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 It’s been well over a year (closer to 2 years really) since I logged in to play Touken Ranbu. I thought about logging in but then would forget because real life stuff or I got anxious because it’s been so long and I couldn’t even remember who I left as attendant. That’s a silly way to feel about it BUT the point is I FINALLY logged back in. And who was waiting for me all that time?? Who?? This guy

it. was. him. Minamoto Kiyomaro. And he says something so nonchalant as “Ah, you’re back. Everyone’s been waiting for you.” And I’m over here just smiling my face off on the brink of tears (just kidding! sort of). “I’m home guys! And I missed this. I missed you silly fictional sword dudes. Let’s go kick some historical revisionist butt! To the battle field we go!”

Ok I’m being dramatic but for real. I missed playing. It’s comforting just letting the background music do it’s thing and then going on sortie and stuff. Also made it to level 58 while I was there.

But I’m happy. Happy my sword friends are all still here. 

[parallelecho]

Project Masterlist

Because I can’t keep track of anything and it feels like I have a high chance of not completing anything ever, I’m going to list the stuff I’m doing. (Or want to do- this semester and life in general are starting to take a toll on me again.)

These are in no particular order. 

Untitled Video Game (Class Project) - Status: in progress/ officially cancelled as an in-class project 

     -Learning how to use Unreal Engine and make a game do game stuff. Sadly, teacher decided to have us work on something else. I would still love to make this a real thing though. I love the characters with my whole heart. 

     - It was going to be a sci-fi/time travel plot, and you (the player) have amnesia due to something that- well, you can’t quite remember.

     -I made the characters in the Metahuman maker and started building the environments. That's as far as I got.

Parallax Motion AU - Status: on hold/ expect slow updates 

     -This has just become my vessel to pour all my first Pokemon BW comic attempt ideas into. And I uh.. I changed a lot of things...

     -Drawing seems to be difficult for me at the moment. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m having to paint for art class and that's stealing my energy or if its something else going on. 

     -I’ve considered swapping formats for this project. But again, I’m unsure.

Time Forge (Touken Ranbu Fanfic) - Status: Chapter 4 in progress 

     - This thing has been living rent free in my head for two years. Time travel, swords, grief, etc. I finally decided to take a stab at proper fiction writing again after what, five years? 

     -Currently my coping mechanism. I come home from my long Thursdays and all I want to do is cry and work on this until there's not any more room in my brain for thinking about what I’m going to do when I graduate. 

An Unusual Shatter Pattern - Status: brainstorming phase

     -Part of me wants to make this a comic that eventually becomes an anime, but I think that’s probably too high of an expectation right now

    -The story is about three (or four) people who are actually the same person, just different parts. Yet somehow they’re all existing in this made up world within the actual person’s head. That's not even the plot though. The plot is- something else entirely... except when it isn't? See, this is why this is in the brainstorming phase. 

Untitled Arctic Island Story - Status: Scriptwriting phase

     -This is a throwback to my storyboarding class. The prompt was crypids on an arctic island. Somehow mine turned into a Spirited Away-esque human among creatures of folklore on an arctic island that is melting for unknown reasons (not global warming in this case, actually this particular island melts down every several hundred years because that's just what happens when you have two arguing entities that have a knock-down-drag-out fight at that time.)

     -I would love for this to be some sort of cinematic thing but again I am a student and my ideas are bigger than my abilities right now

     -There is a hat and mittens wearing chupacabra-bat in this story, he is sassy and I love him and his adopted golden turtle child. Also a 400 year old giant arctic fox who has adopted the human. They are all a funny little found family group. 

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Really not loving that feeling you get when you like to do a thing, but you haven’t done it for a little while and are required to do the thing, so you are almost dreading it.

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Still working on the comic...

I’m still working on the Parallax Motion AU comic, real life just got crazy for a moment. I have the next section ugly sketched and it ended up being 12 pages somehow... why do I do this to myself...

That and I read it is canon that Cyllene was a swordswoman back in her homeland ?!?! OH YES. OH. YES. I WAS GOING TO SCRAP THE ORIGINAL ENDING OF THIS BECAUSE IT INVOLVED SWORDS AND I THOUGHT I WAS JUST BEING OVER THE TOP CRAZY AND NOW???!!!??? 

Original ending is green light. Volo better watch out. 

I think I have one page almost done. I’ll see if I can finish it ASAP and post. Maybe one page at at time will be better since school started again. It wouldn’t even be that bad, but I decided to take an Intro to Game Design class and we have to build a level of a game. BUT first we have to make a proposal for the game story and mechanics, etc. So now this has hijacked my brain and I have new blorbos. MY BLORBOS. THAT I MADE BWAHAHAHA. I’m suffering. :)

[parallelecho]

RJ Character Page

Pokemon  OC

Figured since I've never actually made one of these for RJ, I'd go ahead and make one. No time to shade, got comic pages to make instead. 

Here’s what it says about my Pokemon oc-

Name: RJ

Notes:

-Defeated Team Plasma both times

-Currently a member of the Shadow Alliance unit of the International Police

-Helped stop the space time distortions in Unova

Personality Type:

Dark-Primary

Water- Resonant

Dragon- Turbulent

Notes next to drawings say: Keeps sketchbook journal. Pack light for this trip. Ring on necklace from Icirrus City Festival. Layers clothing. Basic long sleeve. Permanently "borrowed" jacket from her Dad; still wears it after he died. Generally not very expressive.

The drawings are just for my reference. RJ’s sense of style is about as plain as can be expected for someone who has done a lot of solo travel and doesn’t really care what anyone else thinks. Layers and jackets, few accessories, everything has to have a function.

She brought two Pokemon with her on this trip to Hisui (she was supposed to only bring one). Samurott is her starter Pokemon from her journey in Unova. After some discussion N agreed it was probably a good idea to take Zekrom with her. Though she will only use Zekrom if absolutely necessary, since who knows what sort of problems would arise from their being a legendary in a different time/place. 

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Parallax Motion AU

Part 2

In which the author accidentally spills flashbacks everywhere. Oops. 

Not a lot happens for the external plot here, just the internal plots. Emmet is having a flashback to the short time they were sort of on their own, before being functionally adopted by the previous Gear Station boss. Ingo expresses concern because Emmet is stubborn and needs to not ignore his pain. This causes Emmet to indirectly quote to RJ what Ingo told him at that time, since she injured her ankle a bit. Which then triggers RJ to have a flashback of a conversation she had with Alder six months ago when all this space time distortion stuff first happened. So... Ingo isn’t even here (yet) and he’s making things happen in the internal conflict.

The reason Alder was yelling is he was concerned about RJ doing something reckless and getting hurt. (She left the hospital, “borrowed” a snowmobile and was going to find someone in snowstorm conditions.) Their relationship is a parent-child one and they usually get along quite well. So that conversation created a bit of a rift between the two. 

I guess I’m calling this the Parallax Motion AU. Because depending on where all these characters are standing, the world around them moves at different speeds. Although really they aren’t standing still either, they themselves are in motion also. 

Additional note:

I still don’t have a full plot of this, my brain just keeps giving me pieces of scenes to add in no particular order. I’m trying to plot the key points this weekend, because as of right now the middle is unclear to me. The ending is chaotic. (Don’t worry, Ingo and Emmet do both make it back to Unova. I try to make sure everyone gets a satisfactory ending.)

I’m aware that by throwing an OC with a lot of history involving Unova and Sinnoh in this it makes it more challenging to get into. I don’t mind answering questions. I would write the whole thing out, and maybe some day I will, but for now if confused about the lore of this particular universe let me know and I’ll answer as best I can.

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Legends Arceus AU comic: (currently untitled)

Here it is! I hope it shows correctly. I now know to break it in to pages of a certain size because otherwise it gets very stretched. 

In this au, some Interpol agents deliver some news to Emmet and he decides to look for his missing brother with their help. One of the agents (who formerly defeated team plasma) is sent along with him. They’ve got a long journey ahead of them but they know their goal: bring Ingo, Rei and Akari home to the present time.

Also this is a very long comic so I’ll put it under the break. 

They’re off to a rough start but don’t worry they’ll be ok. 

Is it a nearly universal experience to fall off a cliff and be immediately attacked by an alpha parasect? That was my experience. 

BW protagonist here is named RJ and has been part of Interpol for about 5 years now. Both her and N are part of a special division, mostly it is surveillance for emerging threats. And response if there is trouble. 

Which is exactly what happened 6 months ago. Ingo, Rei and Akari aren’t the only ones who went missing. A LOT of people were shuffled around in Unova. Looker actually ended up in a previous week and had to avoid himself for a while. RJ and a small team were able to close the space-time disruptions but she ended up injured and in the hospital for a bit, then on restricted activity. Hence she’s a bit excited to be out on an adventure again. Not that you can tell much. She’s not the most emotional expressive person.

Emmet has been looking for Ingo for these past 6 months and trying to run the battle subway. His depot agents are very supportive of him and try to shield him as best they can from prying reporters. He’s tired. He’s still grieving. He only wears his smile at work, it’s what people expect of him. He just wants some closure from the trauma of his twin disappearing. 

I already see an art mistake. Such is life. I’ll not bother with changing it.  

[parallelecho]

Coming Soon

As soon as I can figure out how to make this fit the required parameters that is.

I should have checked how many pixels before I started this comic. 

Anyway. AU (?) comic for Legends Arceus featuring OC former protagonist from BW era coming soon. (Is it still an AU if there is an OC? I don’t know the naming conventions.) 

Plot is still in the works. I know where I want to go with it, I just have to figure out how. But basically I’m willing to break every law of time and space to bring Ingo back to present day Unova. 

This was just really an excuse for me to practice drawing so I don’t lose it over summer.   

[parallelecho]

So I just reached a certain point in playing Legends Arceus and-

Oh. Ok wow.

Way to make my emotional abandonment issues resurface. Um-

I just got yelled at?? And that’s that?? I’m suddenly a person without a place to belong to?

Look, you would normally have to be at least a level 35 friend to unlock this trauma. Was not expecting to feel like this at midnight. From a Pokémon game. And I’m sure some people can completely brush over things like this and that’s ok but not me.

Where’s Ingo when I need him?

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Was playing PLA and started laughing so hard because there was a glitch. I forgot to take a picture but just imagine Volo doing his very expressive explaining gesture but his foot KEEPS TWITCHING.

Volo? You good, man? Your toes look like they’re trying to escape orbit. You nervous about something?

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Pinterest isn’t giving me any new content in the PLA- Ingo category or the Emmet and Ingo category. Needed my dopamine hit for the day. Found sad Ingo and Emmet videos on youtube. Now I’m just full of feelings and got no where to put them.

I was crying in the Taco Bell drivethru this afternoon.

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So I waited until the semester was over to pick up a copy of Pokémon Legends Arceus (the semester was an absolute mess because of a “group” project that ended up being a three? four? person project. Not exactly fun.)

Now that I am playing it I have learned a few things about me (and just in general):

1) I used to sometimes get lost in Platinum or BW/BW2. This open world thing is great but I get SO VERY lost quickly. Guess that increases the “realistic” feel since I spend a good solid minute staring at the map lol

2) This game has helped me get over my trauma from that one and only time I played BOTW and was minding my own business climbing a tree and out of freaking nowhere was getting attacked then proceeded to PANIC and forgot what button did what because my brain cannot store all this information and yeah that’s my trauma. At least PLA gives me the warning with that red eye icon.

3) I, just like Dazai in BSD, find the allure of a river/ other body of water all too tempting. (Oops)

4) I am terrible at dodging. I have zero sense of timing. And what’s worse, I have been playing at night after work and my tired brain COMPLETELY MISSED that there is a continue battle button. I quelled the frenzy of the first two nobles all in one go because brain did not see the other option. Thanks brain. You’re amazing.

5) I have brainrot or whatever we want to call it when you get hyperfixated on a particularly sad thing. Not hard to guess what that is since Gen 5 games are my favorite.

In conclusion despite the fact I am an uncoordinated fool, this game has made my spring/summer.

And I kind of want to get back to making my BW comic, so maybe that crazy school project that I had to draw all the storyboards for has actually been a good thing?

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A old, half colored doodle of N Harmonia from Pokemon BW. 

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Just messing around and made myself a new profile pic. 

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literally NOTHING can compare to found family stories like that trope is the actual physical beating heart in my chest. choosing your family, who you want to love and heal with, who you believe in and viciously defend and trust. forming those bonds on your own is SUCH a lovely, compelling narrative that we should NOT sleep on. thanks.

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Here We Go Again

And I’m back to being in love with the gen 5 Pokemon games. Goodness, it’s been too long. Gen 5 legendary dragons are just so beautiful, and I freaking love my samurott. The music from BW is great. The plot actually does something for me and I appreciate that. Also, I have way too many headcannons. Heh. I need to finish my play through of White and get back to working on my fan comic for it, because thats where all my headcannons are going. 

Seriously though. Unova has my heart. 

[parallelecho]

I’m throwing together a collection of sketches and will post some more recent stuff later. (This work week is so busy that it’s going to either break the ceiling on my creativity and I’ll feel compelled to art/write or I'm going to feel completely burned out and accomplish nothing creatively, but whatever.) So for now have some art from a few months back.