#from the fight scene in the beginning to the architecture later on

[f0xgl0v3]

Octavian!

Do I know what I am going to write in this? Vaguely. More headcanons because I want to take a break from that rendering of Octavian because I want to work and make something better than putting effort into something I won’t be proud of or whatever.

Also I just want to keep talking about him but whatever,

Octavian never been outside of Camp Jupiter/New Rome is canon in my mind. There have been very few times he has been outside the little bubble, which were,

The Wolf House: where he really just stayed close to the house (obvi. Course I’d love to talk more about the exacts but since we get no information about the wolf house though it’d be a pretty good way to start SoN and then seamlessly blend us into a timeskip of the Gorgon chase but whatever- we are given no information about the wolf house either and aaaaa-) but the Wolf House Octavian mentality was survive through with his wits and try to survive enough to run out of there as soon as possible when he has the training done.

His quest: we get no information on it, but we know that he had to do a quest to become a Centurion (Can confirm this is a rule, check the Senate scene near the beginning, I believe it was Larry the legionnaire that yelled it) though we also, sadly, get no indication what this question was. But I’d like to introduce the idea that it was a duo quest with Michael and Octavian and they became Centurions together (I’ll probably re-read this and then add more on later) but I’d assume this Question also has them steeped pretty deep into the mythological side of the world and they didn’t get much down time. But what little of the mortal world Octavian saw he thought was pretty cool- though he still thinks New Rome looks better. (Because if anyone walks up to me and says the current era of architecture we’re in is better than anything that predates the freaking 1950’s is lying to me and trying to make me buy a house. We have fallen as a society when we started thinking ultra minimalist boring homes that are devoid of any depth or visual interest was the best route to go for our buildings. But that’s another rant from me for another day-)

Siege of Mt.Tam: they had to travel the smallest bit for this but again, didn’t interact with the mortal world much, they all stayed pretty self contained to the temporary camp and the mountain itself.

The cross country trip to go attack the Greeks: this is the one we’re shown in canon or whatever. But this was probably the most chaotic of the times that Octavian had been out of Camp. It was a lot to deal with, really overwhelming to be stuck with everyone with no where to move or anything. But this would be the most he would really interact with stuff like fast food chains, gas stations, all the stuff. And New York, that was a thing that happened. I believe they briefly passed through New York (we know that at some point they’re inside of New York from the Rachel scene if I remember properly) and that meant Hotels, it was similar enough to the barracks that it was fine. Though I think that the whiplash from New Rome to this made Octavian a lot more hesitant about stuff like these cities. He likes modern culture to some extent (insert another Build-a-bear joke. And if anyone asks, I believe he totally gets them delivered to calcedott tunnel instead of going out to a physical store. He has never had the experience and childlike splendor of making one that that needs to change.)

Anyway yeah. I would also like to say that Octavian is okay on a string instrument. However I would like to say that he put all his eggs into one figurative basket when he was a small child by learning one full song only. A 6 year old Octavian skipped over learning reading notes and whatever and just copying the motions until it sounded okay. He doesn’t really know how to read stuff like notes or whatever but has a pretty okay sense of Rhythm.

Don’t ask him to dance though. Octavian may look a little more elegant moving around or fighting but he is an actual newborn giraffe.

Okay that’s all I have for now. Have a rad time and I’ll get out the next couple passes of the CJ map.

[youngpettyqueen]

in an unexpected turn of events I got a TON of time to read so! guess who finished Revenant!

I fucking loved this book. seriously, I couldnt get enough of it. it was so fucking good on so many levels. the crazy story with its absolutely chilling elements of horror, the visuals, the dynamics, the characterizations- everything was done SO well

Jadzia gets to shine in this book like none of her episodes in the actual show allowed her to shine. I cannot praise this author enough for giving Jadzia a story that is HERS. Jadzia is a force to be reckoned with, with a soft emotional centre and a lot of vulnerability, but still capable of being a wild storm of rage and pain. god, she just FEELS through this whole thing, and I felt with her. I love that shes given this space to be angry, and resentful, and petty, and annoyed, and so full of grief it aches. this was a lovingly crafted character exploration with so much respect, and im in love with it

the character dynamics explored with Jadzia were also wonderful. her relationship with Kira really got to shine, and while it made sense why Kira had to step away, I wish she could've stayed throughout the rest of the novel. they both have such a vulnerability around each other they dont often show others, while also relying on each other as a rock. the scene where Kira is TERRIFIED for Jadzia in the death house?? when Jadzia relies on Kira just to keep her upright?? all the hugging?? the quipping?? I love them

that said, bringing in Julian and Worf was a treat to read. I love that we got to see the beginnings of Jadzia's feelings for Worf, how she fell for him so quickly, and how they naturally click together. Worf through her eyes was so much fun to read, to see a playful side of his, and that gentleness he very rarely shows. I love how you can read that while Jadzia is falling hard, Worf is also falling. I love that they flirted. I love that Jadzia went from not really knowing him to greatly admiring him. I love that Worf was so gentle with her when she was hurting. its a wonderful set up for how their relationship will progress in the show

I love the fleshing out of Jadzia and Julian's relationship. I love that shes given space to be annoyed by him, but her respect for him as a doctor and appreciation for him as a friend is always clear. I love that Jadzia can be truly vulnerable with Julian, really reinforces what's already a very strong relationship. Julian worrying about her first always, running to her first even after an explosion deafened him... and then later, Jadzia going from being willing to reason to full on fighting because Vess hurt Julian and his screams of pain made her so angry she couldnt stop herself? besties of all fucking time

this story was wild but it was Trek wild. it had insane twists and turns, crazy reveals, a deliciously fucked up villain, and a whole lot of cool horror elements. and, seriously, the visuals were so fucking cool- the scene of Vess walking with lightning spilling off of her, ripping everything up and following in her footsteps? I could see it perfectly in my head. and dont even get me started on the landscapes and architectures. I could SEE the 90s matte paintings

I could go on forever but honestly? just read the book. you want a Jadzia-centric story with a strong focus on female characters, really good writing, an insane story, and grade-A character writing? read Revenant. seriously just read it. im begging. please

[eternal-moss]

Thoughts on Arlecchino’s animated short part 1

This will obviously have spoilers for the new animated short, and my thoughts on it. I’m fairly up to date on the lore, but without having certain 5* characters, there may be information I’m missing that’s already been explained more. Cw for child death

At the beginning I thought that what was obviously ‘water’ from the colour and sound effects moved quite weirdly, but when I looked back at it, they seemed more like flames, which is pretty fitting. Not only is the House of the Hearth in Fontaine, but it has Fontainian children, who were quite literally made from the primordial sea. The flames are also a reference for the ‘hearth’ part of the name.

So. The ‘bat’ on the left is 100% Dottore and no one can convince me otherwise (who’s on the right? No clue lol). I know he looked quite different in Nahida’s story about Scaramouche, where he was a strange bird thing wearing the skin of a fox. But seriously the stethoscope, the plaster, the half-half colouring like his webcomic mask and the deranged grin looks so much like him. I think there was a lot of illusions to deception in this short, and Dottore’s deception in Scarmouche’s story is similar to the ‘halo’ above Dottore’s head, where he’s pretending to be charitable as opposed to just using the children.

More on deception, presenting this whole thing as a children’s story is to make it seem more exciting to children while obscuring the truth, which is something I’m sure Arlecchino loathes. The false sense of joviality and kindness from the ‘Mother’ is probably why Arlecchino operates in a very honest but cold manner, explaining what will happen and how. Also, Arlecchino seems to have changed the entire function of the House of the Hearth, which I’ll talk about later.

But seriously, I don’t understand the Fatui at all, why do so many of their plans centre around slaughtering children?? They obviously see children (especially foreign children) as a disposable commodity which is depressing. With Dottore’s experiments being aimed at children like Collei, taking them en masse and killing many on the off chance that one might survive taking on god remnants. The House seems to be similar, but like a more hunger games style trial to create physically strong people, instead of magically enhanced people (although, there’s probably some overlap, which you can see with Arlecchino…)

Arle’s (or rather Peruere’s) curse appears to spread when she’s upset. I love this scene, our girl was emo from birth it seems. I completely understand the grief of loosing a pet spider, I was probably around the same age when it happened to me too coincidentally.

Look at these two. Their relationship is so cute, and Clervie seems to have a genuine appreciation for Arlecchino’s behaviour and quirks. I could write pages about Arle’s gender non-conformity, but the clothes she wears are much more similar to young boys’ clothing (and it’s super reminiscent of Freminet’s clothing too!).

I love Fontaine architecture man, and the waves here look super eerie and foreboding. We know that Arlecchino was *heavily* invested in preventing the prophecy, which is the main motivation we know of hers. I wonder if things have changed a lot in the House after the Fontaine archon quest ending. We know something is amiss from the trailer & Arlecchino’s discussion with Neuvillette but I have no idea what

This might be an animation error, but why did Arle’s doll have an earring before she did? These two shots are years apart, and Arlecchino clearly doesn’t have an earring in the first one but does in the next. Maybe she vicariously pierced the doll’s ear first before having permission to do it to herself?

“I’m sorry… thank you” seems ironically like something someone with a curse might say, who was looking to be killed (stares at Albedo), so what happened with Clervie?? The two seemed basically inseparable before, and even though the patching-up scene earlier could have been a fight between the two of them, I feel like it’s unlikely that they would have genuinely fought to the death without some serious compulsion. I don’t think that threats would have been enough to make something like this happen, so maybe the ‘Mother’ influenced Clervie’s mind somehow? The fact that Arlecchino had to kill her to fully subdue her & the flames in the background makes it seem like she exerted herself a lot, and so Clervie must have been a pretty good fighter too then.

Still trying to figure out exactly where tf the house of the Hearth is located. Is it in the new area that’s being released? Is it even technically in Fontaine boundaries if it’s beyond the ‘terrestrial sea’?

Metaphor time! The first quote with the Lumidouce Bell is “I should have pruned this flower long ago, not waited ‘till it wilts… how grotesque.” And the second is “a bird tied down will never fly the nest. You are no exception.” Both seem pretty vague to me to be honest- the Lumidouce Bell is Clervie’s symbol, and it could be about killing Clervie. But I also think it could refer to disciplining Arlecchino and making her conform (especially with the ‘grotesque’ comment and the fact that pruning isn’t supposed to kill a plant). Maybe it’s referring to all the children of the Hearth, and how she let them grow too old before setting them to fight each other, and as a group how they would have developed rebellious attitudes in that time. Who knows.

I’m wondering what the ‘ties’ are for the second one- are they physical restraints or emotional ones? The nest is very obviously the Hearth, and ‘flying’ presumably means leaving the House (like the expression to describe children reaching adulthood & leaving their family home), which the ‘Mother’ doesn’t want if she wants a ‘king’.

More of Arlecchino’s curse progressing in a time of stress. And also being motivated by the Lumidouce flower (again probably symbolising Clervie).

All this about becoming the one true ‘king’ confuses me so much because genuinely what is the point?? It seems that most of the children are dead now with a few exceptions, and if she wants a ‘king’ to stay in the House of the Hearth and not leave to go on missions, what purpose do they have? ‘Ruling’ over the few remaining children?

I presume we’ll have an explanation soon, but the fact that Arlecchino wants to emulate the practice of having a ‘king’ confuses me too, because she seems to want to be the opposite of the previous ‘Mother’.

What an icon lmao. Arlecchino’s fighting style is so satisfying and so was this kick. The way she didn’t say “Mother… my answer is no!” And then kick but just immediately kicked after saying ‘Mother’ is so hilarious to me. Girl did NOT hesitate.

‘DiDnT sHe kiLL a hArBiNgEr” Then why is she locked in this ridiculously low security cell 😭. If you look at the lines in the floor the bars of cell are quite literally wider than her body, and she isn’t even tied to that chair. I know it’s probably so they could get a good shot but still it’s slightly cartoonish

SPEAKING OF CARTOONISH. Scaramouche looks so so silly here, I love that for him. He quite literally looks like a preteen boy, complete with the hood. Signora looks incredible here, I wish we could see more of her outfits. I really don’t care much for the other two, Pierro could be interesting in the future but I’m not particularly drawn to him

Okay. I’ve reached the photo limit…. I’ll do a part two…

[lilacartsmadsion]

I actually think the reason why Rick Riordan rewrote some parts of his story is based on 3 things.

1.) Disney. I dunno about you but PJO surprisingly has a lot of violent scenes. The Crusty episode might have been changed because Crusty was literally stretching Annabeth and Grover till their limbs pop. And with Disney’s whole branding being a black and white mindset. (Hero is good so they don’t do evil things like killing but Villains are bad because they kill) there’s BOUND to be some changes.

2.) The Book can’t really translate well with a Show. Which is something understandable really…like the Arch with Annabeth going there so her mother can protect them. Or how Percy already knows how to control his powers despite only using them out of emotion right at the beginning. Or even foreshadowing being shown in the show.

3.) Hate.

This is the main reason I believe. Because the fandom is actually filled with more criticisms and hate than most fandoms I’ve ever been in. The fandom hates almost all the female characters (Annabeth, Rachel, Calypso, let’s not forget how absolutely HATED Piper is) some even get into ship wars, like Percabeth and Perrachel (How to spell) fandom trying to defend their ships when at the end of the day, why can’t you just be the Ninjago or Harry Potter Fandom where they ship it regardless if it’s canon?

Anyways, sure there were criticisms obviously the one was mostly the Arch because realistically and actually it was no where above a body of water.

But then there’s the other obvious ones that have understandable reasons. Like Medusa. Like people really did not like how he downplayed Medusa’s rape in the books. (Even though the book was made for kids, was written in 2005 where that kind of topic was controversial to show in a book FOR KIDS it also started as A BEDTIME STORY FOR HIS SON, IT WAS A FUCKING BEDTIME STORY ) and So Rick changed it in the show.

(I’m not including the reason because ‘It’s the Roman Version and shouldn’t be placed in a Greek story’ when later on he made a Roman Book series that linked with the Greek one so you have literally no reason to criticize this type of world building, besides the Norse Gods also exist in this so it’s literally just world building and shit.

Also Rick Riordan’s books are not manuals for Mythological Tales, they’re fictional books, if anything PJO is just Rick Riordan’s Fanfiction with his OC in the Mythology world fighting with a bunch of other OCs and old enemies of the Mythology)

There’s also the fact that Percy doesn’t always know when certain situations happen because like ‘this didn’t happen in the book’ isn’t a reason because we all reading from Percy’s perspective and he’s an unreliable narrator altogether.

Then there’s…Annabeth.

I agree with people when they say. ‘Rick changed Annabeth’s character way too much’

Because he did.

I don’t want to make this post longer, but it is clear some of Annabeth’s changes actually stems from her haters and possibly Perachel shippers. (I certainly realized that when I discovered some Anti-Annbeth stans and the realization really clicked.)

Except for the Architecture thing. That one has no explanation whatsoever.

[igot-wood]

Inversion vs Subversion (George Lucas and Rian Johnson)

Attack of the Clones and The Last Jedi both reuse the Battle of Hoth as the template for their big end battle. I want to highlight the approaches Lucas and Johnson took for this idea and show which one I thought was much better and far more interesting.

The Battle of Hoth is a set piece that takes place on a snow covered planet. It depicts an army in walking machines (along with the sith and stormtroopers) advancing from right to left on rebels trying to flee to space. The rebels are our main characters, including a Jedi. A general rule of screen direction is characters moving from left to right is typically positive and characters moving from right to left is typically negative. In the Battle of Hoth, the empire and the rebels are framed using this rule. The set piece is at the beginning of the movie as Lucas wanted to maintain the feeling of Star Wars as A New Hope ends with a giant set piece.

22 years later, Lucas is making the second film in his prequel trilogy. Lucas employs a technique of inversion. Inverting things from the original trilogy in the prequel trilogy. This creates a visual language of references which can bring new insights into the story and characters. For the ending of Attack of the Clones, Lucas has a battle sequence on Geonosis that features an army advancing from right to left in walking machines (along with stormtroopers) on rebels attempting to flee to space. But this time, the Jedi/main characters are with the walking machines and stormtroopers. While the sith are with the rebels.

Lucas takes the familiar and flips it. He’s mixing the iconography of the originals. Jedi, fighting alongside soldiers in white armor and walking tanks. Lucas is also playing with the rule of screen direction I mentioned, framing the heroes advancing from right to left like the Empire. And this sequence is the end of the film, while Hoth is the beginning but the inversions don’t end there. The Battle of Hoth has two opposing armies fighting for different causes. While the Battle of Geonosis has two armies fighting for the cause, advancing Palpatines agenda. Also, an obvious inversion is Geonosis being a desert planet while Hoth is a snow planet.

Heres a random visual similarity as well. I think this is intentional.

The Battle of Geonosis flips the Battle of Hoth. This invites you to reconsider so many things about both trilogies.

In the second film of the sequel trilogy. Director Rian Johnson often subverts audience expectations. This can be done with visual misdirection or having a character act in unexpected ways. The Last Jedi is well know for “subverting audience expectations”.

The Battle of Crait takes place at the ending of the film. It features an army, advancing left to right, in walking machines along with stormtroopers on rebels trying to flee to space. Johnson has broken the screen direction rule I mentioned earlier, seemingly just for the sake of flipping it. The surface is white and the rebels are hiding inside an abandoned rebel base, just like Hoth. The subversion here is that the white surface is a layer of salt concealing a red surface. This is explained to the audience with a scene of a rebel soldier tasting the surface and declaring, “it’s salt” so everyone knows it’s not snow.

The subversions essentially end there. This is what I consider the biggest difference between the Lucas prequels and Johnson’s episode 8. The depth of thought both directors put into each and every thing in their films. Geonosis is a desert planet but bares almost no visual similarities to Tatooine. It’s a planet with an insect like species, this species has its own culture and architecture that give the planet a unique feel. Geonosis is also more orange than Tatooine.

Crait is barren and empty the way Hoth is but… another barren and empty white planet? Johnson includes a scene just to let everyone know it’s not snow because it just looks like Hoth. The only fun surprise is the streaks of red forming under the vehicle’s and all the damage of blasters. Johnson copied almost every element of Hoth instead of creating something entirely new. While Geonosis only shares a superficial similarity to Tatooine while being vastly different in everyway.

The way Lucas inverts the OG trilogy is far more compelling than the way Johnson subverts audience expectations. Lucas inverts the Battle of Hoth and we get so much from it. Not just in terms of cool new things being added to Star Wars but it’s also interesting on a filmmaking level. Johnson subverts the Battle of Hoth and all we get is a cool visual of red stuff.

[joshabass1]

How Saudi Arabia is changing football in the Northeast  

In the beginning of 2022 Newcastle had succumbed to a 1-0 defeat to the league one outfit Carlisle United and the doom was beginning to show on every Newcastle supporter. What was to love? They were joint last in the table only a point separated them from the Newly promoted Norwich and they were two points adrift of Watford and there just seemed to be no way out for Newcastle fans who under the ownership at the time saw nothing but mediocrity from the boardroom to the football pitch. But what they did not know was that a certain country from the Middle East were waiting to pounce and that was Saudi Arabia. 

So, let's have a quick rundown of Saudi Arabia ranging from the attractions in the capital Riyadh to their human rights violations. 

Riyadh is a growing city in the heart of Saudi Arabia. It offers an abundance of remarkable architectural wonders, such as the kingdom tower centre and the intricately designed Al Rahji mosque where you can experience the beautiful designs inside. In addition to these attractions, Riyadh is home to multiple historian sites such as the Al Masmak place, Murabba Historical place, At Turaif World Heritage site and the Salwa palace. This city embodies opulence, making it a haven for affluent tourists and residents alike. 

The company Amnesty international has recorded cases that aren’t visible to the public eye. The Saudi Arabian government would not exactly be advocates for human rights let me put it like that, as they have been found guilty of torturing its own citizens even when they lack an arrest warrant. Unseen by many is Saudi Arabia’s score for freedom of expression and belief which according to freedom house ranks amongst the worst in the world.  

What you also don’t see is how a famous Saudi Arabian journalist by the name of Jamal Khashoggi who suddenly died after entering the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul back in 2018 for being a known critic of the king bin Salmans regime back in his home country. He initially entered the consulate to obtain a Saudi document stating that he was divorced so that he could marry his new Turkish fiancee Hatice Cengiz but he never came out with his wife standing outside the consulate without knowing her husband to be was being brutally murdered by Saudi internationals . To make matters worse they initially denied any involvement in the murder saying that they had “nothing to hide “  but then later said that their deputy public prosecutor Shalaan Al Shalaan ordered their negotiations team to get on a flight to turkeys capital Istanbul and bring back Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia by “means of persuasion or if they wasn’t able to successfully convince him use “force” to get him over to the country. This represents merely a fraction of the extensive human rights violations that impact millions on a daily basis and unfortunately the Saudi government have been involved in these atrocities. 

King bin Salman is the crown prince and prime minster of Saudi Arabia whilst he also serves as the chairman of economic and developmental affairs, whilst not forgetting he’s the head of political and security affairs. However, what u might be aware of is that King bin Salman is also the head of the public investment fund (PIF) who own 80% of Newcastle United football whilst also playing a pivotal role in shaping the worldwide image of Saudi Arabia. They invest in multiple sports such as football through Newcastle United , Al- Ahli , Al - Ittihad , Al Hilal and Al Nassr whilst also playing a role in funding Al- Ettifaq they are also involved in the golf scene with the PGA tour as well as hosting formula one events and they have also invested in boxing events , with them hosting multiple high profile fights in the capital , Riyadh. 

So when you compare Riyadh a thriving city in Saudi Arabia with all the money at their fingertips and a city on the decline like Newcastle who have an unemployment and child poverty at one of the highest rates in the country as well as having the lowest life expectancy of any city in the United Kingdom , Saudi Arabia investing in the club as well as the city of Newcastle it begins to make more sense from a financial point of view , they’ve clearly looked at this project as a low risk and high reward just because the city isn’t in the best shape when you compare it to the likes of London, Liverpool, Leeds or Manchester and we’ve seen what the UAE have done with the city of Manchester they’ve completely turned it around giving the area around the Etihad stadium a completely different look as opposed to what it looked like in the process creating thousands of jobs , this is what the Saudis are potentially trying to create. This sentiment was backed by then director Majed Al-Sorour who said “very soon we will turn to the city and the area together and make them better “. 

PIFs Takeover 

The PIFs takeover of Newcastle United was highly controversial due to the number of human rights breaches that the country has faced and if the money was being directly funded by the Saudi government. But since the takeover it’s been a new lease of life for the fans on the black and white side of County Durham, they’ve been used to a stingy owner by the name of Mike Ashley who would hardly spend a penny on the club in terms of infrastructure and transfers. I recently spoke to a Newcastle fan and he described Ashley as an Owner who came across like “Newcastle fans were never his priority” and that “Newcastle was an afterthought for him” it was clearly a “sad time for the club “ who went through 2 relegations in 2009 and 2016 because of years of mismanagement , transfers were also a topic of debate because up  until 2019 , Micheal Owen whom they brought from Real Madrid for £17million In 2005 was their record purchase and when you put that into perspective by 2019 football had seen multiple world record transfers and to make matters worse Owen was 7 years retired by this time. 

Even if Amanda Staveley says that “it’s not sports washing its investment” we can clearly see that the Saudi government has decided to invest in Newcastle football club as well as invest in the city of Newcastle so that they can change the way the image of their country is perceived around the world. Despite, Staveley's denial of Newcastle's takeover being a sports washing project, king bin Salaman said in September that "If sport swashing is going to increase our GDP, we'll continue sport swashing, I do not care”. This clearly shows that he hears the accusations but if his country can increase their economic status, he could not care less about what people say. 

British media outlets are yet to hear have yet to hear from any Newcastle directors or even the chairman himself. This uncooperative approach creates and uncomfortable situation for Eddie Howe who I am sure just wants to talk about how things are going on the pitch and not about Saudi Arabia’s troubling human rights records as well as their absence of woman’s rights and their intolerance of LGBTQ rights. Howe's unlikely to erase the memory of the post-match press conference at Chelsea in May 2022, amid a flurry of questions form expectant journalist who chose to ask him questions about the executions of 81 men in Saudi Arabia Howe replied by saying “ I’m going to stick to talking about football that’s I’m all I’m concerned with”, that’s a worrying answer by someone who if he had spoken out on the regime would have sent a powerful message to the owners and everyone who feels it’s okay to violate other people’s human rights. 

With LGBTQ + , several human rights violations and restrictions against women hanging on the country many Newcastle fans have attempted to distance themselves from the Saudi regime , some were going as far as saying that they “support the badge not I don’t support the Saudi national badge , I don’t support the PIF badge” and “I support Newcastle United I don’t support a regime “. It’s hard to draw a line in terms of what to do because on one hand you want to support your club and realistically, you’re not in control of who chooses to invest in your club so in this situation can you really blame the fans for doing what they have been doing all their lives? 

Despite, all the controversy surrounding the takeover, the takeover has taken Newcastle to new heights that they would have never fathomed, as big money signings such as Alexander Isak and Bruno Guimarães from Real Sociedad and Lyon respectively have lit up St. James park with their goalscoring and creativity something that has not been seen in front of the Geordies for a long time. The signings haven’t disappointed for the Newcastle faithful so far and you would have to owe that to the staff involved with bringing players in, because they could have Easily got it wrong, by singing players on big wages, they’ve decided to be meticulous in who they bring to the football club. 

 Eddie Howe has also brought in the possession base football that made him so sought after whilst in charge of Bournemouth. it’s got the fans of their seat unlike in previous seasons. The fans are happy with what they’re seeing from the former Bournemouth manager with some even saying that “bringing in Eddie Howe right at the start was one of the best decisions” , this shows just how much of a brilliant job he’s done at the club considering the position in the table that Newcastle were in when he was appointed and what he inherited with the players at his disposal. He was always highly rated at his former club because of the football he played, and he’s brought that along with him to the northeast even after reluctantly selling his star player Allan St. Maximin who carried the club through that barren spell for many years  

In addition to that for first time since 2000 they are playing in the in Europe’s premier competition , the champions league after an impressive Premier league campaign in which they finished 4th with a grand total of 71 points their highest ever points tally since the 2001-2002 season. Keep in mind that this was Eddie Howe’s first full season in charge so as a consequence they will be facing the likes of AC Milan and Paris St. Germain as well as Bourissa Dortmund but I’m sure they aren’t complaining as they’ve not had any star quality teams visit the northeast in 20 years. Even the fans are ecstatic with one fan even saying “it’s fantastic , it’s like a dream , I’m not speaking for every Newcastle fan but the majority and I mean a massive majority of the people I’ve spoken to and the people I know and that go to the matches with have the same view as me , it’s absolutely tremendous “ .  You can just tell that all they wanted was for the good times to start rolling back in the northeast. 

Saudi impact off the field

Off the pitch though you the takeover has had a positive impact on the employees at the club and the fans with their fans theirs a real sense of togetherness . One of the positive moves that the new owners have made were their dedication to start compensating both permanent and casual staff beyond the minimum wage of 9.90 per hour to 10.90 per hour which will have significantly improved the morale amongst any employees who may have felt undervalued under the previous ownership. These moves made by the new Saudi ownership shows how they’re trying to change the club's way of handling business after years of mistreating their employees which included cost cutting, reducing employee benefits and at times divisional managerial strategies.  

The Reuben’s who also own a part stake in Newcastle have plans to improve the city with a new HMRC office named Pilgrims Corner , plus the regeneration of the Monument Mall and the central arcade and they’re working in close proximity with Newcastle city council to improve the look of the city which is one of the positives that comes from the Saudis taking over. The Reuben’s have been backed up by Sir John Hall a former majority owner of Newcastle United who said that he’s “been impressed” and that the Reuben’s are “good developers” plus they’re doing a “major redevelopment of the city centre”.  This will only better the opinions of the Saudi and the Reuben’s brother as well as reinforcing that the takeover was one of the best things to happen to the club even when you put into consideration the controversy that’s come with the takeover in regard to the human rights violations and the lack of the LGBTQ + rights. 

Summary  

Overall, there’s always going to be good and bad reasons as to why this takeover should happen and why it should not happen it’s a classic case of you can’t please everybody because somebody will always have an opposite opinion to yours. What you need to look at is the fact that the north east of England which has been neglected for so many years is being revamped which only creates opportunities for the residents living there and the football fans of Newcastle will get their joy back which had been stolen from them for so many years under the ownership of former sports direct owner Mike Ashley. On the other hand , you cannot choose to be oblivious to the atrocities that many humans beings face just because they either choose to speak out against the regime or identify with being apart of the LGBTQ + community or their involvement in the various murders the most prominent one being Jamal Khashoggi it doesn’t matter what the Saudis do we must also hold them accountable for their human rights violations whilst respecting what they’re doing for the city of Newcastle. 

[mainsps]

Norman doors anylogic

NORMAN DOORS ANYLOGIC WINDOWS

Originally longitudinal with side aisles and an apse they began to add in towers, as at the Church of Saint-Étienne at Caen, in 1067. They elaborated on the early Christian basilica plan. The Normans were among the most travelled peoples of Europe, exposing them to a wide variety of cultural influences which became incorporated in their art and architecture. Norman barons built timber castles on earthen mounds, beginning the development of motte-and-bailey castles, and great stone churches in the Romanesque style of the Franks. Over the next century the population of the territory ceded to the Vikings now called Normans, adopted these customs as well as Christianity and the langue d'oïl. Viking invaders arrived at the mouth of the river Seine in 911, at a time when Franks were fighting on horseback and Frankish lords were building castles. Normandy įurther information: Architecture of Normandy

NORMAN DOORS ANYLOGIC WINDOWS

Norman windows are mostly small and narrow, generally of a single round-headed light but sometimes, especially in a bell tower, divided by a shaft into two lights. Main doorways have a succession of receding semicircular arches, often decorated with mouldings, typically of chevron or zig-zag design sometimes there is a tympanum at the back of the head of the arch, which may feature sculpture representing a Biblical scene. The arches are supported on massive columns, generally plain and cylindrical, sometimes with spiral decoration occasionally, square-section piers are found. Early examples have plain, square edges later ones are often enriched with the zig-zag and roll mouldings. Grand archways are designed to evoke feelings of awe and are very commonly seen as the entrance to large religious buildings such as cathedrals. The Norman arch is a defining point of Norman architecture. The nave of Laon Cathedral resembles a Norman arch However, historians believe that many surviving "Norman" elements in buildings–nearly all churches–may well in fact be Anglo-Saxon elements. No other significant remaining Romanesque architecture in Britain can clearly be shown to predate the Norman Conquest. Īlthough Edward the Confessor built the original Westminster Abbey in Romanesque style (now all replaced by later rebuildings), its construction predates the Norman Conquest: it is still believed to be the earliest major Romanesque building in England. The more inclusive term romanesque was used of the Romance languages in English by 1715, and was applied to architecture of the eleventh and twelfth centuries from 1819. In this work he used the labels "Norman, Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular". The term Norman may have originated with eighteenth-century antiquarians, but its usage in a sequence of styles has been attributed to Thomas Rickman in his 1817 work An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture from the Conquest to the Reformation. At about the same time, a Norman dynasty that ruled in Sicily produced a distinctive variation–incorporating Byzantine and Saracen influences–also known as Norman architecture (or alternatively Sicilian Romanesque). These Romanesque styles originated in Normandy and became widespread in northwestern Europe, particularly in England, which contributed considerable development and where the largest number of examples survived.

[llycaons]

they're right, this episode did have a ton of wuxia vibes

[dribs-and-drabbles]

Signs that Safe might be the Best Boy™ and a voice of reason of the architecture group.

His name is “Safe”, to start with, what more do I need to say?

At the very beginning, Safe interrupts Pran in a pastel mint green checked shirt (foreshadowing Pat and Pran’s eventual relationship). He brings news that Wai is getting beaten up and effectively instigates the initial fated meeting between our protagonists.

In the faculty fight at the end of  episode 1, Safe is the only one from either group NOT in faculty colours (not including white here). In a sea of red, he stands out in shades of blue - indicating his future support of Pat, perhaps.

In episode 2, when the friends are discussing the mystery person flirting with Pran - and that there’s nothing wrong with it being a man - Safe is in a beigey/yellow shirt with threads of blue and red woven in the plaid pattern (need I say more?). He also wears this shirt in the lecture after the destruction of the bus stop, when Pat is trying to reconcile with Pran again.

When the engineering students are all knocking on Pran’s door, Safe has a blue checked shirt - again potentially foreshadowing his eventual support.

When the engineering students come to help the architecture group with the bus stop build, Safe is the one to stop Wai from protesting the ‘truce’ - already showing that he can play the voice of reason.

Then, in the negotiations for how the work will take place, Safe is in another checked shirt with blue, red and yellow.

During the bus stop build, he also wears a yellow shirt, although he is asking whether they can trust the engineering guys to put in the same effort (which they don’t at first)...but I’ll still take this sign.

In the heightened tension of the bar scene before the fight with Pat, Pran, and Wai, we see Safe in a dark blue & red shirt.

And lastly, he didn’t go on the beach trip with the rest of the group, so he wasn’t part the group wanting to beat up Pat - just a filming schedule issue or a deliberate ploy to keep Safe away from the antagonism so that he can step up and be the support Pran needs later...? Well, we’ll see what happens in episode 8 and onwards!

[farizrz]

(SPOILER ALERT) Theodora

Interview with Arina. Thanks for @somin-yin for original link of Interview

Hi, Arina!

Congratulations on the season 1 finale and the beginning of the new one! Thank you so much for "Theodora", for giving us the opportunity to get together in such a cozy corner dedicated to a great and beloved story. We had been preparing for the interview for a long time and were anxiously awaiting the finale. To say it impressed us is nothing to say! We hope you haven't drowned in an ocean of fan tears after watching the last episodes of season 1 ;) and that you're ready to talk to us for a bit...

Hi! Very glad, thanks for inviting me! I'll allow myself a quick digression: I want to thank the administrators of this and other Theodora communities - your work is admirable 🤍

1) What are your impressions of the finale?

I'll just say that I love it. I'm happy with the work we did - it turned out just the way I imagined it would.

I have to be honest - I was afraid of the reaction from the fandom, I was trying to mentally prepare myself for a lot of negativity. But I was pleasantly surprised by the comments I got after the June update.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - thank you so much for your support!

2) Tell me about your mood. Fighting?

Right now I'm trying to learn how to approach work with proper patience, including myself. I'm trying to temper my perfectionism and desire to satisfy every reader - I realize that's impossible.

3) How is your work progressing? Where are you geographically at the moment?

I travel with my young man - Estonia, Turkey and Mexico behind me, and our journey continues :)

The work is going on steadily. We are trying very hard and hope to please you in August with quality chapters!

4) Do you read the theories on Theodora? Have the players been able to predict the plot?

Yes, I do! I love to see how people interpret the various hints I've left in the story.

5) Why did you choose Italy in the 1960s? What historical facts, media inspired you?

I just read articles and watched excerpts from movies - I haven't gotten around to whole movies or books about this period (at least not yet). There was no break between season one and season two, and I had to dive into the new time period in express mode.

The '60s were chosen for "logistical" reasons-it's somewhere in the middle between 1914 and 2019. I just like Italy for its architecture and special atmosphere.

6) Are you closer to the World War I theme or the one that will be in season two? What's easier to write and what's harder to write?

The 1960s is easier to write in terms of gathering information, because there are more articles about the everyday life of that era on the Internet.

I like both of these topics in their own way. When you get used to it and start to feel comfortable with what you're writing, the process is very exciting.

7) Was it morally hard to kill off your characters? How did you live those moments?

Sobbing, of course, how else :)

I became very attached to them, and thinking through and then writing out the character death scenes was like a knife to the heart. I felt like I had betrayed them or something... It was difficult, all in all, but I think it was worth it.

8) We noticed that Theodora had no children in her marriage. Is this related to immortality and will it be revealed later on?

We'll get to the question of children in the story.

9) Was the patron's name a reference to Lucien Lachance? Or was the translation from the French of more significance?

It wasn't a reference - I had no idea who Lucien Lachance was before the novella came out. I chose the name myself.

10) Tell how the characters in the story were created? Who appeared first? And it's very interesting to know which favorite appeared first.

John came first, and Lawrence was drawn first (because he appears before all the other favorites).

They all created themselves when I started writing :)

Of course, I did some preliminary work putting together the "skeleton," but a lot of the specifics came out along the way.

I'm not one of those authors who thinks up every little detail about a character and only then begins to write (this approach certainly has its place, it's just not for me). I'm used to "listening" to the characters as I go along, understanding their behavior in the various situations I put them in. Sometimes, I must admit, this gets in the way of the process, as I find it difficult to make a connection with one character or another.

11) How was the plot itself created? Did you first prescribe modernity and the already immortal Theodora, or did you go in chronological order, starting in 1914?

Everything was created in about the same order in which you see events in the story. When the backbone was done, I went through the story a second time round to get the ropes from the past into modernity.

12) Does it ever happen that you want to change something about an episode already after it's released? Are you always happy with the end result?

Of course it happens. We all make mistakes. For example, I regret that I chose the unfortunate mechanic of being able to bring Friedrich and Kurt together in the absence of a branch with the former.

But most of the time I'm happy with what comes out - I don't turn in a chapter until I'm sufficiently satisfied with what came out.

13) The third stat, Energy, finally appeared in this update. It seemed to many players that it carried a negative character. Is it acceptable to assume that we have an opportunity to go the way of the antagonist? Is it worth it to save it up?

Whether or not to save up is your choice. I don't want to reveal all the details, but I will say that this stat gives Theodora a power that may come in handy in the future. She won't get the antagonist's way.

14) Will the Energy stat be related to the Romance or Cynic stats?

No.

15) In the first episode of the second season we meet the mysterious Antonio. Will we see the development of a loving relationship with him? And will this branch be complete?

I made a decision not to divide branches into complete and incomplete - they either are or they aren't. I usually try to give all the favorites about the same amount of screen time.

There is a branch with Antonio.

16) Do the choices with embellishments left over from the favorites affect the story?

No, the choices just allow you to add jewelry to your 2019 closet.

17) How do you feel about adding branches with beloved characters at the request of players? Would you rather follow strictly your plans or would you be okay with going along with them?

I definitely wouldn't do anything that in my opinion could potentially hurt the story.

18) Would you like to create your own alternate/fantasy world or would you rather write about events in the real world, but with mystical elements?

I think I'm closer to realism with mystical elements. But who knows where I might end up in the future :)

19) We've already been lucky enough to see some great cutscenes in Theodore by you. Did you draw with your young man for the June update?

Yes! For the June update we drew Theodora's death, the scenes on the liner in the USA, the letter to my parents, Lawrence's death.

The novella begins with an interview with a mysterious patron of the arts. We couldn't get past this scene and decided to feel like our favorite Theodora. So we invite you to answer the questions Madame Fleming asked in her interview with Monsieur Lachance :)

"Why did you agree to be interviewed?"

Because I love you!

"Who is your favorite composer?"

Tchaikovsky, hehe.

"Who is your favorite painter?"

Ivan Aivazovsky.

"Who's your favorite writer?"

I don't know :D

I love the Russian classics, John Verdon, Agatha Christie, Carlos Ruiz Safon, Robert McCammon... But I haven't found one favorite author that leaves me absolutely thrilled yet.

Thank you so much for such detailed responses! We were happy to chat with you and look forward to the new Theodora series!"

[thesimperiuscurse]

08.04

It’s The Kingston Legacy’s sixth anniversary, so here’s a throwback post to celebrate! Last month I forced myself to reread the entire legacy, and while I stopped, clicked off the tab, and emitted a soundless scream of pure cringe numerous times (I wish I was kidding)—the past generations are actually not as terrible as I remember. I think enough time has passed for me to detach myself from the childish storytelling and look back in nostalgia. 

Thank you to my fellow Wordpress writers who have come along the journey, some for many years now, through every high and low. It’s astounding how much has changed in the legacy from when I was 15, and 21. Follow me down the (very) long memory lane, as I reminiscence about each story and my perspective on them now ❤

Generation 1 — Fern (2015)

To my shock, I found myself genuinely enjoying Fern’s story. I think this was because the first generation was purely me commentating on gameplay, and not trying to write a story (that’s when the cringe began). I was inspired by one of the original stories, Alice and Kev, to make a homeless sim and document her struggle for a better life: Fern, a snobby aspiring writer. Reading this, a huge wave of nostalgia hit me, and it reminded me of how wonderful Sims 3 gameplay is. Although I’m long past it now, there’s real heart and life in the design. I think it speaks about the rich personalities and quirks that I could write a whole life story off it. It was super fun making Fern camp out at Old Pier Beach, stealing from townie picnics and roasting apples on the fire, finding little ways to scrounge money, giving her a makeover in the salon, watching the townie dramas unfold around her. Although she faced homelessness two times and a shitty first husband (yeah, fuck off, Xander), Fern grew into a strong and independent yet sweet and gentle character, in love with the ocean like her great-granddaughter comes to be.  

I never actually addressed this, but she (and her love Christopher) passed away in the story between the end of Gen 3 and start of Gen 4. It just felt weird to make it a big deal because they never died in game—still ‘alive’ and well, scattered across different backup saves and the bin.  

Generation 2 — Briar (2015)

Briar’s story was strange, because it was half gameplay and half story, which meant that there were things that just did not... make... sense. She was quite an ‘unreliable’ character to follow because of her Insane trait. The plot revolved around her as a fresh detective, investigating supernatural phenomena in Sunset Valley. Her character arc was almost the opposite to her mother’s: a naive, optimistic, silly girl hardening through trauma into a cold and ruthless police chief. Ash’s death was the one moment I felt true sadness in this legacy, because he did really die. Imagine me actually getting emotional over my characters, lmao. Wild. 

Also, Max is OP. To this day he is one of the best male characters in my legacy, a healthy and supportive best friend (to husband) in stark contrast to the following generation. 

Fallen Angels — Cherry (2016-2019)

Yes. It’s this generation. Square the fuck up, Cherry. I will fight her any day. Old readers will know of my pure hatred for this story. It’s been about two years since it thankfully ended. My verdict now?

It’s not quite as horrifically shitty, Gabriel and Lilith being a lot nicer than I remembered (Gabriel’s only a bit of a dick at the start), but it still has glaring problems, such as the pacing and clumsy handling of sensitive topics. The story would have been far nicer if it focused less on Cherry and Luc’s relationship and their respective issues, more on the found family and her relationship with Gabriel (which was rushed due to me despising the story by that point). During the first chapters, I was cringing spectacularly at the combination of Luc’s initial jackass behaviour and Cherry’s whining. Toxic as FUCK. I had to skip 3.8 and 3.9 entirely. These two (because of my own shameful mistake) tainted the generation in my eyes, and even though all of the characters grew from their toxicity, I can’t really see past that guilt to the better parts of the story. 

Jade has been telling me for years that this story isn’t all bad, and upon forcing myself to reread, I can see what you mean. I’m sorry LOL. Something that pleasantly surprised me was the writing quality (just the prose, not the actual story mechanics... lmfao), and Raphael, who made me smile every time he appeared. Every single careless, sarcastic line of his was a banger. The pictures are something else I like, too. Many of them stand up to the best ones in En Pointe—the fiery, gritty, industrial tones of Bridgeport just hits different. The world was rich and immersive, which is missing at the moment in En Pointe because of me being too lazy to build a proper Los Angeles world, but Act III is set in Boroughsburg so I’m excited to get back into the city scenes. 17 year old me wasn’t mature enough to tackle dark themes, but at least the visuals for them were nice, I guess. The atmosphere of the story I really enjoy. It’s just the toxic characters and way-too-angsty moments that ruin the whole thing for me. 

En Pointe — Evangeline (2019-)

And here we are now! The early chapters are kinda painful to read because 1) Mako looked so ugly and 2) the dialogue was so clumsy and generic. I sighed in relief when Chapter 5 came around, because it was then both of those aspects really began to improve. Eva’s voice was simple, with her punchy remarks, much less romantic and descriptive than Cherry, so it was interesting to see her voice becoming more complex and layered as I more understood her character. Also, me visibly struggling with the natural lighting and only getting a handle on it 7 chapters later has me shaking my head. 

I’m already beginning to identify issues with the story, mostly with character arcs and pacing. It’s a strange combination of fast pacing (spanning half a year in 8 chapters) and Eva becoming surprisingly comfortable with Mako’s touch due to their unusual pas de deux circumstances. It’s curious how real life time actually played into the pacing of the story—because of the slow publishing schedule, less time has passed in the story as real life, so it’s almost as if the time jumps were made up by real life time, making the jumps feel not too strange. Reading consecutively, however, Evako’s relationship growth doesn’t feel slow burn... a little underdeveloped, in a way, despite their lengthy conversations. I think that’s because of Mako being such a reserved and mysterious character, and that I’ve unconsciously come to rely on Tumblr to give more depth to the characters/relationships. Luckily, pretty much everyone who comments on the story also follows me here, so this dual-platform storytelling is okay, I suppose. I want to post more of #Mishako since there just isn’t enough time to explore their bromance in the story!

At the moment I’m not happy with the story, but it’s fine. I’m learning. There’s more than half the story to go, which means plenty of time to reflect upon the issues and improve. I’m really looking forward to Eva and Mako’s character arcs in Act III. At the moment their relationship is based on their natural chemistry and respect for each other, and since they are yet to face trials their bond isn’t super deep, but Evako are still my favourite couple in the legacy thus far, and feel much more real than any character I’ve written before. It’s been very interesting for my aro ass (and being way more logical than emotional) to figure out a dynamic that is actually compelling to me, because most of the time when I look at romance I’m just like 😐🤨 I’m liking it so far but we shall see how everything unfolds, because I have barely any idea what’s going to happen beyond Act II, lmfao. 

That’s it for my incredibly long throwback! I hope it was at least nice for the OG readers, and interesting for anyone else who managed to battle through this essay, haha. This family has been an integral part of me growing up, as a person and writer and artist (what I’ve developed in visuals I apply to architecture), learning a great deal of awareness about real life through story research, which is pretty cool now that I think about it. I’m aiming to finish En Pointe by the end of 2022. I’m excited for what unexpected changes are to come!

[noona96n]

im gonna try and make sense of the scenes from the MV and the post-credit scene

this is sort of important. sort of.

one, Shu Yi is not wearing the bracelet. in the beginning, we can see that Shu Yi’s left wrist is bare. in the zoom-out shot, his right wrist is bare. this is the wrist that Shi De puts the bracelet on, and it’s the wrist that he mostly continues to wear the bracelet on. i say this because i see no black/brown strips across his wrist, so yah... but like, it’s quite faraway so idk

two, this is probably their house (by the end of season 2 that is). i assume this is theirs because they’re obviously sleeping in a double bed, the closet is divided into two with two distinct color palettes (light color on the left, darker color on the right). also, there are two chairs on the balcony. these things suggest that two people cohabitate in the same house.

but, for now, i think it belongs to only one of them. it could be Shu yi’s house because it has a similar interior vibe to Shu Yi’s condo/penthouse and it’s just… very Shu Yi, not a lot of color, very sleek and modern. but i also think it’s Shi De’s house, despite the drastic interior difference from the house he shared with his mom, and i’m actually leaning toward it being Shi De’s house. (a bit more explanation to come later on!)

three, the house is a contemporary brutalist architecture style. it’s definitely blocky & geometric, it’s definitely made of poured concrete (the main signatures of brutalism), and it definitely has a contemporary vibe. from the zoom-out shot, we can also see that the interior still largely maintain the original brutalist style and it’s still sleek, modern & contemporary (this will come in handy later on, i swear, it’s not just me nerding out about architecture)

and, before i continue, i just wanna say that i don’t think Shu Yi’s wearing the bracelet anymore… i replayed the MV nearly about a hundred times already, especially the last part, but i can’t really tell because his sleeves are always down and his hand movements are too fast. so, i assume their fighting happens after whatever the fuck that made Shu Yi looks like he’s ready to commit murder in the park and make him take off the bracelet. 

yes, the park scene and the crying then throwing away bracelet scene are connected because Shu Yi’s wearing the same clothes. i think this is after the 5yrs timeskip but before the bitchslapping (Shi De’s clothes kinda give me a timeskip vibe, idk why, don’t ask me lol) and then someone (probably Zhen Xuan) comes over to Shi De’s side as Shi De’s waiting for Shu Yi in the park. misunderstanding abound! hence the subsequent anger and crying and Shu Yi throwing away the bracelet. 

(Shu Yi fucking throw away the bracelet... so my angsty writing about the bracelet is all for naught *unhinged laughter*)

one of the reasons why i think the house, in the beginning, is Shi De’s is because Shu Yi is clearly still living in his condo/penthouse.

also, in contrast to Shu Yi, Shi De is still wearing the bracelet … even by the time they’re fighting. 

So, this is the bitchslap scene, in the office. 

this is definitely after the bitchslap scene. probably inside Shi De’s private office or sth. the glass panels & the interior have a similar design to the office we see in the post-credit scene. but most importantly, their clothes are the same as from the post-credit scene. same suit, same tie, same shirt. i replay this scene many, many times just to make sure. 

this is once Shu Yi returns home, the very same one from the one at the beginning. and i dare say so because the interior is clearly in the contemporary brutalist style i discussed in the beginning. it’s not practical for office buildings, especially skyscrapers, to be in the brutalist style. and, as we saw in the post-credit, the office buildings are in modern style. so yeah, this is their private residence. (brutalism are usually used in desiging institutional buildings. a couple of the uni buildings in WBL are in brutalist style.)

this happens first because Shu Yi’s still wearing the same clothes and he still has his vest on. he’s holding on to something in his right hand and he throws it away as he walks it and his hands move to unbutton his jacket. 

so this here probably happens afterward. you can see the notebook on the table in the background. it’s the same notebook that Shu Yi walks out with later on. 

Shu Yi is also holding something in his right hand. i hesitate to say that it’s the bracelet because the pendant looks like a ring, not filled in like the pendant of the bracelet they wear. 

idk why tf their jackets are suddenly off and why Shi De’s sleeves are even rolled up. 

this scene is also the other reason why i think this house is more likely to belong to Shi De. Shu Yi’s the one walking out with the notebook and documents, so, i assume he’s there to pick up his stuff. idk why tf he’s walking out without his jacket though… and idk why tf his stuff are there to begin with.

also... the fckn disrespect. a punch and then throwing the jacket at Shi De. fckn-

S2 hasn’t aired yet but i already have one major problem: Shu Yi’s violence. this constitute domestic violence and it is not okay. i might have been persuaded if it was just one slap scene but this now includes a slap, a punch, and a jacket being thrown at Shi De. 

and im pretty sure Shi De’s gonna give back as much as he gets because he literally throws Shu Yi onto the sofa. 

ik this is just entertainment but i still desperately need this shit to be addressed properly.

HOWEVER, i must say that my stance on the violence & aggression can change depending on how Shu Yi & Shi De’s relationship are portrayed as in S2. i might be persuaded to accept it if their relationship is explicitly portrayed as unhealthy and with issues to be resolved. if it’s supposed to be a healthy relationship then nope, no, they need to address the violence. 

(this is like how im able to accept GoT’s incest plot vs me being unable to accept the incest plot in LBC... incest is fckd up and it’s perceived as fckd up even in the GoT universe and it’s a plot device that shows how vile the lannister twins are. in LBC on the other hand... n o p e)

if u read till the end, thank you for entertaining my stream of consciousness... if u have anything to say or see something u'd like to correct, feel free to talk to me about it

[rosyfingereddawnn]

That’s The Way (Chapter 2)

Pairing: Jimmy Page x Reader

Word count: 3.3k

Warning(s): mentions of cheating, cursing

Author’s notes: Hey y’all, welcome to Chapter 2! Thank you so much for all your positive feedback and responses. A little heads up: Jimmy is not in this chapter...since this is a slow burn, he’ll be introduced in Chapter 4, but it won’t be long, I promise. Just sit tight! As usual, please enjoy, happy reading, and send us messages if you have theories, comments, music recommendations for the playlist, or if you want to be added to the tag list :)

Chapter 1

---------

Evening of 4 May 1965

Walking into the kitchen, Y/N slid into a seat between her brothers, Tommy and Charlie, just as her mum was placing platters of that night’s dinner on the table. A sinking feeling in her stomach plagued her all day, as she knew that she would be interrogated  intensely by her family about the previous night. More importantly, she knew that if they felt that any of the musicians had viewed her as a possible love interest, she’d be in big, big trouble.

“Dad, can you pass me the vegetables, please?” Y/N asked her father, sitting a few seats down from her. If the girl hadn’t been glancing down at her plate to avoid eye contact, fighting the gut feeling that the inevitable would soon occur, she would have seen him glance at her from over the frames of his glasses.

“Sure, dear,” he replied, briefly looking up from the newspaper he was reading as he gave Y/N the dish. The clanking of utensils on plates was all that could be heard until Charlie broke the seal by asking the dreaded question.

“So Y/N, how was the concert last night?” he asked, raising the glass of water in his hand to his lips.  Y/N couldn’t blame Charlie for asking, because he had no idea what had happened, but she knew that this conversation could go south fast. Tommy’s hums of laughter quietly escaped his lips, and Y/N nudged his arm from under the table, giving him a glaring look that sent daggers from her eyes. It screamed, “Shut up!”, and another bout of giggles was the only response.

Tommy knew the outcome of last night because of what Carolyn had babbled to him on the car ride home, and was doing everything in his power to tease his sister.

“Why are you laughing, Tommy?” Y/N’s mum asked, finally taking a seat between Charlie and Lillian.  Silence settled over the table as all eyes locked on to the oldest daughter, and Tommy evilly smiled at Y/N, who only glared at him again. “No reason. Actually, I think Y/N should tell you instead.”

Y/N huffed as she put the dish of roasted chicken, generously seasoned and herbed, back in the middle of the table. She painted on a smile before answering, “It went pretty well. Brilliant show.”

“That’s it?” her dad asked, folding up the newspaper, knowing his daughter was downplaying it.

“Yeah, Y/N, that’s it?” Tommy added. Y/N knew he was taunting her, but the rest of the table did not pick up on it. From under the table, Y/N’s leg begins to bob up and down, and she bites her lip, debating whether or not to tell the whole story. It’s obvious they’re not going to be happy…

“My God, Tommy,” With an exasperated sigh, Y/N, very annoyed at her brother’s pushing, throws her hands up in unwilling acceptance. “Fine, Carolyn and I were invited backstage, and we met the band.”

The table audibly gasped, the loudest of course being Lillian, who looked disappointed, almost devastated at the revelation. Her lips turn down in a sulk, and she rests her cheek, almost permanently flushed with youth, on a fist. “You promised me you wouldn’t let any boys mess with you, Y/N!”

Y/N reached her hand across the table to hold her sister’s in an attempt to coax her. “They didn’t, Lil. We just talked for a while. I just made some new friends last night, that’s all.”

Lillian’s frown turned upside down, content that her sister was safe, a naïve smile that Y/N felt a little guilty about. She, along with Charlie and their parents, didn’t know that most members of the band had shamelessly flirted with her and invited her back to see them again. Tommy was the only one aware, and Y/N made him promise to keep the whole rendezvous a secret. Carolyn had brought the flirting to Y/N’s attention on the car ride home, because in the moment, she didn’t think much of it.

“If they’re mean to you, I’ll be mean to them, just for you!” Lillian exclaims through a mouthful of mush, and the table burst into laughter, shaking their heads in amusement.

“How did it go?” Y/N’s mum asked, cutting into her chicken with a knife and fork. For the first time over the course of the whole dinner, Y/N broke into an unadulterated smile at the memory. “It was really nice, genuinely. They  were all so sweet to us, and we just bonded over music and stuff.”

Y/N’s mother quirked her brow. “No ‘you know what’?”

“No Mum, nothing explicit. It was good, clean fun. Seriously.”

“Alright, I hope you’re telling the truth… I’m happy you had a great time.”

“She is telling the truth, Mum,” Tommy quipped through bites of roasted potatoes, “I can attest to that.”

Y/N’s mum smiled, but her dad piped up with some two-cents of his own. “Musicians are a tough crowd, Y/N. Very fickle blokes, their attractions change all the time. You can’t get too attached to them, dear,  you’re just a small fish in a very big sea.”

“I know, Dad,” Y/N replied, trying to sound understanding. She couldn’t lie to herself, though. The Yardbirds made her feel very special last night, and disappointment was lurching in her stomach at the comment. As much as her father’s words stung, she harbored a small feeling of hope that they truly enjoyed her company and meant what they said.

After everyone finished dinner, and Charlie and Lillian left the table to go play in another room, Tommy, wallet in hand, walked over to his mum, who was washing the dishes with the help of her husband.

“Hey Mum, I’m gonna take Y/N for ice cream,” he whispered, glancing at Y/N who was sitting in a chair in the living room, almost unconsciously playing with her fingers and staring out the window with a pensive countenance.

“Okay, love. Just bring something home for Charlie and Lillian,” she replied. Tommy walked over to Y/N, tapping her shoulder. The girl looked up at him, confused.

“I’m taking you for ice cream. Let’s go,” he said, already walking towards the door. Y/N grinned, then chased after her brother to the car.

~~~~~~~~

27 June 1965

Y/N and Carolyn weren’t able to attend as many Yardbirds gigs as they would’ve liked in the end of May and beginning of June, as they had exams at school. Now that they were over, Y/N could be fully immersed in the travelling British rock and roll circus for the greater part of the summer.

The girls agreed to make a venue change tonight: instead of going to the Marquee, as they usually did, they decided to go to the Crawdaddy Club. Y/N hoped Jeff, Chris, Paul, Jim, and Keith would remember them by their faces instead of just their clothes, because there was no need to wear school uniforms anymore.

Carolyn decided to drive to this particular gig, probably because she was expecting the two of them to go backstage again, as having her own car would grant them more time with the band then that first night at the Marquee.

The Crawdaddy Club was architecturally and aesthetically different from the Marquee; there were no chairs or booths, so standing was the only option, and the boundary between the stage and the audience was virtually nonexistent. The ceilings were low and beamed, and the stage backdrop had a painting of a measure of music. Y/N thought that particular touch was a bit cheesy.

Carolyn and Y/N walked in together, squeezing past the army of fans already hoarding the front of the stage. They managed to find a spot by Jeff’s side of the stage, his amps towering a few feet from where they stood. Thankfully, they were able to see most of the stage, including Jim’s drum riser in the back. The conversations among all the audience members were deafening, but Y/N heard a loud whisper within her periphery that she could just make out.

“Pssst! Y/N!” a familiar voice whisper-shouted, which was followed by a wave.

It was Jeff, widely smiling with his guitar slung over his shoulder. He was walking out the backstage door, meticulously making sure the door wouldn’t harm his guitar in any way. He then waited near the stage steps to go on, which the girls discerned could be any minute now.

“Oh my God, Jeff!” Y/N replied excitedly as she walked over to the steps. She made her way through the crowd, a lot more ungracefully than she would’ve hoped.

“It’s so cool to see you at some place other than the Marquee,” Jeff said. He looked genuinely happy that she was there. Maybe Y/N’s dad was wrong about these “fickle musicians”.

“We’re happy to be here! I’m so sorry I couldn’t make any more since the last time… exams and school and all.”

“Oh, that’s where you were! I hope you got good marks,” Jeff playfully grinned, “because you ought to mind your studies, Miss Y/N. Sam was starting to think he scared you off and that you didn’t want to come back.”

Y/N scrunched her nose in a confused way, as if to say “who?”, which resulted in a soft chuckle from Jeff.

“‘Sam’ is Paul’s nickname.”

Y/N nodded in understanding with an endearing smile. “Oh, okay. That’s definitely not it, then. I was just stuck with exams and graduation, that's all. Be sure to tell him that.” A wink punctuates the end of her sentence, and, gearing up to respond, Jeff is interrupted by a sharp noise next to him. Mere seconds later, another familiar face entered the scene, walking out of the door. Chris Dreja, also with his guitar slung over his shoulder, warmly smiled at Y/N as he closed the door behind him.

“Hello, Y/N. It’s so lovely to see you again,” he greeted. She noticed that he had a substantially deeper voice than the other four, something she hadn’t the last time they met since he was talking with Carolyn and Keith.

“Hi Chris! Same to you,” Y/N grinned.

“No uniforms this time I see,” he teased, discreetly scanning how stunning he thought she looked.

Y/N laughed. “Yeah, I’m off from school for the summer so there’s no need anymore, thank God. Now I can attend your shows more frequently, and wear a decent outfit too!”

“That’s great to hear. We do love your company.” Y/N beamed at his comment, unconsciously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Chris’ eyes track the movement, and he couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. He thought Y/N was beautiful, but he had a wife and a child on the way. He also felt a little jealous that Paul and Jim had their eyes on her, but there was not much he could do about it. If he was cunning and quick enough to steal Y/N before they had the chance, though, and if his wife never found out…

Quickly regaining his wits, he remembered why he was sent out. “Jeff, Keith needs you backstage again.”

Jeff groaned. “What? I thought we were starting, like right now!”

“I know, I know. We were supposed to, but he wants everyone backstage again for some reason.”

“Ugh, this is why he can’t fucking be in charge,” Jeff replied, clearly annoyed. Then, as Chris was heading backstage once again, Jeff pulled something out of his pocket, a knowing smile on his face.

“Here, love, have this. You’ll be needing it after the show,” he said, placing a card with a lanyard attached to it into Y/N’s hands. Y/N smiled giddily.

“Thank you. Good luck with that meeting, and good luck in the show, even though you don’t really need it,” Y/N replied playfully.

“Oh, I think I need it more than you think I do,” Jeff smirked, disappearing behind the door.

~~~~~~~~

Just minutes later, The Yardbirds came out and played their set, which lasted a couple hours, and didn't fail to stun the crowd. Y/N and Carolyn received a lot more smiles of recognition than the last time at the Marquee, since the boys knew who they were now. The only similarity to last time was the electrified fans who were completely immersed in the music.

Jim McCarty, in particular, looked at Y/N a lot more often throughout the show than he did last time. She caught him a couple times, which was really embarrassing on his part, but not the entire time, much to his pleasure. He didn’t think it was possible, but it seemed that she had grown even more beautiful than last time.

Was it absence that made his heart grow fonder? Possibly. Was he in love? Yet another possibility. Did he know for certain? Perhaps, but he wasn’t exactly sure yet.

Besides focusing on the music, Paul’s mind was elsewhere. He was planning on asking Y/N out on a date with him sometime this coming week. He hoped she’d accept, since she did an awful lot of blushing and giggling around him when they met in May, but he didn’t want to get his hopes up. Paul was concocting the perfect formulation of words so that she couldn’t refuse the offer. She looked like the type of girl who would enjoy a nice dinner date, and he would do anything to make that a reality for her.

Chris’s mind was the opposite of Paul’s: he didn’t want to think about Y/N because in the event he did, he knew he would mess up a chord or two on the guitar.

God, he thought, she was perfect. Purely enchanting.

Jeff was just happy, almost giddy, that he’d found a new friend in Y/N. He knew she was special, and he hoped she trusted him, because some people in this business could be very sleazy. She was different from all the girls a lonely musician would find on the road. Y/N was the type of girl that Jeff wanted to see after a thousand and one nights touring, catching up and sharing stories over a pint. Sure, he had a steady girlfriend, but something about Y/N was comforting, friendly, and trustworthy. Just what he needed in a friend.

The set was similar to the one at the Marquee, but with little variations here and there, still holding the audience under a trance. After the performance’s conclusion, Y/N rummaged through her pocket and showed Carolyn the backstage pass given to her by Jeff, to which Carolyn squealed with delight. Y/N took Carolyn’s hand and walked with her to the door, showing the security man her prized relic. At once, they were granted access, and they skipped and trotted and leapt down the hall in excitement.

When the pair got to the correct door, Y/N took a deep breath and knocked a couple times; momentarily, they were greeted by a smiling, but sweaty, Jeff Beck.

Y/N didn’t care. “Brilliant show, my friend,” she gushed, giving Jeff a congratulatory hug.

“Thank you,” he replied gratefully, reciprocating it with a beaming smile, “security didn’t give you trouble I hope?”

“No, we were fine, thankfully.”

“Good to hear, good to hear. Well, come on in!” Jeff exclaimed, getting out of the way of the doorframe, “do you fancy yourselves a drink?”

Y/N and Carolyn walked into the room, starstruck once again by all five of The Yardbirds being in one place. This time, some members of the road crew, management, and lighting company were there as well, chatting and planning among themselves. They all greeted the girls amicably, and grabbed some chairs and arranged them in a similar formation to the Marquee.

“Um, yeah, sure, if you don’t mind,” Y/N accepted as she sat down, throwing a kind “thank you” over her shoulder at the roadie that had brought her chair over, voice a little lost in amazement at the current happening.

“Here, I’ll get it,” Jim said with a smile, “you stay put.”

“Thank you, that’s so sweet,” Y/N grinned appreciatively. She could feel herself warming up to these guys, as she didn’t feel as nervous as the last time. But a little twinge of it was still there, rippling through her stomach.

Jim was turned away from Y/N getting the drinks, so she wasn’t able to see him blush. He found it unbelievable, the effect she had on him.

The whole group was sharing conversation and laughs over drinks for almost three hours, but it was almost as if time did not pass. They talked about music, books they liked, restaurants they recommended, places they’ve travelled to, philosophy, history, the environment, conspiracy theories...you name it.

Y/N and Carolyn stood up from their seats, as a cue to the party that they had to leave soon. Paul, who again was sitting next to Y/N, tapped her shoulder. Turning to face him, Y/N could see the flush on his cheeks, and the way he was almost curled into himself.

“Hey Y/N, can I ask you a question really quick?” he asked, much more nervous than he sounded a few seconds ago.

“Yeah, sure,” she smiled. Y/N, taking his outstretched hand, found herself being whisked away by Paul to a corner of the room, near a row of vanities attached to the wall. She hoped that the others were all too distracted talking, so that no one would notice her and Paul’s absence.

Looking at each other, face to face, the two smiled happily, as though there wasn't a care in the world.

Paul then took a deep breath, his expression turning more anxious. “Okay…” he exhaled, “here goes.”

“You don’t have to be nervous,” Y/N chuckled, “it’s just me.”

Paul’s face softened a little, gazing down at her. “But you see, that’s the whole point. It’s you. I have every reason to be nervous.”

Y/N’s face cascaded into a red flush, her lip quivering in the hopes of concealing a foolish grin. Paul reached down and grabbed Y/N’s hands, holding them in his own as Y/N’s heart started racing at what felt like two thousand miles a minute.

“I just wanted to preface this by saying that I, uh… I have been absolutely bewitched by you, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the night at the Marquee,” he began. Y/N melted with every word, but at the same time, she felt as if she had been electrically shocked. When she looked into the twinkling depths of his eyes, she couldn't help but swoon.

“So,” he continued, “I was wondering if you’d like to go out with me sometime. If you’ll let me, of course.”

Y/N was at a loss for words, composure, and any sort of rationality. She never thought, in her wildest dreams, that a musician in a world-renowned band would fancy her. Just able to restrain an awestruck grin, she finally gave in.

“Yes,” she replied, happily breathless and dazed, “I would love to go out with you.”

Paul, ecstatic with her answer, beams down at her as she launches into his arms in a sweet embrace. He asked for her phone number and address, and, spotting a nearby miniature legal pad, she wrote everything down, signing it with a cartoonish smiling face and a heart.

~~~~~~~~

After Y/N and Carolyn had said their goodbyes and left the Crawdaddy Club, the five musicians were left alone in the backstage area, to relax after such an electric show. Jeff and Keith approached Paul, who was collecting his belongings in the corner of the room.

“Did you do it?” Jeff asked, face a picture of feigned nonchalance as he took a sip of his beer.

“Yes, I did it,” Paul grinned, bending down to grab something of his that had fallen on the floor.

“I guess she accepted by the look on your face,” Keith observed, a sardonic smirk on his handsome features.

“You’d be correct,” Paul replied.

“You wanker,” Jeff shook his head disapprovingly, “why would you bloody do that? You’re gonna break her heart!”

Paul’s expression quickly turned unimpressed. “Because if nobody here tells her, she’ll never know.”

What Paul had failed to tell Y/N was that he had a wife, with whom he shared a home. He felt bored, with all the travelling and the touring and the nonsense, so he wanted a lovely, intelligent young woman like Y/N to “keep him company”.

He knew he wasn’t in love with Y/N. Sure, he fancied her immensely, thought she was ethereal, but his heart truly belonged to his wife.

“Congratulations, Sam,” Keith said sarcastically, “you just potentially ruined a friendship with a very pretty bird.” It was clear that Jeff and Keith cared very deeply about Y/N and her happiness, because she was a great girl.

Paul rolled his eyes, annoyed. “You lot have to do me this solid and don’t say anything to her. It’ll work out fine. Oh, and spread the message to Chris and Jim so they don’t spill the beans either.”

“You fuckin’ owe me, Sam,” Jeff warned, already walking backwards towards Chris and Jim, “you owe me big time.”

---------

Taglist: @blood-on-blood @reincarnated70sbaby

[phykios]

honesty and promise me, co-written with @darkmagyk [read on ao3]

“I’m in love,” Piper tells her when she shows up for another fitting. “Have you seen the new Beyonce video?”

“I heard the song.” Annabeth says, “isn’t that enough?”

“God, your whole play-acting thing is too far if you’re pretending to not like Beyonce.”

“I never said that.” Annabeth holds up her hands, “I like the song. But I did not see the video.”

“Well, when you see it, you’ll be in love too, but I will fight you.”

Piper could be scrappy in a fight. But Annabeth had been a champion fencer in high school.

“Kidding!” Piper says at her look. “There’s plenty of them to go around.” She didn’t even start to drape fabric over Annabeth, pushing her onto a muslin covered couch, and then pulling the video on the TV. She didn’t have one of those voice control devices. Because she was friends with Leo, and he was pretty firm on them being evil. “But I do call dibs on the main guy. The CALVES. The thighs. He’s unreal.”

“That good?” Piper went all ways, though as of late she gravitated towards women more often than not, so this was some high praise indeed. 

“Unreal, I am telling you. Like, the hand of God came down and sculpted him personally out of marble.”

Already in her recent watch history, the thumbnail of the video greets them, the song title splashed across the TV screen, weaving between  a very, very familiar set of legs. 

Like, intimately familiar. 

In something of detached horror, she watches the camera pan up, lovingly lingering on every inch of bare skin, following the muscles of his calves (which were unreal) to his knees then his thighs (which Annabeth had spent almost too much time between now), up his torso and his chest (which she knew made for an excellent pillow) to Percy’s face, set in a firm, hard stare. 

And that fucking blue lipstick again. 

She can’t even focus on Beyonce herself, too distracted by the way her hand traces the length of Percy’s outstretched thigh held in perfect arabesque as she gracefully drapes herself over him, crooning softly into his ear.

Annabeth should do that next time. That’s her spot, after all. 

Tearing her eyes away from the screen even as Piper watches, enraptured, she slips out her phone, sending a quick, furious text. 

annabeth: BEYONCE???????

A minute, then he responds. 

percy: oh lol i didn’t realize that came out today 😁

percy: what’d you think?

annabeth: i think im going to kill you later

“Just look at him,” Piper says, pausing on Percy’s form, his arms outstretched, fingers placed delicately around a bar. “I mean--look at him!”

“Yeah,” she chuckles, maybe a little uneasy. “He’s alright I guess.”

Incredulous, Piper swivels her head. “Alright? Alright? Do you need your eyes checked?”

She just shrugs. 

Why is she being so weird about this? It’s just Piper. She’s trained to find symmetry and beauty in bodies. They’ve happily shared crushes and fixations plenty of times before, so why is Annabeth being so weird about Percy? It’s not like they’re… you know… dating or anything. Just hooking up a bit. 

Piper squints at her, then shrugs herself. “Fine. I don’t have time to get an answer out of you anyway. Come on.”

“Speaking of time,” Annabeth says, following Piper back into the kitchen studio, “I have to head out by 6:30.”

“Oh yeah?” Piper’s head is buried in her belt box, searching for the perfect accent. “What for?”

“I’ve got a show to catch.”

“Kind of early,” she says, pulling out something thin and silver. “Don’t you usually meet Thalia at the ass crack of midnight?”

“Well I kind of want to eat first.”

“Okay.” She cinches the belt around her waist, tight. “Then you’re going to have to help me with this skirt.”

***

Hands aching from hours of macrame, Annabeth walks up to the box office window at the Koch Theater at 7:46, having a handful of second thoughts. 

Old, uppity white couples keep shooting her some particularly intense passive aggressive glares, some of them even venturing into actually aggressive territory, which usually wouldn’t even register on her very short list of things to care about, except that she is feeling woefully out of place. The lady in front of her has ten pounds of diamonds hanging off of each old, wrinkly ear, and the best Annabeth could do was fish out her least-ripped pair of jeans, pairing it with one of her nicer black shirts, the sleeves long enough to cover most of her tattoos. The macrame kept her longer than she had meant, so she didn’t have time to change before dinner, but fuck it, right?

She did also take out most of her face jewelry on the way. But she left the nose stud, obviously. And the tongue piercing. And the industrial, because Percy really likes those, so she doesn’t feel that bad about it. And he hadn’t even told her about this until after she had already given herself the half-undercut, so it’s not like she could do anything about that either.

“Can I help you?” At least this box office worker isn’t giving her the stink-eye. 

“I’m here to pick up a ticket? Should be under ‘Jackson.’” He’d offered to leave it under her name, but this was safer. She doesn’t think her mom is a big ballet person, but she isn’t about to risk it, either.

She slides the ticket towards Annabeth beneath the glass plane. “Enjoy the show,” she says, with a quirk of her mouth that is surprisingly sincere for someone in customer service. 

She’s pretty sure she’d enjoy the show more if she weren’t panicking thinking about getting dirt on their fancy carpets. Her boots are clean, of course, and she doesn’t really care, but she doesn’t want to, like, embarrass Percy or whatever. She’d asked him if she should dress up, but he’d assured her otherwise. “No one’s going to care, I promise,” he’d told her the night before, her lounging in his bed while he did some pushups. “And if anyone says something, let me know and we can kick their ass after the show together.”

“Great. Guess I don’t have to break out the Chanel, then.”

He’d paused, frowned, then huffed a laugh, shaking his head. Like the idea of Annabeth wearing Chanel was hilarious. Like what she’s wearing tonight really is the best that she can do.

Self-consciousness isn’t really a feeling that Annabeth has anymore. She’s spent so many years chafing against expectations, shucking them off when she inevitably failed to meet them, desperate for a place, a crowd where she could just be. In her scene, she doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone, and when Percy is out with her, he doesn’t need any convincing. He likes her. He likes her a lot, she thinks. He likes her enough to let himself be dragged out to every shitty dive bar and shittier rock show in New York City, laughing and cheering and holding her close the whole time. He likes her enough to cart her to his apartment at 4 AM, inevitably waking Nico up from his undead slumber, and leave her with nothing but a glass of water and a kiss on the forehead. And she likes him, too--a lot. Annabeth likes Percy enough to ditch her band t-shirts for a night and track mud on the carpet of the Koch Theater and willingly sit through a performance of fucking Swan goddamn Lake of all things, and it’s only a little scary how much she is willing to do for him after only a few months of fucking him. Because this really isn’t her scene, not anymore. 

The weight of everyone’s stares bears down on her, threatening to crush her beneath them, a feeling she was so sure she’d left behind. 

At least Percy had been thoughtful enough to get her a ticket out of the way in the back of one of the balcony sections. It’s a bit of a hike, but the audience members aren’t dressed quite as nicely as the ones downstairs, and she feels like she can breathe a little easier.

She pulls out her phone, checking her text messages on instinct. There’s a selfie from Percy in his stage makeup (and she’s not going to lie… he looks fucking pretty), with his standard accompanying three blue heart emojis. She can’t help it, her heart skips a beat and she can’t help but smile, even as she rolls her eyes. She’s just about to send him something appropriately sarcastic when another text notification slides in. It’s from her father. 

Hi Annabeth… I was talking to a friend in Boston who said he's looking for a new 

prospective in his architecture firm. Passed your information along. 

Love you, dear

She swipes it away. Deletes the whole text conversation, for good measure. 

Forget about him. This night is about Percy.

A few minutes later, so engrossed in Percy’s program bio (it’s about all she can focus on right now), she doesn’t even notice everyone around her leaning forward in breathless anticipation, until the warm, honey-like sound of the oboe draws her head up. 

Roughly two minutes in, she’s really wishing she had attempted the synopsis. The extent of her knowledge of Swan Lake is a few half-remembered orchestra rehearsals in her teens and reading the Wikipedia article on that Natalie Portman movie a few months ago, and she definitely doesn’t recall there being anything about any Men-in-Tights looking motherfuckers prancing around. They’re sort of bobbing, back and forth, elegantly stepping from one side of the stage to another. Even from back here, she can see the delicate, precise placement of their hands, fingers curved just so, moving through space as though they aren’t bound by the laws of physics.

The fingers, she remembers. She could never get the hang of the fingers. Her old ballet teacher had given up on them after a week, and that had been the beginning of the end for that particular extracurricular. 

Now her fingers tap on her jeans, impatient, far faster than the easy going music on stage. She’s just about to give in to the millennial instinct and pull out her phone, maybe play a round of sudoku, when the dancers motion as one to the back corner, and Percy comes stepping out. His hair is perfectly slicked back, gelled down, any hint of curl beaten into submission, and his smile is small, but white, gleaming against the tanned brown of his skin. She can’t help but smile back, like he could somehow see her. Finally, she thinks, relaxing a little more into her seat. Something to watch.

On his off days, her off days, any day when she would spent the night at his (always at his, never at hers) and wake up wrapped in his comforter and the smell of seawater, she would take the blanket with her and steal into his living room, curl up on his couch with her feet tucked under her legs, and watch him dance. She’s seen him drill these sequences over, and over, and over again, counting furious sequences of sixes and eights beneath his breath in duet with the thuds of his feet on his floor. Most times he would notice her and shoot her a grin, granting her permission to observe the artist at work. Sometimes, though, he would be so caught up in his body, the shifting of his feet and the music in his head, that it was like he couldn’t see her at all. Seemingly alone, he would dance, uninhibited, and she would be struck by a feeling that she usually reserves for specific monuments. Watching Percy dance in his apartment, in his brown tights and black tank top, lost in his own world, is like looking at pictures of the Gateway Arch, or the Hoover Dam, or the Parthenon.

She searches for that feeling now, leaning forward in her seat, eyes hungrily raving his form, but she just doesn’t see it. It’s… honestly, it’s a little boring. She won’t lie. He had warned her it would be something of a slow start, but this isn’t exactly an ADHD friendly medium, and she is losing her patience, just a bit. He’s so reserved, like he’s holding something close to his chest, impersonal as he takes the hands of the female dancers and lets them twirl around him. 

Personally, Annabeth thinks that he looks kind of lost. Maybe he’s just nervous--it’s a big role and he’s a young guy. But he had seemed fine when he’d kissed her goodbye just after lunch. 

The court jester is killing it though. Feeling just the slightest bit guilty, she lets her eyes drift over to him, deciding to watch him for a while instead.

On some level, she does appreciate the skill on display here. Percy can raise his back leg in a perfect ninety degree angle that would make her architecture professors sweat. The girls drift back and forth across the stage on the tips of their toes, weightless and ethereal. It’s mesmerizing, and she lets herself be mesmerized.

Time must slip away from her, because she blinks and all of a sudden the stage has gone from sunny yellow to cool blue, the crowds of dancers having vanished. He is alone on stage. Percy kneels in a deep lunge that makes her thighs ache just looking at him (and for… other reasons), his arms and his attention pointed to the wings, with a… Annabeth squints. When the hell did he get a crossbow?

But everything is swept to the sides when the White Swan tiptoes her way on stage, impossibly graceful, and all of a sudden, Annabeth gets it. 

It feels a little cliche to say, but the way that woman moves on the floor really does remind her of those old, vintage jewelry boxes, suspended in animation, moved by some otherworldly force. It’s amazing. It’s a little terrifying. Sublime is the word that comes to mind as Annabeth watches her. Her arms move with fluidity, perfect curves, her fingers trailing behind her like wings. 

And Percy is just as mesmerized as Annabeth is. As the audience is. 

A few things hit her, in rapid succession. First, that Percy is, actually, a really good actor. His reticence before--he’d been playing a character. He’d been playing aloof and reserved and unmoored, because Percy--Siegfried--whatever--has been waiting his whole life for something to fulfill him, until this singular moment, the moment he laid eyes on this beautiful creature. Second, that she doesn’t need words to understand what’s going on. It’s all there, in every look and gesture and step, as the two characters circle each other, slowly but irrevocably falling in love. And third, that she recognizes the look on his face. It’s the look that Percy gives her when she has been talking for too long and he can’t get a word in edgewise, or when she screams along to the god awful underground bands, three beers in and missing every single fuck she’d ever had, or when she wakes up after him to Percy’s arms around her waist, her hair in his mouth and her head resting against his collarbone. She recognizes it, because that’s the look that Siegfried has for Odette. Because that’s the look that Percy has for Annabeth. Because he loves her.

And fourth, that that doesn’t make her as happy as she wishes it would. 

There’s a cold pit in her stomach for the rest of the show, a turning screw that twists in deeper, minute by minute, with every turn of the dancers. She wastes the next hour trying to puzzle this out, not even pretending to watch the drama unfolding on stage, because it makes no goddamn sense. (Her situation, not the ballet--she managed to skim the synopsis during intermission, her foot tapping incessantly against the blessedly empty seat in front of her.) Things are great between them. It’s been a heady, intoxicating four months, full of bubbles and butterflies, sweet, soft mornings, and some really, really phenomenal sex. This should make her happy. This should put her over the fucking moon, and she cannot, for the life of her, figure out why it doesn’t.

The prima ballerina comes back out as the Black Swan, just as poised and precise as her counterpart, but she’s a great actress as well, because there is something undeniably different about her. Her arms move like rubber, like joints are just an afterthought, wrapping themselves around Percy’s neck and shoulders. She misdirects his attention, drawing his eyes to her wrists, her clavicle, the curve of a leg or the point of her toe. Seducing him. Tricking him. 

Like Annabeth. 

Because try as she might to run from it, Annabeth isn’t who she says she is. She wants so desperately to be this fuck-the-rules, fight-the-power, punk rock princess that she took every part of her that didn’t fit that image and tried to rip it out of her, bloody and struggling. Her trust fund, her two (two!) Harvard degrees, her enriched childhood and her bright and shining future; she took it all out back and shot it, and prayed that would be the end of it. She’s a phony, just like that goddamn Black Swan. Percy is in love with a phony. 

Her sweet, wonderful, devastatingly kind and handsome Percy--she tricked him and made him fall in love with a mishmash of archetypes and aesthetics, distracting him with nose piercings and ripped t-shirts and ugly, deafening noise. 

She’s not surprised that she’s crying when the curtain falls. She’d never known that Siegfried and Odette both died at the end. 

When the cast reunites for curtain call, Percy is given a standing ovation, and Annabeth enthusiastically joins in, wiping the tears from her eyes, smearing her makeup. 

She doesn’t wait for him at the stage door, but sits on the steps of the theater, plucking at her sleeves, aching for a drink and wishing she had had the presence of mind to wear something a little nicer. Percy finds her there almost an hour after the show ended. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

In the dark of night, illuminated only by streetlamps, she can’t read his face--but she can read exhaustion, in every part of his body. “I was waiting for you by the stage door.”

Something in her stomach goes cold. “I… wasn’t sure if I was allowed,” she offers, weakly. 

He smiles, a light in the dark. “Of course you’re allowed,” he says, offering her a hand. “Shall we?”

She knows what will happen next. She’ll take his hand, and they’ll walk to the subway together, fingers intertwined. They’ll get on the 1 train headed north, and Percy will let her rest her head against him, tilting his head back against the window, eyes closed, almost asleep. The doorman will nod at them as they walk up to Nico’s apartment, barely batting an eye at his sweats and her ripped jeans, the two of them sticking out like a sore thumb in a sea of impeccably dressed rich New Yorkers. Nico will wave at them distractedly from his office, gulping down his sixth coffee of the night, and they’ll tiptoe into his room, falling asleep in each other’s arms with little more than a good night kiss. 

Which, of course, is exactly what does end up happening.

Almost. 

Annabeth crawls on top of him in his bed, kissing him soft and senseless. She doesn’t know where he’s getting this energy from, but she is not complaining as he slips up inside of her, the two of them rocking each other gently to orgasm, their foreheads pressed together. Shuddering as he comes, he captures her mouth in another kiss, pouring every ounce of love he has in him into her.

A waste, honestly. 

But as far as goodbye sex, it’s pretty damn great. 

She needs to end this, before either of them get hurt. It’s the least of what he deserves, after all. To put yourself out there, to offer yourself up like that, that might be the bravest thing Annabeth’s ever heard of, and surely, Annabeth can find the courage to do what needs to be done.

[goji-pilled]

I don't know if you're still looking for series recommendations but could I suggest my personal favourite series?

It's called D.Gray-Man and it's honestly one of the best written series I've ever come across. It's about a fourteen year old boy called Allen Walker who joined an organisation called the Black Order that use a power called Innocence (It's different for everyone; Allen's arm transforms, Kanda has a sword, Krory is basically a vampire, Miranda can control time, all of them are great) to fight against beings called Akuma created by the Millennium Earl.

It goes into a lot of deep topics but the main one is grief because Akumas are created by the Millennium Earl preying on people who have recently lost a loved one into making a deal that will bring back their loved one's soul but unfortunately that soul becomes the Earl's servant and they kill and steal the body of the one who brought them back. But it explores the points of view of both the people who lost and the people who were brought back. For example, Allen is valuable to the Order because he has a cursed eye that can see Akumas through their disguises, but he got that eye because his father figure that he brought back as a child was enraged that he would fall for the Earl's bargain and cursed him.

There's also so much well written development for all of the characters and it's honestly a bit of a mystery series but everything is set up so subtly you barely notice until about halfway through. It's a series that definitely gets better with repeated viewings.

Also, the artstyle is gorgeous. In the beginning, it's good but the artist's style now is downright ethereal, seriously I stare at her pieces for hours. Plus, the overall aesthetic of the series is inspired by gothic and Halloween tropes in everything from the architecture to the antagonists' designs to the overall feel of background elements.

Plus, Allen is such a unique protagonist. I know we've had dozens of 'Optimistic Teenage Boy With A Tragic Past' protagonists in shounen series but Allen's optimism is different. His optimism is more of a coping mechanism, it's pretty much the only way he can get through everything he goes through. Considering his backstory as an orphan working in a circus, the best description I've seen for him is "a lonely clown with a painted smile" which sounds cheesy, I know, but it fits.

I should point out the series isn't finished. There was a lot of drama for a while when the writer had to take a break due to injuring her wrist and then higher ups tried to alter the story so there was a whole ordeal of her getting the full rights and recovering and an anime company completely ignoring her requests in regards to marketing but she's back to updating and it's usually every few months a new chapter comes out.

I would recommend reading the manga if you want to check the series out since obviously it has more of the story and again, Hoshino's artstyle is to die for. But the anime is fantastic too, with about 200 episodes and all of the few filler episodes being adaptations of the light novels written by the author's good friend, plus the continuation series D.Gray-Man Hallow that came out years later (after the whole rights debacle). Plus a certain arc has a song as an important plot point and that scene in the anime makes me sob every time.

I'm not really sure about warnings, there is some vague body horror but they never really go too into it and a few characters have backstories of human experimentation but that's about all I can think of.

I'm really sorry for such a long freaking essay of a recommendation but I adore this series and would love to get someone else to watch it (all my friends refuse). I really hope this didn't annoy you but considering your love of the themes and characters of Madoka Magica, I thought it might appeal to you so I took a chance. Again, sorry for the behemoth of an ask. If nothing else, please look up Katsura Hoshino's artwork. It's gorgeous.

Its been a long long time since I had a recommendation on here but all of this sounds very interessting.

I do however also have the attention span of a toaster, like I barely managed shows with a bit more than 20 epsiodes (like Kill La Kill, The Ancient Magus Bride, Evangelion, etc.) and I have a bunch of stuff I started and haven't finished yet (Jujutsu Kaisen, Violet Evergarden, and more) so the anime will probably not be it...

The manga however.... I have a suprising talent at binging mangas, like I read all of Chainsaw Man (and another one that I won't name) in two days, I binged over 130 chapters of JJK in two days as well so. I can see myself reading it yeah.

So I am adding it to my list, even if it might take a long time because I have like 120+ different series on my list but I'll get it to it eventually, and thank you for the recommemdation!

[mamamittens]

While I enjoy the fruits of my favorite bath bomb's labor, here's a handy guide for those poor, unfortunate souls that

Isekai'd into another dimension (specifically One Piece)

Now, as much as we all low-key want to sail the high seas, we're very much aware that not all of us can make the cut.

Some of us have a crippling fear of the deep ocean and what's inside it (which, I mean, is an even bigger concern in OP if we're being honest here 😰)

Some of us have chronic conditions that make life as a marine OR pirate very Ill advised (God, I've never seen an asthmatic in OP so I'm not betting my chances on inhalers being common).

And some of us have little to no desire to know what it's like to be almost bisected by a blade or bullet and fully expected to just... Walk it off.

So! What do you do if you're not going to be the sweet honey bee to a handsome pirate or lovely marine??? Or even be the handsome pirate/marine yourself???

You get a job. Unfortunately.

Look, I know it's not glamorous or sexy, but let's face it, a lot of the people in OP you'd LIKE to be involved with are either completely not interested in anything but their singular hyperfixation or... Probably not someone you should consider good dating material on a good day.

If you can even reach them to begin your whirlwind romance in the first place.

The dating scene in OP has to be ROUGH.

So! What kind of job should you look out for?

Well, believe it or not, but certain jobs will literally never be beyond demand. Especially in the more chaotic areas like the Grand Line.

Construction!

That's right! With the amount of damage going around on these islands, you will literally never find yourself without a job for longer than it takes to hear about the latest hairpin trigger, violence prone pirate denied a drink. Or a Marine who likes to burst through walls.

And sure! It's a broad category, but even some simple wood working skills under your belt will be appreciated after a good bar fight. If you happen to know how architecture works, expect a steady demand from marines and mayors of desolated town alike!

And if you do end up getting recruited for whatever reason, you'll be more valuable for knowledge on construction repair. Which, need I remind you, is pretty important on a ship. Regardless of the sea.

Tattoo artist

Look, we all know that the preferred way to declare loyalty here is through a tattoo. And those bad boys are expensive! And they even require touch ups later on, though the odds of a pirate coming back for that is low.

Great news is that even today tattoo shops have apprenticeship programs, so it's not like they'll ask for a college diploma. Assuming they ask any questions to begin with. And no one really talks about who they got a tattoo from, either, so you don't have to worry about Marines getting on your ass about working for a particular crew either.

And we don't really hear about them getting swept up in a crew, either, so you're safe from being surprise recruited for the most part.

Field doctor/nurse!

Okay, so this one is a bit harder to pull off because of schooling reasons, but simple first aid knowledge can probably score you a decent spot in a village somewhere under a local doctor. And you're not like, uber knowledgeable, so most pirate crews would think twice before bringing a non-combatant onboard because they know how to wrap bandages.

Not totally safe from that, though, but if you do end up getting recruited, you're more valuable than the standard grunt at least! Enough to avoid having to fight people if you don't want to, if nothing else. Most people don't want to piss off doctors, and a pirate crew with limited access to medical care even less (if they have sense).

And if you have the stomach for it, you can probably learn under a better doctor somewhere for more knowledge!

For some reason, Marines don't really seem to care too much about who healed who, so as long as you don't get caught, you can help out too.

Brewery

Okay, so this one is also a little dicey, but if you happen to be in a particular territory, you can make absolute bank with a good brewery.

I mean, these guys drink a lot! A lot a lot! So you don't even need to be god-tier good!

Adjacent to this is a bar owner, though that's a little more dangerous by nature so watch out. They also never seem to be recruited into the Marines or pirate crews, though they do appear to retire from them. Maybe working under one would be safer? Depends on where you are I guess.

A tailor!

You will never convince me that most people buy right off the rack. And we don't see most people altering their outfits either, so you just know the demand for a tailor is high! Especially for the bigger folks.

The danger with this one though is that most of the bigger people tend to be mean as shit, so you might want to be really good at your job before moving somewhere you can expect say... Big Mom to show up. And custom outfits are pretty common.

With some luck you can get a wealthy pirate/marine patron and be set until they die, cause these people DEDICATE to a look.

Expect better results with knowledge in costuming departments or formal wear, cause for some reason, the amount of people fighting in normal jeans and tees is shockingly low.

And that's all that I can think of for now!

Remember, you're never %100 safe from the plot, but you can play the odds with quick thinking!