#or drastically changes the way the color of my hair relates to my face

[celiaelise]

A couple days ago I had the INTENSE urge to get (part of) my hair colored, which is something I haven't considered in years, and even then not very seriously. I'm also just generally averse to even temporarily modifying the natural state of my body in any way? But, like, I even un-archived a years old Pinterest board lol.

Anyway, considering what else was happening with my body at the time, it was probably hormones. I haven't completely rejected the possibility of actually doing it, though.

#one of the big issues of course is that i am Ethnic and thus have dark hair which would require a lot of bleaching #the idea i had was...i think it'd be called under dye? #with my favorite gradient hiding under there! red/orange/yellow #or more like a gradient of different shades of orange #i started looking at other color possibilities too though #for a long time i was convinced i wanted the ends of my hair forest green #I'll probably never consider doing something that requires regular upkeep #or drastically changes the way the color of my hair relates to my face #my life #my feelings #by elise

[travlersjoy444]

Yellow Eyes (Dipper Pines x reader)

*******

Author's note:

So, this is for the prompt where the reader knows about the paranormal due to being with Wirt and Greg in the Unknown. It kinda evolved from the prompt, although I do have another oneshot I'm working on that's more faithful to the original idea.

If you've never seen Over the Garden Wall, this oneshot should hopefully still make sense. And buckle up, the word count is 5.4k...yeah, I don't even know how that happened. As per usual, there are no pronouns for (Y/N) other than (Y/N), so that as many people can relate to this as possible.

Well, you've been forewarned, now onto the fic! *******

I peered out the bus window to see my new town. Piedmont California, the sign had read when we drove in from the LAX…A ridiculously long drive, of course, but it was apparently also ridiculously hard to get a flight from Boston to San Francisco. Nevertheless, we’d managed it somehow, and now I was on my way to my first day of school.

I was a bit excited, although I missed my old home. There was still unfinished business I had there, regarding…well, an experience. I….I don’t know what happened really, but my view on reality drastically shifted after that….

….I stood in the forest with two brothers and a talking bird. The wind blew through my hair and a shiver ran down my spine…the Beast watched from the shadows….

….Ugh. I shook my head. That was life changing. My eyes still occasionally turn yellow, like they were when I was under his control, making me wonder if I ever truly escaped…..

But screw it, I was here now, wasn’t I? The bus pulled to a stop at North Hills High school. I took a deep breath….time for the first day of school. Well, for me. It was actually March, but y’know. Whatever.

Upon entering the school, I found myself in a hallway crowded with people. Kids standing by their lockers, kids walking with their arms linked, even a kid who seemed to be…licking the water fountain spout? Ew… I looked down the hall as far as I could, trying to find the office. But I couldn’t see much past the wall of people. I sighed. Looks like I need to ask for help….brilliant.

“Hey, ‘scuse me, would you mind telling me where the office is?” I said to a girl with brown hair.

“Oh, sure!”She smiled. “Are you new?”

“Yeah, this is my first day here. My name is (Y/N).”

“Nice to meet you (Y/N)! I’m Mabel!” She grinned.

“Hullo, Mabel! I like your sweater.” I smiled. It was pink and had a cute shooting star on it, and the colors all looked really nice together.

“Aw, thanks! I made it myself!”

“Woah, really? That’s awesome!”

“Yeah, it’s fun. What’s your favorite color?”

“Oh, uh, (F/C)?” “Cool! That suits you.”

By the time we made it to the office, I found that I really liked Mabel. She was cool, and super sweet.

“Well, see you later, (Y/N)!”

“See ya!” I waved.

I picked up my schedule and tried to navigate to my first period, art.

*******

I stood in the lunchroom with my tray. I hate having no one to sit with….I scanned the room for empty tables, preferably in dark corners. Unfortunately, due to personal reasons, ‘going up to a group and starting a conversation in a normal, casual, way’ is not something I can do….

“(Y/N)! Hi! You should sit with my friends and I!”

“Oh! Mabel! I didn’t know we had the same lunch period,”

“Well, lucky surprise, then!”

We walked over to a table with a few other kids, who were talking and laughing. I sat by the one off to the side who looked like a boy version of Mabel, with matching brown hair, dark eyes, and a similar face. Although, unlike Mabel, his hair was slightly messy and he looked a bit tired.

“These guys are friends of mine, and this dummy is Dipper! He’s my twin.” She grinned, sitting on my other side.

“Oh, uh, hi! Nice to meet you,” I waved.

“H-hi! Ahem. Hello, Uh…” He said awkwardly.

“(Y/N)!” Mabel grinned. “This is (Y/N) from Massachussettes!”

“Hi, (Y/N), uh, yeah. I’m Dipper Pines. Welcome to Piedmont!”

“Thanks! What’s it like here?” I said, trying to make conversation. He shrugged and tilted his chair back.

“Eh, nice place for the most part, but…very boring. Not a lot to see here.”

Mabel shook her head. “Dipper just misses Oregon.”

“Oh, did you guys move here too?”

“Nah, we just spent our last few summers in the Pacific Northwest, and Dipper’s hung up about having to be back in California- but I’m glad we get to be here, because then we get the best of both worlds! Monster- I mean um- exploring the woods in Oregon, but getting California beaches! I mean, Oregon’s got a nice coast and all, but who wants to go on dates in the rain? Not Mabel!” She explained.

What was she going to say? About…monsters?

“Pfft, rain is underrated.” Dipper smiled.

“Gasp!” (and yeah, she said the actual word ‘Gasp’) “ You love sunny weather, Dip!” Mabel laughed.

“I do, I do, but I’m just saying-”

“No! It’s too late now, you’ve lost your chance…” Mabel added dramatically.

I smiled at their antics, when suddenly I felt a burning sensation behind my eyes. Shoot…this again…I hoped it was just normal pain, but I had a funny feeling….I slumped down in my chair, staring at the ground.

“Hey (Y/N), you okay?” Dipper frowned.

“Pfft, yeah, I’m fine,” I said, digging through my bag to avoid eye contact. I tried to let my hair fall over my eyes….I really don’t need to be interrogated right now.

“You sure?” Something about his voice sounds sharp…like he wasn’t concerned, but suspicious. Shoot.

“Yep! I just….smeared my eyeliner, that’s all, so…I’ll just run to the bathroom once I find my eyeliner pen!”

“Okay then…” He said, narrowing his eyes.

“Oh, I can help you, if you want!” Mabel offered.

“That’s okay, I’ll figure it out. Thanks though!” I said, jumping out of my chair, still with my hair covering my face as much as possible.

*******

“Hmmm…something feels…off about that explanation.” Dipper frowned as he watched the new kid run off.

“Bro-Bro, you’re paranoid. Sometimes folks just need to fix their eyeliner!”

“Yeah, but…(Y/N) wasn’t wearing eyeliner.” He said, frowning.

“Hmm…I’m skeptical. Boop! Skepticals!” His sister chuckled, peering through her fingers.

Dipper sighed. “Why do I tell you things….”

But he had a funny feeling about that new kid….

No one you can trust.

*******

I winced. By the time I got to the mirror, my eyes weren’t just yellow,but they were even starting to turn blue around the sclera. Like the Beast’s eyes. Ugh.

I sighed and put on the eyeliner. I had wanted to do chiller makeup today, with only brown false lashes, concealer, and blush, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Luckily, by the time I finished with the second wing, my eyes had faded back to (E/C).

I stuck the pen in my pocket and headed back to the cafeteria, hoping this would be the last incident of the day.

*******

It wasn’t.

Although not quite as drastic as showing my peculiarity, no one wants to hear the teacher utter the words ‘group project’. Luckily, Mabel was in the class with me, and immediately invited me into her group. Unluckily, Dipper was in the class with me, and was by default in Mabel’s group.

Now, nothing wrong with Dipper so far, but he’s obviously suspicious of me already, and I didn’t want to deal with that. I mean, I kinda wish he had something to really be suspicious of me for….like if I were secretly a demon or witch or something, at least that’d be a cool secret….but no. Instead I get to be a mortal with no cool powers, whose eyes turn yellow at random times. At least I’m not the only one….I wonder how Wirt’s doing with his yellow eyes….but whatever. I’m just gonna have to pretend I don’t notice Dipper’s questions…

“So, (Y/N)...are you from Salem, Massachusetts?” Dipper asked as we worked on the art project. It was supposed to be a moodboard that combined the group member’s unique styles and interests.

“Oh, the old witch trial town, with all the cool urban legends and demon stories? Nah, I’m from Nowere.”

He frowned. “Hmm.”

I winced as my eyes flashed yellow, and tried to look away before Dipper noticed.

“Did your eyes just-”

“Hey Dipper! Look! Glitter claws!” Mabel interrupted and swatted at her brother with her newly made fake nails.

“Mabel, are those made out of cardboard?” I asked, chuckling.

“Yes, yes they are!” She laughed.

“Nice! Now I’ve gotta make some!” I grinned and began folding the cardboard sheet in front of me into stupid looking claws.

“Guys, we’re not gonna finish this on time….” Dipper groaned, staring at the mostly blank project.

Mabel frowned. “Isn’t it due on Monday?”

I paused. “Yeah, but since it’s Thursday, we won’t have a lot more time to work on it….”

“Unless…” Dipper hesitated, and slowly continued. “Unless we work on it outside of school this weekend. But that would mean-”

Mabel smirked. “Well Bro-Bro, I think that just might mean….a SLEEPOVER!!”

“With (Y/N)?!”

“W-with me?!”

“Well yeah, if you want to, it’d be perfect!” Mabel exclaimed.

Yes! That’d be so fun!

“Woah woah woah, Mabel, is that the best idea? I don’t know if….if…” Dipper argued.

Shut it, Dipper, it’s an awesome idea!

“It is! We’ll finish the project on time, we’ll get to stay up late and have fun, plus mom and dad are out of town, so we’ll have the house to ourselves! And we’ll get to hang out with our new friend!” Mabel said excitedly.

“I mean, if my parents are cool with it, then yeah! That sounds great.” I smiled.

“Awesome! Here’s our address, and me and Dipper’s phone numbers.” She scribbled the number out on my arm in colorful gel pens as the bell rang.

*******

“Mabel! What the heck?!” Dipper snapped.

“What?”

“I just…I don’t trust (Y/N), okay?”

“Wha-at? Why not?’

“I just…I think it might have something to do with…” his voice dropped to a whisper. “..Bill.”

“Oh, come on Dipper! (Y/N)’s a cool new kid who needs a few friends, why do you have to ruin it with your crazy conspiracies?!” Mabel exclaimed.

Dipper’s jaw dropped. “Y-you know they’re real! You were there in Gravity Falls-”

Mabel sighed angrily. “Dipper, this isn’t Gravity Falls. And trust me, I wish it were, but…but this is Piedmont. And Bill is dead.”

Dipper looked away. He wished he could just let his theorizing rest, like Mabel, but he was still sure…there was more to (Y/N) than meets the eye.

He watched the retreating silhouette…he could have sworn he saw those eyes turn yellow…

*******

Friday. Oh, thank goodness. I had only been in school for a day now, but I was already sick of it. So far the only friend I’ve made has been Mabel, and I have a funny feeling Dipper doesn’t like me very much. Speaking of which-

“Oh, hi Dipper.” I said, as I walked by his locker.

“Hey (Y/N).” He said flatly. His hair was even messier than it was yesterday under his pine tree hat, and he had dark circles under his eyes like a vampire. Jeez, did he get hit by a bus or something? He must not have slept last night.

“Listen, I don’t know who or what you are, or- or what you want, but you’d better stay away from my sister, got it?” He continued, glaring at me. What the heck is his problem?!

“Oh…wow. Are you like a detective or something? Well, you got me! I’m a…uh..werewolf! Nice job!” I said in a dumb voice.

“What’re you hiding, new kid?!” He snapped.

I rolled my eyes. “Mmm, the bodies in my basement, but we don’t talk about that.”

“UGH! You know EXACTLY what I mean, you-you- uh- Jerk!” He stuttered.

I nodded, irritated. “Smooth, Dip. And what a biting insult. ‘Uh-uh-uh- Jerk!’ Pure genius.”

“Oh no, is Dipstick scaring people again?” Smirked a girl with long dark hair. “I swear, starboy, you’ve fallen off the deep end! Ignore him, new kid, he’s totally delusional.”

“Back off, Victoria…” Dipper mumbled, eyes glued to the floor. The newly assembled crowd of kids giggled and pointed at him, and I felt a pang of guilt.

“BaCk ofF vICtOriA!” She mocked. “What’re you gonna do about it, use your noodle arms? Threaten me with your imaginary friends?”

Dipper stayed quiet, as if rendered frozen.

“Hmm. Not even gonna say anything…typical Dipper.” Victoria said, stauntering off.

The crowd slowly dispersed, the people had had their fun. I hovered by the still-frozen Dipper awkwardly.

“Hey…uh…Pines, you okay?” I said.

“Yeah, that…happens a lot.” He muttered.

“Well…sorry about that, that sucks.”

He looked up at me, looking grateful. But then his expression changed. “(Y/N),” He said, his voice slowly becoming a growl, “...Why are your eyes yellow?”

Oh no.

I stepped back with my hands in the air. “I-I can explain.”

“Oh yeah, BILL?” He yelled, looking both angry and terrified.

“Who? Pine-”

“Pinetree?! Tha-that’s what you were about to call me, huh?”

“No, kid, I was gonna call you ‘Pines’!” I exclaimed.

“You’re the same age as me! Why would you call me ‘kid’ if you weren’t-” He panicked..

“I call everyone ‘kid’!”

“WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?!” Dipper yelled. The echo danced down the now empty hallway.

“Nothing! I just got possessed by a beast temporarily!” I tried to explain, painfully aware that it sounded unbelievable.

Dipper stared at me for a moment, and then he just lost it.

He lunged forwards and tackled me.

“I’m done letting you hurt my family, Cipher!” He snarled. I shoved him off pretty easily, but he was fast and immediately caught me again.

“Dipper, I have no clue who that is!” I snapped, shoving him off again.

“Pfft, right, like I’m believing that-” He growled, clambering back to his feet.

“Seriously! I’m a normal mortal just like you, I-I just have been through something!” I said, stepping back.

“Oh sure, you’re possessing a normal mortal, but we both know what you really are-” He said, stepping towards me.

“Don’t we have to get to class?” I quipped, dodging a punch he aimed.

“Yeah, but this is more important- how the heck did you leave Gravity Falls?!” He shouted, gripping my shoulder tightly.

“I’ve never even been there!” I yelled back. “Man, maybe Wirt was wrong-” I muttered, trying to rip his hand off, “Maybe we should’ve just stayed in the Unknown-”

Dipper froze, and his hand went limp. “The…the Unknown?” He said in an odd voice.

“PINES! (L/N)!” Yelled someone down the hall. A staff member walked towards us. “We do NOT tolerate fighting in this school! Now, show me your hall passes!”

Dipper and I looked at each other before glancing back at the security guard.

“So…um…funny story,” Dipper began.

“....We maybe…don’t have those?” I finished. “We…ah…might have not noticed the bell rang due to our dumb hormonal teenage fury. I- We’re sorry about that.”

Dipper nodded in agreement.

“And why were you two fighting?” She said, narrowing her eyes.

I shrugged. “Just…roughhousing and…stuff…I…we’re sorry, it won’t happen again….”

“I should hope not! I’ll let you off with a warning this time, but if it happens again…”

“Yes ma’am. Thank you.” I nodded.

“Alright, now get to class.” She growled.

We walked down the hall in silence, apparently headed to the same wing,

“So. …Uh…thanks for not telling on me.” Dipper said awkwardly.

Thanks? THANKS?!

“Yeah, well, I kinda need you to help us finish the project, and you can’t do that in detention. It’s not personal, Dipstick.” I hissed. My adrenaline was still pumping from the fight, and I don't wanna deal with this dumbass any more than I have to right now.

“And for future reference, the correct words are actually ‘I’m sorry’.” I added, turning towards my first period classroom.

*******

I went to Mabel’s table at lunch, trying to ignore her brother. We talked and laughed, but I caught Dipper staring at me more than once….ugh.

The bell rang for our next class. I got up to leave when I noticed a piece of paper on my bag.

‘ I’m sorry, (Y/N). - Dipper’ It read. When I looked up, he was gone. I rolled my eyes and headed to the recycling bin. But for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away. I sighed and shoved it into my bag. Stupid Dipper and his stupid apology….but then, I wasn’t expecting an apology at all, so that’s…something.

Well, onto the next class.

*******

“So, we still on for the sleepover tonight?” Mabel grinned as I entered the art room.

“Mabel….I don’t know if….if (Y/N) exactly wants to do that.” Dipper answered for me. He was staring at the ground, and wouldn’t meet my eyes..

She faltered, her grin fading fast.

“Dipper, what did you do?!” She growled.

“I…ah…it was…suspicious…” He mumbled, hiding under the brim of his hat.

“Dipper, we talked about this! That is not happening. He isn’t back!” She said angrily. …Who isn’t back?

She turned to me. “What did he do?”

I coughed, unsure of whether or not to tell the truth. I was pissed, yeah, but he kind of apologized…. “Nothing, nothing….” I frowned.

She sighed. “Don’t cover for him. It’s not convincing, (Y/N).”

I sighed. “Okay, yeah, he tried to tackle me in the hall.”

Ohhh…angry Mabel is scary.

She turned back to her brother, glowering.

“You. Did. What?! Dipper, what the hell?!”

He slumped down in his chair, eyes still to the ground.

“Kids in the back of the class, quiet down!” snapped the teacher.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, we’re totally still having a sleepover tonight.” I whispered.

She smiled at me, but looked away. “It does. But I don’t want you to come if my brother makes you feel unsafe. You should be in environments that make you happy, and if-”

I shook my head, smiling. “He doesn’t scare me, the guys got noodle arms!” I whisper-shouted.

She giggled. “(Y/N), you scallywag!”

*******

“So, welcome to our humble abode!” Mabel grinned as we stepped off the school bus.

The house was kinda pretty on the outside, with a cobblestone path that led to the front door. Nothing fancy, but it was nice nonetheless.

Dipper rolled his eyes and unlocked the door, immediately going upstairs.

“So, your parents aren’t here?”

“Yeah,” Mabel shrugged. “Our great-uncles were supposed to come stay with us, but….well, things came up….” She faltered, but then shook her head. “Right, you wanna try me and Dipper’s homemade attic- junk-mini-golf course? It has glitter on it!”

“Sounds good to me!”

*******

“How the heck are you this good at mini-golf?!” I exclaimed as Mabel shot another perfect hole-in-one.

“Aw, y’know…practice,” She chuckled. “One time, Dipper shot a ball through the window and hit our Grunkle Stan in the head!”

“Guys,” Said Dipper as he climbed into the attic, “Shouldn’t we start working on the project soon?”

“Mmmm…after dinner. But we’re not doing frozen food again tonight…what do you guys think of ordering pizza?” Mabel offered.

“Sure,” I shrugged.

“If you order it, then yeah,” Dipper answered.

“Cool. My phone is downstairs…Dipper, if you do anything, I’m gonna kill you.” She said as she clambered down the ladder.

I sat awkwardly in the silence with Dipper. He kept staring at me and looking away again.

“So…you gonna, like, shove me down the ladder or something?” I joked, trying to break the tension.

“No. O-of course not. I…just…well..” He fidgeted with his hands, not meeting my eyes. “Well, it’s just that….your eyes are yellow.

I frowned. “Again? Seriously? Dang, my colored contacts just had to arrive late, didn’t they.” “It’s just- how am I supposed to not think you’re…him,” Him again! “...Well, I guess you wouldn’t know about him obviously, but….you know things, and I….can’t trust you, okay?!” He snapped.

I stared at him, eyes wide. “I can’t trust you either! You attacked me, Pines!”

“Look, I…I really am sorry about that. Now that I know you aren’t who I thought you were, I….you didn’t deserve that.”

Dipper swallowed as if the words were hard to get out. “I just….I know you’re not…him,” I wondered who he was…I have a feeling Dipper is rambling, but I’m curious. Is ‘He’ that Bill guy?

“....and I know you mentioned the Unknown…” Wait, he knows about that?! “I’ve just….I’ve had bad experiences with...yellow-eyed people. Last time…well…” He tried to hide his shudder, but it was pretty obvious that whatever had happened had shook him to the core.

I frowned. “You don’t have to tell me if it makes you uncomfortable…” Please tell me, your crypticness is intriguing! Ahhh, I’m so curious….

“Ha! Understatement of the century.” He laughed humorlessly.

“Okay, it’ll be here in like, ten miutes.” Mabel said, climbing up the ladder. “...You guys okay? You look all serious-y and stuff.” She added as she sat by Dipper.

I nodded slowly, unsure if we were actually okay or not.

“Yeah, we’re…we’re fine. I-I might just go back to my room now, though…for no reason! So, don’t worry.” Dipper said. He turned and descended down the ladder.

“What happened?” Mabel frowned.

I shrugged. I wasn’t really sure. “Well…he mentioned an awful experience with people with yellow eyes? I…don’t know.”

Mabel winced. “Oh yeah….that. He’s…seen some stuff these past few summers. You won’t believe me if I tell you though, no one here does.”

“I probably would, to be honest. Not that you have to tell me, but…let’s just say that I’ve seen some stuff too.”

Mabel froze. “B-Bill?” She said quietly, stepping away from me. Her eyes were wide. Shit.

“No! No, nothing like that!” I practically screamed.

“Oh, okay. Good.” She sighed in relief. “If you were Bill, I’d have to get you with my grappling hook, which would’ve sucked because you’re my new friend.”

I nodded. “Yeah, yeah. I really don’t wanna get in a fight with two Pines twins in one day. A-and keeping my limbs sounds nice.”

“Indeed it does! Now, wanna meet my pet pig?”

*******

I finished drawing the last touches to our project. Mabel’s side was practically dripping in colors, while Dipper’s looked like a conspiracy board. Mine suited me perfectly- with my favorite colors and pictures all together, it looked like my personal paradise.

We finished the pizza a while ago, and there wasn’t much left to do.

“...You guys wanna rewatch Ducktective?” Mabel offered as she flopped onto the couch.

“No….do you guys have any video games? Or board games?”

“Yeah, but… hmm.” Dipper said thoughtfully. “Mabel, do you think that one place we like is open this late?”

“Ooh, that place we went with Stan?”

“Yeah! Yeah, that one.” He nodded.

“I’ll check online…” She said, pulling her phone out.

“So…you ever had bubble tea, (Y/N)?” Dipper said lightly.

“Yeah, a few times… is that what we’re doing?” I smiled.

“Yeah. There’s a pretty good place not too far from here, if you don’t mind walking.”

“It is open! YES!” Mabel grinned, pumping her fist.

“Perfect!” Dipper smiled. The twins high-fived.

*******

It was chilly outside, I discovered. Of course, I had left my jacket at the Pines’ house, and by the time the cold set in, we were already halfway there. Luckily, we were only about a block away now.

Dipper had lagged behind at the start of the walk, but when Mabel and I started telling embarrassing stories, he couldn’t help but chime in.

I giggled as he described the time Mabel had a crush on Alexander Hamilton.

“To be fair, didn’t everyone in our generation have a Hamilton phase ‘cause of the musical?” I pointed out through my laughter.

“I dunno, I always preferred Angelica,” Dipper joked.

“That’s because Dipper likes people who could beat him up if they wanted to!” Mabel teased.

“Pfft, no I don’t! And anyways, you like people who are…uh….blonde stereotypes!” He retorted.

“Speaking of which, Pacifica just texted me…wonder what that’s about.” She said, checking her messages.

“Who’s that?” I asked Dipper.

“She’s our friend from Gravity Falls…she can be a bit of a jerk sometimes, but is pretty cool for the most part… she doesn’t text us very often, though.” He frowned and read the messages over Mabel’s shoulder.

“Looks like she’s near Piedmont! She’s passing through on her way to L.A.!” Mabel grinned. “I-I’ve gotta go greet her! A-and show her around! Do you think she booked a hotel, or will she join our sleepover? This is awesome!” She added excitedly, before turning back to us.

“Oh…but I should probably stick with you guys, huh?” She sighed.

“No, you should go!” I encouraged. “You look so excited, I’d feel bad if you didn’t meet up with her!”

“Really? Dipper, are you good with that?”

“Yeah, you should go, Mabel! It’s not like Pacifica comes here often, might as well take advantage of it,”

“Thanks guys! I’ll take the bus to the airport, and I’ll try to be home by midnight?”

“You got it!” I grinned.

She waved and ran back up the street to the bus stop, leaving Dipper and I alone.

“Ha…yeah, blondes are definitely her type.” Dipper chuckled.

*******

We arrived at the shop right when it began to get dark out. I stared wide eyed at the decor…

Aliens, forests and polaroids, oh my! The whole cafe was decorated with all sorts of monstrous memorabilia. The place reminded me of movies like E.T., with an almost 80s feel to it. There was 80s music playing over the sound of whirring machinery, and a wall covered in neon stickers.

Dipper smiled. “Welcome to the Cryptid Cafe,”

“Woah…” I grinned.

“So,” He began as we waited to order, “I had a few questions, if you’re okay with that.”

I shrugged. “You mean like, supernatural questions?”

He looked away. “Yeah…”

“Well, okay, but only if you tell me about your paranormal experiences too.” And Bill. Mostly Bill.

He nodded slowly. “Fair enough, but you tell me first…Oh hey, we’re at the front of the line!”

I greeted the employee- a tall, blue haired guy who looked bored- and looked up to read the menu. Hmmm…I’ll get (F/F).

“The usual for you, Dipper, I assume?” Said the employee, whose name tag read ‘Finn’.

“Yeah. And (Y/N), what’ll you get?”

“Aw, you finally got a date, Pines! I thought we’d never see the day.” Finn teased.

“NO! No. No, (Y/N) is Mabel’s friend. Our friend. I don’t know.” Dipper stammered.

I stifled a laugh. “We’re just friends.” I assured Finn. “And I’ll get a (F/F) bubble tea, thank you!”

“Great, that’ll be a quick wait then. Thanks for stopping by!” Finn said, still chuckling to himself.

Dipper’s face was bright red as we sat at the table in the corner.

“Sorry about him,” He groaned. “That was really annoying.”

I shook my head. “I don’t know, the look on your face was pretty funny.”

He somehow blushed harder. “Hey, not as funny as yours when you first entered the cafeteria yesterday- you looked like a little kid who got lost in the mall!”

“Oh, so you mean like your resting face?” I smirked.

“He-ey! My resting face looks more like a…a dead fish than a lost kid!”

I snorted. “And that’s a good thing?”

He did a so-so hand motion.

“Dipper! Your drinks are ready!” Yelled Finn.

As Dipper came back with the drinks, he looked more serious.

“So, (Y/N), you mentioned the Unknown?” He said as he handed me my cup.

I took a long sip before answering. “Yeah. Yeah, I did.”

“So…are you from that dimension?”

“No, I’m from here….but first, how do you know about the Unknown?”

“...well, not too long ago, my great-uncle Ford had an….accident.” A shadow seemed to cross over his face as he described it. “After he got….well, mostly better, he said he’d been to a place called the Unknown, where ‘Long forgotten stories were revealed to those who traveled through the wood’. Or something like that. I don’t know what he saw there, but he seemed really shaken…”

I nodded. “Sounds like he encountered the Beast.”

Dipper nodded, eyes wide.

“The Beast…how to explain him. Well, I suppose I’d describe the Unknown as a purgatory, at least based on what I know. And if it’s like purgatory, then the Beast is like the devil- corrupting minds until they break, till they give up and surrender their souls to him.” I shivered at the memory. “That’s what happened to me. I gave up. It seemed…impossible to get home, impossible to carry on…the Beast had my soul for a bit there.” I paused and sipped my drink, trying not to remember the feeling…

Dipper reached for my hand, but pulled it back again.

“You….you okay, (Y/N)? You don’t need to tell me if it…hurts…”

I shook my head. “I’m fine. Well, I am now. Anyways, somehow my friends saved me, and we all got home safe…”

I remembered that feeling of seeing Wirt’s dark eyes and Beatrice’s blue ones staring into mine as I woke up, free and safe at long last. I had hugged them and cried.

“....but every now and then, my eyes turn yellow. Mostly when I lose control of my emotions. So, yeah. There you go.” I finished.

“Wow…(Y/N), I…wow. That’s…awful.”

I nodded. “Yeah, yes, it’s pretty heavy. Anyways, now it’s your turn. Who’s Bill, and why’d you think I was him?”

“Well…” Dipper began, “It’s a long story. A couple years ago, when Mabel and I were twelve, we spent our first summer in Gravity Falls. I found an old journal in the woods full of stories, stories about encounters with cryptids and monsters. It was like a study, I guess. Well, pretty soon after that, we started having encounters of our own….”

He told me about all sorts of adventures he had there, although he still hadn't mentioned Bill.

“So how does this all connect to yellow eyes?” I asked.

“Okay. So, to back it up, earlier in the summer, we met this…demon. He called himself Bill Cipher, and we beat him pretty easily the first time we encountered him. The second time, though…well, he possessed me. He wanted to get his hands on the journal, so he tricked me into letting him use my body. When he was in my body, my eyes were yellow with slits for pupils. We defeated him again, but that wasn’t the last time…not too long ago, I met someone else whose eyes did that…” He shuddered. “Basically, if he were to be back again, it would be…bad, really, really bad. And you can tell he’s possessing someone if their eyes occasionally turn yellow. So…I thought….”

“You thought I was your demon. I was expecting a terrible explanation, but that…that makes perfect sense, actually.” I murmured.

*******

Dipper sighed with relief. He had honestly expected (Y/N) to stay mad. He felt awful about what happened that morning, especially now that he knew (Y/N)’s story. He understood how it felt to have lasting effects…he still couldn’t sleep without entering the mindscape, after all.

“Guys, it’s closing time,” Said Finn from behind the counter.

“Cool. See ya around, Finn!” (Y/N) waved.

“Yeah, see you next time,” Dipper added.

As the duo left the now-empty Cryptid Cafe, (Y/N) turned to him.

“Thanks for the bubble tea, Dip.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“You think Mabel will make it home tonight?”

“Oh, definitely not.” Dipper chuckled. “Honestly, at this point, her and Pacifica are probably on a plane to L.A., ready to spend the rest of their lives at Disneyland.”

“So…am I still spending the night?” (Y/N) asked.

“Oh, I mean, if you want! You can. If you want to. I didn’t think you wanted to…most of our friends in Piedmont only hang out with me because of Mabel, so I figured…”

*******

I shook my head.

“Dipper, we got off on the wrong foot, but we’re friends now. I trust you.”

He smiled softly. “Yeah, I trust you now, too…Thanks.”

We spent the rest of the night talking, and thank goodness we did…

*******

I stepped out of the bus, with the twins by my side.

“Well, welcome to Gravity Falls, (Y/N)!” Mabel grinned as she darted ahead of me.

I smiled and took in the sights and sounds of the Oregon forest. It was a lot like the Unknown, but not at all like the Unknown at the same time.

“C’mon, I have so much to show you!” Dipper beamed, grabbing my hand.

(I could hardly believe that he was the same guy who tackled me when we first met- Stan and Wendy laughed for hours when I told them that)

And together, we wandered back into the woods.

#dipper pines x reader #gravity falls #gravity falls dipper #dipper pines #dipper #gravity falls x reader #over the garden wall x gravity falls #over the garden wall #over the garden wall x reader #crossover #dipper x reader

[thedudewiththedragontattoos]

Genetically Correct Pleasantview with Scripted Events CC FREE

Hey people! Welcome to my latest project - A genetically correct Pleasantview with scripted events!

When I first found out (a while ago) that the playables we all know and love in Pleasantview aren’t actually genetically related to their ancestors, it totally broke immersion for me. For some reason it really bothered me and that kept me from really getting into a playthrough of the hoods that Eaxis shipped with the game. Then I discovered this crazy cool thing that people did which involved extracting the appearances of the first ancestors from each family, and breeding them in CAS from generation to generation, eventually creating Genetically Correct versions of the sims we all know. This is where I began this exhausting journey - there was a lot of learning but I am really happy with how it turned out!

There have been a ton of various Pleasantview makeovers - all of which are super awesome! However, I was unable to find a Pleasantview that not only already had all the sims genetically correct, but still had their relationships, biographies, personalities, and most importantly, scripted events...because let’s face it - who the hell wants to start a new Pleasantview if they can’t play through the cool ass scripted events in the beginning? I know I don’t. And that’s why I made this hood.

What is this? This is a Pleasantview in which I have made all the playable sims (and their ancestors) genetically correct. It contains no cc and was built on top of a clean template Pleasantview as well. Below are pics of the premades:

More Info, pics, and download below the cut!

My main goal for this was to make the premades genetically correct while still keeping them actually recognizable. I know there are some GC versions that are totally different, and I absolutely respect that, but I still wanted to look at Daniel Pleasant and say “Yep, that’s Daniel”. 

IMPORTANT: After taking the pictures I realized the skin I use (No longer after this), which I will link below drastically whitewashes the sims. Some sims with skin 3 look super light, such as Daniel Pleasant and Jennifer Burb. They still have the correct skin, it just may appear lighter in my images. I didn’t realize this until after I made the sims and took their pictures. Also note that the eyes may look like different colors. People have said the light blue looks grey, so if you see a strange eye color on a sim it doesn’t match with, be aware it’s likely just the defaults I used. 

Notice: I used a mod, equal genetics while creating these sims. I do not claim to be anything but a simpleton when it comes to genetics, and I know that some of these sims’ genetics aren’t realistic - Like a blond and brunette having a blond kid. I don’t claim to know anything about genetics, so before you genetic purists come at me just know - I know this and don’t care.

My general notion was that if one of their ancestors had a gene, then they could too. 

With that being said, all living premades with the exception of Coral Oldie, Herb Oldie, Mortimer Goth, and Bella Goth have the same eye and hair colors as they did originally. Some ancestors or dead spouses (like Michael Bachelor and Skip Broke) have had a few changes as well. More on that at the very end, for those interested.

TLDR - General Information

I ramble, I know. The main idea is that ALL of the sims are the same exact sims as you’re used to. They all have the same personalities, zodiac signs, hobbies, jobs, aspirations, relationships, memories, etc...They just have corrected appearances. Scripted events still work, and Brandi Broke’s baby is also now going to be genetically correct and related to both her and Skip. 

A few things to note:

- I used a default skin and eyes when taking the pictures. The sims will not come with these. I used Pitstop Skinblend and Poppet Clear Eyes

- Yes, I know Michael Bachelor’s eyes aren’t right. That is fixed in the game.

- This is CC FREE!!

- Brandi’s pregnancy may be a couple hours behind

- All sims have just about the same dominant and recessive traits as they do in the original clean templates from meetme. No sim is homozygous unless intended by meetme/eaxis.

- Sims may get some wants or fears of their ancestors or dead relatives becoming zombies or resurrected, this is just because of the way I did this, their deaths are fresh in the playables minds. 

- This hood was build on a clean template Pleasantview, all ancestors and dead sims are safe to resurrect

- This was made with Ultimate Collection, so unfortunately you will need this or all packs for this to work.

- The versions without townies still include Bella Goth, Kaylynn Langerak, and Gordon King.

- When you add the subhood version with townies, you’ll notice that the townie and NPC names get randomized and aren’t their original names. Though annoying, this is normal and you will have to rename them all yourself.

Update:

It seems that some mods can break the scripted events, it was unclear exactly which mods in my folder did it. To circumvent this issue I would recommend that when you initially install and play the scripted events in the hood, take out all of your non essential mods (leave in mods like no unlink on delete, no townie regen, things that are essential) from your mods folder (just mods, cc is fine to stay in) and put it in a safe folder while you just play through the SE - then when they're done, put the mods back in. This seems like a random occurrence - as they only broke 1 out of every 5 times I tested it.

More Pics:

Link to imgur album of individual sims and all (or most) ancestors.

Link to imgur album of individual families

Download Instructions:

This comes in 4 versions:

GC Main Hood Pleasantview with Townies

GC Main Hood Pleasantview without Townies

GC Subhood (Shopping district) Pleasantview with Townies

GC Subhood (Shopping district) Pleasantview without Townies

Download the version you want. 

For Main Hoods, place the folder in the following location:

Ultimate Collection: 

Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection\Neighborhoods

Disk Version:

Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods

For Subhoods, place the folder in the following location:

Ultimate Collection:

Program Files\Origin Games\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection\Best of Business\EP3\TSData\Res\NeighborhoodTemplate

Disk Version:

:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Open for Business\TSData\Res\NeighborhoodTemplate

Credits:

meemetotheriver for the clean templates

Carrit for the ancestral sims

Special thanks to:

Sabrina from PleasantSims discord and @isabella-goth​ for their patience and help with my idiocy throughout this project - I couldn’t have figured it out without your help specifically!!

Download:

Genetically Correct Pleasantview with Townies

Genetically Correct Pleasantview without Townies (Still includes Bella, Kaylynn, and Gordon King)

I hope you all enjoy this! As usual, let me know if you run into any issues! Tag me in pics or posts of what you do with the sims if you’d like!

Till’ next time

-Mike

P.S. Changes to premades/dead spouses:

Bella Goth - Hair changed to brown

Mortimer Goth - Hair changed to black

Coral Oldie - Hair changed to blond

Herb Oldie - Eyes changed to dark blue

Skip Broke - Eyes changed to dark blue

Michael Bachelor - Given blond hair, medium skin, and dark blue eyes

That should be the only changes to premades and/or their spouses. Some ancestors have been adjusted too!

#sims 2 #ts2 #ts2 hood #pleasantview #dwtdtpleasantviewgc #sims 2 neighborhood #ts2cc #sims 2 build #sims #simblr #the sims 2 #the sims 2 cc #the sims 2 hood #dwtdt

[onebizarrekai]

v3′s art is comically terrible for a professionally distributed game in a series: a compilation

in this not-essay I will list all of the mistakes and problems I have spotted in v3′s art. don’t worry, it’s entirely for fun and I’m doing this on a whim, so please feel free to not take this seriously but also it’s hilarious and embarrassing how ridiculous this is like what happened did they speedrun the whole production or what

see, there are some things you can take as meta like “they made it bad on purpose to allude to the downfall of tv shows that have been on air for much too long” but I have a very strong feeling this is not the case due to the nature of some of these errors

disclaimer, the more I study this art, the more I fear that the artists were underpaid and underslept, so if this is in fact the case, I am so sorry to all of them but also I’m going to make fun of the art anyway

anyway let’s get started!

if you study this image for longer than 5 seconds, you will see that kaede is the only one fully shaded and keebo is literally just his normal sprite pasted into the image. every other character is just an ordinary ref, hence most of them facing the exact same direction with neutral expressions on their faces. it looks like a bad edit, and is probably one of the worst pieces of art in the game. it kind of gets better from here on, but my roasting will not.

with that out of the way, here’s the problem that officially bothers me the most and clarifies my viewpoint of “this is not meta and an actual lack of company communication”

this freaking cg, which seems normal at a glance, but some wiseass was like “oh, kaede is a girl, so obviously she’s going to be shorter than the Male Protagonist™” ah, that’s funny. because if you look at the character bios, kaede is, in fact, one inch taller than shuichi and not like 6 inches shorter as she is shown here.

also shuichi’s shoulder is disproportionate and horrendous and he looks vaguely like a jojo character, but I wasn’t even thinking about that until right now.

thanks guys, 50% of the fandom who has never bothered to check these bios thinks that kaede is like 5′3 (did the developers really put so little thought into her to the point where drawing her correctly in the game didn’t even matter??)

also I would like to point out that, even though this isn’t related to the art itself, yes, a character kaede’s size being only 117 lbs is unfeasible, but this applies to literally every character in danganronpa ever and it’s not new news that it’s unrealistic

update: someone in the tags informed me that in versions of the game that use centimeters, like the japanese version, kaede is actually shorter than shuichi, which just adds another thing to the list of weird decisions the localization team made for no reason. that said, after confirming this, kaede is 167 cm in the original, while shuichi is 171 cm, which are approximately 5′6 and 5′7 respectively, but one inch is still nowhere near as drastic as it is depicted above. (in spite of this, I would rather depict kaede as slightly taller, so I’m probably going to keep doing that.)

the journey continues!

bro if you want kaede to have shoulder length hair then stick to it to begin with

you can pretend this is at an angle all you want but they definitely committed the shorter kaede sin a second time

wait a goddamn second.

DO YOU SEE THIS

no………… it wasn’t kaede who shrank. it was shuichi who got taller

speaking of which, can we talk about how shady the perspective is in this elevator pic? look at shuichi and kokichi in comparison to kaede. kokichi, who is canonically 7 inches (edit: or 5, if you’re loyal to the original) shorter than kaede, looks taller than kaede. he’s growing too. what steroids are these gays taking

running into the room, electric boogaloo: I don’t think tsumugi is supposed to be the same height as kokichi

gonta… gonta you’re lookin a bit like a jojo character there

I love how kaito’s head looks kind of like it was pasted onto his body. why is he the same size as shuichi? shouldn’t he be high school bully size or something? his torso is teensy

ah yes, white angie.

I love this cg but why is shuichi’s right hand so much bigger than his left hand

I also love how this cg looks like they literally took pictures of trees and pasted them into the background, especially on the left. the shadows are so weird, especially closer to the ceiling, it’s difficult for me to believe they didn’t do exactly that.

return of Enlarged shuichi

puberty update: kokichi is now taller than shuichi in spite of shuichi never missing leg day. what crimes will he commit

I have to mention it, guys. this has to be one of the worst danganronpa cgs. kokichi’s facial proportions look atrocious. look at the way his face sticks out like his jaw is in the wrong place. his scarf is a pasted texture. that’s it. this moment was so iconic but the cg just looks so… so… off. like something is terribly wrong, but you can’t put your finger on it.

you know what? let’s get into that ‘pasted texture’ thing.

let’s imagine you’re an artist working on a professional game. you’re assigned to draw cgs of kokichi ouma, who has a checkered scarf from hell. sure, it will be terrible to draw, but you only have to draw it once at a time! plus, perspective is pretty important, right? can you be bothered? nah, actually. let’s just copy paste a checkered pattern into the cg, because I’m sure nobody will notice. it’ll blend right in with the other cgs that someone actually put effort into drawing his scarf in, right?

no. the answer is no and I very much noticed. this genuinely looks terrible and I would understand taking a shortcut like that in fanart or even an indie game but this is a full price pc and console distributed game

(an addition: look at kokichi’s TINY HANDS in that last one)

meanwhile, they straight up forgot to color in kokichi’s scarf in this cg.

dude. I forgot about whatever the hell this cg was. anyway look at keebo please just look at him

lovin kaito’s baby arms

real talk, maybe you could argue that he’s missing muscle because he’s deathly sick, but most of his cgs don’t line up with this, and his arms just look disproportionate to his torso size (granted this is a consistent problem across all danganronpa games and a lot of characters have this weird problem, like hajime, but also kaito is bigger than hajime so I kind of have higher expectations of him) maybe it’s his stupid goatee and the way he reminds me of yasuhiro?? it creates this illusion that he’s older than he is and so I keep expecting him to look more like an adult

oh, also rantaro is missing some of his accessories in that video he made–you know the one–but I don’t wanna go back and screenshot it

also you may have noticed that I’m skipping all of the monokub cgs because I literally do not care about them and I’m not even bothering to check and see if they have artistic mistakes in them

JIMMY NEUTRON???

hey um uh kaito you seem to be missing your neck

hey guys do you like my pregame fanart

so, that done, the sprites are also pretty terrible at times. they’re not as interesting to go through, however, and downloading the full sprite sets for every character and studying every single one of them will drive me insane, so I’ll just sum some of the ones I noticed up. I made things for kaede and shuichi before deciding I wasn’t going to get into it, so here are these.

that said, other mistakes include kokichi missing his purple highlights in all of the sprites encompassing a specific pose, stray pixels all over the place on everyone, and everyone also has heavily inconsistent shading, but literally all I think about is how pregame shuichi is unshaded and two of kaede’s pregame sprites have glaring outfit change mistakes in them

anyway, thank you for taking the time to read my ridiculous ramble. in all seriousness, there’s this looming presence of some lack of communication in the development team, like with all the art and design inconsistencies, pieces and sprites that look rushed, stray pixels, and missing basic proportional stuff. these are the kinds of things that you supposedly have to pretty much have in the bag in order to get jobs in professional businesses, so it’s really weird to me that this game suffers from so many of these problems. it’s like they tried to make the art so much more crisp than the other games, but it fell on its face as they realized it was going to take longer to draw everything and they started to rush. it’s weird, because the coloring itself looks normal–it’s just sloppily drawn, and the proportions are a mess once put into the context of perspective. many of the cgs look like they were drawn by different people, and I’m still not over the fact that half of kokichi’s cgs have his scarf pasted in as a texture.

the moral of the story is that if you’re selling a game at full price that also happens to be in a series that has had 3 very good games in it already the stakes should probably be higher than this. v3 has been out for more than 3 years and it’s still $40 (did it cost more than that before? I sure hope not), and the overarching quality of the game is just not as high as the other games. I’m not saying that the other games don’t have any problems with their art at all, they’re just not as glaringly obvious and every artistic choice in those games feels intentional.

regardless, I had a blast roasting the art at 2am, so maybe you got a kick out of all this chaos.

#god I keep telling myself I'm gonna stop rambling about v3 #v3 spoilers #drv3 spoilers #ndrv3 #random stuff #but making this… it sounded so fun #danganronpa

[starboundfae]

@pastelpixels suggests: > Inspect The Mask

@mindl3ss-kitt3n suggests: > Inspect The Mask (and also your staff)

------

I cross my legs, and pick up the mask from where it lies on my hip, brushing off the last bit of sand clinging to it. 

Two pairs of faintly glowing yellow eyes stare up at me, with the set on the damaged side occasionally flickering and going dim before weakly lighting back up. The other side bears a small horn, curved on the inner side as if it wrapped around an actual horn. This mask, with its damage and its one, singular horn, reminds me of a similar one I had before… though that one I had crafted myself as a crude combination of the tech and magic of the world I was on at the time.

Which, perhaps it is the same mask? Just modified for this world in the same fashion my clothes are? The main body of it seems to be petrified wood, though, with the eye holes being made of light magic rather than being holes at all-- the old mask was more heavy on the tech than the magic aspect, with most of it being metal with a digital interface.

I flip the mask over, finding the inside scratched with a few runes in what looks like my own handwriting-- one for durability; for activation; for translation; for better sight; for harmony with technology; and for energy for the mask. Same as before, solidifying the theory that this is (was?), in fact, my old mask. Why it would show up again now of all times, changed so drastically in look, I can't be sure. 

I press my fingers over the activation rune and slide it on, allowing the magic to "click" it into place over my face. I blink, squinting as my field of view is filled with Very Important Information. At least it still gives important info related to what I'm currently focused on. ...Unfortunately, this version of the mask isn't any smarter than mine used to be, and its idea of important info is to tell me that there is sand on the ground.

Well.

I guess it isn't wrong, at least?

I sigh and bat away the notifications, turning my attention back to my hip, where my staff sits, waiting. I lift it a bit awkwardly from my belt, flipping it around in my hand until it's in a good position, and examine it. It consists of two portions, really-- the "lamp orb", which is made of milky white glass containing a constantly reforming mass of light, not unlike a lava lamp; and the actual staff bit, which curves around the lamp orb, and is made of dark colored wood with a teal grip. As far as I can tell, it is my exact same staff. 

A notification pops up.

"MEGABIRD" my mask informs me, helpfully, pointing to the orb of light inside my staff and a few various other sources of light, like the sky and the water reflections, before changing its mind and telling me that those are actually light.

Okay.

What the fuck is a megabird?

I stare at the notification, puzzled, waiting to see if it changes back-- even jiggling the staff to see if it would catch "megabird" again. It doesn't work, though, much to my disappointment. So, instead, I extend the staff to actual staff length by pressing one of the extension runes on the grip, and then open the storage compartment to see if any of the items in there get labelled weird.

Unfortunately (fortunately??), they do not. All the enhanced space has is some snacks, a container of water, my necklace (how'd that get in there?), and my hairtie. I dig out the hairtie, carelessly warping the opening for a moment while I grab it, and use it to tie most of my hair up and out of the way, before grabbing the necklace and clipping it on as well.

I eye the snacks and water container, contemplating if I'm really that in need of them right now, and close the compartment when I decide I can wait. 

Shoving the staff into the ground, I use it to help lift myself onto my feet and keep steady. Once I'm sure I won't eat shit if I let go of the staff, I dust the sand off of me and take a look around, yoinking the staff back out of its sandy half-grave.

There really isn't much but sand and water around, though. Behind me, there's water, before me, there's sand. Oh, and rocks, I suppose, and what appears to be a good sized one blocking any view of what might be ahead.

I sigh. 

If I'm on a tiny island again I'm not bothering with swimming this time.

-------

Page 2 < Prev // Next > // Tag for scrolling through!

*note: Trick may now get your asks directly as notifications from their mask. They will reply accordingly, and I will attempt to do mini doodles for any that aren't used for the main story.

#my art #ask blog #Trickventure: Sky Edition #inspect the mask #i tried to use semicolons but i am not used to them help #they always confused me as a kid #we are getting into it!!! hyeah!!! #edit: i didnt forget to actually italicize some words #Trick.png #Trick.txt

[cno-inbminor]

hello, kay! i hope you've been taking care of yourself well and that life has been kind to you for the most part. i want to ask, how do you feel about kita shinsuke? your akaashi is exquisite and incredibly characterized that i always find myself coming back to your stories should i need my keiji fics, and i realized that it would probably be really interesting (and beautiful) to meet kita through your words. no pressure, tho! as always, i am grateful for whatever you write. ♡ all the love x

you’re an absolute sweetie -- i hope you’ve been well too! i’m honestly at my wit’s end but we’ll survive somehow, right? ahahaha // i’m still incredibly flustered whenever someone mentions how much they like my keiji characterization -- he’s one of the ultimate comfort characters for sure! so thank you for giving my keiji fics that honor <3 

i’ve definitely developed some love for kita over time! i love anyone who’s incredibly dependable -- my love language (that i’ve recently re-discovered) is acts of service and i can see him embodying that! 

i got carried away: here’s ~1.7k of some hazy kita appreciation, or some strangers-to-lovers ideas sprinkled together. my brain has died from finals, but i hope you like this anon!

-

the first time that kita shinsuke even crosses your mind, you mistakenly think, “he’s certainly a bit dull.” 

it’s not that you forgot he existed by any means -- the boy certainly carries a presence and emanates it in a calm, quiet manner. you just can’t remember him saying anything that wasn’t related to speaking out loud in class or social pleasantries. he’s certainly not much more than a blank canvas to you, and the only splotch of color thrown on is that he’s a member of your nationally recognized volleyball team. other than that, you know nothing else.

it all changes when you two are paired for classroom cleaning duties your third year. 

when your homeroom teacher announces your name after his, you glance away from the window to the boy sitting diagonally in front of you to your right. his back sits upright, elbows bent to indicate he’s probably sitting with his hands linked on top of his desk, legs still and placed together underneath the wood. besides the two-toned grey and black hair, you would think he’d be the perfect poster child for japanese education. 

the first morning of cleaning duties, you’re sprinting through the halls in your slippers, hoping that the student council president isn’t anywhere near your classroom. the subway was absolutely packed and nobody seemed to be in the usual pace of the morning rush, which caused some delays and for you to cut it very close. you slide open the class door with all the force you can muster, panting and out of breath with apologies falling off your tongue. unbeknownst to you, your brain had been expecting kita to give you a small smile and ensure that it was okay for your two minute tardiness -- instead, you were at the receiving end of a blank yet heavy stare, and seemingly scathing words of, “don’t be late next time.” 

your second thought of kita is that he’s too rigid and austere for a seventeen year old. bitterness festers in your chest as you practically stomp towards your desk, setting your stuff down before you head to the erasers in front of the chalkboard. even though there isn’t much dust left on them, you’re searching for excuses to calm down and be a little more level-headed. 

you’re so caught up in your thoughts and staring out into the open sky that you don’t register kita’s presence looming near. but it’s his timbre voice that startles you out of your stupor, though they’re nothing more special than, “you can sweep the other half of the classroom. i’m getting started on the desks,” and he walks away. 

in gliding the bristles over the wooden floor, you take another peek at your partner for the time being. it’s hard to miss the way he methodically cleans each wooden surface, leaving no corner unwiped, no speck of dust lingering. something about it is somewhat endearing to you, a rather drastic juxtaposition to how you were feeling not too long ago. maybe you were wrong about him -- kita shinsuke might still be a little boring to you, but he’s just...diligent. 

in home ec, you’re partnered up with ojiro aran (which proves to be in the best of your luck). but he’s good with small talk, and it’s not like you two have never spoken before. so three weeks later over the folding of meringue into the other batter, you decide to pop the question of, “what’s kita-san like as captain?” 

aran can’t contain his muted surprise at your inquiry, seeing as you two rarely ever get into the details of his volleyball playing, much less so about his team. but it doesn’t stop him from giving a truthful answer, “he’s no nonsense, keeps everyone in line. we have some rowdy underclassmen and no one scares them more than shinsuke.”

“a hardass?”

“when he needs to be,” aran chuckles. “but he’s very thoughtful and goes out of his way to care for everyone. the guy lives and breathes by routine.” 

there’s something that stirs within you, a small flame being lit, one that flares the next morning when kita walks by your desk and greets you, “good morning, l/n-san.” seeing as he usually never does, you stumble over your reply and shock, all the while berating your heart for beating as fast as it is. kita’s just being polite and using social pleasantries, nothing more. 

but he does it the next morning, and then the next, and even incorporates, “how are you?” into his line of words on days you two clean. little by little, you get to know more about him -- not a lot, but enough to correct yourself for ever thinking that he’s a dull, austere, mean human being. you tell yourself it’s nothing more, especially when you start looking forward to their games and join the student cheering squad. it’s nothing when you eagerly await for the moments that kita gets subbed in; absolutely nothing when he looks away from the court and into the crowd, catching your eyes and allowing his lips to slip into a demure smile before turning back around. the pounding of your heart and sweating of your hands aren’t related at all, just physiological effects of the game. 

and before you know it, graduation comes around and you think you’ll never see him again after this. you’re laughing and taking pictures with your classmates, later spotting aran over the crowd of families. he catches your waving arm and bounding figure, bright grin on his face as he congratulates you. “i’ll miss you all,” you confess and aran affectionately pats your head. “same here. have you seen shinsuke?”

your brows furrow. “no, why? is he looking for me?”

“you sound confused by that. weren’t you two friends?”

“i wouldn’t overassume that...but i doubt i’m on his mind right now.”

aran only nods and adopts a pensive look, taking a moment to think before confessing, “you meant something to him. after all, he greeted you every morning, right?”

you nod. “but what does that have to do with anything?”

aran’s parents interrupt and attempt to drag him away before he can answer, but he beckons for them to give him another minute. quickly, he pulls you into a one-arm hug, telling you over the bustling crowd, “you were part of his routine.” 

you’re stunned, frozen in your tracks as aran and his family walk away. their departure creates some space between everyone, and you find yourself looking straight into the golden eyes of the man that had been plaguing your thoughts for months now. he doesn’t back down, not out of defiance though -- rather, he seems to be trying to convey that he sees you, acknowledges your existence and long wedged a placeholder for you in his life. 

but the spell is broken when one of your relatives tugs on your arm for you to leave and go home for a big lunch celebration, and that’s the last you see of him.

at least for the next two years. you have a part-time job at osamu’s onigiri shop, having met the man in some cooking classes over the years. while you’re up front most of the time, you occasionally help out in the kitchen during rush hours. evidently, you missed any of the information on the exact source of the rice, remembering nothing more than the fact it was special and held a certain place in osamu’s heart -- because when kita shinsuke walks in to make a special, personal visit, your brain splutters and ceases all deep cognitive functioning.

he looks well, happy, strong, more than he did back in high school. the same air of confidence still surrounds him and encases the entirety of the shop, and instincts nearly have you dropping to your knees so you can hide behind the counter and catch your breath. 

“oh shinsuke, you’re here!” osamu calls out from behind you, popping out of the kitchen to help with the rice bags. the most you can muster is a gentle bow before messing with the cash register, pretending to be busy organizing receipts and bills. you tune out most of the conversation cleaning counters, checking customers out, wiping down tables, and anything else that’ll take your mind off the guy your heart could never seem to forget. 

but osamu bidding goodbye to kita snaps you out of your reverie. and instead of walking towards the door, kita’s figure approaches you until there’s nothing but 5 feet of wood between the two of you. “it’s good to see you,” he greets softly, a gentle expression casting onto his face and tone. 

“i-it’s good to see you too, kita-san,” you barely reply in time, doing everything you can to fight the blood rushing into your face. 

“i’d like to take you out for coffee when your shift is over, if that’s okay.”

oh. 

“oh, well, yes, but um, my shift doesn’t end for another hour and--”

“oh, you’re good to go for the rest of the day,” osamu calls out with his head popped out the kitchen door, sending a knowing look towards his former captain. in fact, you remember that the owner had been somewhat insistent that you come work today of all days and you never knew why...until now.

that fucker.

shinsuke’s eyes glimmer as the realization hits you, the same demure smile as the one he sent you all those years ago during a volleyball game sitting on his lips. excitement bubbles within you, and you attempt to tease, “only if you can untie my apron for me?”

there’s no hesitation in his demeanor as he walks around the counter and plants himself right in front of you, mere centimeters between the tips of your shoes and his. you can’t bear to look away as an arm reaches around easily undo the bow at your lower back. neither do you miss the ghosting of his fingertips at your waist that burn through the cotton of your t-shirt, and you’re just thankful that no customers are around to witness this heated, intimate moment. 

“lead the way, captain,” you can’t help but say. something dark and dangerous crosses his eyes, sending a thrilling shiver down your spine. and you think that yes, yes indeed, you’d like to see those eyes more often if you can. 

#kita x reader #kita shinsuke #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu!! #kita #kita shinsuke x reader #anon #sweet child

[lord-westley]

My name is Hannah, Can I get a lotr/hobbit/silmarillion match up? I am ENTP, Gryffindor, Bi and 5,8 with brown hair and eyes. Im pretty bubbly and out going, as well as opinionated at times. I play drums, guitar, and debate, write, sew, embroidery and rock climb. I tend to be super nice, and sometimes a bit of a pushover. I also always try to make people laugh around me. Thank you so much for doing this trade with me!

Hi Hannah! Thank you for reaching out to me about the trade. It was lovely meeting you despite the initial creepiness of being ‘clones’ 😂. I hope you enjoy your match up!

A/N: Y’know how I said I wanted it to be ✨perfect✨ ? Yeah.. well I got too excited and accidentally made it really long 😔✊🏻

I match you up with King Thranduil of Mirkwood!

Every year there is a celebration hosted by King Thranduil, known as the Mereth Nuin Giliath. Or ‘Feast of Starlight’ in the common tongue. All the elves of Mirkwood are invited to the party, and that includes you and your mother. Normally you would decline the invitation, but this year you weren’t allowed to. Your close friends did you a favor a few weeks past, and you had to uphold your side of the deal. To accompany them at the Feast.

Upon arrival, you could feel the excitement in the air; leaving a warm tightness in your chest. Elves are dancing in the center of the room, swaying their hips to the beat of the music. And the aroma of wine and delicious foods fill your nose. The whole atmosphere of the Feast brought a grin to your face and you knew, you wouldn’t regret coming.

Hours have passed when elves have begun to trickle out and head home. Your friends have left already, leaving you to converse with others on your own. Which you didn’t mind, as you were a very sociable lady.

It was when you were in midst of a heated debate with a dark haired Ellon when you caught the attention of the King. He notice you earlier in the afternoon, entering the foyer. But he spared no second glance, for he thought you were just an insignificant human girl. Yet now here you are, causing a ruckus with the Prince of Rivendell.

Thranduil couldn’t help but be intrigued as to what caused the argument. So to satisfy his curiosity, he approached the two of you with a wine glass in hand.

You were surprised that the King would approach you, but even more so to learn that the Ellon was a prince. As if on instinct, you stood straighter and curtsied; apologizing to the two royals for such impropriety. They were quite amused by your flustered state but nevertheless accepted the apology.

Ever since that day, you saw Thranduil more often. Each meeting under the guise of them being ‘business’ related. Which wasn’t exactly a lie. You two did spend quite a bit of time talking about the kingdom. He always valued your opinions on how to improve daily life. Found it quite refreshing actually; since you were the first person to be honest and blunt about his way of ruling.

Thranduil would listen intently to every word you said, occasionally contradicting things with facts and reasoning. Which would always lead to a heated debate and who could get the last word in. (You win every time)

As months passed, your relationship began to grow into something much more. Soft touches and secret smiles would be shared; cheeks dusted with a rosy color. Gifts and bouquets of flowers would be found on desks with love letters.

Everyone around you could see- could feel the longing between you two. Many bets were tossed around, on when Thranduil would finally court you. Some bet a few months, others said a year; much to the amusement of Legolas. (Who also put in his own bet haha).

When the two of you finally started courting, your life changed drastically. You were given fine jewels and silk clothing. Elves would bow as you walked past, and maids were at your beck and call. It was odd and a bit scary, to go from a simple woman to being treated as royalty. But none of this wavered your love for the King.

Thranduil believes you’re absolutely perfect. You’re so talented in all kinds of mediums from creative arts to physical activities. It boggles his mind that the woman he loves is so skilled.

One of Thranduil’s favorite activities is to watch you play the guitar. He’ll sit across from you, a content smile gracing his lips as you pluck a melody. Occasionally sending a flirty wink your way when you look up.

He loves to spoil you rotten especially when it comes to your hobbies. There was a time where you started a new sewing project and broke your last needle. So being the extra King he is, he bought you new ones... along with fifteen different fabrics, each bundle ten yards worth. To say you were shocked was an understatement.

On days that Thranduil is not swamped with work, the two of you explore the forest. Often finding hidden caves and climbing the tallest trees to watch the horizon; feeling the cold breeze bite at your cheeks. Those days tend to be the most relaxing. Just you and your love, sitting side by side. Listening to birds sing and leaves rustle in the wind. The sweet aroma after it rains filling the air, burning your lungs.

The day Thranduil confessed his love however, was not as sweet. A traveler, a man, who was not aware of the relationship began to flirt with you relentlessly. You tried many times to push him away, stating you weren’t interested. Yet he didn’t listen.

It made Thranduil’s blood boil, rage clear in his eyes as he walked up; placing a hand on your waist. The traveler’s face paled greatly, turning a nasty shade of green as the King threatened him. And as soon as he finished, the man ran off- not once looking back.

With a heavy sigh, Thranduil looked down at you, worry etched on his face. His voice soft and reassuring, “Meleth Nin, are you alright?”

Meleth Nin... that’s a new one

#lotr #lord of the rings #lotr x reader #lord of the rings x reader #the hobbit #hobbit x reader #Thranduil x reader #Thranduil #matchup request #matchup #writing trade #Westleys Writing

[gayregis]

Do you have any thoughts on TWN using non polish actors to portray characters from polish fantasy book with dense polish culture and roots? And on how most of the cast apperereance are drastically different than in the books? Like Foltest, Renfri, Fringilla or Calanthe? (Sorry this is the correct one, i forgot to add Fringilla on my previous question.)

i feel like the witcher should not be handled by a large american company like netflix. it is clear that a lot of decisions were made to “dumb the series down” in a manner that would make it more of a pop culture phenomenon that could be used to profit off of from viewership, subscriptions, social buzz, and merchandise, instead of an opportunity to demonstrate actual artistry, storytelling, character depth, and poignant messages. the company that handles it CAN be american or another nationality besides polish, but it shouldn’t be a huge one focused on making as much money and social sharability as possible, that will ruin things. (i also feel like the witcher should not be a live-action adaptation, but this is kind of besides the point... to better gauge how i think the feel of a visual-audial witcher adaptation should look, my dream adaptation would be that of a more “adult version” (”adult” meaning in themes like war and despair) studio ghibli or laika).

in regards to casting, i feel like it’s fine to not use an all polish cast as long as they fit the character description in a way that is actually relevant to the plot. so many people in response to people of color being cast in the witcher were volalitely racist and demanded a “polish cast” - as if polish MUST = white. even though poland is not as ethically diverse as some other european countries, people of color do exist in poland, as they/we exist everywhere. if you want an “all-polish cast and production,” that’s fine to me, i don’t think it’s inherently necessary, but i think if one is doing so, that doesn’t mean that it would be wrong to cast actors of color in roles. 

i think the issue lies more with storytellng, for two reasons. one is that eastern european people involved on set seem to actually understand the witcher and what it’s about way better than any of the british cast, and by that i mean sakharov and baginski, who have demonstrated more understanding of like, the style of storytelling (not every scene needs to be jammed with action, drama, sex, gore), what the characters actually mean to each other, and the lore in general. this makes sense because i have read some articles and such before about how the witcher was and is important to its fans in poland and eastern europe because very little “slavic fantasy” ever gets exported and represented internationally, and of course sapkowski involved many cultural references in the series, so it’s recognizable to people from those regions (or are diaspora from those regions) who grew up hearing these fairytales, etc. it’s more of a meaningful callback and less of a “foreign curiosity,” if that makes sense. so for those reasons, i think it’s important to have a majority polish and/or slavic writing room/directors/etc, people behind the story and how the story is told - but that doesn’t mean the writer’s room should be all white men, though. diversity in gender, race, etc should be considered.

the other reason is that the casting for the netflix is inaccurate, but not for reasons of race. the issue with anya chalotra as yennefer isn’t that she is indian, it’s that her hair is incredibly straight and flat and not like yennefer’s curly stormy hair at all, and that her face is so soft and childlike, she doesn’t look stern and cold like yennefer at all. there are many casting issues amongst the white members of cast, such as henry cavill, who doesn’t fit the description of geralt at all because geralt looks like he’s starved constantly, and joey batey, who ... well, dandelion is supposed to be blonde and curly long-haired... but of course, these are the appearances which don’t really “matter” in regards to the story. except i think geralt’s build, as well as yennefer and ciri’s proximity in age, which makes me nauseous to think about how they only have a 6 year age difference

one physical description which does actually matter to the plot/lore is that of calanthe, pavetta, and ciri, as they are a matrelineal line, but in netflix, they don’t look related at all. i saw so many people complaining that they should have chosen a white actress for calanthe, but why is she the problem? why not cast people of color for calanthe, pavetta, and ciri altogether? they should look related and have the ashen grey hair/green eyes, but that doesn’t mean they have to be white. it’s a similar issue with yennefer and fringilla. they are supposed to look similar, and i saw many people complaining that they chose mimi who is black to be fringilla, they are just using “they need to look similar” as an excuse to hide their racism and anti-blackness, because anya is more white-passing than mimi is. from my perspective, why not then cast a black actress who looks similar to mimi as yennefer, then? “they need to look similar” again does not mean “they need to all be white or white-passing.”

we should have cast actors that both fit the descriptions of the characters in the books AND are diverse, without it being “random diversity to appeal to a diverse audience.” lauren thought she was so clever by throwing the actors of color in the roles of background characters, stereotypes, forgettable and disposable aides to the white leads, or super evil villains... i see what you did... why not center actors of color in an actually proud and leading light, with lead roles, where the casting makes sense and isn’t there for tokenization that does nothing to empower people of color? actually incorporate people of color into your artistic projects in a way that respects them and makes sense and not just so you can get more views to make more money

other divergences from canon like foltest were just piss-poor and demonstrated the lack of understanding about the messages of the story. foltest was supposed to be handsome, elegant, and as a refined a king as any, to show how those in power are actually corrupt and as prone to disgusting acts as any other human being, that foltest is not a better man than geralt because he is beautiful and sits on a throne. by making him disgusting on the outside, they totally missed the point that he is supposed to mask his disgustingness on the inside with beauty on the outside. also i feel like (maybe related) twn really made a whole joke out of foltest and his relationship to his sister because in one of the flashbacks (in the sorcerer? gala? party?) foltest is shown as a kid with his sister and his mom grabs his arm or whatever and is like “foltest stop bothering your sister” as like some kind of fucking joke... literally they made a “funny ahaha incest joke” like seriously wtf. the story of the striga in particular should be taken seriously imo because of how rawly the tragedy is depicted... this is probably why it’s one of my least favorite short stories... its so sad and also incest disgusts me horribly

for renfri i feel like she was just sooooo ... more “likable” as a character, a lot like how yennefer’s character was changed. you feel feelings of pity and curiosity towards her rather than actually being intimidated by her. renfri in the books actually made me so mad because i think she represents something like what ciri goes through across the saga, just how when you have the choice on how to respond to your abuse, you can easily become consumed with revenge, and i think renfri made me think of myself in that way so i really disliked it when they changed this terrifying raw aspect of her anguish and hunger for retrubution that made her lose her humanity into like, more of a palatable manner of killing... it really was just “girl with sword” and it was so boring. the lesser evil literally makes my stomach turn and that’s why i only read the story like once as well...

also to return to fringilla, i liked mimi and i thought she should have been cast for yennefer instead maybe.... i just was really upset at how much they changed fringilla’s character in the writing to be a “generic evil villain” when in the series she actually is kind of unique in my opinion. she is like, not allied at all with the main characters, but ends up saving both yennefer and geralt’s lives. she’s not good or bad, she’s not super loyal to the empire but she is still nilfgaardian/beauclairoise, and she just exists as a character and that’s why i actually like her in the books (asides from all of the unnecessary library nonsense). i thought mimi could have handled that complex role really well but they totally took that away from her and just made her a flat boring forgettable “evil” character that does “forbidden black magic” and is super loyal to an empire that brought her purpose because yennefer was mean to her once or smth ig... yeah ok. also i fucking hate how they had cahir of all fucking people order her around. idk how old cahir is supposed to be in netflix because he’s obviously not like 16-20 as he would be in canon during this time period, but to have him be the boss of fringilla... that is dumb as hell. i just try and think about that ever occuring with books verse cahir and fringilla and i think she would smack him off of his horse and into the mud. she’d tell assire and assire would get mawr to drag him off by his ear as he tries not to cry.  also of course i hate cahir’s casting and the fact that they showed his face. why. it ruins like every message that his character had...

oh also because i HAVE to talk about it. i hate how they tried to make jaskier more masculine/boyish with not giving joey a wig or flamboyant setting-appropriate garb, i think they are allergic to men with long hair that’s not a grime, dirt-covered mess... literally just give half of the production wigs or better wigs i swear to god ... also like this is totally for another post but i don’t think making jaskier a flirt is inherently misogynistic like he acts in the books at times. like just write the misogynistic bits out and it’s fine... flirtatiousness is not evil when it’s consensual and appreciated ... i think they just really wanted geralt to be the one that gets large amounts of p*ssy because he’s muscular or w/e and jaskier became this sort of helpless annoying barnacle on his side instead of a real character and friend to him. and to bring this point back to the main point , i think character appearance really affects their characterization: jaskier in twn has short, boyish hair with no facial hair, which makes him look kind of juvenile, jaskier in the books has curly long hair with some light facial hair, which kind of brings up ehhh what would you call it... 70s casanova energies maybe, a man that puts oils in his hair and such, male thottery...

#the witcher netflix #anon #ask

[imnotcameraready]

don’t tread on me

A/N: wow, i’m updating ANOTHER story? that’s not chivalry? amazing!!! 

anyway, this has been a very, very long time coming! i’m procrastinating on packing, but i’m super excited that you guys finally get to meet janus and remus in this au! they’re a real pair! 

WARNINGS: death/murder mention, alcohol mention, blackmailing, swearing/cursing, panicking, Logan Is A Serial Killer, blood mention (in a more medical sense) — if i forgot any, please let me know! 

Pairings: Logince, Demus/Dukeceit | mentions of: Moxiety, past Analogical 

Words: 3366

AO3 link!

masterpost to the serial killer logan au!

here we go! (fitting that the next side to get his own actual readmore cut off photo is logan, i love the nerd)

This couldn’t be real. 

Logan’s hands nursed the mug in front of him, watching the steam roll off in plentitudes. He had the offending letter in his breast pocket, inside his coat, and he could feel the sleekly folded pages press against his chest when he inhaled. 

It was a curious situation he’d found himself in. The first person to catch on to what he’s been doing wasn’t his boyfriend, wasn’t his ex-boyfriend detective, wasn’t even his ex-boyfriend detective’s new semi-boyfriend partner. And he could tell because, instead of being taken out in handcuffs, Logan had just received a personalized letter to his place of work with details about the latest killing, the statement that the sender knew that Logan was the culprit, and a meeting time and location. The letter was typewritten and then scanned again, to make it nigh impossible to find fingerprints or individualities in the writing, but he could definitely read it. Signed off by someone who called themselves “Deceit.”

And they were blackmailing him.

Logan took a sip of his coffee. No one he knew personally had the lack of morality to blackmail. Heck, even he didn’t, and he was a murderer. Talk about rudeness.

At least the meeting was to be quick. He checked his watch again — he’d arrived about half an hour before his meeting with the blackmailer for another meeting, with some journalist interviewing him about a research award. Roman’s brother was moving into town, was throwing a house warming party that they’d been invited to, and Logan didn’t want to miss getting to finally meet Roman’s only other living relative.

He always had quite the weirdest of stories to tell about this brother, Remus, and Roman seemed so ecstatic about him moving closer that Logan didn’t want to let him down. They had been going fairly steady for the past year and a half, with Roman somehow still unaware that Logan had committed ten murders. 

It would do well to continue laying low, after the most recent murder. Logan was a little sloppier, in a rush, trying to dispose of the body in a manner almost too crass for him. That was about four weeks ago. Of course, in Logan’s mind it was a messy endeavour, but even that would be too detailed for Virgil or Patton to trace. He was safe from them. 

Perhaps Roman would question the blood on his shirt, but he could always write it off with a story of how things broke in the lab. Those are some of Roman’s favorite stories. He was so interested in Logan’s work that it was easy enough to distract him from Logan’s other extracurriculars.

“Excuse me,” he overhears someone talking to the barista, while he sips his coffee, “Have you seen Doctor Logan Webster?”

“Janus Daniels?” he calls out to the man at the register.

They spin around, and grin upon locking eyes with Logan. This must be the journalist, then. They slink forward, a thick mustard scarf wrapped around their shoulders and atop their black trenchcoat. They’re wearing a bowler hat, too, which may fit with the weather, though not with the decade. 

Logan also notices the skin discoloration around this person’s left eye. Vitiligo, by the looks of it, all along the left side of their face. It’s juxtaposed by their dark hair and punctuated by the difference in color between their two eyes, one amber and one near white.

They offer out a yellow-gloved hand, which Logan takes, both shaking firmly and heartily. When they pull their hand back, they’re smiling. “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting, Dr. Webster,” they say, taking out a recorder from their jacket, “Hope the coffee’s not too cold.”

“It hasn’t been very long. And I’ve been examining notes, grading papers,” Logan tries to dissuade the journalist’s concerns, smiling back himself, maintaining a perfect, unreadable composure. He shouldn’t let his two worlds bleed into each other, after all.

Janus smiles back, and taps a pen into their notebook. They flip to another page, glance over something written, and then nod to the recorder. “May I record this interview?” they ask. 

Logan waves his hand. Standard procedure for a dual-consent state. “Yes.”

They press a button on the little box, and ask again. “Once more, on recording, may I record this interview?”

“Yes.”

It goes fairly quick after that. Logan had recently been part of a team of eight researchers, sending information back and forth regarding the clotting abilities of platelets. The end result had included information on how to use certain enzymes to signal to the platelets to clot over certain wounds. If these enzymes could be delivered outside of the bloodstream, then it may lead to a faster and cheaper way to produce certain medical products, even close wounds that would bleed out into fatalities. This would also have a higher success rate, considering the process relied heavily on the natural healing process. 

The interview lasts roughly forty minutes. It’s a perfect length, too, since Logan has to run from this immediately to wherever the blackmailer says to meet him. In the letter, he’d been told to await further instructions, but this journalist couldn’t have met him another time in the day. Of course, he could have turned Janus away, but there was no one else on the team that they’d gotten the chance to speak to. Ignoring them would have been setting them up for failure.

“Blood clotting,” Janus murmurs, “Can you think of any other practical applications to that?”

Logan shrugs. It’s a mundane question, too trivial for someone who had so narrowly missed a Nobel prize, but almost too large for an article meant for the general public. He knew the drill; he’d spoken to many reporters before. “Oh, if something like this were to be commercialized, then military-grade medical supplies could begin entering the consumer market. That would drastically change the household medical landscape as we know it.”

He checks his watch again, and sighs. If he leaves now, he might be able to make it back to his office to await further instructions. Janus must notice his discomfort, because they sign off on the recording, and then stow the device away.

Logan gives them a grateful look while he packs his notes back into his bag. “This has been a lovely interview, but I have a prior engagement for 2 p.m.,” he tries to explain.

Janus just watches him with a wry smile. They shrug, taking a sip of their coffee silently.

That’s when Logan’s blood begins to, no pun intended, run cold. What kind of expression is that?

“I don’t think you have to go anywhere, Doctor,” Janus’s voice is light as they take out a piece of paper from their other pocket, “We can have our little meeting here.”

They open the paper up before Logan, only to show the same letter he’d gotten in the mail days ago, only the original form. 

Logan scans it for a few seconds before slumping back into the chair. He’d been had. 

“....So. Janus. How did you figure it out?” he’s moved beyond these theatrics. So Janus, Deceit, had set up this whole interview. Was the article even real? Logan had indeed vetted the reporter, was sure that they were a journalist. That’s all any of their social medias focused on, anyway.

Janus shrugs, still smiling a little. “I can’t speak for all of my sources, but once I got the details, it wasn’t too hard,” they say, “Roman’s far too dramatic to be committing such a quiet act and the similarities are far too uncanny to be him. But someone with access to the equipment necessary to drain a body of blood, someone with experience in the field, well….”

This was infuriating. Logan hadn’t even assessed Janus thoroughly during the interview. They were just so unassuming. 

Was that how this a success? Logan had simply underestimated them? What else was he possibly overlooking, then. 

What was the purpose of all of this, too? Logan hadn’t done anything to Janus, not to his knowledge. Maybe they had a relation to one of Logan’s victims? That would be an incredible oversight on his part. But that still wouldn’t explain why they were resorting to blackmail above letting the authorities know.

“Don’t worry too hard. I’m certain your ex hasn’t figured out heads nor tails of the case yet,” Janus leans back and sets their gloved hands on the table, “And I don’t intend on letting him know. Virgil’s not stupid but he doesn’t have the evidence that I do.”

“How do you know about Virgil?” Logan’s mouth runs dry.

No one knew about Virgil. It had been so long since they’d broken up—that was all old news. 

But Janus just laughs, a soft, tinkling sound. “He’s the head detective on the case, anyone in the police department could have told you,” they wave their hand, as though this were a simple matter, something not worth scrutinizing. 

They don’t seem to think that them knowing Virgil is Logan’s ex is weird. That’s not on Logan’s social media, nor is it on Virgil’s, as few as he has. How the fuck did Janus figure that out?

For the first time in a long while, Logan has no idea what to do. His chest was clutching his heart so tight that it was difficult to breathe. 

There were so many questions. And Janus’s gaze, once amicable, now seemed to look deeper into Logan than any of his microscopes at his lab. What did Janus know? How much did he know? The letter was so vague, just a time and place and knowledge that Logan was the killer. This probably wasn’t even a confrontation, they probably just wanted to confirm that Logan was afraid, and he’d walked right into their trap. 

How stupid! He needed to be much more careful if individuals like this Deceit were figuring out who he was and what he was doing.

But time to cut to the chase. “Well, you know the facts. When are you planning to tell him?” Logan asks, prepared for the worst.

At that notion, though, Janus’s face scrunches up. “Me? Tell Virgil? God, no, you misunderstand,” Janus waves their hand, “Let me explain myself. I have a personal stake in your activities, Logan, and I simply wanted some reassurance that I and those around me will stay safe.”

That was. Very.

Once again, Logan was thrown for another loop. What the hell? Janus just wanted protection? “I assure you, I won’t target you or anyone you present to me,” Logan says, fighting to keep the anger out of his voice, “That’s an incredibly petty reason to be going to these lengths, though. If you know this much about me, as much as you’ve been alluding to, then you would know that I likely wouldn’t target you in the first place.”

Janus shrugs once again and that blank smile. This was a thick mystery. 

Logan leans forward, to ask another question, when someone’s loud voice entering the cafe makes him jump. Agh, he’s getting so paranoid now. He had to take a step back. 

“AYO!” the person shouts, “SNAKEY!”

And then the person bodyslams Janus. Logan jumps back in surprise, but Janus laughs warmly, reaching up and hugging the newcomer with one arm. 

“Hello, sweetheart,” they purr.

“What’s up, babe dot net,” the newcomer kisses Janus’s temple before pulling a chair from the empty table beside them and sitting right between Janus and Logan.

And then he looks at Logan, finally. He had shaggy brown hair with a few grey streaks through the front. His eyes were a glittering green, just like Roman. In fact, the person’s entire demeanor seemed uncannily like Roman’s, despite how he was clothed in a patched leather jacket and a green fishnet shirt. He also had a nose piercing, a lip piercing, an eyebrow piercing, and, from what Logan could see, six earrings. There was a curled mustache across his face, too, which added to Logan’s assessment that this man was, well. What was the best word. Weird?

He holds out a hand to Logan, grinning ear to ear. “Heya, Specs. You must be the Doc’. How’s the blood?”

Oh my God. Logan blinks, biting his tongue for a second as he takes the person’s hand and shakes. “Yes. My name is Logan. Nice to meet you.”

“Remus! A pleasure,” Remus sticks his tongue out and winks as they shake hands, “So you’re my lil’ brother’s bitch, eh?”

Holy fuck. There was absolutely no way. This wasn’t on any of Janus’s social medias, either. Logan had done as much of a background check as he could on the reporter, there weren’t—there wasn’t any indication—Roman hadn’t mentioned that his brother had a partner—

The cogs in Logan’s head were stopping. This was a ridiculous series of events, there was no way that this was happening. “Remus...Del Sol?” Logan asks. 

Remus giggles. Janus reaches an arm around his waist, pulling him closer to them, and Remus abides by snuggling his face into Janus’s neck and literally licking him. 

“Remus is my partner,” Janus says, and Logan can see, is absolutely infuriated by the level of shit-eating that Janus’s grin holds, “He was too excited to meet you, so he wanted to drop in on our interview.”

Oh my god, they had interviewed earlier. Yes. That was correct. Logan nods, though he can’t find his voice to say anything. Interview. Remus doesn’t know, then?

It seems that Remus doesn’t mind or doesn’t notice, which is good, at least. “I was just so excited to get to know my baby brother’s boytoy, you know? Though you’re definitely the braincell he’s missing, sheesh!” Remus cackles, and Janus chuckles warmly along with the joke, “You’re coming to tonight’s party, right? I’m buyin’ extra tequila for the drama queen.”

Logan nods. And that’s enough for Remus, it seems, because he laughs heartily and slaps Logan’s shoulder. 

But Logan still can’t get over the fact that his boyfriend’s twin brother’s partner is blackmailing him. I’m sorry, he really can’t. 

“Remus, darling, I’m going to leave you here for a second so I can take this,” Janus stares at their wrist, seemingly infatuated with their Apple watch. 

Remus patted Janus’ ass as they stand up and step out of the cafe. And then it’s just Remus and Logan. 

That’s more acceptable. Janus is such a wildcard, Logan doesn’t know what to do. Is he worried that Logan would kill Remus? What for? 

“So,” Logan blinks, focusing back on Remus, who watches him with a much harsher look, “You’re Logan.”

“....Yes,” is all he can say. There’s only so much Logan can take in a day.

“You think you’re good enough for my little baby prince.”

Ah. Was he getting the big brother talk? He thought they were twins. “Aren’t you and Roman the same age?” he asks. 

Remus leans forward, placing both of his hands on the table, squinting at Logan’s face. Up close, Logan can definitely smell the sweat wafting off of Remus. Good lord, did he bathe? His mustache was held up by some sort of grease, so it was clear that the man kept his appearance in check. His face, too, up close, was populated by a multitude of small scars. Remus points up at Logan with one finger, only a few inches from his actual face. 

“You hurt my little brother and I’ll have to kill you,” he says. 

Now that was laughable. Remus didn’t seem to be joking, considering how rigid his facial expression was, but Logan couldn’t really think about the possibility of someone killing him. He wasn’t worth killing, in any case. Up front, he was doing good by the world, researching ways to make life easier for those who needed it. And behind the scenes, he was keeping the city ever more clear of those who would break the safety of others. It wasn’t like he murdered just anyone, you know. 

Remus didn’t seem to be targeting him, too, over the whole murderer thing. He squints more at Logan—likely awaiting a response.

“I don’t intend on hurting him,” Logan keeps his voice as level as possible, “In fact, I love your brother very much. This past year and a half has been the best in my life.”

Remus squints even more. There’s no way that wasn’t an acceptable answer, though. Maybe he’s off-put by the rigidity that Logan himself is holding his person. He’s a little shaken still, but he manages a smile. 

At that, Remus raises an eyebrow, but he slowly sinks back down into his chair, slouching his back and throwing one arm over Janus’ vacant seat. He drums one hand’s fingers against the table, slow, in some sort of thought. 

“It better be. My brother’s a catch. The best boyfriend life coulda thrown at you,” he declares, and then he slaps his hand on the table, “I guess I’ll see how good of a boyfriend you are tonight then.”

Logan chuckles. “If you would like to gauge my abilities as a partner, then tonight is likely the best time,” he says. 

Going home will be nice. Roman has likely picked out an outfit already, maybe had moved on to an acceptable make up routine. 

“We’re gonna have to get you a keg stand, Doc Oc,” Remus snickers, hiding his mouth behind his hand. 

Logan doesn’t necessarily drink that much. He definitely doesn’t drink beer. A keg stand sounds quite out of the ordinary, too, for a house party. “Oh?”

“I gotta see how well you can suck!” Remus lets out a laugh, harsh and biting, and Logan deflates just a little.

Ah. Roman had warned that Remus was a little more outlandish. Perhaps this was simply an exposé. Good to be shocked now than in front of an audience, he supposed. 

Logan was saved from having to respond by Janus, who returned quickly. Remus lifts his arm for Janus to sit, but instead, Janus grabs him by the shoulder and tugs him up. 

“Logan,” they say, and Logan’s taken aback by how serious their tone is, in contrast to how controlled they sounded earlier. You know, during the blackmail.

“Yes?”

“You haven’t seen the university’s campus yet today, right?” 

What an odd question. Logan shakes his head; no reason to lie about something so easily provable. “No. Roman and I were together all day before I arrived here for our appointment,” buying housewarming gifts. Roman’s quite excited about the throw pillows and framed photos he arranged.

Janus gives him a hard look, motioning for all of them to leave, and Logan doesn’t think twice. He picks up his bag, sets down some cash as a tip, and follows Remus out. The sudden movement and the urgency of such felt like it deserved explanation, though. “Why?” 

Janus looks back at him, over their shoulder, and sets their hat back atop their head. “You should go home and check in with the university’s administration,” they say, and Logan notes how that doesn’t answer the question in the fucking slightest. 

“Work?” Remus asks. 

It sounds like he might know a little more than Logan. Remus wraps an arm around Janus’ waist and kisses their cheek quickly. “I’ll see you later tonight, babe, you be safe! There’s a killer on the loose!” he shoots Logan and Janus both finger guns, and then flips them both off. 

While Remus grabs a motorcycle—of course he rides a motorcycle, he seems the type, how are he and Roman related?!—Janus turns back to Logan. Their jaw is set and, for the first time during this whole visit, Logan can sense a bit of fear. 

“You weren’t at the university. Right?” they ask.

Logan shakes his head. “I wasn’t. The last time I was on campus was yesterday,” he says.

The repetition of the question is worrying. He doesn’t know what might have happened. Was there an accident? 

Janus exhales, looking around to make sure no one’s near them, before leaning in just a little more. “A body was found in the chemistry building. Poisoned.”

taglists!

General: @jemthebookworm​ @okay-finne​

Serial Killer Logan AU: @theunoriginaldaisy​

#sanders sides fic #my fic #fic #logince #dukeceit #demus #remus #logan #deceit #logan sanders #ts logan #remus sanders #ts remus #deceit sanders #ts deceit #janus sanders #ts janus #sanders sides #wow im in hell i am so so so bad at tagging things #i hope y'all like it !!!! #im trying to do more than just chivalry LMAO i actually like the sides

[socontagiousimagines]

sweetener - Draco x Reader

BET YOU DIDN’T EXPECT THIS. @celestialceci  @drawlfoy 

loosely based on sweetener by Ariana Grande 

Warnings : None I don’t think?

Requested : Nope hahahaha

Draco Malfoy had a problem. He’d been struggling with a bit of insomnia since the school year had ended and summer had begun. He found himself watching the clock as one turned to two and two turned to five and before he knew it, he had to pull himself out of bed to begin another day. It didn’t bother him at first; however, as the weeks passed, he noticed the circles under his eyes growing darker and his will to actually get dressed and do something with his life grew smaller.

That was, until one day, he’d been informed by his parents that his long time best friend and her family were coming over for dinner. Although they lived a few houses down from each other, the Y/L/N’s had been on holiday for the first few weeks of summer and Draco had missed Y/N terribly.

Perhaps, he thought, maybe that was why his insomnia had gotten so bad.

As the time grew closer to dinner, Draco became very self aware of what he now looked like. Extremely exhausted was the only way to describe it. Underneath his eyes were dark half circles, which made his eyes appear sunken in, and he could not for the life of him get his hair to not stick up in several places. If it weren’t for him breathing and moving, he might have looked dead. Growing frustrated as time passed, he decided to embrace his new look and headed downstairs in his nicest suit.

Draco watched from the middle of the stairs as Y/N’s family filed into the Manor. Y/N looked even more beautiful than she did the last time he saw her. She looked healthy. She looked rested - something Draco could not relate to these days. Holidays tended to do that to her, though. She’d go away to a new city or country for a few weeks and Draco’s breath was always taken away when she came back. He watched as she smiled and hugged his parents. Deciding that he’d spent enough time being creepy, he took the last few steps down into the living room.

Y/N turned to him and he watched as her painted red lips parted and her jaw dropped. Her eyes traveled from his hair to his wrinkled shirt beneath his jacket. He tilted his head to the side as he stared at her.

“Draco Malfoy, you look awful.” she muttered and her arms wrapped around his neck.

“Thanks, Y/N. It’s nice to see you too.” he said and returned the hug. He watched from over her shoulder as their parents headed to the dining room in hushed whispers.

“What’s been going on with you? Why do you look like death?”

“I haven’t been sleeping well - if at all.”

Draco watched Y/N as she opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by his mother calling them for dinner.

As soon as the two families had caught up and eaten dinner, Draco and Y/N managed to sneak away from the table and onto a balcony far from the dining room. The wind brought goosebumps to both of them. Y/N flashed a shy smile at Draco as she leaned on the railing in front of her. He leaned an elbow on the railing, but was still facing her. Pulling a bottle of alcohol out from behind a plant, he placed it in front of her. Flashing him another shy smile, she twisted the cap off and took a swig. Making a face, she shoved the bottle back towards Draco.

“You drink that?” she asked.

“It’s not about the taste, Y/N. It’s about how it makes you feel.” he replied, while rolling his eyes.

“Well, it makes me feel awful.” She gave him a pointed look as he took two long sips from the bottle.  “Draco, what’s wrong with you?”

“That’s a loaded question.” he sighed and continued. “If you must know, like I said earlier, I haven’t been able to sleep. I just watch the clock tick from hour to hour and I get maybe a few minutes of sleep, but then I’m awake again. Before I know it, it’s just time to get up and face another day.”

“That’s it? Well, it’s doing great things for your hair. It’s sticking up everywhere... Cute, really.” she smirked and he laughed, playfully shoving her. She stumbled and dropped her jaw. Draco rolled his eyes again, grabbed her hand, and kissed the top of it.

“Sorry, fair lady. Please forgive me.”

“I don’t know, Draco Malfoy. You could have seriously hurt me.” she smiled as he smirked into the distance.

“You can shove me back if it makes you feel any better.” he offered and stood in front of her with his arms out to his sides - almost like wings.

“I’m not a bully like you, you know.”

“Fine, suit yourself.” Draco threw a smirk in her direction once more before leaning his arms on the railing of the balcony.

The two sixteen year olds sat in a comfortable silence for several minutes. Each snuck secret glances at the other when they thought they weren’t looking.

Y/N had always had a small crush on the platinum haired boy to her right. They’d been friends since before birth and experienced every awkward stage of growing up together. She’d never done anything about her crush, telling herself that there was no way a guy like Draco Malfoy would ever want her in a romantic way. He’d also had a thing with Pansy their fourth year and she’d never really gotten over that hurt. Though, she couldn’t really contain her happiness when Draco informed her a few weeks after the Yule Ball that Pansy just wasn’t the girl for him.

Draco couldn’t get over the fact that his best friend looked so beautiful. Not that Draco wasn’t aware of the fact before, but there was something that must have happened on her holiday that made her even more beautiful. Perhaps, it was just because he hadn’t seen her in awhile. She looked healthier - happier, maybe. There was color in her cheeks and her skin was a slightly darker color than when he’d seen her weeks ago.

“Y/N. Would you - would you stay the night? Like you used to when we were younger? I missed you terribly while you were on holiday.” he whispered, looking up at the stars.

“Of course, Draco. Let me ask my parents and I’ll come back, okay?” She hesitantly kissed his cheek and headed back down to where they were sat just over an hour ago.

Her parents had no problem with her staying there, of course - as long as she slept in a different room. With her promising that she would - and that she’d be back at their house some time tomorrow - she gave each of them a quick hug goodbye and raced back up the stairs.

The pair didn’t get much sleep that night. It wasn’t until Y/N saw the sun peaking over the horizon and she heard soft snores next to her, did she realize they’d talked the entire night. She sat up in excitement as she realized the snores were coming from Draco. Smiling to herself, she settled back down and cuddled into him. Her eyes drifted shut and she sighed in content that she’d finally gotten Draco to sleep.

Eight hours later, Draco awoke to an awfully bright room. His arm was asleep and he grumbled as he tried to pull it from the heavy source. Stopping abruptly, he realized that Y/N was the one who had caused his arm to fall asleep. A small smile graced his face as he lay back down. Draco also came to a realization that he had slept - and for more than an hour or two.

Not caring how long Y/N herself had been sleeping, Draco shook her shoulder. When she only groaned and rolled over, he knew drastic measures needed to be taken. Gently climbing on top of her, his hands went straight to her stomach.

“Get up, Y/N! I have news!” Draco said excitedly. As much as Y/N didn’t want to open her eyes, she had no choice but to as Draco tickled her endlessly. She laughed and attempted to shove him off of her.

“You’re so heavy. Get off of me! What have you been eating? Rocks?” Y/N managed to shove Draco to the floor.

“Ouch. I was just about to share my good news with you, but I guess you’ll never know.”

Y/N rolled her eyes.

“Oh no, what ever shall I do?” she sighed and crawled off the bed to meet Draco on the floor.  

Draco sighed as well as he looked at his best friend. Despite the smudges of black makeup under her eyes, he thought she’d never looked more beautiful. Sunlight reflected off her hair. Her smile was big enough that his cheeks hurt.

“Was your good news that you slept?” Her leg lazily kicked at his.

“Yes, you git. Thanks for ruining my moment.” He gently kicked back.

“Do you want me to stay another night?”

“Yes.”

For the next month, the two took turns sleeping in each other’s rooms. Sometimes they’d fall asleep in a living room on a couch. Sometimes they’d fall asleep in a backyard under the stars. The location always changed, but there wasn’t a night that went by that they weren’t by each other’s side.

The cold fact of reality soon came crashing down when August turned to September. They knew sharing a bed at Hogwarts would result in serious trouble if they were ever caught. Draco had gotten used to waking up and seeing Y/N’s face.

The first night was the worst. Draco tossed and turned in the small bed. The space next to him seemed too cold. Watching the hours tick by, he began to feel the loneliest he had in awhile. There was something about a dark room at 2 am that had him feeling like he was the only one feeling like this.

On the other side of the common room, in the girls’ dormitories, Y/N was having a similar problem. She pulled the blankets up over her shoulders as she shivered. Draco has kept her warm all summer and she had forgotten what it was like to sleep alone.

The next morning, the two looked like zombies. Y/N had tried her best to look presentable, but there wasn’t enough makeup in the world to hide the dark circles that had formed under her eyes. She grumpily threw herself on the bench beside Draco at breakfast.

“You gave me your problem.” she hissed. Draco blinked once, then twice.

“What?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

“I didn’t sleep at all last night. Thanks a lot.”

“How is that my fault? I didn’t sleep at all last night either. Don’t blame me.”

Draco’s head rested in his hand. Y/N leaned into him and her eyes drifted shut. This had been the most at peace she’d been since she left Draco in the common room the previous night.

“We don’t have classes today… do you want to go take a nap?” he whispered in her ear.

“Yes.”

After their shared nap in the Slytherin common room, the two didn’t really move from their places on the couch. Draco’s arm was draped lazily over Y/N’s shoulders and she was leaning into him. Every once in awhile his hand would travel to her hair and play with it.

“Draco, it’s three in the morning. We should go to bed.” she sighed. Despite her comment, she sunk further into his warm body.

“I know, but it’s so lonely not waking up to your face in the morning. I like you, you know.” The reality of what Draco had let slip sunk in and his breath caught in his throat.

“I know.” she mumbled and sighed contently. He let out the breath he’d been holding.

“No, I mean I like you as in all I want to do is kiss you all day, everyday. Life deals me these cards and life just seems so salty. You’re the sweetener, Y/N. This summer was just an example. You always bring the bitter taste to a halt. I love you for that. My life would be sour without you. I just needed you to know.”

Draco didn’t get a response and his whole world came crashing down. He’d taken a leap and instead of flying, he fell. He was an idiot. The world fixed itself and was turned upright when he heard soft snores coming from the girl cuddled into his side. A small smile graced his face.

The best sleep Draco Malfoy got was when he was by Y/N’s side - it was also the safest he felt. She was home - no matter how salty life seemed to get. 

#draco x reader #Draco Malfoy #draco malfoy imagines #draco lucius malfoy #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy imagine #draco malfoy fanfiction #Draco #draco imagines #draco imagine #harry potter imagines #malfoy #fluff #draco fluff #:) #hp #hp imagines

[bellaswansong]

i'm a faceblind kpop fan, here's my story.

before i get into it, i'm white and i wanna address what ive heard other white fans say many times: that every member looks the same. this is not true, and i'm not going to be using my faceblindness to justify saying that kind of thing. every example in this post involving people i know personally is about fellow white people.

anyway, kpop is known for having weird music videos. another thing a lot of kpop has is multiple people who are important in each song. its also common for every member of a group to undergo a drastic style change between videos.

i am not 100% face blind. im the kind of faceblind where it takes me a full ten seconds to recognise someone in a different place than where i usually see them. i also have trouble distinguishing faces of people i dont interact with, and i heavily rely on hair, glasses, and other non-face-related visual cues to recognise people. i spent my first year of college interacting with someone i knew in elementary, middle, and high school without recognising them at all because they had a super different haircut and a different name. i dont automatically notice people's eye color, i have to specifically think to check. if you ask me a celebrity's eye color, i won't be able to tell you. if i know someone's eye color irl, theyre either a close friend, a crush, or part of my immediate family.

so. i have trouble with kpop because:

weird music videos mean the context i see someone in is different almost every time

constant style changes mean i have no consistent way to identify each member

theres less continuity in the music videos than there would be in, say, a tv series; theres lots of cuts and scene switches and i cant keep track of who is who by where they are like i can in real life

they dont ever establish a connection between the changing styles because normal people can recognise faces. when someone i know gets a haircut, im usually still gonna see them in the same social context, meaning i have a chance to recognise them by the fact theyre saying hi to me and process of elimination based on the fact that the rest of my classmates are present. if all else fails, they can say "i got a haircut lol" and i might recognise their voice. (i cant tell voices apart either though, it took me two full arcs of the adventure zone to learn to tell all four people apart. that's about 15 hours of audio.)

in kpop, everyones hair changes at the same time, changing the way it frames their faces and leaving me without even one person i can still recognise easily.

when theres lots of people in one group, the hair colors sometimes overlap. there might be 2 members with blond hair or 2 members with silver hair, for example. this makes things really, really hard. once, 2 guys in one of my classes both dyed their hair purple at the same time and i lost the ability to distinguish between them for several weeks even though they have different heights. its the same thing with kpop

all of that being said, i am able to recognise a specific face once i have had enough practice. i can recognise every member of BTS and Seventeen, and theres a few members of other groups that i've learned to recognise as well.

but it takes conscious effort. i have to say to myself, "okay, ken's ears are shaped this way" or "the inner corner of suga's eyes are shaped like this" or "the8 and joshua's eyes look similar to me, but joshua's face is thinner and the8 has a distinct nose"

weve all heard the racist joke about about all the members looking the same, but that has never been a problem i had. my problem was that they all looked different from themselves as well as each other. i can tell them apart just fine, but it wouldnt seem that way to someone else because as soon as i see one of them in a new scene of the MV, he looks like a different person from before. if someone asks who he is, and if he's not the only member with that hair colour this time, i'll have to guess, and it'll look like i cant tell them apart when i can actually tell them apart too well.

oh, this group has five members and theyve put out 2 albums? i think you mean they have 10 members and half of the group worked on each album. i could tell taehyung apart from jungkook perfectly in DNA era, but then i saw a picture of taehyung from BS&T and couldnt figure out who it was. the hair styles and colors all constantly change. people's faces look completely different when they have bangs in their eyes. im right and i should say it.

here's the example that made me write this post. ACE is a cool group and their song Take Me Higher is a bop. watching the MV feels like talking to a group of very cool people and getting listened to while they laugh at all your jokes and make you laugh too. this is byeongkwan in the MV:

gorgeous right? and i was certain id be able to recognise him in their other MVs because something about his face locked itself into my brain as soon as i saw him. like, legit, i could picture him in my head after watching the MV for the first time a year or so ago, and thats unusual for me. i think its mostly his eyes.

so anyway i clicked the MV for Undercover by. ACE to watch it yesterday. this is byeongkwan in undercover.

the left photo still looks like a completely different person even after someone in the comments told me that timestamp was him. legit, i didnt recognise this guy until he held up a sign with his fucking name on it about halfway thru. its the way his hair covers up his forehead now! show me his eyebrows you cowards!

here's the screenshot that made things click (but only once i started pausing the video to get screenies for this post; he moved too quickly in this shot for me to identify him without pausing)

but once its paused, i can see his eyes well enough that my brain finally connected the dots.

oh also this guy gets three separate looks in the same MV, because fuck faceblind people and also fuck not being hot. here's the third.

whos this hot crop top guy? i thought to myself. hes really cute, i thought byeongkwan was my fave but maybe its this guy instead... i know theres multiple people with silver hair this time, since there was just a shot of the whole group dancing and two of them had silver hair, so maybe this is the other one? nope. still fucking byeongkwan. he also has pigtails w this look and its fucking radical.

so anyway, that's my struggle. kpop as an industry is inaccessible for faceblind fans because of the constant style changes and lack of continuity between MVs. speaking of which, fuck america's next top model for similar reasons. watching that show drove me fucking bonkers as a kid. stop giving everyone haircuts every week you dickheads!

#face blind #actuallyautistic #kpop #aj types #long

[hellsbovnd]

what its like to pretend.

wc: 2719 focus: leonnaux altoix a/n: caught a writing bug. first installment of probably a three-part series, but i have other stuff i wanna work on before i continue this! thanks ebonguard for sprinting with me and encouraging my Mess lol

and i swam in the wakes of imposters just to feel what it’s like to pretend;

[ PDF MIRROR ]

One of the greatest skills that Leonnaux possessed was the ability to blend in, despite his burning desire to stand out. It hadn’t been easy to forge these skills, and the early days were rife with trial and error while his makeup work steadily improved, while he picked up little tricks to alter his figure or the way he carried himself—gait being one of the most difficult things to consciously alter. These days, he felt as comfortable in the skin of someone else as he did in his own.

The best way to test his disguises, he’d found was of course in the midst of other people—parties, nights out on the city streets. While he always asked for at least passing approval of his disguise ideas from Edda—“I’m asking you if you think this is convincing, not if you think it’s attractive,” he would occasionally remind her for his zanier ideas—the only way to really tell was among strangers (or better yet those he knew before, but he honestly would feel bad for deceiving his friends in such a way).

If no one was suspicious, it would get added to his repertoire—filed away for future use.

Tonight he’d chosen a dive bar in one of Ul’dah’s seedier areas: far away from the sort of establishment he would usually frequent, but the food was good, at least. Never tried a drink before, didn’t want to risk it at the time just in case drinking made it harder to maintain a façade. He had used this establishment to test disguises before and the bartender remained unconvinced of his authenticity for the entire night. That had been over a year ago, though, and he liked to think that he had improved substantially since then.

As Leonnaux made his way inside, he found the bar was just as smoke-choked as he remembered it. The lanterns on each of the tables were forced to cut their way through a thick curtain of smoke to illuminate the space. Leonnaux wrinkled his nose at the smell, his hands buried in his pockets, a wry smile pulling at the corners of his lips. The establishment was very nearly filled to capacity, with a number of patrons drinking their sorrows at the bar or engaged in a merry night of banter at one of the tables.

One or two parties were even engaged in some heated card games on the balcony above, but he wasn’t in the mood for cards tonight—he was in the mood to get even.

The disguise of the night was on the subtler side of things; unlike his adventure in Ishgard during the Fury’s Moon, he tried to keep his appearance fairly close to his actual appearance. It was often the subtle changes that were the easiest to pull off, even if they went against his usual philosophy of every impression you make on a stranger should be wrong.

In Ishgard, that philosophy meant making drastic changes in both appearance and manner. Tonight, however, the policy was applied more loosely. He didn’t change the color of his hair, or even the length tonight—though the character that he had constructed presented herself in a more feminine manner than Leonnaux typically did in his day-to-day life—and more rough and tumble besides. He donned a pair of leather pants that he had picked up recently, and threw on a leather long coat on top of it. He settled on compromising with well-fitted, cropped halter top that would hide the fact that his cleavage was fake while still exposing enough abdomen to be provocative. He shed his usual gloves in favor of armguards and feathers reminiscent of a magpie’s iridescent blue-green plumage were intertwined with short braids just in front of his ears.

A little makeup work smoothed down sharp angles and strong lines in his face; eyeliner, mascara, and kohl framed his eyes—glamoured to be mismatched shades of hazel—for a suitably intense look when paired with dark lipstick. And of course, a pendant was tucked into his shirt to change his voice so that he would not have to strain to maintain a higher timbre for the night—which without magic would be the one aspect of his person that was unlikely to pass muster while wearing a feminine guise.

“Evening,” the bartender greeted with a smile, tossing the rag he was using to dry newly-cleaned glasses over his shoulder. “What can I get ya?” He was an scrutinizing fellow, a Duskwight with a discerning eye. The sun had given his skin a little more color over the years than he would have had naturally, stealing enough of the grayness from his skin that were it not for the clan tattoos running up his arm and neck—etched into his skin with a blade, not a needle, and highlighted only in certain spots with white ink—he would pass for a Wildwood. His dark gaze settled on Leonnaux, his lips twisted in a smile that was—procedural, somewhat sarcastic even.

Leonnaux tapped a manicured nail on the counter as he hauled himself up and onto the bar stool. When he spoke, it was not with his own voice, but a more feminine one—albeit one on the sultry, low side, as he figured that that sort of voice would fit the character he created for the night the best. “Sazerac. On the rocks.”

His gaze rose to the bartender as he slid some gil coins forward to provide payment for the drink—and a tip, of course.

The bartender nodded and set about making the drink. It wasn’t done with as much finesse as Leonnaux would employ if he were the one on the other side of the bar, and the ingredients here were subpar—catered towards people who were more concerned about getting nice and drunk than people who wanted a high-class experience. That suited him fine, and he tried not to watch the bartender too closely as he muddled the sugar, the water, the bitters. The cognac, the whiskey—stirred, not shaken—then slid over to Leonnaux after a lemon peel was lazily tossed into the glass and left there.

Leonnaux let it sit for a moment before bringing the glass to his lips, leaving some dark plum-red lipstick on its rim once the glass was lowered back onto its coaster. It was good—for the components used. It was what he paid for, anyway; he knew that a place like this probably didn’t have the wherewithal to obtain the nice Ishgardian cognac, and he knew that it wasn’t really ‘in-character’ to complain.

So instead he mumbled a thanks, casting his gaze about the bar. A drunk Seeker whose arms and chest were almost completely covered in tattoos was about six shots in two stools to his left. The stool immediately to his right was vacated soon after he ordered his drink, a midlander woman with eyes like daggers and a scar running down over her right eye having apparently had her fill of listening to the men upstairs gamble their paychecks away.

“So… Friendly bunch,” he started, somewhat awkwardly as the midlander held his gaze until the heavy door had fallen shut in her wake and she was back out on Ul’dah’s streets.

“Friendly’s a word. Think most of our professions down here kinda exclude us from the category,” the bartender replied, setting the Seeker up with another shot even though he definitely did not seem conscious enough that that would be a good idea. The bartender’s voice carried with it a thick accent—caught somewhere between what he had grown up hearing in the depths of the Black Shroud and what might be expected of Coerthas natives.

“I… Don’t think I could have guessed,” Leonnaux replied, squinting a bit. For the disguise he’d gone without his glasses—it wasn’t really possible to navigate around them for every single disguise he wanted to try. Thankfully the low light of the bar didn’t impact his vision too much, and he only had to deal with distance-related issues. The bartender right in front of him was just barely out-of-focus, and the rest of the room? A blur. “Between the scars and the tattoos. You got word of the street?”

The bartender huffed a laugh. “Depends on what you’re lookin’ for, missy.”

“Call me that again and I’ll break your fingers.”

“Oh, oh, this one has spunk! I like it!” The huff turned to something heartier, this time the bartender laughing from deep within his chest, shoulders heaving. “Most interesting thing anyone’s said to me all godsdamned night. Well, then, what’s your angle?”

Leonnaux’s shoulders rose and fell in a half-hearted shrug. “Just new here, just lookin’ for some fun,” he replied, setting his sazerac down on the counter and retrieving a silver cigarette case from an interior pocket of his coat, along with a box of matches. He places a cigarette between his plum-colored lips before offering one to the bartender across from him. “Looks like you are, too?”

The bartender scoffs before taking a cigarette, producing a very different implement for lighting his cigarette—a well-crafted lighter, like the ones that Leonnaux had often seen crafted through the collaborative efforts of the Goldsmith’s Guild and the Alchemist’s Guild, a small fire shard producing a small flame once it was flipped open. He huffed a bit at the sight before striking a match and using that to light his cigarette. The match was blown out before being discarded in a nearby ashtray, overflowing with ashes and cigarette butts and similarly-discarded matches.

“You could say I’m looking for a little entertainment, yeah,” the bartender replied, “It’s all the same shite ‘round here.” He blew out a cloud of smoke to punctuate the statement, a sigh. “Fun’s dried up if that’s what you’re looking for, though. Jobs, though. Plenty of jobs. Jobs that you gotta be really fuckin’ down on your luck to consider takin’, though.”

Leonnaux couldn’t help a little bit of laughter at that. “Well, let’s say I’m down on my luck then. City’s not real easy to get started in, unless you’d rather give me tips than work. But I’d really prefer the work.”

“Not a whole lot for a pretty face like you to do besides hook on street corners.”

His eyebrow couldn’t help but twitch a little in response to that—a brief expression that didn’t go unnoticed, since the bartender burst out laughing in response.

“Oh, oh, lighten up. If you can’t take a joke then you ain’t gonna last five ticks out there.”

“Rest assured, you’re not the only one who’s lacked enough sense to tell me that. Lucky for you, though, you can make a decent drink. The other ones couldn’t.” He lifted his sazerac, then, removing his cigarette from his lips and blowing out the smoke to take a sip from the glass. “Guess you have a half-decent face too. Hate to ruin it.”

“Well, color me honored.” The bartender ashed his cigarette, poured the Miqo’te gent another shot—absinthe this time, Leon realized, and though now he was wondering if the bartender was just steadily making his way up the ladder in terms of alcohol strength, he couldn’t help but think the man two stools down might need to stop if he didn’t want to end up worse than passed out in a ditch. “Laraunt, by the way. So, if you’re looking for work… Well, got some postings over in the back. But if I’m being frank, there’s been some shite going on that I’d love for someone to look into. What’s your trade, missy?”

“Call me Reine,” he corrected. “I’m serious about your fingers.”

“Sure, sure, right, right. Anyway, what’s it you do?”

Leonnaux clicked his tongue, considering for a moment, lowering his gaze to the lemon peel floating in his drink. “… This and that. Anything for the right price. Ran some drugs when I was up in Gridania—sonmus, snow, you know, that shite. Prefer to work more discreetly where I can, though—stuff what won’t give folks a paper trail to look for… Information, a favorite.”

His gaze returned to Laraunt , then, watching him carefully for any sign that he wasn’t convinced—pinning his preferred trade as information was a risk, but it was the only risk he could feasibly take. He couldn’t offer any answer that would be easy to verify; he couldn’t describe in-depth what it was like to work a job that he had no experience with whatosever, not even by proxy. To say nothing of if Laraunt decided to cross-check him, or press for more details than he had.

Laraunt considered for a moment before offering Leonnaux a half-shrug. “Information’s honest enough trade, I guess. You just a broker, or do you do groundwork?”

“Depends on my mood…” Leonnaux trailed off, then, somewhat uncertain before he nodded to Laraunt’s tattoos: raised scars and white ink against his dark skin, etching intricate runes and designs and occultic symbols into his exposed forearm and extending up his sleeve to his neck. The designs themselves were, of course, pleasing to the eye—but the runes were chiefly Duskwight in usage, sigils of power similar to the ones etched into pomanders. “But you could say I’ve always to ears out, eh?”

The bartender arched a brow, then, before nodding his assent. “Ah, more than just a pretty face, then! Seems you have some keen eyes, too. Well… Well, I suppose you’ll do, Reine. If you think you can get the job done. I’ve been through a few brokers, kind of need a dedicated investigator if I’m being honest. They all chickened out once they got a handle for the situation.”

Leonnaux perked up a bit, folding his hands in front of him on the table and ashing his cigarette. He looked the bartender over, but without his glasses his eye for detail was somewhat limited, even this close. “Well, running drugs up to the Shroud ain’t exactly a cushy fucking job, as long as no one’s gonna try and drain my body of its blood I think I can stomach getting my hands a little dirty.” He scoffed, then, as if it was a joke. “So what is it. I can’t say for sure unless you tell me what the job is.”

Laraunt met Leonnaux’s eyes, then, his lips pressing into a thin line. “My sister’s missing.”

Oh—oh.

Leonnaux had to fight off the shock when the bartender’s voice suddenly becoming quite grave, going from somewhat condescending and sarcastic to a sobering baritone is no time flat. He took a breath, considering those three words as he drew his cigarette back to his lips, puffing away quietly.

“If it’s a missing person case, I think you’re gonna want the Blades instead.”

“Not considering what all my sister was getting up to before she went and vanished.” Laraunt tapped a fingertip—hard—on the surface of the counter, pulling Leonnaux’s attention back up to his eyes. “This ain’t the best place to give details though—or time. How can I get in touch with you after this? Sit down for a more proper talk. Client to broker.”

Leonnaux paused, offering a shrug. “I’m new here. You think I already have an office? Just pick a day pick a time and—I’ll meet you out back. After a shift, maybe. So we won’t be interrupted.” He tilted his chin up, then, before he snuffed the cigarette out, grinding it in the ashtray and leaving it there in a crumpled heap. With a grimace, he slammed back the rest of his sazerac in one go, chewing on the lemon rind left behind once the glass was emptied.

“Ah, eh… Should be free at the end of the week.”

“Cool. I’ll see you then—see if I can’t turn up any leads on a missin’ Duskwight in Ul’dah in the meantime.”

“I’d appreciate it.” There’s a pause and Laraunt takes a breath, watching Leonnaux as he starts to leave. “Hey, say—this is bugging me, but have I seen you before?”

Leonnaux’s heart skipped a beat, and he paused mid-step to look over his shoulder, one hand against the heavy wooden door, poised to make his way out.

“I don’t know. Have you?”

––to be continued.

#crystal data center #ffxiv rp #balmung rp #crystal rp #ffxiv balmung #ffxiv crystal #hellsbovnd #( c: leonnaux; ) #( writing; ) #[ i keep saying leon is cis/gender nonconforming but honestly w how i write him he might actually just b straight up genderfluid ] #[ i just dont want transphobes crawling into my mentions to call me gamer words so i'm gonna keep him as cis on paper lol ] #[ no harm in having little a noncanon headcanons about my own character.... as a treat ]

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Modern/Reincarnation AU - Hubert/Felix Fluff (Blankets)

A note beforehand, Felix is out of character for AU plot related reasons, so out of the AU he’s OOC, but for the AU this is just how he is. Anyways, let’s move on now.

-------

It was an unexpected thing, truth be told. But in all honesty, Hubert wasn't ever going to complain about it.

Edelgard relieving Hubert, as well as Ferdinand, of their duties had him at a standstill. He had nowhere to go, to turn to. He didn't know what to do in life, so the only thing he ever did at that point was keep to his office in his home and work. Writing reports, evaluating progress reports among the other nobles in the committees he is appointed in, that took over his life even further. He had no hobbies, no favorite things aside from a book or two and playing chess, and a favorite coffee. Aside from that, he was a husk, not knowing where to turn to fill himself up, so he never did it.

Until they came along.

That person, whose smile could light up the dark and foggy path in Hubert's mind, and their hyperactive and sweet joy that could bring a smile to even Hubert's own face. That heartache and depression that made Hubert feel the empathy he had always denied having, and made him actually want to step out to help and protect. That person, their friendship, their love, no matter if platonic or otherwise, has awoken something special in Hubert.

Felix has awoken the emotion in him that he always thought he never had until now.

Felix's drastic changes in time don't bother him one bit. If anything, he holds them dear as he holds Felix himself. They're a part of Felix. Felix is finally showing his true colors as he throws away all of the layers that he hid his own emotions under for so long, something that Hubert will always empathize with. Felix likes him, trusts him enough to show these things, and Hubert couldn't be more thankful. Felix voices his sentiments directly, leaving nothing in the dark with that lack of a filter of his. Though of course having autism helps that lack be more obvious, but that's perfectly okay. It's helped them get closer.

Hubert sees Felix, and all of his vices and virtues, and sees someone he treasures.

---

"I'm home-"

Hubert stood in the doorway, staring on at the big pile of blankets and pillows in the center of the main room. The tiny giggles he could hear beneath the pile had him failing to keep that straight face, and a small smile raised the corners of his lips.

"Now what might this be?" He asked.

The blankets lifted ever so slightly, and a nose and lips peeked out of that raised part.

"...A blanket nest. Come in here with me, it's all warm and comfy-... Wait...there's a lil' something ya gotta do first, actually."

Hubert huffed out a small laugh of amusement and shook his head as he looked down at this sight. It was a silly thing, but it wasn't like it was unpleasant in the slightest, so Hubert decided he might just play along with this.

"What do I need to do to be granted welcome into such a sturdy and majestic foundation, might I ask?"

"Ppff, sturdier than my asshole for sure." Felix mumbled with a grin, and lifted the blankets further to expose his full face now, with a flash of mischief in those eyes of his as he resituated to rest on one of his arms, the other keeping the blanket lifted. "But anyway, what you need to do for me is a reactionary test. You react the right way, you get to come in. Sound good?"

Hubert raised a brow, but nodded anyways. He was intrigued to see where this would go, that's for sure.

"Good." Felix's eyes narrowed, and it was obvious then that he had a plan. Hubert always knew the meaning of his gestures, but nothing could've prepared him for what he heard next.

"What would you do if I told you I really have wanted to cuddle with you for a long time? What would you do if I told you that I've wanted to hold onto you by your arm as we walk together, and maybe even your hands if I'm lucky? How would you react to me telling you these things?"

Oh. This was...

Hubert was frozen in place. Did he notice how wide his eyes had gotten, or how quickly his face had reddened as the blush spread across it, and even reached his ears? Not one bit. He could only try his hardest to find a way to speak, to find something to say, only to fail. This was a bit sudden and out of the blue, was it not? But of course Felix knew that. He may be pretty dense these days, and not able to read people well, but he was the exact opposite of dumb. He knew what he was doing right here, and judging by the way the determined narrowing turned to a squint from how wide he was grinning again, he must've succeeded in what he wanted to do. But, for the first time, Hubert didn't catch it. He was too busy focusing on how much he enjoyed seeing such a sight.

But suddenly, that sight was gone as Felix went back under the blankets. Hubert stared on, not moving from his spot.

"You comin' in? Ya passed, c'mon in here with me."

Hubert only nodded, and kicked off his shoes by the door before making his way closer. A hand suddenly shot out, grabbed Hubert's arm, and pulled him right in. He landed with a breathless "Oof!" right atop a still smiling Felix. Uh oh, now he could notice how red his face was, now that he couldn't avoid making Felix aware...

Felix only grinned up at him, and let out a laugh as he fixed a stray strand of Hubert's hair that had been messily tucked behind an ear, and didn't say a word. These two took their time to just look into each other's eyes, at the details of each other's expressions. And Hubert could feel the warmth filling him up to the brim. This fuzzy and pleasant warmth that had him craving more and more. This person, this beautiful soul that looked up at him with a near glittering brightness in his eyes from his raw and uncontained joy he had when in Hubert's presence like this, made Hubert feel happy and fulfilled for the first time in his life.

Hubert sees Felix, and all of his vices and virtues...and sees someone he loves with all of his heart.

#Fire Emblem AU #FE Modern/Reincarnation AU #Fire Emblem Three Houses #FE16 #Hubert von Vestra #FE3H Hubert #Felix Hugo Fraldarius #FE3H Felix #Felibert #Hubert X Felix #fire emblem fanfiction #fanfiction

[goodbyecringe]

(Un)Natural Selection Chapter 6

Enjolras

There was no more avoiding it. Thirty-five girls from different backgrounds with different motives were living right below me. I had done everything I could to throw myself more into my work than usual. I had taken to meeting with the dignitaries and pouring over caste related civil disputes. Of course Father said that this was the worst way to spend a prince’s time because there were majors and soldiers to deal with those things. However, it would be impossible to abolish the caste system without knowing what the specific problems were.

“I can’t believe it,” a joyful voice said from the doorway, “I don’t think I know a single man that could work if there were thirty-five women getting makeovers in their basement.”

“Ferre, when have you ever known for me to let women interfere with my work?” I said, turning around in my chair to face him.

“Well in the sixteen years that we’ve been friends I’ve only known of your relationship with the great Patria. It’s unfortunate you couldn’t marry her,” he said, clicking his tongue.

“It’s unfortunate I have to marry at all. How am I supposed to change the governing system of Illeá when I have to worry about finding a wife? He did this on purpose of course, maybe I somehow tipped him off,” I said putting my head in my hands.

“The only thing that tipped off your father was the fact that you invited eight aspiring political figures that are all openly against the caste system. In all actuality it could be argued that he did you a favor. Imagine if we were all that the media focused on over the next few months? By the time you were made King every pro-caste politician would have been able to perfect their argument. Of course I’m sure your father is hoping that the Selection will distract you from your responsibilities and Les Amis.”

“Yes, I’ve already thought about that theory a thousand times over. But what’s stopping me from eliminating thirty tomorrow morning? He never made me commit to a formal timeline-”

“And I’m sure you’ve already thought of the associative repercussions for doing that Julien,” he said, cutting me off. “You already know that the media would have a field day. You would be marked as a heartless slab of marble. Remember, you need the people on your side during the revolution,” Ferre became serious as he sat on the edge of my desk.

“No matter who I choose, the castes will be divided. Anyone lower than a Four would be seen as a saint to the lower castes, however the lower castes already stand with our views. We need to secure the support of those who we are removing from power,” I sighed as I restated the facts.

“We’ve been through this at least a dozen times, Julien. Isn’t that the entire reason you decided to announce that this would be a caste-blind selection? You just need to take it one day at a time. And since there are thirty-five eligible bachelorettes in your home, you should at least give them the respect they deserve,” Combeferre said, standing.

“I’ve haven’t even met them yet Ferre, how have I already disrespected them?”

“You don’t know any of their names, you don’t know what they look like, you haven’t bothered to learn a thing about them. But I could guarantee you that everyone of those girls knows everything about you.”

“Are you referring to those presentations I put Les Amis in charge of? I swear, if Jean Prouvaire’s presentation takes over an hour I’ll leave and simply review the applications in my office… alone.”

Combeferre chuckled as we walked out of my office. The walk to the Men’s Room was more eventful then I had ever expected. Dozens of servants were making final adjustments to the decorations. There were fresh flowers around every corner, the drapes were open, letting sunlight shine through the halls. As the new butler, Grantaire, opened the door, I had to restrain myself from rolling my eyes. The beautiful library space that I used as my philosophical escape to discuss the future of Illeá had been turned upside down. Feuilly and Joly were hanging a large piece of white fabric over a large bookshelf, and Bahorel was closing all the drapes so the setting sun didn’t blind anyone. I grabbed a notepad and took a seat next to Courfeyrac in the front row.

“Your Royal Highness,” Bossuet called out from his place in front of the projector.

“Our fearless leader and marble statue,” Courfeyrac laughed from next to me.

“We, the Friends of the ABC, are proud to present your future wife, or at least the thirty-five possible candidates for the title of Queen Enjolras,” Jean Prouvaire announced as the lights began to dim.

From behind me, Grantaire was laughing with Bossuet while he turned down the lights. Les Amis began to seat themselves in front of the screen, all armed with several manilla folders which I assumed held the applications of the selected girls.

“First, we will give a brief presentation about each of the thirty-five contestants and then we will tune into the Report and Enjolras will get his first real look at the girls.”

I made a note that if a career in politics never worked out for Prouvaire, he could take Kyran Cervantes’ job. Suddenly, the screen lit up with the faces of thirty-five young women of various appearances, all of which I was sure would be changing drastically during their makeovers.

“We have decided to present in the order of east coast to west coast, so first up is the lovely province of Hansport! So please give a warm welcome to Miss Teresa Gilbert!” The screen centered on a girl with near white hair that was sharply stopped just below her cheek-bones.

“Teresa is nineteen years old and is proud to call Hansport the place of her humble roots. She has been acting in television shows and movies since she was three years old. Her favorite role was a princess during the apocalypse where she learned what it truly took to be a royal! She says that she will never be afraid of the media,” Prouvaire finished, now sounding confident in his game show host role.

There was a massive amount of applause from the boys around me. Looking down at my notepad I jotted down, Teresa Gilbert: movie star, 2. There was nothing more, nothing less about this girl. It was only too bad for her that I couldn’t care less about the television industry. Unfortunately, her status as a celebrity made it too easy to know her caste.

“Next up we have Adele Castro of Waverly,” a picture of a mousy looking girl with large green eyes appeared on the screen.

“At sixteen, Adele is our youngest selected girl, but don’t let that lead you astray because she’s already been quite successful…” Prouvaire continued to explain how she had spent her life volunteering in less developed countries.

Adele Castro: volunteer, 2 or 3.

“Now gentlemen, show some love for Miss Éponine Jondrette from Allens,” the face of a tan girl with a wild head of brown hair came over the screen. Despite the large state of her hair, her eyes appeared tired and her cheeks were hollow.

“Miss Éponine might give our fearless leader a run for his money! In her free time, Éponine enjoys reading about Political Science and learning about other cultures. She can speak English, Chinese, and French fluently,” I couldn’t help but think about how her appearance contradicted her description.

Éponine Jondrette: hungry wildcard, 5 or 3. By the time Prouvaire had finished I had made note of Lucy Frost: artistic, 5 and Harley Housten: average, 4 or 3. Everyone applauded as Jean bowed to take his seat. Joly walked forward and pulled a stack of index cards out of his suit jacket.

“Moving West we’ll start out in the province of Kent. Miss Cosette Fauchelevent recently returned to Illeá after spending about 5 years living in an Abbey in France. Cosette is an avid gardener and has a passion for animals,” Joly rushed as the room admired a pale girl with golden blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

Cosette Fauchelevent: lark, 2 or 3. At some point throughout the presentations all of the girls started to blur together. A few girls stood out, for example, Liberty Cook: paralyzed, 4. I couldn’t believe how delighted I was when Bossuet finally got to Angles.

“At the age of 20 our oldest contestant is Musichetta Simon. Miss Musichetta has recently begun a career in the prominent modeling agency in Angles. However, prior, she traveled throughout highly impoverished areas of Illeá to provide clean drinking water,” Bossuet said, failing to remove his eyes from her picture. The bright color of her red hair caused his bald head to reflect a pinkish color.

“Excellent job Bossuet,” Prouvaire said, clapping a hand on Bossuet’s back. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Grantaire was passing out refreshments before we settled down to watch the Report.

“I hope that everyone else is as excited for the next few months as I am,” Courfeyrac called out.

“Now remember my friends,” Combeferre stood, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “We are to remain out of sight out of mind. Unless Enjolras asks for our presence specifically, we are not to interact with the women of the selected. Everyone here is subject to the law,” he called out, staring directly at Courf.

“Thank you for all of your hard work my friends,” I said, standing next to Ferre. “I hope that you all feel more comfortable with the process of creating and executing presentations. Even though this may have sounded like a fun and frivolous exercise, it is important to find a way to improve yourself in any situation,” I could hear groans among the group. “However, I am very appreciative for the effort that you put in, and if any of you have any suggestions during this process, please feel free to know. I shall see all of you tomorrow evening for our regularly scheduled meeting.”

“Won’t you be staying to watch the Report, Enjolras?” Joly asked.

“I’m afraid I have a very important speech concerning several dignitaries of New Asia that I’ve been neglecting to revise,” I said, making my way towards the door. As Grantaire opened the door for me I could hear what seemed to be a stampede of high heeled shoes. I decided to wait until I could no longer hear them, so not to cause a scene since I wasn’t supposed to meet any of them until tomorrow morning. While looking across my shoulder at the crowd of girls I was taken aback when I felt something collide with me. In the second it took me to turn around, the person was already on the ground.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, looking around for her heels. “I should have been paying attention to wear I was going, but you see my shoe broke and I’ve been trying to keep up with the rest-”

I think she stopped breathing when she finally looked up at me.

“I am deeply sorry, Your Highness,” she went into a deep curtsey.

“The fault is entirely mine Lady... Éponine,” I paused, noting the silver name tag pinned to her green dress. “I should know to pay more attention to my surroundings.”

I extended my arm to help her up, which she accepted. I could see that the heels on one of her shoes had snapped in half, which must have been the cause for her falling behind.

“Would it be considered rude for a lady to run down the hall in her bare feet?” She asked in a brazen way.

“I believe that would be classified as a capital offense.” I smiled thinking of how the royal planner and etiquette instructor Claudia would throw a fit if she witnessed such an event.

“Well then maybe you can keep this a secret between just the two of us?” She suggested looking back and forth between me and the rest of the girls.

“Only if you promise to only wear shoes you can properly walk in.”

She gave a mischievous smirk before running towards the crowd of her competitors. There were several times that she had to stop and pick up her dress to avoid slipping, but she eventually caught up to the group as they entered the Women’s Room. I made a mental note to add the word cheeky next to her name in my notebook.

#enjonine #prince enjolras #enjolras #eponine #the selection #les mierables #fanfiction #crossover #les amis #Joly #Combeferre #courfeyrac #bahorel #grantaire #cross-posted #ao3 #jehan prouvaire #musichetta #cosette

[exosmuttytalk]

Exo’s DO MV hairstyle rating: a comprehensive list

What is Love, 2012. 

Probably the longuest DO’s hair ever been. Surprisingly, I don’t mind it. For some reason, the demarcation between the super long and super short hairs isn’t that stark. I like that. It looks super dated, tho. 

Final rating: 5/10 KS

History, 2012. 

A different version of the previous hairstyle but leaving the waves aside. I like it because it seems more achievable in his (probably) pin straight hair. Looks soft and fluffy :D

Final rating: 6/10 KS

Mama, 2012

Eh, no. He looks like a fluffy rhyno. What are those spikes on the sideburns? I bet all that fringe hair without gel to hold it flings straight into his eyes. 

Final rating: 2/10 KS

Wolf, 2013

Let’s agree that everybody looked horrendous in Wolf. Like ma boy here who could be strutting the best catwalks in Syberia but the moment he stopped walking he’d freeze to death because he’s not wearing a coat. He looks like a fluffy mushroom and I wouldn’t eat one of those.

Final rating: 0/10 KS (Shame)

Growl, 2013

This must have been the “wildest” color KS’s ever wore, right? I don’t really know about this one. I can appreciate the attempt to change the color, as it’s very obvious he’s not one to experiment much with that sort of stuff. So A for effort. Now, that fringe is all messed up. When his hair falls down naturally without being gelled up he probably has strands sticking out in different directions and all different lengths. 

Also, the more I stare at this picture, the more I can sense Uncanny Valley creeping from my toes up and I don’t like that. 

Final rating: 3/10 KS

Miracles in December, 2013

Here KS has what in my language is called a bowl cut. I don’t even know if that’s the term in English and I don’t really feel like looking it up. 

Either way, from what I’ve seen in the Korean media I’ve had access to is that this hairstyle seems to be super common among teens and young adults. That surprised me because where I am it’s a hairstyle reserved to little kids. 

I understand the appeal, tho. He looks soft and cuddly despite having been ghosted. He’s not menacing (because you can’t see his brows). Makes you want to give him hot cocoa and bundle him up inside a big, soft, fluffy white blanket.

Final Rating: 8/10 KS

Overdose, 2014

So baaaad... I mean so gooooooooood. 

I really like this one. It’s longer, but it’s longer in an unniform manner. Also, this looks like he’s woken up in the morning with each strand of hair in a different possition. He’s then washed his face and making sure he’s wetting his hair as well. He’s us’ed a comb to make a very precise parting but then hasn’t combed through the rest of the hair, so now that’s getting dry, all the strands are starting to stick up again. 

That’s very relatable.

Final rating: 8/10 KS

Call me Baby, 2015

This is one of KS’s best looks and I will die on this hill. 

It’s rather short. Blunt. Structured. Has a little flair but the flair is not too long that it sticks into his eyes. The color is natural and dark but has subtle golden and redish highlights. Looks very effortless. NOICE.

Also, filled in, strong eyebrows.

Final rating: 9.5/10 KS (Because there’s always room for improvement)

Love me Right, 2015

Ohh, yes. This is the second main contender to the first position, Again, to me this looks effortless, which is exactly the type of lifestyle I can see KS having. Chill, easy, no fuss, manageable. I woke up like this and I think I last brushed my hair two days ago. A natural man.

I love the styling too.

Bonus Chanyeol happily vibing in the brackground.

Final rating: 9,5/10 KS 

Sing for you, 2015

KS is barely visible in this MV. You know he’s there; you can feel him looming ominously around the borders of every scene. You can hear his voice. But you can’t really see him. The natural darkness of a B&W video shot in a supposed snowstorm grants a shadow for him to disguise himself into. 

That’s the reason why I’ve had to take those screenshots directly on the mv and why we can barely see his hair. But we can imagine. Looks shot and functional. Not so short and functional as it’s military counterpart. Seems like it would be nice to stroke it. It’s not flashy or attention grabbing. Discreet, but with a little room to play, represented as the spikiness of the fringe area. 

Imma give this one a lower rating because I feel there’s another hairstyle that unites all those characteristics and that both KS and I like better.

Final rating: 8/10 KS

Lucky one, 2016

This is just a shorter version of the Sing for you supposed hairstyle. It’s alright. Although it’s a little bit lazy, I feel it fits the aesthetic of the video quite well. Clean and neat. I like how his perplexed expression during the beginning of this mirrors my own façade so well every time I rewatch this MV.

Final rating: 7/10 KS

Monster, 2016

The styling of the hair may be the exact same as in Lucky One, but I don’t really care. My eyes dart directly to the bruise on his cheeks and the scar on his eyebrow. The holes and burns on his clothes. There’s something really special in a rugged man for me. 

Final rating: 8.5/10 KS

Lotto, 2016

This is a problem, because there’s two main stylings of which I hate the first one and really like the second one. In the first one, they obviously wanted him to look like he actually jumps into the cages with the roosters and physically trains them on fight. The second one looks pretty standard, soft and floofy. It’s shiny too and it looks healthy. Also I like the pirate like clothes styling here.

I’m conflicted.

Final rating: 4/10 KS

Dancing King, 2016

He doesn’t have a lot of screen time in this MV. Most of the time, he’s either on rehearsals or performing. He wears a lot of caps. I never really understand the purpose of a cap if you’re not out in the sun (or scaping fans and papparazzi). Seems easy to knock off accidentally, a gust of wind could suddenly come by and snatch it off your head. You are going to make it all sweaty because all that dancing and then you’re gonna have to stick it into the washing machine. Can you put a cap on the washing machine? Does it lose its shape or smth?

I digress. The cap is, despite all the previous reticence, one of the few accessories he seems to wear irl. So Imma going to give him a good rating for realism and for giving us a little more BTS content. 

Final rating: 7/10 KS

Coming over, 2016

It was impossible to find still of the video but he wore the same styling as in this card, We have to set things straight. 2016 was a hell of a year. They released six different MVs, one of them a collaboration and one of them in japanese. There’s just not enough time for drastic hair changes. Hair doesn’t grow that fast. And it’s easier to leave the more lowkey members in a simple style so you have more time for the not that lowkey members. I get it. Imma a bit bored but I get it.

Final rating: 6.5/10 KS

Kokobop, 2017

Yeeeeees, the change we’d all been waiting for. Aaaaand I hate it. I dislike that his hair matches his jacket. I dislike the fact that even his eyebrows look color coordinated. If it wasn’t for the blue shirt, he’d look as if he had been passed through a sepia filter. Not into it.

Final rating: 3.5/10 KS.

Power, 2017

I love this whole look. Almost everybody’s looks, in fact. It seems like it was a very fun video shooting. We hadn’t seen a KS smile since love me right. He looks so young and playful, so boyish. 

There’s not much to say about the hair. It’s all carelessly hidden under a crownless cap? and some other accessories, but we can appreciate he’s gone back to his natural color. Praise the stylist noonas. 

Final rating: 7.5/10

Universe, 2017

Ahhh, my white whale in the shape of a head. You were short and fleeting, but at least there’s a MV and a whole film to remember you. 

I love bald KS. I definitely don’t appreciate Eggsoo, but what’s not to love about a shaved head? Especially, his bald head. He’s extremelly symmetric and looks so uniform all around. It probably feels like a stroking a very dense but soft brush. He’s said himself he like this hairstyle. It’s strong. Durable. Reliable. Pragmatic. Still, soft, aesthetically pleasing. All KS really is. 

I also love the lighting and the clothe styling in this MV, it’s like a honey and caramel wet dream.

Final rating: 9,5/10 KS

Electric Kiss, 2018

There’s not much to say about this either because it’s not easily visible. Looke like he has his sides shaven. The top is definitely longer but not a lot. Unceremoniously passes.

Final rating: 6/10 KS

Tempo, 2018

I think he looks specially good in tempo. Boyish but not too much. Longer hair, which is a change. The worst part is that he doesn’t have a lot of parts and even less screen time. I love how his lipstick matches the background.

Final rating: 7.5/10 KS

Love Shot, 2018

I love this. Men driving are a kink for me. Black hair, yes. Aviator jacket, yes. Strands of hair loosely framing your face, yes. You usual stoic expression, yes.

Final rating: 7.5/10

His final MV pre-enlistment was a success. Let’s hope for more good looks when he returns.

#exo #DO #do kyungsoo #exo hair #do hair #exo hairstyle

[shenlongshao]

GG Strive Thoughts: Part 3

Welcome to the last part of my Guilty Gear Strive thoughts!^_^ I'll be focusing on the art-style and character designs, so there will be lots of pictures in this post. I hope you enjoy reading!

Art-Style & Graphics ---------------

Guilty Gear's visuals always had a detailed, Sci-Fi fantasy anime look with creativity of the 1990s and early 2000s. This mostly stayed the same until Xrd SIGN, which introduced 3D cel-shaded graphics in a new way. The art-style also changed a bit from previous games, although it has kept its creativity.

GG Xrd SIGN and the following games(Revelator and Revelator 2) look beautiful, but it took me a while to get used to the art-style because of those dreaded chins. The characters should've just used their chins to fight cause of how long and pointy they are; just go "SLLASSHHHH!" XD  Certain features of characters were exaggerated like Sol's shoulders being a bit too wide for his body or how Baiken's hair is thicker and spikier. Some people say it's "too anime", but that isn't the right word for it. I would say "whimsical" is main trait from the art-style, which is fitting for how funny the interactions are in-game and lighter tone in story.

Guilty Gear Strive keeps the cel-shaded 3D graphics, but manages to expand it further. Instead of its presentation akin to an anime TV series, it's now akin to a high-budget anime movie with detail given to both the characters and the environments. It's less whimsical this time, giving the impression the story will be darker in tone. I'm really happy the art-style was changed to being closer to the older GG games like X2; no more ice-cream cone chins!XD  The characters also got redesigned to match the essence of the new game. I'll be talking about eachone in order from least to most in terms of design changes. I'll also rate them in Guilty Gear style grade form. POTEMKIN ------------------- There seems to be mixed reactions when Potemkin got revealed for GG Strive. Some were happy he looked generally the same while others were a little disappointed and asked, "How come he didn't get a huge redesign like the other characters?!" The answer is he already did; this is how Potemkin originally looked like in the GG series.

This design relates to Potemkin's story in the beginning. The Zepp empire in the past was a very corrupted, technology advanced nation. It contained battle-slaves with strength enhancement steriods and bound them with a special limiter. Potemkin was one of these battle-slaves with his huge, red metal color being the limiter. If he ever took it off, it would explode. However, Zepp was changed when Gabriel became President and freed all the Zeppian slaves, including Potemkin. He now serves as Gabriel's bodyguard out of genuine loyalty, gratitude, and care for his mentor and the renewed Zepp.

Judging on his old design by itself, I think he looked average(based on what he's wearing). His features definitely fit the saying "don't judge a book by its cover" because Potemkin is actually a gentle giant who's very intelligent. But the way he looks(except when interacting with certain characters), it's like he wants to break someone's bones, lol.

In the concept artwork in Guilty Gear X Plus(Japanese exclusive game), it hinted of what Potemkin will eventually developed into look-wise and story-wise. Even the pose from this pic was used later in Xrd SIGN. I really wish the design of the boots was used instead those weird looking ones he's wearing now, XD.

Now to look at Potemkin's design in Xrd SIGN.

This is Potemkin's drastic redesign needed because of the changes in his life and his resolve being tested. I love this design so much because it accurately portrays Potemkin's personality. The first is his steel helmet with a spike at the top, accented with the Zepp symbol at the center of his forehead. His face is mostly shrouded in darkness except for the glowing lens. The yellow ponytail fur attached adds to the essence of a modern steel knight. Next is the black collar having spikes at the front; he also has on spiked shoulder plates to emphasis his strength. The power part is also in the round-shaped limiters attached to the upper parts of his uniform and glove compartment of his gauntlets. The design of his gauntlets is derived from the GGX Plus concept art, except the gloves completely cover his fingers and has a robotic aesthetic to it. I notice green is the most dominant color in Potemkin's design and there's a reason why besides it being Zepp's uniform.

Here is the Green Personality taken from Color Psychology (https://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/personality-color-green.html):

You are a practical, down-to-earth person with a love of nature. You are stable and well balanced or are striving for balance - in seeking this balance, you can at times become unsettled and anxious. Having a personality color green means you are kind, generous and compassionate - good to have around during a crisis as you remain calm and take control of the situation until it is resolved.

You are caring and nurturing to others - however you must be careful not to neglect your own needs while giving to others. You are intelligent and love to learn - you are quick to understand new concepts. You are a good citizen and like to be involved in community groups. You have high moral standards and doing the right thing is important to you.

There is more, but I only taken pieces that describe Potemkin's personality, showing why green is his main color. Now onto his look in GG Strive starting with his helmet.

On the forehead of the helmet, the Zepp symbol is no longer a design mark, but an carved symbol with the words "Armor-clad faith" underneath. Instead of just darkness on his face, it accentuates the robotic aesthetic with the gears and the lens having an orange tint. Next is a full body screenshot of Potemkin.

The spiked shoulder plates is less noticeable and his uniform is more formal. There's now a maroon-red collar with white trim and yellow buttons. The spikes on the black collar part of his outfit is gone, there's thick pockets on the lower part of his suit and has a brown belt instead of black. His boots is also brown instead of black and the plates around his feet is orange instead of red. There's additional limiters on his upper back that is revealed when doing certain attacks, showing his power has grown more. His muscle mass has also gotten super HUGE to the point I wouldn't be surprised if he reached Sentinel(X-Men) size, XD.

Design Rating: S++(Fantastic!) SOL BADGUY ------------ ---------- Sol Badguy is the main protagonist, so there was never a worry or surprise of his GG Strive design. There's also the fact his design isn't really new; it's heavily derived from the artwork of Guilty Gear 2:Overture. But first is looking at Sol's most iconic design from the GG series.

I'll always love this design because I think it's stylish, cool, and timeless. He's handsome in the traditional tough-guy way and perfectly fits the anti-hero type. His metal red headband acts as a limiter for his Gear powers and has the words "Rock You" in the center of his forehead. Besides it symbolizing his love for Queen's "Sheer Heart Attack" music album and controlling his Gear powers, it also symbolizes how he keeps his inner thoughts to himself and close-mindedness. He wears a black undershirt layered with a sleeveless, chest-length red jacket with a buckle strap. This style is very unconventional, which is exactly Sol is; he doesn't follow typical conventions. His red and black gloves conveys his toughness while his belt with the "FREE" tells of his philosophy. This also hints complexity to his nature since the belt is from when he was in the Holy Order, an aspect of his past. This shows he's inwardly caring and values the people in life along with his experiences. Lastly, is his white pants accented with buckles and red shoes.

The GG2:Overture Short Stories goes into some detail of the events before the game like how he was entrusted to raise Sin(Ky & Dizzy's son), etc. The major difference with Sol's design from the short stories is he's wearing a sensible red jacket similar to his old one, but its design still has traits of being its own style. His black undershirt is slightly different with a small V-shape cut-out in the middle, longer sleeves, and slightly loose around his stomach instead of fitted. His gloves has more of a biker vibe to them and no aspect of red nor buckles within them. He still wears red shoes on his feet, though tweaked in its looks. While this did hinted of Sol's character development, it wasn't a large factor because alot of the huge events at the time and before were placed on him rather than him confronting it by himself. It's why for Xrd SIGN, he primary reverted to his iconic look, though his GG2:Overture Short Stories look did get tweaked and used within the game's Story Mode. Now for his GG Strive look.

His GG Strive design blends both his GG2:Overture Short Stories look and aspects of his iconic design, which I really like. The red jacket with black trim conveys his free-spirited persona, yet also comfortable and relaxed. There's also a little bit more white seen on the cuffs of his jacket, meaning his heart is more open. This relates to his character development of finally confronting his past, his feelings, and his relationships. But he's still Sol Badguy and there's much for him to find out and explore, especially since red and black is still his main colors. There is deep meaning to this too.

Red Personality(https://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/personality-color-red.html):

You are action oriented and physically active - sex is a necessity to you - you have strong survival instincts. Lovers of red are the explorers and pioneers of the world, the entrepreneurs and builders who like to be first in discovering new physical realms. You are always in a hurry, wanting to do everything right now. Patience is not one of your strong points. Red people can be aggressive and easy to anger, often exhibiting a violent temper - this is negative passion and energy. You flare up instantaneously but calm down quite quickly once you get it out of your system and then forget it ever happened. You have a strong need for power and control which is connected to your basic survival instincts.

Black Personality(https://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/personality-color-black.html):

You are independent, strong-willed and determined and like to be in control of yourself and situations. You may appear intimidating to even your closest colleagues and friends, with an authoritarian, demanding and dictatorial attitude. You hold things inside and are not good at sharing yourself with others, possibly out of fear. You may be retreating behind black during a difficult time in your life such as a serious illness or a period of grief - black protects, allowing for a deep inner healing without interference from others. I'll add traits of the color White since there's a noticeable amount on Sol.(https://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-white.html): Positive traits of White: Simplicity, self-efficient, growth/new beginnings, open, equality, rescuer, and sense of completion. These traits describe Sol. Overall, I like the design and feel it suits him well. Design Rating: S+++(Perfect!) MAY ----------- So far, May is the only female character revealed for the initial roster of GG Strive. There's mixed reactions with May's redesign for the new game. Some are happy she finally looks like she's in her early to mid teens(like 14 or 16) instead like a little girl. But others aren't happy with the changes to her outfit, saying it's bland. Let's look at May's iconic design. 

In my opinion, May is the coolest looking child character. Her open-sides style coat with side slits layered with a skin-tight bodysuit blends both cute and stylish. Adding to it is the tricon pirate hat, silver plating on her wrists and neckline, and orange short boots with black trim. Lastly, a black belt is around her waist while buckles accents her orange coat. This shows she's spunky, cheerful, and deceptively strong. In the story, her origins was unknown at the time, which perfectly fits due to there's black as part of color scheme(one of the meaning for black is mystery). Story-wise, May's development gradually grows from finding Johnny and later recruiting Dizzy as a member of the crew. Her curiosity of her heritage surfaces, causing some changes in her design.

In Xrd SIGN, Her skin-tight bodysuit is gone and replaced with just a black, fitted tank underneath her orange overalls. Her pants is loose-fitting along with having a big buckle around her waist and different boots still in orange with black trim. She doesn't have the silver plating collar, but other aspects of her iconic look like her pirate hat is kept. May finally finds out she's Japanese and dealing a mysterious condition that (currently) can't be cured. This is a huge story development for May that leads to be expanded further and another redesign. First is looking up the facial shot of May for Guilty Gear Strive.

May's facial features is the first noticeable difference. The art-style is a strong factor in this, but May looks physically older. She still has big, cute brown eyes, though not as large as in Xrd SIGN. This makes her face appear a little longer face to convey a hint of maturity. Yet, she still hasn't escaped being just cute in an innocent way. Another difference is her hair is slightly shorten to halfway to her back instead to her waist. It's also loose instead of a thick ponytail within her pirate hat, which I think it's a nice little change. Her hat is shaped more round instead of oversized tricon while still retaining the pirate skull at the front. The anchor design on the sides makes it both simple, yet stylish. Now to see the full body of May's new look!

.....Lol, May is wearing a dumb orange hoodie, XD. What's worse is the hoodie has no special designs pertaining to May's personality or style; it's overly casual. There's also no shape, making her look like a fat fish. The skin-tight black short-shorts doesn't help with how oversized the hoodie is, which if it weren't for certain angles, it gives the illusion she isn't wearing anything on her lower body. It looks like lounge wear meant to be worn around the house instead of clothing a person would wear going on an adventure. Speaking of adventure, she has a backpack.

The backpack itself is cute because it's Chimaki(mascot of GG) and do see the the letter J with a heart; meaning love for Johnny. But other than this, this backpack also doesn't really relate to May. Besides being the mascot for the series, Chimaki is specific to Sin because it's favorite toy. None of May's official art ever showed her having a Chimaki toy or accessory. The casual look gives me the impression she quit the Jellyfish Pirates, but her winning animation of her saying "Jellyfish victory!" and Leap(the elderly lady who cooks) being there disproves this theory. Besides the hat, the only things kept from her iconic look is her gloves and boots. There's a heart on one of her thighs; a fitting aspect for a pirate.

Now to look at the Orange personality since it's May's main color(https://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/personality-color-orange.html): 

With orange as your favorite color, you are warm, optimistic, extroverted and often flamboyant. You are friendly, good-natured and a generally agreeable person. You are assertive and determined rather than aggressive - having a personality color orange means you are more light-hearted and less intense than those who love red. You thrive on human social contact and social gatherings, bringing all types together.

You live your life based on your 'gut reactions'. You are an adventurer - you love the outdoor life, camping, climbing mountains and indulging in adventurous sports such as sky diving and hang gliding. You are the daredevil, always looking towards your next challenge, your next great adventure. 

This definitely fits May's nature. My impression of her simpler look probably hints of May is unsure of herself and trying to figure something out. Her expression in her new character portrait has this too; it's the first one of her not smiling. But I still think this new look for May is bad(except for the hat,  the boots, and the gloves). Her design should've been something like this picture link below.

https://imgur.com/Ue1XdhT The top would need to cover her stomach, but this design perfectly fits with May's nature and role as a Jellyfish Pirate. It also conveys she's adventurous and can easily implemented the backpack as part of the design. But it wasn't used... I'm nicknaming her May of the Jelly-Fat, lol. Worst design so far(and hopefully the only one). Design Rating:D(for Derailed) KY KISKE ----------------- Ky's radical redesign for GG Strive was such a huge shock to everyone. At first, people thought it was Sin(Ky's son) until examining him closely. It's funny how many people are saying "Ky's handsome now" and saying he has an athletic body when in reality, he always did, XD. It isn't the first time Ky got big changes to his look based on the events in his life, but I'm going to focus on Ky's iconic design.

Ky is the opposite of Sol; the traditional knight-in-shining-armor type hero. This is another design I'll call timeless and my personal favorite look for Ky. He's very handsome in a princely way, which is fitting since Ky is a French noble. He wears a white shoulder cape containing a high collar with blue trim. It's attached to the blue knight-tunic with black trim in the front, accented with a white, trench-coat like detail. There's twin belts attached to his blue and black gloves while one is on his matching boots. Layered underneath his uniform is his black and white, sleeveless turtle neck and fitted detached sleeves. The belt around his waist with "HOPE" conveys Ky's philosophy. This attire is the Holy Order uniform, which conveys how strongly Ky holds onto the teachings and experiences he had during those times. His story at the time was about fulfilling his duty and doing what he knows and believes is right. Blue and white has always been Ky's main colors, which tells alot about his personality.

Meaning of White Personality(https://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/personality-color-white.html): 

Having a personality color white means you are neat and immaculate in your appearance, in the presentation of your home and in your car, almost to the point of being fanatical. You are far-sighted, with a positive and optimistic nature. You are well-balanced, sensible, discreet and wise. You think carefully before acting - you are definitely not prone to impulsive behavior. You tend to have a great deal of self control. You may appear to be shy, but you do have strong beliefs about most things and love the opportunity to air those beliefs. The challenge for you is to be open-minded and flexible and to communicate your needs and desires. Meaning of Blue Personality(https://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/personality-color-blue.html):   You are conservative, reliable and trustworthy - you are quite trusting of others although you are very wary in the beginning until you are sure of the other person. At the same time, you also have a deep need to be trusted. You are not impulsive or spontaneous - you always think before you speak and act and do everything at your own pace in your own time. You take time to process and share your feelings. You are genuine and sincere, and you take your responsibilities seriously. Having a personality color blue means you have a deep need for peace and harmony in your everyday life - you don't like having your feathers ruffled. You would benefit from daily meditation and quiet time for reflection, introspection and self-discovery.

You appear to be confident and self-controlled, but may be hiding your vulnerable side. Being a personality color blue means you are generally fairly even-tempered, unless your emotions take over - then you can become either moody and over-emotional, or cool and indifferent. You are sensitive to the needs of others and caring with your close circle of friends. While you are friendly and sociable, you prefer the company of your own close group of friends.

You are a rescuer and love to be needed but one of your lessons is to learn to love yourself first - you live from your heart and are always busy putting the needs of others first. You can be rigid - you like to stick to what is familiar to you and it is hard to sway you from your path - you stubbornly do things your way even if there is a better way. You need to have direction & order in your living and work spaces - untidiness and unpredictability overwhelm you.

You are approachable and friendly, always making people feel welcome in your life. You have a thirst for knowledge in order to gain wisdom and appear knowledgeable in whatever area interests you. You are spiritual or religious with a high degree of devotion to family, God, or other causes that are important to you. If reacting negatively, you are prone to self-pity. These perfectly fit Ky's personality and has mostly stayed with him throughout his character development. Now to look at his GG Strive redesign beginning with the head.

One of the obvious difference is Ky's hair is short, reminiscent of his iconic look. But it raises the question of how since according to the story, it's stated his hair grows rapidly no matter how many times he tries to cut it(due to heavily implying he's part Gear). I'm guessing either Ky followed Sin's method of cutting his hair every 3 days or he found a special hair product to prevent rapid growth, XD. I notice the style of his hair is a bit different; the strands of his bangs is shorter and thicker. It creates a boyish look instead of a young man, which doesn't fit Ky. It doesn't seem noticeable during gameplay, but cutscene-like sequences it's the opposite. His hair should've been exactly like GGX2.

His facial structure and eyes in GG Strive is exactly like in GGX2 except for one part; his chin. While Ky's chin was never wide like most male characters, it usually isn't this narrow either. The narrower chin makes him look younger and with how the hair is styled, it gives the impression it's Ky from an earlier timeline. If his chin was similar to how it was in GG X2, it will improve his look alot and show he's mature and sophisticated. Next is examining the full body picture of his new look.

This is a huge departure in many ways. The only aspect inspired from his iconic design is the shoulder cape, but it lacks the blue trim around the helms and collar. Instead, there's black trim at the helms and hints of blue at the back with the words "Illyrium". His semi-fingerless gloves with fingernail plating is something he doesn't usually wear, but the back of his hands does have plating saying "Nothing can be done without hope". It shows he still generally has the same philosophy and key traits he's known for. The fact his "HOPE" belt is replaced with 2 standard belts(one black and the other brown) implies his mindset he carried from the Holy Order is gone and became open-minded. His open, V-neckline shirt with a single sleeve is inspired from this.

I do find it interesting how this reveals(pun intended) a different side of him, XD. It adds a sense of sensuality that leading men from romantic novels have and obviously it being sexy. Next is his fitted pants accented with blue crosses at the front then his boots with blue trim at the bottom. The most significant change is how Ky's dominant color is now black, which has important meaning to his character development.

Positive traits of Black: Include protection and comfort, strong, contained, formal, sophisticated, seductive, mysterious, endings & beginnings.

Negative traits of Black: Depressing and pessimistic, secretive and withholding, conservative and serious, power & control, sadness and negativity.

All of these fit Ky and since he's wearing alot of black instead of blue and white, this implies he has or going to have an internal struggle. I haved mixed feelings about his new design.

I love the concept of it and think it's nice to see Ky wear something different as his main attire. By itself the outfit is good and easy to adjust to, it's just not as unique as his original design. The design of blue crosses from his GG Accent Core Plus ending should've been implemented in the new design and add some gold trim to balance out all the black. I think his gloves should be changed to be more stylish along with the silver plating. If it had these tweaks, Ky's new design would be perfect.  

Design Rating: A(Great!) CHIPP ZANUFF ------------------------ The reveal of Chipp's redesign has mostly been positive, but all of us immediately said "He is so BUFF!" People say he looks handsome now and have joked he worked out at the same gym as Chris Redfield, XD. Let's look at Chipp's previous design!

Chipp's iconic look definitely displays the street-punk style and rowdy persona. This perfectly fits with his dark past of being a former biochemical drug dealer and addict. He has wild spiky hair, small red earrings, and a leather choker around his neck. The fishnet undershirt is both punk-style and those who practice ninjitsu wears. He has fingerless gloves with silver, square-shaped plating. This aspect is also on his belt and short-length boots. There's two leather buckles strapped around the right leg of his white pants and has on a loose-fitting ninja vest with silver buttons. This highlights his newly adopted values he got from his mentor and father-like figure Master Tsuyoshi. Chipp even has on black eyeliner around his eyes to emphasizes the punk look. Since he primarily wears black and white with hints of red, this tells about his personality. Black and white together obviously means viewing things in a straightforward way instead of complex like gray. Red conveys of his hot-headed masculinity, passion, and impatient nature. Combined with the other colors, it shows Chipp's other side of having pure intentions, even though it doesn't always come across right.

In Xrd SIGN, only minor tweaks were made such as adding a red sash attached to his belt, extra detail on his pants and boots, and slightly thicker eyeliner. Ever since becoming president of a (currently) unofficial nation dubbed "Eastern Chipp Kingdom", Chipp's personality seemed to have mellowed some, though still has his impulsive tendencies. Chipp has been through alot of character development since the beginning. Now for his redesign for GG Strive starting with his face.

One of the things I notice about Chipp's face is while it's still narrow, it's a little fuller and smoother with slightly higher cheek bones. His chin is also about an inch or 2 wider than how it was in the Xrd series. His eyes still has the same defined shape, but the eyeliner isn't as thick. These tweaks to his facial features makes him look handsome and approachable instead of angry and rough. But his fiesty side is still there because besides his eye shape, his upper teeth now has some small fangs. Now to see a full body picture...

Chipp's hair also got tweaked; tt's still spiky, but more stylish instead of wild. Instead of strands of hair rest on his forehead, he has noticeable asymmetrical bangs. Besides his red earrings, Chipp's 2 main colors(black and white) is kept along with a little more red from the strings attached to his ninja gauntlets and strapped sandals. He still has the red sash attached to his belt, though this time he has a thick, rope belt(I think it's called "Obi"). His white pants is very loose-fitting and no longer has twin buckle straps, but does have a little more detail with the side silver buttons. On his upper body, Chipp has on a leather vest with a form-fitting, sleeveless turtleneck. The height of the collar covers his mouth and contains buckle straps. This look is inspired from his design in "The Butterfly and Her Gale".

It has aspects of the high collar, gauntlets, and boots, even though the boots was tweaked to be sandals. This redesign shows Chipp fully embraces Japanese culture and the ways of ninjitsu. I think it may also hint of him being or becoming a master himself and training others, especially with how he's gotten so muscular. The way they mixed old and new with Chipp's redesign is amazing and love the tweaks to his face and hair. I do think his pants maybe a bit too wide along with the rope-belt, but other than that his look is perfect.

Design Rating: S++(Awesome!) AXL LOW ------------------- "Axl got PANTS!" is the main reaction people had when he got revealed and the majority agree it's a much needed upgrade. This is the 3rd time Axl has gotten major design changes since GG:The Missing Link. His look from GGX and onwards greatly emphasizes he's heavily inspired from real-life singer Axl Rose. For Axl, I'm going look at his redesign for Xrd SIGN.

In comparison to the others, Axl's design was never high-fantasy or elaborate, but it makes sense he's from the 20th century. His look in Xrd mixes aspects from the 1st GG and GGX, which conveys his easy-going nature and trying to adapt to the future he's in while maintaining his values of the past. He still has his signature UK cap, brown fingerless gloves, and matching shoes. His white shirt has a unique black zipper tie that adds a hint of contemporary along with his blue jacket. Attached to his black belt on the hips is cloths of the UK flag and has on blue shorts. Red and blue has mostly been his main colors(with some white) that tells of his peaceful, friendly, and passionate nature. In the story, Axl is finally confronted about why he time-skips and must make a hard decision that forever change his life. The choice he made leads him to major character development along with what role he will play in the story, so he needed another redesign to reflect this.

This design shows Axl has embraced the current timeline while maintaining his love for his country. His fingerless gloves is a lighter brown along with his ankle-length boots. He wears a red plaid jacket with white sleeves and black with orange trim at the helms. Underneath is his a sleeveless, form-fitting tank with 3 zippers at the front and a brown buckle at the mid-section. On his lower body is a belt with a UK buckle and fitted, detailed black pants with zippers on the side. This look is inspired by the concept art.

I notice his new design as a mixture of colors compared to before, though it seems black is the most dominant color. One of the meanings for black is power and control, which fits with how Axl now has control over his Time powers. He also has an aura of confidence compared to his uncertainty in the past games. This is the perfect design for Axl because he looks amazing and conveys his personality well.

Design Rating: S+++(Perfect!)

Thank you for reading this! I'll make a series of this as more characters of the game are revealed in the future!^_^

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