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aceofspadegrass · 3 years

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Superhero AU

Okay okay, listen. Imagine them being superheros/villains.

So Arisu, Karube, Chota, and Shibuki are regular adults doing normal adult things, nothing changes about that. Shibuki is a part of this because she can, she’s just pals with a group of dudes and doesn’t mind it at all because they’re all genuinely good people.

Anyways, because life wanted to fuck with them, something happens. Maybe it was a shady guy giving them weird drinks or jewelry or whatever, maybe it was a freak accident that gave them powers. Whatever the cause was, they receive powers out of their control at first and are now tasked with using said powers for the greater good of humanity.

Why? Well the city they’ve lived in all their lives has been terrorized by a villainous group, or maybe separate villains that just so happen to be in the area. Either way, the group is tasked with protecting the city or else terrible things will continue to happen. The city was already being protected by one group of heroes, but the villains are getting more and more frisky and dangerous.

So now it’s up to them to help. Yay.

Arisu and his friends do form their own mini superhero team, because there’s nothing better than fighting alongside your friends. :D

Arisu was tasked with the nice power of what can be counted as future sight and analytical planning. Basically he can track the future movements of anyone within a room as well as problem solve in case a problem has occurred. Example being that they are stuck in a rapidly flooding room with ninjas… or something like that. He’d be able to not only track the ninjas movements but also seek a way to escape the room before they all drown. When he does this time effectively stops for him, like a game where he has to make choices that appear in front of him and allow him time to think before acting.

Karube gets a sort of super strength ability. It thankfully isn’t one where he has it at full power all the time, or else some things may get a bit convoluted, but when he puts his mind to it he can punch and kick and shatter a spine if he really wanted to. He can manipulate it as well so it can fit more daily needs, like opening a tough pickle jar, so it’s handy.

Chota has the power to see through walls and record them, which can be handy in case there’s something the others needs to see but is obscured. He also can turn it off and on at will, and Shibuki makes sure he isn’t doing it for anything dirty (because this power can be used entirely for really bad intents). It at the very least makes his eyes like projectors when he shows the others the recording (which is as long as he can keep his eyes open. When he blinks it cut the recording there) and can only hold one recording at a time as the power overwrites it each time.

Shibuki gets the power of oral/written word manipulation. It’s like a super version of hypnosis really, where she can get anyone to follow her requests without much resistance. That is, unless the person has an immunity or high resistance to it. It in itself sounds like a weak power compared to the others, but words are powerful depending on what she says, and for her it doesn’t have to be in close contact or even spoken. Shibuki can induce her power into a written sentence or small paragraph and trick her victim into reading it. It all depends on her getting to her intended victim.

Together, they form a pretty formidable team together and protect the city, although they do have to work to make a name for themselves. Which gives the added bonus of villains gunning for them. How fun.

Of course they’re not the only superhero group in the city, just the newest ones. The other team, which had been previously keeping the villains at bay, end up hearing about this new team, and their leader gets interested in them.

So what ends up happening is that the leader and his right hand man meet Arisu and the others at the local coffee shop, because obviously this is super important and all important things happen in cafes or bars somehow.

The leader simply introduces himself as Hatter, and his right hand as Aguni. Arisu already knew about them from news articles, and occasionally fangames about them. Anyways, Hatter questions them on random things, mostly about their work ethics and how willing they are to put their lives into this city. Not everyone is prepared to have a whole population on their shoulders after all, and there’s always a loom of death over their heads at all times.

Of course Arisu falters for a bit, nobody wants to die an early death out of their control, but it was also for the greater good. So he (and the others) state that they were completely willing to help their community, because it meant other people can live their lives knowing that they can be safe from the threats that are outside normal human abilities.

Well Hatter loved their spunk, and he ends up inviting them to come join his little Hero Union so they could have a little less to worry about on their plates. After a bit of conversation the four end up agreeing, and Hatter takes them to an apartment building that he owns, which double as a superhero base for his (and now Arisu’s) team. The base serves as free housing and availability to weapons and immediate medical attention in case they need it. Hatter didn’t mind if they preferred their old homes instead, the offer always remains.

Especially the medical bay. Superhero business is tough work.

Arisu and his friends eventually meet up with Hatter’s team of heroes.

Hatter, the leader, has the power of what Arisu can only explain it as ‘The Power of Teamwork’. It basically works in two ways: A) Hatter can summon hordes of anything he puts his mind to, although only can keep one horde at a time, and the amount entirely depends on how many he can muster. The less energy he has, the smaller the horde. This is ridiculously powerful, but it drains a lot out of him so he can’t do this half too much. Plus he can’t control the horde that much, outside of one simple command which they will do until they perish. B) Hatter can boost his teammate’s powers. This one is much easier on his bones, but the boost again reflects on his own ability to muster it up. There’s no limit to how many people he can boost, but the more he does the less each person gets.

Aguni has plant manipulation (Mmm delicious Chlorokinesis….), and can therefore summon and control any plant in any way that he chooses. He can make them grow and move in any way that he wants them to, however he can only do so in sunlight, so he has to rely on natural strength or weapons at night. Aguni also can summon plants from his hands, although not trees, and it doesn’t hurt him as long as it isn’t a cactus. When he summons from his hand it simply undergoes a fast forwarded version of its growth, which looks cool as fuck.

Ann is the resident necromancer, as well as owning the ability to test any substance or object for origin or ownership on the spot just by touching it (It works through gloves don’t worry). She usually doesn’t act on her necromancy powers often, and when she does it doesn’t last long, only using it to temporarily gain information from the dead or heal dead tissue on a living person. Her superhero work mainly resides off-field, but she is still capable outside of it.

Chishiya has both invisibility and teleportation, which explains for itself. He can remain invisible for as long as he wishes, although is still tangible to others, and can still interact with objects. Teleportation can happen in any area as long as he is aware of the area existing. Chishiya can also teleport while invisible and remains as such, so the only thing keeping him from being a little shit for everyone’s privacy is his own morals. Anything he wears becomes invisible with him, but anything he carries does not, however will teleport with him.

Kuzuryuu has a power similar to Arisu’s future sight, however it works that he only sees a justifiable future depending on events that has been shown or described to him. Basically, he takes in what he’s given and sees what would be the best possible solution to take based on that information. It’s not perfect, as any new information given changes his future sight, even if the information is false. If he can’t disprove it he has to include it. He also can’t see any factors that he isn’t able to know.

Niragi has what basically is ‘Glitching in Real Life’. Basically any silly glitch or cheat mechanic that a game could have, he can do. It’s a bit of a broken power (literally), but it also can be dangerous if he isn’t careful because he isn’t in a game and is still human. Any object he interacts with can share the glitch ability, but only one at a time, and Niragi still has to comply with some rules of physics. So… he can’t breathe if he clips into anything solid. However it is extremely funny to watch him repeatedly jump and freeze objects in the air to stand on.

Mira has a power that counts as hypnosis, but convoluted. She basically makes everything a game, and the loser has to comply to the conditions set in place. Usually they are quick and simple games, but the conditions can be brutal depending on how she feels like. She of course is also liable to the conditions, so she finds it in her favour to win.

Last Boss gets sharp pointy summons. It’s exactly how it sounds, he gets to summon anything sharp (and by anything it means anything) and use it however he wants. It ranges from swords to glass shards to thumb tacks to just a very sharp spoon handle. Last Boss doesn’t even have to hold it, as he can summon them to shoot from the ground or specifically rain on a target.

Anyways, they have to get along and protect the city when they can. Hatter lets Arisu to continue protecting with his little group of friends, but also lets him borrow one of his people if he needs their help, with consent from the other party of course.

( Does Mira end up evil in this? No, thankfully. However every time she speaks about her past Arisu is low-key convinced she might have been a supervillain at one point and is just in retirement as a hero now)

Usagi is also a part of this, but she’s instead a solo hero who works on her own terms and slowly gets integrated into Arisu’s little friend group. She does help them on occasion, but prefers to just vibe and climb things instead of focusing all her time in hero work. Her powers are in the same vein, in that she can climb any surface she wants without risk of falling if she doesn’t want to fall.

No shame in that. She knows Arisu has all the help he needs and helps only when she needs to be. They can be friends outside of hero work.

Does she get kidnapped a few times in an attempt to be leverage for Arisu? Yeah. Does she manage to escape on her own terms a few times? Yeah. Usagi is simply trying to vibe and be supportive in this AU.

Kuina and Tatta are both normal civilians in this. Kuina is Chishiya’s friend and acts as his normalcy factor, because hero work takes a lot out of a person and even Chishiya deserves some time where he doesn’t have to think about being a hero for people he actually doesn’t emotionally feel for.

Tatta just works at the local coffee shop and occasionally as maintenance for the apartment base. He also acts as a sense of normalcy for everyone. Just a good friend all around.

#aib #alice in borderland #arisu ryohei #karube daikichi #chota segawa #shibuki saori #hatter #takeru danma #morizono aguni #ann rizuna #chishiya shuntaro #kuzuryuu keiichi #niragi suguru #mira kano #last boss #takatora samura #usagi yuzuha #kuina hikari #tatta kodai #my rambling went on longer than I expected #me: oh wells it gets the point across #yes I could've made some of them villains but today they can just all be teammates #that way any drama between them is between friends #some of these powers are better to stay on the good side because hot dang imagine the terror if they used it for bad #just imagine niragi glitching through walls because doors take too long #his glitch power also extends that yes niragi can cheat infinite bullets on his gun #kuina and tatta also get used as ransom sometimes for being associated with the heroes #but kuina can hold her own usually #and tatta.... can't #but! he also can manage to convince his way out long enough for help to come at least

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linkspooky · 4 years

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The Kids Who Can’t Cry

Plenty of people besides myself have pointed out this pattern, but what does it mean? Why are Dabi, Himiko, and Shigaraki essentially the main trio of the league of villains all drawn making this face? Analysis underneath the cut.

1. Shigaraki

What’s important is all three of these scenes where Dabi, Himiko and Shigaraki are all drawn smiling in the most inhuman and unsettling manner possible are all parallels to one another. In those scenes the villain is talking with the heroic foil, and trying to express themselves some way only to be misunderstood. Shigaraki is with Deku. Himiko is with Uraraka. Dabi is with Hawks.

The common point between all three scenes is that these three characters are fumbling, trying to express something inside of them. The first scene happens between chapter 68-69 when Shigaraki wonders lost in the crowds trying to find an understanding with himself.

During the scene Shigaraki genuinely talks to Midoriya and asks him what he thinks. He expresses the feelings inside of himself.

However, Midoriya describes Shigaraki as someone he can neither understand nor accept. He rejects him entirely.

We, as the audience know all of the similiarities between Shigaraki and Midoriya. We know that Shigaraki was once Shimura Tenko, a boy with a dream of becoming a hero who was told by everyone he couldn’t. We know that Tenko once stood up to bullies and tried to make friends. It’s understandable that Midoriya doesn’t understand this, he’s not a mind reader, but there’s still a great deal of ignorance in the way Midoriya acts.

Shigaraki shows clear signs of trauma and mental illness, especially in his connection to All Migt, and yet Midoriya’s understanding of him is shallow and two dimmensional. He can’t possibly conceive of Shigaraki having any othr motive for hurting people besides “Wanting to destroy them.”

Shigaraki is trying to express himself to somebody unwilling, and unable to understand him despite all the similarities between them. This is a pattern in hero society, immediately after the UA attack nobody can conceive of a reason why Shigaraki would want to attack UA besides him being a man-child who enjoys destruction.

When Midnight suggests that somehow Shigaraki might not have gotten the same quirk counseling as everyone and that’s why his quirk is out of control and he uses it so dangerously, Vlad even directly questions why they should even bother talking about his motives.

Does Deku have to go out of his way to try to understand the motives of him and his friends? No, not necessarily. However, Deku is somebody billed as an empathic and caring character. It’s a character willing to empathize with anyone before this point showing a complete lack of empathy. To a character who shows clear signs of instability and mental unwellness. Shigaraki’s genuine signs of trauma, his itching, his fickleness, his inability to process his emotions in a healthy way just get him demonized as a man-child.

The kid who was able to see the kindness, in Eri’s quirk.

The hero who says that he can’t call himself a hero unless he saves a crying little girl in front of his eyes. The hero who says he wants to save everyone, just sort of treats Shigaraki like he’s a one dimmensional monster even though his circumstances are literally exactly the same as Eri’s. Just because Shigaraki can’t cry the same way Eri can. But some people smile when they express trauma.

When Shigaraki experienced the worst trauma of his life, he smiled and tried to ask for help when his family just died five minutes ago, and this was used to deahumanize him and as an excuse for everyone else in the busiest intersection on the road to ignore him. This didn’t just happen to him as an adult, it happened as a kid as well, nobody helped because he couldn’t beg and cry for help, because he looked ugly instead of like a perfect helpless victim in need of saving.

Shigaraki smiles in response to his trauma. He remembers his worst trauma, literally his family dying, and he grins. It’s literally an attempt to distance himself from his own emotions and process them because he has no healthy way of doing so otherwise. He’s trying to express himself in the only way he knows how and he gets ignored.

2. Toga

Toga acts similiarly to Shigaraki. She tries to express herself to Uraraka, tries to compare the two of them. As Himiko is much more emotionally intelligent than Shigaraki she also gives a voice to Uraraka’s innermost feelings.

Once again Uraraka doesn’t see her as a human, or try to listen to anything she’s said. Himiko isn’t a person with feelings and her own reason for doing things, she’s just a psycho.

Even though Himiko is really perceptive of Uraraka’s own hidden feelings the same is not true the other way around, even though we know that Uraraka is a very kind, emotionally intelligent girl who is always noticing the pain on other people’s faces she loses all that perceptiveness when dealing with Himiko.

Does Uraraka have to empathize with a girl literally trying to stab her and suck her blood? No, not necessarily. However, at the same time this is a character we are told always goes the extra mile to understand people, notice their pain, and always being motivated to help just kind of ignoring Himiko.

This relates to Himiko’s backstory as well. What was Himiko explicitly told to do by her parents? Always hide her pain. Always keep herself hidden for the sake of blending in. Wear a fake smile and be a nice, normal girl.

Himiko couldn’t even cry when she was sad and alone. She had to repress everything for the sake of being normal, for the sake of being acceptable to others, and now she doesn’t know how to anymore.

Himiko at least tried to be normal, tried to express herself in normal ways only to be misunderstood by everyone around her and is continually misunderstood and dehumanized even now. The easy life she wants is just the normal life that everybody else has, the one a normal girl like Uraraka has. But she doesn’t know how to express that, and Uraraka who has not been traumatized in any significant way doesn’t really understand what she’s been through. She can’t.

3. Dabi

We finally get to Dabi and his foil Hawks, where we can see not only is Dabi misudnerstood like in the previous two examples but his feelings are outright denied. Uraraka and Deku are ultimately both children, it’s understandable they don’t get the feelings of villains who have tried to kill him but this.

Hawks is not any better than Dabi in this situation. He just murdered Twice in cold blood right in front of him, but even though Hawks is actively the agressor in this situation look how he treats Dabi.

He accuses Dabi of nearly killing Twice, even though not only did Dabi show up to intervene for Twice’s sake, but he showed up to rescue Twice, from Hawks. The sheer gall of Hawks to try and kill twice but at the same time accuse Dabi of being the one to put Twice in danger.

The way they interact is completely different. Twice is someone who trusts Dabi. Dabi literally puts himself directly in between Hawks and Twice so Twice won’t get harmed any further. Yet, Twice still sees himself as the hero in this situation. Even while actively harming, and trying to kill Twice in his head he still thinks of himself as saving him.

Then after murdering Twice in cold blood after going on and on about how he was avoiding his vitals, and how he was going to carry him out of here and save him, when he’s directly confronted with Dabi’s anger over his dead friend, Hawks invalidates those emotions.

You’re not sad because you’re smiling. Hawks says. Hawks, literally the person who killed Twice, right in front of Dabi, then criticizes Dabi for not being appropriately sad about it. This is when Hawks has expressed no remorse for what he has done.

In his own head, Hawks is the hero and Dabi is the villain. Hawks feels guilty for his own actions. His own inhuman ability to shut off his own emotions and do what must be done. However, Heroes don’t kill people. Hawks must somehow remain the hero. He must be the one who is right. Therefore, he blames Dabi as the villain. Dabi is the scapegoat. Dabi is the one who was wrong. Dabi is the cold blooded killer even though he has done nothing more than try to protect his friend.

Dabi must be evil, must be a villain so that Hawks can be good. Hawks has to justify his actions and emotoins by dehumanizing the person in front of him. It’s not about Dabi at all. Dabi’s emotoins don’t even factor in or matter. It’s all Hawks self justification and the narrative he tells himself where he is the hero doing the right thing. And this is something that appears in Toga’s fight against Curious too, the villains literally have to fight for control of their own narrative, to be able to tell their story about their trauma in their own way because the heroes will always try to render it in easily digestible forms. They can’t be people, complex, messy people they must either be categorized as hero or victim.

Toga can’t be a normal girl, she has to be a martyr. Toga’s own feelings or opinions don’t matter. Hawks goes one step further and suggests that Dabi doesn’t even have feelings, he’s not even properly sad that his friend is dead.

Which Dabi finally replies with what is true for Himiko and Shigaraki. It’s not that he doesn’t want to cry, he can’t cry. Heroes continually confront villains with their actions and act like they feel no guilt at all, like they��re heartless psychopaths and treat them as such when the manga has shown us again and again the opposite.

Even if Dabi was crying his eyes out it wouldn’t matter though. Jin was crying, and that did not stop Hawks. The heroes who view themselves as heroes, who view themselves as empathic and good people who would never ignore a cry for help all stop acting that way when confronted with Shigaraki, Himiko and Dabi.

It eventually crosses a line into deliberate ignorance. It’s not seeing those on the other side as human beings, which is dangerous because it can literally turn murderous in the case of Hawks and Twice. It’s cries for help that go ignored because they’re not presented as easily digestible narratives. It’s a breakdown in empathy in a story where the stated goal of the main character is to be a hero who “never loses, and saves everyone.” There are people not being saved. There are people who are not being helped because they can’t ask for help.

Thanks to @savetenko for pointing out this parallel to me here!

#shigaraki tomura #himiko toga #dabi #todoroki touya #shimura tenko #uraraka ochako #midoriya izuku #hawks #keigo takami #league of villains meta #lov meta #mha meta #my hero academia meta #my hero academia theory

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aqvarius · 4 years

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Top 5 fav hlitf cgs?

thanks for this ask!! ahh it was so hard to narrow it down to 5 but i will try my best (with some bonuses bc... how could i not). i’m not going to include vip room CGs here even tho there are a couple of them that i adore too. also i can’t believe i’m not including the soma coming out of the shower CG that i love enough to have made my icon for a very long time now... but that just goes to show how much i love these ones.

5. are you bullying my aide?

okay so i��m cheating right off the bat and decided to group these two in one category bc they’re like conceptually the same CG lmao. i made a post before about loving instructors getting furious at people trying to hurt you in the sunset. and the fact that two of my absolute fave LIs of all time get these gorgeous fury CGs makes me infinitely happy alskdfls. the sad thing is that there’s an error in soma’s route so the CG doesn’t actually appear in-game... anyway you know i love seeing cool love interests get mad so these two CGs are a perfect depiction of that.

4. i’ll take compensation

who doesn’t love this scene and CG!! and the in-game version as well where his eyes are open bc he was surprised. i love it so much. that entire ending was so good, with the mc being the Best Senpai Ever? and she tries to blow his socks off with a kiss but then he just grabs her butt and goes in deeper? we stan a tie-grabbing mc. i only wish there was a CG for that elevator kiss too in the sequel(?).

3. it reminded me of ugly cat

honestly i love all of goto’s s3 CGs bc they are all just so pretty and i love the one as well where tsugaru is joking about him and usa being a couple and goto gets pissed. but this one is just so... pure and soft???? it’s so rare to see goto all relaxed and smiley and i just love it soooo much. also does anyone else find that his smile in this CG is so similar to chiba’s smiling sprite? ughhh this is so freaking cute i physically can’t look at it for too long otherwise i get overwhelmed with feelings. oh and also that cat is so weird looking lmao

2. please... let me be with you

one of my favourite moments of all time. look how stunned kaga looks (but also... how pretty is he here... and how pretty is she.... season 3 CGs are so top quality). the fact that she’s hopped up on painkillers but they’re just fading off so she’s already starting to feel pain again and kaga is already kind of angsting over everything that happened on the case and then tsugaru is taking her home while kaga can’t even speak to her bc of office rules. and she just runs back to the office by herself even tho she’s already starting to feel the pain in her gunshot wound and just bursts into the office and yanks his cigarette out of his mouth and kisses him? and says even if you don’t want me, i want to be with you. honestly this whole moment is like freaking kdrama level dramatic and romantic and i love it so much. it’s like... the perfect moment combined with the prettiest CG. kaga’s pov of this scene makes it EVEN BETTER because he’s literally smitten with her, like he wants her so badly and then she just magically appears in front of him and kisses the life out of him, just as he was thinking about how much he needs her. right at the moment when he’s feeling the most empty, the most hollow, like his entire career in public safety amounted to nothing, she comes back to him. and then there’s that line of his, where he talks about love so fierce that he can’t breathe around it filling his chest and honestly it gets me every single time (also bc i can relate to that feeling lmao) but basically kaga/mc is my favourite couple and this moment and CG are just like... exactly what i love the most about them as a pair. ALSO i love her hair and that gold pin hahaha i want it.

1.5 did i or did i not say you were forbidden from acting rashly?

how could i not include this one as a bonus? i’ve been in love with this CG from the very first time i laid eyes on it back in 2018. no context (at the time i think soma’s graduation hadn’t even come out in l365 so we hadn’t even seen his short hair sprite in the intl app), no idea what was even happening in this scene, and yet i was immediately struck by the dangerous look in his eye and that little smile, and also just like... getting to see him in a tshirt and hoodie is so rare? i’m p certain that outfit is just recycled ayumu sprite’s casual clothes. anyway, knowing the context behind this CG makes it 10000x better for me. i wrote this in my unpublished review of soma’s battlefield route but i genuinely believe we’re seeing this CG from his mc’s eyes and that’s what tokito really looked like in that moment - with soma’s face, his hair, his expressions, his hands, his voice. our poor, sweet mc had been suffering for so long to the point where even toru and ayumu noticed that she hadn’t smiled in forever and were trying to cheer her up (and momose too later!!). for me, this CG represents the absolutely heartbreaking sense of delusion that soma’s mc feels in this route, and the way that she keeps trying so hard to project soma onto tokito because of her grief. i genuinely felt like in that moment, she physically saw soma coming to her rescue, like her desires manifest into a delusion. also, this CG comes at an absolutely amazing time bc we had been deprived of seeing soma for like 60% of the route and then we get this CG and suddenly everything is better for a short moment, and then everything goes back to normal and you really get a sense of how upsetting life has been for his mc.

1. come now, love. tell me what you desire

i love this CG. i love it so so so so so much. firstly, i love the look of it. both soma and his mc just look so attractive?? soma’s muscles?? in his shoulders and back especially?! his mc has commented on his shoulderblades and back muscles before which have been honed through kendo practice so i’m very happy to get to see them. the actual text says that the mc is naked but here she’s still wearing a sundress, but she just looks so pretty and like she’s feeling unbelievably good? anyway i scream bc even soma’s hands look good and they still kept that one piece of hair that he has that sticks up lmao what’s gravity anyway? anyway, beyond the sensuality of the image (and also his tongue... and his sweat...), there’s just so much meaning behind it? like yes, it’s very hot and sensual and the dialogue that goes with this scene is unbelievably sexy, but this scene is just super meaningful bc it’s part of their recovery as a couple. they’re on this secret holiday in okinawa and they’re reconnecting after their trauma and idk it’s just so intimate. we really get to see the mc from soma’s eyes and we get to see how he is the only one who can see her weakness behind that strong face of hers, but also how he sees her strength in recovery? the way he describes that scene where she’s in this gorgeous white swimsuit with a sheer coverup and then picks a brown swim float so she can sit atop it on the waves and say “don’t i look like a doughnut?” despite having a literal near-death experience in the sea not too long before honestly had me falling head over heels in love with her, and it really made me understand exactly what he loves about her, and how much he just adores her. anyway this is me gushing over that special story, but what i mean is that the ending of his battlefield in combination with this special story sets up the beginning of soma and his mc’s healing as a couple, and it culminates in this scene. soma is kind of similar to kaga in the sense that they both actually demonstrate their feelings the most honestly through physical means, and here you can just see how palpable the desperation is. they desire each other so intensely and intimately and having this moment for the two of them to share is so significant for their recovery. you can just see how much soma needs to show her that he’s here, he’s really, physically here with her, and he’ll never leave her alone ever again, and he’s so sorry for all the pain she’s had to go through. you can see the way he’s telling her that with his body and with the way he talks to her and is just so himself in bed. there are really parallels between their first night together and this scene (mostly like... him asking her to tell him what she wants lol) and it just makes me so EMOTIONAL.

YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS THE END?

no, that was just my top five solo (or li/mc) CGs. i also need to give my top five fave group/multiple character CGs lmao.

in no particular order:

what can i say? it’s just so beautiful, and every single expression and pose is just so suited for each character i’m in love.

frankly no real reason for this one aside from the fact that we get to see goto and subaru in yukata and subaru always looks soooo freaking good in hlitf CGs and also goto’s hand is on subaru’s chest and you know we ship gobaru in this house

the third anniversary substory CGs are just amazing (you’ll see the full one in a bit and it’s WILD) but honestly i just need everyone to see this one bc it’s just gorgeous. look at ishigami and kaga and look at how inhuman they look, all sweaty and tired from being in panda mascot costumes. kaga with his sleeves rolled up literally has me salivating. look at PRETTY their faces and muscles are... anyway, this CG has me as thirsty as ishigami guzzling that bottle of water..........

i said it was in no particular order but i just need to say that this one is my actual favourite bc it has EVERYONE. and look at how gorgeous they all look.... every single one of them with their hair pushed back ;alskdjfalsk WHO??? WHO LET THIS HAPPEN? NAMBA’S GLOVE? KAGA AND GOTO’S MATCHING SCOWLS? THE ANGLE OF SOMA’S HEAD? TSUGARU’S TONGUE? and also the way his legs are positioned?!?!?! also i love swishy hair ayumu and hide with his leg crossed the other way from kaga and also i’ve never seen toru look this attractive it’s very unfair.

the sheer amount of chaotic energy in this one is just wonderful and i love all the details. you all know namba is DAY DRUNK. goto and toru in that signature headlock position, ayumu being a lil shit and putting wasabi in all the cupcakes and ISHIGAMI AND KAGA FALLING FOR IT AND SUFFERING??? LOOK AT THEIR SUFFERING FACES JUST LOOK. and you just KNOW that soma is going to suffer the same fate oh sweet mercy this is like “famous last pictures” level of good. also they’re all wearing new clothes which i love sooooo much. i wanna see ayumu in that orange sweater more often and also army green shirt kaga with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms with that look on his face. have i ever been more in love? no.

finally, here’s my ultimate favourite favourite group image of all time! not a CG but it’s the header that i use on the mobile version of my blog:

they’re all looking so happily/fondly over at YOU (hlitf mc who fell asleep) and wondering what you’re dreaming about/saying that you’re dreaming about them. and they all just love and adore you so much. the amount of affection in this one image is unreal and also momose is in it ialskfjsd i just.............. am the SOFTEST for this one.

anyway sorry that (1) it took so long for me to answer this, bc i had to spend ages thinking about it alongside being busy with life stuff and (2) that i went on for so long and did not pick 5 CGs but rather... 12....... but these are my faves!! thank you so much for the ask!

#her love in the force #hlitf #seiji goto #hyogo kaga #hideki ishigami #shusuke soma #ayumu shinonome #jin namba #toru kurosawa #takaomi tsugaru #takeru momose #snow answers #Anonymous #voltage inc #otome game #voltage otome #otome romance #love 365 #at times like this i really miss my tag bundles

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dreamloather · 3 years

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this is so annoying i haven't started hades bc of a stupid rule on the supergiant games i have, but i just want to say zagreus!dream is SO perfect omg. the determination to chase his freedom, that he'll endure death and more for it, and yet having to acknowledge all that he's leaving behind? sapnap giving him shit/the least helpful advice for every time he comes back to life? and the visual of george coming to him promising support yet still a little pissed by dream leaving him behind ❤️ god ❤️

that’s totally fair, i personally haven’t completed a run yet lmao 😭 but yes i love this entirely!! i’m surprised at how well the three of them fit together actually, hades’ very own dream team.

(referring to this post btw. everything will be under a cut because uh it got way too long...)

zagreus!dream can be something so personal... even technically speaking, the roguelike nature of the game itself makes me feel like how dream does when he speedruns so recklessly. zag having to just attempt over and over again for his freedom 🤝 dream with the multiple speedrun attempts for his world records (lmao) they’re both forces to be reckoned with purely because of how headstrong (read: stubborn) they are. zag wouldn’t even let himself rest and dream is pretty much the same when he’s working hard on something. they both hate authority. zag with his father, dream with cops (lol) and basically the education system. they’re both pretty humble but wouldn’t hesitate to pull some strings knowing they have some sort of influence to do something good. i think i could honestly go on and on. personality-wise, there are just a lot of similarities. i love zag!dream.

i really love the visual of hypnos!sapnap (even sapnap’s main pfp looks like hypnos?) doing exactly what you described. i’d say hypnos is a little more subdued (literally, all the guy does is sleep) than sapnap, but really, they both exude enough chill dudebro energy for me to not diagnose sapnap with hypnos. (also, stoner!sapnap anyone? /lh /j)

now, thanatos!george... the massive brainrot i have over him. thanatos is one of my faves, he’s just. he’s Good. i like the added bonus of him being kinda difficult to romance, or even encounter earlier on in the game. (which is, you know, bit of a george trait.) they’re both pretty elusive in different ways. (and pretty.) both thanatos and george will be helpful but complain about it the entire time and i think that’s beautiful. also ugh, just the idea of george as the god of death? like hello, how can i not Think about that. (give george a big scythe right now!!) the fact that him being a god of death also directly opposes zag!dream being a god of life and rebirth? exquisite!! i’m also happy you mentioned that bit of than being upset that zag was leaving the underworld but still helping him out 😭 that gets to me,,, “just say you hate me” type beat.

i diagnose these dialogue lines with dnf:

also... the way thanatos can’t exactly get out what he wants to say when it’s genuine... reminds me of someone

#my asks have been glitching and i only got this notif a couple of minutes ago :///#sorry if this was sent awhile ago fhsdjf #also i'm sorry for such a long response #i got too excited #obvious spoilers for hades just in case #asks #anonymous #dreamwastaken #georgenotfound #sapnap #hades #dteam #hades au

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aviewfromtheclouds25 · 4 years

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Do you think Robron are aware that they are soulmates? They've never used the term, but they have described each other in ways that suggest they are aware that they are.

Oh, they know.

I think Robert’s self-assuredness about their future (which I’m just going to keep marvelling at right now because it’s just amazing, bless) makes him quite vocal about it without directly saying the word, whereas I think Aaron is less inclined to verbalise the depth of their love because he’s so in awe of it - “I love you so much I just don’t know what to do with it sometimes.“

Although I always feel like Robron were quite often written more like a movie couple than a soap couple, I still think the whole soulmate term is one soaps would be inclined to shy away from due to the nature of the genre in that actors will eventually leave etc. They have to always keep that awareness that they might have to evolve storylines and characters differently to how they had perhaps envisioned, because the soap landscape changes so often. However, that soulmate status is literally in all the action and the dialogue Robert and Aaron have shared over the past five years.

One thing I’ll always come back to is SSW and that car… The fact is they would each die for the other, they both value the other’s life so much more than their own. The notion of soulmates is that they’re two halves which together make a whole, right? Well, that’s exactly what Robron are and they proved that in that car when they were willing to die for each other. (“Everything I Do (I Do It For You)” springs to mind as the soulmate soundtrack! “I’d fight for you / I’d lie for you / Walk the wire for you / Yeah, I’d die for you” :P) And as vast as their differences may be, they’re ultimately also incredibly similar. Which truly makes them two sides of the same coin.

If we think back to how it all started, their connection was so strong and intense right from the start. It wasn’t the conventional lust of a soap affair. It was so much more than that. And Robert has since said that what he felt was love at first sight.

I could go on and on about all the ways their actions have shown how deep their love is, but instead I’m going to stay at the start of the affair, at that monumental lay-by, and pinpoint the dialogue (as much as I can remember without doing a rewatch!) which is them absolutely confirming how unique their love is - unique to ED because they were written so differently to any other couple, but also unique to Robron themselves because that’s exactly what a soulmate is - without ever expressly saying the word. So…

“You know why we’re both still here.” - The intensity of that initial connection… This isn’t a regular affair like Nate and Moira *okay that wasn’t exactly regular either ahem* with a massive lead-up showing how much they wanted each other. Why were they both still there? Because they couldn’t not be. Because being anywhere else just didn’t make sense. Because it felt right. Because they both felt that connection, like an invisible string between them. One that hasn’t left them since…

“If I lost you, Aaron, I couldn’t handle it.” - How many times has Robert said this over the years? But that very first time was during the affair, when he had his “perfect life”, everything he’d spent years working towards… But it wasn’t “enough”. Because he loved Aaron, and couldn’t watch him suffer… And his entire focus was on keeping Aaron safe, even if that meant he ended up spending years in prison… *I’m totally not emotional over the fact that now he actually is spending years in prison and has given Aaron up because still his focus is on Aaron’s wellbeing more than his own*

“He was the one who kept me going! I could have just closed my eyes and given up, but I didn’t… Because of him.” - I talked about the fact that they value each other’s life more than their own. They’ve both had issues with self-hate and a lack of self-worth etc during their lives, but again it was during even the affair when Aaron basically implied that at that time Robert was his reason for living, that he saved him and gave him a purpose…

“I wish that was all I cared about.” - Robert literally could not stop himself from loving Aaron, no matter how much easier he thought it would make his life at the time… And this whole lodge breakdown obviously leads to that wonderful moment in the woods during SSW which all began with…

“He’s the sort of person you want to be… And to be with.” - Do I really need to say anything about this line? Do I? He’s the sort of person you want to be… Verbal acknowledgement of how much they’ve each helped the other grow, pushing them to be the best version of themselves… The way they have always inspired each other to believe in themselves…

“I believe in you.” - Because even when they couldn’t believe in themselves, the other always did…

“I still see you like that. I always will. […] I’ll wait for you. ‘Til you’re ready.” - Always. Robert is literally saying he’ll never be interested in anyone else as long as Aaron’s in his life…

“You know.” / “I know.” - There is so much more depth of meaning to this than the conventional ILY’s of other couples, like the words will never actually be enough… And it doesn’t just indicate the depth of their love, it also alludes to the level of connection they have in their souls… They know each other, they understand each other. They accept the other for who he is and they embrace him for it…

“I know you.” - *Translation: I love you, unconditionally, for better or worse, forever. There is no one but you…*

“How do we not mess this up when it’s forever?” / “I don’t want easy. I want messed up. With you. Forever.” - For better or worse, whatever the future holds…

“No one else comes close. And never will.” - Never.

“You’re amazing.” - Aaron’s so in awe of Robert and it genuinely crushes him that Robert doesn’t see that in himself…

“I love you. I never stopped.” - Aaron hated Robert at one stage, but it never stopped him loving him too…

“I love you. And I always will.” - Always. Always. Always.

“We deserve a happy ending…” - Because there is no story beyond these two being together… They’re not just a chapter in each others’ lives, they’re the whole damn novel…

“However… Wherever…” - No matter what…

“I can’t see my future without him in it.” - Because…

“He’s everything.” - His whole world…

“I just want to be myself now. With you.” - Because the notion of soulmates is that they’re two halves which together make a whole… And Robert’s love for Aaron is what made him finally able to understand, and accept, his own half… Because he finally knew what the ‘whole’ looked like…

#the fictional village now Robertless #I assume you weren't expecting a short 'yes' to this!#this is one of my favourite topics to ramble about :')#but this is by no means a comprehensive list because I was a tad overwhelmed by just how many lines there are to remember haha #so I know I've definitely forgotten some #but you get the idea :P

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yanderedbh-moved · 4 years

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The Yanderes As Shakespeare Villains

Please take this post with a grain of salt, about 90% of the characters here are expressly not meant to be either entirely good or entirely evil and not going to lie. I mostly just titled this list “yanderes as villains” for the sake of a title, as more than a few of these characters are far more like anti-heroes than outright villains. Would I identify all the Shakespeare Characters below as antagonists? No. Do I feel they are similar enough to be compared to their DBH counterpart? Yes. All that in mind, please enjoy!

Connor: Macbeth, Macbeth

(Specifically the “nice” version of Connor.) Strung along while heavily manipulated under the control of Amanda/Cyberlife as Macbeth is manipulated by his wife Lady Macbeth, despite all this. However, they are the ones actively doing evil. Carrying out these acts of violence.

Straddle the line between victim and villain. Because of this, they're viewed wildly differently by other characters. Additionally, both are dynamic characters, developing and changing thoroughly from the beginning to the end of the play.

Even though both characters unleash severe pain and even death onto others, it's mostly on account of manipulation. Because of this lack of intention on their end to commit these acts, they suffer the regret and remorse later.

Markus: Cassius, Julius Caesar

Much of their resentment for their enemy is on account of having to live and serve as a lesser to a force of evil. Not necessarily Carl specifically, but still, Markus is forced to serve and interact with humans who hate him.

They fight for freedom and Liberation from the unjust in a way. Markus for androids who deserve a better life, Cassius, who argues Rome is too good to be controlled by a tyrant like Caesar.

Not necessarily an identical parallel but one which still connects the two, Cassius is motivated by his envy for Caesar. At the same time, Markus wants revenge on humans for what they did to him and his people.

Kara: Aaron, Titus Andronicus

The only time Kara is violent, even potentially lethal to others in the story, is in the name of devotion to her child. In the same way, Aaron’s redeeming factor is his devotion to his own son.

There isn’t exactly any real detail given to explain what it is that motivates them beyond the fact they appear to act based on instincts. Kara’s instincts telling her to act as a “mama bear” for Alice, while Aaron is only doing what he believes to be right in the name of being a good lover, and provider for his significant other.

Fundamentally their monogamy and the way they are so loving with only the one they care the most about is central to their characterization. Kara is one of the only non-pleasure based female androids, and Aaron mostly only acts as a way to appease his lover.

Hank: Shylock, The Merchant of Venice

Despite if you love or hate either of them, it's undeniable that they are a victim of circumstance. His villainy is one that is created, not what he was born with.

The driving force behind his dramatic change in behavior is on a count of losing a loved family member. Causing them to cling desperately to what they have left hardening themselves in the process.

Shylock demands a pound of flesh in return for his daughter, while Hank straight-up murders (ok, technically he only shoots him in the head, but his intent stands, just the same.) Connor, on account has misplaced anger towards androids.

Luther: Hamlet, Hamlet

Hamlet may be the tragic hero of the story, and Luther is given a fair shot at redemption. Still, it's wrong to ignore the fact that both of these characters committed evil deeds before the conclusion of their story.

Both arguably have blood on their hands for some character's death even though they're not the direct killers. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were sent to their deaths by Hamlet, and Luther's complacency in Zlatko’s house kept more androids suffering.

Hardly means they should be counted among the blood thirstiest of villains listed. As they are developed through story and are defined more by their redemption and complexity than by their own faults and failings.

North: Lady Macbeth, Macbeth

Fiercely driven by her appetite for power and ambition, an iconic and classic example of female power and the corrosive influence on her husband.

Obviously, she acts as the driving force in trying to convert Markus and pursuing a path of violence and vengeance. She won't hesitate in her goals, no matter the hesitance of others.

No doubt, this unrelenting thirst for violence would likewise extend to her as a yandere. She would see her actions as ones made out of love and selflessness.

Simon: Tamora, Titus Andronicus

Strikes a chilling balance between a schemer and a bloodthirsty murderer while never leaning too far to one extreme. In a sick way, by keeping this balance, this allows Tamora to embrace the full power of violence, as well as calculation.

While in her own right, she might not be expressly powerful in her own right. However, by aligning herself with as a leader becomes far stronger, similarly, Simon is one of Markus' right-hand men.

He would be the kind of yandere who should never under any circumstances be underestimated as he is capable of intense violence. Far more than meets the eye

Josh: Claudius, Hamlet

Claudius is an interesting villain because, even though he is the one actively committing acts of violence, he is absolutely doing this of his own free will. He’s not manipulated by another, or only doing this for some higher goal. He wants power, and he knows he must kill the current king to achieve this. Yet still, he feels remorse and unease over this. Josh similarly will openly vocalize his dismay over Markus pursuing violence, yet always, will follow through with his leader all the same.

There is no joy in this bloodshed. Both are brutally realistic and understand, ultimately killing is fundamentally wrong, but follow through with this plot to satisfy their own needs. To them, killing is always wrong, it was wrong when they committed this sin, and they fear their time of atonement is coming.

Both the stories of Hamlet and DBH share the notion that no one is entirely good or entirely evil. Even though he knows it’s probably a lost cause, Josh still pleads with Markus to turn to the side of peace and to favor mercy. Claudius may be self-serving to an insidious degree. Still, it’s debatable he did care for Queen Gertrude and felt pain when she died.

Kamski: Edmund, King Lear

While it’s not ever disclosed in canon any real details about Elijah’s upbringing, the two of them share a kind of “larger than life" persona. At least a part of their motivations could be described as going above and beyond the “common man.” For Edmund, this is because of his humble upbringing, and it’s at least possible Elijah shares this need to be celebrated on account of unremarkable upbringing.

Both Elijah and Edmund are absolute snakes! There’s nothing trustworthy or loyal about them, and they have no problem sacrificing or hurting others in the name of their own gain. Edmund, the adulterer, and Kamski, who was fully ready to let Connor shoot one of his companions.

Their quest to become the perfect self-made man left them cold and withdrawn as a result. In the narrative, this cold and withdrawn behavior is Elijah’s way of appearing more cold and mysterious. At the same time, for Edmund, this is a representation of his resentment for the familial love he never received.

Chloe: Titania, A Midsummer’s Night Dream

Both are extraordinary women. Titania is debatably the most powerful character in the entire play, while Chloe is a sophisticated, empathetically driven android, perhaps the most advanced ever, in this sense. Yet are unable to reach their full potential, on account of living under the control of men. Titania, subjected to life under Oberon, and Chloe's bound to a life of domesticity.

Despite their implied superior abilities and potential, they aren’t even really able to fight back against the men who control them. Titania, under the influence of a love spell, forces her to act a fool for her husband’s enjoyment. As Chloe is kept separate and isolated from the rest of the world with no way to make connections of her own.

(I am so sorry, Titania is not a villain in any way, this is all such a reach, but this… this was literally all I got, RIP.)

Gavin: Tybalt, Romeo and Juliet

Definitely a “what you see is what you get” kind of antagonist. And this description applies to both men from the beginning to the end of the story. They wear their motivations and emotions on their sleeves and are unapologetic for the way they act and treat others.

Complete hot-heads. While they may claim not to have selfish motives, as in, they genuinely believe their enemies to be as evil and reproachable as they say, but this is not true. Tybalt’s pugnacious behavior leading to his, and the deaths of many others. While Gavin’s opposition to his fellow investigator prolong progress and only lead to infighting and tensions rising between other humans and androids.

Both characters are pretty much the closest thing to an “all bad” character as it gets. While Tybalt may mean well in some way, to protect his family from the Montagues, he doesn’t care for their well being the moment the rival family is gone. And is clearly only fighting so hard for his own enjoyment. Similarly, for someone who wants to keep humans and androids apart as fiercely as Gavin wants, he doesn’t seem to have any good-will, or kindness to share with any of his fellow humans.

Zlatko: Richard the third, Richard the Third

Both characters follow the arcs of characters who desire power, or to hold a superior status to others, only to lose this power when taken down by the demons of their past.

Even when they are surrounded by the faces of those they’ve wronged in their past, it’s only until the very last second that either of these characters shows any semblance of regret for what they’ve done. And in Zlatko’s case, this doesn’t mean he regrets what he did to the androids he tortured but does regret how he wound up in a position like this.

Ralph: Caliban, The Tempest

Both are fiercely territorial of the places they reside in. While they may or may not have a right to this level of possessiveness, it’s important to acknowledge they only have to share the space anyway on account of unfairness. (Caliban was tricked into giving up possession of his island, and Ralph technically was here before anyone else, and even if he doesn’t own the area officially, it’s still his space.)

Both are written to be “monster” like characters. Or, in other words, characters who are fundamentally different from the humans in the story. Ralph an android, as well as “corrupted” on account of his trauma. While Caliban is described as a creature that lived in the wilderness before the island was under Prospero’s control.

Through the roughness, they present to the outside world, however, the audience sees a glimmer of softness, and maybe even more intelligent than given credit for. If Kara is kind to Ralph, then he will refuse to give away her position to Connor, even under intimidation. Caliban actually does desire a life on the island with Miranda by his side. (Granted, saying he wants to populate the island with “lots of little Calibans” was a bit of a yikes move on his part.)

Daniel: Goneril & Regan

They share a common theme at the heart of their stories. The idea of spending your time, life, and energy to be close to another, to be considered a part of the family, only to lose themselves to jealousy at the notion of being replaced.

Characters with motivations which may appear petty at first glance, however, this is more than enough motivation to enact intense violence. For Daniel, this means threatening to drag the young daughter of his former host family off the top of a building. For Regan, this means literally pulling out someone’s eyes.

Nines: Don John, Much Ado About Nothing

(This is partly a headcanon here.) Even though Nines is considered an upgrade from his predecessor, Connor, that doesn’t change the fact he’s still fundamentally following in his brother’s footsteps, and he can’t help but feel out shined here. A kind of familial resentment John experiences, which motivates his actions in the story.

Even though this petty jealousy may appear superficial at first glance, it’s critical not to underestimate these characters. They are both intelligent schemers. No one is truly safe from, or around them.

This would absolutely extend to you, in terms of yandere Nines. His treachery runs deeply, and if he is so ready to start a war against his own brother than you will never know if you’re genuinely safe around him.

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professorspork · 4 years

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Frozen 2: first impressions

Hello friends! As you know, Frozen was a HUGE part of my fandom life ~back in the day.~ So of course I saw the sequel opening night and of course I have thoughts after ruminating on it for 24 hours. I’m sure there will be many things I forget or don’t cover--after all, I’ve only seen it the once. And I make no guarantees that my thoughts are coherent or consistent. (If I contradict myself, I contradict myself-- I am large, I contain multitudes.) I’m also sure my opinions will evolve upon rewatch. Lord knows they did last time.

Is that enough disclaimer yet? OKAY. Some of my thoughts are negative! Some are positive! It’s a grab bag! Here we go!

Spoilers under the cut, pals.

IN SHORT: As an expansion on the world and the characters I adore, I pretty much loved it! As an extension of uh Big Capitalism and what it means in terms of real world ramifications... I have questions/comments/concerns!

IN LONG: I think I’ll start with what didn’t work for me and work my way around to fangirling at the end.

the meh

I feel like... part of it is that Disney has just gotten worse and power-grabbier in way more blatant ways in the last few years, and part of it is that I’m ever-more cognizant of these things. And the fine line they want to walk of “We can tell stories about progressive concepts! Princesses are woke now, actually!” without taking a single financial risk when it comes to alienating foreign markets, homophobes abroad or Nazis domestically is just a fundamentally untenable position to be in. You don’t get to retcon Elsa and Anna as being somehow less white than they clearly are and then try to tell a story about reparations in which no one actually gets reparations. You don’t get to get points for that. It’s in some ways admirable to want to try, but all you do when you’re coming at it from the position of being Disney when you tell this story is show the cracks in it.

I can see how, on a purely storytelling level, having Papa King Arendelle Agnarr be of Arendelle and Iduna be of the Northuldra and having their daughters be the bridge between the two communities is a really tempting, tidy, tie-a-bow-on-it narrative. And I also see how creating the backstory of the war and the mist neatly explains the absence of indigenous faces in the first film. But like... come on. Introducing an indigenous group like the Northuldra and then declaring that Elsa and Anna are a part of it is insulting. There’s no other way to say it. It just feels gross. I’m glad that Disney consulted with the Sámi on the movie, and I acknowledge that both real-life Sámi folks and the onscreen Northuldra come in a broad variety of skin tones and phenotypes. But even with the most generous possible reading of the choice-- that it’s well-intentioned, albeit misguided-- falls flat for me. It feels like Disney trying to have their cake and eat it too. And I don’t really see any way around that. It just... gives me tremendous pause, and it’s so core to so many of the things the movie chooses to be that it’s really disquieting and disappointing.

But then again, Disney being racist isn’t exactly news, and there’s still plenty of flaws to tackle even when we put this (massive) issue aside.

This movie is... weirdly allergic to stakes? It’s not like I wanted Elsa to stay dead, or that I expected Olaf to (more on that in a minute). But Anna’s decision to go full Thor Ragnarok and, as @theseerasures jokingly put it to me last night, “throw the first brick at Stonewall” and destroy Arendelle felt right. It felt appropriate to the story they were telling, and it would have had the film put its money where its mouth is re: how atoning for the sins of our forebears requires massive systemic change. So having Elsa charge to the rescue on her water-type Rapidash extremely queer steed daemon Gay Horse and save the city felt cheap. (Also, side note: is Arendelle really just... that one seaside port town and nothing else? Are there only like fifty people in Arendelle?) The citizens had already been taken to safety. The society would live on; they’d all get to rebuild. What was the point of saving the castle, just for saving the castle’s sake? To what end? I don’t see how that’s more inspiring or reassuring or worth it than watching the sisters lead their people from the ground up and starting anew. I don’t understand what they thought was worth protecting, when, again, all of the people were safe. Stories need stakes in order to have meaning! HTTYD has impact because Hiccup loses his leg in his attempt to save his dragon and his people. You know? You don’t get to just... keep everything the way it is and call that restorative justice, and the film clearly wants us to. And I don’t understand why. The only reason that makes any sense at all to me is that they thought it would scare little kids, but like. THIS COMPANY HAS PORTRAYED WAY MORE TRAUMATIZING THINGS THAN THAT. MANY TIMES.

Point in fact: Olaf’s death! Genuinely disturbing! Sad! For the most part I really liked the way it was handled, but it also felt very. Y’know. “Mister Stark, I don’t feel so good.” This is perhaps my most uncharitable nitpick, so I’ll keep it brief, but having Olaf drift away Snap-style just felt like an extremely synergistic, Disney+ nod at Infinity War instead of an organic decision. Which maybe isn’t fair, because it makes more sense for Olaf to become a flurry than for the Snap to make people dust! But nevertheless, the weird wink-and-a-nudge feeling of it totally pulled me out of what should have been an extremely poignant moment. Elsa’s revelation during “Show Yourself” felt similar--like. Not to take away from your moment, Elsa, but the call isn’t out there at all, it’s inside me was already covered by this larger canon, and in a more elegant and eloquent manner.

Which--tbh, the music overall was a bit of a letdown (though “Into the Unknown” slaps and a boyband of five joshes “Lost in the Woods” was perhaps the best sequence in the whole movie). I respect that they clearly wanted to give everyone a solo this time around in a deliberate way, but the songs felt perfunctory for the most part--describing moments instead of advancing them. This film was such a departure from how Disney normally makes sequels (mostly in a good way, actually) and I couldn’t help but wonder what it would have looked like to make a version of this movie where no one sang at all. It didn’t feel cohesive.

And, though it would kill me to get rid of “Lost in the Woods” because it’s perfect... I kinda wish Anna and Kristoff had gotten engaged at the end of act 1, as I think they pretty clearly did in the first draft of this script. Their relationship drama felt like a hat on top of a hat, and they could still have addressed their codependency/insecurities while being engaged. Leaving the proposal for the end just made it an anticlimax after everyone’s been brought back from the literal dead. And it maybe would have left them with more options than having Kristoff just vanish from the narrative for the entire back half of the second act.

Also Honeymaren should have had at least two more scenes. I can’t justify this on a narrative level; the movie didn’t actually need more of her. But like. If you’re going to go out of your way to keep Elsa carefully single, and even give KRISTOFF a new boyfriend, I feel like the least you can do is let us get to know the obvious throw-us-a-bone offering a little bit better. Like. Literally. the actual least you can do.

anyway. all of that said.

the yay!

I can’t tell you how gratifying it was to me, personally to open with a flashback of the girls that demonstrates as clear as day that Elsa is an ace lesbian and Anna is bi and polyamorous. Thank you, snow action figures.

And like. Overall the way the movie tackled the sisters and their relationship was pure *chef’s kiss.* (And I think for me, the strength in this particular bullet point probably outweighs all of my complaints and concerns from above, in the end. At least from an “I still derive enjoyment from this flawed thing” standpoint, though perhaps not from an “I’d recommend this to anyone without caveats” standpoint.) THEY LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH. THEY WERE SO THEMSELVES. I do think part of the fear of any sequel where there’s been a significant amount of time since the last one and you were so emotionally invested in it the first go-around is like... what if everyone feels OOC? What if what I saw wasn’t what was really in them after all? What if they feel like strangers? What if they let me down? And there was none of that, even for a second, with this movie. Their parallel journeys were character-appropriate and impactful. Elsa finally gets the freedom she’s always been looking for. Anna finally gets the responsibility she’s always been ready for. Anna, the caretaker, is positioned to take care of everyone. Elsa, the lesbian, runs away to the forest to hang out with beautiful powerful women. Elsa, the force of nature, is finally allowed to commune with it. The scene at their parents’ ship truly anchors the whole movie in the best possible way. And also, like... this movie showed how fucking weird Elsa is, and I feel so vindicated. SHE’S SUCH A DORK. I can’t believe I never realized that Elsa would totally choose Charmander as her starter, and the way she talked to the fire salamander was literally the most charming thing I have ever seen. “They’re staring at us, aren’t they?” GOSH. [IMDb says the salamander’s name is Bruni, and I’m very sad they never spoke it aloud.] [Someone do a rotoscope of the Tangled short where Pascal and Max almost ruin Rapunzel and Eugene’s wedding by losing the rings but it’s Bruni and Sven at Kristoff and Anna’s wedding, thank]

Anyway. All of that goes double for Olaf, because I really wasn’t sure they could pull off the miracle of him not being annoying twice. And they did! Olaf’s grappling with his burgeoning maturity was adorable and profound in equal measure, and his plot reenactments were sublime. And when he realized to Anna for the first time that he was feeling angry, that he was capable of feeling angry... what a tremendous moment. (Actually, I’ll extend what I said about the boat scene to include the Earth Giants river sequence in total, because. Again. Wow.)

And I have to say... as much as I am given real pause by their execution of the concept, “you just do the next right thing” is such beautiful (*cough* Jewish *cough*) praxis. I love that. In the broader Disney Revival canon of Tiana’s work ethic and Rapunzel’s abuse narrative and how Wreck-It Ralph talked about PTSD and all of the myriad things the first Frozen did, I might love “the next right thing” most of all. What a simple, powerful, evocative message. It’s so lovely. A perfect gem.

Also worth acknowledging that the animation was straight-up stunning. Which I expected, generally, but the water droplets in the ship? The way Elsa just loses it sobbing when she sees her mother’s face in the ice? The tender, shattered way Anna pulls Olaf in closer to her as he fades? W.O.W. And, y’know, while I stand by what I said above about stakes, I will say that the moment we first see that Elsa is experiencing cold, that Elsa is freezing? Genuinely--and please forgive the pun--genuinely chilling.

I love Gail the Gale. I love Mattias and Yelana and Ryder and Honeymaren. But mostly I just... loved the dialogue and these characters and that I got to spend a little more time with them. And I’m sure I’ll do so at least two more times before it leaves theaters.

... apparently this is over 2k words now so that seems as good a place to leave it as any. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

#does #anyone #use #tracked #tags #anymore?#either way #let's stay out of them #that should do it #frozen 2 #frozen 2 spoilers #frozen #frozen spoilers #spoilers

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greennct · 5 years

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I saw NCT 127 Live:

Here’s what they’re like in real life

Hi NCTzens! Last night, I went to see NCT 127 at their London concert. I spent way to much money and queued for way too long, but ended up about the third person from the front, and so was lucky enough to see each member extremely close-up. Here’s what I noticed about seeing both individual members, and the group as a whole live!

^^This was my actual view!

NCT AS A GROUP

- I was genuinely blown away by their dancing! To be honest, I wasn’t sure if the moves were going to look as impressive without any fancy camera work, however, there’s no doubt that they were just as talented as they seem. They didn’t half-ass any choreography, and were very dedicated to each song.

- Adding onto that, it was almost impossible to decided where to look! Since there as so many members, and their dancing is so slick, for the first few songs, I didn’t know what to do with myself. They are all ridiculously beautiful, I was close enough to see the sweat on their faces, but could not spot a single pore. I genuinely was blown away by their visuals. They look exactly like they do on video, and somehow they seem so different. The best comparison I can make is seeing the 3D version of a 2D shape. The similarity is uncanny, but there’s no denying that the 3D version is so much better.

- The entire concert was extremely well-rehearsed! Things like the set list, the staging, even down to the costume changes was seamless and extremely impressive. Each member was incredibly professional, and knew exactly what they were doing. This was my first Kpop concert, and I was very impressed with how they knew their way around the stage so well, compared to some Western artists I had seen previously.

- Their vocals. I genuinely was disappointed for the first three songs because I thought they were lip-syncing. If it wasn’t for the heavy breathing that we could hear in the gaps between songs, I wouldn’t have believed their mics were on they sounded that perfect. Even whilst doing their incredibly hard dancing, and at some points climbing on a huge metal frame, they definitely proved their incredibly stable vocals. This was also true with the rapping. They were so well-rehearsed, they knew exactly when to take breaths between lines, and did not make one mistake! This was especially impressive with Mark and Taeyong, since they have such a large amount of lines compared to the other members.

- They were also incredibly polite. Since the concert was in London, they kept mentioning how much they loved the city. Thy were incredibly complimentary, talking about how nice the people were that they had met, how they liked the city in general (Lots of the Korean members mentioned how they had wanted to travel here, I think Doyoung said he wanted to come again on holiday!), and how much they wanted to return. They thanked the NCTzens for allowing them to travel there, and promised us something along the lines of “We’ll work hard to make sure there are other opportunities to come back and see you again!” Again, compared to Western artists, they put so much more emphasis on just being super sweet towards us, which I really appreciated.

- The interactions between members were also really endearing. I would catch them shooting grins at each other in the middle of the songs, and patting each other on the back in between them, in order to encourage the members, which I literally almost teared up at I thought it was so gorgeous of them. During the ballad-type songs where they were sitting down, some members would come over to others during their parts, to just put their arms around each other (I noticed Taeyong doing this to Johnny, which I thought was lovely, since it seemed like he was trying to get Johnny extra screen time, as he knew he didn’t have many lines). There was also a bit of pressing foreheads against each other in order to either tease the member, or tease the audience. (For example, Johnny and Mark recreated their bridge scene from the superhero music video when performing that song!)

- Other honourable mentions included the Highway to Heaven music video, which I had never seen before for some reason - it’s actually on Youtube, you can find it here. Also, a super cute 90s inspired concept video to introduce Yuta, Jungwoo and Haechan’s dance stage that involved all the members dorking around and making stupid faces/dance with captions they had added themselves (Haechan: I got the horses in the back), which was super cute!

- Overall, you could just tell that they loved what they do, and that they genuinely enjoyed performing. They were a mix of humble and playful towards the audience, always throwing us cheesy lines about how CZennies are their energy, and how grateful they were to us.You could see that they were incredibly happy to be there with us, looking out into the audience just to stare at us in awe, and that created such a nice mutually loving atmosphere.

INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS

TAEIL

- Okay I feel like no one talks about how good Taeil looks? He was literally rock solid, like out of all the members you want to bury your head in his chest the most

- He had perfect body proportions, I don’t know if he had been working out, but was one of the most muscular members.

- He was one of the shortest members. I’m mentioning this only because everyone always says how short Mark is, but I think he was shorter! Mark might’ve been wearing insoles or something, and Taeil was definitely not small, however he was just shorter than most of the other members

- His vocals. Literally blew me away. He sounds exactly like he does on recordings, doing all of his high notes and ad-libs I literally got goosebumps. He is seriously talented and again, I was so happy that he was just as amazing as I hoped he would be!

- I was also very drawn to watching him! I was trying to soak in as much of everyone as possible, however I was surprised with how much my eyes drifted back to Taeil. I think it was because he was just so happy to be there!

- During his ending ment, he shouted “LON!”, and we shouted “DON!”. Before going into Korean. I remembered it because I thought it was a lovely way for him to be able to directly interact with us before having to rely on a translator. You could tell he had planned it in advance, and I really appreciated his dedication.

YUTA

- Yuta was definitely one of my favourite members to see live.

- I’m not kidding, he had one of the best stage presences because he was having so much fun it was infectious!

- He would do things like make silly, goofy faces (Things like making his fingers into an okay sign and putting them over his eyes if that makes sense), and laugh at our reactions.

- He would tease us on purpose, and was one of the most interesting members to watch, especially in the encore stages, because he just loved to flirt with us.

- Examples included him suddenly starting to do push-ups with claps in between each, and attempting to get the members to join him, and asking Doyoung “aRe yOu FiNiShEd?” before he starting his ment.

- I also need to mention his hair because!!!! It was still super long and red, which is my favourite cute and colour on him. I still have a crystal clear memory of me watching him run his fingers through it and me just thinking wow.

- His hairography also added to his performance, it was flowing perfectly everywhere!!

- His jawline was also incredible, you could see it from miles away! He also came on in the encore with a dad cap on backwards and he looked so damn good I didn't know what to do with myself.

JOHNNY

- Johnny was a flirt who knew exactly what he was doing to us. I was surprised that he was just as extra in real life as he was in his JCC videos! He would do things like wink at us, and add in extra hip thrusts and body rolls during the non-choreographed sections just to make people scream

- There was a point where the group split into the hyung and maknae lines to go change their costumes, and when taking over from the other members, Johnny walked on stage saying something like “Now that you’re done with the yOuNgEr mEmBeRs” which made me laugh a lot.

- Johnny is so funny! He was constantly teasing the other members, mostly Mark since he could speak English, but genuinely made me laugh out loud a number of times. For example, he kept trying to do a British accent which I’m pretty sure he made awful on purpose (He joked again, saying something really serious like “Next time I will show you a stage with a British accent I have prepared myself a lot for.”).

- He also took the shit out of Doyoung again by doing his weird Masked Singer dance thingy, before turning it into a rude set of hip thrusts, again showing that superior sense of humour.

- Johnny is so good at dancing! He had centre in a lot of the dance breaks, and I remember being surprised at how I had never noticed how talented he was before. His skills are very underrated.

DOYOUNG

- Doyoung was one of the members whose visuals stuck out to me the most. He was the centre during the songs where they simply sit down and sing, and he was genuinely glittering, I remember physically gasping when I saw him

- He looked genuinely ethereal, and just so at home and comfortable within himself during the vocal parts, even just sitting there, like, he was shining I don’t know how to describe how angelic he was.

- When singing, you could just tell it was what he was born to do. He was so into it, closing his eyes and putting his hand on his heart, concentrating on putting on the best performance that he could. I was so glad they let him sit in the middle because he really was the most captivating person to watch.

- He was also incredibly eloquent and well-spoken in what he wanted to say. I couldn’t understand his Korean, so focused on his expressions whilst he was talking and he seemed so serious and determined to get his message across. When it was translated, I feel like his words were so intelligent, and I really respected that, his ending ment was definitely my favourite.

- When Johnny was making fun of him, he was so cute, just pretending to be mad, and shaking his head and pouting it made me :(((

JUNGWOO

- Jungwoo was definitely the most earnest member, everyone could see that. He was so hardworking, you could tell he was 100% focused when dancing, he really wanted to prove himself.

- He literally speaks in tiny font, like, I can’t explain it.

- He ended his ment with “ᵀʰᵃⁿᵏ ʸᵒᵘ ᵛᵉʳʸ ᵐᵘᶜʰᵎ” and just beamed so wide I swear it was like a ray of sunshine I have never been so blown away by a smile before it was gorgeous!

- He also kept looking out into the audience a lot. You could see he was internally pinching himself, and it was obvious how truly grateful he was.

- When he first appeared on stage, he had a little dance break to introduce himself. He paused after he had done to look into the camera. Since they were performing Cherry Bomb, he had to have a serious expression, but I could see a little smile tugging at his lips - he was so happy he couldn’t keep a straight face!

- I think this also had something to do with it being the third anniversary that day, that made him so reflective, but either way I just wanted to scoop hi up in a hug and assure him that we all loved him to the moon and back!

- This is a super dumb thing to say, but his hair was so blonde it blew me away! There was not a root in sight, and even when he started sweating it ended up still looking perfect! I really loved his hair.

TAEYONG

- Okay, I know that everyone talks about how amazing Taeyong’s stage presence is, but it’s a completely different experience seeing it in real life

- I was so intimidated at his expressions, like they were indescribable! Especially because he had a lot of lines and dance solos, you really got to see him up close. He stayed completely steady when rapping whilst climbing down that huge apparatus thingy for welcome to my playground and I was very impressed!

- He was the first member who walked out on stage, and I was genuinely not able to breathe for a good few minutes because I was in shock.

- His duality also really caught me off guard, because he would just suddenly start doing aegyo during his ment, or that weird wiggle dance he does in the encore and I would just be so confused because how are those two men the same person.

- He was very confident in English! You could tell that he had practised the most because he said the first line of his ment in English! He asked Johnny to clarify a word (If I remember correctly, he got the words ‘before’ and ‘after’ mixed up which is so cute!), and when the hyung line was playing Rock Paper Scissors, he accidentally got the timing wrong and said “Oh, sorry.” and laughed in such a natural way it seemed like he was basically fluent in English in that moment. It really impressed me how much he had been improving, and how confident he was in it.

- He was also very chic, wearing a Dior headband in the encore like the classy bitch he is.

MARK

- Mark is one of the members who just feels so familiar to you. I think it’s because his mannerisms are just so natural, that he is exactly the same as he is on camera in real life.

- I’m so glad I saw black haired Mark Lee because he all know it’s his most evolved form, and it looked amazing on him, his hair was definitely worth mentioning I will never forget it.

- His rapping is also no joke, he also had a lot of lines, and stayed on top of them, was incredibly clear and energetic, and I have nothing but praise for his stage presence

- I caught him making little faces a lot, that were just really endearing, thinks like scrunching up his nose a little, or tilting his head slightly.

- He was the perfect balance of joking with us, and being super sweet and nervous. He really is adorable, like it’s impossible to not love Mark!

- There were quite a few people who fainted during the concert, because I was right at the front where is was super squished and hot, and Mark reminded us in his ending ment to drink lots of water. He said something like “I saw a lot of people getting sick, so please make sure to drink a lot of water when you leave, we will too!” Which I thought was very sweet of him to acknowledge (Johnny also tweeted a selfie afterwards reminding us to drink too), and said a lot about his personality.

JAEHYUN

- Jaehyun was so handsome I don’t even know how to vocalise it properly. Could not take my eyes off him for like the first fifteen minutes because I was just in awe of how gorgeous he is. His visuals were the one of the ones that blew me away the most.

- I’m talking a face like Adonis, body proportions to die for, and his eyes were so beautiful, especially because his eyebrows were so perfect. He really was an attractive man and he knew it.

- He also had an incredibly powerful stage presence. He has a fair amount of lines, and was delivering them with such power and professionalism. It was hard to look at anyone else.

- I forgot how good he is at singing! The vocal members performed a ballad and I was blown away and fell in love with his voice

- He was also funnier than people mention! For example, we tried to sing them Happy Birthday for their third anniversary, however since the arena was so big, everyone was singing at different times. Jaehyun stopped us, laughed and teased us, telling us we needed to try again, and counting us in. It was a side of him I hadn’t seen that much of before, and thought it was equally hilarious and attractive how he seemed so comfortable with us.

HAECHAN

- Haechan speaks in English in such a specific voice I don’t really know how to explain it. It’s very soft and slightly nasal, but not in a bad way, in fact I love his voice in English most of all.

- Liked to just like yell, and have us yell back, it was so cute we felt like we had a little bond with him

- He was staying near Mark a lot when they were speaking to us, it’s obvious how close the two of them are, and how genuine their friendship is, but he was also clowning Mark as well

- Just MarkHyuck things: Haechan adding in little “ᴼ ʸᴱᴬ”s when Mark paused in between his sentences

- So playful and happy! Haechan had a dance stage with Jungwoo and Yuta, and he was just having the time of his life doing it, also when he was lifted up in Firetruck, he was just making such a playful face I!!!

- His makeup was also really good, like his eyeshadow, maybe because his eyes are so big and expressive, was perfect, so he looked amazing!

If you have any questions about specific moments, or want to see if I took a video of a certain song/moment, feel free to drop an ask into my inbox, it’s always open!

I’m thinking of uploading a post about how I managed to get so close/my experience & advice with queuing, buying tickets & etc, so if you want that then drop me a message as well!

(Also, I realised I compared this concert to Western ones a few times - I just want to clarify this was in no way attempting to slander anyone, just pointing out differences I noticed.)

Hope this was helpful/interesting to some of you! 💞💖💘

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lavieendonna · 5 years

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Brushwork || ArtMajor!Calum AU (Chapter 29)

Summary: An Art Major AU where Dallas - third year gawky art student at VCA - makes a deal with Calum - her cute new neighbour and project partner - and they spend the semester learning that the perfect masterpiece takes a whole lot of brushwork.

Date: 20 September 2019 Requested: no one cares Pairing: Calum + Dallas Words: 3.8K Warnings: none! Except that if you try to find my master lists, most of the links are all fucked up because I haven’t gotten around to changing my url links from lavieencalum to lavieendonna. soz. A/N: Christ on a cracker. It’s been.... literal months. But here is something to make up for it, although I know it won't. I already know that no-one reads this story any more so :) oh well. I just need to finish this for my own peace of mind. Anyway.

Big Love xo

Chapter 29: It Was A Wonder Why I Didn’t Just Hold A Press Conference, Answer Everyone’s Questions, Then Proceed to Blow My Brains Out in Front of Them All.

I’d not really taken notice of the time since I’d arrived at the cinemas earlier in the evening. Not that I was there to see a movie or anything, no I was still too broke for that. But the cinemas down the street from the student residence had a quaint little eatery upstairs near the theatres. It was kind of like being in a pub (without the middle-aged men telling me to get out if I wasn’t going to let them cop a feel in the bathroom) and almost a little hipster, even – especially considering the cocktails all had ridiculous names (I was yet to figure out what was inside an ‘Illegal Alien’) and it served predominantly vegan (albeit delicious) food.

The Hideout was quiet and warm, and much more welcoming than either Bitters or The House. When I’d been laying around the apartment aimlessly feeling sorry for myself, I knew I needed to get out of the house and into a new space and this place had popped into my head. Calum and Ashton had brought Polly and me here once months ago, and though we’d had a great time we’d never come back. I wasn’t really sure why, because it never really came up in conversation either. It was just the kind of place that simply existed, almost like the way the four of us used to just exist.

It was almost kind of exciting working in my sketchbook and drawing in a new environment. There was soft jazz floating through the room and the coffee was better than anything anywhere on campus had to offer. There was something about the ambience that was putting me in the mood to just draw my dumb little heart out, and I didn’t really stop until the chick behind the bar wandered over for the first time since she’d delivered my last coffee over an hour ago.

“I think the last one went cold.” She offered a quirk of her brow and motioned quickly with her chin to the mug that sat on the table across from me still more than half full. She slid the new beverage onto the table next to the abandoned one, and sat herself down in the seat across the booth.

“Thanks,” I pursed my lips sheepishly, feeling as I melted slightly into the cushions of the booth and my cheeks burned a soft pink. “Sorry, I didn’t even realise I’d forgotten the other one.”

The girl shrugged but offered small crooked twitch of her lips which I guessed was supposed to be a smile.

“Don’t be sorry.” She said simply, but almost kind of firmly. “You were in the zone, I could tell. Something on your mind?”

It sounded like the kind of line she should be asking me over at the bar while she wiped down the counter with a dirty dish rag after sliding me a beer that I would drink in a heartbeat then follow up with so many more this girl would have to haul me out to the curb by the waistband of my jeans. Obviously, that wasn’t going to happen, but I couldn’t help but look at this girl and really feel like her job here at The Hideout was her calling. She really looked the part, her shaggy chestnut hair brushing her shoulders, the eyebrow piercing and the name badge that read ‘Rocky’ even though I was almost certain that wasn’t her real name. Her entire being just screamed ‘Mentoring Barkeeper’.

“I guess you could say that.” I said little vaguely, pulling the new coffee closing to me by the saucer and relishing in the taste. “Is it that obvious?”

Rocky made a face and I grimaced, knowing exactly what that meant.

“You’ve had the same crease in between your eyebrows since you walked in.” She said almost matter-of-factly, tapping the spot on her own forehead to make her point. I blinked and absent-mindedly reached for my brow.

“Really?” I practically squeaked.

“Don’t think too much about it.” She said with the hint of a wider smile twitching on her lips. “It makes it worse.”

“Oh, God.” I muttered other unintelligible things while Rocky chuckled lightly, though she looked thoroughly amused.

“What’s got you troubled?” Rocky asked again with a slightly tilted head. I sighed, pursing my lips. “Actually, let me guess.” Rocky’s face shifted, her mouth forming a small ‘O’ as her eyes narrowed on me and a glimmer of mischief flashed through dark irises terrifying me slightly. “This is about a boy.”

I blinked dumbly.

“How… How could you tell?” I asked, not even bothering to be ashamed and just genuinely impressed by Rocky’s observational skills. The girl offered me a slight, one-shouldered shrug and gave a smug smile.

“It’s a talent of mine.” She said matter-of-factly. “My theory is that I was clairvoyant in a past life.”

“You believe in reincarnation?” I couldn’t help but arch my brow incredulously. “And clairvoyance?”

“No.” Rocky deadpanned with a one-shouldered shrug. “But it hasn’t been overly busy in here lately so I have to amuse myself somehow.”

I laughed and Rocky grinned at me, mischief being replaced by a softer, more comforting expression before I sighed yet again – which made a lot of sense, considering my entire life up to this point was just one big sigh.

“I have no idea how to fix this.” I admitted glumly, and as I reflected on my own words I was beginning to realise that this was the first time I’d officially and whole-heartedly admitted that out loud. And it was to a complete stranger, no less!

“What happened?” Rocky asked. “If you don’t mind my asking, that is.”

I had to stop myself from physically groaning at the inquiry. I was so over telling this story. Between my mother and my sister and Polly and now this girl – it was a wonder why I didn’t just hold a press conference when everything went down, answer everyone’s questions all at once then proceed to blow my brains out in front of them all.

I must have made a face that conveyed that entire thought pattern because Rocky’s hands went up, palms out as if in surrender.

“No, sorry. I get it.” She said softly. “You don’t have to tell me. I mean it’s not like you know me.”

“It’s not that,” I said immediately, even though that was (in part) a lie. “I’m just… this all started because I have a big mouth, that’s all.”

Rocky nodded slowly, but after a moment she leaned forward slightly and offered a calm, though slightly stoic, pursed-lipped half-smile.

“Look, I know we really don’t each other at all, and I gotta be honest, like, if the roles were reversed I probably would have told you to piss off by now.” I snorted and Rocky smiled too. “But you haven't done that, which means that whether or not you have a big mouth, you’re a good person. And you seem open to help, regardless of who it comes from.”

I had to sit and let Rocky’s words sink in for a moment while I took a long sip of my drink. Like she said, she was a total stranger, and yet she was under the impression that I, Dallas Noel James, was a good person. I couldn’t pinpoint why that meant so much to me, but it did.

“How do I show Calum that?” I found myself asking quietly. “How do I show him that… that I want his help? Like… specifically.”

Rocky seemed to stare at me for what seemed like longer than necessary, and for a moment I felt completely and utterly stupid for stooping so low as to ask someone I didn’t know for advice. I watched as a small frown formed between her shapely brows.

“His name is Calum?” She asked kind of dumbly.

“Uh… yes?”

Not for the first time since I’d arrived at The Hideout, Rocky narrowed her eyes at me, clearly deep in thought. “Huh.”

I blinked at her, kind of confused about how she managed to only take that away from my very genuine question.

“Why, uh… why do you ask?” I questioned when Rocky failed to elaborate on her ‘huh’. She tilted her head, right hand finding her chin while her eyes narrowed further.

“He wouldn’t happen to be, I don’t know… like six-foot-something? Dark hair, loads of tatts? The tall Māori kid, what’s-his-face… Hood!”

I couldn’t help the slightly creeped-out side-eye I gave Rocky as she described Calum to a T.

“Uh… yep. That’s… that’s him.” I said suspiciously. Rocky’s brow un-furrowed as realisation flooded her eyes and this kind of all-knowing smile finding plump lips.

“I should have known you were the girlfriend.” She said, almost proud that she’d put two and two together. “He was in here like a week ago telling me a very similar story.”

“Um…” I gulped, a shiver travelling up my spine though I wasn’t sure if it was because she knew who Calum was, because she’d now figured out who I was and what I’d done, or the fact that she’d just referred to me as ‘The Girlfriend’. “Did… Is that what he said I was? His… his girlfriend?”

Rocky gave a light-hearted chuckle and shrugged.

“More or less.” She said vaguely with a casual wave of her hand. “But that’s beside the point.”

“It is?” I squeaked out and Rocky nodded.

“It is.” She repeated. “The point here, Dallas,is that you two are both clearly meant for each other.”

“Uh… I mean… um.” I stammered for a minute, almost thinking that I’d misheard her. I understood every word of Rocky’s sentence separately, but it was like the order she chose to put them in was completely foreign to me. Not to mention, I hadn’t even told her my name yet which meant she’d definitely heard it from someone – that someone being Calum.

“Hang on, how do you know Calum again?” I asked, partly because I was stalling so I could come up with something to say in response to Rocky’s statement, and partly because I was still really confused about her role in this.

“Oh, Cal buys my patches on Etsy.” She said as if it was supposed to be obvious to me that she sold patches on Etsy. “His sister has a jacket for them and I’m pretty sure they’re mostly mine.”

The jacket I borrowed from Mali that I’d worn to the Showcase came to mind and suddenly everything made sense. Calum told me himself, Mali knew someone who made custom jackets and he knew someone who made patches – and as it turned out, Calum’s someone was Rocky.

“Oh. Right.” I found myself saying carefully, nodding slowly and taking another sip of my drink that was, much like the last one, ever-so-slowly getting colder and colder. “Right, yeah, that… that makes sense.”

“Are you alright?” Rocky asked with an arched brow. “You look kind of… green.”

“I’m…” I did what I could to laugh. “Yeah, that’s kind of normal for me these days.”

“Is it what I said?” She asked, softer now. “About you and Cal?”

“No, no, it’s not that.” I ensured her, shaking my head quickly. “I just…” I looked at Rocky, almost with a bit of hope. “Do you really think so? What you said about us?”

Rocky didn’t say anything, though she did give me that small crooked smile of hers again and nodded once.

It took a few moments, but slowly I let myself smile back a little.

Rocky’s eyes flickered down to the workbook I was slaving over, her smile disappearing as she gestured with her chin to the piece I’d been working on all afternoon.

“Whatcha working on anyway?” She asked, and although I felt good about our conversation about my predicament, I was glad for the change of pace.

“Oh, um.” I looked down at the sketch, the wings of the butterfly not quite finished yet. It was nice, I guessed, but there were eraser shavings all over the page still. “It’s just… I don’t really know, actually. It was supposed to be a design for a tattoo but it’s, uh. It’s not done yet.”

I leaned back away from the book so that Rocky could lean forward, and I watched as she reached forward and pulled the book closer to her. She gave a small chuckle, nodding with what looked like an impressed expression.

“The rubber shavings make it look like that half of it the butterfly is made of shattered glass.” She commented and I looked down at the page again, really trying to see what she could.

“Huh.” I almost mumbled out. “I guess it does.”

“This is wicked,” Rocky nodded at me approvingly as she flicked through the book’s pages slowly. “You are one amazing artist, you know that?”

“Ah,” I gave a humble shrug, a small pursed lip smile finding my lips. “I’m alright.”

“No, really.” She said seriously, pausing on a set of sketches and running her fingers delicately over the lines. I lifted my chin slightly and peered over the top of the sketchbook to see what had caught Rocky’s attention, my cheeks flushing pink when I realised that she’d found the very first drafts of the ballerinas we modelled the mural after. “These are… Jesus, girl, there are stunning.”

Rocky was practically speechless as she stared at the pages, turning each one so gently it was like she thought they might disintegrate at the touch. And I was speechless too; I almost couldn’t remember the last time I let somebody look at all of the work that was supposed to be only for me.

“They are, aren’t they?”

A new voice joined us in the booth, both Rocky and I looking up in a flash to see who it belonged to. Rocky beamed at the new addition, excitement glistening in her eyes as she greeted him and closed my sketchbook softly. I, on the other hand, did my best not to projectile vomit in my new friend’s face, and felt myself melt into the leather cushions in an attempt to become invisible.

“Ah, speak of the devil and the devil shall appear, am I right?” Rocky said cheekily. Calum laughed, though I could tell he was holding back on my account.

“Pretty sure you’ve been here all along, Rock.” He shot back and Rocky’s mouth formed a small ‘O’ as she feigned offense.

“I prefer the term diavola, actually.” She said very concisely, though her smile was wicked and playful.

“More like Satan’s Mistress.” Calum snickered, and even I couldn’t help the snort that forced its way through my throat. I immediately regretted the noise, too, because it meant I was no longer invisible – not that I ever was – and Calum’s attention turned to me.

“Hey, D.” He said carefully with the tiniest hint of a smile I’d ever seen him offer anyone. With a quick, terrified glance at Rocky (namely, my only support system at this exact point in time), I gulped like my life depended on it before pursing my lips together in a very similar, tiny, tiny smile.

“Cal, hey…” I said, although it was hoarse and half-choked because my throat had spontaneously gone dry. I cleared my throat, and while I was feeling almost confident for a split second and thought I might actually be able to get out the words I’d been dying to say, it all disappeared in an instant and I was overridden with fear once again. “I, um. I was just… leaving.”

“No, she wasn’t.” Rocky interjected loudly, making me jump a little and turning Calum’s initial disappointed expression into an incredulous arched brow. Rocky wasn’t bothered in the slightest, she just shuffled herself out of the booth and somewhat pushed Calum into her place. “I’m gonna go get you guys some milkshakes. Calum, usual?”

Calum gave a stiff nod and Rocky almost floated away, oblivious to the shitstorm McFlurry she’d just created and left behind, or – and this was more likely – she was aware and she didn’t give a shit at all.

There hung an awkward silence in the air that Rocky left behind, neither me or Calum knowing what to say. I did what I could to avoid eye contact, but eventually I let my gaze wander to his face and, lo and behold, he was already looking at me.

“It’s, uh. It’s Strawberry, right?” I spluttered out like an idiot and, as suspected, Calum’s brow lifted.

“What?” He asked with a slightly amused chuckle. I cleared my throat again because I could just feel the moisture leaving me from the inside out, but also because I needed a hot second just get a grip.

“The milkshake.” I said with a little more conviction. “You usually get strawberry.” I decided not to ask him this time and just point it out. And, apparently, it was the right move. Calum smiled gently and it took everything I had in me not to melt at how much I missed that.

“You remembered.” He said, impressed.

I shrugged, stealing a glance over to the counter across the way where Rocky was still eyeing us up as she made our drinks painfully slowly. I watched as she made a face before turning her back to us, giving Calum and I what little privacy she was willing to give us. My face flushed pink and for a moment it was almost like Polly was still here.

When I turned back to Calum he looked, not exactly troubled but like he was waiting for me to be the one to mention the elephant in the room. I gave a small sigh because even I knew that it was the right thing to do. I didn’t want it to be, but there was rarely a time in my life where I got what I wanted anyway so I bit the bullet and did what I could to gather some kind of sentence that resembled every last thought I’d had for the past few weeks.

“Listen, Calum,” I breathed out, and Calum perked up at the sound of his name like he’d missed the way I said it or something so equally as cliché that it belonged in a Nicholas Sparks novel. “I want… no, I need to apologise.”

“You were upset, Dallas,” Calum was already trying to defend me and I wish I surprised by that but I just wasn’t. “All of the things you said… I don’t blame you for that.”

“You should blame me for that.” I half-scoffed. “I said some shitty things to you, Cal. But that’s not what I’m apologising for.”

“It’s not?” He asked and I shook my head.

“No.” I confirmed. “No, I… I pushed you away. And not even just a little, like, I tried to throw you out of my life. And I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry I am for that.”

Calum’s smile that he gave was warm and understand and everything I didn’t deserve after what I’d put him through. And it made my bottom lip quiver, but I refused to sob. Because I was better than that.

“D, you don’t have to be sorry.” He said softly, his hands finding the surface of the table like he was thinking about reaching for me but wasn’t too sure if he should just yet. “I get it, it was a crazy time –”

“I do need to be sorry, Calum.” I interjected a little more aggressively than I had intended, but I think the desperation was clear in the way that my voice jumped an octave half way through the sentence. “I’ve spent the last three years stuck inside my own head and too debilitated by my own fear to see that when things went wrong in my life, it was my own fault. I convinced myself that I was no good at anything so it couldn’t possibly have been my fault that things blew up. You were right, Cal. I was full of shit. And you were only trying to help me through it but I… I pushed you away. And I’m… I’m so sorry for that.”

Usually this was the moment that Calum would get up and sit next to me, hold me close and tell me that it was going to be okay and that he was going to stick by me anyway. But he didn’t. He just looked at me a little sadly, patiently waiting for me to go one. Because he knew I wasn’t even close to done.

“You scare me.” I felt myself saying, and I didn’t even mean to but it tasted like the truth in my mouth. Calum’s eyes widened in confusion, though he didn’t look hurt.

“What?” He almost chuckled. “How? Why?”

I laughed now, though it was more of a reflex.

“Because!” I said dumbly. “You… you make me feel like there’s nothing wrong with me. Like I’m not a complete mess.”

“But you’re not,” He said, eyes narrowing at me slightly as if his statement was supposed to be obvious. “You’re, like, a regular mess. A standard, average mess for our age group in the twenty-first century.”

Brown eyes glistened through a cheeky grin and I laughed, though there were tears on my cheeks. That being said, I wasn’t upset. I wasn’t actually sure I could identify the emotion that I was feeling, all I knew was that there was something liberating about being able to talk to Calum again.

“It’s just that, for a while there…” I gave a small sigh, my gaze dropping. “Being a mess was all I knew how to be. And when you came along and made me feel normal… I didn’t know how to be that. How to be… what you wanted.”

When I looked up again, Calum was getting up and sliding himself into my side of the booth to sit next to me, one arm sneaking around my shoulders as he smiled gently.

“It’s okay, D.” He said softly. “You’re already everything I wanted, and you don’t need to try so hard to be perfect. Because you are so, so great.”

A smile slowly finding its way across my lips, warmth spreading through my chest so much it felt like I might burst. I could feel the butterflies in my stomach fluttering with excitement, Calum’s lips inching closer and closer to mine.

Somehow this moment in time was simultaneously fondly familiar yet excitingly new all at once. It was kind of like living in a dream, only one of those lucid ones where you’re fully aware of your surroundings and have the power to change it.

That’s what it felt like, having Calum’s lips press against mine again. It felt powerful.

“Aw, well would you look at that.” Rocky’s voice was followed by two relatively loud thuds on the table, scaring the living daylights out of me. “As my Nonna would say; l’amore vince sempre.”

The girl pushed two milkshakes towards us, one strawberry and one chocolate. My cheeks were still flushing a brilliant red as I melted into the seat yet again, Calum rolling his eyes but still chuckling as he reached for the drinks.

“Always one for subtlety, Rock.” He sighed before looking back at me with glimmering brown eyes.

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ganymedesclock · 6 years

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So I got into a conversation with a bunch of other Voltron fans and we came up with pokemon for Team Voltron, Team Sincline, Zarkon, Haggar, and the original paladins. Kept it to two per person for sanity’s sake.

Lance: Primarina & Milotic (shiny)

Both feebas and popplio got kinda dumped on (feebas in-universe, popplio before their other evolutions were revealed) and the shiny milotic, I will not lie, is inspired straight from a comic that I thought did a good job of capturing Lance as a person. One of my friends aired the idea of Lance being involved in pokemon contests.

You bet your butt they’re the best-groomed pokes you have ever laid your eyes on. Knock knock the gorgeous squad has arrived.

(Honorable mention: a gyrados that Lance evolved himself, because he’s that kinda supportive person who’d stick it out with a magikarp)

Keith: Talonflame & Absol

Absol would probably be his signature pokemon even if it’s not his “type”- it’s a prophet able to predict danger, but also described as reclusive and misunderstood since it wants to protect people but is often blamed for misfortune- much like Keith internalizes a lot of his isolation as being his own fault.

Talonflame is light, portable, and can explore wide open places scouting around, suitable for Keith’s love of the outdoors. Also, giving Keith a part flying type reflects a bit of his relationship with Shiro, the Sky Paladin- maybe that Fletchling was a gift?

Shiro: Skarmory & Mightyena

As both the Paladin of the Sky and someone who is marked in part by his incredible determination and resilience in the face of adversity, Skarmory’s steel/flying type makes perfect sense, as well as being a real cool pokemon for a real cool guy.

Mightyena fits with his colors, but more with his ideals, as a pack hunter with a powerful sense of loyalty- Shiro is someone very conscious and empathetic to the team. And pairing Shiro with a dark type (especially one that in the gen it was introduced, was the staple of the villain teams) reflects the other side of his determination- that he isn’t afraid to act in the guise of a “bad guy” to protect said team. He also tends to try and see the good in shady-seeming allies, like his sincerity towards Rolo and Ulaz- and even a bit of his connection with Keith.

Pidge: Rotom & Phantump

Rotom is a shoe-in given Pidge’s technological focus, especially if we’re assuming they’d have a device like the Rotomdex that lets them communicate with Pidge- a level of connection with technology and pokemon alike that’s not always common or intuitive.

Phantump, out of all of the potential grass types, stuck out to me because Phantumps are the spirits of lost children- and while Pidge’s family was taken from her more than she was from them, I think it’s something she’d relate to as a lost child herself, feeling a little lonely and bereft. Phantump’s fearsome evolution also suggests towards how Pidge is growing up and turning very dangerous to cross- she’s not going to let people just walk all over her family. So- lonely child, turning fearsome guardian of the forest. “Haxus is dead and you’re next.”

(Honorable mention: Porygon because Pidge is an enthusiast of classic sixteen-bit graphics after all)

Hunk: Aggron & Bastiodon

Certain ‘dex entries describe Aggron as a creature that landscapes its territory by planting trees, suggesting a nurturing side to what is also a highly dangerous steel-coated dinosaur.

That combined with Bastiodon being a fossil pokemon suggesting Hunk would have had to have nursed it back to life, I think both do a good job reflecting both Hunk’s formidable combat capabilities and the warm, nurturing way he relates to his allies. He’s a stone wall that you’re not going to shove around very easily. I’d imagine both of his pokemon as very gentle-tempered creatures, much like Hunk himself, but not to be crossed.

Allura: Audino & Xerneas

When Allura’s powers seem overwhelmingly geared to fortify and renew, it stands to reason she seems both divinely inspired and ludicrously powerful- hence pairing her with the life-focused legendary Xerneas.

Audino is a healer, and capable of mega-evolution- like Allura, a creature more concerned with preservation but utterly unafraid to get in there and take some names.

Coran: Kricketune & Probopass

Mustache, he’s full of sass, his team can still kick your ass.

No, really, Probopass’s rock/steel typing is a nice nod to Coran’s resilience of spirit and his technical stripes and giving him a couple of goofy-looking yet still genuinely strong pokemon is right up Coran’s alley.

Zarkon: Hydregion & Tyranitar

Hydregion is a massive, fearsome, and highly aggressive dragon type. The shape of its wings has a passing resemblance to the wing spokes on Zarkon’s armor. It also evolves from the well-meaning-if-bitey Deino, getting increasingly dangerous through its second and then final evolution- which nicely reflects how Zarkon was a prickly elitist to start but pretty much got worse and worse.

It and Tyranitar are both pseudo-legendaries and Tyranitar can mega-evolve, reflecting nicely that Zarkon is both a very scary person to cross and that he’s probably not really the type for a lot of real dedicated pokemon strategy as much as brutalizing would-be enemies with devastating force.

Haggar: Nihilego & Darkrai

Yveltal is not necessarily part of her actual fighting team, but she totally uses it as part of the Komar- which would possibly imply in this AU, Yveltal is rescued and taken into custody by the Blade of Marmora.

As far as the two she does use- while Haggar’s perfectly capable of leveling people in direct combat, she much prefers to fight like a living nightmare. Nihilego being able to control others, as well as its extradimensional nature as an Ultra Beast nicely reflect Haggar’s history as a scientist who researched other realities and was fascinated by the rift creature- heck, in this AU Nihilego may be one of the rift creatures that stuck around.

And Darkrai is a literal master of nightmares. Haggar’s propensity to root around in and manipulate others by using fear and deception is nicely represented here.

Lotor: Sylveon (shiny) & Silvally

Lotor’s keen sense of what it means to inspire true loyalty means he’d pick his team out of creatures he’d have a very intimate bond with- so he has two pokemon that only evolve with high friendship. That Silvally’s type-switching ability is massively effective with the sort of study-opponent-and-then-hit-them-precisely-where-it-hurts strategy Lotor uses would probably just be icing on the cake.

And, yeah, Silvally (or rather, Type:Null) totally exists in the first place in this AU because thanks, Haggar.

Sylveon being a pure fairy type, would have obvious type advantages to both Zarkon’s hydregion and Haggar’s darkrai- but also, as an empathetic pokemon highly loyal to its trainer, I imagine it’s done a lot to help him keep his head together. And its not-so-kindly Sun and Moon pokedex entries would mean that, as a clever and deceptive predator, it could more than pull its weight as his ally.

Narti: Liepard & Hypno

Narti’s manipulation appears to read much more like sleepwalking than nightmares- the host’s amnesia and trancelike calm, for example, so using a Hypno as her pokemon works just fine.

You might wonder how exactly Kova feels about the liepard, to which, I reply: Kova is the Liepard. In this AU, Narti’s connection with Kova would probably extend to her entire team, allowing her to direct and coordinate with her pokemon instantaneously.

Ezor: Kecleon & Salazzle

Kecleon being able to pull a disappearing act itself means that she could carry at least half of her team covertly with her while sneaking around, and Salazzle, being a poison type, also lends well to Ezor’s inclinations as an assassin-like ambush fighter.

Also, with Ezor being pretty reptilian herself, I can see her favoring similar pokemon.

Zethrid: Incineroar & Pangoro

This started purely because I saw multiple people say that Keith should have a Litten because fiery darkness cat, in complete ignorance of the fact that Litten grows up to be a wrestler tiger, which is the exact opposite of a thing Keith would be cool with. Zethrid, though.

She probably trains her pokemon by personally sparring against them.

Acxa: Gallade & Houndoom

Acxa’s knightly sense of honor and her fierce loyalty reflect well in both Gallade and Houndoom, given the latter’s a pack hunter. Also given her various meaningful clashes with Keith, her Houndoom could probably meet his Absol blow for blow.

Both her pokemon, like Acxa herself, are light on their feet and agile attackers.

Alfor: Solgaleo & Pyroar

You were probably expecting to see Solgaleo a lot higher on this list, but I wanted to give Allura and Haggar opposing legendaries and someone rightfully pointed out Lunaala doesn’t deserve that.

Also, as the original paladin of the Red Lion, and the original architect of Voltron, he’s the Fiery Lions guy.

Blaytz: Garchomp & Mantine

I won’t lie to you this is 99% because Blaytz is a shark-manta man, but, he’d be pretty limited to water types since he appears to hail from an oceanic planet himself.

I imagine him cruising around on Mantine’s back in more peaceful times.

Trigel: Tsarina & Cradily

Unlike Hunk, I imagine Trigel having a fossil pokemon because she was actually alive at the same time they were.

Tsarina is mostly there because as little as we saw of Trigel, it definitely seems like she had an edge to her and could veer harsh with her joking around.

Gyrgan: Chesnaught & Camerupt

Big, powerful tanks- a fighting type considering Gyrgan was seemingly an unarmed brawler when we see him and the other original paladins rescuing Alfor, and Camerupt because of the very camel-like beasts of burden we see in our brief glimpse of Rygnirath.

#voltron legendary defender #vld #Pokemon #Voltron pokes #Keith #Shiro #Lance #Pidge #Hunk #Allura #Coran #Zarkon #Haggar #Lotor #Narti #Acxa #Ezor #Zethrid #Gyrgan #Alfor #Trigel #Blaytz #readmore

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ask-fraustria · 7 years

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headcanon collection;

i realised i don't have a lot of information or headcanon about my dear princess on this blog, so i put together a random list! all under the cut, and please note some of it is NSFW! if you’d ever like to ask me about my headcanon, send me an ask any time!

physical appearance;

if i had to describe her succinctly, i'd say she looks a bit like a european movie star circa 1930s, with her dark hair, sharp eyebrows, intense eyes and full lips. she's an old-fashioned beauty.

her eyes could be described as blue, but they're an unusual shade that doesn't really occur in ordinary humans, kind of violet-tinted. i usually compare them to lavender, forget-me-nots, cornflowers, hydrangeas etc.

she wears makeup, but being old-fashioned (like, 1800s old-fashioned), her main products are pale face powder, rosy blush (which she still calls rouge, or the german equivalent thereof), mascara, and maybe a little black kohl. the one thing she shakes it up with is lipstick, she has a lot of colours, from bright red to dark plum to soft peach. for events she'll break out a more complete routine, shiny eyeshadow and such, but she usually looks similar day to day.

she grows and paints her fingernails but files them down after a while so they don't disrupt her when she plays instruments. i think her skill level is high enough after centuries that it's not the bother it might be to a human, though- at least on piano.

she has moles everywhere. just the one on her face, but quite a few scattered all over her body. i forget where i place them all, but i usually put one near her collar bone, a few in her cleavage or over her breasts, some on her hips or near her belly button, near her wrists or the heel of her hand, her elbows, and scattered over her thighs and back. she even has some super secret...intimate ones?! she doesn't really have freckles, though.

for someone with dark hair and light skin, she's not especially cursed with body hair, though since she covers up often, she also isn't necessarily vigilant about removing it all the time. even if she's smooth everywhere else, one particular...place is generally...bushy. she feels naked without it...more naked. her eyebrows are pretty strong but very nicely arched.

she's quite short, 5'5'' at most. her legs are on the longer side.

she has a petite frame, but she carries a certain amount of pudge on it. she's pear-shaped with an impressive posterior, hips and thighs, a more slender waist but a little chubby around the midsection, and a soft, full bosom, but not really bigger than average.

clothing;

her wardrobe is fairly extensive. a lot of her clothes are vintage, since she takes very good care of them, but they can't last forever, so she does update. she especially likes other people to take her shopping.

that said, she sort of stopped modernising her style in the 1960s or so. fortunately, a lot of the old styles she likes have become enduring trends. she manages to make most of her fairly modest, old-fashioned outfits look rather stylish.

a big part of style is cut, though. she's not walking around in shapeless long skirts and jackets like an elderly lady. she knows tailoring and with her generous figure, a modest outfit is still appealing.

and she's not entirely opposed to sex appeal. she reserves it mostly for evening gowns and so on, but some of her dresses are quite tight, flashing cleavage or leg- not both, though, heaven forbid! well...maybe for a special occasion.

she's fond of business dress or business casual at least. she doesn't wear very casual clothes. she doesn't even wear trousers if she can at all avoid it. she's very much a skirt/dress person.

to bed, she either wears nothing, some kind of babydoll or negligee, or if it's cold, an old-fashioned long thermal nightgown. she has commandeered someone else's shirt or pyjamas on occasion...

she likes underwear, it's like her passion or something. she has an extensive collection of frilly things and she still likes a really nice corset and a pair of stockings. but you never saw any battered granny panties.

personality;

at first blush, she comes off either uptight and cold, or elegant and delicate. neither of those is exactly wrong, but her truest self is...eccentric.

she's highly critical, in an incredibly annoying, persnickety way that can just drive a person mad. but she's rather easily placated, or distracted.

her priorities are often skewed towards small details. everyone else might be running around in crisis, but she'll be complaining that the coffee is bad.

on the other hand, she often cuts through the nonsense of other people's situations and gets right to the point, so she's not a bad person to ask for advice. it's just that she might go off on a tangent and advise something...strange. why not get married? why not crash a battleship into it?

she's far from quiet, much more social and talkative than first appearances would suggest. it's just that most of that talking is complaining, or droning on about something no one else cares about. that said, engage her, and she's a witty conversationalist.

she has a wider circle of friends than even she realises. sure, most of them have been enemies too...but as a person, despite some annoying traits, she's quite charismatic and manages to be on good terms with a lot of people.

she's dominant overall in virtually every aspect of her life- she's even somewhat bold and passive-aggressive with her bosses. it's a prim, uppity sort of dominance, of course. things tend to go her way and if they don't, she'll pout. that said, she's amiable enough to let someone else lead if she's kept happy.

in the past, she was more apt to give a foolish boss a stern talking to, but she cooperates more peacefully nowadays.

sex and relationships;

she just plain prefers to be in a relationship. she won't necessarily admit it, but it's true.

even though she knows it would be a bad idea, a part of her would still like to marry again.

i won't call her exactly monogamous...but close to it, for a nation. she has her own weird sense of fidelity. she's a bit jealous, but not overly so.

on the other hand, she has had more lovers in her lifetime than the average nation, and she's sentimental. she seems to retain a nostalgic feeling about several of them.

on that note, she’s interested in both men and women with no specific preference in that way, but she does prefer her partner to be more “masculine” (not difficult).

she likes the other party to do any heavy lifting in the relationship- literally and metaphorically- but she likes to be in control, in a quiet (or not so quiet) sort of way. sexually, i'd describe her as mentally dominant and physically...lazy.

princess in the streets. also a princess in the sheets (don't touch her she's royalty). but you need to understand the subtle difference in uses of the word 'princess'... she usually won't allow PDA outside of a peck or gentle arm contact, but she's quite affectionate in private, though she likes the other person to initiate.

she has a reasonably high sex drive and enjoys it a lot, she's just high-maintenance in the way she goes about it. she likes to be given a lot of attention and care- on her terms.

in bed, she's cuddly to the point of being clingy. she's actually a pain in the ass when she's asleep, wriggling around and clamping on like a boa constrictor, but if you squeeze her tight, she might settle down. by herself, she's been known to fall out of bed!

as far as BDSM goes, she mostly likes impact play and discipline. she'll give out spankings and canings like a professional. but aside from that, she prefers lower-effort enjoyment, leading her to usually lie back and relax, so to speak. she'll even take a spanking when the mood is right (she has a perfect backside for it).

there was a point when she was young and just reaching adulthood that she really had an appetite, and had a number of flirtations, shall we say. around that time she got a lot of...fresh air and grass stains, and she has a lingering affection for risky locations. of course she's too responsible now to give in to that. honest.

misc;

she likes jewellery. she wears a plain cross fairly often, her favourite earring type is large studs, and she's in the habit of wearing a ring, just...because. but with different outfits, she pairs different pieces, often slightly ostentatious jewelled things. she likes rhinestones (like Swarovski), of course.

she officially gave up smoking, but she unofficially keeps cigarettes in her cookie jar and her bedside drawer. she has novelty lighters in the shape of violins and she prefers to use a long cigarette holder. unofficially. don't tell Germany.

can't wear heels higher than an inch or two. she's clumsy enough as it is. mornings are the absolute worst. she will fall over. no shoes necessary.

speaking of, she doesn't really care to get up before lunch. no one seems to want to accommodate that preference.

she likes a big lunch or brunch cooked at home and haute cuisine eaten out in the evening. she's really a gourmet, dessert always being her priority.

she's fond of animals, though not their mess. she likes cats, most dogs but especially lapdogs, pretty birds, squirrels (honestly) and most soft delicate things, like calves and fawns.

she's not the best pet owner, though, she spoils animals. she only has one cat at the moment. i would personally like it to be a Himalayan or a Ragdoll (for the colouration), but i can also see it being a Turkish Angora.

she carries a kind of big handbag with too many things in it. you never know what you might need.

she only cuts her hair to keep it manageable and styled, it's rather long and always has been. it's nice, thick, shiny hair.

a heavy sleeper despite consuming a troubling amount of caffeine and sugar. her biology is a mystery.

she has a very lovely speaking voice, and quite a lovely singing voice, too, if you're honoured enough to hear it. genuine laughter from her is incredibly rare, but when she does, it sounds like, as someone put it, 'a thousand Christmas bells'.

but when she's screechy yelling at you it's terrible.

#ooc #headcanon #nyo!austria

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