#looks intentionally artsy

[hardwriterdeluxe]

Economic Hockey Boys

In a small, conservative town, Alex's life was about to take an unexpected turn. He was an outsider, a creative soul who had always felt like he didn't quite belong. His colorful and artsy presentation was a stark contrast to the traditional masculinity that dominated his school, especially in the language class he shared with a group of stereotypical boys.

One of these boys was Max, a tall, athletic, and incredibly attractive member of the local hockey team. Max was the embodiment of the masculine ideal, with his chiseled jawline, strong physique, and a confident charm that made him popular among the girls and respected by the boys. Little did Alex know, but he had developed a crush on Max from the moment he saw him.

Their shared language class had been a source of both excitement and anxiety for Alex. Excitement because it allowed him to explore a new subject, but anxiety because it meant spending more time around the boys he secretly admired. Max, in particular, had caught his attention.

One day, their language teacher assigned a group project, and “fate”intervened to bring Alex and Max together. Before the lesson Max and the boys had requested to be paired in this group. They found themselves in a small group along with a few other students, working on a project that required them to sit closely together in a small group room.

As they settled in to work on the project, Alex couldn't help but feel nervous sitting next to Max. His heart raced, and his palms grew sweaty. Max, perhaps sensing Alex's unease, turned to him with a friendly smile. "Hey, Alex, don't be nervous. We got this," Max said, his voice smooth as honey.

Little did Alex know, Max had a plan of his own. He subtly flexed his arm, causing a bead of sweat to glisten on his bicep. Then, as if by accident, he raised his arm to reach for a pen, allowing his armpit to come tantalizingly close to Alex's face.

Alex's heart skipped a beat as he inhaled Max's intoxicating scent. He was oblivious to the fact that Max was intentionally using this opportunity to get closer to him, to make his presence known, and to send Alex's heart racing.

But the other boys in the group knew exactly what Max was doing. They exchanged knowing glances and stifled their laughter as they watched Alex struggle to maintain his composure.

As the project continued, Alex found it increasingly difficult to concentrate. Max's proximity, his scent, and the subtle but deliberate physical contact left Alex feeling dizzy with desire. Little did he know that this was just the beginning.

At the end of the lesson, Alex was dizzy and could not focus on anything but the smell. Originally, he was supposed to have an art lesson after the language lesson, but because of his foggy brain, he didn't think twice when he got the offer from the other boys. Max and the boys asked Alex if he wanted to tag along for their scheduled hockey practice. The team had made up with the school so that the members of the hockey team could practice during school hours.

Alex said yes, of course, and walked with them to the hockey arena, still dizzy but not as much. Alex's attire was a funny clash with the other boys' clean sporty look. Since Alex wore artsy and flamboyant clothes, he looked like a disco ball next to the conforming boys.

As the group and Alex finally arrived at the hockey arena, Alex started to question the situation a little bit more. Firstly, he knew nothing about sports or hockey, and he didn't even have any gear. Secondly, he was a skinny twig, not like Max, a Greek god. But he didn’t question it since he wouldn't be playing anyways

Max continued to be friendly with Alex and made Alex follow him and the boys to the locker room. In the locker room, the boys exchanged knowingly smug looks and waited for the action to begin.

They were tired of having to share their class with a walking pride flag and couldn't wait for Alex to become the extra resource they were missing on the team and in their bro-group. Max and the boys started undressing at their stations while Alex just stood there and started smelling the tasty air. Of course, a sweaty locker room filled with gear from matches played by hormone-filled 18+ boys would smell.

The boys had changed into their hockey attire and counted on Alex to poke around their "leftover" stuff. Just as they knew that when they left for practice and left Alex intoxicated by the air, Alex would start sniffing the leftover stuff and start his transformation.

Alex went from locker to locker and bench to bench, burying his face in socks and jocks, to jerseys and gloves. He got so hard he finally caved in and started to undress. All the leftover stuff he would put on to be one of the boys, the boys he envied and crushed on.

Firstly, Alex put on the used jock and felt so hot. He followed that up by covering his dainty feet in the big socks. He continued to dress up with the pants and put on the "gigantic" skates that were yellow from all the wear and tear. These definitely belonged to a player that used his full potential.

After he had laced up the skates, he put on the shin pads and the large shoulder pads. He continued to gear up with his elbow pads and his slash guards. Finally, he could put on the team-repping jersey that currently displayed a random number and name. He put on the helmet, hiding his blush-red face, and sealed off his hands with the large gloves.

Alex went over to the locker room mirror to see a pathetic boy in baggy gear. Just as Alex had the sad thought that this was stupid and that he needed to hurry before the others found him, he felt a tingle.

It first started in his feet where the once baggy socks and big skates soon filled out with rough, manly feet that had the skate methods in them. This was followed by his small legs growing larger, his calves exploded from the practices they had been through, and the changes just kept going up. His thighs became big and well-trained.

Alex's torso cramped before its fat disappeared, leaving rock-hard abs and a mesmerizingly good physique. Alex's once nonexistent pecs quickly hardened, and he started to fill in the gear well. The once large jersey, pants, and guards now fitted him perfectly, protecting him at all costs. Next up were his twig arms contrasting his currently good build. Alex's arms exploded with muscles, and you could see that he was clearly right-handed since he had used that hand for the hockey stick. The changes tracked to Alex's hands that juiced out, hands became hard and full of energy.

The changes took Alex's back and made a landscape of muscles, made his nether region grow and fill out the now small jock cup, and made his flat ass round up from all the practices in the sport.

Last but not least was Alex's average face. His rounded jaw became as sharp as a knife, emitting the peak of masculinity. Alex's nose bridge became broken and healed in an instant, caused by all the sport injuries. Alex's eyes narrowed and became focused and quick. Alex's once playful hair straightened into a simple middle part just like the rest of the boys. Lastly, in the transformation, the musk from all the "forgotten" clothes was absorbed by Alex, and this made him finally conform now that his brain was changed.

He wasn't Alex the artsy freak; he was a hockey bro, a confident chick magnet with a killer body. He was Alex the economic dude who always reeked from his pits.

The real world conformed to these changes, and gone was the old Alex. With this, the jersey he wore changed into Alex Benson and his number.

The team came back from practice, not knowing the old Alex, just the new. The only one who knew was Max.

 "Alex, bro, let's change after practice; you stink, dude. 

Hehe, bro, I went all out on the ice, you know me."

No more were Alex's old clothes. Instead, before him in his "new" locker, laid gray sweatpants, a fresh hockey hoodie, a black cap, a chain, and his shoes and socks—the attire of a real man.

(should I make a part 2?)

#musk #jock tf #jockification #Bro #Hockeytf #Hockeygear #Gear #sports #frat bro #lockeroom #gay to straight

[jalwyn21]

This might be a reach but the way Taylor treated Joe during their relationship and what she’s doing now, I feel like she doesn’t actually love him. Still or maybe ever. I think she loves the way she was when he was around. Her writing had (marginally) matured and her albums with him reached outside her generic pop audience. She wants to be an underdog indie darling so badly and he gave her the mega popstar version of that;the closest she’ll ever get to her manufactured humble upbringing stories.

Right now she’s trying to imitate the music she had with him and it’ll never be the same. Maybe she wants to prove she can do something like that alone and that’s why she’s so hell bent on no one contributing or editing her work.

Maybe she is truly in love with the “need me a breeder” but is putting on a show because she hates what kind of a person that makes her. She’s always wanted the high esteem of marrying into a sort of modern dynasty. Oh well. You burn the Kennedy bridge you get skidmarks.

Well, there is a huge difference between loving someone and being obsessed with winning a trophy. She recognized Joe is a very high value man as soon as she met him, so she wanted him. (Like with Jake Gyllenhaal for eg) Yeah, you could argue that being with a man and trying to change him, intentionally doing things that will hurt him, disrespecting his boundaries is not love. 🤷‍♀️

And yes, I agree, she liked the woman she appeared to be when she was with Joe, and she always wanted the high esteem of marrying into a good, classy family.

Men like Joe are her type. Her dream choice, the ideal man. Artsy, intelligent, classy, well educated, well spoken, from good and respectable families, well liked by colleagues, well respected and well spoken of by people who meet him. Mature, with a fancy sense of humor, stoic, wise and severely allergic to stupid drama. A perfect gentleman.

But tragically for her, it's what she can't handle. She is a forever teenager, petty and tacky and mean. Men like Joe make her feel "small" and "tolerated". So she ends up punishing and pushing them away and then she hates them for not "choosing" her and not marrying her.

And her "love" is fickle as hell. One day she loves him, the next day she is trying to destroy his life. 🙄 Her "love" should not be celebrated. Hell, her "love" should not even be tolerated. 🙄 🤭 And yeah, she has burned so many bridges, that her odds of getting a classy type of man, are not looking good now.

But, I genuinely think she and TK are a good match. They have so much in common. Like, they could make it work if they want to. They clearly want the same lifestyle. He may not be what she wants, but he is what she needs.

#free joe alwyn #nonnie #q&a #jalwyn #anti taylor swift #toxic swifties #shit swifties say #toxic taylor swift

[powderblueblood]

YES! NO! OKAY! I DUNNO!

ronnie and eddie volunteer at the hawkins high carnival to start their senior year off wrong right. wc: 2.4k warnings: eh, none. swearing. era-typical misogyny and shit. ronnie ecker gay as hell. was this inspired by the opening scene of bottoms (2023)? maybe! mind your business! requested by the lovely @joejoequinnquinn

“The thing is, man, when Ms. Kelley calls, you answer.” Ronnie shrugs through a mouthful of kettle corn and Eddie can almost hear the like Ghostbusters! She doesn’t even need to say it. 

“Kelley did not call you, first of all–”

“--well, no, we met at the market. Which is way more intimate, if you think about it. Romantic.”

“Second of all, this is a total fucking betrayal of your anti-school spirit ethos.” Eddie, with his wound cloud of cotton candy stuck in a cone, gesticulates wildly. Dude’s even scaring away the flies that might dare land on it. "What, you’re all pep squad now because you gotta nosebone some teachers into giving you scholarship recommendation letters? Volunteering for the fucking carnival?” His hands go up, a makeshift bandleader for the jaunty circus soundtrack that twinkles through the humid September air. “What’s next, the Young Republicans?” 

Ronnie’s whole face crushes in disgust. As per usual, she’s overestimated his perception in these matters. Dumbdumb is totally missing the point. 

“Edweiner,” she says, adjusting the strap of her overalls, “What I think you’re failing to essentially recognize here is the fact that–look around!--there are girls here.”

Damn fuckin’ skippy. Cheerleaders, nerd girls, regular girls, artsy girls, band girls, chess club girls, girls all wearing marginally hipper clothing than they usually would. Because the Hawkins High school carnival is prime hunting ground for hookups. 

Not that Ronnie's looking for any such thing, but it doesn't hurt to see how the other half live.

“Yyyyeah, girls that have spent the last four years ignoring u–” 

Okay, ixnay. Ronnie cuts Eddie off right at the knees, shoving a full palm into his face.

“Mmmm, glass half full me for a hot sec,” y’know, god knows what brought this optimism on for Ronnie. Maybe her job directing lowly freshmen toward the gaming booths, maybe it’s the kettle corn that kind of tastes like carpet, but she’s rolling with it, “These are girls that are still in fuck-it-it’s-summer mode. Girls that are entering their senior year of high school. Girls, okay, girls who may have finally realized that the social hierarchies of Hawkins are total bullshit and want to start off their year with a bang.”

She and Eddie stop in their tracks, identical brown eyes staring each other down. 

“A finger bang,” Ronnie encourages.

Eddie blinks, slow and spacey, like a cow.

“Fruuuhm you.”

Again, with Eddie’s shaking of the fucking cotton candy. There’s a wasp trapped in there right now. “Are you fucking high right now? Are you insane?”

“Technically, yes!” Ronnie can smoke and bike, it’s fine. “Hereditarily, jury’s still out!” Eddie sorta cringes at that one, and she smirks. “See, I can make those jokes, because of the loopy mom of it all. You can’t make those jokes.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Cue disheartened shrug. ”But. Y’know. We can leave.” 

Her metalhead comrade grimaces, Reeboks kicking through the grass as a bunch of freshmen scatter in his path. 

Ronnie sighs real big. “We can leave… if you’re too chicken to stay.”

Pump the fuckin’ breaks. Ronnie keeps walking a few paces, intentionally leaving Eddie in her dust.

“Ronald James.”

And then she pivots. All that’s missing is Ennio Morricone playing from the heavens. Or the PA, whatever.

“Edward… ward.”

Eddie squints, his heavy brown knitting furiously. “You just call me a chicken?”

And Ronnie shrugs, cool as crushed ice. “If it walks and it buh-kawks.”

Scoff. Scoff. Scoff. Eddie’s whole torso is wracking with scoffs, he’s like a courtesan dying of consumption with scoffs, he’s about to keel over with scoffs, he quite simply can’t believe–

“Quit hawkin’ up hairballs and square up, pardner!” Ronnie yells. 

Enough with the theatrics! It’s like clicking in a seatbelt, the way their competitive nature with each other activates. Just add chicken and they are off, Eddie flinging his cotton candy to the wayside, the sticky mess hitting a nearby kid. The two of them jostle through the carnival, tracking on up to the sad-looking shooting gallery that’s being manned by one of their greasier classmates that neither of them recognise. Eddie, that big-handed buffoon, beats Ronnie to the punch of slamming down his fluorescent green tickets. 

“Hi! I’d like to shoot to kill, please,” he booms. 

The kid just stares at him, shifting to the left. “‘kay. Whatever. It’s three turns.”

Ronnie rolls her eyes as Eddie slams the pellet rifle into his shoulder– she’s seen his hand-eye coordination, alright? It sucks dick, the dude can barely walk in a straight line. It’s a miracle he can play guitar at all! 

Ptew! The first of the little tin duckies barely makes it away with its life, narrowly avoiding a blow to the head from Munson. Ptew! Second one, not so lucky. 

Eddie, roving around with the rifle for his final victim, yells to Ronnie. “Looks like havin’ a dad with a rap sheet pays off, Ron!”

Ptew! Third and final. Eddie’s face peels back into that terrifier of a grin that’s like, okay, calm down, Bozo the Clown.

“Pfff… beginner’s luck,” Ronnie tuts.  

“Like you’ve ever even held a gun before,” Eddie says and pivots back to the kid manning the booth, who’s passing him his prize. “Hold on, nonono, gimme that bear. The like, the zebra print one. With the fuck me eyes.”

The volunteer carnie doesn’t budge. “You only hit two. The bears are if you hit three. You win green Papa Smurf if you get two.” 

And gingerly, Eddie accepts the little off-brand Smurf. Where do they get this shit? Does it fall off the back of the same truck that carries Bev’s off-brand liquor at The Hideout or what?

Whatever, Ronnie grabs the rifle from him and settles it against her shoulder. She can already hear Eddie tutting like, there’s no way and don’t embarrass yourself, Ron, but the thing is–ptew!--you don’t get to be as good of a drummer as Ronnie Ecker–ptew!--without learning a little precision. 

Ptew!

“What?” she shrugs to an open-mouthed Munson as the pimply kid passes her a big ol’ overstuffed bear, with the fuck me eyes painted on and all (weird feature. Ronnie might regret having this in her bedroom later on), “Like it’s hard?”

Eddie huffs, because that’s a boy that hates to be shown up even if he spends so much of his loser ass time being shown up. But, it’s usually not by Ronnie, so! 

They keep movin’ through the fair, like that old folk song goes, two heat seeking missiles looking to outdo each other. Ring toss? Piss. Cornhole? Are you fucking kidding me? Balloon darts– okay, so they maybe blew their wad a little early by going straight to the gun range but there’s gotta be something… 

Then, Ronnie spots it, because it’s all flailing and water and choking and drama and shit. 

Dunk tank.

She yanks Eddie over by the collar. 

Whoever the poor sucker was that they’d been dunking made an extremely dramatic exit. Ronnie overhears something about, ‘What do you mean, you never asked him if he could swim!’ squawked from the irate mouth of one Nancy Wheeler. Because of course she’s involved in cruise directing this, somehow. Like, where does she get the time? How does she have even a minute gap in her schedule for this? How can someone look so pretty when she’s stressed? 

Then, next thing Ronnie knows, ol’ Blue Eyes Wheeler is walking towards them. Orbs of azure all ringed apologetic and Ronnie’s rooted to the ground, she can’t move, she can’t think– 

–and naturally, Nancy’s looking at Eddie.

“I would usually never, never ask this…”

“He’ll do it.” She says it without hesitation, without thinking, without considering Eddie, like, at all. 

Which naturally makes him bark, “I’ll do what?!”

“Be the dunkee. Be the dunked man,” Ronnie hisses, eyes flicking from a confused Nancy to an enraged Eddie. 

“Oh god, would you? Please?” Nancy asks, almost begging– and look, the girl knows how to turn on the charm. She might not be Eddie’s type, not in eight million bajillion lightyears, but it’s near impossible to say no to her. “You can swim, right?”

“And it’s just about time for his yearly bath! So! Heh!” Ronnie gasps a little too loud for her own good, earning a gravitational pull back from Nancy and Eddie. No? No giggles for that one? Fine.

Eddie just shakes his head, sour expression immovable because he knows there’s no saying no to this– it’s for charity. A dumb charity he doesn’t care about, sure, but it’s for charity and also a girl is asking him and also he is determined to not look chicken. Ronnie knows this. It’s why she keeps winning.

“Yeah, Wheeler, I’ve been known to doggy– hold this,” and Eddie pushes green Papa Smurf into Ronnie’s chest, peeling off his jacket on the ascent to the dunk tank. 

Nancy lingers by Ronnie a second, resting her forehead against her clipboard. 

“Oh, thank god. We might actually make our donation target–like, everybody’s gonna want to drown him.”

A beat. Nancy raises her permed head, glances toward Ronnie.

“Did I say that out loud?”

“You did.”

“Sorry.”

“Eh, I get it.”

Nancy flutters on by, muttering something like a thanks and a good luck and an I really hope he can swim. 

Now, to his credit, Eddie makes for a pretty great picture of defiance as he straddles the plank, still fully dressed in his Hellfire shirt (Ronnie’d call nerd, if she wasn’t also wearing hers) and his shredded up jeans. Then it occurs to her that he may not have completely disrobed because he’s not wearing underwear. And that’s disgusting. Moving on.

Ronnie lets him have it, for a while anyway. Nancy was onto something– an alarmingly hefty line of would-be dunkers start to gather, everyone from cheerleaders to underclassmen trying to prove something. Not to side with the idea of gender conformity or whatever, but the couple of cheerleaders that step up to the mark don’t quite throw hard enough to hit. The sophomore that follows them is thrown off his game immediately when Eddie pretend-lunges at him, devil horns at the ready. 

Gareth, their newest freshman recruit and Ronnie’s personal drum mentee, sidles up beside the tank to hype up his fearless (pffft) leader. 

“Doin’ pretty good up there, Eddie!”

Loud enough for Ronnie to hear, Eddie hollers, “Piece of fuckin’ cake, freshman…” 

“Gareth…” he mumbles.

“...I’m gonna be bone dry ‘til the end of this shift.”

Well, y’know, so like, he asked for it. 

Ronnie tosses their hard won stuffies to the side and elbows a couple of basketball players out of the way. Cue watch it, freak!, yadda yadda, who cares, give her the ball!

“That’s what the last girl who hooked up with you said, right?” Ronnie bats to Eddie, stretching her arms above her head like a pitcher. 

If she’s not mistaken, he’s relieved to see that she’s cut the basketball boys (who’ve got much more experience tossing balls than she does) out of the way. 

“Ecker, I’ve seen you in gym class! You throw like an amputee! Bring it!”

Again, he asked. So Ronnie goes ahead and winds up. 

Eddie, in all of his your ass should have learned by now have you not been watching do you not see the signs ego, turns to Gareth. 

“See, Ronnie doesn’t seem like much of a girl but she does throw like o–”

Boom! And the metalheads goes down into the murky depths, not unlike Gareth’s DnD character that Eddie so mercilessly merked at the last Hellfire session. Ronnie doesn’t hold back a cackle, seeing Eddie resurfacing like a drowned river rat and spluttering. 

“Ffflfpfpfl! Fluke! That was a flu–” he jabs a finger through the mesh to something behind Ronnie’s head, “Wheeler, that was a fluke throw!” 

“Is he floating? Oh, good.” Oh. Nancy’s back. Nancy’s back and she’s watching Ronnie. Oh. Oh that’s… Ronnie makes the grave error of glancing over her shoulder to see Nancy grinning, clipboard bound to her chest. “She’s got two more to prove it, Eddie.” 

“Just take the–” Eddie struggles to make it back to the plank, sodden clothes and all that shit, “Just take the ball because she’s not gonna get–”

Bullseye! See, that’s how you don’t choke in front of a pretty girl and all the rest of your classmates, dude, you just wind it up and get it done! Ronnie’s buzzing with a touch more adrenaline now, and it’s going straight to her mouth. 

“Come again, water boy?!”

“Water boy?” Eddie babbles once he floats upward again, struggling under the weight of, I don’t know, his waterlogged hair to straddle first position.

“‘Cuz you’re wet.”

“Not your best. Not your b–”

Not even a full sentence out and Ronnie’s put him back under again. Hello. Why has she never tried out for softball. Would that be too obvious. This is kind of making her wacky, a little.

“What was that, Munson? Whawassat?” Ronnie stomps as the poor bastard tending to this wretched machine helps a soggy Eddie back onto dry land. “Couldn’t hear you over the sound of women’s rights! Can I hear it for women’s rights?! … Ladies?” 

Zero response. Crickets. Nancy Wheeler’s even disappeared. 

Scooping up their stuffed creatures, Ronnie’s shoulders sag– and she narrowly gets out of the way of Eddie, who’s racing towards her, helicoptering his soaked hair. 

“Don’t be– don’t be shaking your Lassie locks at me like some damn dog! Jesus Christ… my sweater.”

“My apologies to the Gap by way of the Salvation Army,” Eddie sneers, draping a towel over his head as he struggles to put his shoes on. 

“One more?” Because Ronnie’s nothing if not sympathetic, alright? Dude’s drenched. She'll let him win this one.

Squelching, Eddie nods. And just like that, to their left, shining like a beacon with a trail of suckers lined up outside…

“One more… to prove we’re not…” …staffed by a multitude of cute-as-a-button beauties…

“We’re not chicken…” …glowing with the radiant halos of fuck it, it’s summer, fuck it, it’s my senior year…

The Kissing Booth. 

Ronnie and Eddie each wear a thousand yard stare. 

Eddie, for reasons pertaining to freakdom and Ronnie, also that, but jacked up to a degree of potential social pariah. God, could you imagine? Could you imagine if she had the nerve to go completely fuck it, completely hetero-nuclear and march on up there with her dollars in quarters dug out of the couch and be like, Yeah, Tina Burton. Lay one on me. Oh, you’re switching shifts? Oh, that’s okay, I can wait… And who is that? Nancy Wheeler? Well, hell! Isn’t it just my gay lucky day!

Because Ronnie can imagine. Is imagining. 

“But I'm… I’m kinda cold.” In truth, Eddie’s kinda turning blue. That September chill is starting to set in, finally… so it’s back to the parking lot they go. 

“And I’m kinda hungry. You shouldn’t kiss people when you’re hungry, right?”

“No, that’s how they discovered cannibalism.”

“Right. So let’s–”

“--Big Boy Burger?”

“For the big boys, yep.”

#published by powder #r. ecker by powder #e. munson by powder #ronnie ecker vs the world #ronnie ecker #eddie munson #cant tell if this sucks dick or not but like screw it we're here to mess around #eddie munson fic #eddie munson fluff #i guess???

[that-ari-blogger]

Idealism

One reading of Wicked that I have noticed to be particularly popular is as a love story between Glinda and Elphie, and I actually subscribe to this idea. What Is This Feeling is often interpreted as a love song, repressed emotions and all that, but here is where I disagree.

Wicked is a satire, and so What Is This Feeling is a satire of the love-at-first-sight trope. The relationship takes time, and doesn't actually work out in the end, that's part of the tragedy of the story.

I would argue that this song sets up why the romance falls apart, but also why it is so compelling to discuss.

Let me explain.

Spoilers Ahead

According to the Cabridge Dictionary, "Idealism" can be defined as the following:

"The belief that your ideals can be achieved, often when this does not seem likely to others"

There are other definitions pertaining to philosophy and principals, but this is the definition I will be working under, and here is the interesting question: Of the two named characters present in What Is This Feeling, who is the idealist? I will come back to this.

A massive attraction of the Glinda x Elphaba ship is the idea that opposites attract, and that certainly seems to be on display here. The opening of the song establishes once again who these characters are, and while their relationships with family is interesting, my favourite example of their dynamic is this:

Thats some good character writing right there. Galinda is almost aggressively indirect, dancing around the subject to avoid actually saying anything, while Elphaba is direct, and realistic. It's a neat little comedy beat, and this song is comedic in nature, but it's also fascinating.

"There's been some confusion for you see my roommate is..."

"Unusually and exceedingly peculiar and all together quite impossible to describe."

"Blonde"

This is our first look at the old Galinda, and she's... a schemer. She doesn't do anything herself, instead preferring that others take action or even say things for her. She will take an artsy path to ensure someone else walks down the road the way she wants them to.

Galinda is charismatic and has weaponised that fact.

Elphaba, on the other hand, is awkward and blunt, but intelligent, and there is something to that. There is a stereotype of historical witchcraft as "women who were clever" and while there is some truth to it, history rejects simplicity.

I recommend Crash Course's video on the subject but put simply: The Witch-hunts in history were based almost entirely on fear and anger, with the remainder made up of prejudice and superstition. Encyclopedia Brittanica puts the number of people killed between forty-thousand and sixty thousand, both men and women (I couldn't find any explicit mention of non-binary folk executed for witchcraft, so I guess we got out of this one. Good work team).

What is important to understand is that witches were societal outcasts, anyone who there was prejudice against could be tried as a witch. Women who was mildly intelligent or, heaven forbid, had opinions, were often targets of this prejudice in such a heavily patriarchal society.

So, where does Elphaba slot into this? Well, she's an outcast from society because of her skin colour, and she's clever. She is very intentionally invoking the history and popular culture depiction of the witch (something her original incarnation in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz definitely contributed to) to invoke sympathy in the audience, or at least, to invoke antipathy for those who call her a witch.

The rest of this song doubles down on the differences between the two, and the fact that this causes them to fall apart instead of together is important here.

This the setup for a love song, right? These are symptoms of powerful emotions and at this point in a romantic story, you would expect the meet cute. But the song pulls the rug out from underneath you.

"My pulse is rushing"

"My head is reeling"

"My face is flushing"

"What is this feeling?"

Love at first sight is rare in real life, but it is common in fiction. The prince and princess meet and fall instantly head over heels, etc. But once again, Wicked is a satire, and it goes in a different direction. Part of this musical is the relationship between these two being built up from scratch, and this song establishes that baseline.

"Loathing

Unadulterated loathing"

But why do these two fall apart in the end? I mentioned that this song foreshadows that, and what did I mean by that?

I asked earlier on in this post which one of the two witches is the idealist, and I think the answer is Elphaba. She believes in honesty and kindness and is hopeful to a fault (remember The Wizard And I?), which is in contrast to Galinda's remarkably utilitarian mindset. Galinda says what she needs to say and wants nothing more than the spotlight.

Don't get me wrong, wanting attention isn't a sin, that's not what I mean here. I'm trying to say that Galinda doesn't have far reaching dreams for herself, she wants personal happiness, nothing more. Or so she thinks.

My thesis for this series about the songs in Wicked is that the musical is about the collision of dreams and reality, and its interesting how that works with the characters.

Galinda is incredibly shallow, but she ends up getting inspired by her friend. Elphaba's hope and ideals brush off on Galinda over time, not enough to be noticeable to her, but enough that when Galinda gets everything she wants, she is unsatisfied.

That's why the relationship doesn't work out in the end. Elphaba has ambitions to make the world a better place, and Galinda doesn't realise that she does too until it is far too late.

Final Thoughts

Please don't misinterpret this post. This isn't that Glinda x Elphaba is a bad ship or even that it isn't a valid reading of the story. It is, and I will explain in future posts as to why that is the case. All I am trying to say is that this song is explicitly antiromantic, and that factors into the queer reading of the musical.

I will, however, say this: "Gelphie" is such an awful name for a ship. Like, come on folks, you could have gone with anything, but "Gelphie"?

In all seriousness, this is the third post in a series about Wicked, next week I will be talking about Dancing Through Life, a song that is remarkably complex for a character trying his hardest to be simple. So, stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

#rants #literary analysis #literature analysis #character analysis #wicked is a queer story #what's so special about...? #wicked #glinda upland #elphaba thropp #wicked the musical #gelphie #wicked musical #lgbtqia #lgbt pride

[lab-gr0wn-lambs]

I fuckin hate how people on youtube shorts and tiktok have those auto-generated artsy looking captions that are WRONG. and they're part of the actual video, they put them there intentionally, it's not like youtube captions that people just forget about. WHAT is the point?? Take an extra five minutes to fix the nonsense word vomit plastered over your video or don't include them at all

[presidenthades]

Once again, I am doing a series of my behind-the-scenes thoughts for The Golds while I do light edits for formatting, typos, and continuity. Here’s Chapter 8!

(Full disclosure, I learned that TGC can sing around the time I started writing this series, and that definitely inspired singing artsy Aegon. I am still distraught about his band going “on a break.” 🥺)

For this chapter’s title, I picked the Mother lyrics from “The Song of the Seven” because it’s the childbirth chapter. The moment we’ve all been waiting for!

Joff’s hand is bandaged at the beginning of the chapter because she’s been messing around with the glass candle. Of course her loyal assistant Daeron knows about it, and he doesn’t entirely approve of her methods.

BTW I often cringe when people in fantasy stories casually cut their palms for spells and such, because your hands have a lot of muscles and nerves, so it hurts a bunch and takes a while to heal. I thought about having Joff take blood from a different body part that isn’t used all the time. Then I remembered the point of blood magic in this universe is pain and sacrifice, and I could see the magic refusing to accept blood from someone intentionally trying to avoid pain, and it only works if it hurts. So here I am, using the trope that I used to always complain about 😅.

Despite everything, Jace would not approve of Elinor’s hand being cut off, so people have been avoiding telling her.

Jace thinks Gyles is suffering at Dragonstone, but this is actually an improvement! He used to make a heckton of pies at the Red Keep, but now he only has to cook for one person. So he’s getting paid the same to do 1% of his usual workload, and he gets to be creative since he has to change the menu every meal while ensuring Jace eats a balanced diet.

Luce dresses extra neatly and arrives early so people don’t suspect she was canoodling with Aemond the night before, but this is so out of character for her that Jace notices.

During breakfast, Luce tries to play it cool and ignore Aemond while he stares at her. They had this exact same dynamic in Chaoter 9 of the Handbook, during the post-wedding breakfast. They really need to coordinate a better system when they have something to hide 🤪. (100% inspired by Aemond’s intense staring during the show when he looks at pretty much anybody.)

If Aegon and Aemond get to have sibling telepathy, so do Jace and Luce.

Luce’s rose garden reference is a callback to Chapter 1, when it’s mentioned that Aegon got handsy with Jace pre-wedding while Daemon was stalking around the hedges. Technically, Jace and Aegon were already married for years because of the elopement, and that’s how Jace justifies letting Aegon take liberties. He was already her husband so why not? 😉

Absolutely nobody expected Jace to serve as chaperone, but she blames herself anyway (as usual). If everyone wasn’t so worried about Jace’s health and if the trip preparations weren’t so hasty, I’m sure Alicent or Rhaenyra or Daemon would have insisted on sending an actual chaperone with the group.

The Episode 8 last supper bit where Jacaerys pathetically punches Aemond, who isn’t fazed at all, inspired the scene with our Jace smacking Aemond with a sandal (la chancla!). In this universe, however, Aemond can’t retaliate because Jace is a pregnant woman. He has too many chivalrous notions to strike a woman (and nobody would let him anyway). Luckily for Aemond, our Jace isn’t very strong either.

Baela has been corresponding with Cregan the last few months. Not so frequently that it raises eyebrows, but often enough that they’ve gotten to know each other better. She definitely sent a letter of condolence after Sara died, so she’s expecting a response. Unfortunately, Cregan is not reacting well to his sister’s death, and it feels like the latest in a series of Starks getting screwed whenever they interact with Targs. Jaehaerys and Alysanne made the Starks donate land to the Night’s Watch who neglected it, Jaehaerys showed mercy to rebels which led to Walton Stark’s death, Rhaenys arranged for a Stark daughter to marry Ronnel Arryn (who was usurped and thrown out the Moon Door; his wife and children probably weren’t spared either), and there are probably still some complicated feelings about Torrhen kneeling to Aegon I. Now the Northmen probably feel the Targs caused Sara’s death too, so Cregan, who is also grieving, backs away from Baela and arranges to marry a Northern girl.

Rhaenyra deliberately omits news of the Baratheon betrothal in her letter to Jace. Like everyone else, she’s trying to reduce Jace’s stressors.

Aemond’s letter has the king’s personal seal. He’s confused why Viserys would bother writing to him.

Aegon’s letter is most likely from Alicent, and it mentions something about the Baratheons. I don’t think Alicent explicitly reveals the betrothal, but there’s enough detail that Aegon figures out something is fishy. He has a good poker face when he chooses to use it, so Jace can’t tell what his reaction is.

Aemond leaves because he wants to yell at Viserys, and Luce follows to stop him from getting in trouble. They’re gone all day because they stop somewhere along the Blackwater to argue about what to do, and eventually Luce convinces him to come back to Dragonstone. When they return in the middle of the night, Aegon sneaks out to get the details from them, and that’s when they all agree on a cover story to tell Jace.

Aegon is constantly checking Jace’s pulse because he’s worried about her anxiety 😮‍💨.

Luce is trying very hard not to cry during her convo with Jace. Normally Jace is the first person she confides in about this sort of thing, but she can’t right now 😢.

Jace has a PTSD flashback, and she instinctively/inadvertently uses grounding techniques (mostly centered on Aegon) to get out of it. Westeros doesn’t have much psychological understanding or vocabulary, so I imagine a lot of conditions/symptoms get swept under the category of “madness.” Jace doesn’t entirely know why her brain and body are acting the way they do, so she worries she’s losing her mind.

I’m not a doctor so don’t quote me, but based on my amateur internet research, stress and trauma during pregnancy can cause preterm labor, and Jace has experienced a lot of stress and trauma. I was determined for Cheeseball to be born healthy, so I made him born around 37 weeks/3 weeks early. Not too early, but he’s cutting it close in a world without NICU equipment. I also read that babies born early are likelier to be breech, presumably because they’re on the small side.

Pregnant women sometimes begin “nesting” when the baby is imminent, so Jace spends the morning organizing the baby knits. And the baby might be less active than usual right before labor, which Aegon notices.

Joff is using her little hourglass to time Jace’s contractions 💀.

Jace is telling herself to be brave because “a woman’s battlefield is in the childbed,” or however the saying goes.

Why does Joff know so much about different types of fire? Because she and Daeron were trying all the different ways to light the glass candle on fire 🔥.

Rhaenyra still has unresolved trauma from Aemma’s death, so she decides to keep Aegon from the birthing chamber out of fear that he would make the same choice as Viserys if something goes wrong. When the maester and midwives are debating what to do, Rhaenyra thinks, “of course we’re saving a Jace, she’s my daughter, we aren’t killing her in the hopes of a male heir.” She overcorrects in the opposite direction as Viserys, not realizing she’s acting kinda similarly by taking the choice from Jace. By Westerosi standards, Rhaenyra is also overstepping because the expectation is it’s the father’s right to decide, certainly not the baby’s maternal grandmother’s right. Alicent thinks Aegon deserves to be in the room and have a say in what happens, so she fetches him regardless of Rhaenyra’s feelings.

I did a little reading about the history of childbirth (skip this bullet if you might be squicked by details, though I’m not going to be graphic). A child in breech has always been a big concern but isn’t necessarily fatal; it has higher odds of being injured in the birth canal, or being strangled by the umbilical cord. If the baby really does get stuck, there are ways to extract it to save the mother, but the baby almost certainly dies (and it’s quite awful how they take it out). And historically, the mother was actually chosen over the baby quite often until some church reforms happened and pushed for the baby’s survival via C-section, which had very high odds of killing the mother. So I have a lot of conspiracy thoughts about whether Aemma really was beyond saving in Episode 1, or whether the maester just told Viserys that so they could try to get the baby 🧐.

I feel like Jace could have convinced Aegon to pick the baby…and then Aegon would spend the rest of his life depressed and drinking himself into an early grave 😔. If he were somehow forced to remarry and have more kids, he would be Viserys 2.0 and favor Cheeseball over any children by his second wife. Thankfully, that didn’t happen in this universe!

I know people have a lot of questions about what Joff did with the candle, but I have to save a lot of that info for future fics! Just bear in mind that like it says in the fandom wiki, glass candles are supposedly able to give its wielder visions and dreams. I also gave the candle some qualities as an arcane focus, like in D&D. Oh, and I read on a fan forum speculating that the glass candles might be like palantirs from LOTR, so there’s that. And here, Joff uses Aegon’s blood for the ritual because he’s the baby’s father, so there’s a strong connection she utilizes to coax the baby out.

Joff puts out the candle right before the others come into the room, so nobody except Jace and Aegon (and probably Daeron) know that anything magical was involved.

During the Middle Ages, birthing rooms were kept warm and sealed because they were afraid a draft/the cold would be bad for the mother and baby. But Jace is both a Targaryen and a Velaryon, and she wants to hear her dragon and the sea, dammit.

“The sun wishes to meet the sun.” Sorry, I couldn’t resist making a pun with sun/son.

Royal and noble women overwhelmingly prefer using wet nurses (partly as a status symbol, partly so they can get back to conceiving more heirs quicker, partly so they can focus on other duties). But the ASOIAF-verse does have examples of royal and noble women breastfeeding (see some of the citations on that page if you want to dig in), including the original Queen Rhaenys. So Jace breastfeeding her child is very unusual but not unheard of. And I wanted to give Jace the psychological benefits of breastfeeding, since she’s been in a shaky mental and emotional state.

Babies and children die super easily in the pre-modern world. Just look at how many of Jaehaerys and Alysanne’s kids died super young! It’s why Aegon’s second nameday was such a big deal in the show; he survived infancy, which was the most perilous time. That’s why Jace knows that despite producing a son, she and Aegon will be expected to have more kids. It’s too risky not to.

Since we’re already bringing in LOTR with the palantir vibes, I decided to add some One Ring vibes too. Aegon senses some bad juju from the candle but he’s not magically inclined at all, so he shrugs it off. Jace isn’t super into magic either, but she’s mentally and emotionally vulnerable so the candle taps into her weaknesses more easily. I’ll probably flesh out the system more in the future Joff fic.

The culture of chivalry and courtly love seems to be strongest in the Reach. Daeron picked up on the art of giving flowery compliments while he was there. Unfortunately Joff doesn’t care about that sort of thing.

Daeron knows the candle isn’t entirely “good,” but he’s too used to following Joff’s example and doing whatever she wants. This is probably going to be part of his character arc.

Aegon, in his best Ron Swanson voice, to Dragonstone’s gardeners: “You may have thought you heard me say I wanted a lot of roses. But what I said was: give me all the roses you have.”

The lyrics in Cheeseball’s song convey the sentiments that Aegon wishes he’d heard from his father growing up, and now Aegon is ensuring that Cheeseball hears his own father say/sing those things every day 🥹. And Aegon makes sure to put both Targaryen and Velaryon references in the song to commemorate Jace’s family.

#my writing #meta #house of the dragon meta #hotd meta #fanfic meta #aegon ii targaryen #female jacaerys velaryon #the golds

[hatredcurse]

Sakura nervously looked at the neatly wrapped present she had in her hands, then to the door that loomed in front of her. Her heart pounded against her chest. She felt so silly being so nervous about simply knocking on the door. But Sakura just had the habit of overthinking things. What if he’s annoyed by her visit? Or hate the gift she got him? She had been planning the gift for over a month. Winter has hit the village hard this year. Thick snow covered the ground. It’s the coldest winter Sakura has experienced in a long time. So… She got Sasuke a custom made sweater. He always preferred useful gifts over nonsensical gifts that would simply take up space in his home. That’s why she got him the sweater, and then hand knitted the scarf for him. It wasn’t perfect. Sakura was never good at artsy things like knitting and sewing but with Hinata’s help, she was able to make something at least functional.  The sweater was a dark blue color, with the Uchiha crest on the back of it. The front was decorated with white, diamond shaped designs across the chest. It was made of a soft, warm material. Sakura didn’t realize it until the sweater was already made that it matched her own sweater. Hers being red with the Haruno crest in the back. She hoped he didn’t mind that, or think she intentionally did it. Reminded her of how uncreative she was.  It was a known secret that Sakura had feelings for him. She loved him. But she never pushed her feelings onto him. It was hard to tell how he felt about her. He wasn’t the easiest person to read but she didn’t mind. Sasuke clearly didn’t hate her, and that’s good enough for her. Oh no… What if he thought she was forcing her feelings onto him with this gift? A whole new worry danced through her brain. Sakura quickly shook her head, pushing all those thoughts away. Taking a deep breath, and letting it out in a puff of mist from the cold. She wasn’t about to let her anxieties cause Sasuke to celebrate by himself!  Not allowing herself to dwell more on her own thoughts any longer, Sakura marched forward towards the door and knocked on it. The moment the door opened, Sakura held out the messily wrapped present with a blush on her face, “M-merry Christmas, Sasuke! I… I didn’t want you to celebrate by yourself. I hope you like it, I put a lot of thought into it.” She stammered a bit, her cheeks going from pink to almost the same red color as her sweater. // @hana-akari

Keeping track of time was something that Sasuke began to struggle with post Fourth-shinobi war. It was an unintentional side effect spurred on by the mishandling of his repressed trauma. He could recognize and understand the date, the day of the week, but as far as truly considering the time of year, the season, or any important historical markings, it often slipped by him, unnoted.

He didn't consider it a big deal. Outside of his assigned tasks, no one expected anything of him, anyways. Appear when needed, fuck off when not. For years, he had hardly been around, so its not like his absence is regarded unless something happened pertaining to him or his deeds.

On this particular night, Sasuke sat perched on his back porch, overseeing the lake that sat in the center of the abandoned Uchiha Estate, sitting with himself and a mug of warm tea. The steam swirled into curls and dissipated into the chilly evening air. Perfect conditions for a perfect night.

He sat with his thoughts, thinking over and over about nothing that was important anymore; daydreaming about a life he'll never live, fixing things that can never be fixed. At this point, it was routine and he was living it.

Was routine— then the door knocked.

The Uchiha thought that he was hearings things again, but when he came to his senses, he felt the dense layer of chakra standing behind the door, which pulled a deep, exasperated sigh from him. Wasn't he off tonight? What could they possibly want?

Standing from his spot, he did not have his usual cloak; just a black turtleneck and his usual black pants. This was him being immodest, but he answered the door anyways not caring if he appeared unprepared.

"Look- oh," his stern, unfriendly tone died at the realization and, suddenly, he cleared his throat," Sakura... I wasn't expecting you."

Merry Christmas, Sasuke. Her vibrant voice called to him with all the warmth one could never get during cold months like this.

The unexpected kindness hit him square in the chest and kickstarted his heart, nearly edging a cough out of him.

"Please, come inside," he ushered her in and close the door behind, so none of the cold air trailed.

In her hands was a wrapped gift, prepared with love no less, and there he stood with nothing in return. He wasn't going to beat himself up over it, how would he know?

"You didn't have to gift me anything," he said first before a thought crossed his mind, then adding," you... aren't worried with being alone with me?"

Sasuke paused, feeling stupid for mentioning that at all, but it'd be a lie to say that it didn't run through this mind at all. Especially whenever she was in proximity to him. The way people would jeer and loudly warn him about his involvement of her, even if he was not meeting with her at all, save for his job. Though, hopefully she won't catch on to whatever he was yammering about as he vanished into the kitchen to also prepare her a mug of the same tea he was enjoying. At least the pot was still fresh.

#Sasuke ic #ask #closed starter #v. WHAT IN ME IS DARK ILLUMINE (Blank Period) #hana akari

[plasmasimagination]

Hi there! I recently stumbled upon your account and I must say that this is what I was looking for for quite some time. I am interested by your matching up event and was wondering if you're still up for it?

Fandom: Honkai Star Rail (and/or) Genshin Impact

Preference: women

Characters I would NOT like to be paired up with: men

(I am pretty much gay)

I am a cisgender woman, she/her pronouns. ENTJ, Virgo sun, Libra moon, Scorpio rising.

I am androgynous-looking, can easily be mistaken for a dude. My voice is deep and had a slight rasp to it. When it comes to clothes I present soft masc. I am 6', very athletic (as it is a big part of my life to stay active). I have brown eyes and wavy hair that is styled in a short wolfcut with a middle part and curtain bangs. No tattoos, but when I have the money I will get covered in designs.

I perceive myself as a calm and collected person who is more on the quiet and observing side. Which, close ones always tell me, makes me appear intimidating and judging (Scorpio rising). I like to keep my social circle small and trustworthy because I have trust issues. But around my friends I am friendly and always there to help out with the teenage dramas. I would say my top traits are sarcasm, assertiveness, loyalty, and adaptiveness. (Being an ENTJ and Virgo sun say enough about me, but I am softened up by my Libra moon.)

I am a very artsy person, but also very sporty. I am passionate about a lot of things (playing the guitar, drawing, writing, reading, acting, playing soccer, volleyball, training calisthenics, martial arts...) but in this short lifetime I had to choose one, and it is drawing - more specifically, becoming an Architect.

I've never been even close to catching feelings for someone. I've had barely any crushes, none of them real, none of them celebrities, just successful/badass/dangerous/mean women from fiction. I guess that puts me somewhere on the Asexuality spectrum, most likely Demisexual. I want to use my teenage years to work towards building a secure career for myself so that I could eventually spoil and take care of someone who deserves it.

I don't have much preference for looks, despite the fact that I am attracted to femininity, not necessarily someone stereotypically girly, but fem. For me, I need someone who will be able to match my energy and challenge me with playful banter and deep, meaningful talks. Someone who has a strong and unapologetic personality, (I am a sucker for mean fems), but knows when to stop and take a step back.

[Thank you, even if this doesn't get attention, which I completely understand. I will love to see your future works and posts!]

HEYYY DARLING ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡ IM SO FLATTERED HIHI (*ˊᗜˋ*)

Anyways as for your matchup....hmhmhm...

Your match is....

.

.

.

KAFKA

OKAY OKAY let's be honest this was to be expected!

Scary looking girlfriend X equally as scary looking girlfriend (both can beat your ass)

I like the power couple dynamic here.

Plus I think she fits your type pretty well hmhm...

Kafka would be quite interested in your hobbies, she isn't very vocal about it but sometimes she just sits in the same room when you're doing something (drawing/playing guitar/writing etc...) and she'll just discreetly pay attention to it.

She also will kind of tease you about it, telling silverwolf and blade how good you are at your hobbies, and she'll intentionally do it in front of you

Chaining it to the one above-She likes showing you off, not only your hobbies...just you in general

She will also vibe with your attitude and find it amusing and definitely match it just as strong.

Also I think that kafka would also have equally trouble to completely warm up to you, yeah shes confident and flirty with people but I dont think she trusts people as easily,but when you guys spend more time together she would actually become quite fond of you

YAE MIKO

Honestly this is a pretty good pair, love it Picasso

I don't think miko is as outgoing and challenging as kafka, but she's there

It's just that miko is a bit more how do I put this ..dominant? Controlive? I know it sounds bad to put her up against kafka but I have a feeling miko is more on the serious dominant side while kafka is more playful, especially with their darling

Though yae miko is quite the person to talk to in moments of need, she's a good listener and gives good advice, she could simply talk&listen with you for hours on end

She, similar to kafka, would definitely match your vibe, just a bit more reserved type of sarcasm for example.

She's sly with it, just how fox's are eh?

Miko would take it slow to become closer to you, as she can guess you're having trouble fully trusting her, and she would definitely be less teasing at the beginning when you guys first met than when you're in an established relationship

#genshin fluff #genshin imagines #genshin impact imagines #genshin impact scenarios #genshin impact x reader #genshin headcanons #honkai star rail #hsr x reader #honkai star rail x reader #honkai x reader #honkai headcanons #honkai star rail x female reader #honkai star rail x you #honkai star rail x gender neutral reader #hsr x gn reader #hsr x y/n #hsr x you #hsr x male reader #hsr x gender neutral reader #kafka x y/n #kafka x you #kafka x reader #kafka hsr #hsr kafka #honkai star rail kafka #kafka honkai star rail #genshin women x reader #genshin women #yae miko x reader #yae miko x you

[catchyhuh]

GOEMON HOUR

because i feel like i don’t let myself have as much fun with him. but let’s be honest i feel like even the actual writers are just neglecting him all the time so it’s no WONDER i gotta work HARDER to get SILLY WITH HIM!!! well whatever let’s goegoe go!

i know i joked that he can’t build for shit but he really is artsy. it’s been shown before that he actually carves with zantetsuken sometimes which is sick as hell but beyond that he really appreciates art in all forms, and it wouldn’t take much convincing to get him to do a little craft or something

his legs fall asleep sometimes when he’s doing his “zone out and hone your mind” stuff. it’s not funny because yeah like that just happens to people sometimes but it BECOMES funny when he stands and desperately tries to pretend his foot ISN’T asleep. he’s just walking against this wall because he FEELS like it, JIGEN. he keeps grabbing and slightly shaking his ankle because there’s a ROCK in his SHOE, LUPIN.

his hair is the same length in every part and special. “how can you say that it’s very clearly longer in part 2 than it is in like part 5” hey. you know when you wash your hair and let it dry a certain way and it fluffs up more. that’s what happened. and he was like “ok kinda looks nice” and sort of halfway committed to getting it to look like that on a day to day basis. although sometimes he does cut his hair, just usually by himself. i’m sure you’ll never guess how he does it.

on that note, fujiko did actually ask him to cut her hair as a joke once. he agreed pretty quickly (he’s used this fucking thing for less after all. he makes it a point of mentioning it if you hadn’t noticed) and really didn’t even make a big deal OF the fact she’d asked. he didn’t do a horrible job either, but he had no idea how to execute the layers right, so they called it a partial success and she went to whatever overpriced salon was nearby and they went “wtf. it’s perfectly-- do you see this? it’s all the exact same length. to the millimeter. who did this to you. what the fuck” and fujiko just kind of grinned and said “idk man it does that”

getting him birthday/christmas/whatever presents is a nightmare. it’s not that he’s intentionally being vague, or even that he doesn’t WANT a gift (i think sometimes people forget he’s just as money motivated as the other three, so he’s materialistic too, just in a slightly different flavor) but like. he just doesn’t think to mention things. if he sees something he really, really wants, he just gets the money for it, and. gets it. it’s gotten to the point that when he just mumbles “hm… this teapot has a chip on the bottom… i should replace it” lupin starts pushing jigen and feverishly whispering “write that down write that down”

#if only i could do goemon as much justice as the sandwich arc in prison of the past... sigh.... #lupin iii #lupin the third #goemon #OH ALSO IM WORKING ON ANOTHER ASK BUT I WANTED TO BALANCE OUT WITH A POST POST FIRST

[eggmixercortex]

the thing about skinamarink is that people tend to say that it would have been better as a shorter film - particularly people who hated it - and while i understand where that idea is coming from i actually disagree.

(long as hell)

people who disliked skinamarink for the most part cite the long, "empty" shots between relatively little/mediocre action as the reason that the film didn't work for them. and i actually agree with that last bit, i think that the scares in skinamarink are kind of badly done*. they're just the sudden movement + loud noise combo, if they were standalone they would suck. and the first point isn't technically wrong either! i would bet like 50-60% of skinamarink is just still shots of dark hallways with film grain. and i'm going to make it clear that i have no problem with people who see the film this way. if you hated skinamarink that's perfectly fine and you aren't 'missing something' that could magically make you like it.

however, I do think that making skinamarink shorter would actually DECREASE the quality of the film. Heck, the short film that kickstarted the creation of skinamarink, is about 1/3 the length, and about 0% as scary. is it well made? absolutely. is it interesting and worth the watch? very much so. but scary? not in the damn slightest. and that's why the length of the full film is important, because when the action of the film is condensed it removes the truly unique thing about Kyle Edward Ball's style as seen in the bitesized nightmares and Skinamarink.

i'm a pervert for this type of film so i am of course highly biased but the thing that skinamarink does is kind of like the allegory of the cave. in the allegory of the film you the audience are expected to be affected by the suggestion of the film rather than its direct contents, in a really extreme fashion. this is a relatively unique way to present a film, and i personally think Ball is really very good at building a successful atmosphere for this type of device, and i hope that he makes more films like this in the future. BUT the issue of course is that because it relies so heavily on the audience being able to essentially scare themselves, if you the viewer can't do that, skinamarink immediately falls flat on its face. if you look at each action scene in isolation it becomes fairly obvious that they're all... a little silly. the formula is pretty much just ack! something is weird! and suddenly it jumped at the camera! excepting the ending which is 3x speed settings of the same thing. and that's fine, but not showstopping or anything.

most horror that utilizes 'jump-scares' tries to build up to it of course, but skinamarink almost literally gives you nothing to work with except for the knowledge that something is going to happen... eventually. and for me that worked really really well! i was literally frozen in fear! it took me around 10 minutes to be eaten alive by the damn film! but for someone who that doesn't work on, its not going to work at all. the film will genuinely be boring and the audience member who walks out or says that is was a dud isn't actually missing anything - skinamarink is just a film that relies so heavily on its one aspect that the rest of it crumbles if that doesn't land.

skinamarink was made (intentionally or not) to appeal to a very, very specific type of audience, and pretty much ignores anyone else. if skinamarink were more like Heck it would definitely appeal to more people, but also would have been a significantly less interesting film. this is also why i get a little annoyed at people who act like skinamarink fans are 'snobs' or that people who didn't like it are 'missing something' because it isn't actually a particularly artsy film in story. reading an essay about the themes isn't going to make the film experience scarier (but would be a fun read, mostly) its just that the film works best with people who can scare themselves out of going to the bathroom at night.

genuinely, if you watch 20 or so minutes of skinamarink and you aren't enjoying it, leave. it won't get better** and it's not worth wasting your time on an experience you really won't enjoy just because you feel like you have to. if it sucks hit the bricks man

(i would love to re-watch with a staunch skinamarink hater so we can discuss the different pieces of it tbh... there's so much to talk about in the structure here)

i adore the empty skinamarink shots because they demand you fill them yourself with only the little paper towel ghost they gave you to work with it's awesome. but also sometimes you would prefer the movie give you at least a bedsheet lawn ghost instead.

*the action moments are some of my least favourite scenes, and i genuinely think that the toy phone moment could have been removed entirely. it's not good...

**again, not saying its bad to dislike skinamarink! it also might improve for you but like. don't let people force you to sit thru paint drying for 16 hours part two just bc it could get good later

#skinamarink #worm whispers #been thinkin abt skinamarink again. really fascinating film even ignoring the experience of watching it lol #im not very articulate but. #its startin to get to me that folks are acting like only idiots like/dislike it. sometimes films aint for every1 yall chill out

[anshiiiiin]

Hey!!!! Found you through your work on Reddit, was delighted to see you have an account here too!!

I've been wanting to say this for a little while, but this isn't the kind of thing I'd be willing to put in a Reddit post.

I love your work and your style so much. So so much. Lately I've been allowing myself to explore my interest in heavy gore in a more neutral and healthy way, and your art has helped me to do that. Your work is very often beautiful, grotesque, and cute all at once. And not in that grand, self-contratulatory "Look at me, drawing something cute but it's all fucked up and gory!!!! Aren't I sick and twisted????" but in a quiet, earnest way, if that makes sense.

There's something very grounded about your art that's pretty rare to see in other gore artists. You don't aim for the super composed, super artsy vibe, where everything is perfectly placed, framing the viscera as divine and perfect and all that. As much as I do love that kind of art, I find it can be kind of... distancing I guess? Likewise, I get the sense you don't aim to be As Shocking And Twisted As Possible, nor overly "sexy". Rather, it's just... humans and human bodies. Ordinary and messy and beautiful, and that makes it all feel so much more real. There's something about that drawing of Valya, bloody and alive and lying in the snow, that has just... really stuck with me.

Speaking of which, I love Valya and his Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Consensual Adventures. There's something very charming and endearing about his mannerisms and personality. I love his comfy clothes and fluffy hair, I love how open he is about his masochism, I love that he's covered in scars (again, not something you see in most gore art). Like your art, Valya is chill, earnest, cute, and more than a little fucked up. I sort of get the sense he's a person who has found his own version of inner peace, despite everything that it entails for him. I'd love to learn more about him, If you have any facts about him you'd be willing to share.

Anyways, sorry for the rant, and sorry if this was kind of a lot to hear from a stranger. I'm not an art critic or anything, I don't know if anything I just said makes any sense. But your art really does mean a lot to me, and I wanted you to know that.

wow, omg, thank you for taking time to write such a wonderful and long message!! i am really happy that you get all those kinds of feelings from my art, and i am super grateful to you for sharing it. i myself like all kinds of guro, be it intentionally shocking, or candy, or divine-looking, but i am happy that for you i occupy this niche that you enjoy! a theory on why my art is not overly sexual is maybe because i am an asexual myself :D i am so glad you like valya!! i love him too ♫꒰･◡･๑꒱ a fact about him.. hmm... he really hates it when someone does anything bad to cats or dogs, but for once in his life he is smart enough to never tell it to anyone bc he knows there are people who would do it on purpose to make him feel worse. so it's one of the mental torture kinds that he does not enjoy

thank you again for everything you said, when i feel down about my art i will reread your message and feel inspired again :D please have a wonderful day!!

[nattikay]

How did you get into the furry fandom? Favorite Na'vi phrases?

I guess that depends on how you define being in the fandom. My introduction to internet fandom culture in general was through Balto when I was around, hmmm, 9 or 10 I think? Which, naturally, the Balto fandom was very closely intertwined with the larger furry fandom. At the time I wasn't familiar with the term furry but I was familiar with the concept of fursonas and colorful animal OCs, which like many artsy online preteens I churned out like a factory lol. I've had a fursona since like 5th grade. In that sense, you could say I've been a furry in all but name for over half my life (I'm currently 26).

As far as being intentionally involved with the furry "community", that didn't happen until college, when I discovered a few fursuiters on YouTube and thought, wow, that looks like a heck ton of fun, I want in! I had already somewhat dabbled in cosplay and been to an anime con before, so as someone who'd also had a lifelong interest in animal cartoons, fursuiting and furcons seemed like a pretty natural step lol. So I looked into possibly conventions, found that there was one that would be happening just an hour or so away from my apartment not too long from then, poured myself into making my first fursuit, and went.

^me wearing NattiKay 1.0 at AWU 2017 :')

I wound up having a blast and have returned to that con every year since! And since 2017 was AWU's inaugural year that means I've been attending that particular con from its very beginning and have been able to watch it grow and get better and better year after year, which has been pretty darn cool. :) It's gone from ~600 attendees in 2017 (first picture) to nearly 1,500 in 2022 (second)!

^I am in both of these, have fun finding me haha ;)

...as for Na'vi phrases...I'm not sure if I really have any particular favorite? I do remember, when I first started learning, being rather tickled by eltu si. The meaning of this phrase is basically "pay attention/stop goofing off", but the literal translation is closer to something along the lines of "do brain!!"

Similarly, if you want to say that something is interesting you would use the phrase eltur tìtxen si "awakens the brain", which is kinda fun.

As long as we're talking about phrases using eltu: the Na'vi language obviously wouldn't have words for human technologies like vehicles and computers and such, but since it is used by human fans we naturally wanted ways to express such concepts with each other, so had to describe them by combining other words; a common one used in these combinations is lefngap metallic. For example:

eltu lefngap - computer (metallic brain) pa'li lefngap - car (metallic horse) ikran lefngap - airplane (metallic banshee)

Also, Na'vi in the context of the films is an exclusively spoken language; canonically the Na'vi people have no form of writing. The word we use for writing, therefore, is actually also a compound: pamrel, literally meaning "sound picture". Which is interesting! I mostly mention this one because I actually didn't even realize it was a compound until just recently lol

I am also mildly amused by the idiom keynven sìn ketse--literally "steps on tails"--to describe someone who's socially awkward :')

#probably a much longer post than u were expecting; sorry :') #furry #fursona #lì'fya leNa'vi

[f1-birb]

that specific pic could have been cropped like that intentionally too. there's been some weird comments speculating on sexualities and calling them derogatory terms and other just weird/gross behaviors basically anytime i have come across a picture of mick and estie together for the past few months. not saying that's definitely it because lando does stuff with his photos to try to be all artsy and creative too, but i just kind of feel for mick and estie whenever they are in photos together and half the comments are weird things

I never look at comment sections on anything, I learned not to, but I know people are trying to make a thing out of Estie and Mick that's them being more than friends and I hate that it doesn't surprise me that comments have turned into those sorts of things 😔 (by that I mean the speculating/derogatory/weird sort)

I'll be honest though I think Lando just turned the camera around to face them and clicked the button a few times and that one was that turned out half decent, unfortunately it just didn't have Mick in it other than like half a cheek 😭

#lando i demand more mick pics #birb speaks

[kelpiemomma]

behold, a lab grown asshole thrown back in time ref! a decent one!

Name: Khan A. ►doesn’t ever give his last name. He’ll make something new up every time.

Pronouns: he/him

Age: late 20s, he tries not to think about it too much. It’s depressing for him to realize the time he’s lost to being experimented on and the time he lost to spend with his former human family.

Biology: human/houndoom/hydreigon mashup- and not a fun kind. Human at his base, he was altered in a lab to have houdoom and hydreigon characteristics. He received pain and anger along with them.

Personality: Generally aggressive, reckless, and rather an asshole. He loves fighting and battling as it helps relieve the heightened aggression he got from being experimented on. Very much morally gray. Wouldn’t hesitate to kill someone unless he likes them, and even then he still might try. Oddly self-aware. Loud and surprisingly protective over a handful of people. Also incredibly artsy- he loves working with his hands and carving things.

History: Now that he knows it, he tries not to think about it.

TLDR

►Got yeeted back to Hisui after trying to fist fight Arceus for allowing Khan to be experimented on

►Arceus tried to fudge his memories to calm him down, but instead of fudging them it 100% cleared them since Khan’s friend in present-time was already fudging his memories

►With all his memories returned, Khan realized how much he’d been lied to and who he had hurt. He went on a rampage where he was dropped off (middle of nowhere- either in the Coastlands or the Highlands, but far away from people) and then passed out. When he woke up he wandered, occasionally having another fit of rage. When he discovered signs of human settlement he intentionally avoided them, not feeling like slaughtering a bunch of people (didn’t realize he was yeeted to the past yet)

►It took him a couple weeks to run across humans. He tried to approach them friendly like but they spotted his horns & fangs and ran in the other direction. Which kinda sucked, ‘cause Khan had questions, but also they dropped food and he was hungry so. Win some, lose some!

►Eventually realized he wasn’t welcome in any human settlement due to his obvious pokemon traits- namely the horns, but also the fangs. After some debate with himself he decided to break off his horns. He was dealing with some severe hunger and his clothes were getting raggedy af. Breaking off his horns was surprisingly upsetting for him and he ended up having a breakdown once they were off his head. He tied them together with some twine and held onto them.

►Ran into some Ginkgo Guild members who were willing to trade with him after he hid the remains of his horns as his hair wasn’t grown out yet. He got a fresh set of clothes from them in exchange for some materials he’d collected. He noticed that they eyed his broken-off horns and tucked them away.

►Eventually made it into Jubilife, got a new set of clothes, and left. He traveled around a bit, getting the hang of Hisui, before returning to Jubilife with goods for the merchants. Was in and out a fair bit to get people used to him. Noticed the younger survey members and was struck by how much they reminded him of his siblings.

►At one point he overheard a Jubilife resident begging a survey corps member to retrieve her son’s remains. The survey corps member had to refuse and Khan stepped up instead. After retrieving the body he began to be approached by people looking to recover the bodies of their loved ones, or some lost belongings, or simply specific items that other people couldn’t get due to location or pokemon proximity. As long as they don’t ask questions to how he recovers the items or bodies, it’s all good.

►Vaguely recognizes Ingo. He never interacted with him personally but he was aware that he was missing before Khan was yeeted back. Ingo’s one of the people Khan keeps an eye on, supposedly because if Ingo finds a way back that means Khan should find a way back too... right? Not at all because Ingo’s a very slight memory of home and something that Khan wants to hold onto. As Khan accidentally bonded with Lady Sneasler as a friend, he sees a fair bit of Ingo and is surprisingly polite to the Warden.

►Is protective over Akari and Rei. He sees them as his younger siblings and is fully willing to put himself in the line of fire for them. The first time he actually met them was when he saw them being mobbed by a mass outbreak of pokemon in the field. He literally fist-fought the outbreak while they used their pokemon and then said he was just that badass when they asked him how he did it. He doesn’t mention the fact they’re like siblings to him to anyone, lest someone try to take advantage of it.

►Khan doesn’t really have a pokemon ‘team’ per se, but he does have a group of pokemon that he accidentally collected. He protects them and they protect him. His first was a shiny Chansey he calls Nana after his friend. He rescued a Porygon in a space-time rift and accidentally adopted it, and then accidentally evolved it. He calls it Duck. The last part of his ‘team’ is a Hisuian Growlithe that he stumbled across while it mourned its partner. Empathy ain’t a big thing for Khan, but the Growlithe that had died was a shiny and again reminded him of Nana. He helped the Growlithe bury it’s partner and it decided to take up with him afterwards. They all provide help with his recovery work in some way or another, as well as providing companionship. He accidentally bonded with Lady Sneasler over gossip and climbing- she’s willing to help him out when there are cliffs he can’t climb. He doesn’t speak her language but he gets the gist.

►Khan doesn’t reside in any settlements. He’s figured out how they feel about zorua and zoroark and has no desire to be accidentally found out as part pokemon himself as he knows the fallout will be bad on all accounts. He’ll take jobs when he goes into town or either of the settlements, but he always leaves in order to sleep.

►Thinks Giratina has a point tbh. Finds Volo sketchy, but finds most of the Ginkgo Guild sketchy. Is scared of Lady Cogita. Bullies Melli because he thinks it’s funny to watch him get flustered and try to talk himself up.

►Actively seeks out alpha pokemon for fights when he notices his aggression getting higher. Hasn’t yet revealed his own pokemon nature to anyone. Can use a handful of moves that both Hydreigon and Houdoom can use, but doing so results in extreme fatigue and leaves him in pain after. He still does it because he enjoys fighting too much.

#pokemon oc #pokemon legends arceus oc #khan a. #lab grown asshole #kelpie art #kelpie oc #he sings ironic songs when he recovers bodies #dust in the wind. johnny boy's bones. the likes. #he thinks it's funny #he had a lil breakdown when Chansey Nana joined him because he didn't think himself worthy of her aid #he sees himself as evil and corrupted and the fact that she didn't turned his worldview on its head #he dotes on his pokemon a surprising amount. he frequently puts himself in the way of harm for them. #khan tends to see himself as expendable after the way he was treated in the lab #it's part of why he fights so much- because it makes him worthy somehow if he's stronger than his opponent #-me holding khan- i just think he's neat.... #i want to torment him :)

[becomehaikyuu]

Haikyuu Chapter 30: A Way To Fly

REFLECTION:

What happened the last chapter wasn't a fluke. The other player has gotten used to Hinata's movements. It took one blocker from the other team to ground our little Superman. Hinata's response to this? "Kageyama...one more time."

Fuck yeah.

The match goes on and Tsukishima looks at Ukai. Ukai reads him and answers his look-question of "Why don't we switch him out?". Ukai points out that this is a practice game and a good opportunity for Hinata to overcome a significant flaw in his style. Now if it was official, he would have been gone like---

Stop. Stop.

I wanna talk about something first while my mutuals are forced to read this "review".

When I was younger, I saw a Simon Pegg comedy called "Run Fatboy Run". It was about a shithead who couldn't commit to anything which beautifully exemplified by him running away from his wedding, leaving his pregnant wife at the altar (What a lovable protagonist!). I'm not going to bore you with the rest of the synopsis or the summary or the boil scene but I will tell you about the climax of the marathon. Simon Pegg hits a wall. Not a real wall, mind you, an artsy-fartsy mental wall. The wall that runners apparently hit during a long one where their body tells them they won't go any further due to fear of permanent damage. Simon naturally smashes through that shit Superman style but something in that scene stuck with me well into my adult years for whatever reason. Not to go "There's a Secret Garden in all of us" but everyone who's able to read this should be able to tell by now that there is a wall for everything. A wall for cooking, a wall for writing, a wall for parenthood...there's a point where if you can't pass by here, you can't expect to get serious in the thing that you've chosen to take seriously. While you're all held hostage, let me show you a cutesy painting:

That beauty is called "That Which I Should Have Done, I Did Not Do (The Door)" by Ivan Albright. Weird ass looking door, right? Ain't no fucking way you're walking through that. Not even if you have to? Not even if going through that door, into that musty ass house, with that wreath out at March 23rd, would get you somewhere, or get you something that you've wanted all your life? Ivan intentionally made the door freaky as all hell because he wanted to show what important decisions are like: it's walking through a door that is foreboding as fuck knowing that a person could be waiting to stab you on the other side. Ukai could take Hinata out, and in an official match he would have, but this is a practice match and a perfect opportunity to put our little gremlin in front of that door: what will Hinata do if he's blocked? What will he do when his main advantage to the team is negated?

Well, from Ukai's point of view, it looks like Hinata's will is being sapped out of his body like a vampire broke up with him and got custody of the kids. The match continues, the "human wall" is breaking his spirit...oh wait, no it isn't...

The little Kanabo is smiling.

This crazy fucker has the gall to be actually excited during a sports match.

Hinata explains that yeah, he was afraid of being blocked before but now? It's thrilling. He asks Kageyama to serve to him again and Kageyama says "Fuck yeah dude, don't leave me waiting next time.". Guys, something fucked up happens. When Hinata is served the ball, he looks at the ball before he spikes it. Seeing that, Ukai tells Kageyama to give Hinata an Indirect Delivery. That...apparently does jack all because the game gets a time out with Nekoma at 10 and Karasuno at 5. Still, the team has their spirit back and the team manages a 15-12 later on. Ukai's grandpa (Grandaddy Ukai) had a saying: Humans have no wings so they search for a way to fly...we apparently see this with an out of bounds shot. Oi...we're in for a long match.

More art history hopefully down the road.

Chapter Rating: 11/10

#haikyuu!! #a way to fly #review

[tzimiscecore]

So I finished my first playthrough of VtM Swansong. I do have a few comments. For now I’ll just dump some here and maybe later Ill detail them, not that it actually matters.

For now:

- THIS GAME IS UNCANNY VALLEY THROUGH AND THROUGH - The art.... is.... OK. :/ Some scenarios are pretty. But nothing close to the painting-like scenes in Coteries or Shadows of New York. - I like Leysha. But Leysha would be much more interesting if she was a Nosferatu, without a lot of change to the character. maybe she was supposed to be one and then they figured they probably shouldn’t make an attractive sewer rat - I liked how the Ventrue primogen is absolutely hateable and the tongue-in-cheek social criticism sugar-wise. - Playability is not really that great. I got the PS4 version. I was very frustrated, many many times, as the responsiveness of the controls are not that great and even though this is a perfectly intuitive type of game - a “detective game“ as my elders call it, which I admit are my “special interest niche“ - I still managed to not be able to do things because of lack of response or because the buttons were put too close together (which would be ok... if I was playing with a mouse). - There could be more warnings like “you need ___ level X to be able to do ___“. Simply graying out the option, when you know the game to be buggy and sometimes unresponsive, makes you think that’s not from the game

-Unstable. Crashes A LOT

- I should have waited to get a physical copy but f me it for my lack of self control.

Seriously.

Seriously, it has been a while that people realized that they shouldnt go for “realistic” stuff when they can’t make it. If you dont have time, go for a more artsy take. Plenty of awesome artists out there, just look at the community over here on tumblr and the things they do. Do something to look cartoonish intentionally.

#ooc #vtm swansong #wod #World Of Darkness #vamily