#i often say my older art looks happier

[just-a-mod]

i got to talking about some little creations of mine called boo-bles with my friends

and then i wanted to sit with my little babies

so here is some art of that

[s0kkix]

Would it be too much to ask, how do you draw your faces? / avoid same face syndrome ?

etc etc

not too much at all, thanks for the ask !

the way i think about faces is like a puzzle - the eyes, nose, lips, ears, chin, etc. being the puzzle pieces. it's a sort of "mix and match" game.

for example, these three characters all have a similar, strong nose and droopy eyes with puffed eyebags (except for azariel in the last pic), but thanks to different face shapes, body builds (how a character is built also reflects in their face) ears, hair and other details the characters can be told apart.

incorporating your character's personality into the face design is a great idea. perhaps the way they express a certain emotion is different to the way other characters do. maybe their resting face is happier-looking than another character's. the face is a big element of character design, because it's a tool of storytelling on its own.

take a look at my lucifer, for example. woah ! what the hell happened to them ? (he's still pretty though)

the face should entice, force the beholder to ask questions about the character and be curious about their story. i'm not saying every face you draw should suggest the oddest of backstories and personalities, but give each of your characters something unique to their face that would spark someone's interest.

now, i haven't exactly checked how well they stand out amongst eachother by removing the hair and the rest of the body, but i did draw a bunch of my characters together without colour on one paper.

my biggest tip is - exaggerate ! find a feature you want to stick out in your character's face and construct the rest of the face to compliment it. matching a face with the character's personality is also something you should know how to do, so i suggest doing research on shape and colour language.

it's important to take note of how faces look as people (or humanoid characters) age and grow older. wrinkles are one of the main ways i add character to ... well, my characters.

as much as i enjoy drawing wrinkles, i usually save them for "wise old" or nurturing characters. but of course, wrinkles appear on all sorts of people, especially if they have a fuller face.

(i am speaking specifically for my stylization which often strives to be somewhat anatomically realistic)

another tip is to reference life when you study ! human people have such a wide array of features you can utilize, it's amazing and beautiful ! just make sure you do research on ethnic features and when they appear on which face (unless you're going for something supernatural/humanoid, then the nose gallery is all yours /j).

also, don't drastically diversify faces all the time. siblings and family members often have similar features and it's okay to repeat them in these cases.

(this artwork is pretty old)

if your character and costume design is good, "same face syndrome" shouldn't worry you at all. avoiding this art community boogeyman is just one way of diversifying your art and adding spice to it. lacking this diversity really is no sin.

at worst, it's just going to look odd. for example, if you're so used to drawing young, wrinkle-less characters and attempt to draw an older character without any exercise prior to that, chances are this character is going to look oddly youthful, resulting in a sort of silly outcome.

but just like with everything, take your time ! changes and improvements don't happen overnight, and it takes time for you to get used to new things. with all that said, i'm wishing you the best of luck and happy drawing !

[phillipthesims]

Gen One: Chapter 17

The new house happened to be pink with heavy white accents and was near a park, which the girls were greatly excited for because Lily agreed that they need only ask to go play there. Though she did come with the first few times, not because she didn't trust them! Just... a mother's paranoia if you will. Lily had always been around at least one of her children and now that they were both going to school? Yeah she was a bit anxious.

Her children did get to share a room, even though there was certainly space for them to have their own rooms. But each night they were so excited to go to bed and be able to see the other just across the room. Tula and Lola would whisper talk before going to sleep.

Sometimes it was about school, the new town they live in, birthdays, or toys. Anything and everything and Lily could hear the two trying not to be loud, but secretly giggling to one another. She saw how happier they were without their father around and she felt better about her decision. This was best.

Well, it was all mostly good. Tula freaked out at any loud sound, she tensed and looked for her sister to make sure she was okay. Lola frankly adjusted well the most, she liked to watch TV in her mommy's bedroom after school. And sure, school was not her favorite and she wasn't as social as her older sister, but she still made friends.

She made the most friends with other kids in her art class. Her absolute favorite class with many like minded people.

Tula set to work making friends with everyone in her new school. She missed her old friends and wished they were here with her, but she found another girl who recently moved here as well. The two were quick friends as they shared stories about their moves.

Lily was happy to see her daughters settle in... and subsequently was worried about getting a job to support her family. She had no success and what little she had in savings would not last much longer.

She was stressing about it while checking the mail when a feminine voice, that sounded... familiar, called out to her.

"You must be the new neighbors? I wanted to make time to come over and say hello." The woman smiled warmly at Lily, she was a softer pink than Lupin and had kind eyes. "I'm Camellia, Camellia Blossom." She held out her hand for a handshake.

Lily tried to return the bright smile while shaking Camellia's hand. "Ah, yes my children and I moved in not long ago. I'm Lily, nice to meet you."

"Lily... such a pretty name. Well, I welcome you and your family to the neighborhood. I live a few houses down if you ever need anything, I'm always willing to help." Camellia was so kind and became a regular sight in Lily's new life. She saw her neighbor in the early mornings when Camellia went for a walk or jog. She'd stop and talk to Lily often.

She was the first person Lily confided in about struggling to secure a job. Stress was eating away at her and she was running out of time. The savings were dwindling and bills were coming up for the month. What was she going to do?

"You mention that you bake, right? Look, I know a bakery that is always looking for new hires, maybe you can work there." Camellia offered, she even offered to help her fill out the application and talk to the person she knows that works there to put in a good word.

"Y-you'd do that?" Lily was shocked at the offer. She'd love to work at a bakery, that'd be perfect, but... was it too good to be true. Would there be a but? Some payment for Camellia's aid?

"Of course, you're a nice person Lily and are in a tight position. So I want to help." So she came over the next day to help Lily with the paperwork. It was painfully obvious how little Lily knew about, what should be, basic life skills, but Camellia never said a bad word about it. Only corrected her path.

She had no clue why Camellia offered her help so readily and without asking for anything. Though Lily did give her neighbor some sort of sweet treat after all of her help. Camellia was a needed friend in this new life.... Or Lily hoped she was a friend. She seemed like a nice person, but... so did Lupin.

[deoidesign]

Two things

Any tips for line work?

Any tips for drawing eyes?

You’ve got a killer style for that and I struggle for things like that, so was wondering what you do for that and have any advice for a young artist? Also Steve is gender goals and me and him have the same haircut which makes me happy. Comics with an older queer character are nice, makes me happy to see someone like me get to get older like that :]

This ended up really long, sorry...

"Style" is really just an amalgamation of every decision an artist makes. When you're starting to learn, your brain is processing a LOT on the technical and fundamental side. In time, these will become tools for you to use as you please.

Your style is in you already, I assure you. It's the clothes you love, your favorite color, the season that makes you comfy... Art is a form of communication, and the first person you have to learn to communicate with is yourself. It's a lifelong process of growth, self love, and personal expression. It's nothing to rush!

these are from 2011, 2016, and 2023!

(13, 18, and 25 years old)

You can see how my skills have evolved, but my tastes are rather much the same. I've still got an absolute ton to learn.

When it comes to lineart, if you find yourself regularly struggling with "losing energy from the sketch", then making your lineart thicker might be a solution; thicker lines are a lot more forgiving!

This is a common issue many artists struggle with. It happens because the sketch has multiple lines, so the brain gets to choose which one it likes most. When you do lineart that choice isn't up to the brain, so it's not tricking itself to seeing all its favorite lines anymore.

Lineart can also help you define depth. Generally speaking, thicker lines tend to be on closer objects, and further away objects have thinner lines. You'll also lose more and more detail (and sometimes edges) the further away an object gets.

It can also define light in your lines. solid blacks can block out entire sections of shadow. Another option is hatching, and another is stippling. It doesn't have to define light, though, many styles define their light through various other shading methods.

My biggest tip for lineart is to practice "line confidence." fill a sketchbook page with lines that span the entire length of the page, evenly distanced, as straight as you can, without lifting the pen. Do this every day. Fill a page with ellipses, fill a page with circles. Do this every day. Eventually, you'll learn to 1: draw with your entire arm, which will save you a lot of quite literal pain in the future, and 2: you'll be able to draw the right line the first time more often, which will save you time and frustration!

I didn't have an example offhand so I did this to show what I mean, but I highly suggest doing this on paper in ink and not on the computer, if you can.

When it comes to eyes, definitely look lots to real people, and also pay attention to how artists stylize them! There's generally 4 main things to keep in mind:

1: the top lid. This one is major for defining the expression, so it changes a lot depending on context.

2: the bottom lid! this one doesn't move nearly as much.

Each lid has a vertex, and changing where the relative high and low points are on them between characters can change a lot about what the eyes are saying.

3: the sclera (whites of the eyes), iris (color of the eyes), and pupil (the hole we see out of)! These change an absolute TON based on style.

4: the eyelid!

and here's me just moving each of the elements around! it changes a lot about what the eye is saying as you change each element, play around with them! try not to always go with your first choices.

There's a lot more to eyes than this, and a lot more to lineart as well... but I hope this is something of a starting point! Getting better about art is about learning to think and study everything you see. I genuinely see the world differently than I did 10 years ago, and I'm much happier for it (and a much better artist!)

And when it comes to writing stories about queer characters who get to be older and still happy, I hope to someday see you making stories that bring someone the same sense of comfort you had reading my work. I hope it someday becomes normalized, mundane even. And I know it starts with people like you deciding it's important! We're here, we've always been here, and we're not going anywhere.

Best of luck on your artistic journey, I wish you a long lifetime of growing closer to yourself through your art.

[aprillikesthings]

It's Fridayyyyy

TIME FOR MORE SHE-RA

s1 ep11 Promise

oh shit I remember this one it's a heartbreaker

(good stuff for my fic though)

Hey remember when I swore up and down I wasn't going to liveblog my entire rewatch? Good times.

Part of me is like: I would get through these so much faster if I didn't insist on screenshotting them and commenting and making jokes

But the rest of me knows damn well I probably just wouldn't bother watching them?? This way feels a bit like watching it *with* someone, which I always prefer to watching things alone.

Also tbh if I did just marathon them while knitting or something I wouldn't remember anything!! Which would defeat the point!! So here I am.

If you're new to these posts: I am doing a rewatch of She-Ra with the specific purpose of taking notes for a fic I'm working on--but because this is me we're talking about, I also post a ton of screenshots with the purposes of commentary, squeeing at specific scenes, and making jokes. Because it's a rewatch, I don't comment on every plot point and I often mention things that happen later in the show--in other words, these might be confusing if you haven't seen the show yet.

EDIT: yeah this was another one where I hit the image limit, will have to reblog to finish it

I know people have figured out the "alphabet" of the first ones what does this sayyyyy

I mean wouldn't they all be portable in some sense? The one that recharges Glimmer could be taken down and moved somewhere, couldn't it? We know the one from Scorpia's kingdom was taken and moved to the Fright Zone, for instance.

"Query not recognized."

Adora's frustration here is exactly why I don't use Siri, like, ever.

Light Hope reminds me of a specific model? actress? from the 1980's but I can never remember who and it drives me CRAZY

*does some googling*

GRACE JONES I AM THINKING OF GRACE JONES

TELL ME I'M WRONG

Grace Jones also did disco music, TIL

back to cartoon lesbians

yeah that couldn't have been important for anything no worries it's fine

you didn't notice anyone else there until She-Ra destroyed something lolol

ehehehehehehh

Look I know it's the point of the whole show but I grin every time they're supposed to be on opposite sides and one saves the other's life (Does Adora do it more than Catra does? surely someone kept count)

don't mind me

little shit

🎵BUT YOU DID IT ANYWAYYYYYY🎶

"how many times are you going to make that joke" well how many times does Catra say it lolll

"where are your friends?" "you mean the ones you KIDNAPPED and CURSED???" "uh, yeah?"

lol

I just like the art style here

Okay so I can't screenshot audio, but that little moment of Catra saying "Adora? Adora???" where the tone goes from "hey look at this" to that almost-panic and then she turns around and it's kid!Catra is just so, SO well done.

ugh these scenes are such a punch in the gut

I'm not getting emotional at cartoon characters remembering the happier bits of their shitty traumatic childhood together, YOU ARE

;_;

man this shot is just good, ugh, you can see so much of their characters on display: Adora's self-righteousness vs Catra's sullen defensiveness

anyway they should've made out

lol

they're 1:1 so far this episode

(even though this cliff probably isn't even real)

"Did you really think I'd just let Shadow Weaver erase your memory like that?" oh so she DID know

Adora: "I don't know, probably" I mean I thought she would

I've been CALLED OUT lol

Adora: "Can you blame me? Catra: "*scoffs* Not really"

😏

John Cena.gif

BABIES (okay a little older like maybe 13)

(still babies)

I mean, true

I'VE HIT THE IMAGE LIMIT FOR THIS POST lol I knew I would

gonna post and reblog

[themilkybarboy]

The Bridgertons Favourite in-laws

Anthony- Simon, they were best friends for years and that shouldn’t be over looked.

Kate - Lucy, she reminds her of herself and she feels very protective of her

Benedict- Kate, he saw how much of a change Anthony underwent when Kate came into his life and how much happier he became. Plus they are painting buddies and she has the best tolerance for listening to him talk about art for ages.

Sophie- Daphne, the fact that she is a whole ass Duchess but treats her as an equal makes her feel even more secure in the bridgertons love for her and their lack of care about her birth. She also finds her slightly gentler than the rest of them but they still both have that same good hearted sturdiness and backbone in them. She feels a kind of kinship with Gareth as well due to the whole bastard thing and is always willing to reassure him if needed

Colin- Michael, they are said in the books to be quite similar and have the same type of disposition and so they usually get along really well. He also is fond of Lucy. He thinks they are similar. Everyone but Daphne and Gareth disagrees. Gregory just doesn’t see it.

Penelope- Eloise (that goes without saying) She is close with all of the Bridgertons having spent so much time with all of them. But she is rather fond of hyacinth as she is felicity’s best friend and they both get along well with lady Danbury. And she gets along really well with Francesca as their sense of humour is the same and they are both really sharp and observant

Daphne - Gareth, he reminds her of a younger Simon with the whole daddy issues thing and so she feels slightly protective of him. She is also happy that hyacinth found someone who truly appreciated her as she was their for hyacinths other seasons and like Anthony was slightly worried. She was also fairly fond of Penelope due to the fact she knew her so long and because she managed to get her favourite brother to stay in the country.

Simon- Anthony (they were best friends for years) But also Phillip , he admires that he has a desire to further his academic interest (in the books it’s said that Simon came first in his university for maths and that he was really smart) he also likes that they are both comfortable in silence and so he doesn’t feel under any pressure to talk or perform the usual social airs.

Eloise - Penelope (obviously) she really admires Sophie though for how hard she worked. Also Kate for her independence and self assurance.

Phillip- Simon, they really connected over the whole my dad really sucked thing and he admires how Simon didn’t let it affect his own parenting. They are also both probably the least comfortable in social settings.

Francesca- Penelope, she always noted how observant and witty she was and wanted to be like her in that sense when she was younger, she also knew there was more to her than everyone else saw (I mean she even suggested her to Michael).

Michael- Phillip , honestly he just likes his vibe. They are both a bit less used to polite society than most people having been apart from it for quite a while and he finds him chill to be around.

Gregory- Michael, listen Gregory’s a total romantic and the repressing your love for someone for years because she is married to your cousin is like an act of double love for both Fran and John and honestly I think Gregory would think Michael is a really great guy for that. He is also quite boisterous and happy as is Gregory. Kate as well but that’s obvious.

Lucy- Kate, I mean it’s canon she thinks she is an absolute queen and like totally fair.

Hyacinth- Penelope and Sophie, she views Penelope as an older sister in a way, she was there so often growing up plus with how close she was with felicity it was inevitable. (She also has the lady Danbury stamp of approval) And Sophie she finds really comforting, maybe it’s because she was her ladies maid for a brief period of time but she always feel cared for in her presence and it makes her slightly calmer

Gareth- Simon and Penelope, both have the lady Danbury stamp of approval which he is surprised to find matters to him. He sees Simon as somewhat of a role model. He let go of his issues with his father he opened himself up to the family that the bridgertons offered and was also really smart. Penelope he just thought was soooo cool because of how crafty and sneaky the whole whistledown thing was like he was mad impressed. He is also super grateful to Sophie as she was really comforting about the whole bastard situation.

[mysteriawrites]

Hello! I'm here to request a romantic MHA matchup if you could please! I'm a 17 year old female but I look and act mature for my age(due to trauma) so I often get mistaked for being older than I am sometimes. Some good qualities of mine are maturity, being level headed, and being motherly/caring. Some bad traits can include bluntness, coming off as cold, and forgetfulness. I'm an introvert so i hate being around crowds and speaking infront of people I also have social anxiety so that doesn't help... I would much prefer staying at home watching anime and cuddling my pets rather than going out... More of my fun and loud side comes out around my friends or the right people. My hobbies or things I enjoy include hanging out with friends, swimming, listening to music, art(especially pottery), laying in bed on my phone, animals(I currently work with animals as a job), watching anime and other TV series, the ocean(I love water if I could choose a quirk it would be water based), stargazing(I love galaxies, the moon and stars I find everything so fascinating), the colors black, blue, purple, then finally the goth/emo style and aesthetic! Some dislikes of mine are bananas, P.E./sports(volleyball is okay tho), and men/father figures in my life-. My music taste includes the artists, The Neighborhood, Girl In Red, The Arctic Monkeys, Billie Eilish, Melanie Martinez, Alec Benjamin, Corpse, Cave town, Conan Gray and Cigarettes after sex! I'm omnisexual so either gender could work but in mha I lean towards having a stronger preference for the guys compared to the girls so do with that what you will. Traits I dislike in others are immaturity, impatience, disrespect, pushing boundaries, and not listening. Traits I look for in others are respect, kindness, understanding, patience, and humor. A bit about my appearance is I have longish black hair, pale skin, freckles, i'm a bit chubby, and tall(5'8). Im also very insecure and I doubt myself a lot but I'm trying to work on that! Some love languages include words of affirmation, quality time, physical touch and sometimes acts of service. I have mental and physical health issues so I would need someone who could accept and be able to handle that. I would also need someone that would accept that I have trauma as well. I would want this relationship to be a two way thing so its very important that they give the same effort I'm giving into the relationship. I would prefer not to be matched with Denki, Bakugou, Iida, Tokoyami or any adult since I'm a minor. I think thats it... I'm sorry if I missed anything you needed or if this is to long! I understand if you don't get to me right away! I hope your having a nice day! Thank you!

Hello Hello thank you for the request. I'm sorry about all the things you've had to go through, and I hope this makes you a little happier even if only for the amount of time it takes you to read it. Maestro if you will...DRUMROLL PLEASE!!!

🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

IZUKU MIDORYA!!!

I think Midoriya is the one who will best be able to heal your heart. You've both been through such hardships in your lives, Izuku would be the one to help you overcome you struggles and traumas with his determination and big heart.

When you first come to UA, you're a bit like Todoroki was, closed off and kept to yourself. The girls tried to pull you into their activities, and you would to avoid being rude, but you were quiet and preferred to keep to yourself.

Midoriya didn't like how you were alone all the time and seemed to be hurting. he wouldn't push and make you uncomfortable, but he would try and make more of an effort to be your friend.

He would offer for you guys, to train, eat lunch, and study together, but you would usually say no. Until one day during the internships (yes you guys ended up at the same agency by pure coincidence) he took a hit for you.

After you guys got back, your mama bear switch turned on and you made him sit down so you could heal his wounds. You lectured him on how reckless he was and asked him why he would do such a dangerous thing for you, and he said it was because he cared about you.

After that you soften up a bit. You would take Midoriya up on his offers to hang out, although at first it would only just be the two of you. Over time however he starts to introduce you to the rest of group deku and you all become a very tight nit circle of friends.

As the friends to lovers trope tends to go, as you two got closer Midoryia started to fall for you. Now as brave as he may well be we all know that he can be an awkward little nerd, so when he realized this, he started panicking.

He goes to his friends for help, but they don't seem to be able to help much. Idia and Todoroki don't know a lot about romance, and he is too shy Asui and Ururaka (although they had figured it out already) so he goes to the he looks up to the most: Almight.

Almight's advice for him was that all he had to do was speak from the heart and be himself. So that's what he did. He walked up to you one day and asked if you could speak in private where he confessed his feelings for you.

You and Midoriya's dates usually consist of sharing each other's interests. You guys will watch your favorite animes together (sometimes he will act out the scenes to make you laugh). He may not be super into art, but he loves every single masterpiece you make for him. He also likes to take you out to eat, but you guys eat outside or take it to go and eat it somewhere nice to avoid large crowds.

You also scold Midoriya for hurting himself all the time. That he can't save anyone if he doesn't take care of himself. And he takes care of you and allows your mature motherly facade to come down so you can be vulnerable for once and feel safe.

All in all, you guys are very wholesome. You understand each other's needs and take care of others as well. You cover each other's backs on and off the battlefield.

Sorry this isn't as lengthy as the others im writing this at almost 3 am but I really want to stick to schedule so these can be done on time especially the anons to make sure they'll see them.

Runners Up: Kota Izumi, Shouji Mezou, Kirishima Ejiro

[mrwho444]

[ 1 𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 ] — 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐬𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐞!

ㅤIt was a beautiful day outside. Everything would be fine if not for the incident that happened in this universe. Unfortunately, my memory remembers few details about this tragedy, but I would like to tell you about a terrible day. And not only about this, but in general, about adventures. My adventures. ㅤSo, you're probably wondering who I am? Who am I as a storyteller? You'll find out now.

ㅤThere was a celebration in this universe. Our king had a grandiose, such a magnificent holiday: he had already existed in this world for half his life. And it was a really important event for us, especially for the tall young skeleton, because he also joined the Royal Guard that day. Of course, he was still young for his age, he had no such experience, but he was damn strong in spirit and masterfully mastered martial arts. He's not one of those who flew in the clouds and muttered something to himself. No, this guy has always achieved his goals, no matter what. It seemed that nothing mattered to him, because when he faced problems, he boldly pulled himself together and solved them with one click of his finger. Chick! And everything is settled. At least, everyone saw him like that, including me.

ㅤAnd this skeleton also had an older brother - quite the opposite, you might say. Well, just the opposite… He often flew in the clouds, read books, wrote poetry, in general…. You know, it was all a bit far for him, all these fights, fighting games…. He was rather a modest intellectual. He always liked to puzzle and come up with all sorts of interesting things. By the way, this dreamer is me. And my name is Perrault. And this strong in both spirit and body is my younger brother Papyrus. It's interesting, isn't it? Is this what you expected? But get to the point.

ㅤTriumphant music was playing everywhere. There were many monsters in the palace. It seemed like nothing bad was going to happen. Everyone had fun, celebrated a great day, got to know each other - in general, it was fun, and that's it!… But no. Unfortunately, it wasn't like that.

ㅤI was watching what was happening outside the window. The room was huge and there were a lot of people in it. I think the waiting room is for guests. There were huge tables everywhere with clean ironed tablecloths. Everything shone from behind the silverware, as if everything wasn't real.

ㅤI continued to look thoughtfully somewhere. Something caught my attention, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Suddenly a skinny figure came up to me. He came up quietly and touched me on the shoulder with his bony palm.

— « SANS? — he spoke in his confident but wary voice. - ARE YOU OKAY? »

ㅤI was a little surprised, but I didn't mean it. I looked at him and smiled wider. — « Oh, sure, Paps. I'm perfectly fine. »

— « LISTEN, SANS. I'M REALLY WORRIED... YOU KNOW, THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN STRIVING FOR ALL MY LIFE. MY CHILDHOOD DREAM IS... THIS... IT'S COMING TRUE RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES. »

ㅤI patted him on the back. I was really proud of him.

— « Look, I understand that you're worried and all that, but don't worry, everything will be fine. »

ㅤHis eyes lit up. He became much happier. I was glad that my words had struck a chord with him. In fact, he is quite a refined and modest monster. Behind his determination and loud voice, there was a soft and gentle soul. Although he didn't behave like that with everyone. I was an exception. I was looking out the window. I definitely felt weird. The king himself impressively approached us, his robe attracted everyone's attention. The fabric is obviously not cheap, but the fact is that he is a Lord, there can be no other way. Everyone noticed him and immediately began to worship. My brother made a serious face and took a determined step towards him. He stood in front of him, made a deep bow and began to speak.

— « OH, OUR GREAT KING ASGORE! YOU ARE OUR STRENGTH. YOU ARE OUR LAW. YOU ARE THE ONE WHO REALLY GAVE MANY MONSTERS HOPE FOR LIFE. EVER SINCE I WAS A KID, I'VE ADMIRED YOU AND ALWAYS WANTED TO PROTECT YOU. I AM VERY GLAD THAT I AM HERE WITH YOU RIGHT NOW. IT IS A GREAT HONOR FOR ME... »

ㅤThe King smiled with a pleasant expression on his face. I also bowed in the corner as a sign of respect.

— « I am very grateful to you, there is no doubt about it. Glad you're with us. I hope you won't disappoint me. »

— « NO WAY! – the skeleton has risen. – I promise, I will serve you to the end. I'M EVEN READY TO GIVE MY LIFE FOR YOU!»

— « Commendable, commendable. »

Everyone started talking to each other with smiles, and my thoughts were clogged with that very phrase:

— « ł'₥ ɆVɆ₦ ⱤɆ₳ĐɎ ₮Ø ₲łVɆ ₥Ɏ Ⱡł₣Ɇ! ⱤɆ₳ĐɎ ₮Ø ₲łVɆ ₥Ɏ Ⱡł₣Ɇ! ⱤɆ₳ĐɎ ₮Ø ₲łVɆ ₥Ɏ Ⱡł₣Ɇ. ₮Ø ₲łVɆ. ₥Ɏ Ⱡł₣Ɇ. Ⱡł₣Ɇ.Ⱡł₣Ɇ.Ⱡł₣Ɇ..... »

ㅤЯ sat down on the chair. My instincts are heightened. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to tell Papyrus, but I was afraid that I would only spoil his coronation. I just sat in a corner and seemed to be waiting for some miracle.

ㅤA little later I decided to go get some oxygen. I went out into the royal garden, approached a small fountain and began to examine myself in the reflection of clear clear water. Pleasant classical music was playing nearby, flowers willingly caught the sun's rays, the grass was especially silky, as if she herself was preparing for this very day. Everyone was happy except me. It's like I'm the only one who couldn't enjoy this moment.

ㅤI continued to examine my face and build monologues among myself. A mysterious voice started calling me. I didn't hear him right away, because I was deep in my thoughts, and my curiosity didn't immediately take control.

— « What's wrong with me? Why do I feel like something is going to happen… »

ㅤI finally listened to this sound. The royal scientist approached me confidently. The same scientist D. W. Gaster, famous throughout the dungeon. His research has amazed many geniuses. For example, he was able to create an infinite machine for printing paper, which helped us with this, since there was a shortage of wood. But it was rumored that he was, well, a VERY strange monster. Well, everyone has their own cockroaches in their head. At this moment, he was not very happy. His face was a serious expression of concern.

— « Follow me. »

ㅤWithout explanations, greetings and the like, he quickly both came and disappeared from sight. It seemed to me that he knew something about it, so I followed him.

ㅤWe went to the lowest floor. In general, D. W. Gaster was one of the most mysterious of this palace and many who were afraid of him. My thoughts were interrupted.

— « Listen, Sans. You're not the only one feeling it. »

— « The fact is that today is just this day. »

— « What day? »

— « I can't tell you about it, otherwise everything will go as it should. »

ㅤWithout understanding anything, I followed him.

— « Oh, hello, Sans! » - Alphys joined us - another royal scientist, and besides, my childhood friend.

— « Alphys? What are you doing here? What's happening? »

— « I'm sorry, but it's a long story. Besides, it's too early for you to know about it. »

— « Early? »

ㅤWe approached the laboratory. D. W. Gaster opened a heavy, dense door and we went inside. This was the very laboratory that many rumors were talking about. For example, one night, stray people heard strange sounds similar to someone's screeching. No one knows if this was really the case, because they were under an alcoholic state.

— « Sans… - Gaster stood in front of me and sat down slightly in order to match my height. - Look, there's no time to explain. Alphys and I have built something for you. »

ㅤGaster went to one of the lockers and took out a mysterious thick notebook.

I looked at it nervously. Slowly taking it out of his hands, I began to look at the cover with interest.

— « Activate it first. »

— « But how…? »

— « The time will come. And now… » ㅤAfter his words, very loud sounds were heard on the street. The ground began to shake. The scientist looked at his watch. — « It's started. »

ㅤHe walked resolutely towards the exit. — « Oh, my God, my God, really!! After all, this day has come! » ㅤAlphys started running around the room.

— « WHAT!? – I started dropping my notebook in a panic. – ALPHYS, WHAT'S GOING ON? »

— « So it is… The end of the world! »

So it is… The end of the world! She paused. I couldn't even say anything in a shorted state.

— « …….But you will save us! »

Alphys also ran out of the room after him. I ran after them.

— . …………. — . . . ………………………..𝓦𝓪𝓲𝓽… 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽? 𝓦𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓪𝓶 𝓘? ...

𝙎𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩. 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜*

𝙀𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 1.

That's all. Thank you for reading. Wait for part 2! :p

[magicalblizzardprince]

no title, only words

Just watched Edward Scissorhands with a friend and I just wanted to say:

He deserved so much better???

Also spoilers for the movie. and TW for assault.

Straight up. Kinda wish the movie had a happier ending. Or at least a... message ... that made his suffering worth it?

Like he was so innocent and happy to be loved! He was best boye. Precious child. Just doing his thing. I loved the Mom. She had a good heart and was always looking out for him. Dad was... borderline useless, but he had his moments.

Things that could fuck off:

Suburbia

Cops

Gossip

Joyce - fuck her so much god I hate that women, lowlife, nonstarter, she can ... go do something that is probably against the Content Policy of this website.

Cops

Teenagers

the daughter and her friend group

Cops

I'm losing my train of thought, so I'll wrap this up.

Edward deserved a happy ending IMO. But like then again, the bittersweetness is part of what makes the movie what it is? I wouldn't change it, I'd just love to see some fanart of like happy Edward and I'd be satisfied. An AU or something. Maybe I'll make it, damn.

I didn't like the romance. But its also a common trope, so I kinda gotta deal with it. Just like, straight romance don't do it for me. I'm just tired of it, ha. "Man and woman look at each other. They're in love now." I saw them kiss and went "ew." ... Maybe I'm ace, ha.

Edward's too good for this world. But it also makes me sad to think that the kind of journey Edward goes through is... normal? You start out innocent, and then usually you run into something that takes advantage of that. Afterward you're not as open anymore, not as hopeful. But I guess that doesn't mean you lose all of what makes you you either. I just kinda wish it didn't happen to anyone really.

I don't feel qualified to talk about disability properly. I just like how a lot of time was spent on Edward's art and what he did best as an artist.

I really should watch older movies more often, ha.

I love how Edward is introduced as this terrifying awful thing and I'm just like "He's precious, I love him. I love his outfit."

Also wtf, why the sexual assault?? why have that in a movie?? why gloss over it???? why include it, if you're going to gloss over it like its a quirky thing to happen? Why are older movies like this???

--------

Music was top tier though. 10/10. Absolutely beautiful. Really sent me back in time. I don't know how to describe it, its like... dreamy? Ethereal? In a way that I haven't heard from movie scores in a while. Maybe it reminds me of movies I watched as a kid. Also this movie is older than I am by a mile, ha.

---------

I'm debating whether or not to tag this at all. I'm not really posting this for other people to see. I'm just.... trying to use Tumblr. I feel like a mini review/rant about a movie that came out 30 years ago that includes critiques like "too straight" would fit on Tumblr, ha. I just wanted to take up a little space and splurt out some feelings I had over this adorable character. I love him.

Overall, I liked the movie. I'm going go focus more on how the first half of the movie had me feeling, ha.

[retquits]

Hi!!! So I’m not sure if you’ve talked about this before since I just found your Stardew artwork recently, but I absolutely adore Dallas, Galeo, and Declan and so I was wondering if we could hear more about them- what their life was like pre-farm, likes, dislikes, how they met their spouses etc. I just love your art and your farmers and it’s all so pretty and makes me so happy and so I’d love to hear more of you’re willing to rant about it!! No pressure if you’re busy of course but I just wanted to ask! <3<3 Thanks so much!

AUHDGDFGDFGJH 🥺💘💘💘

nothin would make me happier than to ramble about ocs - i'll try not to make this super long!! thank you!!! 😭

first of all, a quick introduction ...

(👇 continued under the cut!! 👇)

before moving out to the farm, dallas scraped by in the city through odd jobs and shitty apartments. he's the spontaneous type, so as soon as he finally took the time to realize he was unhappy, he packed his belongings, grabbed his grandpa’s deed, and bounced B)

galeo's life pre-farm was actually ... on another farm LOL they helped with their family's ranch for most of their life! with some nudges from mom and dad, though, they took up the deed to their grandfather's old land to strike out on their own.

declan lived on the city outskirts his entire life with his twin sister, lynn, their older brother amos, and their grandmother! both declan and lynn initially visited pelican town to prepare their grandfather's land to sell ... but ended up staying 💕

LIKES AND DISLIKES:

dallas: likes loud music, good company, and anything a little edgy. one of his favourite pastimes is hair-dye night with abigail, sam, and sebastian, and his favourite 'crops' are void eggs and hot peppers! he isn’t so wild about retail, leafy greens, or bugs.

galeo: likes shiny things - pretty rocks, fish, rocks ... rocks. galeo spends a LOT of their time mining the caves, and their favourite crops are blue jazz and sweet gem berries! they have a fear of ghosts, and dislike dry, hot weather, spicy food, and eating alone.

declan: loves vintage media; old film, records, train tickets, etc. he particularly prefers warm sunny days with big fluffy clouds, and his favourite crops are cranberries and sunflowers. he’s not a huge fan of big animals, large bodies of water, winter, or rainy days when he’s cooped up inside.

dallas and elliot

long story short, elliott met dallas on a warm, rainy day. he was having a particularly hard time writing that week, and stormed out to stand in the rain and re-center himself. when he stepped outside his cabin, he saw someone on the dock, struggling over a bent fishing rod - and afraid that it was willy about to fall in, he raced out to support him, slipped on the wet dock, and splashed face-first into the water.

needless to say, dallas had a big laugh as he helped elliott out of the water LMAO and the two had their first real conversation after!! dallas's personality is pretty close to the polar opposite of elliott's, so the they had plenty to learn about each other. dallas, elliott discovers, is incredibly funny and doesn't like to over complicate things. and elliott, as dallas discovers, is a dreamer and kinda unlike anyone he's ever met before. they walked away from their first conversation already looking forward to their next :)

galeo and sam

their meeting has a lot less substance bc it was my first playthrough and i never gave it much thought LOL but it was definitely abigail who introduced galeo to sam!! (abigail is fluent in ASL and teaches seb and sam in their free time)

declan and alex

declan and alex met a long while before they really started chatting. neither took a particular interest in the other, so it wasn’t until alex noticed declan hanging around his dog that they found something to talk about. it went something along the lines of alex making the passing comment, “his name’s dusty. you got a dog, farm guy?”

note: declan's 'dog' banjo was probably a coyote who wandered onto the farm to take a look at declan’s chickens. alex didn't know how to tell him, so instead, he decided to spend a lot of time with declan to make sure he didn't get hurt. this was a mistake bc they fell in love 🤷‍♂️

UM .. THIS GOT LONG IM SO SORRY 💦 thank you so much for giving me the chance to talk about my ocs!! i wish i wrote about them more often but i get shy LOL

[misschimotosuwa-blog]

Anime/Manga Throwbacks? Mirrors? References?

Ever since I watched/read Chobits, I've been seeing this same Iconic pose throughout manga that I love. Makes me wonder... "Did Chobits start a trend? Or am I just missing something?". 😅😅

(you can just scroll through the pictures to see the similarities if you don't feel like reading, I have just also included my thoughts about the possible referencing/mirroring and some info on Chobits)

Just a run-down (also, this is a spoiler if anyone had desire to watch or read this -- which you should lol) for anyone who hasn't read/watched Chobits. There is a beautiful and sweet humanoid robot that has been found in the trash by a wanna-be college boy student haha. She was found in the trash, so she must have had a previous life/existence, elsewhere, yeah? Well, yes, yes she did. She was made for an infertile woman by her loving husband, to have as a child, and she had a "twin" sister, by the name of "Freya". Anywho, stuff happened, things went down. Freya was basically on her "deathbed", so to speak. And oddly enough Chi (or at the time she was called "Elda") tells her to transfer her data into her so they could always be together? Idk yeah, I think it's a little odd too. Her "Father" passed away, and her "Mother" wanted little Elda to find a better and happier existence... So she rebooted her, turned her off, and put her in the trash, in hopes that she'd find a better/happier existence and hopefully, love. Anyways, on Chi's journey for love, she gets "visions" of her twin sister n' stuff. Yeah, it's pretty odd, but I still love it. Anywho, her sister looks identical to her, the only thing is that she dresses darker/ more punk-like/ has less optimism/ has a slightly deeper voice/ has more emotion shown on her face... Yada yada.

I know that Sleepy Princess in The Demon Castle makes a lot of references to older anime/manga... So I thought with Sya having a demon doppelganger, and having this same pose with her, seemed very much like a reference to Chobits. (Not saying Freya is a demon, she's just often referred to as, "Dark Chi"). (But honestly, if either Sya or Bussy is the "dark" version, I'd definitely say it's actually Sya -- the HUMAN princess 😂😂😂).

And I haven't gotten quite that far in Toilet Bound Hanako-kun yet, so idk if I'm missing any dynamic with Nene and Aoi, but all I know rn is, that they're besties, and Aoi is the version of Nene that she wishes she was... If that makes sense? Like... Nene wishes she was popular with boys just like her. So... Maybe that's also similar in a way?

Idk, also. The way this cover is designed. Nene's curious yet vacant expression, and then Aoi's reassuring countenance and expression-filled face also seems like a mirror to Chobits. Chi always looks curious/almost expressionless, and Freya always has emotion on her face. Anyone? Also, didn't mention... This is the same on the Sleepy Princess art!! Sya seems almost vacant of emotion, and Bussy is much more full of expression! Ok, yeah. I think it is a reference/mirror tbh.

Are these all references to Chobits? Did this iconic-ness start elsewhere? Is this just a coincidence? Any thoughts? 😅😂🤔

-- Miss Chi Motosuwa 💕

[tarosin]

the great adventures of y/n and ranboo

this is an extra part to the great adventures series

summary: part two to the angst imagine (the not so great adventures of y/n tommy tubbo jack and ranboo) it’s a happier ‘ending’ please read what is written in bold

this is an “alternative ending” around 15 years into the future this doesn’t mean this is actually how the series is going to end im writing it now and including it as part of series as their friendship is already established i can confirm y/n and the group are going to have a happy ending when the series eventually comes to an end this also does not mean the series is anywhere near the end i plan on continuing the series as vlogs come out, i feel the need to confirm this now love between y/n and ranboo in this imagine is completely platonic

it had been about a month since you last streamed whereas ranboo continued to stream a few days after the fallout as he wanted to make sure you were going to be okay. even though ranboo knew this huge fallout would eventually happen, it still hurt him, especially since he knew there was no way to prevent it, the four of you in the same house mixed with the stress of being some of the most-watched content creators made living rather difficult. it was like walking on eggshells as you didn’t want to interrupt someone's stream, then there was the additional stress of obsessive fans finding out where the four of you lived, you still remember that day very vividly. you were sat in between tubbo and ranboo watching the office whilst Tommy was in an interview when you received a message from your mod.

Chris: hey y/n I received this message earlier I don’t want to scare you, but maybe get the locks changed. someone sent a message claiming this is your address *image of message from ‘fan’*

it didn’t take long for tubbo and ranboo to receive a message from their mods saying the same thing

“holy shit...”

“chances are Tommy has the message too. we shall go check around the house when Tommy is done with the interview.”

luckily no one ever showed up to the house, but the fact some people were so obsessed to the point they found your address was enough to put everyone in the house on edge. and now it was just you and ranboo in the house. you didn’t feel safe as even though ranboo promised to not let anything happen, you didn’t wanna risk it.

“we should move. there’s no point in having such a big house for two people, what are we going to use the extra space for heh? hide and seek with people who have our address. no thank you. I say we move leave this mess behind and start completely over, hell I’d feel safer in the us and that’s saying something”

ranboo agreed the house didn’t have the happiest memories attached to it anymore, it hurt walking past the hallway as it would bring back the memory of him crying into the crook of y/ns neck whilst tubbo left the house.

“let’s do it, I’ll do an early stream then we can look for houses. go take a shower. I’ll stay close to the door so you’re safe, then you can stay in my room whilst I stream, you can join me if you would like.”

“you’re being very protective all of a sudden...let me guess you got the message from our mods announcing the obsessive fans are at it again?”

“go take a shower.”

“no.”

ranboo ended up picking you up, carried you to the bathroom and turned the shower on before putting you on your feet.

“quick shower I’ll see you later.”

and with that he left the room shutting the door behind him, 30 minutes later you got changed and followed ranboo to his room ready to join him whilst he streams

“hey boo, can I join you? I kinda wanna get into streaming again.”

“I'm so glad you asked, I was going to do a face cam stream, if that’s okay?”

“of course.”

you grabbed his mask and glasses whilst he locked the door so you were both safe. “here you go.”

“thank you.”

the pair of you started the stream and it was honestly going well, you were having so much fun you forgot about all the negative things currently going on, you began to understand why ranboo continued streaming as for those 2-4 hours of streaming it felt as though everything was back to normal. 3 hours later the two of you ended stream and Twitter went crazy. tweets ranged from fans talking about how ranboo was streaming with you, how Tommy was in chat, and how tubbo was modding as people who mentioned anything about their address being leaked were banned by tubbo. the one thing that caught ranboos eye was fan art and a picture of you both from the stream captioned ‘they’re platonic soulmates your honour’ ranboo went as far to like, retweet and comment on it.

ranaltboo: glad you liked the stream it was great having y/n back, think I might make them play tattletail next stream

definitelynoty/n: isn’t that the Furby game that terrified you in 2021? bring it on boo!

Twitter went crazy over this interaction, you had finally come back to social media after months of being inactive, and it looked like you were here to stay. a month later you and ranboo moved out of the house and sold it to your aunt and her wife and their three adopted children, you explained the situation and even changed the locks for them all before they moved in.

“Please do tell us if anyone shows up who shouldn’t be. we changed the locks as you were aware- oh hello little one.”

you noticed one of their children decided to cling onto your leg

“I like your hair it’s colourful!”

“Indeed it is.”

“WOAH A GIANT!”

the little girl let go of your leg and ran to ranboo asking to be picked up, unsure of what to do he looked towards you. however, you were too busy laughing about the fact he was compared to a giant.

“I'm so sorry uh if you want to pick her up you can, you don’t have to.”

“pick me up, tall man... I want to be taller!”

ranboo ended up standing next to you with an arm around your waist whilst the child sat on his shoulders happily playing with his hair.

“ranboo do not drop that child.”

“I didn't- I didn't plan on it y/n.”

eventually, it was time to leave and the child reluctantly let go of ranboo.

“bye-bye!! hope to see you soon!”

soon enough you were at a smaller house, far away from the old house, leaving behind the negative feelings. it could only get better, a week later the pair of you had settled into the new house, it finally felt like home. you and ranboo were now streaming full time again, safe to say the two of you were thriving and closer than ever.

“so I’m thinking if I hit the sub-goal today I’ll let chat pick what colour I dye my hair.”

“make it higher, and I’ll let you cut my hair.”

“Are you being serious? oh my god!”

a few minutes later you took to Twitter to announce you were going live.

y/n: kidnapping children in the sims with ranboo psst check the subgoal.

within 20 minutes you had hit the sub-goal, chat ended up picking another random neon colour for your hair.

“right hair dye and the cutting stream will be this weekend, now let’s go back to kidnapping.”

tubbo, tommy, and jack felt awful for what happened and went back to the house where you used to live, hoping to see you there so they could apologise, tubbo knocked on the door only to be met by a young child.

“my sister watches you on twitch!”

“oh that’s lovely.. are y/n and ranboo here?”

an older woman came to the door.

“oh no, I’m sorry dear they both moved out, but they left this box and said to give it to you if you returned.”

“do you know where they moved to?”

“I'm sorry dear, I'm not allowed to tell you that information for safety reasons.”

“I understand, thanks anyway.”

they ended up going back to jacks where the three of them had been staying.

“We should open the box.”

tubbo opened the box and emptied the items onto the floor, inside was the rocks y/n handed tubbo from every trip, photos of the group, a necklace y/n had gifted to Tommy a day before the argument, and a hat y/n had taken from jack during a trip to a zoo.

“what the fuck!”

“holy shit!”

“they really kept all these in hopes we would come back?”

“and now we’re too late.”

it was now the weekend you and ranboo were ready to stream, you stood leaning on ranboo who was significantly smaller than you as you lowered the chair he sat on.

“starting stream...now.”

after the starting soon intro played, you explained what was happening to any new viewers or people who didn’t watch the stream.

“so I’m about to become Edward Scissorhands...I love that film can we watch it later?”

“yeah mhm sure!”

you didn’t know this but your ex best friends were watching and ever so often would show up in the chat.

“so boo, what are we doing with your hair today?”

“just a trim please darling?”

“This is y/ns hairdressers you get what I’m capable of!”

you ended up doing a pretty good job of cutting ranboos hair, even he was impressed.

“I didn’t doubt you for a minute!”

“mhm sure thing please don’t mess up my hair tall one!”

soon enough you had the dye on. 45 minutes later you left to wash it off, leaving ranboo to entertain stream,

“chat I think I missed some of their hair it’s okay, I own scissors, I’ll just cut it.. speaking of they did a great job, didn't they? I honestly expected them to mess up.”

a few minutes later you joined ranboo again and spent the next few hours talking with chat. tubbo, tommy, and jack stayed the entire time. they loved the fact you and ranboo were able to stay close after what happened, Tommy noticed you were still wearing the necklace he got you many years ago and spammed them chat with him tubbo and jack

Tommy: THEYRE WEARING THE NECKLACE!!

jack: so what? they clearly don’t wanna talk to us.

tubbo: shut up listen to them.

“chat why are we spamming platonic soulmates?”

“they’ve been saying it all over Twitter, look on trending y/n.”

you started to blush slightly at all the amazing artwork soon enough the stream came to an end, after saying goodbye the pair of you sat together going through fan art. unfortunately the one that caught your eye was this one twitter post where the artist had created a drawing of a piece of paper with you, ranboo, tommy, tubbo, and jack, however the paper was ripped separating you and ranboo from the others, captioned ‘it was never meant to be’ this clearly upset ranboo as he took off his mask and glasses placing them on the desk before going straight to his bed.

“boo…are you okay?”

“Are you tired of me? are you going to leave next?”

“what? no of course not! I could never get tired of you, why do you ask?”

“everyone else has left..i thought they cared about us, i knew it would happen eventually and i couldn’t stop it, i’m sorry, y/n, please don’t hate me.”

you sat on the edge of the bed looking down at the floor,

“come here.”

you watched him roll over to face you.

“you know there’s no one else who I'd rather spend the rest of my life with, right…if i hated you i wouldn’t have moved house with you. it’s not your job to fix everything and make everything better, you’re a streamer for christ sake not a therapist.”

“i guess so.. can we watch that thing you were on about for ages.”

“edward scissorhands? “

“mhm!”

you could tell he wanted to be distracted, so you agreed and put the film on, towards the end you began to get upset due to how overwhelming everything was.

“Why are you crying?”

“poor Edward.”

“come here.”

ranboo pulled you into a hug you laid there crying into his chest, he knew that wasn’t the reason you were crying, but he wasn’t about to make you tell him, luckily it didn’t take long for you to stop crying as ranboo quickly distracted you.

“ranboo..”

“yeah y/n?”

“I feel bad i didnt realise how much pressure was on you whilst everyone was arguing.”

“Hey, it’s okay, is that what’s upsetting you?”

“mhm.”

“don’t blame yourself, i’d do it all over again to keep you safe and happy..then again i didn’t do a good job on keeping you happy.”

“you did..you were always there for me even when i gave up on social media, you shared your room with me after i started receiving creepy messages from that obsessed fan, hell you even went on adventures with me even though it was clear you hadn’t been sleeping, just so we could spend time together and forget about what was happening. you mean a lot to me boo.”

“i love you.”

“i love you too bud, I’m tired.”

“go to sleep, it’s been a long day.”

“okay.”

“you just staying there?”

“yes.”

“oh, oh okay, goodnight.”

about a year later the two of you were still thriving, ranboo got you a promise ring a few months earlier.

“heh what’s this for?”

“as your best friend i promise to stay by your side and keep you safe and make sure that you’re happy, in other words you're stuck with me till the end of time.”

“boo…i really don’t know what to say.. thank you so much!”

“you don’t have to say anything!”

you ended up going out to buy him a promise ring when he started the stream and decided to take your cousins with you now that they were a little older. ranboo was doing a facecam stream when the door slammed open revealing you covering your three younger cousins ranboo not realising you were hiding them from the camera, instinctively stood up covering the camera

“ranboooooo!”

“yes you three and y/n ,what do you need?”

“we would like to watch a film!”

“Okay, i’ll go put one on, y/n will you entertain chat?”

“sure thing boo boy!”

once they left you sat fixing your hair forgetting you were wearing the ring chat noticed this and went crazy, so did Tommys group with tubbo and jack.

tubbo: that’s a ring, right??

jack: yeah looks like it.

Tommy: holy shit I always thought if anyone was gonna get married it would be tubbo and y/n, they were inseparable.

tubbo: hilarious.

jack: it could just be a ring, no one mentioned marriage tommy!

Tommy: we should congratulate them.

jack: at least let them explain fucking hell.

soon enough ranboo came back into the room,

“sorry one of them found it hilarious to steal my glasses...”

“they’re little shits i swear to god but i love them.”

you both noticed chat going crazy and both looked at each other before laughing.

“i'm sorry, i can’t take you serious in the mask and glasses!”

“i can’t take you serious with neon hair, but here we are!”

“rude!”

you and ranboo quickly put an end to the rumours,

“no we’re not engaged or married, it is a promise ring. no they’re not our children, they’re y/ns cousins they just spend a lot of time here..chat stop calling me and y/n parents and comparing us to phil that’s not..that’s not how it works okay!”

“parent arc!”

“y/n, don’t encourage them!”

“it’s a little bit funny!”

soon enough the bit came to an end and eventually ranboo ended the stream.

“hey boo look what i got you”

you handed him a little black box, inside was a ring similar to yours

“i promise to always stick around and be here for you”

“oh my god”

ranboo tackled you into a hug thanking you several times for his rings. you and ranboo were living your best life meanwhile jack, tommy, and tubbo were stuck dealing with the guilt of what happened, but they’re weren’t giving up that easy. they wanted you both back, that’s when you received a notification, tommyinnit has sent you a message request: hey y/n can we talk..please?

taglist

@dumb-chaotic-bi-energy @uselesssapphickitten @l0ver0fj0y @etheriaaly @xx-smiley-xx @hawarun @kylobensgirl @cawcaw-pretty-thing @reverse-iak @renleicrashed @augustine-is-joy @c1loudee

[crazycatsiren]

Karma, what exactly is it?

Nowadays, when Wiccans, Neopagans, and New Agers throw "karma" around like the hot word it's become, I'm willing to bet most of them have no idea what it actually is, what it entails, or even where it comes from. The people who keep using this word because they think it's "cool" or because everyone else who seems "spiritual" these days is saying it, they really have no understanding of what it means or how it fits into a spiritual practice. And when some of these people go around shaming and guilt tripping witches for cursing/hexing by waving it like a crusade banner, and conflating it with the Wiccan Rede or the Threefold Law, they're disregarding thousands of years of ancient religious and spiritual traditions. Karma is not a Wiccan concept. It's older than the ancestors of the people who invented Wicca. The Wiccans who mistakenly claim karma as their own are, in fact, culturally appropriating.

The concept of karma originated in ancient India, the birthplace of Hinduism and Buddhism. India was a beacon of religion and spirituality, a holy land to the faithful and devout people of Asia. Even as ancient China adopted the Buddhist religion and more or less came up with its own school of it, Chinese Buddhists still looked to India as the sacred place of Buddhism. The novel Journey to the West (one of my favorite books in the world) comes to mind, in which a faithful Buddhist priest, chosen for his knowledge, wisdom, and morality by the royal family, makes the harrowing journey across the continent to seek the true teachings of Amitābha Buddha.

By its own definition, karma (कर्म in Sanskrit) means action, work, or deed. Applied to religious contexts, the term refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect: the intents and actions of an individual (cause) will influence the futures of that individual (effect). In short and simply put, good intents and good deeds contribute to good karma and lead to happier rebirths, bad intents and bad deeds contribute to bad karma and lead to unhappier rebirths.

Karma comes with the idea of rebirth and reincarnation in many schools of ancient Eastern religions (particularly Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, as well as Taoism and Shintoism). These religions believe that karma in the present affects one's future in the current life, as well as the nature and quality of one's future lives that involve the cycle of death and rebirth (saṃsāra).

Karma translates into "Yè lì" in Chinese. I've often heard my grandmother mention the necessity of "cleansing and balancing one's ye li" as one goes through life. I suppose it could equate to the idea of "bringing in some good karma" that's more easily comprehended from a Western point of view. My understanding of this is that it's acknowledged on a universal level that humans are not flawless. We are expected to make mistakes and mess up. It is therefore understandable and not surprising that we can bring bad karma into our lives with our actions, knowingly or unknowingly. It is simply unavoidable as a part of humanity. However, we can counter this by mending our faults, atoning for our wrongdoings, and performing good deeds, to cleanse ourselves of the bad karma and negative things that we might have brought into our lives, and open ourselves to potentially good karma and positive things.

Now, does this mean if you're not a part of any of the religions mentioned above, you can't apply karma to your spiritual practice? Not at all. Most if not all of the religions that include karma are open. I think karma can be a universal concept to those who wish to follow the teachings surrounding it. But if you're going to use it, at least take the time to learn about it and use it correctly, and give credit where it's due. It's the least you can do to show some respect for the millenia old Asian religions and cultures that are so often overlooked and misrepresented by the West.

(Art by CuteReaper on DeviantArt)

[whoisbriansella]

Reflecting on Going Grey

This is going to be the first in a series of reviews and reflections on pretty much any TFB album/EP/song. I’m writing about the Going Grey LP (2017) first because it was requested, and if you liked this one, request another!

It really didn’t come as a surprise when someone reached out to me to review The Front Bottoms’ fourth (official) studio album Going Grey mainly because this is the one album everyone seems to talk about the most. I tried to think critically about it when I gave it another listen, and I think I might understand why fans talk about it so much. GG seems to have a cult status in the TFB universe—either you find people who hate it or people who love it (think Comedown Machine by the Strokes’ reception back in the day). 

On one hand, it’s an album that’s the easiest to listen to: I think “Peace Sign” was the first TFB song to reach the radio, “Vacation Town” was in everyone’s summer playlist, and it’s hard to say “no” to songs like “Bae” and “Raining.” The sound is much more controlled—sacrificing the blaring trumpet, half-screaming singing, and complex percussion (aka no cowbells...they really loved cowbells pre-2015) for a pared-down, relaxed sound with substantially better production. 

However, from a dedicated fan perspective, I can see why some people were let down by it. The lyrics are much simpler and more repetitive, they don’t really break rhyme all that much, and the disorganized, NJ punk trademarked SoundTM of TFB was kind of lost in the process. Also, you can’t neglect that they wrote this album after the success of Back On Top, which made them much more known among indie/punk/folk rock circles across the country/world, so this album sounds like they actually had the disposable income to make it. That alone makes a difference when comparing GG to any of their older work.

That being said, I have to admit: I’m part of the cult following that thinks GG is really, really good. It’s an album that shows evolution—those Jersey boys are finally out of their basements and backyards and finally moved to a different city and it shows! It’s an album that demonstrates living, not just ‘having things happen’ to you. And while I think this is the beginning of a TFB with simpler lyrics (let’s face it, we’ll never get something like I Hate My Friends again), I don’t think that, by any means, makes TFB any less foreign from their “SoundTM.”

Simply put: So what if they got a bigger budget! So what if they switched it up a little and sang about mostly positive experiences! It’s fun!

---

Review:

The Artwork:

God, I miss having little icons for each of the songs in a TFB album. For Talon of the Hawk it was the knives; for GG it was the sigils...Great times. The album cover and color scheme actually fits really well with the themes and title of the album. First, I think the black-to-color vignette border keeps this cohesion to the discography while also heading in a new direction. Here, we have a blend of the three previous albums: the colors from each blending together like waves, being filtered through a prism that turns them into white. Also, it’s a much brighter and saturated perspective on life—not the muted watercolors we’ve seen before. It’s cover art that makes me think some new feelings are about to be explored, and we’re all a little older and more mature coming into it.

The Themes/Songs:

Ideally, I wouldn’t have to say anything more than the introduction to “Do you think my eyes should be wider?” I often think of GG as the epilogue to the last three albums, trying to both answer any of the lingering questions and move on from those experiences completely. It has the closest relationship to Back On Top, in my opinion, especially with the themes of escapism, discerning reality from a romanticization of it, and seeking comfort in friendship and love. However, since TFB is older, they’re looking at their past experiences with the knowledge of new ones, and old memories have shifted to become either happier or sadder than they were. It’s an album asking not to expect more from you than what you have, to relax and enjoy the present without holding onto the past. The narrative is no longer, “This weird shit keeps happening to me,” but rather, “I’m living through these moments,” and that’s nothing but beautiful! 

I think the lyric from “You Used to Say” encapsulates the album extremely well: as a question, the singer asks someone else how he should feel in the moment, only to negate that completely and work through his own emotions from a much more grounded and mature way (yeah, sometimes maturity is just admitting “Holy fuck, I’m about to die!” rather than create some weird metaphor to avoid accepting your reality). The singer dwells on the unnamed “you” of the past, who tries to shrug off emotions and remain as numb and nonchalant as possible. Yet, as I’ve stated, the singer negates everything that was “taught” to him, moving on, unlearning the habits of indifference, and actually acknowledging his reality.

I also think “Ocean” closes GG in an intelligent and moving way; again, we’re working with simpler lyrics, but the visual of the constantly-moving waves that drag sand away and shape the landscape demonstrates how people are moved by change and, in turn, reshape the world around them. And sure, the singer’s scared to live so close to it all, but he’s still going to do it, as the ocean sounds and seagulls at the end of the song might suggest. Again, it’s accepting reality for what it is and moving on anyway. 

The songs in the middle fall within this theme too, as they all have to do with either moments of realization, moving on, or affirming everything you know already. Like I said, “Peace Sign” is a favorite among many because it’s so unapologetic in its imagery and lyrics (”She sees the future in mysterious ways”...put that on my grave). “Bae” is That SongTM because even though it’s using all literal actions (”I gotta move my car, I gotta move your couch, I heard that love tastes good, you shoved it in my mouth”), it’s to show how these actions can be very strong, outward signs of affection. “Vacation Town” is another dwelling-on-the-past song, but it’s admitting that the past wasn’t all that bad, and while you thought you were upset in the moment, you actually had it pretty good! “Don’t Fill Up On Chips” is a witty, earnest song about love (insert your own interpretation about it here because hm...giving many “Andy You’re a Star” vibes if you know what I mean...), and “Grand Finale” is...well it’s about vibes. <3 Just kidding, it’s indirect, and in my interpretation, I think the half-images and connections not totally public to the listener demonstrate, in a way, the idea that there are still things to work on—not everything’s ready for discussion quite yet.

The Music/Tone:

If you’re looking for the loud, all-over-the-place, energetic sound from the first three albums, that’s really not what you’re going to get here. GG is moodier, calmer (Brian’s not fucking yodeling in your ear), and it’s much more controlled. The production is better—the whole album sounds a lot cleaner than its predecessors. I think it has a neat effect on the narrative: it sounds well thought-out, like they’ve gone over every note and word before affirming this is what it’s going to sound like. Sure, the feeling of spontaneity in the older pieces made TFB beloved by the longtime fans, but again! Maturity needs that reigning in sometimes. The songs choose to be loud when they want, to be reflective when they want, to have a guitar solo when they want, and to sample any sound when they want. For an album about gaining control of the narrative and setting course for the next one, I think the new, polished sound works for them! It’s what made GG a success; I don’t think any of the lyrics of this album could fit with the sounds of any other album.

---

Summary:

Going Grey is an evolutionary success for The Front Bottoms, and I hope that people who see it as a more controversial album recognize what it’s trying to say, and the beautiful ways in which it tells a story. After all, listening to an album whose title and content are a metaphor for getting older should naturally show some progression and maturity of the band, even when their old sound was truly something special.

Favorite song: “Don’t Fill Up On Chips”

Ranking: 8/10

Where it places in my personal ranking of official albums: 3rd

This was long, but if you’ve made it to this point, congrats and thank you for reading!! If you’d like another review for anything else TFB-related, let me know!

[sturchling]

The Gilded Poppy Meets Marinette

First of all, I hit 1000 followers last night! Thank you all so much, this is so cool. If there is anything special y’all want me to do for 1000 followers, let me know. 

This is an idea that I saw and talked about with @anastasian-dreamer and @musicfeedsmysoul12 and I loved it so much. I just had to write it out! I will write another one where the Poppy helps to defeat Hawkmoth. Find it here. I hope you all like it!

Nikolai and Remy had met the Dupain-Chengs not long after they met each other. They were only 15 and had not yet mastered being thieves. They needed food and they decided to try stealing from a popular local bakery. The plan was for Remy to talk to the bakers and distract them, while Nikolai grabbed some bread. The plan, however didn’t work at all. Sabine caught Nikolai the instant he touched the bread. But instead of getting mad and calling the police, Sabine gave them the bread with a smile. Sabine could tell they were living on the streets when they came in and since the bakery was doing well, Sabine didn’t see the harm in giving the boys free food. The boys thanked them and left the bakery with their stomachs full.

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That wasn’t the last time they went to Tom and Sabine’s bakery. They often went there and the couple always gave them free food. They grew close with the family and one day met their daughter Marinette. The boys were in the bakery, talking to the couple as they ate when a young girl, who couldn’t have been older than six, came into the room. The little girl looked at the teen boys and with a big smile on her face, asked her mother, “Mama, are they the ones you give all the bread to? Can they come play with me?” Sabine looked at the little girl with a kind smile, “If they want to Marinette.” That is how Remy and Nikolai found themselves being led into the most pink bedroom they had ever seen, with a plate full of fresh cookies and one very excited six year old. As they played with Marinette, the two boys agreed to make sure no harm ever came to this little girl and her parents, and to make sure to pay them back for their kindness.

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Years went by, and the Gilded Poppy was now a well known group of thieves made up of six people. Despite being busy with their heists, Remy and Nikolai always made a point to visit their favorite bakery every time they were in Paris. The rest of the Gilded Poppy often came with them and had also grown to care for the Dupain-Cheng family. Remy and Nikolai acted as older brothers for Marinette and the rest of the Poppy were like the crazy aunts and uncles of their weird family. Jett, Remy, and Zoe often got up to crazy schemes (nothing illegal, but always funny) with Marinette, the four of them constantly laughing. Vivienne would talk to Marinette for hours about fashion and her latest designs. Remy and Nikolai had also started sending the family expensive gifts to pay back their kindness from all those years ago.

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On one trip to the bakery, as they ate their food and talked with Tom and Sabine, the door to the bakery was flung open by Marinette, who rushed by and up to her room without a word, very clearly upset. Tom and Sabine just looked resigned at this point. They knew this was likely the work of that liar Lila Rossi, but there wasn’t much they had been able to do to help Marinette. They supported her as best they could at home, but they hadn’t made any progress with the school. When Nikolai asked what was wrong, they told the Poppy the whole story. Needless to say the Poppy was furious that some third rate con-woman had been making life hard for Marinette. And they were going to try there best to stop it right now. 

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For the next few days, they followed the liar around discreetly. They listened to all her lies and listened to the class falling for them. Any time that Lila lied and said Marinette was bullying her, the Poppy had a hard time not jumping in right then, but they knew they needed to wait for the right lie at the right moment. So they watched as the liar continued to lie about everything under the sun and the class isolate Marinette more and more. The only person that seemed to stand by her was Adrien Agreste. Other than that, all her other friends had abandoned her, and it made the Poppy furious. But they soon got their perfect moment to intervene.

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

Marinette was away at a doctor’s appointment and Lila was using the opportunity to come up with the most outlandish lies she could say, since the designer wasn’t there to mess anything up. She was telling the class about some of her ‘adventures in Italy’ when she came up with a new story. The Gilded Poppy was in the news a lot lately, so Lila claimed to have almost caught them once during a heist in Venice. She told the class she had risked her safety to safeguard a priceless painting and how the Poppy had threatened her, but she still did what she thought was right. Alya was looking at Lila with stars in her eyes. “Wow Lila! That is amazing. No wonder you are Ladybug’s best friend, you are already like a hero.” The class fawned over their friend’s ‘heroic deeds’ not knowing they were being listened to by a certain conman.

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Remy couldn’t believe the idiocy of this liar and the class. He and Nikolai really needed to convince Tom and Sabine to move Marinette out of this class. But that is a discussion for another time. For now, the liar had backed herself into a corner and Remy would be able to put an end to this madness. He quickly fell into character and approached the class. “Pardon me, but did I hear your story about the Gilded Poppy correctly?” Lila smiled at the stranger, always looking to charm and amaze the people she met. “Yes, it is true. If it wasn’t for me, they would have stolen that masterpiece.” Remy put on his most charming smile, making sure he sounded calm and happy. “That is amazing. I am a true crime author and am writing a book about the Gilded Poppy. I would love to include your story in my book. When did this happen? What were they trying to steal? And where were they stealing it? Tell me everything.” Remy knew the girl would take the bait. From what he could tell, this girl lied for attention and fame,  so the offer to be in a book would be too good to resist. Remy smirked as Lila jumped into a story about how last August, the Poppy had tried to steal the famous  Ginevra de’ Benci painting from the Museo Correr and ending her tale with how the Poppy had threatened to kill her for stopping them. 

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Lila had finished her story and expected this author to be as astonished and fooled as the class. But instead she was met with a confused look. Remy made sure he looked perfectly confused before innocently asking, “Young lady, what are you talking about? Please don’t waste my time with made up stories.” The class looked confused at the man in front of them, before Nino spoke up. “What do you mean sir? Lila isn’t lying.” Remy looked at the class with a practiced cool look. “I do not wish to be rude, but she is lying. I have several accounts, including witnesses, police reports, and news articles that put the Poppy in New York from last July to September. They weren’t in Venice. They also are notoriously non-violent. They wouldn’t threaten to kill you. Also, the painting you mentioned is famously held in the National Art Gallery in Washington D.C., not the Museo Correr in Venice. You can all look this up, it is common knowledge.” The class all pulled out their phones, trying to prove that their friend wasn’t lying. Trying to defend her against this author. But they couldn’t find anything. They saw that everything this author said was true. About the Poppy, about the painting, everything. They quickly turned to their friend, now realizing that she was a liar. They started yelling at her and the school courtyard dissolved into chaos. It was so chaotic that no one noticed that Remy had disappeared.

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Things got a lot better for Marinette after that. Lila was exposed as the liar she is and the chaos of that day even drew Mr. Damocles out of his office. Once he found out what happened and the extent of Lila’s lies, Lila was expelled from school. The class did apologize to Marinette, but the friendships were already to damaged to be mended by a simple apology. Remy and Nikolai did end up convincing Tom and Sabine to switch Marinette out of that class. Now Marinette was in Mrs. Mendeleiev’s class and was much happier. She had made a bunch of new friends and the class had a lot less drama going on. The Poppy was just happy to see their dear Marinette happy again and was glad they could help her. 

[tobinheath]

Leah Williamson and Keira Walsh have shared enough “written in the stars” moments in their 23 years to make them feel that they were fated to be best friends. Since meeting on an England Under-15s camp, their football careers have played out with a striking, almost eerie, similarity. They each play for their childhood clubs — Williamson for Arsenal, Walsh for Manchester City — and have a knack of picking up the same injuries at the same time.

They both received their first senior call-up on the same day in 2017. The 2019 World Cup was their first senior England tournament: they called each other to celebrate even before they called their parents, which resulted in Williamson shrieking “bloody hell — what have we done here?” in tears outside a London branch of Nando’s.

Most memorably, Williamson made her England debut coming on for Walsh, in the final six minutes of a World Cup qualifier against Russia in 2018. “My mum’s just framing my shirt, pestering me for that picture,” Williamson says.

Walsh interrupts, giddily. “I think that’s the only time I’ve actually done a full-teeth smile. I was so buzzing.”

“Yeah,” remembers Williamson, “because I was game faced, and you proper smiled at me and I went…” before jerking her mouth into a tight-lipped, nervous smile, chuckling.

“If it was anyone else,” Walsh picks up, “I’d have been, like: ‘I don’t want to come off’. But as soon as I saw it was Leah, I was buzzing.”

This is life at the top for two of England’s most talented young players: phenomenal success and too many good memories to count.

Today, best friends will turn opponent and they will face each other in the Women’s Super League (WSL) for the first time this season — hosts Manchester City are fourth, four points behind second-placed Arsenal — with Williamson pointing out that in a pre-COVID-19 world, she would have stayed after the match with Walsh’s family in Rochdale, where Walsh’s mother Tracy is “just like my mum”.

Over the hour they spent together on Zoom, they are gloriously good fun: warm, ebullient and habitually careering into laughter. They balance each other out, Walsh says: she is “shy and awkward” — though you would not know it here — and Williamson is the “buffer” in certain situations, and the more “logical” one of the two. Williamson views Walsh as the honest one, sometimes brutally so. “I have to step in sometimes and give it a smile and keep it balanced,” she says. “If I play a game and I’m not actually sure how it went, I would text Keira, because I know I’d get the most honest answer from anybody, even if that means it’s not what I want to hear. I think that is where the respect comes from.”

To track the pair’s football careers has been to often forget how young they are. Walsh made her City debut a few months after her 17th birthday and in November this year, Williamson played her 150th game for Arsenal. It is common for those in women’s football to grow up fast but in conversation, one is reminded of the duo’s gleeful, wonderful youth. There was the time, for instance, they rented electric scooters one afternoon at the World Cup in France to explore with Walsh’s Manchester City team-mate Georgia Stanway. The room-mates — Stanway with Williamson, Walsh with Lucy Bronze — had a group chat titled “The three best friends and Lucy”. Stanway, the youngest England player at the tournament, sped ahead on her scooter and they had to “rein her back in”, Williamson says.

“You were being a bit of a Cautious Claire, weren’t you?” teases Walsh, turning to Williamson, “probably as you should do at a World Cup. I think we were just enjoying being kids, weren’t we? Obviously, we were playing, and the reason we were there was to win, but we have so much free time that we were just enjoying being the younger ones.”

“All the older ones… that’s what they kept saying to us,” says Williamson. “Kaz Carney was like: ‘Make sure you enjoy your time now, because hopefully one day you will be the senior ones and there’ll be a lot more pressure on you. Just have the best time ever, make as many memories as possible. Jill Scott — I mean, she was a bit more wild than we are — said she’s got some of the best memories ever from those early tournaments and she wished she could do it again. I don’t think we wanted to waste a second.”

Do not presume, though, that the pair are anything other than serious competitors. By 20, Walsh had won every domestic title going: the WSL, FA Cup and League Cup. Williamson has won the league once, the FA Cup twice and the League Cup twice, finishing as runner-up in the latter to Walsh’s City in 2019. Walsh, an artful holding midfielder in the mould of Sergio Busquets — she grew up watching clips of him and David Silva with her father — will be among the most important players in the England squad moving forward and Williamson, capped 17 times, is touted as a future England captain.

It has not always been easy, though. An early test came in the form of Williamson’s ankle injury, sustained playing for Arsenal against Walsh’s Blackburn Rovers in the FA Youth Cup final. It was so traumatic Walsh admits there are still occasions she will search for Williamson’s results, see her friend has come off and think, “Please tell me it’s not her ankles again. My mum mentions it to me. She’ll say: ‘Did you see Leah came off?’” She addresses Williamson. “Because I’ve seen you in person do it, I feel like I automatically panic. When I see you at camp two weeks later, you’re like: ‘Maybe I was being a bit soft when I came off — it’s nothing to do with my ankles’. But I know what you’ve been through with them, so it is the first thing I think about.”

Williamson, in her own words, “basically just snapped my ankle and everything in it” after misplanting her foot. Stretcher, gas and air, a wheelchair, a doctor advising her to go straight to hospital. “I’m trying to fight back the tears and she’s nearly crying looking at me as well,” Williamson remembers. She stayed at the game because Arsenal had lost the season prior and she wanted to collect her winner’s medal.

“I think I played most of the game thinking, ‘I just hope she’s OK’,” says Walsh. “The only thing I actually remember from that game — not the goals or anything — was afterwards, I saw Leah on the side in a wheelchair with an Arsenal bobble hat on, having to wheel herself on to get her winner’s medal.”

A few months on from Williamson’s injury, Walsh damaged her ankle ligaments — it was an impact injury, and on her laptop, Williamson has pictures of her and Walsh “in wheelchairs at different times”. Walsh collected her second ankle injury at a training camp in La Manga, by which point Williamson’s ankles had betrayed her again. “We were both sat on the bench laughing because it was just crazy luck that we’d both done it again,” Walsh smiles. “I knew I couldn’t sit there feeling sorry for myself next to you.”

During their separate rehabilitation processes, they maintained the habit of visiting each other as often as they could. Their close friendship meant they were never allowed to share a room on international duty to ensure they didn’t isolate themselves from the rest of the group. Walsh was the class clown and Williamson the captain, meaning that “Leah would always get told off for me. They’d always be like: ‘Leah! You need to tell Keira she needs to be a bit more professional!’”

What it all meant was they had lost time to make up elsewhere. Each Christmas, Walsh would come to London from Rochdale and Williamson’s mother Amanda “would treat us to something from Jack Wills. That was like an annual little thing that we did, because I don’t think that I’d ever heard of Jack Wills, being from the north, until I met all these southerners at camp that used to wear it. I think I actually used to go down to see Amanda more than you, to be honest.”

What did they think of each other when they first met?

“You first,” says Williamson.

“No — you go,” Walsh replies.

“I’m going to big you up here,” Williamson begins. “Keira’s always been… she was always one of the best there, and you always want to be mates with the good ones.”

Walsh returns the favour: “I think I was quite jealous of you when you first came because everyone was like: ‘She’s amazing. I was thinking, I want to be amazing, as well, so I want to be friends with her.”

“That’s good, that we both thought the same thing.”

“There you go, then. That’s why we’re friends.”

“I’d say I’m your fangirl, Keira. I’m your hype man.”

Walsh has always been Williamson’s biggest supporter — “when you scored your first goal for England, I think I was happier for you than I would have been if I’d scored” — but probably has good reason to worry about Williamson calling herself a hype man. Before the World Cup, Williamson visited Cex, the second-hand goods chain, and spent £50 on some DJ decks to master during downtime at the tournament.

“I just looked across the corridor and I was like, ‘What is that noise? I’m sure that’s Leah’s room’,” Walsh recalls. “I opened the door and you had these big headphones on, mixing the decks. I saw Georgia just lying on the bed and I was like, ‘What is going on in here?’ They had the balcony door open and you were like: ‘Wait for the drop. Wait for the drop’. I was like: ‘OK – I’ll wait for the drop. You like your music, you are good with music and you actually might be very good. I trust you’. And the drop just never came.”

Williamson hoots with laughter. “Never came. I thought it would be so much easier than it was. It was so hard.” She shakes her head, jokingly rueful. “Massive flop. Massive flop.”

“I feel like you just try your hand at loads of random stuff,” continues Walsh. “I see you on camp and you’re like: ‘I’m doing the harmonica now’.”

Williamson says she has “found her calling” playing the piano in lockdown, but Walsh is unimpressed. “It’s just you try to give off this cool vibe and I feel like people don’t really know you. It just makes me laugh. What have you got — a lightsaber pen? And Star Wars pyjamas? People would just not think that. When you see the exterior of Leah, you would just think, ‘No – not Star Wars’. She’s done all these photoshoots, she’s dead cool, and then she just whacks out the craziest stuff and just makes me laugh.”

Williamson holds up her hands. “It’s true. I can’t deny it.”

The World Cup was particularly testing for Walsh, for whom fierce social media criticism left her questioning whether she wanted to continue to play football. Walsh has spoken numerous times about the impact on her confidence, but what was it like for Williamson, who did not feature as much as Walsh, to witness? She pauses. “I think it’s hard,” she begins, “because you just feel so powerless when you’re not playing. It’s not even like I can go on the pitch and have a shocker to save her from the criticism,” she laughs. “If I tell Keira she’s great, there’s a slight bit of her that’s… I’m her best mate, so I’m going to try and pick her up as much as possible.

“The main thing, especially from a squad perspective, is that we all know how valuable Keira is to us and how — I’m bigging you up here — she’s the centre of what we’re doing as a team. It just annoys me. I wish I could eradicate all those other people because we, as a team, appreciate her so much. That’s all I ever said to Keira – if anybody was picking a team, you’d be the first name on the teamsheet. But it’s hard to get… like I say, I’m her best mate, so I’m honest with her, but at the same time, she probably needed to hear that a little bit more.”

They didn’t talk about it so much, Walsh says. “Because you weren’t playing, I didn’t want to put that on you because I felt like it would be selfish,” she adds. “I thought, at the time: you know what? We’ll just make the best of it off the pitch, and I think that’s why we had such a good time.” Williamson’s first appearance, from the bench in the round-of-16 match against Cameroon, changed Walsh’s perspective “because I was just so happy for you that I didn’t care what people would say about me at that moment. People could say whatever they wanted because I’ve just played in a World Cup with my best friend. Not many people can say that.”

To be best friends, as professional athletes, is a balancing act: in any other walk of life, they would — could — rage at each other, moan, weep, get angry. As professional footballers, they are wary of distracting the other. “I know what you want to achieve, so my problems taking a back seat is fine with me if I know you’re going on to achieve what you want to achieve,” Walsh tells Williamson.

To Sunday, then, and what will happen when two best friends turn competitors for 90 minutes. Walsh smirks. “I feel like you try and keep a really focused head, and then I’ll just be like…” she cups her hands for a high-pitched whisper and springs up like a Jack in a box. “’Leah!’” Williamson rollicks back with laughter. “Then she’ll turn around and she’ll start laughing, but I do it because I know she’s going to laugh and I know that she’s trying to focus. I feel like I’m a lot more relaxed than you. You’re like, ‘Game face, game head, here we go’, and you just have that annoying friend in the background.”

Stanway is the worst, apparently, to the point where Walsh and Williamson will intervene — Williamson with a stern “we’re not having that today” when Stanway inevitably flattens her early doors. “We always text each other a couple of days, speak to each other earlier on in the week before we play each other,” says Williamson of her and Walsh.

“In the game and stuff, we have our little tiffs, and if I say something and she doesn’t agree with it, we’re both playing for the win, and we both understand that,” Walsh concludes, “but then afterwards, we’re straight over to each other.”

She starts to sign off, but Williamson beats her to it. “See you Sunday,” they chorus, in unison.