#by them which is why we ended up on the mostly black and white colour palette as for the actual meaning of this

[cucumberteapot]

Spider-man Villains and Hands

If you're paying attention you'll notice often times in Spiderverse that villains are far less expressive with their hands than the heroes. That is unless it's to attack.

Kingpin clicks his pen to relieve rage he's only barely controlling and in Peter Parker's death scene, the only time we see his hands is to kill him.

With Doc Ock, we see her doing a lot of excited gesturing with her hands (pushing up her glasses, studying Peter, etc.).

But after her reveal, it's her tentacles that does most of the talking.

Moving on to ATSV, when we first meet Spot, he's experimenting with his Spots with (you guesses it!) his hands and it's a lot of trial and error. It's also a lot of slap-stick comedy in his first fight with Miles managing to take him out briefly by making him punch himself in the face.

However as he becomes more confident with his powers, we see him use his hands less and less to the point he doesn't need to use a spot to teleport between dimensions. Instead of attacking them, Spot starts fighting by letting the heroes attack him.

And by the end of the film, his mere presence has become such a threat to Miles that all he has to do to invoke fear is stand still. This is why after his colour scheme has been completely inverted, he doesn't fight or do anything with his hands anymore and it's why our last focus on his hands is when he watches it completely turn from white to black.

When we first get a good look at Miguel, we get a close-up of his claws before panning up to his watch. Firstly this shows us how unlike the other Spider-people Miguel is. He has claws and wears a cape. Peter says in the first movie, "Spider-man doesn't wear capes." Then we see a better look at his watch which tells us this character isn't just scary and powerful, but is powerful in their access to other dimensions without having their cells decay - which by the end of the movie proves to be another problem for Miles. Immediately this shot warns us that Miguel is an unstoppable and dangerous person and the sirens in his leitmotif only emphasise that, even if the characters don't realise it yet.

Likewise with Fisk and Doc Ock in the previous Spiderverse installment, Miguel also doesn't have a lot of hand animations outside of fighting and we see this visual language in his meeting with Miles. Miles offers Miguel an empanadas and calls him 'Tio' ("uncle" in Spanish) as an offer of respect and solidarity, but Miguel's response is to grab the box and throws it aside before resuming his stance.

Here Miguel isn't just refusing Miles, he's also refusing the subliminal coding of a heroic character and I feel this has a lot to do with how our human brains work. The way we understand people and animals is by the way they mirror us. We like patterns and to draw parallels to ourselves. When someone is excited, we're excited. When someone's confused, we're confused. When someone's sad, we're sad. And so on. However when we're faced with something that doesn't react how we expect or reacts unpredictably, like Miguel throwing the empanadas back at Miles, it's sets off a warning in our brains. It's kind of like a predator hunting prey, which is the exact dynamic between Miles and Miguel by the end of the film.

However in Miles' mind, he has no idea why Miguel is being so antagonistic towards him. Even when Peter says, "He's always like this." Miguel remains stoic when Mayday is crawling around him and only moves to catch her and hand her back to Peter. Like with the empanadas, this is another example of Miguel's lack of ability to connect with the people in his environment other than through aggression and violence. It's why Miles calls out, "You have claws? Are you sure your Spider-man?" Because Spider-man is defined by his ability to connect with people - hero or villain.

Then we get to another clawed antagonist who hunts Miles for the duration of the first Spiderverse's runtime. Much like Miguel, Prowler's movement is mostly unstoppable aggression. That is until he learns Miles is Spider-man. Aside from presenting as Aaron Davis, Prowler is most identifiable by his giant claws and the camera makes sure of it.

It's only when Aaron learns who Miles is does he take off a claw to hold his hand in his final moments. Unlike Miguel, the claws are not exclusively attached to his suit - they are removable and thus Aaron is able to connect with the people in his environment outside of his identity as the Prowler.

Which finally leads us to our other Prowler, who likewise is able to put on and take off the claws. But where am I going with this?

I feel like in this scene the lighting and colour grading is doing the most work in making Prowler intimidating. Because unlike Aaron's Prowler, Miles' Prowler design is very casual for a villain. Which works for the character but without the claws and the mask, Miles looks just as scrawny as his Spider-man counter-part. It's almost too casual without those key identifiers. Which is why I think we're going to see a lot of Miles' Prowler without the claws and interacting with his family in the next film, as well as dealing with his own identity. Like Aaron in the first film and unlike Miguel in the second, we're going to see how Prowler connects with his environments beyond serving as a antagonistic foil to Miles.

[blue-b-bro]

Colour’s meaning in ofmd:

First rule is that brighter = more intense, and lighter = more open a feeling is. I’ll say more below, but it already says something about Blackbeard’s crew being all black and only black :’)

Yellow:

Yellow is a colour of truth. Colour of following your dreams and passions. Before the break-up gown, Stede is wearing the yellow one.

Teal:

Basically it’s a sea colour. It means sea and freedom. In e4 Alma has teal dress, while playing pirates with Stede, which also shows she was closer with Stede than her brother. There’s a lot of teal-ish colours around Stede, but most are actually “hidden”, darker. He was keeping it a secret from others. When he’s on his boat in s1 he’s almost glowing teal.

It’s the colour of sea and freedom, but more like an idea of it, not a realistic one, witch may be the reason many crew members have some teal elements, usually very small, and Stede is all teal and then, in e10 he destroys this idealisation to start something real. After his first “kill” in e1 Stede’s teal's never that bright again.

Pink:

It’s a colour of rejection. Not sure why, but it is. The moment Stede leaves, Mary’s wearing light pink. When Ed becomes distant and then leaves him to go with Jack, when Stede left Ed, they are wearing the break-up gown, which is bright pink. I’d say the difference between those two intensities would say something about the intensity of the feeling. Mary was abandoned, but she wasn’t so hurt by it, they weren’t happy together. But Ed and Stede were hurt very much.

Also all of the non-white crew wears pink/pink-ish in e1, while in disguise (because you know, to show racism) + Lucius’s very bright scarf & Black Pete’s light pink… something (probably because homophobia, and Lucius is very loudly queer). All the things white colonisers reject.

Red:

We all know, it’s a heart colour, Ed’s heart but not only. Ed hides his red, Lucius is wearing a lot of red, as someone who’s not ashamed of his love and usually helps with relationship’s problems, Stede, while destroying his teal is covering it in red and in s2 wears red scarf(?). At the end of e3 Stede is covered in red, even the background turns red, while meeting Ed for the first time. He's also wearing dark red when talking about his favorite horsie :")

Salmon/Orange:

It’s a colour of insecurity, feeling inadequate or incompetent, unsure. Stede wears light salmon/orange when Ed says he’s not ready for a fuckery, then very dark (almost brown, but still salmon-ish to me) when he feared Ed’s going to leave, because Stede’s wasn’t fun enough. Ed wears dark salmon in e4, when trying this new persona/thinking he was expendable to this Blackbeard legend. Stede is deprived of his salmon vest in e2, when he got more confident.

Purple:

I think it’s the creativity and adventure colour. I’m also not sure if it’s important that what Ed was missing after leaving the Revenge was a lavender soap (something something he wanted to feel clean and with Jack he wasn’t again, it’s a colour meta, let’s not go there). I mean we say it’s Ed’s colour, but I’m not sure anyone here has “their” colour. If colours are feelings, no-one has their own. For example, other characters wearing purple is Stede in e2 (when he has to use his creativity), Lucius (art), Frenchie (music, crafts and cons) and sometimes Oluwande. Characters get more purple when they need to figure out a plan or scheming something, get creative.

White/Beige:

Stede is all white in e3. He’s like a blank canvas (Lucius is immediately covered in red again), inviting pirate world, willing to learn. It also makes him stick out like a sore thumb of course. White is supposed to mean empty, nothing, bare, open. Stede made his white crew wear mostly white, to not be seen as suspicious.

Beige, as some kind of darker white, is not knowing what you want, figuring thing out.

Ed and Stede are white when discovering their love for each other, entering something completely new for them. Stede, at the end of s1 is colourless, but in s2 he gets a red scarf and later gets green/dark teal shirt. Jim is all beige while hiding and figuring out their identity. When being afraid that he’s not enough fun, Stede choose all beige for their adventure, showing he doesn’t really know what he’s doing but he’s ready to do it.

Beige is temporary.

Now, we have yellow&red-ish&teal ship, Stede’s dark red&dark teal at his wedding, Sted’s family portrait (everyone close and light yellow/orange, except Stede - dark blue/teal and distant):

But the real kicker for me is Stede’s pitch black cravat Ed wears on his neck. His feelings for Stede while always with him, hidden very deep inside.

I also recommend those meta: x x x x x

Edit: I'm rereading metas and now I remember why purple is thought to be Ed's color (Ed's red heart + Stede's teal freedom he offers -> purple) Still fits 🤟

[caliginousarchitect]

the KHR cats edition entries inspired by @bonesetblues‘ KHR/BNHA crossover fic “curiosity kills the cat (but satisfaction brings it back)” continue. It's the Arcobaleno this time (finally)! Reborn Black medium hair thing. Adult Reborn's drawn with such ludicrously long gangly limbs that we went with some oriental breedtype legs. In the end we couldn't decide between yellow eyes and near-black (which is technically biologically possible but there's only one recorded instance that I know of and they didn't reach adulthood) so both are here. By far he was the most difficult to work out a pose for, he did NOT want to cooperate. Also, curly ear hairs because his curly sideburns needed to be included somehow. I was thinking at the start, either something very small so it'd seem more whacky when he ended up somewhere he shouldn't be, or something quite large, so I also tried throwing a little hint of maine coon flavour in there, but it's not very evident at the end of it I don't think. The fic author's thought for Reborn was Savannah Cat, but I looked at that and went, nah, for reasons explained later on.

Fon Another black medium hair, with some rusting. He seems the sort to spend plenty enough time outdoors during the day for it. I didn't realise before this that Fon has brown eyes, actually. Oriental cat breedtype.

Colonnello Ough the pose, easy, very cooperative. The colour?? not so much. KHR does have characters with realistic blonde hair, but Colonnello is not one of them He has Anime Blond, aka, Yellow. So, Shorthair Black Golden with high ticking, and low-medium white spotting.

Lal Mirch And yet another solid black. Longhair. Her pose was also a tricky one, we knew the vibe of what we wanted, but the actual doing of it was hard. Trying to do her scar was also hard because there just aren't any very good references for it (especially since the anime basically just. turned it into... a tattoo?). Gave her a bunch of white hairs from little scars and some around the face scar. Darkish orange-copper eyes was about as close as we could get to her anime... pink... ish? reddish? eye colour.

Verde Dark blue classic tabby shorthair with low white spotting and blue-grey eyes (teeeechnically probably not very likely since he's not a Point colouration, but they are Possible and the only way to match Verde's canon grey. Why does he have grey eyes, the one time you get an anime character with anime colour hair and he DOESN'T have matching eyes, honestly). The expression was the hard part here, mostly. Trying to get any balance of smug/pideful and annoyed scientist and intrigued at situation? Hard. How is he meant to do a proper science with paws. He cannot hold a pen to write and keyboards are not designed for paws. He needs to make an invention to facilitate this.

Skull Another difficult one to pose, trying to get the bluster and also the fear. Chocolate shorthair with ghost markings and blue eyes. Open mouths from any angle other than side-on are haaaaaard.

Uni Blue/cream charcoal torbie bengal kitten! And here's the main reason we didn't want to do savannah cat Reborn- Uni is an actual hybrid, although we don't actually know her f-generation (... would you call it that, in humans-and-related-species?) from Sepira, but we can guess she was within 10 or so generations. Very low cream, but it is there. Bonuses: Reborn (yellow eye version), Verde (anime colour version), Skull (anime colour version) (and Viper/Mammon is not here becasue they're with the Varia)

[silentslaughter]

The boy had been brought before me just before dusk. The sun having just begun its descent from its brightest point as the shadows of evening crept slowly past the borders of what was once known as the Great Greenwood.

He was fatally young; even when measured to the fleeting lifespan of men, his infant like face pale white, painted with the colours of battle, speckled with contrasting shades of brownish red and black. It was the Woodmen who had delivered him, stuttering and shaking, barely able to get a word out.

"My lord... your highness... great Elven King! My liege... ambushed. Orcs! I ran. He told me to run. Seek help under the canopy... Thranduil!"

He needed to be calmed. Not even the greatest puzzle masters could have made sense of the words that were tumbling out of his mouth. Such a feat is not easy; when your own fears are set alight, each tiny hair standing straight on end as the shadow of unrest creeps up on you from behind like a cloaked assassin. Thankfully, I still knew the words. Though the incantation was mostly used on animals, men were not a far cry away from being a four legged beast. As the ancient Sindarin words were uttered, the boy's breathing returned to normal, the trembling of his hands ceased and his tense shoulders began to slump.

"The beginning, child. Start from the beginning."

I listened closely to every word as the boy spoke of his predicament. He was the squire of Isildur's eldest son. Accompaning his lord as they journeyed to Imladris. The riding party had not been a secret. Every leader of every realm aware of the King’s journey and the path he was set to travel. If they were lucky, Elrond would be able to reason with the man and convince him to give up his prize and destroy it. At least on this matter, myself and the Lord of Imladris were keen to agree.

Why Isildur had been allowed to keep it, was beyond comprehension. Though tough and resourceful; men were weak of heart. Easily corrupted. Prone to make foolish choices and take unecessary risks. Harbringers of misfortune and calamity. Both of which had befallen Isildur before he could reach his destination.

The band of orcs had attacked them in the Gladden Fields. A bold move while they were being hunted like vermin in a granary. Such a scourge is difficult to purge however. Though we had done well to push them into the fringes of existence. Those that had survived the battle were unorganized, ill equipped and without any kind of leadership. No more dangerous than a pack of wolves during a particularly long winter. How an entire retinue of Dunedain had fallen to the brutes should have been an embarassment, but in the moment it was nothing but a grave concern.

Against all advice, I rode out myself, fully armoured and ready to fight, despite the fact I had barely recovered from the last one. Our speed and determination mattered not. We arrived too late to offer any kind of aid.

Bodies littered the field; both men and orc, cold enough to the touch that it seemed rather obvious the battle had ended just as quickly as it had begun. They had not been prepared and the boy had not been fast enough. There was nothing that could have been done.

A meticulous search of all the fallen lasted well into the night, yet the most important corpse could not be recovered, nor could the precious cargo he had been carrying. To call it a disaster would be an understatement. Two Kingdoms left without a King. His body unaccounted for. The Ring lost as quickly as it had been aqcuired. Although the Dark Lord had been vanquished, here he was still gaining feats.

"There is nothing to be concerned about" the White Wizard had spoken, his drawling voice echoing throughout the council chamber like a slowly spreading miasma. "The ring has not yet changed hands. I would know if it has. WE would know. Swept away by the swollen waters of the Anduin. I shall recover it myself and inform the council when it is found."

I never trusted him. A snake in Maiar costume. For months I watched him creep around the fields. Searching for that which was never found as darkness moved into the Greenwood, reaching further and further each time I dared to speak against him. Yet it still came as a great shock when I began to ignore the council summons. A legion of fools. That is what they were. Blind to that which they did not want to see. For who else but a fool would gaze upon a building storm and pretend as though the skies are clear?

[theasexual-jackson]

Before this ted talk start, I just wanted to ask for any antifeminist, conservative, right wing or anything related to this to just, please, do not interact, like, reblog or do anything about this post. I'd be seriously disappointed in myself if any Christian right winged antifeminist agreed with me, because that's not the point of my life and 100% not the point of this post, so please, if you fall on the characteristics of this warning, ignore this post and go eat your hamburgers with cheese. Thank you.

Also, content warning for references to s/a.

Misandry, even if it's a understandable response to men in patriarchy, should not be apart of feminism.

Even tho I'm not a feminist, and will probably never be, because my experiences with patriarchy are from a trans non-binary point of view, and feminism is about women + another couple reasons, I would really like to point out something.

Misandry can't be apart of feminism because the patriarchy only protect cis heterosexual white men.

Using misandry in your feminism will ignore the experiences of trans and men of colour with patriarchy and how it fails to put them on privilege.

And no, I'm not invalidating your crippling fear and hatred of men that developed from being a woman getting abused by misogyny, because no 1⁰, I'm also deeply scared of men, and no 2⁰, I also have moments where my only reaction to cis & white people is deep breath so I'll not end up throwing hands (cause let's be honest, y'all are seriously dumb /j). But does that interfere on my black and queer discourses? Obviously not!

Because if I do let my honest disappointment with white and cishet people get to my activism, it will interfere negatively on it, because it block different perspectives from the system that affects me and my perception of how does it work. Same with feminism and misogyny.

If your honest disappointment with men get into your feminism, you won't be able to accept masculine perspectives on patriarchy, specially trans masculine and racialized masculine perspectives. And they are important because patriarchy literally fails with them!

Let's take rape culture and black men for an example.

We have fulano, a white man who has a literal fetish on 14 year old girls, and ciclano, a black man who got falsely accused of csa for money. (Based off of real life? Mmmm, maybeyy...~ But I won't drop names😘 but if you know me, you probably know who I'm talkin bout) Which one of these guys will be 100% protected by patriarchy?

Fulano. For fulano's case, patriarchy will use it's tactics and excuses to protect him. But for ciclano, if ciclano isn't on a environment of conservative black people, there will be hesitation on the protection. Because black men are deemed as aggressive and harmful to (mostly/specially to white) women.

Which is basically why the police only takes accusations from women seriously if they're against men of colour. If you, white girl, do an s/a accusation against a white boy, there will be little to no effect. But if you do it against a black boy, the shit going on with be completely different.

Am I saying that feminism should include men? Obviously not, because feminism is about women. But when we're talking about the patriarchal system in general, we should pay attention to different perspectives, because that'll get more knowledge on how does it work and how do we defeat it, because patriarchy is not only “men > women”; It's a system where white cisgender straight men get a privilege over any other type of person, be them a gay man, a cis asian woman, a black genderfluid person, etc.

Anyway, I hope y'all got my point. Kisses from Angel.

[bipabrena]

New Beginnings (Chapter 1): HxH fanfic where the Royal Guards and Meruem survive.

A fic where Pouf and Youpi arrive before Netero activates the nuke, and they save the King. The mortified Hunters find themselves stunned when the King shows them mercy. Gon is unable to transform once Pitou admits Kite is dead. The fic will mostly follow the Royal Guards, and Meruem grows to love them for their devotion. He and Komugi separate from them to live a peaceful life, and the Guards begin their shenanigans. They'll fight at Heaven's Arena (Pouf will interfere in Chrollo's quest to become a Floor Master, impeding his fight with Hisoka), they'll meet the Troupe, go to Greed Island, and meet Gon and Killua (who have not separated) again. KilluGon-HisoIllu pairings. Hisoka is raring to fight them, which might end up terribly for him. The Guards will exploit their potential (since in canon they were newborns) by training, and will reach Meruem's level and beyond. Gon can't let his grudge against Pitou go, even with the reincarnated Kite's encouragement. Read it here.

X

Forty seconds before Netero unleashed Zero Hand, Pouf and Youpi descended upon the battlefield, reflexively cloaked in Zetsu. What greeted them was a bewildering spectacle of colours and flashes moving with such velocity that even their exceptional senses struggled to keep up.

Their eyes darted frantically along the blurs. Frankly, they couldn’t even tell the progression of the fight.

Who had the leverage?

Which one was the enemy?

Which one was the King?

Then, abruptly, the frenetic blurs of dance ceased, leaving only the sight of an arm hurtling through the air.

"Ah, there he is!" Pouf moved to dart forward, but Youpi restrained him.

"Wait," Youpi appealed as Pouf glared at him. "The King has the advantage. The old man's lost two limbs. If we interfere now, we’ll only be insulting the King.”

Pouf frowned. He turned to look at the scene, biting his lip in concern. His wings blazed in multiple shades of colours as he decided to release his scales.

And then, in a blaze of brilliance, the entirety of the old man's aura transformed into a light as blinding as a star. Pouf and Youpi shielded their eyes. The next they heard was an immense explosion. They could almost feel the heat from here. As the echoes of the blast subsided, they cautiously surveyed the aftermath, only to be met with settling dust and debris.

"No!" Pouf's cry echoed through the air, but Youpi restrained him a second time, his strength holding Pouf in check.

Pouf growled as he recoiled in Youpi's arms, desperately trying to reach the King. "Youpi, release me!" he snarled, but Youpi remained resolute.

It’s not that Youpi didn’t want to help the King. The matter was that Youpi's newfound clarity, the alarming evolution he'd undergone during his short fights helped him assess situations dispassionately. He could now maintain a cool head, and he could segregate myriads of dangers accordingly.

“Look,” he pointed once the dust settled. “The King is alive, and the old man is withering away. Let’s allow His Majesty to finish him off, then we can return to the palace and help Pitou.”

Surprisingly, Pouf nodded. “I’ll create a clone to go back. I want to notify Pitou that we’ll be coming soon.”

Their eyes were keen on the distant figures of the King and his opponent. As the conversation progressed, Pouf's brow furrowed. Then, he squinted.

“Do you see anything?” Youpi asked.

“… There’s an abundance of white, purple, and black in erratic ratios. The old man exudes worry and fear, yet his confidence remains steadfast. In fact, I'd dare say his confidence is only growing.”

“But he’s about to die, isn’t he? That last attack seems to have drained him.” Youpi wondered what the King was saying to him.

“No…” Pouf’s brows creased, “something feels wrong.” It was now Netero’s turn to talk. “I was right. His confidence, no, his cockiness is growing,” his voice trembled. “Alarmingly so.”

Youpi’s eyes widened. “Why?”

“… Something’s wrong,” Pouf raised his voice with a quiver. Then, he let out a wheezing breath as Spiritual Message's emotional patterns became clearer.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Youpi, get out of here! I’m getting the King!”

“What? Wait, Pouf, what’s going on?”

Without further hesitation, Pouf raced towards the King. “Don't ask questions! Just go!”

“I can’t leave you two here! I’ll come with you!”

“No time to argue! Do as you please!” Pouf's voice grew distant.

“Meruem, King of Ants, you understand nothing… of humanity’s infinite—”

Netero abruptly stopped when he saw a flash before him. This hesitation, this nearly imperceptible delay was his doom.

“Pouf!” Meruem's shout was loud and wrathful amidst the sudden chaos. “Unhand me! Unhand me at once or I—”

“He bears a bomb, Your Majesty! We must flee!” Pouf's voice rang out.

“What are you—”

Despite his moribund state, Meruem could discern the shock etched upon Netero’s face. Without hesitation, he plunged two fingers into his chest, piercing his heart.

“… What…” Meruem mumbled.

Under normal circumstances, the bomb would detonate in 0.3 microseconds. Yet, nestled within Netero’s failing heart, its activation awaited the cessation of all vital functions. With two and a half seconds to spare, Pouf and Youpi seized the opportunity, propelling themselves away in a blur of motion.

Barely enough to avoid the detonation site.

When Pouf reached Youpi with the King under his arm, Youpi clasped Pouf's hand, unleashing a burst of speed that shattered the sound barrier. Through the transformative power of his metamorphosis, Youpi reshaped his form, sacrificing muscle mass to enhance his agility. This allowed him to propel himself 1.5 times his usual velocity, distancing them from the impending detonation.

As the bomb erupted, their extremities felt like they'd tripled in weight. The air around them felt scorching, and the shockwave hurtled them through the air, propelling them towards a wasteland filled with mountains. They rammed onto one, but the strength of the shockwave had been so violent the crash wasn’t enough to decrease their momentum. Youpi brought his wings forward and wrapped them around Pouf and the King to protect them, bearing most of the impact.

The momentum decreased after one kilometre. They fell onto the ground and rolled, until they finally came to a violent stop, battered and dazed.

For a moment, they were motionless. Then, they coughed.

Pouf and Youpi sat on their knees, struggling to regain their bearings. Their hearts raced as they gasped for air, feeling smoke in their throats. Meruem rose stoically, seemingly unmarred by the ordeal.

It was then that Pouf's brows creased. “Y… Your Majesty!” he cried raspily at the sight of the cuts permeating the King's body.

“Your Majesty!” called Youpi. “Are you alright? Are you in any pain? I can take us to Pitou in eight minutes!”

Meruem dusted himself off. Then, Youpi grunted slightly. His balance momentarily faltered before regaining his footing on one knee.

"Are you alright?" Pouf inquired. It did not go unnoticed by him in midst of the chaos how Youpi had borne the majority of the impact.

Youpi responded with a subtle nod, indicating that he would manage. Their attention returned to the King, awaiting his reaction.

“… A bomb,” Meruem muttered, his gaze drifting skyward. So many stars, he briefly recognised. “How undignified.”

No, he thought to himself. The old soldier was merely fulfilling his duty. He stuck to his resolve to the end without allowing his heart to be swayed. And yet, for such a lethal thing to exist…

He looked down again. “Did you fight off the intruders?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

To their immense surprise, the King's gaze softened slightly. “Meruem,” he announced with pride. “My name is Meruem. I know that now. So, from now on, call me Meruem.”

“… Meruem-sama,” they said collectively with a nod.

“No. Meruem.”

“But, sire—”

“Don’t make me repeat—” A realisation dawned as he spoke, and for a brief second, he was shocked something so obvious didn't come to him until now. “You left Pitou all alone.”

“Yes, sire, we wanted to—”

“Did you neutralise the intruders? Or did you leave her and Komugi in the palace alone with them?”

“The man I fought is completely defenceless. I removed his Nen ability,” Pouf reassured.

Youpi swallowed heavily with a drop of sweat bead on his cheek.

Noticing, Pouf's brows creased warily. “Youpi, what is it?” 

Youpi lowered his head, seemingly unable to meet their gaze.

“Did you not kill them?” asked Meruem.

“I… I didn’t.”

“What!?” Pouf screamed. “They did not best you in combat, so why are they still alive?”

Pouf blabbered incessantly, with indignation, but Meruem told him to quiet down. Imperially, he firmly told Youpi to explain himself. To not lie to him.

And so, Youpi did. He recounted his encounter with Knuckle and the others, detailing the events surrounding Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and the ensuing bargain.

Despite his shame, Youpi met Meruem's gaze with unwavering honesty. “I felt that breaking a promise would make me a loser, even if it were a promise made to an enemy. I understand that I have betrayed you, and for that I’m unworthy of asking for forgiveness. But please, Your Majesty, allow me the chance to ensure your safety and eliminate any remaining threats. After that, I will accept all punishments.”

Meruem’s eyes were shadowed, and so they couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

Pouf erupted in a tirade of indignation. “How could you do that!? You allowed your feelings to cloud your judgment! You prioritised yourself over the King! As we speak, these intruders may kill Pitou! And once we’re there, they’ll fight to take the King’s life! I can't believe you'd be so selfish as to—”

Silencing Pouf and addressing Youpi directly, Meruem was calm. "Firstly, I commanded you to call me Meruem. I tire of repeating myself. Secondly, I only asked that you don't lie to me. I see no reason to punish those who speak the truth. Let's return to the palace now."

Their mouths hung wide. Pouf's mouth moved, but no words came out.

It was then Meruem's gaze drifted into the distance. “… I trust Pitou,” he said with implicit sincerity.

They were dazed. It had been not long ago that the smallest of inconveniences resulted in Meruem whipping their faces with his tail. All they could do was comply. Meruem held onto Youpi’s leg with his tail, and Pouf followed behind. During their return, Youpi provided a detailed account of the enemy's abilities. Pouf could only shake his head with a scowl, veiling his anger.

Three and a half minutes before their arrival, Knuckle and the others advanced towards Gon's location. Pitou had already succeeded in healing Komugi, with fifteen minutes remaining. Outside, Ikalgo briefly stood guard to assess their surroundings, joining the group shortly after.

She’s already fully healed… thought Pitou. I just need to think of something fast. I can’t take her with me to Peijing, but Pouf and Youpi aren’t here. And even if Pouf were here, he hates Komugi. I fear what he might do in a misguided attempt to protect the King. I know he'd be able to convince Youpi, too.

Knuckle, Killua, Palm, Ikalgo, and Meleoron arrived. Pitou grew increasingly nervous as they spoke to Gon, and all Gon did was assent. It seemed his own allies were as wary of him as Pitou was.

Then, Pouf arrived.

Gracefully flying through the window, Pouf warily observed the enemies. Knuckle contemplated using his ability against Pouf, but he knew the distance afforded Pouf ample time to evade. Similarly, Meleoron found himself unable to act, but because he was trapped in a paralysis from being uncloaked before two royal guards.

“… Pouf,” Pitou’s eyes widened. In any other situation, she would be thrilled to see him. But knowing that they differed in how they saw Komugi, she was wary. Was he here on a mission of his own... or, her throat tightened, was he here with news of the King?

Pouf barely restrained himself from smirking smugly. “The King has defeated his enemy. He will arrive shortly along with Youpi and my real body,” the Hunters froze. “Is the woman healed?”

Pitou’s eyes glistened with relief. “Yes, she’s okay! Please tell His Majesty that Komugi is okay!”

The Hunters found themselves unable to breathe.

It wasn’t just Pitou now, but Pouf, Youpi, and the King. This was bad. No, not bad. This was the worst possible scenario. This woman was their bargaining chip, but if the King was coming, if he could get a hold of her, the Hunters would lose their only leverage. For Gon, the knot in his throat was different. The current situation meant that Pitou had no reason to keep her end of the bargain.

“You mustn’t be afraid,” reassured Pouf with a condescending smile. “If you obey, the King will surely spare your lives. His heart is boundless, that way.”

“Yeah, and then what!? He’ll just turn humanity into a bunch of mindless soldiers!?” Knuckle yelled boldly.

Pouf closed his eyes as his smile widened. “That depends entirely on His Majesty.”

With no reason left to lie, Pitou withdrew the surgical tools from Komugi's body. The wound closed seamlessly, leaving no scars, and the oxygen mask vanished.

"She will wake soon," Pitou informed Pouf, who nodded in acknowledgment.

The aura around Dr. Blythe turned thinner, which suggested Pitou would deactivate the ability. Before she did so, Pouf spoke. “Heal your arm.”

“… Oh, right.” She extended her arm as she rose to her feet. The box opened and scissors emerged to cut down her sleeve.

The darkness and rage in Gon’s expression gradually vanished as the realisation kicked in. The realisation Pitou had neither the reason nor intention to fulfil her promise.

In just fifteen seconds, her arm was healed. She clenched her fist until it scrunch, and swung it around. She was satisfied.

“We’re here,” Pouf announced.

The allied ants' expressions twisted with fear, their lips downturned in a whimper of terror.

In an instant, Pouf's sharp eyes caught Meleoron's subtle gesture. As Meleoron's chest rose with a deep, silent breath, he felt a sudden pressure on his neck and something sharp against his temple. His surrounding allies had only felt a breeze.

Meleoron let out a whimper of pain, and when they searched for him, they found Pouf as if he'd never moved from his position, now holding Meleoron in place. His claws were pressed against Meleoron's temple, with his leg firmly planted over Meleoron's to force him still. He drew blood.

“M-Meleoron!” cried Knuckle.

"I won't allow you to escape or make anyone invisible," Pouf stated coldly. "That's your ability, isn't it? You plan to use such petty tactics against the King. You might try holding your breath to flee, but I can pierce your brain faster than you can activate your power. The choice is yours."

Meleoron trembled.

“Be grateful I did not kill you on the spot.”

Immediately, Pitou positioned the unconscious Komugi behind her and drove herself into a corner. Even if they tried, they wouldn’t be able to harm Komugi. Pitou was, quite literally, shielding the girl with her own body. She'd noticed Gon’s aura grow darker. Witnessing Pouf's threat towards the chameleon traitor only fuelled Gon's instability further, Pitou noted.

Read the rest of the chapter here.

[suckitsurveys]

What type of milk do you like to drink? I don’t typically like to drink milk on it’s own but sometimes if we buy milk for cooking (usually whole) I will drink it with something chocolatey or a PB&J so it doesn’t go to waste. I will typically use oat or coconut milk in coffees though.

Do you have a first aid kit at home? Not really a “kit” but we have most of the components that would go in one in our cabinets.

What’s the absolute bare minimum in terms of facilities when you’re camping? I need at least a somewhat comfy place to sleep and some electricity and somewhere to go to the bathroom.

How many places have you lived in your life? I’ve always lived in Chicago.

Are your parents dog or cat people? Is that different or the same as you? My mom was an animal lover in general and my dad was the stereotypical “get these damn animals out of my house” but then ended up loving them kind of dad. He was more-so that way with our dog Cosmo my mom brought home when I was 17. He was a shih tzu and my dad called him a little rat but then they became best friends and when Cosmo passed my dad bawled like a baby. He’s been talking about getting another dog but is afraid to commit to it because it’s been getting a little harder for him to walk.

What’s your favourite flavour of potato chip? Potato? Kettle cooked jalapeno. Chips in general? Salsa Verde Doritos.

What’s the longest your hair has ever been? How long is it now? Mid-back. It’s just a little shorter than that right now.

What video games remind you of your childhood? Super Smash Bros.

What does your body wash or soap smell like? It’s like ocean scented or some shit.

Are there are sounds that bother you on a visceral level? Metal scraping against metal sends me into a rage.

What was the last thing you bought online? I just ordered a new bra.

Name something you always have in your fridge. Water.

Have you ever had to hire a lawyer? Why? Nope.

Have you taken a walk today? Did you see any dogs? Nope.

What vegetable do you really hate? Are water chestnuts a veggie?

Does your family have any traditions or rituals? Oh yeah, mostly centered around holidays and birthdays, of course.

If you could learn any language, what would it be? Spanish.

What was the best thing that happened today? Something that seems minor can still be awesome. They just posted a “first look” at the new Saturday Night movie.

Have you ever donated money to a charity? Which one? A bunch to the ASPCA and I have a monthly automatic donation to a charity for abortion rights.

Did you have a large circle of friends in high school? No.

Would you ever get a matching tattoo with someone? I have 5 tattoos that match with other people: heart shaped sunglasses with Ellen, a tree with some red birds on it with my sister, and Snoopy, BoJack, and Brendon from Home Movies with Sarah.

What time do you usually go to sleep? 10pm-11pm on work nights.

Do you have a job? Yes.

What colour are the plates in your kitchen? They black and white.

What was the last gift you received? Ellen sent me a Kuchi Kopi (Bob’s Burgers) cookie jar for my kitchen but for some reason it didn’t come with a lid.

What is your Chinese zodiac animal? Snake.

Are you inside right now? If you’re home, what room of the house are you in? I’m inside at my job.

Are you good at remembering faces? Yes but bad at names.

What will you do after this survey? Maybe another. I’ve been on a kick lately because I’ve been locking myself out of social media during the day so now I’ve been distracting myself with this instead of working hahahahahahah.

[taebearlover07]

Mafia’s Wife

The following slides might contain 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌𝐄, do not interact if uncomfortable

Pairing: Mafia!Hubby!Kim Taehyung x Fem!Reader

Genre: Smuth

Summary: You are at a party with your scary mafia husband, Kim Taehyung and things didn’t go right

Warnings: Dom!Tae, Sub!reader, breast slapping, pussy spanking, name calling(whore), orgasm control, orgasm denial, pussy eating, fingering, blowjob, toy(vibrator) 

______________________________________________________________

Giving a final look in the mirror you let out a satisfied sigh. White, a colour you didn't wear often but loved wholeheartedly now being the ugliest colour for you but he wanted to see you in white cause he thought you Looked like a doll. Doll, another thing which had a space of hatred in your heart but for him, you were his adorable doll, cute and innocent. Cute is another thing you never like but he thought you were cute, so cute when you cried in the pleasure he gave you, so cute when he heard you beg him not to kill anyone. 

You loved him and you hated the fact that you loved him. Despite knowing the fact that he has your parents wrapped around his fingers, despite knowing he is a murderer your stupid heart couldn't help but beat so fast. Your chain of thoughts was interrupted by a knock on the door followed by "babydoll? Are you ready? We have to go" No. You wanted to say no but you knew you were not in any place of saying no, if he wanted you to go to a party with him as his date he would take you anyhow. "Yes, give me a minute" you said to him. You looked in the mirror for the last time before grabbing your purse and phone and opening the door to walk out of your room.

________

You walked into the elegant hotel with his hands around your waist. Entering the hotel you could feel everyone’s eyes linger on you and his figure, the feeling of hatred, jealousy and lust. You moved forward with him, eyes still on you both. He walked to the table assigned to you both. You both sat down at the table enjoying your own company with the slow music going in the background, not intending to talk with him. 

After a while you were bored, just sitting and wanting to use your phone but he had forbidden you to use it, for him it seemed rude to use your phone in a huge gathering so, you just sat there wanting the party to end soon or him to leave the party so you could too. You wanted to talk with him but you were too shy to do so. “Why am I not good at socializing?! It’s not like he is gonna eat me!...... Or will he?? Shut up Yn!!” You scolded your inner self for being perverted but you couldn't help it, he just looked so good in his black suit.

After what seemed an eternity you got the courage to finally talk to him but…. “Taehyung!!” Your courage was cracked up in pieces by a high shrill voice which belonged to his one and only female friend “Mia” He said, voice clearly showing unbotherness. “I missed you” ”Hmm” ”Didn’t you miss me?!?!” ”I was busy with work” his voice was cold but it did not bother Mia, she was stuck to him throughout the whole party while you just sat there and watched them, mostly Mia talking to him. Jealousy was flowing in your veins faster than blood. If looks could kill, Mia would have been dead by now while Taehyung would be begging for his life. Finally getting enough of this shit you cleared your throat and said ”I am going to the bar, if you want to come you can” and walked away from there without waiting for any reply.

You sat at the bar area far away from them but made sure they are near your sight so you could stalk them. You sat there wondering why the hell you fell in love with him. Just because he is rich, just because he is handsome, just because he is hot and sexy or just because he has a big di- “Shut up you pervert girl!!” you whispered to yourself. 

You were busy scolding yourself and cursing Mia but your thoughts were disturbed by a sweet voice calling you “Miss, would you like to have something?” you looked at the source of the voice to see a small, cute man in the place of the bartender. For a second you were mesmerized by his visuals but were brought back by his voice “Miss?” “A-ah! Yes?” “I asked if you would like to have something to drink?” “Ah sure, please give me a glass of red wine” Well you didn’t want to drink something but his sweet voice did magic to you that you couldn't but order something. “Here’s your drink ma’am” “A-Ah! Don’t call me ma’am, call me Yn. Ma’am seems awkward” “Sure, Yn” he said with the most beautiful yet flirty smile making you blush hard. Time flew by as you talked with him, completely forgetting about why you were here and with ‘whom’ are you here. 

You kept talking while blushing at his flirty talks, completely ignoring a pair of eyes on you and his figure. Your talk was cut in between when you felt a hot breath fanning on your neck and a large veiny hand around your waist, pulling you towards him “Aren’t you enjoying yourself too much babygirl?” Your eyes winded as you froze in your spot, his voice was calm but deep, you knew he was angry but not showing it but why is he angry- you thought in your mind but were disturbed by the voice of the bartender you were talking to “Mr Kim, would you have something to drink?” his voice was trembling as he saw Taehyung looking at him directly in his eyes making Taehyung just smirk at his scared figure “Nothing, I’ll love to take my WIFE with me” he taunted making sure to put stress on ‘wife’ leaving the bartender in shock “W-wife?” the bartender said in shock as Taehyung smiled sarcastically “Yes, wife. Now let’s go, home baby, I wanna have you” He stated shamelessly making you look at him in shock. Without any further talk, he pulled you with him, his hands gripped tightly around your waist as he pulled you with him to his car. Without a word he threw you in the car and sat and started driving, you too didn’t say anything as you were scared as hell.  

__________

He walked up to the bedroom with you following him behind like a lost puppy. He stood in front of you and commanded “Strip” His voice sends shivers down your whole body. Slowly you started to strip out of your dress, you stood in front of him in the lingerie he chose for you which did not do its job of covering you up. You felt his stare up and down your body, he walked up to you and hooked his finger in your bra strap before pulling it and smacking it back to your skin making you hiss “Take these off too”. You slowly moved your hands behind your back and slowly started to unhook your bra and then moved down and then removed your panties. 

You stood in front of him completely naked as he checked you out from top to bottom. “On the bed, legs spread wide”. He commanded as his aura spoke dominance making you whimper “I am sorry Tae-” “Shus, its daddy for you baby” he said with his fingers on your lips as he played with them “Be a good girl for daddy and lay on the bed with legs spread wide, or else it won't be good for you”. You quietly laid down on the bed with your legs spread wide as he wanted. He took a rope from the nightstand drawer and tied your both hands to the bedpost. “Since you like to talk too much, you’ll not moan and whimper until I allow you”. A puddle starts to form in the middle of your thighs as your body betrays you and submits to his dominance. 

His thumb started to work on your clit, slowly in circles as his other hand fondled your boobs, rolling and pinching the nipple making you whimper “Quite” he commanded as his one hand came down to your right breast, slapping it. You bite your lips to conceal your moans and whimpers as he continues to rub your clit and fondle your breast. Your hips moved up slightly, wanting more. He slipped his finger in you while his thumb still moved circles around your clit. Increasing his speed on rubbing your clit made you moan a bit loudly. He pulled his fingers out making you whine only to lay a spank on your pussy making you moan in pain “I said quite!” He roared. He suddenly slammed his four fingers into you making you moan but you controlled it.            

You felt your core tighten around his fingers “Don’t dare to cum, you’ll cum only when I’ll allow you” You whimpered at his demand but nodded your head. You could feel your release getting stronger and stronger and your core clenched tighter around his fingers “Don’t you dare cum”. He commanded before showing his head in between your legs as he let his tongue do its magic between your legs. “Please” you begged him to permit you to release “What is it baby?” “Please let me cum!” you begged him but he only hummed in between your legs before saying “Do you deserve it? Hmm baby?” His voice sends vibrations to your clit making you more nearer to your release. “Please I want to cum daddy, please!!” you cried for your release, your legs started to shake around his head and you reached your climax but before you could cum he removed his head from your thighs and got up. You whined in frustration only to be choked by him, his long fingers holding your neck tightly. “Stop acting like a whore baby, I’ll give you everything you want………but after I am satisfied enough” 

He stood up from the bed and took off his shirt, then panda and finally boxers as he stood in front of you naked. He stood in front of you, gripping his cock and rubbing it at your lips “Open” He commanded and you obeyed like a good girl, opening your mouth for his huge cock. You begin to take him slowly, taking him from your mouth but he grips your hair and shoves his dick inside your mouth making him groan loudly. He pulled himself out before showering himself again in your mouth. He repeats this action for a while before slowly starting to thrust in your mouth in a rhyme, you unconsciously move your tongue around his cock making him moan loudly. “You look so pretty like that baby” he moans out and starts to thrust faster “My pretty little slut” His grip on your hair tightness as he continues to thrust harder in your mouth “My pretty little cum dump”. Pulling his cock out of your mouth only to slap it on your face a few times before harshly showering it back in your mouth. “Oh, fuck” He curses as his tip met with the back of your throat making you gag “Swallow my dick, slut!!”. Tears streamed down your face as he thrust hard in your mouth, his moans making liquids gush out of your cunt making you clench your legs. “I am gonna cum baby” he says before cumming in your mouth, pulling out of your mouth before making sure you swallow his cum and walk to clean himself. You just stare at him as he dresses up. 

He looks at you before chuckling “Oh! I forgot you didn’t cum” he taunts before walking up to you, pulling you up from your kneeling position and throwing you on the bed. He digs his hand in his pocket before pulling out a small vibrator and showering it in your cunt. Turning it on as he rubs his fingers on your clit he said “I am going out, you can enjoy as much as you want with your little friend, cum as much as you want until I come, then we gonna do the main stuff”. Smirking as he walks out of your shared bedroom as he hears you moan because of the vibrator. Taking his phone out of his pockets he dialed a number, his trusty man's number, after one or two rings the man picks up the call “Jungkook make sure to torcher that bartender until I come, he needs to know his mistake of flirting with the mafia’s wife” “Yes sir”

______________________________________________________________

THE END

Thank You For Reading

______________________________________________________________

[not-xpr-art]

Art deep dive #3 - How important are the "rules" of art?

Hi!

So it's been a longgg time since I did one of these, but I've recently noticed something in the way people talk about art online today, especially the idea of 'art rules', that I've found interesting so... let's talk about it!

(just fyi this is a series where I ramble about art-y things and pretend I know what I'm talking about lol)

How important are the "rules" of art? ~

If you're an artist you've probably heard some version of the phrase 'you need to learn the rules in art in order to break them'. Effectively this refers to learning the basics of art like anatomy, colour theory or perspective before you completely do away with them to create something stylised, deconstructive or even abstract! Even beyond this particular idea, I hear so many artists online (as well as in school) talk about the importance of learning the 'art rules'.

And to some extent, I agree with this sentiment! I think you need to have some understanding of how to draw things, and more specifically knowing why we draw things certain ways. An example of this is the 'don't use black in shadows' rule, which is referring to the fact that there are no true black shadows in nature, and using other colours as shadows can keep your work from looking too 'flat'. And despite me knowing this, I have definitely used black as shadows in my work, especially when I want to create some intense chiaroscuro or drama! But I know that when I want to create something realistic, using black in the shadows would probably be a bad idea lol!

But the thing is... What do I actually mean when I say 'art rules'?

Who decides what rules make up the way things should be drawn/painted/sculpted/etc and why should we follow them in the first place?

There's certainly a set of rules for how to draw things in particular styles (as in, if you want realism you probably need to follow some specific proportions lol), but those don't apply to all forms of art! Similarly when it comes to something like colour theory, there are colours that will help you create a harmonious work, but that isn't always relevant!

Abstract and conceptual art (amongst others) are forms that don't necessarily require a sense of balance or even artistic integrity. Much of the last century of art history was specifically about throwing away the old ideas of how art 'should' look and be made. The Dadaists and works like the 'Ready Mades' of people like Duchamp challenged the idea of 'art rules', and as chagrin as I am to agree with anything Duchamp has ever done, it WAS effective in completely reshaping the art world.

So we know that much of art doesn't have to rely on art rules. However, when I look at the online art community, and even my own experiences within art education, there seems to be a return to the idea of 'learn the rules first, break them later'. Those rules being the things I mentioned earlier (proportions, anatomy, perspective, colour theory, etc), things that make up the basic art education that's been taught in art schools for hundreds of years.

Except... I haven't really answered the who or why have I lol?

There's obviously no one individual guy who one day was like 'I'm gonna make up some art rules for people to follow until the end of time!', but rather the things we now consider the 'basics' of art can mostly be traced back to Antiquity (as in Ancient Greece). And I do consider it integral to say that the things that are globally seen as 'art rules' are things that have specific origins in Western countries of Art History.

It's no great secret that the History of Art has a racism problem, and the fact that the majority of artists considered part of the 'canon', and the ones who were venerated and taught as part of art education for many years are white men from western and central Europe...

Art from other continents don't always have the same ideas of 'art rules', and when these were first introduced to Europe, they were written off as 'naïve' and 'primitive' because they didn't conform to the European idea of 'art'. And in a way I think that this (obviously) racist ideology has fed into our current concept of 'art rules' pretty much entirely revolving around Western standards of art (which usually positions realism above all else, with the significance and symbolism of art become less important).

Let's next tackle the 'why' of art rules. I've already mentioned why you would follow rules in a practical sense, but beyond that is there any reason for following these 'art rules'? I think fundamentally it all comes down to what we consider the purpose of a particular work of art. If your goal with a piece is specifically about creating a realistic work, then it definitely makes sense that you would follow them. But art that is more instinctual or personal, or art that is abstract, or even art that is pattern/purely aesthetic based, all have very different intentions for their creation.

So why, in 2023, do so many artists (and art schools) still push this idea that art has a rigid set of rules that you have to learn, and only once you've learnt them can you then completely disregard them? Rules that we know stem from European art history and also only apply to a certain sort of art. I think in a way it all comes down to a way to quantify what 'good' and 'bad' art looks like. If there are really no rules, and you don't need to have basic understandings of anatomy or perspective in order to be an artist, then I think to some people it means that can no longer say that in order to be an artist you need to put in a certain amount of 'effort'.

In conclusion... Is there even a conclusion to this lol?

Personally, I think that there's definitely value in learning the Western ideas of art rules that we consider the 'basics' (things like anatomy, perspective, etc) if you want to improve your realistic drawing skills, but don't think you need to learn everything about art rules in order to become some accomplished or 'real' artist lol

Art is first and foremost about creativity and expression, so really just have fun with it!

~

I hope you enjoyed this mini (informal) essay! I actually haven't written one of these deep dives for over 2 years lol!

Btw, let me know your thoughts on this and whether you agree with it lol!

If you liked this feel free to check out those other one, or my art advice tag (where I attempt to give advice to beginner artists lol...)

[void-kissed]

for ur writing ask game, talk abt any of ur reborn fics :]

Clara. My treasured friend. I am going to be here for months. This is one of the best asks I've ever received and I mean that

(source: this post by void-kissed - hey, that’s me!)

Name a piece of writing that I’ve posted, and I’ll give you some thoughts and analysis of it! - I should probably try and limit this to one bullet point per piece, because I'd like to talk about multiple, but.. who knows what will happen, haha

This will probably get VERY long, but oh well! You asked for this! And I am only too happy to provide what you have asked for!!!!

Alright, here we go!!

Okay, so, I believe the first piece of writing I did for Reborn was To Stand Before The Void, back for Sapphic September two years ago. This is the scene where Luna and Adriana find each other within the Void itself, and.. while it covers some pretty serious thoughts of Luna's that I'll admit I wasn't really sure how best to explain in my writing, I like to think it does still hold up.

One thing I do want to point out is that the events shown in this piece are the reason why this selfship's name is "void-kissed"! As a result of being in the Void as they were here, both Luna and Adriana end up with some.. lasting consequences, shall we say. Luna becomes even more one with the shadows than she already was, almost disappearing into any nearby darkness if you aren't looking at her directly, while the white freckles Adriana had across her face spread into star-like marks found all over her hair and body - she also becomes able to see some of the things that Anna can about people, such as Cain's pitch-black eyes and Taka's broken wing. (I'm not sure whether to say she's aware of her wings by this point though - maybe she can start to feel them, but can't see them/figure out which wings they are until the Giratina quest?)

The stars Luna is walking on are "lifeless" and not shining very brightly at the start because of her intentions to escape into the darkness of the Void, as well as to show that the Void is not really a very good place. However, they are still brighter than the ones Cain was running on because of Luna's own affinity with the Void, as shown by how she is later able to manipulate the New World somewhat thanks to the power of her Emerald Brooch.

I referenced Anna a lot in this writing despite never calling her Anna - for example, she is of course both "little Fantasia" and "the little girl with the Jirachi doll" that is the only one not unsettled by Shade's presence at the end. I also used the quote that Anna is shown with on the wiki page for Reborn about falling stars wishing on each other, because I thought it led nicely into saying that "Right now, Luna's wish was to fall". Anna also supports Adriana in not wanting Luna to die, in the form of the "wishes of the starlight" that are present when she makes her decision.

In the game itself, Luna is very associated with Alice in Wonderland - all of her Pokémon are nicknamed after characters from Wonderland, and Luna's adopted parents even represent both the Mad Hatter (Radomus) and the Looking Glass (Serra) respectively. But if Luna herself is Alice, and is a girl who wishes to live in a land of fairytale, then that makes Adriana Wonderland, the place (or, rather, person) she feels truly at home with. This is the conclusion Luna comes to in the Void, and why her story continues even after the point where she thought she was going to end it.

Luna mistaking Cain for Adri mainly just came out of the fact that both have a fair bit of purple in their outfits, but even then they don't really look all that similar (Cain's design is very bright and colourful, whereas Adriana's is a lot more subdued). So it was mostly just to try and pad things out and show that Cain also gets out safely here (which I could retcon now that I know what the full game does, but oh well).

The first line that Shade says at the end - "Abyss is unrelenting.." - is what he says to the player before battling them if they lost to him in his Gym, while the other lines are ones I made up and tried to make fit how he normally talks. He's the one that successfully pulled Adriana and Luna out of the Void, and he's basically telling them to both keep going and make it to the end of the game by experiencing the final episode/chapter together. But in less fourth-wall-breaking terms than that.

Overall: you can definitely tell I wrote this back when Episode 18 was still the newest update to the game. I think that what I changed in it (i.e. Luna and Cain surviving the Void) could still be true to my version of events, since Cain could still become Umbral during or right before the Diancie quest after getting lost in the New World beforehand maybe? I forget when it is that you see him stuck in there, but I know it's quite early, and maybe his having also been void-kissed contributed to higher susceptibility to the Umbral state. And considering Luna comes back to Reborn during the literal first postgame quest of them all, I don't think much is negatively affected by having her just.. have survived the whole time.

Timeline-wise, I think this one can definitely apply to both third and second. You can just explain it as Shade having dragged the player out of the Void before then going back in for Luna and Adri in the third timeline.

Oh dear, that was perhaps a lot for just one piece. Oh well!

The other piece of writing that I've done for my selfship with Luna was Return on Crow's Wings, which describes Luna and Adriana finally being able to reunite after Adri got stuck in the Carnelia region, since Agate City was not safe to travel back through. For context for those who haven't played the game, the last time the two had met was the Gym battle that Adriana had with Luna, where she won her ninth Gym Badge, and they meet again just after Adriana gets her thirteenth Gym Badge. It's been long enough for Reborn City to become very revitalised as well.

This writing is labelled as only being applicable to second timeline, but the only reason for that is because of Adri flying on the back of Kelaino, her Honchkrow; I hadn't finalised her mono-Ghost-type team yet when I wrote this, so any depiction of her with Pokémon that aren't Ghost-types during the maingame story (except Sidera and Argent) refers to second timeline. However, the same events do still happen the same way in the current/third timeline; it's just that Adriana flies back with the help of Drifter, her Drifblim, instead. I rendered that here, incidentally.

The way the end of the battle is described, with Argent knocking out Noivern and so on, was actually how it went when I played through the game after Episode 19 came out! I remember writing down what happened on each turn of the battle specifically for the purposes of this writing piece.

I actually wrote the last lines of this piece first, because I had used them as a caption for a render of the ending that I'm fairly sure I ended up making before actually finishing the writing. If I hadn't have written those lines, I would probably have let the piece continue to show Luna's reaction outright, and probably ended it on Adriana and Luna finally being able to embrace again after so long ^-^

Technically all you said was Reborn fics, so I can mention Tale of a Corybantic Blade here! It's the piece of writing that's all about Corybantia, Adriana's Honedge, going from when she first finds it in the Mirage Tower to when it evolves to stop Titania stabbing Taka. Again, this is a second-timeline-only piece, because Adri doesn't travel through Tourmaline with Taka in the third timeline.

When I wrote this piece, I had two questions in mind: how many references could I put into one piece of writing, and could I write a piece about Pokémon without making it clear that it's about Pokémon? I like to think that the answer to both of those questions was "yes".

I actually have written an entire analysis document myself about all the references I put in, which you can find here! So.. I probably shouldn't elaborate any more here. I invite you to go and read the document if you want the full analysis of that piece, hehe~

I do have one more piece of Reborn writing, technically, but it's very very short, so I don't know how much I'd say it counts as an outright fic. It's this scene, which I wrote out about the concept of Saphira having an opportunity to go and deal with Sigmund like she so desperately felt she needed to, during the Labradorra section, because Adriana had to heal up her Pokémon before battling him and the PULSE-Mr. Mime.

This piece didn't have a ton of opportunity for me to do anything particularly fun, but I did enjoy portraying Saphira as so furious that "a dragon's fullest might could not have held the Gym Leader back". I also managed to slip in both her and Adriana's Trainer titles as part of this, so that was fun.

Rereading it, I have just noticed one fun thing that I did - namely, describing Adriana coming back into the control centre "just as she had done both a few minutes and one clock ago". This is referencing how Noel refers to the previous timelines as being "clocks ago", rather than, say, "days ago", which I remembered thinking was neat! So, in turn, this line is referring to this piece being ostensibly set in third timeline, as Adriana has already gone through the game's events once before in second timeline.

In general, I also just thought the last three sentences built up to a very vivid image. Sigmund deserved what he got.

Okay!! There we go!! Well over one and a half thousand words of my rambles for you, friend!! Thank you so so much once again for this opportunity, and goodnight!

[kenxmatsui]

#JustKenThings  —  Style

We know he wears suits, but what else? Meticulous with everything, Ken's style is a reflection of his personality – sophisticated and clean. Some may say it borderlines boring since his wardrobe features lots of neutral tones and the ever staple black, but he hardly cares for what people think. He knows he looks good and that's really it.

Casual Style:

Sweatpants or hoodies will not be found in Ken's wardrobe, casual wear for him is still refined and the only slack he allows himself is that they don't have to be perfectly tailored to fit – which does not mean baggy clothes! Just slightly loose-fit. Turtlenecks and sweaters feature a lot. Haori sets and causal style hakama pants are prominent too, even if mostly worn around the house. Despite him being more comfortable in a suit, Ken does wear jeans! But it's most likely to be paired with a simpler white collar or a bold print shirt if he leaves the house. The man does not shy away from print, it just has to be tasteful.

Formal Style:

Sticking to the classics like black and navy, with subtle and elegant patterns, Ken's formal or business formal is a more muted down aesthetic. Work will forever and always be a suited affair so he has beef with whoever said Fridays could be more relaxed, because how dare. There's nothing casual about professionalism! Clothes should reflect that! For more dressed up non-work looks, jackets or blazers are a must. And frankly speaking this is his more regular style than anything else, a dress code of semi-formal is maintained at all times. He doesn't know what causal means.

Designer Style:

Bespoke suits and one-off items are common when it comes to this side of his style. Also seen are more vibrant colours, patterns and even fabric choices that don't feature in daily looks like velvet or shimmery material. Yes sure, there are pieces from high-end brands, but design is the key and one such thing that he was rather particular in having was the sukajan jacket. Designed and tailored to fit him at a boutique in Japan during a visit it was quick to become a staple. Among the few that he owns, his favourite is a red satin one with dragon and cherry blossoms embroidered on as a nod to his tattoo which he wears often. Getting outfits from Blush for town events has become routine too, so much that even when there isn't anything happening Ken frequents the boutique to see what Kui has in store. Their incorporation of natural resources for textures and patterns plays heavy part into why he keeps going back for custom pieces* even though he's somewhat of a difficult customer, he mostly leaves the creative process to them. Mostly. * The ones with the half fairy wing are made by Kui!

Accessories (not pictured but important) + Extra Info:

Watches are the main accessory and he has a vast collection to pick from and like how he cannot step outside with a daylight right due to his Vampirism, he won't leave the house without a watch due to Ken-ism. Daylight rings too, are considered a accessory, albeit a vital one, Ken has five to incorporate into his style. He has a variety of cufflinks to go with his suits, and a few bracelets as well, but he only ever wears the one Leyla gifted – likely won't ever take it off. Japanese influences can definitely be seen in a lot of his looks, ranging from traditional elements to kimono style draping and jackets. It's worth noting that despite the season or occasion, Ken always wear long sleeves, In hotter temperatures, he wears lighter fabrics to keep cool but shorts or t-shirts are a no-go.

( © template )

[drjohndisco]

TARDIS Fuckery

[A/N] @dragonautical

Here you go Pax!! This was so fun to write!! I hope you enjoy this!

The door closed behind Pax and Belle, and they fell to the floor, out of breath.

'And to think….all I wanted was a picnic.' Belle said, raking a hand through his hair. ‘Giant plants were not on my bingo card.’ They then looked down at the empty container in their hands and the splattered remains of what used to be fruit. ‘Damn, it ate my strawberries.’

'That sucks, but such are the marvels of time and space fuckery. Or the failures in the case of your fruit.’ Pax replied, fixing his jacket and standing up. He then extended a hand for Belle to take. ‘I'm sure, we'll get there eventually, my friend.' 

'Thanks.' Belle said, helping themselves up off the floor. 'Now, which way do we go?'

'Didn't you say you had a sort of internal tardis related compass?' Pax questioned.

'Yeah, but that's only when she's not being irritated at me.'

‘Okay, then I guess we’ll have to find our way out.’

Suddenly a door appeared at the end of the hallway. It was glowing slightly, with a golden colour. 

‘Are we going through the door?’ 

‘I suppose we must.’

So they went through the door and, with a pop, it disappeared behind them. Abruptly a puff of smoke swallowed Belle, and he was gone. Pax blinked in surprise, and pulled the sonic sunglasses down over his eyes. 

‘All I can see is the sonic screwdriver.’ Pax stated, confused.

‘I’m down here.’ Belle replied.

Only then did Pax see the small dragon. Belle was covered with mostly royal blue scales, except for the golden ones along their spine, which were peeking out of the small version of their blue hoodie. (Their pants had a hole for the tail.)

‘Why the fuck am I a dragon?’ Belle yelled. ‘The tardis has transmogrification doors now?’

‘Apparently…’ Pax sighed. ‘Now, I’m going to pick you up so that I can scan you with the sonic sunglasses.’

‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’ Belle mimicked, in a horrendous Scottish Accent (which wasn’t helped by their lizard tongue) ‘Well, maybe you should have given us more instructions!!’

Thankfully nothing went wrong with the scan that Pax did, so he put Belle (with their permission) into his pocket and continued onward.

++

‘Is that you humming?’ Pax asked.

‘No, I think that’s the tardis. We have to be somewhere adjacent to the engine.’

‘I'd like my clothes to not be sticky.’ Pax mused.

Belle breathed out through their nose, creating a plume of smoke, and then extricated a claw from the pocket’s fabric.

‘She wants us to wait.’

‘Why?’

Belle shrugged, as well as a dragon could have. They didn’t have to wait too long though, as the door opened (with a slow creak) to show them the wardrobe; and what a wardrobe it was. A spiral staircase stretched all the way to the top, and multiple outfits were hung from the ceiling (which was unable to be seen.) 

‘Woah.’ Belle gasped. The door then clicked behind them and, with yet another pop, they were no longer a dragon. 

‘You’re back!’

‘Oh,’ Belle said, wiggling their fingers up and down and running their hands through his hair. ‘You never know how much you miss things until you don’t have them anymore. Although - I am glad that the trans urge to become a dragon has gone. For now, at least.’

‘What about the one where you want to be a bug?’

‘Never!’ Belle laughed. 

++

About 30 minutes later (neither of them are the best with directions) they met each other at the bottom of the staircase. 

Pax had changed into a new denim jacket (this time in a darker blue) over the top of a brightly patterned rainbow shirt, with black and white plaid pants. His shoes were black converse.

Belle (on the other hand) was dressed in a long dark grey coat. This was over a red striped shirt and brown pants, while heir shoes were dark blue sneakers.

'Better?' Belle said.

'Definitely.' Pax replied. His eye then caught sight of something shiny attached to their coat, so he pointed at it. 'Wait. What's that?'

'An apology from the tardis.' It was a small blue brooch, that they'd attached to their top pocket. 'Speaking of which, she says we should be all good to go now. There’ll be an exit in a few seconds.’ 

Then, right on cue, the final door (under the stairs) opened to reveal The Doctor, standing on a hill under a tree with bright yellow leaves. His guitar was slung around his shoulder, and he was playing the chords to something softly. The pair stepped through it and ended up on the bottom of the hill.

‘Doctor!’ Pax called out.

‘Ah, there you are!’ He called back, waving. ‘Now, what took you so long?’

[istherewifiinhell]

reading an issue that has a deliberate fake out in it: OH. I understand Everything now

[Mirage 17, Eric Talbot (who also credits Eastman on story and scripting, which Eastman mostly refutes in idw's ultimate collection), Letters: Steve Lavigne]

[ID: Two panels, Mikey, in simple Japanese style dress. He reaches out and says "I have need of your hat." Then a shot of him wearing a straw hat, which shadows his face, to conceal the nature of his being. END ID]

Last Ronin 2, Art: Esau & Isaac Escorza. Normally, a fully colour comic of the modern style

[ID: Small art of Mikey, kneeling, tending to a garden, he wears a straw hat. The art is in graphic black and white, with half tones like the duoshade paper, and jittery line paneling. END ID]

So. Square that mystery away. why are the flashbacks of mikey alone in japan different from the other flashback style? Well aside to just communicate tone and atmosphere (which they do). This stuff. Eastman's annotations also mention possible influence from the unmade 'final turtles story', (the idw ult collection pub. 2012) which very first conceptions seem to be very old, and is now the last ronin, 2020.

anyway. more art from the mirage issue

[ID from alt: Mikey jumping out a window, his clothes now tattered, a young woman, Tai, clinging to his back. off panel speech "Guards!!!" END]

Three panels, over 2 images. Mikey grimly, speaking to Tai "But I cannot... I must keep searching for my brothers." He turn away with a dark expression "Together, we must return to our home. I'm sorry...". Tai hugging Mikey, his face comically shocked, his hands hovering up. There is a lightened halo affect in the panel around them.

Now only scroll further if you wish to have the gimmick explained to you.

They really had me, with this one. Cause time travel IS A THING. The turtles can do. AND this was published after the turtles 1st cross over with Usagi Yojimbo, and (i didnt include any but) many dinosaur like animals are shown in the art. Like in that comic, tho clearly the inhabitants are human people, not anthro animals. And even, this plot in some ways resembled the third live action turtles movie. The Real Answer?

ID: Full page panel, rich with details. Mikey, in his room. Seated at his desk, a stack of writing, and the mess of work around him. In a sheepish gesture, pen to his mouth, and other hand on his head, he speaks to his cat, "Well, that's the story so far, what do you think Klunk-- Too corny?". He's wearing a batman logo tshirt, and his room has many other popular media franchises in it. There is also a poster for Eastman and Talbots comic "Melting Pot", and even, a ninja turtle toy on his shelf. He has is knee pads and belt on the bed, mask and nunchaku on a hook, and shuriken thrown into the wall. END

dudes in the 80s fucking loved to write themselves a Ronin inspired story. art intimates life inmates art. or something. i think its hysterical they did this.

[kuschelkissen]

The urge to "woke-ify*" rewrite my old stories and OCs...

*as in adding some queer relationships, getting a bit more diverse with body types and skin colours, etc...

Just me rambling and trying to sort my thoughts, probably long post, so... under cut. Feel free to scroll past, it's mostly for me anyway.

So... when I was about 20 years younger, I wrote this story about a group of 8 teenagers going on your average fantasy journey to find a magical item to destroy The Bad Guy (TM), and in the end, I had 4 (straight) couples. 5 if I include the random side characters along the way.

Aaand they all... well. I was a teenager in a predominantly white town in Germany (there was one black girl in the entire school and a few muslims that were tad darker than the rest of us, if at all), my main interest were anime and let's just say, the characters reflect that.

Old, old art:

Over time, I did some redesigns here and there, giving my green haired elf some actual useful armour, for example, and darkening the skin of some of the characters a bit, too, even if not significantly.

The other day I thought I'd try to play around with some body types, wondering where I could go with this crew. It was more playing around with 3D models in Clip Studio, because I was too tired to look for actual references, so don't judge these sketches, they are merely a base idea for me to work with than anything else... (plus it's digital and I just... I can't. Idk why but I just can't work digitally =__=)

Looking at these now with not tired eyes and mind I'm like... yeah, this has lots of room for improvement, lol. But I have a clear vision in mind, we will see if I can manage to bring that down to paper! (Wish me luck).

Apart from the appearances, I kinda want to go into their dynamics/relationships.

I think, my green haired elf girl (Alayses) would probably end up nonbinary if I wrote her today. She got mistaken as a guy more than once (... as far as I remember. It's been a while lol) and I always wanted her to have an androgynous look (though I never really succeeded with that). If I go this route, I'll have to have a deeper look into German neo pronouns, which will be a whole different problem.

I probably won't tear apart all the couples, because I just love too many of them. But... >_> I guess <_< I'll make a "Fanfavourite*" canon.

*as in... my friends from school who used to read my shitty stories and came up with side-ships lol. It's a bit sad that I barely have contact with any of them anymore, would love to see their reactions.

I mean... I even DREW them together for one of my friends. Can as well just make it canon.

And these two already had something going on in my head back then lol sadly they were just side characters and one of them is dead oops.

Apart from that, Tari will probably end up alone or maybe dead, and Leera... who knows, maybe she elopes with one of the side characters (or ends up alone, too, like she originally should have.)

The thing about all of this is...

IF I go this route, I'll have to rewrite everything. Which probably won't happen for a long time, so it will be all in my head once again.

I wish I could go back to having all that freetime I had when I was younger... freetime and energy, but alas...

[percontaion-points]

Lifeblood chapter 8 & bonus chapter 4

Today's review might be difficult for some; reader discretion is advised

Click to see the rest of the snark & image descriptions

Chapter 8

She hands me a white robe with white trim…

Is it really trim if it’s the exact same colour?

When I think of a “trim”, it’s usually an accent colour. It could be the same colour in a different shade (ie forest green with light green). But you can’t do that with WHITE. 

“During Elizabeth’s Firstlife, she lost her family at a young age and ended up bouncing from foster home to foster home. She wasn’t always treated well. In her last home, it was so bad she ran away and ended up in all kinds of trouble. Archer was her TL, and he changed her life. When she came here a little over a year ago, she fell hard for a boy named Claus. She felt for him what you feel for Killian. The day you died, Killian killed Claus.”

Once again, I’m sorry that it happened to you. But taking it out on Ten isn’t going to magically bring back Claus; it only makes you look like a jackass. 

I’d known Killian had ended her boyfriend’s life. I hadn’t known the rest. I hadn’t known about the horrors of her Firstlife.

EXCEPT THAT HER TERRIBLE BACKGROUND DOESN’T EXCUSE THE WAY SHE’S BEEN BULLYING YOU. 

The entire creed of Troika is basically “bitch, go the fuck to therapy”. And yet, here’s Elizabeth, acting like that girl who was mean to you in high school. 

My heart pounds as I read the mostly-redacted file, Tenley Lockwood— thick black line—during her escape from Prynne Asylum. After—thick black line—with Archer Prince. Thick black line—with ML Killian Flynn. Thick black line—Prynne Asylum closed down. 

The asylum closed down?

Not only were they raping and torturing literaly children in there, they also ended up killing a bunch of them. It’s little wonder that it closed down. 

I fought some of my roughest battles outside a Troikan safe house. Looking back, I’m glad they happened. They tested my limits, pushed me to change and to grow.

Not me, looking around for the character growth that “happened outside of safe houses”. Cause the book that I’m reading, Ten was a self-absorbed brat up to the final second of her firstlife. 

The Book of the Law says it’s best to date a person selected for us by the Grid. 1) It’s supposed to keep the peace between, well, everyone. No more fighting over a mate, or thinking you belong with someone who would be better off with someone else…

Incels need not apply. 

Okay, you’ve convinced me to join. Any system that prohibits horny Indian men sliding into my DMs with a blurry picture of their penis can’t possibly be that terrible. 

But then again, my bar is currently at “don’t send strange women pictures of your penis”. 

“Killian uses, lies and tricks. The only thing you’re going to get from him...is heartache.”

Chapter 8 summary: As soon as Ten gets out from the shower, Elizabeth corners her and tries to see that Elizabeth is more than simply a bully. However, as I’ve stated, the poor conditions when she grew up is not an excuse for her current behaviour. Especially since she no longer lives in abusive foster homes. 

Ten then goes to a record hall, where the narration screeches to a halt FOR AN ENTIRE PAGE so that we can describe the stained glass windows. She meets up with Kayla and Reed, who encourage her to look at Ten’s own book that’s basically her entire life. We only jump into the parts that we know, but the only thing that we learn is that the rape factory baby jail she was in was closed down after the shit Killian and Archer stirred up there. It makes her happy to learn that. 

She also learns some more info about Dior, but this is mostly glossed over to the point where I legit don’t know why the author even bothered. The only thing of value is that Dior is trying to get out from her contract with Myriad, which is why they’ve infected her. Kayla says that they can’t begin turning away people, or else it’ll set a dangerous precedent. 

She goes home to meet up with Victor, where they discuss how they can convince everybody to vote for Archer for “resurrection”. He tells her that everybody wants to resurrect another conduit, but he think that he can lean on the “only Archer can help cleanse Dior of her darkness!” Ten isn’t certain that this is the way to go, since she could end up cleansing Dior before the vote. 

The next day, they put on their shells and go down to await further instruction. It’s here that we learn exactly why Dior shifted to Myriad: her father had a spinal injury, and was taking months to heal. But when Killian promised her that her father would “walk out of the hospital today”, she signed with impatience. He did walk, only to collapse outside of the hospital doors, where he then died. 

Before they go, Elizabeth warns Ten not to try to make contact with Killian while they’re down there. Ten tries to be nice, but Elizabeth is basically a walking example of “this is why you shouldn’t engage with bullies”. That being said, Elizabeth also kind of has a point: you shouldn’t trust people who have a long history of being backstabbing liars who lie. 

Bonus chapter 4

Help her discover the satisfaction of getting even. 

Might Equals Right! 

Sir Zhi Chen

Bonus chapter 4 summary: Zhi tells Killian that his spy reports that Ten will go visit Dior today. Killian says that he can win Ten over if he shows up with Dior’s dog, Gingerbread, so Zhi agrees to release the dog to Killian. 

Zhi goes on to say that the woman who was looking into who Killian’s mom is now was killed in battle, so he’s taken this over. 

And then he continues on to say that Killian should bring Sloan with him to meet Ten. That Killian could goad Ten into getting revenge against Sloan for having murdered her. 

[purplesurveys]

1748

Do you paint your nails often? What colour are they currently? No, they're never painted. I honestly might just chip off the polish as soon as it dries because I find that more satisfying than the actual look of the nails, lol.

Look around the room - can you name 3 yellow objects? Branded envelopes from one of the clients I handle; my Butter tin can, and an unofficial Chimmy ballpen.

On which social platform do you have the most amount of friends or followers? How many is that? I have the same amount of followers/friends on Twitter and Facebook, which I literally just learned right now because this question made me look haha. Thanks for the surprise knowledge!

Who was the last person to recommend something to you, and what was it? We were thinking for a place to drink when Trisha, one of our former workmates who hung out with us last Friday, suggested this place she knows called Pierre's Reserve which is kind of like a hole in the wall bar in Katip.

We ended up going there and it was great, but I was so sleepy at the time that I was in no mood to party and didn't even want to be anywhere near the DJ. Thankfully our group was ushered to the soundproof private section of the bar so we can hang out in a quiet area. Is this what it's like to exit your youth years? LMAO

^Speaking of which, do you take note of other people's recommendations? If it seems like something I would get into then yes.

When was the last time you met or were introduced to someone new? Trisha's girlfriend, Ces. I kind of felt for her because all my current and former workmates were catching up with one another and had their own established banter already, and she was mostly quiet at the corner of the table, scrolling through her phone. I would've approached her but holy shit was I sleepy that entire dinner (I was barely talking among my workmates to begin with lol) that I wouldn't have been able to converse with her anyway.

What did you think of that person? She seems sweet! Not at all snobby or closed off. I think she could definitely open up after a few dinners with the team.

If you have pets, do you share many photos of them on your social media? Yes, including Kimi.

Which social platform do you use the most? And the least? I'm on Twitter the most often, by a landslide. As for least, that would be Tumblr as I'm only ever here when I have the time to take these.

Who was the last person you went out for a meal with? What did that person order? We had Trina's farewell dinner last Friday at a wine bar; we had clams, a cheese plate, and a couple plates of their specialty fries. I got a whiskey-based cocktail which I HATED HATED HATED and barely touched even though it cost me a fortune lol...and we had three bottles of wine, although I only had two glasses.

When was the last time you bought a new item of clothing? What did it look like? I don't think I've ordered a new article of clothing since pre-Bangkok. The last one from that spree though, I think, were my Dunk Lows. They're white with purple accents.

What colour are your favourite pair of shoes? How often do you wear them? ^ That. I literally never wear them ever lol unless I'm going someplace bougier than usual.

Who was the last person you hugged? What is that person's favourite food? Trina. I have no clue what her favorite is actually but I do know that she dislikes seafood. Trina why :(

What colour was the last butterfly you saw, if you can remember? Black.

Do you curse in public, or do you usually try to avoid it? Nah I wouldn't say so; I try to watch my mouth in public.

What colour is the logo of the supermarket you shop at most often? Blue and white.

Have you ever used a dating app? Which one(s)? I've used Bumble, but only for an ego boost cos I could see who potentially matched with me. I never talked to anyone the whole time I had the app.

What's the biggest book on your bookshelf? Any idea? Some encyclopedias I've owned since childhood. Man those things must be over 20 years old now...who knows what trivia in there have since been debunked/updated since then? I should take a look through them soon.

Do you have any alcoholic beverages in your fridge at the moment? I have quite a handful of beer left from the times I've had friends over. We also have a few bottles of wine.

Do you have plans to spend time with a friend soon? What do you have planned? Angela, Reena, and I want to get together soon but there's no date or plan set yet. It's just on the radar.