#I could probably streamline this more but I don't have the energy for it

[teatitty]

The whole "we're cursed to re-live the memories of other people until the day we're forgiven for our sin of suicide" part of shinigami lore is so fascinating to me because it would not surprise me at all if that was nothing but a false assurance given to the reapers to ensure they continue their jobs for all eternity without causing any fuss

We're not told what the "forgiveness" entails and it doesn't seem as if the other reapers know either since the only "ends" we know for a reaper are that they become a deserter [which is so rare as to be an anomaly] or they die a second time, which we know is possible since Grell responds with genuine terror when Sebastian goes to use her scythe against her

It'd be a genius yet tragic strategy to dangle such a false, vague hope in front of the reapers' eyes like a tantalising fruit just so they can keep ferrying souls to wherever they're meant to go and is the sort of trope I absolutely go feral for

[wellfine]

HII I love your art so much it's so expressive and it feels like theres so much movement in it! I was wondering if u had any tips or advice to help with that? I practice anatomy and expression so much but it seems like everything I draw on my own is so stiff!! Anyway I hope you have a great week :)) <3

Hi there! Firstly, thank you so much for the kind words, it means a lot that you would take the time to tell me!

Second- my advice is to take everything you've learned about anatomy and THROW IT OUT THE WINDOW!!!!!!!

... For now. Just into the front yard so you can keep an eye on it. But I have seen many artists concentrate chiefly on studying anatomy only to feel like their art ends up too stiff. My own experience has been to treat anatomy as a tool best used to correct an image in the later stages of construction rather than as your driving foundation.

If "correct" anatomy (however you choose to define that) is the priority of your undersketches, I find that you end up with a sort of Skeleton Song approach to drawing - y'know, the knee bone's connected to the thigh bone, etc etc. Whatever energy, emotion, or intent you wanted your drawing to convey is getting lost each time you split it into another anatomical segment. By over-focusing on individual parts, you lose sight of your image as a whole.

The key to conveying dynamic movement in motionless art is to ensure every element of your image agrees on and communicates the same action, the key to which is something called the line of action.

A line of action is simply that - an implied "line" with wich you lead the viewer's eye and communicate movement. Think of it as the core of your figure's action, simplified to its rawest form. By knowing this, you know what to emphasise and what to de-emphasise.

Well, art is a visual medium and I am better explaining with drawings than words or I'd never have picked up a pen in the first place, so:

Images can have multiple lines of action, lines of action can complement and contrast each other, and a line of action isn't always as obvious as something like running. Imagine you're tring to make your art more "aerodynamic" to the eye. Since I draw a lot of One Piece fanart, I assume you're also familiar with it, and you can probably imagine how Oda uses "lines of action" when composing panels of Luffy punching something, Zoro slicing something, Sanji kicking something- etc etc. He's really good at selling the "oomph" of action shots by reducing visual clutter so that the impact of the action is greater.

(The Monster Trio's abilities are all designed in such a way that allow for REALLY striking lines of action... you can tell Oda loves studying manga fight scenes and wanted to create a world where he could push these concepts to the limit, and it's no wonder One Piece caught the eye of animators even before it was serialised by Toei)

You're probably already noticing how line of action also feeds into composition and silhouette when it comes to conveying movement in an image. Basically put, once you've isolated whatever action it is that you want to convey, the more visual clutter you can streamline away from that action, the stronger an impact that will have on the viewer. A firm line of action, an uncomplicated silhouette for your figure, and a readable overall composition of your image/panel are all ways to minimise visual clutter.

You can also use this information to achieve the opposite effect! Sometimes the ideal action you want to convey is not fast, or powerful, or confident, and you can use the same principles.

In fact, you can apply line of action to images that don't have any "action" in them at all. You can make a drawing of someone simply standing there feel more lively by applying these same principles to their body language:

You can develop an eye for how to simplify movement down to its "lines of action" by studying real photos and other people's art. Try simplifying a figure to its silhouette, and then simplify that silhouette further to a stick figure. And honestly, a lot of this could be boiled down to "see your image as a whole and not just a collection of individual pieces". Set anatomy aside during the composition stage and bring it back in when you start building up the sketch.

Moving away from the line of action, my second piece of broad advice is simply to exaggerate more. Lots of artists subconsciously hold themselves back from pushing motion, expression, etc. out of concern that it will look "too much". Well, maybe it will- but you won't know that unless you try! You can always walk it back if you think you took it too far, but I think you'll be surprised by how far you can push your art before you hit that point.

My final piece of advice is to work on line confidence. Even if you follow the rest of this advice, if you have hesitant and scratchy lines, you're undermining the flow and punch of your art. The best way to improve line confidence is simply by practicing! Do a lot of quick, timed studies, and use a permanent medium like a ballpoint pen or marker. Focus on unbroken lines wherever possible even if it makes your studies look like garbo. I find traditional studies are best for improving line confidence, but if you'd really rather stick with digital then just don't let yourself use the eraser tool, and try using a chunky brush with limited pressure sensitivity.

And that's it! Don't stress about it too much though. Loosen up with your art and, like any other skill, you'll improve with practice, time, and analysing what you like about other people's art. Good luck!

[xivu-arath]

man after putting a lot of my gripes about relatively recent writing together with The Lore Circle, and then seeing the article about just how dire the state of bungie is right now, it's really... not a surprise. we'd been noticing and feeling the effects of this in bits and pieces for over a year, at least

the weird flattening and streamlining of story and narrative and characters, the unnecessary amount of connections being made with zero ambiguity allowed, characters and dynamics being written in reaction to overall community opinions and vibes but often without actual depth, the very... on the face and rote pattern of seasonal dialogues. not that I care much about gameplay, but the intense pivot towards "challenging gameplay" that feels both one-note and pretty damn brutal for casual players like myself. I'd long held that there had to be a strong executive meddling for how things were being handled, and it sucks to have been so right

and it's so easy to see how things will spiral into going worse. why should longtime fans extend any grace or trust to bungie now? how can we be "earned back" when all the good writers and community managers and counsel and musicians have been laid off? when every well-meaning initiative has been promptly shut down and everyone involved is gone?

I don't generally have the energy nowadays to Express Opinions or be as loudly disappointed as many of my friends are. but I am disappointed and tired and also really fucking sad. the destiny that exists in my memory could actually be pretty good, and sometimes almost matched what I was writing and imagining in my own head. and... it's probably never going to return to that. I'm not going to leave it! I will probably hang around and keep plucking out the dregs that appeal to me, and keep writing and theorizing and talking with the talented and passionate community I've found myself in. I've scavenged and remained invested in much worse and more overall garbage stories

but I am going to grieve this decline for a long time, too. not just as a fan, but for the hundreds of people who did work on this big and silly universe and put their hopes and best efforts into it, and got crunched up instead

[linesonscreens]

Let's Read Peanuts (Yup, still at it) – December 1954

There are lots of great strips I just don't have room to comment on. I strongly encourage everybody to read the full month at the official GoComics page. Today's month starts HERE.

December 1, 1954

The Charlotte Braun Saga continues. I'm just going to post as many of these strips as I can because she's only around for a bit and we should cherish her baffling presence while we can.

December 2, 1954

...What?

December 3, 1954

One personality trait. ONE!

December 4, 1954

Is it possible for preschoolers to have strong “divorced” energy?

December 7, 1954

SUCH a good character.

December 8, 1954

OK, this one was actually decent.

December 23, 1954

Psychic.

Powers.

Also god damnit Charlie Brown just let that poor kid be gayweird!

Thoughts:

Another year down! Let's see how some of our favorite weirdos have progressed, shall we?

Charlie Brown

(October) 1950

(December) 1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

Linus

(September) 1952

(December) 1952

1953

1954

Patty

(October) 1950

(December) 1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

Not a huge shift in the art from last year as far as I can tell but there's still some evolution taking place.

The main difference I noticed is a reversal of the trend I saw between 1952 and 1953 where the kids were getting taller and their heads were getting smaller. Now they actually look shorter and with larger heads BUT the faces are getting smaller as well, which is a bit of an odd effect when you stop and stare at it. Additionally, I'm noticing some simplification in the kind of expressions he tends to work with. Yes, they've always been pretty simple but I think they're a smidge less nuanced than they were last year.

Now that I stop and really look at it the whole art style is getting a bit simpler. If you go back to the stuff in 52' and look for a character in an unusual pose you'll notice that the character's forms are all pretty complex and well-defined to the point where you could probably make a 3D model of the panel without much guesswork. That's still there for the most part but there are more drawing shortcuts being used than there used to be (probably for time/sanity purposes) which creates a slightly different feel. This can also be seen in many of the backgrounds which are still amazing when they want to be, but are now often fairly minimalist wit a single line representing grass or where the floor meets a wall.

Again, just to be clear I'm not saying the art is getting ~bad~, just more streamlined. It's kind of an inevitability when you work on a project like this for a long time because drawing is freaking exhausting and those little shortcuts can translate into hours of saved effort.

Art aside, this was a pretty cool year for the strip. We got Schroeder ascending to his final form as the person Lucy won't leave alone, Linus obtaining his blanket and developing superpowers, the golf tournament that went nowhere and taught us nothing, several of my all-time favorite strips, and the introduction of two equally timeless and beloved new characters. Good stuff.

Anyways that's it for 1954. Next time: 1955!

[kiwiana-writes]

Which of your favourite books got bad adaptations? Do you feel Rwrb was a decent adaptation? How do you feel about the casting? What about a sequel? Hope it’s still honesty hour!

It's always honesty hour! A follow-up to this ask.

Answering the middle question first because I'm filled with chaos: I do think the RWRB film was overall a good adaption! There were parts of the book I missed desperately (June obviously, but also Liam and Raf my beloveds) and things about it that I would have preferred to be different, but I have criticisms of the book too which don't stop me loving it, and overall I really enjoyed the film. I thought the casting was fantastic, very impressed with TZP's ability to bring 'chaotic little shit' energy without actually being the short king of the book 🤣 and Nick did an excellent job with Henry. There's a lot going on in the book, and I do think streamlining it for a film was a smart move, even if it meant we lost some amazing stuff.

Regarding a sequel... I'd rather no sequel than a bad sequel, and while I trust Casey with their characters, approaching something film-first does wind up with a different structure to a novel that's turned into a film, the third-act misunderstandings that I hate, etc. I'd rather they wrote another book that could then get adapted, but I'm aware that's the most unlikely approach to be taken lol. Also, based on some of the reactions to Henry's bonus chapter, people get very attached to their post-canon headcanons and I feel like a sequel runs the risk of being divisive. Like, I want a sequel because I want more of Alex and Henry, but I would not enjoy all the Discourse™️ it would inspire.

Favourite books with bad adaptions! I'm still bitter over The Lovely Bones a decade and a half later, though not as much as My Sister's Keeper lol. The Dark Tower can get in the fucking bin. Sometimes I think about how desperately teenage MJ wanted an Artemis Fowl adaption and then we got... that. 11.22.63 was actually a decent miniseries but I hated it as an adaption of one of my favourite Stephen King books. I wanted to like Death on the Nile but holy FUCK. Fucking... Justice League I almost walked out of the cinema. There are probably more that are fully blocked from my memory lmao.

[Honesty hour, ask me anything!]

*I realise opinions on the film and on the bonus chapter differ from mine. I respect those opinions, I will defend to the death your right to hold them, but I also, in the most respectful possible way, don't care and have no interest in debating them. I say this with all the love in the world, but also a desire to protect my peace.

[siriannatan]

Creature Comforts - ScfWhip

I caught up on Genshin's main story today. Meaning there was a lot of Wriothsley. And since he gives me S1 fWhip energy I had to pass it onto my keyboard.

At first look, Grimlands was a very utilitarian nation. Everything was streamlined and simplified. The furniture in the few local restaurants, cafes and bars was barely not uncomfortable. And it was the same with the local count's manor. Or at least his meeting rooms. But that was all that the public, visitors - everyday ones or royals coming for meetings with fWhip. Be it in his meeting rooms, 'throne room' - it was too simple to be really worthy - or his filled-with-books office.

But what most from outside the small empire didn't know was... Behind closed doors both the everyday residents and their half-dragon count liked to delight in all possible creature comforts. Probably the only reason Scott wasn't complaining about rather plain snacks and hardly comfortable chairs when he had to sit through any meeting in fWhip's manor. Be it just the Wither Rose Alliance he recently rejoined - thank you Pearl for your support on the matter - meetings or meetings of all rulers fWhip had to occasionally organise as Lord Emperor.

Scott knew he simply had to wait and he'd be invited for honey-sweetened tea and delicious cakes and sweets in fWhip's plush little sunroom. As fWhip went over his notes. Absentmindedly snacking on cookies. Tail swishing as he nearly drowned in fluffy pillows. And don't get him started on fWhip's actual bed. That thing was massive and always had a pile of comfy pillows.

But some days that wait was hard. Especially since Scott was lately always assigned to sit on fWhip's left. With a perfect view of fWhip's gloved fingers drumming on the desk as Lizzie and Gem argued about the magical properties of rocks or something. But Scott was not listening and instead staring at fWhip's hand. Wishing it was under the table so maybe he could hold it.

But for now, he had to sip slightly bitter tea - it was fall where snow wasn't a permanent fixture. In Rivendell, there were two seasons - nicely snowy and snowy hell. And munching slightly dry and barely sweet cookies. Just a little bit more and he'd be getting his dragon cuddles. Just a couple more arguments and he'd have all the comforts fWhip and his manor had to offer.

[adamsvanrhijn]

Don't know If he's good or not, but Oscar is the last person/character I can imagine swimming as a sport... It's too tedious and repetative and disclipined if you actually do it as your thing. John would be good. But then again, Oscar has a goal-oriented mind and ADHD which could lead him to be a complete addict to any sport, and also be SUPER annoying about it :3

John really just has the vibe of someone who is going to stick to something until he Can't Take It Anymore. with a very high tolerance for what counts as not being able to take it anymore such that many things will probably not cross his threshold there. Whereas oscar is only going to do tough long term things if he has a compelling outside reason to do so. I think oscar could become a skilled swimmer if the stars aligned such that he learned how in formative years and had the need to like win a race or something around the same time as he was learning, but I think these are the conditions for oscar to do anything physically strenuous at all. Like if he went to school he was attending school during the mid 19th century transition to valuing physical education and you just know that on top of that he needed to beat a boy he hated-because-he-thought-he-was-cute at tennis or something.

I don't think John had competitive energy with boys he liked, I think he wanted to be on the same team as the boys he liked and to impress them and help them win with the power of friendship and teamwork or whatever. Competitive energy is for when the boy you like tells you you are both too old to kiss in secret now.

Anyway swimming is so technique oriented that I think Oscar would plateau very quickly if he wasn't consistently motivated to work on it, and IIRC the most common competitve stroke at this time in the Anglosphere was breaststroke, which is not reliant on a particular body type if technique is strong (narrower bodies are more streamlined on the glide and broader bodies have more power on the kick and pull so it evens out) (this is as opposed to like, butterfly, where broad shoulders and wingspan so to speak can make or break you once your technique is solid, and crawl strokes, where taking up as little lateral space as possible without sacrificing technique is helpful) which means neither of them especially has the cards stacked against them

[blueberry-lemon]

(This chart is a silly over-simplification, but I think it helps sum up what Engage is.)

This post contains no plot spoilers, but does discuss gameplay mechanics from Chapter 1 to Chapter 8.

Spoiler-Free First Impressions of Fire Emblem: Engage

I'm enjoying Fire Emblem: Engage!

When the first few images of the game leaked a year or two ago, I didn't know what to think of it. Even the first trailer left me a little on the fence about how much I would enjoy it, but I was ready for Fire Emblem to take a jump back into the pool of "colorful, dumb, silly nonsense."

The game has definitely been putting a smile on my face.

Gameplay: A Hundred Options For Tweaking Your Experience

FE: Engage's central mechanic is the idea of wearing Rings. There are 12 "Emblem Rings", rings that contain the spirits of 12 former Fire Emblem main characters. From the very first trailer, it was obvious that this served to be a powerful buff for your ring-wearing unit and a powerful blast of obvious nostalgia fanservice.

What I was surprised to learn from Nintendo's Ask The Developer interview was that the inspiration for the Emblem Rings came from a desire to streamline past FE mechanics. Fire Emblem 4, Fire Emblem Awakening, and Fire Emblem Fates all include the ability to have your units fall in love, boost each other, and have a child who is a mix of their strengths. Awakening and Fates also had the "pair-up" system that let two units travel together in one tile, fighting as a pair. These mechanics are probably my favorite addition to Fire Emblem. I loooove the idea of mix-and-matching different units who can form a bond with each other, protect each other, and make a whole "new unit" that reflects them both.

The developers said that the downside of falling in love and having a kid is that it took, like, half the game for the player to get to that point. They wanted a mechanic that they could introduce at the very start and was much quicker to use, and thus the Emblem Ring idea was born. It helps players "get to the fun part" faster. The Rings can also be unequipped and swapped at any time! You unfortunately can't have your Awakening characters re-marry and have new kids whenever you change your mind.

Wearing an Emblem Ring gives you boosted stats, new skills, and the opportunity to "Engage" in battle, where your character actually fuses with the spirit. When you strengthen the character's bond enough with the spirit over the course of the game, they can even permanently inherent some of the spirit's stats and skills, allowing them to keep them even when they take the Ring off.

I really like the Ring mechanic. I think it makes it really streamlined and makes it really beginner-friendly in the sense of letting you swap the Rings among your characters between every battle. It gets a little more detailed and overwhelming over time (it turns out there's 120-ish other Rings in the game, that give very minor buffs, but they don't get fancy character models of voice acting) but at its core I think it captures that "pair-up" idea in a new way.

Writing and World: Brimming With Colorful, Trope-y Energy

Fire Emblem games have always, always, always been corny, cheesy, cliche, whatever you want to call it. They deal with broad, recognizable fantasy archetypes and tropes from anime and JRPGs. The plots are somewhat cheesy or somewhat affecting, depending on the game. Each individual character, in each game, is going to either resonate with you or they're not. In most cases, they're not going to be "complex, three-dimensional people" unless you invest in seeing all of their Support conversations.

Engage is very much still in line with this. However, I think FE: Three Houses put a different type of effort and emphasis into the overall writing. That's not to say that Engage has objectively worse writing, but I think it can easily come off that way. The plot does a good job of "getting to the point" really fast, but I don't think it starts off on the right foot in terms of sounding original. The characters are charming so far, but most of them have been bad first impressions for me. For some of them, I couldn't even tell you what their one personality trait is yet? Others have me hooting and hollering.

Overall, I think Three Houses was a big step forward in terms of "how much effort the team put into fleshing out the Support conversations" and Engage feels more similar to the games from the previous eras. I'm hoping it proves me wrong when I get further!

In general, the world and characters are part of a fun, trope-y, fantasy adventure. But I'm hoping there's something a little more original and interesting to chew into later.

Hub World and Progression: Throwing Everything In The Pot

From Fates onward, the Fire Emblem teams have been experimenting with what sort of "hub world" and "long-term progression" systems should be featured in between battles. They've tried several different approaches, and Engage feels like "throw all the spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks."

Engage's hub is less grounded and realistic than FE: Three Houses and FE: Three Hopes' hub worlds.

Engage's hub lets you...buy casual clothes for your characters to wear in their off-time.

Engage's hub has activities that are...frankly, pretty buckwild.

I think I might love Engage so far.

[its-elvish-for-two]

it may be a trite question but what would your thoughts on a riyira/greatcoats/bastards/literally any other book tv/film adaptation be? are there any things you'd feel strongly about them changing/including/adapting properly? preference of cast, director, composer, or medium? would you rather they not exist at all? or do you not have strong feelings about it one way or the other?

Oops

In theory, I would love for these series to be turned into TV shows. I think TV would be better than films because there's more time to get everything in, and less worry about making it fast and snappy. Saying that, I think Greacoats might be good as a film, though how much you would lose from Falcio's internal narrative is tricky, but that's the same for film or TV.

But I'd be wary of any adaptations unless they were made in very very close collaboration with the author. There are a lot of bad adaptations out there and I'd hate for these books to be some of them.

I'm a stickler for staying as close to the original as possible. That's why I love Granada Holmes, a lot of it was quoted directly from the books, and not just the dialogue either, the actions in between, the little smiles, it's all to the books.

I'd happily watch all the little scenes that would probably be cut to make a film but add to the world and the characters. If I'm watching it with someone and they have to ask 'but why would they do that' because it's changed from the books and therefore doesn't make sense, it's not a good film (thinking a certain seven book/eight film series where whole characters are replaced and whole chapters deleted). Look, I get you've got to streamline for a film, but from a fan pov, I would sit there for a solid six hours if that's what it takes.

Cast, I don't think I mind too much, it's less the appearance and more the energy. I've got a few fancasts but that's more for myself as a drawing reference than actually who I would want to play them (tho saying that I do think Tom Hopper and Matthew McNulty would be fun as Hadrian and Royce, and I think Katy McGrath has got Valiana's mix of fighter and princess, like she did for Morgana)

Tbf, I think some of them would work well as animated series. I enjoyed how TLOVM did it, and I think it would be fun for Gentlemen Bastards because of the design of the cities and just the general feel of the series. But I think I'd prefer live action with Riyria. Greatcoats, I could be open to either I think, maybe leaning towards live action.

But I'd rather they not exist at all than be cut up and changed and made badly. They're small fandoms but there's still enough of us to get by with fan content rather than bad 'official' adaptations. I think MJS is reluctant to make any thing like that because he's very protective of Hadrian and Royce, which I can definitely understand, and I respect that.

This was, as usual, longer than I intended, but thank you for the ask.

How about you? Any fancasts for these dudes? And animated or live action?

[comicaurora]

Hello Red! I'm happy to say you've inspired me to start drawing comics, but the biggest issue I've encountered is that it takes actually forever. I'm always really happy I did it when I'm done but it's hard to convince myself to start when I know a couple panels is gonna take me days. So I was wondering if you had any advice regarding streamlining the process for time efficiency or keeping up motivation for long projects, and, if you remember, how long a page took you when you first started vs how long it takes now?

Hoo boy. Yeah, I can help out with that. The very first page of the comic took me, if I'm recalling correctly, a full week. No other projects or pages, just this.

A lot of work went into details that are frankly impossible to see, though I am still glad I did it, both as a learning experience and because I felt like I owed it to Vash to do it some justice before I squished it in twelve pages.

Hell, if you look closely, you can even see the cavalcade of little visual errors I missed because I didn't have it in me to do a seventeenth cleanup pass after a week straight of drawing tiny houses. Getting faster meant I'd have more energy left to polish the pages and get them looking nicer.

The process of getting faster has been kind of a fits-and-starts situation. Drawing that many humanoid figures over and over again eventually means you just get better at the parts you're less sure of, so the process of lining the pages has gotten rather faster since I don't need to burn as much time getting the character poses and lines right. Currently, depending on page complexity, I can fairly consistently get 3-5 pages fully lined in one night. Backgrounds have also gotten faster, and I tend to do those in large batches, sometimes filling out entire chapters with location backgrounds and skyboxes because the scene location isn't going to change and that makes it easier to keep it consistent.

Initially my backgrounds were both more complicated and worse-looking, which is a bad combination.

I ended up deciding between chapters that painstakingly lining a bunch of background trees probably wasn't worth the effort, and worked on finding a shortcut that would work better. I ended up doing something a little more lineless, a shortcut I initially discovered because I didn't want to plug in my drawing tablet and was playing around with things I could do with just my trackpad.

It was simpler, faster, not too jarring, and it meant my clearly-lined foreground figures were more naturally visually separated from the distant background. Win-win-win.

For the style of coloring I do, I tend to shade before I add color, though this is a shortcut I didn't figure out until something like chapter 6. This process is also pretty fast, all things considered, though I've had a lot of practice doing this kind of cel shading which is why I can hammer out a lot of pages' worth of shading quite quickly.

I like working in batches of about one scene, often broken up into subgroups of 4-6 pages at a time, so I can't give a front-to-back turnaround for an individual page - but I also think this kind of assembly-line process has sped up the process overall and makes it more fun for me, because I can storyboard basically as far in advance as I want to, which in turn makes it easier for me to motivate myself to keep going, because I know there's all kinds of good stuff I'm looking forward to drawing down the line. There's some good shit I'm excited for in Chapter 21, and bursts of enthusiasm on the storyboard end of things often translate to enthusiasm on the page-finalizing end which makes it easier to slog through even the tedious bits.

As a bonus, working ahead means the story's got a better chance of making sense and having good pacing when it's read back as an archive. Another win-win.

Overall the greatest optimization tool I can recommend is just working on the project. There's no better way to identify the parts that feel unnecessarily slow and could be changed, or the parts of your art you're unsure of that need polish to get more speedy. If you're planning on publishing the comic anywhere, I recommend building up a buffer beforehand - something like the first chapter (or in my case, first three chapters) will give you a very good sense of what parts need more practice or improvement as you move forward. And it is genuinely easier to motivate yourself to continue if you have an audience giving you positive feedback and/or panicking at what you're doing to their darlings.

[amesliu]

Since you said it’s fun here’s my art of Percy and Annabeth as dragons. Dragons are what I’m most confident drawing but I’ve been working on my people. Feel free to give some constructive criticism.

Percy does have wings of course I just thought the full thing would get in the way.

Wow okay so first of all very interesting concept. Creature design is it's whole field so definitely don't downplay your abilities in that. There are people who's entire careers is just designing dragons and mythical monsters.

What I'd love to see is more of the actual abilities, environments, and the lives of these dragons integrated into the design. Creature designs are usually pulled from the adaptations of real animals.

For Annabeth, it seems like she's based off an owl and you say she can turn her head 180 degrees. Well what anatomy in the owl allows that? Well if you look it up google says "Unlike a human whose arteries tend to get smaller and smaller as they branch out, the owl's blood vessels at the base of the head get larger and larger so that blood reservoirs form. This allows the owl to “meet the energy needs of their large brains and eyes, while they rotate their heads" and also "Owls are more flexible than humans because a bird's head is only connected by one socket pivot." Well from there I would start taking a look at owl skeletons and anatomy and study that and find a way to translate it into my designs. I'd love to see even more of the owl motif in the dragon, for example, maybe the feet are more talon-y and the face is shorter and rounder. Maybe she has more of a short neck that extends situation. Maybe instead of spines on the back she's more feathery. I'd also ask what other animals could you pull from? You say she can turn invisible so what if you pulled in inspiration from an octopus? Since they're very good at camouflage. What environment does she live in? If she lives in somewhere that has a lot of tall grassland the stripes would make a lot of sense like a tiger. Is she an ambush predator? Is she more of a chaser (haha)? Etc. Maybe she's a bit of both like an owl.

Here's an unbelievably quick sketch where I basically just pulled the shape of an owl skeleton and threw on some skin and feathers.

if you like dragons you probably already know but HTTYD has incredible dragon designs (except the light fury, god i hate her design so bad). cloudjumper is an excellent example of an owl-based dragon design.

For Percy I would basically apply a similar logic. I can tell that you're already thinking about to some extent because of the different spines you gave him. I think you should push it even further though. Overall I think you should break out of the basic dragon body plan.

I don't know how aquatic you intend for him to be but I think it would be beneficial to go with very aquatic. How would a giant, lizard-y, aquatic animal look like. Well we have a lot of reference for that both prehistoric (mosasaurs, spinosaurs etc.) and also current (marine iguanas, well this would mostly be for if you're looking for something thats not fully aquatic). What adaptations helped those species adapt to their environment? Adapt to their niche? How is he controlling water (is it telekinetic, does he have to move at all etc.)? I just found this while looking for examples for aquatic lizards, but did you know Anolis can make a bubble on their head to breathe underwater? Maybe take something from that? If he spends a lot of time in water he probably has flatter, webbed feet with limbs that aren't as mammalian as you have it right now. He probably has less horns and flourishes to keep him streamlined. Maybe he has countershading? If he's a glowing sea green does this mean he spends a lot of time in darker waters/at night where bioluminescence could be helpful?

I know sometimes it might sound absurd to entertain the practicalities of fantasy creatures and certainly not all aspects of a creature design needs to be completely plausible but it's one of the things that makes fantasy incredible and believable and easier to suspend disbelief. Taking the things that are real and tangible and understandable from our world and turning into something fantastical and mythical.

Plus I think it's just a lot of fun to think about small things like that.

[funkymbtifiction]

How to be faster and more efficient as Ne-Ti?

Wing it with with Ne? Ne works pretty fast on its own, but it will lack structure without a judging function being involved. As far as coming up with instant ideas, though, or alternatives, it can't be beat.

I feel like you are stressing as a 9 and moving into 6, and second-guessing and thinking you have to cover all bases or you're going to let people down and get fired... when in reality, you are probably fine and being appreciated for your contributions by your coworkers. :)

It has been troubling me a while now. But I have a feeling Ti is slowing me down a lot. Like, people around me are mostly Te-doms or ESFPs. They can respond to troubles or come up with structure on the fly.

If your coworkers are good at this, it means this doesn't have to be something you are good at / it's not necessary to burden yourself with it. Focus on the things you can do that aren't being covered by the ETJs / ESFPs in your life (long-term thinking, strategizing, seeing the big picture rather than just the here and now) and bring that to the table.

Like, we had a meeting with our clients, they can come up with adequate plans on spot. My ESTJ boss mentioned something like 'just responds to problems'. It's amazing how quickly Te-doms can find solutions (and make plans) to just about any problems so quickly.

Yeah, they're bad-asses. That's WHY they are the boss. ;)

Thing is, he expects me to be as natural at this as he does.

Is that what he told you, or are you burdening yourself with this expectation or leaping to unfounded assumptions?

I'm a good problem solver and logistician, mind you. But I can't come up with solid plans on the fly like he does. He built a plan (and budget) on spot. I have to talk through it and explore it to find the 'right' way to make it. It's kinda like everything has to fit and cogs run smoothly. It works but I feel like I can't keep up with Te-doms around me. It could also be argued that they are all more experienced than me (10+ years in this field ...) but still. I think I could do better.

Yeah, 10+ years doing this is giving them an edge. You're a beginner. Cut yourself some slack. You've written to me several times about this job, about being stressed, about trying to out-perform everyone else, and you are still taking on too much that is not yours to do in an effort to compete with people who are more experienced. It's unnecessary. Learn from them instead. Learn at the pace that feels the most natural. Outsource things to people who are good at them and allow that to be their contribution, rather than trying to master every single thing about your job all at once. You are over-estimating yourself with Ne, under-estimating how much time, effort, and experience is worth in terms of improvement (it takes 10,000 dedicated hours to become an expert at something) with Si, and so desperate to please that you're worried about things that probably are significantly less important to everyone around you than to you. Can you do better? Sure. But 110% more work to achieve 7% "better" is not a good use of your time, mental energy, or resources. Do your best and let that be good enough.

Do you have any advice (from Te perspective) to streamline my process?

Not really. Just do your best and learn from their many years of doing this. Ask questions to figure out why they use certain tactics. Do what tasks are given to you and one or two more things (if you care about earning promotions), but don't do other people's jobs for them or assume you have to be as good at their job as they are.

My dad just told me today that I'm reaching too high. I'm stressed out and I'm angry at myself. But he said I'm just reaching too high right now and should cut myself some slack.

He's right. You take on too much, don't do great at it because you're under-qualified or inexperienced, then get upset with yourself and assume you should be better at this than you are, which causes self-hatred in a never-ending loop. Recognize that this is a pattern and figure out how to stop it. Turn off that ruthlessly critical "you could do better" 1 wing. Notice when your expectations are unrealistic for yourself (Ne + 1) and come back down to earth. Recognize that not everything is yours to do (battle that super-ego self-criticism). Etc.

Also he told me I should assert myself more. Like, if I don't know something. Instead of just struggle myself, it's okay to ask people who know (i.e, my boss and seniors). He asked me why do I always take the 'hard path' when I can just ... well, ask. What do you think about this? Is it really okay to ask? Or it's actually true that people are expected to figure things out themselves?

Try to figure it out for yourself and if you can't, ask. If time is of the essence, immediately ask for help. There's no shame in it.

[messengerhermes]

Building in the Buffers

So hey, Living with chronic pain, I learned the hard way that deciding I didn't need to build in buffer time for myself around a big event (or even just going buckwild with a lot of small things that would stack) would put me on my ass with a major flare up. Over time, I started to figure out what my bodymind needed in terms of care and slowness to offset the big things, this mish mash of stuff is what I call Buffer time, the cushion before and after a thing that keeps my meatsuit from falling to pieces (or at least makes the falling to pieces less extreme). Here are a few examples for buffer time: During the Event, limit what the fuck I'm doing. Conventions take a lot out of me, whether they're the kind I am facilitating a workshop at or tabling and selling shit at. If I'm facilitating at a convention, my workshop is the *only* planned thing I will do that day. Everything else, fuck off. If there's a workshop that looks cool, I may go, but if I get tired or bored I will not make myself sit through it, I will quietly slip out. If I'm with friends and they want to hang out and do something high energy, I won't promise I'll be there, I'll ask when they're meeting up to go and let them know if I'm there I'm going but otherwise nah.

Streamline the number of choices I have to make about the thing. For tabling conventions, my entire kit is fits in a cracked, duct-taped electric purple hardshell suitcase and a cardboard box of comics. It's on wheels, holds my little collapsible shells, my prints, my tablecloth, my jewelry, and my signage. When I break down after a show, everything goes right back in that suitcase. All I have to do before that show is grab that suitcase, shove my cashbox in it, and that box. All I have to do at the end of a convention is look over my ledger to make sure I marked all my sales. When I worked charity fundraisers back in the day, I would pack my outfit in advance, dress clothes, shoes, and deodorant, shoved in a garment bag and small toiletry bag and stuck wherever staff got to put our stuff. I'd get maybe thirty minutes before showtime to shove myself into my clothes, wipe my pits and fix my hair. I did an extended version of this for conventions I present at. I would pack my clothes as outfits for each day, already put together. When I'm there, I don't have to panic about what to wear, I just have to pick which outfit I feel like that day. Plan my aftercare. I spent many years going "Oh I'll probably be fine after this concert/night dancing/big party/family event, no need to spread out my plans/do aftercare" and then wondering why I would crash, either emotionally, physically, or both in the days after whatever the thing was. No more. Social events take a lot out of me. If I go out to my friends at the club, whether we're dancing or out on the patio, that environment tends to be very overstimulating and draining. I also tend to need a tapering off-ramp to extended hanging out. This means I'm always the friend that does the "Hey, wanna grab 3 am tacos?" at the end of the night, and most of the time at least some of the group says yes. This has dual perks of getting a more chill wind down hang out and also food in my belly. Then I get to go home, sleep forever and do nothing the next day. Do Future Me a Solid. This is "planning my aftercare's" cousin. On weeks where I had major events/work things, I streamlined my life as much as possible. I figured out the easiest meals that were within my budget (I have eaten so much cereal, pancakes, and rotisserie chicken in my lifetime), I would hang full work outfits on one hanger so I could just pluck them from my closet and throw them on. I'd pack my lunch the night before to avoid eating only my emergency desk peanut butter. Take back your time. This is very narrow advice because it's focused on salary jobs with PTO, so please know, I am aware this doesn't apply to everyone. The thing about a salary job is they put that shitty "exemption" that means if you're called to work over 40 hours a week, you aren't getting overtime, *however* the flip of this is your employer is technically supposed to give you that time back. You don't get overtime pay, but you worked a week filled with 12-16 hour days? Flex the next week to take a day off or work halftime. Whenever I worked one of those special charity events, like a gala or 5k where I had to show up to work at 3 am, I told my boss in advance "Since I'm working extra hours here, can I take Monday off? I'll be sure to finish and schedule anything that needs to go out that day in advance." I started doing this because my body cannot work six days in a row and then come back and do a 40-hour week. It eats me alive. (Please note, advocating for myself this way worked because my boss wasn't a douche, but it did cost me promotions, even when I got glowing annual reviews. Ableism and capitalism suck ass y'all.) Chronic pain sucks ass, and our world is not set up to make it any easier. I know this post is not comprehensive and won't be useful to everyone, but I hope there may be something helpful among these words even if it's only inspiration to think about what might work for you.

[arkadiaasks]

What do you think of Atsushi Maekawa's work on Yugioh franchise?

Let's see...

Duel Monsters

His Battle City stuff (Roba, God 5 Combo, the Anchor Duel, Bakura vs Yugi, Bakura vs Marik) were generally pretty solid competent adaptations along with Hikokubo's Duel Reconstructions.

I liked Jounouchi vs Big 3, and was a fun combination of Luck vs. BS Fusion Strategy. The Big 5 Merger was a pretty fun Duel in terms of intensity. The villains might of not had much to really forward them but you can't say it wasn't a fun hammy over the top Duel.

And Exodia Necross was pretty cool. Like at worst, it was just good over the top, at best DM tried to let Gozaburo have his 15 minutes.

He generally handled Alcatraz as showrunner/head writer at the time pretty well, I think, as most of the stretch bloat of that arc was giving Takahashi breathing room

I liked the Train Duel stuff in DOMA, yeah, that was fun? And his Memory World stuff was as good as any of that mess could really work out, since it felt like the writers got passed notes to make it more "Duel-y" and streamline it.

GX

Never was huge on the first Asuka focus Episode (3).

Liked Hayato's Dad, whose Duel was one of the most interesting in GX. (9)

Super Animal Learning (13) and Tennis (15) were fine filler. I think Tennis was a reference to him having worked on Prince of Tennis.

Umi Duel I always remember because of the damn joke from the beginning, and the "UNDERWATER DUEL ACADEMY".

ARC-V

Uh, I think he generally got handed a shit hand having Kamishiro Tsutomu as his superior, as did many of the writers.

I think his part of Edo vs Yuya was okay (110) but that was never a Duel that was going to please people.

I think 115 and 116 he did capture the spirit of GX's dumb randos of the week, but this probably wasn't the place to do that, or they should of felt more meaningful as like Elite Mooks on home turf.

119 he caught how Ruri vs Shun should of stayed as the result. That worked perfectly as a catharsis moment for Shun saving his sister from mind control, and Ruri have control in stopping her own brainwashing.

He sold Battle Beast in 120 pretty okay.

124 to 125. Was. Okay? He generally got a good energy with letting Yuto take over, but I think people are still mad from no corrupt Lunalight Fusion and Ruri's Deck being wholely Parasites basically, basically the thing just felt like a general L creatively.

Massively indifferent to 130-131.

Not fond of Z-ARC!

141-142 I liked for the Train Samurai Duel.

And 145 was a perfect capstone for Shun that got shat on by Mr. Kamishiro.

So Ambivalent but when he did good stuff he did good stuff for ARC-V?

VRAINS

6-7: Hot Take, this was fine for setting up Aoi's character, arc and world setting.

16-17: This was okay Duel fluff, which Mr. Atsushi does well.

24-26: Same as 16-17.

29: Someone had to write it.

Like, he does try to give Aoi a decent shake in a progression for her arc. So most of her early on stuff people liked was from him.

39-40: This was a pretty good Duel, I liked Go vs Revolver.

51-52: Go going psycho worked here in all honesty. Go was always driven by his shitty petty pride, and him going to become toxic out of his desire to cleanse his sense of pride works!

62-63: I view this mostly as filler fluff for Yoshida to escape Beer Bar Anime Hell, and it was generally funny to have Soulburner already dealt and approached a previous trauma.

66-67: I liked these, with Earth and everything. He made Earth feel pretty relatable.

76-77: Look, if you're going to have to stitch Aoi into the plot for Aqua and give her a cardboard cutout MacGuffin friend for her to chase, this works.

90-91: Don't like these but I realize Aoi's arc ending this way was chiefly the result of VRAINS' anemic as fuck pool of cardable opponents, wrestling lingo wise. And if I recall she did nearly bounce Bowman into a wall.

94-95: This was. Okay. It was a shit arc, Flame and Soulburner got a pretty cool fight.

110: I generally liked Ai's arc.

VRAINS was fine, he was pretty good to Aoi, Soulburner and Go, main problem was VRAINS was a creature of its own creation conditions, but he seemed to give the cast decent time of day.

Like his tenure for the franchise has been fine, he gave characters decent focus and he was good at comedy episodes, and at worst, he did some some pretty kino boss fights.

[ainu-lindale]

Just some lil' Observations During My 17 Billionth Rewatch of Fellowship of the Ring

Okay so in the prologue, for some reason I never paid attention to how many active verbs are used to describe what the ring does and how it goes about it's lil life. I don't often think about the powers and personality of the ring very much, I'm usually to distracted by my love for frodo ha

"It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life." Love love love that, somehow never really heard that line before.

Uh oh. I'm becoming that person that unconsciously quotes all the lines as they're spoken.

I wonder if bilbo would've been a different old man if he hadn't had the ring in his pocket for decades

Tbh I am very impressed that bilbo just dropped to ring and walked out. Obviously it took some help by gandalf but still, to be able to leave it behind after all that time. Such a comforting thought to my poor little heart that hates to think about how long the Martin Freeman bilbo was slowly poisoned by the ring

Yall. When I was a kid the black riders gave me nightmares, and now they are like 0% scary

I've related to different characters over the years, but u know what I'm realizing that maybe I'm sam. bc I too would walk to the ends of the earth for frodo baggins.

Dear lorddd. That seduction of the ring theme - the one that plays at the v beginning of their journey as they're walking through the tall clovers and weeds under the trees - gives me chills every time. The use of voices in howard shore's score is MAGNIFIQUE

"If I take one more step it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been". Have any of yall seen the 9 hour version of the movie that plays that clip every time sam takes a step?😂😂

Am I upset that they replaced merry and pippin's dedication to frodo and the journey in the books with comedic relief stealing-the-crops stuff? Overall not much. I think they get the characterization they deserve over the course of the movies. Ppl can just chill and let the movie be a movie. Tbh we need some comedic relief from this very stressful epic

Am I upset they cut tom bombadil? Also overall no. Again, for the sake of the movie, they gave us some stress relief with merry and pip and streamlined the journey to bree enough to where an extra stop for some reprieve wasn't needed. Dont get me wrong, it's a lovely part of the book, but I agree with the directorial choices to keep the movie's energy up

THE REFLECTION IN ARAGORN'S EYES WHEN HE LIGHTS THE PIPE. CINEMATIC MAGIC. also I'm just generally attracted to him anyway.

Me anytime viggo says or does anything:

Arwen's sword under aragorns chin is THE best introduction to our first legit female character I could ask for

OH MY GODDDDDDD. I think it's probably Elijah's hobbit-height double that viggo is carrying to the horse, and dear God that mask on him is so freaky looking 😂😭😂 Never ever seen that before

One thing I am just ever so slightly salty about is that they had the council of elrond be summoned to determine the fate of the ring rather than everyone coming on their own accord with their specific knowledge to lead to the collective realization that they are exactly the right group of ppl to form the fellowship

For the rest of my life, I am doomed to only think of the LOTR How It Should Have Ended during the council of elrond scene. 12 year old me really screwed herself by watching the same 5 YouTube videos on endless repeat

The solo French horn that plays the gondor theme while boromir is speaking is so subtle but increeeeeeeedibly powerful. It's just different enough from the other themes introduced so far that for that moment it takes me so much deeper into the world of middle earth ??

Just noticed the wink between gandalf and elrond when aragorn offers to help frodo. Their last conversation ended with "he turned away from that life long ago. He has chosen exile" and now aragorn is giving up his preferred solo life for the sake of frodo and for the world. Look how the turntables, elrond

Boromir's lil "sorry!" when he accidentally cuts Merry's hand 😭

"Boromir! Give the ring to frodo!" "As you wish." Boromir loves aragorn

The humans carrying two hobbits at a time to keep them safe from the snow😭😭😭

Literally Gandalf can you please just tell frodo that there is a balrog down in moria!!! This is not informed consent!!!!

Lake monster outside moria = aquatic sarlacc

We as a Society™️ need to spend more time listening to gandalf's words to frodo while chilling in moria

The chanting during the chase in khazad dum gives me similar vibes as the "track down this murderer" voices at the end of phantom of the opera. ..uh oh so I'm getting too tired to elaborate on my thoughts

I've watched Gandalfs 'death' too many times that it's not the fall itself that makes me cry anymore, but it's frodo's reaction outside that gets me now. Also the soprano voice singing (renee fleming?)

Oh my god I just heard for the first time boromir's line in lorien "i did not see it", referring to Galadriel telling him there's still hope for his people. That's the same thing he says right before he dies and I finally understand what he meant. He tried to take the ring from frodo bc the ring overwhelmed him completely with a sense of despair, convincing him that using the ring was their only option to survive. And oh my gosh it's how galadriel knew that boromir was going to try and take it. She knew he had lost hope. Wow it took me waaay too long to catch that. It's the specificity of it all that I didn't catch, not necessarily the fact that boromir thought the ring was the only way

Boromir's death hit different this time yall. With a better understanding of what was going on in his head, just ..... I may or may not have cried a lot more than usual

Soooo strategic of howard shore to have let a long time pass without hearing the Shire theme before it plays when frodo and sam hug on the boat. Every. single. damn. time. that moment gets me. The power of MUSIC people.

Aaaaaaaaaand credits roll

[morsobaby]

Special task

The sea is frightening. Powerful waves, large rocks and cliffs anywhere and especially out of sight. And elephant seals.. He knew they were allies, but each one was so huge and frightening. They were so hard to read. Once during swimming practice, a stray current had swept him up and suddenly he's slammed against a rough sack of lard that's moving into whichever direction it decides while Herringpaw holds on for dear life.

Well, in all honesty just the water itself was problem enough. Despite being streamlined and agile, Herringpaw was more like a tiny seaweed than a cat.

"He's too skinny, there's absolutely no muscle on this twig! He's named after a fish that, all things considered, he couldn't even catch if his life depended on it! Good thing he's too hairy to look like one or he'd already be in the stomach of a seal.." Walrusroar's words simmered in the back of his mind. He'd been the one to save Herringpaw after he got trapped in a water spiral, and despite Swimmerpaws efforts, dragged them both down.

At this point he was convinced Walrusroar cared more about the elephant seals than his own clan. Own species.

He hanged his head low and sniffled. The pity in everyone's eyes was hurtful at this point. Well except for maybe Swimmerpaw. They were empathetic for sure, but didn't pity him. It was refreshing. He considered them his best friend.

Speak of the apprentice

"What's up?"

They appeared beside him, tapping his back with their tail. Herringpaw lifted his head miserably. "I don't wanna do swimming practice today.. I'll just end up humiliating myself like every other time." he curled his tail over his paws, withdrawing into himself. Swimmerpaw leaned their shoulder on him as comfort. "Well you can totally do something else today." Herringpaw looked at them doubtfully. "Like what?"

"Like anything! You're super helpful bro, it'll get you some valuable experience to do different stuff with different people." Swimmerpaw pat their tail on Herringpaw's back a few times more as encouragement. He thought about it for a moment, but decided he would really rather do anything else than swim today. "Well. Sure!" he tried to seem more confident, despite all the doubts nibbling in the pit of his stomach.

He wandered the camp opening, looking at everyone present. Laughterpaw was painting murals with Swansong.. With fish blood seemingly. He winced and looked away. Swansong didn't seem too happy about it either. But he definitely couldn't stomach fish guts. He wandered around, not really daring to approach anyone first.

"Why, Herringpaw. How are we doing? You don't seem to be training right now." Roebeard greeted him with a swing of his frizzy tail. Herringpaw awkwardly drew on the gravely ground with his paw. "Yeah I'm.. Wondering if I could do something else for a change.." Roebeard smiled. "Well aren't I in luck. I could use the help of someone young and nimble". Herringpaw looked at his smile. It was genuine. Although he wondered if this too, was just pity. Herringpaw was a frequent at the medical den due to his many accidents, and had thus gotten in good graces with the old medic. He gave a little smile back. "Sure thing Roebeard. Herringpaw the nimble always at your service!" he perked up a little bit. "That's my boy. Come, follow me." Roe turned to leave the opening. Herringpaw felt a twinkle of warmth in his chest.

They climbed up one of the little tunnels leading to the top of the ledge. Herringpaw made sure to look out for the elder cat, since due to these tunnels, many had slipped and broken their legs or tails or.. Worse. There was fortunately another way up the ledge, rough and rocky with occasional little trees and roots sticking out, but it was alot farther away. It would also be infinitely less convenient to circle the coastline until the great cliff ended.

At the top, Roebeard stopped to catch his breath, looking at the scenery opening below them. Herringpaw sat by him, though more on the side where the great cliff gradually turns to serene grassy fields. The diving spot was nearby, but he didn't like to think about it. He felt lucky he would never be qualified to become a Guardian. The seaside wind made Herringpaw's long ears and Roebeard's curly beard flutter. "It's really beautiful up here isn't it.." he murmured. Herringpaw leaned over, closer to the edge to take a peek.

The heights made him feel queasy. He leaned back away. "It's.. A view.." he mumbled. "What.. Did you need me to help with?"

Roebeard turned to him again. "Ah yes, we're going to collect herbs. Come now". He began walking among the cliff, adjacent to the ledge. Herringpaw's fur was prickled, and he felt cold as he kept glancing to the direction of the sea, careful not to walk too close to it. They reached another rocky climbing wall, leading down to the waters below. Roebeard stopped where the steady land turned to scruffy rocks. "Look closely now." he gestured with his tail, and Herringpaw followed. "Those roots over there are important. But I don't trust my step as much. Now, there is safe footing, but only right up until that little gap there. I'm not as versatile, and I thought who better to slink over there to chew them off than you?". Herringpaw looked at the mentioned rocks. It didn't look.. Too bad. He was probably agile enough to reach the roots. He looked to Roebeard and nodded, gaining a little more energy. "I'll get them for you." he affirmed as he started descending towards the roots. "Be careful my boy!" Roebeard responded.

Herringpaw made his way carefully down the various rocks. He was a surprisingly alright climber. His gaze darted between the roots and wherever he was going to step next. Sweat formed at his ears. Eventually he made it to the gap separating the cluster of roots and the rest of the path. He quickly glanced at Roebeard, who was observing the apprentice with a nervousness, tail tip flicking back and forth. Herringpaw tried to give a reassuring smile but it probably looked doofy and forced. He gently pawed the rock beneath the roots, seeing if he could set one down on it. It seemed meh at best. He set his front paw down on it carefully, claws extended for grip. Mouth open he grabbed the roots, trying to chew at least one off.

"Try to get as much of one as possible!" Roebeard said from higher up. Herringpaw let out a squeak as confirmation he'd heard. He grabbed a mouthful more roots and began gnawing them in half. They tasted extremely bitter. His tail was stiff as a stick, trying desperately to keep him balanced while he tried to rip at the plant. Spit pooled down his chin as he tried not to gag at the stinging bitterness.

Eventually, one root broke. Then another, and another. His tension eased for a moment. He chewed the last one off and swung his head back from the small standing, huffing and drooling with a bunch of dirty roots in his Jaws. "Examplary work Herringpaw! I knew you could do this!" Roebeard commended. Relief spread through each limb as Herringpaw made his way back up safely. He wasn't complimented alot. Except by Swimmerpaw. Kinda. He spit the roots on the ground to wipe his chin and mouth. Roebeard wiped the slimy roots with his tail and picked them up himself.

"No biggie. No biggie. I got it.." Herringpaw blabbered to himself in relief and victorious pride. ".. I can't believe I did". Roebeard chuckled, brushing against the small Tom's side as he turned to return to camp "Of course you did. Swimming is only one skill, and fishing a whole other. You have resilience and agility my boy, just harness it." he muffled between the roots in his mouth as they headed back. ".. Thanks, Roebeard." Herringpaw mewed. He was touched by the elders words.

They slid and waddled down the same tunnel, back to camp. Herringpaw followed Roebeard to the medic hole. After setting everything in place, Roebeard turned to look at him. There was warmth in his eyes, as he looked at Herringpaw for a quiet moment. Something seemed to swim through his thoughts. Herringpaw cleared his throat. "So um, you're welcome! Is.. There anything else?" he asked carefully.

Roebeard blinked a few times, as if about to say something. Herringpaw waited patiently.

"No, I think we're good for today." he finally answered. Herringpaw nodded. "Oh, alright then."

"But.. Do see me tomorrow again, I can show you where I get the best seaweed, eh? You best go off now, it must be dinner time already." Roebeard continued, retreating into the depths of the medic cave.