#anyways did you know you can change the colour of linked posts in docs?

[reel-em-in]

Pre-Production:

I feel that the pre-production for Coming Out Country went really well. We researched a few different things in relation to country music, but there was a big focus on the stereotypes held about the genre and those who listen to it, wether country always had ties to conservatism and right-leaning ideals, and examples of country artists that are/were more progressive or queer themselves. I also created a survey during pre-production which I posted in some groups online, as well as sending to people that I know. This was to find out a surface level view of the demographics of people who consider themselves fans of country music and wether these fans feel they had been treated unfairly within the country music fan base due to their identity. It also had a section for people who did not consider themselves fans of the genre, and instead they were asked what their feelings were towards country, if they disliked the genre they could tell me why, and what there stereotypes were about country music fans. This was interesting as something I noticed was that many of the stereotypes had their origins in classism (many felt that country fans were less educated and less progressive and suggested that this was due to their rural/less well-off upbringing).

We also conducted some zoom interviews during pre-production. With the group formulating questions to ask me. This allowed us to get an idea about the sorts of things I would be able to talk about in the film, and what was of interest to the group. This was very useful as country music is a special interest of mine so I would find anything about the topic to be interesting, whereas I understand that to the general populace it probably wouldn’t be that interesting. These interviews fed into the questions that would later be asked during the interviews during production.

I also spent a lot of time collecting the archive photographs. I managed to get a large selection of possible photos, whilst also learning that we have more photographs of agricultural machinery in the house than of me as a child. An amusing fact.

Production:

I feel that for the most part the production of our documentary was successful, though there are definitely a couple of things that I would improve upon.

Production began with me getting the b-roll footage of me working on the farm. This footage worked well within our documentary, though it is also something that I would have done differently had we not been in a pandemic. In a perfect world I would have liked to have had the group (or at least Luke as our DoP) come to the farm and film the b-roll footage properly with a camera. Though due to travel restrictions this was not possible. I had also left my camera in Edinburgh as I was not anticipating being home for so long. This meant that I had to film the b-roll footage on my phone, and ask my mum to be my camerawoman. Telling her what footage I needed, and then getting her to point and shoot. She now knows all about the rule of thirds!

Once I was back in Edinburgh, Luke and I shot the rest of the footage. We spent a few days in my flat filming the interviews as well as some of the songwriting process, and eventually the song. I think this worked really well as due to Luke being a friend of mine I felt much more able to open up in the interviews than I would have if someone I didn’t know that well had been the one asking questions. This meant that our doc took a much more personal direction than it was originally going to.

A lot of the song writing process was also filmed, though much of it wasn’t as it was a long process. I am pleased with the final song, though it was definitely difficult to write. Now that I have proved to myself that I can do it, I plan on writing more of my own music though.

We also recorded the song during this time, something that I think was really well done! I would have liked to record the song in a studio, but unfortunately to to time constraints and Covid restrictions this was not possible. With that being said I think the recording is of a really good quality for being recorded in my room, with sound equipment that Luke had access to.

Post Production:

The post production was also mostly successful, though once again there are a couple of improvements that could be made.

Beth began the editing process, putting together the first cut before I joined her for the rest of the editing process. I spent several days with Beth working on the edit, creating the narrative of the film from things that had been discussed in the interview. This was a difficult process as we had so much footage from the interviews with so many interesting points that deciding was to keep in the film and what to discard was a bit of a nightmare. I feel like what made it into the final cut worked really well though. We were working under more time constraints than initially planned due to other projects we were working on simultaneously, but each day we would send our cut to Sana and Leo for feedback, and act upon that feedback the next day.

One thing I would have done differently though is to have included the sound from the interviews underneath the archive photographs, as the lack of dialogue did impact the flow of the film. I don’t think this was too much of a problem, but having dialogue there would have definitely improved the final film.

Once we had picture lock, we sent everything off to Jess for the sound design. This was also done with more time constraints than we would have liked, but I feel that it was mostly successful. I think that the levels of the mix were great for the most part, and the different audio clips blended into one another nicely. Without any noticeable or jarring cuts. Though Leo mentioned that the water sounds over the archive photograph of me sitting by a pond was somewhat jarring. If we were to revisit the sound design I think that this could be fixed by either bringing it lower in the mix, or by adding similar linking sound effects to the other archive photographs. Or perhaps a mixture of both.

The final step of the post production process was to send it to Luke for colour grading, and for Luke and I to add the titles. The colour grading was really well done, and made the film link together much more than in our non-graded cut. The titles and credits were inspired by westerns, something that I think worked well within our film both through its thematic links to country as well as through the fun and quirky atmosphere it created. We also chose to have the credits appear in time with the final part of the song, and be in the colours of the trans pride flag.

A couple of other things I would have changed during post-production I should have done during this final step. The first is that I would have liked to have added subtitles to the song, as the lyrics draw on a lot of the topics discussed during the film. The use of subtitles would have been a great way to draw attention to this. The second thing I would change is the way that I am credited. I realised after submitting the film that at no point do we introduce the character that is the focus, for all the viewer knows this is just some dude with green hair and no name. Even if I didn’t include a name or anything earlier in the film, it would have been a good idea to have clarity given in the credits by perhaps saying ‘starring and directed by’ or something similar.

Overall:

Overall I feel that Coming Out Country was a success, both in terms of the final film, and the fun that we had making it. It is also a project that I plan to improve by acting on feedback from the crit, as I want to make sure it is as good as it can be and can be added to my portfolio.

Feedback From the Crit:

I know that some of this was covered in the rest of this post, but I have included it anyway :)

Sana:

What Worked Well:

The hand held footage on the farm

The structure

That it took a more personal route than originally intended

What Could Be Improved:

The cutting back and forth between interview, archive, and b-roll didn’t work as well. It would have been nice to remain with the b-roll for longer

It would have been good if my grandfather had been reintroduced into the narrative again, later in the film

The archive photographs could have been used more effectively. Some of them feel as though they were added a bit randomly

Leo:

“This is a really enjoyable film for people who know Tom, and don’t know much about country music. If you touch up the edit a bit it can also be a really enjoyable film for people who don’t know Tom, but enjoy country music.”

What Worked Well:

Fun to watch and listen to

Luke was included as a character (both visually and through audio), but he did not feel overbearing. The choice to not include his face even when he was on screen playing guitar was well made.

The titles

The song was well written and recorded

What Could Be Improved:

Dialogue should have ran under the archive photographs

The water sounds were a bit jarring

The narrative ‘sections’ could have been made to intertwine more, rather than being in distinct blocks

The Class:

What Worked Well:

It was fun to watch

It represented who I was well (it’s just a shame if people didn’t already know me they wouldn’t have known who the person represented was).

What Could Be Improved:

Could have played more on the juxtaposition between the country stereotype of right wing ideologies and my identity

It could have been interesting to have my trans identity act as more of a reveal

[scienceoftheidiot]

So you know what it’s wednesday you’re getting an infodump on Desden’s blindness.

Beware. I’m a biologist. I’m a nerd. And I’m a teacher. You know what’s coming, right ? 

I just reblogged an extremely interesting and great post about writing blind characters that I advise you to go and read now (I haven't finished yet) because it's just full of info and contrary to usual posts like that it's not guilt tripping or anything. I love this post and OP for this. However I've noticed there's a bunch of advices I don't follow myself and I felt like I could expand and why and how I think it's not a bad thing. Here's the first one : don’t make your character blind through an accident. Because drama. 

So yeah. Desden lost his sight due to some kind of accident. Which is thoroughly described by a mysterious bystander’s flashback in chap.3. So that’s not a spoiler. But how can a brick through the head make you blind ? 

Brain. Brains are evil. You know I got a PhD in biology : I am sad to admit I couldn’t go through with my love of neurology because it was competing with my love for bacteria and parasites that can kill you and happily live everywhere. Life’s though. No neuro for me, welcome to viral ecology (viruses are obligatory parasites, sue me). But not only can’t I help being a nerd... I have an uncle in my family who lost part of his vision from a brain haematoma (not due to trauma, but the result and how it works is the same). Who’s also a nerd. (And a PhD in physics cause like that’s what nerds do, right ?) And he explained in details how he lost his vision (and gained back some of it over time) to us.

If you cut blood supply to parts of the brain for long enough, this part will die. Logic. Head trauma can do that and more. So, what happened is that Desden’s visual cortex got cut from blood supply for a relatively long amount of time (he can thank the extremely cold weather of the day it happened, which makes your body turn into “low survival mode”, when the “accident” happened for 1) being still alive and 2) not losing more than most of his sight, some balance, and a bunch of memories). But the brain is a funny little thing and some times it does stuff (not going into the haematoma part, I’m not a doc, it’s long and not very relevant, but it has to be taken into account cause it’s what can make part of the lost sight reappear). So Desden was totally blind for a while, then his brain managed to get some of his sight back. Very little. 

But what and how does he see ? 

See, the brain is constructed so that the visual cortex’s position reflects the visual field you have, except in reverse. Sorry. I’m a teacher. I’m going to add a schema. But in French because I actually work with this (well. Nope. They changed the program but I have old program lessons lying around just in case) and I’m lazy today. Just look at the pretty colours. It shows you what I just explained very badly because I’m used to use schemas, but here’s what you need to understand. 

SOOOO. Basically make most of the colour disappear except for a very small part of blue at the far right of the visual cortex. Meaning that in the end, what Desden can see is an extremely reduced part of peripheral vision. Try to fix your eyes on a point in front of you and describe what is at the far corner of your left eye. Good luck. (and let me tell you I know I have extremely good peripheral vision myself, it’s still composed by what your brain KNOWS is around. From seeing it with the other parts of your field of vision. Because your brain is constantly MAKING UP what you’re seeing from a lot of information including past ones when you didn’t even think about it but your eyes brushed that part. Your senses are fucked up. Deal with it. Your brain is playing tricks on you right now.)

This is why, btw, he’s often described tilting his head on the right. He doesn’t have much control on his eye movement so he tries to get some info on people (mostly light and colours but since his visual memory is fucked up, it’s not very useful)

His eyes move. He just doesn’t really control them. In fact they’re often if not constantly moving because head trauma is often linked to the apparition of a nystagmus, which is a rapid eye movement to the side or up and down - my brother has that, vertical, did you know it existed ? well I do. A friend of my parents has a horizontal one that is a lot more visible. Constantly. She’s not blind, her brain compensates this. Brains are both evil and awesome. Deal with it.

Oh and his eyes are perfectly normal. Even quite pretty, as he describes them himself. He still wears sunglasses because his brain doesn’t like strong light which give him migraines, because it has a hard time processing visual info. 

His eyes also work perfectly (well as perfectly as they did before his accident, which is okay but a little nearsighted) which leads to the only thing that sounds like a superpower that isn’t one : blindsight. If you research it you’ll learn about people who can do absolutely crazy things like catch stuff that’s thrown at them or avoid most obstacles on a path while being totally blind, because BRAINS, AGAIN. Your brain doesn’t only process visual cues through the visual cortex; there’s a slight part in the “primitive brain” or “lizard brain” that does, too. So basically Desden’s body can see stuff but he’s not aware of it consciously. He’s NOT using it and he’s NOT as good as the people I cited above. But for example he has insights he souldn’t have on people’s moods, because his lizard brain picks their faces up. Not always, and it’s often more when someone’s in a VERY bad mood that SHOWS. And since he’s not aware of it he takes that as hints from his other senses. It’s NOT compensating for his blindness - if anything, it’s a silly trick. BUT I AM A NERD, REMEMBER ?

Anyway. Now you know. Desden still lost his vision through an accident which, as said in the reference post i’m refering to (haha) would be bad if it was used for drama but, in fact, I try to avoid most of it because apart from the accident, which is witnessed by someone else who is important to the later plot, nothing from Desden’s life before or after it is described in details. My novel starts 9 years after the accident. He’s got time to get used to being blind. 

*I* know everything that happened in his life, or most of the important things anyway, that lead to the opening of the book, but you will only get scraps of it because it’s not what’s relevant. It’s important for the construction of the character, but what I want to show here is not Desden’s journey through being used to being blind. It’s his journey through accepting his family heritage, which has nothing to do with being blind, and sharing it with the rest of his family while it stayed hidden to them until then because the person who kept this before him was an arsehole. There are a lot of plot points that are linked to Desden’s blindness, including said arsehole arseholery (I be good with words), but it’s not the point of the book. 

Y’all know I’m a Daredevil fan. That’s where I got the idea of a blind character (not only), but now erase that from your mind. Desden doesn’t have any superpower that compensate his blindness. He’s got pretty good hearing because he’s used to use it a lot more than when he was sighted. It’s not better. He loves music, but he’s absolutely tone deaf so forget the blind piano tuner/musician cliché (this is a joke in one of my AUs, in fact)(explanation : in France, which is the country I research for because I’m French and my story takes place in France, the most prominent school for the blind used to primarily teach people to become piano tuners during the 20th century). He’s got a very good nose, but that’s just how it is, and since I’m using my own experience of rediscovering my sense of smell after years of living with smoking people (don’t smoke) (yeah, even you, Desden) I know it’s not superhuman. In fact my own nose is pretty shitty compared to my mom’s. Who is a fucking hunting hound. Anwyay I digress. 

Desden often chases any comment that restrict him to being “the blind guy” by stating stuff he does or likes to do, like “I’m also a good tarot player but no one ever mentions that” or “my brownies are the best ones and I don’t even need to add pot to it”. This is how he feels about it. He’s blind. It’s okay, it’s part of him. But it’s not his sole characteristic. 

I think I’m done here. I haven’t touched on other people’s reaction to him that much, and if you’re interested you can ask questions. Basically remember he’s a 1,98m guy, with broad shoulders, and that’s the first thing you see from him. Also there’s his guide dog Kalinka. 

Lot more things to talk about, not that much time. So if you’re interested in knowing more, poke me, and I might write more about my character. 

Lastly and more importantly : if you see things that you can correct in this post, please do so. As I said, I’m a nerd, but I’m not a neurologist. I’m going the vulgarized version. And I like to be taught things. So if you see mistakes, tell me. 

Peace ! 

[troped-fanfic-challenge]

Who will be on the CHOPPING BLOCK!?

Eight fics were written following a [Dystopia] theme, including [Partner in Crime] and [Bed Sharing], with a Character focus on [John Murphy]! Voting determined the 4 who would continue on in this competition…

We had eight (8) INCREDIBLE fics this round, but, unfortunately, not everyone can move on to the next round. In this round, four (4) authors are on the CHOPPING BLOCK! Thank you so much to all the authors who participated, and, to the authors who were Chopped, we hope you’ll consider joining future Chopped events, and we are so happy you decided to be a part of Chopped Madness!

Our reviews can be found under the cut!

The four authors who have been Chopped are:

@probably-voldemort​: don't mess with the flow, oh no (stick to the status quo) [Murphy x Clarke] [Rated T]

Qualifying Round Fic: to dream about a life (where you’re the shining star)

Round 1 Fic: something more than momentary

@she-who-the-river-could-not-hold​: Survivor’s move [Murphy x Emori] [Rated T]

Qualifying Round Fic: straight on until morning

Round 1 Fic: and the road gets tough

@justbecauseyoubelievesomething: even heroes have the right to dream [Murphy x Emori] [Rated T]

Qualifying Round Fic: seeds in silence (exploded in riot)

Round 1 Fic: into a cloven pine

@captaindaddykru​: poison but tasty [Murphy & Josephine] [Rated M]

Qualifying Round Fic: When the party’s over

Round 1 Fic: venus, planet of love was destroyed by global warming

—-

Now that you have been Chopped, all the fics you’ve written in Chopped Madness have been revealed and you can post about your fics! Don’t forget to tag us!

But don’t be discouraged if you were Chopped this round (or unable to participate)! We’ve created a non-anon collection, where you can submit your fics if you would like to write for other rounds, keep pace with the writing period, etc, in a non-competive way! That’s where you’ll find us!!!! We’d love to read your fics and will gladly share them on our tumblr! The non-anon collection can be found here! To submit your fic to the collection, simply enter ‘chopped_non_anonymous’ as the name of the collection when uploading your fic!!!

Non-Anon AO3 Collection Link: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Chopped_Non_Anonymous

To all the remaining Chopped Madness Authors, we hope you’re excited for ROUND 3, which starts TONIGHT, 12:00am (EST) April 2nd!! Please be sure to check our google doc for theme and trope explanations! Good luck!

@probably-voldemort​

Mod Review: This was a really cool concept that fit both divergent and high school musical together in a really cool way! All character choices worked and were so fun to see! “People were split into Cliques, signified by the colour of the pendant around your neck.  Red for Jocks.  Green for Nerds.  Blue for Artists.  Orange for Stoners.  They had real names, proper ones, but Murphy didn’t care enough to remember them.  No one called them their proper names before Graduation, anyway.  Your Clique determined everything: where you lived, where you worked, who you loved.” Such a great way to world build right away! Murphy and Clarke teaming up was so good! Such an interesting way to wrap the HSM conflict in with the factions! We liked that you hinted at the darker elements of your dystopia, like mentioning the patrols passing with guns, and how Murphy was wondering what factions they were in! It added a lot of depth! Murphy dressing up like a Nerd instead of an Artist when he went to Clarke’s house was a great way to give us an image of the different factions, very well done! We also loved the touch of Murphy secretly being an Artist, and Murphy not caring! Not being allowed out after curfew was a great way  to enforce a bed sharing trope! The ending left us wanting more! Will there be a revolution? Will Clarke become an artist?! We have to know!

@she-who-the-river-could-not-hold​

Mod Review: We loved the world building in the beginning, showing us how the world looked and felt through Murphy’s eyes, showing us the people in his building and all that. Very nice touch, especially all the little nods to canon Settings and Characters!! This dystopia is so cool! The concept of the Judges is super scary, and we’d love to know more about this world! We really loved that you had Murphy harbouring a fugitive! It was such a cool ‘crime’, and it allowed for the focus to be on them as a pair rather than anything else, and it was a nice character focused fic! Also, Emori just being in his house when he got home? Excellent. Memori as Exes was SO good!! It added a level of angst and also seriousness to the fic, because them being together was hard for Murphy, but also he obviously still loved her, making the stakes so much higher! “How long had it been since he had last seen Emori? Probably their breakup. It had been an ugly one but he couldn’t help but think to himself that she looked just as beautiful now as she had then.” This quote really pulled us into the Exes plot line, because pining is always a good idea in a fic! The characterisation throughout was PERFECT! We loved that you weaved Emori’s hand into the fic, Murphy noticing it was wrapped up and acknowledging it was because she was running with people who didn’t appreciate her the way he did was so good. The bed sharing was excellent! 1) murphy… bro… clean that couch!!! And 2) the rom com of it all! Them being rigid and awkward! So good! And such a great ending! A daring escape is always a great plot line! What happened to them, we have to know!

@justbecauseyoubelievesomething

Mod Review: This was an amazing concept, and so fun to read!! We really liked how you tied in the canon plot of Murphy bailing and giving up, while everyone else kept going, it was a nice character touch that helped you weave in the world building in a nice way. Murphy having powers, and trying to quiet them however he could, not wanting the burden of those powers felt super in character, and added a really cool dynamic between him and emori! Speaking of Emori, her power was SO cool!! Such an interesting choice and so well used in the story! We really enjoyed how they kept constantly saying the wrong thing to each other, it really added a nice level of angst, especially in such dire situations when any conversation could be their last! Murphy’s reoccuring dream being about Kane was such a nice way to weave his power, the plot, and the emotional stakes together in a super cohesive way!! The use of the canon settings as settings in your story was awesome! Shallow Valley sounded beautiful! We especially enjoyed the description “Almost paradise. If you could ignore the armed guards stationed on key street corners and the sniper rifles peering through second story windows. A shiver runs down Murphy’s back.” Such a nice way to show tension! Future Emori showing up at the end was SO angsty!! So well done! And Murphy finally having to open back up and use his powers, even though it terrified him, was such an emotional scene, and it gave way to a very cool scene where we got to see Murphy really using his powers while self sacrificing. Such a good ending, and an overall wonderful fic!

@captaindaddykru​

Mod Review: This concept for a ‘crime’ was so interesting! It tied in so nicely with the dystopia itself, and the motivations for Murphy and Josephine, being so different, added a really nice layer. Josephine’s reason and Murphy’s reason also allowed for an exploration of the impact that this world has on different types of people, which was very cool! Murphy and Josephine have the best dynamic for reluctant Partners in Crime, and Murphy as the narrator makes it even better!!! “Josephine just smiles slowly. “At first I was going to go all Rumpelstiltskin--““Bless you.”” -hilarious. We loved the imagery of everyone living on islands due to rising sea levels! Eerie, and a little timely, but SO cool! Very nice world building! Emori being sterilized because of her hand, SO creepy and terrible. Such a nice touch that makes the world seem even worse. Josephine’s introduction is so good, so cavalier, so unbothered, but underneath so much fury just festering. A great exploration of her character! Her reason for wanting to take the baby sort of changing every time Murphy asks, getting a little closer to the truth before she finally divulges everything, was such a nice way of exploring her and their world! And also… SHE STOLE MORE THAN ONE BABY?!?! We were super impressed with how you were able to weave such intricate backstories for all the characters into this fic! Bellamy cheating the test, Josephine’s whole story with Gabriel, Murphy’s reason for being unable to have kids, and Emori’s storyline too! SO interesting, we’d love to know more! And your ending was so good!! Them being unable to sell the baby because everyone knew whose baby it was was an excellent touch, and the “wait, you guys are getting paid” was so funny!!! “Pointedly, Emori looks to him and Murphy’s smirk grows slowly. He already has a partner in crime, and he has to say she’s much better at it. “Nah, you can keep her.”” Such a great memori moment to tie the fic up!

[schtroumpf-a-lunettes]

Smurf Village Upturned, Chapter 1

It’s finally here... have almost 20k written up so far and I’m still going.

Read on: AO3 | FF.net | This post

(This story is largely self-contained and can be read as stand-alone, HOWEVER, it is also set after the events of The Smurfs That Canon Forgot, and this will translate through into the text. There will be only very small references/nods and connecting links back to the previous fic, which should in no way detract from the story on its own).

PART ONE: INSIGHT

A few months after the lost smurfs returned back to the village, Baby Smurf started to talk.

Of course, not with any kind of abrupt fluency. Some time in the past, he had spoken his first word. After such a long gap, his second, third, and subsequent words started to follow during this time.

Two years after the return of the lost smurfs, Baby was able to construct short sentences.

At the three and a half year mark following the time-travelling adventures drawing to a close, Baby’s sentences were gradually growing a little bit longer and just a little bit more complex. He was getting better at saying words correctly.

And just under five years after the lost smurfs had finally returned back from their time travelling, Gargamel was dead.

***

He wasn’t sure how Scruple had managed to find them. How long had he been looking? Or perhaps it had just been pure chance. Either way, they’d turned a corner in the forest, and he was there.

“Ah, smurfs…! Wasn’t expecting to actually come across you. But uh, old Gargy’s really sick. He has pneumonia again.”

“Again?!” came the startled response.

“Yeah. Did you know that once you get pneumonia, it’s much easier to be struck with it again? And this new doctor in town… I think he’s a quack. He doesn’t seem to be helping at all… You know, now that I’ve found you, I was wondering if… you know, well… I think you smurfs would actually know a little something and be more helpful than whatever the hell that quack doc’s been doing.”

And so it was that Dabbler and Papa, accompanied by a few other smurfs, went to see to him, but suffice it to say, they weren’t able to do any good.

***

Baby Smurf could walk. When he had finally grown too big for his usual white jumpsuit, a new outfit was in order. Tailor went to make some white pants for him – smaller, but otherwise identical to those of the majority of the village, but the smurflings would have none of it.

“Let him wear the white pants if he wants to wear the white pants,” Snappy huffed, “But what if he don’t wanna?”

The smurflings stood out greatly with their unique choices of clothing, to say the least. And now they seemed to want to pass on their eccentricities to Baby, much to Tailor’s chagrin.

“Oh, smurf is me,” Tailor sighed, awful images flashing in his mind of some kind of bizarre future where every smurf in the village went by a different outfit. It just wasn’t natural!

“C’mon Tailor, the times, they are a-changin’!” Sassette added. “If Baby wore boring adult smurf clothes instead of choosing his own style like us, well, that’d just be weird!”

So they allowed Baby choice. They laid out different colours before him. But whether he chose arbitrarily or actually knew the decisions he was making, who could say? But he seemed happy enough.

“Ah, a light blue…! And green too? What kinda green d’ya want, Baby? Light or dark?”

“Light!” Baby said brightly, repeating the new word back to Sassette.

They went through this process for a little while, and in the end, Baby Smurf donned a light blue T-shirt and light green overalls on top of that. He appeared to be somewhat confused but very pleased with the new outfit, so the smurflings considered the whole incident a great success.

“And you’re free to change your mind any time, if you want a new outfit in the future,” Nat had told him encouragingly.

“Or,” Tailor added slyly, “If you want to join the rest of us smurfs in our normal smurfy outfits.”

Baby Smurf was, in all respects, a toddler now. Was it not time for him to go by a different name? He technically wasn’t a baby anymore.

But he had already been known as Baby Smurf for many years, and no one really thought to bring up the issue. He was still the baby of the village, after all, and there was only one Baby Smurf, making things quite convenient. Baby, for his part, could not (yet) and did not bring the matter to attention either.

Besides, what else would they call him? Baby was just, well, Baby. He did not show an avid interest in any one particular thing so as to label himself definitively.

They were going to have to name him eventually, give him a new name. But they could afford to wait a little while longer.

He has magic, Papa would think to himself from time to time. So will he be… Magical Smurf? Wizard Smurf? Sorceror Smurf? But he hardly wanted to go about advertising the young child’s powers like that. It could come with a slew of unwelcome consequences. And would a name like that really fit Baby? He couldn’t say for sure.

Sassette was with Baby and the other smurflings when Papa Smurf came to give her the news that Gargamel didn’t make it. He brought Sassette off to the side, spoke softly to her, and she started to weep.

The era of Gargamel was finally over. In the past several years or so, they had not really been bothered by him anyway, but he still couldn’t be banished entirely from the back of their minds, just in case. Now, it was official. They truly didn’t need to worry any more about the most persistent enemy they had ever known. And finally letting go of it would be a great relief.

In a time before Sassette, perhaps some of the smurfs would be borderline celebrating, although Papa Smurf would have certainly disapproved of such behaviour. But Sassette was genuinely upset by the loss, leaving the smurfs to keep any contrary feelings to themselves.

If it weren’t for Gargamel, they wouldn’t have Smurfette, which at this point was unthinkable. It was funny how things like that worked out, how the one who only wished to bring them harm had unwittingly brought them all a very dear friend who would live alongside them, and who they would all love and cherish for hundreds of years to come. Smurfette, for her part, had always made her stance on Gargamel very clear, and that stance had not changed. She despised him. And unlike the other smurfs, she had never known a time before Gargamel, had never had that opportunity – until now, where she could finally live her life free of the nagging notion that the same awful wizard was out to get her, or use her to get at her friends.

Nat, Snappy and Slouchy had known a time before Gargamel. They didn’t remember that time anymore. They didn’t exactly have access to those memories, so they were essentially in the same boat as Smurfette and Sassette in that regard.

Baby, too, had been brought by the stork when Gargamel had already been a source of suffering for the smurfs for many, many years. Although he technically never knew a time before Gargamel… He’d not had much exposure to it, was only just now really learning to communicate. It would be easy for him to forget about, to not remember. Gargamel never had the chance to affect Baby the way he affected the rest of us, was what Smurfette thought to herself on the matter.

[nikanndros]

YOOOOOOO. SURPRISE! I’m not here about your fabulous new update (even though I could wax poetic on that in another ask) I’m here to inquire about that BOMB ASS INFIDELITY FIC YOU WROTE. look. I would write you ANYTHING In exchange for more of that fic/anymore infidelity. That shit is great to explore. Anyway. Marry me, have my babies and don’t cheat on me but I LOVE YOU YOUNG G

Hahahaha There is a special place in my heart for that fic tbh, so I’m glad you liked it. For further reading, I did post here a Laurent POV version of that AU that you can read HERE.

I actually started a sequel to that story a while ago, which I never got around to finishing because I didn’t really know where it was going, hahaha. But there’s no point in letting it gather dust in my google docs, so here is the first two thousand plus words of what would have been the adultery sequel.

-

“Do you want to come inside?” Laurent asks.

He wonders if his eyes are still red. If Damen will turn around and see that he’s been crying and - what? Recoil? - Laurent doesn’t know. He just knows that this moment feels penultimate. This could decide the course of the rest of his life, the rest of their relationship together. He’s never cared much for people’s opinion of him, but he is desperately afraid of Damen’s rejection.

Damen curls his hand in his pocket - the pocket he keeps his car keys in, Laurent has undressed him enough times to know - and Laurent wonders if he’s considering it. Just getting in the car and driving away. Maybe back to his home, where Jokaste will be. She’d forgive him eventually. Laurent knows because he thinks he could forgive Damen any slight just for the opportunity to hold and be held by him.

Slowly, Damen takes his hand - empty - out of his pocket and turns around. He looks lost. He looks beautiful, he always does. Damen rubs his fingertips against his forehead, warding off a headache, and sighs.

Laurent doesn’t know what to say. The moment is heavy with pressure. There’s a fork in the road, which path will they take?

Eventually, Damen nods. “Let’s go inside,” he says.

They’re barely in the front entryway when Damen puts a hand on his shoulder.

Ask me to stay with you, Laurent thinks. “Yes?” he says, heart in his throat.

Damen isn’t quite looking at him. “I have to talk to my parents,” he says. “They had that look about them.”

Concerned, was the look. Probably worried that their polyamory has set a bad example for their son. “Okay,” Laurent says.

“You should talk to Nicaise.”

Laurent frowns.

“Laurent,” Damen says. “He’s just a boy. It’s not fair for you to be upset with him. And you know how much your opinion means to him.”

It hurts right now, to be reminded of the way Damen is. He can be an oblivious idiot sometimes, but he also has a kindness in him. Laurent has never seen him hold a grudge in his entire lifetime of knowing him.

“I know,” Laurent says.

“Okay,” Damen replies, and then, finally, he looks directly at Laurent. “I’m sorry.”

Laurent closes his eyes. He doesn’t want to cry again, he doesn’t want to cry at all - but he knows he won’t be able to control himself if Damen dumps him here and now. Not that it counts as dumping, when they weren’t even in a real relationship. Just illicit sex and intimacy that has changed the fundamentals of who Laurent is as a person.

He cups Laurent’s chin and Laurent hates himself a little for leaning into it. Then Damen continues. “I’m sorry,” he says again. “I should have told you that Auguste knew. Well I should have done a lot of things differently. But I’m sorry it all came out like this. You don’t deserve it.”

I do, Laurent thinks. Because he’s the catalyst for all of it, the reason it happened in the first place. He had known he shouldn’t have kissed Damen. He shouldn’t have even let him through the door.

“I’m going to talk to my parents,” Damen says, like he’s making a mental checklist. “I’m going to stay here tonight. And tomorrow -” he hesitates, “- tomorrow, can we talk?”

What does that even mean? Laurent just nods, eyes still closed. He doesn’t know how to speak. But he feels-

He feels Damen press a gentle kiss to the centre of his forehead, and then the source of warmth disappears entirely. When Laurent opens his eyes again, he is standing in the hallway, alone.

-

Auguste parked at their parent’s house, and so the whole family has to ride back in the same car together.

It is a very silent trip.

Laurent sits between his brothers in the backseat and feels the crippling awkwardness that comes with knowing that not only does his entire family know he’s been fucking someone - but that he’s been fucking their family friend who was in a relationship. He knows his mother will try to understand, but his father is probably furious. Auguste, supportively, has one hand resting on his knee. Nicaise, to his other side, is squirming uncomfortably. He looks guilty, which Laurent wants to be happy about, but he remembers Damen’s words and ends up just feeling bad.

“Laurent,” his mother says, finally breaking the silence. Her voice is soft. “Will you stay at the house tonight please, baby?”

It’s actually a question. He knows he can refuse and avoid another terrible conversation tonight, and his mum will let him. “Okay,” Laurent says. He keeps saying that. He doesn’t know when he became so agreeable.

When they get out of the car, Auguste directs their father into his office with him, and Nicaise immediately runs up the stairs. His mother links arms with him and pulls him into the sitting room and onto a couch.

The couch is covered in colourful pillows, his mother is fond of over-decorating everything in the house. They sit together for a long moment and then she seems to deflate and she pulls Laurent into her arms like he’s a child. Laurent lets it happen.

He misses this kind of maternal comfort, but since moving on campus he’s felt too old to ask for it. His mother is always soft and she radiates love. “I’m sorry,” Laurent says, quietly. It seems to be a night for apologies.

“Oh my baby,” Hennike says. “My sweet boy. What a mess.”

“I love him,” Laurent tells her, because it’s been on the tip of his tongue for years and he’s never let himself vocalise it before.

“I know,” she says, soothingly. “I know you weren’t being malicious. You’re just in love. Life can be so complicated sometimes.”

He’s glad that he was right about his mother being sympathetic; he thinks that he needs this unwavering love and understanding that he can be certain in.

“I don’t know what to do,” Laurent admits.

“Do you remember how your father and I got together?”

“Yes,” Laurent says. He knows. Now doesn’t feel like the appropriate time to talk about his parent’s perfect love story.

“Tell me,” his mother prompts.

“You were friends in university,” Laurent says. “And then you realised you were in love with each other and eloped a week later. Happily ever after.”

“Yes,” his mother agrees. “I never told you this, but on the day that your father finally told me he loved me, I was seeing someone else.”

“What?” Laurent sits up. This isn’t part of the story.

“I was dating a boy from my highschool, who my parents loved and I felt okay about. But I was wildly in love with your father, and when he told me he felt the same I couldn’t refuse. We had to run away because my parents were so mad when they heard I’d broken up with my boyfriend. We got married so that they couldn’t try and pressure me to go back to him.”

“But you broke up with the guy,” Laurent says. “You didn’t have an -” affair. He shouldn’t feel squeamish about the word.

“No,” his mother says. “But what I want you to understand is that love is complicated. It’s a series of choices that you have to make, with no way of knowing which is the right decision… You boys shouldn’t have done that, not while Damen was still with Jokaste. But it’s happened now, and it’s time for you to make a choice of what you want to do next.”

“I don’t really think it’s up to me,” Laurent admits, quietly. “Damen told me he wants us to talk tomorrow. It sounded ominous.”

“Oh honey.” His mother pulls him back into her arms. “No matter what happens - one day it’s going to all be okay. I promise.”

-

Nicaise is sitting at the top of the stairs, when Laurent ascends them, his skinny legs sticking out between the balustrades.

“Do you hate me?” Nicaise asks in a small voice.

Laurent stops on the step that he’s on and looks up at his little brother. “No,” he says, finally. “Of course I love you. I’m just upset right now.”

“Do you want to sleep in my room?” Nic asks. “We can pulls out the air matress and then you won’t have to be upset by yourself.”

He has his odd moments of sweetness. Laurent opens his mouth to reply, but that’s when Auguste makes his presence known, stepping into view. Laurent briefly wonders whether he was waiting out of sight just in case he had to stop his siblings from fighting.

“Nope,” Auguste says. “We’re having a sleepover in my old room tonight. Go brush your teeth, Nic, and we’ll let you come too.”

Nicaise runs off.

“You’re staying too then?” Laurent asks. He tries to sound like he doesn’t care, but his acting skills aren’t up to scratch tonight apparently.

“Of course,” Auguste says. “I can’t risk missing any more drama.”

He holds a hand out and Laurent takes it.

-

“There are a lot of people who love you, Laurent,” Auguste whispers, later that night when Nicaise is asleep between them.  “I really hope that you and whatever you’re doing with Damen works out but-- either way, I want you to know that I love you very much, and I’m on your side for everything.”

“I know,” Laurent replies, just as quiet. At least he has Auguste.

-

Laurent ends up getting to the cafe he’s meeting Damen at twenty minutes early. He orders a pot of tea, finishes it, goes to the bathroom, and then orders another tea - take away this time, just in case - all before Damen arrives.

He’s in the middle of anxiously wondering whether he should get Damen his usual coffee order or if that’s going to look too desperately sad, when he finally walks in. All dark olive skin and wearing a faded tank top that looks like it belonged to him before his last growth spurt. It clings tightly to his chest. At least that means he hasn’t gone back to his apartment, where Jokaste will be, for a change of clothing.

“Hey,” Damen says, and he puts a hand on Laurent’s shoulder. “I need coffee.” He disappears off to the counter.

Laurent is pretty sure his heart is going way too fast just from that brief moment. He is suddenly passionately glad he opted for chamomile tea rather than coffee. No need to add excessive caffeine to this hot mess.

A moment later, Damen is pulling out a chair and sitting at the table, opposite him rather than adjacent. It is very hard not to read that as a rejection of sorts.

“How are you?” Damen says.

“We should just get to the point,” Laurent replies.

Damen sits back in his chair a little. “Oh,” he says.

Laurent purses his lips, and then he forces himself to relax a little - or just appear to be more relaxed anyway. “I’m okay,” he says. “I talked to Auguste and my mum last night, and I told Nicaise I didn’t blame him. I’m going to take him to the beach tomorrow, like I promised.”

“That’s good,” Damen says. He leans forward again. “My parents all teamed up on me. And then dad called Kastor and told him everything, and Kastor called me just to call me an idiot. Oh, and to tell me that Vanessa is pregnant again and I can only go to the shower if I promise not to bring any dramatic revelations.”

Laurent gives him a half-hearted smile. “Brotherly love,” he says. Kastor is so much older than them and further in his life that he’s always felt more like extended family than anything else.

“I know, he’s terribly sentimental,” Damen replies.

They take a moment to regard each other, before Damen speaks again, this time in an almost pleading voice. “Laurent, what are we doing?”

“I don’t know,” Laurent replies quietly. This is it, then.

“You’re going back to university in a couple of days,” Damen says. “And everything is a mess. I don’t know what we’re doing, or even what we should be doing.”

“Me either,” Laurent agrees. He isn’t willing to say much more than that. He wants to drag this out - this ambiguous stretch of time where things aren’t yet officially over between them - for as long as he can.

“I love you,” Damen says, in a rush. “I’m in love with you.”

Oh. Oh. That’s - not what he expected. “I…” Laurent has to force himself to talk. Even when Damen has already cut out his own heart and laid it on the table before them, Laurent feels resistance in letting himself be vulnerable. “I also feel like that. About you,” he manages, weakly.

“Okay,” Damen says. He looks flustered. “Okay, good.”

“Good,” Laurent repeats. His shoulders drop, and he runs his fingers through his hair. “I thought you were going to” - break up is the wrong term, they weren’t dating - “...tell me to leave you alone.” He winces at the awkward phrasing.

“No, I don’t want that,” Damen replies. “I know we’ve done everything wrong, but I really do want to try with you. It’s just that…”

Oh no. “What.”

“Everything is a mess right now,” Damen says. “I have to find a new apartment and you’re going back to uni, and I think we should get all of that sorted before we try to make what we have work.”

It’s so logical it makes Laurent want to scream. “So you are telling me to leave you alone?”

“No,” Damen says. “Just maybe we should give it a couple of weeks for things to settle and then talk about what we want.”

This is hardly the let’s elope immediately reaction that Laurent had maybe wanted.