture every moment to later be used on social media and advertising. 

“Everything alright in here?” Maisie poked her head around the door. She was faced with an almost tearful Georige. Her words almost trailed off.

“Do you want to travel the world?” Georgie asked her, her voice wavering slightly.  Maisie seemed taken aback as she moved into the room and sat on Georgie’s bed. “I’m sorry - what? Have you forgotten what’s been going on recently?”

“With a formula one team, Mclaren to be precise.” Georgie corrected and moved aside so Maisie could see the screen. Silence fell between the pair as Maisie read on, Georgie’s leg had started bouncing in anticipation. Minutes later she was met with a frown. “That’s not quite how I had imagined you would react.” Georgia mumbled, sighing. She mirrored her friend's expression, chewing on her bottom lip. 

“Before we start fantasizing, I just want to make sure you’re ok with this.” Maisie said softly, taking one of Georgia’s hand in hers. Georgia nodded slowly, rubbing her thumb over her friend’s hand. “This would be his dream. I know he’s watching us - he really is looking out for us, Maise. I want to do it for him.”  

Maisie’s smile grew, “As long as you’re sure. Come, let’s discuss it over take away and I will explain how this weekend is going to work.” Georgie stood up, grabbing her laptop and a notebook, “One thing is for sure. We are going to need one hell of a portfolio.” 

It was now Sunday - the final day at Goodwood. 

To say the rest of their week leading up to this point went smoothly would be a lie. In the end it all got a bit complicated. They submitted their application at 10:58 pm that Tuesday evening - due to it only being a singular role they applied as their business in hope that the combined experience would set them apart from other candidates. Wednesday they spent the day prepping for Goodwood - trying out the new lenses and practising photographing cars they found around London. They were going to watch the Goodwood livestream on Youtube Thursday and Friday to see what they were going to be faced with that Saturday. Until Maisie received a call. It was Mclaren and they had gotten through to the interviews - all taking place that Thursday afternoon on teams. As it turns out, they wanted to have hired someone for the role by Friday in order to be ready for the British Grand Prix the following weekend. 

“I mean it makes sense,” Maisie said, blowing her coffee to cool it down before taking a long sip. “It is their home grand prix after all.” 

Georgie chuckled, “It’s just, I feel like if we were to explain to anyone they would think we were making this up. It’s all happening so quickly.” 

That Friday, ahead of their debut at Goodwood on the Saturday, they got the call. According to the lady Maisie spoke to, it was very close between them and another candidate but the fact they were working at Goodwood tipped the scales in their favour. 

“And.” Maisie started. “We are going to meet with a man called Zac Brown on Sunday, he is the CEO of McLaren Racing-” Georgie was very lucky to have Maisie as she was the businessman - or women in this case - out of the pair. Her people skills were unmatched, how she did it Georgie would never understand. 

Now on Sunday, Georgie was quite sad to see it coming to an end. The atmosphere was one that she had never quite experienced before - it was one that filled her with pride and adoration; something she hadn’t felt in a long time, not to this extent anyway. The whole weekend, a beaming smile had been plastered onto her face - so much so that her facial muscles were beginning to ache. The whole community of people were ecstatic to be there, watching on in excitement as a sport that had missed the company of their crowds opened its doors once again. It wasn’t long before she had agreed to meet with Maisie ahead of their meeting with Zac Brown that she found herself walking up the infamous hill. The loud buzz of conversation seemed to fade, instead the only sound she could hear was the rumble of engines as they came cruising by. She stopped at a clearing where a bench stood proudly, smiling softly to herself as she slung her camera strap over her shoulder, stuffing her hands into her trouser pockets. It hadn’t aged a day. 

Lando Norris had decided to take a break from the main McLaren marquee - he had just finished his final drive of the day and was looking for some time to reflect on the weekend he had just had after having the honour of driving the three cars that Aryton Senna won McLaren their championship titles. It had been a tough season leading up to this point - after Carlos left to join Ferrari he felt this year all eyes would be on him. Many expected Lando to fall into the shadow of his new teammate Daniel Ricciardo, everybody expected him to fade back into the background. Perhaps that was why he trained so hard during the winter break - he had pushed himself right up to the limit. Lando wanted to prove to himself more than anyone else that he was a good driver and he did have potential to fight those at the top, after the taste of a podium in Austria - he was hungry for more. Even as a young boy during his karting career, Lando put pressure on himself - to strive to be the best on the grid - sometimes it meant he forgot to enjoy himself because he was so worried about what other people thought about him. 

He had reached a clearing past the trees. All weekend he had kept half an eye out for the girl at the coffee shop. Part of him was disappointed not to have seen her, he really wanted that second chance. He came to a stop and checked his watch - it wasn’t long until Zac wanted him back; he mentioned briefly about a pair of photographers joining the team. They would be replacing his friend Jason after he decided that travelling just wasn’t practical anymore, who could blame him, his first child was on the way and he wanted to be there with his wife every step of the way. 

Lando brushed a hand through his curls, casting his gaze around before he would make his way back. When a bench caught his eye or more specifically the girl sitting on the bench. She sat with a content smile dancing on her lips, a reminiscent glaze coated her eyes. He took a step towards her, there was something familiar about her. It was like his feet were frozen in place - his brain was telling him to go back but his gut told him to stay put. He stood for a minute or two before it hit him - square in the face and quite frankly he couldn’t believe his luck. It was the girl from the coffee shop. Right in front of him. It was now or never. Lando took a calming breath before going and sitting next to her. 

Georgie was rudely pulled from her thoughts when a person sat down on the bench next to her. She moved her head slightly to see who the intruder was when her heart stopped. Recognition dawned on her face. Georgie knew instantly he had recognised her as the corners of his mouth twitched into a shy smile. “Hi.” His tone silvery and almost breathy. 

“Hey.” She beamed back, “I’m Georgie.” She said, gazing up at him, admiring the way the sun caught around his halo of curls giving them an almost angelic glow.

“Lando.” He told to her, the corners of his eyes crinkled slightly. Neither of them could quite believe that they were sitting with each other. 

“I - uh - It’s a wonderful day for it, isn’t it.” Georgie had panicked. She didn’t know what else to say and her mother used to always say:  ‘if in doubt talk about the weather.’ It was something along those lines anyway.  Silently cursing herself, she cringed at her awkwardness only to hear him chuckle at her comment. 

“It’s much better now the rain has cleared off.” Lando instantly felt relaxed around her, he didn’t know what it was. Perhaps it was that she seemed just as socially inadequate as he was. “So Georgie.” He savoured the way her name rolled off his tongue. “What brings you to Goodwood? I hope you don’t mind me saying this but I heard you talking about it before you rushed off the other day.” 

Georgie inched closer, almost leaning into the comfort and warmth he seemed to provide. “My friend and I are photographers and she somehow got us into working for the Goodwood Festival of Speed brand. I still don’t quite know how she did it, for some reason she didn’t want to talk about it.” She trailed off, a pink tinge creeping onto her cheeks as she had come to a rather astonishing conclusion. The corner of Lando’s mouth lifted at her innocence. “Anyway.” She moved on quickly. “As it turns out I am also here to meet my new boss.” 

“It’s almost like it was meant to be.” Lando quirked. “Who are you working for now?” 

“I’m the new photographer for the McLaren formula one team.” She explained, pride laced in her tone. Lando’s eyes widened, his mouth fell open in disbelief before he caught himself. Composed his expressions and stated very plainly...

“I’m Lando Norris. I drive for the McLaren formula one team. As it turns out you and I are about to attend the same meeting.” 

Taglist: (please message me or leave a comment if you would like to be added :))

@mjuikoli​ @httplayer​ @phatyak​

#lando norris x reader #lando norris imagine #lando norris #mclaren #formula one one shot #formula one fanfiction #formula one x reader #formula 1 x reader #formula one #f1 #daniel ricciardo #Carlos Sainz Jr #charles leclerc #daniel ricciardo x reader #f1 imagine #f1 x reader #lando norris fanfiction #f1 2021 #f1 fanfic #daniel ricciardo one shot #daniel ricciardo fanfic #daniel ricciardo imagine #mick schumacher #Max Verstappen #max fewtrell #max verstappen x reader #charles leclerc x reader #pierre gasly #pierre gasly x reader #fanfic

[destiny-smasher]

DownRight Fierce Dev Update (9/2021)

Not sure if this is something folks here would want to see, but I'll share this update I shared with patrons for the original visual novel I've been working on, DownRight Fierce. It was conceived back in, like, 2014, but since just before the pandemic hit, I've been working on it as a visual novel. It's sort of like...if Street Fighter and Butterfly Soup had a kid? That was born before Butterfly Soup came out? And has been slacking off for a few years? There is a fully playable, mostly presentable demo of the prologue and first three chapters, feel free to contact me if you're interested in trying it out and providing feedback.

Thanks to the support I've received on Patreon lately, I've been able to commission more outfits for the main characters, new expressions, and was able to pay Hayley to re-organize the sprites so I have some more control over mixing and matching different things. We've also implemented a new pose for Nishiko's sprite when they're sending text messages (on their antiquated cell phone).

(all of the character art so far I have commissioned from my friend Hayley Sakura-Rose12)

I ended up deciding to have that sprite made when I implemented a whole text convo with Seiko near the end of Chapter 3. (or partway through the chapter, depending on what the reader chooses - OR they can even skip this conversation altogether, potentially)

The biggest updates to DRF lately have mostly been cosmetic: adding in more facial expressions and effects.

One example of this has been incorpating a more seamless and atmospheric effect for moments when Nishiko gets lost in thought.

There will be a recurring and increasingly important component tied to this, so I'm glad Jenny helped inspire me to pursue this kind of idea. You can also see here a version of Nishiko's sprite which has been visually updated with more texture, alternate color, etc., and that's something she intends to do with the other characters when time allows (she's been very busy for like, over a year now).

Fire and smoke are key visual symbols for Nishiko's character, so Jenny has been helping me figure out ways to express this more through the UI, etc.

(my wife Jenny has worked on the UI, giving it a more gritty look, and she's modified Nishiko's sprite in this image to give extra atmosphere to the character sprites; she also took a placeholder image and did work on it to showcase a potential art style for the backgrounds; we're considering something like this, though maybe including more color, perhaps intentionally depending on the setting)

But it's not just been visual stuff. I've also been adding in extra content, and incorporating more choices and elements that affect and are affected by the stats running in the background.

I've added in new short classroom scenes to help better illustrate Nishiko's experience inbetween social activities, while simultaneously using them to imply elements regarding Nishiko's attention span, as well as flesh out the lore of the world.

I've been a bit inspired by Tuca and Bertie in some weird ways, as well, trying to build lore within my own fighting game inspired world with references that double as, well, world building (like alluding to Street Fighter antagonist M. Bison via a political dictator who existed in this universe's history), including entire chunks of conversation that go in different branches based on weird Capcom humor that also serves to establish backstory.

Nishiko and Kayla bond over love of a dumb cheesy horror flick that's essentially one big meme featuring the 90's Street Fighter cartoon.  The drinks in the vending machines are all Capcom references, but serve as a means of letting the reader more manually increase a stat of their choosing - and since they're vending machines, they recur, so as the reader might get to know what each drink is, they might make a deliberate choice to increase a specific stat on purpose, in a similar way to choosing to exercise, or meditate, or study.

A convo about Nishiko's prior schoolyear incorporates Dark Stalkers references while also, again, letting the reader affect stats in a narratively retroactive way.

I've fleshed out conversations in Chapter 3 to have lots of dialogue most readers won't see in a single playthrough, as well as making more efforts to lean readers toward experiencing certain scenes or moments they might have missed earlier, while allowing the possibility of skipping or missing out on scenes entirely should they choose.

For example, the end of Chapter 3 is focused on Nishiko's relationship with Seiko. There is a text chat convo that can happen in one of two different parts of the chapter, and an in-person convo I'm currently working on (the last planned new content for the demo). Both can be experienced, or one or the other, or the can both be skipped. I don't want to make the entire social life something optional, but I do want to have there be parts like this where the reader can choose to skip interacting with a character if they truly don't want to, to help reinforce the idea that every interaction is, in a sense, a deliberate choice.

Even something like picking 'the BAD' choices is something I want to not just feel like, say, Undertale's infamous 'genocide run' but rather something that is an expression of anger at the world around the main character, which even has some specific benefits - because people don't just become jerks because they like to feel bad, but because it serves them in some beneficial way. As a slight example, if the reader pushes Nishiko to become aggressive, their 'Psycho' stat will increase, which can lead to them having even more aggressive choices later, which further increase that stat. But as that stat increase, Nishiko will become more physically perceptive to certain details about the world around them, but in material ways rather than social ways. For example, they might sense certain inklings of things that allude to later plot points earlier than someone who is more cooperative and might learn more social backstory elements. It's likely not going to be some huge, monumental difference, but it hopefully will make a second playthrough feel noticeably different and give the reader more insight into certain things.

The planned demo will feature the prologue and the first three chapters. By the end, all four main characters will be introduced, and the reader should get a pretty good idea through bits of writing and visual presentation that the choices they make won't change the primary narrative, but will affect certain details and aspects of how things play out. This is actually related to a big plot element itself that will become important later. But for now, it's been really fun adapting content I wrote over five years ago into this format, fleshing it out, and trying to work out ways to not only make that content function better in an interactive format, but also just how to lay more foundation and foreshadowing for what's to come.

While the visuals are still far from finalized even for this demo, I do have a private build uploaded for anyone genuinely interested, as I still haven't received much in the way of feedback so far. I'm planning on releasing a public demo to itchio later on when we can get the visuals to look more finalized.

#DownRight Fierce #visual novel #lgbt #indie games #game development #fgc #fighting games #street fighter

[wastelandlovingscenarios]

Yey! New fallout blog. I'm so glad, it's honey on my heart! :D Do you have a lot of requests? I have two questions-ideas that you may like. 1: I like to think that Nick has memories that allow him to dance pre-war swing dances. But what about the rest of the companions? How do they react to Sole dancing lindy-hop (it's such fun and energy!) and/or blues-dancing (so slow, lazy, smooth and sexy). Do they know how to dance, do they want to learn from Sole, or do they very strongly refuse to dance?

yes, i have a lot of requests but i love it! keeps me occupied. i have taught ballroom dancing for a good four years of my life and i know about 10 dances. i’m absolutely in love with it! thank you for requesting this. <3

can you imagine the boys in an slightly unbuttoned, loose collared shirt with slacks and a belt.... 🤩

please enjoy! i will make it crushing companions because who doesn’t like a little romance in their life?

-

Danse:

danse is a killjoy, he doesn’t understand the joy of dancing and what impact it has on people. whenever he caught the sight of people doing it, he stood on his opinion that it was nothing but a waste of time. well, that was until he saw sole dance themselves. they had been dragged onto the floor by a friend of theirs and began lindy hopping as if they were suddently recharged and full of energy. even if he tried to deem it as a distraction later in the day, he knew he couldn’t pry his eyes away no matter how hard he tried. he had seen many people dance in his lifetime at brotherhood gatherings and such, but had never seen anyone do it like sole had. danse isn’t a dancer and will probably never be one. this man has spent his entire life in a tin can and is probably already built like one. he is horribly stiff and cannot move for the life of him. even if you were to hold him at gun point, he’d still harshly refuse to do so. after all, danse couldn’t even do the macarena even if he tried. he knows that he is incapable of dancing, which is why he absolutely avoids doing it at all costs. even if he was utterly in love with sole, he’d still reject the offer of learning their hobby and instead watch them dance from afar, secretly gushing over the smile their plastered their face whenever they did so.

Deacon:

he would think it’s absolutely amazing how sole could still remember fragments of their dancing 200 years later. hell, he can’t even remember what he ate last night for dinner, so it’s easy to say he’s impressed by their hobby and how physically demanding it is. the minute he saw sole and perform such an energetic dance, showcasing various fancy twirls and skills on the dance floor, he’d be completely bought, no further questions asked. deacon knows how to dance just for his disguises and such, but had never went beyond the basic steps of it. now that he had seen everything beyond what he’s ever known, he’d become very fascinated by it. he’d practically tackle sole on the floor, nearly begging them to teach him how to lindy hop and he definitely was not gonna accept no as an answer. the more sole had taught him, the more he became passionate about it, pressing sole to teach him more. in the end, he’d be more than willing to learn and even go as far as performing it with sole in different disguises while on their missions. after all, there’s no one he’d rather do it with besides the star themselves- the sole survivor.

Maccready:

maccready is instantly absorbed into soles talent of lindy hopping and although he doesn’t cheer out loud like everyone else does in the bar, he’s smiling proudly while leaning back in his seat. the sight of sole happy and energetic while doing what they love brings a warm feeling to his chest and he hopes that one day he’s able to make them smile the same way. after a few performances, mac would confront sole about it and ask about their history with dancing, curiousity eventually catching up to him. mac would try to listen as they spoke passionately about their hobby but their words would eventually turn into static as he instead admired their face like a middle school crush. he’d blush when sole snapped him out of it and would just reply with a simple, “that’s good.” as if he listened to them in the first place. although mac is engrossed by their talent, he will not dance no matter the circumstances. it wasn’t like mac was stiff or anything when moving his body, it was more of the fact that he was embarrassed to even attempt to dance in front of anyone, especially in front of the only person he has a crush on. mac naturally doesn’t favor any attention on him, so he refuses to learn how to dance for his sanity and don’t even get me started on creating physical contact with sole if he did choose to learn from them. if he were to accept their offer, his crush would be obvious to everyone within a 5 feet range. the thought of sole even linking their hand with his automatically gives him a heart attack, so for that to happen in real time would be an absolutely different story he wasn’t going to find out. he’d support them completely with their dancing but would wave off the idea of him doing the same for personal reasons no one should know.

Hancock:

oh man, the sight of his crush blues dancing on the floor in front of everyone was so sexy in his eyes. the way their hips swayed and how slow and sensual their movements were drove him crazy. especially the way their confidence shone throughout the room made him fall in love with them even more. although he didn’t like the idea of them dancing with someone else, he sure liked the scene right in front of him. his whiskey would be completely neglected as he smirked, watching them dance passionately. hancock is a dancer, but more specifically, a slow dancer. before he had met sole formerly, he had picked up various individuals through different tactics and there’s no doubt that he’s used slow dancing as one. it always won the women over somehow, so he often did it. now that the mayor had his eyes on someone after countless years of avoiding love, he’d be utterly determined to impress sole with dance skills of his own that he had mastered. hopefully, he’d win their heart in the process of doing so. hancock would even try to sharpen them more before he built up the courage to ask sole for a dance. once he did so, it was simple to assume that sole was anything but disappointed.

Nick Valentine:

he’s thrilled to know that sole still contained their memories of prewar dances like he had. he always disliked the fact that prewar dances in the commonwealth were completely disregarded to rot slowly as time passed. it was such a unique hobby and talent nowadays and nick assumed he was going to rust away before he could find another person who could dance as good as anyone back in the prewar era. when sole had presented various dances, such as lindy hop and blues dancing, to a crowd in sanctuary, he’d become automatically ecstatic, a large grin forming on his face. he’d immediately walk over to sole, politely asking for their hand for permission to join in. though nick wasn’t the greatest anymore at dancing and was a bit rusty at it due to his body limiting him, they’d still catch the attention of the crowd who cheered them on happily. he had forgotten how good it felt to be doing something he once enjoyed doing in his past life. obviously by now, you can assume nick is an excellent dancer amongst all the companions and would be the closest to soles level of dancing. he is a very romantic guy, signalling that he prefers much more slower dances and in this case, blues dancing. the fact that he’s in love with sole only proves this more and whenever they’re in private and he has the chance to ask for a dance alone, he does without hesitation. after a while, they’d come up with routines of their own and it was become a nightly habit to dance with each other, whether slowly or with energy.

Preston:

he’d be one of the many companions that would be cheering on for sole as they blues danced or lindy hopped on the floor, saying things like, ‘that’s my general!’ or ‘woohoo! go sole!’. secretly, he’d enjoy the small blush that would appear on their face whenever prestons voice boomed amongst the noisy crowd. he wanted to make sure that sole knew he was watching and that he was their biggest supporter, regardless of the abundance of people watching them. he’s absolutely supportive with soles habit of dancing and often asks them about it, knowing that it was one of their passions that still continued to stick with them even after the bombs dropped. preston would be happy to learn from sole, accepting their offer before they could say another word. it wouldn’t hurt to try something new and if he didn’t like it, he could always just stop after all. luckily for sole, he would immediately find himself liking every dance they taught him, whether it was slow or fast, and would enjoy practicing every once in a while to take his mind off the stress. the feeling of soles hands against his shoulder blade and his hand was more than enough to brighten up any bad day. preston is the type of dancer where he’d prefer to perform and practice in private rather than showcasing to a crowd. he was definitely very shy about it and a little insecure of his skills, but with time, he would eventually attempt to dance in public with sole. maybe not everytime, but it would happen occasionally.

Sturges:

boy, oh boy, lemme tell you right now. sturges is in love with prewar history, so once sole presented their skills of dancing, he’d be practically bombarding them with compliments and questions. he wouldn’t hide the fact at all that he was impressed by their set of skills and would even give them a cute ass nickname like, “my little dancer,” to which he laughed at whenever sole blushed madly. as much as the lindy hopping caught his eye, he liked the movements of blue dancing and the music that came along with it. it was much more of his style, really. the day sole came up to him and asked if he wanted to learn, he had agreed, knowing that he couldn’t say no to such a charming individual. sadly though, sturges has done nothing similar to dancing in his life and is as stiff as a rock when sole first teaches him, often stepping on their foot or stumbling over nothing. he’d blush in embarrassment, apologizing profusely whenever an error was made. he’s a mechanic- he fixes, repairs, tinkers and builds. it was something he enjoys doing and something he was great at. now this- this was something definitely new in his life and something he was absolutely horrible at. although he can’t dance for shit, he’s willing to bite back the hesitation so he could take advantage of whatever time he has with sole.

Gage:

he wouldn’t really have a high opinion of soles dancing but wouldn’t deny the fact that he was slightly impressed by their talent. never has he once seen anyone in nuka world dance the same as sole did and he definitely wasn’t gonna push away the fact that it was something unique and interesting to watch. even if he didn’t tell that to sole out loud, the way his eyes followed their every movement spoke louder than any words he could’ve pulled out of his ass. from time to time, he’d compliment them in his own way, saying things, such as, ‘nice footwork you got there, boss’ or ‘don’t see much of that these days’. sole would eventually taunt him by accusing gage that he liked the performance to which gage playfully snickered at it while rolling his eyes. you never put gage and dancing in the same sentence. he’s absolutely against himself doing so and would rather jump off a cliff willingly than to be caught doing such a thing. there’s nothing you can do to make him dance or even attempt to bribe him into learning- he just won’t do it at all costs. gage has his own set of hobbies and he likes to stick within that area, so the topic of dancing doesn’t appeal to him at all and immediately shuts the idea down the second it leaves soles mouth. as much as he loved sole, there was just no way in hell that he was gonna be forced into this. it just wasn’t him.

#fallout #fallout 4 #fallout 4 companions react #fallout+4+companions+reaction #fallout 4 companions #fallout 4 reacts #fallout reacts #fallout reactions #companions react #fallout 4 reactions #danse #paladin danse #hancock #john hancock #maccready #robert joseph maccready #nick valentine #sturges #deacon #preston #porter gage #gage #react

[beldaroot]

Do you have any unpopular opinions about IT? Or about the fandom

anon are you trying to set me up for hate?! lol jk, everyone knows i don't mind saying my thoughts lksdjflk i feel like i've been pretty vocal already with my many, many unpopular opinions... so here's like 2k words of them because i don't know how to shut up. again these are opinions and i’m answering an ask sent to me, so don't attack me if you don't agree with them lol if you want further explanation i’m happy to do so too!

we don't need a supercut. i also don't think we're getting a supercut (maybe if the pandemic didn't happen we might have). all the supercut would give us is solid proof that wb is homophobic and also more scenes of bad characterization.

i liked the actors they chose for both movies and i wouldn’t change them. i just think these actors were given bad scripts. i don’t blame the actors themselves for portraying the characters inaccurately, it really is all muschietti&co’s fault. like james ransone and bill hader didn’t reread the book while isaiah mustafa read it multiple times and all three of their characters were done horribly. the actors were just doing their job and it was under muschietti’s directions that we have these bad characterizations. (also this isn't me supporting the actors personally, some of them are shitty people, i'm just talking about their performances).

it movies were not scary at all. it's just a bunch of jumpscares with some decent cgi. and it really sucks that they played more with pennywise being fucking weird than actually showcasing the psychological fears and trauma.

the miniseries is good! yes it’s corny and definitely had a production budget of like $8, but it still kept pretty close to the story! it did such a better job showing the losers friendship: we got to see them hangout and be silly and not angry at each other or separated for dumb reasons.

i don’t think you need to read the book to enjoy the movies or the franchise in general. the book is long as hell and shitty and i wouldn’t want someone to succumb to reading it if they don’t want to. however, it’s frustrating when people who have read the book call out specific discrepancies between the book and the movies and others will ignore it or greatly defend the movies. it chapter two was objectively bad, i’m sorry! when people say the movies should have stayed closer to the source material, it’s not like we’re trying to push the book in your face. we’ve come to cherish the book characterizations and it just hurts to see beloved characters ruined over some shitty portrayals and bad directing and writing.

all the losers are shippable with each other (except bev and eddie), but there are just some ships that are more compatible with each other due to canon elements and interactions.

on that note, it isn't reddie's fault if your non-reddie ship isn't as popular. i know i'm biased but there is reason why people gravitate towards reddie in the first place, and if your non-reddie ship doesn't have that much content, there is no need to bash reddie for it. (though you can definitely bash reddie shippers for picking reddie over another ship if they’re not shipping a non-reddie ship due to racism or some other form of bigotry)

like eddie, i do not care about myra. lol, i don’t understand the discourse around her since she is just a 2d character that was meant to show how eddie is trapped in the toxic cycle his mother created. she is just a surrogate sonia, but she isn’t as a big of a threat to eddie as his mom was. the fact that eddie was able to leave her so easily, knowing that it might be the last time he sees her, is so telling that she was never really an obstacle for him. his biggest fear has always been his mother, myra played a small role in it but not enough for there to be all these thinkpieces about it lskdjfksf also, the fact that we don’t see eddie’s intro chapter in her POV but we saw stan’s and bev’s through their partners, just shows that myra's thoughts are not that important lol

i don’t hate benverly. i think they’re cute and as much as i didn’t really like the underwater kiss, it was shot amazingly looool. i will say i find it weird that people will call benverly “boring” especially given how many parallels they have with reddie. that being said, it is frustrating to see these similar stories between these two ships, but of course, the straight couple will get the happy ending while the gays are suffering. also, i wish that people would give more depth to benverly as a ship - they would definitely have a lot of issues to overcome, bev with her abuse and trauma, ben with his loneliness and inability to open up about his true feelings. and i think because they're a m/f couple, people just don't care about them or want to explore them. also, ben is a great character and some of the hate towards him is wildly unnecessary and at times very hypocritical. 

sandy was not a beard for richie. i'm assuming this got popular since chapter two made richie gay so now people read richie’s vasectomy story with sandy as a type of “performance” or a “bit” he’s practiced to appear straight. however, the way i perceived it is richie finally being open and taking a sad story of his love life and turning it into a grand retelling so the losers will still think of him as a jokester. it’s very apparent from how he talks about sandy that she was very important to him and that even though they separated mutually, the hurt he has is still present. also, i just don’t think you need to villainize a woman character who only appears for like 3 pages total lol.

bill is the best written character in the movies and that's because he's always the self-insert. in order from best to worst characterization i would say bill > ben > bev > richie > stan > eddie > mike. 

ok all the losers are queer in some fashion, but i think the loser who gives off the most straight energy is not ben, but stan. stan just never held any idolization or romantic interactions with the boy losers. he really only shows deep care and gentleness to bev and then later to patty. and he was just so in love with patty! like those two love birds can be bi, but if they’re straight, i don’t have any complaints either because they’re that cute!

richie is bisexual and straight passing. eddie is gay and not straight passing. really can’t believe these are unpopular opinions, but i’ve seen more than enough people say the opposite, so i have to say my piece! richie’s whole thing is about putting on a façade, there is always two sides of him. he wants to appear straight because he doesn’t want people to know his true self. eddie has always appeared “gay,” this is literally why people bullied him and called him slurs and “sissy,” but he doesn’t know/try to change his appearance into something more masculine.

people who feminize eddie and people who make him hypermasc are both evil and will not be seeing heaven! i genuinely hate both so much but if i had to choose i think "uwu softboy" eddie is more in character than mean aggressive asshole eddie who hates his friends. and it's just so funny because i think out of all the losers, eddie definitely blurs the lines of gender the most, he doesn’t conform to gender stereotypes and for that reason, he’s targeted for his appearance. anyway, some of y’all need to understand that gay men can be complex and have range!

chapter two eddie sucked and should absolutely be removed from existence. that’s is not my eddie kaspbrak. idon’tknowher.gif.

muschietti&co gave richie eddie’s storyline. this shouldn’t be unpopular or even controversial, like the dude literally said “eddie had a lot going on” while richie didn’t, so he “gave” richie more. and it’s weird that people try to defend andy on this, because richie does have a lot going on too!! he already had his own queer storyline that they could have explored!! it was an injustice to both richie and eddie that andy tried to switch their storylines/personalities. there can and should be more than one queer character in a media at a time, but andy was like “no, and i don't know what bisexuality is.” it’s just sad because out of the two, eddie’s queer subtext in the book is much more blatant than richie’s, and yet people came out of the movie saying eddie wasn’t gay or that his feelings weren’t mutual. the reason a lot of people sympathize with richie’s storyline in the movie is because it has elements of book eddie’s story in it!! both of them deserved to have their stories told properly and also independently – they are intertwined but they’re also separate. they aren’t interchangeable. richie was scared that people would see him as predatory; that’s what the werewolf symbolized to him. he felt he was a monster, that bisexuality made him dangerous. he's not some sad repressed gay. also!! eddie deserved to kill bowers and it makes me seethe with rage that he wasn’t given that. 

hated that richie didn’t write his own material in the movie. i understand that richie likes to keep facades, but book richie is very ambitious and wants to see himself prosper. the part in the book where he’s talking about reining in the “crazy man” with the line “but he had understood his potential not to be just good at the job but great at it, and just that knowledge had been enough to put him over the moon on a cloud of euphoria.” like richie is smart!! he wants to be in control and be accoladed for his talents! he wouldn't want someone else to make him funny. richie can be self-destructive but he wants recognition too. 

hated the arcade scene. was totally unnecessary to have this random bully (who everyone started to sympathize with and ship richie with????) confront richie like that. i didn't mind that richie's token wasn't related to eddie because again, i do think that they are separate, but i wish richie had some sort of confrontation with pennywise via eddie because that would have made r+e make actual sense.

the whole token storyline was dumb. trying to make the ritual of chud work with tokens instead of what it was intended to be - a game of wits and humor - was stupid. especially since the ritual was known to fail and mike lied to them to get them to find these useless tokens. it was also bad because we never got to see the flashback for mike and ben always had his token with him (which was also weird… like why would he keep that in his wallet for 27 years….??)  

that quarry scene in the movie where bev strips and then all the boys ogle at her was unnecessary and creepy and i hope andy muschietti goes to jail for it!

bev and eddie are the only two losers with abusive parents. the other losers have varying degrees of toxicity with their parents (the hanlons being zero), but not enough to be labeled as abusive.

stan was badly written in both movies. i can and have written an essay about this, but he was given scraps and it sucks that people will look at the second movie and say he was written well especially since andy romanticized his suicide by writing those letters like stan was a martyr sacrificing himself for the good of the group instead of being deeply traumatized and killing himself because he was so scared. also, that bar mitzvah scene does not make any sense chronologically and it felt more like a storyline for richie than for stan and i wish it remained a deleted scene. i like the idea of him rebelling and pointing out the illogic of things, but stan never had an issues with grownups… he liked his parents! anyway, stan was not a coward for killing himself and in general he deserves so much fucking better.

eddie is funnier than richie. i'm sorry, but i laughed so many times in the book while reading eddie's parts while i had to skim over richie's parts because i didn't even know what he was saying with those voices and half the time they were racist so....

mike was badly characterized in the movies and the reason for that is muschietti&co are racist. no ifs ands or buts about it! you can't just completely destroy someone's character that much if you don't have some sort of subconscious anti-blackness in you. mike literally has the most content in the book and you're going to portray his character in horrible racist stereotypes AND give him no screentime?! like stan, i have written a whole essay about this topic, so if you actually want me to share all the details, i can. it's just.... a lot, and this post is already so long.

in regards to race, i don't think it's harmful to headcanon the other losers as a different race or ethnicity. especially if you're poc (like i used to headcanon harry potter as a brown desi man as a desi myself because it gave me comfort). however!! i think it can be harmful if you start sidelining mike and his blackness because of these racial/ethnic headcanons. mike's story directly revolves around being black in a white town, his story is about the racism he faced and how he was accepted by the losers regardless of his race. i mean the reason he's qualified as a “loser” in the first place is because he's black lol. so just don't minimize his story for your own headcanons.

as for the fandom..... oof A LOT of y'all are racist, fatphobic, sexist, antisemitic, homophobic, and also biphobic. sometimes it does not feel like a safe place for marginalized communities, especially when they are discussing “controversial” yet important issues.

y'all also recycle the same discourse every few months and it's really annoying (though there hasn't been much discourse recently thank god)

some of y’all need to understand that platonic relationships are just as, if not, better than some romantic relationships. ship wars are overrated. 

y'all truly suck at engaging with content. you will say this fandom is dying is dead but i can go into the reddie tag or the it ao3 tag and find countless new content every day. yes, that content might not fit what you want, but if you do find something and enjoy it, you need to comment/leave a tag and let creators know that so they feel appreciated. don’t know who needs to tell you this, but when content creators receive positive feedback, they’re more motivated to create content! woah! 

i will say that even if this fandom has its bad moments, there are still a lot of great people here. i've made a lot of friends and the it fandom is probably one of the best fandom in regards to unique, rich, and wonderful content. it's 2021 and i'm still glad i'm here! <3

#obviously this is not a complete list of my unpopular thoughts #and it's not organized in any particular way #so sorry if this is hard or confusing to read #again don't attack me if you disagree #i'm always willing to elaborate on things! #it #Anonymous

[thesunnyshow]

EPISODE 5: MINA

Writing Blog URL(s): @jaemina00​

Name: Mina 

Age: 20 

Nationality: British 

Languages: English, Bengali 

Star Sign: pisces  

MBTI: INFP-T

What fandom(s) do you write for?

NCTzens 

When did you post your first piece?

This year back in late May or early June 

Do you write fluff/angst/crack/general/smut, combo, etc? Why?

Mostly fluff because I'm a sucker for the way your heart can literally ache in your chest but also angst because it also causes such strong emotions. 

Do you write OCs, X Readers, Ships...etc?

All X Readers so far 

Why did you start writing on Tumblr?

It started really as just a pass by of time, I love creative writing and kpop so it just seemed the best way to cross them. I was incredibly bored due to quarantine and thought it was a good way to enjoy myself and not let my brain rot away but I surely fell in love with it. 

What inspires you to write?

Any moment really. Late night thoughts or just the people I'm surrounded with. Music I think is especially great because it allows you to feel emotions without actually having to go through the experience and scenarios and then you can write based on how you felt those emotions through the song. 

What genres/AUs do you enjoy writing the most?

Like I said before I really like fluff, recently I've been more interested in AUs like reincarnation and a lot of psychological beliefs as well as mythology and the supernatural.

What do you hope your readers take away from your work?

Feeling. Whether it's a feeling of happiness that made their heart swoon or the aching of sadness, I hope my reader just feel through my writing. 

What do you do when you hit a rough spot creatively?

I take a break and step back from my writing. Sometime, being so stuck in your mind makes it much harder to write. So I stop writing for as many days as it takes for the ideas and the flow to comeback to me naturally and without being pushed. In this time I usually try to find inspiration from music and other stories. 

What is your favorite work and why? Your most successful?

As of right now I really like 'Love Me Now' and 'Nighthawk'. Love me now is based off NCT 127's song and I loved how I just wrote what I felt in the exact moment I was listening to it, it holds a special space in my heart for that. I also love nighthawk because of how  stuck I was with it. I was planning and drafting it for the longest time and everytime hating what I've written and restarting, so I have some pride in now finally actually liking what I've written. Most successful however is 'Firsts' I do love it but because it's of the first ones I wrote so there is a slight cringe to it now. 

Do you think there’s a difference between writing fanfiction vs. completely original prose?

The only difference I see is that when writing fanfiction you have a name and a face to go with it however everything else is the same. You have to come up with how the characters are presented, what's their dynamic, what's the storyline and how it's going to be presented. You still have to showcase emotion, action and dialogue as well as everything in between.

What do you think makes a good story?

A story that has you engaged and feeling something. Like it makes you almost sad that you've finished it and makes you want to come back to read it again. 

What is your writing process like?

It varies it can be like  have an idea I make a plan on how I want the story to progress and how I want it to end, I try to think of how I want my characters to be portrayed to my reader and how the dynamic between characters is. Then I write multiple drafts and slowly eliminate based off which one I hate and which ones I like until I'm left with the best one and then I reread and either add or remove bits and go over grammar and spelling. Or I just go with the flow, honestly it's a process of cutting and writing again and again until I'm somewhat satisfied. 

Would you ever repurpose a fic into a completely original story?

I don't think any of my fics are good enough to be the basis of a story and I most definitely don't think I couldn't write a full original story. 

What tropes do you love, and what tropes can’t you stand?

Honestly I think every trope is okay if it's well executed and well written. Even tropes that are classified as clichés are nice to read when the writing style is engaging. 

How much would you say audience feedback/engagement means to you?

It means a lot because it allows room for growth and development. I really just want to know how I can become better what people like so I know what is successful and what isn't. 

What has been one of the biggest factors of your success (of any size)?

The fact that I like what I've written? I don't know but I think that it's important and I'm just glad that I do. In fact I kind of find that alone to be a success.

Favorite color: It changes but as of now pastels and especially yellow 

Favorite food: literally any food 

Favorite movie: The green book 

Favorite ice cream flavor: Chocolate 

Favorite animal: Giraffe 

Go-to karaoke song: Can't sing for my life :/

Dream job (whether you have a job or not): I'm studying law right now so the end goal is hopefully in human rights

Coffee or tea? What are you ordering?

Iced Americano or Mocha frappe

If you could have one superpower, what would you choose?

Teleportation I think is really cool, just imagine being able to go anywhere in the world in the span of a few Milliseconds.

If you could visit a historical era, which would you choose?

Probably the 20th Century, just seeing the world go through both world wars, the cold War, Vietnam and so many other political problems going on as well as so many revolutions both industrial and literal is both scary and such an exciting time to be alive. 

If you could restart your life, knowing what you do now, would you?

I think it's fun not knowing everything, it's definitely scary but there's an exciting buzz to it also I don't think me restarting life with what I know now would make a difference. 

Would you rather fight 100 chicken-sized horses or one horse-sized chicken?

I don't think I could fight one chicken sized horse let alone 100 but I most definitely can't fight a horse sized chicken. First of all, that's a big chicken and second, chickens are actually very fiesty. So I have to go with 100 chicken-sized horses. 

If you were a trope in a teen high school movie, what would you have been?

Probably the main characters best friend who judges every stupid decision they make and making it clear with lots of sarcastic comments but is their nevertheless fully supporting them to do more stupid and impulsive things. 

Do you believe in aliens/supernatural creatures?

Yess!! I find it almost impossible that we are the only intelligence in this much bigger universe. We are just mere specs and there has to be another form of intelligence out there. 

Fun fact about yourself that not everyone would know? 

I can fold my tongue in a three leaved clover? Lmao

Do you think fanfic writers get unfairly judged?

Yes! Just because it's based on someone in real life and isn't conventional story writing people expect it to be bad but actually there are so many amazing authors who write so many unique fanfictions. People also only expect it to be plotless but it's far from that. 

Do you think art can be a medium for change?

Definitely, I think art is a great medium for change. It can really play with someone's emotions and really open their eyes to new perspectives and wider horizons. Art can really change a person's ideologies on just about anything. It's powerful and allows people to find themselves as well as get lost in a world you've created. 

Do you ever feel there are times when you’re writing for others, rather than yourself?

I don't think I've come to a point like that yet, I enjoy writing so far and maybe it's because I'm fairly new that I haven't experienced this yet. 

Do you ever feel like people have misunderstood you or your writing at times?

No I haven't but again I haven't written much or for long. 

Do your offline friends/loved ones know you write for Tumblr?

Yes and actually depending on how I feel about a certain piece I let them read it and ask about what they think. 

What is one thing you wish you could tell your followers?

I hope you find some comfort or even happiness in my writing, I hope it made you smile or put you in your feels and you just overall find it enjoyable. Also don't be afraid to talk to me or send asks!!

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers who might be too scared to put themselves out there?

Just go for it! If you like what you've written then others are bound to like it, as cliché as that sounds it's true. At the end of the day if you love writing, it'll show in your work and others will fall in love with it too.

Are there any times when you regret joining Tumblr?

So far no. I've had a very pleasant experience with reading other people's amazing work as well as writing my own.

Pick a quote to end your interview with:

 “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” - Thomas Merton.

BONUS: K-POP CONFIDENTIAL

Interested in your very own episode of The Sunny Show? Find out how to apply here.

#@jaemina00 #thesunnyshow #featuredauthor #episode 5 #nct

[landofsomethingsomething]

Super agree with you regarding epilogues ruining engagement. I was personally able to just completely boot the epilogues out of my brain, and hs still means a ton to me. But now I can't browse most content since it's epilogue stuff, and most people I followed who hated them too have completely divorced hs as a whole. Which I get, but yeah. It's just depressing. I'm not ready to give hs up, but I feel l'll have to since the epilogues eclipsed everything and there's just nothing left now.

Just realized my previous ask may imply guilting content creators for not making things I want, and I want to apologize for that. Not what I intended. I really just wanted to say that even from the perspective of someone who is still as passionate as I always was for hs, I'm feeling the strain the epilogues caused. It feels like the epilogues murdered the fandom rather than let it die a natural peaceful death.

Initially, honestly, that was my exact plan too - Just go on as though they hadn’t happened. But I ran into the same thing you and others have: No matter how mealy mouthed people get about “dubious canonicity” and the murk they are purportedly attempting to create between pure fanwork and pure canon... the epilogues are right there on the main page with the rest of the story. This isn’t like That One Ubiquitous Fanon Detail We Hate But Is Everywhere that we all surely have (more than one, for most of us really) because it comes explicitly from a place of authority over the work. The stuff that comes from other fans is so much easier to work with because we are all on equal ground from an authenticity standpoint. The epilogues are not on equal ground. They are authoritative and no matter how stubbornly we insist we will disregard them in their entirety, of course new canon (and that is what it is, again, no matter how mealy mouthed people are about it) is going to seep into the greater fandom consciousness. Like of course it is. Just like Act 7 quashed exploration of the characters’ individual goals because the body of the work authentically stated it had been to play along with paradox space’s rules and just make a new frogverse the whole time. Just like the Credits quashed exploration of alternate new universes and Earth Cs and what godhood looks like and how the kids grew from their experiences and what that growth led them to become. 

Of course I don’t think either of those were malicious the way the epilogues were, that’s just how it is. New canon will always change a fandom’s working parameters fundamentally unless literally no one reads it, I guess. Schroedinger’s canon. 

I think that I was honestly just naively, optimistically banking on more people disregarding it entirely. I thought to myself that it was so bad and so insulting and so objectively fucking awful, of course the collective community would just ignore it. But that was just me being an idiot - of course it’s messier than that, no community is a hivemind. People are picking and choosing details to keep and details to ignore and details to expand on and details to minimize and the end result, really, is just that the epilogues are fucking everywhere in a bunch of scintillating fractured different forms, infecting everything and making it all totally unpalatable to people like me, who genuinely wanted to just forget it ever happened while somehow still remaining plugged in. I’m not sure why I was so confident it would be possible at the time, looking back it was really pretty stupid of me lol.

The truth is that the story I liked does not exist anymore, because subsequent parts of a story by necessity recontextualize the rest. I’ve argued for years that Homestuck Is Actually Good based on a lot of things that came from a place of empathy for creators who meant well but were burnt out and wanted to move on. Well, ok. My bad, again. I can’t go back and not have the knowledge I do now, and all the joy I used to feel at the potential of those unfinished arcs and unanswered questions and dangling plot threads, the fire it all lit in me to write things and showcase possibilities through that writing to show other people why I thought Homestuck was So Good - that’s gone - and nothing will ever convince me that wasn’t half the point of it, that getting us out of the playground wasn’t part of the intent.

That’s the difference between how much I disliked the Ending and how much I disliked the Epilogues. The Ending was ridiculous, but in a way that left the stuff I did like intact while creating an open field of possibility to fill in. The Epilogues purposely took that field and filled it up with as much garbage as possible with the specific intent of driving the people who had been enjoying that space out of it, and ensuring the people left behind were, well, playing with garbage. I feel like I’m watching a social experiment where the creators behind an old megafandom are trying to answer the question of how much literal shit do you have to give people before they stop touching it? It’s honestly disconcerting, I don’t know how to describe it, and I realize people are going to find that condescending but I truly do not know how else to describe my feelings while also somehow making clear that my intent is not to wail at everyone “doing fandom wrong,” or whatever. There’s no wrong way to do fandom, the entire point of fandom is to do exactly what people are doing, to take bits and pieces of a thing and play with them. I am the one with the problem here, not everyone else. 

The intention here, really, is sort of just to mourn, because the fandom pivoted at a critical point in a direction I didn’t expect or want and as a result people including me have been alienated from continuing to engage with it. The same thing would have happened to a different subset of people had things gone the way I thought they would, too, for the record. There was no way to “win” this, no “right” way to deal with it, it just is what it is and this is what it looks like from my perspective.

#text #asks #epilogues #i should honestly not post this but my queue is about to run out and im feeling existential about it #Anonymous

[catholicartistsnyc]

Meet: Emily Claire Schmitt

EMILY CLAIRE SCHMITT is a NYC-based playwright. (www.emilyclaireschmitt.com and Twitter: @Eclaire082)

CATHOLIC ARTIST CONNECTION (CAC): What brought you to NYC?

EMILY CLAIRE SCHMITT (ECS): I'm originally from Cincinnati, Ohio and I did my undergrad at Saint Mary's College in Indiana.  I always hoped to move to New York and I was fortunate that a few things fell into place for me when I graduated.  I was accepted into the New School for Drama's MFA program directly from undergrad.  I had applied to schools all over the country, and this happened to be both my top choice and only acceptance letter.  My college boyfriend's family is from Staten Island, so he moved back home and we were able to stay together.  Now that boyfriend is my husband, so I'm here to stay.

CAC: What do you see as your personal mission as a Catholic working in the arts?

ECS: First off, I love this question.  I think about this a lot, and I always try to pray a bit before I start writing, even if what I'm working on isn't an overtly religious piece.  I believe that God wants to be present with us as we grapple with the world and, while I don't let religious doctrines limit the content of my writing, my writing is always filtered through a worldview that God exists.  

A great deal of my art is critical of the institutional Church, but I'm still very insistent that I am a Catholic writer, as opposed to a formerly Catholic writer. There is a fundamental difference between someone who critiques from within and someone who has left the Church and is describing the experience that caused them to leave.  This distinction is supremely important to me.

I believe my vocation as a writer is to be a tool for God to express Themself in the world.  Sometimes this means representing the beauty of God's world, but more often than not it means shining light on that which is not in alignment with the Divine, whether within secular society or within the Church.  I hope that my work makes both religious and secular people uncomfortable.  I hope it makes them wonder what God thinks about them.

CAC: Where have you found support in the Church for your vocation as an artist?

ECS: I've been extremely fortunate to have made great connections with fellow Catholics in the arts.  I've worked with Xavier Theatre and Film, a Jesuit theater company, and they produced a showcase of my play "The Chalice" at the Stonewall Inn.  This was one of the highlights of my career thus far, an intersection of the Catholic and secular world that was truly fulfilling.

CAC: Where have you found support among your fellow artists for your Catholic faith?

ECS: It's a mixed bag.  Grad school was not a positive experience for me in terms of acceptance. After 16 years of Catholic education, I was suddenly in a secular world and I made a lot of mistakes in terms of how I presented myself.  I was wrestling with my faith privately, but fiercely defending it publicly, which is never a good tactic.  I didn't feel safe.  I no longer work with anyone from grad school, and that's best for all of us.

However, post graduation I have really found an artistic community with people of all faiths.  I have frequent collaborators who are non-Catholic Christians, members of other faiths, atheists, and agnostics.  I've found a particular home with The Skeleton Rep, a theater company that focuses on "building modern myth."  My religious beliefs really mesh with their interests, despite being a completely secular company.  I am currently developing a musical with them. 

CAC: How can the Church be more welcoming to artists?

ECS: Stop policing our content.  The vocation of an artist is to observe, critique, and respond.  It is not the vocation of the artist to simply listen and accept doctrine without question.  This means that there is an essential tension between the work of being an artist and the work of being a practicing Catholic.

As an artist, I don't have the luxury of keeping my disagreements with the Church private. I promise I'm listening and it's possible to change my mind. Please be patient with me.

CAC: How can the artistic world be more welcoming to artists of faith?

ECS: I think this is a difficult question because in most of the instances where people have been unwelcoming to me, it's because they have been hurt in some serious way by the Church.  It's taken me a long time to accept that, while I have not personally hurt them, I am part of an institution that has and it's not unreasonable for them to ask me to answer for that.

I try to be clear about my beliefs and about why I have chosen to remain in the Church.  I also try to articulate how I'm striving to make the Church better, while remaining firm in my support of Her.  I have to be both gentle and unafraid about how and why I disagree with the secular world as well.  Once again, I promise I'm listening and it's possible to change my mind.  Please be patient with me.

CAC: Where in NYC do you regularly find spiritual fulfillment?

ECS: I'm a bit of a parish hopper.  When I first came to NYC I fell in love with Saint Francis Xavier, near Union Square.  Their Young Adults Group was a great community for me, but after moving to Brooklyn and back I'm not as involved as I once was.  I've become more interested in traditional, more formal, liturgies. Saint Joseph of Yorkville is a beautiful neighborhood parish that has a highly reverent modern mass.  There are so many families with children there, it gives me great hope.  And the pastor is the man who reported on McCarrick so that's no small thing.... I like a priest I can respect, for obvious reasons.

When I'm feeling in particular need of deep ritual, I do love a Latin Mass. Saint Agnes by Grand Central is a great place to go for that. 

CAC: Where in NYC do you regularly find artistic fulfillment?

ECS: I already mentioned The Skeleton Rep, but one thing they do which I love are monthly artist salons.  Artists will get together, drink wine, and read new work, either a full play or short plays based on a prompt.  There is no formal feedback, just a chance for the writer to hear her play.  And afterwards we have a party.

CAC: How have you found or built community as a Catholic artist living in NYC?

ECS: Connecting with Brother Joe Hoover at Xavier Theater has really connected me with a great community of Catholic artists.  He has a way of making connections and bringing together a dynamic and diverse group of people with a huge variety of perspectives on the faith.  If you ever get the chance to work with them I highly recommend it.  Joe is a fantastic playwright and actor in his own right.

CAC: What is your daily spiritual practice?

ECS: I wish I had a better one...  I pray every day before I write.  My husband and I pray together before meals.  Recently, we've been doing a daily reflection before bed.  It's just one of those Little Blue Books you pick up from your parish during Advent, but it's been great.

CAC: What is your daily artistic practice? And what are your recommendations to other artists for practicing their craft daily?

ECS: I try to write for an hour every morning after working out and before leaving for work. This is really my sacred time: after my husband leaves, freshly showered, and place to myself.  It's short but it's extremely important.  And I can't stress enough the value of praying before you write. 

CAC: Describe a recent day in which you were most completely living out your vocation as an artist. What happened, and what brought you the most joy?

ECS: The most recent Skeleton Rep salon was on New Year's Eve.  I wrote a short piece for the event which spoke of my Catholic faith and it's relationship to the mission of the company.  Afterwards, another artist present pulled me aside to talk about how he is a Catholic as well but had stopped going to Church.  He was interested in going back, so we spent a long time talking about why I felt it was important for young Catholic artists to be in the faith and engage with it from the inside.  The whole conversation was so fulfilling for me. 

CAC: You actually live in NYC? How!?

ECS: I need to be completely up front and say that I have been incredibly privileged in terms of financial support from my family.  This is something we do not talk about enough in the arts.  My parents paid my rent and my tuition while I was in school and I am debt-free.  I'm also married to someone with a traditional career who contributes the majority of our income.  I am so incredibly fortunate it's not even funny.  

CAC: But seriously, how do you make a living in NYC?

ECS: Even with the financial support, I do have a full-time day job.  I don't know how anyone would make rent or buy groceries without one.  I work in social media marketing, which is great because it's mostly all remote.  I've also been nannying for my cousin's baby so making that sweet side cash.

It's a lot of work, and keeping my passion afloat on top if it, and making sure it remains my focus rather than just a "hobby" is a constant battle.

CAC: How much would you suggest artists moving to NYC budget for their first year?

ECS: I can't give a great answer to this, because it's so varied and I was in school when I started.  But consider that your monthly rent is likely to be over 1K no matter where you live.

CAC: What other practical resources would you recommend to a Catholic artist living in NYC?

ECS: I can't recommend enough reaching out to Xavier Theater for professional connections.  In terms of headshots, Joe Loper is a former classmate of mine who does a great job and is very reasonable. http://joeloper.com/

CAC: What are your top 3 pieces of advice for Catholic artists moving to NYC?

ECS: 1.) Don't rush finding your people.  It's a big city and it takes time.

2.) Exercise.

3.) Go to confession.  Why make art with sin on your soul?

#catholic #playwright #catholic artist #artist #emily claire schmitt #st. mary's college #new school #xavier #xavier theatre company #st. francis xavier #st. joseph of yorkville #st. agnes #catholic artist connection #catholic artists nyc

[nullum-nocte]

Gladion’s Boggart

Gladion had worked tirelessly to keep away from Defense of dark arts class when he got wind of the lessons being on boggarts. So far his plans were working- although he could only fake sick, and conveniently disappear for so long....

His luck had seemed to run out as just as he was slinking towards the door as his peers easily showed off what they feared most to their classmates. 

Idiots the lot of them. 

Some of his- housemates to put it in kinder terms spotted him. Being such worrying and kind people that they were they blocked the door with ugly sneers on their faces eyes lighting up in delight at catching him trying to ditch. They brought his near escape up to Professor Lupin bringing the man's attention solely onto him.

The soft comforting smile the Professor gave him only irritated Gladion further- as if he needed comforting! 

He had survived for this long- he didn't need a shoulder to cry on because of some stupid boggart!

“Mr. Aether, I believe it’s your turn now you have missed out on quite a lot of our class. Though knowing you, you’ve read ahead haven’t you?”

Gladion could only nod, that he has. Even though boggarts weren't his favorite thing in the world (and really who liked boggarts anyway?) that didn’t mean that he’d skip out on the reading assignments of the class. 

“Good lad!” Lupin patted his shoulder before leaning forward and whispering softly, “if you truly don't want to face this today you don’t have too. Yes, it’s a grade but the comfort of my students come first.”

If the Professor was speaking with anyone else then maybe they’d take him up on that offer. Since it was Gladion he recognized the social presser that was being forced down on him. Along with the fact if he didn’t do this he’d be open for ruthless snide remarks about how weak he was, unable to face a boggart of all things. More times then not he wouldn't care about what anyone would say about him, their opinions didn’t matter to him. Only- being called weak, it rubbed him the wrong way always eliciting a response out of him no matter how small. 

He wasn’t weak anymore, not like before, he was still weak, yes but he was on the way into becoming strong, stronger than her. 

“No professor, I'm fine I can do it here.” he didn’t need to be babied and forced to come back at later hours with only the Professor to witness his fear.

Looks like he was about to become just as foolish as the rest of his classmates apparently.

With a nod, Lupin moved back towards the front of the classroom next to the dresser. Taking a deep breath Gladion held his head up high, striding confidently towards the front of the room before planting his feet firmly in front of the dresser. He stares at it for a long moment taking the wooden dresser in as it trembles in front of him. He can hear whispers circling him half of the class was eager to find out what he truly feared while the other half held no interest in the least. The only people who cared about his well being where the few friends he had in this class who watched on with poorly hidden worry.

 Lupin was slowly showing him through the motions that he, himself practiced in preparation for this day speaking lowly. “Just remember Mr. Aether the spells Riddikulus and the motion is a brief swish and a jab towards the boggart turning it into the spells name sake- ridiculous.” 

Gladion could only nod unable to voice his confirmation to just let the damn thing out already. 

Slowly moving away from Gladion and twoards the door Lupin asked, “Wand at the ready?”

Gladion pointed his wand at the dresser as the shaking grew tremendously stronger.

“GO!”

Lupin opened the dresser- but instead of something racing out all one could see was the darkness of the dresser. A few moments pass in silence the murmur of his classmates growing louder and a few start to snicker thinking he was afraid of the dark. Even the Professor looked mildly confused- that was until a click was heard.

Slowly a foot emerges from the darkness, along with it a body until a figure of a woman stands fully in front of the class. The sound of heels on the tile of the classroom floor cut through the sound of chatting making everything fall silent once more. Her figure seems to glow in the light showcasing the beauty she still holds even in her age. Her golden tresses far surpassing her shoulders trailing down to her knees. She wears proper regal wizarding robes that many a pureblood would be envious of. 

Gladion ground his teeth together feeling the familiar anxiety bubble in his gut with having to deal with her- deal with something that looked like her.

The smile on Lusamines face doesn't quite reach her eyes, looking like a doll trying to fake human emotions. She turns that stare onto him and he can feel himself grow weak in the knees; the hand with his wand slightly growing clammy. 

“Gladion, I heard you’ve been doing well in school, only the best of the family name.”

“The spell Mr. Aether!” The professor called only to be ignored and only given a passing glance by Lusamine who looked at the man in disgust before continuing. 

“Pity you couldn’t trade places with Lillie, she always listened to me unlike you, you're a disappointment in so many ways. You always cry so easily when we train.” As she spoke she towered over him her hand gently cupping his cheek in an almost loving manner- that is if her fingers weren’t starting to dig into his flesh.

His breathing slowly evens out- this he can deal with her threats, her looking down on him. This was all he’s learned to ignore, he could handle this. Even at the thought, he shivered, wishing to be able to recoil from the touch but unable to force himself to move.If he moves her punishments are only worst when she catches him 

“As if you’d be pleased with anything else,” he manages to choke out almost sounding like a spat glaring at her fully. She only laughs letting his cheek go as she studies his classmates. He tries not to breath a sigh of relife from being let go fearing what she’d do if she heard it.

“Oh how boring your classmates are all so bland, though I do notice quite a famous face Mr. Potter in the back! Look at him Gladion such a success already at his age even if he keeps disgusting company with mudbloods’

Harry for his credit seemed only slightly stunned that he was even mentioned, not expecting something like this to have been brought up in class. The two boys didn’t even personally know each other, only knowing each other's names from rumors in passing. Harry still found it odd for strangers to be aware of his very existence let alone acknowledge him. 

With the mention of Harry Lupin hesitantly moved forward, deciding whether or not to intervene or see if Gladion would manage to say the spell on his own.

“I'm sure with proper training from me he’d turn into a lovely wizard!” Lusamine giggles seeming to ignore Gladion for a moment before walking closer to the class only to make the kids step back warily. Her green eyes gleamed in amusement, glee passing over her features as the smile on her face turns sharp. 

 “Looks like these insolent mud known their place-” Whirling around her robes swish meeting Gladion with her widening grin. Suddenly any calm that he’d gather fled him as he frantically backed away from her stalking form. His breathing grew heavier as his throat threatened to fully close in his paniced state.

 Everyone seemed to be shocked still by her words confusion etched in some’s faces still puzzling over the term training while others seemed to have some forms of self-preservation and recognize that this woman meant serious business and wasn’t one to be messed with.

“RIDDIKULUS!”  Mitsuki thundered seemingly unable to hold back the pure rage that twisted her lovely features. Lusamine stumbles back from the spell as the short black haired girl body checks her way to the front of the classroom the Gryffindor girl beyond pissed at what she had walked into. If she had gotten to class earlier she wouldn't have let this gone on for so long.

Having his friend by his side brings Gladion enough comfort to be able to fully stand up straight, light-headed, not even sure if he was in his own body anymore. It felt more like he was watching this disaster happen to someone else and not him.

Quick as a flash Lusamine draws out her wand the tip glowing an all too familiar red mouthing something silently. The very sight throws Gladion over the edge, knowing just what curse she was about to throw at his best friend.  Slamming her out of the way he takes the hit only barely grimacing at the pain throwing out his own, “RIDDIKULUS” to hit her. She stumbles back looking like a clown but it’s not enough for him.

“HOW DARE YOU, RIDDIKULUS, TRY TO HURT RIDDIKULUS, MY FRIEND!” The words come out in an enraged howl making his throat feel instantly raw from the sudden, violet, volume change. The first riddikulus that hits changes her into a messed up slob hair cut unevenly and face strained with food. The last one makes her disappear with an anticlimactic pop the silence left after was almost deafening. 

“That spell,” Lupin mumbled horror taking over his features as he recognized one of the three unforgivables. 

Gladion doesn't wait for him to voice his absolutely correct assumption booking it towards the door dropping his wand in the process. Mitsuki is quick to pick it up before anyone else tries; knowing fully well if they did of the wands frightening retribution it would rain down upon them for even thinking they could have a cheap shot of stealing it. With Gladion’s wand in hand Mitsuki along with Selene and Elio race after the boy to help comfort him.  

Lupin cleared his throat, "Class dismissed. No homework.” A twisted frown was on his face whilst he appeared to be deep in thought; half-heartedly corralling the huddling students who didn't appear as excited anymore once learning Gladions fear. 

Together the golden trio stare after the three kids that followed after Gladion managing to catch sight of their robes before they disappear around a corner. The three stand in the hall much like many of the other students all deep in thought over what just happened. 

“You think the training is actually training or....” Ron trails off the fiery redhead appearing to mull over Lusiamins parting words.

“Who cares about training!”  Hermione exclaimed looking completely shaken at what just transpired. “That woman just raised her wand, against her son of all people! And that spell- I didn’t hear her say anything so she must know how to cast silently or she was whispering it what could it be?” 

Ron glanced over at Harry only to see the bespectacled boy with a sad understanding look upon his face. “I don’t think we’d want to know. He wouldn’t tell us any way we didn’t even know who he was until today,” Harry murmured, staring down at the floor. The sad look had faded and turned to something more fierce that the floor might’ve disappeared from under them in fear if it could.

“Let's just make sure he doesn't get caught up in any of the pranks Gryffindor dose against Slytherin’s stuff, okay guys?” He stares at his three friends imploringly knowing if he had come home to the Dursleys with destroyed clothes or bookbags he’d get a whipping. He could only imagine how bad it could be for Gladion if he was forced to do the same. 

Ron and Hermine nod in agreement, the three friends going down the hallway and off to positions class with heavy hearts. 

#[ Mun drabbles ] Things that have happened in another place; in another time ⛓️ #harry potter au #// mmmmmmmmmmmm wow this got longer then i meant too whoop s #/// this is like a full ass fanfic right here wowowo #/// or one shot would be a better term #// i mean idk if any other spells have red light for them but u know what let me be #// harry potter is fucking pissed #// hermionie is aghast #// ron is... well ron feels low key bad for trash talking the snakes