#because it isn’t a lack of understanding or skill that causes his English to come off as not-fluent | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

slytherinsnekxvii · 4 years

Text

let's talk about severus snape. he's one of the most controversial characters the internet has to offer, with several blogs, channels and pages dedicated specifically to hating him, despite him having one of the most—if not the most—intriguing character arcs the series has to offer. so, as a result of me coming across far too many of said blogs, channels or pages, here's an extremely detailed explanation of why i like him and think he's easily one of my favourite characters :)

1. he's not that bad of a teacher.

just so you know, i'm a teenage girl fresh out of high school. so, my experience with teachers? still keeps me up at night :)

my family is pretty strict about religion. you can guess what that means. anything that was magic-adjacent, especially something that, god forbid, had an entire school dedicated to witchcraft and wizardry was a hard no if i wanted to have any sort of freedom over the media i paid attention to, and any opportunity to go about my life without being monitored to make sure i wasn't suddenly possessed or something. thanks to this, i ended up secretly reading the philosopher's stone in my last year of primary school. i would've been 11 at the time, just about to turn 12, so a little bit older than harry and co. going on what i'd heard from those who had already read the series, i went in expecting to absolutely despise this man. i went in expecting to read a demon. i finished the book and came out thinking... that really wasn't that bad.

my mom found out, so i didn't get to read the rest of the series until i ended up on the executive committee for my school's book club and my friends were appalled that i'd only read the first book. at this point, i'm still expecting him to get worse and... he just doesn't. when i was in primary school, i had multiple teachers break wooden meter-long rulers across my classmates' backs. the first time it happened, i was in infant year 2 (about 6/7 years old). i had teachers who would insult us, based on anything from hygiene to behaviour to intelligence if you looked at them wrong. my sister (who was three years ahead of me) had a teacher who kept her in hours after school was over because the teacher had a written a note in her workbook upside down, and when my sister corrected her, the teacher made her rewrite it, turning the book each time the note was written so it would never be done the correct way.

in secondary school, i had teachers who would actively humiliate us in front of the class if we didn't do as well as they wanted. i had teachers who would throw markers and whiteboard erasers at us if we did something they didn't like during class. i had a teacher who looked for a friend of mine who was petrified of attention and then mercilessly picked on her until she went to the bathrooms to cry. these are the kinds of teachers that i was used to. so, when i read harry potter and read snape, who would have probably been one of the nicer teachers i met in my lifetime, i thought to myself, he's really not that bad. he's just... strict.

antis claim that he traumatised every kid that ever went through his class, that he straight up abused them and... no. he didn't. all of them are comfortable talking back, they talk during his class, no one trembles when he walks past, except for neville, who usually bore the brunt of snape's anger because he was consistently messing up in a potentially lethal class.

after school, i hated the thought of formal education, so now i'm working until i feel ready to do university. coincidentally, one of my jobs is teaching maths and english to kids writing the end of primary and secondary school exams. given the sheer amount of annoyance i feel sometimes, i actually respect him for not being more harsh with them, especially when they're all running off into danger or exploding cauldrons.

he really isn't that bad of a teacher, and we know this, since his classes' owl results are said to be consistently good.

plus, he was written in the 90's when all this was okay behaviour for teachers. hell, compared to some of the teachers in text, given that he goes out of his way to make sure the students are always protected, he's a lot better than most people give him credit for.

2. i relate to him.

come on, the man grew up to be a dramatic, queer-coded, petty bitch who wears all black all the time and likely has at least one mental disorder. i'm a petty, emo bisexual with (actually diagnosed, don't worry) depression and anxiety and I'm in a theatre group. what did you really expect from me?

on a serious note, both of the schools i went to were considered "prestigious". i got into my primary school because of a teacher's recommendation (she was a family friend). the second school i got into was because i scored ridiculously high on the placement test that would determine which school i went to. in primary school, i was the poor, really awkward, really smart kid who got left out of everything, and my best friend was the only kid who was worse off than me.

in secondary school, i was just as smart as everyone else... but i was still poorer, and still more awkward and still got left out of everything.

i got that isolated feeling, that feeling of not being good enough, that feeling where life always seems to have it out for you and that's even though i still got dealt a better hand than snape ever did. so, i get it. i'm never ever going to have it as bad as he did, but i acknowledge what he went through and i sympathise, because i have a chance, but it only ever got worse for him.

3. i genuinely enjoy his character.

this dude went through absolute hell for basically his entire life. the best years he had were probably when he was neck-deep in the group of people who hated witches and wizards like him, but somehow managed to treat him better than the good guys.

all of that, and he still manages to be one of the most entertaining motherfuckers in the whole series, with one of the most interesting character arcs ever. it's the witty lines, the sheer dynamic of his character, the change from the twitchy, hypervigilant kid from the slums to the adult that managed to spy on the Dark Lord himself and save the wizarding world in the process, while still being a hot mess of a person. it's the managing to get shit done while everybody hated him and everything was going to hell. it's the everything, and i haven't even talked about how badass he is.

come on, potions prodigy turned master, exemplary duellist (cough, cough, winning 4-on-1 vs McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Slughorn, and leaving a scratch on nobody, while managing to not take a single hit himself, cough, cough), spellcrafter, spy and one of the only wizards to ever figure out unaided flight. dark arts master, proficient at healing (dumbledore would've been dead a lot sooner, if it weren't for him, most likely). he's one of the most powerful wizards of his time. i've said that any universe where he's actually a bad guy—or just legitimately loyal to the death eaters—is a universe where voldemort wins and this is why. if he was motivated by literally anything other than lily, the wizarding world was more than likely fucked.

the point is, i just think he's neat.

4. spite.

every time i appreciate snape, a snater feels like someone is walking over their grave. every time i appreciate snape, a snater turns blue out of sheer rage. every time i appreciate snape, a snater loses their mind looking for their non-existent reading comprehension.

the spite in my veins is tempered only by the broth of instant ramen and ungodly amounts of sugar, and i'm going to use them all in my mission to cause antis pain when they refuse to acknowledge their lack of critical thinking and analysis skills.

so, yeah. why do i actually like snape?

tl;dr: he's not that bad. for a teacher written in the 90's and compared to teachers i've had within the decade, the guy's just strict. sure, he's a dick (who i personally think is hilarious), but he always makes sure the students are safe and he didn't leave any lasting effect on any of the students. he's really not that bad of a teacher. and hell, he's not even that bad of a person. i fully admit that he was an asshole and i entirely believe he was prone to self-destructive behaviour, but he still tried to atone for his mistakes and he did, is the thing, even though the odds were stacked more or less completely against him. i like him because he entertains me, and because i relate to him, as a teen who went through some shit and probably would have joined up with some bad people if it weren't for my friends and family, and as a teacher who really can't stand my students sometimes. i also like him because it irritates people who don't like him :)

also, istg if any of you respond to this with "bUt hE was ObseSsED with LiLY and just WAnTEd to FUCK hEr," i'm crawling into your bedroom window with the most unrealistic, mangled interpretations of your favourite characters and making sure they haunt you in your dreams. meet me in the fuckin' pit, babe. reread the series, actually think about it and come with receipts that aren't Voldemort, because i don't think you want to have the same opinion as the character who canonically doesn't understand love, now, do you, sweetheart? when you do that, then, and only then, will i consider entertaining your bullshit :)

that's about it from me, thanks for reading!

#severus snape #pro snape #why do people like snape?#i can't speak for anybody else but here's me #i probably left something out since i haven't written a good essay since my literature exam #but it's fine #let me like my chaotic bastard son in peace please #snape #snapedom

107 notes · View notes

alostsock · 4 years

Text

An exercise in futility.

Summary/Snippet: “Did you think it hadn’t been tried, Booker?” Booker blinks, slowly turning to face Nicky.

“What?”

“Did you really think it hadn’t been tried? That everything hadn’t been tried? Everything that woman did, every experiment she ran. None of it is new.”

TW: self-harm, medical experimentation (nothing graphic), body horror, self-hatred, suicidal ideation

This is based on a headcanon by @dearpatroclus which you can read here, so thank you to them! Thank you also to @socvrates for the amazing beta, and to @shaolinqueen for the brainstorming, and for the line “Maybe next time, habibi” because it crushed me and so I included it.

Everything below the cut.

Part 1: Booker

“Did you think it hadn’t been tried, Booker?” Booker blinks, slowly turning to face Nicky.

“What?”

“Did you really think it hadn’t been tried? That everything hadn’t been tried? Everything that woman did, every experiment she ran. None of it is new.”

“You’ve been… wait no, you haven’t been taken in the past 200 years, I would have known about it. Science has changed, Nicky. There’s so much that they can do now that they couldn’t do in the 1700s. You don’t know -”

Nicky says nothing. He turns to face Booker, his eyes dark.

“I would have known…” Booker tries again, losing steam when Nicky continues to look at him with a carefully blank face. His shoulders slump. “When were you taken? Where? Was it you? Was it Joe? Andy? Was it when I was in Shanghai in ‘89? Or Rennes in ‘27? Why didn’t you tell -”

“We weren’t taken, Booker. Or at least, nothing you don’t know about.”

Booker straightens up again. “Well then how would you know - ?”

“I tried it.”

“What?”

“I tried it myself.”

Booker looks at him in confusion. “What do you mean you tried it yourself?”

“I did the research myself.”

Booker knows there’s something that Nicky isn’t saying (as there tends to be with Nicky, his words always hinting at depths he won’t say) but it’s just out of reach, his mind failing to put it together.

Nicky pushes himself up off of the porch step and heads back inside, the door swinging shut behind him.

-----

Part 2: Nile

They’re in an apartment by the Bay of Naples when Nile finds them. It’s an old property, definitely older than Nile (as most things are), and the things scattered around the house show it. The pots are old, the fireplace is well-used, and some of the clothes that Joe pulls out of the closet look like they’re from the wrong century (they just might be).

It looks innocent enough, at first. In an alcove off of the living room there’s a tall bookshelf, full to bursting. Nile hesitates. They’ve told her time and time again that what’s theirs is hers now, but these old books, clearly well-worn and often looked through, feel personal. She leans closer, hesitant to touch anything. Some of them have titles still legible on the spines. Others are too worn to read, while others still don’t appear to have anything written on the spines at all.

There are a few worn classics in Italian, English, and French that Nile recognizes.

Boccaccio, Shakespeare, Hugo, Rabelais.

There are others in languages Nile can’t read.

Curious and vaguely emboldened, Nile pulls out one of the unmarked books.

The only things she really understands are the dates on some of the pages. There are a few drawings that might have been done by Joe, but most of the book is filled with what Nile recognizes as Nicky’s hand.

She thinks it’s in Latin. It might be in Italian, but she suspects it’s too old of a form for her to read with her limited skills. Flipping through a few more pages and unable to really make out anything meaningful, she carefully closes it and puts it back on the shelf, picking up another.

The next one is much the same.

The pictures, scarce though they are, seem scientific, medical. She knows that Nicky has a medical degree - possibly more than one. Maybe he wrote something and Joe did the drawings for him.

It isn’t until the fifth book that the language starts to tend toward a recent enough form that Nile can make some things out between her recently acquired Italian skills and the Spanish she learned in high school. Between that and the obvious progress over the tomes in methodicity and organization, Nile realizes what she’s looking at.

They’re records of experiments.

She feels dread building in her stomach as she sits heavily on the couch, unable to tear her eyes away. There are a few times she needs to pull out her phone to check a translation but it becomes very clear what the experiments were about: they were experiments on immortality.

Nicky experimented on someone - and given what she knows about the immortal… community, or lack thereof? It must have been Joe or Andy or Booker.

She sits in silence, trying to understand.

Kind Nicky, gentle Nicky, very-much-the-mom-friend Nicky, had it in him to cut out pieces of his friends. It doesn’t feel right. Didn’t doctors take an oath to “do no harm”? She supposes it didn’t stop Kozak, and she knows that anything that was done would heal instantly, but the idea of Nicky taking a blade to Joe or Andy or Booker willingly unsettles Nile deeply.

And based on the number of books here (and Nile is sure that, with the number of properties they have around the globe, this isn’t the only stash of them), Nicky did a lot.

The notes are meticulous, and even with the language barrier Nile gets a pretty good idea of the extent to which Nicky went. Even though they heal, it feels wrong.

She hears the padding of footsteps on the stairs and she can’t help but hope that it isn’t Nicky. She isn’t sure if she can face him just yet - if she can handle how much her perception of him has changed.

She lets out a breath of relief when she sees that it’s Joe. When he sees her sitting on the couch he immediately beams at her, and she feels guilt rush through her when his face drops as he notices the book on her lap.

She shouldn’t have looked.

For a moment, he doesn’t move. Then he huffs out a breath before calling out “Tea?” and heading to the kitchen without waiting for an answer.

Nile doesn’t know if she can stomach tea.

---

When he comes back he places both teacups on the coffee table before carefully taking the book out of her hands, closing it, and putting it back on the shelf. She notices that he does it all without even looking down at the page. He keeps his gaze averted as if he can’t bear to look at it.

She’s speaking before she can stop herself. “Was it you?”

Joe freezes midway from the shelf to the couch.

“What?”

Nile gestures vaguely. “The… the book. Was it you?”

Joe frowns. “What? No… I mean… Nicky wrote it. He’s the one with the medical training, you know that.”

Nile blinks. “I mean… who did he… who did he experiment on. Was it you? I just… I can’t imagine he would, on you… and so much, too. Even on Andy, or Booker, I...”

Joe’s expression shutters. He doesn’t say anything for a long moment before hesitantly walking the rest of the way back to the couch and sitting down beside her.

He stares down at his own hands, fiddling with one of his rings. “Nicky never touched us.”

That does not make Nile feel better. She squeezes her hands together to stop them from shaking. If he wasn’t experimenting on immortals, then that only left… “He - he must have killed them.”

Joe whips his head around to face her. “What?”

“I… I know I didn’t understand everything, but some of the things he did, there’s no way they made it. He was just… just killing them. For the sake of what, science? Nicky? I never - ”

Joe cuts her off with a quick shake of his head, taking her hand in his.

“No.”

“Joe, have you read those? Even with my shitty Italian and no medical degree I can tell that -”

“No.”

Nile softens. She knows denial. Nicky’s been the love of his life for 900 years. “Joe…”

Joe clears his throat uncomfortably, giving her hand a squeeze. “I’ve read them, Nile. I did the art… when I could handle it.” She waits, sensing he has more to say. “But… Nile… he didn’t hurt anybody else.” She opens her mouth, about to argue that it’s impossible when he continues, “The point was to test immortality, test how it can be… what it can do. If it can be harnessed. Testing mortals would have been pointless.”

“But you said he didn’t touch you. He clearly experimented on someone, Joe, he -”

“He refused to hurt anyone else.”

Nile blinks, confused, but Joe doesn’t say anything else. He lets go of her hand and goes back to playing with his rings, but Nile can see the anguish written all over his face. She reaches out a tentative hand to rest on his back, unsure how to comfort him, or even, really, what she’s comforting him for.

“Joe…” But then, what he said seems to settle in her mind. “He didn’t hurt anyone else.” Joe nods, doesn’t look at her. “He didn’t hurt anyone else,” Nile continues. She thinks she’s going to be sick. “All of that… all of that, he did to himself?”

Joe doesn’t respond. He doesn’t need to.

-----

Part 3: Joe

Joe loves and hates medical breakthroughs. He loves them because, having lived for so long, it’s such an amazing thing to see things that used to cause so much suffering no longer need to. He loves how many unfathomable things have become possible.

He hates them because every time something groundbreaking is published, Nicky gets a distant look in his eyes. Then come the days of scouring the literature, the planning, the hypothesizing. Nicky sinks into a dark hole that will only get darker, and Joe has to try to press food into his hands and drag his love to bed because if he didn’t, he knows Nicky wouldn’t stop to breathe.

What Joe hates most is that working himself to the bone is hardly the worst thing that Nicky will do to himself when he gets into it.

He hates that he knows that nothing he says will dissuade Nicky from desperately destroying himself.

He hates that all he can do is wait until he sees in Nicky’s eyes that it won’t work - until he sees that Nicky knows (however much he doesn’t want to admit it) that he’s tried everything, and that continuing is pointless.

He hates that even though, in the back of his mind, Nicky knows he’s done, he will continue regardless, doing the same thing over and over, still hoping for a different outcome. He hates that all he can do is pull the notebook out of Nicky’s trembling hands, press a kiss to his forehead, and brush back his sweaty hair before putting a hand under his elbow and helping him to his feet.

“Maybe next time, habibi. For now, sleep.”

-----

Part 4: Andy

Healing is exhausting. The human body (even the immortal one) needs fuel. It needs rest.

It isn’t meant to be taken apart over and over, no matter how seamlessly the skin grows back.

After she walks in to find Nicky focused over a piece of his own liver, a frenzied, desperate look in his eyes for the umpteenth time, his cheeks gaunt and his face pale, she realizes the best and worst part of the progression of humanity is science.

It’s not the first time he’s gotten like this, and she’s sure that it won’t be the last.

She knows that Nicky carries guilt. She knows that horrors from his first life still haunt him in his dreams, and that he still sees himself as responsible for the atrocities committed centuries ago at Jerusalem.

She suspects that, in everything that he does, a part of Nicky is still trying to atone - a part of him still sees himself as owing penance.

She suspects that, in the deepest part of his heart, Nicky hates himself a little

She suspects that this will never really change..

She knows that no amount of pleading, of Joe’s tears, of reminders that nothing has ever worked, will stop Nicky from desperately hoping that this time, this time he can pull something out of himself that will save the world.

She has offered, Joe has offered, every time Nicky is convinced that something is different, now - that humankind has what it needs, to make it work this time - to be the sample, to be the source.

Nicky took a scalpel to Andy’s skin once with a quivering hand before leaving to throw up.

“You’ve cut me in training before. You don’t need to keep hurting yourself.”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“It’s different.”

“How?”

“What if… what if it’s the last time and I did it on purpose?”

“What if it’s your last time?”

Nicky turns away without a word, but Andy hears the “it wouldn’t matter” all the same.

#the old guard #fanfic #fic #angst #catholic guilt #tw: suicidal ideation #tw: self loathing #tw: self harm #tw: body horror #tw: horror #tw: vomit

89 notes · View notes

adultingautistic · 4 years

Note

Heyyy! So, when I was a kid, I was able to do a lot of things - I was on the gifted list for english lessons and in a seperate class, I was p decent at math, and science was easy peasy. Now, I'm much older and heading into higher education,, but It seems my needs have changed. My sensory issues are a lot worse, but the thing that strikes me the most is how my needs for support have changed. I now need help reading questions so I don't miss out on important information, and I need extra- (1/2)

(2/2) time to process things in order to be able to answer things or give a coherent reply. Bombarding me with questions verbally causes me to go nonverbal. I have meltdowns a LOT. Is this a common occurance in autistic people? When I was small I didn't show as many traits, but as the world has changed around me, I've begun to show more traits, and been in need of far more support. Should I be worried? Does this happen a lot? How can I deal with it? Thank you for your time. -🦈

Ask Date: September 10th

Hi, are you me? Did I secretly write this ask?

Because you are describing my life exactly.

I was also very bright in gradeschool/highschool and flew through the lessons with one eye closed because they were so easy for me. Forget needing extra help, I was giving it! I tutored a whole bunch of my friends and helped other countless kids understand the assignments.

Then my first year of college, I failed out. My grades for my first semester in college were F, D, F, I, and P. (Fail, Fail, Incomplete, and “Pass” which is code for “your grade was extremely low”). Basically, you can’t do worse.

Now I was also going through some incredible emotional trauma at the time involving my family that I won’t go into here...but had I been in high school at the time, I know my grades wouldn’t have suffered as much as they did.

So what happened?

This is only a theory, because I can only base this on my own experience as an autistic student. But I think what happened was it was too much change, too fast, with a sudden lack of support that was once there.

So here’s the thing. Autistics struggle in huge ways to learn social rules. This makes it really hard for us to make friends, gets us bullied, gets us called “weird”, etc. We need things explicitly spelled out for us, we need to be told what the rules are But school, as it is for a kid, is the MOST structured environment most of us will ever be in (the only thing I can think of that’s even more structured than school is the military). And this enables autistics to thrive!

School is all about routine! It’s about doing the same things and going the same places every day. The rules are explicitly explained, and they are clear, and we can understand them and follow them! Raise your hand if you want to speak! Don’t talk during a test! These rules are concrete and we can understand them, and follow them.

So then you spend 12 years learning the ins and outs of “School social”. By the time you get to the end of high school, you’ve got it down. You’ve spent your whole life at this and you’re pretty good at it. You know what to expect, you know what to do.

And then it’s gone.

Boom. Nothing.

College is nothing like grade school was. Your day isn’t pre-determined for you by others, you determine your schedule. If you forget a homework, no teacher is going to remind you the next day or ask you again. You just get a 0, nobody says anything, and life goes on. If you missed how the professor was informing students of what the assignments were, then well- you just don’t know what they are. Nobody’s going to check up on you. Nobody’s going to care that you’re failing. The professor is not there to support you.

In fact, you suddenly have NO support, at ALL. It’s hard to see when you’re IN gradeschool how much support you’re really getting, but it’s a lot. Teachers guide you. They explain things many times. They bug you when you forgot an assignment. They let you complete things late. There is so much help that you’re used to, and it’s enough support that you’re able to actually use your brain for what it’s supposed to be used for - learning.

When I first got to college, I had a bunch of zeros for my grades, and I didn’t even know where they came from. Apparently, the professors had been giving out assignments- but I missed that social cue, and I was unaware there were assignments. And it was different in every class. Some of them just quietly wrote it on the board, never said a word, and dear God you hoped you noticed it. Some of them just sent an email. If you didn’t know to read your email, welp. Some of them just handed out the syllabus with due dates and that was that.

It was impossible for me. My communication struggles suddenly hit me head-on like a brick to the face.

On top of that, the precious, precious routine from grade school was gone. Suddenly I was supposed to plan my day, and decide what to do with my time- when I had spent exactly 0 minutes learning how to do that or building those kinds of skills in gradeschool.

This was beyond stressful. And what happens when I’m stressed? My ability to handle sensory input crashes. Normally, I can handle a Bad Input or two for awhile, but if I’m already stressed, I can’t handle anything. So that yucky smell coming from that person next to you? What was before a little annoying is now “I have to leave the room” levels of intolerable.

Forget trying to be social, or to communicate. You mentioned being asked questions as sending you into near overload territory to the point that you go nonverbal- and this can absolutely happen if you’re stressed.

Autistics struggle hugely with change. Change is very, very difficult for us. And going from high school to college is one of the biggest changes there is in a person’s life. It’s a huge thing to handle. It’s going to cause stress. Which is going to lower your ability to process verbal questions, and all other sensory input.

So basically, yes, this is absolutely normal for an autistic person who is facing such a huge change. When we are stressed, all our autistic traits “show more”. That’s because we have less energy to mask. We can’t compensate.

But what you are doing is exactly the right thing. You’re using the supports that are given to you, and bravo to you for doing that! Rather than needlessly struggling, you’re making use of the accommodations that are available, so that you can still succeed! This is wonderful, and excellent self-care.

It took you 12 years to learn how to do grade school correctly. Learning how to do college is much harder and a huge change from that. It’s like you’re starting the game over from level 1- all the skills, items, and experience you earned is gone, because it’s a totally new level and the rules are so very different.

You do not have to be worried about yourself. It’s not really you that has changed, it’s your environment. The support system of routine, familiarity, and consistency that you had relied on for all your life are now gone, which is making your autistic traits “show” more, but they were always there. You were just compensating for them without realizing it.

Now you’re realizing you’re compensating for them, by using accommodations, but that’s okay. That’s exactly what you SHOULD be doing. The point isn’t what accommodations you needed- the point is to get the degree. And once you get it, it will be just as valid and count for just as much as anyone else’s, and you will have earned it, and you deserve it.

You’re doing amazing and I’m super proud of you. Keep going!

#actuallyautistic #actually autistic #college #university #change #routine #support #accommodations #ask

70 notes · View notes

good-omens-classic · 5 years

Text

Hi Good Omens fans, ever since making this blog, and trawling through the archives for old art, I have been thinking again about trends from before the TV-show, and the way people draw Aziraphale and Crowley. I wanted to make this post addressing it but this is not “discourse” or to start a fight, in fact I would be perfectly content if all I did was make people think critically about what I am about to say and not even interact with this post at all, but I feel like I need to say it.

Talking about any racist undertones to the way people draw our two favorite boys usually makes people dig their heels in pretty fast. This is not a callout post for any artist in particular, this is not me trying to be overly critical of artists especially since they have more talent and skill than I do, and I’m going to address some common counterpoints that I frankly find unsatisfactory. Let’s just take a moment to set aside our defensiveness and think objectively about these trends. It took me a while to unlearn my dismissive attitude about these concerns so maybe I can help others get over that hurdle a little faster. Now let’s begin.

I’ve been kicking around the Good Omens fandom since maybe 2015 and for art based in book canon, whether it was made before the TV show came out, or because the artist is consciously drawing different, original designs, I’m going to estimate that a decent 75% of all fanart looks like this

Aziraphale is white and blonde and blue-eyed while Crowley is the typical “racially ambiguous” brown skin tone it’s become so popular to draw podcast characters as nowadays.

And the question is why? With the obvious answer being “it’s racist,” but let’s delve a little deeper than that.

A common thing I hear is that people get appearance headcanons fixed in their mind because the coverart of the book pictures the characters a certain way. My first point is this only shifts the question to why the illustrators drew them that way, when there aren’t many physical descriptions in the book. My second point is that while there definitely are cover arts that picture Aziraphale as cherubic, blonde, and white and Crowley as swarthy, dark-skinned, and racially ambiguous...

(side note: why is Crowley’s hand so tiny? what the hell is going on in this cover?)

It’s much more common for the covers to simplified, stylized, and without any particular unambiguous skin tones

I don’t know about the UK but the most popular version in the United States is the dual black and white matching covers

And while you could make an argument that the shading on Crowley’s face could suggest a darker skintone, it seems obvious to me that lacking any color these are not supposed to suggest any particular race for either of these two, and the contrasting colors are a stylistic choice to emphasize how they are on opposite sides. If anything, to me it suggests they are both white.

In short I simply do not buy the argument that people are drawing Aziraphale and Crowley this way because that’s how they were represented on the cover art of the book. If you draw them the way they are on the cover then whatever, I don’t care, but I don’t believe that’s what’s driving this trend.

The second thing people will say is that Good Omens is a work of satire, and it’s based in Christian mythology which has this trend of depicting angels as white, and it is embodying the trope of a “white, cherubic angel” paired with a dark-skinned demon for the explicit purpose of subverting the trope of “white angel is good, dark demon is bad” since Aziraphale is not an unambiguous hero and Crowley is not a villain. “It’s not actually like that because Crowley isn’t a bad demon, and Aziraphale isn’t actually a perfect angel” is the argument. This has a certain logic to it and allows some nuance to the topic, but to this I say:

Uncritically reproducing a trope, even in the context of a satire novel, is not enough to subvert it. Good Omens is not criticising the racist history of the church, and while the book does have some pointed jabs at white British culture (such as Madam Tracy conning gullible Brits with an unbelievably ignorant stereotype of a Native American) it is not being critical of the conception of angels as white and blonde or the literal demonization of non-white people. That’s just not what the book is about. So making the angel white and the demon dark-skinned, playing directly into harmful tropes and stereotypes, is not somehow subversive or counter-cultural when doing so doesn’t say anything about anything.

Please consider fully the ramifications of the conception of white and blonde people as innocent and cherubic and dark-skinned people as infernal and mischievous, especially in modern contexts...

Black people are more likely to be viewed as violent, angry, and dangerous. Priming with a dark-skinned face makes people more likely to mistake a tool for a gun. Black people are viewed as experiencing pain less intensely by medical professionals. Black men are viewed as physically larger and more imposing than they actually are. The subconscious racial bias favoring light skin is so ingrained it’s measurable by objective scientific studies, on top of the anecdotal evidence of things like news stories choosing flattering, “cherubic” pictures of white and blond criminals while using unflattering mugshots for non-white offenders.

This is why I say that if you’re going to invoke the “whites are angelic” trope, you better have a damn good subversion of it to justify it, because this idea causes real harm to real people in the real world. And Aziraphale being a bit of a bastard despite being an angel, I just don’t see that as sufficient. I am especially cautious of when it’s my fellow white fans that make this argument, not because I believe they do this out of any sort of malice or hatred of people with dark skin, but because I know first-hand it stems from a dismissiveness rooted in not wanting to think about it for too long because it makes us uncomfortable. Non-white people do not have the luxury of not thinking about it, because it’s part of their life.

Now the strongest textual evidence people use, in the absence of much real descriptor, is this:

"Many people, meeting Aziraphale for the first time, formed three impressions: that he was English, that he was intelligent, and that he was gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide. Two of these were wrong; Heaven is not in England, whatever certain poets may have thought, and angels are sexless unless they really want to make an effort"

This piece of art has circulated in the fandom for so long I don’t know the original artist and it’s been used for everything from fancovers to perfume. This is where I found it and it’s one of the first things that come up when you google this quote about Aziraphale.

Doesn’t it just feel like this is the man that’s describing, some blonde effeminate gay man? Well guess what, there’s the “blonde as innocence” trope rearing its ugly head again, because the stereotype of gay men and effeminacy as being a white and blonde thing is--ding ding ding you guessed it--racism. And why would intelligent suggest a white and blonde person, except if the stereotype of a dark-skinned person is less intelligent?

Now the point of “people assume Aziraphale is British” is another sticking point people will often use, claiming that the stereotype of a British person is white and blonde. I guess this has some merit, since the British empire was one of the biggest forces behind white colonial expansion, and it seems disingenuous to assign “British” as “nonwhite” as soon as we’re being satirical, in the same way I found it distasteful that the TV show made God female when so many of the criticisms of the church are about its misogyny and lose their teeth as soon as God is no longer male.

However consider that 1.4 million Indian people live in the UK. I heard a man say aloud once that the concept of a black person having a British accent was a little funny, as though Doctor Who doesn’t exist and have black people on it. And I’m not overly familiar with the social landscape of the UK, but I understand they’re experiencing a xenophobia boom and non-white Brits aren’t considered “really British.” The stereotype of non-white people not being British only exists because of reinforcement in media. If you really want to be subversive, drawing Aziraphale as Indian goes way further than drawing him as white IMO.

Now let’s talk about Crowley. He is almost always drawn with a darker skin tone than Aziraphale, even when they are both white, and while I’ve outlined above how this is problematic on terms of linking light skin with innocence, I think it does have an extra layer. I think it also has to do with the exotification and fetishization of brown skin and non-white people.

This artist’s tumblr is gone now but their art is still on dA and while it’s definitely beautiful and well-done, I think this is a very good example of what I’m talking about.

Crowley and Aziraphale necessarily contrast each other, so describing Aziraphale as “British” might suggest that Crowley is “foreign-looking.” I also know *ahem* that the fandom generally thirsts over Crowley to hell and back, so making him a swarthy, tall dark and handsome is not necessarily surprising.

An interesting thing happened when the TV show came out, and everyone started drawing Michael Sheen!Aziraphale and David Tennant!Crowley more and more often: It’s not ubiquitous, but it does happen that sometimes artists will draw David Tennant’s skin darker than it actually is. The subconscious urge to see Crowley with dark skin is for some reason that strong for many people. And I really encourage people doing this to think about why. Not naming any names but I’ve working with fanartists before for collabs who I had to ask to lighten “bad guy” demon’s skin tones because it looked like they were making the skin darker on purpose to make them look scarier. This person is a perfectly pleasant person who tries not to be racist! And we both still fell into it accidentally, and it took me a while to notice and point it out, because the ingrained stigmatization of darker skin is pervasive yet often goes unnoticed.

What is the solution? I don’t know, and as a white person I’m not really qualified to make that call. Do we draw them both with the exact same skin tone? Is it better to make them both white? Should we make both of them non-white? Should we only make Aziraphale non-white? I am consciously aware of the fact that the Good Omens fandom is mostly white people, so most of the art we make is being both made by and consumed by white people, so I don’t feel comfortable saying “draw these characters of color specifically” because that can also veer into fetishization territory very quickly. This is not specific to good omens but I think we should pay attention to what fans of color say in all fandom spaces and weigh our choices even if they seem insignificant. And it’s important to realize that fans of color will not be a monolith in their opinion either, and it’s our responsibility to recognize that everyone can be affected by racism and social issues differently, the same way all women are affected by misogyny differently so just because one woman says such as such is misogynistic and another says it’s not. I’m sure there are non-white fans who think it’s perfectly fine to draw Aziraphale as white and Crowley as ambiguously non-white. I’m not saying they’re wrong. And I’m not saying you can’t reblog this kind of art, or that people who make or made it should feel bad about themselves. But so often this sort of thing goes unaddressed just because people don’t like thinking about it, and well, avoiding hard questions never really goes well I think.

#?#voice of mod #?????

195 notes · View notes

pokkop15 · 4 years

Text

(Ok so I was a fool and had had a lot of this meta written up yesterday and instead of saving it as a draft while I watched critical role, I, like a fool, just left all the tabs open and then went to bed after the episode. Then firefox crashed in the night and everything was lost. Press F to pay respects I guess cause here I go again.)

First off, Aradia is best girl and I am so happy she's RELEVANT again. I had a whole preamble the last time I wrote this post, but I can't remember what it said other than mentioning that this is gonna be a long post beneath the cut and that I have other metas that will kind of overlap with what I'm saying in this one so I will try to keep my discussion of the narrative styles of the The Prince and The Muse to only what is relevant to this post and to what is RELEVANT. Also previous metas should be reblogged directly before I post this to make it easier to check them out before hand or to reference them more easily.

The main points of focus will be: The differences between how the two Time gods interact with The Muse and her narrative, as well as the general level of metatextual awareness of characters within Candy. | The juxtaposition of the Knight and the Maid. | The possible suppression of the Ultimate nature of The Knight, and by extension The Seer. | The Muse's unique state of power and presumed Awakening | I swear there was more but I flat out don't remember what they were.

One last thing. I am a rambly motherfucker so if you haven't read my previous metas, here's your warning to expect a very long and very chaotic mess of a post beneath the cut. Also for anyone confused anytime I emphasize someone as 'The Class' it's referring to their actions as a potential narrator and as an Ultimate Self. For example, the difference between The Muse and the Muse is that 'the Muse' would be for character moments like when the dead cherub possessing Jade's corpse in Candy is just talking with Davebot and Aradia, while 'The Muse' is for when talking about her influence over the narrative. (There's a lot of different ways I put emphasis on words or phrases, but “The Class” was the one I felt really might need clarification)

I find it interesting how Davebot acknowledges and shows distaste for The Muse interjecting her narration and thus inhibiting his ability to live in the moment. I find this interesting because as an Awakened god of Time, he is simultaneously living in every moment but as a Knight, and as The Knight, he is also intrinsically separate from those moments as he is the Ultimate One who Wields Time. Aradia on the other hand is the Maid of Time, who while almost assuredly having reached the pinnacle of her god tier after the hundreds of years we now know her to have lived, is not ascended to her Ultimate Self. As a Maid, Aradia literally embodies her aspect. As such she doesn't worry about living in the moment because she is the moment. Because of this Aradia is more prone to just accept, agree, and repeat the sentiments The Muse dictates in her constant exposition. However, despite acknowledging the narration, Davebot still ends up being incredibly passive in the face of it. Even though he has an Active class and is a dreamer of the Active moon, Dave himself has always come off as an incredibly passive character to me in a lot of ways. (Even the aspect of Time itself and its heroes are specifically denoted as incredibly Active in the {official and Canon} extended zodiac test [which means its contents are NECESSARY, RELEVANT, and TRUE]). Always acting under the direction of other characters, subject to The Lord's rule over Time, and constantly struggling with his seeming lack of control. Here, even after reaching his Ultimate Self, he still only makes passive-aggressive remarks instead leaving the flow of the story and the big decisions to others. (In my last post I went into deeper detail about the nature of, and relationship between Aradia and Dave's classes and how that affected their sessions, but I can't remember what the tie in was unfortunately so for now I'll leave it at this and move on)

Among the human players of sburb, the Strilondes have always been the most genre savvy and possessed the most awareness of the narrative and its' influence, (although Dave was never near the levels of Dirk and Rose). But up until this upd8, direct interactions with the narrative have been few and far between in Candy (at least as far as I can recall). I mentioned this in my previous meta as being a result of The Muse being the type to inspire characters to action whereas The Prince is far more heavy handed in is dictation and rarely attempts to hide his presence in the narration these days. But we see here once again, that not only is The Muse bad for the people under her influence, she's also just really not good at constructing a story. She relies too heavily on tropes and cliches, on plot contrivances; she tells too much and doesn't show enough, (something that should literally be her greatest strength as a Muse). Yet despite this, Davebot and Aradia are seen multiple times to interact with her dictations directly and Aradia even points out on page 284 that she is aware of The Muse “observing (their) every action and noting its relevance : )” (the emphasis on 'relevance' being mine). As such we can infer that it doesn't take an Ultimate Self to recognize The Muse's narration. But if not that, then what? If it was just pre-disposition of character that let them notice, then between her own abilities and self awareness, surely Candy!Rose would have by now, but she hasn't. Then is it proximity? Maybe The Muse is getting complacent and starting to unknowingly imitate The Prince and his methods? Or is it because both Davebot and Aradia are Heroes of Time? The aspect opposite The Muse's. After all, The Muse did express that the way (either Aradia specifically or that the both of them) experience time is “woefully unfamiliar” to her. Perhaps that makes it difficult for her to write a story that resonates with them fully. Whatever it may be, all the information up until this point doesn't come to a head so much as it is something that I believe to be RELEVANT.

With that, let us switch gears while keeping the previous information in mind. As I said before, in spite of all the active components of Davebot's Mythological Role, his character has often been passive. And the precise story beat I want to focus on right now is his Awakening to his Ultimate Self. Candy!Dave was out on patrol with a wife who he loved, but who also had very much always been the driving force of their dynamic. He was pulled to the ancient bunker by the narrative where a hologram of Obama expertly guided him through a conversation like a true politician, somehow knowing a lot about Dave while at the same time withholding “classified” information as if that word had any meaning without a country or government holding Obama accountable. (Unless of course Obama was still answering to someone... *Cough cough*the authors*cough cough*). Look, all of this is me saying that Obama was a leftover contrivance of The Prince that The Muse utilized for her own means. Dirk was a skilled programmer and engineer. He had a deep understanding of how to build AIs that could easily impersonate someone. He had an even deeper grasp of how to manipulate Dave. Dirk built the bots. The Bots. The bots that are supposedly NECESSARY for one to Awaken to their Ultimate Self and survive. And yet even if that is TRUE, it isn't true. The Prince claims he was a special case but his powers are of the soul, not the body. And it is the body that breaks down. And we know that Rose really was suffering in her path to Awakening, but I will remind you that her poor condition was first established through narration that we know was under the control of The Prince. Further more it happened prior to the Meat/Candy split, in which the Canon still possessed TRUTH, which is why it still remained RELEVANT in Candy (and it was obviously NECESSARY in Meat for reasons about to be discussed). Both Rose and Dave ultimately played a passive role in their Awakenings, guided to their Ultimate Self by another even though they are both Active players. I believe that The Prince established these rules about Ultimate Selves and built the robot bodies as a way to give him an upper hand against the two characters most likely to overtake him. Because to reinforce a point from a previous post, Rose is the only full on published author among the players and Dave himself has written comics and presumably screenplays for his films, making them the two people who might not only do a better job than The Prince or The Muse, but just do a flat out GOOD job. The Seer especially, which is why The Prince went through the extra effort to disrupt her sense of self as she was coming into her Ultimate Self. If these two had played an Active part in their own Awakening and without The Prince’s influence I think they both would’ve been quite capable of giving The Prince a run for his money. But the humans are not the only players in this game...

As I've already alluded to, Lord English (The Lord), was almost certainly his Ultimate Self. Awakened and Empowered by the treasure (a juju so powerful that it enabled John to retcon things in a way that overrides the timeline instead of splitting it, and it did so without even granting him its actual power). When The Knight awakened, The Muse described it has having all of Time flow through his consciousness, allowing him to experience every instance of his own self. Conversely Jade described that her Ultimate Self would be “like... one ultimate self distributed across multiple bodies. so in multiple places and states at once. every jade that exists is like a light being shined through a thousand cracks in the timeline.” (Hey remember those cracks in the universe that had light peaking through them? Idk, seems RELEVANT if you ask me.) So if we reasonably assume that ones aspect heavily affects how one's Ultimate Self first Awakens and how it operates than that means there will be similarities between those who share aspects. If Awakening for a Hero of Time is an experience of everything that ever has, is, or will happen to a version of themselves, and Lord English possessed a juju that allows one to retcon and not split, than the combination of those powers would make it so he could be the singular instance of himself while at the same time always be “Already Here” than there is truly no difference between Lord English and the theoretical Ultimate version of himself. And since the Muse consumed Lord English at the end of Candy, granting her the power to punch a wormhole in the black hole. This is also presumably where she gained the power to “...exist in several narrative structures at once” (pg 286) (also see the above explanation of Jade's Ultimate Self for why that is RELEVANT). Because of this, we can assume that The Muse is just as indistinguishable from her theoretical Ultimate Self as The Lord was. But these powers and this simultaneous existence is not without consequences because the Muse's collapse at the end of this chapter is almost assuredly a result of Meat!Jade's rebelling against The Muse in chapter 6 (specifically the action on page 167/168). And finally, to tie this back to the imposition of bodily destruction to those who Awaken their Ultimate Self, it is worth noting that The Muse does not possess a body of her own to be destroyed. Instead inhabiting the body of various Jades.

Alright, so once again sorry if you thought there would be some big culmination to this post, and hey, what pumpkin?

15 notes · View notes

sweetsmellosuccess · 4 years

Text

TIFF 2020: Days 1 & 2

Films: 5 Best Film of the Day(s): One Night in Miami

One Night in Miami…: I guess you could form an argument that basing a film on a pre-existing play would make the feature easier to put together, but that wouldn’t be taking into account the tremendous differences between the mediums, their relative strengths and weaknesses. For her feature debut, the Oscar-winning actress Regina King has cinematically adapted the stage play by Kemp Powers about a fictionalized fateful night amongst four famous Black men in 1964. Those men, Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), and Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), are all in town ostensibly to celebrate Clay’s beatdown of Sonny Liston to first become the heavyweight champion of the world at the tender age of 22. But the film puts them all together in Malcolm X’s modest hotel room, watched over by Nation of Islam security men, to spend a night, essentially, debating the merits of what they bring to the struggle for Black equality and economic emancipation, and arguing back and forth about their distinct positions. Here is precisely where many play adaptations falter, without the dramatic friction of a live performance to power the emotional core, such conventions generally fall flat on the screen, but King’s virtuoso acting instincts serve her able cast well, and her work with DP Tami Reiker allows the film to flow, seemingly organically between its few location movements. Working from a skilled script by Powers, the celebrated figures feel three dimensional, which gives even their more didactic diatribes (Malcolm), and pithy rebuttals (Cooke) enough weight to avoid sounding contrived. The cast work wonders on the material, granting a needed organic vibe to their nonfiction characters, echoing the essences without tipping into caricature. It’s a strong debut for King, and the film’s complex ruminations on the responsibility of successful Black people towards their community as a means of bringing attention to the country’s oppression couldn’t be more on point. At one point Clay tells Cooke the four of them will always remain friends, because they are among the few who can possibly understand what it’s like to be “young, Black, famous, righteous, and unapologetic.”

Shiva Baby: Danielle (Rachel Sennott) is in the midst of having a day. Turns out Max (Danny Deferrari), the sugar daddy with whom she has frequently been visiting as part of her regular prostitution gig, is somehow a friend or cousin of the deceased at the same Shiva she has come to attend with her well-meaning, but completely overwhelming parents (Polly Draper and Fred Melamed). If that weren’t enough in Emma Seligman’s spry comedy, Danielle is also horrified to find Maya (Molly Gordon), a successful young woman she’s known for years, and a recent ex, also there. Crammed into the Shiva house, full of cousins and aunts and uncles all kvetching about everyone else, and being physically grabbed and moved about by her mother, Danielle faces this house of horrors, with everyone commenting concernedly on her weight-loss (“You look like Gwyneth Paltrow — on food stamps!” her mother hisses at her), and her lack of job prospects when she graduates, and her parents telling scathingly embarrassing stories about her in front of Max and his shiksa wife (Dianna Argon), whose 18-month-old baby, her mom says is “freakishly pale — and no nose,” with no respite in sight. As a result of this sort of hyper-scrutiny, Danielle goes the only route that makes any sense: Lying to everybody about nearly everything, from her current major (“gender business”), to the many job interviews she has supposedly lined up. She’s just trying to get through the ordeal, one that Seligman, along with a continually spiraling score from Ariel Marx, ratchets up, until, near the end, poor Danielle is in a near fugue state, sweat glistening on her face, and the attendees, shot in unflattering slo-mo, and distorted lenses, take on the sheen of a waking nightmare. At a brisk 77 minutes, the film still doesn’t have quite enough to sustain its running time — at a certain point it begins doubling back on itself — but it’s still a lot of horrific fun, as Seligman expertly captures the absolute loss of agency one can feel, swallowed up in a claustrophobic family gathering, where escape feels futile.

Limbo: If Scotland has a cinematic identity, as such, it seems like the kind of place, desolate and unforgiving, where individuals come to exit regular society and come to a land filled with eccentric loners (stoic and unique in their oddities), in order to get better in touch with their souls. Ben Sharrock’s serio-comedy captures both the pitiless beauty of the land, and the lonely plight of a Syrian immigrant, Omar (Amir El-Masry), waiting with a group of other men from across the Middle East and Africa, on an island off the mainland, for word from the Immigration Office that his bid for political asylum has been accepted. Omar, sweet-faced and approachable, was a musician by trade in his native Syria, and walks around everywhere carrying his precious oud, bequeathed to him by his grandfather, also a musician, even though his right hand is locked in a cast from an unspecified injury. Even without the cast, however, you get the sense that his heart really isn’t into playing, despite the entreaties from Farhad (Vikash Bhai), his Afghani roomie and self-appointed “agent and manager,” who wants him to enter a local music contest. Omar is carrying a significant amount of weight beyond missing his mother’s fragrant home-cooking. Talking to her on the lone payphone on the island, where other immigrants-in-waiting stand in line for a chance to hear from home, she implores him to speak to his older brother, who chose to stay behind in Syria and fight in the Civil War that has plagued the region for years. Omar feels guilty for having left, and suffers from having disappointed his father in the process. It doesn’t help him that the culture he finds himself in seems so foreign to him, despite his speaking flawless English. Sharrock’s brand of deadpan perfectly suits the setting, but as funny as the film can be (when asked in a culture/language class to create a sentence using the “I used to” construction, one immigrant offers “I used to be happy before I came here”), it doesn’t paint a rosy affirmation for Omar and his ilk, stuck as they are, as the title suggests, between countries and lives. Omar’s pain is real, and for every positive step forward he takes, it’s one further away from his family and his beloved home country.

Enemies of the State: Sonia Kennebeck’s challenging and curious documentary seems at first to present a case for its protagonist, Matt DeHart, a young teen hacker interested in social justice, who through his work with Wikileaks runs afoul of the U.S. government, and his beleaguered parents, Paul and Leann, who vigorously defend their only child against the evil forces conspiring against him. Through a series of personal interviews with Paul and Leann, both retired Air Force intelligence officers, who believe their country has turned against them for what Matt had downloaded from his computer into secret thumbdrives shortly before the FBI arrived at their door and confiscated all his equipment, and various lawyers they employed, first to protect Matt from what they claim as utterly bogus child-porn charges, then, after they slip away to Canada in the middle of the night, the lawyers trying to earn them asylum. While in Canada, under close supervision and confined to his parents’ apartment, Matt uses his charms, his hackavist bonafides, and his skill at PR, to generate enough interest in his case to become a digital cause celebe, along the lines of Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning. Protests are fronted, defense funds gathered, and pressure put on the government to come clean about why they seem so hard-driving against the young man. During a peculiar reenactment set in a Canadian immigration hearing — Kennebeck employs actors who apparently lip sync their lines in perfect time with the actual recorded audio — DeHart describes a harrowing ordeal earlier in the affair, after having moved to Canada to attend college, being abducted by the FBI shortly after crossing the border to renew his Visa, and tortured for days for information related to the material on the thumb-drives. Some documentation seems to corroborate his claims (even Paul and Leann, as fierce supporters as can be, were shocked to see just how ready the FBI were to snatch him), but as the film continues, and we hear more and more from the investigators and prosecuting attorneys about the original child-pornography crimes, it becomes clear that our sympathies are being played with by Kennebeck. By the end, the film itself becomes an indictment of our rapid-assumption culture, in which decisions of guilt and innocence are determined in seconds online and forever after based on the presentation of information before us.

The Way I See It: For non Trumpites, the switchover from eight years of the dignified, intelligent, and measured leadership of Barack Obama, to the perma-tanned tackiness of power-mad, narcissistic bloviating of Donald Trump, was like a double-feature that went from Citizen Kane to Kevin James’ Loudest Farts. One man better than most to measure Obama’s time in office against the subsequent regime is photojournalist Pete Souza, who served as the official White House photographer for both of Obama’s terms, and has gone on to become an outspoken critic of Trump by way of his devastating IG account, in which he juxtaposes stately Obama photos with Trumps scandal-du-jour. Lest you think he’s just another divisively partisan liberal, you have to take into account his previous turn in the White House, as one of the official photographers for Ronald Reagan’s presidency. In fact, Souza’s fly-on-the-wall quality was considered one of his strengths in the oval office. Documentarian Dawn Porter travels with Souza as he makes the media rounds promoting his newest book, Shade, a collection of those IG photos that have earned him millions of social media followers (a sort of companion piece to his previous book Obama: An Intimate Portrait). Hauling from far-off India (where he gets a standing ovation before he even takes the stage), to domestic conferences and speaking engagements, Souza emerges as a man becoming more used to being out from behind his ever-present Canon lens. Through that lens, as he displays to his rapturous audiences, he has taken many hundreds of indelible photos, showing Obama’s various interactions with foreign dignitaries, his council of cabinet members, and his more raucous time with his two daughters (one shot of Obama with his girls making snow angels on the rear lawn during a heavy snow storm remains his computer screensaver, Souza says with pride). As Porter moves from talking heads to public oratories, Souza’s remarkable photos — brilliantly composed, and inspiringly intimate, having been given nearly unlimited access to the president — play throughout, showing us a collection of images that capture the inspiring hope the president inspired and the agonizing rigors of the job he was elected to perform. The film spends little time on his Reagan years, except to note how media and image-savvy the former Hollywood actor and his wife were (Souza professes no political ill-will towards the Reagans, other than noting that while he didn’t always agree with him, he was a genuinely caring man, who at least understood the parameters of leadership). At first, the film trolls Trump by a sort of subtweet level of backhandedness: Without directly naming names, Souza makes it entirely clear who he finds failing in comparison to Obama’s empathetic, engaging deportment, but by the time the film comes around to his notorious IG account, there can be no doubt the subject of his ire. Souza maintains it has less to do with his partisan feelings (his political affiliation is never revealed), and more the way he finds the current president’s undignified manner and total disrespect for the office and the leadership it demands unacceptable. Trumpers will of course take great exception to the portrait the film portrays of the sitting president, but even the most hardcore GOP folks won’t be able to help noting the blatant differences between the loving, genuinely close Obamas; and the preening, viciously competitive Trumps, each trying to outdo the others in acting as their father’s primary sycophant.

In a year of bizarre happenings, and altered realities, TIFF has shifted its gears to a significantly paired down virtual festival. Thus, U.S. film critics are regulated to watching the international offerings from our own living room couches.

#sweet smell of success #ssos #piers marchant #films #movies #TIFF #tiff 2020 #toronto international film festival #one night in miami #regina king #limbo #The way I see it #pete souza #nomadland #frances mcdormand #chloe zhao #the new corporation #summer of 85 #francois ozon

8 notes · View notes

imma-fan · 5 years

Text

GOT7// S/O GETS JEALOUS

+i haven't written in awhile soooo here's my rusty work

Mark usually knew better than to put himself into positions that would cause you to get jealous and upset, but, today he just couldn't get the hint from one of the new interns that had been flirting with him. Yeah, you knew he couldn't exactly to tell her to fuck-off, but, she was being handsy and talkative while her job was to run quick errands for the staff. It had been going on all day and it irritated you but, you knew better to cause a scene for no reason, especially at his place of work. That was until you watched her boldly place a hand on your boyfriend's chest and give him sultry eyes, at the sight of that, you had a few choice words for her, and Mark had no business stopping you. You matched each other with temper but, he was always kind of nervous when you were able to get loud with someone else, especially a stranger.

Once you two were alone after you gave the intern a piece of your mind he would shower you in love. Hugging and kissing you in the privacy of your guys shared apartment. Mark didn't really like when you got jealous, he saw it more as him lacking in showing how much he loves you, so when you did express your insecurity he tried to relax you by showing that you're the one he cuddles and goes home to every night.

"I held off all day. She didn't have to touch you like that. She had no right." You mumbled into his chest, knitting your brows at the thought.

"I know, I know." He squeezed you tighter.

"Only aghase and I are allowed to have you."

That made him chuckle softly. "Aghase is doing charity work by letting you be with me." He joked.

Jaebum knew you got jealous easily, he also knew that you had no problem letting others know that you were jealous. So, as soon as momoland's AhIn, asked for his number backstage at an award show while you were getting ready for your set, he politely declined. Although, his easy let-down didn't go so well and she simply slipped a paper with the number and her name into his suit pocket. He was shocked by the boldness and scratched the back of his head as the shorter girl walked away from him.

Once you were done performing and cleaned yourself up, you went back to your seat with Jaebum and the other GOT7 members. Jae handed you an open water bottle and you took it thankfully, you watched as the cap fell and he picked it up - a piece of paper falling from his clothing as well. You picked it for him, seeing that he didn't notice, but, once you realized the details of the writing you felt heat rise up your neck. You scolded Jaebum loudly for saving a girl's number like that, not caring of the other idols around you all.

Jaebum was so flabbergasted considering he didn't do anything wrong but, soon got out of that trance when you figured out who it was and began to hunt for her. But, like always, Jaebum knew exactly what to do to make you calm down. "I'll explain backstage... Then we can show her who I belong to." He spoke into your ear, hands tightly on your hips, you huffed out and obliged. Let's just say, after your little talk, Jaebum spent the rest of the award show with his collar up.

Jackson loved when you got jealous and possessive over him, especially with girls he knew were trouble himself. When he found himself sitting alone at a Red Lobster with a trashy looking waitress trying to bat her false eyelashes at him, he was more than pleased when you arrived. "Baby! Are you ready to eat? This is my girlfriend." He pointed you out to the waitress and that's when the red flag went up in your head. You ignored it, hoping it was just Jackson being excited.

You both had been enjoying your meal and finished, wanting to wait on the dessert menu, you went to use the bathroom quickly. Not even in those couple of minutes you were gone the waitress was pushing her flat chest together and smiling 'sweetly' at your boyfriend, which isn't something you took lightly. You saw Jackson's obvious discomfort and went straight up and tore one into the lady, going a bit overboard considering your English far exceeds your Korean skills.

It had gone on for long enough for Jackson, who had been smiling to himself, and he interjected, leaving some cash for the meal on the table and pulled you out of the restaurant, mumbling obscenities to yourself all the way to the car. Jackson held you close, holding you gently as you hugged him back. "That was so cute!" He chuckled, holding you tightly. "You're even hotter when you're jealous." He teased.

Jinyoung didn't understand the jealous outbursts you would get occasionally but, he took them as a sign of love...sometimes. This, was not one of those times. When he walked into the studio with Jaebum to see you holding up a finger to the sound engineer as you told her off for those inappropriate messages she had sent, he was embarrassed. He pinched his temple as you cursed and spoke informally to the lady older than you, wanting to act as if he hadn't seen or heard anything, but, that opportunity passed when you pointed a finger at him. "That's mine! Do you understand?" You spoke slowly and loudly.

"Aish! Come here!" Jinyoung demanded to you, stepping out of the studio with you. You glared at the woman on your way out. "You need to learn to behave yourself. She knows how I feel. Leave it-" You cut him off, beginning to rant on about the unprofessionalism of the comments. "You! You are being unprofessional." He scolded, running hands through his hair, clearly annoyed. "You can sit in there... quietly. In silence." The smile on your face and the quick peck on his lips made him sigh out, as you walked past him.

Youngjae pulled his mask over his face as he watched you walk over to the three MC's who thought it'd be okay to start a group chat dissing you and your relationship. You were definitely more in people's face and more outspoken than your boyfriend but, that's what he loved about you. He was too civil and cordial with others so, people took that as weakness. You, on the other hand, made how you felt known and got your point across. No different when talking to the three women who seem to share half a brain cell.

Youngjae watched with wide eyes as you sternly spoke and threatened the girls. Once you were done you walked over to your boyfriend and looked at the three of them. "Next time you want to start something, I will make sure you three will never be able to MC again." You warned and took youngjae by his sleeve and dragged him out of there. He stayed quiet but, once you two were out of earshot he laughed out about how scared they looked and how angry you seemed, which in turn, made you laugh along.

Bambam was one to mess around with anyone who would have fun with him, that's one of the many things you lived about him. He was super open and outgoing and good at making friends. So, when bambam wanted to invite home some of the GOT7 members and Lisa from BlackPink you didn't really think anything of it. You cleaned up a bit, and put out drinks for the guests.

You were sat on the couch as Bambam and Lisa we're the first to walk in, the GOT7 members behind them. You stood up, going to greet everyone but, Lisa made you stop in your tracks when she spoke in Thai to your boyfriend. You knew something was off when his head tilted and his face went blank. "What? This is her house too." Bambam spoke in Korean, the shared language. The girls face dropped and glared towards you and that's when you got the hint that she thought bambam was being more than friendly when that wasn't the case.

You spoke up, telling her the facts with some rude and unnecessary comments in between. But, while you did some of GOT7 watched in disbelief and uncomfort while Bamabam and Yugyeom laughed hysterically at the situation and at your bluntness. Bambam loves when you get jealous because you constantly act as if you don't. Plus, it feeds his ego.

Yugyeom knew he was in big trouble as soon as he walked into the studio to see you standing there, arms crossed, with his cell phone in hand. He had gone to the jungle and couldn't take his phone, so he left it with you, in that time 39 text messages and 26 missed calls had blown up his phone. They were all from his ex-girl friend, so obviously you got to digging and saw she had been doing this for months, everyone ignored or telling her to screw off.

You smiled at him and threw the phone at the wall, shattering it. "Why would you do that!??" You watched for a couple of minutes before handing him a new phone, with a new number.

"You have a new number, now." You smiled cutely. "Hide anything like that from me again and I'll just break the phone." You warned with the smile still on your face. Yugyeom liked when you got jealous because it means you care, but you did get a bit scary at times, but, it was kind of hot to him.

"Yah... I should punish you for-" he started.

"Save it. You're in big trouble, butthole." You waved him off.

828 notes · View notes

vilmublue · 5 years

Photo

Little My is considered one of the most iconic characters in the Moomin franchise. She is a Mymble, a very human-like creature who seem to be always female, but she is unusually tiny and loves to hide inside small places only she can fit in. In fact, the original books indicate she might be the oldest of the younger cast, and with some fairytale logic was born super tiny and aging doesn’t seem to work the usual way for her (though most of the characters’ ages are generally ambiguous). She is fierce and mischievous, loving some chaos and morbid things and biting people. She is brutally honest and can appear mean, but is also very reliable in her own way. She doesn’t really let things bother her, which is something many other characters can struggle with. But quite a few people feel she is a bit too mean in the new 2019 show Moominvalley. This is an opinion I completely understand, but the developers have indicated that this version of Little My will have character development and secretly suffers from some issues.

She is introduced in the first episode, when her family visits the Moominhouse unexpectedly, even though the Moomins we’re still trying to hibernate. Little My’s mother Mymble is the Moomin family’s acquaintance, but her absent-minded attitude and the fact she has a massive amount of young children she barely controls in any way makes her a difficult quest. The group of kids is lead by Little My, who is clearly much more mature than the others, but instantly starts to cause mischief by prompting her siblings to bother Moomintroll. When introducing herself, she bites Moomintroll’s hand when he tries to treat her like a little kid and states that ’Little My is her name, not her personality’. The Moomin family are reaching their limit and try to trick the Mymble (who again, is very absent-minded) that it’s midsummer and thus the time she was planning on leaving. However, they can’t fool the much smarter Little My, who directly tells Moomintroll she knows what they’re up to and asks him why he doesn’t just ask them to leave. Moomintroll says it wouldn’t be polite, but Little My corrects that no, it just wouldn’t be easy. Little My asks him if he has learned anything yet and tells him you don’t have to be big to stand your ground.

Little My then continues to bother Moomintroll even more and generally pranks everyone, even kicking him out of his own room (and also keeps her siblings out). Frustrated Moomintroll leaves to build a house of his own, but doesn’t do a good job; he chooses a bad spot and the house itself isn’t stable. Little My comes to look at him and laughs at him, causing Moomintroll to finally snap and shout at her for everything she’s done. He then realizes Little My isn’t in his room anymore as she’s right there and quickly runs back home. Interestingly, Little My seems pleased by his development (which was clearly at least partially her intention), but she still doesn’t want him to have the room. They chase each other back to the room, but much to their disappointment Mymble has let her other kids in to mess everything up, pretty much so she doesn’t have to deal with them or hear them. For the first time, Little My is sad, saying that at least Moomintroll had his own room–thanks to the way her family is, she’s never truly had her own space. The two make an agreement and decide to build a new house together, this time for Mymble and the kids. Little My chooses the spot and when the Mymble and the kids go in, it turns out the house is on top of a giant sea turtle that starts to move and carries them away. The Moomin are relieved Mymble finally left and Mymble is so chill she’s perfectly fine with it, saying she’ll probably be away for a long time. Moomintroll admits to his family that he’s actually kinda missing Little My, but turns out she didn’t leave with the others and decides to stay with the Moomins. The fact that Little My may have sent Mymble and her siblings away on purpose and that Mymble probably doesn’t care much she’s missing tells quite a lot…

Little My then becomes an adopted child to the Moominfamily. Compared to the Moomins, she is very abrasive, often making disrespectful remarks and interfering in other people’s business (and hiding inside teapots). She is often judging and rolling her eyes at the others’ antics, like when Moomintroll tries to act cool in front of Snufkin. However, even she can't help but respect Moominmamma as she silently obeys her even if reluctantly. In one episode, Little My even appears jealous after Moominmamma made a bark boat for Moomintroll.

Her relationship with Moomintroll is sibling-like. They make constant jabs and are irritated by each other, but they do actually care. As Little My’s English voice actress Bel Powley has explained, it’s thanks to Moomintroll’s instinctive empathy that he can sense Little My’s need to be wanted no matter how irritating she can be, and Little My really wants attention from him by constantly hanging around with him. Bel has also pointed out that Little My had to grow up a lot faster due to living with a single parent in such a huge family while Moomintroll has always been quite coddled and sheltered by his parents.

In truth, as explained by the developers, Little My is more vulnerable on the inside and her attitude is an armour to protect herself. She is drawn to the Moomins because they have so much what she needs: love, patience and serenity. Not that she’d admit it, she’s not comfortable discussing feelings. Her Finnish voice actress Kiti Kokkonen revealed even more about My in an interview; she is very mischievous at the beginning of the show because she lacks social skills and there’s been lots of stuff happening in her life, and she’s quite lonely and has been left without love, revealing a more sensitive side in small moments.

Regardless, Little My is very independent and can take care of herself (at one point, she gets lost when sleeping inside a basket and the stream taking her away, but she isn’t bothered in the slightest), clever and more mature underneath than her mischievous behaviour and appearance would suggest. She doesn’t let sentimentality get the better of her, and always reminds the other characters when they need to be more firm and focus on the truth of the matter. She can get mean, like with the invisible child Ninny, but seems to want to give genuine advice when she tells her she’ll never have a face of her own if she doesn’t learn to stand up for herself, and she does seem to genuinely want to help Moomintroll improve himself at times. She herself has even stated that sometimes one needs to be cruel to be kind. And have fun while doing it, apparently...

At the moment, I’m not completely sure about her age in this version. Is she a very independent young child or maybe older than she looks? People who don’t know her often treat her as a young child, but the other young cast are explicitly more around teenagers in this version. I especially noticed a scene where Snufkin finds her and suggests that a little one like her would probably need milk. Little My seems to like Snufkin more than average person and doesn’t react very angrily, but seems to pause to stare and think for a moment before smiling. I dunno if it actually means anything, but it could be a thing they could discuss later in the series. The way she gets along with Snufkin is also really nice to me and might be foreshadowing they could be half-siblings in this version like in the original stories!

#Moomin #Little My #Moomintroll #Mymble #Moominmamma #Ninny #Snufkin #cartoons #analysis #vilmu posts #long post

407 notes · View notes

notcatherinemorland · 4 years

Text

More Hamlet Thoughts because i leave everything to the 11th hour . production continues to be the 2018 globe w/ Michelle Terry

Hamlet and Ophelia’s uhhhhh fight

Ham’s personality twists into cruel mockery of her at the line ‘Where’s your father’ and OHO the facial expressions

Ophelia kept trying to hold onto Hamlet’s hand and body and curl her fingers around hamlet’s hand and it was very heartbreaking . Hamlet was a ball of chaotic energy who scrabbled her hands off himself. rlly interesting to watch

this turned around with hamlet scrubbing over her face as he presents her to the audience’s 4th wall for the make up lines. and shoves her down to the floor at the end

the physical manipulation hamlet takes out on ophelia is a super interesting segue to the players scene

2 b / x 2 b

ham sat in the middle of the front of the stage and held the hand of an audience member who he talked he speech to. very intimate and closed and really interesting interpretation

im a nerd so i really like the juxtaposition of such a grand and philosophical speech being told on such an intimate and small scale

Hamlet’s still got his smudged clown makeup on

hamlet and horatio come across Very gay in the ‘something too much of this’ line. i vibe

hamlet decimated his friendship with R&G and i LOVED how Horatio held him and then forced him away to give him just a touch more character. this Ht loved R&G as well and i appreciate the bit of character we all try to give horatio

Horatio’s Emotions over R&G’s impending death is a++ give this man some emotional range

OH the ‘if your mind dislike anything, obey it’ can we PLEASE listen to horatio the lone voice of reason within elsinor’s halls

that’s not me being gay, that’s a legit analysis of Hamlet in that everyone in Elsinor has a twisted sense of reality and morality and Horatio as an outsider is immune and must watch in horror

the argument is flawed with R&G but hey it’s not my theory.

THE TRUMPETS . there’s live trumpets

the music they played to signal the half time of the play was wonderfully dissonant and i VIBE WITH THAT that is the ENERGY of Elsinor right there

honestly im annoying and i don’t particularly care for the play scene as an audience member. like academically the play within a play is rife with analysis but like. to just sit and watch it feels like such a halt in the energy

plus i really dislike it when they use gross physical comedy in the dumb-show because again. im annoying

anyway they only do the dumb-show (more tollerable than a lot) and they use drum beats and purcussion in place of lines, and have hamlet explain what’s going on with his lines. it’s certainly different and its a lot quicker than the text is

This Claudius is Prime Smarmy Politicians and is very indignant as he tries to pray and i REALLY LIKE HIM

The scene transitions are .. non existent in this play and i LIKE IT

the lines follow on immediately between scenes as the other characters are leaving the stage

i love how it supports the theme of acting this play has and how it breaks down the barrier for the audience of personal vs private

thats not quite what i want to say uhhhhh. in other productions some of the scenes are really discreet from each other- like how pearl necklaces have stoppers between the pearls- and that’s especially evident in films, but here it’s the opposite and the scenes bleed into each other to create a really fast paced and chaotic energy and i REALLY LIKE IT

‘personal vs private’ is on god my favourite theme in hamlet and the way it works with the audience creating it here is GREAT

Closet scene... OH BOY

this hamlet is CRUEL oml

the ghost enters after hamlet spends 3 minutes berating his mother and she’s crying on the floor by the audience and hamlet immediately stops and starts weeping

‘oh save me’ sounds so small and childlike and it really showcases the love between them

not that kind of love, sigmund fucking freud. get your mind out the gutter

the disdain hamlet has for gertrude absolutely breaks my heart but that’s a me thing because i haven’t been able to see my mother in person for coming up on a month due to quarantine :(

added an extra hug before ham leaves .. v sweet

Claudius comes barreling in and picks up ham’s dropped sword. :eye emoji: doesn’t put it down until Hamlet’s brought in for questioning. but he’s still holding a book (english dictionary presumably?) and this act of holding a sword for 2 scenes WILL be reiterated time and time again in ever hamlet essay i write forever to whatever end i so desire because it’s easy to manipulate to my own purposes. bless this moment

There’s a seagull that keeps interrupting claudius at perhaps the funniest possible moments in his soliloquies and honestly WHERE is it’s Olivier

Ophelia’s madness isn’t as explicit as it is in other versions, but watching her tumble into emotions and lack of restraint is so, so heartbreaking.

this is one of the productions of hamlet that makes a really convincing case for ‘madness’ in elsinor being synonymous to speaking one’s mind and being truthful about one’s heightened emotions and like. i Love that interpretation

lets be real i love 99% of hamlet interpretations

the 1% is freud. fuck that guy

I’m Digging the parallel of Ophelia’s emotional outburts of grief (in madness) to Laertes incensed outburst of grief . ohoho

Laertes gets rosemary and pansies, Claudius gets fennel and columbines, Gertrude gets the rue, Audience member gets the daisy and the thought of violets

unfortunately i once wrote a shite poem about gertrude and weather she know of the poison in the cup at the end and unfortunately that’s all i can think about for the last 40 mins of the play hfdhgjgghjhgj

im annoying so i read along with the play and the duets Claudius and Laertes make of the meter and the word formatting on the page comes across really different on stage, which is super interesting.

not to be really fucking dramatic but i read in the info packet of this play that the pillars on the stage are actually tree trunks carved and painted to look like marble and considering how many times i had to hear the words ‘appearance vs reality’ in my english class, i think im allowed to use the smirk emoji about how the setting of the globe is Integral to Hamlet as a play

i am itching to write an entire 4000 word tirade about the use of the physical body in hamlet because between the actual acting on stage, polonius, ‘one auspicious and one dropping eye’ and all whole host of references made to physical body parts i am going feral

PLUS this one incorporates sign language

i actually hate the word incorporates but needs must

The Ophelia’s death speech is of course wonderful, but i can’t stop thinking about how John Everett Millais made his model (who’s name escapes me in a terrible irony because i got this information from an exhibition about the female pre-raphalites) sit in a cold bath for hours on end whilst he sketched and it made her very ill because the fire went out and she was sat nude in a bath of cold water for hours.

Gravedigger only has the songs and the hamlet interaction, and he wears a high vis jacket. he’s also played by the ghost’s actor, which whilst understandable in such a small cast, amuses me greatly

Hamlet’s got his hair tied back and in a military style jacket, and marches around with Horatio who’s in a hoodie and a black duffle coat (absolutely a student) and the same tight plait. Ham’s definitely meant to be sane now, he speaks very brusquely and all but marches around the stage

Not To Make An Edelgard Reference But edelgard’s cause in 3H was also cemented by a timeskip and a military outfit and a brusque personality hehehe

Hamlet gets into the ‘grave’ to chat to Yorick which, again, i will use in every relevant essay i will write and manipulate this scene to whatever end i desire and on god i thank this production for this

a level me would have gone feral

current me is also going feral

Grave Scene: a terrible one for your family to walk in and ask what the fuck you’re watching

Polonius’ actor plays the priest. yes, capsule wardrobe of a cast, i know but i’m an english student it’s my duty to wring every irrational inch of analysis out of this thing

i won’t trail on about unsubstaniated interpretations of Polonius’ parenting skills and fate in Hamlet but on god i will find an essay about it

i always enjoy it when someone leaps in the grave .. the melodrama... the meaning... the liminal spaces...

the DRAMA of seperating feral laertes and the really calm and imposing hamlet is excellent and a bit hilarious and the camera is going nuts

i’m very aware that everyone is now traipsing about over the grave in the middle of the stage and THAT’S a fun dynamic you don’t get from film or text

ok I’ve just noticed the video has the ‘top chat replay’ going and the very first line i saw is ‘what if hamlet had tiktok’ and i am CRYING

Ophelia’s actor also plays Osric and is a) absolutely hilarious and b) again, capsule wardrobe of a cast will not stop me from analysing everything and anything this play may or may not offer me.

im not saying hamlet is a play about inheritance and the burden of it, but also... isn’t it :eye emoji:

if bloody fire emblem fates can do it so can i, step off

Fencing scene: oh thank god it’s nearly over

The hearts on their fencing get ups parallel Hamlet’s clown outfit with a heart on the sleeve Very Nicely

Gertrude isn’t wearing her headpiece anymore .. ohoho dispelling the trappings and suits of dishonesty, if you will

The duel is a) bloody terrifying because sword fighting and b) judged by Osric (Ophelia) and the poetry of having ham & lae’s duel waged over and judged by Ophelia is absolutely excellent

Claudius’s aside (or to laertes? camera didn’t follow) had no right to be as humorous as it was jdfsghfkd

Gertrude figured out it was poison in this one. Nice

I like the call and response effect of ‘Treachery! Seek it out! / It is here Hamlet’ they made with Hamlet running around they stage to find little propped up Laertes

The dramatic eye contact of Hamlet and Claudius as he forces him to drink the poison.... OH HECK YES

the way they sink to the floor in a pair, with hamlet crawling over his body to make sure he dies... oh LORD

the swing hamlet does with his arm to the audience to cast them as ‘the unsatisfied’ was EXCELLENT and i would like that in every production of hamlet please

the tussle of horatio and hamlet over the cup..... iconic.... and i enjoy the parallel of that to hamlet with claudius as they’re stood in the same corner

The harsh projection of Hamlet’s voice and the blunt manner of his words about Fortinbras’ inheritance of denmark against the soft way Horatio rocks Hamlet back and forth ... i want to CRY

Horatio got to have emotional range in this production .. wonderful

i always enjoy the way the play tails off with politics in a room of dead bodies.. the layers the absolute onions

how none of the drama within the castle has any meaning to anyone outside of it is Excellent

and then the way the prison and enclosure of elsinor is finally broken with military force in parallel to the tumultuous interpersonal relationships within it... i vibe yet more

they actually ended with ‘go bid the soldiers shoot’ which i enjoy a lot!!!! and the music is wonderful

then they all start doing this dance which i think is meant to be about the themes of the play and to be perfectly honest it’s a bit crunchy for me but the music absolutely slaps!!!

final thoughts:

that sure was a hamlet production and i thought it had a lot of heart and did some new things very very well!!!

and i loved the emphasis they put on the costuming!!!!

overall: a solid hamlet. very nice. i greatly enjoyed it!!!!

#hamlet blogging #OH BOY THIS IS LONG THIS IS SO LONG

9 notes · View notes

he-x-x · 4 years

Text

❌(!!! TRIGGER WARNING: EXTREMELY SENSITIVE CONTENT IN VIDAR’S FIRST KILL DESCRIPTION!!!!!)❌

❌(TRIGGERS: Drugging, Seizures, Binding against will, Hinted *ape)

Full name: Vidar Nystuen Evenstad

Age: 25

Sexuality: Bisexual

Birthday: November 1st 1995

Place of Birth: Tromsø, Norway

Family: Veronika Alrid Evenstad (Mother, deceased) Ståle Myklebust Evenstad (Father, missing)

Height: 7’2”

Weight: 238lbs

Body type: Nicely Toned, not heavily built

Eye color: Blue

Hair color: Brunette

Personality: Vidar is distant with almost everyone in his life. He lacks social skills and proper emotion management to take part in normal discussions. Despite his lack of participation in group discussions, he is an amazing listener. He will ask “Do you want advice or do you just want to vent?” or “Do you want to talk about it or be distracted from it?” He will sit and listen to anyone for hours on end. He is also quite protective of those he cares about, the entire Gradient gang, and Micah...especially Micah. He has a fear of hurting Micah since she is so small compared to him. He also has a hard time holding small animals, it gives him so much anxiety. He can be a huge smartass, as well. When it comes to Ivy, he is the calmer of the two when they argue. There isn’t an insult Ivy can say that he doesn’t already think of himself.

Likes: Fried Salmon, Northern lights, Micah, Camping, Hot springs, Kids (not in a creepy way! He wants to be a dad one day, he’s just scared to ask Micah ;-;) Playing the Violin.

Dislikes: Grape soda (All of my characters will dislike this because it’s the bane of my existence) Mosquitoes, Spiders, Sand

Childhood: Vidar was an only child, he was heavily spoiled and was sent to a private school for most of elementary school. He knew why he was being spoiled, he’s overheard his mother and father talking more than once. His mother had been suffering from Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, her lungs were failing and have been since Vidar was born. His mother died by the time he was 10, he was more upset by the fact that he didn’t cry. His father fell into a deep hole of drinking away his sorrows, though he never got violent with Vidar, just cried at the kitchen table.

Teenage: When Vidar was 13, him and his father moved to America. It was an extremely difficult change, with having to leave friends, family and learning English. English took him a year and a half to somewhat perfect, though his accent was still hard for some to understand. He was put onto the football team for his height in Freshman year, and had Ivy and Micah to cheer him on. Vidar and Micah officially started dating, the summer before senior year.

Fondest Memory: Asking Micah to Prom and Senior ball

Favorite color: Light green

Weapon of choice: Butterfly knife

First Kill Description: Vidar never wanted his father to meet Micah, because of the acts he’s been up to. He would come home with a different woman in his arms every other night, thinking Vidar didn’t know. Once night, he had overheard the woman say “Who are you? Stop!” He could hear her cry for him to stop and to get off of her, until it quickly turned to mindless gurgles. Vidar busted into the room, horrified at the sight. His father had this woman bound at the wrists and ankles, so tight that it was causing rope burns on the skin. The woman had tears running down her face, and was seizing. Vidar forced his father off of the woman, the man he looked at was no longer the man he called his dad. Vidar kicked his fathers face in, and bashed it on the wall until it no longer resembled a face, just a pile of flesh and blood. He looked back towards the bed and checked the woman’s pulse. There was still a beat. . .he ran her to his neighbors who called 911. Vidar had ran to the person he knew he could trust. He ran to Micah’s apartment, blood stained hands and clothing, tears flooding his eyes and streaming down his face. “I saved her. . .” was all he could muster out before the adrenaline wore off and he realized the event that happened.

Pet(s): None

#slasher oc #Yes Micah took him in she didn’t turn him away #Micah’s bio is coming next #Trigger warnings for protection

2 notes · View notes

strawhime · 5 years

Text

[Disclaimer: There is foul language in this story. But other than that, this is pretty mild. <3 Like it says up in the picture. This isn’t my storyline. It’s actually a friend of mine and she gave me permission to rewrite her work~ You can find her on Tumblr and read the original story if you want <3 Thank you and I hope you enjoy it!]

I never really had any friends growing up. I was always a shy, quiet nerd in school. I only started to make friends when I got to middle school. Some of the kids at the school would bully me. One time, during lunch, two girls came up to me and started pushing me. One of them even poured a bucket of dirty water on me. I wanted to cry. Hearing them laugh at me, while I stood there. I only stopped when I heard another girl start talking, “You think this is funny? Are you not tired of picking on others?” I heard the voice say.

There was silence before I heard the stranger scoff, “Nothing to say? Typical.”

Not soon after she spoke those words, I felt hands on my soaking shoulders, and I was quickly guided out of the cafeteria. we finally stopped walking once we were in the bathroom. I slowly looked up to see who this mysterious person was. My eyes wide as I was met with a soft smile and a napkin.

“Sorry I didn’t jump in earlier. Lunch and I are in a committed relationship, food before anything else.“ She nodded seriously. Face stern before she broke out into a huge grin. It was infectious. I could feel a smile form and I started laughing at her lunch comment.

“It’s fine. Understandable… You didn’t have to help me. I could’ve handled it…” I quietly responded. She shrugged, reaching to grab more napkins to help wipe off the water.

“I didn’t. But I wanted to. Plus, I need to do one good deed once a month, so my chances of going to hell is a lot smaller.” Her jokes weren’t that funny, but I couldn’t help but chuckle at her words.

“Ah, I see… Thank you. For helping. I’m y/n.” I put my hand out towards the other for a handshake. Smile bright as she takes my hand, giving it a small shake. “Bri~”

From that they on, we’ve been best friends. It wasn’t long after that when I met Wendy and Yuta. Both were friends with Bri. They were just as nice as she was. Always looking out for each other. And to be able to call them my friends, was amazing. We were inseparable. Always going to each other’s house after school or going on trips during school breaks. We even worked hard to get accepted into the same college.

Even though we were in college, I was still one of the nerds in school. I always had my head buried in my books. Studying day and night to get the best grades. I would hide in the school library to finish my work, study, or try to read the book I’m currently obsessed with now. Since we were college freshmen, my friends always made it a point to try and get me to socialize more.

“Amazing that you can still hold your head up from all the constant studying. Big brain hours.” Bri teased as she finally stopped scrolling through her phone.

“…What?” I squinted at her, “Speak English.”

“Big brain hours. Cause you got a big brai—” She was quickly cut off by Yuta.

“No one accepts your stupid lingos, Bri.” He rolled his eyes at the whines of protest. “But! Bri isn’t wrong. You do study a lot. Why don’t you take a break?” I know they were concerned. Their expressions genuinely concerned about my lack of social skills, save for Bri. She constantly always looks confused.

“I can’t. If I take a break, I won’t be able to pass any of my exams coming up…”

“Oh my god! It’s just a small break. You don’t even have to do it often. Just every so often.” Wendy chimed in, “You’re already smart~ You’ll be fine~”

Yuta nodded in agreement, “Just come get coffee with us at least!”

“Ok! Ok!” I’ll go get coffee…” I sighed loudly. “You guys are relentless.”

“Bitch—We literally stayed over last night to study.” Bri made a noise of disbelief before she earned a slap to the head by Wendy.

“Stop complaining. You’re the number one person who needs study sessions because apparently, you’re too busy staring at that guy in your hist—”

“We do not speak of that! Stop! Zip it! I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re crazy—” We all stared at Bri as her face turned red from embarrassment, shaking our heads as we watch her make excuse after excuse. Wendy had to slap a hand over the other’s mouth to shut Bri up.

“Shut up, idiot. I was just teasing. But now I’m thinking otherwise but we can ignore this for now. Because y/n said she’s willing to get coffee with us~!” Wendy grinned as she happily grabbed her stuff and started to skip towards the direction of the coffee shop. Followed by a red-faced Bri, who was grumbling to herself about what horrible friends she has. I glanced at Yuta, who only sighed and shook his head.

“We’ve truly been blessed with such a friendship, huh y/n?” I couldn’t help but giggle before trying to put a serious face and nod. But it only lasted for a split second before we started laughing hysterically. Getting up with our things and quickly trying to catch up with the other two. Our laughter gets louder when we notice Bri pouting and rubbing at her head. Complaining that the slap to the head was uncalled for and that one of these days she’s seriously going to get brain damage. I shook my head with a smile. Glancing at all my friends. I’ve been blessed with such an amazing friendship.

We arrived at the coffee shop that was down the road from our campus. Taking a seat at the table in the back of the shop. Where it was a little quieter. We all had our drinks, talking about our classes or just anything that came to mind. I could feel my body relax, the stress leaving. It actually felt nice to take a break. The atmosphere calming… That is until I saw one of the girls who bullied me my whole life, Ashley. My body tensed when I saw her gaze. A small smirk forming on her lips as she made her way towards us.

Bri was the first to notice the sudden change in the mood. She looked at me, confused. Before she followed my gaze. Her expression turning serious when Ashley came up to the table.

“Can we help you?” Bri asked, voice clearly laced with annoyance.

Ashley smiled. She was clearly amused at the tone. “What could you possibly help me with? Especially since you hang out with a low life like her~”

“What is your problem? You’ve been a bitch to me ever since middle school. What have I ever done to you?” I could feel my anger start to boil, my fist slowly clenching.

“Are you going to play fucking dumb?” She crossed her arms with a brow raised.

I was starting to get annoyed, “I seriously don’t know!”

“You stole my boyfriend!” Ashley stomped her foot like a child. Now I was even more annoyed. “Jeffery!”

Before I could say anything to Ashley, Bri started coughing. Almost choking on her drink at Ashley’s words. I watched as she hit her chest a few times before taking a y/np breath, “The fuck?! You weren’t even dating him!”

Now that helped me relax. I bit my lip a little to stop me from laughing. Instead, I cleared my throat and leaned back in my seat. “He asked me out. How was I supposed to know that you liked him? It’s not my fault!”

“Well, it is your fault! He rejected me because he was with your ugly ass!” There was a gasp from the right of me. Most likely from Yuta. And I was right because he started to speak.

“That was in middle school! Why are you still hung up on it?” He asked, clearly upset at what she had just called me. But instead of an answer, Ashley knocks over my coffee. Spilling it all over me.

“Oops~ My bad~” She shrugs innocently and starts laughing as she walks away. I only stared down at the mess on my clothes.

“Just my fucking luck…” I muttered to myself as I pushed my seat out. Hearing the slight shuffling from my worried friends. “What a fucking mess…”

None of us noticed there was another person who was quietly watching the scene unfold. The stranger got up from his seat, grabbing a bunch of napkins and headed towards us.

“Hey, are you ok?” He asked kindly.

I huffed in annoyance, “Does it look like I’m ok—” I stopped mid-sentence when I looked up at the source of the voice. My heart skipped a beat as I stared at him. He was extremely gorgeous. Even if he was only just wearing a plain white t-shirt and jeans, his black hoodie draped over his arm. He made the outfit even more stunning.

My train of thought was cut off by Bri, “Um… She’s fine. Just a coffee spill…” She squinted suspiciously at the guy. “And who are you?”

The stranger smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck briefly. “Oh! Sorry. My name is Jaehyun. I was sitting right over there, and I saw what happened. I came over to offer some napkins and maybe my jacket to cover the big wet stain on her shirt.

“Nice to meet you, Jaehyun. This is y/n, Yuta, Wendy, and I’m Bri.” She gestured to each person as she introduced them. Noting that he never took his eyes off me. Only briefly to glance at my friends.

“It’s nice to meet you guys. Here y/n, take this.” He handed her the napkins and his hoodie.

I blushed slightly, slowly taking the items. “Thanks… You don’t have to.”

“I know but I don’t think it’d be fun for you to walk out of here with coffee all over you. You can always give back my jacket anytime. You go to the college right up the road from here, right?

Yuta pursed his lips for a bit, waiting to see if I would respond. But I didn’t have anything to say. I was mesmerized by how gorgeous this guy was.

“She does. We all do. Why? Do you also go there?” Yuta tilted his head slightly as he stared at the other male.

“Yeah, actually. I’m majoring in music.” Jaehyun smiled as he stood up straight, sliding his hands into his pockets. “I’ve actually seen you guys around the campus often. And I have math with y/n.”

My eyes widen in shock at his reply. ‘He’s in my math class? Why have I never noticed him?!’ I thought to myself. Clearly confused and shocked. “Really? Math?”

Jaehyun laughs softly. The back of his hand coming up to cover his mouth slightly. “Yeah, sorry I haven’t introduced myself sooner. But you’re usually focused on your work. So, I couldn’t really bother you.” He caught a glimpse of the time on his watch. “Ah, I have to get to my music class soon. I’ll see you in math.”

With that, he waved to all of us and left. Heading out of the shop and back towards the school. I was still shocked to know that we had the same math class. How could I not have noticed such a handsome guy? Well, I did hate math. So that could be why I never noticed. I also have Ashley in that class. So, I was always smart and kept my distance. Sitting far from her.

“Come on y/n, lets head back so you can wash up before your next class.” Yuta got up with Bri and Wendy, smiling.

“I mean, unless you wanna sit here and think about your knight in shining armor~” He cooed sweetly, only to start laughing when my face turned red and I reached out to slap him. Then towards the other two because they had also started to laugh.

“Shut up! I don’t even know him!” I huffed, slowly putting the hoodie on. “You guys are delusional!”

“Ah! We are not! You couldn’t even tear your eyes away from him~” Bri sighed dramatically. Her hands clasped together as she leaned against Yuta. Batting her lashes at him. “He even handed her his jacket~ That’s so domestically sweet~ I’m jealous~”

I groaned and rubbed my temples as they both attempted to pout cutely at me. ‘They’re fucking idiots. I swear’. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my stuff, leaving the three idiots laughing behind me.

“Wait for us!” I heard them yell as I smiled to myself as we all left the shop. Their teasing stopped once we made it to the school. Teasing turned into an argument between Wendy and Bri.

“Listen here, dumbass. You cannot drink peanut butter. It’s not possible! It spreads like butter! So that’s why it's peanut butter!” Wendy pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance.

“Aight. But have you actually tried to drink peanut butter?!”

“HAVE YOU!?”

Yuta and I both groaned in unison. Clearly, we had reached the part of the day where Bri’s brain cells (whatever left of it) stopped working properly. Because here we are. Listening to her and Wendy argue about why peanut butter isn't called a peanut smoothie. I quickly interrupted the argument to tell them that I was going to head back to my dorm to change and wash Jaehyun’s hoodie. Since I had about an hour or so until my next class. Yuta shouted protests of me leaving him with the two idiots. But I only waved and quickly made a break for my dorm. I was not going to stay around for the next dumb question that Bri decided she was curious about.

I got to my dorm and quickly went to go wash up, taking my clothes and the hoodie down to the laundry room to wash them. I sat there in the laundry room, waiting for the clothes. I couldn’t help but think about him. ‘why was he so nice to me?’ I sighed softly, rubbing my face to clear my head of these thoughts.

“He’s just nice. Don’t overthink it. It’s probably nothing.” I groaned once more, slouching in my seat. “I have math with him later. Oh god…”

I puffed out my cheeks as I stared up at the ceiling. “It’s fine. I’ll return his jacket and if he talks to me again. I’ll talk. That’s it.”

I patted my shoulder, a solid plan as the clothes finish. I grab them and head back to my room. I fold his hoodie and put it in a bag to give to him in class. I checked the time. Noticing that I should leave now so I won’t be late to class. I gathered my things and headed out to the class. Walking in, I saw him sitting by himself. I walked over to him and placed the bag, with his hoodie in it, down next to him.

“Thanks again for letting me borrow your jacket. I washed it so it doesn’t smell like coffee.” I smiled shyly.

“No problem…” He smiled back. I hesitated before turning on my heels to go to my seat. I stopped in my tracks when I felt him gently grab my hand. My cheeks started to heat up and I quickly turned my attention back to him.

He notices what he did and he’s quick to pull his hand away, ears turning red from such a bold move. “Ah! Um… Did you wanna sit with me?””

I bit my lip slightly, “Um… Su—” I was rudely interrupted by Ashley. She came in and shoved me to the side, taking the seat right next to Jaehyun.

“Excuse me. That’s my seat.” She gave me an innocent smile as she set her bag down. “Thanks~”

“Oh, y/n was gonna sit there…” Jaehyun looked at Ashley with a confused expression before he gazed back at me.

Ashley stared at me, her gaze piercing. Telling me to get the hint and get lost. I shook my head and smiled nervously, “N-no…~ It’s ok. I’ll just sit in my usual spot. It gives me a better view of the board.”

“See, Jae~ She’ll just sit in her usual spot~” I quickly made my way to my seat, pulling my books out and quickly burying my face into my arms until lectures started.

It was going to be the longest lecture of my life. Once I heard the teacher walk in, I sat up straight and got ready to take notes. I casually glanced around, the feeling of someone looking at me was bothering. My eyes stopped at Jaehyun, catching his gaze as he looked at me and smiled. My cheeks turned pink as I quickly went back to looking at the textbook in front of me. From time to time I would steal glances at me. And every time he would catch me and smile. I couldn’t help but smile back every time. I couldn’t believe I never noticed such a perfect person in my class before. At some point during the lecture, I could feel eyes on me again. I thought it was just Jaehyun but when I looked up, it was Ashley. Her eyes staring daggers into me. I quickly ignore her, looking down at my book. ‘Did she see me looking at Jaehyun? No… That can’t be it…’ I lightly shake my head from the thought. Pretending that nothing was wrong. I took more notes down and even wrote down the assignment before packing my stuff up and heading out of the class.

“Hey y/n…!” I stopped at the sound of Jaehyun’s voice. My eyebrows raised as I turn to look at him. “Where are you off to now?”

“I’m heading back to my room to get changed into my clothes for dance class…” I quietly answer him.

“Oh? Are you majoring in dance…?” He tilts his head as he asks, curiosity filling his eyes.

“Oh no! I just love dancing. I don’t have any classes right now, so I usually use this free time to either study or dance in the empty dance rooms downstairs.”

“That’s pretty cool. You mind if I j—” He was abruptly stopped when Ashley came by and linked her arm around his own. Pulling him along with her.

“Let’s go have lunch together, Jae~” She cooed at him, dragging him down the halls towards the cafeteria.

I puffed my cheeks out slightly before letting out a breath. Deciding on just making my way back to my room to change into more comfortable clothing for dance. It was much needed since I couldn’t study properly from everything that happened today.

I got to the studio in about an hour or so, setting my bag down and moving to the middle of the dance room to start on my stretches. As I sat there, stretching. My mind kept thinking about Jaehyun. I couldn’t get him off my mind since I first saw him at the Café. His smile made my heart beat quicker than usual. How sweet he was when he offered his jacket for me after the whole ordeal with Ashley… I frowned. Ashley. I can’t believe she would hold this stupid grudge over me. I didn’t know she liked Jeffrey. She never used to bother me in elementary school. Only until we reached middle school and I got asked out by Jeffrey. After that, she has been nothing but a tyrant to me.

I closed my eyes to take small y/np breaths, clearing my mind, then opening them to stare at myself in the reflection. I got up from my spot and walked over to the speakers. Playing the first song on my playlist. The beats started to pulse through the speakers, my head starting to bob along with the song as I slowly walked back to the center of the room. I stretched out my arms before I let the music completely take over my body. My movements were fluid but sharp as I danced along with the song.

Song after song, I would dance through them. Getting all my frustration and stress out. Helping in clearing my mind more. It has been a while since I danced. I was caught up with studying for the upcoming exams. The music was loud, my mind now lost in the music as I finally felt myself floating. As if everything around me had disappeared. Like no one else existed in this world but me.

After some time, I felt my body start to ache, the sweat dripping down my face as I use the sleeve of my shirt to wipe it off. I stopped, panting harshly from dancing for so long. I jumped at the sudden sound of clapping from behind me. My hand clutching my chest as I quickly turn towards the sound. It was Jaehyun, smiling brightly at me. ““Holy shit—!”

“Wow! That was pretty amazing, y/n~!”

“How long were you standing there? You scared me!” I pouted at him, causing the other to laugh.

“I didn’t mean to scare you! I wasn’t here long. I got here maybe… twenty minutes ago?” He looked at his watch and nodded in confirmation. “Yeah. Twenty minutes ago. But that was really good.”

“Oh… Um… Thanks…~” I smiled shyly as I quickly walked over to my bag, sitting down as I grabbed my water bottle to get a drink.

He followed me over, hesitant but sure enough he takes a seat in front of me. His legs crossed and he leans back on his hands. “How long have you been dancing? You’re pretty amazing.”

“Mm, since I was able to walk. My mom would tell me stories about how I would dance every time there was music playing and the only way to get me to stop, was to stop the music.” I chuckled, recalling the countless stories of how my mom would smile at her every time she would dance. It always made her happy.

He smiled gently, “That’s really cute.”

I couldn’t help but blush a little, smiling at the comment. As we sat there, we started talking about other things. It felt like hours had passed and I felt like I had learned so much about him. This was the first time I was so open about myself to anyone that wasn’t my 3 best friends. Jaehyun was genuinely interested in me. Someone who would listen to me. Make me feel like I was worth something. I was sad when we had to part ways. I had to head back to my room to wash up and get started on my assignments. We said our goodbyes and left.

I quickly made a beeline towards Bri’s dorm. I needed to talk to her. I didn’t know what I was feeling or what I should do. I was so scared of falling for someone so perfect. Especially if Ashley was involved. She would make my life 100 times worse than what it already is. I lightly knocked on my forehead. Trying to will the thought away as I finally made it to Bri’s. I hurriedly knocked on the door. ‘I know she’s there. She doesn’t have classes right now. And she’s usually asleep but this is an emergency!’ I kept knocking until I heard a loud thud followed by a string of curses and grumbling. I tapped my foot impatiently until the door swung open.

I was greeted by a sleepy Bri who was in the middle of rubbing her eye, frown on her face before she finally noticed it was me.

“y/n? Wha--?”

I push past her before she could finish her question. Dropping my bag on the floor as I dove straight onto her bed. I waited until I heard the door close and then the sound of her feet padding towards me and then I’m being shoved towards the wall, so Bri could climb back into bed.

“You better have a very good fucking reason for waking me up…” She grumbled, rubbing her face into the pillow.

I stared up at the ceiling of her room, smiling when I start thinking about Jaehyun again. About the conversation we had. Bri probably noticed that I wasn’t paying attention since there was a lack of response on my end. She turned her head to squint at me. Probably noticing that I was smiling like an idiot at this point. She propped her head on her hand.

“You smiling like that is probably the scariest thing I’ve ever witnessed… And that’s saying a lot. Cause I accidentally walked in on Yuta. Naked.” She shuddered at the thought.

I snap out of my thoughts and quickly turn on my side to look at her. “That’s haunting. Please don’t share that with me.”

“Fair enough. I won’t share it if you tell me what’s got you smiling like you’ve committed the perfect crime.”

I slapped her arm at that, eyes rolling when she whines and rubs the spot I hit. “It’s nothing.”

“What? Oh, fuck no—bitch you better fucking tell me what happened or I’m dragging your ass out of my room!”

“How rude! I thought we were friends!” I feigned hurt. Gripping my chest dramatically as if I was in pain.

“I can end this friendship as fast as I can end your life, y/n. Now tell me!”

“Fuck--! Fine! Jesus Christ… Why are you so mean?”

“Because if I was nice, the world would combust.”

I shake my head before giving up and telling her everything. That happened in the dance rooms earlier. How Jaehyun had shown up out of nowhere and they spent hours just talking about our interests and other things that came to mind. I could tell I was smiling a lot as I was speaking because Bri was staring at me. Her eyes were soft, and she could only laugh at my words.

“You totally like him. Don’t you.” It wasn’t a question, more of a statement from her.

I could feel my face heat up, “W-what?! No, I don’t! We were just talking! How did you come up with such a ridiculous thing!?”

“What a fucking liar! Look at you! You’re red as a tomato!”

“It’s not!” I quickly try to cover my face, trying to hide my red face.

“I’ve known you for years~ I know you like him~ Just admit it.”

I groaned loudly, rubbing at my face before a sudden idea came to me. “I’ll admit it if you admit you have a thing with that guy in your hi—”

“Y’all got some nerve tryna bring his dumb ass up! No. I do not like him. He’s an idiot—Like a giant idiot!”

“Oh, come on! That’s a total lie!” She quickly covered my mouth, squinting her eyes at me.

“I will end you. Last time I checked. This was about you. Not me. So, let us get back to you~” I waited till she pulled her hand away. Grinning at her.

“You like him. “

“…And you can now take your leave.”

“Ok! Ok! Ok! I’m sorry! I’ll let it go~”

“Thank you~”

“Until my crisis is over~!” I laughed at the glare I got from Bri. Her face made me double over in laughter.

“I have the worst taste in friends. Seriously.” She stretched out before hugging her pillow. “But what are you gonna do. Are you gonna tell him?

“Tell him? What? Why would I do that? I don’t even know if he likes me back!”

“You wouldn’t know until you tell him.”

“Forget it. It would be impossible. Ashley would kill me if she ever found out he was with me during free period.”

“Why do you let her run your life like this—”

“Can we just… Can we let it go? I just wanted to tell you what happened today.”

I watched as Bri pursed her lips in contemplation. She slowly nods, “Yeah. Ok. Fine. I just want to say. The way he stared at you at the coffee shop today… I could tell there was something more than him just being nice.”

I stayed quiet. Moving to lay on my back to stare at the ceiling as I thought about her words. ‘Does he really like me…? What’s the point… Ashley would really destroy me if I go near him again.’ There was long silence, my brows furrowed as I slowly glanced at Bri. Asleep. I shook my head with a soft smile at the sight of her sleeping.

“She really doesn’t let anything stop her from sleep.” I murmured to myself before I slowly got off the bed and head back to my room. “I’ll worry about all this tomorrow…”

The next morning, I woke up to a loud knock on my door. I groaned at the sudden loud knocking. Dragging myself out of bed and trudging over to the door, opening it rather quickly. Revealing Yuta and Wendy, with large grins on their faces. My face pales at the sight, “Oh no… She fucking told you—”

“Of course she did~ We knew you weren’t gonna do it. So she did the responsible friend thing and told us~!” Wendy happily sang as she strolled past me and made herself comfortable on my bed.

Yuta patted my head before following in. “Honestly you’re going through a crisis. And we’re here to help.”

“It’s not a crisis—”

“y/n~ It’s a crisis~ You definitely like the guy~ You should do something about it~”

“Wen! It’s not that easy!” I whined, huffing as I go to sit on the floor.

“Because of Ashley~? Forget her~ She’s just ugly and bitter~” Wendy responds, Yuta humming in agreement.

“For someone who’s that pretty, she has such an ugly personality.”

I sighed exasperatedly. Defeated. “You guys don’t have classes with her. She’d ruin me!”

“That’s what you said in middle school, but she stopped picking on you, right?”

“When you guys were around. You guys can’t protect me all the time. The moment you’re out of sight or where she’s a little gutsier, she’ll do something! The whole café thing was just a small taste of what she could do.”

There was a long pause before Wendy spoke up. Her tone was a lot calmer than usual. “You can’t be afraid of her forever. And really. From what Bri has told us, he sounds like he really cares about you. And you care about him too…~”

“Yeah, y/n. Think about it. We’re not trying to force you to do something you don’t want to do. But you light up when you talk about him.” Yuta leaned over to grip my hand gently, “You deserve happiness. Just remember that.”

I could feel the tears well up in my eyes, I quickly wipe at the tears that fall and laugh. “You guys really are the best. I’m so glad to have you guys…”

“And we’re glad to have you~” Wendy happily bounces on the bed, “Now we have another crisis~”

We all looked at each other, all of us smiling smugly with each other before we all spoke at the same time. “Bri~!”

We spent the rest of the morning talking about Bri and her obvious crush. Along with finding out about any upcoming events. After Wendy and Yuta left my room, I couldn’t help but think about all the advice they’ve given me. I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror and gave myself a pep talk. “Just tell him. Even if he doesn’t like you back. Maybe Ashley would leave me alone when she sees me get rejected?”

I sighed dejectedly, still staring at my reflection. “That’s stupid. I should just get ready for class.”

With that said, I make my way out and towards the library to meet up with my friends. I wasn’t feeling so well so I had to skip chemistry. But since I have that class with Bri, I could ask her for her notes and homework. I see them all in the front, talking and laughing. Yuta notices me first, smiling brightly and waving. “y/n!”

I slowly jog over to them, smiling. “Hey guys~ What’s up?”

“Thank god you’re here. Settle this for me. Can you drink strawberry jelly?” Bri asked, her hands making a gesture for me to agree with her.

“Um… I’m confused… Where did you even get that idea?” I respond, head tilting slightly.

“Because it’s made out of strawberry juice!” Bri yelled, hands flailing slightly.

Before I could speak, Wendy groans loudly. “That doesn’t mean you should drink strawberry jelly!! It’s technically a solid, idiot!”

“Fight me, Wendy! You don’t know that!”

“I don’t need to know when it’s a stupid idea~!”

“I will end you!”

“Do it, bitch~! I’m waiting~!” Wendy threw her arms up. “Come at me~!”

Yuta quickly pulled Bri back before she could pounce on Wendy, as I started laughing at the sight of Bri trying to swing at Wendy, Yuta struggling to hold her back, and Wendy making random faces at her. I wiped at the tears that started forming from all the laughing before I noticed something odd.

I cleared my throat to catch their attention. Crossing my arms over my chest as I waited for them to stop.

“What? What’s wrong?” Yuta asked curiously.

“Oh, nothing. Just… noticed…. Bri~ When did you get a new hoodie~?” I sang, watching as Bri’s eyes grew wide and her cheeks started to turn red.

“H-huh? Oh! Um! I just bought this—yeah! Like last week or something. I can’t remember…!” She stammered. She shoved her hands into the pockets of the hoodie.

As we stared at her, we noticed the hoodie to be a lot bigger than her other hoodies. She was practically swimming in it. “So, you’re saying it’s your hoodie? You bought it?”

“Yes—Why are you questioning me so much??? Can’t I buy a new hoodie??”

“Why’re you getting so worked up~?” Wendy sang, a smug grin on her face.

“I’m not! I’m just being interrogated. I’m out of here! I have a class to attend!” She flailed her arms before she quickly walked away.

We all started chuckling, shaking our heads as we watched her figure disappeared in the crowds of the campus. We all looked at each other like we did earlier that morning before we spoke in unison again. “Johnny~”

We all started cracking up laughing. Bri will kill us when she finds out we pretty much know. She would forever continue to deny it, even after death.

Yuta started to calm down, rubbing at his cheeks. “The funniest thing is that he’s my friend. And he hasn’t once shut up about her and how she’s very… Tsundere~”

“She’s gonna murder us. You know that, right?” I tried to calm my breathing, shaking my head.

“She will. But she wouldn’t really. She loves us too much.” Wendy and I both nodded in agreement.

We continued to talk a little more after we stopped laughing about the fact that Bri would ignore us for a week because of how embarrassed she got today. I checked the time and saw that it was almost time for math, and I excused myself from the group. Telling them that we’d meet at the cafeteria around lunchtime to eat together. As I walked down the halls towards math class, I didn’t notice Ashley was waiting for me.

“Hey, slut!” I jumped at the sudden insult. I looked up and saw Ashley there, smirking.

I clenched my fists as I saw her. “What did you just call me?!”

“Are you suddenly deaf? I said… HEY SLUT!!!”

“What is your problem? Why can’t you just get over the past already?!”

She scoffed, amused. “Oh, sweetie. No~ I’m not mad about that. I saw you hanging out with Jae at the dance studios yesterday~”

“What—” My jaw dropped, ‘she was there?’

“You think he likes you back? A loser? A nobody?”

“What makes you think I like him?!”

“Don’t try to lie to me~ I know you like him. But too bad you’re fucking delusional and think he likes you back~”

“Why is that hard to believe that he might actually like me? Huh? I mean Jeffery asked me out over you!”

“You’re fucking dead, bitch!” She then knocked my books out of my hands and shoved me against the wall. As I hit the wall, I ended up scraping my elbow and hurting my hand.

She towered over me, but I refuse to look up. I was praying that maybe one of my friends were around. Or someone who could help me. But that was impossible. It was like middle school all over again. I could hear the snickering of the students in the hall. I felt my eyes started to sting, tears welling up as I sat there.

“Don’t ever go near Jaehyun again. You stay away from him or else!” I didn’t respond, gripping at my arm. Feeling the pain from the push.

Ashley smiled triumphantly before she froze in her spot at the familiar but angry voice, “What is going on?”

“Oh! Jae—”

“You. What do you think you’re doing? Did you really think I would want to be with someone like you? When all you do is hurt other people because you think it’s fun?”

“N-No…!” Panic settled in her brain, watching as he pushed past Ashley.

I tried to get up slowly, not paying attention to her surroundings. Wanting to get my stuff and leave. I reach out to pick up my books, but before I could there’s someone else picking them up. “Ah… Thank you… But you don’t hav—”

I look up to see that it’s Jaehyun. ‘When did he get here?’ I thought to myself. He looked angry. He didn’t even say anything to me. He just quietly picked up my stuff. I never knew there was this side of him.

“Are you ok?” He softly asked, his expression slightly pained as I notice his gaze on where I’m holding my elbow.

“Yeah… Yeah, I’m fine…” I didn’t get a chance to hide the scrape before he wraps his arm around my shoulder and took me to the same practice room we were in yesterday. He sat me down on one of the chairs in the room.

“I’ll be right back, ok? Stay here.”

I nodded quietly and watched as he disappeared. Moments later he’s back with a first aid kit that they had stored in one of the instructor’s rooms. “Here. Let me see your elbow.”

“I’m fine, really.” I shift slightly in my seat, biting my lip just a little.

“No, you aren’t. Come on. I won’t hurt you.”

He then moved my hand to take a better look at my elbow. The scratch was a little more than what it started off as. It had gotten worse from me trying to hide my cut. I watched as he took out the saline and start to clean out any debris that had gotten into my wound. Then he takes out the disinfectant to properly clean the cut. My eyes widen when I see the disinfectant, I was never good with the stinging pain that comes from the disinfectant. I pulled my arm back suddenly, which scared him. He smiled softly and gently took my hand.

“I know it’ll sting. But trust me. We need to clean it properly or you’re gonna get a scar. I promise to make it quick and make sure it stings less. Ok?”

I stared at him skeptically before slowly relaxing and nodding my head. I clenched my eyes shut as he put the medicine on my cut. He noticed my face scrunch up and he gently started to blow on it to dry the medicine a lot faster and lessen the pain. I peeked an eye open to glance at him, noticing the pain was subsiding and I slowly relaxed once again.

“Do you do this often?”

“Oh. Mm, yeah. My friends get hurt all the time when we have showcases for our classes. So I learned a few of the basics for first aid.” He smiled as he placed the band-aid onto your wound. “There we go. All done~”

“Oh—Thank you… Again.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Um… Did you hear… Everything?”

“Heard what? The conversation that Ashley had with you?”

“…Yeah…”

“Did you not want me to hear it?”

“…That depends… Does it explain why you helped me back there?”

He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his neck nervously. “Well… That’s because... I got tired of seeing someone I love get hurt.”

I lift my head up to look at him in disbelief. “I’m sorry…?”

“Ah… I got tired of seeing Ashley do such horrible things to you. And after the first day, I got the courage to walk up to you and talk to you. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I used to get so frustrated, every time I tried to get close to you, she was right there. Yesterday when we talked in the practice room, it felt great. It was amazing to finally meet someone who I can just talk to and who would listen to me. You like me for me. And not just because of my looks.”

“O-Oh… I see…” I smiled shyly at him, moving to tuck a lock of hair behind my ear. “I feel the same… I never met someone in my life who genuinely cared about my interests. Who actually listens to me, I’ve only had three people in my life who would do that. But it has been years since I’ve met someone who makes me smile as much as you do. My friends kept telling me to tell you how I felt. But… But I was afraid. I was afraid to tell you because of Ashley…”

We were silent for a few minutes as we sat there in the studio. Then as I was about to get up, he came over to me and pulled me into a hug. I looked at him with confusion. Before I could question him, he had already leaned in to press his lips softly against mine. It was a quick press of the lips but it felt like a lifetime. My heart raced as I stared up at him.

“You don’t have to be afraid to tell me anything. Ever. I’ll always be here to listen to anything you have to say. And be with you for as long as you want me to.”

I smiled as he kept me in his arms, burying my face into his chest. I never felt these feelings before, and I wasn’t scared of them. He was like my music that I would put on full blast to make the world disappear but us.

19 notes · View notes

marshmalleaux-draws · 5 years

Photo

I never did post my self insert for My Hero Academia, did I? I was hoping to draw up a more complete and proper reference for her, but given that my mental and physical battery have been at about -37549% for the past 4 months or so, this is all I could manage to do. Still love to share as always, though~.

All her info under the cut (copied from a google doc I wrote not too long ago), cause I hate cluttering up people’s dash with super long posts.

Anyway, I hope you like her~ . ❄️

Name: Sierra Niall Nickname/s: Cici Hero name (?): Snowflake Quirk: Winter Warping Age: 23 Birthday: February 13 Zodiac Sign: Aquarius Blood type: ??? Height: 5'1" Weight: 118 lbs Likes: Marshmallows, lavender (the color, flower, and scent) Quirk and Abilities: Cici's quirk, Winter Warping, allows her to manipulate various aspects of winter, including ice, snow, and the temperature of the air around her. She mostly chooses to use her abilities defensively and for support rather than attack, but she does have a few offensive capabilities as well. Different ways she can use her quirk include: ❄️ Encasing herself in ice as a protective barrier, but this renders her immobile until the ice is broken, either by herself or by someone else. The ice can be close enough just to cover her body, or she can create a large block around her. ❄️ Coating certain parts of her body in ice, such as her hands or feet, so that when she punches or kicks, her attacks are reinforced. ❄️ Summoning spikes of ice to emerge from the ground, either as a barrier or an attack. ❄️ Creating snowflake shuriken (though this one often goes unused). ❄️ Healing open wounds (but not broken bones or internal injuries) using snow. She can do things like use her ice to keep a broken arm from moving, but she can't actually heal such an injury herself, just keep it under control until professional help is available. ❄️ Creating a heavy snowstorm in her immediate vicinity in order to cloak herself. She can see things outside the storm from within, but it's hard for others to see her in the blizzard. ❄️ Creating cushions of snow to break falls. ❄️ Crumbling solid ice into snow, and reforming snow into solid ice.

Drawbacks: ❄️ Since her quirk revolves around the cold, she is especially heat-sensitive. The hotter the air around her, the sleepier she becomes and the more brittle her ice becomes. Environments that are hot enough can cause her to fall asleep pretty much immediately, leaving her completely vulnerable. She also can’t use her own quirk to keep herself cool in those situations. ❄️ The strength of her abilities is tied to her emotions. Feelings of helplessness, sadness, fear, anxiety and the like cause her ice to become brittle, her snow less dense, and her healing less effective. Conversely, intense feelings of passion, contempt, determination and the like can strengthen her ice to near-unbreakable levels, and her healing far quicker and more effective.

Background: Cici has always been a girl of a kind, caring, and empathetic (albeit rather naive) disposition. She's intent on the idea of making sure all the people she meets are happy and safe, if it's within her power. Seeing others prosper is all she needs to feel content, and it goes to such an extent that she often fails to look out for herself. Even with her good intentions, however, she is plagued with severe anxiety and insecurity, which often keeps her from achieving many of the things she wants. In an attempt to combat this insecurity and fear, she enrolls in UA's hero course at the beginning of her high school years, hoping that being shoved outside her comfort zone will push her into being the best and most confident person she can be. While she's there, she meets and befriends Shouta Aizawa, who admires her willingness to push herself to be better. He still knows of her generally soft and sweet personality, and likes to tease her with the affectionate nickname "Snowflake." She takes a liking to him due to his constant (although not always immediately apparent) hardworking attitude, as well as his ability to be both blunt and honest, and understanding and gentle when needed. Unfortunately, not even a year in, her fear catches up to her, and she becomes overwhelmed by the sheer amount of conviction needed to be a hero that she clearly doesn't possess, even though she desperately wants to. Her insecurities get the better of her and, ashamed, she decides to drop out, opting to finish her high school education at a normal public school. She can't even bring herself to explain to Aizawa why she was leaving, and distances herself from him in fear of disappointing him. Years pass, and Cici has found herself a best friend (and later, roommate), Alia, who has done some hero work herself and also had went through UA’s hero course as a transfer student. Cici still isn't terribly confident in herself, but she still is happy to assist Alia in her work, opting to give herself an unofficial hero name as well - the name that her old friend gave her all those years ago, Snowflake. Cici and Alia learn of a reunion being held at their old school and decide to attend, and Cici is surprised to see Aizawa again. He immediately recognizes her, and his first thought after greeting her is to ask why she had disappeared all those years ago. Embarrassed, Cici confesses that she basically chickened out of the hero course, feeling that her own fear and lack of confidence far outweighed her ability to be a half-decent hero. After that, she felt so ashamed and afraid to disappoint Aizawa's expectations of her that she ceased contact with altogether. Aizawa is surprised, saying that she had just as much of a chance to do great things as anyone else, and reminds her of how he admired her desire to push herself to be better, just so she could help others be happy. Although still nervous, she's flattered and elated that he still thinks so highly of her, even though she didn't think enough of herself. It's a bittersweet reunion, but it doesn't end there - they start to reconnect, and in no time they're even closer than they were all those years ago. The two even decided to begin a romantic relationship and have been perfectly content since. These days, Cici still isn't confident enough in her own abilities to be a full-fledged hero, but she's found a happy middle ground of helping people the best way she feels she can - she decides to become a counselor for UA students, helping everyone that comes into her office with whatever troubles and concerns they may have. Her gentle and empathetic personality makes her easy to talk to for many of the students that come to see her, and nearly all of them leave feeling relieved and happy, which is all she wanted in the first place. Stats: Strength: 2/5 Speed: 2/5 Intelligence: 4/5 Technique: 3/5 Cooperativeness: 5/5 Trivia: ❄️ In the present day, she has become somewhat of an aunt to Shouto, since she's been best friends with his mother (in this AU), Alia, for many years. He's always happy to see his auntie and sometimes comes into her office just to take a breather from everyone.

❄️ She absolutely can not get enough of Deku. She would readily adopt him as her son if he didn't already have a pure and loving mother, and she spoils him and treats him better than probably any other student (aside from Shouto). More importantly, however, she actually looks up to him and is even jealous of him, because he's been able to do something that she's failed to do all of these years - he's constantly pushing himself further and further to be a better person and hero, no matter how scared or helpless he feels - and she has an immense amount of admiration and respect for him.

❄️ She understands why people see the potential in Bakugou, but she feels everyone beats around the bush too much and just wishes they would say it for what it is: yes, he's skilled, talented, and powerful, but he's an angry and insufferable prick who won't listen to anyone, ever, and that's pretty much the only thing keeping him from really being a great hero. She dreads seeing him come to her office for any reason whatsoever because he is just that incorrigible, and she enjoys getting back at him in subtle ways for being so pissy all the time (making the room colder when he visits, giving him a largely uncomfortable chair to sit on, etc.)

❄️ She has Tourette’s Syndrome (bc of course I gotta fucking shoehorn this in therekdhsjfk), albeit a rather mild case. Still, she worries that it might interfere with her quirk, since her insecurity and awareness of possible onlookers would certainly weaken the strength of her ice. She also worries that she’ll get mocked by the students or even other staff members (and sometimes is by a certain pissed off explosion boy), but that worry is generally subsided when the sweeter kids like Shouto and Deku are 100% understanding of it.

❄️ Sierra, similar her friend Alia, was an American exchange student. She moved to Japan for the express purpose of enrolling in UA, mixing her goals of heroism with her adoration for the culture and lifestyle of the country. Even after she dropped out, she still enjoyed her time there so much that she opted to continue living there and made it easier on herself by getting a place together with her friend.

❄️ She still goes by her English name, but I also wanted to stick with the theme of punny/fitting names for characters, so I gave her a Japanese alias as well: Seppen Shijinko. Her first name 雪片 (seppen) means “snowflake,” and her last name 詩人子 (shijin-ko) means “child of a poet.” ...Okay, really only the first name is punny/fitting, but her last name is one that I’ve been using for a long time that not only has its own background/story, but also ties in with her English surname (Niall), so that would take way too much explanation sdfgfdh.

#flat color #self insert #character reference #my hero academia #my art

5 notes · View notes

cowboylovins101 · 5 years

Text

CHARLES AND SHY NATIVE READER

Headcanons

Warnings: I am African American, not native so I skipped anything to do with traditions for fear of butchering anything so I'll just put that here. People can feel free to correct anything as long as you approach it politely!!!

Tags: @i-am-craving-kittens

Yes! As much as I love the iconic sassy and confident reader I do love writing the shy ones in particular, all blushy and cute! I hope this satisfies that thirsty itch for Charles fluff!!! 😊😊😊

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

-I headcanon that Charles isn’t one to put all his focus on someones background, not that he doesn’t care, or feels his own has not shaped him, but when it comes to partners (prospective and current) it’s not what he looks for first. However, Charles definitely feels a kind of camaraderie with another camp member with Native origins.

-In terms of personality and skill, the first thing he notices is your lack of English prowess. He thinks that’s why your shy too, because of difficulty communicating some things. He realizes quickly that you are just shy in general and suddenly he feels the needs to keep you secure. Seeing you quietly putter around camp and help everyone without even speaking English fully, he must protecc.

-Being a shy outlaw is hard to do though (hell being a minority in those times is hard enough) and the more he learns of your quiet nature the more he strives to help you out and protect you. Doing little things for you, helping you perfect your English as you learn new words and phrases, being patient with you as you either struggle to find the right word, or your shyness overtakes you (he finds the latter of those things very very cute).

-Because you don’t know/are still learning how to speak English, he and you get used to a kind of nonverbal communication. He’s very perceptive as is, but when it comes to you he reads you like a book. This comes in handy with your shyness too, like if a situation makes you uncomfortable, or you’re too flustered for words. He understands what you need (It brings you closer together wink wink).

-When he starts to notice that Micah has taken a liking to you he is very alarmed and very aware. At first he’ll keep a close eye on things, not really knowing you and certainly not wanting to make it awkward by hovering, but as your relationship progresses he has no qualms in stepping in. I headcanon when it comes to you he can get very angry when people pick on you, or target you for various things. It’s difficult for you to speak up, but not him.

-Loves your food. Like goodbye Pearson because Charles is now addicted to your cooking. Especially loves watching you cook, all focused and quiet as you strive to make something delicious for the camp to enjoy. Loves to sneak behind you and wrap his arms around your waist, even if all is does is let him see that cute blush you get.

-He loves that you can sew well too, especially being able to sew pelts and skins into clothes and items of need. Always gives his newly acquired pelts to you, yes even the rare ones. He trusts in your skills to be able to make something useful without wasting or ruining the pelt, and often gets excited to see what you could create with various colored furs.

-When you two finally get together, hot damn that shyness of yours will be tested. Like Charles is a huge tease, and he loves to get you all flustered with affection and gifts, because the tint to your cheeks, the averted gaze, and twiddling fingers makes his heart so full to see. That’s part of the reason he gives all those pelts to you because he sees how excited and happy you get, and when you try to thank him but you can’t form the words cause gosh he’s so handsome and nice to you, ugh his heart.

-Overall, the sweetest of sweetest boys to you. Like you grow on him so fast, and he falls hard. You two are a great match, sitting in comfortable silence, cuddling it up (I wanna cuddle Charles!!), and just...fitting together. And if Micah even thinks about touching you in an inappropriate manner, Charles will not hesitate to cut a bitch.

#charles smith #charles smith imagine #charles smith x reader #writing #rdr2 #rdr

71 notes · View notes

nanigma · 5 years

Text

Leon Fanbook Translation: Special Interview

Link to the Takumi Fanbook

Introduction

Profile

Famous Lines

Relationships

Leon&Kamui + Words of Love

Daily Routine + Cooking Showdown

Fashion Check

Dream Change

Only two more updates to go. It’s hard to believe that I am almost finished with this. And it didn’t take me half as long as I feared to translate this. Probably because of a distinct lack of Odin speech..

Meanwhile I’ve finally gotten another part-time job, so that’s helped me feel better about my situation and I can focus on this project more than I did before. It’ll be a while before my first payment, so it would still be really nice if you could help me out a little until then. Here’s a link to my Ko-fi account. Thank you to the generous people who have helped me so far!

- All the photos on this post were taken by the lovely @zaziki7

My comments are in italics

I’ll be using Japanese names

Pages 36-37

Special Interview/ Leon

An interview sprung on the younger prince of Nohr! Listen to what this one young man keeps inside his heart!

Anna: Good day to you, fans of Leon!! I am Anna, the traveling merchant! Today we've successfully gotten a hold of a Prince Leon from right after the conclusion of the „Invisible Kingdom“ Arc, and will now confront him with some rapid fire questions!! (In English) Don't miss it!!

Topic 1 – About being Nohrian Royalty

Anna: Prince Leon, thank you for your time. It must be tough being recognized by everyone every single day. You do have a lot of fans after all.

Leon: A member of the Nohrian royal family must never embarass themselves, be firm of mind, and always remember to present themselves with grace. However, I sometimes end up wearing my clothes inside out for some reason. I really should be more careful... By the way, have we met somewhere before... ?

Topic 2 – About Kamui

Anna: So, what do you think of Kamui precisely? Also, if Kamui were below you in age, would you rather have them as a younger brother or sister?

Leon: They do have their talents, but I guess no matter how old they get, they are so unreliable it always makes me want to help them out. It seems I just can't leave them on their own. As for if Kamui were younger than me, I'd prefer to have them as a younger sister. A younger brother would likely mean more competition, you see.

Topic 3 – About his siblings

Anna: I see... So you would prefer another little sister. Well, how do you feel about your older brother and sister?

Leon: In many ways, Marx is the strongest man in Nohr. It shows in how he embodies the ideal of the Nohrian crown prince, his skill with the sword... how as an older brother, he shows a special kindness only to his siblings. However, there are ways in which he can be just too stubborn. Although we are currently amicable with each other, his unbending nature has caused us to quarrel in the past, to the point he even hit me once.

This refers to the Drama CDs

Anna: Ehh! Prince Marx might have just made himself the enemy of 50 million Leon fans around the whole world.

Leon: As you may know, in the whole kingdom of Nohr, Camilla's beauty and the depth of her affection is unmatched. The way she coldly dispatches of her enemies is also more than befitting of Nohrian royalty. Although it seems she doesn't pay much attention, she has actually been focusing on me quite a bit... Her offer to share a bath has been troubling for me though.

Leon, your siscon tendencies are showing.

Anna: Mhm mhm... //Taking a bath with Camilla... Now that's some good material.// So how about your younger sister, Elise?

Leon: I'll just say this here, but I feel like she's a great help in a lot different ways. This isn't just me, all of us siblings have come to truly rely on her. I just wish she would stop tackling me with all her strength whenever we met. *laughs* I also want her to stop drumming her fists against my back so relentlessly. It actually hurts a lot...

Topic 4 – About parent-child relations

Anna: You won't like this question, but what about your father, King Garon, and also... your mother?

Leon: My father used to be a kind man. I still remember him keeping me company during study time or letting me ride on his shoulders. Having him pat my head with his huge hand is something I used to love. He may have become an entirely different person since that incident in the past, but I would still like to meet and be able to talk to the father from my childhood just one more time.

Tagging @agoddamn here because we’ve recently discussed the extent of Leon’s memorys of the real Garon. Still a bit vague, but it seems he already had an education/training (the kanji could mean both) going before Garon died, though with his mom being so ambitious he may have started quite young still.

Leon: As far as my mother is concerned, I don't have any special memories. That woman only ever thought of me as a tool that would bind her to the king, so I couldn't bring myself to love her either. … Is that enough?

Anna: Th- Thank you. A- Anyway, your son also seems to be rather... how to put this? Quirky... //Oh jeez! I brough up another topic he hates!!//

Leon: This is about Foleo, I see. At first I also mistook his intentions, but it turns out he is simply sticking to his own personal aesthetic. Just knowing about his convictions, I can honestly say I'm fine with it. Someday though he'll have to make a decision regarding the calling passed down through his blood, what it means to be Nohrian royalty at it’s core. … When the time comes, I hope his courage will help him make the right choice.

Not sure I like how “mistook his intentions” is phrased... What other intentions could Foleo have had that wouldn’t have been okay in Leon’s eyes?

Topic 5- About himself

Anna: What do you think about being called cold-blooded? If you could give your own estimation of yourself, what would it be?

Leon: Although I'm not about to point out specific things I like about myself, I can say that I do have confidence in myself. Otherwise I wouldn't be fit to be royalty. That means even when I am sometimes insecure, I at least have to seem confident. My flaws are in those areas I don't have sufficent knowledge of. It's not that I ever neglect my studies, but I am fully aware it's still not entirely good enough.

Topic 6 – About taste in women

Anna: I am pretty sure I am asking this in the name of all your female fans, but could you share what you like in a girl? Let's give an example! You like, say, the open-minded type, or...

Leon: Well, I have never experienced a mother's love. But when it comes to choosing a partner, it's wrong to say I only long for someone to give me the love my mother never did, so I want to name a another criteria. Let's see, I'd say I like strength, but I mean that as being intelligent. Not just someone who is well-studied, but one who doesn't let their guard down around an enemy, who is able to accurately assess any given situation. That's the kind of intelligence I like.

SPECIAL GUEST TAKUMI

Takumi: Huh, it's strange seeing you two together.

Anna: Ah, it's the Prince who loves the Southern Islands! … Er, rather the Prince of Hoshido, Lord Takumi!

Leon: Prince Takumi? I thought you were staying in the southern islands right now.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I think this is the first time (or one of the few times) Leon has used the ending zo (ぞ) to a sentence in Japanese. Usually his style of speech is already pretty casual and „boyish“ in the anime-sense (it doesn't work exactly like that in real life), with him ending many sentences in „da“ (だ). It's makes it sound a bit harder.. ぞ can be seen as a step up in that, really „decisive“ sounding. It's something you would only use with friends or people of lower social standing, but we can guess which one he means here.~

Takumi: …? What are you two on about?

Leon: Speaking of, thank you for sending me that miso supply the other day. I am grateful for it.

Anna: Lord Leon actually ended up cooking the soup for himself. Suprisingly though...

Leon: That's right. I understand what I like best after all. This time I decided to try putting some tomatoes in it.

Takumi: T- Tomatoes!? You put tomatoes in miso soup!? Please stop joking. This is why you are Nohr's tomato prince...

Leon: Who are you calling tomato prince!? I think it's terrible how you Hoshidans always cling to your old traditions.

Anna: Uh.. Haha. Looks like I got between them~!

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

Again, sorry for the small images in places. I have tried finding a fix for it, but no luck. At least it’s not most pictures again like last time. Anyway, hope you enjoyed.

The next update will include all the poll results, and as you could see with the Takumi translation... that’s huge. I overestimated how long it would take me this time, but I can safely say the next one will be a long one. Hope you look forward to it.

#nanigma translates #fire emblem fates #fe14 #leon #leo #fire emblem leon #fire emblem leo #fanbook

48 notes · View notes