#usually just stick with 9 icons in these sets but he's just too pretty. so am going beyond my usual limit pff

[arklayraven]

Hajun Yeon icons

Size: 300 x 300 | Free to use. Likes/Reblogs appreciated.

[idontblushsrry]

How the Jujutsu Kaisen Characters Smell

A/N: Absolutely no one asked for this but I have thoughts and now yall have to hear them. Btw gonna put a keep reading because I’m trying to cover as many jjk characters as possible so it’s gonna get long.

Warnings: Spoilers if you’ve only seen the anime or haven’t read the manga up to the Shibuya Arc (relatively minor but you’ve been warned)

Itadori

He’s nowhere near the best smelling but his scent isn’t awful 

He sweats a lot so he takes showers a minimum of 2x a day

Overall his smell isn’t that bad, he just smells like outside 

5/10 points for effort but he always smells like he just got done rolling around in grass

Fushiguro

Fushiguro smells like the suave ocean breeze body wash with an undertone of pen ink 

His smell is very nice, it’s not the most remarkable but it’s not stinky

Middle school Megumi was definitely a hot mess that smelled solely of axe body spray and other middle schoolers he beat up (Tsumiki tried her best but there was only so much he’d compromise on)

After he started attending the Tokyo school, Maki threw out his axe and made Gojo buy him actual cologne/scented body wash

7/10 smells like a friend (points reduced because he used to use 3 in 1 body wash)

Kugisaki

Kugisaki is very much clean

She keeps up a beauty regimen and doesn’t play when it comes to upkeeping it

She has this light floral scent because of that; it varies between cucumbers and roses

Her body wash is also consistent with the smell of her beauty products

One thing about Kugisaki’s smell is that it does change completely depending on what products she’s using

Although, if she were to be completely clean with no scented products, she’d have a smell that’s a little bit metallic because of the nails and a little pumpkin-y

10/10 points because she sets the standard

Gojo

Smells like the inside of a guys car

He smells like bergamot and cedarwood mixed with a hint of leather

Overall he smells nice and it’s frustrating because his scent lingers. It’s so distinct that even when he’s gone, his scent will stay behind just to taunt you

9/10 minus one point for being Gojo

Maki

She’s very particular about hygiene 

It mainly stems from 1) her upbringing and 2) the level of cleanliness needed to clean all the weapons she uses regularly

She smells of metal polish, lavender with a hint of patchouli, and a slight undertone of rust

10/10 overall very strong scent but it’s so uniquely her that it’s calming 

Inumaki

This makes no sense but I feel like Inumaki smells like the sandwich part of a deli

Specifically that fresh baked bread and sliced lettuce smell

It can be a bit nostalgic at times especially because the smell in general occurs in a lot of places 

10/10 because bread smells good

Panda

It’s canon that Panda smells like the sun but we can get more specific

Panda does smell like the sun but I think he smells like a freshly cleaned room with the curtains open

The smell is like air freshener mixed with the sun

The air fresheners he smells the most like are: morning and dew, wood, pine, pet odor eliminator

10/10 no explanation needed

Yuta

Smells like teen spirit

Pre-jujutsu high (and before he was sent away to Africa); Yuta smelled like deodorant

He smelled like wayyy too much old spice, it was pretty bad

Post trip to Africa (idk which country he went to), Yuta smells of shea butter, frankincense, and charred wood

8/10 the crimes of pre jujutsu high Yuta will not be easily forgiven

Nanami

He smells like the blue Ralph Polo Lauren cologne

No I will not take criticism

He also smells a bit like the wrinkle spray people use when ironing clothes

10/10 we been knew that Nanami looks good, smells good, and dresses good

I don’t even like that cologne but for him...

Shoko

Love Shoko but her smell isn’t the most pleasant

Literally smells like cigarettes and alcohol with the sterile smell of cleaner to top it off

She’s an icon but her smell can be overwhelming at the best of times and suffocating at the worst

5/10 some people might like it but it is not for me

Utahime

Her scent is very foresty, either pine or spruce, with an undertone of gree tea

Her scent is a bit muted too so you can only really smell it if she’s really close or if you’re hugging her

It’s not a bad scent though, it’s the type that immediately sets you on ease

10/10 smells like a warm hug

Mechamaru(spoilers)

He’s a robot what’d you expect???

Jkjk Pre-Shibuya he smells really sterile and clean due to his condition

His robots obviously smell like metal and wiring

Post-Shibuya arc(or yk during technically): He smells kind of like nothing

There's the slightest smell of sparks from his cursed technique and the hint of mojito’s smell lingering, but otherwise he smells like absolutely nothing

6/10 the lack of smell is a bit off putting

Miwa

I can’t explain but I feel like Miwa smells like banana and vanilla

Like Mai and Momo tricked her and she ended up actually liking the smell

6/10 not the worst but not the best

Mai

Mai smells really heavily of metal and gunpowder

Obviously brcause of her cursed technique but she ever expected it to stck to her like it does

She doesn’t make any active effort to change it though because she thinks it makes her seem cool and mysterious

4/10 because while it DOES make her seem cool and mysterious, she scares locals

Momo

She definitely uses bath and body works perfume (tempted to say she uses the glittery versions but alas)

She loves using all the candles, lotions, and perfumes because of how girly they make her feel; has a collection that’s probably on a rotater

Definitely uses sweet pea above all

Tries to get Mai to try some of her fragrances but she has a 30/70 chance of getting her to agree

7/10 another scent that’s not for me

Todo

He has a really intense cleaning regimen and is never caught lackin in the smell department

He gets all the more embarrassed when Yuuji smells stinky next to him and will always make Yuuji shower if thr boy stinks

Other than that, he smelled of an ocean-y cologne before Takada-chan released her perfume collection

Now all he talks about is how he smells like the perfect husband for Takada

Takada’s perfume is really light a floral (along the lines of rose + vanilla) and if Todo runs out, he tries to steal it from Momo’s collection

9/10 minus a point for being a simp

Noritoshi

Smells really clean except for when he’s using his cursed technique

On average, Noritoshi smells like the clean linen spray/ clean laundry

When he uses his technique, he smells like blood and when he uses his technique to “dope”, he smells like sweat

Usually he smells like clean laundry though, he’s very picky about how he smells and hates the smell he gets from using his technique

10/10 for keeping clean

Naoya

If you think this man washes his ass...

Sorry but he’s a little too busy being a misogynist 

Naoya saw the term gooch grease and was like “wow someone gets it!”

-400/10 I’m sick of talking about the ways this man smells like a popped neck pimple

Mahito

Only person that smells worse than Naoya

If Naoya smells like a popped neck pimple, Mahito smells like a literal sewer

He smells like sewage, garbage, rot and decay, melted plastic,etc.

Not only does Mojito’s body stink, his breath stinks, hair stinks, just everything stinks

Jogo and Hanami can’t tell since they don’t have noses but everytime Geto gets a whiff, he dies a little inside

-21982913293237932392379319210391090320323019/10 GET BACK. GET BACK. GET BACK.

Sukuna

Pre-death; he smelled like blood 9 times out of 10 

The other 10% of times he smelled like incense or jasmine but you’d never smell it for long

Post-death; stinky funky and rotten

I’m sorry but 1) he’s a mass murder who literally sits atop a mountain of skulls 2) he’s technically dead and only exists thriugh his fingers

If you think that man smells like anything other than rot and grave wax...

-2/10 be glad he got a higher score than Mahito

Choso

I love Choso with every ounce of my being 

That being said, he smells like a scab

Scabs don’t even have smells but somehow he smells like one 

Alright I’m done slandering him

3/10 because I didn’t have the heart to give him anything lower

Geto(spoilers)

Pre-Gojo angst: Geto was the best smelling sorcerer in the world

He was very meticulous about his grooming routine and showed Gojo how to care for himself w/o the aid of servants

A king of self care and personal grooming 10/10

Post-Gojo angst: Geto really stopped caring about his appearance

He’d keep clean to set a good example for his kids, but he didn’t really see the value of looking decent

Probably says “I refuse to use the technology of monkeys”

Even though Mahito smells worse, Geto does still hang around Mahito and that’s gonna rub off

2/10 take a shower man, sea water doesn’t count as cleaning yourself

Junpei

Junpei smells like dandelions/picked grass and cigarettes

Cigarettes are obviously because his mom smokes them so frequently the smell sticks to him

The dandelions/ picked grass smell is because Junpei spends a lot of time outside 

Out of boredom or a need to keep his negative thoughts at bay, Junpei started picking at the grass

I do think he eventually started weaving flower crowns made of dandelions and strips of grass

6/10 because I feel bad for him

Toji

This man...

As much as I’d like to pretend he smells good, he has a drooling worm hanging off him and  probably owns like one outfit

That being said, he’s not as stinky as Naoya or Mahito (or even Sukuna), because he does clean himself when he has the chance

It’s just that he spends his money so quickly that he kinda forgets sometimes

Although he usually has no problem finding some woman who’d be more than willing to put him up in a hotel room

His smell is musky but it’s not funky

He smells like a guy right before they start to get stinky, it’s a delicate balance

4/10 he’s a lil funky but it kinda feeds his image

[wulfies-kpop-fanfics]

One Photo → Mark Lee [8]

↳  Pairing: Mark Lee/Reader

↳  AU: Soulmate!AU - The first touch of two soulmates permanently scars their bodies.

↳  Warning: angst if you squint, I guess

↳  Word count: 2,294

↳  Chapters: Prelude | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | You Are Here! | 9

⁙ Summary: For an end of the year photography project, you’re tasked with taking a photograph for your favourite group, NCT127, and coincidentally, discover your soulmate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WEDNESDAY - 8 TWO YEARS LATER

The heart of Toronto would never compare to the magnificence of Times Square in New York, but the mass amount of billboards by the Eaton Center always managed to send you into awe during your nightly trek home from work. 

You looked up toward the billboards with a sigh as you waited for your streetcar, barely managing to squeeze out a smile as you saw Mark’s visage splayed along one of the electronic spaces. The night sky was too polluted with the city’s light to display any real stars, but Mark’s face was more than enough for you. For the past week, you had seen NCT127’s faces sprawled across that billboard, part of promotions for their latest global comeback. It was a brief respite as you waited for your streetcar home every night, to finally know that the day was over and that you could relax.

It had been such a long time since you’ve seen Mark in person. Even though you texted him every day when the two of you were awake at the same time and video chatted whenever he had five minutes to himself, it always felt depressing to be without him. To not kiss or touch or hug at all was torture.

Everyone knew that it was deadly for soulmates to be apart for so long, that depression would set in and even worse physical illnesses were a real risk. It was hard to be so far away and over the past year you had been let go from multiple jobs because you were constantly sick, and therein lies the problem. You simply couldn’t afford the solution to your problem. So, depression and illness it was. It took everything you had to keep your head above water, to keep your dream alive and know that one day your heart wouldn’t ache as much as it does at the present moment.

After a 20 minute ride on the streetcar, you entered your building and took the stairs up to your little hole-in-the-wall apartment, the bare minimum that you could afford after Rhiannon paid her last half of the old place’s rent. A single bed, bath and a tiny kitchen that housed a little chair and round table. Thankfully, there was enough counter space that you could place a tiny TV to watch Netflix on while you ate. You were lucky that the house had a large living room, which doubled as your studio.

The coffee table was one of the only things left from your old apartment, along with the tote of Marvel films you kept hidden below it. Atop the table now rested all of your cameras, a drawing tablet and cards that you got in the mail from Mark from time-to-time, instead of notes, binders and textbooks. Sitting against the wall across from the table was a small bookshelf and an easel with a large frame sitting on it, housing the last portrait you finished the night before, ready to be shipped to the buyer.

After… somewhat enjoying a quick pot of white cheddar mac & cheese and watching a rerun of Supernatural on your little TV, you head into your room and sit at the desk next to your bed. After starting your computer, you opened up discord and sat back in your wheely chair, waiting for Rhiannon’s status to change to green. Wednesday was the day that she had to be up early for her job, so that meant time for a 10-minute call before you went to bed and she went to work. 

Next to your computer was a copy of the photo you took two years ago, of your soulmate and all his friends beneath the shedding cherry trees in High Park. You smiled at it, the memory was fond but now faint in your mind. You reached forward to pick it up, but you stopped yourself. You knew that if you inspected the photo more, you’d only miss Mark and all your friends more. 

There were times where your apartment became so quiet that it reminded you how alone you really were. You had lived with Rhiannon most of your life, and that meant there was at least some noise going on at all times. Whether she had her headset unplugged when she was listening to music or watching youtube videos, she was clattering about when helping you wash and dry the dishes, or if she was walking around and tripped on nothing. She was always talking, laughing, or doing something that always let you know that she was there. Now, you had nothing.  

The silence is broken and you’re startled by the calling sound from discord, Rhiannon’s icon popping up on the top of your screen. You place your hand on your mouse and click the join call button, adjusting the webcam perched on the top of your desktop monitor. 

"Hey," Rhiannon was the first to speak, yawning and reaching back to pull her hair into a perfect, tight ponytail. 

"Hey," you respond, watching her closely and leaning your chin on your right palm. "How are you holding up?"

"I should be asking you that, Jesus, you look like the Hulk if he got the swine flu," she retorts, and even through the grainy quality you can tell she has sympathy written all over her face. "I'm doing great, we've got two cleanings today and a wisdom teeth removal, so that'll be fun." 

You scoff and attempt to smile, "I'm fiiiiine, other than the fact that I'm here and you're there, 13 hours in the future and at least one ocean in between us and an entire continent and a half. I'd say that constitutes abandonment."

"I got the getting while it was good and you know that," she stuck her tongue out at you. "You need to keep saving so that you can fly your ass out here." She squinted at the screen. "You really need to drink like… an entire bottle of nyquil, dude."

"If only it were that easy," you groan. "I don't even have a photographer's position yet. All I get is sitting at a desk and responding to emails… even with my head start, I can't find a good job and I barely make enough to keep living in Toronto." You stick out your tongue back at her for the nyquil comment. "As if I haven't been hiding a bottle of dayquil in my desk for the past week."

Rhiannon stopped what she was doing and leaned toward her camera. "You know why you can't get the jobs you want," her voice is soft, empathetic. "Mark is having trouble, too. He's been doing a lot of half days, so I don't know how they plan to do their tour with him being constantly sick." 

You looked away. "I can't afford to take any more time off… I don't want to lose this job. If I do, I'm not sure that I'll be able to make my rent."

"You're going to need to take time eventually,” Rhiannon stated firmly. "If you don't get at least some of your strength back you're going to end up in the hospital like I did. Remember?" 

You glanced back at your screen, watching Donghyuck wander around in the backdrop. You were beyond jealous that they got to live together. 

"Maybe. I just miss you. More than I miss having a clear passageway in my nose." 

Rhiannon smiled sadly at you. "I miss you too, everyone does. You'll be here soon, I promise. I gotta go, sleep well and drink plenty of water, okay?"

"Okay." 

Rhiannon waved at you before her screen went dark, ending the call. The call was shorter than usual, so you presumed that she had woken up late. You zoned out a little, acutely aware that the apartment had gone silent again. You didn't want to cry, to give up after surviving for so long. You had made it this far without letting everything get to you.

You knew that your deteriorating health was because of your separation from Mark and companies saw that as a liability, even though laws had come into place last year to protect separated soulmates from workplace discrimination. You felt a tiny ping of hope when Rhiannon said you would be able to move soon, but you knew she was lying to make you feel better. 

Feeling lethargic, you stand and make your way to the dresser in the corner of your room, stripping and throwing your clothes about the room. You open up a drawer and pull out a pair of sweatpants and the softest t-shirt you could find and slipped them on, wandering to your bed and slowly climbing in. You slipped off your glasses, placing them on your desk and reached forward to turn off your lamp.

You hugged your polar bear and tried to get comfortable, hoping to fall asleep quickly. You supposed you could call into work when you woke up; at least your manager was nice enough to understand when you needed a day off. You rolled over, tossed and turned, but sleep wouldn't come. Not while your phone was constantly buzzing. 

"What the hell," you mumble to yourself, untangling yourself from the knot of blankets you had tied yourself in to reach for your phone. Your lock screen lit up with a photo of Mark, one you had taken two years ago of him standing in Union Station. 

[Rhiannon (5)] 

She sure knew how to type quickly. 

Rhiannon: I'm on my way to work, I'll let you know when I'm there

Rhiannon: sorry our call was so short, I was running a little late

Rhiannon: I talked to Mark last night, did he say anything? 

Rhiannon: are you asleep already? It's been like 5 minutes 

Rhiannon: ok you're basically just ignoring me at this point

You: calm down bro I was getting in my pyjamas 

Rhiannon: I forgot how slow you get when you're sick, I could die of boredom waiting for you to respond 

You: hardy har 

Rhiannon: so have you talked to mark today? 

You: around lunchtime he woke up from a nightmare but I assume hes busy right now 

Rhiannon: Things have been pretty bad around now, I think you might have guessed that

You: Yeah, things aren’t really that great here either, but I’m more worried about Mark… have they given him time off? 

Rhiannon: Not much besides half days. He’s really been missing you. Maybe you should message him and see if he’s not busy

You: Yeah, maybe. I feel really guilty

Rhiannon: I know. I still could help you buy your plane ticket, you know. You: You know I can’t do that, I can’t take more from you than I have already. I owe you too much.

No response. 

You: Rhiannon I’m sorry 

You: Come on, you can’t have scrubbed in that fast!

You sighed, staring at your screen and still seeing no response from your best friend. You took a deep breath in and immediately regretted it when you began coughing up a lung, but at least you weren't upchucking your dinner. Instead, you decided to send a text to Mark.

You: mark, you there? 

You close your mind for a moment, thinking that maybe going to bed even later than usual would just make you more sick in the end, but you really needed to know what was going on. 

Mark: yeah I'm here babe, what's wrong, can't sleep? 

You: no not really… do you have time to talk for a bit? 

Mark: yeah, my legs gave out during our first practice so I'm taking a break

You: I'm sorry

Mark: it's not your fault (Y/N) 

You: it kind of is, we're both dying because I can't afford to move 

Mark: (Y/N), we're not dying, and it's okay, you'll be able to move soon

You: face it you know that we are… I haven't felt this horrible in a long time and I've thrown up three times today 

Mark didn't respond right away. 

Mark: why are you putting yourself down so much 

You: I just… have a lot of regrets right now 

Mark: what do you mean

You licked your lips and rolled over in bed, wondering if you should tell him.

Mark: are you okay? 

You: no, I feel like this would make you hate me 

Mark: I could never hate you and you know that. Tell me what's been bothering you.

You: For the past while… Rhiannon’s been offering me money. It’s honestly not much because everyone’s struggling nowadays, but it would be enough for me to fly to Korea, and I’ve felt so guilty about it that I kept saying no and she stopped offering

Mark: You mean that you could have been here faster? You: and now I feel that saying no was a really bad idea… and I.. I can’t afford anything, barely even food and now I hear that you’re even more sick than I am and I feel terrible

You: I don’t know what to do

Mark: It’s okay, (Y/N), really. I know how hard it is to take money from someone else, I’m not mad at you

You: Really?

Mark: I’m just disappointed that I have to keep waiting. You’ll be able to move soon, I promise, I promise, I promise

You: Are you going to be okay

Mark: As long as you are. Take care of yourself, okay? I’ll be there for you the second you land. Okay?

You: Okay. I… I should probably get some sleep now. Mark: Rest well, I love you

You: I love you too 

You sighed, placing your phone on your desk and turning over in your bed. It was time.

[la-paritalienne]

hellooooo 🍭 how are you?? Just letting you know your fans are waiting for your usual song by song review for Chemtrails 😇 if you want to do one!!!! Xx

😍😭 omgggg this is long overdue :((( i’ve been neglecting my tumblr for a series of reasons – some of which regrettable – and i can’t believe this slipped my mind! please let me know if you see it and thank you for asking. i’m always amazed that someone cares. without further ado!

white dress: i looooove this as an opening track, the breathy voice is perfect and the song sets the tone for the whole album, both vocally and lyrically. the chorus is super catchy and got stuck in my head from the first listen (which was before the album came out hehe), i adore the look how i do this, look how i got this part. downatthemaninmusicbusinessconferece kinda makes me laugh but at the same time it’s iconic and different. also, i wish i could keep this for myself but i feel compelled to say that the way she sings down in orlANdo reminds me of sweet brown’s i got bronCHithis fgkgkkg so yeah funny AND iconic sums it up.

fave lyrics: ‘cause it made me feel, made me feel like a god / kinda makes me feel like maybe i was better off

8,5/10

chemtrails over the country club: this was by far my fave single, although i wasn’t obsessed w it at first as i got after listening to it within the album. from the first line, it just makes your stomach twist in that bittersweet way. i love the laid back production, the lyrics are poignant and gorgeous (there’s nothing wrong contemplating god, i’m not unhinged or unhappy i’m just wild) and i adore how mundane stuff meets poetic imagery, plus the astrology references... not to mention how brave it is to wanna share those placements (jk, no hate). the different vocals, the falsetto, the layering... it’s just so good. also this might be an unpopular opinion but i think the title is genius and i absolutely support this as a title track.

fave lyrics: you’re in the wind, i’m in the water / nobody’s son, nobody’s daughter

9/10

tulsa jesus freak: this was my fave from the first seconds, it’s stunning, bittersweet, i loooove the production (the little autotune over hurry up gives me chills). i can’t even comment properly because i love everything about it.

fave lyrics: like a little piece of heaven, no more candle in the wind

10/10

let me love you like a woman: i think the opening promises more than what the song delivers, especially the chorus is maybe a bit underwhelming? but tbh after a few listens it grew on me too, i love the high notes and the lyrics are sweet. the first line remains my fave part tho, the way she delivers it... also the verses in general, simple and honest and kind of bratty (i guess i could manage if you stay / its just if you do, i can’t see myself having any fun, so), i can’t not love it.

fave lyrics: talk to me in songs and poems / don’t make me be bittersweet

8+/10

wild at heart: this one gives me old lana vibes, like somewhere between ultraviolence and honeymoon, especially the verse – i’m just obsessed w it. the chorus sounds a lot like some other songs of hers, maybe a little too much for me to enjoy it completely (esp mariner’s apartment complex, her vocal runs sound exactly the same??). anywayyy it’s just a very beautiful song. at first i wasn’t particularly bewildered by this album, like i recognised quality but that was it, but after a few listens i have to say it’s impressive how consistently good the songs are.

fave lyrics: i love you lots like polka dots / you’re killing me more

8-/10

dark but just a game: the hidden gem of the album, competes w tulsa jesus freak for the n.1 spot in my heart, actually maybe it holds it rn, i’m just stunned by it. it almost sounds like lizzy grant’s repertoire, but with lana’s maturity and nonchalance. simply a gorgeous reflection on fame. both musically and lirically i just find it impeccable.

fave lyrics: life is sweet or whatever baby

10/10

not all who wander are lost: ok this might be my least fave (spoiler: with the cover), it’s pretty and the lyrics are good, maybe slightly basic? and it just doesn’t stick w me, it kinda sounds like a poem slightly sung? the background music is maybe too feeble and there’s no memorable melody, if it makes sense. however, the look at me, look at you part elevates it quite a bit. (i mean, it’s no ‘how you like that’, but i liked it)

fave lyrics: the thing about men like you is you got a lot to say / but will you stay?

7-/10

yosemite: another not-fave, maybe this and the previous ones kinda feel like fillers to me, like for my taste, i like them and would never skip them if listening to the whole album, but they wouldn’t make a separate playlist. however, the chorus of this is kind of catchy, although the metrics in we did it for the right reasons kind of bug me, idk why! i also find the song a bit too long and monotone! yes to the candle in the wind reference (again!) tho.

fave lyrics: isn’t it cool how nothing here changes at all?

7/10

breaking up slowly: up there w tjf and dark but just a game. why the fuck isn’t nikki lane credited???? she is insane, when she opens she sounds like stevie nicks and her armonies w lana are perfect. the lyrics are simply heartbreaking and the country feel of it all is unexpected and fresh within the album. love love love

fave lyrics: we might be breakin’ up after this song

10/10

dance ‘till we die: spoiler alert, this song kind of bored me until the rock break??? iconic????? it’s still not my fave bc the verses are a bit too slow and unremarkable to me, but That Part just levels everything up.

fave lyrics: but sometimes, this ranch feels like my only friend / and life doesn’t always work out like we planned / we keep it movin’, babe

7,5/10

for free: i love both weyes and zella, although i find the mix of them + lana a bit confusing, like individually i can tell them all apart, but none of them brings the rawness and contrast w lana that other features of hers did (nikki, stevie!!!). also im sorry joni but i really don’t like this song?? maybe the original is amazing and im an ignorant for not knowing it and it was them who made it so boring and lamentous? idk. anyway. it’s a cover so idk if the vote is more for the song or for the production and adaptation or what but yeah. strong lyrics of course, but this is my opinion on this version of it

fave lyrics: and i’ll play if you’ve got the money / or if you’re a friend to me / but the one-man band by thе quick lunch stand / he’s been playin’ real good for free

6-/10

sooo overall i really loved it and some of the songs i particularly liked are among her best ever to me, though that’s like 100 songs by now so, quite a big list. what did you think? again, thank you for caring and sorry for the delay ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[askroahmmythril]

Reference List for amiibo Fighter Names (Set 1)

A supplementary post for the amiibo card art I recently posted over on Twitter, here’s a listing of all their names, and where they came from.  Order will be the same as the order they were posted in.  Going to stick to 12 entries per list because otherwise hoo boy this would get ridiculous for a single post. :

1) Bayonetta : Lunatic - This is a Touhou reference, Lunatic being the name of the (usually) highest difficulty setting.  Given luna is associated with the moon, as is Bayonetta herself, putting the bullet witch in a bullet hell game seemed fitting.  Given Bayonetta 1 even had a shooting minigame, Angel Attack, it seemed to work all the more perfectly.  Basically the full setup of this card is designed to look like a Touhou game being played, with Bayonetta appearing in full as a “spell card” image.

2) Bowser Jr. : Steam-Punk - When it comes to more recent Mario games, when Jr. decides to confront you, more often than not it’s with various machines and mechs.  Thus, I thought of him with an inventor style, and went with one of my favorite aesthetics, steampunk.  The fact that he is kind of a punk little brat works quite well.  Some of the overall look of this card was inspired by the fact that I was playing the Bioshock games while drawing this, which Neo made a more solid reference to it on his version, putting in an Andrew Ryan quote.  I also snuck a reference to Tinker Knight’s mech from Shovel Knight in the background.

3) Bowser : King Dad - Nintendo has gone out of their way to portray as Bowser, for all his faults, as being a good dad for his son, and I love that interpretation.  Furthering this, there’s the fact that the Koopalings in the old Mario cartoons from the 80′s - 90′s tended to refer to him as King Dad, hence the name.  I wanted to go with sort of an old era sitcom look for him, the family dad sitting with his pipe and newspaper.  I thus also wanted to give the frame an old timey TV look.  This one was drawn by me in the period before Neo suggested we try using character specific icons in all the nameplates, so he added a Bowser insignia to the channel knob.

4) Captain Falcon : DJFalcon - This is a play on Captain Falcon’s canonical name (at least, the name for one version of him, since I guess according to lore Captain Falcon is less a single person and more a title...?  F-Zero canon is tricky to follow sometimes.  Doesn’t help that the Cap has been cloned a number of times).  Falcon’s full name is Douglas Jay Falcon, thus shortening it, DJ Falcon.  He wants to see your moves!  Your DANCE moves!  Not much else to say on this one, except a bit of behind the scenes info : I was most of the way through drawing this one when we had a power out.  GUESS WHO HADN’T SAVED THE FILE FOR A LONG TIME!

5) Charizard : NotADragon - The eternal Pokémon joke of Charizard, one of the most dragonny looking Pokémon, not ACTUALLY being a Dragon type (unless you count his Mega Evolution I guess, but still, the point stands).  Neo made the point even more, including Goomy in the image, a major case of “How is THIS a dragon, but THIS ISN’T?!”  Not too much else to say on this one, though Neo did throw in a Pokémon Snap reference on his version, having the Dugtrio mountain in the background.  Nice touch, that.

6) Cloud : Smash Star - This was a suggestion from Neo actually, we joked about how FF was such a “Sony” franchise that it seemed funny Cloud got invited to Smash, rather than Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale.  So we went with that idea, using stage elements from the last stage of the game, and using three of my favorite characters from it in the background : Sackboy, Sly Cooper, and PaRappa the Rapper.  Would have also included Ratchet & Clank, but didn’t want to overcrowd the background.

7) Dark Pit : FaceMyself - This one’s a Persona 4 reference.  As the game often states, “I am a Shadow, the true self!”  With Dark Pit basically being Pit’s “Shadow” from within the mirror, I couldn’t help going with this reference.  I greatly enjoyed Persona 4, so had a fun time drawing this one.  The back of his card is meant to be the back of one of those Kid Icarus Uprising AR cards.  Neo also added some Persona 4 imagery to the stack of TVs.  The roman numeral on the card in his nameplate, XXXIX, is 39, the release number of his amiibo.

8) Diddy Kong : Nerfed Gun - A bit of a meta joke, this one.  Diddy was seen as one of the most broken characters in Brawl, but in Smash 4, he got nerfed pretty hard.  So the idea of Diddy looking nervous, his weapons having been replaced with harmless Nerf equivalents, amused me way too much.  This one might be a little outdated though, as I’m fairly sure he got buffed a bit in Ultimate.

9) Donkey Kong : Sunwu Kong - A reference to the character from Journey to the West.  Sun Wukong, the monkey king, has been reference in a lot of media.  Heck, even Buster Rod G from Mega Man : The Wily Wars is based on him.  The specific version I reference with DK’s outfit here was Sun Wukong’s appearance in the Warriors Orochi series.  DK faces are really fun to draw.

10) Dr. Mario : The Doctor - A reference to Doctor Who, a show I... really need to watch more of.  The idea of it fascinates me.  I styled the viruses after various baddies from the show, the red virus being a Dalek, the yellow, a Weeping Angel, and the blue, the Half Face Man.  Mario himself is wearing the long scarf worn by the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker.  I just always really liked how that scarf looked.

11) Duck Hunt : Quackshot - Pure and simple, just a pun name on the term “Crackshot.”  Only a duck is involved.  So Quackshot.  I want to say there was a Donald Duck game that also had this as the title, but that’s purely coincidental, wasn’t specifically referencing it.  I put some Target Test targets in the back to go with the theme.  Man, I do miss Target Test mode, especially the Melee variation, but these days, I can see the issue with having a personalized Target Test for every character.  I’d still love it though, haha.

12) Falco : Hyperdrive - I had trouble coming up with an idea for Falco, so I got to thinking about space travel type stuff since he loves flight.  Then I ended up with the idea that he’s a falcon (at least his name would lead you to believe so), and Star Wars had the Millennium Falcon, so the idea just sort of took off from there.  I tried to go with the style of how the stars sort of look like they “stretch” in preparation for the jump to Hyperspace.

[go-events]

GO Rom Com Spotlight: @wicked--writer

The lovely @wicked--writer (WickedWriter on AO3) has claimed Tootsie to adapt for Good Omens in the Good Omens Rom Com Event.

For reference, here’s a little background about the source material!

About Tootsie: New York actor Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) is a talented perfectionist who is so hard on himself and others that his agent (Sydney Pollack) can no longer find work for him. After a soap opera audition goes poorly, Michael reinvents himself as actress Dorothy Michaels and wins the part. What was supposed to be a short-lived role turns into a long-term contract, but when Michael falls for his castmate Julie (Jessica Lange), complications develop that could wreck everything.

We spent some time chatting about how the adaptation is coming so far, as well as future plans for it! Now, get to know @wicked--writer a little better!

* * *

goromcom: You chose to adapt Tootsie as your rom com. Has this movie been a favorite of yours, or is there some other reason you chose it? 

wicked--writer: My dad introduced me to this movie was when I was young and I always really enjoyed it. When I saw it on the list, I instantly thought it had Crowley vibes. Or I'm just looking for an excuse to write about Crowley as Ashtoreth. 

goromcom: VALID! So valid. :)

But moving on, what's your favorite moment of the movie, and are you looking forward to presenting it in your adaptation? Any loose plans for that scene that you can share?

wicked--writer: Naturally the ending is the most iconic scene in the movie and I am looking forward to writing the big reveal. Although how it goes down is not completely set in stone yet, it will probably be pretty close to the actual ending.

goromcom: Do you plan to stick very closely to the beats of the original story, or make bigger changes?

wicked--writer: I am planning on sticking pretty close to the original story by making this an AU. Although, several smaller details will be changed in order to update and modernize the story a bit. Hopefully it will stick close to the spirit of the film.

goromcom: What's an interesting decision you've made in your planning so far--a notable casting decision, a changing of venue, or some other plan you have to paint Good Omens all over your rom com?

wicked--writer: SI think the most interesting change I've made is the presentation of why Crowley auditions for a female role. In the original film the main character has to pretend to be a woman to audition and and raise money, while that part is staying the same I am changing it so Crowley is a little more fluid in his gender presentation. While Crowley mostly presents as male in this story, he also has times when he is Ashtoreth and presents as female although he usually doesn't go on auditions for female roles. I just love how open and accepting the GO fandom is of all gender identities and I wanted to bring that up in this fic rather then making comedy out of someone presenting as a different gender than what they were born with. 

goromcom: Oh, that’s lovely! I agree. But let’s not give too much away, so we’ll move on to the final question.

I am blatantly stealing this last question from The Good Place: The Podcast, but here goes: Tell me something "good". It can be something big or small. It can be a charity you think is doing good work, or you can talk about how great your pet is.

wicked--writer: I really like this! The best thing I can think of is with my volunteer group. I have been part of an organization called "Job's Daughters International" since I was about 9 years old, first as a member and now as an adult volunteer. We raise money for different charities at a world level, state level, and local level. This year marks the 100th Anniversary of when it was founded and the girls are raising money to attend the 100th celebration in Omaha, Nebraska at the end of July. As an adult volunteer it is amazing to see these members form friendships and help them to develop the leadership skills they will need in order to be successful in life.

goromcom: That sounds amazing! And speaking of amazing, make sure you watch for the GO adaptation of Tootsie, coming very soon! :)

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Uchitama 7 - 8 | Eizouken 8 - 9 | ID: INVADED 8 - 11 | Iruma-kun 22 - 23 (FINAL) | BnHA 82 - 83

Uchitama 7

Lemme guess…this is the ve-Yep.

The name of this segment is Ottamake. The ke means fur/hair, but it does seem like it’s referring to Tama otherwise.

For some reason, Bull’s really into cats…

LOL, you can see the cat food right there is a real brand. I dunno how they got away with that.

Hmm, this show has something to say about idol business…and it does it better than some of the human idol shows! That says something.

It even comments on the “graduation” system. Whaddaya know.

Welp, I never thought an anime could pull off this with a commentary on gender presentation, to boot. (It’s not as pervasive as Stars Align’s, but it’s still one of the better ones. I guess I shouldn’t expect it as a norm though.) I thought Kai was a dude though and so Bull’s interactions came off to me as massively gay. I’ve been thinking, maybe he’s pan? Can dogs be pansexual???

Why do I get the feeling Kai is going to be introduced into 3-chome? Update: Doesn’t happen.

This song sounds very idol-like.

Uchitama 8

Aww…I feel like we’re going to learn Nora’s backstory soon. I think it’s going to be real sad.

…Yup, there goes my kokoro. Smol Nora is cute~!

Genki can mean “healthy” as well as “energetic” – the latter is why it’s translated as “spunky”.

Why do I get the feeling Nora’s owner died…?

Oh, smol Nora has a bandaid on his leg.

Let me ask the essential furry question – they hav human ears and animal ears. Which of those sets of ears do they hear with?

Yuuki Kaji does a good job as Nora.

This song’s so sad, it almost got me crying…  

Eizouken 8

This anime is like something from Studio Trigger!

The magic of Eizouken is that you get sucked into the anime they make and never look back.

Tomodachi vs. nakama, I think it is.

Id: Invaded 8

Lately, I’ve been thinking about practical cosplay (everyday wear that also doubles as a cosplay outfit). So basically, I’ve been thinking about Sakaido and El-Melloi II’s outfits a lot, since they’re rather practical while still looking cool. All I’m missing for El-Melloi’s outfit with the red jacket is a black button-up shirt, for El-Melloi’s outfit with the black jacket I’m missing a red scarf and I’m missing a brown button-up shirt for Sakaido’s (although the yellow scarf I got today to get one step closer to two of those isn’t the right mustard colour, it’s more of a lighter yellow).

Also, I noticed it’s (according to the katakana) meant to be “Id: Invaded”, but heck, it’s been ID: Invaded for so long for me, I don’t care either way.

Kiki was born in Fukui.

I always thought Mister Fixer sounded sad and now I think I know why…the bit I remember the most (the line that goes “Mister Fixer” and the bit around it) sounds like the singer is lamenting their life. Now that I see the visuals again after a few weeks (I’d get fatigued if I watched all that Fate/ and still managed to keep up with simulcasts, so I’ve been taking the simulcasts in a few eps at one time), Mister Fixer does quite sound like a crime drama song, but not as much as Thought I Knew (from Stand My Heroes).

I’ve seen images of Anaido and Sakaido in the same well for a few weeks now, so this cooperation bit is no surprise at all.

I believe Fukuda is asking why Narihisago is a –san to her even though they’ve worked together a while.

The words “data profile” are in one corner of the titlecard.

Does Anaido remember who he is in the ID Well? I presume not, but it’s hard to tell since we haven’t had as much time with him as we have Sakaido (not to mention I’ve been regularly filling my head with Fate/ and other things as well lately…so it’s hard to remember).

It’s interesting. Fukuda has the same piercings as Anaido (and even a ring on one pointer finger that matches them!), so he must’ve tried experimenting with…more legal holes, to put it one way…before getting his most iconic one.

Kaeru’s nails are chipped. Hmm.

In #Brake-Broken, which I read the first chapter of earlier (there’s a sample on the Young Ace website), Sakaido notices he doesn’t have a phone with him to call anyone or a licence (because in that manga, he wakes up in a car). It’s likely this will work the same way and Anaido won’t have any possessions on him, aside from the clothes on his back, accessories and the item that was stolen from his wrist/s.

Rings on both fingers…so I should be talking about them in plural. Update: I like how Anaido’s off-the-wall thought processes break up the inherent seriousness of Sakaido’s deductions and utilitarian way of doing things.

Anaido, you grimdark f***er. Update: For trying to eat a dead girl.

Okay, so for the sake of my practical cosplay, I knew I’d need this episode. Sakaido wears a long-sleeve brown shirt with some kind of shirt under that (either brown or black), plus a mustard-coloured scarf. (Note El-Melloi II wears a black shirt under his black button-up shirt, so I went with black as well.) In Brake Broken, I also noticed he wears dark socks (or that could be the leggings) and runners with a lightning bolt on them (I had to make do with generic black runners with a white stripe on the bottom), plus the iconic brown shorts over those (with a triangle pattern)…Why does Sakaido have a scarf anyway, versus Anaido and Miyo who don’t? As much as I like scarves, especially where colder weather is involved, getting a specific colour scarf was a bit of a headache to be honest, since I took 3 trips before deciding on the one I was going to buy (and even then, someone got it before me! The scarf I have now was my 2nd choice). Update: The shorts, leggings and undershirt are black, but I don’t know if Sakaido is wearing any socks or if they’re black too.

Just to note what Anaido has as well (although a coat like that, with the red detailing and flaps, would be hard to find…), he has a blue coat, suspenders, a white button-up top, a string tie (had to google what that was called, although its name is pretty obvious now that I know), black pants (which kinda look like leggings, but they’re not) and leather boots.

Now Sakaido can go into the loony bin…he’s talking to Kaeru.

Is Anaido going in circles? Sakaido caught up real fast…

Um, hey, protip: When stuck in quicksand, try to “float” on it. If you move, you’ll sink into it more. I don’t know how I know that, but I did stick it into my mind for times like this.

Notably, Anaido is about a head taller than Sakaido. Either Sakaido is unnaturally short and Anaido is average…or Anaido is just tall in that way some men are.

Did the bird get to this dude…?

There appears to be a man with a bun facing Hondomachi in the ED, although you can’t tell who it is from silhouette alone…Maybe he hasn’t appeared in the show yet. (Can’t be Matsuoka though. Might be the old guy who’s the head of Kura, actually.)

Update: Is the dead guy Momoki…?

Id: Invaded 9

It’s the familiar ceiling scene from Evangelion! (Okay, I’m kidding, but it’s a similar deal.)

I think the rules of Fate/ are “do it all, until you can no longer do it” (i.e. Everything is the same, until it’s different). It seems it’s the same here too.

Huh? Momoki?

“It doesn’t seem friendly.” – Yeah, and people die whe they are killed…in murder mysteries like this, usually speaking.

I noticed Narihisago’s tie is the same colour as his Sakaido jacket, if not the shirt under that.

Where did the Challenger’s clothes go after he took them off??? Hyperspace??? He wasn’t shown tossing them.

So Kaeru was Asukai all along, huh?

“Look at this.”

“It makes me think about him.” Subbers, that’s two mistakes in less than 1 minute…

I saw a fanart where Narihisago had his arm broken. I didn’t know why, but now I do. Also, TV Tropes is bad if you want to avoid spoilers…I know that already, but I go there anyway sometimes...

“It makes me wanna puke.”

Iruma-kun 22

The anime’s final episode is next week…but there’s already a season 2 in store for next year, so hopefully I survive the coronavirus and sort out all my issues this year in time for it.

Dat OP though. I’ve grown used to it and it’s actually endeared itself to me…which is odd, since I didn’t think I’d like it at first.

Demdol = akudol. Obviously, from “demon”.

Was that…Clara’s mother???  Kuromu’s older bro doesn’t look too bad, either.

Ohmygosh, this is fabulousssssssssss (and hilarious)! I’ve been waiting for this moment for many episodes, as you can tell if you’ve been following along, and I finally got the payoff!

Clara ends her sentence with –akuma (devil), hence the translation is matching it the same way.

Oh my gosh, Ryouhei Kimura (Azz-kun) sucks at being feminine, but that’s exactly what the role requires for this!

If you just pretend Azz-kun isn’t dressed in such an outlandish outfit, he looks really good…! Ayumu Murase does a pretty good falsetto, although you can tell there’s one point where Kimura’s voice gets really manly-sounding for a lady.

“Little imp” – Koakuma.  

Oh! The Keroli family is all cute.

Ooh, Kuromu’s nails are blue. Never noticed that before.

Eizouken 9

Chojugiga are ancient pictures normally depicting animals. As for sepak takraw…

I wonder if Eizouken will tackle the Manabi Line one day…?

That’s a parallel for Comiket, LOL.

“A colossus that no one can see!” – Gridman, is that you?

When did Kanamori meet Asakusa again…?

Kanamori with a bun is cool.

“There is nothing fun about social media!” – Well, social media is fun for me because it’s where I escape reality, but sometimes you gotta be like Kanamori and use it for publicity’s sake.

LOL, the username for the Eizouken is @eizoukenn.

I just realised Mizusaki’s hairstyle is irregular…it’s much longer on on side than the other.

“Mizusaki bump” – I think this references the Colbert bump. (TV Tropes link)

Kanamori – she with the word “gold”…or “money”…in her name – struggles with maths? Wow, that was something to hear. (I guess it’s kinda like me and IT (cybersecurity) – I suck at it because I suck at modulos…or division in short…and even though I can be found on my computer a lot, that’s why I don’t pursue it any longer. I was decent at accounting, but man, I’d be bored out of my brain if you made me do business IT and I have zero skills in games and multimedia.)

“Was it thuggery?” – What’s thuggery? That word sounds funny.

Did you see how Asakusa fell off the tank?

I did CR’s Eizouken quiz sometime in the past and it gave me Asakusa. That’s true, basically. I like thinking up ideas and how cool they are, but because I can’t stop from elaborating on them, they get out of hand and that’s why I have a tonne of dropped projects. (Then again, with how freely I can imagine motion, I could’ve gotten Mizusaki too.) Update: Tried again and I actually did get Mizusaki…whaddaya know.

Id: Invaded 10

People have been comparing this to Minority Report…now I see why.

I almost feel like this is a discussion of euthanasia and suicide as much as it is memory and the consciousness.

Ohh…she remembers! Hondomachi!

You can’t see Muku’s face! Ohh, scary!

Aww, the music really sold this montage. By the way, that sign didn’t say “entrance ceremony”, it said nyuugaku omedetou, “Congratulations on your entry [into school]”.

It…this singer almost sounds like Bruno Mars, but that would be basically impossible, no?

Oh my gosh…when the song swelled, I absolutely cried. That’s rare, man – that’s rare.

BnHA 82

I think the leftmost figure might be Miruko, the rabbit lady. I’ve never read anything about her outside of wiki pages ad other small spoilers, but I roughly know what she looks like.

What does Gentle mean by “Anglaise”? Surely it wouldn’t refer to cream…(crème anglaise)

LOL, Disneyland parades…

Whew…that was dangerous. I almost agreed with Mineta there (to get the festival over and done with).

I swear Midoriya gets together with All Might, just like this, at the end or start of a climactic arc. He did it in the last season of BnHA, remember?

BnHA 83

Hmm…It’s interesting that the author likes to point out who has and hasn’t met Eri. Then again, it’s good for consistency.

LOL, Amajiki my boy…you’re so relatable.

Hmm…amidst the coronavirus concerns…this cancellation business seems quite timely.

Oh! It’s a drone.

For some reason, I thought Sero was drinking vegetable juice…? Eh, no matter. They have vegetable juice in Japan – I remember seeing some on my trip.

Hmm? Gentle is like a phantom thief, I just realised. Mostly harmless, but bound to cause a big stir if he gets his way.

What is Gentle’s Quirk, anyway…?

Work Son…LOL(…?)

Who bets their moustache on this stuff, anyway…? (LOL)

Iruma 23 (FINAL)

I don’t get to see Iruma become evil this season…but he will next season! That visual I’ve been seeing by the original mangaka confirms it!

Marathon - the demon puns are back.

Demonicon =Oricon chart.

Demon Star Platinum…was that…a Jojo’s reference?! *scare chord*

Oh! Maguro (tuna).

Azz-kun being afraid of fish? That’s news to me.

Okay, subbers. Whose idea was it to translate Iruma’s words as “My feels…”…?

There’s a post-credits segment. Keep watching.

Yay! Evil Iruma-kun!...In spring 2021. (I’ve never once been so excited for a character to turn evil than this! I also like how evil Iruma said it’s the “buttcrack” of dawn…but that’s just my immature side showing.)

Id: Invaded 11

“…being taken for a ride!” – Well, you’re in a car, so you’re getting a ride nonetheless. (LOL) I hadn’t heard of the term “being taken for a ride” until…what? 2016, I think? When I was still doing language anaylsis.

Sakaido used Headbutt! It’s…kind of effective? (Writing up these pseudo-Pokémon battles is fun. I should write more.)

“…put a drill to your head…”

“The victims of John Walker’s serial killers…”

I noticed Hondomachi is touching the side of her head which had the hole in it…if I remembered it right.

Is it “the Kura”? Or just Kura?

August 15th is a popular date for anime, huh? It’s in the middle of summer. (Refers to Kagerou Project.)

That ‘who knew you needed to lose something to be complete’ thing…I think I get it, but for some reason I only ever seem to get that feeling when it’s me trying to read asexuality into things (since that’s how I learnt to interpret asexuality), so…yeah, way to go, me.

Wait…Togo visited Momoki’s bedroom?!

Yep, so I was right about that being the side with Hondomachi’s hole.

[sullivansgilbert]

Reaching out across Tumblr to all my G&S fans, @carpe-mamilia and I just got back from Harrogate from this year’s G&S Festival, and I have some thoughts about the shows which I think I just needed to get down.

Also, bonus shoutout to @carlodivarga-s​ for being an all-round charming presence and delightful surprise in Harrogate this year!

OK. Here goes.

Princess Ida (Savoynet)

As Stephen Turnbull (he of Harrogate ramblings on Facebook) mentioned, this is a production that could have only worked at the festival. With the two kings portrayed as Gilbert and Sullivan themselves, and the rest of the company (with the exception of Ida herself) costumed as choruses from the rest of the G&S universe.

I know that Ida is written in 3 acts, but to have two 15 minute intervals is a strange experience. Especially as the curtain came down on the Act I at 8:15, it felt as though we were only about getting started and we were all back out our seats and into the bar. When I saw Ida done in Southampton earlier this year, they split Act II in half and placed a single interval more squarely in the middle, and I didn’t think that the pacing or structure suffered as much as it perhaps could have done then.

My greatest issue with Ida is that.. it’s not a very interesting story? And certainly not a very good ending. It feels as though Sullivan far outshines Gilbert. Some of the plot points, too, feel very, well, seen-before? Most noticeably, the male trio dressing up in silly costumes and singing witty songs about it? Done in Patience (and much better, I should add!). That said, Ida definitely has some standout solos, in particular Gama’s two patter songs (’I’m such a disagreeable man’ and ‘Nothing whatever to grumble at’), and Death to the Invaders! is such a TUNE at the top of Act III, though I actually preferred it in Southampton, just as there was more drama and sense of impending peril.

The ending of the whole thing is pretty crap though. Here’s Ida, a feminist ICON who shuns men and rules a chorus of strong academic ambitious women who look down on men, and yet she sort of just limps across the finish line like, oh yeah, I guess I’ll just love you and marry a man and I was wrong about all my studies and thoughts of independence. Ugh.

Y’know what I want to happen to Ida? I want her to shun all the men and grow old, independent, and married to a woman. Princess Ida: a queer legend.

Trial by Jury & The Zoo (LOpSoc)

I can’t say too much about the productions because it was my old university group and I’m sure I can’t write without any bias, so I’ll focus on the shows. 

Trial by Jury was my first real show as Musical Director so it’ll always have a spot in my heart, especially having studied law at university. Musically, it’s so well accomplished, at barely 30 minutes, Sullivan manages to cram in so much content, including the brilliant ‘A Nice Dilemma’ sextet (or septet if you count the chorus as one, too), as well as some beautiful patter songs and some great parts for the chorus. You can really see how the rest of the Savoy Operas took inspiration, and to a certain extent, structure, from this first piece. 

That said, there are a few familiar elements missing from the piece that become G&S standards later on in the canon, including the contralto exposition song, the romantic leads’ duet, and, well, a second act. Still though, one of my favourites. 

The Zoo on the other hand? I’ve now seen it three times, and whilst I enjoy the music, some of it really is quite good, I have no idea what actually happens. I think there are at least 3 plots intertwined with one another, but with no libretto to explore or explain those plots, it’s essentially three totally different stories happening at the same time, just... coincidentally at a zoo. Libretto is pretty naff, but there are some charming songs, such as the ‘Four Tarts and a Couple of Pairs’ jaunt, and the duel of the male and female chorus once the Duke has eaten and faints (??) (’Prop him up upon a chair, lay him flat upon his back’).

Good news though, that LOpSoc were nominated for best director and best chorus for this production which I thought was well deserved. 

Ruddigore (Charles Court Opera)

Oh my word. I confess I’ve never been Ruddigore’s biggest fan, but boy oh boy am I a fan of Charles Court Opera, so the chance to get to see this production was high up the list, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. With a cast of 9 (and totally omitting the male chorus), this production was lively, sharp-witted, and for the first time in any production of Ruddigore that I’ve seen, or indeed been involved with, I followed every detail of the plot perfectly. 

Only two bridesmaids made up the female chorus, and they also lent their voices to a mixed chorus for the ‘Painted Emblems of a Race’ and subsequent male-chorus numbers (though ‘Welcome Gentry’ was cut) which worked beautifully. Also, a nice little change to Mounted emblems of a race, as the three ancestors were portrayed as severed, mounted heads on the wall of the set. Sir Roderic did have an additional stage presence as he was also portrayed by the accompanying headless corpse come to life. 

One of the absolute highlights of this production, too, was lovely, wonderful Simon Butteriss, who is always an absolute joy. With John Reed-esque lightness, but with a voice on form as ever, it was a joy to see him on stage. As it was the whole cast, really. Having seen CCO’s HMS Pinafore at the King’s Head in London in a tiny 100-odd seat fringe theatre with just a pianist, to see them on stage at the Royal Hall in Harrogate with a complete orchestra was really special. 

Yeomen of the Guard (National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company)

Oh boy. I was so excited for this performance. And I was so disappointed. The victim perhaps of a festival matinee crowd, as I said to dear friends over dinner after the show, there are a certain number of ‘minimum requirements’ I expect of the NGSOC:

The cast remember their lines. Having a certain member of the principal cast prompted from the wings was... well. Awkward to say the least. And garnered the intake of breath you can imagine from the audience. 

I expect the principal cast to be able to stick to time with the orchestra. Several times, the cast fell wildly out of time with the orchestra, making for highly awkward listening. 

I expect the principal cast to be able to hit all the notes they’re expected to. Naming no names, but, with a certain soprano aria in Yeomen, there’s a rather important note towards the end that you cannot get wrong. And yet. 

I expect the show to be lit well. If actors are stood singing in darkness, either the actor needs to find their light, or the lighting director needs to do a better job. 

That all said, the chorus were fantastic, to the point I actually longed for them to come back on to stage whenever they were gone, but I must say of Andrew Nicklin’s direction... I found it lacking. The staging was particularly dull and unimaginative, with barely any choreography, or even any movement come to that. My first time actually seeing Yeomen on stage and... ugh. Y’know? That said, there were reports from a friend having seen it earlier in the week at the festival and it being remarkable, so.. maybe just an off-performance. 

The Mikado (National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company)

Now, THIS is how you do G&S. The company were almost unrecognisable from the afternoon, and the show was packed to the rafters with joy, energy, and sheer brilliance. Genuine laugh out loud moments from a full auditorium who are, I’m sure, more than familiar with the source material! Andrew Nicklin who was conducting, made sure that the pace was kept up, and my word, just, my heart was pounding with, well, a combination of relief and amazement. I loved it.

In particular, Mae Heydorn as Katisha. Fuckkkkkk. This wasn’t your usual Katisha, this was a dazzling, glamorous Katisha, and although you’d think that might not work, it did. And what a voice. On the final note of Act I, Mae managed to outsing the full assembled company and orchestra with a note that travelled and reverberated into our very bones. 

My only criticism would probably be that Richard Gauntlett, who also directed the show, delivered some of Ko Ko’s lines so fast, if you weren’t familiar with the show, you wouldn’t have a clue what he’d just said. That and Nanki-Poo, in a typical tenor manner, did tend to rush some of the songs, even when singing as part of a trio - perhaps a little indicative of not listening to his cast-mates. But alas.

____

OK, I think that’s all. A brilliant, lovely few days away. So much G&S. I loved it. So much so, I think I’m going to start a bit of an artistic project to create some more G&S content, so keep an eye if you’re interested! 

-- Thomas

[swordsandrayguns]

Riker’s Beard And Family Time: Looking Back At Star Trek: TNG

I write science fiction and fantasy novels… so I am no stranger to things dubbed “nerdy.” The last few months, though, I have been doing something that pushes the boundaries of nerdy even for me. I’m watching all the Star Trek properties in the order of their release. Yup, an epic binge watch covering over five decades of television series, cartoons and motion pictures. Look, I can try to explain and rationalize this a couple ways. Truth is, I travel a great deal and have to fill the time I spent in airports and on planes (preferably with things I can download as oppose to stream). I am also, as an author, studying some of the great examples of “universe building” and epic story arcs. Still nerdy, though; I admit it.

Obviously, I started with the original series and jumped into the animated series. I timed this all so my viewing of Star Trek: The Motion Picture coincided with the the special 40th anniversary showings in theaters. I followed through the next couple of movies into The Next Generation, alternating in movies and even the original series pilot The Cage (which was originally made available to the public as a pay per view offering between the first and second seasons of The Next Generation) as they fell in the original release timeline. I am getting to the end of the fifth season of Next Generation now and very much looking forward to alternating between episodes of The Next Generation, Deep Space 9 and even the occasional film in the near future.

Just in case you are wondering, I am pretty dedicated to sticking to the timeline but I am not strictly adhering to it. As I find myself, for example, in a hotel with channels such as BBC America or the Heroes and Icons channel I will only turn on episodes that have already showed up in my series overview… so no DS9, Voyager or Enterprise (yet) but the adventures of Kirk and company are fair game, as are Next Generation episodes up to season five. On the other hand, I am still watching Discovery’s Short Treks as they come out and I am definitely watching Picard as soon as I get a chance (meaning on my big screen at home instead of streaming it on my laptop over shaky hotel wifi). 

Even though I have not finished the complete rewatch, I find that I already have some new thoughts and ideas about I have seen so far starting with Riker’s beard.

Star Trek The Next Generation has generated a basketful of memes from “Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.” to “I am not a merry man” but undeniably the greatest is “Riker’s beard.” Just as the Internet has given us “jumping the shark,” the phrase to mark when a show is never quite as good again named for a really stupid moment when Fonzie was in Hawaii, it gave us “Riker’s beard” to mark the opposite. To this day, I know people that will immediately turn off an episode of The Next Generation if Jonathan Frakes turns up clean shaven (or if Wesley is in it, but that is a whole different story and, honestly, my harsh view of Wesley softened a bit with this re-watch). My first revelation from my Next Generation binge is that while season two, when the beard shows up, is better than season one, it is not when Next Generation really hits its stride.

First of all, let me defend season one of Star Trek The Next Generation. Twenty one years after the premiere of Star Trek, after three seasons of a pioneering science fiction drama, a year of the animated series and four feature films, Star Trek The Next Generation had to take up the incredibly difficult challenge of continuing one of the world’s beloved stories without a single character from the original series. Even more difficult, the real world had changed. Where the original Star Trek was making a statement by having a Russian, an Asian and an African woman on the bridge The Next Generation would not have made any statements with this type of casting. After all, when Picard met his crew and first face Q at Farpoint the biggest show on television focused on the an upper middle class African American family, something that was absolutely unthinkable when Kirk boldly set forth with his crew. 

The first season of Star Trek The Next Generation not only introduced Q, the Ferengi and Data’s not so lovable android brother Lore it killed a main character. Star Trek The Next Generation took a major step that not only the original series never tackled but most shows avoid. Sure, other shows tease it and even then it was usually on a season ending cliffhanger. Even the original series backed away from the only death of a major character they ever portrayed with an entire movie dedicated to reversing it. Star Trek The Next Generation killed Tasha Yar completely out of the blue with three episodes left in the first season. This incredibly bold move cast a shadow on the entire series, adding a real threat to future episodes. 

Is season one perfect? Oh, no. Not at all. Not even close, but like I already mentioned it had an amazingly difficult challenge facing it. The fans were expecting… well, everything. Next Generation was trying to stay true to the essence of Star Trek while making itself something new. They put families on the Enterprise to emphasize it was a vehicle of exploration, not a military ship. They made sure there was not a Vulcan to be found and put the odd man in a kilt wandering the hallways. They put a Klingon on the bridge! But then they had to deal with it all.

Season two was better. For one thing, the anticipation and the expectations were gone. The show made it through the first season and when it came back with its second season it was coming back as Star Trek The Next Generation not “the new Star Trek.” Ironically, due to a writers’ strike, season two actually started off with a script recycled from the ill-fated Star Trek: Phase II series. In addition to the first officer’s facial hair, the second season brought Whoopi Goldberg on board as the ship’s bartender and saw Diana Muldaur (in her third Star Trek universe role as Dr. Pulaski) taking over the sick bay from Dr. Crusher. Geordi La Forge also migrated from the bridge to take over engineering. It was always a bit odd, somehow, in season one to not have the chief engineer as a major character, if only because the chief engineer would seem to play as an important of a role in the operations of the ship as, say, the ship’s counselor or a teenager doing his after school work study program as an acting ensign.

While season two was an improvement, it had its issues. Dr. Pulaski, playing a role meant, no doubt, to help humanize Data, came across as abrasive and (in my opinion) mean spirited. Gates McFadden had been fired, apparently because the head writer did not like her, but Gene Roddenberry resisted killing her character so Dr. Beverly Crusher merely transferred off the ship. When the head writer left the popular character of Dr. Crusher returned in season three. Whoopi Goldberg, although an interesting character, was the ship’s civilian bartender which is just kind of weird. Did the ship have a food court, too? The season was also shortened, because of the aforementioned writers’ strike, and it actually ended with (of all things) a clip show. A clip show!

As a final defense of season two, it did introduce the Borg, one of greatest science fiction villain races of all times. But was it really that much better than season one? Well, season two saw five episodes get a total of six Emmy nominations and won two (both technical Emmy awards related to the sound department). Season one’s premiere was the first television episode to be nominated for a Hugo Award in 15 years. Another season one episode was the first syndicated television episode to win a Peabody Award and six episodes gathered a total of seven Emmy nominations, winning three (for makeup, costume design and sound editing). If you place your faith in the numbers, it seems season one might have actually been better (at least if you go by its awards).

So by now, if I may be so bold as to make a prediction, you are probably thinking “This guy has put way too much thought into Star Trek The Next Generation” and “Okay, so if season two is not when The Next Generation gets great, when is it?” First, I said as an author I am studying Star Trek so cut me some slack. Second, I am glad you asked.

Star Trek The Next Generation, in my opinion, really hit its stride is the fourth season. Season four swept onto screens with the second part of season finale cliffhanger The Best Of Both Worlds. The Federation was facing the awesome might of the Borg and the crew of the Enterprise was desperately trying to save Picard, who had been taken and turned into Borg mouthpiece Locutus, so the season started with big action and drama. This quickly led to a series of episodes focusing on character relationships, particularly family relationships. 

After he is rescued, Picard is left a broken man and returns to his family’s vineyard in France. Although there had been several stories about Picard’s history, this was the first to address his family and his entry into Star Fleet. Data’s Day not only explored how the android navigated through his duties and relationships, it introduced Chief O’Brien’s new wife Keiko. The O’Briens are the focus in the very next episode, showing not only the natural difficulties they were having adjusting to their new life as a married couple but also O’Brien’s past Star Fleet career and the psychological wounds left by his service in the war with Cardassia. To me, Riker’s beard does not signify when Star Trek The Next Generation really gets good, it is when Keiko O’Brien appears.

Family was a major theme of the fourth season, as Worf discovered he was a father and worked to regain his family’s honor in the eyes of fellow Klingons. Luxanna Troi re-appeared as did the ghost of Tasha Yar when the crew encountered her sister. Data’s brother also made another appearance, as did Data’s creator. Data also grew a great deal, even being shown to try out a romantic relationship with another crew member. The true strength of Star Trek The Next Generation, as of season four, was that it was well established enough as a series to feature stories based on human relationships instead of action or the “alien of the week.”

It should also be noted that season four also brought more episodes which were a part of longer storylines, such as Worf’s dishonor and the political intrigues of the Klingon Empire. There were also many returning minor characters and new characters being set up for multiple appearances. It is only after three seasons Star Trek The Next Generation finally had established enough of its own universe for this to happen. Also, though, by season four plans were in motion for a second live action Star Trek series, one to run concurrently with Next Generation. It could have been that the introduction of multi-episode storylines were a result of the producers consciously attempting to expand the Star Trek universe while starting to differentiate Next Generation from the upcoming Deep Space Nine.

Ironically, season four also marks Star Trek The Next Generation outlasting its predecessor in terms of seasons on the air. While this did not actually influence the formation of my opinion season four is when Next Generation really gets good, it does really make me wonder what Star Trek may have become if it had a season four.

[itschimmychimchims]

Etched Pt. 9

♡ jimin x reader

♡ smut, mafia!au

♡ smut, oral, dirty talking, mentions of violence, strong language (LOL)

♡ This got deleted for some reason but it’s up again!!!!

—

You’ve been shipped to Paris by your father, who again barely visits you. All is well for 8 months until you get lost in the crowd on your day out in town and have a dangerous encounter.

—

| Part 1 (M) | Part 2 (M) | Part 3 (M) | Part 4 | Part 5 (M) | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 (M) | Part 9 (M) | Part 10 |

—8 MONTHS LATER—

“Again.”

Kick.

“Again. Harder.”

Kick.

“Good, again.”

Kick.

“Good, okay, we’re done for the day.” My trainer finally said. I released the tension from my muscles as he told me we were done. I sighed in relief, immediately removing my protective gear from my sweat-drenched body.

“Are you heading home after this?” My trainer asked, passing me my water bottle.

“Yeah, I’ve shooting practice at the range.” I replied, gulping down the water fervently.

So, for the past 6 months, I’d been shipped to Paris. My father had a safehouse here in a remote area with good security and he had a few friends here that could take care of me. Or so he claimed. I’d been given mandatory self defense lessons and shooting lessons. My father was pretty shocked at my natural talent with guns, but my lack of coordination with my feet for self defense and fighting made up for that. I took a cold shower and keyed in my chauffeur’s number, only to see he was already waiting outside the building.

“Miss.” He greeted with a smile. I smile back, entering the car through the door he had opened.

The ride back was always the same scenery but I was always fascinated. It was about 5.30PM and the sun was just starting to set. The people bustling around were different. Businesses seemed different every day. Buskers changed. The golden sunlight melted onto the buildings like a layer of honey, and it seemed to change the shapes and silhouettes I saw as I drove past here every day. I hardly ever got out of the safehouse but when I did, I usually walked down the angular streets, just slowly taking in what I could.

“Miss, we’ve arrived.”

I dumped my keys and locked all 4 locks on the door. The maids in the morning had cleaned out the house but they always left immediately after. I was always alone here. It was nice at times, to be independent and do things by myself. But after 6 months of this, I was just... lonely. I had nobody to talk to or interact with other than my driver and the various trainers. Even those conversations were always the same.

I still had about an hour till the shooting instructor arrived so I whipped up a quick dinner. Groceries were replenished by the maids too because I hardly could left the house to buy anything myself. I made some kimchi soup with the rice that had been steamed this afternoon. I mostly ate Korean food. Western food was good - pasta and all - but I missed home. Korean food was all I had left of home.

—

It was the week later that the security team finally was assembled for me going out of the house. Me leaving the house was subject to my father’s approval, and somewhat like taking leave at a company, I had to file it in a record - dates, times and where I was going. My dad usually approved it a few days later and I assumed he did some checks first just to see if I was completely safe. I wondered what he checked for.

The security team always wore casual clothes, blending into to scenery around me. I took no notice of them, only once or twice had I see them twitch their hands to their guns because of some rough encounters. But I always managed to smooth things over myself, well, with my broken French but better English. That day, I wanted to visit the Eiffel Tower. I’d passed by it several times but I never properly visited it.

I walked around slowly below it, and deemed it was nothing much other than a great photo op. No offense to the French but I guess it’s only more iconic if you take photos of it from afar. From such a close vantage point, it was just a mix of metal bars. A few of my security team followed me up to the top where I just gazed over all of Paris. The triangular shaped buildings and winding streets all looked the same to me, and I couldn’t even pinpoint the street I was in. It was beautiful though.

I had opted to walk through a crowded street after visiting the Louvre. It was more boring than I thought so I left early and wanted to experience the bustle of the streets before sundown. The scenery before me fed my eyes - people, tourists, construction, beggars, scammers, musicians and buskers, chefs and bakers. I spotted a Chinese spiced fish hotpot restaurant and I could smell the peppers as I walked past it. I could smell bread and the sweetness of madeleines as I passed a bakery. The scent of roses and fresh flowers invaded my senses as I strolled past a florist. These little things were the things that made my day more so than seeing the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre.

My eyes rested on a small pot of violets in the shop window. They were bright yellow and purple, with flecks of white. It made me wonder what my own violets had grown to look like at Jimin’s place. They had just begun to sprout buds when I last saw them. Would they be springing forth full of life, or would they have been dead by now? Thrown away? I wondered wistfully, tearing my eyes away from the flowers so I wouldn’t get too emotional. As I rejoined the crowd, I couldn’t see my security team anymore as I was lost in the hustle of the after-work crowds. My shoulders hit others’ and I clutched my bag a little tighter so as to not get pickpocketed.

I tried to escape the crowds by sticking close to the building walls, but suddenly found myself getting separated from my security. My heart thrummed uneasily inside my chest, wondering if they would still be able to spot me in the crowd. As I rounded the block back to my apartment, I felt a harsh tug on my arm, pulling me into an alleyway. By instinct, I manouvered my way out of the mystery person’s grasp, immediately whipping my gun out from my jacket.

I came face to face with a raven-haired man whose face looked like it came straight from an animated movie, though it was mostly covered by his dark hoodie. His eyes were unrealistically large and almost doe-like. They contrasted his action of holding up a similar gun in between his long slender fingers. His thick brows furrowed in annoyance.

“You know self-defense.” He gritted his teeth, clicking his gun. I did the same.

“Who the hell are you, and what do you want?” I spat, stepping away from him. I just needed to stall time until my security detail managed to find me.

“Why the fuck do I need to answer that?” He countered. “You’re coming with me.”

“Like hell I am.” I growled, firing a warning shot to try and scare him off. My bullet hit a pile of cardboard boxes behind him, but he didn’t even flinch as the bullet barely passed his neck. His eyes did widen, as if he didn’t expect me to actually fire a shot.

“Get the fuck away from me.” I said, slowly stepping away from him. “The next bullet’s aimed at your head.” The man scoffed in my face.

“You’re really naive if you think I’m going to go down without a plan.” The man huffed and I saw movement all around me. The faint sounds of guns clicking were heard and I could feel shadows creep in closer. My heart beat uneasily as I tried to slowly reach for my phone in my back pocket. Fuck, why couldn’t my security team find me quicker?

Suddenly, I heard something. Silenced bullets. It was so quiet but I definitely heard it. I thought it was my security team and those slow ass guards finally noticed something was up. I’d speak to my dad about them. One by one, I could feel the pressure of guns lift, as if the mystery man’s team was getting taken out. I kept my eyes on him, and he was visibly annoyed. His men were being picked off one by one and he knew it.

“You were saying?” I scoffed, trying to back away now. What happened next was extremely fast and I still don’t know how but in a matter of seconds, he swiftly dashed into me, disarming me before I had the chance to pull the trigger. The gun clattered to the floor, but I twisted around, kicking him in the stomach. He let go of my wrist and I used the chance to grab my gun again but I was too slow. I felt his gun on my temple and I froze, slowly putting my hands up.

“Stop moving, and do as you’re told.” The man hissed, butting his gun into my head. I’m sorry but why the fuck did my security team not shoot this guy on the spot.

“Hoseok hyung.” My heart felt as if it got stabbed twenty times at the sound of the voice that haunted my dreams for the past 8 months. My breath hitched and I could feel my emotions swell up from hiding in my chest. It was him. Jimin.

“Fuck, I knew it.” The raven-haired man clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Drop the gun, hyung.” Jimin said, and I wished I could turn around and look at his face but I was pretty busy with a gun to my head. The man called Hoseok grimaced, and I could see him deliberating for a while before he clicks his gun upwards and in front of him.

“I have you surrounded, hyung, there’s no running anymore.” Jimin said. Now, I craned my neck to look backwards and finally took in the view that I’d longed for. Jimin’s silver hair had gone back to black and his face looked healthier, not so tired. Maybe it was just the evening sun glow. The sight made me feel like a cold glass on water had poured life into the parched land of my heart. Yet, pain gripped my chest - from the longing and from remembering how fucking heartbroken I was when I was dumped back at my father’s house. I turned my attention back to Hoseok.

In a flash, he tried to make a run for it and in a matter of moments, a rain of bullets came from above the buildings. One bullet found his arm and one embedded itself into his calf. He was paralyzed to the ground and as if from out of nowhere, a group of men swooped in to hoist him out of the scene and into a car.

“Y/N.” Jimin called gently as I still sat on the ground in shock. I could hear his footsteps behind me come closer and closer. Not really thinking, my hand grabbed the gun on the floor as I stood up and took aim. I wasn’t met with resistance, but all I got was a small smile and an apologetic pair of eyes that stared right through me.

“Why are you here?” I hissed, trying to sound pissed but I’m pretty sure I sounded like I was about to cry.

“I’ve been tracking rebel movements.” He answered simply, putting his gun away and raising his hands slowly to show me he meant no harm. “Hoseok just now, was a key part of the group - the weakest link. Now that we have him, things will progress a lot smoother.” He was stepping closer to me now.

“That’s all?” I wavered. “You came all the way to Paris personally to capture a lackey?” He was now right in front of my gun. Jimin shot me a small smile as he took the barrel in his hands and lowered it gently. Once he made sure it was out of the way, I dropped it and he pulled me into a warm embrace. It was laughable how hard I clung to his lapel, letting out the tears I never cried for the past 8 months.

“No, I came to make sure you were safe, I’m sure by now you’d have known that I would do anything for you.” Jimin murmured, stroking my hair and kissing my temple.

“Including just leaving me for 8 months?” I shoved his chest, breaking the embrace. “Fuck you, Jimin. How is this any better than me being with you. Not even a warning, not even contacting me.”

“I’m sorry, princess, I just didn’t want you to get caught up any more than you were with my clan’s affairs. But now I know that they’re after you, I have all the more reason to keep you by my side.” He apologized as he took my hand and put it to his cheek, kissing the soft flesh of my palm. His cheeks were warm. His lips were soft. I missed them so much.

“I’m not leaving you ever again.” Jimin said firmly - a promise. With that, I relented. I flew back into his arms and he held me gently but firmly, kissing my lips for the first time in a long while. They felt so familiar in the midst of this foreign land, and they felt so natural in this ridiculous situation. All I could focus on were his lips, his smell and his touch on my hair, my back, my arms.

“Fuck, I missed you. Every day, Princess, every single day.” Jimin murmured through the kiss, holding me tight against his body.

“I missed you so much...” I mumbled softly as my tears inevitably escaped. I just couldn’t stop.

“I’m so sorry, baby. I’m so sorry.” Jimin apologized as he put his forehead softly on mine. “I’m going to protect you. Your security team is literally useless they’re all dead from the rebels. I’m going to have a word with your father about that.”

“They’re all dead?” I gasped a little in shock. No wonder they weren’t coming. I did think it was odd that they’d take so long just to find me again after I disappeared in an alley.

“They were picked off one by one in the crowd just then.” Jimin answered. “I’ve dealt with Hoseok’s team, so you don’t have to worry anymore. You’ll be coming with me now. Your home’s been compromised.” I shifted uneasily. All my things and whatnots. No sentimental value but still, it’d be a heck ton to replace.

“Don’t worry about your belongings. I’ll make sure you’re comfortable.” Jimin seemed to read my mind as he held my hand, leading me back to his black car, picking my gun up along the way. The journey to his place was long and it bordered the outskirts of Paris. It was a two-storeyed house that looked rather worn out from the outside, as if it was abandoned. The metal gate on the outside was heavily guarded.

“I have a few safe houses all over the world - Paris, China, Japan, UK and one in Canada. The US one was bombed so I have to set another one up.” Jimin remarked as we pulled up into the garage.

“I’ll tell the staff to prepare a bath and some new clothes. Make yourself at home, I’ll come get you when it’s time for dinner.” Jimin told me as two ladies appeared to take me to somewhere else in the house. He placed a brief, and somewhat hesitant, kiss on my lips and motioned for the staff to continue. My eyes lingered on his face for a while before following the staff. It was a warm bath and I soaked in the tub for a long time, just basking in the fact that Jimin was here with me now. I could see him again. A part of my heart clenched at the fact, unable to actually believe it and honestly scared that he might leave again.

I sprawled on the bed in my bathrobe, feeling at home for once in a very long time. My house was always cold and always empty. Now, there was some sort of life - Jimin’s. And it made me feel warm and safe. All I wanted to do was lay in his arms. I didn’t even realize I’d started crying until Jimin walked into the room, eyes wide. He rushed over immediately to check if I was hurt anywhere.

“You’re crying, Y/N. What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” Jimin asked, looking all over for any sign of injury.

“No, Jimin.” I shook my head, trying to wipe my tears. “They’re... happy tears. For the most part. I’m just so happy now that you’re here. I’ve missed you so much...” I knew I was starting to blubber incoherently and Jimin’s arms wrapped around me warmly. I inhaled, taking in his scent I’d longed for for so long.

“I’m sorry, Princess, I promise I’m not going anywhere this time.” Jimin murmured into my hair, stroking my head softly and gently.

“Please kiss me, Jimin.” I whispered, looking up at him and he complied without hesitation. His lips felt so good on mine, and like I’d been bewitched, I wrapped my arms around him to pull him closer. He sighs into the kiss, and he truly did sound like he missed me just as much as I did he.

“God, I’ve missed your lips.” He mumbled between kisses that had grown more fevered. “I missed your skin on mine. I missed how you smelled like berries and vanilla. I missed your touch. And I fucking missed how you’d moan my name like it’s the only thing you know how to say.” He growled his last sentence, yanking my hips to his, making me whimper with need. Our lips crash against each other’s once again and he unties the ribbon of my bathrobe, letting the soft fabric fall away from my body and he inhales sharply.

“How can you be even more beautiful than I remember?” His voice strained to speak as he plants soft passionate kisses down from my neck and to my chest. His lips ghosted over my bare torso, and I arch my back on reflex, letting out a soft moan. His tongue rubbed my perked nipples as his fingers slipped between my folds below.

“Fuck, you’re already this wet.” He cursed, gliding his fingers through my arousal. The touch was teasing and barely enough.

“Jimin, more... please.” My voice was shaking with pure need to feel more of him. “But please take off your damn clothes.” Jimin chuckled and removes his loose shirt with ease, letting me see his ever-defined chest and abs. He got a little bit tanner too and his V line at his hips was definitely more prominent than before. I wanted to trace it with my fingers.

“Better?” He smiled, planting a kiss in between my breasts.

“Pants too, everything.” I whined. I’d waited too long for him to only just take off one piece of clothing.

“My impatient princess.” He chuckled again, easing his pants off, leaving his member taut against his stomach. I almost licked my lips at the sight.

“What do you want to do, baby?” Jimin said, climbing on top of me, slowly sucking the skin on my collarbone.

“I want you in my mouth.” I moan as he lightly grazes his teeth over my neck. He smiled, dazzlingly so if I may add, as he sat down facing me, inviting me towards him.

“Well, what are you waiting for, princess?” He murmured. “Come get it.” I licked my lips, almost lunging at him in my eagerness to please him and make him keen with pleasure. I slowly kiss his abdomen, using my hands to spread his own arousal over his stiff member. Jimin bit his lip, clenching his fist into the sheets beside him.

“How do you want me suck you off, Jimin?” I ask, looking up at him as I lick his dick slowly in an upwards motion, my tongue flat against him and lingering just at the appendage where his head met his shaft. He twitched with need as he stared at me wildly.

“I want you to suck on my head and twist your hands around me, you do that so well, baby.”

I complied gladly, doing exactly as he asked and he rewarded me with a long string of unfiltered moans. His voice cracked as his abdomen tensed hard while I sucked him, making sure to keep pace with my fingers wrapped around him, twisting up and down at a relentless speed.

“I love that, baby. Fuck, I love what you do to me. I want your whole mouth around me - so fucking sinful.” He growls as he bucks his hips up slightly, showing how much he wanted it. I grip his lean thighs pushing my head down to engulf him fully and he groans, tilting his head back.

“Fuck... fuck, you look so fucking pretty like that, taking my dick so well.” He praised me and I hummed in acknowledgement. He slowly thrusts as I bob my head and squeeze his thighs as the same time.

“Face the other way baby, I want to taste you too. I know you’re just dripping even though you’re sucking me off.” Jimin purrs, putting his fingers on my cheek, stroking it lightly.

“You taste so good, Jimin. I missed this.” I moan as I turn around, ass to his face.

“And I missed this view. And lucky me, I’m about to taste what I’ve been missing for the past few months.” He chuckled, pressing his tongue to my core and I tense, my mouth also clenching around his member as I moan. His kitten licks served to tease me but he soon delved deeper, lapping up all of my arousal. I struggled a bit to keep up my pace with his member, overwhelmed by Jimin’s touches.

“You taste so fucking sweet, baby. I could eat you out forever.” Jimin hisses, now sliding a finger inside me. “Look at you taking my fingers just like that.” I moaned as he added another one - a bit of a stretch but I wanted him too much to mind. He moaned as I hummed at his actions, clearly enjoying the sensation. The kicker was me grazing my teeth against his sensitive skin, squeezing his balls lightly as I did. He instantly clenched his abs, bucking his hips to show how much he liked it.

“Come up and ride me, baby. I want to be inside you when I cum.” He groaned, stopping his ministrations on my now soaked folds. I was pretty sure I was dripping by now, if I wasn’t already earlier. I was about to face him but I smirked, sliding downwards, back to him, throwing my head back and giving him a smirk.

“Oh, you want to deny me seeing your face now?” Jimin chuckled darkly and sat up, chest to my back. “I’ll still be able to hear you scream for me, though.” With that, he slipped his throbbing member inside me, making me gasp at the movement. It had been so long since I’d been filled with such fervour.

“God, Jimin, you feel so good.” I moaned as I slowly adjusted to his size. Jimin’s lips found respite in the crook of my neck, one of his hands on my breast and the other snaking below to my clit. Impatient to feel him, I grinded my hips, making him let out a breathy moan. He soon met my pace, our skin hitting one another’s.

“Right there, Jimin, ah-“ I cried as he hit a particular deep bundle of nerves inside me. It was almost too much as his fingers rubbed my clit simultaneously. I felt my climax approaching, knowing it would hit me like a truck.

“You’re close, baby? You like me fucking you like that?” Jimin’s voice was husky, almost dripping with the amount of need he laced in his words. “I can feel you clenching so fucking hard on me. Fuck, I want to cum inside you.”

“Jimin ah- I’m gonna cum-“ I couldn’t even finish my sentence before my body was wrecked by such intense waves of pleasure it threatened to buckle me under the pressure. I threw my head back, leaning onto Jimin’s shoulder as his name fell off my lips in a broken mantra.

Jimin wordlessly continued thrusting into me, riding me through my high, chasing his own at a hip-breaking pace. I felt him twitch inside me and I knew he was close so I grinded against him, meeting his thrusts with my hips.

“Oh fuck, baby,” Jimin groaned, gripping my hips hard, sinking his teeth into the skin on my shoulder as he released into me. When he slowed down to a stop, his grip on my hips softened so I slowly climbed off to face him.

“I missed you so much, Y/N.” Jimin murmured, bringing me close to him. “I shouldn’t have left you.”

“Yeah, that was such a dick move.” I huffed, pouting as he kissed my nose tenderly, chuckling at my pout.

“Sorry, baby.” He smiled, kissing my forehead. “Now let’s get you cleaned up and ready for dinner.”

—

A few weeks had passed and my life had settled back into the routine Jimin and I used to share at his house. I’d see him occasionally and we’d share meals together. And the occasional bang, of course. By occasional, I mean often because Jimin was insistent he show me how much he’d missed me. And when he was done with that, he would show me how he made up for him leaving me. I wasn’t complaining though.

My dad had come about a week after the man called Hoseok was captured, just to interrogate Hoseok himself and to see if I was in good hands. It hurt a little to see him care more about that Hoseok guy than me, because we barely shared a few sentences before he had to fly back to Korea. He spent most of his time talking to Jimin in the study.

This time, there’d been a development with the rebels and Hoseok was finally cracking once my father had tracked down his girlfriend, threatening him with her. It was cruel but, I no longer questioned what my father or Jimin did.

Jimin and my father exited the basement after quite a long few hours, but something was wrong. Jimin and my father seemed to be seething.

“Great job Kwon, you literally killed our only fucking lead.” Jimin hissed, frustratedly running his hands through his black hair.

“How the fuck was I to know he had a weak heart?” My father yelled back, throwing his hands up in the air. “He threatened my daughter’s safety, I’m fucking pissed, aren’t you, loverboy?”

“At least I know my limits.” Jimin countered, stepping closer. “He was a means to an end.”

“Or you’re just fucking soft because he was your hyung.” My father sneered. Jimin was poised to strike and I rushed in the middle of them to stop them from fighting.

“Daughter, get out of the way.” My father grabbed my shoulder, trying to shove me away as he clocked his gun right at Jimin.

“Dad!” I exclaimed. “What the hell, put the gun down!”

“Get out of the way, I’d wanted to do this for the longest fucking time. Him and his whole fucking clan deserve it.” My father hissed, venom almost dripping from his voice.

“Put the gun down!” I cried. “What the hell happened?”

“Your father beat Hoseok until he suffered a heart attack and died before he could give us any more information.” Jimin said quietly.

“Dad...” I turned to him.

“So you’re siding with this fucker now?” My father yelled, veins threatening to burst at his temples. “Just because he dicks you down, you turn on your father?”

“Dad, I didn’t even say anything!” I protested, trying to reason with him. “Why are you so upset? Please just calm down and we’ll talk!”

Once I saw my dad lower the gun a little, I lunged forward and disarmed him, catching him off guard.

“Y/N-“ My dad said, grasping for his gun but I threw it into the kitchen, far away from him.

“Why the hell are you overreacting, Dad?” It was my turn to ask the questions. He was acting strange. “Why are you so angry when you were the one that made a mistake?” No response. He merely stood there, face frozen without emotion. It was so suspicious. My dad killed our only lead to the rebels, and now was threatening to kill Jimin too. I’m sure Jimin must have picked up on it by now.

“Princess-“ Jimin’s voice held a warning. I knew he was trying to stop me.

“No, Jimin, don’t.” I shushed him. My brain was whirling with possibilities. “I’ve had enough of him hiding things.”

Suddenly, I heard it. The loud explosion that came from outside. And it happened again. My ears were ringing painfully and and my head felt like it was going to explode. I could feel my legs turn to jelly as I crumbled to the floor, not understanding what was going on. I could faintly hear Jimin call out to me, but my vision was blurred as I felt blackness envelope my consciousness. The last thing I saw was my father hitting the back of Jimin’s head.

| Part 1 (M) | Part 2 (M) | Part 3 (M) | Part 4 | Part 5 (M) | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 (M) | Part 9 (M) | Part 10 |

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Fruits Basket 2019 Episode 7: “Spring Comes”

Therapist: “Hatori’s backstory episode isn’t real, it can’t hurt you”

Hatori’s backstory episode: *happens*

Me, crying: *shocked-pikachu.png*

Anyway, this was another really great episode. This is the part of the story where it really becomes clear how dark the story is going to get in the long run, and I think they nailed it.

Thoughts under the cut. [Spoilers for the whole manga]

As I was hoping, this episode combined chapters 10 and 12 together, leaving chapter 11 to be adapted in the next episode. I think they’ll spend the entire episode on that chapter, since the next part to adapt after that would be Haru’s intro, which is completely unrelated to the new years part aside from him having a short scene with Shigure in it. So I think they’ll just leave his whole intro bit for episode 9.

Funnily enough this is another case of the reboot’s pacing and structure being very similar to the 2001 anime. I think the Hatori backstory episode in the 2001 anime was my favourite episode of the whole thing, and I’ve always felt that the way they paced it out flowed a lot more naturally than it did in the manga. So I’m happy that the reboot had the same sorta idea and just combined the two Hatori chapters together. It’s not really a huge deal, but especially after seeing two alternate takes on this part that make the same decisions in how they alter the pacing, it really feels awkward that the Hatori part in the manga gets pretty much interrupted halfway through by the new years chapter.

But this episode definitely wasn’t a 1:1 copy of the 2001 anime version of it, that’s for sure. For one thing, some stuff near the end was changed so that they could incorporate the sequence from chapter 12 where Hatori sees Kana walking by with her friends, which the 2001 anime cut out. Which leads into one of the more subtle but cool things this episode added, which was that we got some cameos from characters who don’t even appear in the 2001 anime at all. On the note of that scene with Kana, we see Mayu walking with her and their other friend, which wasn’t even the case in the manga. I really liked that addition, though, since it helps give a little bit more build-up for the fact that she’s friends with Kana.

Similarly, we also get an even more subtle cameo appearance from Kureno, who doesn’t even show up in the manga until like chapter 50. It was so subtle I didn’t even notice him until I saw people point it out. I think it was a really good choice to add that little tease of him this early on, though. I’d always kinda wished that the manga could have had a scene like this where we see Kureno with Akito before we know anything about who he is.

I can see why some people are sad that they changed that whole scene with Akito, though. The scene of her in the window looking at Tohru was pretty iconic, and I’ve always loved it. But I also really love this new version of the scene, as a sort of alternate take on it. It gives us a look at Akito that, by this point in the anime, we haven’t seen yet. There’s the whole deal with us also seeing Kureno in the car with her, but it’s also the first time in the reboot that we see Akito wearing a masculine, western-style outfit. I think it’s also interesting how the way the context and framing of the scene was changed made Akito seem more petty and childlike, if that makes sense. In the manga version of the scene, she comes across as being super composed and ominous and in control, but here we just see her sitting in the backseat of a car someone else is driving, wearing an outfit that she looks like she doesn’t want to wear, and she looks smaller than she usually does, especially since the camera is angled down toward her from Tohru’s POV. It still feels ominous and uncomfortable in it’s own way, and you still get the impression that Akito is someone who Tohru should try and avoid ever meeting properly, but I think it’s really fascinating how the relatively small changes in framing help to expose the more nuanced and vulnerable side of Akito as a character, showing that in her own way she’s just another person bound by the curse, keeping up an outward image she doesn’t want, and keeping a specific person around her at all times out of possessiveness and loneliness.

Come to think of it, on top of the fact that we don’t see Kureno until around chapter 50, I don’t think we ever saw Akito wear that specific outfit until around chapter 100 when the big gender twist reveal happens. Up until that point I think she only ever wore either her kimono, or her black turtleneck.

On the topic of changes, I think the only other notable one is the flashback to Akito hurting Hatori, which isn’t all that different from either the manga or the 2001 anime, but still a bit different. In the manga we never actually see how exactly Hatori’s injury happened, and in the 2001 anime we see Akito directly smash Hatori’s face with a vase, but in this version we see her pushing Hatori into a mirror when he tries to restrain her after she attacks Kana. The 2001 anime version of the scene was really good in it’s own way, but I’m fine with the reboot doing it differently. I actually like that in the reboot it feels more accidental than intentional, with Akito pushing Hatori into a mirror instead of hitting him with a vase. We at least still got the bit with her attacking Kana to make it clear that she’s willing to get directly violent with people. The fact that there were like five mirrors in the room was a bit odd, but it did give us that cool shot of Hatori restraining Akito and us seeing it reflected in all the different mirrors.

Other than that the episode was a pretty faithful adaptation of the manga. It didn’t even have to rearrange too many things, aside from having the end of chapter 10 happen after the end of chapter 12. They did have to change the context of the stuff taken from chapter 12 a bit, since in the manga that happens after new years, but it all flows together really naturally anyway.

Before I forget, I also wanna say that this series still has some fantastic background art, and this episode really showed it off by giving us some different types of environments to what we’d seen before. The winter-y atmosphere of most of the episode was really wonderfully done, and they were contrasted nicely with the vibrant and warm flashbacks to Hatori and Kana’s relationship. A lot of the series in general takes place in the same overall set of locations, and the manga never really put much emphasis on how the backgrounds looked, so it’s nice to get stuff like this in the reboot.

Even though Hatori and Kana’s whole deal is the big centerpiece of this episode, I’m not entirely sure what to say about it. It’s just one of those times where it’s not like I’m able to give my first impressions on it, since this is like the third take on this bit of the story I’ve seen, lol. So I just naturally end up thinking about it more in terms of how it compares to the manga and the 2001 anime, than how it is in and of itself, if that makes sense. It still fucked me up even the third time around, but still.

I do still think this is one of my favourite bits of the whole story, though. It’s pretty iconic, in a way, since it’s the first time we get this sort of big backstory sequence for a supporting character that delves into the darkness of the Soma family. It’s one of the parts that I think sticks with people most, and for good reason. It’s pretty much impossible not to feel bad for Hatori by the end of it all.

I tend to dislike the ‘side ships’ in this series, for a variety of reasons, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Hatori and Kana. I guess it helps that they’d already broken up by the time the series starts, and so it feels natural that their relationship is only really focused on in two chapters early on.

Anyway, I’m curious to see exactly how the next episode will be adapted, since as I said before, it looks like it’ll just adapt chapter 11, which means it’ll almost certainly have a fair bit of original material to flesh it out. The 2001 anime also took that route with it, and I ended up not really liking the result, but I have faith that the reboot will handle it well, since I really liked how they fleshed chapters 5 and 6 out into their own episodes.

Personally, I really want them to find a way to actually show off the Soma family’s new years festival, since we never really get to see it properly in the manga. It always felt like a missed opportunity that we basically only ever saw the zodiac members in their dance outfits in colour pages. So I’d really like to actually get a scene showing Momiji’s dance.

I think it’d also help things out a bit if they add some scenes to include a bit more build-up to the scene where Hana randomly shows up to confront Yuki and Kyo about their decision to leave Tohru alone on new years.

And with how the reboot’s handled it’s original content thus far, I wouldn’t be surprised if we get a whole flashback to Tohru spending new years with her mother, which would be really sad.

We’ll see how it goes, I guess. Either way, this was a really fantastic episode. It’s fun seeing new fans get more and more aware of the fact that they’re in for some serious drama and emotions in the long run, lol. I said before that I can’t really have a fresh reaction to this part [or really anything in the reboot that’s not original material] since I’ve already read the manga, but I’m glad that new fans seem to really like this episode.

[dailybestiary]

Patch Has Issues: Dungeon #2

Issue: Dungeon #2

Date: November/December 1986 (Pretty sure my Christmas haul that year was full of dope toys from The Transformers movie/show.)

The Cover:

(Use of cover for review purposes only and should not be taken as a challenge to status. Credit and copyright remain with their respective holders.)

Ah, Clyde Caldwell. He, Larry Elmore, Jeff Easley, and last issue’s Keith Parkinson were the mainstays of TSR’s amazing stable of artists. I have a soft spot for Caldwell. He did the covers for the D&D Gazetteer series, which means his work emblazoned some of my absolute favorite books from my middle school years. (At the time I had the whole series except the two island books, GAZ 4 & GAZ 9 (which I’ve since collected), plus the Dawn of the Emperors box set. My favorites, for the record, were GAZ 3, 5, 10, and 13. I...may like elves...a little too much.) And even as I sit here, other covers demand to be named. The very first Dragonlance adventure, the iconic Dragons of Despair? The Finder’s Stone trilogy? The first Ravenloft box? Dragon #147? Yep, he did those covers too. He was amazing.

But hoo-boy, we also have to talk about the not-amazing parts. Once Caldwell settled on a way of doing things, that’s how he did them. Points for consistency, but man, he had tropes. Even his tropes had tropes. He had a way of painting dragon’s wings. He had a way of painting swords and boots. He had a way of painting jewelry, and belts and coins—ovals upon ovals upon ovals.

And his way of painting women was with as few clothes as possible. Everything I said about Parkinson last entry? Yeah, that goes double for Caldwell. He never paints pants when a thong will do. His take on the reserved and regal Goldmoon—thighs as long as a dwarf and bronzed buttcheeks exposed—reportedly left Margaret Weis in tears. Magic-users (God, I hate that term) famously couldn’t use armor in D&D and AD&D, but Caldwell’s sorceresses pretty much stick to gauze just to be safe. And the Finder’s Stone trilogy I mentioned above? Yeah, the authors of Azure Bonds took one look at Caldwell’s cover art and literally had to come up with in-text reasons why the heroine Alias—one of the most surly woman sellswords in existence—would wear armor with a Caldwell boob hole.

Don’t get me wrong, I love cheesecake as much as the next dude. (Actually that’s not true; I came up in the grunge ’90s—our version of cheesecake was an Olympia brunette in three layers of thrift store sweaters reading Sandman while eating a cheesecake. Hell, that’s still my jam.) But context matters. The sorceress from “White Magic,” Dragon #147’s cover, may barely be wearing a negligee, but she’s also in the seat of her power and probably magically warded to the hilt—she can wear whatever she damn wants; it’s her tower. So no complaints there. But this cover’s pirate queen Porky Piggin’ it seems like an unwise choice. (The friction burns alone from clambering around the rigging…)

It’s clear from reading The Art of the Dragonlance Saga that TSR was trying to turn the ship around when it came to portrayals of women in fantasy, however slowly. And in Caldwell’s defense and to his credit, he definitely delivered women with agency—in nearly every image, they are nearly always doing something active and essential. They just tend to be doing it half-dressed.

Which is all a way of saying I dig this cover—the explosion, the churning sea (even if it does more look like snow drifts than waves), the sailors all running to the rail to look—but yeah, that pirate captain needs to put on some damn pants.

The Adventures: Before we get started, I have to note that though we’re only an issue in, already the magazine feels more noticeably like the work of editor Roger Moore. This is 100% a guess, but it really feels to me like Dungeon #1 was made of adventures that the Dragon office already had laying around, whereas Dungeon #2 was composed of adventures that Roger Moore and the new Dungeon team had more of a hand in sifting through. (He also has an assistant editor this time in Robin Jenkins, which had to have helped.) Even the cartography looks better. Again, I have zero confirmation of this, but the feeling is strong.

“The Titan’s Dream” by W. Todo Todorsky, AD&D, Levels 5–9

PCs visiting an oracle accidentally walk right into a titan’s dream and must solve some conundrums to escape. What an awesome concept this is! (Spoilers for “Best Concept” section below.) It’s a shame I don’t like this more.

First of all, dreamworld adventures are really hard to do well. And for them to work, there usually need to be real stakes—and not just “If you die in the dream, you die in real life!”—and/or a real connection to the PCs in your campaign. The latter, especially, is really hard to pull off in a published adventure; typically it’s only achieved through tactics that critics deride as railroading. (For instance, @wesschneider’s excellent In Search of Sanity does a great job of connecting the characters to their dream adventures...but it does that by a) forging the connection at 1st level, and b) pretty strongly dictating how the adventure begins and how the characters are affiliated. It works, but that’s high-wire-act adventure writing.)

Being a magazine adventure, “The Titan’s Dream” doesn’t have that luxury—it’s got to be for a general audience and work for most campaigns. That unfortunately means the default “Why” of the adventure—a lord with a child, a wedding, and an alliance at stake hires the PCs to chat with a wise titan—is little more than that: a default.

On top of that...I cannot get excited about anything Greek mythology-related. To me, just the fact I’m seeing it is a red flag.

Look, Greek mythology is why I got into this hobby. Hell, it’s why I got into fiction, period. (For some reason I somehow decided I had no use for fiction books targeted to my age, with the exception of Beverly Cleary. Then in 4th(?) grade, I got a copy of Alice Low’s Greek Gods and Heroes, and the rest is history.) But Greek mythology is often the only mythology anyone knows. When people think polytheism, that’s where most people’s minds go. Which is why, if you ever played D&D in the ’80s, I pretty much guarantee your first deity was from that pantheon. (In my first game, my first-level cleric pretty much met Ares and got bitch-slapped by him, because that’s what 4th-grade DMs do.)

So to me, putting Greek deities or titans in your adventure is the equivalent of putting dudes riding sandworms into your desert adventures—you can do it, but you better blow me away, because that is ground so well trod it’s mud. And this one doesn’t do the job.

The format is three dreams, each with five scenes. Parties will move randomly—a mechanic meant to represent dream logic (or lack thereof)—through these scenes, until all the scenes from one dream have been resolved. This is actually kind of fascinating, and I wonder how it would play at the table—I have a feeling observant players will dig it, but others may find the mechanism’s charm wears off quickly, especially if they have difficulty solving the scenes or get frustrated with the achronicity of events. I also like that every scene has a number of possible resolutions, so the PCs aren’t locked into achieving a single specific objective like they were stuck in a computer game.

But...I can’t shake the feeling of weak planning and execution (or even laziness?) that stayed with me throughout the adventure. Like, okay, the first adventure is a cyclops encounter out of the Odyssey. Cool! But then...why does the Titan follow it up with pseudo-Norse/Arthurian encounter? Did the Odyssey not hold the author’s attention? (Nor the Iliad, the Aeneid, or Metamorphosis? Really?) And then why is the third dream “drawn from the realm of pure fairy tale”? Like, were you out of pantheons? Horus didn’t return your calls? Or be more specific—why not German fairy tales, or Danish, or French Court, or Elizabethan? It feels like a class project where one group was on point, one group got the assignment a little wrong, and one didn’t even try.

Again, it’s not even that this adventure is bad—I honestly can’t tell if it is or not; I’m sure a lot of its success is determined at the table. And I could totally see throwing this at a party if I was out of inspiration that week or we needed a low-stakes breather before our next big arc. But the instant I think about it for more than a second, it all falls apart for me.

Have any of you tried this one? Let me know what you thought. And for a similar exploration into dream logic/fairy tale scenarios, I recommend Crystal Frasier’s The Harrowing for Pathfinder.

“In The Dwarven King’s Court” by Willie Walsh, AD&D, Levels 3–5

Willie Walsh is a name we’re going to see a lot more in issues to come—he’s a legendarily prolific Dungeon contributor, delivering quality, typically low-level, and often light-hearted or humorous adventurers issue after issue after issue. His first entry is a mystery with a time limit: A dwarf king is supposed to make a gift of a ceremonial sword to seal a treaty, but the sword has vanished. Brought to the king’s court courtesy of a dream, adventurers must find the sword and the surprising identity of the culprit before the rival power’s delegation arrives.

At first I was going to ding this adventure for its “What, even more dreams this issue?” hook...but here’s the thing with Walsh—never judge his modules until you reach the final page. Nearly every time I’m tempted to dismiss one of his sillier or more random adventure elements, it turns out that it makes sense and works just fine. In this case, the cause of the dream is haunt connected to the mystery, and I feel dumb for being all judgy.

So anyway, the PCs are given leave to search for the stolen object and the thief, but of course it turns out there is a whole lot of light-fingeredness going around. As Bryce (see below) puts it, “It’s like a Poirot mystery: everyone has something to hide.” This castle has as much upstairs-downstairs drama as any British farce, with nearly every NPC having either a fun personality and/or a fun secret (and with the major players illustrated by some equally fun portraits) that should make them memorable friends and foils for PCs to interact with. Not to mention the actual culprit is definitely a twist that will be hard explaining to the king...

GMs should be ready to adjust on the fly, though—a) it’s a lot of characters to juggle, and b) since the PCs are 3rd–5th level, the right spells or some lucky secret door searches could prematurely end the adventure as written. You may want to have some last-minute showdowns, betrayals, or other political intrigue outlined and in your back pocket if what’s on the page resolves too quickly.

Overall though, I’m a big fan of this adventure, and look forward to the rest of Walsh’s output. Also, given the dwarven focus and the geography of the land, this adventure could be a very nice sequel to last issue’s “Assault on Eddistone Point.”

“Caermor” by Nigel D. Findley, AD&D, Levels 2–4

Look at this author’s list of writing credits! Findley was amazingly prolific, and his work was pretty high-quality across the board, as far as I know. I particularly loved the original Draconomicon, one of the first and only 2e AD&D books I ever bought as a kid. I also loved his “Ecology of the Gibbering Mouther” from the excellent Dragon #160, and some of his Spelljammer supplements are currently sitting upstairs in my to-read pile, recently purchased but as yet shamefully untouched.

Now look at his age at the time of his death. Life is not always fair or kind.

(Speaking of unkind, man is the bio in this issue unfortunate in retrospect: “[H]e write for DRAGON® Magazine, enjoys windsurfing, plays in a jazz band, and manages a computer software company in the little time he has left.” As Archer would say, “Phrasing!”)

Anyway, this adventure is simple: An otherworldly force has been murdering the locals. The locals have pinned the blame on a handsome bard from out of town, and their own prejudices and general obstinacy are sure to get in the way of the investigation—that is, if the true culprits, some devil-worshipping culprits and and an abishai devil, don’t get in the way first.

All in all, this is a tight, well-written adventure, so I don’t have much to say about it, other than that if you like the idea of sending your party to help out some young lovers and save some faux-Scots/Yorkshiremen too stubborn to save themselves (and maybe slip in a valuable lesson about prejudice and xenophobia as well), this is the adventure for you.

One thing that does jump out to a contemporary reader, though, is the comically overpowered nature of the baddie pulling the strings in this adventure: Baalphegor, Princess of Hell (emphasis mine). Overpowered, you-won’t-really-fight-this-NPC happens with a lot of low-level adventures, when the writers want a story more epic than characters at the table can handle or are trying to plot the seeds for future evils. But still, any princess of Hell would already be a bit much...but an 18-Hit Dice, “supra-genius”, the Princess of Hell? Like, what the f—er, I mean, Hell?

If you use the adventure as written, the only way to have Baalphegor’s presence make sense is to eventually reveal that the area is an epicenter of some major badness. (Maybe that explains the lost nation of evil dwarves in the adventure background.) For a good model on how to seed early adventures in this matter, Dungeon’s Age of Worms Adventure Path and Pathfinder Adventure Path’s Rise of the Runelords AP, both from Paizo, are exemplars of small-town disturbances that eventually have world-shaking implications.

It’s also fascinating in retrospect to note Ed Greenwood’s massive impact in the hobby. Any article that appears in Dragon has the sheen of being at least semi-official, but it’s clear that Greenwood’s content was a cut above even that. In this case, an NPC from a three-year-old article of his is not just treated as canon, but also supplies the mastermind behind the adventure! It’s no surprise that in the following year his home campaign, the Forgotten Realms, would soon become AD&D’s newest and then its default setting.

Two final thoughts: 1) There’s some fascinating anti-dwarf prejudice in this article. Nearly every mention of dwarves paints them as exceptionally greedy and/or villains. And 2) how did one even begin to balance adventures in those days? This adventure is for “4–8 characters of 2nd–4th level.” There are a lot of difference at the extreme ends of those power scales…

“The Keep at Koralgesh,” by Robert Giacomozzi & Jonathan Simmons, D&D, Levels 1–3

One of the problems of BECMI D&D being known as “basic D&D” is that writers often assumed the players to be basic (that is, younger/new) as well. Which probably accounts for some of the early suggestions to the DM we get at the beginning of this adventure—like some pretty patronizing advice along the lines of not immediately announcing to PCs what the pluses are on their magical swords.

Fortunately, after that the article settles down and gives us Dungeon’s first real D&D adventure. In fact, not just real, but massive: 20 full pages of content—nearly half the issue! It’s a fully fledged dungeon crawl that has the PCs taking advantage of the summer solstice to open a shrine door that will lead them inside a long-ruined keep said to hold great treasure.

Now, I imagine in the coming installments it’s going to seem to many of you like I’m grading D&D adventures on a curve, because of my love for the system and the Known World/Mystara. That’s a fair accusation, but a better way to consider it is that I’m reviewing D&D adventures for what they are—adventures from a separate system, with a more limited rules system and palette of options than AD&D. You don’t go to a performance of Balinese shadow puppetry and compare it against Andrew Lloyd Webber; you look at it for what it achieves in its own medium. Since they appear side-by-side in the same magazine, comparison is going to be inevitable, but that’s with the understanding that AD&D was the kid coloring with the 64-crayon box of Crayola, while D&D was getting by with just eight.

On its own terms then, “The Keep of Korgalesh” is a decent, if not superlative, success. I love that it’s practically module-length and that we get three complete levels—a far cry from the previous issue’s side-trek-at-best, “The Elven Home.” We also get two new monsters, which absolutely fills my inner BECMI D&D player with glee. And I like that what starts as a dungeon crawl/fetch quest evolves into a “kill the big bad thing” and “find out what really happened to this city.”

There are issues, though. If the whole city was destroyed, getting to see some of it besides the keep would have been nice. Some of the ecology for the dungeon inhabitants is questionable. There pretty much wasn’t a single pool or fountain in this era of D&D adventure design that wasn’t magical, and this adventure was no exception. One of the new monster’s names makes no sense except that “tyranna” and “abyss” are cool words (I mean, I guess you could read that as “tyrant of the depths,” but still…) And there are painfully obvious borrowings from other works, especially Tolkien—a door that only opens at solstice, a lake monster, an orc with a split personality that is clearly a Gollum homage, etc.

What this adventure really needs is stakes—just something to give it a bit more oomph beyond the dungeon crawl. (Finding a blacksmith’s lost hammer is the hook offered in the adventure but it’s pretty flimsy.) Perhaps the PCs are some of Kor’s last worshippers, and clearing out the dangers here and resanctifying his temple is one of their first steps toward returning him to prominence. Maybe the PCs’ grandparents were involved in the city’s demise and restoring Koralgesh will restore the families’ honor. Or you could keep it simple and have a band of pirates or a rival adventuring group also trying to clean out the keep, turning it into a race (with the tyrannabyss causing the scales of fate to wobble at appropriately cinematic moments).

So the final analysis is this is a decent dungeon crawl upon which you can build a good adventure. The real reward of this module isn’t treasure; it’s finding out just what happened to Koralgesh. But for that to matter, it needs to tie into the PCs’ pasts, futures, or both.

BONUS CONTENT FOR KNOWN WORLD/MYSTARA NERDS: Kor is almost certainly a local name for the sun god Ixion. The chaotic deity Tram is probably a local version of Alphaks, though Atzanteotl is another strong candidate, especially since deceit was key to the pirates’ success. Koralgesh could be located somewhere on the Isle of Dawn, the northern coast of Davania, or an Ierendi/Minrothad Isle that those nations haven’t made it a priority to rebuild.

Best Read: “Caermor.” Nigel D. Findley was a pro.

Best Adventure I Could Actually Run with Minimal Prep: “The Keep at Koralgesh,” as a well-written, straight-ahead dungeon crawl. Every other adventure here relies on a pretty strong handle of very mobile NPCs and their motivations, or a Titan’s dream mechanics.

Best Concept: “The Titan’s Dream,” as noted above. It’s a great idea very worth exploring, even if I wasn’t about the execution we got in this case.

Best Monster: This was actually a monster-light issue. Despite some awesome art for the tyrannabyss, I have to go with the epadrazzil, a scaly ape from a two-dimensional plane of existence that has to be summoned via a painting. All of those details are just so wonderfully and weirdly specific it has to win. (Extra points for anyone who noticed the thoul—a classic D&D monster (though it did make its way into AD&D’s Mystara setting) born from a typo.)

Best NPC: Since this is a role-playing-heavy issue, there are a bunch of contenders, and the final verdict will go to whoever your party sparks to at the table. Obviously King Baradon the Wise should get the nod for [spoiler-y reasons], but I also really like the opportunity the executioner Tarfa offers, thanks to his incriminating goblet and how it might bring the PCs to the attention of a far-off assassin’s guild at just the right level.

Best Map: All together the maps from “The Keep at Koralgesh” form an extremely appealing whole. But for best single map I have to go for the palace of Mount Diadem—that is a bangin’ dwarven demesne.

Best Thing Worth Stealing: Jim Holloway’s illustrations of dwarves. Good dwarf, gnome, and halfling art is hard to find, and even the good stuff often leans stereotypical. While Holloway’s art is often humorous—I have a feeling he and Roger Moore jibed really well, though that’s totally a guess based purely on what assignments he got handed—his dwarves, especially in this issue, are fresh, specific, and unique. You could identify them by their silhouettes alone—always the sign of good character art. If you need an image of a dwarf NPC to show the players, “In the Dwarven King’s Court” is a great first stop.

Worst Aged: Female thong pirates on magazine covers. Also using the actual names of actual mental illnesses in game materials.

What Bryce Thinks: “This seems to be a stronger issue than #1, although half of the adventures are … unusual.”

Bryce actually almost likes “The Titan’s Dream,” confirming my loathing of it. He in turn loathes “In the Court of the Dwarven King.” Like me, though, he is pro-”Caermor” and sees potential in “The Keep at Koralgesh.” (Also credit where it’s due: I might have missed the condescension at the start if he hadn’t called it out.)

So, Is It Worth It?: If you’re a Clyde Caldwell fan, this issue might be worth searching out in print. So much of Caldwell’s work from this era was dictated by product needs, cropped and boxed up in ads, or shrunk down to fit on a paperback cover. So to get this cover in full magazine size, with only the masthead tucked up top to get in the way—that could be well worth a few bucks to you.

Also, if you’re BECMI/Rules Cyclopedia-era D&D fan (or know someone who is), again, this one might be worth having in print. “The Keep at Koralgesh” is a legit, proper BECMI D&D adventure, spanning 20 whole pages and with two new monsters to boot. I would have practically have cried if someone had given 7th-grade me this.

Beyond that you can probably just rely on the PDF. But both “Caermor” and “In the Dwarven King’s Court” have strong bones worth putting some modern muscle and skin on.

Random Thoughts:

The Caldwell cover painting was also used for the Blackmoor module DA4 The Duchy of Ten. PS: I’m not trying to tell you what to do or anything, but if you do happen to run across a physical copy of The Duchy of Ten or and of the DA modules, holla at ya boy over here.

Since this is our second issue, we now have a “Letters” column. Turns out Dungeon had been announced in Dragon #111 with a really detailed set of writer’s guidelines; most of the correspondence is questions re: those. In the process of answering, we get some surprisingly frank talk about payment. The $900 for a cover seemed low until I converted it to 2018 dollars, and ~$2,000 does seem right to my ignorant eye. I then made the mistake of converting my current salary to 1986 dollars and felt a lot worse about myself and what I’ve achieved.

Apologies this took so long to post. I had the issue read by early October and most of this review written with the next week or two after...but then I got involved in dealing with a 4.5 week hospitalization and aftermath...and then a second still-ongoing hospitalization...and even though I only had about four paragraphs left I just couldn’t find time to put a bow on it.

Notable Ads: The gold Immortals Rules box for D&D. (I also still don’t have that one yet, and Christmas is coming. Just saying, guys, if you happen to find one in your attic.) ;-) Also an ad for subscribing to Dungeon itself, starring “my war dinosaur, Boo-Boo.” No, really.

Over in Dragon: Beneath a glorious cover, Roger Moore is the new editor of Dragon #115, three authors (including Vince Garcia, who I like a lot) share credit on a massive six articles about fantasy thieves, a famous article proposing that clerics get the weapons of their deity (people were still talking about it in the “Forum” column when I was buying my first issues two years later), and a look at harps from the Forgotten Realms (notable because behind the scenes Ed Greenwood’s home setting was being developed for the AD&D game for launch in 1987.) A photographic cover and a 3-D sailing ship are served up in Dragon #116, along with maritime adventures, more Ed Greenwood (rogue stones), and articles for ELFQUEST, Marvel Super Heroes (Crossfire’s gang), and FASA’s Dr. Who game (looking at all six(!) doctors). (Incidentally, I had an Irish babysitter around this time who first mentioned Dr. Who to me—I wish I’d explored more but I was too young to understand what I’d been offered.)

PS: Yes, I’ve heard about the upcoming Tumblr ban. It is a terrible idea that will affect way too many of my readers. It shouldn’t affect me much (and I have all my monster entries backed up at the original site), but I will keep you posted as I learn more, particularly if I find you, my readers, packing up and going elsewhere.

[galoismyhimbo]

1-97 for Emily! Do them all.

akdjsasdas I wont back down from this, anon.

SO BUCKLE UP KIDDOS THIS GONNA BE A LONG ASS REPLY

1. What is their favourite food?

Probably, pancakes. Just plain ol’ pancakes with syrup, its simple and thats why she loves it.

2. Do they have a fear of an animal? If so, what animal?

Emily has a HUGE phobia of spiders. She see’s one across the room, she’s already setting the place on fire to kill it.

3. What do they wear to bed?

In the summer, just some shorts and a baggy shirt. In the winter, a star wars onsie.

4. Do they like cuddling?

yES! She is a slut for cuddling

5. Do they have a secret handshake with anyone?

Nope. At least not yet.

6. What do they look like?

Long, dark brown hair. Light brown eyes, pale skin, scarred face and body. Buff af, shoulders are bit wider than her hips. Wish i had a full body reference lmao.

7. Do they like chocolate?

Yep!

8. What are their good and bad traits?

Good: Loyal, lowkey softy, brave, perseverance, and has a strong will to protect the innocent.

Bad: impulsive, big ego, holds in her anger till she explodes, and reckless

9. Do they have any artistic talent?

Yeah, shes drawn in her free time and has gotten pretty good.

10. What is their favourite room to be in, in the house they live in?

Her bedroom. Just laying in bed, watching tv or something. She likes the quiet and seclusion. 

11. Do they believe in luck?

Ye

12. Can they do magic?

Nope

13. Do they believe in dragons?

No, but there’s always the child in her that does.

14. What is a pet peeve of theirs?

When people chew loudly or talk with their mouth full.

15. What was the last thing they cried about?

umm… depends on where she is in her life. If I stick to the events of FC5, then after she woke up in the bunker with Joseph.

16. What is their sexuality?

Birom Ace 

17. Do they have a best friend? If so, who, and what makes them their best friend?

Sharky is her best friend. She loved his dumbassery, cause shes a dumbass too at heart. So they would just run around causing havoc for the cult.

Her other best friend is @deputydonewithyall​‘s Hope. They are really gay for each other and are REALLY close. Emily really is dating her best friend. :^)

18. Have they ever been in a romantic relationship?

Yep, with Hope Pillar. And they still are. Cause you know what brings people together? Shared trauma.

19. What does their relationship with their family look like? Are they close? Distant? Ect.

She used to be close to her family and relatives. But over time she drifted away, especially after her father died. When he did, she left to Montana after her brother was able to live on his own. She’s only seen them on some holidays.

20. Do they have a pet?

Fangs for hire basically.

21. Do they have a familiar?

No. But if she picked one it would be a leopard lmao

22. Are they a supernatural being?

Nope.

23. How do they usually wear their hair?

Usually down, but she also wears it in a ponytail. She looks great in one.

24. Can they play an instrument? If so, what instrument and what can they play?

Nope.

25. What type a high schooler are/were they?

Average. She did well in school, but she wasn’t in any clubs. She just wanted out.

26. Have they ever been in a physical fight before? If so, with who? Who won?

Yep. With many during the fight with the cult lmao.

27. What is their favourite holiday?

Christmas, she LOVES it

28. If they could have one wish, what would they wish for?

For everything to be normal again, no more cult, no more pain. Just her old life back. :^)

29. Do they wants kids? If they already have kids, do they want more?

She’s not opposed to having kids. And she gets one eventually. But she doesn’t want it :^) my bunker story explains that LMAO

30. Do they have a job?

Deputy

31. Do they know how to drive?

Ye, she’s a great driver

32. Do they get stressed out easily?

Nope, not really

33. Did they ever dye their hair before? If so, to what colour? Did they like it?

Nope.

34.Have they ever broken the law?

Before the cult? No. Well she’s gone over the speed limit but thats it lmao

35. Do they own a plant?

Who got time for that

36. Have they ever rode a horse before?

No but she wants to so badly.

37. What is their favorite gif?

38. Do they get along with others easily?

Not really, but she tries her hardest

39. Do they have any tattoos?

Nah, but she’s not opposed to it

40. If I wanted to draw them, what would be distinct physical features that I would have to know to draw them correctly?

She has a pretty strong jawline, her gaze is sharp. She just has strong facial features in general i think; plus the scar on her left eyebrow and the one going across the right side of her face makes her badass.

41. What is their favourite breed of dog?

Bernese Mountain dog

42. Do they live with anyone? If so, who?

Not currently, but in the future she lives with Hope

43. Where is their dream vacation?

Going to anywhere in Europe in the winter honestly

44. Do they know more than one language?

Nope.

45. Are they a quick learner?

Yeah, she can adapt quickly.

46. Have they ever won a contest before? If so, what for? What did they win?

Emily won a drawing contest in like 3rd grade. She got a badge and everything, she was so proud of herself.

47. If the world were to end in 24 hours, where would they be and who would they be with?

They would go up onto a mountain with Hope, Sharky, and Boomer. And they’d just hang out till the last moment. Those three are the most important to her, and she would spend her last moments with them over anything else. 

48. What does their room look like?

Her floor is clean, but any desk in her room is covered in things. She lowkey a mess

49. If they could have an extinct animal for a pet, what would they have?

A Tasmanian Tiger

50. If they got called out by someone, what would they do?

Throw hands. Only if it was really bad lmao

51. Have they ever shot a gun before?

Ye, many times before

52. Have they ever been axe throwing?

No. But take her on a date to one and she’ll be all yours 

53. What is something that they want but can’t have?

Her sanity back :^) shit goes down in my story

54. Do they know how to fish?

Yeah, she’s actually pretty good. And she finds it relaxing

55. What is something they always wanted to do but too scared?

Go on roller coasters. She fears them but man, they look like fun to her and she feels like she’s missing out.

56. Do they own their own baby pictures?

Actually yeah, she keeps photos back at her apartment. She also has a photo of her, her siblings, and her dad years before he died in her pocket.

57. What makes them standout among others?

In all honesty, her brute force. She is a buff gal, and could handle herself in a fight, even playing dirty. If given the chance, she could fight Jacob. It would be a tough one but she’d have a chance.

58. Do they like to show off?

YEP. She has an ego.

59. What is their favourite song?

If I go, I’m going - Gregory Alan Isakov

60. What would be their dream vehicle?

A motorcycle

61. What is their favourite book?

She doesn’t have one.

62. Who, in their opinion, makes the best food?

Pratt. Only because one year he made something for a Christmas party for their department and it was hella good. Though someone else probably could’ve made it.

63. Are they approachable?

Not really? She a tall, very buff looking woman with a scarred resting bitch face. But if you do approach her she’ll open up.

64. Did they ever change their appearance?

Nah.

65. What makes them smile?

Memes. lmao jk, just little moments of peace with friends and loved ones.

66. Do they like glowsticks?

Hells yeah

67. What is something that is simple, but always makes them smile?

Someone giving her a little gift and saying it reminded them of her. OR someone leaving little love notes around for her.

68. Are they a day or night person?

Night.

69. Are they allergic to anything?

Nope.

70. What do you, the creator of this OC, like most about them?

Her bravery. Which is also connected to her recklessness; she will risk her life to save an innocent or someone she cares about.   

71. Who is their ride or die?

Sharky and Hope. These three are an iconic trio

72. Do they currently have a significant other? If not, are they going to get one later one?

YEP. Hope.

73. What attracts them to another person?

Honesty, loyalty, and gentleness

74. Who is one person that can always make them laugh?

Sharky or Hope. 

75. Have they ever partied too hard and their friends had to take them home?

Emily doesn’t like alcohol so no, she hasn’t.

76. Who would be their cuddle buddy?

H O P E. And Boomer lmao

77. Who would cheer them up after a long day?

Sharky, Boomer, and Hope. And actually Joey before the cult stuff.

78. If they had a nightmare, who would they run to?

Hope. But that can change sometimes.

79. What object to the care for the most?

Her necklace.

80. Do they like other people’s children?

Depends. With baby Rye, she adores her. But other kids she may not be the biggest fan of.

81. How would they react if someone broke into their home?

”…You got to be kidding me.”

82. Does anyone make them have butterflies in their stomach?

HOPE MAKES EMILY A HUGE SOFTY, YALL DONT UNDERSTAND. Sorry i got excited

83. What is something that they are good at?

Archery.

84. What is their neutral expression?

Resting Bitch Face.

85. Do they like to cook?

No, she wishes things just appeared in front of her to eat

86. What is something they can’t leave home without?

The necklace her father got her years ago

87. Who is someone that they rely on?

👀👀 Hope.

88. Do they liked to be tickled?

No, and she’ll punch you if you try

89. Have they ever been a sword fight before?

No. But she’d be down to at any moment

90. What is a joke that they would find funny?

Basically memes and stuff lmao

91. Do they have a place that can go and turn off their brain?

In Hope county, Emily liked to go to the church in Fall’s End to just relax. She was close to Jerome as well so they would just talk when things were calm.

92. What was their childhood like?

It was actually pretty normal for the most part. After her mother died on duty, her father raised her and her two siblings for a long time before he eventually died. She knew her relatives and stuff, had big family dinners, get togethers. She remembers her mom getting up really early every Christmas to make a large breakfast for the family and relatives. She loved waking to the smell of bacon.

93. What are they like as an adult?

She has her life together, but she’s also a wreck. Like, eating ramen for 4 days straight cause she doesn’t want to go grocery shopping.

94. Do they take criticism well?

Yeah, she knows its to improve on something. But she’s annoyed on the inside.

95. Have they ever jumped out of a plane?

Only ones that have been crashing LOL

96. Who do they like to make jokes with?

Anyone of her friends. She loved pulling pranks on the other deputies before the cult issue.

97. Have you ever drawn them before? If you are comfortable with it, would you post a picture?

Hell yeah. Though none are actually finished so here’s a WIP

[patriotsnet]

What Color Ties Do Republicans Wear

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/what-color-ties-do-republicans-wear/

What Color Ties Do Republicans Wear

The History Of Party Colors In The United States

Tie-Dye 101: Tips & Tricks

Prior to the United States presidential election of 2000, which party was Red and which was Blue was largely a matter of which color a news outlet chose. On the October 30, 2000, episode of the Today show, Tim Russert coined the terms red state and blue state.

As far back as the 1888 election blue was used to represent the northern Union states and red the south, but this wasnt consistent throughout time . In the 70s and 80s the major networks starting using lighted maps to illustrate election results. Democrats were often coded blue and Republicans red, but it wasnt consistent. This inconsistent coloring continued throughout the Clinton years and up to the Gore Vs. Bush. This can all be varied by old videos and articles.

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Red White And Blue: How Color Defines Politics

In early October, Pew Research Center noted a 1.2-point increase in voters for Republicans and a 4.6-point increase for Democrats.

Turnouts for early voting amongst young voters, ages 18-29, have been proving astronomical versus 2014, particularly in red states.

According to The Hill, as of November 2, 2018, early voting polls showed:

Arizona: +217%

Tennessee: +767%

Texas: +448%

But why do we Americans associate political leanings with a specific color? Why do we know what it means to discuss voting in a red state or blue state? And what impact does the psychology of color have on individuals and communities?

Recommended Reading: Can Republicans Vote On Super Tuesday

A Final Word On Colors

Many political parties around the world often choose their colors because of their connections to political stances, groups, or ideologies.

For example, red has historically been a color often linked to socialism and communism after a red flag was used by the revolutionaries during the Paris Commune. Revolutionaries may have picked red flags during this time as a possible reference to the 13th century red naval flags of defiance that meant a ship would kill any enemy it saw and so was flying a bloody flag.

As another example, many environmentalist parties around the world will often use the color green to symbolize nature. Finally, fascist parties have often used the color black such as Adolf Hitlers Nazi party and Benito Mussolinis Italian Fascist party because the black color represents what they intend to bring to their enemies: fear, intimidation, and death.  

Lets finish with a quick trip around the globe to see the colors associated with some prominent political parties. In the United Kingdom, the colors are flipped compared to the United States: the right-leaning Conservative Party uses blue and the left-leaning Labour Party uses red, as do the Canadian parties of the same names. Australias oldest party, the Australian Labor Party, uses red while the Christian Democratic Union of Germany has used orange and black, and Emmanuel Macron of Frances En Marche! uses yellow. 

Why Is Hillary Clinton In Red And Why Is Donald Trump Wearing A Blue Tie

Id expect the republican candidate to wear red and the democrat to wear blue, but its quite the opposite. Why is this?

The color red is thought to convey strength and aggression, which is why a lot of men use that color for power ties. The Clinton camp probably wanted to her appear commanding and authoritative, particularly when debating a loud and aggressive opponent.

Blue is viewed as more calm and soothing. Trumps camp may have wanted him to appear calm and restrained.

The whole red/Republican, blue/Democrat thing is a pretty recent association anyway, starting in the 2000 election. Its not as if those are the official colors of those parties.

It was around before that but iirc they switched colors every election.

i did not realize red/blue as party association was only that recent

Clinton was expecting Trump to wear his red tie its a power color. So she preemptively wore a red suit. He was expecting her to expect that, so he wore blue as a counter-power move.

You know, I think you might have said that as joke but with consultants and strategists and yadiyadiyada, I might just be what happened.

If he wore a red suit he would have appeared dangerously unstable, for what he wore, not what he said.

These are no official colours of either major party. Neither has official colours of any kind. Both have used red, white, and blue for their entire histories.

Also Check: What Caused Republicans To Gain Power In Congress In 1938

The Color Psychology Behind Inauguration Fashion

Inauguration day isnt just about politics, its also all about fashion.

Inauguration day isnt just about politics, its also all about fashion.

All eyes were on Donald Trump Friday as he took oath as the 45th president of the United States, but it was hard to miss the stylish outfits surrounding his inauguration.

Dressing for a major political event is an event in itself. Outfits worn by powerful leaders and their families are carefully selected and crafted by high-profile designers and stylists. Fashion experts often dig deeper into the meanings behind the colors picked for outfits that will be seen by millions around the globe.

Public image is important for all politicians, especially for the first lady, said Dr. Dong Shen, professor of Fashion Merchandising and Design at California State University, Sacramento. Colors and brands are very important.

The first lady is often an American icon but traditionally, their main role is to support their husbands presidency. Their outfits tend to balance or compliment their husbands attire, avoiding to overpower.

Shen explained, for this reason, first ladies are usually seen in softer colors or floral patterns.

Blue is often associated with the sky and the ocean, Shen said of Mrs. Trumps inauguration outfit. It often symbolizes loyalty and trust.

Why The Red Tie

So why do so many politicians wear red power ties?

Unless we ask them its impossible to know for sure. Some journalists have speculated that red is a popular color because it features in the American flag and so advertises its wearers patriotism. If this is true, though, we should see as many blue ties as red.

Perhaps the clue is in the name: power. Could it be that politicians suspect that a red tie makes them appear more powerful, dominant, and authoritative?

Read Also: Are There More Democrats Or Republicans In The Senate

Gop Candidates Stick To Red Ties At Debate

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney stood out at last night’s GOP debate, mainly for his $10,000 gaffe.

But we couldn’t help but notice the former Massachusetts governor’s other major distinction: a blue tie.

While its exact point of origin is murky , the color-coding of American politics has become common knowledge: red for Republicans, blue for Democrats. The primary-hued shorthand has extended from election night dry-erase boards to candidates’ closets, as male candidates have been known to indicate their party alignment by tie color.

And though it’s not an exact science , the red-blue divide was on full display at last night’s GOP debate — with one exception. Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Ron Paul all wore red ties, while Mitt Romney wore light blue.

Michele Bachmann, for the record, wore a royal blue blouse.

Romeny’s blue wasn’t too surprising, as it’s been his go-to hue throughout the debates. Men’s fashion expert Hendrik Pohl, the CEO of ties-necktie.com, told ABC, “Blue is the color that people most commonly name as their favorite color and it has very calming effect on people” — and sure enough, eight out of the ten major debates have seen Romney in the safe color.

What gives? Afraid of standing out, Newt? Is wearing anything other than red an affront to Texas, Rick? Trying to prove your Republican affiliation, Ron?

See pics of the candidates’ ties below… what style of ties would you like to see at the next debate?

How Did Red And Blue Come To Represent The Two Major Us Political Parties

What To Wear To A Formal Event | 3 Suit Options

It all started with television. In the early 1970s, networks like ABC, NBC, and CBS were seeking a way to demarcate which states in the electoral college had been won by each candidate. More American households had color TV sets than ever before, giving news programs covering the election an opportunity to show splashy graphics when a state was called in favor of a given candidate. 

The first network to color-code states during an election results broadcast was CBS in 1972. However, at that time, blue represented the states won by the Republican incumbent Richard Nixon, and red stood in for those taken by challenger US Senator George McGovern of South Dakota.

Theres a good reason why those colors were chosen for each party at the time: global precedent. In Great Britain, red had long been used to represent the more liberal party, which in this American use case were the Democrats. Blue stood in for Republicans by default, in part because the colors in contrast were striking on screen.

But by the late-1980s and early 1990s, those color assignments reversed. Blue became more consistently used for Democrats and red for Republicans. 

Nevertheless, it still wasnt until 2000the race between Democrat and Vice President Al Gore and Republican Texas Governor George W. Bushthat those colors became synonymous with the name of each party.

Recommended Reading: How Many Republicans In The New Senate

Which States Are Considered Red And Which Are Blue

To go along with the colors, the terms red state and blue state were popularized by anchorman Tim Russert during and immediately after the 2000 election. Today, these terms are used to refer to which party a state voted for during a presidential election. 

Generally speaking, the Northeast and the West Coast are considered a collection of blue states as most of them have sided with the Democrats since the early 1990s.

The Southern states have sided with Republicans since the 2000s, while the Midwest tends to be tougher to predict. For example, Illinois and Minnesota are currently considered blue states, while Missouri and Nebraska are red. Hawaii and Alaska have been traditionally considered blue and red respectively as neither has switched parties since the late 1980s .

The Southwest has been split since 2000 with Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado going blue more often than red and Utah and Arizona voting predictably red. Finally, we come to the coveted purple states or swing states, such as Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan. These states switched colors in recent elections and are often a key focus of electoral campaigning and strategy. Swing states can vary by election year.

Shopping On A Hill Staffers Salary Means Deal

Kate: A lot of people dont realize how little Hill staffers make, so they probably dont realize what a struggle it is to find clothes that youre able to wear to work and that are still acceptable. Im just trying to make rent! I make $65,000, but I know some staff assistants that make $25,000.

I shop at , T.J. Maxx, and Nordstrom Rack I go to the Nordstrom in the mall, and then I go to the Rack and find the same stuff. I would never pay full price for something. On birthdays and Christmas, I try to get as many clothes as I can.

Heather: I typically shop at Marshalls and Nordstrom Rack. I still shop at H&M, but some of their stuff is more expensive and wears out quickly. Ill only shop at J.Crew Factory and Banana Republic Factory if its something that I love and fits me really well. Otherwise, I wont splurge on it. Anthropologie is where I wish I could shop if I had that kind of money, but I dont.

I wont spend more than $80 on one particular item of clothing, unless its a coat. For dresses, I wont go over $70 unless I love it. Tops I like to be $20 to $30. Pants and shirts, $40.

In a place like this, with a lot of powerful people, you want to sprinkle in items that do cost a lot of money. Ill wear a Burberry scarf with an overcoat; I carry a Tumi bag. If they see items on you that they can recognize and that they know the value of, they then assume that is expensive, when little do they know you got your suit for under $300 and your shoes were on sale for $50.

Also Check: Who Is The Speaker Of The House For Republicans

From Pleather To Puffy Coats Swapcom Uncovers The Hottest Fashions Trending Across The Country For Red And Blue Voters

October 26, 2016 05:00 ET | Source:Swap.comSwap.com

CHICAGO, IL– – With less than two weeks to Election Day, the candidate’s personal style and wardrobe has been an ongoing talking point for politicos and news anchors. From patriotically-themed pantsuits and ties to poor tailoring to disheveled hair, it is clear fashion plays a powerful role in politics. For a less serious spin on politics and fashion, Swap.com — the largest online consignment store-dove deep into millions of previous purchases to uncover how style preferences of Democrats and Republicans sized up. Based on a breakdown of how red and blue counties voted in the 2012 election, Swap.com has revealed the most popular picks among liberals and conservatives.

That’s A Lot of Look

When it comes to clothes, both Republicans and Democrats are buttoning and bundling up in interesting ways. Republicans prefer dresses to skirts and, when it is warm, buy more Capri pants and Bermuda and cargo shorts. Meanwhile, Democrats are pairing jeggings with a blazer and their favorite sports jersey topped off by a puffy coat.

Democrats are

69% more likely to wear jeggings

39% more likely to wear jerseys

31% more likely to wear sweaters

30% more likely to wear blazers

22% more likely to wear puffy coats

21% more likely to wear button-up shirts

14% more likely to wear skirts

Republicans are

Methodology:

Color And Clothing Choices

When we see certain colors, they produce chemical reactions in our brains that can make us feel certain emotions. For example you are more likely to order more food in a restaurant that is decorated with a lot of red because that color makes us hungry. Sports teams often paint the opposing teams locker room pink because that color makes people tired. Guests on late night TV hang out in the Green Room before coming on stage because that color is the most calming and relaxing. So what could certain candidates be trying to sell you via their color and clothing choices?

Read Also: What Cities Are Run By Republicans

The Psychology Of Tie Colors In The Race For President

Have you ever asked yourself the question why we only see red and blue ties on presidential candidates as of recently? Some might argue that candidates will choose those ties that best reflects their partys identify, meaning red ties for Republican Romney, and blue ties for Democrat President Obama, but this is only partially true.

Take Tuesdays Presidential debate for instance. Romney wore a bright blue and white striped tie while Obama opted for a burgundy-red piece, a change that I was very happy to see. Pre-debate I was actually hoping that Obama would be wearing a red tie a color that is synonymous with power, confidence, and excitement all things Obama lacked in the first debate.

Obama is Taking Charge, Wearing a Burgundy-Red Tie

I am now making the argument that Obamas red tie helped him step up his game during the last debate. Not only did the tie grabbed the audiences attention, but I strongly belief that it gave President Obama a boost of confidence after taking a look in the mirror.

The psychology & emotional effects of colors is definitely nothing new. In fact, psychologists have been researching the meaning of colors for decades, if not centuries, and evidence does indeed prove that certain colors do evoke certain emotional responses in people. This is nothing new to presidential candidates who pay attention to what colors to pick out for a public appearance.

Other Suggested Articles:

No Consensus On Colors Before 2000

Before the 2000 presidential election, television networks didn’t stick to any particular theme when illustrating which candidates and which parties won which states. In fact, many rotated the colors: One year Republicans would be red and the next year Republicans would be blue. Neither party really wanted to claim red as its color because of its association with communism.

According to Smithsonian magazine:

“Before the epic election of 2000, there was no uniformity in the maps that television stations, newspapers or magazines used to illustrate presidential elections. Pretty much everyone embraced red and blue, but which color represented which party varied, sometimes by organization, sometimes by election cycle.”

Newspapers including The New York Times and USA Today jumped on the Republican-red and Democrat-blue theme that year, too, and stuck with it. Both published color-coded maps of results by county. Counties that sided with Bush appeared red in the newspapers. Counties that voted for Gore were shaded in blue.

The explanation Archie Tse, a senior graphics editor for the Times, gave to Smithsonian for his choice of colors for each party was fairly straightforward:

I just decided red begins with r, Republican begins with r. It was a more natural association. There wasnt much discussion about it.

Also Check: What Republicans Voted Against The Wall

Red Vs Blue: Why Necktie Colors Matter

ByRobert Roy Britt01 March 2017

In high-stakes politics and business, there are only two colors of ties: red and blue. Oh, sure, you might spot purple or yellow now and then, but those are clear statements of aloofness, be they calculated or careless.

Few world leaders or CEOs want to be seen as aloof.

But does it matter whether one wears red or blue? Yes, suggest several studies, including one published in the journal Science on Feb. 6, 2009. More on that in a moment.

First, some color:

Tonight , during his first address to a joint session of Congress, President Donald Trump wore a blue and white striped tie. Seated behind Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Paul Ryan, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, both wore blue ties.

For his inauguration on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump wore a red tie with his dark suit, while outgoing President Barack Obama donned a blue tie. Their wives wore the reverse, with Michelle Obama in a red dress and Melania Trump wearing a powder blue ensemble.

In the first presidential debate of 2016, then-nominee Donald Trump donned a blue tie, while the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, wore a red suit. The Democrats may have decided on “red” during the election, as Clinton’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine donned a red tie during the first vice presidential debates on Oct. 4, while Trump’s running mate, then-Indiana governor Mike Pence sported a blue necktie.  

Related:

Republican Party Platform 2016: We Fact-Checked the Science

Desks Are Closets Too

How To Tie Dye

Heather: I have an emergency blazer in my desk that I can whip out if I feel I need to, and then an extra pair of flats in my desk. You do so much walking in DC that flats wear out really quickly. Ill keep Band-Aids and Neosporin in my desk, too, for when Im breaking in a pair of shoes. Ill get new flats every four months Ill just go to Marshalls and get whats on sale.

Jen: Im a big fan of having a lot of jackets that I keep in the office. You never know what day youll need to go staff your boss on the senate floor. Jackets that you can put on regardless of whether youre wearing slacks or a dress or a skirt and a top I think thats one of the easiest things to keep on hand. Then I have a black sweater, because these buildings can be terribly temperature controlled.

Don’t Miss: Did Republicans Riot After Obama Was Elected

The Best Presidential Suits Ever Worn

The diplomatic protocol and the demands of the presidential dress-code leave a narrow margin of freedom to express themselves freely. Who has the best taste when choosing what to wear to take charge of governing his nation? That question causes you great curiosity, because although you know that the presidents of the list below have a group of image advisors behind them, some do not look as good as they should, considering the media exposure to which their posts compels them.

Even the presidents and high official of a country cannot escape from the sharp eyes of fashion police. The following list spotlights the powerful men and women in the world who accessorize political acumen with perfect tailoring and their idiosyncratic touches.

Barack Obama

Barack Obama has declared that he is not a fan of fashion. However, Obama knows how to wear a suit and he wears it well. During his presidential campaigns he was seen with a more casual look of jeans and shirts, but in office, he has opted for an obligatorily more elegant image, based on classic two buttons. His favorite colors are the dark ones and he mostly wears white shirts combined with ties in red or blue tones. Among his favorite designers are Ermenegildo Zegna and Hart Schaffner Marx.

The former President explained the logic behind this routine:

John F. Kennedy

Harry S. Truman

Ronald Reagan

Vladimir Putin

Blue Ties Symbolic As Bush Democratic Leaders Meet

Story Highlights

NEW:

WASHINGTON Now facing Democratic control of both chambers of Congress during the last two years of his presidency, President Bush on Friday continued to move toward building a working relationship with Democratic congressional leaders.

Bush met in the Oval Office with Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, who is expected to be the Senate majority leader when a new Congress convenes in January, and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, expected to become assistant majority leader.

I assured the senators that we will cooperate as closely as we can to solve common problems, Bush said after the meeting.

The president also congratulated the senators on their election victory and said, I know they were proud of their teams efforts. And they ran good campaigns and they talked about issues that people care about, and they won.

The new dynamic of checks and balances between Congress and the executive branch provide a great opportunity for us to show the country that Republicans and Democrats are equally as patriotic and equally concerned about the future, and that we can work together, Bush said.

Reid concurred, saying, Elections over. The only way to move forward is with bipartisanship and openness and to get some results. And weve made a commitment the four of us here today that thats what were going to do.

From our side, we think that is a symbolic indication, and were off to a good start, Durbin said.

Recommended Reading: Who Was The Leader Of The Radical Republicans

How The Colors Came To Be Red White And Blue

Of the 205 sovereign nations in the world, 21 share red, white and blue as their flags colors. But why do so many share the same trio of colors, and what do they represent?

On July 4, 1776, a resolution was passed by Congress authorizing the development of a seal for the new country which reflected the Founding Fathers values.

When presenting the seal which was officially adopted on June 20, 1782 Secretary of the Continental Congress, Charles Thomson, explained, White signifies purity and innocence. Red, hardiness and valor, and blue signifies vigilance, perseverance and justice.

The meaning behind the colors have since shifted slightly. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan declared it the Year of the Flag, stating, The colors of our flag signify the qualities of the human spirit we Americans cherish. Red for courage and readiness to sacrifice; white for pure intentions and high ideals; and blue for vigilance and justice.

According to TIME Magazine, however, Mike Buss, a flag expert with the American Legion, points to the red, white and blue used in the Union Jack of England.

They come from the three colors that the Founding Fathers had served under or had been exposed to, said Buss.

Therefore, some of the correlation between the United States use of red, white and blue along with 20 other countries, including Puerto Rico, Australia and Cuba, could come from their historical correlation with England.

[statetalks]

What Color Ties Do Republicans Wear

The History Of Party Colors In The United States

Tie-Dye 101: Tips & Tricks

Prior to the United States presidential election of 2000, which party was Red and which was Blue was largely a matter of which color a news outlet chose. On the October 30, 2000, episode of the Today show, Tim Russert coined the terms red state and blue state.

As far back as the 1888 election blue was used to represent the northern Union states and red the south, but this wasnt consistent throughout time . In the 70s and 80s the major networks starting using lighted maps to illustrate election results. Democrats were often coded blue and Republicans red, but it wasnt consistent. This inconsistent coloring continued throughout the Clinton years and up to the Gore Vs. Bush. This can all be varied by old videos and articles.

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Red White And Blue: How Color Defines Politics

In early October, Pew Research Center noted a 1.2-point increase in voters for Republicans and a 4.6-point increase for Democrats.

Turnouts for early voting amongst young voters, ages 18-29, have been proving astronomical versus 2014, particularly in red states.

According to The Hill, as of November 2, 2018, early voting polls showed:

Arizona: +217%

Tennessee: +767%

Texas: +448%

But why do we Americans associate political leanings with a specific color? Why do we know what it means to discuss voting in a red state or blue state? And what impact does the psychology of color have on individuals and communities?

Recommended Reading: Can Republicans Vote On Super Tuesday

A Final Word On Colors

Many political parties around the world often choose their colors because of their connections to political stances, groups, or ideologies.

For example, red has historically been a color often linked to socialism and communism after a red flag was used by the revolutionaries during the Paris Commune. Revolutionaries may have picked red flags during this time as a possible reference to the 13th century red naval flags of defiance that meant a ship would kill any enemy it saw and so was flying a bloody flag.

As another example, many environmentalist parties around the world will often use the color green to symbolize nature. Finally, fascist parties have often used the color black such as Adolf Hitlers Nazi party and Benito Mussolinis Italian Fascist party because the black color represents what they intend to bring to their enemies: fear, intimidation, and death.  

Lets finish with a quick trip around the globe to see the colors associated with some prominent political parties. In the United Kingdom, the colors are flipped compared to the United States: the right-leaning Conservative Party uses blue and the left-leaning Labour Party uses red, as do the Canadian parties of the same names. Australias oldest party, the Australian Labor Party, uses red while the Christian Democratic Union of Germany has used orange and black, and Emmanuel Macron of Frances En Marche! uses yellow. 

Why Is Hillary Clinton In Red And Why Is Donald Trump Wearing A Blue Tie

Id expect the republican candidate to wear red and the democrat to wear blue, but its quite the opposite. Why is this?

The color red is thought to convey strength and aggression, which is why a lot of men use that color for power ties. The Clinton camp probably wanted to her appear commanding and authoritative, particularly when debating a loud and aggressive opponent.

Blue is viewed as more calm and soothing. Trumps camp may have wanted him to appear calm and restrained.

The whole red/Republican, blue/Democrat thing is a pretty recent association anyway, starting in the 2000 election. Its not as if those are the official colors of those parties.

It was around before that but iirc they switched colors every election.

i did not realize red/blue as party association was only that recent

Clinton was expecting Trump to wear his red tie its a power color. So she preemptively wore a red suit. He was expecting her to expect that, so he wore blue as a counter-power move.

You know, I think you might have said that as joke but with consultants and strategists and yadiyadiyada, I might just be what happened.

If he wore a red suit he would have appeared dangerously unstable, for what he wore, not what he said.

These are no official colours of either major party. Neither has official colours of any kind. Both have used red, white, and blue for their entire histories.

Also Check: What Caused Republicans To Gain Power In Congress In 1938

The Color Psychology Behind Inauguration Fashion

Inauguration day isnt just about politics, its also all about fashion.

Inauguration day isnt just about politics, its also all about fashion.

All eyes were on Donald Trump Friday as he took oath as the 45th president of the United States, but it was hard to miss the stylish outfits surrounding his inauguration.

Dressing for a major political event is an event in itself. Outfits worn by powerful leaders and their families are carefully selected and crafted by high-profile designers and stylists. Fashion experts often dig deeper into the meanings behind the colors picked for outfits that will be seen by millions around the globe.

Public image is important for all politicians, especially for the first lady, said Dr. Dong Shen, professor of Fashion Merchandising and Design at California State University, Sacramento. Colors and brands are very important.

The first lady is often an American icon but traditionally, their main role is to support their husbands presidency. Their outfits tend to balance or compliment their husbands attire, avoiding to overpower.

Shen explained, for this reason, first ladies are usually seen in softer colors or floral patterns.

Blue is often associated with the sky and the ocean, Shen said of Mrs. Trumps inauguration outfit. It often symbolizes loyalty and trust.

Why The Red Tie

So why do so many politicians wear red power ties?

Unless we ask them its impossible to know for sure. Some journalists have speculated that red is a popular color because it features in the American flag and so advertises its wearers patriotism. If this is true, though, we should see as many blue ties as red.

Perhaps the clue is in the name: power. Could it be that politicians suspect that a red tie makes them appear more powerful, dominant, and authoritative?

Read Also: Are There More Democrats Or Republicans In The Senate

Gop Candidates Stick To Red Ties At Debate

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney stood out at last night’s GOP debate, mainly for his $10,000 gaffe.

But we couldn’t help but notice the former Massachusetts governor’s other major distinction: a blue tie.

While its exact point of origin is murky , the color-coding of American politics has become common knowledge: red for Republicans, blue for Democrats. The primary-hued shorthand has extended from election night dry-erase boards to candidates’ closets, as male candidates have been known to indicate their party alignment by tie color.

And though it’s not an exact science , the red-blue divide was on full display at last night’s GOP debate — with one exception. Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Ron Paul all wore red ties, while Mitt Romney wore light blue.

Michele Bachmann, for the record, wore a royal blue blouse.

Romeny’s blue wasn’t too surprising, as it’s been his go-to hue throughout the debates. Men’s fashion expert Hendrik Pohl, the CEO of ties-necktie.com, told ABC, “Blue is the color that people most commonly name as their favorite color and it has very calming effect on people” — and sure enough, eight out of the ten major debates have seen Romney in the safe color.

What gives? Afraid of standing out, Newt? Is wearing anything other than red an affront to Texas, Rick? Trying to prove your Republican affiliation, Ron?

See pics of the candidates’ ties below… what style of ties would you like to see at the next debate?

How Did Red And Blue Come To Represent The Two Major Us Political Parties

What To Wear To A Formal Event | 3 Suit Options

It all started with television. In the early 1970s, networks like ABC, NBC, and CBS were seeking a way to demarcate which states in the electoral college had been won by each candidate. More American households had color TV sets than ever before, giving news programs covering the election an opportunity to show splashy graphics when a state was called in favor of a given candidate. 

The first network to color-code states during an election results broadcast was CBS in 1972. However, at that time, blue represented the states won by the Republican incumbent Richard Nixon, and red stood in for those taken by challenger US Senator George McGovern of South Dakota.

Theres a good reason why those colors were chosen for each party at the time: global precedent. In Great Britain, red had long been used to represent the more liberal party, which in this American use case were the Democrats. Blue stood in for Republicans by default, in part because the colors in contrast were striking on screen.

But by the late-1980s and early 1990s, those color assignments reversed. Blue became more consistently used for Democrats and red for Republicans. 

Nevertheless, it still wasnt until 2000the race between Democrat and Vice President Al Gore and Republican Texas Governor George W. Bushthat those colors became synonymous with the name of each party.

Recommended Reading: How Many Republicans In The New Senate

Which States Are Considered Red And Which Are Blue

To go along with the colors, the terms red state and blue state were popularized by anchorman Tim Russert during and immediately after the 2000 election. Today, these terms are used to refer to which party a state voted for during a presidential election. 

Generally speaking, the Northeast and the West Coast are considered a collection of blue states as most of them have sided with the Democrats since the early 1990s.

The Southern states have sided with Republicans since the 2000s, while the Midwest tends to be tougher to predict. For example, Illinois and Minnesota are currently considered blue states, while Missouri and Nebraska are red. Hawaii and Alaska have been traditionally considered blue and red respectively as neither has switched parties since the late 1980s .

The Southwest has been split since 2000 with Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado going blue more often than red and Utah and Arizona voting predictably red. Finally, we come to the coveted purple states or swing states, such as Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan. These states switched colors in recent elections and are often a key focus of electoral campaigning and strategy. Swing states can vary by election year.

Shopping On A Hill Staffers Salary Means Deal

Kate: A lot of people dont realize how little Hill staffers make, so they probably dont realize what a struggle it is to find clothes that youre able to wear to work and that are still acceptable. Im just trying to make rent! I make $65,000, but I know some staff assistants that make $25,000.

I shop at , T.J. Maxx, and Nordstrom Rack I go to the Nordstrom in the mall, and then I go to the Rack and find the same stuff. I would never pay full price for something. On birthdays and Christmas, I try to get as many clothes as I can.

Heather: I typically shop at Marshalls and Nordstrom Rack. I still shop at H&M, but some of their stuff is more expensive and wears out quickly. Ill only shop at J.Crew Factory and Banana Republic Factory if its something that I love and fits me really well. Otherwise, I wont splurge on it. Anthropologie is where I wish I could shop if I had that kind of money, but I dont.

I wont spend more than $80 on one particular item of clothing, unless its a coat. For dresses, I wont go over $70 unless I love it. Tops I like to be $20 to $30. Pants and shirts, $40.

In a place like this, with a lot of powerful people, you want to sprinkle in items that do cost a lot of money. Ill wear a Burberry scarf with an overcoat; I carry a Tumi bag. If they see items on you that they can recognize and that they know the value of, they then assume that is expensive, when little do they know you got your suit for under $300 and your shoes were on sale for $50.

Also Check: Who Is The Speaker Of The House For Republicans

From Pleather To Puffy Coats Swapcom Uncovers The Hottest Fashions Trending Across The Country For Red And Blue Voters

October 26, 2016 05:00 ET | Source:Swap.comSwap.com

CHICAGO, IL– – With less than two weeks to Election Day, the candidate’s personal style and wardrobe has been an ongoing talking point for politicos and news anchors. From patriotically-themed pantsuits and ties to poor tailoring to disheveled hair, it is clear fashion plays a powerful role in politics. For a less serious spin on politics and fashion, Swap.com — the largest online consignment store-dove deep into millions of previous purchases to uncover how style preferences of Democrats and Republicans sized up. Based on a breakdown of how red and blue counties voted in the 2012 election, Swap.com has revealed the most popular picks among liberals and conservatives.

That’s A Lot of Look

When it comes to clothes, both Republicans and Democrats are buttoning and bundling up in interesting ways. Republicans prefer dresses to skirts and, when it is warm, buy more Capri pants and Bermuda and cargo shorts. Meanwhile, Democrats are pairing jeggings with a blazer and their favorite sports jersey topped off by a puffy coat.

Democrats are

69% more likely to wear jeggings

39% more likely to wear jerseys

31% more likely to wear sweaters

30% more likely to wear blazers

22% more likely to wear puffy coats

21% more likely to wear button-up shirts

14% more likely to wear skirts

Republicans are

Methodology:

Color And Clothing Choices

When we see certain colors, they produce chemical reactions in our brains that can make us feel certain emotions. For example you are more likely to order more food in a restaurant that is decorated with a lot of red because that color makes us hungry. Sports teams often paint the opposing teams locker room pink because that color makes people tired. Guests on late night TV hang out in the Green Room before coming on stage because that color is the most calming and relaxing. So what could certain candidates be trying to sell you via their color and clothing choices?

Read Also: What Cities Are Run By Republicans

The Psychology Of Tie Colors In The Race For President

Have you ever asked yourself the question why we only see red and blue ties on presidential candidates as of recently? Some might argue that candidates will choose those ties that best reflects their partys identify, meaning red ties for Republican Romney, and blue ties for Democrat President Obama, but this is only partially true.

Take Tuesdays Presidential debate for instance. Romney wore a bright blue and white striped tie while Obama opted for a burgundy-red piece, a change that I was very happy to see. Pre-debate I was actually hoping that Obama would be wearing a red tie a color that is synonymous with power, confidence, and excitement all things Obama lacked in the first debate.

Obama is Taking Charge, Wearing a Burgundy-Red Tie

I am now making the argument that Obamas red tie helped him step up his game during the last debate. Not only did the tie grabbed the audiences attention, but I strongly belief that it gave President Obama a boost of confidence after taking a look in the mirror.

The psychology & emotional effects of colors is definitely nothing new. In fact, psychologists have been researching the meaning of colors for decades, if not centuries, and evidence does indeed prove that certain colors do evoke certain emotional responses in people. This is nothing new to presidential candidates who pay attention to what colors to pick out for a public appearance.

Other Suggested Articles:

No Consensus On Colors Before 2000

Before the 2000 presidential election, television networks didn’t stick to any particular theme when illustrating which candidates and which parties won which states. In fact, many rotated the colors: One year Republicans would be red and the next year Republicans would be blue. Neither party really wanted to claim red as its color because of its association with communism.

According to Smithsonian magazine:

“Before the epic election of 2000, there was no uniformity in the maps that television stations, newspapers or magazines used to illustrate presidential elections. Pretty much everyone embraced red and blue, but which color represented which party varied, sometimes by organization, sometimes by election cycle.”

Newspapers including The New York Times and USA Today jumped on the Republican-red and Democrat-blue theme that year, too, and stuck with it. Both published color-coded maps of results by county. Counties that sided with Bush appeared red in the newspapers. Counties that voted for Gore were shaded in blue.

The explanation Archie Tse, a senior graphics editor for the Times, gave to Smithsonian for his choice of colors for each party was fairly straightforward:

I just decided red begins with r, Republican begins with r. It was a more natural association. There wasnt much discussion about it.

Also Check: What Republicans Voted Against The Wall

Red Vs Blue: Why Necktie Colors Matter

ByRobert Roy Britt01 March 2017

In high-stakes politics and business, there are only two colors of ties: red and blue. Oh, sure, you might spot purple or yellow now and then, but those are clear statements of aloofness, be they calculated or careless.

Few world leaders or CEOs want to be seen as aloof.

But does it matter whether one wears red or blue? Yes, suggest several studies, including one published in the journal Science on Feb. 6, 2009. More on that in a moment.

First, some color:

Tonight , during his first address to a joint session of Congress, President Donald Trump wore a blue and white striped tie. Seated behind Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Paul Ryan, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, both wore blue ties.

For his inauguration on Jan. 20, President Donald Trump wore a red tie with his dark suit, while outgoing President Barack Obama donned a blue tie. Their wives wore the reverse, with Michelle Obama in a red dress and Melania Trump wearing a powder blue ensemble.

In the first presidential debate of 2016, then-nominee Donald Trump donned a blue tie, while the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, wore a red suit. The Democrats may have decided on “red” during the election, as Clinton’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine donned a red tie during the first vice presidential debates on Oct. 4, while Trump’s running mate, then-Indiana governor Mike Pence sported a blue necktie.  

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Desks Are Closets Too

How To Tie Dye

Heather: I have an emergency blazer in my desk that I can whip out if I feel I need to, and then an extra pair of flats in my desk. You do so much walking in DC that flats wear out really quickly. Ill keep Band-Aids and Neosporin in my desk, too, for when Im breaking in a pair of shoes. Ill get new flats every four months Ill just go to Marshalls and get whats on sale.

Jen: Im a big fan of having a lot of jackets that I keep in the office. You never know what day youll need to go staff your boss on the senate floor. Jackets that you can put on regardless of whether youre wearing slacks or a dress or a skirt and a top I think thats one of the easiest things to keep on hand. Then I have a black sweater, because these buildings can be terribly temperature controlled.

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The Best Presidential Suits Ever Worn

The diplomatic protocol and the demands of the presidential dress-code leave a narrow margin of freedom to express themselves freely. Who has the best taste when choosing what to wear to take charge of governing his nation? That question causes you great curiosity, because although you know that the presidents of the list below have a group of image advisors behind them, some do not look as good as they should, considering the media exposure to which their posts compels them.

Even the presidents and high official of a country cannot escape from the sharp eyes of fashion police. The following list spotlights the powerful men and women in the world who accessorize political acumen with perfect tailoring and their idiosyncratic touches.

Barack Obama

Barack Obama has declared that he is not a fan of fashion. However, Obama knows how to wear a suit and he wears it well. During his presidential campaigns he was seen with a more casual look of jeans and shirts, but in office, he has opted for an obligatorily more elegant image, based on classic two buttons. His favorite colors are the dark ones and he mostly wears white shirts combined with ties in red or blue tones. Among his favorite designers are Ermenegildo Zegna and Hart Schaffner Marx.

The former President explained the logic behind this routine:

John F. Kennedy

Harry S. Truman

Ronald Reagan

Vladimir Putin

Blue Ties Symbolic As Bush Democratic Leaders Meet

Story Highlights

NEW:

WASHINGTON Now facing Democratic control of both chambers of Congress during the last two years of his presidency, President Bush on Friday continued to move toward building a working relationship with Democratic congressional leaders.

Bush met in the Oval Office with Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, who is expected to be the Senate majority leader when a new Congress convenes in January, and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, expected to become assistant majority leader.

I assured the senators that we will cooperate as closely as we can to solve common problems, Bush said after the meeting.

The president also congratulated the senators on their election victory and said, I know they were proud of their teams efforts. And they ran good campaigns and they talked about issues that people care about, and they won.

The new dynamic of checks and balances between Congress and the executive branch provide a great opportunity for us to show the country that Republicans and Democrats are equally as patriotic and equally concerned about the future, and that we can work together, Bush said.

Reid concurred, saying, Elections over. The only way to move forward is with bipartisanship and openness and to get some results. And weve made a commitment the four of us here today that thats what were going to do.

From our side, we think that is a symbolic indication, and were off to a good start, Durbin said.

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How The Colors Came To Be Red White And Blue

Of the 205 sovereign nations in the world, 21 share red, white and blue as their flags colors. But why do so many share the same trio of colors, and what do they represent?

On July 4, 1776, a resolution was passed by Congress authorizing the development of a seal for the new country which reflected the Founding Fathers values.

When presenting the seal which was officially adopted on June 20, 1782 Secretary of the Continental Congress, Charles Thomson, explained, White signifies purity and innocence. Red, hardiness and valor, and blue signifies vigilance, perseverance and justice.

The meaning behind the colors have since shifted slightly. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan declared it the Year of the Flag, stating, The colors of our flag signify the qualities of the human spirit we Americans cherish. Red for courage and readiness to sacrifice; white for pure intentions and high ideals; and blue for vigilance and justice.

According to TIME Magazine, however, Mike Buss, a flag expert with the American Legion, points to the red, white and blue used in the Union Jack of England.

They come from the three colors that the Founding Fathers had served under or had been exposed to, said Buss.

Therefore, some of the correlation between the United States use of red, white and blue along with 20 other countries, including Puerto Rico, Australia and Cuba, could come from their historical correlation with England.

source https://www.patriotsnet.com/what-color-ties-do-republicans-wear/

[adashofniallandasprinkleoflunacy]

Champagne Mixed with a Bit of Adrenaline [h.s.]

A/N: this was a request from an anon and I finally got it done! It’s meant to go with this amazing piece of art. :-)  this piece is dedicated to the amazing @tiostyles because Brianne kept it from getting lost in the void LMAO. her support inspired me to finish it so thanks Brianne ilyvm :-) sorry for any mistakes or typos! Drop by my inbox with opinions bc I’m kinda?? Iffy on it?? Anywho, enjoy!

Harry likes to think he has stamina. He’s proven it countless of times before and he’s sure he will continue to prove it until the end of his days.

A great example would be that one time on the tour bus when he had popped a stiffy around 9 PM and couldn’t do anything about it, since no one was planning on going to bed yet, so he couldn’t sneak away to handle it. He’d had to wait until well after 1 AM, when the snoring elephants known as his band mates were conked out cold, to sneak into the bathroom with his Astroglide and rub out a quick one to a picture of Y/N wearing nothing but a pink, sheer silk button-up with the word “Styles” embroidered on the chest pocket.

Or the time when he and Y/N had attended a family get-together that his mother had thrown at his old house in the new pool she’d had built. Y/N had gotten the brilliant idea to grope him during a game of water volleyball and he’d had to play actively, all whilst doing his best to make sure no one saw the raging boner tenting his Gucci lion-printed swim trunks. After the underwater fun was over and the barbecue was done, his mom had condemned him to stay and help clean up. Washing dishes with his dick leaking wasn’t exactly his idea of a good time.

After that long night, Harry had given his mom a quick kiss goodbye and ignored her comments about how it was odd for his jacket to be tied backwards around his waist. He’d dragged a grinning Y/N to his car, setting route to their apartment but somehow ending up in an abandoned mall square, fucking in the backseat of his Rover.

And don’t even get him started on the time he lost three rounds of Go Fish to Y/N and, as retribution, had to wear a vibrating cock ring to Lux’s birthday party. Trying to explain to a four year old why his lap was vibrating, all while maintaining a cool composure, should’ve been made into an Olympic sport because the sheer amount of concentration and determination needed was truly out of this fucking world. Not only that, but fucking in a bathroom the size of a coat closet wasn’t necessarily prime, either. Lou had been having her upstairs bathroom remodeled and the one in the living room was too obvious, so they’d had to sneak down to the one in the basement. It was tiny, cramped, and smelled way too much like lemon-scented Lysol. His left leg had fallen asleep, but as if that wasn’t bad enough, Y/N had decided to up and leave halfway through and left him horribly blue-balled. Giving a toast to his goddaughter’s coming-of-age wasn’t really fluent when casually trying to cover up the bulge in his jeans with a Hello Kitty placemat.

However, all throughout these situations, Harry had managed to keep an unfazed, calm façade and had not given in to the woes of the intense exertion that was required of him. So, yes, he most definitely likes to say he has stamina. He’s entitled to say it. With all of the shit he’s been through, it’s the least he deserves.

But tonight, his hardcore ability to sustain such troubles has decided to fail him. And, hell, did it fail him.

Harry’s not quite sure what happened, but he knows that it’s likely do to all of the post-performance adrenaline that has been bubbling and toiling through his veins since he set foot off stage after his surprise LA performance at the Troubadour. It had been quite the show, considering he’d had Stevie bloody Nicks accompanying and dueting with him. Every nerve-ending on his body was set to full throttle, every hair standing to the very tip with excitement-induced electricity, and as he stepped outside the building, the cool night air burned his simmering skin like acid (which he’s pretty sure cool air isn’t supposed to do).

He was sweating buckets from the stage lights and the close proximity of the venue, but he loves the intimacy of it all. He felt more connected to his fans this way, so he thinks it to be worth it. His body, however, begs to differ.

Right after they’d disappeared backstage, Stevie had immediately demanded that they all go out for drinks to celebrate Harry’s blooming career, and how could he say no to her? Two Fiji waters and a limo ride later, they ended up in a classy joint that Harry didn’t care enough to try and interpret the name of because it was in a language he didn’t know (French, maybe? Or Italian?), and he was oh-so very wired. The champagne was bubbly and silky smooth against his sensitive taste buds, the dim miniature chandelier above their booth casting just enough shadows to hide the itchy flush that is crawling up his neck.

His sheer black shirt is sticking to a thin sheen of sweat that has materialized down his back and he’s fairly certain that his golden-glitter pants weren’t this tight when he got them tailored. His feet feel as if they are floating in pools of sweat, the leather Gucci shoes not doing his heated body any favors. And that’s when he feels it.

Harry shifts slightly in his seat as Mitch slides in next to him, nudging his elbow off the table in a best-mate-rivalry type of way. His body instinctually bends forward slightly as all of his upper weight loses the support of the red oak surface, torso reeling to the side as he giggles and elbows him back, and that’s when it hits him like a bus. He feels his dick twitch against his damp thigh, his jerky movements combined with the frenzied nerves from the performance setting every comatose hormone in his blood on fire.

A small yip of surprise escapes past his lips, eyes wide as his thighs give a hard clench and his fingers tighten around his champagne flute. Stevie had been speaking about a concert she had done a while back in Georgia when Harry decides to have this teeny spectacle, his not-so-manly squeak slicing through the calm, cool atmosphere of the bar. Everyone looks over to him, eyebrows raised here and there in concern.

Harry swallows down his unsteadiness, forcing a tiny, soft smile across his stinging cheeks. He lifts his hand a bit higher in front of himself to draw attention to his drinking glass, swirling the golden liquid around for emphasis. “It’s the champagne. Sipped too fast.”

His voice comes out strained, but he manages to cover it up with a faux hiccup to give his whole act a touch of authenticity. Everyone seems to buy it as they return their attention to the other singer at the table, intrigued by her story. He hears Jeff mumble, “lightweight” under his breath, a couple of the guys snickering along with him as Harry pins the man with a death glare.

“You sure you’re alright?” Mitch’s soft voice hitches Harry’s ears, dragging his attention away from his producer. “You’re sweating and the lights are barely even on.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Just taking me a little longer to wind down. Since I sung with a legend and all, y'know?”

But he’s not fine. Not fine at all. If anything, he’s doing the opposite of winding down. He’s winding up– a glance at his lap easily confirms that. He hears blood starting to pound in his head, toes starting to go numb as he feels his balls tightening in his briefs. An annoying piece of hair keeps falling into his eyes and he contemplates ripping it off, but wagers against it since that might be considered too much of a scene. The back of his thighs are chafing in the thick material of his sequined bottoms and he’s positive he has some killer pit stains going, but he can’t will his body to stop. So he does the next best thing: He snatches the champagne bottle and pours himself another glass.

Harry’s not sure how much time passes by. It’s a blur of fizzy liquid, bright laughter, low lights and a swelling dull ache in his groin. He’s not necessarily drunk but he is buzzed, the alcohol having smoothed out the rough edges of his craving. His upper lip itches every now and then as sweat accumulates on the faint hairs he’s grown out and he has to constantly wipe at his face as nonchalantly as possible to avoid detection. The lack of personal space around the table only grates at his nerves even more because he can feel the heat of all the bodies absorbing into his clothes, turning him into the most sparkly-pantsed rotisserie chicken to ever exist. And the most irritated, at that.

But Harry will be damned if he passes up this iconic opportunity to have drinks with an icon herself. He’d been dreaming about such a moment since he could walk and he refuses to let a boner destroy one of the best to-be memories of his life. At this crucial state, he calls upon all of the times he had managed to power through similar situations and uses them to pump himself (pun intended) up, getting it through his tipsy skull that he can do it. He covered a hard-on with a Hello Kitty decoration, for fuck’s sake. Anything is truly possible!

Unfortunately, after a few more minutes lull by, Harry apparently will be damned.

He thinks he’s finally got it under reign when he sneaks a peek under the elegant maroon serviette in his lap, watching his pride crumble beneath his slightly-clouded eyes. His dick had leaked through his briefs and into his flared pants, the patch of cloth over his crotch noticeably darker than the rest of the material. His eyes squeeze shut as his nails dig into the palm of his hand through the napkin, biting down on his tongue as he feels his cock decides to give up on the slow burn and rather starts to throb sharply under the table.

Fuck his hormones for deciding to make him be a horny fourteen-year-old today, fuck his post-performance adrenaline for choosing to whip him up into a mess rather than dissolving away quietly like usual, fuck the champagne for making his eyelids droopy and his tongue heavy (although he will credit it for helping take the edge off), and most of all, just fuck himself for believing he could progress through this little get-together without bursting at the bleeding seams.

And apparently the universe agrees with him because as Harry sits there, seeing angry flashes of blue and yellow behind his screwed eyelids and wallowing in his self-hatred, Stevie calls his name from across the table.

“Harry?”

His head snaps up, eyes flying open in alarm as he attempts to calibrate himself back into the setting. A tight, croaky “hm?” thrums in his throat as he focuses on the blonde women across from him, her expression one of curiosity.

“Are you alright? You’re really pale, honey. And you seem kinda off a bit.” Stevie leans forward, setting down her almost-empty champagne flute and eyeing him thoughtfully.

Everyone’s attention turns to him, all of the separate conversations that had been going dying down to soft murmurs and silence. Harry’s not one for stage fright (his career had beaten that out of him ages ago), but he’s pretty sure this is how it feels. It feels like every person around him is seeing straight into his soul and he’s never wanted to disappear into thin air more than at this moment.

“I’m fine!” He swallows thickly, nodding weakly and he’s honestly trying to convince himself more than anyone else.

“S'just the rush of having you here is still…” he motions around the air with his arms to suggest an aura of excitement, “it’s still circulating– hasn’t piped down. It’s a dream come true and the starstruck feeling hasn’t stopped lingering. Plus, all the jumping around I did is really coming back to bite me in the ass. Never wear heels, guys. Huge mistake.”

The entire table bursts into a chorus of light laughter, Harry smiling sheepishly as he pushes the hair back from his face, ignoring how damp his scalp is. He chuckles quietly as his friends begin to take digs at his wardrobe and nearly faints when Stevie comes to his rescue, threatening to break one of the drinking glasses over Jeffery’s head for attacking Harry’s “unique and renowned” sense of style.

After a bit more banter, Stevie excuses herself to go use the loo. He sees her walking around to his side of the rounded booth, leaning down to talk beside him.

“I can tell you’re really out of it at the moment. Y'look really tired. Why don’t you go ahead and go rest up and me and you can do lunch tomorrow? You’ve been kinda detached the whole time and I’d really like to get to know you a bit more. Maybe even talk a collaboration. Who knows?” She pinches his broad shoulders playfully in a way that reminds him of his mom, patting him on the back. “I’ll text Roger to set up a reservation at Cafe Habana. Heard you fancy it?”

Harry nods so fast he feels whiplash lick at the back of his brain. “Yeah! It’d be an honor.”

“Alright. See you then.”

He watches as she walks away, rounding a corner to the restrooms and he immediately turns to Mitch, who’s in the middle of actively listening to Jeff and Sarah’s conversation about a Discovery Channel documentary over mermaids.

A tap to the shoulder gets Harry his designated attention and he speaks quick and breathless. “I’m going back to my hotel. Tell everyone I was feeling really tired, will you?”

Harry manages to wriggle his way out of the booth without embarrassing himself, leaving the trusty serviette behind as he sprints for the glass doors of the bar, socks damp in his loafers and that stupid piece of hair flopping against his forehead. The cold late night air runs the simmering stiffness from his skin (but leaving it as is somewhere else), swirling into his lungs and refreshing his mind. He has a driver on the phone in a split second and is getting into a limo the next minute, headed for his hotel with the window down and the wind sifting its fingers through his curls, helping air out all of his pent up frustration.

Before he knows it, Harry’s fumbling with the key card to his king suit, cursing under his breath as it gets jammed and squinting angrily at the tiny red light that flashes on the silver mechanism. As soon as the door pushes open, he surges through, kicking it closed and tearing down the column of buttons on his expensive silk shirt. His mind immediately begins to weave out a fantasy, the fingers that are popping open his shirt molding from his own into Y/N’s. And just like that, she’s there with him. She’s there, sponging her gentle, warm lips against the racing pulse on his neck, licking down his collarbones and biting at the the tight muscles of his broad shoulders as she roughly rips the sticky shirt down his arms.

Harry’s breathing is ragged as his fingers fly to his belt buckle, fumbling with the clasp and seeing nothing but her taunting, lust-filled eyes as she’d sharply yank the leather strap from around his slender hips, undoing his zipper as he toes off his squeaky shoes. His pants are discarded in a pile by the couch and he’s rummaging through his Nike carry-on for his trusty bottle of Astroglide, positive that he’d tucked it into the inside pocket of the bag. He comes up fruitful, whooping silently in victory as he paces to the humongous bed across the elegant room, feeling her imaginary presence looming behind him as he crawls onto the fluffy comforter.

He momentarily wagers whether he should call up Y/N for some help because having her voice is better than having to envision it. He weighs against it, knowing that since it’s 1 AM here in LA, it’s around 9 AM over in London and she’s more than likely not even up yet considering she loves sleep almost as much as she loves him.

Harry sits with his back against the tall headboard, shimmying out of his dark red CK briefs and spreading his legs wide open, sighing in relief as he feels his balls settle beneath him onto the mattress. He hadn’t realized the true extremity of how wound up he had been until now.

He thumbs the cap of the lube open, wiping off the crusty dry bits against the duvet and squirting some onto his palm, shivering at how cool it is. After some shifting around and stacking a couple of pillows into a plush mountain, he gives his cock a few leisurely tugs, worrying his lip between his two front teeth and hissing out all of the accumulated stress from the entire night.

It doesn’t take long for him to get a set rhythm, his rings scraping softly against his prick as the lube squishes in between the cracks where the metal and the skin of his fingers meet.

Harry’s head leans back again the cold mahogany surface of the bed frame, his hand working up and down his engorged length as he gulps down the screams that are threatening to overcome him, mewling her name out into the dimness of the room. His translucent skin is bumpy with green and blue veins, the head of his cock a dangerous shade of reddish purple as a tiny river of precome leaks out steadily. It runs down and over his fingers as he pumps himself, mixing with the lube to form a cloudy mess. His toes are curling against the sheets and his back muscles are contracting against the headboard as his body bends all out of shape in order to produce an orgasm.

His huge hand squeezes himself snugly, breathy whimpers and quick, low moans streaming from his mouth without control because he just doesn’t care anymore. He doesn’t care because Harry can see her– sees her as she is pressed up against his side with one of her legs holding his own wide open, her small hand stroking him messily as she sucks love bites onto his chest and tweaks his puffy nipples, breath gooey and warm and so fucking hot as she mumbles praises against into neck. “God, you’re so fucking big, Har. All thick and warm inside me and nice and heavy in my mouth, yeah? Wanna make you come. Can you do that for me?”

Long, drawn-out “ohs” and “ughs” fill the stale air around him, wet slapping sounds bouncing back from the paisley-printed walls of the large room as Harry nods his head, not caring whether she’s here or not to see it. His face contorts into expressions of sheer bliss, eyebrows raising and scrunching in pleasure as his jaw hangs loose, head rutting back against the surface of the frame as cracked whines drip endlessly from his swollen, rosy lips. He thumbs over his sensitive cockhead, massaging circles into the skin and jerking against the mattress as he feels a boiling warmth pooling in his tummy, getting ready to explode at any given second.

Harry’s chest is flushed a dull red as he urges himself not to come, wanting to make this last as long as possible. Sweat stings every pore across his skin and he pretends it’s Y/N’s nails scratching memories across his torso. She’s everywhere; plastered across the ceiling and the walls of the room, all over his twitching body, her smell burning his nose and her pretty lips and doey eyes deeply rooted into his brain. It’s her own hands that are cupping and working him towards release as she licks sloppily at his tip, sucking gently every now and then while keeping direct eye contact with him. She spits on him just how he likes it, twisting her fist around his circumstance to give the handjob an array of new sensations.

His own hand mimics the fantasy, teeny mewls of, “oh, shit” and “fuck, it’s so good” rawing his jugular. He slows his pace, working down his cock gruelingly, pulling the foreskin down to reveal the shiny tip to the chilly air. He reaches down between his itching thighs, cupping his balls and fondling them, thumb pressing into the fleshy bit in the center and he can’t stop the stuttered sob that scrapes from deep in his lungs. Her ruby-red, bow-shaped lips are sucking a new sense into him, his eyes hazing over with the image of her kissing down his prick all the way to his balls and taking them into her palm, tugging and sucking fervidly.

Harry can feel his insides pass the boiling point, his abdomen and thighs giving foreshadowing clenches as he sinks down into the mound of feather pillows, torso twisting and thrashing as he crosses into dangerous grounds of stimulation. The cushions close around him as his dives deeply into them, swelling around his head and hugging his arms and sides, the light tickling sensation urging him to come undone. He’s breathing fast and spastic from his mouth and nose at the same time, tears squeezing from the corner of his eyes as he makes a variety of embarrassing, uncontrollable noises ranging from deep, choking grunts to high-pitched, sputtering whimpers.

And, of course, she’s there. The softness of the linen against his oversensitive body turns into her wandering fingers. The violent jerks of his fist melt into the warm velvet of her walls as she rides him. The rubbing of the pillow covers against the back of his head molds into her hands yanking and twirling at his matted, damp curls. And lastly, the caresses of his inhales and exhales as they leave his lips dissolve into her own breaths pushing into his mouth as her lips suck and chew at his, feeding bits of her intoxicating taste into his system to form a tight ball of sensual gratification at the pit of his stomach.

“Fuck, Y/N, fuck me. You’re such a good fucking girl fo’ me, aren’t you? Y'just feel so good…” Harry knows it’s borderline insane to be addressing her when he’s alone but he doesn’t care because he just has to get it all out somehow. In the cage of his mind, her voice responds to him, which is all that truly matters.

“Want you t'come, H. Wanna feel you fill me up.” It’s as if she’s hovering over him, staring right into his soul with those wide, innocent eyes as she bounces on his cock, tiny gasps leaving her swollen lips as not-so-innocent words slip freely from her mouth. “C'mon, Harry. Know you can be a nice boy and come for me, baby. Jus’ a little longer, yeah?”

The hand that was massaging his balls flies up over the pillow around his face, shoving the fluffy material into his mouth so that he can bite down all of his wails. The heels of his feet dig into the springy mattress, causing his back to buck off its surface. Harry’s chest heaves with every rattling gasp, teeny mewls of pleasure squeaking from his throat. His arm is taut with the effort he’s putting into his violent tugging, tattoos glistening with sweat in the dim light of a single bedside lamp. He throws his head back as far he can, tendons stretching tight and veins chiseling into existence down his neck and across his temples. A warm sensation suddenly inflates across his entire being and he can hear his teeth grinding down hard as his climax takes the reigns, thundering over his body without remorse.

When he bursts, it’s messy, to say the least. It splutters out in thick milky ribbons that splatter across his stomach and chest, his prick twitching nonstop in his clenched fingers. Flashes of red, white and yellow form webs behind his eyelids, bursts of brighter colors overlapping the spidery strands. He feels like it’s never going to stop– like he’s going to be squirting out forever because he can still feel the knot writhing in his stomach, demanding to be let out all at once. But he can’t take it; if he doesn’t stop, he thinks he’ll pass out.

Harry’s heart is hiccuping in his chest, the intense thumping suggesting it is trying to slam free through his ribs. His ears feel as if they were clogged with gauze, the only clear sound being the blood rushing through his head. His nose is the first thing that starts to go numb, the jittery sensation spreading across his whole face and crawling down his neck, taking ahold of every one of his nerve-endings. After the feeling has washed down his thighs is when he stops coming, his cock slowly going limp against his pelvis. After it’s spread across all ten of his toes is when he releases the wet fabric of the pillowcase from his aching teeth. After it’s dissolved away down to his chest is when his back muscles untangle themselves from each other, his whole torso slumping comatose into the elegant duvet. And, only after the feeling barely lingers in his fingernails and barely tickles the back of his skull, is when Harry’s eyes finally flutter open.

His head lulls to the side so that his chin presses against his left shoulder, gaze focusing on the neon green numbers of the digital clock on the polished nightstand. 1:17 AM.

He’d lasted seventeen minutes.

It’s quite shameful, he’ll admit. He usually lasts at least thirty solo and can work his way up to an hour with Y/N (with breaks, obviously). But he’d spilled in just over fifteen minutes, all because of a couple glasses of Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé and some post-concert adrenaline.

Harry lays there for a while; how long, he’s not sure. He entertains his sleepy body with threading his fingers through his moppy hair, feeling small grainy bits of hair spray still sticking to the fluffed up mess. The sweat has dried to his skin, making the light breeze from the air vents feel cooler than normal and causing him to burrow under the thick comforter. The humungous flat screen on the wall in front of the bed shows his reflection with crystal clearness: He looks like he just went three rounds with a grizzly bear in an episode of Naked and Afraid. Except the name Naked and Fucked Out seems more appropriate. Or Naked and Covered In Jizz. He wipes himself down with some fancy rose-oil-infused tissues from a box inside one of the nightstand cabinets, setting the wad of napkins on the table to discard later.

After about ten more minutes of recovering, Harry kicks off the sheets, swinging his legs around the edge of the bed in order to get up. His movements are lazy as he takes his sweet time standing up, raising his arms above his head and stretching out the kink in his back until it cracks. He grabs the duvet, wrapping it carelessly around his hips and holding both sides together in one fist at his hip. For some odd reason, he doesn’t feel like walking around naked– he thinks it to be that the air conditioning has kicked in at full blast.

He shuffles hazily out of the bedroom section of the grand suite, all the way over to where his bottoms lay in a rumpled pile on the floor near the couch, leaning down to fish out his phone from the back pocket. Harry surfs through his notifications as he slowly walks towards the bar on the other end of the room, only really paying attention to a message from Jeff confirming Harry’s lunch with Stevie tomorrow. He walks around the marble counter of the bar, opening up the mini fridge and sifting through an assortment of colorful alcohol bottles. He hisses out a victorious, “Sick.” when he sees a bottle of Brachetto d’Acqui Rosso, his favorite sweet wine. He’s not up for anything strong at the moment– just something light and fizzy to sedate the gnawing in his stomach.

Harry snatches the most graceful glass he can find, using his teeth to rip open the crimson wrapping around the cap of the bottle and being thankful that it is the type he can unscrew. After pouring out half a glass, he leans forward on the counter on one elbow, sipping lightly and pulling up Y/N’s contact on his phone. As the line rings its toll, he licks at his lips patiently, savoring the hints of black cherry, raspberry and rose in his drink.

“Hello?” Y/N’s thick, drowsy voice crackles through the speaker and he immediately feels bad for calling her. He knew she hadn’t been awake but he just really wanted to hear her voice.

“Morning, love. How’s my favorite girl?”

“I was good until you woke me up.” She grumbles, the ruffling that comes through the line suggesting she is shifting around the bed and he imagines her rolling onto her side, tucking an arm under her head as she holds the phone to her ear with the other.

A fond smile twitches Harry’s cheeks as he tips back the glass again, letting the tangy yet silky liquid send a tingle through his tastebuds. “So you’re well? Nice. ’M good too, thanks for asking.”

Y/N sighs irritably, but he can tell she’s faking it. All she could talk about recently is how much she misses him, especially in the morning because it’s when she’s most cuddly. He knows she’s thrilled to hear from him and he’s happy to say the feeling is mutual.

“So, how’d the concert go?” She asks, excitement twinkling in her groggy voice.

“It was fucking amazing. Stevie’s just…wow. That’s it. Just wow. She even said she loves Two Ghosts and I nearly shit myself on stage!” Harry responds, setting the now empty class on the counter and filling it up some more, watching the effervescent liquid slosh around as Y/N sniffles on the other end. Her nose could get pretty backed up during the night due to her allergies.

“That sounds incredible, Har. You really deserved this. You’ve worked so hard for it.” He can hear the proud smile in her voice.

“Thank you, pet. Means the world, y'know? Actually, Stevie invited me to lunch tomorrow! She even knew that I liked Cafe Habana. Can you believe it?” Harry can’t keep the childish giddiness from his voice, his entire face lighting up at the thought.

Y/N’s bubbly laugh crackles through the phone. “That’s great, baby. So happy for you!”

He smiles timidly into the glass, blushing up a storm and he can never understand how Y/N has him so whipped without even trying. “Thanks. Again.”

Harry hears the sound of running water start up on the other end and he guesses she is up and about, probably brushing her teeth or washing her face.

“So,” her voice is muffled, confirming that she indeed is brushing. He can see her, standing in her Garfield pajamas with her hair up in a messy bun, her sparkly blue toothbrush hanging out of the side of her mouth as foam wets the corners of her lips. “Are you gonna tell me all the juicy details of the after party or not?”

He chuckles softly, hiking the duvet up his hips as it had begun to slide down. “Wasn’t really a party. We just went out for some drinks, s'all.”

“Oh, that’s nice! How did it feel to have Stevie Nicks toast to you? Y'know, since you love having your ego stroked and all.” Her teasing tone pokes at his self-proclaimed narcissism, but all he can truly think about is how she used the word “stroked” and it causes him to giggle at the coincidence.

Harry sips at his wine, eyeing the unkempt bed on the opposite side of the room and smirking to himself knowingly. “It was absolutely satisfying.”