#exaggerating the second part. Very fed up w the first part .

[alittleemo]

please god how hard is it to not say snarky things as soon as I’m in the apartment. i am going to walk 500 million miles back to my home if that gets me out of here sooner

[hcywards]

jealous — topper thornton

summary: as much as he said he wasn’t, topper thornton really was a jealous guy.

words: 2k+

t/w: mentions of cheating, swearing, mentions of drug use, underage drinking

note: so a large part of this is with the pogues, but like the other half is w topper, and i feel like that’s an even balance. also this is kind of long, and it makes up for the fact that “you’ll be fine” is incredibly short, but it’s pretty shitty and i hate it sooo

     Being the Pogue princess dating the Kook prince’s best friend was difficult in itself, with both Y/N and Topper feeling like they were betraying their families by doing the one thing they’d always been taught not to do. And, for Y/N, it was made even more difficult by the fact that almost all of her friends were guys, and the Kooks hated that.

     They’d never cease the questions of was she cheating on him, which only seemed to be doubled when word got out that Sarah Cameron had cheated on him with one of the Pogue boys she spent so much time with. According to them, it was John B’s fault Sarah had cheated, and he could probably quite easily trick another Pogue into cheating, too.

     Which meant that, every time she hung out with her friends, Topper had to be there to make sure neither Rafe nor Kelce said anything about it, which made things a lot more awkward then they had to be. After all, what girl wants to hang out with her boyfriend, his ex and her ex at the same time? If you do, you’re probably insane.

     This was how it came to her having to sneak around to hang out with her friends alone, no matter how much more suspicious that might seem. It was better than the alternative, because it wasn’t as if she was actually doing anything wrong.

     So, she slipped out of her bedroom early in the morning, leaving Topper still sleeping there from the night before, a note scrawled onto the Post-Its she kept on her nightstand that read “I’m w Kie”. And it wasn’y as if that was a lie, it just wasn’t the whole truth.

     It was seven am when she reached the Chateau, and Pope and Kie were the only ones awake, lazing on either side of the couch and talking. They looked up as Y/N walked in, greeting her with grins and whispered “hi”s — JJ was asleep in the room next door, presumably. And with a girl at his side, no doubt, though she’d be ushered out the second he woke up. She knew the pattern — it’d been nearly two years since they dated, and he’d had a different girl almost every other night since then.

     Y/N glanced to the door he was behind and smiled fondly, rolling her eyes at her best friend.

     “Topper not coming?” Kiara asked curiously.

     Y/N shrugged. “I knew Sarah and JJ were, so I told him I was just hanging out with you.”

     Pope frowned slightly, but didn’t voice whatever he was thinking, and Y/N wandered into the kitchen to get a beer. She came back in with three cans, and tossed the other two at her friends casually.

     “I don’t drink before seven at night, Y/N, you know that,” Pope stated.

     Y/N shrugged, “Suit yourself. Give it to whichever one wakes up first.”

     Those words, coincidentally, were the words John B swung his door open to, Sarah trailing along behind him. The group grimaced, well aware of what had probably gone down before they went to bed, and Pope tossed the beer can to John B, who caught it easily, leaning against the wall and cracking it open.

     Sarah seemed more at ease than usual — presumably because her ex wasn’t there, sulking and making the atmosphere at least ten times more uncomfortable — and leant into John B’s side happily.

     “What’re you peasants planning on doing today, anyway?” Y/N joked, grinning. The rest of the group rolled their eyes, all immediately giving her their quickest retorts.

     “Just because you have a rich boyfriend doesn’t make you royalty, Y/N,” Pope responded.

     Kiara nodded in agreement, adding: “Yeah, and he’s an ass, so. . .”

     “He’s not!” Y/N insisted. “He just hangs out with the wrong people, is all.”

     “Right,” Kiara scoffed. “You are aware he tried to drown John B, right?”

     Y/N sighed. “Yeah. Yeah, I know that, but, in all fairness, JJ was hitting on Sarah.”

     “And he’s ‘not jealous’,” Pope snorted, quoting what he said every time Y/N asked why she had to bring him along when she went to see her friends. Y/N rolled her eyes, wondering whether her boyfriend actually did believe he didn’t get jealous, because it was obvious to everyone else he did — but, then again, Topper could be oblivious to the most apparent of things quite often.

     Y/N knew that first hand, having not been able to get him to understand that she liked him even with the most obvious of signs and having to tell him outright once she grew fed up of hinting at it.

     Hours passed by quickly, a large contrast to the way they did when Topper was with them, and Y/N found herself soon remembering why she loved hanging out with her friends away from the Kooks so much. However, her mind was long from Topper and the Kooks when the sun began to set, and she was entirely focused on talking to JJ, John B and Sarah, Pope and Kie already having head home because both of them had shifts in the morning.

     “—Yeah, and then the cops started chasing us, and JJ was this close to being caught when Y/N tripped him up and made the cop fall over, too,” John B recounted, howling with laughter by the time he’d finished his exaggerated story of one of the group’s many escapades.

     Y/N laughed with him, eyes squeezing shut as she guffawed — and that was probably why she didn’t notice her boyfriend approaching them, the anger burning up his body increasing tenfold with every step.

     He should’ve known this was going to happen, he was telling himself, he should’ve known a Pogue was going to be dirt just like the rest. After all, if Sarah Cameron was a cheating liar, how could he put that past the people so infamously below her? The people he’d always been told he couldn’t trust?

     However, with the anger, there was also the hated side of upset — because, was he not good enough for her? Did he think those Pogues could treat her better than he could? Was that why Sarah left?

     Getting cheated on the first time hurt, yes, but now? Getting cheated on for the second time, and both of the other partners being in the same group? God, that felt worse than anything Topper had ever experienced, and he couldn’t help but wonder why he wasn’t just angry, like Kelce or Rafe would’ve been. Why did he have to question himself? He wanted to be able to tell himself that if she cheated, that was on her, not him, and he couldn’t have done anything to stop it, but he wasn’t. 

     He practically tore JJ off of the hammock next to Y/N, glaring and ready to beat the shit out of him. JJ just frowned, confused, and that only angered Topper more — had Y/N not even bothered to tell them they were dating?

     That thought was completely irrational, of course. Everyone in the OBX knew that Topper and Y/N were dating, because it wasn’t as if they kept their relationship very private, and, being the island’s so-called Romeo and Juliet (or the star-crossed lovers, as they were often referred to as), they were often the gossip of the town. And, besides, he’d been to the Chateau with her plenty of times before, and they’d kissed in front of the whole group plenty of times, too.

     However, he wasn’t exactly in the mindset to be thinking rationally at that point in time — having just gotten back from spending the day with Rafe, he had had an unhealthy amount of crack, and could barely think at all.

     He pulled JJ so that they were face to face anyway, though, and his words came out a threatening growl: “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Pogue?”

     Y/N frowned, standing up and trying to tug Topper off of the boy — that, however, was seemingly impossible. “Top, what are you doing?”

     At that, he whirled to face her, and suddenly Y/N was cowering underneath his stare, all of the anger that had seconds ago been directed at JJ now aimed at her. “What do you mean, what am I doing? What the fuck are you doing, Y/N? I thought you said you were with Kie? Not sucking up to your ex!”

     Y/N laughed, and Topper’s jaw tensed, but he didn’t move — he could see the way JJ moved to get between them when his anger heightened, and he hated it.

     “It’s not fucking funny, Y/N,” he spat, “I should’ve known you would be a whor—"

     “Before you say anything you don’t mean,” Y/N interjected, “I wasn’t doing anything with JJ, Topper, and you should know that by now. We broke up because we’re more like siblings, and I’m not in to incest. And he was literally just lying on a hammock with me, so can you calm the fuck down?”

     Her voice was surprisingly calm, and it was an immediate soother for Topper, who released the front of JJ’s shirt reluctantly, giving him a warning glance as if to say ‘if I catch you anywhere near her again, I’m going to put your ass underground’, and let his girlfriend drag him off to her car.

     He hated the fact that jealousy was still burning in his gut, and he hated the fact that JJ had the audacity to laugh about it as they left. He didn’t act on that anger, though, and just continued trailing after Y/N, well aware she might just kill him if he did anything but that. He got in the passenger side when she shoved him towards it, and sat there with his arms crossed over his chest, looking like a spoilt child.

     Y/N could’ve laughed at him when she jumped into her side, but she didn’t, because Topper was an asshole when he was high, and she didn’t want to get into an argument neither of them meant.

     “Topper, I wouldn’t cheat,” she stated, starting the car even though she knew she probably wasn’t in the right mindset to drive, either. It wasn’t as if she’d never driven drunk before, and she knew what she was doing. Besides, she didn’t want to have the conversation she was about to have in front of the other Pogues.

     He glared at her as he responded: “Why’d you lie about where you were, then?”

     “Because if I told you the truth, you’d come with me, and all of us find it uncomfortable when you’re there,” she answered truthfully. “You know, with Sarah and John B.”

     Topper ran a hand over his face. “Look, I’m sorry, Y/N. I just-- after Sarah, I guess I’m a little more suspicious than usual, and I love you so much, and I know that, like, all of the guys on this island think you’re hot, so you could easily get with someone who isn’t me.”

     “Yeah, but I wouldn’t though, Topper, okay?” Y/N stated as she drove away from the Chateau. “That’s what you have to remember. I wouldn’t.”

     Topper nodded, smiling, and the pair sat in silence for a minute before Y/N spoke up.

     “You know, you always say you don’t get jealous, but you’re always jealous,” she commented absentmindedly, thoughts going back to Pope’s words that morning.

     Topper frowned. “No, I’m not.”

     “Right, so that’s why you were about to get into a fight with JJ?” Y/N asked sarcastically, “Because you weren’t jealous?”

     “Okay, fine. Maybe I am a little. But it’s not my fault all the guys want you, okay?” Topper responded.

     Y/N just laughed, pulling the car to a stop in her driveway. Topper’s hand moved to get the door handle, but she caught his arm before he could manage, and she pulled herself over onto his lap, pressing her lips to his in a messy, passionate kiss. He kissed back quickly, hands moving to her waist to pull her closer.

     As she pulled away, gasping for breath, she whispered: “I’m yours and only yours, Topper Thornton, okay?”

     He nodded, smiling. “Okay.” With that, he was pulling her in for another kiss, grinning against her mouth as he did so.

     God, he was so in love with her.

taglist! there is a form in my description if you would like to be added!

@thorsangel @dpaccione @ceruleanjj @thatsonobx @spilledtee @supremestarkey @babypogue @sadcupofcoffee @sacredto @poguemacking

[bisexualterror]

All the even headcanons?

at first i was confused and then i made a noise and went ?? really!!?? now i’m blushing 😊 ok so!

1. Light sleeper

altheia for sure. they have to deal with a lot of abrupt attacks during the war so yeah 😔

2. Has non stop puns

nova does use a few. but mainly remy and her dad richard. omg they’re jokes are terrible together, dwight has to leave the room sometimes lajfjdjfhj

3. Will cut you if you hurt their loved ones

almost all of them?? except a few dick side ocs. but nova was the one who came to mind first so her the most. she does a lot for the people she loves.

4. Has a dysfunctional family

uhhhhhh the correct question would be who doesn’t have a dysfunctional family 😅 maybe spencer? they love their parents but.... yikes!

5. Likes rock music

so many!! but nova and bo listen to it the most!

6. Will give you the middle finger

dkjdjdh most of them tbh but nova and bo again for the most!

7. Is a sweet angel

a tie between remy and zephyr appleby!! remy is so precious and zeph is such a soft boy i love them 🥺

8. Can kill you with a pencil

nova would 100% wanna stab a vampire with one. but corvina is the one who would kill you with one.

9. Looks sweet but will murder you in cold blood

mmm probably my only anime oc akane! cause she’s pretty violent but she looks cute!

10. Looks like they will murder you but is a sweetheart

alex and mars! ive done so much rewriting for mars, made her softer on the inside than she looks on the outside, which is the cliche ice queen slytherin look.

with alex she has a pretty bad case of resting bitch face but she’s probably my kindest oc, loves helping people, esp people in pain, no matter how much she denies it.

11. Will eat everything if they could

ljshdsg nova, she loves going to other people’s houses and stealing their food.

12. Wants to run away from everything

alex is constantly running away from stuff until she finally embraces her new world and begins to run towards people.

also noor, she does sometimes dissapear/runaway from serious sibling arguments and her job is basically her running from being truly intimate with people

13. Knows random facts about everything

altheia!!

14. Owns a motorcycle

i think a few of them do actually? but alex is the one that rides hers the most and takes care of it herself very well. she just loves driving anything from motorcycles to cars to that one time she has to emergency land a plane!

15. Is book smart

a few but al came to mind first!! altheia consumes books with a real hunger for knowledge of all kinds. the moment they step out of gallifrey they begin to see that somethings are best learned through life experience.

16. Is naïve

says a lot that it took me a second to think for this one. probably zeph or reyenna in her pre s1 years, although their naivety is because of their young age

17. Would steal a penguin from the zoo

1000% mars!!

18. Has very exaggerated facial expressions

remy and nova but nova the most tbh she has so many different looks she uses on people and only bonnie and her best friends can read them all

19. Likes Harry Potter

a lot of them but zaria and nova make the most references kshshjs

20. To solve other peoples problems, they say to murder the problem

skhsjaksj a lot lmaooo but corvina is probably the only one that’s not joking

21. Is a nervous wreck

alex has a lot of anxiety so her def

22. Likes dragons

nova, mars and zaria. mars just a little bit more though, very enthusiastic over animals, especially ones that are big and can kill you

23. Will laugh as they kill you

hhhhdg corvina mostly just to scare you but yeah

24. Would bake a cake for a friend who is sad

nova and zaria! nova keeps her friends well fed and loves cooking at random hours. zaria is pretty good at baking, for the most part, if only because she loves sweets.

25. Is the comforting one

a lot. alex, nova, noor and zaria.

zaria is a full on empath so she’d probably be the best at it.

26. Acts like they don’t care, but do

a few! but elena and corvina the most in their first season(s). corvina is a bit better at keeping up the facade though.

27. Loves children

roma!! she’s really good with her baby brother and other kids too!

28. Gets lost easily

talia and mars! talia with driving anywhere cause she prefers portals and mars trying to figure out all the twists and turns of hogwarts. she will probably be playfully upset w Harry for keeping the map to himself for so long 😆

29. Likes to work out

alex for sure!

30. Will sends meme in the group chat

a lot for sure but remy will send the most, sometimes she’ll only express her emotions with memes

31. Knows every song ever

probably my only fully formed singer oc audrey! she likes rock, indie and classical more but tries to keep up with every genre for the most part.

32. Likes socks

the first that came to mind was al! they have a collection of weird and funny socks, but remy has some pretty great ones too!

33. Can’t sleep without something special

noor can’t sleep without the lights on. usually dimmed but still light on always.

34. Has a sweet tooth

zaria!! no competition.

35. Has amazing hair

most of them probably?? but dessa and nova’s hairstyles are the ones i would want the most personally

hey!! i love you!!! thanks so much for the ask!!!

[sazandorable]

~*MIKUDAIARAMANO*~

(polyship meme)

1. A large spider Ariados has gotten into the house/apartment. How does each person react?… Honestly, i’d love for Daigo to be the one screaming. None of them are that bothered, though, Lizardon shoos it out and that’s it. Manon pokes it, probably.

2. What are their sleeping arrangements? Do they get multiple mattresses, several rooms? Line a floor with mattresses and then make the entire room a bed? Who are the blanket hoggers? The ones who flail?

All right so there is definitely a universe in which they all live together and have one biiiiiig custom-sized bed (laying down order is usually Manon-Alan-Daigo-Mikuri, but people constantly complain that they’re not getting enough of Mikuri/Manon/Alan and move down one spot in an endless loop. It gets stuck on Daigo-Mikuri-Manon-Alan for a while because the Alan shortage is hard on Daigo but he can’t bring himself to give up Mikuri, so there’s some attempts at negotiating sleeping arrangements again and then they just go back to a previous setup until Manon complains again that she’s not getting enough Alan or Mikuri-san.). Hari-san, Milokaross and Daigo’s Cokodora and Dumbber babies sometimes cuddle with them all but tend to run away when it gets sexy. Lizardon sleeps on a carpet on the floor, or in the garden.

However, in a lot of universes / most of the time, they’re all in different places and travelling a lot for various and different reasons (training and exploring, research, Devon business, Mikuri Contests, and the occasional world-saving), and they do most of that alone, although they do drop by and visit or join up for travelling, in various configurations (Daigo and Manon are never really a thing but they’re BFF and hang out a lot). In those cases it’s a lot of spooning and cuddling, often in piles with their Pokémon (Manon loves sleeping with Milokaross, but Milokaross Does Not Like Daigo, and when Alan and Daigo are alone Lizardon goes “=w=” and preemptively returns into his MonsterBall himself).

AND THE REST OF THE TIME. Aside from Manon, they all have their own place in different cities; Alan has a tiny student-rate room-with-a-kitchenette-and-shower in Miare City where Manon or Daigo squat when they visit, that has only one narrow bed. Daigo has both his game-canon place (that has a double bed and perhaps a guest room), and a flat in Yamabuki City (at least one guest room and double beds everywhere); Manon stays in his guest room or couch a lot, Alan tends to put his stuff in the guest room and end up actually spending the night in Daigo’s bed anyway. Mikuri has a huge traditional Japanese house in Rune City with empty rooms where he lays out futons for guests. (In some universes, they met around TSME-era when Daigo brought the kids over to Mikuri’s place for some random reason; in that case Manon and Alan were Young and not a couple so they each got their own room, and Daigo technically got a guest room too but cheerfully dragged Mikuri to join him, because Mikuri’s room is Milokaross’ realm. Later on they just cover a floor in futons and pile up.)

And for the final questions, Manon and Daigo are blanket- and body-hoggers, Manon and Hari-san flail in their sleep, Cokodora is a forever baby and whines in her sleep, Milokaross Accidentally Strangles Daigo In Her Sleep, and Alan sometimes has fits of nightmares that require tight hugging (or sexy distractions).

3. How do they celebrate the holidays? What are the favorite holidays in the household for each person? Are there ever any disagreements about which holiday is the best? Do any of them go all out with decorations and participation in events? Does anyone ever suffer in silent agony that they’re being forced into holiday sweaters or fed too many holiday foods, but out of love they keep their mouth shut?

Manon loves Christmas, but is also all over summer festivals and fireworks. Mikuri is just adamant about doing all the proper traditional stuff as the Rune City quasi-priest/miko, and often will make the physical trip to preside over the celebrations, but he doesn’t particularly ask any of the others to join in, it’s just Rune City business. Daigo always participates properly in everything specific to Hoenn, too, and loves taking out the Kalos kids to matsuris or shrines. Alan doesn’t have particular feelings about anything but he’s all about Respect so he’ll go along with whatever he’s told is necessary or polite/respectful to do, and he’ll smile quietly at seeing the cheer around the household, especially how happy it makes Manon. They all look gorgeous in kimono/yukata/hakama, btw, obviously.

Lizardon, Metagross, Cokodora and Hari-san help with decorating a lot; the latter two because they like helping with Important stuff, and the former two because they’re convenient for carrying heavy stuff or hanging stuff in high places. Metagross sometimes sports absurdly cute hair decorations on the X on its face.

Manon usually tries to cook and results vary wildly (also through time, after a few years of helping Mikuri with traditional New Year’s foods she becomes genuinely good at that).

The one problem that ever really arises is keeping Daigo from consuming or making others consume too much alcohol, and keeping Lizardon away from alcohol as well but for a very different reason. (Fire.)

4. How do they all keep house? Do they assign chores, and if so, does anyone ever slack? Does anyone ever say, “let’s clean” and (most?) everyone suddenly hops off the furniture and pitches in?While travelling, they’re all used to life on the road and share chores pretty much equally with no problem (including Pokémon).

Alan’s place is tiny and he won’t let anyone do anything, except Lizardon (though he’s a bit too big for the room and can’t do a lot). Daigo has housekeepers and always eats out or orders in. Mikuri usually keeps his huge house himself, but will have his guests help with everything, though Daigo isn’t very good at much beyond doing/drying the dishes; Hari-san is a good cook. Alan, Manon and Hari-san spent their first ever morning at his house hanging the laundry out in the garden.

Milokaross is probably the one who does the least, and she still helps with laundry or tidying up and putting things away (she has very good balancing skills).5. Something contagious is going around! How will each of them handle being sick? Who are the ones who insist on working even when they’re not well? Who are the ones who stay away when they’re healthy? The ones who play nurse? Daigo and Mikuri are tied for worst patients ever, Daigo because he’s super demanding and wants to be spoiled thoroughly and will exaggerate everything (and no one will be fooled, very mean nurses), Mikuri because he overworks himself and won’t admit to being sick and it’s incredibly hard to get him to say exactly what’s wrong and what you can do to help.

Alan is like Mikuri on a lesser level and can more or less easily be shamed into admitting he needs to get help and rest. Manon is completely knocked out and delirious the second she has the slightest fever; she’ll try to continue doing her part but it’s instantly obvious she can barely stand on her feet, and she’ll be ushered to bed and doted on for a few days. Alan reverts to being a tsundere worrywart over her.

Daigo loves playing nurse but will try and avoid to get contaminated.

Everyone completely freaks out and babies any Pokémon that feels unwell; Mikuri in particular forgets about everything else when Milokaross is ill, even when he’s aware it’s nothing serious.

6. The mess that is deciding where to eat out and what to order. Nah, that goes okay. Daigo pays for everything, Manon orders a lot and tries everything (and shares with Hari-san), Alan has to be bugged into getting more than a salad or noodles, but it works out fine.

Daigo really likes taking people out to restaurants, in group or solo dates (including friend dates with Manon, they go out for decadent ice cream bowls or local specialities a lot). Mikuri rarely eats something else than what he makes for himself (he cooks his Pokémon’s food as well), but he’ll go along with the group.

Please picture Alan with Hari-san perched on his shoulder, feeding him bites from his waffle cone.

(Metagross and Dumbber don’t eat, Cokodora eats iron and metal scraps and it’s kindof hypnotizing if disturbing to watch.)

7. One or more of them comes across a stray animal. How do the family members each react? Who tries to find the previous owner? Does anyone want the others to mind their own business? Do they end up keeping it?Mikuri often takes care of injured or lost Pokémon in Rune City, especially aquatic Pokémon from the lake. It’s canon that Alan brings the ones he finds to the Platane labs.

All four occasionally run into Pokémon that need help while travelling, and they will do the right thing, though it rarely results in a catch or adoption. Alan isn’t even tsun about it, just reasonable but not cold; he’ll give a wild hatchling his own food without a second thought (and Lizardon will later force him to accept half of his own ration). Manon will be very emotional but also level-headed and reasonable about the entire thing; Hari-san is a professional rescuer of anything that needs help. The most practical and detached about it all is probably Daigo, but… he’ll also do things like call a helicopter over to take it to a private hospital and pay for very expensive treatment for a wild Zigzaguma/Zigzagoon or a ten-year-old’s Caterpie.

8. They take a trip to the zoo. What is each person’s favorite animal, and who gets excited about seeing theirs? Who downplays it? Who is willing to wait while the other drags everyone off to their favorite animals, and who tries to tell everyone they’re going to stick to the set path from beginning to end, and everyone will get to see their favorites soon so calm down?Manon is the most enthusiastic about that kind of thing and will absolutely behave like a little kid, but taking Mikuri to a good aquarium or aquatic nature reserve is the best thing ever. Both are slightly exhausting but worth it, and everyone will make sure to make that happen if the occasion arises (Daigo once travelled with Mikuri in Isshu and didn’t tell him about the Marine Tube; Mikuri’s face when they arrived is one of his favorite memories).9. Describe everyone going on a camping trip. Who enjoys it? Which one(s) set up the tent? Who would get lost in the woods but is only a few feet away from a gas station? Travelling as usual. Manon does get lost sometimes but she’s got experience even when Alan first meets her. People who don’t know Daigo well think he must hate it, but actually, while he doesn’t especially enjoy the camping itself, he absolutely doesn’t care about spartan conditions and loves having time alone with rocks/ruins and his Pokémon.10. Who tells the ghost stories or watches the ghost stories, and who are the ones who need a cuddle sandwich to get through the night every time they encounter anything the least bit spooky?… Mikuri is horrible at really spooky Japanese ghost stories, Manon is the one most obviously spooked but Alan and Hari-san aren’t feeling so good either. Daigo laughs. Lizardon falls asleep. Milokaross’s slithering around makes everyone (except Mikuri) jump at one point or another in the night. Mikuri probably loves all the Ghost/Water types.

11. Who steals everyone else’s clothing? Who can’t tell their own clothing from other people’s anymore? Manon steals absolutely all of Alan’s clothes (she looks adorable in his old hoodies and she knows it), Daigo does his best to get Alan into some of his suits or yukatas whenever he can, Alan accidentally wore one of Daigo’s dress shirts once and wishes he could forget about that (Daigo loved it). Alan and Daigo are the only ones who genuinely wonder and accidentally mix up their more basic clothes sometimes (work shirts, pants and ties or old casual teeshirts and jeans, and ofc underwear and socks).

Mikuri’s clothes are Mikuri’s clothes and nobody looks as good in them as he does so nobody ever tries, although he lends yukatas and kimonos to everyone else sometimes.

The things that do swap around a lot and lose ownership are accessories and jewelry! I can see them all wearing earrings or studs as young adults, + Manon makes everyone bracelets and necklaces. (Also, Alan in hair clips……)12. One of them starts singing. Who joins in? Who absolutely refuses to join in? If any of them can’t sing, does everyone roll with it, or do they stop and beg that person to stop as well?Everyone shuts the fuck up and listens with starry eyes and a blush when Mikuri even so much as hums under his breath; Milokaross sings too!

Manon can’t sing to save her life but she has a lot of enthusiasm, and she loves karaoké. They mostly let her, but Daigo and Alan aren’t really into singing.

13. Who is the warmest to cuddle with? Who is always cold? Who wants the heater up, who wants the heater down, who wants to save money but is cold as fuck and piles under layers of clothing and blankets in the house? Who dies in summer? Who wants to turn up the AC and wait out until winter?Manon is warm but her toes are always cold; everyone else is mostly cold but everyone tries to cuddle up to Alan and Mikuri. They all generally do the layering and cuddling, especially while travelling (though campfire and Lizardon help too).

Daigo’s houses have AC and heated floors and at least one ridiculous luxurious (electric?) fireplace (which is why Manon likes to have Christmas at his place). Alan’s place has no heating, only Lizardon; cuddling is the heating system. It’s horribly stuffy in summer and he spends as much time as he can at the lab. Mikuri’s house probably has no heating as well, or maybe an old traditional wood-burning stove; no one is quite sure how he survives winter in there, nor summer, it’s horrible even with all the Water Pokémon but he looks completely unfazed.14. When grocery shopping, who budgets and makes lists? Who happily throws things into the cart and figures it’ll work out? Who estimates their general spending as they pick up items, but they throw in a couple of splurges? Who oversees that the splurges don’t go too far and tells the other(s) to put some or all of the items back on the shelf?Kindof depending on who’s there and buying what, but overall: Alan and Mikuri, Manon and Daigo, Manon and Mikuri, Alan and Mikuri. Honestly, Alan shouldn’t need to worry about money once he knows Daigo (Daigo would buy him a house if Alan let him), but old habits die hard; even when he was working for Fleurdelys with paid travelling expenses he tried to save money as much as he could. Mikuri is generally sensible and doesn’t especially live in luxury, but then he’ll have an entire outfit custom-made in incredibly expensive fabrics for a single event without batting an eye.

Manon grew up learning to be sensible about money but she got Daigo as a sugar uncle during her teenage years, so.15. Something broke down! Are any of them handy around the house with fixing things? Who thinks they can do it on their own and what level of success do they have? Who breaks down and calls a professional out?

Alan, Alan, Alan.

Daigo is good at fixing technology, not to mention Metagross, and can always figure out practical solutions when on the road. Mikuri is the best at estimating, he always knows exactly what ought to be done, and if he is not capable of doing it, he knows someone who can.

Manon is often the one who broke the thing, and is pretty clumsy in general, but she is also very creative, handy and practical-minded, and she takes at heart to fix her own mistakes or the problems she created, so sometimes she’ll work out a wonderful fix if she has the occasion to. Hari-san is also reliable in general, and is the one who’ll make her admit that they have to tell the others and/or ask for help when it’s necessary.

[jhuntfmp-blog]

Misandrist

My Role: Director of Photography

Director: Jobe Wolf

Brief Overview of Story: Misandrist is a story about two women who have had enough of men, they take a restaurant hostage to prove a point. The film is set in a theatre style setting, look into ‘Dogville’ by Lars von Trier for a similar style. 

Heres a picture of our de-constructed set, ready for Act 2 (Picture by Anthony Dennett)

Pre-Production: During pre-production we discuss the general themes of the film and lined them up with our expectations of what we imagined the final image could be. First and foremost Jobe categorised the film as a Neo-Noir Thriller, this gave us a good base to build the film upon. 

For this we wanted a good image to work with in the edit, we wanted good quality and lots of information which is why we chose the Panavision Genesis with the Codex pack. This gave us the option of shooting 1080p 4:4:4 12-bit, which is an incredibly data rich image. The only drawback to the Genesis is that low light quality, well the fact that it has to have a lot of light in order to produce a clear image. If it doesn’t have enough light the image is incredibly noisy. 

Similar to Radio City I was torn between two lenses, the Zeiss CP2′s (again with Black Pro Mist filters) or the LOMO lenses. This time I went for the LOMO’s, mainly for the advantage of 27mm lens which I thought would be useful. Someone also pointed out to me that it was a beautiful lens, to which I agreed after testing. 

Jobe wanted to had some split focus shots where we had one character in focus in the foreground and one in the background, there are two main ways of doing this. One method is comping two images, once you have a frame locked you leave the camera there and shoot the scene twice with two differing focal points and then comp the images together in post. The other method is split diopters, this is a piece of glass that goes over the lens which changes one half of the images focal point. These are very tricky to get right but a good skill for everyone involved to learn. We went with the diopter option, I like doing this practically. Below is a picture of a split diopter.

(VashiVisuals) 

As we knew we wanted a noir feel to the picture I did some research into noir style lighting because I haven’t done it before. I found an article on filmmakeriq.com and it stated that “In Film Noir, the most prominent lights are going to be strong keys and back light. Fill light is not as dominant as we want to exaggerate the contrast and get that low key look.” ("The Basics Of Lighting For Film Noir | Filmmakeriq.Com")

After the research myself and Jobe started going through the blocking for the scene and creating a storyboard so we could get a plan down that everyone could follow. This was also so I could see where the action was going to be so I could assess where I thought the lights needed to go to light the scene. 

The film was broken down into 3 clear acts, I will break down the lighting for each act.

Act1 - This act Jobe wanted each part of the action to be surrounded by complete darkness so for each table we had a Source 4 spotlight rigged directly above and pointing straight down on the table below. This was our main source of light, we used a lighter coloured table to reflect light back into them from underneath, I also used haze to make the shaft of light stand out from the darkness too. I also placed some cyc lights on the floor, which were fed through the dimmer desk. These were shone into the drapes in the background, this helped to lift the amount of light in the scene so we didn’t get as much noise in the final image. In the grade we will bring down these areas to complete blackness. 

Act2 - The main source of light in the act was the window, I put a 2.5k HMI through one window, which had blinds on to create the blinds effect over the faces of actors and on the floor too. Alongside this I used a 1.8k HMI through the door window, which had diffusion on, to continue that bright outside look. 

I had a Kino with 1/2 CTS (Colour Temperature Straw) on the far side, this was to emulate some of the practical lights from inside and to fill the faces from the other side with a small amount of light. I didn’t want to use the fill too much because I wanted a high contrast ratio in the faces. Again I had cyc lights on the floor, shooting into the drapes around the side to lift the ambient light to reduce noise, we also had one behind the bar to make the bar stand out from the drapes too. 

We used a lot of practical lights for this scene, below is a list of where and what we used:

- 5 x 2ft fluorescent tubes with CTO, under the bar top to downlight the bar and behind the hostages to backlight them for closeups. 

- 2 x LEDgo panels below the bar shelves to uplight the bottles, create some interest in the background. 

- 2 x 2 banks of 100w bulbs in uplight fixtures on the flat above Donny and Magda.

- 4 x 60 w vintage bulbs hanging over the bar, to create interest and backlight character standing at the bar. 

- 3 x 60w vintage bulbs hanging in the middle of the set above the girls table (Although we couldn’t adjust these into shot so they were used as ambient in the end) 

The following link is to a small video I made out of the lighting tests I did for misandrist, the footage is in black and white because this is how I want my final version of the film to look: 

https://youtu.be/F4Mt0HR_XuU

Production: During production we had the camera mainly on the fisher 9 dolly, this was to make it easier and quicker to move into position. We also started with some tracking shots and a 360 degree shot around the table with the two girls on. This was difficult, a good challenge and the results are great! 

We had a set back in the first day so we were a little bit behind from there on in, we still got it all shot but were always chasing our tails and maybe didn't have enough time to finesse some shots as I would have liked. 

In the first act we had more complicated shots than in the second act, more tracking, the 360 shots and the split diopter shots. This made the first act more challenging, in a good way. 

It took us a long time to get the split diopter shots right, you have to line up the edges of the diopter itself in the right place, have the actors at a correct distance apart to get the focus right and not have any part of the actor or prop cross into the other half of frame. I decided that I liked props and actors hands crossing over, I felt it added something to our project that isn’t really done.

Lighting was relatively easy for the first act, the Source 4′s were pre-rigged and fed into the dimmer desk, this gave us control of the intensity but they were in a fixed position. The diopter shots involved having the foreground already lit then at a certain line of dialogue the background Source 4 was raised in intensity to reveal other characters. 

In the second act we had to move, lower and change angle of the HMI’s shining through the window depending on shot, we also had to move the Kino inside to help fill the faces. One major mistake I made in pre-production was not testing what we could see through the window in the camera. This set us back a lot of time because we had to blackout some of the stands, other things behind the window to stop it from being in view. 

Also, during the second act, I had two silver boxes made which we then shot 2 5k lamps into with a Medium Blue gel these silver boxes were mounted so they could spin. This gave us our police lights that come into the scene at a specific point. There would be a dialogue cue for the sparks on the boxes so they knew when to spin them. 

Our police lights in action, this was spinning to create the revolving effect of the light (Picture by Anthony Dennett)

We used a hazer throughout to give the scenes more of an atmosphere and so in certain parts you could see the streaks of light shining through the haze. 

Gaffer Dave and the sparks, Connor and Conna, getting the hazer ready for the day ahead( Picture by Anthony Dennett)

A big issue we had was with the green screen when shooting the boys, I’ve never shot green screen in a project before. The issue came when we were using the split diopter against the green screen, there was too much noise in the image which meant keying was difficult. The advise from the VFX team was that we should have shot it in layers, first the background, then the rear action then the foreground. In future I will know this. Check the following post to view a short clip showing the noise, split diopter and green screen.

Results: The final look to the film is close to what I wanted, and to what Jobe wanted. The special shots we used ended up looking great, the 360 shots and the diopter shots. 

The footage is looking good in the majority, there are bits that I have re-watched that could be framed slightly nicer and the use of some bounced light just to lift faces in a few shots would have been great. 

Below is a link to the video page fro Misandrist’s Facebook page, the trailer is viewable here:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/misandristfilm/videos/?ref=page_internal

The following link is to the picture locked version of the film on Google Drive:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5OozGUVLX26LXc1MC1xRE5Qb1E

What I’ve learnt: I’ve learnt an incredible amount from this experience. Technically, I’ve learnt more about the Genesis camera, LOMO lenses, 360 tracking shots (and cutting them together) and a lot about split diopters too. These will all be very useful skills for the future. 

I’ve also learnt about timing and that complicated shots need extra time planning into them, this may sound obvious but an extra 20 minutes planned for can always be a bonus. 

Another thing i’ve now got a better understanding of is the amount of light needed for older cameras. They do need a lot to get nice image. Off the back of this I now know that its better to have too much light to then be able to take some away quicker than having not enough light and struggling to pump any more in. This can save time when shooting!

The 180 degree rule was another thing I learnt a lot about. Firstly on the 360 degree shot when we came to finish the move we realised that we needed to be over the correct (by correct I mean opposite) shoulder for it to make sense, otherwise it would look like the characters were both sitting on the same side of the screen. Also, I broke the 180 degree rule with the boys conversation with the waitress. It starts off on one side of the line, looking towards the window and outside, then we switch over to the other side for the conversation with the waitress to include her in the frame. I think I broke it in a way that makes sense to the audience because its almost like a reverse shot so everything is flipped and there is a different background. 

I learnt a great deal about green screen and the easiest ways to shoot it, layering images is the easiest way currently, so taking this information forward will be a great help indeed. 

Next Time: There are so many things I would like to improve for next time here is a list of them:

- Spend more time testing and refining before the shoot. Test everything even if you’re told its fine! 

- Use a better equipped camera for the job. The camera was great but for this low key lighting set-up it struggled in some circumstances. Choose better for the situation.

- Plan in more time for tracking and diopter shot in future, regardless of how easy the shot is. 

- Shorter takes. We did a lot of takes that had a lot of dead time in them, Jobe wanted these to get the reactions of all the characters. One or two takes per character was all we really needed though, not every time. This would have sped us up and given us more chance to finesse certain shots. 

- Don’t panic. Panicking leads to making mistakes and wasting time, I know there was one point where I started to panic and rushed a few shots. I think you will be able to tell in the edit. 

- Shoot the green screen in layers. Background plate, background action, foreground. And make sure there is as little noise as possible in these green screen shots. 

-Rely on my Gaffer more. I tried to take on too much and do lighting tasks myself, I should have delegated better to Dave.

Peer Reviews:

Lily (Production Designer) - Josh was a very reliable member of the production team throughout the whole production period. It is important for a DOP and Production Designer to communicate throughout, and Josh definitely made himself available if I ever had any queries or concerns. We agreed from an early stage that the colour palette and minimalist set would work well from the start, and josh was able to determine crucial set marks for tables early on in the set build which was a great help. I would be very happy to work alongside josh in future productions.

Dave (Gaffer) - Josh was DOP for Misandrist, he is always well prepared and knows exactly what he wants. Being a spark at heart, he started to try and help us do our jobs instead of being telling us what to do, so I had to tell him off a couple of times because I didn't want him getting distracted. apart from that he was an absolute joy to work with over the course of this shoot, always working with a smile on his face no matter how challenging the shoot became.

Misandrist Bibliography: 

Brown, Blain. Cinematography: Theory And Practice. 2nd ed. Focal Press, 2012. Print.

VashiVisuals. Split Diopter. 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.

"The Basics Of Lighting For Film Noir | Filmmakeriq.Com". Filmmakeriq.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 27 Jan. 2017.