#hire me for costume design pls

[eliraillustre]

I made a Good Omens inspired bag :D Yes, it's made of resin. Yes, it's also a shaker on the other side 😳

[littlestpersimmon]

you can borrow my ocs for dnd stuff and change their gender n whatever I don't care. Just treat them kindly. And also for personal and private use only please. I hope if you ever decide to go all out you consider hiring me to help design your oc. If my ocs have starred as npcs in your campaigns I think its neat. I plan on selling prop designs and costumes for ocs. It would be 20 usd for a big prop and 10 usd for costumes. Also if you think I can charge higher can you pls lmk??

[teenytinytena]

A boy from Slavonija joins the party! Is he Šilo from “Družba Pere Kvržice”? Is he a boy version of me?? Am I actually secretly Šilo??? I guess we’ll never know...

[hoefette]

All the petty things I hate about fate!winx and their shitty universe/world building because

I'd added most if these in tags of other posts but I'm still so mad lmao

The way characters, Aisha and Mrs Dowling specifically make references to explicitly human or American things like instagram and Harry Potter

These people are from a different dimension for ffs why are they concerned with or are even aware of this very earth-specific shit? Do they teach earth classes at school over there?

I understand not wanting to have them be oblivious so Bloom wouldn't have to explain it to them, but it simply could be ✨omitted✨

Why would you go out of your way to date your work like this lmao ew

Ms. Dowling calling Tinkerbell an air fairy.. I cannot breeve with the stupidity why did they keep that in there

Why is Ms. Dowling.. the headmistress.. teaching classes? Where are the other teachers?

We ended up with a trio of antagonists (I guess you could call them that?) by the end of the season anyway so why not give us the trix, why have the characters play double roles as friends of our protagonists and also the villains/bullies? They clearly wanted a delinquent trio, in which case they could've gender bent the trix if they wanted to keep all the unnecessary sexual tension.

It just feels like the production team was lazy, they didn't want to hire more actors, they didn't want to bother with making the world immersive or lived in or believable at best, they just didn't give enough of a fuck

They wanted to make this show and attatch Winx to it for.. what? Like did you even google the main plot points? The abridged version or sparknotes to get details on the very literal, basic characteristics of our main characters or their roles or the world they inhabit????

It lacks wonder and intrigue.. I mean Bloom moves to another dimension, a school for fairies and we don't see her marvel once at anything.. and that's because she might as well have been in Switzerland because she's in exactly the same environment she would've been in over there anyway.

They could've said Alfea was in Europe and I'd believe it because nothing about the setting makes it feel otherworldly. I'm sorry but I'm not impressed.

Why do the teachers and graduated specialists communicate via facetime ?? In the magic dimension. ??? Why do they text each other and those texts then appear on screen like .. oh look, like a bad netflix teen movie ????? HELLO ??? it's the way technology and magic could've blended in so seamless into the world THE WAY IT WAS ALREADY DONE/SHOWN. Missed opportunity. it just takes you out of it imo every time you see the ugly, bland, gray text bar. Some fucking flavour pls I'm begging

How stupid the specialist must feel clonking around with the skinniest shreds of armor, plastic swords on their backs and battery powered flashlights and cellphones in their bags. R we larping?? I know I'd be laughing and asking why we hadn't already come up with something more effective .. idk like guns. I'm surprised I ain't see one gun in there.

In the beginning Ms. Dowling says some nonsense about fairies having lost the ability to transform to explain why there are no wings, which means they could've transformed before. So are we to assume that this supposed to be set in the time proceeding the original then?? Because something is not adding up with where they should be as a magical society technologically if that's the case

How does the production team want to keep the dark academia vibes with torches lining the walls and also want them to be face timing each other, presumably from miles and miles away in the dark forest???

Pls pick an aesthetic and stick to it everything was so unnecessarily dark. Where do they charge their phones since it's the only device we see that is the slightest bit modern and dont fucking tell me they charge it with magic I will punch you in the face

Why is there only one major monarchy that we are shown? Why are Solaria the only ones contributing to the efforts to defend the school and where is this mysterious battalion we never see lmaoo it's all so bad its laughable.

Is this set in the kingdom of Solaria? And why does the queen of an alleged interdimensional superpower monarchy pull up in black SUVs??????????? Why does she pull up with Andreas?? Is he not the king of Erakleon?? Where are his soldiers and his battalion and just?? Huh!? The world just feels empty like nobody lives here fr

Are we supposed to believe that the specialists get paired up with fairies just as a normal occurence and that they have to 'trust each other' and not because the plot demands it suddenly half way through when all we've seen so far are the fairies doing normalish school and homework, and the specialists outside, being physical everyday all day. This was never even implied that they'd have to work together apart from when we see the faculty as youngins with Rosalind. But even then.. it's like well why are they even together lmao? Is this a special team formed from Rosalind’s protégées? Were they formed after graduating from Alfea or what is this?? Are they the ONLY team of specialist/fairies hunting every single burned one?? What?

Are we now supposed to buy that Musa is being switched to 'support' because that's where her strengths lie and not in combat?? Are we supposed to believe that these girls know hand to hand combat?? When was this established? We see Terra wrapping some baby vines around a dude and I'm sorry is that the practical application of her power? Is this what the fairies are supposed to do once they graduate? Or is it just a switch in curriculum because of the threats outside the barrier?? This is never made clear.

Because if not then what's the point of this?? Why do they suddenly have endless classes together when the expectation was never set for the fairies to be like soldiers or out in the field fighting ?

Where exactly are they supposed to be what was the purpose of including Aster Dell and why is it a joy ride away from Alfea lmao?? Where Bloom is from and also not from?? Plot pls make it make sense

Why are fairies from another dimension vaping or smoking weed?? They are not human so why are they engaging in specifically human vices, yol couldn't come up with anything else to characterize 'delinquents'?? Very lazy very como se dices.. no effort. Nothing a little more spicy yol could invent, at least change the name and some properties holy shit did yol even try ??

So its fairies everywhere, having a lil party in the east wing of a phat castle.. and they are playing beer pong and dressed in t shirts and jeans..

Can you hear me screaming? Can you hear me vibrating with rage?

Not one floating decoration or magical anything in sight. Just purple lights and subpar vibes

Stella's costume design: tragic. I won't discuss further because we don't have the space or time but just know that it was absolutely atrocious and I hated it. Giving very debutante vibes

The entire budget going to that lame transformation sequence that was not a transformation sequence and those horrible, barely-there fire wings

Edgelord bloom and all her fucking leather jackets. Why do 30 yo, white cis men think girls exist in a binary? They could keep her earlier characterization and make her a hothead.. Bloom literally screamed herself into a couple power upgrades in the original come ooonnnn

Let girls be feminine without it being a character flaw what is wrong with yol its 2021. They could make her more mature, more angsty or whatever the hell else and not style her like that

The way Aisha's abilities flipflop between episodes and scenes. Very inconsistent. One minute she's struggling with a drop of water and the next she is moving an entire body of water for her bestie Bloom to fake transform because the plot demands it. Why even add in her struggles at all if you're just going to ignore it?

Why was Stella with them in that scene? She didn't do anything literally.. Aisha pulled the water and she did .. nothing.

Who the fuck is Rosalind? Why would they add her in,, to add nothing to story? The company of light was a thing, they could've plucked one of them hoes to be the antagonist. Why did the winx club need their own Delores Umbridge? Valtor was right there if you wanted an evil educator type character.

The camera work was so bland during the down beats, stagnant and fixed during a fairy party and erratic and ugly and disorienting during the fight scenes

I'm not getting over the fairy party because it was a good opportunity for the production and everyone else to show the differences between where Bloom was and where she is now but instead it just looks like a regular teen high school party?? This could have been set in Switzerland fr.

Everyone's just kind of standing?? You mean to tell me these people are from all different places in the magical dimension and their customs are all the same? They all throw parties like this ??

White and flavorless I am very bored

I guess the main question or takeaway I have is just.. who is this for? Because everyone, including the showrunners keep saying that it's for us, the fans of the original. But apart from the characters sharing some names, there are really no other similarities. So again, who was this supposed to appease or placate or satisfy? Because it sure as hell wasn't the winx club fans.

Overall, this feels very much like something I wrote and probably published on ff.net when I was 13 because I thought girls couldn't be taken seriously if they liked pink, and injected angst into everything that didn't need it and had no idea how to structure scenes or dialogue. It's just bad, objectively and N*tflix will keep making shit like this because apparently some people have bad taste??? Idk yol, be easy

[fandom-imagines-for-days]

So I have been reading your writing and I love it! I had an idea for a Tom Holland imagine! Basically the reader is about 5 years older than Tom and has been working on set with him for a while and Tom tries getting her to notice him. He gets frustrated after a few attempts and during a scene he has to stop and just blurts out his feelings.... idk a lot of angst and he kisses her so umm fluff? Do what you want with it just pls??? Thank you🖤🖤

Firstly, Thank you so much for requesting something, you have no idea how much this means to me. I hope I do you justice.

___

Pairing: Tom Holland x SetMakeupartist!Reader

Warnings: Fluff. Fluffffffff. Angst.

Summary: Above in the request

Request: Yes. A wonderous one. Very cute.

___

Thank you so much for trusting me with this idea and I'm so so SO sorry I only got to it now. I have no idea how that happend and I'm so sorry again.

___

Walking into set on Monday was supposed to be as fun, but also mundane as the the rest of the movie. Wrapping up yesterday was thankfully early, but you had to reset the rubble scene, after the building collapse. Spiderman has just confronted the Vulture and it's one of the most inspirational, moving and heart-warming scenes in the movie. Tom had done the scene brilliantly, but the director wasn't pleased with the angles and makeup, which meant the entire thing had to be reset. You weren't apposed to the fact, but it was irritating when you knew that today was meant to be one of the last scenes. Sighing and going to get some coffee, you cleared your head and planned for the makeup job today.

As you rounded the corner to the food section of the set, Tom popped up out of practically nowhere. "Hey Y/N!" You jumped back in shock and clutched your chest.

"Jesus Tom, I know you're Spiderman but that doesn't mean you should scare me like one." You say, somewhat out of breath. He chuckles nervously and scratches the back of his head. "Sorry about that love," He says as his face creses into one of sympathy. "Didn't mean to scare you." His soft British accent was always lovely. You chuckle and pat his shoulder, continuing to walk. "It's all good, you ready for the shoot today?" You question, checking to see if the kettle is boiled. Tom almost rushes to get the milk for you. You thought it was rather sweet of him. "Yeah, of course I am! With your makeup everything will look fantastic!" He tells you, overly enthusiastic. His attitude to the set and his frequent compliments were endearing.

"Thank you Tom, but you're the one acting. Watching the scene last time broke my heart. You did it beautifully." You set to making your coffee, adding the hot water and gesturing to see if Tom wanted anything, he raised his hand as a polite response of "No thank you," before his cheeks flushed. "I'm glad you liked it. Everyone on set does their job so well. I'm really excited to see how this is going to turn out." He smiles in an attempt to hide the red on his cheeks. You smile back and finish making your coffee, taking in a long sip and walking off with a small wave.

You settled in your makeup section and collected everything you needed for today. You had to do Tom's makeup for the building dust and rubble. Michaels hair and makeup. Costume design would have them first and then you. You had a little system when you worked, getting things set up, double checking your brushes and pallets and powders. It's why they hired you, you were the best they were going to get. You hummed a little tune to yourself and turned to find Tom standing next to your set of drawers. You give him a smile.

"What do you need Tommo?" you asked happily, going about your work. He tried to say something, seeming rather nervous before dropping his hand and sighing, walking away. You frown and go back to working.

The directors decided to finish up bits of other scenes before redoing the building collapse scene again. So you saw Tom here and there for makeup and he would joke around, make some light conversation, try to speak and then drop it. It was getting really strange and you weren't too sure what to think of it. Was he okay? Did something happen? You were going to ask him next time you saw him. It was worrying you. He was a really sweet guy and you had a slight crush on him, but you knew it would never happen, so you kept the relationship friendly and professional. That and you were five years older than him, you weren't sure what everyone would think of that.

Throughout different scenes or sections, Tom would call to get your attention and then do some kind of cool Gymnastics trick or tell a joke. He was so happy yet so weirdly quite. What was up with him today? You had to admit, that he was an incredibly talented young man. Age twenty one and he was staring in this movie, he starred in Civil War and would probably be staring in many more. His skills as an actor, performer and Gymnast were spectacular and you enjoyed watching all of his stunts. Sometimes you got the impression that he wanted to get you to notice him or be impressed with him, and you were, so you weren't sure why he kept getting frustrated at little things.

His mood inflated and deflated like a very bi-polar balloon and by the time everything was ready for the shoot, he was somehow rather irritated.

Tom was set underneath the 'Rubble', cute "homemade" suit adorned and the cameras were just about to roll. You stood off to the side, watching everything get the finishing touches before "Action." Was yelled and everyone fell silent.

All eyes were on Tom, his movements and every breath he took. Right now Spiderman was stuck underneath the rubble of a collapsed building and he needed to get out. He needed to believe in himself.

You could only imagine what must be going through his mind. Even though everything was fake, the idea was still horrifying. The moment was tense and only got worse when he suddenly blurted out: "Jesus Christ." In his American accent. Everyone faltered. "I'm sorry." He muttered to everyone before he called out: "Y/N!" The cameras cut and you were ushered over to the mound of rubble. "I'm sorry." He said again, his accent slipping. You crouched beside him and the rubble was moved for him to sit up on his knees. No one said anything and you focused on Tom instead of acknowledging the fact that everyone was watching you two. You breathed carefully, worried as to what could be wrong. Was he angry with you? Is so, why?

"Why do you keep apologising. What's wrong?" You say, a little too harshly.

"I want you to notice me." He says in a soft voice. "I just. I really really. Fuck why is this so hard." He curses to himself. Your knees were getting tired from crouching so you went to kneel like Tom was doing. "What is?" Someone asks from behind you two in a gruff voice.

"Admitting that I have feelings for Y/N." He blubbers out, gesturing to you and immediately feeling like an idiot. You were utterly taken aback. He had. Feelings? For you? Preposterous. Insane. Not possible.

"I'm sorry what?" You asked as politely as possible, watching him for any kind of movement. "I like you okay." He admitted, his tone hushed. "I think you are so talented and beautiful and I just. I want to be your boyfriend. I want to make you smile and laugh and feel happy and I didn't know how to say it. Since the movie started and-" he was cut off when he looked at your face. It was curled in an expression he wasn't sure of. Tension hung in the air like cigarette smoke on a cold day -almost visible, tangible.

"I'm sorry. Forget I said anything. Let's reset this and I." He stopped himself. "Y/N." You nodded. "You aren't upset with me are you?"

"Of course I'm upset with you." You spout out, a little annoyed but mostly elated. He looked shocked. "I like you too you moron." You say. The rest of the crew just looked at eachother, they thought that this should be a different movie.

"You. You what?" He asked back, disbelief written all over his features.

"You heard me Thomas." You say, almost playfully.

"You are amazing." He tells you breathlessly. "Can I kiss you?" Before he even finishes his sentence you grab him by the front of his suit and draw him into a kiss. He melts into it instantly and gasps are heard around you, but caring wasn't on the agenda.

Finally you two pulled away. "We'll discuss this after work okay?" You mutter softly. He nodded, biting his lip. The room went into little mutters and you walked back to your original position, out of the shot of the camera and near the directors.

"Took you two long enough to do that." One of them said, lounging back in their chair. You gave him a shocked look.

"Yeah, it was obvious." The other agreed. "Lets not make a habit of kissing in the middle of scenes though, yeah?" He offered. You flush a bright shade of red and nod, sharing a look with Tom.

Things were finally going to be very fun at work.

___

I'm sorry it was so short. I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know!

[lizzybeth1986]

Quick Thoughts on TRH Book 1 Chapter 14

• Funny how the TRH team so desperately needed to spend close to half the book on mindless nonsense with Drake's family...and just a single chapter on the MC's entire first trimester. Via a 6 minute long time jump. Truly funny.

• So now that we're back in Cordonia, the pregnancy is underway, and we're finally getting into the meat of past intrigue, most of the fandom has this for a reaction:

It's a legitimate reaction, the story is moving forward...but the denim-clad, whiskey-guzzling problem that is the root of this whole mess - and the reason why the Walker Ranch portion took so long the way no other place in the series ever has...that problem still exists. It exists in a large, insidious way, and even while we're rejoicing the return to intrigue we might not always notice how even that is rife with issues. But more on that later.

• If you want avoid seeing these posts on your dash, these are the tags to blacklist: #trh quick thoughts, #trh qts, #trh qt reblogs, and #long post.

• Screenshots:

Hana: @aestheticsayeed (photoshoot) and the Abhirio YouTube channel.

Maxwell: @itsbrindleybinch and the rash rec YouTube channel

Drake: @thefirstcourtesan

Liam: @callmetippytumbles (photoshoot), the SavageLordBarlow YouTube channel, and me.

• Title: The Announcement

Alternative Title: Let's Cram One of The Most Important Part Of The Book Into A 6 Minute Montage!

Alternative to Alternative Title: What We Really Wanted to Title This Book - The Royal Yeehaw.

• I'm hoping that with each chapter where you're shown a scan or something that's considered a milestone in pregnancy, I can come out with a corresponding tiny story of my own! Let's see if that works out.

• So...I had my first actual ultrasound at 7 weeks (first time we heard a heartbeat) but the real fun one was the 12 week scan! By then you can see hands and legs (the ultrasound pic the writers chose for this chapter was...eh), and the kids can definitely feel them (not see - yet)...and they're going to use those limbs like nobody's business starting from then 😂

My 12 week scan took around 45 minutes to happen coz Baby V was jumping and kicking all over the place (not that I could actually feel any of it yet lol), and the poor doc wasn't getting clear enough images of her as a result 😅 When we finally saw her she was in all her energy-fueled glory, kicking up a storm (she's a cat-loving kindergartner now and she still kicks exactly like that 😅😅)

My mum had come down to visit and for some good ol' TLC, so she accompanied me inside the room. To date she insists she saw V wave at her 😁

• Back to the story - Madeleine has booked a press conference without our approval (still sucks at her job, I see) and we're left hoping to make lemonade out of those lemons she's thrown our way.

• We can choose to either be excited about announcing it, or worrying about putting the news out too early in case something happens in the first trimester. With the last option, the answers vary depending on who you married and therefore what your title is. If you are Queen, Liam reminds you that a public and accelerated timetable is a part of the price of royal life (still not a good enough excuse for Madeleine to fix this press-con without our approval). If you are Duchess, either Maxwell (or Hana in Maxwell's playthrough) tell us it's too early to start worrying. Bottomline is the MC is persuaded to view this as a good opportunity to celebrate.

• We are give three options for venue, suggested by Liam, Drake and Hana respectively - Hana suggests the royal ballroom since it's where the most important announcements are done, Drake suggests the less-stuffy palace grounds and Liam (of course, since that garden was his mother's pet project!) suggests the gardens. You then get to choose how you want to make an entrance:

(The screenshots are from the following:

1st row - @itsbrindleybinch Maxwell playthrough

2nd row - Mine

3rd row - The SavageLordBarlow YouTube channel, Liam playthrough. Their Liam is called "Dennis")

• Madeleine balks at the idea of a royal event turning into a rock concert, as if one of the most iconic images of Buckingham Palace in the 21st century wasn't Brian May of Queen rocking it out on his homemade guitar on the rooftop.

• Arrangements done, now it's time for THE DRESS. We have a wine-red chiffon ensemble with pearls on the neckline and a jeweled belt. It's called "Apple of My Eye", because presumably no one does apple analogies to symbolize fertility quite like Cordonia does.

• In addition to being Duchess, if you are Queen, you have the additional option of choosing a tiara. We were last able to do this during the ball in the TRR Book 3 finale, before we were honoured with the Champion of the Realm title. This is something you can only access if you are Queen.

• We reach the venue we have chosen, with the entrance we have chosen, and we can either choose to announce formally, or yell it from the top of our lungs. Nobody cares coz they're too happy there's an apple pie baking in that oven 😅

• Among the press we see the usual people: Ana, Donnie, Samir aaaaaand Brad from PM/Smoothie Star Thad from Platinum. He expects pregnant women to have baby bumps from the moment of conception.

• What's he going to be called this time? Chad? 😂

• For a dude who is mostly a spy-journo, he's doing a terribly poor job of hiding it. He doesn't do his research on pregnancy timelines, immediately jumps up to ask a question when the topic turns to that of the alliances with Auvernal and Monterisso, and gets caught pretty easily. He's probably also the dude who was upto something on our honeymoon, taking pictures of us and gathering information on our whereabouts. Whichever country got him on board for this, really needs to rethink their hiring process.

• Donnie has the one brain cell existing among the press and uses it to ask us why we're announcing so early. You can either choose to claim that you wanted the Cordonian people to know asap, or be honest if you didn't want this to happen (to which Madeleine gives you an "apologetic shrug"). The third option has the MC claiming she wants to shed a light on, and be honest about, the entire experience of pregnancy, even if it does result in a miscarriage - which Samir notes as being a noble endeavor.

• With regards to the alliances, we don't give a clear answer yet, but we do hint at what we're looking for when we finally take that call (strength, understanding, advantage for Cordonia). The LI also gets to briefly highlight their sentiments at this point, and show different reactions - Liam has tears in his eyes, Drake can't stop grinning, Hana squeezes her wife's hand and Maxwell screams WE'RE HAVING A BABYYY.

• Additionally, if you're married to an LI other than Liam, the press asks him what will happen if he decides to have children somewhere down the line. He maintains that the MC's child will have the first right to the throne, even over his future children - effectively writing his own bloodline out of that throne if he isn't married yet. Which...well, we knew this was coming. We knew they weren't going to change this. It's disappointing, but not surprising, that they chose this route.

• Once the press meet is over, we get felicitations from different guests, mostly from the Council:

- Duke Landon of Portavira: Compliments the couple by calling them 'glowing' and wishes them well. Penelope plans to design something for the child, and Kiara promises to talk her out of placing too many dog motifs.

- Duke Godfrey of Karlington/Krona: Gives the couple a formal paying-of-respects, and hopes for more dignified attire for the heir (shut up Godfrey Not Gao, I had to waltz in a MINI-DRESS at your goddamn home 🤬).

- Queen Mother Regina: This varies between the Liam playthrough and other playthroughs, obviously, because in the Liam one she is his stepmother and obviously there is that closeness. In all the others, she is warm and friendly, congratulates the happy couple, insists they call her Regina rather than "Your Majesty" (there is a brief moment where married!Maxwell is confused about whether to call her "Your Majesty" or "Your Grace") and assures them that she will always be ready to provide for the "kingdom's heir". Liam's interactions require a more personal touch, so he hugs Regina before the MC can opt to, and she calls their child her grandchild as well. Liam and Regina moments are rare to come by, so I'm happy whenever I get to see them. I also haven't seen her since the book has begun, so I'm chuffed that she's there (pls don't make her knowingly part of the plot pls pls).

- Lord Barthelemy of Ramsford: Has to make everything about him wherever he goes! His felicitations to us lasts all of ten seconds while his attention towards Donnie and Samir takes up all of his time. He manages to score an interview with both of them. The most interesting part isn't that, though. It's the comment he makes about Regina as she leaves: "she always was a generous one..." - now what's THAT supposed to mean?

• Hakim is neither on the Council, nor is he shown here. I'd like to believe Kiara's family have distanced themselves from the group because the MC doesn't deserve the honour of their presence, but we know it's more likely coz the writers would much rather write Kiara and her family out of the story. Which is a pity because they're the most amazing family Cordonia has.

• Madeleine now comes forward, suggesting to us to follow the tradition of getting a royal announcement of their pregnancy done. This is done in a fashion similar to our Engagement Photoshoot, but with our own choice of clothes and less variations overall.

- Our attire is pretty much anything we'd like to pick out from the closet, as long as it's been already paid for. The LIs on the other hand have three different options for their outfits:

Liam gets his outfit from the TRR3 finale, his Costume Gala outfit and his official outfit. Oddly his outfits have titles like the MC's does.

Hana gets her Costume Gala flower dress, her plain black dress and her usual pink one.

Maxwell gets his Costume Gala squid outfit, his black suit and his usual Gucci shirt.

Drake gets his Costume Gala blue brocade, his official grey suit and his usual denim.

- What I can't understand is why her muted black dress is always touted as the formal garb for Hana, when they could easily allow her to wear that gorgeous black traditional outfit of hers. That could have been an option for this shoot. But no, they decided to arbitrarily code that one and block access to it if you didn't pay, even though Lorelai had apologized to Hana and therefore her outfit should have been coming back to her!

- I've said it before and I'll say it again: the decision to pay wall that entire outfit, considering it was taken away from her in an act of abuse and intimidation - and it should have been by all accounts returned to her when Lorelai apologized whether we paid for that scene or not - is sickening. Shame on you PB.

- Once we are ready with our outfits, we meet Ana in the throne room, and she's busy preparing an announcement sign to place in front of the couple. We take a couple minutes to admire the sign, then proceed to posing for Ana. If you took the engagement photoshoot in Book 2 or 3, it's referenced at the beginning. Each couple's scene here is unique:

(Screenshots: Hana's from the Abhirio YouTube channel, Maxwell's from the rash rec YouTube channel, Drake's from @thefirstcourtesan and Liam's from mine).

Liam

Ana begins by suggesting the couple take their places in their thrones, looking at each other. Though the photo is great - glamourous and dignified - Liam and the MC aren't quite feeling the shot. The MC isn't fond of the idea of sitting so far away from Liam, and Liam agrees, telling Ana that he finds the pose too stiff - and that above being King and Queen of the country they are also a couple deeply in love, and their child is not simply an heir but a sign of their love for each other. So the ensuing picture is warm and filled with joy.

Once Ana leaves, Liam tells the MC about how his own parents did exactly such a photoshoot when they were expecting him, and how much more he understands them - now that he is going to be a father.

Hana

There is a warmth and a sweetness to the first shot itself - a simple one that has them simply looking into each other's eyes - that Ana tells them she knows their child will be brought up in a loving home.

For the second shot, Hana asks the MC whether she'd rather have a shot alone, and offers to move out. Possibly because the MC - married to Hana or not - constantly makes everything revolve around her and constantly pushes Hana and her issues to the background like they're not important. I'm sure Hana got that impression from you somewhere, MC.

The MC, however, is surprised by this and insists she be part of the picture. She can choose to either say that this baby belongs to both of them or that without her it wouldn't be a good picture. The MC who is married to her insists she understand her value in their relationship (yeah it took you three and a half books to realize that LMAO), and that Hana belongs with her. She should never think of herself as belonging to the sidelines again, ever (maybe you should work harder on convincing her, MC, because everything you've done until now was mostly all about you and very little about Hana).

The dialogue after Ana leaves is sweet and romantic, with the MC telling Hana her hair smells of roses and Hana and the MC clinking imaginary champagne glasses, before Hana stops her in mock-surprise and promises a real (non-alcoholic) drink back in Valtoria.

Maxwell

Ana finishes the sign and gets ready for the shoot. Maxwell holds a formal pose on his knees that places more attention on the MC, adopting a severe, sombre expression. This surprises Ana, but the MC clearly knows what's up and wants him to relax. To help him, the MC distracts him (pretend you're Bertrand/imagine me naked) and that mental exercise energizes him enough so he can do this shoot in a more relaxed manner.

Once Ana packs up, Maxwell and the MC stay behind to talk, chatting about the excitement level in the kingdom and (optionally) how that excitement can't match their own (Maxwell speaks of constantly having adrenaline at this point). They jokingly speculate on the unsolicited advice they will get, and Maxwell cracks a joke about how as Bertrand's brother he was brought up on a diet of unsolicited advice. Relaxed and happy, the couple return home.

Drake

The couple see the sign Ana made, and like it because it's dignified but not too much. To which Ana responds that she didn't want to presume too much about their tastes. The shoot begins with the MC trying to think of all the pregnancy announcements she has ever seen (including one where a man yells into a breast pump like it's a telephone) and worries and becomes nervous over how to do this - and Drake calms her down by telling her a simple pose would do the trick, and most of all, to "focus on us". This calms the MC down, and she nails the simple pose alongside Drake.

The ensuing conversation between the two expands on what Drake said, where they refer to themselves as a good balance between dignified and "regular". There's a clear indication of how far they have come from that first photoshoot in this scene.

Aaaaaand...CLICK!

(Screenshots: @callmetippytumbles for Liam, @aestheticsayeed for Hana, the rash rec YouTube channel for Maxwell and @thefirstcourtesan for Drake)

• This scene is good in two routes, and not so great in two.

• The MC and her spouse go back to Valtoria, where the MC takes rest and the LI takes care of her. She can give in to her cravings (huge turkey leg, cheetah cakes, omelettes or fancy unpronounceable food), but a few weeks later she experiences a lot of nausea, to the point where she might (optionally) tell the LI that it's the worst thing they've ever done (completely normal, I assure you. A pregnant woman's hormones are unpredictable af). Both corgis (if you've bought them) help her and do their fair share of doting on her, and the LI in their own way tries to help.

• Based on who you haven't married, you get various scenes of your friends helping out:

- Liam: offers all kinds of help but the suggestion that stands out is a chicken soup recipe that belonged to his mother.

- Hana: makes a playlist of all kinds of music tracks to get mother and baby through the first trimester, including the TRH Lullaby tune which is now canonically Hana's composition. She's chosen artists from all over the world, and recorded a few of her own tracks in cases where she isn't satisfied. She also has a second trimester playlist coming up!

- Maxwell: aka the man who wrote a story about the MC but put HIS face in the cover, offers to let the MC vicariously live through him by giving her a voucher (the Maxwell Vicarious Vivacity Simulator 3000) that ensures that whenever she craves to do or have something not allowed for her, Maxwell does it on her behalf. The LI jokes about how that's a lot of power to give a person.

- Drake: Asks after the MC's welfare, and is given a choice of two things to do - either he can bring her ice-cream, or tell her the story of how the boys created their barbershop quartet so many years ago. He's perhaps the only LI who is given options for pampering the MC as a friend.

- Madeleine: The only person outside of our LIs (and later Olivia) who has an extra scene prior to the MC's ultrasound scan, is Madeleine. She gives the MC a Cordonian Ruby, explaining that it helps with nausea and that Liam's mother would swear by it. She looks concerned...and her words to the MC about making sure she takes care of herself, almost sound a bit of a warning.

Given what we find out later on in the chapter, both this sequence and the sequence where Bartie Sr comments on Regina have been placed there for a reason. Madeleine definitely knows something and there's a possibility she will have a flashback scene of her own.

If you bought the red pandas in Book 3, they will be clamouring around Madeleine for the apples as well.

• I have to laugh at how completely written out of the larger story Kiara and her family are. Even Penelope who is a non-entity and who only had something of value to give to the story when she was being a lying backstabbing snake, somehow manages to have a father in the Council and a promise of a future storyline. After all that the TRR team put Kiara through, I wouldn't even say Kiara deserves a better story. No, what I'd say is she (and Hana, definitely Hana) deserve better writers.

• I mean, you can call it a coincidence anymore, the fact that the women that the story gives the most material and most attention to, are the white women.

• This thread of sequences comes full-circle with a scene where the MC and LI sit by the lake, and where they're both shown finally coming to terms with the MC's nausea and using the tart apples as a way to make things better for the MC. There's a sweet scene in there where the LI kisses both mother and baby.

• We're finally ready to meet Dr Ramirez, and to get an ultrasound done. Olivia and her new...chauffeur, Roy, will be serving as security detail for this occasion. Wonder when we'll find out what Roy is helping her with.

• She gives you a dagger...which we might maybe end up threatening to use the next chapter? I'm guessing Olivia already has an inkling of something going down at the doctor's, since she indicates that we will know when we'll need to use it.

• Depending on whether or not you revealed the pregnancy to her last chapter, her dialogue changes. She makes a mention of it if you have. She's genuinely happy about the pregnancy, and wanted to wish the MC in person.

• Both Liam and Olivia wait outside while the MC and LI have their time with Dr Ramirez, if you're married to one of the other LIs.

• Dr Ramirez mentions that "the first few months have been treating you well"...which indicates that the MC is at least 12 weeks along (10 according to the calculations of certain countries, that count from conception onwards. Dr Ramirez also confirms this during the scan), since that's when you do the nuchal translucency scan. It usually takes place at the end of your first trimester. Which means we've effectively covered the MC's entire first three months in the span of 1/4th of a chapter, actually (considering the entire montage is approx just over 6 minutes).

• Dr Ramirez then lets slip a little factoid about Liam's mother, which baffles the couple because Liam himself never had any knowledge of this. She speaks of Eleanor's fondness for apple tea during her pregnancy and how much trouble she had with her nausea.

• Cordonian Rubies and apple tea have both been mentioned on the TRH loading page.

• If Liam isn't your LI, you call him and Olivia back to the room and ask him about this new development, and he confirms that Dr Ramirez was never mentioned in the official records, as well as the fact that she had a relatively easy pregnancy with Liam (if your LI is Liam, though, Olivia returns to the room on her own, stating that the doctor mentioned something about tea to one of the interns). But the conversation takes Olivia back to a very vague memory, and of course she needs us to go back and make sense of it. Which leads us to our first Olivia flashback!

- I have a feeling Olivia's childhood gown might be the groundwork for maybe a Theodosia outfit in TRM? Just a small guess. IDK.

- Olivia gives us a timeline for this particular incident - it was a few months after they left the Walker Ranch. As we recall, Eleanor was showing some early signs of not feeling too well, and had arguments with Constantine at the time. So if Eleanor was already pregnant by that time, she was clearly close to finishing/past her first trimester by this point.

- The setting of the scene is a mock-battle between Olivia (who plays a knight) and Drake (who plays a dragon, and they use TCaTF Dom's dragon sprite to establish how Olivia imagines him in this game). Some Dom-Drake parallels going on there.

- No matter what you choose, Olivia wins. She can either destroy the ice blast or deflect it with a fan, defeat + kill the dragon or feed him meat so he will forever be beholden to her. Either way, the options work out for her.

- At this point, possibly because nothing has really happened to Drake yet, Olivia and Drake share a pretty decent rapport. They're not thick as thieves or anything (and Olivia confirms that they were "barely" friends and turned to each other as playmates only when Liam wasn't around, if you choose to ask), but they tolerated each other enough to have fun playing while Liam is away.

- During this time, conveniently, Liam is having "lessons". Nice job writing Liam out of his own story yet again, PB (I'll explain this later). The scene is clearly centered on Olivia, with some focus on Drake via the mystery of Jackson's talk with Eleanor.

- Liam is with his mother, worried about how sick she is and wanting her company since he gets so little of it these days. And it is likely not too long before he loses her forever. My heart breaks in advance for the little guy.

-

Loads to unpack here!

* The first time I read this scene, it gave me serious Adriana-Leon vibes. It still does. Adriana has that scene where she wants to be open about her affair with Leon, and Leon declines. There's a familiarity between the two - notice how they address each other on a first name basis even though she is a queen and this was likely a time when titles and station were even more important. There is a familiarity in the way he insists on her time while Constantine is away, and despite the fact that Liam hasn't been able to spend much time with her.

* True, that familiarity is something that could also exist between close friends, the "sneaking around" could be Jackson trying to keep his BFF's secret from the king of the country. But you can't deny the Adriana-Leon parallels there.

* There is a possibility that someone else could be the father. One possibility that comes to mind for me is Bastien, mostly because his fondness for Eleanor and disdain for Regina don't exactly add up if he wasn't King Guard until Jackson died, and clearly didn't seem to have much of a relationship with the royal family otherwise that we know of. But it could work with his storyline: he gets Eleanor pregnant, she dies shortly after, Jackson takes the fall for keeping her secret and his family doesn't get the compensation they deserve, Bastien helps the children and maintains a close relationship with Drake partly because he feels responsible for Jackson's death, and he atones by following every order of Constantine's, including one that harms the foreign commoner woman that Liam was about to choose.

* Buuuut. The fact that Bastien has pretty much disappeared and is hardly even mentioned, makes this even less of a possibility, because buildup is important.

* In Jackson's case I guess the thing that doesn't entirely add up is how close Jackson and Bianca are spoken of as being. We never actually see them as a couple, but Drake gives us plenty of stories about them and their love for each other - to the point where Drake tells his dad he wants to find a girl to love as much as his father loves his mother...and Jackson unironically agrees. It's a small detail, but I think it's something that may indicate Jackson is a red herring as well.

* In conclusion, I don't know 😂

* "It's likely just hyperemesis gravidarum" 🤦🏽‍♀🤦🏽‍♀. Just? Juuuuust? That's...a serious condition. It's not just extreme vomitting or morning sickness (though that is awful too) - oftentimes it means you can't even hold fluid down, it means dehydration, it means a loss of electrolytes and even nutrient deficiency...to the point where you might even need to be hospitalized (Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, had this condition with all three of her pregnancies and was hospitalized in 2012 when she was pregnant with Prince George). I'm guessing Jackson doesn't know what the fuck those words even mean if that's his reaction!

* What should Eleanor and Jackson be prepared for?

* What are these two fearing besides Constantine discovering about this child?

* Do they know Godfrey and Bartie Sr have something or the other planned? I mean if Madeleine knew about the pregnancy there is clearly a chance she heard it from one of them. Were those two guys their main concern, and why they went alone to talk? Eleanor doesn't seem to have much trust in the Great Houses the way Constantine does, and seeing Bertrand's flashback scenes she'd be right to worry.

* How long after this did Eleanor die? Because yes there is a possibility that her second child may exist, but that depends on when the plot to poison her succeeded. And if she was far along enough to carry the child to term, or even give birth prematurely, how is it that not even the children in the palace had a clue? (the adults I can see as covering this up but it's possible to have SOME hint from the kids!). So I'm having a tough time with the idea that she managed to give birth before dying, or even that she managed to survive - unless someone was out there acting like Monte Cristo and giving her something that appeared to have the same symptoms as poison but was actually some lifesaving elixir idek. This team is capable of anything. They've retconned a zillion things so far so I wouldn't put it past them to completely retcon this as well.

- The kids have a chance of being caught by Jackson, if Olivia doesn't manage to find a good hiding place and hides behind Drake instead. But if you do succeed in hiding, we get to see Eleanor promise to spend more time with him, which Liam accepts with the grace he is usually known for.

-

@thefirstcourtesan has spoken before about the Nevrakis family's views on openly showing your pain in public, citing Diavolos' dialogues, but it also reminds me of that scene where we can defend Olivia against Lucretia, stating to her that having allies and friends to fall back on is not weakness, but common sense. The fact that little Olivia views crying as the worst thing that she could be doing, and the shock the adult Olivia shows at the MC's matter-of-fact statement on the value of support - as if such a thing had never even occurred to her - says plenty about the impact of those initial five years being the Nevrakis heir.

* What amazes me just as much, is how quickly Liam understands what is going on in Olivia's head, and how quickly he makes the situation safe for her before Drake can say anything. He's young, but perceptive enough to know not only that Olivia doesn't want to be seen crying, but also what she'd be most comfortable using as a cover for her tears. Those wounds are still fresh for Olivia at this point, making it even harder for her to stand back and rationalize - which is why it's a relief when Liam offers her an out.

* I honestly fail to understand people who claim he never cared for Olivia. It was clear from the get-go how much he valued her, he's vouched for her when very few would, he's shown concern for her multiple times - and I find it so weird that he's perceived as not concerned for her only because he doesn't return her feelings, whereas Drake can suspect a traumatized woman and never feel any remorse after she tells them the truth, and somehow that's okay (oh...I forgot. This is the Almighty St Drake we're talking about. Of course he can get away with anything).

• Is it just me or are the only scenes where the children are given extra focus and care...are the ones belonging to Drake and Olivia? The first scene, though advertised as Liam's, was really more of a group childhood scene - it was less about Liam himself and more about introducing the childhood gang. Maxwell's scene basically wrote him out so Bertrand could take centerstage! In contrast, Olivia's gives us important facts about Liam's family but focuses heavily on her grief and loss after her parents' death, and Drake's is not only intensely personal to him but also is the only childhood scene so far with variations if he is married to the MC. I shudder to think of what they will give to Hana in the name of a childhood scene, if she ever manages to get one that is.

• I honestly hope Jackson isn't the father of this child - even though there are enough hints to suggest it as a possibility (or to establish that he is a red herring). If that does transpire...then the story that should be about Liam, his mother, his family, will revolve even more around Drake. It will be about his angst. His feelings of betrayal and sadness at what his father did. His heartbreak at his hero having feet of clay.

How do I know this? Well, look at the sheer volume of things Drake has told us about Jackson over the course of these four books. Especially in playthroughs where he is getting married, you get stories upon stories upon stories about the man, one after the other. I had to wait till TRH to get even half that much information about Liam's own mother!!!

Enough. I've already seen this man eat up space that should have gone to Liam for his story, and make it all about himself (the assassination attempt, for example). At least let this one thing be just Liam's to grieve, not Drake's to take over and to make it all about him and his feelings. I've already seen him do this for every LI - the truth of Hana's return had to come from him, we spent most of Shanghai cajoling him into fixing his relationship with Maxwell instead of learning more about Hana, the entire Beaumont story was swallowed whole just to accommodate more story for his sister.

Of course, if Bastien is a possibility, the same problem would still arise because the writers were somehow desparate to make him close to Drake, than to Liam who would have been one of his wards to do security for.

• Olivia, Liam, the MC (+ LI in other playthroughs) discuss what the discussion between Eleanor and Jackson could mean. If the MC doesn't figure out that Eleanor was pregnant, Liam does - having read up on Hyperemesis Gravidarum (at least in my playthrough).

• Olivia's choice of words about Constantine is interesting - "Constantine never caught whoever killed Queen Eleanor"...which, well, most of us have an idea that Constantine might have done some covering up with regards to Eleanor's pregnancy and death - but does Olivia suspect this too? The wording makes me feel like she has some idea.

• Anyway, it's time for our scan! Dr Ramirez speaks of this as the 10 week mark (over here in India it's referred to as the 12 week mark - so we wouldn't say 1 week when we find out, we'd say 4). I was initially surprised the MC didn't opt for the 7-8 week scan, but I've been told in some places it's common to start with the nuchal translucency scan (which is this one).

• It's a lovely scene overall in terms of how the LIs react to the experience - each option (both to the initial image of the child on the screen, and to the photograph later) comes with varied dialogue depending on the LI. They're all happy, emotional, and in some cases (like Maxwell's) it's sinking in that there's an actual baby coming out from all of this.

• Around this time, the foetus also has hands and legs and you can see them kicking around like nobody's business coz "o wow, what's this" is probably what they're experiencing at this point 😅

• The dude from the press conference tries really hard to pretend he is an intern and not a dude we met in a press conference - but his acting skills are about as good as his knowledge of pregnancy in general.

• I have a feeling that if we don't catch him next chapter, Liam and Olivia will, and we may get some answers at least on the score of all the paparazzi related suspicious stuff that's been happening - therefore leading us to a hint about one of the places we are "allying" with?

• I also have a feeling that both places - Auvernal and Monterisso - will be established as suspicious eventually, for varying reasons. Right now we're getting signs via Olivia that the Auvernese are planning something big, but I doubt Monterisso is going to be left behind in all this. Perhaps the journalist might offer some hints/leave behind some clues as to where he was from...and it might warrant a visit to that place just to investigate? I'd see Monterisso as more likely, if that is the case. Because I do believe the team will have us visit this place just once at least. I may be wrong, but let's see.

• General Thoughts:

- Sigh. We knew this would happen, wouldn't we. The team would spend nine whole chapters on largely irrelevant shit that could have been cut out and pared down to maybe 4 chapters max (but 2 chapters would have been perfect. After all, Hana's Shanghai segment was only two chapters, and we spent one of them trying to make Drake behave less like an angry toddler. It's only fair that Drake gets as little space, yknow), but now we're at the point where we're rushing through the first trimester alone.

- The announcement shoot scene was nice...but again extremely uneven across playthroughs. Both Liam and Drake's scenes were written largely as callbacks to their engagement shoots. In Liam's engagement shoot there was a pressure to represent both decorum and warmth - but in this shoot they explain to Ana that they clearly lean more to the side of warmth, and want to show that side of themselves. In Drake's engagement shoot, Drake is the one who is nervous and trying to fit in, with the MC helping him loosen up and be his natural self, while in the baby shoot he fulfils that role for her by stating to her that they could be having fancy trimmings but simple in their way of delivering the news. Do Maxwell and Hana get this kind of effort in their scenes? No. Not at all.

- Maxwell's engagement photoshoot scene was about the couple getting used to their relationship, and remembering what made their love blossom (pun fully intended). By the logic of the other two scenes, this one should have explored in some way how they've grown as a couple, but it doesn't. They didn't even bother to put half the effort into this scene that they did in the other two.

- Hana's engagement shoot initially explored her fears of turning into her parents, that she is not taking the MC's opinion into account. The MC gets to reassure her then. Unfortunately, they dropped that arc completely after that scene. So I can get an idea of why this particular scene is different, but I hate that they chose to drop such a compelling story for Hana and I would have honestly loved to see a parallel to that.

- The fact that the MC could tell Hana that she should never be in the sidelines is kinda sweet, granted, but actions speak louder than words, and most of the MC's actions re: Hana so far have been the exact opposite of what she's saying there.

- The team should have at least nailed this one scene for everyone, if not anything else - since this had the biggest variations. Yet they couldn't be bothered to do a good job of all of them?? Only two???

- Come to think of it, if the plot actually culminates in the presence of this extra child, there is one scene in Book 3 that could hint at it. The film that Liam takes the MC to watch at Castelserraillian, revolves around a couple named Lionel and Ramona (geddit?? Liam and Riley!) and their romance amidst a plot from a half-brother to usurp the throne (the name given in the movie is Percival, which coincidentally is Maxwell's middle name).

- The intrigue is nice, it does its job of raising more questions while offering a few answers, but I find it ironic that even in a plot that's about Liam's family, Liam himself seems unimportant and his feelings unexplored. You'd think that with an experience like that, where we've just heard about his mother not being able to spend a lot of time with him (perhaps months before her death)...you'd think that would elicit more of a reaction than "okay cool let's investigate". I know for a fact that if it were Drake there would be a whole extra set dialogues unlocked in the romantic route. I know that, because that's exactly what happened at Walker Ranch. Again, no other character who had a childhood flashback scene so far, got any opportunities to weigh in on how they felt after the narration was done.

- Other people's feelings and experiences taking precedence over Liam's own, in scenes/events that should be about him, is nothing new. In Book 2, we get to know about an assassination attempt on Liam...but that story revolves around Drake's pain and Drake's sacrifice. We never get to know how Liam felt about this, ever. In Book 3, when we should have been learning more about his mother, she's mentioned only a handful times instead. Again in Book 3, Liam sees his own father die, but his feelings are largely brushed aside to make space for more Drake hypocrisy (like his behaviour towards Kiara in Lythikos) and Drake observations (like the chat about Liam's hurt feelings in his playthrough, which only Drake is allowed to talk about).

- And this is the root of the current problem really. That they need to involve and include Drake and his family in everything that they can possibly involve him in (I mean, the only childhood scene he is out of, is the Beaumont Brothers one, and even then the brother that gets all the focus is the one that is marrying Drake's sister). That they probably might write the story in such a way that it's skewed in Drake's favour, will explore Drake's issues the most, before they even bother to explore anyone else's. Even now that we're out of the Walker Ranch storyline, the writing still shows a possibility that Drake's feelings (whether Jackson is the father of Eleanor's second child or not) may be explored more - just by virtue of there being way more material about Jackson than there ever was on Eleanor. Both Liam and Drake look up to Eleanor and Jackson respectively, but just by what I've read so far I already have an idea whose truth may hit harder.

- I still can't get over the fact that the writers have coded Hana's traditional black outfit in the way that they have...so that now, even if you did buy it, it's nowhere to be seen. The plain black dress is pretty but I can't stand to even look at it now.

- Perhaps the reason why Lorelai is being depicted negatively in this series, is not really her treatment of Hana (that should have been reason enough IMO) - since this very team has proved already that they don't exactly care that Hana was abused in that home and had her forgive the likes of Lorelai and Xinghai instead. There's a possibility that they're pushing for a more negative portrayal because she has some involvement or other in all this, and that is how they may create a Hana flashback scene as well. Though I'm not convinced they will place even half the effort on such a scene as they have on Olivia's scene this week.

- If that is the way the story is going, perhaps the larger theme of family then will involve the LIs seeing the family members they so respected, with actual feet of clay that will be hard for them to handle emotionally. Besides intrigue, it will also be a lesson to those very LIs to not repeat the mistakes their families made.

- I find the scene post press conference interesting, since there are tiny hints there that I feel we shouldn't be ignoring. The convenient placement of Godfrey, Regina and Bartie Sr, Bartie Sr's side-comment on Regina who is after all from the Krona duchy and who is related to Godfrey by marriage, Madeleine's offering of apples and her cryptic message to the MC to take care of herself...all of that adds up to something.

- Too bad only white people are allowed to take centerstage in this story.

• Anyway, that's for now from me. Until Saturday, guys!

[rierru]

Ikemen Sengoku Cafe AU full piece ヽ(•̀ω•́ )ゝ✧ I finally finished it ! 💖 I super love Ikemen sengoku 😭💕Originally. I was just suppose to draw everyone as butlers and Mai as a maid but suddenly the idea kept growing and growing ಠ̀ᴗಠ; shingen and nobu like sweets soo I had to draw a cafe AU instead . * whispers* pls @cyikemen make a cafe event ! 🙏💖 Here’s their Cafe AU profiles ! : Azuchi Cafe : Date Masamune - is the cafe’s chef ! He is in charge of all the food in the cafe ! He mostly works in the kitchen. He likes looking at Mai’s sketchbook when she draws . Oda Nobunaga - Azuchi Cafe owner ! His cafe has been getting popular and was understaffed .He hired Mai to work at their cafe ! Basically Nobunaga still acts the same in the AU . Kennyo might try to burn the cafe down or something and Mai saves Nobu Toyotomi Hideyoshi - Head butler probably 😂 . He makes sure everything is running in order and acts as the cafe mother .( stops Ieyasu from being mean to Mitsunari) He still tries to prevent Nobunaga from eating too much konpeito Tokugawa Ieyasu - is a med student ! He and Mitsunari study at a different university . He owes Nobunaga a favor so he’s working part time at the cafe . To his horror he ends up working together with Mitsunari ( Hideyoshi invited him ) Akechi Mitsuhide - He works as a waiter from time to time but he mostly handles supplies and promotions together with Hideyoshi . He would probably spy on their rival cafe as well . Ishida Mitsunari - is your happy waiter who would greet you with an angelic smile the moment you enter the cafe . He and Ieyasu attend a different university near the area. Mai (MC/protagonist) is a university student taking up Fashion Design ! She and Sasuke met on campus and became fast friends . She was stressed out by requirements so Sasuke invited her to check out a cafe . In reality Sasuke was spying on their rival cafe . He used Mai as a cover to go in . Mai noticed the cafe was hiring . She needed the extra money to fund her Fashion Project . So she applied and became Azuchi cafe maid / waitress . She made the stuff toys of the guys pets ! Kasugayama Cafe: Uesugi Kenshin - Kasugayama Cafe owner ( partners with Shingen ) together with Shingen they run the cafe ! Since Kenshin attracts rabbits 🐇 Sasuke suggested they use that to their advantage . To bring in customers who like cute animals ! He probably threatened to fire him but gave in anyway . Sasuke made his costume btw. Takeda Shingen - is your flirty older Cafe owner ! ( together with Kenshin ) he is in charge of the sweets in the cafe ! Sanada Yukimura - Yuki is a university student that works part time in the cafe as a waiter ! (In this AU , he’s related to shingen and is high school besties with Sasuke ) Sarutobi Sasuke - Sasuke is also a university student. He works in the cafe to help his bestie Yuki. He and Mai (mc) study in the same university .He goes undercover to spy on their rival cafe ( ninja skills) Kennyo - in this AU he is undercover as a customer but in reality he is plotting to destroy Nobunaga’s cafe. I if you zoom in I added some in game and anime references around the piece ! I also added Motonari Mori, Mori Ranmaru, Imagawa Yoshimoto and the cat from the anime ! I drew them as graffiti on the wallPlus I included everyone’s pets ✨This took me so long to finish 😂 a lot happened . If you’re wondering why my coloring style kept changing I was working on this in really far gaps while controlling the urge to rework it haha I didn’t want to take another 7 months to finish this 😂 . Time to make new art ❀.(*´▽`*)❀. You can find this on my twitter and Instagram @rierru! 💖

[nobume-date]

Ikemen Sengoku - The best one of Otome game from CYBRID’s Ikemen Series

Since Ikesen English version was released on June 2017, no way the real Otome gamer’d miss it. In the other hand, the amateur me who’ve just stepped into this Otome world only for a year just knew and started playing it around the end of 2017, very late bird.

Anyhow after I’ve been playing for 2 months I found it is real good. Both artwork and story are just right to me. Plus there are many attractive things in this game. And I love it so much that can’t help but have to release my overflowing feeling by blabbing on this blog.

As I mentioned on my blog’s header, I’m not English speaker and still be a newbie blogger since this is my first English blog, so pls spare me for my weird English. Why I have to desperately wrote English blog then? The main reason is for my personal entertainment and creating a room to chat with my game’s pal who share the same interest with me. 

Okay, leave that boring things and let’s me tell my though of this amazing game.

Art : CG & Costumes

Ikesen’s art is gorgeous, painterly style artwork cached my eyes at first glance. Characters faces and body-build are balance and look good in every angles. In some Otoge, we’d found characters faces or organs look weird or creepy in some CG. I salute Yamashiro-sensei, an illustrator, for creating these fabulous work pieces. 

Costumes designs are very creative, not be boring conservative like the other Samurais Otoge. And still remain the hints for gamer to guess who they are by using clan’s crest. Each characters have their own themes and colors which perfectly match their personalities. There are 3 types of attire per character, casual kimono, formal attire and war suit. I heard Ikesen creative team hired Thai’s creative to help them for characters’ design. Wow, they really did it awesome 😎

Characters

This game is the one of CYBIRD’s Ikémen series, with a brand Ikemen, of course, all characters MUST be HOT & HANDSOME. There are 11 hotties for us to choose; 9 warlords, 1 ninja, and 1 abbot. Nine of them are Japan’s most famous Sengoku warlords who were real existed in Japanese history, excepted the part of hot and handsome. Most of them also appear as the characters in many manga, anime and games. 

Isn’t it sounds challenge and fun to conquer their heart?

Plot and Story

After accidentally went back to Japan’s Sengoku period in 1562 through the wormhole, MC saved Oda Nobunaga who nearly die in Honnoji Incident by chance. As the life-saver and lucky charm, MC earned the favor from him and was assigned to be a chatelaine of Azuchi castle, where MC were surrounded by those famous, hot and handsome Sengoku warlords. While struggling in this turbulent and war state period and waiting for a chance to back home, MC have to learn and does many things for the sake of survival. Even though she promised herself not to get too close to anyone, but the fate still bring her to him and fall in love. 

”Back to the past” plot seems non creative, but the story lines really are very interesting, nothing more or less. MC and love interest slowly developed their feeling in reasonable and acceptable way, made me moved so much. The writer did an impressive job to compress those details and emotional things into just 13 episodes.

My favorite part, erotic scenes are not that straight but still give a sexy, mature and alluring vibe. I found myself was attracted to their different charms and wanted to know them more and more. How nice we could have THINGS with various types of guys without a REAL physical relationship, so convenient. Plus, this is the Japanese famous WARLORDS we’re talking about, not typical guys who we could found anywhere.

Avatars Dressing for Fun and Points

As same as the other online Otoge, there is avatars for the player who love girly-doll-dressing in “Your Room”. The avatars here; avatar itself, attire, accessories, wallpaper and all decoration items are really awesome, very detailed and creative. We can get the regular items by buying them from shop and special limited items by joining the events which are held quite frequent. 

Not only your room but there is also a “Castle” where we can be with our suitor in adorable chibi form. every things are uber cute! (๑˃v<๑) Here we can get a lot of decorating items from gacha, standard items from daily free gacha and special limited items from events.

Advantage Thing

The most I love, character’s HOT VOICEs!! (๑>◡<๑) Normally we can hear his greeting in different 3 lines whenever we feel like by just push a speaker icon right at “His Room”. In his room we can set any guys as wallpaper even we are playing a different guy’s route, which mean we can two timing our suitor openly. When we passed the challenges in main or event story, he’ll appear in chibi form to praise or even give some gifts or rewards to us, sounds cool, isn’t it? （╹◡╹）Not only that, they are giving out some voice clips on occasions which we can save in our game’s memory to listen anytime we want. Hearing their hot and sexy voices in cheesy lines make my imagination gone wild (*≧∀≦*)

Negative Thing

The only minus point, it’s quite pricey if we compared to VOLTAGE’s which we can buy the whole main story including epilogue by the same amount, and just a half price when they hold a sale campaign. But for IkeSen, if we want to play in Premium, we have to spend around 27 USD for just 1 route!! (O_O) And if we want to play both Romantic and Dramatic route for 1 character, we need more 9 USD. Not to mention a lot of interesting and fun events which will release a ton side stories and items for our avatars. Most of them were free if we were the active players. But of course, we still have to pay for an Early Bird’s and premium epilogue stories anyway (⌒-⌒; )

Of course, this is basically a free game, if you don’t mind much about the longer and sweeter premium bonus stories, you can just go for the normal stories. But could you really just be satisfied by the normal stories? As my direct experience, it’s a real hard to resist their charms. Those hot and sexy warlords will enchant you to blindly fall for them. When you become to your sense again, both of your heart and purse were already robbed away. (´⊙ω⊙`) The most mysterious thing is you’d somehow can manage your money and continue this expensive hobby anyway.

That’s said and I still addict to this game. If you don’t want to fall hard, don’t dare to step in. I-WARNED-YOU-WITH-LOVE (^з^)-☆

[leadmetothegardenbetty]

Post-Beauty & the Beast Viewing Thoughts (((SPOILERS Kinda But Not Really)))

So I got to see Beauty & the Beast today which was totally wonderful and I really loved it!!! But I do have to say that Belle’s ballroom gown is just so underwhelming during the Tale As Old As Time scene with the Beast and idk I was just disappointed with the costume design (((also all of Belle’s town clothes/street clothes/whatever you want to refer to them as were dresses but one half of the dress was always tucked so you could see her undergarments – idk what to refer to them as bc I want to call them pantaloons but that isn’t right so whatever – and I thought that was rather odd and I get what they were trying to convey with the way they designed those outfits and that thought went into Belle wearing them in that manner but it was just strange and didn’t really work for me personally but this is just me being really nit-picky))). Overall, for the most part Emma Watson was a wonderful Belle but the fact that her voice had to be autotuned kind of threw me off (((tbh I thought there was quite a bit of autotune in the film which is odd because it's supposed to be a musical so you would figure people would be able to sing well without needing autotune but whatever I guess))) and it was a little disappointing in that sense because Beauty & the Beast is one of my all time favorite film soundtracks and I feel like maybe they should’ve went the route where they hired someone else to sing for Emma but it’s whatever. Luke Evans was such a good Gaston and I really liked what they did with his character in the film because although it hardly strayed from the animated version, I think they did a really nice job of highlighting his manipulative and abusive behavior and really showed how much of an ass he really is. Also, I will say that I am still disappointed that Lumiere and Cogsworth were not gay in the film and Disney instead went the route of making Le Fou gay and in love with Gaston (((Josh Gad's one-liners were kind of a highlight but at certain points I just felt like it probably would've been easier just to make Lumiere and Cogsworth gay))). Although, I do think that Josh Gad played Le Fou really well and I was pleasantly surprised that Le Fou really wasn’t a complete villain/at least wasn’t as villainous as he was in the animated film. So, I do think that the people who were upset with Disney’s choice to make Le Fou gay will be pleasantly surprised with Le Fou’s characterization in the film. And, Dan Stevens as the Beast was really wonderful, I really loved his voice and his portrayal, definitely one of my favorites!!! (((this post was a bit longer than I planned but yeah these are just some thoughts I had after leaving the theater today so yeah – pls keep in mind that these are just my thoughts and I don’t want to offend anyone)))