#i am definitely borrowing this concept for a character one day

[tanadrin]

Considering your recent musings on worldbuilding, fantasy, and magic realism, would be interested to hear your thoughts on superhero worlds, where practically all those subgenres crossover (soft science fiction for the technology, dark fantasy/horror for the magic, high fantasy pantheons loosely based on mythology and entirely made-up and genre-busting ones, space opera for the occasional interstellar travel, etc.) and yet from some point on it gets merged into the background of an universe supposed to be just like our world until noted otherwise (particularly in social trends, etc.), in true magic-realist fashion.

i gotta say, superheroes are just... basically uninteresting as a concept to me. whether you're deconstructing or reconstructing or playing it straight, you have to torture basic narrative plausibility (irrespective of SF/fantasy/realist plausability) to make the genre function that i simply tend to lose interest.

also, i don't think "a universe supposed to be just like our world until noted otherwise" is a very good definition of magical realism. magical realism is, IMO, about emotional logic overwhelming other systems governing the narrative at specifically heightened points, in a way that should break those systems (but apparently does not). but not everywhere in the narrative (that's more like surrealism), and typically not in ways that are marked as unusual within the narrative (characters don't go "wow, that was weird/amazing/terrifying!"). your definition seems to me to be a better definition of "low" or "urban" fantasy, or certain kinds of near-future science fiction, than magical realism.

because in superhero fiction, the weird/amazing/terrifying nature of the fantastical elements are part of the point. superman is a hero because he is remarkable and, well, superhuman. it would only be magical realism if clark kent was an ordinary guy who one day caught a building that was collapsing and saved lois lane because of his overpowering love for her, and his sense of personal alienation from the rest of the human race, and everyone acted like this was pretty normal and it was never brought up again. as soon as you make him an alien, as a causative factor in his supernatural abilities, you just have regular science fiction.

i do think it's kind of fun that the superhero genre is one of those genres that borrows freely from others--narratives where tropes from horror, fantasy, and science fiction can coexist comfortably are neat. i have friends who are english major types, you know, real insufferable book nerds, who speak of the superhero genre not unlike you do: they evoke the image of a febrile amalgam of different artists in the same shared universe, where the contradictions and paradoxes only add to a kind of semi-surreal character; and of more independent auteur-style projects like Watchmen and Worm which comment cleverly on established tropes of the genre.

but whenever i dip my toe into superhero fiction of any flavor, i feel less that i'm sampling from a roiling cauldron of imagination too rich to be contained by any single narrative approach and more that I am tasting a bland wafer of something whose foundational characters and stories were almost instantly converted into an undifferentiated paste by particular commercial and cultural demands; and rather than injecting new and exciting material into that paste, most innovations in the genre have taken that paste and tried to sculpt it, like making little sculptures out of spam and calling it cuisine.

this is not to say i have never enjoyed a superhero movie; just that even the works praised as daring innovators within the genre seem to me to be basically more of the same. like licensed star wars media or video game tie-in novels, it's incredibly difficult to transcend the limitations of your genre when the thing that crystallized the genre in the first place, the thing that has your audience present in the first place, are those limitations. i don't think it's possible to make a superhero story very interesting for the same reason it's not possible to build the burj khalifa out of spam: spam is not steel, and in order to make spam have the properties of steel, it would have to cease to be useful as spam.

[writingbyclem]

Go For It, Oswin! - ISWM [Band AU]

Concept: Me & My Friendos in a discord server came up with this really intense Band AU with our original character Captain-Sona’s & Markiplier Characters. This is a short based on a short by @oswinunknown, fellow contributor to this AU lmao. Hope you enjoy!

C was sitting on the bus, typing away on their computer. It was finally a day of rest for the group, a break from their current tour around the world. Captain^5 and The Iplier’s had quite the schedules to keep up with, so it was nice to get a day or so of rest.

They looked up when the door opened and slammed shut again. Dark, a member of The Iplier’s, glanced up from his own typing to see who it was. Oz was back. He’d headed out on the town on his own, looking for a book. He must’ve been successful, since it was tucked under his arm.

“Don’t slam the door, Oz.” Reminded Dark, looking back down at his laptop.

“Sorry! Sorry- Just forgot!” Shrugged Oz, sheepishly fiddling with the book in his arms.

Now that C was looking at it, the book looked rather worn to be one from a shop. The light blush across his face was also intriguing.

They clicked the save button on their files and put the laptop to the side.

“Hey Oz.” They waved, with a smile.

“Hello C- I got my book.” Grinned Oz, looking over to them with a wave.

“Ah yes, the Gatsby book.”

“But oh no C, not the normal one.” Chimed in Dark.

“The one where Carraway and Gatsby move away to a nice life!” Retorted C.

“As husbands.” Hummed Dark, playfully.

“The Pursuit and The Pursuing! By Aj Odasso!” The pair chorused, simultaneously with a snicker.

Oz had really gone on and on about that book.

“You two suck.” Pouted Oz, flushing.

“We’re only playing. Relax.” Mused C. “Come and sit down.”

Oz did so, sitting next to C.

“Was the bookshop nice?” They asked.

“Yeah, it was good. Quiet. A nice change to our current crazy life.” Nodded Oz.

“That’s great, I might have to take a look myself. What type of books did they have?”

“Oh yes! It’ll be nice for us to get you out of the bus C! They got all these new great well made copies and all of them are such good quality too- Like if you have a book of a certain genre, you’ll find something similar to it there, guaranteed!”

“Wow. All brand new books?”

“Yup!”

“Interesting.. So, why does your new book look rather well loved, Oswin?”

Oz paused, noticing his mistake. The curious mother-like look from C told him they could probably guess if he didn’t spill.

“Oh- I’m uh borrowing this- From a guy.” Explained Oz, sheepishly.

“A guy?” Teased C, lightly. “What’s his name?”

“Damien- I just bumped into him when I was looking- And he apologised when it was definitely my fault- And then he asked what I was looking for, so I told him- He said he had I copy I could borrow- And he was just so cute so I agreed! But then after I took the book- I realised my hood had been down. The. Entire. Time. I don’t think he knows who I am- And-“

“Woah there Oz, take a chill pill.” Soothed C, taking his hand. “You're jumping into the future here. How about we just focus on the fact that a cute guy named Damien, lended you his book and at some point you’ll give it back to him.”

Oz listened to them and blinked a couple times.

“Yeah- You’re right. Thanks C.”

“No problem. Gotta keep my position as Mom Friend somehow.”

Dark had been listening in to the conversation and walked over to the pair, setting down some mugs of hot chocolate for them both.

“Thanks Dark.” Smiled C.

“No problem, gotta keep my position as Dad Friend somehow.” He replied, with a wink before going back to his laptop.

C chuckled before looking back to Oz.

“It’ll all be alright, if this guy is worth it, he’ll understand! You just gotta, go for it Oswin!”

[patbwaifs]

it's tuesday my dudes

i forgot to take my meds last night and this morning, so i had a headache all day, but it went away as soon as I took my meds tonight. hahhh. Just finished working out a bit too.

this is what my desktop pretty much looks like all the time (sans legal documents)

I am so so serious about creating a consistent art style so I can make visual novels. My "main goal" right now is to "rewrite" Detroit via visual novel to practice branching gameplay and also rewrite a few scenes and story lines (like Kara and Alice.) Obviously, to recreate the entire game would be nuts. The main thing is to learn how to make visual novels in general, so I'm gonna start with specific scenes and then kinda go out from there.

I also want to write a fanfiction for D:BH. I started drafting it out. The first time is never perfect but I gotta start somewhere with storytelling, and for now, I'm borrowing these characters...

But my art style is pretty obviously going in a certain direction. Ghost in the shell was one of the first anime movies I ever saw (along with Adolescence of Utena. That was definitely an experience) And while I want each of my portraits to look like they "match" I also need to remember that I can still change and vary things up. That's kinda the main reason Markus and North are not 100% complete. The point wasn't to draw a finished portrait of them but to explore and practice a style. I like to think I'll go back once I gain more skill and draw finished portraits of the main D:BH cast.

One thing I really like about using D:BH to practice my art is that there are a variety of different characters to draw, from race to age and beyond.

This styles similarities to realism do throw me off though. I keep wanting to steer into realistic proportions but since it's not my intention from the outset, things get weird fast. Thankfully, I'm a lot better about starting over, reworking sketches and concepts, than I used to be. Before, I would have been tortured to even think about starting over on Amelia's portrait, but now? I want to make a proper portrait of her, in oil pastel. Not in procreate with my illustration tools. (I haven't shown yall my oil pastel rizz yet, hee hee)

On an unrelated note

I talked a bit with my best friend about my headspace around the Decharts' streams (and positive spaces in general) but i was still in oof ouch head hurty mode so I didn't get much out, but she was like "yeah. positivity vibe exposure therapy." I did catch their stream today but it was right when I had to go to the mechanic/dealership.

and boy, is my car a piece of work. I always done knew it too!!! But I need to be more assertive about taking care of it instead of feeling like my Abba is the only one who can decide when things get replaced and when. But i need new tires last week :/

He's throwing a route tonight too. I hope it's all boring and safe.

Gah, i had something else I wanted to talk about but it's escaped me.

Doing things in general has been easier.

I worry about when school starts. I have this gnawing feeling that I need to take a full course load but I know, consciously, that if I do it will end badly.

Although I'm trying to build better self-care habits over the summer so I don't get completely blindsided again. It's just, when I get drowned in a project, it can be hard to pull myself up and do the things I know help me. Like I can't work on my project as well if I don't take the moment to take my medication. gahhhh. but in each moment is eternity, so why would i take an eternity to do something else?

I guess that's my default way of thinking. Maybe that's why things are so intense so often unless I dislodge my brain from the world.

There's something about the Decharts' streams and other thing similar that makes it hard for me to zone out/dissociate/focus on something else/some variation of that. I can't ignore it. And then it's just sensory overload. I think when i feel emotions it's sensory overload first. and then whatever the emotion is second.

I've been trying to let myself feel things about silly android game. As long as it's not guilt. I am trying not feel guilty for liking this game so much. Like what's the use in feeling weird and bad about listening to the soundtrack. gahh the blood is draining from my fingers again.

Speech therapy today went well too.

goodnight yall.

[enderwalking]

I disappear for one single day to deal with irl stuff and miss your birthday??? Unbelievable, happy belated birthday!!

I get what u mean about aus sometimes just being about the vibes, I think why I'm so hung up on tomoyo in particular (other than my brain being a nightmare that wants No Holes in The Story) is I'm mentally fiddling with a kurogane ctechno's backstory to keep the anarchism in play, so already the role of tomoyo has gotta be a bit different. And because of that my brain wants to figure out All the changes, and what those would mean for c!techno in this au. Rotating him in my head and demanding to know who his catalyst is and all that. Who looked at a violent c!techno in this au and said "we're gonna get you some standards for killing. And also make you a pawn in multiverse chess. Have fun!"

Yuuko cgeorge would definitely be a vibe, and it's easy to make cdream feiwong reed work (the atrocities! The holding onto the past! He would be more than willing), but I think what I like so much about the reverse is where the base motivations lay? Feiwong reed is clinging onto a single person at cost of everything else. Which reads as very similar to c!dream in canon clinging onto a version of the world that no longer exists, but phrase that another way: his base motivation lies in the world being changed in a way he views as negative, and trying to prevent that change/bring it back to its previous state where its already been changed. Which is also what yuuko is doing! It's just that we view yuuko as being in the right because she's. You know. Preventing the collapse of the multiverse. Doing less atrocities. It would be a characterization of c!dream that would borrow a bit more heavily from early days smp I think, but with the pragmatism and bastard energy of current lore. Or maybe not even that, maybe it's just a question of, who does cdream become if his allegiance is no longer happy memories of an 8 person server of friends, but instead the smooth functioning of a multiverse? What is he like if he has different eggs (<- cursed metaphor but whatever it gets the point across)

Also with the whole plot point of feiwong reed being theorized to be like... a fragment of Clow formed entirely from the wish to keep yuuko alive, I think it would be neat to put an earlier days, somewhat kinder and more friendly cdream up against a late days cgeorge who has become so single minded in focus, who cant tolerate the world as it currently exists. To have cdream remembering an early days cgeorge while dealing with the current cgeorge. And yet, the things one could do with cdream and dreamxd if we go the cgeorge is yuuko route...

Oh I figured out my hang up, it's that I can picture a world where cdream chooses the world over cgeorge, especially if cgeorge has become antagonistic to said world, but I struggle to picture a world where cgeorge wouldn't sacrifice the world to keep cdream. However, I also am not a cgeorge or c!dnf scholar, so I'm very open to being told I'm wrong on this bit

yeah trc is especially difficult to cast full aus for considering that there are so many characters that are all so intertwined and it's like, sometimes you just gotta take a character concept and strip it down and run LMAO. like in my ffx au ctubbo's role is most analogous to rikku's role in the game. they are not similar in vibe in the least, but it Works okay i PROMISE.

the thing that is off to me about cgeorge as feiwong is like. cgeorge is so profoundly defined by apathy and inaction? and even in his stream about destroying everything and becoming a god, it's not out of some desperate drive towards an end goal, if anything it's the complete opposite. this is cgeorge essentially throwing in the towel, he's giving up on the entire world but he's also decided to make it the whole world's problem in the process. if his dream hadn't literally handed him the tools for the job, he probably wouldn't have gone on nearly such a rampage; think about how quickly he gave up mining down his statue: "it's such a chore to even destroy myself". that's not to say cgeorge is incapable of fighting for things, but his coping mechanism of choice is not to dig in his heels or press onwards, but instead is to just. give up. disengage. and his constant dreaming just enhances that sense of passiveness.

so yeah i feel like cgeorge in a yuuko-esque role where he's like. trapped in stasis. forced to inaction in some ways. and is trying to fix things to an extent but is limited in his scope just by the nature of his existence? yeah. idk. but also i will confess that some of the finer details of yuuko's stuff does escape me as it has been a Hot Minute since i've reread so i could be bullshitting here LOL. also i think that if cdream had to play multidimensional chess and create a 9000 step plan to ruin lives across the whole of reality all for cgeorge's sake that he would 100% do it in a heartbeat and that arguably you could interpret his actions in canon to be him doing just that, so there's that as well

[retrobookworm]

My Top Nine Reads Of 2021

If you have read any of these, please let me know! I would love to rant with you about how amazing they are! I tried to narrow it down to five books, but it was near impossible for me to give up any of these from the list.

Note: These are not in a specific order, I really couldn't pick a favourite out of these, nor could I rank them from favourite to least favourite. Thus, they are just listed randomly.

1. Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

In the simplest words possible, I LOVED THIS BOOK. It made me smile, it ripped me into a thousand pieces and built me back up piece by piece. If you are looking for a story that will utterly and completely destroy you, this is it. I wasn't able to stop thinking about this book for months. It was one of the first books that really stuck with me (other than my childhood favs ofc)

2. Circe by Madeline Miller

So it seems I really had a thing for books that destroyed me this year. I adored this book. It is a great choice for any Riordan fans out there who are looking for something a little more grown-up. I fell in love with the characters and felt their pain as they suffered. This book was near impossible to put down, and I stayed up into the early hours of the morning to keep reading it. I borrowed this one from the library, so I don't own a copy, but I am hoping to buy one in the near future so that I might reread this book over and over.

3. One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M McManus

This book had me hooked from the very beginning. I can't say much about the book without spoiling it, but I ABSOLUTELY adored the characters. I was not expecting it to end the way it did. This is definitely a great way to introduce yourself to Karen M McManus's work, as I am now very excited to read all of her work. I also read The Cousins by McManus this year, but One Of Us Is Lying is significantly better in my opinion.

4. All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

This book ripped my heart out. I fell in love with the characters on the first page and felt like I knew them personally. I love Finch and Violet's relationship with each other! This book was heartbreaking, happy, and hopeful all at once. If you are looking for a book to make you ugly cry, this is definitely the one. I have yet to cry while reading (I tend to be a stonefaced reader), but this one wins the medal for coming the closest to doing so.

5. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

This book. Oh my goodness, I still can't get over it. To this day, it still affects the way I read every book. In short, this book gave me trust issues. I can't say much more without spoiling it, but I am looking forward to finishing the series. I would put my thoughts on this book, but I'm still learning the mechanics of Tumblr and I don't know if they have an option to cover text unless clicked (like the || thing in discord).

6. The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I believe this might be the first classic I actually couldn't put down. This book was so intriguing, and it kept me hooked from the first chapter. I loved the concept of the book, and the plot was so good. If you are looking for a book that will really make you think, then this is definitely worth a read.

7. Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

I read this book in under 24 hours. I enjoyed it so much I couldn't put it down. I now drink my coffee in the fashion described in the book, and have no intention of turning back. Astrean style coffee is my jam now. The characters are wonderful, and I grew so close to all of them. I can't really say I have a favourite.

8. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

I CANNOT BELIEVE I WAITED SO LONG TO READ THIS!!!! If you haven't read this book, drop everything and go read it right now. This book is seriously not overhyped at all. This was my second John Green book, and I was not disappointed. I fell in love immediately with Augustus and Hazel, and their story in its entirety. Being an amputee myself, I found it really easy to connect with Augustus and understand how he felt.

9. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

This is by far my favourite Jane Austen book. I LOVE Fanny Price and Edmund Bertram. They are my favourites. This book is so full of drama, and is perfect for any romance lover who loves the 1800s. I was constantly finding new drama for the poor heroine, who had already suffered enough. Edmund Bertram is most definitely my favourite character in this book, as I connect to him so well. He's like my spirit animal.

[arofili]

week-long fandom events: some tips from a pro

a while ago someone asked for advice for running week-long fandom events, and I thought my thoughts might be useful for other people too!

disclaimer: I am NOT actually a pro, that was just a catchy turn of phrase, lol. however I have run several events for several years, and I’d love to share some of my tips and tricks!

these are tips for tumblr-based events; if you’re running your event on a different site or on multiple sites, this might not be the most applicable to you.

some of these points will also be useful for events outside of the week-long structure, but some will be specific to that structure, as it is the one I am most familiar with!

here we go:

it's really nice to have an event sideblog to organize things; the events I've seen that run on people's main blogs are a little more confusing / hard to promote & follow

make sure you know the most popular tags in your fandom and get your promo posts into those tags! especially for first time events, tag blogs with lots of followers / influence and/or DM them and ask for them to boost the event, even if they're not participating

visual banners will draw in more eyes than posts that are just plain text, so try adding a header to your promo posts

give people enough time to prep for the event. I usually make the first announcement about 2 months before the event, and then schedule regular reminder posts as I get closer to the event. I make a reminder post 1 month out, 1 week out, and 1 day before, and then make sure I'm posting something every day of the event (at least) - the queue function is extremely useful for this, so you don’t forget to post!

themes for each day give people something to plan around / inspire them, I definitely recommend them. I usually just have one theme per day, but I've also seen events that give different themes for different mediums, or a list of themes each day that creators can pick from

have a pinned post with links to important information! this includes prompts, rules, FAQs, a link to an AO3 collection, etc. since blog pages are not accessible on the mobile app, it might be useful to also have post versions of any pages you make, and link to those in your pinned post.

when it comes to FAQs & etc, feel free to look at the pages on any of my event blogs (listed at the bottom of this post) and borrow concepts/phrasing from those if it's helpful for you. if you do this PLEASE credit me, but you are welcome to do so

off-site promos might not be the most wide-reaching, but Discord especially is a good place to draw attention to your event for people who don't track tumblr tags. I know I also post links to my promo posts on Twitter, and I usually catch a couple people there who are like "oh I didn't know that was happening, cool!"

track your event tag AND frequently check your event blog’s activity - tumblr is rotten about notifications, so it’s important to keep an eye on things and make sure you’re not missing any submissions!

reblog every submission to your event to the event blog. this is why the blog is there! this is how you can bost the content for your event and help other people find it! I recommend tagging those reblogs for organization with at least the url of the OP; I will also tag for relevant characters, sometimes relevant ships, and the medium of the post (art, fic, etc), and sometimes which prompt the submission was inspired by. also, I find it useful to tag which year the event takes place so you can track your event’s growth over time.

finally, make sure to participate in your own event; it doesn't have to be every day, but I think it's a little weird if you aren't creating content yourself, even if it's "just" a text post with headcanons or something!

these are all just things I like to do in organizing my events; there are other ways to run things, and you'll figure out your own system as you go on, but I hope this gives you a starting ground!

if anyone has any questions about running an event, I’m happy to give you further advice! send me an ask or a DM with any questions :)

AND check out my event blogs: @finweanladiesweek​ @tolkiengenweek​ @aspecardaweek​ @kilielweek​

happy event planning!

[bts-reveries]

expect the unexpected | 19

(images in between and in the end)

Jin had just picked up his two oldest and is now back in his office. It’s been a long day. Having Haneul alone with him was already a hard time but adding two more? He tried his best to maintain his composure as Yeonjun told him the rest of the schedule for today. 

“So right now we have all this paperwork to go through because it has to be sent out today, and then we have to go to a video shoot at 4:30pm. Jungkook should be here soon. Afterwards, when we get back, we have a meeting regarding the promotional photoshoots for the new drama, Save Me, with their Director, Producer, and the seven lead actors.” Yeonjun says. “I heard it’s really good. Kind of confusing actually when I saw the trailer. There’s this seven group of friends and they all make some sort of bad decision in their lives and they.. Well not all of them but I think some of them die? Then come back to life? I don’t know, but one of them is a time traveler I think..” Yeonjun trailed on, looking up as he thought back to the trailer.                              

Although, Jin wasn’t really listening. 

“Dad, what does this word mean?” Minseok asks, pointing to his book. 

“Daddy can we get ice cream in the cafeteria,” Soojin says, holding onto the door knob. 

“Carry meee,” Haneul whines, he’s standing by Jin’s leg, trying to climb onto his dad’s lap.

“Anyways,” Yeonjun says, going back on track. “It should be fun. They’ll be here around 6pm. Which, I understand, is around dinner time, but it was the only available time they had for a meeting. This drama was a big hit on webtoon. It’s good exposure for us for them to use our studio.” 

“Dad!” Minseok called, he’s now standing next to Jin. “Can you help me please? I don’t know this word.”

“DDDAAAAAADDDYY!” Soojin yells. “Can we please get ice cream!”

“Caaarryyy meeeeee!” Haneul screams, bursting into tears. 

Jin drops his head into his hands. “My head. Is going. To ex-plode.”

“Minseok, I’ll help you with your homework, come with me,” Yeonjun says, finally realizing how tired and stressed Jin was. Minseok glances at his dad before walking towards Yeonjun and grabbing onto his hand that he was holding out. Then Soojin came running to Jin’s side, where Minseok was just standing.

“Daddy you’re not listening to me,” Soojin frowns. Jin turns to the side and looks at her. His sweet, precious daughter. The one he can never say no to.

“Soojin it’s cold, you’re going to get sick if you eat ice cream,” Jin calmly says. “And you haven’t even done your homework yet. Go with Minseok and Uncle Yeonjun and do your homework with them.”

Soojin’s lip starts to quiver, “but I just want to eat a little bit. I can do my homework when I’m done…” 

“Soojin, daddy said no. Now go,” Jin says, turning to the side to pick up Haneul. He was still crying his eyes out. Soojin looked down, a big frown on her face and tears started running down her face. Jin was too busy wiping Haneul’s tears away and shushing him that he didn’t know Soojin was crying until he heard her sobbing when she walked away. 

“Soojin,” Jin called out. She didn’t answer, nor did she look back. “Soojinie,” Jin calls again. “Yah, Kim Soojin!”

“w-AHH!” Jin yells, the three, Yeonjun, Minseok, and Soojin all looked back at Jin when they heard him yell.

Yeonjun has never seen him so mad before. 

Jin puts down Haneul and stands up. 

Hot coffee dripped down his suit. His tie and white dress shirt was completely soaked. 

Jin puts both hands on his desk, leaning forward as he sighs. 

Haneul wasn’t done crying, flailing his hand around and started hitting things on the table, grabbing things, causing Jin’s cup of coffee to come flying at his chest. Not to mention, spilling all over the paperwork that had to be done.

“Sir, I have a sweatshirt you can borrow in my bag,” Yeonjun says, standing up immediately to grab his duffle bag. He usually worked out in the gym Jin had a whole floor of in his building. “You can change into it now so you don’t get all sticky,” he says, handing a white sweatshirt to Jin. Jin says a quiet thank you, grabbing the sweatshirt from Yeonjun and placing it on the back of his chair as he took off his blazer, his tie, and his white dress shirt. 

Haneul was still sniffling and he quickly ran to Yeonjun when he made eye contact with his dad. 

“Yeonjun,” Jin says. “Do you have the soft copy for these,” he says, pointing to the sticky mess on his table.

“Yes sir,” Yeonjun says, running over to get his laptop. “I’ll send them to you right now.” Jin sounded awfully calm right now, which scared the kids even more. Minseok was fidgeting with his book as he looked at his dad and Soojin was sitting next to him, playing with her hands. Haneul was standing by the couch, trying to hide. He would take small glances at his dad as he watched him clean up the mess he made.

“And also, we can’t cancel the meeting so just make sure our guests feel welcome when they come here for our meeting. I’ll connect from my laptop because we’ll be going home soon. I’ll continue my work there. You’re in charge here, make sure everyone is in that meeting and please have someone set up a TV in our boardroom so they can all see me when I connect. Umm, yeah, that’s all-- Oh, I won’t be there for the video shoot. We won’t get anything done and will only be a bother if I come with the kids so just go with Jungkook okay?”

“Okay sir.” 

“Kids pack your stuff, we’re going to leave in a bit,” Jin says, going back to cleaning his desk. The kids hurriedly grabbed their things, stuffing it into their backpacks.

Jin wasn’t mad often, but when he was…

He’s definitely scary.

-

“Hello everyone, first of all, thank you all for being here. I apologize that I couldn’t be there with you in person. I really wanted to be there but I am working as both CEO and dad tonight,” Jin says lightheartedly. He watches everyone smile through his laptop. “Second of all, I want to apologize beforehand. My three kids might pop up here and there and interrupt, but I talked to them before this and we should be okay. But just in case,” Jin says, raising his head to see if the kids are nearby. His office had clear doors for him to be able to see the kids.

“Okay, so it looks like the coast is clear,” Jin jokes, we can start our meeting now. Jin nods his head, gesturing for the first person to go ahead and start off the meeting. First they had to talk about the drama and it’s concept so they can have a feel of how they can take the photos. 

“Daddy,” Jin hears from the side. He shuts his eyes, taking a deep breath before moving his head out of frame to see Haneul peeking in the room. “I want to stay with you..” 

Jin mutes his mic before talking to Haneul. 

“Daddy’s in the meeting, can you please go to your brother and sister and wait until I’m done?”

Haneul shakes his head no, walking towards Jin. “I want to stay with youu~” He says, trying to climb onto Jin’s lap yet again.

Jin sighs, pulling Haneul up and placing him on his lap. 

“What do you think, Mr. Kim?” 

Jin’s eyes widened, unmuting himself. “I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”

The director laughs. “We’re thinking of doing one concept as school themed. Since the seven characters will be meeting at school in the drama. Would we be able to do that?”

“Yes, that sounds good. We have school props that we can use for the photoshoots, like desks and the blackboard. Yeonjun show them a picture that we have from a previous photoshoot where we did a school concept.”

“I don’t like that,” Haneul says, causing a few heads to look up. Jin looks down and shushes him. 

“It’s not for you to like,” he says.

-

As the meeting went on, Haneul got bored and began picking at things on the table. 

“Haneul please don’t touch anything,” Jin says, moving Haneul’s hand away from the table and holding onto them.

“What is it Mr. Kim?”

“Oh no sorry, I was talking to my son. Please,” Jin says, moving a hand to gesture to the camera. “Continue.”

After Jin lets go of Haneul’s hands, he immediately slams a hand on the keyboards, shutting it off.

“What did you do!” Jin yells. Trying to turn the laptop back on but it looks like it froze or something because it wasn’t turning on.

“I don’t want to be in the meeting,” Haneul says, watching Jin frantically trying to get his laptop to work. Jin sighs in annoyance, grabbing Haneul and putting him down next to him.

“Then why didn’t you stay with your siblings?” He says. “This is an important meeting Haneul, I was already supposed to be there in person and now I can’t even join--”

“I just want to play--”

“I’m speaking right now,” Jin says to him, turning to look him in the eye. 

“Okay,” Haneul answers quietly. 

“Is that right or not?”

“That’s right.”

“You did something wrong, do you agree?” 

Haneul nods, his lip beginning to quiver and his eyes starting to water. 

“Go stand in the corner, you’re in a time out,” Jin tells him, nodding to the corner of his office. Haneul burst into tears as he ran to the corner where his dad told him to go, holding his face in his hands.

“Stay there until I finish my meeting,” Jin tells him, returning back to his laptop. It still wasn’t turning on. 

Jin runs his hand through his hair, scratching the back of his head. He grabs his phone and texts Yeonjun.

“Haneul shut off my laptop and it’s not turning on. I’ll connect through my phone just give me a few minutes.”

-

expect the unexpected

♡ part nineteen: daddy said no ♡ 

pairings: ceo, dad!jin x interior designer, mom!reader

a/n: the part where jin says “im speaking right now” to “you did something wrong do you agree?” and everything in between was a real convo between him and yoongi when he kept talking while jin was talking😭 i’ll reblog this later with a link lol

edit: actually here it is: 0:39-0:44

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[citadelspires]

P1 - Given how great you're track record's been for doing hypothetical interactions of Amphibia kids with the Duck kids and Owl House kids, let's try doing the Duck kids meeting the Owl House kids and who they'd like the best. I'll exclude Violet for this for the sake of evenening things out 5 to 5. I'd assume Luz would get along best with Dewey (both jump into adventure), King with Louie (could see em teaming up for a scheme), Willow with Huey (eh, more leftover interaction but can work)

Screenshot of second half of the ask provided. Text: P2 Gus with Webby (would totally ask each other lots of questions about their species), and Amity with Lena (both got abusive figures they stood up to and would totally talk about their crushes on Luz and Webby LOL). Would love to see you take on Duck kids and Owl House kids interactions.

First of all I’m very pleased to hear you find my track record on these posts good, they’ve been really fun to write and it makes me really happy people like them! Second I am so sorry it’s taken so long to get to this ask, it’s a really in depth one and it took a long time to write, I hope you’ll find it was worth the wait!

Aight! Oh and one last thing real quick before I get into it. I hope you wouldn’t mind me adding Violet back in, partially due to the fact I love her, but mostly because there’s actually another owl house character I think works significantly better with Louie than anyone else and I really want the chance to talk about that. Saving that one for last hehe. This’ll be another long one, writing below the cut.

Luz and Webby So I do like a lot of the possible interactions brought up by your suggested grouping but my mind went in a few different directions. I’ll start with Luz, who would fit in best with another excitable adventuring partner, as pointed out, but I think the best fit for her in that regard would actually be Webby. While Dewey would no doubt get along great with Luz, there’s a special element to the potential relationship between Luz and Webby that really elevates the potential of their friendship to another level, that being: they both want to eat a hamburger.

An aspect of Webby I wish the later seasons of the show got into a little more, but is definitely something I would consider a core part of her character, is the fact that she got held up in the mansion her whole childhood, with no opportunities to interact with the world around her, have all the adventures she wanted, and most importantly to just be seen as the kid she wanted to be. And while Luz was technically able to go out into the world, the place she found wasn’t one that was willing to see her, or give her any of the chances she longed for. Both Webby and Luz fully understand that feeling of being trapped in your own life, of finally getting the chance to break out and just doing your best to make the most of it. I think there’s a lot the two could gain from spending some time together.

(Also, to borrow the bit about gushing about their crushes but from the other end, these two would totally get sidetracked talking about their respective crushes and also trying to play wingman for each other. It’s a massive comic disaster in both cases, but somehow both Lena and Amity manage to find it endearing).

Amity and Violet Okay wait lemme explain. While the two of them don’t have a whole lot in common at first glance, I think they would genuinely get along extremely well. While a lot of Amity’s focus on school came at the force of her parents, you cannot honestly expect me to believe that girl isn’t a studious nerd on her own anyway. Heck even outside the realm of studies she throws her full dedication into literally every single thing she does. Remind you of anyone? Beyond just being extremely intelligent Violet is clever and ready for anything. She takes everything in stride and always has a plan, she can go from “we were sleeping over and you said everybody get on the plane, so we got on the plane” to “I brought an axe” in a minute flat.

I like to think the two of them would have a mutual respect for each other based on their respective intellects upon first meeting, but as they become closer friends they find they can move from more serious respect to a casual enjoyment of each other. I would go as far as to say that both of these characters really value dependability in a friend, and that they each provide a lot of that. To wrap back around to the stuff about intelligence I think Violet could provide a lot of insight to Amity as far as showing her that pursuing studies and academic heights of her own volition can be something that she can just do because she wants to, and that’s no excuse for unhealthy parental relationships. Getting along so well with someone like Violet only to see that her parents are actually really loving and supportive, that would be really eye-opening for Amity I think. For Violet’s part she could get a lot of help from Amity as far as her pursuit of the secrets of magic goes. I suspect Amity would be much more interested in the study of her magic than Violet would be able to get Lena to tolerate lol.

Bonus Round: Amity would absolutely be a senior junior woodchuck and she would love it you cannot convince me otherwise. She starts quoting the JWGB around the owl house kids and they all look at her like she’s crazy.

Lena and Willow I feel like this one might seem a little out there at first but trust me on this one. Initially Lena doesn’t think too much of Willow, being as close as she is to Webby she knows liking flowers and cute things doesn’t mean Willow is automatically to be taken lightly but she feels like she’s got a good read on her that she generally prefers to avoid trouble and turns down opportunities for violence, which isn’t really Lena’s deal. Over time Lena figures she was right about her first impressions as Willow doesn’t seem to take many opportunities to expose some hidden power, even when Lena knows the people around her kinda deserve it.

She learns to adjust her opinion when she finally does get the chance to see Willow in action and realizes that girl is more powerful than any of the other kids she’s met in the boiling aisles bar none(yes this is my genuine opinion of willow if you don’t think she could kick your ass you’re wrong). It’s at that moment where she starts to pay more attention to Willow and notices a lot more of the strength she puts into all the little things, how much she cares for everyone and everything, and it does a great deal to show Lena that maybe having super strong magic powers isn’t mutually exclusive with being kind and gentle. And maybe gentle isn’t her thing but still, it’s nice to know.

For Willow’s part she’s just happy to make more friends. Especially if the opportunity arises, as I like to think it would, when they’re close enough friends, that Lena would start to hint around asking questions about how Willow remains so casual and nice with the ability to do so much damage, and Willow takes the chance to help Lena figure out her magic a bit more, and learn how to better appreciate it as an aspect of herself she doesn’t have to be scared of. (I mean come on Lena never really learned how to do any of it except barely kind of from Magica of all people she could really  use something like that).

Huey and Gus Now there are some certain things about Gus that would drive Huey absolutely nuts. His lack of primary and reliable sources for any of his information being a big one, but at the end of the day I think he’d enjoy Gus’ desire to learn in the first place. Gus would probably be a little dubious about Huey’s “sources” and “citations” but if it helped him get more info on the human realm he’d certainly go for it in the end. In that way the two balance each other out pretty well. Gus is studious and intelligent but he’s a little off the wall, he’s got a big creative streak, and he’s really excitable. Huey is really really good at facts and analysis but he lacks the strength in imagination that Gus has. Huey is able to take all the grandiose concepts Gus is able to think up and help make them actually happen. Gus has that specific brand of an adventurers soul matched up with the fact he’s not actually the type to get into danger and fights, meaning he’s able to drag Huey out of his comfort zone a little and help him reach new heights with his mind that his struggles with creativity prevent him from reaching, while managing to not make him feel like he’s actually in danger. I actually believe the two of them together could get some really incredible stuff done.

What I’m saying is that with Huey’s help Gus could absolutely complete his tunnels under Hexside.

Dewey and King Now this, this is the pair who would go incredibly well together, at the detriment of literally everyone around them. If there is one person King “I Will Rule Everything” Clawthorne should not be exposed to its Dewey Duck. Within minutes of meeting each other the two of them would immediately have so many bad ideas. Between Dewey’s insistence on being the best and most daring adventurer while putting his name on everything and going down in history & King’s trying to rule everything and everyone, the attempts to raise the stakes would be constant and the two would spend literal hours endlessly trying to one-up each other. All in one day they search for legendary treasure, discover an entirely new civilization, try to take over said civilization, create a new species just to name it after themselves, and build statues of themselves in the middle of Bonesbourough. And that’s all before lunch.

Louie Here it is. The one I waited till the very end for out of sheer excitement. I even kept the second name out of the heading thing. That’s how secretive I’m trying to be about this. See, there’s one character in the owl house that works so well with Louie it’s practically canon. Their interactions have so much potential, they each bring so much to the table, I just couldn’t Not talk about it. And yeah, I know this ask was specifically asking about the owl house and ducktales kids, but I just couldn’t resist talking about the relationship between Louie and Eda.

A con artist from another world who was so successful she became nationally famous? There’s no way Louie would pass up an opportunity like that. For his part I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s already managed to set up another underworld identity in the boiling aisles, or at the very least that Eda could totally have been to the ducktales realm and heard of his one there.

Either way I’m convinced the two of them would start planning a heist as soon as they figure out who each other are. Eda is a little prideful and wants to show this kid he can’t out-con her, but Louie knows what he’s doing just as much. Honestly with the two of them combined Eda wouldn’t have to worry about losing her stand for a long time. Over the course of their planning and seeing Louie in action Eda begrudgingly gains some respect for the  kid, and while Louie was definitely just using her as a learning/profit opportunity at first, he’s pretty susceptible to getting attached.

For Louie, it’s the fact that she actually respects him for being good at what he does. Even back with his family who all love and care about him and all that he still feels like most of them don’t really get what he does or see what’s special about him, so having someone who made a whole life of it be even a little proud of him feels really nice.

And of course, at the end of their heist when they finally have the money in hand, and Eda just casually hands over his half, he stares at her like she’s crazy.

“You’re just.. Giving it to me?!”

“Well, yeah. That was the deal wasn’t it kid? I mean if you really want I definitely have a few ideas for it.”

“No! Uh, no, thanks, I’ll keep it. It’s just that you really remind me of someone, I guess I was expecting something else.”

[flowerflamestars]

I posted 6,129 times in 2021

503 posts created (8%)

5626 posts reblogged (92%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 11.2 posts.

I added 375 tags in 2021

#on the shoreless sea - 73 posts

#your heart as it was will be on fire - 73 posts

#acosf spoilers - 66 posts

#armor fic - 33 posts

#flowerflamestars reads - 29 posts

#yes - 28 posts

#tidal - 21 posts

#in red and gold these ways of old - 19 posts

#but also - 17 posts

#armor fic universe - 16 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#its totally cool and fine that you are not married to me but i am married to you and in love and in fact can i do this every day until i die

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Petty small things roundup, in which I try not to verge into what I super hated:

-Did anyone else keep getting jarred by the 300% increase in the insistence that everyone call each other sister/brother? like we, the reader, cannot understand a found family unless it’s spelled out in nuclear terms. 

- god, someone feed Cassian some fucking fruit. let Nesta brush her teeth. oh my god

-pregnancy scent descriptors? GROSS yall. whole gross vibe

-why why why would Nesta need to wear head to toe leather to work out at the House of Wind? they’re flight leathers. they’re for warmth in brutal cold. the woman is doing squats in leather pants.

- are we....supposed to be sympathetic to Cassian’s bitchy Eris makes me feel like I’m bad at the job I am bad at! that he is good at! that he acts like a dick about to make me even worse at!

(like, obviously there’s some racist shit there. But it’s just so weirdly focused on: he’s prettier! cleverer! so smooth! he makes me FEEL AWKWARD while he’s being smooth and clever!)

-Morrigan...dressed Nesta? what

- Hounds were mentioned and yet, we saw not a single hound. Incorrect faery hound usage

- remember when we used to happily joke about how Galathynius was SUCH a fantasy name? remember when s/jm made up names instead of...borrowing them from real life? lifting whole concepts and then very lightly changing them? gracelessly?

-500 years is NOT A LONG TIME TO IMMORTAL PEOPLE WHO CAN... live forever unless killed???if all our cast are demonstrably still shaped/dealing with things that happened then, hey, maybe they also remember things from that time period?

-do they not...actually chose what shape/location the deal tattoos take? because rhys definitely chose how feyre’s turned out two books ago

- can someone tell s/jm that sometimes...adult people whose parents didn’t bother to raise them...don’t enshrine those parents in their memories after death. and that’s okay? 

-NESTA IS THE TALL SISTER?

-why WHY would all the other Queens just nope out? are we supposed to assume they were killed? Surely the entire missing monarchy would raise...some flags in human territory?

- Feyre...transforms...into another kind/race of faery. just... I can’t.. If I actually try to talk about how bad this is my brain will explode.

- on one hand, why the hell is Rhysand daring put a stop to Helion’s incredible sense for how to make an entrance? ON THE OTHER, why did I just read a mini magic horse biography in the middle of this book

-Somehow...I feel like...Varian probably isn’t going to get to keep whatever office he holds in Summer while living in the Night Court? shouldn’t.

-HIGH KING? HIGH KING?

this didn’t exist when the other books were being written. I would bet...so so much that it didn’t even exist until a late round of edits. this is a BAD concept

-I read this book yesterday and I have already forgotten the name of the big bad

- there are NO female self-defense instructors? in this whole ass Court metropolis?

-NESTA ISNT ALLOWED SUGAR IN HER PORRIDGE??

-I thought the mean librarian was going to be a surviving Valkyrie. it was too cool a thought for this novel

-Illyrian’s can only winnow? one night a year? and they exclusively use it to start the yearly murder game? is it SERIOUSLY only the men that can winnow? 

- Pregnant mate announcing pregnancy to the Court of Nightmares, fine. Pregnant mate getting a kiss on the cheek from her dude friend/ ‘brother’ BAD

-Regifting jewelry is a dick move

- but why does Vallahan matter? at all? 

- Illyrian rebellion man died OFF PAGE?

-if I were a blacksmith, and some of my swords clearly somehow became Legendary Magic Swords, I wouldn’t act like that was a fearful imposition?

See the full post

211 notes • Posted 2021-02-18 02:36:07 GMT

#4

guys guys GUYS modern Eris is not a HUNK. He's the tall, fine-boned, PRETTY. Lanky strong at best. He wears spf 110 and lightly sneers at the farmers market at people buying Clearly Not Local Fruit. A hot lawyer cliche from a romcom but a)actually does the job and b) is Even More Immaculate and Mean than mr boring sexy corporate. Erase the Henley in your mind. ERASE IT. He wears stupid Gucci boots and lives in a house that is 50% books & 50% Nesta. They don't invite people over.

180 notes • Posted 2021-09-04 04:29:20 GMT

#3

He’d been mass-produced- she was just famous, and far, far from safety.   She wasn’t even trying. Head to toe in white like a fucking beacon, brutally bright against the endless sand, even as the light faded. The Alderani mourning braid could have been clocked from a mile away, pins shining in the mass of her hair.   Foolish as fuck- maybe she did, actually, have something in common with her twin besides day of birth.   Boba pulled off his helmet, and watched the measured, sure steps, of Leia Organa approaching his throne.   It felt like too much, to say her name. He’d heard that piece of shit smuggler call her princess, like it didn’t send pain lashing through those furious, dark eyes.   It wasn’t even her correct fucking title.   “Huttslayer,” Boba grumbled, empty space carrying the rasp of his voice.   And Leia smiled.   “Lord Fett.”   Maybe not foolish. Maybe she just knew that if anyone on this planet touched her, they’d lose their hands- and any other offending appendages Boba could cut off for her, unless she wanted the work herself.

151 notes • Posted 2021-07-31 16:18:29 GMT

#2

okay i’m still obsessed with your idea of nesta and tarquin together!! would you mind giving us a little more on that, like how would they first interact, what would nesta think of him, all of that? thank you so much!!!! 💚💚

I would love to!!!

The important thing to remember about the Tarquin Draft is that is has the same main story as Daylight: Nesta in Day, Nesta the Library, Helion’s grumpy best, best truest friend ride or die companion.

So Nesta doesn’t actually meet Tarquin again until she’s halfway to okay. It’s plotwise timeline closest to where she is in the most recent chapter- feeling at home in her body, really hitting her stride as Librarian, gaining a reputation as just an absolutely formidable force who helps anyone who asks.

There’s been correspondence between the Library and Summer- Nesta, acting as a go-between for Kallias- but remember, no one uses her name. 

So it’s a big surprise when the Librarian arrives in Summer, pulls down her black and gold hood and...there is Feyre Archeron’s face, like a nightmare. Except not- wearier, sharper, older, devastation and salvation like the sunrise after a storm at sea- Nesta, who laughs in Cresseida’s face when the Princess of Adriata calls her a Night Court spy.

Nesta: wouldn’t that require belonging to the Night Court? Try my baby sister, if you’d like to yell about idiotic plans. Where are the books that keep eating people?

Cresseida is so wary, but Nesta, of course, isn’t actually going to leave before handling the cursed trove some Summer sailors pulled from the sea. She’s the Librarian.

Tarquin just...doesn’t want this. Doesn’t want to be proved inexperienced, that he can’t act for his people’s good by a beautiful woman again. But Nesta aggressively wants to help, and ultimately, he lets her.

And Nesta acts nothing like Feyre.

She takes off that cloak of office (listen, I’m picturing like, the coolest wide-legged, sleeveless white linen jumpsuit that has EVER existed, chic but functional), puts on a sunhat that she...magicked into her hand? and stomps into the shallows. Starts pulling sailors souls out of the treasure and hauling them to shore.

It’s terrifyingly efficient. And listen, Tarquin doesn’t give a shit about rank, so he, after some very blushy surprise because no, he did not know he had a competency kink and Nesta Archeron has tiny adorable little freckles on her shoulders- gets in the waves to help.

Nesta doesn’t even look at him.

What she does is save the lives of twelve of his men, pick up the faintly hissing, utterly cursed chest of books that started all this, and ask Cresseida is there’s a room where she can work. 

So they take her to the palace. 

The beautiful ambassadors rooms, windows and silk and the sound of water. 

It becomes clear that the curse is in fact, just a curse, but one that can only be broken under the full moon, which is two weeks away. So Nesta stays, being the only person who can keep that magic from spreading. The only payment she wants is to take the books back when she goes which leaves Tarquin, arms full of the traditional gift of pearls, VERY embarrassed.

But he gets over it. Tarquin is genuinely chill- he has baggage from the weight of his responsibility, of being fooled by the Night Court- but he’s also so, so young. Kind. Curious. He doesn’t want to judge Nesta on the actions of people related to her, and once she proves herself, he doesn’t.

And meanwhile Nesta is like, cool. Cool, cool, cool- I can’t sleep while I’m here, I can’t winnow home and sleep because the Library can’t suppress a curse from hundreds of miles away, I’m not going to steal the books like a fucking thief in the night like Feyre-

So Nesta does a lot of exploring. 

Tarquin comes into the harbor one morning, pink still streaking the sky. He’d been up in predawn doing Manly Boating Things with his navy- he walks through the harbor, lets the sounds his happy people sooth the rush of magic that still surprises him- to shape the sea, to cease the waves, to bend the world, to call the tide- and goes looking for breakfast.

Instead, he finds Nesta.

In line a line waiting for fresh bread and pastries, in another insanely attractive white outfit, looking at the sky. She’s alone- he’d given her guards, servants, knew damn well Cresseida was watching her- holding a basket, drinking coffee with her free hand.

So Tarquin joins her.

It cannot be overstated how genuinely charmed they both are with how normal it is. No death and war between them. No magic drawing them together. No real history- Nesta isn’t Feyre in the slightest- just a man with salt drying in his hair and a beautiful grin, asking if he can buy Nesta breakfast. 

Just Nesta, and the only High Lord she’s ever met besides Helion who isn’t aggressive. As she says, Nesta has as many problems with High Fae men as they tend to her- the siren song of power, challenge called to challenge by her very primordial being.

And listen, Tarquin is a huge, very physical dude. Summer faeries are touchy, in a friendly way. But he also, like Helion, is smart enough to pick up on how screamingly uncomfortable men make Nesta. He doesn’t know why, and noticing it made him feel a little sick- but he’s careful. Kind, funny Tarquin, whose managed in knowing her just a few days to figure out how to approach her without triggering her.

So Nesta says yes. Nesta probably says something snarky as hell about his High Lordly hospitality.

And Tarquin laughs- genuinely, beautiful.

He’s still laughing when they get to humble little window, and Nesta goes still. 

See the full post

146 notes • Posted 2021-01-30 17:38:27 GMT

#1

all she wanted...WAS CASSIAN AND BABIES?

ARE YOU FUCKING-

No power. Didn’t actually complete the bloodrite she killed her way across. Keeps giving up her damn sword. Nothing for herself but some dude, who will always value a High Lord over her. 

124 notes • Posted 2021-02-16 22:37:25 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[uomo-accattivante]

Great comprehensive interview with Elvira on the making of The Letter Room and filmmaking, in general. One interesting tidbit mentioned: she is currently developing a podcast about sex. 👀🤔

For most of her creative life, Elvira Lind has been behind the the lens compassionately capturing true stories as a documentary filmmaker. Her debut feature, Songs for Alexis, observes two young lovebirds navigating a long distance relationship and challenging views on gender identity in the modern age. While her sophomore feature, Bobbi Jenne, explores the life of a famous dancer fighting for her own creative and personal independence.

Despite her prolific doc work, a story that couldn't simply be told in its raw form kept circulating in her head: a dark prison comedy about the secret life of a correctional officer trying to bring humanity to the prison system. When he gets transferred to a job in the letter room, he finds himself a little too involved in the private lives of the inmates.

Far along in her second pregnancy, and with the support of an incredible team of collaborators, Elvira took on the challenge of writing and directing her first narrative short, "The Letter Room." The film stars Oscar Isaac and Alia Shawkat, and has had an all-star festival run, screening at Telluride, Tribeca, and the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Here, Elvira reflects on the joys and challenges of creating your first short film—putting empathy first, reshaping the tropes around pregnancy, and screening in the COVID era.

FTW: How did you become a filmmaker?

Elvira Lind: I’ve always loved film. I was very drawn to documentaries because it felt like you were entering something that was really happening. You opened a door and were already inside the film. You’re just trying to keep up with what’s being thrown at you. As opposed to fiction where you have to conjure it up from nowhere. I loved imagining and writing stories when I was little, but I didn’t have the confidence to pursue it.

I didn’t come from a family of filmmakers. And I came from a time when people had a little shitty camcorder that you borrowed from someone’s uncle, and buying film was expensive. Things opened up and changed a lot when cameras became more accessible.

I could only afford one year of film school in Cape Town, where I met some amazing people and learned about so many different ways of storytelling. I came back to Denmark and found myself working for free a lot for other filmmakers while doing a side job. The paid work was very hard to get, but I’d rather work for free with filmmakers that I loved and have more responsibilities than have access to nothing. It wasn’t easy to find my way in, but it’s so worth it. 

And now you live in New York. How does this global background affect your general filmmaking style and approach?

I definitely bring a lot of Danish documentary traditions with me and hold it very dear. There are a lot of kick ass female documentary filmmakers in Denmark that have taught me a lot. There’s a good support system for women there. It’s an incredibly privileged place in that there’s funding from the government to make films. You can make things that, in my opinion, are often far more interesting because it’s not reliant on how it’s going to make money in the box office.

You’ve shot many of your documentaries in the past. So what was it like this time to be working with a cinematographer?

I always wanted to work with a cinematographer on my documentaries; we just couldn’t afford it. Now for “The Letter Room”, I worked with Sam Chase, who has got such a brilliant eye and it was wonderful to have someone to work with on composing the look of the film because I’m usually doing it by myself. It is kind of like a marriage. I work with the same editor on all my projects as well. You enter this symbiotic sort of dance together. For me, it also means you have to fight about things and disagree and then make up and hear each other out. My editor, Adam Nielsen, is the kind of guy who just comes up with genius ideas while in the shower or on the way home from work on his bicycle. You have to find these key people in your life where you can bounce ideas back and forth with.

Where did the idea for “The Letter Room” come from?

It was a story that was brewing in my head for a long time, but I wasn’t sure how to put a narrative film together. I just started to write it down and then it kept developing.

There was a podcast that I listened to that really inspired me. It told the story of different men who were all unknowingly writing love letters to the same woman. She started to ask for money and help with rent, but the letters she wrote were so wonderful and all these men were very in love with her. These very lonely men felt like magic had entered their lives. They all eventually found out that the woman was actually a man writing to different people trying to get their money. They were all heartbroken, but one of the men said that the worst part was losing these letters and that the fantasy was gone. He wished they could just keep writing to each other. So much of life is fantasy and trying to live through other people’s lives. I’m very drawn to stories of loneliness and bottled up feelings.

And then I am firmly against the American prison system. It’s heartbreaking, frustrating, and I can’t make sense of it. How do you even begin to explain this system to a child?

It’s a society that doesn’t care about humanity. I wanted to show the monotony, the repetition, the sadness. I don’t see the bigger goal or purpose of locking people away for countless years  and taking away all the things that makes you feel human, that makes life joyous. I really believe that we can all change and this system teaches people nothing. “The Letter Room'' is the combination of these two concepts that I’m very passionate about.

And then I got pregnant for the second time and I hadn’t made a film between the two. It was a crazy feeling to be taken over again by pregnancy. A wonderful friend of mine, Sofia Sondervan-Bild, came to me and said, “I think you should make this film and I’ll make it with you.” Initially, I freaked out and thought I didn’t know how to do fiction and doubted how I could make a film in a prison, but she inspired me and told me to do it. She’s just one of these incredibly powerful people that you want to go on an adventure with. She made me feel like my pregnancy wasn’t going to stand in the way of me making this film. We ended up shooting while I was far along in my pregnancy in a prison in the middle of a summer heat wave. It was crazy, but it was the best thing that I could’ve done at the time.

When you were directing on set at that stage of pregnancy, did you feel like you were reshaping tropes of what women are capable of? 

It was insane. The funny thing was that the crew was like, “we can’t complain that we are tired because she is extremely pregnant and still running around.” I was so high off of that experience. When we finished, I collapsed. I fell straight onto the couch and then I have a two and a half year old screaming my name. That was more work for me than directing the short. I edited the film right before I gave birth actually, and then I gave birth and did sound right after. I was pumping breast milk in the corner in the darkness during the sound edit.

I’ve learned a lot from surpassing whatever I thought was physically possible with being pregnant. I learned that being in a creative process gives you so much energy that it allows you to be in whatever shape, size, form, mental space you can. People are ready to give you their support, if you choose the right people. I’m really grateful that I chose such wonderful collaborators who supported me through it all. Even when people were questioning my choice to direct a film while being pregnant in a prison. Why not? Women get pregnant and then we still need to be supported so that we can continue to make the things we want to do.

What was your experience with getting “The Letter Room” funded?

It’s really hard, let’s be honest. There aren’t a lot of people sitting around waiting to fund a short film. We ended up working with Topic, which is a part of First Look Media. They are just incredible and really support filmmakers with whatever their vision is. I’ve had great experiences and some really bad experiences with funding, so I know this was an ideal scenario.

Having a short that is over 30 minutes long seems like a feat. At what stage in the process did you know this was going to be a longer piece? And how did that decision affect the shoot in both positive and difficult ways?

It was way too long at first, and when I shortened it, it was still 32 minutes. We could only afford five days of shooting, and a lot of it is shot on active prison grounds, which have an insane amount of protocol. We almost used everything we shot.

I’m not used to being able to have different angles to choose from in my doc work, so I think I just knew exactly what I wanted. I know that my producers were worried that I wasn’t getting enough, but to me, I was like, I’m getting double of what I usually get on a documentary! Everyone was quietly concerned, but everything worked out when we got to the edit.

The short’s length hasn’t done any favors for me so far, but you need to breathe as an audience, you need to pace it out. If I cut out certain minutes, it would’ve felt rushed and you wouldn’t have believed the arcs that the characters had.

I loved the concept of placing a very empathetic character in a setting that is contrary to that personality type. You included so many details that made the world feel so three dimensional and cared for. Can you talk about those decisions to create that feeling?

It means so much to me that it made you feel that way. What frustrates me about the prison system is that it lacks any empathy or understanding of human nature and nurture and who we are. What we need to become better people. It takes all of that away.

I spoke to people who have spent a lot of time in prison and they told me that you have to hide your feelings and that showing any signs of weakness will be a disaster. It’s the worst possible scenario you can imagine yourself in. Being robbed of every privacy, anything that makes you happy, anything that makes you feel like yourself. I imagined the character of a caregiver in this setting who wants to help and finds a silly way to do so. I was very inspired by that story of the love letters that I talked about earlier. What does it mean to lie if you’re making someone else happy?

It’s the morning of your first day of the shoot — how do you feel?

I was very nervous. I had never said ‘action’ before. I’ve been on a lot of sets, but I didn’t want to seem like I didn’t know what I was doing, but it’s also okay not to know. Mistakes are going to happen, and sometimes they become gifts. At the same time, I was very excited. You come in and there are all these people there with you who are there to make this thing you’ve written come to life.

What are some things you would do on set to create a safe space and vulnerable environment?

We did everything we could to make the set a safe space. It was very difficult and stressful to shoot in an active prison, but we made sure to actively ask our crew if everyone’s feeling okay and if we can do anything to make the situation better. I’m very vulnerable and encourage all of my crew to be vulnerable with me. Mistakes are welcome.

It's a short film, people come and work on this not because they’re making a million dollars, but because they want to be there and are being incredibly generous with their time and energy. It was such a good environment that even when challenging things came up, it was still a lot of fun.

What was it like working with actors for the first time?

That was one of the biggest challenges for me. I’ve heard so many different stories in passing of the least helpful note or worst thing to say to an actor. You want to be respectful and actors have their way of working. Ultimately, they are all really talented actors and all of them came with so much energy and a lot of ideas.

I spent time with each of them talking about their character. Those 1 on 1 conversations helped me a lot in the writing process as well because you’re bouncing ideas off of each other and they’re asking you questions about how they would respond to a certain situation.

I had always imagined Alia Shawkat as Rosita and she ended up wanting to do it and came from LA to film it. I had tears in my eyes when we were filming the scene of her and Oscar. They were excited to do the scene together. It was all a dream.

What was the experience of working creatively alongside your partner like?

We were joking a lot about it before because there was already the stress of being so pregnant and we have a 2 year old at home, and now I was putting us in another highly intense and demanding situation. Either it was going to be great OR we would drive each other nuts. But we had so much fun. It was wonderful to work together. I was so happy to be on set and make my film and he’s just so talented and fun to be around. Those little moments where you know each other so well—I’d give him notes and he just kept surprising me and was so respectful of my directions.

He found this photo for him to connect to the character and it became very fundamental to me. It was this incredible black and white photo from the 70s of a prison guard. I had always imagined that he would have this inner salsa soundtrack playing in his soul and we would play Rubén Blades and 70s salsa music and Oscar just morphed that into music into everything and created this unique character. 

And he was wearing a fat suit the entire shoot and I was pregnant and Alia Shawkat had her pregnant belly on. The three of us—it was so funny.

It seems like the perfect first experience of going into narrative with people that you really trust and support you.

Definitely! Find the people that you can team up with that really believe in your vision and who will push you to do exactly what you had in mind. People who never try to push you into these conventional routes. Our creative voices are so fragile. You want to be on the same page so that they see what you’re trying to do and want to bring that out of you. Where they’re treating your film as a sacred thing that you’re creating together.

How do you know when a film is done?

Fiction is very different from documentaries. With documentaries, it never feels like it’s done because there are so many options. That’s also why I love fiction so much; It’s so much faster. It’s a whole different beast to tame a documentary with hundreds of hours of footage where you’re reinventing the wheel every day.

How have you built up your own confidence as a director and your unique voice?

Stubbornness. I’ve had many experiences working with people who didn’t believe in my project. You have to stick to your guns and trust your instincts. Once you find your voice, you find people that want to go on that ride with you and find your vision interesting. It’s a miracle when any of us gets a project made, so your confidence can’t come from how much money your movie made. It has to come from somewhere else. Did you do justice to the people you portrayed in your story? Did anyone walk away feeling like something had changed within them?

What is a good director to you?

Someone who is driven with passion without letting that passion take over and become any source of frustration that’s taken out on other people. It should feel like a collaborative effort. And having gratitude every day that you’re making something with other people who are donating their time. You’d be nowhere without them. One of the most important things is making sure that your crew is treating everyone equally. It depends on the size of the production, but having someone who can sense what’s happening in all different departments and having department heads that are there to protect everyone. Listen to each other, and make sure everyone feels safe and is in the best place to be creative.

With COVID, what has the adjustment been like to being in an online space for this festival run? 

I’m really deeply saddened by not having the human interaction aspect of it. It feels so crucial to be in the room together, to meet and see each other's projects and share the experience, to cry and laugh next to people you don’t know. I’m grieving to be honest. We just gotta get through this time. It reminds us of how sacred it is for us to gather and how that feels, and I hope that all of that will come back after this and that cinemas will survive. We really need them.

What’s next for you?

Right now I’m writing more fiction and working on a new documentary feature that I am kind of researching and shooting at the same time. I am also creating a podcast about sex, called “The List” with my friend, writer and photographer Kirra Cheers, based on a book and play she wrote. My husband and I just started a production company together, Mad Gene Media, in order to develop and produce our own material. So. lots of exciting things to continue with in the new year.

Born in 1981 in Copenhagen, Elvira Lind graduated from School of Media and Creative Arts in Cape Town in 2006 majoring in documentary film where she received two awards for her final year achievements. She has worked within that field since directing and shooting documentaries of various lengths for TV, cinema and web on 4 different continents.​In 2020 she premiered her first fiction project, a 32 min short film she wrote and directed. The film was sold to Topic and was invited to various festivals including Telluride and Tribeca FF. Elvira's feature doc BOBBI JENE premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2017 where it won all awards in its category including Best Feature documentary, best editing and best Cinematography. The film had theatrical release in US, Spain and Scandinavia.​Elvira's first documentary feature Songs for Alexis premiered at Toronto HOT DOCS in 2014 and screened and competed at a long list of international festivals. Her 8 part documentary TV series "Twiz and Tuck" was bought by VICELAND and launched in 2017. Elvira now lives and works out of New York.

###

[alistonjdrake]

June’s World Building Cheat Sheet Part Nine: Multicultural

I kind of touched on these subjects before but as I’ve been doing lately I’ve had more thoughts and I want to do a deeper dive. 

Honestly while I’ve been thinking about this for a while and briefly mentioned it in a previous post, it really hit me when I was playing Crusader King’s 3 and my character became the Norwegian-Irish Emperor of Britannia and France, and a lot of my subjects had some qualms with my cultural identity and as I watched areas of England get Norwegian-nized and names changed I started thinking about cultural markers. 

To put it simply, a “cultural marker” is basically just something to quickly pinpoint where someone is from or what their heritage is. Of course these are not always super specific and there is overlap. Like, me saying I speak English does not immediately make it obvious that I’m American. But if I talked about what I grew up eating, regional slang, some things people wore commonly, you would probably be able to narrow it down. There’s also what I tend to refer to as the stereotypical cultural markers so if someone was to say “I’m from X” what’s the first thing that comes to people’s mind that they relate to that place and that culture?

I also started thinking deeply about language and language as an extension of someone’s identity. This also stood out to me in the case of empires or in places were dozens of cultures have blended. At some point, language either is or isn’t an extension of someone’s background but the language someone does speak can say a lot about them or the area they grew up as I mentioned in my last post with regional dialects or when a certain language might be considered the “default” among some characters.

Now, as always, I have to say I do not think it’s extremely pressing to give fantasy cultures so many layers. I don’t think it’s always necessary to have a throwaway line about people speaking multiple languages in your metropolitan city or the fact that the culture is either not a monolith on its own or new people have moved in. Do I think it spices things up a little bit? Of course. That’s why I’m talking about it.

The lack of especially falls short to me in settings, as mentioned, that are empires or densely populated or considered “centers” of the world. How many times have I read a fantasy university or guild settings or these expansive cities and all the characters were more or less from the exact same place, all spoke the same language, pretty much ate the same things, and had the same opinions on anything not a huge plot point. 

So Let’s Talk About Language (Again)

I’m not gonna lie. My nerd brain loved it when my Norwegian-Irish emperor took over England and instead of the names of familiar places changing completely they were just changed to sound slightly more Norwegian while still looking enough like what it used to be. I am upset with myself for never considering this before in my own work or thinking about it when I craft fantasy worlds, especially in settings where one group or place takes over another. The language would change or there would be shifts due to either

The sounds for the original thing they’re trying to say do not exist in their language

That’s simply how they pronounce it

Maybe they were feeling frisky that day and decided to change it just because. 

I think we see this most often especially with borrowed words. When a word more or less exists in several languages maybe because they’re taking on a title or a position, it’s not so much that the word changes but each one has to put their spin on it. Not always intentionally it might just be how they say it given either the limitations of their own tongue or how they heard it. 

In my last post I began to touch on this with the introduction of people speaking the same language differently in my Grazan Escan vs “regular” Escan dialect (the basis of this discussion just that people who live in Graza in my setting speak the language slightly different than non-Grazans which sometimes makes the language hard to understand for even native speakers). Last night I had another breakdown about how much I hate the common tongue and the concept of the common tongue and I’d like to also mention that if there is going to be a “common” language in a setting, I myself tend to use Escan as the common language because Escan is an imperial nation and have intentionally spread their language all over the place so a lot of my characters speak it, I think it is important to have some context as to why a language would be so widespread/ common. Someone would have had to go to these far places and teach people how to speak this language (and somehow walk away with it having no regional differences). Why would people in this setting think it a good idea to even learn this language if they have their own and rarely communicate with people outside of their community? What is the impact of a character having to take up another language in order to? In my recently finished draft of The Night Court, due to my own temporarily fleeting memory I forgot one of the main characters was going to a place where he could not speak the language and spent that entire half of the book asking for translations and not being able to speak to certain characters directly. Which, now that I’m done with the draft I appreciate more because I’ve definitely been in situations where I’m in a new place and my poor planning and education made me the only one who couldn’t speak the language and I had to have friends help me.  

This is where language as an extension of identity comes in. Could this character have assumed that his first language was dominant enough where he could travel to new places and not have to learn anything else? Or was it just bad luck and now he feels isolated in a setting where he cannot speak to anyone? What are the implications behind someone’s first language based on where they live? I just wrote two posts now talking about Prince Toli of the Escana Empire’s first language not being Escan and how that impacted his early life and how he appears by the time we meet him in the books. What does it say about the world characters live in where what language they speak and what language they learned to speak first has such an impact?

And in the reverse, what is the perception of someone being multilingual? It is expected in a setting? It is a bonus? A requirement of certain jobs or positions? A necessity to live in certain areas? Given how much court intrigue and political scheming I write I tend to have characters switch languages to avoid spies or eavesdroppers but on the other hand it’s also easier to make new allies if you extend the branch by speaking their language. 

Are there official languages? Court languages? Trade tongues? Coded languages you’d only learn for very specific purposes? 

Clothes And Culture: Sumptuary Laws & The Fashion Police.

This is a point I missed completely in my fashion post and I’m sorry about that. As with all my “advice” I feel it important to note I don’t ever expect anyone to go the extra mile nor do I usually think people need to. These are just things I like to sprinkle into a setting to give in breathing room or background information so it doesn’t feel like it was created just to serve a story purpose, but that it’s a world people live in. 

On that note. I’m very passionate about clothing. I’m encountered a lot of fantasy fashion in my day and I understand why people don’t ever find it relevant to mention certain things but as my setting is a late 18th century world in which the common people are starting to realize that royalty kinda sucks, it’s something I can talk about.

Like, the extensive labor that goes into making sure my royal characters have 100s of different outfits. Fashion is cheaper than its ever been but that was not always the case. There’s a reason why often see people in ye old days with only like 2 outfits for any given occasion. Characters and people who had constant changes weren’t just fashion forward, they were showing off wealth whether or not that was front of mind. To give some context as a lover of historical fashion and beautifully detailed garments, I did some quick math to see how long it would take me to recreate one of my favorite gowns by and. Given the intricate details, all the delicate beading and lace and all the fabric I’d have to buy (I didn’t even get into costs) it would have taken me at minimum 50 years. 

Now does anyone need characters going around talking about how Princess Zurina is wearing a gown that would have taken one man 50 years if not for the staff of seamstresses who likely work on her wardrobe? No. If a character in a setting is a seamstress or if the story has anything to do with wealth distribution and the extravagance and waste of the super rich, sure maybe throw it in there. One half of the book I’m working on is about political cartoons criticizing the royalty and wouldn’t you know if I go back to the time period I’m basing my work off of, you can find a lot of jokes and slights towards outrageous dress because people back then understand the labor that went into these garments. 

This is where I’m going to mention sumptuary laws. Basically, whenever I do my dives into fashion history I’ll find a lot of policing towards the way people dress. I mean we still have them now but maybe they’re not as apparent to us? And a lot of them used to be more class-oriented. One should not dress above their “means” or status which is where we get certain fabrics or colors meant only for certain types of people. But it also happened in the reverse where certain groups are designated things to wear so other members of the community know who and what they are. People not being allowed to wear certain things either because they would be related to deviance or offensive. Like characters in my setting cannot wear any shade of green around the king because dark green is the Escana mourning color and it would be considered as cursing the king to die.

Are there punishments for wearing the “wrong” thing? Is exaggerated wealth or having too many outfit changes something calls criticism if the character is at the top of the food chain (or maybe criticism them no mater social standing)? Are there any unwritten dress codes in a setting that people unknowingly follow? In settings where multiple cultures might exist or people from different backgrounds exist in the same place, do their choices in dress reflect cultural markers? And is there a stark difference between traditional (to a culture) clothing and modern dress? 

I think really I’m spewing this out because I want to see more culturally rich settings that reflect some of the stuff that I think is the most interesting things about a person which is what they wear and how they speak. But again, this is a personal preference and it’s just stuff I think about. 

[cosplayinamerica]

Medieval Sub-Zero :  west_coast_ccprops93

The character I cosplay is an original concept Sub Zero from the video   game series Mortal Kombat. I reimagined him as a medieval character   complete with armor head to toe, sword, shield and of course a knight’s helmet that resembled the menpo mask depicted in the video games.

There  are elements of samurai, Roman, Viking and medieval European influences.  The character I created spawns from a love of all my favorite fandoms  such as Lord of the rings, Fantasy RPGs like Skyrim and the Witcher  series. Mortal Kombat on the other hand has a deeper place in my heart  since it was major part of my childhood and a video game that my brother  and I bonded over. We both equally know all the lore to each character  and together have played and beaten almost every game in series over the  years.

Sub Zero was always a character I gravitated towards growing up. His   combos in the game were brutal and worth taking the time to learn, and   of course his ice powers (who wouldn’t love that?). His story line is   incredibly interesting being the grandmaster of a mystical Ninja clan   called the lin Kuei.

Sub Zero to me is a stoic, formidable character and  his presence always reminded me of someone of nobility such as a  knight. Of course that is not the main reason why I chose to go  medieval. all my cosplays including work I’ve done for others to an extent have been original designs. This has allow me to be more creative  and free with my builds instead of stressing to replicate for accuracy.

I had my first fan reaction from a couple of people that recognized me  from the previous year.  As soon as I took off my helmet they shouted  “omg it’s the Kenobi guy from last year!, we can’t believe you out did  yourself this year”. This was at a small event located in Temple, Texas  that I attended with a local comic con.  Other than that to my surprise  I’ve received lots of love and admiration from the online cosplay  community and my peers.  

Normally it’s tricky to change up a character  online then to receive negative reactions from people. Luckily the  people I communicate and engage with are for the most part other  cosplayers and makers who accept originality.  I absolutely cannot wait  to attend a convention this year and get dehydrated while looking  awesome!

THE OUTFIT

The entire costume revolves around a basic male armor template Purchased from Evilted.com and a basic knight helmet template from my friend   Ashen Warrior props. The rest is completely free hand using Eva Foam.  

Over the course of 2020 I started off first by building the chest armor.  I loved the aesthetic of Sub zero’s shoulder armor from Mortal Kombat  11.  By complete accident from a incorrectly measure forearm piece fit   perfectly atop the shoulders. Continued from there and added the   noticeable arch that swoops up towards the neck. I didn’t know at the   time but eventually it would cause issues for mobility when wearing my   helmet. I loved the look and  continued to keep the shoulders the same   despite movement complications.

 From there I Made my own MK dragon  symbol stencil, slapped that on the chest using Eva foam and called it  good.  The lower torso was missing something so I added interlocking  armor that also covered my waist. I did this after browsing concept art  and paying homage to the classic ninja Tabards depicted in the video  games.  I continued to add layer after layer through the year.

As I  stated before there was no clear vision for what this costume would look  like in the end.  Eventually I would complete the armor just by doing  free hand foamsmithing.

Late 2020 and the beginning of this year I  decided to retire my original sub zero costume and recycle the  materials. That was my first costume but it felt right to use the  materials for this evolutionary step in my cosplay journey. The original  costume was made using parts from a cheap sub zero costume from Spirit  Halloween, cotton fabric, a leather bomber jacket from a yard sale and  whatever I could find.

These were the missing pieces to Medieval sub  zero and added layers of details that sold the character and satisfied  my creative hunger.  The shield and weapons were also done free hand and  referencing random pictures from google. I learned a lot from doing  costume and prop weapons commissions through the year.

Keeping the costume comfortable, form fitting but also provide full   range of motion for posing and traversing crowds.  This forced me to   slow down and think before I made, making sure that each  piece   interlocks correctly. I don’t use any software on computers at the   moment (it’s something I should definitely be doing and would save me a lot of time). Now it’s my most detailed and comfortable costume to date.  

My wife and I recently did a photoshoot at a local state park. We hiked  a mile or two up and down hills and across creeks. Other than being hot  under the armor which is expected I was absolutely comfortable. The  hardest part was really taking the time to build something durable that  should last many conventions and hikes through the woods.

DISCOVERING COSPLAY

My awareness of “cosplay” and prop making didn’t start until late 2019.  Before then for years my brother and i would dress up together for  Halloween. We both have always customized our costumes since we were  young. We were very close growing up and what kept us tougher through  our parents divorce and other hardships in our childhood was video games. We grew up very poor but our imagination was rich. We spent our  childhood acting out our favorite characters. Then using sticks as lightsabers so on and so forth.

Flash forward 20 years. What motivated me was a Sub Zero mask my brother mailed to me as gift. I had just moved to Texas from Oregon  with my  wife and daughter. During that time, i slowly sunk into a deep  depression and a bad place mentally. I felt isolated, alone and lost. I  was away from my childhood town, friends, family and all that i knew.  I  contemplated suicide which was something I struggled with for years.  This was something I’ve dealt with all my life. I have PTSD and  depression from events in my childhood and teenage years. Each day is different, I’m either really happy or fearful , anxious and angry. I am  always in fight or flight mode.    

Well, my little brother sent in the mail a cheap Sub Zero  costume and a really expensive mask out of nowhere as a gift.  The  costume was too small and there were aspects of it that I did not like.  

Sure I was appreciative that he gave me a costume but I knew I could  remake it. So with no costume making, sewing or cosplay knowledge at  all. I set out to make a Sub Zero costume and was determined to make my  brother proud. I borrowed my wife’s grandmothers sewing machine and went  for it.

Taking apart the original armor pieces, a leather bomber  jacket and whatever I could find I made something out of shear will.   After that I felt confident enough to make my brother a costume as well  but this time using Eva Foam.  I spent weeks researching and overspending  on materials from Amazon.

Eventually we both had our dream costumes and I  was so proud ( mind you they were terrible) but we thought we looked so  badass and worth taking out.  That same year he flew out to Texas and  we attended our first convention together and first time  portraying our  favorite characters. It was a dream come true. Having people  complimenting and taking pictures with us was mind blowing, we felt like celebrities for a day. Two bothers from a small town now in a large convention amongst thousands of people, a community that embraces dressing up and expressing your fandom.

Prop making has changed my life in ways I never  thought it would. Personally it unlocked this creative and artistic  passion I never knew I had. I’ve always been creative but not focused.   It’s a hobby that keeps me sane and happy. It’s a beautiful and  wonderful way to express one’s self.  Keep making, painting, sewing or  doing what you love.  Hardships in life are unavoidable but your own  personal happiness is always in your control. I still struggle to this  day but now have an outlet creatively and a community of  friends /colleagues.

https://linktr.ee/West_Coast_CCPROPS

[gamergirlshelby]

OK SO, I wanted to do a bit of writing for the BNHA OC Comeback, so I decided to write about how Tokiya and Jaye's quirks could overlap, since Jaye is able to duplicate himself, I wanted to share my interpretation of whether or not a new duplicate would be effected by Tokiya's quirk if it came from a duplicate that is already being effected (hopefully I worded that correctly). This is at least my interpretation of how it would work.

Character Credits:

Jaye Rokuto: @ph-zer0

Tokiya Iori: @skiduffle (me)

Writing is under the cut:

Something had been bothering Tokiya ever since he had gotten a grasp on the mechanics of Jaye Rokuto's quirk. How would Jaye be effected by Tokiya's time displacement? Tokiya already had a working theory that his quirk would only effect the duplicate he had come into contact with, but this could easily be proven wrong after testing. Tokiya decided to finally put the question to rest and finally ask Jaye to help him test his theory.

Tokiya had approached the three Jayes as they had begun packing up their school supplies. "Rokuto, can I borrow you for a second?"

"Do you need one of us or all of us?" Said the first of the three, putting a notebook into his bookbag.

"I mean we couldn't really go that far without fatigue if we separated to far, so it might as well be all of us." Said the second.

"Neither of you have even let him say what he needs us for." The third said, looking in the direction of his two look-a-likes, then moving to face Tokiya "So what did you need our help with Iori?"

"Well," Tokiya began to explain, "I wanted to test using my quirk on one of you to see whether or not it would only effect the one I originally come into contact with, or it would spread out between all of you."

"I mean," The second Jaye began "It would probably be divided between all of us"

The first Jaye then immediately interjected "Yeah, I mean that's how we usually experience that kind of stuff"

The third Jaye interjected "Well, pain is pretty different then having your concept of time flipped on its head."

Tokiya knew that the three Jaye's would begin getting lost in their own commotion between themselves, so he asked "So will you be able to help me? With figuring out how my quirk will effect you I mean."

"Sure, I mean it's a lot better than finding out the hard way, and having things go south during a mission." The second Jaye stated.

"OH OH WAIT, we should go get something to eat after, too. I've been hungry since lunch." said the first Jaye.

"What do you mean? Lunch was only a few hours ago!" said the third Jaye.

"C'mon we gotta get to the gym before they close it for the school day." Tokiya said ushering the group out of the classroom

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once Tokiya and the three Jayes had made it into the gym, preparing to preform their experiment.

"Ok so I will be using my fastforward on you" Tokiya said, pointing the third of the Jayes. "After I activate it, I'm going to need all three of you to tell me how you are feeling, physically I mean, not emotionally, I mean I'll always hear you out if you need to talk about something but-" Tokiya pauses for a second "Okay I got off track for a second let me start over."

The third Jaye then cut in "Just tell you if we feel any faster right? That sounds simple enough."

Tokiya then began "Yeah that's about right." then Tokiya raised his hand right above the third Jaye's shoulder. "Are you ready?"

The Three Jayes had said "Ready." all together, and then Tokiya had put his hand on the third Jaye's shoulder, activating his quirk.

"Woah yeah I definitely feel a bit faster." said the third Jaye.

"Hey me two! Looks like our theory was right!" Said the second Jaye.

"Looks like all three of us are experiencing the fast-forward, but how are you doing Iori? Do you feel strained at all?"

It was true that the Jayes had been fast-forwarded, since they had been talking a LOT faster than they usually would, similar to the medium text speed to the fast text speed in a video game. "Yeah I'm fine. But it feels like I'm only experiencing the effects as if I am only fast-forwarding one thing." Tokiya was also experiencing the side effect of using his quirk, fast-forwarding at the same speed as the individuals he was using his quirk on. "But it seems like I'm going at 2x speed while you guys are going at a third of that speed."

"That explains why you are talking a lot faster than the three of us." said the second Jaye.

"Wait I want to do one last test. Can one of you create another duplicate? I want to see if the fast forward transfers over."

"Sure, one sec." Then as fast as the first Jaye had said it, a fourth Jaye had appeared.

"Hey guys what's going on- woah I'm talking pretty fast!" The Fourth Jaye had stated.

"Alright I don't feel that much different, but you all sound slower."

"Then it seems like as we divide more the effect of the fast forward divides more." Then the first Jaye turned to the fourth. "Alright taking you back in now."

"Alright, see you later, Iori." and then as fast as he had arrived the fourth Jaye had vanished.

"So uhh, are you gonna deactivate your quirk?" Said the third Rokuto.

"Oh right." And Tokiya deactivated his fast-forward.

"Alright well, how about we go out to eat, I heard there was this bakery that makes some pretty good bread rolls." The second Jaye said, walking towards the exit of the gym.

"Alright, but we're splitting the bill, I don't want you to have to worry about paying for my food." Tokiya said as he walked through the exit for the gym.

"Don't worry about it, Iori. I mean meals are always better with friends right?" said the first Jaye, as the last of his two duplicates disappear.

And as Tokiya walked through the halls of UA, with a faint smile on his face, he says "Yeah. I guess you're right."

[brw]

Reed and Sue for the character ask please?

REED

Sexuality Headcanon: I definitely see him as asexual!! Despite being almost 50 in canon he’s only ever really been with one person, Sue. He was only shown to have one girlfriend previously and even then their relationship for the most part seemed fairly one-sided so! Also despite being one of marvel’s oldest characters I could probably count all the times he seemed attracted to people on one hand fdcbfvhjvfbhj. he is an ace king <3

Gender Headcanon: A man but only by association <3 jk kinda but um i am fluid abt this! i definitely have written fics about him being trans or nonbinary so! but also it’s not a constant and i have plenty of cis-ish reed stories so yeah cdbdcbhjfcj.

A ship I have with said character: Him and Sue ofc is a big one :> one of the best classic marvel couples, if not the best! but ofc DoomReed is also a banger + him and Ben make a cute best friends to lovers dymanic fjhnfdv

A BROTP I have with said character: Him and Ben 2: the electric boogaloo vfjhfjfvjdv but um yeah! they have a very sweet underrated friendship??? like i’ve said, why don’t they hug more! they’re best friends and more people should remember that abt their dymanic reed is way too polite to ben jfc i’ve called my friends idiots (affectionate) at least 100 times. BUT aside from that he has a very nice dymanic with the other marvel scientists (tm), honestly “Atomic Knights Of The Round Table” how much more nerdy can you get jfc. definitely want to see some flashbacks to them playing DND cdddfhfvhfh. and finally him & jen! i find it very cute and sweet how close Reed is to random people tbh, he’s a human capybara.

A NOTP I have with said character: I dunno if I really have one? I haven’t seen anything that really made me go “ew” with regards to Reed. Most stuff is OK conceptually. I guess at a stretch (lol) that au where Natasha/Black Widow had a crush on him was kinda weird. But that’s about it dcbfdhjdfvdh

A random headcanon: IDK why but I see him as a clothes hoarder. One of those people who’s wardrobe is 80% stuff he borrowed and then never gave back from others bhcfdhbfvdh. When he does buy his own clothes they’re absolutely awful and garish <3 so he just ends up taking others. Perk of stretching; everything fits. I also think he could be good at baking but only when extremely stressed out idk why cfdchfdfdvhj.

General Opinion over said character: Legend <3 get’s a bad rep for sure. Just an autistic stretchy man who loves his family very much and is a good dad. I hope he’s having a good day. One of the Comfort Characters (tm) for me. Do wish his funko pop could like. stand up and not fall down BUT ASIDE FROM THAT. 10/10 a perfect character for my wants and needs. 

SUE

Sexuality Headcanon: Bi sapiosexual <3 /hj

Gender Headcanon: Similar to Reed I don’t have anything strong however her and reed have strong t4t vibes and I like the idea a lot tbh. Easily could be marvel’s trans milf representation if they were not cowards! but um yeah fchjfcdhfdhj. nothing strong but a lot of nice concepts <3

A ship I have with said character: Yet again, her n Reed! They’re very sweet and the fact that they’ve been going strong as long as they have is an achievement! BUT ALSO her and alicia have strong Gal Pals (tm) energy so that’s also fun. I also rlly like BenReedSue for her I just think she deserves to have two handsome boys love her a lot.

A BROTP I have with said character: Her and Jan Van Dyne have such a nice cute friendship! I definitely liked when you can see them go out for lunch n stuff and gossip about their pet scientists and kick ass together they should do it more often. They’re good friends! I don’t think it’s been on panel much but I would also like to see her friendship with Wanda! They obviously talked at least once bc Sue copied her opera gloves look for a bit so they obviously are close enough that Sue felt comfortable to do that, so I’d like to see more of them too! I think they’d have more in common than realised. and OFC her and Alicia again. Very sweet and nice. I like how much they care abt each other and look out for one another.

A NOTP I have with said character: Her and Namor <3 get that shit away from me

A random headcanon: NO idea why and I think this may be a latent piece of canon in the back of my mind that I cannot recall but I think she plays guitar, specifically base and is pretty decent at it. I also think that the few movies she starred in in Ye Olde Days have become cult classics now :>

General Opinion over said character: Wife <3 one of the most powerful marvel characters in universe and i’d like everyone to remember it! More than capable of kicking ass. should be allowed to go feral more often. Also deserves to be drawn as the 50 year old she is jfc stop making her look Vaguely 20 she is the same age as Reed and Ben and I will maintain this until the day I die <3 sufferer of Eldest Daughter Syndrome but we can’t all be perfect. Marvel keeps nerfing her by having her be written by D*n Sl*tt and B*rne because if they let her be the 50 something y/o milf capable of taking out the Avengers in 0.5 seconds she’d be too powerful for them to contain.

send a character!

[blog1917]

Family Treasure

La Cafetera

            My family treasure is our coffee maker. In Spanish it’s called “una cafetera”. I could confidently say that the coffee maker is something that my family system would agree to as a treasure for us. In all my sibling’s houses, my aunts and uncle’s houses, my cousins' houses and of course my parents' house, anyone who goes would find this one common object. The coffee maker is an object that is used in our culture. Making coffee in the morning for breakfast and sitting at the dining table together to talk about our plans for the day and share reminders. After every meal a small cup of coffee is shared amongst the family as a form of tradition and unity. The most important cup of coffee is the one we each share after dinner. This last cup of the day is where everyone comes together to share stories about their day. The reason why this one last cup of coffee is important is because it’s a symbol of love and laughter before everyone disperse to their rooms or get sucked into social media or calls. The beauty behind these magical, heartfelt moments are made up by the famous coffee maker; also known as the “cafetera”. Many coffee makers can be made, claiming that is the best way to make the most delicious coffee but nothing would ever compare to the cafetera. The sound that it makes while it’s simmering at the top of the cafetera is like music to my families’ ears. The strong aroma of coffee that fills the kitchen and slowly dances in the air of the hallway till it reaches one's nose as a light touch of heaven. To the delightful smooth liquid texture running down our tongue into our souls. This is something no other coffee maker can do. But the one and only cafetera will make it happen. As I describe my family treasure and how it’s been passed down from generation to generation, I am reminded of what I read in the article “What is a System and system perspective?” by Davd Aloyzy Zera. In the article it states, “For example, a child is a system comprising that individual, as are individual teachers and administrators who are constantly changing and evolving” (pp 18). This caught my attention because I thought about the many ways that we could make coffee in this generation and how we have evolved from what our parents and grandparents used to use to make coffee but yet for my family it is very difficult to change our traditional way of making coffee. Which brings me to the idea and concepts of how children have their own family treasures that they carry with them. Although, there might be another “new” evolved object that may seem more effective, it won’t be the same for that child to change out of what they’ve been taught at home. As teachers we must be open minded with the objects that each child is comfortable with and ask questions on why each object that the child carries with them is important to them and their family system. As a three-year-old child I remember gathering in the living room with the family after a delicious dinner. My mother would clean the table as the coffee maker was singing its beautiful tone screaming that it’s ready to be serviced. I could still remember the excitement of my family as they scooped a teaspoon of white sugar and stirred quickly causing a harmonic song above the laughter that filled the air. Although I was too young to drink the coffee, I still felt like I was a part of the family unity. The important part wasn’t the delightful taste of the coffee. It was always about the conversations and family time together. Creating wonderful memories that would last a lifetime. That is why the coffee maker is a part of my family's system. This is a part of who I am as my own system which is a small branch in the whole definition of what makes me Marlene. A great example of this is found in the article “Socio-scientific Issues Instruction” by Molly Ewing and Troy D. Sadler. It states, “For example, in order to understand how a plant grows we might define the systems of the plant itself with component parts (e.g., stems, leaves) making up the whole, which can carry out a function the individual parts cannot” (pp18).  This was described perfectly because it brought me to mind how I approach each cup of coffee especially when I know it’s made from a cafetera. I remember two weeks ago, going to visit my sister’s house and the first thing she did after we shared a meal was prep the coffee maker and set the table to share a heart-to-heart talk while we indulged on a hot cup of fresh coffee while her son sat with us drinking milk from his sippy cup. This is tradition, this is relationship, this is culture, moreover, this is a part of who we are as a family system. In each story family system theory is shown by how just this one object brought forth several generations together to share this one moment. From the time when I was only three years old and looked up at my family enjoying these moments. To the present time of my sister and I sharing these moments as my nephew would sit joyfully, just as I used to do as a child. My family cannot understand the significance of the cafetera and how it plays a great part of our family system.

 Community Treasure:

The Holy Bible

            My community treasure is The Holy Bible. Reason being is that I grew up in a Christian community in which my family was deeply involved in. My mother is a pastor, my brothers and I are in the music ministry and the majority of my lifetime I’ve always been devoted to my church and faith. I remember taking the bible everywhere I went, including school. The bible would be the book that I would use for reading time. Of course, my parents would give me age-appropriate bible story books, nonetheless in my mind I understood it as it being the Holy Bible. Ever since I could remember I would go to church every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday of the week. Plus, every Saturday for children’s events. Needless to say, all of my friends were and still are a part of my Christian community. Thus, The Holy Bible is undoubtedly a community treasure. The Bible is our common guide that brings us all together to be in the same mindset and have profound conversations. The value of the Holy Bible is unmatched for the members of my belief community. One of the most direct description of the important of community meaning in a child was found in the article “Toward inclusive understandings of marriage in an early childhood classroom: negotiating (un)readiness, community, and vulnerability through a critical reading of King and King” by Frantz Bently and Mariana Souto-Manning. The article states, “The connections with and between the children will carry and shape the conversation” (pp 197).  Which is very interesting to me because I thought about the connection of how a child’s character and mindset is molded due to the surrounding that child is exposed to. I recall a moment when I was in first grade, and it was reading time. All of my classmates were taking out their princess books or/and robot books, yet I was the only one taking out my Holy Bible book. My teacher pointed out that I could borrow one of the classroom books instead of reading the book I brought as if there was something wrong with my Bible book. This moment was very hard for me because my classmates started laughing and making fun of my book. Little did they know that in my mind I view my Holy Bible book just as important and interesting to me as their princes/robot books were to them. That experience led me to understand that teachers must take into consideration the importance of a Child's community. In my community the Holy Bible was and still is a beautiful treasure, which the stories never end and holds new meaning every single time a person reads it. Which leads me to the article, “Ecological Systems Theory: The Person in the Center of the Circles” by Nancy Darling. A great quote from this article stands out, which states, “When predicting the strength of association of parental knowledge with positive aspects of development (social skills, friendships with prosocial peers, good academic performance), one might predict a stronger association in high-resource environments” (pp 215). This quote brought me back to the way I felt in that moment when the teacher suggested choosing a different book to read. At that moment I felt very confident with the choice of book that I wanted to read. Not because I felt obligated to stick to the bible, instead I felt that I had a choice of my own and regardless of what others may think of my choice of book, I will remain strong with my choice. My parents never forced me to do anything unless it was regarding my safely. Which meant that I had the option of choosing what I wanted. However, due to the fact that I felt like my teacher didn’t understand the type of community I was a part of, it led to this moment of misunderstanding and what I felt was a lack of carelessness towards my community system. A great example of a moment when I felt like my community treasure was seen as the gem that it is, was when I would go on playdates with my friends, and we would each bring our Holy Bible with us. Showing each other the colorful pictures and sharing our own thoughts on what the pictures meant was the highlight of the day. As an adult I still have these moments with my friends, and we share such wonderful insights on what we understood of the bible. The value of the Holy Bible is truly incomparable. I wouldn’t treat it for any amount of money this world can offer me, and I feel that the members of my community would agree with me on this. 

Reflection:

            Family and community treasures promote family school community partnerships by bringing forth more clarity of each child and the systems that make them who they are as individuals. Understanding the cultures and values that bother the family treasures and community treasures hold is a powerful thing. Not only for the child but also for the relationship between the parents and the teachers. One Idea that I think would work towards bringing these two systems into another system would be to have the children express what one of their family systems or community systems is during circle time and use that information to pour into another system. A second idea would be to come up with a project where the parent could be a part of and have a presentation in class where both parents/family and child can speak about their family or community systems. Which would transition into a classroom system whereas a classroom, new games can come to be created. Overall, I think that each of the reading were perfectly clear on the importance of what systems theory is and how important it is in a Childs life. Which follows them into their young adult lives.  Most importantly as teachers it is important to be open to the different systems/ cultures a child brings into the classroom. As it was wonderfully explained was how Dana Frantz Bently and Mariana Souto-Manning stated, “To be a critical teacher is to embrace the discomfort of not knowing, to become vulnerable, to embrace the complexity of an identity that encompasses both teaching and learning (Freire 1998)” (pp 197). This is an important factor that all teachers must remember in order to bring for a great learning experience and journey for their students and their parents.

                                                                   Citation

 Davd Aloyzy Zera, Fall 2002, “What is a System and system perspective?”

Molly Ewing and Troy D. Sadler, November/December 2020 “Socio-scientific Issues Instruction”, The scienceTeacher.

Dana Frantz Bently and Mariana Souto-Manning, March 2, 2016, “Toward inclusive understandings of marriage in an early childhood classroom: negotiating (un)readiness, community, and vulnerability through a critical reading of King and King”, Https://doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2025.1104899

Nancy Darling, 2007 “Ecological Systems Theory: The Person in the Center of the Circles”

[greentrickster]

Just finished watching the movie Zombillenium for the first time, and gotta say, enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would! Mostly because I am a consummate coward, not because I thought the trailer or concept sounded bad. To borrow Amazon’s synopsis of it (and fix a few inaccuracies said synopsis had):

Zombillenium is an amusement park like no other : werewolves, vampires, zombies, and other citizens of the undead community are employed there…for eternity. One day Hector, a compliance officer, comes to control the park's safety and threatens to shut it down, even though his daughter, Lucy, dreams of going. When Hector learns the truth about the park’s employees being real undead, Francis, the vampire who manages the park, has no choice but to bite him, turning Hector into a Zombie to prevent him from spilling the secret or shutting down the park. Hector's only choice is to embrace the Zombillenium amusement park culture, save the business from bankruptcy, and try to find a way back his daughter who waits for him back in the 'real' world….

As for my own thoughts on the movie... well, obviously I enjoyed it. It’s a very simple story and the messages it has to share are pretty obvious, and if you look at it solely from that perspective, you might be tricked into thinking this movie’s worth a hard pass. But the strength of this movie comes from its unique art style, its interesting concept, quirky sense of humour, and some really great visuals. If you go in with a willingness to be charmed, you absolutely will be. This movie goes for a tingly thrill up your back rather than outright scares, and if you’re looking for something new to watch for Halloween with friends of any age then I highly recommend this!

One note to take into account, this is a French movie, and while it’s available with English dubs with some solid voice acting, the words and the mouth movements don’t always match up, so be prepared for that.

Also, if this sounds like your sort of thing, but you’d prefer a darker spin with a stronger horror element, you’re in luck - this movie is actually based on a series of comics by the same name, again originally in French but again also available in English. Featuring much darker themes and a slight variation to some characters and the overall plot, I found it more than my cowardly little self could handle, but stuck around long enough to enjoy a few solid laughs completely due to some pretty dang solid world-building and story-telling, not to mention it also having a great art style that the film drew heavily on for its own look.

TL;DR: The vampires think they should be the stars, the zombies understandably want to unionize, someone has actualized the concept that the one real fear is having to work in a theme park for all eternity, and I would love to see a sequel! It might not rock your world, but Zombillenium will definitely make you grin, and I highly recommend adding it to your watch-list this coming October!