#easier to write 1 or 2 unique romances for a book than 4 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

shinysobi · 9 months ago

Text

pretty u

summary: when joshua, your best friend gets engaged, you can't help but feel as though you're missing out on something important. jihoon, your other best friend, kindly offers to set you up with one of his many friends. chaos ensues, seungkwan is an observer who knows everything, and unfortunately, mingyu is a hapless victim.

pairing: woozi x fem!reader

genre: crack, fluff, angst

word count: 10k~ish

warnings: alcohol consumption, general warnings apply

A/N: uhh..hi? this is the first time i've written rpf, and it makes all the more sense for it to be centred around woozi, my svt bias. this has no plot at all, and i just wrote it for fun and vibes...also unbetaed, so if you see any mistakes, no u did not :)) shout out to my twitter gc for cheering me on as i wrote this hehe u guys are the best

a/n 2: reblogs and comments are much appreciated! please tell me if you're liking this lmao

chapter 1 | chapter 2 | chapter 3 | chapter 4

Chapter 1

Whoever said that every love story is universal, was not lying, unfortunately. Every good love story is a mix of tropes that unfortunately work well together to form a coherent plot. And the longer you read books, the easier it becomes for you to identify (or avoid) these tropes.

The enemies turn into lovers.

The friends turn into lovers.

The inn only has one available bed.

Your brother’s best friend is somehow smoking hot and doesn’t see you as an annoying little sibling anymore.

Your one-night stand is your new boss, and he is inexplicably obsessed with you.

Your parents have forced you into an arranged marriage, and your partner is a. incredibly hot and b. also obsessed with you. You get the gist, so on, and so forth.

All love stories go for a trope that becomes the central conceit of the story, no matter how unique they try to be. The small-town girl/boy falls for the hotshot city lawyer/businessman/vague marketing executive and shows them the importance of family, and of course, of love, because without it, business is notoriously low. People need romance to feel something other than hatred in their already terrible lives, and books offer escapism. Escapism and on some other level, a sense of belonging. You can identify yourself with the girl who falls in love with her brother’s best friend, or the man who has feelings for his sworn enemy, or the person who has, surprise, fallen in love, with their best friend. Or their best friend’s brother. Take your pick.

And unfortunately, as a critic, reading romance implies wading through the countless reiterations of trope-y goodness on offer at every bookstore, and trying to find something that strikes a chord. It is a given, that one has to kiss some proverbial frogs in the meantime, and of course, any professional mishap has to be accompanied with a gossip session with one’s friends, where any complaints you might have about your work, is unloaded onto the brunch table, for my friends to laugh about.

Because at the end of the day, everyone is a character in their own kind of romance novel. A victim of the tropes, if you will. In my case, I am the perpetual single childhood best friend, who puts up with every single antic of the main character. In of course, an enemies-to-lovers romance. Apparently unrequited love sells too, if its written well. If not, then it just becomes one of many repetitive marketing gimmicks that frankly, don’t sit well with anyone, let alone someone like me, who critiques books for a living.

“It’s your attitude that’s a problem.�� Jihoon says, taking a sip of his coffee, “you’ve been writing for the newsdesk for years and I have never seen you actually be satisfied with a book. There’s always something that could have been better. Maybe this is why you are so—”

“I am so?” I say, eyes narrowed, “finish that sentence, Jihoon.”

“You want me to?”

“Do you really have to fight every time we meet?”

Both Jihoon and I turn our head to the third person at the table, Joshua. Dressed impeccably in a freshly ironed pair of shirt and trousers, he looks far better than either me or Jihoon, because both of us look as though we have been through botched murder attempts. I am in a hoodie and sweatpants, and Jihoon is somehow worse than me, wearing a pair of shorts and a black t-shirt. His abandoned khaki bomber jacket hangs on the back of his chair, and I cannot believe I’m saying this, but he actually looks worse when wearing the jacket. Joshua looks as though he has been seated at our table by mistake. I’m slightly annoyed by this, but it seems as though Jihoon is more annoyed than me, “what do you mean we fight every time we meet?”

Joshua makes a vague hand gesture, “really? Look at us. You both are dressed as though you’ve been through a typhoon. I feel horribly overdressed.”

“I had a long night.” I reply, “worked overtime at the desk for the Sunday paper.”

“I came here straight from the studio.” Jihoon says, “I didn’t even go home to shower.”

“See, this, this is what I am talking about.” Joshua groans, “both of you dress like homeless people, and then when you come to brunch, you fight all the time. Do you guys never get tired of fighting?”

“Never.” Both Jihoon and I say in unison.

Joshua sighs, before picking up his knife and fork, “I give up. I can never get you two to agree on anything apart from the fact that you guys, apparently, don’t fight.”

“She needs to quit complaining about her job.” Jihoon points his fork at me, “she’s got the cushiest job imaginable, and she manages to complain about it all the time. Every week, she’s here complaining about something at her job.”

“As if you don’t complain about your job all the time too,” I reply, not one to back down from a fight, “you complain about the people at your job all the time as well. And it’s not as though your job is shitty; you literally work at the biggest music corporation in the country—”

“Guys!” Joshua half-yells, and I stop. Everyone is looking at the three of us, and unlike the two of us, he looks embarrassed. “Guys, if you have to fight every time we meet, maybe I suggest we stop this weekly brunch. Jesus—”

“Oh, he swore,” Jihoon whispers, and I giggle, “we finally made him take the Lord’s name in vain.”

“—it’s like you’re kids all over again. This isn’t freshman year of university, for heaven’s sake,” he takes an elegant sip of his coffee, “and for your information, Jesus isn’t the Lord. I’m not letting you guys get the satisfaction of hearing me fucking swear.”

“Does he hear himself?” Jihoon mutters. “I don’t think he does.” I whisper in response.

“Yes, I’m aware I said ‘fuck’, thank you very much.” Joshua sits back in his chair, “I’m proposing to Eunseo tonight.”

“Tonight?” Jihoon yells, bolting upright from his chair, and everyone in the restaurant looks at us, “you’re proposing to her tonight?”

Joshua grabs his hand to drag him back onto his chair, “yes, tonight. Are you stupid? Everyone is looking at us now.” He looks at me, “what do you think about it?”

Oh. Oh.

Remember when I said that my role in a romance novel is that of the eternally-spurned childhood friend? The one who has loved the main character from a distance, never really daring to express their feelings? Well, I’ve not known Joshua since my childhood, we met at high school, and it hasn’t been that long since I discovered that I might have a tiny, the most miniscule of crushes on him. But I’m that trope. The childhood friend who gets spurned, and the main character turns away to the actual love of their life, leaving only a broken heart behind. Too little, too late.

Well, who wouldn’t?

He’s tall, good-looking, gentlemanly, with just the right amount of unhinged, has a good, stable, get-off-at-the-right-time government job, and above all, he’s unflinchingly kind to everyone. Yes, including me and Jihoon, even though we make his life a living hell on most days. Realistically, it was only a moment of time before either Jihoon or I had any feelings for him. And I was betting on Jihoon too. Fuck.

“Are you okay?” Joshua’s voice is soft, insisting, and all I can see when I break out of my reverie is the swoop of his collarbones as they disappear under the shirt, and suddenly I feel very dirty. Not just dirty, but also simply awful. Why am I out here thinking about his collarbones when he’s thinking about how to propose to his girlfriend? His very nice, very beautiful girlfriend?

“I’m fine,” I nod my head, “have you picked out a ring for her?”

“Not yet, but I have a kind of ring in mind already.” He says, turning to Jihoon and starting to talk about the different cuts of diamonds that are present at Tiffany’s, and how they suit different kinds of people. Eunseo, I learn, is partial to a pear cut. Jihoon, the idiot, who can’t shut up when it comes to arguments with me, is unnaturally quiet, only offering comments here and there. It’s very uncharacteristic.

And then he gets that look on his face which is a signal for both me and Jihoon that we are about to hear an hour’s worth of praises of Eunseo, and I step in. Making a vague sign towards my completed plate of fish and chips (not that great, the fish was soggy) I say, “before he begins singing praises of his girlfriend, sorry, fiancé, can we get the check?”

“You keep saying it as though you don’t know how much I love her.” Joshua sounds annoyed but unfortunately, I can see through his mask of fake annoyance, “I already paid.”

“Thank goodness, I forgot my wallet.” Jihoon smiles, “for a moment, I thought I would have to use my online wallet.”

“Aren’t you ashamed?” I elbow him lightly in the ribs, and he doesn’t even flinch. Apparently, music producers these days have to be certified gym rats, or they won’t let them into the building, “you’ve mooched off of Joshua and me for the past twelve years, maybe it’s time to start paying.”

“Maybe I do pay, but I just don’t like you.” Jihoon replies, sarcasm evident in his tone, “so I don’t want to pay for your meal.”

“You little—” I’m about to commit a murder in broad daylight, but Joshua, the sweet angel that he is, stops both of us, waving his card in between like a bullfighting matador.

“You guys just don’t stop, do you?” He grins, evidently thinking about how he’s going to propose to his loving girlfriend this evening. Nauseating. It makes me want to throw up. Because Joshua is not going to wake up one morning and decide that he wants to throw away his living relationship of five years to—to pursue his unfortunate best friend, who has nursed an unfortunate attraction towards him for the past year. That is never going to happen. So, let’s scratch that. That should not happen.

Because apart from being unfairly gorgeous and rich and beautiful and did I mention gorgeous? Eunseo is also unflinchingly nice, the kind of nice that leaves other people wondering if the person in front of them is real or not, or if they have some kind of hidden intentions that border on murderous or at the very least, fraudulent. She’s the one who took me under her wing when I was a freshman and had no friends except the two weird guys in my required sociology class, and thanks to her, at the end of four years of university, I had friends in the journalism club, people I come into contact on occasion such as weddings and the odd reunion.

Her niceness is also the reason why Joshua fell for her at first sight.

“I’m out.” Jihoon picks up the abomination of a bomber jacket from his chair, “and before you ask, no, hyung, I’m not helping you with picking out a ring for your girlfriend. You can do that yourself. Or ask her for help.”

And before Joshua can look at me and before I make a fool out of myself (yet again), I turn away, rejecting his proposal for looking at pear-cut diamond rings on a Sunday morning, “I’m ideologically against the institution of marriage. Do it yourself.”

Joshua sighs, because of course he has anticipated this. The fucker. “cannot believe you’re still on your Dworkin streak. Fine,” he says, getting up from his chair and walking out of the café, “I’ll get Eunseo’s ring myself. And when she asks, I’ll tell her that none of you helped me.”

“Ooh, threatening your girlfriend on us, I’m shaking in my boots,” Jihoon replies, sarcasm evident in his voice, digging through his pockets to get his car keys, “when are you planning to get the ring?”

“Later, in the afternoon,” Joshua is opening the door to his car, and looking at me, “do you want me to give you a ride? Your house is on the way.”

“She only takes buses and the subway,” Jihoon grins, “don’t you remember the time in university when she kept saying about how much she likes welfare policies and transportation benefits?”

“Shut the fuck up,” I reply, elbowing him, harder this time, and Jihoon flinches, “I’ll just go to the office. Jihoon will give me a ride.”

“When did I say that I’ll give you a ride?” Jihoon looks like he wants to begin an argument with me in front of the café, but he acquiesces, “ugh, fine. I’ll give you a ride. Your office is on the way.”

—

“I’m still not convinced that you simply wanted to ‘spend time with me’.” Jihoon grumbles an hour later, seated at his studio and fiddling with his computer. “You’ve been lying there and scrolling twitter for hours now.”

“Your couch is much better than my office chair,” I hum a non-committal reply, before making myself further comfortable into the soft plush material of his couch, “and I’m not scrolling on twitter, I’m trying to find another flat to move into.”

“Lease up?” Jihoon asks, “wasn’t your agreement still valid for at least another few months?”

“I’m just trying to get ahead of the curve,” I reply, “if I start looking from now, maybe I’ll get a better flat by the time the lease is up. My current flat is—”

“A shithole.” Jihoon finishes my sentence for me, “seriously, I don’t know how you manage to live there. And you’ve been holding onto that flat for the past seven years. everyone moved out of their university flats, but you managed to hold onto yours for so long.”

“That’s because it’s a good deal,” I mutter, “ugh, I can’t manage to find a single good deal on any of the flats.”

“Because you’re never satisfied with any deal,” Jihoon replies, “your ideal deal is if everything was free.”

“And I still maintain that housing should not be monetised.”

“Why thank you for that insight, comrade.” Jihoon puts a finger to his mouth, “shut up for a while, I’m trying to concentrate on this song.

“Who’s it for?” I sit up, intrigued, “a new artist?”

“The company’s new girl group.” Jihoon says, “I was asked to produce the title track for their debut. I only have four months on hand, and I still haven’t finished the track. The higher-ups are going to have my head for this.”

“No, they won’t,” I reply, “they like you too much. Speaking of—”

“—if you want me to give you an interview, I won’t, I’ve already told you five times,” Jihoon cuts me off, wheeling his chair away from me, “jeez, you’re tenacious.”

“Oh, but come on, it’ll be fun,” with an extra emphasis on come on, I think I’ve got Jihoon’s attention, “people keep speculating on the kind of person you are. I mean, people know Woozi, but do they know what kind of person he is, underneath all that secrecy? You’ve never given an interview, and you keep avoiding any kind of public appearance. One might think you hate the spotlight.”

“Even if I were to give an interview, I wouldn’t be giving it to you. Who knows how you’re going to spin my words.”

“I’m hurt, Lee Jihoon. This has hurt me.”

Jihoon turns around and blows me a raspberry. I roll my eyes. Is he twenty-eight, or just eight? “whatever you say won’t affect the way I think. I still won’t give you an interview.”

“Just so you know, I’m known to be an excellent interviewer.” I say, walking over to his chair, “come on, Jihoon-ah, give me an interview. Please?”

“No.”

“Pretty please?”

“No.”

“Pwease?”

He turns around at that, fixing me with a stare, “don’t you ever fucking do aegyo in front of me. I’m going to kill you if you do that again.”

“See, if you gave me an interview like I’m asking you to, then I would not have a reason to subject you to aegyo, but as things stand, you really give me nothing else to work with.”

“Ask Joshua for an interview then, if you’re so desperate for one,” the words coming out of anyone else’s mouth would have given me enough reason to walk out of the room, but Jihoon made them sound softer, almost romantic. It was funny, how he managed to change the intonations of every word, changing them to his whims. I suppose that’s what I do with words, and that’s what he does with sounds.

“Joshua is not the elusive Woozi,” I flop back onto the sofa as I counter, trying actively to not think about Joshua picking out a ring at Tiffany’s for Eunseo right at that moment, “he’s an adjunct professor. Not the most interview-friendly of all occupations.”

Jihoon looks at me, and for a moment, I think he’s going to ask me a very uncomfortable and difficult question, but at that moment, both our phones buzz simultaneously. I check the phone, and it’s a single message in the shared chatroom. Joshua has sent a message, a single picture of a pear-shaped diamond solitaire ring (don’t ask me how I know the cut of the diamond) with an attached message;

joshuji: picked up her ring! <3

“Damn, an exclamation point, and an emoji,” Jihoon says, typing out a reply in the chatroom, “our joshuji is entirely too far gone, isn’t he?”

I don’t say anything. Its far easier to pretend that you’re typing out a reply and can’t hear anything, especially when it comes to Jihoon. He’ll take anything in stride.

hoon: wow Eunseo has you whipped

big dick (canon): hey I think it’s cute

Jihoon sets his phone down with an audible clack, and fuck, I’ve messed up. Joshua is oblivious and blissfully happy in his own little life, but Jihoon? The Jihoon that I’ve known ever since our seats were beside each other in the sociology class that made me develop an irrational fear of surveyors? He’s single-minded whenever it comes to pursuing anything. One doesn’t become the most sought-after music producer in the industry with just talent, they need to be dogged in their pursuit of success. And unfortunately, when Lee Jihoon turns his mind to something, he accomplishes it, whether it’s producing a Billboard Hot 100 hit, or, judging by the way he’s looking at me right now, getting words out of my mouth.

“Okay, spill, I’ve seen this go on for long enough,” he says, getting up from the chair and walking over to the sofa, where I am currently hiding behind a throw pillow, “you’ve been weird for months now, and we need to talk about it.”

“We, don’t need to do anything,” I reply, “I’m perfectly fine. If something happened, I would tell you. Or Joshua. Or both of you, at the same time.”

“Like you inform us after every breakup of yours?” Jihoon laughs, “you mean to say you’re going to hold another one of your ‘meetings’ to tell me and Joshua about how some poor bastard made the mistake of trying to date you?”

“I’m actually nice when I date, and I can hold down a relationship for more than two weeks, Mr I-don’t-like-commitment. Tell me, how did your last date go? Did she walk out of the date itself, or did you ghost her?”

Jihoon blinks at me, and then, a slow, catlike smile passes over his features. Fuck.

“You’re being combative today,” he grins, and fuck, its infuriating how predictable I am, and how absolutely incapable I am of not taking his bait, “so, there is something that you’re hiding.”

“Ugh, I hate this.”

“Then you shouldn’t have taken the damn bait,” he replies, “do you want to tell me yourself, or do you want me to guess your little secret?”

“I’m not telling you anything, and its nothing you can suss out either.”

“I can just beat it out of you,” he smiles, flexing his arms, and I belatedly remember that Jihoon, to my disadvantage, had decided at the early age of twenty-one, that he was going to make up for his height by being The Broadest Man on Earth, and now carried a protein shake in his bag everywhere he went, that somehow tasted more disgusting than it looked. He could easily beat me to a pulp. And he would do it too, the little shit.

“Jihoon, remember the time I carried you home when you were drunk?” I don’t know how to do the specific variant of the thing they call ‘puppy eyes’, but I try my absolute best to emulate the little I know, “and you threw up all over my clothes? Remember? It was at Mingyu’s birthday party, and you got drunk on an empty stomach—”

“Don’t fucking do that,” he throws a pillow at me, “fuck, that’s creepy. Also, I got drunk and threw up on your clothes in my second year of university, damn, how long are you going to milk it for?”

“As long as I can,” I reply, “please, Jihoon, just this once.”

“Damn, fine, weirdo,” he stands up, going back to his chair, his back now towards me, “isn’t as though you like Joshua or something.”

I freeze, hoping that the intake of breath at that last sentence hasn’t been heard by Jihoon. I know I’m an atheist, I pray fervently, to whichever god that’s listening, God, Allah, Buddha, Jesus, if anyone’s listening, please, please, please, let Jihoon not notice—

“You like Joshua?”

Fuck.

“No.” I lie brightly, “I just—stubbed my toe on the table.”

Jihoon looks at me in a way that screams bitch, I know you’re a liar so don’t even try. “You know you’re a horrible liar, right?”

“I am?”

He nods, “its one of the many endearing things about you. But unfortunately, you’ve given yourself away now. Really, Joshua? The Joshua Hong we know?”

“Really, it isn’t like that,” I’m sweating, and praying Jihoon doesn’t notice that I’m sweating, “its nothing, and besides, I don’t even like him in that kind of way—”

“Do you want to fuck him?”

I choke on a breath and begin coughing. “What?” I manage to say, after I recover enough to breathe properly, “I don’t want to fuck anyone!”

“Great, because if you wanted to fuck him, it would have become massively awkward.” Jihoon shrugs, “since it’s one of those passing feelings, you can take care of it; it happens all the time. I once had a crush on you too. It’s bound to happen.”

“You had a crush on me?” I screech, “what the fuck, Lee Jihoon, you’re supposed to wait before dropping this kind of information on me!”

“Dude, its long gone,” Jihoon places a hand on my shoulder, a touch that’s meant to be reassuring, but it only suffices to make me angrier, “it was during my military service. I remember that you came with my parents to see me off, and it was—nice. So, I had a crush on you. I got over it when I got out of the military, though. Turns out seeing your best friend live in a hovel really does wonders for your lingering feelings.”

“For eighteen months?” I hold my head in my hands, “you had a crush on me for eighteen months? What the fuck kind of information is that? And you got out of the military three years ago!”

“M-hmm, see, that’s what I mean when I say these feelings will go away.” Jihoon looks sage, as if he’s imparting the secret to life and how to be a good Buddhist, and not bombarding my mind with information I would rather not know, “wait, have you masturbated to Joshua?”

“What the fuck?” I stand up, pacing the room at a speed that would closely rival that of an Olympian, “why would I masturbate to Joshua Hong?”

Jihoon shrugs, “people masturbate. You are a person. Hence the question.”

“Of course, I haven’t masturbated to—wait did you masturbate while thinking of me?” I’m yelling now, yelling and pacing the room like a woman possessed, because of course, Jihoon has made me lose my mind, “Lee Jihoon, did you jerk off to my pictures?”

He shrugs. “What are you going to do if I say yes?”

“I’m going to kill you, and then I’m going to kill myself,” I say, grabbing his shoulders, “you know what, Jihoon, lets do that. Let’s both die.”

“Why would I consent to a murder-suicide with you?” he sounds terribly composed, which again, does not bode well for the numerous murderous thoughts I have currently running through my head, “its just a little masturbation. I was twenty-three, I was bored to tears at the military camp, and I had a crush on you, so, I did what I did.”

“Which was apparently, masturbation.” I flop facedown on the couch, “I want to castrate you, you know that, right?”

“Figures. You’ve always been weird about sex.” Jihoon makes a face, “So, you didn’t tell me. do you want to fuck Joshua or not? Because if you do, then it just means that you want sex. If you don’t, then I can’t help you.”

“How can you help me in any way if I say I want to have sex with Joshua?” I ask, “even if I do, which I don’t, just by the way—”

“You want to jump his bones. Right.”

“—how can you even help me, short of getting me a male prostitute.” I pause, horror spreading through my features, “oh fuck. Jihoon, are you going to hire a gigolo?”

To his credit, Jihoon looks appropriately disgusted, “why would I hire a prostitute? No, I would set you up with one of my friends.”

“Who?”

He thinks for a while, then says, “Soonyoung.”

“No offence, but I’m about 90% convinced that Soonyoung is a furry.”

“Jeonghan-hyung, then.”

“He’s too similar to Joshua,” I groan, “why am I going along with this idea? This is literally the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Then do you want to help yourself?”

“Masturbate to thoughts of Joshua? Yeah, like that’s gonna work.” I hold my head in my hands, “fuck, I have to sleep with Soonyoung, don’t I? I’m half-convinced he will do a tiger impression in bed.”

“I’m fairly convinced he mimics a roar when he orgasms.” Jihoon mutters.

“Oh, fuck, now I have to talk about orgasms with you,” I say, face buried in one of the pillows, “I have to sleep with one of your weird friends and then everyone will know about my crush on Joshua and I’ll be shunned from our three-person group forever and ever—”

“Calm down, no one is going to spill your secrets,” Jihoon says, “and I have other friends too, you know. They don’t talk as much as those idiots, but they are good people.”

“But I don’t want to fuck anyone right now.”

Jihoon stares at me.

“Okay fine, maybe a little bit.” I concede, “but still, not enough to warrant a setting-up. Maybe I’m just sexually frustrated.”

“Then go fuck someone!”

“It isn’t that easy!” I snap, and Jihoon looks surprised, because its so unlike me to be incandescent over something as stupid as this, but I can’t help the shiver of anger running over me, “it isn’t so fucking easy. If it were, I would have gone and slept with a stranger from a bar. Yes, I know it’s dangerous, but I would have done it. But I’m telling you now, its difficult for me to even know if I’m attracted to Joshua, and if my attraction means I want to jump him or whatever.”

“Then what does it mean?” Jihoon, it seems, is also incapable of not reacting to my moods and temper, he gets angry easily sometimes, “What does it mean when you tell me you’re attracted to someone? We’re twenty-eight, for fuck’s sake. What the fuck else do you mean?”

“I don’t know!” I half-yell, half-sob, “I don’t know what I want, and I don’t know if I want to sleep with anyone, least of all Joshua. I’m confused, and I don’t know what to do, and all I want is a little acceptance, not you rattling of a list of people I should sleep with in order to get over my feelings for Joshua—”

“Hey, I’m sorry.”

“—and you can’t even give me that, Jihoon,” I finish lamely, looking at his concerned expression, “yeah fine, I’m leaving.”

The door is loud when I close it behind me. to his credit, Jihoon doesn’t pursue me, because even if he’s abnormally idiotic in matters like these, he’s got some sense.

—

I deeply regret befriending either of them, because both Joshua and Jihoon have apparently no sense of boundaries between people. Joshua keeps assaulting my inbox with messages along the lines of oh look how much I love my girlfriend and how much I can’t wait to see you guys and celebrate my engagement because I’ve got my life sorted out unlike YOU fuckers, and Jihoon has rewarded me with radio silence ever since I blew up in his face about his idiotic idea regarding me having sex with one of his friends.

And, as a testament to my misfortunes in life, Joshua has decided that his proposal to Eunseo must be followed up with a party thrown in her honour, or at least a dinner as per his last text message; which of course, he has to send to the shared chatroom with a variety of threatening and non-threatening messages.

joshuji: just saying if you guys aren’t here for the dinner, I’m never talking to you

hoon: aren’t proposals supposed to be an intimate thing? For couples??? Why are you asking us to be there????

joshuji: Eunseo wanted you guys to celebrate, too

joshuji: also, I’m proposing to her in the afternoon. I’m asking you guys to come over for dinner

hoon: maybe we should ask Eunseo about her feelings?

hoon: idk if she would want two others celebrating her engagement. Maybe we should stage an intervention and try to convince her to leave you. Its not too late already

big dick (canon): idk if I can make it guys

joshuji: I told u I wouldn’t be forgiving you if you don’t attend

hoon: you also tell us that every other week, I think we’ll be fine

joshuji: please?

hoon: don’t you fucking dare

big dick (canon): send us the location. Also, you’re paying

hoon: that’s the least he can do, after inflicting all this on us, and on her

joshuji: don’t worry, dinner is on me. [location attached] be there.

Fuck. Fuck my life, and fuck the two other people also in my life, and also, fuck Eunseo for good measure, because if it hadn’t been for her coming over to the mixer in third year, Joshua would never have fallen head over heels with her at first sight, and he wouldn’t have asked her out, and then I wouldn’t have had to deal with my conflicting feelings in the middle of a random Sunday. In the middle of me contemplating whether to clean my flat or not, too. If you look at it, its all her fault. Her fault for being so flawless and lovely and gorgeous that even I cannot bring myself to be jealous. The woman volunteers her free time at an animal shelter, for god’s sake. She’s the kind of person you write rambling horrible love sonnets about, and inflict them on your best friends after getting drunk and vomiting on a sidewalk at three in the morning. I should know, because that was Joshua when he was twenty-five.

Everything seems to go to shit at the same time, so of course, my landlord has to make an appearance when I’m in the middle of a neurotic episode over whether or not to do my laundry and contemplating hurling myself out of the window. His knocks are rhythmic, three seconds apart, which gives me enough time to prepare with a butcher’s knife in my hand. To ensure my safety, of course, in all my good conscience, I could never murder someone.

“Ah, yes, if it isn’t my favourite tenant,” he smiles, wide enough for me to see the gold tooth he had put in four years ago, “don’t worry, I’m only here for a routine check.”

“I bet you say that to all your tenants, Mr Kim.” I mutter, not moving from the doorway. If this man can sell me a glorified hovel posturing as a flat, I can disrespect him as much as I want. “I’ll get back to you on the renewal on my lease as soon as possible.”

The nosy bastard (man) that he is, Mr Kim cranes his neck around me to take a look inside my flat, “don’t worry, you’ve been one of my longest-running tenants for a while, you can take your time.” Then he looks at me, and the gold tooth is again on display. Ugh, I fucking hate it, “Is there a man inside? Boyfriend?”

“I don’t know why I’m saying this to you, Mr Kim, but I don’t have a boyfriend.” I reply, suppressing my urge to bury the knife held in my hand in his chest, “I was cooking, if you want to know that badly.”

“No boyfriend?” he tuts at me as though my dating life (or its lack thereof) is a personal slight against him, “but there are men coming over to your house all the time?”

“Those are my friends, Mr Kim,” I grit out, fake smile getting more brittle by the second, “men and women can be friends, you know.”

“Ah yes, I know, I know,” he nods, before clapping his hands like he’s received some sort of epiphany, “I forgot to tell you, but if you do decide to renew,” here he takes a deep breath, as if he’s bestowing upon me some great honour, “the rent will be raised. By twenty.”

“Twenty percent?” I screech, and the student in the flat next to me has probably heard it, “is that even legal?”

From the smile on his face, I don’t have to hear anything else. It probably is.

Mr Kim goes away from my line of sight (my kitchen knife’s line of attack) with another, equally insufferable, smile, and I close the door with a loud enough bang that the hinges rattle. I lied to Jihoon, because I only have two months left on my contract, and I still have had no luck in finding a new flat to move into. Everywhere I go, its either overpriced, or the facilities are too shitty, or the vibes are off.

Back in the room, I try to busy myself with laundry, when my phone rings. Its Jihoon, who’s apparently decided that making me angry is a full-time job for him. He’s making use of the private chat, which is rare for him, and somehow, equally annoying for me.

hoon: sorry about what happened in the studio this morning

hoon: offer still stands though

big dick (canon): that’s not how you apologise to someone

hoon: what? I’m trying to help my bestie get some

hoon: is that such a scandalous thing to ask for

big dick (canon): yes. Yes, it is

big dick (canon): also, fyi, I’m not sleeping with any of your friends. They’re all too weird for me

hoon: Mingyu? I remember you saying once that you’d motorboat him

big dick (canon): platonically

hoon: not sure how you’d motorboat someone platonically

big dick (canon): he’s too outgoing for me. cannot imagine I’d ever have a moment to myself if I ever dated him

hoon: Wonwoo? Everyone liked him back in university

big dick (canon): unfortunately, all he seems to talk about is gaming. I don’t mind gaming once or twice, but talking about it all the time? That bores me

hoon: Chan? He’s younger than you, but you could be a cougar, for all I know

big dick (canon): I’ve seen Jeonghan beg on his knees for him to go home after a drinking session

hoon: Minghao?

big dick (canon): He once teased me for my curtain bangs for a week straight

hoon: fine then, Cheol?

big dick (canon): Too competitive

hoon: Seungkwan?

big dick (canon): Too athletic. Also, isn’t he joining the culture desk soon?

hoon: Seokmin?

big dick (canon): Too outgoing

hoon: Vernon?

big dick (canon): Too quiet

hoon: Jun?

big dick (canon): Too weird

hoon: Jesus, fuck, woman, what kind of person do you want to date?

big dick (canon): ykw, just set me up with Mingyu. If nothing I can still get to say I motorboated some great pecs

big dick (canon): seriously, his pecs are bigger than my boobs

big dick (canon): how does he do it

big dick (canon): can I hold them

big dick (canon): respectfully

big dick (canon): in a non-sexual way

big dick (canon): please

hoon: I’m sure he’s going to appreciate that

big dick (canon): please ask him

big dick (canon): how does one get that kind of pectoral muscles

big dick (canon): wow

hoon: my pecs are bigger than his

big dick (canon): is this some new sort of dick-measuring contest idk yet

big dick (canon): if it is

big dick (canon): you’re losing

big dick (canon): I need to take a bite from his tits

big dick (canon): One

big dick (canon): Teensy tiny

big dick (canon): Munch

hoon: I’m so close to blocking u

big dick (canon): They hated Jesus because he spoke the truth

hoon: maybe you need to consider that Jesus had very bad vibes

hoon: so, you want to go on a date with Mingyu?

hoon: I feel like I should tell you that he eats the equivalent of three people

hoon: at the same time

big dick (canon): As long as he lets me motorboat him

big dick (canon): I don’t care

big dick (canon): He can eat as much as he wants

hoon: why must you be so horny over Mingyu of all people

hoon: he’s not even that attractive

hoon: and I’ve got bigger pecs than him

big dick (canon): congratulations on having bigger pecs, but I’m still gonna motorboat Mingyu

big dick (canon): going to gently hold his tits

hoon: between you going feral and Joshua badgering me about his engagement party dinner

hoon: I can’t help but feel as though both of u are out to make me go insane

big dick (canon): are you gonna go to that?

hoon: he’s already made plans at the barbecue place where we go to

hoon: even got a whole discount coupon and everything

hoon: normally I’d be upset that he’s being cheap, but after researching the price of that ring, I’m prepared to forgive him this once

hoon: next time I’m forcing him to take us out to a good dinner place

big dick (canon): are you planning to spend all his salary

big dick (canon): I’m in

big dick (canon): Ugh I haven’t eaten anything since the morning

big dick (canon): Can you ask Mingyu to bring me food

hoon: you’re incorrigible

hoon: have you been able to maintain eye contact with him?

big dick (canon): UNFAIR

big dick (canon): You know I can only do that with you

big dick (canon): Since you’re exactly my height

big dick (canon): Hehe

hoon: I’m blocking u and this number right NEOW

hoon: cannot believe I’m conversing WILLINGLY with someone who slanders my height

big dick (canon): see u at the barbecue place tonight

big dick (canon): have fun on the song

hoon: I’m trying to finish it

hoon: cannot believe I’ve gone into a slump

big dick (canon): you know how this can be cured?

big dick (canon): An INTERVIEW

big dick (canon): With yours truly

big dick (canon): Please

hoon: ask someone else

hoon: Soonyoung

big dick (canon): he’s an idol, yes but

big dick (canon): I’m terrified he’s going to do at least three tiger impressions

hoon: wrong, he’s going to do at least five

hoon: ugh gotta go

hoon: see u at the dinner

I stare at the dark phone screen for about five minutes after I’ve finished texting Jihoon. His interest in setting me up with one of his friends aside, he’s not wrong. I’m sexually frustrated, which means I’m just projecting my desires onto the closest available person, which in this case, happens to be Joshua.

Okay, fair enough, then why not anyone else? The people at my workplace aren’t that bad, and some of them are fairly good-looking, so why not them?

As soon as that thought comes into my mind, I shake it away violently. To willingly date someone in the workplace is inviting a whole host of problems, HR notwithstanding. And to imagine the fallout when I eventually break up with them, while still having to work with them in the same office—no, I’d rather take a transfer. The only option that remains are Jihoon’s friends, and while they’re all nice, they can also be terrifying, and therefore, not the best options for dating. Or sleeping around, which is what Jihoon wants me to do.

“Ugh, why do I have to have these feelings,” I moan into my pillow. It would have been great if I were born as an amoeba. Or as a plant. No need for my feelings to take centre stage, no need to maintain friendships with annoying people like Jihoon or Joshua. Just peaceful photosynthesis, and being eaten by a random goat on a random Tuesday. I wouldn’t even need to go to university. Nothing required. Just basking in the sun.

And unfortunately, because my mind is a little traitor, it focuses on the one thing that I don’t want to focus on: Jihoon’s offhand comment about his pecs being bigger than Mingyu’s; which, if I know Jihoon as well as I do, is a blatant lie, but even the thought of it is enough to send me into a downward spiral. What the hell does he mean, he has bigger pecs than Mingyu? Its not as if I want to see them, and let this be known, and made into public record, that I’ve never once wanted to see Jihoon’s pecs.

But.

Of course, its not as if I haven’t thought about it. not as far as Jihoon, who apparently masturbated to the thought of me, but of course I have idly wondered, what it would be like. When he came back from the military, its all I could think about for a couple days, before I had to physically slap myself back into reality. Unfortunately for me, his one petty comment about the size of his pectoral muscles, threatens to throw me back into the pits of desperation yet again.

Ugh. I slam my face into the pile of fresh laundry, hoping for it to soothe my nerves. Spoiler alert, it doesn’t.

Its at that moment that the chatroom pings again, this time with a message from Joshua.

joshuji: SHE SAID YES!!!!

hoon: congratulations!

big dick (canon): Congratulations!!!

—

The barbecue place is good enough for us, but for a dinner celebrating Joshua’s engagement to Eunseo, it seems a little too shabby. Although given the amount of money he’s spent on an engagement ring (I saw the prices, and I had to stifle a gasp) it can be forgiven. Just this once, as Jihoon said.

I’ve come here late, on purpose. Between the excited texts from Eunseo, who texted me a picture of her ring, and I had to act appropriately surprised, and Joshua’s infamous enthusiasm for a. showing the world how much he loves his girlfriend and b. to torment his friends, I’m feeling drained. I’m dressed for a night of eating greasy food and drinking cheap alcohol: a hoodie borrowed (stolen) from either Jihoon or Joshua, and jeans. I can’t even lie to myself and give myself a reason to dress up, because even I can’t delude myself into doing that. Jihoon once saw me with day-old vomit on my shirt, and Joshua has seen me dress in my sleepwear for exams week.

The place is filled with smoke, emanating from the meat being cooked on the grills, and it takes me a moment to adjust myself to it all, before I look for the other three. They have all arrived, and according to Jihoon, who’s sent a message out of his own accord on the chatroom in a long time, they’re all eating lots of beef.

“You’re late,” Jihoon grumbles as I approach the table, “I had to sit through half an hour of these two being happy and in love.”

“You’re a liar,” I say, sliding into the seat next to him, “you enjoy romance movies.”

“Wow, that’s something I didn’t know about him,” Joshua says, with a twinkle in his eyes that I don’t want to decode, “how come you know everything about Jihoon?”

“Occupational hazard,” I reply, reaching for a piece of meat, “every time you bailed on us to go on a date with Eunseo, Jihoon and I would be forced to hang out together.”

“It was horrible,” Jihoon agrees, “she’d force me to watch all these romance movies.”

“Says the man who cried while watching Love Actually.”

Eunseo giggles at that, almost doubling over herself. I narrow my eyes at Joshua, “have you both been drinking since the afternoon?”

“No, no, I haven’t,” Eunseo wheezes, and it’s unfair how gorgeous she is while laughing, too. She’s wearing an apron to prevent grease falling on her expensive clothes, and she’s still gorgeous. I snort when I laugh, and once Jihoon saw me with mango juice coming out of my nose, “it’s just funny.”

“What is?”

She points at the two of us, “you know, the both of you keep talking about how annoying you find each other, and yet you’re both closer to each other than anyone else. It’s just so funny to me.”

“Joshua,” Jihoon says, very seriously, “I think your fiancée has been taking drugs.”

“At the very least, she’s insane,” I supply helpfully, “no one in their right minds would date Joshua. Not to mention agreeing to marry him.”

Joshua puts an arm around Eunseo, “stop slandering my fiancée.”

Jihoon puts a piece of meat into his mouth, trying to change the topic, “have I mentioned I’m helping her hook up with someone?”

I cough violently, while Eunseo and Joshua wear twin expressions of confusion. “Wait, Jihoon,” Joshua says, “I thought you—”

“I told you not to talk about that!” I wail, a noise that’s fortunately covered by all the meat-grilling around me, “no, I’m not going to hook up with any of your friends. Jihoon has terrible taste in people, not to mention that all your friends aren’t exactly hook-up material.”

“You take that back,” he gasps, “weren’t you talking about how you’d like to motorboat Mingyu?”

“That was platonically!”

“I’m sorry,” Joshua interjects, looking at me as though I’ve sprouted another head, “how can you, and I’m just going off on a limb here, motorboat someone platonically?”

“That’s what I said,” Jihoon grumbles, “she keeps asking me to set them up once.”

“That’s because he’s the hottest out of all your friends.” The soju is bitter as I drink it, “if I have to engage in a night of mindless sex, might as well do it with the hottest guy around.”

“Knew it,” Jihoon wags one of his fingers at me, “knew you only wanted Mingyu for his body. How dare you do that to my friend.”

“You once stole his socks.”

“Once.”

“For a whole semester.”

“Fair enough.”

“Both of you,” Joshua says loud enough for us to stop bickering, “explain it to us properly. What do you mean you’re helping her hook up with one of our friends? And why are you letting him hook you up with one of our friends?”

I shrug, “It’s not a big deal. Besides, you heard us. It’s only going to be one time.”

“Do I need to give you the talk?”

Jihoon laughs, “you do realise she’s an adult?”

“I’m not saying she can’t do anything; I’m just saying she needs to be careful!

“If I have to be careful around the rest of the guys, then maybe you shouldn’t be friends with them.”

“What do you mean she should be careful around the people who have known her for so long?”

“All of you!” Eunseo claps her hands, and like kindergarten children, we all turn to look at her, sheepish, “Josh,” she turns to the man in question, who looks sufficiently contrite, “let me have a word.”

As they leave, Jihoon pulls a face. “asshole.”

I take another shot of the soju, “he’s just looking out for me.”

“Then he shouldn’t be so overbearing about it.” Jihoon takes a look at me downing another shot, “should you be drinking this fast?”

“Don’t you start.” I say, shaking my head, “I’m going to drink enough to wipe out Joshua’s bank account.”

Jihoon says nothing, just looks at me, and then, after ten seconds, “do you want to do it?”

“Do what?”

“The date. With Mingyu.”

Maybe its just the alcohol getting to my head, or maybe its all this smoke, but his voice seems different. Is he concerned, or is he joking, as per usual? It’s confusing. Should I blame the alcohol? That seems easier, given how it’s getting to my head. “I don’t know.”

“He’s not that bad, you know. He’s a good listener, and if you want him to shut up, he will. He’s great that way.”

I stare at him. Jihoon has a strange look on his face, one that I can’t really place. Alcohol. Yes. Blame it on the alcohol. I take another shot, but before I can form a reply to him, Eunseo and Joshua are walking back to the table, hand-in-hand, identical smiles on their faces. As soon as it had come, the look in Jihoon’s eyes is gone, replaced by the usual, blasé attitude he has perfected.

“Sorry for being late,” Eunseo breezes as she settles into the table, “Joshua needed to be reminded of adult boundaries.”

“I’m sorry.” Joshua offers by way of an apology, “I overstepped.”

“Damn right you did.” Jihoon mutters.

“Apology accepted,” I smile, picking up a piece of meat, “can you order some more?”

—

Mondays are, unfortunately, the worst. Especially if one spent their Sunday evening drinking enough alcohol to lose half their memories. I slide into my seat at work, yawning as I inspect the things I have to finish working on before the end of the day.

“Morning, sunbae,” a cheery voice says, placing a cup of coffee on my desk, “you look like shit.”

“Not the time, Seungkwan,” I mutter, pressing two fingers to my forehead, “too loud, too loud.”

“Heard you got shitfaced with Jihoon and the others last night,” Seungkwan says louder, “Jihoon texted the chat with the others at two in the morning, saying how he was going to take you home.”

“He did?” thankfully, I have no recollection of this happening, so I just let him fill me in on the details, “all I remember is drinking too much at the barbecue place.”

“Celebrating Joshua’s engagement, right?” Seungkwan’s smile is irritating, and I hate how cheery he is in the morning, “he texted about that, too. The pear-cut diamond was, oof, it was something to see.”

“Why do you know about diamond cuts?”

“I grew up with sisters,” he shrugs, as if growing up with sisters imbued one with all the hidden knowledge of womankind, including, but not limited to, engagement ring diamonds and their specific cuts, “you pick up stuff from listening.”

“Jihoon told you all he took me home?” I ask, “he doesn’t usually say that kind of stuff.”

“You got especially drunk last night, so he made an exception for you.” Seungkwan grins, leaning in, “what do you think about Jihoon?”

“He’s a pain in my ass.” I mutter, switching on my computer, “also, go back to work, Seungkwan. You’re not even supposed to be here until next week!”

“Yoo-min quit, so they asked me to join a week early,” he gives me a grin that again, I try not to decode (what is it with all these men and their mysterious grins?) before settling down into the seat next to me, and promptly jumping up to subject me to a ninety-degree bow, “Boo Seungkwan, at your service!”

“Ugh,” I wince, waving at him, “sit down, for the love of god, no one needs to be that loud in the mornings.”

“You are my senior, as it happens, and I’m very keen on maintaining proper relations.”

“Get me one of those hangover cures.”

“I like the American style.”

—

To no one’s surprise, Seungkwan is a very competent worker. He’s a social butterfly, which means that he quickly endears himself to everyone at work, and by the time lunch rolls around, I have to hear praises of Seungkwan from everyone. It’s terrifying, how competent he is.

Being one of the associate editors, means I have to mostly edit the articles sent in by the reporters on ground, not to mention I get to pick and choose which issue I want to cover. I maintain as much of my professionalism as I can, while having a raging headache.

“Sunbae,” Seungkwan approaches me right before lunch, “will you be going out to cover an article?”

“I have an interview with an author after lunch, so not yet,” I reply, putting the finishing touches on a report sent in by one of our field staff, on some celebrity’s rash driving case, “I have some time.”

“Do you want to have lunch with the rest of us?” he asks, gesturing the group of five waiting behind him, “we’re going to have naengmyeon at the place down the block.”

“I have enough sense to not butt into the affairs of my juniors, Seungkwan,” I say, standing up from my chair, “here, have the card. Since its your first day here, the office should treat you.”

Seungkwan takes the offered card with a bow, and smiles brightly, “oh, but the editor said we’re having a company dinner tonight? Won’t you be joining us for that?”

“A group dinner?” I ask, and the group behind him nods their head, all in unison. It makes them look like little bobbleheads, for some reason. “Sure, I’ll join in.”

“Yes!” he seems unusually cheerful about the company dinner, which in my own experience is nothing but a pain that I had to accustom myself with when I joined the paper, “see you tonight, sunbae!”

“This kid,” I groan, picking up my coat. The prospect of lunch makes my stomach turn, and now I have to contend with dinner?

I text Jihoon while walking out of the offices. Joshua is busy with his new fiancée, and Jihoon’s building is far closer to mine that it is to Joshua’s place of work.

big dick (canon): Are u free

big dick (canon): For lunch

Unless Jihoon texts first, he takes an hour to respond at best, but as soon as I send the message, he’s typing a reply.

hoon: lunch?

hoon: if it isn’t lunch I’m killing u

hoon: dude I’ve never had a block this bad I think I’m going to go crazy

hoon: not to mention the hangover from last night is crazy

big dick (canon): it is for lunch, you idiot, why would I text u otherwise

big dick (canon): and I can agree on that, my head is killing me

hoon: is hangover soup cool with u

hoon: I know a good place

hoon: meet u at the front of your building in five

hoon: please tell me all the details about Seungkwan

“He took five minutes to get the editor to warm up to him?” Jihoon cackles, as the lady serves us two steaming bowls of seollongtang, “of course, it’s Seungkwan. He can make anyone warm up to him in minutes.”

“I fear he takes it as a challenge.” I say, spooning the milky broth into my mouth, “ah! Its hot!”

“Why can’t you just wait for a while, before eating your food?” Jihoon pours me a glass of water, “did you die of starvation in your previous life?”

“I don’t believe in that.”

“Yes, yes, Miss Atheist. Tell me what else our little dongsaeng get up to in the meantime.”

“He’s not been given a lot of work, given that it’s his first day,” I take another, more tentative sip of the broth, “but unfortunately, I’ve got to attend another company dinner tomorrow night.”

“Another company dinner? Haven’t you gone through enough pain to consider drinking again, what, barely twenty-four hours later?”

“Twenty-fours is pushing it,” I say, wincing at the sound of my own voice, “ugh, this damn hangover. I can’t even function. Let’s just eat in silence.”

“You want a cider?” Jihoon asks, looking around for the owner to ask for two cans of cider, but the owner is faster than him, setting down two cans of soda in front of us with a smile on her face.

“Your boyfriend is very caring.” She tells me, “its so nice to see someone taking care of their girlfriend so well. The sodas are on the house, okay?”

“Oh, but he’s not—” even before I’ve finished my sentence, she’s gone again, tending to her other customers. Jihoon opens one of the cans for me without saying a word.

“We should stop coming here.” I say, accepting the can from him, “why would anyone think that we’re a couple?”

“They can’t accept that men and women can just be friends, that’s why.”

“Too bad the food is great.”

Jihoon pauses for a moment, then a slow, sly smile spreads all over his face. I know that look. That look does not bode well for me, or for anyone else involved. The first time I saw Jihoon have that look on his face, Seungcheol embarrassed himself so badly in front of a group of first-year students, he refused to come out to any events where Jihoon was invited, for almost a month. This look means that he’s got some sort of evil plan in his mind, one that involves another person and their total embarrassment. He takes a look around the restaurant, and sits up straight. The words that come out of his mouth next, however—

“Babe,” Jihoon says, loud enough for half the restaurant to hear, “don’t you think this place is great?”

What the fuck?

“Jihoon, what are you doing?” my voice is a whisper, “they’re all looking at us!”

“That’s the point.” He whispers, before smiling, “you should say something too, you know. Make the whole thing more believable.”

“I don’t want to!”

“They gave us free sodas; they deserve a special performance at least.” He points to the owner, who looks like she’s about to break her face from smiling so damn broad, “sorry, my girlfriend is a very shy.”

“Oh,” the lady waves it away, “anyone can see you are in love!”

In the end, when Jihoon is paying for our lunches, she takes a final look at the two of us, and croons, “you two make a lovely couple!”

“What the fuck was that?” I turn on Jihoon as soon as we are safely out of the restaurant and far enough for anyone to eavesdrop, “Why the hell would you tell her that we’re dating?”

“Thought you needed a pick-me-up,” Jihoon grins, “at least I got you to stop worrying about things so much.”

“There are better ways of going about that than telling unsuspecting diner owners that we are dating!”

“It was funny, you have to admit,” he smiles, and I have to begrudgingly agree, “see, told you we’d make a cute couple.”

I would rather die than tell Jihoon that I agree with him on anything, so I keep quiet. Thing is; it was rather funny. Especially with how the owner reacted to us.

“And later on,” Jihoon says, holding on to my arm as we cross the road, “when you come to this place with someone else, you can just tell her that we broke up.”

“You need to stop talking about how I’m going to start dating other people.” I mutter, “just because I’ve got some frustrations I need to work out, doesn’t mean I’m going to go running into the arms of whoever it is who offers first.”

“Careful with that,” he says, standing at the crossroads where he’s supposed to walk towards his building, “you might end up regretting it.”

And with a single wave, he’s gone. I stand for about five minutes, like an idiot, while the busy crowd walks past me, trying to decode his words. Why would I regret my decision to not date someone just because I need to get over myself? Not to mention Jihoon has been behaving strangely since the previous night.

“Sunbae,” Seungkwan materialises next to me, “penny for your thoughts?”

“Jesus!” I narrowly escape jumping three feet into the air, “give a girl a warning!”

“I did call out,” he pouts. Its disconcerting how adorable he is. “You were pretty engrossed in looking into the distance to even notice my presence.”

“Are you upset?”

Seungkwan smiles, “if you agree to a badminton match with me over the weekend, I’ll overlook this slight.”

I sigh. “You drive a hard bargain,” I say, making my way into the building, “see you at the dinner, then.”

—

417 notes · View notes

dandylion240 · 5 days ago

Text

Story Questionnaire

Thanks for the tag @bool-prop

1) How did you come up with such unique & fascinating characters?

Quite literally the game gave me my story characters. I started off wanting to play the game and Sims 4 was just easier for my then laptop to handle than Sims 3. So I created a sim named Dominick Reagan who had purple hair. I loved him but not the sim he paired up with. Johnny Zest. I still have that original family and their kids. But I just didn't connect with them.

So I created a Robin Fairchild and started over with Dominick. They were just too cute and then they had their son Riley. I made Jackson Malloy for him to become friends and well they spent a good chunk of their teen years making out in closets. If there was a closet they were going to find it. At this point they were still just a gameplay family.

Jackson and Riley eventually got married and had twins, Jayden and Jonah and that's when my story making brain kicked in. I started to think what would happen if they met twins and married them. Would they have identicall lives? How different would things go?

2) When you started writing your story, what did you take into consideration?

Well I had a lot of what if questions and I hadn't even decided on which twin would be with what twin yet. So I decided to just put them together and see what the game would give me.

Jonah was the first to meet Evan. They dated but sparks didn't fly until he and Evan went to the Romance festival. And my game decided to send Jayden and Ethan there too. And Jayden and and Evan wouldn't stop flirting. So I knew then that the game had decided which twins were meant to be together. Jonah and Ethan were kind of lackluster to begin with which should have warned me of things to come. But once I knew what the couples were I let my imagination run wild with the what if questions that eventually formed the stories that followed.

3) How did you shape each character’s background/family?

Since they were born in game I knew their background and family well. i may have fleshed out what the game gave me but Jayden/Jonah's parents were both famous. Riley was a famous pianist and Jackson was a famous auther mostly known for his poetry books.

Then I got the idea to add a little bit of magical history when their grandfather Robin was saved from death and for whatever reson the game extended his lifespan to infinity. He still hasn't died and his life span bar never changes. So i decided that in the distant past the Reagan family magic was bound due to misuse of their powers but it still lingered by their extra long life spans. Plus I'll admit I didn't like the idea of my beloved sims dying so now they don't have to.

It wasn't until fairly recently that I decided that it was time to bring the magic back. So they all had to deal with magical abilities they didn't know they had.

4) Do you plan everything before starting, or are you more spontaneous?

When I started writing my Reagan stories I decided that I would write as ideas came to me. I'd write until I ran out of ideas. So I have a collection of different stories that have built off of each other. I hadn't realized how well they went together until recently when I decided to re-post them. I'm fairley surprised at how well they flowed together.

I like to include things that the game gives me. Like personality traits, fears, etc. So I do still play and I like for my game to decide who they'll date/marry. It's interesting to try to work that into the make up of the story as it forms.

When I have a story that comes to mind and it's usually almost always starts with ...What if???

I'll have a loose outline of things that I think will happen in story but sometimes things diverge and I just alter my plans to fit the new story that the characters tell me.

5) Does reality inspire you, or do you rely more on your imagination?

I think it's a mix of things. I've added little memories of things I've done as a kid when I'm writing about kids. I've included little half remembered nightmares, fears, etc. Added little bit of imagination. Sometimes it's things I've been told by friends, things I've overheard, read, watched, etc. It all gets combined and mixed together into something unique.

6) When did you KNOW you were going to make this story?

When I couldn't resist the urge to write anymore. I wasn't planning on writing stories using Sims 4. I was content with the characters I had and loved in Sims 3 but those darn what if questions wouldn't leave me alone. So I just had to start writing.

7) What has shaped your story into being the way it is?

A little bit of everything. I draw inspiration from life, dreams, imagination, reading, movies, tv and from different people in the simblr community. I used to collab with others that helped with ideas and others have given me their sims to use in my stories that have given my favorite dragons and reaper. Sadly they've moved on from simblr and I sometimes feel a little sad that they're no longer around to bounce ideas off of. I miss that but I ultimately I just love writing and telling my stories.

Not sure who has or hasn't done this but I'll tag the following: @charmfamily @wolkentage @lynzishell @stargazer-sims Feel free to ignore if you have already done this or don't want to.

#tag game #story questions #writing

17 notes · View notes

miminiac · 5 years ago

Text

Korrasami had build up, just maybe not one you identified with and that’s okay...

I am tired of the LGBTQ+ community hating on Legend of Korra (LoK) for not being gay enough. The critique that there wasn’t enough build up is (1) not productive at all and (2) honestly, not true. There was build up. It may not be the build up every LGBTQ+ person will like, and it may not relate to the experience of every person’s coming out, but it was there. Korrasami was something the creators had tossed around as soon as Book 1 (not that they necessarily had permission to do anything about it). Take this quote from Bryan Konietzko’s tumblr post after the finale aired:

As we wrote Book 1, before the audience had ever laid eyes on Korra and Asami, it was an idea I would kick around the writers’ room. At first we didn’t give it much weight, not because we think same-sex relationships are a joke, but because we never assumed it was something we would ever get away with depicting on an animated show for a kids network in this day and age, or at least in 2010. (link)

The post also discusses how Makorra was never meant to be endgame after Book 1. Again, the time LoK was airing was at a point where states were passing laws to actively prevent gay marriage (LoK ended in 2014, legalization of same-sex marriage by supreme court ruling wasn’t until 2015––context is important). Did they actively write a romance in Books 1 and 2, no they did not. However, as many creators and writers, they let the characters lead them and they discovered that Korra and Asami were more than just friends. Again, taken from the same post:

The more Korra and Asami’s relationship progressed, the more the idea of a romance between them organically blossomed for us

So what we have with Korra and Asami is not a planned romantic relationship from the very beginning, however, the characters have been leading them there since the beginning, whether they realized it or not. Now, I am a big fan of Barthes’ “Death of the Author”, so I 100% percent think that viewers/readers have the ability to inject their own narratives and that multiple narratives can coexist. However, the point of this post is to explain why a critique of “wish they did more” is not productive when it comes to discussion of LoK of a piece of LGBTQ+ media representation. Therefore, I turn to the creators to show that there was intent and there was subtext and build up within Book 3 and 4 (as Bryan discusses in his post, please read in full when you have time).

A lot of Korrasami was hidden in subtext, and that happened because of homophobia within the industry, which still exists today. Content creators of LGBTQ+ media continue to have to walk a fine line. Take Noelle Stevenson talking about Catradora:

My big fear was that I would show my hand too early and get told very definitively that I was not allowed to do this

And like with Catradora (though a little easier since Noelle told viewers that every character is a part of the LGBTQ+ community by default unless explicitly stated otherwise), people saw Korrasami from as early as Book 2 (if not Book 1 on a rewatch).

At the time LoK started airing, I still thought I was straight; I still thought I was straight when I was watching the third season and telling my then boyfriend how Korra and Asami were going to be a couple by the end (literally, when they interacted in the first episode of season 3 while Asami taught Korra how to drive, I turned to him and said it; he said they would never do that and it was a pipe dream). I continued to see Korrasami’s friendship build into something romantic (even if the characters themselves were unaware of it).

Come Season 3 Episode 9, where Asami carries away a helpless Korra, mimicking Katara having carried away a helpless Aang. For those who had watched the original series and were big Korrasami shippers, this scene basically made it canon. It could be argued as the point that maybe the friendship switched to something more romantic. The rest of season 3 and all of season 4 only added moments between these two (side note: I came out as bisexual soon after season 4 started airing, though I had been questioning my sexuality probably since the end of season 3).

Now is the Korrasami relationship perfect, absolutely not. Bryke admits as much, but it was a significant step forward. Again, this happened in 2014, so a lot of narrative within media of states passing laws to discriminate against same-sex couples and deny marriage. The hand-holding scene everyone screams about not being enough. Well, they received plenty of homophobic backlash from that.

The critique that they didn’t do enough is not productive. It is a critique that could be said about most main-stream LGBTQ+ media. I get that we are tired of scraps; I get that we are tired of having to read between the lines because creators are still afraid to come out and say it (pun intended). However, to critique LoK as “not being gay enough” ignores the context in which it was created and what that representation meant to many of the viewers (like myself) who were discovering themselves and their sexuality at the time.

Avatar: the Last Airbender (ATLA) was made for 8-13 year olds (from season 1), and I would argue that LoK was made for that same group of people, who would have then been 14-19 years old when LoK first aired. Thus, LoK was being watched by those entering high school and college––a time of self-discovery.

Additionally, a critique that LoK doesn’t do enough leads to an idea that there is “a right way” to create a LGBTQ+ relationship, which I would argue is harmful to the community at large. If you did not identify with Korra’s coming out, that’s completely valid. If you did not identify with the way the Korrasami relationship progressed, that is also valid. But you cannot invalidate the relationship of Korrasami, as a relationship built off a friendship and mutual respect that blossomed by into something more. The relationship was not sexualized with wistful glances and blatant sexual tension, instead, it was built on a friendship and respect for boundaries.

Again, multiple narratives can be drawn given each viewer has a unique set of experiences. One such reading could show that Asami was more in tune with her feelings for Korra than Korra was about her feelings for Asami. And, instead of flirting non-stop with Korra, Asami respects Korra’s space (though we all saw her check out Korra’s back muscles) and recognizes that Korra has a lot on her plate being the avatar, a relationship is not something on the forefront of her mind. It is only after defeating Kuvira (and the healing/growth from a few episodes prior in "Beyond the Wilds”) that Korra is able to truly understand her feelings to Asami, suggesting they take a trip together––just the two of them.

Now, you may not identify with that type of coming out, but other people do. And to argue that “LoK didn’t make Korrasami explicit enough” undermines the experiences of those in the LGBTQ+ who heavily identified with Korra’s experiences and her coming out.

Holding LGBTQ+ media to this higher standard is inherently toxic. I would like to believe that these creators are coming from a good place with good intentions. There is nothing toxic or abusive in the way Korrasami is portrayed. There is nothing unrealistic about the way their relationship progressed throughout the series. It was not a fan service––it was the natural progression of the characters.

And let’s not forget that Korrasami is not only confirming a relationship between two women, but it is also two women of color. Now, it may not seem like a huge deal within the contexts of the Avatar World, but it is important to remember the context of where this show was airing.

There are things we can critique LoK on. It isn’t perfect. We can discuss the hiring of white voice actors (as a way to hold new media that is being created or will be created accountable, not as a way to just hate on LoK); we can discuss the voices within the writers room and the lack of diversity there. These are critiques that can be made of ATLA and LoK and countless of other media produced. This is a valid critique when used constructively. It is not meant to tear down an entire piece of media and everything that it has done for various communities, but rather to point to a flaw within the way media is being produced and the racist, sexist, and homophobic systems in place that determine what and how media is produced.

If we are to critique, we could look to reimagining how we create and consume media, not tearing down media that has already been produced and stands in a pivotal spot of the community. As Audre Lorde says:

For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.

If we are continually operating within the systems of oppression, we will never truly be able to dismantle them. Thus, to operate within the institutions of Nickelodeon, Netflix, Disney, etc. is to be beholden to the rules and constraints of a moderate, heteronormative, sexist, racist society. If creators stray too far from that line too quickly, there will be backlash. The perfect LGBTQ+ representation cannot exist while made within these institutions.

I would like to mention this statement is not to say that we cannot critique or boycott movies or shows that are performative in their diversity. There is no excuse for Hollywood after the successes of Black Panther (2018) and Crazy Rich Asians (2018) (and others) to not fill the crew and writers with the same representation being shown on the screen. We can, and should, hold production companies accountable––and given the internet, it is something we can do even early on in the production process.

I have gotten a little off track, but my point is, think about your critiques. Really ask yourself if it is a productive critique, or if it is critique that actually harms or is toxic to the community. Critiques are hard, I understand that. When we first start to think critically, it is easy to just jump on these “low hanging fruit” type critiques. It takes practice and comfortability learning and expanding your world view to construct a critique that looks at context from various point of views and experiences.

117 notes · View notes

thingsreadinthedark · 3 years ago

Text

GOoDbYe, 2021! 🥂

Yo listen, this year was PEAK BEG. Like I’m over this pandemic like the rest of y’all. We saw some justice served, but did we? Hmm. Let’s not even go there.

Let’s talk about what I learned this year. I learned I got to set my goals and knock them down because I did just that and I got what I needed in one aspect; so I’m going to keep going with that whole vibe next year. I learned that I gotta focus on one goal at a time and give myself over to it consistently. Easier said than done, yea. But, should still be attempted.

I learned that it’s fun to move in silence, it’s comforting to have a private life and a small circle and it’s great to let shit go, it’s also great to diversify in order to move forward. You can’t get anywhere constantly staring at the same shit. I took a couple stabs in the dark that didn’t materialize anything, but that’s okay. Imma stab some bitches up next year. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

I learned that I have so many book crushes. I have people in my life that entertain me with the way that their minds work, and the continuously give to me every single day, even if they don’t realize that they’re giving. I’m apart of some great book clubs that always keep me on my toes and I’ve made some friends that I really and truly appreciate. I love their enthusiasm about reading because I get to nerd out every night with likeminded folks and that filled the need that I have that I used to get from external things like volunteering and community work which has all but been reduced to nothing as we slide through this pandemic.

Hmmm.. let’s get into the reads...

I dropped a thread of my favourite books this morning.. here. But sometimes I like repeating myself so here we go!

Chantel’s favourite reads of 2021 - let us begin..

1) A Little Devil in America by Hanif Abdurraqib

2) The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fannone Jeffers

3) Unfollow Me by Jill Louise Busby

4) Punch Me Up to the Gods by Brian Broome — like made me laugh and cry in equal measure; a look into toxic patriarchal masculinity in the Black community

5) Just As I Am by Cicely Tyson - God rest her soul

6) New Animal by Ella Baxter — sleeper hit for the best fiction I read this year after The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

7) The Black Cathedral by Marcial Gala — the craziest but dopest book ever

8) Open Water by Calum Azumah Nelson — passionate and unique in its delivery. A love story that’s not a love story but a life story. Fiction at its finest.

9) Daylight by Roya Marsh — Black butch poetry, so much heart like SO MUCH HEART my god! Left me speechless

10) Dear Senthuran by Akwaeke Emezi who always continues to astound me with their work. Like their spirit flys so high and the way that they write gets way down deep inside me. I can feel them fucking with my soul even typing these small sentences. A memoir in letters it’s magical. They are a God.

Honourable Mentions because what’s a list without some Honourable Mentions!

HM1) Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell really got up in my cranium this year. It was a really good read

HM2) How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones — this story filled me all the way up

HM3) The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura — Japanese writers are so dope. They’ve mastered the ‘quietly sinister’ genre perfectly. This was fun and weird.

HM4) You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey by Amber Ruffin — so good, funny and enraging at the same time, I’m glad that Amber and her sister Lacey got to make a bag off of the stupid racist shit that they’ve encountered while just being their best selves and living their lives

HM5) This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith — romance with a twist, a big twist.. not even romance more like yeah it’s a romance novel, kinda.. anyway it was dope

One extra Tumblr bonus —

HM6) Shoutin’ in the Fire by Dante Stewart — left me speechless, bought two copies one for my brother and one for my friend and sent them out into the world. Powerful work!

Best classic read: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas — I’m glad that I got into this classic this year. I’m glad my handsome cool friend decided to read it with me because it just made it even more fun and hilarious. I can’t wait to engage in some more buddy reads this year. I got one lined up for the Song of Solomon by the legendary Toni Morrison in the next couple months.

More bonuses!!!

Best short story collection I read this year: The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You by Maurice Carlos Ruffin.. yo it was soooo good and that story Ghetto University was probably the best short story I’ve read all year. Runner up Hitting A Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick by Zora Neale Hurston, which was amazing and levels of dope.

I had so many other reads that I loved but the above were my favourite.

A couple amazing things I’m currently working through slowly that I didn’t finish and will finish in 2022:

1) Girlhood by Melissa Febos — so heavy I had to stop and start numerous times, heavy like a brick, so many times I thought I was ready only to realize that I wasn’t ready same for #3

2) What’s a Black Critic to Do? by Donna Bailey Nurse — insane and amazing. So many great reads to read out of this one book. I’m savouring all the profiles

3) The Will to Change by bell hooks (RIP) — I cry through reading this book.. much like Girlhood, I start and I stop and I think I’m ready but I’m not, hopefully I can do it in 2022. It’s hard work.

4) Will by Will Smith it’s a fantastic read and listen but much like his movies, can only deal with it in small doses so I’m sure I’ll finish it in 2022,

Anyway y’all — this was a long post that enjoyed writing immensely. As I just learned that Betty White passed, I hope that everyone is taking care of themselves in 2022 so that we can all live until 99 or 100 years old. That would be amazing. Imma try some more this year to live in a continued mentally healthy space. I had a great time reading this year and I anticipate a year of awesome and amazing reads and more and more buddy reads and BC-filled nights. RIP TO THE QUEEN, Betty White.🕊

As usual I want to read more and more work by women, more work by younger Black men, more Black Canadian reads, more reads by Caribbean authors and I’m going to copy from myself and paste here: this upcoming year I want to read more.. I want to read more Toni Morrison, more bell hooks more writers from the Caribbean, more Danticat, more legendary Black Canadian authors like Austin Clarke, I want to read more Nalo Hopkinson, more Dionne Brand & Cecil Foster, more more more more more more and yoooo we’ll get there!

Happy New Year. 🥳 ✌🏾🥂❤️

#happy new year #RIP Betty White #book tumblr #best reads 2021 #bookstagram #best of 2021 #goodreads #chantel’s reading notes #chantel’s reading diary #currently reading #reading notes #bookblr #black booklr #booklr #2022 #new year new reads #best of lists

5 notes · View notes

fortheloveoffanfic · 5 years ago

Text

Taking Chances 2/4

Keanu Reeves x Reader (A/n- Switching perspectives without clear divisions cause why not)

1 2 3 4

Warnings- Brief mentions of smut, cheesy romance stuff

Ayiana and Mark had left when the rain had slowed, and Keanu had insisted that they take the rented car back, after agreeing with Y/n that they could fend for themselves. After the couple had left though, tipsy and all over each other, the rain, as predicted by the forecast, had grown heavy again. Though, as the night waned on, most patrons, drunk and tired, had opted to bare the worst of the storm, leaving the pub scantily populated, with Keanu and his newfound friend cozied in a booth near the back, where the lights were lowest, beer bottles and empty glasses laid out on the table. By then, Y/n’s clothes were mostly dried, as was her hair, now in messy curls framing her gorgeous face. “Wait,” drunkenly, Y/n giggled, leaning in so Keanu could catch a whiff of the alluring remnants of her perfume mixing intoxicatingly with the scent of alcohol, “Say that again.”

“Okay, okay,” her fit of musical giggles were contagious and Keanu could help but grin wider as he realized how absolutely breathtaking Y/n was when she smiled, “I got up to check the air, and just like that this lady rear ends me.”

“And the bike slides out from under you?” She finished, eyes wide and her soiree interrupted by her gaping in shock.

“Basically, yeah,” Keanu nodded, “It was insane!” He laughed a bit louder, not caring how much attention they attracted, only quelling the sound when he finished off his latest drink. They’d had so many by then, that they’d both lost count and Y/n and Keanu could both safely say that they were way past drunk.

“But you were okay right?” And just like that, her glassy eyes were sparkling with genuine worry, and again, Y/n leaned in a tad bit closer. The nearer she drew, the harder it was to ignore how plump her lips were, how much Keanu wanted to kiss her. It was so strange, they didn’t know each other very well, and Keanu knew that Y/n would probably be gone by the next day; but he thought he could listen to her for a lifetime, her laugh, her voice, even her silences were enjoyable. She was so unlike anyone he’d ever met, funny, intelligent, confident, but also so very shy at times, blushing when he least expected and laughing at his worst jokes. It wasn’t forced or fake laughter either, it was real, full bodied and melodious.

“Yeah,” Keanu’s smile softened as he reassured her, still surprised by her unexpected concern, “I was standing, so everything turned out fine.” They broke into a bout of silence, a brief one, which Keanu broke, "So, what brings you to Luxembourg? I mean, you're definitely not from around here."

At that, Y/n blushed, thinking back on how she'd messed up the accents on very simple words earlier, "I'm not," she chortled quietly, they'd just been equipped with fresh drinks, and as she thought of her answer, mind to blurry to work out all the details, she spun the glass in her hand, eyeing the whiskey inside with broken focus, "I'm actually here for…...inspiration. I thought some kind of spontaneous trip would somehow get the creative juices flowing, I'm a writer, or at least, I'm supposed to be," she chuckled dryly, "I used to be a journalist."

"Career change? You didn't like it?" Keanu furrowed his brows, holding his chin in his palm, elbow planted on the table. He wanted to know everything about her, willing to listen to anything she'd say, and based on their interaction, he could tell she felt the same.

"I did," Y/n took a sip of her drink, staring off to the cleared tables ahead wistfully, "I traveled sometimes, but usually I'd be in Washington, covering press conferences and that kind of stuff. It was pretty boring," frowning, Y/n tried to put her thoughts into words, "I always wanted to be a writer, you know, write a novel or something that people would read even when I'm gone."

Like she had back at the bar, though with the moment feeling far more intimate, Keanu took Y/n's hand, curling his fingers over hers, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles, her skin silky smooth. Her plight resonated with him, the burning desire to leave behind a legacy, make his own unique mark in the world sometimes haunted him too sometimes. "But?"

"But?" Huffing with a faint smile, Y/n shook her head, taking another lengthy sip of her drink, "But I don't know how. I mean, what am I even supposed to write about?"

"Whatever you want," Keanu chuckled with a new enthusiasm. Untangling their hands, Keanu rummaged through his pocket for his wallet, eventually producing enough cash to cover their bill and more, before standing and offering Y/n his hand, "Come on."

Confused by his erratic behavior, Y/n's lips hung agape, finding it hard to formulate any semblance of a sentence, "What're…..what?"

"Trust me?" His plea was half a question for her to actually do it and half an inquisition to gauge how much she actually trusted him.

"Trust you?" Y/n shot back incredulously, though still taking Keanu's hand, their fingers interlacing easily, feeling as if they were made to fit, "I don't even know you!" Already, they were already at the front door, and Keanu was pushing it open, pulling Y/n along as he stepped onto the slippery, wet sidewalk. The sound of the downpour, accompanied by the claps of thunder and occasional burst of lightning welcomed them. Heavy drops hit the street and pavement, splattering upwards, in some areas creating huge puddles. In an instant, even though they were still under the guard of the under-croft, their feet were soaked, water clinging to the hem of Y/n's tea length sundress and soaking her wedged sandals, while Keanu's boots were completely saturated, as were his jeans. "Is your plan to get us sick?"

"No," Keanu flashed her a mischievous grin, the act enough to add a distinct boyishness to his rugged features, despite the evidence of salt in his trimmed beard, "You're here for inspiration, so let's find you some. You know what they say about experience."

Squaring up to brace the weather, Keanu gave her one final glance to ensure Y/n was ready too, and when her eyes complied, he led her out. In an instant, they were drenched, cold rain water matting hair to their skin and making their clothes cling to their bodies. Y/n barely had a moment to even be concerned with how wet the contents of her bag would be, or even the fact that she was still holding Keanu's hand when there was someone at home waiting for her. All that mattered then and there was the glee on Keanu's face, how contagious it was and how much she wished they could stay like that forever. "Well where are we going for this experience?"

"This is the experience!" Keanu laughed giddily, stopping when they were stood in the middle of the deserted street to look up at the sky, "You can't tell me you've ever walked through a foreign town, with a complete stranger during a storm in the middle of the night."

It was an oddly specific situation and Y/n without even thinking of it, resigned to sharing in his excitement, "No!" It was a strain for her soft voice to combat the sounds around them, "I can't say I have." They were walking down the cobblestone street, following the gentle slope downward, occasionally stumbling as a result of all the alcohol they'd had. It was cold, though neither of them noticed; the company was warm enough, and as they walked, Y/n looked around, closed stores looking vastly different from what they were like back home. There weren't bright lights embedded in the showcase, meant to display products even during closing, and everything just seemed so beautifully vintage, straight out of a forties film noir.

"Tell me something about yourself," Keanu broke her thoughts as they grew further and further from the pub.

Briefly, Y/n turned to him, biting her lip at how enthralling he looked like that, so picture perfect, as if a snapshot from a movie had been plucked out of a television and placed right next to her. Keanu was nothing like Noah, he was enigmatic and fascinating because of his unpredictability. He laughed easier and much louder, he was shy and bold at the same time and much to her surprise, they didn't have any sort of awkward "getting to know you" period, they'd just lapsed into familiarity in merely a few minutes. "What do you want to know?"

“Anything,” everything. Keanu grinned broadly, knowing that he’d likely be content with listening to her for the rest of his time, without ever growing tired. “Just say anything,” being with Y/n, staggering through the rain, the sound of her kitten heels on cobblestone muted by the weather and her palm warm and right in his, couldn’t be anything other than the optimum of perfection. He’d never felt that at ease with someone, so ready to bare his soul to a stranger, “And I’ll listen.”

For a brief moment, Y/n glanced at Keanu, her smile faltering, softening, as their eyes met. Part of her knew it was wrong; the way she was feeling. If she were sober, then maybe things might have been different, but Y/n’s speech was slurred and her vision was blurry. Her mind was cloudy too, bombarded only with thoughts of Keanu; how much she was enjoying having his hand in hers, how devilishly handsome he was, how desperately she wanted to kiss him. Abruptly, with a pink hue, hidden by the darkness, spreading on her cheeks, Y/n turned away, “Lets see,” she deliberated, “My favorite book is The Great Gatsby, I moved to Washington for college when I was eighteen,” she thought some more, “And I love eighties music!”

Throwing his head back in wild euphoria, Keanu gazed at her, “Were you even alive in the eighties?”

“Nope!” Y/n giggled, almost tripping, only to be caught by Keanu, who took the initiative to pull her closer. Her laughter sobered, and in the back of her mind, Y/n knew she should pull away, tell Keanu the truth, but his embrace was warmer than anything she’d ever felt, and when she stole another glance at him, only to find him gazing down at her, his expression illuminated by the flickering street lamp, all she could see was a face that seemed strange and oddly familiar simultaneously. Then it hit her, she didn’t want to tell him, Y/n wanted to live like that with him, even if just for the rest of the night. It was out-rightly selfish, and utterly wrong, but she had a feeling that Keanu was worth it. Her heart hadn’t fluttered like that in a long time, and it had been ages since she’d done something so spontaneous.

Keanu hadn’t noted that he’d been leading Y/n in the direction of the hotel that he’d been staying at until the elegant building came into view, yellow lights glittering through the screen doors leading to individual balconies and the valet’s station vacant, possibly due to the storm. “Where are you staying tonight?” Keanu inquired as they floundered towards the front doors.

“I…..” Wide eyed, Y/n stuttered, “I have no idea,” despite her distress, she was still smiling faintly, I guess I’ll get a room here.” Already, they’d stepped through the door, greeted by the middle aged doorman who warmly welcomed the two with French salutations. Easing her hand from Keanu’s grip, moving some soaked hair from her face and tucking it behind her ear, Y/n twisted her body to rummage through the contents of her handbag, searching for her purse, in hopes that the hotel would have an unbooked room.

“Or you could just stay with me,” Keanu blurted, causing Y/n to stare up at him with a perfectly surprised expression, “Come on, it’ll be fun, we can have some more drinks, get to know each other better, it’ll be fun.” Holding his breath, Keanu hung on to the hope that she’d say yes; he really wasn’t ready to lose her company yet.

Internally, Y/n debated Keanu’s offer. It seemed appealing, and she wanted to say yes, to just go for it and see where the night took them. But she was engaged, and maybe going up there with him was taking the fun too far, she already felt like a cheater anyway. Not because of what she’d done exactly, you could hold anyone’s hand and it would mean nothing, no, the guilt had bubbled up like a broil in the pit of her stomach because of how she’d felt. You shouldn’t feel the way she did about Keanu when you had someone waiting for you to come back. To come home.

But Paris wasn’t home, and while she’d tried to make Noah her home, like he’d done with her, Y/n knew she was straying, far, far away from what was ordinarily familiar. She didn’t want familiar that night, she wanted Keanu, the thrill, the loud laughter that she’d easily sunk into, the feeling of getting lost in his whiskey eyes and the insurmountable comfort that came from simply holding his calloused hand. Y/n had the burning urge to know him, learn him, hold on and not let go. The feelings swirling around in her chest weren’t ones that Y/n thought could be built so quickly, yet there they were, and all she could say to his offer was, “Let's do it.”

Stunned by her willingness, Keanu’s features brightened tremendously, and he swore he’d never smiled so hard, “Great!” Taking her hand again, they trotted towards the elevator, leaving the deserted lobby behind, squinting at the bright lights and foggy reflections that dazzled their eyes as they entered the metal contraption. It took a minute or too, his eyes squinted and his stocky fingers fumbling until he found the ‘15’ button, hitting it harder than he should have. As they went up, they found that the air in there was colder than it had been downstairs, and when a shiver ran through Y/n, Keanu, without thinking of it, wiggled his fingers out of hers, proceeding to drape his long arm over her shoulders, reeling her in.

Instinctively, Y/n nuzzled into his side, reveling in the warmth that radiated off his body despite his soaked outfit, swallowing tightly as she tilted her head upwards, only to find that Keanu was studying her, his expression soft, though wanting. No one had ever looked at her like that, not even Noah; like she was everything that mattered, all wrapped up in one person. Like she held the clarity to every unanswerable question in her eyes. Like love could be simply contained in a stare. Love? Love. For probably the first time since they’d sat down in the pub, Y/n stopped smiling, though, it was only because the giddiness had been replaced by something more…….consuming. Thoughts of drinks and a chat late into what remained of the night dispersed, and the lump in her throat only thickened. Tell him, one voice urged, while the more careless one pleaded with her to just let things unfold. One night with a man who’d made her feel like she was the only woman in the world couldn’t be so bad, could it?

As if it were fated, their faces gravitated towards each other, just as Y/n turned slightly in Keanu’s embrace, cocking her head to the side. His lips were barely a hair away from descending upon hers and she could readily smell the alcohol on his breath, mixing with the scent of the rain and a long smoked cigarette. Altogether, it was alluring, and Y/n wondered if the next day she’d be able to go back to a life without it; if she’d be able to leave Keanu behind. She didn’t want to find out. As he came closer, her breath hitched, the soft sound contained in the hollow of her throat, and right as it was about to happen, right as she was about to finally break a sacred promise, the elevator dinged, the doors sliding open, ready to the deposit the pair on the sleepy hallway of the hotel’ fifteenth floor.

“We should…..” Keanu trailed off, not able to quite shake off the feeling that had prompted him to try to initiate a kiss in the elevator, though still leading Y/n towards his room, down the end of the hall. Secretly, he hoped that the moment could be rekindled when they reached their destination, it would be a lie if he’d said he hadn’t wanted to kiss Y/n since the moment they’d met. The thought had bounced around in his head all night, hope building in his chest every time their eyes locked, but the time never seemed as right as it had until they were in the elevator. Clumsily, he shoved his key card into the designated slot, swearing under his breath when he’d gotten it wrong the first two times, the mood only lightened by Y/n’s incessant giggles at his plight from nearby. When Keanu finally got it right, he was the first to enter, though she was close on his heels as he slapped the light switch near the door.

Still laughing, Y/n barely noticed the kink in the carpet in the threshold, getting caught in her shoe, resulting in her stumbling forward and right into Keanu’s arms. Luckily though, he caught her, his hands planted on her waist, bunching up the fabric of her pleated, dusty rose colored dress, beneath her cropped leather jacket. Even when she was steadied, Keanu’s grip remained, only loosening to slip to her hips. Feeling the air around them grow electric once again, Y/n took the tiniest step forward, only just registering how close they’d already been. Once again, Keanu was staring at her, the way he had been during their moment in the elevator, “He looked at her the way all women wanted to be looked at by a man,” she quoted breathlessly, not quite sure why she’d felt the need to do that, her lips already ghosting Keanu’s.

“What?” Keanu knitted his brows, his arms moving again to circle Y/n’s waist, his tongue hurriedly darting out to moisten his lips as she stood on the tips of her toes to reach him better.

Raising her hands, Y/n tangled her fingers in his shaggy, wet mane, when the other hand cupped his neck, feeling his scruff tickle her thumb. Barely, she registered the low twinkle of her engagement ring, occasionally made mute by the bursts of lightning that brightened the suite. “Nothing,” Y/n leaned in. Heartbeat to heartbeat, quick breaths in sync and minds only focused on one thing, they finally let it happen. Hot lips, meeting, taking a minute to feel each other out, slow and sweet as Y/n tasted him for the first time, though, growing passionate when their tongues warred. Better judgment was never going to prevail, and when Keanu found the edges of her jacket, pushing it off, she let him, thoughts of anything and everything that was outside of their bubble, fade away.

******

Tagging- @harrisongslimited @magnificentclodpiebanana @keandrews @greenmanalishi @rdjloverxxx @danceoftwowolves @planetkt @iworshipkeanureeves

#keanu reeves #keanu reeves x reader #keanu reeves fanfic #keanu reeves x you #john wick x reader #john wick x you #john wick fanfic #fanfic #fanfction #keanu reeves ff #ff #john wick ff #fluff #taking chances #2/4 #ansgt #john wick fanfiction #keanu reeves fanfiction

41 notes · View notes

mundanedevil · 5 years ago

Note

Hi you... if you were going to curate a little season of films for me, which ones would you choose and why? They don't need to be horror, I'm just curious what you would choose 🌸

I don’t know if you’ll like these movies, or if you’ve already watched them, but after i watched these films, i felt like they might need to belong to you now. i hope they make you smile, roll your eyes, and cry just as much as i did.

1. city of god (2002): this is one of the most immersive and gorgeously shot films i’ve ever seen. it’s set in rio de janeiro during the 60s and spans decades exploring the drug culture in the slums and how this can affect kids just as they are trying to figure their own selves out. the way this film is shot, feels like you were at the sea with them as the sand crunched underneath your feet. but the way that the director captures these individuals, makes you so fucking relieved that you don’t live through any of the circumstances that they go through.

2. the dreamers (2004): set in 1968, this film follows three students in Paris who come of age and explore one another and their limits during the revolution. while these students prop themselves up as individuals obsessed with sex, running underneath themselves is a current of jealousy, obsession, and blurred familial relationships that made me increasingly uncomfortable. you find yourself feeling bad for the children, and ultimately upset at their upbringing because of their parents.

3. if beale street could talk (2018): this movie is based off of james baldwin’s titular 1974 novel. in it, the director expertly and vigorously explores love: a love that feels so real that it hurts. the cast is what sold this film to me. the way they talk, laugh, cry, and smile at one another is achingly beautiful and terrifyingly sad. i wanted to transport myself back to their time period and watch the main characters fall in love because the film didn’t seem like enough.

4. the neon demon (2016): this film follows an emerging model who sacrifices herself to the demands of the industry in order to be attractive and beautiful. there are so many stunning colors in this film that it makes you dizzy, like you’re in a trance and that’s what this world is for the main character: a trance. as she oscillates between reality and fantasy, her world and the characters in it, increasingly seek out to alter her personality.

5. death becomes her (1992): a deliberately ultra-campy parody of trashy, pandering "women's pictures," soap operas and paperbacks from the '80s and '90s. The three leads all do some of their best work - it's hilarious watching Meryl Streep play a terrible actress, Goldie Hawn is particularly hilarious during her character's cat lady phase, and all around just a really fun and eccentric film.

6. princess cyd (2017): i can’t think of anything to write for this but i just wanna say that this is literally one of the most pleasant movie experiences i’ve ever had. so much light and genuine interaction in warm sun rays radiating positive energy and an openness that is far too uncommon in movies nowadays. people talk, people connect, people grow bonds and are allowed to be sexual or intimate or personal without an air of shame or judgement. just pure kind and curious human association.

7. spiderman: into the spiderverse (2018): the message of Spider-Verse is not "gentrify yourself! stop expressing your personality and just conform to what society wants you to be!" After all, what makes you different makes you Spider-Man, and Miles' final expression of himself as a superhero still retains much of his personality and individuality...they're just being used in more productive and fulfilling ways. It's the little things that drive the point home, like noticing that the title page for Miles' finished Great Expectations essay has been stylistically doodled and colored like street art. Rather than seeing his artistic gifts as an opposition to his schoolwork, Miles infuses them together to make the best of the hand he's been dealt.

8. my life as a zucchini (2016): initially heartbreaking and sad, but slowly becoming more joyful and heartwarming as the plot moves along. The film really feels like it captures the essence and child like wonder of these kids, all of them going through hardships but managing to find something to help each other out. It’s so refreshing to see the actual orphanage portrayed in a more positive light, not the usual horrid dump that a lot of lesser movies play them out as. The animation is stunning. One of the best uses of stop motion I’ve seen, everything is so colourful and detailed. There’s some moments set in snowy mountains and these look incredible. There’s clearly been so much love and care put into each and every scene here. The music too, sounds spectacular, it really works well with each scene.

9. lovesong (2016): Mindy and Sarah have that type of relationship where they don't need words because they speak in a language made out of glances and touches. This movie is about the fear of ruining a meaningful friendship and losing an important person, about love that is so complicated that one might not even try because the outcome seems to be so obvious.

10. her (2013): Heartbreak is formative: it changes you heart side out, and leaves your muscles a little stronger, your skin a little thicker, your bones easier to repair. Before this film, I’d never seen anything constructive in having your insides pulled apart by the seams by another person, but this film taught me how. Being in love and then being forced out of it is an experience that changes you fundamentally, but Her taught me its purpose – you don’t need them to leave you so that you can find someone who’s a better fit, because perhaps you never will. You need it to participate in humanity. The common denominator is being hurt, and without it, you’re barely alive.

11. shoplifters (2018): bittersweet and richly transportive, Shoplifters is a film that nonchalantly eases you into its tragic beauty in a way that doesn't punch you hard until the end. It simultaneously made me want to be part of the film's world and also very glad that I'm not. The setting the characters live in is messy and cluttered and full of dysfunction and lies, but it's also got family, and laughter, and fist-bumps, and slurping warm noodles while rain pings on the tin rooftop. So nuanced, so many tiny moments of delicate beauty and unassuming heartbreak, so many people making terrible decisions with good intentions.

12. god’s own country (2017): though it is a love story between two men, this aspect is only addressed briefly in a single scene. Rather, the film is about finding someone who makes you want to be a better person, someone who comes into your life just when you needed it most. Gheorghe helps Johnny open up and realize the beauty of the simple life. From this relationship, Johnny begins to feel comfortable with expressing himself, and his love and gratitude towards others. He also begins to appreciate life in the country, surrounded by stunning landscapes and the beauty of simplicity. Addressing the Yorkshire countryside, Gheorghe says "It is beautiful, but lonely." Johnny is presented with the notion that he doesn't have to be cold and miserable, slaving and drinking his days away. He is presented with the possibility of no longer being alone and finally finding happiness and contentment - and it is more than gratifying to see him accept it.

13. disobedience (2017): a tender star-crossed daydream. the three main character dynamics are special enough on their own, but the romance that blooms at the center is cathartically intimate and even magical: a reunion that feels so inevitable. catching glimpses of a past life, details we aren’t privy to. all the stolen kisses and whispers and promises. a bond so strong that they fall back in sync with each other like second nature, even if they try to fight against it. even if it won’t work. and yet they choose each other, even if for a few minutes.

14. raw (2016): this film is so gross and I like that. There is tons of blood and unique body horror and it all works perfectly for the tone the film is attempting to set. The use of color, specifically neons, creates a constant feeling that you are traveling through some sort of weird ghost world, which I really like. Overall, it's a very well put together film with flashes of brilliance.

15. the night is short, walk on girl (2017): what an absolutely magical adventure of a film. Essentially this is a heavily episodic look at a night in the lives of several people, centered on a woman and a man as she gleefully floats from event to event while he neurotically obsesses over how to "coincidentally" talk to her. The storytelling is incredible; while the overarching narrative is simple there are countless threads woven together to connect everyone in the story to each other. That in itself is a big theme: connections between people, how everything is interrelated, and what a large impact seemingly insignificant things people do can have an impact on everyone around them.

16. coraline (2009): Coraline is the best stop motion movie ever made in my opinion. Before the film released in 2009, I read the book and was completely blown away by its creativity and story. It’s a pretty dark tale featuring many scenes of fright that work well in both a horror setting and an animated kids setting. On surface value, this film is quite horrifying, which is something I’ve always loved about it. While it does make a few minor changes to the book, it improves upon a piece of art that was already jaw-droppingly good. Coraline feels like a real little girl with some real problems. She’s selfish but likable which is something most films cannot translate well. Of course, she has a pretty awesome arc as well which brings this movie to a perfect close for her character. The other-mother is also perfectly done. She is almost exactly how I imagined her in the book and the animation on her is spookily gorgeous. There is not one dull moment in this film. It is literally a perfect piece of cinema.

17. the third wife (2019): haven’t seen a film this visually delicate in a while. Ash Mayfair works with the looming mountain surroundings to make her characters —these women, these girls— as small as possible, as isolated as possible. Uneasiest of all is the protagonist May, so young and so weighed by responsibility, her position blurs between being one of the wives and being one of the daughters. It’s an extremely bleak tale of circumstance. An old tale, certainly, but so beautifully crafted it doesn’t matter. Mayfair holds a fearful tension throughout, and it only ever shatters in the cruelest of ways.The abundance of women and display of sisterhood begin as a comfort, but horror takes over as we realize how conditional and fragile that comfort is. Even the daughters are subconsciously aware, one of them praying to the gods to grow up and become a man, shearing her hair off in naive triumph. It’s a doomed cycle of girls performing roles which are unfortunately their best option, right up until the final scene of May with her daughter, still in their mourning clothes. She, like the older wives, finally realizes they’re the same as the cattle laying on their side for too many days.

#asks #shortcake-kaspbrak

6 notes · View notes

comicteaparty · 5 years ago

Text

December 30th, 2019-January 5th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from December 30th, 2019 to January 5th, 2020. The chat focused on Reading Days by Sergio Ragno.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Reading Days by Sergio Ragno~! (https://thirteenthchild.net/readingdays/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PDT), so keep checking back for more! You have until January 5th to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

QUESTION 1. What has been your favorite strip in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?

QUESTION 2. Of the ongoing strips connected by the same characters or themes, which one do you like the most and why?

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 4. Which of the jokes related to literature, novels, and/or libraries caught your attention the most? What about that strip in general stuck out to you in how it was executed?

Eightfish

1. Unfortunately, even if I've heard of or read the books referenced in this comic I'm not sure I really "get" the strips. I feel like most of the punchlines are going over my head. But I liked this once: https://thirteenthchild.net/readingdays/comic/judging-a-book-by-its-cover-the-dragon-and-the-george/ It reminded me of me and my friends making fun of the trashy action and romance paperbacks at the free books section of the library. Those campy titles and detailed art have a lot of charm and character to them.(edited)

RebelVampire

QUESTION 5. What has been your favorite illustration in the comic so far? What specifically about it do you like?

QUESTION 6. Which of the pop culture joke strips was your favorite and why? In what ways do you think this comic succeeds in using pop culture for humor in general?

RebelVampire

1) My favorite strip so far is probably this one. https://thirteenthchild.net/readingdays/comic/what-science-goes-there/ Not only is it a sneaky callback to a very famous sci-fi story, but anything with science cat entertains me. I also like just the...kind of weird dramatic tone this comic has until the last panel where its flipped to deliver the comedy. 2) My fave ongoing series is definitely Science Cat's. I'm just...really biased towards cats. Plus, I really just love the combination between having something education, something comedic, and also something with hints of both science and cat behavior. I love both topics, so for me it's a match made in heaven. 3) Science Cat is my favorite character. Legit, how can you not love a science cat? 4) I actually really like the Judging a Book By its Cover series. Such as this strip for example. https://thirteenthchild.net/readingdays/comic/judging-a-book-by-its-cover-the-last-dark-elf/ Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of great references and such to literature that I adore (such as my fave strip), but I really like this series focusing on covers. I've personally always thought a lot of book covers, while well illustrated, and really, really weird given the title and contents of the book. So I'm really tickled pink by this series that's kind of pointing that out. Plus, it really does kind of demonstrate the impression a book cover gives us and why it's kind of important to consider the first impression book covers give. Which is why I think it works since it's based on these strange first impressions we might get.

5) My favorite illustration is definitely this strip. https://thirteenthchild.net/readingdays/comic/dr-science-cat-cat-scientists-tour-of-the-elements-berylium/ Besides my bias for space, I really love the lighting on this one. It really sells the location for me and gives it a nice sense of presence. Not necessarily needed, but I do love interesting lighting so I'll take it. 6) There are a lot of great pop culture jokes, but I'm gonna go with this Peanuts joke one https://thirteenthchild.net/readingdays/comic/every-time/ Besides the fact it's a classic, it was not the direction I expected it to go. Plus, that Lucy face just really sells it for me. Like its so horrifying in some way, which just makes it all the funnier to me. As for in general, I think this comic really just kind of knows how to balance the elements of pop culture while taking it unexpected directions like this. Where it makes sense in the universe/kind of fits in, yet exaggerates and plays on how ridiculous it could potentially be.

Tuyetnhi

1. I'm fond of the space odyssey parody like lmao. I'll post the link when I find it lol. I think it's just something as midwesterner that likes dry humor, it's a given lol.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 7. Which characters do you enjoy seeing interact the most? What about their dynamic interests you?

QUESTION 8. What was one educational thing you learned from Dr. Science Cat? Overall, what do you think we can learn from the comic in regards to combining education and comedy?

snuffysam

I find the interaction between Reginald and Gina to be really fun. I love the strips where Reginald tries his best to teach everyone meaningful life lessons (e.g. "reading is good") and then Gina comes with an attempt to loudly and completely undermine it. e.g. https://thirteenthchild.net/readingdays/comic/reginald-powers-in-the-root-of-all-yachts/ But, like, the interaction between them inadvertently teaches other lessons - that not everyone who shares your interests will do so in the same way. Gina and Reginald both like books, but they act on it in very different ways (like, Reginald would not likely break open a water main due to something he read on the spine of a book).

RebelVampire

QUESTION 9. What sorts of art or writing details have you noticed in the way the comic is crafted that you think deserves attention?

QUESTION 10. In what ways do you feel this comic stands apart from other gag of the day style comedy comics? Also, how do you feel the comic succeeds in making everything feel part of one thematically connected series?

RebelVampire

7) I probably enjoy seeing Science Cat interact with anybody really. I don't really have a particular preference where this one is concerned. Though I do somewhat enjoy more science cat interacting with other scientists, cause that allows science cat to be the silly one a bit more than usual. 8) The educational thing I learned was definitely the strip on Beryllium https://thirteenthchild.net/readingdays/comic/dr-science-cat-cat-scientists-tour-of-the-elements-berylium/. Beryllium is just an element I never really see talked about at all, so off the top of my head I don't know much about it other than it exists. I think this comic does show that comedy and education don't have to be enemies though. The more fun you make education, the easier it is to swallow. Plus, education doesn't have to be serious and boring all the time.

9) There isn't a specific detail I appreciate so much as the overall effort in so many pop culture references. There's a huge mix of books, anime, movies, video games, and so on. Despite how much we consume on a regular basis, it's still hard to know things so in depth to make jokes about them (since most people move on and consume more, which is totally fine of course). So I just appreciate that effort to store enough knowledge that these scenarios can be created. 10) I think this comic stands apart from other gag of the style days in terms of its variety. While there are certainly gag a day style comics that can be pretty varied, I feel this one kicks it up a notch more than usually with just how much it covers. I also think it succeeds more than a lot of other comics due to the sort of thematic connection the whole comic has. Though I can't put it into words, there's a real sense of writing style that is unique and present in all the strips. So in the end it makes the entire theme feel like a really cohesive comedy comic despite only some of the series being connected by the same characters.

Tuyetnhi

8. me answering questions out of order since I think rebel kinda cemented how I feel about the comic in general and Science cat but lmao. Me too about the Beryllium strip. It's kinda funny that a lot of folks who aren't in the education field don't think it's mutually inclusive to have humor and education content together. Yet a lot of educators are calling this connection to help with memory retention. rip speaking as a future educator, it's important to have these works.

science and art, they're closely related than most people think lol.

Tuyetnhi

10. Reginald's Character design for me stands out compared to other gag comics (tbh I wouldn't expect an octopus pop up frequently so kudos for it same for science cat lol). On terms of books read in my high school days, references in pop culture, and overarching moods about reading books and lit. is done well. I think it's just reminding me of the days I'd think about when I was a school kid, and it's kinda nostalgic that way imo.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 11. What do you think are this particular comic’s strengths? What do you think makes this comic unique? Please elaborate.

QUESTION 12. Overall, what do you think we can learn from the comic in regards to comedy writing and how to take inspiration from real life? In other words, how has your perspective on comedy been changed (even if only a little)?

keii4ii

11. I agree that this comic has HUGE variety going on. It covers so much stuff. Admittedly that's a barrier to entry for me, as most of the stuff that's being referred to, I am not familiar with. But even if I don't get it, I honestly think that's admirable and unique. It's a core part of its identity, and it's quite something to see how much fun the comic/author seems to be having, exploring all these different interests!

RebelVampire

QUESTION 13. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

QUESTION 14. What other topics or themes are you hoping to see addressed in the comic? Why do you think it would suit the comedic style the comic is going for?

RebelVampire

11) I think, as I've said before, it's the variety plus the knowledge that's going into the jokes. Want pop culture? It's there. Want literature? It's there. Want educational science stuff? It's there. There's just so much this comic offers in general that I think it adds to the overall charm. 12) For me, as ties into above, this comic kind of reminds me that you can have successful comedy even if not every joke connects with you. I am personally not a huge fan of comedy as a genre, as most stuff just isnt too my taste. However, with comics like this, it's okay if not everything was to my taste. Because of the variety, there were still strips I really liked. So at the end, the comic as a whole did not need to connect with me to be, as an overall thing, something that succeeded as comedy for me. And I think that's a good takeaway for comedy writing in general. Comedy is probably the most divisive of all genres, so it's nice to see when that doesn't really hinder someone making it.

13) Science cat. I need more science cat in my life teaching me about elements. Cause goodness knows I haven't had a good refresher on the periodic table since high school since it isn't relevant to my life. 14) I really hope to see more of the judging book by its cover series, because there are so many great book covers to choose from. Literal interpretation is a comedic form I'm also a fan of and since this comic already has a lot of that, I think it fits right in.

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Reading Days this week! Please also give a special thank you to Sergio Ragno for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Reading Days, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://thirteenthchild.net/readingdays/

Sergio’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SergeXIII

Sergio’s Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/sergexiii

Sergio’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sergexiii

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #comic tea party #ctp #reading days #sergio ragno #studio sergexiii

1 note · View note

a-merman-not-a-guppy · 6 years ago

Photo

BDRP QUESTIONNAIRE

Your Name: Lena

Characters: Anthony Coleman, Arthur Pendragon, Ashley Armbruster, Celia Gorgon, Fflewddur Fflam, Finn Flounder, Kanga DeRosa, Llewellyn “Louie” Mallard, Sora Hamasaki/Roxas

Pick one of your characters and talk about their growth: Oh man I think of my characters I’m the most proud of Celia’s growth? I mean a lot’s changed since I got her, and I’ve been able to see the progression and build up that change from her being and nervous and terrified about everything to starting to come into her own and be a confident woman. I’m proud of having taken that journey with her, and I like that she’s no longer the mousy shy character that I thought she would always be in the beginning. There’s a lot more strength and determination to her than I honestly expected. She’s been through a lot, she fell in love and everything and I think the amazing part is that she’s not regressing now that she’s heartbroken. She knows a little more about what she can handle. I find that super exciting for her. I’m really really pleased with how far we’ve come since I rejoined with her.

Pick another character and talk a little about where you WANT them to go. What are your plans for them going into the new year? So I honestly have a lot of plans for a lot of my babes that I don’t want to reveal but I can say in the vaguer sense where I want them to go. Anthony - honestly just want him to terrorize and go hard. Unleash his full villain in this next year. Help him do that friends. Arthur - I know I want him to do something heroic and noble, but on a smaller scale, I want him to form a proper attachment, maybe have feelings for someone. I think he’s so work focused it’d be interesting how that might affect him as a character. Ashley - I have a lot of change in mind for her. I want to see her move past the struggles she has with her family/find her own way. Celia - just see her continue to gain confidence and figure out what makes her happy. Fflewddur - I honestly want to see him really struggle. He’s always had everything handed to him. I’d love for things to go horribly horribly wrong for him. Finn - Honestly my plan is to go into who he is as a merman and more of the magical side to his life. I love the teen stuff but I am very very eager to do mer stuff with him. Kanga - It’s a secret. But it’ll be fun. Louie - As always I want him to get into a lot of trouble. lol. I also want to see a rift with family with him and see how he handles that. He has a tendency for the dramatic and I think that’d be fun. Roxas - see them figure out what’s going on/learn about Sora Sora - see him learn about Roxas. it’ll be fun.

Pick a thread or a plot that you’re proud of and talk about why you loved it. Honestly it’s still ongoing but I’m really proud of what I’ve developed with Arthur. The ongoing quest for the sword and everything around that. It’s the first time I’ve had a longer term plan with a character and known what I wanted to do with it and it’s so cool! It’s exciting to do, and I really really loved the thread lauryl and I had in the lake and writing the Lady of the Lake briefly. It was just COOL.

In terms of your own writing, identify 1-3 strengths and talk about why you think it’s one of your strengths. oh I’m so bad at this. ahaha. I’m gonna do my best but it’s hard for me to talk about myself and stuff like this. Let’s see...I think 1) Dialogue. I think I’m pretty good at making my character’s voices distinct and their own. It’s been especially fun with Finn because of his stutter and the way that he speaks. 2) Teen hijinks. I know this is an odd thing to put as a strength, but honestly I do think I somehow have my niche with teenagers. Maybe their drama just suits my dramatic cancer self who knows. I feel like all three of my teens are unique and quirky and idk is this valid? I find it far too easy to think of ridiculous teen plots. 3) Getting into character’s heads. Thoughts and stuff, I feel like I am good at sharing where my characters are at and how they feel and all that. I feel like I do a good job of diving right into emotions.

In terms of your own writing, identify 1-3 areas of improvement. 1) showing not telling more. You know trying to really give more detail to what’s happening around characters and their actions rather than a ton of their thoughts. I know I need to work on this more, sometimes I just get lazy and go with what’s easier and habit. 2) There’s another thing I want to work on and again get lazy, where with dialogue you don’t respond to every thing a person says cause that’s not natural to a conversation. You want to respond to like the last thing and then maybe something else after. I think about it but I forget about it and I could work on it. 3) Description. I want to do better at describing things and giving a better visual image of things happening and stuff. I feel like that’s something I’d really like to do better with in the new year.

Pick one of your plots, or even just a character, and come up with a list of 3-5 “mentor texts” where you can look for inspiration or research, then write a short (2-4 sentences) why you picked those texts So I noticed I used tv and film as inspo more than books and stuff but it’s still a reference material to go back to and I’m not sorry. Finn: -It by Stephen King. So this is largely chosen because the character of Bill Denbrough in It has a stutter, and it was one of the first real examples I could think of where I could listen to it and the sound via the movie and how that would work with Finn’s stutter. I go back to it every once in a while for reference. And I’d love to read the book one day and see if there’s more to uncover. -Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: Study of Cameron Frye. So this is a high school movie which also helps with the right vibe, but the most important thing to me is the whole vibe and fear of going out to do ANYTHING. Finn has a really hard time with that and Cameron Frye is honestly pretty good inspo on this sort of thing. Also he’s got two more outgoing friends in a sense, which Finn also has in the form of Ariel and Nemo. -Star Trek: Study of the character Bones. I think this is sort of a good reference as to where I’d love to see Finn in the future and it’s a cool thing to try to work toward. Bones has channeled his innate worrying into helping people, and I think that’s something that Finn could learn to do. How and in what way? I don’t know. But it’s a good reference point for the future maybe. -The Rugrats: Study of Chuckie. Yes is it a bit funny to find inspo from another animated character for Finn? Sure a bit. But honestly the more I think about it, Chuckie Finster is a very anxious child and that is basically Finn on the regular. And again a character that has a much more confident best friend and gets dragged along on the adventures. And even though Chuckie the character is an actual baby and Finn’s a teen there’s a lot to really look at and be inspired by. When I was little I didn’t think Chuckie was that relatable but when I got a little older I was like ‘oh man that’s a mood’ and honestly he’s anxious, I’m anxious, and I’m writing about an anxious character so it all kind of works.

And now, a wishlist! I looooove wishlists and this’ll probably be the longest part of this whole thing so that if anyone wants to brainstorm stuff/looks at this list and goes ��hey me too’ we can start scheming. -fake dating! -alexa play fake love- it’s a trope for a reason and I really really love it. Someone get in on it with me. -rags to riches (I want Louie to experience being rich for like a day or something. I think that’d make a really interesting story for him.) -murder. well. If anyone wants to get rid of a character one day hmu. -more magic based plots. I have magicks but somehow they HARDLY use it and that’s lame. I want more magic. I want to def explore mer stuff with Finn more especially, and generally just chaotic magic things. -i want Sora/Roxas to fuck with people. Like I want someone to date one of them just for an awkward scene in bed or something. That’s a very small plot thing but I think it’d be hilarious. -I really like romantic plots and I like the soft puff/seemingly cold slytherin relationship. idk I guess I want a duo like that. Or more romance in general. Date my characters. Long term, short term, to make someone else jealous? let’s go. -DISASTER AGENTS. I had a vague idea and I want it but who knows if/when that happens but two brothers with a rescue agency but they are completely incompetent. I like the witty characters sue me. Anthony: -i already said this but murder. -i also want him to hook up with/become friends with a sorcerer. i. have.an.idea. =D -continue to have him sink his teeth in the board and try to influence the town Arthur: -a slow burn love story would suit him nicely. i have plans for him and i think it would up the stakes. -a buddy cop story. idk Arthur is a workaholic so I feel like the best way to be buddies with him is to work with him. lol. this loser. Ashley: -i have her future planned mostly. she’s good i think. Celia: -turn a boyfriend to stone. seriously! -a hero moment for her? idk i think it’d be cool to have what she thinks of as a curse save someone’s life. Fflewddur: -someone let him spill your secrets with his harp. let him cause DRAMA. -connect him to other musicians. He’s got an ego and he’s kind of the worst, but I want him to talk more music and do more music things. Finn: -MER THINGS!!! -i want to explore some of his trauma from the bullying and everything. I know I’m gonna do a one shot, but I also would love to have him be able to open up to a friend about how things were/have been. I don’t think he’d even have told Ariel all of it. -touch. touch is his love language and I think that he’s probably fairly touch starved as he keeps to himself a lot and is afraid of like everything lol. So I’d love to explore his relationship with touch and see him learn to trust people and open up and more free with his affection and holding hands and hugs and that sort of thing. -first love/kiss. with him i think it would be a very slow thing but also it would be SO CUTE and yeah. he’s more of a romantic than my other teens so gotta ask for it here. lmao. Kanga: -board things. She’s on it now woo! I’m here to explore that more -it’s a secret. It’s coming soon to theaters. Louie: -again. Rich for a day, see how the other 1% lives that sort of thing. -family plot line. I want it to happen so bad. I want to see Louie sort of self destruct. Someone help him get there. -further down the trouble path. Drugs? Or fighting or something considerably more reckless? He’s still a fairly good kid, I’d love to explore something a little darker with him. -also to explore him being gay and let him really come into his own there. He’s too busy being Louie to notice so that’s a thing I really want to push with him and see him figure out feelings more. Roxas: -have them figure out about Sora first. Let him and friends struggle with how to handle that. so really mission a) make Roxas a few friends. then b) share the chaos of their life with said friends. it’ll be fun. -get in a fight with battle magic. I think it’d be interesting to see it in play, especially since they are not fully in control. A magic fight guys. Who’s in?Sora: -oo you know what might be fun? having him become good buds with someone and move in somewhere with them and then and have him and Roxas’ stuff make a mess of things. roommate drama HEIGHTENED. -Someone telling Sora about Roxas. Because he is not the smart one of the duo. He’s pretty damn oblivious -break someone’s heart. I feel like he’d be the type to do it without realizing and that’d be an interesting thing to go into.

OPTIONAL: Why do you RP? Well honestly I’ve been rping for so long it’s hard to remember a time before I did it. It’s a good escape from reality sometimes and I really love to write. Writing makes me feel good and unwind and I like that I can express things through characters that I might not be able to do myself places because I’m too awkward. It’s nice to be able to let things out and enthuse online and to get to know a great community. I’ve made some great friends through rp and I love that a lot about the whole thing. Plus it’s through rp that a lot of the time you can let out over enthusiasm. Or at least for me that’s the case. As many of you already know I tend to obsess over things and when I do it’s like I need so many outlets to get by. Right now BTS and then having Finn as my outlet for example. But before that it would be like my years long Steve Rogers fixation and how I’d be off and on in group rps with him as a character or on an indie blog and that would be how I expressed my love for this character and let some of that out. It’s so helpful and therapeutic almost, since I feel like I get too enthusiastic for people around me to relate a lot.

#bdrptask #this got long oops

1 note · View note

saotome-michi · 8 years ago

Text

10 female characters I’m in love with from 10 fandoms

Tagged by: @gwkimmy

Tagging: @aprincesswholovesinsects, @madelide, @dorotheian, @letheandlilies (Only if you have the time!! But also anyone can do this!!!)

Lol i’m just going to use this as a chance to promote some shows I’ve been watching. In order of most recent to least.

1. Hamasaki Yuka (Saikou no Rikon)

I’m only three episodes in, but damn am I liking this jdrama (which means you all should try watching it!!).

Saikou no Rikon looks at two couples and their troubled marriages. Despite the corny sounding premise, the story is surprisingly heartfelt, possibly because of the relatable characters. One of them, the cheerful, lazy, and somewhat crass Yuka, divorces her husband because even though she loves him, she can see he currently hates their married life and thus, her. She’s a character who I initially found annoying, but am quite fond of now. Maybe it’s because her aggressive and “unsophisticated” ways remind me of myself and other women in my family. Plus, I do like a woman who stands up for herself.

2. Phryne Fisher (Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries)

God I love this woman. God I love this show. If you’re not watching it you really, really should it’s on Netflix and it’s fabulous. Phryne’s fabulous. Honestly, all the female characters are quite well developed– I dare say this show could pass the Bechdel in its sleep.

Phryne Fisher is a woman way ahead of her time, the 1920s to be exact. She’s charming, vivacious, accomplished in many different skill sets and fields of knowledge, and very against the idea that one must stick to social norms just because. So of course she becomes the first and only Lady Detective in Melbourne, Australia. Dressed immaculately (because she likes it and, as she tells her companion Dot, “A woman should dress first and foremost for her own pleasure”), she goes around stirring things up in search for the truth. (While also flustering Detective Inspector Jack Robinson, who I was not impressed with at first but now have a serious crush on. He and Phryne have the most beautiful chemistry and I want them together now.)

3. Rita Madsen (Rita)

I started watching this show on Netflix, because I wanted to improve my Danish and I heard it was good. It is good. In fact it’s fucking great. It ended up exceeding my expectations with the first episode alone.

Rita Madsen is a stubborn and willful schoolteacher fighting against the establishment (who or what that establishment is changes case-by-case). She says whatever’s on her mind in blunt and provocative fashion, and honestly? It’s a joy to watch. She’s also the single mother of three children, who the show also focuses upon. In order from oldest to youngest: there’s Rikko, who’s about to get married to his uptight girlfriend; Molly, who doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life; and Jeppe, who at age 15 is the only kid who’s still at school and discovers that he’s gay. They’re all very realistic and relatable characters, and it’s nice seeing them slowly grow–Rita, most of all, as she has to learn to confront her own occasional hypocrisy and struggle with parenting.

4. Tracey Gordon (Chewing Gum)

Chewing Gum is comedic genius and Michaela Coel should be proud - not only because of her fantastic screenwriting, but also for her marvelous performance as Tracey Gordon, the show’s protagonist. Tracey is honest, outspoken, and wonderfully cringy, and her actions lead to all sorts of hilarious outcomes. Many of the female characters on this list are “cool”; Tracey isn’t cool in the traditional sense, but she’s unabashed around who she is and that makes her the coolest person on the show.

(Shameless plug-in: This show is on Netflix and you should really give it a go, the characters are hilarious and relatable, and I think it’s one of the few shows that really depicts sex as the awkward, messy activity it is.)

5. Amanda Rollins (Law and Order: SVU)

After many, many years of people telling me I should watch SVU, I have finally started watching it... from Season 14, since those are the only seasons available on Netflix. (Don’t worry, I have watched around 4 episodes that were pre Season 13 and therefore do know something of Elliot Stabler and his beautiful partnership with Olivia Benson)

But maybe it’s because I started from Season 14 that I seem to have a different opinion of Amanda Rollins than most other fans do? Correct me if I’m wrong, but after prowling around the internet, it seems that most fans dislike Rollins or at least find her tedious. I, on the other hand, really like her and her character growth... hmm guess that’s a mystery we’ll have to put aside for now.

6. Na Kyung Shim (Strong Woman Do Bong Soon)

If you’re also a fan of the show, you might be thinking: What about Do Bong-Soon herself?? But while I love our plucky heroine, I love her plucky best friend/sidekick even more. Na Kyung Shim doesn’t get that much screen time, but in the scenes she gets she shines as a sweet and snarky girl, who just wants the best for her friend. And I just have such a weakness for those kinds of characters.

(Also if you haven’t watched Strong Woman Do Bong Soon and you’re looking for a new rom-com kdrama to watch you should totally pick this one)

7. Chaewoon (Love Barometer)

I’ve talked about my foray into Korean webcomics before, but in those posts I neglected to mention Love Barometer, and that is a crime that I must correct.

Love Barometer is one of the cutest romance manhwas that you will ever read and I stand by that statement until my inevitable demise. The thing I love about it? The lack of unneeded drama. Our heroine Chaewoon has a good head on her shoulders and that means that most problems that might, in other manhwas, drag on for entire volumes before getting resolved, don’t exceed more than two chapters here. And it’s wonderfully refreshing. (Also the romance!!! Is so cute!!! I’m going to die!!!).

(The series is on Lezhin FYI and I think the first 30 chapters are like free to read.)

8. Road Kamelot (D. Gray-man)

Listen: I have loved Road Kamelot since I first saw her at age 13 and I have loved her ever since. My first online blog had her photo as the header and the only D. Gray-man fic I ever tried writing was Allen/Road. I would gladly give up my life for her, which probably makes it a good thing that she’s not real. Nonetheless... I love her.

Road’s featured here because I’ve been catching up with the new chapters of D. Gray-man and wow has that been a trip (still can’t get my head around certain plot twists). I think I might give my Allen/Road fic another try...

(Also if you’ve never heard of D. Gray-man before, you should give it a go if exorcists are like your thing.)

9. Ren Kougyoku (Magi)

(Beautiful edit made by @skania)

My love for Road Kamelot can only be rivaled by my love for Ren Kougyoku (and I just realized that both of their initials are R. K. :O what could this mean?!?) and they definitely share some similarities, starting with the fact that they will both kick your ass if you cross them. I feel like a proud mother, watching Kougyoku grow from being a princess ashamed of being “lowborn” to a proud and beloved Empress T_T

I’ve finally read the last few chapters of Magi and honestly? It’s always sad to finish a manga that you’ve been reading for a long time, but in this case the farewell was made easier by the fact that the whole last arc of Magi was disappointing, which meant that I could say a preemptive farewell to it a year earlier. But although the ending was anti-climatic, at least I can rest assured that Kougyoku’s character arc was, for the most part, wonderfully executed, and that her friendship with Alibaba will go on for their lifetimes. ( “Alikou 4ever!” my shipper heart cries, but I shove it down and tell it to save its energy for fic writing).

10. Renee Walker (The Foxhole Court)

Oh Renee, love and light of my life. You are possibly the only Christian character whose moralizing I enjoy, because from you it actually makes sense and doesn’t sound patronizing.

Renee’s one of the most beloved characters in the fandom and I don’t think my reasons for loving her are particularly unique; One of her most-quoted (aka most used in photosets and moodboards and whatnot) lines is “I am a bad person trying very hard to be a good person” and that’s the appeal–at first glance, she’s a harmless, goody-two-shoes Christian, but the truth is she has one of the darkest backstories out of anyone in the series, still carries that darkness around because it’s still needed, and that speaks to her strength. What a badass bundle of goodness she is.

(Btw The Foxhole Court is a book series that reads like an angsty YA series and a sports manga combined, so if that in any way sounds appealing to you, you should give it a go.)

#hmmm how should I tag this #saikou no rikon #miss fisher's murder mysteries #rita #chewing gum #law and order svu #strong woman do bong soon #love barometer #magi #the foxhole court #random blah of letters #D Gray man

15 notes · View notes

valamerys · 8 years ago

Note

I really enjoy your blog so is it okay if I ask you top 10 pet peeves in novels? It can be tropes or even a niche moment in a particular book. I like writing myself and would appreciate the help.

hmmMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM sure, I can come up with some things! bear in mind I read almost exclusively fantasy, and mostly “low” ie not game of thrones fantasy at that, including a loooot of YA, so my items will reflect that.

Top (YA, Fantasy) Fiction Pet Peeves:

1) Unnecessary post-apocalyptic setting WHY THE FUCK. DO PEOPLE KEEP DOING THIS. WHAT DOES THIS GAIN ANYONE. WHAT IS THE POINT. Red Queen, The Selection, The Queen of the Tearling, and that weird TV show The Shanarananaharahahananaaa Chronicles all do this. It’s, frankly, a cheap-ass bid for Dark and Gritty points, and also an excuse to set things in America But Fantasy, and it’s always bad and awkward. This isn’t planet of the apes, just make your damn fantasy world; you don’t have to try to make it more ~realistic~ by putting the ruins of the statue of liberty in the background. That’s stupid and you’re stupid.

2) One-note characters Mostly present via The Bitch or The Bully stereotype, but also seen in The Bratty Brother, The Sweet Sister, The Spacey DGAF Parent, and the Eccentric Wise Elder. I get that there’s not time to flesh out every single person your protagonist comes into contact with, but certain archetypes are so fucking boring and done to death that I tune out immediately. It’s not 2004 anymore. The game has evolved. We can do better. We can be more interesting.

Related to the sweet sister trope, I’d like to bring up this text post from my other blog:

3) When the protagonists’ actions/ choices do not affect the plot Alright, this one isn’t even a pet peeve, it’s basic narrative construction. Your story is supposed to be about your protagonist (or your two or three protagonists, in a multi-pov story, but for simplicity’s sake we’ll talk about one) and their arc, how they change and grow. a) If their actions never have consequences, how the fuck do they, like, learn things? and b) if their actions have no bearing on the climax of the story, how the fuck does the story demonstrate that they’ve changed, or come to a meaningful conclusion that’s related to that? Sure there’s weird literary exceptions, and certainly some fantasy in particular is more plot than character driven, but if your character is honestly never proactive, particularly through the ending of the book, uh, i have a major problem and so should you.

4) The Mandatory Feminism Stuff we should all know these by now. “Not Like Other Girls” is bad. Hating on corsets and other femme paraphernalia is bad (and moreover i personally resent it because I love corsets). A book with a female protagonist and no other important female characters (or only evil female characters) is bad. A high fantasy series that builds its worldbuilding on a raging patriarchy for the purpose of elevating a few specific women into positions of power for superficial RAH RAH FEMINISM points while not addressing systematic oppression is really, really bad. Defining female empowerment as only one thing (IE picking up a sword and Proving Yourself just as badass as all those scoffing men!!!) is bad. I’m very tired and I want to read about women-- different kinds of women, with different moral alignments and interests and abilities and ethnic backgrounds and ages and sexualities and beliefs-- helping each other and being forces in the world and in each others’ lives. That’s it. That’s all I want. I have no clue why that’s so elusive.

5) Characters being flippant to the point of stupidity because........ that’s cool, i guess? Homygod, I am so sick to my teeth of characters who would get their asses kicked IRL for being obnoxious and overly glib be appraised with “wow, you’ve really got some nerve! I like you, kid!” or some variation therof. Mouthing off to superiors/ royalty? Charging into a fight on a stray heroic impulse despite everyone with a brain and their mom telling you you’re going to die because you just picked up swordfighting on tuesday? flagrantly and thoughtlessly disregarding engrained cultural things because they don’t align with your conveniently 2017 sense of social justice despite you living in an analogue-medieval world? Not cute. It will get you fucking killed. If your character doesn’t seem to grasp that, I’m going to think they’re a dumbshit, and if the book rewards rather than punishes that, I’m not going to take it very seriously. (obviously there are exceptions to this, particularly if your world doesn’t take itself very seriously, but if you expect to instill a real sense of danger in day-to-day life, your protagonist doesn’t get to be exempt from that because they’re hot and witty.)

6) Also, characters being stubborn. This goes with my last point, because it’s another trait people seem to think is like cool, or something? That stubborn people are stubborn because they’re Strong? that it’s a flaw but it’s actually a Cool Flaw, like in job interviews when they ask your weakness and you say “i’m just TOO hard of a worker, ha ha ha”? U see this a lot in female characters written by people who are uncomfortable writing female characters, i think because, again, it mistakenly reads as Strength on some really superficial level, and because the banter and petty conflict that arises from it temporarily distracts from weak overall characterization. If you’re going to write a character being stubborn, that’s great! But understand that a) it’s a real flaw that can genuinely blind them to good ideas and cause unnecessary friction that shouldn’t be treated as endearing, b) it’s not a replacement for other elements of characterization!! and c) it’s the flipside of being assertive, which is a good thing: no trait is only a flaw or a strength, and so any trait a character possess in abundance should both help and hinder them at different times, with maturity level tempering the bad, to a degree. stubbornness is no different.

7) Sexual assault (or the threat of it) all over the fucking place. Do i have to explain this one? Of course ownvoices books about sexual assault survivors are good and necessary but we are all sick to death of "fun” fantasy worlds where the female characters exist under the constant and unending threat of rape, where sexual assault is common as window dressing and the love interests are Super Special Feminist Snowflakes for being so revolutionary as to take consent into account. fuck that. that should be the bare fucking minimum. i am so tired.

8) The Six-Pack Sex Appeal Golem Honestly, I am not here to hate on love triangles, because I am ALL ABOUT the romance and the more the merrier. But what i do really, really loathe is the incredibly narrow parameters that have come to exist for male love interests, to the point where they all tend to feel like the same guy in need of anger management: a little broody, smart, serious, jealous and protective to a fault, if we get his POV we get real creepy sexual thoughts out of nowhere while he acts vaguely standoffish and probably a little patronizing to a woman whose Attitude gives him a boner. This man does not experience emotions that can’t be interpreted as darkly sexual, or possibly A Little Bit Vulnerable, just for that one scene of mandatory backstory reveal. I recently reviewed a real bad romance novel and described the hero as “a barely-consistent golem of toxic masculine ideals” and that’s what I’m talking about here. MAKE YOUR LOVE INTERESTS WELL-ROUNDED AND UNIQUE CHARACTERS LIKE ALL YOUR OTHER CHARACTERS. Forget what’s “sexy,” I wanna see the male love interests be Soft and Weird and cry in an unattractive way. For further reading/ a great case study of the Masculine Golem, please just read this article about how abysmal the romance in ROAR is. (For what it’s worth, I actually think SJM manages to avoid this in the ACOTAR series. Rhys and Tamlin suck but they are still mostly consistent characters, not just shells inhabited by the spirit of heterosexuality. your mileage may vary, though.)

9) Secret Superpower/ She Was The Missing Princess/ Queen All Along I think this is a trend that’s slowly but surely passing from YA, but for a while you couldn’t throw a rock in a bookstore without hitting a trilogy where a long-lost missing princess was established in chapter 1 and you spent the whole fucking first book knowing the orphaned heroine with a murky past was gonna turn out to be the princess and you were always right. Queens are also a huge fucking thing right now, although they don’t tend to follow that exact formula. See also the character’s discovery of a superpower catapulting them into a new exciting life-- basically any discovery of a Cool Sexy birthright as a catalyst for a plot is kind of played out and boring, at this point in time? This ties into my earlier point about wanting characters’ choices to shape the plot; it’s so much easier to have them reacting to external forces, especially dramatic, aesthetic ones, i get that, but you’ll get a more original and interesting story the more you resist that urge. And everyone is fucking tired of secret princesses and can spot them a mile away, y’all.

10) OMG magic is outlawed!!! BUT WAIT THE PROTAGONIST HAS SECRET MAGIC! CAN SHE RISE ABOVE PERSECUTION AND HER PROBABLE ROMANCE WITH THE PRINCE OF THIS POORLY-THOUGHT-OUT TOTALITARIAN REGIME TO LEAD ALL MAGIC-HAVERS TO FREEDOM AND ACCEPTANCE???? If you do this i’m going to come to your house and pour a cup of soda on your head. This is dumb and I can’t believe I’ve seen it multiple times. I’m not even explaining this it should be obvious.

Honorable mentions go to: Excessive mentions/ descriptions of eye color, really tired ways of describing kissing, elemental magic is super fucking overdone, instalove, and Training Montages

115 notes · View notes

kierantc-blog · 8 years ago

Text

DC Rebirth In Review - The Justice League

Welcome to part 3 of my DC Rebirth In Review series. DC are dropping the Rebirth branding in December and i thought i would reflect on what has and hasn’t worked in the Rebirth initiative.

To recap, you can check my previous posts, Part 1 - The Superman Family and Part 2 - The Batman Family, but in this post i’m going to be looking at the Justice League titles. To be clear though, this will be about the League specific books as well as the solo titles for the core members.

Justice League - This has probably been the most controversial of all the Rebirth books because for a lot of people the series has been nothing but a downgrade on Geoff Johns’ epic run in the New 52, and in a way they’re right. Bryan Hitch’s story telling style is all over the place but i believe the narrative he’s trying to put across is very good. It’s like having a pot of the best tea in the entire world but not being able to pour it into a cup properly. Hitch has been teasing a new Crisis event, the Forever Crisis, and who knows if that’s the way Rebirth will end or if it’s something else but it should be more exciting than it is. Also the artwork on this book has suffered massively from the bi-monthly schedule. The best talent is currently on other books and it needs to come on Justice League sooner rather than later. With Deathstroke’s Christopher Priest taking over the title soon, we’re certainly in for an increase in quality but until then, Hitch’s Justice League is worth a chance, but if you don’t like the first arc you certainly won’t like the rest. - 4/10

Justice League Of America - This book came with a lot of promise, excellent Rebirth one shots and a hero team of promise, and so far it hasn’t really delivered on it but it does show promise and improvement with every issue. Steve Orlando is a great writer, he’s doing some nice work on Supergirl and his Midnighter books have been wonderful too, but he has been slow on the narrative with this team. Right now the series is concentrating on a Rebirth mystery that came up in DC Universe Rebirth #1 with The Atom Ray Palmer sending a message to his protege Ryan Choi about a problem in the Microverse, and so far it has been good with Batman, Lobo, Ryan and Killer Frost searching for Ray. It hasn’t had the most consistent artwork but it has had some beautiful work from Jamal Campbell (Vixen Rebirth #1 & issue 7) and the legendary Ivan Reis, which make it a step above the other JL title. A must buy if you want a different kind of Justice League book. - 6.5/10

Green Lanterns - When Rebirth was announced, many people were disappointed with Sam Humphries being the writer on this book but he has changed minds emphatically with some stellar work. Writing for 2 relatively new characters in Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz isn’t easy but Humphries has made these two people into humans you can relate to and want to see succeed while also showing a lot of respect and knowledge to the Green Lantern lore of old too. The series has unfortunately suffered from some inconsistent artwork but it’s still an incredibly good read that has expanded on the mythology of the series introduced by Geoff Johns. - 8.5/10

Hal Jordan & The Green Lantern Corps - Just like with Humphries on Green Lanterns, people were disappointed to find Robert Venditti writing for Hal Jordan once again, but honestly i was hopeful as i enjoyed his post-Johns era work and thought he could get better, and it’s hard to argue against that given his run on this book. The biggest task he faced was combining a series of books into one, this series takes story beats from his previous Green Lantern book as well as Green Lantern Corps: Edge Of Oblivion, Sinestro and Omega Men and manages to combine them into one cohesive story, albeit a bit slower than some might like. My only problem with this series is the name of it, it suffers from the Birds Of Prey thing by them shoving Hal’s name on the front of it for no apparent reason. The artwork for this series is largely excellent for a bi-monthly title with Rafa Sandoval and Green Lantern veteran Ethan Van Sciver providing the bulk of the work. If you love the Lantern series you will almost certainly enjoy this one too. - 9/10

Wonder Woman - With a blockbuster movie on the horizon, the Wonder Woman series needed a big pull for Rebirth and DC more than delivered by bringing back legendary Wonder Woman writer Greg Rucka. Mixing the old with the new, Rucka uses older elements of Diana’s story and mixes them in with the New 52 elements but also deploys a unique story telling tactic by using the odd-numbered issues as a current day story and the even-numbered issues as a story titled “Year One”, a re-telling of how Diana first met Steve Trevor. The use of this type of story telling only works because of the bi-monthly schedule, otherwise it would take 12 months to tell a 6-issue story, but it works perfectly. The artwork is split between Liam Sharp on the current day story and Nicola Scott on the Year One story, and each one compliments the stories with incredibly detailed pencils. They are later joined by the excellent Bilquis Evely to round up one of the best art teams on one run. Rucka’s run on Wonder Woman ended with the culmination of both stories meeting in the middle in issue 25, and my only complaint about it was that a lot of questions were left up in the air but hopefully they will be answered soon as new writer James Robinson is living up to Rucka’s run quite handily so far. A must read for fans both old and new. - 9/10

The Flash - Written by Joshua Williamson with art by Carmine Di Giandomenico, Barry Allen witnesses a Speed Force Storm that turns random citizens of Central City into Speedsters like The Flash, and introduces the series to a new Speedster villain called Godspeed and a group known as Black Hole. While Williamson is often accused of exposition heavy writing, he also manages to make the story both easier to follow and also engaging at the same time and uses the supporting cast rather well. A later story starring Eobard Thawne AKA Reverse Flash is the highlight of the series so far, my only complaint story wise would be that Barry always seems miserable or down on his luck. Give the guy a break! The art by Di Giandomenico is rather sharp and frantic but it’s perfect for a book about a man who can run really fast. The latter half of the New 52 comic was a large disappointment for myself but Williamson and Di Giandomenico have brought the series back to prominence. There is a slow burn with the stories but i’m still engaged with them and interested as to where they might lead so that is always a positive. - 8/10

Aquaman - Of all the comics, this one feels more politicised than the others. The first 2 volumes deal with Atlanta’s relationship to the United States and how Arthur controls his kingdom, not to mention how the other members of the Justice League view him as a hero. One of the great things about this run is that it wasn’t afraid to come out of the gates quick, setting up a war between Atlantis and America with Black Manta manipulating both sides. Artwork duties are split between a group of artists such as French artist Philippe Briones, Brad Walker (Green Lantern: New Guardians) and Scot Eaton (X-Men), and they provide a similar, albeit simple style that allows for lots of action to be peppered into each issue. Aquaman is now a monthly title as opposed to a bi-monthly one but it hasn’t diminished in quality at all as it has popular artist Stjepan Sejic on art now, and together he and Dan Abnett are carving out quite the legacy under the sea. - 9.5/10

Cyborg - One of my favourite DC You books returns with a new writer in John Semper Jr. Semper is most famous for writing the animated Spider-Man series from 1994 so he’s not unfamiliar with comic book characters, but this marks his first foray into comic book writing itself and i must say, he’s doing a good job of it too. The problem with Cyborg in relation to other characters is that he doesn’t really have the supporting cast that the likes of The Flash and Batman have, so Semper has had to build him one, with new friends like Exxy the hacker and new Detroit hero The Black Narcissus. Part of the reason i like Semper’s work though is because he clearly has the Silver Age influencing him into writing big, crazy sci-fi stories. The move to a monthly has helped the book somewhat in the art department but i feel that the right artist on this book could make it a smash hit in the same way Sejic has on Aquaman. - 7.5/10

Green Arrow - Of all the Rebirth books, Green Arrow is one of only a few that kept its previous writer in the shape of Ben Percy. In Percy’s pre-Rebirth run he was accused of being a bit grim but his Rebirth series is more or less the opposite. Fan service is on display here as Dinah Lance AKA Black Canary is introduced, and for the first time since Flashpoint the romance between Oliver and Dinah is back. And that’s not the only thing as Oliver now sports his famous goatee. While the story is a bit more peppy and action orientated, Percy’s villainous Ninth Circle retain some of the grim that he had become known for but coupled with the wonderful visuals from Otto Schmidt and Juan Ferreyra the Green Arrow book finds a perfect balance that has been missing since the Lemire run in New 52. - 9.5/10

Trinity - DC took the logical step of combining both Batman/Superman and Superman/Wonder Woman into a much better Trinity series. The series, while short, so far has 2 distinct runs on it. The first is by Francis Manapul who pulls off pure magic by writing, pencilling and colouring all of his Trinity issues, the only thing he does do is the lettering. Getting back to the core of what makes the Trinity special, he opens up the past of each member to the others, allowing them to experience each other’s lives a bit more and gain a closer understanding. The second run is one revolving the idea of Trinities in DC and was started by Cullen Bunn, but now being written by Suicide Squad writer Rob Williams, involving the classic Trinity meeting the Mystic Trinity of Constantine, Deadman and Zatanna, the Dark Trinity of Red Hood, Bizarro and Artemis, and the Evil Trinity of Circe, Ra’s al Ghul and a reluctant Lex Luthor. The latter story concerns a run in with the sister of the Lazarus Pits, the Pandora Pits, which want to unleash evil on Earth. Even though both stories are different, they don’t take away from the fact that Trinity is an excellent returning series for DC, one that allows them to tell more concentrated League-centric stories without taking over the main Justice League books. It’s a must buy for Manapul’s work alone, truly a work of art. - 9/10

Conclusions

With movies coming out in the DCEU slate relating to these characters, interest in them is at an all time high and DC have done a relatively excellent job of providing interested new readers with excellent content to peruse in titles like Green Lanterns and The Flash, as well as satisfy old readers too with some excellent fan service in series like JLA and Green Arrow.

While the majority is excellent, the flagship Justice League book should really be better. Christopher Priest taking over the book provides a glimmer of light though, as the series really should be one that leads the way for the rest of the DC Universe.

Thanks for reading!

Next Up: The Young And The Violent (Teen Titans, Suicide Squad etc. lol).

#Justice League #Justice League Of America #Wonder Woman #The Flash #Aquaman #Green Lanterns #Hal Jordan & The Green Lantern Corps #Green Lantern #Green Lantern Corps #Cyborg #Green Arrow #Trinity #DC Comics #DC Rebirth #Comics Books #Comic Books #Comic Book Review

14 notes · View notes

best-reviews · 5 years ago

Text

How to Celebrate Valentine’s Day on a Budget: 6 Gift Ideas for Her

What to do for Valentine's Day this year?

Celebrating love is wonderful, but what if you’re on a tight budget this year on Valentine’s Day? Making a woman happy can become quite stressful because you want to see that pretty smile on her face, as she receives your gift. Moreover, it becomes even more overwhelming as everything around us seems to scream: ‘Buy me!’ Advertising is at its best on such a holiday, like the Valentine’s Day. Everywhere you look, you are literally blinded by shinny and glossy store window displays. It can be really hard to contain yourself as a woman, but have no fear because we are here. We’ve gathered some interesting gift ideas under $50 in a previous article which also might be useful in your search this year. Gift or dinner? Fortunately, as surveys reveal, it seems that preferences for gifts on Valentine’s Day have significantly changed. A number of 2,000 women being surveyed have put lavish gifts on a second place. The higher rank went to more close-to-the-heart options, like having a romantic dinner or spending intimacy moments, but take care not to gain weight by Valentine's Day fest. However, if you choose to physically gift your better half, there’s no need for you to become a spendthrift. Just arm yourself with some creativity and keep on reading. You might find some good inspiration in our 6 on a budget gift ideas for this day.. 1. Valentine’s Day cards Early on, when this love celebration started to actually mean something for people all around the world, cards were the first gift ideas. History tells us that the original Saint Valentine fell in love with his jailer’s daughter. Before going to his death he left her a letter, which he signed with ‘Your Valentine’. Nowadays, people are more likely to choose a pre-printed card available in all stores. In fact, there is such a great variety and you can find some really creative patterns. And all this just for a few dollars. However, if you’re trying to be more personal and romantic with your Valentine, you can go for a homemade card. In the end, you’ll get quite the positive reaction, especially if this is your first time creating something with your two bare hands. You can write whatever you feel like on it and it can be easier to express yourself through writing. Just use your own words to show your love for your sweetheart. No store bought card will be better than this and it practically costs nothing. 2. Flowers Another traditional and thoughtful Valentine’s Day gift idea are flowers. It could be the colors or the scents that make women smile each time they receive them. Either way, flowers were, are, and we dare to say that will always be a great gifting option. For many years now, roses were thought to be the best option for showing some love on this holiday. Victorian England might have something to do with this. It seems that in that period’s elaborate language of flowers, red roses portrayed romantic love. However, Mother Nature gives us the most beautiful roses during summertime. Of course, you can still find some very colorful and scented ones in February, as well, but at high prices. This is justified, considering that florists receive most of their roses from South America and shipping them on such a long distance needs more financing. Instead, you can say ‘I love you’ with one single rose. Attach a love note to it, where you use your own words to express your feelings and there you go. Your partner will surely appreciate it. Also, you could turn to potted plants. They last longer and your loved one can even plant them in the soil, at some point. You can choose an orchid, a chrysanthemum, or an African violet. And the best deal is that you get to pay less than half of what you’d spend on a bouquet of roses. Another great alternative are paper flowers. From roses, to any other type of flower, you can surprise the love of you life with a unique gift. These last for years and you can make them on your own. If you pick a paper that has some love texts written on it, you’ll get that Valentine’s Day romance touch. 3. A little bit of sugar A little sugar never killed nobody, right? Chocolates have become a very popular gift idea for celebrating Valentine’s Day. However, these can be quite expensive, especially on this day, when people are more willing to spend more money. But you could go for a wiser option and think outside the box…the chocolate box that is. The market offers a great variety of less expensive alternatives, like chocolate-free candies, heart-shaped, and colored in red that will surely make a great impact. Now, if you have a chocolate fan at home, you can always try to make something on your own. Cook some heart shaped cookies or dip some strawberries in chocolate. Basically, you can give a heart shape to any food, like an omelet for breakfast or a heart shaped sandwich. It’s more personal and such a gift will get a better reaction, we believe. 4. Books For any occasion you can think of, books can really make the best gift option. The current market offers a vast range to choose from. For Valentine’s Day you can keep the love vibe alive and choose those that focus on romance. Moreover, since hardcover books can be more expensive, you can choose audio books or e-books, if your partner has a device to read or listen to such formats. We believe that those used paperback books sold on Amazon are best, as you get them for quite the low price. Most of the time, the shipping is more expensive than this type of book itself, but it’s worth it. Think of a romantic book like hundreds of love notes all put together between covers. To make things even more special, you can write a short love message on the fist page. 5. Sounds of love Similar to books, music has a lot to do with each individual’s tastes and preferences. You can build up a selection of songs to feast your lover’s ears with. No need to mention that the perfect selection will show how much you appreciate her tastes and how well you know her. Also, you can always buy a CD or download a song that you know she likes and use it as a soundtrack, while you tell her you love her and you have a quick dance on it. Short and sweet! And the options don’t end here. You can use Spotify to make an entire playlist of songs that you know for sure will go straight to her heart. Be smart about this and choose those songs that may have put a mark on certain moments from your relationship. Think of the song that you first danced on, for example. To go even further with this Valentine’s Day gift idea, you can write a song for her, if you can accompany it with an instrument you know how to play. It doesn’t have to be a hit, but just personal. Now, if playing at an instrument is not your thing, you can just write it and gift it as a poem, in a colored envelop. She’ll certainly appreciate it. Or you can use your voice, no matter how good or bad it is. It’s much better to express your love on Valentine’s Day with your own words and voice, rather than using someone else’s lyrics. And it’s free! 6. Heart-shaped gifts The heart shape is known by everybody to represent the symbol of love. Since this is the feeling Valentine’s Day celebrates, you can choose items shaped as hearts. The market in February is literally filled with heart-shaped items, from purses, mugs, to cards and chocolate or candy boxes. However, don’t limit yourself to these suggestions, only. You can turn to Amazon, where the month of love, February, brings along multiple gift options. Moreover, the prices are really good. But, as we’ve mentioned in the previous lines, whatever you create with your own bare hands is best. Let’s say you find a set of heart-shaped cookie cutters. Now, don’t gift your loved one just the cutters. You don’t want that weird look on her face on Valentine’s Day, right? Instead, bake some cookies or pancakes. Delicious and thoughtful! Plus, you can find online all sorts of tutorials to make your own cookie cutters from soda or tuna cans. Now that’s even better, isn’t it? Another cheap, yet really nice Valentine’s Day gift idea is a deck of cards. Use the 13 cards with hearts and integrate them in all sorts of projects. Let’s say you arrange all these 13 cards in a heart shape on a board and in the middle you write the best love message you can come up with for your better half. Also, you could write some love words on each card. When you get to the 13th one, you can point out that it’s not a bad luck number, but rather the luckiest one, as your love makes it this way. Or you can come up with a better version of this message. A heart-shaped box can be a great gift on Valentine’s Day, as well. You can find numerous online tutorials that show you how to build one by yourself. When you’re done you can fill it with candies or paper flowers, or even small love notes. It’s all about the hearts! Conclusions Valentine’s Day celebrates love and this feeling is something that no amount of money can buy. No matter how much you pay for a gift, if it’s not offered with sincere appreciation, it will only look and feel forced. While you can always express your love with a spoken few sincere words, you can still offer physical gifts. You don’t have to spend money like water. Our on budget Valentine’s Day gift ideas are all about showing love through creativity, while focusing on expressing the value of the genuine feeling that bonds you to your sweetheart. We honestly believe that the value of your gift in money has nothing to do with the intensity of love you feel for your partner ‘in crime’. In fact, numerous surveys done in the last few years clearly show that women tend to be more appreciative of DIY gifts. Music, books, and even heart-shaped candies will always count more, if they are offered the right way. It’s all about letting the love you feel inspire you to create the perfect gift for that special one you have in your life. Read the full article

#budgetValentine’sDaygiftideas #celebrateValentine’sDay #celebratingValentine’sDay #giftsonValentine’sDay #greatgiftonValentine’sDay #plansomethingforValentine’sDay #Valentine’sDay #Valentine’sDaygiftidea #valentinesdaygiftideas

0 notes

deborahdeshoftim5779 · 8 years ago

Text

The Marvel of Trelsi (Part VII)

I’m back for more Trelsi mania. Today, I want to expand on the disadvantages for the High School Musical franchise that Troy and Kelsi received so few scenes together throughout. We know why their friendship is so damn good, and so the natural question arises as to why they didn’t capitalize on this when showing the protagonist, Troy Bolton, headed on his journey to finding himself.

Already, I’ve answered the following questions from my Introduction:

1- Who IS Troy Bolton?

2- Who IS Kelsi Nielsen?

3- What makes the Trelsi friendship and dynamic so friggin’ special? Why does it make me want to weep and write poetry? (Part IV, Part V, Part VI)

After some consideration, I’ve added this question before I get to exploring the potential of their relationship:

Question- Why are there so few Trelsi scenes? What is the effect of this? Where could we have seen more Trelsi?

It’s necessary to recap the main value of Trelsi throughout the canonical franchise:

1- Movie Message: Be true to yourself. Troy learns that performing is a part of his identity and embraces this. Kelsi learns that she has a talent worth appreciating and shouldn’t allow people to change her music as though they know better than her.

2- Character Development: Without taking the crime committed against Troy’s character development into account, the effect of hearing Kelsi’s words and lyrics spurs him to explore his new-found interest and apparent talent in performing. Once Troy shows Kelsi her worth, she becomes more confident, more assertive with her compositions and embraces the spotlight.

3- Plot: Troy gets his chance to prove himself as a performer after hearing Kelsi’s music; Kelsi in turn gains the acumen to write for more musicals and eventually pursue a scholarship opportunity with Juilliard. Troy’s accumulated profile in the Performing Arts thanks to Kelsi’s songs inform his decision to pursue Theatre after graduating from high school.

4- Character Balance: There is a notable and enjoyable contrast between Troy and Kelsi as people. Even though they have complex shades of their individual characters, there are still some key differences. Troy is more outgoing than Kelsi, more willing to put himself forward. He’s the guy who’ll be joking with his buds at lunchtimes, whilst Kelsi is huddled over her manuscript paper, scribbling away. This is even after she becomes more popular. Kelsi appears more of a disciplinarian when it comes to composing, as you often see her frowning and crossing out notes when dissatisfied. Troy’s performing style appears more spontaneous; I tend to think that he would be the one suggesting ideas to develop his interpretation of Kelsi’s songs. This is evidenced by his practicing style in HSM I (running round the practice room whilst singing the chorus to “Breaking Free) and his routine during HSM III for “I Just Wanna Be With You”.** Kelsi is talkative and Troy is, interestingly, not talkative. Indeed, he gets alarmed when Kelsi babbles on and on about her ideas. When Kelsi becomes more confident, she can steam ahead with her beloved “ideas”, whereas Troy is more hesitant. Kelsi is more spur of the moment, whereas Troy is more analytical (although he clearly does give in to creative impulses). There are some overlaps here, particularly when considering Troy as a basketball player; neither Troy nor Kelsi are clear-cut. But they are distinct in some key areas.

5- True Friendship: Troy and Kelsi rely upon each other as an unfailing source of support and never abandon each other when things get tough. They are completely loyal to each other. Remember, East High has a Drama Club. Kelsi is certainly not the only composer in the entirety of East High, and Troy has his pick of many other talented people who might write songs just as good as Kelsi’s or even better. Instead he sticks with Kelsi’s music even when initially unwilling to do another musical or show. When the future of each show is put into jeopardy thanks to Gabriella, Troy does everything he can to ensure the show will proceed after all because he cares about Kelsi’s hard work and understands the satisfaction she gets from creating music. It would be far easier for Troy to let Gabriella go her own way (as she tells us in HSM II); after all, he owes more to his girlfriend than to his friend. Insisting upon Gabriella’s performing in HSM III was significantly motivated by his loyalty and respect for Kelsi; hence the speech about how important his new-found friendships with less popular students in East High (and I’m sure he wasn’t just talking about Kelsi and Ryan, but probably other people he had befriended as well, whose names we don’t know). The respect is clear, as is comfort, unspoken understanding and affection. Thanks to the lack of concern shown to Troy’s other friends outside of Gabriella, no indication is given of whether Troy will remain in contact with Kelsi after graduating; obviously I think he would, but we can’t say for sure.

So why don’t we get to see more of them? I’ve thought about this at considerable length, and although it’s far too easy to blame the screenwriters for not seeing the value of Trelsi right under their noses, I think there is probably a less biased explanation.

Simply put; we don’t know very much about Kelsi Nielsen. Compare how much we know about her to Troy’s other important relationships: his “romance” with Gabriella and his friendship with Chad Danforth. We hear about Gabriella and Chad’s parents, their childhoods, their aspirations, their interests outside of their primary fields (science and basketball respectively), we know their flaws, we get to see day-to-day banter between these two and Troy on a regular basis. We know about their parents: Gabriella most probably lost her father, her mother has struggled between pursuing the demands of her job and giving her daughter a sense of stability. Mrs. Montez clearly earns a lot of money, and is an excellent cook. Mrs. Danforth loves Broadway, crushes on handsome actors and probably reads too many diet magazines. ([Chad] “One of her crazy diet ideas-- I don’t attempt to understand the female mind, Troy!”) Even other characters like Taylor get more depth even though she isn’t as close with Troy; we know about her older sister, her philosophy on life, her aspirations and interests outside of science. For example, it is notable that despite being scientifically-minded (Chem Club President), Taylor wishes to pursue a degree in Political Science. This is also the same for Gabriella, who wishes to study Law, although she is shown to excel in maths and science (particularly chemistry).

Consider by contrast how much we DON’T know about Kelsi Nielsen. Who are her parents? Does she have any siblings? What is her wealth status? (She mentions having a piano at her house, so can we assume middle-class?) Given that she was the composer of the show, why didn’t we get to see her parents or other relatives in the audience? With regards to the plot, how did she become interested in music; I have theorized that her deep commitment to the art stems from a pathological shyness that probably lasted for most of her formative years. What does she like doing in her spare time, or what are her other interests outside of music? We know in HSM III that she is more than a competent dancer and may have taken ballet lessons as a child. But this seems contradictory when considering her clear clumsiness in HSM I. By HSM III, she is incredibly graceful. Did she take lessons at some point? What other creative interests does she have? We do know she likes classical literature, as her favourite book is the (extremely boring) “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Bronte. (Credit to BoltonEvans). Her obsession with romance says a LOT about her-- where did this come from? I’m fairly sure that Jason was Kelsi’s first boyfriend, but did she have any other crushes beforehand? We don’t know things about Kelsi that go beyond the surface, like her fears and her lifelong ambitions. Sure, we can assume she might want to be a composer, but it’s VERY difficult to get well-paid, consistent work in the Performance industry, and no amount of talent can change that. Hence why I discussed her single-mindedness to her career and the disadvantages thereof.

Don’t get me wrong; we can infer a significant amount of things about Kelsi, as you can see from my hyperlink above. But so much remains unknown. Hence, Kelsi was simply not intended to be a very prominent or influential feature in Troy’s life. This is why Troy and Kelsi are never shown hanging out on a casual, day-to-day basis; almost all of their interaction is centred upon the titular musicals/shows and even though Kelsi eventually sits with the Cool Girls (Taylor, Gabriella and Martha) and the Cool Boys (Chad and Jason, with whom she eats breakfast during HSM II), she is never shown doing the same with Troy. In fact, this gulf between them when not near a piano or stage is so great that we don’t even get a final Trelsi scene after high school graduation, despite the fact that elements of Troy’s speech fit his friendship with Kelsi far better than his friendship with Zeke, Martha or his “relationship” with Gabriella. We get no indication as to whether they will keep in touch after graduation, and have to assume not from the canonical headline. It makes me weep and turn to drink, but my bias and wishful thinking only extend so far. In light of all this, it is simply astonishing that the film’s creators would go to all the trouble of 1)- linking Kelsi to the central character, Troy, 2)- creating a close and unique friendship between them, 3)- giving Kelsi roles and characteristics that should have been given to Gabriella, 4)- inserting Kelsi into the plot and character arcs to push things forward. They managed to be sloppy, careless and yet attentive at the same time. And though I lampoon them on a regular basis, I absolutely give them the credit for creating Trelsi. But their lack of concern for both characters is astounding, particularly since so many HSM fans love both Troy and Kelsi.

As a result of this, the film suffers from the following disadvantages:

1- Little comfort for Troy: Although there are standout moments where Kelsi comforts Troy, the paucity of Trelsi scenes means that for most of each film, Troy is either left floundering in a sea of self-doubt, self-criticism and denial, or unsuccessfully seeking understanding, loyalty and support from the wrong people. Had he spent more time with Kelsi, he would have gained a steady source of support throughout. It would not have reduced the conflict, because Troy would still face obstacles caused by Gabriella and his friends as well as by himself. It would, however, have built up his character in a realistic and consistent fashion. This was supposed to be Gabriella’s role, and as I will discuss later, she fails abysmally.

2- Promotion of unhealthy relationships: The less we see of the exemplary friendship between Troy and Kelsi, the more we see of the less exemplary friendships between Troy and the Wildcats, and the unhealthy relationship between Troy and Gabriella. Because Kelsi was not intended to have a significant influence in Troy’s life, there is plenty for room for Gabriella and the Wildcats to influence him in ways that inhibit his character growth and lead to a real decline in his ability to think autonomously. Kelsi reflects the complete antithesis of this, and thus her increased presence would provide an exemplary contrast to the drubbing Troy endures from those supposed to support him.

3- Stunts character development: The dynamic between Troy and Kelsi is thoroughly egalitarian. They raise each other up both literally and emotionally, and they have a largely unspoken way of doing so. Without this source of support, Troy has to look elsewhere, most often to Gabriella. Troy’s sense of self diminishes at an alarming rate as a result of her influence, which will be discussed in later instalments. Performing onstage and seeing Kelsi there as a source of encouragement increases his confidence and sense of self. Furthermore, potential scenes between Troy and Kelsi that weren’t related to the musicals would help Troy learn more about himself, as they clearly share much in common, a passion for the Performing Arts being one of the main commonalities.

4- Diminishes Kelsi’s value to plot: This is what annoys me the most. Even though Kelsi is the one who:

1- Composes ALL the music for said HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL,

2- Puts in HOURS getting the very best out of Troy and Gabriella,

3- Shows absolute devotion to her craft,

4- Can work with any type of performer, even difficult ones like Sharpay, who trusts her enough to keep performing her songs,

5- Arranged rehearsal times for everyone with recognition to their schedules in EVERY movie, which required excellent organizing skills,

6- Managed the entire school orchestra by herself, writing orchestrations and fixing charts, writing arrangements for different instruments,

7- Assessed the musical capabilities of characters who considered themselves non-musical or even uninterested in music so that she could include them in the musicals: (HSM II- ”...maybe Chad and Zeke can do backup and everyone can dance!”),

8- Took the generic and predictable Lava Springs Talent Show at an exclusive country club and turned it into a show-stopper (HSM II- “Kelsi’s got some great new ideas to SPICE UP the Talent Show!”)

9- Had a great understanding of each performer as an individual and could tailor her writing to suit their strengths, which is why she wrote differently for Sharpay as compared to Troy and Gabriella,

10- Made Chad forgive Troy in HSM II,

11- Provided constant loyalty and support to Troy throughout,

...she is considered a MINOR character by most accounts. This is inconceivable, unjust and patently ridiculous. Kelsi is the HEART AND SOUL of the movies. She brings everyone together***, and she is largely responsible for Troy’s magnificent transition on stage into a natural and engaging performer. To give her less scenes with Troy means that less attention goes to her and her incredible achievements and more attention to characters who have not even achieved one fifth of the above list by comparison. It sidelines a character in blatant contradiction to the whole aim of Kelsi’s character development, which was to give a shy and introverted character a VOICE. Recognition. What was the point in Troy reaching out to her in the first place if the script was just going to shove her back offstage despite everything she had done for Troy, Gabriella and the Wildcats? What was the point of Troy calling her and RECOGNIZING her as a Playmaker if she gets no credit for this either from the scriptwriters, Gabriella, the Wildcats or even Troy in his abysmal graduation speech? I reiterate: it was a crime for Troy to mention Zeke’s crême brûlée and Martha’s cheerleading, none of which had ANY effect on his character development whatsoever, but not make ONE mention of Kelsi’s music which propelled him to where he stood that day. Inexcusable. Since Kelsi was the ONLY other person described as a Playmaker, she should have received more attention. Thanks to the chronic inconsistency of both the screenwriters and Troy (too busy giving credit to Gabriella that she doesn’t deserve), the second Playmaker is routinely ignored where she should be getting the spotlight.

Sorry folks, but this makes me mad.

What kind of scenes could we have had between Troy and Kelsi that would add value to the franchise and lessen my inveterate anger?

1- Troy confiding his worries-- Although Troy and Gabriella’s first time on the rooftop is a better example of Gabriella being receptive to Troy’s concerns (”I’m sure it’s tricky being the coach’s son.../”Then they don’t know enough about you, Troy”), there’s no consistency in Gabriella’s concern. Throughout HSM II and HSM III, it almost vanishes on the spot. A scene where Troy confided his worries in Kelsi would result in Kelsi taking those worries seriously and providing solid, useful advice to help him progress.

2- Kelsi confiding her worries-- I refuse to believe that the process of creating a musical or show went off without a hitch. Despite Kelsi’s claims that everything would be fine, she must have had worries about this, and I can only see her being comfortable enough to share these with Troy, who believes in her and calls her Playmaker. That would get her back on track. But what about Kelsi’s worries outside of music? We could have had some very interesting discussions here.

3- Troy and Kelsi learning more about each other’s backgrounds-- When Troy shares some parts of his childhood with Gabriella, she just laughs in a condescending fashion and makes him feel like an awkward three year old. She doesn’t understand his dorkiness/nerdiness. Given that Kelsi shares a lot of Troy’s awkwardness, I can’t see her making fun of Troy for having a toy robot or a Batman cloak. In fact, in my headcanon, she’d quite like his treehouse. Why? Because Kelsi clearly values solitude to think and compose her songs. Troy values solitude to think as well, hence his love of trees. I can see Kelsi fitting in far better here as a companion in the treehouse. I think Kelsi probably valued her solitude as a child, and even though Troy mostly played with Chad when they were both boys, he clearly does use trees for thinking on his own. Also, because Troy always takes an interest in other people’s lives, and because he connects so well to Kelsi’s music, he would naturally want to know more about her background in this regard. (Assuming they got such a scene... *angry face*)

4- Troy and Kelsi banter-- Both Troy and Kelsi have a far more compatible sense of humour than Troy and Gabriella. Indeed, Gabriella is often incapable of taking a joke. Troy and Chad have a compatible sense of humour, but I don’t get the impression that Chad, who is more straight-forward and direct, would appreciate the value of Troy’s sarcasm, dry and self-deprecating wit. Kelsi definitely would, since she can poke fun of sensitive issues like her height: (HSM II, in response to Martha on what her summer plans are) “Grow, write music, grow.” Kelsi is quite good at making light of a serious situation with a comic understatement, as is Troy. There are some slight differences; it is Kelsi who is more prone to poking fun of others. With the exception of the hazing scene in HSM III, Troy rarely makes fun of anyone-- not even Sharpay. And we have already a little evidence that they find each other funny. Given that Troy becomes increasingly miserable in HSM III, he could have done with some of Kelsi’s light-hearted banter. So say I. :D

5- Deep conversations-- Kelsi’s songwriting reveals a maturity beyond her years. Troy already demonstrates himself as mature beyond his years, often bearing a lot on his shoulders. Gabriella, by contrast, is extremely immature despite her strong academic capabilities. Chad is too involved in either his own future, or trying to impose that upon Troy. He sees the world in black and white, with no nuanced shades of grey. Hence why Troy’s attempts to have serious conversations with Gabriella end with her pretending to listen/understand and then pulling the focus back to herself, and his serious conversations with Chad end in either mockery, sweeping generalizations and Chad once again insisting his views are correct. Therefore, it would be far more enlightening to see Troy having serious conversations with Kelsi. For example, they might discuss their futures; Kelsi is very ambitious, hence why she applied to Juilliard. What with her philosophy of pre-destination (it’s music all the way), and Troy’s philosophy of free will, they would have very mature conversations, discover more about each other and even learn from each other’s viewpoints. There’s a complementary contrast there, as both Troy and Kelsi showcase some of each philosophy in their future: Troy accepts pre-destination when he decides to keep basketball in his life, despite saying in HSM III, “Maybe I don’t see my life as a ball game anymore, man.” It would have been nice to see Kelsi being a little spontaneous when it came to her future too, given that it seems she was dead keen on attending Juilliard: “What? They got my letter?” Once again, we see Kelsi’s unmissable and scandalously underappreciated initiative.

On that note, I’ll be looking into the potential of Trelsi’s relationship next, in particular the line between friendship and romance.

TO BE CONTINUED

(*FOOTNOTE-- How tragic it is, that by the end of the film franchise, Kelsi is more confident, whereas Troy’s own confidence has withered to provide that truly horrendous ending we saw in HSM III. Read my fury about it here. Had Troy and Kelsi spent more time together she might have helped alleviate the effects of Gabriella’s negative influence upon him, and had she been Troy’s love interest, he definitely would have developed in a more linear fashion).

(**FOOTNOTE-- Of course, Troy is a disciplinarian when it comes to basketball, which underpins his skill in this area. Say what you want about Coach Bolton, he really knows how to get the best out of his son, and instils in Troy a laser-like focus on his goals. Now this does not suit Troy when he discovers his interest in the Performing Arts right on the cusp of an important game, but it does give the implication that Troy is a hard worker and is generally successful when pursuing his goals. Or, when he fails, he can pick himself back up again and try harder).

(***FOOTNOTE-- Once again, we see Troy’s astounding, though unintentional, blindness towards Kelsi and her achievements. How can he seriously claim that Gabriella is the one who “changed” East High, when it was KELSI who brought people to appreciate the beauty of music and performing through her excellent compositions?! Kelsi is the one he calls “Playmaker”-- “the one who makes everyone else look good”-- and not Gabriella, who simply has not achieved anything similar. All Gabriella did throughout the ENTIRE film series was simply be in the right place at the right time. She rarely ever took initiative, except to audition in HSM I, and to apply for Stanford’s Freshman Honors Program (which, whilst being commendable, has nothing to do with Theatre). Kelsi is the one who spent her time composing a song for Troy and Gabriella to sing in HSM II, most likely after she received her summer job from Sharpay. That’s real initiative. We will look at this in more detail later).

#Trelsi #OTP #Playmakers #TroyBolton #KelsiNielsen #LiterallyTroyandKelsiForever #AppreciateKelsiNielsenPeople #SheisSOImportant #Don'tSpeakToMeIfYouThinkTroyellaWasMoreImportantThanTrelsi #You'reFrickingKIddingYourself #ToBeContinued #IFrickingLoveThisShit

8 notes · View notes

mermaidsirennikita · 8 years ago

Text

Book Roundup -- April 2017

I completed by challenge of reading 50 books in 2017.... today. Admittedly this is usually a pretty low bar for me, but I don’t wanna go any higher than 50 just in case I suddenly get super fucking busy or my speed-reading powers deactivate.

Anyway. Most of the books I read this month were honestly mediocre to poor, but I did discover two books towards the end of the month ( “Feast of Sorrow” and “Crazy Rich Asians”) that not only introduced me to new authors but pretty much thrilled me.

So, without further ado:

The Night Mark by Tiffany Reisz. 3/5. Still mourning the death of her first husband, Faye ends up divorcing the man she married for convenience and heading to coastal South Carolina in an attempt to resume her former career as a photographer. After learning the local legend of a lighthouse keeper’s ill-fated daughter in the 1920s, she accidentally ends up in the water--and wakes up in the body of Faith Morgan, said ill-fated 1920s girl. This book is definitely a romance novel, and it’s a lot of fun. As with any romance novel, there are some random choices that are kind of done, and the plot is somewhat convoluted, and the time travel aspects of the plot don’t always make sense.... But it was fluffy. It made me happy. It made me homesick, for that matter. If you’re looking for a quick, somewhat mindless read with some nice sexual tension-filled scenes, go for it. (If anything, I feel like this would have been improved with a few more sex scenes. To be honest.) It’s note quite peak trashy time travel romance novel a la Jude Deveraux’s Knight In Shining Armor, but it’s good.

Love for Sale: A World History of Prostitution by Nils Johan Ringdal. 4/5. A non-fiction history of prostitution spanning from ancient myths to the present day. The book does a good job of covering the East and West--though more attention is paid to Europe than anywhere else, Asia gets a good amount of attention. At certain points, it does get a bit dry. But it does the job, and is very interesting and informative.

Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett. 4/5. In this YA contemporary, Bailey moves to California, not telling her Californian longtime online penpal, Alex, that she’s done so. (She has confrontation problems.) Upon beginning a museum job, she falls into a love-hate tension-filled relationship with security guard Porter, not realizing that he--of course--is Alex. This is pitched as a modern-day You’ve Got Mail, so I don’t think that’s a spoiler. Honestly, I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. I was beginning to think that YA contemporaries just weren’t for me anymore, and something about the chemistry and characters in “Alex, Approximately” just got me. Certain dramatic backstories were a bit much, but ultimately the chemistry between Bailey and Porter sold this book for me. They felt like actual teenagers who were actually into each other, and lately I feel like the YA I’ve been reading is too sugary to accurately portray that. Overall, this is a definite summer/spring rec from me.

Marriage Most Scandalous by Johanna Lindsey. 2/5. This was a pretty typical historical romance bodice ripper, about this dude who killed his best friend by accident in a duel years back? And is now a sort of mercenary detective type? So years after said accidental murder, his father’s ward comes a-knockin’, all grown up and such, and she thinks his dad is being targeted by someone evil. Of course they have to pretend to be married to figure out what’s afoot, and you can take it from there. I don’t think I like Regency bodice rippers as much as I do like... Viking romances, or Highlander stories. I feel like bodice rippers should be set in “rougher” times so the extreme fuckery going on is easier to dismiss as part of the fantasy. Plus, idk, some viking dude capturing the self-insert heroine and teaching her the ways of erotic love is just sexier to me than a dude named Sebastian having a secret identity as the Raven. I never said I wasn’t problematic.

Literally by Lucy Keating. 1/5. Annabelle is in the midst of upheaval in personal life when she meets the perfect boy, Will--and finds out that she’s actually the main character in a story by the author Lucy Keating. K. This could have been good, but it’s pretty much ruined as soon as Lucy Keating introduces herself. She’s referred to as Lucy Keating for the whole book; Annabelle thinks about how beautiful she is and her cute clothes; she’s all ambiguous and strange and self-adoring. This was one of the most uncomfortable, awkward books I’ve ever read.

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli. 3/5. This YA contemporary is about Molly, a girl whose insecurity about her weight--and inevitable comparisons to her beautiful twin, Cassie--has her constantly crushing on people that she finds unattainable. After Cassie falls head over heels for Mina, Molly feels pressured to like Will, Mina’s cute and sweet friend. But she also likes--perhaps more genuinely--Reid, who is, like Molly, overweight and maybe a bit uncool. This is less a romance--or I was less interested in the romance--than a story about Molly and Cassie growing up and apart. Molly’s insecurities are driven in part by her comparing herself to Cassie; at the same time, the main reason why she doesn’t want to like Reid is that she thinks he’ll pull her further from her twin. That’s a super interesting, real conflict. The romances I found less compelling. The book includes a lot of diversity, but at a certain point it did feel a bit... checking the boxes-esque? Like, Molly thought back to this boy she crushed on, and specified that he was a trans boy even though it added nothing to the story and really served more to set him apart, in his two paragraphs of page time, as “special” compared to the cis boys Molly had crushed on. I get what the author was going for, but it came off as a bit awkward sometimes. Overall however, this is a very earnest and sweet read.

Given to the Sea by Mindy McGinnis. 2/5. Khosa is the latest in a long line of women “given” to the sea--she’s destined dance into the sea as a sacrifice to prevent it from swallowing up her homeland. Before she does that, of course, she needs to give birth to a daughter who will follow in her footsteps. Trouble is, Khosa is afraid of being touched. Aaaaaand that’s pretty much what I got from this. The story has an interesting mythology and I liked the sort of writing style McGinnis was going for, but that’s it. I kind of debate even giving it a 2/5 for that. There were too many narrators (Khosa, the prince type guy she met, and his adopted sister I got but there was one guy whose presence as a narrator I never understood) and the plot was very... vague. I got that Khosa was doomed to be sacrificed and needed to get knocked up, but everything else was extremely hard to understand. And I was trying. I really tried. It just never got there for me.

The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda. 2/5. I really enjoyed Miranda’s previous thriller, “All The Missing Girls”, but this one just... numbed me. It seemed like a much more standard “what happened to the missing/dead person” story than “ATMG” was, and it never clicked.

My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier. 4/5. Che (yes, named after THAT Che because his parents are The Worst) is a teenager moving from Australia to New York. Also, his little sister Rosa is fucking psychopath. Rosa has been wrong since she was a baby, but Che is the only one in his family who acknowledges this--ironically, because his parents are always occupied with hippy-type projects that are meant to save the world. Che knows exactly how dangerous the unfeeling Rosa is, and how easily she manipulates everyone around her. And of course, she catapults the family into disaster. This book was pretty chilling at times. For that matter, it actually had explanations for things that bothered me--why Che’s parents were so shitty, for example. Threads like those would have been dropped in another book, and I appreciate Larbalestier following up on them. It’s a really effective thriller; perhaps the most convincing part of it is how much Che loves his sister, despite everything. The book isn’t quite scary, but it is creepy--and quite sad at points.

The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi. 4/5. From 1968, a serial killer terrorized the hills surrounding Florence. The killer would spy on couples parked to have sex--a common practice in Italy, where people usually didn’t leave their parents’ homes until they married--shoot both of them, and often mutilate the women’s bodies in a sexually motivated manner. There have been a number of suspects, some of which have been convicted then exonerated. Italian journalist Mario Spezi had been following the case for decades when he met American thriller novelist Douglas Preston. Forming a friendship, the two began researching the murders, leading to both of them tangling with the Italian authorities (including the prosecutor who botched Amanda Knox’s case; and if you didn’t think she was innocent before you read this book, you probably will after). The book is divided into two parts--that detailing Mario Spezi’s investigation of the murders as they happened, and then what happened after Preston got involved. Preston describes Florence and the unique Florentine attitude well, but honestly I got frustrated with him a lot. He seemed so ~shocked~ that the Italian authorities didn’t function in the same way that they do in America. I figured that out pretty quickly after landing in Italy for my year abroad, and I was 20 at the time. Also, like... it wasn’t hard to keep my head down. I get Preston’s motivations, but his story is less interesting than Spezi’s, which isn’t surprising. Am I 100% sure that they found the true killer? No, but their guy seems more likely than anyone else who’s been a suspect. This is a very gripping, very interesting true crime story that I definitely recommend.

Feast of Sorrow by Crystal King. 4/5. Thrasius, a young Roman slave, is bought by the patrician Apicius due to his exception skills in the kitchen. Apicius wants to become the gastronomic adviser of Caesar Augustus, and he believes that Thrasius is his ticket to fave. What follows is the decades long saga of Thrasius as he helps his often-capricious master and bonds with Apicius’s family, particular his master’s wife, Aelia, and his daughter, Apicata. But Apicius’s ambition and hunger for renown knows no bounds, and he drags Thrasius and his family into the depths of Roman politics with him. So this book was actually a really, really compelling read. King has a talent for description, and as a recurring backdrop of the drama is cookbook(s) that Thrasius is helping Apicius put together... I got hungry fast. King also has a talent for creating that sense of the Roman world, beyond the famous people. She created an environment that felt real and everyday to me, while at the same time keying in the drama when she needed to. I will definitely be picking up her next book, especially if it’s historical fiction. I couldn’t put this down. With that being said, there were a couple of things that kept this from being a 5/5 for me. One was Thrasius’s romance with fellow slave Pallia--it felt very plot-device-y to me; I mean, you do need to give Thrasius a motivation to stay with his master even when he’s a dick (beyond his own life) and yes having him fall in love with a woman brings in the possibility of Babies as an added motivation, but also... I kinda wish that Thrasius had fallen in love with a dude. His chemistry and sex scenes with Pallia felt super forced, but his scenes with other men were more... interesting. Towards the end of the book, the melodrama got dialed up a little too much--like I know it’s not Feast of Sunshine and Daisies but holy shit. Some fact-checking proves, though, that King did her research and the goriest parts of the book did happen. So overall, I’d highly recommend this to anyone who wants to read an entertaining novel of Ancient Rome.

The Last Neanderthal by Claire Cameron. 3/5. This novel takes the perspective of Girl, a young female Neanderthal who, due to a sudden turn of events, ends up alone in the wilderness with Runt, a strange young boy her family adopted. At the same time, it tells the story of Rose, a pregnant archeologist who has discovered two unique skeletons and is racing against the clock to finish her project before her baby comes. This is very much what you might call a feminist read--it’s about different aspects of women’s lives, how much has changed, how much... hasn’t. What I found particularly interesting was the look at sexism--particularly towards women who choose to become mothers--in the academic world of archeology. Unfortunately, I can’t say I super liked the book because Girl’s side was... well, kind of a downer. It’s realistic, but strict realism doesn’t always make the best story; and at any rate, who knows how realistic it is? We’re talking about Neanderthals here. Also, I feel like some people will really appreciate the degree to which Claire Cameron describes things, but like. Dude. Once we start talking in detail about the smell of a Neanderthal’s cervical fluids, I’m kinda out. But I gave it three stars because it is well-written and it is an interesting angle to take, it’s just not for me.

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan. 5/5. American Born Chinese (ABC) girl (but not really) Rachel Chu has been dating the charming Nick Young--her first Asian boyfriend--for about two years, and finally agrees to spend the summer with him in Asia as he stands as the best man in his friend’s wedding. Nick is charming, kind, and handsome--also, he’s mega-rich, as Rachel only discovers upon arriving in Singapore and meeting his family, including his formidable mother Eleanor. Nick hails from not one but two different elite clans in Singapore society, and not only is his mother plotting against no-name Rachel--so are all the women who want to get their claws into him and his bloodline. There are several different, super-interesting subplots going on too, but that’s the main story. And it’s great. This book is the perfect blend of insightful social commentary--from someone who would actually know what’s he’s talking about, rather than an outsider white author--and catty drama. Rachel is probably not the most interesting character here, but she’s supposed to be the good girl, and she’s not bland. She’s smart and sticks up for herself, even if she’s a bit naive. Nick is a decent guy, if not perfect--he’s ignorant to the complications of his own world because... it’s his world, and he’s a man and therefore not privy to many of the machinations the women perform. The two most compelling characters are Astrid, Nick’s beautiful cousin who’s just beginning to recognize the cracks in her marriage, and Eleanor, his mother. Eleanor is AMAZING, the perfect mom from Hell without being a caricature. Her concerns go over the top, but they stem from a valid place, especially when you take cultural norms into consideration. Also, she’s being played by Michelle Yeoh in the movie so... I’m hype. Loved this. It was one of my longer books of the month, but I sped through it in two days.

#books #book recs

6 notes · View notes