#major recruitment exams

[dcxdpdabbles]

DCxDP fanfic Idea: Lights and Camera

"There he is," Tim whispered, looking out from behind the library bookshelves. Besides him, Bart, Kon, and Cassie lean over him, stacking each head on top of each other so they can adequately see who Tim is pointing out.

Across the libary, Babs shales her head with a sigh but doesn't call them out. For one, it would be unnecessary loud and another....well, she enjoys having blackmail on her vigilante coworkers and the Young Jutice team climbing on top of each other to stare at a random civilian was the good kind. She turns back to her list of books to stamp and scan back into the system.

Tim had mentioned seeing someone he wanted to recruit for his and his teammates' fake online clothes store. It was the cover the teens had come up with, for an explanation on how they all had such different backgrounds but had still become friends.

The other bats thought it was a mere cover, but Babs knew how seriously Tim took his fake store. It was mostly due to Tim's team making very realistic cosplay outfits that are commissioned to their site. Since they catered to such a nitch community Tim wanted each job to be perfect. (Also he's a nerd like that)

Or maybe it had everything to do with Tim's not-so-secret adoration of photography.

Bart made the clothes, Cassie and Conner modeled and Tim took all the photos. It helped that the speedster was used to making clothes in the post-apocalyptic future, but no one could deny his master of the needle. Cassie and Conner were both rather good looking, and they seemed perfectly fine with showing off this fact.

The thing is, their store is starting to gain traction. If it weren't for the fact, Bart could move as fast as he could, Just Us fashion would be behind orders for months.

Tim was worried someone would catch on and figured they should attempt to hire a co-tailor. They attempted to reach out to fellow heros but no one their age was interested and they seemed rather put off by the idea of asking a adult.

Everyone was still tense from the last time Young Justice asked the Justice League for help.

Tim then decided to attempt to find a civilian who would help them with smaller pieces. Or maybe someone he could throw in front of a camera and pretend Conner or Cassie had taken a step back from modeling to help out with the orders.

His team allowed him to search for someone since they had no idea where to start. Tim scouted through all of Gotham, and ended up landing on Danny Fenton.

Babs had looked into Fenton's background as a favor to Tim and to satisfy her own curiosity. There wasn't much to the boy. Born and raised in a small town in Illinois, Fenton dropped out of high school to get his GED around his junior year. The notes on his file by his English teacher, principal, and school counselor indicated he was bullied out of school.

He passed the exam on the first try and, within a year, moved four states away to join Gotham School of Arts with a major in fashion. His parents were certified geniuses with a family company working in security and "ecto-entities." His sister was going to Gotham University for a physiology major.

The Fentons are a comfortable upper middle class family with no criminal history; the only blemish on their record is Jack Fenton's speeding tickets.

Fenton lived in the better parts of the city, paying his way through college and his own expenses by working as a remote tech support for various companies. It seemed he had inherited a knack for computers from his parents.

Barbara wasn't sure what about Fenton stuck out to Tim. The boy barely participated in public events when it came to his fashion. He only turned in assignments, and unless Tim made a habit of walking through the school of arts, he would have never seen his work.

"Wait, is he wearing-?" Conner whispered, squinting at Fenton, who was tapping away on his laptop. "He is! That's Flame-Flame battle pants!"

"No way." Bart gasps, standing on his toes to lean closer. "They look so good! Where did he get them?"

"He made them," Tim says with a certain lift to his voice that Babs recognizes easily. Aw, her little computer partner has a crush. "He makes all kind of fandom merch that can be worn out in public."

"Tim, we got get him on the team. Look at that Flame-Flames sweatshirt! I need it" Cassie hisses, rocking in place. She nearly causes Conner- who was leaning on her- to tumble over. "Go talk to him."

"I can't"

At that, Babs glances up. She's never heard Tim be nervous to speak to anyone before. Yet that's what she finds as the Young Justice team disappear aroudn the coner surrounding a red face Tim.

"What do you mean you can't? Why not?" Conner asks

"Look, I already tried to recruit him but messed up my pitch." As he admits, Tim kicks his feet, not bothering to look anyone in the eye. When he locked eyes with me, I choked on my spit midsentence."

Cassie slaps a hand over her mouth, but she is not fast enough to hide the snicker that slips through. The glare she gets from the only regular human could have sent her to her uncle Hades. "I'm sorry, you choked on your spit? Mr. CEO of WE? Mr. Suave? Mr. New Lover, every other Tuesday?"

"Shut up you don't get it! He was dressed in a really cool outfit of the Ninjas of Konoha, okay!? I wasn't prepared."

Barbara glances at Fenton as the team attempts to tease Tim. Rather loudly. It's like they forget they are in a really old building, so the acoustics pick up their voices really easily.

Based on his blushing face and hunched-over form, Fenton can obviously hear them. He keeps sending short glances to the shelf the other teens hide in. Fenton glances at his computer screen before rapidly fixing up his hair and straightening his clothes.

He fixes his scattered papers just as Tim rounds the corner of the bookshelves, looking rather nervous as he scoots to Fenton's desk. Babs watches the remaining young juice team whisper and shout encouragement as Tim stands next to Fenton.

Fenton's face, if possible, go even redder, and much to Babs' shock, he even starts to twirl the end of his ponytail around his figure as Tim starts talking.

This is cute. She thinks, aiming her camera phone at the pair. Taking three different shots, each displaying Tim's fumbling mess and Fenton's obvious interest, she quickly sends it to the bats with an evil smirk. And sort of pathetic.

She gets answers instantly, almost everyone teasing Tim or making "They grow up so fast" comments. The messages make a warm feeling of the family burn in her chest, reminding her of all that they argue about; the Bats truly care for one another.

It's Bruce's thoughts that shatters the chat with a simple text.

Why is Tim flirting with the Ghost King?

Babrbara stares at the words for a long moment before she types

Babs: What do you mean? Who's the Ghost King?

Bruce: That's the Ghost King or his human form. He rules the ghosts and our flip dimension. The Justice League Dark has him marked as a level 15 threat.

Damian: I beg your finest pardon? There are only five other beings on that threat level.

Bruce: Exactly. Tim knows not to speak to him.

Steph: Ugh Bruce none of ous knew that.

Bruce: He was in the yearly safety warning PowerPoint. You all said you reviewed it.

Jason: That thing is nine hours long! Of course, not all of us would actually look through it.

Bruce: I worked very hard on it. :'(

Duke: Guys? Shouldn't we worry about Tim? I mean is the Ghost King going to hurt him

Bruce: No, he's known to be very benevolent. Just as long as you don't accidently insult him.

"I'm not a whore!" The voice cuts through the air like a bullet. Barbara glances up just in time to see Tim backing up with a panicked expression as Fenton sneers.

He quickly gathers his things with a flick of his wrist, having all left in a bright green glow, and pushes by the shuttering vigilante. He stomps his way out of the library with an inhuman growl.

Tim throws his face into his hands with a wail of dispair. "I should have never listen to Dick's flirting advice!"

Barbara slaps a head over her forehead before texting the rest. So Tim may have called the King a whore.

Bruce: This is why I ask you to read my safety PowerPoint.

[badgertracksart]

Portfolio advice, from a lead who hires Concept Artists

(This was originally a twitter thread I wrote before the site self imolated, hense it's strange structure.) I wrote this after a weekend of portfolio reviews - 1. Like a maths exam, please please show your working. I want to see thumbs options, mid options and of course a final design.

2. Arrange your portfolio, I don't want to bounce about between subject matter and pipeline. Your portfolio's narrative should be as strong as your work... 3. Please make worlds that excite the viewer, make them want to go in and explore them, explain to them the interesting parts of the town, or the way the character's hat unfolds. How will this draw the viewer in? 4. As I've said before the majority of your project work is explanatory not mood, make sure your portfolio contains explanatory work. Explained here -

5. A lot of beautiful post apocolyptic paintings, , but 80% of realistic games and film, we just give the environment artists photo ref, they are capable artists in their own right. Different work in stylised where you do need to create rules for how things can be translated. 6. Production art contains call out sheets, material references and flat graphics. This doesn't have to be your final image, but it should support it.

7. Design characters on a swatch(es) of the environment they will be viewed in. Not on white. I make swatch backgrounds from screenshots, it avoids assumptions that damage readability. 8. Reverse of this, put people in your environments, show me the scale.

9. It's not a deal breaker for a review, but if you intend to get a job, please show me your work on a screen larger than a smartphone (print outs probably the cheapest option with the best battery life). 10. Please have your contact details clearly visible, and by that I mean email address, I will not pass your social media contact on, I cannot input your form into my tracking system. EMAIL ADDRESS emblazoned and bake it in, sometimes recruiters do funky stuff to pdfs

11. Your portfolio will never feel done, not to you anyway. You will have learnt from your latest pieces and want to apply it to older work. But we know art is a journey. Send your portfolio anyway. I've been in the industry 10+ years and my portfolio is still not 'finished'. 12. If you are applying to an environment centric Concept Art position then please vary your times of day! Golden hour is cool but show me some happy sunny days, looming overcast days, what about at night? Vary your weather too! Sunny snowy day? Rainy Spring day? Stormy night?

13. If you are applying for a character centric Concept Art role then please ensure your portfolio shows a variety of body types and ethnicities. 14. Designing characters for games? Please show back views and feet (!) Many potfolios contain only front views. This is a problem because:

You haven't shown you are considering the design from all angles.

In many games rear view is the main view.

Stop cropping feet.

15. If you are entry / graduating and looking at Portfolios to compare content and standard of yr own work too, look at hired grad/junior artists as opposed to seniors Seniors and leads often have old or personal work in their portfolio which isnt representative of the day job. 16a. Show clearly the intended use case for your Concept Art. Mention the game type in the description. Are these player character designs for a 3rd person adventure game? Then more back views please. Bonus points for diagetic ways of showing health / equipment / role etc.

16b. Are these designs for an FPS? Then really the player view of the gun needs to sell the player style/ choices, in an FPS your weapons are almost your character. Are these world designs? What's the view distance? For an RTS your shapes need to read from above & a distance. 16c. The lack of clarification means I am judging the design in isolation, which both harms the design (you might be considering the backview of a char as the main adventure character.) Or an NPC, their waist up expressions may be important for conveying exposition and mechanics.

16d. Concept art is not separate from gameplay, great concept art serves the game team before it is a good illustration.

17. Play games. A variety of games. Think about them. IMO to be a good concept artist you need to understand the common language & references used by your peers. Also understand the principles and common language your audience are used to. FPS design rules are v.diff from RTS.

18. There are many skills that are needed in concept art, please show them. For example: Graphic design - logos, liveries, typographic use etc. VFX concepts - Abilities, Ambience, motion concepts. Architectural knowledge - How buildings are built! & more but I'm out of space :O

[shuaflix]

how eagles take flight (preview)

PAIRING ▸ slytherin!boo seungkwan x ravenclaw!fem!reader

GENRES ▸ fluff, humor, smut, angst, fantasy, action, enemies to lovers au, hogwarts au

WARNINGS ▸ profanity, slowburn, insane amount of lore, hurt/comfort, mild descriptions of violence, more to be added

SUMMARY ▸ on the night of halloween, you're selected as hogwarts' champion for the triwizard tournament, a competition for eternal glory held between three major schools of magic. of course, this makes absolutely no sense to you because you didn't put your name in the goblet of fire. you have a feeling someone's out to get you, though, and a certain slytherin who's hated you since your first year might have the answers you're looking for.

or, you and boo seungkwan hate each other's guts, but he might just prove to be an unlikely ally when you're selected for the triwizard tournament.

RELEASE DATE ▸ aiming for early 2024!

AUTHOR’S NOTE ▸ since i don't have much to show until the full fic is out, you can anticipate heavy slowburn, some blood purity prejudice, me racking my brain to come up with tasks for the tournament, the yule ball!!, enemies forced to work together, and ft. jeonghan, wonwoo, joshua, seungcheol, and irene (rv) ♡ send an ask or comment if you'd like to be added to the tag list !!

“AT LEAST YOU DON'T HAVE TO TAKE YOUR N.E.W.T.s NOW,” Wonwoo tried to console you while you two were walking to your Defense Against the Dark Arts class. “Charms is gonna kick my ass this year.”

Due to the strenuous challenge the tournament offered, testing your strength, courage, intelligence, and resourcefulness, the champions were exempt from exams. You figured it was because being a Triwizard champion was far more valuable than getting Outstanding scores on your end-of-year tests.

You snorted. “I’m still taking them.”

“But you don’t have to,” he said with a disapproving frown. “You should really be taking the tournament seriously, Y/N. People have died doing these tasks.”

“I just don’t understand how my name ended up in the Goblet of Fire,” you muttered. “I tried to explain that I didn’t put my name in, but they just told me that rules are rules. I have no choice now that I’ve been selected.”

“Just… make it through alive, will you? Don’t get yourself killed over eternal glory.”

“I don’t even care about eternal glory,” you whined. “Eternal glory isn’t gonna get me five N.E.W.T.s to get into the Auror recruitment program.” 

“I doubt you’d need five N.E.W.T.s if you won.”

“You’re generous for thinking I have a chance against Seungcheol and Joohyun.”

When you opened the door to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, you nearly groaned out loud once everyone’s eyes landed on you. A lot of talk had been going around about you being Hogwarts’ champion, and the attention wasn’t all that great. Some of the support was nice, but plenty of people had been betting on your loss and talking smack about how the Goblet of Fire should’ve chosen a better representative.

The only one in your class who appeared as though they couldn’t care less about you was Boo Seungkwan, a Slytherin who you couldn’t stand since your first year. You two got off on the wrong foot right off the bat, with you accidentally spilling ink all over Seungkwan’s new textbooks and him talking down to you for the rest of the year. It was a trivial thing to hold a grudge over, but as you two got more and more hostile toward each other over the years, you eventually just realized that you and Seungkwan weren’t meant to get along. 

You two hated each other so much that in your third year, you sent each other Howlers back-and-forth until a professor had to intervene. Apparently, screaming at each other through Owl Post was going too far, especially when the Howlers started arriving in the middle of classes.

Your dislike for him grew even more when he was picked as Head Boy for Slytherin. Although you had no qualms about the Head Girl chosen for the Ravenclaw house, you were still bitter that Seungkwan was effortlessly getting the opportunities that were always just out of your grasp.

Wonwoo grimaced once he took a look at the board. Apparently, you were graced with the pleasure of sitting next to the bane of your existence today.

“Think you can get through a class without killing Seungkwan?” he asked, squinting to make out who he was sitting next to.

“I think I have a better chance at winning the Triwizard Tournament.”

Wonwoo laughed, even though you were dead serious.

When you got to your table with Seungkwan, you did your best to avoid eye contact. You shrugged off your book bag and sank back into your seat without another word. Maybe if you tried hard enough, you could forget he even existed. 

“Your arm’s in my table space, champ,” he started, and although you tried to resist, your head shot up to see what the hell he was talking about. You rolled your eyes when you noticed Seungkwan pointing at your sleeve, which was barely on his side of the table. You moved your arm without another word. “Anyway, I didn’t think you’d be the kind of person to put your name in the cup.”

“You must know me so well, huh?” you sneered. “And, for your information, I didn’t put my name in the cup.”

Seungkwan stared at you with a strange look in his eyes before shaking his head. “You’re ridiculous.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” you asked, growing defensive. You didn’t mean to raise your voice, but you quieted down after a few stares from other classmates.

He scoffed. “Take some accountability, Y/N. I literally saw you put your name in.”

You seized up. There was no reason for Seungkwan to lie, but you couldn’t fully believe that he actually saw you putting your name in the Goblet of Fire. You nearly started questioning whether you had been sleepwalking or something, but you were positive that you slept peacefully throughout the night. There was no rational explanation as to how you entered yourself into the tournament.

“Are you serious?” You turned around in your seat to face the Slytherin, nonplussed. “You saw me? You’re positive it was me?”

“Yeah? I know an idiot when I see one, you know?”

“Takes one to know one, I guess.”

Seungkwan shook his head at you. “You better have a plan to win. It's gonna be humiliating for us if you die out there.”

“Gee, thanks,” you replied bitterly. Your voice teetered on nervousness when you asked, “When did you see me put my name in the cup? Honest to God, I didn't do it, Seungkwan. You know I wouldn't.”

Even aside from Wonwoo, who looked at you skeptically after your name was called, you knew that Seungkwan saw right through you. He knew that you didn't have the guts to enter your name into the tournament. By no means did you consider yourself brave, and the Slytherin knew that quite well.

He looked at you strangely. “Last night. I was debating entering myself before I saw you.”

Before you could press him to elaborate, Yoon Jeonghan made a show of dragging his chair out from under the table that was in front of yours and Seungkwan’s, eyes locked on you as he did. He was one of the most popular wizards in your year with his charming looks and brilliant wit. He was sweet and friendly on paper, but he was notorious for dating around. You were pretty sure you saw him with a new girl every other month. Although he was one of Seungkwan’s best friends, you found him to be far more amiable. 

You pressed your lips into a thin line. Jeonghan was who everyone was expecting to get picked for the tournament. He was definitely more capable than you, and he posed a threat to both Seungcheol and Joohyun with his abilities. You were sure he would sweep the competition if he was selected as champion.

“There’s our champion,” he greeted with a crooked grin. “You’re gonna win for us, right?”

“Uh.” You paused. “No promises, Jeonghan.”

“Hey.” He lowered his voice to hardly a mutter, a playful grin on his face as he leaned in close. “You know my dad’s Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, right? Just say the word and I’ll find out what the first task is for you.”

“Isn’t that cheating?” you asked.

“Think about it this way: Durmstrang won’t stop at anything to make sure Seungcheol wins, and Joohyun half-Veela. She just has to bat her eyes at someone and they’ll cough up any information they have on the tournament for her.”

Seungkwan scoffed. “Jeonghan, you’re being careless. What happens when your dad finds out you’re helping the champion cheat?”

“Lighten up, Kwan. There hasn’t been a champion for centuries who hasn’t bent the rules a little.”

You swallowed hard. Surely, it wouldn’t hurt to accept Jeonghan’s help. After all, Wonwoo told you that Seungcheol and Joohyun would be using their resources to figure out tactics to go about their tasks. It would be no surprise if they had already found out what the first task required. If you had someone like Jeonghan on your side to help you, then you would’ve been stupid not to accept his assistance. 

Rules were one thing, but the entire school was counting on you to represent Hogwarts. You couldn’t make a fool out of yourself when the time came. 

“Well, if you happen to find out,” you told Jeonghan, “then I wouldn’t be opposed to hearing what the task is.”

He winked at you. “Just give me a day or two.”

send an ask or comment if you'd like to be added to the tag list ! hope you guys enjoyed the preview & look forward to the full fic ♡

TAG LIST ▸ @wonudazed @delicatewinterenthusiast @aaniag @punkhazardlaw @cottoncheol @zzoguri @peachyaeger @jsopinha @blurryriki @mangocustard16 @wqsty @jakeslvt @yawnzshit @myseokjinji @the-boy-meets-evil @wonvsmile @hanversace @jebetwo @ourkivee @primoppang @deekaye @yonabutnotyuna @seokqt @sarcasticsweetlara @littleredskies @apricottulips @hey-syia @elfoscheirosos

[adachimoe]

Was being a police officer even Adachi's first choice?

Something I am curious about due to what Adachi says about school and whatnot in his Social Link is if "be a police officer" was even his first choice? We can assume he went to college because he specificed he went to a high school that prepares you for college lol.

During college, many students find jobs before graduating by going to the recruitment drives hosted by major Japanese businesses that hire fresh graduates en masse and set them up with jobs for life. This practice is somewhat outdated nowadays (the rules forcing these major businesses to do this were changed a few years ago) and it is known to be a huge pain point for students, but during Adachi's school years, it would have still been common.

People who don't get recruited might find part-time work, or even repeat a year of college to try again next year (there's a stigma against people who have already graduated under this system).

But the prefectural police force is outside of this hiring system employed by the major businesses. You can come in with only high school education, or you can come in after college, you just have to be under a certain age (I wanna say 30 and under, but this is from memory) and take the police qualification exam thing.

Idk, I'm spitballing, and I'm not super knowledgeable about police recruitment, but I wonder if Adachi might have failed to secure a job offer from a prestigious hire-for-life company, so he applied to the police force instead? 🤔 Fail to get job security from a business, but civil servant is also security.

Edit: To my amusement, there is a whole ass English Wikipedia article about the graduate hiring thing lol.

[shanastoryteller]

Happy Holidays!! Could you write something for Fullmetal Alchemist please? If not then whatever you would like to continue works! Thanks in advance and I look forward to reading all of the prompts!!

a continuation of 1 2

There is a sea of irritated blonde cadets glaring at the guard in front of the gates, who for some reason seems nervous about them, as if he hasn't had to deal with arrogant new recruits who haven't even broken in their boots before. Havoc gives them all another once over, but their age means they really can't be anything else.

"If you don't get let us past, I'm going to get you demoted," the tallest blonde there says viciously. All of them look so alike that he almost things that they're related, all blonde and blue eyed and irritated.

That's. Quite a threat from some newbie nobody. Except the guard still looks nervous and isn't telling them to fuck off.

"Russel, please," sighs another, who on second glance is the only one of them without blue eyes. He's never seen anyone who had gold eyes before. "Brother should be here soon and he can sort this out."

"Sort what out?" scoffs the lone woman among them. The silver studs all up her ears aren't at all regulation and she's going to want to take them off before her commanding officer yanks them out. "As if our uniform shouldn't be enough to identify us-"

"Because we've never duplicated a uniform before," a boy who looks to be on the younger end of the group mutters.

"Shut up Khayal," they all chorus, except for the golden eyed man who just sighs.

"You should just take the exam so you have a stupid watch of your own to flash around," the woman complains.

The man rolls his golden eyes. "Why, so I can have the same rank I have now and can be mobilized without Brother's permission? He'd kill me. And then whoever was stupid enough to let me take the test."

A watch - same rank - is this guy saying he's a major? That can't be right. He tried to get a clear looks at any of their jackets, but their clustered together and mostly facing away from him.

"I have them!"

They all turn to see a mousy brown haired woman with thick glasses running towards them.

She stumbles as she makes it over and the shortest one steadies her. She flashes him a smile, "Thanks Fletcher," before shoving a bunch of papers at the guard. "Here, here are the authorization papers, although copies really should have been sent ahead of us-"

"What are you guys doing? I though you were going to get a head start on setting up the office."

Havoc was so focused on watching the unfolding drama that he hasn't noticed anyone approaching. He does a double take, not sure what he's seeing at first.

He has gold hair and eyes and a similar enough face structure that he has to related to the other golden eyed man. His hair is up in a long golden ponytail and there's a silver watch at his hip.

Havoc has a clear view of his jacket.

This kid is a colonel.

That means he can only be one person.

"I don't want to hear it, Ed," the woman says irritably. "Show the nice man your watch so we can actually get started. The first thing I'm going to do is call Central and tell them how much they fucked up."

"Nag, nag, nag Winry. If any of you bothered to carry identification, this wouldn't happen," Colonel Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist says, but dutifully takes the silver state alchemist's watch out of his pocket. The guard seems more relieved than any of them to wave them through.

"I said that I didn't want to hear it, Edward," Winry says sweetly in a way that has Russel and Fletcher hanging back several steps and Khayal grinning.

The sound of their bickering take a while to fade, which he thinks says more about their volume than their speed.

It turns our their new neighbors might not be as boring as they first thought.

[fuwabloom]

The Sewing/Home Economics Club!

Hazu is the president and only active member of the club, whereas the majority are all ghost members. Ghost members are those who joined a club in name only and there to fill in numbers. They'll typically join club activities every once in a while to secure their spot. Ayano joins the club during the Drama Club's play productions begin.

The club was disbanded years before and was only recently revived, leaving Hazu as the de-facto president since the previous one wanted to focus on entrance exams. Because of this, Toga Tabara was able to join, but as a ghost member.

Below is Galatea Acts spoilers/dynamics:

Ayano joins the sewing club due to being to the rule that students must join a club or face disciplinary action. She was invited to join the Drama Club alongside Kenchou after he auditioned for a role in their murder mystery dinner theater production, but she declined. Since he insists they go home together after club activities, Ayano is forced to find a way to kill time and remembers the rule of joining a club. Not wanting a lot of noise or attention, she walks around to find one that fit the requirements.

Despite the Gaming/Subculture Club insisting she's a member, she isn't officially on the list, and then finds the Sewing/Home Economics Club... kinda. The room is quiet aside from the sole sewing machine at work, and she encounters Hazu Kashibuchi. After a messy first introduction, he allows her to stay here so long as she doesn't bother him. She agrees and sits in the club room for the next few days before asking to join.

Kenchou eventually finds out about her joining and tells her that she should hurry and get other members or else it'll disbanded. So Ayano, having befriended Ousa Nakashima and Raimu Fumetsu prior to this, invites the two to join as they have yet to join a club. When Hanako Yamada transfers in, Ousa gets her to sign up as well. Seeing his classmate, Raimu, coming from the sewing club room, Toga Tabara, checks the club and is immediately recruited as a ghost member.

(best to worst) Skill / Interest level:

Hazu is incredibly skilled with sewing. He's made more than half the dolls and designed apparel, some can be seen hanging on the wall. Unfortunately, he's horrible with speaking so during club president meetings, not only is he the youngest, he's also the most soft spoken, so the budget isn't as fairly divided towards the sewing club.

Ayano is automatically the vice president. She knows how to sew and mend, but isn't motivated in starting any new projects. She prefers doing the inventory check and looking over others' works. However, if you provide her a pattern or blueprint, she can easily replicate it.

Raimu learned how to do embroidery and tailoring when she was young due to her strict family upbringing. It was meant to be early bridal training. She has her own sewing machine and feels more comfortable using it so she brought it to the club. She's the muscle of the club so she and Ayano do a lot of the shopping.

Ousa is fairly new to the idea of sewing, but enjoyed it so much that she started practicing at home. She likes making accessories more than clothes. Her favorite things to make are key chains and bracelets, making a new matching pair for Raimu.

Toga doesn't have much interest but he can do the basics. Due to his status as a ghost member, he doesn't know where all of the materials are and opts to help organize or clean rather than partake in club activities. He's pushed to be more involved by the others, especially Hanako.

Hanako has little to no interest, but her competitive nature pushes her to learn how to improve. She refuses to be seen as the worst, yet her impatience is her downfall so she gets frustrated too easily. Her ideas get too big for her current skill level so there's a box dedicated to her attempts.

[ghostoffuturespast]

Since we're kicking off the Phantom Liberty photo story sets now...

I took these photos of Grandpa V in an approximation of Arasaka service dress a while ago. Since then, I have been on a quest for a serviceable pair of tactical pants. (There are many tactical clothing options in PL, the vast majority of them either come in atrocious patterns or are in colors that are OSHA approved and visible from space.) I've been wanting to put an Arasaka combat uniform together for a while now and this was the closest I could get on console. The hexagon pattern on the pants is more reminiscent of Militech and not up to Arasaka dress code black but what're you gonna do? So here's the infantry looks.

Dropping out of college midway through her first semester and after a slew of rejection notices from other corps, Grandpa just barely managed to pass the recruitment exam and squeak into the ranks of Arasaka's Security division. Arasaka had not been operating in Night City (at least not publicly or officially...) since the AHQ Disaster of 2023 at the end of the Fourth Corporate War. With the need to quickly bolster their workforce and establish new headquarters in Night City, the corp's recruitment standards were less stringent than usual upon their return in 2070 after the Unification War. Grandpa received exceedingly low marks on the firearm portion of her exam while her score in hand to hand combat was graded at slightly above average.

The recruitment exam not only serves to measure the overall fitness and aptitude of applicants but also as an assessment for suggested combat cyberware modifications should an individual choose to pursue a security career long-term with Arasaka. Aside from the required cyberware that all employees receive as a contingency of their employment, Grandpa opted to forgo the corp's suggested recommendations for combat implants - putting herself at a marked disadvantage in comparison to the rest her platoon and squadron. Or so everyone thought.

She instead purchased and installed her own cyberware independently of Arasaka's cyberware loan program - a benefit that is offered to employees. Her unused college savings went towards purchasing a set of Kendachi monowire implants while additional skeletal and passive armor system modifications were acquired in subsequent years after her transfer to Arasaka's Counterintelligence division.

And here's another pic of Baby Grandpa in service dress because she looks cute in the hat. Even though she does not like the hat.

[usaigi]

Modern Blue Lions headcanons

Dimitri

Has difficulties with fine motor skills following the car accident that killed his family and Glenn. Has to use accommodating tools like specific silverware and a laptop to take notes in class. Kids used to be jealous that he got use a laptop in class but he just wanted to be normal

Regular member of his school GSA but everyone assume he's just a straight ally because look at him. Look at his hair. He's straight. His classmates don't discover he's actually bi until a week before graduation when they see him kiss Felix

Also a regular member of the BIPOC solidarity club. Dimitri, Dorothea, Ashe and Constance are the token white allies.

(mental health spiraling) "haha puberty/hormones :) No need to discuss these new symptoms with anyone, it's just normal teenager things" (it is not normal teenage things)

Annette

banned from home ec after starting a fire while making a salad... She's was trying to make homemade croutons...

girl ADHD :)

she got a B on a chem test one and cried about it for 2 days straight

"Maybe if I get all A and get this many awards and get this many scholarships, my dad will love me :)" (girl.. :( )

Frenemies with Lysithea. They're buddies until it's time for exams. Then it's war. There can only be one valedictorian. (death note's "I'll take a potato chip and eat it" songs plays in the background)

Olivia Rodrigo stan

Sylvain

Hasn't said "okay i'm sorry that I looked at Mrs Riley and lightly grazed her left tit" but has said that exact same thing

friend with a car. "yeah we can all fit into my Audi; Annette and Ashe are tiny, just squeeze in and pretend you like each other. We can stick Felix in the trunk" "I'll kill you."

He's in Lacross AND theatre. Ice hockey AND Ice dancing and figure skating. He can do both, he's bisexual

Has to pick between a major sport game and his theatre show. His dad wants him to follow his dream and do the game but Sylvain is getting ready to tell him "no dad i'm giving up your dream." He backs out. He goes to the game.

"You got a perfect score on the college entrance exams?" "Why is it hard?" (he studied so much)

Ingrid

"Gay people are real??? They don't just exist in San Francisco and on Glee???" /gen confusion. Not in a homophobic way, she's just raised in a conservative environment and instead of going on the internet, she hangs out with her horses (Just wait till she finds out about trans people)

When her family was going through a particularly hard financial time, her friends started packing extra lunch. They all know she doesn't accept handouts but Ingrid will never say no to leftovers.

So chronically offline. Who's Billie Eilish? What's Succession? What is Rizz?? They're making another Spider-Man movie!?

Dedue

Vice-president of the BIPOC solidarity club. The school gives them club money and he uses it to make food for the members.

"..." "Go on" "Down with... gringo?" *Claude, Petra, Felix, Cyril, Hapi, Constance, Dimitri, Ashe and Dorothea all clap*

Football/Basketball/Hockey couches keep trying to recruit him. He just wants to garden.

(Tw racism and ref to violence to poc men) "I don't want to antagonist white people. As a large brown man, I'm already perceived as a threat." "That's ok! Your safety comes first. I got this," Dorothea says as she throws eggs at someone's car with a confederate flag.

Mercedes

"I'm joining the war on liberation theology on the side of liberation theology."

"Mercedes! Can you explain your tardiness?" "Forgive me, professor, I was at morning mass." (She was. But she's late because she stop to smoke a blunt.)

In her most angelic, big sister voice, "fuck TradCaths 😊"

Somehow still failing her religious studies class

(tw cults and implied anti semitic conspiracy) Raised in a religious cult where her step dad was the leader until she and her mom escaped. Because of this, did not know Jewish people were real. "I knew they were people in the bible but all I knew was [redact]" (Don't worry, she knows better now that she's not in a literal cult)

Felix

"I fucking hate my dad" "why? Is it cause he didn't accept you being queer/trans?" "No, he was cool with that. He's just fucking annoying."

"Ingrid, what the hell, I'm literally trans. You know this. We've been friends since we were in diapers." "Oh. I forgot." "YOU FORGOT!?"

Wasian. (tw sui joke) @ Dimitri and Sylvain "stop joking about killing yourself--you're appropriating my culture, assholes."

Secret Olivia Rodrigo fan. He only listens to her music on youtube + incognito mode. Only Annette knows. Annette manages to get them concert tickets were they run into Lysithea.

Ashe

Spider-Man stan on main. Somehow he convinces Dedue to be his Ned Leeds to his Peter Parker for Halloween

He knows Ingrid would like the MCU if she watched it, but she's scared of needing to watch 10000 movies

*slaps Ashe's back* You can pack so much anxiety in this guy

Started school in the middle of the year because he's a foster kid. Rumors started spread about him being a harden criminal because he went to juvie. He keeps tries to correct them and say he's never been but Caspar keeps fueling the rumors

"Caspar! Stop telling people I went to juvie! That never happened!" "...You... lied to me? :(" "You made it up!" "Oooh. Right."

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

What kind of character development do you think Tanizaki could get?

Oooooo ok so other people have answered this far better than me but - have you seen any of those theories that Naomi is a creation of Light Snow and that the real Naomi has died? That Tanizaki may be selected to join the Port Mafia? That he may have been recruited by the Agency to stop him from showing up on the Mafia's radar?

I recommend looking through @tachiguin's blog for Tanizaki stuff; the analyses are supplemented by information and references to the real life Tanizaki-sensei's works and definitely worth a read if you're curious about him!

But really... Tanizaki has to get some kind of focus at some point. We know so little about him compared to the rest of the Agency. He's still a big question mark despite appearing at the very beginning. And... there's something really off about him.

His narration in the first part of Untold Origins has him basically repeating over and over what a normal guy he is. He does not remember his entrance exam because he blocked it out. He is one of the most comfortable with killing. His eyes go darker and more unstable than anyone in the Agency (even some in the Mafia). He cares little for morality if Naomi is in danger ("world-burn" anyone?) and in Beast, he is supportive of Akutagawa killing the people who took Gin, which shocks even Naomi herself. He puts his ability down as not useful in combat, only for it to repeatedly be shown to be invaluable for assassination. Ayatsuji, in a side story, considered him suspicious enough to capture and tie up (this was more for comedy... but still). Asagiri mentioned that he considers Tanizaki to be the member of the Agency that is "closest to evil". ...yikes.

Anyways, I definitely think we're setting up to reveal something about him. He's been there since the beginning, and even minor characters we thought we probably wouldn't get much elaboration on or would play a major role (Tachihara, for instance) did eventually get some background. The only characters in the Agency we really know nothing about are Tanizaki and Kunikida, though at least with Kunikida we have the Azure Messenger backstory... with Tanizaki we have literally nothing. I'm sure that's not unintentional.

Personally, I am hoping that whatever ends up happening, that we get more Naomi focus too, since she's actually so so cool. There's a post here about how Naomi actually has an inner voice and a definite consciousness, which has some fascinating implications for Light Snow if she really is a created construct. There's also her quick thinking (she's canonically very clever), and the fact that she has picked up little tricks and some strategic thinking from observing Dazai (someone on here brought up the possibility of her learning to do the handcuff snap he does and I have not known peace since. I need to see her do that so bad). She's also apparently something of a trusted figure for Fukuzawa and comfortable going and getting him when the Agency is waffling over whether or not to save Atsushi. She's openly annoyed by Fitzgerald which is really funny. Naomi is also super protective of Tanizaki and Haruno, she's sweet to Kyouka and playfully teasing yet supportive of Atsushi. If we ever get a focus on Tanizaki, I need that focus to split between the both of them. There's foundations to do some fascinating storytelling with each of these characters!

[transmechanicus]

Hi! I'm honestly excited that tumblr recommended me a good blog for once. It's nice to see other trans ppl living their best life out here.

Anyway, I hope you don't mind a question, but I'm currently an undergrad and really interested in grad school. idk how applicable your experience would be since im a comp sci student, but what's it like in grad school? how accepting has it been of trans people for you? do you have any recommendations on what to do to increase the chance of getting in?

p.s. idk a ton about biochemistry or genetics, but i have a friend who's super into it (he's also planning on going to grad school for it lol), and I love hearing him talk about it. so I'm also curious as to what you're doing :o

Grad school is broken up into phases in my experience, which is dependent on institution and major. For me, year one is classes and rotations, the latter of which is 7 week trials in a lab of interest to get a feel for their work and the lab social and mentor environ. Classes generally compose discussing research techniques and recent publications, and test you on your ability to read research literature and understand it as well as propose follow up investigations. Year two is finishing classes and starting work on your thesis projects, as well as completing preliminary exams, which for biochem are written (grant proposal) and oral (ppt presentation of grant proposal). Year two has less classes than year one and your actual lab work dominates most of your time. Year 3, 4, and 5 are basically spent having a full time job as a senior lab researcher where you are expected to learn your local field well enough to come up with an idea and pursue it to discover or demonstrate something novel in the form of your thesis, as well as publish at least one paper on your work in the meantime.

My institution has not had any issues with trans ppl in my experience. I came out to my lab in Oct of 2023, and gradually to my classmates and the wider program over the following months. Administrative staff and professors have been very on the ball with my pronouns and chosen name, and our program recently got a new professor who is also a trans woman. I won't say which institution to reduce the amount i dox myself, but safe to say I'm content in regards to my treatment as a transgender person.

Getting into grad school usually requires demonstrated undergraduate research or a gap period of research employment after undergrad. I did some undergraduate work (though not strictly in my field) and a year of relevant employment after undergrad. 3 months into said employment I applied for grad school lol which was a little earlier than usually advised bc i hadn't been there long. (My post-bac PI was very demanding and restrictive so I wanted out ASAP). The main things grad schools are looking for is are you able to talk about research you're doing now, what research you want to do, and why you've chosen their institution. They want you to demonstrate you have an interest in researching topics they have professors willing to support, and also that you have the problem solving and data analysis skills to adequately perform research work and operate semi-independently. Having undergraduate or post-bac research that you can explain in detail why you did certain things, what the motivation is, what the goal is, etc is how you prove your worth to grad recruiters (who are usually professors looking for students).

My work is specifically focused on the use of short synthetic peptides to sense the activity of kinases, which regulate pathways in the human body related to growth, division, and apoptosis. When kinases are disregulated it causes various diseases, but it's hard to test drugs for many of these kinases bc there aren't effective monitors for their activity that don't get a lot of false positives due to overlapping signal pathways. The use of synthetic peptides with certain sequences gets around that issue of false positives, and they can be modified to provide information about how effectively a kinase is binding and interacting with the peptide, which would change under exposure to effective inhibitor drugs for those kinases. TL;DR I make little bits of protein to bind other broken proteins and tell me when they're turned on so other ppl can design drugs to turn them off.

Pls let me know if you have any further questions, I apologize that I don't know any comp-sci majors so this might be wildly inaccurate in some regards. XD

[stephensmithuk]

"Army-crammer"

You may be wondering what one of these was, so I'll give a quick explanation.

An idea imported from Imperial China, where it had been going since the end of the 6th Century CE, the British at this time had a series of competitive exams you would do if you wanted to join the civil service (either UK or Indian) or become an officer in the British Army. These has been introduced to improve the quality of the men in the organisations and get rid of the problems caused by patronage by selecting on merit.

You would take this exam, covering a wide range of topics from the classics (of course) to modern languages to geography. If you passed, you were eligble for a role, although still needed to undergo the other sorts of checks you still do for employment today - background checks, health checks and also oral testing to make sure you knew your stuff.

Some more stuff here:

I think the "Modern Major-General Song" was influenced by this - officers who had a lot of broad knowledge, but not that much of use in a military context. Although the croaking chorus from The Frogs of Aristophanes would make a great password.

You would have various organisations, either tutors or full-time schools, to help young men prepare for these exams.

The exams are largely a thing of the past in the UK, but are still very much around in India, where the UPSC to join their civil service is considered possibly the toughest exam in the world:

Those who got into the Army officer training programme would either go to the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich (for the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers) or the Royal Military College in Sandhurst (infantry and cavalry).

However, while these exams were designed to make the Army more merit-based, it still tended to be the richer guys who ended up as "Ruperts". You had to buy a lot of your own kit and maintain it too. You still do have to pay for full ceremonial dress (generally red or black), No. 1 Dress (blue, for ceremonial events) and "mess dress", which is basically the military equivalent of evening wear.

This uniform could be bought from various places, including the Army & Navy Stores, a chain of department stores run by officers from both as a co-operative. Their stores covered a whole range of stuff for soldiers and their families, ranging from groceries to guns. They even expanded to India, although those branches went with independence. In 1973, they were bought out by House of Fraser; a chain that has had a bad last few years, with a large number of its stores closed or closing.

You can get allowances and tax relief on uniform costs today. There is also a big second-hand market.

Also, living the lifestyle associated with being an officer and a gentlemen wasn't cheap. You had to pay your mess bills, ensure that your sword was in good condition, keep up a decent social life etc.

Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes also was an army coach in his past, by the way.

[anti-katsuki-lounge]

Honestly, I think the only reason I don't hate Bakugou is that I'm just exhausted when it comes to his so called "character arc".

He's supposedly had a redemption arc but there hasn't been enough change in him for it to be worthwhile. He's still an asshole, the only difference is that he's actually acknowledged that he was one, there's been practically no effort put into making him less of one (or even so much as an attempt to make him an "endearing asshole" character).

He's continuously being rewarded for either doing the bare minimum or practically nothing. The whole "revival" thing was bullshit (and yes, I would still be calling it bullshit even if it had happened to my favourite character), why remove a full pro hero from play just to save one who isn't fully trained? This is a war, people die, why should Bakugou get a free pass?

His stans like to complain about people not letting go of the past whenever his treatment of Izuku gets brought up, but how can you just gloss over that? The whole point of a redemption arc is that a character realises that what they did was wrong and try to change that. A redemption arc that fails to either acknowledge the past and/or lead to substantial growth lacks any qualities that make it compelling. Bakugou has apologised yes, but he's still yet to face any meaningful consequences for his actions, nor has he made any substantial attempts to improve his attitude.

The only times Bakugou has ever been punished for his actions, was during the sports festival (which only served to make UA look bad, and make Bakugou himself look like the victim) or when he was put on house arrest for instigating a fight after the licencing exam. Big whoop, where was his punishment for earlier attempts to attack his classmates outside of training? Or for literally any other incident where he was out of line?

And since it was done with the intention of recruiting him, not punishing him, his kidnapping doesn't count. Words cannot begin to explain how frustrating it is when some people label that one single incident as his "punishment" for his behaviour, when it very much wasn't.

Bakugou constantly being treated as the Main Character he very much isn't? Exhausting.

Bakugou constantly being rewarded for the bare minimum? Exhausting.

Bakugou STILL not facing any real consequences, even after ADMITTING to being a major asshole? Exhausting.

The ACTUAL protagonist constantly being used as a tool for Bakugou's development? Exhausting.

At this point I've just started blanking everything out as soon as he appears in a scene. I can't hate him anymore because I'm just too tired of his character.

I don’t blame you. Following Katsuki’s journey gets so tedious that you end up becoming numb to how bad it truly is.

[omorimodreverie]

May Development Update

Before we get into the actual work done, we should probably talk about what happened before May and what's needed for CH3, since this is our first development post.

What is the work needed for Chapter 3?

As you may know, Chapter 3 takes place in the real world. With it comes an interesting problem: incredibly lopsided demand for a specific sector.

Chapter 3 created very heavy demand for pixel art for an almost entirely new set of tileset areas. This differed from the past, where we were able to mostly reuse or work off of base game maps. This caused a massive workload spike, since we needed to create entirely unique sets of areas and polish those maps immediately as development began. The only good news is that we likely won’t face such a drastic change in development style for the rest of development.

There are also sizable bottlenecks on the writing (specifically dialogue) itself too, but they’re minor compared to the map problems.

The problem this imposes, then, is that it causes other sectors of development to be inactive (if only for CH3 only). Map implementation and RPGMV work would require actual maps to work with; events require dialogue to work with. Moreover, workloads that are prevalent in other chapters, like enemy sprites and battle gameplay mechanics, just simply do not exist in this one (or are significantly reduced).

Chapter 3 is also particularly strange in terms of the project’s characteristics, as the mod was mostly created around the idea of combat and gameplay progression. It's mostly accustomed to enemy and skill sprite work, rather than almost entirely pixel art and writing dependent work; which is the case in Chapter 3. Story is still important, but the very birth of this mod was due to gameplay ideas and gimmicks. They can’t be abandoned entirely for the sake of a single chapter.

Here's a flowchart to demonstrate the problem:

As shown above, you can probably see how this could have easily messed up the development cycle.

What's been done are massive organizational changes and work reallocation, which will be described below.

What's been done before May?

Compared to other development periods, not as much. There were some writings and organizational work done. Crudely put:

For writing, The basic premise of the entire mod has already been largely finished. Specific events and overall plot has been finalized for up to CH4. Detailed writing and dialogue are partially done for CH3.

Pixel Art is still the main bottleneck, along with map implementation and tilesetting

RPGMaker related work is still on hold, stuck on the previous bottleneck

Music has been done up to a chapter ahead

Drawn art and illustration is barely needed in CH3; to compensate for inefficiency it's been allocated to future chapters instead

This also means, ironically due to bottlenecking and reallocation of work, CH4 might as well be half finished in terms of assets by the time CH3 releases. Though I wouldn’t rely on that fact, as those assets will still have to pass through RPGMaker itself.

So what's been done in May?

This month has seen a revival in development speed, especially compared to the past few months of lethargy. Work done this month mostly relates to organization than actual assets. Here's the list (though not exhaustive):

Majority of map crude drafts done

Tilesetting has progressed decently, and now it's matter of refining smaller details, as well as actual implementation

Writing recruitment + Actual progress on dialogue script

A lot more miscellaneous organization related work, like call up on activity, listing tasks, and such.

Considerable amount of CH3+ work done from the music and drawn art sectors, due to lack of relevant work in CH3.

How much time was spent on development?

Since late 2022, there have been 2 considerable periods of inactivity, those being the Christmas/New year break and the May-June Final exams coming up (for most people). Christmas/New year break tends to have people be, well, doing their own thing. And as of now, a lot of people have finals coming up, leading them to take their own time to study.

I mean, let's be real: it's a passion project not a job. "Oh quirky mod of a game about depression before your grades and family" is a bit silly.

What's next?

Finals are still ongoing for a considerable number of people, so development will likely not be in full force for the immediate future.

Ironically, some may think that summer break would be a ripe time for progress, but the opposite could also be true where some people take actual proper breaks. Therefore it’s more or less balanced out by some who are less active than usual and some more.

(Stahl speaking) As for my case I lean more on the "inactive during break" type due to being physically out. So in the upcoming break that could potentially lead to additional map bottlenecking on top of already existing one which is not ideal. Though with crude map draft done, more task should open up for more people to work, improving efficiency and activity.

And for reading this far...

Here have a little sketch sprite for future enemies done quite a while ago:

[jgfiles]

Hello, I spotted this picture on your profile. I'm curious how long the D Agency has been open? Who is responsible for teaching there? Did Yuuki and Jitsui die because they shared Miyoshi's position? Thank you!

I think...

my timeline for "Joker Game" might help you.

Anyway D Agency was founded in 1937, autumn. Around that same time Sakuma was ordered to become the liaison but, before going there he had to wait for his hair to grow longer so he went there in 1938 April and witnessed the exams of the various spies until only eight of them remained.

Well, according to the novels from which the anime is based:

"The training in the D-Agency was full of diversity.

For example, the students had been instructed on using explosives and wireless signals, the operation of automobiles and planes, as well as learning various languages and dialects. They had received lectures from professors of renowned universities on organizational theories, religious studies and international political theories. Lessons on medical science, pharmacy, psychology, physics, chemistry and biology were also given.  

Abstruse discussions about ideologists and strategists such as Sun Tzu, Kant, Hegel, Clausewitz, Hobbes, and more that Sakuma hadn’t even heard of, often happened between students. On the other hand, professional thieves and safe-crackers had been brought out of prison to instruct the trainees on the techniques and methods. Aside from being taught on how to pick a lock using a single wire, the students also received lessons on how to secretly switch items by sleight of hand as a magician would, dance and billiards techniques. Kabuki actresses had been hired to teach the students the art of disguise, while professional gigolos demonstrated how to seduce women.

All students had been required to swim in cold water while clothed, then travel to a location far away without sleep, and use complex ciphers, memorized only a day beforehand, fluently and naturally as the languages they usually speak.

The D-Agency had even trained them to be able to disassemble shortwave radios in complete darkness, and put them back together so that they were once again functional, relying solely on their fingertips. The students had also been ordered to seamlessly open envelopes with a bamboo stick, and instantly memorize words which had been written backwards and reflected in a mirror. Letters containing orders, no matter how complicated they are, were to be destroyed on the spot after they had been read; the students had also been trained to recover destroyed letters." [Joker Game Bool 1: "Joker Game" translation courtesy of @imayooshi]

Also Yuuki himself taught to the students as well.

The image you saw is an art from Shiro Miwa, "joker Game" character designer. It reflects his own headcanon about the future of the characters from "Joker Game".

Shiro Miwa said he assumed that, after the war Yuuki forced Kaminaga to take over the organization and disappeared with Jitsui and that Kaminaga kept on receiving instruction from an unknown address. He also said he picked up 1960 because it was a time of major changes in world affairs including the Vietnam war and Kennedy assassination.

Amari apparently ended up on a wheelchair and is being taken care of by Emma.

According to Shiro Miwa the one I speculated is Miyoshi (at the time I didn't have the book with the illustration and so I couldn't read what he wrote as that image was shared by @i-dedicate-this-kill-to-the-fans here) is someone else who got recruited by Yuuki while he was in hiding.

However this is just Shiro Miwa's headcanon. Due to lack of material many fans tend to accept it as canon but it's not really canon and if the series were to be continued in the future things could go differently (especially since Odagiri and, likely, Sakuma were both likely set up to die in war).

I hope this helps! Thanks for your ask!

[detectiveaku]

theory: akutagawa is now an ada member

i have. four points! which is a lot of points for a bsd theory okay here me OUT yall have worked with less

number 1: the fight on the ship resembles an entrance exam.

in order to join the ada, you have to prove that you would put others' lives before your own. before the fight on the ship, all of akutagawa's "sacrifices" or times when he put his life in danger were calculated, he knew he would probably survive. this is because he was motivated by getting dazai's approval, not saving lives. but by sacrificing his life for atsushi, both atsushi and dazai could vouch that he couldnt possibly have known that he would survive to get said approval. atsushi specifically could vouch that akutagawa had previously said that he couldn't disappoint dazai in his life, because he couldn't bear seeing his disapproval, indicating that he cares about getting dazai's approval while he's alive, not after. so the sacrifice was for atsushi, so he could get off the boat and stop fukuchi.

number 2: his appearance in the "two hours later" segment

clothing is a major factor for a character's allegiance. getting a new item of clothing shows allegiance to the mafia. clothing was a major part of tachihara's development. it also shows allegiance to the ada, as seen when atsushi first joined. and not only does he have an entirely new outfit, but to me its giving goth sherlock holmes. thats a matter of opinion but it really does look like a goth victorian detective.

also, fukuzawa can boost ada members' abilities. and while it might be the lighting making rashomon have that yellow tint to it, at least in part, it does have an extremely yellow look, which to me seems like it is different. why didnt it look like this before? my guess would be he was a vampire, undead, and so fukuzawa's ability couldnt affect him. this is an admittedly weak point though.

number 3: why is he there?

on the surface, sure. akutagawa is at the airport and decides to help out. but this is not part of dazai's orders to him, his role was to save atsushi on the ship and he did that. i dont think mori or any mafia member is going to be at the airport so soon, so on whose orders is he fighting side-by-side with atsushi? three options, i like them all. one is he chooses to save atsushi because it is the right thing to do/he cares about atsushi. i like this, but it seems like a very wide jump from the previous time we see him. impulsively saving someone you were already ordered to save, and voluntarily joining a fight you have no direct business with because youve done some thinking and would fight with him no matter what, is a jump in development. a fun jump, but a jump nonetheless. second option is he chooses to fight because the singularity was created by fyodor and dazai lost to fyodor so hed get dazais respect if he defeated fyodor. and this is fine, i wouldnt hate it. but its the opposite problem, this characterization feels like its going in the wrong direction. akutagawa has been moving away from being solely motivated by dazai's respect. which brings me to option three, he fights because he has a new allegiance. we know how fiercely loyal he can be, the opportunity to prove this allegiance would be enough to get him involved in the fight

number 4: the port mafia transfer

okay i know everyone is tired of pm transfer theories, and im not going to pretend to know who it is, but i think that whoever it will be, there has to be a catalyst. another pm member choosing to leave for the ada may be that catalyst.

akutagawa has been on a redemption arc kick, with the whole not killing people, saving atsushi's life, and now this. it might be that the pm transfer serves to bridge the gap started by yosano's recruitment, which is why we learned about both at the same time. so while akutagawa is transferred to the ada, someone else is transferred to the mafia, and both organizations become closer as they work together with their old friends' new colleagues. i think this is how the pm transfer becomes a real plotline, and not just angst.

i also think mori is going to cash this in at a specific time, not just whenever they're done handling the decay of angels. finding out that akutagawa has left could be that time. it makes this something more than mori knocking on the agency's door after everything is dealt with and going ">:) forgetting something >:) ?" and more strategic, which is more in character for him

its also possible that akutagawa is the pm transfer, which would be crazy and certainly unexpected. akutagawa becomes an official ada member, fukuzawa proves it to mori with his ability, and mori cashes the transfer in to get akutagawa back. shocking, heartbreaking, very bsd.

this is the theory, let me know what you think/if you have any other points to add! im sure theres holes in it but i really think im right about this

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

Is 6.5% enough- Part II

This is a bit of a follow up to the post I wrote yesterday about the 6.5% rumoured pay offer for teachers. In that post, I alluded to the fact that pay isn’t the only issue, and whilst I do think pay has a significant impact on recruitment, I don’t think low pay is the main driver of people leaving teaching.

Most teachers don’t leave because of pay, although pay you can’t afford to live on doesn’t help, and many schools in expensive towns struggle to recruit more than those in cheaper parts of the same local authority. Most teachers leave because of “workload”.

But what is “workload”? Many schools have taken real strides to address the problem of workload in the last 5-10 years. They’ve got rid of bizarre, excessive marking policies. They’ve centralized planning, so you hopefully aren’t planning from scratch, at least up to KS4. There haven’t been major changes to the exam spec recently, so we aren’t having to rewrite all our schemes of work yet again. I know there are schools which are the exception to this, but they aren’t the norm any more.

That said, teachers are screwed by a part of our contract which states that we have to work enough hours to discharge the duties of our job. Legally, there’s no such thing as an unreasonable planning or marking load, even if there is a (theoretical) limit on the amount of time schools can have us in meetings or parents evenings.

In many schools, a part of “workload” is covering for absent colleagues. These could be unfilled roles within the school, or people who are off sick, or on a planned absence, such as maternity. It is very difficult to find a teacher to take on a maternity cover these days, let alone a temporary position that only lasts for, say, a term. There’s a shortage of supply teachers, as well.

This affects teachers in a few ways. One, physically “covering” the class, i.e. supervising them during a “non-contact”. But, the bigger, more insidious way, is that the remaining teachers in a department often have to take on the planning and marking for these classes. In a large department, split between several of you, it’s a killer. In smaller departments, it’s almost impossible. And often, it pushes other people over the edge into leaving, putting the school into a downwards spiral.

The worst, though, is when the school can’t make cover work that day, and so the remaining three or four teachers are sent to the hall or the library, to teach 5 or 6 classes at once. This is incredibly draining, and worse, you know the students are getting nothing out of it, so it’s putting your classes “behind” as well.

In many schools, this has been happening for at least the past few years, and, combined with covid, means you have classes entering Y11 and Y13 with major gaps. Because teachers care about their students (and because poor grades can sometimes prevent you progressing up the pay scale) teachers often run revision sessions for students after school. This is extra work, extra planning, often involves buying extra resources, and then all too soon becomes expected. Whereas in the past it might be revision or a club, it can become “revision and a club and targeted intervention”- taking up three hours a week. Technically, you can say no, so it’s not included in “directed time”, but saying no to these things is very hard.

There’s also issues around lack of “support staff”. Support staff aren’t just the teaching assistants, who do an amazing job. It’s also people like the absence officer, who chases up students who haven’t turned up to school and their parents haven’t given an explanation. Or perhaps pastoral support workers, who help students with challenging home lives. And many of the duties these people might have done get pushed on to teachers, who now, after their teaching day is over, may be ringing parents to find out why their child wasn’t in school. Senior leadership always told me this was a five minute job, but they weren’t the ones ringing home and finding out that this family had been evicted, or this parent had been a victim of domestic violence, or that a grandparent had unexpectedly died. And all these phone calls would then generate an hour or more’s work trying to find appropriate support for the student.

The truth is education isn’t the only service in this country that is crumbling. But it is the only one where we see young people day in and day out. Councils can cut youth workers. The NHS can extend waiting lists for everything from mental health support to autism diagnosis. Social services can raise the threshold at which they intervene or offer support. Or, even in a crisis, just say no-one is available, because they aren’t the ones with a crying child who’s got nowhere to go in their office.

But schools and therefore teachers have been forced to take all of this on. Schools run food banks, wash the clothes of children who don’t have enough electricity at home, try to sort out social problems like homelessness. Schools have brought counselling services in house (with all the problems that involves) and try to manage students with undiagnosed special educational needs as best as possible. All of this creates extra work for people, and it also creates extra stress- especially when it goes wrong.

If we want schools to do all of this, and in some ways, it might make sense to make a school or college a one stop shop for all the needs young people might have- then it needs to be funded. It needs to be appropriately staffed. Because trying to be teacher and social worker and counsellor to young people is breaking a lot of teachers, and soon there will be no-one left, no matter how high the pay is.