#[half-human scholar] theo

[daily-rubbersoul-redux]

"Hello....Ive heard you're not human like me...." Its Moriko, the local kitsune "I figured I should come introduce myself...I am Moriko." She adjusted her mask a bit "Its nice to meet someone else whos non human...." Ask-the-masked-duo

"Ah, you must be the Kitsune I have heard rumors of! I am Theo, it is a pleasure to meet you as well. Though... Hm." He places his hand on his chin contemplatively, his expression turning to one of concern. "It does worry me that people seem to be learning of me some way... I don't exactly go out too often, and I do a fairly decent job of disguising myself...." He quickly brightens back up however, and clasps his hands. "Ah, but that's not something to be worrying about now! I must admit, I have been quite curious about you Miss Moriko, especially since I never have actually seen proof that Kitsune exist before! Would you mind answering a few questions?" He looks incredibly excited, like a kid on christmas morning.

[ @ask-the-masked-duo ]

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this week - 30

Joseph Losey’s brilliant 1963 ‘The Servant’, with dashing Dirk Bogarde and Bowie-lookalike Edward Fox in his first major role.

Chilly, ambiguous sexuality, stylish power dynamics and a creepy attack on Britain's class system. Written by Harold Pinter, with a cool jazz score, and crisp black and white cinematography. A game where the master becomes a slave - A true masterpiece.

✴️

After seeing ‘Pig’ last week, I knew I had to find the documentary The Truffle Hunters. It’s about a group of old mushroom foragers, all in their seventies and eighties, and their dogs, living in the mountains of Piedmont, Italy, and I’m glad I did.

Simple, delicate and rich - a rare find, like the truffles themselves - Best film of the week.

The trailer sums it up.

✴️  

A straightforward Finnish biopic of ‘Tom of Finland’, the influential creator of homoerotic art and fashion. Fascinating subject told in a by-the-number style.

✴️  

Thomas Vinterberg’s 2016 The Commune - a timid drama about a couple trying communal living in 1970s Copenhagen. It would be better if it was just about Trine Dyrholm's and her asshole husband’s (The always unpleasant Ulrich Thomsen) disintegrating marriage. 4/10

✴️

Borgman, a strange Dutch thriller about a charismatic hobo and his manipulative Manson Family posse who take control of a wealthy family and convert them too into his possessed followers. Some biblical and existentialist undertones, maybe diabolical, Christian horror, surrealistic symbolism and disturbing visuals. A mixed fair.

✴️  

Harold and Maude, a love story between two people who like to attend funerals, a young man and 80 year old free spirit Ruth Gordon. With (unrelated to the plot) score by Cat Stevens.

Edgy? Eclectic? “With it”? Not so much after 50 years.

✴️

Benoît Delaunay’s very sad short animation Three Small Cats, about a cute cat family that dies one by one.

✴️

3 more with Willem Dafoe:

✳️✳️✳️ At eternity’s Gate, painter Julian Schnabel‘s hagiographic biopic of Vincent Van Gogh's last two years in Arles.

Beautiful! 9/10.

I remember having a precious edition of ‘Letters to Theo’, which decades later I just gave away with the rest of all my books... Sad!

✳️✳️✳️  Paris, je t'aime, a 2006 anthology of 18 vignettes, each set in different arrondissement (2 are missing). Most are romantic, enjoyable and sentimental “City-Porn”.

The last Alexander Payne short, where lonely letter carrier tourist Margo Martindale has an epiphany on why she loves the city, was perhaps the loveliest.

Also, Maggie Gyllenhaal as a hashish smoking actress was absolutely cute.

✳️✳️✳️ I didn’t know that Paul Schrader directed Adam, Resurrected, a 2008 Israeli film based on Yoram Kanyuk’s book  ( אדם בן כלב‎ ). A horrible and cringy holocaust drama taking place at mental institute in the Negev in 1961.

Unfortunately it is headed by Human Ham Sandwich Jeff Goldblum in a three piece suit and with a fake German accent trying to hamm-out Jerry Lewis in his Auschwitz comedy ‘The Day the Clown Cried’.

One of the worst film I’ve seen during this project!

✴️

Le Samouraï, Jean-Pierre Melville’s tribute to American gangster genre of the 30′s and 40′s. With taciturn Gun-for-hire Alain Delon at his peak handsomeness. Solitary, coolly detached, deadly stylish.

✴️ Discovering Max Tohline:

✳️✳️✳️ Media scholar Max Tohline’s fascinating investigative video essay A Supercut of Supercuts. The 2 hour long academic discussion extends to before the beginning of the cinema to postulates that Supercuts are not a form of aesthetic, but a new mode of knowledge - the database episteme.

Compelling! I’m going to watch the rest of his output!

✳️✳️✳️ ‘The Conversation’ is the Confessional - ‘We’ve heard it all before’.

✳️✳️✳️ Editing as Punctuation in Film - "The whole eloquence of cinema is achieved in the editing room"

✳️✳️✳️ From ^ there ^: György Pálfi’s Final Cut, Ladies and Gentlemen, a romantic experimental mash-up, made up of 450 clips from the most famous films in history. It seems that I’ve seen 90% of all of them here in recent years.

10/10

✳️✳️✳️ More from ^ there ^ : Chuck Workman’s 1986 Precious Images. 470 half-second-long splices of movie moments through the history of American film. Commissioned by the Directors Guild for its 50th anniversary.

✴️

I dislike most “action” movies, but I love Tony Gilroy’s Bourne trilogy, and watch them regularly.  I just binged again on The Bourne Identity, ‘Supremacy and 'Ultimatum, the films he wrote just before directing ‘Michael Clayton’.

All three of them follow the same story patterns. I don’t want to see the last two.

Here is Tony Gilroy Delivers a 2013 BAFTA Screenwriters' Lecture.

Link: About The Bourne trilogy’s shaky-cam action.

✴️

I finally finished Your honor, Bryan Cranston’s 10 episode series, which was unfairly compared to Breaking Bad. Yes, both are dealing with a respectable member of society going ‘Bad’, in this case a New Orleans judge whose son accidentally kills a motorcyclist, and who decides to cover it up.

But this is no ‘Breaking Bad’, because the ridiculous drama here is lazy, full of holes and clichéd throughout.

Based on an Israeli series ‘Kvodo’.

✴️

The princess Bride - First watch: Yes, it’s very quotable. If I was 12 seeing it for the first time, I might find it enchanting, but since I’ve waited 56 years, nah...

✴️

The Hater, another despicable Polish film about a young social media sociopath, online stalker and manipulator who works at troll farm and foments hatred, violence and destruction.

(I’m glad I quit Netflix).

- - - - -

(My complete movie list is here)

[haveamagicalday]

My reads of 2020

My top ten is in a separate post but here are the rest of my reads!

5 Stars

If You Tell by Gregg Olsen 

This is a memoir about the Shelley Knotek case. It focuses heavily on the relationship and struggles of her three daughters that were just children when Shelley’s tortures started. This book was fantastically written for such a morbid tale but be warned, it is not for the faint of heart. Trigger Warning: Abuse, torture, murder

Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom by Louis Sachar 

The Wayside school books were some of my favorite growing up. I made sure to reread them all before reading this one. It felt like no time had past at all. This is a great blast from the past that won’t disappoint old fans of the series. 

4 Stars

All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban

A group of seemingly unrelated students are invited to a scholar dinner that turns out to be a trapped. Once all the students arrive, they are locked in with a bomb and the the option to choose one person to die or they all die. As the night slips away, we learn the secrets and connections the students share that brought them to their predicament. Surprisingly not as suspenseful as you would think it would be and the secrets/bad things the students had done in the past really weren’t that twisted. Still it was very fun with an explosive ending.

Beyond the Shadowed Earth by Joanna Ruth Meyer

This is a sequel to Beneath the Haunting Sea and actually focused on the hero from the first’s books antagonist, Eda. Eda overthrow our hero from the first book as heir to the throne, blamed the king’s death on her and had her wrongfully banished to an island that launched the story of the first book. After that we never visited Eda again as the book focused on a different story instead of getting her kingdom back. So in this one, we see what happened to Eda after she took over. She is not a good person and the author isn’t afraid to make her unlikable at first, but also redeemable through her adventure and misfortunate. 

Break Your Glass Slippers by Amanda Lovelace

Another book of poetry from Amanda Lovelace that delivers profound and touching poems.

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier 

A classic retelling of The Six Swans. This story takes place in a medieval/fantasy version of Ireland. Marillier is one of my favorite authors of fairytale retellings. This book is definitely a slow read but is gorgeously written and rich in character development. The story follows the fairytale with little variation. Trigger Warning: Rape (graphic depiction).  

Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History by Tori Telfer

Nonfictional account of female serial killers. I liked that this wasn’t written like a wikipedia page and took a more narrative approach. After the first few women, they all start to blend together though. Lots of poisoning happens. It would have been nice for some variety. 

Malorie by Josh Malerman

The sequel to Bird Box that we probably didn’t need but was still good nonetheless. This one focuses more on Boy and Girl (now named thankfully) as teenagers and their view and challenges of the world they’ve grown up in. This book introduced new concepts that were interesting and creative. Somehow this managed to have a relatively happy and satisfying conclusion.

The Monstrous Feminine by Barbara Creed  

A look at horror films through a feminist and psychological lens. I absolutely loved this book and the ideas it presents. The first half of the book takes a look at certain horror films (such as Carrie, the Exorcist, Alien, ect.) and “challenges this patriarchal view by arguing that the prototype of all definitions of the monstrous is the female reproductive body.” I liked the first section of the book more than the second part where I felt it focused too much on Freud and his findings and challenging them through horror films.

No Judgements by Meg Cabot

A cute, fluffy romance that takes place on a small island preparing for a category 3 hurricane. Bree finds herself forced to shelter with the island’s resident heartbreaker and they don’t get along. At first ;)

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Alicia, a famous painter and wealthy wife, shocked the world when she killed her husband and then stopped speaking afterwards. Now committed to a mental institute, Alicia is still refusing to speak. Theo is a therapist who jumps at the opportunity to work with Alicia and discover what really happened with her husband. Some of the twist was easy to pick up on at first but there was plenty that kept me guessing. This was a real page turner.

When We Were Magic by Sarah Gailey

Alexis and her group of friends have one very big thing in common; they are able to preform magic. One night, Alexis’ magic causes an accidental death of a classmate and the friends have to ban together to make things right. This was a creative and moving read. There’s plenty of magic but it almost comes secondary to the friendships and blossoming love between two of the friends. 

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

Immanuelle lives in. a patriarchal society where the prophet’s word is law and the town is bordered by the evil and forbidden Darkwood. In the Darkwoods lurks four witches that seem to be calling out to Immanuelle. This book had fantastic world building and the story was unique and engaging. Sometimes it felt like we were just skimming the surface of possibilities and I felt that the book could have been longer or divided into a series. While the story wraps up in the end it does turn out there is going to be a sequel so I’m excited for that! Trigger Warning: Mentions of Rape

3.5 Stars

The Cousins by Karen M. McManus

Jonah, Aubrey and Milly never knew their rich grandmother. Her children were all cut off ominously with a note simply saying “you know what you did.” Now their grandmother is reaching out to the cousins and inviting them to work at her island resort for the summer. Lots of secrets and twists await them! This book was a lot of fun and probably my favorite of this author’s so far. Some of the twists border on zany but the overall tone of the book is a little zany so it works.

Horrid by Katrina Leno 

After her father’s death, Jane and her mother are forced to move across the country into Jane’s mother’s childhood home. The manor has many secrets hidden within that Jane must face. The book was well written and intriguing. The books deal with grief and mental illness with a touch of the supernatural. I felt that the overall pacing felt off though. Very little happened in the beginning and then a lot happens in the last 30 or so pages and then it ended abruptly. It was a great concept though and I'm interested in more from this author!

One of Us is Next by Karen M. McManus

A sequel to the hit novel, One of Us is Lying. This book focuses on one of the character’s from the first books little sister and two of her classmates. The stakes in this one didn’t feel quite as serious as the first book but it was a fun read with interesting twists!

The Return by Rachel Harrison

Julie went missing, leaving her 3 best friends grappling with tragedy. Then, exactly two years later, she comes back with no memories. The four friends decide to spend a weekend together but something is not quite right with Julie. This book was creepy! However, it focuses more on the relationships of the four characters and dealings with grief with a touch of supernatural sprinkled throughout. It’s a gripping novel from start to finish that will keep you guessing.

3 Stars

All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

Nicolette returns to her hometown for the first time in ten years after the mysterious disappearance of her best friend. Shortly after arriving another girl goes missing, forcing Nicolette to relive what happened years ago. What made this book a page turner was that it tells the story backwards. Once she gets to her hometown it starts on her 10th day and works backwards to what happened on the day of her arrival. Unfortunately, while the concept works at first it builds up to a lackluster and disappointing ending. If you were to put the book in the correct order, it wouldn’t work as there are stuff that is found out in the first few days that the reader doesn’t know about but the characters do that wouldn’t make sense in a narrative sense.

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

From the outside Jack and Grace come off as the perfect couple but behind closed doors, everything changes. No twists here, Grace is Jack’s prisoner and she is desperately trying to get away. The book alternates between past and present about her current situation and how she got there. This involves a lot of suspension of disbelief. Jack is a cartoony type of villain with no real motive and he would never be able to get away with what he was doing. Grace is also not the smartest person, there were a lot of different ways she could have escaped but for the sake of the story she doesn’t. Don’t get me wrong, this was still a suspenseful and fun read but also questionable and some points.

The Blue Salt Road by Joanne M. Harris

A quick, fairytale like story about a selkie who was tricked into becoming human and now longs to return to the sea. I feel like there was a message being preached in this story, but I can’t really pinpoint what it was. Regardless, this was a magical little read.

Clown in a Corn Field by Adam Cesare

Clown in the corn field is a slasher film put on page. It starts off like a typical YA novel and sets up a mystery as to who the clown is, but then the clown attacks at a party and the rest of the novel is that one night as the clown wrecks havoc and the teens have to escape. I think I wold have preferred and more drawn out mystery but fans of slasher films would really enjoy this!

Coral by Sara Ella

A sort of retelling of the Little Mermaid. Sort of. This book focuses on strong themes of mental health. The mermaid/fantasy side is minimal and almost completely disappears in the 2/3rds in to the novel. It was a slightly confusing read but had a powerful depiction of depression. Trigger Warning: Suicide

The Doll House Murders by Betty Ren Wright

A sad but sweet little mystery novel about a preteen girl who discovers a dark secret via an old dollhouse and its mysterious moving dolls. The subject matter was dark but the story was written for middle graders and thus mystery is handled with simplicity and strange charm to it.

Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson

The sequel to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. This book hasn’t been released in the US yet but you can still get the British/original version on amazon which is what I did. This novel requires a stretch of disbelief and I didn’t think the mystery was as good as the first one. However, if you are a fan of the first one, you will still want to check this one out as well!

I Know Who You Are by Alice Feeney

You definitely have to suspend your disbelief when you read this one. It's gripping and while some twists were easily guessed, the final one took me for a surprise. It's equal parts dark/chilling and cheesy/silly. I'm still left with a lot of questions after the ending. It makes the book fall apart when you think about it but if you just take it for what it is, an entertaining but cheesy thriller, you'll enjoy it.

The Harp of Kings by Juliet Marillier 

This book features the children of the main characters from the Blackthorn and Grim series but you don’t need to read that series in order to read this one (though you should!). The book features three teenagers that are training to be warriors that are selected to go undercover in a nearby kingdom to find the stolen Harp of Kings before the new king’s coronation can take place. It was slow in the beginning and I felt there wasn’t much character development but it was an enjoyable read.

In Darkling Wood by Emma Carroll

Alice’s sick brother is getting a lung transplant and Alice is forced to stay with an estranged grandmother. Her grandmother lives on the edge of darkling wood, a place rumored to be filled with fairies. This book reminded me of a less dark version of When A Monster Calls. It deals with some of the same themes but this is more aimed towards children with a feel good ending.

The Lost Girls by Heather Young

In the summer of 1935, six year old Emily disappeared leaving her two older sisters and parents devastated. Sixty years later, both sisters are dead but one of them left behind her house and a notebook detailing what happened that summer for her grandniece, Justine. This book wasn’t so much of a thriller but focused more on Justine’s current issues with her daughters and ex boyfriend. I found the chapters with the notebook pages in between chapters more interesting than the modern story.

Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli 

I read the first Stargirl years ago but reread it before reading this one. This sequel doesn’t manage to capture the same charm as the first one did. The book is a series of letters that Stargirl writes (but doesn’t send) to Leo from the first book following her over the course of a year. I found it surprisingly boring at times and Stargirl seemed far to normal as compared to the first book. It was neat to see what she was up to after the first book but overall I didn’t think it was a necessary sequel. 

A Psalm for Lost Girls by Katie Bayerl

Callie’s older sister was considered a saint in her small town before she tragically passed away. Now the city is trying to have her canonized, but Callie knows her sister wasn’t a saint, and the pressure is what ultimately killed, so now she’s on a mission to prove that her sister was just a normal girl. This book involved a missing child that Callie’s sister was supposed to find before she died but couldn’t. The mystery there was very predictable and was kind of on the back burner to Callie’s story. I think this would have been a more interesting story if it had been from the sister’s perspective and how it felt to be a teen saint while she was still alive.

The Rose Without a Thorn by Jean Plaidy 

The story of Katherine Howard, the fifth wife of King Henry. I was looking for a novel that painted Katherine as sympathetic, as most adaptations make her out to be a seductress. This novel was strange as it read as a wikipedia entry in a narrative form. It was all telling and no showing and lacked real emotion. From the minor research I’ve done, it seems to be pretty accurate in terms of events that happened. Trigger Warning: Sexual Abuse featuring a minor (but isn’t presented as such)

Sadie by Courtney Summers

Sadie’s sister was murdered and she is determined to bring the killer to justice. In between each chapter about Sadie is a the transcript for a podcast that is covering the case, as well as Sadie’s future disappearance . This is a very popular book but to be honest, I'm not sure what the point was? The podcast was an interesting idea but it basically just rehashed everything we already knew. Not much was added by it. The ending just fizzles away and the story tended to drag in places. It was very well written though and I think I was just not the right audience for it.

The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher

A creepy retelling of Bluebeard. It reads like a YA in some places but Adult in others. It was definitely unsightly and out there but I found it confusing in some places. It has some great creepy imagery and slight body horror to it.

The Supervillain and Me by Danielle Banas

Abby’s brother is a superhero beloved by the whole crime ridden town. But when a supervillain comes into town, Abby finds her paths crossing with him again and again. Okay, so the supervillain wasn’t even a villain and the reason for wanting Abby to help him was not a very good one. The book is mostly about the romance between the two which was nice but nothing spectacular. I found myself more interested in the musical Abby was starring in. It was about a cannibalistic royal family whose oldest son falls in love with a servant and he has to save her from being eaten by his family. Now THAT sounded interesting!

Winterdream by Chantal Gadoury

A Nutcracker retelling. This was a sweet retelling of the story. It didn’t add much to the original tale or the ballet but it was a good winter read to get into the spirit of Christmas.

They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman

Freshman year, Jill’s best friend was killed by her boyfriend., Graham Now it’s senior year and Jill is the president of an elite school club but someone keeps texting her about Graham’s innocence and she can’t keep herself from diving deeper into the mystery to unearth what really happened to her friend. Gripping and twisty, this book was a solid teen mystery!

Not Rated

I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

I read this almost a year ago and I still don’t know what to think about it. I can’t decide if the story was genius or simple shock value. Did the twist make sense? I don’t know honestly. I read this before I even knew there was a netflix adaptation coming and I while I read this book in one sitting, I only made it halfway through the movie. I personally don’t think it translated well to screen. If you are looking for a quick disturbing read with an ending you WILL NOT be able to guess, then I highly recommend this one.

The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror by Mallory Ortberg

There’s a pretty popular post on his webiste that has a link to a horrifying retelling of Curious George. This is a collection of retellings/unrelated short stories by the same author. I didn’t read all of the stories in this because some of them were just too difficult to get through and confusing. However, the dark retellings of fairy tales and children books were really enjoyable. I particularly liked the retellings of The velveteen rabbit, the frog prince and the six swans. I think they can all be found online and not just in this collection.

Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer

Is it good? No. Is it garbage? Yes. Did I still read it any way? Yes. Team Edward for life.

[thebibliosphere]

IMPORTANT QUESTION. Vampires aren't suppose to enter a premise without being invited right? What if a hermit vampire was living in his falling apart old castle and some fuck bought it as a "fixer upper", would the vampire just glitch out on to the lawn or would he be okay since he lived there before?

Okay so this would depend on where you are in the world, and whether or not they had squatters rights (can’t be evicted and can apply for legal ownership of place once they have been there for X amount of years) but I mean, the dude owns the place, even if it is a run down mess he was still there first and there’s probably some ancient land ownership law which can’t be overwritten by modern laws (you find all sorts of weird things are still technically legal cause no one bothered to update the books since 1645) so basically whoever just bought this castle to turn it into a modern fixer upper, congrats, you also just bought yourself a vampire and he’s not going anywhere.

(Also now I kind of want to write this where a family buys it to turn it into a hotel/wedding venue and the kids find the vampire in the attic and he ends up being the weird uncle who gets roped into hilarious wedding related shenanigans?? Like 

“Okay yes fine, you can host weddings here, but registrar only, no religious ones.” “But Theolodious, why?”“Really Sharon, really, do I have to spell it out for you. Really.”

*

“We really should increase the lighting for photographs, what about skylights?”“No.”“But—”“How about I just set all of you on fire while you’re trying to sleep.”

*

“Please, for the love of god, please don’t let people throw confetti or rice, I’m begging you.”

*

“Okay what’s our final head count for the night?”“107.”“Are you sure?”“Did I fucking stutter Steve?”

*

“Uncle Theo, why does the groom have “help me” on the bottom of his shoes, why is everyone laughing?.”“Because small one, humanity has failed collectively as a species and heteronormativity is a constructed lie designed to oppress over half the population for not conforming to arcane and chauvinistic ideals put in place by dead scholars who have long since turned to dust and have no place influencing modern society.”“…”“Permanence is an illusion.”

*

“Madame, flattering as your offer is for a quickie, you’re not my type.”“What is your type then?” ;) ;) ;)“O negative.”

*

“Whoo, what a day, I could eat a horse.”“Same.”“…”“…well obviously I’m not going to.”

*

“Theo…are you…are you crying?”“Yes.”“You big softie, I never thought someone like you would cry at a wedding.”“…I’ve lived a long life, Sharron. People come and go, the christening you bless will be the funeral you mourn in less than a century. But people keep saying “I love you”, that has to count for something.”

[shadowcutie]

I am working on 8 original character designs each with a casual outfit, armored outfit, and weapon(s) for my degree’s final capstone class.

Any feedback and critique on the designs would be very appreciated!

Descriptions of the characters under the cut, if interested:

Elossa is a young elven girl who grew up with her guardian Twig in a village of pixies.  She is taken captive during a raid through the village and becomes one of many elven slaves to a human lord.

Twig isn’t the typical bard tavern goers expect to see; a grumpy pixie.   He becomes the guardian for Elossa after her parents, his closets friends who helped him find his passion for music, died.

Cirro is a winged elf ranger; he’s ambitious-less instead just wanting to enjoy himself in the moment wherever he ends up.  Has a good heart though, and he is currently spending his time picking on highwaymen preying on the weak.

Kairon is a Half-incubus half-human cambion who doesn’t belong on earth nor in hell.  He’s becomes the master of both the blade and magic, but he tires of demons and is ready to conquer earth—potentially literally.

Karriss excelled in her studies, but particularly gravitated toward medicine.  However she wanted to be part of something big, so she joined the group SEAC (Space Exploration and Colonization) to become the first group of humans to explore outside our home solar system.

Technician Helper designation number 30 affectionately known as TH30 (Theo).  TH30 is an old model robot designed to help disabled individuals, but was retrofitted with an illegal state of the art AI brain.  TH30 developed their personality using various pieces of 20th and 21st century literature and media.

Vlycia is a purple skinned Kymni* starship pilot who’s perfected using one pair of arms to fly while using the other pair to kick back and relax.  She enjoys taking risks and regularly flies to dangerous planets and exploring anomalies drifting through space.

*Kymni – A four armed lithe humanoid species with a myriad of skin colors; they possess superhuman intelligence and are highly dexterous making for great scholars, technicians, and assassins; the Kymni are the most advanced diplomatic species throughout the galaxy.

Zyosk is the cheifton’s son of the Mutza clan of *Xualt nomadic warriors.  Like his brothers, Zyosk grew up learning how to fight and wage war.  However Zyosk has progressive views compared to his people which jeopardizes his chances to become the next cheifton; he wants to lead his people away from extinction, but his people are too hungry for war.

*Xault – A nomadic humanoid species with a tough exoskeleton; their numbers are dwindling due to waging wars across the galaxy;  Xault have enhanced senses which make them truly formidable foes, even while using weapons they constructed by dismantling old starships.

[daily-rubbersoul-redux]

here they are, the new boys and girl-

i..... have no clue what im doing for most of em as far as stands go atm, so im just gonna list some general character info stuff-

-Taiana is pretty much just a goofy and outgoing girl who is completely invested in becoming a knight one day, even though they aren’t really a thing anymore. She is incredibly skilled with a sword.

-Saino is very shy, but not exactly timid and pretty much shares a braincell with Taiana.  He is incredibly skilled at growing plants.

-Theo is the only Dracheilig with multiple braincells, and is an inventor in his spare time. He’s very self conscious about his appearance however, fearing people will think he is a monster.

-Jacian is quite similar to Taiana in personality, though he acts more so as if he is royalty.  Technically speaking, he actually is a knight to some degree, and his intentions are largely unknown.

-Anthony, or Anton, is Jacian’s right hand man and closest friend.  He’s pretty ordinary besides that, but his dedication to helping and supporting those he cares for is unrivalled. 

-Gabbrielli is actually rumored to be royalty of some sorts, though if that is actually true or not is unknown.  However, these rumors, in tangent with his bright demeanor and... well, being a pretty anime boy, has lead to him being considered a bit of a heartthrob.  

some other stuff:

-Taiana and Saino are twins (with Taiana being like a minute older), and Theo is their older brother.

-All of the characters, with the exception of Theo, are Seniors in high school (though their ages still vary between 17 and 18) 

-Taiana and Jacian are rivals, and have gained a reputation for having duels in the front of the school on a regular basis.  These usually attract a crowd, though they always end in a draw.

-Anton is not the only person who looks up to Jacian; He actually is quite popular, and most of his friends or even just close acquaintances would do near anything for him.

-Taiana’s ‘Visor’ (the black shadow over her eyes) is just a mask of sorts that Theo made for her because she thought it would be cool.  It is.

-Theo’s appearance is caused in large part due to his stand’s power; It is irreversible, and the only part of it he can control is his wings, which he can manifest and retract at will.

-Yes Theo is part dragon, and so are his siblings.  No I will not elaborate, this is JoJo’s I’m like 90% sure weirder shit has happened.

-Saino aids Taiana on most, if not all, of her Knightly Escapades (TM).  They’re pretty much an inseparable duo most of the time.

-Jacian is just extra.  Like, minor Fire Emblem villain level of extra.  This man will eat a McDonalds burger with a fork and a knife using the finest china in his whole goddamn house.

-Gabbrielli is just a good boy who wishes people would stop hitting on him.  He’s good friends with Saino and Taiana, and will occasionally be the voice of reason, but more often then not will just get dragged into whatever shenanigans they're doing at the moment.

[daily-rubbersoul-redux]

just some designs for the fantasy event-

these’ll probably be the only ones i post early lol, i’m just excited and love the designs-

[daily-rubbersoul-redux]

i just recently finally got minecraft java edition, and theo loves bees so

theo with minecraft bee

that’s it that’s the post

[daily-rubbersoul-redux]

heehoo all rough designs done-

just realized its like mostly guys but thats ok lol-

anyways, ill give some light info and stuff once i clean up + color this-

[daily-rubbersoul-redux]

Theo, how do you hide such a big tail? Magic?

"A really big trench coat and years of practice. Hm, though now that you mention it, there may be a way to do it using magic, science, or a combination of both as well. I'll have to do some research into that...."

[daily-rubbersoul-redux]

Jacian was making his way to the post office, his now completed gift for Taiana in tow. He could have simply delivered it himself, sure, but he feared the risk of being spotted would be too great, and he wished to remain anonymous as to not give her the wrong idea. It was a simple repayment, and nothing more. But still..... As he walked, his thoughts spiralled more an more to his recent emotional oddities. It was probably nothing, it had to be, but still.... He couldn't shake it, no matter how he tried. But if it continued well.... Maybe Anton would be able to help. He had been in a relationship before, perhaps he would be able to help him through these feelings. And then he could move on from this-

"Oof!"

All of a sudden, Jacain found himself colliding with another person, and... To put it lightly, he fell backwards, and the package he had been holding landed besides him. The other man reached out a gloved hand to him, seemingly unaffected.

"Are you alright? I apologize, I was a bit distracted thinking about work..." Jacian looked up at the man, shaking his head.

"No, no the fault is mine. I was completely lost in thought, I should have been paying more attention." He took the man's hand, helping himself up. He the brushed himself off, readjusting his neckerchief in the process, as the other man picked up the package in an effort to give it back.

"This is yours, correct? Though..." He noticed something about the address, "Ah! Actually, I can take this for you. It's addressed to my sister." He studied Jacian for a moment, as if trying to recognize him, before his eyes lit up from behind his heavily tinted glasses. "I can only assume you're Jacain? Taiana has told me a lot about you, so it's nice to finally meet you."

Ah, so this must be the older brother that she had mentioned. "Oh? Yes, that would be me. In that case, you must be Theo, correct?" Jacain gave a polite bow. "It is a pleasure to meet you. Though uh.... I must ask that you do not tell your sister who the package is from."

Theo smiled. "A secret admirer, eh? No worries, I won't say a word." Upon hearing this, Jacain's face began to turn red.

"What!? No no, you have the wrong idea. She is my rival, and nothing more. This is simply payback for her gifting me something, and I wish to remain anonymous as she had with the gift she gave to me." He crossed his arms, looking away and trying to regain his composure. Theo tried to stifle a small laugh.

"Alright, alright, apologies. Well, I should be heading back now. I wish you a good day Jacain."

"...Hmpf. I suppose I can forgive you. And likewise."

With that, the two went there separate ways, and Jacain once again was left to his thoughts. He desperately wished that Theo had not made that comment, even of it was simply a joke. His thoughts were, thankfully, interrupted again however, but this time it was by the ringing of his phone. He picked it up with a "Hello, this is Sir Jacain Von Rittedel."

"How have thing been progressing, Jacian."

Upon hearing the voice, Jacain physically straightened his posture and stopped walking, despite the person on the other side not being able to see him. "Apologies my Lord, but I still have not managed to emerge victorious."

"And why is that Jacain? You've had ample time, and my patience is wearing thin. I understand you have your values, but at this point I'm beginning to tire of this."

"I know my Lord, I apologize. Rest assured, I do not plan on losing or surrendering, I will see this through. ....And in a reasonable amount of time."

"See that you do, for your own sake. I will not wait much longer Jacain. You may be loyal, but if your values get in the way of my goals then... Well, you already know what will happen, hm?"

"Yes my Lord, I am aware. I swear I will not fail you."

"...Hmpf." And with that, they hung up. Jacain let out a breath that he didn't even know he had been holding in, before putting away his phone and rushing back to his apartment. Sorting out his feelings would have to wait, his main focus at the moment had to be his training. He would succeed, his honor demanded it.

[daily-rubbersoul-redux]

Hey Theo, u arent the only non human in town. Theres a kitsune in town!

"I was aware of there being other non-human or paranormal creatures, such as vampires and ghosts, but to think that Yokai such as Kitsune exist as well.... It's not necessarily surprising, but it is fascinating nonetheless. Hm... I wonder if there are other species of Yokai in this town as well..."

[daily-rubbersoul-redux]

F 😔

“It’s not as if he died prematurely or anything! He was just, you know... Human.  Though, he may have some descendants... I’m not 100% sure of that though...”

[daily-rubbersoul-redux]

We met him in an alternate universe... did something happen...?

“An alternate universe? That makes more sense, I suppose.  Nothing happened, it’s just... In this universe, he has been dead for over a hundred years, so I was surprised anyone remembered him.”

[daily-rubbersoul-redux]

What’s that Kazuichi guy up to? I bet he’d like this cat thing.

“Where.... Where did you hear that name?”

[daily-rubbersoul-redux]

♬✂♣❥ Who ever you like!!

alright, strap in we got a lot to go through lol-

♬ (friend/best friend memory)

“Are you coming, or what”

“Ugh.. Wait a damn minute you dumbass, my leg’s already messed up as it is.  I don’t need to mess it up more running up a damn mountain!”

“Heh.. Sorry, sorry.  ‘S kinda easy to forget that with how tough you act though, Cel.”

“Yeah, yeah whatever.... The hell’s so important about us coming up here anyways?”

“The sunset of course!  It always looks amazing up here and... Well, I thought you could use some cheering up, with what’s been going on lately.”

“......Wow, it.... Really is.

......Thanks.”

✂ (vivid memory)

“Hey, that’s her right?”

“The one who beat up Tanner?  Yeah, I’m pretty sure.”

“Beat up?  More like massacred, he’s been in the hospital for weeks!”

“How about we go teach her a lesson then?”

“Are you nuts!?”

“It’s two v one, how much can she do?”

“You moron, she can probably hear us right now!”

“And? So what? Oi, you hear us Sumi?  You’re gonna get yours.”

“.....”

“Heh, what, you got nothing to say?  Too scared?”

“Dude, stop egging her on! You’re insane!”

“She won’t do anything. She knows what she is. And that’s a freak. C’mon, I’m not wasting my time here anymore.”

“You don’t gotta ask me twice.”

“.....”

♣ (fading memory)(note: this is only fading bc Theo is really really old-)

“Theo, are you in there?”

“Hm? Oh, Nadia it is just you.  What can I do for you?”

“Well, I was uh wonderin’ if.... Er, wondering, I mean! Oh gods this is embarrassing.... Look, would ya like to... g-go out? With me? Maybe?”

“I- You- Oh, oh gods Nadia I-”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry I shouldn’ta said anythin’, I know yer so far above me and all but I just-”

“Nonono Nadia that is not it at all! I-I would love to, but... I just.... Am not sure I am good enough, is all....”

“What!? Oh Theo... You may be the smartest person I know, but sometimes you’re just such a goof.”

“Eh?”

“Oh, c’mon you! Lets get out of this stuffy room and go have some fun, yeah?”

“Alright, you lead the way then. And.... Thank you, Nadia.”

❥ (childhood memory)

“Saino honey? What’s wrong?”

“.....I... I stepped on him..... I stepped on Mr. Flower.....”

“Oh Saino.... It’s alright.  I have an idea.  How about we sing to Mr. Flower?  Maybe it will help him perk up again.”

“.....Are.... Are you sure that will work, mommy?”

“It doesn’t hurt to try, honey.  And even if it doesn’t, I’m sure he will appreciate you singing in his memory.”

“.....Ok mommy..... Let’s..... Let’s try it.”