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worldsover · 4 years

Text

Judgement to the Desiccated ft. Karina

length ✦ 5573

genres ✧ sm type future; asphyxiation; blackmail; virtual_servant!Karina;

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Air did a poor job of not being polluted so Lee Soo Man flooded the world instead. The man himself certainly must be long gone and could not have been in charge of that decision but the legacy of his company far exceeds the legacy of any other human collective in history. Once on this planet, gas was the fluid of choice for respiration and breathing was an unconscious reflex. Now there’s Aether by SM. How very on-brand of them to have the liquid air you breathe follow perfume naming conventions.

Open your eyes and exit the sleeping chamber. Aether has you work for each inhalation, it desaturates the color of the bedroom—maybe there’s a subtle but uncomfortable tinge of yellow—and it makes your nose itch. Your muscles wield much less force than they used to because of the lack of resistance the fluid provides. Moreover, it smells like hairspray as though the ozone layer is taking sardonic revenge.

Screens impersonating windows track your eyes to ensure realistic parallax, playing the scene of divine blue heavens that could not exist. An azure sky is a reward for those planets that have an atmosphere and a sun for light to scatter. Your walls are either chrome or drywall white and your whole bedroom is plainly decorated just like the day you moved in.

“Etymology of bedroom,” you think out loud, though it falls on no ears.

“Bedroom is a compound noun consisting of bed and room. Bed goes back to Old English bedd ‘sleeping place, plot of ground prepared for plants,’ which goes back to the Germanic-”

Plants and sleep are both strong words to use nowadays. The former doesn’t exist in nature and it seems you’re the only one who bothers with the latter. Faint buzzing distracts you from the AI’s response and signals you to the nano drones that swim throughout the liquid to process carbon dioxide from your lungs. This whole ordeal could’ve been much worse if you didn’t have brain interfaces doing the hard part of controlling your diaphragm. The most you need is a purposeful thought. Still, it gets tiring having to think the same thought every three seconds. In. Out.

Was the metaphorical Soo Man teaching a lesson in perseverance? You love K-pop and imagine it’s how trainees used to practice dancing, singing, being charismatic. Being an idol had to be as natural as breathing air. Inhale and exhale. Right now with any antiquated programming language you clung on to, you could write a single for loop that did the same job. For every three seconds: breathe in, breathe out.

“What’s for breakfast today?” Not loud enough. “What’s for breakfast?” you think it louder.

“Welcome, master. Ae-Karina is ready for service.” It’s quite a kindness for SM to blur the bland dystopia you live in by augmenting reality through your neural device. A bosomy woman in a gold-lined but otherwise modest maid outfit appears from the corner of your eye and she bows. Ae-Karina is bewitching and almost becoming of her basis as its graphics have gradually upgraded over the rotations but you wouldn’t misconstrue the avatar as human.

“I said, what’s for breakfast!” It feels impolite to scream in your head, there’s other residents there, but finally the fridge lights up.

“Of course master. May I remind you eating is unnecessary?”

In. Out. Every day, she does remind you, yes. How kind of the company to put all your nutritional requirements in the new air. Aether goes in then Aether goes out. You wish the thoughts of breathing could fade into the background but they’re just like your cravings for food. Always hungry but never starving, whole though not once satisfied. Your eyes pause at her gorgeous face and she tells you there’s bacon. Take it from your fridge. Bacon goes in. Well, the drones take care of the out.

Your assigned living space is the entire 207th floor of a tower. Two hundred and seven floors below the surface. The neighbor a few floors upstairs says that he thinks living deeper is a sign of status. What a luxury. That guy should check the status of his facial muscles, maybe improve his code that lets him tell lies while he’s at it. A couple hundred flights of stairs to swim up is a useless skeuomorphism of skyscrapers in the days of the sun. In fact they were more than useless, you would've preferred a single vertical hallway as it would have let you propel upwards unimpeded. Each floor is the exact same, a glass door that affords no privacy for its residence, a false tree on each side. At the upper levels, malls, convenience stores and other gaudy retail, but it’s the gyms that mock you that you mock in return. They’re always empty.

Finally reaching the top is no true break even if it is a change in scenery. Inhale. Aether tastes a little different up here. Exhale. Can’t say you like it.

Countless satellites form a parody of the star from which the planet flew away, the false image refracted by the upper boundary of Aether. They can’t take away your memories of this star. Looking up at the sky once blinded you with ultraviolet radiation, burning your cornea. It was beautiful. Now everyone’s decided that if they’re playing the part of corporate dystopia, they might as well fit the aesthetic. In a way, it’s self-fulfilling. They wouldn’t have chosen a neon pink sun to compliment the blue and metallic gloom of the cityscape if it weren’t so ingrained in popular media already.

Still, you would’ve expected Google or Walmart to become the megacorp responsible for the state of the world, not a Korean entertainment company. Must’ve been quite the red paperclip scenario. Instead of material design or utilitarian architecture, tacky artistic structures line the streets. The same advertisements for albums that they’ve been selling for the past however long. It's all so obvious, the city could've been designed from scratch to accommodate new forms of travel and goddamn liquid air but instead they went with futuristic Tokyo.

Dubstep permeates your inner ear implants. A notification informs your thoughts that it’s “Hip-hop EDM dance pop with a strong jungle house groove and urban influences.” It’s dubstep. Liquid carries barely any sound so SM affords the option for implants if you're nostalgic for one of the senses. Even though it’s a slower form of communication than direct neural transfer, the noise comforts you. Of course the company would choose dubstep as their background music, but maybe they make money off refunds somehow. It switches to Ice Cream Cake. Much better.

You walk the not so busy roads towards a short brick warehouse in the distance and heavy rain soaks your clothes. No such thing as weather without the sun and water but it’s all simulated anyway.

A warm Seulgi adlib and you know it’s Psycho that starts playing. No, none of your senses are real. The most you could trust is your vision but even that’s being lied to. You could be living in a vat and fed all these thoughts, but then why make it so mediocre? Not paradise, nor torture but a lukewarm in-between. Guess that's what happens when SM Entertainment manages the post-apocalypse. Good on them for trying. The alternative would be a frozen hellscape without solar radiation. Can’t deny their work with geothermal and nuclear energy to keep the Aether warm so that you didn’t have to live underground for the rest of human history. It’s quite great PR to save humanity.

“Hey now, we’ll be okay,” repeats a few more times than you remember.

The Idea Factory Alpha White Delta Green says the neon tubes lighting the front of the brick and mortar building. Your ID card bears a name but it’s not yours, not until they approve your name change. Those usually get processed faster with how often people liked changing their names.

Sit at a desk with a sterile white keyboard and slick new monitor. Type and empty words appear on the screen: “Think for the many, not for the one. We need to think ahead.” A thumbs up. The company appreciates the input. That’s probably enough work for one day. Some SNSD live stages help the time pass, SM certainly appreciated the streaming numbers and it would net you some social points.

It’s hard to say what comes to mind when they ask you to envision a world without the sun and air, especially since it’s what you’ve known for... Two hundred years? There’s no frame of reference, that much you can tell from when you counted seconds to see how often the satellites completed their orbit. SM really took time to have them propel at random speeds, they love withholding sensitive information like that from citizens. To be fair, time is sensitive. Guess the meaning of that phrase changes like all parts of language.

Look around. Dozens of employees at identical workspaces all try to answer the same questions. Naturally, there’s no need for manual labor anymore but there will never be a replacement for human ingenuity. Nice slogan but you know you’re only here for data. Can’t see a need for customer retention though—what’s the alternative, skip Earth? See you on another planet?

“Hey bro, you come up with anything new?” Dave says. Two desks away, you see the enthusiastic, surprisingly spry man play around with a Newton’s cradle. The balls at each end bounce back and forth, not slowing down their rhythm any time soon.

“I think I got something,” you say, “Earth is not the answer. It can’t be, long term.”

“Ooh, I like that. Actually, I really like that.”

“What are you gonna do, copy me?”

“Of course not. You know how much SM hates plagiarism.” Click. Clack.

“Ha. As if there’s a single original thought left in the world.” Click. Clack. The imaginary sounds of metal spheres bouncing play in your mind. They got the volume wrong, no way it’d sound that loud from that distance. “You’d think with all their resources, they’d have figured out space travel by now.”

“I don’t think they want to leave, bro. Wouldn’t be great for profits.”

Your mouth opens to laugh and causes laugh8942.mp3 to play in Dave’s head. “I love it. SM probably hates that sass too,” you say.

“Oh no, they’re gonna arrest me for thoughtcrimes. Nah, they love creativity, just when it suits them. Also, if they actually did bust you for wrongthink like rumors say, I wouldn’t have this on me.” Dave twirls a finger and points at you and you thank his absurd flair for the histrionic that keeps you amused with such drab work.

“NewDrug.mp6. Would you like to play it?” the dry system voice notifies you.

“Woah woah there tiger, hold on.” Dave must’ve noticed your intrigued eyes and holds his hands up. “You might wanna experience that at home. But if you’re interested in more, ask for chicken parm at the vegan place. You know the one.”

Dave leaves his desk. He doesn’t return. You finish your work. Inspire. Expire. You’d rather not.

In contrast to your commute to work, the roads fill with others on your way home. You have to know. Take solace in the comfort of a bench where a huge McDonald’s arch bathes the surroundings and its people with a yellow glow. Really shouldn’t watch it now, especially if Dave says it’s a home type of watch but you have to know. A family of five watches you pass out. They, along with every other passerby, ignore your still body draped over the chrome outdoor seating as you look like yet another junkie. The title is correct after a fashion, the simulation is some sort of new drug. The details of the exploits that happen in the immersive replay wash over you but you don’t need them to know that it’s the sort of lewd that SM would not allow—at least not publicly and not without the right exorbitant payment.

Suit pants and underwear go straight to the laundry. That must’ve been an embarrassing sight but no one bothered to stop you, so it doesn’t matter. Look up where this vegan place was that Dave so presumptuously assumed you knew about and you find that it’s about four Avengers’ stores down from work. He must’ve eaten there before.

“Yo Dave, just wanna make sure, what’s the name of the vegan place called?”

“What are you talking about, man? You telling me there’s some secret underground farms that SM wouldn’t know about?”

You can’t tell when you got to work, a lack of standardized timing would help as well the haze of living in a monotonous dark. “Nah, I mean, for the-”

“I have no idea,” Dave emphasizes each word, “what you’re talking about.”

“I see.”

Work flies by, unusually.

“Hey, can I get a chicken-”

“Uh, this is Maron’s Veggies Only, it clearly says on the sign.”

Clear your throat. “Parm.”

The shifty part-time worker looks around and rubs his fingers gesturing for money. “No digital.”

Over the counter, you pass him a gold coin stamped with a holographic 1 and he hands you a USB stick and a laptop in return. How old-fashioned.

“It’ll sync with whoever you have set as your avatar experience aspect,” the worker says.

“Thanks.”

Ever vigilant as the patrol is, the alleys are the last place you want to go to hide with the obvious criminal element within them all but you head to one anyway. Dump the anachronistic technology in your storage pocket dimensions. Looking at its contents, you’d have to clean that mess up later, but the more you look like an average slob the better. The biggest problem with the inventories is all the people squatting in them. Inspectors wouldn’t care about the archaic ruins you left in yours.

“Welcome, master. Ae-Karina is ready to service.”

“I’d like to go on a date. A special date.” You highlight the key word special and sit on your living room couch. No one’s going to look in your glass door and regardless, you wouldn’t be the pervert for glimpsing into someone’s home.

“Ah yes, master. Ae-Karina is ready to fully service,” she says with a provocative tint in her tone, her sclera disperses to black to match. A pole drops from the ceiling while parts of her maid outfit dissolve which reveals more of the silky skin of her thighs, her lissom arms and most importantly her overflowing breasts. Ae-Karina wraps her legs around the pole and spins around, teasing fingers trace curves on her body to harden you. Her dance is precise but sultry regardless. She pulls up her short skirt to flaunt more of her ass beneath white panties and then pulls down to flourish her cleavage, not trapped by a bra. “Are you enjoying your maid’s show?”

“Very much so, yes,” you say.

Half of a smile forms before a glitch occurs and she teleports next to you, fully nude. It doesn’t pull you out of the illusion however. You just stare and drink in the splendor of her created body.

“You’re not going to touch?” Ae-Karina says.

A feel of her tits and you find it softer than pillows you used to rest on. Soft isn’t much of a character that exists anymore when the whole world is engulfed in liquid. No one has beds, especially with the rarity of sleep. Therefore, her mounds are a consummate dedication to the texture as you squeeze and pinch at her cute nipples.

Her maid outfit rematerializes as she straddles you. It provides more friction to your pants as she begins her lap dance. The weight of her body dragging across your legs and clothed erection induces your carnal impulses further. If only you could fuck the virtual idol. You have to make do with the imprint of her pussy lips on your bulge sliding up and down. Breath in. Breath out.

Ae-Karina pulls down your boxers and spits on your erection. It's not real but her hands so slick on your cock and you let reality slip. Real is for the past, you have desires gratified in the present. There is no real person nibbling at your neck but your nerves activate in sexual desire without discernment for truth. No, she doesn't love you, but when the voracious mass of ones and zeroes says it loves its master, you say it back.

"I love you."

ILOVEYOU infected ten million computers in 2000. An explosion. Calibration engaging. It’s 1:21 PM, Sunday, July 18, 2286 and hypothetically the sun would be out in its full rage. At this latitude and longitude, you’re at what was once the epicenter of all—Seoul, where a fountain caused a chain reaction allowing the hopeful remnant of a world to exist. It lasted a surprisingly long time without the sun and without Aether but the dying planet would succumb inevitably to the ever-increasing contamination so SM of all corporations took charge. A different kind of chain reaction occurred when they acquired a restaurant chain that discovered the recipe for liquid air. The law is on its way and prepared to punish you to its full extent.

You reel while your ears ring. An even sexier version of the woman you already fantasized about appears from your peripheral vision in the crater of your floor. A skimpy cop outfit, striated with reflective material that seems to wane black at different angles, outlines Karina’s curves. She has a tool belt with absurd gadgets, such as a knife baton hybrid, a taser combined with a spray bottle and a Tamagotchi. None of this is necessary. They could just immediately arrest you, impose limitations on your devices. Sure, SM cloned people to deal with underpopulation, but why Karina would be the enforcer is a whole nother issue. Maybe the entertainment company loves their irony?

“Halt. You’re under arrest. Any resistance will be penalized according to the combined Terms of Service of all SM and SM associated products.”

Fucked anyway, you figure you might as well go for it. Escape into your inventory and only seconds later you’re forced out. You manage to get what you need regardless.

“Violation of access rights will be charged to your account.”

It’s so obvious but there’s a reason you kept so much gold in physical storage. As you swim away, the sides of your apartment start to bubble. Bubbles? Already, your limbs feel unsteady. Something’s wrong in the Aether.

“This is standard procedure for escaping suspects that are indoors. Again, this is all agreed to under the Terms of Service.”

“When the fuck did I ever click accept to that shit?”

“When you were born in this world and decided you want to stay in it,” Karina says out loud. You hear her say it. Your physical ears process the vibrations in the air that come from her mouth. Gravity thwarts your desperate escape as your limp body floats on the limit between liquid and air. The atrophy of your muscles becomes apparent within the gaseous atmosphere. She watches you sink down as the room drains of all the false air though her eyebrows crease when she inspects you closer. Your breaths are involuntary. Despite your muscles shorting out, the force of gravity and the pressure of the gas bearing down on you, you’re breathing and you don’t mean to. Her eyes wander farther down. On your pants, a concrete rod stamps the fabric.

“Oh, you like what you see?”

“Shut up, criminal. Anything you say can and will be used against you.”

“Your pussy,” you say and she scoffs.

“Original.” Karina bites her lip as your erection continues to grow behind its prison. You use all effort to put your hands up.

“Please, miss Karina. I’ve been bad.”

“I could punish you even more for sexual assault.”

“Then do it.”

Heat radiates the room in a way you haven’t felt in a while and droplets of sweat form on each of your bodies, especially on the thighs that her revealing outfit parades. Her facial features contort in deliberation and the wait kills you. You bat your eyes at her before Karina takes off her tight shorts and drops herself into your anticipatory face. This makes no sense but none of this life made any sense so you decide to go with the tides.

Centuries of training your respiration has led to this moment, but when you finally have real air to breathe, you spit at the opportunity and choose to suffocate. Then you spit at her pussy and lap it up. Karina’s nectar transfixes your olfactory glands, for once a smell that isn’t the sterile Aether. Your eyes are mesmerized in parallel because of the perfect design of her pussy, a single crease that leads into her hole that your tongue emphatically explores. Karina spreads her thighs wide to reveal a small nub that craves attention. So give it. Suck and swirl and flick your tongue, and the woman provides you the tight clench of her legs as a gift. And the sounds, rediscovered glorious noise. Loud, almost too loud, and clear is how they assault your ears, even surrounded by the flesh of her thighs. Muffled by the weight of her legs, you hear Karina moan in approval but she’s still clearly in charge with how she chokes you with her legs. This is not about your pleasure but hers, and any satisfaction that you derive is not only incidental but probably punishable by SM copyright law.

Karina squirms her hips subtly on your mouth. Her eyes are sharp and she’s just about to stop your hands from moving but she notices them clasp together.

“I’ll do anything to make you cum, please.” you say sloppily as her pussy juices fill your cheeks and drip down your chin.

“God. I can’t.” She takes deep, contemplative breaths. ”That’s more time added on for inappropriate behavior.” Her groaning and brief squeals make her words sound incogent.

You give her a concluding lick and a kiss on her slit. “So what have you been doing right now then?”

Point to a corner of the room and a subtle red light indicates a recording camera. At once, she pulls out a hose from a pocket that could not fit it and the vacuum submerges the room with noise. Her expression shifts quickly to serious.

“We don’t play games here in SMTOWN unless it’s SuperStar so don’t fuck with me.”

“Look who's trying to be a comedian. How about you fuck with me any further and the video gets released.”

“That’s funny, you think you have any sort of power-”

“Yoo Jimin, I suggest you don’t push me more.”

“Where do you know that name from? Right now.” She weighs herself down on your neck.

“You think I don’t have contingencies for if I die too? Karina, we can make this a win-win scenario. We both get to cum, we both get to walk away unscathed.”

“Fuck you.”

Your weak arms wander between her thighs. At any moment, a feeble punch towards your face or another ten seconds of asphyxiation and she could call your bluff. Even if you did have the ability to expose her perversions in any way, there would be no permanent recourse, not as long SM was in charge. So it surprises you when Karina takes off her shorts.

“Goddammit. Your cock just looks too good. And your mouth, how are you so good with it?” Put up five fingers when she motions to remove her top as well, and instead she opts to take off your clothes, seizing your pants and throwing them to join the rubble in the room.

A finger slips in, then two and a third dares. Her flawlessly architected pussy lips clings to your digits and Karina shudders in reply. You explore her wetness and find it’s smooth to the point of having no faults, but her juice inside is gloppy and causes your fingers to stick more than the liquids she spills from her slit.

“Who said you’re allowed to have more?”

You lap up the nectar on your fingers. “Then why’d they make you taste so good?”

Your thumb teases her sweet tight asshole and puts just the slightest amount of pressure on it while you finger her with more intensity. The mass of her butt burdens your torso the closer she gets to orgasm. Her eyelids squeeze close and you see her body ripple in anxious pleasure. Karina shows off her pearly whites, teetering on the cliff of hysteria.

“Yes, yes! I’m so close,” she screams.

"Not yet."

“Fuck." Karina sobs, "God. Damn, fuck I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Just fuck me.”

“My pleasure,” you say. There’s no need for you to grab her since she brings herself down to your groin, which you’re thankful for as your arms are as good as jelly now. Fortunately, your cock throbs as hard as ever while Karina’s slit rests on it.

“Say you’ll delete it all, all the evidence, promise me.”

“You’re gonna fuck me first or what?” Your breath hitches while she makes a strangled noise as her velvety walls swallow your cock whole to leave no room for comfort. Her tightness is stifling and you have to start counting just to breathe again.

“One two-”

“Be quiet.”

But there is no quiet when pleas for your cooperation intersperse her excessive profanities when she seats herself into your cock and ricochets up and down. Sweat emanates from her creamy skin while her legs widen to find a better angle for her supporting knees in her cowgirl position. Grapefruit and other citrus mingle with the scent of the sweat, fruits you haven’t seen except on billboards in music videos. As much as your mind crackles and your blood roars for every atmosphere of pressure Karina’s walls provide on each thrust in and out, you can’t help but reminisce on sweeter, more innocent times.

The white fluorescent lights in your apartment sputter. For all the advancements in technology, some among many things never change. Light refracts differently in air, less bright, but you can see the pure enjoyment on Karina’s face no matter the luminescence. Karina slows her ride to pull her hips down harder instead and she jolts when your cock finds the most tender spots inside her pussy and it interrupts her babbling.

Karina almost hyperventilates when she gets up to spit on your cock. She pulls out some kind of meter from her tool belt and sighs when there’s no beeping and you recognize it having to do with carbon dioxide. She gets back to dribbling saliva and the filament trailing down to your shaft mesmerizes you. This spit is real, not simulated, and it wettens your erection in a mix with her pussy juices to paralyze you further in your already listless state. Her bare thighs jiggle and you can’t exert much force with your hands but her buttcheeks are firm with just a bit of give.

“Thank you for this cock, thank you for being bad,” Karina says as you watch her ass sink deeper while her pussy holds your dick taut. She’s frenetic when bounces up and down to play an unadulterated orchestra of slick noises between your groins.

“You’re welcome,” you accomplish getting out the words between planned breaths. Your hands cup her buttcheeks but you fear they may break with how she strikes her ass into you.

Karina turns around once more to give you the spectacle of her facial expressions as she fucks herself into you. Knead her calves laying on your torso and they take no energy to spread them though she brings them back together, compressing your hard shaft within her pussy. A new game you play with her, a separate rhythm of loosening and tightening. Her feet press on your chest to help her bounce, but the way they bear down on your lungs against the timing of your breathing causes you to fumble. Your cock bends straight forward as she plunges herself into you and it sends prickles to your entire skin, making the new angle difficult but worth it. Karina takes your hand and starts sucking on your fingers.

“You want my promise that bad?” you say.

“Yes, as bad as I want your cum. I swear, I need it.”

She draws her knees up to her torso and hugs her legs to keep thighs as tight together as possible. Karina couldn’t keep her word, she was trying to kill your cock with constriction.

“Fuck, your pussy is so fucking tight. God, Karina, fuck. You’re so good.” Even if good isn’t the word you want to use to describe her.

“Do it, please, please. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, baby. Karina can be a good girl, a good maid, a good cop, whatever you want. Just don’t get me in trouble, please.”

Karina’s mouth stops saying words though her lips writhe, drunk in increasing lust. Her cheeks flush, before the rest of her skin joins in redness while she grapples your chest and whatever spare limb she can find. You still struggle wresting control of your body but nature seems to take over when you drive yourself into her and match her needy cadence. The air in the room is replaced by a new air but it isn’t Aether. Passion, sweat, heat and all fluids that you both exude join squelching sounds, slaps and moans in harmonic bliss when her body tenses and she screams. As her body tightens, her pussy especially holds your cock for dear life and endeavours to wring out all your semen as her wetness throbs and spills. Karina starts counting to three repeatedly and you laugh though your amusement quickly subsides when you feel her juices become more viscous and she continues her ride, even in the dying pulses of her climax.

“Was I good?” Karina asks.

Just a moment goes by before you mentally send her a screenshot of all the recordings being deleted. Karina hasn’t stopped fucking you yet so at least it wasn’t a ploy.

“Thank you, thank you, I love you.” The flexion of her pliant legs brings them all the way back to rest on top of your legs. Karina lays prone above you and finally give you a kiss. The citrusy flavor may be closer to lime than grapefruit but it’s been so long that you can’t remember which scent is which. Lips crash and her tongue lashes out at yours trying to establish dominance. Keep still to let her investigate your mouth while her pussy does the same to your shaft.

You savor the way Karina’s top emphasizes the bouncing of her tits synchronous with the rebounding of her waist on your cock, but your mouth waters when she frees them. Take the shortest moment to relish in the sight before Karina smothers you with her plump globes. You wriggle your face to try to breathe. Inhale, up and exhale, down, but all you inhale is the scent of her orbs’ sweat. Her hips undulate with a pace at least double yours breathing and the echoes of slapping flesh resonate throughout the air-filled chamber. The loudness is unlike any you’ve experienced in a long time. It’s almost a flashbang every time her ass slams into your lap, especially as you start to see white when orgasm threatens to overload you with preludial pulses.

The last words you hear infected ten million computers in 2000. Fade to black. Cut. You’re slammed out of existence back into existence as a sun rebirths both within you, heating your core to a dangerous high, and from your eyes, dazzling you in an unforgiving white light. In the throes of unconsciousness relapsing to consciousness back to tenebrosity, your streaks of semen suspend in the Aether like a dead tree resting from the wind. What flashes your mind in its orgasmic state are two things only you would remember, plants and weather. Your hyperventilation is unconscious but not unwelcome, as it’s the first time in a while your breaths were reflexive even in the liquid air. However, basking in your newfound power, you start to choke. Right. You breathe in and out again. In and out. In. Out. In. Out. Back in.

“Replaying KarinaArrestsYou.mp6.” A hint of vexatious glee in the system’s otherwise dry voice. You don’t stop for it.

✦✧✦✧✦✧

AFF, AO3

It’s pretty silly but the idea danced around in my head ever since I saw the absolute Black Mirror concept that SM had for aespa and I concur that Karina is insanely hot.

As I’m writing this, this Kurzgesagt video on the idea of a rogue Earth comes out and now I have to rewrite stuff to make it at least a little consistent. I’m obviously already going nuts with all these ridiculous sci-fi concepts but this video almost feels too targeted to me writing this for me to ignore it.

#kpop smut #aespa smut #male reader #reader insert #title tracks

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sparklinpixiedust · 3 years

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Basic Training

This post has been sitting in my drafts for months now, during which I've come up with a few ways I wanted to write this post. This is what I've come up with.

Basic Training is the episode which made me hate Ben the most. The whole episode consisted him of being a stuck up brat only to be rewarded for it in the end.

This episode was the perfect opportunity to have Kevin in the spotlight and show how skilled and smart he is.

Gwen's presence in this episode was actually fine, there's no change needed for that.

Look, I know the shows named Ben 10 but we have seen Ben be the hero tons of times already.

And Ben being egoistic about his heroism is not something new in the franchise.

There have been episodes on the OS where Ben got a big head, yet I dont ever see anyone complaining about that.

Was is it because he was 10 that we excuse this behaviour? Nope.

15 - 16 is still pretty young and his attitude can be excused at this age as well.

My opinion? It was handled better in the OS.

There were times when Ben wasn't always the main focus.

In Lucky Girl, Ben has his ' who's your hero?' Moment.

They showed Gwen feeling jealous and hurt by the fact she wasn't noticed much.

It was realistic.

Then the epsiode proceeded to focus on Gwen , having Ben being kind of like a sub plot to the story.

Towards the end Ben compliments her.

So yeah Ben got big head, but at the same time they shifted focus so that the audience wouldn't find it annoying.

Gwen was in the spotlight for a bit, giving people a break from Ben.

Secondly , in Be Afraid Of The Dark, Ben again is shown to be slightly stuck up, but towards the end of that episode he learns and acknowledges Gwen and Grandpa for help and understands his crime fighting is more of a team effort.

In Galactic Enforcers, we are shown there are other heros besides Ben as well.

Ben wasn't the sole focus of that episode. Yes it was about him but also about the Galactic Enforcers.

I don't think he was shown to be over confident here , but it was nice to see some other heros in the scene.

The Ben 10,000 episode focuses on how Ben was too focused on his job and the lesson at that was Ben needed to relax and have them Galactic Enforcers take the lead instead.

Again , his attitude towards everything was brought in focus but towards the end he learnt something.

I recently started watching Generator Rex and I can't help but compare Rex's character to Ben's.

Rex is also proud , rushes into things and considers himself to be a hotshot. But they also show him being down ,having trouble with his nanites and actually voice out his insecurities.

He's still the hero, still has things go his way most times but it's not annoying like Ben.

( I've only seen like 7 episodes so far so I don't know if this going to go down hil or not but so far so good)

The issue with the sequels after the OS was that Ben was the focus a bit too much.

We as the audience were rarely ever given a break from him.

Other than a few conversations here and there about his attitude, nothing really was done about it.

Gwen should've been appreciated more for saving Kevin and Kevin should've been appreciated for stopping Aggregor.

But they weren't.

If it had been Ben , they would've made sure to show him getting some sort of recognition or trophy.

Back to the Basic Training episode.

We know he's the legendary Ben Tennyson, we know he's a hero. We didn't need another episode on it.

Instead the plot should've focused on Kevin. His skills, his abilities.

Ben would act the same but Magsiter Hulka should've put some sort of cover so Ben couldn't use the omnitrix.

Ben goes on breaking rules, and having a hard time being a hero without the watch.

Towards the end, it should've been Kevin who cracks the case and saves Hulka. Ben is mad he can't use the omnitrix but instead uses the guns and other weapons he's learnt to use at the academy

He's not amazing at them , but it makes him realise that he is hero , watch or not, something that has been emphasised in the show. Its not impossible for him to function without the watch.

Towards the end, Ben getting a 95 was a stretch. I'm sorry , but the guy wasn't great with using weapons and without the watch I dont think he would've been able to complete that hostage excercise.

I'm thinking more like 89%.

Gwen gets 98, that's fine and Kevin gets a 100.

Hulka comes in and awards the medal (?) to Kevin, suggesting he's becoming more like his father.

( im ignoring the ret con, plus the retcon I'm assuming wasnt thought off at this point by the writers)

Ben is shown to take one of the guns back to earth, because he thinks they're cool and he wants to practice and get better at them.

The whole hostage situation makes him want to get better at making strategies.

Yes he's good at improv, but he needs to learn to properly plan as well.

It doesn't matter if he's never shown to use the gun ever again, and he's back to relying on the omnitrix.

Or maybe some time down the line, he could use the weapon, even if it for a second, to show that he is improving and getting better.

Before you say 'he's already a hero, he doesn't need to learn anything ' sorry but no.

He's 16. He may have saved the world but he still has growing up to do. Different battles are going to arise all the time.

Saying he is perfect at 16 is dumb. Saying he's perfect when he's ben 10k , it'll make some sense. He's been around for a while and is pretty experienced.

The watch is a part of him, but seeing him try to explore other options would've been a fresher idea.

Another scene that made me mad was the court (?) scene in Vreedle, Vreedle.

Ben being a hero shouldn't make him above the law.

Domstol ruling in favor of Ben just because he's the legendry Ben Tennyson was stupid.

After Ben's little monologue , and destroying Domstols desk, the judge should've just informed him that being a hero does not excuse him from following the law.

Kevin could've had his little moment doing some negotiation ( would've been nice to see how he works as con artist) and Ben could've jumped in and helped while making some good points for the argument, showing us he's not stupid.

Then having Domstol rule in their favor would've made sense.

On the way back to earth there could've been a joke about how Ben watches Judge Judy too much which is where he learnt about trials and stuff. Or maybe Gwens dad taught him a thing or two at some point.

All this doesn't mess with Ben's character all that much, he's still the hero of the show, he still has his ego but it makes him more likeable, shifts focus from his attitude, and shows us he's pretty smart and is growing into a good hero.

Ben's not a bad guy. I mean he is the hero of the show. There are tons of scenes which show he's good , like the whole sacrificing thing so the ultimates could live and all.

But little scenes here and there tend to be enough for someone , especially for someone who isn't a super hard-core Ben lover to form negative opinions on him.

Although calling him a psychopath / narc is out of line because I don't find him to be like that. His attitude was magnified by him being in the spotlight too much and writers not having a good balance in writing situations.

Ben being the main character of the show is at risk of becoming hated or less appreciated just because he's the font runner of the show.

Admit it, side characters tend to get more love most times than the main agonist of shows.

I've been watching videos on YouTube on this topic as to why this happens , and what I've come up with is that writers of shows tend to focus too much on main character. Things seem to go their way most times and this tends to get on peoples nerves, consciously or subconsciously because it's not exactly realistic.

Having shows where everything focuses on one person most times tend to backfire.

I don't mind Ben having a big head, I dont mind him making jokes and being so casual.

It's his defense mechanism to protect himself from drowning into the struggles and pressures of being a hero. But always having him be that way isn't good.

The writers should've executed it properly.

( okay this post got really long, more than I thought it would. If you're read the whole things , congratulations on making it here lol.

I'm not going to stop anyone from replying to this because everyone has different opinions and we all have the freedom to express them.

Although I believe I've made my point and I've made sure to keep in mind all the arguments about why bashing Ben is wrong when he's not a bad guy while typing this out.

I don't think I've directed any major hate towards him , its mostly towards the writers for making the situations like that,but if you think I have you can reply to it.

I'm not gonna reply back though , because again I feel I've made my point.

Any agreements / disagreements you have with the post feel free to share because it is your right.

Any disagreements you have with other members, as long as its related to the post you can share it.

Any issues you have personally with other members, please keep them to your selves.

I will not tolerate bullying , harassing, name calling and petty arguments on my post and blog page.

If this happens I will simply delete this post and re-upload it.)

#ben 10 au #ben 10 #kevin levin #ben 10 alien force #ben tennyson #ben 10 reboot #ben 10 omniverse #ben 10 analysis #ben 10 series #ben 10 critical #ben 10 classic #my take

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beccascribbles · 4 years

Text

it’s a monthly tradition. on the last friday of every month, you whip out the aprons and bake. the winner is given dibs over what to watch on tv for the next month. it’s a serious competition, with multiple judges. but who will be crowned star baker, y/n or osamu?

warnings - some swearing

word count - 1.4k

The kitchen was all set up. You and Osamu had claimed your work stations, you using the counters on the right, him those on the left. They were mirror images of each other, same base ingredients, same equipment (though you had both customised yours in honour of a year of baking competition). The competition was so serious that Atsumu insisted on playing the role of presenter. Currently, he was stood in front of you holding a large whiteboard to his chest (which he had taken great pride in decorating as it was the only thing he had been trusted to do while you and Osamu set up the kitchen).

“Are you going to make us stand here all day, Sumu?” questioned Osamu, shooting his brother a glare. The quicker they started, the quicker he could beat you and regain his TV privileges. Last month, you had beaten him with an excellent batch of cookies that had been devoured while you forced him to sit through a whole season of Love Island. He would rather not have to relive that experience.

“Come on, Atsumu,” you said, bouncing slightly on the balls of your feet. “I want to know what we’re baking.”

With a flourish, Atsumu spun the board around, revealing the task to be ‘realistic cakes.’ You read the name, quickly processing it and beginning to formulate a plan. Your eyes were then drawn to the decoration. To say Atsumu lacked artistic talent would be an understatement.

“What the fuck is that?” you snickered, pointing at an oddly humanoid figure for something which had a tail and pointed ears.

“Looks like he’s just drawn himself in all his glory,” quipped Osamu, leaning forward to admire the drawing. “It really is a great likeness.”

“Shut up, Samu,” grumbled Atsumu. “If I look like a rat, then so do you.”

“It’s supposed to be a rat?” you laughed.

In a huff, he grabbed a cloth from the table and wiped the picture away. A small smile tugged at the corner of your lips, but you pushed it away. Though you enjoyed teasing your roommate and best friend’s brother, you had to focus. There was a competition to win.

Now, what to make...

You blocked out the sound of their bickering. Whether Osamu was attempting to use it as a distraction tactic or was simply being annoyed by his brother, you couldn’t let it distract you. After all, you had the crown of star baker to uphold.

Opening the notebook in front of you, you began to sketch down a couple of ideas. There was making the cake look like some other type of food, such as onigiri (which was no doubt where Osamu’s mind had wandered). You supposed you could make it look like your favourite animal but, if you were being honest with yourself, you hardly had the artistic talent for that. Unable to help yourself, your brain wandered back to the idea of food. You supposed you could make it resemble a cookie jar, paying homage to your previous win. Nodding away to yourself, you drafted out your plan and began to bake.

Osamu had already begun with the baking process, having taken less time than you to decide on an idea. Much to his Atsumu’s delight, he had decided to make it look like a volleyball. In terms of flavours, he decided to stick with the classics, figuring that most of the judging would be appearance based. There was also the fact that the last time he had been experimental in his flavourings, he had suffered a crushing defeat.

Silence descended on the kitchen, the both of you too focused to acknowledge Atsumu or shoot teasing comments at each other. Atsumu wasn’t fazed by the silence, deciding to start a live stream to document the event. He approached you first, phone in hand, introducing you before flipping the camera around to capture you in action. You lifted a flour dusted hand and shot the camera a bright smile.

“On a scale of one to I’m going to crush Samu’s ass, how confident do you feel about the win?” he questioned, zooming in on your face. You sent the camera a confident smile, leaning in close and dropping your voice to a whisper.

“Oh, I’m going to win. Though our Samu can make great onigiri, he can’t bake for shit.”

You pulled away from the camera, wafting a hand towards Osamu. “Now, go bother that loser over there. I have washing up and cake assembling to do.”

You turned away from the camera, wiping your hand across your forehead before heading to the sink with an armful of washing up.

You finished wiping down the side as Osamu completed the drying up, putting the last mixing bowl away. Both of you were a mess, flour coating your aprons. Osamu had avoided getting any on his face, something you couldn’t claim for yourself. With a chuckle, he wet a cloth and walked over to you. Grasping your chin with his free hand, he tilted your face, allowing him to clearly see the smear of flour along your brow. Gently, he wiped it away, his touch lingering for a moment before pulling away.

“Thanks, Samu,” you beamed. “Atsumu just laughed at me. Wouldn’t even tell me what I had on my face.”

You slipped your apron off, holding a hand out for his. “I’ll go throw these in the washing basket and then the judging will begin.”

The table was set, both your cakes at opposite ends. Atsumu claimed the role of head judge, claiming he was the most likely to cast an accurate vote as he was the only judge actually physically present. You and Osamu had chosen a judge each, and they were displayed on your phone screens. You had chosen Kita. You weren’t going to lie. It was a tactical move as he had always liked you a bit more than the twins. Osamu had chosen Suna, which wasn’t a massive shock. Though he insisted that he hated being forced to judge these competitions, when he was left out he would become grumpy and ghost you both for a couple of days until you bribed him with food.

“Now,” Atsumu declared, “if you would hand me your phones and leave the room, the judging will commence.”

With a roll of your eyes, you handed your phone over, leaving the room with Osamu beside you. He nudged you gently with his elbow, grabbing your attention. “I actually thought your cake was a real cookie jar for a minute. It looks really good.”

You gave a light shrug, brushing off the compliment. “The icing is a bit sloppy in places. If I’m honest, yours looks so much better. I can think of a few people who would definitely try to set it.”

He flushed slightly, rubbing the back of his neck. He let out a light chuckle. “Does that mean you forfeit? I’m really looking forward to having control of the TV again.”

“Think again, Samu. I’m not giving up that TV without a fight.”

“The results are in,” announced Atsumu, banging his hands against the table in an imitation of a drum roll.

“If you wanted to be dramatic, you could have used an actual drum roll from youtube,” stated Osamu, drily. “It’s actually amazing what your phone can do when you have the brain to use it.”

Atsumu shot his brother a glare. “For that comment, my vote is changing. Y/N, you now have my full support. That cookie jar is way better than his shitty volleyball... not that it makes a difference anyway.”

Laughing, you elbowed Osamu, shooting him a triumphant look. It was clear you had not heard Atsumu’s muttered comment. “Prepare for another month of trashy TV.”

“Anyway, back to the results,” declared Atsumu. “Winning - unfortunately - with two out of three of the votes... is Osamu.”

You clapped and cheered. “I should have know a volleyball would sway the votes when the judges play the sport.”

You and Osamu were sat on the couch, a film playing on the TV and two slices of cake on both your plates. Relaxing, you lent into him, the plate resting on your lap as you watched the film.

“Damn it. You cake looked good and it tasted good. No wonder you won.”

He shot you a grin, placing his empty plate on the coffee table and wrapping an arm around your shoulder. “Hey, I’m just happy I get to choose what we watch together for a month.”

#haikyuu x reader #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu x y/n #haikyuu x you #miya twins x reader #osamu x reader #miya osamu #osamu fluff #osamu imagine #haikyuu platonic #roommates fic #osamu x you #osamu x y/n

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snkpolls · 3 years

Text

SnK Episode 61 Poll Results (for Manga Readers)

The poll closed with 359 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Manga Readers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll, click here.

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RATE THE EPISODE 347 Responses

While this episode wasn’t as big of a hit as episode 60, overall most viewers still enjoyed the content and are looking forward to more next week!

amazing amazing! I'm so delighted with this season so far!

Im so beyond pumped i love everything

Dissapointing but acceptable.

I’m like angry I loved it so much.

I just wish we didn't have to wait a week

It was amazing. We all gotta apologize to MAPPA for ever doubting them.

It's a huge stepdown from episode 1. At times the animation was straight up painful to watch. My expectations were low and yet I'm still disappointed :/

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE SCENE/MOMENT? 349 Responses

Reiner-centric scenes were the highest on people’s radar, with 24.9% of respondents enjoying his reunion with the warrior cadets, and not far behind, 22.9% enjoyed Reiner bringing up the 104th at the dinner table. In third, with only 13.5%, was Pieck and Porco’s formal introduction to the audience.

Hearing Zeke greet his grandparents with such happiness warmed my heart. I do believe that he loves them.

They just had to add one last image of Ymir's broken face before she died, huh? :(

WE FORGOT TO ASK LAST WEEK D: WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING SCENES/MOMENTS FROM EPISODE 60 WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 348 Responses

Last week we forgot to include what your favorite scenes were. The scene from episode 60 that got the most favor was Reiner’s, “I’m sick and tired… of walls” with 33.6% of the vote. 16.7% most enjoyed Zeke’s titan transforming scream. 14.9% were hyped about Reiner and Porco wrecking Fort Slava.

MAPPA WENT ALL OUT WITH THE CINEMATOGRAPHY IN THIS EPISODE. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE CINEMATIC PANS AND ROTOSCOPE ANIMATION? 349 Responses

Overall, a total of 74.5% respondents have positive feelings about MAPPA’s use of rotoscope animation and camera panning. Some felt like it was akin to watching a movie, while others are just happy to have the dynamic movement. A smaller amount of respondents didn’t have feelings one way or another, and a minority (about 10.3%) really are not a fan of this type of animation style for the series.

It felt odd sometimes as they used it for long scenes (like Udo talking or Gabi telling the story to her family) but overall it was pretty great and I prefer it to WIT's stale animation during season 3

I liked the more dynamic movement during dialogue, but my roommate found it super awkward and off-model. So a fifty-fifty split in a sample size of two lol

It could have been animated better, but I like the extra dimension it gives to scenes

Enjoyed it a lot! However, there were a few scenes that felt a bit off, like some frames were missing. Specifically, when Udo was doing all those gestures while talking with the rest of the Warrior Candidates.

It felt dynamic to the point of looking unnatural - some gestures and expressions just moved wrong

i'm split, in some scenes it was great (like reiner waking up), but in the dialogue scenes the constant movement seemed kinda unnatural and distracting

It was amazing but at the same time I'd didn't look fluid enough, especially at Udo's mouvements which made the character look kind of...video game-ish in constant moving.

I thought it looked great the rotoscoping,the movements all looked amazing

The animation during Urdu’s scene is so cool! I was caught of guard at first though lol. It’s so realistic!

NOW THAT WE’VE GOTTEN TO HEAR A LITTLE MORE OF THE NEW OST TRACKS, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE SOUNDTRACK SO FAR THIS SEASON? 344 Responses

So far, reception to the newer music is overall positive. 31.1% are really enjoying the music and think the songs are being used immaculately, and 40.4% really feel that the song choice compliments the scenes they’ve been used in. 13.1% think the songs are good, but miss having that sole Sawano feel to them. 10.8% just feel the music is “ok” and 2.6% aren’t a fan of the new OST tracks so far.

I mean it sounds good, but we haven't gotten to important moments that require a memorable track, so we'll see!

First episode slapped because it really complemented the scene but it's more... generic. I didn't like how it was used in this episode, there wasn't enough of it and again, generic. I miss Sawano's unreal scores.

the animation absolutely blew me away, and i love the intense music that played during Reiners monologue

The music is fine.

I've heard both new and old songs from the previous seasons. Still too soon to make an opinion as we need to hear more.

I am deaf, I can't hear no damn soundtracks

That music guys when they came back to Liberio and reuniting with they parents, made me tear up but also because the scouts never had the chance to go back home with victory in the arms of their family, I wish I could have seen EMA like this.. It kinda felt unfair X) but I was happy for them nevertheless.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE CLOSEUP OF ZEKE’S MOUTH? 346 Responses

Our first of probably too many crack questions in this poll, 32.7% thought the closeup of Zeke lighting his cigarette was cool looking. 21.4% are concerned about Zeke’s lung health. 19.1% are probably annoyed with us and simply don’t care (lol). 13.3% wouldn’t mind smooching Zeke, and 11% were just plain grossed out.

Does smoke even affect a titan shifter? Surely his lungs just heal themselves

ASMR for the eyes, right there. Aww yiss

It was awesome! Zeke is shown as relaxed person with a big drop of mystery.

Smoking Bad but he is gonna die in a year anyway

Suuuuuuucc

It might've just been an artistic choice to include it in there, but i gotta say I'm oddly fascinated and idk why

I don’t remember it lol

I didn't even notice.

Zeke looks hotter than he has ever looked

WHAT’S YOUR OPINION ABOUT ELDIAN ASSES? 341 Responses

Most of the responses seemed to feel rather positively about Eldian asses, with almost 40% seeking out Zeke’s ass wiping technique. About 17% simply stated their appreciation for them, while almost 13% are just thirsty. In contrast, a little over 17% seemed confused to the question’s inclusion and about 10% were confused outright.

MAPPA WHERE IS PIECK'S ASS

More into Eldian thighs, really

I bet Levi’s is nice

If only Eren had one

zeke has the energy of a straight man who doesn't wash his ass

Only Shadis' ass

GIVE IT TO ME 😏😏

They are like normal, human asses. Do not turn them into some magical, special snowflakes, just because they belong to Eldians.

Seek help

Enough

DO YOU WANT REINER TO GIVE YOU A HEAD PAT? 343 Responses

A definitive majority, almost 59 percent, openly expressed enthusiasm for the prospect of a head pat from Reiner. However, a near 30% fraction of responders didn’t seem too happy about this recent chain of less than serious questions. We’re sorry about that. 😅. The rest either didn’t seem interested in said prospect or noted they wouldn’t care either way.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE DECISION FROM MAPPA TO CONDENSE REINER’S FLASHBACK INTO (PRESUMABLY) A SINGLE EPISODE? 346 Responses

It would appear that the majority of those who took our poll express cautious optimism at the prospect of seeing all (or the vast majority) of Reiner’s backstory being adapted into a single episode, with a near 47% supporting the move, thinking it could make the narrative “more coherent”. Almost 20% argue it would work better pacing wise. On the flipside, just over 17% state that they would rather have a more accurate adaptation to the manga. 11.6% simply say they have no opinion. There were also more than a few write-ins.

I do wish everything could be animated to full detail, but pacing and structure will benefit here

They've done a good job so far, so I'll reserve judgement until I actually watch it.

It will be difficult as they're chapters with loads of dialogue, but they can pull it off if unnecessary stuff gets cut out or changed in some type of way (like watching Marcel's death for the sixth time, them breaking through the wall or even Jean and Eren fighting)

If they get the pacing right, then the rearrangement will be for the better.

Reiner flashbacks + Reiner suicide attempt + Falco meeting "Kruger" (more than 2,5 chapters) in a single episode? HELL NO! WTF MAPPA!

Worried and cautiously optimistic.

At least it looks like they're going to stick to just one episode for the RBA flashback. It was mostly just filler anyway, so there was never any need to stretch it out and waste precious time getting back to the Paradis side of the story

I doubt that that's exactly how it is, but if so, then I don't think that that's a wise idea

It’s gonna be rushed as hell

Reiner flashback is very long and there is tons of dialogue, so I dont know how its going fit in only one episode, but if they can make it work then its fine for me

WHICH CHARACTER DESIGN DID YOU LIKE BEST IN COMPARISON TO THE MANGA? 346 Responses

This question gave us a somewhat evenly split pie chart, but Porco nonetheless managed to gain the bigger piece with just over 55%. Surely due to that bomber jacket and haircut. Nearly 45% picked Pieck (gottem) instead. Must have been the somewhat inconsistent nose.

WHO’S SEIYUU DID YOU LIKE BEST? 335 Responses

On the flip side, 68.4% seemed to prefer Pieck’s soft voice. Porco with his (how the hell does Porco sound like… how can you describe his voice) managed to win the hearts of 31.6% of responses.

Pieck voice wtf? I imagined Pieck with a more Hanji-ish voice, not this sweet and high pitched.

DID MAPPA DO PIECK’S NOSE JUSTICE? 345 Responses

The debacle over Pieck’s POWERFUL nose gave us quite a colorful pie chart. Almost 39% of responses noted that Mappa was on point with Pieck’s nose for most of the episode. Afterwards, 26.7% stated that they thought that Mappa got it right only in some points of the episode. On the flip side, another 26.7% thought that Mappa was generally quite on point throughout the entire episode. A small minority (7.8%) thought that Mappa simply did a poor job.

The animation is good, and while I don't want to complain, I have a small problem with the drawings themselves. I feel like they lack precision (like Pieck's nose, idk if that's clear).

I'm grateful for Pieck's nose. I always respected Isayama for drawing imperfect characters, because this way he has made them to look more realistic. Even though Pieck has so-called imperfect nose, she is still absolutely gorgeous. Her imperfections are part of what makes her beautiful and unique.

PORCO’S HAIR - WERE YOU TEAM RED HAIR OR BLOND HAIR? AND ARE YOU HAPPY WITH HIS ANIME COLOR SCHEME? 345 Responses

A far less controversial debacle concerned Porco’s hair scheme. The folks supporting a Blond color scheme were universally content with his hair color (all 57.4% of team Blond). On the flip side, an almost universal approval was also present from team Redhead (13.6% of those supported his blond hair color). 27.5% of the responses seemed to care not about this issue at all, however.

NOW THAT WE KNOW PORCO BETTER IN THE MANGA, DO YOU THINK HE WOULD HAVE *ACTUALLY* DONE A BETTER JOB THAN REINER IF HE HAD INHERITED THE ARMOR AND WENT TO PARADIS? 348 Responses

Porco inheriting the Armored Titan is a rather interesting what-if scenario. Perhaps of the most interesting as a whole, so it’s no surprise to see a rather divided opinion of those who took our poll. A little over 36% believe that Porco doing a better job than Reiner on Paradis is a definite possibility. Just over 24% believe it’s not likely Porco would have done better than Reiner. On the flip side, 21.6% think that is is likely Porco *would* have a more successful conduct on the island. 9.2% believe that Porco’s success is a given and in opposition to that, 8.9% think that Porco’s success would have been basically impossible.

HOW ABOUT IF PIECK HAD GONE TO PARADIS WITH THE WARRIORS? 346 Responses

Much less division here, however. 70.5% of responders believe that Pieck’s possible trip to Paradis (in the initial attack) would have not have resulted in a given “mission success” for the Warriors, although she would have been a rather useful ally. Nearly a quarter, on the other hand, think that Pieck’s inclusion would have ended the story right then and there. The rather small minority of the other responders think that Pieck would not have been useful had she participated in the mission.

GABI HAS ALWAYS BEEN A CONTROVERSIAL CHARACTER. HAS MAPPA BRINGING HER TO LIFE CHANGED YOUR FEELINGS TOWARD HER? 342 Responses

64.6% of respondents overall have positive feelings toward Gabi as of right now, with 39.5% having already been enjoying her character throughout the manga. 25.1% now view her more positively with her being brought to life. 20.2% don’t really care about Gabi either way, and 11.7% feel very negatively toward Gabi, without the anime swaying their opinions.

Gabi still sucks

Sakura ayane as gabi is probably the best thing to happen to me all year

WITH SUCH A DIALOGUE-HEAVY ARC, CUTS WERE INEVITABLE. WHICH CUTS WERE YOU DISAPPOINTED IN, AND WHICH CUTS CAN YOU LIVE WITH?

Overwhelmingly, the scenes that were most missed by manga readers were “Pieck walking on all fours/scaring Porco”, “Zeke mentioning the Ackerman Clan”, “Reiner’s smirk when his family talks about ‘Island Devils’”, and “The imagery of Eren and Armin wrecking ships”. Smaller character details, such as Reiner mentioning how he acted like Marcel on Paradis, Gabi wishing to understand Reiner’s feelings, Falco pointing out how Reiner almost had the Armor taken from him, were also very missed by manga readers, although just less so.

General Calvi talking about Zeke’s loyalty, Gabi getting praise from her parents when they reunite, and Magath trashing the Marleyan navy, were moments that many respondents didn’t feel strongly about one way or another, or felt that these were details that weren’t really needed anyway.

Cutting the scene where Falcon talks about why Reiner kept the AT was really bad. Also the table scene could have been better. Some imagery when Reiner was describing the 104th and his smirk.

The cuts the anime has done made the spectators less informed about some story background stuff. This is in order to direct attention to the marley's eldians planning how to overcome the world's disparagement towards the power of the titans.

I'm sad they cut the gate guards. They humanize the marleyans a bit. Hope they add their scenes next episode and do them justice.

I hope we will get the Gabi/Reiner talk about understanding each other through PATHS when she eats him next episode

Gimme crawling best giiiirl

MAPPA cut Pieck's ass so this episode wouldn't be so ass centered with Zeke's ass wiping technique. This is my theory lol

Great episode but U was so looking forward to the Reiner scene talking about Paradis “devils”. In the mange it was a powerful scene really adding to the duality of Reiner and the pain he has, and the animation did not do it justice. Plus some parts of his speech were probably hard to understand for a non mange reader without the flashback. (Like which one is referring to Jean for example). I really wish it had been better delivered

IS THERE ANY CHANCE WE’LL SEE SOME OF THESE CUTS ANIMATED IN A LATER EPISODE? 342 Responses

them into different scenes. Overall, the majority answered a big, fat, “maybe.” 15.8% are confident that what’s done has been done, and 12.6% are more optimistic that MAPPA will find a way.

Overall I was a bit disappointed. I feel like the amount of material cut from every conversation included really added up overall and gave it a very rushed feel to me. I really hope they add it all in later.

ON THE FLIP-SIDE, WHICH ADDITIONS/CHANGES DID YOU LIKE/DISLIKE?

The changes and additions that MAPPA made were overall viewed very favorably, with the scene of Porco and Pieck interacting with the warrior cadets being the most liked addition. This is followed closely by the overall character movement during dialogue scenes, the small detail about Pieck’s father being unwell, and Gabi shouting “Watashi!” on the train.

I loved the additional details made it very emotional

IT WAS A GREAT TIME TO BE GALLIPIECK TRASH

Sneakier Eren's a nice addition too

Porco my boiii I'm so happy he's here 💖💖💖💖 if mappa is adding some extra scenes then gimme more of gallirei 👀

WHICH SCENE FROM THE PREVIEW ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO? 338 Responses

Unsurprisingly, 42% of respondents are hyped about Kenny’s brief return and Annie’s unlikely encounter with him in the Underground. 22.2% are eager to get that sweet Reiner angst as he is rejected by his Marleyan father. 17.8% are looking forward to Reiner’s training days.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE?

great! it was inevitable they would cut stuff but it hasn't changed any major plot point or thing i would want to see desperately

It was just really great to see the scenes animated, it adds another level of depth and understanding to the story I believe.

Loved anime-onlies missing Eren completely. Some even thought it was him but then noticed the leg and thought against it

I think it was very well done. Just need a little getting used to with MAPPA on the reins now. I think MAPPA added some scenes to show how those Eldians over there are still just human after all and they have their own problems to deal with. 8/10 episode.

I feel like they took a lot of emotion way from reiner. made him seemed stoic and determined to go to the island even though in the make he looked scared about having to return.

I thought the rotoscoping was really well done! I’m happy with the pacing, the fact that the episode felt like it went by fast is good considering it was dialogue based.

Incredible. The direction, the cinematic quality, we are feasting. MAPPA is elevating the story beyond anything I could have imagined! I'm beyond hyped for the rest!! But where is asshole Marley guards/Hobo!Eren's appearance as a favorite moment?!

Incredible, it adapts the source material very well while adding some touches that make it unique in it's own way. As a manga reader, I'm really glad that they're doing this because it feels like a completly different experience from reading it and makes me excited on what changes or directing choices they're going to make during the course of the season, great job so far MAPPA!

Such an amazing episode. Made 20mins feel like 5. MAPPA is doing fantastic. The characters have never felt more alive and the animation style is something I never knew I wanted until now.

I can't believe they didn't cast Mads Mikkelsen to voice Mads Mikkelsen

The episode was good but the dinner scene didn't do justice to the manga. It didn't have the same feeling to it. I saw a lot of anime onlys thinking Reiner was just trying to talk shit about the 104th. I feel like the flashbacks during that part in the manga gave it a nostalgic feeling that helped convey what he truly felt about his time on the island. His facial expressions were not quite there either. Specially sad because it was the moment I was expecting the most this episode and because it's a big part of Reiner's character, maybe next episode can kind of fix this.

I haven't seen the anime only poll results, but given personal conversations with them I imagine quite a few could care less about the Warriors and are looking forward to the 104th showing up to stir shit up. Boy are those folks in for a treat :)

I knew I'd feel more attached to all of them once they got animated. I didn't expect getting real thirsty for Lainah.

I was so happy with how much detail MAPPA put into the background scenery. Also, I think that an underrated moment during this episode was the Marlian douchebag triggering the Eldian soldier’s PTSD. You could really feel their terror, and THEY KEPT THE HOBO EREN PART IM SO HAPPY!

Its consistently very pretty and well animated which is great of course, but I worry the team won’t be able to maintain this quality for some of the meatier scenes in the later episodes. The fast pace of the episode (compared to the manga) as well as the many cuts make it a bit harder for scenes to stick, I wish there was a bit more breathing room at times. This also makes the fancy animation and frequent rotoscoping cuts feel less impactful for me—with every scene being cut down to its core ingredients, and every scene having at least one cut with more motion and energy than we’re used to, I can’t help but feel it all kind of mashes together without sticking out as much, leaving less of an impact. (I feel really really weird actually complaining about good camerawork/animation, what the hell lol) Also hobo <3

Plenty of questions about ass but no questions about the full ED? Or how we thought the episode did at hiding Eren in plain sight?

rip Reiner's chocolate abs :'(

The episode wasn't as interesting as the first one. I was yawning from time to time. Yet, I think that Mappa did a great job, because it's hard to animate full of dialogues chapters. I was disappointed of the fact that flashbacks from Paradis have been cut. I hoped to see Sasha, Connie, Ymir and Marco while Reiner was speaking about them. Without the flashbacks we just got the dry speech and this way hard to say what Reiner is really thinking about people he met on Paradis. We - as manga readers - already are aware of his feelings, but anime onlies may not know and see Reiner as cold hearted person. I'm not complaining over animations or the OST tracks because no studio is perfect and some small mistakes here and there won't destroy my fun. I just sit and enjoy the episode.

Very good, with the exception of the dinner scene, in which the director missed the mark completely with the tone.

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 328 Responses

Thank you again for participating! We’ll see you again next week!

#snk poll #snk polls #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #snk #aot #snk s4 #snk spoilers

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sadbirder · 3 years

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A Comparison Of Contemporary Landscape Photography With Traditional 19th Century Landscape Painting

The aesthetics of both contemporary landscape photography and traditional 19th century landscape painting hold much the same purpose, the objectification of nature as a servant to human kind. Both practices give misguided representations that nature is something which is ours to have. This way of seeing is an anthropocentric hangover that has no place in contemporary aesthetics because the belief that nature is ours to have because it belongs to humans is outdated and no longer practical or realistic in today’s world.

19th century landscape painting is from a time when all people believed all of everything on Earth was here exclusively for humans to exploit, consume and dominate as they please. There were scientists and thinkers during this century who began to consider that perhaps nature was not here for us. Alfred Russell Wallace wrote in his book, The Malay Archipelago, that he noticed that very large fruits grow on very tall trees throughout the region. He suspected if one of these large fruits should fall on a human from such a height, it would likely kill them. He questioned why and if these plants were truly put there by god with exclusive reference to human kind. I am guessing that at the time, not many Europeans had seen large fruits growing on incredibly lofty trees.

Another figure, who had thoughts like this in the same era, was Henry David Thoreau. His book Walden explores what it is to live off the land without exploiting the land or the creatures on it. He did not hunt or keep animals and he grew a permaculture-esque farm/garden. He did this as capitalism was still growing into the dominant way of living in the western world. It is incredibly compelling to read the experiences of someone rejecting the latest fashion trends, a glamorous life based around financial assets and the need to eat meat on a daily basis in the context of that particular moment on the timeline of human history. The themes central to this book examine the state of the world and the ways in which people live on it and engage with it, the observations Thoreau makes are pertinent to scrutinising how we exist today.

Sunrise - Claude Monet

Landscape painting from this time does not share the same progressive thinking. At least, if it did at all, that is not why the paintings are cherished today. The 3 examples I have chosen, each show a romanticised view of a landscape that has been largely altered by the domineering presence of humans. The views also show people working or give the idea of work. Work is an unnatural process exclusive to humanity, it is the method and process of human domination of nature. In his book, Future Primitive Revisited, John Zerzan refers to this as the division of labour. Zerzan explains that there is a symbiotic relationship between the division of labour and domestication of humanity and nature that perpetuates negative cycles in human social structures.

Monet’s Sunrise shows what is still celebrated today as a beautiful sunrise scene. In reality it is a factory. Based on the era in which it was painted, it is presumably full of workers in poor working conditions. The factory is causing a great smog which is completely altering how the view of the river before it appears. The painting beautifies the cancerous smog as scenic and romanticises the factory as if it is something other than an eyesore, filled with miserable people. By extension, it celebrates the idea that humans and nature are here purely to serve capitalism by being functional workers. Humanity, in this painting, is not shown as a part of nature but as a tool for its subjugation.

The Hay Wain - John Constable

The Hay Wain by John Constable gives us a peaceful view of a man working the landscape of his farm with his horse and his dog. This painting is renowned for its beauty. Constable’s paintings have been so celebrated, that the entire area where they were mostly created is still preserved to this day as the Dedham Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty (ANOB). This so-called beauty is the farmed landscape of south-east England. This area was once, in its entirety; ancient, deciduous woodland but is no longer so due to the consequences of work and human activity.

This molestation of an entire habitat is something the British government seeks to preserve for tourism and capital gain. This is done under the guise of maintaining the lie that the quiet countryside of little England is; A: a reality available for all to attain B: a beautiful thing because it is still in it’s natural state. Again, within a painting celebrated for its beauty in depicting nature, we have ugliness and artificiality. A destroyed habitat, forced animal labour of the horse, a dog breed (Border Collie) selectively bred to exploit obsessive behavioural tendencies and forced to work. Here again, humans, animals and the land represent the means of the domestication of nature in order to create an artificial, human-dominated landscape. This painting tells us that nature only has merit if it has a purpose in serving the functionality of the human world. Nothing about it is natural, or beautiful.

Ivy Bridge, Devonshire - JMW Turner

Ivy Bridge, Devonshire by JMW Turner is similar to the previously mentioned landscape paintings. The natural landscape is sliced by a bridge being crossed by a horse-drawn cart in an area of England densely littered with ANOBs. I am not certain if each of the artists’ intentions were necessarily to celebrate these altered and artificial landscapes as natural beauty in their works. It is said that Turner wrote a poem of his experiences working on the Devonshire commissions revealing that the landscape raised questions about morality for him. It could be that Turner and the landscape painters of the 19th century were attempting to expose the fakeness of the setup. Nonetheless, the paintings are today incorrectly treasured as depicting the beauty of the world in it’s natural state.

The foundation of the idea that these paintings display to us natural beauty come from the views of people who lived in an era when it was conventional to believe that the Earth and nature were there for humans to sculpt in whatever way they liked. This essentially means that to celebrate these paintings today as natural and beautiful is to celebrate human domination of Earth and the domestication of its people and creatures. This celebration preserves two great lies. The first lie is that the Earth, as manipulated by humans, is in it’s natural state. The second lie; This manipulation, caused by human domination, is beautiful.

Thomas Heaton

All of the contemporary-traditional landscape photographers I have looked at are well known on instagram and each of their posts boast thousands of likes, often in the name of conservation. When I look at their photographs, I feel uninspired. How could this be so? Nature is inspiring. They are technically spectacular photographs of incredible scenery but post-production techniques such as the over-saturation of the colours create an unrealness. This is uncomfortable because it presents nature as having to be more than what it actually is to be considered a sight worthy of seeing. While thousands of people do engage with these photographs online, what does it do now for changing how we intereact with nature? How does it change the fundamental way we see the world and does it seek to change the anthropocentric viewpoint that the world is here for us?

Daniel Kordan

This style of photography has not progressed much since Ansel Adams pioneered it last century. Someone told me that this kind of photography is important because it shows people what we stand to lose if humans continue on this path of domination and extraction of nature. I ask the question then, is this tactic flawed? This method of revealing the beauty of nature in photography is not new. It has been a somewhat ubiquitos model for conservation and widespread awareness of nature in photography since Ansel Adams began his career in the 1920s. While this has achieved some huge successes in protecting wild landscapes, these very landscapes are still under threat.

Ansel Adams, Cathedral Peak and Lake, Yosemite National Park, 1938

Climate change, habitat & biodiversity loss are not known as entities who recognise borders and boundaries. Our activies outside proctected areas affect what is within them. I view this kind of photography as a green-washing activity. Consciously our not, these photographers play into the narrative that the landscape is something to be conquered. This is reflected in the corporate funding these photographers receive to travel the world and take these spectacular shots and then share them online with generic captions such as “Get out there and live it.”

The consequnece of this tactic inspires swarms of amateur photographers into contributing to destructive tourism practices, not to mention the volume of iphones and camera gear purchased. These tourists flood the landscape and attempt to recreate, often successfully, the style of their favourite landscape photographers’ work. They too can share the images on social media and receive kudos for how in touch with nature they are, compliments are given to their highly technical photography.

This style of photography ignores at large the impacts of current ways in which the human world engages with nature. These photographers leave the inevitable cigarette-butts, food packaging and other litter spread throughout almost any natural landscape out of frame. They might not even see the trash, it is hard to see human waste in a landscape when you do not want to see it. If photographs dealing with conservation of nature showed us the real way in which we interact with nature, would humans therefore be able to finally see nature?

This raises the question of what makes the professional a more worthy artist than the amateur recreationists? The method is also boring, old fashioned and it does not work. Why is climate change etc. getting worse if the tactic of showing people what we might lose is successful? This is because it is not, truly successful. It creates a narrative that the world is our pretty little thing to look at and this objectifies it. Photographers are asking people to look, but not see. In essence, professional landscape photographers whore out to us 5-second-views of a world that really requires vast amounts of time invested in multi-sensory observation to actually see. This tactic does nothing to push for a fundamental shift in how all humans interact with the more-than-human natural world because it does nothing to ensure that nature is seen. If nature is not even seen, how can we challenge the ways which humans see it and engage with it? The practice of how nature is represented in art must change in order to facilitate a change in the ideological practice of seeing nature.

Psychescape - Terri Loewenthal

Photographers like Terri Loewenthal speculate that perhaps the views of nature offered from art is a gendered issue and that we are too used to male-dominated views of the world. She seeks to reject technically-accurate recreations of landscape through photography by choosing to explore imperfection with her photographic practice. She does this in her Psychescape series of works by using a hand-built optic that manipulates the colours and shapes in a photograph at the moment of shooting. She is changing how her camera sees the world, in order to ask us to change how we see the world. Loewenthal intends to achieve this, unlike Ansel Adams and so many after him, by not keeping the human world out of shot. To show views of nature that include humanity which are beautiful in their coexistence.

Contemporary landscape photography and traditional 19th century landscape painting share a similar view of the world in both aesthetics and ideology. They continue to feed a narrative that the human-world is outside of the natural world, that the two are separate. The practice of doing so has led to a great un-seeing of nature from humans in art and lived experience. We know that we need to change the ways in which humans live and interact with the world in order to ensure that humans can continue to exist in the world. We know that it is necessary for humans to coexist with nature in order to take steps in dealing with climate change and other such natural world catastrophes of the contemporary era. For a long time, landscape painting and landscape photography has refused to play a role in changing how we see nature by showing human dominated views and misleading interpretations of the way that nature is before us. Artists are now seeking to show that humans and nature are part of the same whole. Rejecting views which celebrate the human domination and domestication of nature by bringing the interconnectedness of humans and nature into aesthetics is key to fundamentally shifting the role of art in shaping how humans see nature.

#landscape painting #landscape photography #traditional #nature #climate change #art #art writing #claude monet #john constable #jmw turner #ansel adams #national park #yosemte national park #dedham area of outstanding natural beauty #aestheitcs

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frodos-bizarre-adventure · 3 years

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@gingerreggg and here we go

Heads Up- Part 15 (Joseph x Bust! Caesar)

▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪

The big day had arrived.

"You nervous?" Joseph asked his beloved bust as he lowered him down into a box, which had been lined in foam cushions and bubble wrap to keep Caesar safe as he was being transported to the gallery.

"A little, perhaps," Caesar replied. He closed his eyes and gave a sigh.

"But I'm ready." He shot a determined smile at Joseph, just as the lid of the box was closed.

It was dark inside the box, save for a small slit on one side that let some light in. Caesar felt a brief surge of panic, inside the small, cramped space he was enclosed in.

Yet he fought back his fear with a courage that he'd gathered from a brief moment that his and Joseph's eyes met, just as he closed the box.

Be strong, Caesar, he told himself.

Be brave for Joseph.

--------

Joseph carried the box containing Caesar over to his bike, gently resting the box onto the small sidecar. He strapped down the box with locks and belts to make sure it stayed in place.

He didn't want risking damaging its precious cargo.

"You okay there, Cae?" he asked, patting the box's top gently.

"I'm fine," came the muffled reply.

"Alright there. Just be very, very quiet in there. We don't want to attract more unwanted attention."

Caesar didn't answer.

"Okay then! We're all good to go!" Joseph said in an energetic, determined tone, as he mounted his bicycle seat and began to pedal to the art school gallery.

Toward his final project's submission.

And toward his destiny.

---------

The art gallery had already gathered a small crowd, of teachers, students and general admirers by the time Joseph arrived there at nine o' clock in the morning. He was at least an hour early: the first day was simply putting up their art on exhibition, for people to view and photograph, and tomorrow, on the second day of the exhibition, the art judges would arrive to score the artworks, give the students their grades, and the best works being selected, to join the art galleries' permanent collections, some of which were priceless masterpieces that had graced the halls for decades.

Joseph wanted so badly to pass his semester with a good grade and be awarded with his degree in an artists' school. But at the same time, he knew that if he'd placed first, there was a chance that Caesar would be taken in as property of the school. And Joseph would lose him. Perhaps, forever.

He was more than a masterpiece.

He was someone Joseph truly loved.

And if all went well, if their entire trick worked according to plan, then he could have his cake and eat it too. He could pass off Caesar as a perfectly-ordinary sculpture, get him graded by the judges, be awarded his degree, and get to take Caesar back home with him once the gallery exhibition concluded. Where he truly belonged.

Not in an art gallery's shelf left to gather dust for years, but close by and safe, cradled warmly in Joseph's arms.

Because, sure, all the artwork on display here were the most exquisite, most elegant, most indescribably crafted works that were the long, arduous labors of love and were expensively insured for massive sums of money.

But to Joseph, he was far more valuable than all of them combined.

--------

"Joseph! I didn't expect to see you here so soon!" cried a familiar voice.

Suzi came pushing her way through the crowd to greet Joseph, who stepped into the door of the gallery, carrying a large cardboard box, bearing the words "Handle with Care".

Suzi quickly rushed to Joseph's side. "He's...he's in there, isn't he?" she whispered.

"Yep, he's here alright," Joseph quietly answered. "Come on, we gotta find a spot to put him on."

After some amount of searching, Joseph and Suzi managed to find a low-slung table, still unoccupied. It was little more than a black, stone, semi-flattened cube in the middle of the hall, little higher than the living room table they had back at home.

"This should do," Joseph concluded. "He's not too fond of heights."

"I suppose," Suzi quipped. "He's definitely already stressed enough at being out in the open for the first time in like, ever."

Joseph smiled.

"And now we're all set," Joseph said. "Time to get him out of his box."

He patted the box gently.

"It's your time to shine, Caesarino."

-------

Light suddenly flooded inside the box, and Caesar felt himself being lifted out and gently placed on a cool, hard surface.

He was in a strange place, that was unlike Joseph's house at all. Instead of a small, cramped apartment, he was in a vast, spacious building, that was teeming with crowds of people. From what little he could see without moving his eyes, he could see numerous paintings hanging on the walls, numerous carvings and statues placed on square pedestals of varying heights. Spotlights shone brightly on each pedestal, including on him, and he fought the urge to squint in the glare and give himself away.

But he remembered what Joseph said, and he remembered his promise, his purpose, and he stood steadfast and blank on his pedestal, as lifeless-looking as the day he first was sculpted.

He had one job, and he would do it.

His still, frozen face bore a look of determination, his eyes staring straight ahead as if to glare at a nonexistent foe. His mouth hung slightly open, revealing his teeth that Joseph had painstakingly carved and inserted into his mouth one by one. He, in his false impression of inanimateness, had every bit the look of a focused grimace of one prepared to fight, and with his feathered headband and pink scarf around his neck, looked every bit like some ancient warrior prepared for combat. A brave, heroic soul passionate to fight until the very end.

"That's a great look on you, Cae," Joseph smiled, gently stroking Caesar's face. Caesar felt the loving warmth of the touch, but didn't respond-- keeping the same, fierce, courageous look he fixed upon.

And affixed on the pedestal was a small, pink label, bearing the text "Artist Name:" and below it "Title of Artwork:".

Joseph pulled out a black felt pen and filled out the blanks.

"Joseph 'Jojo' Joestar"

"Battle Tendency"

-------------

It wasn't long before a small crowd began to gather around Caesar, amazed in awe at how lifelike he looked.

"It's almost like a real person!" exclaimed one. "Except it's just a head."

"That hair looks so realistic! Get a look at that texture!" complimented another.

"Can I hold it?" said a third, reaching out to touch Caesar's nose.

Joseph held back the inquisitive visitor. "Don't touch him! Eh...I mean don't touch it," he corrected in the nick of time. It felt almost like a crime to address Caesar as 'it', but they had a charade to uphold.

Any offense could come later.

"Sorry about that," apologized the visitor.

For the next few hours people came to admire the sheer perfection of Caesar's creation. They commented on how his skin looked so real, how his eyes were so proud and lively, how his overall aesthetic was full of energy and personality.

All the while, Joseph was proudly and passionately talking about how he made Caesar and detailed him to perfection, shooing off grabby guests who wanted to touch and prod the unmoving Caesar, and scoffing at naysayers who were convinced he was an actor hiding his body inside the table. Joseph lifted Caesar off the table briefly, to show that he had no body underneath, and without a doubt a genuine, high-quality piece of art.

Joseph was filled with pride at people admiring his beautiful creation in all his perfection, and was also proud of Caesar pulling off the disguise so well. He could tell, by the faint gleam in Caesar's eyes, that he was enjoying the compliments and the love he was recieving.

Everyone who saw Caesar could not resist a smile. At stunned amazement of his sheer realism and his powerful, emotional aura conveyed by his defiant expression.

"It looks almost alive," said one student as they walked by.

"Heh...almost," Joseph laughed uneasily.

And he could tell that Caesar's presence, energy and appearance brought great joy to every face in the crowd.

All except for one.

Joseph's smile faded as he noticed one familiar face in the crowd, looking directly at Caesar's face with a sorrowful expression.

It was Mr. Will Zeppeli, his old art teacher.

And he was crying.

-------------

(Previous Chapter)

(Next Chapter)

#jjba #jojo's bizarre adventure #gingerreggg #hands of life au #bust!caesar #sculptor!joseph #heads up #caejose #caesar x joseph #battle tendency

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love-takes-work · 4 years

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The Art of Steven Universe the Movie: Outline & Review

The Art of Steven Universe The Movie was released March 3, 2020. It's a wonderful journey through the concept art, character development, and experience of fashioning these ideas into the movie we all love.

Nuts and bolts: The book is published by Dark Horse, and it was designed by Ryan Sands (a zine specialist), with commentary by Takafumi Hori, Kat Morris, and Rebecca Sugar. It includes art by Rebecca Sugar, Kat Morris, Takafumi Hori, Alonso Ramirez Ramos, Angie Wang, Ashley Fisher, Becky Dreistadt, Chromosphere, Danny Cragg, Elle Michalka, Hilary Florido, Ian Jones-Quartey, Jasmin Lai, Jeff Liu, Joe Johnston, Julian De Perio, Katie Mitroff, Leonard Hung, Miki Brewster, Patrick Bryson, and Paul Villeco.

Full review below with low-quality images.

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

An introduction explains the same origin story that Rebecca Sugar told us in the movie DVD's commentary: that she accidentally restored her phone to factory settings and lost years of important stuff, and she ended up applying that devastating premise to her movie. That combined with the concept of "breaking" the main premise of a TV show to make a movie was how she got started developing the story. The opening of the movie styled like a storybook is blocked out with some great drawings and breakdowns of which narration would go to what storybook pages. This is combined with some partial sheet music for "The Tale of Steven." Rebecca writes about how she felt having to wrap pre-production on Season 5 only to take on this even bigger movie challenge. The biggest challenge was writing all these songs in such a short time--six weeks--and having to deal with the stress, being crushed under all that pressure while still wanting to do this story so badly, and it was humbling to still have to work so hard to sell the idea. The feeling of relief to finally be done that Steven expresses in "Happily Ever After" is very similar to what Rebecca went through feeling like she wanted to be finally done but still knowing what she had to do to climb an even bigger mountain. Some very cute Steven-at-age-16 and Connie in Space Camp clothes follow. Notes indicate that Steven and Connie are the same height now, but his poofy hair is just slightly higher than her head.

Notes from 2017 also give us the "Neckstravaganza": design notes on Steven's new form, with a neck and a jacket. It's very cool.

Some beautiful Joe Johnston boards follow, with sequences from the "Happily Ever After" song. We also get Angie Wang's final design (with Ashley Fisher's color) of the injector, including some sketchy concept art for it from Rebecca Sugar and Hilary Florido. In the rough concept notes, they call this the "Mega Injector," with notes for Takafumi Hori to use for scale. It looks beyond huge in a Leonard Hung drawing.

Spinel concepts are next. Some notes explain that aivi & surasshu (the usual composers) were involved very early since it was a musical, and Rebecca included them when pitching the story to the Crew so they could organically develop the sound. The heart shape was central to Spinel from the beginning, and early versions of her had an entire heart shape to her head.

(There's a doodle of what looks like a cartoon dog in the pile of drawings shown in this section. It's not clear what that was.)

Spinel was given the heart imagery partly because Rebecca had learned early on about the importance of symbols, and when it came time to assign one to Steven, the star was chosen because it's so positive and is read as gender-neutral. Rebecca still hadn't used hearts for anything, so it was time. They also incorporated really old, dated character design ideas to make Spinel feel like an outdated cartoon from the rubber hose era.

The aspect of her design with the running mascara versus cute eyelashes predated the rotation of her Gem. Rebecca likes to start with more realistic sketches when she's figuring out a character, and then she'll move to making it more cartoony. A quote from Miki Brewster is shared: "Spinel can do anything, as long as it's entertaining!" Her "best friend" form is described as "a doll for friendship fun & games! Of a different era--hokey, charming, weird...super gullible and trusting. Incredibly loyal, constant entertainment machine!"

When it comes to developing her "worst enemy" form, Rebecca explains a bit that she has a really complicated relationship with old cartoons because nostalgia is not compelling to her--the animation from the 1930s is so neat, but considering the social limits and the way the industry was at the time, Rebecca doesn't think she could have participated. Especially considering nowadays she even had to struggle to be allowed to tell the stories she needed to tell and it would have been impossible five years ago. The norms of the time aren't entirely extricable from the art itself.

Takafumi Hori weighs in with commentary on how fun it was to animate a scary but fun character on top of Miki Brewster's boards for the "Other Friends" fight sequence.

Next, moving on from the central new character, they also spend some time discussing Steg. Rebecca first explains "Steg Multiverse" as a character so uplifting he can make you fly, combining Greg's unending support and Steven's positive power. She makes reference to the early "stegosaurus" concepts they had for his look, but they didn't want to lose the opportunity to have his hair flow. Rebecca confirms that the pompadour idea was established in "Steven and the Stevens" so they wanted to give it to Steg, and she credits Paul Villeco for really finalizing his design and bringing him to life.

And of course the poofy hair from Steven and the double-necked guitar was essential for Steg.

Next, the book gives us a whole page of handwritten notes about "Drift Away." Kat Morris explains the intentional duality of the scene--how Spinel should be shown seeing her own past with new perspective, being embarrassed, blending together who she was with who she is. The partial lyrics to the song and some sketchy boards are offered.

Rebecca shares her personal connection with the subject matter--how she once left a stuffed animal in her garden and the side facing the sun faded. It really made a mark on her as a child that things changed without her, because of her actions, and that she'd left this treasured toy alone without thinking about it all that time, letting it be affected by the elements without her interference. She wrote "Everything Stays" for Adventure Time based on that plushie, and realized that she was writing about it again for the Steven Universe movie.

Many beautiful miniature boards are shown in this section.

Partial sheet music for "Drift Away" is also offered here. It's credited to Rebecca Sugar and Aimee Mann. The music sheet is followed by some lovely images of the garden by Julian De Perio, Patrick Bryson, and Leonard Hung.

Takafumi Hori returns for a discussion of the final fight sequence during "Change," which he animated from Jeff Liu's boards. He discusses trying to keep the fight feeling dramatic and serious even though Spinel's fighting style is funny. He wanted to keep her tension. Hori-san throws in a word of thanks for being allowed to work on his favorite show again, praises Jeff and Miki, and compliments Rebecca Sugar's demos. He hoped we'd get a soundtrack album. (Of course, we did.)

Some final boards by Rebecca Sugar and Becky Dreistadt of the characters in their show gear descending the steps close out the book. There are also some cute little doodles at the end on the credits page, like a head of lettuce with caption "lettuce adore you" and Spinel in a drifting go-kart laughing, captioned "drift away."

The back cover pictures Steven with his arm around a heartbroken Spinel, comforting her.

Overall, the book is wonderful--the accompanying information is generally not new to anyone who watched the DVD's documentary and commentary, and many of the sketches have been released one way or another directly by the artists through Instagram, Twitter, or Tumblr blogs. There was still plenty of wonderful new concept art that wasn't already out there, and looking at some of the iterations Spinel and Steg went through was particularly captivating. There was no new insight into the development of the plot beyond the premise and the Spinel-related conflict, though; nothing about how they decided to focus the Garnet storyline, the Pearl storyline, and the Amethyst storyline for how they would each get their memories back, and there was no spotlight on their movie versions--modern Cotton Candy Garnet, copycat baby Amethyst, and factory settings uncustomized Pearl. I was hoping especially for some Amethyst stuff because the movie was the first place we got to see her with the simple default outfit and segmented limbs. It was primarily an art book with commentary on some of the most definitive movie aspects--it didn't reach the depth that Art and Origins gave us. It has a start-to-finish feeling in a sense, but it's mostly just splashes of information that are fun to know. It's a great companion and definitely should not be missed by any fan of the movie. I recommend it heartily!

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

#steven universe #steven universe the movie #the art of steven universe the movie #movie art book #myblog

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rocksandrobots · 4 years

Text

Of Rocks and Robots Ch. 27 - The Party

this 'episode' will discuss underage drinking and its connection to mental health. This storyline will conclude in three chapters if you want to skip it.

Varian's back ached and he was beginning to get a crick in his neck, but he dared not move. He was in the middle of posing for a picture. Honey Lemon had asked him to be her model for her latest painting.

They were both sitting inside one of the art studios on the SFAI campus. The San Fansokyo Art Institute was the artistic counterpart to SFIT and Honey Lemon was a part time student here as well. She had a final coming up and needed to complete a portrait before the end of next week and so Varian had volunteered to be her subject; any excuse to spend more time with the pretty redhead.

Though his plans to spend some quality time with his crush weren't going quite like he had hoped. She was too busy concentrating on her work to really talk to him and his joints felt stiff from standing still for so long in one position. He was also really, really bored. She had instructed him to stand facing to the side and all there was to look at was the blank wall opposite himself.

He sneaked a sidelong glance at her out of the corner of his eye. She sat upon an odd looking bench with an easel attached to the front. In one hand she held a palette and a paintbrush in the other. She chewed on the end of its long handle in thought as she straddled the 'art horse' before her face lit up in inspiration. She then leaned down to apply paint to the bottom portion of the canvas. Varian watched as her brow furrowed in concentration and she stuck out the tip of her tongue as she tried to delicately get the stroke just right.

Varian had to stifle a laugh. She looked so silly and beautiful and adorable all at the same time. He could just watch her all day he thought. Shame he was stuck facing the dang wall.

Honey Lemon heard him anyways and looked up from her work.

"Getting tired?" She asked with sympathy.

"No. No. Not at all." Varian lied but he couldn't resist rolling his shoulders anyways to try an ease the soreness in his neck.

"I just got this one little section to finish and then we can take a break and you can stretch, promise."

"It's okay, take your time." He assured her.

It took her another ten minutes to come to a stopping point.

Finally free to move, Varian stretched his arms wide and then proceeded to rub the side of his neck as he walked over to look at Honey Lemon's handy work. It was very good he had to admit. It wasn't finished but what she had completed was rendered in great realistic detail. But was his nose really that long? He self consciously peered down at the tip of own nose, not that he could really gauge it's length that way.

His thoughts were interrupted though by Honey Lemon.

"I usually don't do realism" She nervously excused herself, "but the assignment was to render fabric on a person. What do you think so far?"

"Well, it looks great to me!" He encouraged. "It's every bit as good the royal paintings inside Corona's palace."

"Really!?" She blushed. "That's quite the compliment. I bet they have a lot of priceless artworks. I don't know if it's that good, but I did have fun painting your googles." She reached her hand up to readjust his headgear.

He laughed and bent down to give her a better angle. Once she was done he looked at her and they shared a smile. It was nice being at her eye level for once. Oh, why did have to be so short!?

He was going to give her another compliment. Tell her how lovely he thought she was, but the moment was ruined by another student walking in on them.

"Hey, Honey Lemon! Getting a head start on midterms hun?" The tall guy said as he sauntered over. He had blonde hair and wore a red blazer and tan dress pants.

"Well it's due next week, so I don't know how much of a head start this is?" She laughed.

"Two schools, dual majors, and a part time job; when do you ever find time to just have fun?" He teased.

"Oh but I have lots of fun learning!" She sang and they both broke out in laughter.

Varian felt a little left out. Apparently this was one of Honey Lemon's friends at the art school and they were sharing some sort of inside joke that he wasn't privy to.

"Oh, Brad, I'd like you to meet my friend Varian." She introduced, "He goes to SFIT. Varian this is Brad. He's in my drawing class."

"Ah, a member of the nerd school!" Brad said not unkindly as he offered to shake Varian's hand, "It's rare to get a visit from you mad scientist types. Got any interest in the arts?"

"Eh, I draw sometimes." Varian admitted. "Usually drafting."

"He's really good at it. You should see his naturalist drawings." Honey Lemon praised and Varian had to blush. He didn't really consider himself an artist, but drawing was often very helpful in his researches.

"Oh, well maybe you should bring some by to the party and show them off." Brad said. "We're holding our annual Fourth of July blow out bash at the fraternity house tonight. The whole school is going to be there. That's why I drop by, to invite you Honey Lemon. You're both welcome to come, and bring the rest of your nerd friends too. I bet they'd like a break from their test tubes as well." He laughed at his own joke.

"Oh, well, that's very nice of you Brad, but I don't know if I'll be able to make it." Honey Lemon apologized. "I gotta work a shift tonight."

"Awe, that's a shame. Well, if you manage to get off the party starts at eight. See ya around." He waved goodbye and walked out the door.

After he left Varian spoke up, "You're going on patrol on a holiday?"

"Well, maybe," she bit her lip and then confessed, "I didn't want to say anything to Brad, but those frat parties aren't really for me. They can get kind of...wild."

Varian laughed, "Not as wild as a Saporian party I bet. One time they released all of horses from the stables and built a bonfire right on the front lawn of the palace using all the saddles as kindling. They said something about 'burning the bonds of oppression'. Anyways the party lasted till dawn. They were still at by sunup. Now that was wild, if a little weird."

Honey Lemon stared blankly at him in confusion. "You...you mean like a protest? Are the Saporians activists?"

"Yeeeah, you might could say that." Varian slowly said in a strained voice. Then he gave an awkward coughed and tried to change the subject, "Why don't we finish up here and go grab something to eat? My treat."

She agreed and he took up his pose once more so that she could get a little more work done before they left.

-----------------------------

"Hi Aunt Cass!" Varian sang as he entered the Lucky Cat Cafe and swung behind the counter to nab a chocolate muffin.

"Oh hi sweetie! How was your day?" Aunt Cass replied as she placed two steaming cups of cappuccino onto the counter. "Hernandez!" She called and a customer walked forward. "You're soy mocha cappuccinos are ready sir, and I added in a splash of honey in one just like you requested."

Varian watched as she finished handing the customer his coffee before answering. "It went fine. I helped Honey Lemon with her painting assignment and we had lunch together. Then I did some work on my own project afterwards."

"How did that go? I know you mentioned having some trouble with, what was it, the turbines?"

Varian gave a dismissive shrug and took a big bite of the muffin he was holding. He didn't feel like getting into any great details about his project with Aunt Cass. Not the least of which because she didn't know he was from another world.

Aunt Cass however sensed his evasiveness. "Look, I know that you're still disappointed about the fireworks, but today has been kind of slow. Maybe I can close shop up early and all three of us can go watch the official city fireworks down at the park?"

Varian considered her offer but he didn't want her to go out of her way to just to accommodate him. "It's okay, you don't have to do that. I know there'll be a big crowd afterwards and you'll want the shop open for that."

"Crowds, shmowds, there'll be plenty of opportunities to make money later." She dismissed. She walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, it'll be fun; our first family outing together." She gave him an encouraging smile as she waited for his answer.

Before Varian could reply though, Hiro burst through the door.

"Hi Aunt Cass! Bye, Aunt Cass!" He yelled in the same breath as he ran pass. Fred followed close behind, gave them a wave, and bounded up the stairs after him.

"I think, Hiro, might have other plans." Varian said slowly.

Aunt Cass gave a frown.

"Honey Lemon and I got invited to a party tonight, over at the art institute, but she said she couldn't make it. I think her and Hiro and all them have a meeting of their ‘study group’ tonight." He explained.

"On Fourth of July weekend?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Well, midterms do start next week."

"So, what are your plans? Are you going with the study group or to this, what was it, a painting party?"

Varian shrugged. "I figured I just help you at the cafe. I'm not really in the study group and I don't know anybody at that art school besides Honey Lemon."

Aunt Cass studied him for a moment before answering, "I think you should go."

"Really?"

"Yeah, get out and meet people, make a new friend, try something new. If you make a painting I'll hang it up on the wall." She joked. "Look, I don't want you cooped up here or at school all the time. Go, have fun; be a teenager while you still can."

"You sure? You don't need me to help…"

"I'm sure. Just text me when you get there and don't stay out too late. I would like your help in the morning opening up."

"Okay, then I'll go get ready. It starts at eight."

"Good, and don't forget to wash your face." Aunt Cass teased as she wiped a chocolate smudge from the corner of his mouth with her thumb.

He rolled his eyes in exasperation and tried to pull away, but he flashed her a smile afterwards to show her that he wasn't really upset. Then he turned around and headed upstairs to get ready for the party.

-----------------------------

Varian stepped off the bus in front of the SFAI campus. It was easy enough to find where the party was held. When Brad had said the whole school would be there, he hadn't been kidding. Varian followed the sound of blaring music and crowds of other students to the fraternity house. Right next to it was also the sorority house. They were each a couple of three story buildings painted with fanciful colors and designs and both had party goers running in and out of them. The crowd was so large that they spilled out onto the front lawns and a DJ was stationed in the middle pumping out loud drumming music for everybody to dance to.

Varian paused on the sidewalk unsure of where to go or what to do. He didn't see a single familiar face in the crowd and the dancers were lost in their own little worlds. It felt out of place to jump right on in with them.

He scanned the scene and debated about just leaving. Maybe it wasn't too late for just him and Aunt Cass to go see the fireworks. Then he noticed a girl standing at the doorway of one of the houses greeting people.

She was a petite woman with curly brown hair and a wide friendly smile. She wore a simple white dress to match said smile and her sing song voice carried itself over the noise of the party.

"Y'all go on in and have fun!" She told a couple as they walked inside. She then spotted Varian as he made his way up the front porch stairs. "Howdy!" She exclaimed. Her voice had a slight accent to it that told Varian that she was from a different province than California; possibly one of the eastern southern states of the country but he was no expert.

"Hi, is this the fraternity house?" He asked.

"No, that's next door. This is the sorority house, we're co-hosting the event. I'm Carol by the way." She held her hand for Varian to shake and he introduced himself.

"Varian."

"Well nice to meet ya, Varian. I don't think I've ever seen you around campus before. What major are you in?"

"Physics, I go to SFIT. Brad invited me."

"Oooh the nerd school. I gotcha. Yeah we got people from all over here tonight. Follow me, I'll show ya around." She gave another winsome smile and Varian followed her inside.

They entered into a large living room adjacent from an open kitchen. On the opposite side of the stairwell Varian could see a den which housed a tv, card table, and billiards. Groups of students clustered around eating, drinking, and playing various games.

"That's the game room," Carol said,"and we got three bathrooms, one on each story." She pointed towards a little hallway that ran past the stairs,"feel free to make yourself at home, just know that the bedrooms are off limits. We're trying to avoid a repeat from last semester."

"What happened last semester?"

"We were hosting a St. Patrick's Day party and some jerks trashed this poor girl's room, broke her vanity set, so no sneaking up there anymore to make out. If ya meet someone, take it to the frat house. Those guys don't care what you do." She rolled her eyes and Varian casted a confused glance at the stairs.

"Who'd be so rude as to break into someone else's bedroom?"

"I know right!" She agreed enthusiastically. "Some folks just ain't got any class."

They made their way to the kitchen. There was a vast spread of food on the dining table and cups, plates, and silverware were sitting on the countertop behind that.

"We got chips and dip, sandwiches, all kinds of snacks. There's ice cream in the freezer if ya want some, and of course the boys have more food over at their place." Carol walked over to an ice chest sitting at the end if the table. "Unfortunately all we got to drink though is coke and beer." She reached into the ice chest pulled out two cans. "I told everybody we should've gotten like some tequila or rum as well, but nobody wanted to spring for it." She gave an over dramatic sigh and then flashed Varian another one of her charming smiles to show that she wasn't fully serious about her disappointment in alcohol choices.

She offered him one of the cans she was holding.

It was the aforementioned beer and Varian hesitated to take it. He remembered his and Gogo's fight last month over his attempts to buy an ale for himself. But the law was just about purchasing alcohol, it didn't say anything about drinking it in your own or in someone else's home. There was no way every single person at this large party was over 21 and clearly everybody else was drinking too. After all, he was a college student same as them. Besides it'd be impolite to turn down a drink from such a nice hostess.

He thanked her and took the drink from her hands. It was a lighter grain than the darker ales he was use to, but there was no mistaking the familiar taste and smell of a good beer. It was comforting in a way. The drink reminded him of dinners with his dad on cold winter nights, gathering at the tavern to hear gossip and stories from from the old farm hands and to escape the midday sun, and of fall festivals and summer parties, like this one, where the whole village would be gathered to celebrate a bountiful harvest or to commemorate some ancient holiday. Perhaps it was an odd thing to feel homesick over, but going without something for two months that was once an ubiquitous part of his life hit him harder then he had realized. He really did not understand Americans' hang ups and silly rules over alcohol.

"So how long have you been going to SFIT?" Carol asked as she popped open her own tab and took a sip.

"This is my first semester. I just moved here from Europe."

"Really!? Where from?" She asked excitedly.

Varian had to give a chuckle, people always seemed so surprised and impressed just because he grew up in a different country. "Uh, if you looked on a map it'd currently say 'Russia' but we've always called Old Corona." He explained. "It's a German speaking country. My dad is the only native Russian speaker I know and he moved there from Umbra."

"Umbra?" She asked confused.

"The Dark Kingdom." Varian explained. "It's a region that's far north of Corona. So far that the days are really short and nothing can grow up there, according to my dad that is. I've never been there."

"So it's like the frozen tundra? I'm guessing Corona is warmer then."

"Warm enough to grow things, but not nearly as hot as it is here in San Fansokyo."

Carol laughed, "You wanna talk about hot? I grew up down in Mississippi."

"Mississippi? That's..that's the state with the really big river in it, right?" Varian asked, trying to recall what little he knew of the place.

This only elected more laughter from the pretty girl. "Yeah, that's the one. This is my first year here, music major, I moved from Tupelo and it's not only hot but muggy. The humidity was murder on my curls. It couldn't stop them frizzing no matter what I tried."

"Oh, well, I think your hair looks nice." Varian complemented.

"Oh, why thank you!" Her whole face lit up and her grin became even wider. She raised her hand to her head to give a light pat to the side of her afro. "I spent all mornin' styling it for the party. Not many people understand how much work goes into keeping hair like this lookin' good. How about you? Do you dye your hair yourself or go to get it done?"

"Oh, uh," Varian's brain stalled as he realized she was talking about his stripe of blue hair. "It's not dyed at all…this? This was a...a..a lab accident. I can't seem to get rid of it." He awkwardly laughed and pushed his bangs to the side before taking another gulp of his beer.

She suppressed a snicker. "A lab accident? What do y'all do over there at that nerd school?"

"Well I'm researching portal technology, but all kinds experiments go on there all the time." He said, happy to steer the conversation away from his mysterious physical anomaly.

"Portals? Like the kind that's suppose to let you travel all over the world or even enter another other worlds?"

"Yup." He gave a proud smile.

"That's sooo cool!" She cheered. "Y'all over there makin' sci-fi a reality and all I'm doing is singing for my supper."

"You're a singer? Like for musicals or opera?" He asked enthusiastically.

"Well I'm in the choral program here at SFAI, so I can technically sing opera, but really I wanna be a pop singer. I'm hoping after college I can move down to L.A. and try my luck."

"Oh I bet you'll do great, and then I can tell people I met a real life pop star."

She giggled, "You haven't even heard me sing yet. How do ya know?"

"Well then let's hear it!" He encouraged and then took another swig of his drink. He was beginning to relax and his more outgoing nature was starting to show. Though whether that was because of the alcohol or the attention he was receiving from the lovely young woman before him, he couldn't tell.

She laughed harder. "Oh no! I can't! There ain't even any music to sing too."

"Then let's make some." He said as he leaned down closer to her with a cheshire grin across his face. She was lot shorter than him and for once it felt good to be the taller person in a conversation. "If ya got a guitar or piano lying around, I could play something for ya to sing too."

She bit her lip in thought, "I think Jake might have one over at the frat house. We could go ask him." She said then she grab Varian's sleeve and they both ran out the door.

-----------------------------

Varian stood next to the bus stop waiting for the tram to arrive. Carol came along with him to see him off. He had thoroughly enjoyed the party and he hated to leave. He felt more at ease here than he had in weeks and he was really hitting things off with this new girl. But he had promised Aunt Cass and he took promises very seriously.

"It's sweet that you help out your aunt, but it's a shame you have to leave so early. It's only 12:30." Carol said.

"Yeah, I know, but I gotta be up by six to unlock the doors to the cafe. You should come by sometime. I'll make you my patented special."

"What's that?" She asked.

"Shortbread cookies and an espresso."

She giggled, "Did you bake the cookies homemade?"

"Sure did." He gave her a wink which only ignited more laugher between them. They were both lightheaded from drink and merriment and would laugh at just about anything.

"Ooooh you know what!" Carol suddenly exclaimed. "You should come dancing with us tomorrow night. We're going to Monroe's for Jessica's birthday."

"You sure she'd want me around. I mean we don't really know each other.." Varian had met Carol's friends at the party. They all seemed like nice people and they had included him readily into their little group. They played games and music and generally just goofed around all night. But even then he didn't want to intrude.

"Oh it'll be fine. The more the merrier! I'll text her right now and tell her you're comin'."

She pulled out her phone and typed up a message. They heard the ding that indicated that she had gotten her reply.

"She says, 'Sure, and bring a gift.'" Carol rolled her eyes. "She's jokin'. You don't have to get her nothin'."

"Naw, it's her birthday. I'll get her a card at least. If I can get off work."

Just then the bus pulled up.

"Here, let me give you my number real quick." Carol offered and Varian handed her his phone. She entered her name and number into his contacts. "Let me know if you can come and I'll text you the address." She said as she handed him back the device. "It's easy to find and you can just meet us there."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll be there." He waved goodbye and got on the bus to head back home.

-----------------------------

Varian was almost to the cafe when saw Hiro and Baymax standing in the doorway. Baymax was wobbling back and forth while the smaller boy was trying and failing to push him inside. It didn't help matters that they were still dressed in their armour and Baymax was almost too tight to fit.

"Come ooon…" Hiro spotted him as he came up. "Hey, lend a hand?" He asked.

Varian did and together the started to push.

"Why not enter in another way?" He grunted.

"Ahh...well…" Hiro stumbled but Baymax answered for him.

"Oh Hey, VarAI-ann,...We JUMped OFF a rooooffff..f and into the traaaashhh.." The robot slurred.

"His battery is low." Hiro explained. "It's hard to get him to follow orders when he gets like this."

"You have weird haaair." Baymax lent down to examine Varian's hair stripe more closely.

Varian gave the robot an extra hard push to stop him from commenting further. It was just what was needed. All three of them landed in a heap on the floor. They froze, worried that they may have woken Aunt Cass.

However it was only Mochi that greeted them.

"HAIRy baBY" Baymax exclaimed and got up to chase after the cat.

The boys ran after him. Which caused only more of a commotion.

Hiro casted his eyes about looking for a way to distract the robot while Varian fruitlessly tugged on the machine's arm. That's when Ruddiger popped up beside him, curious as to what was going on. In a panic Hiro grabbed the raccoon and held him out in front of the robot's face.

"Hey look Baymax! A cute trash panda!" Hiro backed away towards the stairs still holding the unfortunate raccoon in midair.

"He's not a trash panda!" Varian protested indignantly but was interrupted by Baymax suddenly changing course.

"Ooooo" he cooed and made off after Hiro and this new object of interest, which sent Varian tumbling to the ground.

Hiro managed to get the robot to follow him up stairs to the second floor with Varian following close behind, casting annoyed glares at both of them.

"Cooome on… juuust a little further...oof!" Ruddiger had had enough and wiggled out of Hiro's grasp and jumped on his head. He tried to grab the raccoon before he got away but that just made the creature struggle harder, knocking off his helmet and pushing him to the ground as it bounded away up the second flight of stairs.

Varian laughed. "Ha! Serves you right for calling him a 'trash panda'."

"Awwww….masked BAby go BYE bye." The robot said in disappointment and then turned to wobbled into the upstairs kitchen instead.

Hiro gave an indistinct whine in frustration and Varian just rolled his eyes before following after the robot once more.

Hiro picked himself up and dragged himself into the kitchen slumping down into a dining room chair in defeat. He rested his head on the table while he wearily eyed Baymax who was now playing with a drinking glass. The robot had amused itself with rolling the glass back and forth and back and forth.

"How did the party go?" Hiro asked.

"Fine." Varian said as he walked over to the sink to pour himself a glass of water.

"Did you paint anything?" Hiro said teasingly.

"It wasn't a painting party."

"Then what kind of party was it?" Hiro asked confused.

Varian shrugged "Just a regular party." He dismissed before taking a long gulp of water.

Hiro watched him with growing suspicion. "Then why did you tell Aunt Cass that it was?"

"Because I didn't tell her. All I said was that it was a party. What's the big deal?"

Hiro frowned and then he sniffed the air as if just now noticing something. "What's that smell?"

"Who ever smelt it dealt it." Varian sneered.

"No! It's not that!" Hiro protested. "No. It smells.. yeasty…like .. like I don't know.." Hiro racked his brain trying to describe what the smell was and where he had come across it before. "Like whenever Aunt Cass tries to make beer battered fish…" he paused and looked at Varian who had stood there frozen and pensive.

"I LIKE Fisshyes.." Baymax slurred but both boys ignored him.

Hiro got up and walked over to Varian, the smell was definitely coming from him. "Were you drinking?" Hiro accused.

"So I had a beer at the party." Varian brushed him off. "Big deal."

Hiro placed a hand on Varian's shoulder to stop him from walking away. "Very big deal. Drinking is illegal."

"Nooo, purchasing alcohol if you're under 21 is illegal." Varian corrected and firmly removed Hiro's hand. "The law doesn't say anything about just drinking it. Besides it's stupid law anyways."

"I don't care how stupid you think it is." Hiro admonished. "There's a reason for it. Drinking's unhealthy and dangerous."

Varian gave a sardonic laugh."Oh and soda isn't? Hiro, you don't get it. I've been drinking beer since I was five. We drink it in Corona like you do coke cola. Besides one beer isn't going to hurt you. It can't even get you drunk." He rolled his eyes, put the glass of water down, and started to leave.

Hiro wasn't ready to give up the argument just yet though. "Oh, so you think that makes it okay to lie to Aunt Cass and then just sneak off to who knows where?"

Varian stopped in his tracks and screwed up his face in anger before rounding on the other teen. "Oh and look who's the one wearing armor and sneaking a robot back into the house in the middle of the night! I told Aunt Cass where I was going and I went there and I came back on time just like she asked. You've been lying to her since before I ever even arrived."

"That's different!"

"Is it!? Is it really, Hiro? How many lectures have I had to sit through just to cover your butt? How many lies have I had to tell to keep your secret? How many times have I had to step in before you got hurt? Yet, I go out to have fun for one night, to just be normal for once, and suddenly I'm the bad guy."

Hiro pouted and angry tears stung his eyes, but he couldn't come up with a response.

"Ssssh… you'll wake the Hairy Baby…" Baymax's voice pierced the silence and the boys turned to find him now cradling Mochi in his arms. "Who'sss a good BAby...wh-who'sss a goooood baBY."

"You're robot's more drunk than I am." Varian said flatly.

Hiro sighed in exasperation, "It's not about that.."

"Then what is it!?" Varian angrily interrupted, "That I'm not a goody two shoes like you? That I'm a jail bird while the rest of y'all are superheroes? That I'm not Mr. Perfect like Tadashi was?"

"N-no.." Hiro backed away in shock, but before he could gather his wits Varian pressed on.

"Look, go ahead and tell Aunt Cass." He said bitterly."See if I care. I'm going to go take a shower." He then turned around on his heel and stormed down the hall to the bathroom.

"Varian…" Hiro ran after him but the other teen just slammed the door in his face.

Hiro angrily pounded on the door but Varian ignored him and Hiro could hear the sound of the faucet being turned on. He turned away defeated as he debated on what to do. Just then the door to Aunt Cass's bedroom started to open.

Hiro looked down at the armor he was still wearing terrified. He then dove into the living room, flung himself on the couch, and wrapped the throw blanket around seconds before Aunt Cass walked in.

She yawned and mussed up her hair "Hiro is that you?" She said sleepily.

"Y-yeah" he squeaked.

She walked over to him and tenderly ran her hand through his hair. He tensed, knowing how close he was to being caught.

"How was your study group?"

"Fine."

She paused and listen to the water running. "Did Varian make it in?"

"Yeah, h-he's taking a shower right now." Hiro sighed. If he was going to tell Aunt Cass what had happened now would be the time, but his mind still raced with worry and indecision.

"Oh, well I hope he had a good time at the party." She yawned again. "I'm glad your both back safe." She kissed Hiro on the forehead. "Don't stay up too late, okay."

"O-okay."

She headed back to bed but stopped long enough to wish Hiro a happy fourth.

"You..you too."

"Next time we should plan ahead for all us to go on a trip or something." She smiled.

"Sounds great." Hiro responded with a strained voice and he only relaxed when heard Aunt Cass close the door to her room. Only to tense up a again as he heard a loud crash come from the kitchen along with cat hissing in anger. When Aunt Cass didn't reamerge he let out a long weary sigh. He still needed to pull Baymax back into his charging case.

However, before he went to do so, Hiro paused long enough to look at a picture of him and Tadashi hanging on the wall.

"What would you do?" He asked the picture in despair. He felt so lost. Tadashi would have known how to reach Varian, Hiro was sure of it. But he wasn't Tadashi.

Another crash came and Hiro shoved aside his worries with a heavy sigh before checking on his robot.

#varian #hiro #tangled #big hero six #Honey lemon #aunt cass #baymax #tangled the series #rapunzel's tangled adventure #of rocks and robots #bh6

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black-hippie-moonchild · 4 years

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Twenty Five: Zodiac.

Listed below are (depressingly accurate) traits from each sign of the zodiac. mark off the ones that apply to you, and see which one you are most like. Use X if you completely agree and / if you somewhat agree.

♈ ARIES. (MARCH 21 - APRIL 19)

[ x ] you have a tendency to not finish things you start.

[ x] you are very conscious of what people think of you, and you let it impact you deeply.

[ ] you’re impulsive and spontaneous.

[ ] you are very headstrong and hard to sway.

[ ] you are more likely to take your own approach to something rather than go by conventional methods.

[ ] you’re not afraid to say what you think, but sometimes you forget how what you think might make other people feel.

[x] you are young at heart.

[ x ] you love to experience new things, even though you bore of them quickly.

[ x ] you can be very jealous.

[ ] you know how to make the best out of any situation.

5/10

♉ TAURUS. (APRIL 20 - MAY 20)

[ ] you are very possession-oriented, and have a hard time sharing your belongings.

[ x] you are extremely affectionate.

[ x ] you have great tolerance, and it takes you a lot to reach a breaking point.

[ x ] but when you do, it’s disastrous.

[ ] you like to take things slow and know what you’re getting into.

[ x] you have never been one for change.

[ x] you can’t stand to be challenged.

[ x ] you have a firmly set comfort zone, and it irritates you when people tamper with it.

[ x ] you are especially reliable, and you are always there for people who need you.

[ ] you always keep your promises without fail.

7/10

♊ GEMINI. (MAY 21 - JUNE 20)

[ ] your dominant trait is absolutely your love of communication.

[ x] you are naturally a very curious person, but since you flutter from one thing to another so often, you aren’t one to appreciate the deeper aspects of an experience.

[ x ] you are all about logic. things need to make sense to you.

[x ] you are very restless and active, in both body and mind.

[ ] you tend to be two faced.

[ ] you are a very critical person.

[ ] you are a cynic.

[ ] you thrive on change and hate being in the same environment for an extended period of time.

[ x ] once someone betrays you, you have difficulty trusting them again.

[ x] you are very unpredictable.

5/10

♋ CANCER. (JUNE 21 - JULY 22)

[ x ] who you are as a person is deeply affected by your childhood.

[ x ] you are very in touch with emotions, to the point where you can almost instantly tell how someone else is genuinely feeling.

[x ] you need a place you can call your own, which is why you value ‘home’

[ ] you love kids.

[ x] you are very affected by other people’s problems, and have a knack for putting yourself in the shoes of other people.

[ x ] you dislike confrontation.

[ x] you have always valued your heart over your mind.

[ x ] you hate being told what to do.

[ x ] your moods are very fluid, as you are very sensitive.

[ x ] if you like someone, you accept them into your heart just the way they are.

9/10

♌ LEO. (JULY 23 - AUGUST 22)

[ x ] you would move heaven and earth for the people you care about.

[ x ] you would never consider yourself petty.

[ x ] you are naturally a very generous person.

[ ] for you, there is nothing worse than losing.

[ ] in arguments, you come across as stubborn and hot headed, but you just want to justify your actions and explain why you believe you’re right.

[ ] you set very high, occasionally unreasonable expectations.

[ x ] your ego is the size of a small planet.

[ x ] unlike Gemini, you dislike change, and would much rather have stability in your life.

[ x ] one of your talents is making people feel special.

[ ] you love being in the limelight, and it roots from a need to be appreciated.

6/10

♍ VIRGO. (AUGUST 23 - SEPTEMBER 22)

[ x ] you like to dream and fantasize, but in the grand scheme of things, you are realistic and won’t waste time on the impossible.

[ x ] you know exactly what you want, you just don’t know how to get it.

[ x ] education is very important to you.

[ x ] all you really want is to feel useful.

[ x ] you never lose your cool.

[ x ] you second guess yourself a lot, and majority of the time, you don’t think you’re good enough.

[ x ] you don’t mind going the extra mile, even for people you don’t really know.

[] you are not overly emotional, and you sometimes perceive them as messy, embarrassing or even a weakness.

[ x ] you are deep and reflective.

[ x ] you would rather be lonely than settle for less.

9/10

♎ LIBRA. (SEPTEMBER 23 - OCTOBER 22)

[ x ] you are very laid back and you don’t mind a lot of things.

[ x ] you are fascinated with people, and you love to understand others.

[ x ] you dread hurting other people’s feelings.

[ x ] you are very charming.

[ x ] you would rather look at life through rose-tinted glasses than acknowledge the negatives.

[ x ] you are very focused on balance. if someone pushes you, you will push them right back.

[ x ] you are indecisive.

[ x ] you wish more people would give peace a chance.

[ x ] you become annoyed when you spot unoriginality in others.

[ x ] you will never forget to let the people you love know how much you care about them.

10/10

♏ SCORPIO. (OCTOBER 23 - NOVEMBER 21)

[ x ] if someone tries too hard to control you, nothing will hold you back from rebelling.

[ ] you are vindictive.

[ x ] you prefer to keep your feelings to yourself.

[ x ] you can see right through people when they lie to you.

[ x ] you can always be trusted with secrets. always.

[ x ] you are horrified of being made vulnerable.

[ ] you have complete control over your emotions. people only see what you let them see, and you prefer it this way.

[ ] you do not desire approval from anyone; you’re content to do your own thing.

[ ] you can be pretty blunt.

[ x ] people often say you’re a mystery.

6/10

♐ SAGITTARIUS. (NOVEMBER 22 - DECEMBER 21)

[ ] you’re a risk-taker. you’ve never been afraid to act on a hunch.

[ x ] you love to learn and gain knowledge. wisdom in general is something you find very, very respectable.

[ x ] freedom means the world to you.

[ x ] you’re not a dishonest person, and very rarely will you take advantage of someone to get what you want.

[ x ] a lot of people think you have a great sense of humor.

[ x ] you are very carefree by nature, but occasionally you tend to be careless.

[] you don’t freely hand out compliments, but when you do give them, you mean them.

[ ] you love a challenge. if something comes too easily, your interest in it will disappear.

[ ] you are very enthusiastic about life.

[ ] you are generally upbeat and happy-go-lucky.

5/10

♑CAPRICORN. (DECEMBER 22 - JANUARY 19)

[ x ] you are very reliable, but you have a hard time relying on other people.

[ x ] you don’t know how to ask for help.

[ ] you finish everything you start.

[ x ] you hate making mistakes, no matter how small.

[ x ] you don’t like talking about your deeper emotions, and you get really irritated when people try to make you.

[ x ] you are far more complicated than people believe you to be.

[ x ] you may come across as harmless, but you are tough as a keg of nails.

[ x ] you like to be in charge of everything in your life.

[] you always stand your ground.

[ ] a trait you hate to see in someone is vulnerability, and you might find yourself taking advantage of someone who tends to play the ‘victim’ role.

7/10

♒ AQUARIUS. (JANUARY 20 - FEBRUARY 18)

[ ] emotions can be scary for you.

[ x ] you are a walking contradiction. you want freedom, yet you want protection. you want to be alone, yet you want the laughter and adventures that only other people can bring you.

[ ] you are not the jealous type.

[ x ] you are an inventor. you live in today’s world, but think in tomorrow’s world.

[ ] you rebel for the sake of rebelling. you love to shock.

[ x ] you won’t change for anyone. someone must either take you as you are, or stay out of your path.

[ x ] you like to listen to other people’s opinions and views, even if you disagree. you aren’t at all unreasonable.

[ x ] no matter how close you get to someone, there will always be a part of you reserved for yourself.

[ ] much like leo, you expect less than practical things of people.

[ x ] you’re more interested in being a friend than making more friends.

6/10

♓ PISCES. (FEBRUARY 19 - MARCH 20)

[ x ] you are very artistic, to the point where you can’t keep it in. art is your life.

[ x ] you have no emotional boundaries. you feel practically everything.

[ x ] you are very, very open minded. you would never put anyone down because of their beliefs.

[ x ] you have your head in the clouds maybe too often.

[ x ] you want a fairytale romance.

[ x ] sometimes you tend to see things less as what actually happened, and more as what you wished happened instead.

[ x ] if you’re excited about something, you become a dog with a bone. you could talk about it all day.

[ x ] you are capable of surprisingly biting sarcasm.

[ x ] you have a hard time accepting criticism.

[ x ] you hold onto people who are bad for you.

10/10

My Result: Libra/Pisces

My Actual Sign: Cancer

#survey #zodiac #astrology #me #aries #taurus #gemini #cancer #leo #virgo #libra #scorpio #sagittarius #capricorn #aquarius #pisces #like #love #reblog #follow #quiz

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jimlingss · 4 years

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Thank you, everyone, for your words of encouragement. In this short amount of time, I’ve been absolutely overwhelmed with messages of support. I want to reassure you all that I’m by no means as hurt as some of you think, or at least not after so much kindness. I’ve always encouraged all kinds of feedback!! From compliments to constructive criticism. And I’m (supposedly) an Adult™, so I can definitely take someone’s opinion.

Regardless, thank you to everyone who reached out to me. I want to respond to each and everyone of you under this post so I don’t flood other people’s dashes.

Anonymous said: about the anon who said your fics lack emotion, hmm i wouldn't quite agree tbh, i remember reading tears of a villian and deadass crying, it hurt me so much!! also, in "fall in hatred" their feeling are so well portrayed and i could understand why they acted a certain way! to conlclude, there is always some space for constructive criticism but your stories, are to me, something very attentively built and created, it's apparent that you completely enjoy writing, I can feel your enthusiasm!!

--to that anon; pls don't get this wrong way but it's just the way I see it and I've read quite a lot till now

nah deadass crying isn’t good enough anymore, anon. You have to be keening and violently sobbing until you’re brought into the ER for my fics to be considered to have emotion. lol I’m only kidding, thank you for the message.

peachiest-hun said: To that anon who said your work lacked emotions, I beg to differ! I have read Jungle Park so many times I know at exactly which chapter when the heavy angst starts happening and I read those parts when I just want to have a good cry (I still cry every. single. time)! Also Head Over Heels to Hell, The Colour of Our Voices, Love So Shallow (because I so relate with OC), and many more have given me the FEELS (happy and sad ones). 1/2

So what I'm trying to say is that Jimlingss is doing a great job in her craft. She does deliver emotions in her work and the reason I love it so much is that it's SUBTLE and not completely in your face. Sometimes emotions that are subtle and they hit you slowly, but powerfully it hurts even more for me. On another note, I'm loving Sugar and Coffee. In times of darkness which are often these days, I have something to look forward to every week to keep me motivated. So thank you Jimlinggs! 2./2

Istg Jungle Park is one of the most unexpectedly beloved fics on my blog but I love it hahaha I can’t believe you’ve read it to the point of knowing what chapter is what though. that’s an honour. There’s definitely stories of mine that are less subtle than others, but I’m glad that you enjoy the latter of them too :’) Thank you.

Anonymous said: This is my first time ever leaving a message on someone’s tumblr, but I just felt that I HAD to after reading that anon’s comment about your stories lacking emotion. I wholly disagree (in the nicest way possible, not throwing any shade at anyone). I’ve read all of your fics (for the past two years) and I look forward to when you release new material (the highlight of my Mondays right now after I come home from working at a clinic). Your stories have really lifted my mood during this pandemics an

Anonymous said: Sorry for that long tangent. Don’t even know if I made sense. You don’t have to respond to any of this, but you deserve to hear some positive words as well.

Oh my god. Did I just take your tumblr-message virginity? asdfghjkl I’m kidding. but thank you for reaching out to me. I can’t believe you’ve been around for such a long time and that I’m a part of your Monday routine :’)

Anonymous said: OK that ask about "constructive criticism" was def imo RUDE. You don't just anonymously go into someone's asks and bluntly tell an author that their fics "lack emotion". That is not the way to encourage someone to improve and continue to work hard. That's just flat out mean. That person clearly doesn't care about your feelings or the fact that you write and share your stories for FREE for us to enjoy. I love your stories and appreciate what you've shared with us. Thank you for your hard work ❤️

I like to give the benefit of the doubt to anons and anyone sending me a message online in general. God knows there were times I meant well but it was received wrongly. But anyway, my mind was more boggled than I was hurt, that’s one thing for sure.

joonie-mono said: + it was called love so shallow which genuinely made me see myself in a character, but my point was that your writing has a specific feel to it, it's made me laugh and cry (His Name personally killed me :] ) and that's my opinion. You and your writing are amazing and I'm sorry but that anon was just so wrong.

oof bringing out the evidence. be my attorney please.

Anonymous said: As someone who has read your entire masterlist (and going through it again) i will have to wholeheartedly disagree with that anon. The way you portray SO many emotions in your fics is *chefs kiss* and I honestly thought that the ones that “lack emotion” were meant to be that way, with an open ending, the idea that their love just started, soo.... yeah, I’ll have to disagree.

There are definitely stories of mine that are a bit looser on romance. Such as Kitchen Romance, The President’s Son, The Heiress’ Son, Arcadia, etc. But I have a loooot of fics that are quite emphasized in either despair/sadness or cute fluff.

ladyartemesia said: ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I am here to disrespectfully disagree with anon who probably doesn’t write effing ANYTHING and has no idea what it takes to produce the content you do. I have followed for months and I’m still not through your masterlist BECAUSE reading your stories is a bloomin EMOTIONAL EVENT. When I read Brass and Strings, I LOST A WHOLE DAY. Like I was so into it, my DAY was gone. Anon is prolly salty there isn’t more smut I guess. That’s whatever for them. (Part 1)

It’s subtle, deep, meaningful, and incredible and you’re one of my favorite authors. I can’t FOR A SECOND let that comment go cause it’s RIDICULOUS. You’re literally so gifted. You don’t need to change a thing. Every artist, no matter their medium, should continue to improve. So in that sense I wish you all the growth in the world as you work towards the perfection of your craft. BUT SERIOUSLY you’re an incredible writer. That anon is loony. I’m so sorry you had to even read those crazy words.

As I answer these messages, it’s starting to feel like I’m the third party mediator of a dispute and all y’all are just HAMMERING it to this anon, LOL. I’m not sure if the anon is necessarily requesting for more smut but if they are, they might be happy this Friday (*COUGH spoiler for those actually reading my responses)

Anyway, you’re too kind. thank you. I am definitely not as hurt as I was earlier.

((and tbh you’re hilarious, you’re actually making me laugh irl))

krystle1990 said: Woah!! Ok first that Anon is absolutely crazy. I literally stalk your page for new work being put out! I probably blow up your notifications daily. I've never been disappointed in any of your work. You always give a heads up if it will take time for the characters to realize their feelings which I absolutely love. It always leaves me ready for the next part and I am glued to my phone with every update. You're amazing and I can't wait to see how you grow with your work. 💜😘

ASDFGHJKL PLEASEEE if it’s someone who’s worried about blowing up notifications, it’s me. To those who have notifications on I sincerely can’t fathom how often I blow up people’s phones. I digress, I always give out warnings to keep people patient since I know slow burn can be excruciating haha thank you for the message.

kigurumu said: Also just want to add that saying you have good intentions or "don't mean to be mean" does not cancel out whatever offensive thing you just said. IT WILL STILL RUDE. Not saying all negative feedback is bad. Criticism can be hard to take no matter how it's phrased, but telling a writer to be more like another writer is like telling them their style isn't good enough which is NOT helpful. Your writing is your own. If the anon wants to read fics that are like gukyi's, they can read gukyi's fics 🙄

Also I've been waiting until Sugar and Coffee is done so I can binge it all at once but avoiding spoilers from all the asks is so hard haha! I keep seeing all these good things about it and I'm SO tempted to just read it now but I've already waited this long so I don't wanna give up kfnrjrofvjskdh guess I'll reread your other fics in the meantime

The message was fine on its own but I think dragging in another writer at the end was definitely not ok. When will comparing writers end. But regardless, gukyi and I are cool with one another - i mean we wrote 100k together so it’s gonna have to take a reverse Zuko arc for us to be on bad terms lol

Anyway, oooh you’re one of those bingers. Can’t say I blame you cause I love binging myself, so it’s understandable for readers to wait till the series is over. and since you were so kind in following up your original message with two more and expressing so much appreciation for me :’), I’ll let you know that the finale of Sugar and Coffee will be posted by July 20th! by then, the entire series will be completed.

Anonymous said: Tbh i think that neither you nor that anon is wrong. Some people like it more romanticised and cheesy, some people dont. I believe that your stories are more on the realistic side of life. People (whom your characters represent) cant always be cheesy and passionate for love, there are other things in life! Maybe you're just the type who's too realistic for any hopeless romantic things like i am and it's fine. Not all writers can write dramatic romance

Tbh, I agree. It’s a matter of opinion and there’s no one wrong in the fight of opinions. As I’ve said many times on my blog, the cringe factor varies between person to person. What someone might think is fluffy is absolutely cringey to another. What someone might think is a good amount of fluff is not enough for someone else. I’ve written a lot. And I’ve made sure to add lots of variations between the amount of romance in my stories. Indeed, some are definitely more subtle and “realistic” while others are completely cheesy and makes me gag from the amount of sugar in it lol I just think the anon should take a look at more of my stories before coming up with such a conclusive opinion.

Anonymous said: I’ve been reading your fics for over a year now and religiously follow updates every week. Why? Because they make me feel something whether it be joy from fluff or grief from angst. I’ll remember a story of yours months after I first read it and return to it just to feel those emotions again. I understand that emotional responses are usually subjective but I think that anon needs to read your works again, because they sure are missing out.

I replied to that anon that they should check out more of my fics and then come back to tell me if they haven’t changed their minds, so I don’t know if they’re missing out or not lol

I don’t expect my stories to elicit emotional responses or fanatic feedback for everyone. God knows there’s been other people’s writing styles that just didn’t resonate with me no matter how hard I tried to read their stories. But all I ask is that people try. It’s fine if you give up halfway but at least try reading. That’s fair to ask, right?

#Anonymous #peachiest-hun #joonie-mono #ladyartemesia #krystle1990 #kigurumu

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chicagocityfclanspromoblog · 3 years

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Breha Kaur → Hannah Simone → Bengal Fox Shifter

→ Basic Information

Age: 142

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Straight

Born or Made: Born

Birthday: January 16th

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn

Religion: Hinduism

→ Her Personality

Breha tends to be the bright light in the room, always flashing smiles meant to dazzle. She always puts that part of herself first, focused on making sure her first impression is the best one. As a reporter, she knows that her greatest asset for her career is the people’s opinion of her. Those who know her well are also very aware of the fact that Breha can be very pompous and obsessive, and she’s not afraid to lord her achievements over others. At least behind closed doors. She finds it easy to make friends, but keeping them is another story. She is very work focused and often that means she neglects her relationships with those who are outside of the pack or her immediate job circle.

Sly as a fox describes Breha well. She isn’t afraid to do what she needs to do in order to get ahead, and that includes undermining others or finding ways to make them fall out of the good graces of those who are over them. She has done more than her fair share of destruction to other people’s jobs.

→ Her Personal Facts

Occupation: Reporter

Scars: Long one on her left leg

Tattoos: None

Two Likes: Kombucha and Puzzles

Two Dislikes: Bad Fashion and Whining

Two Fears: Guns and Blood

Two Hobbies: Ice Skating and Scrapbooking

Three Positive Traits: Sociable, Ebullient, Amiable

Three Negative Traits: Sly, Pompous, Obsessive

→ Her Connections

Parent Names:

Akash Kaur (Father): Akash wanted Breha to be quick about starting her own family, but has come to realize that his daughter is more work focused. He keeps pushing for her to take a step back and look at her life, but thus far his pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

Chandra Kaur (Mother): Breha and her mother were far closer than Breha is with her father. Chandra is the one that nurtured Breha’s love of writing and then reporting. She never misses a time when Breha is on the screen.

Sibling Names:

Lalan Kaur (Brother): Lalan always looks out for Breha and is what you might consider the stereotypical overprotective brother. It drives Breha crazy, but she loves him.

Gayatri Kaur (Sister) Gayatri and Hastin are twins and often used this to play pranks on the entire family. They still get up to mischief and it can often be directed at Breha because they think she is too uptight. Gayatri is the artistic type and has taken to drawing political cartoons for a couple papers.

Hastin Kaur (Sister): Gayatri and Hastin are twins and often used this to play pranks on the entire family. They still get up to mischief and it can often be directed at Breha because they think she is too uptight. Hastin does actually want to follow in Breha’s footsteps, at least to becoming a reporter.

Children Names:

None

Romantic Connections:

None

Platonic Connections:

Emmanuel Flores (Anchor): Emmanuel seems to be friendly, but Breha has the feeling that he groups her in with the other foxes in the pack, much to her dismay.

Liz Snow (Friend): Breha and Liz have been friends for years and have a relaxed friendship. They’re both hard working and have busy schedules. They have realistic expectations of each other and know not to take it personally when one of them falls off the face of the earth for a while and don’t return phone calls.

Austin Semler (Friendly): Breha is very fond of his photos in the magazine and is always quick to compliment him. However, she isn’t someone who gets super close to many people and thus they are not close.

Milton Rod Jackman (Coworker): Much like most in her pack, Breha isn’t overly close with Rod, but she does like the work he does and is more than happy to work with him on projects.

Lee Boaz (Friendly): She is a little closer to the twins than others in the pack simply because they are foxes like she is. She doesn’t always agree with their work, particularly when it is directed at the members of their pack, as it has made things a little harder on her. She enjoys Lee’s photographs and has asked him to get photographic evidence for her on more than one occasion.

Tim Boaz (Friendly): She is a little closer to the twins than others in the pack simply because they are foxes like she is. She doesn’t always agree with their work, particularly when it is directed at the members of their pack, as it has made things a little harder on her. Tim and Breha have worked together more than once on their reporting and she enjoys doing so. He is a good reporter in her opinion even if she feels like he wastes it from time to time on celebrity pieces.

Bryce Holt (Friend): Bryce and Breha met when the two crossed paths at a fashion event and hit it off. Breha enjoys meeting up with Bryce for brunch and Bryce doesn’t seem to mind when Breha gets so fixated on her work that she vanishes for weeks at a time. Bryce is Breha’s go to for fashion advice when she has a need for a different look.

D.W. Colt (Friendly): Breha has covered court cases on multiple occasions and has always done everything she could to make sure she was respectful to the victims. She started connecting with D.W. in order to make sure that she kept that going and the two have become friendly. D.W. has given her some exclusives for her to use in her reporting under the agreement that it be handled with great care.

Maya Morris (Friendly): Maya is a Rat Shifter that Breha met around the same time as Bryce. She is fashion conscious and always seems to be dressed the best which Breha respects. Her attitude is something that Breha does find to be slightly grating but she is young and it reminds Breha of her younger sisters. Breha and Maya have gone to a couple fashion events together.

Hostile Connections:

Edith Walker (Dislike): Breha and Edith had started off on the wrong foot the day they met. Their personalities are constantly crashing against each other. Edith has continued to make sharp off handed comments and Breha has continued to be a pompous snoot. HR has invited them both into her office multiple times over the years and it has done nothing but add fuel to their fights.

Pets:

None

→ History

→ The Present

(paragraph(s) on how the character connects to the plot)

→ Available Gif Hunts (we do not own these)

Hanna Simone [1][2][3]

#hanna simone #fantasy rpg #city rpg #oc rpg #supernatural rpg

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