#this whole 'captions not working' thing has really highlighted that I choose these pictures specifically FOR shitpost captions

[a-smol-cosplayer]

I talk a lot about my Tyler and enid being besties agenda and I made a short post about it awhile ago but I wanna flesh it out more bc I love them and this is my account so no one can stop me mwahaha.

Anyways Idk how it would actually work but either wyler, or wenclair with him coming back with a redemption arch or poly Wednesday with both Tyler and enid as significant others and them as queer platonic. Or all three. idm how it happens im just here for it. 

Hcs 

He lets enid paint his nails. Sometimes its all different colours to match hers (and she talks billions of instagram photos of them) sometimes with itty bitty little designs but usually some sort of light blue colour. He gets complemented by the old ladies that come in to the weathervane when he hands them their coffee and he secretly loves to show off his nails. (Once when going to the raven she painted them black to match wednesday) ((she secretly liked that they where matching))

This man hears all the gossip from his job. Being a barista at the only coffee shop in town?? Dude gets all the tea. So basically him and enid (and thing) will have gossip sessions where he tells her all the things he has overheard whilst working. (Enids readers and shocked at the jump in range and accuracy of gossip that goes up on her blog)

Tyler goes to her for fashion advice all the time. He lets her dress him up for special events like the harvest festival ect and will always go shopping with her just to hold all her clothes. (When asked the difference between two slightly differing shades of pink jumper he just blindly closes his eyes and picks one) (Enid realises and once picked up two of the same item and forced him to choose which was better - both she and Thing found his panic as he desperately tried to figure out the difference hilarious) 

They bond over how much wednesday manages to get them in sticky situations. ((Like in the gates mansion where they shared ‘tf?!?’ Looks the whole time)) Tyler once remarked that mysteries literally seem to follow them wherever they go as all three of them climbed through some sewerage tunnel looking for clues, wednesday was no impressed. They spend hours in a day talking about the weirdest things they love about her ‘once she let me braid her hair after she got out the shower - I have never felt love till now’ ‘oh really well she let me pick her WHOLE OUTFIT for the harvest festival and then let me post the pictures of us in matching fits. Im pretty sure she loves me more’ 

Tyler has tailored some specific sweet drink for enid that he makes every time she walks in the door with her friends. Its piled high with whip cream and marshmallows and he calls it the ‘enid special’. No one else is allowed to order it. (Wednesday once accidentally took a sip whilst she wasn’t paying attention and threatend to cut her tounge out of her mouth because of how sweet it was.) Enid loves it and its on her story all the time with Tylers @ down at the bottom 

Speaking of social media enid freaked when she saw tylers bare instrgram page. They spent all evening redoing it. He has three posts, the first one was an old photo of him and his mum he posted on her birthday, one is of him and enid with their matching nails and him and Eugene out at the hives with the caption ‘first week at nevermore going better than expected’ and the third one is a photo of him and wednesday enid took whilst waiting in line for the dunk tank captioned ‘the only murder this year was the way wednesday killed it at the carnival’ - the second photo on that post is him and enid with the pile of stuffed animals that wednesday has won for them bc she knows they both love them. He has one highlight thats just a ☕️ and its all his attempts and late art and baking goods for the weathervane. 

Once helped enid dye her two toned hair and ended up with blue tips in his own hair for a few months bc he couldn’t say no to her. Thing ruthless made fun of him for it and His only response was the fact that Thing had never said no to enid either so maybe they where both as pathetic as each other. He actually ended up really liking it and keeping it in for a while (wednesday liked it too, to the surprise of both Tyler and enid but she swore she would shave their hair off in their sleep if they told anyone. ((They never did))) 

Enid helps keep the crazy in. Him and wednesday escalate each others fires which is good when needed but sometimes he wants to feel normal - like he did before Thornhill manipulated and groomed him into being a ruthless monster with blood on his hands. And so when the flashbacks and nightmares get too bad enid will sometimes find him curled up at the end of her bed half covered in plushies. When he gets ansty she will pull him along to show him the newest draft of her blog or drag him into helping prepare Ophelia Hall for the next poe cup (she has sworn him to secrecy but he wasn’t planning on participating anyways, not being super big into the whole school spirit thing) until his hands stop shaking and his eyes loose the haunted look 

Once he has learned how to control hyde him and enid in her wolf form will go running and playing on full moon. The hyde is still slightly weary of wolf!enid which both enid and Tyler take slight enjoyment in. one time whilst they where out wednesday started playing her cello on the balcony and hyde!Tyler got so distracted that he ran straight into a tree. Enid and Wednesday never let him live it down. They chase rabbits and make a competition of who can catch the most and instead of waking up cold and alone after transforming back Tyler wakes up warm and covered with a soft blanket on the floor of the girls dorms (he sleeps mostly in enids stuffed toy mountain after full moons and has scared Yoko, Ajax, Xavier and Kent many times when they come into the room) ((its also a convenient place to hide him when the new dorm monitor comes around to tell them to turn their lights off))

They would definitely brainstorm dates together. Whoever u ship (wyler or wenclair) doesn’t matter. For wyler enid would help him set up another creepyish highly wednesday focused date with the sole bribe of him telling her all about it later. for wenclair he would help her plan dates that wednesday would like and recommend places in Jericho to go bc he has lived there his whole life. Either way they do have a whole whiteboard that is full of date ideas (his whiteboard marker is blue and hers is pink - Thing gets green) wednesday fully knows they collaborate but bc it doesn’t end up on enid blog and she’s soft for them she lets it slide. 

They also hang out on enids side of the room when wednesday is writing. Sometimes they get banished to the balcony for laughing to hard but its totally worth it. 

Enid makes Tyler get high things for her as well as carry heavy things. She also rides on his shoulders/back everywhere. Yells “CHARGEEEE” and everything just like a toddler. Wednesday has a photo of them like this and has it as the background of her Home Screen but no one knows 

Speaking of phones, Wednesdays Lock Screen is a stupid photo that Tyler and enid took and set as  as a joke. U know one of those ones where its taken from below and both their heads are swished into the frame peering up at u? She refuses to change it claiming ‘she doesn’t know how too and will not let any of you imbeciles touch my phone’ but they both know she secretly likes it - wednesday would never let ‘not knowing how to do something’ stop her from removing it if she really wanted to

Enid put eyeliner on Tyler once and he loved it. He lets her do it all the time now - not overtly crazy she just tight lines his eyes and smokes out his bottom lash line. He has never felt more pretty before - and he got loads of compliments at work. When wednesday first saw it she just stopped and stared for 20 seconds before glaring at him marching out onto the balcony so he counts it as a win. 

Tyler gets along with morticia and enid gets along with Gomez really well. Obviously Wednesdays parents love both of them and immediately took them in but you can find Tyler and morticia talking about the latest book they have read over tea and gomez loves showing enid all of his striped suits, as well as teaching her how to fight with just her claws. Pugsley loves both of them more than life itself and lets enid paint his nails and plays non torture catch with Tyler whenever they are home on break. 

He lets enid sit with him while he bakes. Its sort of a stress reviler and she will usually sit on the counter tops as he bakes cakes or muffins or pastries for the weathervane to sell. She gets to pick the music and they both dance around the kitchen whilst its cooks. She definitely licks the spoon and he always gives her a ‘quality control taster’ before he puts them out to get the enid stamp of approval. ((Once for his birthday she got him a t-shirt that said ‘enid stamp of approval’ he definitely did not cry over the fact that she and him 1. had an inside joke and 2. she actually forgave him and approves of him as a person. He wears it with pride) ((wednesday steals it to sleep in sometimes and they both think its adorable when they catch her wearing it))

So this got way out of hand but yeah!! I will probably continue this at some point but this is it so far. Let me know if I have converted u bc Tyler needs more friends/love and support in his life and I feel like enid would be the one to first befriend him at nevermore bc she knows she could kick his ass if he tried anything :) 

[victorluvsalice]

It’s Day 6 of our trip through the Brown-Kosperov portion of Newcrest, aaand photoset captions still don’t work. *grumbles* I’ve sent off a support ticket to tumblr -- we’ll see if anything comes of it.

Anyway, to start off the actual update -- it’s the Lottery! Yes, this is actually a holiday in The Sims 4, if I haven’t mentioned it before -- one of those pop-up ones. The only tradition is to buy a ticket, then wait with bated breath for the drawing the next day! Emmett and Nikal both made the $100 investment, because they can afford it, and -- well, it would be super cool if they won, wouldn’t it? Certainly give me enough money to give their house a proper TECHNO-SPELLCASTER makeover (or perhaps just replace it with something semi-appropriate from the gallery, like I ended up doing with their old residence when they swapped lots with the Van Dorts). Einstein doesn’t seem to approve of such financial daydreaming, though. XD Really, Einstein? Like, right then?

Anyway, I had a hankering to do more with magic, so Nikal and Emmett zapped themselves to the Magical Realm to chat with the Sages, search for more tomes, and generally experiment! Emmett picked up the Inferniate spell from Morgyn, allowing him to set things (and people, non-fatally) on fire -- I’m not sure when this skill will come in handy, but you never know! XD Nikal, meanwhile, found a Tome of Good Fortune during her search of the bookshelves -- annoying me, as that’s a potion recipe she ALREADY KNOWS. On the other hand, Emmett doesn’t know it, so I threw it in his inventory to study later. Honestly, the main reason I came here was to pick up the free “Orb of the Dragon Familiar” that sits in L. Faba’s study for Nikal -- I’ve decided that, since she’s part of the “fire” section of the map in her home game, Spellfall, and the second area of that section has a dragon boss, she should have a dragon familiar. And I had the perfect name too -- Vale! After DragonVale, another game by Backflip. Isn’t he the absolute cutest thing? :D Seriously, if the Sims team decided to make plushies of the familiars, I’d snap up the dragon (and the leafbat) in a HEARTBEAT.

Anyway, after that, it was just time to practice magic and experiment with the cauldron until it was time for work! And since we followed Nikal last time, I decided we’d be joining Emmett on his scientific adventures this time! What strange and exciting things awaited him at the lab?

[ibroughtthisonmyselfpixels]

Part 2: The Cross-generational Perspective

In which the influence of Cupid Hawthorne can be felt as early as junior-year history

Warning: contains a scene of murder (of a young person) more explicit than in the previous part, focused on in great detail - specifically, strangulation - and murder as a whole is discussed throughout. There’s also minor homophobia / historical gay denial from a forum poster, transphobia disguised as “it’s just a joke bruh” rhetoric, very mild NSFW implications in one paragraph, and a requisite Cuphead reference since Vidcund would have killed me if I didn’t work King Dice into this somehow.

Castor didn't start collecting trophies deliberately until the third kill. By then, they were more at ease with the monumental task they'd set themselves, and more certain of what He would expect of them. Besides, the higher the body count, the harder it is to tell the victims apart without a souvenir or five. A broken button here, a tie there... Every little helps.

The first and second are both embodied by the same thing – though the need for reminiscence there is more out of desire than duty.

Automatically, they reach for a side drawer on the desk, an old shawl wrapped in a plastic bag wrapped in their hand in seconds. It's how Moms used to store the old photo album at home (may still do, actually; they need to pay them a visit next weekend). But, if anything, the history book inside is even more precious and handled with greater care, each page the wing of a gossamer moth. To desecrate His face would be nothing short of sacrilege.

Their finger runs along His pale jaw, and they pretend the deep-set eyes widen slightly at the sight of them.

Soon, Cupid. I'm nearly there.

The eyes that will first see that face on the page belong not to the nonbinary person they will become, but a teenage girl who happens to carry the name and the penis she had at birth. Her identity is just one of the many things Castor has picked up over time, like pierced ears, the zits that turn her rounded face into a game of connect-the-dots, and a keen interest in aspects of academia that most of her peers refuse to touch.

That last one especially. She didn't get into AP History through luck alone, after all. And it's paid off – she's learned more about the 1920s and 30s in the month or so they've been covering it than anything she gleaned from comparing the differences between World Wars I and II. To a Sim who drinks knowledge like it's water, such a thing is invaluable.

No matter how grisly that knowledge is.

“--looking at the rise of gangsters, mobs, and other such criminals, and how that relates to what we've already studied,” says Mr Piper, breaking through her thoughts. Ah, today's one such 'grisly day', then. “It's no secret that Roaring Heights, even today, has something of a fearsome reputation; when we made our list of qualities a few weeks ago, 'bad crowd' was a term that came up a lot, as I'm sure you remember. The existence of these criminal syndicates was and still is a large factor in those bad crowds, both proverbial and literal.”

“Like the Hook?” shouts a voice (as best as he can with it cracking) from the back of the room. “Is the Hook a syndicate?”

“No, Elliot. And I thought we agreed we wouldn't bring that urban legend up in class again.”

Elliot groans, but he does stay quiet after, thank god. It's not even from the right decade... Weren't it still Sunshine Cove back then?

“I'm more referring to actual families with lengthy histories of illegal activity: the Reeves, the Dandys, and so on. But we're going to focus exclusively on the Hawthorne family today, since they are particularly notorious. Who here knows which crimes the Hawthornes are the most tightly associated with?”

Hands rise sporadically around the room. Sam Nguyen's was up right away, but she was born there, so she's known about everything in this module so far.

Tallying the results in his head, the teacher stops when he sees her own hand still down. “Castor, I'm surprised you don't know,” he remarks.

“I've heard 'em mentioned in passing, Sir; I've just never had a chance to look into it.”

He seems to accept that: “Okay then. Glenn? Any ideas?”

“Extortion tactics, Sir? That's what most mobs do.”

“No it ain't! Haven't you seen CSI? Mobs are about murder. Culling the good guys, making them sleep with the fishes, capiche?” Orchid slips into an attempt at an Italian accent towards the end, one that doesn't jive well with the usual Hollow twang in the slightest.

“Uh, they probably wouldn't talk like that if they're--”

“Don't they blackmail people too?”

“That's the same thing, Clover!”

“Not really; extortion's more about getting what you want, blackmail's about them getting what they don't--”

A sharp tap on the desk with a spare whiteboard duster brings the class to silence and order... very temporarily, since it's broken by the sound of Steve's text-to-speech system. (God, she's just imagined that with a bad Italian accent too...) “Does it depend on which member of the family you're looking at, Sir?”

“That's right, Steve. And so are the other three of you, in that sense. Different generations of Hawthornes have those three aspects covered at different ratios. But while extortion and blackmail were reportedly the roots of the family business, it traces back to the 1910s, beyond the scope of the decades we are looking at this term. It's the second aspect – the murder –” Mr Piper lets the word hang in the room for a short second – “that cast the blackest mark on both them and the town as a whole from the years 1920 to 1930. If you can all turn to Page 74 in 'A Roaring Heights History' for me?”

Ever on the ball, Castor joins the others in retrieving their copy from the bottom of her quite hefty backpack. Damn lack of foresight. The air's thick with the sound of pages turning, numbers counted, 74, 74... ah-ha, there it is. Chapter title on the left, picture on the right, captioned: 'Cupid Hawthorne, feigning grief'. She glances at it by chance --

-- and the very foundations of the Earth shift beneath her.

He's so... striking. So real, despite the medium; like a firework given form. His jaw is practically a V, set in a scream, his lips curling back to show near-perfect teeth. Hair – no, she can hardly call it hair, it's a mane, swept wherever the wind takes it. His nostrils flare, highlighting a nose prominent enough to warrant sculptures, monuments. Eyebrows slant heavy in the fierce expression, and the eyes underneath...! There are a million and one stories within those eyes, greyscale though they are, every imagined fleck of those distant polaroid irises a new memory, of anger, of family, death, blood, anguish...

For a wild moment, for a wild lifetime, she imagines that it's her he is looking at, that his gaze is fixed upon her alone, that she's the reason for this burst of passion within such a soul. His voice, abstract, unheard, repeats within as the name lingers on his mouth, Castor, Castor.

When the world turns again and the echo fades, she's left adrift between peace and unrest.

Looking up to the classroom again is like stepping out of a cinema into a rainy day: brighter than hoped, darker than expected. To her surprise, only two minutes have passed since, given the clock's hands. She looks back at the people behind her. Sam, Steve, even Elliot... His face looks up at them all from the paper, captured and reflected from multiple angles.

And yet none of them seem to see him. If they look, it's briefly, before returning to the text underneath. There's a rarity in their books, and they're choosing to ignore it? Wait, Sam's looked up too – confused – was she, too, caught in the--?

“Uh, Castor?” she whispers. “You okay? You look pale. Need to see the nurse?”

“Uh-? Y-no, it's okay. I'll be fine.”

Castor quickly turns back to the front, to the task at hand – if such a thing even exists. There's words beyond the caption, and the teacher drones on, but they all seem strange now, nonsensical. An emotional dyslexia.

Is she really the only one to feel it? The only one to see Cupid Hawthorne, emblazoned in history, and have a reaction so...

visceral?

The haze the history lesson left behind shields her from the rest of the school day, for better or worse; she's unceremoniously home before she realizes it. Mom One is working tonight, so only her jade-green mother is there to greet her. Dinner's brief, a bowl of mac and cheese and a slice of sheet cake from the local baker's, and then it's time for homework. In theory, anyway.

In practice, the first word she types into Google, on reflex, is “Hawthorne”. She makes no attempt to stop it after that. She does have a week for most of these pieces, and a reputation of being prepared to uphold...

Result after result pours onto the screen, and with it information and revelation. First, that out of all the people in the room that morning, Orchid had been closest to the truth. Matters of money and influence are barely mentioned, with some of the forum users she digs up not even knowing that the criminal activity went that deep. All talk is of the War of the Hawthornes: the players, the game, and even a fraction of the cause.

Crimedivi So turns out they used to run bachelorette challenges in the old days too?? They weren't c**** popular like now, but there were apparently enough of them that RQ ran one, and Cupid meddled in it by killing everyone off!! I mean, wtf???? Even if you don't like your family that's just low you know??????

Castor assumes the asterixes are due to the forum's format, rather than self-imposed (especially when the same poster later refers to it as a series of 'a**a**inations').

Allystelle205 I've heard about that too! That's why no one knows who Rose Quartz ended up marrying in the end, I think: she had to protect his identity to make sure Cupid couldn't track them and kill them again... :O

xxxgogetterx “his”? wasn't she pansexual? there wouldve been women in there too dumba**

Allystelle205 Dude, gay people didn't exist in the 1930s! They would have been killed for--

She scrolls past that hot mess quickly until she finds a mod post warning them that her sexuality's neither up for debate, nor the actual point... she thinks. It doesn't have his name in it, so she doesn't get all the details.

movethatpawawayfromyoursim Anyway, back on topic...... @crimedivi it wouldn't have been the first time Cupid killed off his own family. Pretty much everyone else in it are dead because of him after all – three in that car crash, one got shot, one got strangled. I forget which is which. After that level of evil, killing her suitors to get to her really isn't that much of a stretch

Crimedivi ik ik but until then no one else had to get killed OUTSIDE off the family right?? and think about it, there's NEVER been a bc since where this has happened, people dying cus they wanna get married!!!! its just a new layer of bad somehow yknow??? kinda makes me wanna be sick!!

SpeckleP Especially since Rose Quartz was like reeeeaaaally mentally ill. There's records out there of her being in an asylum once upon a time in Bridgeport I think it was. They say schizophrenia but I think it was more that Cupid had such a hold over her that she broke herself so he couldn't hurt her anymore or something like that? Imagine getting out of there only to lose even more people to him and not knowing why...

Crimedivi now I really AM gonna be sick thanks SpeckleP!!!!!!

She looks at her hands, poised on the keyboard, then over to her open book. He's still there in print, facing away from the gossip about his motives and deeds that splits the screen. Castor slants him towards her again, giving him another long look, waiting for... she doesn't know what. Another change? How can there be change, when he has already infected her mind so thoroughly? How can there be anger, revulsion, at such a sight? And yet it's so easy for others to feel, firmly in the corner of the family scorned...

The book goes back down. Maybe there's something to what Sam said, after all. Maybe Castor is sick – just in a very different way to little Crimedivi.

This notion doesn't bother her as much as she thought it would.

The topic staggers on for another few posts (including a very pointed remark about the healthcare system from AtheistKatherine33) before stalling. Perhaps another website will bring her more insight.

Searching more specifically for “Cupid” this time, it's not long before she's inundated with a wall of neon text that looks like it's from the era of GeoCities, if not somehow earlier. But it doesn't take long for her to convert it into something resembling legibility. It's broken up by a picture – not a copy. This one's captioned “most recent known photo”, but he's less clear here, a calmer face in a crowd of dots and stripes, caught only by a red circle. His arm is linked with that of a black man to his right, in... is she imagining it? Or is it a protective sense? A partner of some kind? That'd be odd, given the era, and yet... they're standing so...

For the first time in months, Castor's chest feels a dismal flickering that she recognizes as dysphoria. She winces. Not now, not... Reading, more reading. She sinks into the paragraphs on paragraphs, feeling the flames of that shrink under a much greater fire.

1914-1918: Records show that Cupid H served in the Roaring Heights branch of the Allied forces during the events of the first World War. Debates are thick on the ground as to how many casualties can be attributed to him in this time ...

Winter-Spring, 1920: After a meeting with a rival syndicate, Oleander, Dogwood and Gillyflower H are killed in a car crash. It later transpires that the crash was due to sabotage of the vehicle in question; despite denying it at first, Cupid would later admit to being the culprit ...

Summer, 1920: Cupid strangles Blush H, then goes on to shoot Bow H in a duel to the death. These are the first murders that he is known to have committed directly, without the use of war as an excuse or a car crash as a buffer. Reports persist, though unsubstantiated, that Cupid was crying during these acts ...

1925: After five years of being in charge of the family business, Cupid H goes into an unexplained exile, leaving the company with no head and no direction ...

1930: A further five years of absence end with a secret reappearance in Raspberry Hearts. Cupid infiltrates the bachelor challenge of his sister Rose Quartz H, using Grey Tundora as a proxy to eliminate all competition. By the time only he and the person who will marry her remain, Cupid reveals himself to her, and--

“Cassie?”

“Mm?” She jolts herself back into the room in time to see a body in the doorway. “Yeah, Mom?”

“Are you okay? I've called up to you four times.”

Oh crap... first too little time has passed, now apparently far too much. “Sorry, I've just been doin' a spot of reading up. I'm fine.”

Mom Two doesn't budge. “I hope you did some of your homework before--”

“Oh, this is homework... sorta. Extracurricular – y- nothing you’d understand,” she reassures a little too quickly for her own mouth.

“What of, hon? Anything in particular?”

Yeesh, what is this, the Inquisition? I'm keepin' him waiting... “Just stuff, Mom. School stuff? That's what extracurricular means. And if I don't get back to it soon it'll be extra-extracurricular, so if y’all could... y’know...?”

The face in the door twists, disconcerted, confused. “Are you sure you're okay? You're not normally so ornery. If there's anything wrong, you know you can tell me and Laverne, don't you?” That look, backed with the sadness under her words, brings mollified shame to Castor's cheeks.

“No, nuffin's wrong. Sorry, didn't mean to shout; s'been a heck of a day, is all. I'm okay, though, honestly,” she adds before more worry can spawn from that. “Promise.”

This, at least, seems placating enough, since her parent smiles again. “Promise promise?”

“Yup. And if I'm wrong, sic Mom One on me in the morning.”

“I will. Anyway, I'm near about past going, so I'm heading to bed. Don't stay up too long now, will you?”

“I won't,” says Castor, already acutely aware of how much of a lie that could turn out to be. “Night, Momma.”

“G'night, little spark.”

And thus Mom Two finally departs, leaving her child to dive back into research, first online then back to off, under the watching eyes of a man briefly seen.

It's little surprise that she sleeps late, book tucked under the pillow; yet, inexplicably, she still jolts awake just before sunrise. She dreamt mostly of Cupid. She couldn't help it. A man so mysterious, powerful, and – judging by the hand pressed between her legs – experienced could invade the dreams of anyone if he desired it. (The fact that he would be several years her senior doesn't cross her mind, addled with mingling red and white splatter stains as it is.)

She spends so much time scrutinizing the parts of the chapter she missed over breakfast that she clean forgets to make up her usual teapot-ponytails. The excess hair weighs more than usual at her nape, a pleasantly strange sensation; few comment on it when she gets into school. At this point, they tend to let her more unconventional fashion choices slide.

Well... most of them do. As morning drags her kicking and screaming into the sticky, perpetual hours of lunch period, an exception first seeded years ago is set to prove the rule.

“Hey, Cassie. What's a gal like you doing in the boy's bathroom?”

Ignore him. Just ignore him. Focus on freshening up.

“Helloooo? I said, what's a gal like you doin--”

“That ain't gonna work, Lemonlips. I'm in too bad a mood.” Focus, focus. Sweep 'cross the eyelid, left to right...

Merlot barks out a laugh that morphs into a gravelly hack halfway through, courtesy of the cigarette aflame in his pale-green hand. “Shit, you're always in a bad mood now. What the hell happened to your sense of humor, babe?” he drawls, lingering on the final word as though it in itself is an insult.

Nothing, your sense of humor just switched into makin' me the butt of every joke when you worked out I was trans, her mind snarls, fingers curling around the eyeshadow brush. But there's no sense in voicing that. She's explained it to him before, even before their friendship dissolved, and he's never gotten it. Out of ignorance or malice, she still doesn't know.

Thank Christ he was in none of her classes today. After the morning she's had – distracted by a roaring beauty, sidelined by a surprise pop quiz in her worst subject, caught passing a note to Floss in Biology – more of Merlot than is necessary would turn her into the very being in the photo.

“I'm only saying that with you saying you're a girl all the time and wearing your hair like a girl and putting on that f-” he stalls, apparently thinking better of it – “makeup like a girl, you oughta be in the bathroom with the other girls. Sue me for making a good point every once in a while.”

A swift wave of red across the other eye. She loves this color; it puts more emphasis on the contrast within her pupils and less on the zit that’s somehow appeared in her eyebrow, what the hell? “Last week I was in the girl's bathroom, and you kicked up a stink about that too. Made out like I was a predator, remember?”

“Jesus Christ, I was only jok--”

“Yeah, well, it weren't funny. It were sick.” On to the next shade in her kit, a deeper hue this time, reminiscent of roses and blood... She wonders how often Cupid saw this color in his line of work. “Besides, everywhere else is full up today, so I'm stuck in here with you--”

“Riiight, right, gotcha,” says her fellow Berry dismissively. “Can't stand the thought of them being prettier than you.”

“It's not--”

“Don't lie, it's always been like that.” He stubs out his smoke on the wall, leaving one of many little marks on the linoleum. “Envy's your Achilles heel, babe, your deadly sin. That's why you broke it off with me, that's why you decided you were a girl – cus you knew you could never match up to what I've got to offer if you just stayed a boy like I asked.”

Her teeth grit together... is she being particularly touchy today, or he particularly aggravating? “Lemonlips, you know for a fact that's not true. I--”

“Bullshit it's not!”

Pain erupts in ear and vision both – “Gyah!” – he's much closer and louder than before, and the alarm's made her jab the brush through her closed lids and into the actual eyeball. “Sunnuva... ” Owww, she thinks as she pulls it out, sending an ugly smear along her right cheekbone, that's gonna sting somethin' awful.

“Sorry. Y-you okay?” she hears beyond the ringing. “Didn't... fuck your face up, did I?” There's a tremble in the tone, an off-key one. Did that actually...? Blinking the injured eye rapidly, she cracks open the other, casts it at him – Adam's apple quivering, but a smile in the mouth and the...

Laughing. The son of a bitch is still laughing.

The brush falls to the floor. Her hand reaches immediately, instead, for her standard trusty watch enclosed in a trouser pocket. By all rights she ought to have done this the second he saw her, but she had to give him a chance, didn't she? Like she does every single... ugh. She prays this time will be quick. Calm and quick.

“Uh, w- what are you doing?” the idiot says, still trying to stifle his guffaws.

“You know what I'm doing,” she replies, evenly. “What's important is what you're doin'. Doing.”

“Oh please, you think I'm gonna fall for that again? I'm getting wise to your tricks, Cas-”

But she is wiser. “No tricks, Merlot. Think about what you're doing. Think about what you're saying. Think about how you're breathing. Think about that breath, caught in your chest. Let it out for me.” The rhythm to her words is coming naturally, as is the subtle swing of the watch, a distraction to the other's eye. Even in their early days, he was drawn to this. “Let the breath in. Let the breath out. Focus on that. The breath in, the breath out. Focus on the breath. Focus on my voice, focus on the watch. Let us fade, let us stay, stay where you can see us. Focus on the breath and the voice and the watch.”

“Yyou're...” The protest is stoppered; he's already slurring.

“Focus on the voice and the watch. On the voice, the watch. The voice. Only the voice. Let the voice guide you. Let me do the work. Focus on the voice. Ignore how your eyes droop. Ignore how your tongue feels heavy. Ignore how your bones slouch. Focus on the voice telling you this. Focus all of your being on the voice. Ignore your tiring. Focus on the voice. Focus... and sleep.”

And he's slack against the wall, dropping to the floor in a well-executed trance state.

There. Now maybe he can shut up. Castor retrieves the brush from the ground, repacks her makeup kit, slips it and the watch into her bag. She's still got a while before class begins again. She can grab a snack from the cafeteria, she decides. Fix her eyeshadow elsewhere, add some blush. Read some more about...

She pauses in front of the door.

On any other day – on the same day, in any other world – this pause would be brief. She would shake it off, swing open and out into the school as herself. The satisfaction of seeing him down for the count would be enough, enough to quell everything, the haunting of her dream, the reminder of what was and what's to come. That would be the end of it.

On this day, she turns back.

A slow approach to her former friend. A discarding of the backpack. A lowering onto bended knees to see him up close. His yellow buzzcut is coarse, a shaved pattern disappearing. The insectine lines across his face are slack in slumber. Long eyelashes rest upon cheeks.

This much is true – he was pretty to her, once upon a time. But there is greater beauty than her own to compare him to, now.

He's not wearing his usual scarf; it's a warm sort of day, so it doesn't call for it, she supposes. The uniform looks incomplete without it, though. Too small for his body, too wide for his neck. His neck. Exposed, thin. The lump of a voicebox within is less clear, hidden by its stretching out, its length. She looks more carefully – there's a vein, or perhaps another birthmark of the skin, crawling to his chin.

It occurs to her, looking at it, how fragile a neck can be. There's only skin and blood protecting the windpipe, and not even that much of it. Anything could sever it, whatever the sharpness. A knife. A pen. A hand. Two hands.

Those of a criminal. Those of a hypnotist.

--three in that car crash, one got shot, one got strangled--

The bathroom at once seems much wider and taller than before, swamping them both. A dizzy Castor looks at her fingers again – red with makeup, green with potential.

Could I-? Could I...?

--the first murders that he is known to have committed directly--

She finds herself reaching out, softly, towards the breathing vessel. Two fingers, a thumb. A pulse underneath. He doesn't stir; the trance must be deep. So very...

He wouldn't even notice. He wouldn't wake. He'd never wake again, would he? No more of those thinly-veiled jokes. No more memories, tainted. No one hurt by him ever again.

And the ocean within her head would stop crashing at the shores of the skull.

--Cupid strangles Blush H--

Left hand joins right. Both fasten, like a collar, around the sleeping Merlot's throat.

Solid ridges form under her touch, columns of muscle. Tighter; the drumbeat rises, a steady rhythm. Tighter; she feels it when he subconsciously swallows. A circle smaller by degrees, the more she squeezes, her grip steadying with each of her own inhales and exhales. Calm and quick.

Calm and quick. Don't get carried away. Don't waste this. Could never waste this. Is she hearing herself, or him, or Him? Who's pretending to be her? Is this pretension? Too many questions. Too much air in the body of this waste of space, his arrogant being, his brother. Flush it out, flush it all out. Let oxygen drip away.  

A quickening of the arteries – a fluttering, a stirring. Dammit. Merlot's coming out, he's aware, he's seeing the vice grip and the body attached to the grip and the eyes of red and green and blue that see him too. He tries to gulp in alarm, to shriek... it won't help. How can it help if he can't breathe to do it? He struggles underneath her, fails to back away, to press forward. His own limbs, ineffectual, reach up to grab hers, to pull her away from this most vital of tasks. A begging for mercy, when he offered her none. A chance to let go.

She presses harder.

He croaks, panics, claws at her haphazardly, barely scratching the surface, much less the spirit; they're limp before he knows it. He's kicking out now, but she isn't dislodged. He has no quarter in this battle, this war, this slaughter. Not anymore. Not now she can sense that nothing's passing through, nothing in, nothing out. Focus on the breath. Hah – focus on the lack of breath. Focus on the blood vessels bursting, tinting the whites of him. Focus on the single tear. Focus on the fear, the danger, the regret, rising, then falling, fading, fading away...

When her own trance lifts, her palms can no longer feel his heart.

Castor finds herself unable to move at first. Then, gradually, carefully, she peels away from him, shuffles back to get a better look at this: her destruction. The body is unchanged on the fundamental level; buzzcut, filled with lines, lashes thick. But it's only a shell. Merlot, as she knew him, as grew up with her, as turned on her, simply isn't there, a victim of his own cocoon.

...no, not of that. A victim of me, she thinks. Thinks again. Victim. Killed. Killed him. It's almost tuneful. I just killed him. I've literally just killed a man. Didn't even need a car to do it. Just hands. 

Wonder if anyone heard me doing it. ...wait, what if they did? What if they find his body? This is going to get out eventually. Lots of things do in this school. What if it does and they find out I did it? What if they see my fingerprints? What would Moms think? What would Mr Piper think? Floss, Sam, wh- what would...

What would He think?

The bag's been dislodged, somehow, in the scuffle. She pulls it back to her, as though in a dream. An errant streak of pink is on the front cover; she can clean that up later. What's important is Page 74, and the Cupid within. The restrained rage. The black and white look that's...

changed. Everything that was within before has coalesced into one emotion. She doesn't have to guess to know it's for her, or to know what it is.

Pride.

The world is suddenly and startlingly hot and cold and wet. She crushes the book to her chest, His picture flat against her heart by coincidence or design. At the same time, there's a smell of ichor and bone and fog, wrapping around her legs. The walls rumble motionlessly.

Of two things, Castor is certain in this moment. First: that Death has come to take the carcass, the damning evidence, of Merlot Lemonlips away. Second: that she will love Cupid Hawthorne for the rest of her limited existence.

[toraonice]

Yuri on Ice interview translation - Animage 2017/01 (p20-23)

I was going to post this last week but gave priority to the BD stuff. This will be the final interview from the booklet that came with January Animage! There’s still an interview with Kenji Miyamoto left untranslated, but it will be taken care of by @whiteboxgems​ whenever she has time! I’ll reblog it when it’s around.

This is actually 2 interviews, I’m posting them together because they were one after the other and (main reason) because the second one is very short. A few notes below to better understand the interviews.

The first one is with Yuuichirou Hayashi, the one who created the ending (ED = ending by the way) footage. I have the feeling someone previously posted translations of the captions under the ED screenshots, but I don’t remember where and I’m pretty sure it was just the captions and not the interview parts, so here you have it complete. This one is pretty interesting because he explains in detail how they created the ED, and has some extra information on cut scenes etc. Definitely a must read in my opinion!

The second one is a short interview with Kayoko Ishikawa, the one who did the costume designs. Here you might think: didn’t Chacott design the costumes? I’ll explain. It’s more or less like with Mitsurou Kubo and Tadashi Hiramatsu: Kubo created the original designs for the characters, from scratch, and Hiramatsu transformed them into designs specifically created for animation, therefore with simpler lines, detailed expression sheets and so on. Likewise, Chacott did the original designs for the costumes, from scratch, based on the indications by Yamamoto and Kubo, and then the anime’s costume designer simplified and modified them so that they would be suitable to be animated. (Before actually animating them there’s a further step: the anime’s color designer is going to decide the exact colors, shadows and highlights included, that will be used inside the anime. I translated an interview with the color designer Izumi Hirose some time ago)

I usually don’t add pictures but this time I felt that it would be better to add them as an immediate reference. However, they are just for reference and are not meant to be visually stunning, so please bear with the quality because I just took photos of the magazine with my phone and quickly edited them.

Translation under the cut! (kind of image-heavy)

***If you wish to share this translation please do it by reblogging or posting a link to it*** 
***Re-translating into other languages is ok but please mention that this post is the source***

Yuuichirou Hayashi ED storyboard, direction, key animation “I paid attention to the sensuality”

The faint sensuality and physical beautiy created by fireworks & water.

—The ED of “Yuri on Ice” has been highly praised by the fans too. How did you feel when director Sayo Yamamoto offered you the job?

I was told by MAPPA at quite an early stage that they wanted to ask me to do the ED. Director Yamamoto is known for her stylish animation, and I was sure from the start that it would be a challenge. Before the meeting I was really anxious to know what kind of instructions I would receive. —What instructions did director Yamamoto give you?

She already had a concrete image in her head, and she told me that the concept would be to “show candid shots of the skaters”. Real figure skaters actually use Instagram and other SNS a lot, and often post pictures. She showed me the pictures they posted and we talked about how to make the ED. Director Yamamoto really knows a lot about figure skating, and she explained many things to me from a fan’s point of view (LOL). I could feel her love for figure skating very strongly. I also watch it on TV, but my knowledge is limited to knowing the names of the most famous athletes, therefore it was very interesting information for me. —The fireworks in the beginning are very striking.

First of all I created the storyboard and drew all the candid shots I could think of. Then I decided the order of appearance based on the song and did some adjustments like removing the shots that wouldn’t fit, but I was really torn about the first and last pictures… After all, I wanted it to start with a shot of Yuuri, Victor and Yurio having fun together. Real figure skaters too get along well outside of tournaments and post pictures together with other athletes on the SNS. Still, the time the three of them spent together in Japan is actually very short. Yurio returns to Russia around May, and fireworks are a bit weird for that time of the year, but you know… why not?, I thought (LOL). —Why did you choose fireworks?

When I was thinking about what would be nice to see them doing I thought that, since Hasetsu is on the sea, fireworks could be a good idea. Since the concept is SNS and candid shots the footage would be made by a slideshow of still pictures, therefore we could use the kind of pictures taken with the camera shutter left open to effectively show the traces of light drawn by the fireworks. I paid attention to sensuality, not just in this scene but in the whole ED. I thought that motifs of fireworks and water would be good to represent the beauty of colors and of the trained bodies of figure skaters. —The last shot is also with fireworks, but it only has Yuuri in it.

Actually, before thinking of the three of them playing with fireworks, the first image that popped into my mind was Yuuri dancing alone. The first storyboard also started with a picture of “Ice Castle Hasetsu” seen from the outside. However, there are episodes ending with Ice Castle Hasetsu too, so it would have been boring to have the ED start with that too, and that’s when I thought that it would be interesting to add Victor and Yurio to Yuuri’s solo scene that I had imagined first. Lots of love for the characters! Inside stories about how the candid shots were born.

—The SNS pictures of the skaters are also very realistic. It seems that the fans are curious about what is written in the captions too.

The production team recreated the social media screens very carefully, from the account name to the icons, and we made them slide fast on purpose so that it would be difficult to read the text. After all the ED is meant to show the names of the staff, and we thought that it wouldn’t be nice if some other text caught the viewers’ attention too much (LOL).

—It’s also realistic that the number of “likes” for every character is different. Some characters will enjoy writing long posts, while others like Seung-gil only write one word. I really think that the pictures are successful in representing each character’s personality. —How did you decide the order of appearance of the candid shots?

We didn’t follow this pattern for all of them, but since this show is set in various parts of the world, I decided to pay attention to the time difference. The shots in Europe are set around noon and the ones in Asia from evening to night. The director also said that “they come from different countries and live in different places, so there is a time difference”, therefore I tried to reflect this in the pictures. —What did you have a hard time with?

I was the only member of the staff working on this, so the schedule was quite tight (LOL). I thought about how to make it the most effective while still being something that I would be able to do alone. However, and this is not just regarding “Yuri on Ice”, it’s not like I had a hard time. I’m the type who tends to forget any hardship when it’s over (LOL). —Who is the character that caught your attention the most?

I like Victor. I like that, even though he always acts as he pleases, only thinking about himself and not really the others, he also has a playful side and you can’t hate him. Working on this series I could really feel the love that Mitsurou Kubo-san, director Yamamoto and the rest of the staff have for the characters.They really like everyone. That’s also why I naturally felt that I should express “love” in my work as well. —Are there any shots that you had to cut and never saw the light of day?

There was a shot with Yuuri and Victor eating soba. It’s a dish of Hasetsu and you eat it topped with various kinds of ingredients, but since Yuuri tends to gain weight easily he just ate soba without anything on it. While Victor looked all pleased with his soba full of toppings. Unfortunately, when putting the pictures in order we realized that there were too many and it would become chaotic, so we had to cut it. —Did the way you look at figure skating change after you worked for this series?

It feels much closer than before. I didn’t even know that skaters posted pictures on the SNS. It happened that I started checking them out as a reference, but they were so interesting that before I knew it I’d spent lots of time just doing that… —The show is getting closer to the climax.

I’m happy to see that the show is getting a huge response. I feel that Kubo-san and director Yamamoto’s overflowing love for figure skating and the characters is reaching the viewers. I still don’t know how it ends either, so I’m very curious to see whether Yuuri and Victor will be able to win this tournament. Please watch over their battle until the end!

**Captions**

Fireworks on the beach On Hasetsu’s beach. Yurio is covering his ears because he is not used to Japanese stick fireworks that you hold in your hand. In the beginning he’s cautious, but then he gets carried away and starts waving it around. Maybe he will try to shoot at Yuuri the type of fireworks that you place on the ground (LOL).

Wine is the protagonist? This is a picture uploaded on the SNS by a skater and it’s just the landscape. It’s set in France and it’s meant to show that he is just leisurely drinking wine. It would look a bit too crowded to only put pictures of people, so I added this to have a visual break.

Christophe Giacometti The figure skating season is from autumn to winter, and summer is a time for vacation. In this scene he relaxes at home playing with his cat. This is based on something director Yamamoto said in a meeting: “it would be nice if all the skaters had a pet”, and “Giacometti would have a cat”. When I asked her about Christophe’s image she said “anyway, sexy”, and I spent quite some time wondering how I could express sexiness in your everyday life (LOL).

Phichit Chulanont He’s buying some snacks to eat from Bangkok’s food stands. He likes SNS, and he’s probably looking for new stuff to post and uploading his selfies every day, therefore I thought it would be nice to use a really simple everyday life scene. I drew it so that it would look like it’s conveying “I’m having fun!” and “this is delicious!”.

Seung-gil Lee Together with his pet dog in his house in Korea. The dog is a Siberian husky. At the meeting I was told that Seung-gil isn’t really interested in fashion, so I made his casual clothes very plain and uninteresting. Originally I was planning to show him very loosely idling around at home in a sweat shirt, but I though maybe that was too much (LOL) and I changed it to this version.

Michele Crispino The siblings spending some free time together. They are taking a souvenir photo in front of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. Michele looks like he’s having fun with his beloved sister.

Jean-Jacques Leroy JJ is spending his time off at a high-class hotel in Singapore where celebrities gather. I drew him as someone with a satisfactory real life, as if he’s saying “I’m going to a party” (LOL). He looks like he would always be surrounded by girls, but to be considered toward his fans he’s taking the picture so that you can’t see the girls’ faces. He’s the only one looking at the camera.

Otabek Altin A picture from when he goes back to his country Kazakhstan during his time off. It’s taken on a very long escalator in a station of the subway. I made some research about Kazakhstan sceneries, but I couldn’t find anything that gave me a good idea for a situation with Otabek. When I consulted with the director, she told me about this long escalator.

Guang-Hong Ji The picture is taken in front of a sports center and shows him going to practice with his new bicycle. This is also based on something I heard from the director. She said that one day, when she went to watch a figure skating tournament in a certain country, she spotted one of the skaters going to the arena with their bicycle. I thought it was amusing that it was like he’s just going to play in the neighborhood, and I created this situation.

Yuuri and Victor facing each other on a train Yuuri and Victor coming back from practice. I didn’t really mean it to be a parting picture, but the setting sun coming in from the window and the symmetrical layout give the scene a slightly melancholic and lonely feeling. I wanted to use a vehicle, and for this scene I used as a model a train that is actually running in Kyushu*. I carefully researched the interior too when drawing it. [*translator’s note: It should be the 305 Series train that runs on the Karatsu line, look it up on Wikipedia and you’ll see that the seats are like that]

Yuri Plisetsky A picture of him waiting for the train on his way back from practice, in St. Petersburg in Russia. Since he’s a punk he’s lying on the bench sideways checking his phone (LOL).

Yurio and the lion statue Together with the lion statue in front of a museum in St. Petersburg. Since in Hasetsu Yurio was attracted by an animal T-shirt, I was looking around to see if there was a good place that could be used to show his punkiness. With this lion & lion picture I obtained the effect I was looking for.

Victor Nikiforov This is Victor taking a selfie as he’s going on a drinking spree in Nakasu, a place in Kyushu (LOL). In the anime he was also shown going to eat Nagahama ramen while having Yuuri and Yurio practice “eros” and “agape”, so I wanted to draw a picture in the style “meanwhile, Victor… (LOL).

Sneak shot of Yuuri and Victor Victor arranging Yuuri’s hair when they are trying out costumes at Yuuri’s house. I created this picture aiming for an indirect, subtle sensuality. I guess the sneak shot was probably taken by the 3 skating otaku sisters (LOL).

By the sea 1 It’s after Yurio returned home, so it’s mainly Yuuri and Victor. I aimed for a retro feeling, as if the picture was taken with a camera from the 70s. I used this scene in a moment where the ED song changes to a slow pace. Instead of showing the characters up front, I chose a soft look to give importance to the atmosphere.

By the sea 2 They are getting the salt off their bodies after playing by the sea, the place is Niji no Matsubara in Kyushu. There are actually showers like this on the beach. They have this curious shape because they’re meant to be used by people facing each other. I was told that this scene was originally planned to be used in the show, but unfortunately that wasn’t possible in the end, so I decided to at least use it in the ED.

Yurio full of cats Taken at the training place in Russia. The scene shows Mila having fun covering Yurio in cat plushies. Since Yurio has a cat, it’s common for fans to throw cat plushies in the rink after his performances.

Yuuri and fireworks When I was creating the ED, the first image that came to my mind was Yuuri dancing alone on the beach. He’s already dancing on the ice in the show, so I wanted to make this scene different, more fluid, as if he’s dancing ballet.

Cool! Sexy! Cute! Costume designer Kayoko Ishikawa

What is interesting in designing costumes different than normal clothing

—How did you start working for the costume designs in “Yuri on Ice”?

The first instructions I received from (Sayo) Yamamoto-san concerning the design of skating costumes were to make arms and legs longer than in normal character design and to show muscles (especially on the butt and thighs). I then asked what image Chacott-san had in mind when they designed the costumes, with what image Yamamoto-san wanted to proceed, and I started working. —Could you tell us what was difficult and what was interesting about designing figure skating costumes?

The designs by Chacott-san were just full of interesting elements that you cannot find in normal clothes. While keeping the interesting parts and the overall image, I reconstructed them, simplifying them as much as possible to make them less difficult to animate and adding some extra things. At the beginning I found them hard to understand, but I gradually started having fun designing them. I aimed to make them cool! Cute! Sexy! —Do you have a favorite character?

I was shocked by the gap of Yurio and Otabek*. [*translator’s note: I believe she means the gap between their normal appearance and when they are on the ice] —What clothes would you like Yuuri, Victor and Yurio to wear except for the ones you designed this time?

Yuuri had lots of black and dark outfits, so I would like to see him wear something uselessly flashy, cool and over-the-top. Like bright red bondage…… —Bondage! (LOL) What about Victor and Yurio?

I want Victor to do the macho man costume skit Plushenko looked like he had a lot of fun doing years ago! I’m sure it would be amusing. And I would like Yurio to wear make-up and a black leather jacket like KISS (the band) over a cute coquettish ballerina costume like in the masked ball of the “Phantom of the Opera” (opera ver.). Only Yurio would be able to wear both at the same time. It would be such chaos. —Lastly, please tell us the highlights of the climax!

You will be showered with surprising developments (LOL). And the way it ends is very moving. I hope you will watch it until the end!

**Design point**

Yuuri Katsuki I wanted Yuuri’s costume to be sexy, so I designed it with underwear and bondage in mind.

Victor Nikiforov For Victor I used a stoic and prince-like image. I’m glad the gradation successfully looked nice in the show.

Yuri Plisetsky Yurio’s costume is midway between stoic and neat. It’s designed in the image of feathers and flames.

Phichit Chulanont Phichit’s is a mix of neatness and cool-cuteness.

Christophe Giacometti Chris’ SP was the hardest. Until it was colored I couldn’t understand what the final impression was going to be.

Jean-Jacques Leroy JJ is a crazy character, but his costume is quite conventional.

Otabek Altin I purposely incorporated a certain design in Otabek’s costume. Check it out when it airs in the show!

Leo De La Iglesia I like both the music and costume of Leo’s SP. His image reminds of Michael* and it’s both cool and cute. [*translator’s note: Michael Jackson]

Random note #1: Not sure whether I should be happy or sad that the shower scene was not featured in the anime, as I find it very beautiful how it’s shown in the ED. But I’m sad we couldn’t get to see the soba scene.

Random note #2: I’m sure no one couldn’t care less, but actually one of the pictures of the ED is set in my hometown, lol.

Random note #3: The costume designer seems such an amusing person. I mean, she wants to dress Yuuri in red bondage...! I’ve yet to see that even in fanart, lmao. Someone should draw that, AND Victor in the macho man costume AND Yurio with the ballerina dress + leather jacket and KISS make up (which by the way sounds like something he could’ve used in his exhibition performance considering the song...).

EDIT: Just a note because I’ve seen some extreme interpretation of Yuuri’s SP costume being inspired by underwear and bondage, but please remember that the costume was originally designed by Chacott, and the designer said "Since the song is performed from the point of view of a woman, I designed it with the concept of “a femme fatale who seduces men”.” (you can read the full interview here). In this interview the costume designer means that she took inspiration from how bondage and underwear look to edit the design, she doesn’t mean that within the anime the costume was created based on bondage.

[indochinavoyages]

How to plan the best Vietnam itinerary 2 weeks

How to plan the best Vietnam itinerary 2 weekshttps://http://bit.ly/2ImO3E8

Vietnam itinerary 2 weeks, 3 weeks or just 10 days, which one is sufficient? This is always a question when you are thinking of visiting Vietnam. Should it be a trip just Vietnam or a combined one with a few days extension to the famous Angkor Wat in Cambodia? How much does 2 weeks in Vietnam cost? When is the best time to go? etc. These concerns are quite understandable when you are a Vietnam first-timer and wishing to make the most out of it.

Things you should know before visiting Vietnam

With more than 3,000 kilometers of coastline, the country of Vietnam is stretched along the North to the South with two large deltas – Red River delta and Mekong delta by its ends. This geographic feature creates different climate zones and climate seasons. The North of Vietnam, which shares its North and Northwest border with China and Laos, have 4 distinctive seasons. While the South, which shares border with Cambodia and gulf of Thailand, inherits two separately wet and dry weather seasons.

  [caption id="attachment_14038" align="alignnone" width="960"] Vietnam map[/caption]

Apparently, the long and narrow country enables Vietnam to have a diversified ethnics and minority groups, mostly stretching along its border and in the mountain areas. In the flat land, there are metropolises in the 3 main regions of the country from North, Central, South which are Hanoi, Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh city consecutively; where life exposing with its traditions, living habits and dynamically bustle daily activities.

  [caption id="attachment_14039" align="alignnone" width="960"] Vietnam from North to South[/caption]

So if you want to capture every sights and corners of the country, it’s impossible to do in a Vietnam itinerary 2 weeks but at least Vietnam itinerary 3 weeks or more should be required. Anyhow, if your time frame is just about this given time, you should work on some destination search readings and feel what you want from that wish list, then prioritize them from the time frame. Planning an affordable one, matching your time and not to miss any nice sightseeing Vietnam has to offer, is in fact, not a big deal. Don’t forget to focus on the below key points, you will better plan a trip exactly for you without doing too much hassle works.

Some advice to choose the best Vietnam itinerary 2 weeks

Be more specific about what type of traveler you are

After reading highlights of places to visit, see what you want to do, including your special interests, you might take some suggestions below:

If you are a type of traveler who counts experience of a country on the whole picture, let make it a bit of everything here and there. Let’s plan for some mountains, some downtown, see the main sights, go to some outdoor markets, take some home visits along the road, try some different eats both in local restaurant and from street sides. This route might work well with Hanoi (3 days) – Halong (2 days) – Sapa (2 days 3 nights by train) – Hue (2 days) - Hoi An (2 days) - Ho Chi Minh (2 days) - Mekong Delta (1 day).

If you are likely a beach breaker and wish to see Vietnam in a slow pace, looking for some leisure days and doing not too much of the sights, see if this version might work: Hanoi (2 days) – Halong Bay (2 days) – Hoi An (4 days) – Saigon & Mekong (2 days) – Phu Quoc Island (3 days).

What if you are after history, people and in love with cultural identity of the destination, consider a different two-week travel itinerary in Vietnam which perfectly fit for you as Hanoi (2 days) – Ha Giang (4 days) – Ninh Binh and Halong Bay (3 days) – Hue (2 days) – Hoi An (3 days).

  [caption id="attachment_14040" align="alignnone" width="960"] The peaceful Hoi An ancient town[/caption]

What if I wish a bit more than just traveling to Vietnam in 2 weeks?

Some people who tend not to see one destination at a time but several. This is when after taking a long flight from the other side of the global, people just don’t want to waste that flight time and see just one place. It’s often the case when a lot of people from North America and the Europeans plan to see Vietnam in two weeks, including a short extension to either Luang Prabang in Laos or Angkor Wat in Cambodia. It means that you are going to squeeze your Vietnam program a bit and to save time for the extension. Southern Vietnam itinerary is worth to be put off in this case.

  [caption id="attachment_14042" align="alignnone" width="960"] Angkor Wat - Cambodia[/caption]

Now, see if this suggested itinerary will fit with the Ankor Wat lovers; Hanoi (2 days) – Ninh Binh & Halong Bay (3 days) – Hue (2 days) - Hoi An (3 days) - Siem Reap - Angkor Thom - Angkor Wat (4 days). The same itinerary will also work if you like the Laos extension for the last 4 days out of the Vietnam itinerary 2 weeks. It is totally doable this way as Danang International Airport is now serving direct flights both to these two cities – Luang Prabang and Siem Reap.

  [caption id="attachment_14041" align="alignnone" width="960"] Luang Prabang - Laos[/caption]

Extra points need to be noticed

Remember, after doing some reading for destination guides that are available on Travel Fish or Vietnam highlights, you can feel exactly what you want and may be you can even work out a perfect itinerary based on some suggested hints above. Though travel by plane from North to the Central or from the Central to South takes only an hour, it takes more time to travel for sightseeing around a region as the roads are not that good to the western standard and with a slower speed limit. Let count this when you build up your travel itinerary to make sure the pace suits you. Another way is you can contact a reputable travel company in Vietnam and ask for bunch of questions. There will always be a travel consultant to be in charge taking care of you, to answer all you need to know and it’s totally free.

Weather makes any matter?

Like the wealth of its attractions in Vietnam that you can’t do all in 2 weeks trip, there will never be 100% perfect weather time to travel into this country. If you are very much keen on the sights of Hanoi, its nearby Red River delta and the northern mountains, the best time of year is from October to April, except a bit drizzle in early March.

  [caption id="attachment_14043" align="alignnone" width="960"] Hoan Kiem lake - Hanoi[/caption]

Though May and June are not too bad but the heat might be concerning as climate often get up to 36 - 38 degree Celsius. Hoi An should be cautioned with the first 3 weeks of November as annual flood season while Phu Quoc will offer compliment raining and thunderstorm most of October. Knowing these facts, you will better planning your itinerary and to benefit from doing the good homework during your travel time.

Pricing wise

Is Vietnam the cheap travel destination?

No, it has never been cheap but cost of living and the daily life consuming is quite affordable and inexpensive. You can get a nice meal everywhere such as Vietnam street food from US$2 for instance a bowl of Pho, Bun Cha or a big loaf of Banh My. Anyhow, for services engaged in the inbound travel industry which requires business norms and standards internationally, it seems a bit higher than the local living cost.

  [caption id="attachment_14044" align="alignnone" width="960"] Delicious Bun Cha[/caption]

Accommodation

A decent Airbnb homestay or 3-star hotel in pretty central location might range from US$35 - US$55, depending on its service quality and location that is convenient to other necessities; and US$55 - US$100 to a deluxe level of accommodation, equal to 4* hotel ratings and > US$100 for luxury choices. This expense is counted as the major part in your tour price package. It’s suggested to mix the range and type of accommodation for the 2 weeks Vietnam trip, just make sure you are doing it where and when wisely. For example, if you have a busy day with sightseeing in Hanoi, it’s better to book with a small & boutique 3* hotel in Hanoi Old quarter. But if you are at the leisure part of the trip in Phu Quoc, it should be in a pretty nice resort where a private beach would be a big plus.

  [caption id="attachment_14045" align="alignnone" width="960"] Private beach in Phu Quoc Island[/caption]

Same thing goes with Halong Bay, which is often a lifetime experience on board a cruise in the middle of Tonkin Gulf. It’s highly recommended to hook up with a nice boat, generally from 4* rating up. This will make your trip not in the same tone in term of accommodation and to enjoy the best where it comes to the best and save big when you don’t really need to spend.

  [caption id="attachment_14046" align="alignnone" width="960"] A lifetime experience on board a Halong Bay cruise[/caption]

Other expenses

They are based on how you pick the tours to be privately served or group shared; where the cost involves with tour guide, vehicle used and some other built-in costs of a tour nature. Fondly, some of the day tours will be more interesting if you joined the group other than doing privately. Remember, you can always ask and have the travel consultant explained for you and to suggest you when you should make it a tailor tour join the group in your complete travel itinerary in 2 weeks.

For years in the industry, I have found out that if you travel privately with some mixture of 3-star & 4-star accommodation in a Vietnam itinerary 2 weeks, the cost is roughly at US$ 125 - 130/person per day and 2 weeks is about most sufficient. If you like a bit of everything and while gaining some cultural interactions for traveling to this country, Vietnam Cultural Highlights 14 days is a perfect Vietnam travel itinerary in 2 weeks in such a case. Let’s follow the above tips then check further from the booking guide and planning with our travel consultant for an irresistible Vietnam tours 2019 that you deserved.

  Tim Lee - CEO

#Indochinavoyages #Indochinatours #Timlee #Vietnamtours #HaGiangVietnam #NorthVietnamtours

[artsvark]

Tiger Bay the Musical's award-winning designer

Tiger Bay the Musical

London-based German designer Anna Fleischle won three best design awards in 2016 and is now working on Tiger Bay the Musical.

After winning a trio of best design awards for Martin McDonagh’s Hangman (the Critics’ Circle Award 2015, the Evening Standard Award for Best Design 2015 and an Olivier Award for Best Set Design 2016) Anna Fleischle provided the look for Matthew Perry’s The End of Longing and Melly Still’s RSC production of Cymbeline.

Award winning set designer Anna Fleischle.

Fleischle teams up again with Still for Tiger Bay the Musical, creating the unique atmosphere of Cardiff’s bustling port at the turn of the century.

Meet Anna in her own words:

What attracted you to the Tiger Bay the Musical project? I have worked with the director Melly Still several times before and we have a very good and inspiring working relationship. But also, I liked the idea of a co-production between Wales and South Africa. I am very interested in how we can positively connect as human beings no matter where we originate from. Especially in our times again now, when fear of others seems to dominate, it is so hugely important to concentrate on how getting to know another country and the people from it is always enriching. Now more than ever it is an unavoidable and necessary process. The story of Tiger Bay the Musical, as well as its production context, deals with this question.

Can you describe your creative approach to Tiger Bay the Musical? I was fascinated by Cardiff and its harbour life at the turn of the last century: the way coal mining dominated the city, by the size of the harbour and the machinery used to transport vast amounts of coal, and the mix of nationalities being thrown together through the harbour. My approach was to try to capture this in an atmosphere and setting that was partly specific and yet abstract enough to allow the audience to be transported to different places within the setting.

What kind of design can Tiger Bay the Musical audiences anticipate? I tried to create something that most prominently gives you the sense of being in an industrial environment in the early 20th century. Man versus machine. The sense that the industry is impressive and huge but therefore also overshadows the human being – dwarfing them into little ants that are needed in masses to make the whole thing work.

Tiger Bay the Musical

What is the first thing that you do when you design a set? I try to immerse myself in the setting and atmosphere of the piece. It is about finding the inner core of it and then thinking of ways to visually portray this on stage. It is important to keep calling yourself back to what you want the audience to experience.

Can you explain the relationship between a director and a designer? Does the director dictate the look and feel of the piece or do directors differ in their approach? Which type of director do you enjoy working with most? The way a director and designer work together varies massively. Sometimes a director has a very clear idea of setting or general style but more often the look of a piece is driven by the designer. We are the first people to start working on a project – usually months before anyone else – and who have to deliver the final look a long time before rehearsals begin. I very much enjoy being the one who creates the look and feel of a show and tend to work more with directors who are open for a designer to take the first steps.

How does it feel when the curtain raises for the first time and you are able to gauge the audience’s response to your designs? It is always an exciting but equally nerve-wracking moment. I think what people tend to forget is that as designers, directors etc., we lay ourselves bare and open for criticism every time we present a show. You give each project such an incredible amount of thought, time and space out of your life. It would therefore be silly to deny that it matters hugely if your audience experiences it how you hoped they would.

What design principles do you hold sacred and how did you develop these principles? To me, the main thing is to be truthful to the story. To really try to tell it how you think it should be told – to try to create something that makes the audience experience it the way you think it should be experienced.

Can you choose three career highlights? Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen at the Royal Court – working with my closest collaborator, Matthew Dunster; working with Lloyd Newson on John and Can We Talk About This for DV8 Physical Theatre; and working with Simon McBurney on Beware of Pity and The Kid Stays In The Picture. All incredibly brave theatre makers who believe in what they do, whose work is uncompromising, necessary and truthful.

How did winning the Olivier award for Hangmen in 2016 affect your career? Was it a game changer or business as usual? It is interesting how people seem to need a stamp of approval – not everyone – but what I feel has changed most is that you now come with the attachment that you have been officially rated as good. It does make things easier; it most definitely opens doors. With this stamp of approval, you subsequently have also been given a louder voice. I am hoping to use this voice as an opportunity to change things for the better for my profession. Designers in general are not given enough credit for the input they have into a piece of stage work and both making it in the profession and the conditions we work under need to be re-assessed, improved and updated.

Tiger Bay the Musical opens on May 20 for 7 performances only:

Book now through Computicket:

DATES: 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27 May 2017. VENUE: Artscape Opera House, Cape Town

  Tiger Bay the Musical’s award-winning designer was originally published on Artsvark