#i managed to pick a diff artist for each one

[hoodie-buck]

music tag

Rules: Make a new post and spell out your url with song titles, then tag as many people as there are letters in your url.

thanks for the tags loves @prettyboyandthekid @imsupposedtobewritting @buddierights 💙

lowkey glad this is during my halloween url and not my normal long ass one 😂

e—emotions 5sos

v—van horn saint motel

a—all too well taylor swift

n—nj chelsea cutler

b—beautiful drama the faim

u—unholy sam smith

m—misery business paramore

k—keeping a secret bleachers

i—i found amber run

n—nobody hozier

b—bright echosmith

u—unsteady x ambassadors

c—coastline hallow coves

k—karma dreamers

l—laura hockey dad

e—eyelids pvris

y—ya’aburnee halsey

tagging: @fearlessdiaz @mansikkaomenabanaani @loveyourownsmiilee @moondiaz @honestlydarkprincess @justsmilestuffhappens @boohooweewoobuckaroo @swiftiebuckleyhan @djdangerlove @onward--upward @eddiediazisascorpio @prettyboybuckley @rogerzsteven @daughterofbuddie @ronordmann @dickley-buddie @blaidddrwg1982

[lunchador]

so when do we get the long post about your feelings about dragon age inquisition!!! i dunno if u wanna wait until dlc or not! i am i n t e r e s t e d (also its ok if u dont feel up to it im just!!!! again, interested in ur opinions/feelings)

kajsldkjf PLEASE I HAVE SO MANY DA FEELINGS ALL THE TIME and Inquisition was twice as long as the others so might as well do a word vomit now and I can always do another after the dlc (which several people have assured me are worth playing )

SO

Yeah so inquisition is long. I dislike open world games so a lot of the (super repetitive!!) side quests did grate on my nerves and that docks this game a few points but over all the LORE IS SO GOOD, and it tying in so many choices in from 1+2 is the greatest butterfly effect I ever experienced in video games. I thought telltale + Until dawn were fun for that but good LORD bioware has showed up all of those games and I am really stoked to try mass effect when its out later and play more bw games. I only played Anthem before this and that game seemed...idk, gutted against BW’s wishes.

ANYWAY

Yeah, I managed to go into the whole DA series knowing very, very little, despite how many artists I followed did fanart for it. Once I started playing, I added all the words I could think of to my blacklist but a lot of untagged stuff came through (fair, series is 10+ years old and inq is like what 4-5?). I allowed my friends to pressure me into playing an elf mage for the lore and to romance solas cuz they said he was as important to the story as alistair was. A lot of online followers said I should play how I wanted, which I def would recommend to anyone else, but honestly I can see where they came from and while he never would have been my first choice, I think he actually paired REALLY well with my Inq and how I was playing her. I put her as sensitive but trying to put her responsibility above herself, she was definitely the least funny of my 3 characters, but not incredibly serious. A bit reserved? Just more mature. She’s got faith but she didn’t think she was the chosen one but she’ll do her role the best of her ability. She makes hard decisions and then sobs her chest empty over them because how is one to ever feel like its the right one? I really like how the game lets you choose how you wanna approach the responsibility. Like i said, I wasn’t a reluctant chosen one, but she will do what she can. Versus my friend playing at the same time as me said he played as the second coming of jesus essentially lmfao Having so many characters come back for different roles was so GOOD!!! Like everyone told me Varric was in this one but were like ‘teehee you still cant romance him though’ but you how you play drastically changes your relationships with each person. Tons of characters I met I knew would be personal favorites but I ended up interacting way less because others were more fitting to my inquisitor. So i.e while I love Varric and would’ve smooched him a heartbeat with Hawke, I didn’t get that vibe with Clover. They were really good friends, he was a grounded friend with a sense of humor that was a good escape from everyone else and the ~inquisition~. At least, until the Beyond the Abyss quest. That obviously heavily fractured their friendship and hurt them both :( And i felt that for a long time, until the end. He looked tired. Poor guy is gonna be borderline dead in 4 at this point. But so many side characters you talk to coming back like Dagna and Samson??? Speaking of that quest, I got Stroud because, yeah...Alistair was dead for me and APPARENTLY IT COULD ALSO BE LOGHAIN??? If he stays a grey warden??  wish I did that so def would’ve preferred to save Hawke even if I think the wardens are more important as a concept but like.......i wanted to behead him, so....But yes even tiny details like..Varric wrote home to kirkwall to Carver for me because the rest of my family was dead and I never completed a full romance in 2 lkajslkdjf but the fact that changes based on your play through. BUT YEAH THE way this game weaves all your decisions in and how yeah, overall the story is the same but it makes it so personal to YOU and so different from everyone else ;w;

But I could see my Inq genuinely falling for Solas, and I see her best friends as Cassandra and Blackwall/Thom. Really close to Leliana and the Iron Bull as well. I just loved all their interactions. All the characters were so cool to get to know?? Like I thought I would’ve hated Cullen (hes a dick in O) and tbh I just got into the series as the VA was being a complete shit. But I liked him a lot!! I love the work buddies vibes between the Inq and the advisors. I thought I was going to love Sera!! And like, I did, but she hated my Inquisitor and their personalities clashed a lot. Shes the only one i didn’t get a cut scene for in the end :’) I loved coming back from story quests and having to take like 20 minutes to go around skyhold and make sure I talked to /everyone/ for their new dialogue. You genuinely feel connected to all these wonderful npcs ljkasljdf

I wanted to make Cassandra the new divine but I made leliana on accident and kinda dug it so I stuck with it. VARRIC IS THE NEW VISCOUNT??? h i l a r i o u s.

One of the things I loved the most in this game in particular, and while this is something in all of them it just really struck me in this one, was....everyone gave up so so much to devote themselves to the cause, y’know?? Like, it’s almost heartbreaking how much everyone loses and they’re still looking towards you with their belief and willingness to follow you to the end ;-;

The final fight almost felt, Idk, underwhelming? Dude dragons are way tougher than him asdkjhfkhjd. I even went up a difficulty in this game after feeling like I got the hang of the series. But at the same time, we just spend how many hours knocking down each and one of his advantages so fuck him lol.

But yeah there are so many things I wanted to do but I felt so worn out by mindless sidequests and story being level locked in comparison to the previous games. askdjhflkd

One of the things that blows my mind is so so many people were stoked i was playing DA and they couldn’t wait til I got to Inq, and so I find out most people I know only ever played Inquisition? TBH if I didn’t play O+2 I think I would’ve dropped inquisition and never finished it *shrug* all of the build up just means SO MUCH!!! Everyones argument seems to be the older games are ugly and yeah O has rough battle system but its easy to get over imo. Like, you need the chaos of 2 to get the real weight of the mage/templar stuff?? Theres so many characters and story and dialogue that go over your head without Origins?? Like yes inq can stand alone pretty well but, idk, I’m in love with this entire series and the world building and THE!! WAY!!! IT!!! ALL!!! CONNECTS!!!!!!!!!!!

I love how a quest can go differently by whos in your party, I love you can have more dialogue based on lore you’ve managed to pick up around, I love HOW COMPANIONS BICKERRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! The lore of these games are so good. It’s like playing an epic line of novels. It’s so immersive and I don’t think I’ve played too many games to this level.

I didn’t like the skill trees to being a mage in this one, Idk why. It wasn’t nearly as fun for me as 2, but then  again I really fucking liked being a force mage haha. I wanted to be a rogue to complete a diff class per game but everyone said mage brings a lot more interesting story/lore stuff so

but yeah I love having the full context now and seeing other peoples Wardens/Hawkes/Inquisitors and asking people how they played and how their options differed from mine and THERES JUST SO MANY POSSIBLE DECISION TREES!!!!! No wonder the fans play over and over.

but yeah ultimately so much fucking happened?? I’m probably missing a lot of key points.

[hoedameron]

but before i go looking in the tags, let’s talk about my latest gifsets!

what a worker bee i was both yesterday and today with prodigal son AND loki <3 never have i created so many gifs in a short amount of time it’s a damn miracle that my photoshop didn’t straight up cough up blood and keel over. alas, us bitches are stronger than that! if this post gets flagged because of the scenes i included....that would just mean that i made the right decision to exclude those scenes ajsdksajkldsa

malcolm stabbing martin

when the episode finally downloaded, i took a peek at the ending before it aired to see how it all ends (just in case it doesn’t get renewed </3). GOSH, was i just in a TIZZY when i saw this happen and i couldn’t tell my dad what i saw because we were straight up watching the show as it aired. anyways, keeping my secret knowledge, i got to work on making this gifset. i missed a huge chunk of the episode bc it took me over TWO hours to make the six gif set. i was really torn on the “artistic” approach aka which scene to gif and which to leave out. because i saw the ending before anything else, i couldn’t play it out loud and i didn’t have my headphones to listen so i was like FREE FORMING THE SUBTITLES. plus the captions weren’t synced up so it was really hard to decipher what was being said :( 

i really thought i would be able to create the set before 9 but i was running into unforeseen issues such as the subtitle problem, which on top of that, like i said earlier, my photoshop is c/racked and janky so....you catch my drift. i was actually going to gif the bisexual moment in the cafe which i think would’ve been MUCH easier but i jumped the gun and wanted to make the gifs of the shocking ending. funny part about that is the shocking part wasn’t even included in my set (malcolm driving the knife into martin) because i felt like the scene was too short...anyways, let’s talk about the positives:

i really do like the coloring of this one. i used a psd that i’ve used before and luckily it’s meant for outdoor scenes with greenery so the gif really popped. sharpening, buddy ole pal, love you sm. the caption was kinda last minute but i hoped to save it with the gradient. cropping was a bitch because for some reason, it takes forever when you’ve made multiple gifs beforehand (cache innit) pero we pulled through! i actually started not saving the psd files to try and save time which is very unusual for me pero i was getting frustrated with photoshop so i was like y’know what....so i just gave up entirely and stopped saving. i do save when i’m taking my time but jeez, it’s a bad habit. i like saving the psd file because i never know if there is a mistake i missed in post and when i go to publish it, it’s blatant and it needs to be fixed. please, save your psd files idc if it takes up space u can just delete them later. IT HELPS !! TRUST ME!!

first & “last” appearance

i actually premade gifs for this gifset! unfortunately, i didn’t realize that three of the five gifs were the wrong size (pictured above) because i flipped the ratio. instead of 268 x 250, i made them 250 x 268. i don’t know HOW i managed to fuck that up but luckily i saved the psd files (wink, wink) so the coloring was still intact. i think i had to restart photoshop or it was getting too late so i picked it back up in the morning. sucks that i had to remake the entire gif from scratch but we will take some wins xx

coloring is the same with the previous gifset (listen....it’s a good coloring) and i actually did have an alternative coloring that was very warm pero i didn’t end up using it. almost melted the two with the “last” appearance of gil but ultimately didn’t go through with it. also i was thinking of using baby malcolm as the first appearance because technically, that IS his first appearance in the show but i was like...just use adult malcolm lol. also i know that scene of dani isn’t the “first” but the first scene she has goes really quick and she is planked by gil so there isn’t much of a solo (even though this scene isn’t much of a solo either pero it’s better than the former). the lighting is weird in this episode and my coloring tried their best :/ i know gifmakers make each gif a diff coloring pero i’m lazy okay and looking to be time effiencent. another slight tangent is that i actually queued the post for the morning but since i woke up to a storm, i was like, i’m here so i’ll publish it myself.

other than that...i didn’t run into any other problem. i was actually hesitant to make the caption that because i wasn’t sure how to really describe the team. i have poor memory so if there was ever an official name, i do not remember it. i did a quick google search pero it turned up nothing. i stuck with “dream team” because, well, that’s what they are. plus i didn’t want to tarnish the gifset with any mentions of p/olice (i was thinking about putting sumn along the lines of ‘the nypd team’) so DREAM TEAM IT IS because it’s true! you cannot have the show without these five! also, i should’ve used quotations on “last” because there is a bunch of talk about a renewal pero...just in case... sorry y’all :/

odinson brothers parallels

this was made in the spur of the moment. i saw that the teaser trailer with shirtless loki dropped in hd, i came A-RUNNING! it was posted like 47 minutes after the fact and i was like...somebody probably already made a gifset of the scene so i was like...gosh, to make the gifset or not all the while i was trying to download the video. trying because again, this was in the middle of a storm so my wifi was acting up and wasn’t at its strongest (whatever that may be). so i was getting frustrated because neither cc nor 4kdownloader was downloading this small one minute clip. that’s when i knew i was gonna be too late to make the loki gifset so i was like whatever ig...

then i had an idea.

i love parallels so luckily it hit me that this paralleled with thor and how his hair got chopped off. so, i knew i had ragnarok downloaded and got to work <3 wasn’t sure what dimensions to use so i went with 268 x 268 to make perfect squares. because the loki scene was short, i could only make three so i was like..okay, i can work with this. three for loki, three for thor, they’re brothers and they share! i wasn’t planning to add subtitles but i had written them down for the plain gifset so i was like alright, we’re going all in. i didn’t take that long to make since again, they’re small gifs and i did have a coloring in mind that i always use for ragnarok (it’s my fave for non-marvel edits as well). there was a slight adjustment to the final loki gif because i realized the gif had that dark fade into the scene which i didn’t know if it was an artistic choice for the show itself or was added for the trailer only (it happens when companies cut a bunch of scenes together and it’s not at all how it actually plays out). i didn’t want to take any chances so i cut those parts out. i know the gifs are short on the loki side pero...that’s just how it is in show business.

thank you so much for listening and hearing me out! i like discussing my work and i try to have pride in them even if the numbers don’t reflect what i hope they would. either way, still learning, still growing, still thinking about buying p.s. like deadass this shit is RIDICULOUS -_- imagine opening up ps and like...it opens up in less than two minutes...shivers

[unproduciblesmackdown]

thank you teresa and soph for tagging me for 2020 Creator Wrap: Favorite Works

Rules: it’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 (or so) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought to the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread love and link each other to awesome works!

no particular order lol. wait also i didn’t quite follow “favorite” i suppose, i like, judged by Significance. but in a way that was still plenty subjective, so

tayston kiss on the Mouth - self-explanatory like of course it was crucial to draw a Tayston Kiss and i finally got around to it. also when i opened it now it was like “oh nice that’s cuter than i was remembering it even” lol. rly enjoy taylor here too like them in a tee and i like that they’re leaning back a bit but w/drawing their forearms/hands where i did it feels like they’re pulling winston in and i’m just overall like “nice that turned out well” @ drawing them here. i also personally enjoy the Blush Patch drawn in one linear stroke between them. it’s fun to try to have that essential detail be both Soft enough but also have some geometry to it b/c i’m always On That

riawin kiss on the Mouth - same thing all over again lol of course i had to draw it. and it started with several different failed attempts which was annoying but then i got this one in one night and it works well enough. also has a fun clothing detail in rian w/a hoodie (of winston’s) and once again i draw the hand-on-jaw l’intimacy and i think it Works Well again b/c why wouldn’t it, classic. also i’d been intending to draw the Lines detailing rian’s hair curls rather than silhouette and that was pretty fun to just jump into. oh i did the same thing with the Blush also, s/o to that. and the fact that there Is that height diff as depicted here....hopefully artistically successful in having you Think About It

tayston embrayston Cuddling - i think the first proper Fanart Of Fic? so that’s crucial. helping put the essential tayston ideas into the world and hopefully helping put People into Reading Said Fic, i’m glad this turned out to have enough of a relaxed vibe to do the concept’s written execution some justice....this was also just a success of “the colors i put down originally managed to be really Incongruous palette-wise” and i had to wrangle that situation with some added Layers lol but now they’re soft and nice i think, a much more Congruous pink-purple and i’m now remembering i struggled a lot picking a Solid Bg Color even though now a pale yellow seems like an obvious choice, s/o to the little border highlight around them i like that too....things turned out solidly here....enjoying the Geometry going on re: winston’s sleeve lol

agtikbi reprise - again i think it was Important to have done something for this absolutely iconic bit of media, thank you so much obcr for including this track. did a bunch of coloring for it (ft. many purple overlays as usual lol but that was always the plan) and the lineart i knocked out pretty fast w/o worrying about editing it super hard but it turned out solidly which is always a gift. really this was one of those “yeah it takes a while but i make pretty consistent progress and just knock it out in a couple of days” works ft. a decent amount of detail and that’s always an Epic Win and again i love agtikbi reprise so much so it was Very Good to have officially done something for it. also i’d been meaning to draw jeremy again for eons so that accomplished that goal too

monthlong riawinning - the opposite experience but also I Guess its own kind of win, where drawing is not quite as cooperative and one thing takes me A Month where it’s v much not consistent progress and i Do edit a lot which has pros (looks kinda fancy i guess) and cons (sweating details unnecessarily / overthinking or second guessing stuff / forest for trees or whatever / it takes ages and was it worth it....) like when i started with the Lineart Layer i was like “uh oh i’ve Cleaned This Up a lot but there’s already stuff i like too much to Restart this even though i’m not even close to halfway done yet” and yeah it took me ages to finish with lineart that’s been entirely Cleaned Up but then hey, you get this one thing with Completely Exhaustively Edited Lineart....i’m very Particular about like these self-imposed geometry rules re: lineart / shapes according to my own ~aesthetic sensibilities~ and stuff so like, it’s not even just a matter of Are The Lines Fairly Uniform Width / erasing stray marks / making sure the lines are all Closed and stuff, and even w/ the finished product it’s like “oh i could’ve connected some lines in rian’s hair for more Flow or moved this thing over by a few pixels or w/e,” isn’t that always the way though....it’s fun to have 1 Thing from this year v polished though. and i like the riawin contribution of “what if winston went down on rian and then there was this Snapshot Of Affection afterwards ft. an embrace and a kiss and the love language of tenderly feeling him up in the process” i was like “is this all Obvious or am i being too coy” and i was being too coy but here come opportunities like this one right here to make the meaning clearer i hope. that’s part of this pic’s Importance as well lmfao. the content of it and all

(everyone is tagged i think lol)

[randomoranges]

Proud

here’s a second thing for Monmonton Day!

og thought of this towards the last leg of advent calendar AU - then i forgot about it - then i remembered it once i was done with advent calendar au and then i was like maaaaan, i liked the idea tho. so i put it on the back burner but then realised i could use it for today!

things you need to know:

err year mtl has a mural festival where diff artists paint murals (and not only on walls) for the festival. 

last year my friend was selected to paint one of three stm buses for this event. the bus was then actually used and ran on one of the lines

info here info here info here

that being said, happy reading

Proud

Étienne hummed to himself, focusing on the task at hand, tongue sticking out as he painted motif after coloured motif; he still couldn’t believe that out of the hundreds – if not thousands of applicants, his proposal had been chosen to paint one of three city buses for the special mural project in collaboration with the city and Mural Festival. Each bus would actually circulate on one of the many bus circuits and each one was attached to a specific theme – one was the circus, the other was pride and the last one was sports. He’d applied for all three, had made various different mocks for different ways he could explore the themes and finally, he had been chosen for the “pride” one – he still remembered when he’d gotten the e-mail, about a month or two ago, and how completely elated he had felt. On top of that, his bus would actually be in the pride parade and he would spend four days painting his bus during Mural Festival – it was quite honestly the coolest work he’d gotten so far and he absolutely thrilled at the idea of it.

It was already day three of his work session and even though he was making good progress, he knew that he would have to work overtime, well into the night, if he wanted to get everything done by tomorrow night. He was used to working under tight deadlines, but whenever he took a break, he worried he wouldn’t make it and that he would let every one down. Last night, he had walked up to see the other two buses and he had marvelled at how advanced the other two artists were. Then again, his design had many little details, whereas the other two had blocked off large parts of the bus with fewer colours. Yet, Étienne was confident he would be able to finish and he had even asked a friend of his to come and help and honestly, that may have been his best decision yet.

Étienne loved the vibe of Boulevard St-Laurent as people walked on the closed off street to observe the various artists that were stationed here and there that were working on various different mural projects. He loved overhearing them ooh and ahh over his creation and loved to stop for a chat, or to pose for a photo when they asked him about his work. It was great exposure and great fun. It also helped that the weather was holding up and so far, he had gotten three really decent, warm days and the vibe was absolutely fantastic.

“Excusez-moi, êtes-vous l’artiste de c’t’autobus là?” Étienne turned around and looked down from his stepladder, to see who had called out to him and he let out an excited shriek when he found Edward standing below, “Eddy!” He nearly threw his paintbrush in his haste and excitement, as he went down one-step and then decided to jump off the ladder towards Edward – the ladder wobbled precariously and Étienne nearly managed to topple them both over and into the crowd of people as he enveloped his boyfriend into a tight hug. Étienne realised that he was probably covered in paint, but by now it was already too late and he hoped he hadn’t stained Edward’s clothes. Edward somehow or other managed to remain upright while maintaining a grasp on a very excited Étienne, who seemed far too pleased to see him, “I can’t believe you came!” Étienne said, releasing him from his hold to get a proper look at him, before planting a firm kiss to his lips, laughing. In truth, Étienne had absolutely wanted Edward to come and see him, but Edward hadn’t wanted to bother him while he worked, knowing he had a lot to do and that he only had four days to finish the bus. However, he was curious to see the progress of the bus and he wanted to scope out the festival. It was the first time he was actually in the city for the summer, and even though the heat was insufferable, he had to admit that the plethora of festivals and the myriad of activities that were offered were certainly luring him in.  

“I figured you could use some refreshments,” Edward took the grocery bag from the floor that Étienne hadn’t even noticed and pulled out two ice cold bottles of water, an apple, and a bag of cookies. Edward’s rewards for his troubles was another hug and a series of “You’re the best!!” followed by another kiss to his cheek. “I also brought you sunscreen, since you seem to have discarded your work shirt, again and I don’t want you to turn into a lobster,” Edward knew there was no sense in arguing with Étienne, since Étienne would say that it was very hot outside and that he was melting, even if all he was wearing was a pair of short-shorts and the flimsiest, thinnest tank-top Edward had ever seen. “I bet you I’d be a sexy lobster, though,” He pouted and Edward rolled his eyes and told him to turn around so he could apply sunscreen on his back.

“Curly, how do you manage to always get paint all over yourself?” Edward admonished gently as he quietly marvelled at the paint splashes on Étienne’s back – he could have understood if he had accidentally leaned on the wet paint, but this was a whole other level. Étienne shrugged and let Edward apply the cream, leaning further into his contact, enjoying the small reprieve, “Are you going to stay out late?” Étienne nodded and Edward sighed, taking the sweater he had brought along and placed it in the bag of provisions. He thought he would need it, but apparently, when it was thirty degrees in Montreal, without the humidex, they meant thirty degrees for the entire day and it wouldn’t even dip that much at night. Knowing Étienne, however, Edward knew that he wouldn’t have anything warmer to throw on when he was done and that he would freeze the moment the sun went down. The last he needed was for Étienne to get sick.

“Give me a call when you’re done? I’ll come pick you up with the car,” Étienne picked up his paintbrush and resumed his work, frowning at Edward’s offer, “But I might be out ‘til late…” The last thing he wanted to do was bother Edward, “I know; which is why I’ll come pick you up. I don’t want you taking the metro at some godforsaken hour with all your stuff and I don’t want you to take a cab either,” He paused, “Or worse – walk.” Étienne gave a sheepish smile at that and pretended not to know what Edward was talking about, even if he had actually walked back all the way home, lugging his cart of supplies with him, at somewhere close to three the other day, “Are you sure you don’t mind?” Étienne asked, hesitating before applying the next stroke of purple paint to the bus. Edward rolled his eyes and handed Étienne the water bottle – before his boyfriend got too engrossed in his work and forgot he had one, “I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t sure – drink.” He added; Étienne uncapped the bottle and took a long drink, “Thanks and okay then, I’ll call you,” Étienne finally agreed, much to Edward’s relief.

They chatted for a little longer while Étienne took a break to eat his apple and Edward was so very glad to see that his boyfriend was doing better. Winter had been particularly hard on Étienne and Edward was happy to see that same familiar spark of joy and life back in Étienne’s eyes. He was back to his usual enthusiastic self and this project was a good look on him. Edward became engrossed in his conversation with Étienne, pulled in by his animated way of talking and his ever-contagious smile and he probably would have spent the rest of his evening leaning against a dry part of the bus, talking with Étienne, listening to his excited ramble, had it not been for a woman who politely interrupted them to ask Étienne about the project. Edward stepped back to give them a bit of space and watched Étienne interact with her. He observed as Étienne’s face lit up at the sound of the positive feedback he got from the woman and hoped it was all Étienne would ever get. He knew how hard Étienne worked and knew he had spent countless hours on this particular project.

 “Let’s go to pride together,” Edward said, once the woman thanked Étienne for his time and left; Étienne was surprised by the suggestion, never thinking Edward would want to go, “Let’s celebrate your success, your bus… us…”Edward’s cheeks took on a pretty shade of pink, but he wasn’t the only one with a flush on his face, “Y-yeah?” Étienne asked, making sure he had heard correctly and that this wasn’t some weird daydream he was having. “Yeah,” Edward said with more confidence, “I’m proud of you – I’m proud of us and this bus already looks great – I can’t wait to see it finished,” Edward rose on his tippy toes to peck Étienne’s cheek and Étienne responded by enveloping him in a hug, “It’s a date then!” Étienne laughed – he loved having Edward around for the summer – loved all the different outings they could do during his favourite season – loved being able to show Edward this other vibrant side to the city and further expand their relationship. Sometimes, he found himself thinking of what it would be like to have this forever – for him and Edward to grow together and the thrill of it had him smiling – there were so many things they could do together, so many things he wanted to do with Edward and it was crazy to think that this was something that was on his mind now, when before he would have never even considered it.  

“Oh, before you go, I want a picture with you!” Étienne fished out his phone from his back pocket and motioned for Edward to get closer. Étienne slung an arm around his shoulders and made sure his phone was on the selfie setting before snapping a few pictures, “Thanks for coming by and I promise I’ll call you when I’m done,” They exchanged one last hug, before Edward headed back, with a final wave. He paused before turning on the street corner for one more glance; Étienne was already back on his stepladder, paintbrush in hand, back in his little bubble, painting away. Edward shook his head, fond, and walked towards the métro; he loved this ridiculous man, he did, truly, and he couldn’t help but wonder what other crazy projects they would get involved in.

As expected, the bus turned out great and Étienne managed to finish on time. During the pride parade, the STM put large speakers on it and blasted a remixed edition of an old song they had made back in the 70s as an advertisement. The overall effect with the crowd and the people dancing around the bus was amazing and Étienne had been so very pleased with the outcome. Étienne and Edward walked proudly behind the bus, holding hands, and it was quite honestly, a really good day. When one of the parade organisers found out Étienne was in the parade, they got one of the local papers to interview him and the photographer snapped a picture of him and Edward together, next to the bus.

When the paper was released the following Monday, Edward took a few copies for himself and he mailed a copy to his parents back home. He was proud of who he was and more than happy to remind his parents that he was thriving, no matter what it was they thought. As for one of the other copies, he cut out the article with the photo and put it in a scrapbook, knowing that one day he would look back at this fondly.

[csykora]

i don't know if you know the answer, but if you do, would you mind explaining why some Russian names are always transliterated the same way (like Никита to Nikita), but some very much aren't? i've seen Evgeni, Evgeny, Evgenii, Yevgeni, and Yevgeny - is one 'more right' than the others?

Thanks for asking! You’re right, there’s some whacky variation in the League right now, and it’s something I’ve been wanting to talk about for a while.

(I’m going to focus on North American English speakers: if you’re not, sorry! The basics should still apply and make sense.)

The NHL follows the International Ice Hockey Federations 2011 standard for transcription of Russian names. Probably.

The NHL is a loose confederation of franchises. Historically, it’s been up to each team what they wrote on their Russian players’ jerseys. A lot of their creations were more artistic than phonetically accurate, but the surname would stay pretty consistent for PR and jersey purposes. First names were a free for all, with the team and official NHL media or licensed materials like video games all spelling them differently.

It’s still technically up to teams, but since 2011 the League is pushing a little harder to pick one spelling and stick with it across all media, and to have the spelling reflect how the name should be said.

Any Russian player who came over before 2011 is grandfathered in as whatever spelling they were assigned at the time, for PR reasons. (Like Craig MacTavish being the only one on the ice without a helmet, but less horrible.) Anyone who debuts in the League today should, theoretically, be assigned a spelling that follows the new rules.  

The IIHF transcription standard has three basic principles:

Sound-emulating: Yevgeni instead of Evgeny

Simplicity: Yevgeni instead of Yevgeny, Alexander instead of Aleksandr

Consistency: same spelling for same name (and different spelling for different names)

Sound-emulating  

What does Russian sound like?

This is one of my recital pieces, Tchaikovsky’s Moy geni, moy angel. Music is a great snapshot of the sounds that a language likes to use, particularly the vowels. Listening here, you’re going to hear a lot of “eh” and “ooh”, a lot of soft schwa sounds, and no “ae” or “oh”—the only long vowel is “ee”. You might pick up an odd nasal quality to a lot of those sounds, as if the singer is actually say, “yeh” or “yoo”.

Russian has different phonemes than North American English. A phoneme is “any of the speech sounds which are perceived to be a single distinctive sound in the language. An example is the English phoneme /k/, which occurs in words such as cat, kit, scat, skit.” There are a couple Russian consonants that seem to give English-speakers trouble (most obviously Ж in hockey fandom. The (Y)evgeni(i)ys just have to go and confuse North Americans more by also calling each other Женя, “Zhenya”, which fans often try to say with a G or a J sound. It’s pronounced like the S in “pleasure” or “treasure.”) But mostly, it’s all about the vowels, which don’t line up with English spelling or pronunciation very neatly.

In North American schools your teacher probably talked about how English has long and short vowel sounds.

And Y does double duty, as a mystery vowel and a consonant that can jump in before or after other vowels.

You’re not really going to hear any long vowel sounds in Russian, except for ē. Instead, Russian has hard and soft vowels:

The hard vowels are close to English short vowels. The matching soft vowel is pronounced pretty much the same but you glide into them with a “y” sound.

So Э and E are  “ĕ” and “yĕ.”  

O and ё are “ŏ” and “yŏ.” 

(Standard Russian speakers splinch O and A (“ŏ” and “ă”) into a schwa sound, a phenomenon called аканье/akanye.)

And so on.

The exception is Ы and и, who are both shifty characters. Ы drifts between ĕ and ĭ,  and и moves between ĭ and the long e sound.

(“и” also happens to mean “and.” You’ll hear hockey players, especially Kuznetsov, make a sort of horrible high-pitched eeeee sound all the time in interviews. That’s Russian Hockey Player for “…uh….” )

й is the Cyrillic character for the Y-consonant sound after a vowel, as in “Moй/Moy”. The symbols ь and Ъ can also appear on their own, and they palatalize the consonant before (adding a sort of Y twist to the end of it), or explicitly forbid you from doing that. This sound is rendered with a J or a Y after the consonant in different Russian transliteration systems. The IIHF uses Y.

So when we get transliterating, we’re going to have to have Ys all up in everything.

Евгений 

This is where the many Yevgenis come in. 

Every Евгений is best said as “Yev-gen-ee-y.” (I’d say it kind of ends in a little Y twist, but that’s because it’s kind of easier to say and a Cyrillic spelling artifact. You say “Yevgeneeee” or “Yevgenee-y” depending on your natural voice and how quickly you’re speaking.)

You don’t necessarily say the first syllable with a heavy Y like “yeah,” but the glide has to be there. “Eh-vgen-ee” would be an entirely different name, spelled Эвгений. And Э just isn’t a very popular sound in Russian: only 2 male names start with it. Maybe there’re some hipster parents out there naming their son Эвгений right now to annoy people, but otherwise, no.

Simplicity

Since Y is playing an important role in the basic vowels, we don’t really want to use it to represent the long e sound the way it sometimes does in English.

So “Yevgeni” is preferred over “Yevgeny” or “Yevgeniy.” Yevgeniy is the most technically accurate, but let’s be honest, North Americans are going to pronounce them all the same and the second two are just way too much Y.

The one time you will see reliably Ys standing alone is in patronymics. Yevgeni Kuznetsov’s father is also named Yevgeni, so his full, intensely boring name is Евгений Евгеньевич. “Yevgeneey Yevgen-ee-e-vich” is not exactly a delight to have to say. The suffix -евич/-evich means something, so you don’t change the letters in there, but you can drop the last vowel of the first name and palatalize the last consonant, making it into an easier “nyuh” sound. So it becomes “Yevgenyuh-evich,” which we can transliterate as Yevgenyevich. 

With a name like “Aleksandr,” the IIHF standard says go ahead and spell it as the familiar “Alexander,” because you’re gonna pronounce the two the say anyway.

Consistency

So every Евгений whose name is pronounced the same way should be spelled the same way—and players whose names are pronounced differently…should be spelled differently.

Семён и Сёмин

The IIHF standards were introduced after feedback from Russian players, most directly Semyon Varlamov.

By 2011 the NHL had officially spelled Varlamov’s given name, Семён, as:

Simeon

Semyen

Simyan

Simyon

Semin

and of course, Semen.

Ah, cross-cultural respect.

Listen, the fact it’s Varlamov makes that feel just. But it was being done randomly to everyone. 

And it was especially on the nose because Varlamov was on the same team as  Александр Сёмин—Alexander Semin.

Semin’s surname, Сёмин, is pronounced something like “Syaw-min”. (Akanye turns it into an A-sound, which is how his nickname, Сёмa, is pretty much pronounced “Sam,” rather than the way North American fans probably read it when they see “Sema.”) Under IIHF rules, his current KHL jersey is spelled SYOMIN.

But when he entered the NHL someone said, “That sure looks like an e to me,” and wrote down “S-E-M-I-N” Few years later that same spelling wizard looked at Семён (pronounced “Sim-yawn”) and said, “Man, I got this.”

Team officials, media, fans, even their teammates read the Latin spellings, naturally assumed their names were pronounced the same way, and went around calling both of them the same thing. Someone yells something that sounds like “semen” in the locker room, or on the ice in the middle of a game, and both of them have to turn around.

Semyon addressed the pronunciation with media, pointed out the confusion with his own teammate, filed paperwork to officially change the spelling (because he had to do that, the League had functionally taken away his name), and contacted the IIHF to ask them to step in, which they did.

(Semin did…nothing, because he would literally rather turn into a snow leopard and run away to nap in the sunshine and eat flowers and squirrels and live in the forest forever than talk to an official. So his name is still spelled SEMIN.)

More “Right”

Pronunciation isn’t a moral issue. As we grow up, our mouths learn to shape the phonemes we’re using all the time and our brains trim away the nerve connections for making sounds we don’t need. Some of us can learn some of those back, and some of us can’t, and we certainly can’t learn very well if we don’t have examples and help.

And it is strikingly hard to find that for Russian in North America.

Until the ’90s, management and especially announcers had no way to hear names pronounced before they had to try to spell or say them because there was no real cultural exchange between North America and the USSR: no TV, no radio, no way to hear the voices of Russian people except briefly on the ice. Miracle had Al Michaels recreate his goal calls because at the time he’d only had a hasty list of the Soviet line-up that he begged off the officials, and he took a wild swing at Vyacheslav Fetisov. A decade later Fetisov came to America and we were able to hear him speak and learn his name.

It’s unimaginable now, but when Ovechkin was drafted, many broadcasters were calling him “Alexander ov-itch-kin,” not “Oh-veh-chkin.” Because they actually did do their homework: they were trying to listen to Russian-language broadcasters and recreate their pronunciation. If you hear a Russian speaker say it, the middle vowel does sound a lot more like an I than a drawling North American “eh.” But then we all said it a thousand times a day and our mouths settled into sounds that are comfortable for us.

Which is fine, we’re not in any way Wrong for calling him “Oh-veh-chkin.” Just saying a Russian person’s name differently than native speakers say it isn’t a horrible thing. (‘Native speakers’ of every language fight each other all the time, too.) What matters is respect: trying our best to transliterate and pronounce a name shows that we’re listening to that person and we’re valuing them.

I think it says something that it’s still hard to hear any Russian in North America, it’s still hard to learn these names, and so we still say them in a very North American way.  Even if we’re not the ones making it, the Russian voice still mostly exists in our consciousness as a joke.

Sometimes that joke feeds into innocent not-quite-accuracies. And sometimes like with the Se(i)(y)(o)mi(y)(o)ns, it feeds something that feels a little…less of us.

It’s been 16 years* and we’re still turning their names, one of the few personal things they were able to bring with them to the foreign world of North America, into dick jokes. It’s hardly the worst insult in the world or in the NHL: making each others’ names into dick jokes is hockey players’ primary sport. It’s just that the foundation of the joke is, “I actually didn’t take the time to listen to you say your own name,” and that makes it seem small of us. And it seems smaller after they made repeated requests and took legal action to ask for their names back, and we’ve not only kept doing it, most of us don’t know or remember that they asked us to stop.

some very much aren’t

It’s worth remembering Russians still make up a small percentage of the NHL, and most of the active Russian NHLers came over before 2011.The Russian voice in North American hockey is still small. So the spelling of Russian names is still controlled by North Americans NHL officials, and it’s a small and wild pool of possible spellings. Change comes slowly, if it comes at all.

Most of the new prospects’ surnames do seem to have been effectively standardized, but I’m not really sure where future Yevgenis stand at this point in the NHL. Евгений Свечников is the newest I know of: under IIHF rules he’s Yevgeni Svechnikov, but it seems he’s still being spelled “Evgeny” in the NHL. Because it’s such a common name and several Yevgeni-spelled-Evgenys have been high-profile players, we’re all already used to seeing Evgeni and Evgeny, and NHL officials might easily choose to keep using them for PR reasons.

This was fun! somebody ask me about nicknames or patronymics or the Czechs next, please. I need to keep expanding my embarrassing tabloid glitterbomb vocabulary.

[kayliemusing]

Survey 6

Put your music player of choice on shuffle and list the first 10 songs - Betty by Taylor Swift - Broken by Lovelytheband - Make Me (Cry) by Noah Cyrus - One More Weekend by Against The Current - When We Were Young by Adele - Honestly by Gabbie Hanna - Carousel by Melanie Martinez -Brokenhearted by Karmin - Ashes by Celine Dion - Lover by Taylor Swift

If you could spend a week anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? Would you take anyone with you? - I’d love to go to NYC, because it’s a place I’ve always wanted to go and it seems so inspiring and lively there. I’d take my mom and sister with me.

What is your preferred writing implement? (eg. Blue pen, pencil, green pen) - Blue or black pen, and I like for my ink to feel super flowy and smooth.

Favourite month and why? - I love December because of Christmas time but I also really like May because the sun feels so much brighter and it’s starting to warm up.

Do you have connections to any celebrities (even minor)? List them. - When I was a kid, my dad’s cousin knew Michael J Fox.

Name 3 items you could pick up from where you are. - My phone, my notebook, and my headphones.

What brand logo is closest to you currently? - Asus (the computer I’m currently using. Don’t know about a “logo” tho. Just a brand name.)

Do you ever play board games or other non-computer games? Got any favourites? - YES. I’m obsessed with matching games on my phone. Right now I love My Home, Property Brothers, and Design Matters. I love them because they make me not think and then when you win levels you get to decorate your home which I find totally fun.

A musical artist you love that isn’t well known - Of Monsters and Men. I think they’re a little known, but not overly. One of my fav bands of all time.

A musical artist you love that is well known - Taylor Alison Swift

What is your desktop background currently? - A portrait of trees in the mist

Last person you talked to, and through what you talked to them - My mom and we talked in person.

First colour name you can think of that isn’t in the rainbow - White

What timekeeping devices are in the room you are currently in? - My phone, computer I’m currently using, and my switch.

What kind of headphones do you use? - The apple ones that came with my phone.

What musical artists have you seen perform live? - Lmao the Jonas Brothers when I was 10 and Marianas Trench when I was 15. 

Does virginity matter to you? - Yes, but I don’t care what others choose to do. 

What gaming consoles do you or your family own? - Switch, WiiU and PS4

What pets do you have? What are their names? - 2 Siamese cats, Archer and Misty.

What’s the best job you’ve ever had? - Sephora as a cashier, which I’m currently at. Obviously it’s not a dreamboat but they’ve treated me the best and I’m not totally miserable there.

What’s the worst job you’ve ever had? - Chapters. I feel like it had potential to be a good job, but I was in a really bad place so I feel like I didn’t perform to the best of my ability, but in saying that, they also lacked community there. I could go in and out of that store during my shift and no one would say hi or bye to me. I didn’t have any work friends, and I found management not that nice. Whereas at my job now, it has its flaws but I do feel like we’re kind of a family which I never would have expected because of my experience at chapters.

What magazines do you read, if any? - I don’t read magazines unless it’s an article about Taylor Swift because I love her lol

Inspiration behind your URL? - I have three blogs, so the inspiration for this one was just to the point; I do surveys. My main blog @autumnsletters was inspired because I love words and love letters and autumn so I just threw them together and then my Taylor Swift inspired blog where I geek out about Taylor was inspired by a lyric from a song called I Think He Knows. (@sixteenavenue)

Inspiration behind your blog title? - For this blog, it’s a spin on a Taylor Swift song called All You Had To Do Was Stay where I just inserted the word survey, not that smart lmao. On my main blog my title is “Give you my wild” which is from a song called Peace from Taylor, and then on my Taylor blog, it’s “You’re not my homeland anymore” which is from her song Exile. So I’m very Swiftian.

Favourite item of clothing? - My turtle neck sweater from Dynamite. (I bought three just in diff colours but my favourite is the red one.)

Are you friends with any exes? - I don’t have exes, but I always find it kinda weird when people are friends w their exes because I feel like you can’t come back to friendship once you’ve crossed the line but what do I know.

Name at least one book you loved as a child. - I’ll Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. (I think that’s the title but I’m not totally sure.)

What’s your native language? If that language has distinct regional variations, which variation? (eg. AU English, US English) - US English

What email service do you use? - Gmail

Is there anything hanging on the walls of the room you are currently in? - I’m in the family room so there’s a few things. Some canvas’s of random patterns, shelves, a nyc painting, and then a big rustic canvas of a bible scripture.

What’s your favourite number, and why? - 22, because of Taylor has a song called 22 (surprise surprise) and it’s also doubles and an even number which I like.

Earliest moment in your life you can remember? - I always have this random, very faint memory of being in this double stroller with my sister when I was probably 2 or 3 and she was in the seat in front of me and I was in the back and my parents were behind me talking and it was sunny outside.

What did you have for dinner yesterday? - Chinese!

How often do you brush your teeth? - Morning and night. Sometimes I escape to bed before brushing my teeth if i’m super tired but definitely every morning.

What’s your favourite candy/chocolate? - Maltesers

Have you had other blogs on Tumblr? Do you have any other blogs currently? - Yes, I talked about them just a few questions ago. I have this one, my main, and my Taylor inspired one lol. My main blog has gone through a series of phases throughout the years lol.

If you were suddenly really hungry, what would you choose to eat? - I like to go for easy to grab food. So bagels, muffins, cereal. Something super quick.

What fandoms would you consider yourself a part of? - Swiftie and A Court of Thorns and Roses fandom

If you could study anything, what would it be? - English and Communications, but I’ve always stayed away even though I’ve wanted to study those because I’m terrified of public speaking and I also feel like I’m not quite smart enough. Sad but true.

Do you use anything on your lips? (eg. Chapstick, gloss, balm, lipstick) - I like wearing Fresh watermelon lip balm when I’m not wearing makeup or I have my mask on. Generally when I have a full face of makeup on, I gravitate to lipsticks or lipstains.

How would you describe your sense of humour? - Dry/self deprecating and sarcastic.

What things annoy you more than anything else? - Kanye

What kind of position are you in at the moment? - I am sitting on my couch with my legs stretched out in front of me and resting on the coffee table.

Do you wear much jewellery? - I never wear jewelry but I’d like to start wearing necklaces and getting my ears pierced so I could wear earrings again. 

Who is the leader of your country, currently? Any other levels of government with leaders? (State, region, province, county, district, municipality, etc) - Trudeau

Last 3 blogs on your dashboard, not including any of your own - I won’t name them, but one was a Taylor related blog, one was a writing blog, and another was a literature blog.

What do you carry your money in? - My wallet/debit card

Do you enjoy driving? Why or why not? - I don’t mind driving, but I’m obsessed with other people being angry at me for some reason so sometimes driving is stressful if I make a mistake or when people are behind me, I’m constantly checking my rear view mirror so they won’t think I’m bad at driving. It’s dumb, I know.

Longest drive you have ever been on? - When I was a kid and we drove to BC and stopped at literally every freaking town on the way there.

Furthest away from home you have ever been? - Victoria BC

How many times have you moved house? - Once and I was like four lol

What is on the floor of the room you’re currently in, not including furniture? - A blanket, suitcase that needs to be put away, some cords from the lamps, and a random canvas that hasn’t been hung up yet.

How many devices do you own which can access the internet? - Four,  I think.

Is there is anything that is guaranteed to always make you happy? - Feeling creative and Taylor Swift music. Money, too lmao

Is there anything that always makes you sad? - Books where the two people pining for each other don’t get/stay together, getting super existential, seeing homeless people on the street, thinking about my dad who passed away.

What programs do you currently have open? - Tumblr and Word, because I’m avoiding writing because I don’t know what to say.

What do you associate the colour red with? - Taylor Swift lol. But also Christmas and passion.

Last strong smell you can remember smelling? - My garlic knots coming out of the oven <3

Last healthy thing you ate? - One (1) apple slice lmao

Do you drink tea or coffee, and how much per day? - Neither, both are gross.

What do you associate the colour blue with? - Sadness or gloom, usually. 

How long is the closest ruler you can find? - I don’t think we have a ruler and if we do, it’s in a drawer upstairs somewhere and I don’t feel like digging for it.

What colour pants/skirt/etc are you currently wearing? - White sweats.

When was the last time you drank water? - Probably yesterday yikes. 

How often do you clear your browser history? - Never.

Do you believe nude photos can be artistic, rather than erotic? - I guess it could be interpreted that way, but nude photos just kinda annoy me.

Ever written fanfiction for anything? - Yes and I’m not telling you for what.

Last formal event you attended - Oh, I don’t even know. It’s been YEARS. Probably my cousin’s wedding way back when in 2014.

If you had to move your birthday to another date, which one would you choose and why? - December 13 so I could have matching birthdays with Taylor Swift 

Would you prefer to be at a beach or in the countryside? - Countryside. I hate the beach. The idea is nice, but I hate feeling hot and then I’m surrounded by people with nice bodies and I’ll just start to hate myself, and I never feel like I can wear the summer clothes I want to so it just makes me spiral.

Roughly how many people live in your town? - I have no clue. Thousands maybe.

Do you know anyone with the same birthday as you? - Yes. A girl I went to school with and also Jensen Ackles and Justin Bieber 

Favourite place to shop? Can be a certain store or a place where there are multiple stores - Dynamite and Colourpop.

Do you have a smartphone? What kind? If you don’t, do you want one? - I have an iPhone 11 Pro.

What is your least favourite colour, and why? - Navy blue, because it’s ugly.

How do you spell grey/gray? - G R E Y

Go to your dashboard and describe the image shown in the radar section (below the “Find blogs” link) - N/A

What difference is there between how many followers you have, and the number of blogs you follow? - I have 1,374 followers and I follow 1,969 blogs.

How many posts do you have? - Good lord. Too many.

How many posts have you liked? - Not sure.

Do you post mainly reblogs, or your own content? - Mostly reblogs and occassionally I share my writing but I do this thing where I share my writing and I get 2 notes and then I start re reading my writing over and over until I hate it and delete it and fall down this spiral of shame.

Do you track any tags? - no

What time is it currently? - 6:17 pm

Is there anything you should be doing right now? - I’m supposed to be writing because I’m trying to turn it into a routine so I can be more successful with it, but I’m avoiding it because I get so overwhelmed with how little I’m writing/what I’m writing/not knowing what to say, etc.

[cruelwritersthesis]

how would luke react to nick? like i keep imaging it in my head, like maybe luke never went twith the whole over throw the gods thing, maybe the gods kinda enslaved him instead, who know? All i need to know is how luke would handle nick being in love with tori. (A drabble, full length thing, bullet point headcanons I DINT CARE I NEED ANSWERS)

i was almost like: yeah! here are some headcanons

*lists them out*

then was like…wait

this is my story. nick is my character, and while luke isn’t my character, i have created an au, which is my au with my oc, so these aren’t even headcanons they’re most def canon

tho…canon that are subject to change, should i ever like actually address this in my story XP

also sorry this took me so long, i’m home for winter holiday and was spending time with my mom and getting presents for my friends (at the biggest, bestest bookstore, i could live there if they’d let me)

anyway

so let’s say luke comes back to camp somehow, someway he’s back at camp

and like the camp’s pretty okay with it???

but luke def gets a lot of “that’s the scary blond guy with the scar?” from the young’ins and “oh great the scary blond guy with the scar is back” from everyone else

but uh, that’s kinda a tangent

luke’s back everyone!

tori can’t keep anything from him bc she’s tori and she loves him so fucking much

besides, she’s a terrible liar around him bc he knows all her tells

it’s worse bc he’s a son of hermes, who is like, the god of reading tells

hermes is a trickster, a con artist, of course he’s gonna know how to read tells what

anyway, at first tori kinda just forgets abt it as she do, but luke doesn’t fail to notice the wounded doe eyes nick gives tori whenever she interacts with luke

and so he finally brings it up

side note: luke is super territorial abt tori, so he notices anyone giving her any sort of eyes

and not like in a possessive, unhealthy way, he’s just like…he loves her so much and no fucking way is he gonna let anyone else take her from him

not that he thinks she’s just drop him like a hot cake, but bc he’s a jealous bastard

and so it tori, so like they’re made for each other

back to the main point, he brings it up to her one night, on the roof of the hermes cabin (shhh)

and she just kind of freezes for a moment, trying to work out the best way to break it to him

she’s a little afraid of how he’ll react. not that he’d ever hurt her, but she doesn’t want to see him angry and hurt

of course, he’s angry and hurt anyway when she finally does reveal what that’s all abt, but he can’t help it and she knows this

she def tells him everything: the magic tricks, the growing closer, the kiss (yikes™), the uh…the fact that nick is now hopelessly and helplessly in love with tori (oops)

and from that point on nick would most def be enemy 第一个 (which is basically “number one” in chinese hey everyone always uses spanish so i though i’d mix it up a little, also i’m chinese so) in luke’s eyes

at first, nick’s most def intimidated by luke

big shot–almost destroyed the world, then saved it, is now back at camp, is older, and has a scary scar on his face

but nick doesn’t show it, he closes off his emotions instead

and ppl perceive this as him backing down and being a little meek abt it

it’s bc of his heritage, having grown up in two diff cultures: chinese and american

in china, ppl are taught not to really show their emotions, esp the men so like he falls back into smth that’s comfortable, self-contained, and safe for him, which ppl then misconstrue as meek

putting up his walls protects him from the emotions he’s afraid to feel: the hurt to know that tori really is forever out of his reach, his anger and jealousy toward luke

luke and nick don’t interact at all, and since tori’s nearly always with luke, leaving nick little to no time to hang out with tori like he’s been doing (just as friends, but he’s never gotten over his feelings toward her)

luke just gives him glares every moment he gets, and gets overly touchy-feely with tori to make sure nick knows that tori is his

and yeah it sounds a bit possessive, but luke is also 110% tori’s too (she owns his ass, bruh)

it’s all mutual and respectful, anyway

tori, as per yuzh, is oblivious to the fact that luke may be, just a little, slightly jealous

nick just pretends not to notice luke

until it becomes too much and his more americanized cultural side comes out

nick gets kinda aggressive

but it’s like an inbetween of aggressive and passive-aggressive

he doesn’t outright challenge luke to a duel or anything

but if luke starts to glare at him as they pass, he’ll make it a point to glare back

one time he even shoved luke’s shoulder

that’s what starts the feud between the hermes cabin and the hecate cabin

officially apollo is swizterland

unofficially, bc tori will always side with luke (even if she says she doesn’t), the apollo cabin sides with the hermes cabin

her siblings grudgingly side with her, but they’re don’t exactly wish luke well, despite how much their half-sister loves him, but they love her enough to stand by her decisions

luke saved the world, it doesn’t look like he’ll be trying to destory it anytime soon, “we’ll let him live. fine”

side note: they def, at one point after luke’s return, kidnap him, tie him up, and interrogate him for tori’s sake

not that they really need to, knowing his devotion to her, but they gotta enact some kind of revenge

it kinda backfires bc luke is impeccable at undoing knots with his mind if he concentrates hard enough

but then he gets an arrow to the foot, so

tori’s not horribly happy hearing abt this, but knows that her siblings just did it bc they want to take care of her and love her

but her siblings do make luke’s life a living hell sometimes. any chance they can get, really

anyway, back to the main

capture the flag is terrible

hecate may wield magic, but you should never underestimate a con man or a trickster

not to mention they’ve also go the apollo cabin who has magic of their own

the rest of the cabins just kinda pick sides, make bets

it’s been unheard of amongst the pantheon of a hecate/hermes feud, so siding over old parents’ feuds doesn’t work in this situation

speaking of, the gods are having a grand ole time watching it all pan out on hephaestus tv

don’t put hecate and hermes in the same room tho

you bet your ass aphrodite is having a hay-day with this drama. she’s done enough meddling in tori’s life, tho, and she knows that no magic of hers is going to make this into a love triangle

luke and tori’s love for each other is too deeply intertwined, breaking that bond would literally kill them at this point and she’d rather not anger hermes or apollo

leave their kids alone dammit

zeus only allows this to continue–luke living, not necessarily the sit-com–bc the gods, even hera, is finally focused on someone else’s fuck-ups and not his (literally and figuratively speaking)

chiron has to break up fights daily, and does his best to keep luke and nick apart

tori is angry at both of them for letting their testosterone fuel their thoughts

she talks to them each, separately abt how immature and stupid they’re acting

“this isn’t high school”

“luke, you’re like 24 now, stop acting like a child”

“nick, stop provoking him and grow up”

it doesn’t work

tori then tries to reason with lou ellen, who doesn’t really want to hear it at first

mostly bc being in a feud is fun, her mom is finally getting recognition among the camp

tori goes to will to try and talk some sense in lou ellen then bc she’s tired of this fighting

despite, at the end of the day, always sneaking over the hermes cabin to snuggle with luke

only snuggles tho, bc she’s mad that he’s acting like a brat, maybe the occasional kiss

that’s right! no sex for you luke, sorry not sorry boiiii

nick stays at camp just to piss luke off, like he could leave, bc he’s def done enough training and he really should focus maybe a little harder on his school work and shit, but this is too fucking fun

he’s a vindictive little shit

tori’s tempted to knock sense into both of them, literally, when this goes on for weeks

instead she wails on them during training

chiron tried to get nick into a different class, but tori was having none of it

so she’s spars with nick, absolutely going all out on him

luke it’s a little harder, bc damn he’s good, but she lets her anger and annoyance fuel her enough that she certainly makes a point

tori explains to luke over and over again that she was just confused, lonely, and hurt

luke totally gets it, but his jealousy doesn’t fade, and the more nick provokes him, the more he feels the need to defend himself

so it’s just a vicious cycle of testosterone-induced mutual hatred jfc boys calm the fuck down

eventually, tori manages to convince lou ellen to help end this petty feud

so they end up locking the four of them–nick, luke, tori, and lou ellen in a room

lou’s there as a mediator

and tori is too, but she’s been known to get violent so, everyone thought it best someone else be there with her

this doesn’t solve anything bc men aren’t socialized to work things through with words *sighs*

thankfully a fight doesn’t break out tho

it almost does, but tori threatens them with a swear on the styx, and they grudgingly back down

so the feud continues with no sight in end, much to tori’s and chiron’s annoyance

and basically all the other cabins other than the hermes and hecate cabins

i’m not really sure how to end this definitively, but i hope i answered your question thoroughly enough

thanks for sending this in! it was actually really fun to think abt XD