#i was mostly struggling on colors cuz the scene where he does have them there are lights which alter them a bit

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket SE02. Ep 14

This is a build up: to the teacher conference & catching up with the aftermath of the beach after hatori/mayu & student council break. Tohru has 5% of of this ep! & not the usual ‘moma tohru/sohma’s savior tohru/ happy tohru/ healing tohru”. NO!! It’s real person with real issues tohru!!! scared lonely teenage tohru!!! celebrating the crumbs thrown to me!!!!!!! XD.

(1) Haru!!! The lighter version of tohru’s kindness:

I was right!! haru was there for yuki!! He was 13/14 years old when he asked shigure to take yuki, putting himself in danger by sneaking few moments to sit with yuki whenever he can. As a kid, he’s done than all the adults. His support comes from genuine concern over yuki. Haru is a lighter & healthier version of tohru’s kindness. He supports yuki & can get in danger but he’s not neglecting himself. he faced his demons early on as a kid & got over his hate which was caused by the adult’s mockery of him. He learned to love/accept himself & found love with rin, he didn’t selflessly sacrifice anything despite her attempts to leave him. He showed selfless kindness towards yuki, kisa, & rin. He still can turn dark but this is part of him being imperfect. Moreover, haru didn’t hold on to yuki, imposing his guidance & his support. he stands in the near distance. I’ll support you but you need to go search for your path yourself. He also understands that yuki can’t do like him & stay around helping haru in his issues with rin cuz (a) romantic issues are mostly exclusive to the ppl involved & interference may cause harm, (b) yuki needs to focus on himself now & not escape into other ppl’s issues like tohru does. He needs to face his future & haru is there to tell him so. Again the writer is telling us yuki will do/choose right even in moments of doubt cuz ppl will be there to support him. This ep, it’s haru ushering him into focusing on his path & resisting the need to escape the pressure. we’ll see others step in for yuki until he can stand on his feet. 

(2) Tohru!!! The abandoned/lonely teenager:

Her only loving relative might soon leave, he’s old & sick. Her mom wasn’t sick nor old. Yet, she left. Tohru’s fear of abandonment intensifies. From the moment she got the phone call, her face screams “Don’t leave me”. teacher conference usually involves parents. It’s supposed to be her mom that’s attending with her. it’s her mom’s dream to get into high school & she would’ve proudly visit the teacher to talk abt tohru’s future. except this time tohru goes with a stranger..not even her grandfather. Shigure genuinely cares for tohru, despite the ulterior motive of seeing Mayu. but he’s still a stranger who doesn’t know her or her future plans. Shigure’ll be present physically with her but she’s all on her own. Kyo saw that when he entered the house. He saw her pain despite the cheerful smile. Guess whose fault that kyoko isn’t here now? kyo. Guess who’s guiltily went to his room & stood there in the dark? kyo. Guess who couldn’t face tohru the next day? kyo.

-”why do they both have to pass away, I want to ge see them”!! Tohru begs her grandfather to stay with her, him suddenly dozing off caused her anxiety attack, it has been building inside her since hiro’s words. “ i want to see him” kyoko said!!! & oh she ended up really going to him..“its okay” it isn’t. “always together” they aren’t. tohru flashback is clearer. Kyoko abandoned tohru somehow around her father’ funeral. For some reason the door is locked literally & metaphorically between tohru & the sense of safety & being wanted!!. It’s too much for her!!. she” do anything, say anything, just don’t TAKE mom away!” alas~ Her mask cracks. Her legs fail. she can’t stand. she falls. she breaks. she’s alone. kyo’s here with her. Present physically & emotionally. Tohru’s angel. Except he’s real. if she reaches out, he won’t disappear. He’s not TAKEN from her (not yet). Tohru smiles genuinely without putting her mask back on. kyo, unlike haru, can’t hug tohru becuz of the curse. He uses head pats instead. lovingly, kindly & tenderly patting her head. “it’s normal to be worried when a relative is ill”, “don’t push yourself” is that like kyo’s 5th advice to tohru now?. “do you plan to sit here forever” carries more than the literal meaning, along with him actually holding her arm & pulling her up! followed by teasing her to ease her back into normality. Now it’s really “okay” for tohru cuz someone who cares is really here with her. present by body & soul. kyo teasing her shifted her focus from painful past into a flirty chat & musings in Arisa’s expense. It’s similar to when tohru helped yuki with his first encounter with akito in school by suggesting playing to cast away the fears. except this time someone is doing this for tohru!!Her struggles are seen despite the mask. she’s not a lonely teenager, she is receiving an emotional well-needed help. however...this is but the tip of the iceberg. tohru hasn’t opened her lid yet. she should or she’ll break down soon..

-The faulty/over usage of the Voice-Over technique:

Usually this tool is used by writers to send messages they believe is hard to catch for readers/viewers or for foreshadowing. It’s done mostly when (a) a character is watching a scene unfold in front of them & they comment internally, or (b) they are narrating a scene/story. However, that’s not the case in this ep. (I’m not talking abt internal monologue, that’s a different case & is totally suitable when character talks abt themselves when the scene only show them & doesn’t switch into a different place entirely). This ep is weirdly stuffed with voice-overs by kagura, yuki, haru & shigure done over multiple scenes & it was poorly done (in my personal opinion) as it caused confusion in the episode’s flow, especially the kagura’s part. Manga/still pictures are different from anime/moving pictures, therefore manga writers feel the need to insert lines said by this or that over another scene to connect what the still image might fail to express. Moreover writers publish monthly & there might be periods of hiatus, so they need to remind readers of certain themes. Anime/shows are totally different medium. The images moves with expressive facials expressions, colors, characters voices, & music to convey a message. How can you have all that & cause confusion? or over saturate a single ep with one tool?

-when kagura's voice is over kyo’s image in school, it shows kyo looking at tohru sadly. i really was confused on why kyo is still sad abt kagura, I didn’t notice tohru walking alone at first, then kyo went home before changing his mind. I kept thinking he’s gone to kagura!! or that he’ll go to Akito cuz kagura’s words expressed guilt?? or he changed his mind & would confess to tohru cuz of kagura’s words of illogical love?? when he didn’t tell tohru where was he heading for the longest time I was confused that he’s hiding sth!! it wasn’t until I watched the ep twice & omitted kagura’s part that I got it!! Why didn’t the show let us hear kyo’s thoughts directly instead of kagura’s confusing voice over?? it’s not like he’ll tell us kyoko’s promise? he’ll express what we already know! that he’s struggling to either let go of tohru or be there for her... why is that hard to express to viewers using kyo? If kyo’s thoughts MUST be blocked, then why NOT use the most effect method for shows/ moving pictures which is Show-Not-Tell???. They’re trying to do that but felt the need to insert kagura’s thoughts over to help us understand??? shame how the result is total confusion & loss of impactful scene for tohru/kyo unless you watch it twice to analyze. It was in my 2nd watch with omitting kagura’s scene that I understood why kyo was off/sad & where was he headed. Very poorly done.

-Yuki’s/Shigure’s/haru’s voice-over didn’t cause confusion but was excessively done in a single ep, Moreover, it carries the feeling of the shows flaw: the need to guide viewers’ thoughts to the door step in certain scenes or leave them without anything in other scenes. Again I’m not talking abt the monologues, I’m talking abt the images of other characters they showed over the voice when others are in discussion. It felt too on the nose for me this time.

Side Notes:

There are some moments in this show, more than other shows, where I feel like I’m reading more than watching or hearing audio book over still images, which is shame since the story itself is superb & the anime has all the tools it needs to express all themes visually. It also adds to the flaw of “imbalanced expression” that this show suffers from sometimes.

 Rin & haru relationship..wow.. I’ll hold on talking abt them until I see more. Haru is a dear fave of mine. I’m sure Rin worth the wait.

Yuki’s Japanese VA is awesome! he’s one of my top 5 VAs in furuba. 

I’m in love with tohru’s crumbs. Feed me more, show! plz.

#Fruits Basket #Anime Only #confused paper #tohru honda #precious tohru #SE02

[threadsketchier]

How do you think Luke handles his pain/trauma. I think lots of the fandom analyzes Leia and how she handles her trauma in the aftermath of alderan, but I don’t see many people discuss Luke

I could be totally wrong, but I think it might be because Leia’s anger in ESB is a clear sign, or at least strong evidence, of her underlying traumatic issues.  Luke is depicted as levelheaded (overall, his bursts of temper aren’t that outrageous) and still very much a sunny person up until the end of ESB, and then we jump to him being angsty in ROTJ, but it’s rather lowkey and kinda Zen other than his ragesplosion at Vader.  Luke is very much not a stereotype of toxic masculinity and he’s allowed to be openly emotional in the films, but because he seems to take most things in stride - we didn’t even see him cry at the deaths of his aunt and uncle or Obi-Wan, because Lucas wanted a more ambiguous reaction for the audience to project themselves onto - and Leia wasn’t given onscreen time to process or grieve the genocide of her planet and people, that may have led to fandom choosing to focus more on her struggle.  And that’s a good thing, that Leia gets that exploration; her character deserves it, that was an unspeakable ordeal to go through, and the psychological aspects of female characters are too often sidelined, diminished, or trope-ified.

In fic there’s been numerous and sundry ways that Luke is portrayed as handling his personal pain, but just like Leia and Han, it’s largely fandom projection because Star Wars really isn’t about the characters having time to breathe and show how badly they’re affected and how they’re coping.  (At least the OT wasn’t.)  The most we got to see was Luke going nearly catatonic at the climax of ESB.

Now that I think about it, it’s interesting that both Luke and Leia tend toward the same habit of choosing to focus on others rather than themselves when they’re hurting - Leia moreso, but it’s telling that in a deleted scene from ESB where Leia is tending to Luke’s injuries, the moment opens with Luke asking about Han and the last thing he says is, “Oh...poor Han,” as he lies there dismembered, beat to hell, and freshly traumatized from being told his dad’s murderer actually IS his dad.  In the closing scene, Luke’s focused on seeing Lando and Chewie off while 2-1B is putting the finishing touches on his prosthetic hand, and instead of brooding he immediately walks over to give Leia comfort and support.

I guess what I’m trying to say is: going by the films, I think Luke internalizes and pushes aside the majority of his pain in favor of moving forward to help others and fight for his cause.  He does brood and angst over things, but it doesn’t last long before he shoves himself on to the next hurdle.  The homestead’s razed and his guardians are brutally murdered?  Goes back to Obi-Wan and tells him he wants to take off and become a Jedi.  Obi-Wan gets ganked?  He helps Han shoot up TIE fighters and then sits in the Rebel starfighter conference hearing about how to take down the Death Star.  His childhood best friend gets vaped?  Stays on course and blows up said Death Star.  Almost gets eaten by a wampa and nearly freezes to death?  Gets his thawed-out butt in a snowspeeder, ‘cuz he’s Rogue Leader.  New Rebel base and most of his pilots get toasted?  Fuckin’ takes out an AT-AT by himself.  You get the drift.

One way his pain does manifest is in his anger and impatience in ESB - he’s obsessed with vengeance on his father’s killer and at that point believes he needs to become a Jedi to accomplish that, and it’s that rage against Vader, the man who stole his father from him, that makes him draw his lightsaber immediately against the vision of Vader under the tree.  It’s the same when he witnessed Beru and Owen’s corpses - murderous anger is writ plain on his face, a silent oath to himself to fight the Empire to avenge them.  Pain and loss propel Luke forward to do something to remedy those wounds, much like his sister.  The major difference we see between them is the doubt that colors everything for him in ROTJ.  His pain is now weighing him down with an immensely heavy burden of sadness and responsibility, having to reconcile Vader as Anakin Skywalker and the solitude of being the last Jedi.  He’s no longer the bright, effusive boy we saw in the previous films.  His maturity has come at a steep cost.

But in general, without getting into specific headcanons or scenarios for fics that hit all our angst buttons, I think Luke mostly shelves his pain and/or uses it as fuel to keep going for the sake of everyone else around him.  On the rare occasions we see him wallowing in it, it’s brief and then he’s bootstrapping himself again.  ROTJ ends with his father’s armor on a funeral pyre and Luke grieving at the sight, but just a short while later he’s back with his friends at the village and hugging it out and smiling it up with all the others.  Even before that, we finally see him weep over his father’s body, but minutes later he’s blasting his way out of the Death Star with a calm look of determination, relief, and contentment.  TL;DR, Luke is really fucking resilient.

#my meta #star wars #luke skywalker #trauma cw #please feel free to add thoughts this is barely scratching the surface

[puppypaw-wc]

Mothpool AU Rambles - Po3

I made some Mothpool hypokits.

Quailwing (named after Mothwing and equivalent to Jay) is a dilute chocolate mackerel tabby tom with blind blue eyes (blue is inherited from Mothwing).

Russetleaf (named after Leafpool and equivalent to Holly) is a chocolate and red mackerel torbie she-cat with green eyes (green is inherited from Leafpool who carried the gene from her parents... she’s also a demigirl cuz I said so).

Lynxcloud (equivalent to Lionblaze) is a fluffy reddish-orange mackerel tabby tom with amber eyes (inherited from Leafpool).

I got the genetics from a genetic generator (I changed them a bit though...) so they should be accurate.

Excuse me as I rant about an AU idea I had-

So basically.

Leafpool (at the time Leafpaw) ends up getting really close to Mothwing while Squilf is out and about.

Mothwing feels comfortable telling her that she’s trans and just didn’t want to tell anyone outside of RiverClan, because she already knew she was by the time she was apprenticed so why would anyone care? Plus she didn’t want to get discriminated against even though at this rate the Clans are used to same sex couples (Firestar and Graystripe are a thing, Sandstorm’s also there) and trans cats (Firestar, Sandstorm, probably a lot of others)...

Anyways, most of TNP goes the same, but then Leafpool ends up having kits with Mothwing instead... Mothwing is surprised to hear this, but the two of them, Squirrelflight and Ferncloud (who Leafpool decides should nurse the kits... Mothwing has other thoughts though) go to have the kits away from the Clans.

The first born is a chocolate she-kit (you’ll see...). Before even seeing his eyes or anything Leafpool knows that she should be named Quailkit, so she is.

Next is a chocolate and red mackerel torbie she-kit. Mothwing names this one Russetkit, having heard of ShadowClan’s deputy and her friendship with her mother Sasha.

Lastly is a fluffy red she-kit (they trans boiiiiiiiiiiii). While Leafpool wants to name her Mothkit, Mothwing advises against it and Squirrelflight decides to name her Lynxkit.

When it comes time to go home though, Lynxkit has established a bond with Mothwing, who already wanted at least one of the kits to come to RiverClan. Leafpool bids her daughter and Mothwing farewell and brings Quailkit and Russetkit to ThunderClan.

Quailkit soon decides that he/him pronouns fit him better after getting to know his grandfather Firestar, and in RiverClan Lynxkit does the same upon getting to know Mothwing, who he has a close bond with, better.

The only cats who know the truth in RiverClan are Leopardstar, Willowpaw and Mothwing, while in ThunderClan many more know the truth - Squirrelflight, Brambleclaw (vaguely;he knows the Three aren’t his and Squilf’s kits but doesn’t know who they are), Firestar, Sandstorm and the nursery permaqueens.

The Three get apprenticed. Russetpaw is excited to be a medicine cat apprentice, while her brother Quailpaw is determined to become a warrior and overcome his disability. Meanwhile in RiverClan, Lynxpaw is excited to become a warrior, despite his crush on Willowpaw slowing his progress down a bit.

Now here, Quailpaw and Russetpaw don’t switch roles. While Russetpaw does still struggle with herb meanings and such, Leafpool gives her ways to remember them, through little rhymes or short songs. Quailpaw gets training in his dreams from Yellowfang, Spottedleaf and Cinderpelt (though Cinder’s presence is weaker due to her also being by Cinderpaw’s side as a guardian angel/imaginary friend to her, more on that later), learning how to hunt through both sight and smell.

Eventually Russetpaw goes to RiverClan to make sure everything’s okay, before getting stuck due to Twoleg doing... I don’t know what they were doing during Dark River. During her time in RiverClan she bonds with both Lynxpaw and Willowpaw, the latter of whom she was already close to due to medicine cat meetings.

Now, in the canon books, Lionpaw meets with Heatherpaw in the tunnels. Here, however, instead we have Quailpaw meeting with Minnowpaw... I’m not sure where. Perhaps they were exploring ThunderClan territory and accidentally overstepped the borders, Quailpaw falling into the tunnels and them LARPing there? Anyways, both want to be warriors despite both having short fuses. Unlike in the canon books where after saving the WindClan kits Lionpaw and Heatherpaw’s friendship fades away, Quailpaw and Minnowpaw keep being friends, talking at Gatherings and occasionally asking Russetpaw, Willowpaw, Leafpool or Mothwing to tell them something or give them something when they come over to help. The kits they save here are Sneezekit and Mallowkit.

And as in the canon books, Lynxpaw trains in the Dark Forest. Tigerstar mentoring him honestly makes sense to me - there’s probably been several leaders named Tigerstar who have been colored like him given Tigerheart. Anyways, Tigerstar tells him he just wants to help him hone in on his powers. Of course, he wants to, so he trains in the Dark Forest.

Oh, also Russetpaw does have a power! At first Quailpaw tells her about his power and she pretends to be the one with it. However, after a bit, Leafpool figures out the facade and confronts Quailpaw about it. Russetpaw’s power takes longer to manifest, but she does have it, and it’s getting cats to tell the truth, basically hypnotizing them. She uses it a bit before she runs away into the tunnels to get cats to confess to breaking the warrior code, but after the reveal she decides that maybe she shouldn’t do that and instead uses it to figure out who’s training in the Dark Forest.

Anyways, onto Outcast!

Due to Brook and Stormfur formerly taking refuge in RiverClan, Leopardstar decides that one of their cats should go to the mountains as well alongside Crowfeather, Breezepaw, Squirrelflight, Tawnypelt, Quailpaw, Russetpaw and Brambleclaw. Lynxpaw volunteers, and his mentor (Dawnflower, Minnowpaw’s mom) therefore goes as well. Mothwing considers going, but ultimately doesn’t, instead deciding to teach Lynxpaw some herbs due to not fully trusting Russetpaw’s herb skills. He becomes a bit interested in them, but not enough to become a meddie.

After watching Lynxpaw during the battle with the rogues, Quailpaw tells him and Russetpaw a prophecy.

There will be three, kin of a great leader’s kin, who hold the power of the stars in their paws. Look for the sharp-eyed quail. Listen out for the lynx’s roar. After both of these events have come and gone, peace will come on a gentle russet leaf.

Russetpaw is certain that she and Quailpaw are two of the cats in the prophecy, simply believing that Lynxpaw’s prefix being mentioned is just a coincidence due to the commonality of the prefix.

Lynxpaw doesn’t know what to think about it.

The prospect of being important excites Quailpaw. The cats who doubt him won’t any longer when they find out he’s a prophecy cat! Or at least, that’s what he hopes...

Eclipse goes about the same... aside from Lynxpaw not wanting to fight Quailpaw! He just became friends with him, and might be in the prophecy with him!

Sol tells Lynxpaw that he can explain the prophecy. Lynxpaw decides that he should tell Mothwing and Willowpaw about it, and firstly tells the latter of the two.

Willowpaw and him both agree that the great leader is likely Firestar, but could also be one of the original leaders, leaving Heatherpaw and Breezepaw as possible candidates. Lynxpaw tells her that Quailpaw told him the prophecy, and she says that they’re possible candidates too. He starts to have low self esteem after this, but Willowpaw comforts him and the two basically get together but they don’t realize cuz they’re dumbasses.

The two of them then go to tell Mothwing. At first she’s hesitant to believe them - she’s never really seen StarClan as much of a higher force then the living cats, they’re just dead cats, they’re as reckless and at times mouse-brained as they were when they were alive. 

But she sees the glow in Lynxpaw’s eyes. It reminds her of what she loved about Leafpool. She sees Leafpool in the son she could never treat as her own. Believing Willowpaw to have received the prophecy (mouse-dung, we forgot to tell her that Quailpaw told me the prophecy), at the next Moonpool meeting she gives her her medicine cat name - Willowshine.

Due to how valiantly he fought in the battle, Lynxpaw is given his warrior name of Lynxcloud. Minnowpaw is given her warrior name at this time as well, as is Pebblepaw, with those two being named Minnowtail and Pebblefoot like in canon.

Quailpaw is also given his warrior name by Firestar, that being Quailwing after Mothwing.

Long Shadows is mostly the same except for one minor change, that being that Jay’s Wing is now named Quail’s Feather. Flamepaw, Dawnpaw and Tigerpaw help the Three fake an omen to get Blackstar to believe in StarClan again like in the canon books. The fire scene is also slightly different... but anyways, Russetpaw gets her full name of Russetleaf.

Now the fire scene... the whole reveal happens but afterwards Squilf reassures Russetleaf and Quailwing that she loves them as if they were her own kits, and that Brambleclaw does as well. 

Quailwing takes a while to accept it, still being confused about his power... StarClan has given cats powers before, but for all he knows he’s just a kittypet or rogue or loner who was brought to the Clan at a young age. And how does Lynxcloud fit into this? Eventually though, he accepts it, deciding to try to help whoever the Three are with whatever the prophecy requires them to do.

Russetleaf, however, can’t accept it. She’s a disgrace to her Clan and has no right to be a medicine cat. She should’ve known she wasn’t in the prophecy, she doesn’t have a power at all... Cinderheart notices something’s wrong and talks to her about it, and they get together and she starts to feel better, even if she realizes that she’s breaking the code... she’s stopped caring anymore.

Eventually though, Russetleaf’s power appears and she’s confused. She accidentally uses it without realizing after Quailwing finds out that Leafpool’s their mother, in an attempt to figure out who their father/sire is. Also yes, I did shuffle events... partially cuz I forgot the order they happen in.

Russetleaf carried the blood red berries in her jaws as she entered camp. No one questioned her, though she saw a few cats giving her weird looks. I have to do this, she thought.

As she entered the medicine cat den, Leafpool looked up at her, fear in her eyes.

“Russetleaf, what are you-” Russetleaf cut her off.

“I know now,” she hissed, “Mother. I may not know who our father is, but-”

The medicine cat cut her off. The tortioseshell tabby noticed that her eyes looked... focused on something else, as if in a trance.

“While she’s not your father, per-say, Mothwing sired you, Quailwing and Lynxcloud,” her mother mewed, “now, may I please leave the den?”

Her eyes looked normal again halfway through her second sentence. Still confused, Russetleaf nodded, allowing Leafpool to exit the den.

What did I just do?

She experiments with her power, seeing who may’ve broken the warrior code. Mousewhisker (relationship with Minnowtail), Squirrelflight (hiding the truth), Brambleclaw (same as Squilf), heck, even Firestar (giving prey to RiverClan, giving Yellowfang prey and eating some of it before bringing it to the Clan, hiding Graystripe’s relationship with Silverstream, probably more)! ... all of them admit it.

She begins to feel... power-hungry. While the Dark Forest has been unable to recruit her due to her loyalty to ThunderClan, they are able to do one thing: will her to kill Ashfur. Leafpool had taught her some fighting techniques she’d learned from Cinderpelt and Mothwing, she knows a decent amount, and uses them to kill Ashfur. To keep her Clan safe.

This starts to weigh her down. She feels terrible. She broke the code... but she did it to keep her Clan safe! ... didn’t she?

She can’t keep it inside any longer. She tells everyone the truth at a Gathering. Mothwing and Leafpool are exposed. Firestar doesn’t want to make her give up her position, but Leafpool insists on it, scared of what Russetleaf could do. Leopardstar, who’s always been a code junkie even if she made two half-Clan cats deputy, made one of Tigerstar’s kits temporarily deputy even though she (I think) knew he was Firestar’s son, allowed one of Tigerstar’s kits who was formerly a rogue to be a medicine cat, relinquishes Mothwing’s position.

Lynxcloud says he wants to talk to his siblings, and they all go to the tunnels. Russetleaf needs to tell someone what she did... so she tells her brothers. And she runs in. And it seems as if she’s gone... dead...

But two young kits have potential.

#mothpool au #lionblaze #hollyleaf #jayfeather #lynxcloud #russetleaf #quailwing #mothwing #leafpool #mothpool #lots of cats #po3 au

[tubofskippy]

Speaking of a Book of Mormon movie, look what I just found in my notes! I only got as far as You and Me (But Mostly Me)... but I could keep going!

These were originally notes for something I was going to storyboard.

BOM THE MOVIE

Open on the actual book. Light shining on it, like a fairy tale. It opens to the nephites scene “I... am Jesus.” It’s paper animation, like how South Park is.

...

“All over the world!” Music... the book closes, and the front cover fades to the same front cover in Price’s hands.

HELLO!

Start with shots of elder price straightening his tie, name tag, running a comb through his hair.

He steps up to the door with the book in his hand. We don’t see his face yet.

Ding dong.

The door opens, and we now see his face for the first time, with a big grin, book in hand.

“Hello. My name is Elder Price.”

Song continues and cuts to different Mormons at different doors. Each doorbell has a different color door, different comedic people answering.

Sometimes there will be split frames.

Doors will be slammed in faces.

One Mormon smiles as he is about to walk up to another door, while another Mormon is being chased into the street by a dog.

Elder Cunningham buzzes a whole apartment complex. The “hello would you like to change religions” is a frame we see of him shouting through a security camera.

“NOO, NO, Elder Cunningham”

Maybe is in Arnold’s conscience? Idk.

...

“So you won’t burn in—“ One

Mormon has made a placement, but he watches angrily through the window as the person throws the book into their fireplace. “HE-HELLLOO”

The book of... MOOOOOOORMOOOON

camera pans from one door to the whole neighborhood. Title sequence. The doorbell in the word Mormon becomes part of a real door, and someone presses it for the final ding dong. The title sequence fades away.

the final HELLOOOOO could be a split frame of them waving? Like how they were on the risers?

TWO BY TWO

Takes place in the missionary training center. Looks sort of like a classroom. Their instructor is on screen, not just a voice. The boys eagerly wait in their desks.

(OR we do a Charlie Brown thing, where the instructor is never fully shown)

We start in the hallway with the 3 boys. “Do you have any idea where they’re sending you elder price?”

After “SOMETHING INCREDIBLEEEE” they run into the classroom and take their seats. They tap their fingers and bounce their legs to the faint snare roll and “tck bum. bum. tck bum. bum.”

It lasts a bit longer than in the soundtrack. Some close ups on Cunningham taking out his gum or something.

“Form a line and wait til your name is called.”

They line up against the back wall.

Once the boys start getting paired up, they dance at the front of the room. “HOO-AH... (jump on desks. Knees are bent. quick jump.) HEY-YAH, (turn away,) SHOO-WAH (turn towards each other, excitedly) ZADAP-WOW!” Unfold legs jump off of desks, go side be side and do the “TWO BY TWO” march.

.....

Kevin is in line towards the window. He stares at a religious painting on the wall.

“Heavenly Father, (then turns his attention out the window, the typical daydreaming face) where will I go on my mission?” In the window’s reflection we see the other boys come into focus and repeat “on my mission...” Kevin wistfully leans against a map on the back wall. “Will it be China or ol’ Mexico on my mission?”

San Fran by the bay... Australia where they say g’day... (he stares at the continents with romanticized wonderment)

...

“To my favorite place....” Zoom in on Price’s face. The background fades to black, spotlight on Price. He is so wishful it hurts. “ORLANDOOOO” zoom out to see his whole outstretched arm. He’s in Orlando now. A background of sea world whirls past him, a dolphin jumps over his head, the background whirls to Disney world. “GOLFIIING” He hits a put put ball towards the camera. The ball is the transition back to the classroom setting.

“ELDER PRICE!”

“YES SIR!”

...

“.....elder Cunningham!”

“THAT’S ME! THAT’S ME!” Arnold pushes desks aside to scramble to the front of the room. The noise is horrific. “hellO!”

“Your mission location will be...”

Zoom in on elder Price again, black background like his fantasy. *crossed fingers, mouthing the words orlandoorlandoorlando

“UGANDA!”

Black background quickly comes back to normal classroom.

Horrible noise. Instead of from instruments skidding, it came from Elder Cunningham pushing another desk.

Their faces are priceless.

“...Oh boy! Like Lion King!"

...

Desk dancing, evolves into marching down the hallway while high-fifing, clapping, and dancing...

“CHRIIIIII-IIIIIIIST! Of Latter Day Saints.“

They’re outside at this point. Song ends abruptly and everything carries on as normal. Price walks to the bus stop, and elder Cunningham rushes to catch up to him.

Of course he annoys Kevin. We get a taste of what this relationship is going to be like. Kevin takes measures as to avoid him on the way home.

Time passes.

YOU AND ME (BUT MOSTLY ME)

This song obviously takes place in the airport. The music starts as they’re standing in line to have their passports stamped.

…

“You’ve done an awesome job, Kevin!”

The song pauses. Cut to the woman holding up the passport photo to his face, comparing the two. “Kevin...” he sings again. Then speaks: “I’m Kevin Price, I’m nineteen. That’s not the best photo of me, I sneezed and it was like five dollars to get it retaken, so…” The woman stamps it. “Thank you.”

Cut to the airport hallways.

“Now it’s our time to go out—“

Arnold is on one of those moving walkways and slides past Kevin as he sings “MY BEST FRIIIEEND”

Kevin starts jogging to match Arnold’s pace.

“And we can do it together, you and me—“

But it seems like Price thinks of it more as a race. He reaches the end of it just before Arnold does, and stands in front of it, his bag tripping Arnold as he gets off the walkway.

“BUT MOSTLY MEEEEE!”

Kevin happily skips towards a Kiosk. “You and me but mostly me—“ He snatches a newspaper, “...are gonna change the world forever.” He runs towards the wall, where there’s an interactive screen. "Cuz I can do most anything—“ On the screen, there’s a camera projecting whoever stands in front of it, so basically, there’s a big Kevin on the wall. Cunningham enters the frame, farther away from the screen. “And I can stand next to you and watch!” Kevin messes around with filters on the screen, the first one being a hero, and the second one being a captain.

Cut to a restaurant they’re eating at.

“Every dinner needs a side dish—“

The server places a tiny mac n cheese or something Arnold ordered off of the kid’s menu on the table. “On a slightly smaller plate!”

They’re gleefully zig-zagging through the stanchions as they get in line for security. “And now we’re seeing eye to eye! It’s so great we can agree! That heavenly father has chosen you and me— just mostly me…“ At this point Kevin has kicked off his shoes and placed his bag on the conveyer belt, then steps up to the metal detector. “Something incredible…” As he passes through the detector doorframe, reality distorts into a fantasy spotlight again. “I’ll do something incredibleeee! I wanna be the Mormon who changed all of man kind…” Price’s surroundings are black. The only things that remain are the metal detector, and Arnold, who sets the alarm off and is stopped in his tracks by the security guards. “MY BEST FRIEEEEND” Kevin spins around and Arnold and the security are swept off screen. “It's something I’ve foreseen: now that I’m nineteen… I’ll do something INCREDIBLE, that BLOWWS GOD’S FREAKIN MIIIIIIND!”

As he hits these notes, reality fades back in, and he’s standing on the rim of an airport fountain, sticking out above all of the other travelers. The camera swoops to a bird’s eye view of the airport as if Price’s voice sent it launching up there.

Cut to the long set of stairs leading up to the door of the plane. The camera follows both boys as they race up the steps. “And as long as we stick together—“ Cunningham is in front of him, but leans to the side to let Kevin through, “and I stay out of your way-OUT OF MY WAY”

…

“So quit singing about it and do it, how ready and psyched are we?” They’re on the plane, pushing their way through the isle. They find their seats and settle in. They smush their faces against the tiny window. “Life is about to change for you,” they turn to look at each other, “and life is about to change for me.” Kevin buckles his seat belt, and Arnold struggles with his. “And life is about to change for you and me—“ Kevin buckles it for him. “But me mostly…” And tightens it.

He looks at Arnold compassionately. “And there’s no limit to, what we can do…” He places a hand on his shoulder. “Me and you.” Arnold smiles at him. Kevin turns his gaze. “BUT MOSTLY—“ ALL of the passengers on the plane sigh/moan.

Cut to the outside of the plane, taking off.

“MEEEEEEEEEEE!”

It flies into the distance.

#the book of mormon #bom #tbom #broadway #book of mormon #elder cunningham #elder price #arnold cunningham #kevin price #andrew rannells #josh gad #long post

[shawnsassymendes]

Jealous of Aladdin

a/n: i would like to start by thanking @shawncxlvins for helping me brainstorm this idea and for helping me with writing it. and @getalittlebit-nervous for helping out as well. i know this is catered to a small percentage of shawn’s fans here on tumblr but i feel like we all deserve to be represented. this is an arab!reader and im not including religion cuz we all know it gets complicated there. i will be using some arabic though but translation will included. i only know my experiences and my culture so please be kind. dl;dr

synopsis: shawn gets jealous of reader’s costar on the set of aladdin.

wc: 6.5k

{Masterlist in Bio}

____________________

You thanked Shawn quietly when he opened the car door for you. Shawn was accompanying you to set today because you were slightly sick. He had come with you once or twice before but he always left early. He cleared his schedule completely to take care of you today.

You trudged onto the set of Aladdin with your hood up and your bag almost dragging behind you on the ground. The most graceful Princess Jasmine there ever was. The first person who came up to you was Naomi Scott, who played your handmaiden in the movie.

“y/n, what’s wrong?” She asked, putting her hand to your forehead.

“She’s got a stomach bug. Refused to stay home. Maybe you can convince her.” Shawn explained as he took the bag you were carrying off your shoulder.

“I’m fine. Besides we’re not filming many scenes with me this week. It’s mostly Mena and Will.” You mumbled.

“I mean, she’s kinda right?” Naomi winced.

“You’re useless.” Shawn scoffed jokingly.

“We’re being let go early today. She’s already here anyways.” Naomi defended herself.

“Mhm, whatever. Michael’s looking for you guys.” Shawn rolled his eyes and pointed to the man in question. “Hey, Will.” Shawn nodded towards Will Smith who was standing nearby. Never in a million years did Shawn think he would be on a first name basis with Will Smith, but there he was.

You and Naomi walked over to the costume designer where Mena was. You said hello to both of them and took the glittery purple vest Michael gave you to try on. Then Shawn saw you start laughing with Mena about something. That’s when things took a turn.

Michael’s station wasn’t too far away from Shawn, so he could hear you and Mena talking. But he understood none of it. 

You and Mena are both Arab. Granted, from different parts of the Middle East, but Arab nonetheless. Shawn hated the fact that you and Mena could connect in a way he never could with you. He winced when he thought of the only word he knew described his feelings. Jealousy. Shawn was jealous of Mena and he hated himself for it.

Will saw the wince and he knew what was going on in Shawn’s mind. “You ok, man?”

“What? Oh, uh yeah I’m fine. Just making sure y/n’s ok. With uh Mena over there.” Shawn motioned to where you were.

“I know them talking arabic together gets annoying at times, but you get used to it. At first whenever they laughed, I thought they were laughing at me.” Will laughed.

Shawn chuckled politely in response, even though he wasn’t really in the mood for jokes. “I just- I don’t know, man. I feel like I can’t compare to him.” Another wince graced Shawn’s features “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t know why that came out.” Will Smith did not need to know about his insecurities in his relationship.

“Nah man, it’s alright. Talk to me. What’s going on?” Will put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. That was all Shawn needed to open the floodgates.

“I wish I could be like that for her. She got so excited when she knew Mena was cast. She told me it’s because she could finally have someone who could understand. And I want to be that for her. I want to be able to give her everything she needs. But I can’t do what he does.”

“Shawn, of course you can’t do what he does. What he’s doing for her comes from a background. A culture. A whole different type of living. It’s not something you can provide and will never be something you can provide. But that’s not a bad thing. It’s impossible to be able to give your significant other everything they need. It doesn’t make you a bad partner. What makes a good partner is being there for them when they need you. Sometimes, it’s not you who they need. You understand, son?”

“Yeah, I guess I do.” Shawn shrugged, still not fully convinced. Will could see that his words wouldn’t be able to get to Shawn, but your words might.

“You just need to talk to her. Clear things up between you two.” Will gave Shawn a pat on the shoulder.

“I know. But it’s not the right time. She’s so busy nowadays. Being a Disney princess is harder than it looks.” Shawn chuckled.

Their conversation was cut short by you, Mena, and Naomi coming back towards them.

“Momken meyah, y/n?” Mena asked you with big puppy eyes. You groaned in response.

“Go get your own damn water, boy. Can’t you see she’s sick.” Will snapped at him. Mena’s eyes went wide again as he nodded and ran off to get himself some water.

“I thought you said you get used to it. You never said anything about learning it.” Shawn whispered to Will.

“Is that what I said? Must have been a slip of the tongue.”

____________________

You and Naomi were filming a scene in the princess’s bedroom today. You always loved scenes with Naomi because she managed to make you laugh in every scene.

Whenever you looked over to find Shawn, you would see him talking to Mena. They were laughing way too much. At first you were glad they were finally getting along, but now it worried you.

When Guy Ritchie finally yelled cut and let you guys go for 15 minutes, you stalked over to where the two boys were. When they saw you coming towards them, they immediately stopped talking.

“You guys know it’s rude to gossip about someone when they can see you, right?” You raised an eyebrow at them.

“Gossiping? I have no clue what you mean by that.” Mena gasped.

“Yeah, y/n. We were just talking about a mutual friend of ours. I don’t think you know her.” Shawn said, stifling a giggle.

“Oh please do tell, what’s she like?” You said as you took a seat between them on the bench.

“She’s quite shy, I would say.” Shawn started.

“Until you get to know her, obviously. Then she kinda lets loose. Gets a little crazy, if you ask me.” Mena added.

“Very clumsy, too. The other say she tripped over thin air. Remember, Mena?” Shawn laughed and looked over at your costar who let out a howl of laughter.

“I did not! I swear there was a wire. It was the same color as the floor, I just didn’t see it.” You exclaimed.

“And that scene yesterday. When she was supposed jump off the roof.” Mena's laughter made him struggle to get the words out. “She landed face first between the two buildings.”

The scene that was filmed yesterday was of Aladdin and Jasmine as they ran from the guards in the outdoor market place. At one point you were supposed to jump from one roof to the next and end up standing upright next to Mena. You ended up falling face first between the two buildings. Everyone found it incredibly funny. When you filmed the scene again, they asked you to land in Mena’s lap. 

“I’m not going to sit here and be bullied. Excuse me, but I’m going to my trailer.” You huffed and got up to start your walk to the trailer.

“y/n! We were just kidding, come on! Don’t be a baby.” Mena called after you.

“No. I can’t forgive you two. You’ve broken my heart.” You yelled back dramatically, you turned to face them as you kept walking in the direction of your trailer with a hand held to your heart to feign sadness.

When you got out of the bathroom in your trailer, you saw Shawn sitting on your couch scrolling through his phone. You walked over and sat next to him.

“I’m glad you and Mena are getting along.” You smiled and placed a kiss on his cheek.

“He’s not so bad when you get to know him.” He smiled and pulled you onto his lap. You were wearing a dress so it rid up to your thighs in the process. You felt Shawn get hard against you within seconds. Shawn pressed a kiss to your jaw and trailed down the side of your neck. “Even taught me a few words.”

“Oh yeah, like what?”

“Habibti, he said it means my love.” Shawn reached your collarbone and went back up to your lips.

“It’s adorable when you say it.”

He pouted and furrowed his brows. “I was hoping it would be more than adorable.”

“Maybe if you could say it right.” You giggled as you sealed your lips around a spot on his neck and began forming a bruise, immediately shutting down any sort of response he had in mind. “What else did he teach you?”

“Albi. He didn’t tell me what that one meant.”

“It means my heart, it’s a term of endearment. But where I’m from, we say qalbi or galbi. Depends on who you’re talking to.” You explained, trying not to go into detail too much.

“But don’t you both speak arabic? Why is it different?”

“Oh, you know. Dialects and all that. It’s kind of like accents. But some dialects have their own words and stuff. It’s very complicated.”

At that moment, the door to your trailer burst open and Mena jumped inside. He was greeted with the scene of your bare legs wrapped around Shawn’s waist. “y/n, homa me7tagenna- Oh my god! I did not need to see that!” He exclaimed at the sight of you on Shawn’s lap. He jumped back out and shut the door behind him.

“He said they need us.” You turned to Shawn as you heard Mena grumbling outside. “We can take care of this tonight, though.” You smiled innocently, grinding down on his crotch.

“You bet your ass we are.” Shawn smirked.

“But seriously, Shawn. I want you to apologize to Mena.” 

"What? What for?” 

“You know what for. He talked to me the other day. He asked me if you hated him.” You ran your hands through his hair to keep Shawn’s eyes on you.

“And what did you say?”

“I said it’s best if you guys talk about it alone. So please go work things out with him. He really wanted to be friends with you. And you’re giving him a lot of mixed signals.” You gave Shawn a pointed look so he understood you were serious.

Shawn groaned and rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

____________________

Another day came where Shawn would come with you to set. The days were coming to an end though. You had merely one week left of filming until the movie would go into post production. Every time you remembered, you would get emotional.

A while ago, you had asked Guy how the musical numbers were to be filmed. You had never been in a movie with such a large production scale, so you wanted to know how to prepare for it. After a while of discussing, you and Guy agreed to do your singing scenes live. Mena had said that he was better off lip syncing his prerecorded songs and you respected his choice. It would be hard and exhausting but the payoff would be amazing. Today, you were filming the ‘Speechless’ scene.

You had been nervous all week long, needing Shawn to calm you down every 20 minutes. He kept reassuring you that you were going to be great, but your anxiety kept getting the best of you. 

You had filmed the scene 3 times so far and you kept asking Guy to do it again. You just felt like this wasn’t your best.

“Guy, please. Just one last time, I feel like I can do so much better.” You pleaded.

Guy took a deep breath and looked at you for a moment before giving you a small nod. “Alright, one last time. Then we’re taking lunch.”

Just as you were beginning the scene again, Shawn began approaching Mena. They were far enough from where the scene was being filmed that they didn’t need to whisper but they could still see and hear you.

Shawn cleared his throat to make his presence known to Mena. “Hey, Mena.”

“Oh, hey Shawn. She’s killing it out there, isn’t she?” Mena motioned to where you were with a nod of his head.

“Yeah, she is. She’s been so worried, but I knew she would be amazing.” Shawn smiled at the thought of how hard you’ve worked for this scene and how it’s paying off. “But uh that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about.” Shawn turned to Mena to give him his full attention.

“Alright, what’s going on?” Mena knew what this was leading to, but he wanted Shawn to approach the subject in a way that was comfortable to him.

“Listen Mena, I know I haven’t been the friendliest to you and I’m sorry. I felt kind of threatened I guess, because you and y/n connected in way that I never can with her. I always wanted to be everything she needed but I know that I can’t really be that. And I’m glad she has someone like you who can understand her.” 

“It’s all good, Shawn. I understand where you’re coming from and I can’t blame you.” Mena nodded.

“It’s really not all that great. I was childish and immature and I really hope you can forgive me.”

“Consider yourself forgiven, then.” Mena gave Shawn a smile. “Hug it out?” 

“Sure, why not?” Shawn chuckled. 

Your musical number was coming to an end at the same time as their conversation was. 

“y/n! That was amazing! I knew you had it in you!” Guy exclaimed as he jumped off his chair to hug you. “That was it. It’s the one. I’m so proud of you!”

“I told you I just needed one more take.” You grinned. You looked around the set to find Shawn only to see him and Mena laughing among themselves. This movie was definitely wrapping up nicely.

____________________

The initial movie release was set to be in Paris. You had been counting down the days and it had finally arrived. It honestly felt like a dream come true. 

You would be walking the ‘purple’ carpet with Shawn but you would pose for pictures with Mena as well. You were wearing a white shirt that somewhat resembled sportswear with a large white skirt. Mena was decked out in a Givenchy suit and Shawn was wearing a classic black tux by Armani. 

You walked the length of the carpet with Shawn, stopping every once in a while for the cameras. Shawn obviously knew what he was doing, but you weren’t the most familiar with these types of events, this movie only being your second big acting gig. Shawn knew that and he tried his best to make you feel comfortable. 

You reached the last part of the carpet and saw Mena. “Mena! Hey!” You smiled as he ran up to hug you. “How are you?” You asked as you straightened out his collar.

“I’m so excited! You?” He smiled, his excitement was obvious to you before he even mentioned it.

“I’m good, a little nervous. It’s the first showing. Can’t help it really.” You shrugged.

“They’re going to love it. And you look amazing, by the way. White totally suits you.” Mena winked. “Maybe I’ll see you in a different kind of white dress soon.” He said casually as he turned to smile at the cameras. He put his arm around your waist and pulled you closer.

“Shut up.” You laughed. “We haven’t talked about getting married. I don’t know if he even wants to get married, let alone to me.”

“Enti ‘3abiya wala eh? Of course he wants to get married! Have you heard any of his songs? And there’s no doubt that you’re the one he wants to get married to.” 

“Don’t call me stupid.” You grumbled. “Did he tell you that?” You asked, surprised Shawn would bring up that topic with Mena.

“No, but I have eyes.”

“Alright, if you think so. A3zmik 3al 3rs, la t5af.” You patted him on the shoulder.

His eyes went big as he grinned. “Really? You would have me at your wedding?”

“Of course, you’re a close friend, Mena. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Aww, y/n I’m gonna cry.” He sniffled, bringing his hand up to wipe away his fake tears.

“If you cry, I’m gonna cry.” 

Mena leaned up and placed a kiss on your forehead. “Come on, no crying. We gotta finish this carpet first.”

“I can’t stand you, Mena. All because of a white dress.” You rolled your eyes and continued walking the carpet with him.

Shawn was taking pictures with Will Smith and his family when you reached him. “You ready to go inside? I asked them to get some salt popcorn and chocolate ready for you, so you can do the thing you like.”

Mena looked at you and raised his eyebrows. He was standing behind Shawn so he pointed at him and gave you a thumbs up. You scoffed and waved him away.

“Shukran, 7ubi.” You smiled at Shawn and gave him a peck on the cheek. 

“That means thank you, my love.” Mena supplied Shawn with the translation. Shawn’s face turned a light pink after he noticed Mena was listening. He turned to face him and gave him a tight lipped smile in thanks. Then Mena’s face lit up and he leaned up and whispered something in Shawn’s ear. Shawn smiled and nodded in return. 

“Mn iyuni ilthntain.” Shawn said, struggling with the pronunciation.

You and Mena burst out laughing. Shawn’s cheeks turned red as he got flustered. “What did I just say?” He groaned.

“You said ‘from both of my eyes’. It’s like saying your welcome. But it’s the way you said it. You can’t say 3yuni.” Mena chuckled.

“I was trying!” Shawn exclaimed.

“It’s alright, my love. I know what you meant.”

____________________

You were getting ready for your first interview after the release of the movie when you heard your phone go off in the bedroom. And it didn’t go off just once. Someone was sending text after text and you only knew one person who did that.

“Shawn, can you answer Mena please?” You rolled your eyes as you adjusted your earring.

“Sure.” Shawn unlocked your phone to see what Mena was sending.

mena mas3oud: 

y/n e7na yalla 2btadena hat2a5arena (we started come on you’re gonna make us late)

ya 7maraaa (you donkeyyy/ass)

enti fein???? (where are you???)

y/n

bahazar ma2btadenash bas ana downstairs (I lied we didn’t start but I’m downstairs)

bl3arabeya (in the car)

y/n

hamawetek (I’m gonna kill you)

“y/n, its the number thing I don’t understand any of this.” Shawn said as he scrolled through the texts. “Wait, I know he called you a donkey. And he wrote downstairs, so I’m guessing that’s where he is.”

Your face scrunched up in confusion. “He’s downstairs?” You walked out of the bathroom towards Shawn on the bed. You weren’t needed downstairs for another half hour.

“I thought I was taking you to the interview?” He asked. 

You took the phone out of his hand and read Mena’s texts. “I thought so too?” You pressed the voice note button as you began looking around your room for your shoes. “Mena, why are you downstairs? It doesn’t start until an hour from now. And Shawn was gonna take me anyways. He wanted ina ikun m3ay for il-interview.”

You found your heels and put your phone on the desk that was near the door. “I told him that you wanted to be with me for the interview.” You said before Shawn would ask you to translate. You were strapping your heels on when you heard a notification. Shawn played the voice note Mena sent.

“Tell him to come with. The more the merrier. 27na fi nafs il hotel anyways. 3arabeya 27san mn 3arabeyetein.”

“What does the not english part mean?” 

You were inspecting your make up in the mirror as you explained. “It means we’re in the same hotel anyways, might as well go together. One car is better than two, so two birds one stone.”

“Ah, ok. You ready to go?” Shawn asked as he put your phone in your clutch.

"Yup, just need my bag.” Shawn handed you the clutch he was holding and opened the door for you. “Thank you.” You chuckled.

“After you, Princess.” 

The elevator opened up to the lobby where you saw Mena sitting on the couch scrolling through his phone. “I thought you said you were waiting in the car?” You asked as you came to stand in front of him.

“Uh, about that.” Mena gave you a sheepish smile.

You tsked at him and rolled your eyes. “Ilkazab fein broo7?” You asked, trying to mimic his Egyptian accent.

“Oh, shut it.” Mena groaned. “I needed you to come down quickly, I don’t wanna be late.”

“What did you say to him?” Shawn asked as you walked out of the lobby.

“It’s this thing people say. Where does the liar go? The response is hell. It’s not as serious as it sounds, I promise.” You chuckled.

The car ride was pretty short because the hotel booked for you was close to everywhere important for press, including interview destinations.

This interviewer wanted to interview you and Mena separately. So you waited with Shawn as Mena was interviewed. The interviewer didn’t take long with Mena, so you hoped he would do the same with you.

You sat down in the chair opposite the man who introduced himself as Turner Bernstein. 

“Alright, we’ll get right into it then, shall we?” He smiled as he straightened out the papers he had in hand.

“Of course, it’s what I’m here for, isn’t it?” You smiled. He asked you some basic questions about the audition, the experience on set, the wardrobe, and everything in between. 

“So you and Mena, was there a connection?” Turner asked.

“Yes, from the first time we met each other. He is just wonderful and a dream to work with. And an amazing actor, just watching him in his element was an honor.” You smiled and looked over at Mena.

“Was there any connection off screen?” You realized where Turner was taking this and you hoped you could safely steer it into the other direction.

“We are such great friends. And Mena and Shawn, my boyfriend, get along great together as well.” You hoped he understood to step off the Mena questions, but he either didn’t get the hint or chose to ignore it.

“And you’re both of Arab background, isn’t that correct?” 

“Uh yeah, it was nice working on set with someone who can understand me. Even with the difference in dialect and specific traditions and cultures, we still connected over our shared backgrounds.”

“There was no alone time spent together? Just the two of you? You know what I mean.” Turner snickered.

“I’m not sure what you mean by that.” You knew exactly what he meant by that, but no way in hell were you going to give that man what he wanted.

“And what about the kiss you shared at the Paris premiere?”

“The what we shared?” Turner motioned to the small screen beside you that showcased a picture of Mena kissing your forehead. “Oh, that kiss. Forehead kisses are a sign of respect in our culture. Maybe respect isn’t as important to you as it is to us. It doesn’t seem to be.”  

Even with all the hints you were dropping, he seemed to not want to move on from the subject.

You were trying to stare at Mena hard enough that he would feel someone watching him, but he didn’t seem to notice.

Shawn saw you staring and knew that something wasn’t right. “Hey Mena, is it just me or is y/n staring a hole into your face?”

“Huh?” Mena looked up from his phone to see your distressed face. “Let me go see whats going on. I’ll be back in a sec.”

“No, I’ll go.” 

You saw Shawn approaching and you let out a sigh of relief. “Shawn, I was just talking about you.” Shawn grabbed a chair and pulled it up next to you.

“Uh, this is an individual interview with y/n l/n, Mr. Mendes.” Turner began to stutter.

“Oh don’t worry, I won’t interfere. Go on with the interview, I’ll just be here.” Shawn smiled pleasantly at the interviewer, but his eyes were as threatening as ever.

Turner didn’t bring up Mena for the rest of the interview.

You were glad beyond words when the interview came to an end. You didn’t bother giving Turner a second glance as you walked away to the couch Mena was sitting on.

“What was going on over there?” Mena asked as soon as you and Shawn sat down.

“That creep was being incredibly rude. Kept insinuating that you and I were a thing. Even asked if I cheated on Shawn with you!” Your face was heating up and you were sure your cheeks were bright red. Shawn took a hold of your hand and gently squeezed, telling you to calm down.

“He said that?” Mena was getting mad too, understandably so.

“Not like that, just indirectly. Asked if we had any ‘alone time together’. Asshole.” You scoffed. “Whatever, it’s over now. I need some air. I’ll meet you in the car in 10.” You got up and walked to the stairs to go outside for a bit.

“Is she gonna be alright?” Mena asked Shawn.

“She’ll be fine. Just needs some air, like she said.” Shawn nodded,

“Shawn, you know y/n and I would never-” Shawn didn’t even let Mena finish.

“What? Of course I do, Mena. You’re my friend. I trust you. I would never even think that. I’m just worried about her. She hates being accused of something she’d never do.” Shawn looked out the window to see you pacing the grass in front lawn of the building.

“Yeah, she got really heated up about that. I’m going to talk to that Turner guy. Maybe Sam can talk to his management.” Mena said as he got up.

“You would do that?” Shawn asked.

“I’d do anything for her. And you, for that matter.” Mena smiled. 

Shawn grinned. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Should I be regretting the fact that I said that?”

“Mm, maybe.”

____________________

You and Mena were settling into your seats for another interview. It had been a week since your interview with the creepy Turner guy and you were finally over it. All other interviewers since then have been warned and have been respectful.

This interviewer was one you had met before when you were working on your last film, which was also your first. You greeted Mikaela, the interviewer, with a hug before you sat down.

“It’s nice to see you again, y/n. Good to see you’ve been moving on to bigger and better things. I mean, Disney is huge! So proud of you for that.” She sent a warm smile your way.

“Thank you, I know. It’s insane. I literally went into the casting call for fun. I had told my agent that they were obviously not going to cast me, but here we are!” You giggled and sent Mena a warm smile. “Princess Jasmine and Aladdin.”

“What was your first interaction with Mena like?” Mikaela began, all business no chit chat.

You and Mena argued for a minute, both claiming your story was when you two first met even though they were two different instances.

Mikaela went on to ask the usual questions you’ve been asked in these interviews. How you felt when you got the call, what it’s like to work with Mena and Will, the basics.

“And was Aladdin your favorite Disney movie growing up?”

“I think I speak for the both of us when I say it definitely was. It was one of the rare few western movies that represented us and our culture growing up.” Mena said, placing a hand on yours.

“Oh yes, definitely. Princess Jasmine was always a favorite.” You agreed with your costar.

“And Mena, your natural hair is obviously not like it was in the movie. Did you want to straighten your hair for the movie?”

“I didn’t mind. But Mindy, the hairstylist, asked if we could chemically straighten it and I just agreed not knowing what that was. So when I took a shower afterwards and found my hair still straight I freaked out. It was the only way to go by it without straightening it every day though, because Middle Eastern hair is very stubborn.” Mena chuckled.

“I can definitely attest to that.” You laughed along with him.

“The Whole New World sequence was definitely long awaited, wouldn’t you say? How was filming that?”

“So fun. Actually, we got stuck while filming, remember Mena?” You laughed, turning to Mena.

“Yeah, we did! So the carpet in real life was a green board with a small bit of carpet attached to the front. And you’re strapped in because it’s attached to a crane thing that swooshes you around. The crane got stuck and we were stuck up there for like half an hour.” Mena explained, hands very much involved in the conversation as they were moving around nonstop.

“And they strap you in weird, like you’re kneeling. So it wasn’t the most comfortable position to be stuck in for that long. But we couldn’t stop laughing the entire time.”

“And how excited were you to recreate the rest of the songs?” Mikaela smiled.

“Incredibly so. At first I thought I was going to just lip sync the song because I thought they would never in a million years let me sing it. But they did, and it was insane! My agent actually sent the casting directors a recording of me and my boyfriend singing ‘A Whole New World’. Like I said, I didn’t think I would be cast so I didn’t think much of it. So when they asked me to go with Mena to a recording studio, I was shocked.” You explained, motioning to Mena when you mentioned him.

“Pfft, she says boyfriend like her boyfriend isn’t The Shawn Mendes.” Mena rolled his eyes.

You immediately blushed at the mention of Shawn’s name. “I forget sometimes. He’s not The Shawn Mendes to me. He’s just my Shawn.” You looked behind Mikaela to see Shawn smirking at you and you smiled in response. He mouthed ‘I love you’ from across the room and you felt your ears turn scarlet and rolled your eyes at him.

Mikaela smiled at your small interaction with Shawn. “Yes, I was going to touch on that. How was Shawn with all of this? Did he come with you to set with you? How was it?” 

“Shawn is always so incredibly supportive. He was almost always on set with me towards the end of filming. He helped me practice my lines and my songs. He’s just the best. Him and Mena hit it off really great, too.” You grinned.

“Did he mind the kissing scenes? Because Jasmine and Aladdin kiss twice in the movie. Was he around for those days on set?”

“I honestly don’t remember if he was there on those days. Was he?” You turned to ask Mena.

“I think he was. Wasn’t that the same day we shot the scene were you fell between the buildings?” Mena asked through his chuckles.

You rolled your eyes as you remembered. “Yeah, I remember now. He was there, but no he didn’t mind. I mean, it’s my job and he understands that. Shawn himself had to kiss someone for a music video once. We both work in the entertainment business, so we both understand when it comes to our jobs.”

“And you mentioned a recording of you and him singing ‘A Whole New World’. Have you been dabbling in music?” Mikaela smiled, knowing your answer.

In the last interview she gave you, you and her talked about you venturing into the music industry.

“I have, I have. Shawn’s been so great with letting me tag along to studio visits and writing sessions. It’s been amazing to learn from him and his team. I’ve written a few songs and recorded some. But I don’t know if they’ll ever go out or anything like that.” You shrugged.

Mena put a hand up and shook his head at you. “They will, and if they don’t I will leak them. y/n is an amazing singer, trust me. The world needs to know what she has to offer. Her performances in Aladdin weren’t even scratching the surface of her talent.”

“You’ve heard the songs?” Mikaela asked.

“Yes, and they’re amazing. y/n is a very talented musician and she’s going to be big.” Mena explained, making you blush even more.

“Oh stop it, you’re making me blush.” You said, causing all three of you to laugh.

“And the duet you and Shawn recorded, would you ever be willing to the post that?” Mikaela asked, bringing up the cover of ‘A Whole New World’ you mentioned earlier.

“I don’t know, we’ll see.”

When the interview was over, you were pulled to the side by Shawn. “Hey there. You listened?” You asked, placing your hands on his chest.

“Mhm, I hated the part about the carpet.” Shawn mumbled. “We never got to get on it ourselves, just you and me.” 

You pouted and put your hand up to his face. “I know, baby. You know they said we couldn’t get on the crane again. I wish we could have. I really wanted to go on a magic carpet ride with you.” You smirked, hoping to elicit a laugh from your boyfriend and succeeding. 

“We’re gonna do it, though.” He said, very much determined.

“Oh, yeah? How so?” 

“Do you trust me?” Shawn laughed, quoting Mena as Aladdin.

“Oh, shut up.” You laughed, making sure to watch out for what Shawn had up his sleeve.

____________________

@shawnmendes: cover of a whole new world with princess jasmine herself 💜i’m so glad i can call you mine @y/n.l/n

@shawn-mendes-muffins: when is y/n going to be on an album shawn!!!

@menamassoud: couple goals ❤️

@naomigscott: even better than @menamassoud imo 😉

          @menamassound: @naomigscott i’m choosing to ignore your opinion    

@princess.y/n.fans: my fav song from the movie 😍

@y/n.l/n: i love you with all my heart ❤️

          @shawnmendes: @y/n.l/n habibti 😘

____________________

You stumbled around God knows where with Shawn leading the way. You itched under the blindfold Shawn refused to leave without putting on you. 

“Don’t take it off!” Shawn scolded.

“I’m won’t, I won’t. Shawn, where the hell are we?” You giggled.

“You’ll see. Just a little more. Come on, this way.” Shawn dropped your hand from his and your heard him opening a large door.

You heard Shawn flip a switch and large industrial type lights could be heard as they turned on. A very familiar sound to you.

“Shawn?” Your arms flailed around you as you tried to get his hand back in yours.

“Yes, y/n?” You could hear the smirk in Shawn’s voice as he replied.

“Are we- are we on a set?” Your arms were still stuck straight out, looking for him.

“Mhm.” You felt him wrap you up in his arms from behind.

“Why?” You leaned back and nuzzled into his forearm.

“Take off your blindfold.” You immediately took off the scratchy material and let your eyes adjust to the light.

When your eyes finally took in what was in front of you, you were confused. There was a fake sandy cliff set up in the middle of a desert like set. On the cliff was a familiar piece from the Aladdin set. You walked forward to look closer.

“Is that the magic carpet? Shawn, what’s going on?” You turned to see Shawn holding a bouquet of your favorite flowers, the rosiest blush dusting his cheeks.

The speakers starting playing the starting notes of ‘A Whole New World’ and you realized what was going on.

The day you and Mena were filming the carpet scene was when Shawn began showing his dislike for Mena. You guys ended up being stuck on the green board that would later be turned into the magic carpet. The crane that was holding up the green board malfunctioned. You and Mena were stuck there for a short amount of time. But it was enough for Shawn to get into his head.

"I told you, I want to take you on a magic carpet ride.” Shawn shrugged, taking your hand and leading you to the small cliff. The steps carved into the back of the cliff were sprinkled with rose petals and strategically placed candles.

You sat gingerly on the carpet where Shawn had set up a picnic of chocolate covered strawberries and small baked goods. “This is too much, my love.”

“Everything in the world wouldn’t be to much if it’s for you, princess.”

“How did you get all this done?” You asked, your curiosity getting the best of you.

“Someone said they’d do anything for me. I took them up on that offer.” Shawn smiled and looked up to the control room across the set.

In the control room was Mena, he grinned incredibly wide and sent you a thumbs up. He dimmed the lights and made the backdrop behind you move so it looked like you were flying.

Laughter bubbled up your throat at how cliche everything was. “You find this funny?”

“A little. But in a good way. I love it, Shawn. Thank you.” You picked up a strawberry and leaned over to give it to Shawn. “Ugh, the cliche is killing me here.” 

Suddenly, you heard the shutter of a camera beneath the cliff. You peered over and saw Josiah smirking at you. 

“Is that Josiah? Shawn, you’re taking out all the stops here.” You chuckled.

Shawn opened the basket and shuffled through the items to find something. “You haven’t seen everything yet.” From the basket he produced the hat Prince Ali wore in the musical number by the same name and Jasmine’s blue headpiece. “I can’t take you on a magic carpet ride without being the prince himself, you know that.”

“Oh of course, I’m sorry.” You chuckled. You took the head piece from Shawn and placed it on your head. Shawn leaned over and fixed the blue plastic jewel’s position on your forehead. He leaned back and grinned to himself. “Shawn this is ridiculous.”

“Hey, let me live out this fantasy. I just wanna have some strawberries with my princess. On a magic carpet." 

“And the have most ridiculous photos ever taken of us?” You said, looking over to see Josiah still clicking away at his camera. You made a face at him and heard him laugh quietly, probably at the picture he got of it.

“Maybe.”

____________________

thankyou for reading, my loves. i hope you appreciate the hard work i put into this. so much of my soul is in this piece and it has the most special place in my heart. i hope it means as much as it does to me to you. idk if thats grammatically correct but whatever. as always, feedback means the world to me. maybe send me your favorite line from the fic?

#shawn mendes #shawn mended fluff #shawn mendes blurb #shawn mendes fanfiction #shawn peter raul mendes #shawn mendes x reader #shawn mendes x arab!reader #arab!reader #shawn mendes x y/n #shawn mendes x you #shawn mendes angst #muslim!reader #singer!reader #shawn mendes x singer!reader #shawn mendes x muslim!reader

[natsunoomoi]

FFVII Thoughts

-This whole thing with Jessie is so much filler it’s mostly unnecessary. Plus I feel like the whole impact of Jessie and her arc and even this filler is detracted by her being a former actress. Like I mentioned before I feel like her being an actress and known for toying with men kind of takes away from her crush on Cloud and makes it seem cheap. Also even though she’s someone’s daughter who is more tech inclined, I always thought of her as an engineer herself and like a former Shinra engineer that quit would have been a more powerful message than that of an actress. Even if you keep her Dad getting sick it adds an extra layer. Like say she worked in R&D and they like pushed an experimental mako enhancement for the plant too soon and she warned it would make people sick and it made her Dad sick. There’s a lot of ways her story would have been better and fit more nicely into the narrative. :/

-Even though Jessie annoys me, Biggs is kind of okay but he comes off to me as a little cliche. Wedge is kind of a little nicer.

-Aww, they took out the pickpocket on the train during the ID scan. That would have been a lot harder to deal with, but yeah.

-Good lord they stretched out these areas.

-Completely lost in this lamp and platform maze, but after a long time I finally figure out how to get out even with the items.

-Another maze and more reactor context change.

-Robot change where you can screw it over. That’s interesting.

-Yay Aerith!

-Dang Reno. You hard.

-OMG stupid ghosts get out of the way. I bet I have to trek all this way back to get this materia.

-This church is now also a crazy rat maze.

-Now onto roof rat maze.

-Ugh, why do I have to take the long way just to avoid Rude?

-Let me explore the town!

-Cloud and Aerith are way more helpful in this game. The kids have a secret hide out. Cool, I guess.

-Chadley is seriously simultaneously frustrating and useful.

-Yay I can go back and get crap from the church.

-Okay, so sneak out. Why tf is there a pot right outside my room that I can’t see?

-Okay, so there’s Aerith. We have a secret tunnel-ish. So many ladders. So much up and down.

-Out of that maze and yay they kept that scene where Aerith brings up Zack. Still not sure I’m liking all the foreshadowing cuz this was a spoiler in the original game.

-Tifa looks nice in that outfit. Like in general in this game though. They gave her a pretty thoughtful makeover that like captures the essence of her original profile, but also with some added tweaks in style that I actually like better. Like she didn’t have those thigh highs before, but those are a nice touch. And instead of her mini skirt her skirt is actually a skort and is pleated. Plus like the better boob support.

-Good lord Wall Mart is so involved now. So many alleys. Get out of the way yo!

-Leslie seems kind of cool, but I’m not sure cuz he works for a creep.

-Ugh hussle of trying to figure out how to get in. This sponsorship thing is new. I guess Corneo got more exclusive in this game.

-I have to go to the coloseum? Ugh, why?

-This crowd is full of haters.

-Okay winning over the crowd....

-I have an extra battle? WTF is this BS. I almost wish it was the Turks making a surprise appearance. That seems like a silly stupid thing the original would have done.

-Obviously Cloud caught someone else’s attention.

-Yay! Finally dress up time.

-Awesome. I’m doing a bunch of quests now.

-Whoops I didn’t level up my materia all the way. I got most of them so it’s doing fine but just the medicine thing.

-I saw a lot of people complaining about Jules, but he wasn’t so bad? I just needed to remember the rhythm and what I was doing by saying it so I could keep track of the pattern.

-Ugh, Johnny where you taking me? I have to wait for someone not yet.

-Oh Aerith looks nice. I like her outfit.

-Okay time to dress up Cloud.

-Whoa, Folia is a honeybee? Teh shock.

-What is this mini-game? It’s hard to keep rhythm and sometimes I actually can’t see the queue. Why do you design a mini-game where you can’t see the thing clearly?

-Oh shit I missed a track because I didn’t want to sit there and keep playing a frustrating mini-game. D:

-Yay! At least I got the cute dress. But real talk I kind of miss the old way to dress up Cloud only cuz I would want to see what the different colored wigs look like, but that whole storyline is very trans insensitive. Or even drag insensitive, so I understand why they changed it.

-Andrea is kind of cool. I was worried they were going to make him into some kind of flaming stereotype, but actually although he definitely has some flare, he’s a pretty well balanced character and none of the characters really judge him for his personal choices. Although definitely some judgement for the stuff they make them do, but that’s fair because you’re being subjected to it. Good on Cloud for following along.

-Okay time to take down this fat loser. So how does this work? How do you know who he’ll choose?

-Wait does he just choose Cloud every time? That’s a little less fun. I liked dressing Cloud up as the prettiest princess so that you could get him picked.

-This bit of them threatening Corneo’s private parts is still one of my favorite things. It was teh shock when I saw it the first time back in the day and I still enjoy it now.

-Ugh, the sewer. Also a lot of denial. But ugh the sewer.

-My sister was right. The train graveyard is creepier.

-Oh crap I forgot to steal from Eligor. !@#$@#%

-Alright climb the pillar. This is kind of slightly more fun with the extra scenes from Reno and Rude.

-Whoa, they saved Wedge. Cuz he originally totally ate it. Like straight fell off the pillar several stories and was unresponsive.

-Biggs and Jessie still die. That’s fine. I actually feel less sorry for Jessie dying than I did with the original. :/ I think because they managed to actually make her irritating with how over the top they made her.

-Aerith and Marlene is so cute!

-Helicopter shots are annoying, but I like hearing Reno. It’s sad that Fujiwara Keiji died two days after this came out. This is like the last thing he did probably. But his voice fit Reno really well. I don’t think it fit Ardyn well. Ardyn I think deserved a lower register, but I think Square gave him the part probably because of his diagnosis cuz I think Ardyn’s in-game struggle in a sense reflected his real life trials in some way only in the game he became immortal. Real life not so much, but immortalized in a sense through these works. I wonder if Square would have wanted it to come out sooner so that maybe he could have played it himself a little bit before passing, but they had to push the date for quality and stuff.

-I don’t know why, but I really like looking at Reno’s open shirt. Like I think the way they did his abs are a bit different from Advent Children. I think his shirt is even open wider than in AC. *checks* Yeah, it is. AC it’s buttoned up toward the top and just the top one or two are left open. And okay for real Remake has his shirt open even more than even in the original. Nevermind him buttoning up more for AC, but like in original FF7 polygon Reno and original Nomura art Reno looks like it’s only unbuttoned to about mid-pecs. Remake Reno is like down to like the top of his stomach. I guess I can’t complain about the equal opportunity fan service.

-Tseng is actually done pretty well, but I keep looking at him cuz he just strikes me as odd.... Oh wait is it his hair? Is that a hair tie? I don’t think he had a hair tie before. I think we were just supposed to assume he had his hair slicked back and kept in place by gel or hair spray. Also his face is interesting cuz I think they tried to make him actually look Chinese, but I think he just turned out looking kind of like Tamaki Hiroshi. Oh and Suwabe-san!

-LOL Rude carrying Reno like a rag doll.

-And there goes the plate. Oh, no, Wedge. I guess he did die. But the kitties. ;o;

-Let me explore Wall Market! Ugh, fine.

-That Kyrie chick seems kind of a little annoying. I kind of want to let Barret hit her. But I’m probably biased because I had a hot mess of a flatmate with that name and she like didn’t clean up after herself and left dirty dishes in her room and like pushed it up against her roommate’s bed. >.> Like passing responsibility over them to someone else. And I think she maybe broke one of my cups? And like tried to use my stuff without asking? Maybe stole some stuff too but idk. And like worst of all was like she sold her car so she could get money because she couldn’t hold down a job and like needed money and instead of like you know paying rent and bills, she spent it on shoes and make up and left the receipt out for us to find.

-Wall Market is...different in the day time.

-All teh quests.

-Okay Kyrie is still kind of annoying and stupid when you talk with her one on one, but she at least seems better than my flatmate.

-Oh old lady is the Angel.

-Findin’ all the birds. It kind of strikes me that they added this in cuz of how much time it takes to get places and it’s kind of like XV and even the XIV MMO, but not. I guess it’s a staple now with their newer titles because of how grand they make the scenery.

-Down in the sewer again....

-I just really wanna find Corneo’s stash.

-OMG I got a chase this little asshole now.

-Okay so now Leslie. Leslie is a good guy after all. Not a bad new character too. Nice decent development and stuff.

-But gdi Corneo’s still alive. I mean, I knew that cuz Wutai, but ugh.... I think he deserved at least a punch in the face.

-Okay so anyway I guess I’m going up now. Just going to finish up stuff before I go past the point of no return. Get all teh things I can from the coliseum and all that.

-Climbing, climbing. Oops I missed a thing. Was I supposed to?

-Gdi this helicopter thinger is annoying. I can’t slash any boxes. Just kick them around.

-Okay done so I guess I’m going in.

-...Is this a parking lot?

-Oh okay so here’s the entrance.

-Shinra headquarters actually looks like a bigger version of Square Enix’s headquarters in Higashi Shinjuku. I’ve been there pretty recently and also like to cut through the office building to get to Artnia cuz I don’t want to walk all the way around. Decor and stuff and specifics are definitely different, but like the double tower U-shaped look with the walkway in the middle thing is very much how the building is in Shinjuku. Specifics with the stairs and escalators are also different, but kind of the same deal with some amount of ambient lighting at night time and the lobby and such is still mostly open in the evening for people who work late or want to pass through. Some of the doors being locked or like certain staircases and such being roped off are a thing as well. I just know this cuz I often go to Artnia around dinner time when I’m there, so it’s generally after hours already.

-I think even the parking lot situation might even be the same? I’m not sure because I usually take the subway and that let’s out into the mini mall downstairs, but parking if you go there and do that is like subterranean for sure and would be the first layer if it was on a plate.

-I mean, the HQ is also technically kind of on a plate also. Cuz the mini-mall is like below normal street level, but it’s like more cool with like a Lawson’s and restaurants. Coming up from the subway is also a lot similar POV-wise to coming up through grappling hook too in terms of perspective.

-Getting the key. Getting a glove on the way. This part is kind of cool. I always liked this part of the game in the original too and exploring an empty office.

-This is suspicious. I have to take a tour...?

-I guess this is interesting to learn about the company and stuff.

-Weird movie theater. Oh look a spoiler hallucination in the theater. It’s nice to see more of Sephiroth.

-Oh yeah the mayor. That’s a bit of a change that he’s secretly Avalanche. Whatever cool. Yay I got a weapon.

-I gotta do a battle simulator. Oh great I guess if I want items I have to sit here and do all the simulators.

-Oh look it’s Chadley. I have turn ins. Take my stuff.

-Okay so hike upstairs....oh shit they’re going in. Sneak slowly behind and like go around and explore stuff.

-Found the toilet. Haha. Tifa yells at Cloud if he goes in the wrong one. Good.

-This is a nice bathroom.

-Okay up in the vent.

-Interesting extra context and oh yeah Palmer saw Sephiroth.

-Hojo is more gross looking than I remember. Like piled on extra creep factor for him.

-Following into the lab. I guess I should be glad he wasn’t a dumbass and trying to mate Aerith with Red XIII.

-Interesting that it’s only now that they’re really making good use of Those Who Fight Further. I don’t think I’ve really heard it all that often before.

-Yay! Yamaguchi Kappei!

-This part getting serious with Sephiroth is appropriate, but kind of different with him starting to freak out.

-Oooh, Turks scene! It’s nice that they know they are fan favorites now and they put them in more scenes. I wish it would actually play their theme every time they show up like it used to. That’s what made them badass too.

-Aww, Aerith’s room.

-Interesting they are talking in Aerith’s room instead of getting captured and Aerith talking through the wall.

-Shinra science experiment...You’re probably not entirely wrong.

-Huh, wisdom from Red XIII. That’s different context.

-Wow, that’s different. Pointing out a different greater enemy so early. I guess it makes sense Aerith would know because of the whispers she hears, but also it kind of sucks the mystery of the progression of the original story.

-Dang, Sephiroth and Cloud confrontation-ish now? Not going to mysteriously take a body and stab the President?

-Oh joy another crazy rat maze.

-Hojo is definitely more gross than he used to be.

-Oh, nope. Just different order. There’s the trail of blood.

-Well, “blood”. Jenova blood is now apparently purple bubbling ooze.

-President Shinra is just hanging?! DISAPPOINTED. I liked it better when you just showed up and he had a giant sword in his back. Also wondering if you’d be blamed for it, but yeah, sword in the back!

-This is what you get for showing mercy. :/ Sword in back was better.

-Oh shut up already so Rufus can take over.

-Oh you get to watch the sword in the back.

-WTF. He’s not supposed to stab your party.

-Ghost things protecting fate is weird. But also I have some theories like the game is conscious that it’s a remake or something and for some reason they’re repeating history, but some things are different because people don’t do things in exactly the same way but certain things are fated to happen so they have to be preserved.

-Interesting that this game shows the cloaked figures going back and forth between Sephy. Kind of takes away the fun from years of debate on the subject about wtf is happening.

-And here’s Rufus. Still better than his Dad.

-I like that there’s more Turks footage than the original.

-Kind of nice that there’s more tender moments between Tifa and Cloud or rather we can experience them bonding more first hand.

-Did they make Wedge die in a different spot?

-Motorcycle bit is a bit different. Boss on motorcycle is kind of hard. Died once.

-I think it’s just cuz it’s a Remake that they added him here, but Sephiroth is at the end of the highway and I kind of think it sucks. :/ Cuz like it shouldn’t be like this.

-Why is Zack alive? Oh I think this is a flashback. Aww, this is supposed to be a hidden thing. ;o; Stop feeding them all the stuff. Let them find it.

-Whisper monsters...Okay this is just some kind of an AU. Like not really entirely a remake, but a different game in the same timeline cuz Sephy figured out somehow how to alter time and space. Aerith knows kind of what’s up because she became god essentially during AC. Would also explain why the game itself is giving away so many damn spoilers too.

-Holy shit, is Zack dead or not? D:

-Okay I looked up a thing and it said his death is ambiguous, but he’s never seen. Zack was an actual SOLDIER too so he could be a cloaked guy for all we know. But also at the end of AC it was both him and Aerith chilling together welcoming people to the lifestream so who the hell knows what she did.

-Biggs is alive?!

-So okay, if this is an AU things can change and I’m less gripey about the weird things that happened. Cuz it’s like just another pinpoint on the timeline that kind of has pseudo time travel and when you repeat things over again they’re not always exactly the same. I suppose for Square itself it’d be kind of boring to make an actual Remake because they don’t want to take away from the original and they want people to still buy that too cuz it was so good even though the graphics didn’t age so well. Instead they slapped Remake on a new title and trolled us all into thinking they actually did it when actually it’s like a timey wimey thing.

#ffviir spoilers

[callioope]

Questions Meme!

Hello, yes, this HAS in fact been sitting in my drafts for ages and ages. Thank you to both @crazy-fruit and @ruby-red-inky-blue for tagging me and for waiting forever for me to answer (oops)! I’m sorry I took so long, but y’all ask really good questions and I had to think about some of them!

Question Set 1

1. How are you?

Oh, I’m doing alright! Thank you for asking. The earlier part of this year was rather rough, but therapy has been helping. I’ve been rather busy these past few weeks with traveling, and my schedule going forward is rather busy, too, so while I’m excited for those things, I’m also excited for the eventual moment I can just relax.

2. What would you say are your talents?

Writing. Making fancy color-coded spreadsheets. I’ve been told that my super power is getting random (annoying) songs stuck in other people’s heads. Does that count as a talent? 

3. If you had the chance to start your life again, would you take it?

NOPE. No thanks. I like where I am at right now, and I would not want to relive my awkward years. Er, at least, my more awkward, younger years. Cuz I’m totally still awkward. Just less awkward. I hope?

4. Which language would you like to speak instantly? 

HMM. ALL OF THEM. It’s really hard to choose! 

Language fascinates me, and in another life I feel like I would have devoted a lot more time to learning more of them. Unfortunately, I really hated German class in high school because of the teacher’s tendency to put people on the spot -- I think that is sort of inherent in a language class, but I get anxiety speaking in public. 

Anyways, I suppose I’ll answer Turkish to this question, since spouse and I keep saying we’re going to try to learn Turkish via Duolingo. For the record, my HS offered six languages, which was the most I’ve ever heard of an American school offering, and I was always quite happy with my choice of German. (The others were Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, and Latin.) I do wish I had maintained my German better, and I that I had more time to learn Spanish. 

5. Where would you like to be right now?

Honestly? I’m pretty happy when I’m at home. But if I had to answer where “else” would I like to be right now, out of the whole world? Being back on safari in Botswana is a top contender, as are a variety of places in Turkey, and also Munich. 

6. What name would you give yourself?

I’ve always liked my actual name (Elizabeth). I know I go by Liz; one of my HS friends was quite stubborn and I’m a bit stuck with it now, but I don’t mind it. There are worse nicknames that come from Elizabeth. I used to go by Fiona online; I’ve always been fond of that one. 

7. What is something you’re currently learning?

OOF, what a good question. I sorta blanked on this at first, and my first thought was uhhhh learning how to cope with my OCD??? I’m doing exposure therapy right now, ish. Emphasis on the ish. Also mindfulness. Does that really even count? I started a beginner’s knitting project several months ago that I never finished, does that count? (I just need to seam it, that’s what I’m putting off. I have knit plenty of scarves; however, this is my first hat.) I’m sort of teaching myself ukulele although I haven’t really learned any new chords or songs in awhile. I would very much like to take more photography classes with a focus on wildlife photography. That involves buying a new camera and... signing up for classes. 

Question Set 2

1. What is a detail in a piece of art/a text that you like that you really admire?

This was very difficult, at first because it was like looking at a bin full of loose things and just seeing an assortment of color and being overwhelmed by it all, and then because once I did start digging around, I kept finding different ideas and it was too hard too choose.

Character-building: In the A Song of Ice and Fire series, when Arya starts working for the House of Black and White, Martin stops using the name “Arya” as she dons different identities. For example, he uses “Cat” for a bit, among other names. It shows she’s trying to be someone else, but the caveat is that there are still little mannerisms and such that show she hasn’t really left Arya behind (I think maybe she bites her lip or something? I don’t remember specific examples because it’s been over 5 years since I read these books, but I do remember really appreciating the general technique at the time). 

Music: In The Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” I love those repeated arpeggios, over and over, building, intensifying, as the white noise comes in and you can just feel the heaviness of desire, of want... (and then I love how it just breaks so suddenly! And I know it wouldn’t have been intended this way because that’s the end of side one, but since I listen to the whole album on spotify, then those bright chords of “Here Comes the Sun” come in and god Abbey Road is the best Beatles album)

Writing: the poetry of Florence + The Machine’s “All This and Heaven Too,” obviously, since literally the title of my blog comes from that. I’d quote that whole song honestly. There’s something that speaks to me about the incapability of language to fully encompass just... everything. I mean, love in specific here, but also just everything. Words are just these little boats we put meaning on and we hope they make it to the other side but everyone takes ‘em a little differently. 

Like, look at this: 

And the words are all escaping, and coming back all damaged And I would put them back in poetry if I only knew how 

And this: 

Words were never so useful So I was screaming out a language that I never knew existed before

Anyways, there’s also something just incredibly soothing about the music, too, and how she sings the song. There’s another line, from Sara Bareilles’ “Miss Simone” that goes “How does she know what a heart sounds like?” which pretty much sums up how I feel about “All This and Heaven Too” (and also many of Sara Bareilles’ song, especially that particular album, but I digress).

Anyways I did have some art examples, but I think I’ve rambled long enough.

2. Is there an idea that you really liked but had to discard because you couldn’t get it to work?

If I really like an idea, I don’t really “discard” it so much as put it on the shelf to attempt later. Out of recent fic ideas, I’ve really struggled with “How to Lose a Spy in 10 Days.” I first thought of this in late spring 2017, and for awhile I couldn’t stop thinking about it, but I was working on Whatever I Do at the time, and wanted to wait before starting another WIP. By the time I got to writing this, the inspiration well had sort of dried up. 

I really like the idea of a fun cat-and-mouse rom-com idea where Jyn and Cassian keep outsmarting each other, with a whole lot of competency kink, some “oh shit we actually work well together!” and maybe some battle couple. And I was really looking forward to both the moment when they both finally let their guards down around each other and the big confrontation when they actually find out each other’s identities. But it involved more mission writing than I was prepared for, and I really struggled with it. I think I need to start over but that involves a lot of working, so it’s unfortunately shelved for now, and I’m working on a “You’ve Got Mail” concept instead.

3. Is there something fandom-related you would like to be able to do (i.e. I’d like to be able to make gif sets but can’t)?

Oh, yes, absolutely! Really anything that’s not writing related, lol. Gif sets, art, etc. But most of all, I have a music video idea for the song “So Close” from Enchanted--like I have a whole story board plotted out in a google doc. But I don’t have any video editing software, don’t even know how you get the scenes for a music video, etc. I have made videos before, but not since high school, and I don’t even have the cheap, basic video editing program I used back then. Sometimes I think I should just attempt make a gif set instead, but there are so many lyrics! and scenes that go with the lyrics! that I don’t know how to consolidate it into that format anyways. 

4. What is a skill you’ve acquired through fandom work?

Hmm, this was tough. I’m going to say HTML. I’m not up-to-date on webdesign at all, but back in my early fandom days, I ran a few fansites. I still sometimes use HTML while leaving comments or to edit posts on dreamwidth or w/e. It’s super basic, but it has helped me at work at a variety of jobs. I take it for granted that people my age should know basic HTML, but a lot of them don’t, and then a lot of people I work with now are older and definitely not tech savvy. 

5. Do you think anyone can learn to create great art, or does it take talent?

Well, I’m going to cheat a little. I do think think that anyone can learn to create great art, but I also think that everyone has a talent at something, and part of learning to create great art is recognizing your skill sets and honing those. If that makes sense? I’ve sort of seen both sides to this. I’ve seen naturally talented people create great things, but I also think that they’re probably cheating themselves if they’re not learning and honing their craft and trying to get better. But I’ve also seen people who started out making things that maybe you wouldn’t call great, but they worked hard over and over again, and looking at their work now, you’d say they were talented without ever knowing the difference. Great art = talent + learning + passion. Did that even answer the question? ...moving on

6. Do you prefer AUs or in-universe? Why?

I prefer to write in-universe, for sure. I find modern AUs more challenging, mostly because--and I feel kinda bad saying this--it’s very difficult for me to tap into Jyn and Cassian’s characters without some kind of tragic background. Their experiences and how they coped with them shape their personalities, and it’s really hard to separate them from those. My WWII was easier because, hey, it’s war, not so different from in-verse. But I initially tried to write Learning Curve in a modern AU and I was just totally bored. Putting it in universe made it more interesting to me, especially having to finagle a happier plot inverse. IDK, it might even be that I generally struggle to make up any conflict in modern AUs that feels interesting.

THAT SAID, lol, I definitely read either. So it’s probably strange for me to be hung up on it because I’ve read nice fluffy modern AUs and found them perfectly engaging.

Tagging: @theputterer, @magalis, @allatariel, @mythologicalmango, @threadsketchier  MY USUAL DISCLAIMER APPLIES: no pressure if you just don’t wanna, AND if anyone sees this and was like “aw hey i wish she’d tagged ME” well guess what, I wish I did too! so go ahead and do it and let me know and then i’ll know to tag you next time, too :-) 

Questions:

When you suffer a setback or a series of setbacks when creating (writing, drawing, knitting, any kind of crafty project thing you work on... even work), what are some strategies you use to cope with that stress and move forward?

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to create/make and what did you learn from it?

What part of a bicycle would you be?

What’s a helpful writing (art/crafting/work) technique you’ve learned?

What’s a piece of art that made you see things differently?

You’re a new addition to the crayon box. What color would you be and why?

What was the last board game you played and what did you like or not like about it?

*sorry these came out rather writer heavy!

#about me #tag meme

[klinejack]

i was tagged by @clarz - thank you for this! rules: answer questions given by the person who tagged you, write 11 new questions of your own, tag 11 people. 

i’m gonna tag some people today cuz i worked hard on this and it took a long time...whoops. no pressure XD @wellsjahasghost @tylerstitties @runicscribbles @xproskeith @anomalagous @ginevraslovegood @quicklikelight​  @westhallen @lozenger8 @prudence-halliwell @malecbellarke

omg i’m sorry i just realized it’s really long. this is what happens when you take 2 days to answer a tag game. feel free to skip my answers and head to the new Qs if you want! or neither! love you <3

1. Do you find it frustrating that although you know how certain things “work” (for instance, how a love interest not calling you back automatically increases your interest), you can’t help but being drawn in? Can you give me an example? (For the record, this principle describes the entirety of my complicated one-sided relationship with one Harry Edward Styles.)

Yeeeeah i feel like most things in my life approach that level of frustration tbh. I have very little self control sometimes. I’m covered in a haze of addiction, and my impulse control/temper lives on a volatile little rickety branch in my brain where there’s always a lightning storm in the distance. Okay so what I mean is (and I’m not sure i really understand the question but I’m trying), I find it extremely frustrating that I am always aware of what the outcome will be and yet I constantly put myself in the position to be frustrated and/or disappointed by it. Did I get it? Like, if we’re talkin about celebrity obsessions, or having a crush on someone (which, yeah, I guess I kinda remember what that’s like irl), I suppose I’ve come to terms with that kind of distant admiration thing being divorced from reality- I mean, it’s been a life long struggle, so it doesn’t really get to me as much anymore. Usually. The “fangirl” in me is very, very young, and I don’t really know her anymore. If I’m talking about fighting my impulses or my mental health, or like, leaving earlier so I’m not late and then angry in traffic.... that’s a bit more frustrating. I will never leave early. Why? I don’t fucking know. And it’s the Worst. Idk if that fits with your question but yeah, I know how my behavior affects my mood and I could change it, but I don’t, and I can’t help it.

2. What is the longest book or series of books you’ve ever read? Were you at a loss when you finished? Do you generally like series or prefer stand-alone books?

The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind! I love it so much. Haven’t read it in a long time, but that shit is like over 20 books and he’s still writing.. a legend. I was at a loss several times at the end of certain books that I thought were really gonna be the End, but then he made some like, spin off series a bit. So we’re good. Generally I love a good series, but there are so many stand alone books that I adore so.. I don’t know. Why am I writing so formally? This is tiresome, I’m gonna stop now. Stupid capital letters.

other series i love include everything in the tolkien universe, and of course harry potter, and also the percy jackson books. tolkien is pretty epic, to say the least, and rick riordan is fucking prolific, so hp is like, on the small side in terms of series (tho i did reread the last 2 at least a dozen times, and the audiobooks on many a long drive). also those motherfukcing maze runner books were like... there’s not that many of them, but that one i can definitely say left me at a loss. i’m still not ready to watch the last 2 movies but i hope to one day. for dylan.

3. Ever seen a therapist or gone to a support group? Did it help?

yup. i’ve seen quite a few therapists. i don’t think it’s helped in the long term, and i’m not sure it helped in the short, though there was a time i liked it because i was indulging my self analysis, but that for sure wasn’t helpful. i tried a couple cbt therapists thinking that could be a good way to go, but nothing ever really changed, so it’s hard to tell what’s going wrong- is it the therapy or is it me? idk i just think on the whole it’s got a negative color for me. i still see someone once every few weeks, but it’s a chore. this is really completely against everything i believe about therapy, btw, and i def considered becoming one when i was in university. i do think it’s beneficial, i guess just maybe not to me.

4. What is the longest road trip you’ve ever taken? Did you drive or were you just a passenger? What is your favorite road trip ritual, if you have any (the particular gas station snacks, the car games, the fights over music choices, the rest stops, etc.)?

oh my, well i’ve been on a few road trips in my life, but probably not as many as you americans do. the longest one was probably as a child, when i was about 3 or 4 my parents took us across the states, to the grand canyon (i don’t think we actually got there) in our mustard yellow vw bus. i had to be too small to remember but i definitely do (my dad’s a photographer so the boxes upon boxes of film helps): - sleeping on the ceiling in the bus like on a fucking shelf that stuck out above the driver seats. it was way too cool. - staying in a trailer park and walking over to this little building where there was some scary movie playing that had spinning wheels on fire (i think it was like some 80s horror version of rumpelstiltskin or something). i can literally picture a scene from it, just can’t really describe it. traumatizing. - playing on a beach somewhere (cape cod?) and having something nip at my little toes.

on other trips with friends we’ve shared the driving, but the most recent one from LA to vegas my friend wouldn’t let me touch the rental wheel. he thinks i’m a terrible driver. it was ok tho i got to take pictures instead.

i don’t really have a fave ritual since i don’t do much road “tripping” per se, but since i’ve lived in both toronto and new york i have done a shit ton of driving long distance, and i absolutely love it. my fave thing to do is make sure i have enough show tunes and stand up comedy on the playlist, and even some cds on back up, so i can lose my voice on the drive. usually i have some good ol’ tim horton’s french vanilla and a croissant on the side to keep me going, and if it’s long enough i usually stop somewhere for some french fries and/or a coke to wake up. god i love driving.

5. Which do you find increases more rapidly, your age or your idea of what age is old?

ugh. my age. i don’t feel old but that stupid time nonsense says otherwise. it needs to stop.

6. Do you talk to your animals when no one else is in the room? What do you say to them? Do you talk to animals you see on the street, at zoos, in your yard? How much of a face does an animal have to have to be talk-to-able? (For example, do rodents count? Birds? Fish? Cockroaches? WHERE’S THE LINE)

absolutely. i talk to pretty much fucking everything, animals or otherwise, i don’t care who’s in the room. there is no line. the line does not exist.

7. If they cooked, which dish of your mom’s/dad’s/parental figure is or was your favorite? Which was your least favorite? Do you often cook dishes your parents used to make for you for yourself now, as an adult?

welllllll my parents do cook, but over the years i came to really dislike a lot of my mom’s cooking.. habits, lets say. my dad is great on the bbq, and with all meats, but my mom is usually the organizer and most often the chef. her staples are chicken and brisket, sometimes salmon, in various ways. the problem is i’ve always been a picky eater, and tho my own tastes have branched out, my mom still thinks she needs to cook everything super plain and sometimes it’s kinda gross. like, she’ll make some fancy chicken for everyone else and throw a boneless breast covered in teriyaki sauce in a casserole in the oven for me. it does NOT taste good. but she can make a really great schnitzel, and brisket is hard to do wrong. i don’t make anything for myself the way she does it really, but my eating/cooking habits are all wonky anyway.

8. Do you ever check your voicemail? Do you answer calls from numbers you don’t have programmed into your phone?

i check it if someone left a message, why wouldn’t you? what if it’s an emergency? in fact, my best friend does not. so i guess.. that’s a thing. i for sure do not answer any call that doesn’t show a name that i recognize- even then it’s a stretch. i have to really want/need to talk to you, otherwise it’s gonna be on my terms. my phone and i have a hate-hate relationship.

9. How often do you go to the grocery store? Are you good at it? Do you have any kind of strategy or list prepared beforehand?

i go when i run out of something i wanna eat; my store is right on the corner. i basically just do the curve around the breads/fruits/veggies if i need it, then head to the aisles which i skim from the back where the frozen/refrigerated stuff is, poking in to the aisles i need to grab the shit i’ve run out of. i eat pretty much the same way most of the time so my list is in my head (which is not always a good place, but i try hard. if i forget something i go back for it next time).

10. Do movies frequently make you cry? Do you find you’re more likely to cry in the theater or at home? When people are around or by yourself?

oh hell yes. if they’re good or i’m in a mood. i don’t think it matters much where i am if it’s public or private, the cry will come if the moment is right, and i could give no shits XD

11. Have you ever seen the sun rise? Did you kind of like the weird, slightly chilly liminal space of it, or did you just wish you were still in bed?

yes i have, in so many different contexts. mostly i watch it rise because i stay up That Late most of the time (except this time of year, i haven’t seen it in a good while), wishing my ass was finally in bed going “fuck. there’s the sun again. way to go me.” but i’ve also experienced that first bit. out in the desert after a 16k hike, sweat pouring off my skin and fire burning on the surface, hissing it away. standing on top of an ancient mountain facing the dead sea, limbs aching from climbing it with the sun racing at our backs, trying to get to the top before we missed it rise. ya. sunsets are pretty, too.

so how am i supposed to think of 11 questions?? i hope none of these are from some post i saw one time, i’m gonna try to be original without rambling too much:

1- if you could go back to one major decision you made that impacted the path of your life and change it, would you? what was it? how do you think your life would be different? or don’t answer those second two questions, if you don’t want to.

2- in what direction does your belief lean (like, you don’t have to agree with my description of it, but what fits your image best):

a single/multiple divine power that controls every facet of our existence (or like, any traditional religious worldview), with or without free will?

a harmonious interconnected universal complex that directs matter and energy but is affected by our existence in said universe?

everything is just a series of random events passing through time and everything that happens, everything we do, makes the next thing happen, but it could have happened any other way as well.

do these things make sense? idk try and figure it out.

3- on that topic, what do you think happens when we die? do we go to heaven/hell or some other religious construct? do we have a soul that sticks around? reincarnation? do we just... end, and decompose, and that’s it? what do you really think? are you afraid to find out you were wrong?

4- tell me about a moment in a movie or a show that made you go all tingly inside, like, that really special tingle, and every time you see it you get those feelings again.

5- what’s your go-to method for letting out stress?

6- what are 3 of your favorite words (english or otherwise)? why do you love them? the way they sound? the way they look? what they mean? (i usually would answer this based on sound, kinda like fave color, just a feeling).

7- this isn’t so original but i wanna know- if you could live in any other period of time, in any part of the world, what would it be and why? or would you even? would you if you could choose your station/place in society?

8- is there anything you’ve ever done or ever happened to you that you absolutely never ever could ever tell anyone about? not even your soulmate or someone who would never judge you? if so, does it bother you, or do you have it tucked away in your mind and never think about it?

9- which teen wolf cast member would you get along with best? not who would you like to be in a relationship with, but who do you think you’d have the best relationship with (romantic/platonic/otherwise)? if you don’t think you know any of them well enough... which one would you bone? boooooooooone all night long?

10- do you have a talent/skill that you feel is really underrated or underused by you or others? is there something you’re really proud of but have nobody to brag to about it because nobody you know really cares at all? brag to me.

11- do you think it’s truly possible to be happy if you never have a significant other(s) for the rest of your life? could you ever be?

THAT’S ALL FOLKS. wow i can’t believe i wrote all of that shit and you read it. way to go us. thanks again, clara!

#clarz #tagging games #personal #personal info #food mention cw #death mention cw #i can't believe how much i just fucking wrote imean..... #sorry

[theboykingofhell]

9, 15, 16, 18, 26, 31, 32, 34, 41, 42, 45, 46, 47, 49, 51 for TSG, 54 :*

ricky found fucking dead in miami after looking at these PROMPTS,

9. Least favorite trope to write.

what a weirdly phrased question because if i hate it, i ain’t gonna write it... UHH. i really don’t like bringing dead characters back to life???? i don’t like writing scenes for shock horror... well, that’s a lie, i DO like to horrify the reader through my writing, but i don’t want to cheapen the emotional ~journey~ they go through by being like ‘JUST KIDDING! everything actually DOES work out in the end!!’

i have a story where narratively its kind of leading to a place where i have to make a ‘dead’ character come back (chaos actually, since i use her in red’s actual story) and it’s making me so mad like wtf thought we had a deal

15. Where does your inspiration come from?

SONGS... and just insp in general but i get a lot through music and nnnh... there’s just so many good aesthetics and quotes on my dash tbh i’m like constantly and consistently inspired, it’s great

16. Where do you take your motivation from?

imma be honest, the thing that motivates me most sometimes is either reading a rly shitty novel or seeing a shitty show and just getting livid and writing out of spite because THAT DRIVEL WAS PUBLISHED????? MY SHIT IS SO MUCH BETTER WTF... or i think to myself ‘what the fuck, what if i die tomorrow????? with my damn novel unfinished?!?!! HELL NO’... pretty much anything that reminds me that my stuff is Great but no one knows how great it is because it’s not DONE and OUT THERE yet makes me get off my ass

18. What’s your revision or rewriting process like?

depends! for books it mostly just consists of rereading after a long period of ignoring my story and just tweaking lines that seem out of place or that ruin the flow i’m imagining. if i’m rewriting, then i have two word documents out (which the program scrivener makes SO easy god BLESS that program) and just... rewrite it word for word while STARING at the old version. that always makes the prose come out slightly different, it smooths out stuff or lets me cut away or add things i really like and, most importantly, it adds length, which i tend to struggle with a lot because i like just being TO THE POINT

with playwriting though it’s mostly about the format.. i write all plays like i write everything online... in lowercase with little regard to actual grammar. so i gotta actually pretend i give a damn about the english language and format it all properly and add stage directions cuz in a first draft for plays, i always just focus on dialogue and that’s it

26. Standalone or series, and why?

standalones are far more fun and way more satisfying and, quite honestly, require way less fluff. i keep FORGETTING how much fluff is needed in a goddamn novel. MULTIPLE BOOKS OF FLUFF no FUCKING THANKS

31. Hardest character to write.

in the rp: tyler (because he dissociates in a way that literally cuts me off from? any parts of his character? which is like the ESSENCE of his character but it’s VERY unenjoyable to write tbh) and nicki (because i put too much pressure on myself to make her seem a certain way instead of letting it happen naturally)... tbh canon characters and/or characters that are based on people are generally just rly hard sometimes cuz there’s SO MUCH IMAGINED PRESSURE TO MAKE THEM GOOD!!!

in original shit: honestly i’m really tempted to say aaron and that’s just because he’s so... unlikeable to me???? but also i think it’s just because i’ve really only written one scene for him (i always write in order unless a scene is just KICKING MY ASS to write, like this particular scene) and... he seems like a Lot... of annoying bullshit to have to write out lmfao that bitch

32. Easiest character to write.

red because i’ve been writing him for like 7-9 years now, i would hope he’d be easy by now... honestly, really explosive and dramatic characters too like bert or nora come SUPER easy for me, they’re so fun to write (especially dialogue-wise) because they’re very emotional and i can get PARAGRAPHS based on one reaction. characters who try and hide shit from everyone, INCLUDING ME, are so annoying,

34. Handwritten notes or typed notes?

typed because they’re legible,,,,, but then again, my handwritten notes make more sense because they’re kind of fully crafted ideas like ‘***make nisha and aaron meet at 42nd street for transformation chap???’ while a typed note will be like... ‘42nd street+aaron’... what did that mean, ricky-at-5am... why did you do this to us

41. How many stories do you work on at one time?

two... kind of as a minimum, sort of as a maximum... like there’s usually the MAIN story and then there’s something i’m kind of doodling in the side, something that’s just sort of cooking in the backburner that i’m not too serious into the process of it, but it’s goin... i’ve never tried to do 3 stories at a time but i feel like my attention would be too divided and it wouldn’t work

42. How do you figure out your characters looks, personality, etc.

UHH........................................... i’m very fond of faceclaims cuz idk i just kind of... feel how they look... i don’t ever really envision a full person though, i get like traits... i’ll be like... oh she has long black hair and she’s not white and her eyebrows look like this... and then i’ll see a pic of pooja mor and be like THAT’S HER THAT’S EXACTLY IT. idk what it is about eyebrows and why that’s literally always the deciding factor of how a character looks, but there it is

personality just kind of... man, characters just poop out of me, i don’t decide any of this shit wtf jhsfjg

45. Worst piece of feedback you’ve ever gotten.

once someone told me to stop making the boys kiss in the first chapter of my story so i made the boys fuck instead

46. What would your story _______ look like as a tv show or movie?

scrolls WAY up... sees you didn’t add a story as a prompt WELL i’m still riding the tsg train here so

a tsg movie better look like the 90′s, goddamnit.. not like... found footage really, but i want something in the quality to be a little fuzzy and sort of tinted that one kind of grayish brown color i always associate with the 90′s for some reason... like, i can’t stop thinking about all these amber lighting and how dull everything looks, and how higher in quality things look the further and further it goes, like, it’s something i would concentrate a lot on visual cues with because i focus so much of the storytelling of tsg on nisha’s narration. sometimes you don’t know how many days have passed because nisha doesn’t know how many days have passed, if she dissociates, i’d want that shown on camera, if she keeps repeating the same number over and over again, i’d want to watch one little piece of a scene getting repeated again and again. it’d be VERY disorienting as a movie tbh but it’d be fun...

47. Do you start with characters or plot when working on a new story?

characters!!!! plot is such a backburner thing for me, if you have rly great characters, you already have a great plot right there. the plot is just set so i can see how characters react to things, man... 

49. What do you find the hardest to write in a story, the beginning, the middle or the end?

THE MIDDLE, FUCK THE MIDDLE.... endings are literally the easiest thing for me, beginnings similarly so, it’s just getting from that BEAUTIFUL starting scene to that GORGEOUS ending that fucking kills my poor undeserving asshole

51. Describe the aesthetic of your story _______ in 5 sentences or words.

low-res pictures of old cemetaries... that’s five words right there, i’m sorry but the END IS IN SIGHT, I’M ALMOST FREE AND CANT BE BOTHERED

54. Any writing advice you want to share?

can’t stress how useful having an insp blog is... creating a story through the unconscious collection of pictures and quotes that just feel relavant is just SO useful not just when it comes to really constructing a character an an atmosphere to your story, but making a fucking plot????? my tsg blog is like my most perfect insp blog because i got the idea to seperate it by chapters, and i’ve found that i can literally just... go into the chapter tags... and make connections and build on plotlines that i had NO IDEA ABOUT when i made or filled those tags, IT’S REALLY FUN and it keeps me inspired to write

#i did not proofread this at all cuz OOP IM DROWNING HERE... #w #mmementommori #ask tag