#ignore how inconsistent the names and styles are

[depressio111117]

we sharing horses today?

[gmun-ooc]

Can we see some of your drawings of them?

Yeah sure

And my favorites (Both the latest and the first one):

[aachria]

The long awaited (maybe? Idk how many of you were waiting for this) SSSBMTY College AU!

Majors in bold

Headcanons in regular text

Notes about the art indented in orange

Luffy — Undeclared

Was forced into school by his gramps. (The university dean. The fucking dorm building all the Strawhats but Jimbei live in is named after him.)(it was this or join the navy.) Takes the most random classes he can. Some of them are advanced and require perquisites and no one knows how he keeps getting into them. Wears shorts and sandals in winter & will run any errand or do any odd job for food. He has a very nice bike he got for free from a garage sale that Franky fixed up. There's a campus wide bet on when and what he'll choose as his major. His bucket hat was a gift from Shanks, the universities World Economics prof. Has a million friendship bracelets on his ankles because Ed makes them when they're stressed. Never has a bag on him. Fights Canadian geese on the way to class, like a fucking maniac. Protected species who?

When I tell you that this drawing of Luffy is the first time I've ever drawn actual feet with toes that don't look fucking ridiculous I need to cheer for me. Why is he a different flavour of boy every time I draw him please. His ass isn't rubber in this universe, of course he's scuffed to shit. Chopper ran out of Spiderman bandaids, sorry bud. Advocate for the Single Piercing Luffy™ agenda, he went and got it done with Ed when they got their helix.

Ed — English major Psychology minor

Took History of Piracy for easy grades & a story idea. Known around campus as that asshole who'll tell you exactly which of your roommates ate your leftovers for $5. Is roommates with Luffy because of a system mix-up when they got distributed. Always wears a Burberry trench coat Nami thrifted for $3 and gave them as a bday gift. Carries everything in a ratty falling apart messenger bag. Them and Luffy filled out marriage papers on a dare, Zoro (who got legally ordained on a dare minutes before) oversaw that, Zoro and Ed filed the papers when they were drunk. So Ed and Luffy are legally married. And they don't even notice until tax season and Jonah, Ed's accounting friend, asks about it.

I need you to ignore the inconsistence with the hands in these ok? Some of them get very nice and normal hands, and others get weird shaped blobs. Sorry Ed, them's the breaks kid.

Zoro — Health and Fitness major Mathematics minor

Literally no one knows why he has a Mathematics minor, least of all him. P sure he walked into the wrong class on the first day and just stuck with it. The most terrifying captain of the kendo team the university has ever had. He's won more championships and trophies in his tenure than the school has in its history, the revenue he brings in from sponsorships and such make them turn a blind eye to his... eccentricities (three sword style. Nobody has stopped him yet, anyone who says it's illegal gets penalized). Has had campus security called on him so often from being creepy when walking home from the gym in the dark there's a poster of him in the security office that says 'NOT ACTUALLY A THREAT. JUST WEIRD AND WALKS WITH PURPOSE.'

Zoro's sword patch on his jacket was designed by Usopp, embroidered by Luffy for a class (shittily) and fixed up and sewn on by Ed. Those docs have seen war. He has put them through hell. He has walked through a fucking river with those things, he superglues them back together every time they break. Franky had to strongarm him into getting the soles professionally replaced.

Nami — Meteorology major Finance minor

All of her clothes are thrifted designer things. Regularly terrorizes Value Village employees. Anything she has that isn't thrifted she gets from the many estate sales she plagues, snatching grandma's entire Chanel collection and all her nicest jewelry. She has absolutely everything anyone could ever need in her purse. Tampons and pads? She gotchu. Extra pens? It'll cost you, but yeah. A curling iron? Sure, why the hell not. She runs the betting pool on Luffy's major with Ed. She also writes a gossip column for the school newspaper and has a podcast she uploads a new episode to every few months. Shows up to every class looking like a supermodel no matter the time. 7am? Perfect. 10pm? Fabulous. Your go-to if you get locked out of your dorm. Has a moped but barely uses it.

Nami's bag is a large Prada Gallaria Saffiano bag, which I painstaking drew to accuracy down to the colour even though it still looks ever so slightly different, because Nami is a big purse girl. The compass rose necklace was a going away gift from Nojiko when she left for uni. I think her haircut is so cute I love her sm. Don't pay any mind to how fucking disheveled half of their lineart looks next to her pls.

Usopp — Graphic Design major

Not a member of the archery club, but shows up enough he’s in all the team photos. Was originally the designated driver, had a pretty little mini van they called the Merry, had one of those fucking fuzzy dice hanging mirror things in the shape of a sheep’s head. Got in a bad car accident and she got totaled by some jackass in a red Honda Civic. Dating Kaya, who’s a nursing student. They barely see each other because she’s so fucking busy and half the students are convinced the girlfriend Usopp is always talking about and calling is fake. The Strawhats have a dnd campaign that they run every other week, Usopp DM's. On weekends he works at an axe throwing range and holds the record for most bullseyes in a row. They have his picture mounted on the wall.

Usopp's necklace is the old key to the Merry, and he engraved his belt buckle for a project. I cursed his ass with the giant fuck off portfolio bag because those things are so big and unwieldy. The people in his program's studio never clean their paint up properly, that's why he's covered in it. Advocate for the Usopp With Gages™ agenda. God he is such a cutie patootie.

Sanji — Business degree

Literally grew up working in a restaurant, he’s only going to school to get the degree so he can open his own and also because Zeff threated to castrate him if he didn't get a higher education. Cooks basically every single meal for the dorm, since it’s just the Strawhats (it's a new (old it's old and was refurbished. Everyone assumed it was haunted.) building that they just dedicated to Garp. Has no other residents yet). Him and Zoro fight so much in their shared room half the time he ends up kicking him out and making him sleep in the community room lmao. He just shows up in half the culinary classes because he hates the business ones so much, the one time someone tried to tell him to leave he cussed them out for a full ten minutes while gesticulating wildly with a knife in hand. They never tried that again. Saw one of the profs berate a young lady for wearing a dress shirt to class because it’s impractical and proceeded to take that personally. Yeah he wears three piece suits to all his classes, he could still kick you ass in ‘em. Shut up. Volunteers to show around foreign exchange students because he can speak at least 4 foreign languages fluently. Is it to woo pretty French girls with his charm? Wouldn't you like to know.

I could not draw Sanji in a decent pose for the life of me, his ass was just not having it. He's got one of them really nice leather messenger bags with the lined pockets and filigree, he's very proud of it.

Chopper — PreMed

One of the few Strawhats who regularly sees Usopp’s reclusive girlfriend, and is very confused as to why people think she isn’t real. Still a literal child (is 15 still a child? Yeah that's like barely a teenager), a goddamn prodigy and got in with an incredibly good recommendation from the best doctor in the country, who just so happens to be his adoptive mother. He’s literally too cute for anyone to question that, plus he’s the sharpest tack in the damn class. He knocked his front tooth out ages ago (it was an adult tooth) but he's too fucking busy to get an appointment to get it fixed, just adds another layer to his babyface. Nice girls keep asking him if he's here to go see his parents or older siblings, he's endlessly infuriated by it and Sanji is endlessly jealous. Saved Ed from choking to death in a Domino's parking lot the first time they met, he dropped his pizza doing it so they bought him another. The rest is history. Does not feel cold, wears chunky boots year round. Got them reflective ass eyes like a deer, no one has ever taken a good picture of this child. He looks fucking possessed in his school ID.

TELL ME WHY I ALMOST FORGOT TO DRAW CHOPPER. I finished drawing Franky and was like "gee, only Brook and Jimbei to go! Good for me," and then I had to pause while looking as the picture of the group I was semi-referencing for heights n shit and was like "OH FUCK THE CHILD—" He's so cute tho. He's giving lil baby Goro Akechi. The argyle sweater vest and Timbs were a must, so was his hockey boy haircut. Matching backpack and tie for the win. Oh and the freckles, Chopper with freckles is everything to me.

Robin — Has a million hyper specific degrees. Currently earning her third doctorate.

Very mysterious and sexy. Mature student who occasionally gives lectures in the archeology program when she has free time. Owns a motorcycle but barely rides it. How is she not in debt after so much schooling? Don't fucking ask if you want to live. Is that why she lives in the dorm building? Do. Not. Ask. She and Luffy attend the same Theology class, no one knows how Luffy is passing with such good grades, but Robin is adamant that he doesn't take notes or borrow hers, and takes to having the same scores as him with grace. Child actor on one of those show like Barney (but not Barney dear lord) or Reading Rainbow and people only knew her as 'that kid with the creepy fuckin stare.' She was a meme a few years back, they called her the devil child. Every time someone asks her about it she just says she has no idea what they're talking about while giving them the creepy stare.

Women with Big Bags truther, right here. Robin deserves to be put in a suit. Goddamnit, get that woman in a suit!

Franky — Has a bachelors of Engineering, a bachelors of Architecture, and is earning his (water specific) Architecture degree

Currently the groups designated driver (after the tragic death of the poor Merry) with his supped up SUV, the Sunny. How do all the Strawhats fit inside? The power of love, obviously. That car will NOT fucking move if even one of the seatbelts is undone. Made Ed and Luffy wedding rings after he found out they accidentally got married. (Only after laughing for a half our straight, almost passing out, and laughing again. Then he cried for another hour about how beautiful it was.) He sometimes works as a nude model for life drawing classes on campus. Half of the the Strawhats have, in one way or another, seen him in the buck. Has knee braces from an... incident... with a train when he was younger. Now he volunteers at KidsAbility and has a shift on the campus crisis/suicide hotline. Huge advocate for mental health services at the school. He lives in the dorms for the ✨experience✨. Even worse than Luffy, mf wears booty shorts in the dead of winter. He's constantly dressed like It's laundry day. One of those guys from a famous Vine when he was younger that just gets stopped while he's walking so people can go "TRAMPOLINE VASE GUY??" (Iceberg was recording. I love Iceberg.)

Yes Franky is wearing an I ♥ MILFs shirt, what of it? It was a gift. Drawing him was an exercise in struggling with the pompadour and getting uncomfortably close to drawing Syndrome. Yes, he's cold all the time. No, he will not stop.

Brook — Literally no one knows. Something music related probably.

Fucker has been around forever, there’s old ass profs who swear to god they went to school with him and he hasn’t aged a day. Regularly plays local bars and cafes. Doesn't own a cellphone, he can literally only operate rotary phones. Computers confuse the shit out of him. Knows nothing about pop culture or recent events, but is up to date on everything in the music industry. He sometimes helps organize the old library archives because he's somehow the only person who understands the system they're organized in. Sometimes he'll just namedrop a famous singer/band he's either played with, done karaoke with, or done background vocals/instrumentals for and you have to guess whether he's telling the truth or just saying shit. There's a campus wide betting pool (run by Nami and Ed, go figure) on whether he's a vampire, ghost, time traveler, or Dorian Gray in disguise. Prepares the questions for 70s night pub trivia. Every time the Strawhats plan a ghost hunt he's busy, then at the end they find out that all the paranormal shit they've been experiencing is just him running his errands. It's happened at least four times.

Is Brook off-putting enough? I was trying to make him off-putting. He swears up and down the neck tattoo was gotten on a dare by Elton John, what, you gonna question a man who looks like he stepped out of Coraline? The skeleton gloves were a gift from Ed.

Jimbei — Has already graduated as a Marine Biology major Political Science minor and is taking both a Gender Studies course and a Peace and Conflict Studies course years later.

Teaches martial arts at a local dojo on weekends and volunteers with the martial arts team on campus. Robin helps him organize protests on weekends. He's good buds with a lot of the faculty and gets invited to after work drinks regularly. He helped establish a program that walks people who stay late at the library to their dorms when he was first a student that's still going strong to this day. Lives off campus and has the Strawhats over for BBQ on long weekends. Literally the only time the Strawhats eat food not made by Sanji. The Grill Master™. Somehow holds some kind of record or high score at every single bar/pub in town. Knows every single mailman and janitor by name. MVP of the catch and release fishing club, helps plan all of their trips.

I struggled with him. I struggled hard. That's a man who went his whole childhood with a horrendous underbite and only got it fixed once he was an adult. Ed gave him the fishing lure earrings out of guilt after he brought them on one of his fishing trips and they fell in and nearly capsized their boat. IT'S A REUSED PLASTIC BAG JIMBEI IS RESPONSIBLE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT—

[creaman]

—BECAUSE KUNG FU PANDA 4 KILLED MY GRANDMA, OKAY?

To preface, I watched this movie and I'm genuinely tweaking right now so I had to write down a very brief (lie) criticism on this film — which you should boycott, by the way.

Starting with the things I liked, before briefing my primary points of criticism:

Po's Character Regression

Po and Zhen's Dynamic

The Chameleon

I'd also yap about Lord Shen and the death of the art style and the entire narrative and pacing and use of the staff of wisdom but my therapist says being such a hater is 'unhealthy' or something. My heart is full of hatred.

SPOILERS for the entirety KFP4 for the 2 people who care.

KFP4 undermines and ignores the previous three movies — Unwriting character developments, outright removing the Furious Five, straying from the character design philosophies and is completely inconsistent with the established lore.

Things I Liked About Kung Fu Panda 4

The Chameleon's character design

Visual gag in the Tavern where Po uses a recently thrown axe as a hat rack (made me laugh)

When Mr. Ping did this:

so cute! the little heart!

Po — Character Writing

Po, as established in the previous movies, is confident in his abilities and identity — he’s learnt inner peace, he’s matured as a character. However, in KFP4, his character has completely regressed. He’s immature again (such as KFP1, possibly worse) and says verbatim, “only knows kicking butt and taking names” — UNLEARNING inner peace and insisting that “…being the Dragon Warrior is all I know.”

It’s childish, and sort of Hotel Transylvania-esque.

Which isn’t helped by the comedy, the dialogue — a large chunk of which are jokes in the style of:

Master Shifu says something philosophical

Po quips off of it / doesn’t get it (i.e. Whoa!! beat I don’t know what that means.)

Oh, it’s great, yeah, very tolerable. Po’s shenanigans are normally reeled in by the presence of the Furious Five who are generally more serious in nature, creating a much needed balance in the dynamic — So without them, it’s just Po becoming increasingly obnoxious and insufferable with every consecutive quip throughout the screenplay.

Po and Zhen — Character Dynamics

[No more graphics sorry I'm too angry]

As if it wasn’t obvious that Zhen was going to be the next Dragon Warrior the second she was introduced.

Zhen, as a character, has no depth besides being a quippy thief. She quips, she steals. This character has no motives — it can be assumed that the writers intended on a ‘change of heart’ thing, but she isn’t established as evil, her working for the Chameleon is written as a (albeit poor) twist reveal.

By which point, her taking either side wouldn’t make sense, given that she has shown no loyalty or attachment to either Po nor the Chameleon.

The movie artificially strengthens their bond by having Zhen start opening up about her backstory out of nowhere for no reason but they have done nothing to grow closer to each other.

Small tangent, her backstory is exactly what you’d expect it to be with no subversions or even emotional weight. Woe is me I was so small and hungry I had to steal to survive. Glossed over in about a minute.

The majority of the dialogue between Zhen and Po is spoken exposition — explaining how powerful and badass the Chameleon is, explaining how ‘we have to go here to do that’ and ‘this place was cool until the Chameleon did such and such’, and the rest of their time together is spent engaging in filler chase sequences and fight scenes.

The Chameleon

Where do I even start…

This is where it becomes apparent that the movie relies heavily on telling rather than showing —

She is the weakest villain by far, not only in universe but as a written character; which is particularly disheartening because I genuinely adore her character design and feel as though a shapeshifting character has great potential.

The movie artificially inflates her power by insisting through exposition that this is the most capable antagonist thus far (lie).

The audience is TOLD by Zhen and various restaurant patrons that the Chameleon is a powerful shapeshifting sorceress and that she 'dominates the city' whilst the film does nothing to showcase this.

'Dominating the city' meaning letting her henchpeople run amock and bully the civilians just like Lord Shen's wolves in KFP2... uninspired.

I just realised they didn't even give her a NAME what the FUCK is going on

She describes HERSELF as ruthless, clever and unsentimental when comparing Zhen to herself.

She says HERSELF that she’s “Stronger than every opponent you’ve ever faced.”

Let’s see what vile reprehensible things she’s done, shall we?

Gently push someone down some stairs

Her first appearance is through Zhen’s exposition, as opposed to the dramatic and memorable entrances of the previous villains. Her motives or character aren’t established until the final third of the film. She doesn’t even FIGHT anybody until the final third of the film; and even then, her fight sequences are uninspired and she never really poses a real threat. (She goes down in two hits.)

That being said, WE CAN STILL SAVE HER GUYS WE CAN STILL GET HER OUTTA THERE I'M COMING FOR YOU CHAMELEON I'M GONNA DRAFT YOU A PROPER BACKSTORY AND MOTIVE AND YOU'RE GONNA BE THE MOST THREATENING VILLAIN THUS FAR

There's a scene after the climax of the film where all the kung fu masters and previous villains from the spirit realm bow to Po. I'm not going to provide my thoughts on this because I fear I may burst a blood vessel. Good day!

Closing Statements

To put it simply, Kung Fu Panda 4 was my Megamind 2.

The film rejects its predecessors in every way. It really feels as though they brought in somebody with no prior knowledge of the franchise to direct the movie.

It's a film that relies heavily on telling rather than showing — banking on the previous three movies to carry it through the box office.

It's just really disheartening to see studio execs turn one of the best franchises into a safe sequel cash grab and regress every character's development.

Nevertheless. I do adore the chameleon's character design so I might do my own take on her character.

As far as I'm concerned, there is no fairy godmother, there is no tooth fairy, and there is no kung fu panda 4.

[tamaruaart]

What was zhao's character designing process like?

Hello! Thanks for asking, I'll try to keep this as simple as humanly possible-

-the beginning stages of Zhao's character

(Ignore the bad quality of the pictures, I was lazy-)

I've actually had Zhao for quite a few years now, but I think these drawings I made like 9 months ago are the oldest ones that I could find. As you can probably see, in the begging she was a primarily jttw OC, I remember being super into OSP (which I still am), so when I started watching their jttw series I immediately got to making an OC because I really liked the world and all.

There's not much to say about the design honestly. But I will say why the hair changed, back then, her hair was very tiger-y but why has it changed so much if she's still a tiger? Well it's because back then I actually really liked the hair, but as time went on I thought it was way too much. However I really got attached to the whole "Cursed for disobeying your family so that you can never forget about them when you look at your own face.", so I decided to keep the orange hair just remove the details.

However a lot of the drawings you will see still have the stripes, but you'll see how they became more and more simple over time.

(note: All of the drawings you will see of her old design are pretty old so my art skills have improved-)

When I just started watching lmk I already knew I wanted to change up her character a bit. So I did a mini re-design. Again not much to say about her design except that I wanted it to look very demon-y (because she actually used to be a tiger demoness)

However I felt she was too "soft", so I changed up her character a bit to be more cold and "mature", because I wanted her to have a bigger contrast in personality with Sun Wukong. I'll get into that later :>

And as you can see I was still experimenting with certain designs but in the end I ended up with the last one for a while.

Then something awoke in me and I was finally like: This hair is mad complicated let's simplify this sucker-

So some (a lot of) experimenting:

(as you can see I've got a very inconsistent style)

And with that I eventually got this kinda design:

As you can see, this is was the start of a ✨new era✨

(you can still see these drawings up on my blog if you scroll down enough-)

And this design stuck for a while until I made a certain drawing for a certain @/camhues 👀

At this time I have started reading Circe and was very inspired by her character :0

She changed from being cold to more motherly. She's still mature but more clever, compassionate and caring. (yet still pathetic in my eyes). One of my friends here on tumblr @/doppel-doodles explained her PERFECTLY- "A fierce tigress in the body of a gentle mother cat" (like who gave them the right-), this explains her character very well because despite being very peaceful she's still a strong sorceress-

Now, Zhao is still kinda quiet and reserved considering her unhealthy past. But that ties a bit more into her connection with Wukong, which I'll get into in a bit.

I wanted Zhao to seem more "out of place", back then she just seemed like a basic bish girlboss OC and like someone who would make a good background character-

I also decided to give her a full name (because my dumb ahh realized Zhao is a Chinese SURNAME-) so I decided on Zhaoyan, also funfact Zhao's father used to call her "Zhaodi" because that name means "requesting a brother" (Because sexism yaaayyyyyy-)

My Zhao design is also heavily inspired by @/gigizetz Circe design, and her hair is very much inspired by Rapunzel from tangled-

And so yeah, then we got to her current design

While I can't really give anymore specific references, I can tell you a bit on how I settled on this design :D

Note: I wanted her to have a more exotic, tropical and ancient vibe if that makes sense. She is a spiritual maiden, sometimes even described as a sorceress, and considering the role I settled on giving her in the story it makes sense she would seem like "something new" or something out of the blue if you will. Even though she's a Peach Maiden, she doesn't exactly look like one, which I honestly think is really exiting to work with-

There's still some lore I haven't spilled yet that would say more about her design, but I hope to reveal that in the future!

Now, all the lore of her current character ties to one specific thing, aka her most important role in lmk- her connection to Monkey. Now as I mentioned, Zhao and Wukong were made to be opposites, or well to seem like opposites (one is chaotic and one is calm). Also the mear fact that the Chinese monkey zodiac and Chinese tiger zodiac are specifically referred to as not being able to get along so well.

But in reality they're quite similar, both get over looked because of their unthreatening personalities despite being really damn powerful. Both kinda stand out in physical appearance too compared to the other characters, and look alike in a way (same ginger hair and golden eyes). And not to mention they both push others away from them because of their pasts despite caring a lot.

A fun part about writing Zhao's character is she also serves as a way to find out more about Sun Wukong and jttw as a whole while still being her own character.

So yeah, that's basically it! Sorry for this being so fricking long I like rambling about my girl- (no I do not have a favorite lmk OC wdym?)

Fell free to ask more questions they're always fun as hell to answer!! :D

[nicomoon69]

ignore the slight style inconsistencies, I am tired :3

oc lore dump under cut!!

little background:

the isolated area in which these characters live is about the size of Eurasia. there’s five main islands with littler ones mostly near the bigger islands. two islands belong to the humans and two belong to the elves with the last island being mostly neutral.

there’s been a war going on between the humans and elves for as long as anyone can remember. while they may not be actively fighting there’s a lot of hostility and distrust. no one exactly knows how it started.

elves are split up into two sub races: Sylvestrean elves and Mageian elves. elves specialized in their own type of magic over a long period of time, creating the difference between the sub races. Sylvestrean elves are in touch with nature, their powers based on the elements and all that is living. Mageian elves focus on more abstract magic, usually a something that enhances a skill and is something that they’ve developed and passed down through their family.

regardless of sub race, elves have an increased life expectancy compared to humans and age slower. they worship the moon goddess Ela and worship of any other god is a punishable offense. while they aren’t as developed technically compared to humans especially the Mageian elves are catching up. most of the elven states/countries/regions are ruled by nobility.

humans despite being one race are much more of a mixed bag than elves. some humans live like they’re form medieval times, but on the other end of the spectrum there’s human who live in a sort of steam punk society. they also have no innate magical abilities but can practice magic through other means and are thereby also not limited to one thing. this however is generally frowned upon and will even get you a prison sentence in some places.

humans generally live a way shorter life than elves. they worship the sun god Sol, though there’s also some that will pray to Ela since laws surrounding religion are less strict. humans have all sorts of governments, there is no one way to do it. due to that humans are far less united than elves.

Lavern Levesque (they/he, 24)

pirate captain of ship the Levesque (though if you ask anyone in their crew they’ll tell you he’s usually too busy tinkering to care about what direction they’re sailing). former trust fund baby (parents were no1 wine exporters in the nation) but after their entire family got burnt to a crisp in a fire that may or may not have been caused by the mafia they’ve been homeless and on the run. at some point in his homelessness career he and the rag tag group of friends he collected over the years stole the Levesque from some poor chap who was doing business. that was when Lavern Levesque was truly born. ever since he’s been busy scamming the rich and robbing the snobbiest they can find. (they’re also in a committed relationship with the daughter of one of the people he tried to scam- oops??)

Ida (she/her, 26)

formerly part of the mafia (that’s gonna be a real awkward conversation with Lavern at some point) and currently on the run. with little options she’s been doing a lot of physical labor for whoever will hire her which finally led her to the Levedque. due to the captain’s lack of involvement with hiring she didn’t know who she was going to work under, which led to an uncomfortable realization. ever since she’s been hiding her past and trying to get over her middle child related trauma (imagine having 8 siblings and you’re exactly in the middle, yeesh) as well as living with the guilt that she was in fact a part of the reason Lavern’s family is dead.

Hedvig (they/it, ??)

not much too say about their past since they suffer from heavy memory loss and barely remember their name. it has a suspicious amount of buried combat knowledge though and magic that lets them shape whatever they want into any form as long as the matter is non-living. was found by Eleanor (she’ll pop up later) on her parent’s ship and immediately left a bad impression by being scarred, wet and not speaking the common language.

Finn (he/they/she, 16-18)

he’s honestly just a poor little guy. he was the product of an affair between a human and an elf, which since a young age put a huge target on his back. despite trying to hide it Finn could never fit in with his peers or even his family. his step father resented him and his mother wasn’t in a position to defend him. this all reached its boiling point when he was about eleven years old and was put on a ship to another island. unfortunately, his ship got caught in a storm and he washed up on the shore of a dangerous island. ever since he’s been stuck, the island’s forest having all sorts of dangers. he’s seen countless people wash up, attempt to leave or get resources and get killed by the island’s mysterious forces. his survival has relied solely on what has washed up and what little he could find.

Elanor Sylvian (she/they, 32)

part of the royal Sylvestrean family, she’s the eldest daughter of the king and queen. she was raised to be the next queen, not exactly having a childhood or many friends. as ruler she would’ve been responsible for making sure the nobles under her were doing their jobs well. she set out with her parents to a meeting between nobles which was when she found Hedvig on the ship. due to her having studied many languages she luckily could understand Hedvig, who only spoke in a which was thought to be extinct Mageian dialect.

[kyra45]

Scam checklist

If an account has done the following, take caution. Not everyone doing this is a scammer! But be wary of these from accounts that are only a day old.

Followed you then sent an ask

Requested private answer

Pinned post about a pet

Pet name is different in the same ask

No prior interactions

Blog has like 10 posts and nothing else

All shared posts come from a certain tag

All shared posts are trending posts

Sent ask after you shared a popular post

Ignoring asks about legitimate concerns

Pictures are inconsistent

Says anyone calling them out is attacking them

Pfp/header belongs to someone else when image is searched

Bio is someone else’s when searched

Vet bill shown isn’t in the Philippines

Changed url several times over after someone raises concerns

Commented claiming they can support you but wants payment

Wants insulin but doesn’t seem to know how much it really is and has a very familiar url style

Uses so many emojis

[sockcanvas]

|◁ 𝙋𝙍𝙀𝙎𝙎 𝙋𝙇𝘼𝙔 ▷|

⚘. oneshot [705 words]

⟣ ──┈⇢˚⋆ Pairing : JongGun x Goo

⟣ ──┈⇢˚⋆ c/w : implied romance | angst(?) | chapter 479-480

⟣ ──┈⇢˚⋆ a/n : Feeling cute.. might delete later LOL, legit writing at like 1-5am while i have work in 5 hours but i wanted to finish this lowkey. Not rlly proud of the concept of this story but im tired asf so whatever, i didn’t a lot of final drafting and just went with this on a whim of its rough draft🤮 this feels a bit too skippy and inconsistent. anyways this was (very)loosely inspired writing style by @/cosmichorrour who wrote “愛のある場所; river of light (that brings me to you)” literally please read it if you like satosugu, masterpiece of a fic🙏i think Gun looks cute with his little headphones, i put together a little playlist of what i think he's listening to while carving :]

snippet . ₊˚.  “In our next life, press play for me, yeah? So I could find you by song.”

“What are you listening to?”

The cold kissed Gun’s body. Despite the breeze flicking his skin and the chill caressing his body– he idly sat on an abandoned creeky porch rusted with dust and dirt, a fine show of how unkempt it was. Compared to Gun's expensive and lavish taste, this was the complete opposite. The fresh soles of his shoes rested on the debrised floor positioned in the most comfortable way possible. Even distant snow was cleaner than the porch. Next to him, peers a nosy blonde, who tries to inch closer to hear the music droning out of the earphones.

“Something.” A vague and simple reply– most suited to Gun's quiet demeanor, a conversation stopper from how meek his response was. But this didn't stop the continued prodding,

“What song are you playing?” even when the music was turned two thirds the max volume, couldn’t tune him out. Undeterred by the approaching voice, Gun continues to carve deliberate strokes into the wooden piece, his hands moving in amateur unison, one hand holds the piece in a strong grasp and the other chisels curves and divots into the oak. “Don’t ignore me bastard!” The guitar rift dimmed, one speaker muff violently torn from its place on Gun’s left ear.

“What is it, Goo Kim?” Gun doesn't turn his head to look at the man dressed in expensive winter clothing. His patience was being tested enough– yet Goo was already starting to cut the thin thread of tolerance that barely weaved itself to prevent Gun from punching a hole through the loud blonde. “What is so important that you have to come here and disturb me.”

“I just wanted to know what you’re listening to!” A dramatic whine escapes his lips, the fog of his hot breath filters visibility into the frigid air. His hands extend, reaching to shake Gun– unmoved and set in place like a stone amidst a tundra. “Fucker, I know you heard me.” cursed Goo who continued adding strings of name-calling, accompanied with a rough punch to the shoulder. 

“This song really sucks.”

“You’re still listening to it.” This time, Goo was pressed against him, shoulder to shoulder like a close embrace— ear jammed closely to Gun’s cheek, the expensive frames of his glasses barely kept a gap between them. Such indirect intimacy, but it wasn’t unusual for Goo to invade his personal space like so.

“I’m not.”

An exhausted sigh of defeat– It was futile to bicker back and forth like children, a pointless verbal skirmish that Goo engaged very often with him. Two things that made Goo bearable: talent and personality. Skill so exceptional that it left permanent scars on Gun– an enigmatic nature that gave an indescribable sense of familiarity to Gun– warm and colorful is that he would say. 

“Is your taste in music this bland? How can you enjoy this?” Goo complained once again, yet still inched near Gun’s earphones. Goo seems to be enjoying himself, eyes half lidded and lips pressed into a thin line as if he was silently humming to the foreign lyrics. 

“Abandon Charles Choi.” He expected this. The words hung just as cold as the air, “Come with me.” He knew he’d say that. An invitation that interrupted the building tension. A small glass thrusted itself slowly in front of Gun, liquid barely splashing out of the shot but quickly settled. Gun’s eyes fixated below, a distorted reflection stared back, such chilled uncertainty from himself– rejection was inevitable, the silence was enough to answer for him, but he humbles a reply.

They’ll kill each other next time. A promise, bounded by a shared drink. 

“Gun.” He called from a short distance. Gun looked up, pausing his carving, porch creaking from the weight of his light movements. “In our next life, press play for me, yeah? So I could find you by song.” A somber request, futile and odd, followed by a closed eye grin. Gun’s hands, momentarily still– twitched at the appeal. 

Gun nodded, lighter than the breeze that whispered between them, an unspoken response he could give Goo to his strange departure. As Goo’s figure disappears, his words carved deeper than the wood Gun’s been chiseling at for hours. Maybe in their next life, he could give it to him.

[fukia]

Fionna & Cake final thoughts , opinions and nitpicks lol

This will be unorganized and random and stinky, sorry

• great pacing first 2 eps

• good ideas

• ignoring multiverse saturation, is p decently done here!

• I miss Neil Patrick’s take on Gary/gumball- he sounded so freakin princely :(

• marshall sounded kinda less mischievous than he used to? Like vocally more down or something- I’m super glad he had the same actor tho lol Donaldddd

• I miss old Prismo voice too but I know why these didn’t work out

• Hunter’s voice either could’ve gone for a deep gravely stoicism or could’ve just been w/ the same actor as Huntress Wizard

• Scarab is ehhh- decent design but feels kinda out of place for adventure time- voice is similarly the same offness too, reminded me of kinda bad anime dub voices, it doesn’t feel intentional to the right extent —- either make a more surreal villain or a funnier one, his presence was rather generic

• the spooky faces and scurrying beetle of scarab was kinda funny

• lemongrab. Why justnonce roiland.

• I will end my life a million aeons over for Orbo - bluey’s dad: “say goodbye to your legs!”

• mmmarceline dress

• bubblegum mmmmilitary

• I wish we saw the fucking MOON vampire

• MOON vs STAR (super cool naming if the uh tarot thing is carried on here I legit don’t know if star is an actual tarot card lemme check)

• ORGALORG WHYYYYYY

• marshall n Gary was sweet- but I really wished they played up the bitter exes part before they did just the fluffy dating, bring a bit of parallel consistency

• fionna was good acting! The crying bit made my heart ouches- Character herself was a tad frustrating at times admittedly

• cake is great still - cake and vampire king hilarious

• why no “the star”’s actual dad :(

• BETH SHERMY GIBBON YES YES YES- back to old adventure time: I love the intro theme for Beth and shermy, it’s so melancholic and desolate, cold, with backgrounds that make this so fascinatingly depressing a turn for the land of oo (happy endings impermanent- life goes on kinda deal, so cool, so consistent with adventure time’s own concepts & “everything stays”)

• Simon and Betty made me emotional

• uhh how old was Betty when she starting dating simon? Just offhand lol I’m sure it was fine

• Golbetty had beautiful scenes

• way better simon and Golbetty than that weird adventure time published comic I’m sure some of you read

• the animation is great on some places, other times while well made, feels out of place for adventure time; like it’s trying too hard to be pretty (not the Ice Prince song, stuff like that made sense for adventure time)

• like some bits reminded me of Steven universe’s inconsistencies (same bits that made me really really dislike some of adventure time distant lands’ execution)

• [funny nitpick incoming] like there were points where the characters had really big eyes even tho they r supposed to be dots (not when exaggerating certain emotions cartoonishly, I meant prolonged); adventure time’s deal is keeping them small and kinda hard to decipher

• some bits were just a tinnny too anime that it bothered me, just some! Anime is cool!!!

• I was really expecting or hoping for a Korra styled multi-season just with lesser episodes

• the resolution was… kinda haphazardly handled

• same with some of the final themes, like w/ simon n betty

• adventure time is kinda known for being almost ambiguously optimistic so the whole super happy thing was kinda strange to me

• I know like it shouldn’t have to be the same as adventure time obviously, but that was the general identity of adventure time; the cosmic ambiguity with absurd humor delivered nonchalantly

• like I think of patience st pim’s ice domain during elements and the melancholic quietness of it - also PATIENCE ST PIM WHYYYYY I LOVED YOU (patiencevstheempresscough)

• ORGALORG COME BACK TO MEEEE

• yes it was a great thing to have this miniseries I enjoyed many parts

• the music was fucking fire!!!

• where was the dr two brains reference ? -3-

[spar-kie]

I'm posting this on Tumblr just to have somewhere that isn't a google doc to post this. But recently I went through and made a full set of Disco Elysium style skills for Audrey Mondale (pictured below in art done by the wonderful @honnojis), my Pokemon Rejuvenation OC, and on account of really liking how it turned out, I wanted to share it with the world under the cut. Hope you enjoy!

Intellect

Analysis - Solve puzzles. Put the pieces together.

Cool for: Braniacs. Intellectuals. Problem solvers.

Analysis is your basic problem solving skills. Looking at a situation, taking in the facts, and then proceeding from there. It searches for the disparate pieces of the puzzle, and tries to fit them together from there. Be it a computer on the fritz or a string of murders, Analysis won’t rest until every piece of the puzzle is put in place, and it all makes sense.

At high levels Analysis will help you put together any puzzle, so long as you know you have all the pieces. But if a clue is out of place, it may be determined to ignore its absence. Without it however, you will be hard pressed to put even the most basic of pieces together, assuming you can find them.

Recall - Comb through your brain. Remember things.

Cool for: Trivia buffs. Book readers. Those without amnesia.

Recall is your ability to dredge thoughts and memories up from the depths of your mind. From facts as simple as your name, age, and basic nature of reality, to as complex as a list of error codes and their meanings off the top of your head. It also provides far more esoteric and out there knowledge at times, some of it coming in handy.

At high levels Recall will fill your mind with memories and factoids to an overwhelming degree, many of which may be completely irrelevant to the matter at hand, making it hard to focus. However at low levels basic facts may slip your mind, and you will have no background knowledge to support you in your endeavors.

Real Talk - Cut through the bullshit. Find the heart of the matter.

Cool for: The honest. Simple folk. Assholes.

Real Talk is your skill for being completely straightforward in your thoughts and actions. It’s you putting aside your pride and machinations to be honest with the people you are talking to, and it enables you to get people to do the same with you. It’s useful for pulling yourself, and others, out of spiraling thoughts, and keeping you grounded in what’s real.

At high levels Real Talk may have you dispense your simple wisdom at the drop of a hat, to whoever you may feel needs to hear it. You will be unable to fathom anything that doesn’t fit into your view of the world, or anything slightly fantastical. At low levels however you will find yourself thinking in circles, unable to defend your ideas from yourself or others

Wit - Trade verbal barbs. Get the final word in.

Cool for: The insubordinate. Those “too smart”. Snarky jackasses.

Wit is your ability to complain about anything and everything while still having people listen to you, and to take those who don’t want to put up with your whining to task in the arena of words. Wit allows you to sew together the perfect tapestry of insults, simile, swear words, and observations about the current situation into something that will make your displeasure with the now known.

At high levels, Wit will have you constantly making snide comments about the current situation, even when it isn’t that bad. Refusing to let anyone else get a word in edgewise. At low levels however, you will be unable to respond to anyone who comes after you with any amount of grace.

Questioning - Search for answers. Solve mysteries.

Cool for: Detectives. Interrogators. Investigators.

Questioning is the part of you that always looks for answers. That will not rest until all the puzzle pieces are in place. It allows you to poke holes in people’s arguments, find inconsistencies in their stories, and unravel them into tapestries that tell the full story. It enables you to double check yourself, make sure that you have not missed anything.

At high levels Questioning will make you relentless, making you hound people for the smallest of perceived inconsistencies that will hide nothing at all, or a secret you were not looking for. At low levels however, you will be oblivious to even the most blatant lies.

Mind's Eye - Envision scenarios. See what you have not.

Cool for: Artists. Theorists. The Bored.

Mind’s Eye is what allows you to think critically and creatively. It lets you answer “what if?” questions. It allows you to devine just what happened in a scenario when you only arrived to see the aftermath and tie together seemingly disparate concepts into one great big ball of meaning, be that in reality, or in a piece of art. It also enables you to see the beauty in the world and art, if you just take a second.

At high levels your Mind’s Eye will have you daydreaming various hypotheticals and analyzing the last novel you’d read at the expense of your perception of the world in front of you. But at low levels, your Mind’s Eye will be completely shut, you will be stuck only seeing what is in front of you and be unable to imagine anything more.

Psyche

Stability - Keep calm. Stay positive

Cool for: The well adjusted. The sane. The normal

Stability is the voice in your head that tells you not to freak out. That tells you others are doing their best and so are you. No need to be too harsh on either. It’s your grounding rock. Stability is one that will keep you sane. The one that prevents you from drinking yourself to death with cheap wine in the cafeteria. The one that prevents you from trying to murder someone just to get out.

At high levels Stability will keep you normal, when the situation you are in isn't. You can’t get funky, weird, or freaked out if you try. At low levels you’ll lose your mind at the slightest incident, unable to keep yourself composed through the smallest of challenges.

Sixth Sense - Subconscious thought. Feel for just one more thing.

Cool for: The superstitious. The suspicious. The wise.

Sixth Sense is gut feeling. Your subconscious putting something together before your conscious. Honed exclusively through a course at the University of Hard Knocks, taught by professor Life, it is the ability to sense when something is off. It’s your sense of Deja Vu. It’s knowing something before you should know it. The ability of your gut to solve the puzzle while your brain is still tying its shoes.

At high levels Sixth Sense will feel the slightest disturbance, have more hunches and possible leads than you could hope to follow up on, and come up with fantastic explanations for the mundane. At low levels, you’ll be ignorant of anything not directly in front of you, and have a hard time fathoming anything out of the ordinary. 

Commisery - Feel your pain. Feel others’ pain.

Cool For: The lonely. The miserable. Their companions.

Commisery is processing your misery through others, and processing others’ misery through yourself. It lets you open up and talk about your feelings, and be tender with people. It helps people be open with you, making them feel like they can share their problems and anxieties with you.

At high levels Commisery will attempt to shoulder the burden of the misery of everyone trapped in the same circumstances as you, and in turn you will share your sorrows with the world. At lower levels you will be unable to get anyone to be open with you, even yourself.

Hearts On Fire - Force of will. Refusal to give up.

Cool for: The passionate. The stubborn. Hot heads.

Hearts on Fire is your self respect. Your drive. Your emotional heart. Your will to see any task through no matter how impossible it may seem. It provides the motivation to keep pushing in a completely hopeless situation. It enables you to see through the doubts of both yourself and others to the light on the other side. It makes sure you don’t take any shit from anyone, and you get the respect you deserve.

At high levels Hearts on Fire will turn you into a creature of pure, unrefined emotion. You will jump head first into challenges you have no chance of succeeding at, perceiving any doubt as an attack against you. Your temper will be unleashed onto the world at full force, with no regard for who’s on the receiving end. At low levels you will be unremarkable. People will walk all over you, and you will have no spark to drive yourself forward.

Savoir Faire - Who’s who. What’s what.

Cool for: The superior. Those who wish to be. Those who used to be

Savoir Faire tells you how those in positions of power act. Their culture, their lifestyle, their motives. What the people behind the curtains think, how they pull the strings, and why. What is in, and what is out. Who’s on the shitlist, and who’s up for promotion. What pleases them, and what enrages them. It tells you the story of the fallen. Who flew too close to the sun, and what burned them up.

At high levels Savoir Faire will give you designs above your station, alienating you from your peers and be seen as a pretender by those above. You’ll lose the here and now fantasizing where you could be. At low levels you’ll be flying blind at the whims of those who you cannot see.

Charm - Make yourself beloved. Implant suggestions.

Cool for: Friends. Lovers. Manipulators.

Charm is the skill of talking nicely. Showing people that you’re fun to be around, and that you can be a friend. It allows you to build a rapport with people. It enables you to convince them through emotional appeals rather than cold hard facts. In turn, it will make people more liable to trust you with information they might otherwise wish to hide.

At high levels Charm makes it so you will always be wearing a mask, one you cannot take off lest your entire social life come crumbling down. Your whole life will be a lie, and the only one who knows will be you. Though at low levels, you will have no one to talk to, and will find it impossible to make any connection with anyone.

Physique

Vitality - Grin and bear it. Push forward.

Cool for: The fit. The enduring. The unconquerable.

Vitality is just how many hits you can take before you get knocked down. Vitality is the one that will keep you going. It also determines how much power you can put out in return. It doesn’t matter if your big mouth gets you into trouble if you can take the punishment that comes with it.

At high levels Vitality will keep you going strong when you’re being pushed down, and allow you to push right back. But will leave you giving little quarter for those who can’t take or put out as much punishment as you. At low levels you’ll be able to be pushed around, no matter what, unable to take the smallest of hits.

Tenacity - Get knocked down. Get back up again.

Cool for: The unstoppable. Masochists. Those who don’t know when to quit.

Tenacity is for when you get knocked on your ass. When it hurts like a bitch. When your muscles ache and your body burns. When your mind is screaming and tears are streaming down your face. Its your resolve to get back on your feet and carry on. Both physically and mentally.

At high levels Tenacity will actively have you seek out seriously dangerous situations, put yourself in jeopardy to feel that rush of overcoming the odds, and nearly losing it all in doing so. However, at low levels, you won’t be able to come back from anything. When you’re down, you’re out.

Contortion - Squeeze into small spaces. Hold awkward positions.

Cool for: Gymnasts. Maintenance workers. Those going where they shouldn’t.

Contortion is being able to manipulate your body into places it otherwise wouldn’t fit. It’s being able to make yourself small, and hold a position you hastily took to avoid being spotted. It’s your ability to sneak around, and get where you should not be by unconventional means.

At high levels, Contortion will get you to where others can not follow, at least not easily. And you will be frustrated when they can’t, or unpleasantly surprised when they can depending on the situation. At low levels you’ll find yourself having a hard time manipulating your body, feeling rigid as a board

Bon Vivant - Live a little. Enjoy yourself.

Cool For: Thrill seekers. Love makers. The irresponsible.

Bon Vivant encourages you to enjoy the finer things in life. That glass of wine, that dress that shows just the right amount of skin, that sexy thing across the room who can’t keep their eyes off you. It gives you the knowledge and the stomach to engage in the scandalous matters that lurk below the surface of high society. Everyone has their vices. Bon Vivant lets you indulge yours, hide them, and find others’.

At high levels Bon Vivant will make you unrepentant in your enjoyment of your pleasures, and desperately hiding how much of a hedonist you are from others. At low levels you’ll be unable to let loose, and won’t have the stomach to engage in lurid matters.

Soul - Know yourself. Know the world.

Cool for: Self seekers. Star gazers. World wanderers.

Soul is the invisible force that connects everyone. It is what you feel atop a building on a starry night, in somewhere once thought abandoned so long ago, seeing the same stars you have seen no matter where you went. The same stars everyone sees. The stars billions are looking up at. That shared experience among so many so different. Occasionally that shared experience will leave you with a realization you could have gotten nowhere else.

At high levels, Soul will leave you innately in tune with itself, making you look mad to the outsiders when you listen to your Soul and ignore them, regardless of how it turns out. At low levels you will be cut off from this connection completely, only able to rely on yourself.

Hair Raising - Don’t get caught off guard. Trust your instincts.

Cool for: The anxious. Survivors. Scared children.

Hair Raising is your other sixth sense. The one that can tell when things are about to go down and soon you will be in trouble. Either verbally or physically, Hair Raising can feel it in the air and is ready to pump you full of adrenaline so you’re ready to deal with it in kind. It helps you focus your outbursts into putting the fear of god into others.

At high levels Hair Raising will be ultra sensitive, with even the slightest shift in mood being cause for alarm, and enough to tell your brain to pre-empt them, before it’s too late. But at low levels the alarm will not be raised at all, leaving you blindsided by any outbursts, and unable to control your own.

Motorics

Fine Motor Skills - Hands steady. Stay coordinated.

Cool for: IT Workers. Doctors. Mechanics

Fine Motor Skills is your hand/eye coordination. It’s what enables you to get down and dirty with wiring and not wreck everything as you do so. You can tell at a glance the make and model of any part inside a computer, as well as some other machinery, thanks to the experience gained working with Fine Motor Skills.

At high levels Fine Motor Skills will let you finesse any repairs or bypasses you have to do with ease, so long as it’s hardware, but may leave you overconfident, and too absorbed in your work to notice what’s going on around you. But at low levels, you best hope the issues are in software. If not you’re liable to just wreck things more.

Senses - Sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. Take it all in.

Cool for: Trainers. Scavengers. The romantic.

Senses are the lenses through which you experience the world. They let you stay vigilant for the things others might miss. Or give you a deeper appreciation of the things others might take for granted. The soft breeze on a summer night. The slight burning smell that beholds an inferno in its infancy, the slight pooling of blood outside a door leading to the discovery of a murder. Whatever it is, your Senses will lead you to it.

At high levels, your Senses take in everything that surrounds you, not taking care to filter out the unimportant because everything is important, enough to completely overstimulate you if you’re not careful. At low levels however, keep those glasses on or you’re at risk of missing everything.

Think Fast - Dodge and weave. Don’t let them touch you.

Cool for: Boxers. Brawlers. Men of action.

Think Fast is your ability to stay on your toes. It’s what determines how fast your brain and body will react to any given situation. It is what lets you dodge punches, knives, and whatever else is thrown at you. Additionally, it works to keep your thoughts moving quickly too, making sure you’ll never be left behind in any conversations or battles of wits.

At high levels Think Fast will have you reacting before anything has even happened, making you jumpy and twitchy. You might just jump at the wrong thing and make things worse than if you’d just let it happen. At low levels you’ll be slow on the uptake, and will have a hard time keeping up. And forget about reacting in time to anything coming at you.

Light Feet - Float by. Wait for when the time is right.

Cool for: Cat burglars. Dancers. Stealth operatives.

Light Feet is your ability to be quick, and go unnoticed until just the right moment. This skill isn’t about hitting someone hard, though that certainly helps, it’s about hitting when someone least expects it. Assuming you want to hit them at all. This skill will give you all the smooth moves you need to float by without needing to swing at anyone.

At high levels Light Feet will make you able to sneak on by without so much as a sound, remaining unnoticed wherever you go. But you will still go unnoticed when you need to be seen. However at low levels you will be unable to go anywhere without causing a ruckus.

Technics - Interface with computers. Dive into the digital world.

Cool for: Typists. Office Workers. Hackers.

Technics is your ability to work with computers on a technical, software level. Any issues that come after the computer is turned on are most likely in this area of expertise. It also allows you to gain access to things you should not have, so long as they are stored digitally. With Technics, the digital world will be at your fingertips, with limitless possibilities.

At high levels Technics will leave any information that could possibly be gleaned from digital data ripe for the taking, and deal with any technical issues easily. But it will leave you isolated, why do you need to talk to people for information when you can find it digitally? At low levels however, you will be completely cut off from the digital world.

Self Control - Calm down. Don’t let them get under your skin.

Cool for: The calm. The collected. The cool.

Self Control is the thing working to keep you calm. It’s what lets you put on a brave expression and face the world. It won’t do you any good if you fly off the handle at the slightest inconvenience, and Self Control is what keeps it from happening. It also helps keep unpleasant memories out of your head, making sure they don’t bubble up at unpleasant times. It keeps your emotions in check, and in turn can sense when others are starting to crack.

At high levels your Self Control will never let you show any emotions that aren’t mild amusement or slight disappointment. Even when you’re all alone. You will feel it welling up inside, but there will never be any release. Anything unpleasant that hurts to remember may be completely repressed. But at low levels, you will crack incredibly easily, flying into rage and making yourself an easy target for tormentors.

Items

Hair Tie

+1 Fine Motor Skills: Hair out of your face

- 1 Hair Raising: Tied down.

Prescription Specs

+2 Senses: I can see!

-1 Senses: Out of date prescription. 

+1 Third Eye: The prescription helps it too.

(Pre-Demotion)

Alolan Shirt

+1 Charm: Charmingly casual!

+1 Hearts on Fire: Breaking the dress code.

+2 Real Talk: Talking by the beach at night. 

-1 Real Talk: Just in spirit. 

Worn-Under Tank Top

+1 Fine Motor Skills: Easy to maneuver in.

+1 Bon Vivant: A tasteful amount of skin.

Cargo Shorts

+1 Light Feet: Comfortable and easy to wear!

-1 Bon Vivant: Dude.

Sandals With Socks

+1 Hearts on Fire: Don’t care what anyone says.

-2 Bon Vivant: Dude.

(Post-Demotion)

Team Xen Uniform Vest

+1 Tenacity: It is armor, after all.

+1 Commisery: Same as everyone else.

-1 Hearts on Fire: Following the dress code.

Team Xen Jumpsuit

+1 Bon Vivant: Tight in all the right places! 

-1 Contortion: And all the wrong ones too.

Team Xen Gloves

+1 Fine Motor Skills: Insulated gloves.

-1 Technics: Fat Fingering the keyboard.

Team Xen Uniform Shorts

+1 Hair Raising: Your ass is on the line.

Team Xen Work Boots

+1 Think Fast: On your toes.

-1 Light Feet: These boots are made for stomping.

[x0401x]

Yes, please do a post after every Tsurune ep, reading them from your pov is amazing!! :D

Ask and ye shall receive. Here comes my opinion of episode 7. Really sorry for taking so long with this!

I usually begin with the positive points when doing these reviews, but I have to break this default here because I've never thought we'd come to this with KyoAni out of all studios. I almost fell off my chair with the horrible CGI in this episode. Yes, 3D and 2D walk hand-in-hand, especially for anime like Tsurune, but the viewers are not supposed to spot the 3D. I did mention before that the animation quality suddenly decreases at certain moments in this season, and this episode has been the worst example of that so far. This legit terrifies me and what makes it worse is that there are several causes for it. And again, this isn't just KyoAni. All Japanese animation studios have been seeing even if just a slight downgrade in overall quality for a few years now. We've just lost another one to this horrifying trend. I know it doesn't seem so bad and sounds like I'm exaggerating here, but this is unthinkable to the standards of such big-name studios. Unfortunately, the tendency is for it to continue, at least for now.

Another thing that bothered me is that this episode seems to be focused on long shots and showing the character's faces as least frequently as possible in order to mask the drop in quality. This is actually a commendable decision, since they're not just giving us static shots that feel a few seconds too lengthy, and instead are using these moments to explore the locations (gotta love that drawing of Kaito on the black board, for example). But it's hard to ignore the discrepancy in art style between said long shots and the contrasting close-ups.

Okay, enough about the animation and on to the story.

It's easy to tell from the first few minutes that KyoAni is still pushing Seiya as the MVP. Just as Seiya was the one who got Minato to realize where and how he had messed up in the tournament with the brilliant idea to record everything, and just as he was an indirect assistance to Kaito and Nanao making up not just by arranging for them to meet up at the dojo but also giving Kaito a prep talk, we have him being ahead of everyone once again in this episode. It's obvious from the beginning that, whatever the boys are trying to grasp here, he already has it all down and is just waiting for them to catch up to him. Yamamura Takuya might as well just make Seiya the protagonist at this point.

The whole deal here was about teamwork once again, but this time around, it was specifically about synchronization. Which, I must say, is one more thing that we should've had in S1 and are getting only now, therefore creating a disconnect between the level that this team should be and the level that it currently is. Just as I discussed in episode 6 that Minato shouldn't have to relearn everything from scratch because that's narratively inconsistent, the same applies to the way that the boys' team is relearning how to... well, be a team. They'd already been doing all of this for a while now, so it's kind of confusing to see them act like it's the first-ever time that they're trying it (not to mention it makes the viewers wonder how the hell they won the prefecturals when they can't even line up properly). Literally all of these movements and tips that they’re just figuring out are things they had been doing perfectly fine until this point and they wouldn’t even be able to participate in tournaments without knowing these basics in the first place. Yet suddenly they don’t. Make it make sense.

Another thing I'd like to make sense of is... why is Eisuke poor in the anime? I get that KyoAni is trying to sell him as someone Relatable TM, but that's going a bit overboard. He already has biological disadvantages (photosensibility), mental disadvantages (claustrophobia), club-related disadvantages (no dojo, no coach) and even spiritual disadvantages (wrong mindset being a bitch in general). There's already enough to sympathize without actually rooting for him. The scenes of Eisuke working hard at a café and having no money to hang out with his colleagues coming right in-between Ryouhei visiting Shuu's extravagant estate are kind of... not a very good look. Eisuke's situation in the anime sort of validate his envy. Makes it seem reasonable, and the only motive as to why it's not truly reasonable is because envy is Bad and you shouldn't harbor it even when the world is so ridiculously unfair. Miss me with that bullshit. I want this little shit to be the spoiled brat he is in canon. Life gave him lemons and he decided to take them and throw on other people. No amount of handicaps can redeem him from the pettiness of having lost to his juniors one (1) time.

All right, now following in this reverse order, we have the good points coming up!

I quite like that this episode showed a side of Masaki we hadn't gotten to see in S1, which is the pure-hearted, childlike elation he displays at his disciples fumbling for solutions and working together to solve problems. S1 was hellbent on the weird revenge stuff and kinda forgot that this guy genuinely loves to see his pupils making progress. The whole point of Masaki as a character is that he doesn’t see himself as the best fit for the job, but he actually is. Because he actually cares about these kids. Because he isn’t using them for revenge in canon. Because that doesn’t suit his personality at all in any possible way. And apparently, KyoAni at last understands that now, thank you very much.

One more thing that got butchered in S1 and this episode finally gave to us was Masaki's second nickname, "pervy old man". I gotta say I was particularly pleased by the fact that Minato's face and voice when he said it were exactly like how I'd imagined it when reading the books, but I'm still not digging the way that this was framed to make Masaki look like an actual pervert for the things he says without thinking. I get that the animators are trying to go for some lighthearted comic relief here, but underneath the joke, it's evident that they're also using these tidbits to poke fun at anything that seems remotely not-heterosexual in the series.

Sounds like another exaggeration, I know, but looking back at S1 and then at this episode, it's easy to find a pattern where Masaki either spouts a double entendre or is caught performing an action that doesn't seem appropriate, and when confronted by anyone about it, he responds in either a desperate or exasperated manner in order to clear up the misunderstanding immediately. These double entendres or actions always frame Masaki as preying on the boys, which is, of course, something that would never happen, so it's all played as a joke. The message this sends out is that the other person is totally overreacting, because Masaki would never make advances on his pupils, except this card is only ever used on the boys, specifically. So what we get between the lines is that making presumptions about Masaki's reckless word choice is ridiculous not just because he clearly isn't into kids, but also because that would be gay.

It's a simple recipe. We viewers are shown ambiguity on purpose and yet we're treated like we're reading too much into it if we so much as assume that it's ambiguous in the first place. Because if we assume it's ambiguous, we're also presuming the presence of homoerotic subtext, which is then shot down as something far-fetched, if not near-impossible. You know those scenes in movies where someone’s trying to connect the dots and comes up with overarching explanations as to how A relates to B, only to be dismissed by other characters telling them that they’re watching too much TV or something? That’s the vibe I get from this cheap-ass narrative device. It’s almost as if KyoAni is speaking directly to us, like, “I know this seems gay as fucking hell, but how dare you assume it's gay! You're implying that this perfectly decent man is a predator!”

Don't get me wrong, of course Masaki isn't actually suggesting or doing anything other than what he's supposed to. But what rubs me wrong about this approach is the fact that it gets gayness and p*dophilia lumped together. That's how KyoAni subtly rids this series of any unjustified gayness (i.e. gayness where you can't pay the "they're really good friends" card). And this is probably the clearest example of the difference between how the anime handles the gay subtext and how the novel does it. The anime makes it come from Masaki, in ways that are wholly unnatural, mostly through word usage that anyone with the bare minimum of common sense would never go for. It then makes the kids react negatively so that Masaki can brush off the delusions of these silly teenagers, because just how far ahead of themselves do they have to get to assume that their coach would want anything of the sort with them!

True enough, he would never want anything of that nature. The novel totally agrees with this. Except it doesn't laugh the gay away as a joke, oh no. The novel takes the gay very seriously. Which is why it gives the subtext from Minato's perspective.

Always from Minato's perspective.

Whenever we have anything coming from Masaki that looks or sounds like something else, it's from Minato's POV, 100% of the time. Not even other characters. Only Minato. And when it sounds like something else, it's usually Masaki being funny, but when it looks like something else, that's mostly Minato being confronted with something he wants that is directly related to Masaki, but that he can't have. Take the scene that this anime equivalent was based off as an example. Everybody (Seiya also tipped in) getting to have an exclusive lecture from Masaki, except for Minato. And there's great emphasis on the fact that everybody got to touch Masaki while Minato didn't. Plus the fact that even Shuu got to have his own share of it, despite him being from a whole different school. And Minato keeps sulking at how unfair all of that is, for days. He wanted to be there. Heck, he wanted to be the only one who gets this privilege. He has to hold it back and it gnaws at him. The pinning is real and it's never framed as negative, because it isn't.

When all is said and done, he manages to keep his ground. And in the end, he gets some sort of compensation for it, which always comes in the form of a private lesson and quality time. That's where he gets to have twice if not thrice as much of what he initially wanted. This is Ayano Kotoko working in accordance to Zen principles: you fight your inner demonds and desires, and for that, you get compensated with enlightenment. In Minato's case, he gets compensated both with that and... with Masaki. As far as plot devices go, that's just mandatory in the novel. It has both a character development and storytelling purpose and acts as a nod to Japanese archery and Buddhist ideologies, so removing that part is very much a disservice to the author’s intentions, but hey! KyoAni can’t pretend that it isn’t gay if it’s from Minato’s perspective. This would be just a kid having a puppy crush, which isn’t a crime and has no reason to be frowned upon if it’s unrequited. Ayano knows this and she makes conscious writing decisions based on that fact. So does KyoAni when reversing the positions.

Basically, KyoAni uses gay subtext in order to dismiss it in a total dick move. It's kind of their way of signaling, "Don't worry, snowflake audience who can't take anything that isn't cishet seriously, you can enjoy this show", and I find this kinda gross, to be honest. Meanwhile, the novel makes the subtext into the text itself, because Ayano Kotoko is powerful like that.

Anyway. I digress. Back to the good things.

The dedication to detail keeps delivering. I love the little things. The way Ryouhei goes back from school on a bus that is headed to a hospital. The knock on his door after he raises his voice that he knows is from his sister. The lush vegetation on the other side of the window looking like it's sprouting from Ryouhei when seen from behind. Shuu's reflex on the dojo's floor being tinted green. The way that a maple leaf falls on the pond and the ripples push away the other four leaves when Ryouhei starts talking about how far behind he is in comparison to everyone else in his team.

But I also love the big, in-your-face things. Ryouhei's shirt having no print except for the word "nice" in a small font next to his heart. Toujou serving cola in porcelain cups. Sae having the exact same reaction as Shuu when he drank it for the first time. The way that the light bulb lits up when Ryouhei talks about how Shuu's family is really supportive of him. The close-up on their wish slips.

My favorite has to be that fucking arrow casting a shadow over Ryouhei and Shuu. Second favorite those paper stripes. All of them represent not just the Kazemai boys' team, but also the girls' team, Masaki, Tomio, Shuu, Sae, Eisuke, Koushirou and even Minato's mom. I dare guess that one of them also represents Ryouhei's sister.

Honorable mention to the most obvious visual symbolism of this episode: the paintings. They sure were used a lot this time around. The painting in Shuu's study and the way his head fits perfectly under the crown in the center. When Eisuke is coarsed into hanging out with Koushirou after work, there's a painting of a grey dog being patted on the head beside him. When Shuu finally asks how Ryouhei and Sae knew each other, we see a painting of opening doors behind him. And goddamn. Goddamn. The way that the rest of the painting is revealed in the next scene. And the way the little boy looks like it's running from Shuu to Ryouhei. Fucking hell, what a good addition. If only KyoAni would put as much effort into the plot as it puts into this.

Also, other than paintings, there was that hilarious coca cola poster behind Eisuke when he's meeting up with Koushirou. For those who couldn't read it, it says, "Beginnings taste good. Peak youth", and that's a referrence to what the characters are going through right now. We're onto a new phase and that's youth at it's max.

Speaking of coca cola, anyone else feeling like KyoAni's going a little overboard with the marketing? First it was the kyudo tools, which I don't really mind, but then the accessories and now this. It's one thing to promote culture and small businesses that keep it alive, but coca cola.......... was kind of annoying. Even more so when there are already so many shows that are basically just one big ad nowadays.

[ash-morse]

{ JOSH HEUSTON, 21, DEMI-BOY, HE/HIM } Is that ASHLEY MORSE ? A SOPHOMORE  originally from CHARLESTON, SC, they decided to come to Ogden College to study PRE-MED on an ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIP. They’re THE HIMBO on campus, but even they could get blamed for Greer’s disappearance.

THE ESSENTIALS

TBD

CHARACTER INSPIRATIONS

elle woods (legally blonde) - chris traeger (parks and rec) - finnick odair (the hunger games) - aaron samuels (mean girls) - troy bolton (high school musical) - finn hudson (glee) - jeremiah fisher (the summer i turned pretty) - wally clark (school spirits) - amy santiago (brooklyn 99) - seth cohen (the oc)

TV TROPES

THE HIMBO, book smart, ditzy genius, endearingly dorky, lovable jock, dumb muscle, beautiful all along, in with the in crowd, more TBD

OGDEN COLLEGE 2022-2023

MAJOR:

Pre-Med with a Gender and Sexuality Studies Minor

EXTRACURRICULARS:

Lacrosse (Defenseman), Sailing Queer Alliance, Pre-Med Society

BASIC INFORMATION

FULL NAME: Ashley Morse

NICKNAME(S): Ash

DATE OF BIRTH: May 29, 2002

AGE: twenty

ZODIAC SIGN: gemini sun, leo moon, libra rising, taurus mercury, cancer venus, gemini mars

OCCUPATION: ogden college student

HOMETOWN: charleston, sc

NATIONALITY: american

ETHNICITY: anglo-sri lankan

LANGUAGE(S): english

GENDER & PRONOUNS: demi-boy, he/him (

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: pansexual

PHYSICAL INFORMATION

FACE CLAIM: Josh Heuston

HEIGHT: 5'10”

EYE COLOR: light green

HAIR COLOR + STYLE: dark brown curls, worn long

ACCENT + INTENSITY: TBD

TATTOO(S): none

SCAR(S): TBD

PIERCING(S): one pierced ear, thanks to link 

GLASSES: no

CLOTHING STYLE: TBD

PERSONALITY

MBTI TYPE: TBD

POSITIVE TRAITS: extroverted, sociable, clever, practical, determined, goofy, determined, intuitive

NEGATIVE TRAITS: scattered, flighty, indecisive, two-faced, over-sensitive, inconsistent, closed-off, judgmental

SKILLS: solving a rubik’s cube in about 10 seconds, can tie essentially any type of knot that exists, doing a standing back tuck (he does celebrate the rare goal as a defenseman in lacrosse this way)

GOALS/DESIRES: TBD

FEARS: TBD

HOBBIES: TBD

HABITS: TBD

SMOKES? yes, weed at least

DRINKS? yes

DRUGS? yes - he injured his knee last year and has been lowkey using opiates to help him deal with it because he can’t be kicked off the lacrosse team and lose his athletic scholarship. he completely downplayed the injury at the time, and has been consistently trying to hide the lasting affects - before that, he wasn’t much of a hard drug user.

PLEASE EXPAND ON HOW THEY EMBODY THEIR CHARACTER TROPE: THE HIMBO

tbd

expanded personality tbd

CONNECTIONS

connection page tbd

RELATIONSHIP TO GREER: NEW FRIEND

Last year, when Ash showed up as a freshman, his newly developed looks and the confidence that went along with them found him blending right into the popular clique. While he was aware that these were the very people who would’ve ignored him in high school, he couldn’t help but go along with it with the slightest sense of awe. Maybe because he is friendly with both Kit and Jesse, he never had anything but positive interactions with Greer, actually getting along extremely well. They often goofed off together, Ash definitely someone that could bring out her more easy going side, though that could be said for most people he interacted with.  

BACKGROUND

FAMILY: 

SOCIAL CLASS: upper class/upper middle class

FATHER: TBD

MOTHER: TBD

SIBLING(S)? TBD

family page tbd

BIOGRAPHY:  

ash was definitely more shy/reserved/closed off in his younger years - before going through puberty, he was skinny and felt so outta place in who he was, so he held himself back a lot and was very much one of the shy nerdy kids

there was definitely some bullying as well through middle school/early high school, which definitely didn’t help him feeling comfortable in his own skin

his personality started to come out a lot more once he began to feel more confident, and people realized he was a complete goofball, albeit one who is very pretty

he had a glow up around senior year of high school, and was suddenly much more welcomed into the popular cliques

not being one to hold grudges, ash became friends with a lot of the kids who were previously mean to him

when he came to ogden, he was instantly accepted in as a jock, and fit in with the quote-unquote cool kids. it was a shock for him, and he tries to hide his still very loud nerdy side so they don't realize he doesn't belong and kick him out

expanded biography tbd

SOME FUN FACTS

TBD

he has def like...concussed himself on his own locker at least once

thinks ollie is g!

[regarding-stories]

Sword Art Online Progressive: Love that don't dare speak its name

My current reread of Sword Art Online Progressive (SAOP or Progressive) has arrived at SAOP Vol. 7 - Rhapsody of Crimson Heat (Part 1) and it makes my heart ache. It's hard to put into words how much I enjoy this book and my time with these characters, and I know I will finish this reread soon and I have to pick something else to read, with no further Progressive novel released even in Japanese, putting another translated book more than a year away from being released even if Kawahara released a ninth volume tomorrow.

I might seem overly critical of the inconsistencies heaping up between the Sword Art Online (SAO) main series and Progressive, but the truth is that I truly enjoy the Unital Ring arc unfolding as a chance to spend time with the whole gang, and I truly enjoy the Progressive series as a thing of its own. I'm not looking forward to events coming up on the horizon that are meant to change the course these characters are on so that they can segue into the existing story. I love the momentum of what they experience now, it's a thing of beauty seeing them grow at each other's side and also growing closer. It's great episodic fantasy on its own with great writing, with some quirks deriving from Kawahara's style I can largely ignore.

I would like to see the charm of these stories preserved and not subjugated to the needs of another story. And I would love seeing these character living out their inner motivations as consistently and convincingly as they do now. This is a quality that makes Progressive stand out among Kawahara's best work - just like The Isolator. But unlike The Isolator, Progressive is never a series of its own. It's taken hostage by "existing canon." Even if that canon itself is unwritten. Even if that canon has been only alluded to.

But I digress. Because I want to write about the unfolding of the love story in Progressive.

Love is shared experience

A wise friend of mine once summed it up like this: Love is shared experience. He was not talking merely about romance, the interest in a partner, or dating. He was talking about all forms of love - between lovers, between friends, between family. Love grows when we share experiences with each other. And he recommended to add love to love, meaning that if you see a chance to add another layer with a person to the existing love that exists, do it. There may be a person you share a hobby with, and that's the extent of your relationship. And one day you find you can talk to that person about something that's weighing you down or you manage to listen to them and make them feel seen and heard. Then suddenly a new dimension is there - that of heart-to-heart exchanges.

Love exists on many levels, in many forms. It finds its way in touch, in enjoying nature and sharing the experience, in opening ourselves to others, in stimulating each other's mind, in supporting people to find purpose and fulfillment, in the ability to be yourself in the presence of others, in the space that we hold for others that lets go of all judgment when they just need to dump it all out. Love can be expressed in service to others, in being attentive, but also as (tough) love that keeps in mind the actual needs of yourself and others. Love isn't just a soft cushion that you can drop on. It can be expressed in challenging a beloved person before they continue to head further down a harmful path. The expression of love is as varied as it can get. It values the other on many levels - seeking union but also respecting boundaries and the individuality of others. And it hopefully values the self. (Now, how's that for a post written on Valentine's Day, huh?)

So, having said that, the potential of Progressive as not just a "love story," but also a story of love in all its shape and forms, is actually more profound than you might expect. SAO was a whirlwind romance. It had to be. On the one hand, it was constrained into being a submission to a contest. The amount of pages it could unfold in was quite limited. On the other hand, an author grows with their works. It is very apparent that each story Kawahara delivered contributed to his growth as a writer. Progressive is not just more of the same, it's an author revisiting his earlier body of work with more depth and skill, hard-won through writing quite a lot. And possibly also growth as a person, who knows? I'm sure becoming a full-time author had its changes and challenges, and so did SAO's success.

Even as it was a whirlwind romance, and in some ways a teenage romance, the original love story arc was also quite heavy in its symbolism, culminating in a self-sacrifice and blending into each other as their digital bodies were undone. It contains both the naivete of first love and the seriousness of a love on the background of life and death. It plays with romantic ideals and even the transpersonal dissolving of boundaries between people. But when you look at it, it all happened very sudden, and if we are to believe SAO Vol. 2 - Aincrad, quite a bit of it happened off screen as Asuna was putting the moves on clueless Kirito. Or like Asuna would later put it (in that particular volume): "I wouldn't be so sure. You're awfully dense."

The path taken for Progressive is quite different. The Asuna of SAO main series was impressed with Kirito, lovestruck, and going out to get her man. In SAOP we see a gradual forming of a relationship between two people that depend on each other for survival, but increasingly also for their emotional needs. It is still a story of all kinds of funny mishaps, but it also encompasses friendship, romance, the revealing of one's feelings, a complicated dance of self-deception and pretense, and finally a bringing forth of that great commitment and loyalty growing between those two. Asuna sacrificing herself for Kirito in the finale of the Aincrad arc was a big, tear-jerker moment. But when we look at it, Progressive earns its emotionally touching moments much harder than SAO on its own ever did.

An ever-increasing obscurity

When they made the first Progressive movie, they chose to tell it from Asuna's point of view, centering the story around her. This was possible because in the initial volumes of Progressive we did at times get scenes that told things from Asuna's perspective, getting an insight into the workings of her mind.

What made the movie fall short (to my taste) was its failure to depict a consistent Asuna throughout and stuffing in some things she never said in the books or rushing forward her commitment to Kirito. And partially you can blame it on one feature of Kawahara's writing - the art of leaving things unsaid and looking at characters from the outside... On the other hand, isn't that what movies do? But he increasingly does so for Asuna.

I call it an art because it's quite intentional. Kawahara takes the "camera" of his scenes quite consciously and points it at the character whose revealing actions and words he wants to document while relating to us the inner reactions of the person whose viewpoint we take. But this also means that the author will make Kirito his "camera" in a scene whenever he wants to hide the full extent of Asuna's feelings and just show her actions and words - which in turn betray most of it. But what the movie did is exactly what Kawahara doesn't do - he doesn't spill all the beans at once. He gives us one bean, then another, then several beans at once - and then you get a period without any beans until he starts over. And we as readers follow this bread-crumb... I mean, bean trail along. Because it leads to great moments, because it's the dynamic at the core of this series, its core thread which all the others revolve around.

It's therefore hard to pinpoint when Asuna's feelings take a more conscious form. But we get some hints that they are definitely developing and that some of it must be definitely conscious. Kawahara leaves it unclear how much of her own motivations Asuna rationalizes away and how much she is just not willing to admit publicly. But we can clearly see that by SAOP Vol. 7 the hints she drops are rather obvious. And the only way to preserve any ambiguity means that we need to see her from the outside.

One scene in SAOP Vol. 7 is the coin toss at the fountain in Volupta, a fountain she recognizes as having been modeled on the Trevi Fountain in Rome. And she tosses no pocket change, as Kirito notes, but two one-hundred-col coins, signifying the importance of this to her. (I assume a smaller denomination coin exists for the col, especially since for example 1 yen coins exist, taking the same place as cents would take in Western currencies - the "sen" previously used for smaller values went out of circulation in 1953. Also, the 100 col coin is a silver coin, not your typical smallest denomination in fantasy.) She tosses them, then explains: "One coin means you'll be able to come back to Rome. Two coins means you'll be there with that special..." Then she refuses to speak on. Of course we are meant to not only to infer that she meant to find a special... someone to return with, but that she will return with a special... someone she already found, else she could just tell the story to finish. (My internet search for the meaning of the coin toss doesn't seem to bear Asuna's interpretation out, but you do you, girl.)

The other scene occurs in the same book when they dine out at a restaurant with Argo. Since they each sampled the same three choices, Asuna asks Kirito which one he likes best, then merely remarks his choice is interesting, but does not use this as a means to promote further conversation nor to disclose her own likes. Your mileage may vary, but I'm left with the strong impression that Asuna compiles a list of what Kirito likes to eat. There are hints in SAOP Volume 6 - Canon of the Golden Rule (End) that Asuna has already used her new open skill slot to put the cooking skill in it. These are meta hints, though, for people knowing the main series - so you could think of it almost as an Easter egg at that point. All Asuna tells us is that what she put is a secret. Kirito simply continues on the assumption she put "two-handed lances" - in spite of the fact that she couldn't have leveled it up to the needed proficiency she display in that time. (Which hints at a magical item from the treasure room of Galey Castle instead.) Behind Kawahara's smoke and mirrors, however, is the assumption that if Asuna took a weapon skill, she would just tell. She displays, on average, a high level of pragmatism around many things people could be awkward about, so whenever Asuna actually plays coy, you can be your two one-hundred-col coins on it that it has something to do with her feelings for Kirito.

No wonder we don't get to see Asuna from the inside anymore. As Liz would put it: "If this were a manga for girls, there would be an explosion of roses in the background."

Let Big Sis help you

One of the most awesome characters of Progressive is of course Argo, the merciless tease. I'm sure since Argo and Sinon are both present in Unital Ring, the whole story will eventually collapse into a black hole under the combined weight of the ability these two have to put others on the spot.

Argo serves many roles in Progressive, but since she's clearly a friend to both Kii-boy and A-Chan, she loves putting Asuna on the spot for what is obvious to another girl, especially our friendly Rat. As she points out to Asuna is that when she drops a pop culture reference to Kirito, it needs to be something he has a context for. Or... she needs to broaden his horizon a bit.

Argo: "You've got a lot of work ahead in your future..." Asuna: "No kidding..."

Of course Argo knows exactly what she's doing. She lulls Asuna into a sense of familiarity by speaking something that might have been on her mind, then let's Asuna's tongue betray herself. She essentially gives a stage for Asuna's emotions to be put into words before her mind catches on. This may a game of fun for Argo, but Argo's actions throughout the series suggest that the Rat has at least a crush on Kirito that she sidelined because she sees what's going on and would like the two to actually act on it. She earns her self-given moniker Big Sis by actually putting Asuna in the spot, drawing her out. (Of course she also chuckles mercilessly when Kirito's enthralled watching Asuna framed against a wide panorama of the night. Argo has enough to go around for everyone.)

For comparison, Argo called Kirito a "coward" for pulling out of a rather emotional encounter that might have led to a confession of that crush during the events of The Reason for the Whiskers, so she shows us she is quite capable of making such a confession and showing somebody her heart. She's also good at reading the situation and other people. That, and her underlying maturity, seems to offer hints at experience that other girls around Kirito lack.

Enough with the romance already!

But of course the feelings between Asuna and Kirito come not only under the heading of romance. Of course it's romantic when Kirito stammers "I don't... want you... to die." But who would ever want to lose a loved one? Kirito not only betrays a core motivation here - protect Asuna - that he begins to take on, he also makes it clear that love is on the table without defining its form.

Kirito's feelings, of course, are in conflict. One part of him wants to be closer to Asuna and treasure her for himself. Another part thinks that the greater good for Asuna and the whole of Aincrad would be that he let her go and become a shining beacon of hope. It's a struggle between longing and a transcending love that wishes only the best for the other. It's also a heaping pile of self-deception.

This shouldn't come as surprise. Most if not all of Kawahara's protagonists share traits such as self-depreciation, self-deception, and self-denial. Their views of themselves are often awfully skewed and not borne out by their actions or how others see them. Kirito is noble as fuck, willing to risk everything for others, courageous, not willing to stand by when suffering happens, protective, honest, caring, often inspiring and touching the hearts of others. He however thinks of himself as selfish, compulsively recalling any occasion where he could have acted better, focused on mistakes, failings, and negative interpretations of self.

Or take Minoru, the protagonist of The Isolator series. His entire view of himself is negative but his actions say different. Sometimes others accept his rationalizations why his behavior isn't really noble, but one of his core beliefs is that he is a burden on others that needs to be removed. He can't see the positive he brings to their lives. Haruyuki of Accel World goes way beyond the comical in how he basically sees himself as human trash others will eventually toss aside. Shino, the co-protagonist of the Phantom Bullet arc of SAO, is incapable of seeing herself in any positive light until her new-found friends push it in her face.

What unites them is that they can't see in themselves what others see in them, and to the extent they do, they become happier people. Where they see imperfections, others see qualities. This is one aspect of love present in all Kawahara stories - the need to be wanted around, to be valued. And surely Asuna does this for Kirito. In SAOP Vol. 4 - Scherzo of Deep Night she cries bitter tears over how others treat Kirito after his actions were for the sake of exactly those fools. This is the loving concern for another human being, to want them feel valued, praised for their good deeds, their hard work seen.

"I'll be the one to praise you."

Of course, all kinds of love mix in Asuna, and her tongue is back on the run-away train, leading us to this gem: '"I'll do whatever I can for you... whatever you say." Later - much, much, much later - Asuna would confide to me, "A part of me was worried about the possibility that you would say something really crazy," with a gentle, beaming smile.'

This might be the only actual shout-out to the future Progressive has offered us so far. And the secret of the love story is in that mix. Kirito and Asuna are friends, companions in peril, and ultimately they will be lovers. They already bicker like an old couple before consuming the fact, anyway.

Conflict of love interest

But what Asuna does here is care deeply and offer to lead Kirito out of the maze of his self-deception. She urges him to see what value he has to begin with even if she has to make him see it.

There's also an interesting conflict between the two - Kirito wants to serve a greater good by ultimately releasing Asuna. And Asuna doesn't want any of it. She seems to see - or at least feel, sometimes unconsciously - that her personal good lies with him, and his personal good with her as well. She puts it very well why she wouldn't want to be a sub-leader in a guild, much less the guild master: "It's annoying enough for me to watch after him." (SAOP Vol. 5) Way to tell people your priorities even in snark!

Both Kirito and Asuna display clear leadership qualities all over the place - a sense of responsibility and the greater good, but also practical skills like a sense of tactics, command, intelligence, courage. And both are eschewing making a formal commitment to this path blaming it on external factors or an inability. Asuna is at least honest about her unwillingness. Yes, both have been antagonized, put on the spot, even ostracized. But what they fail to see is probably none of the existing guilds wants them because they'd outshine the leaders. So they remain a free-floating molecule of two particles, a radical willing to bind with whatever other player or NPC the story needs them to.

I just wanted to note that there are various expressions of love at work here. The wish to commit to only one other. The wish to see somebody become their full potential. The wish to be with a person that makes you feel safe, or a person that makes you feel alive. All of this is love in its varied shades. But ironically these varying shades of love define a part of the conflict for the two. Because Kirito keeps Asuna at a distance for her sake, wants to protect her but ultimately set her free. Asuna wants to break down that distance, even unconsciously, wants to be his equal instead of a ward, and wants to be bound.

But whenever one of these two gives up their own behavior in this push-pull, they come together. Then other personality dynamics come into play. For some reason Asuna can't commit to her feelings openly, though various acts on her side betray she has at least thought about him making the first move. She seems to have envisioned the scene, only to find herself having (sleep-)walked right into it, and she gets terribly self-conscious. When she tells Kirito that she's not ready, clutching her pillow in SAOP Vol. 5, we get a perfect misunderstanding (like the one in the original Aincrad story) of Kirito's intentions regarding what is meant to happen next. This Asuna might not be ready, but she has clearly thought about it. The whole dialogue is both a piece of comedic art and also wonderfully revealing.

It would be very interesting to know what makes Asuna decide she is not ready. In fact, what being ready means and how you bring it about. As they go through their story, it's hard to think what could be missing still. They risk everything together, they barely spend time apart, and there are quite a few assurances to each other about the value they place on the other, their ability, they esteem they hold each other in. There are no empty proclamations in Progressive, only motions of true hearts. Even if feelings can't be expressed properly, like in the early Rondo for a Fragile Blade, Kirito clearly wishes he could. He wants to lessen Asuna's pain. He's empathetic. From her and the other people close to them he learns the skill of sharing his feelings.

Even if he can't show his feelings, he choses the path of service: He puts others before himself, tries to anticipate their needs and fulfill them. Asuna, on the other hand, choses the cooking skill (I presume) to cater to a literal need. Kirito is nagged and groomed into better boyfriend material, even if unintentionally.

But at its heart, it's a story of shared experience. The intention to come back to Trevi Fountain may be a romantic thing, but at heart we're shown a story about sharing experience, and in doing so, experiencing love. How everything is better when you can share it with somebody you want to share it with. When we met Asuna first, she was committed to die by a monster's hand. When we met Kirito first, he was a loner by choice, unable to grow out of his social inability.

And that is the final form of love for this article: To behold somebody growing into their potential and taking joy in it. These characters may or may not go on to ultimately tell the story they first appeared in, but it's the act of growing that possesses a charm of its own, even if it's accompanied by self-deceptions and crazy rationalizations. They do not dance around each other, but also around their own true selves. And while SAO is ultimately a love story, it's also a story about learning to love yourself, to forgive yourself, and become who you are meant to be. To love yourself enough to let others into your heart for real. Wouldn't you agree... Sinon? Kirito? Asuna?

[lost-and-cursed]

15 Questions 15 Mutuals

Thank you for the tag @grace-of-creation 💛✨

Are you named after anyone? Yeah, after character from some silly TV show

When was the last time you cried? Duh, like yesterday. I live a sad life.

Do you have kids? A pass.

Do you use sarcasm a lot? Yeah, I breathe with it. Irony interchanges with sarcasm. It can be pretty hard to speak straight for a prolonged period of time.

What sports do you play/have played? I don’t. I’ve briefly done sport dancing and some kind of fighting (can’t remember the particulars)

What's the first thing you notice about other people? Idk. Their posture and manner of speech, I guess? They give off the general vibe. Maybe clothes for same reason, not quality or fashion, more of a personal style.

What's your eye colour? Green-gray, sometimes with segments of light brown. It’s changing from time to time. Sometimes they’re new leaves green and on one memorable occasion they were like a thunderstorm.

Scary movies or happy endings? Happy endings, scary movies just upset me.

Any special talents? I am suspiciously good at finding logical or textual inconsistencies and discrepancies. Helps with script doctoring, noticing deception and other

Where were you born? Ukraine

What are your hobbies? Not much, mostly fandom existence. Thinking up fan theories, discussing different media, reading fics, not much else. Maybe gathering knowledge.

Do you have any pets? Yes, a Thai cat named Taya. (Don’t judge my naming abilities)

How tall are you? 168 cm

Favourite subject at school? It’d varied. ‘Cause heavily depends on the teacher. There were times when it was math, history, english, biology, geography etc. There is hardly a subject I couldn’t have liked with a decent teacher.(except PE, we hate PE)

Dream job? Idk. Something analytical, maybe to do with consulting people, that can support my needs and lifestyle. No dress code. Average amount of contact with other people. Maybe not heavily dependent on computer use.

I have fun with filling out quizzes or answering the questions (even if I am not always ready to disclose certain information)

who the hell are mutuals anyway (is being aware of each other’s existence is enough??) I gonna tag 𝒫𝑒𝑜𝓅𝓁𝑒 𝐹𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝑀𝓎 𝒩𝑜𝓉𝒾𝒻𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 that my memory retained, feel free to sent me to hell or ignore certain questions🖤💥

@babushka-pirata, @minahuston, @rated-a-for-awesome, @usearki, @whitetyger123, @an-autistic-with-personhood, @incorrectclassicbookquotes, @joris-jurgen, @sockdrawerdemon, @debellatis, @vulpes-ex-machina, @anonymouslylovesyou, @teaboot, @hilaritatis, @foofyschmoofer​

[rei-makes-big-robo]

Project HD Devlog #1: Late to start writing

Project HD was the second of my late 2022-2023 VR game prototypes, it progressed far within the first month of development until I lost track of what I wanted it to be and started to develop Project CWD. Project HD was sort of a half accident half intentional mix of goofy action oriented gameplay mechanics for a VR action platformer, mostly revolving around having hammers for hands and needing blood to heal (Very original I know).

The blood part was sorta vaguely because I wanted that sort of blissful ignorance for how much health you have in games like Ultrakill, need health? just kill an enemy and bathe in their blood! I still have not implemented any method of this as in it's current form it lacks any organic entities, just the Squeakers which are named from their early prototype form (and the rubber domed tutorial version) producing a squeak from a dollar store Halloween rat decoration.

Originally they were just a red block with a knife that would either stab or do a spin attack, they have since grown to be weird stabby trashcans that slide around and if you're unfortunate enough to be sitting when it attacks you might get stabbed in the eye. The big conflict with the Squeakers is that their current version uses a character controller instead of a Navmesh agent and it can be very derpy (video below), which has been causing me to consider reverting them to the Navmesh version.

So now that I've infodumped about stuff nobody will care about or find interesting here's the real shit! Project HD relies on the ability to adjust how much mass your hand hammers have with the analog triggers which allows you to jump very significant heights and distances. The problem with this is that my headset uses inside out tracking which I thought caused a lot of inaccuracy and inconsistency in these jumps, however that was not the case. My partner (romantic) has a Valve Index which uses lighthouse tracking which is pretty much the best kind of tracking if you have space for it. So after 3-4 months of leaving Project HD dormant I opened it up in Unity and prepped the testing scene for a build.

After I sent my partner it I immediately had to rebuild it with proper controller configurations for the Valve Index controllers which was as simple as clicking a button or two. After trying it for a bit her takeaway from it was that it's movement and mechanics were "counter intuitive and inconsistent". Both things I didn't expect but now I was filled with glorious purpose, a reason to pick up the hammer and smack some C# with my crappy oem keyboard. In hindsight I should have seen both these problems coming, most weird movement mechanics in VR are sorta the inverse off a mass jump leading to the counter intuitiveness of it. The inaccuracy however was just me being a moron, an absolute hamster pressing the buttons and waiting to see a red error telling me to try that again. However in this case everything worked, not well but I didn't know any better at the time I wrote a lot of it. The entire hand controller script was updating with the framerate, sounds pretty normal for most things. Until you consider the fact that half of it was controlling physics objects.

So back to the purpose stuff, today (technically yesterday but hey that's what happens when you don't sleep till 6am like some kinda vampire gremlin) I started to change some stuff around to try to fix some of these issues. I started by adding interpolation to the rigid bodies of the hammers, which makes them feel a little sluggish but they almost come out feeling better like this. I then changed the entire hand script to run off FixedUpdate, meaning it updates with the physics tics which are consistent rather than the frame rate. Clearly having a wave of inspiration from the time spent on Project CWD I started to work on implementing post processing effects to get it closer to the visual style I wanted. I also set it up to change the effects based on health which ended up working really well with the existing effects of your energy hammers fading away more and flickering.

After two gameplay tests by myself the inconsistency of the mass jumps had been resolved feeling smooth and vastly more precise to respond to my intentions. The bloom and other post processing effects helped to really make things feel a lot more alive and even made me reconsider my stance on scrapping a certain parry indicator (story for another time). Thus I have begone developing Project HD again by accident and this time I wanted to share it somewhere other than Discord creative channels. I'm still very uncertain of what I want to do, I really like to make stuff like this and I really think it's a very fun game concept but my financial situation forces me to consider it as business and I'm not sure I'm good enough to ship a product worth paying for. My skills are varied across so many fields and none of them have a diploma to my name or are relevant to my existing job experience. That's part of why I post to accounts like this to serve as a sort of portfolio to prove to myself that I am capable of making things. That the years I've invested into this haven't been a waste. I've been considering trying to apply for a digital art position at some game development companies, but I'm also very much afraid of losing my time to projects I have no passion for and not having time or energy on the side to do what I really want to be doing. To anyone that read this far thank you and sorry. Writing this has given me some confidence that this is what I should be doing, that I should keep crawling like the worm I am.

[frillyshonenjump]

Manga Review: My Hero Academia

man...

coming back to this manga in particular over the past couple weeks was something truly special.

so like, short story but my hero started publication back right when i started high school, so i felt like i grew up with this one; those early days of the story really hyped me up and got me through the first few years of school then. but...life happened and i dropped it somewhere around kamino arc!

i wanted to do it justice by revisiting it again and fully catching up, doing what past me struggled to do. and honestly? even with the backlash of some critics regarding what is now considered WSJ's golden child, i still say it has continued to hold up and carry the magazine.

not as excellently as it did back then...but in these final bursts of the story, it's still pretty great.

(spoiler-free review! will make references to later arcs by name alone.)

firstly, i think it's important to note how STRONGLY this series starts off. few comics and manga have the strength to start so well and with such a bang that it hooks in millions into what is essentially a coming-of-age story in a world of superheroes. until MHA, using a very westernized ideal of superheroes and supervillains did not seem to run as rampant as it does now but it is done in such a vibrant and colorful world with equally vibrant and colorful characters that it just feels SO FUN. i was on the edge of my seat for every arc the entire way.

now, from what i've seen and listened to from several retrospectives is that the one thing that has most people losing their love for this series is the late-game story.

i unfortunately can see where people are coming from when they say so: the super, SUPER high quality artwork and detailing has slightly and noticeably changed (it is most noticeable before the Final War, but when said arc starts it's harder to notice), story pacing has sped up, often waaaaay too fast in some beats, and even major plot points and characters aren't as satisfying or as consistent as they should be (there is a specific character in the Final War who fell off pretty hard but will not be named for spoiler reasons—those who read likely know who i'm talking about.) i wish these problems weren't so glaring near the end, but they haven't dampened my enjoyment of the series as much as it has for others. that said, they're the reason for a considerable steer in direction for the manga that cannot be ignored.

chapters read: 379 (ongoing)

first impression rating: 5/5

continuation rating: 3.5/5

things i liked:

the overall art style. Kohei Horikoshi's work is one of my biggest inspirations since i was a teen, and with this being his third manga, he's put a lot of his experience to the test and pushed the limits of what a manga can portray in terms of story and work. there's hardly a page or spread where i can look at it and say it's low quality; he and his assistants go above and beyond in terms of detailing, paneling, and brush work.

the character designs!! it's so fun and exciting to meet new characters in this series and often seeing how their quirks reflect in their appearance and costumes.

things i disliked:

late-game pacing, especially in between the liberation arc and the final war arc. meta-wise there must have been some issues going on behind the scenes, or horikoshi just chose not to write some segments, because some events happened way too fast to warrant it, or some events get skipped over completely between chapters. in some cases it was quite jarring and hard to just skip over with the characters.

the characterization of some notable figures. some seemed inconsistent especially late-game and had me confused as to why some choices were made by them, even if it was still a game-shaking moment.

overall, there is and still is a reason why MHA is what people consider "overrated" now and why it's so hyped up; it's all the pizzazz a shonen jump manga strives to be in normal formula, while at the same time having elements that feel fresh and unique. it is STILL worth picking up to this day and while it's starting to near the end with some sputters, i still have high hopes for what is to come.