#the shit I’ve seen cause artists decided to draw a character bigger

[pythonisarts]

I’ve read too many mean things in the last day, I’m retiring into the mind palace

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Reviewing Adventure Time graphic novel: “Thunder Road”

 by Jeremy Sorese (Steven Universe comic writer) and Zachary Sterling (Adventure Time main comic artist)

Okay, so after purchasing and reading it today, I can safely say the DESCRIPTION of this graphic novel is ENTIRELY INCORRECT: 

Marceline starts feeling restless and comes across a motorcycle gang of storm clouds. Taking this as a chance to try something new, Marceline sets off on the open road with her new friends but things take a turn when she realizes that the storm clouds might be taking things a bit too far when it comes to their pranks. Marceline has to make a choice, to join in and create a natural disaster bigger than Ooo has ever seen or to go back to her boring quiet life--luckily, the answer comes from an unexpected source who just happened to be trailing the clouds...for research, of course.

No, nonono. This doesn’t even remotely resemble what happens. 

Actually, there is still a motorcycle gang, but this isn’t really a book about Marceline - it’s mostly about a drama with Bubblegum, and how she ends up taking her frustration out on Marceline. It’s about some difficulties they have communicating with each other, too. 

The Candy Kingdom is being flooded by non-stop rain. Jake is acting as a giant canopy to try and protect the castle, but it’s not working, and everything is falling apart - candy people are getting seriously injured, and it seems this has been going on for weeks. Everybody is exhausted, and things are looking dire. This was an eerily familiar situation for me, living in the RCT, which got demolished by flooding last February before the Corona crisis, and which is still recovering.  They’re all working together to solve this crisis, and PB is glad to see Marceline caring about other people. Marceline flies up in the sky and discovers a motorcycle gang is making the clouds rain down. 

PB is entirely at her wits end, she yells at the motorcycle gang, gets bullied by them, and decides to challenge them to a race. If she wins, they leave. If they win, then they will drive all over the Candy Kingdom and destroy it. Bubblegum gets incredibly angry at herself for making such a reckless bet, when she’ll have to race in the goddamn sky, and she insists this problem is her fault, so she needs to solve it by herself.

Marceline gets fed up that PB wants to solve it by herself and is pushing her away, so as a ploy of reverse psychology she says, “Fine, I WON’T help”, and flies away to investigate the gang further.

Bubblegum thinks Marcie has fucked off and ditched them. Marceline hasn't actually given up on her - she tries to perform some secret reconnaissance, befriending the gang and sabotaging their bikes. Marceline returns bits of cloud to the kingdom as well, to a still-bitter PB who won’t thank her.  However, things turn for the worse when the biker gang discover the bikes were damaged, and they confront PB about the sabotage, with Marceline's life possibly on the line.

Thankfully, the gang let Marceline go. Bubblegum proper goes off on Marceline for not trusting her to be able to do things by herself, while Marceline says that she should have just accepted help in the first place. They have a falling out. Marceline is upset that PB keeps taking out her anger on her, and lashes out a bit, tells PB this is her fault so she’s on her own. 

Shenanigans ensue. After a tense and highly dangerous bike race, Bubblegum manages to scrape a victory - without Marceline’s help - due to electromagnetic shenanigans with her cloud bike’s fuel tank.

I don’t want to post images of the race, because it has some awesome moments that I want you to see for yourself in the novel. 

However, she realises she had accidentally cheated, and apologises to Marceline for taking everything out on her earlier - she says that it shouldn’t be that way, that she shouldn’t just get mad at Marceline whenever she’s stressed.   

She tells Marcie that she doesn't want to treat her like shit every time she has a bad day.

They have a motorbike race. PB forgets Marceline can fly, and drives off a cliff to save her. Marceline ends up saving PB. Lots of cute moments. 

It turns out, also, that PB has become a bit of a legend in the sky biker community. 

[EDIT: I just realised the jackets say “We Talked It Out”! They’re proud that they were able to have a conversation about their problems! Awwwww]

So, this comic seems to take place during season 6. Most likely between The Cooler and Hot Diggety Doom - when PB is still kind of hyper-aggro and overworked, but is trying to cool down, and when Marceline hasn’t learnt how to communicate properly with her.   At the same time, the stakes are high enough that it does make sense for the characters to behave in this way at ANY time after Sky Witch, provided it’s not after the series finale.    Finn, notably, still has his right arm. He doesn’t pick up a sword. If he did, I might have been able to directly tell where this fit in the show’s continuity.  

Anyway, it’s outstanding. Easily the best of the Adventure Time graphic novels I’ve read. What I loved is how tense the situation really felt, how the emotions the characters were feeling were extensions of what they would feel if this happened in the show. It didn’t feel out of character for PB to be breaking down and acting like a tool, or for Marceline to be secretive and indirect, and then lash out a bit when PB hurts her. It was an awesome character study on their relationship and how it could have its toxic moments.   The situation seemed genuinely dire. The biker gang were genuinely hateable and intimidating. The threat they made to the characters felt real, which is rare for this show. And the emotional moments hit me hard.  It works super well after watching Obsidian, wherein you saw PB in the past take her anger out on Marcie and how that contributed to their breakup. 

It also has Marcie and PB racing around on motorbikes, which is funny because that's what they did in Obsidian.

You can tell that Jeremy Sorese did work on SU comic stuff, because he does a good job at capturing those brief emotions, those epic moments, that SU did so well. This comic is also more dramatic than the usual AT flare. 

The art is okay. It is in graphic novel format, and it’s meant to look a lot like the show. It is nice and colourful. It is clean, and sells emotions perfectly fine. However, Zachary Sterling has historically had issues drawing the arms of the characters - he makes them look far too much like stiff bendy tubes, when they are more free-form and can bend at full right-angles in the show. I feel like he was trying to stay too on-model, and didn’t take his art to its full potential. Some panels are also recycled and slightly edited. 

8/10 - A good read for fans of PB and Marcy, a plot with convincing tension from the first page, with an interesting character study on how PB’s stress can cause her to hurt the people closest to her and she needs to manage that.  However, the description on the back of the book is entirely incorrect for no reason. Well worth the £11 I spent to get a paperback copy sent today. 

You can buy a copy on Amazon for same day delivery. You used to be able to buy a copy on Comixology, but for some reason, it’s been removed. 

[freebooter4ever]

i’ve seen the discussion going back and forth on boundaries and sexual objectification, and i don’t have much to add to the conversation other than to say everyone is allowed to determine their OWN ‘lines’ and just because we don’t vocalize them doesn’t make them any less valid. but here’s the limits i set for my blog if anyone feels it is important for them to know (<3):

personally I consider ‘characters’ fair game for anything goes, with ‘public personas’ a little more iffy. ‘RPF’ isn’t new - it just takes on a new more accessible/visible form nowadays. i remember reading my first fic about a ‘real person’ back in my LOTR fandom days - it was a story in first person perspective about the main character meeting orlando bloom on a plane before he was ‘famous’. like a lot of these types of stories, it wasnt so much about the person as it was about the meet cute. the actor was just a convenient placeholder with a handsome face and some personality quirks thrown in to make the romance/dialogue more specific. i personally dont read much xReader fic nowadays, but mostly only cause i’m an old fart who can’t relate to the ‘you’ format. i miss the good old days when people actually created OC’s and then inserted them into things LOL. but also LOL if you think i’ve gone an entire year of quarantine without some imagined personal fantasies of joe mazzello (or steve aoki in the years before)(ramilicious can attest to this. she can also attest to most of these fantasies ending in friendship rather than anything explicit cause that’s just how i roll these days lol). the line i draw is i would never post these types of fics in a place where the subject could accidentally find them - you have to go looking for this stuff on tumblr, most fics are given explicit ratings and under read-mores. with the blacklist tags it’s pretty easy to filter things out. its even easier to add filters to ao3 searches. i am NOT going to do something like message steve aoki and say ‘yeah i watched that movie Ibiza like five times, here is my 1k fic where you’re the dj and i’m the one night stand’. but obviously people still enjoy imagining scenarios like these otherwise movies like Ibiza wouldn’t exist?

for art, i consider anything already on display up for grabs, we all know a certain person’s ass is all over the place...all you have to do is google ‘need for speed’ and rami’s name. HOWEVER, in the case of actors i personally would not draw anything more explicit than what’s already there. i’m not gonna draw full frontal nudity for rami (unless he gifts us with it in a movie, i suppose) or anyone. this is 100% a personal choice for me. 

i was a sophomore or junior in college when i volunteered as a figure drawing monitor where i’d time the nude model’s poses and help them set up the stage and lighting and such. there was this one guy in his mid forties probably, a regular who came every week, and i always thought of him fondly till one day (the day after i ran into my Hot Programming TA during dinner and later sent him an email begging him to go on a date with me because i was desperate for kissing experience)(and Hot Programming TA emailed me back within minutes saying yes) this artist guy who i saw all the time and thought i knew fairly well, decided to draw me instead of the model. which would have been fine except he drew me naked. i was NOT naked at the time, i was wearing a shirt, and a bra, and a full prairie skirt with alternating calico and floral patterns. he drew what he imagined was underneath all that. he came up to me after the figure drawing session and showed me his drawings and told me i had been ‘glowing’ and my response was to laugh it off awkwardly and get the hell out of there as soon as i gave the model their pay check. but inwardly i was thinking a) i was NOT glowing for this creepy man twice my age and b) i did NOT give him consent to sexualize my body under my clothes and then SHOW me that objectification. i never said anything to him or anything else, i continued to be the monitor, and i continued to field off creepy advances from him including multiple job offers, but when i finally realized i could just...stop..and i passed the student volunteer monitor job on to my friend naeem, i also realized that what that older male artist did was NOT ok in my book. and it was probably not something he would do while naeem was monitoring.

nowadays im working in an industry that regularly objectifies female bodies. in the past year alone i have had to deal with requests to make breasts bigger, i have been given character rigs that in addition to the usual elbow, knee, and spine joints also have ‘nipple’ joints but ONLY for the women (to make them jiggle for animation), every time i send out a female pose i get it back with notes that push it further into the sexy type of body language reserved for women (twist the spine more! sway the back more! give it ‘energy!’), i have been told to erase wrinkles and fat and pores but ONLY for the women (men you ADD pores bc realism! and manliness!) and this is all me working for a company that is actually fairly progressive in terms of sexism compared to OTHER studios.

like it or not, sexual objectification is a huge part of specifically women’s lives and how we react to that is our business. for me, turning the tables and putting men on display feels like fair’s fair. i cant stop the men from doing it, so if i want to enjoy sexualizing male bodies, damn it im gonna! like dang it, boy do i want to send steve aoki a thank you note every time he posts a video of himself doing those ice baths during the sunset golden hour bc holy shit gorgeous or working out in his gym wearing VERY little clothes, but i dont because i know what its like when someone imposes their personal fantasies on the subject. or, god, there was that time i had to unfollow nicole’s insta for a while bc i had a very explicit dream about her and realized, shit, i need to take a break and get my emotions under control before i can refollow. and god some of the stuff i see dudes sending her during her live videos on mental illness/meditation is TOTALLY gross and not something they should be confronting her with. and she’s not even ‘famous’ famous. or how some fans send their idols explicit direct messages without consent. THAT feels inappropriate to me.

a part of me feels like i shouldn’t have to defend this. men don’t. they’re even encouraged in mass media to sexualize women. but i also recognize the importance of talking about consent. the importance of recognizing that a celebrity deserves to have their boundaries respected. these are my lines in fandom. other people have different lines they won’t cross, and that’s okay to me. i block or blacklist any blogs or tags i think go over the top.

heck, even in fandom-only spaces i still try to keep my own more sexual fantasies off this blog and only in private messages with my friends and mutuals, and i feel like that might come across as unintentionally prudish or judgmental sometimes. i’m not ‘horny on main’ very often. but like...every time i reblog that particular ‘washing machine’ gif of joe mazzello am i thinking about him naked and thinking about how he’s got very loooooong feet, and ‘gee i wonder if that means /other/ things are Too Big for my tastes’ but also ‘gosh wouldnt that make a pretty picture to draw’???? hell yeah.

i dont know who is gonna actually read this essay but yolo i guess :)

[tisthenightofthewitch]

GHOST – “I would say by early 2021, you can expect the next chapter of the Ghost story.” TOBIAS FORGE

From the underground to a bonafide global take-over, GHOST are fast becoming the most-talked about band in Metal music today, with legions of fans dedicating their total and utter commitment to the bands every move. Overdrive sat down with one Tobias Forge to discuss the bands success and that all important new album…

The spectacular rise of GHOST is a success story that nobody could have predicted. From their captivating live show’s, to a rich discography that continues to win over armies of fans the world over, GHOST are fast becoming one of the biggest bands in today’s current global Metal/Rock scene.

From the projects birth back in 2006 to conquering American arenas, winning a Grammy for ‘Best Metal Performance‘ (2016), headlining their first UK festival at Bloodstock Open Air (2017), selling out the iconic Royal Albert Hall (2018) and now, floating around Europe as very special guests with the biggest metal band the world has ever seen, Metallica.

One could say that that the Cardinal and his Ghouls are in a rather good place right now.

Prior to taking the stage for their Irish debut before 75 thousand fans (no pressure), Ghostmastermind, Tobias Forge is calmly hanging out in the enormous the backstage compound with his band members and crew, happily sipping on a hot coffee and eager to talk about his excitement in playing the impressive Slane Castle venue.

OD – Firstly, let me congratulate you on the continuous success of GHOST. From the outside, it’s been an incredible few years for the band. My question is how has it been for you personally, from the success of the album (s), playing to stadiums in the US, and now this tour with Metallica?

TOBIAS – Absolutely! I have moments where I have to step back and take it all in. You see, I’m not a very ‘in the moment‘ type of person. In fact, I’ve always been very distant and I guess a ‘dreamy‘ sort of person. If I look back on my life so far and I think about how I spent my childhood, I guess this comes with age and it comes from the fact of also being a parent because when you’re a parent, you can’t help to look at your kids from an upbringing point of view where you have to think about our progress.

I found myself asking the question;”Well, how did we do when we were younger?” [Laughing]. I guess there is a certain amount of reflection you have to do as an adult and now, for me, especially being an artist, I tend to have to think about my life and the journey I’ve had growing up and I’ve come to realise that very little has changed. I have spent my whole life drawing, writing and dreaming about doing all of these things that I’m now getting the opportunity to do.

So, at some point, that dreamy, adolescent looser just like, transgressed into this person who could go back into childhood again. The backside of that is sometimes, I have to remind myself that I’ve gone past the point of wishing to get here, and understand the realisation that this is actually happening. Like today for instance, getting to play this infamous venue, (Slane Castle) is huge for me. I’ve known about this place since the ’80’s.

I have a bit of a ‘now‘ moment with this today, but what often happens is that I play a certain venue, or meet a particular person and it’s like that moment just happens and I’m looking in from the outside, but afterwards I’m like; “WOW!” [Laughing]

OD – You recently did your first unmasked television interview, considering the history and the mystic of Papa Emeritus / Cardinal Copia was this a difficult decision for you to make and why did you feel that this was the time to do it?

TOBIAS – I think I thought and pondered for many, many years and at a certain point, in fact on that very day, it was one of those kind of ‘rip the bandaid off‘ kind of moments. Let’s just get it over with, no drumroll, no fanfare, let’s just move on. I try to be super transparent with this, but my choice of trying to be anonymous or should I say “masked” because anonymous is when no-one knows who you are. That choice was purely an aesthetic choice based on how I wanted this project, this band, this concept to become.

It was not my personal choice, because I don’t want to be famous, or a well known rock musician. So, fast forward to right now and when I look back, I have been involved with some very well-known bands and I’ve had my own share of recognition, so really, I don’t have a desire to become more famous. Bearing that in mind, I was noticing over the years that trying to maintain that vague order was causing a few problems and issues with the whole thing.

There was definitely moments when there was discussions and demands and enquiries about what can we do in order to enhance things. So, I figured well, at some point when I feel that the concept, or the band, or the name and it’s visual aspects are big and strong enough to stand on its own, I can do a thing like that unmasked interview, and hopefully whatever we are doing aesthetically and what we choose to present to the world, that will still be more interesting and better than anything I have to do on the side to appease journalists.

OD – What do you think of the critics who don’t look to favourably on what you do?

TOBIAS  – Well, traditionally I’ve noticed that the critics that are critical of the band have been so since day one. Often a lot of the times the shit that people click on is criticism that is not really meant to be positive or productive anyway. I’ve been very vocal towards those people and have to remind them that what I set this project/band out to be, happened to get very popular to an extent that I didn’t foresee.

There are people who say: “Ghost was way better back in 2010” and as a rock fan myself, we can start where my collection begins from ‘A’ and I too will have some critical things to say about each album/artists. That’s just the way things go. You can’t please everybody all the time.

OD – There has been reports of entering the studio for 2020, is this still something that is very likely and is the intention to release the album next year or 2021 or is it too early to think about that right now?

TOBIAS – I think about it all the time.  But, let me be very transparent here. I am indeed going into the studio where I will be beginning the work in January. We’re doing another American tour in September/October and then we’re gonna come back to Europe and that is gonna take us right up until Christmas basically.

So, after New Year’s we are gonna have maybe one or two small things at the beginning of the year and then it’s gonna be all about the new album.

People need to understand that I spend about 5 to 6 months in the studio. That’s not with red lights going or anything [Laughing]. But it’s just being in that creative environment you know? I also try to work ‘normal’ hours because I have a family also so, I try to work traditional hours, you know. I like to come in on Monday morning at about 9 am/10 am and then I do normal stuff like have lunch and think about what’s going on, and then I wrap up for the day and head home and see my family.

In order to make that record, it’s gonna take me about 6 months and then that’s gonna take me to the Summer, which we’ve already decided we’re gonna take a break a let the dust settle, and then hopefully by the end of the summer the record will be finished.

Unfortunately or fortunately, depends on how you see it, the US elections are happening, so bearing that in mind, it’s not the best time to release new material when peoples minds are focused on other things. I just want to make sure that when we release this new album, we have peoples attention.

OD – So, you’re hoping that the album is going to be ready by late Summer then?

TOBIAS – Well, that’s the plan but in the event that it’s not finished, it’s gonna be okay. I don’t want to stress the situation. Every record I’ve done has been under some type of time restraint, even ‘Opus Eponymous‘ (2010), that album was on a very tight schedule. It was definitely last minute [Laughing]. I just want to make sure that I have enough time to release the album that I’m thoroughly happy with.

When strategising about where Ghost is right now and where we want to go moving forward, we have to be aware of all the possibilities regarding the best time to release the new album.

OD – I’m sure you have big ambitions for the production of the new album also?

TOBIAS – Yes, totally. We now have the pleasure of playing in much bigger venues all over the world and with that comes the fact that there are a lot of tickets to sell. I hate to talk about it in this way, but it’s a huge part of this business. We have to take great care in everything we do now. Like the best time to announce a tour, a new album, as well as the best time of the year to release the new album. There’s loads of things to take into consideration.

OD – Do you think that some of the previous album releases were not timed well?

TOBIAS – Yes, some of our previous releases were not released at a time that was in our favour. In fact, I have memories of things being very stressful at times. At this point in the bands legacy, it’s far too important to just release the next album with no plan or strategy put in place first. Also, it’s very important that we give the production of the album a few weeks of rehearsal. Basically, we have to plan it like a rocket launch [Laughing].

OD – So, when do you see this album finally being released?

TOBIAS – I would say by early 2021, you can expect the next chapter of the Ghost story.

OD – With regards to each character, do you have an overall plan of what will be happening or is it something that are inspired about with the writing of each album. Does the writing of the album determine the character we will see when it’s eventually released?

TOBIAS – Well, at first there was no masterplan, but now there is one. A lot of the things that have been communicated over the last few years will be fined tuned and explained in the coming years.

OD – Can you give me an example?

TOBIAS – Well, there will be a number of non-album things that are going to happen. This will all happen in tandem with the overall story. These things might be happening next year also.

Even in the void of 2020 not really being an active year for us in terms of live performances, there will be other things that we will be doing in the interim where there’s going to be an album made.

OD – So, would you say that things are more conceptional now than ever?

TOBIAS – Yes, totally. In the beginning there is was lucid, but things have changed in a huge way.

OD – Have you ever considered making a documentary or perhaps releasing a book about your life?

TOBIAS – Well this can tie in with a previous answer that we have already spoken about. At some point or another, during the high points of Ghost, I’m sure there are people that would be interested in reading about my thoughts and my background. But I feel like I’m not really there yet, if you know what I mean.

I feel that I have a lot more to do, before I can think about something like that. Right now if feels like thinks are ever progressing and it just doesn’t feel like the moment where I need to document everything to date. I mean, who knows what’s gonna happen but for all I know, all of this could go tits-up in four years from now.  If that happens then I can look back and reminisce when it’s all over.

I just don’t feel like I’m anywhere near the end. I’m gonna be 4o years-old in 2 years time and i’ve got a lot more to do even before I hit that age.

OD – Do you worry about getting old?

TOBIAS – Not really. In fact here’s a little life hack about feeling better about your age. I have a lot of friends who are much older than me. Not only is that very interesting socially, but if I have any issues with the concept of ageing, sometimes it’s great to have older friends whom you can use as a sort of barometer.

I have a lot of respect for my older friends. I think to myself; “If I was half as cool as my friends, I would be very happy with that“. The concept of ageing is definitely hated by a lot of people. At the end of the day, regardless of all of this, my plan is to become a really cool 50-year-old [Laughing].

OD – Do you think it’s important to have role models that are older?

TOBIAS – Yes, very much so. You can not stare yourself blind at the idea of youth being the only state worthy of being because that will greatly disappoint you.

OD – So far, what has been your biggest personal achievement?

TOBIAS – Hmmmm, there are many to choose from. [Thinking..] I think the biggest achievement for me and what I really feel blessed about is..there’s not really a word that can encapsulate what I’m thinking here. Let me try to explain.

From a family point of view, knowing where we were and what our options and possibilities were 1o years ago when our kids were born to present day. I am extremely proud and happy and thankful that I managed to steer things around to something very different. I’m not saying that everything would be crap had all of this not worked out as we were still very happy back then.

I’m very happy that it turned out this way because I got to be one of the few that got to live out a childhood dream. Music really is the only thing that I can do intuitively. I’m quite able to do this and I get better at it with age [Laughs]. But, there is a lot of things that I can’t do, and I don’t exactly know if it’s because I didn’t do that certain exam or for another reason.

I have a hard time concentrating when I’m faced with doing things I don’t really like doing.

OD – How did you back in school?

TOBIAS – I actually wasn’t really good in school [Laughing]. I have no scholastic background, so basically the outlook 10 years ago, had this not happened, did not look that good.

OD – There are few (if no other) bands that have managed to achieve the success that GHOST is currently experiencing, although it’s an exciting and wonderful thing, surely that, in its own right, is a huge achievement for you?

TOBIAS – Up until I was 29 years old, I was on the outside looking into the music industry, trying to figure out a way in [Laughing] and during this time, this industry was not interested in having me as part of it.

Since I was a ‘late bloomer‘ in this business and I got this very coveted opportunity, I feel that my biggest achievement is doing the right things at the right time. This is a highly strange situation for me at times. For instance we are a crew of 25 people here today. I’m not setting up the stage, tuning the guitars etc… I’m expected to put my shit on and get up on that stage, do a little dance and sing my songs in the somewhat correct key [Laughing]

If I have to talk about someone else that made all of this happen, it’s my wife, who gave me the freedom and the pass to continue to chase my dreams when things were just starting to happen.

I remember her saying; “Why don’t you quit your job and just go for it?”

OD – At what point in time did this happen?

TOBIAS – Only a couple of months after Opus Eponymous came out. I was in a critical moment in time. I was employed in a position at a company doing a job that I was not really good at, and I didn’t really enjoy nor felt any value in doing.

She then said to me one day; “It seems like some good things are happening with your ‘rock dreams’, so why don’t you just quit your job and try that? It’s not like your job is worth anything to you. So, you can just do that and if it doesn’t work out, then at least you’ve tried it”.

When I look back on that and realise what she helped me do, most people don’t get that break. Most people who are in a relationship and are grown up, with children, just don’t get a pass like that.

Of course, my Mother also was a huge support for me. When I was in school, she was very saddened that I was such a poor performer and we went to many of the school teacher meetings where there were saying things like; “What can we do to aid you?” [Laughing] and my Mom was like [crying sound] “I don’t know what you want to do with your life“.

Meanwhile I’m over there in the corner being obnoxious, telling teachers to “go fuck themselves“. My Mom had to deal with a lot of worrying and hoping that life will fall in place for me. And by 2010 she was finally beginning to think; ‘Maybe this ‘rock’ thing is actually gonna work out!“, because I finally had a job and with two kids etc..

OD – As Mother’s do, she stood by you all the way.

TOBIAS – Yes, she believed in me.

OD – She’s been to the shows I’m assuming. She know’s all about the ‘Cardinal’ then?

TOBIAS – [Laughing] Yes, she’s been there and loves it. She is not an authoritarian. My Mom was born in the ’40’s and is very “arty“. She was very much a part of the ’60’s generation. In fact, a little bit of side information for you. My Mom bought my first and my second guitar.

OD – What kind of guitar was it and do you still have it?

TOBIAS – Unfortunately, I don’t have that guitar. Ironically, since we’re here with Metallica today, the first guitar that I had was a black Fernandes Strat,  just like the one that Kirk (Hammet, Metallica) had on the cover of the original “Garage Days‘ ’87 release.

That was my first guitar and I was so proud that I had the same guitar that Kirk Hammet had and here I am today, sitting backstage on tour with Metallica. Talk about full circle in life. It’s mind-blowing for me, it really is.

OD – I guess there was no hesitation when the Metallica offer came in then?

TOBIAS – I believe the term used was; “A stone-cold no-brainer‘ [Laughing]. It really felt like it was the right time to do this much more than say, if we were given this tour six or seven years ago.

OD – I remember the first time I ever saw Ghost live was back at the 2011 UK Download Festivaland you were on the Pepsi-Max tent, during Soundgarden’s performance on the main stage. There was only a couple of hundred people in that tent but that show was fantastic.

TOBIAS – I remember that show. Phil Anselmo and the guys from Anthrax were standing on the side of the stage watching. That was a really big show for us as we almost cancelled because we did a show in Sweden the night before and we just about didn’t make the journey. It happened because it was very much based on my will to play Donington Park.

Not only were we seen by a lot of cool people, but also that was when our now manager saw us perform for the very first time. I didn’t know that she would end up managing us at the time but it was because of that performance that things took a huge turn for us.

Ghost is very much a collective effort in many ways, from the people that work with us, our crew, techs, management, band members etc, they are all responsible for making this happen. That show was very much a landmark gig that changed the course of the bands destiny.

So, the message here kids is don’t cancel shows, you just don’t know what might happen. [Laughing] Just be cool to everyone because you just don’t know who you’re dealing with. One day a stage hand, or lighting tech, could very well become the next big label, booking agent etc. Just be cool to everyone all the time.

Catch GHOST on tour with Metallica NOW. US dates have also just been announced. Check out the full listing above. For more information, please click here.

ALL RIGHTS OWNED BY OVERDRIVE.IE

[natural-0-games]

Let The Flames Begin: Tune Tuesday

Alright y’all might have seen that this account’s been starting up for the first time in a while. We’re actually going around and doing stuff, cool. There’s one simple reason for that, and this is me, Lexi, the one behind this whole thing talking: I’ve decided to cut out all the toxic people in my life and extend my vetting for letting new people in. (queue this music because I’m allowed to have musical overlays on my textposts it’s tuesday! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_ohWuaNPWo ) If you’ve been reading my other posts you can probably piece it all together, but in the last 6 months I found myself a decent friend group at college... at least I thought I did. See, originally it was just me and this real chill guy who I won’t say the name of because internet, so I’ll just call him E. E and I met up near the start of the school year because E was just such an approachable person that even I could overcome my big NPC energy to talk to him. We got to talking, and decided it would be cool to start up a club for RPGs at the school, so that players and gamemasters could draw from a pool of people to make sure everyone got the experience they wanted. Then came D (again, not their name because privacy, but also y’know, I can’t resist calling him a D because he’s a d i c k), he was originally pretty chill, but almost immediately he ripped the club idea from my hands and decided all on his own without any input from me or E or anyone else that the club was going to include all tabletop games. Alright not at all what the club was supposed to be about, but okay. So a month rolls by, and D has determined that the club is going to do RPGs at most once a month. You know, the thing we were designed around in the first place, not ‘each campaign once a month’ which I could vaguely see to prevent burnout but nah, nah he means ‘one official club campaign session spread across all campaigns per month’. What. The. Fuck. Then it’s October, and I’ve got this cool idea, reverse trick-or-treating, you know that thing where you go door to door and give people candy? It was gonna be nice, and cool, and I told the whole friend-group about it at the start of October. Other shit happened in October regarding people I look up to and the discontinuation of my absolute favorite show, so there’s that. But the important thing to this post happened on Halloween, that day when they all said they’d join me going around giving people candy, and we’d all have a good time. I’d arranged it for six... six rolls around, no one’s there. I check the group discord, and I’m like ‘hey, where is everybody?’ only response is from E, saying that most people are at dinner and we should probably reschedule to later. I reply that it’s understandable and rearrange for 8. I get a message from B (only time she’s mentioned) saying she’ll be able to show up for sure. No one showed up. Only one person at 10 who came to console me because I kinda exploded in the discord server because I’d been planning this all month and no one fucking showed up. Yeah I cried myself to sleep that night, don’t judge. So now it’s November, and I finally put into action a plan I’d wanted to work on since the start of college: A larp league at the school, only problem is I’m going to have to craft the system from nothing. Alright, I’ve got inspiration from said favorite show ever that was cancelled in october, I’m going to base it around that. I then tell everyone in the friend group and they encourage me, I tell them I’ll be running a christmas event after thanksgiving break, they say that’s awesome. That’s when I realized I’m going to need to make over 1200 abilities because each of the 40 classes needs 33 abilities. I asked them for any suggestions, got a grand total of 0. So I worked my ass off, far more than is healthy, and got... absolutely nowhere because there was no chance in the first place. Right before thanksgiving break I tell them ‘hey, there’s no chance of me finishing the whole system in time, we’ll use a simplified edition i’ll come up with now’ they gave approval. I made a whole mini-system on 3 hours of sleep. I went home for thanksgiving break and caused my whole family extra stress during their move by needing to make swords for this event. So the day of the event rolls around, I’ve got everything set up, I’m out of the field, waiting. The event starts at 11, and that’s when i get there. No one’s there. ‘That’s okay’ I figure, ‘they’re not exactly punctual, they’ll be here in 15-20 minutes’. They are not. At 11:30, E shows up, I ask him where the fuck everyone is. Turns out B is still asleep despite giving me confirmation she’d be here last night, D and the rest of the group are at breakfast and have no intention of showing up despite being 25 seconds away, and E doesn’t see anything wrong with this. I waited until noon, still no one, so I gave up and headed back to my dorm, I’d informed them on the discord that if no one showed up by noon I’d cancel. And I fucking seethed. These people didn’t give a single fuck about me, or my time, or my effort. And after a few hours of calming down, past the tears, past the attempts at breaking things, I got onto the discord server, and I told them, in no indirect terms, that repeatedly encouraging people to devote time and effort to projects for the group, to get them excited for their events, to say that you’ll be there, and then all ghost without a word was absolutely abusive and I didn’t want that in my life. Instead of even a single attempt at an apology, or even a bullshit excuse, they all started yelling at me and kicked me from the server, the club, and the friendgroup. So that’s where I am. I don’t give a single fuck about people who disrespect my time. I don’t give a single fuck about people who think that just because someone has bigger problems than me my problems don’t exist. I don’t give a single fuck about people who bail on plans without a warning or remorse. And I feel so free. So I’m turning all the effort on projects I was making for those toxic assholes inward, I’m making the shit I love, and if you don’t enjoy it, you don’t have to be around me or use my stuff. Sure the first few apprentice games and such will be free, and the proof-of-concept for anything will be free, but if I’ve put in serious effort? If i’ve put in 150 hours already (like on a certain larp system...) and it’s not even a tenth of the way done? You bet your left buttock that I’m not giving that away for free. If I’m going to make something I want to get something out of it. So there’s that. And just because I know I need help here, I do have some open positions: Sabrina needs a pilot, and that’s the fancy lore way of saying I desperately need an artist, because my art is shit and while I have no idea how to make UI-interactive games, I’m going to try my best to learn. Elluwen needs a pilot, and that’s still a fancy way of saying I need playtesters. I’ve been relying on my friend groups too much for this, posting a message about this new game I’ve got that’s nearly done, and waiting 2 weeks to get a single person to even try to play it. Meanwhile I’m playing it repeatedly to try to find bugs and their version is almost completely replaced. and several more... honestly to just put it clearly: I need reliable people in my life, and if that means setting up a patreon for people to see sneak peaks and be playtesters through, wonderful! If I can find an artist willing to be on call for my projects, and of course still pursue their own endeavors, I can’t afford a full-time artist, that’s amazing.

I know what you’re here for, at least on tuesday, you want the shitposts, I’ve still got those, but everything above is far more important.

This week’s themesong: Let The Flames Begin This week’s cryptic meme: Slowly ripping the limbs off an effigy This week’s mood: Focused Anger This week’s character: Lokeeda

[gamerwoo]

Wonwoo: Drawings

Characters: Wonwoo x reader (featuring chanyeol)

Genre/warnings: florist!Wonwoo x tattoo artist!reader, angst, a little bit of fluff in between, some crack, and mild violence????

Word count: 3,822

Summary: He definitely doesn’t look like it, but Wonwoo loves tattoos. He usually wears sweaters to cover his tattoo-clad arms when he works at the small flower shoppe in town, but on one of his days off, he goes to the new tattoo shop down the street, and runs straight into the girl he accidentally punched in the face the night before. (Idea was half created by @ripperoonii)

Wonwoo didn’t necessarily like to spend his time at bars, but it was Seungcheol’s birthday and he was his best friend; he wasn’t going to miss his best friend’s birthday. So, he was dragged to some dive bar a few blocks away from the flower shoppe he worked at.

“Congrats on being another year closer to death.” Jihoon deadpanned, holding his glass up a bit before taking a sip in some sort of half-assed cheers.

“Wow, good one.” Wonwoo chuckled, taking a sip of his whiskey.

“Thanks.” Seungcheol gave him a fake smile before his face immediately dropped all form of emotion. “Dick.”

Their group of friends snorted and chortled, slapping the eldest playfully on the back. It was rare for all of them to be together, so even with Jihoon’s sarcastic comment, they were still cheery just from gathering all together for once.

As Wonwoo watched Jeonghan finish his drink and wave the bartender over for another, most of the group’s attention had drifted over to a scene being caused by the pool table. The yelling between two men was getting louder and louder, causing most of the patrons of the bar to look over at what was happening. Even Jeonghan and the bartender had frozen and peered over to see what was going on.

“You cheated!” one of the large, burly men slurred.

The other man -- just as tall, but not really as scary-looking other than the tattoos and red hair -- just scoffed and rolled his eyes, spinning the pool stick in his hand. “Did not, you giant pussy. Stop your bitching and pay up.”

Wonwoo hated conflict. It wasn’t that he was a softy, he just chose to avoid confrontation because he believed fighting was pointless. Especially at some bar where two big guys were about to battle it out, he wasn’t having it. He had work tomorrow, and the last thing he needed was a black eye. He ran a flower shoppe for crying out loud!

“I think it’s about time I-”

Wonwoo’s goodbye was cut off by one of the men insulting you -- a shorter -- well, shorter than him -- but still very intimidating girl that was there with the man that was accused of cheating. 

“Take your slut and get out!” the man had shouted.

You simply looked at the man who spat the comment toward you, rolled your eyes, and went back to your drink. However, Wonwoo’s blood was boiling. There were three things he didn’t tolerate: mistreatment of animals, mistreatment of children, and mistreatment of women. While he didn’t want to get involved, he could make an exception for any of those three things.

You weren’t bothered by the comment. Your coworker -- the one in the fight -- brought you to this bar so many times that you were used to the disgusting men and even more dirty comments made toward you. But you could hold your own, and you definitely looked it with the tattoos inked into your skin, and the piercings in your nose, eyebrow, and trailing up and down your ears.

However, this idiot in a denim jacket, black jeans, and white t-shirt seemed to think otherwise as he stood up from the bar and glared at the man yelling at you and your coworker. “Why don’t you fuck off, huh?”

Wonwoo looked thin, and the only things he had going for him to make him even slightly intimidating were his height and his resting bitch face. You thought it looked like a puppy trying to take on a full-grown dog. This would only end one way, and you’d have to be the one to break it up since everyone else was always too worked up. It wouldn’t be your first fight, anyway.

“Why don’t you mind your business, kid?” the man sniggered, looking Wonwoo up and down. “Leave this to the real men, yeah?”

“Real men don’t treat women like that.” Wonwoo stated, walking forward.

“Real men don’t come to this bar.” you muttered under your breath, rolling your eyes for the umpteenth time.

“Should we ditch before this gets worse?” your coworker asked.

You and your friend, Chanyeol worked at a tattoo shop a few blocks away. Chanyeol didn’t normally look it considering his cute face, but he was muscular and terrifying in fights. You’d seen him with split lips and black eyes too many times to count -- even a broken nose a few times. But he was your best friend, and you’d take care of him no matter how many times he said the wrong thing to the wrong person.

You were just thankful he had some sense in him now.

But unfortunately, you didn’t have any. “Nah, I should stick around and help this poor kid when he gets his ass handed to him.”

Even though it wasn’t really your fight, this stranger was helping you and defending you, so you felt like you should help him out of this mess. That’s why when you noticed the two men standing toe-to-toe, you pushed yourself away from the pool table and put yourself between the two men.

Right as Wonwoo was pulling his fist back at a comment about you that the burly man had made.

“Alright, break it-” your words were cut off with a sharp blow to your nose and cheek, “Argh, fuck!”

You stumbled backwards, into a pool table that you used to lean against as you pressed both hands to the center of your face. You would already feel the warmth from the blood that was dripping down to your lip, and your eyes watered from the pain. But you didn’t cry, thankfully.

“___-ah!” Chanyeol shouted.

The man who punched you -- he was surprisingly strong despite how lanky he looked -- gasped, staring at you wide-eyed. “I-I...I’m so sorry!”

“Hyung!” Chan whined from where he sat at the bar, already sufficiently drunk. “I can’t believe you did that!”

Half of his friends looked shocked, while the other half looked worried. Clearly, this guy didn’t normally get violent, and it was an even bigger shock that he had gotten -- unintentionally -- violent toward a girl.

You just glanced up at the man before your eyes swept the bar. All eyes were on you, except the bartender’s, who was pointing at the burly man who had started the fight before he pointed to the door, telling him to get out.

“Do you want me to do anything, ___-ah?” Chanyeol asked, bending down a bit to look at you. “Let me see your nose.”

“No, I’m fine.” you insisted, though talking hurt. You just looked around the bar, glaring at everybody staring. “Alright, show’s over. Go back to your cheap beer and mind your business.”

You turned away from the crowd, removing your hands from your face. Your palms were covered in blood, and more continued to pour from your nostrils and down your face. You suddenly saw napkins in your vision, but didn’t recognize the hand that was giving them to you. Your eyes followed the arm up until you were met with Wonwoo’s face.

“I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to.” he told you, sounding genuinely distressed.

“Yeah, you don’t look like you’d mean to, either.” you spat, taking the napkins and wiping your hands with a few of them before putting the rest to to clean up your face, and press to the bottom of your nose. At least it wasn’t broken. “Nice aim, by the way.”

“You came out of nowhere!” he insisted before he let out a deep sigh. “But that’s no excuse. I really am sorry. Can I make it up to you?”

You looked up at him, your gaze turning to a glare as you realized how sore and fucked up your face will be for the next week or two. “Yeah, you can learn to stay out of shit that doesn’t involve you.”

And with that, you took Chanyeol and stormed out of the bar.

-

Wonwoo felt awful the next day at work. It wasn’t because he was hungover or anything, but because he couldn’t stop thinking of how he hurt you. You seemed more pissed than in pain, but he still couldn’t believe he’d punched an innocent girl in the face. How was he supposed to live with himself?

He couldn’t think much about it since the flower shoppe was so busy that day, but he liked that business was picking up. It kept his mind off of how awful of a human he was. Plus, he’d be getting yet another tattoo after work, which he had been planning for a week now. Hopefully, all of that kept his mind off of you and your bloodied nose.

Wonwoo was relieved when one of his regulars, a elderly lady that simply went by Mrs.Kang, had stopped by the shoppe for some daffodils because they were her husband’s favorites. She could easily tell there was something on his mind, and he decided to vent to the sweet lady in hopes she could give him some advice.

“Wonwoo, dear, you are the sweetest person I’ve ever met,” she told him, “and I’ve been alive for...a very long time. You visit the children’s hospital, you volunteer at the animal shelter, and you work at this little flower shoppe. People like you are scarce, Wonwoo.”

Wonwoo chuckled at her hesitation to say her age. “Thank you, Mrs.Kang.”

“I believe that as long as your intentions are not bad, you are not a bad person.” she concluded. “You never mean to hurt anybody; it was just bad luck. Don’t beat yourself up, dear.”

Wonwoo offered a small but warm smile to the woman. “Thank you. I’ll try to remember that.”

Mrs.Kang was someone who always seemed to learn everything about Wonwoo to a point where he considered her a trusted friend. She was one of the only people, other than his friends, that knew about his personal life, and the sleeves of tattoos that he had on his body. She knew that he was passionate about things he loved, and his beliefs, and he would never do anything to intentionally hurt anybody.

You, on the other hand, sulked all day at the tattoo shop. You and Chanyeol sat on the black leather couch in the waiting area while you waited for your next appointments or any walk-ins. Chanyeol made you press an ice pack to your face between clients to keep the swelling and bruising down, though your skin was still black and purple anyway.

While it was clear that it wasn’t Wonwoo’s intention to hit you, you were still angry he did. How could he be so careless? Then again, he didn’t look like he’d fought a day in his life. He looked like he was trying to look tough, but failed miserably.

“If I ever see that asshole again, I’ll-”

“Didn’t you say he didn’t mean it?” Chanyeol chuckled at how you were flip-flopping over if you blamed him or not. “___, you’re probably never going to see him again anyway. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

You sighed, closing your eyes as you laid your head back. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“You just have a temper.” Chanyeol giggled.

You frowned, opening one eye to glare at the redhead. “Do not.”

The door to the shop dinged, so you raised your head and looked at the entrance. Your blood boiled, and your nails dug into the ice pack as you squeezed it in rage. Even though he was now wearing a pink sweater, jeans, and white sneakers instead of his outfit from the night before, you recognized his face.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” you growled.

“Do too.” Chanyeol laughed quietly before he stood up to greet the guy. “Long time, no see.”

“Y-you work here?” Wonwoo stammered as he took in your familiar forms. “Shit, ah... I’m sorry, I can go somewhere else if you-”

“Did you make an appointment?” Chanyeol wondered, already walking over to the front desk to check the computer.

“Yeah, last week.” he nodded as you stood to follow Chanyeol.

“Name?”

“Wonwoo.”

“Ugh!” you groaned, your hands dropping to your sides, and revealing the nasty bruise Wonwoo’s hand left.

Both men looked at you, Chanyeol quirking his eyebrow. “A client assigned to you, I’d take it?”

You nodded, covering your face with your hands, and the ice pack you were still holding. “Yup.”

“I can-”

“No,” you cut off Wonwoo’s offer to either switch or reschedule with someone else or whatever, dropping your hands and stomping off down the hall, “just follow me.”

Wonwoo nodded at Chanyeol and mumbled a ‘thank you’ before he followed after you, not wanting to make you more angry. You led him into your little room and had him sit down on the chair before you sat in your swivel stool and began to prep.

“Alright, what am I doing?” you asked, trying to keep your tone even, but the bite to it didn’t go unnoticed.

Wonwoo pulled a folded up piece of paper and handed it to you. You took it in your hands and unfolded it, turning it this way and that to try to figure out what in the hell it was. It looked like a child did it but didn’t have an actual thing in mind. It was just...scribbles.

“Two things,” you spoke up after examining the drawing, “what the fuck is this, and why did you make this your first tattoo?”

Wonwoo just chuckled, finding something that you didn’t understand to be funny. “This isn’t my first.”

He rolled up both of his sleeves, revealing collages of ink on both arms that disappeared under his pink sweater. No doubt that there were probably more on his body and not just his arms, but you weren’t about to ask him to take his shirt off. But it was clear you were in awe.

You did notice some of the tattoos looked...weird. Not that they were done weird, but that the drawings themselves were weird. Actually, a lot of them looked like children drew them, between stick figure people to scribbles with no clear intention, to blobs of random color outside lines that didn’t make sense.

“What...are these?” you asked slowly as you continued to examine his arms.

“I visit the children’s hospital, and some of them grow pretty attached to me.” he explained with a meek shrug as his cheeks stained a blush pink. “They can’t do a lot, so they usually just draw. Some of them draw pictures, and I get them tattooed to show them later. It makes them happy, and it makes me happy.”

Wonwoo punching you full-force in the face didn’t make you cry, but his explanation almost did. You felt your eyes getting misty as you thought about this sort-of-scary looking man covered in tattoos that were all children’s drawings that they had made for him. You wondered the story behind each of the illustrations, and if any of them were okay and out of the hospital now.

Clearly, you had severely misjudged this guy.

You finally peeled your eyes away from his skin when you had blinked back all the tears. “What’s your name?”

“Wonwoo.” he told you with a soft smile.

“I’m ____. It’ll...” you paused to take a deep breath, trying to keep your emotions under control. God, why did this guy have to be an actual saint? “It’ll be an honor to tattoo you.”

Wonwoo’s face brightened, and his toothy grin was about as bright as the fluorescent lights. “Thank you.”

As you sanitized and put your gloves on, you made small-talk with Wonwoo like you did with your other clients. You found out that he worked at the flower shoppe down the street -- one that you’d always wanted to visit but never had a need to buy yourself flowers -- and also volunteered at the animal shelter. He really was an angel.

“So you’re covered in tats, but you do all this softy shit?” you laughed as you spun back around to face him, prepping his skin to be inked. “You’re something else, Wonwoo.”

“Well, it’s not everyday I see girls covered in tattoos and piercings going into dive bars and putting themselves between two men about to fight each other.” he shot back with a chuckle of his own as he watched you disinfect his skin and put the tracing on. “I guess we’re both pretty odd.”

“Chanyeol -- he’s the tall guy I was with last night,” you explained, gesturing with your head to the waiting area where Wonwoo had last seen your tall friend, “he always says I’m the definition of not reading a book by its cover.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

You sighed softly as you started up the machine and began to dip the needle in ink. “Well, because he says I’m a big softy. Yeah, I’ve gotten into a lot of fights and shit, but... Hmm, what can I use as an example?”

You thought for a bit as you pressed the needle to his skin and began to trace the outlines you had put on him. While you were always one to be more of a rough and tough kind of person, you weren’t always like that. You just kind of had to learn to be like that when you were a girl who lived alone. As far as the tattoos went, though, you just liked them.

“Oh!” you had finally thought of something, and Wonwoo laughed at how excited you seemed. “I don’t like bugs. I can’t kill them, and I can’t capture them to release them. I just can’t go near them at all.”

“You can fight a guy who is six feet tall, but you can’t take care of a spider?” he chuckled, tossing his head back in laughter. “That’s adorable.”

You couldn’t contain the heat creeping up into your cheeks. “Adorable, huh? Nobody’s ever called me that.”

Time with Wonwoo went by faster than you expected, and you actually enjoyed his company. He actually made you giggle. He also didn’t let it go, and neither did Chanyeol who had heard down the hall from your open door.

As you stood behind the desk with Chanyeol, who was examining Wonwoo’s other tattoos, Wonwoo slid the money he owed you -- plus a very generous tip since he still felt bad about your face -- across the counter. “So, if I ever need another tattoo...?”

“I’d be more than happy to do it for you.” you smiled with a nod. “Thanks, Wonwoo.”

“No, thank you.” he grinned. He turned to leave, but then seemed to remember something. “Oh, ___; what’s your favorite flower?”

The question seemed a bit odd and out of place, but you answered anyway. “Sunflowers.”

He nodded slowly before saying goodbye to you and Chanyeol and leaving the shoppe.

“You like him.” Chanyeol teased once the door had closed.

You frowned with a huff, pressing the ice pack back to your face -- which, Wonwoo kept apologizing for. “Do not.”

-

The next day when you arrived to open the shop, you found a bouquet of flowers on the welcome mat in front of the door. You bent down to pick up the bundle of flowers that were held together with a pink ribbon before unlocking the door and entering the shop.

When you had turned on the lights and made your way to the counter to turn on the computer, you read the small card it came with.

‘___,

I can’t say sorry enough. I hope these help you.

-Wonwoo’

You couldn’t stop the smile that crept it’s way onto your face. Before anybody else showed up, you hurried down the hall to your station to put them in some water and hide them away from Chanyeol’s teasing.

However, the teasing was inevitable when more flowers showed up twice a week. Later that week, Chanyeol walked into your room where you were with a client, a bouquet of sunflowers in his arm.

“Special delivery for Miss ___ from her boyfriend.” he teased with a childlike grin, resting the flowers on a nearby counter.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” you pouted as Chanyeol left before you could stab him with a needle or something.

Before you had started to wash up and tattoo the small, nervous girl in your room, you checked the card on the flowers.

‘___,

I wanted you to know the boy loved the tattoo! Thank you again for doing such a wonderful job.

-Wonwoo’

Your heart fluttered at the fact Wonwoo was continuously sending you flowers, and that feeling only worsened as the weeks went on, and he continued sending more and more. Some were just sunflowers, and some featured other flowers and greenery that accented the large yellow flowers perfectly. Wonwoo was truly great at what he did.

And you finally got those flowers for yourself you always wanted.

But you started to feel...kind of bad. You face eventually healed, and you hadn’t seen or properly spoken to Wonwoo in a while. The conversation and were one-sided, just like the gifts. But what could you send that would be meaningful? You didn’t know what he liked.

Then again, you were an artist. You could think of something, right? 

It took a few days to a week, but you eventually thought of the only thing you deemed decent enough to send back. When Wonwoo went to open the flower shoppe one morning, he saw a box in front of the glass door. He picked it up, seeing there were no addresses or stamps on it, meaning it was hand delivered. That made him curious.

He brought the box inside and put it on the counter top where he worked. He used a pair of scissors to open the box, and gasped softly when he saw the framed pencil drawing inside. It was a picture of him, eyes closed with a content smile. Surrounding him were a few sunflowers, and a halo floating above his head with angel wings coming from his back. He noticed that there were even a few of his tattoos drawn on his arms, and he was shocked that that detail was correct.

Under the picture was a note that he immediately picked up after carefully setting the portrait on the counter.

‘Wonwoo,

You’ve made it up to me enough, so it’s about time I do the same. You really are an angel.

-___

PS I hope I got the tattoos right!’

Wonwoo covered his face with both hands, trying to hide the shy smile on his face even though he was alone in the store. How did you remember what he looked like so clearly? And the tattoos were a whole other thing! He wasn’t only impressed and flattered but...something else. It was a good feeling though.

A very good feeling.