#practice sketch to figure him out in my actual art style…! my previous art were attempts to draw him more realistically | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

transformers-fan-continuities · 3 years

Text

Spotlight: Ties That Bind

This one’s a doozy folks! If you missed the last spotlight you can go read it here, but strap in for The Ties That Bind, an absolutely brilliant take on humanformers. It’s hosted here at @tiesthatbind-tf created by @artsy-hobbitses!

Q) Give us a run down of your cont! What's it about, what's it called, what's it like?

Ties That Bind is a humanformers-based original continuity which is part Science Fiction and part Alternate History where the invasion of Quintessons and introduction of their technology to Earth in 1920 sets the world and humankind on a completely different trajectory. The active narrative spans a period from 1920 to 2070, covering the First and Second Quintesson Wars, the interplanetary Antillan War (leading to the creation of Unicron on Mars) and the Great War which involves the Autobots, Decepticons and Functionist stalwarts, and how it affects the characters.

The cast is pretty sprawling and the narrative is mostly centred around human drama with bits of humor interspaced and a dash of horror (mostly centred around how the previous government often chose to utilize the technology left behind from the Quintesson Wars to create new systems of oppression, which affected many of the characters, in the name of worldwide rebuilding efforts).

Q) What characters take the lead here? Any personal favorites?

I will admit to this continuity being very much heavy on the relationship between Old Bastards Optimus Prime and Megatron, which is given considerable weight as they were best friends who had known each other since childhood and were deeply intrinsic to each other’s growths as individuals, which makes it all the worse when guilt and betrayal enter the party. Despite being captains in two corners of this battle, there’s a part of them that just cannot let go of their pasts together and they need to reconcile with how this will affect their agenda (Megatron) and how they lead their team (Optimus) who don’t necessarily share their history.

Other characters with significant development include:

Starscream, a Cold Construct in a toxic working relationship with Megatron with whom he is hiding a dark secret, who struggles to balance the underhanded viciousness he believes he needs to gain power and his innate desire from his Senate days to make the world a better place.

Windblade, a Camien native who fights her government’s apathy concerning the situation on Earth which they see as unsalvageable compared to their more Utopian society.

Prowl, a Cold Construct raised from childhood to be a cop in a police state, who finds out that he was brainwashed several times to ensure his obedience and efficacy as a government asset and is now working to reclaim some semblance of the humanity he was never allowed to feel and figure out how much of him is who he really is and how much is programming.

Hound, a sheltered Beastman who joined the fight to ensure that Beastmen the world over would have the same rights he did in his homeland of Shetland Isle, but is forcefully stripped of his humanity and faced with his animal side during the war and has to relearn what personhood means amid his trauma.

Q) Is there a bigger point to this, like a theme or some catharsis? Or is it just fluffy fun?

God with the amount of time I spent sleepless trying to figure out how the logistics of this or the semantics of that were supposed to work in universe, I cannot for the life of me say it’s fluffy fun, but I can’t exactly say it hasn’t been pretty engaging either!

There’s elements of war being messy for everyone involved where there doesn’t seem to be a clear line between friend and foe at times, but I think for most part it prescribes to Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s belief that people are inherently good, but are corrupted by the evils of society. Despite its dark themes (Including but not limited to child abuse, torture, illegal experimenation and brainwashing), love and friendships do prevail, kindness does beget kindness, found families are made, even the smallest actions matter, and things do get better because there are people on both sides who genuinely want to, and strive to make it better.

With Cold Constructs and Beastmen, it also delves heavily into what it means to be human; to have agency and personhood.

There’s also a strong undercurrent of taking responsibility for one’s actions, even if they were made with the best of intentions (Avoidance of this is what eats up Starscream and Megatron from the inside, and what Starscream eventually embraces).

Q) How long have you been working on it?

There’s two answers to this!

I’ve had a Humanformers-related universe going all the way back to 2007 around the time the first Bayformers came out---basically I had a choice between learning to draw cars or draw people (I was an anthro artist back then) and I immediately chose people.

The 2007 draft however had no worldbuilding or connective storylines and was mostly a fun little venture into character design and practice which were actually instrumental to me experimenting and learning how to draw humans properly.

I left the fandom for about a decade and when I came back to it in late 2020 around September via the War for Cybertron series on Netflix, I immediately got hooked on the 2005 IDW comics I missed out on and wanted to get around to updating my old designs as well find a way to translate several of the concepts I wanted to explore in a human sense, so the 2020 update became its own full-fledged original continuity with detailed worldbuilding and history.

You can see the artistic evolution of several characters from their original incarnation below!

Q) It’s incredible to see your artistic improvement too! Give us a behind-the-scenes look! Show us a secret ;))

Say hello to my workspace! I’ve been working exclusively on the Ipad Pro since late 2016, which is fantastic because I can basically whip up concepts and sketches on the go anywhere. Nowhere is too out of bounds to work on TTB!

Also, do enjoy this sneak peek at true!form Rung, whose synthezoid human body took years to perfect.

Q) YESSSSS alright I must admit this is one of my favorite Rungs, and certainly my fave within TTB. Amazing. Phew, anyway. Where did you draw inspiration from? What canons, what other fiction, what parts of real life?

TTB was initially conceived as a faithful retelling of the IDW 2005 narrative before it was transformed into its own continuity and as such, it borrows heavily from concepts and mirrored plot lines introduced in that run! I chose to have the series inspired off it specifically for the amount of history and worldbuilding it introduced to the franchise.

Anime like Gunslinger Girl and Beastars inspired the depictions of Cold Constructs, especially the more harrowing aspects of their upbringing as government assets instead of children, and Beastmen (Beastformers) in TTB.

I haven’t depicted the world itself in my art all too much, but the architecture from Tiger and Bunny, which has sort of a futuristic Art Deco feel to it, is what you’d usually see in major cities. There is an in-universe reason for that---with a Point Of Divergence set in 1920 followed by 25 years (an entire generation) of progress basically being kicked to the curb due to the Quintesson wars, mankind was basically in a time-locked bubble until the end of the wars, and by then their heroes were 1920s-style rebellion leaders, which lead to 1920s fashion (especially among the Manual Working Class---Megatron, Jazz and Optimus all rock 1920s fashion at some point of their lives) and architecture being celebrated and retained as sort of a reminder of how things were before The Invasion. This anime’s background design is also where I adopted the tiered system TTB’s major metropolises are often built on (with each tier being designated to a different working class) from.

The main artistic style itself is a love letter to 90s cartoons, in particular Gargoyles’ deep and drama-driven character narratives and designs as well as The Centurions’ take on body armor logistics.

I also take inspiration, especially armor-wise, from the characters’ given heritage and background. As an example, Hotrod who is depicted as Irish has the flames on his armor done up with Celtic knots. Welsh aristocrat Mirage’s armor bears olden knight-style filigree and has his Autobot logo designed as a coat of arms. Indonesian Soundwave’s armor and Decepticon logo takes cues from Batik and Wayang Kulit while their mask is based off the Barong.

Q) They are absolutely gorgeous! Show off something you're really proud of, a particular favorite part of your cont.

The worldbuilding in general! Most Humanformers I’ve seen tend to treat it like a fun exercise which it is and is definitely valid, but I found myself wanting a full-fledged world to lose myself in and I sought to try and make that world myself by drafting a detailed history and timeline of events which would affect ongoing narratives, having indepth worldbuilding to include almost all societal aspects of the universe and expanding on the concept of Beastmen and Cold Constructs existing in a human setting.

I’m not so secretly proud of the research and diversity included to make the cast look like the multicultural, globally-based team that they were meant to be instead of being locked to a single region! My original draft from 2007 was, to put it simply, quite culturally monolithic and I wanted to improve on that aspect with TTB.

I’m also proud that I’ve kept to it this far! I’m a notoriously flaky person jumping from one idea/fandom to another and to have kept at this continuity for the better part of ten months is honestly a personal feat.

Art-wise, this scene depicting a young Megatron working alongside Terminus and Impactor (cameo by @weapon-up-wallflower‘s OC Missit!) is definitely one of my favorites since it helps build up the world they live in and plays to familial bonds and comfort found in one another despite their less than ideal circumstances.

Q) Everything has come together so beautifully, you absolutely should be proud. What other fan canons do you love and why? Would you like to see them interviewed?

I am dying to hear more from @iscaredspider’s Sparkpulse continuity! Her designs are MIND-BLOWINGLY GORGEOUS and I want to hear more about what inspired her to work on it!

Also YOU. Yes YOU BLURRITO. LET ME HEAR MORE ABOUT SNAP.

Q) [wails and squirms away in the mortifying ordeal of being known but in a very flattered way] I WILL SOMEDAY I PROMISE aflghsdjg thank you QwQ

Well that was fantastic, Oni, thank you muchly! A magnificent continuity with so much to look forward to! Coming up next is another personal fave of mine, the first inspiration for SNAP, so stick around...

#long post #gore #ties that bind #spotlight #transformers #HUMANFORMERS #transformers au #tf original continuity #transformers fan continuity #transformers redesign #maccadam #i said id post this on sunday but i realize thats a holiday for lots of folks on this site :/

347 notes · View notes

hologramband · 3 years

Text

One Day p1

Alive!Luke x Fem!Reader Modern AU Word Count: 2.6k A/n: hehehe here’s the first part! I have it mostly planned out, there should be 3-4 parts! Lmk what you think! Summary: A shy girl is used to floating under the radar, keeping to herself most of the time, all was well until an opportunity fell into her lap, but what will these new people bring with them?

You were really good at staying right under everyone's radar at Los Feliz. You knew everyone, everyone knew you, but you didn’t have anything more than just a surface relationship with your classmates. You didn’t mind that, it was harder to get hurt this way. You got accepted to the Performing Arts High School with your ability to dance, but have always found your real talent lies within your visual art. Whether you were using paints, pencils, or a pen, you loved the way that your hand flew over the paper and created an image that represented your many different emotions.

In a way it made sense how you loved both dance and drawing, both sharing the flowing of movements to express things that words cannot. It was easier for you to express your emotions and thoughts in these mediums since social connection was hard for you. You had tried it once, really connecting with a person, but it ended up coming back and hurting you, causing you to shut down, so you weren't in a rush to try again any time soon. You floated down the hallways with ease, only having to stop at your locker to grab the remaining textbooks you need for the next few classes. While you were stopped you heard your name called from across the hallway, looking up to see Julie raising her hand in a small wave. “Hey, (y/n)! I like your top!” She came to a stop by your locker smiling. “Thanks! It was my moms, she just found this box of old clothes from when she was in school, this one just really stuck out to me.” You smiled down at yourself and looked back up at the girl to see three boys approaching. You felt heat subtly rise to your cheeks and you tried to focus your eyes on Julie. “Hey Jules, you ready to go to class?” Luke spoke as soon as they reached her side, sending you a nod of acknowledgement when he noticed you standing in front of them. Alex and Reggie both raised their hands with small waves in greeting to you. You smiled in return and turned back to close your locker, swinging your backpack on in the process. “Well, I gotta get to class too, see ya around.” You smiled back at the group and heard Julie call after you. “See you in Art!” You turned slightly and waved in return. Julie and you were pretty decent friends, you talked to her more than anyone else at the school, she had a good balance of how to get to know you without pushing you. You had met the boys a few times in passing, much like the previous occurrence, them not really speaking much more than a ‘hello’ here and there. There was something about Luke though, he never failed to send a storm of butterflies loose in your stomach. He probably didn’t even remember your name, but you could remember all the details of his face, not in a weird way, just in an artistic way, ya know? He had such a coolness about him, like he could totally embarrass himself but brush it off like it was nothing, like he meant to do it even. You thought you were getting better with your anxiety around people, but as soon as that boy was in front of you, it seemed as if your brain forgot how to function. You shook the boy from your thoughts as you continued through your day, classes went by like they typically do, all your general classes like math and english were in the first half of the day, the second half being taken by your dance class and then art. It was simple to say that you much preferred the second half of classes. In dance you went about as normal, running through a few routines and while wrapping up your teacher mentioned something about a new project that would be announced tomorrow. After changing you made your way to your final class where Julie had already arrived and claimed a table for the two of you. “Hi!” she smiled up at you. “Hi! How were your classes today?” You replied, starting a conversation that you hoped would carry throughout the class. You really did like talking with Julie, she was so sweet and really made you feel like she wanted to get to know you. The first day of class she noticed you were sitting alone and she took this as an opportunity to introduce herself, commenting on the particular band tee you had on, being able to strike up a conversation instantly. You admired her for this, the confidence she had when walking in a room was just astounding to you. The two of you went about the class in a way that you similarly would, talking about this and that while sketching away in your respective books, her only pausing to write ideas in her song notebook when an idea would hit. The class you were in didn’t have many actual assignments, just that you needed around 3 small pieces turned in periodically and one larger one for your final at the end of the semester, it made it an easy free flowing environment where there wasn’t too much pressure to stress on any one thing. Before you knew it the ding of the bell was going off overhead and you and Julie started packing up your things, she quickened her pace when she saw the boys waiting at the door for her. “You guys have practice today?” You giggled at her rushed movements. “Yeah,” she laughed as she zipped her bag closed, “Luke and I just finished up a new song too so I’m really excited to get back to the garage to figure out the music behind it.” She smiled up at you and you returned the affection. “Well don’t let me hold you up! Hope it all goes well! See you tomorrow!” You waved to the girl as she ran to the door, only pausing to throw a wave back at you. You laughed and shook your head at the girls' antics and went about your day as usual, starting your walk back home, you didn’t live too far and enjoyed the fresh air and time to recollect after the school day. After getting home you grabbed a quick snack and retreated to your room to finish a sketch that you had been working on in class today. Digging through your bag your heart rate increased when you pulled the red covered book to see the top covered in multiple stickers, this wasn’t your book, it was Julies song book, meaning she was currently in possession of your sketchbook. She must have grabbed yours on mistake when she was packing up quickly. You lightly sighed as you pulled out your phone to text her about the accidental switch-up. She replied instantly just realizing the mistake herself, then invited you over to switch them back and possibly hear some of the songs they were working on, looking for an outsider's opinion. You hesitated in saying yes, did you really need your book back that bad? Sighing, you sent back an okay and asked for an address, as nervous as you were to hang around the guys, more specifically Luke, you remembered how excited Julie was to go over the new song, the one that was probably sitting in the book you were holding in your hands. You threw on a light jacket and grabbed your backpack, for reasons unexplainable to you it just always just felt safer to walk around with a backpack on, and you were on your way to Julies. You could feel your nerves rising with each step you took towards her house, by the time you stood at the end of her driveway you felt like your heart was in your throat. “Calm down, (y/n), it’s just a little hangout to get your book back and hear a few songs, no biggie, nothing to fret about at all.” you whispered to yourself, taking one last deep breath before continuing your walk up her driveway. You had just come into view from the garage when you heard Julie calling out your name. “(Y/n)! How was your walk?” Julie ran out to meet you, now walking beside you into the garage. “It was good! You actually live closer to me than I thought, it was only like a 15 minute walk,” you smiled at her and you continued the small talk until you looked up and met eyes with the brunette guitarist. “(Y/n), these are the guys, Alex, Reggie and Luke,” she introduced them to you and you raised your hand in a wave. “Yeah, i’ve seen you guys perform before, you’re all really good!” you smiled and met each of their gazes. “Thanks! And that was all our old stuff, just wait until you hear what we have coming, um..” Luke stuttered realizing he didn’t know your name. You went to say it but Alex beat you to it. “(Y/n) you idiot,” he hit the back of Luke's head, while rolling his eyes. A blush rose to Luke’s face and he laughed it off. “I-I knew that, I-I just-” “You’re at the school for dance right?” Alex spoke again, interrupting and trying to take the attention off of the stuttering Luke. You smiled and nodded. “Yeah! I’m on a dance scholarship, so that's my main focus but my second is visual art, which reminds me,” You take your backpack off and pull out Julies song book, “here’s this!” She smiles and takes it from you. “Ugh thanks so much, I don’t know what I would have done if I lost this, Reggie can you grab her sketchbook? It’s on the piano!” Julie opened her book and smiled looking at the page. “Oh wow,” you heard Reggie mutter causing everyone to turn to him, “(y/n) this stuff is like, really good.” You blushed and looked down at your feet, you’ve never been good at accepting compliments. “Dude, boundaries!” Julie muttered reaching for the book, but Luke got to it first, taking his own turn looking through the pages. Your heart jumped when he started smiling at the pages he was flipping through, you didn’t have anything in there that you kept hidden, it was just that no one had ever gone through your work before. “You have so many different styles, this one is like a cartoon, but then the next one is like hyper realistic.” Luke looks up to make eye contact and you felt a blush rise to your cheeks. Alex took the second of him being distracted to pull the book away from him and hand it back to you. “I’m sorry for them, they still haven’t figured out what it means to respect someone's privacy.” He narrowed his eyes at his two bandmates. “You know,” you opened the book in your hands to search for a particular page, “I actually have something of each of you individually. I sketched them out the night after I saw one of your guys’ gigs.” You scrunch your face in concentration, you feel everyone rush to stand behind you when you finally find it. You look around at them to take in their reactions, their eyes were all glued to the papers you were displaying in front of you, Reggies mouth falling open. “Oh! Is this why you asked for the pictures my dad took of that night?” Julie looked up at you. “Yeah, I wanted to be able to add the details of everyone's chosen instruments and get some added information on where the highlights were from the lights,” you looked at each of their faces again and made a rash decision to gently tear the pages from your book, handing them to each respective person. Each person held them gently in their hands, then looked up to you in amazement. You just shrugged your shoulders in response, not knowing what else to say. “Well,” you looked out the window and saw the setting sun, “I better start my walk back to my house, it’s getting dark and I wanna get back before that happens. Enjoy the pictures guys!” You smile and turn to walk away, all the band still shocked to silence. “She’s never torn a page from her book before,” you hear Julie tell the boys as you walk further down the driveway, smiling to yourself. It was true, you never pull pages from your sketchbook, not this one at least, it was the better quality of all the other ones you had. You typically just used the less expensive books for class, you go through all the pages so quickly you didn’t want to waste the one’s in your higher quality notebook for the rough sketches, but the pages that you drew the band on were in the higher quality notebook, you had taken the time to really get them right, and they turned out fantastic. Your mother had always told you to spread joy where you can, and after seeing all their faces you knew that it was only right to let them have the pages that they were looking at. You arrived home and couldn’t wipe the smile off your face, there might be something there with them, an opportunity to make new friends, to open up. This idea makes you both nervous and excited, you let these thoughts and ideas later lull you to sleep. --- The next day at school you were walking to your locker when Julie caught your eye, she was waiting in her phone by your locker door. You would usually see her in passing in the mornings, but this is new. “Hey Julie, what’s up?” You greet the curly haired girl at your locker. “Hey (y/n)! Not much really, just watched to catch you this morning and run an idea past you…” She smiles and looks around her before returning her gaze back to you. “Okay? Is everything alright? You seem nervous,” you giggled at her antics and went back to putting the combination into your locker. “Yeah, yeah, I just know you take a while to open up and get close with new people, and I don’t wanna rush you into anything you aren’t ready for, but the boys and I were wondering if-” She gets cut off by a yell from down the hallway. “JULIE! HAVE YOU ASKED HER YET?” You turn to see all three boys running towards you, Julie facepalming at Reggies yell. “Geez Reg, she literally just got here. There's no need to yell,” Julie rolls her eyes at them and looks back to you. “Anyways, we were wondering if you wanted to make more designs and stuff for the band, like for posters and maybe album art one day.” She smiles at you after finishing. “You-you want me to… really?” Your eyes widen in shock. “Yeah! We all really like what you did with those portraits, and you’re pretty chill letting us keep them and all, we want you to be a part of our band, even if it isn’t you on stage with us, you’ll keep things looking cool.” Luke says as he leans against the lockers beside you. “Plus, then you’ll be able to hang out with us more!” Reggie pipes in. They all look at each other then back at you. “So,” Alex smiles at you, “What do ya think?” A million thoughts fly through your mind at once, they really want you to hang out with them more? They liked what you did? You looked at them all, looking back at you, and smiled. “I’d love to.”

tag list ✨

@gia-kerks @fangirlangioma

#jatp #jatp imagine #jatp luke #jatp luke x reader #luke patterson #luke x reader #luke patterson x reader #luke patterson imagine #jatp luke patterson #jatp luke patterson imagine #jatp luke imagine #one day #luke patterson x fem!reader #mini series

135 notes · View notes

x0401x · 4 years

Text

Hoshiai no Sora Production Notes #03

Akane Kazuki answers questions asked by the fans!

← Previous || Raw || Index || Ko-fi

Q.: Between traditional Japanese, Western and Chinese cuisine, what’s Maki-kun’s specialty? Also, I would like to know if there’s any cuisine that he’s good at in particular.

A.: He can generally cook anything without having a particular specialty. The reason why he often made Chinese food in the cooking scenes of the series is that Chinese food can be made in a short span. For dishes that take up time, he makes and stores them on Saturdays, then uses them for his lunch boxes.

Q.: I want to know the hobbies of all the club members!

A.: Maki has an interest in astronomy, so astronomical observation. Touma likes dinosaurs and fossils. Rintarou collects cat goods. As for Nao, fishing. In Itsuki's case, I guess it would be horror-type shooting games or the like. I feel that his older sister, Namie, likes them indiscriminately and would join him. Taiyou plays with his father using his miniature cars, which are also his hobby. Tsubasa might not have a hobby that actually seems like a hobby. Shingo watches anime with his little sister.

Q.: I want to know the reason for everyone except Maki to have joined the soft tennis club!

A.: I guess the only one who joined it because he wanted to play soft tennis was Touma. Middle schoolers in general must join some club, and many of them join clubs that they pick due to having no other option. I think that the club members of Shijou Minami also ended up gathering there because each of them had no other place to go, but as they all carry wounds that do not show on the surface and have formed a relationship where they understand one another without saying anything, it has turned into their own little place to belong.

Q.: The production of not just the soft tennis scenes, but also daily life scenes where Maki cooks and everyone eats with relish in their own way, is rather sensible, to a surprising extent. With what kind of policy did you proceed on that?

A.: What is interesting in animation is not just showy action; there is also warmth, reality and sense of presence in simple dramas, so this time, I wanted to make an anime where these things would become its charm by being portrayed sensibly. The detailed play of the cooking and daily life scenes were interesting even for me when I watched them, so I think they turned out as something that the viewers can enjoy too. This is of a higher difficulty level than flashy action, but even worldwide, I believe it is something that can only be done with Japanese animation.

Q.: At the beginning of episode 2, when Touma helped Yuuta, he was described as someone to be feared, but what was the reason for that?

A.: Because he snaps easily. He must be famous for it.

Q.: What were the words that Nakao-kun threw at Itsuki-kun on episode 3?

A.: He chose cruel words and spoke them out. Sakurai also says it during the series, but his words were meant to show that they can hurt someone. However, that terminology unfortunately seems to be forbidden from being said on TV, so during the post-recording, we decided to mute it.

Q.: Who made the lemon honey pickles that were placed on those two benches at lunch in episode 11?

A.: It was Yuuta. Yuuta was also making drinks for everyone during practice, so I think he was providing modest support while nestling close to the feelings of the club members.

Q.: I want to know what the recordings are like!

A.: The number of people was so big they could not fit inside the booth, but I could feel an unanimous enthusiasm towards series from all of them. There were also many cast members who came to me with questions even about things that were not depicted in the animation in an attempt to understand the characters’ personalities. On the other hand, when the New Year’s issue was announced, we gathered in front of the TV and made merry, and we got along well.

Q.: I want to see the floor plan of everyone’s houses!!

A.: I believe this will be included in the setting reference book, although it is just a part of it, so please look forward to that. When making the rooms, we created them after deciding on the floor plans, having in mind the daily life style of each family. I had even the parts that were not animated be made in detail, so I think I gave the settings designer a hard time. *laughs*

Q.: Were there any references to actual players or games for the soft tennis parts, such as forms and play styles?

A.: We actually went to collect data at middle school competitions in Tokyo, and used references from the practice skills of middle schooler clubs such as the ones from Seimei Academy, as well as the Lucent Cup and other such tournaments that involve influential national athletes, including their different levels of prowess.

Q.: Do all the club members know that Touma-kun likes dinosaurs and Nao-kun likes fish?

A.: They do, somehow or other. I think boys their age have their hands full with their own matters, so they do not mind other people’s tastes that much.

Q.: What kind of practice do the soft tennis club members of Shijou Minami do on rainy days?

A.: We have depicted a little bit of this in the drama CD of the second volume, so please look forward to it.

Q.: About the incident that happened in the soft tennis club five years earlier, which Sakurai-sensei knows of. Does it have anything to do with Ryouma, who was the ace back then, and his pair, as well as little Touma and Maki? I am also concerned about the clover protection charm.

A.: The story of their past is one of the things I want to write about in the future. There are also hints in each of their lines, so please try to watch the main story again.

Q.: What was the intention behind not giving a title to each episode?

A.: “Hoshiai no Sora” was written through taking cuts of those children’s lives, so we did not make any conveniences for the developments of the stories from each episode. Therefore, our intention was that the first episode was the first story and the last episode was the last story, thus we did not give them titles.

Q.: I want to know in detail the reason why the Itsuse brothers started playing soft tennis, their family structure and their school lives! (Sorry if this has already been made public...)

A.: This is part of what I want to depict in episode 13 onwards.

Q.: Why did Itsuki only give pet names to Maki and Kanako? Is there any sort of specific criteria for Itsuki’s usage of pet names?

A.: Itsuki has actually given everyone a pet name in his mind. They are peculiar nicknames fitting of a cynic person like Itsuki. He merely does not voice them because he thinks the other person will get angry if he says it to their face.

Q.: Why does Tsubasa-kun wear a T-shirt that says “15”?

A.: It is 15 as in “fifteen years old”. He looks up to that age, or rather, he might just want to ride off on a stolen bike. *laughs* Tsubasa is still thirteen, though. Thirteen-year-olds think of fifteen-year-olds as grown-ups.

Q.: Everyone’s individualities show through in that scene from episode 2 where they are all running and I quite like it, but how did you decide on and animate the particularities in the way each of them runs?

A.: I drew a rough sketch of the characteristics in each of their running styles, then had them clean-copied by the animation director, Irie-san.

Q.: Who has the best grades amongst the characters? Also, who has the worst ones?

A.: Rintarou has the best grades regardless of subject. Since he is a hard worker, his grades are top-class in his school year. On the other hand, the biggest dummy is Shigo. I am thinking of including the anecdotes related to this in episode 13 onwards.

Q.: I have the impression that you write about “things that might not be commonplace, but are a part of commonplace daily life”, without making the issues that each character bears into something excessively tragic. If there was any point in the shooting where you planned this out, I would like you to tell us.

A.: I believe animation already has a special filter for the shooting just from the fact that it is hand-drawn. That’s why I thought that dropping the ostentatious performance and making pure animation art would suffice this time. Since we were handling sensitive contents, we did not do an unnecessarily exaggerated staging. This might not be as interesting if shot in the same way as live actions, but the portrayal as animation is in itself enough for the shooting. Shots where they are walking, for example, are already an incredibly special picture, so isn’t this the greatness of animation?

Q.: Are Yuuta-kun’s feelings for Touma romantic love? Or is he sitting on the fence between love and friendship? Maybe it is admiration?

A.: I think there’s a part of him deep inside that has not yet figured it out. Surprisingly enough, Maki is the one who seems to understand it accurately.

Q.: How did you choose the rackets of each club member? Please tell us about the rackets of Arashi, Joy, the Itsuse brothers and Ryouma as well.

A.: For the rackets that have models, I picked them after deciding on my images of the position and skills of each one. Rackets have their own levels and popularity in real life, so for that part, I referenced the information I received from each maker. For example, I selected a racket that is, just as Touma said, easy for beginners to use as Maki’s first racket.

Q.: Jizue-san’s music was impressive as there is a sense of transparency to it, but the environment sounds were rather effective in that scene right before getting to the EV at the end of episode 5, so it felt like an extention of daily life and the sense of tension came alive. What kind of points were you particular about when making it?

A.: Music and sound effects can convey what the dialogues and acting do not. Even if a character is laughing, they aren’t always truly smiling on the inside. On the other hand, it’s not like we are going to play dreary music just because they’re scared. We did not put music in that scene precisely in order to enhance the unease. If we put music in it, we end up restricting its image. What we wanted people to feel was not fear, but the anxiety of wondering if something was about to happen.

Q.: How did you do the paste-up of the rackets’ gut strings?

A.: We had it pasted during the shooting. There were so many materials to be pasted other than this, such as books and cloth bibs, that the photography staff screamed. There were also many parts that we ended up omitting in the main story. Speaking of gut strings, there were special scenes where we did them as animation instead of paste-ups. The scene where Maki’s racket was destroyed was also entirely hand-drawn.

Q.: What was the reason for the OP and ED being cut off in the last episode?

A.: To emphasize that episode 12 is not the end of the story. The story of those boys that exists inside me is not yet complete, and I have only depicted half of it. I wanted the viewers to feel that the story would continue after this, so I directed it that way.

55 notes · View notes

fourangers · 4 years

Text

Fate and Choices (ch.07)

Summary: When Naruto discovered who was going to be his soulmate, he jumped straight at this opportunity, looking forward to spending the rest of his life with his better half. Sasuke well…he was less eager in this regard though. NaruSasu. Soulmates tattoos. Explicit.

Warning: NaruSasu anal sex, blow job.

Chapter 06

AO3 link | ffnet link

--.--

He was definitely receiving some glowering in the train because of his constant leg shaking. Sighing, he adjusted on his seat, settling his leg down. Minutes later, his leg restarted shaking, and there were newer sets of eyes throwing silent judgements towards him, so he stood up, scratching his blond head.

He dearly hoped that what he had planned for this date would go well. He didn’t fill much in the itinerary, just enough so Sasuke wouldn’t get bored. While he was taking big breaths to calm his beating heart, he strode to the shopping mall’s entrance, 10 minutes earlier than appointed. Blinking, he recognized Sasuke’s back from afar, so he poked his shoulder. “Hey, you’re here already.”

Craning his head closer, Naruto noticed a moleskine on Sasuke’s lap, some random sketch of a crowd drawn on it. Sasuke shut it, putting on his pocket as he turned around with a nod of acknowledgement. “Just arrived too. Where are we going?”

“Watch a Kurosawa movie, Dreams. The coolest part of it is that a real orchestra will play the instrumental parts! When I read the news I thought you might like it.” He added, rubbing the back of his neck.

“This definitely sounds very interesting, but it’s not going to bore you though?”

“Which is why we’re going to an arcade after that.” Naruto grinned when Sasuke rolled his eyes with a half smile. “Hey, by the way, I saw some drawings in your notebook. Looks pretty cool. Can I see?”

Sighing, Sasuke placed the moleskine on his hand. “It’s nothing really.”

“Nothing…no way.” Naruto flipped through pages, with varied sketches of people, some plants, a cat and even a detailed face from an old man, shades portraying his weary expression with wrinkles. “Man, you’re always such a genius it’s infuriating. They look really good! You learned in college?”

“Hn, took some art classes. It’s a nice hobby now, to pass my time.” Sasuke put his moleskine back when Naruto returned to him.

“Hmmmmm, I can imagine you going to draw some nude models, and even some girls would offer private classes like ‘draw me like one of your french girls’. I should have taken some art classes too!”

“Moron. What about you? Any interesting extracurricular class you did while in college?”

Naruto thought for a while and replied. “Soccer, I played defense. We even organized going to college tournaments sometimes, brought some cheerleading and all that. Mostly for fun, and I still meet my old team from time to time to play.”

“In Tokyo?” Sasuke muttered incredulous. "Good luck finding a place like that."

Naruto laughed, conceding the point. "We found some indoor futsal courts, it's better than nothing."

“True. Figured you’d be the typical jock once you’re in college. At least you put your endless stamina to good use.” Sasuke smirked.

Naruto showed his tongue in response, though before Sasuke could come up with a sarcastic assessment, the movie theater’s lights dimmed and they focused on the movie. The movie was more boring than he expected, but Sasuke was enthused towards it so Naruto let it slide. Nevertheless, he made sure he’d win the competition in the basketball throwing arcade, because the bastard called him a jock so he better play this part after all. The date finished on a high note with a pleasant dinner and kisses as a side dish, Naruto was practically floating on the way home.

The following dates were equally as nice. This budding relationship with Sasuke was…an interesting process. It was like merging new facets of Sasuke since they didn’t maintain contact in crucial years, but in many other aspects, he was still the same Sasuke he knew since he was a kid. Naruto was also sure that Sasuke was going through this same process with him, which kept their dates engaging and comforting at the same time.

The only annoying part was the lack of physical contact. They would only kiss when there was a dark alley at some corner of the street, or when they booked an individual room at the restaurant, but it was short and mostly chaste so frankly it was getting frustrating for Naruto.

Things were so much easier when they were young and stupid, skipping some classes so they could go to the school’s rooftop, or go to Sasuke’s bedroom whenever his parents weren’t home to do what their impulses dictated. He even offered Sasuke to go to his apartment but the latter just dismissed him, citing he was tired or whatever. Bah.

Sasuke could feel Naruto’s impatience emanating whenever they were alone on their dates. Even when he kissed his dumbass, whenever he pulled back Naruto would grunt or whine how short it was, and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to increase the duration of these kisses, getting lost in their passion, letting his hands caress Naruto’s back.

Then Naruto had the brilliant idea of going to some western style bar, claiming that it had the best handmade sake of all Japan and Sasuke had to try it. The moment they entered the establishment, he took a long look in the environment.

“Small tables for couples, dim lit room…you just dragged me here so we can make out, didn’t you?”

He smirked when the tanned face went engine red and Naruto sputtered. “W-what, no. C’mon you asshole, I’m really serious about the sake I was talking about, I thought you might like it.”

Sasuke hummed, the sardonic smile still in place. They sat at the appointed table, a fixed gaze thrown towards his dumbass boyfriend while Naruto mumbled their order. He glowered at the amused face Sasuke showed, kicking him on the knee and had the sadist joy of seeing the haughty look dissolving to a glare.

The silky sound of cello caught their attention, with the soft follow of piano and drums as the band played a jazz improv. With their faces closer, Naruto took all his time to observe Sasuke focused on listening to the music. His fingers wound up to part the dark fringes and put it behind the ear so he could see Sasuke’s sharp eyes, then he cupped the pale cheek.

Sasuke fixed his gaze back at him, letting the thumb caress his skin, both unaware that the waitress smoothly put their drinks on the table, bowing out in a second. He muttered, lips curling upwards. “So you did drag me just so you can kiss me all night long.”

Naruto rolled his eyes, smiling. “Part of the reason, maybe.”

He gradually approached, holding his face in place until they closed the gap, softly at first, but increased in intensity each time their mouths glided and parted. One of Sasuke’s hand gripped his hip, pulling him closer so Naruto could taste him better, their own drinks forgotten.

Naruto jumped when he felt something vibrating, Sasuke detached his lips with a wet smack, picking his smartphone with a short glance and ignored the call, sliding their mouths once again with a ragged moan. The smartphone was vibrating once again quite insistently so Sasuke released with one last lick, clearing his throat. “Sorry, must be pretty urgent.”

“Yeah, it’s okay.” Naruto placed his hand over Sasuke’s, brushing over it while he took the call.

He couldn’t really understand the whole conversation, with the piano increasing its tempo and some cheers from the audience, but he could see Sasuke’s previous annoyed expression turning into a concerned one. Sasuke disentangled his fingers and patted Naruto’s head, muttering close to his ear that he needed to go to the toilet so he could have a quieter conversation. The blond man drank his mojito mildly peeved, the kisses were going so fine before this interruption. Sasuke soon returned, picking up his things.

“Sorry, I think I can’t stay very long.” He picked the sake cup, gulping half of it. “You’re right, it is quite tasty. But after I finish this, we gotta go.”

“Well, that’s…that’s too bad, what happened?”

“One of my college friends, I need to help her relocate to another town because her soulmate found her.”

“Whoa⏤! Seriously? That sounds pretty dangerous. Oh hey, I can call my aunt, she can pull some strings to help your friend if you want.” Naruto interjected, also grabbing his wallet, ready to go.

Sasuke blinked, then nodded. “I’d appreciate that, thanks.”

“Yeah, it’s no trouble.” Naruto called the waitress to pay their bill. “What happened to the poor girl, is her soulmate some yakuza or something like that?”

“No, but he has a history of abusing her. Actually…she was the first one really blatant case about how the Soulmate system failed her, because she’s transgender and she’s paired with a an idiotic transphobe.”

Naruto grimaced, scratching his head. “Wow…I don’t even know what I should say in this case. What about police and lawyers, they didn’t help?”

Sasuke scoffed, souring his expression. “The society in general is biased with the soulmate system, and you know that. Everywhere we went, the moment they knew she was fleeing from her soulmate they thought she was just prolonging the inevitable, that one day he’d see her ways and accept her for who she truly is.”

“And…did he?”

“No, he’s a son of bitch who believes that God above gave him this mission to teach her what is truly correct, so she should go back to her original gender. Fucking bullshit, and everyone that it’s not part of our circle of friends told that it’s her fate to show him otherwise, to help him grow and whatever more excuses that makes me want to vomit.”

“Well…but you know, I don’t know her very well, but maybe fate does⏤” Naruto clamped his mouth shut when he met furious dark grey eyes, his rage was so palpable that he could see even in the dark room.

“See?! That’s what I meant that this system sucks! Instead of doing any rational deliberation to reach a fair conclusion, people prefer doing this victim blaming. If she wants to open his eyes or change his mind should be her decision, and her decision only. No one should force her to do some bullshit epic quest just because they have matching tattoos.”

Huffing, he waited for the usual onslaught of excuses and half-assed explanations but Naruto just stared back with wide eyes. He then crossed his arms in contemplation.

Feeling a little unsettled from this lack of response, Sasuke lashed out. “What?”

Naruto did a double take from his hostility, but muttered. “No, I just thought⏤you’re right. I was being insensitive. I’m just trying to remember about it, like all the times in the past I may have done or said something insensitive like that. I’ll try to be more careful in the future.”

Oh. Sagging his shoulders, Sasuke said in a more neutral tone. “Sure. Thanks for listening to me.”

“Uh no. Thanks for showing me that I was wrong. Give me her name though, so I can ask around a way to help her out.” Naruto grinned and Sasuke could feel a load coming out from his back.

“Thank you.” The bill arrived so Sasuke picked up with a smirk. “I’ll pay this time.”

As they were going back to the subway, after much pestering and cajoling, Naruto managed to convince Sasuke to introduce him to his college friends one day. Sasuke accepted, as long as he could trade with seeing Naruto in the shortest shorts while playing soccer. The rest of their conversation was filled with teasing quips and the usual bantering.

⏤.⏤

How odd. For the past month since his older brother went to the Netherlands, he’d call almost every day to help him out managing their company, and to update all the latest news. However, as time passed on, there were some days he didn’t chime in, claiming he was busy, and the gaps between each call would get wider till Itachi didn’t talk to him for a week. There were some occasional convos through messages but his brother was becoming as cryptic as ever.

Frowning, Sasuke figured it was time to call him instead. The first call was ignored. So was the second. He waited an hour and called again. After the 5th time, Itachi decided to answer him, his voice airy and dazed.

“Ah, if it isn’t my wayward otouto-kun⏤”

Sasuke had to point out the obvious. “Wait, you’re the one who vanished for a week⏤”

“Anyways. How are you going with your dates with Naruto-kun?”

“Nii-san, I actually wanted to talk about something relevant…”

“Right, which are probably regarding some tedious subjects.” Itachi responded. “So at least humor me a bit before we go to that part.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes, sighing. “It’s been running very smoothly.”

“Why are you talking as if Naruto-kun is some sort of car?”

“Nii-san…” Sasuke warned.

“Right right. Go on.”

“So…it’s been nice, I’m enjoying his company.” It was almost like they went back to their teenage days, but with many added bonuses.

His older brother noticed his contemplative tone, and muttered. “You don’t sound so sure though.”

Sasuke sighed again. It’s just that, the fact that he was having so much fun going on those dates with Naruto was sometimes…unsettling. That maybe the soulmate system was right after all, finding his perfect lifetime partner that fit him perfectly.

He said, staring at the ceiling. “Sometimes I’m just surprised how accepting Naruto can be. You know my stance about the soulmate system, and you know how I’m against it right?”

“Sure, and then?”

“I guess in all the latest years, whenever I engage in any debate with anyone, I’d meet a lot of resistance. Sometimes people would just shut me down, wanting me to stop the conversation. But I kept forgetting that Naruto really listens to people and is willing to change if he’s persuaded enough.”

“That’s great, isn’t it?”

“Yes…it’s just…what if all of these is all fabrication from the Soulmate system, that makes Naruto more accommodating to me? What if⏤”

“You’re not seriously believing such a ludicrous idea?” Itachi exhaled loudly, shaking his head.

“I don’t know how much it manipulates both of us, how genuine it is.”

“This tattoo on your hand makes you paranoid and overthink like ‘oh, but maybe…’ and it’d be kind of amusing seeing your skirting around like some lost lamb, if only it wasn’t as tragic too. Have you ever considered that if it weren’t the fact that Naruto-kun is your soulmate, you’d just be thankful that you’re dating a thoughtful, open-minded man who is willing to change his opinion no matter how many curved balls you throw in his direction?”

Sasuke relaxed the grip on his cellphone, turbulent heartbeats calming down due to his older brother’s reassuring voice. “...well.”

“Then make your life simpler otouto-kun.” Itachi insisted. “Just be thankful and happy that you’re dating someone like that and you’re looking forward to seeing how your relationship with him will unfold.”

“…hn.”

“Let’s all agree with one thing, you’re not exactly an easy person to deal with and you should be thankful that Naruto-kun is the chosen victim of your choice.”

Sasuke scowled, then grumbled. “Naruto is not that perfect either.”

“Oh, pray tell me, why?”

“He got all sulky and refused to talk with me for more than a week just because I told him and I slept with some guys while I was in college.”

Itachi scoffed. “Otouto-kun, I am definitely not going to take your side.”

“You guys are all traitors. You, Neji, Naruto…”

“You made the bed, now you have to lay on it. Hm. Maybe literally.”

“We were supposed to talk about serious issues right.” Sasuke growled.

“Hm. And what would that be?”

Sasuke took a deep breath, dropping all the light mood aside. “Have you talked to our father lately?”

He heard some shuffling coming from the receiver, a small groan as Itachi answered. “No, I haven’t been talking with him since our last meeting. Why?”

“It’s nothing. It’s just that…he used to ask for a weekly financial report but he hadn’t done that lately.”

“Because the company is longer his.” Itachi interjected.

“Yes, true.” Sasuke thinned his lips. “It’s just that he’s been very quiet, I guess I’m worried now. Aside from work, he doesn’t have many friends and kept contact mostly with us, his family. And considering mom divorced him…”

“I guess you’re right. Have you sent him a message?”

Sasuke gave out an awkward grunt. “It’s weird sending him a message without a specific topic.”

“True.” Itachi agreed with a short chuckle. “Alright, I’ll try to contact him and you’ll talk with mom, ok?”

“Deal.” Sasuke conceded, relaxing his shoulders. “Talking about finance reports, you haven’t sent me this week yet and I really need it to show to one of our sponsors.”

There was a silence.

“Nii-san? You hearing me?” Sasuke frowned, putting his voice closer to the speaker.

“Hmm. Oh, I see. Today is Wednesday, I should have sent the report yesterday right.”

“…right…” Sasuke muttered back, his confusion increasing when Itachi returned to the dreamy airy tone from the beginning.

“It’s incredible how time flies when you find happiness otouto-kun. I cannot believe that it’s Wednesday already. How marvellous is this, having no such thing as time constraining us.”

“Uh…Nii-san, the report…?” Sasuke was getting ready to call 911 because his older brother was acting very out of character.

“I forgot.”

This time the silence came from Sasuke’s side out of sheer shock. “You forgot.”

“Yes.” Itachi confirmed in earnest. “Shisui-san and I went to Switzerland and all these gorgeous alpine mountains, that beautiful atmosphere that…”

“You forgot.” Sasuke muttered, realization dawning on his head. “Wait, did you talk with Takashi-sama and Nakamura-sama this Monday?”

“I rescheduled their meeting.”

“Ok, rescheduled to when?”

Itachi cleared his throat.

Sasuke felt a migraine coming up. He sighed. “Nii-san. Nii-san. Uchiha Itachi, you have a company to take care of. You have to work. Daily, might I add, in case you have forgotten.”

“Meyer.”

“What?”

“Itachi Meyer, will be my full name. Or maybe Itachi Meyer Uchiha, it does ring really nicely, don’t you think?”

Sasuke rubbed his eyebrows together, groaning. “Okay, your head is clearly all over the clouds, so I beg of you, at least, do some basic things like…talk to some of our sponsors. Show that you’re sound and alive.”

“Oh, I’m definitely alive.”

Sasuke cringed, shaking his head from the incoming images. “I’m surrounded by fools, that’s what I am.”

“I really can’t wrap up my mind how on Earth I delayed this for so long. The act of consummating our love Sasuke, just the act⏤”

“I don’t want to know.” He seriously don't want to hear his sibling's sex exploits, he wanted to die.

Itachi ignored him. “Just the act…was almost like some sort of religious experience.”

“I seriously don’t want to know and I don’t know why you’re still talking.”

“Ah otouto-kun, when I⏤” Sasuke hung up. Not one second later, Itachi called again. “As I was saying, when I⏤” Sasuke hung up again and ignored the following calls, putting on silence.

Unfortunately Itachi barreled him with thousands of messages, from all sorts of social media, complaints about how unjust he was, how he should let Itachi freely express how much he loved his soulmate, even baited Sasuke asking about numbers in their stock market.

He then saw that Naruto was calling him, and listened to a very confused tone coming from the blond man. “Ooookay, your brother called me. Something like he’s really sorry that I’m your soulmate and how heartless you are and he asked for you to call him or else. Whatever that means.”

“Nii-san found his soulmate, spent some weeks with him and apparently this is more than enough to lose every brain cell he has available. Does falling in love have such catastrophic results? He used to be the smartest man on Earth. Now I don’t even recognize this idiot that has the voice and the same name as my supposed older brother that I used to admire.”

Naruto laughed. “Oh, c’mon, he’s in a honeymoon phase, just let him. Unfortunately we didn’t have that right? We jumped straight to angry sex.”

“Hn. Ah yes, the fated day about our first time, that it ended up with me topping you.”

“What? No, the fuck. I topped you.”

"You have a terrible memory, usuratonkachi, obviously I topped you first."

“You’re such a liar. Fine, back when your family went on a long vacation and there were only me and you in the house, I topped you mostly.”

“Sure, mostly. Not the first.”

“Because you were all nervous and I didn’t want to hurt you! So I have to show you how to take a dick like a champ.”

“In other words, I. Did. First.” Sasuke smirked.

“‘Cuz I was considerate, you asshole! It doesn’t count! I was almost there!”

“You can twist how much you want about the tale of events, but you can’t change history.”

Sasuke heard a string of mumbles and cursing from Naruto until he huffed loudly. “Alright, I don’t know why am I even wasting my time talking to you when I gotta work.”

“Oh, fleeing, the cowardice ch⏤”

“BYE.”

Sasuke chuckled when the call was cut off, his mood improving exponentially. His older brother’s words resonated in his mind; Naruto was an attentive man. He really needed to start letting his walls down.

⏤.⏤

“Hey Sasuke. I’ve been thinking.”

They were getting back from a L’arc en Ciel show they both enjoyed, the energy settling down after such intense music. Sasuke just grunted back, a cue for Naruto to continue his line of thought.

“So you have good reasons to be against the Soulmate system right? Why did you help your older brother create a system that helps someone to find his soulmate then?”

Sasuke took a moment in contemplation and replied. “Well, first of all, Nii-san is the idealistic one, he wanted to use our clan’s powers to reach everyone in hopes it’d alleviate their suffering. I’m in this because even if I disagree with this system, I can’t stop people from searching for it. The least I could do is ensure that they wouldn’t fall in a trap.”

“Oh yeah, the fact that you guys would research if they have any criminal record and mental health history.”

“Yes, and if we found anything like it, we would warn our client beforehand.” He exhaled a tired breath. “Unfortunately most people would still go through this ordeal nevertheless.”

“Well, curiosity always gets the best of everyone. But it’s not like they all end up meeting their soulmate.” Naruto shrugged untroubled.

Sasuke nodded, studying him minutely and revealed. “To be honest, it’s giving me good money too. And I wanted to invest some of it to build a NGO to help people who have trouble with their soulmate and let their voices be heard for once.”

Naruto absorbed this explanation and brightened up, patting his shoulder. “That’s an awesome idea! I really hope you’ll be able to fulfill it.”

Sasuke felt his lips tugging upwards, crinkling his eyes. “Actually, I already founded with my mother, we planned that she’ll get in touch with the victims while I handle the rest. I just have to put everything in motion.”

“Well, if you need someone to promote your idea and spread the word I can help you out.” Naruto supplied, pointing to himself.

Sasuke snorted in disbelief. “Neji told me your salary, my organization can’t afford someone this expensive off the bat.”

“I’ll do it for free till you get enough sponsors.”

That made Sasuke stop on his track, eyes narrowing. “You’re not doing this just to appease me, are you?”

Naruto rolled his eyes. “Seriously? I’d never do this just to kiss some ass, I thought you knew me better. I really think it’s a good idea and I’m aboard.”

Sasuke was understandably bewildered, no one aside his college friends wanted to help him out in this cause and Naruto just accepted this easily. “Why?”

Naruto glanced back, furrowing his eyebrows and formulated his thoughts better. “Like I’ve said, you really showed a different point of view, something I never noticed before. And I think since I have this ability to promote a good idea, so people like your trans friend would finally have some help, I should do it then. Change the society for the better.”

“I guess I’m just impressed, most people are much more resistant to seeing the soulmate’s system flaws than you.”

“I was resistant at first, for sure. I thought that back then, you ignored me only because of how your parents’ relationship was handled. However, you did give me valid explanations, valid examples to show that it’s not a perfect system. I do believe our relationship is going pretty good so far, Sasuke.” Naruto smiled and Sasuke felt his heartbeat increasing. “But now I’m not going to generalize and believe that everyone with their soulmates has something similar to this. And to those who unfortunately fell into a toxic situation, I want to help them out.”

While there was no word exchanged except the calm steps echoing in the deserted street, Sasuke gazed at Naruto in awe, almost as if he was looking at his childhood friend for the first time in his life. Reflecting and relieved that for once, after many years, he was glad that Naruto was his chosen one. He stopped when they arrived in his building, mumbling his voice raspy. “Well, I live here.”

“Oh!” Naruto exclaimed. “Aw, that’s too bad, I wanted to talk with you more.”

Swallowing, Sasuke said. “You can go with me, to my apartment.”

Naruto.exe stopped working.

“It’s just an invitation, nothing more.” Sasuke grumbled, practically seeing all the dirty thoughts emerging from Naruto’s head.

“…sure, yeah. Uh-huh.” Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, grinning widely. Sasuke grabbed his hand with a sigh, as he unlocked the security system. Naruto just let Sasuke drag him with a permanent beam, squeezing his hand as emphasis while blue eyes glowed in glee.

Sasuke’s apartment was roughly the same size as Naruto’s, with minimalistic design and some traditional Japanese decoration sprinkled here and there. Before Sasuke could go to his kitchen to get some water, his cellphone chimed.

“It’s my friend, the trans one. She promised she would call me once she finished moving to another town. I’ll take the call really fast. Feel free to look around, but don’t break anything, you hear me?” Sasuke warned.

“Yeah yeah. So much faith on me.” Naruto shooed him, so with a last glare, Sasuke went to his bedroom.

Naruto noticed that instead of a bigger bedroom like his, there was an extra space for an office. He turned on the lights, impressed by the array of books, mostly classical literature, some about marketing, others regarding the Soulmate system. He let his fingers slide through each spine, picking one title or another, but putting back just as quickly. One tall book caught his attention, placed in a corner. It was larger in size but thinner in number of pages, black leathered cover. Curious, Naruto opened the book.

It was a drawing of him.

His heart jumped to his throat, so Naruto carefully turned another page, revealing another sketch of him, but in another angle, this time looking thoughtful. Another page, another drawing depicting him. The lines were rough and unsure, but he could definitely recognize himself in those pictures. As he was leafing through those drawings, details were added, with more depth and added expression confirming that all of these sketches were of himself looking in teenage years. He halted, staring at his grinning face doodled on the creamy paper.

“Good news, she’s safe and sound in anoth⏤” Sasuke widened his eyes, yanking his sketchbook out of Naruto’s hands and slammed shut.

Naruto’s jaw was still agape, managing to form a sentence. “Uh. Your drawings?”

Sasuke tamped the urge to throw it through the window, absolutely denying its existence.

The blond man continued in an attempt to ease the situation, mumbling. “They look…really good.”

Sasuke tightened his fingers on the edges, eyes straying to the ground.

Biting his lower lip, Naruto scratched his head. “Are they…”

“Yes.”

“…oh.”

Sasuke appeared very reluctant to say any other word, torn in between ripping those pages apart or just putting it back on the shelf. Naruto couldn’t also meet his eyes, and after many uncomfortable minutes, he decided it’d be better if he left the room.

“I couldn’t get you out of my head.”

At this sudden revelation, Naruto swiveled his head around, peering towards his soulmate.

“At first I thought; it couldn’t be helped, we were practically attached to the hip since we were kids. Then it just kept getting worse. And worse. So much worse.” Sasuke croaked out, voice tired and heavy. “There wasn’t a day I wouldn’t picture you in my head and wonder how you were doing and there wasn’t one night where I would sleep before remembering your face.”

Naruto’s hands soon reached to touch his face, brushing the alabaster skin lovingly. “Sasuke…”

However, he picked those hands and stirred away. “This obsession wasn’t getting any healthier, so one of my friends suggested that I could practice sketching to release some stress, that’s all. I just…some days, when it was really unbearable, I guess I just drew you so I can expunge your image out of my mind.”

Naruto cupped his cheeks once again, soulful blue eyes raw and vulnerable that made his own heart ache in response.

When he opened his mouth, Sasuke hissed. “Don’t. Say. Anything.”

Naruto rested his forehead onto his, whispering. “Why can’t I? I missed you too, just so fucking much. Every single day, just wishing that⏤” He sighed, connecting the last dots at last. “That’s why you never contacted me, even blocked me out. You kept reading about bad cases about soulmates and you were afraid you were going to be next. That the fact that you missed me is caused by some power coming from the soulmate system.”

“What if it is?”

“Why are you so sure it’d be?”

“Why not?” Sasuke growled, blinking away incoming of tears. “All these years, every day before you reappeared in my life I kept thinking about you. It’s unnatural and the only reason it’d happen it’s because of this system.”

Naruto shook his head, voice pleading. “What about our feelings Sasuke? They don’t count?”

“I don’t⏤” Sasuke swallowed the bile on his throat, grumbling. “Just our emotions, it wouldn’t make sense.”

“Feelings don’t make sense Sasuke. Love…” Naruto saw a small flinch at the corner of his eye but pressed on. “Doesn’t make sense. You’re trying to rationalize, quantify it, because by using logic it gives the security you need, and I get it. I really do. But there’s no way this⏤” His mouth reached the trembled lips into a loving kiss and he muttered. “Is just caused because we’re soulmates. You know I’m right.”

Sasuke couldn’t utter any response back, feeling cornered, the book cabinet digging painfully on his back while Naruto’s warm body radiated close to his own. When those tempting lips grazed on his own, he insisted.

“No, stop.” He needed to organize his muddled mind, and he didn’t want distraction, especially since Naruto’s kisses always felt like home.

Naruto paused, his hands still holding his face though his lips so close to Sasuke that he could almost lick it.

When his sketchbook fell to the ground with a dull thud, Sasuke could feel his last resolve crumbling away, fingers tangling on the golden hair. “You know that’s not fair.”

And just like that, this simple contact gave clarity to all the chaos brewing in his core that it almost made him light-headed. Their mouths interlocked perfectly, giving a surge of exhilaration when Naruto moaned low on his throat, tilting his head for another long kiss that even swayed his body backwards.

Sasuke sat precariously in one of the shelves, his legs widening to accommodate Naruto’s body, while his lips just hungered to taste more. Naruto detached for a second with Sasuke’s mouth following after, groaning in displeasure. Half-lidded blue eyes gazed onto his, wordless communication exchanged in an infinite second, before Naruto dove in once again, capturing his thin lips for another heart-stopping kiss.

He felt hands caressing his chest, gliding down to his stomach. Naruto’s fingers ghosted over his crotch, almost as if he was unsure whether he should do this. Sasuke buckled forward, fully touching his hand over his hardening dick. Through this confirmation, Naruto continued to kiss him, hand rubbing on the clothed cock over and over, scratching and feeling the long rod on his palm.

Sasuke released his lips, yanking out the orange shirt as his lover returned in kind. Breathing heavily, he let Naruto unzip his jeans, hands fondling his ass while Naruto let his nose nuzzle on the silk boxers, darkened eyes staring towards him as the devilish tongue licked the base. Oh God, he missed this so much…his senses were overloading, hypersensitive to his lover’s touch.

When Naruto pushed his jeans and boxers down, lips encasing on the head of his cock, Sasuke keened, body curling around the blond head. Naruto didn’t waste one second teasing him, mouth bobbing up and down, tightening in the exact spots that flooded this pleasure into him. Skilled hands rolled his balls, throat vibrating from Naruto’s moan, eyes locked while he continued to swallow his cock.

Sasuke stared wide-eyed, fingers gripping on the golden strands of hair. There was always something erotically mesmerizing seeing Naruto’s head between his legs, full lips wrapping around his cock. His tongue traced over the vein and ridges, pressing on the foreskin and sucking the pre-cum gathered on the slit. He picked up speed while he tightened around his hard-on, Sasuke’s senses were going haywire being engulfed inside that hot and wet mouth.

Out of nowhere, Naruto stepped back.

Sasuke screamed, feeling murderous. “You dumbass⏤!”

“I gotta find any kind of lube or something like that. I’ll be right back.” Naruto dropped a swift kiss, exiting the room. Sasuke could not believe that this moron actually left him hanging like that. He followed behind, eyes fixed on that round ass (that for some infuriating reason was still clothed). He was still hard and Naruto was scrambling through all the kitchen cabinet and top shelves, so Sasuke slapped his ass.

“Ow!” Naruto turned around with a scowl, and felt a cold sensation on his hand. He noticed he had a small bottle of olive oil, Sasuke pulled him closer to ignite another urgent kiss, sitting on the counter.

With one hand holding his creamy thighs, Naruto then gripped his hard-on, sliding through the shaft, a warm breath teasing over his sensitive head. He felt long fingers clutching his golden hair, tilting upwards to see fiery dark eyes. Without breaking their stares for a second, Naruto licked the slit, tapping around the edges before taking his cock, taking a dark perversion how Sasuke face contorted in hazy pleasure, engulfing more of the whole length with each push and pull.

Naruto somehow managed to cover his fingers with olive oil, placing it back on the table. He pulled Sasuke downwards to expose better the entrance, one digit entering and meeting resistance. He let his thumb rub the perineum, massaging gently till Sasuke was getting used to his touch. It’s been so long he had done this, letting these fingers invade in him and inciting him to let out a long moan. The first knuckle moved past the tight ring, he clenched around it in reflex before wielding his body to relax.

Naruto continued to tap inside, curling and twisting patiently, his mouth occasionally playing with his cock, slurping around the reddened head as the finger breached inside completely. He began brushing on the prostate, eliciting goosebumps all over Sasuke’s skin, making him gasp in surprise. His moans were growing in volume and length while his lover continued to stimulate his prostate and perineum, finger thrusting in an increasing pace, another one joining in.

Sasuke screamed once Naruto’s mouth engulfed his cock, fingers still spearing in his entrance at a blurry speed. At some point he realized that Naruto wanted to drive him to completion with just anal stimulation, however Sasuke craved for so much more.

He gasped, heels digging on the shoulders. “Naruto⏤!”

Blue eyes blinked from wanton fire, dick dislodging from his mouth. He glanced back at Sasuke, before straying his gaze to the ground, clearing his throat. “Um…but I gotta go buy some condoms.”

Sasuke stared back bewildered, before knitting his eyebrows in indignant fury. “What the fuck Naruto, I’m fucking clean.”

The blond man groaned, knowing that this wasn’t going to be an easy conversation. “I’m just going through safety methods to avoid diseases, you were the one who slept with other guys.”

Sasuke curled his hands into a fist, resisting the urge to knock his teeth out. He didn’t curb the bitter tone in his voice though. “I only did it in my first year, in the first months, all with protection because I’m not fucking dumb. And even after that I did a very thorough medical exam so sorry if I have to dig through mountains of dusty files to show you whatever the fuck you want to satisfy your stupid jealousy.”

Somehow this confession felt very off-place that Naruto even forgot that they were in the middle of foreplay. He tilted his head to one side mumbling. "Why did you have sex with some guys only in your first months?”

“Does that matter?” Sasuke growled.

“You could definitely have a harem in your disposal, seeing that you're well…you could have one different guy every night, so why?"

Sasuke grumbled very loudly, staring at his wilting erection and really wishing Naruto could go back to what really interested him. "It's nothing, and thanks for painting me as some sort of man-whore who wants to sleep around given any chance."

"I was just saying as an example.” Naruto insisted, curiosity piqued. “You're hot Sasuke, and I know I'm lucky that you chose me to date you. So why?"

"I was picky, let's move on." Sasuke captured Naruto’s lips with his teeth, indulging in another deep kiss where he hoped it’d occupy his dumbass’ mind.

Naruto didn’t take the bait, muttering between smacks of lips. "To the point that you'd only⏤"

"I thought we were having sex, dumbass." His dick deserved a medal now, how the fuck did it manage not to go soft after all these intermissions?

Naruto blinked. "Right, but I'm curious."

Huffing, Sasuke raised his eyes heavenward, feeling a sudden chill on his nubile body, all the previous erotic estimulation gone now. Naruto kissed him softly, almost as an apology before he asked again.

“I’m curious.”

“I told you it’s nothing.” Sasuke growled, his hands itching to just grab the blond head and make Naruto deep-throat his cock.

“If it’s nothing, where’s the issue about you telling me?”

“I swear to God you absolute moron, my dick is right here, waiting for you⏤”

Naruto shook his head, exhaling tiredly. He admitted in a quiet voice. “I just⏤are those guys that special that you’d restrict yourself with only them or⏤”

Sasuke was almost at his wit's end, exclaiming. “Naruto, are you really going with the jealous boyfriend bullshit, I swear to God…”

“I’m sorry, I⏤” Naruto shuffled uncomfortably, looking guilty. “I’m not that mature knowing that you had other guys in the past. I don’t think I want to hear how you were romantically involved with someone el⏤”

“I wasn’t involved with anyone, it was just one-night stands. I swear.” Sasuke assured, adding with a hard kiss on his lips.

Gradually, fingers reached to cup his face, Naruto murmured unsure. “Well, then…why⏤”

Sasuke gazed upon his lover’s azure eyes, a shade of hesitancy and distress. Confessing his last secret would crumble the last barrier he had built all over the years against his soulmate but…Naruto deserved this. Inhaling, Sasuke shut his eyes, declaring.

“I missed you. Okay?”

Naruto focused his vision on Sasuke, his emotions being mixed between confusion and elation.

Sasuke pressed on. “I missed you, and I needed to forget you badly. No matter what. I thought that it would work but…” He heaved loudly, glaring to the ground and grumbled. “Well, that’s why I settled by drawing your fucking dumbass face.”

Naruto just gawked back, his brain taking time to compute and absorb all this new information. As the silence kept stretching Sasuke snapped. “What?”

But those stupid wide blue eyes only stared back at him before, much to his indignation, Naruto let out a bark of laughter. That moronic dumbass, he expected that Naruto would at least look relieved.

“What?!” Sasuke snarled.

“No it’s just that…” Naruto chuckled again, grinning. “I keep forgetting your very weird and twisted ways to show affection.”

That’s it, he should have settled jerking himself off instead of getting involved with this moron. Sasuke clobbered over the blond head. “You dumbass, I don’t even understand why I’m attracted to you stupid aaaaah⏤!!!” He screamed when a thick cock impaled him out of nowhere, buried to the hilt.

Naruto started thrusting in that tight hole, a feral smirk adorning his face. Lips reached to a fleeting connection, breaths accelerating as Sasuke clutched their bodies closer with his arms, growling. “A little warning usuratonkachi.”

Naruto chuckled, whispering wicked words. “But you like some burn, don’t you?”

Frowning, Sasuke silenced him with another kiss, letting this ecstasy pile up as Naruto continued to thrust inside him. He enjoyed reigniting these lost sensations, the hot member stretching him wide, but still snuggled tight that he could feel the bumps and ridges every time this cock plunged in.

Naruto was taking his time in getting reacquainted to his body, like a musician tuning his instrument he hadn’t used in a while. He replayed all the familiar spots, exploring them once again and heightening in this sinful composition that made Sasuke writhe and moan helplessly.

There was absolutely no comparison to all previous sex trysts he had done with other men. All the uninterested touches, mechanical movements were just some bleak, monocolor passage of time that put him off in an instant.

Sex with Naruto was always an extraordinary, almost time-bending event that consumed his soul completely. Seconds flew by but also stretched indeterminate when he drowned in this ecstasy, myriad of colors flashing through his eyes while their bodies were locked together.

Naruto pulled away only till the tip was in, before thrusting deep inside Sasuke with a groan, savoring how his lover shivered in response. Mouths meshed together, fervent, passionate and greedy, tasting the unique flavor of his lover.

Sasuke managed to wheeze out. “Bedroom…” He let out an uncharacteristic yelp, his arms clutching on the broad back when Naruto held him by his buttocks, cock burying even deeper in his hole. He moaned when hips thrust several times, but Naruto shuffled in the general direction of his bed, bodies linked yet.

Two more stumbles here and there, Naruto managed to throw him to bed, laughing. “Oh, thank God your bedroom is nearby, I’m actually not that strong ya know.” Sasuke just kissed him, too used to his shenanigans.

In a wild second, Sasuke wished he’d kiss those smiling lips for the rest of his life. His brain panicked though, reminding him how a flawed system linked them together. Fortunately this negative thought didn’t linger, with their mouths matching, overlapping and gliding together in a swimming giddiness.

Sasuke turned around with the intention to be taken behind but a hand halted him, making his eyes focused back on Naruto’s smile.

“Hey…I wanted to see you.” He muttered, giving another kiss in reassurance.

Sasuke’s upper body faced forward, his legs settling to one side though. While he was holding his cock with one hand, Naruto aimed and began penetrating him once again. There wasn’t one moment their mutual gazes would waver, blue eyes stared affectionately towards dark grey ones, as Naruto picked up speed while Sasuke rolled his hips to match this rhythm.

He was tilting closer, almost as if he craved to be completely merged into Sasuke’s that, at some point, he laid down next to Sasuke, one tanned hand cradled his head, another one caressed his face. Sasuke’s right leg was wrapped around Naruto’s hip, tanned left leg thrown over his body, Sasuke’s fingers clenching tightly to bring impossibly close to him, limbs tangled till he could not see where was the end or beginning of their bodies. Once Naruto tilted his hips to restart his thrusts, Sasuke’s whole vision was fixated in this exquisite face, full of intense hunger and warm tenderness. Every inch of his skin was covered by his lover’s body, cock pulsating inside him repeatedly.

He felt so full.

Those overwhelming emotions settled in his heart, igniting bright embers that threatened to throw him over the edge. Naruto then curled his hand around his cock, pumping it while his lips tried for another kiss, though it just bumped while they were both breathing faster, thrusts increasing till it lost all pacing as they both reached their orgasm.

Sasuke cried out, shuddering while his cum drizzled on Naruto’s hand, soiling the sheets. Two more plunges Naruto locked in, hugging Sasuke tightly while he released inside him. They heaved for long minutes from aftershocks, their eyes focused on each other nonetheless.

Once he settled enough, Naruto was first to kiss Sasuke’s forehead, yawning and shutting his eyes, arms enveloped around his body.

And in this miraculous second, instead of being bombarded by second thoughts or reluctance, Sasuke succumbed to his desires, cheek nuzzling the blond hair as he also called the night.

Chapter 08

⏤.⏤

AN: Hooray for butt-sex! I gotta be honest, I just created this whole fic to write this sex scene. I hope you guys will like it lmao. (and please review)

#NaruSasu #snstext #sns fic #sn fic #lemon #drabble

15 notes · View notes

deckspair · 4 years

Text

May’s Musical Director’s Commentary

Hey guys! I'm May. You might remember me as "the one who did those nifty chatlogs and the roster page" or "the one who did all the music" or "that one mod who never said anything." Los and Mints agreed to let me write up this "director's commentary" on the music I did for DECK. There's no secret lore tidbits in here or anything, but if you liked my music you might find this an interesting glimpse into the process.

A Note On Sampling

Sampling is the practice of using preexisting audio to make new music. When I talk about what I've sampled here, I'm only going to mention particularly interesting cases. Almost all of the music I've done for DECK features audio from Free Wave Samples, so I figure that's not really worth mentioning except here. It's the other stuff that's interesting. EarthBound was an influence on my decision to pull in a bunch of audio from outside sources. I've always admired that game's use of sampling.

The First Chatlog

The chatlogs have consistently been pretty fun to do. I knew from the start that I didn't want to edit this together by hand, so I wrote a Processing sketch to render the video. It's not the most elegant thing in the world, and adding new features is a massive pain, but it's a lot easier than putting these together any other way. All I have to do is swap out the script and background shader and write a new song and I can just let the program churn away rendering a new video. (Of course, fiddling with the shader until it looks presentable takes so long that it kind of eats into the time savings.)

There's not much to say about this one. The typing sounds were graciously provided by Mints. Those with careful ears might notice the instrument playing the chords in other chatlog songs.

The Second Chatlog

One of the only interesting things about this one: the melody is actually a musical cryptogram! What it spells out is an exercise for the reader. ;) The miscellaneous background sounds are all distorted versions of stuff I recorded myself one day when my film teacher let me wander the halls with a microphone. Film school has its perks.

Rio Hachimitsu's BDA

Doing the first body drop music was pretty intimidating. The body discovery music in Danganronpa has a particular instantly recognizable quality to it. If I wanted to go for that style, I'd have to get it down perfectly. (Otherwise I'd come off as a cheap imitation.) So I decided to be original. After school PSAs would be proud.

The melody here is probably pretty familiar to you all by now. Every BDA has used some variation of this melody because I'm a sucker for leitmotif. The melody itself is a slightly modified version of the Dies Irae. (Yes, I know I'm very pretentious, but being pretentious is fun.) This is also the first instance of what I call the "death rattle." I put that strange scraping sound into every BDA and execution for consistency's sake. You can see it as the moment the soul leaves the deceased's body or the moment the onlookers realize somebody's just died... or something. The really fun part is what it is - it's a bell tree! Yknow, those tinkly whimsical things. It's just been reversed and slowed down and drenched in reverb. It's fun how malleable audio is.

Minnie Minami's EXE

This was fun! Despite being a film student for a while, I've never had to write music to sync up with a video before. (I still haven't - I'm pretty sure the video was edited to match up with the music and not vice versa.) The overall tone of this one was pretty obvious. Of course a ringleader's execution would be accompanied by messed up circus music. Anything else just wouldn't be right. There's not really much else to say about it other than that it includes samples from my toy accordion and slide whistle.

Sampled:

An old recording of Auld Lang Syne

Yasu Kozakura's BDA

The body drop's usage of mirrors really hit me in the art gut, so I figured the BDA jingle should have something to do with mirrors. This is why the melody plays forwards and backwards simultaneously, because mirrors. (Some call that kind of thing a "crab canon.")

My incredibly good and quality cat piano is also in here. A stretched out meow recorded from it forms the basis of the background chord.

NANIKO's EXE

For this one, I gave the video editor three different tracks, one for each "segment" of the execution. I did this as a cop-out because I didn't want to have to try to sync my music up with the video - this way, the editor could mash it all together.

The segment with the mirrors was an exercise in what's called "phase music", where two lines drift out of sync with each other, creating different rhythmic textures over the course of the song. (Piano Phase and Clapping Music, both by Steve Reich, are two classic examples of the form.) For some reason, echoey piano lines phasing in and out of sync feel mirror-y to me. They also form a nice musical callback to the BDA.

Sampled:

Me switching frequencies on the radio

Sayuri Nishi's BDA

Shoutout to Free Wave Samples for having a heartbeat sound. I didn't want to try to make that sound myself with drums.

Kosuke Nakamura's EXE

This execution is significant because it's the first non-video one. Execution art wasn't my department, so I'm not going to speak on how that change affected the artists, but I found it liberating to be able to follow the more general emotional arc of the execution rather than being tethered to the pacing of a video.

When I asked Angela for guidance on where to go musically, we came to the conclusion that the proper genre would be "Tom and Jerry noir." That description alone is why I loved doing music for DECK - where else do you get the opportunity to write something with that as guidance? The most natural interpretation in my view was a song that starts out jazzy and segues into slapstick-esque classical to mirror the transition from the safety of noir to being mauled by a giant robot cat.

Also, the Slack notification sound is in there, since Los suggested a social media notification sound in the background somewhere. (Slack's basically social media for tech dorks, right?)

Sampled:

Slack

Tom and Jerry

The Missing BDAs

Unfortunately, I got preoccupied and neglected to do BDA music for the deaths in Chapter 4. Generally, there's not many interesting things to say about stuff that doesn't exist. The plan was to sample Pomp and Circumstance for Law N... but I didn't. Sorry, Froggy. I didn't have any other plans for this one.

Ukiyo-Maemi's EXE

This one relies so much on sampling it almost makes me feel bad. I got so much mileage out of the clanging percussion and the spooky background sounds that it's basically cheating.

Sampled:

My lovely girlfriend 💕

OFF

Akira Akatsuki's BDA

I was in a very percussion-heavy mood when I wrote this. (Can you tell?) Listening to the FLCL soundtrack had me jonesing for some dramatic cymbals.

Sampled:

Earthbound

Genko Junshu's BDA

Junshu's body was found in the Navigation Station. This called to mind sonar beeps and garbled radio messages and such. This is another one that wouldn't be nearly as interesting without the sampling. Hopefully this is transformative enough to not get me labeled a hack.

Sampled:

Earthbound

Law Kiyuu's EXE

This execution actually freaked me the hell out the first time I read it. Freaked me out for like a week - something about the combination of incredible writing and the subject matter. It honestly felt calculated to scare me specifically.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun with this one. I wanted to write something as unsettling as the execution it was accompanying. The intro is supposed to represent Law thinking he's already dead. Next comes his terror (evoked with the hilariously dissonant Altered scale), and then the final spooky arrhythmic section is supposed to be him being cut apart. (Note that part of the music drifts out of sync with itself to represent Law, uh, going to pieces.) The return of the piano is supposed to evoke the flashback section. That kind of piano sound always sounds spooky and/or sentimental to me.

Not much else to say now that I've dissected (heh) basically all of the decisions I've made for this one. I'm really proud of Law's execution song - it might be my favorite out of all the ones I've done for DECK.

Sampled:

Earthbound

Persona 2: Innocent Sin

The Doug Theme

Death Note

"It's a Long Way to Tipperary"

gamer butt song

Frogbot's EXE

The original plan for this one was start this one off with a hocket-y medley of all the previous body drops and executions. However, it would have been really tedious to export then import all the relevant instruments, so I didn't do that. Instead I remixed the typical BDA theme. It's supposed to convey the shift from FrogBot's reign of despair to the triumph of getting them executed. I realized part of the way through that this segment was far too triumphant given how many people died and the fact that the submarine is about to explode, so then I just ended it by lingering on a diminished chord. I'm not a very subtle person. Frogbot's execution lacks the death rattle 'cause there's no horrifying realization that one of your classmates is dead. (Exercise for the reader: find where I hid the Flintstones theme in this song. Good luck.)

Conclusion

DECK was a lot of fun to work on. I wrote some extremely messy code, made some sick as hell videos, and wrote some pretty baller music. I got to see some wonderful artists do their work, and I got to skim some pretty intense roleplaying. Thank you to everyone who said nice things about my music and to the mods for being really cool dudes. Special thanks to Mints and Los for letting me put this long-winded rant on their blog, and thank you for reading this whole thing.

See you on the flip side, y'all.

#music

2 notes · View notes

insanitysscribblings · 7 years

Text

Reyna Writes: The Artist and the Athlete

@siderealsandman

*Kicks down door*

WHO HERE WANTS SOME KIMNATH FANFIC?

Have a fluff piece with ‘em~ Enjoy! <3

~Reyna

His pencil danced across his sketchbook, but not in the usual way. Rather that creating anything, it appeared to be an unconscious thing, Nathanael’s head propped up on his fist as he stared blankly down at his sketchbook, as if waiting for an idea to form. His hair was down today, too—it was common knowledge that Nathanael liked to work with his hair up, since he needed both eyes clear to really commit to his craft.

There was no commitment today, though—only a pinched brow and a slight pout, as if whatever he was trying to work on was being difficult, and Nathanael had no idea how to win its cooperation.

When he jogged past the agitated artist for the third time, Kim decided to pause his training to see what was up.

“Yo, Nath!” He called, announcing his presence with a shout and a hearty wave as he jogged towards the table Nathanael was sitting. He looked up, smiling vaguely as Kim took the seat across from him.

“Hey, Kim.” He swept his red hair behind an ear, but the gesture was useless; his bangs fell right back into his face again, but other than a brief roll of his eyes, he let them be. “What’s up?”

“Oh, you know—gotta keep up my speed if I wanna keep my track scholarship.” He shrugged with a grin that hovered just over the border of cheeky. “Also gotta keep my strength up since I basically carry my team.”

Nathanael chuckled, sliding his sketchbook shut. Kim noticed.

“Not feelin’ the artsy vibes today?”

Nathanael’s brow puckered.

“Not especially,” he confessed, running a frustrated hand through his hair with a sigh. “Not for lack of trying or anything—I guess I’ve just been uninspired lately.”

“Aw, that sucks,” Kim said sympathetically, wiping sweat from his brow with the towel slung around his neck.

“It does. Especially since I have a project due soon.” Nathanael folded his hands under his chin, slim fingers interlocking as he scowled down at his sketchbook. Kim grinned. If anything, the dude definitely had the ‘brooding artist’ look down pat. “I think I may need a new muse.”

“Don’t you have to sell your soul for one of those?”

Nathanael glanced up at Kim, something like a deadpan crossing his features. Kim raised his eyebrows.

“What?”

“…You’re not going to make the obligatory ‘red head, no soul’ joke here?”

Kim blinked.

“Huh?”

“Never mind,” Nathanael dismissed the issue, relief taking over his expression now as he smiled. “Just…some of my American friends have imposed this, uh, ‘view’ on me.” He frowned again. “It got old real quick.”

Kim grinned.

“Okay, but it’s probably better than being asked if the curtains match the carpet all the time…am I right?”

“Oh god,” Nathanael groaned, dropping his face into a hand. “Add the nickname ‘Rusty’, and you have the unholy trio of red-head jokes.”

“Isn’t there also something from America about an orphan named Annie—”

“Don’t,” Nathanael said, giving Kim a sharp warning glance. Kim snickered.

“Hey, don’t get mad at me. I didn’t give you the red hair.”

Nathanael rolled his eyes, idly tapping his pencil on his sketchbook once again, which drew Kim’s attention to it once more.

“So what’s this project you have to do?”

Nathanael blinked, looking like Kim had pulled him out of some other void of thought.

“Oh…it’s an anatomy piece,” he said. “The concept isn’t difficult—I’ve done plenty of anatomy pieces before…” He frowned again, pale skin wrinkling. “But my professor says my style’s stagnating.”

“Rude,” Kim said with a frown, which brought a slight smile to Nathanael’s face.

“Thanks, but it’s important to be able to take criticism about things like this, even if it isn’t always something I want to hear.” Nathanael sighed, tucking his pencil behind his ear for safe keeping as he propped his head up with his elbows, frowning down at his sketchbook once more. “But I’m not sure what to do. I want to branch out and challenge myself, but how do I do that?”

“Why don’t you just ask him exactly what he’s looking for?”

To this, Nathanael let out a bitter laugh that had Kim cringing. Wow…in all the time he had known him, he had never heard Nathanael make a sound so dispirited…

“It’s an art class,” he pointed out after a moment, giving Kim a dry smile. “Nothing is exact. You have to feel your way through it in order to truly create…but with this…”

His lips twisted, and Kim was startled to find him looking so…unsure.

“…I don’t know,” he muttered, tearing his eyes away from his sketchbook to look away, into the distance. “I’m starting to question more and more whether or not I really want this to be my career, if I get stuck on something as simple as this…”

Kim stared, his mouth hanging open. Nathanael, the boy who never went anywhere without at least one sketchpad and a set of pencils with him since primary school…not doing art?

The thought was so inconceivable that Kim was seized with a sudden desire to correct this problem, no matter what it took.

“Nath…you love art,” Kim fervently reminded his friend, his hands splayed flat against the table as he leaned in, staring at his broody artist friend, who returned his gaze with some surprise. “You quitting art would be like me quitting track! It just wouldn’t be right, man! You have a gift, and it’d be stupid to throw it away! I’d hate to see you give up your passion just ‘cause you’re struggling with something so temporary.”

Nathanael blinked, red slowly painting his cheeks as he glanced away from Kim, a little, shy smile crossing his face. The sight amused Kim—university had definitely helped Nathanael come out of his shell, but it was the tiny gestures that pleased Kim, because they reassured him that Nathanael would never change too much.

“Uh…thanks,” he replied quietly, but all too soon, that smile turned back into a grimace. “Still…it would be nice to work through this block.”

“Right.” Kim sat straight again and folded his arms, frowning as he put on his Mr. Fix-It cap and tried to figure out how to assist his struggling friend. Anatomy, huh… “Is this, like, one of those naked drawing classes or something?”

Kim half-expected Nathanael to blush…but he didn’t. Instead, there was a thoughtful gleam in his eye as he gripped his chin in thought.

“I wouldn’t classify in that way, although we do have nude models from time to time,” he admitted, and Kim raised his eyebrows. The way he said that with no trace of embarrassment…Kim wasn’t sure if he could pull off that level of professionalism. He was almost envious.

“So, what? You need a model?”

Nathanael shrugged.

“Not in the way you mean. I came here to sketch people passing by, so it’s not like I need someone who’ll stay still for hours at a time…but maybe that’s my problem?” He closed his eyes and frowned, and Kim had to bite back a laugh at the way his brooding intensified with just two simple gestures. “I prefer to sketch things in motion more than stills…capturing a brief piece of someone’s life like that is fun, and still models feel more like I’m staging my art rather than creating it…but if motion sketches are all I do, I can’t really improve, can I…?”

He was talking himself in circles, getting so quiet that he was just muttering under his breath now. Kim could do nothing but watch, frowning as he wished that there was something he could do…

…Wait.

There was something he could do!

“Hey, I could be a model,” he interjected, grinning confidently, even at the startled look in Nathanael’s eyes once he opened them.

“…I appreciate that you want to help, Kim,” Nathanael replied, tilting his head a little with that vague smile from earlier, as if he wanted to be as polite as possible in his refusal of such an idea. “But being a model is very rarely interesting for the models themselves. You’d have to stay still for very long periods of time—”

“I can do that!” At Nathanael’s raised eyebrows, Kim pouted. “Don’t give me that look—I can stay still! …If I try…really, really hard…”

Nathanael laughed, teal eyes sparkling with mirth.

“Well…it’s not like I couldn’t use the practice, I guess,” he mused, “but Kim—are you sure? I don’t want to cut into your practice time—”

“It’s totally fine,” Kim insisted with a careless wave of his hand. “Friends gotta help each other out, right? Just name a time and a place, and I’ll be there.”

“…Okay, I’ll do that,” Nathanael agreed, smiling warmly. “Thanks, Kim.”

Kim grinned.

“Anytime, buddy.”

Not fidgeting was a lot harder than Kim ever expected it to be.

It wasn’t like he had to hold a crazy pose or anything either—though he had certainly tried, before Nathanael had instructed him to just sit down like a normal person instead of with his chest puffed out, or in a dab. Kim had complained that that wasn’t very exciting, but twenty minutes in, he was grateful for Nathanael’s foresight, for having to hold any of his previous poses right now would’ve been a bitch.

Nathanael’s dorm room was neat and tidy, save for a corner of the room that was covered in old newspapers and riddled with art supplies and an easel, the canvas splashed with paint, though no discernible shapes stuck out to Kim. They were not over in this corner, however—instead, Kim sat on Nathanael’s bed while he was seated in the chair at his desk, the only sound in the room the light scratches of Nathanael’s pencil, or the scrape of an eraser on paper as he undid a misplaced pencil stroke. His eyes shifted back and forth between Kim and his sketchbook, the glances to both brief, as if Nathanael didn’t actually have to look at what he was doing for very long. There was an implicit trust in his artist fingers that Kim found himself relating to—he never had to think about running, except to adjust his speed and pacing from time to time. It was a natural thing, easy as breathing, when his powerful legs propelled him across the earth, as if he could outrun the speed of light and sound—

Damn it, now he wanted to go for a jog. Running was the wrong thing to think about right now.

Kim’s fingers twitched as he sat there, trying not to move too noticeably. Huh…he never knew silence could be awkward. It wasn’t like he didn’t like hanging out with Nathanael—he was a cool dude, and Kim had known him practically forever, even if they didn’t become close until entering university together. But the fact that Nathanael kept looking at him without saying anything stirred him, and he didn’t know why…

The next sweep of Nathanael’s eyes stayed longer than usual, and Kim found himself tensing at the change. He didn’t know why…maybe it was because he was unused to meeting both of Nathanael’s eyes, instead of focusing on just the one that wasn’t perpetually obscured by his hair. Nathanael seemed to pause for a second…and then he lowered his sketchbook into his lap, letting his pencil rest in his hand.

“Are you done already?” Kim asked in surprise, wondering just how amazing Nathanael’s abilities had become.

Nathanael chuckled at the assumption.

“No. I just feel like you’re a little too tense. Relax a bit.”

“Oh, yeah, sure, I can do that.” Kim cleared his throat and rolled his shoulders before settling back into his slouched over position, a hand dangling in between his knees as he rested his elbow on his thigh. “Better?”

“Better.” Nathanael raised his sketchbook again, and kept his eyes upon it as he asked, “How’s your training going?”

Kim blinked.

“I thought I wasn’t supposed to move?”

“You can talk,” Nathanael allowed with a smirk that smacked of amusement. “The movement of your mouth is a minute detail…though I’m going to have to ask that you don’t talk with your hands as much right now.”

Kim frowned.

“I don’t talk with my hands,” he denied, waving a hand through the air to assert his point…oh, wait. Damn it.

Nathanael laughed, the sound free and easy. Kim felt himself swallow and frowned. Hmm…looked like he hadn’t hydrated enough today…

“And training’s fine,” Kim answered the question to move past his slip, watching as Nathanael focused on his sketchbook, pencil gliding across the page. “I think we stand a good chance of flattening our competition next month.”

Kim followed the slight curve of Nathanael’s lips with his eyes as he glanced up again, expression knowing.

“You’re never anything short of confident, huh?”

“You makin’ fun of me?” Kim challenged with a grin.

“Not at all,” answered Nathanael, and the earnestness in his voice made Kim pause. “I really admire that about you.”

Kim blinked. Well…that was…unexpected. He was always catching heat from someone (usually his coach) about being cocky, but to hear that someone actually liked that about him…?

Wow, it had gotten really warm in here all of a sudden. Kim cleared his throat. Jeez, how had he not had enough water today? That was a problem—if he was going to run, he had to stay hydrated. He’d ask Nathanael for a break to do so in a few minutes.

“Well, y’know…” he mumbled before petering off lamely, because he realized he had nowhere to go with that sentence. Nathanael seemed content to let it go, and silence fell between them once more as he sketched. Kim watched as his eyebrows furrowed in concentration, teal eyes focused as he worked on capturing the rare sight of Kim in stillness. He really did love his craft—it was obvious to anyone who watched him work. Idly, Kim wondered how many people had seen his focused look, and could guess from it just how deeply Nathanael felt about his work…

Nathanael glanced up again. Abruptly, Kim realized he was staring and glanced away, at the walls. It would’ve been clear that an artist lived here from just one look at the posters on the walls, ranging from well-known works that even Kim could name, to obscure pieces he had never seen before. Kim searched, squinting at the scribbled signatures on each piece, but none of them looked familiar…

“You don’t hang your own art up in your room?”

Nathanael’s eyes were back on his sketchbook as Kim looked at him; there was more to the furrow of his brows now.

“Why would I do that?” He asked idly, as if the answer didn’t matter much. “I haven’t made anything good enough to share wall space with my inspirations.”

“Whaaaaat?” Kim exclaimed in surprise, hastily adjusting his posture afterwards, for he had straightened in alarm. “Dude, I went to the school’s art exhibit last year—your stuff is great!”

Nathanael smiled vaguely.

“Thanks,” he replied, but it didn’t really sound like he meant it; it sounded like he was saying it just to be polite. “But I want to be a whole lot more than ‘great’ before I think about adding my own work up on the walls. Besides,” he muttered after a moment, and Kim watched with intrigue as red invaded Nathanael’s fair skin. “It’s…kind of embarrassing, hanging my own stuff up. Doesn’t it seem a little…cocky?”

Kim snorted.

“Dude, if you’re gifted, you should be able to look up and remind yourself of just how talented you are without having to apologize for it.” He winked. “Take it from a guy who gets called ‘cocky’ fifty times a day.”

Nathanael smiled again, and it was that slow, secret smile that took its time curving his lips, his eyes bright with amusement.

“Well…it’s not like the people who call you that don’t have a point—”

“Hey!” Kim complained with a scowl that he couldn’t hold for very long when Nathanael started laughing. It seemed like he had never done that much in collegé…Kim was glad to see that he felt comfortable enough to do so now.

The rest of their time was passed in back and forth banter, and when Nathanael finally announced that he was done, Kim made a show of stretching and sighing in relief, falling back on Nathanael’s bed. Oddly enough, however, there was a strange sense of let-down. Kim couldn’t place why at first…maybe because he’d been having so much fun that he kind of didn’t want it to end? He had always been one to overindulge, of course…

He opened his eyes when a shadow fell over him, to find Nathanael leaning over him with an amused look.

“Nap time?” He asked, and Kim snorted, propping himself up on his elbows. “I didn’t realize you modeling for me took so much out of you.”

“Psh, I’m fine,” said Kim with a wave of his hand, his eyes going to Nathanael’s sketchbook, which sat abandoned upon his desk. “So, can I see it?”

Nathanael’s eyes lit up.

“You want to?”

“Hell yeah!” Kim replied, a ‘duh’ tone included in his voice, though the way Nathanael looked so pleased that he wanted to see his work was…kind of endearing…

Kim sat up fully as Nathanael went to retrieve his sketchbook, plopping down next to him before he passed it over, his expression laced with anticipation…and trepidation. It made Kim curious—was Nathanael afraid that Kim would hate it or something?

“So?” Nathanael asked after Kim took the sketchbook and got a good look at the sketch. “What do you think?”

“…”

Kim heard the question…but honestly, he was having trouble articulating exactly how he felt about something that was so damn awesome. It was him, and yet, it was a better him, something Kim had no idea was possible—somehow, Nathanael had made his slouching form look regal and careless, like a prince upon his throne with the world dancing in the palm of his hand. There wasn’t a single detail Nathanael had gotten wrong, except for maybe his face, because Kim wasn’t sure that he looked that handsome…

The abrupt thought that this was how Nathanael saw him struck Kim, and suddenly, his face was on fire.

“…Um…”

Nathanael’s soft voice brought Kim back to the present, and he looked over to find Nathanael looking at him anxiously, running a hand through his tied back hair self-consciously, the movement tugging his bangs loose so that they hung in his face, as if he wanted to hide himself from view.

“Do you, uh…not like it?”

“Dude, I love it,” Kim assured him immediately, because he could not stand to see the self-doubt in Nathanael’s eyes, couldn’t stand to see him think that this sketch was anything less than perfect. In fact, it was so perfect— “Can I have it?”

Nathanael stared at him. Kim’s thoughts caught up with his mouth a second later, and he grimaced.

“Well, I mean…I don’t know if you need it for class or whatever, but if it’s just practice—”

“You…really want it?” Nathanael asked, as if he couldn’t believe it. Kim almost scoffed, but he didn’t. Instead, he held Nathanael’s gaze, willing him with everything he had to believe it when he said:

“I really do.”

Ah, and there was the slow-curving smile—no, no, wait. This one bypassed a smile—it was a full-on grin, as if Kim had positively delighted Nathanael. And it was a grin so bright that Kim felt himself swallow again, and slowly, an inkling occurred to him, that he might not be that thirsty after all…at least, not in that way…

“Sure,” Nathanael agreed, and it took Kim a second to realize he was talking about the sketch rather than confirming the swirling thoughts in his head. Hand outstretched, he grasped the sketchbook. “Just let me sign it…”

“Okay…” Kim would’ve watched him sign it, just to see the way Nathanael’s wrist moved as his pencil flicked across the page, marking the art as his…marking the sketch of Kim as his…but his phone distracted him, ringing in the silence. Cursing under his breath, Kim dug his phone out from one of his pockets to silence his daily alarm that told him to go to practice. Damn, he hadn’t realized how much time had passed…

“I gotta go,” he announced, getting to his feet with a sort of reluctance he dully felt as he shrugged his shoulders. “Gotta continue leaving losers in my dust.”

“Your teammates must love you,” Nathanael joked, tearing the used page of his sketchbook out, turning with a smile to hand the sketch over. “Well, good luck with practice. And thanks for your help.”

“Anytime,” Kim said, though it was with a little more feeling than the last time he had uttered such words. Barely able to manage a parting wave, Kim left the room, his legs automatically moving as fast as they could go, as if to outpace his suddenly racing heart. It wasn’t until he left Nathanael’s dorm building that he looked down at the sketch, wondering where Nathanael had stuck his signature.

He found it in an instant, tucked away in the crease of Sketch Kim’s neck. Almost like a kiss.

Kim stared.

That…was so goddamn cute.

“Fuck,” he mumbled to himself without any real negativity, feeling pleasantly surprised and tingly all over as his face heated, all from such a simple gesture. His next words, though he had never spoken them before, were still matter of fact: “I’m gay.”

There may be a sequel to this in the future that’s a little more...intimate, shall we say. ;)

Hope you enjoyed! <3

~Reyna

#reyna writes #miraculous ladybug fanfic #the artist and the athlete #mlm positivity #kimxnathanael #I'm actually really happy with how this came out #this pairing was cuter than I was expecting...#boy do i die

191 notes · View notes

johnhuber · 7 years

Text

Charlie Munger’s Most Important Concept (Takeaways from the DJCO Meeting)

A couple weeks ago, I flew to Los Angeles to listen to Charlie Munger at the Daily Journal annual meeting. These days, you can read the transcript of these events or even watch it on YouTube, so there is less of a practical reason to attend the actual event. But the main reason I enjoy these events is to meet with people. I have as much fun at the peripheral gatherings as I do at the main event. It’s nice getting to see friends of mine in the investment business who I don’t often see. It’s also great to meet up with clients who might live in the area of these events. That said, I have no doubt you can get more out of attending the event than you would watching it on YouTube. Hearing it straight from the horse’s mouth is good; but when the horse is in the same room as you, even better.

As usual, Charlie was full of Mungerisms, and while everything he said has probably been uttered by him previously, there were still a number of things I found relevant and worth highlighting. Nothing most investors haven’t heard, but it was very clear to me that these general principles were a very important part of the foundation that Charlie Munger used to help build his investment record over the last half-century.

Here two of my main takeaways/thought provoking topics that he discussed:

Takeaway #1: Patience—The Importance of Focusing on Your Best Ideas

As Charlie has said many times (including in my favorite talk he ever gave—The Art of Stock Picking), the ability to patiently wait for only the exceptional opportunities (and the ability to capitalize on them when they come along) has been a big edge for him over time.

At the meeting, Charlie talked about how his grandfather built a fortune in the Midwest by focusing on just one or two really good ideas. I believe Munger said he owned banks, and then at a few key times, opportunistically bought farms during recessions. The concept of doing nothing for years and then capitalizing on opportunity makes a lot of sense in most areas of business, but rarely is practiced in the stock market. Munger is probably the closest I’ve seen to someone actually implementing this concept.

Charlie made a comment about when he was starting out in his original investment partnership, he sat in his office at the law firm and sketched out a few basic ideas about portfolio management:

He said he figured he hold the average stock in his portfolio 3 or 4 years

He figured he might have 40 years or so to invest

Given the above two assumptions, he wouldn’t need more than 4 stocks in his portfolio to be adequately diversified

I think what he’s basically implying here is that if he has a 4 stock portfolio and he does this for 40 years, he’ll make 40 or 50 investments over the life of the partnership (assuming a 3 or 4 year hold time).

He said numerous times throughout the afternoon (as he’s said all his life) that:

You won’t get that many great ideas

You don’t need that many great ideas

Again, this is all stuff that has been repeated ad nauseam, but it is a very valuable idea to keep in mind—and given the contents of most portfolios I look at from other investors, it’s advice that’s very rarely followed.

In Saber Capital’s 2016 Investor Letter, I outlined some of the reasons for why I think this “do as I say, not as I do” dynamic exists in professional money management.

Takeaway #2: “Things Are Harder Now” (Or Different Now?)

The typical NBA offense used to be much more centered around the big 7 footer. You needed a star big man if you expected to be a title contender. But the game has changed. To be successful, you need to spread the floor with sharp shooters and your offense relies much more on the three-point shot. It’s not harder to win a championship than it was 30 years ago, but it would be if you were forced to implement the same game plan now that you used back then.

I’ve heard a lot of larger, well-known successful investors repeat the general idea that “investing is harder than it used to be”. Klarman said it in a recent letter, and I’ve heard probably three or four well-known top-tier investors repeat something similar in recent years. Munger repeated this same idea at the meeting. Basically, their feeling is that due to much greater competition, it’s harder to find the really low-hanging fruit and thus harder to beat the market.

However, I think that this view is influenced to a much greater degree by the size of the portfolios that these guys manage than it is by the actual competitiveness of the market. Of course it’s going to be hard for Klarman to do what he did in the 1980’s—he’s got somewhere around $25 billion or so to allocate now.

This is not to say that investing isn’t competitive—it’s one of the most competitive fields out there, as competition tends to be commensurate with financial rewards, and the rewards are almost unlimited in this particular field. I also don’t want to imply that beating the market is easy. It’s extremely hard to do over long periods of time, as evidenced by the staggering long-term win/loss record of the S&P 500 vs portfolio managers.

I also agree with Munger that the style of investing that he and Buffett used to trounce the market in the early years of their careers (mostly buying and selling really cheap stocks of decent businesses that nobody was following) is also much harder. There are no Western Insurance’s at 1 P/E anymore. Those stones have been turned over long ago.

But where I might cautiously disagree with Munger is on this point: the edge they had in the 50’s no longer works as well, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t edges to be had in the stock market. As I’ve talked about a few times in recent posts, I think there are three general potential advantages that can be gained in the markets:

Informational edge

Analytical edge

Time-horizon edge

Most people only really consider the first advantage. I think Munger—when he talks about things being harder today—is simply saying that the informational advantage that he and Buffett gained by simply looking through Moody’s manuals—is obviously no longer there. The availability of information and the quantity of people analyzing it has largely arbitraged this general advantage away. This concept has really solidified for me over the past year or two. It’s still worth turning over stones, and certainly there are more inefficiencies with smaller securities, but I completely agree with Munger that the low-hanging fruit is gone.

But I think the reasons why this advantage has been mitigated in recent decades has also helped create a different edge—long-term thinking. Better technology and easier available information has made it impossible to locate a solid business like Western Insurance trading at 1 times earnings—that opportunity would have been “arbitraged” long before it got to such a crazy valuation. But the speed and pace of information flow combined with the short-term demands of the owners of capital (or their proxies) has helped widen the “arbitrage” opportunity for those who don’t have to play that game. Stocks were held over 10 years on average when Buffett and Munger were plucking the low hanging fruit—today the average stock is held for just a period of months. These buying and selling decisions are largely made for reasons other than the intrinsic value of the security in question, and thus create volatility in stock prices that don’t always correspond to volatility in business operations.

Basically, time arbitrage is an advantage that I think is much stronger than it was in Buffett and Munger’s day. It’s a different game, and this edge probably isn’t quite as large as the information edge of yesteryear, but I think it’s still quite significant.

So I think that when great investors made fortunes using a particularly technique and that technique is no longer working, they feel the game is much harder to win. Their big 7 foot center isn’t as dominant as he was in previous decades. But I think that just like competitive advantages in business evolve, or general strategies in sports evolve, the strategies that are successful in beating the market have also evolved over time.

I know of numerous small professional money managers that are beating the market over a decade plus, and I personally know a few people who are trouncing it, and have been for years. They are using the same principles that Munger used, but their tactics are different. Time will tell if these people have been better lucky than good, but I would bet on their record continuing until the point that they become whales. I would also bet heavily that if Munger, Klarman, or any other of the greats who long for the good-old-days were given a clean slate with a smaller sum of money, they’d too be able to once again trounce the market.

Buffett himself has talked at length about his size becoming too high a hurdle for great performance, but he recently said that if had started a new investment partnership in 2004, he would have been 100% invested in Korean stocks. At the DJCO meeting, Munger mentioned China as a place he would be actively looking for opportunities today.

So advantages evolve over time in business and investing, as do tactics and areas of focus. Were these great investors to start from scratch today, they might have to focus more on the metaphorical three point shot as opposed to their bigs, but I bet they’d bring home a few championships.

Wishing for the Good-Old-Days is Nothing New

One last point on this concept that “It’s harder now than it used to be”: I’ve not just heard this point recently, I’ve read about great investors who have said this point at various times throughout history.

In the mid 1970’s, Graham began to feel that the investing field had become too competitive and that his method of rigorous security analysis would no longer work as well. At this same time that Graham had felt the time in the sun had passed for the stock picker, Buffett was just getting his Berkshire snowball rolling.

In the late 90’s, famed stock picker Julian Robertson closed the doors of his enormously successful hedge funds, citing that the market had “changed”, and that the strategies he used for decades were no longer working. At this same time, a new class of small stock pickers like Dan Loeb and David Einhorn were busy stacking up 30% annual returns in their early years when their funds were still small. I think it wasn’t that Robertson’s strategies didn’t work or that the market had changed, it was just that he was too big.

Today Loeb and Einhorn are big, and both have hinted that things are different now. I think two takeaways from this section are that:

Size makes things harder

Sometimes tactics that were once successful don’t work as well. This doesn’t mean investing success is no longer possible, but it might mean that different tactics have to be utilized.

Takeaway #3: Great Ideas Are Obvious

Munger is incredibly sharp for being in his early 90’s, and while he sat for a couple hours in front of hundreds, he also took questions in front of a smaller group afterward. I wasn’t at this gathering, but the videos can be found here.

In the video I linked to above, he mentions that he has read Barron’s for 50 years and got one idea from it that made him $80 million. He gave that $80 million to Li Lu who has turned it into $400 million. Munger jokes that most people wouldn’t have the patience to read Barron’s for 50 years and only come away with one idea. But his point had nothing to do with Barron’s—it had to do with the concept of patience, and the idea that there won’t be that many great ideas out there.

The stock he bought was a cigar butt (as he categorized it)—some auto parts supplier that he bought for $1 per share and then sold it a couple years later for $15. Munger said it took him an hour and a half to decide to buy it. This tells me a couple things.

Munger thought it was an obvious idea and didn’t need long to realize that.

Although he spent 90 minutes on this idea, there was an immeasurable amount of preparation time led up to that decision, so that when the opportunity came, he was prepared to quickly evaluate it and capitalize on it.

Munger talked about how for his entire life, he has read four newspapers each and every morning and that he always has had two or three books going at once. This is how he has approached his life and his investment process. He enjoys doing this work, and he has used that strategy of compounding knowledge over time with an extreme amount of discretion and patience to build a great investment record.

All of these concepts are widely acknowledged, but it always helps to sear them in deeper every so often.

Have a great week.

John Huber is the portfolio manager of Saber Capital Management, LLC, an investment firm that manages separate accounts for clients. Saber employs a value investing strategy with a primary goal of patiently compounding capital for the long-term.

To read more of John’s writings or to get on Saber Capital’s email distribution list, please visit the Letters and Commentary page on Saber’s website. John can be reached at [email protected].

#Charlie Munger #$djco #Investment Philosophy

1 note · View note