#sorry for the varying quality these were all made at different points in time

[superbellsubways]

Splatoon 3 Spoilers

so obsessed with the idea of these 2 knowing eachother u dont understand

[he-calls-me-kitten]

Dirty Dozen (ft. +2)

GN! MC x Pervert! OM Characters

(Cause y'all seemed to love the first one omg. Also TW: I made everyone wayy more sleazy and nasty than before so read at your own risk. MInors DNI)

Pervert! Mammon who likes to ask you for something specifically when your hands are full. "MC, lend me a few Grimm could ya?" He asks when you're in the middle of cooking.

"My hands are covered in cake batter, just take some from my back pocket."

"Are you sure it's there? Let me check both pockets." He isn't so much searching for coins as much as he's feeling and practically groping your ass. Seriously you start to wonder how it's taking him 20 minutes to find something that's right there.

Pervert! Solomon who keeps his room colder than usual when you come over for magic lessons.

"Is it too cold for you MC? I apologise, I kept it this way because some of the potions have bad reactions to heat but if you'd like-"

"I'm absolutely fine, Solomon. You worry about me too much." You smile at him reassuringly, not noticing how his eyes are so eagerly trained at your nipples perking up through your thin t-shirt.

Boner Bonus points if you allow him to hug you for some warmth. His fingers will definitely brush against your chest more than once.

Pervert! Beel who seems to make a mess whenever he's trying to help you in the kitchen. "I'm so sorry, MC. I didn't mean to spill it on your hands!"

"It's okay Beel, it's just some cream and syrup. I can just wash it off right away."

"But it's such a waste. Please allow me." He starts to thoroughly lick your fingers and you shake your head and let him knowing his fixations on food.

But he can't help it - you taste so good. He secretly wonders what you might taste like down there, drooling at the thought.

Pervert! Levi who has taken to sitting on pillows Japanese style while gaming and offers you the same. Sure enough you don't even suspect an ulterior motive.

"Did you get inspired by some human world anime again? Careful though - your legs and butt will start to cramp after a while."

"MC you're too gracious! Caring so much for an otaku like me!"

After you leave, he promptly takes the pillow you were sitting on and puts it in his bathtub. He's going to sleep on it ofc. Your scent on it helps him jerk off better.

Pervert! Belphie who now asks you to rub his belly till he falls asleep. "What's so funny?" He asks as you giggle at his request.

"Since when do you need help falling asleep?"

"I care about the quality of my sleep. And I sleep better this way."

Fortunately you believe him and don't suspect that it's because it's the closest he can get you to fondling his dick. He has such a difficult time holding in his moans and hard ons, every time your hands go even a bit lower than usual.

Pervert! Barbatos who got into sewing clothes as a hobby and specifically likes making them for you now. But you never understand why he needs to take same measurements over and over again.

"Oh? This is a different kind of design, MC. So the measurements will vary from before."

"Always making new things aren't you? You never fail to suprise Barbatos." You smile at him admiring.

The tightening of the tape around your chest and crotch are subtle. He can hardly keep it together when you praise him after all. But he has to if he wants to skim his hands over your body like this again.

Pervert! Diavolo who takes you on such long drives that you always doze off in the front seat, waking up apologetic for missing so much of the journey.

"Hahaha, it's okay, MC. We've been on this same road lots of times. I assure you, you didn't miss anything. And I like that you feel safe to sleep in my presence."

"But still, I'm so sorry, it feels disrespectful..." You apologize, not even knowing how hard he is in his pants right now.

Afterall, he can keep squeezing your beautiful thighs, maybe let his hands wander between them and imagine himself fucking you in the back seat as much as he wants, when you're asleep.

Pervert! Simeon who will have noone except you as his muse for art classes. And the themes just keep getting more erotic each time.

"Are you sure you're okay with this, MC? You don't have to do it if you're not comfortable-"

"Nonsense, Simeon. I feel super comfortable if it's you. You're a true artist after all." You say as you lay on his bed wrapped up only in bedsheets, exposing your entire back and legs.

If only you knew, this angel has thoughts dirtier than most demons. How he's practically fucking you with his eyes. How he's definitely going to jerk off into those bedsheets, moaning your name.

Pervert! Satan who loves teaching you things - standing right behind you, guiding your hands to make latte-art, or trying a new style of painting.

"That's it, nice and slow. Look how much you've improved, MC." He beams at the cute kitty in the coffee cup.

"All thanks to you, Satan. I can't wait to learn more from you." You smile at him earnestly.

He almost feels guilty for tricking you this way, but the way your hands feel in his, and your ass feels against his groin is so addicting. One of these days, he wishes could teach you to be on all fours and take his length in your pretty little mouth.

Pervert! Asmo who loves keeping your eyes on him and noone else. From elaborate performances to petty staring contests, he cannot have enough of your gaze.

"Oh you're turning red in the face, Asmo. Did I manage to flutter the heart of the Avatar of Lust?" You lean forward smiling.

"You're my only weakness after all, MC. It's your fault for making me this way." He almost moans.

You laugh and mock apologize at his antics but you don't know he's been grinding like an animal on his seat, and creamed his pants under your innocent gaze. Your undivided attention just turns him on so much.

Pervert! Lucifer who makes his desires too obvious sometimes. He'll regret it in the morning and take you to dinner to apologize but not until he's already done something dirty.

"Lucifer, it's 2 am. You need to throw away that coffee and sleep." You're practically dragging him to bed.

"Fine. I'll go sleep if you'll stay in my room tonight." He says knowing you'll comply. You care too much for your own good. He's not even going to let you sleep on the couch, no you have to stay wrapped up in his arms.

You might wake upto him groaning your name in his sleep and you might mistake it for a nightmare - not knowing how he's balls deep inside you in his dreams.

Pervert! Thirteen who likes how excited you get over her newest inventions and keeps making more things to call you over.

"And this little baby and can throw pie at people's faces without ever missing. Guaranteed headshot." She smiles proud.

"This would be so useful in a cafeteria food fight and then get banned right after its glory. But I so wanna use it!" You whine.

She loves how much you appreciate her inventions. She is secretly working on a 'pleasure' device scented like her to give you - she hopes you'll like it just as much.

Pervert! Mephisto who is actually taken aback by your duality. You're such a mischievous little imp usually but turn so well-mannered in front of Diavolo's esteemed guests.

"So even you can be prim and proper sometimes? If only you could maintain this on the daily." He huffs.

You laugh and mock-bow in front of him. "Of course, anything for you my dearest lord. Would you like to dance with this proper human while you can?"

He blushes at the sudden offer. Why you little- how dare you tempt him like this. You can't complain about him gripping you somewhere improper or too tight. You deserve this for your attitude.

Pervert! Raphael who is still navigating new feelings of lust he's never felt before he met you. Why his heart skips every time you fall asleep on his shoulder or why he felt a sudden warmth at the pit of his stomach feeling you breath so softly into his neck.

"Thank you for helping me tidy the classroom, MC. I didn't even know where the cleaning supplies were."

"That's alright. It's more fun with two people anyway and wait Raphael there's a bucket over the-" The fresh bucket of water already spilled splashing all over both of you.

You immediately fetched a towel to help him dry up but he couldn't stop staring at you instead. With the uniform sticking to your body like and the water glistening on your exposed skin - why was he so enthralled? Why does he feel a strange pulsing between his legs as you hover over him?

[lake-archive]

Chapter 10 - Action?

AO3 Link

Fandom: Ensemble Stars

Series: Alte Liebe Rostet Nicht

Characters: Anja-Sophia 'Ann' Wolff (OC), Izumi Sena, Leo Tsukinaga, Ritsu Sakuma

Previous Chapter - Masterlist - Next Chapter

‘How have you been dear?’

‘Hi Mami. Sorry for not texting. Been busy.’

‘That’s alright. Have you met Sena by any chance yet?’

‘Yeah.’

‘And?’

‘You’re curious…’

‘Haha, you don’t want to tell me about him?’

‘I leave you in the ‘he is a fine man’ delusion.’

‘Language!’

‘Sorry, sorry. But seriously, I don’t wanna talk about it.’

‘You’re just saying that now…’

‘I’m being serious Mom. I don’t know what to think about him anymore.’

‘Huh?’

‘It’s a long story. Don’t wanna bore you with it. Back to work.’

‘You’re going to leave me hanging? Pops would like to know too!’

‘Maybe some other time…’

The last few days… Torture, pure torture. Almost. In a way. In a sense. It was just confusing honestly and their brain started hurting. What were they supposed to do? How were they supposed to figure things out? Honestly, things started to make less and less sense to Ann when it came to Izumi himself. Reports varied from their own perception of him, and even that part started to crumble. First Sora’s words seemed so empty to them but the more they got the chance to observe him from afar, the more they were questioning him. Things became so complicated over time, they couldn’t believe it.

One time they came across him while talking to one of the idols of StarPro. To not be noticed they hid, wanting to see something for themselves. A different side they hoped. Something which would justify the pity they felt in this weird nightmare. And they were kind of surprised. Actually, had they ever seen him smile in any way before? No, even if it had become off putting at points. A smile was a smile however. ‘That guy can actually smile!?’ they thought, observing the conversation with… Uhm… Well… Maybe someone close to Izumi. After all, they referred to the blonde male with glasses as ‘Yuu–Kun’, a rather affectionate nickname. And he loved talking every second to ‘Yuu–Kun’, as mundane as it was. In fact, if they didn’t know any better, he knew how to tease… If one wants to call it teasing.

Regardless, the treatment Ann experienced was the total opposite from Yuu–Kun’s. Even if they felt sorry at points, given Izumi had nearly crossed a line here and there from their own observations Regardless, there was no… Ill intentions. He just really liked this fellow idol from another agency and seemed to care. Not in a ‘oh we are working in the same industry so I pretend to care for you’ kind of way, but… Actually caring. Actually enjoying the chat. It was a bizarre side of Izumi’s, something Ann was arguably not used to seeing. It took a bit until they could even accept that this was Izumi and not some clone. Seriously, they were stubborn enough to make themselves believe such absurd things. As long as there was no hint that Izumi had some redeemable qualities. It made them question if they were not just trying to tell themselves all sorts of things just to be able to bash on Izumi. Maybe no one could blame them but when seeing this, they felt a little stupid. Though it would be an easy one if it had been just that. Big deal if it happens towards one person after all.

“Did you seriously forget to eat lunch again!?”

“Haha, sorry Sena~ But in my defense, this melody didn’t want to get out of my head! It was begging me to get out! ‘Grr! Write me down Leo! Write me!’ You could say that it was threatening me before I would forget it!”

“You’re unbelievable sometimes… Listen, you come with me! Right now! You will catch up on your lunch!”

“Huh? But—”

“Right now! Urgh, that’s exactly why leaving you on your own is risky… You forget everything sometimes.”

“Haha, I can’t exactly help it you know!”

“Why am I your caretaker?”

“You tell me~”

“I wouldn’t do this if you weren’t so forgetful!”

This was a part of a conversation between Izumi and Leo, or rather one of them. The scolding of skipping a meal, something Ann noticed wasn’t a rarity. They had seen it by chance when they were outside, eating on their own, nibbling on their uncooked ramen straight from the plastic bag. It was convenient and quick to eat on the go, so they did not mind.

Back to the topic at hand: Izumi loved to scold, it may as well be a part time hobby of his. However, it was not really scolding for the sake of scolding. No, it was rather because… Well, he was worried. Leo was forgetful and loved dropping everything for a composition. They had figured out the hard way when he scribbled on a document because he needed some paper to scribble down his latest ‘masterpiece’, Ann having to explain how that happened. Luckily not alone… So this didn’t seem too far off. Sometimes they had the impression that Leo needed some help, given his forgetfulness. They had no idea of the extent of course until they witnessed a conversation about Leo’s schedule, something which seemed to be in Izumi’s control. It was… A lot, too far maybe, but was it out of malicious intent? Uhm… As twisted as it sounds, not really…

And again, Leo is forgetful so there was a reason, Though he could slow it down of course. The two guys smelled the same sometimes, literally. Something was up with that. And this was what made it conflicting. He didn’t mean harm and was concerned, but the way… It was hard to put it in words, hard for Ann to describe. They couldn’t describe it properly in the end.

“Secchan? Hmm… He can be a lot to handle. But I don’t hate him to be honest. He isn’t always wrong. Why do you ask Ann–Chan?”

“Just… Curious. Your opinion.”

“My opinion? Did something—”

“No! Just curious! Ahem… You… Mean he isn’t bad?”

“Secchan has his moments but… That’s about it~ Plus, he isn’t that guy…”

“That— Oh, right…”

Even when asking Ritsu it wasn’t all negative, not all black and white. Of course their friend was confused where their questions suddenly came from, why they were so curious about Izumi out of nowhere yet he had answered them regardless, giving them his unfiltered thoughts. And it sent them more into a spiral, giving them stuff they didn’t want to hear in the end but forced themselves to do so. They had to hear it, for their own curiosity, their own weird sake. To summarize, it lined up with their observations. And it was a help in one way, but on the other it just confused them more, shattering their previous image of Izumi altogether.

Now of course that didn’t mean it completely changed. No one can change their image of someone this quickly, not even close. This was not something happening just like that. But… Well… It gave them some questions. And given the nightmare they had, which still made them shake in their very own boots, they had planted their face onto the table when back in their office alone and having worked through a pile of papers. Everytime they were not working they wasted their thoughts on this. It only changed some things but the initial question they had that morning? They were not much closer. Because none of these answered what was up with Nyeli. What does he have to do with any of this? Then again, it might only answer why the cat didn’t hate that jerk completely and portrayed him in one of the images.

But that was it. They were not much closer to anything else… ‘ Taking pity on the lowest of the low ’, the line haunted them even now. It was all so weird, they didn’t get it. The more they dug up about Izumi, the more confusing of a person he became to them. An Arschloch , they would still not deny that. But at the same time he was… Also not one? Ugh, this was confusing. More than it should have been. It made their head hurt… It led to nothing. Being an observer didn’t solve anything! It didn’t answer anything! Third hand reports were useless at that point! If they wanted to get a clue they had to get it over themselves… They might have to do it. They didn’t want to, and it would come off as weird, but…

“What choice do I have? If I want to get a clue and see if it is worth it or not… I have to ask him myself, don't I?”

The mere thought made them face the surface of the table. Luckily no one had seen them in this miserable state, how they were wasting their thoughts and energy on a person they initially hated and thought would be not worth anything. But now they were just in some weird spiral of self doubt…

Then again, they could always excuse that it was for Nyeli’s sake. Something was going on and they had to figure it out. As Ritsu had told them… ‘ We both can tell Nyeli behaves differently when just hearing Secchan’s name. ’

‘You don’t have an odd feeling about this? At all? ’

It was odd alright. They were starting to see what he meant, starting to understand why this was a complicated matter. Sitting around and doing nothing while also trying to make sure the cat no longer faces the so-called ‘Arsch’ would not solve any of this… It just wouldn't.

But it would be up to them. They had to decide to approach Izumi. And once they do… It will be hard to back out from this.

Previous Chapter - Masterlist - Next Chapter

[bornitereads]

Chapterhouse: Dune - Frank Herbert

Reread: Oct - Dec 2022

Continuing my years long Dune Club adventure with DanikaXIX, we have finally reached the last Dune book. Sorry, the last Frank Herbert Dune book. In our book club we discussed how Herbert's son did continue the series. But I have read those books and they don't nearly come close to the complexity Herbert was able to give his written works in this series.

There is a lot of interesting things in this book. There was discussion of politics and power in human systems which I found very interesting especially considering the world now. Has usual Herbert had a lot of ideas about such societal systems that he wanted to express. And when I was younger and reading this I wasn't catching onto them as well. But going through it now, as an adult, with other in a book club, it's made very apparent to me. It always seems to me that Herbert had a fundamentally different perspective on the world, and every time I read the Dune books I feel like I'm on the edge of all of it clicking together in a cohesive picture, like the one I felt Herbert had in his mind.

The contents of the story of course we're very interesting as well. The conflict the Bene Gesserit found themselves in was dire, but in the end they had they leaders to pull off crazy feats of resistance. I did find it interesting how, after the Atreides reign the, successors of a kind, were the Bene Gesserit. The only others to have the kind of long historical view that the Atreides God-Emperors did. Of course these last two books we find other trying for that same quality to varying degrees of success. Which I don't think ever really match a Reverend Mother.

Even though Herbert had planned another book to tie off the series that he ultimately didn't write, this isn't quite a terrible and abrupt ending that is the usual result in these kinds of situations. A testament to Herbert's storytelling perhaps? But you can very easily accept this as the real and planned ending. As mysterious as Dune ever was. Or always was.

I'm feeling kind of sad about Dune Club ending. It was a very enriching experience reading these books with others and discussing them and having things pointed out. Discussing books is something I truly love to do, so I especially loved doing it with Dune, a series I love. It was a good 5 years worth of it so I can't really complain that there wasn't enough. But endings make me sad and that's that. So and ending to Dune Club and at the end of the Dune series at the end of the year even! Poetic no?

Info: Ace Books, 1985

[vanillabeenflower]

Poe Dialogue Rant (semi-long post warning)

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.

.

So I need to discuss this dialogue said by Poe when you give him a gift in Boyfriend level. This is really nit picky and I love Poe, but I feel like discussing this because this has been in my head since last night after I saw it.

Okay I’ll write each point as a different paragraph because this actually made me start talking about this to myself and finding out the reasoning. And he says that he never takes anything seriously /j

Can’t say I like his opinion on having a favorite thing either, and I just realized, he contradicts himself by saying his favorite color is checkerboard! Which is not a color, by the way, it’s a textile pattern! Checkerboards can literally be any color, just say you like achromatic colors!

“Where is the value in a gift”

Okay, so you’ve already lost me. What value does a gift have? Please elaborate. Luckily, he does in his next few sentences.

“Is it in the essence of the object itself? In what it cost?”

So the first part is kinda hard for me to decipher. The essence of the object, like it’s qualities? I searched the meaning of essence to find a definition that fits and the closest ones I got were “the quality or qualities that make a thing what it is” and “the most significant element, quality, or aspect of a thing or person”. So is he asking if what makes a gift valuable is it’s attributes or characteristics? And the second one, it’s cost, that’s a pretty opinionated statement varying from person to person. Personally, I don’t think that the cost of a gift really matters in what value it has, but someone else might think differently, so I don’t think that’s a universal idea.

“Or is it the thought that counts? If such a thing as a “thought” can have any inherent value at all…”

So this one really confuses me. I searched the meaning of the phrase and it says “that the important part of a gift is the effort, consideration and sacrifice that is put into it”. And then he asks if a thought can have any value? I think thoughts have lots of value, depending on what the thought is. If you’re thinking about something obscure, then the value is negotiable, but if you’re thinking about something like, say, the Pythagorean Theorem, how to make a machine that can travel through air, or thinking about the concept of human rights has astronomical value.

Here’s what I think. I think the value of a gift lies in what the person thought when they saw it. The fact that they saw this single object and instantly thought of you, and in turn decided to buy it for you is very sweet. And, in a way, they sort of immortalized themselves in the object. Whenever someone gives you something that they made or bought because they thought you would love it, it brings up memories that make you think of the person who gave it to you whenever you look at it. Every time you look at what they gifted you, you instantly think of how much they must have loved you to have that sort of intuition about something that seemed completely random at the moment. Even when the person is dead and gone, if you still have the gift they gave you, that’s like having something to remember them by, something that no matter how cheap or shoddily made it is, is still with you despite the person not being there anymore. It makes you realize how much you valued your time with them and how much they valued you. It’s like having a piece of that person forever, and depending on the situation, that can be a good or bad thing.

Sorry if I got a bit carried away at the end 😅 I’m just very passionate about this! My grandmother sometimes gives me gifts of things that seem completely random, like earphone carriers or a coin purse or a hand sanitizer case, but I still have them to this day. I was raised to see a lot of value in things given to you, and this piece of dialogue just rubbed me the wrong way. If I may share, one of my family members got a gift from their grandma when they were a kid, and they weren’t exactly appreciative of the gift, not extremely, just kind of like “oh”, and they said that the look on their grandmother’s face was heartbreaking, and that they felt horrible, so they decided to never be that critical of gifts since then.

I’m sorry, even though Poe is one of my favorites, I probably wouldn’t get along with him 😂 I’m sorry!

[public-hazard]

it’s the windows rant. (the operating system.)

This post is:

subjective

(subjective, in case that is hard to read)

this my opinion. as a person.

TL;DR: I’m a fucking nerd & i hate windows 11 in particular

Now, for the record, i am not going to discuss versions of windows i have personally used ever. which is everything before 7. I also may have a lot of nostalgia for windows 7, being the main version of windows i was ever exposed to. let’s move on, shall we? i will also do my best to provide alt text for images of these, if it matters any. not that I think anyone will read this (at all) but: accessibility matters and should be THE NORMAL STATE and can help people even if it was not intended for them!

windows 7:

Released in 2009 and the successor to Windows Vista. It still looks beautiful, even in its older age. If it weren’t for a lack of support, I’d use windows 7 until i fucking died. it’s beautiful. the startup chime, the way everything looks and feels! detailed but not cluttered with useless bullshit. a time when windows was simpler and didn’t give you so much software you didn’t ask for. if i had to describe a texture for this I’d say probably smooth, cold glass. a well made cup or a coffee table.

windows 8.1 (i am not sure how much it varies from 8):

it feels like cheap plastic. it strays away from a lot of the look and feel of windows 7 but somehow is not my least favorite because windows 11 exists. I’ve also used Windows 8.1 a lot, but i can safely say i don’t have a real opinion on it. it feels experimental, a step in a different direction and like a child learning to draw. the sketch for Windows 10. not too bad about stuff i wanted to instantly uninstall. No image for this one, since the desktop and start menu are separated. Sorry.

Windows 10:

it’s fine. looks fine. minimalist, not much character. it feels like more high-quality plastic. it’s also when windows really started giving you software you didn’t want, i believe. I’m not super familiar with this one.

Windows 11:

what the fuck is wrong with this thing.

thanks, i hate it! i have WORDS

it takes most of the things i felt were unique about the way windows looks, looks me in the eye, and smashes everything and everyone i love beneath its heel.

You can, however, make the taskbar go back in its rightful place, the left corner.

it feels so similar to ChromeOS in a sense with its default center taskbar and simple icons. and.. what is that logo. no really, what the fuck is that. It’s just four fucking squares, at least windows 8.1 and 10 made it look like a fucking window by slanting then a little

it’s not even that i hate minimalist design, I promise

it just feels completely and utterly industrialized and removes any sense of fucking uniqueness and whimsy

And for what, applications and and shortcuts I didn’t want or need. do you know whenever I use a windows 11 how many applications i look for in task manager to kill? At least 3!

i can’t even give this thing a texture! it’s smooth, cheap plastic and deceptively thin aluminum that bends if you insult its mother

AND DONT GET ME STARTED ON WINDOWS 11 S MODE oh wait no i guess I should anyway

In case you’re unaware, Windows 11 S mode only allows you to install things from the Microsoft store. This is really good for… kids, the elderly, and anyone who isn’t technologically inclined or savvy or whatever. that’s the use case. but not gamers. this is not for gamers. sorry; you want steam? get fucked. I believe you mostly encounter when it’s preinstalled.

luckily this is completely and entirely removable. it is not able to be put back on (As far as I know).

iirc, it’s a bit awkward to remove? and not very intuitive (windows? being intuitive? in your dreams!)

i should not have to research how to undo a feature on a computer because i wanted to play portal. Not to mention at some point the method changed it appears? last I remember, but again; it’s been a while.

to conclude: windows 11 is the devil and i hate it.

[shadamyheadcanons]

Spoilers under the cut for a Sonic Frontiers showcase from a few days ago!

Sorry I had to format it this way instead of answering you normally, anon. For some reason, tumblr won’t let you put a Read More before the contents of an ask, and I don’t want to risk spoiling anything. I hope you still see this anyway!

I could only find this gameplay on YouTube. I set it to play at the scene where Sonic frees Amy. It’s low quality, but it gets the job done.

Honestly? I’m actually not pessimistic about this. Maybe it’s my typical naivete, but the dialogue doesn’t necessarily confirm that she won’t be able to do anything further; in fact, I think it might be the opposite. After she shows her typical, lovable concern for both Sonic AND Tails, she says--and I quote-- “WE need to get going” to help Tails, implying she’ll play a part, too. I don’t like that Sega started by dragging her back into her old damsel in distress role, but Sonic promised to “scout around” and see her later. That’s not like in Sonic Forces where she and the others were portrayed as hopeless side characters until Sonic came back. It’s more like the Amy from IDW who steps up to contribute in her own way as a teammate to Sonic, not just a clingy follower. Why? Because Ian Flynn said so, and he’s in charge of this game, too!

Is this a sure sign of progress? Of course not, but I wouldn’t count her out just yet. It’s about time she got to do *something.* Every bit of marketing and the cutscenes for Sonic Origins HEAVILY teased that she’d be playable, too, but she didn’t have any meaningful role. It’s time to right that wrong.

Speaking of playable characters...

It’s a common complaint among fans, myself included, that since 06, Sega seems terrified to make anyone playable aside from Sonic in modern mainline games outside of multiplayer. In Generations, we have two playable characters...and they’re BOTH Sonic. I’m not the first person to think of something like this, but watching that trailer made me think of a way to ease back into letting others shine again in future games.

Sega was bragging about including more combat-focused gameplay, and the first thing I thought was, “Wait...they’re focusing on combat without letting Knuckles tag in?! Amy would fit, too!”

And then I remembered playing the Subspace Emissary in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

For those who don’t know, the Subspace Emissary was the main plot of that game. Every brawler had a role to play--Mario, Link, Pikachu, etc. But they didn’t really force any one character on you IIRC. For every scene in the story, multiple characters would team up, and you could choose to play as any one of them. E.g. Samus rescues Pikachu at one point, and you get to choose which of the two you play as in that level.

Would that not be perfect for Sega’s current dilemma? Tons of us miss playing as our favorites. Others can’t stand one or more of the side characters. This approach would appeal to both groups, as the player would always have options. It would avoid the restrictive formula of classic games where you pick one character at the start and have to stick with them all the way through. The characters would be facing the same challenges but with different approaches, so you wouldn’t have things like the treasure hunting or fishing stages a lot of people disliked in the Adventure games. OR! They could take it a step further by having those characters come back later for optional specialized missions like those.

Players can stick with Sonic if they want, but older fans who miss their favorites can have them back, and newer players who’ve never played as the others can be eased into the idea and try them out. One of the franchise’s biggest strengths is its large, varied cast of unique characters. It’s time to stop living in fear and let them do their thing, Sega.

[yjwhatif]

i have a idea i want to share with you. i saw you MOM Ed au and it reminded me of the justice league episode better world. so then i started thinking about a better world au where the team becomes justice lords after bart's death. somehow they find about this universe and do what they what the justice lords did in the episode try to "help" the team. the only think about au i can't think of is why would the whole go bad for bart. they would be sad but lots of other heros died and that never turned them bad. my best idea is that it isn't just the fact bart died but maybe he also died in a way that somehow more awful than the others. if you have any ideas for this au that would be cool.

Hey anon... first off, I'm sorry again for how massively delayed this response is and also for how ridiculously long it's wound up being - I'm apparently in a very wordy mood. Second, this has been such a fun concept to think about (I may definitely have gone a little lot overboard), but I hope my ideas can help in any way...

A BETTER WORLD AU...

Instead of looking at it from the perspective of why would they go bad for Bart, I think it may be easier to conceptualise the question of what would push them past the point of no return… both YJ’s Bart and JLa’s flash have very similar qualities - the major difference is the number of heroes who stand by their sides in fighting the good fight (for this point I'm grouping all the yj teams together). Flash’s death is enough to push the other 6 leaguers down the path of harming because he was essentially the only member of that group with his feet solidly on the ground with the people - he was their conscience - his heart and humanity were strong enough to balance out their self-righteousness… until he was gone. With Bart that wouldn't as much be the case, as there's a larger range of heroes/people with varying levels of wisdom, support, emotional connections, attitudes, and as you said anon, previous experience with the loss of a teammate and loved one. Therefore, Bart's death alone likely wouldn't cause such an extreme event as the justice lords, but with a few extra variables added to the mix, it's definitely possible to make this concept work. So below are the thoughts that have come to my mind that I think could be developed to justify the heroes going past the point of no return - they may be a little hotchpotch but I hope they make sense…

First off, consider these questions…

Who is affected - i.e. who will go bad - it wouldn't be everyone but with enough emotional stimulation, anyone has the potential to cross the line between right and wrong.

What happened to get them to that point - beyond just Bart being killed - what else have they lost - hope, trust, respect, their sense of control?

Why did it happen - was it preventable, were mistakes made, is someone considered blameable?

How did things get to such a point?

When did things escape their control and go so wrong?

Where was help when they needed it most?

Now, in my mind it's a select number of the younger heroes - those closest to Bart - who would initially become this AUs justice lords, then as time goes by and they start gaining in power, that number would potentially increase as others either get on board or get out of the way. For any who attempt to stop them, they are made an example of and removed from the equation. At the moment, with the current version of events I have playing in my head, I've only got two names that I think definitely would justifiably turn and I'll discuss them in this post - while the rest would need a bit more thought put into them just to pinpoint their motivation for turning… 

The first, since we're dealing with Bart's death as the catalyst, would be Jaime - to me, he should be the superman in this situation - the first one who crosses the line and the last one to be taken down. Beyond just being his friend, Bart is likely a big motivating force for Jaime to remain in control of the scarab and the immense amount of power he has at his disposal. Bart is the only one who truly knows how terrible blue beetle is capable of being - with years worth of first-hand experience and trauma - Jaime knows that and has to live with that knowledge every day. Bart is a reminder that anything can happen in life and the importance of staying on the right path - no matter how tempting the offer that comes… but if Bart's gone, he loses that physical reminder, he loses the one person who could actually see the warning signs and pull him back from losing himself to the monster he fears. As I said above, anyone is capable of crossing the line with the right amount of emotional stimulation, and I think, with the other elements I'll discuss next, seeing Bart unjustifiably killed right in front of him would be enough to push Jaime past the point of no return -- especially if there's no Bart, or anyone else, there to pull him back before it's too late… I've more to say on Jaime, but before that, we need to discuss those other elements I mentioned…

Now, I've touched on this above, but the thing about the yj universe compared to the JLa universe (at the point of the justice lords) is that there are a lot more teams of heroes actively working together than just the 7 founding members of the justice league… with more heroes and mentors and friends - there's more support available through difficult situations and losses - which thereby reduces the chances of people basically turning to the dark side when they don't know how to handle their grief… but, with more people, there's also differing values, beliefs and a higher potential for deception - something we've already seen happen in the show with the anti-light - heroes manipulating other heroes for the greater good. the outsiders in particular were pretty heavily impacted by the anti lights manipulations in s3 - and I'm wondering if there's potential for something similar to happen again for this au, only this time it leads to something much worse happening, something which would ultimately cause the outsiders, or whoever, to break away completely to do their own thing. Or even, they discover that their elders have been deceiving them again and immediately cut ties - refusing to associate with those who clearly do not respect or trust them - but they are still dealing with trouble relating to my next point (I told you this was all hotchpotch) and that causes them to mishandle a certain situation and end up in the worst possible position… one ending in devastating tragedy…

This brings us to the next point… social media and public opinion… for the outsiders, social media is a platform with the power to spread their message of hope across the world and inspire those who feel othered or ostracized by society. With the world as it was where the metapopulation was growing thanks to different negative forces, the outsiders and their positivity was definitely a needed force of good to balance out the hatred… but there's a dark side to publicity - there's criticism, judgment and a lot of negativity which can surface in the world of social media and public opinion. Nothing is universally supported or loved, opinions are always divided and always will be no matter what - especially when the likes of Godfrey and Luthor have their say. We've seen with the league the consequences that can come when enough negativity is generated against heroes - and while we've still yet to see many negative opinions against the outsiders in the show, it could be something which contributes to this au... 

At this point in the show, there have been two different outsiders at the centre of two televised, very public executions with Brion and Conner - even though Conner never went through with killing superman - there would still be people who would associate the outsiders with brutality instead of hope because of these two isolated events. In the show we've seen villains hate on the outsider, but what about the trolls who aren't meta or named superpowered individuals, the regular humans who thrive on hate, who have to tear others down to feel better about themselves - surely those people exist for this group of young heroes who promote their message and missions through the media. So, while they open themselves up to wider audiences, they also open themselves up to scrutiny and criticism - and what if that scrutiny turned particularly troublesome with someone sending threats which get worse the more they're ignored. Toxicity is only intensified the longer it's left untreated. There would be differing opinions amongst the heroes on how to deal with this - as things get worse the questions arise of do we confront this person(s) or not? Trolls want to start fights because they want to make the heroes look bad, but the longer the hatred goes the more it grows. It grows until it reaches boiling point and a certain speedster gets caught in the carnage...

-- TBC --

As this post got ridiculously long I've decided to split it into two parts... Thanks for reading and click here for PART TWO...

LB

[autumnslance]

sorry if you've been asked before, but how did you initially get into roleplaying and learn how to improve at it and be comfortable rping? it seems like something difficult to learn, especially rping in video games, so i'm always interested in how exactly people adjust to it

OK, let me preface by saying I am old enough to remember the Satanic Panic of the ‘80s and actually read Chick Tracts that were at places I went to with my parents. Including the infamous one about Dungeons & Dragons. They were real dumb; even as a church-going kid I knew Christian media was by and large…very There in quality often, so much of it being overtly about morals and messaging (the best really is more subtle or flat-out silly about it, letting the characters and events speak for themselves with only just a little requisite shoehorning to appease their publishing house requirements). And Chick was…something with those hyperbolic comic stories.

So I didn’t get to RP at all until I was an adult (19ish years old), and in the army away from home and was introduced to it via an entirely different gaming system and world I’d never heard of before, the World of Darkness specifically, second edition, and I was a kid who loved supernatural things like werewolves and other shifters a lot. My first RP character ever for a game that only ran once was a Metis Fianna Galliard.

Bless White Wolf, they tried. The old editions have some serious Problems in various ways looking back now with what I’ve learned since, but they Tried.

I went to my first Vampire LARP in Augusta, Georgia while in job training—this was back in the fall/winter of ‘98 and ‘99–and when I got to Kansas I met up with the guys in my unit who RPed Palladium game systems (Rifts, Palladium, Robotech, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc). My first Vampire: The Masquerade char was a Toreador (artiste vampire). My first Palladium fantasy char was a bardic demigod. Then I settled into a I think half-elf druid in Rifts and was the only one interacting with the GM’s attempts at story while the other guys talked about minmaxing their megadamage and waited for me/my character to point them at things. At the local independent LARP in Kansas I swapped the Toreador for a young Tremere named Lynell Marsden.

My buddy and eventual roommate, the LARP GM, introduced me to a RPG-themed webcomic whose premise made it ripe for online roleplay, which the readership did initially on the old forums in play-by-post, and then also in IRC chat in a series of rooms we had. My main characters were an Amberite soldier-princess and a drow cleric/bard of Eilistraee I brought in from a D&D game after a few years, as I expanded to many, many other gaming systems, like D&D and Shadowrun, and so many others I can’t remember them all. I ended up helping narrate and do admin work for the LARP and the World of Darkness games we ran in our own town as well as at a small local convention we attended for several years.

And dear Anon, I sucked at RP in my 20s.

Cuz I was new and learning. What appealed to Young Me, once properly explained by a peer and seeing the game rule books, was that Roleplay is collaborative improv storytelling. It’s playing pretend—which I’ve always loved to do!—but with an actual ruleset and boundaries. As a writer, it sounded so neat to sit around creating characters and telling stories with friends. The rules were there as randomizer but also to help balance and make sure everyone could contribute (well, once one stopped playing freakin’ Rifts…).

In free form play-by-post, and in the IRC chat, there weren’t really rules like you’d find in a gaming book for at the table; you had whatever rules for the forum or chatroom the mods made, usually about being courteous and communicating, but the characters varied wildly. Each thread or room GM had their own ways to run their stories. Communication was key. Letting others get time in the spotlight. Making attempts, working things out, not being afraid to fail on purpose (even if your character was trying) cuz sometimes that was more interesting. We had some random commands for dice we sometimes used in the chat, but it could depend on who was running that particular session or storyarc.

It took practice. And mistakes I still look back on and wince at myself about, more for the times I hurt others or made things less fun for them, than my own creative errors that weren’t good for my characters (and I made bad choices for my characters aplenty). OK, and also for the times I spent staying up way too late roleplaying, plotting, chatting, when I should have been responsible and sleeping due to work and/or class in the mornings…But I also don’t entirely regret all those lost sleep hours.

LynMars, my common internet handle, comes from that Tremere I played for a few years in my friend’s LARP, before retiring her to play other characters. I made many Baby RPer mistakes on Lynell, she was a learning character, and while I messed her and her story up badly, I still love her as one of my firsts and ended up using her name as a handy online identity and also a reminder to myself.

You don’t have to do or be everything, especially on one character; everyone has specialties and limits, it’s what helps with the collaborative parts and team play. Learn and know your own boundaries. Respect others’ boundaries. Learn OOC doesn’t equal IC but also doesn’t give rein to be a jackass IC in a collaborative setting. Communicate. Be willing to collaborate and compromise. Be willing to lose as often as you win, sometimes the better story comes out of it. Build your characters with some grounding as people; give them flaws (sometimes their virtues taken too far can also count!), let them make mistakes, let them have their own stories so when they interact with other characters, you’re actually improv acting that person, not yourself in a funny hat.

I reconnected with my old webcomic-based group over the pandemic and people still talk fondly of my old characters and stories, and I have some good memories of theirs. A lot of things we all look back at 21-to-13-ish years later now and cringe and laugh at ourselves about, but the memories of those times are still mostly good and about the fun we had together back then, despite the clunky nature of our storytelling, our mishandled character concepts, the wank and stressors, the few bad apples we did have in the old community, the mistakes we made. We still remember the cool stuff and how it made us feel and why we sought each other out again to just say Hi. And in some cases, ended up playing games together again.

My experiences in forum and chatroom RP made the jump into MMO RP in WoW (back in Classic!) fairly easy, honestly. It was pretty much the same thing, only we had actual avatars and environments and in-built emotes as well as whatever gestures or settings we described for when the game didn’t have something. I wrote stories of my characters, many of them still up on my alt blogs, and collaborated on a few stories and RPs with friends.

After several years, some people had weird ideas I was “popular” and “established” and “good” so stirred up wank and jealousy that hit me out of the blue, especially since we were on a small server whose RP community was dying off as folks migrated away (from the server or WoW in general) and we were just among the last RP groups to still hang around out of inertia. They wanted to be a Big Fish in our drying-out pond, and didn’t like that I told them that it takes time and effort to build a story and a group with the reputation they sought, that one has to make time to run events on a regular basis and be there for it even if turn out isn’t great. I hope they’ve figured out what they want to do and better ways to do it since then.

Cuz even after 13ish years of WoW RP on top of all my tabletop and LARP and chatroom experiences, I still made some mistakes. I still sometimes ran and played in some mediocre to bad RP. For my characters and their stories, and in interactions with other RPers.

It’s OK. Learn from those errors, talk it out with your pals and others, keep IC and OOC knowledge and feelings separate, be willing to bend (not break; compromise means all involved parties have to give and get a little) for collaboration and interaction, know who you can only interact with in public RP events with a polite nod and small talk and otherwise not engage with—kinda like in real life, when you have to be tolerant or nice to those irritating classmates or coworkers but otherwise don’t deal with them more than you must.

It’s simply being social, with imagination thrown in. Remembering the stories are pretend, but there are real people behind those words and characters. The nuts and bolts of how to do emotes, which tense to use, whether to use /random or other dice commands…that’s just variable detail that can change as needed. Being a decent person OOC to make an enjoyable story—“good” or “bad”—IC with others is what’s important.

I don’t really RP online now, as I just don’t have the time or energy I used to—especially for the inevitable wank, as Roleplayers are by and large a dramatic bunch with our own hangups, awkwardness, and miscommunications galore (so many callout posts I’ve seen where I’ve wondered if the grievances were IC and came from lack of OOC communication about expectations, boundaries, and blurring the lines between characters and players. So many). These days I stick to my silly nonsense fanfics and some tabletop RP with friends—though due to us being scattered across the continent, we usually end up playing via Roll20 or similar programs to mimic it in an online environment, and even my local group’s had to do that during the pandemic and now with two players moving away soon, on top of the usual trials of being adults making time for games together. I could likely get into FFXIV RP easily enough, here on Tumblr and in game, if I were so inclined.

But it takes time. And constant learning. Figuring out the community norms and methods, which ones work for you, and which don’t. Giving yourself a bit of grace. Knowing your boundaries and respecting others’. Being social and willing to communicate, not being afraid of it, or making assumptions, giving benefit of the doubt—to yourself as much as to others. Patience. And just focusing on the fun and the good and who cares if it’s a bit cringey and weird and silly and dumb with outrageous characters so long as folks are feeling included, treated fairly, and having a good time.

That’s really what’s important.

[cocoabubbelle]

Opinions on Rings of Power: Ep. 3-4, and the overall series so far…

Firstly, I must say that it’s fun learning from the people I follow on the internet their differing opinions that range from enjoyment to disgust over the series.

Ex. One person can’t stand a character, while another loves them. Some are frustrated by how the show steers away from canon, while others who also read the original canons are intrigued. Even those who know little to nothing about the original works of Tolkien still vary in their overall reception to the show.

Again, Rings of Power is not my favorite adaptation of Tolkien’s works, but I’m still curious about it enough to keep watching.

Spoilers!

Other people were surprised that the mark of Sauron was a map an not an eye. Was I the only one who turned my head when I first saw the symbol in episode 1 and thought “that’s the Dark Tower”?

I don’t understand why people keep comparing Nori to Frodo and calling her the female version of him when she is CLEARLY the female Meriadoc Brandybuck.

Either the fallen elf dude the orcs worship had some magic that was able to mask all of their presence from the elves, or the elves of this show are seriously a lot weaker than those from the source material for the sake of drama and tension.

NOOO!!!! Not Arondir’s…friend??? I’m sorry, who was he supposed to be again?

Oh dang now all of them got killed except for Arondir. Fight scene was neat though.

Isildur’s father has a really rich voice that I could listen to all day.

Not really sure how I feel about the “defer” and “reapplying for admission” scene. It probably wouldn’t have sounded as forced if the writers figured out what the pre-medival versions of those terms/actions were.

I like Poppy more than Nori. That being said (and what I forgot to say in an earlier post), I think it’s really visually creative how Amazon chose to depict how the early hobbits camouflage themselves with their attire, their surroundings, and their portable homes.

I will be sad if Meteor Man turns out to be bad.

I feel like Rings of Power wants us to see potentially romantic chemistry between Halbrand and Galadriel. Sorry, but I don’t ship.

The dwarves continue to be the best part of this series; them and Durin + Disa’s friendship with Elrond. Bonus: loved the prayerful singing of the ritual to help the trapped dwarves.

I thought for sure that Durin’s dad had died sitting up before he and his son made up and I was genuinely panicking.

Oh great, the barman is an evil geezer trying to enable Theo’s already problematic behavior.

No Harfoots???

I think I would have an easier time understanding Galadriel’s actions and feelings were she a character other than Galadriel. Ex. Her daughter that Elrond eventually marries, or an original younger elf recruit that serves and admires Lady Galadriel but is also hotheaded and determined to prove herself but is often limited by her own short-sidedness, occasional immaturity, and elven pride. She’s an okay character, but she’s too different from the Galadriel we know from the books and the movies to be taken seriously: She’s impulsive when she should be rational; she cannot read social cues when she’s supposed to possess high-level empathy; she’s startled by the vision the palantir (?) gives her when she’s supposed to be a really skilled sorceress (I may be remembering this incorrectly, but I also think she’s supposed to know the future or it’s many possibilities); even mortal men keep pointing out how she’s no better than an immature child when she’s meant to be several earth’s ages older than nations. She feels more like an amalgamation of the surface qualities that someone thought the original Galadriel and Eowyn possessed with all other traits that made them more dimensional as characters discarded.

^^^BTW, for anyone who assumes that I wouldn’t have a problem with Galadriel’s characterization if she were a male: WRONG. He would be just as frustrating were he supposed to be Celeborn/Gandalf/any character who is canonically established to be wise, patient, empathetic (well, I guess Gandalf isn’t that patient but I digress 🤣), etc, yet the show chose to reinvent him as this watered down version who is a holier-than-thou know-nothing-know-it-all ready to start a fight with anyone who contradicts him.

Edit: I just learned that Jed Brophy is also in this series.

Dude’s everywhere.

[todoscript]

lilies & lilacs pt. i

SUMMARY: A dilemma with his grand charity gala brings Todoroki Shouto, CEO of Todoroki Enterprises, at your humble flower shop’s doorstep.

pairing: ceo!todoroki shouto x florist!reader

genre: eventual smut. fluff. slow burn. no quirks au.

word count: 5.6k+

warnings: none in this part, but expect sexual content in the future.

author’s note: this has been rotting in my wips for a couple of months now, but i finally decided to post it with the decision of progressing the story into parts. thank you to the lovely rosie aka @shoutogepi for initially betareading this and keeping the hype up for the fic in our chats together (love you <333)! feedback is welcomed and before you ask, im opening a taglist for the next 2 parts so just ask if you wish to be included

lilies & lilacs is copyright 2020 todoscript, all rights reserved. i do not allow my creations to be published or translated anywhere else.

The uneasy padding of her boss’ dress shoes across the floor of his office made the secretary restless. She knew the bad news she delivered would cause some displeasure to stir within him, but never would she expect his tough bearings to falter, his troubles conveyed in hasty steps and frayed skin skewing those handsome features.

During the past two years she’s worked for him, she always thought his expression was nearly unreadable. When it came to his high position, her boss was forward and direct at conducting business—calm, stoic, and a perfect representation of efficiency and strong work ethic in his field. So while she witnessed the man’s uncharacteristic distress before her eyes, she wasn’t sure how this could end well for her.

Sweat began beading her forehead at the tension creeping between each tap of his feet against the hardwood below, coming to an unnerving halt behind his desk. When her eyes found his, all she could gather in those gray and turquoise clouds was annoyance toward their current predicament.

“What do you mean we don’t have a florist booked yet?” he repeated the dilemma she relayed to him merely moments ago. Hearing the agitation in his voice caused a nervous gulp to drop in her throat. She clutched her clipboard firmly in her arms to keep herself anchored in the wake of her boss’ growing frustration. However, she was still unsure how to continue as the words remained sealed in her mouth.

“Well?” Noticing his secretary’s lack of response, he pushed forward, hands leaning against the edge of his mahogany desk. The woman urged herself to endure the obstacles by first breathing through her nose before swallowing the lump in her throat, responding quickly.

“Um, Mr. Todoroki, sir, it seems all the florists on our list have all been booked for other events for the rest of the month,” she said, but mentally scolded herself when she heard herself sputter in such an unprofessional manner. Despite that, she prayed the explanation was enough to sate even a fraction of her boss’ inner turmoil.

Shouto approached her answer with silence before that foreseeable sigh left his lips, spilling with exasperation. He turned, his back facing the secretary, gaze lined to the windows gracing him with sunlight behind his desk. Stuck in contemplation, he pinched the bridge of his nose, mouth pursed in a firm line.

Where am I going to find a florist in time for this damn charity gala? He internally griped, closing his eyes as if that would help him uncover the solution to this untimely mess.

His esteemed company, Todoroki Enterprises, had arranged a plan to hold a widely anticipated charity gala by the end of this month. The event was conducted to raise funds for all manners of different charities that would vary in the level of grandeur on display. And given that the organizing for the event would be under his very name, Shouto had the critical responsibility of ensuring nothing but peak quality to those that would attend.

His staff had long procured the venue and were managing the layout of the gala. They sought out some suitable entertainment, booked catering, and scheduled for the charity auctions and raffles to take place throughout the night. What was still needed were the decorations, and right now that was where they hit their deadend with no florist currently reserved.

And here’s the real kicker: the gala was two weeks away.

Two. Weeks.

How he allowed for such errors to occur was beyond him at this point. All that really mattered was that he found a way to correct those mistakes and fast.

As much as Shouto figured he could skip past the flowers and substitute them with some other kind of flashy decorations, he already had a clear idea of how he wanted the gala to look. The floral arrangements would compliment the theme of the event exceedingly well. Turning back on the plan would be an insult to everyone’s prepared attire for the evening, with the dress code already sent out to all the distinguished guests invited to this grandiose ball. No doubt in his mind, he needed that florist, and needed them stat.

Sure on his resolution, he finally shifted to face his secretary. The anxious expression plastered on her face greeted him, and at that, Shouto bit his lip. His guilt surfaced for allowing his emotions to affect his workspace. He knew better than to take out his frivolous thoughts on his staff, who very well had no control over the situation. So he eased the atmosphere, attempting to lift the tension surrounding his office in the dreary gray of his temper.

“Nishiyama, I’m sorry for my behavior just now,” he apologized. The secretary, in turn, was taken aback, eyes widened. Her anxiety slowly whittled away as she scampered to return his kind gesture.

“Oh no, sir, it’s fine! I’m sure you were just feeling stressed hearing the news. I surely would be if I were in your shoes.”

“No, it’s not. I was acting childish despite how much you and everyone have done so far for the event,” Shouto said, “I should be thankful for your time, considering you also have a family to take care of at home.”

While the woman stared at him, abashed by his sincerity, Shouto swiveled his chair around to take a seat. A much-needed seat to be entirely honest. His secretary was not kidding about how the bad news seemed to harrow some stress in his body. But, being accustomed to having this weight pushed on his shoulders from the very moment he was announced the head of the company many years ago, he more than anticipated the stress to come with the job.

Shouto spared his secretary one last glance before his eyes darted down between the important papers sprawled on his desk. “If that’s all the news we needed to address today then you’re dismissed, Nishiyama. Carry on with the rest of the organizing as planned,” he ordered. Nishiyama lowered her clipboard to her hip.

“R-Right. Thank you, sir.” She parted his presence with a curt bow. Shouto picked up on her heels clicking toward his office door until they suddenly stopped altogether, looking back at the man midway. “What about the florist, sir?” she asked, concerned at the unresolved predicament lingering in the air. Her question wasn’t met with an immediate reply, but Shouto eventually gave her an answer he deemed adequate of a response. His words were coated with as much reassurance as he could muster in this situation.

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle it myself.”

.

.

The task was easier said than done.

Usually, when it came to booking a florist for special occasions like this, you’d want to contact them months ahead of the scheduled date to ensure maximum efficiency and work out any problems that should arise. But there were only two weeks left until the awaited charity gala.

Shouto was certainly pushing his luck at this point and to a dangerous degree. If he didn’t find someone to arrange the flowers for the ball soon, the venue might be absent of all life and mood, essentially flopping from missing such a key element. Shouto could not allow for that to happen.

Given his word, he took it in his hands to rectify this mistake. For the entirety of the day, he sifted through the aforementioned list of florists his secretary had provided him—extended thanks to his team’s desperate search for more options.

All he had to do was narrow down the lineup. Unfortunately, those efforts may as well have been all for naught.

“Hello, is this Himawari’s Garden? I’d like to speak with the head florist there about arranging the flowers for a gala my company has been planning—”

“I’m terribly sorry, sir, but we’re currently busy preparing for a big wedding coming up next week. If you’d like, I can try and book our services for you toward the next month or so when we’ll be available?”

Shouto’s brows tightened during the exchange—a gesture he’d been repeating as of late while he dwindled the line of florists. If he kept it up, those wrinkles might be embedded into his skin permanently. He was at least grateful he managed to thwart the heavy breath of air that threatened to leave his lips and reveal his frustration to the woman on the phone.

“No, that’s fine. Thank you for your time.” With that, he hung up.

Shouto leaned back in his seat in exasperation, his weight pressed into the cushions as his eyes situated themselves toward the ceiling. The consistent taps of his fingers on his mahogany desk were all he heard amidst his deep contemplation. His eyes lidded shut in an attempt to seek a moment of refuge from the stress, but his conscience began eating at him.

Of course, what was he thinking? The beginnings of spring to late autumns were the mark of wedding season—the time where florists and other businesses specializing in decorative arrangements thrived and busied themselves with eager clients. Not only that, but it was also the month of June. The sixth month of the year was undoubtedly the most popular month among couples to hold their weddings, and he had witnessed this fact firsthand through his myriad of fruitless phone calls.

Shouto had thoroughly wrung through his rope and teetered on the edge of complete defeat. He sealed down his most recent loss at the hand of another busy floral business by striking a line across Himawari’s Garden on his list. At that, the total tallied to thirty whole flower shops. Thirty unsuccessful attempts.

That sigh he contained during the phone call found its way out of his throat in dramatic waves of displeasure

“You alright, sir?”

His administrative assistant, Midoriya Izuku, heard his huffs when he entered the threshold of Shouto’s office. He noted his boss’ hunched posture and the rare crease crinkled between his nose bridge, pressed against his hands that were clenched together above his desk.

“I’m guessing the new list of florists was also a no-go?”

Shouto didn’t offer any words, instead sliding said list—now fully crossed out—toward his assistant as his reply. Craning his head for a better look, Midoriya feigned a smile, not wanting to let the man’s defeat consume the mood entirely.

“Well... I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised… Wedding season is upon us after all.”

Oh yes, Midoriya. Shouto knew that very well. So much so that he sunk further into his desk at the reminder, head practically drooped with a gloomy rain cloud hovering atop him. The green-haired assistant fervently shook his head back-and-forth upon realizing his remark had thrown salt into his wound. “Oh, I-I mean... Don’t worry, sir! I’m sure we’ll still be able to sort out this problem in time before the gala!” he sputtered to help alleviate the despair that crept in, but it came to no avail according to his boss’ silent sulky demeanor. That was when Midoriya remembered the two cups of hot coffee held in each of his hands.

“Ah, right, I made you some coffee! I figured you could use one considering you’ve been cooped up in your office all day.” Setting one in front of him, Shouto perked up at the nutty aroma that slowly slipped into his senses. He eyed the fresh cup of coffee tentatively, the steam flitting above it in wisps.

Lifting the cup, the rich smell wafted further into his nostrils, imbuing him with that familiar peace he usually reveled in. On any ordinary day, he’d be accompanied by his classic roasted blend perched on his desk, with no problems threatening to disturb his peaceful routine. Not anything like today. Not anything like this dilemma of a desperate time crunch for a florist.

Perhaps that was what he needed. A filter of caffeine to wash away the ordeal like it was a bad morning plaguing him with baggy under-eyes and fatigue from a previous day of hard work. Though he’s sure not even caffeine could erase the headaches he developed throughout his day so far. If anything, indulgence would just make those headaches worse.

Nonetheless, he welcomed the smooth blend of flavors that ebbed down his throat through modest sips, rejuvenation quickly oozing in his veins. Headaches or not, the stimulation from the caffeine was essential if he wanted to combat the rest of the day with some drive.

“Thanks, Midoriya. I needed that,” Shouto acknowledged. He nodded at his assistant, who rubbed the back of his head modestly, saying how it was no problem at all, but the way his boss suddenly got up from his seat interrupted his words.

Shouto already felt the strong coffee going to work as his steps picked up in long strides around his desk that had the assistant’s brows knitting together, confused. “Where are you going, sir?” Midoriya asked, his voice sounding more distant to Shouto, who continued his way past him and toward the door.

“A quick drive,” was the blatant answer he gave. He downed the last of the cup before tossing it in the trash bin near the exit of his office. “Something to clear my head a bit. I’ll be back soon, but until then, keep reaching out to any businesses that could potentially be available to help us.”

“Yes, of course, sir! You can count on me!” Midoriya was prompt in replying. As expected, being Shouto’s right-hand man at the company.

With that, Shouto took to the parking lot below his building, twirling his keys over his index finger before hopping into his Mercedes and driving off.

The withering sunlight cast its glare over his car during his ride through the city. By now, the skies splayed vibrant red as the sun gandered above the horizon. He drove down the narrow and busy streets that kept the place bustling at these hours. It was likely the time when people finished up their workday and were eager to arrive home for much-needed rest.

During a particularly long wait at a red traffic light, he pondered over his predicament again. His thumb rapped against the steering wheel while he bit his bottom lip, that ugly feeling of regret seeping into his thoughts.

Maybe he placed too much faith in these flowers after all. Sure, he mentioned the vital role they played in aligning with the theme and complimenting the guests’ attires. But was it worth all the trouble he put his team through, searching through a throng of businesses already busy with their own events to organize? In a way, this could’ve been sorted out had he recognized the current times and planned accordingly to avoid the mess. But now they were trapped in this bind, crunching for anyone that could help them within only fourteen short days.

Just as he weighed the idea of calling Midoriya over the bluetooth in his car to drop the floral arrangements altogether, something caught his eye at the last second.

Shouto peered through his window, squinting at the corner, where he spotted a cart of flowers in front of a shop of some sort. His grip tightened around the leather of his steering wheel as he leaned in for a better look. Some kind of spark in him roused his anticipation the more he shifted forward in his seat, like the hope that was slowly fading inside was igniting once again.

Another inch further and he attained a better look of the shop. Its sign came into view just below the small boundary of his window—letters brushed in calligraphy on a long board of canvas with lilies painted on the edges that seamed together into a bouquet.

N… Neigh… Neighborhood Lily.

He deciphered the words, but didn’t give them much thought. All that enveloped his mind afterward was the fact the name wasn’t any of the list of thirty shops he phoned today. So the very moment the light overhead flickered to green, Shouto’s hold on the wheel tightened. His foot gradually stepped on the pedal with much more purpose.

He decided to take a brief detour from this casual little drive of his.

.

.

It was about six o’clock when you waved off your latest customer, who was leaving the shop with a basket of vibrant tulips swinging on their arm. The smile on their face was an adamant indication they were more than happy with their time here, something you always delighted in, being very passionate about your job as a florist.

“Thank you, and please come again!” The bell overhead gave a gracious chime at the customer’s departure.

With them gone, you drew your attention back to the flowers laid out on the small wooden table in the corner of the shop. Before the customer came in, you were at work arranging and crafting the blossoms you purchased from the flower market that morning into bouquets.

You’d be closing in about an hour and thirty minutes or so, but for now, you basked in the silence and the calming aroma of the flowers that surrounded you while you continued your work. A modest hum naturally sang past your lips and soothed its way into the shop that was devoid of all souls except yourself.

“Hm, you’re a pretty thing, aren’t you?” You made some small talk with the rose in your hand. It was a habit of yours to spill a few words out within your own little world, imagining the flowers were keeping you company whenever you were alone.

“And there, now you all look even prettier.” An adoring smile embellished your lips as you finished off another bouquet by tying it with a silk ribbon. Looking over the bundle one more time, you thoroughly admired the shades of pinks and reds that complimented each other in the ensemble.

Then two more bouquets down, and you already made a good amount of progress. You figured that if you kept up the pace, you’d likely finish the rest of the batch and have them ready for display tomorrow. But just as you clasped three more flowers in your hand, the bell atop the door chimed, alerting you to a new patron.

You nicked off a thorn from one of the stems before turning around and giving your attention to the visitor. When your eyes found their way to the shop’s entrance, you were surprised to meet a man of slicked white and red hair. The few strands that found their way out of the gel must have been tussled from a long day of work considering the fatigue plain on his handsome face.

Despite the few wrinkles here and there, his attire was still surprisingly pristine. He wore a simple yet compelling suit, the fit seeming tailored to the contours of his body that rendered you a tad speechless at how good he looked just standing there. The sight almost made you feel underdressed.

You hadn’t realized you were staring for longer than you deemed appropriate. You couldn’t help it, being that the stranger was a stark contrast to the regular customers you were used to. The fanciest you’ve encountered since you opened your shop were the young boys that rushed in with nicely fitted tops and jeans, frantically inquiring about what kinds of flowers were right to give to a girl for a date they had later that day. Not anything like attractive businessmen in immaculate suits and shining silver wristwatches that surely cost more than all the flowers you tended here.

Noticing you were gawking, you blinked thrice to knock yourself out of your trance and properly greet the man.

“H-Hello, welcome to Neighborhood Lily,” you said, mustering the politest tone you could give to make up for the awkward moment of wordless eye contact. You must have kept your eyes on him for what felt like a good five minutes at least. The man, in turn, acknowledged you with a small grin, much to your relief.

“How may I help you this evening?”

“I’m…” he hesitated, seeming wary of how he wanted to go about his next choice of words, “just looking for now,” he decided.

Not paying much mind to his hesitation, you nodded. “Oh, well, if you have any questions or need any help on anything, please let me know. I’ll just be around the corner!”

Allowing him to go about his business, you returned to your table of flowers and oversaw the blossoms again. However, it was difficult for you to busy yourself with the task at hand. The mere thought of the other presence in the shop was enough to hammer you out of your concentration.

He was already a compelling figure on his own, what with his good-looks accompanied by his classy ensemble that felt more than out of place here. But what you were especially curious about was what business he had at a humble flower shop like yours during this hour.

That curiosity led your eyes straying to the side, where you peeped the man walking through the small aisle of flowers. He examined the bouquets and vases on display, even showing interest in the more decorative pieces hung in pots from the ceiling.

You tried to determine what his motives were. He was showing some considerable intrigue at your arrangements, though perhaps it was pure admiration for your work, and you were letting your self-consciousness get to you.

Well, spying would just get you nowhere, you thought. One way or another, he’d answer your curiosity by either coming to you directly or leave the shop altogether. You had to admit you hoped more for the former.

Until then, you tore your gaze away and resumed gathering flowers in your hands. You assessed their compatibility with one another while you fiddled around with their placement in the bouquet. The white lilies and the blue lilacs went very well, along with another set of light violet lilacs you couldn’t help but string into the bundle. As a result, the beautiful balance of cool tones made for an exceptional well-made bouquet. You finished the piece with a matching white satin ribbon and then let the arranged flowers thrive inside a glass vase.

“Those are very pretty.”

Startled at the voice, you whipped your head around, hands braced behind you against the edge of the wooden table. Your untimely lack of words were a result from realizing the owner of the voice was closer than you anticipated.

The businessman went from lingering around the aisle of flowers in the middle of the shop, to appearing in your proximity.

“E-Excuse me?” you asked, wondering if you heard correctly to which he pointed at the bouquets laid finished on the table. “In fact, all the flowers here are exceptionally beautiful.” He gestured to the entirety of the shop. His eyes quickly roamed across all the decorative flourishes before they came back to you.

“You do excellent work here in your shop.”

Words coming from a man like him made you bashful. You subconsciously played with the hem of your apron, eyes drifting to anywhere but his face at the compliment. However, the sliver of heat fluttering to your cheeks didn’t go unnoticed by him.

“Oh, um, thank you. It’s nothing really, I’ve been arranging flowers for quite some time while at the last floristry I worked for so I have a fair amount of experience.”

After another second of fiddling with the fabric, your hands ended up falling to your sides. You sauntered toward one of the flower vases that were already set on display, dawdling around the conversation. His eyes followed you, watching you nurture the blossoms. “I opened this flower shop of mine just recently actually. Been getting a decent amount of business here and there, but I’m just glad that the people who’ve visited so far like my work,” you told him, twirling a strand of your hair. The pads of your other hand brushed against the soft, abundant petals of a yellow chrysanthemum.

The man observed your actions, analyzing your face. He distinguished the devotion hidden in your eyes as you looked upon the flower with a luster. Despite your humble character, it was more than clear to him you were very passionate about what you did, relishing in the ambiance and admiring the modest appearance of this little shop of yours, covered in the wonderful aroma of flowers.

You didn’t detect that deep breath of air he earnestly drew in as he stepped closer. So close that his proximity broke your stupor to meet his rigid expression.

“How would you feel about an… opportunity to let more of your work be known?”

“An opportunity?” you echoed. “Wait… do you maybe have a wed—”

“No,” he interjected, so abruptly that you couldn’t help but quirk a brow. Catching himself, he took a moment to clear his throat, mindful of his behavior. “I mean, it’s not a wedding. Rather, a charity gala that my company has been planning for some time.”

“A gala?” Your mouth worked faster than your mind, accidentally blurting out your thoughts. The astonishment was evident in your tone; it made the man question your reaction by leaning in.

“Yes, a gala,” he said again like you didn’t just hear his words from a foot away, without even realizing the lengths behind his baffling offer. “Is there something wrong about that?”

“N-No. It just wasn’t the kind of opportunity I expected it to be is all… A gala…” Your voice hushed around the utter of “gala”.

What the man presented so blatantly was unexpected to your ears. Galas meant a pompous party full of people decked in lavish attires, drinking quality champagne from tulip glasses. Sizing up the man again, you could only imagine this gala would only include the most important and wealthiest people in attendance.

You had to ask something, “Um, about this gala... How many people will be there?”

“Maybe about... five hundred or so? I’ll have to check in with my assistant to confirm the full count again.” He shrugged nonchalantly and yet on your end, hearing the number almost reduced your head to a dizzy mess.

Five hundred guests? It was a number you couldn’t fathom. You hadn’t even been booked for an occasion as ordinary as a baby shower, but this man wanted you to arrange flowers for his big charity gala?

As oddly enticing of a job it was to you, there had to be anyone else more experienced and capable for this.

“Sir, I’m not su—”

“The pay, of course, will be more than generous, and I’ll even provide you funding for any necessary materials for this project,” he chimed in before you could voice your protest. It was then that you began to distinguish something laced in his voice and exhibited on his face.

Desperation.

This man seemed desperate for some reason.

“May I ask when the event will take place?” Your arms crossed against your chest. A gulp formed in his throat at the question, unsure if he wanted to unveil the news or risk scaring you off. Either way, if you were working for him, you’d learn eventually. A sigh came out.

“Two weeks,” he answered.

Oh yeah, that explained it. It also answered any questions you had over the tension rigid in his shoulders. At this point, you were bound to join him in his stress because, goddamn, organizing a whole assembly of flowers for a grand ball within fourteen days? The idea was beyond daunting.

While you reflected on the intimidating pieces of information, he was gauging your reaction. Would you say yes? No? Laugh at the idea that he thought he could find a florist to work for him at such late notice? There were a slew of uncertainties twisting in his head—an act unbecoming of him, but you were his last hope. Whatever you responded with next would either be the nail in his coffin or the wings that made him soar.

You would be treading on uncharted waters at a chance like this, having never sailed anywhere beyond your little island of floristry where people came and went with your humble little arrangements. But you also thought of this as a daring opportunity to find new land. See what the world had in store for you outside of selling the general bouquets and vases you had on display. Plus, when would a chance like this ever come up again?

Though it meant encountering difficulties along the way, taking on such a big challenge right off the bat, you figured you’d be able to keep your boat afloat. You were also sure the journey toward bigger regions would be worth the struggle in the end.

“So do you have your answer?” he pressed forward when your silence became unbearable to his nerves. He thanked the fact that his voice managed to sound steady enough not to give himself away. Your arms remained crossed in front of you, your hand coming beneath your chin the only sign that you were taking his offer to heart. It kept the flickering flames of hope blazing inside him.

“I just want to ask you something,” you replied. He nodded, allowing you to continue.

“I know you’re under pressure with this gala coming up in only two weeks,” you began. Your arms unraveled, and your fingers ran to your apron again. You formed the next bit of words with uncertainty, “but are you sure I’m the right person for this job? I mean, I don’t have much to offer you in terms of skill other than what I have here.” You nudged at the range of your shop, plain as can be though with a generous amount of flourishes on display. Yet nothing you thought special enough to be graced by him and his grand proposal that evening.

“I just don’t want you to regret your decision.”

There was a pause of silence after that. The man seemed to give your words some thought—a quick reflection on the situation. You couldn’t decipher much in his face, but you happened to take some time to admire how pretty his eyes were. The individual blue and gray shades were mesmerizing to you, resembling glaciers glittering beneath the moon high in the north. Another detail you jotted in his long list of attractive features. Before you could marvel at them any further, he whisked your thoughts back to earth with his response.

“It’s true that I’m coming to you because I’m in need,” he admitted, hands slowly closing into fists like he was reluctant to confess this, “but from what I can see, I genuinely think you’re more than capable for this job. So yes, I’m very sure I won’t regret this decision.”

It was clear to you that he was sure on his stance. But to reinforce his statement, he bent his head low into a bow, weight added to his next words.

“Please be the florist for our gala.”

The gesture briefly overwhelmed you, not something you were expecting, but you managed to acknowledge it by returning the bow.

“I’ll be in your care then.”

With all things said, you were soon tidying up the exchange and trading business cards. Yours was a standard card with your number, name, and business attached with a picture of a lily printed across the paper. His, a premium slip of stainless steel engraved with his information and then some, the fancy card reflecting off the lights hanging from the ceiling. You read the name etched in ebony black over the gray material.

Todoroki Shouto — CEO

“You’ll likely receive a call from either one of my assistants or me within the next day or so about when to meet up to plan for the arrangements.” Shouto’s voice brought your head up from the card, where you watched him glide toward the door.

“R-Right, I’ll leave my cell on,” you stuttered. The fact that this whole exchange had just transpired was still kicking in for you.

Shouto nodded, extending a wave out that you mirrored while he opened the door to the shop, the bell chiming above him.

“I’ll see you then.”

After that, the resonating tinkles of the bell were the last you heard.

You stared at the entrance aimlessly, mouth gradually gaping open at the mere prospect that you were really about to arrange your flowers for a grand charity gala in two weeks!

A mixture of elation and jitters erupted in your body all at once, uncontained as you whipped your head around and strode across your shop in giddy steps. Your eyes lit up at the steel card gripped between your fingers, clenched so tightly like you were worried the card would turn to dust when you woke up from this dream. But at the wide smile that bloomed on your lips, you knew that this was reality. This man, Todoroki Shouto, was giving you the opportunity to have your true potential shown at this big gala.

Meanwhile, on his way back to his Mercedes, Shouto was clicking open his phone. The screen beamed at him in the low light of the evening turning to night while he punched a number from his contacts list. It took only the cusp of the second ring for the person on the other line to pick up his call.

“Midoriya, call off the search,” Shouto commanded into his phone. He rested his back on the door of his car, leaning against it with his phone still attached to his ear. His gaze found its way back to the flower shop he had just departed, eyeing the light emitting from the windows to the sign hanging above them. Grinning, he took in the sight of the flowers dancing in the wind around the shop’s vicinity before finding your silhouette standing in the benevolent light inside.

“We have our florist.”

[yoshkeii]

Bokuto Confession hcs!

࿐ character: Bokuto Koutarou

࿐ genre: fluff, soft, confessions!

࿐ requested by: GreenTheSimp on Ao3!

࿐ imagine/scenario: “some Bokuto headcannons on how he asks Khai out? Plus maybe him being a goof towards his s/o.”

A/N: fyi, most of these will be coming from my Ao3 since I started writing there first! it’s not much and i generally don’t proof read these so im sorry if there are small errors, this one is a bit longer since I made two chapters for it. im so bad at writing istg,,

≫ ──── ≪ Confession Time ≫ ──── ≪

❀ First, Bokuto would be oblivious to his crush and his feelings for you till it was brought up multiple times by his team, and eventually at the volleyball camp from the other schools. Most likely Kuroo nagging him about the certain someone, Khai, Bokuto talks about so much.

❀ You and Bokuto were friends for quite some time, maybe at least a year or so. And being in the same class as him, you guys had time to interact with each other and even plan hangouts whenever you could.

❀ And yes, this man talks 24/7 about you without even noticing- this varies from your interactions during the school day, your conversations during classes and lunch, stupid dumb texts you guys have once in a while, the answers you give him from the many of many questions he asked you... the list goes on and on. This makes it easy for his friends to identify his fucking crush on you. him being so oblivious about it hurts their brains istg

❀ He's extremely bubbly around you, super friendly and kind but you usually brush it off as his normal personality. ibetyou'llbeoblivioustooaboutit.

❀ Once Bokuto awakened to his crush and feelings for you he found it extremely difficult to act like it was normal before. The slight blush on his cheeks was a much solid shade. His heart skipping beats every time he saw you walk in the room. Your laugh, your smile, anything about you made him so nervous around you now. When you directly smile at him, hearing your laughs at his jokes or actions will make this man just seize to exist.

❀ Bokuto can't stop thinking about you after that thought, always finding his mind wandering to the dorkiest, sappy shit thing he would do with you.

❀ Sometimes he found himself avoiding you at some points just so he can keep himself in check and not be an embarrassment around you-

❀ He still craves your attention but he gets a lingering fear he might mess something up so he has an internal fight with himself and it just- hurts him sm- poor owl,,

❀ Akaashi finds himself trying to motivate and support emo Bokuto at these moments, usually through texts or calls when they aren't near each other etc.

❀ You would generally think he would just confess to you as soon as he had the chance but actually took this on a slow thoughtful ride. To the point, it did affect his skill at practice, which notified his teammates about it fairly quickly. Bokuto was so deep in thought about it all he was unsure how to process his confession, when, where, what would make you happy, if you liked him back and such.

❀ This eventually leads to him asking Akaashi, the team, and friends (from the other teams' ofc-), on how he should confess to you. All of the answers didn't seem to fit Bokuto in a comfortable way either, which is hella surprising. Before he decided to do something pretty simple.

❀ Earlier today, Bokuto asked you to wait for him a few minutes after class. Knowing you two had different club activities after school, him having volleyball and you have [Khai's favorite activity]. It was the best option to get your attention since your clubs ended at different times made it difficult. And so you did, meeting him outside of your classroom, just you and him.

❀ Bokuto felt anxious about being alone with you, especially like this.

❀ "Hey, Khai..?"

❀ "What is it, Bo?"

❀ That little nickname you gave him, always and I mean always made his heart skip 10 beats. The blush on his cheeks grew a shade darker.

❀ "Wanna walk home.. t-together...?" Bokuto quickly mustered out the words, knowing his throat would dry up sooner or later.

❀ Both of you actually took a similar route home after school, which you guys figured out on a rainy day.

❀ "Oh, sure! Don't you have practice though?" You tilted your head innocently, your hair moving as well revealing the smallest of details that made Bokuto swoon.

❀ "Coach said we should rest for our game tomorrow"

❀ "Ah- that makes sense, I forgot about that-" You giggled lightly before you took the lead of heading out of the building.

❀ Bokuto froze at your giggle before you dragged him behind you. Your hand softly around his wrist. "C'mon slowpoke," you teased.

❀ He smiled slightly before he caught up to you. Walking aside from you at the same pace.

❀ It was an awkward walk. Bokuto was oddly quiet which made you slightly worried.

❀ "Bokuto? You alright..?" You finally broke the silence, looking up at the Ace to your right.

❀ "P-perfectly fine!"

❀ "You stuttered."

❀ "Did... I..?"

❀ "Yes, dummy- What's wrong?"

❀ "I-... Damn it. Khai."

❀ Before you knew it, he pulled you into a kiss. His large hands cupping your face as he planted his lips softly onto yours, pulling away from a little with only a few inches from your lips. Bokuto looked straight into your brown eyes, staring back with his golden eyes. The blush on his cheeks flushed with shades of red.

❀ "I like you. Wait- No.. I love you." Bokuto muttered softly, feeling his breath on your lips made you shiver.

❀ You just giggled, before it grew into genuine laughter. He widened his eyes removing his hands from your face.

❀ "H-hey..!! What's so funny!?"

❀ "It was so obvious Bo~"

❀ "Was.. was it!? I-"

❀ You cut him off, "I love you too Koutarou."

❀ Him hearing you use his first name WITH you saying ily to him, made his day. A bright smile plastered on his face, he hugged you lifting you up and kissing your face all over.

❀ "HEY HEY HEYYYY!! Khai likes me back!! Actually, Khai LOVES me!" Bokuto exclaimed happily

❀ After that, Bokuto was back to his normal, loud, excited self throughout the walk. You guys began to have your simple conversations again, him poking you with questions trying to get to know you even more. Having the lingering doubt he had from rejection and negativity was lifted-off from him. He even mentioned having your first date so soon-

❀ He couldn't wait to bring the news to his team and friends.

❀ He can't wait to see you by his side every day.

≫ ──── ≪ Confession Aftermath ≫ ──── ≪

❀ After the confession, Bokuto would rarely ever leave your side. So he does get clingy to you as he does with Akaashi. He's not much for PDA but he's also not against the thought, he unconsciously hugs you, wrapping his arms around your torso, waist, arms, and sometimes around your neck at least- Sometimes light kisses and pecks but those are generally rare unless he's really excited about something.

❀ He gets really flustered sometimes when you addressed him as your boyfriend the first few days and maybe weeks after starting the relationship. He's just not used to it- It gives this hunk of a man butterflies in his stomach a lot.

❀ Whenever you guys had to leave each other for your designated classes, you tend to find cute notes in your locker whenever you open them. Having cute phrases, flirts, compliments, and silly pick-up lines. You already knew it was from Bokuto because you... sometimes catch him lurking around your locker- just never brought up to him knowing it would genuinely make him sad.

❀ Bokuto just finds it cool that you don't know at first okay-

❀ You always tried to go to his practices and even games when you guys were just friends. Knowing that if Bokuto saw any of his friends out in the stands made his confidence skyrocket so much-

❀ But since you guys are now in a relationship, it makes Bokuto smile so much every time he spots you in the stands of the crowds. Cheering him on boosts his confidence so fucking much- like if this man is in emo mode please cheer for him, it helps a ton (Akaashi and the team might thank you also-)

❀ Long-lasting phone calls that continue till like 3-4 am. Sometimes facetime/video calls if you both have the ability to! He loves seeing your face, he finds it so fucking adorable with all your smallest features and details.

❀ Bokuto probably changed your contact name on his phone to something like "baby owl" with like emojis or something- or literally, just nick (pet) names he has for you- "baby, bae, cloud, cutie, feather, angel, king/queen, prince/princess" and so on. He looooves having names for you because it makes him smile every time he finds things that remind him of you (which generally is how he figures some of them out-)

❀ Whenever this man finds you sad, upset, stressed, or literally in any negative emotion. He will try his damn hardest to make you feel better even if its the slightest, and if it is the slightest he'll keep going to you are perfectly fine and dandy.

❀ He'll even go out of his way to skip practice if needed to comfort your sad butt- He'll give you cuddles, so many cuddles. He's practically a cuddle monster so better prepare for how long you'll stay in his arms afterward-

❀ Whenever you guys are just cuddling in general, he loves to nuzzle his face into your hair, your neck, and shoulder. Just craving the touch and comfort of his lover. Even if it's the slightest of motion, he'll take whatever he can get!

❀ Continuing on the cuddling situation, one of the secret things he loves about you is how you smell. The shampoo you use for your hair, the body wash, perfume or cologne.

❀ Since it's fall season (as of I'm writing this ofc-), Bokuto will drag you around for some walks in the cool weather through parks. Honestly hoping to find leaves to pile and fall into with you! I'd think one of Bo's love language would be quality time (and words of affirmation.) So hanging out with him makes this owl the happiest man to walk on this planet.

❀ Whenever you are cold on these walks, he won't hesitate to wrap his arms around you. If it's a specific part of your body that is cold, for example, your hands. He'll definitely hold his hands over yours. Maybe planting a kiss on them afterward (accidentally getting flustered seconds later-)

❀ Bokuto might also just stare at your hands clasped together, noticing the size difference for the 100000000000000th time

❀ Honestly, he likes to use Instagram and Snapchat filters with you. It's really cute af,, he's such a dork for couple things

❀ Body issues? Bokuto will love every part of you no matter what, comforting that every part of your body is perfect as it is. He'll softly plant kisses wherever you feel insecure. He'll cuddle you till you agree with him that you are a perfect human being.

❀ Don't try to sneak out of it. He's hella stubborn with topics like these- He ain't that dense and dumb guys,,

A/N: I love me some Bokuto huuuuu

[utau-bowl]

Looking at all the Voicebanks on the Arpasing website

This is a project that took a good amount of time to write and publish, so I’m glad I’m finally here! For context, there is an unofficial Arpasing website with reclists, plugins, and USTs to use. There’s also a list of avilable Arpasing voicebanks to try out, and here’s where I had the idea to download and talk about-all of them. These will generally be pretty short, but I hope they’re at least somewhat informative. Many of these voicebanks are in beta/unfinished to a degree, so keep that in mind. Since a lot of these are old beta voices, if you don’t want your VB on here, just send me a message and I’ll delete it.

All of these voices can be downloaded at the Voicebank Directory on the Arpasing site. 

A few of the links on the site didn’t work, so sorry Cherry, Daichi Hayashi, and Armani. I’m also not including the Arpasing prototype VB since it’s just recordings and has no oto. For people who don’t know much about arpasing: 0.1.0 is the original version of Arpasing with 219 samples, and 0.2.0 is an updated later version made by Kanru Hua that has 334 samples. I also bring up the alveolar tap a little bit. The alveolar tap is a consonant common in american English (it’s the “tt” sound in butter, better, and letter). Since Arpasing was optimized for American English, it’s surprising that most of the reclists for it don’t include the alveolar tap! So I might point that out when I see it added into a vb.

Aero-gen Shinsu by Wolfe Nebula

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 3 ※Has FRQs?: Some Aero is a mild adolescent sounding voice with lots of noise. He generally sounds pretty sweet and light, I love his voice a lot! There is a decent anount of background noise, which some may be picky about. Still, it doesn’t affect the quality much and he works with most resamplers. Putting high BRE on him makes him sound pretty good. I generally had no issues with his oto, but the CC transitions aren’t otoed very well and some are off time.

Aino Erufu by Jasputing

※Reclist: 0.2.0  ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes, also has full llsm and pmk files Aino has a very unique voice acted timbre, and it’s almost difficult to find a song to match her. But when you do, she’s a sweetie. ^^ She has a sweet, louder voice and sounds best above A3, or even higher in the soprano range.  She is touchy with resamplers but works well with fresamp and world4utau.

Aki Toka/幸兔雪  by Yukito Yuki 

※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes Aki is clear and strong and has a good tone. good tone, clear. has full frqs. got one of my favorite accents. Despite being monopitch, he has a very wide range and can go a little below his stated range of F3-C5. The mid/low range sounds best though imo. He comes with a guide for aliasing for those new to Arpasing, and a list of all the sounds which were affected by the VP’s accent. The Finnish accent does come through in the vowels and ending consonants, but the duplicates allow for more varied pronunciation so it’s not a big deal. Akihana ENG [radiance] D3_beta by Lunamageice ※Reclist: 0.1.0, uses phonetic filenames  ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes Akihana has a low, rich, full voice that’s good in bass and baritone range. I’ve used his VCCV before, but the Arpasing actually has more natural pronunciation. It has been in beta all this time, but it’s still worth it to use because of the rarity of this voicetype in UTAU. Angus by ReticentResolve

※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes    I was blown away by how good Angus was! He’s a deep, soft masculine voice ranged F2-G4 with a nasal quality. He comes with a tripitch VCV JP bank for those who’d want that too. The mic he was recorded on picked up a lot of background noise and makes him sound muffled, but he’s still a decent vb.

AWG YukiList verKLAD by Adlez27 ※Reclist: YukiList with modifications ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: No This is an example voicebank for the Yukilist arpasing recording style created by YukitoYuki. It has 800+ samples and a lot more coverage than basic Arpasing. It’s a tenor vb with a mild tone. The alveolar tap (dx) samples are in a separate folder for some reason and aren’t fully otoed, but they work fine. Some of the VC transitions aren’t configured correctly, but generally the oto is good.

Canary by SlightlyShredded

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 (D3) ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes + llsm Canary has a really pleasant voice! He’s a sweet, fruity baritone with power in his voice. He’s very suitable for pop/edm. His oto kept spitting out errors while I used him but he sounds mostly fine despite that. 

Eon_Arpasing by fmccaddy12 ※Reclist: Custom (made by fmccaddy12) ※Number of pitches: 2 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes + llsm Eon is a very realistic baritone voice. He sounds a little congested but is overall one of the best voicebanks on this list. He can be pushed a bit out of his range As far as I’m aware, his official site/character revamp is not done yet but his dl is still up on this website. Not even sure if I should share the link but it is still up publicly...

Hailey Denali by CatMoun

※Reclist: Custom  ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes + llsm  Hailey has one of the cutest tones one of all these voicebanks. She’s very nasal and sounds almost voice acted. Her reclist is 500+ samples long and doesn’t lack anything. However, all the vowels and most of the consonants are 2-3 syllables. Hailey also comes with an automatic updater.

鳳鐘ユウリ(Houshou Yuuri) by さきた (Sakita) 

※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Some  Yuuri has a range of about A3-D5. She has a heavy Japanese accent but a decent range. She’s very emotional and pretty sounding, especially in the higher ranges. Though, if you want to use her, know that her oto requires a lot of fixing, as a lot of VC transitions are configured incorrectly.

Johatsun Kikuro Arpasing by Awes0meBr0/Biohazard-P

※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes + llsm/bak/pmk   He has very quiet samples which causes lots of distortion in the program. Nevertheless, he still manages to sound realistic somehow-? He reminds me of older vocal synths like Microsoft Sam almost. I did mess around a bit with resamplers/flags for Kikuro and the best combination I’ve found so far was f2resamp and F0g1H20h0C10. Using Kikuro requires some effort but he’s sill pretty good.

Kara Kokone by SunGuardian524

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 5 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Some  Kara is most impressive for being one of the UTAU with the highest number of pitches on this list- each of them has a different tone, with one being a falsetto and another being a shout pitch. Her range is pretty wide, reaching almost into alto and being able to hit the high soprano notes too. However, this bank really does feel like a beta that hasn’t been touched in a while. It doesn’t have a fully configured prefix.map and the oto is pretty off and requires a lot of adjusting. I also wish she used a more comprehensive form of the reclist, since there is a lot missing. At least there’s a lot of duplicate entries.

Kayaka Konagi Arpasing(English) by こむぎこ (Komugiko)  ※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes Konagi is very good, her pronunciation is clear and she has a nice tone. She is a bit finicky with resamplers and flags, probably meant to be used with default settings. She does have a Japanese accent but it’s a little less pronounced than Yuuri’s.

Kevin Futarine STUDIO (VP2 Arpasing) by FRAloids

※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: No  Kevin is another baritone voice with a youthful flavor. It has a good amount of flexibility, being sort of emotional and soft sounding but also capable of producing a bright, clear sound. He was recorded at E3 but has a flexible range and even sounds good higher. His pronunciation is pretty on point, but the t/d are a little mixed up. His dh sounds are also so short they’re hard to hear at times. The oto is generally good but might need some adjusting out of the box. He has a ton of extra samples of sighs, laughs, whispers, etc. I’ve been a Kevin fan for years and this voicebank definitely keeps the tone his Japanese vbs have.

Kii Nane by kii ※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Some   Kii Nane is a sugary sweet voice that sounds best at C4 and above. Her samples have a lot of reverb, and there is some background noise which affects the output. Her pronunciation is very good, but a little slurred and off because of the engine noise. Resamplers are hit or miss, she does sound good with world4utau though.

Koyanagi Sayuki DEITY by Mango-tama

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 4 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: No, but has full llsm  Sayuki is a very realistic voice ranged F#3-G5. Her low range is soft and her mid/high range is loud and clear. Lovely to tune and use in anything, I don’t have much negative to say about her.

Koyanagi Takehiko_TSUNAMI (BETA) by Mango-tama

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 (G3) ※Has fully generated FRQs?: No, but has full llsm Takehiko is very cool sounding and bassy, and the voice acting makes him distinct from his sister. His best range is from D3 to G4 and he has sorta a soft tone that can be boosted via resamplers. He sounds great with f2resamp.

KYE by WinterdrivE

※Reclist: 0.1.0 + a few Alveolar tap samples ※Number of pitches: 5 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: No, but has full llsm Kye needs no introduction-he’s the guy who got most of us interested in Arpasing in the first place! His abundance of pitches works in his favor. He’s probably the best of these voicebanks to just plug and play to learn how to use Arpasing-if you don’t mind waiting for all those 1000+ frqs to generate. He is by far the best in baritone/bass range. A lot of the D4 pitch actually has pitch/frequency issues that can’t be fixed without workarounds, so using him from B2-C4 is your best bet-or just using a different pitch for the higher ranges. He does have a sort-of lisp but overall, not many oto or pronunciation issues.

Marie Kagekine Arpasing (v1.0) by AdagioFantasque

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes +  some llsm, pmk, and uspec  Marie is an operatic voicebank who tries to recapture the charm of Prima in an UTAU format. She has a wide range of B3-F5 and a mature, yet high and bright, sound. She has some of the best understandability out of any of these voicebanks. I really like her <3

Mikone Samu by codyboyo

※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes Samu/Sam is a port of Microsoft Sam done in a similar way to how Defoko was made. He’s a crisp sounding masculine low voice. Due to the samples being short, he can sound very stilted. But for a jinriki (?) like this, he is very high quality.

Resonance Harmony (Arpasing English) by Hazu/パワ 

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 6 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes I have a lot to say about Harmony, and no good way of wording it. Okay. Resonance is very nasally and high, she has 3 base pitches plus growl, power, and whisper appends, and some vocal fry. Conceptually, she seems like a pretty good bank but I’ve always had trouble using her...it feels like a hit or miss on whether she’ll sound good or not. She sounds decent with f2resamp and w4utau but not many flags make her sound better. If anyone else wants to download her and play around, I’d love to hear it.

Rose Mae Arpasing BETA by Monochrome Rose ※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes + llsm Rose has a bright, tomboyish, androgynous voice. The readme file notifies us of the non-native accent in the vb. It does have a drawl and some of the consonants aren’t recorded/otoed right, but overall the vb sounds very smooth. Honestly, I care more about recording conditions/oto/general feel than accent most of the time, and Rose does well in those ways.

Ryuunosuke Aoyama by Mattsuran 

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 (B3) ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes + llsm Ryuunosuke is a childish, boyish voice with a strong Chilean accent. I think this vb may have actually been recorded by a kid, so that’s a point for uniqueness at least. He sounds best with fresamp and f2resamp. He has a gentle tone that can work in a lot of different ranges.

Tarek by Tadashi

※Reclist: 0.1.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 (B2) ※Has fully generated FRQs?: No, has llsm Tarek has a clear, loud tone with a noticeable lisp. UTAU recommends using him as a baritone, but I found putting him into higher ranges generally worked too. His samples sound less like singing and more like talking. He was recorded on a midquality mic which causes some distortion in the output. Still, I think his voice is really cute and I’m a sucker for baritones.

Thoma by Nythoma

※Reclist: 0.2.0 + vocal fry/alveolar tap ※Number of pitches: 1 (F#3) ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes   Thoma is an androgynous alto/mezo soprano. They have a soft, plasticy sort of feeling to their voice. They sound best from C3-F5. I feel a little..weird linking to/talking about Thoma since they were redesigned and are supposed to be a private voicebank, but the download is still linked on this site. Also please check out Nythoma when you get a chance, they make the best Arpasing USTs which helped me a lot while making this post. I feel like I haven’t checked in on anyone here in a while. How are you doing? I’ve written most of this post within the span of a few days and I think my brain is not capable of producing any thoughts other than “monopitch.”

Tsubasa Arugo Arpasing (BETA) by WinterStar

※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 1 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: Yes   Tsubasa has a soft, androgynous voice that sounds best from E3-A4. The samples are full of static, which causes some distortion. The ending vowel sounds also cut off too much at the beginning, making them too breathy. Still, it’s always nice to see another soft vb.

Xiao Meihua by 実偽Migi

※Reclist: 0.2.0 ※Number of pitches: 2 ※Has fully generated FRQs?: No Meihua has a realistic mature voice that’s also sweet and friendly sounding. She has a sort of low voice, and sounds the best from G3-C5. The download comes with a natural vb and a Sweet append, both monopitch. I listed them as being different pitches because they aren’t recorded at the same note. The Sweet voicebank is nasal and stronger too-it sounds more solid than sweet. She’s one of the vbs on this list that sounds the best with little to no edits. Her oto is smooth as butter :0

And that’s all of them done! Thank you SO much for reading if you got this far, seriously. You are what makes writing this blog worth it <3

Also I wanted to list my favorites of the bunch! This isn’t meant to pit any vb against each other or anything, just the ones I’m likely to go back to. -Canary -Eon -Xiao Meihua -Marie Kagekine -Kii Nane -Aki Toka -Thoma -Kevin Futarine Studio

Who are your favorites?

[franki-lew-yo]

I really hate 2d purists. No, not 2d animation. Not 2d animators.

2d purists.

The sad thing is it’s gotten to the point that I really cringe hearing any pro-2D sentiment at all. I hate the arguments I agree with because how often they're misused and weaponized by idiots.

Let me make my stance here clear - 2d is NOT appreciated and 3d is used for everything! The layman Karen-mom who doesn’t have an artistic bone in her body looks at stupidsmooth 3D Grubhub ads and assumes quality cause it “looks more real” (aka ‘rendered’). I know as much is true because I literally have a member of my family who told my sister and I that she thinks 3d is better (and also that she “tolerated THOSE movies for us kids”. Touching words. My sister was taking an animation course by the way). Combined that with the studios either using 2D for cheap stuff or finding good 2d animation too “costly”, I get it and I’m not even any animator. I'm just a worm an illustrator.

but holy HELL -

There’s a backlash from the artistic community that's it's own kind of insufferable and deserve to be addressed.

“(insert2Danimatedfilm) is better BECAUSE it's 2D!”

followed by: "Animation is a visual medium and the quality of the art affects how much the story means !!!!”  

Yes. Totally. Animation is a visual medium and the look and style is important. Sadly, people use this excuse to really obnoxious ends, insisting that design being pretty is '' everything ''. When you treat a movie more as a special effects demo I get why you talk about the artistry at hand; but I’m sorry, visuals are not the only thing important and it’s why I’m also getting sick of the sameElsafacesyndrome rants too! There’s this attitude that's reads as "but it LOOKS better fromaproductionimage/teasertrailerwhichapparentlyisindicativeof all themovieactuallyis so it MUST BE better".

-“3D should only be used to make things look realistic!”

I think I know the logic this criticism is made in response to, and that’s the Sony + Illumination films which look just as good in 2D as they do in three dimensions. I know it feels like people are twisting this medium to try and make it like a classic cartoon when by all means people can and would love a classic cartoon being a classic cartoon. That I get- From the unsung 2D animator’s perspective, that’s more than valid !

But it’s a huuuuuuge slap in the face to 3d in saying it should only be used for "realistic animation" because

1: It’s not like realistic animation could age badly or look uncanny in the next few years. It's almost like technology is constantly improving, which I guess 2d animation never did and it was always the same technique and quality as every film that came after it.

2: The industry does treat 3d as a magic-moneymaker for this reason. Just listen to these people call the 2019 LION KING “live action” as if they’re embarrassed to call it animation. It IS animation! It would be impressive if you acknowledged that what it is, but like the CATS, you basically are treating it as just a neato tool to better your live action and not it's own artform - which it is!

3: By this “three-deeonly gud when real liek in da toystories” non-logic I guess 2d should ONLY be for flowyflowy SPACE JAM cartoons and maybe some Disney*. Just that though. You can’t do anything more with 2d. It’s never supposed to be realistic I guess. Good thing Richard Williams only did 'toons' and just toons that’s why we need 3d in the world I guess.

Wait no - that’s stupid.

"I HAVE to see the “Land Before Time 14″ when it comes out! I mean it’s a 2D animated film!"

Lost in the aether that is Youtube comment chains removed from kid's videos is a stream of this very VERY stupid argument supporting the buying of the 14th LAND BEFORE TIME film because it’s supporting 2D. My sister and I can be found on that chain arguing against this stupidity. All you have is my word, but trust me: it really did happen.

I’m sorry but...no.

Unless you have a friend or a family member who worked on these movies there’s no reason to see this and ESPECIALLY no reason to insist it’s a win for the 2D community if you buy up this crap - and I'm not judging if you do like it, but come on! LAND BEFORE TIME 14 isn't where your money should go if you really like this medium.

What’s so infuriating about this argument is you can tell it’s made by nonanimators. Real animators will tell you to support their movies cause they want some respect for their artform which is why there’s such a push from the PRINCESS AND THE FROGcrowd that you SEE and LOVE every 2d thing out there, regardless of how good it is because any recognition for it is k i n d o f what they're after!

Kiddy sequel schlock isn’t even in the same ballpark as KLAUS or WOLFWALKERS; these films DID have very limited theatrical runs (Klaus so it could be nominated; Wolfwalkers in places where theaters opened up after Covid) and should have been supported because they were labors of love made by people who love animation.

As other people have already pointed out, one of the reasons for the lack of interest in 2000sera2D animation is that the only films released alongside critical+financial 3D hits were cheaper 2D films that either coincided with daytime tv shows or should have been just direct-to-video. It’s not to say art couldn’t come out of these flicks, but dayum if it wasn’t abused as much as the texture software that era's CG used... Point being, should the world ever go back to normal: If you hear about an out-of-town showing an acclaimed 2D animated film, make time to trek out and see THAT!

Don’t give your money to see yet another made-for-tv movie on the big screen because all that tells the studio is: “yeah 2d IS cheap and only good for cheap stuff let’s just keep it cheap. Only 3d is important 8D 8D 8D !!!"

“I don’t understand how it works. So it sucks.”

This text is from an ANIMATOR btw.

“I don’t understand how it works” and “it’s just some computer rendering” is the exact same wave of logic the people who prefer cgi use.

The plebian Karen I mentioned earlier? She understands the basics of 2D animation as much as you did from one of those cruddy flash classes you took in middle-school. She 'understands' the basics cuz she watched how it was made on the DVD features or maybe back on the WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY. To her, the illusion is broken and she’s not impressed by 'just some drawings on paper'. You, an animator, know the process is more complicated and is intrigued by knowing how it’s made - not bored or disinterested -

Neither you nor Aunt Karen have really good cg-animation software at your house and unless you ARE a 3D animator you probably DON’T know all the ins-and-outs of how these movies are modeled, rendered, and animated.

Aunt Karen is bedazzled by them cause she doesn’t know how it works and the technical aspect makes her brain hurt so it might as well be magic and she can feel like a cool kid sharing Minion-memes. Aunt Karen is the nonartistic type who just wants to feel safe. You're not. You want to feel challenged.

I get it: you’re pissed off cause you’re in a field no one, including Aunt Karen, appreciates; told to work in cg which it's an artform you didn’t devote your life to and told to learn it cause THIS style sells! 3D is everywhere and is starting to look like 'garbage' even if you don’t animate 3D models yourself you just KNOW, I guess. Besides, you know all there is to know about 2d!! You know all there is to possibly know about this artform and have to fight this 'war' against "r e a l" animation! And I mean even when 3d software is there to use, it's not like you can actually make anything worth while in it, especially not anything that transcends the medium. Right Worthikids?

TL;DR: This argument is basically just " BWAAAAH I’M NOT GONNA USE IT I HAVE STANDARDS (a chip on my shoulder cuz art should be what I deem it to be) "

“PRINCESS AND THE FROG is-”

There’s a reason I can’t say I truly like PRINCESS AND THE FROG even though it's not even a bad movie! Like, stop reading this and watch PATF if you haven't it's good. It's my 'FROZEN', in that; I see a lot of potential in it I just think it needs some serious rewriting and that bugs me. Always have felt that way, tbh.

I dislike this movie because the response from the animation community seems to be it was perfect and the Academy was just Pixar-crazy with UP ((ftr, the Academy IS Pixar’s bitch and I personally advocate a sequel be made to WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY about Mike Eisner’s sabotage of the 2D department at Disney which is still in place now!- but that’s a story for another day)). I’m sorry but UP was just a better story. So was CORALINE. So was FANTASTIC MR. FOX. Honest to god it feels like poor PATF is brought up as just a talking point and never for it's own worth as a labor of love - which it was! I'd like to honestly know: had PRINCESS AND THE FROG come out now and been cg if it would have even half the defenders for it because now it doesn't "look" like how a Disney movie "should" look...

If you like PatF more than the currant Disney lineup because of it's culture, it's music, it's feminism, it's black representation? Awesome. Great. Those things should be appreciated and I never want that taken away from you. But if you seriously think PatF is better just for how it was animated and looks - I lowkey may hate you.

“ALL OF DISNEY’S LATEST MOVIES SHOULD HAVE BEEN 2D! THEY ALL LOOK AWFUL IN 3D!! ALL OF THEM!”

TANGLED, FROZEN, and MOANA? Yeah. Sure. But um, e x c u s e y o u- WRECK IT RALPH sooooo doesn’t work in 2d! It could have used different between the various worlds but it’s about hopping through different video games. I’m also of the opinion that ZOOTOPIA and BIG HERO 6 are fine the way they are. Their 3d is awesome.

The latest fairy tale Disney films are really big on their place alongside the 2D canon esp in marketing. They keep trying to mimic 2D to varying results though I don't think it works as well as the movie's I'd previously mentioned. Me personally, I would love a mix of 3D and 2D technology, like if the backgrounds in FROZEN still got to be 3D but the characters were handdrawn and shaded ala KLAUS ((sweet sigh)). But even then are they truly unwatchable just based on how they're animated to you?

MOANA would have been incredible in 2D but for the record - I don't think it feels out of place in it's style. It reminds me more of a Pixar movie with the heart of a Disney classic which is it's own just as good.

“2D is the oldest form of animation and it’s being replaced.”

Actually, if we’re talking animation in film, stop motion is the earliest form of animation. The stop motion animated THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED and TALE OF THE FOX predate Disney’s SNOW WHITE. And yes: stop-motion IS still a form of animation even if it’s a serious of pictures taken of real life things and not drawings, so don’t you dare come at me with the "but that's not animated"/"Technically it’s LIVE ACTION" crap or I’ll envoke the spirit of Sandman to get you at night.

“Every animated film would look better in 2D! Even PIXAR would look better in 2D!”

Again, Stop Motion.

No, I mean it.

Lemme ask: Would ISLE OF DOGS or FANTASTIC MR. FOX carry any of the same effect if they were generic 90s toons? I know NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS wouldn’t. Christ, don’t even get me started on Svankmajer!

Sometimes the problem is that a movie is envisioned with a specific artform in mind. Pixar started out with toys and bugs for a reason and that’s cuz they were always gonna be a 3d studio and they needed to first overcome the placisity of the models. Over the years they’ve gotten really good at effects and blending unrealistic proportions with real textures (and also not so much- ONWARD and THE GOOD DINOSAUR really needed some different character designs and yeah, I do think would have looked better with a 2d artstyle, but not the ones they had in their films. THE GOOD DINOSAUR needed more realistic-speculative looking dinos and ONWARD needed a grittier HEAVY METAL/BLACK CAULDRON appeal to its designs.) My point being that the problems with these movies aren’t even inherently the animation as much as it is a problem of style. As someone who runs a group speculating different styles and designs for movies and tv shows I’m all for envisioning a 2D ZOOTOPIA or Bluth-inspired FNAF. That’s amazing!

But that’s also the talk of fan artists and nerds and not the professional artists working on visualizing their stories!!

Since I ate, slept, and breathed NIGHTMARE in my youth I’ll use it as an example: All the concept art ever done for TNBC was on paper and 2D was used in the final film. However, even when Tim Burton was thinking of making it just a tv special it was always going to be stop-motion. NIGHTMARE’s puppet cast do work very well in two dimensions, believe me, but the film was made as a love letter to Rankin/Bass and the art form of stop-motion. Skipping to another Henry Selick-helmed project (haha), JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH was also always envisioned as a multimedia film to give it a truly dream-like atmosphere. If you know anything about Henry Selick you’ll know he’s 1) a perfectionist, and 2) loves mixed media and different types of animation and puppetry at once. That’s why he was the perfect pick to direct TNBC at the time, why JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH and CORALINE are so beautiful and why MOONGIRL, his only fully 3d film, doesn’t have the same appeal.

As for what films I couldn’t imagine NOT being 3D? Probably; 9, Padak, Next Gen, Soul, Finding Nemo, the Toy Story films, Wreck-it-Ralph (as previously mentioned), Wall.E, Waltz with Bashir, Robots, Inside Out, Arthur Christmas, The Painting, Happy Feet, Shrek, Enter the Spiderverse, Megamind… just naming a few here.

“I want a traditionally animated film [and by that I mean a 90s-Disney/Don Bluth looking movie] of ‘x'-popular live action/stage thing!”

Okay I’m cheating a bit but it’s my blog and so I’m gonna stick this one in because it’s related.

When I see musings about wanting live-action or CGI shiz to be in 2d again a lot of the time this argument actually boils down to " I want this to look like a 90s Didney movie ". Or, if it’s about animals - " I want it to look like a Don Bluth film! "

Like...there ARE other styles of animation out there...you know that right?

Frack, Disney themselves tried different styles throughout the 90s it’s just that the peak of the Disney renaissance films (LITTLE MERMAID, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, ALADDIN, THE LION KING) and the many imitators that followed tended to have the same look to them where only film/animation nerds kept watching into the era that was TARZAN, HERCULES, and ATLANTIS along with the kids. Aunt Karen wasn't singing Part of your World in the carride with you every day.

The Don Bluth argument is especially irritating because...what exact feeling do you WANT from a movie if it looked Bluthish? Each of the four ‘quintessential’ Bluth movies (NIMH, AMERICAN TAIL, LBT, and ALL DOGS) have such a different feel to them that’s complimented by that style; SECRET OF NIMH is a drama about wild animals trying to understand humans; LAND BEFORE TIME is even more squarely about an animal’s perspective as there’s literally no humans around; AMERICAN TAIL uses animals stowing away on the ship to tell a story about refugees; and ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN is ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN.

What the frack are you even asking for with that because I think there’s a certain flavor to the Bluth-styled oeuvre as well as the 90s Disney catalogue that would clash too much stylistically with some films.

Also come on! Like some Bluthian-style 2d would really fix THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS or SCOOB!, bite me.

I think this fixation solely on these two hand drawn styles and nothing else is based on nostalgia goggles, refusing to step outside the norm and discover different films and feelings than Disney and Bluth, and just preference. Goin back to NIGHTMARE there will always be a special place in my heart for Henry Selick’s stop motion, but I couldn’t imagine CHICKEN RUN or ANOMALISA in it's unique style.

Also I’m tired of every time there’s a "lets make an animatic to ‘x’ musical theater song" it’s reliably just Disneyesque or realistic. WHY envision an animated version of the show at all if it doesn’t have A STYLE to it??!?! I’m sorry but 90s-Disney does NOT fit CABARET!

“3D is so CHEAP now! Why can’t they just do 2D again?”

I think - on the cusp of the 2020s and the Grubhub hatedom, there ARE changing times ahead for 3d and 2d. The general public are starting to get tired of the same looking 3d films and wanting some 2d back, but they don’t have the best resources or opinions on animation to know what it is they want. Meanwhile, the animation community + industry is trying to figure out what to do and you have a lot of turmoil between the monopoly that is the industry, the high standards of the artists, and the mixed wants of the animation fanbase deciding what art needs to be.

It’s a tough business. And in the spirit of that tough business - maybe DON’T act like the means of a film’s production is solely your control, that you know best, and know definitively what the artists should have done....cuz you don't. Sorry my fellow criticalfanomanalysist-folks we DON'T and in an age of standom where fans and critics think it's okay to hackle indie animation studios about not getting their pitched cartoon out fast enough - we need to reserve these discussions to our circles and not treat them as gospel.

3d animation and 2d animation have to share this world. Stop acting like they’re either interchangeable in terms of budget, means of production, or artistry or that one has to be superior to the other.

The industry already says one art form is better (spoiler: it’s always live-action), we don’t need anymore of this purist garbage. Just stick to what you like while trying new things on the side. Be critical while also being compassionate. And remember:

[onceuponaloonatic]

i wanted to wait to post this until after i did the chaetzu part, but it is a proper first part to the misahyo au in the main timeline for the au!! of courses asks from different times are also accepted (i would love to dive more into baby nico if you guys want to discuss it it’s always cute) but most of the actual plotline that i post from long little things like this will be from this time !! anyway please enjoy !! 

tw: depression, anxiety, asthma, parents having mental health issues, etc...

Jihyo can tell something is wrong with her wife. She had barely said anything to Jihyo since her last class ended and she couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away from her phone. She was also being more fidgety than normal, Jihyo could see it in the way Sana couldn’t stop her feet from moving while they were waiting for their daughter’s preschool to be over. She wanted to reach a hand out and to slow Sana’s fidgeting, to ask her what was wrong, but she also didn’t think now was the right time.

“We can probably go in now.” Jihyo points out when she sees the hour change on her phone. Nico’s preschool ended at exactly five pm, and Nico wanted them to be there to pick her up at four forty five. Sana nods at this, taking another glance at her phone before putting it down and putting it in her pocket for the first time since they had left work. When they get inside, they find their daughter isn’t waiting for them in the front of her classroom like she normally did. Jihyo sighed at that. It could only mean one thing. “Why don’t you go sign Nic out while I talk to her?” Jihyo turned to Sana, who instantly understood. Nico hadn’t taken to preschool very well. She had been okay at first, but her behaviour varied depending on the day. Some days she was the best behaved kid in her class, others the teachers would have to call them to come take her home because no one could calm her down. Usually, when it was a good day, Nico would eagerly wait for them by the entrance to her classroom. When it wasn’t, Nico would be at her desk pouting. That’s where Jihyo finds her today. Curled up in her desk next to the window in a little ball looking like she was in a mood. “Hey kiddo.” Nico’s eyes briefly light up when she turns to Jihyo. “Ready to go home?” “No.” Nico pouted, curling in on herself more. “Didn’t get to play outside yet.” “Nico…” Jihyo sighed, picking her up and holding her on one hip. She adjusted the pink hello kitty face mask Mina made Nico wear on days like these and kissed her forehead. “We’ve talked about this. You can’t play outside every day.” “But- every one else can.” Nico buried her face in Jihyo’s shoulder. “I want to play outside.” “I know.” It always hurt Jihyo to see Nico like this. It wasn’t long after Nico came home from the hospital that she started having severe breathing problems. After numerous doctors visits and examinations they determined she had fairly severe asthma. Combined with the fact Nico had inherited Sana’s pollen allergies and the smog in Seoul, Nico’s doctors had told them it would be for the best if she didn’t play outside often. Especially when the pollen or smog was bad. They even told them she needed to start wearing face masks if the air quality was too bad. 

It had been heartbreaking for all three of them, but they could never imagine how difficult it was for Nico. She had to live with the fact she couldn’t go play at the park or at recess whenever she wanted. It got especially bad when she entered preschool. They had talked about maybe not sending her to a school and hiring a nanny or private tutor instead, but the cost of that quickly became too much too fast. All of their friends and family worked, so it’s not like they could watch her either. So preschool really was their only option. Even if it made Nico so beyond frustrated to see the other kids her age enjoying playing freely while she was stuck inside. It always broke Jihyo a little more when she thought about days like this for Nico. She could almost imagine her daughter sitting inside in front of the window watching all the other kids run around outside with that look on her face she gets when she's sad, the one that hurts Jihyo more than words can explain. They had made sure Nico’s teacher was very well aware of her breathing problems, and her teacher was always good about trying to find things for Nico to do when the other kids were outside playing, but Jihyo knew it would never quite be the same. “I know sweetheart.” Jihyo sighed, kissing Nico’s temple again. “Tomorrow.” “But-But you said that yesterday.” Nico was still learning to talk, and her words weren’t articulated great, but Jihyo could feel the pain in Nico’s voice. “I want to play on the playground mama.” “I know kiddo.” Jihyo sighed again. “Come on, Mommy is waiting.” Nico stayed silent, letting Jihyo carry her over to where Sana was waiting. She was on her phone again, and Jihyo couldn’t help but wonder what the heck Sana was doing. “Hey Nico.” Sana put her phone away once she saw the two of them. Her expression softened when she noticed how upset she looked in Jihyo’s arms. “I know today wasn’t good.” Sana put a hand on Nico’s back. “I’m sorry, but Ka-san is going to make you your favorite for dinner.” “Katsu?” Nico asked, taking her face out of Jihyo’s shoulder to look at Sana. “Katsu curry rice. With lots of potatoes and carrots just like you like it.” Sana smiled at Nico, kissing her forehead. Katsu curry was a meal Mina reserved for days like these, days where she knew Nico would have a hard day just from the weather report. Checking the air quality report every morning had become as natural as checking the weather for them now. “No pepper?” Nico stuck her tongue out at the word pepper. “No peppers” Sana giggled at Nico when she asked that. Nico absolutely hated peppers, and whenever Mina would try and sneak them into her food she would throw a fit. Nico’s face softened and Sana smiled at that, brushing a stray strand of her hair behind her tiny ear. “Just lots of carrots and potatoes.” “And Katsu?” “Well of course there’s Katsu. It’s Katsu curry.” Sana giggled at Nico’s statement.  Jihyo smiled at the two, happy Sana had come out of her own phone enough to talk to Nico. It was still bothering her that she had no idea what Sana was so worked up about, but she could push that aside for now. When she was with Nico, she wanted fully be there for her. After all, as much as she wanted to, days like this wouldn’t last forever. 

xx 

It seemed Nico wasn’t the only one having an off day. 

Jihyo and Sana hadn’t seen Mina since that morning. She had texted them to say she was going to make Katsu curry for dinner but other than that there had been no communication from their wife. It didn’t take long for them to figure out something was wrong with Mina. “Where’s Ka-san?” Nico had taken off trying to find Mina the minute they had gotten home. Mina was usually in the living room, but they guessed Nico had already checked there plus the kitchen. “Hm… Maybe she’s taking a nap?” Sana had gotten good at lying to Nico. Jihyo was impressed by her skill, there used to be a time when Sana could never lie to their daughter. They both knew Mina wasn’t napping. Her work bag was thrown on the couch and her coat was on the floor. Mina always made the extra effort to put things away where they were supposed to go, always. Unless of course something was wrong. 

“Nico, why don’t we go take an early bath before dinner?” Jihyo offered. They liked giving Nico baths when she got home on days where the pollen was bad. She barely spent any time outside on those days, but they were still worried about any pollen dust getting on her skin. “Okay.” Nico liked baths. It was funny to them considering all their nieces and nephews had hated them at Nico’s age, but Nico absolutely loved them. Jihyo locked eyes with Sana, who nodded in understanding. Mina, like everyone in the world, had bad and good days. She just felt them a little more than others. Sana and Jihyo had been used to this for a while, but Nico was so young she couldn’t quite understand why her Ka-san couldn't be happy every day. She couldn’t understand why there were days where Mina couldn’t even see Nico. Days where she couldn’t get out of bed. Days where she couldn’t make Nico dinner or days where she couldn’t read her a bedtime story. 

Sana knocks on the door to their bedroom, and when she opens the door her heart breaks a little more. “Hey love.” Sana offers Mina a small smile. “We’re home.” “Hm?” Mina turns to her, covers pulled tightly around her and tear tracks on her cheeks. “Oh, welcome home.” Sana hates how forced it sounds. “Anything-” Sana pauses for a second. There was always one of two options when it came to talking to Mina when she was like this. She could be gentle, avoiding the problem and trying to coax Mina out of bed without making her talk about what was wrong. Or she could flat out ask Mina what was wrong. In the years of knowing Mina, Sana had never quite figured out which one Mina preferred. “Anything you want to talk about?” Mina stays quiet, turning her back to Sana like she hadn’t heard her. Sana didn’t take any offence to it though, she knew Mina heard her and just didn’t know what to say. “Okay. Jihyo is giving Nico a bath right now so I’m going to go offer some help. Oh don’t worry about dinner, we can take Nico to Jeongyeon’s before they close. The usual okay?” “Mm… Sure.” Mina answers, her back still to Sana. Sana takes a deep breath before putting her jacket down on the nightstand and grabbing a pair of sweatpants from the top drawer. She quickly changes into them before putting her work pants away, doing her best to ignore Mina as she did. 

She hurries to Jihyo and Nico. Nico is already in the bath by the time she gets there, and Jihyo is putting her best smile on. “Ka-san nap?” Nico asks her when she sees her. “Ka-san doesn’t feel very good so she’s resting.” Sana told Nico, grabbing a bath toy that had ended up on Nico’s vanity and putting it in the bath. Nico was covered in hot pink bubbles and surrounded by toys. The bathroom smelled overwhelmingly like strawberry bubble bath and soap. Sana liked to think she was used to it, but it never stopped it from temporarily overwhelming her nose every time she bathed Nico. “Again?” Nico asked. “Ka-san okay?” Both of them sucked a breath in at Nico’s question. 

“It’s just a cold baby.” Jihyo nodded, grabbing Nico’s shampoo to try and distract her. “Now who wants to be a good girl while Mama puts shampoo in her hair?” Jihyo is just thankful for the huge smile she is able to get out of Nico. 

xx 

While Sana dries Nico off and helps her change, she tells Jihyo to call Jeongyeon. “Hey Unnie.” Jihyo muttered when Jeongyeon picked up the phone, leaning against the wall across the door from Nico’s bedroom door. “Hey Hyo, what’s up?” Jeongyeon asked, clearly moving on the other side of the line. “I’m sorry to call you while you're at work, but Mina is- well I think we are going to have to go to the restaurant for dinner, if that’s okay?” Jihyo asked, sighing as she looked down the hall at the door to their bedroom. “Course it’s okay. You guys are always welcome.” Jeongyeon was quick to answer. “Will you bring Nico?” “Yeah. She had a rough day at school again today so she might be in a bit of a mood. We just gave her a bath just now and she seemed a bit better, but I’m sure she’ll be upset all over again when I tell her she can’t have Katsu Curry.” Jihyo sighed. “Katsu Curry?” Jeongyeon asked, a bit confused. “It’s what Mina always makes her on days where the air quality is really bad.” Jihyo explained. “It’s one of her favorite foods, but Mina always complains it’s bad for her so she saves it for days like today.” “I see.” Jeongyeon hummed. “I could make it for her. I’m not sure we have the stuff, but I could go grab some on my next break.” “Oh no, it’s fine. Just make her her usual.” Jihyo quickly denied. 

“Wow, you think I can’t make instant curry, meat, and some vegetables? You offend me Park.” Jeongyeon taunted her.

“It’s nothing against you, she’s very picky about it. I tried to make it for her once and Nico threw a fit. I- we don’t need to add anything to her mood today. Just make her her usual, she likes blander food when she has rough days like this so maybe use a bit less sauce?” “Hyo she already eats mostly rice.” Jeongyeon pointed out. “Yeah, I know.” Jihyo sighed. “Anyway we should be over in the next hour or so.” “Cool. Hey Hyo… Is Mina okay?” Jihyo’s heart seized at the question. Was Mina okay? Jihyo really didn’t know anymore. “This has been happening a lot lately… Of course you don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to, I’m just a little worried.” “I don’t know Unnie.” Jihyo eyed their bedroom door again. “Sana and I both- we have no clue. We know Mina can have it rough sometimes- but this has definitely been the longest episode she’s had in a while.” “Have you talked to her therapist?” Jeongyeon asked. “She hasn't seen her in years. I tried to suggest to Mina to maybe call her, but I have a crazy feeling Mina never did.” Jihyo shifted her weight from leg to leg. “I’m worried about her too. But Mina doesn’t want to let anyone in right now, and we are trying to respect her space.” “Has Sana said anything about it?” “Sana seems… Preoccupied?” Jihyo tested the word out to see if it was the right one. “Yeah, that sounds right. Something has been on her mind lately, especially today.” “Huh.” Jeongyeon sighed and Jihyo could hear the sounds of other voices on the other side of the phone line. “Sorry to cut this short-I have to go. I’ll see you in a bit?” “Yeah.” Jihyo let out a final sigh as Jeongyeon hung up. It was perfect timing too, because it wasn’t much later Nico’s bedroom door was found open and a tiny body was attacking her legs. “Hey Kiddo.” “Mama up.” Jihyo immediately complied. “Nico, you never let me finish drying your hair.” Sana sighed, coming up to them with a pink princess towel in her hands. “Wanted Mama.” Nico pouted. 

“Aren’t you cute?” Jihyo giggled. “You love mama?” Nico nodded at that, cuddling closer to Jihyo. “Did you accidentally pull her hair again when brushing it?” “I said I was sorry!” Sana let out an exasperated sigh. Jihyo couldn’t help but giggle at that, no matter how long Sana had been brushing Nico’s hair it seemed she had never quite perfected it in a way Nico liked. When she was a baby and Sana tried to brush her hair, Nico would squirm around and refuse to let Sana do anything to her hair. And that didn’t change much as she got older. “It’s okay kiddo, Mama’s got you now. Evil mommy won’t be able to pull your hair again.” Jihyo giggled, swaying Nico in her arms. “Mean.” Sana mouthed. “You love me.” Jihyo mouthed back. Her response earned her a kiss, and Jihyo couldn’t help the blush that crept up her cheeks. “Cute.” Sana giggled at her blush, finally getting the towel on Nico’s hair. She slowly finished drying it before letting it go. “All done.” Sana tells Nico with a happy smile. She finds her daughter isn’t smiling too though, instead she’s staring at their bedroom door. “No Katsu Curry?” Nico asks after a beat of silence. Jihyo was surprised Nico had been able to put it together herself, but it did save her the heartbreak of having to tell her. “I’m sorry kiddo.” Jihyo kissed Nico’s temple. “Auntie Jeongyeon is making you some kimchi fried rice though. The kind with lots of egg and not that much kimchi, like you like it.” Jihyo told her. “I want Katsu Curry.” Nico pouted. “I know sweetheart.” Sana put a hand on Nico’s back. “But Auntie Jeongyeon is making a special meal just for you, you need to go have it and let Ka-san rest, okay?” “Okay…” Their hearts both ached at how tiny and dejected Nico seemed. 

xx 

“Hanhan!” Nico was quiet the entire car ride to Jeongyeon’s restaurant, but the minute Nico spots Hansol she’s already running at them. Jihyo thinks it’s sweet Nico likes all of her cousins so much, she was so much younger than all of them Jihyo had initially been worried Nico would feel outcast from them, but all of them had formed their own special bonds with Nico. Including Hansol. “Hey Nico!” Hansol smiles at Nico, opening their arms for her to run into. Nico gave Hansol a huge hug, moving to sit in their lap while Jihyo tried to keep up with her daughter. “No Sana?” Jeongyeon asked when she spotted them. “She wanted to keep an eye on Mina.” Jihyo explained quickly. “Ah, I see.” Jeongyeon nodded. “I can start making you guys food now that you're here.” “No rush, the restaurant comes first, we don’t mind waiting.” Jihyo took a seat at the counter so she could continue her conversation with Jeongyeon. “Nah, it's cool. It’s a Tuesday night, there’s not that many people here.” Jeongyeon nodded. “Besides, I could make Kimchi fried rice in my sleep.” 

“Maybe not the way Nico likes it, you know she’s picky.”Jihyo looked over at her daughter, who was happily sitting on Hansol’s lap while they appeared to be doing their homework. “Yeah you might be right. Only a little Kimchi, if it’s too much she won’t eat it. She needs to eat vegetables, so you have to put some in. However she doesn’t like peas, but she loves carrots. She loves the egg, but she needs you to cut it for her. Use less Gochujang than what I think is already a small amount. And finally if I shape her rice like any kind of animal or object I get extra Nico points and get closer to becoming her favorite Aunt.” Jeongyeon listed off. “You remember.” Jihyo smiled. “Of course, Seoyun was the same way when she was young. Once you deal with one picky eaters' quirks it starts to be easier to deal with other ones.” Jeongyeon shrugged. “Any requests for you?” “I’ll just have what my daughter has. Mina and Sana want their usuals, but no rush. Unless you want to get rid of me.” Jihyo joked. “Nah I’m not a terrible person, it seems like being home isn’t the best thing for Nico right now.” Jeongyeon sighed, looking over at the kids. “If you ever need us to watch her- I don’t mind. You know Dahyun and I love her and Hansol absolutely adores Nico. Even Seo likes her and Seo is a little… Picky about people. I don’t blame her, people are terrible sometimes.” “Yeah, you're right people suck.” Jihyo nodded. “And I don’t know about Mina. I don’t want to pressure her into talking or anything like that, it’s not what she needs and it just might make things worse for her. She needs to talk to her therapist and we need to work through whatever she’s going through right now together, but Mina just isn’t ready to do that yet. And that’s fine, we’ve done this before. It’s just, things are different now. We have Nico now. Nico is too young to understand that her Ka-san has anxiety and depression.” Jihyo rarely said those two words out loud. Mina had been diagnosed not long after starting her job. Jihyo remembered how difficult things had been for Mina back then. She remembers coming home to Mina sobbing and convincing herself Jihyo and Sana hated her. She remembers Mina refusing to leave their bed for three days, not even eating anything no matter what they said. She was there through it all, but it did hurt to see Mina go through it all. To know the love of her life was suffering so much over something they had no control over hurt her. Mina had gotten better since then, but recovery was never linear, and this relapse was not the first she had and it wouldn’t be the last.

“How has Nico been taking everything?” Jeongyeon asked. “It’s hard to tell. She’s been having rougher days at school these past few weeks but Sana and I both don’t know if that’s Mina’s influence or if it has to do with all the crap in the air recently. Her and Mina’s rough days haven’t been lining up until today, so we think they might be separate.” Jihyo took a sip of her water while she watched her daughter. She liked watching Nico, even when she was far away from her. She had liked it since Nico was born, it was just nice to know her daughter was okay and happy at all times. 

“I’m sure Mina isn’t helping though.” Jeongyeon sighed. “Look Hyo, you know I think all three of you are amazing parents, including Mina. But it’s okay to ask for help. I’ve done it, Nayeon Unnie’s done it, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu have done it plenty of times. If you need anything we are happy to help out. What’s best for all of you is what matters, and if the best thing for Nico or Mina is some space away we would be happy to give that to them.” “Thanks Unnie.” Jihyo couldn’t stop her thoughts from running away at Jeongyeon’s statement. She had a point- but Jihyo really had no idea what was the best thing for any of them right now. “Of course, anything for you Hyo.”

xx

Sana and Mina both take the next day off of work. Mina Jihyo was expecting, but when Sana told her she had something she needed to do that meant she couldn’t go back to work, Jihyo was a bit confused. She didn’t say anything though, just giving Sana a long goodbye kiss before scooping up Nico and taking her to preschool. The pollen count was high again, and Nico had gone to school with a pink face mask and a pout underneath it. Spring was always hard for her, and it just seemed to be getting harder as she got older. “Nice haircut.” Jihyo couldn’t help but roll her eyes when she heard Nayeon say that as she sat down at their lunch table.  “Nico found scissors.” After dinner, Nico had a lot of energy from being cooped up inside all day. Normally Mina would come up with a way to redirect it, like guiding Nico through some yoga or helping her play just dance, but Mina wasn’t in the living room long enough to help. Jihyo had tried the normal Mina activities with Nico, but it seemed she lacked the magic touch her wife had. Nico was restless up until bedtime, practically doing anything she could to entertain herself while Sana and Jihyo finished their work. And anything included giving Jihyo a haircut.

“I can see that. How did you let her cut your hair though?” “I dozed off on the couch.” Jihyo added. “Classic mistake with toddlers. Never doze off around them- your going to end up with something stupid looking on your body.” Nayeon giggled. “Well don’t get too attached to it, I have an appointment to fix it between my last class ending and having to get Nico.” Jihyo fiddled with an unevenly cut strand of her hair. “Darn, I kind of like it. It makes you look stupid, but at least it’s funny.” “I hate you so much.” Jihyo muttered as she opened her lunch box. Jeongyeon had sent her home with extra food, some for Nico’s lunch tomorrow and some for the three of them, and Jihyo was honestly so thankful. “You love me.” Nayeon teased. “Speaking of Nico, do you have any more Nico pictures to show me?” “You saw her on Friday.” Jihyo rolled her eyes. “Four days is long enough for you to take more pictures. I know you did, let me see.” Nayeon pouted. “Fine, you're right.” Jihyo couldn’t stop her chuckle as she got her phone out, scrolling to her photos of Nico album. Nayeon’s interest became solely focused on the photos, which gave Jihyo a break to eat her lunch. 

“She’s so cute.” Nayeon giggled, pointing at a photo of Nico from Saturday when Mina had taken her to the farmers market with her, and Sana had taken plenty of pictures of the experience. 

“I know.” Jihyo continued to eat while Nayeon scrolled. After a while, Nayeon gave her her phone back. “What’s the green card in this picture?” Nayeon asked. “Oh her preschool does this color card thing. Like a green card means she was good all day, a yellow means she got a warning and a red means she had two warnings. To get a gold star you need five green cards. That picture was the last green card Nico got.” Jihyo explained. “We always take pictures when she gets one.” Sana had started the tradition of taking pictures every time Nico got a green card. At first they were worried it would be too many pictures, but Sana’s arguments about how they never had too many pictures of Nico was something Jihyo and Mina agreed with more every day. 

“Aw.” Nayeon cooed. “Last Monday? Did you forget?” “No. She hasn’t been getting them lately.” Jihyo sighed, taking another bite of her lunch. “She hasn’t had a great day in a while. I think it’s a combination of all the stuff in the air and Mina.” “Poor thing.” Nayeon pouted. “Hey, can I come with you to get her from preschool?” “What?” Jihyo asked, a bit confused where that was coming from. “I just- My kids are all busy tonight and Momo is working late. I know she’s having a difficult time, I think we should take her to something fun, away from Mina and Sana.” Nayeon sighed. “Okay sure.” Jihyo had to admit, the prospect of hanging out with Nayeon for a few hours did sound better than being at home. “Really?” Jihyo hadn’t hung out with Nayeon alone in a while, and she had to be honest it did sound nice. Nico would probably love it, Nayeon always spoiled her beyond belief. Plus, even if she pretended she didn’t, she did enjoy her time with Nayeon.

“Yeah. Nico will be really happy to see you.” Jihyo smiled softly at the thought of Nico smiling. She had Sana’s smile, it was so big and bright and it made Jihyo happy just thinking about it. “Yay. Thanks Hyo.” Jihyo thought she should maybe be the one thanking Nayeon. xx 

“Hey kiddo.” Nico is curled up in a little ball again when Jihyo goes to get her.

“Mama.” Nico uncurled herself to hold her arms out for Jihyo. Jihyo didn’t say anything, holding her tightly. “Hey Ms.Park, can I talk to you?” Jihyo noticed how Nico shifted closer to her when her teacher asked her that. “Sure.” Jihyo nodded, shifting Nico to one arm. Once glance towards the card chart hanging in the back of the classroom told her what this was going to be about. “We had another hard day today, Nico had a bit of a meltdown during her lunch and she didn’t end up eating most of her lunch.” Jihyo sighed at that, holding her daughter closer. “Alright, thank you for letting me know. I’ll talk about this with her at home.” Jihyo nodded, putting a free hand on Nico’s back. “Sure.” Nico’s teacher nodded. “Have a good night Nico-ya, see you tomorrow.” “Nico sweetie can you say it back?” Jihyo asked her daughter. “See you tomorrow.” Nico pouted, tightening her grip on Jihyo. JIhyo waved as she took Nico outside. “I have a surprise for you kiddo.” Jihyo whispered to Nico. “Really?” Nico asked. “Yup.” Jihyo waved for Nayeon to come over once they were outside. “Why don’t you look?” “Auntie Nayeon!” Nico screamed in excitement, squirming in Jihyo’s arms when she saw her Aunt. “Mama Auntie- Auntie Na-Nayeon!” Nico was interrupted when she started coughing. Jihyo immediately took action, rubbing Nico’s back and trying to get her to calm down enough to not have an asthma attack. “Hey Nico.” Nayeon smiled at Nico, seeing the way Jihyo instinctively went to calm Nico down. “I missed you too sweetheart. But don’t get too excited, I do want to hang out with my favorite little girl.” Nico calmed down after a bit, taking a few deep breaths and holding her arms out for Nayeon. Nayeon happily took her, raining a kiss on Nico’s cheek. “How was your day princess?” Sometimes Jihyo couldn’t help but admire how good Nayeon was with Nico. Nayeon had always had a way with kids, but particularly a way with Nico. There were days when Nico would get really frustrated with her moms, and it was usually due to the restrictions they had to put on her due to her asthma, and on those days it really was Auntie Nayeon to the rescue. If they so much as mentioned to Nayeon that Nico was upset she would be there immediately with Nico’s favorite candy and asking her to have a chat with her. They never eavesdropped, but Nico always seemed to forgive them after that. Sana referred to it as Nayeon’s magic touch. “Wanted to play outside.” Nico pouted. “I know, and I’m sorry. The air isn’t something any of us can control, but hopefully you can play outside again soon. Until then, we can do lots of fun stuff inside.” Nayeon held Nico closer to her, swaying her in her arms a bit. “Like what?” Nico asked. “You’ll see.” Nayeon smirked at Jihyo, who was just left a little confused at what the hell Nayeon was planning.

xx 

Jihyo hadn’t seen Nico smile as brightly as she did when Nayeon opened the door to the Children’s museum in weeks. And honestly, it made Jihyo so happy. Nico deserved it. It wasn’t her fault the air quality was bad or that her Ka-san was having a rough time, and honestly Jihyo was sad how much all of it had been affecting Nico. So when she looked so happy, practically pulling on Nayeon’s arm as she led them inside. There weren’t many people there, on account of it being a Tuesday afternoon, but that seemed to excite Nico even more. 

Once they were inside, Nico was practically bouncing with excitement. She had only been there once before, on a preschool field trip Mina had chaperoned for. Nico had an asthma attack during lunch and had to be brought home, something she was not happy about. Jihyo remembered coming home to Nico being a sobbing mess. She was curled up in their bed, looking tiny beneath their sheets as she sobbed at how unfair she was that she had to leave early. Jihyo remembers Nico refusing to even eat dinner that night, too upset to eat anything. They were eventually able to coax her into eating when Mina had made her Katsu Curry, but it had taken a while to get there. Jihyo ends up having a lot of fun with Nayeon and her daughter. It had been a while since they hung out like this, and honestly she didn’t realize how much she missed spending time with Nayeon. Nayeon was good with Nico, yes, but she was also good with Jihyo too. Jihyo really didn’t give her enough credit, hanging out with Nayeon was the lightest she had felt in days. The children’s museum puts Nico in a much better mood, and she’s practically skipping as she holds Nayeon’s hand when they leave. 

“Did you have fun baby?” Nayeon giggled. “Yeah yeah! Did you see the ball?” Nico had played with marbles for a good portion of their time there. They had a whole display where kids could build their own marble ramps and that had been really exciting for Nico. They weren’t able to stay for too long, since they closed not long after they got there, but Nico seemed like she had a lot of fun during her time there. 

“Yeah I did. You did so well!” Nico’s structure only lasted a few seconds, considering the fact three year olds weren’t the best architects in the world, but when Jihyo helped her it stayed up for a lot longer. Nayeon had “competed” against them, trying to make a cooler structure, but in the end Nico had deemed her and Jihyo the winners and Nayeon happily admitted defeat. “You and your mama are basically unstoppable.” “Mama we’re un-un-un-”

“Unstoppable. It means we can’t be stopped because we are too good.” Jihyo reached down and picked her daughter up, kissing her cheek. Nico absolutely loved affection, Jihyo and Mina both blamed it on the fact Sana had always held a hand on her when she was a baby. No matter who was holding her, Sana liked keeping at least one hand on Nico. Sometimes that meant holding her little hand, others it meant holding her little foot, but no matter what Sana liked to be touching her in some ways at all times. “Yeah Untoptable!” Jihyo giggled at Nico’s mispronunciation. 

“Unstoppable.” Jihyo corrected, adjusting Nico in her arms. “Un-stop-able?” Nico sounded out.

“Yup, good job princess.” Jihyo kissed Nico’s cheek. “Hey Unnie, do you want to grab dinner with us?” “Oh I was just about to ask if you mind me coming.” Nayeon smiled, taking her phone out of her pocket and glancing at it for a second before putting it away. “Kazumi wants me to pick something up for her, but she’ll eat almost anything.” “Zumi Unnie come?” Nico asked, turning to Nayeon excitedly. “Sorry kiddo, she’s got a big test tomorrow so she’s at home studying.” “Like Mama’s students?”

“They don’t have a big test tomorrow baby, theirs is next week, but yes it’s the same idea.” Jihyo clarified. “Oh.” Nico sunk into Jihyo’s arms a bit, and Jihyo could tell her energy was fading fast. “What do you want for dinner Nico?” Nayeon turned to Nico and asked. “Mm… Fish.” “Fish?” Nayeon giggled at the answer, knowing that could mean a thousand things. “Like sushi, or poke, or what?” “Poke?” Nico repeated the word. “Have you never had it?” “Mina has made it for her at home, but she’s never been to a restaurant.” Jihyo explained. “She might like it though, it sounds like there’s a lot of Nico friendly options. She didn’t finish her lunch so I’m sure she’s pretty hungry, so poke sounds great.” “Great, Kazumi loves poke. Okay, let’s go!” Nico threw her fist up with Nayeon and Jihyo narrowly avoided getting hit in the face. She didn’t mind though, the amount of times her baby had accidentally hit her was so great she barely even felt it anymore. Jihyo drove to the poke place by Nayeon’s house, Nayeon keeping Nico entertained in the back by asking her things about the museum. “You had a lot of fun huh?” Nayeon giggled after Nico had, with almost all of the vocabulary she had, expressed to Nayeon how much fun she had with her.

“Mm-hum!” Nico hummed. “I want to go back.” “I’m sure we could go back.” Jihyo nodded. “We could invite Ka-san and Mommy next time, I’m sure they would love to come.” “Ka-san?” Nico asked hesitantly. “Ka-san better?” “She will be soon. When Ka-san is all better, we can all go, how does that sound?” “Yes!” xx 

Nayeon helps Nico pick out everything she wants, but the decision making process is difficult for Nico. She was a weirdly picky eater, that’s how Jihyo saw it. She liked sushi, but only if it was salmon. She absolutely loved crab but it couldn’t be spicy. She liked pineapples and edamame beans and masago, but refused to even think about putting any other vegetable in hers. “Baby you like carrots.” Jihyo tried to argue with Nico. “Nu-uh. Look weird.” Jihyo wanted to roll her eyes. Nico was so weird about food. She wasn’t even the same about it everyday, there were some days where she could be extra picky. “Okay.” Jihyo sighed. “Do you want anything else, look, they have cucumbers.” Jihyo pointed out. “Yeah.” Nico nodded excitedly. Jihyo was honestly impressed by how much Nico was saying yes to. But she wasn’t going to complain, she found with her picky eater of a daughter taking small victories was always a good idea. She would have to get a picture for Mina of Nico’s self picked out meal. She was always the one who worried about their daughter’s eating the most. Once they were done paying, Nayeon went to get them some napkins while Jihyo took a picture. “For Ka-san?” Nico asked after Jihyo had taken a picture of her. “Yeah, Ka-san really likes poke so I’m sure she will be happy to see you eating it.” Jihyo smiled. “Bring Ka-san some?” Nico asked with pleading eyes. “Okay sure. I’ll ask Mommy if she wants any too and we can go get it after we eat.” Jihyo smiled at Nico. “Now.” “Now?” Jihyo asked, Nico nodding. JIhyo giggled at her, but complied, taking her phone out and dialing Sana, putting her phone on speaker and putting it in the middle of the table. “Mommy!” Nico screamed when Sana answered. “Nico?” Jihyo could immediately tell something was wrong from Sana’s tone. “Mommy mommy Auntie Nayeon is here!” Nico and Sana had always been really close, and to be honest Jihyo couldn’t remember the last time Sana hadn’t tagged along to pick Nico up from school, so she was sure it was a bit odd for Nico to not have Sana here. “Oh yeah?” Jihyo hated how forced it felt. “Uh-hum, we got poke!” “Sounds fun.” Sana answered. “Here kiddo let mama talk to mommy for a sec, I’ll ask her if she wants poke okay?” Jihyo asked, knowing something was wrong with Sana. Nico nodded and once Nayeon was back over at their table Jihyo took her phone and went outside. “Hey Satang, it’s just me.” Jihyo muttered. “What’s wrong baby?” “N-Nothings wrong.” Jihyo could tell from Sana’s sniffle she was lying.

“Baby… Please. Between you and Mina I’m just about to die from worry. You don’t have to tell me, but I’m worried about both of you. Is this about Mina? Did she say anything to you?” “No-god no.” Sana sniffled. “It’s just- I- Hyo, my parents- they are here.” “At our house?” Pure panic filled Jihyo at Sana’s statement. “No-no.” Sana took a deep breath. “In Seoul. They are here.” Jihyo had never been  more panicked in her entire life. She had never met Sana’s parents, but she didn't need to to know she hated them. And to know that things were about to get worse.

[ellysfilm]

My Definitive Ranking Of All The Spider-Man Films

Over the years, there have been 8 Spider-Man films with three different incarnations of the world famous web slinger. Each of these brings a new spin on Peter Parker which has made fans love the character he has become. Obviously, this character originated from the Spider-Man comics and first appeared in Amazing Fantasy no. 5 in 1962 and this brought so much love that it has been brought to the silver screen. Each one is different and varies in quality so here is my ranking of the movies. This is my opinion but I would love to hear yours in the comments too!

Spoilers ahead as this post includes all Spider-Man films up to and including No Way Home!

8: Spider-Man Homecoming

To all the die hard Tom Holland fans, I am sorry. I’m not saying this film is bad, far from it. I love this film however, I have placed this last for a couple of reasons. One of them is maybe because I have seen it too many times that it has become slightly boring. And I know this isn’t the film’s fault but I could watch some of these again and again and again and I would never get bored of them.

This was a tricky one though. The first of Tom Hollands trilogy and the first official Spider-Man in the MCU. A lot of background had to be made clear for purely MCU fans that were less familiar with the character but also not going into too much detail and risking boring the more researched. I get that the whole getting bitten by a radioactive/ mutated spider has already been explored but maybe the origin lacks? Like I said, it’s a tricky one.

It’s not all bad though. The friendship between Peter and Ned is so wholesome and something that hasn’t been explored in the previous movies. None of them really show a true friendship like this one which gives Homecoming some bonus points. This also has the added bonus of Iron man too.

All in all, an enjoyable film but not my favourite.

7: Spider-Man 3

Coming in at number 7, we have the first of Tobey Maguire’s films. When people ask me who my favourite Spider-Man is, Tobey always feels like the right answer, however Spider-Man 3 just didn’t do it for me. I think the idea was great, but it wasn’t executed that well. When I think about this film I think about three parts separately.

I think about Harry Osbourne for one thing. His part in this was good. It rounded off his story nicely after what he had been through in the first two movies. I think his character had been developed in a nice way throughout and this bought it to a nice close that was done well.

And then I think of Sandman. Once again, bringing his story together at the end, giving forgiveness instead of killing him off. This gave a refreshing ending instead, of killing the villain, making it emotional by killing Peters best friend after a strained relationship together.

But then I think about Venom. This is the last that drags this film down towards the bottom of the list. The more I think about this instalment, the more I think there was too much going on. The character wasn’t very strong, although the symbiote did give us Bully Maguire!

6: The Amazing Spider-Man

The first of the two Andrew Spideys. The second time this character has been on the big screen. I have put this quite low down because I though the story wasn’t the most advanced ever. The villain in this one wasn’t the strongest and personably, the villain can make or break a film like this and for me it just didn’t hit the mark.

I liked the way they told his origin, the fact that his parents left him unexpectedly and left it upon to continue it in the future and kept it different to Tobeys.

5: Spider-Man

The first Spider-Man to appear in cinema, the one that made everyone fall in love with the character. The one that set up all this success. In this one, the villain is a strong character, and Willem Dafoe did an amazing job at portraying the character.

I always love an origin story and this one is the best out of the three. This one probably gets bonus point because of it being so iconic but overall, good movie and strong characters. Although, personal opinion, but MJ in this one annoys me which puts this further down the list.

4: Spider-man: Far From Home

The second of the Tom Holland movies. This one has the added bonus of being part of the MCU and including Nick Fury and the aftermath of Avengers: Endgame which gives more to explore character wise.

This one is certainly very good for character development, dealing with the death of his father figure always calls for some emotional moments (the past in the tulip field gets me every time). Once again, there is a strong and interesting villain with a good turn of events.

Bonus points for the scene in the bridge near the end where he grabs the gun that he sensed was there. Tom Hollands acting in this part was exceptional and that whole sequence was impeccable.

3: Spider-Man 2

Now we’re into the top three. Watching this one for the first time was incredible. When I think of this movie, the train scene comes into mind almost immediately. The fight on the train was great to watch, the detail of the movement of Doc Ock’s arms along with the fast moving train is so pleasing.

Also in this film, Harry Osborne’s story starts to develop which comes to fruition in the third instalment. This character development definitely helps put this film higher in the list, also, I dislike MJ less in this one!

2: The Amazing Spider-Man 2

At second place we have Andrew’s second film. The reason I loved this one so much is that Electro is such a good character and (sad to admit) but very relatable to a certain extent!

The sequence in Times Square never fails to amaze me. The thing that really stood out to me the first time was the sound over this segment. It really goes with the threat of Electro. This also showcases one of the better spidey sense scenes in all 8 movies and shows a first person perspective of Peter saving the people with one web shooter down.

In this one, another version of Harry Osbourne is introduced, in my opinion not as strong as James Franco’s version but still good and enjoyable and definitely adds to the film.

The origin of this version of Peter Parker is further explored and is still different to previous films so it still feels fresh and interesting.

And obviously the ending. It caused trauma for so many people because that specific scene with Gwen is so so so heartbreaking and puts Peter on his darker journey that we are yet to see which I hope is explored at some point in the future.

1: Spider-Man No Way Home

Now, I hardly think it’s surprising that this has made it to number one. Everything about this film was just perfection. The multitude of different characters along with the brilliance of returning ones was incredible.

I’ll start with the villains. No new villains were introduced in this movie however the interaction between all of the previous ones made this feel new. Straight from the start putting the villains on the back foot by already capturing them lead to a very creative story.

The main theme in this from the start is the problems Peter faces due to the lack of his anonymity following the events of Far From Home, something that hasn’t been explored in this depth before which was interesting.

One of the main reasons this is at the top of my list is because it is brilliant for character development. The experience Peter Parker has in this film, losing a lot of people close to him sets up room for other characters to help him through this tough time.

This is where Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire come into it. This is the part everyone had been waiting for. Despite all the leaks that came before the release of this film spoiling their appearance, it still felt so incredible to witness. Whole cinemas were cheering, social media was going crazy, and this whole experience almost made the film itself even better. I was slightly skeptical beforehand, and I think a lot of people felt the same way, that they were just going to thrown into it for the sake of having a appearance but when they became crucial roles in the story and helped the development of Tom’s spider-man, it just felt so surreal and made me so incredibly happy.

As well as this, Andrew’s Peter’s story past his second film got explained more, how he ’turned to the dark side’ after Gwen’s death, perfectly setting up any further exploration of this.