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peterstanslizzie · 3 years

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Re-watching Lizzie Mcguire: Episode 2.10 (Working Girl)

Lizzie unintentionally breaking the fourth wall

- Have we already established the fact that Lizzie (not Hilary) is a really bad actress? She tries to butter her parents up by giving them compliments to get them to kindly raise her allowance. But of course, they are able to see right through her and give her a big fat NO. Lizzie is fuming!

Poor Miranda!

- The natural thing for Lizzie to do after this is to then vent to her friends at the Digital Bean. Miranda spots a ‘busboy wanted’ sign in the distance and tries to tell Lizzie that she could get a job to pay for her things. Lizzie is too busy in her rant to even notice what she’s trying to tell her but for some strange reason, when Gordo points it out to her instead, she suddenly pays attention and hears him out. Weird.

- Anyways, Lizzie easily gets the job and her first day is tomorrow. She thinks it’s going to be a piece of cake. Don’t jinx it Lizzie...

- The next morning, Lizzie announces her new job to her parents and they are taken aback because they didn’t expect her to get one all of a sudden. They are also worried that she’s taking on too many responsibilities and there might be too much on her plate. I think it’s safe to say they’re probably right.

Lizzie Starts Her Job

- We skip to Lizzie on her first day working at the Digital Bean and she quickly realizes there’s a lot to do as the new busboy. And it doesn’t help that her manager seems to be a total nightmare to work for. She’s so bossy! I would hate having a manager like her.

- And it doesn’t get better from then on because Lizzie is starting to get paranoid about her friends making even the smallest mess in the café because she has to be the one to clean up after them. But you know what, who could blame her? Especially when you have these two around:

Can these two ever get a life?

- And unsurprisingly, Lizzie’s manager demands that she cleans up the spill when it’s so obvious that Kate and Claire were the ones who purposely caused it. Lizzie is now starting to feel regrets about taking this job.

- The next day (which I’m assuming is a Saturday?), Sam notices Lizzie looking distraught about having to go to work and tells her she can always quit if she wants to. He also lets Lizzie know that she’s just a kid and the only responsibilities she should have is being a good student, a good friend and a good daughter. Now that’s really solid advice from Sam...and Jo (because she probably told him to convince Lizzie to quit)

Lizzie Quits After....3 Days?

Lizzie’s better than me. I would’ve thrown that spoon right at his face lol

- During her shift that day, she’s dealing with a bunch of difficult customers, which, again, includes Kate and Claire. On top of that, her supervisor (whatever her name is) is just soooo not being understanding or thoughtful towards Lizzie.

Also, if I were Lizzie, I would’ve popped Claire in her forehead and quit my job afterwards. Lizzie could’ve gotten really hurt thanks to her.

That guy totally deserved that

- Lizzie has had enough and decides to give everyone who did her wrong a piece of her mind. I’m glad she manage to get that all out of her system but because of her rant, Lizzie gets fired from her role as busboy at the Digital Bean. But you know what? Good on her!

- After getting the pink slip, Lizzie comes home and tells her friends what just happened. She actually seems relieved that she doesn’t have to deal with the stress from her job anymore. Even just watching her work makes me feel stressed out.

B-Plot: Miranda Doesn’t Like Breaking Young Boy’s Hearts

- Matt is currently feeling down in the dumps because he thinks that Melina doesn’t want to be friends with him anymore. Well, more like doesn’t like him anymore. He expresses this to his friend, Reggie, whom I don’t think we’ve been introduced to beforehand.

- It’s not so much that Melina doesn’t talk to him anymore. It’s more so that she hasn’t been getting Matt into any trouble recently. I mean, we all know that this weird relationship of theirs has pretty toxic tendencies. But she’s actually now focusing her attention on this other boy named Jared.

- Reggie suggests to Matt that he ask his sister, Lizzie for some advice as to why Melina has been treating him differently these days. Matt hesitates at first but he realizes that he really has no other choice.

This made me laugh so much. Matt literally insinuated that Jo isn’t a girl. I mean, she is a woman but I’m sure his mom more than qualifies.

- Matt then shows up at Lizzie’s job to tell her about his problem. But their conversation is cut short by Lizzie’s manager. She’s beginning to really annoy me.

It also doesn’t help that Lizzie can be quite clumsy sometimes...

- While Lizzie is busy being a total mess at work, Matt is lucky enough to be able to ask Miranda for advice instead since she is, indeed a girl. Miranda basically tells him that it’s Melina’s problem and how she isn’t able to realize how great of a kid Matt is. She also had to add that there are others girls who would be so lucky to go out with him. See how this is going?

Look at Matt’s face; He totally just misunderstood Miranda’s intention in everything she just told him lol

And now he’s gone full-blown stalker mode. Yikes!

- The next day, Lizzie, Miranda and Gordo come home from school to chill at Lizzie’s place but Matt uses this opportunity to give Miranda a ‘thank-you’ card:

Oh my word. Miranda better run for the hills hahahaha. Also, does the music have to be THAT dramatic when she opens his card? LOL

- It’s one thing to have crushes but Matt takes it to a whole other level. I get that he’s like 11/12 but still...

He’s also now calling her and sending her a bunch of balloons with his and her face on them.

- On their three way call, Miranda is asking Gordo for his advice on how to gently turn Matt down. To my surprise, Miranda still doesn’t want to hurt Matt’s feelings and actually agrees to go on a bike-riding date with him. To be honest, if I were Miranda, it would also be hard for me to turn him down. I’m not exactly sure why. It must be the people pleaser in me...

By the way, is it weird that I love Miranda’s outfit here? Very Avril Lavigne circa 2002.

His smile...

- The next day, with Gordo’s support, Miranda tries to work up enough courage to reject Matt but before she could let it out, Melina marches into the living room and confronts Miranda for ‘stealing her man’. Yikes, Miranda just got dissed by an 11 year old lmao.

Melina just proved to all of us that she likes Matt back. That’s sweet...in a twisted kind of way.

- Oh and just like how Gordo pointed out, it’s quite embarrassing that Miranda just got dumped by Matt of all people. Again, poor Miranda...

- There’s also one last surprise for Miranda. Apparently Matt had a cake made for her that Lizzie has taken out of the fridge. And because of that, she has no other choice but to act like a pig and eat the frosting of the cake with her bare hands just to prevent Lizzie from seeing what’s written on the cake. I would have done the same thing lol.

Overall Thoughts

- I found this episode to be one the funniest Lizzie Mcguire episodes so far. I felt like almost every scene either made me slightly chuckle or laugh out loud. From Lizzie’s short stint at the Digital Bean as a busboy to Matt’s sudden crush on Miranda, I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish.

- Honestly speaking, had Matt been able to dial down the craziness in terms of ‘pursuing’ someone just like he did with Miranda, he actually knows how to be a pretty romantic kid. No wonder Melina likes controlling being around him. And seeing her confronting Miranda like that and basically telling her that she’s just a rebound was hilarious to watch.

- Lizzie’s new job as the busboy was fascinating to watch because it’s the first time we see her working a job and taking on responsibilities outside the house and school. Even though she got fired, I can’t imagine anyone being able to put up with that bossy manager. Like if the busboy turnover rate is consistently high, surely that has something to do with the work environment and the people running the internet café, right? Or can they at least hire more busboys to spread out the workload? Solutions people!

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luki-fanfic · 5 years

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Miraculous Ladybug - Kill Them with Kindness

So…Miraculous Ladybug has been disappointing for quite some time now. I can barely even watch the show any more. What started as a fun, sweet cartoon with a great premise has been all but run into the ground by bad writing, erratic characterisation, and very lazy setups. As such I’ve mostly been inhabiting the salt fic corner of the fandom, since their out of character scripts and personalities are at the very least, intentional.

However, after reading many, many ‘Marinette-snaps’ regarding Lila’s lies, I wondered how I would have written Marinette handling the situation. For me, I think it would involve slightly less salt, more spite, and a whole lot of petty vengeance on Marinette’s part as their ‘Everyday Ladybug,’ without turning the class into an obsessive anti-Marinette-mob.

This sort of ended up part fic/part summary, so apologies for that…

After two weeks of Lila’s lies, Marinette is near the end of her rope. She rants to Alya about her frustration, and Alya isn’t much help, since she suspects that Marinette’s anger has more to do with Lila’s closeness to Adrian. She is known to get jealous, and often takes things too seriously – remember her first impression on model boy?

Marinette insists this is different, and Alya tells her it doesn’t matter, because the class likes Lila. While Marinette might insist that Lila is fake, they haven’t seen any reason to disbelieve her. Like it or not, the class - Alya included – believe everything that Lila has said.

She expects Marinette to growl or groan in frustration. Possibly throwing up her hands and starting another thousand-words-in-thirty-seconds vent her way regarding Lila. What she doesn’t see coming, is Marinette freezing in place, her eyes wide in revelation. When she asks if Marinette is okay, the girl starts laughing, saying something about why she hadn’t realised it before. She can’t possibly handle Lila, but their class can.

Before Alya can question this, Marinette shakes off her episode, and asks Alya if Lila has any allergies she knows about. At the negative, she runs out the school gates, insisting there’s something she needs to do.

After lunch, Marinette goes up to Lila, and apologies for not welcoming her to the class properly. As class rep, it’s her responsibility to make sure everyone’s needs are met, and that’s what she’s going to do from now on. And as an apology, she went to her parents bakery and got an assortment of treats for the whole class.

Everyone is delighted Marinette has finally decided to bury the hatchet (although Alya and Adrian are very confused). Lila doesn’t know what’s gotten into her, but she’s certainly not going to back off just because Marinette has suddenly realised she can’t win. She says she’d love to try something, but she’s deathly allergic to certain ingredients. In reality, just being this close to them is very dangerous for her, and could Marinette please take them away?

Everyone is horrified, and Marinette puts the tray outside, but Lila is surprised to see something other than anger and frustration in Marinette’s eyes when she returns.

She apologies for not knowing about her allergies, because when she’d asked Alya, she hadn’t mentioned any. Lila – realising Marinette had been smart and covered her gesture – has to frantically cover and admit she doesn’t like to mention it as she just takes allergy medication to recover.

Marinette merely asks for a list of anything else Lila is allergic to – because she has other options from the bakery and would like to know for future reference. Lila rattles off a handful of ingredients she knows are in baked goods, and Marinette makes a point to write down everything Lila says she’s allergic too ‘for future reference,’ before taking the pastries to be thrown out.

Lila doesn’t know what to make of it, and while everyone is kind of irritated at being offered baked goods only to have them removed because Marinette ‘should have asked Lila about her allergies,’ she goes to lunch feeling smug. Right up until she goes to the cafeteria, and the lunch lady refuses to give her what she orders, ‘because of her allergies.’

Turns out, when Marinette went to throw out the treats, she did it by the cafeteria, and when they’d asked why she was throwing them out, she told them all about ‘poor Lila’ and her allergies. She was so sweet to take their food without complaint, no doubt she had to use an epi-pen every day. But now that they know, they’re going to make sure Lila has a perfectly safe meal. Of course, the number of things Lila can eat with her ‘allergies’ means she’s currently stuck with little more than plain white rice. She can’t counter it without admitting she lied, so she’s stuck with it for now.

Marinette is also getting smarter with Lila’s own words. No matter how she spins things, Marinette manages to turn it back on her. If Lila tries to trick Marinette with wordplay, she never insists ‘Lila said,’ but that it’s a classmate who told her – and then recites what they said verbatim. She can’t insist Marinette misunderstood unless she reveals she was misleading the classmate first.

A week later, Marinette is acting as class rep at the front of the class, trying to organise a class trip that’ll happen soon. Lila decides to use this to her advantage, and when Marinette suggests visiting a local restaurant near possible trip locations, Rose remembers that Lila ‘knows the owner’ of a much fancier 5 star restaurant very close to it. Lila grins and gets ready to play her role, ready to twist words and make it so Marinette refuses to let them go, only for Marinette to reply first.

“I can’t just ask Lila to use one of her connections like that,” she insists. “It would terribly rude of me to just assume someone could do that without them offering first.”

“Oh, I’m certain it wouldn’t be any bother at all,” Lila insists, trying to get the conversation on track. Marinette shakes her head, and repeats that she can’t possibly ask that of Lila – she doesn’t ask Alya to get her mother to host parties at the hotel, or get Adrian to ask his father for help with fashion connections, or get ask Alix to get them into the museum for free. it’s rude to demand someone use their connections, especially if they haven’t offered. However, if Lila wants to arrange it, that’s fine with Marinette.

Lila is completely thrown. Marinette has to know she doesn’t have the connection, so why is she letting it happen? The only possible theory she has is that Marinette wants to watch her fail, which is foolish. Lila will have plenty of time to manipulate things so that Marinette is the one that ruined the reservation.

…Except Marinette then asks Ms Bustier to make sure everything is okay and confirm the reservation a week beforehand, since Marinette is far too young and unconnected to get a reservation in such a fancy place. Lila can make the reservation and give it and the restaurant number to Ms Bustier to confirm. Everyone agrees that this totally makes sense, and Lila realises it means Marinette could never be blamed for it failing. She manages to save herself by spinning a lie about the restaurant being booked solid and while the boss would love to fit her in, they were just too big a number.

Everyone is disappointed, except Marinette, and Lila seizes on this, trying to make it seem like Marinette is happy they couldn’t go. Marinette insists nothing could be further from the truth, she’d love to visit the restaurant, but she’s not surprised they couldn’t fit them in. It’s such a busy restaurant, and even if Lila knows the boss, look at how busy Lila is most of the time. Successful places and people are always busy, and it was such short notice. She’s sure Lila did her best, but Marinette has done commissions before, she knows how important scheduling is.

She looks at the members of Kitty Section and reminds them of when they couldn’t take a booking because they were already busy, and Chloe, clearly getting the game and going ‘enemy of my enemy,’ mentions that her Daddy once ended up not speaking to some Minister in Spain for months because the man demanded to see him last minute and he couldn’t make it because he was already seeing a baron from England that day.

The whole class starts talking in realisation, and before Lila can try to wrest back control, people are coming up and apologising for always asking about her contacts, especially since they always seem to back out at the last minute. They hadn’t realised just how busy those circles were, and they’ll stop doing it now. Within days, while people are still listening to her stories, any offers to ‘introduce’ people are met with a sincere, ‘thanks, but I know you’re very busy. That’s not necessary.’

A few days later, it gets worse. A few minutes before class starts, their maths and literature teachers appears to speak to Ms Bustier. They then take Lila outside, and tell her that they’ve arranged personal tutoring for her during lunch breaks and after class to help her catch up with what she’s missed.

Lila insists that’s not necessary, the class is helping her, but they tell her that Max came to them explaining how busy Lila is with her humanitarian goals and charity work, and that it’s clearly been hard for her given how much time she’s had to spend with other classmates tutoring. He thought it might be easier if she got one on one tutoring with experts – that way she could catch up even faster and not have to cut back on her work.

When she asks Max why he went to the teachers, he admits that Marinette gave him the idea. Since Lila was away for so long, and the other kids have done her work so many times, she was worried Lila might never be able to catch up. Wouldn’t it be better if a friend the teachers would listen to managed to arrange personal tutoring during times that wouldn’t impede her work? Other students agreed that it made sense, so Max talked to them.

Max clearly expects her to be grateful, and Lila can’t find a way to explain she isn’t without making it clear she wanted other people to do the work and spend time with Adrian, so she’s stuck. She’s ticked at losing so much personal time, but it’s only a day or two, and Max even made sure to get it on days outside of Adrian’s ‘tutoring’ so Lila can’t even say Marinette did it to make that stop. She can live with this.

Except, later that week, just before PE, the gym teacher takes Lila aside, and she meets with a woman she’s never met. She’s a physiotherapist, and a relation of one of the sport’s teams coaches.

She explains that Kim and Alix both came to said coach, worried that Lila’s many physical injuries are still causing problems despite being out of casts. While Lila isn’t in any sports classes, she wants to help Lila as a favour to some of the school’s most athletic students (who she’s helped before at the coach’s request), and so they’ve arranged physiotherapy during two other lunch periods, gym class and twice after school, to help strengthen her after so many injuries.

Lila doesn’t even need to ask, Kim and Alix both readily admit Marinette is the one that mentioned it. If Lila doesn’t even have the strength to carry books, how could she possibly plant trees in Bolivia? Or hike life saving medicine 20 miles into the African desert? This is what they can do to help her with her goals – and the coach is one of the best, she’s really doing them a favour by doing it for free – and Lila can’t get out of it again.

(What they don’t mention is that the physiotherapist is getting paid. She’s getting married and when Alix told Marinette, she promised to make her bridesmaid dresses if she could help out their ‘poor, injured classmate as a ‘thank you.’ As someone whose seen Marinette’s work, the therapist thought it was a bargain, and Alix and Kim don’t tell Lila because Marinette doesn’t want her to ‘feel guilty’ about it. They’re just delighted Marinette is finally helping Lila like she does for the rest of them).

At this point, Lila’s free time during and after school is limited, and going out isn’t much fun as it used to be, because everybody is super aware of her ‘allergies’ now and won’t let her eat anything that could be a risk, and most people just want to do study groups to ‘help Lila get her free time back.’ At least Marinette can’t do anything else to her at this point.

Except, clearly, she underestimated the Baker’s daughter. Because on Friday, she’s called to the Headmaster’s office to meet with a medical student from a nearby university. Apparently, she’s decided to do a report regarding Ladybug’s lucky charm and it’s apparent healing properties that have kept the Akuma’s injury and body count at zero. She’s learned that Lila’s Tinnitus was healed by the lucky charm, and as the only person to ever have a pre-existing condition healed, she’s desperate to study Lila.

Lila, smelling yet more obligation she can’t get out of, tries to back out, only for the student to admit she’d planned to call Lila’s mother in order to explain everything before they got the agreement set up, and Lila – desperate to keep that from happening – finds herself agreeing. She tries to hold off by saying she just doesn’t have the time at the moment…only for the Med student to ask if she can steal her away a few mornings. She’ll even drive her to school, and the principal promises to give her exception for being late.

And so Lila returns to class, somewhat horrified that she now has to properly study tinnitus to make sure she can lie to a trained medical professional well enough that she wont realise she’s faking former symptoms.

She demands to know why Marinette contacted the nurse, only to learn that it was Alya. The nurse had contacted her via the blog after seeing Lila’s interviews, and Alya had thought Ladybug’s ‘best friend’ would love to help other people with something like this.

(She doesn’t admit that while that’s true, she’d been hesitant to call without asking Lila first, but Marinette had reminded her that Lila doesn’t mind the spotlight, and Alya has said she’s supposedly helped with this sort of thing before. She can always so no if she doesn’t want to, right?)

Even Rose pipes up that Lila had insisted it was her duty to help people, and Lila is forced to sit down and eat her words. Her schedule, once lazy and easily managed, is now crammed with tutoring and unnecessary physiotherapy and now experimentation. It’s a miracle she’s managed to keep it away from her mother so far, and the only time she sees her ‘friends’ is during class. While Marinette has done nothing regarding the validity of her celebrity or charity lies, she no longer has the time to use them for her advantage. The only way she can break free is to admit she lied, or work through everything to the point where she no longer needs the tutoring and therapy…and thus can no longer use the lie to get away with things.

“Well played, Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” she says to herself at the back of the room, glaring at the girl’s back. “Well played indeed.”

—

After school, Adrian catches up with Marinette and asks how she did it considering she hates lying so much.

Marinette admits that while she knows Lila is lying, nobody is willing to believe her. So her only option is to act as if the lies are true, and treat Lila as if she’s being honest. And since everyone else believes what she’s saying is true, they’re the ones she talked into helping. She argued with the class that if Lila isn’t lying, then she needs their full support given all the terrible things that happened to her. If that means reducing her diet, forcing her into long physiotherapy classes or talking teachers into giving her extra tutoring, so be it.

She smiles and explains that, simply put? If Lila isn’t going to tell the truth, Marinette is going to act as if she is. Whether Lila likes it or not.

Adrian finds himself approving. And just a little bit terrified of ever crossing his other Ladybug. He’s suddenly very glad he’s on her side.

#Miraculous Ladybug #Miraculous Ladybug AU #Miraculous Ladybug fanfiction #fanfiction #fanfic #ml salt #mlb #Miraculous Ladybug & Chat Noir #This is how Marinette SHOULD be handling Lila #Less ignoring and confronting #and more making her lies work against her #Marinette Dupain-Cheng #Lila Rossi

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ajokeformur-ray · 4 years

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Silver clouds with grey linings // J x Rosie x Pat 🎅🎄💜💚💙🖤

Summary: It has been an absolutely awful year and as a result of that, you can barely find it within you to celebrate this time of year, much less to celebrate the time with your two greatest loves. But within your whirling emotions are you safe, dear one, and J and Pat will do everything they can to make you feel like you can enjoy this time with them. They love you dearly, in their own ways, and they won’t let you forget it for even a second!

Written for @loveletterstoledger! Merry Christmas, darling one! I hope that you’re able to relax and enjoy yourself during this time. You are so, so loved and you are so much more than you know. You deserve the entire world and I wish that I could give it to you. You’re one of my dearest friends and you’re a constant source of inspiration to me. It is with lots of love that I wrote this for you and I hope that you like it! 💛🧡💛🧡

Word count: 5, 521.

These were separate images which I spliced together for ease of posting;

J source || Pat source || both links provide the source for their usage of these pictures.

So many bad things, so many truly awful things had happened this year, not just to you but to the world itself, and you were, it seemed even through the fog of your mind, the physical embodiment of exhaustion. You felt like you had nothing left within you. There was nothing left to give to anyone, least of all to yourself; the person who was most deserving of all the love which you so selflessly gave to others. Indeed would it have been an understatement to say that this year had been awful and you would have considered it a complete write off were it not for the fact that you had met your greatest loves; Pat and J, during the first half of the year, and for the fact that you still had yourself. Yes, for all that you had been through and for all that you were going through did you still have yourself. You were the one who had been there for you through even the worst of things which had happened this year. During those especially difficult times it had seemed like even J wouldn’t be able to comfort you and yet from somewhere within you had come the strength to look after yourself in spite of what you had been going through. You were the one who looked after yourself and made sure that the people and the things which had hurt you wouldn’t be able to do so again. You were your greatest ally and J and Pat, though they hadn’t been with you for very long, couldn’t have been prouder of you. You had been through so much more than anyone should ever have to go through, most especially in one year, and yet there you were, facing each day and facing yourself even when you didn’t want to. Even feeling as you did much of the time were you still so loving and that was, perhaps, the truest display of strength you ever could have showed. You were strong all on your own and most often with J and Pat did you feel unstoppable. They were truly in awe of you and of your continued strength and often did they make their pride and belief in you known.

The two men had their own ways of loving you and while sometimes did they have trouble reaching you or getting through to you, never did you feel unloved, neglected or truly alone with them in your life. They made sure that they came together when it was most important to take care of you, for sometimes were you unable even to care for yourself and during those times did your husband and your life partner pick up the slack. There was nothing they wouldn’t do for you and there was no storm the three of you couldn’t weather so long as you were together. Your very existence was a cause for celebration and with it being the festive time of year that it was, this only made it more important for your loves to participate in the holiday season with you and to celebrate you. Rosie, the woman who unfailing gave them everything they had ever wanted or needed, each and every single day, even without trying. Just by being yourself were you the perfect partner for both men. J, for his part, had long since given up on maintaining any pretense of being anything else or anyone else than what he already was, The Joker, and Pat, too, had similarly almost made his peace with the fact that he was to be perpetually misunderstood by people who had never even tried to understand him or to get to know him beyond the realms of hearsay and rumours. Just by being you, darling one, you gave your loves everything they had never truly thought they would have within their lives, young that they were both were, and J and Pat were determined to truly spoil you during this time of the year so that what had turned out to be an absolutely horrific year would at least end on a good note for you. It was the least they could do for you but all the same was it everything to you.

For Pat, the year had started on a positive note and even with everything which had happened, it had stayed a good year because of the way you had given him an intangible gift on the day you had met. It was a gift which kept giving and so would it continue to do. You had given Pat acceptance and love. For so long had he been mistreated by the world. He had had to care for his dying grandfather all on his own and then arrange a funeral in the midst of his grief while taking care of his re-enrolment back into Padua High... and during those years, he had been the subject of many a cruel rumour, of many a difficult emotion and no one had ever listened to him, no one had ever seen him... apart from you. You had seen Pat; the way he smiled at bees as they hovered around gardens and found a new flower to land on and pollinate. The gentleness with which he had once used a leaf to guide a bee which had landed on him back onto a flower. Others would have needlessly screamed and ran away, critically misunderstood were bees, but Pat had understood that he had been confused for a flower and chuckling had he carefully set the bee to rights. The way that Pat had once caught wind of someone’s car breaking down and there was to be a rush between them finishing their shift at Pat’s workplace and then getting down to the nearest car shop, which was the cheapest one around... only for them to finish their shift to find that Pat had repaired their car while he had been on his hour long lunch break. He hadn’t asked for anything in return at all. He had just seen the car troubles and decided to do something about it because he was the only one in the immediate area who knew cars. Generous was he with his time and at total odds was he with the rumours which people had spread around even before they knew him. Pat was beautiful and within only days of meeting one another had you seen him for all that he was and all that he would ever be and you loved him for that. This gift which you had given him was acceptance for who he truly was, deserving at the least was he of that. No matter what happened to Pat, so long as he had you by his side, his strawberry, then he already had the world.

J, too, strong enough was he to stand up on his own even with his grey and uncertain past, had received such a wonderful intangible gift from you. You had not meant to give it to him, but so beautiful a soul were you that you had and J couldn’t have been more grateful to you for everything that you had ever done for him. You had given him validation, which was not to be earned or something which would ever be taken away from him. You made sure every single day that J knew he was loved, that he knew that he had a place to come home to, and that, no longer did just The Joker have a home to return to at the end of every day, but so do too did Jack... the man The Joker had totally done away with, perceived had he been as a weakness. There was a great deal of humanity in J and you had found it so easily, without even trying. You made sure that he knew that his true intelligence and his genuine wisdom was seen, that he was valid, and you treated him like he was just anyone else. You loved the menacing man clad in royal purple and acid green as much as you loved the casually dressed man you saw first thing most mornings. It mattered not to you what he looked like or how he dressed, for you would always see J for who he truly was, so loving and gentle a soul were you, and J couldn’t have been more grateful to and for you. He was roughly a decade older than you and Pat and so he had taken up something of a guardian role for the both of you even within the romantic dynamic which you shared, of varying degrees, between you.

No matter how bad things had ever gotten in any of your lives, there was one constant. Just one thing which never changed or faltered or been anything other than what it had always been: love. There was more love between the three of you than any of you knew what to do with and it only grew more of the same. Sometimes when you gazed at J and Pat having their moments of banter, which you were sure they sometimes did just to hear you laugh, so precious a sound was your amusement, your heart swelled with love to the point that it made your rib cage ache as it strained to constrain the organ keeping you alive within its boned walls. There was so much love which you felt for the both of them; for the love you felt for them but also for the love which they undeniably but stealthily held for each other, that you just couldn’t handle it. It was so beautiful that it just made you want to cry and today, Christmas Day, was most especially one of those occasions.

The day had started out as it always did, with you spending time with your family and your loved ones. Gifts had been exchanged, food had been eaten, and memories had been reminisced upon and made, for every day was the chance to create something new. As the day progressed and turned from early afternoon to early evening did you drift from familial loved ones to your romantic partners and now was it time for yourself, Pat and J to celebrate the day and to simply be with one another. Indeed so strong was the love between the three of you that it seemed to create almost a fourth entity in the room, which hovered in the spaces between your bodies and kept you warm and safe from all that which sought to cause you any kind of harm. It came to pass that your bedroom, the room which had seen everything between the three of you, was to be the room where the celebration would be carried out, and you all got comfortable upon your bed. J sat up against the headboard, the pillows moved so that his back had some support. Pat had cracked a couple of “old man” jokes to light the carefree and delicate mood, but you could sense... urgency, almost, within J, and you could already tell that he would insist upon giving you any gift first. Patient could he be out in the grimy streets of Gotham but within the four walls of your bedroom would no such pretence be maintained.

No one pretended anything when the world fell away and it was just the three of you.

Pat got comfortable beside you, loathe was he to leave your side for even a moment, and the small pile of presents in the centre of the almost triangle formation in which you sat were quickly given to the intended recipients. You had gotten J one thing more than you had gotten Pat, but that was because Pat’s was ultimately expensive and you knew that he would have been legitimately angry if you had gotten him anything else on top of what you had already gifted. For J, you suspected the same, so well did you know the both of them, and so you had restrained yourself in what you had bought the both of them, though you had definitely pushed the boat out with your budget a bit too much. You gave them your gifts first. Pat received an envelope and J received a hastily and messily wrapped box. You hadn’t enlisted help with the wrapping of their gifts, though you had asked J for help in buying Pat’s gift. Pat, too, had helped you with J’s gift, and both men had been sworn to secrecy on pain of no cuddling for an entire night if they told the other person what you had bought for them. As they sat there with their gifts, each held a contemplative look within their similarly dark eyes as they quietly appreciated the moment. J leaned over and kissed your cheek chastely before he tore into his gift, revealing a top of the market sketchbook and some tools; charcoal, pencils, watercolours and the like, and a pamphlet for the online art courses which you had enrolled him in.

“J, I - “ You hesitated. J’s past was a known open wound, though he denied its existence to all except you and Pat, and you wanted to believe that he would appreciate this gift even with how delicate the emotions behind it were. “I wanted you to try these art courses. You never got to pursue an art degree and I know you’re still secretly passionate about drawing, so I - “ There was a look in J’s chocolate eyes and you froze. But then he grinned and held his hands out, his fingers flexing in a gimme motion. You smiled, relief coursing through your body, and you leaned forward for J to do whatever he wanted with you. You trusted him implicitly and you knew, even before the acceptance of your thoughtful gift, that J trusted you, too. Jack trusted you, and that meant more to you than anything else. J’s arms wrapped around you like a vice, but you felt infinitely safe within that as he held you to his body and laid a tender, lingering kiss atop your head. A second kiss. A third. Each one came with an enthusiastic mwah, to fully convey his emotions, and you allowed yourself to sink into J’s affection. He didn’t thank you verbally, but he didn’t need to. J was a man of action, he always had been, and right now was his gratitude for you almost screaming out in the things that he did as he kept you close to him. Even as your back began to ache and you pulled away from the hug, J insisted on keeping you close to him and you ended up shuffling closer to him to give him what he wanted.

You.

It was Pat’s turn next to open his gift, waited patiently had he for J, and he cracked the envelope open without taking his eyes off of you. You smiled in encouragement and Pat winked at you as his fingers dipped inside the fold of the envelope. He slid out the piece of paper within and then gasped quietly. His fingers went slack and he dropped the envelope back onto his lap and J chuckled darkly.

“Told ya’ the kid would make a big deal outta it.”

“J, stop it! Let him be!” You made to elbow J, but purple leather encased your elbow so that you couldn’t come into contact with his ribs. J’s grip remained where it was as the both of you watched Pat shakily, carefully, pull out the plane ticket. His eyes roamed around the page quickly, like he hardly dared to believe what was right in front of him, and then he read it over slower. As the shock wore off did the appreciation set in, a tender soul was he. The date was for next month, which gave him plenty of time to prepare for his holiday; the gap between receiving the gift and going on holiday was J’s idea and you appreciated now, more than ever, his forethought and attention to detail. Oh, how you loved him. “You haven’t been home in years, Koala, and I thought you deserve to go and at least visit and see it all again.” You made to point out that there was three tickets within, one for each of you so that you could all go together, but Pat found that out for himself and when Pat finally tore his eyes off of the plane tickets, there was so much love within his chocolate gaze that your breath caught in your throat and you felt the stinging of tears in your own eyes. You loved him, too, you always had, and you felt like the rest of the world ceased to matter so long as you had your clown and your koala with you. They were your world, they always had been, and you cherished them with everything that you had.

“C’mere, love,” Pat waited not for your response and instead did he come to you as he threw his arms around you and held you tight. J kept his grip on you, too, protective and loving was he most especially when it was only the three of you, and you sunk into Pat’s body, too, finding comfort and solace. J grunted as Pat rained kisses down on your face, his eyes alight with a fire which made heat similarly pool low within your stomach. “Thank you, wallaby. I can’t wait to show you my hometown!” You could see his mind turning as he began to think of all the places he could take you and you felt yourself becoming excited because he was excited, too. So deeply connected were you that each other’s emotions were mere extensions of your own. The three of you remained close, now, as emotions heightened and the love blossomed into its own life form; a fourth entity in the room, as always did it become.

“My, ah - my turn.” J shifted in his seat as he handed you a small but deep box, and his subtle movement clued you into the fact that whatever was inside this box, or the meaning of it, was incredibly important to the usually impassive man. There was a card which came with the gift, and you read that first:

You smiled and a few tears slipped down your cheeks as you reached out for your clown and pressed a reverent kiss to his full lips. J hummed into the kiss and allowed you to give everything you could within that moment. J had spoken of explosions within the card and your love for him had always been like that; something you couldn’t control, something which kept you warm. For the first time in your life did you not have to set yourself ablaze just to keep others warm, for the love the both of you shared was that warmth and it only reached out to others who could also feel that heat. “Thank you, J.” He motioned impatiently for you to open the gift, and you did so, your wrist deftly untying the ribbon which held the box closed.

At first you saw only a hunk of metal, so you lifted up the box to put the lid underneath, getting comfortable within the moment. You jumped to see a grenade in the box and suddenly did J’s insistence to only exchange gifts when it was just the three of you make plenty of sense and you smiled distractedly at his forethought. Then again, you wouldn’t have expected anything less than that from the man who held your whole heart within his calloused hands. You had always genuinely loved and appreciated the way that J’s hands, which could and would murder someone so easily in the same way one would swat a fly, could also be so tender and loving within the way he treated you. Indeed, no one except Pat held you, loved you, in the way that J did; with tenderness as warm as the summer and with the absolute lack of danger which he so presented to everyone else. You saw, seconds into your panic, that the pin was missing, and with your heart pounding in your chest did you look up at J, confusion written all over your face. You were safe, you knew that now, but the initial shock was still very much with you and you needed J’s reassurance. What was he trying to say to you? Your mind raced to find out.

“Look, sweets, I - “ J dipped a hand inside his royal purple jacket and pulled out the missing grenade pin. It was barely recognisable as its usual function, for it had been twisted and manipulated into a ring. It was wire-thin in some places though you had no doubt that it would be strong. Other places were thicker, more filled out, and you lifted the deactivated grenade from the box, turning it this way and that. Some pieces were missing, having been added to bulk out the ring, which had ultimately been folded back on itself to make it even stronger. Just like the love you shared was it unbreakable. Indestructible. “You, ah - you complete me.” J’s voice was unusually quiet, his eyes devoid of humour but a small, almost imperceptible smirk on his lips.

“Oh, my - “ You surged forwards and almost climbed into his lap as you grabbed J’s painted visage in your hands. Once more did you press the most intense, fiery kiss to his plush lips that you could muster, so overwhelmed with love were you. “I love you too, J.”

There were no cackles. No bounces. No sarcastic comments. There was only Jack in this moment, the man beneath the paint, the man behind the suit, and so you considered yourself to have received two gifts from J this day as he finally pulled away and rearranged his clothes, pulling himself together. You were certain of the fact that, were he not wearing face paint, that he would have been visibly blushing. Most likely was that why he had not removed his paint prior to coming into the bedroom. He remained close to you, however, loathe was he to ever leave you for even a moment. Actions of love screamed at you and you found yourself almost unable to speak with all the unconditional love which you were both giving and receiving.

Pat had been quiet for the duration of J giving you his gift, respectfully keeping himself out of the moment which was between yourself and J. Now that it was over, J had signalled to Pat to start his own with you; everything was an equal balance of give and take between the three of you. “Here, hazel eyes,” Pat’s watery gaze only made you cry a little bit more, your body physically unable to deal with all of your emotions. He cupped your face in his hands and the calloused pads of his thumbs swept easily across your cheeks in the same moment that he pressed a kiss to your forehead. “Merry Christmas.” As he pulled away but still remained close to you, he handed you a small square gift. It was neatly wrapped and there was a card taped to the top of the gift:

Pat always made sure that you knew beyond all shadow of a doubt that you were loved. He told you often how much he loved you and how proud of you he was, and he made sure that you knew you had a support behind you. It was only one more thing which you did for Pat, too, and everything which you gave out to him and to J was returned in kind. The three of you were equal in love in every single way and none of you ever allowed any other person within your relationship to doubt their own place within the dynamic. You felt the wounds of yesterday begin to be soothed by the joys of today and the promise of tomorrow and you swore to yourself that you would hold all of these memories close to you. Love did you have in abundance and as you began to open the gift, you kept your eyes firmly on Pat. You knew that you would be okay so long as you kept your sights on what mattered, on who mattered.

The gift unravelled, held together had it been by just a few pieces of tape, and you pulled out a mixtape. It was home made and a card detailed every song by name, artist and year of release. It was a compilation of all of your favourite songs, as well as the songs which were sentimental to you, Pat and J. Right at the bottom was a rendition of Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, sung by...

“Oh my god, Pat!”

You loved Pat’s singing voice; so much so that you sometimes felt the urge to cry just because of the way it made your heart squeeze in your chest almost to the point of pain. You kept a hand on the mixtape even as you threw your arms around Pat, and if it hadn’t been for the way J quickly snagged the CD, you may well have accidentally hit Pat with it. Pat chuckled and wrapped his arms around you as he pressed a kiss to the top of your head. You completely missed the look which J and Pat exchanged with one another. It was one of trust, reverence, and of love. They didn’t get each other gifts but they didn’t need to; each other’s existence was enough of a gift and the two men would express that to each other later on when they thought you to be sleeping, for the evening was growing later and the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon.

“I, err - you like my singing, right? And I know these songs... I know what they mean to you and I know what I mean to you, as well, so I wanted to make you something which served as a reminder to keep us close, you know? Keep love close, baby girl, that’s all that matters.” Pat’s rich and deep timbre rumbled through his chest and you smiled to feel it vibrate against your own skin. So wise was he for one so young and your heart ached to be aware of all of the pain he had ever been through in his life. He had always deserved so much better and you would always do what you could to give him those things. He had been alone for so long in his anguish and never had anyone been there for him, but you would do your best now and for the rest of your days together with your husband to give him that love, support, understanding and acceptance which he had always craved.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” You squeezed Pat and moved so that you could press your lips to his. Affection was shared so easily between the both of you and it seemed almost as though every kiss was a renewal of the vows you had exchanged only this month. J was settling easily into his new dynamic with the both of you even as your relationship with Pat had progressed to legalities, which for obvious reasons J would refrain from participating in. There were no gifts which J or Pat could give you which would properly be able to convey the depth of their love and gratitude towards you not only for the very expensive material gifts which you had bestowed upon them this day, but also for the intangible gifts which you gave them without question every single day. You were such a loving and gentle soul and there were entire worlds within you. Stardust was within your veins and you were the universe experiencing itself all over again. It was in your nature to nurture people and even J’s rougher edges had been sanded down by your gentle touch and loving glances. Every single day, no matter how badly you felt or how horrifically you were treated by people or by situations which were simply beyond you, you still faced the day and yourself and you still loved. If love was a form of magic then you produced the purest form of it; unconditional and undying was it towards those lucky enough to be loved by you, and Pat and J’s lives had been changed infinitely by your existence. You never had to try to be anything more than you were most naturally on any given day; you were already and you meant the world to both men.

As you sunk into Pat’s embrace and the man sighed affectionally, you shuffled forward even further until Pat’s arms slid down so that he could lift you onto his lap. There, in your favourite seat, though conscious were you of J, you fully relaxed; surrounded by your husband and all that he was. From behind you did you feel J shuffle forward so that he could wrap his arms around you and Pat. Usually was he exuberant and deliberately obnoxious in his movements but right now was he only slow and careful, sure of himself and of his way was he. J knew what he was doing at all times when it came to his younger but assuredly world-weary loves, and on this occasion was that rule without exception.

“All right, ah - c’mon.” J kept one arm around you and moved gifts and papers out of the way before he wrapped his other arm around Pat. With the message that now was the time to relax upon you all, you and Pat shifted until you were both on either side of J, and both of you as much in physical contact with him as you wanted to be. J took what you gave him and he only returned it to you in kind, fair was he. He brought you both home and with gifts held close but with each other held even closer, the last few hours of Christmas Day were spent the way that it had started: with love. “Wanna watch your, ah - your show, sweets?”

You grinned and looked over at Pat. “Well... I got you that art stuff, J, so why don’t we watch some Bob Ross?”

J’s dark eyes flicked up to the ceiling in mock annoyance and Pat chuckled as he reached over J’s lap to hold one of your hands. His calloused thumb, a worker was he, rubbed across the top of your hand, and he leaned his head against J’s upper arm as J flicked the television over to Bob Ross. He hated this show and didn’t understand what the fascination was, but he wanted to spend some quality time with his soulmates and the ways in which the both of you so pressed up against his body on either side really made J feel wanted and... loved. As one of J’s hands came to rub across his chest, a light frown on his face, Pat caught the movement and grinned. He moved up to press a kiss to J’s cheek.

“I see you, J,” Pat grinned at J, who only rolled his eyes once more and dropped his hand back onto his lap, “We love you too, you know that?”

J did. How could he not, when the two of you told him in every single way that you could every day? He nodded but otherwise said nothing. He only pressed play a bit harder than he should have done, and settled back into the headboard. He allowed you and Pat to take whatever affection from him you wanted or even needed, and as Bob began his introduction and Pat nestled into J’s side, J dipped a hand into the pocket which he had stowed the ring away in and pulled it out. The dulled silver glinted in the harsh blue light of the television and he handed it to you with a small, barely there smile on his face. You took the ring from J and reached out for the hand which had been rubbing at his chest. His hands were bare and you slid the ring onto the finger next to his littlest digit; you were devoted entirely to one another in feeling and though you questioned his reaction to this even as you did it, you also knew J well enough to know that he would have stopped you by now if he didn’t like it. J didn’t move in protest or in acceptance, he just allowed you to do whatever felt right to you, intuitive were you, and then he pressed a kiss to the top of your head. His nose remained in the strands for a few seconds as his lips lingered, and you understood everything that he was saying to you.

Merry Christmas, indeed.

I’ve never made moodboards before so I don’t know how I’ve done, buuuut I wanted to try for you, so here you go!💙

A Verose Date

A date night with J

Us against the world

#merry christmas #tw; christmas

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shawneesmith · 4 years

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tell us about your ocs.... what is the protagonist like? whats their best friend like? (if they have one)

SCREAM this got long

the name of the protagonist is mara banks. she is the daughter of arthur and donna banks, who were, from the 1970s to the 1990s, a hollywood power couple. they acted a lot, arthur had a popular cowboy show and donna was known as a cult classic darling. they’re super cute (even though arthur had an affair and donna had a drinking problem) and they got married. they had a daughter named natasha and a daughter named mara

natasha didn’t get into the industry, but mara did. she had a few film roles and a golden globe-nominated role on a full house-esque show. she was a hollywood darling at age 10, everyone loved her bc she was sassy and cute and talented

when mara was 12, arthur and donna were killed in a car accident. she and her sister went onto live with different guardians, but mara got out of control (she already had some issues, and she felt suddenly totally alone in the world). she started staying out late and getting involved with sketchy men. by the time she was 15 she’d dyed her hair blue and was photographed doing drugs and she was dropped from all her upcoming film and tv projects

she does have a best friend! but he is a character who is written by a friend of mine and i don’t wanna put them on blast so i will talk about someone else who is extremely important to mara

his name is jack douglas. an absolute rat man, who i love. jack is a middle child (and it shows!); his parents fought a lot growing up, and when he was 14 or so, his dad finally left his mom. jack was left to help his mother and his siblings, picking up the pieces and becoming the man of the house. for ~escapism he’d watch reruns of this old cowboy show (starring none other than arthur banks!) and imagine himself as a cowboy :)

when he was in high school he met this girl named caroline (who is also important but not relevant). they fell in love and were high school sweethearts; as they grew up she realized she wanted to be an actress. he told her he’d be her manager, bc he was always interested in show business. they moved out to college together, they got married, and as soon as they graduated he started working on getting her auditions

caroline became very mildly successful, and as soon as she did, jack panicked. he felt insecure and threatened and jealous (jack is not a good person, which will become very clear soon). he divorced caroline, who was heartbroken but moved on and made her own way in the world

soon after, jack was at a bar and saw a 16 y/o mara banks take a seat beside him. he was a little surprised bc that was the daughter of his childhood hero! he chatted her up and was surprised at her seemingly mature worldview (although she was really just an edgy teenager). they got along very well, and he asked her if she was managed by anyone. she wasn’t, after a long string of controversies, so they made a deal for jack to act as her manager

jack, if you remember, has rancid vibes, and was relying on mara to make him successful, planning on manipulating her back into the superstar she once was, even though by now she was traumatized and rebellious, and she was planning on manipulating him just the same!

flash-forward to ten years later, mara is 28 and jack 36, they’ve lived together in a los angeles apartment for a while. they have a weird relationship. they have a lot of sex, mostly bc they’re each other’s last resorts, she’s had his abortion (which he kinda pressured her into), they are technically psychologically (and like, once a year, physically) abusive with each other. there’s no easy way to sum up their relationship. they cannot live without each other. they have their own silent language. yes they hate each other yes they think they’re better than the other when they’re not at all yes mara will crawl into jack’s bed when she’s hungover and she has no one else <3 they’d be a power couple if they didn’t hate each other so much. they’re kinda cute bc jack will come home and let mara crash on her drugs and slump against his chest but then the next day he’ll remind her that she will always end up alone bc she sabotages everything good in her life (the irony here is that the exact same thing is true of jack)

in main verse, mara is a disgraced child actress, who is only remembered by like. 3% of america. she’s gotten into a lot of trouble. she’s had sex tapes of hers leaked. she’s leaked other people’s sex tapes in an attempt to feel superior. she does a lot of drugs and drinks heavily and sleeps around a lot. she’s the type to be #cancelled bc she said something homophobic on twitter in 2010 (although not many people at all pay attention to her now so). she misses the limelight but she’s too paranoid and impulsive and controversial to become a Real Actress again. she’s a LOT of fun and kinda stupid. she misses her parents a lot and falls in love easily and is Baby but also kinda sociopathic. she has been complicit in a hit and run and if you ever tweeted “remember mara banks? she was so adorable” someone would reply “she’s actually problematic”

jack is still her manager but you wouldn’t know it bc she rarely acts anymore! he feels dragged down by her, but he also stays bc he has a regretful sentimental streak he’s never been able to shake. he’s always torn between being cold and efficient enough for hollywood and being someone who just wants a real family and friendship. sometimes he wants to cut mara off and leave her and sometimes he knows she’s the only person in the world who understands him (and he understands her perfectly, like no one else). he also drinks heavily and enjoys gambling and being a whore. he is a SNAKE but also not quite snakey enough to abandon mara.

also just for fun it’s important that you know that mara’s animal motif is a hyena; she’s a lil crazy and misunderstood and always pecking for scraps <3 i love her

tl;dr; mara and jack are problematic faves. bicons. evil sons of bitches who want love and fame but don’t deserve it

also just for fun here’s mara’s pinterest board and jack’s pinterest board and the mara/jack board

#mara.post #ty <3333 #there's a Lot more but uhhh that's the abridged version more or less #lesbianjubilee #ask #💧#mara.tag

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kdramacollections · 4 years

Text

THE LIAR AND HIS LOVER/SHE LOVES LIE SO MUCH

The Liar and His Lover is based on the Japanese manga of the same name, which was written by Kotomi Aoki, and first published in May 2009. Additionally a Japanese movie of the same name, which is also based on the manga was released in 2018.

Viewers who have both read and watched manga and movie respectively, have commented on this drama, and it seems that the Korean remake does not live up to its predecessors. However, I have not seen the movie, nor have I read the manga, so this review will be solely based on what exactly went down in the drama.

The first few episodes of The Liar and His Lover introduces us to a trio of musicians, Yoon So Rim, Baek Jin Woo, and Lee Gyoo Sun. The three friends are best friends, and are also apart of a band.

The three are pretty talented, and they don’t shy away from performing for their peers. Initially, it seemed that this band would be the focus of the drama, however our female lead Yoon So Rim meets Kang Han Gyul.

The viewers are already aware of this character as he was previously introduced in the opening episodes of the drama. But to Yoon So Rim, this stranger is the most beautiful person she has ever met.

Their first meeting is indeed a bit weird, but as far as K-dramas go, I say their first meeting is quite normal. Yoon So Rim becomes smitten by Kang Han Gyul, but sadly, she has no idea who is, or if she’ll ever see him again.

Now, it’s important to note that Kang Han Gyul is a talented composer, more popularly known as K, who’s also signed under the same entertainment company as Crude Play. Obviously the two would be working together in a composer-musician relationship.

But, there’s much more to their relationship, and as time goes by, you’ll begin to wonder what happened between the two. The plot keeps hinting at the discord within Crude Play itself, and the role that Kang Han Gyul plays in influencing the band’s internal tension.

Let’s return to this talented trio. A lot has happened, and so Yoon So Rim and her friends have begun a new chapter of their lives. Their band, Mush & Co. has been scouted and signed by the very entertainment company that houses Crude Play and Kang Han Gyul.

Yoon So Rim and her friends are of course excited now that they have the chance to become stars. Yoon So Rim is especially ecstatic as she gets to see more of Kang Han Gyul, and of course their relationship kicks off as they spend more time together.

Of course, there needs to be some amount of misunderstanding in a K-drama relationship for the plot to move forward. Yoon So Rim has to now juggle being a star, high school, her relationship, and the threat of Kang Han Gyul’s famous ex-girlfriend.

It all seems a bit too much for her to handle, especially since she somehow got caught up in a scandal with one of Crude Play’s members. But all of what I just mentioned are just a tip of the iceberg, Kang Han Gyul’s lies are the weeds that’s preventing this relationship from growing healthily.

Towards the end of the drama, Kang Han Gyul’s truths are revealed, and you’ll begin to wonder if he’s just a bit misunderstood. On the other hand, honesty is one of those fundamental traits that any relationship should have, and both characters do learn this through their own experiences.

I have to mention the chemistry between the two, Yoon So Rim did come off as a bit awkward, but that’s understandable as this is her first serious relationship. Kang Han Gyul also respected Yoon So Rim a lot, and I guess this is why she trusted him from the get-go.

I think the casting was pretty well done for The Liar and His Lover. However, there were instances in the drama where I realized the reasons behind many viewers comparing this drama to the manga, or the movie.

If you’ve watched as many dramas as I have, there will be times when you’re watching something, and you begin to question the plot. You may also begin to critique a character’s response or reaction to certain situations.

In my opinion, there were some scenes that didn’t really flow smoothly, and there were moments when the acting felt a bit forced. During these moments, you just have to ask yourself if the low or lack of quality is the fault of the actors/actresses, the directors, or the writers?

Honestly, The Liar and His Lover is a good story, and I did enjoy watching this drama. I think this drama had the potential to be something great.

Red Velvet’s Joy plays the character of Yoon So Rim, a very optimistic high school student who enjoys making music with her friends. The Liar and His Lover is Joy’s first on-screen project, but you can also find her in the drama, Tempted.

Lee Hyun Woo plays the character of Kang Han Gyul, a gifted composer who seems to be hiding from the world. Lee Hyun Woo is no stranger to the screen, and so you can find him in the drama Moorim School, and keep an eye out for his movie Hero.

The Liar and His Lover was directed by Kim Jin Min who also directed Lawless Lawyer and Extracurricular.

At the 2017 OSEN Cable TV Awards, Joy was awarded the Newcomer Award. The Liar and His Lover received the Best TvN Drama award at the CJ AWARDS 2017 America Awards.

Plot: 5/5 Acting: 3/5 Cinematography: 4/5 Total: 12/15

Picture Sources: asianwiki, kdramakisses, hancinema, YouTube, pinterest, dramabeans, heart-n-soul, and soompi

#kdramaedit #tvn drama #tvn liar and his lover #red velvet joy #park sooyoung #Lee Hyun Woo #uniq sungjoo #kdrama review #the liar and his lover #kdramacollections

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fearfearer · 4 years

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more thoughts about the magnus archives as i reread the transcripts

i was thinking about how gertrude robinson was really an extraordinary person (not extraordinarily Morally Sound, but extraordinary) just because of who she was, whereas the only extraordinary things about jonathan sims are things that have been arranged for him (i.e. his role). i don't mean this as a diss for jonathan, as i'm not extraordinary either. it's just striking that gertrude was so driven and confident compared to jon. of course, now we know that basically everything she did was in the pursuit of a moot goal (i.e. killing people in order to stop rituals that were already doomed to fail) so maybe my point is somewhat moot as well.

i've been doing some rereading of episodes on my phone (i.e. away from this text document on my computer) and i'll have a realization like "right, i should note that down when i get back to my computer" and i have forgotten all of them now that i am back at my computer. suffice it to say there are quite a few things i misheard/misunderstood on the first listen, unsurprisingly.

reading through the first 20 or so episodes i'm surprised by how well i remember each of them, considering i was listening like 4 episodes a day when i started. then again, it was only a month or two ago that i even listened to them, so one should hope my memory is at least this good. anyway the first episode i'm re-listening instead of rereading is 22 bc that's the first one where we hear martin's voice, i'm pretty sure

i've also noticed some errors in the official transcripts, which aren't a big deal because obviously what matters most is the audio, but still... some of them have been simple typos. magnus archives hire me as your official transcriptionist and i'll make all your transcripts 100% error-free bc im smatr

(reading through the rest of the transcripts and my standards went way down in terms of grammar/stylistic consistency, as most of the later ones are fan transcripts by several different people. i found quite a few mistakes, but obviously i have no particular way to help fix them short of sending an email to the tma transcripts fansite person like “hey there’s all these mistakes. upload my good version instead?” bc i’m not that much of a dick)

the whole reason martin went to the spider guy's building was because he didn't want jon to be disappointed in him for not doing Due Diligence. he says so twice. then he went back for the same reason. it seems the fandom joke is "jon asks his assistants to do crimes for him" but in this case martin is like "oh no maybe i didn't do enough crimes to satisfy jon"

jon was doing his archivist voice HEAVILY in season 1, huh?

tim's first appearance is so jovial compared to how he ends up...

if this boat lady is speaking spanish in brazil, then it doesn't matter if it was "bad spanish" or not. anyway now i understand why we already knew peter lukas was serving the lonely by the time jon mentioned offhand that peter lukas was serving the lonely. it was my whole “let’s not bother noting down any FREQUENTLY RECURRING names”

well i guess robert smirke was a real person. should i feel dumb about this? idk. it’s such a fictional-sounding name, to be fair. but i guess that set the precedent of using a real person as an important historical figure in the fiction that we see happening again when edmund halley is referenced later on. also episode 35 has foreshadowing for the separation of 14 powers, and people thought it was 13 because they mention 13 halls PLUS the one they came through.

totally forgot about tim goofing around in episode 39... he was really not having the worst time at this job before bad things started happening and he realized he was trapped, huh

the worms were trying to make a doorway into the Worm Wealm

ep 40 jon's like "I need to hear it. I need to record it. Or else I can't finish." (lightly abridged)

listening to the season 1 Q&A for the first time and EARL BIGMAC

also good to know there's only going to be 5 seasons. very good to know. this seems like a good kind of series to write with a fixed endpoint in mind, as it's very easy to do an episode that has effectively no bearing on the MetaPlot but which is still a short story in itself and therefore doesn't count as "filler"

jonathan sims performs with a mythical space pirate music cabaret. so he IS a ham

jonny says, "no rude words. i could say bums, maybe..." (alexander j newall does a laugh while i do the exact same laugh irl) "...but i won't."

some dumbass writing into the Q&A to ask if the background music is diegetic... get a podcast brain, ya fool. though for my part, i have to say that one of the most striking things about this podcast when i first started listening (though i never made a note of it before) was the Too Spooky Music, and i didn't like it at all. the reason was that i am, and have been, vulnerable to Getting Spooked about irrational things at night, such that it becomes really hard to fall asleep... and one of the things that has an outsize effect on my level of Spookédness is spooky audio. so if i was watching a video at night and i was worried it would Get Me Spooked, i would just turn the sound off, and it would turn out fine. but obviously you can't turn the sound off on a podcast. and i've been listening to podcasts after work, i.e. after 5pm, and i go to bed at like 8 or 9pm because i'm old. so the way it turned out was that even if the actual subject of the podcast wasn't that scary to me, the music would amplify it in an unpleasant way and make me more likely to have trouble sleeping. also i think most of the episodes would have been fine without the music, or maybe with some less intentionally-disconcerting background music.

this just in: i seem to have totally missed episode 50 on my first listen-through, despite having gone in linear order. bc i'm listening to it now and i've definitely never heard this before. fortunately it doesn't seem to have much of a bearing on the rest of the series, so it's not like i missed any crucial information. tbh the only worthwhile bit was a brief moment of tim being a ham, which was good. i hope i didn't miss any other episodes the first time... still don't know how i managed to miss this one.

the official transcript said [EXTENDED SOUNDS OF BRUTAL PIPE MURDER] ...

so gertrude and leitner WERE played by jonny's parents <:3c i'd thought as much when i saw the cast names but i like that it's confirmed. his mom is a really good actress too. i always find the gertrude episodes to be striking in a certain way

"it's Fine working with your parents. it's Fine." as someone who worked with my mom for like a year i can confirm this

i'm tickled to find that the official transcripts have a sense of humor. i wonder who is behind them. i also wonder, what is the excuse for not having a full set of official transcripts when it is a script-based show? surely you know what is going to be said beforehand, and you have it written down, and if someone ends up saying something different in the final recording, surely it wouldn’t be too hard to give the original script a little edit, and bam! that’s a transcript. i wonder if this approach is not feasible for some reason.

whenever martin reads statements, he says something about jon... whenever he talks to someone, he says something about jon

i think episode 110 is an instance of the tape recorder turning ITSELF off... at the end of the episode. because they walk away, and they say something distantly, and then it turns off. lots of other times, there had to be a diegetic reason for the tape recorder to turn off at the end.

i noticed something which i missed last time, which was that there is a rumor between melanie and georgie and basira that implies that jonathan is asexual. worth noting, i think. [side note added in later: yeah it’s canon. cool]

also i listened to episode 103 again and yes. i had thought-- i had been SURE-- that the person interrogating the traffic cop (using the asky ability) was martin. but it was actually jon. how did i possibly manage that mistake? i'm not great at distinguishing voices, but i'm not THAT bad. the only possible answer: when i was listening to the episode for the first time... i must have been eating a crunchy snack.

"it doesn't have to make sense! alex has to make it sense." (jonny sims re: writing the spiral)

glad to know that jonny sims regrets using his own name for the protagonist. doesn't make a difference either way at this point but yeah

YES i knew episode 100 was improvised. and i see, all the statementers had actually had supernatural experiences, but because the archivist was absent, their statements didn't have the coherence and clarity normally lent to them by the eye (in exchange for becoming cursed). i think melanie or basira actually said pretty much that in the episode itself, but i still couldn't be sure that all of those people had something real to talk about.

"in the same way that tim is dead, michael is helen." good shit

the archivist is canon a bit of a drama queen. the first bullet point in my first tma notes document is vindicated

jonny sims mentions another podcast (apocrypals) that sounds 100% up my alley, so that is appreciated, i will add that to my list i think. (listened to episodes 0 and 1 of apocrypals and i'm heavily struck by how VERY clearly i can hear the smiles in chris sims's voice. i did not know smiling could be so audible, truly.) (listened to quite a few more episodes of apocrypals and it’s certainly entertaining at times. i should’ve been reading along though. maybe some other time)

I DIDN'T LISTEN TO THE SEASON 4 TEASER THE FIRST TIME AROUND.........................................

i must confess something that people who know me well may already know: i hate when stories have a bad ending. an unhappy ending. a painful ending. a hopeless ending. bittersweet is the furthest in that direction i can tolerate. my perspective, which is pretty deep-seated, is that there's no point in getting to know and love characters if you're only going to be hurt by that connection to them when the end turns out to be bad. if i have even a mild inkling that a story is heading toward a bad ending, i make a conscious effort to regard all characters from afar and not develop any strong attachments. this is not so much "how i think all stories need to be," but rather, "the characteristics a story needs to have to appeal to me personally." so i understand that my view is very subjective and mostly based on my own mental weakness. but i can't help but apply it to the media i consume. and the idea that someone would do something like "make characters very human and strongly developed" IN COMBINATION WITH "heading toward a bad end" makes me upset. like, picture a horror movie. think about the characters in a horror movie. with the exception of a main character, if there is one, there's no guarantee that anyone is going to survive to the end of the film... BUT... the characters generally aren't fleshed out and very sympathetic. i wouldn't go so far as to say they're disposable, but you're not SUPPOSED to cry when they die; you're just supposed to get scared. their purpose is as objects of fear, and you never expect or even hope for a happy ending. but in the magnus archives... all i'm saying... is that i would cry if any of the remaining members of the main cast died. and it seems clear that we're not heading to a happy ending. so i'm somewhat afraid, and not in a good way. i don't know how much i can trust jonny sims to give me the story i want, and obviously, i'm not entitled to it.

if your name is jonathan and you want to shorten it, the short form is jon. it ain't john, no matter what the official transcripts say. where'd you get that h, huh? stole it from someone else's name? are you shortening it like JOnatHaN? you can’t just be that sneaky!

i listened to scrutiny again and it hits so hard. now, in heart of darkness, when manuela begs jon not to force her statement, it's really heavy given the direct context of the previous two episodes where we see how compulsion works and how it hurts.

also when jon was talking about how to destroy the dark sun and he was like "i just need to see it," when i first heard it, i assumed he meant something along the lines of, "by seeing it, i will learn how to destroy it." but now i understand that the mere act of the eye seeing it destroys it, because being known is what the darkness is weakest to.

the magnus employees who work in the library probably at least have a LITTLE BIT of a feeling that they work in an almost normal place, given that jon and all his assistants were able to have that impression before transferring to the archives. so i wonder how the magnus library people feel about their institute's director getting arrested for double murder and now the big boss is a completely unrelated ship captain who seems to want nothing to do with the place but simultaneously is trying to continue business as usual

on second listen, listening to jon ask helen when the guilt stops (wrt hurting people in order to feed one's patron fear) is pretty chilling. because it seems like he's definitely accepting that he will have to hurt people, and what he's concerned about is how bad it makes HIM feel. of course, helen then answers with precisely what i just wrote, so...

i should've read the transcript for episode 159 instead of relistening because i forgot that peter lukas's actor got so gravelly and hard to listen to in this one. anyway, time to re-listen to the season 4 finale... then i'll listen to the season 4 Q&As and stuff... and then the new episode. (DOKI DOKI DOKI DOKI DOKI)

i heard in the Q&A that the voice of peter lukas did multiple takes for episode 159?! but it was because of technical difficulties. right. because i can’t imagine the way it turned out being deemed the best take. sorry

ok, things i missed last time i listened to 160: daisy and the other two hunters are missing. also jon mentioned "magnus's body" and martin mentioned "an old man's corpse" and at the time i took this to mean (somewhat unthinkingly) that when jon and martin returned from the lonely, they killed elias/jonah's body. which would be a weird thing to happen "off-camera," so to speak. so i think i must have been wrong? slightly confused. ok, no, i'm now sure that elias survived, so i must have misunderstood. definitely alive.

as martin leaves and jon is about to begin the statement, he sounds so peaceful and satisfied. that's good acting.

by the way, in one of the previous few episodes, i noticed that jonah seems to have body-swapped by switching out his eyes into his preferred body, which i'm pretty sure i missed the first time.

i like that jonny sims checks reddit to see whether people have solved the mystery. that's just a really funny way to do things, sneaking a peek like "hmm how mysterious is my mystery? let's see who has figured it out..." and for the record, i wasn't even close to figuring it out. but to be fair to myself, i didn't try. like i said from the beginning, i started listening with the intent of going along for the ride. plus the mystery had already been solved before i started listening to the series, so it's not like i had a lot of time in between updates to contemplate whether elias was jonah, etc.

JON'S AMERICAN ACCENT FOR THE IONIZED YEAST AD

ALEX WAS THE VOICE OF JARED HOPWORTH?! i mean it was so messed up it could have been anybody but god

ALEX DIDN'T LET GERTUDE CACKLE

i've listened to the bloopers (including a gertrude cackle?) and the season 5 trailer (martin seems slightly cavalier about the end of the world but maybe he's just trying to keep his shit together for jon) and i'm going to listen to the new episode Soon.

final conclusion on rereads/relistens: i had pretty poor comprehension of some important happenings. i’m realizing just how easy it is to mishear/fail to hear exactly what is happening in a podcast when you’re doing other stuff at the same time. there are still a couple things i don’t quite understand, but i think i’ll have a look around the wiki one of these days.

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astudyinsarcasm9 · 6 years

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Pink Diamond and her character ark. Who is she supposed to be in the SU narrative? A villain? An anti-hero?

I’ve been meaning to make a bigger post about PD and her role in SU as of now.

First off: the Human zoo.

I am of the opinion that her character could’ve been written better. And by that I mean that if they wanted to make her truly morally questionable they should’ve stuck by the characterisation we got before ”A single pale rose”.

What do I mean?

Well, before that we thought and we were told that the Human Zoo was Pink’s and that Blue was just maintaining it in her absence, as a way to remember her. Garnet said PD would take humans there as trophies of her conquest. Now, I can imagine PD made up that story as a way to maker herself seem more evil in a bid to make the CGs have even more reasons to fight her. It certainly seems more evil than saying Blue and Yellow started the Zoo to shut up Pink.

The sad fact is the Human Zoo is really consistent with PD’s personality. She came to be infatuated with humans and until Greg she only saw them as play things so it makes total sense that she’d have a Human Zoo. It fits her to a T. She’d think she’d be doing a good thing by caring for them and providing them with basically a paradise version of Earth.

Hell, I would’ve loved a couple of episodes focusing on Pink Diamond slowly discovering the Earth and humans, watching them interact and deciding she likes them because they can evolve and change, unlike gems. Then, naturally, she would’ve wanted to take one or two for herself, to keep them closer to her, as she was not really allowed to be on Earth in the first place. So she asked Yellow and Blue to make the Zoo for her which they did. Maybe afterwards, after wandering on Earth some more she finds out how gems are made and how their creation strips the Earth of its life and then decides to fight for Earth. It would’ve made so much more sense. Instead of showing her see ONE human and deciding: OMG I need to save this planet. It felt lazy.

SU has a really interesting story and some really interesting characters and I really wish they did what Adventure Time did and just dedicate a couple of episodes to certain characters to develop them better. And with SU’s narrative it would’ve fitted nicely.

Second: Her weird characterisation.

Anyway, after ”A single pale rose” we found out the zoo was not hers at all and she had nothing to do with it. Gah! In the same episode we also find out she was always, more or less, a sweet, naive diamond which really does not go well with her debut when we saw she was incredibly spoiled and entitled. Ok, one can make the argument that she was younger, and when we saw her in ”A single pale rose” she already got her colony and already got bored of it and realized what a chore it was to be a diamond.

The problem with that is NO ONE WANTED TO SEE THE END RESULT.

Let me offer an example:

Zuko!

Zuko started out as the villain of the series. He was set in his views, he wanted the Avatar so he could go back home. Still, during Book 1 and Book 2 he went through a change. He had an inner battle with himself trying to decide which path to take and what his morality was in the end. Only in book 3 does he realize exactly where he stands, what he feels and what he has to do and during the second half of it he joins the protagonists and truly embraces his change of heart.

Now, imagine we were never shown Book 2 and we went from angry, bitter, entitled Zuko, who felt everyone was beneath him, up until a point when Iroh taught him humility, to the Zuko we had in the second half of Book 3 where he suddenly was on the good side and was nice and mostly pleasant. It would’ve sucked, right? We wouldn’t have seen the wonderful development he went through to get to that crucial point in his life.

Same with PD

When we first saw PD all she wanted was to be considered as one of the diamonds and be given the same respect as them. She wanted a colony. She was bratty she was spoiled. In the same vein Zuko wanted nothing more than to be back home, to be accepted back in the royal family and treated with the same respect as the other members. Except, unlike Zuko, we didn’t see PInk’s journey into becoming who she was. Hell, we’re not even sure we know who she was because as soon as we were told she had flaws, they were taken back and we were given the PD we know now.

All we saw was: PD wanting a colony and saying she is a diamond too and therefore should be treated as such - time skip - PD got her wish but got bored of it and because of said boredom she went out on the planet and discovered it had life, saw a human and decided she wanted to save it. To save it so she can live on it. But we’ll talk about that in a minute.

For some that would be pretty clear. Yeah she got bored of her colony. that’s it.

Yeah but, wouldn’t it have been more interesting to have some episodes gradually showing PD going from bratty and entitled to sweet and nice? To see her gradually lose interest in the colony, to see her observe what having a colony meant? To see her be neglected by the other diamonds, as it was implied was the case?

I don’t know. For me the PD from Jungle moon and the PD from A single pale rose seem like entirely different characters.

I’m sure the episodes were thought out long before they actually got feedback from us. But my bet is that between Jungle Moon and A single pale rose someone decided that the first PD was not what they wanted PD to be so they made the change.

The war!

People are really torn when it comes to the gem war.

I for one think that the creators wanted to have their cake and eat it too. What do I mean by that?

Pink Diamond chose to fight for the Earth because she saw what gem production was doing to the planet. It is assumed that while going out with Pearl and seeing Earth she observed how life was being affected by the collonisaton.

This is what PD says in ”A single pale rose”: We can leave our old lives behind. If this is really my world, I want to give it to the Crystal Gems. I want to live here with human beings! I wanna live here with you! We'll both finally be free!

This means that she wanted to free Earth more for the sake of her being able to be free on it, than because its life was affected. She wanted to be free of her duties as a diamond, she wanted to be free and live with humans and with Pearl.

Ok, after she met Garnet we were told she started to fight for other gems, but I don’t think that was entirely right. If she did want to fight for all gems she would’ve tried to liberate all the gems from under the diamonds, but she made sure not to harm the other diamonds (Bismuth, wink-wink). So she just wanted the safe route out.

That’s what I meant by the creators wanted their cake and to eat it too. They should’ve picked one or the other, because, as it is, PD comes off more as somebody who wanted to get out of her duties and just found the perfect excuse to do so. Im sure she cared for life on Earth but I am more sure she cared more for her own freedom.

This is why PD’s characterisation suffers a lot. That’s why people argue over it. Because these two beliefs cannot be reconciled.

I would’ve rather seen a PD who, while having her colony, saw, gradually, how her own colony affecter life on Earth. Maybe Pearl took her on the planet, multiple times, to see the damage. Maybe, one day, she’d ask Pearl what was going to happen to the planet after she was done colonising and Pearl would show her the plans and she’d be horrified. A lot of maybes.

But instead, even in her last moments as PD she didn’t say: ”Pearl, I want to save this planet. Look at it, I am destroying it and pretty soon nothing will be left if I don’t act.” Instead she once again reaffirmed her desire to be free of being a diamond.

In my eyes she is sort of an anti-hero. I am sure she had the best intentions but they were selfish intensions first and the noble ones afterwards. At least that’s what her characterisation is telling me.

And it is sad. The show is going to incredible lengths to sanitise her, as if she was just naive and misunderstood. Yes she was naive but she was also misguided, selfish and immature and until she met Greg she lacked empathy, for humans anyway.

And another thing: The show also went to great lengths to show us how gems are under a dictatorship, how there’s a caste system in place, how fusion means a death sentence etc. Yet, PD never talked about it. Rose never talked about it. Rose never meant a point to fight back against that system. Ok, one can make the argument that as PD she had no idea. Ok, cool, but as Rose I’m pretty sure she found out. And even as PD she had to know, to some degree how other gems were treated. She at least knew fusion was unheard of and by extension punished, so she must have known how gems were treated under the diamonds.

Bismuth was the only one who saw that and who wanted to take action against it. Pearl knew, heck, she was a slave by Homeworld’s views, and did not express a desire to save other gems from such a fate. Garnet knew and didn’t care even though Ruby almost got shattered because of that same system. And when Bismuth expressed the desire to free the other gems Rose bubbled her because of course she did she couldn’t have allowed the shattering of her dictator sisters.

And I hear some of you say: yeah but they are her sisters and her family. Yeah, cool but, and I go back to Zuko, when Aang was to face the FireLord, Zuko did not kill Aang or trap him somewhere so he couldn’t fight the Firelord because the villain happened to be his father.

In the episode ”Sozin’s Comet, Part 1: The Phoenix King” Zuko says this to Aang:

”You'll have to take the Fire Lord's life before he takes yours.” And this ”Well, that sweet little kid grew up to be a monster, and the worst father in the history of fathers.”

See? Zuko acknowledges that Aang has to kill his father for the greater good, to liberate the fire nation people, to save the world. AND he also acknowledges that Ozai is a terrible person.

This is how the Bismuth-Rose should’ve went if Rose gave two shits about the homeworld gems.

Some say SU is a kids show and can’t portray such things but iIT CHOSE TO TALK ABOUT WAR AND GENOCIDE AND LIFE LOSS - and as such, exactly like ATLA earned itself the right to go into more serious topics, despite being a show mainly aimed at kids.

If you talk about war and all that implies then have the balls to do it right and tackle all the issues.

All in all I think PD was a missed opportunity to have a great character ark for someone considered to be part of the villains but the reforming and taking the side of good and going against the system she was a part of. Exactly like Zuko.

I am really interested to see what will happen next but I suspect that as far as PD is concerned her character ark is pretty much over for now. There’s nowhere to go.

In the end she was just a selfish person who wanted to escape her life and duties because she found them boring and in doing so she found a really good reason for it: The colony was hurting the life on Earth. So she took that to heart and saw it as the perfect opportunity.

Let’s not forget that because of her we have gem experiments, the Cluster, corrupted gems etc. She couldn’t have known some of these would happen but she was a diamond so at least she could’ve known that the Diamonds have the ability to fuck shit up should they chose to.

Feel free to leave comments and discuss.

As always this is just my opinion and is not written in stone.

#steven universe #su critical #pink diamond

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noahcdaily · 6 years

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Noah Centineo, Shameless Heartthrob

My date with the best thirst architect the internet’s ever seen.

Now, I put my hand here,” Noah Centineo instructs as he slides his hand in the back pocket of my jeans. “And then we walk a little, like this.” He leads me around the Coney Island Aquarium like that: hip to hip, smiling at each other, his hand, to reiterate, in the back pocket of my jeans. I’ve just shamelessly asked him to re-create his signature move from Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, an adaptation of Jenny Han’s YA novel, in which he plays Peter Kavinsky, the high-school jock at the center of the film’s romantic plotline. I watched the movie and mentally flagged this scene — where he’s trying to convince a cafeteria full of students he’s dating the protagonist, Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor) — as the one that made me wonder, Who is that guy? It’s a moment that belongs in a clip reel of classic, chemistry-laden movie moments, and I, a journalist, wondered if it could inspire the same feelings when executed in real life.

Centineo tells me how he totally improvised the move during filming. It was a thing he used to do with his ex-girlfriend. They’d be walking around, like we are now, and he’d realized he could sort of dance her around by the pocket and turn her, “just like this,” and boom, propelled by just a tug on my pocket, I’m suddenly facing him. We’re pelvis to pelvis. He’s smiling, comfortably, and I’m confronted with his hazel eyes, the scent of clean laundry, and pure pheromones. I sort of squeal, I think? Who can say, because I definitely black out for a second.

If I seem thirsty, well, isn’t that the point? At 22, Centineo is the most effective, addictive sort of heartthrob: the kind who absolutely loves being one, the kind who does everything in his power to make us thirst harder than we’ve ever thirsted before — and, yeah, it works. When the movie came out in August, Noah Centineo was immediately, breathlessly given the title of Internet’s Boyfriend. Now, with his second Netflix rom-com, Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, in which he plays yet another lovable, evolved jock, Centineo has graduated to full-on cultural obsession.

In less than a month his Instagram followers went from just under 800,000 to 9.5 million. In the movie, his character drives crosstown to buy his love interest her favorite Korean yogurt drinks — and no joke — Yakult stock has been going up. This man’s floppy hair is actually driving the market. He’s been stalked by fans and now employs an omnipresent security guard named Dave. He’s been the subject of a leaked nude scandal (“I understand why you have to ask that question,” he demurred when I asked him about a certain video that’s been making the rounds. “I just hope you understand why I’m not gonna answer it.”). His Twitter mentions are an anthology of fantasies — some chaste and some really not — written by women of all ages. “Tell them all to hit my line,” he says with a laugh.

We decide to tour the aquarium, where I’m idly waiting for him in the lobby when he walks in shirtless. Shirtless. Without a shirt. Holding his black T-shirt in his hand, instead of wearing it on his torso, which I can see right now. With my eyes. He has a real reason. He’s just been outside, taking pictures on a boardwalk in nearly 100-degree weather. But even with a rational explanation as to why he has no shirt on, the entrance is so on the nose it’s almost ridiculous: a smoking-hot leading man, walking into a room sweaty and half-naked. It’s like there should be a slowed-down frame rate, a treacly indie-pop song playing, a zoom-in of my pupils turning into those hunga hunga hearts. He hands his ticket to the woman at the front desk and apologizes, for some reason, for his bare chest. She makes him put his shirt back on, and greets me with a smile so huge, I can assure you he has zero cavities.

Even offscreen, Centineo, I observe immediately, has that whole thing. It wasn’t just good directing or the right song cued at the right moment that created the effect. He has all the qualities deemed necessary by early-in-life fans of Teen Bop and Devon Sawa at the end of Casper: white sneakers (Vans, of course), an easy charm, and a tendency to play it fast and loose with knowing, meaningful eye contact that says “I see you.” He knows the right way to lean against a wall, how to twirl a specific clump of hair so it slouches over one eye. He’s even got an imperfection you can moon over: this tiny scar on his chin from where his dog tried to rip his face off when he was a kid. When he greets me with a hug, it’s the kind of genuine, intentional, full-body contact that makes me feel like he’d write me a letter every day and build me a house.

“I’ve always played the love interest,” Centineo says. “I’ve trained for it for a while. These roles are just molds I can pour myself into.” He grew up in Miami, with a few years’ interlude in Park City, which he hated because he never felt like he fit in. He started acting as a preteen when he attended a general casting call sort of on a lark, but he enjoyed it so much he eventually dropped out of his Boca Raton high school sophomore year and moved to Los Angeles with his mom to pursue it full-time. Since then Centineo’s been playing graduating levels of “crush”: first on a tween-friendly Disney show Austin & Ally, then on a teen-friendly Freeform show, The Fosters, and now for admiring audiences of all ages on Netflix rom-coms (To All the Boys, Sierra Burgess, and one deep cut for the algorithm-determined real fans, SPF 18.)

“I like this rowboat. Do you want to sit in this rowboat,” he asks, upon discovering a fake rowboat stuck in the corner of an exhibition about ponds. (Fake rowboat, a move.) Ever the leading man, he gets in first to steady the fake boat, and helps me in. Then, he directs yet another adorable moment for us, and starts rocking the boat back and forth, like we’re on a real pond, laughing this huge, full-throated laugh like the only thing he’s ever wanted to do was crouch in a plastic rowboat with me. And even though we both know the answer to the question, I ask, “Why do you think everyone is going nuts over you right now?”

“People love love,” he says, and begins to explain how both of his recent movies “empower” people. “I think these are just great examples of feel-good films, how could you not like something that makes you feel good?”

He stops talking and looks at me, a little concerned. “If you’re still warm, we should move,” he suggests, perhaps noticing the sweat pouring from my forehead and rolling down to my chin. It’s such a hot day, even the AC inside has given up. “I just want you to feel comfortable,” he says thoughtfully, adding, “Don’t worry, I also sweat like a motherfucker.”

It’s now his mission to find the coolest spot in the aquarium. He leads me down some stairs, back up the same stairs once he realizes they lead to a bathroom. We go around all the exhibits, while he looks up at the ceiling, in the corners, searching for an air vent, determined to find the perfect spot to get the full blast. We finally do. “Can you feel it?” he asks, one last time, before he seems satisfied, parked in front of a manmade reef. It’s a specific sort of gallantry I recognize from his roles, the ones he describes as manly and masculine, but also “sensitive, emotionally intelligent, loving, nurturing, and protective.”

“That’s just what a great man is in life and in general,” he shrugs. In his two most well-known parts (both of which occurred in the past month) he plays an updated version of a familiar type of crush. In To All the Boys, a lacrosse player who loves Fight Club but drinks kombucha and falls for the film’s Korean-American protagonist. In the other, Sierra Burgess, a quarterback who thinks the cheerleader is way hot, but instead falls for the brainy girl who catfishes him. In both, he displays a preference for the unexpected love interest. In both, he drives a Jeep Wrangler, the preeminent car of teen crushes. He’s not the mysterious, brooding type à la Robert Pattinson in Twilight, he doesn’t have the cold, intellectual appeal of Timothée Chalamet’s character in Lady Bird. He’s not pure Zac Efron dumb-hot-frat boy or even the misunderstood, sexually experienced bad boy like the ones Adam Driver plays. What Centineo does well — and what nobody has really done with such conviction since Freddie Prinze Jr. — is play a simple, suburban-mall kind of crush with Stanislavski dedication. That’s it. He’s just fully nice and hot at a time that feels like “nice and hot” is a rare resource. He’s a throwback to a more classic sort of wish fulfillment.

In fact, Centineo can see a whole career based around this: being good at love. He imagines all the potential types of roles he can explore: romantic dramas, other types of rom-coms, action romantic comedies, edgier, more toxic and dangerous types of love. “There’s so many degrees to love. I think I have a lot more to offer the space,” he says. He’s got a few projects lined up already, most notably a movie coming out in 2019 called The Stand-In. He plays a post-grad who launches a start-up, which requires him to loan himself out as a fake boyfriend.

“Whoa whoa! That motherfucker just came through so quick! He ran up on us with his boy.”

Centineo jumps back and marvels at some large fish that just came swimming right at his head. He makes a kissy-fish face back at the fish. What a lovely time we’re having. Looking at fish! Then he points to a placard and carefully reads out the description for Slippery Dick, a type of fish native to this particular tank, and chuckles. Then I read one about the French Grunt. I have no idea what’s going on. I point to a particularly fascinating fish, and he leans in to see, angling his head so his hair brushes my hand. Our arms accidentally touch.

“How’d you get so good at flirting,” I’m compelled to ask.

“Am I flirting?” he laughs and leans and looks down at the floor. “I don’t know — I’m fucking so romantic. Like, such a romantic — it’s not even funny. I can’t help it. I swear to God, like, every day, the majority of my day is sentimental. You know, I’m thinking about past relationships I’ve been in, how I miss them so much or what I would do different, or why I wanna be with them again, or just moments I’d like to go back to or I know why I shouldn’t go back, and then you know, it’s just constantly love, love, love.”

He’s a Taurus, ruled by Venus, he offers by way of explanation. “That means a couple things: one, like I need a lot of nurturing, and two, Venus is love, I’m ruled by love.” His favorite movie is Gaspar Noe’s Love, his favorite feeling is being in love (which he has been, twice). I bet if you could cook Love and serve it over pasta, it would be his favorite meal. He lives, breathes, and expels love. His Instagram is a steady stream of soul-baring, puppy-dog-eyed selfies — “I’m pretty vain,” he jokes. His Twitter alternates between sort of yoga studio platitudes and vague flirtations like “Fuck…you’re so cute,” or, more in line with my personal interests, “THE BLACKER THE BERRY.”The messages are to nobody specific, he says — he’s single right now — they could be to somebody he just met, or he met before, or he saw across the room, or just to everybody.

Dating is going to be hard for him from now on, he suspects, even though he really doesn’t want to change how he pursues someone he likes (open-heartedly, passionately, purely) but he’s started worrying about the reasons people want to date him. Is it just because he’s more famous now? Do they just want to date Peter Kavinksy? But are Kavinsky and Centineo really so different? “I’m definitely not as innocent—” he says, with a gaze, because why say anything if you aren’t going to commit.

Centineo continues to list the differences, both philosophical and material: He’s more apt to jump out of a plane or just sit in nature than his characters. He doesn’t live in the suburbs, he lives in Los Angeles with his older sister and her boyfriend. He likes yoga and martial arts. He parties with friends. He starts every day at 6 a.m. with oatmeal, the recipe for which he begins detail, slowly: “I do Irish steel-cut oats, I do almond butter, coconut butter uh, coconut oil, honey, uh, chopped bananas, and, and, uh, like, hemp granola,” and I’m struck with this familiar feeling of being completely entranced by a man saying absolutely nothing interesting to me, which, oh right, yes, is infatuation.

#do people like these #will i post them more?#noah centineo #interview #the cut #140918 #september 18 #2017

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bettsfic · 7 years

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Hey! So firstly congrats on the writing program! Secondly, thanks for always sharing interesting writing advice. And thirdly, this: I know most people feel like if they just put their mind to it, they surely have a novel in them somewhere. Do you agree? Do you think more people should just try writing and see what happens, or do you think that studying and training is a better route to take before getting any big ideas?

thanks so much! this is a hell of a question, and my answer is a bit meander-y because i think differently about this in different roles -- my teacher self sees it differently than my writing self sees it differently than my editor self.

my favorite quote about this comes from Flannery O’Connor’s “The Nature and Aim of Fiction” in which she says

Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the universities stifle writers. Myopinionis that they don't stifle enough of them. There's many a best-seller thatcould have beenprevented by a good teacher. The idea of being a writer attracts agood many shiftless people, those who are merely burdened withpoetic feelings or afflicted with sensibility.

i like this quote not because i agree with it, but because it articulates an alternative perspective with which i can pivot my own thoughts.

i believe that creative expression is a necessity of mental health, and in improving the ability of expression -- that is to say, the accuracy of putting what’s in our minds to some external space -- we strengthen a fundamental means of achieving happiness.

writing builds roads that can deliver what’s inside our minds to the outside world. there, our stories can be read, understood, and accepted, and therefore our experiences and ourselves validated. in this way, writing is no different than painting or dancing or making music -- art is the transference of internal to external. it is one of the most important means of communication we possess. this is why artists and writers are so often affiliated with depression and inner turmoil: we’re the ones who most crave understanding.

if you meet someone who feels misunderstood and they are not an artist, they haven’t found their art yet.

so the simple answer is yes, anyone can write a novel.

that said, here’s where things get complicated.

as someone who will soon have an MFA, a million words of fiction written, and only 8k of them published, i do get frustrated at people who think anyone can write a novel, even when i just agreed they could. in part, it means they don’t value (or even know) the amount of work and dedication a novel takes, therefore they take my work for granted.

a novel isn’t just 80k of random thoughts puked onto a page, it’s years of failing, notebooks of outlining, wormholes of useless research, and a truly agonizing amount of rejection. it’s tenacity and stubbornness. it’s facing your own worthlessness every day and constantly reminding yourself your stories and perspectives are worthy of witness.

but i also know that it takes audacity to be a writer, and part of that audacity is believing you’re already good at something you’re actually not good at, just so you can cheer yourself on and keep going.

the only way to write a novel is to start writing a novel, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing. fly blind and slap words on a page until you improve enough that you go, oh shit, this sucks, i need to start over. so you read a few books, realize you really suck, but maybe not that much, and maybe you were on the right track after all, so you open a new doc and start over. maybe you get a bit further this time, but then you realize it’s all way harder than you expected and maybe you need to step back for a bit and try something else, get good at short stories or whatever. so you write a few short stories and maybe start reading a few short story writers consistently, Raymond Carver and George Saunders and whoever else, and realize you suck at both endings and voice respectively, so you write some things that are clearly very derivative but hey, you’re just practicing, right? your novel has been tabled indefinitely and you’ve met 10 writers who are all way better than you so you feel like a total fraud (they feel like frauds too) and read 100 writers who are everything you ever want to be (also frauds), and it doesn’t seem like you’re on a path at all, you’re just swinging punches and hitting air, you haven’t worked on your novel in months but god, this story in your head just needs to get on paper and then maybe you’ll go back to the novel, and now you have hundreds and hundreds of pages of not-novel and teetering stacks of literary journals and short story collections and other people’s novels you’ll probably never read, and fuck. fuck. you’re stuck. you’ve gone as far as you can go and it’s not far enough because you can see it now, the kind of quality you want to write but you’re not there yet. the only way you’ll get better is by getting a mentor maybe. getting an MFA. applying for a residency or fellowship or workshop. getting more eyes on your work. so you do all that and send your stuff out for publication and while you’re waiting for your rejections you go back to your novel, which is actually way shittier than you remember but oh, that’s a good line, you’ll keep that one, and shit, that was actually a really creative character trait, you weren’t as bad as you thought. this is salvageable, you can work with this. and so you keep writing, knowing you’re going to put it down again when you get another idea, when you need to drift away to learn something new, and come back to it eventually.

tl;dr you do not become a writer to write a novel. you write a novel to become a writer.

writing advice tag | ko-fi | beta commissions

#writing advice #dow17 #Anonymous

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katabasiss · 3 years

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7 &/or 5 for the essay asks

i simply...did not see this until now....but i like to talk about myself so I'm still gonna do it asjkldjaskd

5. What is an essay topic that’s been floating around in your head for a long time?

actually already answered this here, where I went into haunting in the odyssey + how odysseus is an example of the unburied dead (ataphoi) but !! that being said I want to look at a ton of different things so another essay that's been floating around my mind is looking at gender roles and 'sodomy' in the golden age of piracy !! more specifically I wanna look at hypermasculinity and how that impacted homosexual relations and the whole gender performance!!

7. What was the essay you hated writing the most?

I took a module last year studying egyptian hieroglyphics and i've NEVER hated writing an essay more ! my essay 'title' was 'functional differentiation of languages and scripts in ancient egypt (from the beginning to 641 AD)’ and its safe to say that i vastly misunderstood the title and had no idea what was going on. in theory i just had to explain the different types of written egyptian (e.g. old egyptian, middle egyptian, demotic, coptic etc) and why they existed (e.g. for formal writing, for religious texts etc) but instead i wrote a whole essay on diachronic linguistic changes between the types and how THAT came about. so with my grand total of like 8 weeks of knowledge in hieroglyphics (which was also a class i used to cheat in so it was very shitty knowledge) i tried to write a 3000 word essay on grammatical differentiation between aorist forms, conditional clauses, and the introduction of palatisation between semitic and old egyptian which led to semantic shifts in egyptian morphology

i also remember that i wrote this at 4am on my birthday and i felt like i was in a fever dream and still have no idea what i was on about. surprisingly tho i somehow pulled a 2.1 despite my lecturer telling me that i completely misunderstood the assignment

essay asks

#asks #ask game

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that-shipper-type-fangirl · 7 years

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Everything anon wanted to know and wasn’t afraid to ask part 2 :D

request

WH:

MC: In general, I can't really identify myself with her; she's a pure young girl while I'm a rotten, pervert woman :"D However, in the second seasons (at least as far as I read them) - she improved so much! Not like a woman though, but a wizard, but that's also nice to see, I'm so proud of our little Lizzie now ^^ <3Elias: Such a cutie. I love cuties. Though I also like bossy guys too so I can’t decide if I like him or Klaus more. No, please, just don’t ask me to decide! >_< Luca: I have that headcanon that he’s bisexual. Is it okay that despite this, I find him hot!? It’s not that I like every bad boy, but he has special… circumstances. Have I ever mentioned how obsessed I’m with royal guys? Oh, maybe just a thousand times. Yukiya: I’d like him anyway, but as he was the very first character I played in WH, he’ll be always special to me <3 Yeah, I’m a bit sentimental and I always remember the first characters in games like my first loves xD But I must mention one more thing: I want to meet his family! I don’t remember how many siblings he has, but it doesn’t matter anyway. I’m sure I say regularly, but I have a strong attraction to older brothers… Randy: his story is my favorite, but he’s not my favorite guy. Is it a contradiction? I don’t think so. His story is complex, tragic, full of mysteries at first, it was interesting to read. But as a guy… of course, he’s cute but I always thought I’d rather be his best friend. Stuffing our heads with sweets, doing crazy things, having fun etc. instead of romantic interactions. I don’t have any problem with him as a guy, I’m just not sure if there is enough chemistry between us like lovers. Azusa: he’s a misunderstood character! How can anyone say that he’s a jerk? There IS a difference between being a jerk just because why not, and being a jerk because he’s deceived, broken-hearted, mentally unstable because of several personal reasons. He’s not a bad person, he’s a good person manipulated by bad things. I don’t agree that it’s okay to act like him in a relationship! But hey, MC heals his heart, isn’t it still a great story? :) Klaus: asdfghasdf I’m horny… Okay, now he IS an actual jerk. He acts like he does because of his own decisions, not because he is manipulated by something. But… can’t we be optimistic just a little bit? I mean okay, he’s strict, but let’s see the good side of this: MC needed that strictness. Joel: I constantly have two things in my mind everytime I see him. 1st: when he appears in another guy’s route, a piece of my heart dies. Seriously. How sad can it be to see your love of life with another guy, without her remembering you? T_____T I can’t bear it… 2nd: in his own route… he wants MC to look him like a guy, without comparing him to June. Can you imagine how much thirst he has to prove his manliness? Every time he kisses MC, his kiss must be deep and passionate. When he makes love to her, he must show off all his skills as a man, and as he waited years for her, I don’t think he can hold himself back, he’s very possessive… but at the same time, as he loves deeply MC, he constantly fights with his selfish desires as he tries not to hurt her… awww I’ve already written Joel lemon, but I want more… T__T Vincent: Handsome and confident, but not jerk, protective and supports MC. The hottest of all the hotties! Haters, please just stop talking about his old he is… because he’s not old! Of course, he’s not a boy, but not being a boy doesn’t mean that he’s old! Anyway, I think he resembles mostly a real-life guy. He’s not a psycho, not tsundere, not a total bad boy, still, he’s not that all lovey-dovey romantic prince type. I personally think that most of the guys are like this: they don’t fall in love so easily as girls, needs some motivating to accept their own feelings, but it doesn’t mean they are all bad people. And Vincent… I can totally understand his way of thinking about love after hearing his about his past. And I’m very-very proud of myself that I could hold back my fangirling for his uniform until the end of the paragraph. LET THE FANGIRLING BEGIN!!! Leon: Well, I found his story lovely and emotional, and he is an interesting character. Not because of his race, but it’s interesting to see how he learns about emotions and tries to be a better person. Still… my body reacts better for guys like Klaus or Vincent, I’m sorry >_< But my platonic love will never fade, don’t worry my sweet angel! <3 /friendzoned Cerim: I like knights or knight-like guys in general. But it’s more important to talk about how MC got stronger in his route. I really like how she tries his best to share his burden, now she’s not just a damsel in distress. I like Cerim’s story, but I’m afraid my deepest crush in this mystery series is Guy… >_< Saella and MC were more interesting in his story than he, the main character itself. Also, the way how he looks isn't my type of guy. Well, it happens, not all the otome game guys are my type xD Guy: Can we stop for a moment to talk about how cute he is? He has his own problems due to his family, yet he doesn't act like a jerk (or like Luca xD) Despite his problems, he's cheerful and he doesn't treat MC like a piece of trash, moreover, he's sweeeeeet :3 He's a really good boyfriend material :)Glenn: His story was okay with the mystery around his village, but the way how he constantly friendzones MC made me tired. I know he doesn't do it on purpose, still it killed the chemistry between us. Sorry babe :* Leslie: He looks like Luca with brown hair. His personality is not the same, fortunately (yeah, I'm a fangirl of Luca, yet I admit he's awful xD) But even if he's not totally a copy-paste, his route didn't leave a very deep impression on me. Yeah, it was averagely entertaining, but I didn't feel when I finished that "OMG how will I recover from this love?" *shrugs* Sigurd: I like that type of character who you get to know only slowly. There are many layers, stories and feelings under the surface he shows to the world. He's a well-written character who managed make me forget how I started to get bored of WH recently.Mel: Younger than MC but looks older, clueless about love but a genius in his field... if he had dark hair, he would be literally my fiancée :"D Beside the sadist guys (like Raymond or Klaus), my other type is the "shota", I'd corrupt these cuties :3

Amelia: I ask her route from Santa again and again. It will never happen, but I won’t give up. She’s supporting, cheerful and not lame if the topic is love… ;-) Sometimes I ship her with different guys, but my main ship of hers will be always she x MC :D Ronny and Chica: they wanted to be cute side-kicks like Taffy - they turned out to be annoying :/ They have good moments though, but I say they aren't so original and funny like Taffy. Headmaster Randolph: he’s always a mystery to me, sometimes he looks like he’s something omniscient being on the Academy, and sometimes he doesn’t know about stuff. But doesn’t matter, I think he’s a great teacher; I wish I could have teachers like him… :/ Prof. Merkulova: I can’t understand what SWD did with him. There is a character. We don’t have many teachers in the school in the game, but he is one. Girls like him. He has dark secrets. And still, he rarely gets attention! I’m not especially his fangirl, I don’t say I wish they would release his route, but he is an interesting character so he could have gotten more role. Prof. Schuyler: ohohohohoho, this is my topic ;-) My opinion about him? *throws feelings into the crowd, here, have all of my feelings* He keeps his words and tries his best to protect the one who was important to someone important. I try not to say spoilers so word repetition FTW xD Loyal guys are hot! Also, I don’t think he could be one of the three mages, a royal attendant wizard or such a skilled teacher if he wouldn’t be smart. Strong wizards are hot! He never joined the dark side. Unwavering guys are hot! And why do some people say he’s not good-looking? He’s a badass guy with quite a difficult past, of course, he has a strict expression on his face! Though I’m curious about his smiling or soft face too… Argh, I’m so fckng hopeless! Months ago I wrote: "I’m not sure how long I can hold back to write a sequel to the Schuyler fanfic I wrote" Now let me announce: since it's time for sequels, something is on the way here too... ;)

#shall we date #otome game #shall we date wizardess heart #wizardess heart

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youdecode · 4 years

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How to Manifest True Love? Manifest soulmate [law of attraction for love]

Ah love! Manifesting love.

Am actually excited to write this because the process is way too simple!

(I will shed light on my current personal practice in the end)

This guide for manifesting your soulmate is not a filler.

But if you want proven help from an expert then here you go.

Know that it is an instruction manual thus treat it that way.

It is a simple step by step process which requires no theories . . . Manifesting a soulmate!

Before diving straight into the steps, I would stress the word soul mate here.

Quite a big term right?

Who exactly is a soul mate.

Someone who your soul recognizes.

Someone who your soul resonates with and that too for a lifetime.

People fail to manifest a soulmate because of infatuation . . . and wrong choices.

You might say that Eisha Love sees no right and wrong.

It is just blind.

Interestingly, it is so easy to say that love is blind while it is not.

Yes, one might get blinded by logical and interruption of the conscious mind which often gets misunderstood as the signal of the heart.

The biggest challenge in making the right choice and manifesting your real soulmate lies in the distinction between the voice of heart and voice of mind.

We will dig further down into this.

For now just remember that if you have had any relation in the past and now it kind of has vanished then :

One was not your soul mate.

True love only exists between the soul mates.

Your mind may interrupt here and say . . . but you loved the person once :

Again who knows it was the voice of your mind rather than of your heart?!

I am not saying that one must not listen to the mind, rather I am saying know the distinction (when to listen to what!)

This is an action plan. So treat it as one.

If you will follow it . . . you will magically attract a person.

Asking about the time frame?

Depends on the strength and clarity of your law of attraction practices.

(Don’t crease your forehead girl, I have your back with the best practices).

If you have already have a specific person in mind then skip step 1.

Let’s dig straight in for some juicy stuff.

Also Here Are Some Related Massively-Transformative Resources You Will Ever Need.

1100+ Daily Journal Prompts for Self Discovery

3 secret steps to make any wish come true

4 incredible powerful steps to manifest desires & goals

PS : Don’t forget to grab the freebie at the end of post, specially crafted for you !

Step 1: Clearly list down the qualities you desire

This step deals with your mind and your heart has like no role in here.

You have to make a choice in this step about the qualities you desire in your soul mate.

Making choices, means again it has to be the conscious decision where you will want to look back on your qualities, past, memories, wishes, and dreams for deciding the type of person you want to attract.

This step is extremely important thus you will have to be cautious.

I have been stressing on several Blogpost regarding why people fail to manifest their dreams . . .

The number one reason is the lack of clarity.

You want just everything or sometimes you are confused yourself.

In either of the states, you will never attract a dream, in this case, the soul mate, because you have no clarity of how your soulmate has to be, with whom your soul will resonate.

So what is the drill?

Keep a separate journal for it please (Take this seriously as after all it about your life)

Make a web.

Write soul mate in the center and then branch out the important qualities you desire

Be as specific as possible

Every person desires some attributes to be present in a specific person

Never write any half heart desire else law of attraction would not work

Be concrete and list all of them clearly.

Start with personality traits like honesty, LOYALTY, integrity

List a minimum of 10 traits and maximum of 20 (not more than that)

List the habits you would love in your soul mate

List the habits you will absolutely not approve of (like smoking for suppose if you are allergic)

List the physical traits you want your ideal man to have (some people wish to skip this but it is totally a preference)

If you remain honest with yourself in this process then half of your work is done. Yes, half of it.

How?

You are clear Law of attraction thus has got your back.

Step 2: Create an intention statement

Now everything in the law of attraction is a clear intention.

That is why we exercised above and narrowed down the specifics for manifesting a soulmate.

What is the intention?

A concrete desire. It is not a wish . . .

it is not a dream.

A desire is much stronger and something that you truly want to attract.

That list was vital for creating an intention statement . . .

Flip the page of the journal and write:

MY INTENTION IS TO ATTRACT AN HONEST, LOVING, AND AFFECTIONATE SOULMATE WHO IS COMMITTED TO MAINTAINING A HEALTHY, LIFE-LONG RELATIONSHIP WITH ME.

MY INTENTION IS TO FALL MADLY IN LOVE WITH A GENTLE AND ROMANTIC MAN WHO IS MARRIAGE-MINDED AND FAMILY ORIENTED.

The intentional statement became easy to develop because you had the list with you.

Now how to craft a perfect statement. This is how:

Add the most important qualities

Make the intentional statement easier to recall because ultimately you want to use it as an affirmation.

Make it short as you will have to repeat the intentional statement so that it could sink into your subconscious mind.

Focus on it at different times of the day (Just think about it and smile: Nothing fancy!)

Double-check that your intention statement is the direct reflection of your desire

Feel free to take a few days to develop a clear intention statement

Bonus tip: Include power words that could stimulate a positive and joyous feel in you.

Apart from scripting into your journal, write it down on a flashcard so it is convenient to carry & then memorize

The intentional statement is not any magical spell or abra ca dabra . . .! it is not a mantra but simply a tool for realigning your focus.

Wrapping this point:

When you will constantly “think” about the “desire” you have created, you will be sinking the thoughts into your subconscious mind.

Where all your intentions will turn into faith and belief.

Focusing on the card/ reviewing your manifesting journal/ repeating the statement once in a week simply would not cut it!

Repetition is the key my friend so make it a habit.

Please Pin It For Later Reference Fam!

Step 3: Visualization for manifesting love

Now that we are done with the basics, it is time to put other half tasks in action.

Here comes the heart now as now there is a heavy play on feelings.

We are all visual animals.

How many of us are guilty of just knowing the faces of old friends while their names are long forgotten?

Okay I’m raising my hand. So we have established that we own powerful visuals.

So, why not use it for our benefit as a biggest tool for manifesting quickly?

Great idea!

And proven one.

Bear in mind that human imagination is extremely powerful thus let’s work on the visualization scripts. (we have worked above on the written scripts).

We have not talked about feelings much!

But now is the time to bring this puzzle into the game.

Law of attraction is incomplete without a feeling . . . usually it is accompanied with the desire.

A strong desire will naturally bring the feelings into play. . . when you are repeating the intentional statements but that is not enough.

You have to bring the feeling in every step. So that you emotionally connect.

A desire without any emotional connection will make it hard for you to manifest love.

You will see several people commenting that they just don’t feel like what it is to be in love . . . how it feels like being rich . . .

it’s hard to imagine.

For all such comments I just have a single answer :

JUST FEEL HAPPY

Yes, feel the happiness after all that is the ultimate pleasure you are after.

Why do you think you want to manifest love, yours soulmate?

The root is always for happiness.

So why not reverse the process?

DO NOT wait for the person to enter your life and then get happy rather start from the bottom up approach.

Feel it first.

Imagine happiness in your visualization.

By getting happy you will feel a stronger connection with your desire.

And that is when beautiful things will sweep into your life.

The first rule of visualization is thus feeling happy and then imagining it.

What to imagine and how to bring your creative neurons into play?

Go for a warm-up. Here is how:

Think about the instances when you felt happy. The incidents you enjoyed in the part

Some ideas include: recalling having a perfect meal with someone you have loved.

Imagining a friend’s wedding, imagining observing a serene ocean.

Now warm up by recalling moments that are related to the emotion of love

How did your school crush make you feel? Did you ever find your heart racing or stomach hosting butterflies?

These short yet powerful warm-up exercises will awaken your senses and prepare you for the actual visualization.

You need to awaken the sense and emotions for visualization thus warming up and reeling up the memories was vital.

Now visualization exercises will be easier to do & yes more fun.

Visualizing a Perfect Date

Now visualize your perfect date. Search your feelings and construct the scenario. Here is how to get started:

In order to save yourself from getting overwhelmed, you should ideally start with 5 mins a day and then extend to 15 min later.

Imagine with the same emotions that how the place will look. Will it be somewhere busy or somewhere away from the noisy city? You should imagine the scene.

Which dress will you wear?

How will the ideal drive go?

The song you will listen to?

The things you will talk about in the car?

The things you will talk till the dinner gets served?

Recall any of the childhood incidents that you will definitely share and the smile. Think about the memories you will bring ?

Now you can add an additional layer of reality by imagining what will happen the next week or day. Will you have other movie plans? Yes, get wild with your imagination because it is your story and you are the creator of it.

Remember the story you are creating in your head will definitely translate into your reality because the have got the basic ingredients of law of attraction right: Intention , feeling & belief

Step 4 : Put all the steps together for manifesting a soul mate

1- Now when the morning shines bright at you, mindfully repeat your Intention

Statement with the emotions , simply with happiness.

Know that it is an affirmation thus you need to at least repeat a dozen times throughout the day whenever convenient.

Can be during dressing up or during drive . . . or at college/work (just do not be very loud!)

2- Perform the Emotional Visualization at least twice per day.

The ideal time is before bed and immediately after waking up as during these times the theta state of mind is most active.

The state is the state of the subconscious mind.

It is vital for the visualization to sink into the subconscious mind as that is where all the belief/faith is (one of the key components of the law of attraction).

Do not fret about how to make your visualization sink into the mind . . . with repetition and by these timings you are naturally making the process happen.

Remember your subconscious mind cannot differentiate between reality and imagination . . . to it your imagination is also real thus it forms a faith of manifesting soulmate.

3. Include some of the affirmations from here. Choose the ones which resonate with you.

4. Stay persistent. No one can tell when you will manifest your soulmate. . . it can be in 7 minutes. . . 7 days . . .or 7 months. The law of attraction works with the principal of energy. By constantly giving out love energy to the universe, you are forcing it to return the same energy back and that happens quickly! (your efforts decide the time remember that)

Before you Goo . . .

It will be unfair to end this blogpost without sharing where I am manifesting a soul mate.

Well, I have a clear web in my journal. I am exactly aware of the type of person I want . . . my visualization is spot on . . .

The only thing which I intentionally delay is the time.

I do not practice affirmations several times a day or even the intentional statement because I am not yet ready.

I have dealt with a loss of the love of my life, my dad . . .

So cherishing only his memories for now.

So a word of caution: practice when you are ready!

You can attract the person even tomorrow . . . and then do not be like oh what have i done!

This was just the basic guide to get you started.

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porcileorg · 5 years

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Why Unrealism Now? – On the book ‘Unrealism: New Figurative Painting’

Author: The Bensplainer – Munich, February, 2020.

Book details: Introduction by Jeffrey Deitch; Contribution by Alison Gingeras and Aria Dean and Johanna Fateman; Featuring artists Nina Chanel Abney, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Sascha Braunig, Jordan Casteel, Mathew Cerletty, Eliza Douglas, Celeste Dupuy-Spencer, Janiva Ellis, Jana Euler, Jamian Juliano-Villani, Cheyenne Julien, Sanya Kantarovsky, Ella Kruglanskaya, Austin Lee, Tala Madani, Sam McKinniss, Ebecho Muslimova, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Jennifer Packer, Nicolas Party, Christina Quarles, Tschabalala Self, Amy Sherald, Avery Singer, Emily Mae Smith, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Published by Rizzoli Electa, New York, 2019.

‘Unrealism: New Figurative Painting’—edited by Jeffrey Deitch for Rizzoli New York—has just been released in October 2019. It is a huge volume featuring the work of 26 international artists and deals with the general notion of the ‘figurative’ in contemporary painting.

As a survey, ‘Unrealism: New Figurative Painting’ is a courageous enterprise. At the beginning of the 20th century, the so-called ‘avant garde’ proposed a fundamental turning point in European visual culture, shifting the pictorial concept from imitation to transformation. Since then, a long tradition of modernist art writing has more or less privileged an abstract and superficially formalist canon in criticism and art history. Of course, this does not mean that all artists in the last century have worked in this way - or even within their own practice. Modernist writing on art was—and maybe still is, to borrow from Lyotard—its own ‘grand narrative,’ which frankly can become overkill.

Deitch’s Take on New Figurative Painting

The historical fact⁠ that ‘figurative painting’ continued to exist and be relevant even after the avant-garde break with representation⁠ is often recognized in Deitch’s and Alison M. Gingeras's essays. This is obviously a good starting point. Artistic practice should be here the case study. Deitch presents a visual essay about a ‘counter-history of figuration’ in the 20th-21st century, which features most of the usual suspects. So, yes, there is Francis Picabia and his very weird paintings after Dada; Giorgio De Chirico, who never gave a shit and always did what he wanted; and the German masters of New Objectivity as well as Balthus. I must add however (and sorry for bensplaining) that both of the authors seem to have forgotten the most obvious example of ‘contradiction in the modernist canon.’ This would be, of course, Kazimir Malevich, the discoverer of the ‘Black Square’ (1915), who is also responsible for the still mysterious and indefinable post-1927 parodying figurative painting. At least a few women artists get a mention, some of them key figures in the development of figuration, such as Florine Stettheimer, Tarsila do Amaral and pre-WWII Frida Kahlo, but the list, of course, is longer and tries indeed to cover the whole century with a non-gender biased approach. It's all good and we all agree with the spirit of the enterprise.

However, there are still concerns about the narrative that is put forward by the authors rather than the individual artistic practices that they discuss. For instance, Deitch's introductory essay on contemporary ‘Unrealism’ deals with some heated issues. He affirms that figurative painting is now “back in the vanguard.” My first question would be: figuration is back because of what? The artists featured in ‘Unrealism’ are all celebrities working with internationally recognized and powerful institutions and galleries. Is figuration back because of the market that establishes what is the vanguard, or is it merely fashionable at this very moment? Or what else?

Deitch offers the following as explanation:

First of all, as we are all living in a ‘post truth’ epoch, artists deal with the ‘unreal,’ thus the label: ‘Unrealism.’

If I may speak figuratively - ha!

As is common in today's art jargon, Deitch's contextualization is sociologically determined. He lists: the loss of hierarchies; borrowing from low brow or vernacular culture; hybridization; post truth politics; heteroformity; and finally, the pervasive use of social media. But aside perhaps from social media, haven’t most of these factors been in play since the beginning of modernism? Hasn't “vernacular” culture already played a fundamental role in the most heroic phase of modernist narrative, this damned avant-garde? Technology has changed of course⁠—but the artistic approach to technology has always been more skeptical than enthusiastic. An artist does whatever he or she wants with technology, this action/potential reveals an exchange of interests, an ‘indirect interaction of objects,’ as Graham Harman would put it.

The book's reasoning is still biased I think, by the old-fashioned art historical idea of ‘influence.’ An influence in itself doesn't really exist, unless one insists on a formalist-psychological approach à la Harold Bloom. But influence still seems to be appealing as the lazy option. Especially as it fits the capitalist narrative of the ‘new’ and is thus easily absorbed by the market. So is ‘influence’ really at stake here? All the essays included in ‘Unrealism’ insist on the idea that figurative painting today refers to, or is influenced by, a disconnected canon. Are we still insisting on an old-fashioned art historical approach?

Gingeras’ Take on Wrongness and Black Sheeps

Gingeras' essay has an art historical approach that is more refined, even if it concentrates on sociological issues to focus on the notion of ‘wrongness,’ that is, on being eccentric and not of your own time, to the point of being blatantly misunderstood or even censored. Her case studies are: William N. Copley (CPLY), Bjarne Melgaard, and the feminist pleiad of ‘black sheep,’ Joan Semmel, Anita Steckel, Betty Tompkins, Evelyne Axell, and Christine Ramberg. It’s all very interesting from the art historical point of view, but not really from the theoretical one.

Fateman’s Feminist Take

Perhaps not by coincidence, the more interesting essays are the ones by artists/writers, even though these also insist on a sociological point of view. The very well written—finally!—essay by Johanna Fateman begins with a fascinating theory by LeRoy McDermott, who claims that the Venus of Willendorf is not a synthetic view of prehistoric female body, but rather is a depiction by an ur-female artist of her own body seen from her actual perspective. I love this interpretation! But then, Fateman starts another grand discourse about patriarchy, gender, and white male perspective in relation to the artists of her choice. These issues could well play a role in art practice, no one would disagree. Yet it leaves one with the question: why are the paintings that Fateman picks so relevant now? Because of the issues they address? Fateman quotes artist Christina Quarles: “If you're using a medium or a language that has existed before you, people who identify similarly to you,” can “totally change what it looks like and how it's received by people.” That's right and it gets to the point—a point already mentioned by Ortega y Gasset in 1925: figurative painting is not ‘dehumanized,’ i.e. it is not detached from speaking to actual people. And again a quote by Tschabalala Self: “My work does not comment on stereotypes and generalizations about the Black female body, […] my practice absorbs these fantasies.” Again, a powerful statement, but what artists-critics hear, as Fateman does in a Schillerian way, is—yeah, what your practice really addresses are the sociological questions of race, gender, class and sexuality. How could the artists' words be so misinterpreted?

Dean’s Take on Polarity Real-Virtual

Aria Dean's essay takes a more challenging and formal approach, i.e. investigating the interactive relation between painting and internet visual culture as a means of defining them both. She asks a very fundamental question: “What does representational, figurative painting ‘do’ in a world that is so aggressively structured by the Internet—more specifically, in a world characterized by widespread image circulation paired with an accelerated fragmentation of a cohesive public and subsequent fragmentation of a shared reality?” Explicitly borrowing from Brian Massumi, Dean doesn't see reality and virtuality as a duality, rather a polar play between the ‘sensuous’ and the ‘nonsensuous,’ i.e. if I do not misunderstand, the analog and the digital. But she doesn't really follow through this powerful statement and prefers to finish her essay with some psychological jargon about Caravaggio and Narcissus.

Impressions, in random order

(1) So many words are used for contextualizing a painting, because there is no need anymore today to find the specific words appropriate to a particular painting;

(2) everything is hyper-ideologized, as long as the artists themselves do a visual essay on ‘something else,’ shifting from narrative to personal narrative;

(3) this whole need to ‘explain’ the reasons behind a painting makes me think if this is also an inherent vice of contemporary efficiency. A painting as a refinished product, ready to be exchanged;

(4) I mean, obviously in figurative painting the subject matter—‘that’ reason behind the painting—plays a more prominent role than in abstract painting, but does it really?

(5) the poor state of criticism: even Aria Dean failed to address the consequences of her own words!

The ‘bensplaining’ impression:

Maurice Denis’s words still resound strongly: “Remember that a picture, before being a battle horse, a female nude or some sort of anecdote, is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order.“ Which is relevant for all painting.

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