#there are so many amazing works by cool people with such intricate details or simple styles that i admire and look up to greatly

[acrylicscore]

Can I just say that I hate Tim's Armour with a passion? Yes? Cool.

Like, don't get me wrong, the colours are magnificent. It really gives off regal and godly vibes, really reflecting how Tim was viewed as almost like a god by the competitors in The Games. It really does give off "this armour belonged to a legend". And then when Jesse gets the armour, it really makes them stand out as the hero of the story, like they were destined to get the armour to fulfil their destiny as a legend.

But for me that's the only thing it has going for it.

From a drawing perspective (yes this is the main reason why I hate it), it has so many little details that make it stand out, and to capture that in a design is hard. I have seen a lot of amazing designs for the armour that absolutely make the armour look brilliant on Jesse (and I tip my hat to those artists and I love your work), but for me it's just so goddamn tedious. Like, yeah the armour you get from Ivor can have some intricate designs (my personal favourite being Shield of Infinity), but there's something about Tim's Armour that almost forces you to make a god/legend-like design. You just couldn't get away with having a simple design for that armour, while Ivor's armours you can.

Alternately, I don't think Tim's Armour is an armour that Jesse would willingly put on again. Of course, having the armour in the final fight against Hadrian and Mevia is brilliant and I do love it, but other than that there really is no point, and there are a few points of reason to look to.

It's heavy. As soon as you put the armour on in Episode 8, you can hear it clicking and shifting with Jesse's movements. No other armour in either games does this except Tim's Armour, most likely aiming to indicate that this armour is drastically different. Of course after that episode the armour doesn't make the noises, but it's clearly important enough to include the noises in the first place.

The height. Listen, Tim's legend stated that he was 3 blocks tall, and while Tim wasn't real, the Old Builders would have likely made the armour to suit the legend, which would mean that the armour would be tall. And lets face it, Jesse is not tall.

The attachment. This armour was created by the Old Builders to uphold a legend. While this legend didn't exist, this legend and armour still upheld the hopes and dreams of those that heard of it. It was a symbol of hope to the competitors in The Games, but outside of the games, it was just a cool armour towards anyone else. There's a certain level of attachment to it, and I don't think Jesse would parade around an armour with such value. Of course, that could be my opinion, but armour of such high value in terms of meaning shouldn't really be taken into battle.

I would also like to comment on the durability (while not a main point to look at I would still like to comment), but we don't know how durable Tim's Armour really is. I mean, Ivor's armours you can trust cause the man is literally an alchemist that specialises in enchanting. The Old Builders though? We don't actually know if they even considered enchanting Tim's Armour, let alone what materials it's made out of. Sure, it's safe to assume that the armour is incredibly durable, but there's always the possibility that Hadrian chose to just make it look durable when in reality it's probably made of quartz.

Just saying, but you never know.

I would just like to specify that this is my personal opinion. I know a lot of people like Tim's Armour. I'm fully aware that I'm probably the one person that doesn't like the armour, and I'm just honestly voice my observations and thoughts.

Don't get me wrong, Tim's Armour is cool, I just have a personally vendetta against it and I have no idea where it sparked from.

Please do not take this seriously. I'm just putting it up for discussion.

Thank you for listening to my TED Talk. Have a lovely day!

[fernweh-writes]

I don't know if you already did this before but- what about the slashers reaction to a S/O that works as a tatoo artist?

I have not done this before, but this also reminded me I do need to update my masterlist so thank you. It’s the holiday weekend so we’ll see how well I can write…

-Fern🌿

Tattoo Artist S/O

Michael Myers

He would 100% let you tattoo him. Michael has probably always wanted a tattoo and just never had the means to get one. It’s hard to walk into a shop when you’re a wanted murderer after all. Plus, he most likely doesn’t trust other people enough to let them tattoo him. So feel special, cause it means he trusts you enough to take off his shirt and let you repeatedly poke him with a needle.

Michael respects tattooing as an art form. It takes a lot of dedication and precision to permanently place an image upon a persons skin.

He also just thinks it’s neat. Especially if you’ve done some of your own tattoos. He likes the way they look on your skin.

Probably has a weak spot for any red tattoos you have. We all know Michael loves the color red, especially on you.

Bo Sinclair

Again, would let you tattoo him but only after he trusts you enough. He can’t have you suddenly going rouge and trying to harm him with a tattoo gun. And lets be honest with ourselves here, Bo has trust issues so it’s going to take awhile.

He’s very indecisive about what he would want though. Luckily you know him well enough to come up with a few rough sketches of different ideas and placements just… pinky promise it will look good.

Also loves the tattoos on your own skin. Especially the more intricate ones with a lot of detail. He thinks that tattoos are hot in general.

Would try and get you to tattoo his name on yourself.

Vincent Sinclair

Vincent is glad that his S/O is also into art. He thinks you’re really good at what you do and loves to admire your work. I also believe that Vincent has a bit of a superiority complex… so h would be glad you’re into different art forms than he is because he doesn’t feel like he can be outdone by you.

With that being said, he occasionally will give you tips on things like placement and critique the details you add to any pieces.

Still, you’re great at what you do and Vincent knows it. So, he would be happy to let you give him a tattoo. After seeing his twin knives I believe he would go for something snake or Greek mythology themed.

Thomas Hewitt

Thomas would want you to incorporate some of his scars into tattoos to make him feel better about them. Don’t worry about hurting him, this man has an insane pain tolerance and he won’t even flinch no matter how long the piece takes.

Also likes watching you come up with concepts. You always add so many little details to even the rough sketches. He really appreciates the time, effort, and attention you put towards what you do.

Even though his very traditional family is against tattoos, Thomas loves them. At night, he enjoys tracing the ones on your own skin. He probably has each and every one memorized down to the smallest detail at this point.

Brahms Heelshire

Our uppity little English boy would not want a tattoo. His parents were very high class and snobby people so they most likely raised Brahms to think tattoos were for hooligans. In all honesty, Brahms may not even know what a tattoo is…

Once he sees the ones that you have though, he’s less against them. His eyes hungrily take in the way the black ink decorates your delicate skin, and he’s hooked. Brahms absolutely loves to look at them.

Also loves to watch as you draw ideas for new pieces. You just look so cute when you’re focused and he’s mesmerized by your sketches.

Billy Loomis

This man + patchwork tattoos= the hottest thing in the history of ever

Would be more than happy to let you tattoo him…you are doing it for free right?

Billy thinks that tattoos are cool and they definitely add onto his intimidating look. If you compliment them it definitely gives his ego a boost as well. You won’t be able to save yourself from this narcissist after he catches you eyeing the ink on his skin.

Also thinks that the tattoos on your own skin are very sexy. Please show him each and every one of them. Yes even if you have to take your clothes off, that’s the best part y/n.

Stu Macher

Stu is more than happy to let you use him as a human canvas as long as you promise to make him look cool. He trusts you enough to not mess up after he’s seen some of the amazing work that you’ve done.

Doesn’t really care what kind of tattoo you put on him. He’ll give you all the creative liberty, occasionally throwing in a suggestion that he would think’d be cool.

Likes the tattoos you have on yourself as well. Stu would be the one to think giving yourself a tattoo is insanely cool! He would never be able to concentrate on little details if he was stabbing himself with a needle.

Would let you give him a very stupid, simple tattoo. Like the really dumb line art ones. Also 100% down for matching tattoos. Even better! Matching stupid tattoos!

Asa Emory

You cannot convince me this man doesn’t have a butterfly tattoo like the one harry styles has. He most certainly does, end of story.

He wouldn’t let you give him a tattoo in a very visible place. As a professor he has to keep up his neat and organized appearance. Coming off as professional is very important to Asa.

He’s fine with your tattoos though. He appreciates your attention to detail in each of the intricate tattoos on your skin. Asa even enjoys watching you draw your ideas on paper.

Jesse Cromeans

He loves tattoos and is more than down to let you give him one. Please do, he’ll even pay you if you want, he doesn’t care.

If you give yourself a skull tattoo Jesse takes it as a confession of your undying love for him. After all, you’ve pretty much marked yourself as his possession anyways.

Needless to say he also loves seeing the ink you have on your own skin. Tattoos are a big turn on for him.

[maddgicalgirl]

Paracosm Resources <3

Need help bringing your paracosm to life? Try these free resources!

⚠️ Updates always pending! Suggestions always welcome! Feel free to message me any tips or questions <3 ⚠️

(Cont. below cut, or with real time updates on this google doc!)

Art Programs

FireAlpaca - 2D Art Program, Animation. Where I make most of my digital art, and paint the frames for my animations :) It is free to use, and easy to learn and use! It can make basic animations as well, such as gifs. It requires download.

Krita - 2D Art Program. Professional, free digital paint software :) I have not used it before, though I have heard good things.

GIMP - 2D Art Program, Photo Manipulation. It's free to use, but I do not like it/recommend it highly. But! If FireAlpaca and Krita don't float your stoat, try Gimp! For 2D art, but also able to emulate Photoshop to a degree ^^

Inkscape - 2D Art Program. Free to use digital illustration software. Makes 2D art :)

Of course, who can forget classics like good old MS Paint, and the new and exciting 3D MS Paint, which can both be used to create some really neat things! Classic MS Paint is available here in browser form! If you need that. I just think it's neat!

Art AI

Petalica Paint - Coloring Software. An in browser, watercolor manga style coloring software, which can (almost) effortlessly color in any of your line art pieces! I've played around with it for my Thorn illustration style piece, and enjoyed it! It is free to use, and can take user input to make the colorations more precise.

ArtBreeder - 3D Realism Software. Using Artbreeder, you can create lifelike images of your paras, planets, or potentially even fursona, using the intricate AI they let you work with for free! A premium version exists, but most functions are fully usable without - though I recommend donating ^^ You can randomly generate, or prune and shape what you make until its perfect! Slow to use and get the hang of, but very worth it! Artbreeder is also pioneering an intriguing animation software to go alongside their product! Browser based.

3D Software

Blender - 3D Modeling, Animation. The best (in my opinion) free 3D modelling software.

MagicaVoxel - 3D Pixel Art. Free to use! Could be interesting :)

MikuMikuDance - 3D Rigging. Anime style rigging and animation software, free to use, and certified internet artefact! Has stood the test of time, and is still used and loved today. Can support ports of many kinds of assets, including, I believe, those from Blender, and of course those that are downloaded. DA has a bunch of old MMD communities you can raid for assets!

Animaze - Face Rigger. Use 3D models and a webcam to watch your paras talk! Models can be made in Blender, downloaded online, or even from CHARAT V, CHARAT GENESIS sister app!

Character Creators

CHARAT GENESIS - 2D Character Creator. Browser based anime style character creator, with multiple crops and poses, and infinitely customizable options. It is legitimately insane. Has a 3D function called CHARAT V which can apparently convert characters made in CHARAT GENESIS into 3D models compatible with Face Rig and Animaze!

V-Katsu - 3D Character Creator. Free on steam! Anime style, intensive character creator, by the same people who made Koikatsu, and Koikatsu Party, two amazingly detailed 3D hentai makers. While V-Katsu is a SFW VTuber maker, if you're looking for NSFW anime content, you could always spend roughly $70 on the full NSFW versions. V-Katsu requires a translation mod (free online as well) which you have to install, or the ability to read Kanji <3 Works with VR tech.

V-Roid Studios - 3D Character Creator. Free on steam! Anime style, fairly in depth character creator, that allows for some degree of digital 3D hand sculpting, particularly with their amazing hair engine, to get your paras looks perfect!

And, of course, Picrew has thousands of character creators of various styles and quality uploaded by the artists who made them! Also, honestly I think we as a society should embrace making dinky chibis in Gacha Life. IDK why everyone is mean to the gacha kids, like we weren't all cringe at some point,

World Design

HomeStyler - 3D and 2D Room Designer. Make a model of an interior for a home or building, using real 1:1 furniture of IRL brands! Apparently this is free to use, though there is a premium version, and  it offers 3D and 2D models.

Map to World - 3D Planet Maker. Turn your fantasy world into a 3D model of the planet. Put maps directly on, or design the surface and textures of your world. Takes a lot of getting used to, but it is AMAZING. Free to use, and browser based!

PlanetMaker - 3D Planet Maker. Make a customized 3D planet! Free to use browser site! I have never used this, but I would love to mess around with it sometime! Allows you to add orbital rings, change textures, and more at the click of a mouse.

If on sale, I also recommend snagging a copy of the Sims, particularly 3 or 4, for character creation and world design. Maybe not the best gameplay without mods, but it's also a load of fun, and very easy to add custom content to! Minecraft also. But you just need Minecraft, in general. Beyond its ability to fairly faithfully recreate structures from your paracosms, it's just Good.

Game Creators

Maybe you wanna turn your paracosm into a cool game idk, just thought I'd put these here!

Construct 3 - 2D Game Creator. Beginner level game making :) Drag-and-drop if/then style programming.

GameSalad - Codeless 2D Game Creator. Drag and drop style/no coding, beginner friendly. Free version available!

Solpeo - 2D Game Creator. HTML5 based game engine for 2D and isometric game development. Some programming knowledge needed. Platforms supported: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer 9+. Free version available.

Stencyl - Codeless 2D Game Creator. Drag and drop style building/no coding skills needed. Has editable templates!

Scratch - 2D Game Creator. Very easy to use and totally free, though relatively basic!

Unity - 3D, 2D, and VR Game Creator. Make games with 3D software. Import your own assets (Blender compatible) or download free options, or buy the rights to models. Works for 3D and 2D games. Free version available, and now works with VR tech!

Unreal Engine - 3D Game Creator. Extremely advanced 3D game developer. Highly customizable. Free to use!

Twine - Text-based Game Creator. Use a map to make a branching paths text-based story game. Free to use.

Squiffy - Text-based Game Creator. have used Squiffy and it can make some really, truly incredible things. Can take a while to pick up, and learn how to use to its full potential. Free to use! Has an online and offline library of player creations you can get inspiration from!

Quest - Text-based Game Creator. I've never used this, but it seems cool! Use it to make interactive text-based DND game adventures in browser.

Ren'Py - Visual Novel Creator. Visual novel engine, that is well acclaimed, and of course, free to use!

Companion AI

Replika - 3D Companion.

Kajiwoto - Chatbot Companion. Customizable, learning AI you can shape into a personality. Communicates via Discord like chat box.

Organization

Toyhou.se - Character Gallery. A customizable library where you can upload all of your paras and characters for the public to view! Free to use, but requires a premium member to invite you!

Refsheet - Character Gallery. I haven't used it before, but I've heard good things, and that it's a suitable alternative to toyhou.se if you can't get an invite!

Notebook.AI - Character Gallery. I haven't used it before, but I've heard good things, and that it's a suitable alternative to toyhou.se if you can't get an invite!

World Anvil - World Building Toolset. Like character galleries, but for worlds and their lore :)

Scabard - World Building Toolset. Aimed at DnD campaigners, but I reckon it'll be useful for many!

YARPS - World Building Toolset. More focused around story and lore than Scabard or World Anvil, and looks beautiful! Still in its prototype stage, however.

Pinterest - Photo Organizer. Look at, collect, and sort images into boards. Personalizes your feed based on that, and is free to use and join! However, unlike their myriad of wonderful recipes, DIY tutorials, and the likes - a lot of the images are uploaded by second parties and not credited, so be careful reuploading anything you find! Also great for finding outfits and art inspo for your paras!

Generators

Fantasy Name Generator - Name Generators. Does what it says on the tin! Generates fantasy names. Is a lovely website, run by a purportedly lovely woman.

Fantasy Map Generator - Map Generator. Randomly generates a fictional map, which you can view in 2D or 3D.

Donjon RPG Generator - Multiple Generators. Can make maps, weapons, items, etc.

Seventh Sanctum - Multiple Generators. One of my favorites from high school! Does all kinds of things - the standard items, spells, and names - but also prompts, backstories, characters, and even comedy generators!

ShindanMaker - Multiple Generators. User created and uploaded, any kind of generator you can imagine, of varying complexity. And when I say any generator? I mean ANY generator.

Audio

Audacity - Record and Edit Audio. What can't Audacity do? I love Audacity to death. At surface level, it records audio. I've used it to record voices for my paras, and get audio for animations and games I've worked on. I cannot recommend it enough. Comprehensive editing, and with some investigation, it can do so, so much more than just record simple dialogue.

FL Studios - Compose. Compose music with an unlimited free trial. Upgrades available for purchase!

Indie Game Music - Royalty Free Music Library. Free to use Indie Game Music. What it says on the box!

AudioJungle - Royalty Free Music and Audio Library. Thousands of free to use audio clips!

Online Piano - Someone could use this, for recording, or just messing around. I've seen plenty of paras who play piano, this could just be used for fun!

Online Guitar - Same reasons as above, but this site looks kinda sketchy. Use at your own risk or reward! Audio

For real, if you ever need music, sound effects, or really any MP3 clips that can be used without infringing on copyright laws, just search 'royalty free' (music/audio/insert thing here) same applies for photos! Make sure the source is reputable, however.

Tutorials

W3Schools - Coding. Learn the basics of coding, for free, online!

Miscellaneous

Debut Video Capture - Screen Recorder. Record game footage and let's plays for free! Professional and home versions. I see a few of our community members have paras who run YouTube channels, and I thought these might help! It could be a nice way to connect your parames. YouTube quality <3

Pixton - Comic Maker. Comic making website. I have no experience with this at all, but some may find it useful!

Picfont - Image Editor. Puts customizable text on an image. I used these for @paraesthetics paracosm header edits <3 It has a premium version (???) but the free version has all functions, but it crashes regularly (honestly seems timed :/) but once you get it down, it's a very quick process, and you won't have to worry about that at all.

Itch.io - Publishing. You can publish your self made games here :)

Korsakow - ??? Described as, "The Future of Storytelling" and is apparently a way to create interactive films. I *just* found out about this, but thought I should include it for someone who may know how to use and appreciate it! Free? Unknown, at the moment.

Tips and Tricks

Animation Done Easy

Our forefather's of internet animation used MS Paint, Windows Movie Maker, and Audacity. All of these, or their equivalents, are free on standard computers. I, personally, use FireAlpaca - which works just as well, if not better, than MS Paint for animation - but takes longer, and definitely lacks that retro feeling. I also use my trackpad to draw and animate everything, so its doable, but probably not totally comfortable, to animate like this for most people :)

⚠️ Updates always pending! Suggestions always welcome! Feel free to message me any tips or questions <3 ⚠️

[agent-cupcake]

just curious, what’s your favorite and least favorite character design? my least fav for sure has got to be female byleth for reasons i don’t want to get in to yep ok have a good day 😁

IOops this accidentally became a rant, sorry

Okay so, to preface this all, I’m not a character designer and I’m actually pretty bad at it, but my rule of thumb with really unappealing or fan-service outfits is whether or not it makes sense character-wise and how much it tells the player about the character. For example, I think we can all agree that there’s quite a bit of fan-service elements in Hilda’s design. Boob window. However, it’s not unrealistic to imagine Hilda picking out those clothes for herself. Her costume tells you almost everything you need to know about her character on a visual level. She’s confident, pretty, attention-grabbing, and high maintenance while the gloves and laced girdle give a nod to her Viking-maiden roots.

Taking it to female Byleth, I don’t think that her outfit works on either front. Her design is definitely my least favorite and it’s not helped by the fact that you have to look at her at all times. Whatever. The huge, solid mass of boobs, the buttoned bib, the big eyes, the feather hair, the bellybutton, the ripped tights, the booty shorts. She’s a merc out in life and death situations with an accessible, pale, tacky 2000′s “stab me” stomach cut out and a wedgie. Which could be excusable if, like Hilda, there was reason to believe that that her costume was character choice. But she doesn’t really have much character, and what there is gives the impression of a very stoic, dry, blunt person. I have no idea why they’d have gone that route when the sexual appeal of more “utilitarian” costuming (aka, form fitting armor that at least pretends to be functional) for characters like her is scientifically proven AND would say more about the singular personality trait she possesses. Okay, well, I know why they didn’t do that and I think it’s lame. This dysfunction of “character designer wanted a sexy girl but it’s kinda random and just shoved in the game without any thought” actually reminds me a lot of Xenoblade 2′s leading ladies, Hikari and Pyra. Although considering that their bad designs led to a lot of people hating the game for superficial reasons while accepting female Byleth’s design, I guess I’m just bitter. Jumping to a different comparison, then, look at 2B from Nier Automata. Her design is fine as hell which is kinda hypocritical of me considering that it's explicitly fan-service, but I think it also shows the most damning thing for female Byleth. Her whole look, despite having a dozen different element thrown in, is boring. Maybe it’s the colors (dressing her in all black and white would have been really interesting considering the colors of the three lords are so heavily emphasized as a part of their characters) or maybe it’s just the way the desperate elements come together. But, like I said, I'm not even slightly knowledgeable about character design and I know that despite Three Houses being mostly separate, they had to appeal to a larger aesthetic brand to which I have little experience with. And, ultimately, a lot of people find her cute or sexy which...To each their own, I suppose. I don’t pretend that fan-service doesn’t work on me (2B... Cloud’s arms in the remake... Seph's shirtless Smash skin...) but when it’s this obviously inserted in by the character designers rather than feeling organic in any way AND looks bad I'm just not super interested.

The other worst designs for me would be all four of the Ashen Wolves post timeskip. I don't think it's controversial to say that they didn't try with the clothes, even if I love their designs from the neck up (Yes, even Balthus. He looks like the type of guy that would let you sit on his shoulders at a rock concert so you could see the stage). While there are other designs I think are unappealing, those are for purely aesthetic reasons and so I can't maintain the opinion that they're actively bad or that I even truly dislike them.

As for favorite looks... I actually have a few so sorry you're getting all of them because despite the shit I'm talking, I actually really really love the character designs in Three Houses. 

Ferdinand's post timeskip is one of my favorite designs, if not my favorite. The hair, the coat, the armor, the spurs, the colors. You know exactly who Ferdinand von Aegir is just by looking at him. He’s wealthy, handsome, confident in his appearance, a hero, a princely type character, his battle form is mounted combat which is traditionally aesthetically reserved for nobility and leaders... I love it. The only reason I cannot say he IS my favorite is because of the three Lords. But before them, my honorable mentions include post timeskip Hilda, Dorothea, Lorenz, Felix, and Hubert. Granted, I could make a case for why I like almost all of the student’s post timeskip looks.

For the Lords, I obviously have to start with colors because, weirdly enough, Persona didn’t invent primary colors but are actually used as shorthand. Blue is the color of honor, loyalty, sincerity, sadness, and depression. Something I’ve always found very interesting is that blue is very rarely found in nature. To me, that’s always made it seem more lonely which, at least in this case, is thematically relevant. People call Dimitri boring pre timeskip and while I won’t defend his hairstyle (okay, actually, I probably would because he tucks it behind his ears and idk why but that’s one of the cutest things ever) I really like how unassuming he is. Bland. He’s supposed to be the plain shortbread cookie to caramel deLite Claude and strawberry meringue Edelgard. It is not in his character to draw attention to himself or stand out. To me, he kinda looks like an old Barbie prince, like he should have been named Dominic. Also I love the blue eyes/blonde hair thing and his more angular features. It really helps to sell him as the fakeout chivalrous prince type. Post timeskip, Dimitri's black armor is amazing. I love the fact that it’s a lot more intricate up-close with the different little shell-like pieces and the fact that his boots are furry. I love the big cape and the black and white fur around his shoulders. It’s really cool how they used his costume to change the shape of his in-game model to match the bodily proportions of the character art. It’s easier to see when you change his costume into the DLC ones, but the fur and cape build up his shoulders and chest look more broad while keeping that tiny little waist. The choice to give Dimitri an eyepatch is probably my favorite thing about this design. It’s genuinely inspired. Such a simple detail yet it tells the player everything they need to know about adult Dimitri when they see him post timeskip, in one frame the player can begin to understand the extent of his loss over the past five years. The subtle shadow under his eye in the first few Azure Moon chapters and the messy long-ish hair really help to sell the feral prince aesthetic as well, as it’s from those small cues the player gets that he’s exhausted (in more ways than one) and doesn’t maintain himself. None of these things are intentional choices by Dimtiri, they’re the result of what his character has been through.

Yellow is an intense, energetic color. Mostly, people think of it as being warm and inviting, the color of the sun and positivity. That intensity can be overwhelming, though, too visually demanding when compared to its primary counterparts. Don’t stare at the sun too long. Buuuut, it’s okay to stare at Claude. Claude not wanting to wear tight pants in either of his costumes is not only a mood, it is iconic. Pre timeskip, the softer lines of his silhouette makes him look kinda slouchy, kinda lazy. Like he’s not too concerned with appearances. But those adorably messy curls, the little braid, the clearly tended eyebrows, and earring make it clear that he DOES care about appearances and is very aware of his allure. And that’s before he even starts winking. It is honestly so in character that as many people picked him first on the basis of being thirsty, that feels like an intentionally Claude thing even if it was inserted by the designers. The contrast of his complexion with his seagreen eyes is gorgeous and instantly adds a kind of mystery and intrigue to him considering the setting... but it’s sf funny that nobody looked at bronze god Claude among a sea of white faces and thought something was up. Post timeskip, they used the same trick like they did with Dimitri to change Claude’s in-game model to match his canon appearance. The way they designed his uniform makes him not look as twink-ish, like he’s actually muscular and imposing and has the strength he’d need to shoot a war bow with a 120lbs draw weight. Also like Dimitri, you can instantly tell what Claude’s been up to. Like, he was very pretty pre timeskip but when he shows up in the Goddess Tower after those five years in all that gold, he demands your attention. Like a gentleman general with the excessive aesthetic ideals of the Alliance and details to imply his heritage. The quilted pants are amazing from both an aesthetic and practical standpoint. He’s a mounted unit riding a creature with scales, of course he’d want something on his legs for protection. And the chinstrap. I love that so much, it definitely makes him look more adult. He’s got such a cute soft baby face, it’s fun imagining him experimenting with different styles during the five years to get the most desired physical reaction to him as a leader. 

Frenchfries, meet forehead. No, actually, Edelgard’s design is really fantastic. Claude and Dimitri both have realistically colored eyes and hair and then there’s Edelgard. Dimitri shrugs off attention physically and Claude shirks it with a wink but Edelgard commands the players attention from the very start. Although I’m sure there’s a lot of things to associate with white hair and purple eyes, my first thought was Daenerys from Game of Thrones. Otherworldly beautiful by with an edge. Red, of course, is The power color. Strong emotions, love and hate. Red is also associated strongly with blood, which is very important to Edelgard’s plot. Granted, I think the red and black association is even more powerful than JUST red and red is the cheapest play to make in regards to displaying villainy (I mean, there are some pretty universally recognized associations with red and black and it led to people making some unfair comparisons between Edelgard and a famous dictator) but I think it was effective and well used and I genuinely enjoy its use in her case. Anyway, if I had a major complaint about her design it would be the weird ashy color of her hair whereas Lysithea’s hair is pure white. Which doesn’t even matter with the AMAZING hair horns. Ram horns can actually symbolize quite a few things, but their association with power and strength is pretty universal I think. They’re also used in demonic imagery. I love that THIS was her alternative to a crown. Edelgard views herself as a force of war and power before she thinks of herself as royalty. She also mentions that she isn’t super vain, but she loves to do her hair, so the hair being the most elaborate part of her look is entirely in-character. Edelgard’s ensemble is, like Claude, very militaristic. I love that they kept her in a dress that embraces femininity without showing skin as that wouldn’t really suit her Also, again, Edelgard demands your attention. She’s dressed all in bright bright red waving around a giant axe. She is a symbol as much as she is a combatant, someone to follow. I didn’t really mention their secondary lord costumes, but a girl in sexy armor is literally everything and I love that they had the balls to put their main sexy waifu girl in full body armor.

Okay I’m sorry I realize this was excessive and probably didn’t need explaining and I’m not sure I even articulated my thoughts properly but anyway I love their designs so here is the positivity I’ll put into the world.

[chloebenningtonfmp]

Japanese styles

Okami

Ōkami is an action-adventure video game developed by Clover Studio and published by Capcom. i really love the design and look of this game and all the concept art with it. i think its. beautiful game with really detailed art work but the game itself looks super simple which is a really cool contrast. i actually quite like the quality of the game, i know it doesnt look good at all but i think it really goes with the theme of the game and style. i am really glad i have looked at this because it has given me many ideas and i will have it to look back on when i need more ideas. 

junko Mizuno

Junko Mizuno  is a Japanese manga artist. Her drawing style is often termed as Gothic kawaii or kawaii noir style. i quite like her style and the composition of all her art work, its very different to the normal manga but its very unique, i like the colour pallets and how they are quite mutual. her work is also very detailed and intricate, as well as being very funky and unusual with her style. 

with Junko Mizuno’s work its very detailed and has a very adult looking design that wouldn't be suitable for the younger audience, there is also always a lot going on within her art work and its very busy. this wouldn't fit my style as much as some other designs would like mini ninjas for example. i feel like this wouldn't attract as many people as a simpler and cuter design would. as much as her designs are amazing its just not my style and not the aim i am going for. 

Red steel

Red Steel is a first-person shooter video game, this was published in 2006 so the gameplay doesnt look very good, but the art work that goes with this game looks really cool and is the style i kinda want to go for in my fmp. i think the colours and the art work style go really well and it really adds the japanese style. 

with red steel it is a very adult based design, and has a specific style. as much as these designs are really good and i would love to have this as my style i don’t think it would fit with what i’m wanting to do because of the adult looking design. i want my game to be more appealing to the younger audience, whereas this game could have an age rating. there is parts of this game designs i could take like the colour schemes  and the scenery around it and change it slightly to fit my style.

Kena: bridge of spirits 

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a 2021 action-adventure video game, this video game looks reall pretty and magical it has a small hint of japanese style within it but i also love the character design and the outfit that she wears. the magical forrest aspect i really like and i could use this slightly and incorporate something like this within my fmp. i also love the whole look of this game, for example the animation style and quality really just makes it. it is a very neat and put together game, which adds to the quality and style of it. 

kena: bridge of spirits has a very stylised look about it as you can see in this image above, i really love the look and style of it and how colourful and playful this game looks. i really want to aim for a stylised look like this in my final game design because i think it has a good design look that would attract many different audiences which i want for my game.

Kubo and the two strings

Kubo and the two strings is a family fantasy film released in 2016 and its about Kubo, a young boy, along with Monkey and Beetle, must find and wear his father's legendary suit of armour in order to defeat an evil spirit. i have looked at this because it relates to the style i want to make for my fmp. i really like the art work and colours from this film, it really makes it feel like youre in japan and it gives a really good feel. 

mini ninjas

mini ninjas is a 2009 action adventure game, i loved this game when i was growing up and i would play it all the time, i love the art work style within this game, one thing i like within this open world adventure concept is that the background is 2d and the foreground is open world, it makes it look the world is much larger than it actually is and it gives it a simple design and doesnt make the world look over busy. i really lik the art designs within this and i want to take inspiration from these and make something of my own.

[inheritorofmemories-archive]

Let’s talk about The Old Guard’s OST

And I don’t mean the songs because I don't have that many opinions on them and I'm sure other people can talk about that better than me, but the music that was written for the movie by Volker Bertelmann and Dustin O’Halloran.

Note: I'm only gonna talk about the instruments, themes and parallels, not really about scales or that kind of more technical details, for the sake of saving time.

Okay so here's an analysis by me, a music nerd that can't help but overthink everything they like. Featuring lots of appreciation for minimalist music and cool symbolism.

Why is the Old Guard’s soundtrack so good and so fitting?

The whole thing is under read more because it’s long

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First, the composers.

I don’t know Bertelmann, but I’ve listened to some of O’Halloran’s work (he did The Hate U Give ost). He also worked with Johann Johannsson in the past a big name in the composer and movie soundtrack world (he did Mother!, Prisoners, Arrival amongst other).

O’Halloran cites Arvo Pärt as a big influence in his music. It’s almost all thanks to him and his work that the ambient and minimalist music was born, he’s a huge name. Minimalist and ambient are (to oversimplify it) simple tune, with as little notes as possible, little melody repeated over and over, soft percussion, it embodies the idea that “the less the better”.

What I’m trying to get at is, ambient and minimalist are now very related to the film soundtrack world because by essence ambient is making feel things with less, and that suits the need to uplift images with music that’s not overpowering. (Go listen to Max Richter’s work, he’s one of the first minimalist that was employed in the movie industry, and the Waltz with Bashir ost is amazing.)

Which takes me to this: The Old Guard’s ost doesn’t read like an usual action movie, or super hero movie ost because they used ambient instead of big brass and powerful electric sounds like you’re used to. And that’s what makes it so good for this film. 

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So, let’s get to the actual ost. We’ll do it chronologically.

The ost has 24 tracks that amount to 46 min, for a 2 h movie that is in the norm. And the thing is, every instrument has a purpose, is assigned to someone or something and when you listen to it, you can understand that the composers tried to push along the director’s intention with the music.

The movie start with shells falling on the ground and Andy’s speech in complete silence, you’re thrown into the movie: it’s serious and it deals with the character’s emotional drive. Then, bam! “We were born alone” comes on and that solidify this idea.

The first track is The Old Guard, and it gives us a couple thing: the team’s music is composed of synthesizers, long notes held over some soft percussions. There’s piano in this track, and the piano=emotions, memory. But we figure that out later.

We find those elements again in the second track, Hotel. This time the synths are more present because Andy is watching the news and feeling bad about it. And the third one, A New Mission feature synth that are more agressive, since they’re on a mission, and what we assume are their peak coordination as a team. They’re as complementary as you can get for the South Sudan mission, that’s what this part show us.

One element that’s import to note: those three tracks all have choirs, faint in the first but in the third they peak, and you can actually hear them really well in the movie. Choirs are the marks of the Old Guard, of the team, and as soon as they dream of Nile, we won’t hear choirs anymore because the team isn’t complete, they need to find her.

This brings us to Nile. The end of Double Bubble and Nile tells us something else, Nile is the strings, and violon. When Andy leaves to get Nile, there’s string with her synth, because she’s her mission. We hear them when Nile speaks to the children in Afghanistan, and when she dies there’s strings and piano.

That’s when we understand that the piano is memory and emotions. There is piano mixed with heavier percussion for Quynh’s track The Iron Maiden, the memory and pain with a typical Old Guard’s instrument, and percussion are great to show the exhilaration of riding with Andy and the fear of being locked in the iron maiden.

In Booker’s track when he talks about his children in the cave, They Grow Old, we also have a piano, because he’s remembering and also feeling grief and sorrow.

And in What If We Don’t Live Forever? when Andy is sitting in the car after Celeste took care of her wound, we hear piano again, because she’s reflecting on Lykon’s death and her own mortality.  But, interesting details, strings join at the end of the track. Has Nile started to influence her character? Who knows, but I’m saying it.

And we have the piano again when Nile drive away when Andy and Booker go to Copley’s, because she’s thinking of her family and feeling guilty about the man she killed and feeling overwhelmed over her new immortal identity.

Also, when Joe and Nicky are taken and there’s only three of them left driving to the mine, we have almost no percussion and very soft synth, because the team isn’t complete, so why would the Old Guard's signature music be?

We do, very quickly, get their music when Nile look at Copley’s board and understand the role Andy and the Old Guard had in humanity, track Montenegro.

Nile get her own song moment with “Going Down Fighting" as she go save the team, and when she frees them, We Won’t Give Up mixes synth with her strings.

And to keep on with the awesome symbolism, in The Old Guard Attack (that moment before the explosion where they take down like 10 mercenaries together) over the sounds we get for them from the first three track there’s strings, Nile’s instrument. The team added her to their music, she’s accepted just like she accepted them with Montenegro when she came back for them.  That’s what we call very cool composition people.

And remember what I said about the choirs being gone? How for the entire movie, after they dream of Nile and Andy yeet herself jump from the train they’re nowhere to be heard? At the end for You Are Going To Help Us, they’re back. Because Nile has chosen her way,  she’s an Old Guard now, she’s part of the family so she gets to have the Old Guard music too.

Just listen to The Old Guard and You Are Going to Help Us, the first and last track. They are very similar in melody and structure, but in the second one you get more prominent strings. Again, Nile’s instrument. Is it subtle enough yet?

I’ve skipped some tracks because once you expose the idea it gets repetitive to mention it from all tracks it appears in, but you get the idea.

Seriously if you have time try to give it a listen, it’s actually really nice. Tho, fair warning, I’m the kind of person that listen to movies and games soundtracks for fun all the time and geek out about ambient music, so...

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And finally, to come back to what I said, and why this ost is so good, I need to talk about the whole atmosphere Gina Prince-Bythewood gave to the movie.

I talked a bit about it here (long post too, sorry), but the movie isn’t all big explosions and SFX and actions in your face. It’s gritty, dark, and incredibly realist. GPB said she used blood pocket for the Kill Floor scene (The Old Guard - How to Shoot a Shootout- Netflix, at about 3:30 she talks about it) because she needed the gore realism of blood spraying out of them. That’s why there’s no fancy light, neons and colors nor very symmetrical or intricate photography but washed out lights and very minimal outstanding feature and even coloring unless it’s to make a point (there’s a post about centering subject in the shot in The Old Guard going around, like Nile in the elevator at the end, very cool). It’s also why they used wide angle for the camera and the “shaky cam”, the camera that’s moving along the characters with lot of shakes because it’s on the cameraman’s shoulder (think documentaries and things like that, again, grounded and realistic film) and not smoothly like you would see in a Fincher movie for example.

It’s also why the most sober ost works so well. It’s not like John Wick with the guitars of Tyler Bates and Le Castle Vania electro, or the Avengers big brass and epic musics. Not, it’s soft, it’s barely noticeable and it only pushes for more emotions, it doesn’t artificially force any on you. The plot and actor’s acting do that for you.

That’s why I think the ost fit so well, no matter that some people think it’s boring or non existent. That’s the goal, to have a soundtrack that uplift without shadowing, something that's just as dark and neutral and gritty as the photography and themes of death, immortality, humanity, etc.

That being said, go listen to some ambient, it’s nice.

[imagine-jjba]

Here's another ask! How about some student headcanons for Josuke, Koichi, Okuyasu, & Jotaro? ^^ for example, what kind of habits or quirks do you think they'd have while studying? Also - Another amazing one! Seriously, I'm gonna end up reading all of your works in one night from how lovely they are 😭 I hope I can provide a variety of asks instead of repetitive ones lol !

student headcanons!

hi! thank you for another lovely ask! i’m glad you enjoy my works! not sure if i should make any of these shippy with reader, but i’ll try to include the reader into these! also, i hope you can forgive me for sending in the last one later. truth be told, i thought i finished it and posted it earlier. but it seems that i didn’t finish it, so i did that and posted it. the original thing was supposed to come out much earlier than it did. i’m so sorry for that!

anyway, here’s your student headcanons with josuke, koichi, okuyasu, and jotaro! i’m sorry if some of them are too short for your liking!

@bijoucupid

josuke ;

when he gets to school, he’s always looking for either you or okuyasu, if he hasn’t walked to school with him that day (though, that’s on a rare occasion). he’s very excited to meet up with his friends.

things are very different compared to when he meets you and okuyasu at school. when he meets oku, he’s loud and rambunctious, always wanting to mess around with him and have fun. however, with you, he’s more gentlemanly (thank you for passing that trait down to him, jonathan!) and softer. he wants to give you the impression that he’s cool.

after he meets up with either one of you, he’ll go to his classes. he’s always bored in them, so he spends his free time making small doodles of whatever his mind can think of. sometimes, he can even blank out and doodle random scribbles before realizing that he was doing that.

he’s not very good at note-taking, to be perfectly honest. he’s good at it when he wants to be, but the thing is, he’s normally either too bored or lazy to take notes. he’d be getting better grades than average if he did the notes and paid more attention!

josuke’s pencil case is simple, yet neat and only full of essentials. a pencil, pen, eraser, and a highlighter. everything else, he hasn’t bothered with bringing. he’s satisfied that it isn’t too heavy, though.

he has a certain degree of dislike for school. he’d rather be spending his time with his friends, you, or playing video games at home. though, while he’s stuck at school, his favorite normal school activity are gym classes! he loves being able to participate in the fun sports that they set up. even if he’s good at the sports, he really doesn’t have any time to join an actual team.

he’s also very popular with the girls, even the teachers at his school. they always compliment him, especially his hair. the teachers love to say that he’s a good kid and that he should continue his studies. of course, he’s always very nice to him since they are his elders.

you can normally find him during lunch being surrounded by girls. he doesn’t mind the attention, but if it gets to be too much, he’ll get embarrassed that he’s causing a scene. especially if they’re trying to gain his attention while you’re around! he wants to be intimate and spend time with you while he can find the time to!

once the girls are finally shooed away and josuke has some space to himself, he’ll usually go find where his group of friends are. usually, it’ s just okuyasu since koichi was stolen away by yukako, but every once in a while, he’ll find the couple with okuyasu.

when it’s just him and his best pal, he’ll often talk about the new video games that he knows are coming out. or maybe play some card games with him. whatever keeps them having fun and busy, really. they love to share their interests with each other.

when the whole group is together, they’ll often talk about new stands that have come into the town, whatever they can all talk about and actually have interest in equally.

when he’s with you, however, he’ll want to spend it completely alone. he likes to take you either outside or to an empty classroom where you two can laugh and share your meals together. it always feels like a little date that you improvised together, but it’s always fun.

after the end of the day, he’ll walk home and settle down to play video games. however, tomoko stops him after an hour and makes him do his homework. he hates it, but it really needs to get done.

when he’s studying at home, his mind tend to wander off, but he’s able to pull it back quickly and focus more on the homework. he’s usually wondering what he should do after studying, what his friends/you are doing, or if he should help his mom cook.

his notes are a bit messy, but it’s nothing too bad! it’s just like the average student’s notes! he’s very diligent and to the point with them, but there’s always unrelated doodles on the side of them.

also, when doing projects, he’s very lazy with them. normally, he does the minimum amount to get a decent grade and nothing else. all he really cares about is his friends, but at least he’s putting in some effort.

he’ll usually wait until the last day to finish his project, spending all nighters if he has to. he usually regrets them, but that never stops his ways.

during a group project, however, he doesn’t want be seen as lazy or a “slacker,” so he’ll get his part done as early as possible and let his other group members take care of their parts. if he sees one of them struggling, he’ll even ask if they need help!

overall, he’s an average student. he doesn’t like school, but won’t mind it if it’s something that needs to be done.

koichi ;

koichi is a very intelligent student, first and foremost. he’ll do his work on time and turn it in as early as possible. he wants to work hard to not disappoint those around him.

when he gets to school, he’ll usually try to get to his classroom so that he can have some alone time from the chaos he knows the day will be, but yukako always manages to capture him before. they y’all for a little bit before they have to get to classes.

when he’s in his class, he tries very hard to pay attention. he’ll listen to everything the teacher says and write it down as quickly and neatly as possible, so that he can read over his notes at a later time and understand them.

he’s one of those students that goes overboard with what supplies they have. he carries around many things that he may never even end up using! but, still, he needs to be prepared. this own pencil case holds many things that either you, yukako, or his mother may have suggested to put in.

during lunch, he’ll want to eat with some of his friends, but is normally dragged away by yukako who insists to eat alone together. he’s fine with it and all, but he’d like to spend at least one moment with his friends! he loves her, though, so he’ll go along with whatever she has planned for that lunch.

when he finally gets his time with the students of the dwang gang, he likes to mainly listen in on the conversations that everyone is having. he doesn’t have much to input into a conversation. somethings, he doesn’t even know about. but he likes to listen to others opinions about things.

he’s not considered a popular kid, but he does have people who enjoy him and his company. he’s known by kids in his class, but he’s much less notiable than josuke. a moderate amount of popularity!

koichi is also considered a teacher’s pet, doing many things for them and listening to them. he’s mature enough to get the teacher’s attention and gain their trust. he uses it very wisely.

at the end of the day, he’ll head home and immediately do his homework. he doesn’t want to accidentally take a nap and forget to do it, so he’ll do it right as he comes home as a “just in case” scenario.

his teachers say many praises and good things about him! he’s very reliable and likable to them. though, they do say that he’s nervous about speaking up in class.

this is true, actually! he’s somewhat socially anxious when he has to present things. he tends to over complicate things and make them more than they seem. when he’s presenting in front of the class, he’ll be much quieter and shy, but will try to give as much confidence as he can muster up.

his notes are very intricate and detailed. he uses different colored highlighters in his notes to signify what exactly each important note is. he also has nice handwriting.

when reviewing and studying his notes at home, he usuall has a straight forward plan for them. he’ll review the notes and look over them once before hiding them and quizzing himself. if he gets the answer right, he’ll move onto the next question. however, if he gets the answer wrong, he’ll study it and look over it carefully before trying again.

he loves individual projects! he loves to put his own creativity into whatever he does in his projects. usually, he can’t express those ideas as well when he’s in a group. he’ll love to pitch idea with them, though.

overall, koichi is a great student, very exemplorary and a good example to a lot of students who could use a little push in schooling.

okuyasu ;

okuyasu has a fond dislike of school. he’s not very smart, nor does he remember to do most of his work. though, his friends are always there to help him get back on track with his studies!

when he first gets to school, he’ll always be looking for josuke. he loves hanging out with him almost everyday. but he’ll also be looking for you when the thought comes to mind. he also loves spending his time with you, even more so tham his best pal josuke.

if he meets up with you first, he’s like a puppy craving affection. he’ll always be by yourself and wanting to hold your hand, which you allow. it’s so weird how he managed to get someone like you by his side, especially like this, but it’s something that he would never regret.

if he meets up with josuke, he’ll laugh along with him and talk to him about whatever was up with him. if nothing new had changed, he’ll say so and move onto a different topic. however, if something in his life changed, he’ll talk all about it in his usually funny ways. he’s very expressive with his body.

in class, he usually gets bored. it’s very noticeable on his face. sometimes, he can even fall asleep during the boring lessons and lectures that the teacher gives. he’ll get scolded for falling asleep, of course. but he really hates listening to them and would rather do anything else.

he never takes notes in class, only when he’s practically forced to. when he does take notes, it’s very rushed and scribbled down as fast as possible. he never thinks about studying this sort of stuff after school. after all, who needs it when you’ve got cool friends?!

he’s always playing with something on his desk, usually with the pencil that he sometimes brings to school. other times when he does forget it, he’ll play with the paper that the teacher has given him. if there’s a will, there’s a way, as everyone constantly says and knows. and there is a will to be distracted from class, that’s for sure!

his favorite period of the day is lunch, of course! he’s normally packed a nice lunch with him. though, it’s never usually enough. he’s always hungry even after his meal, trying to see if any of his friends are full and don’t want their meals.

he only really enjoys going to school because he gets to have fun with his friends. he loves them and would protect them with his life, just like he’s done in the past.

when he gets home from school, he never really does his work unless one of his friends help him. he’s not good at it, but he still wants to pass his grade! he isn’t really sure how he even made it up to this point without his friends help!

he’s totally not popular with most people. they think he’s not good looking or smart enough to hang around with. it’s a bad stigma to be around, but he really doesn’t mind it. just as long as he has his good few friends, he’s alright with any insults that are thrown his way. though, that doesn’t mean he won’t want to fight back. he just chooses not to.

he’s also really jealous of josuke sometimes, how many girls get to go up to him. but then again, he has an amazing partner like you. he wouldn’t trade anything in the world for you, so he’s glad that he doesn’t get much attention from anyone like that.

he never studies, not unless it’s woth friends. by himself, he tries to, but he ends up getting too distracted and does something else with his time instead. his mind doesn’t focus on one thing so easily.

he loves doing group projects. they motivate him so much to get the work done, especially when he sees his friends working around him. he’ll mostly follow their lead and work as much and as hard as he can.

sadly, though, individual projects aren’t the same. he’s always confused and always asks help from his friends, leading the project inevidibly turning into a grouo effort.

his teachers say nice things about his personality, but that’s about it. you can tell that they don’t expect much from okuyasu, but whatever good things that do come from him, they celebrate it in their own ways. they always commend him for being such a nice young man once you get to know him, however.

overall, he’s a much better person than a student. he’d rather do anything besides school work and isn’t too good with it, but with the help of his friends, he feels as though he can do anything! he also loves you very much.

jotaro ;

jotaro is a different story, really. he doesn’t know what to do in his high school years, always going back and forth between the idea of being a marine biologist and whatever else. he doesn’t know what’s in store for his future just yet.

regardless of not knowing that, he still tries his best to keep up with the work. even though he’s more of a delinquent than any of the young members of the dwang gang could ever be, he still manages to get exceptionally good grades. he’s actually one of the most intelligent in his classes!

throughout his high school years, he didn’t have many friends. the “friends” that he had, before the events of hunting dio down, had mostly abandoned him due to how scary and intimidating he seemed.

after, however, he did seem to have a reliable friend and a partner. you were always by his side and he could never ask for anything more, even if that is cheesy to admit.

he can always be found doing things that he’s not allowed to do in school. but he does them anyway. honestly, no one in the family knows why he turned out to be a delinquent after being such a cute child (from what family pictures holly had shown you). maybe it was him just going through a phase.

in class, he’s quiet, yet intimidating. he doesn’t take notes, as he knows that it would make him seem a little less cool. then again, you’re in his class and already know that he knows most of this stuff. he’s a dork for knowledge, after all. he loves learning, ironically!

when lunch comes around, he’s always hanging around with you. he’ll eat his lunch while trying to make sure that you’re safe, even when there isn’t any threat of anyone or anything around. he’s paranoid most of the time. though, after going to egypt, you guess that he has a right to be anxious.

he always does his homework when he comes home, only after his welcome home kisses (he’s embarrassed about it and will never say that he even gets them, let alone enjoy them.) and a snack from holly. for him, it’s fairly simple to do. he always manages to turn it in, even if he skips a class or something similar to that. you wonder how he’s able to do it sometimes. maybe with the help of star platinum? you have no idea.

everyone and their grandmothers also know that he’s very popular, particularly with women. they’re always trying to talk to him and gain his attention. though, he could really care less about them. it’s irritating to him, but they never seem to leave, even if he yells at them to go away. maybe they’re just immune to his threats.

he studies a lot at home. though, it’s about more advanced subjects. he has books upon books of study material, things that you don’t even know anything about yet. but when you come over, you’re always eager to learn about what he’s up to with those books.

when it comes to projects, he’s not the best at them. he doesn’t care for things like that. he only really cares about the grade, so he tries to make it simple and come up with a decent design. not very creative, but it’s something.

people would usually just offer to do the work for him in group projects. he knows that it’s because they think that he would beat them up if he didn’t make them do the work. or it’s because they’re genuinely nice people. he really doesn’t care, letting them do whatever they want.

his teachers don’t say too much about him, mostly in fear of him. of course, he won’t do anything to them, they’re his elders and that wouldn’t be respectful at all. he would just give them looks at the most. they do, however, think that he’s a very smart student and has potential for great things.

in college, he’s much more careful with his studies. this is the part that counts towards his degree in marine biology, after all. he needs to be perfect at everything he does in college.

he’s a good student in college, almost never missing a class and genuinely interested in the topics that are spoken about. he loves learning about all the different sciences and how to study a certain type of aquatic plant or animal.

sometimes, when coming up with his own scientific experiments, he’ll ask you to help him out. of course, you accept with open arms and help him to the best of your abilities. though, he wants you to be precise and orderly. it’s a bit hard to keep up with him!

generally, in high school, he’s mostly seen as a delinquent. but to you, he’s just a real big dork that loves learning. he’s very interested in sciences, specifically marine biology and later on, plans to make that his degree in college.

[neocatharsis]

“Finding My Style with NCT 127!” This time, the leader of the group, TAEYONG!

Read full interview here https://mensnonno.jp/post/35509/

MN: In our pre-interview questions, we asked every member of NCT 127 how you would like to introduce yourself to the readers of MEN’S NON-NO as if you were a friend meeting for the first time. Your answer was very simple and to the point;

“I am someone who loves to dance and rap.”

When did you realize that this was the core of who you are?

T: This is actually what I just recently started feeling. It has been four years since my debut, which makes this my fifth year as a performing artist. I have been on many stages. In the past, I think the help I received from those around me, and my colleagues, is how I was encouraged to work hard and somehow gain confidence in what I did. But now, having gone through that process, I feel I have grown enough to be able to adequately show my rap and dance skills on stage.

MN: To the question, “What is the one thing that you can hold your head up high about?” you wrote,

“TAEYONG on stage.”

T: Yes, that’s right! I feel like I have just reached the point where I am fully ready to stand on stage.

MN: Do you have an ideal about yourself as to how you would like to be seen by others?

T: Well… I aspire to show all of me to the audience. So, if they could all just watch over me with a little more interest, I’m sure they will be able to understand everything about me.

MN: From the aspects of “dance” and “rap” that are important to you right now, could you share with us which songs and what sections of each song you really want the fans to see, respectively?

T: For rap, I would say ‘Chain’, which was our debut song in Japan. We have a Japanese version and a Korean version, so we rap in both languages. Then, I would say my solo song, ‘Long Flight’, which was just released over a year ago. For dance, I would say ‘Kick It’, which YUTA-san also brought up in the previous interview.

MN: Speaking of dance, you have posted many online videos of your freestyle dancing.

T: I have a lot of recommendations, but if I were to pick just one, it would have to be the one where I dance to The Pack’s ‘Oh Go’. I have great memories of how much fun it was to shoot that one with other members of NCT 127, and more than anything, the scenery was pivotal. We shot that one in Thailand. When shooting a video for my freestyle dancing, I’m very particular about the scenery. This is because I always want to incorporate the beautiful landscape I find in all the places from each country we travel to when touring. It’s not like I prepare before going to a location, but rather, shoot when we run into a place that I find beautiful. So, the dancing may not always be perfect, but I am pleased about this video where we were able to capture the beautiful landscape in Thailand. 

MN: So, it is a creative piece of work where your inspiration came to life.

T: Yes, exactly. There are times when I don’t quite nail it, but I always aim to get a good one.

What Is Vital For You As A Global Artist?

MN: Is there something that is vital for you when performing in different countries under the slogan “To the world”?

T: I think this is something we share with many other artists. Each country has its own language and some words should not be used. There are also ways you shouldn’t act. So, you have to be aware of these things. Each time we are on the stage, I believe it is important to communicate with our fans in each country. I try to understand the culture and come up with a style that is appropriate for that culture. At the same time, I also want to share with the audience what I feel emotionally at that moment, as well as how touched I am. As I mentioned earlier, the scenery is very important to me, and I honestly just love to see the landscapes, So, when I find the beauty in that country, I simply want to share that with the fans of other countries.That is why I try to take as many photographs as I can.

What Kind Of Team Is NCT 127?

MN: As the leader of the group, what kind of a team would you say is NCT 127? Could you tell us some of the good points?

T: First of all, I don’t really think of myself as a leader, most of the time (LOL). But as TAEYONG, one of the team members, I can honestly say that each and every one of us has so many possibilities, with the power to open many doors. That is why I think we are a team that will be able to continue to enjoy sharing our time with our fans for a long time to come and build on good memories together. For me, all the members are kind, respectful, multi-talented, and I have nothing but praise for their personalities. Even though there are a lot of us, I believe that we all understand one another. This is always something I think about, but we already work hard to do our best and we do live up to expectations. So all we really need to do, is continue to do ‘our norm’, and that to me, is taking our cool to another level.

MN: How wonderful it must be to feel so proud of everyone in your group.

T: Of course, the power in our performances are something to be said for! I personally have also been deeply inspired by NCT 127 when it comes to music. Even with life in general, the great memories keep piling up every day, and it has also been a blessing to meet so many of our fans.

Any Memorable Moments With Your Fans?

MN: Speaking of your fans and being cool, to our question, “What does NCT 127 consider as being cool”, you answered,

“The coolest thing would be the cheering voices of our fans heard from the stage.”

What do your fans mean to you?

T: That is a very tough question (in Japanese). I am always surrounded by many super nice people, and even though I am perfectly happy, we receive further support and love from the fans. I really appreciate how they make me want to try harder, which is a driving force that motivates me even more. So, in the same way, I want to think about our fans as much as they do about us.

MN: What memorable moment do you have of looking into the audience from the stage?

T: On our last Japan tour, I loved the atmosphere when we sang the song titled ‘Long Slow Distance’. The setlist prior to that song was mainly performance-based with intricate staging, but suddenly the mood became very calm and serene. When we were singing this song, I felt like we were able to take the time to really look into our fans’ faces, and that the fans were also able to look into our faces. That was a memorable moment that felt amazing.

How Did You Come To Know About Music and Culture, And What Are Your influences?

MN: When looking over your responses to our questions, it feels like your older sister has had a significant impact on you. In response to the question about your influences, you said, “My sister. My sister has had a big impact on me because a lot of the things I like, for example, Japanese anime by Studio Ghibli and music, like Justin Timberlake, they all came from my sister.” Then, in response to the question about who you admire because of his or her style, you answered, “I used to like Cole Mohr because of my sister. His style was so funk and super cool.”

T: Whenever I had difficult times, my sister was always there to be by my side, so it was only natural that I came to rely on her. Every little thing, really even things that were trivial, became good memories for me. For example, during the hot summer months, sometimes I slept in my sister’s room because she had an air conditioner. That was when she showed me Ghibli movies and we had some good times together. Also, I got a hand-me-down MP3 player from my sister, and when I looked at the song list inside, the music my sister listened to was in there. Justin Timberlake and a lot of other pop songs. I wasn’t that interested in the music at the time, but after I listened to it, I found there were a lot of really good songs. So, that’s when I started listening to that type of music even more.

MN: So, that’s why your sister pops up more than once regarding your influences.

T: Yes. To think those tiny little memories would one day become a huge part of who I am now. I really think I owe it to my sister, That’s why I love my sister so much, and I still rely on her as well.

What Kind Of Adult Do You Want To Live To Be?

MN: There were some responses that caught our attention that had nothing to do with your group activities or fashion, so let’s go into detail regarding those. In response to the question, “What kind of an adult do you want to become?”, you answered, “I want to be an adult that someone can rely on.” Is there a reason behind this?

T: In the process of growing up, other than my parents, I feel like I met adults in society for the first time after joining SM (SM Entertainment, an agency for NCT 127). I mean, I’m sure I was blessed with good adults around me back then as well, but at that time I was a child and didn’t really think about it. But after I joined SM Entertainment, I met adults I could look up to, and there was a time when I knew I wanted to become like that. So, as I grew older and the years passed by, when I started to think “I wonder what kind of an adult I’ll become”, I always felt like I wanted the strength to be able to protect someone, and to have the intellectual sharpness and cleverness to be able to do so. So, I could have just as easily responded that “I want to become a decent adult”, but because I want to be an adult who has the strength to be able to protect someone, I wrote, “I want to become an adult that someone can rely on.”

MN: To the question, “What do you want to conquer?”, your response of “I want to conquer the future to come,” was also quite impressive.

T: Even though I haven’t lived that long, when you jump into society and live your life, I’ve come to learn that you have to conquer your past, the present, and the future. I am able to do what I want to do right now because I was fortunate enough to find a good agency. So, in that respect, I am grateful to both the past and the present. But who really knows what the future will bring, you know? I’m sure that many of you are hoping to live your lives while preparing for the future, and I am the just same. So, in answer to this question, that is the reason why I wrote that I want to conquer the future more than I do the past or present. I feel that I want to place my worries on the future more than anything else because it has yet to come.

MN: You mentioned earlier that you “want to become an adult that someone can rely on”. We can see how you deeply care about the people around you, while also having a positive outlook on the future.

T: Well, I think a big part of it has to do with the fact that I am surrounded by good people. As I continue to work, I can honestly say that I am the type of person who has a strong sense of always being helped by the people around me. The fact is, these people care about me, support me, and work alongside me, and I hope to continue to work with them for a long time to come. This desire heightens my sense of responsibility. The same is true for the other members. The more I am surrounded by good people, the greater my sense of responsibility becomes.

MN: You said you don’t really think of yourself as the leader, but it seems like you are aware of your surroundings and that you have various thoughts on your mind.

T: Hahaha, no, no.

MN: Finally, to sum up your story thus far, what would you say, TAEYONG-san’s “My Own Style” is…

T: It’s about “meeting” others. Everyone around me and the agency has made me who I am today. I love them all. I want to cherish each and every person I meet, so that I can have the opportunities to step into environments that are good and to be able to achieve what I want to do.

MN: Please tell us what we can expect from NCT 127 in the future.

T: Our new 2nd mini-album for Japan, ‘LOVEHOLIC’, will be released on December 23rd. We are working on it now, and you can expect great things! We look forward to seeing you all in Japan soon.

MN: Thank you very much for today.

T: (In Japanese) Thank you right back. Looking forward to the next time〜!

[mrenvs3000]

Art in Nature

My love for nature has always walked hand in hand with my love for art. While I am not an amazing artist, I do put effort into my work and I find peace while I do it. As I spent time outdoors the beauty inspired me constantly, as the world has endless wonders to look at. My imagination always surpasses my skills, but I love to imagine humans intertwined with nature. This has made me see the how intricate and detailed the nature can be, from the scales of a butterfly to the veins in a leaf.

I think that my love for insects has also improved my capabilities when it comes to interpreting nature through art. I say this because I think that insects are greatly overlooked, and if you take the time to examine them, you see how gorgeous they can be. I have only been collecting insects for a few years now, and still people are amazed at what I show them. There are so many amazing and complex insects out there, and people do not even know they exist. They can be neon green or neon pink, they can have spots or stripes, be large or small, intricate, or simple. I have found that people are often surprised or amazed at what insects I show them because they are something they have never stopped to look at before. I love that I have a crew of older men working in a cemetery looking out for cool insects or interesting thing outside to show me. I work with a team of older men as groundskeepers at a large cemetery, and after annoying them with bug facts and bringing bugs into the breakroom, they fell under the influence of seeing what nature has to offer.

I will continue to look for beauty EVERYWHERE in nature, from moss to eagles, I want to admire it. I am curious if anyone has a photo that they think truly shows how beautiful nature is, whether it be an animal, a plant or a view! I’d love to see what people find beautiful.

[julesby10]

all of it’s a bit insane

A/N: Hello! This is the (almost late) entry for ShinoMitsu Week Day 1 - first kiss/confession

A bit of an end of summer college!AU for y’all because these two have suffered enough.

All of this was inspired by @tanukified 's art, so go check them out (though if you're in the shinomitsu tag, I'm sure you already know them).

Rating: G

Tags: fluff, college!au, summer romance, sunset, first kiss, love confessions

Summary: It's the last day of summer, tomorrow the world will go back to normal. It never bothered Shinobu, not until now. Not until Mitsuri.

FF.NET | AO3

“Hey, do you want to go to the cliff?” Mitsuri asked as she was patting her wet hair with a towel. “Just you and me?”

Shinobu might have declined the offer in any other circumstance, but it was the last day of summer. She’d studied enough in the past few weeks to ace her exams and there was nothing demanding her immediate attention. Kanao was back on the beach with her friends and she had been planning to stay the night at the Kamado’s place, so Shinobu didn’t have to worry about that.

“Sure, why not.”

Mitsuri smiled and Shinobu felt like she’d forgotten how to breathe. Even in a simple white t-shirt and shorts, with her hair messy from a quick shower and her cheeks red from a day at the beach Mitsuri looked stunning. And it wasn’t even from a merely physical point of view, there was a special kind of warmth to her, as if she was made of love and nothing else.

“Are you there?”

Mitsuri laughed, already at the door, and Shinobu snapped out of her stupor, looking for her shoes to avoid showing the redness she could feel on her face. She had, honest to God, never met a person as distracting as Mitsuri.

“Aren’t you going to dry your hair?”

Mitsuri shrugged, still smiling in that way that made Shinobu feel like she was drunk. “The wind will take care of it.”

By now, getting behind Mitsuri on her pink bike was a familiar gesture, as was holding onto her waist for safety, as was burying her face in her hair, surrounded by the sweet smell of her coconut conditioner. She just hoped Mitsuri had never noticed the rate of her heartbeat.

It was almost the end of summer and Shinobu felt like it had been years instead of months. Something in her had shifted, something big she had no idea how to describe. She didn’t dislike it.

Time in the city dragged on between university lectures, exams, crowds of people all over the place and too many worries to count. Summer had always been much the same, just with fewer responsibilities and a change of scenery. Spending two or so months in their seaside house was nothing special to Shinobu. She had always done it for Kanao’s sake because she could bury herself in work all she wanted, but deep down she well knew it was not healthy and inflicting that on her sister would’ve been cruel. They had different ways of coping and Kanao was happy by the sea.

This summer had been… unusual. She’d met Mitsuri, for one, and her weird, weird group of friends.

According to Uzui, Shinobu fit right in, with her dyed hair and caustic sarcasm, and maybe he was right. It felt a bit like having a very big, very loud family and Shinobu wasn’t sure she was ready to admit that she’d missed the atmosphere. It was fun.

They spent their days on the beach, playing cards, swimming, running around on adventures. They were all so different, there was always something to do. The majority of the group was slightly older than her, starting with Mitsuri, but some were younger too and even Kanao had had no problems fitting in. Having people around was good, for both of them.

And having Mitsuri around felt… right. She’d immediately caught Shinobu’s attention and had still to let go.

One of Shinobu’s first thoughts had been that she had a body to die for, and seeing her in a bikini certainly left little to the imagination. Together with Shinobu’s envy was the kind of attraction she’d felt for other girls, which was nothing new. She was used to envy and she was used to attractive girls.

But Mitsuri was so much more than a nice body and a pretty face. Mitsuri felt like warmth and safety, she always had a smile and kind words for everyone and seemingly had no problems just unabashedly being herself in front of the rest of the world.

Her quirks didn’t stop at her dyed green and pink hair either. She loved food and she ate a lot, but she did it with such joy it was impossible not to be happy too. She was impossibly strong, which didn’t stand out too much in the very athletic group she was in, but it only made her more intriguing in Shinobu’s eyes, who’d always wished she could be stronger. Having someone like Mitsuri next to her almost felt like the real thing and Mitsuri never looked at her with pity or contempt, she didn’t care that Shinobu was small, she was just there, beautiful and steady as a statue cut from marble.

There were so many layers to Mitsuri, so many stories and small details that were not there unless you really looked, and when Shinobu caught herself staring it was already too late. To her defence, Mitsuri was easy to fall for.

They’d played volleyball all afternoon that day, and Shinobu was starting to feel it in her arms, but Mitsuri had never given even the slightest sign of being tired.

When they had won the last game against Uzui and Giyuu, Mitsuri had lifted her up in a crushing hug, salty and full of sand, but Shinobu never once thought it was bothersome. It made her happy, instead.

Mitsuri felt like home.

They dismounted from the bike and settled on the grass, far enough from the edge to not accidentally fall, but close enough that they could enjoy the view.

“I’ll miss this place, it’s so beautiful,” Mitsuri said around the straw of her milkshake. After meeting her, Shinobu had quickly learned that she was always hungry, so seeing her with random snacks didn’t faze her anymore.

It was true, though, the view from the cliff they were on was almost magical, the sun sinking slowly into the ocean, setting fire to the waves and sky as stars slowly took its place.

They remained in silence for a while, ears filled by the sound of the water below, the wind ruffling the grass and their hair. Being with the whole group was amazing, but Shinobu appreciated these small moments she had with Mitsuri purely for the fact that it was only them, the rest of the world be damned.

They’d taken walks on the beach in the early hours of the morning, when the sun was barely up, they’d shared pastries and secrets in the dead of the night, when everyone else had been asleep, they’d shared a couch that was way too small for two people when they’d been the last to get drunk.

“It almost feels like this is the last sunset I’ll ever see,” Shinobu murmured, not really looking at Mitsuri. She was following the intricate flight of a seagull. It glided on a current, then dipped down to the water to come back up in seconds.

Mitsuri giggled, soft like the windchimes next to Shinobu’s window. “Right? It feels final.”

“It kind of is,” Shinobu replied, sneaking a glance at Mitsuri. She was leaning back, her tanned skin in contrast with the white of her shirt, her long hair cascading down her shoulders in waves. Shinobu always wanted to run her hand through it but had never asked. Mitsuri turned to her with a smile, straw between her teeth.

“Yeah, well, there’s always next summer,” she casually said, as if it didn’t mean they would be apart for almost a year. Shinobu had never been bothered by the end of summer, it just meant she would go back to her usual routine. Now it almost scared her because she had no idea what normal meant if Mitsuri wasn’t in it.

The last few days had flown by, almost as if they’d purposefully decided to spite Shinobu.

“Mitsuri.”

Mitsuri answered with a questioning hum and a faint smile. The sun had almost set, but the remaining light painted strokes of golden on her cheeks, highlighting the symmetrical moles under her eyes and making her look like a work of art. She was so beautiful, Shinobu’s heart ached.

Her left hand, with its perfectly french manicured nails, was resting on the ground between them and Shinobu gently covered it with her own. Mitsuri didn’t move, seemingly surprised by the physical affection, but not denying it.

“I’ll miss you,” Shinobu whispered, so faint it almost got lost in the sound of the waves crashing against the cliff.

Mitsuri smiled, both happiness and sadness at the corners of her mouth, and Shinobu suddenly felt the overwhelming need to kiss the sadness away. She didn’t get the chance to, as Mitsuri engulfed her in a hug, milkshake forgotten beside her.

“I’ll miss you too, Shinobu, you have no idea,” she said, tightening the hug. “I love you so much.”

Shinobu was used to the way Mitsuri said ‘I love you’ so casually. She said it so often because it was true, she loved everyone, everything. Her love was all-encompassing and Shinobu felt selfish for wanting it all to herself.

She took a breath and pulled out of the hug to look Mitsuri in the eyes, those eyes that looked like the smooth pieces of glass they found in the sand, vibrant but soft.

“Mitsuri, I... love you.”

Mitsuri’s hands in hers were grounding, as her touch always was. Even when she had laid all her cards on the table, Shinobu felt safe, vulnerable, but safe.

She saw the meaning of the words slowly sink in, Mitsuri’s lips revealing a bright smile that was all teeth and no bite.

“Oh, I thought you’d never say it,” she laughed, watery and incredulous. “I love you too, Shinobu.”

And suddenly Mitsuri’s lips were on her own, cool and soft against her chapped ones. She let her arms go up to Mitsur’s neck, pulling her closer as she felt Mitsuri’s warm hands on her cheeks.

When they parted, Shinobu pressed their foreheads together and simply stared for a moment. Mitsuri’s eyes were glossy and, judging by the sting she felt behind her eyelids, hers were too. Shinobu was smiling so hard she could feel her muscles strain.

“You taste like sugar.”

Mitsuri laughed, tears spilling as he closed her eyes.

Shinobu couldn’t resist and kissed her again, before quite literally throwing herself into her arms, nestling her face into her neck. She smelled like salt and sun, and Shinobu whished she could always have it with her.

Minutes passed in silence, the sun now fully below the horizon, its warmth still lingering despite the shadows of dusk. They’d promised to meet everybody at the usual place on the beach for one last round of drinks, but they still had some time.

After a while, Mitsuri pulled out of the hug and brushed her fingers on her jaw and she’d been affectionate before, but never quite this intimately.

“What does this make us?”

Shinobu blushed slightly but smiled. “Girlfriends?”

Mitsuri placed a kiss on the corner of her mouth, the redness of her cheeks evident despite the tan and the approaching darkness. “Yeah, I like the sound of that.”

[latent-thoughts]

The Pursuit of a Simple Life (Chapter 2 - Pizza My Heart)

[Co-Authored with @emeraldrosequartz​]

Rating : 18+ (there be lots of citrus here).

Warning: None

Pairing: Loki/Original Female Character

Summary: Three years after returning to Earth with the other Asgardians following Ragnarok, Loki finds himself working for SHIELD, truly just trying to fight the boredom. While on an undercover mission, he unexpectedly begins to fall for his co-worker, Gemma, and she seems to feel the same way…about Dave, his alter ego while in disguise. Can Loki continue a relationship with her while keeping his true identity a secret? How many lies can the 'God of lies' spin to keep his pursuit of a simple life?

[Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017); THOR IS A GOOD BRO AND TOTALLY NOT HOW HE WAS IN RAGNAROK, THNX; Infinity War Doesn't Exist; Everyone lives]

A/N: Gemma and 'Dave' get to know each other a bit more over 'doggy style' pizza. And then she discovers certain things about him which are just too-good-to-be-true.

_________________________________

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Bold Text = Loki's POV

Normal Text = Gemma's POV

_________________________________

She took his hand, hoping he couldn’t feel her shaking. She felt like she was in a daze. Of Dave. A Dave Daze...

The restaurant - called “Pizza My Heart” (how awkward!) - was only a block away, so they walked over and found a booth next to the salad bar where the table wasn’t dirty or sticky.

After a few giddy minutes, Gemma finally relaxed enough to enjoy their conversation after her first slice of the “Doggy Style” pizza - Dave insisted he didn’t know what the term meant, but Gemma had her doubts. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to actually say what it meant.

And they talked...for hours. They talked about how stupid their jobs were, mostly. But he asked her so many questions about herself...she felt... special. Dave made her feel interesting and funny and cool. And as she got more comfortable with him...she started seeing him as less intimidatingly handsome and more...approachable. Like he might actually be more than just a distant infatuation.

Suddenly, the waiter told them that they were closing. Gemma looked around--they were the only ones left in the restaurant, and she hadn’t even noticed.

And it was two in the morning.

“Oh my GOD! I’m going to be a wreck tomorrow...” she groaned, but with a very happy smile on her face. “That’s ok. It was worth it. Best dinner I’ve had in a long time. Thank you, Dave!”

She raised her plastic soda cup in a toast.

Loki nudged his soda cup to hers, smiling widely. "I, for one, am very glad that I got to monopolize your time today. Finally got to know the girl who I only knew the name of. Though a beautiful name it is, I wanted more."

He watched the red creep up her peachy cheeks in response to his words. Really, making her blush was so much fun, it was almost like a game to him now.

What else could he say next to make little Gemma go red? It gave his overactive mind something nice to do, when it was not thinking about the mission.

Still, he knew that he couldn't afford to think too much about Gemma, or he'd... fixate. He had this odd habit of becoming near obsessive over things and people he developed a liking for. Moderation wasn't in his nature, Thor had once commented on it after settling on Midgard, seeing him develop an obsession over Midgardian climates and their corresponding architecture.

Oh well... for at least three years he had kept himself busy enough to not fixate on anything. The SHIELD missions were enough stimulation for his needy brain.

But now, seeing the smiling, blushing pretty face of Gemma, he was getting the feeling that his brain needed another type of stimulant.

Or was it his body?

Her brightness and endearing awkwardness contrasted him so much, it was hard not to be drawn to her. He was so full of dark thoughts, many of which had manifested during his rampage across Midgard not long ago, brought to the surface by the Scepter. While he was a churning storm, Gemma was like a fluffy fair-weather cumulus.

As they got out of their booths and headed back towards their company office, he briefly wondered how it would've been had he met Gemma back in 2012. Norns, he probably would not have shown the restraint he was showing now; he would've ended up doing something very, very bad.

Like abduct her and keep her with him. Like a pretty trinket.

But Gemma is not a possession, he reminded himself. Gemma is a person. She decides what she does, not me.

And yet, a tiny part of his psyche still wanted to possess her. He strangled that part quickly.

"So, I was thinking I should drop you home," he said, grasping her delicate hand as she headed toward the nearby, empty bus stop. "It's pretty late, and I don't want you traveling alone."

He used his very persuasive tone with her, knowing that it worked well with Midgardians and Asgardians alike. And his request was earnest as well. He actually felt protective of her and didn't want her to be vulnerable.

She was a good girl, after all. So sweet and well mannered, not a single blemish marred her gentle heart.

“But...I...it’s fine, really. I take the bus everywhere. And frankly, I’m still totally wired on caffeine. I think I’ll probably be up all night anyway...”

Oh, she knew what he was doing. But after the hours of friendly banter, she was feeling...secure. And as much as she swore she would never sleep with a co-worker...come ON. This was turning out to be the makings of a story she would remember for years to come, about how she --the humble, awkward little Gemma--slept with her hot British co-worker. And besides, the way he talked, it sounded like he was already looking for jobs at other companies, and she couldn’t blame him. This job sucked.

“Um...would you mind...if I came over for a drink? I don’t have anything at my house...”

Oh, that was a lame excuse. But she hoped it worked.

Loki grinned at her as she fumbled with her words again, still not letting go of her hand.

"Sure, I'm glad you mentioned it. I could use another drink as well, I think. And at my place, you'd be spoiled for choice."

He led her to his car then, while still mentally admonishing himself for taking this step. She was not a permanent fixture in his life, and he simply shouldn't take things in the direction he was taking them.

Alas, he was a selfish man, and he wanted to indulge himself.

Once settled in the car, he made sure to fix her seatbelt for her before getting started. Midgardians needed that bit of safety measure. Always.

As he pulled the car out of the complex, he decided that he'd probably share a drink or two with her, and then he'd... and then he'd let her be.

It was for the best.

Gemma slid down into the black leather seat of the nicest car she had ever seen. It was not just “clean,” but perfectly so, like it had been driven from a showroom. It was a beautiful white--even in the harsh yellow of the parking lot lights it looked amazing. The Jaguar XF had obviously been customized to his exacting standards, from the elegant emerald green trim on the interior, to the intricately carved details in the dashboard.

And he put her seatbelt on . She was vibrating with excitement as he walked around the car and got in, turned the ignition, and pulled out of the empty lot.

“I like your car,” she said, feeling dumb. What she wanted to say was Holy SHIT this is the fanciest car I’ve ever seen in my life! But, thankfully, she resisted. “You must be a pretty good salesman.”

"Thank you, I had purchased it back in London," he replied warmly, liking the fact that she looked as mesmerized by the interiors as she was with the exterior.

Loki was used to the attention that his cars received. He had chosen this one in particular for this mission, for he had to build a life for himself as marketing personnel, someone with a good lifestyle and a lot of extra income.

Not that he got a car for each of his missions... but SHIELD was pathetic in building this kind of a charade for the lack of funds on their part.

Loki certainly had no lack of funds, and using them on his missions was like a hobby of his.

"You have an interest in cars?" he asked conversationally as he maneuvered the vehicle easily on the now near empty roads.

“I do now!” she said, running her hand over the dashboard. It felt like silk under her fingers, and she noticed that the carvings were inlaid with gold.

Her mind drifted off, imagining what it would be like to fuck him in the back seat...

Woah, girl...it was just pizza.

She laughed silently to herself, then watched the streetlights pass over his face as they drove.

“What’s London like? I’ve never been there...”

“It's mostly quieter than New York, and parts of it really take you back in time," he replied, giving her a wink and turning his eyes back on the road. "I still have some ties to it. My family cottage on the outskirts and my house in West Brompton. I think you'd like it there."

Why was he talking to her about his life? Those actually were his properties in London, but he should not be imparting that information to her.

Well, it didn't jeopardize the mission in any way, so it was fine. Fury would never know, and even if he did, what could he do about it?

Loki knew that he was now a valuable asset for SHIELD. Fury would never do anything to change that.

As they pulled up to his apartment building, Gemma stared up and up and up the glass sides. It was massive, gorgeous, and right in the heart of downtown Manhattan. He glided up to the entrance, then got out and handed his keys to the valet before walking around and opening her door.

Gemma felt weak in the knees...and INCREDIBLY underdressed and out of place in her Avengers gym shirt and work skirt. If she had known asking to come to his place meant coming here...she would have at least wanted to touch up her make-up.

But then...he looked at her. He smiled at her! He held her hand gently and led her from the car into the enormous, luxurious lobby. Her expression probably made her look like an idiot, and if there were anything she could have done to stop it, she would have.

Unfortunately, she was well and truly dumbstruck by his apartment building. “What floor are you on?” she asked breathlessly as he led her toward the elevators.

"Oh, you'll see," he answered impishly as they entered the elevator.

He pushed the button for the penthouse, then turned to witness her reaction. She was already looking so nervous about being here, it was so very... cute.

Gemma hugged the walls of the elevator, eyes flicking rapidly between Dave’s face and the button he pushed. She honestly thought he might be messing with her, and she was waiting for him to laugh and hit the button for a lower floor. But he didn’t...and the higher up they went, the harder her heart pounded.

“Wow...I am in the wrong line of work...” She gasped, eyes wide as the elevator slowed to a stop. She heard a soft ding, and the doors opened.

Loki chuckled as he led her out of the elevator and into his penthouse apartment. Really, seeing her this impressed, he was very tempted to take her to France and to lead her into the castle he had there.

Her reaction to that would be something else...

"It's not all about the work, I come from a line of old money," he stated as he turned the lights on. "I've been very... lucky in life."

Well, at least in terms of having monetary stability and luxury…

Gemma hadn’t let go of his hand since he had helped her out of the car, but now she took a few steps away, looking at him suspiciously.

“Why the hell are you working at PAC & Co? Do they seriously pay you enough to keep doing that shitty job when you have all this?”

As impressed and amazed as she was, this just wasn’t making sense. A few hours ago they were stuck late in that crappy office with a malfunctioning printer...now she was looking out over the New York skyline from his penthouse.

Oh dear... he should've expected her sharp and curious mind to reach its own conclusions about him. This was why he had never fraternized or made friends on his missions.

This was why bringing her here was unwise. But now, it had been done, and he had to do some damage control.

It wasn't like his other missions, where he could just kill off an inconvenient loose end. Gemma was an innocent...

He let out a loud laugh at her suspicious question. "Gemma, why do you think I'm here, if not for a transitional job that won't break my job experience and give me enough time to find a better one?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, still unsure. But GOD, was she hoping he had a good reason, because she was definitely going to fuck him if he could convince her.

“What’s a transitional job? Transitioning from what?”

"I told you, I came here from London. That kind of move requires a lot of transition, no?" he asked, stepping up to her and grasping her shoulder gently. "I didn't want to be without a job during this time, for it would reflect poorly on my resume."

He had turned his voice deeper and deeper as he explained his situation to her, hoping to distract her with it.

"Do you feel differently about me now, than when we were at that pizza place?" He frowned as he asked that question, wondering why he would care so much if indeed she were to think him... what?... snobbish and obnoxious for being wealthy?

He WAS indeed wealthy. He was still a prince by his true title.

Also... if she was so suspicious of wealth, how much would she judge him if she learned his true identity? He was known all over Midgard as a wicked, unscrupulous and cruel man, after all.

“Of course I do!” she said, looking around at the luxurious furnishings. “I’m...I’m just...a little overwhelmed...” She touched the wall behind her just a bit to regain her balance.

“Maybe that drink would help?” She smiled softly, really trying to pull herself together. Dave was... amazing . Almost too good to be true...

"Sure," he responded, pulling away and leading her to his spacious, plush sofa. That monstrosity took up nearly half of the living room, and he hadn't used it much during his three month stay here.

From here, the view of the city was fantastic, displayed finely in the floor-to-ceiling windows that occupied the whole western wall of the living room. He loved watching the sunsets from here.

His bedroom was made in a similar fashion, but with east facing floor-to-ceiling windows. All in all, it was a nicely made apartment, by Midgardian standards.

"What would you like? Wine? Vodka cocktail? Beer? I'm myself going for a whiskey."

“Beer sounds great.” Her voice was small as she continued to look around the lavish apartment. So...he was from old money. In London. And this job was just helping him transition to living and working in New York. Ok. Cool.

She wanted to believe him so badly...and so she pushed down her other questions and that gnawing feeling in her gut that told her that there was more to his story.

He handed her a chilled glass of some sort of amber ale, and taking a sip of the cold beverage instantly relaxed her.

“Ahhhhh,” she sighed, settling back on the sofa. “You better be careful. I could get used to this.”

Loki could see that she was still doubting his 'old money' story about his wealth, and he had to praise her sharp mind for it.

Doubt was always healthy... especially when it came to him.

Still, he put the charm on her to keep her distracted. "Ah, then maybe I'd be tempted to spoil you."

He sipped his single malt and kept his eyes on her, which he knew, from experience, unnerved many people. For her benefit, he toned his gaze down so that she'd not feel uncomfortable, but still, made sure that she knew she had his full attention.

"So, tell me more about your family, Gemma. You talked very little about them. Do your parents visit you here? What about your sister?"

The way he looked at her over the rim of his glass sent shivers down her spine...and what did he mean he might be “tempted” to spoil her...was that...could this be more than a one-night stand? She decided not to think about it; better to just appreciate this crazy experience for what it was and not hope for anything more to come of it.

Then he brought up her family. Uuuggghhh...

“Oh, yea. They don’t...they’ve never come out here to visit.” She laughed nervously, rubbing her hand on the back of her neck, under her mousey blond ponytail. “They prefer my hometown...and they don’t understand why I moved here. My sister feels the same - she hasn’t even brought the kids over, even though I’ve invited them. But that’s how it goes sometimes, you know? Stupid perfect older sister...Mom and Dad just love her and her perfect husband and her perfect house that’s just down the block from them and her perfect life. Me, I’m just the weird one. I couldn’t wait to move out. I thought living in New York would be a lot more exciting but...well, I didn’t realize it would be so hard being on my own...”

Holy SHIT why am I SAYING all this? Way to kill the mood, Gem...

Loki couldn't help but relate to her. Younger child, perfect elder sibling, unrelatable family, loneliness...

Even though his life had its own complications, and he had contributed to his problems to some extent.

But really, he was quite surprised that Gemma's family was cold towards her. She wasn't even adopted!

"I must say, I'm very curious to know what kind of family it is that just... ignores their daughter. A daughter who is but a mix of sweetness and kindness," he murmured, putting his now empty glass away. Grasping her hand once again, he shifted closer to her to give her his earnest support. "I can see that you're taking it upon yourself, thinking that there's something wrong with you, but there isn't. You're perfect."

His sudden flattery took her by surprise, and her brain short-circuited a little. THE Dave just said she was... perfect?!

Even with all the red flags and warning bells going off in her head...she wanted him to keep saying nice things about her. It had been so long since she’d tried to flirt or gotten dinner or had drinks with someone...was he just playing with her, or...could he really mean that?

No, there were far too many layers of self-consciousness and doubt for her to accept his words at face value. She was sure he was trying to get into her pants--well, her skirt--but that wasn’t a bad thing. She appreciated what he said anyway.

And she flushed red, smiling shyly. “Stop it,” she giggled. Then she took another sip of her beer. “What about your family, Mr. Moneybags? Why did you move away from London?”

Loki sighed heavily, squeezing her hand as he looked down. Now, the lies would come pouring out of his mouth as usual. Par for the course...

"My parents died a few years ago. Rainy day, slippery road." He glanced up to see if she was going to doubt him again, but so far, she seemed to be listening intently, her beautiful chocolate eyes wide and dilated. "I have no siblings, and the extended family isn't very warm. The aunt I used to have a lovely relationship with had also died a long time ago, due to illness. So basically I was very alone and kind of depressed."

He laughed without humour, then, hoping that she'd buy his story, for the sadness in his eyes was real. He was indeed lonely. Had been for years.

"I knew that I had to do something about it before I just succumbed to it. Moreso, I knew I had more work related opportunities here in the US. So I jumped over the pond, trying to start a new life for myself."

His already frayed conscience screamed at him as he leaned towards her, locking his gaze with her intimately. She knew nothing about his true identity and he was drowning her in his charm, essentially fooling her. She'd hate him for it if she somehow learned the truth.

Oh... but she was so beautiful and pure of heart… he felt an inexplicable pull towards her.

His hand reached up and cupped her cheek.

So warm and soft...

He'd had no lovers in so long...

"I can now say that I'm glad I moved here." He moved in and nuzzled her neck, wondering if she'd pull away and reject him. Reject Dave, that is.

_______________________________________________________________

[PREVIOUS CHAPTER]  Ch-1; [NEXT CHAPTER]

[trendingtattoo]

Heart Tattoo Designs with Meanings | Symbol of Love Heart Tattoos

The best part of having a heart tattoo is; you can go creative to any extent! You can create your own heart tattoo design and make it as meaningful as possible. There are a lot of heart tattoo designs such as:

The Broken Heart Tattoo

These tattoos represent a broken heart due to a broken relationship or because of losing your loved one. People who want to flaunt their broken heart or emotions or are pained by the event most often go for this design. As, the design represents deep pain and sadness one goes through due to the broken relationship.

Black Heart Tattoos

Black heart stands for something sad or mournful in life. People getting black tattoos are usually suffering from pain of some loss, loss of their loved ones. In fact, they can have additional elements such as name of the person, flowers or angel wings etc.

Celtic Heart Tattoos

Celtic heart tattoos symbolize strength and unity. Celtic heart tattoos not only for a beautiful tattoo design, but also they can be etched in many different shapes and styles. There are four different patterns famously associated to a Celtic heart tattoo designs namely; crosses, knots, spirals, and step work.

Dagger Heart Tattoo

Dagger heart tattoos has always been popular amongst warriors as it simply represents courage and bravery. However, dagger heart tattoo also reveals the negative side of one’s personality and that is pertains to a long struggle, grief or sorrow in one’s life.

Flaming Heart Tattoos

Flaming heart tattoos are more passionate if compared to any other tattoo design. Flaming heart tattoos simply represent the passion and love one shares with your partner. The ones who get this tattoo design actually wants to flaunt their strong passion and love for their partners. The flames on the heart tattoo simply symbolize the burning love, compassion, and desire one has for his/her loved one.

Lock and Heart Tattoos

Well, not every heart tattoo is negative heart tattoo. Yeah, heart tattoos do have positive meaning too just like lock and heart tattoos. These lock and heart tattoos represent a very positive message to others. More often than not, people choose this heart tattoo design to represent their strong love for one another, especially when they simply want to announce that there is only one person in their lives who have the right to unlock their heart.

Mandala Heart Tattoos

Too many hearts when clubbed together can make a beautiful intricate designs. Mandala tattoo designs are colorful and intricate designs which look really great. These tattoos are actually for the ones who want to have heart in an intricate manner that looks unique and different. The design looks detailed and gorgeous that has irregularities in the mandala design which differentiates it from other mandala tattoos.

Quote Heart Tattoo

Well, this one really looks mesmerizing! Quote tattoos really make for a popular tattoo designs. And when a quote is done to make a heart, it does look unique. This tattoo design simply represents one’s feeling for his/her loved one via a quote in the shape of a heart. One can choose any quote that can represent the true feeling of yours for your partner.

Realistic Heart Tattoo

This is for those who look for badass designs for their body. More often than not, people do not choose this design, as they prefer to have the symbol for heart rather to have the realistic heart tattoo design. So, if you think you are amongst those who want to have something extraordinary on their body, then go for an original heart tattoo design. Realistic heart tattoo designs just like the original heart have colors in it, thereby making it look more realistic as a real human heart. Hand make for a perfect place to have realistic heart tattoo design. You can try!!

Sacred Heart Tattoos

Sacred Heart tattoos are mostly added or paired with other elements such as a pierced sword, a crown, thorns, or an angel. Usually, this design will have burning symbols around the tattoo design. This one is a symbol dedicated to Jesus Christ specifically. It simply represents faith of Catholics in Christianity. People often choose this design so as to flaunt their faith and love for their religion.

Stitches Heart Tattoo

There are several tattoo designs that are meant to flaunt the unique and different side of your personality. Stitched heart tattoos are one amongst them, they simply represent different meanings. These tattoos represent how a broken heart gets healed, no matter how hard those experiences have had impacted the person. Also, the stitches on the heart represent the loss of a loved one or may be the broken heart.

Tribal Heart Tattoos

However, tribal heart tattoos do not represent anything specific as such, but because these tattoos make for a beautiful design – they are widely popular amongst both men and women. It’s one of a kind tattoo design that most people love to have, as they help add a personal message to the tattoo. Adding a personal message always gel well with a heart tattoo. The best part of tribal heart tattoo design is – there are numerous tribal heart designs to choose from that can be merged perfectly with different other designs.

Winged Heart Tattoos

Heart tattoos along with wings really make for a perfect tattoo design, and if done on the back or nape they look really great. Well, the wings which are often used with the winged heart tattoos are bird wings or angel wings, both look perfectly fine. Wings always represent freedom and free spirit. One can have wings added on their heart tattoo just to show his/her freedom and free spirit.

Wings attached to the heart symbolizes pure joy and love. People who are free within and are bound by nothing in their lives always prefer the idea of having winged heart.

Peace symbol inside heart

This heart tattoo has the peace symbol inside the heart. Peace and love symbol really makes for a cute tattoo design that can be etched anywhere. It can go with any skin tone.

Heart in a Circle

A heart in a circle looks really cute tattoo design. This tattoo is smaller in size and can be done anywhere from neck to ankle.

An Outlined Heart

If you are looking for a sweet and cute tattoo design on your body, then this is the one to go with. This little outline heart looks really sweet, simple, and adorable. Perfect for those who want to have a tattoo but do not want to flaunt it often.

Heart Beat

Heart beat tattoo looks mesmerizing on your wrist, as you can have this one in the form of a bangle and the heart between the beats look amazing….. The tattoo can be done either in black color or in the combination of black and red.

A White Heart

Yeah, hearts are not white in colors… But believe you me, a small heart filled with white ink will look stunning on your finger or on your wrist. This really makes for an eye-catching tattoo design.

Two Hearts Together

The double hearts in this tattoo design really complement each other, this one is a great design for the ones who are looking for a small cute heart design. These two hearts can be associated to you and your significant other. ☺ ☺

A Heart with Wings

This design will have a simple heart that will have added wings from both sides. The design looks super cool on the nape, neck, shoulder, and thigh. See more @ https://www.trendingtattoo.com/heart-tattoo-designs-with-meanings/

[malexfan10]

"Alex and Michael, despite not being the leads of the show, are the emotional and romantic pulse on the show"

This was such an amazing review! It underlined so many issues that I had with the finale! Only, better articulated and with more details 🙂

BEST PARTS:

My heart is absolutely shattered watching Alex sit at the sacred fire pit in front of the trailer, waiting for his angry cowboy to come home. 

Shattered.

I can just conjure the image in my mind and I feel the tightness in my throat, the panic at my neck.

I am furious at Michael, not for needing space, but for leaving him all alone. For abandoning him when Alex has no one, no family, no one to take care of him, protect him, mentor him, love him.

He is Romeo, waiting for his Juliette, not knowing that he is loved. He may never know. 💔

That’s not the only pain that Alex’s arc on “Recovering the Satellites,” delivers.

Father Manes returns, but Alex doesn’t even get the opportunity to face him.

I interpret this as confirmation that Jesse Manes will always underestimate his son. He doesn’t think

Alex is a real threat because he doesn’t believe his gay son could ever be strong enough to take him down.

Jesse Manes dismisses Alex. It is like he is invisible. And that cuts the deepest. His own father never really sees Alex.

And now the person who said he never looks away has deserted him. 💔💔

I am devastated.

But, the proverbial blood is on the hands of the characters, not the creators.

For me, Alex waiting all alone and causing me to feel every synonym of sad is a testament to the show’s ability to represent LGBTQ characters well.

Stay with me. I know that this is not how everyone is feeling. I know how much we have been burned. What happens to Alex represents some of the greatest fears of LGBTQ people.

And if that is too much, and the pain will always throb, and it’s just too raw, I understand that.

I believe, though, that feeling pain and sadness is infinitely better than feeling nothing at all.

❤❤❤ Alex and Michael, despite not being the leads of the show, are the emotional and romantic pulse on the show ❤❤❤

The story favors them, not in giving them a happy ending, but in giving them the biggest conflict, the most difficult journey, and the most layered characterization.

When Michael talks to Isobel and admits he loves Alex (loves, NOT loved), but that his feelings for Alex are so entangled in his pain that he doesn’t know what to do, I feel for him.

That is authentic.

Michael admits to Max that who he needs is his mom. He breaks down as he says this.

So, when he goes into the bar to find Maria, I believe that is what he is seeking. He wants a warm, comforting, unquestioning love.

And you know what? This poor kid, he deserves that.

Could he have sent a text? Sure. But, Michael has faced more trauma in his week than most face in their entire lifetimes. So I’m quite inclined to give him a pass.

And, even as he’s there with Maria, soaking in all the affection and relief he can, he’s thinking of Alex.

There is no way he’s playing that guitar and not picturing their first time (I NEEDED TO HEAR THIS ❤)

Like Isobel’s complex feelings towards Noah, the only person she ever loved, Michael doesn’t love Alex in a clean and uncomplicated way.

Thank. God.

Tokenization happens when the story is too simple. Window dressing characters don’t have the complex conflict we see Malex have.

One of the many reasons Bury Your Gays is so problematic is the character never gets a three-dimensional story. Killing LGBTQ characters relegates them permanently to simplicity.

They will never be more than a dead body.

Representation requires being understood, not just seen. And to be understood, you need to live.

Alex and Michael are very much alive.

Yes, I am screaming at my TV, but that means the blood is pounding through my veins, and tears are pouring out of my eyes, because of how much I know and connect with them.

The way this ship and these two characters impact me through this episode is unforgettable.

I mean that concretely and sincerely.

My body will always remember the graceful movement of the camera from Alex’s wrist to his face and then panning out to the emptiness.

Muscle memory isn’t just for sports. I’d say it applies to TV watching too!

Alex as an individual is important to the Roswell, New Mexico story. Malex, although absolutely essential to who Alex is on the show, is not the only reason he matters. ❤

And that is darn refreshing. He matters, his pain matters, his heartache matters beyond whether or not he gets the guy. ❤

It is important to me that Malex get the intricate development that they do on the show.

But, it may be even more valuable and praiseworthy that Alex matters to this story even if he is no longer a part of that ship.

So, despite the real, horrible, nearly unbearable pain we see Alex go through, it is worth it because it elevates him and his story to an eternally significant place where he will never ever be dismissed like he has been in the past by his father and TV culture. ❤

In my view, what the show has done with Alex, Michael, and Malex is worth a biscuit, not the tea.

What the show has done with Maria, on the other hand? I think I hear that kettle whistling!

Maria

I don’t think Maria is more marginalized on the finale.

Instead, her treatment stays the same.

At the close of the episode, the truth is still that not one person in Maria’s life thinks of her enough to fill her in on the murder, aliens, resurrections, secret government conspiracies, and other stuff happening that directly relates to her.

I remain flabbergasted by this.

But, it’s not new.

There are a couple of new bones to pick I have from the finale in regards to Maria, though.

First, I do not like that when Liz cuddles up to Maria at the bar, she talks about Maria’s feelings about Michael as if she loves him. (YES)

It is taken as a given, but we have not seen that. We have seen so little of Maria that this out of character and seemingly random declaration of love is confusing. (YES) 🤨

Then, Liz basically expresses an “all is fair in love and war,” type sentiment. She says that Maria can’t be held responsible for her love for Michael, because you can’t control who you love.

Hard pass on this idea. (YES)

The idea that love makes us do crazy things we can’t be held responsible for is actually rooted in some very sexist “heat of passion,” ideology. It that tell us men can’t be culpable for what they do when they are wildly jealous and find their lover cheating. Women are not provided the same excuse for their actions.

It also calls to mind claims that men can’t control their passions and love and so when they ignore “no,” or all the signals that someone is not interested, it’s not their fault.

We may not be able to control who we love. But, we can certainly control our actions and reactions to that love.

Not only can we, but healthy and modern sexuality also requires us to control our responses to our feelings of love.

Maria is a supposedly strong, ethical, and intuitive friend.

The conversation between her and Liz where they both disregard Alex is out of character and frustrating. (YES)

In my view, Maria’s amulet should have been the center and focus of that conversation.

At first, it seems like that necklace is going to be Maria’s superpower and the access point to the center of the conflict.

But, no. It just tickles Liz’s mind (It does explain why Isobel’s powers don’t work on Maria though. Cool!).

This leads to the other bone I have to pick: Michael and Maria’s kiss.

It makes perfect sense to me that Maria would be feeling a deep loss from not being able to be Michael’s friend.

It does NOT make sense to me why Maria couldn’t set a boundary and make sure that the relationship didn’t turn romantic. (YES!)

It’s not really that Maria is doing something wrong. It is that she is doing something that goes against what we know to be true of Maria, even based on the paltry amount of information we get about her.

Her loyalty is a key part of her identity. (YES!!)

Maria throws that away so she can kiss Michael, a man she has had years to pursue. (YES!)

Another hard pass for me. (YES)

The scene could have played out much differently if, instead of leaning in for the kiss, Maria had let Michael know, yes, the bar is always open to him, but as a friend.

That would have allowed Michael to get his needs met. It would have allowed Maria to keep her friendship with Michael and her integrity.

Friendship is incredibly powerful. It can heal us; it can save us.

.......................................

I agree wholeheartedly on so many points in this review ❤

We have a season 2 now so that takes away some of my bitterness from the finale. But it will only matter if the writers address everything they destroyed.

I don't think Max will stay dead for long. No way.

The M&M part, I think they will be in a relationship for a good part of the Season. Whether it goes all season or not, who knows (hopefully not because...come on!) Gonna cry when Alex finds out why he was stood up.

I previously wanted Alex to have happiness with someone else if M&M lasts a while. I only want that because my heart can't take a whole season of Alex sad and lonely watching M&M from afar. It's too sad to even think of!

But if they keep him distracted with other storylines like his mother, his father, his Heritage, then I don't mind him being by himself.

I want Malex together, always and forever. I just hope that the journey back to each other doesn't last very long and when they do reunite, they last ❤

https://www.telltaletv.com/2019/04/roswell-new-mexico-review-recovering-the-satellites-season-1-episode-13/

[recentanimenews]

For The Past 5 Years, My Hero Academia Has Changed Superhero Stories

*spoilers detected in the area*

  The past thirty years of Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking have given us multiple lessons on the ins and outs of superhero stories. Someone's origin will be revealed, somebody will try to take over the world or blow up a city, and we'll all learn a valuable lesson in the end ... and then came My Hero Academia.

  All of these tropes do show up in My Hero, but there's just so much more. The series has woven an intricate, incredibly detailed infrastructure that just so happens to be filled with superheroes and villains. And with that very specific change, the series has forever altered how superhero stories are told.

  Quirks Are The New Normal

  Hey, wouldn't it be great to have superpowers? How cool and unique and special would that be? In the My Hero universe, it actually wouldn't be special. Like at all. Because the vast majority of everyone on Earth has a power of some sort. Sure, there are some standouts, but the true quirk in this world is not having a quirk at all. When the world has become oversaturated with a thing, the absence of that thing becomes unique. Thus, the heroes aren't celebrated simply for having powers, but for how they choose to use them, going back to that old adage that it's what's inside that counts.

  My Hero Academia doesn't expect us to be especially wowed by people flying around or shooting lasers. All of that has been a staple in American comics and manga for decades now. Instead, by showing us the heroes in training, it gives us a step-by-step portrayal of what it's like to have superpowers as a normal part of your life. It shows us the lengths that characters will go to stand out when 90% of their classroom can shoot something from their hands. 

  Heroes Are Integrated Into Society

We like to ponder on how the government would actually react to flying men with capes and big green smashing monsters. Would schools start teaching Hero-ing 101? Would superheroes become the new form of celebrity? According to My Hero, yes and yes. Heroes are the new Olympic medalists vying for their picture on a Wheaties box. Their skills have become so accepted as to have earned them an actual income. Have we heard of a single mega-popular actor or pop singer in this series? They've all been replaced by heroes-for-hire who sell their skills to those in danger and their likeness to those with a lucrative film deal.

  Flips The Script On Orphaned Children

  Quick, think of a fictional character who starts out as an orphan, discovers strange and amazing powers, and goes on to save the world! Woah, woah, that's enough. We could do this all day. Many superhero origin stories feature parentless, bullied children who go on to become some of the most powerful people in the world. But Izuku Midoriya has parents, both of them! His dad isn't around a lot, but he is very much alive and well and providing for his family while working overseas, or so the legend goes. This gives Midoriya's mom lots of time to stay home and take care of her baby boy like the amazing, best-ever mother she is. 

  When we are introduced to Kota -- an orphan whose parents died while superhero-ing -- he absolutely hates and resents heroes. He doesn't understand their purpose or celebrity or why his parents had to die because of what they did for a living. In fact, in this case, it's Kota who is the bully, taking his frustrations out on Deku. Despite the fact that all of this very much turns these tropes on their heads, none of it feels forced. It's just a well-written way to explore a different side of the super coin.

  The Stakes Are Very, Very High (And Different)

Death and the destruction of the entire planet are definitely high stakes ... but they've never really been a facet of My Hero Academia. Instead, we see heroes who suffer very, very longterm consequences from their daily fights (think Izuku's hands, Aizawa's face/eyes, and All Might's general decline) and villains who put an entire social structure at risk. An economy, a belief system, a way of living, are in danger of collapsing thanks to the anarchy left in Stain's wake. 

  We see characters beginning to wonder if maybe the heroes don't deserve the acclaim they receive, if maybe they are just after fame and money. Even if this were to be true, the changes wrought would leave a lot of businesses scrambling to restructure their entire mode of operations. Without endorsements to live off of, heroes and/or officers may need to charge more for a simple rescue mission just to survive. And thanks to the League of Villains, an entire academic framework is already very close to being shut down.

  With threats like these, the presumably inevitable death of All Might almost seems to pale in comparison. (Almost.) But we'll have to see if any of it comes to fruition, which means that we need to keep watching My Hero Academia on Crunchyroll. 

  What superhero tropes have you noticed are missing from the series? Let us know in the comments!

    -----

  Carolyn also writes for Bunny Ears and Cracked. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[bleakvictory115-blog]

Chapter 3, Stories

As Raine rode off through the night with her band of hunters, Kurt turned to his own group. "So... what's the whispering about?" Kurt asked. In return, the trio told him a story. Many people had heard of the war not but one generation ago in the neighboring continent of Farbein, Kurt was not such a person. As war had raged between one of the kingdoms and a large group of Orcs who believed their God gave them divine right to any land they saw and desired, the king himself sent messengers to the lands of Neyvin looking for any capable warriors to help strike down the threat. Raine was one such warrior. The king, so thankful for those who came, had his court wizard teach them how to enchant their blades and arrows to stop most creatures in their tracks... even the Blight. Where most Orcs took 3 or 4 arrows to kill and could get through about 3 knights, those that knew the enchantment could cut them down in droves. And Raine took it upon herself to ambush Orcs in their camps in the forest. Legend has it that she killed any Orc that tried to stop her, be it to help the kingdom or her own survival, that she fought it the precision and grace of an elf, yet the fury of her prey. They called the enchantment Glaiveslight. And while the war was won, the kingdom in question would not see any kind Orc or halfbreed anywhere near its walls.

The sun had just risen over the foothills by the time the story was over. "Ye spoke to a living legend as if she was a friend, Lad. How do ye feel?" Asked Torque. "I feel.... tired and honestly a little hungry. I don't know about legends and all that but I do know that we have a ways before the next town and with people searching for us, or at least some form of us, I'm not sure we want to be around here." Kurt said. The group stared, surprised he was focused on leaving. Torque's burly voice broke the silence, "Ah, lad. Yer a surprising one." Kurt responded while packing up his things, "Cut me a little slack, I've not had sip nor sup in a couple days. Do we even know where we're headed next?" Escendar, having picked up a map of the region in Haerdon looks at all the settlements they can go, which is few and far in between.

Ecendar's blue-green eyes lit up when he'd seen a familiar town on the map, with Torque standing of his toes to look at the map too, "About the closest place to us is a place I know well, AiCerin. Only way there will be through the Kyljärn mountains. The man who sold this map to me told me warned me there is a war between bandit tribes on either side." Torque interrupts heartily, eager to fight, "Oh we can handle bandits. Already did! And with our scary new lady friend I don't think we can be stopped!" Ecendar, shrugging off the interruption by taking in the landscape and cool breeze that makes his long grey-blonde hair flow responds after a short pause. "Sure, we can. And strained from battle with the clans we will be eaten..." his demeanor getting more serious as he moves closer to the Dwarf, purposely trying to scare him to see his limit, "or starved as the scavengers of war pick upon our fallen foes, snapping their jaws and spitting vile as us anytime we try to make a move. It's not just wolves and wargs we must worry about. The lower portion of that mountain is home to a hive of large, flesh eating, acidic bugs called Chitus that lay their eggs in Man, Elf and Dwarf alike..." Scarlett, irritated by Ecendar's constant snapping at the Dwarf spoke loud, if almost to challenge him. "Lay off him, Dwarves can be arrogant but he's only being kind! Foolish, I'm sure your words speak true, but he means well!" Torque, who is now being towered over by the Elf, reaches his hand calmly out to Scarlett, taking only a brief moment to look at her. "Lass I appreciate what you're doin' but I can handle me-self..." Torque steps back from the Elf who is still staring at him and does a visible shrug and begins staring off into the distance "... Let's go kill us some bugs!" Torque begins to storm off towards the mountain, Scarlett and Kurt chasing after him pulling him to a stop while Ecendar rubs the bridge of his nose amazed by the Dwarfs simplemindedness.

"Torque, no!" said Kurt when pulling the Dwarf to a stop. "It's safer to go in the mountains, and after all we have much to learn about you and your people. Maybe there will be loose ore or gems you could find up there too?" Torque thought for a moment, war was fun for him. His surprising speed and short stature meant people couldnt hit him well, and he hit hard. But finding something new in the mountains could help his people and maybe there was gems up there. He had a special soft spot for Sapphires. "Tis true, the caves are loose this time of year. Aye I'll go with ye. But we best get into a scrap soon!" Torque said as he galloped back to the camp to help pack up. About an hour later the group had set for the small Kyljärn mountain range with the sun still rising. With Torque eager for new jewels for his collection, the group forgot the put out the fire and a quarter mile away from the camp Scarlett had remembered. "Oh that's right..." she muttered go herself before she clapped her hands, rubbed them together and blew between them. A yellow smoke coming out the other side. "What is it?" Asked Kurt. "Oh nothing, we just forgot to put out the fire. I took care of it." Ecendar, impressed by her knowledge of both simple tricks and intricate spells asks her where she learned all of her magic. "A coven..." Scarlett said as if it were normal. She turns to look at Ecendar but sees only shocked faces, afraid of what may become of them. "Relax, I cut ties with them years ago... and I cut them now that I think about it. That's the only reason I'm telling you now. If I were still with them I'd have sent you to them after Haerdon. I was adopted by them, they were the only people I knew when I was young. They taught me what I know and taught me to survive. As grateful as I was to them for everything they wanted me as a sister of their devil magic. You know you're in the wrong croud when someone you once considered family wants you to persuade a farmer into bringing his goat with him to the woods. Theres only one way to go about that and I'm not so comfortable with that or what would have happened afterwards..." Ecendar nods, understanding now, while Torque continues to look terrified. Kurt, now with eyes wide open simply says "Go on..." lustfully intrigued. "Wouldn't you like to know!" Says Scarlett, chuckling and shooting a sarcastic wink at Kurt.

The group tells stories on their way to Kyljärn and AiCerin. Scarlett tells tales of her mischievous young life in the coven. Ecendar tells of his exploits living in his old Elven shire, Mykera where he learned alchemy, enchanting and was quite the ladies man. Kurt talks of how he was going to be a captain of his own trade ship had it not been for a Griffon that struck his small town of Gulvis. A trader had someone steal an egg from its nest to sell. When the beast came looking it brought destruction and earned itself a bounty. Had it not been for the creature killing Kurt's brother Keegan, Ecendar and him would have never met. Men from Gulvis and those who came to collect the bounty grouped up to take on the grest beast. Originally there were 27 people, in the end there were only 4 to collect bounty. Since then, Ecendar and Kurt have been living on what's left of the bounty and looking for more work and adventure in the world. And Torque tells stories of life as he's known it underground. He was the runt of his family, but made up for it in precision, strength and speed. Where men have Darts as a party game, Dwarves have nail driving. Whoever can drive the nail deeper with the throw of a hammer, wins. Once, visciously inebriated, Torque threw a hammer at one of the many nails he was seeing and drove it so far into the beam that it broke the beam and left the hammer dulled. He's kept the nail ever since. And as for his personal gem collection he has 6 amethysts, 3 rubies, 4 topaz, an emerald and sapphire. His story behind the emerald is that a large spider took it, mistaking it for a grub and swallowed it. Torque hunted it down and had to split it in two to find the gem. Torque isnt usually in depth except for when he's in his caves, but he was gruesome with detail about the spider and how he slew it. Even made Kurt cringe and all the hunger he was feeling disappeared.

[davelimmylim]

Hand Tattoo Designs For Guys

The best ideas for hand tattoos for boys and girls. Whether you want artwork on top of the hand or drawings that extend from the hand to the wrist and up your arm, check out the pictures below to find some sick hand tattoos you’ll love for a lifetime!

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You can also wrap the entire plant around your wrist and up your arm, with the thorns enveloping your fingers.

Hand tattoo designs for guys. Otherwise, there are some badass hand tattoo designs. Inner arm tattoos for men; Tattoos | tattoo friday | tattoo art | tattoo design | hand tattoo designs for guys | hand tattoos pictures | hand tattoos small | simple hand tattoos | hand… more 119 pins

The traditional style rose is one of the most beautiful and elegant tattoos that women can get. With bright and vivid colors making up the majority of the tattoo, this tattoo can look incredibly. Beautiful zebra pattern red rose design tattoo for men.

Once connected with hoodlums and groups, hand tattoos today address intense, solid, and manly characters. Tattoos by staff august 8, 2017. You also can try a straightforward geometric hand tattoo design or pattern on the back of.

38 best hand tattoos for men: For hand tattoos, a rose tattoo is one of the best ideas because it is one of the more complex flowers. Here are 50 hand tattoos for both sexes below.

Many guys like to have scary tattoos on their body and there is a devil tattoo on the hand of this boy. But more and more men get small and minimal tattoos. For this reason a lot of people, including celebrities, opt for hand tattoos that everyone will be able to see.

Hand tattoos are like your hood ornaments, and they are the first thing people notice, so get a classy design. We’re always making an impression with our hands, whether it’s with a handshake or the gestures we use while speaking. Check out these awesome designs if you want to see the best finger tattoos for men.

Tiny half moon hand tattoo design for girls. Lower back tattoos for men; Whatever your reason for getting inked, our gallery is a collection of awesome hand tattoos.

As a beautiful addition to your body, this intricate piece represents new beginnings, promise, and hope. Cool traditional man woman design both hand tattoo idea for men. But not so much for detailed designs like animal heads and flowers.

The next photos can play the role of inspiration for you if you’re still looking for a good idea for a hand tattoo. Butterfly tattoo designs for women. Read the meaning of each carefully.

That is on the grounds that tattoos on your hand normally can’t be hidden by undergarments. Most of these work well regardless of finger sizes. Skeleton tattoo design look cool and amazing for men.

While women prefer more delicate and elegant tattoos, men like to get more difficult tats. Traditional rose hand tattoo for guys. Traditional watch flower hand tattoo for men.

Instead, a man might opt for a small tattoo to accent the rugged features of his hands, using the design to highlight strong fingers, or callouses that reveal interesting hobbies. Most common hand tattoo designs for men are skulls and other traditional styles. Types of hand tattoos & designs for men and women both.

When we are talking about hand tattoo designs, there are lots of tattoo designs available like small hand tattoo designs, buddhist hand tattoos, praying hand tattoo, rose tattoos on hands, skull tattoos on hand, flower tattoos, skeleton, rosary, star tattoos, butterfly, lion, tiger, joker,. Men making the leap into highly visible tattoos don’t have to get huge pictures drawn on their backs like paintings, or designs covering a leg. For example, hand tattoo designs are sometimes single dotted lines, some shapes, or symbols.

30+ attractive arm band/ hand band tattoos for men 2021 | best arm band tattoos. As a season brings a lot of occasions to celebrate, every day nowadays going to introduce its magnificent collaboration with fashion and style. Cool tattoo designs ideas for your hand.

See more ideas about hand tattoos, tattoos, tattoos for guys. Colored traditional butterfly full hand tattoo design for men. Show off your nationality, or your love for the us, with an american flag tattoo.

Whether in full color or black and white, american flag tattoo designs are instantly recognizable and will mark you as a true patriot. The most common and popular hand tattoos for men are roses , cross , skull, lion , and small meaningful symbols. You can also have a tattoo of your spirit animal on your hand and the very best design would be of animals like a lion or tiger.

But others are only recommended for people with large hands and fingers. Mandala hand tattoos for women. You can have anything from a huge flag covering your whole back to a smaller flag on your arm or leg.

See more ideas about hand tattoos, tattoos, hand tattoos for guys. Hand band tattoo for men on arm at aliens tattoo india. However, many cool hand tattoos for guys are also motivational or inspirational in some way.

If you find yourself convinced that you need to get a good hand tattoo, well then here are some hand tattoo ideas that you can try out for yourself. The dagger on the left hand also looks beautiful. Nevertheless, sometimes guys just want to display really great artwork.

Spiked mace tattoo on the hand. Tiger designs are the symbols for bravery so one who is brave enough or wants to show their bravery to others without doing anything by showing this kind of tattoo design. Dotwork mandala tattoo on the right hand.

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